#She’s the Girl and her characteristics are Sweet and Nice and Correct

[corellianhounds]

I know there’s only so much you can put in an episode but sometimes characters will just straight up not do what the next logical thing should be, based on the context and established character up to that point

Season 1 of TBB has Rex showing up at the bar and greeting Omega and the crew, but when he realizes none of them have had their inhibitor chips removed he immediately goes on high alert, making it a point to block Omega from them and have his gun at the ready, telling them they’re all ticking time bombs liable to hurt anybody around them, even her

Hunter defuses the situation by getting everyone calmed down and asking Rex what he suggests they do

“Good question,” says Rex. “I’ll be in touch.”

And then he just… Leaves? Leaving Omega with them? Rex you just said they were all a liability and potential threat to the kid, you should be taking her with you

I know that would distract from the focus of the episode but if they’d made it a two parter it would have been good to see that standoff play out the way it logically should have. Hunter and the rest of the crew defensive as Rex stands between them and the girl. Rex wary and on edge, Omega worried behind him.

It goes one of three ways:

Option one: Rex insists she go with him for the time being and they rendezvous later, which none of the squad nor Omega like, and as they argue and tensions rise Rex starts to dig his heels in (warranted or not) and the squad starts to get the sense he might just take her from them. Everyone continues to get more and more agitated until Hunter or Wrecker does something impulsive in an attempt to get Omega back with them, which causes Rex to make a snap decision, stunning one or all of them and pulling Omega with him out the door even as she fights back, trying to get back to the squad

Option two: He and Hunter have a very tense conversation where Hunter demands more information before they make any decisions at all, compelling Rex to take them somewhere more private as he relays his experience and impresses upon them the gravity of the situation. Hunter and the squad exchange glances, and Hunter pulls Rex aside further out of earshot of Omega, discussing what would be the best option for her and for them. When they come back they lay everything out and it’s clear that Hunter has decided the best course of action is to voluntarily send Omega with Rex. Omega is understandably upset, but with everything explained, she understands why it has to be this way, and though she doesn’t know Rex it’s clear the rest of them trust him completely. Of anybody it could have been, Hunter says to Rex, We’re glad it’s you.

That would have been the option most in line with the tone of the show.

But the next option is still fun to play around in and could have been done well still within the show’s tone if they had wanted to go this way: this one is similar to the second, except when it comes down to sending Omega away— Omega is vehemently against it regardless of the explanation, to the point she’s fighting to stay with the squad, and it comes down to Hunter having to pick her up and go put her on Rex’s ship as the rest of them watch uneasily, trying not to be affected by her calling for their help.

Rex is gritting his teeth as he starts up the engines, hearing the kid arguing with Hunter behind him, and it breaks Hunter’s heart to have to do this (especially when Omega starts to tear up, pleading with him to let her stay), but the things Rex told him— some of them they maybe couldn’t even tell Omega— have forced him to steel his resolve: it would have been easier if she accepted their decision, but at this point Hunter’s not as wrapped around her finger as he will be later, and he still needs to make the decision that is best for her, even if he doesn’t like it. It could have been good to see him resist the urge to give in.

What that means, however, is that we would have gotten to see Omega’s obstinate refusal to listen to Rex during the entire flight and regrouping phase, fighting him to the point he has to lock her in the brig just to keep her from sabotaging the ship and trying to make her escape. After that they can start to have some conversations, which could set up their character dynamics or storylines/information for the future. Omega eventually comes around to his side of things, still mad but at least cooperative and now willing to listen.

[toosweetfiddlesticks]

Can you do Bakugou x soft (male or gn) reader meeting a Karen and go creative with it hope you have fun

Big Meanie

Paring: Barista!Bakugou x Soft!Gn!Cashier reader

Warning: Karen being a Karen, cussing, bakujealous, Bakugou calling you a big meanie, not proof read

Catoergy: Comedy

A/N: Thank you for the request!!

Summary: boom boom man gets upset because you didn’t let him be the Hero of the day.

—————————

As you unlocked the door, you huffed a breathe of anxiety out and tried to build up as much optimism you could for your first day. You felt a mixture of anxiousness and excitement boil in you.

With a smile full of courage, you stepped into the clean kitchen. The lights contrasted and dimmed the already dark morning sky as you felt a cool breeze from an opened window. The hall was a bit dimmer from the kitchen so you turned those lights on for the rest of the co-workers. An ash halons hair boy was currently wrapping the store’s iconic colored apron around his waist. He tighter his grip as he caught a glismp of you.

“Good morning!” You spoke softly, but cheerful. You flashed a small smile but his demeanor did change. He held his solemn look at you when blood red eyes. “So...how was your sleep?” Your excuse of small talk feel short the silence in the air seemed to be even more awkward between the two of you. He grunted and muttered something under his breathe before speaking.

“Don’t forget to clock in.” He ignored your question which honestly, did not bother you. You took his warning and walked out to the time clock, punching in your time. Silence swallowed you both while once again. Ok y/n, your co-worker may not be the most friendliest, but hey it’s only your first day, how bad can it be.

”Also,” You head shot up from the time clock. Your co-workers back facing you. “Don’t talk to me, you boring extra.”

——————————

You began to start your third day shift with a proud smile on your face. As you made your way to the time clock to punch in, greetings of waves goodbyes from other workers thats shifts just ended, you’ve met made your start of the day feel even better. Humbly, you waved the two men off.

“Bye Kiri, bye Denki!” Denki giggly waved his hand in the arm with excitement as he happily walked with Kirishima.

“Bye Y/N!” The sharp tooth man cheerfully sang his farewell. His arm hugging around the shoulders of his shorter blonde hair friend. But before the two could fully walk out, the red head immediately turns back around, as if something just came to mind. “Also” he added, “watch out for the Karen’s.” Your head titled with puzzlement.

“The Karen’s?” You kept your question in your head and before you knew it, the two was gone.

But you shrugged it off for the day and continued to go back to work.

——————————

“Hey move it extra!” Bakugou’s voice arose from behind you like a sound of a hurricane warning. You huffed a little and stepped aside from the time clock. Tiredly, you twisted your body around and leaned against the wall, facing him with crossed arms. Your eyes dropped a bit and your eyelids cried to close. But though you body was ready to sleep, you were wide awake..kinda. You manage trying to hide your weary face. Holding a hopeful smile and you greeted Bakugou.

“Morning Bakugou.” There was a small chance he would really greet you back with a morning salutation. Today was not the latter. He’s body seemed a bit stiff, he’s face looked alive and refreshed, but his body slouched a bit. Turning his head to you, an eyebrow raised at you.

You stiffened a bit, you leaned off the grey wall with a feeling of astonishment  , “Wow that’s new.” A notion you told yourself.

Still, he said nothing, leaving you two both in somewhat awkward silence. By the looks of it, he was staring with bit of puzzlement in his eyes. He’s red eyes sparks with a look of examination. As if he was searching for a look, or scanning your farcical features like a robot. He was just standing there, arms crossed, eyes stern, eyebrows furrowed. It seemed like forever before you two said anything.

“Are you tired?” Bakugou finally spoke that shock you. You were a bit taken a back at his response but nodded you head. He grumbled something under his breathe and signaled you to follow him. “Come here,” he sighed.

You’re eyes widened, but you obeyed and follow. As you walked, you could hear his small mutters and talks but couldn’t understood a thing he said. He walked a little slow than usual, like if he was trying to make sure he didn’t leave in you in the dust.

The walk was short and you made it to the destination in no time. He groaned as you got there, the kitchen area. Your eyebrows drew with concern.

Backing up a little, you spoke “Uhm, look if you’re gonna splash me with water-“

But your cautiousness was only mocked by small chuckles that bubbled up in Bakugou as he picked up a plastics cup.

“No I won’t, ya idiot.” He interjected, “What’s your type of coffee, you like Frappuccino or somethin’?”

——————————

“Hey, Cashier Extra!” Y/N nostrils flare with heavy air leaving them. For the past three months and a half, you’ve been having to deal with one of the biggest meanies they had ever known in their entire life. Originally, you thought you were confused at times by him.

Bakugou Katsuki was one of the hardest people work with sometimes. It was like he had a whole book of mean names and rude comments. Or looked up how to send the worlds most bone-chilling stare. And after a long tiring day of work, right as you’re are about to clock out, you hear the small words “bye extra” leave his grumpy little pie hole. You wondered why his rude one point, then nice another.

Y/N briskly huff, straightening out any wrinkles or creases in your pale button up shirt. “Yeah Bakugou?” Y/N tried to give Bakugou the most genuine confusion on your face. Though Y/N didn’t find a lot great characteristics of Bakugou, but they knew that Bakugou was a smart man. He quickly caught onto their small frown creasing at the sides of their mouth and y/n bothered eyes.

But unlike usually, Bakugou’s face didn’t seem to get annoyed at that. No, instead, how facial expressions seemed to go down a little. Bakugou’s eyebrows furrowed, from y/n couldn’t tell what was on Bakugou’s mind. He’s volcanic eyes seemed to be put out.

Y/N would almost say the usual solemn face of Bakugou Katsuki just broke away for a minute.

Bakugou caught himself, the dust of his volcanic chucked up as the lava came back into his eyes, keeping a stern look. Though Bakugou wouldn’t admit, Bakugou had definitely fallen for Y/N strong admiration for this job and their determination. He’d give them the compliment from time to time, but to wasn’t as much as he wanted to say.

“Just make sure you remember to clock in.” He mumbled softly, Y/N could barely even hear it. They nodded, a bit confused, but nodded and almost went on to work like usual. “Hey!” Bakugou stopped Y/N in their tracks, “Be cautious of Karens.”

The name still confused you to this day, but once again, you shrugged it off with a nod and carried on.

——————

This would have to one of the most crowded shift you’ve ever had, ever. If you were a customer, driving up into the driveway, you would’ve definitely drive straight out by the amount of people parked or in the driveway, getting their order taken their.

Bakugou, Denki and six others carefully rushed with the drinks, other orders holding up on the racks. Kirishima, Mina, and another worker kept up their the best they could, taking people’s orders from the drive through, then there was you and three other cashiers. You four had to take the orders as smooth and quick as possible, all of you praying that the customer will have a little bit of compassion and patience. Lines of people excitedly waiting to order the new drink the shop put out.

The Christmas Chocolate Winter Cream. Your new enemy, almost every single child, adult, teen, everyone was asking and wanting that “creamy delicious coffee”. Who even lets their child drink coffee! You didn’t want any part of it.

“Stupid coffee ice cream, its not even December yet!” You quickly grumbled under your breath.

”Uhm, excuse me?” You nearly forgot about the rush hour at work today. Hastily you straighten your spine. The customer was a lady, maybe in her late 50s. Her pale skin wore brightly colored pigment over its wrinkles and creases. Her hair was short but bumped up and curled.

“Oh I said, hi welcome to StaryBunkers,” You correct yourself quickly, trying to pass your entirely different words as the same, you grasp notepad and it’s thin paper in one hand, and a pencil in another. Forcibly, you gave the customer a fake smile that would impress the greatest actress. “What would you like for today. Behind your fake smile and your facial creases, you internally prayed with every god, deity, and goddess you know, hoping that they wouldn’t say..

“The Christmas Chocolate Winter Cream,” The older lady grasp her young daughter tightly that was so short, you just now noticed her. She seems to be up to her mother’s knees. “make that two please, today’s my girls big day!” The woman’s words didn’t invoke any feeling of excitement that usually does when some says big day to you.

“tHe cHirStmAs cHocOlatE wIntEr cReAm”

Your sighs of annoyance was held captive in the bars of your fake smile. “Of course!” Your forgery of cheerfulness impressed your cashier partners who’s fake smile was somewhat stiff and expressionless. “Birthday I presume?” You ask, the pencil’s tip close to the paper, ready to write.

“Yep!” The little girl chirped, her two brown pigtails swinging with you as she nodded her head. Ok you had to admit, the little girl was very sweet and cute. She single handedly made your stressful day a little bit better (ugh what a queen, we stan)

Your smile became more genuine, you heart even warmed a little.. “Coming right up, wait a moment please.” You paced hastily behind you, internally wishing you could spend you whole entire day in the back. You made your way quickly to the kitchen, hoping the customer were the patient type as you heard the shouts of anger coming from the drive through. You took a quick glance at the altercation.

“I SAID CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE WINTER CREAM,” The customer aggressively yanked the the lid up. “THIS ISN’T ENOUGH CREAM!” The white and red haired boy calmly his hands out, trying to rationalize with the person.

“Sir, ” He spoke with dullness, “Thats how much cream comes with it.” But the customer only got even more hotheaded.

“NO IT ISN’T!”

“Yes it is.” Todoroki scrunched his face up, “You don’t even work here, how would you know?” Todoroki, unknowingly made the man even more upset which cause the drink from his hand to fly out towards him. You panic, rushing over there the close the door before it was too late. But, the man was quicker, and as the drink came rushing to a motionless Todoroki, a body came rushing in to take the hit, Kirishima.

“Brrooooooo” He said in slow motion. “Poor Kiri” you internally spoke with pity. And as the man ran away, kirishima’s stomach burned from the heat of the coffee. You cringed at the sound of his small whimpers of pain. “F in the chat.” You busy back to the kitchen.

The steam from the coffee makers brush against your skin, squeezing out a very thin layer of sweat on your cheeks. Quickly, you yelled.

“Two Today Specials for Cashier number UNO,” the Barista’s groaned, “AKA Y/N!” You yelled again for clarification. They, annoyedly, went back to work with the drinks again. The most pissed out of all them though was Bakugou. Not cause of the loaded day. But because everyone was going to “slow”. He huffed, panted, scream, yelled, intensely ordered and more,

The man was like lighting, filling up cup after cup after cup.

“Move your asses!” He sealed three cups and handed them to Mina, “Y/N stop wasting your time back here and work!” Your posture caved in, but you obey his command like a solider obeying their Sargent.

“Aye aye, Captain.” You sang jokingly. And while the others smirk and giggled amongst the stresss, Bakugou arch an eyebrow at your jokes and went back to work.

You happily went along to the front again to update the mother and the daughter about their meals. But as you approach them, you could hear the mother’s now bewildered voice. It was like cat nails to a chalkboard and her voice was crackly.

Her scream filled the whole place, putting a pause on the whole day. You internally panicked, not only can you feel the wrath of the woman from where you were standing, you could also feel the piercing and grim stare of Bakugou behind you. Once again, you we’re praying to gods, goddess, and deities. Praying that whatever is out there won’t eat you alive. Swallowing down your fear, you began to walk, with the feeling of it stuck down in your stomach.

Once you were in her eyesight, she swatted her daughters arms. And like a puppy, the girl immediately obeyed, handing her phone to her. The lady was obnoxiously grumbling words under breath as she pressed record. And with a large gulp she began her fit. You knew exactly what was gonna happen.

This..this must be the Karen they’ve talked about.

“SAY HELLO TO THE MEDIA!” Her voice sings with pride, “THIS PERSON MADE MY DAUGHTER WAIT ONE HOUR FOR HER DRINK-“ Your eyes grew with shock at the woman’s words. But before you could say anything, the cashier next to you, Deku interjected. His arm reached over to hover over your body as a means to protect you.

“Hang on now!” He argued. “You’ve only been here for three minutes!” You nodded in agreement. Pushing Deku’s arm up to cover your face from the camera.

“I’m sorry for the wait ma’am” you apologize, “But all you had to do was wait a couple of more minute-“

“DO YOU SEE THIS?” The woman ignored your remarks and claims, instead focusing on her own, “THEY ARE TRYING TO DISCREDIT ME AND MY NINE! YES NINE! YEAR OLD DAUGHTER!” She waved her phone in her daughters face like she was evidence. She waved, hopped, and dance around the counters and to other people’s table. “HOW CAN YOU PEOPLE DRINK HERE!” Her words and movements were melodramatic and over the top.

And after her little rant to the people, some of which left, she stomped her way back to you and Deku. This time, she had a nasty smirk on her face and a hot drink in her free hand she stolen from another customer.

“Ya know what!”

“Oh no not this again”

Hastily, you moved Deku and you away from the woman’s sight. You two ran into the back kitchen to Chef Ramsey Bakugou. Who was now even more pissed. Not only did Y/N make a Karen mad (ok he knew it impossible not to make them mad he’s just stressed). But no, instead of running to him, Y/N runs to Deku first?! Man’s got his priorities straight.

As Deku quickly runs over the back area to get his phone, you rush over to Bakugou and the others in panic. “Bakugou, call the police!” The others around quickly take of aprons and another things at the words of that. Police involved?? Yep they think a murder just went down. But Bakugou just grumbles and huffs.

“No.”

....

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO!?” Bakugou looks at you with bewilderment, this is his first time hearing you yell at him that way. But before he process the fact that a cinnamon bun is yelling at him, you began to grasp and shake at his shoulders. “THE LADY IS TRYING TO KILL ME!”

“WELL YOU SHOULD’VE CAME TO ME INSTEAD OF FUCKING DEKU FOR PROTECTION..” Bakugou fumbled and shouted through his words. “Y-YOU BIG MEANIE”

You two went silent after that,

Big

...

Big Meanie?

Deku came out from the back with his phone, “Shoto!” Todoroki’s head jerked towards his way. “Help me with the Karen!” Todoroki nodded.

————-

Finally, the situation was under control, the Karen was banned from the coffee shop, Mina and Denki gave Kirishima some aloe. And while things didn’t really calm down until the day was done, everyone seemed a bit less tense, expect you and Bakugou. For the rest of the day, he was knocking over cups, using wrong lids, and spilling coffee. Dude’s lucky that he wasn’t fire. He felt embarrassed by the way he reacted. Now Y/N probably saw him as some type of control freak. Tensions were high and he was stressful.

Bakugou quickly moved pass the others, trying to clock out early before Y/N sees him-

“Hey Bakugou” Bakugou internally groaned at the sound of your voice. Screw you plot device he said to himself. Bakugou turned his head to the side to face you. Yo he side view is lowkey cute you noted. “Could we talk outside, after I clock out?”

Oh how badly Bakugou wanted to say no. The pit in his stomach grew bigger as he nodded.

“Great, just give me a second” Bakugou nodded once again and quickly clocked out. He’s footsteps echoed in his head as he waited outside, leaning against the glass wall of the store.

He didn’t know what you were gonna say, but he had an idea of it. He annoyed you to no end, made things harder for you, and was never truly nice to you that often. How was he suppose to believe that you would like a guy like him in anyway? He internally frowned at his thoughts, the words eating him up and chewing him out only to get stepped on by the crushing feeling of doubt.

Once he saw the buildings door open with you coming out to join him, that crushing feeling of doubt covered and weighed down on him. This was it he thought. He shoved his hands into his pockets, readying himself for the painful impact of rejected.

“Bakugou..” you softly asked. Bakugou hmm’d at you with a feeling of shame boiling inside.. “Did you mean it when you said i was a big meanie?” Bakugou let out a sigh of pain.

He caught onto your words late, “Look I’m sorry for-what?”

“You called me a big meanie.” You mumbled, “and I was wondering if you were serious because one, you’re like 23.”

“I’m 16” he deadpanned  “Like you.” You ignored him though.

“and two, you’re the one who’s been acting like a big meanie.” You accused which wasn’t contradicted, “And all cause you like me huh” Bakugou opened his mouth to spew his defense, but nothing came out but a small “I”. He sighed defeatedly.

“Im sorry,” He spoke. “I just, didn’t know how to tell you or whatever.” He spoke so awkwardly and shy. “I’ll uh, I’ll leave you alone or whatever.”

You drew out a finger, objecting. “Hold on now,” you replied. “Who said I didn’t like you?” Bakugou’s heart sparked at those words, he lifted his head, red sparks in his eyes. “Hey what can I say? A big meanie like me likes big meanies too.”

