#I say this based on her words and actions y’all I’m not pulling it out of thin air

[trashogram]

I saw a tweet where someone was lamenting all the overly hated characters in Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. And they were all female.

They were all female.

I’m not surprised but it is this kind of thing that makes me embarrassed to say I like the show(s) still. Just the overabundance of hate toward women concentrated here makes me wanna throw up.

[babbymochiiii]

🔞BIRTHDAY SURPRISE: JOHNNY SUH

↪︎pairing: idol! Johnny x afab! reader

↪︎genre: smut, fluff, romance

↪︎warnings: established relationship, johnny getting blind folded, oral (m), unprotected sex (y’all wrap it up pls), dick riding, dom johnny, sub reader, daddy count (1), dirty talk, Johnny coming inside of reader, pet names; hers: angel, baby; his: baby

↪︎synopsis: you give Johnny a birthday surprise 🎁

↪︎word count: 1.7k

note ✨: Happy birthday to Johnny!!! 🥳 decided to write this fic that’s been brewing in my mind for a bit just because 🤷🏼 and besides it’s straight to the point 😂🫶🏼

requests are open! 🤎

divider credit @chaefilm 🖤

“You’re blind folding me?” Johnny lets out with a chuckle as he goes along with whatever you have planned.  

“It’s part of your birthday surprise.” You giggled as you finished off tying the red silk ribbon around his head as you straddled his lap.  

“And what could that birthday surprise be?” Johnny hummed sensually as he placed his hands on your hips.  

“You just gotta wait and find out.” you whispered in his ear as you gave him a small kiss at the shell of his ear.  

Goosebumps formed around the base of Johnny’s neck down to his arm as his grip on your hips tightened. “You’re teasing...” he realized.  

“Of course, I am... I gotta build the tension while I have you blinded folded.” you said as you slowly climbed off his lap and towards his hardened length that happily sits high against the air leaking beads of pre cum, waiting for attention of its own.  

You came face to face with Johnny’s tip. A strangled moan leaves his lips as he felt your warm breathing hit his shaft causing for a shiver to run through his body. Before he could protest to you, you started to kitten lick his tip, causing him to throw his head back in ecstasy at the feeling.  

You continued to kitten lick, enjoying the look of pleasure and torment that started to wrap around Johnny’s facial expression. Johnny bucked his hips up trying to gain some sort of other type of stimulation as he knew that he didn’t like you teasing him with such small licks.  

“Tsk, you’re getting needy.” you retorted as you started to fist his shaft.  

With a groan, Johnny bucked up at the sensation. “Watch your tone angel. I may be blind folded but that doesn’t mean you have the reigns completely.” he said between teeth as he felt you take as much of his length into your mouth.  

“Mmm, you’re always more talk than action anyways baby.” you mumbled as you gasped up for air before going back down and bobbing your head just the way Johnny likes it.  

Johnny sat up as much as he could without hurting both you and him and wrapped his fingers in your hair pulling you off of him. “Don’t tempt me angel, you know I’ll make you regret it.”  

“Regret it? More like make me love it.” you said as you gave him a somewhat fucked out smile.  

“Tsk, you’re a brat, you knew that?” johnny sneered as he blindly guided you back to what you were doing.  

Happily going back to business, you started to deep throat Johnny, causing you to gag around his length as you tried to control your breathing.  

Johnny felt the way you swallowed around him causing him to groan and tighten his grip on your hair. Making your eyes tear up even more as you continued to push down on him before pulling away, causing strings of saliva to connect from the tip to your mouth.  

“I didn’t say you could stop.” Johnny said as he pushed your head back down on his shaft and started to face fuck you, not showing you any sort of mercy.  

“Fuck angel your throat is so tight.” Johnny moaned out as he held you down to where the tip of your nose touched the base of his shaft.  

You tapped Johnny’s thigh, signaling to him to need to breath, to which he lets you up and lets you catch your breath. As you tried to go back down on him, Johnny pulled your head back.  

“I’m not cumming like this. Ride me.” he ordered, not leaving any room for discussion.  

You bit your lip as you tried to suppress the smile on your face. “Yes, daddy.” you said as you straddled his lap once again.  

Once situated, you take hold of his shaft and align him to your entrance. You slowly sink down, making the two of you moan out at the sensation of your joining.  

“Soaking wet as always.” Johnny comments as he felt your slick trinkle down from between your folds to his base.  

A moan leaves your lips as his words as you slowly started to fuck yourself.  

You held onto his shoulders to level yourself as you started to pick up speed just as the pleasure started to become deliciously intense. Not being able to hold back anymore, Johnny takes hold of your hips as slams you down. This causes you to arch your back and moan out in pleasure at the sensation.  

He held you in place as he started to fuck up into you, completely getting lost in the pleasure. You couldn’t complain as this was exactly what you wanted from him. “F-fuck angel you feel so fucking good.” He moans as he bit his bottom lip.  

With how intense he was fucking you, the blind fold started to fall down from its original position. Not like either of you cared that it came off, just the intense eye contact that was happening could cause goose bumps to form on your skin.  

