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incorretlynamedcambrianexplosion · 10 months ago

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Ocean Vents are Far Too Cool (I)

Your local incorrectly named cambrian explosion is back with a full chapter of actual plot!

Ao3 Link

Summary:

Rain has been topside a total of five days. He's a bit wary of his new pack, but who else can help when he's in agony? He's forced out of his isolation when a certain fire ghoul seems to know what's going on. Isn't Dewdrop an odd name for a fire ghoul? Rain's thought about that for a while now.

AN:

No major warnings here! There's very very minor body horror (water ghoul drying out sort of thing). I hope to make this a greenhouse trio sort of thing, but for now the focus is on Raindrop.

Relationships: slow burn Rain/Dewdrop, general background polyghouls

Tags: SFW, bit of angst/longing for home.

Poor rain. There’s no other water ghoul to guide him, his summoning was shit, and now he doesn't know what to do. He’s unprepared for how the air dries out his gills, for how his skin starts to dry up. He feels like he’s dying, his flesh tight and unable to move. He might still be on the floor of the hall, if he hasn't moved from where he passed out. He doesn’t know what’s going on when hands touch him, hands that feel like fire and make him want to scream, even if his mouth is dried shut. He’s never felt hands so warm. Then there’s something cold and wet against his skin. There’s a rumbling voice that’s louder than he’s ever heard.

He can't see, his eyes have been stuck shut, but Rain tries to follow the voices regardless.

“Dew, ‘r’hands are too hot.”

The heavy wet fabric moves against Rain, and he can feel his skin taking the moisture with ease. It soothes the dryness, and slowly he can breathe just a bit more. His dried gills try to move but the motion hurts, and every breath is like sandpaper grinding. At least he can breathe, if only a little bit.

The other's voice is much quieter, much softer. “I know. I know. You can’t breathe with those here. Keep using your lungs,” he instructs though Rain can barely listen. Rain thrashes.

“Dew, hands.”

The towels are too warm for comfort, but it’s the only moisture Rain can get. He writhes against the heat, unsure if he should pull away from it or lean into the moisture.

“Dew.”

There’s a small noise that Rain can’t really hear.

“I know, I know. Just let me help,” he takes a shaking breath. He went through this too. Mist made sure he didn’t dry out too much topside. Rain doesn’t have that luxury.

There's a few things that Dew knows. One: he has avoided Rain like the fucking plague, and from what he hears Rain doesn't really come out often. Two: his summoning went to shit without a previous water ghoul to guide him. Three: Rain has no idea what he's doing and is dying on the hallway floor.

“Dew.” The rumbling voice is lower this time. The burning hot hands are gone and slowly the water cools off in the fabric. Rain can hear a gentle kiss, a reassuring whisper. His eyes are still nearly stuck shut from his dry skin, but he listens to the sound of skin, hands running over each others. “Why don’t we go run a bath? Aeth will take care of him for now.”

There’s shuffling, small and large footsteps get distant, and then a rough, gravel voice is closer.

“I know this isn’t pleasant, Rain.” A rough hand with cold metal rings presses against his skin. Isn’t pleasant would be the understatement of the year. He feels like he’s dying. “But we’ll get you through it. We got Dew through it. I’m gonna give you just a bit of quint. It’ll feel weird, like static, but it’ll make it feel better.”

Rain’s doubtful, but he’s not really in a position to say no. Something prods at his head, something that’s like pins and needles. His skin feels charged with static. It hits, and the aching tension in his skin is gone, but he doesn’t like it. Rain fights this foreign feeling in his head and thrashes like a fish on a line even if it cracks his skin. He's terrified. He's so vulnerable, and he can't see what this person is doing. His hands are on his chest, but Rain can feel this person doing things, pushing into his mind. The feeling is too foreign, and if he could shout for him to stop, Rain would. Immediately it’s gone.

“Okay. Okay. So none of that.” The person groans and there’s shuffling as he kneels. The towel at Rain's neck is shifted and tied loosely around his throat. There’s more shuffling and suddenly sharp claws are pressed against him, though on the dull curved side. “I’m going to tear this shirt off. Sorry. Then we’ll get these wet too.”

Rain can only assume he means his gills along his ribs. The towel is starting to feel just a bit too dry against the delicate membranes, and he wants to thrash again, but a large hand that’s much cooler than the fire he felt earlier holds him still.

“M’not gonna hurt you.” The voice says as he feels his skin exposed to the dry air and the sound of fabric tearing. Rain can only really tense his fingers in agony. Every breath feels like hell.

There’s footsteps, large heavy ones, and a smaller steps following.

“The bath’s ready, Aeth.” The voice is deep and rumbling like before, though it sounds a bit mumbled now.

“Okay. I can lift him but he squirms. Mind helping?”

There’s a silent exchange Rain can’t make out and suddenly there’s hand on him. Two at his shoulders and one under his back and hip. They lift him up and immediately Rain doesn’t like it. Not being able to see makes him feel ill as they situate him. They’re trying to help, he knows this, but the touch of their hands makes bile rise in his throat. Not that he could vomit anyways, his lips are stuck shut.

The two carry him and halfway through Rain gives up fighting. He hears the change in scenery, going from large and dampened to small and echoing. Voices bounce off tile and the footsteps sound louder.

“There’s going to be some water. It’s a small tub.” The smaller voice tells him as his tail touches something cold and wet. Slowly he’s lowered into it first from his feet and then to his shoulders. He flinches when the hands leave almost afraid he’ll keep sinking. This water isn't like home, it has little buoyancy and feels thin. Before he can panic, his ass smacks the bottom and leaves his head afloat.

Rain sinks lower and frowns when his knees have to be exposed to the air so that his head can sink. Immediately he can feel his dry skin loosening. Some of it comes off in large scales and his fresh skin all but sucks in the water. For the silent minutes he sits in it, it’s more comfort than he’s felt in weeks. His gills are freed from their prison of skin and he squirms getting water moving through them.

His face finally frees up and he opens his lips first. Then his eyelids finally release and he can see. The light is an assault on his eyes and he quickly closes them again with an image of the bathroom stuck behind his lids. At least the water feels better against his eyes than dry eyelids.

Voices above him reverberate to the water. They’re muffled but he can distinguish them. Slowly he opens his eyes to make out the distorted figures from under the water.

One of them is a large man with several piercings in his ears. His hair is short and well trimmed. A dark chinstrap beard lines his jaw. Rain can guess that's 'Aeth' from the thick dark bands around his fingers.

The other is taller than the rest. He’s lanky with defined features of an underbite and a prominent nose. His thick hair is tied in a low bun, but what catches Rain’s attention is the color of his horns. They’re white and black, the inverse of each other, but maybe that’s a trick of the water.

The shortest one has long platinum hair pulled back over his shoulders. It blocks most of his face, and Rain can only see him once he turns around to glance at the tub. It must be Dew. His footsteps sounded lightest.

His nose has a bump in it and it looks crooked, but that’s hard to tell under water. It looks like he’s been through more than one fight. What’s terrifying is the black scarred thin flaps of skin on his neck. Rain’s gills flutter seeing it and close against his own skin. They cause little ripples of bubbles in the water, and the big one with the rings looks towards the water.

“Feeling better, fish?” The shorter one slaps him in the chest and he lets out an oof. “Sorry, Rain. I'm sorry that we didn't catch this sooner, it's just that none of us knew.”

It's not his fault, and Rain knows that. He should've known too, but he didn't know what the strange feeling of his skin meant until it was too late. Slowly he comes to the surface of the water laying on his side trying to keep as much of himself submerged as possible. His tail makes small languid movements in the water. He pokes his eyes out without blinking, just letting the water drip off his eyes, which is more relieving than it looks. It’s a bit unnerving for the tall one who visibly raises his shoulders.

“S'okay,” he says with water bubbling at his mouth. Dew laughs a bit before his face drops again.

“How’d you get so dried up?”

The question sends Rain dropping back to reality. The reality that he’s not among his old pack, that he’s not among fellow water ghouls. That these people smell like dirt and smoke and oddly cranberries. They don’t smell like saltwater and sand. They have two tone horns, and rings that fit on web-less fingers. They have blonde hair instead of dark black for camouflage. They aren't like him.

Rain sinks back into the water until his head is nearly dunked. He feels alone. There’s people, ghouls, here, but none of them are like him. None of them are water.

Since the very beginning of his summoning, Rain knew something was off. He knew it from the moment that he was met with clawless hands and tailless bodies in robes. He knew it from the moment none of them knew how to get him to breathe with his lungs and not his gills.

He nearly choked after his summoning.

He knew everything about his summoning and indenture to topside was fucked up when all of his questions were met with non-answers. Siblings looked to the side, they mentioned Dew, but he never really met the ghoul. Copia tried to help, bless him, but there's a lot of things that only ghouls can teach each other. He hasn't been leaving his room often, except for the middle of the night and practices in which a short ghoul glares at him, though once they've set their instruments down, Rain can't remember who it was.

Something is dropped on the surface of the water. A flower that's been snipped close to the bud, though it looks more torn than anything. Rain cracks an eye open at the dark spot over his eyes. There's muffled voices above him again. Someone winces, and there's a bittersweet sound that follows it.

"I though you were done blooming. It's nearly November."

There's a low grumble. "Not my fault the fish has a flower."

Rain picks the flower from the surface and drags it under. He knows that it's ridiculous to treat the shallow tub as some sort of defense from them, but at least they seem to respect that he doesn't want to talk. They never once dip their hands in the water trying to pry him out. Rain stares at the flower spinning it in his hands. The white triangular petals float in the water. There's an energy to it, and Rain feels an ache in his chest.

It's not home. This will never be home. It will never be the abyss of the ocean, never have the sting of salt. It'll never have the hum of water magic. He's stuck topside for who knows how long with no way back. This pack isn't his pack. They're all but strangers to him.

But they're trying.

Rain swallows thickly and presses his arms against the edges of the tub even if his fins don't agree with the motion. It feels almost too cramped. The thin water and it's wrinkled surface is the only barrier between him and the rest of the ghouls, a transparent little wall between them, but his side feels too cramped, too foreign. If a small tear escapes, he can't tell.

Slowly with a deep breath that pulls water through his gills quickly, Rain lifts his head. He shakes out his hair and is met with a chorus of "hey watch it!" as it flings water onto the floor. Rain gathers himself and looks up at them still clutching the flower.

He finds the source easily: the lanky one has them in his hair and around his horns. His bun has been undone, and a few of the flowers lay in the sink. Rain holds out the flower with webbed fingers.

"Yours?"

The question apparently was the wrong thing to ask because the ghoul seems a bit embarrassed about it. He winces and scratches his scalp. "Uh, yeah. But, uh, you can keep it," he shakes his head a bit, "It's technically yours anyway."

"Mine?" Rain asks looking at the flower and letting it sit back in the water with him. It's not home, it never will be, but they're trying; he reminds himself.

Aether's voice is loud in the cramped bathroom, but it sounds like he's trying to be a bit quieter. "Yeah, Mountain has a tendency to grow flowers when he's thinking hard. I guess that makes the lily yours then."

Dew stares at Mountain, and suddenly Rain recognizes that look. It's the look he gets at practice, the scowl that could kill him if he let it. It lingers on Dew's face for a moment before it's gone.

"Oh," Rain is quiet.

He wants them to leave. He wants to go back to the way things were before he dried out like a goddamn raisin; wandering the halls late at night when everyone is gone, putting on a good face for practice, and asking siblings questions to find his own way. He can't help but feel like he's done something wrong already just by being there. He doesn't even realize he's sinking back into the water until it hits his neck.

The water's too cold for him now, and there's a bit of a shiver that runs through Rain. He'd deny it if anyone ever asked. He misses his heat vents, the warm plumes they brought, the jagged rock.

Mountain leaves after glancing at him, and Dew's eyes never quite leave his back. Aether leans over the side of the tub.

"Feeling any better? Good enough to go get some dinner?"

Rain feels a bit weirded out by the invitation. He feels like he's just met them, but he supposes that to them, he's been a ghost living in the walls. The promise of a meal does entice him through. He nods and takes a deep breath rushing water into his gills again. He hacks a bit and has to open the gills at his neck with his fingers. What can only be described as a mucus leaves his gills, and Aether makes a note to never use this tub again. Still, Rain seems to perk up a bit after that.

