#and i took them and the stuff from the crates and then sat in my inventory for a while in utter terror

[bimb0fy]

perfect girlfriend; monkey d luffy

pairings; monkey d luffy x shank!reader

warning(s); mentions of scars, kinda suggestive at the end.

summary; luffy always had your name in his mouth, his girlfriend this! his girlfriend that! the crew never knew if you had actually existed considering the fact that your name didn't ring any bells or that well, they haven't met you yet. when luffy proposed a visit they all agreed to put an end to this little charade.

word count: 1,071 words

ᵐᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡⁱˢᵗ!! | ⁿᵃᵛⁱᵍᵃᵗⁱᵒⁿ!!

— Luffy smiled as he ran over the deck, perfecting everything that looked slightly unpleasing. He hadn't seen you in months, going back to his old village meant seeing you again and he wanted it to be perfect. You both kept in touch by sending letters and after a while, ended up buying phones to reach each other faster.

Nami sat on a crate, her legs crossed as Sanji and Zoro stood beside her. Ussop was attempting to stop Luffy from falling overboard. She looked over at the two boys who rolled their eyes. "Not one bit huh?" Nami asked the two who nodded.

Sanji had faith in the beginning, believing the boy since well, he has a heart of gold, but after a while of hearing stories that sound like tales out of a naive boys mouth is well, unbelievable. Yes, it was possible for him to have a girlfriend, yet she can't be great in everything.

She can't be a fantastic with swords and a genius in the medical field, she can't be the best cook, better then Sanji Luffy might say, and have a hand for crafts. Maybe he was simply overcompensating about his love.

"Luffy, the ship looks great, I'm sure your girl will love it." Sanji smiled at the boy as both Nami and Zoro let out stiffled laughs.

"Whats so funny?" Luffy asked the group who looked at eachother. Luffy grew more concerned as he took his hat off, sliding them onto his shoulders.

"It's just that we uh." Nami started as she tried to figure out a way to frame it in a decent way.

"We don't think she exists." Zoro answered as Nami turned to the boy, her eyes wide as he shrugged. "What, it's better then lying."

"Y/n is real, why don't you guys believe me?" Luffy asked the crew who stayed quiet. He looked among them as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "She's real, shes a pirate too, well, was a pirate."

"Yeah, and a doctor, and a cook, and a writer. She seems perfect, no one is." Zoro looked at the boy who scoffed.

"Well, she is, and look, we're here so you'll see for yourself!" Luffy said as he ran towards the front. Nami sighed as she stopped the ship, Luffy instantly jumping down, running towards a trap door. He opened it, jumping down for the group to follow him.

They were placed in an old basement, filled with materials and a section with belongings. "What is this place, it's so, rusty." Sanji said as he pinched his nose due to the horrid smell of fish guts.

"It's my home, well, was my home." Luffy smiled at the group as he walked over to his old bed, he opened a chest, taking out a satchel with his old belongings before climbing back up. "C'mon, I got my stuff, let's go meet Y/n!"

"Yeah, cause that's totally not stalling." Nami said as she climbed out, helping Zoro up as she ran after the boy who ran towards a bar.

"Luffy! My god we missed you!" The bartender smiled at the boy who hugged her. He turned back to his crew, looking around for another person.

"Hey Makino I got the broom." You said as you entered the room, you looked up to find Luffy who stood in shock. You dropped the broom as you ran towards the boy, jumping at him as he caught you, spinning you around.

You kissed his lips as he smiled, he set you down, wrapping his arms around you as he turned back to his crew who stood shocked. "Wait, she's actually real?" Zoro asked as he turned to Nami. She shrugged as he turned back to you.

"Guys, this is my very real girlfriend, Y/n." Luffy introduced you as you laughed. You waved at the group who waved back, Sanji with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"What a nice young lady you are-." Sanji's sentence was cut off by Luffy who had punched the boy, you covered your mouth before turning back to Luffy who looked serious.

"Luffy!" You yelled as he turned back to you, his expression softening.

"What?" He answered as you fliched his hat, he smiled as he held onto it, kissing your cheek before carrying you up, spinning you around one more time.

"Cmon now, I wanna show you my ship!" Luffy smiled as he held your hand, running towards the dock where the going merry happened to be. He skipped up the ramp as you looked in awe at the ship.

Luffy leaned onto the railings, smiling at the girl who stood on shock. "This is your ship? This is yours?" You asked the boy who nodded. He seemed proud of himself, you knew he had a ship but never expected a huge ship with an actual flag.

"C'mon, I'll show you my room, our room." Luffy smiled at the girl who scrunched her face in confusion. Luffy jumped down, holding your hand as he stared into your eyes. "Y/n, I want you to join my crew, we need someone like you, you know what you're doing, your perfect, your kind and smart."

"I left that life behind." You sighed as he looked away, you could tell her was upset. You hated being apart, he hated it more. Luffy was always an affectionate person, being away from his loved one hurt more then anyone could ever imagine. "I suppose you do need help to find the one piece."

Luffys face brightened up as he looked at you, smiling before carrying you up to the ship. You giggled as he set you down in the Captains quarters. The place was surrounded in pictures and souvenirs from adventures they had gone through. A desk filled with books and paper, probably stories written by him. You turned to the bed that seemed big enough for two people.

"You planned this, didn't you?" You turned to the boy who smiled, raising his eyebrows. You laughed before setting down on the bed. "I'll go get lunch ready?"

"No need, Sanji 'll do it." He smirked as he placed his hands on your waist, you smiled as you looked back at the boy, he traced your scar on your left cheek with his fingertips in such a loving way. "Now, let me show you how much I missed you my love."

[marymary-diva17]

Navi child shenanigans

Children always had the talent of getting into Shenanigans, no matter the day or time. That was something that their parents had become accustomed with over time. Life as a mother for you was very true, as your children always seem to be in some shenanigans even when you are human or avatar.

Y/n “ …….” You wake up, prepare to start your day, drink tea, and enjoy the morning. You soon sat in the base common area in one of the chairs. It had been a couple of days since you and everyone else had arrived at the reed after being approved to come here by the olo'eythans and tshaiks.

Y/n “ Huh.” There had been a sound that gained your attention, and you soon went to check out the sound. You soon left the common area and saw what made all that noise. 

???? “ You are a complete sxkwang, and you know that fish lips.”

???? “ Leave me alone tree boy, how was I supposed to know that would make a noise.”

Y/n “Loak.” You soon saw loak standing there as he and aonung looked into a crate.

Loak: “ Good morning, Mom.”

Y/N “ Good morning, my son. Mind telling me what you and Aonung seem to be getting into right now.”

Loak: “ Well, we came here to get some stuff, as we have the day off and wish to have some fun.”

Y/n “ So it seems like some shenanigans.”

Loak “ Yes.”

Aonung: “ We will make sure not to break anything, ma'am.”

Y/N: “There's no need to worry, kid. Everything is okay. So where are your brother and cousin, along with Rotxo as well?”

Spider “ There you two are we couldn't find, the crate back there so I might be over here.”

Y/n “ Good morning boys.”

Neteyam “ Good morning mom we are sorry if woke you all up, we just came by to get some stuff.”

Y/n “ It okay I was already up having some tea, but then I heard some voices and thing moving so I came to see what was going on here.”

Rotxo “ If there is anything we can do to make up for interrupting your morning ma’am we will make sure to do it.” 

Y/n “ There no need to worry kid all it okay o just want to know what you are all looking for anyways, as it seems like you are about to get into some shenanigans at the moment and it an off day anyways.” 

Lo’ak “ we came to get some of paint balloons along with colorful dust ones as well, we wanted to play with them during our time off as we have told the reef kids many of our stories from our times in the forest.” 

Y/n “ Well let me think about it?” You soon walked towards one of the crates and soon unlatched it soon enough lifted up the lip as well, as you soon wave the kids over to look at the stuff in the boxes. 

Y/n “ It seems like we do have enough stuff for you kids to play with today.” 

Aonung “ Wow there are so many colors here.”

Y/n “ It good to see you like them these will wash off in the water if anyone gets hit by them, so if your parents worry I shall explain that to them but please for eywa sake be careful with them.” 

Boys “ Yes ma’am.” 

Y/n “ Girls.” Soon enough the girls had come over as they looked at you it was easy to tell there, was no stay hidden from you at the moment. 

Tsireya “ Good morning y/n we came here after the boys, but these games sound very fun we should take part in them.” 

Kiri “ Sure it will be fun and we can have teams or everyone against everyone.” 

Tuk “ Color day.” 

Y/n “ The same is for all the kids that take part in this games but please make sure to not hit anyone of the adults, as I can’t keep you all from getting in trouble with any of them if they become upset.” 

Kids “ Yes ma’am.” 

Y/n: “ Now go take what you all want and have some fun.” The kids smiled and soon took off, taking the crate with them. You laughed, as you knew this was going to lead to many shenanigans later on in the day. 

Later on that day

Mo'at: " The kids have been gone most of the day."

Y/n " The kids had come to base with tonowari children, looking for paint and color dust balloons to have fun with today."

Mo'at: " Oh, they are always doing their usual kid things. They have missed doing some old things they could do at home."

Norm: "Let's hope they are all having fun today and avoiding some trouble."

Y/n "It's good to see them having fun." Mo'at and Norm nodded as the trio finished their work, and then you walked towards your family home.

Tuk: " Mama." Tuk soon came running over towards you, covered in paint and colorful dust, making you laugh as you hugged her.

Y/n " It seems like you had a good day, baby girl. Look at you; you are all covered in colors."

Tuk " We are having a good time, mommy. We have been able to get the reef kids involved as well."

Y/n " Oh really."

Tuk: " Yes, I can show you. Come on." Tuk had taken you to where the game was happening, and you had looked to see all the kids having a grand time.

Tuk " I'm going back to playing mama."

Y/n " Okay, have fun and remember you all need to wash that off at some point unless you wish to shock your parents." There was a feeling that the kids would love to happen.

???? " Ma y/n there you are."

Y/n “ Neytiri and Jake, hello, my loves.”

Jake: “ We saw you standing there and came to see what the matter was. We had been with tonowari and ronal as well.”

Y/n “ Hello, tonowari and ronal.”

Tonowari “ Hello y/n.”

Ronal: “ Hello, y/n. It's good to see you as your dream walker again.”

Y/n “ Thank you.”

Jake: “ Are those the kids over there.” Soon, the adults looked toward Jake, who was looking to see the kids playing around. 

Ronal: “ They are all so colorful.”Other adults soon made their way over there, watching their kids have a great time playing. 

Neytiri: “ So you had brought over the paint and color dust balloons.”

Y/n “ Yes, and the kids took them to have fun on their day off, but don’t worry; it will wash off if it's safe for them.”

Jake: “ So that where the had gone off this morning, hey, at least they are having a good time.”

Neytiri: “ You let them take them.”

Y/n: “ Yes, if they follow the rules.” 

Tsu’tey: “ It seems like our kids taught the reef kids about their games from home.” 

Norm: “ Hey, they are getting along with each other.”

Y/n: “ I think we should be careful as the kids might wish to make us target in the game .” 

Jake: “ Oh, come on, they know they can’t do that. Well, our kids know they will never be the top sully ….” Soon, Jake was hit by a balloon filled with paint.

Loak “ Who the top sully now, dad.”loak laughed at Jake, as Jake soon looked at his son. 

Jake “ Boy.”Loak was laughing as soon as other omatacayia kids tossed balloons at their parents, making them laugh. Soon enough, you and their other parents got involved as well. The reef adults were silencing and judging until they were soon dragged into when their kids came after them as well. The day seemed to go well in the end, on a good note for everyone.

[tacticalsp]

Ok stupid little argument between dee and penelope abt idk. Dee is upset abt fierce and everything and yk overall zombie shit, and he takes it out on penelope, who usually fights back. Idk guys im having fun playing with their dynamic recently. Theyre relationship is so silly goofy. (i wanna know how fierce and blair would react during or after this cus id hate to mis-charecterize them @fiercestyourmajesty, if ur willing to read my ramblins)

Camp was quiet. Nestled between a hillside and some old train tracks. Dee sat hunched against a tree, a torn map stretched across his knees, fingers stained black with charcoal. He marked zombie zones. One, two, three… God, they’re fucking everywhere.

The charcoal snapped in his grip. His last one. He pressed his head back against the tree with a dull thud and sighed sharply. He looks out, by the fire, Blair was curled up against Fierce, fast asleep. Fierce was rewrapping her sprained ankle. Dee watched her hands, his chest tightening. She shouldn't have to hurt like this. If he had it his way, she’d be wrapped in titanium bubble and far away from this nightmare.

He pressed the back of his head against the tree again. Migraine incoming. Two weeks without coffee. His skull felt like it was caving in. The feeling that his heart was tearing for fierce didnt help.

