#and i expected her to defend me but nope she just said ‘we all have our opinions’

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

fyi: if you’re a straight “ally” and in a relationship with someone who you know is homophobic, you’re not an ally.

[sommerbueckers]

My Brother's Best Friend Pt4

I immediately disregarded my homework at the sound of my phone ringing. I had been expecting a call from Paige ever since her game against Xavier went off, Uconn coming out with an unsurprising win.

Her smug face appeared on the screen, she had changed into her pajamas and the camera was propped up on what I assumed to be a desk or table.

"Summer Collymor."

"Paige Bueckers."

"Did you watch the game?" she asked.

"Nope," I said, "tv was unplugged as promised."

She leaned back in her chair and laughed, shaking her head. "Whatever you say."

I laughed as well, nervously toying around with the pen I had previously tossed aside with my notebook. This was the first time ever that Paige and I had facetimed, and despite our track record of never having a dry conversation, I couldn't help but worry that I'd run out of things to talk about.

"So..." she said with a smile.

"So...?" I repeated.

"How was your day?" she asked softly.

"Hmm it was okay. Practice was really great though, we got a few new girls who tried out for the second season and they're really good. I'm hoping they'll tryout again for the comp squad in the spring."

"That's good. You're pacing yourself right?"

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"With putting the routines together and studying for midterms and all, I just want to make sure you aren't stressing yourself out" she shrugged shyly.

"Aww, are you worried about me?" I smiled.

"Definitely not, who am I gonna make fun of if you're all busy and stressed?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Girl bye, look in the mirror and you'll find all the jokes you need" I laughed.

"Ohh you thought that was good huh? You weren't saying all that when I was all over you the other day" she replied cockily, crossing her arms and staring at the camera.

"So you admit that you were all over me?"

"We were all over each other."

"Mhm. If I remember correctly, it was you who made the first move," I reminded her, "so shut all that shit up."

She playfully rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone, moving to lay down on her bed. A moment of silence washed over us as I watched her watch me, both of our smiles slowly growing at the eye contact. I didn't want to be the first to back down but I could feel the tension becoming too much for me to bear. I pretended to read over a paragraph in my chem textbook, not wanting her to notice the blush that had crept onto my face. It'd go straight to her head.

"What're you wearing?" her voice was low and suggestive through the phone, but her face displayed an expression of innocence.

"A t-shirt" I said, tilting the camera up as I displayed my 2019 cheer championship shirt.

She smirked, "What else?"

"Just my underwear" I said innocently.

"Oh yeah?" she raised her eyebrows. When I nodded my head she continued, "Can I see?"

I thought about it for a moment, lifting up to make sure my door was closed before making my decision. I pulled my covers down and raised the camera, showing off the bright pink thong that I had on.

"Mm mm mm!" Paige exclaimed dramatically, shaking her head with her fist to her mouth.

"Oh God shut up!" I laughed, putting the camera back down.

"What? You look good" she complimented simply.

"Thanks, wish you were here to prove it though" I said lowly.

I didn't know where my sudden boldness came from, maybe it was because I knew Paige wasn't actually here and I had no reason to be nervous. Anything I said or did right now would surely be forgotten by the time she returned for Christmas break.

"Just touch yourself and pretend its me" she laughed, but her eyes carefully scanned my face for my reaction.

"You would say something like that" I shook my head.

"Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures" she defended with her hand up. She went quiet for a moment when I didn't say anything. "Are you doing it?" she asked with high eyebrows, surprise laced in her voice.

"No! You're so dirty," I laughed, "I was getting comfortable."

"Mhm" she nodded.

"...Did you really want me to?"

She shrugged her shoulders, not looking at the phone. She definitely wanted me to. I bit my lip as I considered it. Paige was staring at me quizzically through the phone with one of her eyebrows cocked. I was getting turned on at the thought of pleasing myself, the thought of Paige's voice in my ear as she told me what to do and how to do it.

"Okay" I said, letting out a breath.

"Huh?"

"I'll do it" I elaborated.

"You don't have to, I was just-"

"I want to" I interuppted, rubbing my legs together under the covers.

"Really?"

"Yes, what do I do?" I asked.

"Wait, have you never done it before?" she sounded surprised.

"No...is that bad?"

Paige laughed and sat up a little straighter in her bed, "No Summer it's not bad it's just...surprising?" she corrected.

"Why is it surprising?"

"I don't know, I don't know."

"Alright whatever," I smiled, "you ready to do this?"

"Are you ready?" she redirected the question.

"Yeah go, go" I encouraged.

Paige laughed lowly, shaking her head. I moved to switch off my lamp and then laid back down. Paige had gotten comfortable as well; her head rested back against her pillow and her wrist was draped over her forehead.

"Okay now...run your hands up and down your thighs" she instructed after thinking for a moment. "Just your fingertips, slow" she added quickly.

I did as I was told, softly trailing my fingertips up to the edge of my underwear and then trailing them back down to my knees. It felt like electricity coursing through my fingers and leaving burn marks on my skin where they touched. I imagined it was Paige's hands, touching me with utmost delicacy as she always did.

"You like the way that feels?" she asked.

"Yeah" I answered.

I couldn't help but feel embarrassed at what I was doing. Not only was I masturbating for the first time in my life, but I was doing it on the phone with Paige. She couldn't see me, my phone sat next to my head facing toward the ceiling, close enough to where she could hear any noise that I made.

"I want you to move your hands up and down your cunt...be gentle" she said.

I bit back a laugh at the bluntness of her words and moved my fingers over my clothed clit. I was gentle like she told me to be, hardly pressing into myself at all.

"Do it three more times, and then I want you to stop."

I could feel myself growing wetter, hotter, needier. I bit down hard on my lip, preventing shaky breaths from leaving my mouth. My clit was becoming swollen, my entire pussy throbbing with the desire to be touched by me...by Paige.

She had fucked me so good before she left and I was aching for her to do it again. I wanted to feel every inch of her, her sweaty body on mine as we went round after round.

"Take two fingers and rub in that circular motion that I know you like" she said, I could practically see the smile on her face as she spoke. "Think about me when you do it, think about my fingers touching and teasing you."

I was even more turned on at the thought of Paige hovering over me, her long blonde hair falling like a curtain over me and tickling my face.

"How wet are you Summer?" she asked lowly.

I could feel my wetness grow and begin to drip out of me, if I told her how wet I was right now she'd never let me hear the end of it. A small whimper slipped past my lips, a cry of desperation.

"So wet" I breathed out.

"Yeah...good."

"Let's get those pretty panties out the way then" she smirked.

I pushed my hand down into my underwear all too quickly, dying to feel a more intense friction.

"You're rushing, I can hear you. Slow down or I'm gonna stop" she warned, her voice serious.

I stilled my motions.

"That's a good girl" she cooed condescendingly.

I was going to come quick, I knew I was. Paige talking me through this had to be the hottest thing ever. After a good game tonight I knew she deserved to unravel me the way she was, to listen to me crumble to pieces from instructions she was giving me.

"Slowly...put your fingers in. I want it so slow it almost hurts to do, you hear me?" she said.

"Mhm..."

"Words."

"Yes, yes I hear you" I whined.

I didn't waste anymore time inserting my ring and middle fingers, a dragged out gasp filling the room. I tightly pressed my lips together, that gasp turning into a moan.

All I could think about was Paige's proud face smirking down at me as her finger repeatedly pushed in and out of me, hitting all the right spots. I imagined her lips as they connected with mine, and then they moved to my jaw, and then to my neck, and down my chest...

"Go faster for me."

I ignored the slight stinging pain I felt as I pumped my fingers faster, it was enough for me to clench my jaw, but not enough to stop.

"Fuck you sound so good" Paige grunted, running her hands through her hair. "God I miss you."

I didn't bother to stop the smile that pulled at my lips, there were so many feelings running through me that I didn't know what to do with myself.

I ran my hand up my side to my chest, using it to squeeze my tits. I could hear my fingers going in and out, my juices running down my hand.

"Do you wanna come?" she asked.

"Uh huh" I moaned out desperately.

"I want to see you" Paige said, staring at the phone.

I didn't make a move for my phone, I could feel my walls tightening around my fingers. I would come any second.

"Summer," she called out, "be a good girl and let me see you."

I snatched the phone off the bed and held it in my hand, sitting up to lean on my elbow so she could see my face.

Her eyes were dark when they met mine through the screen, she licked her lips and smiled. "Come for me pretty baby"

That'll do it.

My mouth fell open as I released all over my fingers. It was almost as if my entire existence was slipping away, like everything I had accomplished was becoming undone. My body shook for a moment, and it felt like I was lying on clouds taking shots of Pink Whitney with Jesus Christ. Nothing was real.

If that's what giving myself an orgasm felt like, I was upset that I hadn't done it sooner. I laid there for a moment, coming back to my sense as I came down from my high.

"You okay over there?" Paige asked, her voice laced with amusement.

I laughed and brought the phone closer to my face, playfully narrowing my eyes. I got up from the bed and headed into the bathroom, setting up the phone to wash my hands.

"I've actually never done that before...like, talked someone through it like that I mean" Paige confessed.

"Aw, I took your phone sex virginity" I teased, rubbing the soap into my hands.

She snorted, "You're a cornball."

"Yes, yes, so I've been told."

IM SO SORRY THIS IS SO FKN RUSHED LIKEEEEE

but at least i tried yk

i haven't been in the smut mood ??????🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨

but like I told yall I need a little more practice, I just can't tell what's too much and what isn't enough WHERES THE LINE ????

but okay like any suggestions like...what do yall want to see next🙄?

[razorblade180-heated]

Early Christmas Gift

[Warning, smut. Like the whole thing]

It had been a looooog day for Jaune Arc. The end of a crazy mission that had far too many explosions, the loss of his wallet for half the day which forced him to miss his boat, and finally, bad turbulence on a flight all the way back to Vale. Now it was the dead of night and he was wheeling his luggage down the sidewalks. At least he didn’t vomit on the ride, this time.

“Note to self, Vacou kids are amazing pickpockets.” He mumbled aloud. Thank goodness Ren was quick on his feet and that Nora could be as scary as she could be sweet. If not, things could’ve been worse. Now that he was back in the city, his Scroll was practically blowing up with messages. Notably, his girlfriend, Yang, called a little more than Ruby. Before he could finally return a call, his scroll rang with Yang’s name.

He laughed nervously and smiled, preparing himself as he answered. “H-”

“SO YOU ARE ALIVE!? WHAT THE HECK MAN!?” The blonde yelled, relieved and annoyed.

Honestly, less aggressive than he expected. “Hi baby. I’m sorry.” Jaune deflated as he spoke. “Today has been a day.”

“That’s putting it mildly. Weren’t you supposed to be home seven hours ago? Did the mission go south? You didn’t get hurt did you?”

“No, the mission was pretty Nora core. All and all we made good time but then someone stole my stuff, missed my boat; lots of other very, very exhausting stuff. I’m walking home as we speak.”

“Wow. That’s…definitely a lot. Wait, you’re walking? It’s nearly midnight. You could’ve called me or someone to pick you up from the port.”

“I figured everyone was asleep.”

“Get real. Do you really think I’d be sound asleep before I knew you were okay?”

Those words warmed his heart greatly. “Thanks Yang. I’m fine though. Vale isn’t some ghost town at night. I am sorry though. We had plans to meet today. You must’ve been waiting a while.”

“You…could say that.” Yang laughed sheepishly. “Here I was, ready to see my boyfriend after we finished our missions and his annoying personal challenge was achieved.”

“A month without sex is a test of will and power.” He defended.

“November is the time for good food and being thankful. Anything else is wild. Besides, we’ve both gone years without fun stuff. Why add a month?”

“Heh, I don’t think being a single or a virgin counts. You’re just opted in at that point. How did your mission go by the way?”

“Got home on time.”

“Ouch… where’d the warmth go?” He teases.

“I know you’re fine now. If you want warmth then…maybe I should see you?”

“You’re an island away. Even if you caught the final flight I’d feel guilty. Though if it makes you feel better…I’ve been missing you all day.”

“…Always the charmer. I’ve definitely been missing you too.” She said, a little more bashful than usual.

“There’s always tomorrow. I’m definitely not going anywhere. Aside from grocery shopping.”

“Have you eaten?”

“My apartment should still have something edible. I’ll probably grab a snack, bathe, and crash.” He finally reached his building’s street. “Anyways, I’ve officially made it home safely. Just several feet away. Now you can have pretty dreams knowing I’m safe.”

“Nope. Not until you go through your front door. I’m not hanging up until you do.”

“Okay, okay. Heh, honestly with my luck something crazy would happen if I hung up early.” He laughed.

“Please don’t jinx yourself.”

Jaune made his way down the hall, up some annoying stairs, and to the front of his door.

“Kay, now you are free to sleep.”

“Have a wonderful night, handsome.” Yang made a kiss noise over the phone and hung up.

Just like that, Jaune felt the warmth again. She was so good to him. He’d definitely have to treat her to a dinner or some kind of club date. The man found his keys and went inside his home at last. Instantly his nose was greeted with wonder and bliss. That was…odd. He put down his belongings and walked over to the kitchen; a flick of the light revealed a hot box of pizza. Jaune had to do a double take to make sure this was his place. He then noticed Yang’s emblem drawn in orange on the box.

“Ah, that’s why she asked if I ate.” He smiled before quickly going back to being confused. How was the pizza hot? Yang had a key to his place but when was she over here? Did she leave briefly before he called? Unless…

Jaune looked towards the absolute darkness that was his living room and squinted. Not that it helped with the balcony blinds shut. “Yang?”

His call was answered with snickering. “Hehehe, I do love watching your brain at work. Although…” She pulled the metal lamp string next to her to light up the room. “You’re also cute when it’s derailed.

And derailed it was. There his cute girlfriend was, sitting on his black leather recliner his family had bought him. Her smile was cheeky as well as ear to ear. She sure caught him by surprise, but the real shock was her outfit. A silly little Santa hat on top of her head jingled while the only thing on her body was a red tube top with white frills that was fighting for his life, a matching miniskirt that barely went halfway down her thighs, and very, very long red stockings that compensated for the skirt’s lack of…well, skirt.

Jaune’s mouth went dry and his eyes embarrassingly wide. It was as if Yang had knocked the exhaustion out of them. He wasn’t quite sure where he should’ve been looking at first, but then noticed despite how confidently the lady sat there with her legs crossed, her cheeks were branded pink and her gaze, while excited, was also avoiding complete eye contact.

“For the record, I’ve been in this for quite awhile.” She said, breaking the silence. “It took guts to commit to this surprise.”

“Now I’m curious what you would’ve done if I had called you to pick me up!”

“Then Remnant would’ve gotten a hot Mrs. Claus on a motorcycle.” She smirked. “Although I’m actually very relieved that was not the case. It’s cold out there!”

Not the issue Jaune thought she was going to say but he rolled with it. Not that he had much choice. Yang finally stood up and slowly walked towards him, draping her arms over his shoulders and giving a more endearing grin despite her obvious flustered face. “Welcome home. As you can see, I missed you.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I can feel the yearning. Hehe, you look…wow. Talk about an early present.” His hands automatically went to hold her waist.”

Yang got on her toes and gained a very sweet and joyful kiss. She’s glad her efforts paid off, but she could tell Jaune really had a long day. “Go grab a slice and unwind yourself. I’m not going anywhere so- mmph!?”

Her offer was outright denied, thrown to the side as Jaune pulled her body closer and back into a more passionate kiss that fluttered her heart and stole her breath. The longer kept her in his arms, the more she found herself melting into the embrace to the point her knees buckled before he allowed her to breathe again.

Frazzled, Yang found herself stammering and chewing on her bottom lip. “I um- I uhh can wait a while longer for you to rest.”

“I’ve made you wait long enough.” He said with yearning and restrained lust as he pulled her back into a kiss that took custody of her tongue.

Yang felt herself rise up onto her toes as Jaune’s hands found residence on her shapely rear. He didn’t think twice about squeezing it as he picked her up and allowed her legs to wrap around his waist. It didn’t take long before her man went a step further in sliding his hands under the provocative skirt. Jaune quickly ended their kiss to gaze at her as her face grew red from his curious expression.

“No underwear huh?” He said, sinking his digits into warm flesh. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Funny. I was wondering the same thing.” Her hands rubbed his broad chest. “Come sit on the couch for you me will ya?”

He followed her quest and sat right in the middle of the couch. Yang was about to get off him for the next step, but was clearly taken by surprise when his teeth tugged her tube top down, freeing her massive chest before ravishing them. A jolt ram through her spine as his warm tongue lapped around her nipples. His hands kept her waist pressed down on her lap to the point she had no choice but to feel his pulsing cock through tight jeans. Nevertheless, Yang couldn’t stop her hips from grinning along it, dampening the fabric severely.

“H-Hey…wait! I-mmm” Her voice shook, feeling him sink his teeth into her. Jaune leaned forward, putting Yang on her back as he continued devouring her body. “Jaune! Hold on~ I…had a whole routine~” Yangs mewls only served to make him more daring. His tongue trailed up her neck, causing her entire body to arch as he met her lips again for another kiss. Yang was overwhelmed with the scent of the boy and his rough day, which she increasingly found more and more dulling to her senses. She didn’t even notice Jaune had unzipped his pants until she felt his buring hot tip rubbing along her folds. “Mmmph”

Jaune could already feel her lips quivering as they coated his cock. To get this excited so quickly; he wasn’t one to talk though. He began pushing his hips continuously into the molten warmth.

“Aaaaah!” Yang felt the wind leave her body as Jaune’s thick cock spread her body apart and filled her inch by inch until she felt the weight of his balls against her ass. He slowly began dragging himself out halfway before plummeting back in as he grunted. “Ah fuck!” Yang gripped his forearms as her body tripped to adjust.

“Gods, I missed you. You’re so wet.”

“Who’s fault is that!?” Yang’s breathing became sharper as Jaune started moving. “Nng, too big. Rock solid too~”

“It has been a long month. I’m dying for a release.”

“How do you think I feel!? It hasn’t been easy for me either.” She pouted. Suddenly she felt his movements slow. “Jaune?” He raised himself up and looked down at her with a shocked look from between her legs. “What?”

“Are you telling me you didn’t touch yourself the entire time?”

Yang felt heat rush to her face. Looking at him became a lot harder so she turned her head to the side. “What would be the point? Even if I used a toy, I just wouldn’t feel as good as you.”

A brief silence fell on them. Yang awaited his response when she suddenly felt him twitch inside her. Jaune’s hands held her waist tightly and raised her lower body off the couch with ease, causing her to look his way. “What are you-” was all she could manage before seeing Jaune thrust his hips forward, causing another series of jolts as he began to go all out.

Yang’s mouth fell open and stayed that way as voiceless, broken cries left her throat until a scream finally broke out. “AAAAGHN~” her brain became a mess, her eyes fluttering at the sight of jaune mercilessly fucking her pussy until their sex became loud and wet. Her stomach felt like fire as her hips became numb with the pleasure of being turned inside out. Each deep rub made her gasp for air she couldn’t gain while her chest bounced to the rough rhythm. “B-baby. Baby! Aaah!” Yang reached for him and he gladly returned to her embrace. She knew despite her pleas, his pace would not falter; nor did she want it to. Their pleasure had built too quickly to turn back now. With a final raise of his hips, Yang felt the man bury himself deep inside and release a rush of heat that made her body squeeze him for more as her vision blurred momentarily. When she recovered, Jaune was already pulling out slowly and giving both of their bodies a break. Still, if you were to go by appearances, Jaune’s body hadn’t calmed down in the slightest.

