#Double-sided T-shaped wedges

[gudmould]

Design of rice cooker barrel mold

1 Mold Structure analysis Structure of rice cooker barrel is relatively complex. There is a round hole on the top for placing inner pot of rice cooker. There are buckles of various structures on its outer surface. There is a buckle 1 for installing control panel on the front, and a buckle 2 for installing button above buckle 1. There are buckles 3 and 4 on the left and right sides of plastic…

[sweetsweetjellybean]

TW: Smut-tacular 3 way smut. Angst. NSFW.

AN: Special thanks to my squad of fantastic writers, @loveshotzz @myobmaya @boomhauer @subparwritersuperbreblogger be sure to check them out. Beta'd by @billybluboy an absolute 💎. Masterlist Fic Menu

Reaching out, you try to capture the beautiful dream slipping through your fingers as you're dragged through the warm depths of sleep toward the cold surface of consciousness. The clock on the table beside you reads 3:28 when you wake, still exhausted from the day's activities. Eddie breathes deeply beside you, his tiny little snores usually a comforting white noise that lets you sleep peacefully through the night.

No, something woke you, of that you were sure. Listening carefully, you wait for anything other than the usual creaks and ticks of a house at rest. Then, you hear a cupboard door closing and the clatter of something hitting the tile of the kitchen floor. 

Leaving the warmth of your bed you follow the sounds, walking through the dark house. The light from the kitchen spills out into the foyer cutting through the gloom of the early morning hour. Entering the bright kitchen, you squint as your eyes acclimate to the light and wrap your arms around yourself to ward off the chill.

"What happened?" You ask Steve, who's sweeping up shattered glass and green olives into a pile in front of the kitchen island.

"Stop," he instructs, leaning the broom on the counter and moving towards where you stand, rubbing your hands up and down your biceps. "There's broken glass everywhere, and you're barefoot." He grips your hips and boosts you up to sit on the island. 

"I was looking to see if there were any boxes of tea in the back of the pantry, and I knocked a jar of fancy olives off the shelf." His big hands remain on your hips, thumbs resting high on your thighs, their warmth seeping through the material of another borrowed t-shirt you wore to bed.

"What makes them fancy?" He's standing much closer than would be considered polite for a friendly conversation, and you're having difficulty focusing on anything other than the pout of his silky bottom lip. "They're for martinis or something." He swallows and steps back. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"Still can't sleep? I was hoping…."

"You wore me out? You did." He says, rubbing the back of his neck, his messy hair falling in his eyes. "I slept a few hours earlier." The blue-tinged skin under his eyes tells you differently. He sweeps the rest of the mess into a dustpan, and you tear some paper towels from the roll on the counter beside you. Giving him half of them, you both crouch to wipe up the remaining liquid from the olives. Your overused muscles protest as you slowly stand, slightly wincing.  

"Sore?" He asks sympathetically, taking the briny towels from you and throwing them in the trash.

"Yeah, a little."

"I might be able to help with that." He leads you through the hall past the main living area to the left side of the expansive house and opens one of the two double wood doors that lead into a dark room. 

"This is my dad's office." He explains, flipping on the light. The room is all dark wood and rich leather. The built-in, floor-to-ceiling shelves hold a collection of books and a set of crystal decanters full of dark liquid. A massive cherry desk sits in the center of the room, surrounded by brown leather club chairs. "It was meant to be the master bedroom, but he converted it." You follow him through another door on the far side of the room that leads to an expansive tiled bathroom with a wedged-shaped soaking tub nestled between a double vanity and a walk-in shower. "No one uses this bathroom." He sits on the tiled ledge and starts the tub filling. "Do you remember Coach Thorton?"

"Oh my god, yes. He made me cry when I couldn't do a pull-up during the presidential fitness test sophomore year."

"Well, he coached basketball junior and senior year. He would keep us in the weight room until we couldn't lift our arms. I started soaking in here after practice." He picks up a small purple bottle of bath oil from the vanity and pours some into the steaming water.

"Lavender scented?" You probe teasingly, quirking an eyebrow.

"Shut it. It's soothing." He turns a knob that lowers the lights, pulls out a few fluffy towels, and places them on the tub's ledge.

"Do you need anything else?" He asks, standing in front of you. You raise your arms over your head and wait. "Oh, um, okay." He keeps his eyes on your face as his fingers move to the hem of your shirt, brushing your thighs as he gathers it in his hands and slowly pulls it up over your head and off your body. You bite your lip to suppress your smile at how he's trying so hard to not look down at your naked body.

The hot water is the perfect temperature, and you sigh contentedly as you step into the tub, sinking until only your head is above the surface. "Keep me company?" 

"Sure," he answers, still holding your shirt. He settles himself on the floor with his back against the tub surround, giving you some privacy.

"Thank you," you say, the tightness in your muscles already dissipating, "for this and for letting us stay here. I'll give you cash as soon as I find a job."

"Don't worry about it. You two are probably doing me a favor. I don't think I'd like to be here alone." 

"Where are your parents, Steve?" You ask, wondering why he's in this big house all alone in the midst of a crisis. Your toes break the water's surface to catch the drips falling from the brass faucet.

"They're in Indianapolis. They have a townhouse there, and my dad has an office downtown."

"You didn't want to go with them?"

"Nah," he says, twisting the material of the shirt, "I've been volunteering at the shelter, and I'm more useful here than with them. What about your parents? They don't mind you shacking up with a couple of guys?"

"I think they figured I would be moving in with Eddie at some point anyway."

"How long have you been together?"

"Since the summer before senior year. You know that breakfast place over by Motel Six? Annie's?" Shifting in the tub, you cross your arms on the ledge and rest your cheek against your slick skin. Steam and the light smell of lavender swirl in the air and fill your lungs.

"Annie's Pie Palace," he chuckles.

"Yeah, that's the one. I was waitressing there. Eddie came in every morning for two weeks before he admitted he didn't like the pie and asked me out."

"Who likes eggs and hashbrowns in a pie?"

"No one. That's probably why it closed. I was saving for a car. I guess I should start looking for a new job soon."

"I should, too," he says, folding up the shirt and setting it down next to those long, muscled legs covered with plaid pajamas stretched out in front of him. "I can take you around to get some applications tomorrow, or I guess it would be today now. The days are kind of blending together. I'm taking Eddie to get his van out of impound. Are you going with him?"

"No. He's supposed to meet up with Wayne and Chief Hopper to clear some things up so he can get back to school."

"Do you want to come with me to drop him off? We can go looking for Help Wanted signs after." 

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks."

"I could stop at your house so you can get some more of your stuff? Not that you don't look great running around in my shirts." He turns and gives you a lopsided smile, and you can't help smiling back at him. "Stop flirting with me, Harrington."

"Is that what we're doing?" He asks before facing forwards again, eyes lowering to his lap. "So, no college for you then?"

"Maybe, someday." You push back from the ledge, letting your body sink deeper into the warm water. "Maybe when Eddie graduates."

"What would you go for?"

"I guess that's the problem. There's all this pressure to know what you want to do and go out and make your mark on the world. All I ever wanted to be is happy, ya know?"

"Yeah, I do know. And Eddie makes you happy?"

"Yes, he does," you say, smiling, dipping your chin under the surface.

"Then you're lucky to have found him. Have you ever done that before? You and Eddie and someone else?"

"No!" You flick your fingers toward him, and a few drops of water land on his neck, running down to soak into the collar of his shirt. "Have you?" 

"No." He turns and dips his hand into the water, splashing you back. "Why did you say yes?" The question hangs heavy in the air between you. Using your toes, you push up the brass lever, and the water gurgles as it empties down the drain. "I think I've had enough. My fingers are getting pruney."

"Alright." He stands and picks up one of the plush towels. Turning his head to the side, he holds it open for you. You step out of the bath and let him wrap it around you, fingers brushing as you take the corner tucking it in at your breast. He follows you silently through the house as you leave damp footprints on the wood flooring.

"I'll see you in a few hours," he says quietly as you're turning the door knob of the guest room. His eyes gleam in the dim light, and you smile in acknowledgment before slipping inside and closing the door.

The bright morning light shines through the slats of the blinds as you wake with a  smile, Eddie's soft curls tickling your skin as he presses sweet little kisses all over your face. "Good Morning." Pushing his hair off his face, you hold his head still to return his kiss. He hums and deepens the kiss, sliding his tongue into your mouth and sneaking his hand under your shirt to palm your breast. 

"What's got you in such a good mood this morning?" You ask between kisses. 

"I just like waking up to you," he says, smiling down at you, and your heart melts. "I'm really glad you have these." He softly squeezes your tit. "I always have someplace to put my hand."

"Stop," you giggle as his lips come back down on yours, "what am I gonna do with you?"

"You should tear open my bodice and ravish me," he suggests. 

"That sounds fun." you agree, pulling his body to settle on top of yours. 

"Stop, Sir. I am but an innocent country maiden. I do not yet know the carnal pleasure of parking the beef bus in tuna town." He cries in a high-pitched voice. 

"What? Tuna town?" You laugh. His lips kiss their way over the sensitive skin of your neck, and your laughter quickly turns into pants. Your legs part, bringing his hard length right where you want it. With only the material of boxers between him and your wet core, you start grinding against him.

"Baby," he says, kissing your mouth, "baby, we are going to have to finish this tonight. Steve's taking me to get my van."

"Fine." Your lips pout as he kisses you once more. He lifts your shirt stretching it out as he sticks his head underneath. "Stay strong, ladies. I'll be back for you."

Rolling your eyes, you push him away. "I'm coming with you."

"You are?" He asks, sitting back on his heels. 

"Yeah. Steve's taking me job hunting after he drops you off." 

"When was this decided?"

"Last night. Well, this morning, technically. I heard him bumping around, so I went to check on him. We ended up talking for a while." You say, twisting the hem of your shirt. 

"Huh," Eddie says, studying your face, "well, wasn't that nice of you?"

"It was. I think I deserve a reward." Your lips twist into a coy smile.

"Then rewarded, you shall be." His hands wrap around your thighs, pulling you down the bed, the blankets bunch underneath you until you're beneath him again. His big chocolate-colored eyes are soft as he pecks your lips. "What do you think about getting out of here after graduation? Go somewhere new, find a little place of our own. Start fresh, just you and me."

"I think that sounds perfect," you say, sliding your hands around his neck. The progression of your relationship has always been at its own natural pace with little talk of the future. The picture he was painting had hope blooming inside you. 

"Where do you want to go, Baby? A city? Or maybe somewhere close to the ocean."

"The ocean, but not somewhere too hot." 

"Okay. We'll drive south until we hit the ocean and work our way up the coast."

"Sounds like a plan. Do you like the ocean?"

"I've never been." He smooths the hair at your temple. "But I'd like anywhere as long as you're there." Without warning, he flips you onto your stomach, and his hand comes down on your backside. "Now get that cute butt out of bed, or we won't be going anywhere."

Placing the thin stack of applications on the polished coffee table, you kick off your converse and rub your striped socks into the soft threads of the teal area rug before sinking back into the cushions of the deep-seated sofa. Steve plops down at the other end, doing the same. After dropping Eddie off and picking up a newspaper, the two of you drove around town the rest of the morning, stopping at the few businesses hiring. The destruction hit the town's economy hard, and most places are hesitant to hire new staff. 

At noon, you abandon your search and stop at the Mustard Seed Deli to split a sandwich that Steve insisted on paying for. It was surreal to be sitting across from him, sharing a turkey and swiss on rye, enjoying his company when a week ago you hadn't shared more than a few words in high school. Now you are….what? Roommates? Friends? The dill pickle spear sat lonely on the wax paper with the crumbs of the sandwich. He pushed it over to you, and you smiled. Definitely friends, you decided as you drove back to his house.

"Well, that was a bust," he says, tipping back his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"At least Family Video is planning to reopen eventually. I'm the one who will end up being the mop girl at the Boobie Bungalow."

"Aww, don't worry," he says, putting a hand on your shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get promoted to stripper in no time. I'd pay to see that."

"Oh god," you groan, covering your face with your hands.

"I think waitressing at Enzo's will be your best bet. I think Hopper knows him. I can ask if he can give him a call.

"You'd do that?"

"Of course."

"How do you know Chief Hopper so well?"

"Oh, um," he looks away from you shaking his head, "just from around town."

"Hmm." You aren't buying it. Whatever he and Eddie are keeping from you is starting to wear. Steve lets out a sleepy, drawn-out yawn as he tips his head back onto the couch cushion and rubs at his eyes. Concern wins out over the irritation of his evasive answer. "Steve, why aren't you sleeping? Are you having nightmares?" He blinks at you in surprise. "I hear you sometimes. Do you want to talk about it?" He shakes his head from side to side and looks down at his lap. Picking up the TV remote from where it sits on the coffee table, you turn it on and flip through some channels. Settling on General Hospital and pressing more buttons, you lower the volume until it's a quiet murmur. You pick up the overstuffed throw pillow and settle it on your lap. 

"Come on, lay down." You pat the pillow in your lap. "I'll stay with you, okay? You're not alone."

Hesitantly, he eases himself down, turning over so his head is facing you. His eyes flutter closed and your hands move to his hair, gently running your fingers through the soft strands and lightly scratching his scalp. He lets out a soft sigh.

"If Enzo’s doesn't work out, you could be a shampoo girl at Kim's Kut and Kurl."

"Shut up and go to sleep." It's not long before his breathing changes, and he's sleeping peacefully in your lap. The last thing you remember is Blackie arguing with Amy as you try to keep your eyes open. 

"Sweetheart." Steve's fingers are dancing over your cheek. "Lay down with me, sweet girl. You're going to hurt your neck sleeping like that." Opening your eyes as little as possible, you stretch your body into the space he made for you between him and the sofa and bury your face into the warm skin of his neck, breathing him in. He smells like bergamot, citrus, and cedarwood, and you snuggle closer, tangling your legs with his as he wraps his arms around you, and you drift back into sleep. 

You wake up alone to the sound of heated voices coming from the kitchen. On the television, Tom Brokaw is delivering the evening news. Switching it off, you quietly walk to the foyer to better hear the conversation.

"It wasn't like that, Robin. I haven't slept in days. She's just a friend."

"I'm your friend, Steve, and we don't do that. She's Eddie's girlfriend. You know your friend Eddie, who-"

"I know what happened, okay. I see it every time I close my goddamn eyes."

"And what if Eddie had come in and saw you…canoodling with his girlfriend."

"Canoodling? Jesus Christ, Robin, we were just taking a nap."

"I know things with Nan‐"

"This has nothing to do with that. Look, you're my friend, my best friend, but this isn't any of your business."

"Is that right? Well, if it's none of my business, maybe I won't be there when this inevitably blows up in your face."

"Robin…"

The floor creaks as footsteps come your way. Panicking, you tiptoe-run back toward the direction of the living room, trying to look as if you are just coming from there instead of eavesdropping. Robin's face says she doesn't buy it when she comes face-to-face with you in the foyer. 

"Hi," you say, trying to feel her out. She looks at you like she has a whole speech planned but glaces back toward the kitchen and shakes her head instead. "Hi," she returns the greeting as she steps past you and slams the door on her way out. 

Steve is standing with one hand on his hip and the other pinching the bridge of his nose when you pad into the kitchen. 

"How much of that did you hear?" he asks, placing both hands on the kitchen island that separates you. 

"Enough to know she doesn't approve."

"We didn't do anything wrong."

"I know," you say, looking down and playing with the cuffs of your sleeves and wondering if that was true, then why your stomach was full of knots. "I should get dinner started." Opening the fridge, you busy yourself pulling out the ingredients for the meal you planned to make. 

"I didn't dream. I slept for four hours. That's the longest since…in a while."

"I'm glad, Steve," you say, walking around him, but he catches you by the waist. His eyes look like the forest floor, deep greens and browns, full of something that draws you in and frightens you at the same time.

"It's no one's business what happens between us," he says softly, his free hand moving to your neck, his thumb tipping up your chin. Your tongue darts out to wet your lips and his part as he inhales in a sharp breath. 

"Steve." His name comes out in a breathy whisper. The sound of the front door opening has you stepping away. Your heart is beating so hard in your chest that you are sure Eddie can hear it as he enters the kitchen. 

"What's cookin', good lookin' ?" Eddie asks, kissing your cheek.

"Dinner," you reply, not meeting his eyes while unwrapping a package of chicken.

"How's it going, Harrington?" Steve has his head in the pantry, rummaging around.

"You know we're still out of tea. I'm going to run out and get some. Don't wait. Eat without me." Steve leaves the kitchen, and the click of the front door closing follows him. 

Part 4

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[some-kindofgnome]

you turn me on (i’m a radio)

bokuto comes over one night midweek while you’ve got the apartment to yourself. after a mishap with his favourite volleyball shorts, you take advantage of the privacy.

c: koutarou bokuto x reader

wc: 5.4k

tags: smut (18+ please!), college au, aged-up characters, oral sex (both receiving), praise kink, begging, soft and sloppy sex feat. bo the horny simp giving u the creampie of ur life, body worship if u squint

notes: bo has a fat ass and I have a praise kink. that is all. oh, wait, i should also mention that this is mostly unedited. so if u see typos feel free to point em out! thx 💕

the song this bit is named after is so sweet and sunny & makes me think of bo all the time, so give it a listen if you’d care to! ☀️

ALSO forgot to mention that this was inspired by a tiktok i saw like a million years ago where this girl was helping her boyfriend get out of his too-small rugby shorts. it has been lost to the ether but you better BELIEVE if i ever find it again i’ll be linking it here

EDIT: @karikarasuno​ the absolute ANGEL has scoured the internet and found the tiktok in question.  p l e a s e go and watch it, u will not regret 😌

(MASTERLIST)

“’Kay, okay, I’m going!”

Bokuto tears himself from the tender press of your mouth in one fell swoop. As he whirls away with a tempted giggle, he combs his fingers through his mussed-and-sweaty hair. Practice was only two hours tonight, but he still doesn’t want to leave your side even long enough to shower.

You’ve only been dating for a few months, still lingering in that phase of every new relationship that feels too good to last. Your emotional involvement in one another deepens by the day, but you never fight. And you have a shamefully difficult time keeping yourself away from him. On a weeknight like this with no big assignments to speak of, you should be catching up on your readings, your chores, or even your sleep. But when you passed Bo in the quad earlier, pausing in your walk to class for a hi and a kiss, you’d invited him over before you could even stop yourself.

He’s nice to be around. Pleasant, unhindering. Even if you wanted to finish some readings or do some laundry while he’s over, he’s happy to be idle in your company. He is infuriatingly patient and understanding sometimes, compared to the slew of demanding, needy boyfriends that came before him.  

You watch him retreat into the safety of your bedroom, grinning like a fool. He’s fresh out of practice and practically dripping in sweat, dried from the walk you shared from the athletic center. Your evening class that night wrapped up around the same time as his practice, and when you passed the gym doors on your way home, he was already loitering on the steps with his teammates. Instead of pretending he didn’t see you or offering you a casual, passing nod like you expected, he practically bounded down the wide concrete steps and introduced you gleefully to the pack of volleyball players behind him who already knew you well.

There was no way you were letting him go all the way home to shower first. Not when he’s never minded smelling like your orange-and-sandalwood shower gel in the first place.

Once he’s disappeared, you give a yawn and a deep stretch and haul ass off the couch, padding into the kitchen to tidy up the snacks you shared on the way in the door.

You’ve barely got the first plates in the sink before a muffled babe? from the bedroom gives you pause.

“Bo?” You call back, setting your handful down and trying to keep your brow from furrowing too deeply. “You okay?”

“Can you… um…” His response starts off strong, louder than before, but it dwindles into a dull, unintelligible mutter that sounds uncertain enough to send you away from the kitchen.

You gently shoulder the bedroom door open, frowning at his broad shape, silhouetted in the shadowy bathroom doorway from the light behind him. “What’s the matter?”

Feeling along the wall for the light switch, you illuminate the pot lights over your bed.

Bokuto’s cheeks are gently flushed as he waddles toward you with his thumbs dug into the waistband of his volleyball shorts. The fabric is tough and certainly seems clingy, but there’s a strain in his neck and shoulders that takes you a minute to pin down.

“I can’t…” he starts to say, trailing off, then pulls his hands out of his shorts and drops them to his side with a heavy, defeated sigh.

“They’re stuck.”

You force the corners of your mouth downward, tightening the line of your mouth to keep the mirth locked firmly in your throat.

“I can see that.”

He’s been hitting the gym hard lately, shoving down the calories to try and bulk up a little for the upcoming tournament season. And while you know he’s been putting on some weight, since he tells you just about everything, it never occurred to you that he might be bulking up quick enough to outgrow his favourite shorts.

Bo lets out a quiet little whine, digging a thumb into the waistband one more time and prompting you to step forward.

“How stuck are you?” You reach for him. He turns sideways, twisting his chin over one shoulder to try and assess the situation from every plausible angle.

Oh. You slap a hand to your mouth.

The waistband is rolled down around his hips and already strained to its absolute limit, stuck on the sharp swell of his butt and already compressing the flesh in a way that looks genuinely painful. He’s wearing a pair of tight white compression shorts underneath the uniform shorts in question, but they’re not doing much to aid the situation, either.

You’re eager to get him out of those shorts for several reasons now.

“Alright.” You try to keep your voice low, stepping up to his front and gently laying your hands on the stiff cotton roll at his hips. “Let me just-“

“I don’t know what happened,” he whines, slotting his hands on top of yours and squirming in between them. “They were hard to get on, but-“

“Don’t worry,” you interrupted softly. “We’ll get them off you one way or another.”

The fearful reflection of your sharpest kitchen scissors in his eyes suggests that he believes you.

Your first two attempts are about as successful as Bokuto’s solo endeavours. First, you wedge your hands into the fabric at his sides while he pushes from the front and back, but you give a hard shove while he lets up on the tension and his elbow very nearly connects with your nose, so you try a different approach.

Coming round to his backside, you dig your hands into the space between his uniform shorts and the tight spandex that holds what’s left of his modesty.

“Okay,” you pant, already a little breathless after dodging Bokuto’s flying elbows. “What if I-“

“Hang on,” he prompts, but it’s too late. You wind up and jump as hard as you can, using the downward force generated to try and shove the confining waistband down over his hips. It slides down another couple of inches, and inspiration flares in your chest as Bokuto turns over one shoulder, sweating.

“It’s working!” Your voice comes shrill with excitement, and before he can stop you you’re jumping again, shoving even harder this time. You meet resistance this time, and before you can clue in to what’s pushing back Bokuto howls in pain and doubles over, clasping his palms between his thighs.

“Oh, fuck, baby, I’m sorry.” You drop to one knee beside him as he descends into pained laughter.

“’S alright,” he promises, “I didn’t want kids that bad, anyway.”

You can’t help the snort that bubbles forward from your chest. Bo straightens slowly as his pain fades, but you stay on your knees, determined to get him undressed without resorting to textile violence.

Determination settles heavy and proud across your shoulders. You look up through your brows at him and when your eyes meet, his cheeks pink softly.

“We got this.”

Bokuto’s throat bobs. He nods shallowly and pulls his lower lip between his teeth.

You slip your hands into his shorts again, rolling them slowly down his thighs. Bokuto averts his eyes, letting out another audible gulp. Just when you’re starting to get somewhere, his hips twitch and he shifts his weight restlessly from one leg to the other.

“Stand still,” you scold, giving his hip a little slap. His breath hitches, hands flinching forward as he dips his torso backward.

“Um,” he pants. When you look up at him again, his neck and ears are bright red and he’s got his eyes trained firmly on the Star Wars poster hanging above your desk.

You level your gaze and realize two things.

1) Bokuto’s not wearing anything under his white compression shorts.

2) Apparently, your little scare wasn’t nearly as painful for him as he let on.

“Babe,” you tease. “I’m flattered, really.”

“C’mon!” He protests, scraping his fingers through the wild strands of his sweat-clumped hair. “What’d you think was gonna happen if you got down there all…”

“All what?” You lean forward without thinking, nuzzling the spandex that sits in the groove between his hip and his thigh. He groans deeply, letting his head fall back. His cock, thickening at the base, is still restrained tightly by the waistband of his shorts. You can practically see it throb into its confines, and his groan pinches tight with discomfort.

“Baby, please.” He’s wound his hands tightly in the front of his t-shirt by now, rucking it up over his belly for some way to dispel the tension. “Get ‘em off. Please.”

“You’re not exactly making it easier.”

A desperate whine from over your head suggests that maybe the time for jokes is passing. You abandon all coyness and tuck your hand under the weight of his balls, gently tugging down on the waistband and freeing all of him from its confining pressure. Bokuto gasps and lets his hips swing forward, but his dick swells quickly to fill its new, spandex restraint and you figure you’d better work quickly.

“God, this is really turning you on, isn’t it?” You can’t help the eagerness in your tone as you attack the swell of his hips one last time. With all his sensitive parts in the clear you don’t have to hold back, wedging and wrenching until the widest part of his pelvis is free and the shorts drop to the floor with a soft little triumphant rustle.

Bokuto groans like he’d just been strapped to a time bomb, stepping out of the fabric and kicking it towards the door. He drops the hem of his shirt and reaches for you, but you’re already leaning in to nose against the crook of his thigh some more, peeling down the stretchy, forgiving top of his compression shorts.

“Wh- babe.” He flushes. “I haven’t showered-“

“Don’t care,” you hum, entranced by the hypnotic length of his shaft, white spandex stretched sheer and dabbed with wet at the tip. “Want to taste you.”

“Are you s- oh, you’re sure.” His hands surge forward, this time soothing lovingly over the crown of your head as you tug the stretchy fabric down to his knees. His cock bobs eagerly against one thigh, unaffected by its confining endeavour, and you lean in and seal your mouth against the seam of his groin, where his shaft meets his body.

He is bulky and broad, thick cords of muscle and fat spanning his thighs and torso. His thighs and pelvis are dusted all over with wiry silver hair, and you bury your nose into the trimmed patch of it over his cock, licking eagerly at his soft skin.

Above you, Bokuto shudders hard enough to buckle his knees while you trace your hand up the stiff length of him. You’re trying your best to hide just how deeply you want to breathe him in, the addicting musk of his sweat filling your brain and sending deep throbs of arousal straight to your pussy.

“So hard,” you groan into his hip, “just from letting me get on my knees for you?”  

He draws a sharp breath through his teeth, squeezing at the back of your head as his eyelashes flutter. His face is beet red from nose to hairline now.

“W-well, what else was I s’posed to- with you lookin’…” He is borderline incoherent, and you haven’t even put your mouth on him yet.

Adorable.

“You smell so good,” you murmur without thinking, flicking your eyes to his quickly when you realize what you’ve said. But it only serves to push his own arousal further, cock throbbing palpably between your fingers as he curses quietly through his teeth.

“Please,” he groans, letting his head roll back. “Don’t tease.”

You can’t deny a request as pleasantly worded as that.

After planting one more teasing kiss along the plane of his shaft, you draw back to his tip and give your tongue an enthusiastic flick, dipping it into his weeping slit. He yelps, and you swallow him down before he can ride out the shock, making him shiver. You can feel the tremor racking all the way down the column of his spine, his toes curling on the floor by your knees.

When you start to bob your head, his jaw goes completely slack. You’re learning to love the way he doesn’t hold back with you, a point made obvious by the expressions crossing his face as you settle into a steady rhythm. You can’t fit his entire length- impressive, not that he knows it- into your throat, but when you grip the base of his shaft with one hand and the spit from your throat drips eagerly between your fingers, he practically goes cross-eyed.

You fight the urge to smile around him, leaning into the way he fusses and grips at your skull.

“Nggh, babe, not gonna last long… when… suckin’ like that.” He’s grabbing your head with both hands, rocking his hips tightly forward in time with your gaudy slurping. You’re drooling all over your hand, spit dripping obscenely down your chin and onto the hardwood, but his whimpers are growing to obscene levels, punctuated by deep, chesty growls and quiet, slurred praise.

There’s no way you’re going to back off now.

You’ve been with Bo long enough to know his tells, so when his thighs start twitching and his voice pitches from his chest into his throat, you re-double your efforts, intensifying his pleasure until he’s howling and panting like a beast, rocking tightly into your mouth with his abs drawn tight as a bow.

“Ohhh, babe, lemme cum on your tits,” he pleads, slurring every syllable together as he looks down at you with unimaginable bliss mounting in his gaze. “Please, please, please, your tits, lemme cum on ‘em.”

With a smirk touching one corner of your mouth, you drop your free hand between his thighs. Until now it had been braced delicately on his hip, gently mitigating the wild bucks and twitches of his body giving into ecstasy. But you’d picked up one little trick that never failed to boost him over the edge- and send him falling that much further as a result.

As you draw your mouth back from his twitching cock, you close your free hand around the heavy sack of his balls- drawn up tight to his thighs in preparation for his orgasm- and give the supple skin a gentle little tug while you arch your back and jerk him off against the swell of your chest.

Bo’s voice shoots up a twelve-tone as his hands slide from your hair to your cheeks. His fingers tremble as he cups your face, throwing his head back with a wild yowl and wildly humping your fist. The first long spurt of his cum hits you square in the throat, dripping down between your collarbones and soaking the neckline of your tank top as he rides out the powerful waves of his climax. By the time it’s over, his thighs are shaking hard, tough lines of muscle standing out against the silver hair while his cock dribbles ripe streams right down your shirt.

He deflates with a heavy, heady sigh, falling to one knee in front of you and keeping your face gathered between his palms.

“Fuck, you’re so sexy,” he moans, leaning in to capture your mouth and dip his tongue sloppily against yours. As soon as he’s found your lips he skates his hands down your shoulders to your breasts, lovingly cupping and thumbing the tightening buds of your nipples where thick shots of his cum are soaking into the white cotton. You can’t help the shaky little sigh that catches at the back of your throat, or the aching way you lean into his touch.

“G’nna-“ he cuts himself off, dipping his face into your throat. He licks into the tender column of your windpipe, bringing one big palm to the back of your neck to hold your head steady while he tucks his chin in and tastes the wet stripes of his cum that paint your décolletage. You’re not exactly sure what to expect, but the long, wet groan he lets into your chest is a pleasant surprise. He slides his hands from your neck to your shoulders to your sides and up the plane of your back, drawing you closer while he laps the mess from your collarbones and neckline.

“C’mon,” he mumbles into the swell of your left breast. “Gotta taste all of you.”

He slips his arms underneath you, lifting you with little more than a quiet grunt of effort as he gets to his feet. He holds you lovingly against his chest, striding slowly across the room and depositing you onto the bed with a smooth little bounce.

You hardly have the space to catch your breath before he braces a knee on the mattress beside you and leans down for another taste of your lips, kissing you slow and loving and skating a palm down your front. He slips his fingers into the waistband of your leggings, slipping his fingertips across your clit and making you yelp. Chuckling into your mouth, he dips his fingers lower and gasps.

“God,” he sighs. “Shoulda known you were holding out on me.” He sinks his middle finger into your clingy depths while he catches your mouth under his one more time. You’ve been unable to form coherent thoughts, let alone words, pinned sensuously under his touch, but as he curls his fingers against the restrictive insides of your leggings, you whine deep and slow into his mouth, arching your back to push your hips into his touch.

He doesn’t linger, drawing his hand from you and curling it in the waistband of your leggings instead. You’re slipping your fingers under the hem of your soiled tank top, pulling it up to expose the bare swell of your breasts.

“Let me?” He poses it like a question, pulling your leggings and underwear down and fluttering a kiss to the newly exposed skin below your belly button.

“Please,” you pant, already planting your feet in the fluffy sheets to lift your hips and help him undress you.

He pulls your leggings and underwear down over your hips in one smooth motion, pulling just a little harder than necessary to make you gasp and giggle. Your ass lands on the mattress all at once, punctuated by another handful of mirth that you can’t keep contained.

Bo’s grinning down at you as he balls up your clothes and tosses them toward the hamper like a mid-court basket shot. He doesn’t wait to find out if they made it, though, settling himself between your knees and gathering your hips into his arms.