He looks around some more, heavy was snoring in a makeshift hammock, and Penelope was right next to him, sitting cross-legged on a milk crate, chewing on her pen, sketching something in that beat-up notepad. He looked down and saw her shoes were gone. He sighs sharply. 

The same ones she’d tossed the first week like they meant nothing. The same pair he replaced, gone. Again. He clenched his jaw. Its like she doesnt care.

“Penelope,” he said flatly.

She didn’t look up. Just hummed faintly and kept scribbling, head tilted, her curls falling over her face. Dee gets up and walks up to her.

“Penelope,” he said, raising his voice.

She blinked up. “What?”

“Where are your shoes?”

She glanced down at her feet, then back at him with a shrug. “Uhhh… drying by the fire?”

“They’re not,” he snapped.

She tilted her head. “Okay, well, I thought they were.” Her tone was clipped, defensive.

Dee took a step toward her. She straightened. “You don’t care… do you? About what I do, for this group, for you?” 

She scoffs “Man your such a little bitch, we all do stuff, and I care gosh. I just misplaced them, im sure there around here somewhere-” She says with a laugh, he cuts her off..

“You never take shit seriously.” Dee’s voice broke on the edges, louder than it needed to be. “You just mess around and act like we’re not out here fighting to stay alive! People are bleeding and limping and going without food, and you’re sitting here barefoot like a goddamn toddler with a crayon!”

“I’m not—” she stood, fast, the notebook clutched to her chest. “I’m not a fucking toddler! Just because I choose to not mope around doesnt mean Im not taking it seriously- ” She holds her arms out “but why do you care about my shoes, if you havent noticed, its the end of the fucking world dick head!” Heavy groggily gets up.

“Hey guys what going on-” he rubs his eyes.

Dee stepped closer, ignoring heavy “Then grow up! You think we can afford your bullshit distractions? You lose your shoes, your bag, your med,you wander off! You have the audacity to fight me on decisions like you know better.”

“I didnt loose any of those things!!” Her voice was cracking in weird places, and her shoulders were stiff. “You think I’m not trying? You think I like being the fuck-up? Newsflash, I know I’m the weakest link, okay?! I’m not fucking stupid!” 

The fire pops and he looks back to see fierce watching them with a slight concerned look on her face. She could tell something was up, but was hoping they would cool down like usual. Dee looks at her, and sees her ankle, and feels the rage build up in him. He whips his head back at Penelope.

“You don’t listen. You don’t learn. You piss me off, fuck, Penelope, sometimes I wish you’d just - just disappear.” He was loud now.

Fierce stood up slowly from the other side of the fire. “Dee, are you okay?-” She walks closer to him, heavy sits up in the hammock.

“Yeah dee chill out man… its just shoes” heavy says. 

“ITS NOT ABOUT THE FUCKING-” he huffs then whipped back to Penelope. Completley yelling at her. “You’re not my family. Why are you even here?” He shouts.

Her expression cracked just slightly, just for a second, she wasn't angry and pissed, she looked scared. Tears welling in her eyes.

“Well f-fine, you fucking-“ Her words warbled and big tears run down her face. Her shoulders shaking.

“Penny-”  heavy reached out and she pushes his hand away, and she just stumbles off into the woods. Dee watches her leave in shock, he was expecting a punch in the face, or at least a fight but now she's… crying. He hasnt seen her cry since they had that last big fight last year, about lif.

Heavy stands up bumping into dee’s shoulder.

“You happy now dee? You feel all big and mighty now?” He pokes at him and looks disappointed, something dee has never seen in is little brothers eyes. Heavy picks up penelopes notebook and reads it for a second, he scoffs and pushes it into dee’s chest. “You know for a guy so smart, your kinda stupid.” He walks off and follows after Penelope defensively.

Fierce went up to dee.

“... that was harsh dee, even for you.” She puts a hand on his shoulder and comforts him. “Hey,” she said softly. “You’re exhausted. You haven’t slept, and your head’s a mess. You need rest, not a fight.” He looks over at her, the one person in this whole world that keeps him sane, and he sighs, his shoulders softening and his mind clearing. 

“Maybe…” He looks down at the notebook and flips it over.

It wasn’t drawings or jokes. It was pages of notes. The one she was writing on, with some scribbled bullet points.

“Fierce forgets that I'm totally her friend! Always ask if she needs help. Make sure she knows she’s awesome.”

“Blair seems bored, maybe I should find a cool book for her to read. I ll sneak out tonight to look for one”

“Heavy jokes more when he’s sad. Watch his expressions. I hate when he’s sad.”

And at the bottom, circled, underlined twice:

“Be nicer to Dee.” 

Dee closed the notebook slowly, and softly dusted off the dirt from when it fell. 

He felt small. The way she’d written his name down like someone worth impressing. How she noticed completely why fierce was so stubborn and wanted to help. He looks to fierce, for help, he was tired and felt like he was gonna rip himself apart. She grabs him and gives him a hug. Not saying anything but that's all he needed anyway.

(extra: the next morning)

The sun hadn't fully cleared the hill yet. A pale orange glow stretched across the camp. 

Penelope was first awake, as usual, and sat cross-legged on a flattened log, the broken radio guts spilled out on a crate in front of her. Wires tangled like a nervous system, bits of rusted metal and stripped screws catching the light. She muttered to herself as she poked at a loose capacitor, brow furrowed in sleepy focus.

Her shoes, muddy, scuffed, very much not lost, were back on her feet.

Dee stopped a few feet away, holding a chipped mug of lukewarm water like it meant something. He stared at her shoes for a second too long.

“They were just... lying around?” he said, softly, not sure if he was apologizing or accusing.

Penelope didn’t look up. “Told you,” she mumbled, twisting a dial.

Dee hesitated, then crouched beside her, careful not to crowd. “I didn't know you knew how to fix electronics.”

“I didnt know how fucking annoying your voice is but here we are” She says. 

“Can I help?” he offers. Almost as a silent piece offering.

She hesitated. Then: “I guess.” Her voice wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm either.

He sat next to her, shoulders hunched. For a few minutes, they worked in silence—passing tools, untangling wires. The kind of quiet where you can hear each other breathe.

Finally, Dee spoke. “I read your notebook.”

Penelope froze. Her hand hovered over the circuit board. She didn’t look at him. “You dont have to apologize, i get it. You’re scared, tired, whatever. I know I can be difficult… im trying not to be.” A moment goes by.

“I just hope you know I dont care about your opinion. I didn't cry because my feelings were hurt.” She continues to fix the radio. “I just dont- like being yelled at. Reminds me of my father.” Dee looks at her, sometimes he forgets how complicated life can be. Espescially from other peoples perspectives. 

Another quiet beat. He handed her a screwdriver. “The copper wire goes through the bottom panel, not the top.”

She took it. “Thanks.”

More silence. Then he speaks.

“I was looking for a fight okay. I was hoping you’d get pissed and fight back.” He laughs. “Your like me free therapy, i can always get my anger out knowing you’ll push back.” She looks at him with a straight face.

“That's fucking stupid man.” She looks away with a small smile. And sighs, “You’re girlfriend is gonna be fine. I’ll make sure of it.” She looks down and clicks the backing of the radio shut. “She fucking saved me. From lif. She still saves me, everyday.” She looks down and laughs. “Fuck id probably let myself get killed for her, or any one of you dip shits.” Dee shifts and chuckles.

He hands her the notebook. “Sorry I was too upset to notice you trying, I think I get too paranoid, wrapped up in what could happen that I don't look at what is happening.” He says, she grabs it quickly and looks at him.

"You are my family penelope, I didnt mean what i said last ni-" She cuts him off.

"Oh whatever, yeah yeah. enough sappy shit, Now get the fuck outta my face. Cant stand lookn at ur rectangle ass.” He grabs the radio and leaves with a smile.

Sometimes its better to have friends than enemies. 

ok i got tired at the end so sorry if its crappy.

[hummingbird24220]

Chapter Fifty-One: You Clean Up Good, But You Break Things Better

Back aboard the Sunny, the crew was in cleanup mode.

Sanji was icing his knuckles with a satisfied sigh. Zoro was leaning against the railing, arms crossed, bruised but smug. Luffy was passed out on the deck, snoring peacefully with a bone in his hand. You?

You were sprawled across a crate, still in your fight gear, sweat drying on your skin, one leg swinging lazily as you sipped water like it was victory-flavored.

Nami walked past and gave you a once-over. “So. Sundress one day, body-slamming bounty hunters the next.”

You smirked. “I’m a woman of range.”

Robin, without looking up from her book, added, “You clean up well. But you break things better.”

You lifted your bottle in salute. “Put that on my tombstone.”

Sanji walked over with a fresh towel and a grin. “Let me guess. You bruised your shoulder again?”

You raised your arm and winced. “Maybe. Worth it.”

He gently draped the towel over your neck and muttered, “At least let me patch you up before you go lifting cannons with one hand again.”

You leaned into him just a little. “You’re my favorite nurse.”

Zoro, still within earshot, scoffed. “She says that like she hasn’t let me tape her back together with old bandages mid-fight.”

“That was once,” you shot back. “And I still have the tape in my hair.”

Sanji looked genuinely offended. “Tape?! You let him—”

You patted his chest. “Calm down, Chef Daddy. It was war.”

Zoro smirked. “She’s not wrong.”

As the sun dipped low and dinner was served, the crew gathered around the table, laughing and chattering over their bowls.

You sat between Zoro and Sanji, still sore, still radiating that satisfied, post-fight glow.

Luffy pointed a chopstick at you mid-chew. “You were super cool today.”

You blinked, surprised. “You’re just saying that ‘cause I punched that one guy across the market square.”

“I mean, yeah,” he replied, grinning wide. “But also ‘cause you’re, like, strong and stuff. Like me.”

Chopper nodded. “You took a lot of hits today.”

You grinned, cheeks flushed slightly. “What can I say? It’s a good day when my enemies cry before I do.”

Robin sipped her tea. “Your modesty is admirable.”

Usopp elbowed you. “I still can’t believe you bent that guy’s sword.”

“He can’t either,” you replied proudly.

Sanji set another plate in front of you without a word. Zoro slid you a second drink.

You looked between them, then at the whole crew. Bruised, full, and borderline unhinged—every single one of them. Your people. Your weird, powerful, perfect little pirate family.

You smiled, raising your glass lazily. “To being strong. And hot. And scary. All at once.”

The crew erupted in cheers.

Zoro clinked his cup against yours and muttered, “We’re keeping you forever, y’know.”

You winked. “I was never leaving.”

And as the waves rocked the ship beneath you and laughter filled the air, you leaned back in your seat and sighed. Being yourself had never felt so damn good.

________________

The day started normal enough.

Sunny drifting lazily along the current. Luffy napping on the figurehead. Sanji cooking something with way too much butter. Zoro pretending not to be lost on a ship that had one hallway.

You were on the deck, lying flat on your back, letting the sun warm your bones, thinking about nothing and everything all at once.

Then the newspaper seagull arrived. And everything changed.

“Hey… uh… (Y/N)?”

Usopp was the one who saw it first. The rolled-up newspaper had smacked him square in the face, and after the usual yelling and chasing, he unrolled it— …and stopped.

Nami came over. Looked. Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

Robin took the paper next. Smiled faintly. “Well. That’s new.”

You sat up, suspicious. “What’s new?”

Sanji wandered over, glanced at the paper— GASPED like he’d witnessed a divine event. “Oh mon dieu—finally!”

You blinked. “What?”

Luffy popped up beside you like a specter. “(Y/N), you got a bounty!”

You shot to your feet so fast your knees cracked. “WHAT?!”

Nami handed the paper over, flipping to the center spread—the wanted posters. And there it was. Crisp. Fresh. Smirking.

A slightly windblown shot of you from a recent fight. Hair messy. Eyes gleaming. A streak of blood across your cheek like war paint. You looked like a walking threat with good lighting.

“WANTED — (Y/N) the Wrecking Heart” B 260,000,000

There was a beat of silence.

Then:

“TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-MILLION?!” you shrieked. “What the—what the hell did I do?!”

Zoro raised an eyebrow. “You punched a Sea King three weeks ago.”

“You threatened a Celestial Dragon’s cousin,” Robin added calmly.

“You threw a pirate through two buildings last week,” Chopper mumbled. “And laughed.”

“And they called you 'a dangerously unpredictable presence capable of seduction, destruction, and inciting small uprisings wherever she goes,'” Usopp read from the article.

You stared at the poster. “…They think I’m a problem.”

“You are a problem,” Nami said proudly.

Luffy wrapped his arms around your shoulders and laughed. “Now you’re really part of the crew!”

Sanji wiped a tear. “It’s a beautiful day. My goddess is finally feared by the world.”

