#and the DM says she's been having her own problems in the meantime but she's not a captain anymore...

[morrigan-sims]

Pirate Outfts

I was bored, so I started trying some different outfits on Zara... The last one might be my favorite, if only because I already used another swatch of the first one for Wolf, and I can't have them wearing the same thing... But I also love being able to see all her freckles in the 2nd one...

[physicalturian]

[18+] Words of pleasure - Law x F!Reader - Part 7

[No spoilers] [Modern AU - College AU] [She/her pronouns used for the reader, no physical description; Everyone +18] Words : 7207 Archive of our own

Warning : Power play / Dom/sub Dynamics / Control / Stranger / Flirting / Fluff / Awkwardness / Mirrors / Anxiety / Making out / Shibari… If you feel like I should add more warnings, send me a dm or and ask

– Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

I hated feeling anxious, but there was nothing I could do about it. The thought of having fucked up with Law never left my mind. The entire day I was on campus, I had this urge to check if he had answered, at this point I was ready settle for any type of reply, not even something flirty.

 But as hours went by, there was nothing. I couldn’t even distract myself with HandSurgeon, since he had warned me, he would probably be asleep for a while. Those were the cons of him being an actual surgeon. He probably had a long operation. But Law… I thought the feeling was mutual, I thought I’d tease him back from what he did to me before leaving in a hurry but clearly, I had gotten it wrong. I wanted to throw up, I felt sick, I had to keep calm and play it cool, but fuck was it hard.

The little voice in my head never stopped saying I was an idiot, that I shouldn’t have sent that picture. That even if I was feeling myself that moment, he clearly hadn’t asked for that, maybe he even thought this was an unwanted nude? For fuck sake, I should have asked- I mean, I’m not naked on it or anything but…

 Sighing I placed my elbows on the table and rested my head in my hands. “This is shit,” I said at first, grumbling to myself. I tried not to talk too loudly considering I was working at a table in the hall, and I did not really want to sound crazy. Nor did I want to disturb the people who were actually working.

 Running my hands over my face, I leaned back on my chair looked at the world upside down, “I ain’t going to feel shit because of a man, and maybe he’s busy, yeah-“ I almost fell back when I saw someone walk in front of me, startling me in the process when they stopped right there. I let out a gasp and sat back properly on my seat, turning around to look at the person.

 “Fuck Nami, how about you give me a warning next time? Why are you here, don’t you have classes or something?” She quirked a brow in reply and pulled up a chair, sitting next to me, huffing something under her breath but I couldn’t quite catch it.

“Well looks like I’m here on time, you look like shit,” Reaching for the textbook in front of me, she closed it, saying if it was giving me that much trouble, I should take a break.

 Grimacing, I looked around a moment before settling my gaze on hers. “It’s not about that though... I,” She already hated the man, if I told her about the situation she’d get in her car and drive all the way to his place to beat him up. But I needed to talk about it, even though I hated it. “I am currently in purgatory, either I’ll get a rejection, or I’ll get laid, that’s uh, that’s what up right now.” I told her with a nervous laugh.

 Nami stared at me, her mouth slightly agape, eyes squinted, as she tried to understand what I meant. “How about, not using metaphors? I’m kind of hung over and that’s not doing it.” She stated, leaning on the table, ready to hear more.

 “I sent a kind of nude to…” I mumbled his name, and quickly continued before Nami could say anything, “But I haven’t gotten any answer yet, I sent it last night- and before that I think we had a moment you know? But now I am just, so in my head about it! Like, maybe he thinks that’s too early, or-“

 Interrupting me, she slammed a hand on the table, startling me and the people around us in the process. “I said he was shit, he is arrogant, he just wants to fuck around-“ She closed her mouth when I interrupted her in a much lower tone.

“No, no, he’s not, Nams, I’m not here to like- be the love-struck idiot but he hasn’t done anything bad for now. Did you listen to me? I just haven’t gotten any answer yet, maybe he’s busy…”

 “Then if we don’t know, I’ll call his sorry ass and ask what the fuck is up!” With wide eyes, I put a hand on hers, to stop her from grabbing her phone, but she shooed me away and stood up, putting the phone to her ear.

 Whispering in urgency, I called her name many times to get her to stop. My face was starting to warm up and I felt like I was about to die. She smirked at me after a few seconds and pointed at her phone, then gave me a thumbs up before walking away, still on the phone.

 I stared at her back in frustration, embarrassment and pure awe. At that very moment, I realize I should have gone to Robin about it, she was a lot less impulsive. I did not mind Nami’s… hot-headedness, and her acting like that made sense. ‘If the problem is a lack of reply, then just, ask him straight up’, yet I couldn’t help but feel like I was bothering her and the man in question.

 I hadn’t realized I had started moving my foot nervously, while watching her talk to the person on the phone. It did not stop when she started walking back to me, grinning. “So.” She said before sitting back. “I called Luffy-“

A loud sigh of relief escaped my lips as I kicked her foot with mine, “Why did you let me believe it was Law?-“ I was going to keep berating her but stopped myself, gesturing for her to continue as I calmed myself down.

 “He said Law had a to do uh, some big word for a very specific kind of surgical procedure- And right now he might just be dead asleep,” She said, making a face as she tried to find the word back. Giving up on that, she continued, “But he has to go by his place in a few, so we’ll know soon enough. Guess he’s not ignoring you for now, right?”

 Giving her a very strained smile, I breathed, “Right… yeah…” Standing up and packing all my stuff, I glanced at Nami who was texting rapidly on her phone. As fast as when you’re having a heated debate, and you had to prove your point. Nudging her hand with mine, just barely to not have her drop her phone, I smiled, “Thank you for that though, it’s not what I’d have done but it does lighten something. I kinda still want to throw up and-“

 “Hey, hey, finish packing your shit and let’s do something else in the meantime. A girl’s day out, maybe Robin’s free and we could go get some food, watch something or- really whatever you want.” I couldn’t help the grin that made its way on my face, she was always ready to throw hands for us but also tried, and succeeded most of the time, to cheer us up the best way she could.

 Nodding, I did as she suggested, and we were soon on our way to distract me from being an idiot. On our way to the city center, we took Robin who had just finished her shift and was free for the rest of the day. We summarized the situation to her in no time, and she was very much on to do whatever we suggested, saying it’s been too long since we did something like that.

 The rest of the day was pretty eventful and spending time with them got my mind off things. Along eating at some place, we usually go to when we’re all free, we also went to the mall which as cliché as it sounds was enjoyable. We did things that satisfied all of us, and if some things weren’t the cup of tea of some, for example going to the bookstore for Nami, we’d still find a way to have fun. She thought it’d be funny to find all the books where authors are named “Dick” but soon enough she found some interesting books that got her attention and it calmed her.

 When we went to all the stores we wanted, maybe even buying a few things along the way, we left the mall. The sun was setting, and hunger was back after all the energy spent in the afternoon, we opted to get some food at a drive-in and get back home.

 Throughout the day, I was tempted to check if I had received an answer, but at my first attempt, Robin took my phone and shoved it in her bag. She told me that I should make him want me, to which Nami said that answering right away would make me look desperate. Now, I did argue back that it was a childish way of thinking, but they did not want to hear it and kept my phone away from me until we were home. I let them; it couldn’t do me much wrong.

 When we were finally home, with food at the table, Robin handed me back my phone. “I think you made him wait long enough, here,” Was all she said.

 I took it, but placed it face down on the table, “I’m with you guys, I don’t want to be distracted by a hot man, you know?” Grabbing my phone from in front of me, Nami huffed with very little charm, “If you’re not checking, I am!”

 Before she could even try to type in my pin code, I snatched it from her hands, throwing her a dirty look while putting it onto my lap. “Hey, we’re just as curious as you are, wonder if he sent one back- he’s a real asshole but he still looks fine.” The ginger said while taking a bite of her food. Shaking my head, I ignored her comment but still thought the same as she did.

 While I tried to not mention it again, it was still the main topic of the conversation as we ate. They managed to bring that same topic to what people said about him, the very few people they knew who had had a one-night stand with him said he was very good but always cold with them. They often described it as a wild night, but he’d often insist on getting them back to their place right after. I did not know what to say to that, I wouldn’t mind, nor did I find it odd.

 He was right to do so, and he drove them back to their place, I think it was nice. For some reason I felt a little pinch in my chest thinking he’d do that with me, but I wouldn’t have much say in it. Moreover, I am not even sure if I am going to fuck the guy, yeah, get yourself together, it ain’t much but if you get it, it’ll be fun!

 We spent a bit more time talking, having finished eating for a while now. When we were done, and tired, we all retreated to our rooms to sleep, or study for others; As for me, I closed the door and got changed. I was forcing myself to not check my phone and take things slow but instead got changed at the speed of light. I then got into bed and unlocked my phone, where were messages from Law and HandSurgeon.

 Still feeling petty, I decided to answer HandSurgeon first and opened Discord. I couldn’t help the smile on my face when I read them, feeling proud.

 HandSurgeon: Great pictures to get home to. Probably to get off to, too.

HandSurgeon: It’d be a lie to say I don’t want to have some fun with you tonight, have you do exactly as I say while you’re looking at yourself in that mirror of yours. Realizing how willing you are to follow my orders.

HandSurgeon: But I think I should give you more credits for doing exactly as I instructed. I especially love that touch you added on the last one, I did say fully naked, but I appreciate the necklace you’ve added.

HandSurgeon: Although a collar would suit you better, for being so good. So obedient.

HandSurgeon: Maybe you’d enjoy it, but I think you’d rather I take my time and slowly, gently, tie you up with comfortable rope.

HandSurgeon: This I know you’d like, the pressure of the knots being just right, just the perfect amount to get your blood pumping and have you riled up in no time.

HandSurgeon: You already get off by showing off, so you’d love to know I’d relish the sight of you with pretty red ropes all over your body.

HandSurgeon: [sent an attachment]

 I made a surprised, yet very satisfied, face at the picture that followed. In what I believe was his drawer, lied a few neatly organized bundles of rope. The image was proof enough that he was not just telling me all this to get me going, but that he was also into it. That made me grin as I typed back, not checking the time at which he had sent me those messages.

 Edelweiss: Don’t get me worked up, come on, that’s too promising

Edelweiss: also you’re telling me you have all those ropes at home? And no one to tie up? Come on, I am sure there are tons of people who would love to get the chance to be alone with you and just

Edelweiss: ropes, you know?

Edelweiss: that is if you’re actually good at bondage, or shibari, that shit is pretty hard to work with and it does need a lot of

Edelweiss: carefulness

Edelweiss: ignore my lack of words, I am exhausted ok?

Edelweiss: you have to be cautious is what I’m saying

 I then closed the app, thinking that at this hour he’d be asleep, and with a lot of apprehension opened the conversation with Law. My mouth opened slightly at what was on the screen, I looked at the picture first, it was a picture of him with smoke in his face. He looked annoyed, and it was slightly blurry as if he had moved while the picture was being taken.

 It was night and he was leaning against a brick wall, a cup in hand, the soft light of the revolving door next to him being the only source of light on the picture; Except for the flash of the camera, even though it was on the black-haired man managed to look good. Come to think of it, it was probably morning more than night, dawn to be precise. And it was purely base on the time filter that, I only now noticed, was on the picture. It read 7 am, but seemed to had been sent a lot later than that time, 3pm precisely.

 I looked at the screen, confused, then scrolled up to see the messages that were before and after the photo.

 Trafalgar Law 😷: you’re so hot, like wowi90

Trafalgar Law 😷: speecjless

Trafalgar Law 😷: so ready for tmoorrwoww

Trafalgar Law 😷: I apologize for that, my… friend took my phone.

Trafalgar Law 😷: He shouldn’t have seen this, but you are indeed gorgeous.

Trafalgar Law 😷: Did you ask me what my favourite body part was, so that you could send me proper unproper photos? I’ll admit… I do not mind one bit, I’m sure my hand would look perfect around your throat.

Trafalgar Law 😷: hrjà3ç(‘

Trafalgar Law 😷: He acts all cool but he gasped, I swear

Trafalgar Law 😷: He’s not gonna sent shit today, he’s tired and looks like shit but here have this

Trafalgar Law 😷: [sent an attachment]

Trafalgar Law 😷: took it last night, he’s mad at me on it

Trafalgar Law 😷: but he said you liked doctor stuff and he’s wearing his scrubs and nice crocs

Trafalgar Law 😷: I am a doctor too, if you’re interested 😏

Trafalgar Law 😷: [sent an attachment]

 I laughed at the photo that followed, it was a close up of a guy with a cigarette in mouth. He wore red lipstick and had fluffy blond hair. He was grinning widely, making a peace sign with the hand that wasn’t holding the phone. So that was the kind of people Law hung out with? He seemed like the exact opposite of him, there were still more messages to check, so I did.

 Trafalgar Law 😷: Ignore him, I’ll lock my phone while he’s still here. Send me a message when you’re free, I’m not sending anything else until he’s left my place.

Trafalgar Law 😷: Don’t forget to eat, call me when you’re free.

 That was the last message he had sent. I felt bad for only seeing everything now, he must have been waiting for my call for a while. It was pretty late, I shouldn’t call him, maybe text him to see if he’s awake? I had now completely forgotten that anxious episode I had throughout the day and felt more excited than anything for tomorrow.