“Looks like all of you missed me.” Yang huffed, sitting up as her legs gained some feeling. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were trying to have a kid.”

Jaune watched the woman run her middle finger along her slit to pick up some of the lust he left dripping in her. Yang looked him dead in the eyes as she lapped up the naughty taste, making him blush.

“I had an entire routine planned out and you threw it to the side. Not that I mind.”

“You can’t say the things you said a

and wear this without expecting me to get riled up.”

“Heh, touché.” Her gaze fell on his erection, the near seven inches of solid flesh was still ready. Might as well start her plans now, Yang thought. She leaned forward, crawling on hands and knees until she was in the perfect spot to lower her head.

Jaune shuddered as he felt her hot lips wrap around his length to lick him lavishly. Now he knew Yang was horny for sure. Giving head was never her favorite activity in this fun process, but now her face was happily burying itself in his lap repeatedly. His left hand brushed the blonde bombshell’s hair aside for an unobstructed view of her work.

Yang ran her tongue up and down the girth base, polishing it while making faint moans and wet smacks to turn him on more. She must’ve been losing her mind because the way his taste and smell overwhelmed her senses in the best way possible. Her grip on reality only came back when Jaune's hand struck her rear suddenly, his middle and ring finger slipping inside her body to stir her desires harder.

“Mmmm~”

Jaune couldn’t stop his smirk. “Oh you like that?”

“Mmhmm~” Yang readied herself and pressed down in one motion to feel this man in her throat before coming up for air. Yang could feel his digits grow relentless as they sped up. Unable to focus, she freed Jaune from her mouth in a fit of panting and mewls. Her hips couldn’t stop shaking, pushing against his hand to feel each knuckle rub deeper. “Gods, why is this so good?”

“Cum if you need to. Let me see that pretty face.”

“No~ I…I wanted to use my tits on you. But now I…I’m…” Yang let out a long, heartfelt sigh. How did things get this messy so fast? “Put it back in me. I want it.”

Jaune retracted his fingers and did his best to regain his own composure; a difficult task when the love of his life not only pleaded, but brazenly kissed along his shaft in a stupor of want and desire. “Ngh, Yang, get on my lap if you want it.”

Yang got on her knees then swung her right leg to the other side of Jaune’s waist. The boy wasted no time massaging and kneading her chest, riddling it with bits as Yang cooed. Her body dropped slowly, piercing herself onto Jaune’s flesh.

“Aaaaghn~” her hands ran up his chest and gripped his shoulders as Yang started bouncing on his lap, putting all her weight down each time to feel her womb get knocked on. Jaune’s mouth stayed busy where it was but his hands returned to her rear, molding it like clay as he helped push her down to the base. Her hips buckled. “Fuck!”

Heavy, wet smacks echoed every time her ass slammed onto Jaune’s lap. The man couldn’t believe the tightness that surrounded him; the way it clung it his length and coated it with ecstasy that reached his thighs. Engulfed by Yang’s heat, Jaune finally took a second to separate his lips from his body and removed his shirt. Yang’s arms all but sprang out towards him right after, pulling him into a feverish kiss while her hips moved on their own before his hands returned.

“You’re so in love with my ass tonight.” Yang hummed.

“I’m in love with it every night.” He continued kneading it, his fingers rubbing all of it. “Hey, so how much did you prepare for today?”

Yang didn’t get the question at first, until she felt a single finger tracing her asshole. Yang couldn’t hide the state of blushing red he put her into with his pesky intention. To make it worse, her body already gave him the answer to the question. Yang buried her face into the crook of Jaune’s neck and quivered as the naughty middle finger pressed into her slowly. A moan came from her throat and her hips worked over time on his cock as Jaune began to play his little game.

He could already feel her walls frantically twitching but he knew he could make Yang go crazy. He wanted to make the month of emptiness mean everything. He nipped at her ear as he continued fingering her. “You’re such a good girl, you that? Doing all this for me; allowing me to cut loose~” he thrusted up suddenly.

“AAAHH!” His nipping turned into feverish licks as well. Yang tried staying strong but now he was meeting her thrusts and pumped his finger into her more quickly. Her body became repeated jolts of pleasure to the point Yang could only bite her lover’s shoulder as a way to soften her growls.

Jaune’s only panting became like a drunken breath as he approached his end. “Good girl~” he cooed, leaning right into her ear and whispering it one more time. “Gooood girl.” He pressed her hips down against his waist, going as deep as possible. “Here’s your reward!” He grunted, cumming for the second time.

Every muscle in Yang’s body tensed all at once. She was certain she’d scream, yet the immense rush of pleasure stole voice, leaving nothing but a silent yell as she clung to him like a girl on a wild roller coaster. Pulse after pulse, she felt her insides get marked by Jaune. The dork was brazen enough to call it a “reward” and she had half a mind to thank him for it. They were going crazy. Not that she hated it for a second.

Yang felt Jaune relax under her body while she found the strength to set up after his hands finished toying with her. “Wow, that was- hmm” Yang stopped short as she witnessed Jaune struggling to keep his eyes open. Poor guy was spent! It was almost hard not to laugh. “Pfft, gee, looks like someone should’ve eaten.”

“I was hungry for other things.” He groaned, wrapping his arms around her torso and resting his face in her chest. “But now that pizza sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“Oh what to do with you?” Yang giggled, her hands combing through his hands. Truthfully, she wanted him to stay inside like this a little longer, but the last thing she wanted was her boyfriend withering away. Yang kissed the top of his head. “I’ll go fix you a plate.”

“You’re wonderful.”

“And you’re outstanding. My hips are still floating.” She said, embarrassed by her own honesty.

“Let’s wash up together after we eat.”

“Only washing?” She teased, only to feel him twitch inside of her. Yang gasped a little. Jaune raised his head to look into her eyes with a gaze that made her chew on her bottom lip again. Tonight was going to be a long night. “Welcome home.”

[sosa2imagines]

I know where I belong. Part 9

----------------------------------------------------- Warnings- Angst for Steve, fluff for everyone.

Part 10 -----------------------------------------------------

Your POV- ‘This was all you, none of it me’ I see Sharon pushing you in anger. Your eyes fell on me. I didn’t feel anything. ‘I was too strong, you were trembling. You couldn't handle the hot heat rising, mmm, Baby, I'm still rising’ Bucky holds my hand and leads me to the dance floor. I can see Sharon is being abusive towards you and you are speechless. ‘I'm giving you up. I've forgiven it all. You set me free.’ Whereas I found my happiness thanks to you Steve. I look deep into Bucky’s eyes and all I can see is me in them and the love they hold for me. Bucky kisses me softly, not to tease you or show it to the world. But to remind me that he is with me and he is mine. Thank you, Steve, for giving me Bucky and setting me free. ‘Send my love to your new lover. Treat her better. We gotta let go of all of our ghosts. We've both know we ain't kids no more.’ Sharon threw her drink on you and left.

Sharon was hurt and angry. How could Steve stop be being Captain America? How dare he retired? “How could you do this to me Steve?” She pushes him in anger, demanding answers. “I did it for us babe. We can have more time together, start a family.” Steve is somewhat hopeful, Sharon will agree. But instead she starts to scream at him. “Family? A fucking family? Are you out of your mind? You ruined everything!” Steve was not expecting this. No this can’t be happening to him. His eyes fell on you and Bucky dancing together, without a care in the world. Sharon, saw what he was looking at. “All this because of that bitch?” before Steve could say something, Sharon threw her drink on him and left.

Sam was the first to burst out laughing followed by Tony. You and Bucky kind of felt bad for him...but? Oh, never mind. Steve was angry, on top of that he was insulted and Bucky kissed you. “So, you two an item or something?” He snaps at you both, Tony and Sam were ready to give him a piece of mind but Bucky was quick with his metal arm colliding in Steve’s face. Steve stumbled back, breath taken away. A huge bruise was formed on his cheek. Bucky didn’t say anything turning his back on him. “If you know what’s good for you, keep your mouth shut.” Tony warns Steve and he nods in response. After some minutes Sharon joined you all for drinks. Everyone ignored her. “Fine you and the bitch can gang up all you want. I don’t care.” Before anyone can say something to defend you, this time you were quick to throw your drink on her and give her a black eye. “Anyone wants more drinks? Mine is empty” Tony whistled proudly, while Sam sang praises, and Bucky?...well god help him with the boner you just gave him. He has seen you fight plenty of time before, but this was “SEXY” he actually said it out loud. While you headed to get drinks for everyone, Nat was quick to grab Sharon by her hair so tight breaking few a lot of strands. “Be careful with what you say next.” She warns her, letting go of her hair not so gently making sure her head bangs on the table, damn it didn’t.

As the party went on, more guests had arrived. One particular guest was John Walker, Bucky absolutely hated him. Why? Let’s say long before you were even Steve’s girlfriend, John misbehaved with you and Bucky beat the shit outta him.

Bucky was about to get up to throw him out before Tony stopped him with a hard glare. “Fine but if he does not behave, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.” Bucky tells not so very sweetly. “He won’t do anything, anyway he is The Director of Shield’s favorite.” Now what Tony said was pure sarcasm, but little miss Sharon thought something else and quickly left.

An hour later Steve came around searching for Sharon. “Have you guys seen Sharon?” “Nope, must be lost with the black eye.” Sam laughed, Steve looked utterly confused. “No, we have not seen her, since Walker arrived.” Nat told him. “Hmm speaking about him, where is he?” You asked before pouting at the way Bucky was looking at you for asking about Walker, “What? I asked only to stay the hell away from him.” Bucky nodded to your answer but kept looking at you like an angry puppy. Steve was looking visibly upset as no one was helping him. Tony took a pity and asked FRIDAY about Sharon’s whereabouts. “Miss Carter is in the gym with John Walker.” As soon as FRIDAY said that all heads turn towards Steve, “Maybe she is teaching Walker how to use the gym” Sam snickers, “With a black eye?” Tony asks and you all leave with Steve towards the gym. “Bucky, I don’t have a good feeling about this” you whispered in his ear, but Steve could hear your concern due to his super hearing. “Don’t worry doll.” Bucky assured you. When you all reached the gym, John’s loud moans were echoing. Steve was not ready to open the door. Somewhere you all knew what was happening. Nat took the initiative and open the door. All the emotions drained from Steve’s body, you all froze to the sight of John walker leaning on the wall, pants and boxers dropped to his ankles and Sharon on her knees, mouth full. When Steve cheated on you, that feeling was so horrible you didn’t wish it for anyone to experience. So what Steve must be feeling right now, you could understand.

Part 10

----------------------------------------------------- (Hey lovelies part 9 is here and I hope you all enjoy. Comments and feedbacks are appreciated. The next part will be the last of this series. Lot's of love to you all. 😊❤️) -----------------------------------------------------

[hxney-lemcn]

Catching Up — Eleventh Doctor x gn! reader

summery: Reader and the Doctor catch up

tw: none

a/n: No motivation to write but this has been stuck in my head

wc: 0.5k

Master List

Stretching out, my bones cracked slightly, leaving the feeling of relief behind. I was finally home after a long day of fortune telling. A job that fits me perfectly. Why? Well that has to do with my Zeknil origins. We were immortal beings that could look into the future with our third eye. 

Before I could sit, a familiar whooshing noise filled my ears. I couldn’t stop the smile that fell onto my lips. I wonder what he had in store for me today. 

I grabbed a mug with two hands, preparing water in the pot with my other two. I wonder why humans haven’t evolved with four hands, it really would make their lives easier. Just as I placed the tea bags in the mugs, the Doctor entered the kitchen.

“Why hello there,” He smiled at me in greeting. 

“New face,” I said, my eyebrow quirking up. “And a bowtie this time.”

“Bowties are cool,” Doctor defended as I handed him his cup. 

“It fits you,” I nodded in agreement. “Not really cool though, more dorky than anything.” The Doctor huffed a bit and I hid my smile behind my mug. 

“So,” I started more seriously this time. “Did you need anything?” 

“No, no, no of course not,” He waved me off, bright green eyes taking in my home like it was the first time. In a sense it was I suppose. “Well…actually…later. Right now, I want to know how you’ve been! What have you seen since we last spoke?”

I rolled my eyes in amusement, “Not half as interesting as what you’ve been through I’m sure.”

“No, no mundane is good,” The Doctor waved his hand. Taking a sip of his tea he paused, “How do you always manage to make it the way I like it?” 

Once more I just stared at him in amusement before he snapped his fingers, “Right, future sight.”

He stared at me expectantly, and I took that as my queue to catch him up on what's happened. The annoying people that would try to fight what I told them, the people that were so boring I wasn’t even sure what to tell them. How I still haven’t really made any friends (not explaining how I didn’t want to make friends only to lose them). 

“Now,” I finished. “What did you need help with?”

The Doctor looked around nervously, his cup discarded on my coffee table, “Well…it’s a long story.”

“We’ve got all the time in the world,” I shrugged, leaning back in my seat. 

My jaw dropped as he explained how he found a girl, made her obsessed with him by accident, and found a prisoner hiding on Earth. Came back at the wrong time again and ran off with her, only to find out it was the night before her wedding. Ending in her kissing him and now he’s come to me. 

“You homewrecker!” I couldn’t help but laugh.  “I didn’t realize!” Doctor defended himself.

“You’ve gotten yourself into a lot, but I wasn’t expecting this from you,” I continued to tease with a laugh.

“You’re never going to let me live this down are you?” He groaned. 

“Nope.”

“Well I need your help to rectify this,” The Doctor explained. 

“Well…I guess be upfront about the whole situation. Tell the guy she was supposed to marry.”

____

“Not like that!” I shouted as the crowd went silent. There stood the Doctor, in a damn cake, having admitted that the man’s fiance was a good kisser.

[bonjas]

betty la fea: la historia continua episodes 5&6

Well that was a whole lot of...nothing. With how fun episodes 3&4 were, I was so optimistic about the rest of the show, but damn, they stomped out that hope REAL quick. I don't even know where to start lol, I guess at the beginning...

The opening scenes were so jarring? Firstly, this show LOVES cutting scenes in between entire fucking conversations so we get an awkward 5 second betty scene, then it goes straight to the walking through the jail scene that felt like it was supposed to be a dream, but we never got a "waking up to reality" scene, he was just IN JAIL LMAO like?? We went from confession, straight to jail? There wasn't even an ongoing investigation going on into what was happening at ecomoda or anything like that, so he just went to the nearest jail and said "i did a bad thing! guilty!" and into the slammer? IF WE HAD KNOWN WHAT WAS GOING ON AND THERE WERE AUTHORITIES ACTIVELY INVESTIGATING, IT WOULD MAKE SENSE. but nah, these writers hate explaining ANYTHING lmao. literally, it went: armando and mario nervous about betty finding out, betty becoming prez, armando and mario trying to hide the evidence with guttierez, betty finding out from hugo, confronting armando, him still not saying what happened, failing to fix it, then JAIL? PLEASEeeeeee

i'm finding that this show doesn't know what to do with betty. like, at all. with a show being named betty la fea, it sure doesn't look like it. poor betty only gets to look sad, or look mad 24/7. or if she's briefly happy, she then immediately has to get sad and/or mad. we get so little precious betty time as it is, i wish they would give her more to do! seeing her confront mario was cool in the previous episodes, betty always had a spine and defended herself, what happened to that! she just stands there silent and lets everyone make false accusations against her then walks away?!

i'm seeing a lot of "hugo is the villain again!!" ummmm??? hugo is the one actually helping the entire staff by letting them know what's going on and demanding justice??? everyone would lose their pensions if it wasn't for him, and if it was the real world, uh YEAH lawsuit bitch!!! after all the abuse they all took from armando, to learn that on top of that he stole their retirement funds? ELECTRIC CHAIR.

mila...sigh. i already said idk what to think of her character, we literally don't know a thing about her, but drinking and driving? gurl. armando is her father after all and we all know how he was about that shit, but damn. dont like that at all. her saying that shit to marcela was so out of line since she herself cried to marce about her being the only one who cares about her or w/e and the minute marce shows some parenting traits and worries over her she flips out and said now i know why my dad left you?! yeeesh. and she's obviously a TERRIBLE judge of character, wtf was there ever to see in ignacio? ewwwwwwww. that whole story line just fucking sucks. i dont care about him, even if they told us ANYTHING of what the fuck is going on with him, i just dont care. he's so boring and one note, if he takes down all of ecomoda with his pinky, i couldn't care less. the hacking stuff is stupid. "hackeado" is funny though lol. oh ALSO about mila, i totally expected betty to run into her at the jail and she bails her out and they have more of a bonding moment but nope!!! fuck any potential bonding moments i guess, or even sharing the screen together. could have been such a good "i always help the people i love even when they're doing something wrong" moment!! like a foreshadow for mila for when she finds betty's diary and finds out the truth (cuz of course she is)! please i beg, a scrap of foreshadowing!!!

patricia is a stepmom!!!!!!!!!! that made me laugh. and they hate her, omg that's so fucking funny. her sleeping with nicolas again tho, i'm half "why?" and half "i get it" cuz he's the only guy that's ever showed real feelings and respect for her, but it just happened so quick and we didnt really see it develop, they just hit it off again after 20 yrs lol? but the whole "secret tapes" montage was pretty good, that was a highlight for me.

quick fire:

armando's lawyer is still fucking pointless, and still throws herself at him for no fucking reason lmao WHY????

the jail scenes suck, antiquated gay jokes and boring jail tropes. i fast forwarded those scenes, NEXT (if I'm wrong and they're worth watching pls let me know!! I saw Freddy was there and the therapy guy or something?? idk I was so checked out at that point) (edit: I rewatched the episode in its entirety, I was right the jail scenes are pointless! he just ends up leaving after like a fucking day!!!!)

so did nicolas stop working at ecomoda when betty left? did patricia barely get her position in the time betty left? marcela just works full time at ecomoda again, since before or after betty left?? hello??

the timeline still makes no sense, mila was gone 5 yrs, the armando marce kiss was 5 yrs ago, but armando was only president for 2 yrs? but betty left armando that night presumedly, so were they separated for that time until marcela waiting 3 yrs to demand betty be removed as president?????

nothing happened plot wise :( armando went to jail, everyone finds out and has a freak out, hacking and Mario was looking for some shit??? site character shenanigans, armando gets out. nothing happened!! two whole episodes wasted 😔 when you only have 10 episodes, everything needs to be important.

fernando gaitan was a fucking magician cuz i could tell you every single plot point of OG BLF without stuttering. the reboot is a mess yall i'm sorry 😞 i really hope it gets better, cuz now we have a confirmed second season?? bro why

why did Betty fall down the stairs like that?? what was the point? will it be relevant later?

also we just haven't had any good patsy pat and Marce moments :(

please let me eat my words and get better for the last 4 episodes!!!! i beg of you

[lucy4242564]

We ✨love✨ explicit content, so please take this truck fuck as my token of explicitness

.cowboy like me.

Chapter 3.

Pining and desperately waiting.

~Our secret moments in a crowded room, They got no idea about me and you~

She couldn’t stop herself from sneaking glances whenever she could. Especially when she noticed him doing the exact same thing. It almost bugged her.