"Uh. Breathing better now?" Aether says trying to not stare, but it does set off a disgust reaction.

Rain nods sitting up a bit more. He forgets to switch to his lungs though, and once his ribs are out of the water, gills sticking to his sides, his breath catches. His throat moves like he can't breathe, and Dew is about to move when he finally switches taking in deep breaths. Dew looks a bit more terrified than Aether.

It's in no way, shape, or form related to the fact that he knows what that feeling is like. It's the feeling of your own body suffocating outside of water like a breath cut too short. Does Rain do this every time he leaves water? Dew can only hope not. Then again, it's not like he's had a mentor to show him.

Aether turns to glance at Mountain coming back, and Dew leans close to him for a moment.

"Expand your ribs next time. It'll fill your lungs early and that won't happen," he whispers. Rain stares at him confused as Dew goes back to standing like nothing happened.

At least Mountain has brought some clothes for him. There's an olive hoodie and dark sweatpants. He sets them on the counter, and Aether hands Rain a towel as he gets out. The water ghoul dries off, and Dew is the first one out. Rain pulls on the clothes Mountain has brought him, and the earth ghoul apologizes for them being so big. Not like he had much of a choice, Rain locks his door when he's in the room and when he's out.

Rain feels like he looks ridiculous in clothes about two sizes too big, but the idea of dinner doesn't sound too terrible.

#rain ghoul #dewdrop ghoul #explosion's fanfic #ghost band

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musekicker · 1 year ago

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This is more a kind of experiment writing I could say. Messing with a mental image I have and trying to work out a plot? We'll see.

It's one sided Gibson/Proteus based so warnings for one sided relationships.

Waking up again was a slow process. The incense that had been used to put him to sleep in the first place packed a punch it seemed. He hadn't even remembered fall unconscious.

Now that he was awake he had to remember every detail of what had happened.

He was still here, in a under sea cave, laid out on a altar, and his limbs trapped in some sea weed and algae mix that had dried to a hard substance. Gibson had found out quickly that his drills wouldn't break through the material even once he managed to go drill mode.

And he easily remembered his captor. Proteus, now very much a fish man and very much free had been the one to capture him and bring him down here. Why?

Gibson still had no answers.

Now might be a chance to get some as Proteus was moving around this chamber of the sea cave, within hearing range.

"You can not just keep me-" Gibson said, still groggy.

That groggy feeling disappeared quickly the moment Proteus placed a plate on the altar next to Gibson's head. A strong smell of brine from the plate made him gag a bit.

"You must be hungry." Proteus said.

"I was until you put whatever that was next to me." Gibson snapped. "What is it?

Gibson looked at the pile of what he was guessing was food on the plate. The snacks were hard to decipher what they were. They were obviously wrapped in kelp, that much he knew. But as for what the kelp wrapped he had no idea.

He also knew he did not want to eat it.

"Never mind whatever it is. I'm not eating that either way." Gibson snapped.

"I'm afraid I have to insist that you do." Proteus said.

Gibson clamped his jaw closed as Proteus approached. Understandably so he did not make the process easy. He nearly even managed to bite Proteus in the process. Despite the good fight Gibson put up, the treat was forced into his mouth and he was forced to swallow it.

A vile taste flooded Gibson's mouth and seemed to coat his throat. Of stagnant water with a touch of sickly sweet rot. He couldn't help but gag at the taste and feel sick to his stomach.

As Gibson continued to gag Proteus reached out to Gibson. Gibson was so preoccupied with gagging that he didn't even flinch as Proteus starting petting the side of Gibson's face as if he were a precious thing to him.

"What are you-" Gibson asked, finally able to stop gagging.

Proteus took his hand away from Gibson's face. He was reaching for another of those vile treats.

"It'll be easier to stomach now." Proteus said, sounding just a bit apologetic.

Gibson could not see himself putting another one of those things anywhere close to his mouth. Yet this time when the treat was brought up to his face it smelled different. What had once been sickly sweet with a heavy smell and taste of brine, now smelled good in a way he found he could not find the words for.

He realized two pieces of the strange snack later what he had been doing. Eating them without any sort of fight or even realization that he had been eating them. Gibson felt a chill go down his spine at that realization. And realizing something was wrong. Very wrong.

"What did you do to me?" Gibson asked.

Proteus was looking quite pleased now. He had another snack in hand. Gibson's gaze did not leave the treat.

"Do you want more?" Proteus asked, ignoring Gibson's question.

"No!" Gibson cried.

Actually, he truly could had eaten more and the word yes had almost escaped his mouth. Somehow he was able to tear his gaze away from the treat as well and fully turn his head to the side. Anything to keep himself from eating more of whatever that treat had been

Thankfully Proteus did not insist that Gibson eat more. Instead he picked up the plate and moved away to put it back wherever he had been storing it before.

Now that Gibson could think, the frustration was back. This lack of of answers for what he was fairly certain for days, was driving Gibson up the wall. He needed answers and now was the time he tried to demand them.

"What is all this? Why are you keeping me like this and doing these things. What are you trying to achieve? Gibson cried.

Gibson almost expected to be ignored again. Even as Proteus was heading back to the altar. But then Gibson's captor looked down at Gibson for a long moment. a look in his eyes that Gibson found himself reading as fondness.

That could not be the case though could it?

Gibson was trying to form some sort of response to that look. But he did not get the time to think of anything before Proteus's webbed hands were suddenly on him, starting from Gibson's mid section. Gibson felt his fur bristle at the touch of those cold, clammy things. And at the possible meaning of this touch.

"Get your hands off of me!" Gibson snapped.

Proteus did not. He kept on feeling Gibson. His hands wandering upwards. Gibson was glad it was not the other direction. Not that any touch at all from Proteus was appreciated.

His hands stopped at the side of Gibson's neck. Not putting pressure on the neck but the tips of the fingers messing up the short fur on his neck. As if he just enjoyed the feeling on it. Gibson on his end was terrified and very much not enjoying this.

He pulled at his bonds frantically. But like before they were not budging. Gibson was stuck on the altar and helpless to anything that Proteus might do to him.

It wasn't hard to read what emotion were in Proteus's eyes. A sort of need. Even more terrifying to Gibson.

Gibson was sure that he was about to be the victim of unwanted attention. His heart hammered against his chest as he looked up at Proteus. And as quickly as Proteus had had put his hands on Gibson, just as quickly he took his hands off of him.

"Not yet." Proteus said to himself in a mumble. "You're not ready yet."

"What is that suppose to mean?" Gibson asked.

Proteus did not answer him. Not that he had been giving any answers before. But with the way things were shifting, Gibson needed answers even more.

"Answer me!" Gibson cried, pulling at his bonds even as impossible it was to break free. "You can't just... do what you did, and say what you did, and not give me answers!"

Still silence. Still no answers as he went back over to where the incense holder was and starting to burn more of them. The message was clear. It was time for Gibson to go back to sleep.

"Not more of that, please!" Gibson cried.

Still ignored. Gibson thought he was going to scream from frustration from it all. But with the incense burning and the smoke already reaching him he was already feeling lightheaded. Unlike last time he smelled the smoke from the incense he did not smell a sickly sweet smell. This time Gibson would think he smelled popcorn for a moment before he blacked out.

#srmthfg #super robot monkey team hyperforce go

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tsyllaes · 3 months ago

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Water Infused with Desert Lime and Muntries

TITLE Water Infused with Desert Lime and Muntries AUTHOR @annarti DISCLAIMER All mine PART 2 of 5 (956 words) (Part 1) ABOUT Part two of the meeting of two characters from my upcoming porny NaNo! This vignette remains not porny.

Uli chewed his bottom lip. Bed was so close… but she seemed so earnest, and it would be a good recommendation for his parents’ business. His hospitality smile smoothed his features once more and he beckoned the Tsaythi back to his kitchen.

‘I keep the pots over here,’ he said, leading her to the shelves where the scullery had neatly packed everything away. He picked up one of the bigger ones, his favourite, and hefted it in his hands before passing it to her with some measure of pride. ‘This one’s perfect for roasting, just the right shape for a leg of nira, but I’ve baked plenty of bread in it when the bread ovens are full, too.’

Sita-Sati-Siti took the pot and turned it over in her hands, running her fingers around the rim and looking up at the shelf full of iron vessels. Her grey eyes were full of wonder. Uli had to remind himself just how lucky he was to use such a material in his daily life. Iron, and how to work it, remained Raykin’s closely guarded secret.

‘Are you the cook on your ship, too?’ Ulindu asked her. He held up the back of his hand to his mouth to cover a yawn and firmly told his brain he didn’t want to sleep right now, no matter how much it wanted him to.

The Tsaythi shook her head, then shrugged. ‘We do not cook on board—fire on a wooden ship is a bad idea. Mostly we have fresh fish or something dried and rehydrated. Seaweed, sea slugs, sometimes crispbread from mashed spinifex and fishrush seeds.’ She shrugged again, then looked up from the pot with a wonderous smile. ‘Nothing like what you made for us. Was that all you, that lunch?’

Uli laughed and shook his head. ‘I’m just the apprentice. Raina, the older woman who welcomed you, owns the pub.’

‘Oh. Well, I think you are well-placed to take over after her.’

‘That’s my hope! Though I still have a lot to learn—especially serving Kazinians!’ He laughed to himself.

Seti-Suti-Sita crinkled her nose at him again, then reverentially set the pot back on the shelf and took a step back to admire it all once again. Her eyes drifted, taking in the pottery, the stored dried spices, grains and flour, the knives and spatulas and other utensils all made from iron, the fire pit and the raised brick oven for baking bread. Uli clasped his hands behind his back, smiling with pride as she looked in wonder at what he took for granted every day.

‘I’m sure I’d be just as impressed by your ship,’ he said. She looked a little overwhelmed.

Her own proud smile eased the tension on her face. ‘Gang Gang,’ she said. ‘It is small, but I love it. I know everyone says it, but my crew, we are tight. They are the best. A crew is even more than family, you know? We are closer than you on land, because when you are out there, there is nowhere else to go. You, you have an argument in the kitchen, you can go home at the end of the day. You have an argument with your wife, you go to work the next day. On a ship? You have to get on well with everyone even better. And my crew? We are the best.’

Her smile was infectious, wide and toothy, bright in her dark face. Uli lived upstairs in the pub and he hadn’t yet had a partner long enough to invite to live with him, but he understood what she meant. ‘Did you grow up on Gang Gang?’

She nodded. ‘My family has always owned it. My father’s auntie, she was the captain before my father took over a few years ago. My cousin is probably going to be next.’

Uli raised his eyebrows. ‘Not you?’

Sita-Seti-Tesi laughed and ducked her head as she rested back against the polished stone bench, hunched and smaller than her strong Tsaythi frame. ‘She is a much stronger leader than I am. I always… I rely too heavily on what people around me say. I guess I don’t trust myself enough. It scares me, to make a wrong decision and lead us into a storm or a pirate attack or a leviathan.’

‘Well.’ Ulindu rested beside her with a shrug. ‘Listening to and trusting the people around you sounds like a pretty admirable trait to me.’

She crinkled her nose up at him again. ‘Thank you, Ulindu, son of Luda and Halef.’

Ulindu felt his ears warm to hear his name on her tongue. He cleared his throat and gestured back at his pots. ‘So, um… would you like me to show you to the smithy?’

She giggled at his embarrassment and bumped his shoulder with hers as she looked back over at the knives. ‘I would love you to.’

Uli bent forward and cocked his head to one side as he looked back at her. ‘Are you flirting with me?’

Her blonde eyebrows shot up in a brief moment of shock before she burst out laughing. ‘You started it! With your fancy fruity drink and your… come look at my kitchen.’

Ulindu held up a finger. ‘You asked to see my kitchen. And you complimented the water first.’

She ducked her head into her shoulders in her own embarrassed shrug. ‘Fine. You still started it.’

Uli grinned and delighted to see her smile back. ‘Well, I’m not stopping it. Come and meet my parents,’ he said with a wink, then pushed himself from the bench and held out a hand. Her nose crinkled again as she took his hand and pushed herself upright. ‘Lead on.’

---

Romance is HARD I tend to avoid it but the porny NaNo will be long! It will need setup and romance and shit! So this is as much training and practice for that honestly.