“So soft,” he purrs, kissing the velvet skin of your tummy.

“Bo,” you whine. It’s your turn in the hot seat, and now the idea of teasing isn’t half as appealing as it was when you were on your knees.

“What? You don’t want me to take my time with you?”

You groan, letting your head flop back against the pillows as your eyes slip shut. Now that he’s got you bare, with his breath puffing hot and wanting over your tender skin, it’s hard to focus on anything but what you want.

“Don’t be mean,” you whine, but the hot press of his tongue on your inner thigh shuts you up fast. He moans low and rumbly against the damp of your skin, sinking his teeth gently into the fat of your thigh and giving a noisy suck.

“You’re so ready for it,” he muses, eyes darting sideways to admire your weeping slit. The buzz of his voice shoots right down the column of your spine, vibrating pleasantly at the base of your tailbone and sending goosebumps racing up your torso.

“Man,” Bo sighs, planting one hand on each thigh and pushing them apart. “You must really like suckin’ me off, huh?”

“I swear,” you grit. “I’m never touching your dick again if you don’t-“

He doesn’t waste another minute, leaning down and sealing his mouth greedily over your slit. The payoff is there for both of you, if the sound he makes when he dips his tongue between your folds is anything to go by.

The relief comes on swift wings as soon as he lets his tongue wander, stoking the fire that had been burning dangerously low and hot in your gut. Your thighs twitch in toward his ears while he tastes your messy slit, but his palms are as strong as shackles, keeping you open and vulnerable for him.

Bo prods his tongue forward, pressing inward as far as he can with a tiny little strained groan of effort. You cry out and clamp down around his tongue like a vice, a reaction he feels so vividly it makes him whip back from your body with a laugh.

“Don’t stopppp,” you plead, but his face is already disappearing between your thighs again, and you wrap your fingers in the hem of your tank top while he re-focuses his efforts on your swollen clit. He’s pressing his hips forward in a slow tempo that matches the patterns he tongues between your thighs, softly humping the mattress in time with your pleasure.

You’re sensitive and ready for him, stomach tightening smoothly when he settles into a rhythm. His technique is sloppy but he makes up for it in eagerness, pausing only to take deep breaths through his nose. He smiles into your skin and you can feel the way his mouth twitches against you, making you arch your back and slide one hand between your legs to rake through the silvery strands of his mussed hair. He grunts hard against your clit and you jump, giving him the chance to slip his hands under your thighs and hook them over his shoulders.

When he swallows you down this time, there’s something in the changed angle that drives pleasure straight down your back, letting it reverberate all the way into your toes. You flinch hard between his hands, and as he settles back into his messy, enthusiastic rhythm, you feel the telltale twinges of your building climax.

“Bo-“ you choke on his name.

He flicks his gaze to yours and his eyes flash, bright and golden. He knows your tells, too, and he sinks his fingers into the fat of your thighs, re-doubling his efforts and sucking a languid rhythm into your needy clit.

“Fuck,” you sputter. “Fuck, f-fuck, I-ah-“

Your mouth drops open, but the scream dies in your throat as white-hot pleasure bursts through your veins. Bokuto is heartbreakingly persistent, keeping up his ministrations while you claw at his hair and clamp your thighs down around his temples and ride the waves of your orgasm as gracefully as possible. By the time the sharp, burning pleasure’s raked its way through you, all your limbs have gone tense, and when it’s over you collapse, sweat-soaked, to the sheets beneath you.

Bo’s trembling between your legs, and when he surfaces his cheeks and ears are maroon. His cock is still twitching against his belly, bobbing as he gets onto his knees and still weeping long streams of spend.

“Oh.” The word flies from your throat before you can trap it, and he rubs your thighs soothingly with both hands as he takes a shaky, cleansing breath.

“You’re so-“ he starts to say, but you reach for him and he’s got no choice but to dip his cheek into your palm, flushing even deeper at the open way you stare.

“C’mere,” you prompt. Bo takes the bait and flops forward, landing stomach-first on the bed beside you and pillowing his head between your slick breasts. The position ought to be comical, but the weight of him is immensely soothing, rising and falling with the even pulse of your laboured breath.

You lie that way for a long while, staring vacantly past your reflection in the dark window beside your bed. The nighttime chill radiates through the glass, cooling your heated flesh. Your body aches with the fresh sensations of climax, but you’re not ready to put your clothes on yet.

“Bo.”

“Hmm?” It never occurred to you that he might be half-asleep until he winds himself upright, blinking weighty silver lashes against his still-blushing cheeks.

Still, you know how to wake him up. The conspiratory grin that touches your mouth is completely involuntary, and it’s enough to have Bokuto cocking a tired brow.

“Can I ride your cock?”

For a moment, he doesn’t say anything at all. His eyes grow slowly bigger, focus drifting away from your face as his jaw drops. Literally.

“Bo? Baby?”

“Y- b- I… h-“ he sputters, blinking hard and shaking out his sweaty hair. He looks up at you again with an expression unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Like a kid at the zoo.

“Right now?”

You can’t hold back a snort, shoulders pitching forward. But he’s not kidding.

Neither are you.

You raise your eyebrows. “Is that a yes?”

By the time he rolls over, his cock’s already half-hard again, swelling against the strong cord of his right thigh. He sits up, scooting himself comfortably back against your bed’s stacked pillows. And when he reaches for you, you’re already rooting through the nightstand for supplies.

Bo’s a big dude, in every conceivable way. And while he’s never exactly been shy about that fact, he’s also painfully aware of the fact that with great power comes great responsibility. So when you start to warm a dollop of chilly water-based lube between your fingers, he doesn’t flinch.

“Mmmf.” He pushes his hips into your hands as you wrap them around his shaft, letting him swell into your palms while you slick him up. He’s still tender from before, and when you shift onto your knees your clit’s still tensing with leftover pleasure, but you’re buzzing with want. It hangs thick and heavy in the air between you. You’re unwilling to let it dissipate until you’re both completely satisfied.

By the time you’ve got the lube spread evenly from his base to his tip, Bo’s fully hard for you again, flushed and panting and grabbing at your hips as you scoot forward to straddle him. His impatience should probably bother you, but at this point it’s just endearing.

“Hmm, you’re so close,” you say, leaning forward to brush your lips against his. His mouth drops open as you bring his tip to your ready sex. Your pussy clamps involuntarily around the swell of his weeping head, and you’re panting into each others’ mouths as your hips sink slowly backward. The fill of him presses up into your belly, and you bottom out with a little flinch of discomfort, settling your thighs over his. He’s long enough that it actually hurts to take him in all the way like this, but you’re willing to put up with it for a minute while you get adjusted.

“Look at you.” Bokuto’s eyes rake up and down your trembling form, keeping time with his strong palms that rub soothing circles into the flesh of your hips. You shift a little, making him twitch and grunt. His thighs strain, struggling to keep from bucking upward against your tender cervix.

He lets out a deep, shaky sigh through pursed lips. “You’re so f-fucking perfect, you know that?”

You’re concentrating on tucking your knees underneath you for proper leverage, but he never fails to make you smile.

“I haven’t even started moving yet,” you breathe, bracing one hand on his shoulder. Once you’re stabilized, you lift your hips slowly forward, letting the thickness of him pull slowly from your slick depths. Bokuto’s head falls back against the pillows, beet red with exertion already.

“God,” he groans, bringing one hand around to your ass. “More, baby.”

You swallow hard, grip his hips tightly between your knees, and swirl your hips in a careful, tight little circle. It’s a subtle movement from the outside, but where you’re joined it rubs the thick ridge of his tip along all your tenderest nerve endings, sending powerful surges of pleasure vibrating into your chest.

Bokuto’s feeling it, too, the hard angles of his jaw standing out as he clenches his teeth. His silvery lashes rest heavily over his flushed cheeks, giving you little more than a bare peek of his dark, tawny eyes with the pupils blown wide in ecstasy.

“Just like that,” he prompts when you angle your hips forward, pinning your abused clit against his pubic bone and continuing to grind greedily over his shaft. He interrupts your rhythm with a sharp little pat to your ass, making your hips jump forward and giving him an opening to lower his chin and seal his mouth in the crook of your shoulder.

“Fu-uck,” you whine, looping both arms under his and clutching tightly at his back as your rhythm grows more urgent. You know how to work yourself to the peak easily, using his powerful body and thick cock to your every advantage.

“You’re close already,” he pants in your ear. “Oh, man, I can feel it. Don’t-“ His hips jerk backward, choking him on a surge of pleasure that washes over both of you.

“Don’t hold back for me, baby. I c’n… take it, yeah, that’s it.”

The low rumble of his voice in your ear reverberates all the way down to the pit of your stomach, cocktailing with the pleasure you’re grinding out yourself, and when he grabs your ass with both hands and rocks his tip against the gooey-sweet spot on your upper wall, you’re lost.

“Bo,” you whimper, grabbing tightly at the muscles in his back as your thighs start to shake. “Fuck, oh, fuck, ohfuck-“

The peak crests quietly between you, but quickly bleeds into every limb. You’re powerless to do anything but cling to him and whine in his ear as your hips stutter and twitch and grind over his stirring cock. Just when you think the wave is subsiding, Bokuto glides his hips beneath yours again and draws it out into a tight, near-painful shudder. Your vision whites out, then flashes black as you squeeze your eyes shut and lose yourself to the pleasure.

“Fuck.” Bo’s cursing as you come back to the surface, humping shallowly into your spent body. The lube you used squelches obscenely with the handfuls of slick your climax brought forth, numbing your used insides to his desperate thrusts. “Fuck, you’re so- you’re so- ohgod, inside, I-“

He goes completely incoherent as he finds his own pleasure, shoving his hips tightly against yours. His balls draw tight beneath you, thighs twitching as thick, heady warmth fills your belly. You’re addicted to the fullness he leaves in you without fail, the mess between you when he goes slack and you draw your hips backward to let his falling erection slide out of you.

Your roommate’ll be back from the library at any second. You should be getting up and dressing yourselves, making some attempt at feigning innocence before she comes in. But the bedroom door is closed and it’s far too easy to tumble back into the haphazard embrace from before, cum collecting sticky and hot between your thighs as Bokuto buries his face between your tits.

“D’you think they’ll stretch?” he mumbles into your skin, once your pulse has finally slowed to its regular pace.

“Hmm?” In your pleasure-addled haze, you don’t follow. Bokuto lifts his face from your flesh, resting his chin gently on your sternum.

“My shorts.”

Right.

“Uh-“ You have to purse your lips hard, to keep the dumb smile from showing on them. You take a slow pass of air in through your nose and lift your fingers to comb soothingly through his sweaty hair.

“We’ll make them fit,” you promise. “Somehow.”

Before he buries his face in your chest again, you catch the pure, blissed smile that stretches his cheeks. He slips his eyes shut, nuzzling you tenderly and kissing the swell of one breast.

“Good,” he sighs. And then, bare-assed, sweaty and sticky, he falls asleep.

You spy the shorts, still lying in a crumpled heap by the bathroom door. You make a mental note to check the brand and sizing later, before he leaves.

You’ll make then fit again.

Somehow.

[moved-attre]

info dump for my v! was gonna make this into a whole tag meme but the prompts aren’t very original. oops.

THE BASICS:

FULL NAME: Valerie King.

ALIAS: V / Veronica Li.

DATE OF BIRTH: August 27th, 2049.

AGE (AS OF 2077): 28.

PLACE OF BIRTH: Heywood, Night City.

RACE/CULTURE: Chinese American.

RELIGION: It’s complicated. (Raised Catholic... Now unsure.)

SEXUALITY: Bi

GENDER / PRONOUNS: Cis female, she/her.

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: English and Spanish.

RIGHT OR LEFT HANDED: Right handed.

EDUCATION: College drop-out.

OCCUPATION: Agent at the counterintelligence division of Arasaka, second to Assistant Director Jenkins. Later, mercenary. 

APPEARANCE: 

HAIR: Black. Mid length. Straight. Loose. Briefly changes to neon green, bob cut. Then, back again.

EYES: Dark brown. 

NOTEABLE FEATURES: Freckles on face and body. 

TATTOOS: Snake wrapped around left wrist / Dragon wrapped around left shoulder / Lovers tarot card on left inner forearm / ‘LUCKY YOU’ on left hip joint just above crotch. Angel wings & halo with ‘JACKIE’ on right inner wrist / Collection of roses on right hip and upper thigh / ‘DEATH CAN WAIT’ on bottom of right ribcage. “Johnny + V” in a heart on right inner forearm. 

PIERCINGS: Right and left lobe, double piercing. Philtrum piercing. Navel piercing.

CYBERNETICS/PROSTHETICS: Visible golden cybernetic... plate? on her neck. It can have a skin-like texture covering but it’s sorta transparent. Replaced right hand, and again: has a skin-like texture finish but slightly transparent so the gold chrome is visible. Kiroshi eyes (natural color). Enhanced knee caps/ankles for long distanced jumping. Mantis blades. Cardiovascular and Respiratory system is almost all tech, as is much of her nervous system etc. 

SCARS: None from combat. She has stretch marks on her butt, boobs and tummy.

BODY SHAPE: Curvy / plus size. Not skinny or muscled. Soft.

HEIGHT: 5′3. 

FASHION SENSE: Neon, metallic, holographic. Short skirts, crop tops and big coats / jackets. Wedged sneakers or heeled boots. (Johnny says her style is “hooker”, but what the fuck does Johnny know. He’s worn the same outfit for like 70+ years. Get with the times, grandpa.)

MAKE UP: Neon. Loves yellow or green eyeshadow / eyeliner and shiny colored lip gloss.

NAILS: Long and pointed, like triangle shaped. Always with a metallic finish, colored either: Red, blue or silver.

PERSONALITY: 

ZODIAC: Virgo sun, Aries moon.

MBTI: INTP.

5 FLAWS: Anxious, high maintenance, clingy, emotionally unavailable, jealous.

5 STRENGTHS: Patient, detail-oriented, ambitious, witty, passionate.

SECRET TALENT(S): Can sing.

LIKES: Crappy daytime soap operas, artificial strawberry flavored foods and skin care, MONEY!! and NC in the rain at night.

DISLIKES: Healthy food (She has never touched a vegetable... She’s pretty gross.), other people’s mess, anything with a matte texture and rock music (Sorry to Johnny. But she’s never heard a Samurai song and never will.)

HOBBIES: Boxing. (Not that she ever actually goes more than once a month... She’s got 50+ missed calls from Coach Fred.)

FEARS: Loneliness / being left behind. Being replaced. FOMO.

DREAMS: Stability. A family, whether that’s with a romantic partner or friends. Just someone who’ll stick around.

MUSIC TASTE: Pop, dance, rap. The majority of her library is filled with “girl power” tracks about making money, beating people up and being sexy. 😙

DRINK AND DRUGS: Weed. Likes beer. Smokes cigarettes, thanks to Johnny. Tried various other, harder drugs as a teen but outgrew it.

BAD HABITS: Chews her bottom lip / plays with jewellery when nervous. Tends to bottle up her emotions until she explodes. Has a perpetually messy apartment and will not tidy up.

REASON FOR WANTING TO MAKE IT BIG IN NC: To prove a point. She’s not quite sure who to, sometimes it’s her mom... Other times it’s herself... (She puts a lot of importance on being “self-made”.) For a while, she wanted to succeed for Jackie. Until it got him killed. Now she just wants to survive.

CHILDHOOD HERO: Morgan Blackhand. Corpo-backed mercenary who took on Adam Smasher and may or may not be alive yet? He was like a comic book character to baby V. 

COMBAT/VEHICLES: 

COMBAT STYLE: Netrunner. (Stealth.)

PREFERRED WEAPONS: Her hands. Hacking. A pistol with a silencer. Mantis blades, in an emergency. 

WEAKNESSES: Open combat. She can be slow to react, as she’s overthinking everything. This isn’t the Matrix, unfortunately. 😔

SIGNATURE VEHICLE: Type-66 Avenger, or Jackie’s ARCH.

FAMILY/OTHER RELATIONSHIPS:

FATHER: Everett King, deceased. Low level office worker for Militech.

RELATIONSHIP WITH FATHER: Generally positive. He was her only family for a long time, so V grew very attached. When he passed, she was very angry.

MOTHER: Chloë Li, unknown. Housewife.

RELATIONSHIP WITH MOTHER: Non-existent. Her mom left the family years ago when V was a young child, so her memories of her are vague at best - and clouded by V’s feelings of abandonment.

SIBLING(S): Jordan King (younger brother), deceased.

RELATIONSHIP WITH SIBLING(S): She loved her little brother lots, for the very short time she knew him.

PETS: Nibbles the (creepy) cat.

SIGNIFICANT OTHER: N/A. Briefly, River Ward. (Johnny... but it’s complicated. 😢)

CHILDREN: N/A. She doesn’t want children, ever.

OTHER MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS: Jackie, Mama Welles, T-Bug, Misty, Vik, Judy, Panam, River, Kerry, Padre. Jenkins, in a mentor role.

META: 

LIFE PATH: Corpo. 

CHOSEN ENDING: Worst ending. V [redacted] and dies with Johnny by her side. She doesn’t see the point in struggling on and letting other people die for her, nor does she want to run away. She’s bound to Night City, for better or for worse, and she’d rather go out on her own terms with the most important person in the world to her by her side.

ACTUAL ENDING: V explores the Old City ruins, finds Arasaka’s top secret cryogenics facility. Johnny’s body is recovered, his engram restored and they live happily ever after in Night City. Tah dah! The end!

PRIMARY SKILLS: Intelligence and Cool.

SECONDARY SKILLS: Body and Technical ability.

[eeveedel]

chubby actor louis (part 3)

hello, lovely people! we have yet another installment, and there’s lots of debauchery in this lil update. includes: weight talk, body image talk, bondage, dom/sub dynamics, stuffing, weight gain kink, and lots and lots of food. I hope you enjoy. mwah! 

part 1 I part 2

--

Bacon, eggs with cheese, and a large coffee with cream and sugar started each of Louis’s days.

He slept in every day, and woke up to his breakfast on a tray next to him. Sometimes there were additions of some changes; sausages instead of bacon, scrambled eggs instead of fried, chocolate chip muffins instead of toast. But his food was always waiting for him, and usually, Harry was, too.

Harry worked out in the mornings, so he was usually sweaty, pink-cheeked, and shirtless, sitting next to Louis in bed when he woke up.

“Morning, sunshine,” Harry greeted him with a kiss, “Are you hungry?”

That was also a now-constant in Louis’s life. Harry always asking if he was hungry, if he needed a snack, if he wanted to try something Harry had been whipping up. And unless he was already painfully full, Louis usually said yes.

He pulled himself up, fluffing pillows behind him so he could sit up and eat his breakfast, the food on his many plates slowly disappearing until he just had empty dishes and a full belly.

He slouched back, lazily sipping his coffee while Harry showered him in his usually string of compliments.  

��Look at your cheeks, sweetheart,” Harry hummed as he cradled Louis’s face, “They’re so round! You look so pretty.”

This is why they worked well together, Louis thought through his post-meal haze. He was a goal orientated person, always ploughing forward to the next task. But Harry took in details, observed both the beauty and flaws in everything, although he was so sweet he usually wanted to notice the former. He was the one who would sit back and soak in the little things, notice the changes in everything.

“I know,” Louis sighed, reaching up to touch his puffy cheeks. He folded his hands down a moment later, running his hands down his stomach and rucking up the edge of his shirt.

“But Harry, look at this,” Louis groaned, prodding at the spot under his belly button. “I have a stretch mark! Look!”

“I see it, honey,” Harry said with an easy smile.

“I have a fucking stretch mark,” Louis moaned, “I’m going to have it forever. I’m going to have to use those lotions pregnant women use. Oh my god, Harry.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Harry sighed, giving him a kiss, “I think it’s cute.”

“Of course you do.”

“What? I do. It just means you’re bursting with the love I’m giving you,” Harry said, “Twenty-three pounds of lovin’ in this belly.”

He gave Louis a little pat on his stomach, and Louis felt the morning tension and grumpiness unspool from his body. He sighed and leaned over, giving Harry a kiss as he placed his hand next to Harry’s on his own midsection.

“Well don’t give yourself too much credit, I did most of the work,” Louis huffed, “You can take more credit when you contribute seven more pounds.”

Harry offered him a wolfish grin, and kissed him hard on the cheek.

“Deal.”

--

Louis couldn’t remember a time he had looked forward to eating this much.

He vaguely remembered a time – now only about a month and a half ago – that he had eaten kale salads with salmon on top and mixed grains for dinner and washed it down with kombucha, where he had told himself that it was worth it for all the vitamins and nutrients and the bragging rights he would have amongst his industry friends for how had the most restrictive diet, but he had never been happy before, during, or after those meals. And he also remembered when he had started preparing for this role, where the thrill of eating to his heart’s desire was quickly chased with anxiety over his softening waistline, the voice in his head that said he was doing the worst thing in the world.

But those voices were gone now. There was just his tongue that craved things, and then his boyfriend that inevitable placed that craving into Louis’s hands within the hour. Poutine, with thick homemade fries, doused in orange curls of cheese and thick gravy, curly ramen noodles with eggs on top and tender pieces of beef soaked in salty broth, homemade banana bread slathered in Nutella. Before bed, ice cream with gobs of cookie dough, brownies with caramel drizzled on top, peach pie with whipped cream. If he was thirsty he was presented with ice cold glasses of grape or cherry soda, vanilla milkshakes, or homemade Frappuccinos.

He ended every day with a tight, gurgling belly, which Harry would happily rub, and in the morning, his boyfriend’s careful eyes and observant eyes put him on the scale and measured every inch of his body.

Three more pounds crept up on Louis’s frame, bringing with it the usual praise from Harry and also more and more of the minute details Louis was noticing more and more. His cheeks pressed hard up into his eyes when he smiled, and he barely had to look down or speak for the double fold under his chin to be noticeable. His biceps had softened and he soft bit of arm jiggled under each arm when he waved. He had to rock a little to get himself going before he got up from the couch, and he caught him breathing a bit harder at the top of their main staircase. More red marks appeared on his hips, stomach, and legs, and his thighs rubbed together hard when he walked through the house. Harry bought him some special powder to slap on his thighs and also a large pair of bike shorts to help the chaffing, but when Louis forgot either of them, he widened his stance a bit into a small, awkward waddle. Once Harry caught him doing it and pinned him against the nearest wall for a mid-afternoon quickie.

Harry told him things that would have scared Louis, once – “You’re going to have to go up another pant size soon” and “You know you’re overweight for your height now” and “You’re really fucking out of shape” – but he said them in a deep, raspy voice that turned those statements into the highest of praise.

Louis knew the impact his body had on his boyfriend, and he carried that with pride.

One evening, Louis half-waddled into the kitchen, delicately holding a hand on top of the curve of his stomach, and saw Harry shirtless, standing at the counter and tossing a salad. Harry turned when he saw Louis, his smile bright.

“Hey, you.”

“Can I have a snack?” Louis said, blushing a little. His stomach was just starting to gurgle again, even though after lunch he had had a whole package of sugary dried fruit.

“You’re in luck, I was about to call you for dinner,” Harry said, “Come see.”

Louis followed Harry into the dining room, his eyes widening when he got there. Harry had apparently chosen a theme of Italian and carbs for the evening, because their dining table had two big pans of lasagna, one filled with beef and marinara sauce and one with layers of cheese and a thick white vodka sauce. There was a big loaf of garlic bread nestled in a wad of aluminum foil, and a small tray with two chocolate lava cakes.

“Oh, fuck,” Louis whispered, moving past Harry to look at the food more closely. He leaned forward, the shelf of his belly pressing gently into the edge of the table, and reached towards the tail end of the garlic bread loaf. It was still a little far away, so he leaned further forward, his ass sticking out further behind him and his stomach harder into the table in a way that made him exhale hard.

Louis tore off a piece of bread and stuffed it into his mouth, and then he looked behind him and saw Harry, his eyes dark, a slight smirk on his face as he leaned on the divider of their kitchen. Louis chewed the bread and swallowed quickly.

“What, babe?” Louis asked, his voice already dropping a bit.

“Just enjoying the view,” Harry offered, the side of his mouth twitching.

“Yeah?” Louis asked. He batted his lashes and leaned further over the table. The pair of briefs he had grabbed were too small, and he could feel them wedging into his ass, showing off more of his cheeks. He bounced a little on his toes, feeling the way it made his behind jiggle, and then he reached a hand behind him, smacking his own cheek. “You like this fat ass, baby?”

“God, fuck,” Harry breathed out. He pushed away from the kitchen and came closer, grabbing Louis around the hips. He shoved himself forward, his jeans grinding roughly against Louis’s ass, and Louis gasped. He tried to stand and twist around to let Harry kiss him. He felt his sides fold into a thick roll, and just the feeling made him moan into Harry’s lips.

“You look so good,” Harry groaned as he pulled back, only to nip at Louis’s lip. “So sexy.”

He rubbed along Louis’s stomach, pressing gently into the softness, and Louis giggled.

“Thanks to you,” he said, “You keep me fat and happy, baby.”

“Mm,” Harry hummed, “You’re happy?”

The question seemed genuine, a little softer, and Louis pulled back.

“Yes,” he said firmly, “I am so, so happy.”

He set his hands on Harry’s shoulders, smoothing his hands along the hard, firm lines under his t-shirt.

“God, I don’t decided if I want to fuck you or have the food,” he groaned. “Can we have both?”

“I don’t want you to choke, honey.”

“Ugh, boring,” Louis moaned, “Always so worried for my safety.”

Harry was quiet, chewing on his lip, and then his eyes brightened.

“I have an idea,” Harry said, “If you don’t like it, we don’t do.”

“Okay,” Louis said slowly, “Tell me.”

“I get a pair of our handcuffs from the box upstairs,” Harry said, “Or rope. Or a scarf. Whatever you want. Tie you to a chair, feed you your dinner. And I’ll untie you when I think you’ve had enough.”

Louis felt a little thrill run through his belly at the idea, and his mouth dropped.

“Oh,” he exhaled, “I – okay.”

“Would you want to try that?” Harry asked. He was trying to keep his voice steady, but Louis could recognize Harry’s eagerness easily.

“Sure,” Louis said, “Sure, let’s do it, yeah.”

“Yeah,” Harry echoed. He took a step back and vaguely gestured behind him, “I’m gonna…get supplies upstairs. What do you want me to tie you with?”

“Um,” Louis said, “Rope?”

“Solid choice,” Harry agreed, “I’ll be right back.”

He seemed to sprint out of the room, and Louis heard him moving around rapidly upstairs, and then, his footsteps were going down the stairs, and soon, Harry was in front of him. He was carrying a soft length of bondage rope, thick and petal pink, and Louis smiled.

“Tell me what you need me to do,” Louis said gently.

“Sit,” Harry breathed out, his voice firm.

Louis pulled out a dining room chair and sat down, and Harry nodded.

“Scoot back, hands behind your hands…there you go.”

Harry moved behind Louis and crouched on the ground, and then tied the rope around Louis’s wrists, and then around the slats at the back of the chair, securing Louis to the chair. Harry put in a couple more ties, his hands sure and well-trained, and he gave them a tug, asking if they were too tight and adjusting the knots. Finally, he stood up and circled around Louis to go to the kitchen, and then returned a moment later with two big glasses of ice water. Then he grabbed his own chair, dragging it forward so he was sitting directly in front of Louis.

Louis watched carefully as Harry picked up a piece of garlic bread, dripping in bright yellow butter. Louis licked his lips and locked his eyes with Harry, his head already growing fuzzy.

Harry pushed his hand forward, holding the bread right next to Louis’s lips.

“Eat,” he said softly.

Louis opened his mouth gladly and bit into the bread, moaning immediately at the taste. He ate happily, swallowed down what Harry gave him and then licking his boyfriend’s buttery, crumb-covered fingers when he was done. Harry reached for another piece of bread and offered it to Louis, smiling as he swallowed it down. Another piece of bread appeared after that, bigger than the first two, and Louis once again ate it quickly, making Harry’s smile grow.

“Good boy,” Harry nodded. He paused just to wipe his hand with a napkin and to pick up Louis’s water, commanding him to take a big sip.  

Next Harry dragged forward a tray of lasagna, the one filled with meat and red sauce. He retrieved a big serving spoon and took a hunk out of the corner of the dish, then held it in front of Louis. He ate, just like he was told, his tongue savoring the soft pasta, the rich sauce, the greasy cheese. He moaned happily and ate from Harry’s spoon, then eating another spoonful afterwards. Harry pet his hair and cooed, picking up more and more for Louis to eat, until there was a big space in the lasagna pan where they used to be food.

Louis’s stomach felt warm and happy, and he wiggled a little when Harry switched to the other pan, how giving him a taste of sharp-tasting vodka sauce that made his tongue tingle.

“So good, baby,” Louis moaned as he ate. He felt some sauce drip onto his chin and Harry didn’t go to clean it up.

“Thank you,” Harry smiled, picking up another spoonful, “Only the best for my boy.”

Louis closed his eyes and kept eating, his mind a haze of cheese and pasta. He only frowned when he felt how tight his stomach was getting. He blinked, looking down. He could his belly was sticking out, perfect round, and he looked up at Harry.

“I’m a little full…” he said, but Harry just blinked at him and dug up another spoonful of lasagna.

“You stop when I tell you to stop,” Harry said simply, “Open your mouth.”

Louis blinked, and then opened his mouth and did what he was told. When he was done with the spoonful Harry smiled and reached out, smacking the side of Louis’s belly and giving it a little jiggle.

“Good boy,” he praised.

Harry’s hand was steady, doling out more pasta, and then more bread, all with little sips of water. Louis took deep breaths, pulling a little at his constraints to get comfortable. His stomach was tighter and heavy, and he opened his legs a bit to give his stomach room. He felt it sag, he felt the elastic of his underwear starting to curl at the top, helpless to the weight of his middle.

“Such a perfect boy,” Harry said, “Eating so well for me. Making me so happy.”

Louis nodded, and opened his mouth at Harry’s next command. More bread. More butter. More calories that would go straight to his thighs and belly and ass. Or maybe his double chin, or his fat arms. It didn’t matter.

His eyes drooped as he ate, and he felt grease and sauce accumulate on his face and chin. His mouth opened less eagerly, but he still ate. He let out a little burp at one point, and blushed, but Harry just patted his gut and gave it a jiggle, telling him it was okay.

“One more bite,” Harry said, holding out more lasagna, “And then dessert.”

Dessert? Jesus fucking Christ. But Louis opened his mouth nonetheless and ate the lasagna.

As soon as he had swallowed, Harry fetched a clean fork and the two lava cakes, holding him out.

“These are for you,” Harry grinned, “Both of them.”

“Both?” Louis asked,

“Try for me,” Harry said, “Come on.”

He gave Louis more water, and then gave his belly a firm jiggle, and then, there was a forkful of chocolate in front of Louis.

His belly said no. But chocolate sounded so good. And Harry was giving him a look where no was not an option.

So Louis sagged forward and welcomed the cake into his mouth.

His brain was floating elsewhere, his mouth was full of chocolate, and Harry was still staring at him, coaxing the food between his lips.

Louis moaned as he finished one lava cake and then another one floated in front of his face. His mouth opened without thought, a robotoic motion of open-close-chew-swallow.

He barely realized the last bite was gone until Harry was kissing him, one hand cradling Louis’s full, tender stomach.

“Oh, good fucking boy,” Harry breathed, “God, look at you.”

Louis could only imagine what Harry was seeing; Louis exhausted, sweating, red-faced, his face covered in food and his soft body spilling out of his briefs. Harry started to clean him, rubbing a napkin on his face, getting some water into his system, and then he untied Louis’s wrists, letting him lean forward and cradle his stomach. The skin was tight and hot under his hands, and he moaned. Harry coaxed him to his feet, and Louis widened his legs, cradling his belly and waddling to the living room, until he could collapse on the couch.