When the blind fold came off, Johnny could see the pleasure written all over your face as you looked at him. He saw the way your eyes rolled to the back of your head before you threw your head back as strings of moans leave your lips.  

Johnny took hold of your waist and flipped both of you over to where he was on top of you, not once coming out of you. He continued his brutal pace inside of you making you see stars.  

“So beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous my angel.” Johnny moaned out as he started to see how fucked out you were becoming. 

“Mmhm, y-yes…” you trailed off as you moaned.  

“Dumb on my cock already angel?” Johnny teased as he started to tweet with your harden nipples.  

“Y-yes — “a moan coming from you cut you off as Johnny’s hand trails down to your clit, squeezing it between his fingers.  

“Hmmm, just how I like to see you.” Johnny mumbled to himself as he watched the way you react to his touch.  

Johnny’s eyes trail down from your face to where you both join together. Seeing the way, you sucked him inside of you had him going feral inside. He pulled out of you, causing you to whimper at the lost feeling of being full.  

“Just for a moment baby, I need you to turn for me, okay?” Johnny said as he helped you turn onto your stomach.  

Automatically, you arched your ass up off of the bed giving Johnny a full show of your pussy, slick coming out of it for how good he was fucking you.  

“Fuck angel, look at the way you’re dripping.” Johnny says as he takes hold of your ass cheeks and spreads them apart so he could get a better view of your wet entrance.  

“J-Johnny please…” you whine as you pushed yourself against him.  

A slap landed right on your ass, causing you to jolt forward with a moan. “Patience.”  

You whimpered as you looked over your shoulder to see Johnny completely mesmerized by the sight before him.  

Johnny delivered a couple more slaps before kneading the tender flesh in his hands. He leaned down and placed kisses along your ass cheeks before he bit into one, making you moan loudly.  

Aligning himself with your entrance, Johnny thrusted himself into you in one go delivering the fullness you’ve been trying to regain back.  

Johnny continued the brutal pace from before, chasing the high within both of you that he knew was around the corner.  

“I-I’m…” you trailed off as you stuffed your head between the pillows below you as the pleasure was too much to bear with.  

“Fuck yourself on my cock angel.” A hiss escapes through his lips as you start to move yourself along his shaft, chasing the height that’s building up tightly.  

With a twitch from your walls and one last thrust on Johnny’s cock, you found your legs shaking in pleasure causing them to give out.  

Johnny followed your movement. He pressed himself deeper inside of you due to the position of you laying down completely on the bed. He continued thrusting into you hastily helping you through your orgasm, causing some overstimulation, as he chased after his own high.  

You felt like you were on cloud nine as Johnny brought you into overstimulation. Small, whiny moans leave your lips as he continued.  

You felt Johnny’s cock twitch inside of you, signaling that he’s about to release his load.  

“Angel, fuck I’m so close.” Johnny groaned out as he continued.  

“Inside.” You mumbled into the pillows.  

Johnny took hold of your hair and pulled your head back. “What was that angel?” He whispered into your ear.  

Chills run down your back as goosebumps rise onto your skin. “I-inside of me baby please.” You cried as you felt you were close to a second orgasm.  

“Fuck baby…you drive me crazy.” Johnny said as he brought his lips onto yours, shoving his tongue inside of your mouth to dominate the kiss.  

Lost in the kiss, you felt the sensation in your stomach tighten once again causing you to clench around Johnny. 

“Mmgh, fuck!” Johnny moaned out of the kiss as he started to release his load.  

As you felt the hot strands of his cum inside of you, you came around his cock for the second time tonight.  

Johnny put his weight on his arms so he wouldn’t fully collapse on you. Slowly, Johnny moved to the side, careful not to hurt you as he was still inside of you. He brought the two of you to your sides where he pushed the hair that clung onto your sweat damp forehead away from your face.  

Johnny softly caressed your arm; this causes you to stir slightly at the gentle sensation. Groggily, you opened your eyes and looked over your shoulder to see Johnny smiling down at you with a gentle smile. 

“Happy birthday baby.” you said softly as you took hold of his hand.  

“Thank you for the birthday surprise angel.” Johnny said as he placed a tender kiss on your shoulder.  

With one last shared kiss, the two of you drifted off into sleep content with another successful birthday surprise.  

ummm thANK YOU TO MY 100+ FOLLOWERS!? ☹️🖤 honestly to see that so many of you like what I write is enough but to see that many of you following me makes me cry in joy 😭🫶🏼 thank you thank you thank youuuuu you guys encourage me 🖤

But I hope you guys enjoyed this fic! Had to give Johnny something for his birthday (ofc he ain’t seeing this cause— well 💀)

So much love from me to you MWAH MWAH 😚🖤

— mochi 🕷️

[southernbluebellereader]

Routines

Part 2

COD MW2 Taskforce 141 x F! Southern Hair Dresser Reader - Not the same as the Southern Cook Reader

Captain John Price, Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley, Sergeant Johnny "Soap" MacTavish, Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x F! Southern Hair Dresser Reader (COD MW(2))

Warnings: Suggestive actions/language. Slight bullying.