He wasn’t even being smooth with it. She could feel his gaze and there was a burning desire to talk to him. The only thing stopping her was her stubbornness.

To say a headache was all she felt the next morning was an understatement. She had never been so mortified in her life.

 

Her cheeks burned as she recalled the pervious nights events. She shuddered while she washed the dirt off her knees, thinking of letting him carry her to her bed. It almost slipped her mind that Brittany was probably home and waiting to interrogate her. There was no way to avoid it so she might as well get that over with.

 

Getting up from the bed, Lilah started towards the living room. Sure enough, there Brittany sat. Crossed-legged on the red couch, coffee mug in one hand and a television remote in the other. A grin was plastered on her face as she looked at her friend in the hallway.

 

“I’m not gonna lie, out of all the guys there, I wasn’t expecting Daryl to be the one you liked.” She teased.

 

“Girl,” Lilah started, making her way over to the couch. “I am never going to leave this apartment again.” Recalling all of the previous night’s events, the duo exchanged stories of everything going through their heads in the past 24 hours, neither leaving out any details.

 

“I don’t know what has me more shocked,” Brittany said as their conversation began to die down, “you offering several times to show him your boobs, or him turning you down.”

 

Lilah’s cheeks were on fire. “I feel so bad! He probably thinks I’m crazy.”

 

“He told you show them to him when you’re sober! You have to see him again!”

 

“Absolutely not.” The blonde shook her rapidly. “I will go out of my way to not see him again.”

 

Brittany rolled her eyes. She knew her best friend’s internal struggles, but also knew that when she relaxed she treated herself better. “Lyle.” Brittany began. “You’re here to enjoy summer and get more comfortable with things before college.” She reasoned.

 

“I know!” A groan filled the room. “I can still do that without throwing myself at random men.”

 

“I’m not saying that.” Brittany defended. “I’m just saying, whenever you let yourself do things without overthinking it all, good things happen.”

 

“B, this is all new to me okay?” Lilah sighed.

 

“Look, just try to give yourself freedom. Try to let yourself do things without thinking on it so hard.” It was what she needed for just a little while.

 

 

A week and a half had passed since their conversation and Lilah had taken her friend’s advice. She stepped out of her comfort zone and she hated how right Brittany was. Just exploring things independently had improved her mental state.

 

That didn’t mean she wasn’t still being hauled almost anywhere Brittany went. How else would she have ended up back at the very creek she made her first impulsive decision? Fortunately for her, it was a lot more casual this time. Paul wanted to have a small fire after he got off work and that’s exactly what was happening.

 

The two girls had been running behind, but when Lilah saw the blue truck that she was all too familiar with, she wished they hadn’t come at all. Brushing aside her embarrassment, she did exactly what she said she’d do. Avoided Daryl Dixon.

 

Kind of.

 

She couldn’t help herself but sneak glances whenever she could. Especially when she noticed him doing the exact same thing. It almost bugged her. He wasn’t even being smooth with it. She could feel his gaze and there was a burning desire to talk to him. The only thing stopping her was her stubbornness.

 

  

“D’ya’ll grab the hamburger meat?” Lilah heard Paul ask.

 

Nope.

 

Lilah stood listening to the couple argue about whether or not he’d even said anything about hamburger meat. She wasn’t too focused on their conversation though. Because for the past hour she’d given in to her thoughts and quite obviously started eye-fucking the man she swore off.

 

At this point it was almost a game. They both knew exactly what the other was doing. Even catching each other a few times.

 

Lilah tried her best to keep her emotions in check, longing for the time to pass by so she could go home and take care of the growing wetness between her legs. She wanted desperately to pretend like she didn’t know why her body was reacting the way that it was and that she wanted nothing more than for it to stop. Then she’d steal another look at him and become enamored.

 

She yearned to know exactly what he was thinking when he devoured her body with his eyes. The temptation of approaching him just hadn’t boiled enough yet.

 

Lilah needed an excuse.

 

“I’ll go grab some, I need more smokes.”

 

There it was.

 

Lilah enthusiastically shot up and prayed nobody had noticed the pep in her step. “I can come. I ran out of face wash last night and can just get it now.” She lied. It was kind of a pathetic one too.

 

Daryl eyed her in suspicion.

 

“Shouldn’t have to, because I didn’t forget.” Brittany responded, emphasizing the point that she didn’t forget anything.

 

Paul just rolled his eyes and nodded a thanks in the other man’s direction.

 

For the first time tonight, Lilah felt awkward. The last time she followed Daryl to his truck it was in a drunken haze. This time- well she actually didn’t have a game plan.

 

Just doing what feels right.

 

Even though this was exactly what she wanted to do, there were still butterflies in the bottom of her stomach when she slid into the passenger side. Nervousness always got the best of her. Now she was in a still of silence as the truck drove down the dirt road.

 

She wanted to ask him what he was thinking. To know whether she was reading his eyes wrong. She knew she wasn’t, but what if she was?

 

Maybe she was alone in wandering how she would feel on top of him. Only in her mind had his lips grazed her neck and if she kept her mouth shut it could stay that way. Her thoughts of him could remain unscathed if she didn’t test the waters.

 

Taking a chance, her eyes drifted over to him and traced up his body. His left hand was steering while his right remained on the gear shift. It was embarrassing how hot she thought he looked like that. It could have just been how turned on she was though. Internally shaking her head she focused on the road and wondered how long she’d actually been lost in thought. They were already in a familiar spot and she knew it took about 15 minutes to get there.

 

She was really losing it.

 

 

Daryl had split off on his own when they got to the store, telling her to just ‘meet him at the truck’. So she wandered down the cosmetic aisle and grabbed an extra face wash. She couldn’t exactly come out empty handed.

 

The thought of being questioned made her blush. It would reveal that she truly had no real reason to be there, which would only raise more questions. She wished she could turn her internal monologue off sometimes. It caused her more issues than favors

 

A quick swipe of a credit card and she was waiting back at the truck. She wasn’t sure why she expected Daryl to beat her here, she was only getting one thing after all. Standing alone in a new town, leaning against an almost strangers truck, had her wondering what she was even doing.

 

Lilah looked to the sky and all of her thoughts paused.

 

It was littered with twinkling stars. A rare occasion where she came from; Her night sky was blocked with city lights. “What you lookin’ at girl?” The thick accent of the man who Lilah had been infatuated with all night asked. She looked over and found him staring at the sky with squinted eyes. The sight made her smile.

 

“The stars.”

 

He turned his attention to her face but she was gazing back to the stars. “They ain’t goin’ no where.” He said before setting the grocery bags in the ice chest in the back of his truck.

 

She scoffed before getting into the passenger seat. It didn’t go unnoticed by him though.

 

Without the night sky distracting her, she began drifting into her thoughts again. What was she doing? She wondered to herself, thinking back on her own thoughts earlier. She’d come all the way out here for absolutely no reason. Just to look at Daryl Dixon up close. It was pathetic. Lilah told herself back at the creek she was going to talk to him, but that fear of rejection gnawed in the back of her mind. Then again, she’d practically given him every opportunity to turn her advances down and he never did.

 

Eyeing him, a little more obviously now, she admired how relaxed he seemed. Even when he was so clearly taking her clothes off with his eyes, he looked so unbothered. Like he had the answers to all of his problems. It wasn’t like she was hiding how much she’d been doing the same to him though. He didn’t have a problem to solve.

 

Neither did she.

 

When the realization hit her, things made more sense. She wasn’t the only one fixating on someone’s body. She was just the only one worried about it.

 

She was always the only one worried about everything.

 

Lilah felt her heartbeat increase when the truck hit a dirt road and she decided to take a leap. “Hey,” she started, her heart pounding, “can you pull over just really quick?” He looked at her in confusion. “Please.” She added.

 

“We’re almost back-“

 

“Please.” She said again, cutting him off. If she waited too long she’d just chicken out.

 

He didn’t say anything, but he pulled to the side of the road, hardly taking his eyes off of her. Her eyes darted around the area, anxiety beginning to get the best of her. She pushed it down though.

 

Not everything had to be overthought.

 

Thickly swallowing her nerves, she angled her body to face him and began taking her shirt off. By the time she had it off she saw a reaction she hadn’t seen on his face before.

 

Shock?

 

She ignored it.

 

“What’re you doin’?” It was his turn to glance around their surroundings.

 

“You told me to ask again when I was sober.” Her hands were already reaching behind to unclasp her bra. “I’m sober.”

 

His lips parted when her chest was exposed and now he was looking everywhere but below her shoulders.“You ain’t gotta-“ he looked for words.

 

“I don’t have to, but I want to.” She said finally making eye contact with his. “But I’ll stop taking my clothes off if you ask me to.” She searched orbs of blue, looking for any sign of hesitation before she started shimming off her shorts.

 

“Yer crazy.” He said, but his hands began undoing his pants.

 

A smirk played on her lips.

 

 

There weren’t words in Lilah’s vocabulary to describe Daryl’s lips on her collarbone. They were everything but harsh, still she was convinced he was leaving marks with how much time he’d spent there.

 

She was too distracted by how good her center felt grinding down on him to care. It was everything and so much more than she imagined, being on top of him. She played with the bottom of his shirt but he lightly swatted her hands away before placing his hands below her shoulders and leaning her back. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but the way he looked at her right now, comfort was far from her mind.

 

Lilah’s forehead hovered below the windshield, her middle back partially pressed against the glovebox and Daryl’s hands, her entire body nearly on display for him.

 

An embarrassing gasp came from her mouth when lips attached to her bare nipple and fingers pried at the other one. Her body was responding beyond her control, hips grinding harder onto his searching for some kind of relief. Relief she’d wanted all night long. The absence of heat on them, her nipples almost hurt when lips began trailing as far down Lilah’s body as they could go in their current position.

 

“Daryl.” She sighed out, hoping he’d realize how needy she becoming.

 

He continued to suck lightly on skin as he made his way back up her body until he got to her lips. That’s when he noticed how glazed over her blue eyes were, before attaching his lips to hers almost in desperation. Her fingers danced along his shoulders and down his arms.

 

Fuck. His arms.

 

They weren’t exactly muscular, but they were defined. Defined enough for her to appreciate them in their own light. She lingered there, squeezing his biceps before he let out a sweet laugh into her mouth.

 

The moment had caused them pull back and look at each other again. Light blue finding dark blue.

 

Lilah had been so entranced by him that she hadn’t paid much attention to his hand moving between the small space of their bodies, but her back arched into him when his fingers swiped her panties to the side.

 

“So fuckin’ wet.” He murmured, mouth finding her jawline. They dwindled around her folds, never venturing further. Teasing her.

 

She whined.

 

The more she would seek out friction, the more he’d tease by sliding his finger along her slit but never giving her full satisfaction. She craved everything he was denying her.

 

His mouth found her nipple again and she let out a moan mixed with a sigh. She ducked her head into the crook of his neck, darting her tongue out to encircle the sensitive area. He sucked in a moan at the same time Lilah let another one out.

 

The fingers that had been teasing her entrance finally broke through and her hips immediately rocked into the feeling. After longing for a sense of relief for hours, she’d finally gotten a taste of some. His hand worked her, arousal coating his fingers and soaking through his boxers. She rode his fingers while ecstasy built higher in her lower stomach. 

 

“Daryl,” Lilah gasped, pleasure taking over. As much as she tried moving her hips some more, Daryl nearly stilled her motions. Her head shot back up when she realized he was slowing his own movements. When their eyes met again, there was an almost primal look in his. A whine escaped her lips when he removed his hand from underneath her.

 

“Yer so damn needy.”

 

Something warm touched the lower part of her stomach and when she glanced down to find him stroking himself, she nearly came undone.

 

“Will you just fuck me already?” Lilah blurted.

 

That was all it took for her hips to be quickly lifted and impaled onto his cock. She cried out as she felt her walls squeeze around his length, adjusting to the abrupt intrusion. 

 

Even though she had been on top of him, she’d all but surrendered into his control. Thrusting up into her at a pace she was almost bouncing on him by no choice of her own. She wasn’t complaining though.

 

“So damn needy.” He said again, this time punctuating each word with a sharp thrust, causing her head to fall into his neck again.

 

It hadn’t been there long before he’d shrugged her off, grabbing her by the chin and forcing eye contact.

 

“Thought ya what’n’t that big of a whore?” He mocked her.

 

If she wasn’t being fucked beyond her own thoughts, she had the mind to actually argue with him. Instead she just gave him a dazy smile before retorting, “You’re talking a lot right now for someone that doesn’t have much to say.” She mocked back.

 

A sly smirk appeared on his lips while he kept thrusting into her. “The way you’re acting, don’t seem to bother you none.”

 

Lilah wanted to laugh so bad right now, but she was chasing a high and she was so close. “Doesn’t bother me even when you aren’t fucking me.” She nearly cried out. He was so deep inside her. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever felt that full before.

 

“That right?” How the hell was he talking so casually right now?

 

“It’s the accent.”

 

There it was. The torrid nerves that he’d been pounding against relentlessly were almost bursting.

 

His pace quickened brutally after that. Each time she was lifted, his hips were meeting him halfway. Her walls squeezed around him and she heard a low growl somewhere between the time she saw stars and the time she felt a sticky warmth between their bodies.

 

They stayed like that for a few moments.

 

Both catching their breath and recalling the last several minutes of their lives. She felt a hand that was previously on her hip begin to trace up her back, causing her to shiver. When it came to a halt on the side of her neck, she tilted her head to look at the man underneath her.

 

His blue eyes glossed over made them look even more like an ocean than they already did. Waves crashing into his pupils like rocks.

 

“You have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.” She didn’t mean to say it out loud, but she did. She did and she found comfort in his after-sex high of a smile. This may have been the calmest she’d felt in a long time, that still didn’t stop her mind from running wild. “And I’m not that big of a whore.” Lilah mentioned with a slight arch to her eyebrows.

 

“Nah, yer too jumpy.” He commented. She hesitated to respond, confused by his words. “Whores don’t think themselves ta death.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked. He’d reached his hand out to open the glovebox and pulled out a pack of cigarettes with just one left in the box before digging in his pockets that sat next to them for a lighter.

 

“Ya been ogling me from the time ya walked up earlier,” he paused to light his cigarette. “Ya made a lousy excuse ta ride with me, sat there the whole time not sayin’ nothin’, and when I catch ya relaxed lookin’ at the stars ya went right back to silence.” Daryl took a drag and offered it to Lilah. She shook her head in response, so he continued. “The other night y’as a lot more talkative and didn’t have no problem lettin’ me know how ya felt.” another drag. “I’as almost convinced ya really was just a drunk girl that night til ya asked me ta pull over. Ya had somethin’a say, just didn’t count on you gettin’ naked.” Lilah swallowed hardly. She couldn’t have been that easy to read. “And now yer thinkin’ too hard about it.” He added, noticing her focus changing.

 

“I’m not that obvious.” She bit out.

 

It confused her. Why was she mad? All he’d done was tell her almost exactly what was going on in her mind.

 

“Ain’t personal.” Daryl noticed the change. “Takes one ta know one.”

 

Her face softened. He was comforting her she realized. It was an unnecessary kindness that she appreciated.

 

“They probably think we’re dead.” Lilah smiled as she scooted off his lap.

Chapter 4.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 37: The Tri-Wizard Tournament

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist:@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog  @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Also available on: Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know

The last weeks of Summer went by agonizingly slow and it wasn't for lack of things to do. News of what happened at the Quidditch Cup spread like wildfire. And as each day passed, rumors kept getting crazier and wilder. Lyonel and Sage hadn't been at all pleased when they learned of the events. For the next couple days, Romina was sanctioned in the house for safety. And when they found out about her "talk" with Barty Crouch, things got even worse.

"You can't go talking to an important man like that!" Lyonel said, both he and Sage looking down on Romina during breakfast.

It may have made things worse that Romina continued eating breakfast like nothing. "Talk like what? I was defending myself and my friends from a stupid accusation. How could he think we conjured up the Dark Mark? Honestly!"

"Don't snort," scolded Sage. "This is serious."

"Yeah, so was I!"

"We understand what you were trying to do. Of course we would want you to defend yourself but tailor your attitude to the situation, please."

Romina rolled her eyes. "But if I hadn't gotten "an attitude"," she raised her fingers to do quotation marks in the air, "He wouldn't have listened. He didn't even listen to Harry and he's the one who ended You-Know-Who! I did what I had to do."

Lyonel shook his head. His niece was dangerously close to sounding like her father. "I did what I had to do."

All Arden was surprised about is that Romina had managed to get away with talking to Crouch like that.

"I would've loved to do the same thing but I'd be scared to death to talk to him like that," she remarked after hearing the story. She had only just learned about the events that took place at the game through Romina.

Romina laid on her bed, very comfortably as if she hadn't gotten an earful that morning, or the morning before that, or for a whole week. "Nothing to fear when you know you're right."

Arden snorted. That was a way to put it. "Still. How much trouble are you in?"

"Well, they've stopped yelling a couple days ago. Now they just give me the same lectures." Romina propped a leg over knee. "I imagine once I go back to Hogwarts they'll finish mellowing out."

"I'm surprised they haven't made you apologize or something," Arden said, getting off the bed. "You know my Mom makes us hand write letters to each other when we really mess up."

Romina snorted. "I remember. They know I couldn't make me write anything."

"You're that stubborn?"

"And petty."

Arden laughed. "And blunt." It wouldn't be the first time Romina's bluntness got her into trouble. Arden walked up to the open window to close it, peeking out slightly to get a glimpse of the Dursleys' residence. "Well, at least Harry didn't have to come back here anymore. Bet the Dursleys love it too." She turned away from the window and eyed the significant amount of letters on Romina's desk. "What's all that?"

Romina looked at her pile of letters and shrugged. "Friends. I haven't exactly been in a writing mood lately. That's sort of what happens when you've been yelled nonstop. Besides, knowing our friends, they're all going to be asking about the Dark Mark at the game and I'm not really sure I want to write about that stuff."

Arden agreed. "I'm sure Angel will be the most worried, although...a couple of these seem to be from Draco, mind you. Didn't expect him to be so worried. Wasn't he supposed to be there too?" At Romina's sudden huff, Arden paused and looked her way. "Have I missed something else?"

"Nope," Romina said swift and easily but the emphasis on the line word betrayed her.

Arden's eyebrows raised together. "You sure?"

"Yup."

"So, what was it that finally made you snap?"

"Come again?"

Arden chuckled on her way back. She flopped down sideways on the bed. "The thing that finally made you get properly mad at Malfoy. I'm assuming that's why you've got this behavior going on. There's been plenty of viable reasons but it never stuck. So, what was the thing that finally made you get mad?"

Romina's face scrunched in utter confusion. "What are you talking about? 'Never stuck'? I've been plenty mad before at him."

Arden's head turned in Romina's direction. She gently patted a hand against Romina's leg and made the dark haired girl put both her legs down and over Arden's.

"I'm not denying that you haven't but it's never really lasted very long, not even when he messed with the Hippogriff and got it killed. Poor thing. I mean the Hippogriff." Arden smirked. "But before that, you had many things to be mad at him for but you hardly do. Like you can't get mad at him."

Romina scoffed deeply. "Believe me, I can get mad at him. And I am."

"So what was it then?"

Romina told Arden what happened while she and Hermione had been hiding and attempting to find the Weasleys and Harry. Even as she told the story, Arden could hear the heavy annoyance in Romina's tone...but that was it. Annoyance. And perhaps something else she couldn't describe yet.