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

The Cult Girl (Hannibal x Female!Reader) pt. 5

Alright we're finally at the wedding part. Hope it was worth the wait. The next part is probably also gonna take part at the wedding too.

Trigger warning: confronting abusers, gaslighting, mentions of death, brief mention of child sex abuse

Life with your grandmother and cousins was a neverending war. But this was a battle you intended to win.

Anna was getting married on a beach near the Eastern Shore, about fifty minutes away from Baltimore. The ceremony would take place at the waterfront, while the reception would be held in one of the grand ballrooms of your grandmother’s exclusive country club. This was clearly for a tactical advantage. Your grandmother used the country club as her own personal castle. Throwing obscene amounts of money into events was her favorite intimidation strategy.

The beach was overrun with people. That was her second intimidation strategy. She undoubtedly forced Anna to add the entire country club to her guest list, because half the guests were far too old to run in the same circles as the young couple.

You were relieved to see that none of the guests adhered to the supposed dress code, which revealed itself to be just a last-minute power grab. She just wanted to see you blindly obey her one last time.

Hannibal laced his fingers between yours, reminding you of your one major advantage. You weren't alone anymore.

"That woman in the coral dress," He leaned over and whispered to you. "That is Theresa, yes?"

Your eyes scanned the crowd. Even though her back was to you, you could recognize that aggressive auburn updo anywhere. "That's her."

"And the woman at her side," he continued. "The one that understands that it's rude to wear white to a wedding but did anyway-"

"Yep." You sighed. "That's her."

As if on cue, Theresa turned around and saw you. You could barely make out a flash of excitement on her face before she plastered on her characteristic fake smile. She whispered something to your grandmother. Something too long for a simple utterance of "[F/N] is here". Something that visibly caught your grandmother’s attention. Without so much as excusing herself from whatever conversation she was clearly in the middle of, she and Theresa approached you.

You felt like a baby gazelle dipped in steak sauce in the middle of the serengeti. The lions were closing in on you. You briefly considered causing some kind of distraction, but you knew it was too late. You tightened your grip on Hannibal's hand as your grandmother and cousin stepped into earshot.

"[Y/N]!" Your grandmother exclaimed, her voice jumping to an unnatural register. She pulled you in for a hug, which you weakly returned.

"I didn't think you would make it." Theresa said, her voice full of venom. When she hugged you, you fully expected to break the embrace with a serated kitchen knife sticking out of your back.

"And who is this," Your grandma paused, scanning Hannibal up and down. Her expression was unreadable, which was never a good sign. "Charming gentleman?"

You looked back at Hannibal, wearing your sudden excitement on your face. "Grandma, Theresa. This is Dr. Hannibal Lecter, my fiancé."

"So nice to finally meet you, Mrs. [L/N]." Hannibal offered her his hand.

"Oh, it's Ms. [L/N]." Your grandmother corrected. "I threw [F/N]'s grandfather out with the garbage."

You vividly recalled the day you found your grandfather's urn in the trash compactor. Hannibal knew about it too. Six year old [F/N] had nightmares for months.

Theresa's expression was significantly more legible. She offered him the back of her hand while glaring at you from the side of her eye. "Dr. Lecter, it's a pleasure."

"Theresa, yes." Hannibal tucked his hands into his pockets. "[F/N] has told me all about you."

Theresa clutched her wine glass between her talons. Beneath her plastic smile, she was coiled and ready to strike.

"[F/N], how did you meet this fine man?" Your grandma asked, running her hand down his arm.

This was an approach you'd never seen her use, but it didn’t surprise you to see her using it either. Hannibal was only attractive to her because he was yours. Even though you knew this, you still felt a tad possessive of him. You snaked your arm around his and held him close.

He looked down at you lovingly. "She and I have a field of study in common, so it was only a matter of time, really. She's a brilliant conversationalist."

"She gets that from me." Your grandmother, always ready to take credit for anything and everything, said. "So you're a psychologist?"

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded. "A psychiatrist, to be precise."

"So you're gonna charge me when I complain to you about [F/N]?" She joked. "This one gave me more than a few grey hairs."

"Beatrice?" A passing woman interrupted, stealing your grandmother's attention.

"Gladys! Thank you so much for coming!" She said before wandering off without so much as a goodbye. That left you, Hannibal and Theresa.

"[F/N], I'm a little surprised." Theresa commented, taking a sip from her wine glass. "I would have never guessed that you were a gold digger."

Okay, so we're doing this, you thought. Grandma had left you unsupervised and the gloves were coming off. Let's fucking dance.

"And how's your husband, Theresa?" You matched her sickly sweet tone.

"My husband the senator?" Theresa perked up. "He's wonderful. We're enjoying the East Coast summer. It gets so dreadfully dry in Utah."

"Must be hard to enjoy your vacation while fighting off all those abuse allegations." You added.

She seemed to have forgotten that you too could switch from passive-aggressive to aggressive-aggressive on a dime. That you did learn from your grandmother.

Theresa tensed up, though her smile didn't falter. "Well, you know. It's a witch hunt out there. All those women just want to ruin a poor man's life."

"Children." You corrected, finishing your wine in one swig. "I think you meant to say children."

The wedding bells began to ring, alerting the guests that the ceremony was about to commence. You thanked the maker that you'd gotten the last word in.

"Well, I have to go join my sister at the altar." She placed her empty wine glass on a table. "It's been a pleasure."

"Theresa, how long are you and your husband in town for?" Hannibal asked, seemingly out of nowhere. "[F/N] and I would be honored to have both of you for dinner."

"Well, at least one of you has manners." Theresa sneered at you. "We would love to join you, Dr. Lecter. Thank you ever so much for the invitation."

Once Theresa was out of earshot, you let the confusion and outrage overtake your face.

"Hannibal, I ask this with love," you began, choosing your words carefully. "But are you going to poison them?"

"No, love." Hannibal snickered.

"You're right. Poisoning would be too good for her." You said through gritted teeth. "She doesn't deserve a quick death."

"All in due time, darling." He stroked your hair in reassurance. "Come, let's take our seats. The ceremony is about to start."

[rpd-rookie]

After all things he saw and been through, Leon could use some rest... So how about Leon x reader on vacation in some remote, distant place, phone turned off, Hannigan banned from contacting him over new assignments? I guess it would be perfect for post-Vendetta? I don't really care it it's going to be fluff, smut or whatever - I just want him to take his time off and simply enjoy his leave, wherever he'd go. ^_~

Author’s note: Sorry about the long wait. This OS actually became so long I decided to make it a 2 or 3 chapters long fanfic. Here’s the first prt. Hoping you’ll love it.

Warning: Angst, Mention of Alcoholism and Depression, Language, Mention of sex.

Information : Y/SN = your second name

Holidays - Leon S. Kennedy x Fem!Reader

A fresh marine breeze entered the room through the ajar French window, flapping the white muslin curtains like two small sails. It caressed his clammy naked body and a salty smell came to tickle his nose, reminding him a time when, as a kid, he used to go visit his grandparents in their small beach house in South Carolina, a time that was far gone but that he kept close to his heart.           And so he sprawled on the mattress, a bit like a funny starfish, his blue eyes still shut, trying to linger in his memory and in his bed a little longer, at least until Hunnigan calls him to warn him not to be late to another umpteenth appointment with his DSO colleagues or the president.           Only when he felt a delicate hand brush his hair away from his face, tucking it behind his ear like his mother used to do when he was a child, and finally met a pair of gorgeous (colour) eyes did he realise two things.   One, Hunnigan won’t call this morning. Two, holidays were awesome.

Part 1: THE MEETING

           Scott Rossi. That was the name he had given when he had registered in this remote cottage-like hotel three days ago on the north coasts of Nova Scotia. Nothing original and probably too easy to guess – it was his father’s first name and his mother last name after all. A fake identity he had judged necessary to disappear from the DSO’s radar for a little while.     He needed to be left alone. For his wellness and his sanity even though a part of him knew drinking his sorrow away wasn’t what was best for that so-called wellness he wanted back. But it was the only solution he had found to forget. Forget about New York. Forget about the car bombing in DC. Forget about that bullet he put in President Benford’s head. Forget about everything that had led him here, drinking in this bar. But the road to forgetting was hard and the escape too momentary. And the more whisky he poured in his glass to more he seemed to drown in his bottomless pit of pain and depression.           “Tough day or you’re just not confident in your masculinity?” Usually, Leon would have ignored such a nosy question, the same way he would have ignored another over-curious judgy person, with characteristic stoicism. But there was something in that question, something in that voice - though he couldn’t pinpoint what - that made him look up from the amber liquid in his glass. Perhaps was it the strangeness of that question. Or perhaps was it that voice, confident and full of nerve, reminding Leon of old times, old friends, bold young agents and femme fatales. Or perhaps, was it simply because she was a woman and God knew how much Leon couldn’t ignore one, wasted or not.     She was a (hair colour) with piercing (colour) eyes, wearing a long marine blue coat over a nice black dress. Elegant. Self-assured. Pretty. Very pretty … Actually too pretty to hang out in some lousy hotel bar like the one she was in right now. A city girl maybe. “Excuse me?”           “The whisky. My father used to say it’s a drink for fags.” Leon’s eyes widened briefly and she added, unsettled by his surprise as if she had expected it. “But then again, my father was an asshole who didn’t know shit about anything. So tough day, huh?” Leon snickered and remained surprisingly troubled for a few second. Needless to say, he wasn’t used being caught off guard like that. “More like tough life” He finally corrected. She nodded and, unable to resist curiosity – even though she had the impression the man was certainly not the kind to easily open up to strangers -  quickly went to sit closer to him bringing her tequila along with her. “I’m all ears.”   “I don’t need a therapy.” His tone was curt and harsh and he took a sip of whisky looking away from her, thinking she would get the message and leave him to finish his fancy bottle of Glenfiddich in peace. But she did not move and simply waited, her observing eyes set on him as if she was trying to read his mind or something.       He glanced towards her only to see her sigh and take off her coat like an insect would shed their skin, offering Leon the sight of her beautiful wasp-like body covered in black silk, a sight that didn’t leave him indifferent. After all, she had an exquisite silhouette. Curvy with a narrow waist that her skin-tight black dress could bring out with ease. “Let me guess, after fifteen years of marriage, your wife cheated on you with your best friend because you were the kind of man who lived for his job instead of his family and now he’s taking care of your kids in your own house and they call him daddy.”         “Couldn’t be moooore wrong.” He had a quick laugh, not because he thought her soap opera-like story was amusing but because he actually never imagined someone would picture him married with kids. Did he look the type? He didn’t think so. “Maybe. But at least now I know you’re not married.” Leon glanced at her again, astonished by her audacity. No one had ever flirted with him that way. Though he wasn’t even sure she was flirting. “Are you sweet-talking me or something?”         She shrugged her

shoulders leaving the place for any sort of answer and Leon said “You know, you could have just look at my hand.”     “I did actually but I just wanted to make sure.” She had a quick seductive smile and smoothly bent towards Leon who peeped at her décolletage for a second before focusing on his drink again. “By the way, is shooting a hobby or part of your job?” Leon froze, his glass half way between the counter and his lips and stared at her. “How …”             “The calluses on your fingertips. Only a shooter has that kind of hands.” He couldn’t help but be impressed and after drinking his whisky in one go, he naturally sat up straight on his stool to scrutinize her, suddenly more that interested in that mysterious girl. “You’re observant.”   “Y/N actually.” She extended her hand and, after a short hesitation, he shook it with an amused smile, undeniably seduced by that cheeky attitude that suited her so well. Her skin was so soft and cold against his, he instinctively kept her hand in his to warm it up. A lovely gesture yet certainly a bit inappropriate. Either way, the girl said nothing and let him hold her hand. “I’m L… Scott. I’m Scott” He finally replied as he let go of her hand, slightly uncomfortable. “ Fine, then I’m Y/SN.”     Leon frowned, his face showing a mix of confusion and amusement. “You just said your name was Y/N.”         “Yeah but that was before you chose to lie.” She grimaced, emptied her shot of tequila and called the waiter with a small hand gesture to ask for a refill, not even slightly disappointed in Leon for lying. “I didn’t lie.” Not really. She put down her hand as she realised the barman, who was flirting with a man at the end of the counter, would not notice her.     “Of course you did. But I’ll allow it. I guess that’s just another silly way to cope with your tough life for a night. Though, it seems it’s as useless as alcohol” She took Leon’s glass and emptied it without looking away from the agent.       “I’m trying to enjoy my holidays at the fullest.” He confessed and that was the truth. “Is it working?” She placed the glass, now stained with her lipstick, in front of him and he shrugged, showing her the bottle of alcohol by his side before pouring himself another drink. “No, not really.”             “Thought so.”            

She took the whisky again, this time from Leon’s hand but he did not protest. He didn’t care about that damn liquor. He could definitely afford another bottle. The company however … He knew he would never find another girl like the one sitting next to him. “So, Y/N. What are you doing here?” He asked, his eyes fixed upon her face. “Who’s Y/N?” She replied with a cheeky wink and Leon smiled and chuckled. It hadn’t done that in a while.  “Are we really gonna play this lie the whole night?” Part of him hoped so. There was something endearing and refreshing in that little game, the same way there was something terribly irresistible in that girl.       “You wanna spend the whole night with me? Who told you I was that kind of girl?” She harrumphed, hand over her heart like an amazingly lame actress, an overly dramatic gesture that was certainly intended.         “You’re impossible.” Leon confessed but there was no hint of criticism or annoyance, quite the opposite. He was actually having fun drinking here with that girl he didn’t know. “No. I’m just a girl pretending to be someone she’s not – aka Y/SN - talking to a man named Scott who just lost his wife and kids to his best friend.”           “Not just his wife and kids, his dog too. A beagle. Poppy.” She laughed, getting the tiny nod to John Wick and he looked glad that she did. “And what’s Y/SN’s backstory?”             “I found yours. You could at least found mine.” She retorted and let him think. And for a second, as she stared at him scratching his stubble, finding him insanely handsome, she realised he hadn’t touch his drink in a small while. Good.   “Y/SN is a college student with unresolved daddy issues trying to get the attention of a man possibly twice her age to cope with the fear of abandonment his father left her with when he left her and her mom.”         “Was Dad an alcoholic?” She declared on purpose, just to see if the word would trigger his desire to drink. It incredibly did not.   “Might explain why you’re so interested in a loser like me.”

She stayed the whole night with him. Talking. Playing. Flirting in ways only she could do. Creating an undeniable connection, a sharp sexual tension that only a man deprived of all senses would have missed. She gave him a signal (if not more) with her eyes, called him with her lips. And he responded with a similar technique, a similar enthusiasm. And at the end of the night, when she got up from her stool and kissed him goodbye, right at the corner of his lips, she realised she could potentially spend the hottest night of her life if she chose to lead him in her room. After all, it was no secret for either of them. She wanted to fuck him and he wanted to fuck her.           But a part of her decided to play hard to get, decided that this night would be a sweet game, a foreplay in their roleplay. And luckily for her, he was a player. Just like her.

[lovieebby]

Frogs and Bears

Vic!Daddy!Henry x Little!Reader

Summary: You catch a frog while you and Henry are at the pond.

WC: 1k

Warnings: some ddlg themes, squeamish Hen, slight little!reader, overall some cute fluff

Note: yeah, hi hello good morning! I’ve had this thought written in my docs and tbh it kinda got drowned out but when I went thru all my old docs and deleted some I found this and was like um yes, gotta do pronto! But Leave me some feed back and tell me what ya think!! 💋

This is also an unbeta fic bc i wanted to leave a surprise for y’all so pls be nice to me ✨

It had been a beautiful Sunday, the bright sun was peeking through the green trees and birds gently singing. It was only you and Henry today, Judy was off at a family member’s and didn’t know when she’d be back. You had slightly heard that her niece just had a baby and you where over the moon excited for her, only temporarily bringing it up before she left.

But Henry wanted to keep you busy. He had already taken you to the zoo for a short time, only leaving when you got fussy over the animals. They were either too loud or the poor things looked sad. Though today was much different, the sun was twinkling off the pond water, the trees danced in the summer breeze and Henry had been right by your side.

As Henry walked along the ponds edge with you at his other side, you stopped short at the sound of a croak. Your ears perked at the sound and a gleeful squeal erupted from your mouth when you detached your hands from Henry’s. You kneeled quickly before Henry’s long arms could catch you; afraid you had gotten brave and wanted a swim.

He uttered your name in a quick hiss, his brows furrowed as he watched you dig your freshly clean dress sleeves into the muddy waters edge.

“What are you doing little missy?” He snaps, gripping your clothed biceps and picking you up roughly.

You knew you shouldn’t have gotten your dress dirty, a newly pink one at that but you couldn’t help but reach into the water for your new friend when you saw him perched on the moss. You beamed up at him with a smile brighter than the sun and opened your palm just enough to peek your eye into.

“Daddy look!” You said breathlessly as Henry spun you to face him, you opened your hands wider for him to see the large frog, “I got a frog!”

Henry’s blue eyes met with the angered frog, the amphibious creature was half the size of your palm, big and green with spots of brown and darker green. His eyes widened in slight fear, never in his life had he caught a frog nor less ever seen one so close, well he might have caught one when he was a boy but he decided not to indulge in that.

“Y/n! Put that thing down!” He hissed, coming to smack your hands to let the creature go.

You frowned deeply as you missed his swat. You cuddled the frog closer to your chest, palms closed and dark for the thing while shocked at your daddy for such a sour attitude.

“No! He’s sweet and kind. And he’s a frog! Not a thing.” You defensively spewed, your body turning away from him.

“Y/n, put the frog down.” He corrected, his eyes rolling at your quick defense, “You caught him and now you can release him— He’s probably got a family of sorts so go on.”

Henry’s rushed words and quick fix of his tie made you giggle, his clammy skin to his flushed cheeks was a sure tell of his uncomfortably to the amphibian in your hands.

“You’re not… scared of him, are you Daddy?” You teased, walking closer to Henry with a mischievous growing grin as you watched him back up, hands raising in his own defense.

“Little girl! I’m telling you, put the frog back!”

You giggles got louder as you outstretched your arms closer to Henry, you body hopping in a stomp when he backed up into the tree line. He chuckled with you nervously, grabbing your wrist and shoving your arms away from his reach.

“Y/n!” He laughed, your giggles and squeals contagious, “Let the poor mister go.”

You settled your wrestle with Henry, a few giggles seeping from your lips as you watched him adjust himself. You neared the same ponds edge from where you found your new friend and gently released your clasp.

“Sorry for the hustle and bustle froggy.” You whispered quietly, the frog seeming to question your apology as he looked at you for a short moment before turning and leaping out of your hands and into his home.

You heard a short sigh come from Henry as you rinsed your hands in the pond water and patted them dry on your blush colored dress.

“Now that the ugly thing is gone lets take another lap and go home.” Henry spoke out with a grumble as he fixed his tux and pea coat.

“He’s not ugly Daddy!” You rushed, “I think he’s beautiful.”

You crossed your arms in a pout, looking over at the pond in high hopes the frog in question was deep enough in the water to where he couldn’t hear your Daddy’s mean words.

“He was! He also looked very displeased to be out of his water.” He laughed lightly, fixing up his last button before he walked back on the worn down trail by the pond.

Hearing Henry laugh made you break your frown and attempt to hold your laugh. The frog wasn’t the prettiest but he was still his own pretty nonetheless.

“Well, not ever bloke has charm like you Daddy. Gentlemen like that have to find other pleasing characteristics.” You said lightly, like the frog was an old friend of yours from school.

You shrugged with an exaggerated huff, a small smile as Henry hummed and grabbed your hand to walk with you.

“That may be true, though he is a beefy frog… so maybe he’s courting all the ladies.” He joked, using the only little knowledge he does know about frogs.