Word Count: ~2,015

Summary: Y/N opened up a little salon close to the base where the Taskforce 141 are stationed and there is now a platonic relationship between them and it's always fun bringing in rookies for their first hair cut.

Master List

Tag List At The Bottom

“Alright, y’all, line up,” Y/N beckoned the men of Taskforce 141 to enter her little salon. She’d never thought that opening up a salon close to a military base would be a good way to do business. It was always fun when the new recruits came in at the beginning of basic training. When she first opened up her salon, it was a little overwhelming for her and her two coworkers, but after a while, they got a hang of it. There was an unspoken deal between some of the higher-ups of the base that they all come to her little salon for haircuts. It was also fun seeing groups of soldiers who’d just come back from a mission - especially long ones - enter her salon in an attempt to shed the very last thing from a mission.

Soap kept rubbing his head as he raised his hand, “Can I go first, Y/N?” 

Chuckling, Y/N called him over, “C’mon, Johnny, have a seat.” Soap nearly jumped into her chair and allowed her to put the cape around him, “What we doin’ today, soldier?”

“Me usual, please.” Soap nodded as Y/N pulled out her clippers and turned them on. Price and Gaz were seated in the waiting area closest to Y/N’s booth. After a few minutes, Y/N pulled out a little fluffy brush and brushed off excess hair from Soap’s shoulders, and removed the cape from his body, “Whatchu think, big man?”

He leaned forward and examined himself in the mirror, then smiled, “Looks great! Thanks, Y/N!”

“Aight, get up on out of ‘ere,” Y/N swept some of the hair on the floor and looked over at Price and Gaz, “Who’s next?” Soap left the chair and pulled out one of Y/N’s hand mirrors, looking at himself from every other angle as he walked over and sat beside Price.

Price pointed at Gaz, who was ready to go, “Hop up Mr. Garrick and tell me whatchu want?”

“Just the sides and a little on the top, yeah?”

“You betcha!” Y/N winked at Gaz through the mirror and did as she was told.

Once it was Price’s turn, he took his hat off and hung it on one of the hair dryers as he sat down. Y/N examined his hair and bear slightly as she covered him with a cape, “You gonna tell me why you tried to cut your own beard, Captain Price?”

Price chuckled and ran his hand through his beard, “Gotta do what you gotta do in the field. Tighten things up, will ya’?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Y/N did as she was told and sent him to the sink to get his hair washed. “Where’d y’all go this time? Somewhere sandy?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Price huffed slightly as he sat down and rested his head over her sink, waiting for Y/N to make sure the water wasn’t too hot.

“I do say that because I can see all the sand in your hair. Would it kill ya to do a quick rinse before y’all came here?”

“We’d put you out of a job, Y/N.”

“Yeah yeah,” Y/N finished washing and rinsing his hair - properly - then gently dried it with a towel. “Get back on up and have a seat, Cap. I got my work cut out for me.” Chuckling, Y/N began brushing through his hair with a comb, swiftly cutting and trimming his hair. Once finished, Price attempted to make his escape once she’d turned around.

“No sir! Sit your behind back down, I’m gon’ that bird’s nest on your face.” Y/N pointed at him and stared at him sternly until he sat back down, hearing him mumble under his breath as she came back with her shaving kit. “How you gonna let me fix the hair on your head and not the hair on your face?” Y/N shook her head as she prepped her shaving brush and shaving bowl.

“Oh, you know how I am with my beard.”

“That’s the thing, I do know how you are with your beard. Which is why I shave it so well. Now hush and sit still, Cap’n.”

Doing as he was told, Price held his tongue while watching her cheekily, lifting his chin to allow her to apply shaving cream on his face, then allowing her to hold her manual beard shaver next to his skin.

After carefully shaving Price’s beard to his liking, she removed his cape and allowed him to examine himself in the mirror, “How’d I do, sir?”

“Splendid.”

Price pulled out his wallet but was stopped by Y/N, “Not today Captain. Y’all just got back.”

“You can’t possibly be serious, Y/N, let me pa-”

“I said no!” Y/N shook her head and urged him to put his wallet back, “Again, y’all just got back. This is on me.”

Price shook his head and did as he was told, “Yeah you say that every time we come up here. How are you still in business?”

“I have my ways, Captain.” Y/N watched as he rounded Gaz and Soap up and thanked her as they headed out. Price remained for her usual question at the end of every haircut they came for: “Simon coming in later?”

Price’s answer would always be the same: “No doubt in my mind.” And he’d tip his hat and wink at her before heading out.

—

A few hours later, just before closing, Simon would enter Y/N’s little salon as she was sweeping, the little bell above her door signifying his presence. Y/N would always be the one to open and the one to close her shop, to take him in and allow for privacy. The blinds would be half closed so she could still see the outside, but would cover enough so that Simon’s face would still remain a mystery. Simon Riley. It was hard getting him into the salon. Unless he done messed up his hair, real bad. Or he needed new razors to shave. It wasn’t until he came in with a pack of rookies who needed buzz cuts, scratching his face through his mask that she demand he comes back before closing so she could properly cut his hair.