Zoro snorted. “Took ‘em long enough.”

The Reality Sets In

You sat back down hard on a barrel, poster in your hand, still staring. “I have a bounty. I have a bounty. That’s a real number. That’s so high. Why is it so high? I haven’t even done anything that illegal.”

Robin smiled behind her book. “Darling, the government seems to disagree.”

You ran a hand down your face. “Oh no. I’m going to have bounty hunters after me now. They’re going to think I’m cool. I’m going to disappoint so many people.”

Sanji knelt in front of you, hands clasped. “You could never disappoint. Your power is radiant. Terrifying. Sexy.”

Zoro leaned on the railing and muttered, “She’s going to get kidnapped just so she can punch her way back again.”

You stood, holding the poster like a badge of honor—and a very loud threat. “Well. Guess I’m finally infamous.”

Nami grinned. “You earned it.” Usopp whistled. “Remind me not to spar with you ever again.” Luffy gave you a thumbs-up. “Next goal—break 500 mil!”

You groaned. “Please, no. Let me enjoy this one trauma-free for five minutes.”

Zoro smirked. “No promises.”

And you smiled, despite yourself, as the ship rocked gently forward— new bounty in hand, new trouble on the way.

You’d never felt more alive.

[wonbuni]

3. WHATCHU OVER HERE BEING MESSY FOR? 456 wc

soobin came back from waving mr. bang off, "he said we did a great job and told me to give riki a high five because of the cobwebs." riki hit soobin’s hand with a smile. "but we need more employees. mr. bang's words, not mine.” soobin said, not trying to get attacked. as if on cue, two boys came in.

one with kind of long black hair and one with brownish hair. they both were tall and handsome young men. y/n's jaw dropped. it was the boy that was her "secret admirer" as sunghoon would say. y/n dragged yoon into the back, the new boys furrowing their brows. "she's.. having problems. ignore her." keeho smiled, trying up cover up the weird atmosphere. the others nodding with him.

"anyways, we were wondering if there were was a opening for a job here?" the one with brown hair asked with a polite smile. soobin nodded and took them to his office. while that happened, sakura, keeho, and riki all looked at eachother then sprinted to the back with yoon and y/n.

"spill right now." keeho said, sitting on a crate box. "okay well, that black haired boy, yeah he's supposedly my "secret admirer"." y/n explained, using air quotes. "we’re pretty sure he watches her walk out of her classes too.” yoon followed up. "drama, i like it." riki said.

"i hate you." y/n said. after a couple minutes of y/n pacing back and forth whispering to herself, sakura suggested something. "let's go eat at that breakfast place across the road, they have awesome bacon.” "yeah! let's go, i love their eggs bro." yoon said, grabbing her bag.

y/n, riki, and keeho all grabbed their stuff like phones, wallets, bags, etc. and followed yoon and sakura out of the back room. soobin came infront of them with the two boys from earlier,

"before you guys get going, i want y/n training wonbin and yoon training sungchan. theyre your new co workers," soobin explained, y/n wishes she could just walk off the earth right now. "okay no problem! we were just heading to this great breakfast place across the road, you guys should come." yoon said, with a welcoming smile.

"thanks, we should get to know you guys anyway." sungchan agreed, wonbin keeping his eyes on y/n. so, they all walked to the breakfast place with keeho and riki almost getting run over and keeho flipping the driver off.

they arrived at the diner that was adjecent to their workplace. they all sat down in a big booth, "so what is everyone getting? ill pay since it was my idea." sakura said, she just wanted to care for her 6 kids. everyone said what they wanted and the waiter took their order.

authors note — okay… how we feelin…. 🔥🔥 sungchan unc status!!!!!

TAGLIST (crossed out i cant tag!) — @starwonb1n @danidanioh @nujeskz @seunghancore @i03jae @saranghoeforanton @wonychu @gyeheonist @branchioswrld @fae-renjun @woonagi-lemon @byeonwooseokabs

[loth-creatures]

Sabine's Story ? 👁️ -aaeeart

Ah yes, the elusive secret sabine's-backstory fic I slowly but surely chisel at on the rare occasion I have writing motivation. No promises on ever finishing it but I will publish at least some of it eventually I prommy

Here's one of my favorite snippets so far! There's another here, since two people asked about this one :)

A flash of color amidst the greenish steel caught Kanan's eye. At the end of the cluttered shelf was a Mandalorian helmet, painted indigo and magenta with a few bright red cartoonish symbols and a clan crest in deep maroon. It was easily the loudest paint job he'd ever seen on Mando gear. The rest of the set plus a folded holster containing twin blasters sat next to it, strapped together for storage.

Kanan pried his gaze away, trying to refocus on the task at hand, even as he was struck by how small the armor was; a youngling's set. Likely enough it had been stolen off a dead child's body. Bile rose in his throat as he found the crates of [stuff] they were after and magnetized them, slamming them together a bit more aggressively than was necessary. He started for the exit, blaster drawn and pulling the train of crates behind him. He made it five steps before he was turning around, cursing under his breath. It couldn't be left here. It had to be returned to someone even if the owner was long dead.

He intended to snatch it quickly and get the hell out of there as planned, but as he slid the bound pieces under one arm and reached for the helmet his feet remained rooted to the deck and Kanan found himself staring into the black of the visor as the ancient metal cooled his hands. Beskar had a weight to it. Not just physically, it was heavy in the Force. Heavy with the memory of fire and water and blood.

The click of a blaster behind him snapped Kanan back to reality. Well fuck me he muttered internally. Just had to lose it in the Force with his back turned. Like an idiot. He was about to whip around and use the damn helmet to smash the blaster away when his attacker spoke.

"Turn around, slow."

It was the voice of a teenager. Kanan knew it belonged to the owner of this armor even before he complied with their demand and saw a girl with bright pink hair, her young face streaked with blood. She couldn't be older than fifteen. Her dark eyes indicated the armor before meeting Kanan's.

“Give it to me, now.”

The kid’s voice was hard and steady, leaving no room for argument. Her stance was the same. She was hiding exhaustion and pain well enough to fool most people. But Kanan could see the slightest tremble of her hand in the way the blaster slowly tilted from its line to his heart, her stiff and slightly uneven posture, the tightness of her face that betrayed urgency and fear.

Kanan slowly bent to deposit the bundle of armor on the floor, raising his hands as he set it down. He used his foot to scoot it in her direction. The girl’s eyes and her blaster’s nozzle remained trained on Kanan, but he didn’t miss how hard her knee hit the deck as she knelt to retrieve the armor, or the effort it took her to stand back up. She put the helmet on, but didn't waste time on the rest, instead clutching it to her chest and backing away.

“Kid, wait.”

She did not. She fired a warning shot past his ear, then another shot took out the control panel for the door as she backed through it. The door slammed shut. Well. The beskar was returned to its rightful owner, mission accomplished. Kanan shook himself and redirected the crates towards the secondary entrance, raised his comm to alert Zeb to the change in route.

She won't survive she won't survive she won't survive

Kanan accepted the knowledge then shoved it aside, resolved to tell Hera about the little Mando. Chasing after her while she had no reason to believe that he wasn't one of her attempted captors would do nothing but waste both their time and botch this operation more than it already was. But the kid needed help. Something told Kanan it had to be them.

[moonlight-tmd]

Hello! A huge Blitzbee fan and a huge fan of your work here! What about a date after one of them had an exhausting day at work, and the other went all out glamorously for the date? I’m talking roses and lights and all that. Hehe ^^

Hello and thank you! I'm glad to hear you like the stuff i make <3

I wrote a similar thing about Blitz being all lovey dovey when Bee came to a meeting exhaused on my AO3 BlitzBee week but now i'm thinking what would Bee do when Blitz came back more and more tired from the constant work Megs and Lugnut give him...

I suppose Lugnut threw his work on Blitzwing, so he was stuck organizing and carrying supplies to the magazines all days long while Lugnut praised their Lord with an excuse of "discussing strategy plans with him". Bee understood that even a strong mech like Blitzwing can get tired and worn out so he planned a little something for their next meeting...

The next time Blitzwing flew out all tired to meet up with Bee he didn't see him when he landed by the warehouse. Instead, there was a note saying "Come inside~" with a heart drawn attached to the door. So Blitz took the note and entered their hideout. It was dark, all the lights have been turned off and the windows were covered. Only a moment after he called Bee's name the light turned on- or rather all the fairy lights haging from the walls and support beams of the building, all white, pink and magenta. There was other dimly lit decor and in the middle of the room on the floor was a big spread out rest area with electric candles surrounding it, he could see and smell incense on the crates placed nearby with dark sheets on them and bowls of various snacks sitting there just waiting to be eaten.

He was far too stunned to notice Bee creep up behind him and greet his beloved. Bumblebee was all shiny and had those silky blue ribbons wrapped around his horns, neck, arms and thighs. He had that adoring look on his face. A truly beautiful sight for Blitzwing.

He said he knew Blitz was doing one heck of a tough job and wanted to make their night a bit more pleasant for him. Blitzwing though he wanted them to interface but Bee only laughed and said not everything is about interfacing. Tonight was Blitz's night to relax.

Bee grabbed his sparkmate's servo and guided him to lay on the big pile of blankets and pillows. He made Blitz use his thighs as a pillow and pet his helm while also feeding him the fancy snacks he somehow got his servos on. Then he made Blitzwing lay on his chassis and went to massage his back plates.

The amount of stress and tension he had to knead out from there was making his own servos hurt but he never said a thing, he only sat there praising his beloved while listening to his moans of pleasure and relief. Bee brought special oils to rub into Blitz's metal to help with the stress, they all smelled good so he used different ones in different areas, he left the best one for his wings since he knew how much tension got in those struts after heavy duty work.

It was amazing. Bee assumed Blitzwing must have fallen into recharge when he was caressing his back to relax after the intense part of the massage. Blitz looked so peaceful, Bee was very happy that he helped his beloved, the spa night was a success. While petting Blitz's back he leaned down and whispered the word of love to him, how much he meant to him and that he'll always be there for him no matter what. He whispered how much his life got better since they met and that he'll never leave his side. Blitz was everything to him and he would do anything to keep them both happy. Bee gave him a kiss on the helm before he carefully squeezed himself under Blitz's arm to snuggle and recharge himself...

...What he didn't know is that Blitz wasn't recharging at all and trying his best not to burst out crying while Bee said all those things. Once Bee was in recharge he started quietly crying and hugged him as close as possible. Bee really went the whole world distance and beyond to make him feel like the luckiest mech alive. He never told Bee he heard his confession but he kept it in his Spark forever.

And of course, he did make Bee scream his name in the morning. Bee prettied himself up just for Blitzwing and it truly was doing things to him the whole time he saw the scout. A relaxing night followed by a passionate morning was something he never knew he needed. Shame they both had to leave so soon, but well... they could always reapeat that when they have more time~.

[puer-aurea]

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Fluff for Southlanders

"I tried!"

"Your best?"

"God, I hope not! But probably."

How will this work?

"Guys! I st- borrowed Scott's nail polish!" Jimmy called to the other boys in the Southlands as he walked in with a crate in his hands.

"Woah, he has so much!" Mumbo remarked.

"Well, it's not all nail polish, there's some things to make cute designs. He taught me how to use all the stuff in Third Life, so I can make designs for everyone! Mumbo, you go first." Jimmy put the crate on the ground while the other boys crowded around.

"There's so many shades of blue! Does he really need that many?" Grian pointed out.

Mumbo sat in the grass with the other boys following suite, making a small circle. Grian was to his left, then Impulse, Jimmy, and Martyn completing the circle at his right. Mumbo pushed around some of the nail polish, looking over all the little tools he couldn't identify. He picked up a few different colors, a goldish-yellow, a metallic black, and a couple reds he could barely tell the difference between.

"What about- this one?" Mumbo held up a maroon color.

"Can do! Want a little design?" Jimmy took the bottle from him and shook it up a bit.

"No, I don't want to ruin it when we make the ghast farm. Just red." Mumbo put his left hand out over the crate for Jimmy to hold while he painted.

The polish was a little cold and Mumbo's shakiness made Jimmy mess up a bit, but with some acetone and a q-tip, the accidents were cleaned up like they were never there.

"You have to be careful while they dry. Just sit here and wait with us."

Mumbo nodded and carefully put his hands in his lap.

"Me next!" Grian was more reckless looking through the nail polish, unable to decide.

"What if you made it look like your wings?" Martyn suggested.

He was holding his spyglass up to his eye, looking at the nail polish crate through it. Grian knocked the glass on it with his nail, causing Martyn to jump slightly.

"That was uncalled for." He fake pouted and put his spyglass back in his inventory to prevent any damage.

"I like that idea, actually. Can you do parrot wings Timmy?"