"I always knew that he hated Hermione—he hates muggleborns and half-bloods — but I always associated that with what his parents taught him." Romina propped herself on her elbows, meeting Arden's eye. "He's applying what he's been taught since he was born. But that night, what he said, he was willing to let Hermione die. I never thought...when push came to shove…"

Arden knew exactly what other word she was missing to describe Romina's face. Disappointment.

"Oh boy, he struck a big one," Arden said, taking her bottom lip under her teeth.

"He went above and beyond! So of course I had to punch him!"

"I would've paid big bucks to see that upfront," Arden smirked, "Course, I suppose it says a lot that you didn't punch him in the face like Hermione did."

"You're not supposed to know about that," Romina reminded him. "And what do you mean 'it says a lot'…?"

"Well, one could say, deep down…" Arden bobbed her head from side to side against the mattress, "Possibly very deep down, you didn't want hurt his face."

"If you forgot part of the story, I was a little bit in a rush and concerned with the death eaters, Arden. As much as it pains me to admit it, Draco and Theo were right in that Hermione was the one in the most danger."

Arden shrugged. "Doesn't make my words any less true."

Romina, exasperated, let herself fall flat on the bed. "You're supposed to be helping!"

"Help what? You don't even read his letters, you're still clearly upset. Nothing I say is going to make it any better."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She did not appreciate the way Arden giggled, as if there was anything else to this.

~0~

On the day of September first, Romina was packed and ready to head back to school. For better or worse, she was bored at home in her "grounded" situation. At least in Hogwarts, nobody could ground her (if you didn't count detentions, of course, not that she ever got any). Breakfast went by pretty quietly. Nobody uttered a word about the World Cup and Romina was just fine with that.

It was on the platform that Romina saw her cousin Rolf and, to her pleasant surprise, her grandparents as well. She broke into a wide grin and rushed over to meet them, leaving her aunt and uncle to carry her trunk for her. She hugged Rolf first and told him that she'd missed him. Rolf replied that he had missed her as well and then very quietly whispered to her 'we gotta talk about the World Cup' before their grandparents took their hugs next.

"Ah, ma chérie, I hope you have an excellent year!" Abigail said with a good pinch on Romina's cheek. "Stay out of trouble, even though I know you have your grandfather's genes."

Newt rolled his eyes beside her. Romina, however, laughed at the idea. "He doesn't seem like the troublemaking type!"

"Don't be fooled," Abigail crossed her arms. "His trouble came from his knack of keeping secret pets at school."

"Guilty as charged for that," Newt said and it sounded like he had no regrets about it. "Always be kind to creatures, Romina. Rolf knows it."

"I do," Rolf said and saluted his grandfather. "I can't wait to see what creatures Hagrid's gonna show us!"

"Me too, but also nervous," Romina remarked. Hagrid wasn't exactly the prudent kind of professor.

Lyonel and Sage caught up with them , along with Rolf's parents. They greeted Romina's grandparents cordially and then started ushering the kids towards the train, as it was set to leave soon.

"Now remember, stay out of trouble, please," Sage was kind about it and brief too. She kissed Romina's head and wished her all the luck for the new school year. "And remember, you are just the prettiest girl out there."

"Oh God," Romina groaned. She shot Rolf a look and warned him to never speak of the moment again.

Sage rolled her eyes at her niece. "Oh, alright!"

"Romina, do stay out of trouble," Lyonel reiterated and much more seriously than Sage.

"Yes, uncle," Romina nodded. "I know."

Lyonel looked at her sharply and repeated his warning once more. Thankfully, the rest of their family stepped in to say their goodbyes and soon, Romina and Rolf were climbing into the Hogwarts Express to find their seats.

"We need to talk about the game," Rolf said as soon as they were free.

"What we need to do is find somewhere to sit," Romina said curtly. Almost every compartment had been taken by now. "Unless you don't want to be seen with me, of course."

Rolf's answer was to jab his elbow into her side. "Shut the hell up about that. We're not doing that. By now, everyone will know that we are family so deal with it."

She rolled her eyes and stopped suddenly when she saw a compartment with some familiar faces. "Come in here, twat."

"What?" Rolf made a face yet he stilled followed her.

"Hey guys," Romina greeted Harry, Ron, and Hermione inside the compartment. "Mind if we cram in? The other ones are taken. By the way, this is my cousin Rolf. Say hi, Rolf."

"My cousin — the comedian," Rolf stared flatly at the Slytherin.

"It's nice to formally meet you, Rolf," Hermione said, and was the first one to shake hands with him. "I'm happy Romina's got some more family."

"Thanks," Rolf said and proceeded to put his trunk up above them. He helped Romina with hers. "And, uh, in the spirit of the fact that we're all Gryffindors—"

Romina cleared her throat. "I'm not!"

"—I would like to ask what the hell happened at the World Cup." Rolf plopped down beside Ron and motioned Romina to do the same. "Because my cousin has refused to tell me anything."

"Because you literally asked 10 minutes ago," frowned Romina.

"Not true, I wrote you a ton of times and you never responded!"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Romina exclaimed and looked away. "And I bet that no one here does either."

"Not true," Ron said, ignoring her glare. "But there's nothing real going on, mate," he said to Rolf. "I mean, the Ministry doesn't know anything. My dad works there and all he says is that things have been 'happening', but that's it."

"They saw the Dark Mark," Rolf said. "Something happened."

Romina noticed the way that Harry was rubbing his forehead, more specifically right over his scar. She wondered if it was hurting him — he mentioned something about it during the game but she didn't want to ask with Rolf around.

The lunch trolley passed by their compartment and Harry seemed to jump at the opportunity to get out of the compartment even for just a moment. Ron ended up following him outside.

"Hey, Romina," Hermione shifted towards the girl beside her, "How, um, how much trouble did you get for the, uh...the thing...?" She wasn't really subtle with her glance at Rolf and so of course the Gryffindor boy was asking what 'thing' Romina was supposed to be in trouble for.

"It's not what your uncle was talking about, was it?" he asked.

Romina shook her head. "Not quite. No, Hermione, I didn't get into any trouble about that."

"About what?" Rolf said impatiently.

Hermione looked positively relieved with the answer, but still a little confused. "Thank goodness. I really thought Malfoy would get his parents to come after you for that. Still, if he didn't do anything...I hope he's not planning on doing something while we're at school. You really shouldn't have done that, Romina."

"Done what!?" Rolf exclaimed.

"He deserved it, Hermione," frowned Romina. "And besides, you punched him last year too. How come I can't do that?"

Hermione flushed pink at the reminder. "Well, I — I was upset — no excuse either — I — oh, shut up!" She shifted in her seat to once again face ahead, and in turn, Rolf who was still dying to know what they were talking about.

~ 0 ~

It had been pouring when the students arrived at the castle. Most of them were soaking wet and those lucky enough to stay dry weren't exactly all dry. Romina met with Arden at their Slytherin table.

"You didn't come find us!" Arden said as soon as they had sat together.

"Sorry, I met Rolf and then we found Harry and Ron and Hermione and it just got away from us."

Carolinha and Angel Paes soon joined them at the table and were both eager to start their dinner and know what happened at the World Cup. By that point, Romina was tired of telling the same story over and over, and that was just the story that everyone knew.

"Can you imagine if Mom had let us go?" Carolinha looked at her brother with wide eyes. "I would've been scared to death!"

Angel shrugged carelessly. "You're afraid of spiders, Carol."

"So what?"

Angel waved her off and set eyes on Romina. "Hey, you didn't write back to us anymore. Are you feeling better now?"

Romina gave him a half nod. "Yeah, I was punished for my loud mouth so I couldn't really talk to anybody for a while."

"You should've," Carolinha said, eyes still wide for some reason, "Because Daphne is—" She never got to tell Romina what Daphne was because Daphne herself appeared behind Romina and promptly smacked her upside the head.

"OW!" Romina clapped a hand on the back of her head.

Arden, Carolinha and Angel all burst into laughter. It didn't make anything better when Draco, Blaise and Theodore arrived to see the scene.

"Whatever just happened, can we do it again?" Blaise asked with a clean smirk on his face.

Romina, who was rubbing the back of her head and lifting up a curl of her hair off her plate, sent Blaise a glare. "Gladly, come over here so I can show you what happened."

"Oh shut the hell up!" Daphne promptly said, earning a couple surprised looks from the others as it wasn't typical of her to use those words. "Romina never answered my letters!"

At that, Draco snorted. "She does that a lot." He ignored Romina's new glare on him until he came to sit in the empty spot on her left.

"You know exactly why," she said, making a show of scooting away, even if it was just an inch before Daphne took the spot on her right. It was the principal of things.

"Get the feeling we missed a lot this summer?" Blaise had the last comment as he took the spot on Draco's left.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it," Theodore said with a wide smirk.

"You could say that," Daphne said bitterly. "Romina, I wrote you a ton of letters and they were urgent!"

"How urgent could they have been? Nothing else exploded," Romina said, reaching for a new biscuit from a platter.

Daphne was not amused with her. "Do you even know what's happening this year?"

"What?" Romina looked around and saw that only Arden seemed out of the loop like her.

"Maybe you should have at least opened one letter," Angel chuckled. "Could have avoided a bruise on the back of your head, huh?"

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Romina put her biscuit down and stopped eating altogether.

"I feel like not telling you anything anymore!" Daphne crossed her arms over her chest, puffing and turning her head away from Romina.

"Then what was the point in hitting me!?"

"Could've avoided it all if you had opened your bloody letters," she heard Draco mutter on her side.

Her head flipped in his direction, eyes narrowed. "Even if I had, I wouldn't have opened yours! You are not worth my consideration!"

"I cannot believe you're actually angry—"

There was a light tapping from the head of the room, silencing everyone and every conversation with them...for the moment.

Dumbledore had risen from his seat to address the students. "Now we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement. "Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and 37 items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it. As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Outraged murmurs and shouts erupted throughout the room.

"Oswell, you need to cut this out," Draco said in a hushed tone. He barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he heard Romina scoff beside him.

"I don't think you're in any position to demand anything from me!" she retorted.

"You're not actually angry with me," he insisted.

"I didn't know you were a mind reader!"

"Would you two be quiet?" Arden snapped at them and inadvertently brought the rest of their friends in on the conversation. —

"...this is due to an event that will be happening throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts will have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year. Now for those of you who do not know, the tri-wizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete…"

"Why are you arguing so early?" Carolinha made a face at Romina and Draco who'd been going back and forth despite Dumbledore continuing his speech. "What could you possibly argue about at this point in the year?"

"Oh, you know, Draco always finds a way to go above and beyond," Romina said with a sarcastic smile.

Theodore snickered from his spot.

"You know what happened, don't you?" Angel eyed their brunette friend suspiciously.

"You're not mad," Draco still claimed with Romina.

"And why not?" Romina did not like the way Draco was grinning at her.

"Cos you're still wearing that," he tapped the charmed headband sitting on her head, boasting an emerald green to match her robes.

"...now let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint hearted, but more of that later…."

Romina flushed in both anger and embarrassment. She honestly didn't even notice anymore the fact she wore the headband—his gift—every day. It was just part of her everyday outfits. Well, now she had to make a point. "Fine, you want it back?"

"Obviously not," Draco said, making it clear that it should've been obvious.

"For now please join me in welcoming the students of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress Madam Maxime…"

The front doors suddenly burst open to allow a group of students dressed in blue silk uniforms dancing their way through the middle.

"Obviously you do want it back!" Romina's hand reached up to the headband, readying herself for whatever snappy, no doubt smartass, response Draco would have. He, however, had lost all interest in their conversation in favor of the students sweeping down the Great Hall. "Hello?" Romina frowned at him. He had a stupid grinning face.

Apparently, the Beauxbatons were damn gorgeous because just about everyone around them had frozen in some kind of trance.

"Oh wow," Angel sucked in a sharp breath. He didn't notice his sister whacking him on the arm. It didn't look like any of the boys at the table noticed anything but the dancing girls of Beauxbatons. They even produced beautiful white butterflies to flutter in the air.

"So the boys are there just for show?" Arden remarked to the other girls.

"They don't make them like that at Hogwarts," Draco actually sighed dreamily.

Romina gaped, nobody (at least the girls) were able to deny they heard the offended gasp that came out of her. She yanked her headband from her head and slammed it on the table, not that Draco noticed.

"Careful there, Rom," Arden snickered, "You're dangerously close to sounding jealous."

"As if!" Romina huffed, folding her arms over her chest. Arden exchanged smirks with Daphne. Carolinha was the only one who didn't seem to like the comment.

The Beauxbatons students finished their dance up at the head of the room, bowing and instantly receiving applause from everyone but most of all from the boys at each table. Behind them had come a large woman—resembling Hagrid's height for that matter—dressed in glimmering black robes. Whatever spell had taken the boys was finally extinguished, at least for the moment.

"Oswell, you seriously took it off?" Draco had spotted the headband sitting between them on the table.

Romina huffed again. "Don't sound so concerned. Go back to staring at those girls like an idiot. Oh, and Theodore, you might want to wipe your mouth there."

"I didn't even say anything, God..." Theodore muttered.

"And now our friends from the north, please greet the proud students of Durmstrang and the high master Igor Karkaroff," Dumbledore said, gesturing towards the doors that opened yet again.

A group of students entered then, all wearing more bulky uniforms involving fur coats. Each of them held bo staffs that were twirled in a pattern and jammed to the ground for a show.

"No way," Romina gasped at the sight of a familiar older boy. How could she not recognize him when he was all Ron Weasley talked about at the World Cup. "That's Viktor Krum!"

"I know!" Daphne giggled an infectious giggle that soon spread to Romina.

"He's a lot different from the pictures that Ron showed me," she admitted. Her eyes widened in delight when several of the boys breathed fire. "But maybe I just imagined things during that day."

"Spending all that time with the Weasleys at the World Cup must have done a number on your head," Draco remarked, meeting Romina's eye very quickly.

She frowned for a second before an urge to respond a certain way came over her. Her frown was replaced by a sweet smile. "I actually had a great time there. Met with my friends and wouldn't you know it? I even spent a fabulous morning walk with Cedric Diggory." She was pushing the lines of true and lies a bit but it was all for the sake of the moment.

"No way!" Carolinha's eyes widened, much like Daphne's had. The only one who stayed quiet was Arden and that was only because she was enjoying the show that evening.

Angel simply wasn't amused at all.

The same could be said for Draco. He scowled at her. "No you didn't!"

"Oh, yes I did!" Romina laughed. "Can ask him if you'd like. We got to the World Cup together. I always said that he was kinda quiet and mysterious—I was right! He's so...agh!" Carolina and Daphne laughed with her, all their faces matching with pink.

Draco rolled his eyes heavily but caught Arden's eye. "What, King?" he spat her way.

Arden raised her hands in front of her, although with a smile that was just too wide for Draco's liking. "Oh nothing," she said, "I just feel like this year is going to be very interesting, you know?"

"Your attention please! I would like to say a few words," Dumbledore commanded the room again, "Eternal glory, that is what awaits the student who wins the tri-wizard tournament. But to do this that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks. For this reason the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation Mister Bartimus Crouch."

At the mention of the man, Romina stiffened in her seat. Before Crouch actually took his spot at the head, rain leaked through the roof and caused an uproar at one of the tables. A short, strange man appeared by the entrance and quickly fixed it without much of an effort. He then made his way down the aisle all the way up to the head.

"Bloody hell, it's Mad-Eye Moody," Angel sucked in a sharp breath.

"Alastor Moody, Angel," Carolinha corrected. "He has a name."

"Who's he?" Arden frowned.

"A famous auror," Romina responded rather quietly, a sharp contrast to her attitude minutes ago. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full thanks to him. He…" She shook her head, silencing herself then.

Once Moody, for some reason, took a spot at the head, Crouch finally spoke to the room. "After much deliberation the ministry has concluded that for their own safety no student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the tri-wizard tournament. This decision is final."

Everyone booed. Loudly. Perhaps it was one of the rare moments the four Houses came together to agree on something.

"That's rubbish! You don't know what you're doing!" Romina swore that had been one of the Weasley twins who said shouted.

"Silence!" commanded Dumbledore. Attention slipped from him to a golden box that, once magic was cast onto it, melded into a golden goblet with blue fire flaming from it. "The goblet of fire. Anyone wishing to submit themselves for the tournament merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so lightly, if chosen there's no turning back. As from this moment the tri-wizard tournament has begun."

[reconstructwriter]

Finally Sat Down and Gave RotS a Look.

. Said to be the best of the lot so let’s see what this movie’s got!

Warning, lots of word vomit.

…I’m genuinely surprised to find this funny. Aside from the bit with Dooku (And even then the look on his face! He did not expect betrayal from the space-Wizards betraying party) the first half hour’s been a comedy? And some of the dialogue got a laugh out of me. Do I have the bloopers reel in here?

Okay no, I don’t because we segway to all the political intrigue – which is a nice transition between the d&d-style rescue shenanigans and looming tragedy that (sort of) consumes the latter half of the movie. Starts with a nice bit of characterization: Obi Wan and Anakin joking about the uncomfortable spotlight. A joking reminder that Jedi should shy away from it – which does make it easier for Palpatine to mud-rake their reputation.

Pleasantly surprised by how suspicious everyone is of Palpatine – expected more obliviousness from all I’ve read but nope! Both Padme (and in the cut scenes 1,999 other politicians) and the Jedi Council worry this wartime chancellor the Senate’s been empowering for three years might not eagerly let go. Anakin’s his sole on-screen defender

…but you know that works for Anakin’s characterization here. He starts out wanting to help Oddball and his squad over rescuing the secret Sith Lord, willing to see both himself and Palps die to save Obi Wan. Then during the political intrigue Anakin defends Palpatine, even protesting Jedi Council orders to spy on the guy (who just gave him the cushy Council appointment so doesn’t feel so heroic). The tragic portion starts with Anakin finally throwing his lot in with Palpatine over the Jedi and going from ‘for the greater good of Padme’ 2nd Genocide to ‘ride or die for Palpatine actually’ immediately afterwards. (his lines to Padme would’ve been so much more delightfully ominous if they kept her rebellious scenes!) Finally, this ends with Anakin, fully sworn to the Sith, doing a one-eighty to betray Palpatine to make Padme Empress and rule the Galaxy together! He hasn't even learned the Super Sith secret of loved ones’ immortality – his entire reason for choosing to Fall in the first place. Sounds like he cares more about power than Padme. Especially since with Obi Wan’s appearance he immediately flips from wanting Padme to be Empress to strangling her. Something, something, Madonna-whore complex.

Decent narrative characterization for being stuffe in 2.5hrs.

I was surprised the whole ‘Jedi takeover plot’ wasn’t complete propaganda on Palpatine’s part. Sure, Palpatine made Mt. Everest out of a molehill but the Council does bring up a coup to solve the dictator issue. Yoda shuts this down but it shows the Jedi Order are losing their way due to the clone wars. IMAO this also shows they’ve got no better ideas/political power they could leverage.

Still, this plot point would’ve been better if they hadn’t cut Padme’s scenes. Those show she contemplates something similar, shows the Senate could’ve legally ousted Palpatine if more weren’t corrupt bastards and reinforced that Jedi just suck at politics, its not their arena.