“Simon! ‘Bout time you showed up,” Y/N put her broom up and watched as he took his mask off, revealing disheveled hat - or mask - hair and a scruffy jaw, “We doin’ full-service today?”

Giving her a small nod, he allowed her to usher him to the sink and gave him a towel to wrap around his shoulders as he sat down in the chair in front of the sink, leaning his head and neck down to the sink.

“I’m going to turn the water on Simon, you aight with me washing your hair?” Y/N knew to speak softly around him when he came alone. She’d never imagined that she’d be the go-to hairdresser for the military, but she was glad she could give something to look forward to in order to renew themselves from what they’d seen. With Simon, it was different though. She’d heard all sorts of stories about him - she couldn’t keep track of them all - but he was different from the rest.

“Yeah.” He closed his eyes as he heard the water turn on. Y/N felt the water and waited until it was lukewarm before she gently began to wash his hair. Sand and dirt left his hair as she rinsed his hair. Washing his hair was one of the few things that would indicate where he’d been on a mission. This time it was most likely somewhere warm and sandy.

“I’m going to shampoo your hair, Simon, you ok?” Y/N smiled slightly as he stirred, giving her a slight nod. Asleep, are we now? She pumped some shampoo into her hands and gently scrubbed his head, earning a soft groan. Must’ve been a rough mission for him to be this tired.

Once finished, she ushered him to her chair and began the silent haircut. Y/N learned quickly that Simon wasn’t much of a talker, but she was fine with that. Until she put on her radio and he’d ask her to change the channel or change the song. Or if the tv was on, he’d ask her to change the channel or put on a particular channel.

“You want a shave, today?”

“Please?” Y/N worked swiftly. He liked that. But he enjoyed the time he was there. It allowed him to almost forget himself for a moment. It made him almost forget his job. It made him almost forget the life he’s had and that he currently has. He could care less about the haircut and the shave, the simple act of having someone else wash his hair was comforting.

“All done, Lieutenant.” Y/N tapped his shoulder and removed the cape from his body and dusted the remaining hair from his shoulders. Unlike the rest of her clients, Simon would watch her instead of examining his hair. She found it awkward at first and did her best to ignore it. She eventually got used to it. For Simon to trust her to cut his hair was an honor. She doesn’t know what sort of life Simon had growing up, or even what he does as soon as he left her salon, but she felt honored still.

She took a step back and allowed the large man to stand up. “How much d’I owe you?”

“On the house, Simon.” Y/N threw the cape and the towels in a bin to be washed and dried overnight. 

“Nah.” Simon gave her a half smile and pulled out a wad of cash wrapped with a rubber band. The amount, plus tip, would cover his haircut, and the rest of his team’s haircut. He placed it on the counter by her register as he walked out. “See you tomorrow, Y/N.”

“You bringing me them rookies up in here?”

Simon waved his hand as he walked out, ignoring her question. Y/N smiled as she finished looking up, “These men kill me.”

—

“Youse a rookie, you ain’t got a choice,” Y/N switched the end pieces of her electric razor as the next rookie looked at her cocky, demanding a particular haircut. Y/N chuckles as she turned the electric razor on, earning a gulp from the rookie in her chair.

Y/N and her two co-workers firmly enjoyed it when a fresh batch of rookies would arrive at her salon at eight in the morning - sharp.

Soap and Kyle would take turns bringing in a batch of rookies while Simon stood watch, keeping things in check. Occasionally he’d walk between Y/N and coworkers, jokingly reminding them that they missed a spot to get a rise out of the rookie in the chair.

Every so often he’d call out: “Don’t make me remind you to say your thanks once these ladies finish their job.” This caused constant repetitions of:

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Thank you, ma’am!.”

If a rookie felt bold enough to make conversation with one of the hairdressers, especially Y/N, trying to chat their way into a more stylish haircut, Simon would stand next to him, uncomfortably close to them, arms crossed, and simply tower over him.

Honestly, it scared Y/N in the beginning, until he started talking. “You sure you want that, rooks?”

Then he’d lean down and his masked face would be just about three inches away from the young soldier, rendering him still, speechless, and filled with fear.

Chuckling, Y/N began her work on the young soldier’s head, “I done told you not to say anything, sweetheart.”

Part of her felt bad, especially in the beginning. Until the same soldiers came back from basic training for a trim, coming back as changed men. And as they continued with their service, she’d gotten to know them and every hair cut would serve as a reminder of home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TAG LIST:

@ateliefloresdaprimavera @galagcica @sweetybuzz25 @wisedinosaurpolice @itsasecrets-things @ronbon @lieutenantlashfaz @piper570 @shuttlelauncher81

[gh0stlyfixation]

Winter

Part one

Paring Simon Riley x fem winter soldier reader, uses she/her, using Y/N.

Warnings: none? Let me know. May have put you inside of she/her in some spots haven't written like this in a while.

A/N: This is set after End Game, Nat and Steve are still around. This does not follow any of the MARVEL plot and it's move of a love story than action-packed. Not sure how this will play out, may be a mini series or another longer series if y’all like this part. This is just a test run really, so please let me know what y’all think.