Harry sat by his hip, rubbing his stomach, soothing the aching skin and giving Louis kisses on his face and wrists as he came down from his high. His stomach was screaming, but his head was happy. He was Harry’s good boy, happy and fat, always doing what he was told. That was enough.

As Louis became more lucid, Harry grew a bit quiet, still touching Louis carefully but not offering many words. Eventually, his voice came, quiet and uncertain.

“Louis,” Harry said softly, “Are you really happy?”

“Hm?” Louis lifted his head and looked at his boyfriend, who was looking at him so gently.

“Are you happy like this?” Harry asked, “Like you said earlier?”

He kept drawing circles around Louis’s belly button, but Louis still would’ve understood his question.

“Honestly, I think…I think this is the happiest I’ve been in a while,” Louis admitted.

His skin flushed as he said it, but he was smiling.

“I don’t have to get up early to do work outs I don’t even enjoy and eat food I hate, just for a body I’ll never feel good enough in,” he said. The words were rushed, but he meant them.

“I don’t know if I was happy like that, when we were the fucking ‘fittest couple in Hollywood,’” Louis confessed, “I mean, that was your thing, and I just did it because it was expected of me.”

He blushed, reaching down to squeeze his belly.

“But I feel so…so happy like this. In this body, with you, doing this,” he said, “Like I’m enough.”

Harry nodded, his face soft and content.

“I always had the feeling you didn’t like working out that much,” Harry said, “I mean, you did it, but I always had the feeling you wanted to do anything else.”

“Yeah,” Louis said softly, “And I hated half the food I used to eat. I guess some of it was alright. But I just felt like I had no choice.”

“Well know you can do whatever you want,” Harry said, “Although I will say, I kind of miss you when I work out. I miss having you there with me.”

“Maybe I can hang out with you while you’re lifting? Or on the treadmill?” Louis offered, “I can have a snack and talk to you while you do that.”

“I would really like that,” Harry agreed.

He reached down again to pet Louis’s belly, and Louis looked down at himself, a little lump growing in his throat.

“I’m going to have to lose this eventually,” Louis said sadly, “For my job.”

“Hey,” Harry said softly, cuffing Louis under the chin. “We have four pounds to go, honey.”

He gave him a kiss, holding his lips tight on Louis’s cheek before he pulled away.

“And I plan to make them count.”

--

Ideas sprouted in Harry’s head like weeds in the middle of spring.

For the next few days, he scaled back some of Louis’s meals. Still giving him everything he wanted, just a little less. A dozen buffalo wings instead of eighteen, four red velvet cupcakes instead of six, two calzones but no cinnamon sticks to go with them. Louis questioned him, a little frown forming at each of the meals.

“I’m planning something,” Harry teased him, “Be patient.”

And then one morning Louis woke up to no breakfast platter, and instead, Harry was just sitting next to him, a giant smile on his face.

“Wear something tight for me today,” Harry said, and then got up and disappeared. And Louis realized this was the day, this was Harry’s planning was paying off. And Louis was eager to mind out what it entailed.

Louis went to their closet, rifling the section that had become his out-grown clothes. He hated wearing tight clothes, he preferred his sweatpants and pajamas now above anything else, but if Harry wanted, he could deliver.

He selected a white button-down shirt and a pair of dark jeans, and started the process of doing them up. It was easier said than done, they had been new purchases when he and Harry had visited the mall, but they were already tight. All the buttons on his shirt did up, but the buttons were tight and the fabric stretched taunt on his frame, not hiding a thing. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and unbuttoned the first few buttons of the shirt, something that used to show off his delicate wrists and sharp collarbones that had since thickened and softened. He yanked on the jeans, which were snug against his thighs and ass, and he had to suck in to button them and then pull the curve of his stomach out of the waistband, letting it flop over top of his pants and pushing hard against his shirt.

He knew he wasn’t that big, but in this outfit, he felt massive, and it sent a little thrill through him, especially knowing how much Harry would love to see it, too.

He made his way down the stairs, breathing a bit hard at how the buttons cut into him. Harry was waiting for him in the doorway of the kitchen, and he waved his hand towards the breakfast nook, signaling for Louis to sit.

“You look gorgeous,” Harry smiled, “And I like the white shirt, too. You’ll probably get messy today. But maybe that’s good.”

Louis smiled, his stomach fluttering a bit.

“So what are you making me today?”

“Well, just one thing, actually,” Harry said.

Louis’s heart sank a bit. One thing, for the whole day? And then Harry disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a platter holding an enormous cheesecake almost completely covered in Oreos, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. He placed it in front of Louis with reverence, staring at it for a long moment before turning to Louis.

“I spent all last night making this,” Harry beamed, “It’s around twenty thousand calories.”

The two statements hit Louis one after the other, and he blinked.

“Oh,” Louis stammered, “Oh, wow.”

“Yep!” Harry chirped, “And you’re gonna eat it today.”

He kissed Louis’s temple as the other man just stared at the platter, open mouthed.

“Gonna get you a fork,” Harry said, “Are you hungry?”

“I, yeah,” Louis managed.

“Of course you are,” Harry said, “My baby’s always hungry.”

He disappeared once more, and he returned with a fork. He pressed it into Louis’s hand, and then kissed the top of his head.

“Eat up, gorgeous.”

Louis nodded, staring at the feat in front of him. He wasn’t tied up, like he had been the night of the lasagna, but he felt just as much under Harry’s control.

He took a breath, feeling the press of the buttons into his abdomen. He had all day. He could do this. He would do this.

He reached his fork forward, picking up a bite of the cheesecake and placing it on his tongue. It was delicious, as always, so sweet it made his teeth sing, incredibly soft, and rich enough that he could taste the butter.

He easily ate through a full slice, and then another after that. He loved sweets for breakfast, and Harry had trained him for such indulgences with Belgian waffles and chocolate muffins presented to him quite literally on a silver platter. He even managed to polish off another slice, and Harry praised him with a kiss and a hug.

And so, for the rest of the day, the cheesecake was Louis’s constant companion. Anytime he felt the smallest bit of emptiness in his belly, he was back at the table with his fork, digging into the layers of cookies and frosting, picking away at the mammoth plate. Usually Harry worked up in his studio, but he seemed to be lingering around a lot more, either on his laptop or engrossed in his sketchbook, but still taking time to look up at Louis as he ate.

At lunchtime, a third of the cake was gone and Louis’s buttons were so tight he was gasping. He shoved cake into his mouth and then moved to undo his shirt, but Harry’s voice halted him.

“Leave that,” he said firmly, and Louis’s hand dropped immediately. He went back to his cake, sugar-buzzed and obedient.

He returned only an hour and a half later, eager for a few more bites. He didn’t realize until now how much hungrier he was throughout the day, his body trained for constant snacks. He sat down and picked up his fork, Harry sitting nearby watching.

He only had to reach forward a little before he heard a rip and felt pressure release on his stomach.

Louis blinked and looked down and saw there was a very apparent rip in his shirt, right over his stomach. There was also a bit of a gap at the side seam, and when he shifted, the rip widened. He looked up at Harry, his mouth opened, and his boyfriend’s eyes were dark.

“Eat your cake,” he said, his voice deep, and Louis reached for the fork without question.

As he moved around the house, the gaps in his shirt grew, the rips audible and showing more and more of his skin. He also saw how the white fabric was staining, smeared with chocolate and greasy bits of whipped cream. He would be embarrassed by it, but Harry kept giving him the most satisfying looks.

As dinner time approached, there was still a significant amount of cheesecake left, and Harry clucked his tongue.

“I worked so hard on this,” he said, “It better not go to waste.”

Louis’s fork found its way back to the plate.

Eventually, he decided not to leave the table. His brain was a swirl of black and white sugar, his body felt sluggish. There was a new rip under his right arm, and he had to keep breathing around the buttons, which were nothing short of painful now. He groaned as he took another bite, his body protesting, and he rocked forward a little, a hand cradling his stomach as he tried to sooth himself.

He heard the sound, a pop and then a high little ping on the ground, and then felt his stomach surge. Another pop. Another ping. He moaned, moving to the space where the two buttons had flown off, leaving his pale, soft belly exposed to the cool air.

He looked up at Harry and blinked, his vision blurring.

“I think the shirt’s too small,” he said, and then, his hand scrambled for the fork. More cake passed his lips. Harry groaned.

Louis couldn’t tell the difference between the next seconds to minutes to hours. It was all cake, all Harry’s gaze, all the feeling of his shirt ripping, unable to contain his form. His mouth and hand moved on their own in rhythm, working towards the goal as his other hand rubbed his stomach.

Eventually he blinked and rocked forward, and he felt the thick button on his jeans break, hurtling towards the ground. Louis hiccupped and adjusted his hips, his stomach pushing down the zipper of his pants.

He felt Harry’s hand on his belly and he leaned back, accepting a kiss on the head. He hadn’t even known Harry was there. He was too sugar drunk to know anything.

“I’m gonna pop,” he heard himself moan, and Harry soothed him.

“But you just have a little more,” Harry said carefully, “Please. Come on. Make me proud.”

Make Harry proud.

Louis’s mouth lolled open and stayed at way. A hand that wasn’t his fed him, rubbed his belly, slipped his fingers under Louis’s ripped shirt.

“Good. Good. Perfect,” Harry coaxed, “Just a little more now.”

Louis barely heard Harry when he was done. He collapsed on the table, panting, his shirt ripping even more. He thought he felt a rip along his inner thigh, but he didn’t know. He felt Harry’s hands lifting him up, guiding him to the sofa, offering him water.

“Never make me do that again,” Louis wheezed, and he heard Harry laugh.

“Once is all I wanted,” he heard his proud, proud boyfriend say, “And God, were you absolutely spectacular.”

--

Louis expected a bit more pomp and circumstance, in all honesty.

It still the morning, although Louis had slept in so it was closer to midday. Harry had to shake him awake and Louis immediately groaned and yanked the blankets over his head.

“Not now,” he huffed.

“Up and at ‘em,” Harry said gently, “Come on, honey. Scale.”

“I’m hungry,” Louis protested.  

“I know, honey,” Harry sighed, “But we gotta weigh you first.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“If we weigh you after you eat, it might not be accurate,” Harry said, “Come on. I’ll make you whatever you want.”

Louis considered resisting a bit longer, but he could hear the eagerness in Harry’s voice. It was his favorite thing, to see the numbers under Louis’s feet rise.

So Louis rolled out of bed and followed Harry to the bathroom. At Harry’s instruction he stepped up on the scale, not even looking down to read it. He rubbed at his eyes and yawned, blinking weakly as he tried to wake up. The scale beeped under him, evening out, and he waited for Harry to read him the number like he always did.

But there wasn’t anything.

He turned to his side, seeing Harry was still, just staring down.

“Harry?” he asked, “What is it?”

Harry lifted his head, his smile brilliant.

“179.”

Louis blinked.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“So…I’m…”

“You did it, babe,” Harry said, “Well, you went above and beyond, actually.”

“One pound isn’t above and beyond.”

“It is,” Harry insisted, “It is to me.”

He surged forward, wrapping his arms around Louis and giving him a squeeze that made Louis squeak.

“You’re perfect,” Harry breathed out, “Absolutely perfect.”

Louis could only stare down at the number below him, the reality catching up to him.

He had gained thirty-one pounds. He was out of breath, hungry, and covered in stretch marks.

And he had never felt better about himself in his entire life.

After a moment, he stepped down, and let himself be fully hugged by Harry, snuggling into his chest.

“God, wow,” Harry said again, “I’m – I can’t believe this.”

“I know, right?” Louis sighed, “And hey, you helped with the last sixteen. So you can officially claim most of the credit.”

Harry laughed, shaking his head.

“I mean, I’m kind of…sad that it’s over, to be honest,” Harry said, “This has been so fun.”

“Well,” Louis drawled slowly, “I have a whole movie to shoot. Gonna have to keep this up for awhile.”

He patted his stomach and watched how he jiggled.

“You up for helping me with that?” Louis asked, “Can’t get skinny now.”

Harry’s mouth twitched, and he gave Louis a long look before grinning once more.

“I think I would be interested.”

[c-atm]

Steven Universe, The Alien hybrid demon hunter, who bared a pink gem as his belly button.

Connie Maheswaran, succubus heiress of the Maheswaran lineage.

Usually, there would be flirty bantering. Usually, this would be amusing. 

Amusing and exciting.

Fun...This should be fun. Like every other time before this. Their fighting.

"So...Mister hunter? How many times has your back slammed against my grounds, huh? Twenty...Thirty? I've seemed to have lost count." The heiress teased as she looked at the body spread flat on the ground. 

He was bulky and short, coming up to her lips, made of round muscle and slightly peach skin. His round face bore a round button nose, big, round heterochromia eyes of chocolate and strawberry, and a curly black unkept pompadour.

He wore a simple outfit of a black cotton collar shirt, pink baggy leg jeans, and a pair of pink sandals; his relaxed wear, as he called it and one of the first signs that something was awry.

"You know, under different circumstances. I would be thrilled at a 'night-cap' from you."

"Shameless Succubus!" He glared intensely at his shocked rival, a bit red-faced at her insinuation, the same one she always makes. 

That and her appearance.

Brazil nut-brown skin with thin, rich-ridge lips painted in lips balm the same pink of his gem. Midnight gleaming eyeshadow on her wide-set, protruding eyes with full S-shape brows and a small hook nose on an oblong face. Hair of ombrè chestnut in a right-side braid and a left-side wavy-fizzy hair flow to her tailbone and front of the madams’ eye.

With a body made for battle and bedding, she decorated her well-muscled, statuesque, and luscious bottom hourglass figure with a cleavage presenting, independence blue, off-the-shoulder, sheer swallowtail crop top with a black strapless bra underneath; A Sacramento-green mesh, extreme double split maxi skirt with tight-fitting, mint bikini briefs underneath. On her feet was a pair of silk, bluebell-colored open toe ankle socks. As both the crystal charm on her leather choker and tattoo-like birthmark above the center of her breast, was the insignia of her ancestry, the lion eating the star in a shade of blue entirely her own

"Do you still wanna keep this up, Stevie?" She questioned a slightly more worried.

He sneered in pain at his worn body and irritation at her teasing tone.  "Is this a game to you!?" His roar got a more resonant laugh from Connie's cohorts and a frozen neutral look from her. 'There's the second sign. He's never this irritable.'

"It is, It's the only reason why Madam Maheswaran hasn't killed you yet."

He turned his sight to the far left of their strawberry and bluebell battlefield. Thereupon a slightly inclined slope on a blanket resided two people; one man and one woman.

The one who commented was an umber ma, youthful, tall, and broadly built with a slight beard, thick-peaked brows, and a faded haircut of onyx. Square-faced with deep-set eyes were a hickory shade, hick lips of chestnut hiding a fanged mouth, and a big flared nose.

He wore a black, sleeveless, double slit longline shirt of silk, with a lion’s crimson design eating a star on the left breast. Smoke colored, loose legged slacks held up by a black snake skinned belt with a belt buckle shaped like a sword, and a pair of leather jodhpur boots of apple. Each of his wrists bore an icy blue cuff bracelet of unknown crystal. 

On his lap, the woman's head laid as she looked on with the same face of amusement. Heart-faced with tawny skin,  cupid-bow lips made up in mahogany paint, russet hooded eyes with short-diagonal brows, a medium-sized button nose, and loose curly black hair that fell to her mid-back.

She wore a sand-colored, thigh-length, pointed collar shirt that cascaded over her figure. Leg exposing, hip accentuating, short khaki pants of coconut; hazelwood T-bar wedges with beaded anklets made out of the same icy crystal as the man's bracelets. Her shirt bore the same emblem as her compatriot.

"Daniel, please…We shouldn't tease her guest so." The woman in his lap taunted their mistresses' adversary, before sighing as he ran his fingers upon her scalp.

"Patricia is right," Connie began with a soft jest, putting on her usual act. "We should honor this brave hunter of the night, for his continuous service to a city of infrared, dishonorable businessmen, and prejudice filled people. All for the hope of a mighty payday.." The madam spoke in a ridiculing flirt as her opponent stood to his feet, anger, and frustration on his face. "Ah, he stands again.” She applauded with a golf clap, hoping to get a rise out of him. “That gem biology makes you quite the sturdy playmate. Can't help but wonder how much it will take to make you. break." She licked her lips, a libidinous sparkle in her black pearl eyes. 

"Take this seriously, monster!" 

'She's not!' Steven's heart and mind screamed.

"Be silent." The hunter growled to himself as he flexed his wrist and a shimmering pink circular shield with light blue edges, and a swirl design on its face with a gem at the very center appeared, covering his left forearm. He glared intensely at his shocked rival, a bit red-faced at her insinuation, the same one she always makes.

"M-Monster, me? Just because I'm a succubus does not mean I am a monster." She folded her under her breast, giving them a bit of rising as she pouted. “That’s a bit too far, don’t you think, Biscuit? Don’t seem me calling you ‘hybrid’ or ‘alien’?”

“Shut up!” Steven roared, throwing his shield toward her neck at blinding speed. 

Maheswaran stood looking amused as a black devil-like tail shot from right below the curve of her back, destroying the construct by piercing its face from above. “Seems like your losing vigor, Biscuit. Wanna take a break?” She offered him a gentle smile. “Maybe explain why you’re taking this so seriously.”

'Connie, it's not me!' 

'She can't hear you. So be silent! As I do your job!'

Steven glared at creating a wall of eighteen spiked hexagonal constructs in front of him. “The only break I want…" 

'No!' Steven roared, helplessly watching his body and hear his voice act.

"Is your broken body.” He snapped his fingers, launching the constructs at her like missiles. 

‘So cold…” She thought as she took to the sky to dodged the projectiles. Even as they chased her, she was able to escape, skipping on the currents of the air as if it was a stage for dancing.’ He’s really trying to kill me, huh?’ She vaulted over two, causing them to crash and shattered each other before whipping her tail in a half-circle, destroying four more. ‘This aggression, it’s much different from our usual game,’ She dodged the remaining twelve by leaping, diving, and propelling herself within the air. She looked down at the hunter sadly.

They had done this so many times before fought and clashed against each other, that it seemed like a greeting between them.

Sometimes it was to break her boredom. Sometimes it was for him to get information on a target he was chasing. Sometimes it was circumstance, and sometimes...It was an excuse and gateway to other emotional actions and personal moments

It is a key part of their communication and bond. One full of passion, competition, and vigor. That, more than not, led to teasing and flirting; and at rare times, touching and exploring each other—many in this very field, numerous times throughout the five years of their association. 

She cherished their matches; they allowed her to get closer to him.

Unlike this,  whatever it is. Which only made her vary of its conclusion.

 "What happened to you, Steven?" She whispered before finding herself surrounded. 

‘Uh-oh.’

'Berry!?'

Steven watched as his constructs slammed, pierced, shattered upon her body. The sounds of her flesh ripping, bones crushing, and blood drowned screams brought him an unrelenting pain in his chest. His eyes followed as she fell from the sky headfirst. He ignored the hate-filled stares of her two cohorts as he walked towards her body. Even now, they respected her request to not interfere with the battle.

She wasn’t moving at all. Her body was mangled, slashed, torn, and twisted. Her blood was splattered on the ground, her innard and organs in public view; eyes opened, unfocused and lifeless, surrounded by bluebells. “Even as a corpse, you’re so damn sinfully beautiful.” His body chuckled as it dropped to its knees, wiping a spontaneous tear from his left pink eye. "Well, wonder whose tear this is? Yours over your dead demon slut or mines on finally getting revenge on the Maheswaran family."

"I'm a thousand percent

 sure it's yours."

Steven's body didn't have a moment to answer; a black vortex erupted from Connie's corpse. The doppelganger covered its eyes with Steven's forearms, from the force of the wind as it scarred the earth, scattered bluebells, and splattered strawberries alike. That when he felt it.

Her clawed hand, pulling down his crossguard, followed by explosive pain as her fist connected with his left cheek, launching from where he was standing to a sitting position after his head crashed against something woody, thick, and hard. He felt dizzy and wholly disorientated as he shook his head. He was about to come to his feet when he felt the weight of a body up against his pelvis and strangely warm hands upon his nape and upper back, rubbing him sensually.

"Look at me." 

The dopple opened its eyes, and jaw dropped in a mixture of fear and wanting at the visage.

Connie Maheswaren, in all her relentlessly salacious, monstrously dangerous acclaim, stared down at the inserted personality. 

Her appearance didn't change too much; her figure now bore darker brown skin with streaks of 'her blue' along the curves of her torso and limbs. Protruding from her lower back on both sides of her spine were two sword-sharp, sleek bat-wings with metallic-looking, forest-colored 'fingers' and a patagium of the color of 'her blue.' Two smaller, horizontal wings protrude from the top of her head. Her devil tail wrapped around her waist. The most striking and power exuding aspect was her eyes. 

While still protruding, they now appeared monolid with kaleidoscopic irises of black, smoke, and her 'blue' shaped as four-point stars and slit pupils of the forest. He could not look away; they were dazzling, alluring, dangerous...Hypnotic.

"My beloved hunter, " She stroked his cheek, never breaking their gaze. Her voice soothing and adoring, "I'm going to save you." 

“Stop acting like we’re-"

"I'M NOT SPEAKING TO YOU, THIEF!" 

'Steven' shook in apprehension and alertness at the scowl and harshness cast in his direction. The chuckle of the real Steven resounding in the back of his mind didn't help.

"Now, " She hissed."You little false persona.  Look into my eyes. Listen to my voice. Feel my presence and open everything to Me~eee."

'Steven' couldn't say anything as he felt his control of the body loosen, his mouth dropping as his eyes took on her own, and the world slowly warped around Connie, her eyes remained unblinking. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, all he could do is stare as everything in the world except Connie went black before her visage too went dark.

When he came to, he saw himself in a space of black, pinks, and blues swirls and Cobblestone under his feet. 

"Well, looks who's come to join me."

'Steven' glared before turning to the voice behind him. There, in a makeshift cage of green like energy, stood the actual persona of Steven dressed in a similar outfit with the exception that his complete being was bathed in glowing pink.

"The astral plane?...My mindscape?…, My voice!"  the dopple eyes widened at the feminine voice before they waved their hands, creating a mirror to observe themselves. They glared at their reflection.

What was Steven universe, a few moments ago, now stood a small-statured, dwarf-like woman with a pixie haircut bathed in a bit, her face was round, and her aquamarine eyes were naturally narrowed, her nose was tiny and upturned, her lips were thin and volume-less. Adorned on her small triangle frame was a simple sleeveless collar shirt of ocean under a buttoned-up vest of cobalt, bracers of baby blue in her wrist, a flowing pencil skirt of the same color, thigh-high stockings, and black flats. Protruding from her back was two butterfly wings of powder blue

 "How? When?"  The woman inquired in anxious fear.

"Now aren't you cute..mini bodied and small-minded," Connie's taunting cackling shook the space. "Have you forgotten already?"

The dwarf-sized fairy shivered at the voice that seemed to reverberate throughout the area boomingly. "Did you hit your...His head that hard?"

"Cowardly, bitch of a demon whore! Show yourself!" The woman challenged as she stood ready for an attack.

"Now why would I, when I have you right where I want you?" 

"My berry makes a good point, part of the reason I never let her hypnotize me. The thought of her in my mind." He insulted his captor. 

The persona growled at her mental captive before smiling sinisterly. "I'm still in control here, " she snapped her fingers, and the cage around Steven morphed to a cross, strapping him in around his neck, wrists, and ankles. With a second snap, the cross slid across the cobblestone towards the mind thief, stopping before her sharp nails fingers pierced his neck. "I still have you, and I know she won't allow me to hurt you. Let alone eliminate your existence...WILL YOU, MADAM OF THE MAHESWARAN!"

Her yelling heed no results. Pure silence was all that answered her. "All that, and now you're just gonna let him die," she sneered, "as expected from the Maheswaran bloodline. They use you for their needs and are quick to betray when it suits them. Loyalty, valor, honor...means nothing to them." She turned to Steven, who was looking away. "Sorry, hunter, your succubi is an untrustworthy and betraying bitch. Just like her ancestors were to my family, that being said." 

"You don't know anything about her."Steven glared as she grabbed his head, making him face her.

She chuckled menacingly. "Ohoho...You two are sweet on each other, maybe more than sweet?... Such a lucky whore. Tasteful too…" She licked her lips as she peered her captive up and down. "She's right about you, though. Your body, your power; hell, bet if you weren't so under, I wouldn't be able to take residence as I have...I was lucky.. " 

She grinned before giving him a disrespectful kiss. "In your next life, choose carefully with the women you share time and drink with...Some of us are horrible creatures. Just like that damn succubus...Or little nymphs turned wraith, like me." She pulled her hand back, posed to strike.

 "So...How about you give me your last words to go along with the kiss and your sight. I'll make sure she'll receive them before I reunite you two in the nether...Promise."

Steven scowled at her struggling to break free. "She is going to kill you and every one of your kin for this."

"Not like there is any more of our marine's left, her forefathers seen to that...It's only fair that I take something she treasures." She shot her fingers forward. "Poor choice of  final words by the by!"

She beamed maniacally as her digits dug into Steven's throat, feeling the warmth of his essence as 'blood' dribbled rapidly from her penetrations. She watched as his eyes widened and teared up as he choked up…

"Bluebell petals?" The Marine whispered in alarm as the petals fell from his mouth and his head drooped forward before he formed a victorious smile.

"You foolish lost soul," 'Steven' tittered as he transformed into Connie's visage, "you really think you are in control."  Connie's form detonated in a flurry of petals, blinding the nymph, who struggled to clear her vision, swinging her arms wildly in a struggle. When her vision finally cleared, she found herself back to the field, thoroughly dyed in her blue.

"I'm back outside?"

"No. You're not, little soul."

The Marine shivered as she looked over her shoulder to see Connie. Her form shadowed by her moon, the only thing visible being her fierce gleaming eyes and slasher smile. 

"Welcome to your grave." The succubus greeted as the now horrified soul shot to escape, only to find the efforts futile as Connie just seemed to glide closer to her. Her smile is growing more, the closer she gets.

"Demon! Devil! You Mahe-"

The stems of bluebells silenced the screaming by wrapping themselves around the spirit's throat, wrist, waist, and ankles before pinning her to the turf, strangling and slicing into her flesh, letting the blood run into the ground as the bullwhip, leather-like stems moved and tightened themselves second by second. 

"You know, a part of me wonders what your beef could be with the Maheswaran? What horrible thing my ancestors could have done to your family? Well, maybe they killed yours or something...Possibly, a blood feud," she watched as her victim tried to speak, only to step on her opponent's chest cavity crushing it under her heel, grinding her heel deep, making her silently and gaspingly scream, "but you know what...It doesn't matter, before my time, and I refuse to pay the debts of my ancestors." 

Connie chuckled, seeing struggle under her heel." Awe. You almost got a sound out that time…" Her voice got frigid as she stomped again. "I'm not one for grudges, and usually turn my enemies to companions or corpses...I guess you know where you fit, but that fault's on your head." Her voice got louder as she stomped again."You had the nerve to take control of my beloved hunter body."

And again. "Disgraced an essential facet of our relationship."

And again. "For some revenge,"

She snarled again before yelling. "THAT HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH!" She slammed her foot into the nymph's chest, caving it in as the stems cut and slashed deep into the nymph's body, spraying blood as it did, staining the bluebells. "That's the only reason why you are in this position...If you had just stepped up and attacked me straightforwardly, I would have been a lot more lenient. Even praised you for the prowess of your mental power." 

"Ah..ahh..arghh."

"Tsch! Now you got something to say. Are you trying to apologize? Famous last words perhaps, you no name ghost from the past? Come on, let me hear them...Before I reunite you with your dead bloodline.".

Connie watched as her victim fought to speak, her eyes leaking blood due to the constructing, slashing, spinning stems.

" My. My na-"

"Don't care. Die." 

The nymph's final sight was Connie's bored face as she slammed her heel into her skull. Unaware that she would be nothing more than another soul added to the succubus collection. To be added to her strength.

Connie signed as she watched the soul limbs and head popped off due to the squeezing of the stems. Everything that was the nymph dropped and spilled onto the ground before being l absorbed by the soil, causing it to glow in Connie's unique blue, producing more bluebells and strawberries.

"Sheesh, I'm not even close to the family, and I'm cleaning up their blood feuds." Connie scratched her head with a sigh. "still..she touched my heart, wasn't going to let that slide...Speaking of." With a smile, she closed her as she vanished from her field to appear at an evening beach with a sky of pinks and oranges and water of a midnight blue. She opened her eyes in awe at space before her eyes caught him, sitting at the beach shore a calm look on his face.

She couldn't help her grin and excitement as she flew towards her hunter, "Stee~ven!"

The hunter looked surprised before he felt a body barreled into him and knocked them both into the sandy turf. He groaned as he cleared his view and took notice of who knocked him over and now straddling his hips.

"Hey, Connie." He reached up, rubbing her cheek. "You saved me."

"Yeah." she smiled, nuzzling into his palm as her tail swished behind her happily, "I'm so mad at you, though." She kissed his palm. "How you let a wraith take over your body? Your mental fortitude needs some reinforcement."

He picked up on the accusation and growled in insult, "Hey, that's not fair, she tricked and drugged me." 

"Which brings me to another insult." Connie grabbed his hand, squeezing in anger. "How'd you allow yourself to get tricked? Aren't you an experienced hunter? What could have thrown your guard off?".

He sat up and gave her a piercing stare." Well, excuse me for being tired from hunting a daemon armory and wanting to relax a bit; how was I supposed to know that I was getting wrapped up in some revenge plot? All I wanted was to drink and relax."

"In the company of another woman."  

He grinned at the pout in her voice. "Is that a problem, madam? I am a free agent."

Connie turned away, not wanting him to see her blush. "Oh, you're free to do whatever…" She held him close around his upper back and nape, laying his head upon her family crest, "but look where it got you."

"My head between your breast, worth it."

"You, being turned to a puppet."

"The wiles of women is a dangerous weapon." Steven wrapped his right arm around her hips. "As a succubus, you should know and respect that fact."

"Why does it seem you are trying to pick a fiiighhhooohom."

She was interrupted by the tingling sensation of him stroking her tail near the base, making her mewl in pleasure as she increased her grip on him. "Hunt~hm," she was interrupted by his index and thumb squeezing her tail."Hmm.Steven."

 He ran his hand up the full length squeezing as he did.

Mmmmm~aah, Biiis~cuit." With a purr, she nuzzled into the crook of his neck. "You cheat." Her voice was softened as she gave the smallness of bites into his left trapezius muscle, puncturing it and sinking a spell into him and making him groan before a flame of fear in him.

"Connie?! What did you just-"

"Shut up and accept my protection." She held him close, peppering the bite mark with cat-like licks.

"I  just got my body freed, from a mind controlling...Whatever."

"Wraith. A vengeful lost spirit." She informed, before her licks turned to nips. Smiling as the hunter relaxed lightly, his hands palms her hips...

"Right...Anyway, that was a bit sudden, don't you think?"

She chuckled. "Do you think I would take over your body, as she did?" 

Steven heard the hurt behind the laughter and waved his hand. "No..."

She heard the uncertainty in his speech. "Then why do you seem so apprehensive?"

"It just...She was in your image, Berry…" He admitted, feeling her go still.

"Well...that explains a lot.." The shame was thick in her throat before giving way to fierce anger. 'That, little nymph...Her death was too good for her, and now I made a part of my energy. Disgusting…How dare she tarnish how he sees me? Make him wary of me?'

"You're thinking very loud in my mind," Steven whispered into her ear. "Forgot how to hide your thoughts within a person's mindscape?"

"I haven't!" She shot him a glare, sitting straight with fang displaying grimace and fist balled tightly. "So...are you afraid of me now?"

"You did kick my body ass." He attempted to joke.

"IT'S NOT A JOKING MATTER!" The succubus cried. "That little… She used our bond against me...They violated our connection." She looked down. "Made you cautious of me." 