This is probably me reading too much Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes but this movie seems to run with the cliché Ancient Greek tragedy plot point ™: ‘character X finds out terrible future. character X does everything in their power to prevent terrible future. Character X brings about terrible future via all their efforts to prevent it. Anakin has ominous nightmare/vision about Padme’s screaming death via childbirth. Anakin scrambles to keep Padme from dying screaming in childbirth (these methods apparently include crossing Moral Event Horizons but don’t include Space-OBGYNs)

…surprise twist! She dies screaming in childbirth. After he strangled her.

Why do fix-it fics begin with protagonists knowing about the future again?

Obi Wan’s obliviousness to Anakin’s past gives him that unwarranted faith, that inability to believe his brother made a one-eighty in like 3 days and just genocided the fuck out of their entire shared people. And Cody hands the lightsaber over to Obi Wan just after he defeated Grievous. From Obi Wan’s PoV everything’s going great – he and his buddy have hashed things out, General Grievous is dead. He can taste peace.

… Which makes order 66 hit so much harder.

For years I’ve read and watched these characters so the Order 66 scene hit me harder, but I also did not watch this until after the new live action atla came out. As heart-breaking as it is to watch Bly shoot Aalya in the back and keep shooting her corpse! At least this part is purely about betrayal, horror, sorrow. Jedi are gunned down by the overwhelming numbers of people they trust, children gunned down desperately being Jedi to their last breath. Anakin’s march on the Jedi temple with his massive army. The children taking shelter in the Council rooms because that’s where they feel safe – except the traitor was also appointed a member! We don’t even need to see the blood or the gore or anything. It's enough to have a little kid plea to an adult guardian…and focus on Anakin’s expression and ignited lightsaber.

When we do get the 20-minute fight montages, they still drive home the betrayal. The loss. The defeat. You can't forget that Anakin and Obi Wan were brothers in all but blood while they’re dueling on a hell-planet. Yoda and Sidious duke it out for the fate of the Republic, but in an empty Senate that Sidious dismantles to fight Yoda with. All driving home that the Republic is gone, Democracy is dead, the heroes either dead with it, Fallen or being hunted down like dogs!

Palpatine also gets to be an A+ bastard in this movie – he even outright informing the Separatist leaders that his new apprentice will arrive to take care of them? He was definitely laughing maniacally as they role out the welcome mat for their murderer. I love the tragedy but deeply regret that Anakin stopped Mace from punching Palpatine in the face with his lightsaber.

We know Anakin ultimately survives Mustafar but wow they really make it look like he’s dying (and using his last breaths to curse Obi Wan). It’s almost a shock to see his metal hand claw at the ashes of Mustafar terminator-style. After watching this I’m a little less harsh on Obi Wan for not finishing Anakin off there. The dude looks like he’s finished off and Obi Wan can’t watch anymore.

Okay y’all I get the ‘Padme's death as life force suction via Dark Side’ interpretation. She and Anakin are paralleled in medical and the in-movie reason for her death sounds so stupid. I do think narratively its just a contrast but adding that interpretation makes it better. Padme in the light medical room, Anakin in the dark laboratory. Padme is dying but giving birth. Anakin is surviving but becoming Darth Vader.

And then children entrusted to the Jedi are given over to loving families.

I’d agree this movie is the best of the lot. The pacing feels better, the overall mood of the film transitioned nicely from a humorous action adventure to a political drama and then finally falling into its tragedy. Anakin’s character is less annoying, though the sins of the last movie make his heroics fall a little flat to me. Even the dialogue is an improvement, barring a few terrible deliveries that drag down some important scenes:

Darth Vader’s Nyooo is just cringe. This guy face-planted at the rock bottom point of his life. He’s traded everyone else he loved, cared for or even said ‘hi’ to for unlimited cosmic power to save Padmé and has just woken up to find she didn’t survive him using said power to strangle her (surprise, surprise). His physical agony is only eclipsed by his emotional agony and I’m honestly surprised Palpatine’s space-Frankenstein lab survived that. Nyooo just doesn’t cut it.

Yoda’s words to Anakin really don’t convey his intention well to me. I get that pulling teeth would be easier than making Anakin say anything relevant but even his general advice could’ve been delivered better.

And the kid’s wooden delivery during the genocide… George you know you’re bad with dialogue don’t make some of your movie’s most powerful moments hinge on dialogue!

But there’s some good stuff. I’m going a little feral over Palpatine’s response to Anakin’s “I can do better” which reminds Anakin he has done worse and implies ‘no, you can’t ever be better than you are at your worst’. It's a philosophy Anakin takes to heart, keeping his silence about his first Darth Vader act until he swears to embody Darth Vader. Of course Palpatine’s philosophy is ultimately deconstructed in the original trilogy when after 20+ years of Evil Warcrimes in Chief of the Evil Genocidal Slavery Empire Anakin makes (1) better choice. And the shattered remnants of the Republic and citizens of the Empire also choose better. It's both a hopeful message and one that spits in the face of assholes who say they can't do better.

But Disney Star Wars – in re-doing plot-lines and deconstructing characters/narratives – seems to lean into Palpatine's philosophy. I don’t think that’s their narrative intent but it still bugs me the most about Disney Star Wars stuff.

Speaking of bugging me you can guess what else does from my incessant repetition but damn what this movie did to Padme.

This not only does her character considerable injustice but also hurts several other scenes and IMHO the overall movie. She mostly feels like a flat cardboard designated romantic partner of the lead character and the movie feels a little flatter, a little less nuanced, ominous and tragic as a result. Even her banger ‘this is how liberty dies’ line would’ve hit harder if we’d been shown her fight for it. Learning she had more scenes like that but they cut those because they wanted more Anakin angst? How dare you!

Instead, we get Padmé saying ‘he [Obi Wan] said such terrible things...you killed younglings'. Which…she’s one of two people who knows he DID exactly that. This makes Padmé sound weirdly moral myopic. I'm not surprised when Palpatine makes an unfair comparison between the murder of Dooku and the genocide of the entire Rrhr tribe, but Padmé?

tl;dr:

I’d agree this movie is the best of the lot. The pacing is better. The narrative itself feels more coherent with all the plot threads tying fairly neatly into each other. With one tragic exception the characters are all at their least annoying. But I know Revenge of the Sith could have been better. It almost was, so I’m still left sighing longingly at What Could Have Been.

Hopefully the novel will do the story justice. I've heard good things about it.

[capinejghafa]

what did you think of them putting soc/ck moments into s2?

I mean, at first I was a little confused because we just genuinely didn't know how much of the soc duology we were getting this season.

Kaz - I think as soon as I realized about 7 minutes in that they were getting the Pekka storyline I was onboard. I love Kaz, a lot (I know very surprising, we are all shocked). And for whatever reason, every time I'm reminded of his backstory, I become an instant Kaz defender... it's happened the same way after I read the first book.

So from that perspective I enjoyed it. I know some people thought it was "too fast" but the general problem with that statement is we were introduced to that conflicted back in 1.01/1.02. So, even if we as book fans wanted to be mad it... it was already a problem that Kaz was going to have to deal with whenever he got back to Ketterdam. What I'm saying is extremely unpopular, I know. But that conflict had to resolve itself as a result of the events in s1.

Inej - I think the very minute Amita said/accidentally spoiled her ending I knew vaguely that this was going to take something from CK's ending... I think days prior to the premiere I was like if they split up the crows, I'm gonna be so mad because we literally just, you know, got 5 of the 6. They come as a set... at least until the end of the duology lol So, Inej's plot is something I keep coming back to... I have some unpopular opinions because I do think the writers have hinted at what happens since 1.07... and I personally don't think Inej is as open with her struggles as people want her to be? So, I loved that Inej is learning slowly about herself.... exactly like she does in the books.

Matthias and Jesper - There were things the show elevated, specifically on Matthias and Jesper. The problem with Matthias in the books is that we never actually get to see his struggles (we do get to read about his final fight, but just the general vibe of his everyday life? Nope.). Actually, I love the fact that we got to see this man struggle because Matthias needed the reality of what prison life does. I do love Matthias lmfaooo but I do have to remember that he was a druskelle and all the internal bigotry that comes with that. And I loved that Jesper embraced his gifts quickly... because we don't get to see that in the books ever (not even in ROW). We got to see him and his mom (or a version of his mom). That scene ended. me.

Wylan - I have no notes for Wylan because I fucking love Wy. But his story is slightly different from the books so we might get to see more??? *cross fingers*

Nina - Tbh Nina's arc was the one I was most worried about? Because I didn't know what elements from the books they were gonna use. And actually one thing I will say... maybe unpopular? But Kaz and Nina's friendship in the books was a bit hit or miss for me? So to have them have mutual respect and just generally vibe well? Like I loved that change so much. I don't know why but this fandom treats them like they legit hate each other, so it was nice to see them just chatting like regular normal people. If that makes sense.

(Also, don't hate me... but I do think Nina ended up having stronger bond with Kaz than with Inej? And that was strangely unexpected lol)

Also, this is me thing, but I went in with shockingly low expectations for this season. Like I was like this is fanfiction, I call the sab writers unironically sab fanfiction writers. They know what fan service looked like and went with it. Did I love the overall product? No, but I did have a lot of fun watching.

[theinfinitedivides]

HELLO AGAIN 🙌🏻

was patiently waiting to see your takes on ktl ep 12 because lord what an episode that was.

i paused so much during the last scene just to take multiple deep breaths to prepare myself because istg i was literally dreading the whole thing. god, those maid outfits.. i can't.

the image of the plate breaking and sarang's heartbroken eyes are still so vivid in my mind, i literally cried the moment the episode ended because did i expect conflict and angst? yes. was i prepared for that? nope. not at all.

i feel like it hurts even more because we've had episode after episode of them being madly in love and now we see won seated at the table in his house being served by sarang in a maid outfit with the daughter of the other hotel's chairman sitting right next to him and we hear his dad say he wants them to get married within the year. like wow. that's just a stab to the heart.

absolutely can't wait to see how the rest of that situation plays out, but more than anything, i'm terrified about what's going to happen to sarang for breaking a plate because the manager kept mentioning how "the dream team" never makes mistakes and it's stressing me out.

on another note, that whole scene where sarang opened up about her mom to won at the sea was so beautiful. also, won's reaction to sarang telling him what she found out about his mother and giving him her picture.. i honestly couldn't quite figure out what won was feeling in that moment and don't think he did either. the way he was just so overwhelmed with emotions and had to walk away to look at the picture and process everything.

also, my heart broke for pyeonghwa. her backstory literally made my blood boil. WHO TF DO MEN THINK THEY ARE?

on a similar note, can daeul please take chorong and leave her husband and his shitty family. the amount of patience she has to tolerate the treatment they give her is insane. ofc that's easier said than done though and the heartbreaking reality is the stigma divorce has on women which shouldn't even be there in the first place.

lastly, hwaran. she surprises me every episode because somehow she manages to get worse and worse. terrible mother, terrible sister, full of greed, absolutely heartless, manipulative, cunning.. the list goes on. now she wants sangsik on her side too and i honestly can't predict this one but i'm putting my trust in sangsik. please do not let us down. 🙏🏻

no idea what's going to happen in this week's episodes but to everyone who complained about there being barely any plot in ktl what were you watching, first of all, and i hope you're happy because the drama is drama-ing rn. 😭

love how we're both having basically the exact same thoughts about all of the sh*t that went down over the weekend and now we get to pick it apart while still having somewhat of a meltdown, sksksksk. going to put this under a read more bc i don't know how much is going to be collapsed on the dash and i can almost guarantee that this will get longer than the last two asks i answered although i will try to avoid that, my apologies

i stand by my previous statement that bringing Sa Rang there to that specific meal as part of the Dream Team when the arranged marriage was going to come up was Hwa Ran's doing bc that overlapped too f*cking well to be a coincidence. she knew what that would do to Won, not only bc of his trauma but bc of the way he defended Sa Rang from the assemblyman (when he raised his voice at her *cough*) and she really came out here and said she'd milk that for all it was worth bc he handed that extra weakness to her and f*ck. she's one of the worst people in this series but hats off to her for going for the f*cking jugular and doing it well (and endangering Sa Rang's job in the process, bc hey what happens when you're part of a team that doesn't make mistakes and then you make a mistake? nothing good i'm assuming). i especially hate how this comes after they went to visit the sea and Sa Rang opens up to Won about her mom (and tells him about his own mom in the process, but we're getting there), bc we all know how much she has wanted to work at King Hotel, how much the memories of her mother are entangled with them. working at the hotel is like the causeway in the midst of the sea, the last connection she has where Won has none, and if this plate breaking is part of the catalyst excuse for Hwa Ran to try and force her out of the company (though i doubt that will be the only reason she'll use, we need something more substantial) it will be like the tide has returned and she is back at that beach, trying to go and see her mother, crying bc she is not able to, bc no wind turbine can bear the weight of her, and that will definitely f*ck me up more than anything else has so far. (writer-nim don't do that to me pls i don't think i'd be able to make it)

but Won. his dynamic with the memory of his mother flays me open and lays me out to dry and they really dug into that with the photo, bc the first thing i thought of when i saw his face (notice that we did not see hers clearly enough, that was a strategic choice; are they trying to say that he is a reflection of her in that as well, a la 'and they will recognize all the lines of your face / in the face of the daughter of the daughter of my daughter (son)'?) was Lucille Clifton's brilliant poem "oh antic God", seen below (screenshotted) and linked as well—

really and truly i can't pick any lines bc the whole thing applies (except for the part where she talks about her current age) and i hope you can see why, bc as much as he says he does not want to know anything about his mother i think something shifted when he took the photo from Sa Rang and he saw. Junho does so, so well here with all of the microexpressions, since that is what part of what makes the scene—there's a certain time where you think he could be angry, almost, at Sa Rang for going ahead when he told her he didn't want to but then she tells him that she does not want him to have regrets and he has to walk away from her. be careful or you'll end up like her, Hwa Ran said, unimportant and forgotten, but here is Sa Rang speaking of someone who remembers her, and she was good, and she was kind, and she was brave and beautiful and loved at least, and he doesn't know what to do with that information and we don't either. and so he steps forward, braces himself (i see this as a callback to his stance in ep 3 when he leaves the interview, bc i don't know why everything keeps coming back to that panic attack but i sincerely thought that the way things were going we would get his hands on his knees in the same way), and for a moment i looks like he is trying to say something, anything, lips parted, but there is no sound, no noise, only the single tear on his cheek, and God the camera cuts away from him—

i am trying to be very normal about this but uh. my brain is screaming 'COSMIA COSMIA COSMIA' (Joanna Newsom for the second time my beloved but this version too) interspersed with 'wish i knew / wish i knew the words to this one' and that's kind of complicating matters don't you think

as for Pyeong Hwa and Da Eul—ykw i think they deserve a little murder. they deserve to go batsh*t. just as a treat bc the men????? that they have consistently had in their lives????? no woman deserves that but especially not them. honestly i don't know who i want to go after first Pyeong Hwa's ex-boyfriend (#1 candidate for scum of the earth) or Da Eul's husband (ties for #1 candidate for scum of the earth and who also had the audacity to come out here with his ass and say she'd have bad karma come back on her bc she [rightly] complained about the invasion of privacy his family is perpetuating), but tell me when we decide on one bc i have the ammunition for it. wouldn't be surprised if that mf*cker is cheating on her too bc we did get a partial allusion to that in the earlier half of the series, albeit it could just be him choosing his work associates over his own family and not necessarily having a woman on the side. either way this sh*t needs to stop and i 100% support Da Eul taking Cho Rong and leaving. f*ck divorce stereotypes all my homies hate divorce stereotypes just make sure his ass pays that child support

and now for a bit of Hwa Ran character study to round this off (yay for me i actually followed the outline you set out in your ask asfdgjnlcisdwbkkq). as we continue to observe her and the way she interacts with her father, her half-brother, her husband (who is desperately trying to become her ex) and her son, i feel like the screenwriters are pushing the narrative that even if she is a horrible person she, too, is a victim of the system. and i get why they would do that, bc they do have a point. i touched on it briefly in the tags of this reblog, but i think there's a part of her that is doing these things in regards to the company bc she thinks she knows best. she believes that this is the way to not become irrelevant, not to stoop to the level of her father and her brother in becoming so sentimental at times they lose sight of the real goal (in her view, both times it has been bc of a woman). she puts herself out there so she can have power, since such a inbred, patriarchal society does not listen to you otherwise, and in return she is sacrificing her relationships. and even then, she still thinks that there is no other way to do this and survive. she has convinced herself of this, of so many things, that it has become a part of her, so the minute it looks like she is about to lose her control she looks for the closest thing within her grasp to regain. here, with the inheritance fight, it is the King Group and her leash on Won, and Sang Sik, bright eyed and ambitious as he is, looks like an extension of that leash to her. (after all, didn't he say he's the only one who can handle Won?) considering that Sang Sik has been by Won's side since they met, however, i don't believe he'll switch sides, but more that he'll weigh his options and play double agent in the process since they have spent basically the entire series showing us where his loyalties actually lie (and which she underestimates). tl;dr, Hwa Ran's personal arc is somewhere between Who Are You, Really? by Mikky Ekko, Spite by Vandaveer and Blood // Water by The Neighbourhood, and if they take her the way i think they're taking her (read: she spirals) then she's pretty much f*cked as a result

i am biting my nails rn with regards to the upcoming eps bc hey!!!! this threat of my OTP falling apart for fifteen seconds isn't the plot i asked for!!!!!! i don't need this kind of anxiety i decided against watching Revenant live bc of that!!!!!! just praying we get through with minimal damage that's all i can say

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 86

"Well, this is traditionally when we exchange witty banter," Temari sighed, slowly reaching over her shoulder for her fan. "I don't suppose you have anything to say?"

"Nothing more than hands off your fan, unless you really need it to hide a blush, you delicate flower," Aiko tried winsomely, darting forward to force Temari into taijutsu and make her defend herself with her hands. Accordingly, her first strike was an open palm swipe aimed at Temari's throat, mimicking a kunai stroke that would have been fatal if she'd been armed. Temari clearly recognized the implication and her pride wouldn't let a mock-fatal blow pass. Her response was to slap the blow away while she jerked her head to the side and bent inwards, leading with her elbow to deliver a punishing blow to her opponent's unguarded ribs. Aiko was already twisting on her supporting leg to bring her left leg up and managed to completely evade the blow, snapping her left out with a stiff ankle and a flat foot that impacted painfully with Temari's gut.

It was something of a balm to her ego to see that she had the physical strength to send someone faltering, after Yugito had shrugged it off when they'd fought almost two weeks prior.

Temari curled inwards to gasp at the hit to her lower torso but jerked her free arm out to retaliate. She was too slow. Aiko had swept around the taller girl with un-augmented speed and snapped both hands out to steal the heavy fan off Temari's back.

That was the most efficient way to ensure it didn't get used against her at all. She couldn't see many ways to end this fight without hurting Temari or getting hurt herself, so her next best bet was to rub in how silly the whole thing was and remind everyone that this was just a game.

She was amused to note a gasp from the crowd at that point. Matsuri, perhaps? Was it Just Not Done to touch Temari's fan?

The abject fury in the blonde's face when she whipped around to see Aiko awkwardly clutching the weapon to her chest like a baby supported that theory. She gave an apologetic smile and danced away, ducking completely under the first anger-fueled blow and then flickered to the opposite end of the arena for the second blow.