Winter master list

“By the United Nations, we hereby pardon James Barnes and Y/N Y/L for all forced crimes committed. Both parties have agreed to court-mandated therapy and the court place of residence. James Barnes will reside in New York and Y/N Y/L will reside in her chosen place of Manchester England. Each party will be allowed to resume work with SHEILD, the newly founded organization after the HYDRA overthrow.”

That’s how she found herself here, alone in an unfamiliar town with unfamiliar faces. She hated it but as part of her pardon, she’ll stay as long as she needs to. She looks up at the three stories building full of apartments. She didn’t have much but the money the government gave her, would help. After all, they did provide a place to live with the necessities she needed.

“Door 102.” She says quietly to herself as she twists her head each way. Her eyes land on the number 102, she searches for her keys, and in the corner of her eye she sees a masked man doing the same with his door. She doesn’t question it though. The tenant told her of her neighbor, a masked man, quiet and reserved, in the army never really home much, but Jesus he could pick a better mask.

It didn’t help she was an ex-criminal, all her red alarms signaled in her brain, but she was able to ignore them. The words have been wiped from her memory, she now holds her notebook of herself in her bag so she can lock it away and never see it again. She realizes she’s been staring too long and mumbles a sorry to the man before hastily unlocking her door and shutting it.

The man recognizes her from the news he’s watched, an ex-criminal that was tortured and granted a pardon but also a hero who brought down Thanos. What in the hell is she doing here? Now that he was retiring, forcefully, medically discharged, he had nothing to do. The girl intrigued him, he wanted to know more about her kind, not that she’s a different species, just the serum and its effect, but he knew damn well that was classified and personal.

Simon showers and sits down on the couch and pulls his laptop out and sees if he can find any information on her, why is she here, this is creepy, he thinks, fuck what else can I do? He yells at himself but he continues to look her up.

The winter soldiers, James and Y/N have been pardoned following specific guidelines made by the United Nations. Those have been kept confidential but we are glad to see they are free as the crimes they have committed were forced by brainwashing, manipulation, and other tactics of fear. We know James “Bucky” Barnes was captured during World War Two and Y/N Y/L during the 50s, both in and out of a cryo freeze preserving their body’s as if they haven’t aged a day. Congratulations and may the rest of their lives be peaceful. A news person spoke.

Simon scoffed, her life will never be peaceful, she’s been through hell and back. He doesn’t know what to expect of his new neighbor, the last ones were quiet, and he hopes she will be too. He knows the walls are thin so when he hears the phone ring he thinks it’s his, but stops when his phone doesn’t light up.

“Hello?” her voice spoke, it was on edge, “I’m fine Fury. I'm supposed to be at the base tomorrow morning to meet Natasha … yes, thank you for letting her come, it certainly makes things easier for me … Fury? Really?” He hears the slight humor in her voice but knows that her face is stoic, it had to be. “We’ll tell Steve and Bucky that I’m fine and to stop worrying. They can call me a whine..” You grumbled, “okay bye.”

Fuck these walls need to be thicker, Simon thinks. What base is she talking about. It certainly isn’t the British base. Is there a SHEILD base? There was, about 20 minutes from here know that he remembers.

She glances around her apartment, it’s furnished, at least. Needs a few decorations. Maybe Nat can help with that, not now though I need to sleep, it’s late. She wonders to the bedroom and thank the heavens there were sheets and a comforter. After changing into a pair of leggings and a t-shirt she hops in and quickly falls asleep.

Simon sat in the quiet reading a book he picked up from the shelf, this shit is boring, he says to himself. That’s when he hears faint quiet screams, mumbled almost. His ears start to perk up and realizes it’s the new neighbor. Fuck these thin walls! Something could be wrong. Simon argues with himself but when the noise starts getting louder he runs to her door and knocks, but no answer. He twists the knob and thankfully it opens, she needs to fucking lock her door, what is she stupid?

No, because she can kill someone in point two seconds. But he runs to the screams and finds her sweating in her bed. A night terror. He knows how to wake one up properly without a fight or struggle, he nudges her arm hard a few times then lightly once she starts to calm down, “wha-what- who are you?” She scrambles to her feet, pissed that she let her skills out the window. She tugs down her sleeve and Simon sees metal flash by her now covered hand.

“You had a night terror. The walls are thin and the door was unlocked. I’m your neighbor Simon.” His voice was soft and deep.

She stands there for a moment, embarrassed at herself. “I’m sorry.” she tells him

“It’s no problem, um, I have them too. I'm ex-military. It happens.” He says, trying to relate himself to her.

“Oh, well maybe we can help each other then.” she shyly says. What the fuck is wrong with you! Why are you getting shy? She yells at herself. Simon smiles slightly under his mask, she doesn’t notice though, “you know when we start to scream? So we don’t wake the rest of the building.” She explained clasping her hands together in front of her.

Simon looks up at her and nods, “it’s probably best. Do you have an extra key?” He asked. She nods and looks for it on her nightstand that she threw her wallet and essentials in. She hands it over to Simon and he takes it in his hand. He pulls out his ring of keys and picks off the extra key to his door and hands it to her.