The world of Tsyllaes is roughly around the end of the bronze age in terms of tech. Raykin discovered iron about 100-150 years ago, what with their rusty red, iron-rich desert, and have kept it and the working of it secret from the other nations. They're not above selling the stuff they make from it, though, knowing it's a huge selling point over bronze. They haven't figured out steel yet, probably stumble on it by accident every now and then, but nobody yet knows how to make it on purpose.

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2024 #writers of tumblr

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drvitaltips · 7 months ago

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Can You Eat Mint Leaves? Benefits and Best Ways to Enjoy

Got a sprig of mint in your drink and wondering if you should just eat it? You've come to the right place! Mint leaves are surprisingly versatile. They're a refreshing, flavorful addition to plenty of dishes, but did you know there might be other benefits to eating them? Let's find out! Can You Eat Mint Leaves? The short answer is yes! Mint leaves, whether it's peppermint, spearmint, or another variety, are all edible and add a fresh touch to both sweet and savory recipes. While they might seem like a simple garnish, they actually pack some interesting health benefits. Benefits of Eating Mint Leaves - Soothes Your Tummy: Ever had mint after a big meal? It can help with digestion and ease any tummy troubles or nausea. - Fresher Breath: Mint naturally fights odor-causing bacteria in your mouth, leaving you feeling refreshed. - Boosts Your Immunity: Mint has antioxidants that help protect your cells, keeping your body fighting fit. - Might Help with Allergies: The anti-inflammatory properties in mint could help ease those pesky allergy symptoms. - Stress Buster: The scent of mint can be calming, and mint tea is a relaxing way to unwind. A recent study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found that peppermint oil, which is derived from mint leaves, helped improve symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in participants. The study suggests that consuming mint may have potential benefits for digestive health. Delicious Ways to Use Mint The possibilities are almost endless! Here are a few ideas to get you started: - Salads & Smoothies: Add fresh mint leaves to salads for a flavor boost, or blend them into your favorite smoothie. - Make Mint Tea: Steep fresh or dried leaves in hot water for a refreshing drink. - The Natural Way to Freshen Up: Chew a few leaves for an instant burst of flavor and a cleaner mouth. - Homemade Mint Sauce: Perfect as a dip for spring rolls or a topping for fish or chicken. Myth Buster: While mint is great for many things, it's not a miracle cure for belly fat loss. Remember, a healthy diet and exercise are important too! Be Mindful – Things to Consider While mint leaves are safe for most people, there are a few things to keep in mind: - If You Have GERD: Mint might worsen heartburn or acid reflux symptoms in some individuals. Listen to your body on this one. - Start Slow: Especially if you're not used to eating mint leaves, start with a small amount and see how you feel. For some, too much mint might cause an upset stomach. - Little Tummies: Mint's strong flavor might be a bit too much for infants and young children. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Is it OK to eat raw mint leaves? Absolutely! They can be eaten raw or cooked – it's up to you. - How many mint leaves can I eat per day? There's no one-size-fits-all answer. A few leaves in your food or a cup of tea is usually fine, but listen to your body. - Can you eat mint right off the plant? Definitely! Just give the leaves a good wash first. - Is too much mint bad for your stomach? For some people, it can cause a bit of tummy trouble if they overdo it. Fun Fact: Did you know ancient Romans used mint as a room freshener? They called it the "herb of hospitality"! More Ways to Enjoy Mint As someone who loves experimenting with healthy ingredients in the kitchen, I've found that mint leaves add a refreshing twist to many dishes. One of my favorite recipes is a simple mint and cucumber salad, which is perfect for hot summer days. I also enjoy adding a few mint leaves to my water bottle for a naturally flavored drink that helps me stay hydrated throughout the day. Beyond food, mint has some other surprising uses: - Skin Soother: Its anti-inflammatory properties might make it helpful for calming irritated skin. (Always test on a small area first.) - Household Helper: Mint can deter some insects, and its fresh scent makes a great natural room freshener. - Inhale the Goodness: Mint essential oil in a diffuser might help with focus and relieve congestion during a cold. Mint Leaf UsesBenefitsCulinaryAdds flavor to dishes, drinks, and dessertsDigestive HealthMay help relieve symptoms of IBS and other digestive issuesOral HealthFreshens breath and may help reduce harmful bacteria in the mouthSkincareCan be used in homemade face masks for a cooling, soothing effect Key Takeaways: - Mint leaves are edible and offer some potential health benefits - Mint can be enjoyed in many ways, from food and drinks to natural remedies - Start with small amounts and be mindful of any sensitivities you may have Important Note: While eating mint leaves is generally safe for most people, it's always a good idea to consult with your doctor if you have any health concerns or are taking medications that could interact with herbs. Some people may be allergic to mint or experience heartburn or other side effects from consuming it in large quantities. Should You Avoid Mint? Let's look at some cases where you might want to limit your mint intake: - Certain Medications: Mint can sometimes interact with medications. Talk to your doctor if you're concerned. - Pregnancy & Breastfeeding: While mint is generally considered safe in small amounts, it's a good idea to check with your doctor about large quantities or concentrated forms (like essential oils) during these times. Pros and Cons of Eating Mint Leaves ProsConsAids digestionMight worsen GERD symptomsFreshens breathCan cause stomach upset if consumed in excessPotential allergy reliefStrong flavor might not be for everyonePacked with antioxidants Beyond the Kitchen – Other Uses for Mint Let's think outside the box! Here are even more creative ways to utilize the power of mint: - Natural Mouthwash: Swishing a cool infusion of mint and water can freshen breath and fight bacteria - Insect Repellant: The scent of mint can help deter pesky bugs. Try planting some near your doors and windows. - Uplifting Diffuser Blend: Add mint essential oil with a citrus oil (like lemon or orange) to your diffuser for a refreshing, energizing scent. Conclusion Mint leaves might seem simple, but they're truly a powerhouse of freshness and flavor! From spicing up your recipes to potentially supporting your overall well-being, there are plenty of reasons to add these versatile leaves to your life. Whether you prefer them in your food, tea, or even as a natural remedy, enjoy mint in moderation and reap the benefits. How do you like to use mint? Share your favorite recipes, tips, or creative ideas in the comments below! Let's inspire each other. Additional Tips - Grow Your Own: Mint is super easy to grow, even if you don't have a green thumb. It's a great way to have fresh mint on hand whenever you need it. - Experiment with Varieties: Peppermint and spearmint are the most common, but there are so many other kinds of mint to try! Chocolate mint, apple mint, and lemon mint all have unique flavor profiles. - Get Creative: Don't be afraid to try new flavor combos! Mint pairs well with fruits, chocolate, and even savory dishes. Remember: If you have a health condition or are unsure about something, it's always a good idea to check with your doctor before making any major changes to your diet or using natural remedies. Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions about your health. Read the full article

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apocalypticgargoyle · 4 years ago

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so, SO, Hear me out. This has been stuck in my head for DAYS. Can i request a Sapnap x reader smut, BUT Incubus!Sapnap. My brain is mush. Perhaps reader doesn't believe in demons etc, so they're trying to prove to themselves that these things indeed don't exist by trying to summon a demon, what type of demon? they don't know. Unfortunately(fortunately) for them, the ritual works and Sapnap is summoned. Afab reader with any pronouns, and Dom or switch Sapnap.

i literally love this idea sm. thank you for trusting me with it. [thank you to a friend of mine who helped me w some of the plot elements.] I hope you enjoy and happy reading! xx

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐓. ⛧ 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐮𝐛𝐮𝐬!𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐧𝐚𝐩 (18+)

pairing: incubus!sapnap x afab!reader

warnings: nsfw (minors dni), mentions of an Ouija board, blood, oral (fm. receiving), smut, domination, choking

Your fishnets clung to your legs, yet provided little protection against the nipping breeze dragging icy fingers across your skin. You rubbed the arms of your jacket, attempting to generate more warmth as your breath fogged around you. Your friends giggled and kicked at each other, hanging around their shoulders and acting drunker than they actually were. It felt like icicles picked your heart each time you faintly felt like you were enjoying yourself, all because of Him.

His words echoed in your head each time a man approached you, finding yourself nearly too suspicious to believe they wouldn’t end up like He did: cold, distant, and arrogant.

The club had been too loud, in your opinion, but you’d be damned to let one of your friends know. They were focused on finding you a squeeze to preoccupy you while you got over Him. You didn’t need a distraction, you just needed to get rid of the thought of him.

One of your friends grabbed your arm, dragging you down a portion of concrete steps and into a lower-level shop. You briefly caught sight of the neon sign above the door, LOCAL PSYCHIC blinking in bright pink piping to welcome in tourists. You scoffed to yourself as you shrugged through the beaded curtain over the door.

The shop smelled of incense and a potpourri of unfamiliar herbs. A slender woman with long black hair looked up from a magazine, gold eyeliner sparkling in the dim lighting of the store. She watched the group of you carefully as your friends went straight for the Ouija boards in the corner. As you looked over her various shelves of exotic species of crystals, you could feel her eyes burning into your shoulder.

You sighed quietly, grabbing a green hued crystal and approaching her in lieu of your group. “So, this will get rid of my bad juju if I stick it in my bra, right?” You quipped jokingly, making her smuggly grin.

She straightened up, revealing a metal band t-shirt that you couldn’t pronounce the name of, let alone knew. “Gorgeous, you’ll need a fist full of moldavite to cleanse what you’ve got going on,” she jested, voice raspy and surveying. “Give me your hand,” she stated, more than asked. You reluctantly reached for her, her boney ringers cupped your hand, rings catching the candle light beside the cash register.

“Does it say I’ll disappear mysteriously after a boating accident?” You leered, making her bite her lip.

You could practically feel her breath on your skin. She studied your palm closely, wetting her lips. “I think I have something better than moldavite, though,” she quirked before digging her nail into the center, making you hiss. She drew a bit of blood from the wound, placing a business card against the spot. The center of the card oozed the crimson color seeping from the cut. “Call this number when you get home and all your bad juju will clear, my love. Him included,” she whispered. “You don’t believe in demons do you?”

“Of course not,” you answered, your eyes locked on hers as she smiled darkly at you, almost forebodingly. You flipped the card in your hand, a number plastered on one side and “REVERSE YOUR REGRETS,” printed boldly on the other. Your eyebrow perked at her. “What, is this a demon calling card?” You quizzed almost sarcastically.

Her dark, full lips twisted up. “I guess you’ll have to find out.”

Your mouth ran dry as she smirked, fingers brushing against your own as your hand slipped from hers. You found it hard to speak on the bus ride home, or even form sentences while you were crammed between two of your friends as they all sparked chatter about their upcoming finals. One of the main reasons they bought the Ouija board was to ask a ghost to write their history and philosophy theses.

Your apartment was dark and alluringly quiet compared to the night of bright lights and ridiculous EDM you had endured for most of the night. You let your jacket slip to the floor as you switched on a lamp, washing your hands as your mind relayed what the woman from the shop had said. As you dried your hands, your eyes traveled towards the living room, the dark fabric of one of His hoodies peeking out from between the couch and the wall. You bit your tongue, anger flashing into your veins. “Even Him…” you thought, remembering what she had told you.

You grabbed your phone, slinking over to where your jacket was and fishing the card from your pocket. The red smudge of blood almost perfectly split the phone number in half. “You don’t believe in demons do you?”

“No, what kind of respectable adult believes in demons,” you grumbled to yourself, dialing the number. You turned the card over again, eyeing the words as you waited for the call to connect. Instead of ringing normally, three long dial tones sounded over your receiver, sending a shiver down your spine. Dogs of your apartment complex began to bark, sending feral noises of discomfort into the air.

An automated voice began to speak, startling you slightly. “Thank you for your call. Your sacrifice is pure and has been accepted. Congratulations.”

Sacrifice? The line went dead, your power fizzling out as well. You froze, your feet feeling as if your shoes were filled with cement. In an instant, your array of candles sparked to life, brightening the room. Your heart thundered in your chest, unsure of what was happening. Sacrifice?

You held your breath, waiting for what was to come. It seemed as if your apartment had been removed from the city outside, instead an eerie silence settled in the room, making it almost suffocating to be alone.

“Hello, dove,” a dark voice called from behind you, making you jump a foot in the air, chest wheezing from the jump scare. A man smirked at you, resting his chin in his hand as he looked at you. He dominated one of your chairs, his other hand drumming his fingers against the leather. His suit was well tailored, but he wore it rather lazily with his crisp white shirt unbuttoned. He wore dark nail polish, making his fingers appear longer.