 You: That was a wild ride, you did look cute on that picture. Your friend too, but don’t tell him, I prefer tattooed men 👀

You: It’s alright if he saw, it wasn’t a nude or anything…

You: At least not yet pardner, not yet 🤠

 I stopped writing when I saw he was writing, deleting the messages I had started.

 Trafalgar Law 😷: Can I call you?

 My answer was to call him, I did not think twice. I was in the dark, under my covers, exhausted from the day, and I acted impulsively. He did not waste time and picked up quickly,

 “That was fast, are you that bored or that desperate?”

Laughing, I huffed loud enough so he’d hear, “How about we start with a good evening?” it made him laugh as I heard him move, it was followed by the sound of something hitting the ground a few times before a grunt escaped Law’s lips.

“Here, come, that’s it boy, good, sleep. Good evening, I think we need to talk about something,” he started, the feeling in my stomach turning from excitement to panic. I had guessed the first words weren’t addressed to me and didn’t comment on it.

“Ominous much? But go ahead… And give Bepo a good pet from me, please.” I told him slightly hoping he wouldn’t hear how stressed I had now become.

 “Just to be clear, I did not ignore you, I passed out. I don’t want you to think I’m a bastard or something like that, I had a very long night. They always end up with a huge night rest, I think this surgery lasted 10 hours-“ He cut himself off, mumbling it wasn’t important and whispering to his dog that I was sending him some cuddles.

 I turned on the side and thought about it for a moment, “I didn’t think you were a bastard, I was nervous for no reason. I did regret sending the picture at first, but you enjoyed it so it’s cool, cool, cool… Nami shouldn’t have called Luffy for so little, but she did uh..” There was a short silence, I could hear Law’s breath on the other end of the line, he must have been thinking of a topic to talk about too.

 “If you want, you can talk about your day. I’d love to hear it- if you can, I think you swore an oath or something so I don’t know if you can- or if you want, I’m not pressuring you, but don’t force yourself to not talk about your work. I’m all ears,” I said quickly, mumbling at the end that I might fall asleep though.

 Chuckling tiredly, the phone rubbed against some fabric and I heard Law’s voice a lot lower and less clearly. “I think I’ll go to sleep, as much as I want to talk about that beautiful picture you sent… of how tempting it looks, how tempting it would be to slowly caress your exposed neck and to kiss it softly, making it sensitive just from my touch, leaving hickey on the way for the world to see- god I’m sure you’d make the most beautiful sounds-“

 I laughed nervously, not letting him finish as I spoke up, “That is for you to find out tomorrow… if you can get them out of me, that is. You’re clearly a goner, do you hear yourself? Fantasizing about me like that, you’re lucky this isn’t a competition, or you’d have lost.” I said jokingly, but it made Law react a lot more than I thought it would. I think he sat up, that’s all I could think of from the sound I heard.

 “You do realize that all I have to do is bring you to your-“ He cleared his throat before continuing, a lot calmer than a second ago when he was speaking as if I had stepped on his pride. “I am not going to argue, because we both know the moment we’re alone at my place, you won’t be able to hold back. I did promise a good fuck, I intend on keeping that promise, don’t worry about it,” I could hear the smug smile behind the screen, it made me roll my eyes. Yes, I was alone, and there was no one to see this reaction, but it was necessary.

 “The more you talk about it, the higher the expectations get, careful there partner.” I replied teasingly, it actually earned me a sincere laugh from Law who I assumed had now laid back on his bed from the shuffle I heard again. It was followed by a grunt, and a muffled ‘Soon, can I at least say good night to her? Jealous boy, come on sleep.’ There was a weak whine then a huffed laugh before I could finally hear him clearly.

 “I’ll make it worth it, don’t worry. I have plans for tomorrow, would knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow ease your stress or should I keep it a surprise?” I was surprised by how kind he sounded, he seemed to genuinely care about how I felt, so I told him surprises were cool, but I’d like to know what the plans for tomorrow were. At least I knew what to expect.

 “In this order, I’ll come get you, we’ll go by my place because you’re intimidated by my outfit-“ I cut him off, hissing through the phone playfully.

“Oh fuck off, I did not say that, you can dress in a military uniform for all I care, it wouldn’t do anything because I know you sleep with your dog, you’re not scary,”

A short chuckle reached my ears, “So it’s a uniform kink, not just a doctor one. Duly noted, well after that we’ll go the center and get some food at a place, I know has a large variety of things. I didn’t know if you had a special diet or restrictions, so I thought…”

 He trailed off, as if unsure of his choice, “It’s very sweet of you, thank you for that but fuck you at the same time for the uniform part, you know?”

It made him laugh loudly, then he continued, “Depending on how late we finish, I think we could either go see a movie or go straight to my place, it’ll also depend on how riled up you’ll be by then-“

 This time I was the one who laughed loudly, and suddenly.  “You’re unbelievable! Your plan is to get me- you know we could just meet at your place and fuck then be done with it.” I said that, but I liked what he was doing. It was very appealing to have someone this assertive, or perhaps was it arrogance? I couldn’t know if it was all show until I had a proof of what he was capable. I was aware of his… silver tongue, but then again, the first time it happened, my situation was different.

 The first time I talked to him, my state of mind was a lot more biased than it was now. I was, for lack of better words, horny to no extent which may have had a play in the effects his words had on me. “Where’s the fun in that? I think I’ll have you begging first, then I’ll fuck you, isn’t it more entertaining like that?”

“And they say romance is dead, here thought you wanted to spend quality time with me because you appreciated my personality,” I said in a fake dramatic tone, laced with sleepiness. I wanted to keep talking to him, but I was slowly falling asleep, and we must have both realized at the same time, how sleepy we were.

 “You should rest, so should I. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 2pm, and if I can be honest…” he trailed off once more, his speech a lot slower and less clear than all the times he talked to me. Or perhaps my own brain was slowing it down, because I was falling asleep too. “I’ll probably be as nervous as you are, I don’t usually go on dates, I’m new to all this. So, if you really don’t want to go out to eat, tell me and we’ll change plans.”

 “I’m good with it, as long as I’m the one paying this time, mmm… yeah because… two times ‘s a lot.” I mumbled, bringing the covers closer to me, cocooning myself with it. I think he told me something in return, but my tired mind shut off, I don’t remember much afterwards but I know I hung up and I know he talked about Bepo for a moment, but I couldn’t remember anything else.

 Even though I fell asleep quickly, it didn’t last long. I woke up at some point during the night, only to realize my phone wasn’t charged when I picked it up for the flashlight to light my way to the bathroom. When I got back to bed, I checked if I had any messages on Discord, I had forgotten to check after my discussion with Law, and was pleasantly surprised to see not only that he was online but he had answered.

 HandSurgeon: Not a fan of the attitude you gave me, do you think I’d be talking about tying you up if I did not have the skills to do so?

HandSurgeon: I think you just want to see what I can do, but if that’s what you want, you’ll have to ask nicely.

HandSurgeon: And when I say nicely, I mean, very nicely to cover up the underlying sass of your messages.

HandSurgeon: Now, it does require skillfulness, and I do have to be careful, but do not worry, I know exactly what I’m doing. Then again, I still think you’d look great with a collar which would be easier thing to obtain than it’d be for me to tie you up through a screen.

 I smiled at his message, I was not planning on meeting the guy in real life, but it was nice to talk about it and it gave me things to dream about. If not, to fantasize about.

 Edelweiss: Nooo, there was no brattiness, I swear. I’m sorry if that’s how you it seemed, I was just so exhausted I spurred the words out as they came to my mind

Edelweiss: I’m never wearing a collar in public, that might be your thing but what happens in the bedroom, stays in the bedroom

Edelweiss: But… I would love to see what you can do, please, sir.

HandSurgeon: Why are you awake? I think you should be asleep, not coming here to see if I can entertain your creative mind.

Edelweiss: I can’t sleep, got plans tomorrow and I’m nervous but it’ll be alright!

 It’s true, I couldn’t go back to sleep now. The buzzing inside me made sure of it. But it was weird, I felt agitated but also tired, my mind did not care about how tired my body felt, it was dead set on keeping me awake.

 HandSurgeon: Very well then. First, I would never have you wear a collar in public. They did not agree to see that, but I would be more than pleased to be able to pull you closer and grip your jaw tightly while kissing you. The most the public would see, would be the hickeys I’d have left on your neck. Because those are the prettiest of necklace, aren’t they?

HandSurgeon: But the collar? All in the comfort of your bedroom, of course. Now about that shibari, it would take some time to get it done, but I’ll do some ties on my leg.

 I wanted to go back to sleep, to be fully rested for tomorrow, but I was also curious about what it’d look like. Was he going to do it over his clothes or was I going to catch a glimpse of his legs? Once again, I felt like a person from the Victorian Era, eager to see the smallest part of his skin.

 Edelweiss: well if you put it like that… the idea does not sound half bad, and I could give it a thought as time goes by

Edelweiss: Say, why are you not asleep?

HandSurgeon: Big day tomorrow too, I have things to do. But I do not mind the distraction, I can text and tie at the same time, don’t worry.

 So, we did, we chatted casually, both answering slowly. Him, because he was busying tying, and me because my eyelids were closing longer than just a blink. He vaguely talked about his long night, the night prior, and how even though he has most of the day free tomorrow he still had to go there to check up on patients.

 I banished the thought that crossed my mind, it connected to that stupid heated dreams I had of being fucked on a hospital bed. I wondered for a sec how it’d be like to have him check up on me, his slender hands checking my pulse, as he looked down at me in all seriousness. I hadn’t realized I was now imagining Law doing that, I shook the thought away. This was not good, I couldn’t mix them up, nor could I keep fetishizing the poor man’s job.

 Sighing, I closed my eyes once more, only peeking with one eye open at the screen.

 HandSurgeon: [sent an attachment]

HandSurgeon: I’ll admit, doing this relaxed me a lot, I might go to sleep, dear. But now you know, I’m not all talk, you better remember that.

Edelweiss: I want to compliment how good it is, because it is good, but uh

Edelweiss: I’m respectfully looking at those thighs, only respectfully because I don’t want to seem horny but like

Edelweiss: Too tired to rant on how fucking hot it actually is, I’ll give a proper hot feedback tomorrow

HandSurgeon: I’ll take the compliments; However, those knots will be around your thighs. Don’t you forget it. Now, sleep well, have fun tomorrow, if not, I’ll be there.

Edelweiss: good night! Sweet dreams

This time I fell asleep until morning, it wasn’t a restful night. While I did not wake up through the night after that little interlude of texting HandSurgeon, I was still very excited for today. I hardly had any free time, and hardly went on dates either. Both of them together put this entire situation out of my comfort zone, but it was thrilling. I knew it was going to be enjoyable, up until now I never had any problem with Law, why would it start now? Right?

 As I got dressed to get to class, I made sure to not make it too much nor not enough. I had to put the minimum effort at least, but not like I was going to a big fancy party. It was casual. But make sure it’s easy to remove, because you’re getting laid today, a little voice echoed in my head. I tilted my head to the side, turning around quickly to take a good look at my outfit and changed my shoes to something easier to take off, then left my room.

 Just like every morning, Robin and Nami were ready and discussing in the kitchen, having already prepared breakfast. I tried to tell them I felt too nervous to eat, but it didn’t go through, they sat me down and had me eat as much as I could. Nami argued it was necessary, since I’d be needing a lot of energy if planned on, and I quote “getting dicked down good”.

 For once, I did not rush out of the apartment and Nami did not have to threaten me to hurry, it was all going smoothly. We talked about what were our plans for today, I tried to pry information about her day out of her, but she insisted I’d tell her everything. She even asked for addresses, but I told her I did not know the place, and even if I did, I was not planning on having a stalker like her by my side. She only huffed in response before resuming her questioning.

 The moment she parked, I rushed out of her car and waved at her, telling her I’d be sure to call her if anything happened. “I mean anything bad, but if it’s like…. Good, I sure as hell ain’t caling, I’ll be enjoying it thoroughly.” I then brought the tip of my fingers to my lips, making a kissing gesture before splaying them away, like a chef kiss. She made a grimace, but then laughed, telling me to be safe and use protection.

 That earned us a few looks from the people on the parking lot, but I ignored it and went on about my day. I didn’t receive any messages during the day, considering how late I had talked to HandSurgeon, I had guessed he must have been asleep. As for Law, we had said what was needed last night too, I knew to expect him on the parking lot around 2 pm, until then I’d have to focus on my classes.

 Surprisingly I was able to focus, so much that I did not see time pass. I exchanged a few messages with Law during the day, one time in the morning, where he made sure I had woken up, it made me laugh and I replied with a picture of the auditorium.

 Later that day, when I told him I might finish early, he was the one to reply with a picture of his desk and computer where he blurred the info. He said he would try his best to be there earlier, but couldn’t promise anything.

 When I did finish earlier, about half an hour earlier, I sent him a text.

 You: Hey, I am done for today, if you’d like I can come by

You: that way you won’t have to make a detour to come and get me

You: I think your hospital isn’t far from campus, I don’t mind the walk

Trafalgar Law 😷: I am almost done, but if you’d like you can come by. Only if you’re sure it’s safe.

Trafalgar Law 😷: Actually, call me while coming here, I’ll guide you once you’re there, but you’re not walking alone.