Ig’s silent for a moment but you sit back down on your bed. Does he know who I are? Who doesn’t, I’m all over the news. “Do you know who I am?” she quietly ask. She needed to know.

He looks into her eyes, “You're Y/N. I’ve heard about you.” He tells her honestly.

“Are you scared of me?” She thinks it’s a ridiculous question,

“What they say on the news, what your crimes were, what your capable of, doesn’t make you who you are. We both killed hundreds, but it doesn’t make us who we are. You’ve saved the world, give yourself the credit for that.” Simon tells her.

Who knew i’d be getting a pep talk from a stranger. You think. “You don’t know me though, what the news says, you don’t know the half of what I’ve done. I’m dangerous. Unpredictable.” She say.

He does not doubt that she's dangerous and unpredictable, he doesn’t know her and she’s right. “Well now that we’re neighbors and I no longer have a life, I hope to get to know you. Your the only interesting person around here anyways, besides that old man who’s constantly screaming at the kids down the hall.” Simon tells her.

“What? Don’t have any friends?” she tease, your face still stoic.

He rolls his eyes and gets up. “Go back to sleep.” He walks out the door back to his apartment, what the fuck was this feeling? Happiness? No, I rarely feel that. Is he a friend now? Fuck. What the fuck?

[world-of-fire-and-flight]

Mirth's Ebenezer: Part 17

A/N: Idk about y’all but I had to binge read this to remember where I left off, and this is usually the part when I say “I’m coming back!” but…in all honesty, I’m not sure how consistently I’ll be around. There’s been A LOT going on this year and I’m once again making some life changes and refocusing on things I enjoy doing (ie: this), so…basically hi and thanks for sticking around!

Warnings: References to past violence, death/murder, assault. Betrayal, emotional trauma and distress, weapons, reference to future violence, death/murder, and assault. Basically, there was and there will be more violence😅

My Masterlist | Taglist Info or Taglist Request Form | Mirth’s Ebenezer masterlist

“All right, so where should we start?” Superhero asked.

Baron turned the question over in his mind. His eyes roved over the armory he’d built in the cabin’s basement. The light of the lantern wasn’t nearly enough to see the whole space. It wasn’t even enough to see more than a few feet in front of them, but Baron knew what he had. “Personally, I think we should start with the GeoSat and see if we can locate Supervillain’s base and blow it to smithereens, but there isn’t a lot of data to go on and I doubt the bastard has one single base of operations. And that would be too dependent on them actually being there. So I guess…we need to grab one of everything? I’ve got a rocket launcher around here somewhere.”

Superhero sighed. Their voice was tight with exasperation. “Do you honestly believe Supervillain can be stopped with a rocket launcher?”

“I desperately wish that was the case,” Baron snapped. “Obviously we don’t know what to use because we don’t know what’s happening. We’re completely cut-off from everyone and if we come out of hiding, we’re dead. Supervillain won’t let us escape alive next time.”

“You’re scared.” It wasn’t a question, a fact that only made Baron’s blood boil.

“And you aren’t?”

“Terrified, actually,” Superhero shrugged. The admission nearly knocked Baron to the ground. “But we can’t let that get the better of us. We need to keep our heads and sort this out so we can stop Supervillain. For all we know, they’re planning something bigger and getting rid of us was only the start of their plan. We have to try and send word to the Agency again. They should’ve come at our SOS signal.”

Baron clenched his jaw.

It was a miracle they’d made it out of the court’s safehouse alive. The invasion had turned into a blood bath. In spite of the horror and panic, Baron couldn’t help but focus on Mirth’s use of her powers. How she’d become an apparition, only to reappear long enough to grab an unsuspecting henchman and disappear again. She’d tossed them around like ragdolls. It was the first time Baron had felt a tremor of fear at the mere sight of her.

Mirth was a force to be reckoned with.

It was amazing—and terrifying.

And it was clear to him that her actions had already begun to haunt her.

“You said you had a GeoSat?” Superhero’s question broke through Baron’s analysis of the earlier battle.

“Yeah, why?”

“Is it always watching?”

Baron scoffed. “Of course. What good would it be if I couldn’t recall historical data?”

“Pull up the footage from safehouse. I want to trace the henchman back as far as we can.”

“Easy enough,” Baron smirked, already moving toward the satellite’s command module. “Well, easy so long as there isn’t any interference. Supervillain would need someone almost as good as me to jam the satellite though.”

“Yeah,” Superhero said. “I’ve heard GeoSats are top-end. How’d you get one, anyway? Steal it from someone? Hack into an enemy government’s?”

Baron laughed almost maniacally. “I invented it.”

Superhero sputtered.

“Honestly, your shock hurts me. You do realize I’m an engineer, right?” Baron side-eyed the superhero beside him. Did everyone forget that he wasn’t all shock and awe, that he was more than his electrokinesis?

“You’re right. I shouldn’t be, given how many of your inventions have been taken into evidence.”