His eyes trailed your body, pressing his lips together as you realized how tightly you were clutching your phone and the card. “How did you get in here?” You asked, your voice barely audible.

He stood, straightening the sleeves of his suit jacket. He walked over to you, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. Your breath was measured, your body drawn to him as if you were an animal in heat. “You summoned me, puppy,” he answered, voice dipping an octave before dragging the card from your fingers. Your skin burned and sparked at his touch. His smell was intoxicatingly enticing, making your mouth water.

He held the card between two fingers, his eyes locking to yours indefinitely. “You even bound yourself to me,” he noted, letting his finger pad draw across the blood stain on the card. “Little minx,” he mumbled.

You swallowed. “What are you?” You managed, words uneven and almost jumbled.

He turned slightly on his heel, circling around you slowly, fingers dragging against the fabric of your shirt before snaking around the back of your throat. His thumb teased against your skin almost as if he was restraining himself from ripping you in half. “They call me Sapnap. Some might categorize me as a demon, but that seems rather exaggerated, don’t you think?” He responded. “I’m here to help you reverse your regrets.”

You inhaled sharply. “What does that mean?”

He chuckled darkly, his lips brushing against the shell of your ear. “Baby, I’m here to make you feel good again,” he divulged, the heat of his breath skimming against your neck, urging you to submit to him. "I'm here to make you forget all about Him."

In an instant you found yourself pinned beneath him, the sheets on your bed cast aside along with most of your clothes. He watched you sternly as he slipped his jacket off his shoulders, unbuttoning his collared shirt, pupils blown with lust at your hungry appearance.

Sapnap ground his hips against yours, tugging on your thighs to bring you closer to him. Your back arched slightly, fingers digging into the sheets as his lips traveled from your neck to your chest, one of his large hands palming your breast. You stifled a moan, hips bucking against him. He pressed his tongue against your navel, licking a strip against your skin before he was in your ear again. His fingers curled around your waistband. "Uh uh, dove. I wanna hear you."

He leaned back on his knees, teeth nipping at the inside of your thighs as he trailed towards your core. His eyes danced up to yours, briefly gauging your reaction before slipping his finger between the skin of your hips and your lacy undergarments, tugging them down your legs. He pressed open mouth kisses to your thighs once more, teeth grazing the sensitive flesh with a restraint you had half a mind to egg on.

He hooked his arms around your thighs, burying his face where you needed him the most. Your body reacted to the pleasure of his tongue almost instantly, fighting to clamp your legs around his head as your toes curled. Sapnap was taking his time with you, eating you out as if you were his last meal, humming slightly to send vibrations against your nerve endings.

You threaded your fingers through his dark hair, rolling your hips against his mouth and muttering his name. He moved, teeth sinking into your thigh as he pressed his finger into you, making you moan incoherently. You tugged at his hair, earning a groan in pleasure as you noticed him grinding against the mattress. His lips were back on your heat as his finger curled inside of you.

He added another finger, finding your sweet spot almost as if your body had been made for him specifically. With each swirl of his tongue and his moans at the sight of you enjoying the chase of your orgasm, the more the tension began to build within you. He quickened his pace as he watched you pant, coaxing you closer to the edge.

Sapnap moved his head from side to side, flattening his tongue for more friction, pumping his fingers in and out of you. "Cum for me, baby," he commanded, breath hot against your core. You relinquished control of your body, letting your climax rip through your body, leaving you breathless and stunned.

He wore the devil's smile as kissed the inside of your knee, praising you heavily for heeding to his demands. "Good girl," he cooed, voice dark and drawn with lust as he moved to press his lips against your shoulder. "Such a good girl."

His lips traveled beneath your ear, nipping at the skin before pressing his tongue into your mouth, one of his hands holding your chin.

He discarded his pants, spitting in his hand and stroking himself a few times as his eyes burned into yours. He dragged you towards him, gripping onto your hips before driving himself into you. You groaned at the pressure, grinding against his hips and earning a smirk from him. "So needy. Have I not been good to you thus far?" His words dripped with a god complex you had yet to taste.

You whimpered slightly before he rolled his hips against yours. He retracted himself before slowly thrusting into you, watching with pride as you writhed for more of him. "I could kill you, you know?" He stated, thrusting into you harshly, pressing his hands into the mattress on either side of your head.

You chuckled breathlessly, your fingers wrapping around one of his wrists. "You won't," you moaned as he set a pace, digging his hips into yours.

Sapnap's other arm moved, wrapping his hand around your neck and squeezing slightly, as if showing you he could do worse. "Says who?" He provoked, pressing his lips against yours, teeth dragging against your bottom lip, eliciting a moan from deep in your throat.

His thrusts were becoming sloppier, deeper as he buried himself into you. "Me," you answered. He grinned deviously, pinning your knee to your chest and pounding into you, basking in your moans like they were personalized ego boasts. "I can take it," you groaned quietly, enticing him. He tightened his hold on your neck, causing your vision to blur in pleasure as heat rushed through your body, his roughness a perfect catalyst to your cardinal hunger.

"That's right, sweetheart," he grunted, eyes seeming to burn brighter with your submission. "Take it," he mirrored, his pace relentless against you as if testing your limits. He pressed his thumb in your mouth, moaning as your teeth rested against it, tongue darting out against it. You focused on his eyes, trying not to roll your own as your body ached to climax.

You could see the veins in his neck becoming more prominent and he removed his thumb only to grip your jaw in his hand, shoving his tongue into your mouth to lap at your whimpers. His hands moved to pin your forearms to the mattress beside you, his lips melding against yours as the two of you pushed each other to orgasms. You could feel his pleasure coming undone within you, finally acting as the jumping-off point for your second climax.

You panted, hurriedly attempting to catch your breath as he pulled out of you, sighing in pleasure.

He moved to begin dressing, holding your card between his teeth as he buckled his belt around his waist. Your mind blurred in bliss, still riding your high. It didn't really bother you if he left or stayed.

He finished buttoning his shirt as you sat up on your elbows, watching him straighten his appearance. "I'll call on you soon," he stated, tucking the card with your blood on it into his breast pocket.

You quipped an eyebrow at him. "This is a normal thing now?" You questioned, the situation seeming different.

He patted his pocket to gesture to the card. "You're mine, dove. I get you whenever I want," he smirked. He rested his knee on the edge of your bed, leaning down to press his lips against yours possessively.

#sapnap smut #sapnap fanfic #sapnap x reader #sapnap imagine #sapnap x you #sapnap x y/n #incubus #demon au #mcyt fanfiction #mcyt imagine #mcyt smut #mcyt x reader #🍭 anon

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helliontherapscallion · 4 years ago

Text

(Y/n) and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week: Tuesday

Monday Wednesday Thursday (Part 1) Thursday (Part 2) Friday Saturday Sunday

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: anxiety, doctor’s offices, taking pain pills (not sure if I need to tag that, but just in case), stalkers, blackmail, swearing, non-consensual taking pics of nudes, slight body dysmorphia, self-loathing, toxic friends

Word count: 5,326

(A/N): another long chapter, my little wlw heart loved writing this chapter! Also holy shit I was not expecting the first part to blow up, thank you to everyone that read it! Gosh, it’s enough to make a grown woman cry :’)

You cracked open your crusty eyes to Wilbur poking his head into your room. “(Y/n), Dad wants you.”

You groaned rubbing at your eyes in an attempt to get the sleep out of them. “I’ll be down in a sec.” Your voice was scratchy and thick with sleep.

He closed the door silently and you heard his socked feet thumping down the hallway. Your pain faded slightly into soreness, but your shoulders and upper back were slightly stiff. After you drug yourself out of bed, you shambled down the stairs to see your family at the table eating breakfast. Your stomach growled loudly, making you blush slightly in embarrassment.

Your eldest brother snorted. “Hungry (y/n)?”

You slumped into your seat next to him slowly shoveling food into your mouth. “You have no idea.”

“You wouldn’t be that hungry if you ate dinner when you got home like I told you to do last night, young lady. You better eat every single thing on that plate.”

There was no arguing with a stern Dadza, so you reluctantly complied. Meanwhile, Tommy and Tubbo were telling Wilbur about your match animatedly.

“And the ball was like fwoosh and she- the ball and-and-”

“And she hit it and Haley hit it to the other side! It was so cool!”

Wilbur merely smiled listening to them ramble about how badass you were last night. They made you feel genuinely happy that they admired your volleyball abilities; they were probably your biggest fans and that made your day most of the time. You remembered the first match they came to during your freshman year, they had run up to you right after the end-of-match whistle blew to spew about how good you were on the court. They met the team that day. Your team adored having them at your games, over the years they slowly replaced your school’s mascot. They played a huge part in morale boosts before and during matches.

He looked over to you, “I didn’t know my little sister could be so badass.”

You felt your cheeks flare up. “It’s nothing I haven’t done before. It really wasn’t anything special.”

“(Y/n),” Philza pursed his lips, “you did all that with a bruised back, I’d consider that something special.”

“Wait (y/n), you’re hurt?” Tommy and Tubbo looked at you with wide concerned eyes.

“Yeah, but it’s not that bad. I can still move and stuff.”

Techno rolled his eyes, “it’s bad if you’re going to the doctor for it.”

“Eh, it doesn’t hurt as bad as it did yesterday, so I’m not worried.”

“You’re deadass wincing everytime you move your arm,” WIlbur deadpanned, “it clearly still hurts.”

“Well yeah, I didn’t say the pain went away completely. Fuckin’ dumbass.”

“Language,” Philza glared at you two, gesturing to the two fifth graders watching the exchange with interest.

You and Wilbur resumed eating and murmured out a defeated “sorry Dad.” You both glared at Techno when he huffed in amusement.

“If you three keep bickering, you’re going to be late to school. Remember, you two have to drop off Tommy and Tubbo today cuz I’m taking your sister to her appointment. Now go get ready, I’ll take care of your dishes.”

Your brothers took off up the stairs, each competing to get to the bathroom first. Occasionally, you would hear shouts and slapping noises. You felt glad you didn’t have to deal with that today. Judging by Techno’s gruff voice laughing and an explosion of loud complaints from the rest, you assumed that he won today. “I swear, they’re gonna put me in an early grave.”

“You and me both Dad, you and me both.”

You went into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of pain pills from the junk drawer. Various bottles of Motrin and Advil were scattered around the house because when you live with a rambunctious family like this one, people are bound to get hurt and headaches are common. Popping three into your mouth, you washed it down with a glass of water. The sound of the running water faucet and the slight splashing of water filled the silence of the room.

“How’s your back? Does it feel any better?”

“Kinda, today it just feels more sore than throbbing, my headache went away mostly, and my shoulder doesn’t feel any worse, so that’s better I guess.”

He shut off the water and reached for a towel to dry off his wet hands. He moved over to the freezer and grabbed a frozen package of peas that your family never ate. You all used it whenever one of you would get a bruise. He moved behind you and held it against your back without warning. Flinching forward from the unexpected temperature change, you winced with the wave of pain moving brought you.

“Shit, sorry.”

“You’re good. Just give me a little warning next time,” you chuckled. He gently placed it back on your back and you sighed from the slight relief that it brought you. You leaned into the peas and closed your eyes. “That feels amazing.”

“I bet. That bruise was pretty bad yesterday, can I look at it again?”

You reluctantly left the sanctuary that was the medical grade frozen peas and leaned forward, moving your hair out of the way for him. “Knock yourself out.”

He made a hissing noise as soon as he moved your shirt out of the way. “Dad, it probably looks worse than it feels.”

“...Have you seriously not looked at this yet? It looks pretty bad, hun.”

“Well, sorry I can’t move to look at my back without being in pain. I’ll try harder next time.” You snarked him.

“Hey, watch the attitude. Here, I’ll take a picture so you can see how bad it is.”

You heard the rustling of fabric as he fished his phone out of his pocket and the obnoxiously loud click of his camera app. You turned around to look at the damage. You squinted at his bright phone screen. Your entire back was swollen in some areas and was covered in ugly reds, blues, blacks, and purples. You made a disgusted noise in the back of your throat and cringed away from the screen. You always got nauseous seeing injuries.

“Yikes.”

“Yikes isn’t the only word I would use, it’s bad (y/n).”