"Which makes this perfect time for a joke, "Steven noted, nonchalantly. " Relieve the tension."

"You foolish hunter," She wiped her eyes to prevent a tear to be shown, "with our history, you should be cautious, right? First time I'm in your mind, and I put something in you without your permission, yeah, that's trustworthy." The sarcasm was thick in her voice. "No wonder you always kept your mental guards up."

"Well, If I let my guard down, I'll be completely enthralled by you.." Steven spoke truthfully with a grin.

"I'm not a fledgling... I can control my enthralling, and we're getting off subject."

"The subject is how I feel about you." Steven chuckled at her prideful acclaim. "Also, wasn't talking about magic or powers." He rubbed his shoulder where she bit him, looking away, feeling a bit exposed. "We've been…' In league' with each other for half a decade, and I never felt cautious or wary towards you, our first few meetings, being the exceptions."

"But you do have some concerns about us, presently," she folded her arms around her mid-section.

Steven nodded."Yeah, it'a fight to keep my mind focused when you're around…" 

"I thought you weren't talking about powers."

"I'm not. I'm talking about my 'affection' for you, about how over five years of receiving your attention, affection, honest actions... You have my heart...Enthrall me even more. "

She looked at his bashful yet steely expression but remained to stay silent.

"and that'll be trouble...For both of us."

She took in his words understanding the weight behind them, a confession of love and fear for her. She shook her head before tracing his jaw with her fingers.

"Is that what you are afraid of, that something like this will happen again?"

Steven gave an affirmative hum. "We both have enemies, me being a demon hunter and the animosity towards your family being passed down to you. It's quite feasible."

"I suppose so…" Connie nodded before laying her forehead upon his. "I'm willing to face them if you are, "

"What?!"

 She nearly broke into a giggle fit, looking at his surprised look. "What? you thought I was going to run?"

" My body was used to fight you without mercy." Guilt drenched his voice.

"And without your normal hunter attire. Red flag 1."

"..Tried to kill you broke, and pierced and minced your body." 

"Thought they succeeded too, where you would have known better. Hurt like hell, though. Red flag 2."

Steven looked away toward his lap. "My voice called you a monster."

 "Can't say it didn't shatter my heart when I heard it, but it did serve as the most significant red flag." She lifted his face to look at her own by the chin. 

"It should have, "He wrapped his arms around her seat and lower back before holding her close and in place." It's something I never would do.

"You love me too much to do so." She grinned before sticking her tongue out in tease before chuckling gently.

"I really do." 

 "I know...it's one of the ways you've enchanted my heart, just as much as I've done yours." She smiled before stealing a kiss upon his lips. She hummed, feeling him kiss back, their lips locking and relocking upon each they sucked, nipped, and clipped through the oral passion for one another.  

Steven trembled as he felt something slipped into his mind again, just like when she bit him. It was layered and heavy but warm. 

The warmest thing he ever felt. 

it scared him a bit how much he wanted to stay within that warmth, to the point of forcing him to break the kiss and look at her in suspicion. "What are you doing to me?"

"Nothing bad." She spoke reassuringly before looking down. "I promise."

"Connie." He growled.

"Just adding a few layers of defense to protect you from attacks like that nymphs." she looked up from under her lids.  "So, you can relax easier."

"That's twice you did something without my knowing, mind you." He arched an eyebrow. "Why?"

She turned to the sea, the sand, and the sky. "Your mindscape is so vibrant, and beautiful, I've always wondered what it looked like..what it would be like to come here...This place is where the real you reside...The cumulation of your life experiences." She turned to Steven. "And someone invaded, pushed this back and replaced it with their own. I don't want that to happen again." Connie explained earnestly. "Your mindscape should be just that, yours. Overzealous, as I prone to be. I tried to take measures to ensure that, so I'm sorry for not asking for permission...but I won't apologize for protecting you."

Steven scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed blush at her blunt, proud explanation. "Fine, I get it. You could have warned me, though, let me know that the kiss was for mental protection."

"I also really wanted you to feel my affection for you." She admitted with her sly expression.

Steven's face glowed as he chuckled  "is that what that warmth was?" He grinned as Connie held him around his shoulders."Funny since your body seems to run cold.

"Well...It's something that can only be done in this corporeal state." She answered with a giggle as he nipped at her neck.

"You love me." He teased, expecting her to respond with the same energy. He was surprised when the prideful succubus held him tight.

"So much." Her whisper was full of sincere adoration. As her tail danced back and forth behind her, "I love you so much, Steven..and I think it's time I show it," her voice took on a luscious tone, "the way only a my kind can." 

Steven smirked, "I had sex with succubi before."

Connie blushed, laughing a bit before kissing his lips. "Oh, I know..but you never really made love to one."

"You've been holding out, madam?" He patted her rear, getting a peep.

"No, Mr.Hunter." The succubus shook her head with a sly smile. "I knew it was going to happen. I just wanted to be on the same page about our..."

"Lovers Relationship," Steven added calmly, watching Connie's cheeks blush in her azure like blue, as she nodded.

 It's just a whole different experience than the usual feasting or romp." She bit her lips at the hunter, "Even though they are spectacular."

"So, what's the difference between the two?" 

Connie couldn't stop the grin nor the cyclone of warmth adoration from her core that Steven's honest curiosity brought. "You'll find out." she held his shoulders. "Tomorrow night." She added, her eyes glowing with anticipation. 

"Tomorrow night, huh?" 

"Is there a problem with that?" 

Steven heard Connie's slight disappointment and quickly shook his head. "None at all...Just figured we could make a date out of this.." he said with a grin. "I did get a good payday for the last job, so I -"

"Yes! " Connie yelped, surprising them both." I mean." Connie paused. Before shaking her head. "I meant exactly how I yelled it. Yes!"

"Ok, then. We'll make a whole evening and night of it. "

Connie nodded with a laugh. "Yes, we will." She sighed and closed her eyes, "but for now, we should return to the physical plane…" 

"True enough. I'm ready." Steven encouraged as he watched Connie's eyes opened, revealing the kaleidoscope visage from before.

"Look into my eyes. Heed my words, when your lips meet mine, you'll return to the waking world." 

Steven felt the same loss of control and consciousness as the nymph as his eyes took on the same image as Connie's, and his mouth dropped open; still, there was a bit of heightened awareness. The feel of Connie's lips on Steven's owns felt like a bolt of electricity to his very heart. Steven felt shot back into the physical world, gasping at the feel of oxygen running through his body as he sat up quickly

 He opened his eyes to a dark elegant bedroom with a gothic and south Asian feel. The walls were painted in crimson with bluebells designs, a mahogany mirror dresser by the southern wall between the washroom and the entrance, a walk-in closet to the western border with a balcony overlooking Connie's field across from that. 

"Hmmm, I'm back," Steven said as he leaned back down when he felt something cuddle closer to him under the blue silk blanket with the Maheswaran insignia in gold, currently over him. 

He pulled the blanket and was greeted with the sight of Connie hugging his abdomen with her arms, wings, and tail around his waist. Her head on his heart, smiling as she slumbered. The light of the moon bestowing her an ethereal glow.

Steven sighed as he brought her closer, stroking his lover's cheek before slumber took him as well. His last thought on the following night.

[arcadianmoonshadowjedi]

Knightess of the Moon: (Cassandra S3 AU) Chapter 4: Taking What’s Mine, Part 4:

Back with a New chapter! All the answers about Cass’s past revealed. Fair warning, this chapter is full of angst! But if you enjoy that kind of stuff, then this is your cup of tea!! :)

Link to AO3, Chapters 1, 2, 3 here!

Cassandra smiled warmly as she watched the two sleeping siblings after their intense playtime. But something still felt amiss. A part of her wanted to know why she didn’t remember her family but she was so filled with terror. What if the truth turned her whole world upside down?

Still she had to know…

“What...what happened?” she asked hesitantly. “Why don’t I remember any of this? W-Where did my family go?”

At that instant, in a snap of the ghostly girl’s finger, the world around Cassandra suddenly faded but shifted to something completely different. Instead of the sleepy siblings, the beds were occupied by two individuals desperately grasping onto life. On one of the bedside tables were a few cloths and a tonic bottle knocked over. Cassandra walked up to one of the beds, but her eyes widened as she gasped and nearly fell back from what she saw.

It was Damion. He was unconscious, his brown skin dimmed and was turning bluish. His limp body covered by the blanket looked inches away from death and his breaths were very light and barely noticeable. Cassandra heard violent, rough coughs from behind her and turned around to see who it was. On the other bed lied her father, Alden. He grasped his handkerchief which was covered in blood as he continued to cough. His skin was much paler than usual and his black hair was fading. He winced agonizingly as he put the handkerchief beside him. He feebly turned in his bed to look towards his wife with his weary eyes, who stood at the far end of the room weeping hopelessly.

"Lenna p-please," He started, his weak voice rasping as he struggled to speak whilst coughing. "Please, t-take…Cassandra... and...go,"

Lenna stood firm, but wept harder when her husband's cough got more and more violent. Cassandra walked over to the memory of her mother. Even though she didn't remember her, she felt distraught seeing her cry. She lifted her hand towards her mother's face, wanting to wipe off those tears, wanting to comfort her, but her hands just went through.

"No," Lenna whimpered. "I can't and I won't,"

"It's...too late...for us Lenna, please. T-t-take...Cassie and...and be safe.... please,"

The last word escaped his lips like a soft whisper and he could barely keep his eyes open. Lenna wiped the tears from her eyes, then she swiftly walked out of the room followed by Cassandra and the ghost. She made sure to shut the door after her, before approaching her daughter who was standing outside of the room waiting. 

“Mama?” little Cassandra asked, tilting her head to the side. “Where’s daddy and Damion?”

Lenna didn’t answer her daughter. How could she even? 

“Come,” she said with a sniff. She forced a smile and lifted her child into her arms. “We’re going on an important mission to help your dad and brother,”

As quick as a cat, Lenna ran out of the door and through the streets of Old Corona whilst carrying her daughter. Without hesitation, Cassandra quickly chased after, her heart thumping in her chest as she raced against the harsh wind that beat at her face. Her legs heaved as the unevenness of the earth tested her agility as she chased after the answers she sought. But she didn’t care. She needed to know the whole story. Her eyes burned with tears as she thought about her brother and father and what they were going through. They were gravely ill and it looked like there was no hope for them. But was there any chance they could’ve survived? Even a slim one? 

By nightfall, when the stars glimmered in the dark sky and lit the way, they finally reached the bridge that connected the mainland and darted across. Lenna persisted on her journey to the Corona castle through the lavish, busy streets of the island, Cassandra’s lifelong home that she had left almost a year ago. Her legs heaved even more as she raced up the mountainy island after her mother until they reached the peak where the castle was. They went through the grand courtyard and up the stairs until they reached the great, red double doors with the golden Corona crest. Cassandra watched Lenna put the child down and lifted her tightened fist to knock on the impenetrable door with all her might. She kept knocking as loud as she could over and over again, pleading for someone to come and answer her. It was long before one of the doors finally opened. Cassandra peaked around her mother to find a tall, slender man wearing a long red coat over his elegant, white shirt. Cassandra recognized his face; his pinkish fair skin, thick brown eyebrows, and his large wedge-shaped nose.

It was Nigel, but he looked so much younger. Instead of his traditionally long brown hair tied with the yellow ribbon, it was much shorter, and he did not have his signature thin mustache. His face twisted and his eyebrows slanted downwards as he looked towards the woman in rags.

“Ma’am please!” He spoke harshly. “The queen is very sick and in labor. We don’t need any of this nuisance at the moment!”

“Sir please listen!” Lenna pleaded. “There’s a plague spreading in Old Corona, and.. and my son and husband, they…”

“I’m sorry ma’am, but there’s nothing I or anyone in the castle can do to help you. We’re in an emergency situation now and the Queen is dying,”

Nigel formally apologized once more, before finally shutting the door in Lenna’s face. In horror, she ran to the door and repeatedly knocked and screamed at the top of her lungs.

“No! No! Wait! Please!” She screamed as tears gleamed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “Please! Help me! My son and husband are dying! Many people in Old Corona are dying! Please help me!” 

With her fists and head pressed against the door, she finally fell to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. She grimaced hard at the rejection for help and her entire face glistened from all the tears. Little Cassandra walked over to her mother not fully comprehending the scene but knew that something was wrong.

“Mama,” the little girl started. “Are daddy and Damion hurt? Are they gonna be ok?”

Lenna wiped her tears and tried to dry her face with her fingers as much as can, for she could not face her daughter like this. She looked at her daughter lovingly and pulled her close to her heart for a deep, warm hug. Her fingers tightened around her daughter’s dark black curls and she gripped her shoulder with her other hand, amidst her shivering. 

Cassandra breathed heavily and used all her strength to contain her tears from leaving her eyes. She knew that Nigel heavily prioritized royal duty and order but still, this did not seem right. How could he turn her mother away like this? She knew that Queen Arianna was in a dire situation when she was giving birth to Rapunzel, but couldn’t the castle at least have sent some kind of aid to Old Corona? 

She watched as Lenna got up and grabbed her daughter’s tiny hand, finally walking away from the Corona castle. Lenna wobbled in her movement, unable to run, but trying not to trip and fall over. Her face was red and weary, and her eyes were hollow and filled with despair. Cassandra followed close behind through the streets until Lenna froze. She stopped and stared at a large, brick building; it was an orphanage. Wind blew against Lenna as she stood and gripped her daughter’s tiny hand. Slowly and steadily, Lenna finally walked to the door. 

Cassandra hesitated. She didn’t want to believe whatever thought came to her mind. She waited a long while outside of the building with fear building up in her heart. She needed to know the full story, but her skin was crawling. The truth that was right before her, behind that door. But was it worth it? She slowly walked towards the wooden door and trembled as she walked right through it. She saw Lenna kneeling down before her daughter and she heard her sniffing as she began to talk.

“Dear sweet Cassie,” Lenna started, trying to speak despite her shaky, heart-shattered voice. “I need you to listen to me very carefully. Your daddy and Damion need me at the moment. But I need you to stay here, where you will be safe and healthy. And I want you to know that I truly, dearly love you and that whatever happens, I want you to stay strong... stay brave,”

Lenna finally let go of little Cassandra and turned around, wincing as tears ran down her cheeks. Little Cassandra’s eyes widened in shock and horror as she saw her mother walk away. Her mouth started to tremor as tears filled her eyes and when she tried to follow her mother, she was held by the matron. She writhed and struggled against the matron as she screamed and cried for her mother to come back. Cassandra looked on at her mother, whose paces grew faster and her face grew dimmer when she walked towards the door, not looking back even once. 

“Mama!” Little Cassandra repeatedly cried, her sobs growing more and more uncontrollable. Suddenly the world around Cassandra started to fade and the sharp cries of the little girl were gradually silenced. Nothing was left but an empty building, no people, no sounds, nothing. Cassandra felt nothing but numbness and finally sunk to her knees. Her void world filled with nothing but anguish and hurt. Memories that she locked away so long, buried so deep in her mind, finally resurfaced. She shivered and felt nothing but cold all around her. She was no longer able to contain her tears, and they finally rolled down her cheeks.

End Notes: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed all the angst if that's your thing! ;) I wanted to thank my friend @monicascorner so much for assisting me with the writing style and feedback! <3 Stay tuned for next chapter...

[rallis-fatalis]

The Harvest Festival

When Fall comes around, festivities are sure to follow! Adam, Rallis, and Peg join in and spend a day at one of the many fairs Fall has to offer.

Fall was always such a wonderful time of year. The cool breeze, the colorful leaves, the chill in the air, every aspect was simple and beautiful. But Rallis was always much more excited by the human traditions that came with the change of the season than the change in weather. There were holidays and festivals and parties every other week! There were festivals about costumes and candy, pumpkin carving and eating, bake offs and whole towns dedicated to making the best food possible, and more! It was all so exciting! One such festival was being held today in Varrock. Garlands of Fall colors streaked from every rooftop and light pole, presenting the displays below. Booths were set up all around the square, some for games, some for food, some for prizes, and more. Competitions were taking place in the shopping district. Farmers brought their prized pumpkins to be weighed and judged, the local shopkeepers set up displays showing off their finest wares in a friendly competition of skill, and even food eating contests were held nearby, with one turkey leg eating contest already underway.

Adam held Rallis and Peg tight as they jumped around in excitement. He snapped at them to hold still as they yanked on his hands, tugging him in opposite directions like dogs on a leash. Peg excitedly jumped at all the shops with their shiny trinkets and toys while Rallis hopped up and down with happy screeching at the smell of the array of wonderful food wafting their way. Adam swore under his breath between their exclamations as he tried to keep them under control. Wrangling oil-bathed snakes would be easier than this! And he wasn't particularly enjoying the looks the other attendees were giving him, like that of a disgusted parent watching someone fail to keep their own children under control. Finally Adam had had enough.

"You two need to settle down now before I pick both of you up and march out of here!" he snapped and yanked them back to his side. They both whined and shrunk before their frustrated friend. "Peg, we can look at the shops later. I don't want to carry whatever you decide to get for the rest of the fair."

"So food?!" Rallis chirped excitedly.

"Fine, sure, food. Let's go."

Rallis dragged her friends along, following the amazing smells. Peg grumpily trailed after the excited dragon and her sour mood quickly turned to one of joy at the sight of all the incredible sweets for sale. Pumpkin pie, caramel apples, candy covered cakes, deep fried sweets, it was the tooth fairy's nightmare and Peg's dream come true. She and Rallis stared at the sweets, mouths watering. Adam motioned to the grilled corn on the cob and other much healthier looking snacks at the food stand across the way. "Don't you want actual food? If all you eat is candy you're going to get a stomach ache and I don't want to hear your inevitable whining."

"I'll get other food too," Rallis dismissed. "But I want pie!" She fished out some money and hastily handed it over for an entire freshly baked pumpkin pie.

Peg was staring at a slice of cake absolutely smothered in frosting, decorated with pieces of chocolate and candy, and garnished with sprinkles. Adam could feel his teeth rotting just looking at it. "I want that!" Peg said.

"Good lord no!" Adam exclaimed. "I'm not buying that diabetes brick for you! If you want a sweet, go eat some actual food first."

The girl glared at him and motioned to Rallis. "How come she gets sweets then?!"

Rallis smiled, teeth covered in pumpkin filling. "Because she brought her own money," Adam scolded. "You're mooching off me for this and I say no sweets until you get actual food!"

Peg grumpily cursed under her breath and followed Adam over to the roasted corn. He got one for them both and sat everyone down. Rallis dunked her head into the pie and scarfed it down like a rabid animal, bits of crust and filling flicking all over the table, while Adam and Peg ate in a much more civilized manner. Peg took a begrudging bite of her corn and was startled to find it tasted incredible, both sweet and savory and juicy and crunchy. It was excellent. But she was most certainly not going to tell her companion she was enjoying something healthy that he picked out.

As they sat and munched, a loud series of whirs and bells rang out, followed by excited screaming. The three looked toward the source of the commotion to find a man excitedly jumping up and down as he screamed with joy. Before him was a bicolored wheel one could spin and it was currently flashing with all kinds of colorful lights and explosions set off by runes. Another fellow dressed in a bright orange getup was screaming about big winnings and handing over a sack full of something jingling.

Peg's eyes sparkled. "I wanna go there."

Adam frowned. "It's a gambling game. In the end you'll just lose what you earned. There's plenty of other things to do here, I'm not taking you gambling."

"It's a festival, they're not going to have actual gambling you dolt. It's just a fun game and I want to play it!"

Peg nicked a few coins out of Adam's pocket and sprinted away before he could stop her. "Peg, you get back here right now!" he shouted as he ran after her. Rallis watched them go as she quietly finished her pie, giving the two now discarded half eaten corn cobs a sad glance. What a waste of good food.

Peg ran up excitedly to the colorful wheel. It had segments of green and orange in wedge shapes and a red pointer at the top. The instructions were simple enough. Bet on a color and if you win, your bet is doubled. Lose and you lose what you bet. Wonderful prizes of all shapes and sizes were piled high and on display behind the game, from small things like bracelets and tinker toys to large prizes like toy swords and shields and outfits. One of the large prizes made her laugh hysterically and she just knew she had to get it, hastily trading her stolen money for tokens for the game before Adam could stop her. She placed her bet of ten tokens on green and spun. Adam finally caught up just in time to hear the games keeper announce Peg had won and see her being handed double her bet.

"There, you stole my money and got to try your game. Happy now?" Adam scowled.

"Not yet. I've got my eyes on a prize." She smirked and pointed to one of the highest value prizes at the game.

Adam found what she was pointing at and was torn between laughing and shaking his head. "Oh you have got to be shitting me."

Peg snickered as he realized what she had. What she wanted was a to-scale toy replica of a Sophanem pharaoh's scepter. It was worth thousands of tokens. "I wonder if I could win a waterskin too!" Peg laughed.

The man sighed. "Trying to get that will take all day and I'd like to actually explore the festival. There's no way you could win all those tokens."

Peg lifted her eyebrow as if to ask if that was a challenge and silently handed her 20 tokens over and bet on green. She spun the wheel and the man rung out once again that she had won, now doubling her prize to 40.

"Another fluke!" Adam told her. By now Rallis had wandered by to watch what they were doing.

Peg bet again and won, now up to 80 tokens. "I can do this all day, moss giant."

Rallis gave the game a curious chirp. "Can I try?" she asked the games keeper. She forked over some gold and he handed her 50 tokens. She bet on orange and won. The dragon giggled excitedly and stuffed her tokens away.

"Your turn, moss giant," Peg said.

"No. I'm not gambling at a fair."

"Come on, don't be lame! Even Rallis tried it once!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rallis hissed.

Peg handed over 5 tokens. "Here, as payment for earlier. Give it a shot!"

Adam frowned at the tokens and girl but relented. He might as well try. He bet his 5 on orange and lost. The games keeper muttered something about tough luck and Peg bet her 75 on green again, winning and getting back 150.

"Wow you must be unlucky!" Rallis told Adam.

"You should try again!" Peg said.

"No way. I gave it a shot and I'm done. Come on Peg, we're going to see the rest of the fair now."

Rallis hopped giddily at that but Peg wasn't too keen on leaving the game just yet. "I'm not leaving until I get my prize!" she stomped and pointed to the fake scepter.

"Well I'm not leaving you alone here and we would like to see the rest of the festivities! So come on!"

"No! You're just mad you couldn't win! You'd want to stay if you won, but I bet you couldn't even win if you wanted to!"

Peg bet again and won. Even Rallis gave it another shot and won. Adam growled and paid for some tokens to bet with. "I can too win!" He placed his bet on orange and lost again. Peg howled with laughter. Adam glared at her. "I will prove you wrong!"

"Bet on green!" Rallis cheered. "Green like you!"

He paid for another set of tokens and bet on green, only to lose again. Rallis' ears drooped at his loss and Peg just smiled and bet on green again, winning once more.

"Green must really be my color and not yours!" Peg goaded. "I haven't lost yet! At this rate I'll have my prize before you can even win a single round!"

Now Adam was completely invested in this little competition. "Is that a challenge? Well it's one I'll beat!" He paid for more tokens and the two continued their contest.

Rallis didn't want to play anymore and it seemed they were going to be here for a while. She let them do their thing and walked off, eager to explore the rest of the fair. There was a fishing game set up in Varrock Square fountain that looked like fun. She figured she'd give it a shot.

_________________________________________________

The sun was beginning to set on Varrock and its fair. Stalls were beginning to close, fairgoers made their way out with prizes in hand, and the games were getting ready to shut down. Peg and Adam were still at the wheel of chance game, their competition tiredly drawing to a close. Adam had won a total of two whole rounds and promptly lost his meager winnings. He called it quits some time ago, but he couldn't pull Peg and himself away from the game, mesmerized with the girl's uncanny amount of luck. She had only lost as many games as he had won! And she was all of a couple more wins from getting her fake scepter. The games keeper looked tired, wanting to pack up and go like everyone else, but he kept his showman's facade on and egged the girl on.

"Only one more round if you bet it all and the prize is yours!" he cheered.

Peg confidently pushed everything forward to bet on green. She spun the wheel and looked away, more than confident it would land true. It did.

"Congratulations!!!" the games keeper cheered, a hint of exhaustion breaking into his voice. "You've finally done it! Here is your prize!" He hastily reached for the toy scepter, ready to shoo them away, but Peg stopped him.

"Hold on there a second now. I'm not done yet."

Adam and the games keeper were stunned into momentary silence as Peg scooped up her immense pile of tokens to bet again. "What do you mean you're not done?!" Adam barked. "We've been here all day to get your damn toy and now you say no?!"

"Listen, moss giant. I've got enough of these little chips to buy the town! So I'm going to do just that. Look what I can get if I bet just one more time."

She pointed to the biggest prize the stall had to offer, a chance to be 'royalty for a day.' For an entire day you would be treated like a prince or princess and bowed to, given amazing food, and more, as well as being able to buy anything from Varrock at all as long as it didn't exceed the spending limit listed. Adam was convinced it was a scam meant to make people waste their money trying to get it.

"Don't be so greedy," Adam warned. "You already have enough for your prize. You're going to bite more off than you can chew and lose everything, I'll bet on it."

"Well if you're betting on it I know I'll be right!" Peg sassed. "Compared to me your luck is awful!" She handed the games keeper her tokens, bet on green, and spun. She smirked back at Adam. "Just watch. Soon you'll be forced to kiss my feet and carry me around Varrock like a queen!"

Round and round the wheel went, pointer ticking down painfully slow. Green, orange, green, orange, green! ...With one final tick, it fell on orange. At once, all three of their jaws dropped. Luck always had to run out some time, but this was quite the painful place for it to vanish.

"Oh dear! To go from the biggest winner to the biggest loser! My sincerest apologies, my dear, but it appears you will not be heading home with any prize today." The games keeper quickly scooped and bagged her tokens and unhooked the wheel so it couldn't be played again.

"Wait! Let me try again!" Peg pleaded. "Adam give me some more money!"

"I've got no more money for you. Take your loss and live with it. I told you not to be greedy."

"Besides," the games keeper said, showman's voice gone. "The fair technically closes in a couple minutes. We have to get everything cleaned up and put away before dark. Maybe next year you can try again!"

Before Peg could complain, Rallis finally walked back over. She was clad in goodies from her fair adventure. A cowboy hat with a cute pumpkin buckle sat on her head, awkwardly folded between her horns. She had a cheap sack slung over her shoulders, bulging with all kinds of hidden goodies. In her arms were nothing but delicious fruity pies, dragon stocking up for a sweet feast for the next week or so. She even had little Fall colored leaves painted on her face like a mask, though now they were smearing from the time passed. She looked happy but also tired from the festivities.

"I can't believe you guys are still here!" Rallis exclaimed. "You don't look happy either. What's wrong?"

"Peg got greedy at a carnival game and lost her chance at a prize after spending literally all day trying to get it." Adam sighed frustratedly.

"Now the fair is over," Peg grumbled. "I didn't even get to try the candy cake."

"Forget the candy cake, we didn't get to see any of the fair because you wanted to gamble all day! I hope now you see you get nothing from gambling. I really wanted to see the archeology and history booth the museum set up..."

Rallis carefully took the top sweet off her pie pile and handed it to Peg. The sullen girl's face perked up immediately. It was the cake she wanted to try earlier, but it wasn't just a slice, it was a whole cake! Rallis smiled over her sudden happiness. "Don't eat all of that at once! I had a piece myself. You'll definitely get sick if you eat too much." She placed her pile of pies down on a nearby bench and fished through her bag of goodies. "And I got this for you!" She handed Adam a small stack of books. "The museum booth had books on all kinds of stuff, so I got you some of the history ones! They also gave me two of the Fossil Island ones since they kinda wouldn't have their exhibits without me, so you can have one too!"

Adam's face lit up over the books. They weren't some cheap paperbacks, but hardcover beauties. One was a compendium of history that reached back further than an Age! He couldn't wait to crack into them. "They're amazing. Thank you Rallis."

The dragon took the hat off her head and put it on top of Adam's current black one. "And I won this! I had a blast at a fishing game at the fountain and I was super good at it so I got way too many prizes. But I saw this and thought of you. And I got this for Peg!" She pulled out a simple black pouch with golden string. "It's called a thieve's pouch. It looks like it's just one pouch but it's actually two and no one can find the second part! It's great for hiding small things. Thessalia helped me make it at her stand."

Rallis showed her how it worked and Peg's eyes sparkled mischievously. "That's cool as hell! Thanks Rallis!" The dragon had even hidden a small stone carving of a raccoon in the hidden pouch, a trinket she bought with her tokens.

She picked her pies back up and waved her friends along with her tail, ready to take a nap. "So did you guys do anything fun?" she asked, and the three walked off chattering happily and admiring their gifts.

[hazyheel]

WWE Extreme Rules 2019 Review

First match of the night was one that wasn’t announced: Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship. Nakamura tried to get in Balor’s head early on, but Balor was having none of it. This was a match of stiff striking, both guys beating the crap out of each other.  Nakamura reminded us of his submission prowess early on in this match, which was really nice to see again. At one point, Nakamura did the sliding german suplex that Taiji Ishimori does, which was cool to see. Nakamura followed it up with a Kinshasa, but Balor got the standing double foot stomp. He went for the Coup de Gras, but Shinsuke dodged it and hit a knee to the back of the head, followed by the Kinshasa for the win.

Grade: B. Decent match here, way to short, but hopefully they will have a rematch with a nice time on it. Shinsuke was the right winner here, that IC championship has been on ice for way too long, so a fresh champion could reinvigorate it. As for Balor, no reason why he can’t get a couple wins and move into the main event scene. Good match to start the show. 

Next match on the pre show was Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Both of them were incredibly vicious right whenthe bell rang, battling on the mat and totally laying into each other with strikes. This crowd was completely on Gulak’s side here, as he is a Philadelphia native, which is always an interesting atmosphere. Early on they started to break out some big moves, such as a huge flying lariat from Gulak off the apron. It looked awesome and painful and it was a great way to get the crowd invested. Another spot saw Nese go for a 450 splash, but missed his target and drove his knee into Gulak’s gut, but only a near fall. Nese then tried to hit the package piledriver, but after a bit of struggling, Gulak hit a brutal powerbomb as a counter, but only a near fall. He then hit the Cyclone crash for the win.

Grade: B-. This match was criminally short, and the two never really found their stride, but it was still pretty good. They condensed what felt like a 10 or 15 minute match into maybe 7 or 8, and we were left with mostly just highspots. Gulak was the right winner here, he should have a long reign. Decent match, but I think we all know that they could do better. 

I was shocked to see that the first match of the main card was Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre vs. Roman Reigns and the Undertaker, no holds barred. For these guys to be curtain jerking is shocking. After Taker entered the ring, they really milked the fans for every bit of cheering that they can do. For some reason, they all still have to tag in and out, despite there being no disqualifications. They all had a bit of time to shine in the begining of the match, with Taker actually looking pretty good and moving well. By the time Taker and McIntyre squared off, the crowd was nice and warmed up, so they were happy to see this big man fight. They actually overbooked Undertaker’s presence a bit, because everyone from Shane, to the ref, to random people around ringside were running scared of him. Taker even got a hot tag and absolutely wrecked both of his opponents. As Taker was about to give Shane a last ride through a table, Elias ran in from the crowd and nailed Taker in the back with a guitar. Reigns ran over to fight him off, but McIntyre sailed in from off screen with a claymore kick to lay him out. Elias tried to get in more offense on Taker, but Taker grabbed him by the throat, only for McIntyre to nail Taker with another claymore. The heels then set Taker up on a table, and Shane gave him the signature elbow drop through the table. During the spot, Taker cut his shoulder on the table. It was a rough spot, and scary to see Taker take it. They then dragged Taker in to the corner and wedged a trash can in with him for the coast to coast, and he hit it! After he did, Reigns flew in on Elias with a superman punch, only for McIntyre to take him down again. Shane pulled Taker back into the middle for the pin, only for Taker to sit up on him. Shane reacted in a great way, and then ate a chokeslam. Elias then ate a chokeslam of his own. They then had an awesome shot where taker was doing his throat slit, and Mcintyre just slowly stood up behind him. McIntyre was waiting for Taker to turn around into a claymore, but Reigns speared him out of it. Taker then grabbed Shane in for a tombstone and won.