“Ah, so there’s hope of retrieving them,” Baron sighed wistfully. He hoped the Agency had taken good care of them. The amount of money he’d had to steal to buy the materials alone was a hassle. Not to mention the actual act of sourcing the materials. It often brought him into contact with worse individuals than himself.

Individuals like Supervillain.

Baron clenched his jaw. Was it possible that Supervillain had planted a bug in any of the materials Baron had bought from him? Could Supervillain had had access to his lab this entire time, unbeknownst to him?

*

Exhaustion clung to every fiber of Mirth’s being. Her bones ached. Her muscles strained with each and every moment. Even her eyes stung from the day’s overexertion.

But it wasn’t over.

No matter how badly Mirth wanted to collapse, she knew she couldn’t. Supervillain had made their move. They’d targeted the safehouse, and if Mirth had to bet, she’d guess that wasn’t the only thing they’d done tonight.

Supervillain had been building an empire right under their noses. They’d managed to either plant or coerce someone inside the agency to spy for them. And—if she was right—Supervillain had also created or found a source within the city’s court. They wouldn’t have gone through all of that trouble to eliminate three people. Least of all her and Baron. Superhero, maybe, but to attack them all the way out in the safehouse?

She shook her head.

It just didn’t add up. Superhero had essentially been exiled. They wouldn’t be able to patrol or take on many missions for three years. Essentially, Superhero was no longer a piece on the board.

But didn’t that make it the perfect time for Supervillain to act on whatever their plans were?

Mirth sighed. So long as they were holed up in Baron’s safehouse, they were isolated from the world with absolutely no idea what was happening. All they would be able to do, would be to let their thoughts spiral until they believed the worst possible scenarios had become reality. And Mirth couldn’t stand that. She needed to know what was happening. She couldn’t hide any longer.

They needed to take the fight to Supervillain.

Mirth didn’t allow herself to wait a single breath for the fear she’d talk herself out of it. There was no time to practice temperance. They’d almost died today. Supervillain was ready to make their move, whatever that was.

The Agency needed to be warned before it was too late. That is, if it wasn’t already.

As the weight of her limbs faded, Mirth wondered why no one had come to their aid. Superhero had called, hadn’t they? If she was in her solid form, Mirth knew her stomach would’ve twisted at the thought. But as it was, her molecules could do nothing but ripple as she slipped under the bedroom door and floated down the hallway like a ghost. Wholly invisible and equally unnoticed, she slipped from the cabin without a word or sign to let Baron and Superhero know of her plans. Not that she saw them as she left. She didn’t let herself wonder where they’d gone. She couldn’t.

She’d hopefully be back before they even knew she was gone. And when she returned, Mirth hoped it was with answers and a clearer plan than the simple idea that they must stop Supervillain at all costs.

Mirth’s Ebenezer Taglist: @Heroes-villains-side-blog @selene-stories @violetcancerian @kaiwewi @averyconfusedhuman Just let me know if you’d like to be added or removed (no reason necessary!) You can also add yourself using this handy dandy form 😊

[treesap-blogs]

(yes this is abrupt shh) Some thoughts on “The Dragon’s Promise” by Elizabeth Lim!

Hello, Tumblrians! Due to my delay on my Gilded Ones review, I didn’t conduct a review for this book after I finished it. Oops. Hence why I’m publishing this in such a short period of time after my Gilded Ones review, as I had most of that prepared beforehand but I’m just typing this one out of my arse in the hopes I catch up with my reading records.

Whilst I may not have it documented on this blog(everything I’ve read is from January 2023 onwards), at the end of last year I finished reading Six Crimson Cranes. ‘Twas a solid book! (I did make an extensive review for it on a Padlet for my school dedicated to reviewing stories available from our library, though! I wish I could share it without being doxxed because then y’all would have more context!) Shiori’s character growth felt very earned, although I can’t say that I was 100% happy to see it under the circumstances she was in. I’m a sucker for fairytales too,  which is why I adore the fantasy genre to pieces (I am trying to branch out though), and the inspiration integrated into the story was pretty neat even if I’d never read The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Anderson. With that said, it still chose to forge a path for itself, and besides having different cultural influences in its world unlike the European origins of The Wild Swans, carried things out a bit differently narratively. It was appreciated, as someone who only needed to read the summary of the tale to know how it ended and didn’t want every plot twist and final word of Six Crimson Cranes to be spoiled to me as a result. Plus, even though I rated it 4 out of 5 stars, it not-so-steadily climbed up my mental ranks to become one of my favorite books. (Again with that “my personal enjoyment of a book is sometimes different from the rating I give it, which I base off of objective quality”.) So as you can expect, I picked up The Dragon’s Promise with zero hesitation after I saw it in a local library and clutched it with glee.

So as you can expect, I picked up The Dragon’s Promise with zero hesitation after I saw it in a local library and clutched it with glee.