“It looks worse than it feels, I promise. I’m gonna go get ready so we’re not late to my appointment. It sounds like the boys are finally done with the bathroom.”

You hobbled up the stairs slowly and made your way to the bathroom. The door was wide open ready for you to use. Turning on the light, you closed the door in a hurry so that your brothers wouldn’t try to get in again to hog the bathroom like they usually did. You frowned at your appearance. Your hair was sticking up in every direction and you had dark eye bags around your dull looking eyes. A few pimples dotted your skin like constellations in the night sky, but much uglier and more out of place. Turning your body, you scanned your figure. Your eyes watered as you realized that you had gained some weight. Adrian, Sammy, and Annie were right, you looked like garbage all the time.

You ripped your eyes away from yourself in the mirror with disgust etched deep into your features. You were disgusting through and through. Ripping your brush through your hair, you winced at the pain emanating from the back of your head. You deserve the pain for letting yourself go. Once you were slightly more satisfied with your appearance, you stepped out of the bathroom and quickly changed into the clothes you would wear today. You decided on a hoodie and a pair of tights. You didn’t feel like dressing yourself up.

You once again walked down the stairs and slipped on your shoes to meet your dad in his car. You idly scrolled through your phone while you waited for him, looking at your notifications for the first time that day. You had ten texts from the group chat that you were in with Adrian, Annie, and Sammy.

Sammy <3

(Y/n) where the hell are you?

Adrian <3

Do you guys think she ditched us?

I knew she was ignoring us

Sammy <3

Who ignores their friends?

Annie <3

(Y/n) apparently.

She has more important things to do ig

Oh my god

Do you guys think she skipped school?

Adrian <3

I wouldn’t put it past her

Maybe she finally gave up

(Y/n)

I’m sorry guys, I just have a doctor’s appointment today

I would never ignore you

Sammy <3

Yk, it’s hard to keep defending you when you keep ditching us..

(Y/n)

I’m not ditching you!

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys about my appointment

I’ll make it up to you guys

Adrian <3

How?

You’ve already skipped out on us enough already

Annie <3

Oh ik!

She can write our final research paper for us Dri!

I haven’t started it yet lmao

Adrian <3

Saaaame lmaoooo

Sammy <3

Guys, what about me???

Adrian <3

Idk, figure it out yourself

Sammy <3

Rude!

Uhhh

Ur gonna put together my final presentation for us history

(Y/n)

Alright, I can do that for you guys

Sam can you pls send me the rubric?

Annie <3

Thanks love ;)

(Y/n)

No problem, I like doing things for friends

My dad’s coming, I gotta go

Talk to you guys later

Adrian <3

Byeeee (y/n), ur the best!

(Y/n)

: ) <3

You put your phone down as your dad started up the car and pulled out of the driveway. The drive was quiet as you stared out the window and thought about how much work you now had to do. On top of your own classes, you had two more to write and a presentation to make in a class you hadn’t taken since the first semester in your sophomore year. The research papers had to be at least four full pages long with a minimum of ten sources each due on Friday and you had no idea how big Sammy’s US history presentation has to be or what it’s even about. But that was fine, you’d do anything for your friends.

“So, who were you texting? Your boyfriend?” He asked jokingly.

“Oh, just Adrian, Sammy, and Annie. I don’t have a boyfriend Dad,” because you were a closeted lesbian, but you wouldn’t tell him that anytime soon. “You know that.”

“I know,” he chuckled, “it’s been a while since I’ve seen them. How have they been?”

“They’re good. Adrian got a job at the diner, he’s a host. Sammy and Annie have been focusing more on raising their grades.”

“Good for them! You should invite them over for dinner sometime.”

“I was actually thinking that I could maybe go hang out with them on Halloween...?”

“(Y/n), the family was going to take Tommy and Tubbo trick-or-treating.”

“I know, but there’s always next year. Plus, we haven’t been able to hang out in so long! We’re always free at different times.”

“I don’t know (y/n), what if they don’t want to trick-or-treat next year? What were you planning on doing with them?”

“We were just gonna hang out at Annie’s house and watch some horror movies,” you lied. He would never let you go if he knew you were going to a party. Especially one where alcohol would be involved and hormonal teenage boys ran rampant actively scouting for an easy lay.

“...I’ll think about it.” The car pulled into the doctor office’s parking lot.

“Thank you Dad! It’s been a while since we’ve all hung out together.”

He chuckled as you both walked into the lobby, checked in, and waited for your name to be called. About ten minutes later, you were summoned by a nurse so you went into the back leaving your dad to wait in the lobby. The nurse recorded your height and weight (much to your dismay, you gained four pounds) and asked you the standard questions about your injury and uncomfortable questions about your overall health. The clacking of her acrylic nails on the plastic keyboard filled the awkward silence.

Once that was done, she left and you had to wait a little bit for the doctor. After slipping into the backless gown the nurse left, you mindlessly scrolled on your phone. Jumping when someone knocked on the door, you looked up to see your family’s doctor smiling at you.

“Hello (y/n), how are we feeling today?”

“I’m alright.”

“I hear that you had quite the fall onto some concrete, is that true?”

“Yes, I landed on my back and the back of my head.”

She reached over and squirted hand sanitizer onto her hands, rubbing it in and looking back at you. “Can you please lay on your stomach so I can take a look at your back?”

You nodded, shifting on the uncomfortable paper covered cushioned table onto your stomach. You felt her cold hands gently graze your bruises before she pulled out her stethoscope. “Can you take a good deep breath in for me?”

You complied and she instructed you to let it out. Doing this multiple times along your back, she put her stethoscope away and continued prodding at your exposed back.

“There’s definitely some swelling in multiple areas… It doesn’t feel or sound like you cracked or broke any ribs, which is excellent… Do you have any pain deep in your shoulder when you move it?”

“Yes, I landed on it wrong last night at my volleyball match.”

“How would you describe your pain? Stabbing, sore, throbbing…”

“More sore, but a little stabbing pain when I move my arm.”

She moved her fingers to examine your shoulder. “It doesn’t sound like a sprain or fracture, can you move it up and down for me?”

You moved your arm up and down, front and back, and side to side. “You still have a full range of movement, that’s good. Can I have you sit back up again?”

You sat back up and she started testing you for a concussion. After passing her tests, you were cleared of having a concussion. “Alright (y/n), it appears that you only strained your deltoid and teres muscles and you have severe bruising along your back. Make sure you ice your back and, if you have one, wear a shoulder compression sleeve. Anti-inflammatory medications such as Ibuprofen will help with the swelling. Other than that, you have a clean bill of health! You can still participate in volleyball practices, but you need to take it easy. Don’t do anything that will strain the muscles any further.”

“Thank you Dr. Samson,” you smiled at her.

“You’re welcome. I’ll leave you to change back into your clothes and you’re free to go! You may leave the gown on the table.”

She left the room and you redressed yourself. Walking out to the lobby, Philza’s head perked up when he heard the door opening. He stood up and walked over to you with a slightly worried face. You both walked back out to the car.

“So?”

“Dr. Samson said that I don’t have a concussion, sprains or broken bones. She told me that I just strained my shoulder muscles and I need to keep ice on my back.”

He visibly slumped in relief. “Thank god. What’d she say about volleyball?”

“She said that I could keep playing, but I have to take it easy.”

“Good, wouldn’t want you missing finals on Thursday. Do you know if the team you’re playing is any good?”

“Dad, of course they’re good, we’re the top two teams in the area.”

“I bet their setter is nowhere near as good as you are and I bet the setter and spiker aren’t as synced as you and Haley are. You two make a good pair.”

“Yeah we do, don’t we?” You looked out the window and smiled a little and felt your ears turn red. The very mention of Haley’s name was enough to make you feel like you were on cloud nine. The car fell silent again as you neared your high school.

In your AP world history class, the class was looking at the test you had taken yesterday. Surprisingly, you got a 74% on the multiple choice part and a 50% on your essay portion, so that landed you with a just below passing grade. You thought you completely flunked that test yesterday, so that was a pleasant surprise. It took a good portion out of your overall grade in the class, lowering it from a comfortable A- to a slightly alarming B. You supposed it could’ve been a lot worse. Besides reviewing your tests, the class didn’t do much except starting the reading for the next chapter.

Your psychology online class went like it usually did, however your phone blew up with texts about midway through the block. Glancing down, you saw that it was Haley. Shouldn’t she be in class?

Hales : )

(Y/n) meet me in the locker room right after school

I need to talk to you before practice starts

It’s an emergency

(Y/n)

What’s going on?

Hales : )

I’ll explain after school.

Can’t talk about it over text

(Y/n)

Alright, see ya then ig

You felt your gut twinge. Something’s wrong, but you didn’t know what. You were worried about Haley, usually she was really bubbly. You’ve never seen the senior act so strange before. You could only wait the block out until the bell would release you from the confines of the library and into the locker room. After sending a quick text to your brothers that you were going to stay after school for your practice, you stared blankly at your laptop’s clock as you counted down the minutes left in the class period. Ten minutes. Eight minutes. Four minutes. Two minutes. Thirty seconds-

You shot up from your seat as the bell rang. Pushing past some groups of freshmen that congregated in the hallways, you made a beeline for the locker room. In the locker room, you found Haley sitting on the metal bench on the opposite end of the locker room with her back facing the last row of lockers and facing the brick wall. She was clenching her phone in her hand with an iron grip. You hurried to sit next to her.

“Hales, what’s going on? Talk to me.”

“It’s bad (y/n). Like, really bad.”

“What’s bad? You’re worrying me.”

Wordlessly, she unlocked her phone and handed it to you. On the screen was something that you weren’t expecting to see. You scrolled through the contents and felt your stomach drop with each scroll; someone took pictures of you and Haley throughout the match last night. Every picture was a violation to yours and Haley’s dignities, they had gotten zoomed in pictures of your boobs and asses. Deeper, there were even pictures taken of you changing into your volleyball uniform through your open window. You were only in your underwear. Haley had a similar picture that you scrolled past as fast as you could. Scrolling to the bottom of the text message thread, the person that sent Haley the pictures added a caption to the last picture. It was a picture of you and Haley together celebrating your match, her arm slung around your shoulder with your mouth open mid-laugh.

Unknown

I’m sending these out to the entire school unless you stop hanging around her.

If you tell anyone, the pics will be printed off and put in every single locker and bathroom the school has.

You’ll be the sluts of Klinkver High.

Cut all ties now. You have two days.

Do not try me.

“Jesus christ Haley. Who the fuck would do this? This is sick.”

She took her phone back and locked it without looking at the screen. “I don’t know (y/n). I wanted to tell you not to openly talk to me for a few days. We don’t know who took these, we don’t know what they’re capable of. I don’t wanna risk angering them.”

“We can find them! If we look close enough, we might find a few clues where they were sitting. Do you remember seeing anything suspicious last night?”

“(Y/n), our best option is to leave it. We just can’t talk in person anymore; we can still text each other.”

“Hales, how are we gonna not talk? I’m your setter.”

She ran a hand through her thick black hair. “I don’t know (y/n). Just-just don’t talk to me anymore, I don’t want your pictures leaked.”

“I don’t care about my pictures. My name’s been drug through so much shit this past year that it won’t affect me. I don’t want your stuff leaked.”

She gave a watery laugh, “you care too much, I love that about you…” Glistening eyes turned to look deep into your own. “I’m so scared (y/n), I don’t know what to do.”

You pulled her into a hug, wincing slightly when she squeezed her arms around your upper back. She buried her face into your shoulder and started shaking with muffled sobs. “Haley, I promise I’ll catch whatever sick bastard is doing this to you. You don’t deserve this.”

She said nothing as you rested your chin on the top of her head and started to rock her back and forth slowly. You two stayed like that even after her sobbing resided, finding comfort in each other’s presence. Glancing at the clock, you realized that you two have been in the locker room for an hour. Practice was set to start in fifteen minutes, people were going to start coming into the locker room soon.

You reluctantly pulled away from the hug and looked Haley in her bloodshot eyes, “I’m not going to let those pictures of you get leaked. I swear on my-”

The door to the locker room swung open and loud laughter echoed throughout the room. Haley pushed you away and speed walked off to a bathroom stall, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Damn (y/n), what’d you do? She’s pissed.”

“It’s none of your business, Zara.”

“Oh, so it’s a lover’s quarrel then~” She cackled, her hair bouncing slightly with each heave of her shoulders.