You: It’s not dark, I’ll be fine, I know where the hospital is haha

Trafalgar Law 😷: [incoming call]

 I laughed as I picked up, already on my way to the big building. “Maybe you should focus on your work instead of me? Unless you’re that desperate?” I hope he understood my jab at his words last night. His fake laugh made me understand he did.

“I can fill in paperwork and be on the phone at the same time, it’s called being productive. And making sure you’re safe.” His voice was slightly further away from the microphone than usual, which meant he was on speaker and busying himself at the same time.

 Not arguing back, I stayed on the phone, only making small talk to not disturb him. I did mess around, telling him things like, “Crossing the pedestrian crossing, there’s a baby giving me weird looks though.” He laughed but didn’t say anything, so I went “There’s a couple of old people, hopefully they won’t hit me up, I would hate to turn them down.” It made him laugh again, this time he answered, “Well, you are into older men, are you not? Invite them, see what they say,” It made me snort ungracefully, I did not expect that answer but kept the conversation going like that until I reached the hospital.

 When I did, he did as he said he would and guided me inside. I was hesitant at first to go in, but he said nothing would happen, it was a public building after all. Halfway through his instructions, I met his blond friend and told him, he groaned and told me to ask him to guide me to his office, which he did without thinking twice about it.

 Law insisted I’d stay on the phone during that time, but his friend, I later learnt his name was Rosinante, grabbed my phone and hung up. “I’ll try my best to keep people out of his office, you do what you want with him- it’s not technically allowed but, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

I gave him a confused look, he mirrored it, probably not understanding my confusion.

 Squinting my eyes, I started, “We’re going on a date, I… He just needs to finish some things-“ “OH! I thought you two were going to…” he brought the tip of his two index fingers against one another, then winked.

I was about to tell him that, no, this was not part of the plan right now. Sure, at his place, probably, but not here. Before I could do so, I saw Law make his way out of a glass door to reach both Rosinante and I, giving the taller man a deadly glare.

 “Come on, don’t give me that look, I didn’t say anything, right?” The blond man looked down at me with a huge grin, so I played along, he hadn’t said much except trying to be a good wingman and… give Law and I ‘alone time’. “Nah, he was fine. Unfortunately, none of your dirty secret has been spilled- dare I say, sadly.” I joked before bidding Rosinante goodbye and following Law to his office without any other words being exchanged.

 When we were inside his office, he closed the door and pointed at the seats by the window, telling me I could sit there. He then made his way to his desk and gave me a look when I simply stood at the entrance, confused. On my right was the toilets, if I walked further in, Law’s desk was on the right and the seats right in front of me, rugs decorating the tiled floor. “Are you going to take a seat?”

 It happened to fast in my mind, I don’t why I did that, I don’t know why I did not take a seat and waited. Perhaps waiting that long, just to get a taste at the man, was too much for my stupid brain. Whatever the reason was, I put my bag down and walked up to him. Turning around, on his chair, he raised a brow, a hand still resting on the desk. “What if I want to sit here,” the confidence I had on my way to him, for those few seconds, had long since diminished and the words that left my mouth were said in a lower tone that how it began. I gave him a look, then down at his lap, before looking up at him again.

 I had placed my hand on the desk, to not show how my hands were shaking from how far out of my comfort zone this was. I tried hard not to look away, Law was taking longer to answer. By longer, it was simply a few seconds instead of saying yes right away, and that made me hesitate.

 Then he smiled, he tried to hold back a grin as he leaned back on his chair. “That’s bold. But then again, I knew you wouldn’t be able to hold back until then. The first time we met you already seemed on edge, so,” He patted his lap a few times, then gently grabbed my hand that was gripping the desk tightly, I stepped closer and placed both of my legs on either side of the chair so that my weight wasn’t fully on him but on my legs too. I kept my eyes on his, the whole time, until I felt him press his hands on the back of my thighs to have me rest fully on his lap.

 “Don’t be shy, show me how much you want it. You said you wanted to sit, so sit.” He whispered, a smug smile on his lips. While his face had turned slightly redder, he wasn’t letting it show that he was embarrassed, if he even was. “Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to make it fun?” The moments those words left his lips, I cradled his face in my hands and kissed him with greed. He smiled into the kiss, before gripping my waist strongly and pulling me closer to him. I let my hands move to the back of his neck, gripping a fistful of his hair.

 He groaned out loud, breaking the kiss to give me a hungry look, I looked down at him, mirroring his proud smirk. “Does this mean we skip dinner and go straight to my place?” he breathed against my lips, leaving kisses from my jaw to my neck, where he stayed a bit longer. I felt his warm tongue touch my skin and couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that he did not waste time to attack my neck. He stopped, humming curiously. “I am definitely up to go straight to your place, but I also want a taste of what I’m going to get once there…” I said next to his ear, grazing my teeth against it as my hands slid to his pants to untuck his shirt.

 Chuckling, he stopped moving and leaned back, his hands on my thighs as he looked at me struggling to unbutton his shirt. “You’re so eager, and to think you thought you’d be able to stay with me an entire day without wanting to fuck me.” He grinned, his nails digging inside my clothes as he trailed them to my ass and grabbed it, pulling me closer. When I finally managed to open his shirt, I looked up at him and we both understood what was happening and suddenly stopped everything.

 I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.

[Part 8]

[yhsachi]

BIOGRAPHY // PROFILE // WANTED CONNECTIONS

━  ❖ (uchinaga aeri “giselle”, cisfemale, she/her) hey thank you for coming to town hall to update your information moriguchi sachiko! you’re a visitor correct? good to know! are you enjoying yourself around yunhwa? you’ve been staying here for one week? i’m glad! remind me, are you born on 14/06/2000? we’re so lucky to have someone so effervescent around as a youtuber even if sometimes you can be impulsive. hope to see you around yeyun inn!

it’s me planning to bring her in after midterms but rushing when i saw the mini event drop and wanted sachi to cause some trouble...hi friends! it’s jiyeon’s mun rina (she/her, gmt-10) with my second muse sachiko!!! i’ll be working more on her pages tonight or tomorrow.....but in the meantime i’ll have her whole life story in the form of bullets under read more!! don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit that like button down below and i’ll come sliding into ur dms for some plotting ♡

moriguchi sachiko (goes by sachi) born and raised in los angeles, california

her dad is a second-gen japanese-american, while her mom is from korea (yunhwa!!) and only came to america several years prior to meeting sachi’s dad and having her

she grew up pretty well off and didn’t have any problems growing up. she just always knew that she wanted to be ✨famous✨

fast forward to middle school, her dad got transferred to a company branch in tokyo, but he didn’t want to make the fam pack up and leave so he just moved out on his own and made occasional visits back home

sachi spent most summers with him in japan (her mom would sometimes come up for a week or two but stayed home otherwise)

she initially picked up vlogging as a hobby/fun way of keeping her mom updated on what she was up to during the longer trips (occasionally made some for dad if something interesting was happening at home, but for the most part he was too busy with work to check up)

then one day she noticed more people watching her videos and leaving her comments and she’s been hooked on the site since

these days she’s got about 300k followers now but losing more and more by the day, making her lowkey stressed over what content to upload to make people stay/get new subs

and then on valentine’s day, her mom suddenly declared that she was packing up and moving back to korea (specifically yunhwa), which is super out of character for her since she’s usually so timid and kind of just goes along with whatever sachi or her dad say so sachi’s pretty 👀 but knows that it must be serious— and she loves her mom so she’ll support whatever she wants (even tho she just thinks her dad did something whack and this is just a phase)

so she uses this opportunity to make “moving to south korea!” a new series on her channel where she’ll be documenting everything in hopes of getting them views!!

personality wise...

the complete opposite of jiyeon

definition of down dog as in game to do whatever, whenever, with whomever so long as it’s a good time

it’s her first time ever in south korea, so she’s not all that familiar with some things culturally. also she speaks pretty casually most of the time since she only ever spoke it with her mom or some friends back home

loves herself and thinks that everyone should love her too bc why not she’s amazing :)

genuinely just happy and bubbly all the time (doesn’t even know how it feels to be sad?? yikes??)

very selfish and will always put her own needs and desires before anyone else's. but she doesn’t do so with malicious intent. she just only thinks of herself and doesn’t register “hey, maybe i should think of them first”

doesn’t actually believe that love is a thing, but will sometimes flirt with others just to get a reaction out of them for her own entertainment

some other not important things??

prefers shounen anime vs shoujo

her youtube is mostly travel/lifestyle vlogs, but she’ll make the occasional reaction video if requested enough times

on her tiktok, a lot of her content is language teaching based (so if you ever want a practice buddy in japanese or english she loves to talk!!)

once had a maltese shih tzu named mochi 

can’t cook a meal to save her life

took on a few acting/modeling jobs as a child

ok........i think that’s it for now. if u got this far wow thank u. did u kno that i love u? i’m hoping if we haven’t gotten the chance to interact with jiyeon, sachi will be our start<3

[theworldbrewery]

Plot Build: Unnatural Corruption

This is a plotline built to be adapted to your own campaign or for use as a oneshot. Feel free to change names, NPC races, etc., or adapt by adding or removing enemies, traps, etc. to increase or decrease the difficulty of the adventure. This build assumes a 4-person party at 4th level. 

Want a customized plot build for your party? $15 Ko-Fi supporters can leave a private message with their tumblr or email contact information to request a personalized outline.

One-sentence hook:

Creatures infected with a strange plague are coming out of the Black Ridge Marsh; those who live off the land turn ill and feral, and even the trees themselves--well, they don’t quite wither, but the otherwise barren bark blossoms with bright orange, white-speckled blossoms.

The outline will be available under the cut at the end of the post, just in case your players follow your blog 👉😎👉 (pro-tip: if you’re not a DM or prepping to be one, don’t look!)

Groundwork to lay before the plotline begins:

A message to an ally of the party from a Doctor Amada from Black Ridge Marsh requesting aid for a mysterious and lethal illness.

Report from a neighboring town that a merchant shipment into the marsh was attacked by rabid bears; only one person escaped alive to tell the tale. The townsfolk are too afraid of being killed to retrieve the dead or their possessions.

As the party travels into the marsh, note the way the plants are withering and there are no signs of the usual prey animals except as carrion, overgrown with grey-orange fungus or ripped up by predators.

See the rest of the build below the cut.

Major Locations+NPCs:

Moonglow Tavern & Inn - crooked, ramshackle tavern just on the edge of the village, run by Jantriss Pearbrewer, a halfling sorcerer of the Aberrant Mind. She possesses the orange sunstone gem that controls a large Orange Slaad dwelling within the marsh. See her stats under Encounter 3. Her goal is to create unrest and spread the corrupting touch of the slaad under her control. She is crafty and an excellent liar. She claims that Haymander Stirk, a trapper and woodsman, is to blame, implying that he uses magicked traps to catch game that are contaminating the food.

Doctor Amada’s Apothecary - a canvas-walled building for treating the sick, managed by Doctor Gayle Amada and her ward, Forrest Lodestone, an herbalist. Forrest Lodestone is infected, and treats the ill from one side of a canvas partition to prevent Amada from contracting the disease, too. Doctor Amada believes the illness is magical in origin, but she can’t say for certain what the cause is. If the party brings her one of Stirk’s traps, she can verify it was not the cause of the illness, but she thinks the food is responsible somehow. Forrest Lodestone is a vegetarian and didn’t eat any of the “contaminated” meat, so he thinks it can’t possibly be the fault of the game traps. Lodestone has two days left since he developed symptoms of exhaustion: he moves slowly, and struggles to do and remember things.

Haymander Stirk’s Cabin in the Marsh - The cabin is a sturdy log structure. There are animal pelts being stretched on wooden frames outside and a pile of animal bones sits a hundred yards from the house itself. It is inhabited by Haymander Stirk, a trapper and woodsman who has lived in the marsh all his life. He is hostile to strangers, thinking that they’re here to accuse him of causing the disease. If the party can convince him to talk with them, he will reveal that he got sick, too, and by his best guess he’s got a couple hours left. He says he saw something out there--a large, orange, amphibious creature that attacked a bear and then fled; the bear survived, but he saw the same creature again last night, shambling and zombified and covered in orange fungus. At the DM’s discretion, Stirk may already be dead when the party arrives (especially if they go everywhere else first).

The Remains of the Merchant Shipment - two badly damaged wagons. The contents of the wagons have been strewn about the site; food rots in the muck and clothes are scattered across the quagmire. Everything of value has already been taken, and the bodies are gone. The most the party can find are a few missing limbs, grown over with a disgusting grey-orange fungus.

The Slaad Nest - a rock-walled hideaway deep in the marsh. One side of the marsh is a downward, rocky slope, while the rest is sheer cliff; at the back of the nest, a crack in the rock provides a back exit. The nest has several small, scraggly trees and due to the marshy landscape is considered difficult terrain.

Outline:

The herbalists and doctors of Black Ridge Marsh don’t know what to do about the people who come to them covered in pebbled, sickly orange pustules, and when they begin coughing up gray-orange, blood-streaked mucus and die a few days later, they send a call for help from the nearest town. The party may have been hired to investigate, or perhaps they are coincidentally traveling through the marsh around the same time (at the DM’s discretion, based on what suits your needs)

Encounter 1:

Takes place outside Black Ridge village, before the party reaches the village. 

Enemy: 4 zombie wolves. 

To boost its difficulty in a party with heavy damage-dealers, consider maxing out the wolf’s hitpoints to 18 hp rather than the recommended 11.