You barked a laugh, cheeks sore from them as you carried on your walk before it became too late in the day.

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[mbti-ramblings-and-whatnot]

Trying to type characters from books y’all probably don’t recognise

Or you do know them, in which case outside opinions are helpful :) Even if you don’t know the series, I’ll try to give some examples and explain my reasonings so you can correct me if I’m wrong on definitions or if I’m interpreting things in a not so correct way

Today’s edition: The Mysterious Benedict Society I’ll just be typing the main 4 characters

**beware, spoilers may/will be present**

-

Reynard Muldoon: INTJ

Throw away the stereotypes because Reynie is seriously such a sweet kid, he’s never cold and unfeeling. And yet, he’s still insanely logical, so don’t go telling me he’s a feeler.

Whilst trying to type Reynie, there were several problems I encountered. The biggest of which being whether he had Ni or Ti in his top two functions. The reason Ti came to mind is because Reynie’s often asking lots of questions and trying to figure out “why?”. I know that everyone can ask questions, but one of the defining characteristics of Ti is that it wants to understand things, which often leads it to asking a lot of questions about “why?”. He’s definitely highly logical (which led me to call him a thinker), and Ti seemed (at first) like it made sense. However, if he had Ti in one of his top two functions, he would be a Perciever. And my boy Reynie is anything but. He’s the one everyone looks to when they need a plan. He’s the one who comes up with all the plans. He feels extremely uncomfortable when he doesn’t have a plan. I may not be comfortable with anything else I’ve called him, but I know he’s a judger. So, if he’s a thinker and a judger, he has to have Te. That’s just how that works. Although I see lots of Ti in him, he just isn’t a perceived, and Te does make a fair amount of sense. Then, with that problem out of the way, I didn’t even have to worry about dealing with Ni. I know he’s very perceptive to patterns, which can be seen in a scene very early in the first book. He’s taking a test that had been advertised in the paper for gifted children. If I’m not mistaken, he’s the only one who figured out that all of the answers to all of the questions were inside the questions themselves. Qs 1-20’s answers were in Qs 21-40, and vice versa. Of course they were phrased in a way that you had to be paying attention to catch it, but they were still there. And he’s the only one who caught it. So either everyone sucks at picking up on patterns or he’s just got some really high Ni.

And so, the only part left to figure out is whether he’s a introvert or extravert. This kid spent most of his childhood before the setting of the book completely alienated by the other children in the orphanage, and he didn’t seem to mind it much. He was always happy just being able to be by himself in the library, reading a nice book by himself. Although he does greatly cherish his friendships as the novels progress, he still very much feels like an introvert to me, at least.

So, putting it all together, we get INTJ! Feel free to start friendly debates in the comments/reblogs/tags, I’m happy to hear anyone else’s thoughts if they think anything else! Just please keep it respectful!

-

Constance Contraire: ENTJ

Very similar to Reynie, I just realised… oh well.

I’m not so positive about much else, but Constance is pure Ni. Her level of Ni makes Reynie look like he wouldn’t be able to notice the pattern in a sequence of circle, square, circle, square, etc. I mean, oh my gosh… just… pure Ni right here. For those of you who are unaware, this book series is focused on the adventures of four children, all who are gifted in different ways. Constance, despite the fact that she advanced very quickly for her age (she was 2 in the first book (I think) and was still able to participate in extremely important ways to things that were going on), is essentially hypersensitive to patterns. Like, she could be in a room and someone could be walking quietly down the hallway and she’d know exactly who it was and where they were, just by picking up on sound or whatever it is. Her brain so effortlessly picks up on all sorts of patters without her even knowing it, which feels a ton like Ni to me. My only issue with this is she doesn’t feel like a judger, she doesn’t appear to me as someone who’d care much at all about organisation or plans, but Ni is dominant or auxiliary only for judgers, and I’m not going to argue with that.

The rest of what I have is only assumptions, and I’m open to hearing other opinions.

I think I heard somewhere (a Frank James video?) that, for example, people whose dominant function is a perceiving function (Ni, Ne, Si, Se) would more often come home from work or school or whatever and, when asked how their day went, they would talk more about the things that happened versus the people and interactions/whatever was going on with them, and the opposite for people whose dominant function is judging (Fi, Fe, Ti, Te). Constance, to me, feels like the kind of person who would come home (or wherever home was at the moment) and complain about how stupid everyone seemed all day and how dumb everything they did was. This would mean her dominant function would be her judging function, which would have to be extraverted if her other highest function is introverted. So she’d then be an extravert. You could also make the argument that if she were talking with Mr Benedict (someone she cares an insane amount about), for example, she’d talk about all the cool things she did. But, I still feel that in most scenarios this wouldn’t be the case, so I stand by what I decided on above. There’s even the argument where (completely ignoring everything I’ve said above, just focus on Exxx vs Ixxx right now) she lived alone in the storage room of a library for who knows how long (several weeks? months?). That definitely feels introverted to me, but it could also be irrationality and fear keeping her down there. I don’t know, other thoughts are helpful.

The last thing we need to figure out is whether she’s a feeler or thinker, or in other words whether she’s an Fe or Te dom. To me, Constance doesn’t seem to care much about what other people want. She’ll steal your ice cream when you aren’t looking, when you’re playing the steal/share game (I don’t feel like explaining it, so for your reference it is described in the first chapter of “The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma” (aka the third book)) she’ll choose steal because she wants the other people (her friends) playing to have to suffer the consequences, she just doesn’t seem to care much about caring for others. So this would leave her being a thinker, which although I don’t think I’d necessarily call her logical, she is just a little kid and she really doesn’t feel like a feeler.

So, putting all that together, she’d be an ENTJ. Other opinions are welcome, I’d love to talk about it!

-

Kate Wetherall: ESFP

I wanted to call her an ESTP (and she might very well be one), but I’ll stick with ESFP for the purposes of my explanations

Total Se dom, I’m not even going to argue about that. She has insanely good spacial awareness and is very much a hands-on person. One of her special gifts is that, just by looking at something, even for just a moment, she can tell you exactly how long it is. No doubt about it, she’ll know. Once she was down in a storm drain (? I think it was a storm drain) to help a girl get the pencil she’d dropped down there. Despite the fact that it was probably super dark down there, she knew exactly how deep the crack the pencil feel down was. She’s high energy, always looking for adventure, very extraverted. I’m not sure what else to say, but man does she have high Se. At this point a lot of it’s just a feeling I get, but I trust it.

So, if she’s an Se-dom, she has to be an ESxP. The only two options from here on forth are ESTP and ESFP, and for some reason I’ve settled on ESFP. I don’t think she’s super logical, she sort of feels like a feeler… not sure…

I actually have no idea if she’s an F or T, so if any of you know the books, I’d appreciate some assistance!

-

George “Sticky” Washington: IxTx

No idea with this kid, I also haven’t thought too much about his… nothing seems to jump out to me as STICKY except for introvert… but that’s not much to go off of…

He doesn’t seem to be very social, he seems like he’d be perfectly happy to spend less time around people (aside from the three people above, they as a group are inseparable, it tears them apart inside to be apart from one another for too long).

I call him a thinker, but I wouldn’t argue if you called him a feeler.

I really have no clue with this kid, assistance would be appreciated!

-

-

So! 

[woodswitchwriter]

Underpaid

If you’re going to get paid minimum wage, about the worst place on earth to work is a vampire bar. Ever since they came out of the coffin, vampire bars have been springing up faster than Starbucks. (And Starbucks had just announced that they were open late and proud to serve their undead patrons! TruBlood available in 6 varieties and 4 sizes!) It wasn’t quite so prevalent in the South, but it was about twice as dangerous because the Bible-thumpers were almost as likely to kill you as the vampires.

Humans—and women especially—who worked in vampire bars were liable to come out with scars, lacerations, and whole nights they can’t remember (or were glamoured to forget), and that’s among the ones who made it out at all. At least, that’s all Hunter Dixon had heard about since the new vampire bar opened in Shreveport.

“You know I heard that poor Maudette Pickens set one foot in that place and never came out again.”

“You don’t even have to talk to them, you know. They know from the moment they smell you whether you’re gonna make it out alive or not.”

“You can be sweet as pie and they’ll kill you for smiling.”

If there’s anything you can count on in a small southern town, it’s fear of anything different spreading quicker than crabs in a frat house. But perhaps this time they weren’t entirely wrong. Vampires did kill people, although not as often as they’d like to say, and people did come out of those places eat up with tooth marks and scratches and hickeys, but most of that was consensual--and enthusiastically so.

Still, for $7.25 an hour, it was an insanely poor choice of a job. You can push Big Macs at a McDonalds and not have to worry about hiding bite marks from your folks. But, Hunter didn’t have folks. They also didn’t have the open schedule for a full time day job. What they did have was tuition payments, and that’s how they wound up in Shreveport’s own Fangtasia for a job interview.

They realized their casually-formal outfit was a stupid choice when they had to share a red leather couch with two men clad in fish nets and latex who were damn close to needing a cigarette. They’d given up on politely not staring and were examining the tattoos of the one on top when they were approached by the prettiest woman they’d ever seen.

“Well, aren’t you...quaint.”

Hunter looked away from a poorly inked tribal tattoo and up a set of long slender legs to a woman with honey-blonde hair and a curt, disdainful expression.

Pretty much the only thing running around Hunter’s brain was no thoughts pretty lady but, thankfully, their mouth was less distracted. “Are you the manager?”

“Owner.” The blonde corrected, “Come with me.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It says here you have...oh! Less than no experience. How nice.” They’d moved into a small but plush office where the woman (who reluctantly introduced herself only as Pam) sat behind a large desk and scrutinized Hunter’s meager one-paged resume, leaving Hunter to twitch in the opposite seat. She looked up. “Why so unemployed?”

“School doesn’t leave a ton of time for work, but in a cruel twist of fate it does appear to cost money, so ... here I am. Desperate times and all that.” Hunter gave a smile that was weaker than their attempt at humor. Pam responded to neither. When she appeared to be waiting for something else to come out of Hunter’s mouth, Hunter offered up the first thing they thought of, “I’m also not that great with people.” 

Pam watched them for a single beat of silence. “Well I can’t imagine how you came to that conclusion.” She deadpanned, dropping the resume to the desk with an air of finality and standing.

“What are you doing, the interview just started.” Hunter said quickly. 

“You aren’t exactly dazzling me.” 

“Yeah I’m not good at that either, but listen—�� They stood and blocked the blonde’s path. Pam raised a single, manicured brow. “Listen, I’m a hard worker. And I’m desperate. And I know you’re understaffed, I only saw one waitress on the floor tonight.”

“You have no experience.” Pam weaved around them in one swift motion.

“And no scheduling conflicts!” Hunter said, following her. “I’ll start out full time. You can work me to death for all I care!”

“Careful what you wish for around here.” Pam said without looking back. “We already have a waitress, sorry. Thank you for your time.”

“That girl is glamoured within an inch of her sanity and you know it.” Pam stopped and turned so fast that Hunter nearly collided with her.

“That,” She emphasized carefully, “Is a bold and dangerous accusation.”

Hunter’s breath stuttered and a wave of fear ran down their spine. 

“Okay, fine, maybe she just works too hard.” They backpedaled in a lower voice. “My point is, I don’t really care. Either way, you could use me.”

Pam tilted her head, and with a small wet click, two long fangs hung between her plump lips.

“And is that,” A step closer. “An invitation?”

no thoughts pretty lady no thoughts pretty lady no thoughts pretty lady 

Hunter chewed on their bottom lip in the way they always did when they were determined to get something. They pulled their eyes away from the teeth and allowed themselves a small smile. “Hire me and we’ll talk.”

Pam watched their face carefully, as though searching for weaknesses in their resolve. Then, with another click, the fangs disappeared.

“I’ll think about it.” Hunter breathed in relief. “And then, I’ll talk to my partner about it. Then we might call you.”

“That’s all I’m asking.” Hunter said evenly.

“And you would start part time, like all the other employees.

They tongued the inside of their bottom teeth. “Fine.”

“And even then you’d have to learn fast. I don’t have time to lead you around on a leash. Not for work, anyway.” Pam allowed, with another characteristic once-over. “And whatever poor people-skills you’ve got, wrangle them. They’ll get you hurt around here.”

“I’ll show up, I’ll shut up, I’ll carry drinks, and I’ll leave.” Hunter said. 

Pam fingered a strand of her hair, deliberating, before saying, “We’ll be in touch.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Hunter contained their pleasure, but not all that well, as they saw the corners of Pam’s mouth twitch.

“Ditch the blouse, you look like a bank teller.”

Their brow furrowed as they looked down at their outfit. When they looked back up, Pam was nowhere to be found. 

Hunter allowed themselves a self-satisfied smile before they turned and made for the door.

It was barely more than two days later when they got the call.

[shewhowillnotbenamed1]

Look Up

I woke up this morning with another DamiRae idea. (Shocker…) I just wrote it today. I hope it’s okay… And that you like it.

—————————–

Emerald eyes looked up. A pale girl descended the Wayne Manor staircase, leading downstairs to the gala. It was just starting to get in full swing. The pianist was playing Franz List. And it echoed enchantingly. But, he hardly noticed.

“Raven… For a second, I thought you were a princess.” He blurted. Raven turned her swan-like neck, in a flowing gown of lilac. Seeing that it was him, she tilted her head in a friendly gesture. A strand of her hair, a darker purple, fell around her face. Escaping the elegant updo. Tonight, she was Jason’s and Dick’s friend-date. But he lived with those two, he knew better.

It was a friend-date that would turn into the usual tug-of-war. 

“Hardly.” He marveled that she didn’t have to bend down anymore when she spoke to him. Although, in that dress, he could have been okay with it. “This girl is no damsel, kiddo.” She chuckled in amusement. 

“I’m not a kid,” Damian snapped. But, he knew he sounded like one. Like a petulant child. Or worse - a brat. To argue with the girl he’d known for years, when she had been nothing but compassionate and sweet to him. He knew he was. Even though Raven was a friend of his older brothers, she had always listened to him. She spent time with him whenever she could. Raven gave him nothing but genuine affection and her full attention. This was far more than he could say of any of his au pairs past. And they supposedly got paid to do just that. “I’m fifteen. I haven’t been a kid in years.”

“No, you haven’t.” Raven replied tonelessly. It was characteristic for her. 

But, he couldn’t tell whether she was being sarcastic or not. So, he continued. “And, you should know, you’re technically only four and a quarter years older than me - not five.”

“You’re right.” The pale girl reassured him gently. Not even phased by his rudeness. And Damian felt the turn of guilt in his stomach. The detailing on the bodice of her dress was hitting the light in the most splendid manner and it was blinding. He felt the urge to shield his face from above. But, he didn’t want to stop staring at her. Not for a second. “I just forget how much you’ve grown up. One day… you’ll dwarf me completely, Damian.” The briefest touch of her delicate hand on the shoulder of his tux made his skin warm.

Then, he felt proud. 

Raven had pretty much just called him manly. He suppressed a smile - successfully. But, he could feel his chest puff out  a bit. The workouts had to be working. Maybe she noticed. Damian was even more pleased that puberty was. Though not as fast as he would have it, but it was. He was almost her height. One day, she would have to look up. Raven would look up to see him. And then… she really would see him. But for now, she was taller. And that meant, she could still reach over and ruffle his hair.

Which she did.

“Aw!” He recoiled. “Raven, why do you always do that?”

“Do what?” The dark-haired girl asked him, softly. She seemed a little hurt that he had pulled away.

“Ruffle my hair.” Damian explained. Frustrated, as he picked his brunette-black tresses back into place. He had spent ten minutes getting it to look right for tonight. Knowing she would be here. “I’m not a child.” He said for the second time. 

She sighed. “You’re right… You’re not. I won’t do that anymore.” He could hear a touch of sadness in her voice. “I’ll see you later, Damian.” Once more he felt regretful about how he was treating her. But he couldn’t let her continue to think that he was immature. He knew what to say. Something his brothers wouldn’t have the guts to tell her to her face.

“Raven - wait…” Damian called after her. She glided gracefully, holding her skirts daintily as she walked. “You really do look beautiful.” He mumbled. And blushed. Damian willed the scarlet away from his face.

Be cool… Stay cool.

She gave him a tiny smile. “Thank you, Damian. You’re really sweet.” Raven placed a hand on her collarbone. He smiled, feeling his ego inflating. He could bet she never said that to Jason.

He cleared his throat. “So… Do I…get a kiss?” Damian was glad his vocal cords didn’t pick that particular moment to crack. It was really nice to no longer have a high-pitched voice. Especially right now.

“Damian, you’re certainly a bold boy.” Man. He corrected her. She rolled her eyes playfully. “You want a kiss from me?” Raven seemed skeptical. “Surely you have a little girlfriend or two at your school. I wouldn’t want them to all get jealous.”

The green-eyed boy knew when she was patronizing him. And this was one of those times. He was mature and intelligent. He had skipped two grades at Gotham academy for crying out loud. He raised a brow, peering at her through narrow vert. “Raven, I know you’re just indulging me.” Damian began. But, the thing is, I’m going to marry you someday - so what’s the harm in one little kiss now?�� He said this in a way that she clearly couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Whether he actually believed this. But, she blinked, before her face broke into a warm expression. The purple sparkling with kindness.

Then, she surprised him. She didn’t turn him down gently as he expected. Raven agreed. “Alright, Damian…” She moved closer. And bent her face towards him, and Gods was he glad she finally did. He glanced down the sweetheart neckline of her dress. Damian swallowed, forcing himself to focus on her face. And not inhale another lungful of her amazing perfume. He had to stay focused. 

His dream girl was about to kiss him. Hormones would not distract him. Raven’s eyes were closed as she aimed for his cheek. And he knew what he had to do. At the last minute, he turned his face. He closed his eyes, and pushed his lips straight onto hers. His heart was racing. So rapidly and pounding so hard, he could barely breathe. Raven’s lips were soft and smooth and sweet. After a couple of seconds, he pulled away. He was shaking and he could feel himself starting to sweat. It was so nerve-wracking, and he couldn’t believe he had dared do this. But, Damian forced himself to look at her. 

Raven… Her face was red. He had broken through her calm. He had made her blush.

“Damian…? Why would you -” She seemed at a loss for words. His face too was flushed, but he couldn’t help grinning a little. He liked her like this. Baffled by him. Unsure. Nervous. Not the other way around. Not giving him knowing glances. Like she had him all figured out. Now she would realize once and for all that he was on her level.

He touched her hand. “When we do get married, we’ll remember this as our first kiss.” And he took his cue to leave. And he left her standing there stunned. 

But as soon as he was out of sight, he ran outside to the expansive back lawn. Panting. As soon as he was completely alone, he let out a huge breath. The black tuxedo pressed to a pine tree, as he willed himself to calm down. He couldn’t even feel the scratchy bark on his back, he wasn’t on this earth. He stared at the night sky. He was over the moon. He couldn’t believe it.

He’d had his first kiss. And he had kissed Raven. 

[clan-sayeed-fic]

Meant To Be (Kamilah Sayeed & MC)

Previous chapter: 1

The fic is a result of my collaboration with @lightning-fury 😄   

Please check out the previous chapter written by her, called Sorry

Book: Bloodbound (property of Pixelberry Studios)

Pairing: Kamilah Sayeed & MC: Amy (I do not own those characters, they’re the property of Pixelberry Studios as well)

Warnings: strong language, angst 

Rating: Mature

Author’s note:  I’m not a native English speaker, I’m sorry for any mistakes (feel free to correct me).

I’m sorry for making you wait for this chapter. I hope you'll like it 😅

~ 2700 words

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Chapter two: My name is...

"That's the place."

Kamilah graced Amy with those words right after they found themselves between walls of a small corridor. A sharp tone of her voice made the girl jump with surprise. They didn't share a word since the last time they saw each other, and that was during the Council meeting.