Jimmy pulled out a couple colors, a red, yellow, and blue similar to Grian's wings, and a green. He took out a few of the tool cases and looked through them until he decided on what looked like a little yellow pen.

"Yeah! Just don't move too much, I'm not as good as Scott with these."

Grian held out his hand over the crate and Jimmy took it in his own, contemplating the best way to do it. He experimented on Grian's thumb nail, adding a bit of red in the corner then yellow, green, blue. He took the dotting tool- the one that looked like a little pen- and dragged it through each color in a couple lines. It wasn't perfect, not even close, and it was kind of messy, but the idea was there. He mimicked the design on the rest of Grian's nails and was quite satisfied with his work.

"That's actually pretty cool." Jimmy said as the other boys looked at it.

"You're good at this man!" Impulse lightly knocked his shoulder.

"Impulse, d'you want to go next?" Martyn asked.

"Um, I don't have any ideas yet. You can go."

Martyn muttered an alright and started looking through the colors. He knew he wanted green, but there was so many different ones. Why would anyone need this many shades of any given color? A few made sense, like having a dark green, light green, glitter green, and metallic green, but do you need several shades of light green? Really?

The words on one of the greens caught his attention.

'Glow in the dark'

He picked it up with a smirk and grabbed a black as well.

"I want these!"

"Both? So, you want a design?" Jimmy took the colors from Martyn.

"How about... surprise me?"

Martyn held his hand out over Jimmy's lap. Jimmy placed the green in the grass and started with a base coat of black over every nail. He looked through the crate again, examining the tools and putting some with the nail polish in the grass.

He took some acetone and cleaned the black off his thumb nails, replacing it with a base of green. He used the dotting tool to make little flowers on Martyn's index fingers and a smaller dotting tool to make messy flames on his ring fingers. Jimmy took out a case with various brush sizes and used one to make a checkerboard patter on his middle fingers and a split on his pinky. He put a stencil over his thumbs and made black hearts on them.

"Ta-da!"

"They're all different." Martyn gave it an odd look.

"Do you- not like it?" Jimmy sounded a little dejected.

"No, I don't. Because I l-aha-ve it!"

The boys started cracking up at the 'aha' joke and Jimmy had to calm them all down so they didn't mess up their nails.

"Any ideas, Impulse?" Jimmy asked when they quieted down.

"Well, I like this yellow," he held up a neutral yellow nail polish, "maybe something with it and black?"

Jimmy looked at the stencils in the crate before grabbing the ones that looked like angles. He took the yellow polish from Impulse and painted a base of it on each nail. They had to sit for a bit for them to dry before he could continue but when they did, he put the angle stencils on and painted black at the top.

"It's simple, but it's cool! How do you like it?" Jimmy watched as Impulse looked over his nails.

"It is cool! I feel cool, now." Impulse smiled at him.

"Then, I'll do my nails now."

"Do you want help? None of us will probably be very good at it but we can try..." Mumbo offered.

"You might not be good at it, I'm good at everything the first time I try." Martyn joked.

"Sure you are. But, no, I can do it! I'm gonna do the design Scott first taught me to do on his nails."

"Well, it's getting dark, so I'm going to prepare the nest for bed. The rest of the boys will keep you company." Grian checked to make sure his nails were dry before pushing himself off the grass.

"When you say it like that, we have no choice but to stay." Impulse pointed out.

"You'll be fineeee." Grian dismissed him and walked in the direction of his tower, where he and Jimmy made the nest they all shared at night.

Jimmy looked through the crate and pulled out a pastel blue, a white, and a forest-y green. He painted his thumb, ring, and pinky fingers plain blue. He used the dotting tool to make little blue and white flowers on his index and middle fingers and a thin brush to make stems and leaves. He fumbled with his non-dominant hand before Mumbo attempted to help, resulting in a somewhat similar but significantly more messy version of the index and middle finger design on his dominant.

"Wow, Martyn was right Mumbo. You were bad at this!" Impulse poked at him.

"I tried!" Mumbo whined.

"Your best?" Martyn joined the teasing with Impulse.

"Void- I hope not. But most likely." Mumbo sighed.

"Hey, I think Mumbo did very well! Give the man a break." Jimmy defended him.

"I jest, of course. Let's head up to bed." Martyn put his hand out for Impulse to take and helped him up.

"Yeah, it's getting dark." Impulse added.

Mumbo helped Jimmy up, careful of his nails, and the four went in Grian's tower to find him already asleep in the nest. Impulse and Martyn got in on either side of him, passing out quickly. Mumbo and Jimmy stayed up a little longer in silence, waiting for Jimmy's nails to dry before they joined the cuddle pile for the night.

the boys' nails

[cringewritinginprocess]

Annoyingly Codependent | Part Three.

Summery: Cousins thrown back to a time that both are in danger but are perfectly equipt to handle. Neither seemed too upset at the change, plans immediately starting despite the new situations. It's more the Mikaelson Siblings that are going to be surprised with the newly aquired family members.

Word Count: 3873

Rating: Mature [Violence | Implied Sexual content](Rating for entire fic)

A/N: I just have one part after this to post!

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 4]

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

Marquez stopped as he came down to the courtyard to see Elijah and Klaus standing by a dead body. "If it makes you feel any better, we can kill Aurora together! Then neither of us need play her little mind games ever again, hmm?" Klaus was saying and began to leave.

"What's going on?" Marquez asked confused.

"Aurora." Elijah said bluntly. "Be safe. Perhaps visit your father." He said to Marquez before he followed after Klaus. They sighed and looked to the body for a moment, then just shook his head and headed out.

They headed straight to Rousseau's, slipping into a booth and pulled a laptop out as they had a drink and a plate of food by them.

"Marquez, how perfect to see you here." Tristan said and sat opposite him and raised an eyebrow. "Eyeliner?"

"I'm not actually a suit guy." He hummed. "Get with the times, darlin'. Guy's look good in eyeliner and I'm hot." He said with a flirtatious grin and a wink before looking back to the laptop. "I see you're joining me?"

"I hope you don't mind." He said. "Doing anything interesting."

"... No?" He said as he closed the tabs then the laptop itself before he moved it to the side, to pull his food in front of him. "So. What is it you want from me, honey?"

"Do you always use pet names rather than peoples names?"

"Just for the ones that annoyed me." He shrugged. "And the ones I find attractive."

Tristan looked amused, raising an eyebrow. "So which am I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you attracted to me, or do I annoy you?"

"Which do you think, sweetheart?"

Tristan gave a half smile. "I'm not sure your family would approve of you flirting with me."

"I'm pretty sure Uncle Eli didn't approve of me killing his ex-girlfriend. So..." He raised his hands in a shrug. "But I'm not exactly ever going to be the golden child."

"Does Niklaus know you're one of us?"

"Really? You want me to have a pissed Hybrid ranting at me daily?" He asked, picking up his fork eating just in time for Tristan to be served his own food. "Besides, why'd you want me as a Strix?"

"You were either powerful or just a brat. So we either got a powerful Ally or-"

"You got me killed and hurt your sire by making him watch?"

"Well... It wouldn't have been the worst reaction."

"Yes, well. I took out your oldest member. Regret it?"

"A bit. The lecture was honestly more annoying than her death."

"Wow. Harsh, darlin'."

"I assume you have your reasons for wanting her dead specifically."

"She was going to leave you in a crate to drown. And then try and kill my family." They said casually. "Got a lot of your merry band killed."

Tristans hand had paused halfway to his mouth and lowered it. "... You're not lying." He said slowly.

"Very powerful witches in my family. One wanted a few things fixed. I was part of that plan, apparently. Which... fair. I'm a determined bastard in my own right." He hummed. "I'm sure you understand the want to protect family."

"That I do. So, you're from the future?"

"Alternate future... Timelines and such. I'll get into more sciencey stuff another time. I'm a tech guy, not chronologist or physicist in general." He hummed. "I plan on making sure you don't get trapped, if that's a worry?"

"Very nice of you."

"Mhmm. If you try to capture Rebekah or any other sibling, I'll kill you myself." He said with a sweet smile. "And touch Davina -"

"Ah. Your Kol's boy." He said. "No, wonder you're so..."

"Chaotic?"

"Reckless."

"Well. I can't die. So, why not?"

"You mother can."

"And I will pull her soul back, and I'll send you to an endless cycle of fire and death. And no promises of anyone you care for surviving." He hummed, picking up his coffee. "And honestly. I want everything to go smoothly. I like Aurora. And she'd prefer you to live. So..." He shrugged as he took a drink and raised an eyebrow.

"I believe we can come to an arrangement." He said, and they smiled at him.

"Perfect. I thought so. I really do look forward to working together to make sure everyone survives... Mostly." Tristan looked intrigued about to ask when a jar with a heart in it was placed between them.

Marquez didn't even look up, just moving to the back of the booth. Elijah slipped into the seat.

"Elijah. I didn't realize we had a meeting on the books today." Tristan drawled.

"We don't. Unfortunately, your assistant refused to accommodate me." Elijah said, tapping the jar and pushing it to him once more.

Tristan stared at it for a moment, looking annoyed and raised a napkin to wipe his face before he dropped it on to his plate. "What would you like to discuss?"

"Recent events would suggest you've been less than forthcoming about threats facing my family."

"A threat to you is a threat to me." He said confused, his heart suddenly racing.

"Naughtly. Little. Liar." Elijah said, eyes narrowed.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Tristan said.

"Oh, I'm quite certain you do know precisely what I'm talking about, Tristan. I can hear that heart of yours racing away. You see, even as we speak, I suspect Niklaus is with your sister." Elijah said and pulled a bloodstained note out of his jacket. He placed it on the table between them. "I don't have to tell you what a volatile combination the two of them are."

"And you think I'm hiding her?"

"Where you go, Aurora follows."

"It's true, on her good days. Years ago, Rory fell into one of her dark periods. It's been a long one and has yet to lift. I saw she got the care she needed."

"I don't care. Where is she?"

A slow smile pulled onto Tristans lips. "Are you that afraid of what my sister might have to say to your brother?" He asked him.

"Your sister has a habit of cultivating misfortune."

"I can't disagree. And, as it happens, I don't know her current whereabouts, but I know she can't be here. I'm the first person she'd come to."

"I'm not so sure." He hummed and looked to Marquez. "Will you be leaving with me?"

Marquez looked from him to Tristan. "I'll... meet you at home?" He said simply. Elijah raised an eyebrow but nodded and headed away.

"You're staying with me today?"

"I'm bored. You're cute."

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "You're after something."

"Attention?" They hummed. "You kinda made me your problem."

"Is that right?"

"Mhmm." He shrugged. "I do this thing you see. When people decide they're like a friend or Something. I go smother mode until they kick me to the side, and I can go back to being my normal loner self. And you approached me first. You danced with me. And you dragged me into this... wonderful little cult. So. Your problem. Especially since you're doing the working with me thing." He said playfully.

"Hmm. I see. And if I have places to be?"

"I mean. Lucien is... not someone you actually wanna work with, no kidnapping my aunt and... Aurora's with uncle Nik so. What is it you have to do? I can help."

"Who says I'm working with Lucien?"

"Your sky rocketing heart rate?"

"Maybe I just find your scheming side attractive."

"Possible. But untrue. But if you want to do something about the attraction... I'm also down."

"Very forward of you."

"You've met my family. We don't really do shy."

"Of course. ...Allow me to get you dinner first?"

Marques seemed taken about pausing for a moment. "... Okay." He said slowly.

"Wonderful. I hear there's a wonderful exhibit not far from here." He said, picking up Auroras note as he stood and held out a hand. "Join me?"

Marquez grabbed his bag and slipped his laptop away, and took the hand as he stood. "Are you wine and dining me, Tristan?"

"I guess that is the plan, yes. Though you aren't dressed for places I'd usually go for, but, I'm sure we can compromise or go to a tailor." He hummed.

"Compromise." They told him easily.

~

Marquez was woken by teeth drawing over his throat, and they hummed, tilting their head to one side. "May I?" Tristan asked against their skin. They hesitated a moment before breathing out an agreement and teeth bit down as Tristan fed with a soft groan. Marquez moved a hand into his hair.

Tristan slowly stopped, and blood coated lips descended on his, and he moaned softly tongue darting out to taste his own blood. Tristan slowly pulled back, looking down at him, eyes trailed from his lips to the healed but blood striped throat.

"And you called me insatiable." Marquez murmured. "You woke me with your teeth, really?"

"It seemed the least invasive way, I had other thoughts." He hummed, one of his hands inched down their side until they stopped at their hip. "And you waking now means we can continue with that once more before your family hunts you down." He hummed. "Hmm. They may be a little busy." Marquez hummed and flipped their positions. He moved a hand, tracing his throat softly. "May I?" He asked gently, mimicking his question.

Tristan seemed caught off guard at the question. "Yes." He returned anyway and breathed out a soft moan as teeth pierced his skin.