Grade: B+. Even though this isn’t as strong of a B+ as most other matches that I have seen, this was a good match. It started off a bit slow and boring, but there were plenty of big moves and spots in that second half to be a great car crash match. Taker looked great here too, he was in great shape. This was honestly his best real match in years, probably since that Hell in a Cell match with Lesnar in 2015. The squash against John Cena was fun, but this was an actual match. Good stuff to Taker, he really held his own here, and the selling of how scary he was made the match all the more better.

Backstage, Seth and Becky were interviewed about their main event. It was corny, they talked about how they got inspiration from various sight seeing spots in Philly. The ending line was kinda good, but I didn’t need to see this.

Then they gave the first advertisement for Raw Reunion, kinda like a redo of the 25th anniversary episode that tanked so hard. Just a bunch of nostalgia in two weeks. Could be fun.

Then we had The Revival vs. The Usos for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Usos cut their obligatory promo and said nothing. Jey and Dawson started with some fast paced grappling. The Revival immediately retreated when the Usos tried for the first superkicks of the match. The Revival worked Jey over during the match, slowing it down in the way that they always like to do. In one awesome heel spot, when Jey was able to fight back a bit, Wilder distracted the ref while Jey made the tag, which allowed them to continue to work on Jey. Eventually, Jey and Dawson tumbled off the top, and Jey gave Jimmy the hot tag. Even still, Jimmy had next to no offense, because Wilder caught him out of the stink faces with a huge powerbomb for a near fall. Dawson even gave Jey a brainbuster at one point, which I though was banned in WWE, but it got no reaction and a near fall. The Revival then hit a great superplex into a splash from Wilder, but Jimmy broke up the pin with a splash of his own. The Usos then went for a suicide dive, but Wilder tripped up Jimmy on the outside, which then allowed The Revival to give Jey a shatter machine after some misdirection, and retain their championships.

Grade: B-. Pretty good match with a shocking finish. I definitely thought the Usos would win here, since the Revival are on their way out. They had a good match that was slow and meticulous, with the heels constantly limiting the offense of the Usos. It was a lot of good heel work with decent action that was mostly slow. You may like this match more if you are into heel work like that, and while I can appreciate it, it can’t carry a match on its own. 

Now, I have never talked about the foreign announcers before, but I have to mention the Hindi announcers. I didn’t understand a word they said, except for at the end, when they posed together with their arms crossed and said “Hindi announcers.” I loved that, I don’t know why, but I did. They totally got themselves over with me.

Then we had Cesaro vs. Aleister Black. This was hard hitting from the second that this match started. They ran circles around the ring, getting in strikes and kicks whenever they could. Cesaro tried to get in Black’s head by mimicing the signature pose, but Black refused to be intimidated. So, Cesaro then tried to counter each of Black’s signature moves, such as pushing him over the top rope when he went for the springboard moonsault. At one point, Black went for a meteroa to a standing Cesaro, but Cesaro actually caught him by the legs, and popped him up for a european uppercut. Throughout the match, Black was focusing on the leg with various kicks and strikes, which later came into play when Cesaro went for another European uppercut and his leg gave out. So, Black put him in a leg bar, only for Cesaro to seemlessly reverse it into a sharpshooter, and then a crossface. Black escaped, and after a bit of a struggle, hit Black Mass for the win. 

Grade: B. The match started out really well and had some hard hitting spots, but ultimately fell on a dead crowd. It was still pretty good, but I think I had my hopes up far too much for this. They worked together pretty well, and fans still got a sense of what Black can do. I can’t wait to see where he goes from here, because Black is money, World Championship material. Also nice to see Cesaro in the midcard again, he is also a great singles wrestler. 

Backstage, Truth and Carmella were looking around for Drake Maverick, and he asked Alexa Bliss if he was in her dressing room, and although he said yes. Carmella then made them leave. Bliss then gave Nikki Cross one of her T-Shirts, which was all torn up. The Street Profits showed up and sowed some uncertainty in the relationship, saying that Alexa Bliss would become the champion. The women insisted that they would be co-champions, and the Street Profits laughed. Cross then screamed at them for it, and said that she would prove them wrong. As they walked away, Angelo Dawkins said that he wants to party with her.

We went right into that match: Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. Cross and Bayley started the match and tore into each other with reckless abandon, but the challengers quickly took advantage and beat Bayley down. Cross and Bliss worked together very well, especially at one point when Bayley fought back when Cross trapped her in the ring skirt, and Bliss gave her a baseball slide to the back of the head to save her partner. At one point, Bayley locked Cross in a leg submission, and then dodged Bliss when she tried to break it up, only for Bayley to then lock Bliss in a crossface in a nice double submission spot. Cross eventually got a tornado DDT to set Bayley up for twisted bliss, but Bayley countered with the knees for the twisted Bliss, and intercepted Cross’s splash with a high knee. She then gave Cross the elbow drop for the win.

Grade: B-. Decent match, nice little story here but nothing too spectacular. I liked the tag team work from Bliss and Cross. Again, I was shocked at the outcome, I thought that we would have Bliss and Cross at Summerslam, but I was happy to see Bayley retain. No turn on Cross at the end of the match either, so that story isn’t done. Honestly, I think that they should go into the Women’s Tag Scene, and actually do something with those belts. Could be a fun story.

Then we had Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley in a Last Man Standing match. Strowman kicked off the match right away by throwing Lashley out of the ring and throwing him around ringside. As Strowman went for his shoulder tackle at ringside, but Lashley countered with a spear, hurting Strowman’s midsection early on. Lashley then took the fight into the crowd, battering Braun with a chair and targeting the ribs. The two fought into the concessions area, and Strowman gave Lashley a suplex into a wall of merchandise. As the two fought back towards the ring, Lashley was able to give Strowman a spear through the barricade, but both men still got back up. Lashley then mimicked Strowman’s shoulder tackle at ringside and tackled him over the German announce desk, dumping it on him afterwards. Strowman retreated into the crowd, and Lashley jumped the barricade to follow him, only for Strowman to take that momentum and throw him into the international announce desks. The two continued to battle into the stands, over an entrance. Braun then opened up a gate, and gave Lashley a powerslam into some production crates. As the ref was counting, we just had a shot of the side of the crate, and around Seven, Strowman burst out of the side of it, and won the match as Lashley stayed down.

Grade: C+. This match was very slow, and the high spots were not nearly high enough to get a good grade. Their brawl in the stands and the finish did elevate the match, but still not enough to be positive. The crowd was really into it though, so good on them. Of course Braun should have won here, and it is making me feel like he and Seth may have a match for Summerslam, or maybe him and Bray. A big win like this should translate into a big Summerslam match, but lets see what happens.

After that we had a quick interview with AJ Styles, nothing really of note was said. Fun to see him as a heel though, he is very imposing. 

Into the tag division, we had New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) vs. Heavy Machinery vs. The Planet’s tag team champions. Woods and Daniel Bryan started the match, putting on a fast paced match with lots of strikes. Tucker quickly tagged himself in, showing a bit of his prowess, before Rowan quickly tagged himself in and yanked Tucker out of the ring.  The heels worked over Woods, with Bryan yelling “Oh right its no DQ,” and raking away at the eyes. At one point, Heavy Machinery took on Big E, with Otis having him up for a vertical suplex, and Tucker giving a splash for the assist. Rowan later knocked poor Woods out of the ring, giving him a brutal splash, and then holding him up for a flying knee from Bryan. Big E then gave Bryan a spear through the ropes, followed by Otis faking a suicide dive, and instead hitting a splash off the apron. Tucker then nailed everyone with a splash on the outside. They dragged Big E back into the ring for the compactor, but Xavier woods broke it up. They gave Woods a double slam, and then fought off Rowan a bit. They then had Rowan in a double superplex position, and Big E completed the tower of doom. Rowan held on, so BIg E powerbombed both of Heavy Machinery as Bryan made the blind tag. Big E then gave Rowan a superplex, but Bryan flew off the top with a flying headbutt and locked in the Lebell lock. Bryan then tied Big E up as he tried to get to the ropes, eventually letting go because Big E was too much to handle. He lit Big E up with strikes, and Big he got quite into it, begging him for more. He then caught Bryans strike and whipped him into the corner. Bryan did his flip out of the corner, only for Big E to catch him, and with Woods, hit the midnight hour for the win. 

Grade: B+. Another really good match from the Smackdown tag division. There was a lot of good action here, Striking from bryan, comedy and hoss fighting with Heavy Machinery, and some babyface action from New Day. It was fast paced and there was a lot of fun here. I really liked it. I thought that Heavy Machinery would win here, but I am happy for the New Day to get to hold all the gold. Match of the night right here. 

The New Day were about to be interviewed, when Paul Heyman ran by and grabbed the mic. He talked about Brock a bit, before putting himself over as a Philadelphia boy and an ECW man, and said that Brock would be cashing in tonight. He then made it ambiguous as to whether or not he was telling the truth, and walked out. I’m not gonna grade this because it was a short promo, but it was interesting. I know he has been doing this kind of thing on TV, but I haven’t been watching TV, so it was fresh for me. 

Up next was AJ Styles vs. Ricochet for the United States Championship. As Ricochet did his entrance, he did his little flip and the Good Brothers attacked right as he landed. Ricochet looked pissed, but was still willing to fight. The two started to fight, and The Good Brothers were constantly chirping on the outside and causing distractions. An example was when Ricochet had Styles on the outside, but Gallows and Anderson were right up in his face, allowing Styles to take control back. After Ricochet started to get some momentum going, he climbed up to the top rope and gave Gallows and Anderson a dive to the outside. The two men continued to go back and forth in the middle of the ring. At one point, Ricochet went for a slingshot DDT, but AJ countered it into a snap vertical suplex into the corner, hanging Ricochet up a bit. The two continued to trade strikes and even dueled to get a brainbuster, with Styles able to connect with it. The two then battled on the top rope, with Ricochet hanging Styles up on the top rope and then a springboards shooting star press. AJ was about to lose, but he had his foot under the ropes, which Anderson happily pointed that out. Anderson then charged Ricochet on the apron, and got taken out. Ricochet went up for the 630 as the ref checked on Anderson, allowing Gallows to trip him up. AJ then hit the Style Clash from the second rope for the win.

Grade: B. Good match, but they weren’t going all out yet. They were working a bit slower to make time for the interference spots. AJ winning makes sense with his new stable. Ricochet chasing for a while is definitely not a bad thing. I hope that this is not our last time seeing this, because I think that they could put on a match of the year. 

Then we had Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens. They did their entrances, and they yelled at each other about who’s time it was. Ziggler slapped Owens, and Owens nailed the stunner for the win. He then grabbed a mic, and shot on Shane McMahon. He said that he stands by what he said on smackdown. He was shocked that he wasn’t fired on the way in, and thanks the Undertaker for saving his job. He then told Shane to kiss his ass and go to hell. 

Grade: C-. Meh, a shocking finish and a neutered version of his smackdown promo. Not much here, but it was exciting. But not exciting enough.

Then we had Samoa Joe vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship. He cut a quick promo being menacing, and then came out to the ring. Kofi started the match with a huge dropkick, and Joe responded with a huge lariat. The beginning of the match was showing Joe’s dominance. They gave Kofi bits and pieces of a comeback, only for Joe to put him the hell down with a huge strike of his own. Joe went as far as working over Kingston’s middle finger, making the announcers and crowd cringe and showing some good psychology and storytelling. They continued to go back and forth, and one point, Kofi went for the Trouble in Paradise, but Joe grabbed him in a Coquina clutch. He turned the submission into a uranagi and then a senton. Joe tried for it again, but Kofi dodged it and hit trouble in paradise for the win.

Grade: C+. This match never really hit its stride. They told a really good story of Joe’s dominance, but we already knew that. And Kofi’s win at the end really felt out of nowhere, as his comeback was far too understated. Just an unfortunate brand of storytelling.

And in the main event, we have Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans in an Extreme Rules Last Chance Winner Take All match. The match started off kinda like you’d expect, until Corbin introduced a kendo stick. Lacey tried hit Rollins with a Kendo stick, but he caught it. Lacey then hit on him a bit and got all cozy, so Lynch whalloped her in the head with a Kendo stick of her own. The faces then beat down the heels with the kendo sticks, before hitting a flying elbow and a suicide dive in stereo. Rollins then tried for another suicide dive, but Corbin blocked it with a chair. He then beat down Rollins with a couple chairs. Rollins fought back by countering Corbin’s offense, and tagged in Becky, who layed into Lacey brutally with a chair, ending it with a bulldog on a chair. Lynch was going to give Evans a move off the top, but Corbin pulled her away. So, Rollins came in with a flying knee, and then tossed Corbin a chair, which Lynch missile dropkicked into his face. Rollins and Lynch took a really really long time to set up a pair of tables while Evans and Corbin were on the ground. The heels fought back into the match, and they punished Rollins in the ring with Kendo sticks, leaving Lynch on the outside.  Lynch tried to get the assist, but was met with stereo chokeslams for a near fall. The faces fought back and gave the heels a double suplex onto the ramp, and then put them on the tables that were set up. Lynch gave Evans a leg drop through the table, while Rollins gave Corbin a huge frog splash through another. Rollins then pulled Corbin back into the ring and went for the curb stomp, but Corbin countered with a powerbomb, and then popped him back up into a deep 6, but Lynch broke up the pin. Lacey tried to get the pin, but Lynch through her back out, only to walk into an End of Days from Corbin. Rollins was so pissed that he destroyed a kendo stick and a chair over his back, and drilled him with three curb stomps before pinning him. 

After the match, Brock Lesnar walked out to cash in, with Lynch still lying on the outside. Lesnar gave Rollins a couple German suplexes, and then cashed in. he gave Rollins an F5 and won the championship. 

Grade: C. Kinda fun at times, but this kind of match can suck sometimes because of the no hitting girls rule. I’m glad that Lynch ate an end of days, he got a lot of heat. But it was just a kinda awkward little fact that they had to work around. But it was brutal at times, and I liked both the finishing sequence, and then the cash in as well. This was as good a time as any, and if they were gonna do it on Seth, this was the time. But still not a very good match.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: IC championship; no holds barred tag; cesaro vs. black; triple threat tag; US championship match

Cons: crowd died over the course of the night; owens vs. ziggler; main event; nothing that really tore the house down

[sodoyouknowbts]

Yoongi x Reader - Guardian (Thirteen)

Part of the ‘Souls’ Series. 

Summary: Min Yoongi is a cynical guardian angel assigned to look after you.

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader (ft Hoseok)

Genre: Romance, fantasy, soul mates

Author: Pilot

Chapter Thirteen

You didn’t really expect to find yourself spending your Friday night, arm deep in a large packet of original potato chips, in the passenger seat of an expensive BMW on a stake-out with Sang Wook. Of all people. The one person Yoongi told you to stay away from.

You push the thought aside and try to remain focused on the black door to an underground club a few metres in front of you. You take a bite of a chip. Besides, who was Yoongi to tell you what you could and couldn't do? He’d hurt your feelings. It wasn’t as if over the past few weeks, he had even made a conscious effort to a) see you or b) apologise.

It was a good coincidence, you suppose - that you had bumped into Sang Wook on the way to your office one morning. He’d suggested the two of you catch up for coffee and you had somehow found yourself spilling to him all of the details of the case you had been working. He had offered to help and you were keen to accept it. 

“No, but really -” Sang Wook says, flashing you a smile as he extends his hand to take the bag of chips from you, “- sour cream on hot chips is the way to go.”

You pull a face, “Only if -” you say chewing, “ - said hot chips has also got diced tomato and melted cheese and some garnish for good measure. I could never just have hot chips and sour cream.”

“Aren’t those just ingredients for nachos?”

You pause, contemplating the thought. Sang Wook laughs and you threaten to throw a chip at him.

You pass him the bag and settle back into the passenger seat. It was a little after 11pm and you were waiting for Sasha to give you the ‘okay’.

Finally, Sasha sends you a text and your phone buzzes. Your eyes scan over the message. She’d managed to convince her boss that you’d be a good ‘asset’ to the team and certainly tonight, your assets were going to be on show.

“Are you sure you still want to go through this?” Sang Wook asks as you take off your cardigan you’d been wearing to cover up the low-cut top.

“Yeah, I do.” you say with definiteness, as you bundle it up and stuff it into a bag by your feet.

“Alright, I’ll be here if you need reinforcements.” he says and you give him a small smile before exiting his black BMW.

//

It had gone better than expected. Sasha’s boss took one look at you and then made you sign a non-disclosure statement. After that, it was only be a matter of time until you were called in to fill an empty spot. The plan was for Sasha to call in sick and for you to take her place. Then you’d have enough information to write your article. The only thing that was left was photographic proof.

Luckily for you, one of Jackson’s friends had been dabbling in mini robotics and surveillance cameras. So you had gone to see him. He worked from home. Literally. His room was messy and filled with old mother boards and wires and pliers. Small lenses and watch batteries sat in a little tray by his computer and he had a pair of glasses he was currently working on precariously balanced on the edge of his computer desk. 

You left his house wearing a flat heart-shaped pendant with a built in camera. How he had made it so small you weren't sure and you sure as hell weren't going to ask. You paid the cash and left quickly, wearing it snugly around your neck.

While camera footage may be admissible in court, physical proof and video footage was going to be enough evidence for the people to cause question. Releasing it online was not going to be a big feat. You were going to let the public be the judge.

//

“You ready?” Sasha asks you with searching eyes.

She doesn’t wait for a response and instead nods, answering her own question. her bright red lips are slightly pursed.

Sasha looks you down and you feel a little uneasy, giving the emerald silk dress you’d borrowed from her a slight tug. Originally you were going to wear the outfit Hoseok had picked out with you again, but Sasha had taken one look at it and disagreed. You’d need something slightly classier for tonight and so she’d met you at your apartment, five different options slung over her arm and a bag of shoes by her feet.

“You know where to go, right? Back to the same place.”

Sasha pushes your hair away from your collarbones and nods in approval. “The manager will drive you to the location, it’s part of keeping up appearances and he’ll confirm a time with you for when you need to leave. Usually it’s in the early morning.”

She looks over at Sang Wook who is waiting in his car for you. “Is he your ride to the club?”

“Yep, he’s dropping me off.”

“Good, though remember to get dropped off at least a block away.” 

You nod and she gives you a proper smile this time.

“Hope you get what you want.” She says, picking up her bags and slinging one over her shoulder. She makes her way over to the black BMW and taps on the glass to the passenger seat. The window shifts downwards and she leans forward, saying something to Sang Wook. She throws her head back with a laugh and bids him farewell before making her way down the street in her canvas wedges.

Wondering what that’s about, you pull open the passenger door, pinching the hem of the dress tight against your body - careful not to reveal too much leg. It was far more leg than you’d anticipated in revealing.

Sang Wook starts the car and makes his way to the same club he’d dropped you off at a few days before.

“Remember, you can call for me whenever you need.” Sang Wook reassures you. He notes your nervousness as you play with a stray piece of string at the edge of your dress.

Sang Wook takes your hand in his and gives it an encouraging squeeze. The act  on most other times would have made you nervous, but instead it soothes you.

“Are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” he asks, coyly.

“Making me feel calm?” you ask with a laugh.

“I don’t know, is it working?”

“Yes.”

You smile and turn to look out the window. Sang Wook slowly retracts his hand and you’re left feeling less jittery than before. You’re grateful you at least had him to count on to support you. Yoongi had been missing in action for the past few days but you weren’t exactly in a hurry to seek him out.

You fondle the pendant on the necklace. You pray that this will work and that you can pull it off.

After a short while, Sang Wook pulls into a street-side car bay.

“Still sure about this?” he asks you as he parks the car.

“Yep,” you say. You pull out a matte nude lipstick and carefully apply it, using the shade mirror for reference. You smack your lips together and turn to face Sang Wook.

“How do I look?”

“Like you’re going to start trouble.” he responds, a curious smile on his face.

You roll your eyes and pop your lipstick back into your clutch. This is as good as it’s going to get. You open the door and step one high-heeled foot onto the pavement. It was time.

//

This was it. You look down at your feet and the shiny gold marble floor you were standing on. Everything was opulent - you’d expected it to be fancy, but not this fancy. It was lavish, with white bannisters throughout the halls. You'd been to the Grand Hotel a number of times, but only ever to the lobby or the cafe outside, but never did you ever have the liberty of taking the elevator to the basement.

At first, you thought that perhaps the manager had picked the wrong floor, but as soon as you stepped out of the elevator you realised you were in the right place. This floor was out of bounds for most people, only accessible via swipe card access.

You had been dropped off by your new manager, along with two other girls who were covering the shift tonight. One is wearing a bright lilac body-con dress and the other is dressed in black satin. They hadn't spoken to you the whole drive there. Fortunately for you, Sang Wook’s calming aura was still in effect, otherwise you’d be nervous as hell. 

You follow the two girls, a step behind them. They’d been here before and you do your best to follow their lead. They walk down through a hall and reach a set of large double doors. The doors swing open and you’re met by two tall security guards. 

You’re quickly confronted by one of the guards you calls you to bring your arms up. You’re patted down and given the nod to follow on. The sound of laughter and the scent of cigarettes flows up and out from a nearby room. You watch as the girls turn the corner into the room. 

But as you walk down the corridor, the man calls you back and requests for your mobile phone, which you quickly turn off and hand over to him. He places it in his pocket and straightens up, facing the doors that are now shut. You pray you’ll remember to get it back from him when you leave.

You quickly walk to the room you’d seen the girls slip into. In this room sit a number of men you could recognise. You stand there at the door for a moment, a little taken aback. A number of high officials and a few others dignitaries are seated on lush leather couches, smoking and drinking around a large marble table filled with alcohol and food.

You make a conscious effort to hold down on the small cubic zirconia button on the pendant you’re wearing. You pray it’s recording and that you haven’t just turned it off. It seems like everyone is here tonight. You’re looking Judge Park dead in the eyes and you pray he can’t recognise you.

Someone enters in behind you and bumps you, causing you to stumble forward. You glance at him, it’s Kang Sang-ho. Tonight he’s looking sharp, wearing a navy blue dress shirt and crisp cream pants. He looks down at you with irritation and walks straight over to one of the seats at the head of the table. He takes a seat and loosens his tie. One of the other girls quickly swoops over to him and pours him a drink which he skulls.

“Hey girl, you’re a new face.” A gruff voice snaps you out of your stupor and you clear your throat, returning a blank smile. You take a few steps toward the couch and are quickly pulled down into the lap of an older man whom you recognised to be a dean from one of the local universities.

You feel a little queasy at the action but manage to shift yourself off his lap and onto the empty space on the couch next to him. It wasn’t too hard, as most of them were already intoxicated. You do as the other girls do and begin to pour them drinks and feed the men fruit. The men were in the middle of a conversation.

“Come on,” one of them says to the other, “You know that giving scholarships to these specific students will mean that in the future they’ll be grateful. They’re more than likely to do you favours - be lenient.”

The dean lets out a chuckle from next to you, urging you to pour him another glass of bourbon. You do, your hands shaking a little. He takes a swig of it and you offer to top of the glass of someone else nearby to you.

“Judge Park,” Kang Sang-ho says, placing a firm hand on the judge’s shoulder. “If I get a record for assault, daddy will not be happy. He’ll criticise me and the media will eat this up.”

“The trial is in a week. You’ll be fine. I’ll give you a sentence that won’t be seen as a problem.” The judge reaffirms.

“Make all the money I am paying you worth my while.” He says, releasing his grip on the judge and sit back in his seat, swinging one leg over the other. The girl in lilac gives him a shot glass of vodka and he swigs it back.

//

Yoongi feels uneasy.

He’s not sure why. He hadn't felt anything out of the ordinary as to your status and perhaps that’s why he’s feeling out of sorts. Maybe its the fact that its too calm, too quiet. He can’t feel anything. Almost as if you had gone underground.

His powers hadn't been too strong of late. They were becoming a little hit and miss and his new assignment was wearing him out. He had tried to teleport the other day and for some reason it hadn’t quite worked out as he’d wanted. He’d ended up two streets away from his destination and had to walk, in loafers.

Hoseok had encouraged him to get a check up, to see the health consultants at the Agency but Yoongi had been against it, like most things. 

Yoongi picks up his phone and tries to give you a call. It goes straight to voice mail.

Weird he thinks, her phone is off or out of battery. 

He looks at the time. 9pm. Maybe you were asleep.

Yoongi tries to get himself comfortable at home but finds himself aimlessly gazing at the blank television screen. Hoseok returns home and goes to make himself a cup of tea in the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he boils the kettle.

“H-huh?” Yoongi responds, turning around to face him.

Hoseok stands there, his arms folded across his chest. “Are you watching tv or?”

“Have you seen Y/N lately? Or heard from her today?”

“No, haven't seen her since the other day when we went shopping. You know, when you took her home and had a fight.”

“It wasn’t a fight.” Yoongi denies. “I was just telling her to be careful.”

“Have you considered going to her house to see if she’s there?”

Yoongi shrugs. “I’m sure she’s fine -” he says as he gets up off the couch and slips his phone into his pocket, “- it’s not as I’m worried.” he walks over to the front door and pulls on his shoes.

“Don’t you remember the last time this happened, when you didn’t want to -” Hoseok looks up from his cup and realises he’s talking to thin air. Yoongi had gone. He smirks to himself.

Yoongi ruffles his hair. You weren’t answering the door. He miles around outside for a few more seconds before thinking screw it and he teleports to the other side of it. The house is dark and empty. You’re not home. 

Why couldn’t he find you?

He tries your phone again, his heart beginning to beat fast. 

The number you have called is unavailable. Please leave a message after the tone.

“It’s me. Call me back.”

//

You had all the footage you needed. 

The men were wasted and you were constantly flicking your attention to the clock hanging on the wall. Your handler had told you to meet him outside at 3am, so he could take you back to the club and pay you. It’s finally time.

You had for most of the night, managed to avoid any other advances by the men in the room. One of the other girls however, was not so lucky and had been chosen by Park Ji-Hoon to stay. 

The security guards had given you back your phone, which you had anxiously shoved into your purse and you had left, retreated back up the elevators and out into the hotel lobby. 

The car that had dropped you off is waiting for you outside. The girl in the black dress follows you but instead enters a different car. You hesitate for a moment and know that it’s part of the plan to be taken back to the club to get paid, but all you really want to do is go home. You take comfort in the fact that Sang Wook had assured you he would be around to watch you.

You enter the front seat of the car and the manager is there, ready and greeting you. Silently you enter the car and the hotel valet closes the door behind you.

The manager pulls out of the hotel drive way and begins to make his way down the street. Except he doesn’t seem to be going in the direction of the club. 

It’s fine, I’m sure he’s taking a shorter way around.

Your body is illuminated every few seconds by street lights washing over you. The manager pays you a sidewards glance, his eyes locking onto your thighs and you pull at your skirt.

“How was tonight?” he asks. “Your first time?”

“Uh, fine. Good. Thanks.” you reply, trying to keep conversation short.

His eyes linger on your face and you maintain your eyes on the road ahead of you.

“You’re very beautiful, you know.” He continues the conversation.

You nod but say nothing.

He slowly turns the corner and all you can hear in the silence is the sound of the indicator ticking. The streets are quiet and there are very few cars on the road. 

He breathes in and lets out a whistle. “Perfect body. Not too skinny. Men like it when they’ve got something to hold onto.”

Your gut feels squeamish and you pray he won’t do or say anything else. But he continues.

“Just the right height too, perfect for a man. Men don’t like women who are too tall, it makes them feel small. You though? You’re just right.”

Whatever calm you had been feeling from before had vanished. You were stuck in a car with a man whom had all the power, who was in control.

Maybe tonight, the people you had to be afraid of were actually in the car with you, not the men inside the hotel suite.

He pulls to a stop at the traffic light and you gaze at it, praying it will go green.

“You look like you’d be good in the sack.” he remarks.

All of a sudden, the man’s hand shoots out and places itself on your exposed thigh. Your grasp around your purse tightens and you try to ease yourself.

You call out to Sang Wook and wait momentarily.

Nothing.

Maybe you had to clear your mind before calling him again. Something you wouldn’t be able to do if you stayed in the car.

You grip your purse tightly and raise your arm up to smack him in the face. He lets out a yell and the car jerks forward as you’d caught him off guard. You quickly pull up the hand brake and unbuckle your seatbelt. It was now or never.

You grab at the car door handle and yank it down, pushing it open. The man grabs at you, his fist holding part of your silk dress and part of the chain of the necklace, in an attempt to keep you in the car. You try to pull yourself away and wriggle out of his grasp and as a result you stumble out of the car and into the street at an awkward angle, causing you to roll your ankle. You let out a yelp and quickly pull off your heels in an attempt to leg it away from the car. 

You get up to make a run for it, but feel something drop from under your silk dress. You quickly feel around your neck. The last thing you needed was to lose the recording. It’s not there.

You try your best to search for the pendant on the ground, but it’s dark and hard to see. You reach your hands out blindly, scratching them on the road in every effort possible.

Where the heck is Sang Wook?

You clear your mind and call out to him, like he had instructed you to. You try to even your breaths and steady your mind.

Sang Wook.

He doesn’t come.

All of a sudden you feel yourself get grabbed by the shoulders and pulled upwards. The manager had parked the car and gotten out of it, running over to you.

You scramble to get up and out of his grip but he’s too strong. He drags you back over to the other side of the car, his hands hard around your wrists. You struggle to get out of his grip. He’s too strong and his body is over powering yours. He pushes you against the car door with his body, holding you there stead fast.

All you can smell is sweat and heat. You go to knee him in the crotch but he grabs you by the shoulders again and slams you against the car. It’s enough to wind you and you struggle to catch your breath. 

Satisfied, he opens he car door and pulls you toward it and you stumble again. 

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret,” he threatens as he pushes you into the backseat and you try your best to kick at him. With one hand you manage to scratch at his face and he lets out a yell. He shifts back, his hand immediately touching the side of his cheek where you had gotten him.

The manager looks down at his fingers - noting some blood. He hisses at you. Glaring, he pulls out a pocket knife and holds it out in front of him.

Your back is pressed into the cheap leather and your heart is racing. You can’t hear anything but the sound of blood pumping in your eardrums.

“I thought I warned you,” he splutters, a sinister look on his face as he presses the tip of the knife into your neck. He runs the blade up along your neck, up past your throat and to the edge of your jawbone and with a swift movement, he makes a thin cut on the side of your cheek and you cry out at the pain. 

Right now is when you need him the most.

“Yoongi!” you scream out. You go to call of him again when a huge reverberation shifts upwards from the ground. The car lights begin to flicker. You let out a scream and bring your arms up to cover your eyes as the glass windows in the car shatter.

Suddenly, the man is hauled backwards and out of the car. Yoongi pushes him hard against the passenger door, his eyes furious. He punches the manager in the face, two sharp and direct blows cause the man to drop his pocket knife and it falls to the floor with a clatter.

The man’s bleeding now, his nose dripping. Yoongi’s grip around the man’s neck tightens and his eyes are grow dark. He’s panting, his body shaking. There’s a strange yellow glow emanating from his body.

You sit up, shards of glass falling from your body. Bits of glass had scratched you and you quickly try to manoeuvre yourself out of the car. Glass scrunches underneath your feet and you wince as you step over to Yoongi.

He’s blinded by rage, his hand tightening and tightening around the man’s neck. The man is spluttering now, wheezing, trying to draw as much air in as he can between his bloody nose and his mouth.

“Yoongi!” you call out to him, “Don’t hurt him, please. Yoongi?”

Yoongi can’t hear you. This man had assaulted you. He’d touched you and he’d hurt you. And Yoongi was meant to have looked after you. He wasn’t about to let this go. Not again.