Suddenly, Amy realized that they were standing there speechless for a while, close to each other. Kamilah was clearly waiting for the girl to step inside the flat. But her legs denied making a move.

All her thoughts were focused on was the radiating energy coming from Kamilah's direction. Some indescribable feeling was growing inside Amy's body, drawing her to the Vampire Queen.

For a moment, Amy got lost in this feeling. The rhythm of Kamilah's heartbeat was echoing in her mind. Since she was turned, every sound seemed heightened for her.

Every sense was more perceptive.

The smell of lavender, coming from the woman's direction, making Amy inhale deeply.

The warmness of Kamilah's body that she was able to feel even from such distance.

Her... Wait... why am I even having those thoughts about her, Amy scolded herself in her head.

This woman hated her. It was clear enough, so there was no reason for the girl to think about her.

Amy shook her head and finally made her way inside the flat, looking around, taking in the surroundings.

There wasn't a lot to take in after all. The place was small, cozy, and extremely messy. There were clothes and plates everywhere, some of them clean, other ones not so much.

While looking around, Amy's eyes moved on the woman's body uncontrollably. Before she was able to do anything, she met with the icy stare of Kamilah's chestnut eyes. The blonde looked away hurriedly and approached the window, hopeful that the cold surface of the glass will cool her down.

Everything that happened during the past few days was just a lot for her to process. Adding to it, the constant feeling of guilt, which wasn't helping at all.

Amy was looking at her own faded direction in the smooth surface of the window as the memories hit her.

She was in a botanic garden, attending a party to which she was sent by her boss. She remembered talking about some business with one of the men when everything around changed drastically. This characteristic hissing that grew around them, annoying her ears. The view that she saw next, making her body paralyzed from fear.

She heard the screams of people. Saw the pure red color of blood spreading on the walls around her. Still able to feel her muscles tensing up, denying make a move, escape, fight, defend.

She should have died back then.

It should have been her.

"Did you lose the ability to talk?" harsh tone got Amy out of her mind.

She turned around hurriedly, seeing Kamilah pouring herself a glass of water. The woman's stare was cold. It could easily cut like a knife right now.

Kamilah was feeling a lot of emotions at once. Anger, sadness, grief... but mostly, rage and disgust while looking at this newly turned vampire, which merely a few days ago was no more than a weak mortal. Another human being she didn't care about.

And of course, Elizabeth had to.

Kamilah's gaze made Amy look down, not wanting to provoke the Vampire Queen.

"I apologize, did you want anything from me?" Amy's voice was shaky.

She was shocked by her own reaction. The tone that left her mouth wasn't hers. Amy had never been some stressed, scared little girl. She never felt so intimidated by anyone until she met this woman.

"Nevermind," Kamilah sighed with annoyance. "You'll live here for the next few weeks with one of my clan members. During this time, she'll make you go through the training on how to stop being a mess. Hopefully, she'll agree on keeping you here," she eyed the girl up and down brazenly. "Don't even think of embarrassing me in front of her."

Words made Amy gulp nervously, ashamed. Again, it was not how she would react under different circumstances. She would have defended herself, not letting anyone speak to her like that. So what changed? What power had this woman that made her act so obedient around her?

"I'll try my best," she said, still, not looking into the vampire's eyes.

What Amy wasn't able to notice at that moment was Kamilah's expression changing slightly for a second. Softening her facial features, showing a sign of surprise by the girl's attitude.

That's when a loud sound of unlocking the doors came to their ears. Just after that, someone stepped inside, making a lot of noise during that.

"Speak of the devil," Kamilah rolled her eyes, putting the glass aside.

Amy's nose hit a strong smell of alcohol mixed with perfumes.

A lot of perfumes to be precise. With her heightened sense, she was able to easily separate one scent from another. And even if the aromas belonged to different people, she knew that only one person walked inside.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" at first, the voice was coming from the corridor. But in an instant, the girl showed herself next to Amy by using her incredible speed.

The vampire, how shocking, Amy thought.

"Woah, who are you, girl?" the young woman asked, laughing, eyeing the blonde without shame.

A strange girl was just a little drunk after the great fun she had last night. Or the whole week, assuming by her scent, which was difficult to stand for both women.

Amy looked at her closely, taking in her new flatmate's appearance. The girl was of average height, darker skin shade, and... that was absolutely the end of ordinary things that anyone could tell about her.

Everything beyond that in her look was yelling to be seen. An unusual hairstyle, not talking about the purple shade of her hair. Leather clothes, a black collar around her neck. Arms covered with tattoos.

Amy was just purely astonished by how her appearance was different from her own. She was standing there in her plain shirt and basic jeans. With no jewelry, no makeup on. With her hair loosen up, falling on her back.

"Lily, would you be so kind as to take care of...A..." Kamilah looked in her direction, confused like she was trying to remind herself of the girl's name, but after a moment, she just gave up. "Anyway, she is a new clan member and needs a place to stay. I couldn't think of anyone better to ask for this job."

There was something different about Kamilah right then, her voice wasn't sharp anymore. She wasn't commanding as usual but just asking for a favor.

"Sure thing," Lily smiled and took a sip from the glass that Kamilah previously drank from. "You probably want me to prepare her for the branding too?"

"If you don't mind," the corner of Kamilah's mouth curled up in a weak smile.

"Branding?" Amy remembered someone mentioning this during the Council meeting, but no one told her the specifics.

And it was sure that Kamilah won't do her this favor. She was already on her way out, after saying her goodbye to Lily. She didn't even bother to look into the blonde's direction.

A loud sound of doors closing behind her, made Amy finally let out a breath she was holding for so long.

"I can't believe it's happening... I finally have a flatmate!" Lily took her hand and shook it enthusiastically.

Amy couldn't hold back a smile. There was something cheerful about this girl. It was a nice change for once, especially after those times of darkness in her life.

"My name is Amy," she returned the gesture, shaking her hand. "It's all still new for me."

"Oh, yeah, I can tell," Lily looked at the girl's clothes immediately.

"Is there something wrong with it?" Amy's attitude came back, making her voice sound a little too harsh.

Lily looked into her green eyes and smiled mischievously, not paying attention to the tone of her voice.

"If you're one of Clan Sayeed members, then yes," the older vampire laughed. "Did you even pay attention to the Gorgeous Queen?" Lily recognized the unspoken question in Amy's eyes, so she corrected herself with a laugh. "I mean... Kamilah Sayeed."

How could I not pay attention to her? Even Amy's thoughts about the woman made her skin blush a little. Kamilah was like a goddess by herself. Beyond her stunning look and how perfect her features were, it was her personality, which made Amy intrigued.

"I suppose, you did after all," Lily chuckled, making fun of the new girl's reaction. "So if you want to make an impression, look like a person, that she should be impressed with." Lily's eyes shined as the sly plan was slowly creating in her head.

"I'm not following," Amy wondered.

"I'll show you, girl," sweet laughter filled the room.

***

"Please come in."

"Ms. Sayeed," the assistant walked inside the office, greeted with a smile on the face of her CEO. "It's Ms. Clark, she said that she was meant to..." Kamilah's appearance changed in an instant.

"Let her in," her tone harsh.

A moment later, the girl appeared in the doors, slowly walking inside. She looked unsurely into Kamilah's direction, but the woman was focused on her work. She was typing something quickly on her laptop, not bothering to lift her eyes from it.

So Amy waited, till finally, the Vampire Queen spoke out aloud.

"Take off your shirt."

"What?" Amy was caught off guard. She didn't expect to hear such an order.

"Do what you're told to do, I don't have time for this," voice quiet, cold.

The girl swallowed nervously and looked around the office. Nothing about this place was giving the impression that the CEO of the company was an old vampire. Everything was decorated in a modern style, typical for the industry like this.

What caught Amy's eyes mostly, was the large window on one of the walls. She wondered what made the glass special if the sun coming through it didn't hurt both vampires so far.

"Are you afraid someone would see you naked in my office?" Kamilah's voice took Amy out of her thoughts once again.

Now the CEO was looking directly at her, brazenly taking in the girl's whole appearance. Her chestnut eyes traveled slowly from Amy's feet, moving up her black leather, impossibly tight trousers. Next, her gaze went straight to the equally dark jacket. Under it, the blonde had a grey tank top with a deep neckline, which was showing most of her breasts, making her bra stick out from it.

Kamilah's gaze stopped for a moment at Amy's chest, then slowly went up to her throat, jaw, lips, finally resting at her eyes.

"I see you let Lily dress you up like a slut," the woman's voice cut through Amy's chest like a blade.

"What?" the girl couldn't handle the tension, she didn't know how to react at first until she realized the challenge hidden in Kamilah's words. She was testing her.

So Amy accepted that challenge.

She took off her jacket without dropping the vampire's gaze. The next thing she took off was her tank top. In this way, she was left there standing in her black, lacy bra.

"Excellent," Kamilah stood up, making her steps to the shelf by the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Amy watched her taking out a medium-sized wooden box. The woman turned the key inside of it and took out things that seemed similar to the girl.

"Is this what people use to make tattoos?" even if Amy didn't want to show fear, she couldn't stop the unsureness in her voice.

"Show a little courage..." Kamilah's voice didn't hide her hatred, making the girl shut up with embarrassment.

Amy watched the vampire putting the whole equipment aside on the desk. Right after that, she reached for a knife from the drawer, and before the girl could even think of reacting, Kamilah cut her own skin with it. The blood slowly flew into the container in which was supposed to be ink.

Kamilah did something with the container, and after a moment, she put it together with a tattoo needle. The suspicion spread over Amy's chest when she saw a welcoming gesture from the woman. But she had no other choice than cooperate, so she made her way toward the CEO, stopping next to her.

"Have you ever gotten a tattoo?" Kamilah asked, emotionless.

"No, I don't have one," Amy looked at the needle with unsureness.

"Of course, not," again, this tone, full of annoyance and disappointment. "It's going to hurt."

Without much more warning, Kamilah grabbed Amy's arm with her free hand, making it impossible for the girl to escape. She didn't even try to be gentle.

Amy's natural reaction was to step back, but as soon as she wanted to make a move, Kamilah pushed her on the table. The Vampire Queen stood close to the girl, keeping her thighs between her own legs, with Amy's hips propped up against the desk.

"Don't move, it'll be easier for you and me," an unusual, calming tone of Kamilah's whisper echoed in the girl's head, distracting her for a moment.

At first, Amy felt pure pain when the needle touched her smooth skin. Her neurons felt everything much more, giving impulses to the brain that was about to explode from ache.

Kamilah's blood was slowly forcing itself into her skin, leaving a mark on Amy's right arm. A circle pierced with arrows, with an x in the center of it.

The blonde tried to relax as much as it was possible when she realized that the tension in her body was only making things worse. That's when she felt Kamilah's free hand holding her by the waist, steading her body as the vampire by herself was focused on the task.

The warmness of Kamilah's hand on her skin sent shivers through Amy's body, making her forget about the pain. All she was able to focus on was the woman's closeness. And she hated herself for such a reaction.

She wasn't allowed to even think that way.

Her heart had no right to beat faster.

Her breath shouldn't get any heavier.

Amy closed her eyes to compose herself. To lose those thoughts. To focus her mind on the pain, which she deserved to feel.

She deserved so much more pain than that.

"It's finished," Kamilah told her, stepping back.

This deep, feminine voice made the girl open her eyes. Even if Amy was expecting to see something different, there was an only coldness in Kamilah's appearance.

The girl slowly reached for her tank top as the question popped into her head.

"Why did you tell me to take off my shirt?" Amy wondered because the brand Kamilah gave her was on her upper arm. And since she was wearing a tank top, there would be no problem with reaching this place on her skin.

Kamilah gathered the equipment together, cleaning the container of her blood.

"You did it by yourself," the woman said, focused on her work. "Apparently, you wanted so badly for me to see you in your underwear."

Amy looked at her in disbelieve as the words hit her.

All this time, she was feeling guilty and wanted to apologize. She even did it, maybe more than once, she couldn't recall it now.

And all this woman gave her, were words of hatred, cold looks,

and now.

She made fun of her. Of the way how she made the girl's body react under her touch.

It was too much. Amy's head was burning with anger. She took her jacket and put it on quickly, causing the woman's attention.

"You should learn some manners, girl," Kamilah scolded her, but before she could say anything more, she was interrupted.

"Amy."

The woman's eyes sparkled with surprise, she didn't know what the newly turned vampire was referring to.

The girl sent her one last look, which perfectly matched the tone of her own voice. This time, it was she who sounded harsh.

"My name is Amy, And you better remember that."

Next chapter: ch 3, Control written by @lightning-fury

[agentsokka]

Nott’s Conflicting Narratives

[[Spoilers for Campaign 2 up to Episode 75]]

Man. D’you ever get the need to talk about how much you love your favorite character? Because I am feeling PASSIONATE for a specific little goblin girl right now.

I love Nott. She’s the peanut butter to my jam, the sugar to my spice, the awkward green butterball mushing around in my heart. She’s my absolute FAVORITE character of the cast and one of my all-time favorite characters in general. So, of course, I feel the need to bend over backwards, snap my spine into a pretzel, and projectile vomit my absolute love for this woman all over your dashes.

In this piece, I wanted to talk about her personal growth over the story and how she’s evolved from what viewers believed was merely a skittish, oddball of a green powder monkey klepto into an equally odd but emotionally resonant mother desperate to reclaim her life and family.

In my opinion, Nott’s overarching story revolves around a mother attempting to recapture her personal narrative from a world that has tried to tear it away from her.

Let’s first establish Nott’s position as the “mother” of the Mighty Nein.

Time for a recap.

As we discover in episode 49, Nott is a little goblin girl, who was once a young halfling woman, who was once a halfling child. In her desperate dash to protect her family from goblin kidnappers, the halfling woman known as Veth Brenatto is recaptured and put to death. Her corpse is then reanimated into the flesh puppet goblin suit we know and love today. In this process, her skin, body, and even mind are reconstructed to be more goblin-esque – a situation which Veth vehemently despises. To put distance between herself and her former life, she renames herself “Nott the Brave,” an anagram of Veth Brenatto.

“They made me everything… that I thought I was. Not pretty…not good. Just not.”

This event is significant for a multitude of reasons, primarily of which revolve around Nott’s relationship with motherhood.

In her essay The Symbolic Annihilation of Mothers in Popular Culture, Berit Astrӧm (2015) observes that mother characters are routinely devalued in popular culture via what she terms “symbolic annihilation.” Gaye Tuchman (1978) originally coined the phrase to describe the way in which media trivializes, condemns, or outright excludes mothers, but Astrӧm extends it to include the removal of mothers from narratives entirely.

We’ve seen this play out time and time again: for example, how many times have we questioned “what happened to the mother” in Disney movies? Often, we see that their exclusions leave little impact on the story and characters, with many media franchises unceremoniously minimizing the mother’s very existence as if it held no more meaning than an ironically titled paperweight.

Now, how does this apply to Nott?

Nott’s character is an inversion of this trope. Although she is killed by the goblins as per the trope’s wont, the narrative does not revolve around her son or husband trying to cope with her loss. Instead, the narrative remains centered on she the mother as this little goblin girl punches a fist through the earth and screams NOT TODAY SATAN. Her story revolves around her identity as a mother, and it takes shape in a plethora of different ways.

Nott exhibits many atypical characteristics that are not commonly associated with the idealized form of “motherhood.” She’s loud, she’s boisterous, she’s mischievous. She’s self-admittedly “strange” and eccentric. She saw it suit to dump a pitcher of cucumbers and proceed to eat them off the ground. Absolutely no one can convince me that this a goblin-specific trait and not just Nott being her weird little self.

And yet, Nott exhibits many typically feminine/motherly traits as well. In spite of her vulgarities, she’s gentle and kind towards Caleb, and it takes some time for their relationship to evolve beyond that. She likes dresses! She likes feeling pretty even though the situation rarely allows her to be. She likes to collect buttons and baubles and cutesy trinkets. And most of all, Nott expresses love. Beau’s the first person in the group to say it to someone else, but Nott is the first of anyone to emphatically express her love for this ragtag group of misfits they’ve wrangled together.

“I know we have things to do, and I want to do them, but the reason I want to find these people and rescue them is not to use them, or not because we’ve invested time in them. But it’s because… I love them.”

Nott is very much “the Heart” of the Mighty Nein, in spite of her idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. In this sense, she views herself as their mother – not just as Caleb’s parental figure, but the entirety of the group. It’s not just a meme, with adoption papers scrawled across a series of barbeque-stained napkins in chicken scratch. Over time, she’s genuinely adopted the M9 as her own, welcoming them under her stubby wings. Nott has said as much several times, but most significantly in episode 76, when she told Caleb that she wanted to protect everyone on their own individual quests.

“I protected you so that you could go on your journey and find yourself and fulfill your quest. I feel like I’ve got to do that for everyone now because, I don’t know, deep down inside it feels like my quest might not be done till everyone else has figured out who they are and what they want in this world. Everyone’s seeking something, you know?”

This protection – this overwhelming need to shield, to safeguard, to provide security and aegis – is crucial to recognizing what Nott is as a parent. A protector. A defender. Nott firmly believes that protection is representative of parenthood, its indistinguishable mirror image.

How do I know this? Nott confirmed it word-for-word in episode 13, when she explained her relationship with Caleb to the rest of the M9.

“Caleb and I have a very special…relationship. And it’s that of a parent and a child. But I am the parent, you do understand that, correct? I protect him. He’s my boy, and I keep him safe. … It’s my job to protect him, because I love him, and I am his protector.”

Nott clearly associates parenthood with protection. She reiterates it again and again. If you fall under her protection, you are her child. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how strong you are, how quick you are – she will protect you to the very last inch of her life. And over the course of the campaign, many, many times over, she’s nearly given said life to ensure the protection of others. An early example is when Nott threw her body over Caleb’s to shield him from attack. In 45, she drew the blue dragon’s attack to save Jester, shaving her hit points down to 1.

Nott again establishes this in 76.

“So I feel like, I need to be there to protect you all. To rescue you when there’s a dragon about to kill you and use my body as a shield; or to pull Beauregard out of the mouth of a worm; or to catch you when someone falls with a feather fall spell.”

This is a fundamental aspect of her character, and explains the majority of her actions. Even though she’s anxious and scared, Nott powers through her fears to protect her loved ones at any cost necessary – with a few nips to soothe her nerves, of course.

And as sweet as this gremlin of a goblin is, she doesn’t extend her protection to everyone she meets – she’s self-sacrificial, but only to her proverbial children, after they’ve spent more than enough time becoming comfortable with one another. In episode 75, for example, Nott suggested that Reani was expendable and thus should go first when facing the dragon. She likes Reani, sure, but if it came down to her and the M9? The outsider would be the first to go.

This further lends itself to the idea that Nott perceives protection as parenthood, self-sacrifice as motherly duty – she’s not just a nice gal throwing down her life in order to ensure the welfare of others, but only for the select few she deems in need of her protection.

However, Nott isn’t just a mother, which comes to the crux of this post. For the majority of the campaign, Nott has primarily identified as a mother figure – to Luc, to Caleb, to the M9 at large. But over time, she’s steadily developed into wanting to be more than just a mother. At the very least, she’s expressed her desires more openly over the course of the show as time has gone on. This development intersects with her identity issues as Nott struggles to reconcile two conflicting lives.

Throughout her short life – and I do mean short, she’s only about 25 (I’m turning 25 this month and the extent to which this little goblin has pushed herself through sends me into anxiety just by association) – Nott’s life has followed a very, shall we say, standard route. She’s always been someone’s daughter – someone’s wife – someone’s mother. Veth Brenatto grew up the small town of Felderwin with very few expectations of their people beyond the usual sort, assuming that said small town followed real-world small-town culture. As such, Veth traversed domestic paths in life, not straying far from those expectations. In spite of her intelligence and capabilities, Veth remained a housewife essentially, assisting Yeza when need be and taking care of Luc. This narrative held steady for some time.