Marquez hummed happily, tongue running over the small trail of blood as he pulled back and pressed kissed down his chest. Tristan flipped their positions again. "You're not in control here, darling." Tristan told him.

He just grinned and reached up to cup his face. "You sure?" Tristan raised an eyebrow before he caught both his wrists and pinned them to the bed with one hand.

"You may be faster, but in pure strength. I out power you." He said. His other hand was on their jaw and drew him into a biting kiss and trailed the hand to squeeze lightly at his throat. A small whine fell from Marquez's lips, and he felt the smug smile against his lips. Before either they could continue a phone rang. They both sighed, and Tristan pulled away. "Perhaps our timing was less ideal than I believed." He drawled.

"Yeah, got that." He murmured and looked at the date. "Then it's also thanksgiving." He muttered and sighed before he answered the phone as he stood casually, pulling his jeans on from the night before. "Hey, Uncle Eli. What's up?"

`Well, I thought I'd check where you were since you were meant to come home, and you aren't with your parents.`

"I am... on my way home now." He got out as he searched for his top.

`Right. Of course. I assume you're joining myself and Niklaus for thanksgiving?`

"If you're doing something, sure."

`Wonderful. Make sure Tristan is aware of his invite as well. We're having dinner.` The call cut out before he could respond.

"... I'm assuming your sister and Lucien were also invited, and you heard that." Marquez said as he turned, pulling his t-shirt on to see Tristan just fixing his tie.

"More than likely. I got the invitation, I've simply been unsure, due to it very obviously being a trap."

"Don't worry. I won't let the big bad Originals kill you."

"No. You'll do it yourself if you think I'm a threat." He hummed, walking to him and kissing him softly.

"Mhmmm." He hummed, easily returning the kiss. "So, I'll see you at dinner?"

"Perhaps, I'd hope to see my sister at some point before seeing her with Niklaus. But perhaps that's wishful thinking."

"I'm also excited to see your sister it's been a minute." He hummed. "I really do have to go. Shower and change an all that. Elijah has this thing about dinners and dressing up."

"It's called manners."

"It's called being extra and getting an upper hand by believing yourself better. You do the same thing." They said simply. "I can still beat your ass in my ripped, none designer clothes."

"Yes, but this is polite society, not a fight club."

"Dick." He laughed lightly. "I'm not a lawyer. I'm not going to dress like it." He told him. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Of course, we also have to have a meeting soon about Elijahs protections with the Strix."

"Tomorrow. Or after dinner, and we can include Elijah... also probably Marcel."

"Sensible. See you tonight."

~

Marquez came from his room, hair slightly damp and new clothes, and was immediately confronted by Elijah and Kol, making him still.

"You SLEPT with Tristan?!" Kol asked.

Marquez took a slight step back. "I... Did you have someone tail me?" They asked, looking to Elijah.

"Marcel had someone watching Tristan." He said simply.

"Not exactly interesting to follow him with me."

"Yes, apparently, he was incredibly distracted taking you on a dates."

"What is the issue here?"

"It's Tristan." Kol said simply. "He's not good for you." Marquez eyes snap to him, annoyed at the comment.

"It wasn't serious, I didn't marry the guy." He muttered. "Besides. Tristan isn't the issue here."

"Then who IS."

"Lucien." He said and pushed past the two men and downstairs.

"There you are!" Hope said. "We're doing it today. That was your timeline."

"Mhmm. And I'm dragging the Aurora We knew forward."

"Why?"

"She's more independent and less likely to ... I don't know. Be obsessed with your father and let Lucien manipulate that."

"She still loved him."

"But was aware he was an arse."

"Same as her brother."

"Lucien. Lucien is the one you're planning to kill?" Elijah asked, entering Kol at his side, still looking annoyed.

"Yep. I'm going to rip his heart out."

"You kill Aya. Why don't I get to kill Lucien?" Hope cut in.

"... Because you're the nice cousin?" He reasoned. "The sensible one."

"The one that wouldn't sleep with an enemy of our family unlike my child, it seems." Kol added.

"You slept with Tristan!?"

"Oh my god." He sighed. "It's so not a big deal. We went to an art show, he bought me dinner, I went back to his. Big whoop."

"Tristan is Insane." Kol snapped.

"Yeah, well apparently, so am I? And he is... more trusting than expected. He let me bite him." He shrugged.

"Damn. You could have killed him." Hope said with pause.

"Not that he knows that."

"What?" Kol said, confused.

"I'm a Grim."

"Someone sacrificed you?!" Kol asked. "Are they dead?"

"You killed them... a week later. But yeah." He nodded, shrugged.

"... Good." He said, looking unsure. "What's your ward?"

Hope looked to Marquez, crossing her arms, waiting for him to respond as he looked away from his dad. "You know. He's still uncle Kol, right?" Hope said when the silence dragged on.

"Okay. Tell Uncle Nik you dated a guy who almost killed you." He hummed.

"No. What the hell?"

"Or Carolines daughter." He added. Hope crossed her arms. "That Alaric Saltzman taught you to fight."

"Okay. Sometimes honesty sucks. Got it."

"You're just... keeping your Ward. What you have to protect, a secret?" Kol asked, annoyed. "From family. Did you not grow up with `Always and Forever`?"

Hope laughed as they groaned. "Dumb family saying." Marquez muttered and removed the band from his wrist.

"The Strix?" Kol said, looking mildly annoyed.

"Not the Strix."

"Tristan?" Elijah asked carefully as Kol stilled.

"You're kidding?" Kol said lowly.

"Nope. Turns out we can't kill him."

"And what you decided sleeping with him was a better option?" Kol drawled. "I don't think your mother -"

"My mom is the same age as me right now and with You. My mother can't judge. Remember your brother tried to kill her multiple times, killed her boyfriend, and your mother also wanted her dead. Your father, too, after she had him linked to her, a link You broke." They ranted. "And if you want to mention the age thing, I'll refer you to the fact we are the Same Age. And you and Tristan aren't that different in age either." Kol went silent, just glaring. "Any other comments?"

"He's a psychopath. Absolutely crazy."

"Didn't you used to be? I know about mystic falls. I mean, it's very much a source of issues for me and Hope at school. Klaus sacrificed people, and you went on killings sprees. I also met Jeremy Gilbert. But the want to kill him out ways the story he told since he.. ya know, killed you."

"You have an answer for Everything, don't you?"

"Yes."

"... You realise he played at being Elijah for 100 years?"

"You realise I can tell the difference between my Uncle and a thousand year old french vampire with an ego, right? Aurora played at being Rebekah. Doesn't stop Lucien or Uncle Nik. And I never knew that version of Tristan. Don't make it weird."

"It's not already weird?"

"... Davina sees Marcel as a father figure. Marcel sees Klaus as a father figure since he's known him since he was 11. Yet, he and Rebekah got married, and you married mom. Giving Marcel a weird... almost brother relationship with Hope and cousin/grandparent overprotectiveness with Me. Klaus and Hayley had Hope. But Hayley's in love with Uncle Eli. Not the first time Uncle Elijah and Nik liked the same woman. Aunt Freya has a spouse who started as someone she kidnapped. No one in this family is normal. Weird is the default." He said casually. Elijah was the one who looked more uncomfortable. "I can also mention you and Mom fell in love while you possessed the body of a teen witch, and mom was barely 17, if you want?"

Kol glared. "I assume this means back off your love life?"

"Please."

"Done. No more trying to break down mine, and Davinas relationship."

"Deal."

"... We get married?" He asked softly.

"You do. It's real sweet wedding, actually."

"We already had you?"

"Mhmm. For a while. I was ... eight?"

"Seven." Hope corrected. "I was ten. so..." She shrugged.

"That makes sense." He nodded. "But things are different this time around, Dad. So just... do what you want. Even if that's not having a kid, marrying sooner or later. Whatever."

"Woah. You're rallying for us not to have you?"

"I was a lot of work. And then I died and came back wrong. It's your decision. I'm just reminding you ... Just because I'm here doesn't mean you Have to do the same things again."

"We all came back weird. It's a family tradition." Kol said bluntly. "As long as this time, I wasn't part of the death."

"You didn't kill me. There's a dinner to prep for." He hummed and looked to Hope. "You going with Hayley and Jackson or here?"

"I don't know. I think mom wants me there."

"I would also prefer you away from danger." Klaus spoke up, and Hope rolled her eyes. "Christmas can be family celebration day here. Thanksgivings got the betrayal part inbuilt. Perfect for dinner with our enemies."

"And ... I was invited?" Marquez said slowly.

"Yes, well. You did sleep with Tristan. But as I slept with Aurora. I guess I can't judge." Klaus drawled.

"Poor Lucien. Only Trinity member not to have a hook up at the table." Marquez drawled.

"And Elijah just won't take one for the team!" Klaus said jokingly. Marquez couldn't stop the laughter as Hope and Elijah both sighed, looking both exasperated and disgusted at the idea.

"I mean, Lucien fits your type, Mar." Hope said casual. "Taller than you, has money, vaguely obsessive habits. Easy to manipulate once they like you."

"Wow... you make me seem Awful."

"Very gold digger, blackwidow... impressive. But you have money, you're a Mikaelson." Klaus said dryly.

"I like going places and getting information. It's a... this guy has money and status, so they make a fun few days. I dated... three Strix guys in my time? How I knew the habits. They talk a lot for the fact its a secret society." He said calmly. "And I didn't sleep with them all. I don't actually have that many people I've slept with Hope."

"Right. Because you're manipulating them because they tried to use you for sex."

"... Pretty much." He shrugged. "I see it as a fair reaction. They got a hot date. I had an interesting time. Learned some things, then we part ways."

"Didn't Marcel kill two of them?"

"Yeah. One called me a Stuck-up Prude for not sleeping with him... At a strix party. In front of Marcel. He took his head off. That was fun. And he was the last guy I dated from there. Fuckers suddenly decided I wasn't just fun."

"Marcel killed a Vampire at a strix party?" Elijah asked.

"Well... He was in charge; charter an all that."

"Excuse me?" Elijah asked.

"It won't happen this time. Aya's dead." He hummed bluntly. "And she can't manipulate the Strix. The witches or use Dad against mom and Mom against Marcel."

"Right. That's why you killed her. She threatened your mother."

"Mhmm. No one threatens my mother. Ever." He said simply eyes on Elijah then smiled easily. "Now. Dinner?"

Hope laughed. "Uncle Kol, mom said you and Davina were invited to join us." She said, and Kol looked at her.

"Davina would like that. She was going to invite Cami around, I think."

"I'll mention it to Mom." Hope said easily as they both headed out. Kol threw Marques a final look.

"So, we can't kill Tristan?" Elijah asked.

"No." He shrugged and sighed. "I will physically put myself between you. Don't... Don't tell him. Not ready to deal with that. But we can tear Lucien black heart from his chest."

"You really don't like him." Klaus hummed.

"He hurt Freya." He said, simply shrugging. "And a few other people. But yeah. He's what sets off part of the prophecy."

"The... self fulfilling one?"

"Yeah. He does it on purpose. He wants to be your downfall. He's not. One of you killing an ally was the start of your downfall. I intend to make sure Lucien doesn't get as far as His attempt. Meaning; we don't get the other."

"Me." Elijah said. "I kill someone, don't I?"

"Yeah. You do. But... we aren't talking about it. It's over. Everyone came back from that issue." He hummed. "So, we let it go."

"Is that why Hope was so unsure around me at the start?"

"Uncle Eli... Let's not talk about it. 20 years is a long time, and lots of drama."

"Ah, so I do something else."

"No. You don't. Because it's not gonna happen. And it hasn't." He said simply. "Every single one of you fuck up. Okay? It's a Mikaelson trait." He said. "Suck it up." He said simply. "Lucien dies. Today. So everyone Lives."

"Okay." Klaus nodded lightly. "After we confront him and Tristan about working together."

"Okay."

"You knew?" Marquez looked at him unimpressed and walked passed them.

[akwolfgrl]

LFT PART 37

Sanji made his last round inside his galley, Mr. Noodles sat perched on a bar stool watching him. The roses that Zoro got him were still sitting in the jar where he left them. He needed to figure out what he wanted to do with them. Sanji slid some butter into his apron pocket to soften.

Sanji finished unloading everything he had bought at the market this morning. There were still a few cartes of things waiting for him to deconstruct. Sanji had scored a crate of fresh unwashed eggs. He would water glass them later tonight. He left out the stuff he needed to make a batch of kimchi and a new marinade for Luffy's jerky. The meat was in the freezer to firm up for easier slicing. He also left out the prime rib he got on sale for dinner tonight. He had the perfect seasoning for them.