Yoongi raises his arm and with it, the man, gripped by his throat.

“Yoongi!” you say again, your voice shaking. He was scaring you with the way he was acting. You try to tug on his arm. The man was clearly suffocating.

You try to get into his field of vision but he’s not taking his eyes from him. The aura around him had slowly turned from white to yellow to red and it was making you feel uncomfortable. Your gut was telling you this wasn’t a good sign. You try to tug on his arm again but he doesn’t register. It’s as if you’re not there.

If only he could snap out of it, if only - if he killed this man what would that mean about his guardian status - what would... what would that mean? 

A moment of clarity washes over you. Advice from your mother. You pray this will work. You wrap your arms around him from behind, hugging him. Your bleeding cheek is pressed into the space between his shoulder blades and you call out his name one more time. The aura around him changes to a calm white.

Yoongi snaps out of it and immediately releases his grip. The manager drops to the road and wheezes, breathing in as much oxygen as physically possible.

Yoongi’s hands instead go to touch yours, which are wrapped tightly around his body. You’re breathing heavily, your feet sting and your ankle hurts. Yoongi turns around slowly as you let go and he looks down at you with the slightest bit of dismay on his face.

“I -” he begins, looking down at his hands.

“I’m okay. I’m okay, see?” You say to him softly. “Please Yoongi, I just want to go home.”

He pulls you into him, wrapping one arm around you and the other cupping your head to his chest. You feel safe against him, in his arms. He lets out a shaky breath and glances at the man on the floor by his feet. Shit, he’d almost killed a human.

Your breathing steadies and you step back. Yoongi crouches just a little, looking at you with earnest. His thumbs wipe away escaped tears from the corners of your eyes and his face hardens as he spots the gash against your cheek. He goes to fix it but you take his hand in yours, bringing it down.

“We - we have to do something about him.” you say.

Yoongi sighs, crouching down to the man, who looks at him with terror, his eyes wide. Yoongi brings his hand over the man’s temple and closes his eyes.

“Forget this,” he mumbles.

He takes to a stand, seeing the mess he’d caused around him. He waves a hand and soon the pieces pull back together, the glass fitting themselves back into the window panes.

You watch on, wide eyed as this happens, lifting your feet up one at a time to allow the shards of glass you'd stepped on to return back to where they belonged.

Yoongi pulls you back to him. His eyes run along your body, the tattered green silk dress you’re wearing, the scratches you'd received on your arms and legs from the shattering windows, the bruises that had slowly developed on your wrists and finally the laceration on your cheek.

“Let’s go -”

“Wait! Wait, I have to find my pendant.” you say.

“What?”

You reach into your purse and pull out your phone, turning it on. You use the light from the phone to illuminate the ground and you spot it, glittering near the tyres of the car.

You pick it up in your hands and Yoongi watches as you hobble back over to him. He raises an eyebrow. Had you hurt your ankle too? Yoongi tells you to stay put as he collects your shoes. He walks back over to you.

He can’t help himself this time, and wraps you up in his arms to transport you back to his apartment.

To be continued

[hes-woman]

Home Again

part one part two extra

"Yeah, I'm good, mum, how's things at home?" You asked, phone wedged in between your shoulder and your ear as you continued to tidy the kitchen, "I'll come visit before I leave. But get dad to ring me still, yeah? I might not get the chance to come down for a few days," you paused when the doorbell rang, a small frown on your face s you tried to think of who it could be, "Sorry, there's someone at the door. Can I ring you back in a bit?"

You began walking towards the front door as you ended the conversation with your mum, adjusting the hoodie you were wearing so it covered your bum. Swinging open the door, you came face to face with Harry, a smirk on his face, "Seems like I forgot to take my keys with me, can you let me in?"

Your jaw dropped as you realised he was actually stood in front of you, instinctively moving forward and wrapping your arms around his shoulder as his own encircled your waist. He moved the two of you into the house and kicked the door shut with his foot, keeping a tight grip on you as if you were about to disappear.

"I've missed you. So, so much," he whispered, his forehead meeting your shoulder as he took his bag off of his shoulder and dropped it into the floor.

"I've missed you too, H. M'not letting you leave me again. Not even for a second."

He pulled back slightly, hands coming to rest on your shoulders as he held you a few inches away from you, looking at you properly for the first time since he'd arrived home.

"Was scared you were gonna look really pregnant."

"Would that be a bad thing?"

"No, not like that. Just wanted to be here to see you get bigger an' that. I didn't wanna miss any of that. Wanted to document it properly, as well, with pictures to look back on."

"You haven't missed anything, promise," you smiled.

His hand reached out to cup your chin, pulling you towards him lightly as he pressed his lips to yours.

"I can't believe you're here," you grinned when he pulled away, "I was meant to be the one surprising you, though. Seems like Jeffrey was playing us both, just worked out that your plan was set before mine," you pouted, grabbing his hand in yours and pulling him towards the folding doors which overlooked the garden.

"Didn't mean to ruin your plans, babe, forgive me?" He asked, the innocent look on his face causing you to nod and turn around momentarily to kiss him, "s'this mean you're coming with me when I leave for Argentina?"

"That's the plan. Spoke to work and they said that I can have the time off, as long as I do the same amount of work I did when we were in Europe. They liked the fact I got so much of my own writing done, as well, and they thought that seeing so many different cultures will have a positive impact on the work I'm producing and let me have a good understanding of books set in countries with different traditions n'that."

"Still haven't shown me what you've been writing, y'know."

"You'll just have to wait until it's finished," you smirked, "'sides, I had to wait for your album to be finished before I was allowed to listen to it."

"Fair point," he rested his arm over your shoulder and kissed the side of your forehead.

"It's a shame the nice weather didn't last long, would've been nice to have a swim together. Leo's been loving it, he's a proper water pup," you laughed.  

"I did think the house seemed a little quiet, where is the little menace?"

"Signed him up to a dog walking thing. I felt a bit bad that I've been so busy trying to get everything sorted before I left so I thought it'd be nice for him to go and be with other dogs for a bit. He'll be back soon and I'm sure he'll be very excited to see you, been whining at the front foor since you left."

"M'glad you two keep each other company while I'm away. Come on, then, I wanna see all these changes you've been making."

"It's not much, just a few bits and bobs," you shrugged, heading back towards the kitchen to continue the tidying you were doing before Harry had arrived.

"I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. You've been working, looking after a dog, carrying a baby and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Anything else you've done on top of that is amazing. Anyway, we'll have a few months to make it feel homey before we have a baby on our hands."

"That will have to wait until we're back. We've got a lot to fit in over the next few days, y'know? Your mum will definitely want to see you, and Gem, too. We could do with getting all your clothes washed before we leave, too, 'cause I imagine you wanna take a lot of it with you again. Packings gonna take quite a long time, on top of that. Would be nice to pop in and see Grim at some point. I told my mum I'd go and see her, as well, but I can always go on my own and drop Leo off at the same time, though."

"Is he not staying with Gem and Michal?"

"Gem's away for a bit over the next month or so, and Michal did offer to still have him but it's nearly double the amount of time as when they had him for the first leg of the tour. I just thought it'd be easier for mum and dad to have him, 'cause they're at home a lot of the time, anyway. They love having him, too."

"'Course I'll come with you, you donut. I'm sure we'll figure some way to fit everything in, we can even double some things up if we need to. But tonight, I want you all to myself. We can satisfy your cravings for Chinese food and maybe watch a film or that tv show you've been telling me about."

"You know me too well."

*

"I'm still gutted I didn't get to surprise you. The look on your face would've been priceless."

The two of you were sprawled out across the L-shaped sofa, your head on his chest and a worn-out dog curled up at your feet. The credits of an old rom-com (which the two of you had paid little attention to) played on the tv screen, remnants of Chinese food lazily piled on the coffee table in front of you.

"You’re always surprising me, seems only fair that I get to reciprocate the gesture every once in a while."

"I know, but you've been quite down recently and I just wanted to see you happy."

"M'happy just being with you. Don't need you surprising me in another country to be happy, just need you."

"It's crazy how we've spent months at a time apart, but when it comes to a couple of weeks we can't handle it, innit?"

"It's 'cause we're starting a proper family, now. There's more for me to miss this time around, and your coping with new hormones and experiences. Probably doesn't help that we were so used to travelling country to country together for a month, spending practically every minute of every day together, and then we could only see each other through a screen."

You hummed in response, "Shall we go up to bed soon? I'd quite like to have a proper cuddle, even if we put something on the telly instead of going to sleep straight away."

He nodded, accepting the hand you offered him to help pull him up from his slouched position. The two of you made your way up the stairs, grabbing water bottles and locking doors as you went. It wasn't long before Harry was sprawled out on the bed, while you stood in front of the mirror to take off your makeup, clad in your underwear, which you'd soon swap out for a t-shirt from Harry's wardrobe.

"Definitely think you've got a little bit of a bump."

"It's way too early for that, H, won't be showing for at least another six weeks, probably more like eight. Just haven't had you here stopping me from eating a load of junk food and preparing healthy meals for me."

"S'that mean we can keep it our secret for a while still, then?"

"Yeah, we won’t need to make it public knowledge for a while yet. Only people close to us will notice small changes, but they all know anyway. Definitely think we should wait until we at least know the gender, but I'll be able to wear baggy shirts for a while, especially when I'm in the crowd 'cause I can just throw on a merch top and say I could only find one in a big size, or something. It's up to us, to a certain extent, unless there's a slip-up along the line or someone sees something they aren't supposed to. I think I'd like to make it to twenty-weeks, at least, and then I'm happy to announce it whenever you want. It'd be nice to do it on our own terms, though, and I don’t wanna have to try too hard to hide it, so I don’t think we should drag it out for too long."

"Twenty-weeks it is. Where will we be?"

"At home, I'm not even seven weeks yet," you laughed, lifting the corner of the duvet and shuffling underneath, "Don’t be alarmed if you hear me wake up, it's just morning sickness so you can just go back to sleep."

"M'not just gonna go back to sleep, you nutter," he rolled his eyes, raising his arm so you could rest your head on his chest, receiving nothing other than a small hum in response.  

It was quiet for a while, just the sounds of both yours and Harry's breathing filling the room. Sometimes, when he'd just arrived home, it was nice for you two to just be in each other's company, with no need to fill the silence with meaningless. It was possible for the both of you to talk for hours about anything and everything, from what you'd eaten for breakfast to what him and Jeff had spoken about before he left, but it was the moments just soaking in the fact that you were actually together that were your favourite.

"It's good to have you back, H. The three of us have missed you lots, and it's been particularly quiet without you here, rambling on about some smoothie you'd just tried from the new shop down the round. I'm looking forward to being back on tour, as well. It's one of the best feelings to see you in your element, and the atmosphere is unlike any other event I've been to. I'm really, really proud of you, you know that, right?" You lifted your head to look up at him, noticing that he had the biggest grin on his face.

"It helps when you say it a lot."

"This is turning you on, isn't it? We really need to get your praise kink in check, Styles."

[carbovalve]

Bronze Gate Valve

https://www.carbovalve.com/products/bronze-gate-valve/

Bronze gate valve for sale uses bronze material, which has excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance, good casting performance and airtightness. The bronze steam rated gate valve is widely used in higher load parts, such as bearings, pump bodies, marine spirals, petrochemical industry, shipbuilding industry, etc. According to the sealing surface configuration, the crane bronze gate valve can be divided into a wedge gate and a parallel gate. According to the thread position of the valve stem, it can be divided into an open stem gate valve and a dark stem gate valve. The open-stem bronze American standard gate bronze valve, the concealed bronze American standard gate valve, the opening and closing part of the American standard bronze gate valve is the gate. The movement direction of the gate is perpendicular to the direction of the fluid, so the American standard union bonnet gate valve can only be fully opened or fully closed. I can't adjust and throttle.

 Bronze Gate Valve Details:

Low flow resistance.

Less effort when opening and closing.

The medium can flow in any direction on both sides, easy to install.

Simple shape, short structure length, wide application range.

Compact structure, good valve rigidity, smooth passage, small flow resistance, long service life.

 Bronze Gate Valve Specifications

 CB-6530 Gate Valve

 Material

Pressure

Operating temperature

P/N

SIZE

DH

L

H

Bronze

400psi

-20℃≤T≤120℃

22031

1/2"

12.7

45

72.4

22032

3/4"

19.2

50

84.9

22033

1"

25

57

99.32

22034

11/4"

32

64

120.7

22035

11/2"

38.1

66

138

22036

2"

50

73

160.5

 Bronze Gate Valve FAQs

Bronze Gate Valve FAQsFAQS

Bronze Gate Valve FAQsWhat is the bronze gate valve application?

A gate valve is a kind of copper gate valve that opens and closes. The gate moves in a perpendicular direction to the fluid flow. The gate valves for sale can only be fully opened and fully closed. The gate valves are classified as stiff gate valves or flexible gate valves based on the difference in the gate. Chemical, petroleum, light industrial, hospitals, environmental protection, and other areas all use it.

   Bronze Gate Valve FAQsWhat are different types of bronze gate valves?

According to the gate structure, the gate valve types are divided into wedge type and parallel type. There are three types of wedge gates: single gate, double gate and elastic gate. According to the different structure types, the gate valve is divided into flat gate and knife gate valves.

   Bronze Gate Valve FAQsWhat is difference between gate valve and globe valve?

Steam rises when the shut-off valve is opened or closed. To put it another way, when the handwheel is spun, the handwheel rotates and lifts with the stem. The gate valve turns the handwheel to move the valve stem up and down, while the handwheel's position remains constant. Compared with bronze globe valve, the gate valve also has only two states: fully open or fully closed, has a big opening and closing stroke, and takes a long time to open and close.

[folklorecostumes]

REPUTATION LYRIC INSPIRED TOUR OUTFITS AND POSTERS PART 2

A lot of these posters are pictured in either giant bubble letters, rep font or in calligraphy. Can’t do any of these? Download the rep font or font you wish to use, type up what you want in a big enough font size, print, cut, and trace, or glue them down up to you! Of course, write these however you wish!

Hello all! Thanks for waiting so patiently for this list! Because of how long it is and how very excited you all have been waiting for this we have decided to post it into 2 parts to keep the excitement going. Part 1 is linked below! Please enjoy all the ideas we listed below, feel free to send us others you may have and want to share with the swiftie world. We apologize if the formatting on this looks bad on mobile, we are trying to actively make it easily accessible and readable across all platforms!

And lastly, enjoy and tag us in these recreations! We want to see them! We want to help them get seen by Taylor!

Find the Reputation Part 1 list here.

Find the 1989 idea list here and here.

Find the Red idea list here.

Find more costume and poster ideas and tips here.

lovelovelove,

- Reputation Costumes.

GORGEOUS:  

1.  “Gorgeous” – Few options:

      → Draw/or print the baby emoji onto a poster with a speech bubble saying the word gorgeous.

      →  Poster spelling out gorgeous between you and your friends.

      →  One poster with the word gorgeous on it. This song really sounds very bubblegum-y pop so pink and glitter and fluff and flowers can be associated with this. Keep that in mind when designing your poster.

     →  Create your own gorgeous inspired Taylor merch. Get an idea based on how her current merch looks and design a shirt similar but instead of saying like “rep” everywhere it’ll say gorgeous.

2. “Made fun of the way you talk” – Poster with a multiple taymojis of Taylor with speech bubbles including all the extra hashtags, replies, reblogs Taylor’s ever used or said. This includes (find more on tumblr or I’m sure there are screenshots of these all somewhere since she like cleared her tumblr):

     →  Mom-croon

     →  Bae

     →  Emojis

     →  “I think for me, um…”

     →  Pop Tart Squad 4 Lyfe

     →  Can’t find my chill ever

     →  Shifty Swifty Strikes Again

     →  No it’s Becky

     →  Brb going to buy more cats now

     →  Merstare

     →   I stalk because I care

     →  They see me lurkin…They hatin…

     →  Welcome to moo York

3. “Magnetic field being a little too strong” – Glue magnets onto a shirt and create a poster cut into the shape of a giant U-shaped magnet with that lyric written in it.

4. “Whiskey on ice” – Poster of a tumbler filled with whiskey and ice. The lyrics can be written into the ice cubes.

5.  “Sunset and Vine” – Few options:

      →  One person dresses up as a sunset, see the idea above for the “grey days clear” lyric in So It Goes…

      →  Another person dresses up similar to Poison Ivy from DC Comics or one of the other poison/vine related looks listed above for Don’t Blame Me.

      →  Poster with a map street view with a pin at the intersections of Sunset and Vine.

      →  Dress like you’re favorite vine!

      →  Poster cut out to look like a vine video post, you can take pictures with it as if you’re in the vine. Have the caption of the vine video be a cute lyric from the rep album!

6. “You’re so gorgeous, I can’t say anything to your face” – 2 options:

      →  Wear a morph suit or shirt consisting of only Taylor’s face over and over—can be where she’s making a funny/weird face or can be just a normal shot of her face. Have a poster saying “you’re so gorgeous” to go along with this.

      →  You and a friend can have two posters, one that says, “You’re so gorgeous, I can’t say anything to your” and have an arrow pointing over to your friend. Their poster will be a giant cut out of Taylor’s head.

7. “Cause you’re so gorgeous it actually hurts” – Poster saying Taylors so gorgeous it actually hurts. Can have a friend hold one that says “(Honey, it hurts)” or you can write that underneath the main lyric in the ( ).

8. “Ocean blue eyes looking in mine” – Poster of eyes, draw them big enough where you could draw waves of water where you’d shade it blue for eye color.

9. “There’s nothing I hate more than what I can’t have” – Typically we don’t recommend this simply because it canget fans overlooked, however it’s funny and cute so here it is: Write this lyric with “(t-party, club red, loft 89)” underneath in a small font, cross them out like that too since we won’t know the name of the after party show!

10.  “Guess I’ll just stumble on home to my cats” – Buy 2 cheap plush cats, maybe at a local dollar store, glue the heads of it onto a poster (or cut holes into the poster and stick the stuffies through, make sure they’ll stay all night though) and write the lyrics. Draw paw prints along the poster. Could pair with cat shirts and cat accessories. Could also glue multiple mini plush cats to an outfit and pair with a poster cut into the shape of a paw print. @taylortreasures has created an outfit similar to this!

GETAWAY CAR:

1. “Best of times, worst of crimes” – Set of posters for you and a friend to match with.

       →  Times poster could consist of multiple watches/clocks drawn throughout the words

      →  While crimes poster could have things like handcuffs, stolen money bags, cars all drawn throughout it. Turn these poster ideas into two unique outfits!

2. “Struck a match and blew your mind” – Set of posters:

      →  Poster in the same of a match with a flame.

      →  Poster drawing out the words “mind blown” in pink. See link to get a good idea, don’t draw the bitmoji.

3. “Ties were black, lies were white” – Dress up fancy for this! Think Blank Space video but before the outfits get torn up! Poster can read, one a white poster board, “lies were” and then leaving the rest blank. Could write “white” in glow in the dark paint/tape that would only show after the lights go off.

4. “X marks the spot where we fell apart” – 2 options:

     →  Treasure map idea, see End Game “bury hatchets” idea!

     →  Write out your stadium(s) name and draw a giant red X over it and write  “where we fell apart” underneath.

5. “From the first Old Fashioned” – 2 options:

      →  Dress old fashioned—so like pick a decade and go with it! May we recommend the 80s ;)

      →  Poster in the shape of a tumbler that appears to be filled with an “old fashioned”, be sure to include the small details like a lemon rime/wedge and a cherry!

6. “Never had a shot gun shot in the dark” – Poster of the night sky with cutout bullet holes in it. Write the lyric out in mini glow in the dark stars to stand out!

7. “Drivin’ the getaway car” – Few options:

      →  Poster in the shape of a car. Think of a 1969 Camaro or another vintage car that’s often seen in movies involving getaway cars. The lyrics from the chorus can look like its spray painted on the side of the car or front depending on how you face it in the poster.

       →  Poster of the front of a car that’s cutout so you can wear it to look like you’re sitting in the car. Could have fake money hanging off the edges to make it look like money is flying out.

        →  Poster with any of the chorus lyrics with a little drawing of a car speeding away with money flying out or drawing of tire tracks on the ground. Perfect for the “we were flyin’ but we never get far”

8. “Don’t pretend it’s such a mystery” – Few options:

        →  Poster of the side of the Scooby doo van with the lyrics above the word Mystery that’s painted onto the van (omit words “the” and “machine”)

        →  Make a Clue game board involving Taylor scenes from videos/tour pics etc and you can even include Olivia in a little detective outfit and a magnifying glass. Have a few game cards flipped over on the board with the lyrics being written across them.

9. “Think about the place where you first met me” – Met Taylor before? Or even some of her band members, dancers, parents, team? Make a poster with any pictures of these events and the lyrics!

10. “Sirens in the beat of your heart” – Draw a heartbeat line emitting from a police car or the red and white lights attached to the top of them (think the portable round ones’ undercover cops would attach to their cars). Put this idea onto a poster. Could even cut out the shape of the red and white siren lights and the heartbeat line and use glow in the dark tape/paint to make it stand out.

11. “The great escape, the prison break” – Dress up as runaway prisoners or thieves on the run! You can make posters in the shape of giant money sacks.

12. “A circus ain’t a love story” – Few options:

       →  WANEGBT tour outfits from Red tour worn by Taylor and dancers!

                  → This includes ring leader, clowns, acrobats, etc

       →  Traditional circus outfits

       →  Love Story, a classic Taylor song! Dress like the music video or past performances of this song.

       →  Romeo + Juliet

13. “Hit you like a shot gun shot to the heart” – Same concept as above, however instead of a night sky poster, have a large cut out heart with bullet holes in it.

14. “We were jet-set, Bonnie and Clyde” – Dress as the infamous Bonnie and Clyde!

15. “Put the money in a bag and I stole the keys” – Bank robber with a money sack poster. Reference the poster to either show it’s a friend’s (or Taylor’s) money and have novelty keys hanging off the tie of the bag.

16. “I was ridin’/cryin’/dyin’ in a getaway car” – Few options:

      →  Poster using a car emoji, the crying emoji and the skull emoji in the lyrics.

      →  “I was crying to getaway car” pun on you enjoying the song poster

     →  “I was dying to hear getaway car” poster

KING OF MY HEART:

17. “I made up my mind, I’m better of bein’ alone” – Poster saying you’re better off being a swiftie.

18. “We met a few weeks ago.” – Tribute to if you’ve met Taylor/her team/parents/band/dancers/etc on a poster or shirt.

19. “Callin’ me baby like tryin’ on clothes” – Poster board that’s interactive! Make a cut out Taylor (using the IKP outfit from 1989 tour will be the best option to start) and attach multiple tour outfits or appearance outfits she’s worn with double sided tape or some other adhesive and allow fans to try different outfits on Taylor!

20. “Salute to me, I’m your American Queen” – Few options:

         →  Dress up as a Queen/royalty

         →  America/4thof July inspired outfits

         →  Crown and sash/Pageantry. Sash can say “Miss American Queen” You could even have a fake acceptance speech written out on a poster board that says like “And I want to thank Taylor…”

        →  Poster cut out into the shape of a crown.

        →  “you traded your baseball cap for a crown” relate KOMH to Long Live.

        → Poster saying this lyric and have American Queen colored in red, white and blue.

21. “You move to me like I’m a Motown beat” – Motown beats originated in gospel music but also in the 1970s music industry, use these two to inspire decade looks! The 70s were big on disco.

22. “With their range rovers and their jaguars” – 2 options:

       →  Poster in the shape of the range rover or jaguar emblem.

       →  Wear or make merch that looks dawns these brands emblems.

23. “You are the one I have been waiting for” – Poster ideas:

       →   Typically, we don’t recommend this simply because it can get fans overlooked, however it’s fun and cute so here it is: Write this lyric with “(t-party, club red, loft 89)” underneath in a small font, cross them out like that too since we won’t know the name of the after-party show!

       →  Taylor’s the one I have been waiting for on a poster.

24. “King of my heart” – Few ideas:

      →  Giant heart shaped poster with a king’s crown and mini robe attached to it.

     →  Poster using the crown emoji and the heart emoji.

     →  Going with a significant other? Have them dress up as a King (or Queen) and have them hold a fake heart (think the vampire diaries but less gore ha) or hold a cutout heart poster. You can wear heart shaped sunglasses (think heart eyes motherf*cker vine) and shirt with these lyrics and an arrow pointing to your significant other.

     →  Going alone but like the above idea? You can say you have Taylor’s heart or she has yours instead.

25. “I’ve been waiting” – Poster including how many days you counted down for your tour date(s).

26. “Late in the night, the city’s asleep” – Poster using the visual opening for WTNY that showed the landscape of the city at night. Use glow in the dark stars over the skyline and hole punch the lettering when writing out the lyric.

27. “Your love is a secret I’m hoping, dreaming, dying to keep” – 2 ideas:

      →  Make a poster using this lyric and draw out the emotions of hoping, dreaming and dying. Think of the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil sort of imaging.

     →  “Taylor’s love is a secret I’m hoping, dreaming, dying to keep”

28. “With a school girl crush” – Dress up as if you’re trying to impress your crush on the first day of school! Have a poster that consist of those passing note questions you’d send your crush but have them addressed to Taylor. (ex. Do you like me? Circle one. Etc)

29. “Drinking beer out of plastic cups” – Red solo cup poster.

30. “Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff” – First fancy in the lyric draw heart and draws in the sentence and the second fancy draw diamond rings, luxury items etc. with a large red X through them.

DANCING WITH OUR HANDS TIED:

1. “Oh twenty-five years old” – Poster with your age in replace of the 25 lyric.

2. “My love had been frozen” – Few options:

       →  Poster in the shape of a heart that is frosted over and turning blue.

       →  Poster with these lyrics but the word frozen is drawn like the movie poster font for the Disney film.

       →  Winter wonderland type of outfit or poster. Think Snow Queen.

       →  Dress as Elsa, Anna or Olaf.

3. “Deep blue, but you painted me golden” Few options:

      →  Two matching posters saying Deep Blue and Golden painted in the prospective colors.

      →  Matching outfits made from the prospective colors.

      →  “Deep Blue” think the deep sea.

      →  Dress up as a painter.

4. “Picture of your face in an invisible locket” – Make a poster cut out in the shape of a locket, have it folded to open up like an actual locket and have a picture of Taylor in it.

5. “But we were dancing” – Poster with these lyrics, have the dancer emoji drawn on it.

6. “Dancing with our hands tied” –  2 options:

        →  Poster in the shape of a pair of hands tied together.

       →  Poster with these lyrics. Have it split up if you’re going with a group of friends.

7. “Yeah, we were dancing, like it was the first time” – First Taylor show? Make this poster dedicated to seeing Taylor for the first time!

8. “Through an avalanche” – Poster in the shape of a mountain top with the words of the lyrics to appear to be snowballing down the side of mountain.

9. “I’m a mess, but I’m the mess that you wanted” – 2 options:

       →  Dress up like you’re a mess and have a poster to match with the lyrics.

       →  Poster that says you’re the mess Taylor wanted.

      → You’re a mess because of Taylor poster.

9. “Cause its gravity, oh keeping you with me” – Poster with these lyrics but have them begin to fall down and off the poster. Have cut out letters dangle off the poster.

10. “I’d kiss you as the lights went out” - few options:

        →  Poster in the shape of lips painted red. Use red reflective tape to make it stand out.

       →  Poster adorned with miniature red lips all over it. Use glow in the dark tape/paint on the words “lights went out” so it stands out.

       →  Make a cut out poster of the lyrics “lights went out” and fill the letters with glitter, as much as you can. Do a matte finish or laminate it so you can shake it up and have the glitter move around.

11. “If I could dance with you again” – Print out the photo of Taylor performing Holy Ground on the Red Tour, print it large enough that you can make a cutout silhouette of her dancing as a poster. Don’t have the resources to print it big enough? Try your best to sketch the outline! Incorporate the lyrics either into the silhouette or have it as a sort of a halo written around the entire silhouette of her!

DRESS:

1. “Our secret moments in a crowded room” – Poster with the words secret moments being suffocated by a multitude of things such as confetti, glitter, charcoal etc. Have the words pop out of whatever you chose to relate to the sense of a crowded room.

2. “There is an indentation in the shape of you” – Poster cut out into the shape of the indent of a person lying in bed.

3. “Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo.” –  2 options:

        →  Wear those gold jewelry type tattoos people wear to music festivals!

        →  Poster asking Taylor to make her mark on you with her signature.

4. “All this silence and patience, pining and anticipation/pining and desperately waiting” – Few options:

        →  Poster of these 4 adjectives for you and your friends to hold!

       →  Desperately waiting for rep room.

5. “Say my name and everything just stops” – 2 options:

       →  Say my name, Beyonce/Destiny’s Child connection.

        →  Say Taylor’s name and everything just stops.

6. “Only bought this dress so you could take it off” – 2 options:

       →  Poster in the shape of a dress, possibly little black dress since Taylor has referenced those forever.

       →  Make an outfit that you can transform from dress to whatever else you want! Think tear away tour outfit!

7. “Carve your name into my bedpost” – Poster of a headboard with Taylor’s name or initials into it, make it look carved in. Could even carve out lyrics or the word reputation.

8. “And if I get burned, at least we were electrified” – 2 ideas:

       →  Two posters of the words Burned and Electrified. Have burned be made or engulfed in flames and have electrified have lightning bolts striking off of it.

       →  Make the poster idea above into an outfit. Use reflective tape and cut out pieces into the shape of flames or lightning bolts and attach them to the outfits.

9. “I’m spilling wine in the bathtub” – Poster in the shape of a wine glass. Cut it so it’ll be on an angle and have red or rose wine sloshing out of the rim.

10. “Flashback when you met me” – Met Taylor/her team/parents/dancers/band? Make this a tribute to them!

11. “Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me” – Make a poster using headlines about Taylor and have them slashed up and covered with positive memories and headlines and all her success. Have reputation written in the middle of it.

12. “My one and only, my lifeline” – Poster made of these lyrics. Could also say Taylor’s my one and only, my lifeline.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS:

1. “It was so nice throwing big parties” – Posters made to look like balloons, party favors, etc. Think Gatsby and vintage since this is a popular theme in this song.

2. “Everyone swimming in a champagne sea” – Make a poster in the shape of a giant champagne bottle and have confetti looking like its pouring out of it.

3. “Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year” – 2 options:

       →  Dress vintage and 1920s Gatsby like.

       →  Use the Great Gatsby font and make a poster using these lyrics.

4. “So why’d you have to rain on my parade” – Make an outfit that looks like you’re a part of a parade celebration and hold a poster in the shape of a rain cloud with raindrops dangling from it. Use reflective or glow in the dark tape for the rain drops to stand out.

5. “This is why we can’t have nice things” – Poster of these lyrics but instead of the word nice, replace with drawn items or emojis of things like rings, money, designer brand labels.

6. “But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand” – 2 options:

       →  Related to back to Bad Blood, check out our 1989 costumes post to get some ideas.

       →  Where a fake knife attached to the back of your shirt, you can find these sort of props at a Halloween/gag store or at like Party City.

7. “Get you on the phone and mind-twist you” – Cut out of an old fashion rotary phone and have a speech bubble coming out of the speaker portion of the phone to make it look like the person on the other line is saying “mind-twist you”

8. “So I took and axe to a mended fence” – 2 options:

     →  Could recreate a blank space music video or tour look

     →  Poster in the shape of an axe.

9. “If only you weren’t so shady” – Poster in the shape of sunglasses with these lyrics reflected into the frames.

10. “Here’s a toast to my real friends” – 2 options:

    →  Poster with these lyrics and champagne glasses clinking drawn throughout

    →  Poster in the shape of a champagne glass clinking with another, could even make two (or more) separate ones for you and your friends to match.

11. “He-said-she-said” – few options:

    → He said she said is typically hearsay/rumors, so you could dress up as a news reporter.