And everything changed when the Fire Nation goblins attacked.

Veth’s narrative as a mother, as a wife, as a little halfling from the little hovel hole of Felderwin, was abruptly disrupted when she became Nott. Her narrative was stolen from her, manipulated and perverted into something she deemed grotesque. Forced to co-exist with the tribe, Nott becomes the torturer’s assistant – the absolute antithesis to motherhood in the representative forebearer of violence, depravity, and death. Her desire to nurture and protect is met with oppression and bloodshed.  

It’s no wonder Nott detests the narrative the goblins thrust upon her. Her goblin exterior fundamentally represents a life forced upon her, a narrative chosen without her consent.

“I just don't like how I feel when I see my hands or my feet. They just feel wrong. I want to be different.”

“I'll be honest. I've started forgetting what it feels like to be a halfling, to be me. I don't remember everything any more. I feel like every day I'm more and more goblin. I don't like it at all. I don't like myself at all.”

“There's still something that's not right about this. This is not my body. It's just not me. And people liking you is nice, and people accepting you is nice. But if you feel wrong inside your own skin, then, well, you can't be a good mother or a good wife, or a good anything, really.”

Upon escaping, her narrative again changes: she’s no longer anyone’s assistant, but existing for herself. And only herself. Before she meets Caleb, she’s alone, unwanted by the populace at large and unable to return to Felderwin. She’s no longer a mother – just detested vermin looking to steal and connive, so people would believe.

That is partially why, in my opinion, she adopts Caleb as her own so quickly. Of course, Nott sees him as a means to an end in the beginning, as does he. They both admit that they had ‘other intentions’ in staying together than purely out of goodness of their hearts. However, it is evident that well before the campaign started, these two forged a bond that went beyond that of convenience. Nott fills the hole in her heart, the hole in her very narrative, by becoming Caleb’s adoptive mother, assisting him in his ventures and protecting him whenever need be. By doing this, she is able to choose for herself, to differentiate herself from the goblin’s narrative of pain and misery. She is no longer just “not,” she is Nott, Nott the Brave.

As was aforementioned, Nott’s motherhood narrative grows to include the rest of the M9. However, with time, she reaches a conflict within herself: while she hates being a goblin, she enjoys her new lifestyle. Is she afraid? She’s fucking petrified. Yet like the rest of the group, she’s fallen in love with adventuring, the highs and lows that demonstrate the extent of her capabilities. Nott isn’t just an assistant anymore – she can do magic! She can fight, she can pick locks, she can adapt firearms and create explosive weaponry. Hell, she can wield a crossbow with the dexterity of an Olympic gymnast and liquidate giant spiders into bloody pastes on the wall. With the M9, she’s seeing the world, far beyond the borders of Felderwin and her small-town life.

And suddenly, Veth’s narrative as a stay-at-home mom isn’t so appealing anymore.

Is there a problem inherent to existing as a housewife and full-time mother? No, of course not. Nevertheless, Nott has found herself in a strange position – she longs for her old life and family, ripped away from her by the gnarled claws of fate, yet remains enthralled by the wonders this new narrative can offer her.

In 36, Nott reveals to Cadeuceus that she believes the M9 could be representative of a new life for her – a new narrative.

“I’m not a religious lady, but I will tell you that, for me, this journey with the group has been a bit of a sign. … A sign that there could be, for all of us, another chapter.”

It’s a new chapter, a new narrative, a new life for Nott. One she could never have imagined possible for her in the confines of her small town. And by god, does she want to live it. Nott expressed this desire to live this life to its fullest, to live this new narrative to its fullest, in 27 after Molly’s death.

“Mollymauk was a rainbow man who represented life at its fullest. And. That’s what I want, even more than… even more than what we’re going for before. Together, we’re sort of living life now, aren’t we? And before, we were… in the darkness, so. … I want to find them so we don’t go back to the way it was, when we were hiding in the shadows and, and ducking into alleys to get away from people. We were safe, but we weren’t really alive, right? With these people, we’re having fun and winning contests. And. And killing bad guys, and rescuing children…it’s amazing.”

I’m of the opinion that Nott’s speech is reflective of both her experiences with Caleb as well as her own in Felderwin. She was living before – and she enjoyed it, yes! She obviously loves Yeza and Luc. But now, she’s seeing what life can be like when lived to its fullest, seeing what life can be like when she spearheads her own narrative. She gleans inspiration from Mollymauk, who decided to head his own narrative and remain unrepentantly unconcerned with what his past might have been like. With his death, Nott becomes convinced that she needs to truly lead this life, lead this newfound narrative with this family she’s amassed.

But with that realization comes conflict once the dredges of Nott’s previous life begin seeping into her narrative. This is especially once Nott reunites with Yeza in Xhorhas.

“Caleb, I’m feeling uneasy. … I, because. What the fuck am I doing here? I just was reunited with my husband, and I’ve – I -- we were given a chance to go on an adventure and I jumped at it like that. Am I a bad person? I just left him, I ditched my husband in a den of monsters to go adventuring with you.”

Rather than hold down the fort with her newly reunited husband, Nott instinctively leaps at the chance for adventure, the chance to go out and see more of the world. She doesn’t even think about it, it’s just oh? A side quest? Well fuck me rosy, time to knock my crossbow. Because that’s what Nott would do, not Veth. And once she realizes what she’s done, Nott begins wondering if she’s a terrible person for living her life. She begins questioning her intentions, wondering whether her actions are the ploy of some subconscious desire to remain free, remain independent of her responsibilities. 

“You don’t think I’m just…delaying the inevitable? Scared of going back to my old life, or anything?”

Nott further recognizes the disparity between her two lives and how wide the gulf between them yawns. 

“It’s just, I just don’t know like. Is he gonna…even like me anymore, I’m so different. Not just physically, I do different things now. … Will I like it? I’ve gotten a taste of adventure and, and seeing the world, and now I’ve gotta go back and be a…a housewife again?”

Nott doesn’t even know if she wants to be called Veth anymore. Not by people who have come into her life since Veth’s apparent demise. When Caleb asks her in 59, she dismisses the question and asserts that they should just go with Nott for now.

She asks Caleb to tell her what she should do, in a desperate plea for someone else to give her direction in life. Because driving your own narrative is hard. It’s a painful, painful process, full of ups and downs and mistakes and setbacks. But Caleb fundamentally cannot decide her narrative for her -- it’s Nott’s narrative, not his. He can help her along and support her, but he will never be able to direct it. She has to do it for herself. 

(As a side note: I love, love, love how far Nott and Caleb’s relationship has come. Prior to the Xhorhas arc, Nott never bothered him with her problems, drudging on ahead as she didn’t want to “distract” him from his personal quest. She’s exactly like a mother, masking her insecurities and fears from her young child so that they won’t worry about what they can’t control. And now, as her child has grown up and become more aware of his mother’s struggles, she’s leaning on him more and more for support. It truly mirrors parent-child relationships and is representative of how far these characters have grown over time.)

With these conversations, it becomes evident that Nott is seeking more than family, more than the life of a housewife. And yet, simultaneously, she embodies the narrative of a mother, loves being a mother, and loves the people in both her immediate and found families. To merge these narratives will be an almost insurmountable task, from her perspective -- how can you raise a family when you’re constantly adventuring? You can’t endanger their lives. Conversely, is it responsible of a parent to endanger their own life, potentially risking everything for adventure’s sake? To widow your husband and orphan your child if something goes horribly wrong? If she becomes a housewife again, how long can she keep up the charade pretending she’s a halfling? If she stays, will she forever remain uncomfortable in her own skin? How long will she even live? Nott is juggling so many plates, and dropping even one could result in the partial devastation of these narratives she’s cultivated.

And she’s scared. She’s really, really scared. Nott is petrified of what comes next -- she knows it’s inevitable that she’s going to have to face these conflicting narratives in the future. She knows she can’t ignore it forever. And that prospect terrifies her. She says this explicitly in episode 69.

“I'm just scared, that's all. I'm scared of...I'm scared of what happens next. You know? I don't know what's going to happen after this. I found my husband. I found my son. And I want to go back with them so much. ... But I'm worried that if I go back, that'll be it.”

This overwhelming, paralyzing sense of fear has driven Nott to drink. Even more so than usual. Over the course of the show, Nott has made no secret of her drinking habits. She’s a drunkard -- she knows it, the M9 knows it. You, me, and the NSA agent watching you behind the screen know it. But it’s no accident the M9 has begun commenting more and more on her habitual intoxication. She simply is more intoxicated than usual. She’s depending more and more on her alcoholism to get through each day.  

Nott is of course afraid of enemies, of secret dangers lurking behind every corner. She’s a perpetually anxious person, constantly filled with frenetic energy. But these anxieties have worsened ten-fold with the inclusion of her intersecting narratives and responsibilities. And honestly? With all that going on in her brain, Nott just flat out doesn’t want to think about it. She wants to live in the moment -- not in the past, not in the future, but the present.

“I'm thinking about things. And I don't want to think about things. I don't want to think about anything. I just want to be on an adventure with you guys and that's all I want and I don't want to think about anything else past that.” 

And so, she turns to drinking. As she tells Caleb, drinking is her own form of self-care. While she may protect others, she herself needs protection too -- from her own thoughts, fears, and inner demons. From the physical dangers that manifest in front of her very person. 

“I know you all have my back, I know you all care for me, but no one has my front. So this flask that I drink from, it’s not for fun, I’m not taking nips because I’m looking for fun. If I wanted fun I’d be in Nicodranus with my family. This flask is my shield. It allows me to do these things, to go forward and to protect all of you.”

Nott needs to shield herself from fears that she may not come back to her family. She needs to shield herself from fears that she won’t find a remedy to her situation, that she won’t ever be Veth again. She needs to shield herself from fears that these conflicting narratives will never reconcile, thereby isolating her from either family she’s come to love as her own. 

All in all, Nott is currently torn between two lives -- one whose existence is linked to traditional motherhood, and another whose fate is yet undecided. And yet, by continuing with the M9, Nott has found herself on the path towards potential self-realization. This route she treads has the potential to shed the narrative the goblins thrust upon her and totally make one anew, one that is her own. In that sense, it’s representative of what this narrative means as a whole: Nott is more than just a mother. She’s a mother with autonomy. A mother with hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Unlike Berit Astrӧm’s (2015) analysis of symbolic annihilation, she is more than just a paper cutout of idealized motherhood left to be abandoned.

Indeed, Nott can be a mother without being the mother archetype.

Nott will certainly struggle to reconcile these narratives. She loves being a mother, but she clearly wants to love herself too. She wants to be more than just a mother, and thus she quests to recapture her personal narrative -- one where she can be both a mother and retain her personal autonomy. 

I love the nuance and complexity Sam has demonstrated with this character, and I’m sure we’re only going to see more in the future.

[tybalt-tisk]

.consider it handled

// Shallura {protect au} Summary: Allura just wanted to have a peaceful workout. Warnings: Flirting, Fake Dating.  Also on Ao3 // Also, I did add a Read More option, but sometimes Tumblr hates ya girl.

.~.xXx.~.

Sometimes Allura was too nice. She knew that. It was one of the few things everyone knew about the princess. She always had the tendency to disguise how she truly felt behind a dazzling smile and uphold the regal composure that took years of etiquette classes to master. Sure, on more than one occasion, it had landed her in her fair share of easily avoidable situations when she gave people the benefit of the doubt when she knew she shouldn’t have, but it was never anything she couldn’t handle.

Until now.

Now, at this exact moment in time, while she was trying to complete her workout, she was doing everything in her power to remember her training by refraining herself from driving her fist directly into the mouth of the arrogant man who was desperately trying to get her number. He had been at it for far longer than she would have liked and even though she kindly rejected him, more than she could possibly remember, the man just couldn’t seem to take the hint. Her smile wavered with every obnoxious word that left the man’s lips and her fingers itched to find a new home in his mouth.

With perfect form, she did another forward lunge and masked her irritation with a deep breath that could be easily mistaken for exhaustion. Well, it wasn’t far off because she was exhausted. Just mentally. With him.

The only reason why she chose this gym was so she could have a peaceful workout. It was just far away from home so she could remain unrecognized most of the time, but just close enough so she could return within the hour in case something came up. For the past month, she enjoyed this gym; it was spacious, clean, and it had various activities, like yoga and spin classes she could attend if she ever felt the need to. All in all, it was a very nice gym...except for him.

The man laughed at his own joke and it almost made her sneer. “I was just thinking that. Ya know since we both like purple…” Allura feared that if she rolled her eyes one more time, they’d get stuck like that. This man was saying anything and everything to woo her even if it meant resorting to him assuming that her favorite color was purple simply because it was the color of her oversized tank top. “...that me and you could…”

“You and I,” she corrected under her breath with another lunge forward.

The man made a questioning sound. “You say something, darlin’?”

She shook her head innocently with a forced smile. “No, I didn’t say a thing.” She’d lost count of how many lunges she put her left leg through, but the burning sensation told her that it was time to switch to the right.

He leaned heavily on the machine next to him and folded his arms over his puffed out chest. “Anyway, yeah, what do you say to me picking you later tonight for a little...one-on-one time?” He finished the vain proposal with a wiggle of his eyebrows and Allura couldn’t help the subtle snort that left her lips at the ridiculous attempt to look...literally anything but sexy. This man was persistent, arrogant, and vain. What an unfortunate combination of shitty characteristics.

She quickly finished her set before she turned to him and wiped the sweat off her brow. “Look, I’m very flattered by your...persistence, Jerry.”

“The name’s Gavin.” She knew his name, but she was irritated.

She expertly hid a smirk under an artificial look of confusion. “Mason?” she responded absentmindedly with a fictitious frown as she picked up the various weights and placed them back in their appropriate locations.

“Gavin,” he said a bit louder, just in case she didn’t hear him over the sound of grunts and the machinery around them.

After she placed the weights back, she freed her hair from its loose ponytail so she could redo it tighter. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and raked her fingers through the strands to work out the newly formed tangles and knots. “Michael, please don’t make this hard for me…”

He suddenly clapped his hands together once as if he just witnessed an impressive trick. “How did you know my middle name?” he asked enthusiastically and Allura suppressed a groan at her accidental discovery. Out of all of the names she threw out, she just had to pick the one he identified with. “Wow, we have such a deep connection! Amazing!”

“Yeah...amazing,” she said sarcastically, fixing her hair. This was getting old and her patience was wearing dangerously thin. She decided then and there that she had finally had enough. “Gavin, listen to me and please listen to me carefully. I do not want to go out to dinner with you. I do not want to catch a movie with you. I do not want to take a long walk on the beach with you and talk about ‘our future together’,” she finished her sentence off with air quotes. She looked him square in the eye and spoke with the same authoritative voice that she used when she commanded the attention of the room. “I want nothing to do with you. Now, please leave me alone so I can continue my workout in peace. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”

Gavin seemed taken aback at her tone as the words started to sink in and for a moment, for a sweet, blissful moment; one filled with silence and the peace she longed for, Allura thought she finally had reached through to him.

He nodded slowly. “I think I get it,” he said with a roguish grin. “You just want to skip all the formalities and go right to the bedroom, don’t ya?”

Something snapped within her, and all of the training her etiquette tutors spent years embedding into her flew directly out the window. Allura didn’t think twice as she brought her balled fist back so she could deck the arrogant man who dared considered he even had a sliver of a chance with her, but before she surged it forward, a firm but familiar grip caught her wrist and eased it down to her side smoothly in one fluid motion.

“Hey babe, we still on for dinner tonight at your Dad’s place?” Allura didn’t need to look back to know exactly who just saved this idiot’s two front teeth. The arrogant man’s vision was so clouded with his own self-inflated ego, that he didn’t even know his, so-called, good looks were in danger of the princess’ wrath.          

It took a moment, but when she realized exactly what he had said, her eyes darted to meet his and she knew exactly what he was doing. Her bodyguard was only confrontational when he needed to be and right now, he was looking for a way to let the guy down easy, even if Allura wanted to do anything but that at this point. Shiro raised his brows as if he had asked her an unspoken question when she didn’t immediately respond. She narrowed her eyes but reluctantly followed his lead with a huff and relaxed her fist.

Within a fraction of a second, all of her training rushed back to her and she sent him the perfect smile. “Of course, but remember we need to stop by that cute little bakery I like so we can pick up dessert because I won’t have the time to make anything.”

Shiro released her wrist when he realized that she wasn’t going to follow through with her assault on the poor, unsuspecting man. “Okay, that’s fine. I’ll pick up a pie on the way home,” he lied smoothly. “Your dad’s allergic to apples, right? Or is it cherries?”

“Rhubarb,” she corrected him casually, even though the allergy was completely fabricated information about the reigning king.

Shiro made a sour face. “Great, rhubarb is trash anyway.”

“It’s absolutely delicious, you just have trash taste buds.” She turned her back to him then handed him her hair tie over her shoulder.

Shiro rolled his eyes. Of course, she would take this fake dinner date opportunity to make him fix her hair. But he’s not complaining. He’ll never complain. He absolutely loves the way her soft hair felt against his fingers. Although sometimes, the strand did tend to snag on his metal joints, thankfully he’s gotten better at keeping it to a minimum.

He rolled the elastic hair tie that’s seen better days onto his wrist before he gathered her thick curls in his hands. He finger-combed her scalp to wrangle in runaway strands before he secured her hair into a neat ponytail that left them both slightly surprised.

“Hell yeah,” he mumbled to himself, praising his small victory.

She looked over herself in the mirror that covered the entire back wall of the gym and tightened her new ponytail from the base. “Not bad, Shirogane.” She turned back to face him and was surprised and equally annoyed to see that Gavin was still there, looking back and forth between the two. Even when she was clearly “taken”, the obnoxious man still couldn’t even grasp the mere concept that she wasn’t interested in him.  

Her irritation must have shown because Shiro reached forward to grab her by the hips and gently, he pulled her closer to him. She came to him without the slightest ounce of hesitation and without being prompted to, she casually brought her arms up to rest atop his shoulders. With her in his arms and with him in hers, he almost forgot it was a charade they were acting out. He knew it was dangerous to be with her like this - for this to feel all too natural to him. It was such an intimate position but strangely enough, it felt like he’d done it a million times before.

Maybe because he did.

He’s held her like this plenty of times. Like when they were at formal events and she gave him a look that told him that she wanted to dance. He’s never told her no and using the simple steps she’d taught him, she allowed always him to lead her gracefully around the dance floor. Or when she brought out the teenage rebel in him when she wanted to sneak out of her luxurious home, “the old fashioned way” as she so elegantly put it, and he’d had to help her down from the second story when he knew damn well she was capable of doing it herself.

...Or when it just the two of them on those quiet nights when the manor was asleep and the only thing left for them to do was to explore the boundaries of the friendship they are both painfully aware that went well beyond what separate friendship from duty from something else he was always scared to admit out loud.

“What time do you want to leave?” he asked, breaking himself away from his runaway thoughts.

She made a thoughtful face. “I want to get there around 7:30,” she told him.

He looked at his watch to check the time, not that it even mattered. “Okay, I’ll do one more round, then I’ll head out and grab the pie on the way home. Don’t stay here too long because you know how long it takes you to get ready.” Unlike the rest of their ruse, that part was him speaking nothing but the truth. Sometimes, she could be a brat and she’d take forever to get dressed. Most of the time, it was because she was too busy pestering him, and other times, she simply didn’t want to go, so she waited until the very last possible moment before she started to even consider getting herself together.

She pouted and clicked her tongue. “I do not.”