Sanji cut the core of napa cabbages out, placing them into the bucket he was using for a compost pile, they used to have one on the Baratie they would give it to a local farmer who they worked with to get fresh produce. There were things that even he could not salvage and use, but the compost was a good compromise since it fertilized and grew more food. He split the leafy vegetable apart with his hands. It was hard to get used to such a quiet kitchen. He was used to the hustle and bustle of the Baratie. The chefs arguing, the waiters yelling out food orders. Everything about the kitchen was loud and controlled chaos. Well, Sanji did sort of miss having someone he could talk to.

“OK so I know you're a cat, and you don't understand what I'm saying, but I don't care. Right now, I'm making kimchi. It's spicy, sour, and so good. A chef who used to work at the Baratie before settling ashore and marrying a sweet woman showed me how to make it,” Sanji began to chop the pieces of cabbage up. “I'm doing the shortcut method. Usually, you don't chop it up, but I like it better this way,” Sanji put all the cabbage into the large bowl. “Then we just wash and salt the cabbage until it wilts and the water from the inside of the cabbage is drawn out by the salt,” Sanji would leave it overnight with something heavy on top.

Mr. Noodles had at some point hopped from his stool to wind his way around Sanji's legs purring. He was ecstatic to have something small and cute to care for. Clementine may have been Zeff’s cat but she did like him and barely tolerated the other chefs. It had been his job to brush her long silky golden fur. She had been a very pretty kitty, with one gold eye and one blue. Mr. Noodles was of course very handsome with his soft slick black fur.

“Zeff my old man, although I'd never call him that to his face, had a ship cat, her name was Clementine,” Sanji took out the bowl he used previously for the marinade. Mixing soy sauce, worcestershire, orange juice, and zest , he whisked in honey, brown sugar, grated ginger, and chopped garlic. He threw some habaneros into his mortar and grinded them down into a nice paste before adding them as well. “I remember the look on Zeff’s face after we got off the Rock. Clementine had gotten off their pirate ship shortly before they attacked the Orbit. It's said that cats can sense doom. Anyway, we stayed on an island while we recovered, and one day, she walked right up to Zeff as if she had only been out for a stroll. She died shortly before Luffy came crashing in. Zeff had been practically testy lately, so that didn't help him at all,” Sanji covered the marinade and placed it into the fridge.

“I think after I'm done with my prep, I'll head back out for some personal shopping and check out the fish market. Maybe I'll be nice to our sentient plant life and pick up a sword cleaning kit. He doesn't have much money and would be more focused on buying swords. Why he needs three? I'm not sure, but that's his thing, I suppose,” Sanji took a paper towel to dry the prime ribs, or else it would reject the butter. He stabbed holes into the top of the meat. While he did know how to trim meat, it had come pre-trimmed and on sale to good of a deal to pass up. “I haven't seen him use it at all while we've been on this ship and there's no way that his sword hasn't been well kept in the past,” He took the softened butter out of his pocket and upwarped it, placing it into a small bowl. “Maybe I'll grab some ink for Nami-swan! I can't get Marimo and not my sweet Nami,” Sanji tossed in chopped rosemary and thyme, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, and a bit of worcestershire then he mixed it. “I should pick another notebook while I'm out, I might as well grab something for Luffy and Usopp while I'm at it. Just so I don't have to hear them whining.”

Sanji stabbed holes into the fatty part of the meat and used butter to lube up the sliced garlic and rosemary, slipping them into the holes. He coated the prime ribs in the rest of the butter before placing them in the fridge. After a quick clean-up, Sanji was ready to head out. With a goodbye scratch to Mr. Noodles Sanji left the Going Merry

[dojapat]

Kirara Rising Chapter 8

There I was with my knees pressed against the shabby dirt that neighbored the motel concrete where I had my first kiss. Hakari sat down on a small upturned crate. His face was contemplative. I think he was reevaluating his life as much as I was.

“I’m so sorry… I,” I stammered trying to amend the situation.

“No… no… nothing to be sorry for it was… it was nice.”

“For real?..,” I said turning my head toward him, doing everything in my power not to cry

“Yeah, that was… really nice,” Hakari stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at the ground. He paused for a second and said, “Have you ever done anything like that before?,” I sat up in the dirt.

“No… never… have you,” I responded.

“Yeah, I’ve had girlfriends… we had sex and stuff, but…” he paused to find the words. “but it was never like that…”

“Like different how?,” I timidly asked, holding my limp fist in front of my heart.

“Well with them I was doing it because that’s what you’re supposed to do. You get with a girl, you fuck her and the passion burns out. One girl maxed out my credit card and that was hot but only because of the risk of losing money and not because I liked her, but with you. I’m glad you did that. It felt real with you.”

“Are you gay or bi or something?,” I asked.

“Well, I don’t like guys. I just like you.”

“I don’t get it…”

“Yeah me neither… how are you doing?...”

I couldn’t respond. My throat couldn’t will itself to speak. I was overwhelmed with brand new emotions.

I was finally able to whimper something out, “I feel like I’m… I feel like…”

“Wait,” Hakari interrupted me. “I want to say something real quick,” His words snapped me back to reality.

“You’ve always had a magnetism to you,” Hakari said, coming closer to me. He knelt in front of me and held my hands in his, “I’d see you in class and I’d never know what to say,” his eyes darted down in embarrassment. “I just wanted to root around your head and see how you tick, but I never got why I couldn’t just ask.”

“Hakari…”

“No. Kinji. My name is Kinji. You can call me Kin. What should I call you?”

My first name was, (redacted) a strong masculine name my father had selected before I was even conceived. I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I didn’t want that name. I wanted a name that glittered. A fabulous, flamboyant name. A name that made me feel the fever every time I heard it.

“Kirara,” I told Kin. I coughed the name out like I was spitting water out of my lungs.

“Kirara…,” Kin said as he smiled. “It’s beautiful, what do you want to be, Kirara.” His grip on my hands became subtly tighter. I could feel the warmth of his hands spread through my whole body.

“I want to be a gorgeous wife to a man I love.”

Kin smiled trying his best to keep composure. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes.

I remembered my father. His voice that had burrowed its way in my brain like a parasite, ’(Redacted), you are an extension of me. That is your only reason for being. Never forget that,’ I finally was able to speak. I gagged on my words as they came out.

“And in another life I’d want to be your wife.”

His face dropped to be as emotionless as a corpse.

“I’m a traditionalist by birthright, Kin.”

He was kneeling in the same position unflinching. I removed my hands from his and they fell limp at his side. I stood up to look down on him as I was the higher up and he was my subordinate.

“I’ll always be in love with you, Kin. But I can’t love you.”

Without passion. Without heat. Without the fever… I politely bowed to him and took my leave. I was stoic and harsh. Just as a good higher up should be.

I walked away at an appropriate pace. Leaving Kin kneeling. The once happy tears of passion that had weld up in his eyes, coldly fell down his face.

I entered our room. Next to the beds where we conspired to sneak out. I grabbed Maki’s cursed blade. ‘Not out of respect for Maki,’ I thought but only because I couldn’t leave a cursed weapon unattended.

That was the right thing to do.

On my way out I stepped on a tube of lipstick Kin had accidentally dropped. I picked it up ‘not because I loved him and wanted a memento,’ I thought. Only to confiscate it. Males shouldn’t wear such things.

That was the right thing to do.

With that I walked away. Away from the mission. Away from the town. Away from Ijichi. Away from the fever. Away from Kinji Hakari. I wanted to die, but I always wanted to die whenever I embraced my destiny as a higher up so I was used to it. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I didn’t care where I went. I just wanted to be away from the happiness that would betray my birthright.

’(Redacted), you are an extension of me. That is your only reason for being. Never forget that.’

The words echoed from a deep pit in my soul.

Little did I know my death wish might have been closer than it seemed. I couldn’t notice beyond my grief. A healthy person would’ve become nauseous and their vision would’ve blurred, but I was already feeling that.

For what I entered was a place of violence and lethality. A domain.

[yoyoslumodernau]

links awakening

This is quite long :[l]

It was an early summer morning, Legend had quickly been put to work by Malon who had wanted him to feed the horses and to water the plants on the porch.

Of course, his brothers were doing other things as well. Wind had been in charge of sweeping the floor of the deck and cleaning the bathrooms while Twilight did some heavy lifting around the ranch.

“Hey kiddo, your mother wanted me to ask you if you wanted to go to the store with her. Do you want to?”

Legend looked over and saw Time leaning against the door, putting his weight on his hand. “

Yeah, tell her I need a few minutes.”

Time nodded and was about to leave when,

“Thanks, dad.”

Legend quickly went to put the watering can away, embarrassed at the fact he finally mustered the courage to address his new father correctly.

Now he was going to be held to that standard for a while, that title was going to take some time to get used to.

He grabbed his shoes and made his way to the car.

“You ready to go? I was just wondering if you needed anything for you and Thief. If you want you can get some new clothes or just something that tickles your fancy,”

Malon said as legend hopped into the seat next to her. Legend looked around the store. Apparently you could find anything here, so he decided to look for some rabbit feed.

“Hello stranger, how can I help you today?"

Legend jumped a bit at the sudden voice, he turned to see a boy around his height wearing a purple rabbit hood, covering his face.

“Oh, I'm ok, just looking for some rabbit feed.”

The hooded boy nodded,

“Oh! Another pet owner, I have a bird named Sheerow. He's such a sweetheart, let me take you to that food.”

With that he grabbed Legends wrist and led him to one of the isles.

“Here we are, rabbit feed. My personal suggestion is this one since it has all the good stuff but costs way less. The trick here is that they hide all the best items where you don't look so you buy the expensive garbage.”

Legend nodded, “thanks, but why are you telling me? If you work here, shouldn't you be trying to not help me?”

He then noticed the lack of a name tag, weird for someone who works at a store like this.

“Oh no, I've gotta hide. Quick! Pretend you don't know me.”

With that, the purple hooded boy dashed behind a large sale sign, his shoes still visible and quite noticeable. Legend quickly kicked a crate in his direction to hide the rest of him.

“Hey kid, have you seen a boy around your age ‘round here? Wears purple, black hair? Super annoying and tries to sell you stuff?”

Legend looked over to see a large man standing over him.

“No, I haven't. Why do you want to see him anyway? If he's my age he's probably not that bad.”

The older man scoffed, “well, for one he keeps driving my customers off. Two, he's a lorulean.”

Legend wore a confused expression, “what's wrong with loruleans? I took a trip to lorule once and they are great artists and have quite an interesting culture.”

“The only kinda art they do is con art. All those Loruleans here are only interested in stealing important things and stuff. Nobody can trust them, that's why none of them should have a future in a place like this. They almost destroyed their home, who says they ain't trying to destroy ours.”

Legend gave the man a cold stare, “I am.”

His icy blue eyes cut through and the older man backed off, “Alright, if you do see him though, I'll get you a good discount on your items.”

“Fat chance.”

The man left and legend heard a sigh of relief come from the sign.

“He's gone. You can stop hiding now” Legend affirmed, watching the purple rabbit hood pop out from behind its hiding spot.

“Thank you so so much. How can I repay you mister hero!”

“Um, it's Legend. You can start by telling me your name. I wanna know who I just stuck my neck out for."

The boy removed his purple hood, revealing a pair of emerald green eyes. His hair was as dark as obsidian and sat in a wavy mop on top of his head.

“My name is Ravio. I really mean it when I say thank you. Not many people will stick out for my kind of people. Not after they stole your relics.”

“Don't worry about it. I shouldn't matter where you're from, we're all people and we're all alike.”

Ravio smiled, “here, I've been saving this for someone and, well, I thought I could give this to you. I think you'll take good care of it.”

He handed Legend a gold bracelet with a pink jewel in the center.

“Thanks, it's really nice. Hey, it kinda matches my hair.”

Ravio nodded, “that's what I was thinking! We should meet up again, mister hero. I still owe you a ton for saving me from that guy.”

With that, Ravio left the store, waving at Legend through the window. As legend reached his hand out to wave back he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Did you find everything you were looking for ok?” Legend turned around and saw his mother with a full shopping cart.

“Oh yeah, here's Thiefs feed. Should last him a few months.” Malon nodded, “who's your new friend?”

“His name's Ravio, he's really nice.” Legend smiled a bit, “yeah… I mean, not really.”

He was desperately trying to fix his little mistake, feeling his face turn the same shade of pink as his hair as malon started to laugh.

“It's ok sweetheart, I have a husband and a son with a girlfriend. I think I know when a guy likes someone. Don't worry, your little crush is safe with me.”

Legend's face held a amused look, knowing shee probably tell her husband, “alright, thanks mom.”