    →  Using the NYT’s font aka reputation font as a background/filter for the lyrics in a poster. Think of how it looks on the right ride (Taylor’s left) on the album cover.

    →  Poster of a fake headline regarding Taylor. Could recreate the back of the reputation magazine covers. Have the headline be the lyric.

12. “Here’s to my baby” – Poster idea. Do what you think works best with this as it’s a very simple line.

13. “Here’s to my momma” – Poster dedicated to Mama Swift.

14. “Had to listen to all this drama” – Drama poster, it’d be a cool idea if you bought all those crappy tabloids and sort of papier-mâché the word out of all the headlines revolving around drama.

15. “Because you break them” – 2 options:

    →  Poster cutout of a broken fancy item. Could be a broken award, broken watch, etc anything fancy that you deem making.

    →  Make an outfit out of the idea above, wear broke items glued to you.

CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT:

1. “My castle crumbled overnight” – Poster in the shape of a castle, could have pieces hanging off or broken to represent it crumbling. You could also dress up as a princess/prince.

2. “I bought a knifer to a gunfight” – 2 options:

   →  Foam knife/sword accessory

   →  Poster of the knife emoji

3. “They took the crown” – Crown shaped poster or plastic crown to wear!

4. “My baby’s fit like a daydream” – Few options:

    →  Fit is British slang for attractive or good looking. Make a pun of the word fit and have a poster that looks like a guys six-pack abs.

   →  Poster in the shape of a thought bubble with the lyrics “my baby’s fit” could even use all or some emojis in replace of the words.

   →  Could dress up as a sort of fairy/daydream-y/soft type of persona. So wings, pastel colors, definitely having jewels glued around your eyes and such! Have fun with this look, for makeup lookup festival looks or mermaid looks to get an idea.

5. “I’m the one he’s walking to” – Poster replacing the lyric “he’s” for “Taylor’s. Could have foot tracks painted around the lyrics or even use high heel cutouts from magazines and catalogs rather than painting foot tracks.

6. “Call it what you want” – Paint this in a pretty pastel color in a calligraphy font. Have the background of the poster have a soft feel to it, like cloud and starry like. Could even make a 3D type poster and have plush either as the background or as the letting.

7. “My baby’s fly like a jet stream” Few options:

    →  Poster in the shape of a plane/jet with these lyrics behind the plane in a loop. Think of how planes on maps so dashes to track their paths.

    →  “Taylor’s fly like a jet stream”

    →  Couples costume of a pilot and attendant.

8. “High above the whole scene” – 2 options:

    → Poster of a skyline. Can be whatever city skyline you’d like, maybe even emphasis in the building windows/lights which city; it’d be cool to reference your tour stop! Have the poster cut out to mimic the buildings rather than drawing in a sky.

    →  Could make a poster of a bird since they fly above the scene, as well as planes like referenced above. Could relate this back to 1989!

9. “Loves me like I’m brand new” – Few options:

     →  Not necessarily tour outfit related but don’t want to dress up? Simply buy a nice outfit and only where it the day of the show! It’s brand new. Could even be Taylor merch.

    →  Poster of a giant price tag that has Love written as the amount. The product into written on the tag could say like Taylor Swift. Size: Reputation Stadium Tour

    →  Taylor loves me like I’m brand new.

    →  Poster of a new package or wrapped gift with the tag saying “love you – (name or xoxo)”

10. “All my flowers grew back as thorns” – 2 options:

    → 3D poster of like a thorn-bush or vine type thorn with only a few flowers still left on it. Have the lyrics written or painted out in a deep green cursive font, intertwining with the thorns.

     →  Buy or make a skirt and attach fake flowers to the entire skirt so it is covered. Buy or make a top and attach plastic “thorns” or vines around the top and have them hang off of it so it looks like they are slowly taking over the flowers. Have the top be very dull and lackluster in color but have what is remaining on the skirt be full of color.

11. “Windows boarded up after the storm” – Poster of a broken windowsill with boards covering up the cracked window. You could even make the boards openable like a book so that when you appeared into the window you could see the fire that is referenced in the next line. Have caution tape covering the planks but have the lyrics written repeatedly over the caution tape.

12. “He built a fire just to keep me warm” -  See idea above OR make a poster in the shape of the flame emoji or a log campfire.

13. “All the drama queens taking swings” – Dress up as a baseball or softball player and have your team name be Drama Queens. Make a baseball bat poster with the word reputation on it.

14. “All the jokers dressing up as kings” – Dress up as a joker/clown/fool but masquerade as a king so also were a crown and possible a cape. Make a sign that says “King of Reputation” or that displays the lyric.

15. “They fade to nothing when I look at him” – 2 options:

     →  Poster with these lyrics where it looks like the words are fading off the poster. Use glow in the dark paint/tape to have it still show after the lights go down.

    → They fade to nothing when I look at Taylor.

16. “I did one thing right” – Poster that says Swiftie or Proud swiftie, meant to represent you made the right choice in being a fan of Taylor.

17. “I’m laughing with my lover, makin’ forts under covers” -  Make a poster that is drawn like a bed fort, so multitude of different blanket patterns etc and attach a speech bubble to the top of the poster to show either “hahahaha” or “* giggling *”“* laughing *” to make it look like there’s laughing underneath the sheets.

18. “Starry eyes sparkin’ up my darkest night” – few options:

     →  Dress up in a costume that is galaxy themed. So tons of stars, especially glow in the dark ones, have glitter, moons, a tutu and have it all be in a navy blue. Your matching poster can be in the shape of a shooting star with the lyrics “Sparkin’ up my darkest night.” Use reflective tape or glow in the dark paint to stand out!

    →  Poster cut out of eyes and have the galaxy drawn in them rather than simply coloring in a regular eye color.

   →  Could have a lit match or sparkler shaped poster.

19. “I want to wear his initial on a chain round my neck” – Make a poster of Taylor’s initial’s and wear them like a necklace. Think back to when flavor flav wore a giant watch.

20. “Late November” – Poster of this exact lyric but have it big enough where you can decorate inside the words and have it fall themed.

21. “Would you run away with me? (Yes)” – Make a poster asking Taylor if she’d run away with you. Have it set up like a check yes or no question and have a paw print or 13 stamped in the yes box.

NEW YEAR’S DAY:

1. “There’s glitter on the on the floor after the party” – Few options:

     →  Glitter, glitter glitter! Wear sparkly outfits (think NYE) and have body glitter all over you. Have fun and extra glittery makeup looks and have a poster of these lyrics written out in glittery puffy paint.

    →  Have a poster made that looks like you’re staring down at hardwood floor and have a spilled glitter container open, glitter all over the bottom of the floor with the lyrics written out (think written out as if someone took their finger and just wrote it out in the pile).

     →  “After the party” – reference the end of your show with this, rep room.

     →  “There’s swifties on the floor after the party(concert)”

2. “Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby” – Poster cut out and drawn to look like you’re carrying a pair of high heels. Look at some of the heels Taylor’s worn for previous tours and outfits and recreate them on a poster.

3. “Candle wax and polaroids on the hardwood floor” – Few options:

     →  Burning candle poster, could be a simple candle, could be in a jar like the ones she uses frequently, or it could be decorated with things that remind you of Taylor and Reputation.

    →  Polaroid poster (1989).

    →  Poster of burned out candles and dried wax on the floor (look up the candles Taylor loves to have in her home and create the logo for the posters) and polaroids scattered on a hardwood floor (reference the opening lyric idea to get how to picture this.) Have the polaroids be pictures from the reputation magazine.

4. “Don’t read the last page” – Poster of the opening/dedication page of a book with this lyric written in it. Either make it look like the author purposely wrote it, OR have all the prewritten info from said book be information about Taylor and the reputation tour and use her handwriting from 1989 and have it look like she handwrote “don’t read the last page” as a note to the next reader. Make it look three dimensional by having the page look like it’s about to be turned to the next.

5. “But I stay” – Make a poster of these lyrics but make it big enough that you are able to write inside of each individual letter. Write the speech Taylor gave about how she felt her hands were tied behind her back but swifties always defended her (it’s a clean speech). Could even write long live lyrics.

6. “I want your midnights” – 2 options:

     →  An analog clock striking midnight

    →  Or a digital clock (think the old digital though where the numbers physically flipped rather than it being just animated) and have the numbers look like they’re changing from 11:59PM to 12:00AM.

7. “But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you” – Poster of a recycling bin that is piling up with empty champagne and wine bottles. Have all the labels on the bottles be song titles or lyrics!

8. “New Year’s Day” – Few options:

     →  Dress up like its NYE/NYD. This means glitter, 2018 hats and glasses, champagne, confetti and streamers, dresses or skirts and crop tops. It also means holidays, so you could reference a few other things as well with this.

     →  Poster drawn out of the NYE ball dropping. On the countdown screen you could either write the lyric (full or just NYD) or you can write how long you waited for your show.

     →  Simply just sketching out the words New Year’s Day however you may want.

     →  Midnight kiss, so a poster of lips.

     →  “Ring” in the new year. Could be a poster of a bell or a ring.

9. “in the back of the taxi” – Dress up like a taxi or make a poster of the backside of a taxi with the silhouette of two people sitting in it. Have the license plate reference reputation or swifties. Be sure it’s a NY plate.

10. “I’ll be there if you’re the toast of the town, babe” – Few options:

     →  Could do a large poster that looks like a champagne glass with a tag/ribbon hanging off the stem (think like seating cards) that says Toast of the Town.

    →  An award poster (like an Oscar or such) but instead of it saying Best Picture etc it’ll say “Toast of the Town: (name)” You can either write your name or Taylor’s name or even Joe’s.

    →  Poster of a cut out magazine cover you can take photos in (or make it look like an Instagram post) and have the little blurb on the “cover” say this lyric. Make the magazine a reference to the rep mags.

11. “If you strike out and you’re crawling home” – Baseball or softball player costume with a poster in the shape of a bat. Could even have two posters for you and a matching friend where the bat is broken in half and you’re each holding a split end.

12. “Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you” – Few options:

     →  Reference long live. Whether it’s by poster or you want to recreate the long live tour outfit!

     →  Poster of the word memories but have it being spelled out by photos from previous tours, Taylor with fans, from previous album booklets. Tumblr likes/posts, etc.

    →  Met Taylor/her team/band/dancers/parents/etc? Wear an outfit or make a poster using pictures and memories from that moment.

    →  Poster of the word memories being hugged/squeezed. Don’t have to draw the entire body, just arms wrapping around the word.

     →  Have a poster in the shape of a jar and have it labeled Memories and then fill it with your favorite Taylor memories. So love the Speak Now album? Write the words Speak Now in big block/bubble letters in the jar. Keep doing this with words of memories you like. Don’t have the words overlap, simply cut off a word if it doesn’t fit. Make it seem full but not unreadable.

13. “And I will hold on to you” – Poster of this lyric just as is. Maybe make it written on a music sheet or on piano keys. Could also write Taylor will hold on to you or I will hold on to Taylor.

14. “Please don’t ever become a stranger” – Poster dedicated to her 6 albums.

15. “Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere” – Poster collage of all the photos of Taylor laughing.

16. “You and me forevermore” – Poster of the word forevermore. When I hear this line, I think of a clear night sky, glitter, love, passion so incorporate that into this creation. Maybe have it made out of stars or hearts, or have it made out of flowers. Whatever you envision when you hear this.

THEMES OR GENERAL IDEAS:

1. Make poster that looks like the popup stage in the reputation VIP tour box, make it out of papier-mâché newspapers.

2. Snake poster.

3. Use the dialogue from the LWYMMD end scene as funny posters.

4. Meredith and Olivia posters.

5. Reputation/REP poster cut out using the rep font.

6. “There will be no further explanation. There will be just reputation”

7. Lots of gold and metallic colors, glitter.

8. TS/TAS Initial Poster

WHY SHE DISAPPEARED POEM:

1. “Pavement she once decorated as a child with sidewalk cross” – Poster that looks like a sidewalk drawing.

2. “Her skin was spattered with ink” – Use body paint to spatter ink on your arms and clothes. Make a poster using the same idea. Maybe use the word snake in some of the spatters.

3. “She rose slowly” – Poster of a flower slowly blooming.

4. “Avoiding old haunts and sidestepping shiny pennies” – 2 options:

      →  Poster of a ghost (think emoji)

     →  Poster of a penny or writing out this piece of the poem using pennies (or drawing them if you don’t want to waste the money)

5. “Way of phone calls and promises” – Relate this back to All Too Well or LWYMMD. Have a phone poster with a speech bubble writing this line.

6. “Waded out into the dark, wild ocean up to her neck” – The ocean is almost all unexplored so have fun with this line. You could do mythical mermaids or sirens. Or you could make an outfit out of seashells and seaweed. Your poster could be a cutout of a wave.

7. “And in the death of her reputation, she felt truly alive” – This is a GREAT quote for a poster and to really sum up the entire reputation era.

IF YOU’RE ANYTHING LIKE ME POEM:

1. “Cross your fingers” -  Poster of crossed fingers.

2. “Wish on lucky numbers” – Poster of a number cutout related to Taylor. (13, 22, 1989)

3. “Rest in Peace, to your naïve bravado” – 2 options:

     →   Poster of a gravestone addressed to your naïve bravado.

     →  Dress up as a zombie (zombie Taylor) and where a tombstone or have written on shirt “Here Lies my Naïve Bravado”

4. “Secret garden gate” – Poster of a flower garden. Have it three dimensional so use craft flowers.

5. “Each new enemy turns to steel” – This line reminds me so much of Yellow Flicker Beat by Lorde in the line “I’m locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me” Maybe make a poster combining these two ideas.

6. “You’ve grown to hate your pride and to love your thighs”

7. “But Darling, it’s going to be okay”

[ladyofmind]

August is over? Recap time...

First things first... Between Patreon and other tasks, I dropped off towards the end of the month... I’m sure you saw the #CharactersHell board that took my time and, most importantly, brain stuffs.

We have, however, organized it so that future boards should not be as hard as the first one.

As long as it is as well received as it’s other game, by the same @M_arbanassi (on Twiter) #CharactersHell should have just as amazing a community as #CharactersTell. Tell focuses on the characters every week. Hell is a monthly board covering a little bit more, including us authors.

Basically, those two tags are my guaranteed game plays for the foreseeable future. The question will be what other ones will I be playing this coming September?

While I ponder that, here are the old answers...

#wipwordsearch  AKA  #RedLettersTeasers

1- Sly had a way of #schooling his features so that no one could read him. If Gus was happy about it, he could be happy for Gus. Still… "But why do some of the women have pointy weapons?"

2- He followed her lead carefully, since they were not in his place, & he made sure to lower only his top half. They could stare at his jean clad #back side for all he cared.

3- Rolling the blanket over herself like a sleeping bag, Tweet felt for her note #book in the dark, finding where she left the pen in the page, half heartedly scribbling notes she hoped she would understand in the margins.

4- That she would have to cover with make up, and that would have to work for the #bags under her eyes too.

5- At least two of the biggest #gossips of Soul were furiously, but covertly, trying to get her attention.

6- She still needed him around, and Malta would miss her #crush too much.

7- The kindnesses came back ten fold, as Nate catered Martin's musical event, with the chocolate man making a lifelike red guitar that shined as if it had a fresh coat of pearlescent #paint.

8- His long black hair fell to one side, and hardly covered any of the piercing or tattoos, which covered his arms and neck in a sea of darker #colors.

9- Nira wasn't the only one #catching on to the language from exposure.

10- "You don't have to read it, if you don't like it." Woods' movements slowed, as he scrunched #up the material of his shirt.

11- She wasn't by any means an #expert, but one knew quickly which ones felt like sucking lemons, due to the way they pulled her face of their will, and which ones she might want to drink again.

12- The point was made, she was #playing with house money, and she would win.

13- Seemed this new Soulful was #true to it's name, and proving more interesting with each visit.

14- NO WINGS

15- Remmy rolled the window down, and waved at Woods, a sigh escaping him. "#Hurry up slow poke. I think you should be offended, but that's my opinion that you don't always listen to talking.

16- NO ESSENCE

17- Remmy was getting #sick of repeating himself. "Just go talk to Tweet…."

18- By the simple look of a wedged arm and crumpled leg, she knew to #avert her gaze, that seeing the parts of limbs was close enough.

19- Spoiler if posted SLASH

20- Not that this was any type of pet, it was somewhere between a tiger and #house cat in size.

21- NO CASCADE

22- NO LITE

23- "Seems like you have a musical connection with everyone you meet." Her words had been a double-edged #sword to him.

24- One #building caught her eye, with its sheer size and stain glass details.

25- Plus if he loitered too long, he'd be late to #class.

26- Once #inside, she showered and found herself staring into her closet.

27- She needed to remember to encourage them all to have lives #outside the bar.

28- Staff loyalty and respect was next on the ever #growing list.

29- Even nearly #falling onto a guy and barely keeping her red rubies caged looked classy.

30- Angus and Scotty had the good sense to first agree with Woods, and then do their darnedest to get Brandon to #leave while he was still in one piece.

31- They were out in the public, it was #chilly, he was sure there was some law about it, and was she ready for what she was trying to do?

#CharactersTell

1/8- Woods back again! The band and I thought it was time to talk again, especially since this month is art themed, and we are artists *someone snickers* Don't start that again mate… We're glad to be here in… (The Red Letters series)

2/8- Woods- Of course! We're musicians, so that is our favorite.

Brandon- "Women too"

W- "A fine bird's form can be a masterpiece yes, with legs for miles and plump shapes."

3/8- Woods- "Yeah mate, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, couple of car places. It's my passion, so why not go see it in a museum too if you can?"

4/8- Woods- "We play rock music, but I have listened to all kinds in my life. Never know what will inspire that next song of your own."

5/8- Woods- *laughs while the boys chuckle* "I prefer relaxed movies, in the sense that thinking too hard kills the buzz. Ain't nothing too relaxed about the movies I watch, especially if we just finished filming it."

6/8- Woods caught elbowing the blokes on the couch with him. "Unless this is Play boy, the answer to that question has to be music." *preoccupied by trying to help cover Brandon's mouth.*

7/8- Woods- "Maybe you haven't heard of us, but we are already famous for being a band. Tour regularly, another album in the works, so on and so forth. That's my legacy. Rock and roll lifer."

8/8- "Thank god! Woods doesn't shut up. Brandon the lead singer and better showman ready to take control of this band interview…"

9/8- Brandon- "Depends what you're talking about. Realistic women, but their ink can be anything. Just better not be ugly where I have to stare at. Say no to cutesy tramp stamps."

10/8- Brandon- "Sure, action movies are my thing. Love a good Bond girl if you know what I mean…"

11/8- Brandon- "The only art I understand is music. Beyond that, I don't need to fake it, I just don't care."

12/8- Brandon- "Designer all the way. You don’t get on sexy lists wearing ill-fitting bargain basement bullsh*t. Plus the free clothes or marketing money isn't bad when you're famous."

13/8- Brandon- "Women. Enough said."

14/8- Brandon- "Certainly not gentle, in any way. Fair in music consideration, but mostly critical everywhere else."

15/8- "Hey, you want to talk to me too? I'm Remmy, just the friendly security to Woods and occasional band wrangler when the manager is busy." *tips fedora in greeting, stepping up to stand behind Woods on the couch*

16/8- Remmy- "I like visiting museums for my hobbies yes. Then again, it depends on how you define art, as this one puts away food like no ones business, and this one has the habit of being the bands lightweight. That’s weird place art no one asks for…" *taps BGC*

17/8- Remmy- "After listening to this bunch bang around all night and day, I like to listen to a smooth station, or at least some smoother oldies."

18/8- Remmy- "Is it any different than watching the headbangers? Always wonder if they wake up with whiplash the next morning…"

19/8- Remmy- "Besides these guys? Not exactly. Plan on going to see someone and some music will play its part soon enough…"

20/8- Remmy- "My only art is information. Its how I keep Woods safe, keep the band life smooth and easy… Maybe in that way, I have picked up the juggling skill?"

21/8- Remmy- "What are you talking about? That's definitely the sort of question that skips over my head." *tips his fedora and straightens his bigger old school mod style jacket.*

22/8- *Silence until Remmy prods a man* "What? Oh yo! Tour life's been rough man, gotta get your zzz's in when you can. Especially when Remmy rattles on." *straightens up* "I'm Josh aka Angus, and this is Scotty the drummer" *Drums on Scotty's gut to wake him up too*

23/8- Josh-"Got new bass art, and tattoos. My wifey doesn't like me looking at much, or it's an earful."

Scotty-"Man at least you get to look. My wife won't even let me play drums in my house because of the baby. I get kicked out when it screams like a metalhead."

24/8- Josh & Scotty- "The Terminator Mockingbird T800 comes to mind." "Did you ever see the Heineken drums? Or the plastic video game fakeness?" *nudged by other band members before they accidentally speak in unison* "My wife."

29/8- *Both laugh, then Woods speaks for himself and Remmy* "Neither of us draw, and if we did, it would mostly be bollacks and bristols in Sharpies when the other passes out."

R-"It took a week to get the last one off  my chin…"

30/8- *Brandon talks over his bandmates* "There is a rather poorly done, wrong sided sort of bio out about me, but yes, I want more books about me, done CORRECTLY."

[sere22world]

Classification Of Stainless Steel Ball Valve

1. The stainless steel ball valves can be divided according to the structure

Floating ball valve

The ball of the ball valve is floating. Under the action of the medium pressure, the ball can produce a certain displacement and press tightly on the sealing surface of the outlet end to ensure that the outlet end is sealed. The floating ball valve has a simple structure and good sealing performance, but the load of the working medium on the ball is all transmitted to the outlet sealing ring. Therefore, it is necessary to consider whether the sealing ring material can withstand the working load of the spherical medium. This structure is widely used in medium and low pressure ball valves.

Fixed stainless steel ball valves: The ball of the ball valve is fixed and does not move after being pressed. The fixed ball valve is equipped with a floating valve seat. After receiving the pressure of the medium, the valve seat will move, so that the sealing ring is tightly pressed on the ball to ensure sealing. Bearings are usually installed on the upper and lower shafts of the ball, and the operating torque is small, which is suitable for high-pressure and large-diameter valves. In order to reduce the operating torque of the ball valve and increase the reliability of the seal, the oil-sealed ball valve appeared, which not only injects a special lubricant between the sealing surfaces to form a layer of oil film, which enhances the sealing performance and reduces the operating torque, which is more applicable High-pressure large-diameter ball valve.

Elastic stainless steel ball valves: The ball of the ball valve is elastic. The sphere and the valve seat sealing ring are made of metal materials, and the specific pressure of the seal is very large. The pressure of the medium itself cannot meet the sealing requirements, and external force must be applied. This valve is suitable for high temperature and high pressure media. The elastic sphere is made by opening an elastic groove on the lower end of the inner wall of the sphere to obtain elasticity. When closing the passage, use the wedge-shaped head of the valve stem to expand the ball and press the valve seat to seal. Loosen the wedge-shaped head before rotating the ball, and the ball will return to its original shape, so that there is a small gap between the ball and the valve seat, which can reduce the friction of the sealing surface and the operating torque.

2. Stainless steel ball valves can be divided into straight-through type, three-way type and right-angle type according to their channel position.

Three-way ball valve has T type and L type. The T-shape can connect three orthogonal pipelines with each other and cut off the third channel, which can split and merge. The L-shape can only connect two orthogonal pipes, and cannot maintain the third pipe to communicate with each other at the same time. It only plays a role of distribution.

The three-way ball valve adopts an integrated structure in structure, with a four-sided valve seat sealing type, fewer flange connections, high reliability, and a lightweight design.

The three-way ball core is divided into T type and L type, with long service life, large circulation capacity and low resistance

The stainless steel ball valves is divided into two types: single-acting and double-acting according to the action type. The single-acting type is characterized in that once the power source fails, the ball valve will be in the state required by the control system.

3. The ball valve can be divided into one-piece type, two-piece type and three-piece type according to its composition.

Using Instructions

1. Make sure that the pipeline and valve have been flushed before operation.

2. The operation of the valve drives the valve stem to complete rotation according to the size of the input signal of the actuator: when it rotates 1/4 turn (900) in the forward direction, the valve is closed. When the reverse rotation is 1/4 turn (900), the valve opens.

3. When the direction indicator arrow of the actuator is parallel to the pipeline, the valve is in the open state; when the indicator arrow is perpendicular to the pipeline, the valve is in the closed state.

Repair

Having a long service life and maintenance-free period will depend on the following factors: normal working conditions, maintaining a harmonious temperature/pressure ratio, and reasonable corrosion data

[ladyseaheart1668]

Endless Summer Fan Novel (Book 3, Chapter 4)

Malatesta swears fluently under his breath. Jake edges closer to me.

“Ol' Nessie is harder to shake than mono!” he mutters ruefully. Helpless frustration bubbles up in my gut.

“Damn you, Cetus!” I scream. “Why can't you just leave us alone?!”

Dark clouds rush in overhead, following the ocean Guardian. A peal of thunder crackles through the air, and Cetus lets out an ear-splitting roar. As if answering him, the storm erupts in earnest, bright lines of lightning arcing across the angry sky as rain batters us below.

“I don't think he came to mess around this time, yo...” Craig says nervously.

“Back to the reef!” Sean shouts over the rising storm. “He can't get to us in the shallows!”

Yvonne and Malatesta struggle to turn the boats in the choppy water, but a dark shape rises to block our path back to the atoll.

“Oh, god,” Diego whispers. “That's his tail!”

“The grinning devil has us trapped!” Yvonne growls.

“Cetus!” Varyyn roars furiously. “I swear on my mother's grave, I will cut off your head and mount your skull over my throne!”

A wave swells beneath us, sending us scrambling to keep our balance. Michelle's backpack slides across the boat, wedging beneath an oar handle. The light of the Island's Heart streams through the half-zipped flap. Cetus' terrible visage turns, drawn by the brilliant light. For a moment, there is relative calm. Quinn stands on the prow of our boat, facing Cetus boldly.

“Guardian!” she shouts. “I command you to leave this place!”

Cetus turns his attention on her, but only seems to be angered by her words. He howls furiously. Sean and Michelle rush forward to protect her.

“Stop him!” Varyyn suddenly cries. “He has the Heart!”

“What?!” I whip around to see Malatesta raising the shining half-sphere toward Cetus.

“Ye want this, do ye, monster?!” he roars. “Then take it!” Before anyone can react, he lobs the Heart at Cetus. Horror floods through me as I watch it arc through the air and disappear into the serpent's cavernous maw. Cetus closes his jaws. Then, as soon as he appeared, he is gone again, disappeared beneath the raging waves.

“Did he just...eat the Heart?” Diego asks incredulously.

“Yup,” Jake confirms numbly. “That just happened.”

“Malatesta, you bastard!” I hear myself screaming as I come out of my stupor. “Do you have any idea what you just did, you selfish, double-crossing...”

“Plague-eating gut worm!” Yvonne finishes for me from the other rowboat.

“I did what none of you wallflowers were willing to do to keep us alive!” he snarls. Deafening thunderclaps explode overhead. Forked tongues of lightning strike the waves with ear-splitting pops, and a piteous cry rises from somewhere below.

“He's leaving!” Estela shouts. “But the storm's only getting worse!”

She's right. The waves are getting higher and stronger, and our rowboats are bucking and rearing, rising and falling like roller coaster cars.

“Hang on! Everyone just hang on!” I grab the oars, trying to control the boat. I row furiously against the tide, and the boat steadies slightly as we climb and descend the waves.

“Yeah! What a ride!” Craig crows. I turn frantically to look at the other rowboat, and a flash briefly illuminates a cluster of rocks directly ahead of Yvonne's boat.

“Yvonne, left! Break left!”

Yvonne pitches her weight left, turning the boat. They narrowly miss the rocks. I turn help them, but my eye catches the sight of the sea turning and falling away.

“Guys!” Craig cries. “It's a tidal wave!”

Caught in the current, the boat is drawn higher and higher by a towering wall of water. The dark sea churns beneath us, looking at least a mile off. As the wave crests, I find myself airborne, and hear screaming all around me. Some of it is probably my own. Then the dark water breaks painfully underneath me, rushing in to close over my head. Sinking figures surround me as darkness fills my vision, and even the rush of water singing against my ears starts to fade into silence...

… Light suddenly stings my eyes. My chest feels tight. There is a salty-tasting mouth pressed against mine, surrounded by scratchy stubble. Air rushes into my chest.

“Come on, Princess,” Jake pleads desperately. “Come back to me.” His mouth presses to mine again, and another rush of air sends a wave of seawater crashing up my throat. I feel my whole body seizing violently as the water in my lungs explodes out of me in a fit of coughing.

“Oh, thank goodness!” I hear Quinn breathe. I try to focus my vision. Jake is beside me, Quinn and Diego are kneeling at my other shoulder. Jake helps me sit up. He pulls me into his arms, trembling and kissing my hair.

“You're okay...you're okay, Princess...”  

“I'm fine...” After taking a moment to catch my breath, I pull back to look at his face and gingerly lay a hand on his injured ribs. “Are you okay?”

He flinches at my touch, gasping sharply, but he forces a smile. “No worse off than before, I think.”

Diego smiles weakly at me. “How many near-drownings is this now, Allie?”

“Too many,” I admit. “Honestly, it's getting embarrassing.”

I glance around me. Besides Quinn and Diego, I see Sean, Michelle, Raj, Craig, Estela, and Varyyn are all gathered nearby, all soaking wet, but apparently unharmed. Jake kisses my forehead.

“There's no sign of the pirate duo,” he murmurs. “Maybe they washed up somewhere else.”

Abruptly, Quinn frowns, tipping her head to the side. “Hey...does anyone else hear that?” We all go quiet, listening. A faint melody is drifting through the trees, strains of an acoustic guitar.

“What the hell?” I murmur.

“Sounds like we ain't alone,” Jake remarks with a frown. He helps me to my feet. We all make our way into the rainforest, following the dulcet tones until we reach a ruined stone structure almost completely overgrown with clinging vines. At the center of what must have once been an impressive courtyard, an amphitheater descends toward a small stage.

“I think these are Mayan ruins,” Diego says. “I learned about them in Pre-Colonial Art History.”

“Yeah,” I murmur. I can't help pausing for a moment to admire them, to imagine them whole and filled with people living their daily lives. How many generations have walked this ground before me, unaware of what will come in the future, unconcerned about what came before them? Consumed with their own lives, their own problems, each making a thousand tiny decisions that shape the world into what it is now...

The mysterious guitar strains break into my thoughts again. I look toward the source of the music, which turns out to be a handsome young man sitting against a wall at one side of the stage. He's ruddy-skinned, with dark hair that brushes his shoulders, wearing a brown military-looking uniform and dogtags, like the kind Jake wears. Sensing our presence, he pauses.

“Hello? Someone else here?” We're still mostly concealed by the trees and the decaying building, but after scanning his surroundings, he seems to notice us. He starts to put his guitar away.

“...He's kinda cute,” Diego murmurs, with an unmistakeable grin curving his lips. “Don't you think so, Allie?”

“Down, boy!” I quip.

“He's more than cute,” Michelle replies. “He's downright dreamy.”

“No argument here,” Quinn agrees.

Jake raises an eyebrow. “You kiddin' me? That's a paratrooper kit he's wearing.”

“He's probably got some firearms on him,” Estela says flatly. “We'd better watch ourselves.”

“Definitely,” Sean agrees, he glares at Michelle and the others.

The man in the paratrooper kit walks over to a small pot perched atop a campfire and stirs its contents.

“Plenty of room here if you'd like to share my camp,” he calls.

“...Should we?” I ask uncertainly. “Call me paranoid, but I'm inclined to be suspicious of humans here who aren't...you know, us.”

“I'm with Alodia,” Craig agrees. “This guy is waaaaaaay suspicious.”

“Yeah. But we should find out what he's up to,” Sean murmurs.

Quinn rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on! Did you guys even hear that music?”

“Yes,” Varyyn says mildly. “It was very beautiful.” I can't tell if he's agreeing with Quinn or with us.