“For the love of… Haley and I aren’t dating, we’re both straight.” She’s straight.

“Mmhm.” She brushed past you to go to her locker. You followed her, your locker was in the grouping next to hers. You shared the area with Haley. You changed as fast as you could so that Haley would have time to change before practice starts. Speed walking into the gym, Zara was hot on your trail wearing a shit eating grin.

“Why are you in such a rush? Giving your girlfriend the silent treatment?”

“Zara. We aren’t dating. For the last time, we’re both heterosexual, not homosexual!” You wildly gestured with your hands to emphasize your point, your voice being amplified by the vast gym. Coach Williams gave you a confused look from across the gym.

“You just keep telling yourself that.”

“I’m serious.”

“Hi serious,” a soft voice replied from behind you, “I’m Jazzy.”

You groaned at the pun at the same time Zara started cackling, giving the short libero a high five. “Nice!”

“That was so bad, Jaz.” You couldn’t help the smile that found its way onto your face.

Zara poked your cheek with a wide grin. “C’mon, you’re smiling!”

“I am and I hate it.”

Your bickering continued with Jazzy watching you two with a content smile. The remaining members of the team (Haley, Marlene, and Zuri) filed into the gym right as Coach Williams blew her whistle.

Practice went by slowly without Haley talking to you. Sure, you had the rest of the team, but it didn’t feel the same with you guys ignoring each other. If the team or Coach Williams noticed you two not talking to each other, they didn’t say anything. By time practice was over, you all went to the locker room to change. After slipping into your fuzzy pajama pants, you sat on the bench and texted Wilbur to come pick you up. He was supposed to pick you up after practice today because he and Techno took the car home after school. Five minutes passed and he still didn’t reply. He probably won’t see the text until you got home from walking.

You sighed, resting your chin in your palm as you leaned forward. One by one, the girls left the locker room until it was only you and Haley left.

“Do you need a ride (y/n)?” She asked gently.

“But what if the person sees us together? I can just walk home, it’s not really a big deal.”

She rolled her eyes at you. “It is a big deal. It’s cold and dark out. You could get kidnapped or something. You don’t even have a coat with you. I’m giving you a ride whether you like it or not.”

You playfully rolled your eyes at her and stood up to walk next to her, “okay, mom.”

“Don’t give me that attitude young lady.”

“You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not my real mom!”

She gasped and lightly smacked the back of your shoulder, “I married your- are you alright? Shit, I didn’t hurt you did I?”

“No, you’re good. It’s just this damned bruise.”

She moved her hands and frantically turned you around to pull the neck of your shirt down. You two stood in front of the school’s main entrance with the nauseatingly bright fluorescent light bouncing off the reflective surface of the tiles. The orange tinted street lights lit up the sidewalk outside.

“(Y/n)-”

“I know what you’re gonna say.”

She scoffed, “oh really? What am I gonna say then, o wise one?”

You turned around to face her, “‘oh, this is bad, yadda yadda yadda.’ Everyone’s been saying that about it. Honestly it looks worse than it feels. Tis but a scratch, m’lady.”

She snorted and covered her mouth, “never call me ‘m’lady’ ever again.”

You started to walk to her car in the empty parking lot. “Or what? What’re ya gonna do?”

“I swear to god, (y/n), I’m gonna leave you here.”

“Do it, pussy. Bet you won’t.”

“You really wanna bet?”

You grinned at her, “hell yeah.”

She broke off into a mad dash to her car, laughing freely into the night sky. You chased after her trying not to move your arms much, your laugh mixing with hers like a perfect symphony composed of the world’s best musicians. The sound of your rubber soles slapping the pavement resonated throughout the parking lot as you quickly gained on her. Reaching out to grab her shirt, she smirked at you and sharply turned to the right into the grass.

You grinned as her pace slowed down slightly. You��d be able to catch her at this pace. You pushed your legs to move faster as she looked at you from over her shoulder and shrieked in surprise at how close you were to her. You cackled at her reaction, reaching out once again, you grabbed her hand. She was stopped dead in her tracks as your shoulder was yanked with the sudden momentum, making you hiss in slight pain. Despite that, you didn’t let go of her soft hand.

You both stood there under the moonlight and the soft orange street lamps trying to catch your breath. The slightly damp blades of grass tickled your ankle as you shifted to face her better. Through gasping breaths and a dopey grin, you said “you… lost, pussy.”

She let out a breathy laugh as she pulled you to her car. “Shuddup.”

“Make me~”

She opened the passenger side door for you and got into the driver's seat. Her car smelled like vanilla and citrus. “Oh, you will later when I make you do more sets in weight lifting tomorrow, hurt shoulder be damned.”

She turned on the ignition and the car revved to life, soft indie pop wafted from the speakers. She backed out of the parking space and sped off to the main road. “You wouldn’t…”

“I’m your captain, (y/n). I can make you do whatever I want.” You felt your cheeks heat up a tad. You were happy that she couldn’t see you.

“Naw, you’re too much of a softie for that. Admit it, I’ve got you wrapped around my little finger.”

She chuckled as she pulled into your driveway and put the car in park. “...Alright, maybe you do. Just a bit.”

She turned to look at you. She looked stunning with the shadows accentuating the contours of her face perfectly. You found yourself glancing at her lips and leaning slightly towards you. To your surprise, she started leaning into you as well. Before your lips could finally mesh together, she pulled back with a sigh and ran her hand through her hair. You felt a rush of disappointment and fear course through your veins. She didn’t like you like that, you should’ve known better. You were so stupid. So, so stu-

“I can’t (y/n). I want to kiss you so bad, but we can’t. Not yet at least. Not until we find the pervert that took those pictures of us.”

You sighed, “right.”

The car was filled with awkward silence. Not even the soft music streaming from the speakers could alleviate the awkwardness. God, you really screwed up your friendship, didn’t you? Sammy, Adrian, and Annie were right; you messed up everything you touched.

You coughed, “I think I’m gonna…”

“Yeah…”

You grabbed your bag and walked into your house, the smell of chicken slapping you in the face instantly. Without checking in with your dad, you hurried up the stairs, desperate for the warm comfort of your bed. That, and if you wanted to get Sammy’s presentation and Adrian’s, Annie’s, and your research papers done by Friday, you had to start as soon as you could. You were going to skip dinner for tonight, you’d just grab more breakfast tomorrow morning.

You plopped on your bed and got started on your research paper. Luckily, you already had all of the sources you were planning on using and the rough outline of each body paragraph, so writing the actual paper wasn’t going to take long. You worked until you heard a knock at your door.

“(Y/n),” Techno’s monotone voice called out, “dinner’s ready.”

“Tell Dad I’m not hungry. Practice’s got me beat, I’m going to bed soon.”

He grunted, “you know he’s not gonna like that right?”

You felt frustration start to swim circles around your chest, “Techno, just tell him that I’m not hungry right now. Please.”

“Damn, you don’t need to be like that. I’ll tell him.”

You heard his stomping footsteps thumping down the hall. Shit, you pissed him off. You were a terrible person, he was just trying to get you to eat something, Pushing back the tears that threatened to spill from your eyes, you forced the panic that was starting to swirl around your body in laps deep into your being. You didn’t have time to deal with your failures and stupid emotions, you had to get this done. You didn’t have time to think about Haley’s warm breath ghosting across your lips. You didn’t have time to think about how she probably regretted almost kissing you. You didn’t have time to fall into an anxiety spiral, you needed to focus if you wanted Adrian, Annie, and Sammy to forgive you. You ruined yours and Haley’s friendship and did the same to yours and Techno’s. They were the only ones you had left. You needed to be a better friend.

Taglist (comment if you want to be added or if I missed you, it won’t let me tag some tumblrs :((( ):

@immadatmostthings @thaticecreambish @hee-hee-haw @dearnataliealoveletter @wasteofspacze @dcml04 @bbigbbrainn @dirtydiavolo @vanhakirja @rinzyx05 @misselsbells06 @ialexabsuniverse @im-a-depressed-gay @energy-drinkk @mothra-main @i-need-hugs @dragons-lurk-here @katj733 @m4r-s @vievi @dykeragee @waterstrawberry @aplaintart @kakamiissad @myunfinishedsymphony @nagitokinnieissad @autumnpleaves @justanothergirlwithdemons @zachariethememerie @moon-asia @m0on-blue @strawberrysodababy @akikko-yataro @haikkeiji @shiningsunrises @cinnamonmochi @queen-turtle-boiii @imanewsoul @sparkling-gayyyy @angelicaschuyler-church @vixenfoxpup @ella-ivanov @shio-yuki @mosstea-png @ijustshatbricks

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basicallywhiterice · 3 years ago

Text

ocean breeze (na jaemin)

In which being okay is easy, hurting is difficult, and you never believed in soulmates until Na Jaemin came along.

pairing: na jaemin x reader

genre: fluff, angst. breakup!au, established relationship!au, college!au

summary: You fall in love in the brightest days of summer, ready to take on the world with Jaemin by your side. When August bleeds into September, though, you’re in for a rude awakening: The ocean breeze tends to slip right through your fingers, and it might break your heart if you’re not careful.

word count: 3.8k

Warnings: cussing, drinking (legal age)

a/n: part of @haechanblr’s now playing collab for the song “ok” (wallows)! equally inspired by “august” (taylor swift). posted to ao3 here. tagging: @keemburley

You’ve never believed in soulmates.

Not in high school, when your first boyfriend told you he loved you for the first time. Not in your freshman year, when you fell for the smooth-talking sophomore in your statistics class a little too hard and much too fast. Not in the seven months of your first “adult” relationship, as Yeri had christened it.

But in the fading days of May, when Na Jaemin adds a heart next to your name in his phone, you start to fall in love with the idea of having one.

“Now you have to draw something after my name in your phonebook,” he grins, gesturing to the book resting in your lap. “I’m invoking my boyfriend privileges for this one.”

You brought the handmade phonebook you’ve had since elementary school—filled with hundreds of names and numbers—to share with him, and he’d brought his well-loved photo book in return. Torn between saying yes to see him smile brighter and putting up at least a semblance of a fight, you just smile back teasingly. “You’ll have to convince me some more if you want to be the first person with something special.”

Taking your face into his hands, he peppers kisses down from your forehead to your lips. “Alright, but don’t blame me for doing this,” he squeezes out in between pecks.

He keeps you in his embrace when a strong gust of wind sprays a fine mist at your bare calves, giggling with you as the sea kisses your faces together. “Jaemin!” you sputter around the salty tang dancing on your tongue. “How dare you!”

“Do you need more convincing?” He bumps your nose as another wave crashes on the shore near you, and you take advantage of his closeness to hide your face behind his. You’re shielded from the next ocean spray, while he gets a mouthful of salt air.

“I thought convincing me meant making me want to listen to you!” you tease as you pull back.

“Don’t lie, you enjoyed that.” You roll your eyes, leaning in to kiss him firmly on the mouth. You can still taste the salt on his lips when you pull away.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. But fine, consider me convinced.”

You press the open book into his lap and fish around your canvas tote for a pen. “You can add one extra symbol under your name for now,” you say, tapping him on the nose with the pen. “You’ll have to prove yourself if you want to add more.”

He plucks the pen from your hands, taps you on the nose back, and presses the point to the top of the page. He frowns when he finishes writing “Na Jaemin ♡,” and you glance down at the wet spot covering the second half of his name, ink blooming outwards and seeping into the paper. The rest of the page is splattered with a few droplets of water from the ocean, something you failed to realize earlier.

“Shit, sorry,” Jaemin says, lifting the page and blowing on the wet patch. “I didn’t see that until I started writing.”

“It’s okay, I didn’t notice it either.” You rest your hand on the small of his back, watching him slide a hand underneath the page to block the ink from staining anything else. After he hands the book back, you flip through it and find that the ink has bled onto the next three pages.

Jaemin apologizes again before you can tell him it should be okay once it dries, and you kiss him again, grinning as he draws you closer.

Soulmates aren’t real, you remind yourself—love is work and sacrifices and luck all rolled into one. So why does the ocean breeze make you want to be his exception?

Both of your internships start the following Monday. Your first day is what you’d imagined: fast-paced, with a little hand-holding from your higher-ups and a lot of stress. You stop by Jaemin’s apartment after dinner with the other interns, sharing how your days went while wrapped in each other’s arms.