The DM’s goals in this encounter are 1) establish the threat of zombified creatures in the area, 2) batter the PCs before their arrival in town, and 3) leave the threat open of another zombie-wolf attack later. With that in mind, use description of the wolves to suggest that around their eyes and muzzles is a peculiar orange fungus sprouting from their flesh, aim to harm the PCs rather than drain their resources, and if 2 wolves are killed, let the other 2 attempt to flee the scene rather than fight to the death.

If the party is keeping a lookout for creatures in the marsh, they might be able to detect the wolves before they attack. Use a DC 12 Perception check to determine if the wolves are seen; if they aren’t, the party members are considered surprised for one round. 

After the zombie-wolf encounter, the party comes upon the village. By the time they arrive on the scene, ten of the marsh’s 120 residents are dead, three of them children. There is a funeral taking place at the first house they come to; the body is wrapped in canvas to prevent contamination and placed in a steel box to be sunk in the depths of the marsh.

The townsfolk are desperate for help; five more infected are wasting away in the town’s only apothecary. They’ve traced the problem to their food, so the price of food brought in from other areas has tripled as people will pay a high premium for uncontaminated food.

Through interactions with Doctor Gayle Amada, trapper Haymander Stirk, and barkeep and sorcerer Jantriss Pearbrewer as well as other assorted NPCs, the party can discover assorted details outlined in the location and NPC section above that they can use to inform their actions.

Intermediate encounters can be rearranged depending on what the PCs choose to do and where they go; each of these is tied to a location. You may not use all of these; they depend largely on party choices. 

Encounter 2.1:

Takes place in the village of Black Ridge. 

Enemy: 3 zombies. 

The DM’s goals in this encounter are to 1) cause some havoc in town, and 2) set up the calculating maneuvers of the ultimate villain. The zombies’ strategy is to attack the Moonglow Tavern, which is near the burial grounds of the village. They attempt to break in and attack Jantriss, but never actually harm her--even apparent “attacks” should miss. 

Encounter 2.2:

Takes place in the marsh, preferably while the party is looking for the monster causing all this. Alternately, use before or after they visit Haymander’s Cabin.

Enemy: 3 zombie wolves and 4 slaad tadpoles. 

The DM’s goal here is to set up the appearance of the Slaad later in the plot and follow through on the escape of the zombified wolves at the beginning of the arc, as well as staying consistent with the dangers to be found in the marsh. If they examine the tadpoles, a DC 12 Investigation check shows large protrusions from their heads containing small orange gemstones.

See zombie wolf stats above.

Encounter 2.3:

Takes place at the merchant shipment.

Enemy: 7 zombies. These zombies are blooming with orange fungus. A few of them are missing limbs that match up perfectly to the dismembered limbs the party finds at the scene, making it clear that the merchant caravan was zombified.

Encounter 3.1 (boss fight):

Takes place in the marsh.

Enemy: an orange slaad (homebrew version of Red Slaad).

When the Orange Slaad’s HP is under half its hitpoint maximum, it will claw at a tree as part of its multiattack, then flee through a crack in the rocks behind it. The tree ripples and melts into an ochre jelly.

Encounter 3.2: 

Takes place as a part of the Boss Fight.

Enemy: 1 ochre jelly. After it is formed by the Orange Slaad, the Ochre Jelly acts as a defense against the party while the Slaad attempts to escape. The jelly will attempt to block the opening in the rock at all times, but it can be lured away.

Your goal here is to give the Slaad a chance to recover HP while complicating combat with another enemy. The party can also choose to let the Slaad escape for the time being and break away to take a short or a long rest in the meantime.

Encounter 3.3: 

Boss fight cont’d.

After defeating the jelly or finding another way to track the Slaad, the party can eventually track it down. If the party opted to take a rest, the Slaad is back to full HP; otherwise, it regains 10 hp for every round that has passed.

The Twist: The slaad has a hole carved in its head, and after it is killed, the party can see there is a spot where a chunk of gemstone has been chipped out. The rest is with Jantriss Pearbrewer, who has been controlling the slaad this whole time! She is a sorcerer of the aberrant mind, and she’s furious that her monster is dead.

Reward:

The townsfolk are overjoyed that the monster is defeated. They will reward the party with horses, 200gp, and a letter of commendation they can use at the nearest city to exchange for a favor with the captain of the guard, who grew up in Black Ridge.

[shxrirogers]

When Love Falls- Tom Holland x Reader (Repost)

Summary: A mutual visit to the same park in New York City resulted in Tom fantasizing about being in a relationship with you. The only problem? He saw you, but you didn’t see him and you left before he worked up the courage to introduce himself. Now, Tom is faced with a particularly troubling dilemma: How is he supposed to find you again in a city of eight million people when he doesn’t even know your name?

Word Count: 2,719

Warnings/Triggers: None, just lots of fluff!

Author’s Note: Hi, everyone! After nearly a year of taking a fanfiction writing hiatus to focus on school and learning more about the craft of writing overall (I’m a creative writing major in school), I finally decided to revisit and edit my old fics using the new tools I’ve gathered in my classes. I plan on doing this for all of my writing to produce and publish the best art I can for you guys, so be on the lookout for some more pieces here soon! But, in the meantime, I have to thank @bicaptain​ for proofreading and providing constructive criticism for all four drafts of this fic that I had. I appreciate you, L!

Most normal relationships nowadays begin with a simple “hello” while standing in line to check out at the grocery store or liking a post on someone’s Instagram page. A dinner and movie date might ensue, or a long thread of DM conversations before a “going steady” label or a change in one’s social media bio to “in a relationship.” It’s the twenty-first century for Pete's sake; for a relationship to begin any other way would be peculiar and out of sorts.

But, to be fair, when had Tom Holland, or his life, ever been normal?

For him, your relationship began the moment he first laid eyes on you. He was filming a project in New York City for a couple of months during the summer and rented an apartment on the south side of the island, just a train ride away from the apartment was a dog park he discovered and frequented with Tessa, his Bull Terrier. The grass in the park was emerald green and well fertilized; oak trees that had to have been planted more than one hundred years ago spanned the perimeter of the park, extending up and into the open air, cutting jagged edges out of the atmosphere, begging to be climbed and explored. 

Which is exactly what Tom decided to do.

\What compelled him to perform such a task, he would never figure out, but he decided to blame it on a combination of his amateur parkour abilities and his boyish nature that was always poking at him to explore new places, no matter the risk or cost. On the first day he had a break from filming, he left Tessa at home so he could place his complete focus on the tree-climbing; he threw the hood of his sweatshirt up on his head and hopped aboard the subway for the short ride.

It was only natural of Tom to choose the tallest, most fruitful tree in the park to begin scaling once he got there. It probably should have proven more difficult than it was to get to the spot he decided he was going to make his own, but his early-twenty-something stature swung him up and about rather easily. The spot that he chose had multiple sturdy branches that sprouted out in all directions and provided the perfect nook to lay his blanket down and settle in with the book he brought, a book that certainly challenged his dyslexia but was too thrilling not to try and work through it. All was well for a couple of hours, what with the light breeze caressing his face and the warm sun shining through the leaves onto his skin, and he felt invisible, invincible, and at peace. He would have almost gone as far to say he was untouchable, even, like the anxiety of his career and the constant pressure of having to be something for someone all the time had completely disappeared. Tom was about thirty-seven pages into the mystery plot, thirty-seven pages into his blissful isolation, when the soft humming of an old Blink-182 song by a strong voice floated up into earshot. 

That’s when he peered down and saw you.

You were making yourself comfortable with your own blanket and book at the bottom of the trunk. Your golden retriever, Winston, was laying contently beside you. That damn Blink-182 song had been stuck in your head for days ever since you walked past a hole-in-the-wall bar that was hosting their annual emo night, and no matter how much you sang it, some notes on the pitch, others off-key, you couldn’t let it go. So, it followed you here as you settled under the very tree Tom was nestled in to get a head start on an assignment for school and allow for Winston to get out and enjoy the fresh air, but because of the overgrown branches and monstrous-sized leaves, you didn’t know he was there. You sat contently for a time combing through your work as Tom’s mouth grew increasingly more dry while looking at you. He knew he shouldn’t have been doing that, watching you while you were completely ignorant to his presence, but he was drawn to your aura, the radiating confidence, and gentleness that simultaneously oozed from your pores. He’d never experienced anyone like you before, and certainly not under these bizarre circumstances, either. 

How long his attention was gauged on you, he didn’t know, but when he snapped out of his lovestruck daze that had drool falling from the corner of his mouth, he realized he was watching you pack your bag and untie Winston from the tree to go on your way. Tom should have done something, damn it, but the thought of making himself known to you shrunk his confidence down to minuscule size and caused him to freeze. What in the world could he have possibly said: Hi, I’ve been watching you from up in this tree for hours and I think you are the loveliest girl I’ve ever seen, and I mean this in the least creepy way possible? Piss off. He could never. You wandered down the park trail and out of his sight and Tom’s heart fell at the realization that he’d never see you again.

If someone stuck a probe in Tom’s brain and used a projector to cast his thoughts on a loop, that person would only see you. You began to invade every aspect of his life: Tom closed his eyes in the shower to shampoo his hair, and there you were behind his eyelids. He passed an extra on set with a hair color similar to yours and his vision suddenly blurred. He heard your Blink-182 song in his dreams and woke up to believe you were right next to him in bed, curled up and sleeping soundly. It was the spaces between moments where you came to fruition-- sat next to him on the subway as someone else left the car, working behind the counter at the Starbucks on 8th Avenue right as walked out of the door with his coffee, passing him on the staircase as he made the climb to the floor of his apartment. You were there until you weren’t. A moment in time Tom couldn’t hold onto, a figment of his imagination that flashed before him and dissipated before he could resonate that he wasn’t actually looking at anything at all.

“You’ve got it bad, bro,” Harry stated over FaceTime one evening after twisting Tom’s arm behind his back to get him to explain why he couldn’t hold a proper conversation with his younger brother. “You saw that girl one time and you’re so preoccupied with her that you can’t even talk to me for more than thirty seconds before trailing off and drooling on yourself.”

“I am not drooling!” Tom protested although he couldn’t be sure, so he turned away from the camera to swipe at his chin just in case. No drool. A bastard, Harry was.

“You might as well be. You talk about her like she put the constellations in the sky herself.”

“C’mon, dude, you’ve got to give me a little bit more credit than that.”

Harry began fiddling with the cord of the headphones he was using to talk to Tom. “Hey, I didn’t say it was a bad thing to feel this way about someone, man. I just think you need to learn a bit more about her to ensure those feelings are constituted. Maybe you should, like, make yourself known to her first and say hello. Don’t keep looming over her head and ogling at her like a fucking weirdo.”

“Just how do you expect me to do that, Mr. “I Know Everything About Love?”

“Well, for starters, have you considered going back to the park to find her? She may be a frequent flyer.”

Tom sat silently, his eyes wandered off his phone screen in embarrassment.

“Ok,” Harry sighed, feigning annoyance. “Let’s start there. You should head to the park on the same day and time as before and make yourself comfortable near where you first saw her. I mean, this is a total shot in the dark and you really might never see her again and end up alone forever--”

“Dude!”

“--Or, you might just get lucky and see her again. But bro, a bit of advice: If you do see her, the only way you’re going to form any kind of relationship with her is by making sure she knows you exist. Say something to her if you see her.”

And somehow, by some crazy twist of fate, when Tom followed Harry’s advice and settled himself in his same spot in the same tree on another day of rest from filming, you showed up shortly after to settle in your same spot under the same tree. Tom couldn’t believe it. He was genuinely at a loss for words. The sound of your familiar humming of the same Blink-182 song gave your presence away before the sight of you did, and just like last time, he froze in his spot, eyes fixed on you, mouth slightly agape. To hell with the novel he was reading; you were far more pleasurable a sight to lay his eyes on than any story could have ever been, and he immediately began to wrestle with the incredibly creepy task he was performing. He just needed to go down there and say hello, to introduce himself as Harry said, but because fear was coursing through his veins, he simply watched you again for as long you were down there. This time, you were on the phone with your mother, and through this Tom was able to gather a shocking amount of information about you, including your mother’s name, your middle name, the latest summer classes you were taking at Columbia, and the fact that you have three younger brothers, just like Tom has, who seem to be knee-deep in their fair share of shenanigans, just like Tom’s brothers would be. The similarities between your two families made him smile, but before he was ready to see you go, you were up and on your way again with Winston, the connection Tom felt a fleeting moment he wished he could make tangible and wrap his fingers around forever.

For the next few weeks, Tom stayed up in the safety of his tree where he knew you wouldn’t find him. Every other Tuesday seemed to be the day was when his filming schedule opened up and allowed him to find you at the park by the tree. Every other Tuesday, for the next couple of weeks, Tom would fight to work up the courage to talk to you, and every other Tuesday for the next few weeks, he would lose. This was how he came to practice calling you his own.

However, for you, the relationship began a bit differently.

You’d been coming to the dog park with Winston on a bi-weekly basis whenever you didn’t have to be in summer classes or at work. You would have liked to have visited more often; a one bedroom apartment on campus wasn’t conducive with the lifestyle of an energetic five-year-old golden, but you made do with the free time you had and Winston wasn’t the type to protest. There was a particular tree you’d grown fond of (no pun intended) in the park for its sturdy trunk and strong frame, as well as the sweet shade it provided on humid New York summer afternoons, and you made it your temporary squatting place on the days you could make it out there.