“Oh, you might think that you don’t, but you do.” She playfully jabbed him on the shoulder in retaliation, knowing damn well that he was right.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gavin watching them intensely as if he was waiting for Shiro to leave so he could make his move on her again. He felt Allura’s irritation rub off onto him. What was with this guy? What did it take to get him to beat it?

In front of him, Allura giggled and she gave him a look that he’s seen plenty of times - when they glided around the dancefloor, when he helped her sneak out, and when it was just the two of them late at night hidden away from the harsh reality of the world and their position in it. He knew this look all too well and it always signaled for the one thing he’s never given to her.

But he’d be damned if he gave in to her now because some jackass that couldn’t read a room.

Instead, he hooked a single finger under her tank and pulled her close until her lips almost met his. She watched his mouth move as he spoke just loud enough so Gavin could hear what he was going to say next.  “Also, I want my tank back.” He almost laughed out loud when he heard Gavin release an annoyed gasp, followed by a few brash words.

She smirked at the man’s reaction and caught her bottom lip between her teeth, both out of spite for the arrogant man and also to tease Shiro with one of the many things she did that she knew drove him wild. If they were playing a game, then she might as well play to her advantage. She knew she hit her intended target when the hand that still rested on her hip tightened in warning.

She laughed to herself before she released her lip so she could speak. “I don’t think I can do that because it looks better on me.” Once again, the lines were blurred between the show they put on and the playful nature that was their undefined relationship.

He shrugged. “You look a’ight.”

She looked amazing.

Seeing her wear his clothes always stirred something within him. She had enough money in the world to wear the latest fashions, but instead, she chose to raid his closet for her casual attire. He still hasn’t seen his favorite hoodie. Well, no that was a lie because he’s seen it. On her.

When he was sure that Gavin had finally retreated somewhere deep into the gym, probably to cancel his membership, he stepped away from Allura. “You alright?”

She nodded. “Of course, and it's all thanks to my knight in sweaty joggers,” she laughed.

“I would have come sooner, but you keep insisting that you can handle these types of things.” His sentence was laced with sarcasm. Of course, if Gavin had displayed any type of aggressive behavior, he would have stepped in before the man even told her his name. But a subtle hand signal from Allura kept him at bay.

“And I was about to handle it until you showed up and pretended that you were my boyfriend,” she responded full of confidence with her head held high.

He raised a thick brow. “You call laying that guy out, ‘handling it’?”

She used him for balance while she stretched her legs for her upcoming jog on the treadmill. “As a matter of fact, I do. I can bet you my horse in The Netherlands that if I would have handled it the way I intended to, he wouldn't have ever bothered me again.”

Shiro snorted. She was completely right, she would have made her message clear as day if she had done it her way. She may be petite compared to his large frame, but the tiny princess had a mean left hook that was nothing to take lightly. He knew for a fact that he saved Gavin and not the fight club princess who was ready to throw hands. But also, “Who the hell bets a whole horse?”

She walked away with a flip of her new ponytail. “People who have horses to bet, of course.” She made it sound like he should already know this. “I guess it's time for cardio.” She looked almost defeated by admitting it.

Shiro laughed at her tone. “You make it sound like that’s a bad thing.”

“Because it is,” she whined. Allura only liked to work out to keep her body healthy. Sure, there were certain activities she liked to do, but there’s one thing she hated more than anything and that was running. She definitely had the stamina to jog five miles easily, but her laziness tended to peek through and stunted that trek down to only two or three. Shiro lost count of how many times she dragged him out of bed for a morning run, only for her to give up at their further point and call for a taxi.

“You’re a drama queen, you know that?” He leaned her over to the treadmill and leaned over the frame as she programmed it for a steady walk.

“I am not a drama queen.” She increased the speed to a light pace she could be comfortable with before she placed her headphones into her ears. “I’m a drama princess.” She gave him a purposely cheesy wink before she fully started her cardio session and Shiro shook his head before he ventured off to finish his own workout.

.~.xXx.~.

Allura wiped the sweat off her brow once she finished her run. It wasn’t as bad as she made it out to be. She actually made herself proud at the fact that she ran for a lot longer than she usually did, but she felt like she needed to make up the extra cardio from all the time Gavin wasted trying to woo her.

Allura took a long drink of water before she came to the decision that she was done putting her body through hell for the day. She wrapped her headphones around her cell before she left to search for Shiro in the massive gym.  

She immediately knew where he was. Unlike her, who just did what she pleased at the gym, Shiro had a strict schedule that he religiously stuck to. Today was arm day for him and along with a few reps using the equipment, he also liked to work on his agility in the boxing ring.

She heard him before she saw him. The hard jabs that met his opponents punch mitts echoed throughout the room and it gathered a crowd who looked on in awe. She found a gap in the crowd and approached the edge of the ring so she could watch him as he went through the speed drills. His feet were silent and his hands were quick and powerful as they met their target with deadly precision. He showed perfect form when he followed two quick jabs to the right with a hard left hook and a tuck to the right. The action happened so fast, she almost missed it.

His steel grey eyes were focused on their target and they held a different light than what she was used to seeing. It was like he wasn’t her Shiro. The Shiro she knew was always so kind and gentle with her that she always forgot that he could be extremely dangerous when he needed to be. He had been top of his class after all.

Beside her, a few women swooned at the sight and she rolled her eyes. Gavin and these ladies would get along just great, she thought.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shiro saw a flash of white. He knew he had gathered a crowd but none of them phased him like she did. Right now was the absolute worst time to be distracted, not during a speed drill. He twisted his body to evade an incoming punch before he gave a precise combination of jabs and hooks.

When the whistle blew, both praised the other for their participation. Shiro unfastened his gloves before he made his way to Allura who was stood at the side of the ring. His face heated at the realization of how many people had gathered around to watch him.

She handed him her water bottle so he could take a well-needed drink. “You’re so cute when you blush,” she teased loud enough so the gossiping ladies could hear her. They immediately went silent when they watched Shiro take her offered water.

“I thought I was cute all the time?” he caught her tease and threw it right back at her.

She folded her arms over her chest and raised a brow. “And what hussy told you that?”

He finished off the rest of the water before he handed it back to her. “You did, ya hussy.” He laughed at his own joke and she couldn’t help but join in. He squatted down to her level. It was rare that she watched him do his drills. She always tended to keep her space from him until it was time to leave or if something was bothering her. His face suddenly turned serious and she saw the same dark look flash in his eyes when he was focused in the ring. “Is that man bothering you again?”

She quickly shook her head. She was glad that Gavin gave up on her because there was no saving him if Shiro took him as a serious threat. “Nope,” she said lightly. “However, something is on my mind.”

“What is it?” he said quickly. When she disclosed something to him, he always took it seriously, regardless of the severity.

“What time should I be ready?”

Huh?

She didn’t have anything scheduled tonight. Along with being her bodyguard, he was also sometimes her personal assistant. He knew of every event, every public appearance, and every trip she had coming up within the next two months memorized down to the hotels they were staying into the roads they would be using. When he couldn’t think of what she was referring to, he furrowed his brows in confusion.

She rocked on the balls of her feet causally and her crystal blue eyes danced with mischief. “You promised me a date tonight, Shirogane,” she said playfully. “Or did you forget already?”

Shiro searched her eyes, looking for any sort of indication if she was joking or not. There were ladies around ogling his form, so maybe she was just returning to their little charade they played earlier.

But then…

She always told him that she’d get him to take her out one day, and he did. He did every single time she asked, but it was always in good fun...that always ended with a missed opportunity.  But now, he could tell that she meant it.

He smiled at her warmly before he brought her knuckles to his lips. “How does 8:30 sound, Princess?”

“It’s perfect.”

.~.xXx.~.

Also, I’m really considering making this an actual story. One with a storyline and character development, but I’m unsure. Let me know! 

[littlemisssquiggles]

miki-13 reblogged your photo and added:

Okay wow, they all look friggin’ amazing! Agh, I’ve already got so much I wanna draw and now you’ve added yet another picture I want to put on paper! @lythecreatorart’s looks so pretty in pink and it goes well with the black and white and brownish-orange, @che1sea-xiao-long’ looks so demure and lovely with the light green and orange and of course, @littlemisssquiggles‘ looks absolutely stunning in red.

I find it interesting you gave Ruby white as her main color scheme with some red on the side, as opposed to Rose who is in all red. It reminds me a bit of Utena, who used the white rose and was represented by white, as a color of purity. Which fits in with her being a simple soul and Blake’s description of her character (”Purity”)

It’s also interesting that you gave Ianthe a darker color scheme with this one. I’ve never pictured her in black or darker colors, but now I see she pulls it off quite well. (Oh my gosh, you made her so tiny and smol XD)

By the way, how did you figure out the dresses for everyone here? I’m curious of your thought process for them.

Squiggles Answers:

 @miki-13 Thank you so much Miki-chan!

My thought process into the dress designs? Oh gee, not sure I have much to say on that but I shall do my best *salutes*

Well if I must admit off the bat, I went into this squiggle sketch work already knowing the type of dresses I wanted the first three Roses: Rosaline ‘Rose’ Fox, Ruby Rose and Rosalind ‘Lindy’ Fox to wear. With Ianthe Regem and Rosaline ‘Hoody’ Hood, I sought out the almighty power of Pinterest to aid with inspiration for their gown designs.

 Let’s start with Ruby Rose: our leading Rose. Actually I’ll have to correct you, Ruby isn’t wearing white. Her dress is actually silver with just a pop of red. As I was telling Ly, I knew I wanted Ruby to wear silver instead of her more traditionally red outfits. Silver is another signature colour associated with Ruby that we don’t often get to see her rock so I figured why not give her a nice silvery lace dress made with a glittery material that made Ruby appear as if she’s dressed in starlight. I know you can’t really see here since these were more meant to be sketch concepts but you get the idea. Plus my main reason for having Ruby wear silver is based on a Rosegardening headcanon of mine where Oscar thinks Ruby looks more beautiful in silver since it matches her eyes. Again, red may be Ruby’s main colour however should she ever step out in a silver dress, I think she’ll turn heads. Especially Oscar’s. Buuuuut that’s just my idea XD

Next is my girl Rosaline Fox: As I mentioned in ‘Defining Rose Fox’, Rose is known for her beauty. Rose is a gorgeous and vivacious vixen who is fully confident in her looks. So I knew for a definite fact that I wanted her to rock a dress that shows off her splendour in a striking colour that would make her the apple of every man’s eyes. 

For Rose’s gown, I actually drew inspiration for the style from Jessica Rabbit from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’. When I think memorable lovely characters, Jessica Rabbit was the first one that popped to my mind. 

So Rose’s gown is influenced by Jessica’s from the slit that’s supposed to be up the side (pardon my sketch for not illustrating that better) to the open back to the gloves even down to her dress having a kind of shine to it. As a matter of fact, this is a cohesive characteristic that I decided to share with all the other Roses. So technically each Rose has one part of their dress that is glittery. Each Rose also wears a rose detail to their outfits, be it an accessory or detail of their dress. Like in the case of Rose where the single strap of her dress in an array of roses along with the belt around her waist. Not to mention the frills of Rose’s dress as supposed to represent rose petals.

Rosalind Fox: For Lindy, I’m not sure what type of personality @che1sea-xiao-long has in mind for her Rose but for me, I pictured her being the very sweet and gentle-hearted type. So I gave a dress to reflect that appeal. With Lindy, her green hood was one of the most signature parts of her design so I gave her this sort of green shawl to mimic that detail from her huntress attire. Everything else about her dress just fell fittingly into place. I knew I wanted the end of her dress and shawl to be decorated with orange roses since I dubbed her the orange rose (will explain that later). If I’m being honest, I just rolled with the first ideas that popped into my head with the rest of Rosalind’s dress and the end result just turned into a cute gown that I think suits her. I think it even got the Chelsea seal of approval.

Ianthe Regem: Yes, this is where things got a bit tough for me. With Ianthe, I wanted something cute but somewhat regal for her; if that makes sense. However I wasn’t sure the style I wanted to go with for her. This is where I sought good old Pinterest and found this really nice art of an anime girl wearing a dress that I thought would look lovely on Ianthe. Artist is Tobi Kotetsu

So I based Ianthe’s outfit off of that design. I figured a style like that would look adorable on her and my assumptions seemed to be proven right with your reaction to the look. Mind you, this is only a sketch. I may change this design later to maintain my original ‘regal’ style for Ianthe’s gown. But we shall see.

Lastly we have Rosaline Hood: She was the other Rose I needed a little help designing for. Ironically the two roses I went in blind to design ended up being the ones to rock black as part of their attire. Not intentional but it works. With Hoody, I also drew inspiration from Pinterest for the style of her dress. I found this really nice design for a dress with same kind of frills that sort of drape down from the torso like rose petals. 

It reminded me of the way Ly designed Hoody’s huntsmen attire so I figured, why not add that detail to her ball gown. She certainly looks lovely with it. As for making her rock pink. Well as I told Ly, making Hoody the pink rose in the bouquet was a bold choice based on a whim. I understand that there were other rose colours that I could’ve used for her. I considered making her a peach rose. However the instance I slapped that hot pink on her dress, that was it. That won me. It looked absolutely gorgeous on her especially with the black. Not sure if Hoody is the type to wear pink but she looks lovely in it. Plus according to Ly, Hoody’s dress reminds her of her prom dress which makes my  choice even more perfect.

So yeah, that was pretty much my thought process behind all. As I was telling @lythecreatorart and let me tag @che1sea-xiao-long in here as well, these were mostly just rough sketches of dress designs for a potential project I’m considering of doing with all the Roses including Ruby when I get the time to spare.

I called it ‘Bouquet of Roses’ and the gist of it is, Oscar Pine is basically our handsome Yellow or more fittingly Gold Rose Prince with eyes as radiant as the sun and a kind and benevolent heart to match. Prince Oscar owns a bouquet comprised of an arrangement of roses of different colours. The key roses are red, lavender, orange and pink roses and it is those roses that are represented by our Garden of Roses.

Ruby Rose and Rose Fox are our two red roses locked in a rivalry for the Prince’s affection to be his one true red rose (although Ruby could arguably be more of a white rose with her silver dress which could be used to symbolize her purity of heart as you pointed out. Not to mention that it’s a way to connect her to her mother Summer who was the original white rose). Rosaline Hood is the pink rose. Rosalind Fox is the orange rose and lastly Ianthe Regem is the lavender rose.  

Seeing you and Ly create such great illustrations with the whole Garden squad has inspired me to do my own lil pet project to draw all the Roses together in my style. It’s also meant to be my shameless excuse to draw Oscar as a fairy-tale prince with Ruby featuring Team FRHR and everyone gets to wear dresses. That was the idea.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[loverofthefiction]

Infatuation

Summary: Sirius accidentally drinks Amortentia, the love potion, and falls for you.

Maruader’s Era!Sirius Black x reader

Word Count: 4337

Warnings: not much?? maybe some use of potions, being in love (but written horribly), and fluffffff

Author’s Note: wow this fic literally took me four months to write, which is insane. I worked so hard on it and I’m so happy I finished it lol. The end is a little rushed but other than that, I’m v proud of it :’)) Also, I’m working on so many other fics that may not be finished for a while so oops (including three series oof) but requests are sill open. Anyway, thank you for your time and enjoy!!

“Isn’t he just gorgeous?” Matilda sighed, her chin in her palm and sporting large heart eyes toward James, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table, a proud grin on his face. It was the day after yet another victorious Quidditch match, where he beat Slytherin for what seemed like the thousandth time (like he needed another reason to gloat).

“Uh huh, whatever you say,” you muttered, not really caring for what she had to say, your textbook was much more interesting than any comment she made over him.

“I mean, the way his eyes glimmer behind his glasses…” At this point, you had opted to completely ignore everything that came out of her mouth. You had heard every observation she had made about him for the past several years. It was best to pretend to care instead of actually listening.

It was that you were a bad friend (actually you were a saint for sticking with her for so long), you just had no interest in James. You much better preferred his best friend, Sirius, not that you had ever told Matilda that. In fact, you hadn’t told anyone about your crush; keeping things to yourself seemed like a better way to live life. You didn’t feel the need to go around telling everyone your biggest secret.

“Y/N? Are you listening?” Matilda’s voice snapped you out of your trance.

“What?”

“I said,” she sighed at the fact that she had to repeat herself, “we’re learning about Amortentias in Potions today… and I think it’s the perfect time to ask James on a date to Hogsmeade, don’t you think?”

“Why would that be the perfect time?”

“Well, since we’re learning all about love, it just fits,” she shrugged.

“I… guess,” your furrowed your brow. At that moment, the bell rang, indicating that you had to start making your way to class. “Okay, come on love bug, let’s go to class.” She stuck out her tongue at you; she’s always hated that nickname, but you still called her that since it was perfect for the way she acted when she was around James. You grabbed your textbook and bag while Matilda grabbed hers as well, and made your way to Potions.

This class had to be yours and Matilda’s favorite. She loved it because she could gawk at James whenever she wanted. But you loved it for the actual subject (though Sirius was definitely a nice addition to what made the class so fun); making potions was a talent of yours and Slughorn liked to praise your concoctions whenever you made a perfect one.

As you entered class, you couldn’t help but notice the peculiar looking pink liquid in the middle of the classroom.

“Good afternoon, class,” Slughorn said after everyone had found their seats. “Today, is a very special day, for today, we are learning all about love potions.” A couple of people in the classroom, including Matilda, grew excited; their thoughts went wild over whatever person they were currently eyeing.

“Now, this potion is definitely not one to just be given about to whoever will drink it. It is very dangerous, not to mention the instructions for it is only fit for an advanced potion maker.” Slughorn looked around the classroom until his eyes finally landed on you.

“Ah, Y/N, would you be so kind as to come up and take a whiff of it? Tell us what you smell.” Your breath got caught in your throat as you were suddenly the center of attention. Your legs walked wobbly towards the center of the classroom and Slughorn gave you a reassuring smile as you sniffed the liquid.

“I smell… cologne, cinnamon, leather, and… sea breeze.” You took a deep breath as you realized that the person you had been describing was Sirius. Glancing at him, he didn’t seem to notice that all of the qualities you had just named were all things that made him who he is.

“Perfect, thank you very much, Y/N. The history of this special brew dates back to the 1800s…” Slughorn’s voice seemed to fade whenever you looked down at your textbook as soon as you got back to your seat. You had already read all about the potion in some book, so you knew you didn’t miss much. The thing that had distracted you, however, was the folded piece of parchment that Matilda had slid to you. You gave her a raised eyebrow, and she widened her eyes in return, implying that you should just open the note.

Rolling your eyes, you opened the small piece of paper which read ‘Do you think you would be able to prepare it?’

‘Why?’ You wrote back on a different piece of parchment and slipped it to her.

‘Because I think this is the perfect way for James to finally notice me!’ And that’s how it started.

You never thought a simple question (more like a plea) from Matilda would annoy you so much. She asked day in and day out for you to make the potion for her. She knew that you were more than likely to make such a difficult potion as if it were nothing. Yet, you still denied her.

You did not want her to use magic to make James fall in love with her; it was the wrong thing to do. But at this point, she had become so insistent that you had no choice to agree…

“Fine! Fine, I’ll do it! But you owe me!”

“Thank you so much, Y/N! You’re my bestest friend!” she squealed in delight, and she hugged the breath out of you.

“Yeah, yeah,” you muttered.

And so, you got to work. You had asked Slughorn for an hour or so in his classroom to try to mix a potion that helps with concentration because you “needed it with O.W.L.s coming up soon”. He had agreed, so nice to the student that showed so much enthusiasm to the subject he taught.

You followed the instructions carefully and after just two tries, you had made the perfect Amortentia. Now all you had to do was tell Matilda to mix it into James’ drink during breakfast, and she was golden.

“Are you sure it’ll work?” she asked anxiously.

“Yes, Mat, I’ve followed the recipe to a T. Everything will be alright,” you rolled her eyes. “Now go get it over with.”