To her credit, Temari didn't miss more than a beat before she veered around to stare at Aiko. Her eyes were a little rueful while she stared at her own weapon.

Just to play to the crowd, Aiko made a dramatic, slow swing with the pilfered weapon and grinned at the wave of titters that passed around the pavilion. Absolutely nothing happened. Apparently, she wasn't much of a wind-user.

Temari's expression indicated that Aiko's inept attempt had been downright painful to watch. "I'm not going to be able to hit you, am I," she confirmed, as though she already knew the answer.

"Nope," Aiko chirped back, grinning from behind her burden. "We could play tag, though." Illustratively, she darted to three different positions in less than a breath, playing with her Hiraishin. It had been confirmed, so she may as well rub in to the audience that she wasn't using it how they expected. It should also make her point to Temari. She was a smart girl, and she would know that Suna would be better represented if she recognized that this fight was stacked against her instead of stupidly charging forward into a match she couldn't win. Aiko was more worried about the next match, honestly. That would be when she really needed the seals she had planted. Temari didn't actually have any intention to hurt Aiko from the start, but others might.

"Maybe later," Temari dead-panned, settling into a relaxed pose with a sigh. "This is no fun, Uzumaki. I give up. Now give me back my damn fan."

"Boo!" Tsunade called out playfully, hands cupped around her mouth. "Keep fighting, you sissies! I want to see some blood!"

"Drunk looney", Aiko said fondly under her breath, before turning to Temari to quietly joke, "Tits McGee wants us to continue, are you sure?"

"I am certain," Temari said dryly, reaching out insistently for her weapon. She smoothed her hand over the metal surface lovingly before putting it back over her shoulder—or trying, at least. The blonde grimaced at Aiko, real irritation on her features. "Damnit, woman. You messed up the straps," she complained, tucking her fan under her arm and fiddling with the holster as they walked out.

No one seemed particularly pleased with the short show, but Aiko didn't care. She nudged Temari with an elbow and leaned in close to mutter, "Sorry. Is it just me, or is that blue-haired woman sketchy? I didn't want to be a jerk, but I don't like showing more of my repertoire than I have to."

Temari snorted in reply, shooting Aiko a mirthless look. "I know the feeling. I've never even heard of her before. It's like the Mizukage let in anyone with a can-do attitude and funky hair."

At that point, they were too close to anyone else to continue the covert conversation, but it was at least somewhat of a relief to see that someone else was wary of Konan.

'I want that woman gone from here. She's causing trouble, and who knows what Akatsuki could do with any real insight into what everyone is deciding? Or rather, what she could do here, more immediately. There's at least two jinchuuriki in this town right now. If she were to snatch one and run… Well, Konoha might well get blamed, and it'd be doubly bad news. Or she could let in more Akatsuki and do real damage to any number of countries in one relatively unsecured target. If Deidara alone was willing to take on Suna, a small mob of S-class shinobi could cause a lot of problems.'

The thought caused an unpleasant shiver. But she couldn't just challenge Konan to a damn duel or anything in front of the whole delegation.

Not least because she probably didn't want to fight Konan. All she knew about her was that she could turn into paper and was probably an S-class fighter. For a fight like that, she would want both Kakashi and Yamato at her back, and a write-up of Konan's abilities. Maybe Tsunade and Jiraiya lurking around just to be on the safe side would make her feel a bit better about that hypothetical match.

'I might not have a choice,' Aiko told herself firmly, not letting her gaze wander over to Konan while she began to push her way through the crowd. 'Which means that I should think about how I would want that fight to go. And where I would want it to happen. I don't particularly fancy trying to ambush Konan in her boudoir.'

Involuntarily, she shivered, imagining opening the hotel door and finding Kakuzu on the can. It was never a good idea to fight an enemy on their turf when you could help it: they could have back up or traps.

Or, you know, Kakuzu on the can, which she was sure was scarring enough to last several lifetimes. Now she just couldn't stop thinking about it. No, no, nooooo. She was arrested from her path and increasingly disturbing thoughts by a vaguely familiar voice.

"Uzumaki."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Fuu-san?"

The other girl narrowed orange eyes at her. "Put up a better fight against me in the next round," she clipped out shortly. "I don't want you to think I'll just give up because you try to play a childish game."

'Tokiwa looks pissed,' Aiko noted. She didn't bother to hide her amusement at that. It was cocky and rude for Fuu to assume she would be continuing in the match, or at least to say so in her opponent's hearing. What a silly kid. "I look forward to sparring with you as well, Fuu-san, but let's not get ahead of ourselves."

She really did like the idea of sparring against Fuu. The other girl had been careful to keep her distance from Aiko so far, and it might be her only chance to tag the jinchuuriki. You never knew when it might come in handy to be able to access one of those guys. They were sort of a hot collector's item, after all.

But it seemed that Fuu talked better than she performed, because Tokiwa quickly put her on the run. The teal-haired girl was obviously frustrated and struggled not to whip out her jinchuuriki-based powers. Any sane person might have felt trepidation about pushing someone so obviously volatile, but Tokiwa was apparently a stone-cold bitch. Aiko felt oddly fond of the older woman as she watched just how chillaxed she seemed to be about the imminent possibility of very real danger. Even the atmosphere among the spectators grew tense as it seemed that a semi-friendly contest of strength might turn into a bloodbath.

Either Tokiwa thought she could handle even what a jinchuuriki could dish out at her worst, or she trusted that the establishment would control any demonic overflow.

Personally, Aiko thought it was the former. Fuu couldn't even hit Tokiwa, and the older woman was steadily scoring hits with the freakishly long katana she carried, gouging slices out of Fuu's arm guards and chipping at the short sword that Fuu had pulled out instead of a kunai to block.

"She is a hell of a swordswoman," Aiko murmured casually to a rather stiff-looking Yugito, propping her chin up on both hands and peering interestedly at the contestants. "I pity the Fuu."

All she received was an odd look for her wording.

She sighed a little mournfully. That was probably another person who thought she was irredeemably weird. 'It's almost like Mr. T. doesn't transcend realities. Ridiculous.'

There was an ugly gasp and an obvious burst of killing intent when Fuu finally lost it completely and burst out with demonic energy. Pity. She really hadn't mastered her bijuu, then. It was terribly irresponsible of her to enter a spar if she couldn't control herself. Despite her disapproving thoughts, Aiko's heart stopped momentarily when she really took in the sight.

'That is so much better than tails that it isn't even funny.'

Aiko lurched over the table, practically climbing up in order to get a better view and balancing on her elbows with her hips at the edge. "Ah, that's so fucking cool!" A grin split her face that no one else seemed to notice, as they were a bit preoccupied with the fight that had suddenly turned into a possible death match with onlooker casualties. "They look like glitter. Hey, hey, Tsunade-sama!" She thudded her palm on the table childishly. The older woman didn't respond, so Aiko demanded, "Aren't her wings so pretty?"

Tsunade gave her a long-suffering look. Instead of replying, she reached out to pull away Aiko's untouched rice wine and knocked the whole thing down in one long series of gulps.

Wide-eyed and gleeful, Aiko actually paid avid attention to the next interchanges. Even if it was unintentional, Fuu was putting on quite a show. There were a few shrieks as Fuu crashed into a table, sending chairs and kunoichi flying.

"Aiko, stop this idiocy," Tsunade groaned, fanning herself with one hand and looking longingly at the empty glasses in front of her. "I don't care how pretty the damn things are, make them go away."

She pouted, but obediently leapt over the table and rapidly thinning crowd. Aiko casually wound two blunt chains out her back and down each hand, eying the distracted jinchuuriki like a performer might eye the tigers they were trying to convince through hoops. "Hey, Tokiwa-san, do you mind if I cut in?"

"Go for it," the brunette grunted, a hint of strain on her face while she dodged a spray of some sort of poisonous glitter. Maybe she had been bluffing about not being bothered by an unleashed bijuu.

Fuu had to be the most glamorous jinchuuriki Aiko had ever seen, and she definitely approved. Still, the demonic chakra was bothering some of the lower-level nin. Matsuri was actually shaking, but at least she still stood by Temari's side. Three of the Mist Chuunin and Genin who had been serving the group had actually made a run for it. Little shits. Come on, there were how many A and S class shinobi in the room? What drama queens. It was going to be fine.

But she had orders. So Aiko crossed her bent arms at the elbows, palms out, and then whipped out the chains to full length as she slid her arms over one another, straightening them to guide her weapons' trajectory. The chains attached to her right arm caught Fuu around her left upper arm and immediately curled around her torso, failing to secure her right because the limb had been raised. The momentum began to tip the jinchuuriki over sideways even as the chains that had shot from Aiko's left elbow caught Fuu on her right hip (Tokiwa barely dodged in time) and snaked down and around her legs, tangling all the way to Fuu's ankles and pulling her feet entirely off the ground. She hit the cement with a clang and a painful thump.

The only sound was the scrape of chain against the cement as Fuu struggled. Apparently, she wasn't terribly vocal like Nii had been, but the red of her eyes was directed at Aiko with more than a bit of fury.

She was mildly curious about what everyone was thinking as the girl they suspected of stealing jinchuuriki held one down easily, but Aiko didn't dare take her eyes off Fuu while she was still under demonic thrall. She'd been told to solve the problem, and she would look like a gigantic ass if she let Fuu slip free due to carelessness. It was one thing for others to think she was immature- they might underestimate her- but it was quite another for them to think that she was incompetent or incapable of following through on orders.

Mei was the one who broke the stand-off. Her voice echoed mockingly off the distant ceiling that kept the sun off the group. "That was fun, but perhaps the tournament is over. Why don't we break for the day? Personally, I hope to see some of you lovely ladies in the hotel reception room tonight. I have some small games planned, as well as refreshments."

Aiko could practically hear Tsunade perk up at the suggestion of free drinks, and she knew where she would be later that night.

Surely enough, after Fuu came back to her senses and cringingly apologized for the trouble, keeping Aiko in her white-rimmed eyes the whole time, Tsunade and Mei led them all but arm-in-arm and chattering gaily on the way to the hotel. Apparently, an amusing diplomatic fiasco and the promise of a free bar melted all sorts of barriers. They'd spent enough time after everyone else had left in the clean-up that the small group went directly to the event room Mei had referred to as the 'reception hall' in the hotel room. They were the first ones there, since everyone else had gone to their rooms or for a walk when released. It was only proper to allow Mei to be the first, as the hostess, so it wasn't surprising.

The Konoha nin stopped dead in their tracks when they caught their first sight into the reception hall.

It wasn't the garish decorations, although the room had been prepared along an aesthetic that was best described as 'glitter rainforest'. It wasn't the full bar, it wasn't the geisha strumming the koto in a corner, and it wasn't even the enormous hot tub in the center of the room that was dotted by floating candles.

Well, it was partly those things, but it was mostly the small group of rather attractive young men who were scattered around the room behind the bar or standing by racks of towels. Mei had apparently decided that today was 'Casual Friday' and that there was no need for shirts.

"I'll bite," Tsunade said numbly. "What the hell is this?"

'Besides a hilarious glance into Mei's psyche, you mean?'

At Aiko's side, Fuu sputtered a little helplessly, all but clinging to the girl she'd been so frightened of a moment ago. Aiko absently wrapped a comforting arm around Fuu's shoulders and took the opportunity to brush a seal there with her fingertips. She tried not to grin at the elation of having sneakily added one more to her collection of tagged jinchuuriki. That made… Well. Naruto, Gaara, Fuu, Yugito, and Shinji. That was five. Hot damn, she was much better at this collection game than Akatsuki.

Mei shot Tsunade a faux-offended look, placing a hand on her chest. "Tsunade-san, weren't you aware that the employment rate for men aged seventeen to twenty-three is the lowest it's been in decades? I know it might not be in the spirit of this conference, but my tender heart couldn't help but feel for them. We're stimulating the economy by providing temporary employment for young men in the area."

Tsunade choked at the innuendo, giving Mei an incredulous look. "I feel… dirty," she mused. Still that didn't stop her from shrugging and striding into the room as if she owned the place.

"They're just so cute," Mei huffed lowly, giving Tsunade a mischievous look. Subtle, she was not. Aiko didn't exactly approve of the hint of sexual exploitation in the way that Mei had tailored her staff, but the sheer unrepentant tackiness of the whole affair was rather glorious.

"Mei-neesan, have I ever told you that you are my personal hero?" Aiko asked conversationally, taking a towel from an attendant with a wink and slinging it over her shoulder. He directed her towards the changing rooms with a flirtatious smirk that Naruto might have punched his face in for, but she wasn't fussed. It was kind of funny, and it wasn't as though any of them seemed like they'd been coerced into wandering around in their swimtrunks.

Mei outright laughed. "No, but thank you. I do deserve that and all other compliments you can think of."

Tsunade made a wounded sound. "I should be your hero."

"No, you're already Tenten and Sasuke's personal hero," she deflected nonchalantly.

"Who the fuck is Tenten?" was the last thing she heard muttered confusedly as Aiko crossed the room and pulled the door shut behind her. She stripped easily and left every item on her person but the pin in her hair into the provided basket. It wasn't exactly that she trusted everyone here: of course she didn't. But everything she had with her, barring the hairpin was replaceable. The yukata was nice, yes, but she had a whole closet full of them. (Hey, she liked clothes, even if she wasn't very good at putting together outfits that didn't make other people cringe).

She entered the water with her towel on, even if that wasn't exactly conventional. Aiko wasn't particularly body shy, but she didn't see the need to show off her scars and comparatively dinky chest in front of the smexy kage powerhouses in front of her. Fuu looked about ready to implode from embarrassment and kept glancing nervously at the brunet who was chatting with Mei and bringing drinks to the group, but she bravely sunk in the now bubbly, flora-scented water up to her chin instead of fleeing.

'Poor thing. I think she doesn't want to risk miffing Mei any more after she lost control earlier. She's trying to do damage control, but Fuu clearly doesn't want to be here.'

Aiko gave the other girl a sympathetic smile. Fuu really couldn't be that much older than she was, and apparently she was a bit shy. That was a hard personality trait to have in their business.

Other kunoichi began trickling in. About five others made an immediate bee-line for the hot water where two of the most important political figures were already soaking, but others settled at the bar, in front of the sunny windows on lounge chairs with card games and complimentary books, or even around the shoji sets interspersed through the fake forest.

"Suddenly, I am so very glad that I never told Jiraiya this conference was happening," Tsunade groaned, laying back in the water and letting one boy put a drink in her hand while another put cucumbers over her eyes. "He would get way too big of a kick out of this."

"I actually have four ANBU teams specially tasked with keeping him and all 'suspicious' toads out of city limits," Mei said dryly. "Nadeshiko insisted. As did Iwa. Waterfall. Ku-"

"Alright, alright already," Tsunade waved away, faux-testily. The tone was ruined by her rueful grin. "I get the point. He's a scoundrel. If an apology is what you want, I can draft one, but I've never been able to control him." She gestured blindly with her drink at Aiko (inadvertently sloshing something pink and fruity into the pool). "But this one might be helpful."

Temari gave a barking laugh, letting her own clothes drop directly on the floor and stepping in the tub without a care. Her little genin hanger-on was so red-faced that Aiko thought she might actually combust (probably a good hint that Suna didn't have the same cultural nonchalance about nudity in bathhouses that Konoha or Mist did), but the blonde didn't seem to care. "Does Aiko really have a miraculous jutsu to keep him out or something?"

"No, he's my godfather," Aiko yawned, giving a stretch. "He probably doesn't want to see me naked."

Temari dubiously repeated, "Probably?" She slowly shook her head. "Why can't you say that with a little more confidence?" Her voice was unusually high-pitched.

"He's an odd duck," Aiko muttered, laying a hand over her eyes and leaning back.

Mei visibly cringed. "I would hope he would have that small amount of shame." She gave her glass a distasteful look. "I need more alcohol to help me forget that disturbing implication, right away."

"Hey, you could utilize that information for good instead of evil," Fuu cut in with a little amusement, eyes darting to Aiko (and then immediately down into the bubbly water with a blush). "Just…" She cleared her throat to try again. "Just put up glamour shots of Uzumaki-san on billboards if we have a conference like this again. I'm sure that would be suitably scarring. You could justify it as advertising, since she's basically the winner of our tournament. She was the only contestant to beat two other people." Her voice got tinier and tinier until it trailed off into meek nothingness.

Fuu cringed back from the indignant look that Aiko shot her, even as other kunoichi gave in to giggles. "Hey, I'm not so hideous that I should be used to ward off perverts," she protested crossly. "I'm no Tsunade, but I'm not exactly Danzo in a dress, either."

Tsunade spit out a mouthful of her icy drink into the glass still at her lips. "That's disgusting!" she protested crossly, wiping her mouth with the back of a hand. "I can never un-think that image."

"Do I want to know who Danzo is?" Mei asked curiously.

Aiko shook her head. "Not really, other than that he's like seventy years old, cantankerous as all hell, and not about to win Miss Konoha any time soon."

There was a moment of silence.

"Uzumaki, you're a buzz-kill," Yugito posited clinically from the other end of the tub. "I think that in punishment, you should be used to ward off Jiraiya. That statement is not merely motivated by self-interest or personal dislike."

She just rolled her eyes. "You all just lack humor." Aiko considered the conversation over, and turned to lever herself out of the pool. She froze at Temari's curious tone.

"Aiko, is that a tattoo?"

Defensively, she clapped her hand awkwardly over her shoulder blade, (not noticing or caring that a blond cabana boy was gaping stupidly at the way her towel slumped) and shook her head. "Nope! Definitely not." She grabbed another towel from the closest pile and draped it over her shoulders before turning to give the kunoichi still in the hot tub a cheesy grin. "Don't be silly, Temari!"

The Suna nin didn't look convinced, but she just shrugged the abjectly bad denial off.

The soaked towels were a little uncomfortable, so she gratefully accepted the plain robe that was offered and hurriedly changed into that.

At least the company could have been worse. For all her meddling, Konan apparently drew the line at excess socialization, which Aiko both understood and was grateful for (though it did seem like a strange opportunity to miss). She didn't drink more than a serving of alcohol, however, because the idea of being chemically compromised here didn't sit well with her. Tsunade was a badass bitch and could just burn the liquor off if she needed to, but Aiko did stupid things like get tattoos and giggle all night in bars with her ANBU captain when she drank, apparently.

As a reward to herself for being good in regards to mind-altering substances, Aiko allowed one of the masseuses Mei had arranged for to rub some sort of luxurious conditioner into her hair before braiding it and another to give her a foot massage and a pedicure, opting for pink paint out of the rather limited selection. Absently flirting was fun, but as the night dragged on she grew more and more tense and just wished that Tsunade would allow them to leave. The Hokage appeared to be having the time of her life, however, red-cheeked and laughing up a storm with Mei, all but collapsing over each other. The conversation over there seemed to have degenerated into tall tales about fights with missing nin (the only universally politically correct bad-guy to brag about beating up, Aiko noted with vague amusement).

"Would you like a drink?"

"I said no the last ten times, so you can feel free to stop asking," Aiko snapped testily. Immediately, she regretted it and gave a sigh. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I'm a bit tired."

The heavily pierced redhead gave her a faint smile. "No apologies necessary."