And so you fall into an almost domestic routine—living separately but only technically, spending more off-work hours together than not (excluding sleeping), falling harder for each other every day.

You celebrate your four month anniversary on your third week by the coast. After a relatively easy day of work, you come home (is it too early to call your space with Jaemin home?) to a slightly overworked boyfriend.

“I’m sorry, dear,” he says, furiously clicking away at his laptop. “My manager called after I left and asked me to finish this presentation. Give me half an hour?”

Maneuvering around his precarious setup at his table, you steal a kiss before he goes back to work. “Would you like me to pick up dinner instead while you work, then?”

“Yes, that would be great.”

He wraps up his conclusion just as you get back with takeout. As you dine together, his smile and eyes and quips about his long day all blend into a mix of him, and you decide that someday, you want to call him your home.

“Jaemin?” you whisper into his chest. A beam of sunlight falls onto your intertwined hands, the sun slowly making its descent into darkness outside.

“What’s on your mind, dear?”

“This is more than just a summer fling, right?” The answer is clear in how he cradles your head and how you look at him now, but you need to hear it from him to make sure.

“Of course it is.”

“This is real to you, too?”

“Realer than a bowl of oatmeal.”

You roll your eyes teasingly and lift your head to kiss him, briefly interrupting your conversation before you burst from the warmth inside your chest. “I love you,” you mumble against the side of his mouth.

“I love you too,” he mumbles back, leaving gentle kisses down the side of your face, and you lose yourself in his eyes when he glances back up, blinking slowly, as if to preserve this memory in time.

You should’ve known it was too good to be true.

The first two weeks of your junior year are nice. They’re standard. Jaemin asks you out on dates like clockwork, holds your hand and presses kisses to your lips, whispers sweet things in your ear when you tell him you’re worried about your first test and starting your job as a tutor and figuring out if grad school is for you.

But by the time the third week rolls around, his motions feel less loving and just tired. Your schedules start to fall out of sync, with his clubs and your tutoring cutting into time spent together. He tells you it’s fine at first, that busyness was to be expected from two overachieving juniors. Eventually, though, he stops, and you’re torn between holding on tighter and leaning on him less, neither of which make you feel like he’ll stop slipping away.

It’s too much by the middle of the fifth week. You worry that he’s fallen out of love with you, that you’re too much to handle and he’s belatedly come to his senses after your summer away from the responsibilities of college life.

You were half-right. Evidently, it’s too much for Jaemin, too.

“I think we should break up,” he says one night, gnawed lips and pained eyes finding release in that sentence.

You should’ve seen it coming, but in your shock, you can only demand answers. “Why?” you ask, interrupting his speech meant to soften the blow.

He pauses just long enough for you to preemptively call bullshit, lips pursing in the way that precede a neatly wrapped half-truth, and you don’t give him the chance to beat around the bush.

“No,” you say, voice trembling despite your best efforts. “You’re going to tell me why. You said—you told me this was real.”

He can’t meet your eyes during a guilty silence, and you almost scoff, fed up with his platitudes—and then his eyes are boring into your own with an intensity that makes you back down.

“You’re right. It was real, and I love you. I really do, and it hurts me just as much to do this. But we’ve gotten too busy for each other, and fundamentally, our futures just don’t align. I didn’t want to drag it out and make us hate each other.”

And you believe him—what else can you do? Jaemin’s an overthinker and a hopeless romantic, not a liar. But you don’t have a response, and he’s done.

“I’m sorry,” he says one final time, but his voice doesn’t carry the pain slowly nestling in your heart, and the guilt in his voice sounds more akin to relief.

You whirl around, glancing at anything that isn’t him, but you can’t find the strength to take the first step away from him. After a bit of shuffling behind you, you swear you hear him walk closer to you before the sound of his receding footsteps tells you otherwise.

He leaves you like that—him, concluding your chapter in his life, and you, crumbling from the ink he left that bleeds into the rest of your pages.

You call him one night, six days and five hours after the breakup, just to see if he’ll pick up. The first ring startles you when it breaks through the silence in your room, the second one syncs with your thudding heartbeat, and the third one ricochets off your walls and into your eardrums. It’s too hard to distinguish between the next three rings, and you breathe a gentle sigh of relief when it stops.

“Hello?”

You freeze when you hear his voice, a tear tracing a battered path down your face.

“Hello?” he repeats, more inquisitively.

Your heart thunders in your chest.

“Jaemin—”

“Just kidding, please leave a message after the tone.”

Stupid, your inner voice chides in time with the beep. You feel stupid and immature with a broad ache in your heart you can’t explain. Maybe that was why he left, you think, maybe if you had been a little smarter, a little prettier, a little more interesting, he’d still be enamored with you. You hang up on the voicemail and collapse on the cool bathroom tiles.

Maybe if you had all the qualities his soulmate should’ve had, you could still make him happy.

Then an ugly sob escapes from somewhere deep in your heart, and you curl in around yourself until you cry yourself dry.

After one minute or twenty—you can’t tell—you pull yourself up to retrieve your bottle of wine from your closet. Carrying it back to the bathroom, you pour out a third of a glass before you stop. You hurt all over. It’s hard, and you’re entirely justified in wanting to dull the ache and to feel okay again, but it feels like a disservice to yourself. You’ll have to unpack your emotions eventually if you want to move on.

You’ve gotten drunk enough times this week, you reason. Tonight, you want to reflect while sober.

Slowly, you tip the glass over and watch its contents fall onto the floor. The splatters are a little beautiful, the wine seeping outward into the cracks between tiles, and it reminds you of yourself—messy, but beautiful nonetheless. You cork the bottle and set it aside with the empty glass.

Maybe it’s better this way, to bear the full brunt of the pain weighing on your very core, as a reminder of how deeply you loved—to have a souvenir from the summer when your orbits aligned for just long enough to create something beautiful. You’ll be okay eventually, you know.

But not tonight. For now, it just hurts to do this alone.

Your roommates come back to a clean bathroom floor, and the three of you go on a late-night run to Taco Bell. Yeri offers to pay for you and swipes her card before you can protest, and just as you’re about to apologize for making them miss a Nu Chi Theta frat party, Karina asks where you want to go next. You shrug.

Half an hour later, you end up at the night market twenty minutes away from campus. The river it overlooks is no ocean, but it’s okay—it’ll do until you can enjoy it without obsolete memories.

The wave of grief recedes just a little for the first time in a week, and you push it back a little more when you decline Jaemin’s returning call.

The first of October brings pumpkins, bruised leaves, and even more Nu Chi Theta parties. As your luck would have it, the first one you attend post-breakup is run by Jaemin as the de facto planner.

“Hey, thanks for coming tonight—y/n?” he pauses in the middle of his greetings.

“Hey,” you nod, forcing yourself to brush past him. You’re allowed to be in the same place as him, you remind yourself, and you’re here to have fun. Screw him for making things awkward.

The night becomes more enjoyable once Karina hands you a drink and pulls you into the living room to dance. It’s almost enough to keep you from glancing around to find Jaemin, but you can’t resist the temptation when she leaves to get another drink. He’s chatting with a small group of people, all but glowing, and you frown at him for a second too long before you catch yourself. He looks happier than you’ve felt in weeks, like you barely made a dent in his life.

To his right stands a pretty girl, and you watch as he leans down and says something in her ear that makes her laugh. Suddenly, feeling the pain of his absence as proof that it happened isn’t enough anymore. A pang shoots through your heart as she gently shoves his chest, aching from the loss of something only Jaemin seems to know how to fill. He was once yours, you think almost accusingly, and though it’s not his fault he’s not anymore, it’s easier to blame someone for your loud tangle of thoughts.

Or maybe, you append in your mind, he was never yours and it was just your turn to be with him.

You don’t know which is worse.

Your saving grace is Lee Donghyuck, who bumps into you amidst the crowd of Jaemin’s friends that are no longer yours. Is Donghyuck still your friend? You hope so, but you’re not sure anymore. Whatever the case, you take the shot he offers and invite the burn for two seconds before it tastes like the jealousy you’ve been holding onto for too long. It isn’t a welcome reminder anymore, just a nuisance from the past, and you’re done waiting for the gentle glow of summer to fade when it ended so long ago.

You spare one final glance at Jaemin. He looks fine. As a matter of fact, he looks like he’s having the time of his damn life.

Looking away, you resolve to find the same kind of happiness without him.

“—and it’s a paid internship, too.”

“So you think it’s worth it?”

“Yeah, you should definitely apply—”

You yawn, flipping the next page of your physics textbook over with the tip of your pencil.

“—one of the best experiences in my entire life, especially living so close to the coast—”

In the distance, a library checkout station beeps. A pair of footsteps grows louder as your hand hovers over your calculator.

“—better if you go with a friend or someone you know, to have a lot more fun—”

You do your best not to whip your head around. Behind your chair, Jaemin’s talking to Park Jisung, one of his younger frat brothers.

And you’re hurt. From hearing him look back fondly on it when you’re still trying to move on, but maybe you aren’t. You don’t know. Maybe you are okay, even when Jaemin is around. All you know is that you refuse to romanticize the past for any longer.

And then Jisung looks over and raises an inquisitive eyebrow and you say, “Yeah, it teaches you a lot about corporate life.”

He nods. “Cool, I think I’ll apply, then.”

Jisung leaves as quietly as he came—which is to say, loudly—bowing his head with a polite ‘thank you’ after you offer to help and resuming his conversation with Jaemin. You hear rather than see the latter leave, however, already sketching out the circuit for the next textbook problem when his footsteps fade.

The opposite of love is apathy, not hate, and for a moment, that terrifies you. If this is how Jaemin, whom you once loved deeply, turned out, will you ever find true love in the future?

But then you glance back down at the electricity problem you were working on, and you shrug. As you jot down the circuit’s current, the encounter fades from significance, and you find that there’s no residual anger forcing you to settle on an answer anymore.

You inhale, the scent of a cinnamon candle and a mug of hot chocolate surrounding you as you flip through your phonebook. It’s a slow Saturday night, the wind outside just chilly enough for you to cozy up in a cocoon of blankets and slip on some fuzzy socks.

You chuckle a little when you flip a page and see the colorful piece of tape covering Jaemin’s name. You had pasted it on two days after the breakup, when the fact that he was out of your life finally slammed into you like a truck. It seems naive now. Unnecessary, even. You peel it off and move onto the next entries, undeterred.

A ring disturbs your peace, and you do a double take once you realize the call is from Jaemin. Somewhere along the way, you slipped from loving him to knowing him to remembering him, and thinking about him in the present tense is unfamiliar. The mundane call feels odd, though you can’t put your finger on it.

The decision not to pick up comes easily. He’s probably drunk, you reason. It’s late, and you refuse to put yourself in a position where your emotions could get confused—but then again, you don’t think he could shake you at this point. You affirm your decision against answering anyways, for the sake of keeping your serene evening.

You watch as your continues ringing. The call is intrusive, the one puzzle piece that doesn’t belong, and it’s easy—almost instinctual—to silence your phone, toss it aside, and return your attention to your phonebook.

You’re okay again—have been for a while. The realization washes over you, from head to fuzzy-sock-clad toe, and you exhale.

One morning, Jaemin texts you asking to talk.

You’re munching on one of the last pieces of your Halloween candy when you get the notification. You can’t tell if it’s a good idea, but you figure there’s nothing he can do to hurt you now, so you text back that you’re free after four o’clock.

“Hey.” He greets you at four on the dot, eyes darting from one side of your face to the other. “How’re you?”

“I’m doing pretty well,” you respond. “How about you?”

“I’m alright.” He nods a little jerkily, stuffing his right hand in his coat pocket.

“Uh, so… what did you want to talk about?”

He takes a deep breath.

“I think,” he begins haltingly. Meeting your gaze, he forges on. “I think breaking up was a mistake. But. I may have been doing this wrong.”

Once upon a time, you would have begged him to come back.

Once upon a time, you would have made him beg for a second chance just to crush his heart.

Once upon a time, you would have told him to get lost.

“You don’t get to come back and say that now,” you say carefully, still processing. He’s changed, you can tell, but the slanted line of his mouth has remained the same. You could run back into his arms and relearn everything new about the boy whose heart you once knew, but you see no reason to.

“I know,” he says. “I’m sorry. I just—I know it’s stupid and unfair to you, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot, I promise. And—and I… I really miss you.”