[oexen]

cw hoarding + mentions of animal and child neglect

is it really gonna take me telling my mother its extremely concerning to have PILES of cat waste just. around. in the house

like i know shes going to flip the fuck out at me in some way or another, be very angry or sad or hurt or some secret other option and like. she misgenders and deadnames me as if i never shared the info with her, the crux of our relationship is financial and thats even pretty minimal. like yeah maybe its sincerely not my problem and i KNOW you cant help someone who doesnt want to be helped, but i dont want to inherit a cat piss soaked infested brick.... thing. no fucking way dude. that shit realistically probably has to be gutted ngl, its fucking awful. shes a hoarder and never really touched my old bedroom so i have some stuff there, stuff id actually like to take even, but the smell is literally pervasive to the point that books smell like it on the fucking inside.

like shes actually at the point her neckbeard nest doesnt register as a problem to her. even with... another person who is not me having to actually go inside of the house??? i like cannot fathom whats going on inside that god forsaken head of hers, she asked me why i was wearing a mask inside and turned around and walked away before i could even say anything, lmfao.

i couldnt spend more than one night in her house and had a mask on the whole time because it fucking blew so hard to be in there. this fucking idiot got 3 huge WORKING dogs (pyrenees and a burmese mtn dog) because its "in her life plan" (news to me lmao!) and tldr she impulse bought them because theyre cute. shes never fucking home, works 9-5 and theyre crated a lot of the time and its fucking horrible to see, i freaked the absolute fuck out on her when i first heard that she had new puppies like what 2 years ago? fucking neglecting the elderly dogs she already had in favor of getting these for some fucking reason, "no more dogs after this one dies" turns into 3 giant stupid fucking untrained, neglected mistakes. the singular saving grace is that they have a big yard to run around in, but that doesn't do a hell of a lot of good when it's hot and this idiot refuses to walk them when shes home anyway. couldn't possibly be because theyre untrained and will drag her stupid ass down the street fr. i think im going to literallt snail mail the next door neighbor or maybe even both of them because like.... what the actual fuck is she doing with these dogs. GET HELP.

ive been telling this absolute knob for YEARS she needs to chill out and do something else (like 3 of her closest blood relatives died in the past several years, 2 of which she was literally caretaking, and she still volunteers at a fucking hospice and has NEVER SOUGHT BEREAVEMENT COUNSELING, LET ALONE COUNSELING IN GENERAL), she keeps saying shes fucking fine and we have LITERALLY had the exchange where she says it to my face and i gesture around and say CLEARLY!!!!!

Anyway. the dogs. shes going to get worse and i know it and im just so disgusted by the prospect of having to like lay it all out probably because no one else will, and i guess i care because its literally affecting me, i sat and wrote all this because im cleaning stuff i took from her house like books and SEALED ITEMS THAT ALSO SMELL LIKE CAT PISS ON THE INSIDE OF THE PACKAGING????????? and got triggered. but whatever. this woman treated me like shit and neglected me for my entire childhood and turns it around and goes WHATDIEVERDOTOYOU if i so much as refuse a hug even this far down the line, its been nearly 10 years since ive lived with her, and like. holy fuck. and she doesnt have a single fucking clue lol like idk its also just like pathetic and sad to see a person go through this, even though she gives me mmmm essentially nothing but feelings of disgust when i really think about it. its just fucked and everyones dying or doesnt care or doesnt feel like they can say anything and im like. idk. i could literally bring this up to lots of people she knows, i could find a damn way, but like yaknow..... it fucking sucks so hard to have to do all this bc this woman is literally severely mentally ill and needs a fucking hand but it sure as shit isnt going to be mine, at least not physically. god.

[the-faramir]

Extinction Curse Session 2024/06/05 Part 2

The Siege of Willowside

Day 3 (Part 1)

The next morning, the adventurers ate their meager breakfast before starting the day. Lysander ate nothing and Midori only drank black coffee. As they finished, the mayor approached them.

“I hate to ask for more help when you just got back from looking into Fortune’s Hall, but since you’re trapped in town until we fight off these xulgaths, I imagine it’s in your best interest as well. We need your help dealing with the xulgaths, but first, we need the Banyan Boys back. There are these caves underneath the town that have been here since before the town was built, and there’s an entrance in the basement of the general store. Some old documents from the town’s founding indicate that those caves were important, but I’m not sure why. A lot of stuff from that time is gone. Local legend has it that the town’s founders might have left something special down there in case of emergencies. Well, if this doesn’t count as an emergency, nothing does. The Banyan Boys went down there, and they should have been back by now. I worry that something happened to them. Can you go look for them? They’re our town’s best protectors.”

"The Vengaboys?" Midori asked.

Zookdar put a hand on Midori's shoulder to gently stop her. "No, we're not doing that bit again." He looked at the mayor. "Yes. We'll go down into your dungeon and rescue your Banyan Boys."

"Dungeon?" Midori's expression grew worried, "There's not butter on the walls, is there?" Lysander sighed and shook his head at her.

One of the townsfolk led the group through the general store to the basement. They entered the storeroom that the owner frequently used, seeing several crates labeled "Cozurn's General Store" in neat lettering and a closed door on the opposite side. An open padlock with the key still in its keyhole hung on the door's handle.

The adventurers opened the door and moved forward into the next storage room, looking as if it had not been used in decades. The boxes, crates, and scattered barstools all sat covered in a thick layer of dust. Zookdar, having darkvision, took the lead. Midori followed, and Lysander and Buffy brought up the rear, closing the door behind them.

To the north was a broken door. To the west was a stairway leading down. Zookdar saw footprints in the dust leading down the stairs, but one set of footprints heading toward the room to the north and back. He remarked that the footprints leading downward appeared to have been hurried. "I wonder why they took off in such a rush?"

Suddenly, a slick, oily slithering sound came from the room to the north. Four waxy blob-like oozes, pale yellow and smelling of old beef tallow, approached the party in a line.

"We've got company!" Zookdar warned the party. He raised his shield, rushed the attackers with a battle cry, and attacked with his gnome flickmace. His target began to ooze a greasy seepage and he had to check himself to maintain his balance in the slippery pool.

"Greasy seepage?" Midori exclaimed. "What are these, Olestra monsters?" She prepared an impromptu song to inspire courage:

🎶🎶🎶 Greasy Seepage, slipping through the cracks, Ooze and slide, no turning back. Gleaming slick and slithery, It’s a trick, it’s a mystery! 🎶🎶🎶

She followed up by launching a telekinetic projectile at the lead ooze, hitting it.

Lysander cast a spell to slow the oozes and fired at one with his hex blaster gun.

One of the oozes lashed out at Zookdar with a pseudopod, hitting him and making him slicker with oily slime. He grumbled in disgust.

Midori shouted out to Zookdar, "Hey, I thought you liked bein' covered with grease!"

Zookdar called out for help, "Cleanse me of my grease, Buffy!" But Buffy had no spells to help with the cleansing. Instead, she cast a rallying banner to take the place of Midori's inspirational songs, freeing her up for more useful actions.

Another ooze moved up and attacked Midori. A third attacked Zookdar.

Midori yelled to Zookdar, "With all o' this greasy seepage, watch out for loose stools!"

Zookdar shot back, "Don't be disgusting, Midori! This is serious!"

"I am being serious," she replied. "Those barstools are all over the place. Don't trip!" Midori followed up with a rapier strike on her closest opponent, not damaging it at all. "Uh-oh. Stabby-stabbing won't hurt 'em! Watch your attacks, everyone!" She hit her target with a telekinetic projectile. "Bludgeoning. Maybe fire? Anyone got a fireball? Or should I have Orbison release a poison cloud?"

Lysander shouted at Midori, "Enclosed space! Bad idea!"

She snapped back, "You know I'm just kiddin'!"

Another ooze rose up to engulf Zookdar, covering him in more oily residue. "I am more grease than gnome at this point!" he lamented.

The battle stretched on for much longer than the heroes would have liked. Fortunately, the oozes were not difficult to hit, only difficult to damage. Eventually, Buffy finished off the last of the foes with a telekinetic projectile.

Searching the area, Zookdar found a battered greave etched with a powerful greater resilient rune, some empty silver vials, and a platinum charm depicting a lizard with three tails.

Asking first to make sure nobody else needed the rune more urgently, Midori detached the rune from the greave and added it to her own armor. "Hoo, boy, did I need that boost!"

Midori took the time to patch up everybody's wounds. The heroes cleaned themselves up from any remaining oily residue.

Once everyone had finished, Zookdar looked down the stairwell and remarked, "The stairway looks clear. Shall we, then?"

(Text in blue belongs to Paizo.)

[crmsnmth]

September Sky Chapter Six, Part 5

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I promised. I'm telling you though, it would help you. And maybe even him." I hopped off the stool and headed back behind the kitchen door.

Justin was singing along to some eighties pop song I didn't recognize right away. His taste in music was just as varied and eccentric as my own. Some days it was hip-hop, or death metal, or Britney Spears. He was chopping chives up and tossing them into a plastic container.

"Sup, Skeletor," I shouted as I made my way to the office. I through my bag on the kitchen desk, and through on an apron. I had some paperwork left over, but it would have to wait. Prep for the night always came first. Prep is never a one person job.

"What's going on?" I asked, grabbing a pot of potatoes in need of being peeled and cut into fries. We used to leave the peels on but we changed our recipe a few months back. Now they were an even bigger pain in the ass to prepare.

"Not much. You?" He finely chopped the last of the chives.

"Same. Hey, I keep forgetting to ask you, but I'm thinking the 23rd, would you be willing to run the kitchen? Some friends are coming from out of town that I'd really like to see."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. Who's all going to be working then?"

"I'm thinking I'll have Mitch come in and take your spot, since your taking mine."

"For sure. Sounds good," he seemed excited. I figured he would be. Any chance he got to be in charge he took well. If he stuck with this choice of career, he would make an excellent executive chef. He had the talent and he had the drive.

"Awesome, thanks. I'll take care of the paperwork stuff so you don't need to worry about that. I'll come in on Sunday morning and finish that all up. Just print the reports."

"Alright."

I was almost positive Justin could do all the paperwork. He was smart enough to figure out how to add numbers and subtract inventory off of sales reports. He walked off into the walk-in cooler, looking for whatever had to be prepped yet. I finished up the potatoes and started making our brown sweet gravy.

* * * *

"What the fuck happened?" I asked Justin as we sat in the alley on milk crates, both chain-smoking the only cigarettes we'd had all night. Soon enough we'd have to go inside and clean the absolute disaster area that was the line.

Every so often, a random night of the week will just be unbearably crazy. Tonight was one of those nights. Justin and I held the line on our own, but it was hectic and violent. It was one after another of large parties, one being for a reservation of 15, that nobody had actually written the reservation down. And even though that is a FOH job, the heart suffers. And it was like that right up to the moment we finally turned down, at almost ten o'clock. Usually on Thursday's we shut it down around nine or nine thirty.

"That was fucking awful. Seriously, that was a fucking shit show," Justin said, holding his head in his hands. His apron was covered in marinara and gravy and hundreds of other small explosions. A burn ran up his left arm after getting some splash back dropping a basket into the fryer.

"FOH really fucked up. I'm tempted to just fucking lose it on Sarah. She's got to get her shit organized. We're lucky we didn't crash and burn tonight."

Both Justin and I were extremely angry, and I felt we had a right to be. We should've known about any reservations so we could have prepared for it.

"Fucking do it." Justin tossed his cigarette and pulled out a joint from his pack. He lit it up, taking a few puffs before passing it over to me. Hey, as long as you can do your job stoned, nobody will care. If you fuck up though, you lose that privilege. Or you get your ass fired.

"Let's get inside and clean this shit hole up."

[fixed-signs]

Marzana, Marzana

Marzana, Marzana - Chapter 1

Pairing: Josh x original female character (you read that right if you come back up here halfway through this chapter)

Warnings: NSFW MINORS DNI, drinking, weed, implied sex

Eventual pregnancy and angst, we got slow burn, we got fluff

Word count: 2.7k

Hadley took one look back at the brick apartment building, the last plastic milk crate of records in her hands and a guitar slung on her back. She exhaled, cheeks puffing out, and feeling slightly uncomfortable in the warm Tennessee October. 

She watched the leaves, still attached to the trees sway like the licking flames of a fire. She felt no desire to take anything else. She didn’t need any of it really. Everything in that apartment no longer served her or this strange— constantly parting stage of her life at the moment. 

*

“What an asshole.” She spoke into the phone tucked between her shoulder and ear as she drove into a parking spot. 

“Hadley….” Sara on the other end cooed. 

“He tried the ‘I was hurting too’ move, which like, yeah buddy because it was you who was gone all the time taking care of your dying mother.” 

“Pfft, did you tell him that? Like oh yeah, sticking your dick in someone else really screams empathy to me. Oh God! Was she there?!”

“No, no, she wasn’t there….and I let him do most of the talking or groveling or whatever you want to call it. I think she might have realized what a piece he was well before I ever did. But like good for her, ya know?”