"You think you're sso hot," Kurotsuchi slurred, lurching over to point a good foot to Aiko's left, clearly too inebriated to see straight. The redhead whose name she had never asked looked mildly repulsed as the Iwa-nin rather ineptly menaced Aiko. "I could- I can take all three of you." Her brunette attendant followed her over with a long-suffering expression and laid a hand on the girl's shoulder to steer her from starting a fight.

"Yeah, you could sit on me," Aiko mumbled, tossing her braided hair over her shoulder and disengaging with a shared eye-roll with the older teen that she'd snapped at earlier.

'I am not getting paid anywhere near enough for this,' she sighed. 'Baby-sitting heads of state while they alternately politick and get as much relaxation as they can squeeze in is too stressful for a stupid A class mission.'

"Aiko! Walk me back to my room." Temari tossed a hand over Aiko's shoulder. It looked relaxed, but the fingers that laid against the muscles over her collarbone were tense.

This at least promised to be interesting, so she let herself be led up a floor. "Hey, your room is pretty close to mine," she noted. She wondered where Matsuri was, but didn't ask. It might not be something Temari wanted brought up right now.

"That's probably not a coincidence," Temari huffed, shaking her hair out and unlocking her door. "They probably tried to separate people they thought might get into fights as much as possible."

Aiko snorted. "Joke's on them, if I leave her alone for much longer, Tsunade is either going to end up in a fist fight with Mei or sitting on her bed all night while they gossip and paint each other's toenails."

For all that she'd claimed to be disapproving at first, Tsunade had been giggling incoherently at cute men for the past hour or so. That was probably a pretty good sign that she should be going to nap.

"They do have a disturbingly inconsistent dynamic," Temari mused with a slight grimace. Then she shook her head. "That's not important right now. You noticed that something was seriously off with that woman from Ame, right?"

Relieved, Aiko nodded. "I'm glad it's not just me. I think that she's trying to cause trouble."

The blonde frowned. "Something about her bothers me. I think that she has been paying far too much attention to me and alienating the smaller villages from Suna and Konoha in specific. I'm sending Matsuri home. I can't leave, but I wanted to see if you had any ideas. She's been on your case as well since we got here."

"It might just be my enormous paranoia," Aiko acknowledged, "but I can't help but think that the only agenda she could be serving by creating dissent the way she is would be Akatsuki's."

Temari outright shuddered. "I don't like that idea," she said darkly, giving a wary glance at the door. "It had crossed my mind that she was a spy, but I had assumed that Ame was planning to try to undermine us for some reason and not that she might actually be affiliated with Akatsuki."

Aiko snorted, reaching out to ascertain that Konan's seal and the woman attached weren't nearby before she responded. Assuming the Akatsuki had gone to her hotel room, she was based two floors above them on the opposite end of the building. That was definitely too far to overhear, so she didn't feel too wary about intimating, "Why does it have to be one or the other?"

She couldn't outright say that she knew things like that with no evidence, but she could lead Temari to the right conclusions if she was willing to listen. Tsunade had been disinterested, but here was a willing ear. If Temari got Gaara on the right track, then Tsunade would have to pay attention to the admittedly minor bits of evidence she had under the guise of an intuitive leap.

"You don't beat around the bush, do you," Temari said wryly.

'You don't know the half of it.'

She felt a sudden rush of honesty well up. Sure, this was a big hint as to her most important technique, but she did trust Temari. The sand kunoichi was a genuine ally, and sharing this information could help them make a better plan of action. Besides, it was almost like following through on her promise to Yamato… even if he might have preferred that she work with Tsunade rather than Temari.

Well, Temari wasn't an inebriated hot mess right now.

"On that note, I should probably tell you that I tagged her. So at least I know where she is at all times."

Temari's expression twisted into incredulousness before she gave the distinct impression that she had a massive headache. "How?" she asked helplessly, before making a sharp motion with one hand to cut off conversation. "Never mind that. You mean a Hiraishin, right?" At the sheepish nod, she outright groaned. "You…" Then she shook her head to start a new train of thought. "That's good. We can use this. Do you think we should try to ambush her?"

Aiko cringed a little. "I'm not sure I want to go that far without provocation," she admitted. "If we get caught, it would seem to validate every stupid claim she's been making."

Left unsaid was that could be even worse than doing nothing, if Konan really was just there to observe. But they could hardly afford not to act on their suspicions if the Akatsuki were going to make infiltrating this conference worth their time by taking a jinchuuriki souvenir.

"So we don't get caught," Temari posited logically.

"Should murdering a diplomat really be option number one?" Aiko asked a bit skeptically.

Temari snorted. "I highly doubt that she's a real diplomat. But you're probably right about not making that our first option. Then again, what would undermine her claims quite like doing something highly suspicious like just disappearing?" She gave a cruel little smile and wavered her hand in the air to emphasize the point.

'God, I love this girl.'

"That'll only work as long as it looks like she was the one who made a break for it," Aiko reasoned out, tugging on her braid. "If it seems like something went wrong and made her panic, anyone with a healthy sense of self-preservative paranoia will investigate her further. What do we need to do to avoid leaving the impression of foul play?"

Aiko jerked into consciousness in the dead of night, with no idea what was wrong. But something had to have woken her up. Out of habit, her first check was a visual scan, a chakra pulse, and then she quietly peered into Tsunade's room under Jiraiya's chameleon genjutsu with her chakra silenced.

'Nothing.'

She frowned, unsettled. Had it just been paranoia? A bad dream that woke her up?

'I can't dismiss this. If something is wrong and I ignore it…'

She trailed off the thought, realizing that her mind was only leading her to one prominent idea of what could go horribly wrong. There were multiple variations on the scenario, of course, but they all involved Konan.

Konan. Who was crossing the hotel towards Temari's room. Temari, who was lodging alone after Matsuri had left. Somewhat unpleasantly, she realized that it would look awfully suspicious that Temari had sent Matsuri home if Temari were to disappear in the dead of the night.

'If Kumo could think of using a jinchuuriki's sister as bait, Akatsuki could. And she might be trying the same thing we thought of: making her look like a suspect by suspiciously disappearing her.'

If Konan were to do something like take a jinchuuriki with her, Temari would be the obvious suspect. And that was disregarding the value Temari had as a hostage against Gaara.

On the bright side, this neatly wrapped up the problem Temari and Aiko had wrestled with about how to avoid any signs of foul play. No one would look for signs of a struggle in Temari's room, and Konan had doubtlessly made sure she wasn't seen on her way to Temari's rooms. They could turn Konan's trap back on her.

'That's assuming that she doesn't know about the seal I put on her.' Aiko frowned, rapidly strapping on her arm protectors and shoving on her boots. They doubtlessly looked stupid with the white tank top and pink cotton shorts she was wearing for pajamas, but there wasn't time to change further. Of course, since she was still under Jiraiya's genjutsu, it didn't matter much. 'If she does know about that, she would deal with it by having backup and get both of us at one time. This could easily be that trap.' Uncertainly, she glanced over at the room where her Hokage was sleeping. Going to check on Temari would mean leaving Tsunade alone.

'Temari is in definite danger. Tsunade… She can take care of herself. I won't be gone long.'

Aiko hastily dropped her genjutsu and knocked on the wall in Tsunade's room to startle her awake from a safe distance. "Tsunade-sama!" she hissed, keeping her voice low even as the older woman lurched upwards to glare at her. "That creepy woman from Rain is approaching Temari's room. I think she's trying something."

Tsunade groaned and fell back into her bed with a whumpf. "Enough with the Rain-nin," she huffed, rubbing at a temple. "Really, you woke me up to tell me that your new personal enemy is walking around the halls at four in the morning? Maybe she needs to get some damn ice. Bother me when you have something more solid to act on."

She had to resist the urge to stomp her foot childishly against the ground. Tsunade didn't believe that there was reason to worry, but from her perspective, the evidence was pretty circumstantial at best. Fine. "Can I go check on her?" Aiko bit out testily. She swung around and back into her room the instant she had permission, slapping a seal onto her door so that she could return and pulling Jiraiya's genjutsu back on. By this point, Konan had stopped moving… probably actually inside Temari's room. She couldn't linger. There just wasn't time to argue with Tsunade.

She didn't like the plan, but she silenced her chakra signature, took a calming breath, and flickered to Konan's seal. Temari was standing combatively in front of her bed, mussy-haired and pajama clad. By contrast, Konan was fully dressed in the same outfit that Aiko had noted the day before. Ew.

"I'm afraid I will have to ask you to come with me."

Temari gritted her teeth, probably noting the same irony that Aiko had about their pipe-dream ambush being turned back. Her eyes darted towards her fan—propped against the wall, right next to the impassive looking Konan.

But lo and behold, the blue-haired woman didn't seem to notice Aiko at all. That was more of a shock than anything. Shouldn't an elite terrorist be able to spot some geeky teenager trying to sneak up on her? Granted, the hope had been that she would pass unnoticed, but she hadn't really thought it would work.

Temari jerked towards her weapon and then leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding getting pinned to the wall by some small weapon that Aiko hadn't even seen Konan throw.

'Well, item number one on the agenda is to take this fight away from here so we don't draw any attention… or worse, so that we don't find out exactly how she was planning to extract Temari. If Konan really is reliant on some paper-based ninjutsu, the easiest way to decrease her combat capacity is to get any paper on her soggy.'

She spent a long moment willing Temari to step closer to Konan so that she could flash between the two and grab them at the same time. But that wasn't going to happen, Temari was a mid-to long range fighter. Of course she didn't want to get any closer.

Oh. Duh.

'If only I had a jutsu that allowed instantaneous travel so that I could come back for the person I initially leave behind,' Aiko mocked herself internally, shaking her wrist to loosen up the joints and gritting her jaw. 'Dumbfuck.' She flash-stepped immediately behind Konan and burnt a Hiraishin seal onto the back of her neck even as she tore the two of them away from Water Country and dropped them into a section of ocean that should be between Wave Country and Mist's island chain.

Konan sputtered, but regained her balance to stand on the water and darted forward to break free of Aiko's grip. Disappointing. She was going to have to be forced into the water instead of obligingly fall in out of surprise. Whatever her faults, Konan had excellent reaction time. And many small weapons falling out of her robe to hover oddly at her side and around her in a cloud that partially obscured the older woman, even as she looked around for her new opponent with a small line of confusion pressed between her eyes.

'Yes, paper. That's definitely paper coming out of her sleeves,' Aiko judged grimly. 'Kind of pretty though.'

She didn't care how pretty it was. She didn't want to be killed by thousands of papercuts. It was something like what she imagined working in an office would be like.

She spotted the exact instant that Konan seemed to notice the slight shimmer left by the chameleon genjutsu in the night air, which was frankly impressive. It was hard enough to see in daylight. Maybe she wasn't a total idiot.

"Jiraiya?" Konan sounded confused.

Aiko's jaw dropped in indignation at the same time the genjutsu did. "Did you seriously just mistake me for a fifty year old man?" She asked incredulously, placing a hand on her chest. She wasn't old! Konan was the old one. Who the hell was she to criticize Aiko?

"Uzumaki," Konan breathed, quirking her fingers delicately to direct the cloud of paper butterflies hovering in a cloud at her command.

"Yes, it's Uzumaki, you tacky idiot," she snapped irritably, tilting her hip out combatively. "Because I pity you and you're obviously as thick as you are blind, here's an economics lesson. Maybe if you bothered to spend ten dollars on waterproof mascara, you wouldn't look like a five dollar hooker. I doubt it though, since you're dumb enough to match your eyeshadow to your hair."

'And maybe if it were waterproof, it wouldn't run down your stupid face when I soak you. You stupid head.'

Konan looked confused, frankly, but Aiko didn't have time for her shit. She flickered back to the hotel (and had to reorient outside of Temari's room and let herself in sheepishly because she hadn't thought to plant a seal there) to grab her comrade. Temari was still blinking at her room, though she'd turned the light on and snatched up her fan to hug it protectively to her chest.

"We're going on a field trip," Aiko said grimly, grabbing Temari's arm and forcibly dragging her to the position where she'd left Konan. Perhaps she should have warned her comrade, because Temari yelped and sank down to her ankles before she reflexively adjusted to stand on the water.

'Well, I don't need two seals on her,' Aiko thought a bit vindictively, and yanked on the explosive she had first planted on Konan.

The Akatsuki gave out a tiny grunt, but didn't have the wherewithal to control the widening of her eyes when her hip suddenly decided that it wanted to spontaneously combust. It demonstrated that desire with a violent expulsion of chunks of flesh and a spatter of hot blood that arced out over the water. Konan jerked sideways, nearly dropping to her knee before she re-balanced.

Aiko was reluctantly impressed. Now that was adapting. It wasn't what she'd wanted, though: she had thought that Konan would lose concentration long enough to get soaked.

"Did your hip just go out?" Temari snarked, hefting her fan ominously and letting the first joint slide silently open. "I hear that's normal for the elderly. That's okay, I'm sure you can just stand and fight. You don't look like much of a runner anyway, grandmother time."

Konan heaved a jagged breath and cut her right arm across her torso violently without so much as a word, possibly because her teeth were still gritted shut. Aiko jerked away from the spray of paper that shot towards the two girls, but Temari stood her ground and flipped her fan all the way open in one smooth motion before viciously batting the projectiles back at Konan. Some flew past, some came to an abrupt halt, but some connected with the woman and melded into her clothing.

"Come on," Temari jeered, expression ugly. "You think you're going to hit either of us with something like that?"

The Akatsuki narrowed her eyes and flung both arms upward. It would have been a dramatic move if even she hadn't grown enormous white wings and shot straight upwards into the air.

"Okay, that might help," Temari acknowledged quietly, tilting her head slightly to the side as Konan partially dissolved up to her hips into thousands of sheets of colored paper, which apparently decided that now was an excellent time to fold into shuriken that glinted in a rather ominous way that implied they weren't regular paper. The sight momentarily took Aiko's breath away: what little she could see under moon and starlight, anyway. They hung in the air for a split second, alien and beautiful.

And then they weren't just floating on the breeze.

"Move!" Aiko half-shrieked, barreling her ally out of the way when they shot downwards. It was like trying to dodge raindrops—they were so thickly packed that they was no way to avoid the barrage without escaping the hundred-foot wide crowd. She flung her arms around Temari just as the first of the tiny blades came crashing down onto her head. She jerkily reoriented the two of them several hundred feet away to Konan's left, though unfortunately still in her range of vision since Konan had taken the high ground.

The next thing she registered was that blood was soaking her face. "Ow," Aiko said dumbly, running a hand up her head to pull out the half-dozen tiny blades sticking directly into her skull. Temari was wide-eyed but unharmed, having ducked while Aiko had moved horizontally. The only blood on her was Aiko's. Pain came a moment later.

"I think now would be a good time to test your theory that getting her wet would slow her down," Temari said a bit faintly. Aiko nodded, wiping blood out of her eyes as best as she could with the underside of her forearm.

"Good plan. Please tell me you have a kunai or something like that on you? Anything small."

Temari hurriedly hitched up her sleeping robe to her thigh and yanked a single short blade off a leg holster. "Make it count."

"I will," Aiko responded a bit grimly, pressing a Hiraishin seal onto it—and then throwing it directly downwards, into the ocean. She didn't wait to see Temari's (no doubt hilarious) reaction before she shot upwards to Konan and violently wrapped her hands around the woman's neck where her seal was and then instantly brought the two of them back down to the seal she had just thrown down into the freezing depths of the ocean.

'Ha. Water beats paper.'

Except the next thing she knew was that Konan had dissolved into razor sharp sheaves of paper under her grip and brutally sliced at all the flesh she found, scoring dozens of times on her fingers, hands, and up her arms. She had kicked away from the pain in the same instant, slightly before she could register the biting pain from hundreds of tiny cuts into her torso and shoulders.

'Water does not beat paper! Paper wins, paper wins!'Aiko thought somewhat frantically, and ricocheted back up to the surface to wrap her cold arms around her torso and put pressure on the worst of the bleeding.

That had all happened in less than two seconds. Temari's eyes were wide and aghast with just a little bit of fear, and Aiko knew that the Sand kunoichi had caught on to the same thing that she had even as she rushed to brace Aiko up.

They couldn't beat Konan.

"New plan," Temari huffed, jerking her fan up to shield them as paper shards shot out of the water and veered at the two kunoichi. She couldn't help grimacing at the ugly sounds of colliding metal. "We're not going to be able to kill her. Retreat?"

"I never retreat, but I think that we could advance in a backwards direction," Aiko shot back with a faint smile that didn't reach her eyes. "We can't leave her here, though. She's too close. She could come back to Mist within the day."

"How far away can you dump her off?," Temari asked grimly, arms shuddering under the force of holding up her weapon against Konan's paper spears that definitely were not paper.

Aiko shrugged helplessly. "The northern half of Wind country? But I don't think that's necessarily a good idea."

Temari gave an ugly bark of a laugh. "If that woman wanted to get through the borders, she would, so that wouldn't be the worst. But I think she's laying low for some reason. I bet that she'll go back home. Could you take her straight to Rain?"

"I don't want to go there, but… Grass?"

A single sheaf of paper fluttered innocently through the gap between Temari's fan and the surface of the water.

'Well, that can't be anything good.'

Aiko clung to her friend like a limpet and Hiraishin'd them a hundred feet away. It wasn't quite enough to escape the massive wave that erupted after what had apparently been an explosive tag snapped into fire on their old position. Both girls were slapped with a good hundred-something pounds of force and dragged into the salty water.

"Just get the bitch!" Temari forced out breathlessly, spitting sea water out and futilely trying to climb back up to the still agitated surface of the water. The next shockwave of water from the epicenter dragged them both back under.

'I can't. Not as long as she's in hundreds of pieces.'

Despairingly, Aiko kicked upwards towards the faint hint of moonlight she could see, feeling Temari struggling similarly at her side. She would Hiraishin up, but the seconds spent underwater were actually her best chance at an opportunity to think, as terrifying as that was.

What would make Konan reform? Well, the need to do something that she couldn't do as thousands of pieces of paper seemed to be a good bet.

That meant she needed to parse out what Konan could and couldn't do as paper. Clearly, she could kick their asses. But she couldn't take either of them captive, or talk to them.

So, what, pretend to be defeated? It wouldn't be much of a play. She was in very real danger of bleeding out if she didn't slow her heartbeat and get medical attention. Temari was fresh, though, having blocked or been out of the way of Konan's attacks so far.

Konan would probably make a move to capture them once they were incapacitated, but she didn't want to have to have Konan beat on Temari to that point to get her to make a move.

Temari seemed to clue in at the same time Aiko did, and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't you da-"

Too late. Aiko carried Temari to her hotel room and the two collapsed with an ugly squelching thud on the carpeted floor, soaking and shuddering. Tsunade burst into the room an instant later.

"Tsunade, stop her-" Temari snapped out, but Aiko flash-stepped back wards and held her hands out, openly pleading for them to understand.

"I can't leave her there! She'll just come back and it'll be so much worse. She'll only make a move to become solid if she thinks she's won. That's the only way I'll be able to grab her and get her out. I'll let her think I'm being cocky and want to take her by myself so that she reforms once it's obvious she's won."

Bless her heart, Tsunade was both quick on the uptake and didn't ask stupid questions. "If you get any more beat up, you're going to lose consciousness, and you really might die or be taken captive," she warned grimly, moving to help Temari up off the floor. "Is whatever is going on worth that risk?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Aiko replied, relieved that Tsunade was willing to trust her judgment in a hurry. "Permission to re-engage target?"