I was a little bit disappointed with it, though. I had seen a review a few months ago, before I’d read Dragon’s Promise, saying it suffered from “sequel syndrome”, and couldn’t quite capture the lightning in a bottle from the first book, and it’s a sentiment I agree with. So much happened in this book, but it also feels like so little did too. And in an action that I think is supposed to be emotional, we have to say goodbye to a lot of the elements and characters we grew attached to in the first book. We only got to have one book with them! And now in a world with so much going on, but where everything now moves at an alarmingly quick pace, I didn’t even feel that sad. I just felt disappointed, like I was cheated somehow. We were introduced to all of these characters, and now we have to say farewell to them so abruptly. This issue also, in my opinion, stripped the plot of its permanence. 

I think the worst part of this though is that I don’t think there will be another book to fix the Sequel Syndrome present. Everything is wrapped up here. It’s a duology, soon to be a trilogy with a prequel book coming out about Raikama, but Shiori’s story is done. That realization probably hurt me more than most of the events within the story. I wish this could’ve been a trilogy, the pacing would work so much better.

Spoiler section! This does cover mainly Six Crimson Cranes content. So if you haven’t read that, tread lightly!

So the main issue I had with the book in my Padlet review for it was that I felt that Raikama, or rather Channari if we feel like using her real name, being revealed to not be the main villain after everything she did to Shiori and her brothers felt..strange. Her motivation was confirmed last-minute as she was dying, and they pulled a Darth Vader where they redeem a character with a sacrifice they make that leads to their death.

Sure, there were some memories that hinted at her not being as evil as our protagonist originally thought she was, but they felt more like trying to humanize a villain than foreshadowing the true events of the book? Yes, I get she messes with memories and stuff so we can’t have that much, but I found it convoluted that the explanation for this not being built up very well was because she was so scared of hurting Shiori by being close to her that she completely brainwashed her into thinking she was terrible. And then Shiori had that realization while being burned by that other sorceress or somewhere close to that point (forgot her name but it started with a Z?), and, fine, if we had more time to dig into Raikama’s character while she was still alive, maybe we could’ve seen what got her to be so desperate. But we didn’t get that, and the demon king got defeated by an amateur sorceress like..one book after he was introduced. This is when I start REALLY WISHING THIS WAS A TRILOGY because MAYBE WE COULD SEE MORE OF THE CATASTROPHIC EFFECTS THAT GOT RAIKAMA TO BE SO DESPERATE TO PROTECT HER KIDS AND SAVE HER FROM THEM THAT SHE DECIDED TO CURSE AND TRAUMATIZE SHIORI AS WELL AS PUT SHIORI’S BROTHERS IN AGONY😭😭BRO😭

(Being burned at the stake and technically dying a book later is pretty bad though. Maybe I’m being picky here. Parents who might be reading this help me out???)

Even though Dragon’s Promise essentially expanded onto what I disliked the most about Six Crimson Cranes (the..entire time), surprisingly though that was not the thing I was most bothered by. It was literally the pacing lmao. At some point I just got desensitized to Raikama/Channari’s tragic backstory and the attempts to make her as redeemable and morally good as they could. I literally couldn’t find it in myself to be annoyed anymore. Not that I enjoyed that? I don’t think I did, I was just exasperated.

I get that she isn’t as bad as most book antagonists, though. I guess I should take that into account. Maybe I should be less harsh and there’s something I’m missing idk.

With that said though, the depiction of Shiori’s grief, and how she felt it, was something I didn’t have an issue with. She didn’t fully recover from it, and it wasn’t a linear process. But it’s kind of a weird zone to be in, where I don’t take issue with the subject matter that follows but I do whatever spurred it. Ehhhhggghhh.

End of spoiler territory!! You may proceed.

Anyhow. Did I still burn through this in 4 days, give or take? Yeah. It wasn’t exactly a boring read, and I still liked it to a degree, but I was left wanting more. It didn’t feel like it was meant to be the book to conclude this series’ timeline, despite its poetic ending and all of the goodbyes(which Lim likely wanted the reader to do in their mind, too). I’m just disappointed.

Also! Different note, but: I’m going to have to develop a weekly book review schedule so I a.) don’t get freaked out, b.) can be persuaded to keep up with my Goodreads challenge of reading 50 books this year (4 books ahead of schedule!! Might end up doubling it to 100, it’s only the beginning of February that’s a lot), c.) have something to look forward to every week! I am never in a very good mental state, I find joy in whatever is possible to at this point.

This review is probably the most critical one on here so far. I wasn’t expecting that but I did it as I was writing, so… Hopefully you guys like to see Critical Paz though! Or at the very least don’t mind him. He’ll be going into hibernation shortly after this review is published, honk shoo mimimi.

Here’s some things I did like about it though: Takkan and Shiori’s relationship remained sweet, and although Shiori tried keeping secrets from him initially(for his well-being), it was encouraged for her to communicate honestly and so we didn’t have to do with the dreaded miscommunication trope that plagues most YA media. (Of which I’ve been thankful to have mostly avoided, but..eughhegfheb.) The descriptions of the different locations were very interesting, they felt vibrant like the first book! I also enjoyed Kiki more in this book, she made me giggle a couple of times with her bluntness and sarcastic remarks.

That shall be all.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars.

Paz, signing off!

(Book trigger/content warnings: Blood(a sizable amount, actually), grief, can’t think of any others except for that a character almost dies from drowning.)