On a Tuesday in mid-June, you settled down in your usual spot with a blanket to rest on and a bowl of water for Winston to lap up when he needed. The moment your back fell against the tree, you huffed, livid and nearly sick over the prospect of failing the physics test you took earlier that day. Science was never your thing to begin with, and why the hell did a liberal arts university require so many science classes of you to graduate, anyway?

It was a particularly windy day, so the constant rustling of the trees didn’t seem out of place against the bright blue sky, but it was about forty-five minutes into mindlessly scrolling on social media to distract yourself from your troubling emotions that you realized something was off: A shadow that was shaped oddly like a man was stretching across the grass in front of you. You peered over the top of your phone to look for the source of the shadow that was accompanied by the feeling of eyes blazing into your skin, but before you could stand up to search for the person that was causing your hair to stand on end, you felt a sharp object clip your shoulder while it fell to the ground. 

“Ow!” You shouted, your hand immediately crossing over your body to cover your already-bruising skin. The object bounced a couple of feet away before flopping inanimately, and it took you a couple of glances to register what had just come down on you.

“A book? What the-”

“Oh my goodness, sweetheart, I’m so sorry!”

A boyish voice with an English accent coming from above interrupted the expletive that almost rolled off your tongue, and you looked up to see that it belonged to a man scurrying frantically down the tree. You started to stand while the man’s sneaker-covered feet landed on the grass. He began dusting off his jeans until he realized you were cradling yourself in pain, and within that moment he came to your rescue, apologizing profusely.

“I was up in the tree reading and my leg began to fall asleep, so I shifted my bum and the book slid off my lap and fell onto you before I had a chance to catch it! Please forgive me, miss, it was a sincere accident.” That boy was telling lies and you knew by the way his pupils dilated with every inhale of breath he took between his long-winded sentences. Even so, though, his dilated pupils were swimming in golden brown irises, and as his palms grazed the bare skin on your arms to offer some kind of assistance for your injury, you felt your skin warm at the touch and the adrenaline in your bloodstream settle.

“Were you…” you paused, trying to process the fact that the shadow that had been observing you moments ago substantiated into someone rather handsome and quirky, “Were you up there watching me the whole time I’ve been here?”

“I, uh...See, well, I, uh--” 

So that’s a yes. “Have you been watching me the entire time I’ve been coming here?”

“No! Absolutely not. You see, I, uh, I heard that Blink-182 song you were humming and I… uh… I rather like that song, and so I, well, I…uh--”

“You’re a really bad liar, you know.”

The boy stopped stammering and sighed. “I know how incredibly creepy that sounds, but I promise I wasn’t stalking you. Every time you left the park, I didn’t follow; I had no idea where you were heading home to. I only observed you when you were under this tree because I was so enamored by you… Oh my gosh, this sounds so awful. Jesus…”

You giggled and felt your cheeks blush. “Is that slightly creepy? Yes. Absolutely. But is it also oddly endearing? You bet.”

The boy’s shoulders dropped in relief at the sound of your laughter as he extended his hand out to you. “Anyway, my name is Tom. I should have told you that the first time I saw you here. I apologize for the scare and for the bruised shoulder.”

You took his hand and gave it a firm shake, the warmth radiating through you again. 

“Y/N.”

“‘Y/N,’” Tom repeated. “Nice to officially meet you.”

“Likewise-- Er, uh, sorta.”

You both laughed and took a seat on your blanket.

“So, Tom, have you always had a knack for climbing trees? You seem to be pretty good at it, seeing as how you got so far up I couldn’t see you.”

He broke out into a grin. “Oh, love, you don’t even know the half of it.”

Xx.

If you enjoyed this fic, please consider supporting my plan to go to grad school and earn my MFA in creative writing by donating to my Ko-Fi here! All of the money will go toward graduate school expenses.

[friendlyneighborhoodmadscientist]

Settle in folks, here’s a story from my most recent gaming session, it’s pretty long but it was such a transcendent moment I have to share it with all of you. Due to length I’m going to try to put it under a cut.

So a bit of background information. We are playing a Kingdom Hearts game and have been for… A while. We can’t quite remember exactly how long. It’s a custom system of the DM and my design (THAT I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE BUT CAN’T GET DISNEY OR SQUARE TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT).

Our PCs:

Lonnie Clawford, a snow leopard from Zootopia, with an affinity for Ice, and focused on Power abilities (like Terra). Lonnie is functionally immortal in combat, kind of anxious, and grew up in Zootopia’s foster care system until she was like 12 and was picked up by our Master. Played by @thepioden​

Lydia, a young woman from The Corpse Bride (in our defense, we knew it was Tim Burton and forgot it wasn’t Disney until we finished the world) with an affinity for Moon (blame Saïx) and focused on Speed abilities; her combat style focuses especially on aerial tricks and abilities. Gravity is a suggestion at best for Lydia, she’s a hopeless romantic (“MISSION OF LOVE” is a common refrain from her), and she grew up an orphan on the streets until she was about 5-6 and was adopted by our Master. Played by @tsukidoesthething​

Polaris Caelestis, a young man from ??????????? (likely a Final Fantasy World; we didn’t learn my last name until halfway through the campaign so far) who was found as an infant by their Master in the void between worlds (earning him the nickname “Space Baby” from his friends). He has an affinity for Thunder and is focused on Magic abilities. Pol has spent the most time with his Keyblade, tends to try to solve every problem with his knowledge or magic (earning him the nickname “Mage-Wrists” from his friends), and he tries to be a Fixed Point for his friends. I play Pol.

By this point, we have journeyed through so many worlds. Atlantis, The Rescuers, Wall-E, Princess and the Frog, Wreck-It Ralph, Secret of Mana’s Japan-only Sequel, Zootopia, Corpse Bride, Treasure Planet, The Incredibles, Monster’s Inc. And we have ended our first ‘lap’ in Chrono Trigger. We arrive in the bleak, dead, post apocalyptic future, and pick up Robo/Prometheus as our companion. Together, we visit the remains of human civilization, lightly perform a few miracles for the survivors, and end up making our way up to Death’s Peak. All the while, an oppressive feeling of despair, desolation, and Darkness is mounting. At the summit, we find ourselves face to face with a Lavos-Spawn. A horrible tick-like monstrosity the size of a bus that at least in our game was ALSO a variety of Heartless.

So, it’s already not looking GREAT for us. As the boss fight begins, our DM starts this music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nReqeBSp_WY

Our DM hands us each two notecards taped together along the edges; on one side was a Whisper of Darkness, and the other was a new keyblade (with some flavor text) the Darkness forced us to use.

Lonnie declined to share the Whisper of Darkness she received, but she was forced to use Shattered Steel: 

“If someone has to take hits, let it be you, because you deserve them. Maybe you will be remembered fondly if you keep real heroes alive. Better to spend yourself until you’re battered, broken, and shattered, than to let them see what you really are.”

It lightly corrupted her heart with Darkness if she gave or received a buff, which she does automatically when she stands next to an ally.

Lydia heard this Whisper of Darkness:

“Your mother would have lived if you had not abandoned her and run to spare your own petty feelings. You always have, and you always will flee when you fear pain, and it will always harm those you claim to love and protect.”

And she was forced to use Broken Wings:

“Only unburdened hearts can soar. When you think about what you could have done differently, you only drown in doubt and loathing; cast it aside, and the guilt and regret hang around your neck like unseen weights. Better to give up the skies before you crash, broken, to the ground.”

It lightly corrupted her heart with Darkness if she went into the air or used an ability while aerial.

Polaris heard this Whisper of Darkness

“You spout the tenets of hope, desperate to distract yourself from the ugly truth. Your identity is staked upon it; if there really is no hope, no redemption, then you yourself are a cruel lie to those around you.”

I was forced to use Endless Night:

“Light brings not hope, but casts how much is lost and beyond relief into painful clarity. You cannot heal all wounds, and insufficient healing does more harm than good. Better to do nothing, and turn away from a night you cannot dispel.”

It lightly corrupted my heart with Darkness if my MP pool changed.

With each boss fight thus far, our DM showed us an “Information” notecard that gave a hint to the boss fight’s gimmick.

This one was completely redacted out in permanent marker.

Needless to say, the boss had abilities that forced us next to each other, knocked us aerial, and drained our MP. On top of this, our characters could not communicate.

It was bad.

We fought futilely for a time, and I did crit the bastard with a melee attack to the face, but after we dealt about 100 damage, the boss rewound time and healed itself to full. We were on the ropes; I had nearly been knocked out, Lonnie had nearly been halfway corrupted, and Lydia … well she was actually kind of the MVP but it was still Not Great.

Prometheus spent most of the fight trying to get our attention and was very concerned about how atypically we were behaving. He pulled us back, out of the fight and out of the worst of the boss’s aura. Prometheus started playing some recordings of his creator, a Professor Ashtear (likely a descendant of Lucca, but our DM created the character from whole cloth). As the recordings played, the music swapped to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvEJSvgl9Us Our DM’s delivery of the below was quite frankly superb.

“Okay, diagnostics are complete; everything’s in the green. Ready to go offline and get some upgrades?”

“Professor? I have a concern.”

“What’s up, 66?”

“I understand the mission and I will assist to the best of my capacity, as always. However, my calculations all project that I am insufficient for the role I have been given.”

“That’s what all this preparation is for.”

“Acknowledged, but am I not a sub-optimal model for integration? A military unit such as a mobile defense platform--”

“--Wouldn’t have what you have. It’s nothing in the numbers, 66, it’s something you’ve got to feel in your heart.”

“I am a robot. I do not possess a heart.”

“You don’t think so? I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe one day you’ll understand, but in the meantime I guess you’ll just have to trust that you’ve been chosen for a reason. Do you trust my judgment?”

“Of course, Professor.”

“Then believe in my trust in you. Fate has a way of putting us all where we are supposed to be. And if you have doubts, check in with me, or Lumie, or the people you’ll be helping. You won’t ever be alone. Not really.”

“Acknowledged, Professor.”

“But not really understood, right? Hm, maybe a good first step would be to give you a proper name... I think I’ve got just the one. See you again when you wake up, Prometheus.”

 “No. I appreciate the thought, Prometheus, but we can’t cut out the groundwork we’re laying for short term gain.”

“But if we do not take any measures to accelerate our action plan--”

“I’m under no illusions. The work ahead of us will exceed my lifetime. Even optimistically, I will never live to see the fruits of our labors. Neither will Lumie, nor any child of hers or grandchild. The world’s going to get worse --a lot worse-- before it gets any better.”

“...Regretfully, I have reached the same conclusions. You are not perturbed?”

“Of course I am. I’m a problem-solver. It’s what I do, and I’ve always been very good at it. To be confronted with something like this, where there’s no possible way I can see it resolved? Especially when it’s so important? It’s a bitter pill to swallow, some days. But I’ve come to peace with it, because I know my efforts won’t go to waste. What I do now, I do to fling a light into the future. Every step I take is one that Lumie can follow forward. She can take what I’ve started and advance it a little further. The rest, we can entrust to you, and to those who come after us.”

“Future generations may not be as capable as you are. How can you be certain that they will know how to use what you will leave behind?”

“I can’t. All I can do is have faith. I won’t be the last good man in the world. Where there’s life, there is always hope. Besides, you’ll be there to tell them what I’ve done, right? Our legacies live on in the hearts we influence. If I know that, through you, my example will continue to guide and inspire --even if it’s in ways that I can’t expect or imagine-- then I can rest easy in the knowledge that I’ve done all I can do.”

“Understood, Professor. I will remember.”

“Registration complete. Administrative access and privileges have been successfully transferred to Mistress Illumina Ashtear.”

(coughs) “Excellent. Thank you, Prometheus. When you go down, would you mind sending Lumie up alone, first? There are some things I want to make sure to tell her before I say goodbye to the rest of the family.”

“...As you wish, Professor.”

“Something on your mind, old friend?”

“Regret. If I had returned to escort you here sooner, your condition would not have degraded so acutely. If I had prioritized repairing the medical facility over stabilizing the foundation, Mistress Illumina might have had time to treat your symptoms or cure them.”

“Maybe. Or maybe we’d have lost a promising young mind to that mutant attack that we’ll need in the future. Maybe the building would have collapsed, and all the functioning medical equipment would have buried Lumie and me both. Or maybe all of that would have worked out and we would have learned that there was nothing that could be done for me anyway.”

“Those are only negative hypotheticals. There are an equally infinite number of positive alternatives, and the only concrete data I have to analyze is from this negative outcome.”

“Listen to me, Prometheus: we all make mistakes, believe me, I know. Heated words regretted, or necessary words left unspoken; time not spent, or misspent. Things we’re not proud of, and can’t do over, and good intentions that don’t work out the way we thought they would. But what do we do when we break something?”

“Attempt repairs.”

“And if we can’t fix it, make something new from what you learned. The only way a mistake leads to a wholly negative outcome is when you choose not to face it. It can hurt. Sometimes it can hurt like hell, but that pain will shape you, whether you acknowledge it or not. It can slow your hands from doubt, or it can guide them with purpose.”

“I do not understand, Professor.”