"Yes, but Sabaku here is going to be explaining things," Tsunade gave Temari a warning glare. Aiko pulled a tired smile at the sight, letting it be the last thing she noted in the hotel. At least she didn't have to be the one to talk things out with Tsunade.

Back on the water, Aiko scanned the area for her opponent, cursing that the increased light in her hotel room had diminished her night vision again.

'Focus, just focus. I just need to draw her out into showing herself, grab her, and ditch her in the desert somewhere. Then I can go back to Tsunade and get medical attention.'

Harder than it sounded. The night was ominously still and silent. Apparently Konan had some genjutsu or something to help her hide as well. Maybe she'd just left. Maybe Aiko was too late and she was on her way back to Mist.

'My legs are shaking,' she noted distantly.

Funny. She didn't remember getting her legs injured. Still, her left knee wobbled precariously. It gave out when she was hit from behind. Aiko caught herself on her elbows and immediately scrambled forward, splashing as her focus wavered and she partially dipped below the water, struggling to get to her feet. That pretty well proved that Konan was here. She had to regain her feet and grab her—chakra chains if she had to, although Konan was likely to just dissolve around them and escape.

And then she knew nothing.

"She's not coming back tonight, is she," Temari asked quietly, staring down at the five small splotches of blood on the hotel carpet. They had waited for two hours, and the sun was beginning to warm them through the window.

Tsunade looked strangely pale. "I don't think she is," she agreed numbly. "I think it's time that we go seek out the Mizukage. I think that this counts as a kidnapping from her conference. We're going to have to go with a selective lie, however."

"What, don't want to tell anyone that Aiko's been marking everyone within arm's reach?" she asked tiredly, not really able to inject any venomous humor. Her friend was either dead or lost to Akatsuki.

'and it should have been me. If she hadn't followed Konan to my room, it would be me. My tessen is all but shot, and I only took a couple blows. I couldn't fight that woman at all.' Her face tensed, and she clenched her hands into fists at her side. 'I need to get stronger. A lot stronger. I couldn't even keep up with Aiko, and she got her ass handed to her. '

"No, I don't," Tsunade sighed. "That would be a diplomatic nightmare. New story is that your fight with Konan spilled out into the hall, Aiko heard and went to investigate. I followed out, but a second too late when Aiko took the two of you out of city limits to protect civilians from collateral damage. From there, we can tell the truth." Her gaze drifted to the floor and tightened, staring at the same drying blood stains Temari had been hovering over all night. "Lucky us, we even have some collaborating evidence that there was a fight, and everyone had a chance to see Aiko's skill set the day before, so they won't distrust that she would have reflexively used Hiraishin."

"Yeah, lucky," Temari repeated bitterly, moving to stand. "That's exactly how I feel."

[ginnsbaker]

I hate reader so much 💀 like all of their actions leave me completely flabbergasted you have that dream about hurting a woman you love (or loved i can’t even tell anymore) because you know you’re a toxic person whos been using and hurting her and immediately after ending that jump straight back into things with another woman. I really want pietro to see reader maybe with yelena and just snap and have a fight and then somewhere in that lets it slip what wanda did cos reader needs to know and i’m interested to see how they react to that tbh i can see if reader does find out then wanda potentially getting the wrong idea like reader only suddenly cares out of pity or something like that. Also yelena is a weird one cos in some ways shes very similar to wanda in the sense that she doesn’t seem to want to give up on reader (genuinely cannot understand why but uno). Yelena surely must know that reader is not good for her (especially not without therapy and lots of it) and there are other/better options. It just seems that yelenas sense of self worth isn’t great either if she’s so willing to keep putting herself through things with reader. I also think if reader really cared about yelena they wouldn’t be perusing anything yet, since they ended things with wanda they haven’t really been alone and not knowing how to be alone seems to be doing more damage than good. Now im gonna talk a bit about wanda, I don’t know how you have me feeling so much sympathy towards a cheater (especially as someone who was cheated on). One thing i wanted to ask is why did wanda cheat? Like i can’t really get my head around it because there didn’t seem to be any problems or sense of unhappiness from her? Like seriously every chapter I’m waiting for a reveal like she was being drugged or blackmailed or something anything cos I can’t understand why. But anyway, im glad wanda is getting therapy finally someone in this fic is it’s about damn time. The dream in the start made me so sad because its so true reader is hurting wanda so much and shes just taking it all because she’s convinced herself it’s justified and she deserves it. Even when she was defending reader against her brother it was just heartbreaking because reader doesn’t deserve that. And like i know she was wrong and she cheated but even then she doesn’t deserve what reader is doing to her using her for sex and being so rough just doesn’t sit right with me at all. Also hearing reader say they wanted to hurt her is sad i was half expecting something saying that they just said that for yelenas sake and deep down they still love her but nope. And at this point i dont know if they should work things out even though i wanted them to at the start. The more i read the more i think reader fucked up more and keeps fucking up and honestly wanda deserves better than giving herself up and letting someone use her. Im not team yelena or team wanda im more team therapy or team make wanda happy 😂

💀 anon, is this you? if not, i hope you assign yourself an emoji cos this is GOLD reaction haha (minor spoilers ahead-wont affect you experience i think)

Reader - Not gonna make an excuse about her actions because Pietro is right. But Delayed-onset PTSD, is showing us the ACTUAL effects of the cheating on R's mental and emotional stability.

Piet - He promised not to tell R, and he will respect his sister's wishes. But... yes, R will find out.

Yelena - I didn't want to say anything about Y being that she's the one who's least fucked up, but to go after someone hard and refuse to give up on someone despite the red flags is also a cause for alarm. R and Y were each other's first loves. R got married. Then miraculously, R got divorced and Y couldn't believe the window opened to The One That Got Away/Love of her life. How do you let that opportunity go? Yelena is stubborn because she grew up with R, she think she still knows R, still knows how to fix her, that she can get better for her in the long run. Don't we all, at one point, chose to stick with someone even tho they are bad for us, because love gave us hope?

Wanda - "we accept the love we think we deserve" as long as Wanda hasn't forgiven herself, she thinks she deserves every bad thing thrown her way. Sometimes people really are genuine remorseful. This is why I questioned my belief if I can forgive cheating (and IFISS and ILGOSS was born)

Back to Reader - someone mentioned Reader is becoming the villain of the story. I kinda lean on that because out of everyone, R is the one who needs therapy, especially because on the surface she seems sane. She IS trying to still be good, to be decent, to give people what they want, and the thing that happened with Wanda was her momentarily giving in to her darkest deepest desires, and snapped out of it, stopped herself further by ghosting Wanda again. But this strategy clearly isn't working anymore, so yeah, therapy for everyone!

whew! I hope you get some insights about this, but as the story unfolds, i hope all the things ive said above will bleed through.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!

Even more so for sending this reaction. I love reading everyone's thoughts!

[resuri-art]

Since your host!bakura and spirit!ryou series is coming to an end, are there any things that you wanted to include but couldn't?

I think I managed to put everything I wanted, but actually I have a deleted scene from part 3. Marik and Isis' confrontation was going to be very different at first.

After seing his brother on the Death-T, Isis was initially going to catch Marik and Bakura as they exited Kaibaland and take both of them with her to have a talk.

I changed it because it was too soon for Isis to be aware of Ryou's existence, but if you're curious about how it would have go:

(Also note that this is a draft I didn't work on since I changed the scenario. The writing may be a bit off.)

°○°○°○°○°○°○°○°○°

The boys were gathered at the Ishtar house, sitting on the couch. Honestly it looked like another kidnapping.

"So… Still don't feel like facing sis?" Marik mentally asked his host as he was stuck fronting. He was still in command when they exited the park, and seeing Isis panicked his host, resulting of them being unable to switch.

"Believe me, I'm trying! Can't you just go?"

"Nope," the alter sighed, "I can't just choose to leave, you know it. You have to calm down for that."

"Easy to say! Did you see the look on her face?!"

"She will kill us all, probably."

"You think she knows it's you?"

"Probably. She doesn't just look angry. She is looking at me like I killed her family."

"..."

"Yeah. It sounded funnier before I actually said it."

Marik blinked when he felt someone holding his hand. He looked to the side and saw Ryou smiling at him. Marik smiled back, appreciating the support his friend was giving him.

"So," Isis said as she sat down in front of them, making them all flinch. "For starters, you." She pointed at Marik. "What did you do to my brother?"

Marik tensed, and his host could tell how hurt he was hurt by her words.

"... I'm here."

"You're not my brother."

Marik clenched his fist as he felt the anger growing inside his chest. His eyes immediately searched for something- Anything he could throw at her.

"Calm down! Please! I understand you're angry, but hitting her won't help us! You won't feel better!" His host pleaded, but feeling him scared wasn't helping the alter.

"You don't know that."

"I do!"

"I'm sorry," Ryou said, cutting Marik in his thoughts. "I'm not sure how much you know, but this is Marik. Just… A different part of him."

Isis glared at him.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, spirit."

Ryou smiled at her, and it made Bakura shiver inside their mind. It was his smile whenever he was mad and about to (figuratively) muder someone.

"Right, I'm a spirit. A very old spirit, that knows way more about soul magic than you," Ryou's eyes become cold. "So I would suggest you show me a bit more respect."

"What-?" Isis frowned. "The ring is known to be the most cursed artifact. You think anything you said had any value?"

"Try spending 3000 years alone in the dark and see how your mind handles it. Then we'll talk about being cursed."

The two of them glared at each other for a moment. Then Ryou sighed.

"I understand that family is important for you. So do you really wish to lose Marik because you're too stubborn to listen to what he has to say?"

Isis blinked, looked at the spirit, then at her brother. The two still have their hands linked, as if Ryou was trying to appease Marik. It seemed to work since the alter was only looking down, avoiding her eyes. Isis put a hand on her forehead. She let out a long sigh.

"Alright. I'm listening."

"... Sis."

Isis looked up, surprised, and recognised that it was now his brother in front of her.

"Marik!"

The blond raised a hand, palm open, to stop her from getting up.

"Wait. You have to apologize."

"What?"

"To the other me. You have to apologize. You can't say that to him."

Isis blinked, surprised. Out of all the things Marik could have said, she didn't expect him to defend that other personality.

"What do you mean, Marik? He-"

"I know what he did. But he is me. We are the same person. So whatever he does, it's also me doing it. And so, he is your brother too."

"Since how long is he back?"

"He never left. I just lied to you because I knew you would try to get rid of him," Marik sighed. "Look, I'm not proud of lying to you. But you never listen. Not when you think only you can be right."

"Talking of lying. When were you going to tell me you found the puzzle and the ring?"

Marik looked away, and Ryou just shrugged. Couldn't help him with this one.

"I'm sorry… It wasn't to lie, but…" Marik sighed. "Look, I don't care about the Pharaoh. I don't understand why we have to serve a dead guy, sacrifice all our life for it. Everything happened because of him."

"Marik-"

"Besides, Ryou is my friend. I didn't want him to be at risk with the ritual."

Ryou looked at Marik, moved by his word.

"You admitted out loud we were friends. You and Bakura are always so emotionally shuttered. I'm so proud of you."

"You didn't have to say that out loud…" Marik mumbled as he looked away. In his mind, he could hear his alter snorting, "Could be more than friends if you weren't such a coward."

"Shut up you too. You just want to fuck him."

"Yes. But I'm sure this comes from you rather than me."

°○°○°○°○°○°○°○°○°

This was the deleted scene! Also I wrote that last exchange between the Marik for fun but I didn't want that fic to turn into conspireshipping, so it wouldn't have make it into the fic anyway.

[deathsbestgirl]

3.13 syzygy

(had to include 3.13 cuz that’s my anniversary <3)

under a cut cuz ofc this is longer than it needs to be

oh right that’s ryan reynolds !!!

i love these two actresses, i think they’re so good. but i think their characters’ names should have been switched 😂

*also* am i supposed to believe they’re straight? i only see gay activity

it’s the way mulder & scully are bickering the first moment we see them. why are they on each other’s nerves already lmaooo

scully looking *so* annoyed when mulder explains her skepticism to white — top notch.

scully judging a woman for her hair?? so ooc. only acceptable in this episode because it’s the whole point.

it’s my opinion that all of the annoyances are very real & in character — but every single one of their actions & reactions regarding it is what’s out of character. they hide their feelings better when ~emotions are involved, and professional disagreements is what their entire working partnership is based on. and only when they hit boiling points do they have real arguments about their difference of opinion.

i love scully poking holes in detective white’s theories is beautiful. and she’s literally so right. like. they have no evidence of what these girls are saying?? nor have they identified anyone.

“look, we’ve been working together for what, two years now? we have differing opinions, but i didn’t expect you to ditch me.”

SCULLY IS SO RIGHT. mulder trying to claim he didn’t ditch her specifically because he was annoyed with her *correct* assessment that this isn’t the work of satanists??

it’s funny though, because it is like him to ditch her, or maybe from his perspective, to pursue his hunches, try to prove his theories. but he usually only ~ditches her when he thinks it’s necessary. and it just is not necessary here. to give her no option or heads up? also weird of him to badly defend her to det. white.

and like i know scully’s jealous BUT she just feels more in the right. unsurprising for me to think/feel that lol

what i love though is how ambiguous her reaction & emotions are. it would be very easy to believe what she said about his behavior & thinking it’s about his professionalism — but when she’s smoking in her motel room, muttering to herself?? a little more difficult. could still say that she’s professionally annoyed because he’s trusting this detective he doesn’t know & has no rapport with. meanwhile they’ve been partners more than two years now, she has proven herself an asset, gained his trust & trusted him in that time — and with det. white, she doesn’t have to do anything.

the whole scene in mulder’s motel room weirds me out. it makes me so uncomfortable. like i know he’s trying to see if she was the one wearing his “favorite perfume” but touching intimately like that, and not just standing close to her? WEIRD. drinking, slightly ooc. he’s all messed up cuz him & scully are off so i don’t think it’s out of the question.

DRIVING WHEN HE WAS DRINKING?! no. NO. nope. i hate it.

(honestly this whole episode just cracks me up but that really bothers me, cuz he’s so not inconsiderate in that way. he can be in a lot of other ways, but something that could endanger others and not because of their line of work. it’s a hard ooc moment for me to swallow.)

the ~big macho man~ and ~little feet/pedals~ comments are absolutely hilarious. mulder having white drive with scully — hysterical. and so so interesting that this is when they finally get some answers. even if those answers are scientifically unexplainable for fbi purposes.

was the doctor crossdressing out of character for him? the paranoia in the small town? believing the murders are the work of satanists? what are these people really like?

their conversation about margi & terri is hilarious. it’s the only one so far where they seem to be properly communicating and then scully says ~sure. fine. whatever.~ for the second time.

OH and the movie 😂😂😂

“hey girlfriend” queer activity !!!

all of the guns firing and the desks moving — literally how does scully explain this to herself? does she think it was like a fever dream lollll

also mulder dragging & throwing margi into a room is so fucking comical. and scully throwing terri in too? and then they just wait it out??

the paranoid town folks come with their pitchforks l, ready to exact their own justice and then as soon as they see the girls, POOF. but they still insist it was the devil 😭😭 even mulder is exasperated at that point lmao

and literally what the heck was detective white doing? opening the door with a mob right there?! she’s kind of really dumb…

scully driving like a lunatic, ignoring him, running a stop sign — hilarious. i fucking love it. “shut up mulder” “sure fine whatever”

this is a very special unhinged episode. cuz like. sure they’re a little ooc but it still very much feels like them. like the worst thing is actually their choice of substances and the disregard they show each other.

and still i just think — they’re so good at communicating about their work and i don’t understand why that doesn’t cross over into the more personal. like the way scully actually goes at mulder for his behavior with detective white is crazy, so unlike how she behaved when it was phoebe, bambi, or fowley. the differences in her behavior from p > b > f is actually kinda sweet. i think it reflects the stage of their partnership & her (internalized) recognition of her feelings. but detective white? her reactions are a little over the top for where they currently are. even if the undercurrent has been there since the beginning.

and now i’m just thinking of squeeze 😩😩 because mulder was pretty territorial but still pretty lowkey. and he’s acting surprised at this point that she feels territorial of him and protective of their trust & partnership. what an idiot

[forestryfae]

holy fucking shit is it possible to get more self centered. holy shit.

stepmom called at like 22:30 the first time. didnt answer. clear sign to not fucking call again id say given most normal people are asleep by now. called again like ten minutes later and i thought well maybe its an emergency. surely shes not stupid enough to call twice in the evening around most peoples bedtime. <--- said by someone who was once called by her 7 times in half an hour and all they wanted was either a chat or they bought me a lamp at ikea idfr

nope. shes chatting away and shit asking where i am, whether i want to celebrate christmas with them, fully expecting me to let them help me when i move into an apartment.

first of all lmao wtf. im not asking them for fucking help moving my shit, if i did theyd go to sweden that exact day and be like "oh were in sweden right now but we can come by later :)" like they did when we asked them to maybe come help w the house. dad was tasked with contacting a lawyer for me once too, he promised hed do it he knew how horrible i had it and when we got to the meeting w my support team he told me he hadnt done it. 2 months i waited and he just hadnt bothered. btw i got really sick a few days later. fever, exhaustion, the whole thing.

and then shes like "it must be so nice to have your legal guardian and finally have someone who gets stuff done" yeah well dad was useless and mom was actively hindering me from talking to a lawyer and you and dad knew how bad it was but you didnt do shit to help so. thanks for that ig.

btw letting me stay for a week during christmas does not count. i really want to say im grateful but rn i dont feel grateful. im pissed. they knew how bad it was and did fucking nothing. i talked about how bad it was and they did nothing but try to talk down how bad it was, atleast dad. sure, stepmom defended me sometimes but having my dad say the shit he did and acting like it was no big deal living alone in a rotten cold house w two cats while i was severely depressed and utterly isolated and only helping if he felt like it. holy fucking shit. yeah dude atleast its getting taken care of i fuvking guess. being a parent doesnt stop when your kid turns 18 and if you marry a dude w kids you cant just. not talk to the kids if it doesnt suit you

and shes asking for all this info about where i am and so on and i just gotta lie. i dont wanna have to argue with a grown ass woman at nearly 11 pm and tell her i straight up dont want them to know cus theyve been utterly useless at all times except like. two times. dad fixed some electrics and i got to stay for christmas and thats it. ive been driven home after shopping sure but whose fucking fault is it i dont have a license? could unsupportive parents who offer to help but dont ever let me drive be part of the problem? could the lack of legal help and effort be a part of the problem?

and obvs im answering in single words and the occasional sentences cus im fucking annoyed and trying not to be rude but shes chatting away about shit she has no business knowing or getting involved in at almost 11 pm. so the call ends w her asking if im sad cus i "sound so sad" like no im not sad. tell her im not sad. she said something afterwards i dont remember but i did wind up saying that "well its kind of really late to call someone at 10:30 in the evening" and she starts. going on about how she just really missed me and missed talking to me and at this point internally im just fuming. she called that late at night just to chat? is she fucking stupid?

like its not bad enough the only times i ever get called is when theyre bored in the car and need entertainment so i have to sit there listening to my own voice echo out of their handsfree while the mic is garbling their voices so bad i can barely tell wtf theyre saying over the sound of traffic. and now shes calling in the middle of the night tol cus her emotional need is too important to let people sleep