“Okay, thank you, by the way, I’m really glad we’re friends,” she gave you a sweet and genuine smile, one you never really saw often.

“Me, too. Now go! The potion won’t get delivered by itself!”

..

It was a lazy morning for Sirius today; he had rolled out of bed with shut eyes and heavy limbs. He was glad it was the weekend, and he did not intend on doing any of his Transfiguration or Dark Arts homework. No, these two days were for a much-needed break from anything hectic going on in his life at the moment.

He simply put on whatever t-shirt was the nearest to him, not caring if it smelled or not, and walked to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He groggily walked down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. It was a little early on in the morning, not a lot of students had left their dorms yet (including the rest of the Marauders), so he sighed and sat down in his usual seat.

His mind was still a bit foggy from being only just awakened, so when he saw the goblet with a piece of parchment that said James’ name on it, he didn’t question anything. One look at the drink and he became intrigued. One sip wouldn’t hurt, he thought. I’m sure James won’t mind…

He raised the cup up to his lips and tasted the pink liquid. At first, he was taken aback by how weird it tasted; it was like a mixture of lilac, lemonade, and peppermint (which were all characteristics that came to mind when he thought of you). But then as the aftertaste started to kick in, all kinds of your traits rushed to him. He loved the way you pushed back your hair while you read a book, not caring about your appearance as if you weren’t the most beautiful girl in the world, because you were; he loved the way you showed confidence every time you raised your hand to answer a question you know you’d get correct, and then glowing after getting praised for being so smart; he loved the way you seemed to live in your own world, unfazed by whatever happened around you. But overall, he loved you.

“Morning, Padfoot,” James greeted, and he, Peter and Remus sat down next to Sirius, the three of them immediately digging into the toast and eggs.

“Have you ever noticed how pretty and smart Y/N is?” Sirius asked, his words baffling James but not Remus.

“So you’ve finally admitted to yourself that you like her?” Remus said as he spread jam onto a piece of bread.

“Like her? I’m in love with her.”

“Woah, wait, where is this coming from?” James asked, his brain not exactly comprehending what was going on.

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked.

“Well, you never talk about girls like that, they’ve always just been objects for you to snog,” James furrowed his eyebrows.

“Haven’t you ever thought that I snog girls because I’m trying to take my mind off of Y/N?”

“Not really…” James carried off.

“Well, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. It’s just taken me extra long to figure it out.”

James, Peter, and Remus looked at each other, obviously knowing right away that there was something… off about the way he talked about you. Sirius for one wasn’t someone who talked about his feelings all that much. For him to be so open about his ‘love’ (as he put it), was out of character. Although it was quite obvious to them that he had a bit of a crush on you; hiding his longing stares and heart eyes wasn’t a talent of his.

“Oh, look!” he exclaimed as you walked in, your hair up in a messy bun and a pair of old pajama pants with a couple tears here and there seemed to accentuate your beauty on a new level to him. “There she is! Isn’t she gorgeous?”

“Mate… Are you feeling alright?” Remus asked cautiously, as to not accidentally hurt his feelings.

“Better than ever! Actually, I’m going to go talk to her right now!” He announced as he stood up bravely and walked over to your seat, where you had only just served yourself your first mug of coffee.

“Maybe it has something to do with this,” Remus muttered over to James and Peter, pointing at the goblet with James’ name on it. “Should we stop him?”

“No, I need some morning entertainment,” James grinned, putting his arms around the boys’ shoulders to stop them from stopping Sirius.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Sirius greeted, sliding into the seat next to you. You hadn’t expected company until much later since it was so early in the morning.

“Morning, Sirius,” you said, a little confused as to why he was talking to you. You had hoped your face wasn’t as bright red as a tomato in his sudden presence. It was really too early in the morning to be talking to someone whom you cared so much about. “What brings you to my part of the Great Hall?”

“My undying love for you,” he said quite bluntly as you almost choked on your orange juice.

“I-I’m sorry? I’m not sure I heard you correctly,” you coughed.

“You did hear correctly, I’m sorry it only took me so long to come to that conclusion. But I’m here now, your knight in shining armour,” he grinned brightly, a charming smoulder set into his face. It was the smoulder that he set aside for girls who giggled wildly whenever they talked to him (the same girls were now giving you death stares for receiving all of his attention).

“Are you feeling well, Sirius? Are you sure you didn’t take anything?” You had seen him arrive at the Gryffindor table before James, which meant that Sirius had seen the goblet before he had.

“I drank some funny juice but that doesn’t matter now. I’m in love with you and I’m ready to show it,” he gleamed.

“Shit, was it the cup that had James’ name on it?” You asked, slightly hoping he’d say no, but knowing that he probably had.

“Yeah, I figured there would be no harm in it,” he shrugged. “Wait, are you thinking about James? He’s not the one you should be thinking about,” he practically growled, his brow furrowing in jealousy.

“No, no, Sirius,” you said quickly as to not give rise to the situation. “I just meant that… that cup was actually meant for James from Matilda, not me. You know how she’s liked him for forever.” Your explanation seemed to have calmed him.

“Okay, good. James isn’t worthy of your attention anyway.”

“Alright…” you said, a little unsure. “How about… we go and talk to the rest of the Marauders for a quick second?” you suggested.

“Why?” he asked, seemingly baffled.

“Because… they’re your best friends, don’t you want your love to get closer to your best friends?”

“No, not really…” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

“Well, we’re going anyway, come on.” You stood up, taking a hold of his (surprisingly firm) bicep and dragged him over to the far end of the Gryffindor table.

“Good morning, boys,” you greeted the trio of boys. “You seem to have lost something.”

“Oh, yeah, Sirius! I was wondering where you were,” James said with sarcastic glee.

“James, did you by any chance drink from this goblet?” you asked, gesturing towards the Amortentia cup.

“No, why?” he asked with a hint of knowledge behind his round glasses.

“It was a gift from Matilda, and I’m sure you may know by now but Sirius drank from it.”

“I knew it had to do something with that!” Remus exclaimed.

“Matilda? The one from our year?” James queries.

“Yes, my best friend,” you inform.

“Why would she use the Amortentia potion? Doesn’t she know that James has been in love with Lily since first year?” Remus chuckled despite the glare from James.

“That’s not the point,” you interjected before an argument between the two of them broke out. “Sirius is in love with me, and we need to fix this.”

“Why? Do you not like me?” Sirius asked with wide hurt eyes.

“No, no, I just… don’t want you following me around everywhere, no offense,” you smiled in attempt to make him feel better.

“So you do like him?” James grinned.

“Shut up, this is serious,” you chided and quickly turned away to hide your flushed cheeks.

“Alright then, what are we going to do?” asked Peter.

“We can’t go to Slughorn, he’ll have Matilda punished for making that potion and giving it to a student,” Remus informed.

“Well, Matilda wasn’t really the one who made it,” you chuckled nervously.

“Who was it?” Peter asked with a quirk of his brow.

“It might have been me,” you muttered, hoping they wouldn’t hear you.

“You made it?” James’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“I’m impressed,” Remus crossed his arms in approval.

“Well, of course, she made it, she’s the smartest witch in our year,” Sirius interrupted.

“I’m pretty sure that’s Lily…” you scratched the back of your neck in shame.

“You’re amazing, don’t put yourself down like that,” he reassured, looking at you with heart eyes.

“We really need to find a cure for this,” James looked at the both of you in disgust.

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” you exclaimed, scooting away from Sirius when he tried to put an arm around your shoulder.

“Alright, I suggest that Y/N and I do research on how to reverse it. Peter, you’re the lookout, make sure Matilda or any professor doesn’t find out what happened to Sirius. And James, try to keep him away from Y/N,” Remus brought his gaze to everyone as he gave his instructions.

“What?!” James and Sirius exclaimed at the same time.

“Why do you have fun jobs but I get to watch Sirius?”

“I can’t live without Y/N! Please don’t take me away from her!” Sirius wrapped his arms around you and squeezing tightly.

“James, you’re Sirius’s best friend, you’re the only one who can stand him,” Remus followed up.

“He’s right, James,” you said (as best you could whilst being squeezed).

“Alright, alright,” James threw his hands up in defeat. “Sirius, let go of Y/N, she can’t breathe.”

“Oh, sorry, love,” he loosened his arms but kept them around you. “Are you alright now?”

“Could be better.”

“This is going to take a lot of work,” Remus sighed.

..

The rest of the day was spent trying to research in the library with Remus, which wasn’t really odd to the rest of the students, they knew you two were bookworms. Peter was trying his best to make up stories about the whereabouts of your group whenever any of the professors asked (the boys had quite the reputation and their absence didn’t go unnoticed). James, on the other hand, was very busy trying to keep Sirius out of the library so he wouldn’t interrupt your research.

“Remus, we’ve looked through every potions book in here,” you whined. “There’s nothing on how to reverse the Amortentia potion.”

“You aren’t suggesting what I think you are…”

“Yes! We have to tell someone about this!” you whisper-shouted (you were in a library, of course).

“No! You’ll get in trouble, you might even get expelled!” Remus countered. He didn’t want to tell you about how important you were to Sirius; it would break his heart to see you get reprimanded for helping out a friend.

“There’s no other way!” You sighed and shut the book you were reading.

“There might be one more option…” He scratched the back of his neck as if he had a secret he wasn’t too keen on telling.

“What is it?”

“We have to ask Lily for help.”

“That’s a good idea… but what’s with the hesitation?”

“James is in love with Lily. If we ask her for help, James will be distracted and won’t be able to watch Sirius. Then they will be all over you and Lily,” he explained.

“How about you watch James to keep Lily unbothered and I… I’ll watch Sirius?”

“That is a lot of responsibility, Y/N. When people are under the Amortentia spell, they are completely obsessed with a certain person. Are you sure you’ll be alright with him following you everywhere you go?”

“Sure, how hard can it be?”

..

You and Lily were the two best witches in your potions class, which is why it didn’t take you that long to convince her to help you out in your little dilemma; she loved helping people out, especially if it had something to do with potions, combined with the fact that you were obviously restless when it came to trying to find a reversal to the potion, she knew it was important to bring her assets to the team.

She disappeared into the library hours ago and ever since, Sirius had been staring at you while you read a book on the floor of the empty Gryffindor common room.

“You’re very beautiful, do you know that?” He sighed, his chin rested on the palm of his hand.

“Thank you,” you blushed, not looking at his eyes.

“And you’re really smart,” he muttered.

“Thank you,” you repeated.

“Why do you not like me back?” he asked, his voice small and timid.

You turned your head to look at him; his grey eyes resembled a puppy’s and the usually cocky grin that adorned his face was replaced with a vulnerable pout.

“W-why do you think that?” You asked with a soft-spoken tone (one you would typically use whilst speaking to a child).

“I heard you speaking to Matilda once, you said you hated my guts,” he revealed. The only time you had ever said that was when she had caught you staring at him during Transfigurations and you needed to assure her you didn’t like him, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“Sirius,” you set your book down, giving him your full attention, “that was an exaggeration. I don’t hate you, I just meant that I thought you were… childish at times. Of course, I hadn’t really talked to you at that point.”

“Does that mean you do like me back?”

“I… I just think that what you’re feeling right now isn’t real. After we find a cure, you’ll go back to normal and everything you’re feeling right now will become a weird distant memory.”

“No, Y/N, my feelings for you will never disappear.”

“That’s just the potion talking,” you looked down.

“No, it isn’t. I’ve been feeling this way for a while, it only took the potion for me to actually act upon it.”

“I’m sorry, Sirius, but I can’t trust these words while you’re under a spell,” you shook your head, not wanting to believe his confession.

“How can I prove it to you?”

“You can’t, not until we find a cure.”

“Can I at least take you on a date? After all of this?”

“I don’t know…” You wanted to, you really did, but you couldn’t get your hopes up, especially if he’d be back to normal in no time.

“I-I’ll buy you a butterbeer, anything,” he pleaded. “Just one date, Y/N.” He placed a finger under your chin to look into your eyes.

“Okay,” you sighed, still looking at him. “One date.”

“Yes!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms around you and hugging you tightly.

“But this doesn’t mean we’re like… together together…”

“I’ll take what I can get,” he gives you his signature smolder and you swear for a second that he actually feels something towards you. But at the moment, Remus and Lily come bursting in, Lily holding a vile of some clear liquid.

“I finally figured it out,” Lily panted, holding out the vile.

“Lily asked me to help her make the antidote and it took a bit of convincing Slughorn to let us use his classroom, but we did it,” Remus spoke up. “Now, Padfoot, all you have to do is take small sips of this. It’ll cause some fatigue and you will probably be asleep for the rest of the weekend.”

Sirius simply nodded along at all the new information being told to him, but his eyes landed on you once Remus was done speaking. You swallowed hard under his gaze and shifted. He had only reciprocated your feelings (a little extremely but reciprocated nonetheless) because of a love potion and now that he was to be changed back, would he actually feel what he had felt under the spell?

“Y/N, are you alright?” Lily asked, snapping you out of your trance and placing a caring hand on your arm.

“Yeah, I might just need to give Sirius his rest…” you nodded, and continued, “it’ll be a long recovery, Padfoot.”

You and Lily walked out of the common room to give Remus and Sirius their space. But you managed to look back at Sirius and give a small wave.

..

“Y/N! Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all weekend!” Matilda huffed as she sat down next to you on Monday morning breakfast.

“I’ve been… studying. The O.W.L.s are almost here and I need to cram as much information in my head as possible,” you grumbled into your bowl of oatmeal.

“Well, either way, I think I just thought of the perfect way to get James to-”

“Mat! James is in love with Lily! Love potions don’t work and even if they did, you’d be living a lie if you actually thought that deep down inside, hexing someone into loving you was the right thing to do.” You sighed and pushed away your bowl, the loss of appetite hitting you suddenly.

“Wow… I didn’t know you felt that way…” She muttered, but mostly stayed silent. “But I see what you mean. I guess it’s kind of mad of me to go after him after all these years...” She gave you a genuine smile, though it felt like she wasn’t hurt, you knew your words would have an impact on her from now on.

“Mat-”

“I’ll leave you two alone,” she suddenly interrupted you and stood up from her seat, taking a piece of toast with her.

You were confused at first but understood what she meant when you heard someone clear his throat behind you. It was Sirius, standing sheepishly with his hands in his pockets and a book bag over his shoulder.

“Hi,” he muttered, giving you a sweet smile.

“Hello,” you bit your lip.

“Can I sit down?” He motioned towards the seat that Matilda had just left behind and he set himself down after you nodded nervously. “I just wanted to tell you… I’m sorry for what happened with the whole… you know…”

“No, you don’t have to apologize, it was my fault anyway…” You chuckled, although there not being anything truly funny.

“I just wanted to make sure you know, I don’t regret anything I said while I was under the spell. I meant every last word of it,” he visibly gulped.

“Everything? Even the part where you felt… you know…”

“Yes,” he laughed. “Even that part.”

“Oh, thank Merlin,” you smiled, letting go a sigh of relief.

“What?”

“I was so worried that you would change your mind, at least now I know my feelings aren’t one sided,” you grinned at him.

“So, does this mean we’re still going on a date?”

“I’m all yours, Black.”

[leadaboss]

That’s The Devil’s Music { Closed RP }

The sounds of a sweet, somber symphony carried throughout the area much like a forlorn echo. An echo that sounded pitiful in it's own right. The instrument-- a piano-- carried on swiftly, the white and black keys struck simultaneously with one another in a continuous manner. The vibration of the grand piano-- which was painted in all black--, rumbled against the hardwood floor with each stroke. Not a single beat was missed in any form or fashion. In fact, the harmony was absolutely perfect for it to be created by one single individual alone.

But, .. there was something about the melody. Something that made the musical art seem.. robotic? There were no missed notes; None at all. No personal flair added into the tune. Of course, if such a piece was played in a concert, the music would be more than satisfactory. It.. It just appeared as if the instrumentalist just.. didn't care.

Suddenly, those pale fingers came to a halting end. The classical instrumental was no longer thick in the air, and there was nothing but pure silence hanging around. The keys of the piano gradually recoiled to their normal state, and the musician's hands simply settled down to his sides.

...Soft clapping soon replaced the silence that lingered in the air-- The clapping of one, sole individual. It was hard to tell if the clapping was mocking.. or if it was actually genuine.

Eventually, the taunting applause settled down until the silence was no longer burdened by the vibrations in the air. The pianist, however, didn't bow. He didn't even acknowledge that his performance was appreciated.

"... Well done, Koen." Death remarked, having been that specific and only person that had applauded Koen's talent. The being was stationed in his cushioned chair in a parlor-like place. It was much more of a theatrical lounge area than anything else. His posture was relaxed, unburdened by any concerns or thoughts. Death actually liked classical music, to by quite honest. Classical music hardly had any verbal words during an orchestra set. It was music that could mean anything that you wanted it to mean.

"..Well?.. And do you have any.. feedback towards Beethoven's masterpiece?" Death inquired of his reaper creation, curious as to what Koen would say to him.

The reaper didn't cut a single glance over to his practical father. Instead, his half-lidded eyes focused on the shiny keys that were laying still before him. However, with a slow roll of his raven eyes, Koen merely shook his head lightly towards Methuselah's question.

"Boring." The reaper voiced, in a blunt tone-- his pitch lacking from care. "... Same as the others. They are all boring. I don't care for any of them.. I am annoyed like hell that you keep asking me to play this bullshit."

"Now, Koen.. I know that.. you are a whole, new you. You aren't in tune with your new characteristics, but.. it'd do you some good to watch your tone. I'm the one getting annoyed of telling you that." Death responded back to Koen, his facial expression not faltering away from it's nonchalant appearance.

"..Anyway, how about this? How about... you play me something that... isn't 'boring'. Every musical piece that I have asked you to perform has all been 'boring' to you. So, .. show me what you wouldn't 'categorize' as boring." The older-appearing man suggested, giving Koen the option to play any song that he wanted.

For the next few moments, Koen's movements were absent. It was almost like he was completely disregarding his father's request. Because, why did any of this matter, anyway? Koen just wanted Death to stop "testing" him in the aspects of "troubling emotions" and "hindering feelings".

Still, with yet another shake of the reaper's head, Koen rose his hands once more to hover of those ivory and ebony keys.

With no warning from his end, Koen's fingers begun dancing along the piano keys at quite a fast pace. He'd begun playing a much more different rhythm than the "Moonlight Sonata" tune. This piece was much more... secular-- Much more bluesy, and with so many bopping beats. Soon enough, Koen's hands were all over the piano, his chords changing every so often throughout the song.

His foot was quickly pressing against the pedals that were located underneath the piano key spread, causing the notes to twang on in a nice flow.

Methuselah only observed in silence, his eyes narrowed down at the display that his son was showing him? Blues and rhythm? Really?.. Death would have never thought that Koen would prefer such profane music.

Hidden away from Death, there was the smallest smirk that appeared upon Koen's face as his piano-playing intensified. He didn't know why this was stimulating him.. It was fast, disorderly, and all those notes were ultimately wreaking havoc on the piano. It.. was just perfect.

However, Koen allowed his fingers to abruptly stop beating against the keys. Honestly, his fingers and hands were twitching.. just a little.

Death's eyebrows quivered upwards just a smidge when Koen's jiving number came to an end. Well, that was definitely something different.

"That's the Devil's music, son." Death finally spoke out, giving his initial thoughts on the music. He wasn't being completely serious in his wording, but.. it did show him something new about the reaper.

"You personally chose that song to play, so I assume that it isn't.. boring. If it's not boring, ..then what is it?" Death inquired of Koen with a curious tone, his eyes not breaking away from looking at the reaper.

"... I don't know." Koen said aloud as he was gradually trying to take a hold of his bearings. His hands weren't vibrating any longer. In fact, they made their way back down to his sides. "... It's.. deadly. Lethal."