“I enjoy your feminism in this situation. He didn’t make a huff about your stuff, did he?”

“He certainly didn’t help me load it up, but clearly I’m all about girl power… The only thing he got in my face about was me taking back the guitar. He was all ‘that’s a gift, you can’t take it back. ‘Mweh’ to me about it.”

“God fuck him.” 

Hadley, stared out the windshield of her car. The glare from the sun making every piece of dust on her dashboard apparent.

“Yeah…” There was a silence, then Hadley gently pulled the phone from her ear while Sara settled a barking dog in the background. “I gotta go.”

“Ok, I’ll see you later.” 

“Oh, no yeah, I just decided to get a hotel room.”

*

Hadley sipped her nearly overflowing double of bourbon and coke and looked at the banner framing the entry way of the patio “Gibson Anniversary Celebration”. Music was blasting, she saw plenty of selfies being taken— She didn’t recognize most of the celebrities smiling on demand next to her coworkers. Hadley subtly danced through the crowd to the some tables to find a seat. She didn’t feel quite up to dancing and figured coworkers were still too starstruck to find any of them on the dance floor quite yet. 

“Ok, but would you rather-“ Sam stood at the end of the table, and shouted, “Ahem, would you rather-“

It didn’t matter, Danny was taking a picture with someone, Jake was busy observing everyone and frankly, was over Sam and tonight, and Josh was trying to scoop a piece of ice on his straw. 

“You know, this is the best ice. The tube kind.” He declared when he managed to thread one on the end of his straw. 

“Josh, shut up!” Sam whined. 

“Yeah, its crushed, fuckhead.” Jake added. 

“Basic bitch-” Josh humored between crunches of ice. 

“Would you rather—“

“Have you heard that chewing ice says something about a man’s sexual prowess?” Josh continued. 

“What on Earth would that have to do with anything?” Jake slid his sunglasses down and proceeded to crunch loudly on piece he scooped out with his fingers from Sam’s drink.

Sam stomped and his eye were about to bulge out of his head. 

Danny sat back down at the end of the booth, knowing he had to intervene without any context, “Ok, what’s the would you rather?” 

“JESUS, I’m getting to it.” Sam squawked, “You know what, no, no, I’m getting another fuckin’ - stronger— drink.”  

The boys booed as Sam left the table. 

Sam was moving gracefully through the large crowd until he was shoved, seemingly out of no where. Before he could catch himself or even glance to see who had pushed him he was on Hadley and Hadley was covered in her drink. 

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry. God- oh here,” He helped her stabilize her footing again. Her platform boots slipping a little in the puddle under her. 

“It’s good, what even happened, are you good?” 

“I’m fine!” Sam began shouting as another song started playing, seemingly louder than the last one. “What were you drinking. I can get you another. And some napkins!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Hadley shook her head.

“Don’t with that. Was it a rum and coke?” 

She crinkled her nose, “Bourbon.” 

“Alright.”

He smiled and Hadley held a hand to her cheek, trying to calm the red flush she felt all over. Luckily most of the drink spilled on her shoes and pants, leaving no truly uncomfortable stickiness on any exposed skin other than her hands. 

*

“Look who I ran in to! It’s Hadley!” Sam announced as he herded Hadley to the table with the rest of the band. 

“It’s you!” Danny played along with the joke. 

“It’s you!” Hadley pretend fawned over Danny. “It’s been so long!” 

“Hi, I’m Josh,” Josh held out his hand. 

“I know, we go way back.” She played along and shook his hand anyways. 

Jake quietly chuckled, observing as Sam pulled up another chair on his side of the table for her. 

“How did you get dragged over here?” Jake piped up. 

“I spilled her drink, and I’m being a gentleman.” Sam answered quickly ending on defensive. 

“Oh well, that’s good, I thought you had just wet your pants. Urination as the professionals call it.” Josh said. 

“Where the fuck are you from? What is that accent?” Hadley quipped back.

Danny shook his head, “English isn’t his first language—“

“We only let him learn his English by watching Jackass.” Jake popped another piece of ice in his mouth, Josh silently mocked his brother’s crunching face, it all was getting entertaining for Hadley. 

“We’re from Michigan.” Sam announced. 

“Oh well…did you- did you know that trade routes from New York brought that accent to Michigan- but no one else here sounds like that…so why do you sound like that?“ 

“Yeah really Joshua? Can you believe we are identical twins?” Jake plucked his sunglasses off and hooked them on his shirt collar.

“Yeah he sounds normal,” Hadley pointed a thumb at Jake, “That explains even less.” 

The table laughed. A new song started Sam and Danny locked eyes. They both began to stand and dance at each other. Danny mouthed the words between sips of his drink. 

“It’s a bop.” Sam and Danny said in unison, clearly an inside joke, and they left to the dance floor that was slowly filling up. 

“So who are you now?” Jake asked. 

“Marzana Hadley.” She held out her hand to Jake, a playful sarcasm in her voice now, “luthier extraordinaire.” 

“Oh? Jake Kiszka,” Jake saw her eyebrows knit together, he gave her hand a light squeeze. “Lead guitar. Of Greta Van Fleet.” 

She avoided eye contact with Jake, as if it’d hide the bashfulness suddenly overcoming her. She’d heard of them— this man’s face was in several pictures around the office and headquarters. Hadley glanced at Jake again, a red light coming from the dance floor haloed in his hair. Josh was already spurting as their equally calloused hands slid from each other.

“Josh Kiszka, yes, Greta Van Fleet’s lead sing-er.” He emphasized for humor, “What do you do for Gibson?” 

“Yeah Marzana, what do you do for Gibson?”

Hadley cleared her throat, her body still flushed from embarrassment, “It’s Hadley. The rockstars interviewing me? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Am I getting the rockstar treatment??”

They both chuckled, “Sorry, no no.” Jake apologized. 

“Did you know,” Josh mimicked her from earlier, “The throat is the 5th chakra. Yours sounds very blocked.”

“You must know all about throat health being a sing-er. AndI just- wow, thank you. The best most heartfelt compliment I’ve gotten in weeks.”

“That’s not nearly as interesting as her linguistics analysis of your annoying ass.” Jake said after a sip of beer. He shook it and listened to any liquid sloshing. Empty.

“Any other esoteric traits you’d like to criticize? I’m a sad Pisces, so go easy.” 

“Ah, well I think your Sanpaku eyes are wonderful. What has you so weary in this life?”

“Josh….” Jake huffed as he stood, “What the fuck man.” 

“Was that a pick up line? Because it’s a bad one.”

“It wasn’t, but I’ll work on it.” 

Hadley rolled her eyes, but was startled as someone abruptly grabbed her shoulders. It was a coworker, who was clearly tipsy and giggly. 

“Hey girl!” The girl hugged around Hadley’s shoulders, pinning her in an awkward sitting-side-back-hug. 

“You sound like you’re having a good time.” Hadley smile, but pleaded for help with her eyes at either of the boys.

“This is Mike from Iowa I’ve been telling y’all about.” her southern drawl was thick as she held out her hand for everyone to see, “Covid love.” 

She hummed and opened her eyes, focusing way too hard on Hadley. It was the alcohol, but it was still jarring compared to the vibe of the rest of the table. 

“Most romantic of pandemics. Spanish flu has nothing on you guys.” Hadley chattered, it cause Josh to choke mid sip of his drink. 

“What? Anywhose, I’m so sorry about your mama and her cancer and all. God, and your breakup? I’m sorry girly. What a year for you.”

“Uh…yeah…..thanks…..” Dread was all over Hadley’s voice— no her entire being. 

Jake and Josh looked at each other. Jake silently was screaming ‘I told you so’ behind his eyes as Josh, unneeded as Josh felt like a true asshole for calling this stranger sad. Hadley just wanted to sink into her chair and not have to pretend the niceties, albeit genuine, would stop. As if manifestation was real the friend realized who the twins were. 

Hadley slinked away with her drink to find obscurity with Sam and Danny- well really anyone who didn’t truly know her, on the dance floor. 

*

Jake and Josh slipped away after some photos and were in line at the bar. Josh bobbing along to the music in his spot, Jake swaying and shifting weight between his feet. He regretted wearing brand new boots.

“You should make a move.” Josh looked towards his friends and Hadley on the dance floor. 

They were having a dance off with cheesy dance moves mixed with square dancing moves. All laughing uncontrollably at each new move the other presented. Cheering and clapping. 

Jake looked at his feet, “I don’t know, man. She’s cool.”

“Yeah she’s fucking cool, dude. I know it’s been a while.” 

“Not since Jita.” 

“So a year?” 

“It’s only been 9 months and it’s not like you’re out there making moves either since-“

“I don’t do rebounds like you.” Josh smacked Jake in the chest.

Jake’s body flinched and he managed to stop his arm from coming up and delivering a swat back, “I don’t ‘do rebounds’ either. Jesus.” He made air quotes. 

Jake took another look at Hadley, now doing the Macarena very off beat to the music while Sam pretend lassoed Danny. 

“How the hell is Sam the only one with a partner out of all of us right now?” Jake muttered. 

“I dunno, but it’s fucked up.” Josh agreed. They clinked drinks.

*

“Shit,” Hadley groaned standing in front of the hotel as the uber pulled away behind her. 

“What’s up?” Jake was already sweating. 

“I- I was moving today and I didn’t have time to get all of my stuff out of my car to my room. Do you mind if I—?”

“Not at all, I can help.” 

Jake followed silently behind Hadley to her car. She popped the trunk and Jake’s eyes widened at the collection of records sitting there. 

“It’s like a lot, it’s just bad to let them sit in changing temperatures and it’s already like 20 degrees colder than when I left. It’s find if you don’t want—”

“I- I get it.” He smiled and began to stack two milk crates. 

*

“Thanks for the cab, by the way.” Hadley pushed the hotel luggage caddy, now full of records to her room; Jake holding on the back and watching for any runaway items when they took turns out the elevator and down hallways. 

It was actually much simpler and less mortifying to slip out of the party with Hadley. Sam had left to FaceTime his girlfriend after her show. Danny and Josh seemingly vanished, almost an Irish goodbye until Jake got a text saying ‘Joshua and I are meeting Alex and bar hopping’ from Danny. 

“No worries. The least I could do after you flamed Josh like that.” 

She let an airy “ha” spit from her lips while she waited for the light on the doorknob to turn green. Hadley pulled out her key card and held the door open for Jake to push the cart in.

“Speaking of flaming people, did you see Slash dancing?” 

They both erupted in laughter. Jake gently shut the heavy hotel door behind him.

He scanned the room: your average beige walls with an overly bright accent wall, a grey-blue bed spread, but the wall with the TV and mini fridge was stacked with even more vinyls and two guitars. One was in a case leaned against the wall upright while the other was laid across the arm chair at the very corner of the room. 

“Do you want to listen to anything?” Hadley offered as she balanced on one foot un-doing her boot. 

“Sure.” Jake grinned and parked the caddy.

“Cool, I’ll set up.” 

Jake flipped through the contents of the collection. Hadley had opened a box and was now on her hands and knees trying to reach an outlet near the bed. She had placed a record player on the night stand, cords trailing out the back to two speakers. Hadley stood back and admired the work before going to her purse and opening a cigarette case. It held several skinny and neatly wrapped joints. 

“I’m gonna- do you-“ She said voice creaking, mechanically, nervously. 

Jake shook his head yes, Hadley nodded and dug out a lighter from another pocket of her bag. She cracked a window, a joint now hanging lazily out of her mouth. Hadley walked over to Jake, she lit up and the familiar herbal smelled wafted to him.

“You decide on anything yet?” 

“This,” Jake held a record between them. In a smooth exchange Hadley took it from his hands and he took the joint from her lips. 

“I wasn’t expecting this.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with the Arctic Monkeys.” Jake wheezed after a drag, the record player hummed and scratched before a heavy, slow beat filled the room.

Hadley sat on the foot of the bed and flicked ashes into stout white coffee cup from the desk. Jake slung the guitar without a case over his shoulders, the joint was passed back to him as he placed himself next to her. The mattress sinking slightly with his weight. Jake strummed and fiddled on the instrument, tuning a string, then strumming a few notes, matching the song. 

“Did you make this?” Hadley nodded at Jake and watched his hands fiddle along the neck, “It’s beautiful.” He said, pausing and staring at Hadley. 

She was blushing. Taking the joint out of Jakes mouth delicately between her pointer and middle finger, “One of the first ones I ever made.” She said after exhaling smoke. 

The room fell quiet between songs, a deafening silence. Hadley flicked the ashes into the cup one more time, her head spinning as the high was starting to hit. She offered the joint back to Jake, holding it near his face. His eyes were heavier than before. He gazed at her faded lipstick mouth he grabbed her wrist out of the way and they both crashed into each other at the same time.