(coughs) “That’s alright. You will, one day. For now, let me just say this: don’t forget me, but don’t let me haunt you. Keep moving forward, Prometheus, even if you stumble. Be who you are meant to be and do what you’re meant to do. Live on. It’s all I’ve ever hoped for you.”

As these recordings wrapped up, Prometheus turned and addressed the monster directly, (DM’s robot voice is exquisite), and the DM swapped the music track to his leitmotif from his original game:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaUNpJAgD4w

“I understand. You are not the creature that has taken so much from this planet. You are its offspring, leaching from our remains as you prepare to invade another world and repeat this heinous tragedy. Defeating you will not restore our resources, or the people we have lost. It will not save our planet; it will only spare a host of strangers I will never meet. And I understand now, that this is a worthy cause.”

“I am a robot. I was not designed or built for this battle. I still have reservations about my aptitude for the role and responsibilities I have been given. I have no statistical evidence to prove that I can prevail. But fate has a way of putting us all where we are meant to be. I have no compunction in my code to fight this battle, but I feel an imperative to achieve victory. It is irrational, but I understand it. Logic and concrete analysis compel me to doubt. My belief in those who chose to invest their hopes and dreams in me instruct me to ignore the odds.”

“I understand now. I am Prometheus, and I am alive. When we prevail over you, I will take what I have learned down off this mountain, and I will get back to work. I will let myself feel loss. I will let myself hurt, and I will grow to be more than I have been. I will continue on, as I know those I have left behind would want me to. I am alive. Their memories are alive in me. There are still people I have to protect. This world is still alive.”

The Professor’s voice sounds one more time. “Where there is life, there is hope.” A woman’s voice answers. “Where there is life, there is hope.” (The phrase echoes again and again, on down through the generations. Finally, the whole host of voices, Prometheus’s among them, rings out in a shout.) We were offered the opportunity to roll an Insight check to join in. Lonnie and Pol rolled first, and we BOTH got nat 20’s; with that, he didn’t even make Lydia roll, and we three joined our voices to the chorus: “WHERE THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS HOPE!”

With this, the DM said we were fully healed, the corruption to our hearts gone in an instant, and the DM instructed us to open the sealed notecard-packets. On the back of the corrupted keyblades were new purified (and mechanically magnificent) ones for each of us (also with flavor text).

Lonnie received Resonant Glass:

“No one voice can sing a chord. If I fear I am unworthy for the melody, then let me be the harmony. If I doubt the character of my soul, let me raise my voice with those that know me best, that I may hear my heart resonate with theirs.”

Lydia received Reclaim the Wind:

“Hopes and dreams have ever been the wind beneath our wings. If I sin, then let the hope to mend what may yet be righted and lift my face to the skies --not to avert my eyes, but to pursue the dream of my better self.”

Pol received First Light

“Not even the brightest star can light the void alone, and a beacon saves only those that pursue it. If my spark must pass before the Darkness, let it seed an ember in the hearts of those that chase the Dawn, a reminder that every night ends.”

 Prometheus addresses the boss one last time before the fight begins anew: “Now, Spawn of Lavos. (Dukes up) Prepare for termination.”

It was electric; we all could perfectly visualize the moment. I think we all had tears in our eyes at one point or another.

The DM changed the music one last time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWSB3qL5qs8) and showed us an Information card about how we could disable the boss’s temporal rewinding. Furthermore, any Dual-Tech/Team Attack we performed with Prometheus would automatically critically hit.

We kicked its spiny ass.

[spideymood]

Choose, love - ch. 3

Prince, guard & maid AU

Pairings: royal!tom x maid!reader + guard!harrison x maid!reader

Synopsis: In a secret relationship with the royal guard Harrison Osterfield you face difficulties, like winning a lottery to become a princess and marry Crown Prince Thomas Holland.

Word count: 1.4k

Author’s note: Sorry for the lack of updates!!! I’ve been so busy and I’m so sorry! If you’re reading this, I’m probably on the plane to Singapore! So I won’t be able to post much for the next three weeks, sorry...Anyway, enjoy <3

Warnings: Maybe some curse words later in the series… and probably some typos

TEASER - CHAPTER 1 - CHAPTER 2 - CHAPTER 3 - CHAPTER 4 - CHAPTER 5

masterlist

series masterlist

»»————- ♔ ————-««

Visible. Public. Two unusual words for you. As a maid, your job was to be invisible. Clean up and make food. Work for the Royal Family.

Now, you would become a part of the Royal Family - against your will. You couldn’t do anything to stop it, or else it could seem like New England was weak. Maybe it strode against your own will, but you would do it for your country. You were loyal to New England.

You had lived in the palace for years, and knew things about the Hollands. You were even favoured by Queen Nicola, which made other servants jealous. It was hard work behind it all. Then, you met Harrison. The man of your dreams. However, fate had other plans for you.

»»————- ♔ ————-««

The air was cold in the hallways. It was still in the middle of the night. The guards escorted you through the halls, and you had an idea where they would take you. The Royal wing of the Palace.

You had been there before. Often, to be precise. But this time you wouldn’t be there as a maid, but a future member of the Hollands.

Deep breaths. Breathe in, breathe out. The Guard on your left opened a large wooden door decorated with rose paintings and symbols.

“Miss, this way,” his words gave you shivers down your neck. You stepped slowly into the room. There was no way back from your destiny now.

»»————- ♔ ————-««

Crown Prince Holland rushed down to the dungeons. The guard found it difficult to keep up with the prince. Thomas was frightened. He wondered what had gone wrong with the plan, and how Harrison got captured.

In minutes, the young prince arrived at the dungeons. Behind bars laid his best mate and royal guard. Harrison Osterfield looked tired, and Thomas noticed traces of tears on his face. He had never seen his friend in such a horrible state.

“Let him out.” Thomas Holland ordered. He couldn’t bear watching his friend behind bars.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I can’t let…-” “It’s an order!” Holland clenched his jaw as he ordered again. The guard nodded and did what he was ordered to do.

Thomas had to find an excuse to get his mate out of the dungeons. On his way down, he had figured out a plan. Hopefully, Harrison would act with him. “And tell me why my royal guard is locked up here.”

“Your Highness, he was found attempting to leave the palace without any permission.” The guard answered as he locked up the cell. “He has only asked for you since we placed him in this cell.”

“I see. Lord Osterfield did me a favour by helping me with my errands. I sent him on his way to New Kingston to help and search for...my future wife,” Thomas words broke Harrison’s heart. Ever since Harrison ended up in the cell, he constantly thought about you. “and I must have forgotten to send my permission to the entrance guards about Harrison’s mission.”

When the cell door opened, Harrison still sat on the ground. He was broken. Broken by the fact that he was helpless. And the fact that the love of his life would marry his best mate and future king. Harrison wished he could turn back time - to the day before the announcement. You could run away together before your fate changed through the lottery. If only he could turn back time.

»»————- ♔ ————-««

The day you met Harrison wasn’t quite romantic. Opposite actually. Two years ago, you stumbled into the blonde guard. You were delivering some food from the kitchen to some royal guests - and you were late. Fortunately, maids and servants had secret passageways to get to different wings in the palace.

You tried to balance the food in your hands as you were almost running. Making it even harder, the food your were holding was soup. Every time you served soup, there was a 50% chance of you either dropping it on yourself or on the floor. This time, however, it was a little bit different.

You were right about to take a turn to the right when you hit something hard. At first, you thought you had collided with a wall. The bowl of soup splattered on the carpet, and the bowl shattered in pieces. Then, the wall began to move. It wasn’t a wall, but a gorgeous blonde guard with shiny blue eyes.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” you immediately excused. Your worries moved to the guard than serving the soup. The guard you had spilt your soup on was Crown Prince Thomas royal guard, Harrison Osterfield. In addition, Harrison was also the Lord of New Kingston. You had messed up big time.

“Umm,” Harrison almost complained, but when he saw your face - he couldn’t. Your beauty struck him, and he was out of words. He had never seen you before since he would have remembered a gorgeous face like yours. Harrison struggled to find words to say. “No problem, Miss. I’m sorry for being in your way.”

You were confused. Did he try to be nice before reporting to get you fired? Then, you realized you had spilt the soup on the Guard and the floor. How could you serve soup now? You could either get fired for being late with the soup that you just had spilt, or fired for spilling the soup on the Royal Guard.

“Please don’t report me!” you begged the handsome man. “I really need this job! I’m so sorry!”

Harrison was flattered and didn’t know how to answer you. That’s when he realized you had spilt hot soup on him. Hot soup. “Oh shit! That’s hot!”

“Oh God, I’m so screwed.” you kept muttering to yourself as you tried to clean up all the soup on the guard and floor.

When things had cooled down, Harrison finally managed to speak properly. “Don’t worry, Miss. I won’t report you.”

His words made you relieved, and you wanted to hug him but knew to not push your luck. “Thank you.” You left him immediately in case he changed his mind.

Only one thing changed him, and that was the impact you had on him. After that day, you were almost always on Harrison’s mind.

»»————- ♔ ————-««

The sun had moved up from the horizon. The red scarlet colour filled the sky. It was almost eight o’clock. Three hours ago, you were found and sent up to this beautiful room.

The room was decorated with various shelves filled with books. From old to new books, even history books. In the middle of the grand room laid a queen-sized bed up to the wall. In front of you were gigantic windows which showed the magical royal garden.

“You must be Miss (your last name)!” An elderly lady called as she walked through the door. She was dressed in a beautiful flower patterned dress. “I am Sarah Cott, your teacher in royal etiquette.”

“Oh,” you answered a little bit off. Your face was filled with stains of your tears. You hadn’t gotten any sleep since you were found.

“Dear, a princess does not mumble but talks clearly. I know your former status as a maid, which is why I was assigned to teach you.” Sarah explained to you. “I helped Queen Nicola with her royal etiquettes at the time she was chosen by the lottery, and now it’s your turn.”

Queen. You would become the Queen of New England in the future. And marry Crown Prince Holland. The different emotions hit you. Marry a stranger? Become a part of the Royal Family?

“The wedding between you and Prince Thomas will be in around half a year. During that time, I will make you a real lady.” Sarah continued.

You had to do this. There was no way out of it. This was for your country.

“And of course, there will be some formal balls and meetings in the meantime. In addition also the reveal of New England’s new princess.” the lady ended.

Your heart began to beat rapidly. This was the part you dreaded the most. Publicity. How would you be able to talk to thousands of people? The thought of meeting other powerful leaders of nations made you almost faint. This would be hard.

“So, let’s start with how a royal sits…” Sarah started to explain as the lesson started.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. The person quickly opened the door, and the face of Crown Prince Thomas appeared. “Can I please talk with (your name)?”

Behind the prince stood no other than Harrison Osterfield.

»»————- ♔ ————-««

The next chapter will be out as soon as I finish it

Please reblog if you liked it! Feedback is happily appreciated <3

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Permanent taglist:

@ultrunning @tomsfireheart @starlightfound @lemirabithur @hydrated-bag-of-bones @jubaydahk @imaginesandfeels @ewolfwitchwisegirl @peacholland

Choose, love taglist:

@lokiislowkeyhot @iron-spiderr @latrombone @hollandharrison  @aussie-mantle @youcantjimout @lafayettes-baguettes-1  @i-love-superhero @kindnesswins @chrisevansforlife @peters-vlogs @secretsweetscollectionblog @southsidefandoms @madelynivie @khorry @sarah-moss2015 @1life-4hope @bluelalal @nightfallparker @i-luv-doggos @deitmephesto @mindless-thinking @thebadassbitchqueen @dontforgetaboutadam 

I couldn’t tag some of you, so please notify if you have either changed url or something!

[survivor-rebelsvsroyals]

EPISODE 4: PLEASE JUST GIVE US A SWAP-CHLOE

Why am I still here???

me when i read the challenge: omg i love flash games and states and sporcle, this is gonna be a delight!!! me after actually playing the fucking game: https://youtu.be/FveF-we6lcE

*later* 

love hozier so much. he’s the only thing keeping me alive rn. whilst i waste away. HEY AT LEAST I KNOW WHERE ALL THE FUCKIN STATES ARE RIGHT!!!!

Sooooo we finally get flash games. Of course I was asleep when they were being handed out so I ended up with fucking winterbells. Yeehaw I guess time to go let a million bunnies fall to their death.

okurrrrr. Incase we did some kind of swap I talked to Amanda and RTP about like becoming a trio and who they like so I can make sure I like them so we can all work together better in the future. According to both of them we all like the same people? Being Linus and Seamus. RTP suggested being a trio, maybe making a chat, and then also making a chat with the 5 of us in it which Amanda liked too. We'd probably have to wait until actual tribal to put it into motion. Also Dane suggested to wage 3 points on me cause he knows I'm good at flash games and I hate that he knows me cause I would've suggested the same thing If I was awake for that deadline. It's driving me crazy his dumb bitch ass is here cause I keep missing him.

also fuck this flash game i hate trex i don't wanna go to work i hope this score holds up.

I'm done. I literally just want to give up. I'm just sat here crying because it all feels so pointless. We're gonna swap, I'll get swapfucked and then that's that I guess. Won't have proved that I'm not a shit player lolllll guess that's maybe true. I've been doing terrible in challenges. I'm tired. I want to quit. This is all so fucking dumb.

wow i just told dane about how much i hate myself and he told me i was smart and pretty and amazing...i feel loved for the first time in my godforsaken life!!!! i hope he does not betray me bc i love him. hes my new best friend. dane if u r reading this i love u.