Lethal? What on Earth did Koen even mean by that? That didn't exactly make any sense to Death.

"And.. that.. exactly.. means?.." Methuselah slowly enunciated, trying to get more information out of Koen. That didn't give the older man much to go off of. Hell, HE was Death. "Deadly" and "lethal" didn't exactly mean anything to him.

"It means.. that I'm not so certain." Koen declared, his head finally turning to take a view of his creator-- who was lazily rested in the comfortable furniture. Koen's eyes were bland, not interested or energetic in any way. "..Perhaps, I just mean that it's... that it's fucking boring me to death."

".. Still with that tone?... I guess it's better than the former-- You.. constantly pissing me off over some loose girl. So, your vulgarity is an improvement to me in comparison." Death added, slowly shrugging his shoulders upwards to display his apathy. Koen didn't crave that Yukimori girl to Death's knowledge, so Koen's tone.. his mood.. can easily be worked with.

"..Mm." The reaper groaned more to himself than to anyone else. Although Death decided to "customize" Koen's mood and his behavior, there was still something about Yumi that tugged at him. He'd never admit it right now, but.. it was definitely there. The thought of her now wasn't because of.. longing or admiration.  It was because of something.. much darker now. Maybe betrayal? Disappointment? Those were only a couple of possibilities. "Right."

"You have a meeting with the higher ones today? A definite conclusion for the situation that happened at the Yukimori's house months ago?" Koen asked, decided to alter the conversation so that he wasn't the primary subject.

"Correct. Life, Harmony,-- even Chaos will be there. I'm tired of board meetings, but.. none of them will be satisfied until I.. 'compromise' with the majority... Can you believe they want me to bequeath my title to someone else for a while? As if any of those sloths can handle my work..."

---------------

"Alright, soooo-- Senior year is about to start-- We're talkin' cramming, crying, and cussing-- The whole nine yards. This upcomin' fall semester is gonna make us or break us, ya know what I mean? We've only got--what? Three more weeks? Three more weeks before we gotta get back on campus and work hard." Alexander expressed to Yumi, his fiance... who has actually been his fiance for a few months, now.

It was pretty close to closing time at The Rabbit Hole, and today was one of the days that Yumi and Alexander worked a shift together. Because they were on their summer break, the two of them were able to take later work hours.

But, to be quite honest, Alexander didn't know how much longer he wanted to stay there at the cafe. He'd put in a couple of years there, and he liked it there just fine. But, it.. was just that his "other job" simply came with more money. And with his engagement to Yumi, Alexander wanted to accumulate more than enough earnings to give Yumi the wedding that she wanted. He just knew that Yumi would do all but agree with that decision, but.. that would be a different conversation for another time.

"So, I'm thinkin'--" Alexander resumed, while sitting down a glass of bubble tea specifically for Yumi down on the counter of the bar. "I'm thinkin' we have a little getaway? I've got a couple of places in mind-- And I know this is probably too damn sudden, but... look--"

At this time, Alexander removed two coins from the depth of his pocket. One coin was a quarter, and the other coin was only a penny. Dropping both of the coins from his hand and letting them clatter to the surface of the counter, Alexander narrowed his eyes and tapped his index finger against the quarter.

"Alright-- Heads says we'll goooo toooo.. Las Vegas. Tails says we'lll goooo.. tooooo New Orleans. --You gonna be the one flippin' the quarter, too. Oh! And the penny is the wild card. If you choose the penny, you don't have to flip it. The penny represents the.. special place I wanna take ya. A secret.. kinda."

@lonelysnowprincess

[kpopisthereasonihavenolife]

MX finding out their child’s sexuality/gender identity

I’m a bi-girl with a pan girlfriend.  I will absolutely do this and I will smile the entire time.  This is cute as all hell.  My LGTBQ+ heart. 

------------------------------------

Shownu: When Hyunwoo’s teenage daughter was sat with him, talking about a her previous boyfriend she had just broken up with and casually mentioned that you had a crush on a new girl in class, he looked you in the eyes and bit back a smile. 

“You have a crush on a girl?

“Yeah?” 

“Is she cute?”  Then just sat as a proud af dad who loved listen to his little girl talk about someone who she might be interested in.  It didn’t bother him in the slightest that you were going after someone of the same gender of that you were Bi. 

Wonho: When Hoseok’s son had come into his room, looking a bit nervous, Wonho had him sit with him on the bed.  They just casually talked for a bit, hoping to let his son loosen up a bit before he wanted to talk about a specific topic.  

“Hey dad?” 

“Yes?” 

“Would you be mad at me if I told you I was gay?” Hoseok only laughed and pushed at his son’s arm playfully, not finding sexuality something to get mad over.  He assured his son that is was 100% okay to be attracted to men instead of women.  

“Soo, got any lucky guy my kid is crushing for?”

“dAD!”

Minhyuk: His son, who had raised the entirety of his life, had wanted to change.  He didn’t know how to bring it up to his father, but he was tired of being a son.  He didn’t feel comfortable this way and when he finally had toe courage to talk to his dad about it, Minhyuk was 10000% supportive of this. 

He didn’t find a problem that his son wanted to be known as his daughter.  He’d take his son out for new clothes, makeup, wigs, jewelry, anything that would make him achieve what he wanted to be.  

“Dad, do you think I could undergo a surgery to change myself for good?”

“I don’t see why not?  We’ll go to the doctors and see if we can’t get everything all set.  We’ll get you to yourself, no worries.”  

After all the time and work and surgery his son had to undergo for their sex change, Minhyuk always had to correct people for calling his beautiful transgender daughter, his son.  

“See that beautiful girl over there? Yeah, that’s my daughter.” 

Kihyun: Kihyun had seen the way his daughter would change some days.  She had cut her hair, styled it close to a male style like her dad.  Some days she would put on a long wig and style it, put on a skirt and cute shirt and makeup and go out and others she’d throw on a pair of boy shorts and a tee she had while sporting some sneakers and a baseball cap.  

It was no mystery that his child was a genderfluid person, and he’d always be attentive to how they attracted when they woke up. He had no problem with it.  Boy? Girl?  Who cares, his child is still his child and he’d love them no matter what. 

“Hey, C/N is it a boy day or girl day?”  They looked at him as they stared in their mirror, putting on false lashes, wearing a pair of ripped, form fitting skinny jeans and crop top.  He only snapped and pointed at her, nodded.  “Girl day, got it.”  He’d ask that almost every morning so he could use the correct pronoun of either ‘she’ or ‘he’ that day.  

Hyungwon: His son had come out and told him when he first realized how he felt, because he wanted to know what was going on with him.  When he told Hyungwon that he felt attraction towards both females and males, but couldn’t care less what they look like but rather wanted to look and be attracted by personality, Hyungwon was very proud.  

He was proud to have his child look for the personality and characteristics of a person before their looks and not being blinded by that.  When they had that conversation and Hyungwon helped his son figure out that he was indeed Pansexual, future conversations about crushes came easily. 

“Dad, you won’t believe this but there’s this really nice kid in my debate class that is probably the sweetest person I’ve every met.”  Hyungwon would stop what he’s doing and happily turn to his son. 

“Oh really?  Do tell me more about this ‘sweet’ person. Do they have a name at least?” 

Jooheon: When his daughter had told him that she didn’t feel like she fit in at school, or really at all, he had to sit down and figure out why.  When she told him about her being an Asexual, he only nodded and listened to her talk about how it felt like she was isolated.  Jooheon would take note of everything she said and tried his best to research about it and help her anyway he could. 

Just because her preferences were different than others didn’t mean she had to be alone.  He was a constant support beam and always encouraged her that she’d be okay. 

“It’s okay to be this way, it’s not wrong.  So, don’t worry.  You’re mother and I will help you the best we can.  Does she know?”  He just wanted to keep his precious princess happy and true to who she was. 

IM: When his daughter had brought home a girl one day, and shyly introduced her as her girlfriend, Changkyun didn’t know how to stop smiling.  He was happy that his daughter was expressing herself and decided to come out to him by introducing her other special person to him.  

He happily would introduce himself and give both girls a proud hug before getting to know his daughters girlfriend.  When she had to leave and his daughter walked her out and then came back, she sat with her dad for a moment. 

“Sorry that I decided to bring her home before actually telling you I’m lesbian.”  Changkyun only waved it off. 

“honey, I don’t care, if she makes you happy, I’m happy.  Besides, she’s cute and definitely a keeper.”  He did like her, she was sweet and had a good sense of humor, not to mention a good mind for some fun pranks and stories. 

“Dad, really?” He’d always wonder when their girlfriend would come visit again and she was welcome at anytime. 

[mgrgfan]

Memory, part 5 (mini-fic).

Compulink system active.

Please, enter login and password.

Login and password correct. Access granted.

Accessing “GY-PLFU-LOG-1″ datafile…

EDIT MODE

Goncharenko Yevgeniy, personal bioresearch log.

Third stage.

09.01.425 AFE, 21:27

Liya is most certainly getting better. I like that. The work is still hard, though, but I’m getting a “window” tomorrow. What was the last time I’ve visited my dad? Good thing he works here, in the reactor complex, so, taking the monorail ride will be sufficient to meet him (and when I finally go on vacation, I’m going straight to the capital to meet mom).

EDIT: Apparently, there’ll be a new portion of nuclear fuel, loaded into reactors. I’ve managed to get security clearance for me and Liya, so, tomorrow we are going to go even deeper into facility than before! Gah, this line is SO awful...

[Attached files: personal observation and log datafile, general health monitoring datafile, optical and thermographic photos, full biological screening record datafile, Liya’s personal terminal activity log datafile]

Compulink system deactivated.

-                                                                                                                              -

*So, are we here yet?* - somewhat nervously asked Latias, looking around. Right now, they were in one of the deeper parts of the facility, where the nuclear reactors were installed. The sheer constant roar of machinery in the turbine hall was unnerving, but now, they were closing to the reactors themselves.

- Almost... - started speaking microbiologist, when the not very old, but well-built man stopped near them and gave them a wide, even somewhat scary, smile.

- Son? Hello! - happily said aged man, pulling Yevgeniy into almost bone-crushing hug. - So, how’re the things going up here, if you didn’t have enough time to write mails to your old dad Klim at least once a week?

- Very busy, - tried to defend himself microbiologist.

- Don’t say ‘dat, where you’ve learned to defend like this, I was the one teaching it! - laughed Klim. - So, where’s my granddaughter?

*I’m here,* - replied Liya, coming out of shadow, still slightly afraid.

- So, that’s it? You know, son, I think you’ve made a damn good job! - proudly said sort-of-grandfather of young Latias. - Don’t dare you think, that we, down there, don’t know a s... something! We, power engineers, know loads of things! I’ve heard she’s very smart for her not even a year! So, Liya, can you tell me, how does the nuclear power plant work?

*Nuclear power plants obtain the heat needed to produce steam to drive the turbines through a nuclear physical process. This process, called fission, entails the splitting of atoms of...*

- Enough, I see ya’ know this. I’m damn proud of my son and you! Ya know, I think you’ll, in time, make a damn good part of the staff up there, in one of the main Divisions, and you’re sure a fine addition to our family from now on!

*So... does me not being human...*

- Shut it at once and don’t say such a stupid things! Of course you’re my granddaughter! - announced Klim, earning some strange looks from his colleagues in process. - No, it does not!

- Warning, shift number 5 - come to your stations! - sounded an announcement from the loudspeaker.

- Time, - shrugged Yevgeniy’s father, then turned to his son and granddaughter. - So, do you come with me or no? I’ve heard you have all clearances, so, just try to follow my instructions and not do anything stupid, okay?

- Okay, - agreed young man and Latias at the same time, proceeding with Klim shortly after. After some walk and taking a ride on the elevator, they’ve found themselves in the long gallery with thick glass, which encirled the fuel storage hall. In one of the corners, there was an entrance to the cabin of parked electrical overhead crane, along with remote control terminal nearby.

- We’ll be loading full set today, and I’m the crane operator. Not that hard, actually. Or, - suddenly turned Klim to the Liya, - does my nice little girl want to try to use the electric overhead crane herself?

*I... not s...* - tried to reply shocked Latias.

- Don’t be afraid, it’s very simple - right stick controls the movement of the crane itself, left - elevation of the grabber and grab-release control, screen shows you the map of working zone and all the data you need. Don’t worry, the automatics will prevent you from crashing fuel rods into anything or like this!

*But...*

- Come on, it can be once-in-a-life event! Do you want to regret it later? Even your dad rode the crane once, when he was fifteen! - continued father of Yevgeniy, not mentioning, that he got a severe reprimand from both superiors and his wife afterwards.

*Okay,* - decided to agree Liya, looking at the seat inside the cabin, turned, for some reason, towards her. - *What do I do now?*

- Take a seat and flick the switches, labeled S1 and S2. This will activate the crane and shift the seat into work mode. Afterwards... well, I’ll contact you, there’s an intercom system inside.

*Understood,* - replied dragon, disguised as human, doing as an old man advised. After two flicks, seat suddenly moved towards the very front of the cabin with a characteristic growl of low-speed engine, then shifted backwards a bit and turned around, giving a nice view on the work zone, while the doors behind her closed, cutting apart the cabin and the gallery, as well as protecting the against the air in the hall.

-                                                                                                                              -

- You’re sure about this? - asked his father Yevgeniy.

- Absolutely, I’ve let you control the crane back during the work in seaport, after all, - said Klim, taking a seat before the RC terminal. - From here, I can instantly override her controls, if she does something wrong. In fact, I can easily operate the crane remotely every time, it’s just that I prefer controlling it from the cabin.

- For thrill?

- For thrill, - agreed honorable crane operator, activating the intercom to crane’s cabin, - Shift the stick ahead, don’t be afraid!

Since the cabin was cut from the rest of the world by the double-reinforced protective glass and alloys, blocking the radiation and telepathy alike, they didn’t hear her answer, but the sound of engines and movement of crane told them more than that.

-                                                                                                                              -

“Wow,” - thought Latias, carefully pushing the control stick forward and hearing roar of powerful electric motors, as the entirety of machine started to move.

- Look at the screen. On it, you can see two points, one marked yellow, and one marked blue. The blue point is where you take the fuel assemblies, the yellow one - where you load them into refueling machine. When the refueling machine is operating, it’ll be marked green, but as soon as it’s empty and waiting for another supply, it’ll turn yellow again. Don’t worry - the automatic assist system will prevent you from colliding assemblies or mis-loading them. Move the crane to the stack of fuel, don’t be afraid!

*Okay,* - replied Liya, too concentrated on operating machine to notice, that her telepathy was not able to go beyond walls of radiation-proof cabin, which also blocked psychic abilities.

- Contact zone reached, - notified her computer, when the grabber was positioned right above one of the assemblies in the storage pool. She instantly released the right stick, stopping movement of the crane.

- Good, I see you’re in the right position. Now, open the grabber by pressing the lower button on the left control stick and then gently lower the grabber. As soon as it reaches fuel assembly, it will automatically grab it and lock, then raise itself to safe position. In fact, it shall also open automatically upon reaching the assembly, but better play safe.

This time, Liya did not attempt to reply, too concentrated on carefully lowering the grabber. Keen dragon eyes helped her a little, but the inertia of this thing and water refracting the image made it somewhat harder.

- Attention: assembly retrieval in progress! - finally announced automatic system, when the grabber locked onto a stack of fuel rods and rose up, although not leaving the water.

- Very good. Now, move the crane to the designated point and, as soon as you reach the contact zone, lower it gently. After the lower part of assembly passes the hole’s border, the automatics will take control and finish the procedure.

*Okay...* - telepathically “murmured” Latias, shifting the stick again and carefully passing the stack of the fuel rods through the small channel between pools and driving the crane all the way to the end of the second pool.

- Contact zone reached, - said the assist system once again, so Liya gently lowered the payload.

- Attention: assembly load in progress! - reported the automatics, when the gripper disengaged the fuel assembly got loaded into some machine on the bottom of the pool.

- One loaded into the transfer machine, 65 more to go! - sounded Klim’s voice from the intercom. Just as the Liya got horrified at the very thought of it, microbioligist’s father continued. - No need for you to finish this, though. Drive the crane back here, flick the S2 switch back to open the doors and exit the cabin, then let me take my place. Or you can press the red button, so the crane will drive itself back here. Wait, don’t do it - it’ll count as an accident.

Latias, which was slowly giving in to the realization of the sheer bizareness of the current events, had somehow managed to drive the crane back and exit it, allowing the rightful operator to take his place and continue the operation.

- My dad can be pretty weird sometimes, - commented Yevgeniy on it, seeing, how fast and professionally his father was driving the machine, loading fuel assemblies one after another.

*Maybe,* - agreed Liya, still somewhat shocked by what has just happened. - *So, what do we do now?*

- I suggest we get back to surface, onto test range, and you practice with your moves... your true form moves, I mean.

*Sweet!*

-                                                                                                                              -

- Aaand another Mist Ball. - said human, looking, how the fifth test dummy already was blown apart by the powerful Psychic move. - Is it your favorite attack?

*Of course!* - replied Latias, shifted into her true form and trying to commence sort-of-a strafing run, which was pretty hard, considering the not-so-big size of the range, - *No one but my kind can use it!*

- Okay, whatever. Are you satisfied yet?

*I am now!* - “said” she after blowing up the last dummy with Hyper Beam and melting a decent patch of snow around it, then slowing down and moving to Yevgeniy’ side. - *So, what do we do now?*

- Go home, I guess, - answered her human, looking at the wristwatch. - It’s almost night already, and I’ve got a lot of work tomorrow.

*Then let’s go!* - cheerfully agreed Liya, finally calming down Yevgeniy, who was still afraid worried her near-depression after the New Year disaster. Several minutes later, they’ve arrived into their quarters (though Liya was forced to temporarily switch from her form to the human one in order to pass through doorframes), then, after a small supper, each went to check their respective terminal.

-                                                                                                                              -

Compulink system active.

Please, enter login and password.

Login and password correct. Access granted.

Two new infomail messages received.

Opening message number one...

09.01.425 AFE, 19:49

From:

Klim Goncharenko, Imperial Science Facility 9, Production Division, Underground Complex, Power Production Sub-Sector

To:

Yevgeniy Goncharenko, Imperial Science Facility 9, Bioscience Division, Surface Complex, Extraregional Pokemon Study Lab.

Topic:

Grampa’s musings.

Son, I’ve seen your girl, and, let me say it again, I’m damn proud of you. I’ve already phoned your mom and she’s very happy about it. Oh, and I also sent a small edutainment program to our little Liya Yevgeniyevna, which will teach her the basics of operating nuclear powerplant. Of course, I’m sure, that she’ll find something better in her life, but it’s pretty interesting to play and is good for overall development.

Love,

Your rusty old dad.

Opening the second infomail message...

09.01.425 AFE, 21:05

From:

Vladislav Pobegov, Imperial Science Facility 9, Central Office, Underground Complex.

To:

Yevgeniy Goncharenko, Imperial Science Facility 9, Bioscience Division, Surface Complex, Extraregional Pokemon Study Lab.

Topic:

Shenanigans.

Look, Zhenya, I know you’re my favorite student and microbiologist, I know your great skills and achievements... but isn’t this going a little bit far? And I don’t mean putting just Lati into operating an overhead crane, transporting the nuclear fuel - I mean putting someone with zero experience into operating such a machinery! I know, I know, Klim was ready to take it over at any second, should such a need arise, and she operated it for only a single loading, but still... I hope you’ve got my point. Please, don’t do it again. Think of our image! Though what I’m talking about, being an overseer of this chaos... Please, just don’t make the things worse for us, you and your Lati “daughter”. Thank you for understanding.

With sincere hope,

Vladislav Pobegov.

Compulink system deactivated.