Sean shakes his head and steps warily toward the young man. The rest of us follow.

“Hey!” Sean calls.

The young man smiles warmly. “Hey, Mac. Pleased to meet you. I'm Kele.”

“You with Arachnid?” Sean demands.

“Arach-what?”

“Don't try to play dumb, bro!” Craig growls. “Lundgren give you all this gear?”

“Hey, look, don't snap your cap, pal. I don't know anything about any Arachnid or Lundgren. I'm on my own out here. Have been since the Shenandoah got brought down by U-boats.”

“You sayin' submarine torpedoes sunk your ship?” Jake asks, frowning.

“Germans really know what they're doing with those things,” Kele says ruefully. “We got hit in the zero dark hundred and we were taken totally unaware.”

“We're stranded on La Huerta, too,” Quinn admits.

“Now that's a sure shame.” Kele smiles disarmingly at her. “Pretty girl like you must have a lot of friends back home.”

Quinn blushes. “Oh, well, heh...Actually, all of my friends are here...”

Jake leans over to murmur in my ear, “Princess, his uniform is downright antique!”

“Kele,” I say, “don't take this the wrong way, but what year do you think it is?”

He shrugs. “Last I saw a calendar, 1941. But there's not much use in keeping track of time here.”

“So you are a World War II soldier!” Diego exclaims. “You were fighting Nazis before it was even cool!”

“Yeah, something like that.”

I feel Jake relax beside me. “Well, you got my respect.” He steps up to Kele and holds out a hand. “Jake McKenzie, former Navy pilot.”

Kele shakes the offered hand. “Oh, a flyboy. Pleasure.” He returns to the pot and starts stirring.

“How long have you been here?” Estela asks.

“Long enough to stop worrying about it,” he replies. “Can I interest you all in some chili or do you wanna keep beating your gums all day?”

Raj chuckles. “Dude's unflappable. I like him.”

“I saw him first,” Michelle retorts.

“No fair!” Quinn laughs.

“I guess he's all right,” Sean finally relents. “So, you really don't know anything about the Arachnid paramilitary outfit? Or Rourke?”

“Oh, you mean the machine men? Yeah, they've been around. I saw a bunch of them come out of the ruins. Looked like they were searching for somebody.” He frowns, looking up at us. “...Is it you they're trying to find?”

We all exchange glances. Finally, I take a deep breath. “Well, the short answer is...yes.”

“Huh.” He shrugs. “Well, you can hide here for as long as you like. There's a vista over a waterfall a few minutes away that's good for scouting.”

“Probably a good idea to send a couple people up there to keep lookout,” Jake remarks.

“Not you,” I say firmly, before he can volunteer himself. “You're still injured.”

“Alodia's right,” Michelle agrees. “We won't even know the real extent of the damage for a day or two. You need to rest as much as possible.”

“I'll go,” Sean volunteers.

“Not alone you're not,” I say. “I'll go with you.”

Kele arches an eyebrow at me. “Think I've figured out who your CO is.”

Jake chuckles. “That's Alodia. She may be tiny, but don't tangle with her. She's a firecracker.”

“Duly noted. I'll show you how to get there.” Kele puts down the ladle and wipes his hands.

“Need any help in the kitchen in the meantime?” Raj asks.

“Sure. More cooks means more food. There are some mangoes you could slice up in that rucksack.”

“Comin' right up!”

Kele directs me and Sean on the proper route up to the vista. We take the hill in silence for a few minutes, concentrating on keeping our footing on the steep, uneven terrain.

“It was good of you to volunteer,” I remark after a time. “I know you really haven't had much time to unwind since we found you. But if you hadn't, I know Jake would have, and in his current condition...”

“It's fine. Honestly, I kinda think I needed this.”

“Yeah?”

He sighs, flexing his fingers anxiously. “I dunno. So much has happened in the last few weeks, but there's so little that I was able to do about it. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to get a break, but...I just need to feel useful right now.”

“I feel like I ought to be telling you to chill out,” I reply ruefully. “But the truth is, I totally get it. It's just generally tough to enjoy yourself when you feel like you're not doing enough for those around you. And in a situation like ours...honestly, I feel like I'm forgetting how to relax.”

“I think it's like using any muscle. If you don't practice with it, it gets weak.”

“Well, for my money, staring at a waterfall together has to be a pretty good place to start.”

“Only one way to find out.”

I can hear the water rushing before it comes into view. When it does, my breath catches in my throat. I have found myself on the edge of the placid pond that spreads from the bottom of the waterfall. The water that flows over the cliffs above me is clear, crystal blue, and the whole scene is framed with mottled green and brown foliage. Beside me, I look out to see verdant greenery rolling below us.

“...There's worse places to be lookouts, that's for sure,” I murmur. I take a seat on a large boulder beside the waterfall and pat the spot next to me. “Sit down. Take a load off.”

Sean comes to sit beside me, casting his gaze over the valley. The gentle smile on his face starts to fall. He points somewhere in the distance.

“That's where Craig and I were held,” he says softly. “When we were captured.”

“So close?” I taste alarm at the back of my throat, but Sean quickly shakes his head.

“They moved camp awhile ago, so we're fine. ...It's just weird to see it again.”

It takes a moment for my heartbeat to return to normal, for my breath to descend from my chest into my abdomen. “...That must have been really hard...”

“It was,” he agrees. He is quiet for a long time, searching for the words. Finally, he shakes his head again. “It's hard to explain.”

“...What were they going to do with you?”

“I'm not sure. They clearly weren't there for us to begin with, which explains why we stayed in one place for so long. They would ask us questions sometimes. If we knew where the Heart was. Or what the Vaanti were planning. ...About halfway through, we overheard Aleister talking to someone about how we were the only survivors.”

I swallow hard. “...Shit...God, Sean...”

“...That was really hard, hearing that. After all that time, it seemed likely. And then after awhile, they wouldn't let me or Craig speak unless spoken to...”

“...Did they hurt you?”

“Some of them got a little rough, but nothing too bad. ...Aleister made sure they didn't treat us like garbage, so that was something.” He sighs. “I bet everyone thinks I was insane to ask him to come with us.”

“It's not insane, Sean. You saw something in him worth saving.” It's my turn to sigh. “The others...just aren't in a place to even ask that right now. They're still too raw.”

“That's fair,” he admits. “Regardless, I'm glad you had my back on the ship. It felt good to not be alone on this. ...It just hurts, Alodia. To see what he was doing. How he was doing it. I mean, I won't say Aleister was my favorite person to begin with...”

“You're not the first to feel that way,” I admit wryly.

“But while we were captured, I realized how similar our lives were. We both had to pretend to adore our fathers when they were horrible behind closed doors. We both felt this pressure to carry on a legacy, terrified of failure. Sometimes I would see him at the campsite, and all I could see was myself. Maybe I'm just scared that if I give up on Aleister...”

“...That you're giving up on yourself?” I finish for him. He nods, leaning a little closer to me, perhaps unconsciously. “...It's taken a lot of courage and strength for you to get where you are. But in the end, this is Aleister's journey to figure out. It won't matter how strong you are if he just won't move.”

“You're right. I know you're right. It just...sucks, you know? Seeing someone make the same mistakes you did?”

“I know. But you gave him more chances to do the right thing than anyone. It's not your fault he didn't take any of them.”

He regards me thoughtfully, a smile lifting one corner of his mouth. “What's it like, always knowing the right thing to say? It seems pretty great from here.”

I chuckle. “Oh, you know. I try not to let it go to my head.”

A sudden sharp breeze whips over the waterfall, sending a tepid spray over us. Sean puts himself between me and the waterfall, shielding me from the soaking blast. As the spray dies down, he smiles at me.

“Hi there.”

I grin back up at him. “Heh. Thanks.” Impulsively, I give him a light shove, enough to throw him off balance, and he topples over into the shallow pool. He lands with a splash, sputtering. Soaking wet, he emerges in the knee deep shallows.

“Oh, now you've done it.” With a wicked grin, he lunges at me, grabbing me just under my hips and throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I yelp as I find myself upside down, staring at his backside.

“Sean? Sean, w-what are you doing?!”

“If I'm getting a bath, so are you!” I shriek indignantly as he turns and marches straight for the waterfall, pounding at his back with my fists.

“You put me down, Sean Gayle! Put me down this instant!”

“No way!” Taking in a deep breath, he rushes in to stand directly under the frothy falls. “It's shower time!”

I yelp with helpless laughter as the lukewarm water crashes over me. “You are a dead man! The moment you put me down, you are so dead!”

“Well, then I guess I can't ever put you down, can I? I guess you live on my shoulders now.” With a few shifts of his weight, he shifts me from sack-of-potatoes position to drape me over both shoulders like a baby lamb. “God, you're tiny, aren't you?”

“I'm not tiny, you're just a big ol' hulk!” Still under the waterfall, he starts to spin in place, making me shriek again. And then I hear another shriek answering mine from somewhere in the hills, a shrill, inhuman cry fused with a cackle. The sound sends ice trickling down my spine. Sean stops cold, quickly setting me back on my feet.

“...What was that?”

“Nothing good,” I answer grimly.

“Hey, you two!” Quinn's voice drifts up the cliffside. “Food's ready! Come and get it!”

Sean looks down at me. “...It...might have just been the wind. We can't let this place make us jump at shadows, right?”

I smile in spite of myself. “Heh. Look at you relaxing.”

“What can I say. You're a great teacher.”

We head back down the trail toward the ruins, where everyone is gathered around a roaring campfire. Craig is clumsily picking at Kele's guitar. Michelle sighs wearily.

“Okay, Craig, whatever you're trying to play, just stop.”

“Isn't it obvious? It's that song about going over rainbows.”

“It's not obvious,” Estela deadpans. “Not at all.”

“At least you're better than Jake,” Diego says with a grin.

“Hey, my rendition of Wonderwall was beautiful!” Jake snaps back.

“I'm sorry to have missed that,” I quip, coming to sit beside him. He regards my freshly soaked clothes with a smirk.

“What happened to you, Princess? You fall in?”

“Something like that. I had help.” I shoot a mock-glare at Sean.

“Hey, she started it,” he retorts. Jake chuckles.

“Somehow, that does not surprise me,” he drawls, softening his words with a kiss on my cheek. I still stick out my tongue at him.

Kele and Raj are leaning over a bubbling pot on the fire, grinning from ear to ear.

“Smells like you've been busy,” Kele remarks.

“I'd love your feedback, dude.” Kele ladles out a bit, blows on it, and takes a sip. His eyes go wide.

“This is...amazing! How did you get so much flavor in there?”

“Coconut milk! And love. Always cook with love.”

Kele gets out a few shelled-out coconut halves from his rucksack. Sean takes the ladle and starts to fill the makeshift bowls, passing them out.

“Sit down, Raj,” he says. “You've earned it.”

When we've all been served, we raise our spoons in a toast and dig in. I sigh rapturously as the flavor collapses across my tongue, savory and hearty with just the right amount of spice.

“Oh my god,” Jake mumbles appreciatively around a mouthful.

“Best chili I have ever tasted,” Estela agrees. Craig has already wolfed down his bowl and gone back for seconds. I am not far behind him.

“Buddy's still got his skills!” Craig declares enthusiastically.

“Thanks to Grandma,” Raj says with a smile. He passes a grateful look to me as I ladle out another helping. “...and Alodia.”

Any reply I might have made is cut off when a sound floats up from out of another part of the ruins, something between rustling, chattering, and shrieking that makes every hair on my body stand to attention. Ice trickles down my spine.

“...Please tell me I'm not the only one who heard that...”

“I heard it,” Sean confirms lowly. “What was that?”

“Oh, that?” Kele shrugs nonchalantly. “That's just the ghost.”

The collective look we give him suggests he has just removed his own head and set it beside him to spoon-feed.

“Just a ghost?” Michelle repeats.

“How auspicious!” Varyyn says brightly. “Has it been here long?”

“Not sure. I've not tended to stay in one place.”

“So, is this a Casper the Friendly Ghost Situation or--” Diego is cut off as the noise surges in strength. We all drop our bowls, clapping our hands over our ears until it dies down a little. “Nope. That's definitely a Dementor.”

A loud crash comes from the trees on the other side of the clearing. My heart wedges in my throat.

“Everyone hide!” I hiss. We all scramble ot flatten ourselves to the ground and huddle against a ruined wall. I dare to peek my head out, and spot a flash of Arachnid armor. Jake grabs my hand, his breath catching, but the soldiers are too busy retreating to even notice the campsite.

“Squad Beta Commander to Control,” one of them calls frantically into his comm unit, “we need backup here! Repeat, requesting backup!”

“Wait!” the other soldier cries. “Don't leave me behind here!”

They vanish into the trees again. As their voices fade, we cautiously emerge from our hiding spots.

“That is not a friendly ghost,” Raj declares.

“Actually,” Estela murmurs, “I...think it might be...”

“Katniss, you did see the soldiers running like babies, right?” Estela pulls the photo of her family out of her pocket.

“Remember the thing that approached me on the beach? What if that spirit is this spirit?”

“I hear you,” Raj agrees. “That ghost thing pulled me out of a real tight spot.”

Sean rubs his father's watch on his wrist. “Helped me, too. Whatever this spirit is, it's definitely a friend.”

“Friend or not, if the soldiers are here, it probably means Rourke's interested in it,” Quinn points out.

“You think it has to do with the Heart?” Sean wonders.

“If Rourke wants it, it's likely,” I agree.

Diego groans a little. “Guys, this isn't fair. I left my proton pack at home.”

“How do we keep a friggin' ghost out of Rourke's hands?” Jake asks.

“Forget that, how do we get it to talk to us?”

“Maybe we should offer it tribute?” I suggest.

“We could light candles and make sugar skulls,” Diego says. “Like my abuelita on Dia de los Muertos.”

“And where would we get either candles or sugar?” Michelle asks irritably.

“We could kill a small animal,” Raj offers. Sean makes a face.

“As delightful as that sounds, Arachnid could be back any moment. We don't have time for that.”

“Why not just walk in and see what we can find?” Kele suggests with a sigh.

“Stay out of this, Jason Mraz,” Jake snaps. “We don't need your help.”

“Jake, be reasonable!” Quinn chides.

“Walking in does seem like less work than killing a squirrel,” Raj concedes.

“How do we know this won't end like a horror movie?” Diego asks nervously.

“I think there's only one way to find out,” I answer grimly.

“I'm coming,” Michelle declares. “But only so I can say 'I told you so' when we get murdered.”

We all turn toward the dark doorway at the end of the courtyard. As we approach, the noise fills our ears again. I grit my teeth, trying to block it out.

“It's not too late to turn around yet, is it?” Diego mutters.

“Come on, bro,” Craig says. “We don't have time to chicken out. Let's just do this before it gets dark.”

“You mean like you did at the haunted house sophomore year?” Michelle drawls.

“I got no idea what you're talking about,” Craig replies haughtily. “The zombies led me out the emergency exit so I could see the real hardcore part of the house.”

I sigh and gather my courage, gently shouldering by Craig to start walking up the steps. I fold my arms tightly over my chest, trying to disguise the fact that I'm shaking.

“See?” I hear Michelle say. “Alodia's going! You can't not go now!”

Craig grumbles under his breath, but he follows after me. As we all walk through the shadowy doorway, the rustling noises seem to close in around us. I shiver, feeling as if I've just stuck my finger in an electric socket.

“Is it just me, or is it really cold in here?”

“Hey, Spirit Dude,” Raj calls softly. “Buddy, ol' pal, ol' friend. We're not here to hurt you. Be nice. Pleeeeeeeease...”

“It's a ghost, Raj, not a puppy!”

I make my way down a rough, uneven staircase, stumbling slightly on one loose step. I put my hand on the wall to steady myself.

“You okay there?” Quinn asks.

“Yeah, fine. I just...” I trail off as I happen to look at my hand. It's smeared with blood. I look up at the wall and find words written in thick swaths of blood: STAY AWAY

“This is friendly-ghost-speak for 'Hi, be my friend', right?” Diego deadpans.

“There's more!” Kele remarks. “Cast an eyeball at this!”

I look where he's indicating, and see more bloody messages: YOU DON'T BELONG HERE and I CAN TASTE YOUR FEAR

“What emo punk band is this ghost listening to?” Jake mutters.

“Hopefully one that's pacifist,” Raj says.

“All right, gang, we don't know when Arachnid is coming back,” Sean points out. “Let's look around and be quick about it.”

We all fan out to poke around the ruins. Sean immediately pulls himself into the branches of an overgrown tree entwined with one ruined wall.

“Think the ghost is hiding up there?” I call up with a smirk.

“No stone unturned, right?” he calls back.

“Well, if by stone you mean branch, I guess that works.”

Quinn wanders over to a crumbling stone fountain. Picking up a stick, she gingerly stirrs the algae-thick water. She recoils slightly, putting a hand over her mouth and nose.

“This is like stirring soup,” she mutters. “And it stinks!”

“Hey, Allie. Come take a look at this.” I turn my attention to Diego, crouched with Varyyn near what appears to be a makeshift shrine. I come closer and find trinkets spread around a small wooden figurine.

“What's this?”

“Do you remember the religious war my people fought?” Varyyn asks. When we both nod, he continues. “Some sects believed that praying to individual Catalysts would bring them sooner.”

I squint at the idol, trying to make out some distinctive feature, dragon wings, a wolf's head, bear paws...

“Can you tell which one of us this is for?”

Diego lifts the idol to inspect it. As he does, something drops from a hole in the side into the dust at his feet. I bend to pick it up. It's a tarnished silver pen, with an engraving along the side: Grace Tamara Hall. My heart beats faster.

“This belongs to Grace!”

“What?” Diego snatches the pen from my hand to read the engraving. “She was here?”

“Perhaps,” Varyyn says.

Diego swallows and meets my gaze, his dark eyes troubled. “Allie, this pen looks old. I mean like old. This much tarnish on silver...”

“NO!” Craig's terrified cry makes us all jump. We all rush over to where he is stooped inside a narrow alcove, cradling something in his arms. My blood turns cold as it rushes out of my head to collect at my feet. Time seems to stop.

A body, mostly decayed, rests in Craig's arms. Still attached to a flap of rotting flesh on the scalp is an unmistakeable streak of maroon hair.

“...No...”

“...Th-that can't be Zahra...” Quinn whimpers. “...Right...?”

Trembling violently, Craig slips the bracelets off the corpse's bony wrists. They're familiar. Too familiar. Raj sucks in his breath sharply, hand flying to his mouth. Michelle backs away, her face ashen.

“No...”

“Th-there's writing over here,” Raj says weakly, pointing to the wall. “It says, 'You will be next.'”

Quinn dissolves into tears beside me. Sean curses under his breath, furiously kicking at the tree. I stare numbly at the grotesque pile of sloppy flesh and brittle bones. It...it can't be. It's not possible. ...I passed the test. They were alive...they were all alive... At least...they were alive when I reached the Threshold. But now the cycle has been broken. And this may have been my last chance. ...Have we lost her for good this time? Our Zahra? Our snarky lich queen, our brilliant hacker, our strong, fearless crow? I never saw her flinch, never saw her break. In another lifetime, I watched her singlehandedly destroy Rourke's entire empire. ...How could she be the first to go now, of all of us, when I was supposed to have finally gotten it all right?

Craig straightens slowly, clutching the bracelets, his face a twisted red mask of grief and fury.

“We had only just...I was going to...” He chokes on a sob, looking uncharacteristically small and helpless. Michelle reaches out to lay a hand on his shoulder, but he pulls sharply away, whirling to slam his fist into a wall with a furious cry.

“Hey, man, hold on--” Sean steps forward to pull him away, but Craig throws all his weight into a shove that actually sends Sean sprawling to the stones. His breath starts coming out in fast, shallow gasps.

“Craig, stop!” I cry. “Craig, you need to breathe!”

He ignores me, whipping around to face the dark recesses of the ruin. “Hey! Ghost! Come out so I can kick your ass!” He beats his fists wildly on the stone walls. A loud snap echoes across the plaza. Suddenly, the floor under my feet is trembling.

“Uh, Big Guy, I think you made it angry...” The floor drops about a foot beneath us, throwing us all off balance.

“Hang onto something!” Kele shouts. The stone under our feet starts to split apart, receding towards the walls and leaving us less room to stand on by the second.

“...I told you so,” Michelle mutters.

“Grab onto the walls!” I shout. I grasp whatever handholds I can find on the uneven stone walls, looking worriedly over my shoulder at my friends. Everyone scrambles to get onto the walls or the trees. Except for Craig. He stands still as the floor recedes. His back is to me, but I don't need to see his face to guess at his thinking.

“Craig, don't be stupid!” Michelle screams. “Grab hold of something!”

Before anyone can stop him, he jumps into the gap.

“No! Craig!” There is a distant thud as he lands. Suddenly, the gap in the floor starts to close again, edges slowly creeping together.

“Dammit!” Michelle jumps off the wall and runs toward the narrowing gap.

“What are you doing?!” Sean cries.

“I'm not letting him get stuck down there alone!” she snaps, scrambling over the edge. She lets go of the ledge and disappears.

“Hold on!” Sean yells. “I'm coming too!” One by one, the others jump down into the gap. I raise my eyes to meet Diego's beside me. He smiles weakly.

“All for one and one for all, right?”

“...Here goes nothing...” I turn myself against the wall and reach out to grasp his hand. Together, we launch ourselves into the gap. As the stones snap shut over our heads, all I see is darkness. We tumble through the air and land in a pile with the others.

“Whose elbows are in my back?” Estela groans.

“My arm is goin' numb,” Jake complains.

“This is not an ideal cuddle puddle,” Raj concedes.

As we slowly untangle ourselves, my eyes start to adjust to the darkness, broken by one small shaft of light from above. It illuminates Craig as he pounds his fists against the wall.

“Come out, asshat!” he howls. “I need to punch you out of existence!”

“Dude, the ghost might not even have a corporeal form,” Raj points out.

“I don't care!”

Sean seizes Craig's shoulders and turns him around, forcing them to lock eyes.

“I know it hurts, man,” Sean says gently. “I know. I feel it too. We all do. We all cared about Zahra. But just take a second. Breathe. Just let yourself feel whatever you're feeling.”

For a long moment, Craig just stares at his friend. Then his face crumples, his lips quivering. He pulls away sharply and collapses onto the stairs. I rush to his side to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Craig. I promise, we'll avenge her.” I grip his shoulder, speaking through clenched teeth. “I swear, whoever or whatever took Zahra from us, we will make them pay.”

“Hell yeah we will, Alodia.”

“Will both of you stop and think for two seconds?” Estela snaps impatiently. Craig scowls at her.

“Of all people, I thought you'd understand!”

“I do understand. But whatever this ghost is might have information about the island.”

Craig's shoulders sag under the weight of his grief. “I'm just...I'm so tired of never being good enough. I wasn't good enough to get drafted--”

Sean looks sharply at him. “Wait, what?!”

“I wasn't good at school,” Craig continues, ignoring Sean. “I wasn't...I couldn't get to Zahra fast enough. It's just...why couldn't it have been me?!”

“Oh, Craig...” Michelle murmurs.

“She beat me at everything!” he cries. “She was smarter, cooler, always knew what to do...Why is she gone and a dumb, worthless loser like me still here?!” He dissolves into ragged sobs, tears running down his cheeks in rivers. For a long while, no one speaks. Then Diego yelps, raising a finger toward a glowing rock wall.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“There! That's it!” Estela exclaims.

Sure enough, the glowing ghostly figure is coming through the rock wall and descending the stairs toward us. Shock and disbelief momentarily halt Craig's tears as he stares at it. Then his face twists with rage.

“You! You killed my friend!” He lunges at the figure, throwing punch after wild punch, but his fist passes through it. The figure endures Craig's furious assault placidly, not moving. “I hate you! I hate you! I...why isn't it hurting me?”

“...Because it's Zahra?” Michelle suggests.

“What?!”

“Think about it. Who else's spirit would do things to try to help us?”

“Of course,” Sean murmurs. “It does make sense...”

Craig's face twists with fresh anguish. “Z-Zahra...? I'm...I'm so sorry...” He clasps his hands in what looks almost like a prayer. “I didn't find you fast enough. I wasn't there when you needed me. I was so sure that you'd be okay, and then I...I...I failed you...”

The ghost bends toward him, holding out its hand. A small, silvery ring rests in its palm. Craig looks at me, his eyes begging for guidance. I nod.

“Take it. I think you'll want to see this.”

He stretches out a trembling hand to accept the ring. “It's my class ring,” he mumbles. “My parents picked this one out a while ago. They were gonna give it to me at graduation.” I hold out my hand, silently asking permission to touch it. He passes it toward me, and I feel the familiar weightlessness as the world around me dissolves.

A football stadium, packed with spectators. “Ultra Bowl” is emblazoned on the grass beneath the players' feet. The Eagles lead the Condors by four points, with five seconds on the clock.

“We can still pull this off, Craig,” Sean says. “Can you make a hole for me?”

“All day, every day, bro,” Craig replies.

“All right, let's do this. 64, 96, Fireball...Hut hut!”

The defensive lineman barrels down toward the quarterback, but the linebacker pushes him hard to the side. The quarterback scrambles up the middle, flying past the front line. Two defenders come from the side and begin to pull him down. He laterals the ball to the linebacker before he's taken down.

“Get it!” Sean yells.

The defense goes for the linebacker, but he rolls through them, straight into the endzone.

“I don't believe it!” the announcer shrieks. “The Condors win! The Condors win the Ultra Bowl!”

“That's what I'm talking about!” Sean crows as fireworks explode over the field.

In a comfortable, cheerful office, Sean and Craig set down their controllers and high five each other. On the computer screen in front of them, animated figures are carrying out a giant trophy. The sound of a cheering crowd floats out from the speakers. Sean, dressed in his purple and black Condors uniform, grins at his friend.

“You're as good a lineman in game as you are in real life!”

Craig, dressed in jeans and a plain T-shirt, laughs. “Maybe real-life me five years ago!” he says, ruefully poking at his belly, which has grown a little bit rounder. “Not a lot of lineman training behind this desk.”

He closes the test rig on the screen, and Sean leans back, lacing his fingers behind his head. “It's good.”

Craig grins. “For real, bro, thanks for coming in for our cover photoshoot. You've become Touchdown 2021's biggest selling point.”

“Hey, anything for you man. Just gotta make sure the game only has my good plays in it.”

Craig snorts. “Dude, don't worry. We literally had to nerf your stats because you were so OP.”

Sean smiles, casting his eyes over the office. His eyes fall on a photo sitting on the desk in front of him, of him and Craig in their Hartfeld uniforms, side-by-side. Craig notices where his gaze has landed and frowns a little.

“...Hey, Sean?”

“Yeah?”

“How do you know when you're good enough at what you do?”

“Where's this coming from?”

“Okay, so you're literally one of the best athletes in the world, Raj basically owns the NomNom Network...Sometimes, I just...don't know if I can keep up, you know?”

“Aw, dude--”

“I know, it's dumb.”

“You're working on one of the biggest game franchises in the world. You found a life that makes you happy. Honestly, man, I'm really proud of you.”

“...Really?”

“Since getting this job, I gotta say I feel like you've come into your own. You stopped trying to pull people down, and found something you loved. I think that's awesome.”

“And I haven't even told you about CheeseFry-day.”

“Is that where you get cheese fries on Friday?”

“It's the best, dude.”

A photographer wanders in from the next room. “Mr. Gayle, we're ready for you. Follow me, please.”

“That's my cue.”

“Sure is,” Craig agrees. “And I got a meeting coming up. But hey. Thanks, man. I mean it. I don't know how I woulda gotten here without you.”

“Nah.” Sean claps him on the shoulder. “This is all you, Craig.”...

… I'm back in the cavern again, my hand and Craig's still on the ring. The others stare at us and the ghostly figure between us.

“Did...did you just see...?”

I smile. “Yeah. I did.”

The ghost is shining brighter now. Craig turns toward it. “I think...I know what she's trying to tell me.” He offers the spirit a watery smile. “Zahra, if it's you, I just wanna say something, before you go...”

The spirit looks down at him, apparently waiting for him to continue. He draws in a shuddering breath.

“I...I think I'm in love with you. And I don't know how to stop. I don't think I can. I just started to think that I could be your Player 2...” His voice cracks with anguish, and he covers his face. “I wish I could've stopped this from happening. But I know why you showed me the future. You want me to keep going. So...I'll do my best.”

The spirit starts to recede into the wall, but it keeps its hand stretched toward Craig. As it fades, Craig dissolves into fresh tears, crying brokenly into his hands. Sean and Michelle rush forward, wrapping their arms around him as he sags toward the floor.

“We're right here, Craig,” Sean murmurs, looking ready to cry himself. “Right here.”

“I'm such a wuss,” Craig says bitterly. “Why couldn't I tell her...?”

“...Tell me what?”

Everyone freezes at the unmistakeable voice behind us. We turn slowly, hardly daring to believe it. But it's true. Her dark hair is ragged and uneven, as if she's been stubbornly maintaining her undercut with sharpened rocks, and her signature maroon streak is faded and somewhat off-color. But there's no mistaking her. It's Zahra.

Quinn is the first to say it. “...Y-you're alive!”

Estela blinks, looking back towards where the ghost has faded. “Then what just...”

“Z...?” Craig's voice trembles. “Is that you?”

Zahra coughs awkwardly, shifting her weight. “Craig, did you, uh...mean all that stuff? About me dying?”

Craig is off like a gunshot, pulling Zahra into a crushing embrace. She yelps as the breath rushes out of her, grimacing. Craig lifts her bodily off the floor, bouncing with elation.

“It's you! You're not dead! You're really not dead!”

“To be not dead, I need to breathe!” she croaks, squirming. He sets her down, but he only pulls back slightly.

“Sorry about that. Actually, not sorry. You're alive!”

“If I do die, you are not allowed to speak at my funeral. That was cheesy as hel--” She's cut off by Craig's lips pressed firmly to hers. Quinn laughs.

“Aww!” she cooes.

“Should we turn around?” I quip, aware that I'm grinning like an idiot and not really caring. Zahra, kissing Craig back with passion, puts her middle finger up at us. After a moment or two, they reluctantly break apart. Zahra looks Craig over.

“I guess it's cool that you're not dead or whatever either.”

“So...Zahra, you're buddies with the ghost?” I ask. She looks reproachfully at me.

“No, you doofus. I am the ghost.”

“Then, the spooky noises? The floor opening up?”

She grins, clearly pleased with herself. “Speakers playing sounds based on a randomized time interval.”

“The blood?” Jake asks.

“Had to eat a few squirrels the last couple months. Figured the blood was a nice touch.”

“A couple months?!” Raj yelps.

“Yeah, let's skip past that part,” she mutters.

“What about the floor?” Michelle asks.

“You mean my masterpiece,” Zahra answers with a wicked grin. She digs a small flashlight out of her pocket and points it at the ceiling. A large series of wires and supports rest under each stone square. I whistle lowly.

“You have been busy. And you managed to fool those Arachnid troops.”

She laughs. “Did they piss their pants this time? I hope I got it on video.”

“Okay, I get pretending to be a ghost,” Quinn says. “But why fake your own death?”

Zahra shrugs. “Rourke can't kill me if he thinks I'm dead.”

“You almost convinced us,” Sean replies softly.

“Yeah, well...you're here. I'm here. It all worked out.”

“That still doesn't explain the glowy thing that's trying to give us stuff,” Raj points out.

“Glowy thing?” Zahra repeats, blinking. “I didn't have a glowy thing.”

“Okaaaaaay,” Jake drawls. “Then who the hell is Beetlejuice and why is he coming after us?”

Heavy, clunky footsteps on the staircase distract us from speculating further. We shrink into a protective huddle, turning towards the sound. I feel my blood run cold.

Oh, no...please, no...not here...not now...

The Endless stands in front of us, her aged face once more concealed behind her visor. The flame that once danced over her mechanical right hand is gone.

“I'm afraid there is something else you need to worry about.”