Shout out to all the other royals for DRAGGING MY ASS THROUGH THAT CHALLENGE, my score was humiliating compared to Raffy’s... I’m trying not to call attention to it, LOL. That is karma for me acting like him for that video challenge I’m sure 😳 Sorry my confessions are pretty boring these days... nothing new to report.

I cannot believe we lost again. I'm so over being on this tribe at this point. I just want a swap to happen, but that just means I'll be at the bottom with people I don't know. It's such a double-edged sword. At this point, I'll take whatever comes my way as long as I don't go to tribal for the rest of pre-merge. For this tribal, I think that Trace is the vote sadly. I really like him a lot, but he is outside all the alliances that were made. By voting Trace, I don't betray anyone and keep my hands clean with two different 5 person alliances. Also, Trace must feel like an outsider at this point so if there is a swap, would he be willing to vote with Rebels? I'm not too sure. I guess this is just the hand I was dealt, so I have to deal with it.

tribal number 4 ! woo ! love when i’m probably gonna get thrown under the bus for the vote when i had basically no say in my role in the challenge <3 honestly sick as fuck of raffy dictating everything but i’m not petty enough to vote him for it. dan might be but he’s too emotional for his own good i think. raffy is loyal to me. he’ll sink himself by being so loud later. if i swap with him, chances are the numbers won’t be on my side, and he’s someone that would alienate people much faster than i would. i’d be able to flip on raffy no problem. but in the meantime, he stays in my pocket and dan will have to suck it up ig! i’ve already lied to trace, he’s most likely voted against dan, he and i have no loyalty to each other, and he’s more likely to skate by utr in a swap scenario so he needs to go. i’m not worried about an idol play, obviously, but i can see there being something else. an extra vote or a vote steal or smth. i think i have enough of the numbers that it won’t matter but. definitely something to keep in mind.

So like.... a swap HAS to be coming up soon.. The royals won their 4TH immunity in a row and I'm extremely happy because i truly believe that the first time I don't have immunity, I will leave. HOWEVER, now I have very strong arguments if the swap is happening. There is a VERY tight 6 in the rebels tribe which i clocked since the second tribal that consists of Dan, Asya, Raffy, Chloe, Lachlan, and John. They have all consistently left Trace out of votes and they continue to vote as a 6 (even with a large majority as well. They aren't splitting votes and I'm more convinced that one of those 6 have an idol already due to them putting all their votes onto one person). These 6 do NOT plan on splitting up. I think my best chance would convincing the royals to just stick together for a little bit longer, possibly just to split up a couple duos in there. Just based off of the tribal council, Raffy and Chloe seem to be really close. Raffy is that annoying gay and Chloe is that white girl who think gays are an accessory so he's just YAS SLAYING HER LIFE OKUR! The other duo I think is Asya and Dan, those 2 have been known in the BB community to be relatively close so I wouldn't be surprised if they are working together this game. The only issue with splitting up Asya and Dan is that Amanda (a royal) is also friends with those 2 rebels. So my best bet is sadly teaming up with the two Ryans who have a very obvious F2 to get out Dan, and I know Ryan would be more than happy to get out Dan since Ryan M plays these games very personally and like Dan called him fat or whatever. However I told Ryan M to kill himself before so I might be his prime target before Dan.... so who knows !!!

This whole situation sucks. I really don’t want Trace to go home but there is literally nothing I can do about it. I floated Raffy’s name by Asya because I trust her the most and she just wasn’t into it. It would 100% be a crackhead move but I do trust Trace a lot.... and he’s just nice to chat with (and look at). Trace wants to do Chloe and honestly I trust her a lot too so I’m not willing to roll the dice and lose other allies if the Chloe vote doesn’t pan out. What will really shock me is if I’m booted tonight. That would be fucking hilarious. I feel weird in this game because we constantly have to go to tribal and vote someone out. Come swap time, we’re gonna be fucked no matter what. It’s all such a mess haha

Trace throwing my name to people as if they're actually gonna get on board with that. Lol ok sis you do you I guess. He's in my DMs like ooooh no I think I'm going home, but I fully know he's been messaging Raffy, John, Asya and Dan asking them to vote me and he thinks that he has the numbers for it skskks. Idk what the craic is, part of me is saying he's gonna be messy and pull an idol and I'm going to go home tonight even though he will have majority votes against him. Guess I'll be getting 17th all over again, how fun xoxo

*a little bit later*

I am for the life of me BEGGING that we have a swap next. Please please please can we have a swap. PLEASE JUST GIVE US A SWAP. I would like a SHOT at being immune for once.

*Chloe sitting on a rock as the camera man zooms in*

This round has fully caused me so so many emotions. Last night I just had a whole ass breakdown and wanted to quit because I just feel this is entirely pointless and no matter what happens I'm going to get swap fucked and I probably wont make it to merge. I still feel this way I'm not going to lie. I've entirely lost all hope, I could quit but I also feel like that in itself is pointless. I came here to fight and prove that I am in fact not a shit player, so, here's hoping I can manoeuvre my way through this somehow and come out the other end into merge at least, that would be nice. 

[instarsa-blog]

So, This Malware Incident...

This is where everything started… or at least, brought to my attention…

Back in June, the 16th specifically, my twitter sent a bunch of suspicious DMs to twitters I follow - ones that don’t even follow me, and don’t have their DM box open. It was a suspicious alright - besides it just being about sunglasses… I didn’t think anything of it

I want to note, that before this event, I’ve had my blog http://instar.co.vu/ linked to my twitter as my website, and everything was fine! I was able to link my art into tweets and it all worked fine!

But since this incident, with the DMs, the issue first started appearing as me being unable to keep http://instar.co.vu/ linked as my website, as twitter would identify it as malware. In order for to bypass that, thinking Twitter was just being a butt because of the “simple hack experience”, I removed the http:// and just had instar.co.vu on display… I also want to note that the main url, http://instarsa.tumblr.com/ WAS working, and was not identified as malware…

I also couldn’t link instar.co.vu domained links anymore… Twitter would give me the message, “this tweet seems suspicious may contain malware, so please try again at another time”, or something like that… I again thought it was just because of the hack incident, and it would become frustrating as I really thought my blog was just fine

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/878747246954545152

After this, I did manage to tweet a link to my blog for an art piece...

Then my account got locked

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/879496928840499202

Judging by the dates, I’m at this point 90% sure at this point it WAS because I successfully posted that link, as @/unclebibby pointed out, which twitter thought initially was malware...

Thing is though, despite this, I could still VISIT instar.co.vu, with no problems. I could still MODIFY my theme...

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/881987564630102017

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/882374996881883136

I even had a follower who visited through mobile, AND pc, and there was no problems whatsoever

However, this problem persisted with being unable to tweet links with instar.co.vu, with twitter assuming it was malicious content...

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/886034042579111937

I thought it was simply because I would copy and paste forms I made on tumblr, that twitter would think it’s malicious content... despite that working before all of this, but when I tried using instarsa.tumblr for a link, twitter didn’t pick it up as malware

It got so bad, that it eventually was impossible to get the instar.co.vu links through

This is when it should have been obvious to me... but I’m a dumb, and still thought Twitter was just BSing me because of the hack incident... so I ended up working around linking, and instead used tumblr’s twitter function to auto-post

July 23, I actually visit my blog, after a while of not visiting its homepage...

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/889220949551140864

My immediate thought - contact tumblr support

Before contacting support, I visited help, to see if I could find any answers, or to find what may have caused it, and came across only one thing - and to quote -

Is there a risk of VigLink serving malware?

If there's malware, it won't be because of VigLink. All VigLink does is see if a merchant is in their network, and adds a referral code to the URL if it is. If the original link is to malware, it won't be in the VigLink network. As a general rule, never click on links from people you don't trust—and be skeptical of everything on the internet. You can review our security documentation here.

Now, this is very informative, but here’s the problem: I’m already using tumblr’s affiliation links, so this doesn’t directly relate to what my problem is...

So I reached out to support, explaining my situation, saying how Twitter had suspected it as malware, and sent them the screenshot I had posted to my tweet about the situation

After I sent my report, I recalled something I stated earlier in this post to myself -

“http://instarsa.tumblr.com/ WAS working, and was not identified as malware… “

So I tried visiting instarsa.tumblr.com, with my custom domain turned off, so it wouldn’t redirect me to instar.co.vu...

No sign of malware

It was the custom domain causing this, and it’s a shame I didn’t catch the signs sooner of such... looking back at the situation as a whole, it should have been obvious - and I’m just relieved it was only the custom domain and not the blog itself, or else I would have been screwed...

At the worst, I’ll need to change my custom url, which will be frustrating, as I have to find all sources where I had instar.co.vu linked, and change them... in the longrun, as I find ones that need replaced, I’m considering just replacing them with instarsa.tumblr.com, that way, if this happens again, it’ll auto-redirect to whichever custom domain I’d be using...

As of this moment, I’m waiting for a response from tumblr support, thinking maybe they could fix this, but I’m unsure since they don’t affiliate with my custom url

In the meantime, I decided to visit codotvu.co, to see if I could find any possible solutions, and came across this -

If tumblr can’t do anything {which would make sense}, and if I’m desperate to keep instar.co.vu, this is what I’ll end up doing, and hoping it will get me somewhere... however due to this I was considering a new custom domain overall, so if I decide that, there’d be no point in fixing instar.co.vu

So! Tumblr support back to me, saying it could have been an issue with the theme... but I’m 90% sure that isn’t the case. I ended up deciding to reply back to tumblr report and tell them my own discovery about the custom url, because it just felt right to me - and claimed I would contact support for the custom url provider, codotuv.com... and let me tell you, SPECIAL THANKS TO SUCH A TEAM! Their responses were fast - I contacted, replied, and got an explanation AND advice all in the same day!!

So this was the next step, reporting the way they suggested, which I did in a heartbeat...

However at this point, MalwareBytes itself was still picking up instar.co.vu as malware...? Codotvu support claimed the issues were gone though, so I was thinking that MalwareBytes may just have it blocked although it is now safe. Toying around the settings was one thing, as I couldn’t find much of anything...

The first thing I tried was disabled instar.co.vu as my custom url, and headed over to codotvu, unlinked the tumblr connection and tried relinking it. No dice... thinking about it now, it’d make sense why that wouldn’t work - it’s not where the url refers to, but the url ITSELF that MalwareBytes is picking up...

Then I decided to just click that link that MalwareBytes gives when I try visiting and--

... Welp, at least I know how to do that though... but I was uneasy about doing so. I mean, what if that malware is still actually there...? And I had a good way to check that too - call in the fabulous StylishRapo for help!~

She recently had downloaded MalwareBytes and had a free trial which includes web protection, BUT, she hasn’t visited my blog yet with it installed. I asked her to, and well, the result wasn’t very happy - it was still being picked up malware...

This is basically where I met my end here. I know Codotvu said it was fixed, I know they tried helping, and their support was good and fast and I don’t doubt that, but I was still having this issue...???

Well, twitter support is super slow, and I’m not going to waste my precious time in life waiting for the link to be unblocked....

Actually, no! Codotvu and I’s teamwork to get co.vu links unblocked seemed to be a success! However to this day, and it’s been a few days of waiting, Codotvu has not gotten back to me saying the malware issue is still persistent when I visit my url, despite them saying the issue was resolved...

So, I’m just using the tumblr domain. Way less of a hassle, for now...

If you find my previous instar.co.vu url linked anywhere on my social medias as a landing page, or any broken links in general due to the domain change, PLEASE please please let me know!! It’d be hard to track entirely on my own, and I fully appreciate the help anyone gives me~  ♥

To those who have been concerned from lack of activity, I am so sorry - I simply stopped posting and paused my queue because I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to visit here... I didn’t want to risk anyone’s possible safety. But everything will be ok now! It wasn’t my blog, it was the url, and the problematic url has been ditched...~ My queue will continue soon, as well as more posts!

This has been a three-month long stressful bumpy ride so I have been very emotionally drained, especially as of late, so if there are any typos in this post or anything sounds confusing, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me... this would have been posted sooner, but some time was taken out due to needing a new router, then getting re-adjusted to online...

In other small news - I’ll be having a new watermark!! Courtesy of my good pal Cicada~

Remember! You can always inbox me if there’s something you don’t understand!!~  ♥

[mightbedamian]

#TMIishTuesday #49 - Am I gay because of...

Hey, Announcement before we start: I've posted dozens of #TMIishTuesday's already - as you can tell by the number above. And I realised, pretty much all of them fall into two categories: - LGBTQ+ and - society/language. And I also think that these two topics are actually targeted at quite a different audience. So I thought, I'd try to organise this blog a little better so you know when to get here for your favorite topic. Here's how: This week, and every second Tuesday of the month from now on, I'll post on LGBTQ+ related topics. So, if you don't want to miss them, mark 14 March, 11 April, and 9 May in your agenda already. However, if you're here for language and society topics: Mark each last Tuesday of the month: 28 February, 28 March, and 25 April are what you should be looking for. The other two or three Tuesdays there'll be topics related to other things. However, if I just posted on languages and next day the Trumpet's government announces it was to prohibit the use of the English language anywhere in world but the U. S., I might slide in an extra language post as the next one. :D I hope this way you know what to expect a little better and know when it's really worth checking this page, if you're only interested in one topic. And now… Enjoy this month's LGBTQ+ related post: "Am I gay because of…?"

Hey there mighty people of the internet! And welcome to issue #49 of #TMIishTuesday - my weekly Tumblr post about what goes through my weird mind and what you guys want to know more about. It can be something very personal, it can be something political, it can be completely pointless - but in 99.9 % of the cases, it involves opinions. And mine as well. // Last week I told you about my favorite album at the moment: Troye Sivan's Blue Neighbourhood which was actually released more than a year ago. Here's why I find it so cool all of a sudden. // Following the rooster I mentioned in the foreword, this post is regarded as "LGBTQ+", but it certainly touches on other topics as well: Society, language, and more. And to be quite honest, I probably would have put it into the "society and language" category, if it wasn't that most LGBTQ+ topics in my list are based around sources on the internet, like articles of newspapers or magazines. But I have a spare hour at my parents at the moment - and their telephone and internet provider fails to execute its most crucial option: Provide telephone and internet. :D So… I'm tugging this topic in. This topic was actually inspired by questions asked on a German forum called "gutefrage.net" where you can get advice by other users on virtually any topic: Computer stuff, visa stuff, school problems, sexuality questions, and I'm convinced there'll be a section for make-up as well. If you google a question in German, chances are that one of the first hits will be a user of gutefrage.net asking your exact question, or a very similar one. That's also how I initially found the forum. And after I had read up on cooking skills - or whatever it was - I just clicked around a little more. And I came across the "gay" tag where people ask questions about their sexuality. And I was like: Maybe I could help some of those people. So I made an account - and every now and then, I'll browse the "gay" tag trying to help the people on there. As I expected, most of them are teens. And since I'm browsing the "gay" tag, most are male as well. And I found that some questions are quite amusing actually. Obviously there are those really deep-cutting problems with teens struggling with either their sexuality or coming out - who I happily help. But some… Man! People's minds can get so creative! I see SO many questions along the lines of: “I'm shy/dressing slightly different than others/young/old/have a smaller dick than others - does that make me gay?" I mean, I kinda get those people who ask questions like "I accidently touched a friend's dick. I think I'm gay now?". On the one hand, if you think about it, it's quite irrational. But on the other hand: If - like in most of Germany - students don't learn about the different sexualities at school until they are 14, 15 (if at all!), it's only natural that our internet-exposed 12- or 13-year-olds ask such questions. They just don't know. (And thanks to society and the use of "gay" as an insult, they are scared of being gay.) But let's get back to the totally strange questions that I find every other day on the forum. These just don't make any sense! Examples? Here you go:

1) "Is it gay when guys listen to Beyoncé songs?" Yeah, totally! Right? Music totally defines your sexuality! Right? If you're a guy and like a song that features a female singer, you're gay! The same goes for a girl who likes songs sung by guys! Oh, and if you like a duet featuring a guy and a girl, you're bi! Right? I don't have to elaborate on this one, do I?

2) "Am I gay just because I have a diamond tattoo behind my ear?" Yeah, totally! If you get a diamond tattooed that's so gay! You should have gotten a gold ingot instead! And why did you pick a spot behind your ear!? You should have gotten it on your back! Like a man! Excuse me? Get whatever tattoo you like on whatever part of your body you like. Okay, maybe don't go all the way IN. That's just dangerous. But for the rest - why not get a diamond behind your ear or a tiny pink bird on your forearm?

3) "Is it gay to dye your hair?" Yeah, totally! Only homosexual people dye their hair! See, I've been debating doing it for years now. And I might talk to my hair dresser about it this upcoming weekend actually. Oh, and my Mum dyes her hair as well to prevent the grey from showing. Oh, wait. My mum still lives with my father. Almost 26 years after having me. And she has been dyeing her hair for a good 5 years now. Why hasn't she turned lesbian, yet? Erm… I'm afraid our oh-so-promising hypothesis didn't pass the practice test again. Shit! Why is that!? Okay, and to finish this off, let me show you two more examples off the same site. The first one is a very bad troll who didn't even bother to get creative creating multiple accounts.

Mr. "Am I gay please help me maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan?"  And he says: "I m/15 think that I am gay cause I accidently touched ONE friend's dick. Please help me!" I mean, poor guy! It's so easy to change your sexuality by just a slip of your hand. Damn, THAT must suck! But I didn't even have to intervene in the original post cause this happened. Note the usernames:

Let’s start with the post 25 mins ago: "I mean just because you touched his dick doesn't mean you're gay, but you grabbed it and I have to say you're doing a good job :3" 1. The start looks quite good tbh. It only gets bad after the comma. 2. The username 3. In the question it doesn't say he grabbed it. And then he replied again: "Yeah, man, you're gay …But that's okay , I'll suck you for 5 euros :)" Erm… Total troll!? :P To finish this off, let's have a laugh at a guy who totally nailed his answer to a guy who asked: "Which optical indications are there that you are gay?"

That guy replied: "At your wrist are clearly visible lines that cross diagonally to your arm (only those count that go from left to right). Their number tells you which kind of person you are dealing with: Homosexuals have two lines; if you are a pedophile, there's one; and there are three, when you're intellectual gifted. If you have a few interrupted ones, you can tell by their amount, distance, and length how often the person had sex." This guy is bloody brilliant!! …and I think that's a good one to finish off this post. Before I go, though, let me know what you thought of this post. What's the most stupid question you ever asked? Place a comment, tweet me, dm me, or do anything else you can think of to get to me. Talking about brilliant stuff: Today’s TMIish Queer Shoutout (let's get rid of the TMIish. That's just too long of a title!) is a film again. Moonlight, an American drama from last year. I don't watch films to easily, but after Ash Hardell talked about it in one of her videos, the plot just got to me and I had to watch it. It tells the story of Chiron, a shy kid who is picked on during school and whose single mother barely devotes time to him. He gets to know Juan, a drug dealer in his 40s or 50s. I won't spoil too much here cause the story is really well thought-through. Only that much: Chiron has to face some more challenges growing up and he eventually struggles with all the problems that arise in the typical ghetto-kind of neighbourhood - and gets to know his sexuality which will play a role later in the film as well. The film is split into three spans of Chiron's life: The small school kid Chiron, the high school kid Chiron (who is still bullied), and the grown-up Chiron who has moved out and lives his own life. As you can tell the gay theme only plays a minor part in this movie, so I can recommend this film to anyone without hesitation. So, if you have a spare two hours this week, find it online somewhere, go ahead and watch it! (Or, if you live in Germany: Wait until 9 March. It's supposed to hit the cinemas then. Might even watch it again then.) As always: Next #TMIishTuesday next Tuesday. If you have any questions in the meantime, just ask away. Whatever you’re curious about - I don’t bite. :) Until then: Stay mighty! Linkage: - gutefrage.net: www.gutefrage.net - Ash Hardell: www.youtube.com/HeyThere005

Oh, and here’s some self-promo: - Last #TMIishTuesday: http://mightbedamian.tumblr.com/post/156942157402/tmiishtuesday-48-troye-sivans-blue - More #TMIishTuesdays: mightbedamian.tumblr.com/tagged/tmi - More #TMIishTuesdays on LGBTQ+ issues: mightbedamian.tumblr.com/tagged/lgbtqplus - More very cool stuff: www.twitter.com/mightbedamian - Even more very cool stuff: mightbedamian.tumblr.com 

[type2diabetestreatments-blog]

ADA's CEO on Paula Deen, the Blue Circle, and Representing Adults with Type 1 Diabetes

New Post has been published on https://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/adas-ceo-on-paula-deen-the-blue-circle-and-representing-adults-with-type-1-diabetes/

ADA's CEO on Paula Deen, the Blue Circle, and Representing Adults with Type 1 Diabetes

Last week, we interviewed the American Diabetes Association's CEO Larry Hausner on that organization's ambitious plans for the next few years. FYI, Larry is also currently chair of the board of directors of the National Health Council (NHC), a national patient policy organization representing all people living with chronic illness.

In our phone interview, in which he was very generous with his time, we talked about what the NHC organization does, along with asking Larry about all sorts of hot diabetes topics, like "accidental advocate" Paula Deen, what ADA thinks of the Blue Circle, and what they're doing to embrace the adult type 1 population.

Read on to learn his thoughts:

"At the time it seemed horrible, but it got diabetes and nutrition on the map for a short period of time."

— CEO Larry Hausner, on the Paula Deen diabetes fiasco

DM) First off, can you explain the crossover with your work at the National Health Council, which handles national advocacy for ALL chronic illness?

LH) My feeling is that the needs in diabetes are so big, none of us can do this alone. The more we can collaborate the better, and the quicker we're going to change life with diabetes for all.

My job with the NHC is a one-year position as chair, and then a three-year term being vice chair. ADA is a member organization, along with about 50 other of the nation's leading patient advocacy groups. The goals are pretty wide:

To improve the health of all people

To increase support for health research

To strengthen the community of patient advocacy organizations

In a sense it's a trade group of patient advocacy organizations — an opportunity to get together and share. It's about putting patients first. We don't do anything disease-specific.

What are some examples of the NHC's work?

Our membership covers everything from the American Cancer Society with a $900 M budget to small organizations with just half a million. Like the Better Business Bureau, there are requirements to be a member, so we're vetting these advocacy organizations.

We monitor big national issues for patients, like access to essential health benefits and the healthcare provider relationship.

There are about a dozen people on staff. Most of their time is spent in Washington, DC, on the hill, lobbying. For example, a bill was just introduced into legislation called the MODDERN Cures Act by Congressman Lance from New Jersey. It's about getting the right meds to the right people.

The NHC holds one annual meeting a year where all the organizations get together to discuss what's new on the Regulatory front (this year's was just held in February). We're also developing a database for the website with input from NIH to bring researchers together, a big listing of grant opportunities.

Before you came to ADA, you worked in leukemia advocacy. What's your personal connection to diabetes, if any?

My connection to diabetes is a small one. When I was growing up, I had an uncle who lived in the same town. He had diabetes, but I didn't know, because nobody ever talked about it. He always ate a little different than the rest of us. And then one day he couldn't see well. Then he lost his sight completely, then a foot, then a leg. Nobody ever talked about what it was! Only when I got older did I learn and realize...

When I had an opportunity to come to ADA, I looked at the size of this problem and where it's going. I felt my talents could be best used here to help controlling this problem over time.

As CEO of ADA, you speak for diabetes now. What about the Paula Deen situation? In your opinion, what did it do for (or to) diabetes awareness?

At the time it seemed horrible, but it got diabetes and nutrition on the map for a short period of time. At the time I thought 'Oh my God, how did we get here? Why did Novo do this? It doesn't seem right. How can this person not care about what they're eating and what they're promoting?' The message that got out there was, she's not changing anything, and just letting a medication take care of the diabetes.

But when I look back on it, for 2-3 weeks it got diabetes in the public eye...

Has the ADA been in contact with her?

We have talked to her people. She is donating some of her profits to the organization, which she has every right to do. We're working out the details on that.

The feeling has traditionally been that ADA focuses on type 2 diabetics. Where's the home for the adults with type 1?

We are trying to create a home, as I'm sure JDRF is. It's been a gap in the system.

I wouldn't say anyone 'owns' that space, but we are definitely looking at it. When we put materials out, we want to consider that audience. We've spent lot of time talking about what we can do and offer. We want to offer the right services, to identify what's the best way to reach this audience with what they need — not just to say we did it.

What about the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the Blue Circle campaign? Why isn't ADA supporting that more actively?

IDF is considered a partner. We have no objection to the Blue Circle, but it's not the branding we're using in this country. For World Diabetes Day, we use it of course. It's just not the branding we think works in the USA.

My philosophy is everything doesn't have to be ours — we can point people in the right direction.

Why don't you think the Blue Circle works as a diabetes icon in America?

When we tested the idea of creating a very simple, color-based symbol, it only created awareness that it was diabetes. But people didn't understand the disease or its potential seriousness. The reaction was, 'If you told me more, I would care.'

We did focus groups two and a half years ago, before launching our Stop Diabetes movement. No matter what message we were testing, it kept coming back to: if people didn't get the seriousness, they just didn't care. They would choose other causes to support, because they seemed more important to them.

If we asked,'On a scale of 1-10, how serious is cancer?' They all said 10. If we asked about heart disease, they all said 8 or 9. Diabetes would get a 4 or 5. But if we asked if they know someone who had it, they often said. 'Yes, my brother.' We'd ask how he's doing, and they'd say, 'Fine, since the amputation.' It was so frustrating!

One man said his Dad died of a heart attack, so he was interested in supporting heart disease — but his Dad actually had diabetes, and heart disease was a complication!

So people reacted more strongly to your more 'graphic' symbol of a hand with a blood drop on it?

Yes, when we got to testing our Stop Diabetes message, people said, 'Of course, I want to stop people from getting it, and stop them from moving to complications.' It made them take one step forward into the circle. It seemed to be the hook to get people to say, 'This is important.' They were now ready to have a conversation. It begun to have the impact of getting people emotionally involved.

We don't expect people to get up on the Academy Awards with this pin, but what it has done is get people to start understanding better the urgency of taking action on diabetes.

We certainly hope so, Larry. Although I CAN picture celebs at the Academy Awards donning a Blue Circle pin, if we could ever get Hollywood's attention. In the meantime, let's hope that the work of all these partner orgs together can make a difference!

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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