You blink. Like always, you believe him, but there’s no excitement, triumph, or disgust coursing through your body—just confusion and the urge to sigh at your predicament. You shake your head.

“I’m sorry, Jaemin. I don’t feel the same way.”

He nods, once, like he was expecting this, and you realize you have nothing left to say.

“Have a good day, Jaemin.” You pause, briefly, on the off chance that he wanted to talk about more, but he just nods again, bidding you farewell.

You turn and leave.

And just like that, you’re gone like the ocean breeze.

Winter break brings you and a larger group of friends to a different city, overlooking the same ocean you were at a summer ago. The wind feels just as good against your skin, but this time, you’re a little wiser, a little stronger, and not so easily swayed by the glittering waves anymore.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were out here.”

Startled, you turn around from your position at the porch railing. It’s Jaemin, and your eyes lazily flick back toward the ocean view. “Yeah. I like it here.”

He shuffles wordlessly toward the folding chair, which squeaks when he sits down. The sunset is beautiful. You wonder why you never watched one last summer, then realize you were always too busy to do so. A sigh floats past your lips as the last ray of light dips below the horizon. The waves are calmer now, with nothing left to reflect but the absence of sunlight, and they gently lap up at the shore.

Jaemin’s draped over the deck chair when you turn around, and irritation flashes through your body when you realize you weren’t alone in this moment, admiring the sunset. It’s gone as soon as it came, though, and you cross back into the beach house, closing the door with a click. You don’t get to claim the sunset, and you’re okay with that—you would enjoy watching it longer, but you’re perfectly content to go inside and reclaim your spot next to your friends.

Love is joy and intimacy and luck all rolled into one, and you’re grateful it aligned for you when Yeri passes you a solo cup and Donghyuck drags you into his drunk dancing. In this moment you are invincible—in the next, you’ll fight as hard as you can to keep your friends close. Nothing lasts forever, you suppose, but it can last for a long time and a damn good time; in the end, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

You never believed in soulmates anyway.

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olivyh · 3 years ago

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Twst Species headcannons

Beastmen:

-Palms and bottoms of their feet are rougher and more padded, as well as a slightly darker shade than their normal skin tone

-Legs are built similar to the hind legs of animals (with the sharp angles and little bumps)

-Start “walking” as children on all fours because it’s more comfortable due to the way their legs are built

-Many have scars under their bottom lip due to accidentally biting it bc their fangs were longer after losing their baby teeth

-Similarly, they also have small scars across various parts of their bodies due to their claws

-They can see in the dark to an extent

-Their eyes also do the glowy thing in the dark, as well as on camera

-Beastmen have very thick and coarse hair, which makes it notoriously harder to cut

-Many lion beastmen especially do not cut their hair often, as their hair symbolizes strength within their communities

-Cutting ones hair is a sign of trust in beastmen communities, considering how guarded they are with who touches their head (Patting a beastman’s head is a quick and easy way for them to get their guard down, and it takes them off high alert) as well as their ears being within constant danger near scissors.

-Beastmen do shed, a lot, like, a lot a lot

-They have been known to growl and purr like their animal counterparts, as well as hunch their backs and snarl when threatened

-Baby beastmen will bite you, as a sign of affection. They also wrestle with their caretakers from a young age to show affection as well. Grown beastmen will let the younger beastman win, regardless of species

-They also play wrestle with mates and potential mates to show their interest and affection. Not too hard, but enough to jostle the mate around. They will be absolutely smitten if the mate does it back.

-Beastmen grow up using the same sounds their animal counterparts do, as its similar to being taught a first language that the rest of your family speaks. Most aren’t taught English (Or commonspeak since England is nonexistent in Twisted Wonderland) until later in life

-Beastmen can understand similar dialects and tones of other species, and can further understand and speak a little bit of other beastmen languages

-They cannot eat certain foods that their mother species can’t. Canine beastmen cannot eat chocolate, onions, etc, feline beastmen cannot eat onions, garlic, grapes, etc etc without having issues afterwards. (This makes them a target for pranksters on NRC’s campus. Ex: The incident of Heartslabyul’s Ace Trappola switching out all the tea for coffee during the unbirthday party and Chenya unfortunately missing the cues and drinking the whole cup)

-They are very territorial to anyone besides the clan they reside with. The only people they aren’t territorial with are young children, although they are on high alert if the child’s guardian is nearby

-Beastmen will adopt a child if they see it doesn’t have a clan to stay with, regardless of species. It’s not unheard of to see a beastchild of another species or a young human in beastman clans

-I saw a hc that said that Rook is mixed beastman/human so I’m gonna roll with that for the next one: Beastmen and human mixed babies can have the same attributes as beastmen but on a tamer scale. Their vision, hearing, sense of touch and smell could be higher than a human’s but not as high as a beastmans. The ears and tail are the more dominant gene but it’s not uncommon to see a mixed beastmen/human child with more human features

-Beastmen grow larger than most humans, with the average beastmen (under the right conditions) ranging around six ft at full height. Female hyena beastmen grow taller than their male counterparts

Mer:

-They’re hypersensitive to sunlight at first and have to wear sunglasses or something shading their eyes their first few weeks on land

-They also get dehydrated very easily even in human form, so they have to carry around water bottles

-Their skin dries out quickly, so their hands and feet especially will be very dry and potentially cracking unless they moisturize often

-They have a lot of back and leg pain because they’re not used to gravity pulling them down

-Can also see in the dark very well due to living at the bottom of the ocean

-Their hair is also very thin and silky, but separated into thick chunks, almost looking like scales from a distance. Furthermore most Mer don’t like having longer hair due to the amount of effort it takes to maintain it, with currents twisting it up and the high chances of it getting stuck between rocks and coral

-Most mer have the habit of picking up whatever’s nearby and eating it raw, due to the fact that their bodies can process it. It’s not uncommon to see a mer picking a crab off the side of their house and plopping it into their mouth.

-They have no problem with eating the fish they are associated with, and they do not consider it cannibalism since they aren’t exactly the same species. (Meaning the Tweels can eat eel and Azul can eat octopus without any problems)

-Baby mer can swim around at a very young age (from just a few days old), and mature faster than most other species in the first few weeks of their lives

-Azul has horizontal, rectangular pupils

-Aside from cecaelia, most mer do have slanted pupils that change shape depending on the danger in the area.

-Mer communicate under the water using clicks and chitters similar to echolocation, and could choose to not learn commonspeak as they don’t interact with humans as much as beastmen

-They are born with teeth and can eat smaller fish from birth (or hatching, depending on the species)

-They’re not mammals, so they don’t have nips I think

-They don’t choose to wear clothing or accessories unless it’s for a formal event or a family heirloom

-Back to the birth thing I think mer eggs are very easy to lose due to the harsh climate of the ocean. Many mer settle for only having a child or two due to how hard it is to raise a child there. Jade and Floyd also hatched from the same egg, meaning they were on the smaller side as babies

-Mer babies also bite to show affection, and will wrap their tail around their guardians when they feel scared or nervous

-Cecaelia babies are well known for sticking to their guardians for the first few weeks of their lives, and are very difficult to pry off due to the strength of their tentacles (And when they do theres little marks left across their backs, stomachs, shoulders, etc from the suction cups) (I’m sorry i cant stop picturing tired momma ashengrotto walking around w little marls on her and baby azul still stuck to her like 👁👁)

-I know this is a little far fetched and is nowhere near mentioned in the game or comic but I have a feeling the tweels have a hard time seeing out of their gray eye? Like coming from the same egg they maybe took some features from the other or they had a difficult development while in there (or maybe I just know nothing abt twins)

-Incredibly territorial, especially towards members of different species.

-Most mer have skin pigmented similar to their tail color as well as thick layers of scales (if their species permits) around their throats, their sides, their arms, and around their ear fins (It throws me off how Azul and the Tweels are the only ones with different skin tones- like you’re telling me you have two teal mer and a black and white mer but the guards at the museum had just blue tails and absolutely no other signs of being a mer??? Give us green Rielle pls and thx)

-Mer grow much larger than humans and beastmen, and don’t stop growing until their twenties.

-They also have markings on their torso, tail, and face that’s similar to others in their families. Normally you can tell which mer is from which family depending on the markings said mer has

-Similar to beastmen tails and ears, mer can be read by their fins. In extreme emotion, mer’s fins will flare out or flatten against their body when they feel threatened.

-They don’t know how to drink things when they get to the surface. I think they’d struggle with the idea since you can’t drink underwater or else the liquid will go everywhere (but then how’d Azul make those potions???)

Fae:

-Also hypersensitive to sunlight, which results in many fae being nocturnal.

-Older fae have been known to go days without any sleep with little to no repercussions. Younger fae have more difficulty with this.

-They have a stronger immunity to magic, and often potions crafted by them are well known to be more potent due to this fact

-Fae speak many languages, with many smaller species talking in little chirps and bell like noises, with bigger species talking in low growls and hissing noises. Fae on opposite sides of this cannot understand each other, but each species of small fae can understand other small fae, and larger ones can understand other large ones, even if there’s a difference in language.

-All of them can practice transformation magic without the use of a spell or potion, regardless of genetic makeup. It’s not uncommon to see large dragons or other reptiles walking the streets of the Valley pf Thorns, nor is it too uncommon to see small “floods” or floating fire balls in more secluded areas of the woods

-Fae grow the largest out of all the groups, but have control over their size due to their transformation magic. They don’t stop growing until they appear the same age as thirty (but is actually a much longer time considering their lifespans)

-Because of this fae take much longer to mature from birth/hatching (I like to think 1 normal year= 80~ years) (So An 80 y/o fae would only be equal to a one year old in any other species)

-Very reserved in their relationships with other fae and especially species. I think the cultural differences between other fae is enough to create a large gap between them, and most fae understand the difference in life span between them and other species, so they actively go out of their way to avoid forming relationships with them. (I feel like this is a part of why Sebek is so abrasive towards humans. I mean, his life span has to be different even if he’s only half, so he might be using his anger to deflect his own feelings about eventually having to lose his human father and Silver, as much as they bicker. Poor guys just in denial and trying to protect himself :(()

Human:

-Humans who grew up around magic users have more resilience to magic and potions (meaning Mc/Yuuken, who grew up in a world without magic at all, is more susceptible and will be effected longer by the side affects of potions and spells, or the spells will pack more of a punch and be potentially more dangerous)(Meaning they could take a sleeping potion meant to give the user a full nights rest and be out for a week straight)

-The chances of a human’s unique magic leaning in one direction depends on the area they live in and what resources they have available (I can’t think of anyone else’s unique magic who does this but Kalim’s oasis maker is a big example. He mentioned they had difficulty getting water on the Land of the Hot Sands so maybe that could have been a factor that altered the makeup of his magic. Like a demand and supply type deal?)

-Magical human’s pupils also change shape when they’re using their magic. I like to think that whenever it’s being used their pupils are blown wide to the point where you can hardly see their actual eye color

-Either that or their eyes glow

-Magic using humans are typically stronger, but have lower endurance than non magic users. This is due to the strain that’s put on their bodies even when magic isn’t in use. There are potions they can use to lessen these effects, and many choose to naturally boost their endurance through various activities, but they have to work harder than non magic using humans

#twisted wonderland headcannons #twisted wonderland #twst #beastman #merman #fae

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lordabovehelpme · 4 years ago

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Injured- Din Djarin x Reader

Request: Well, everyone sees Din as Grogu's father and they even tell him, but one day Reader tells him that too and Din says "Yes, he has a father but he doesn't have a mother... yet" and looks directly at Reader 👀*heart eyes, motherf* - @along-the-lines-of-space

A/n: Hon! This is such a cute idea!!! I kinda went a different direction with it, but if you want me to do it again, totally tell me! Love ya!

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

You can hear the hatch open, signifying the mandalorians return. Climbing down the ladder you watch as he drags the quarry to the carbonite freezer. But he moves slower than usual, almost as if he is stuck in his own world.

As soon as the quarry is frozen the mandalorian collapses onto the ground. The harsh clank of metal on unforgiving metal ringing through the hull. He groans and shifts to lay on his side. Gasping you rush to his side. “Mando?”

You pull his head onto your lap and look down into his visor. He grumbles and nuzzles into your thighs.

“Mando, what happened?” You gasp again when you notice a growing pool of blood below his knee. “What happened?” This time you say it louder, needing to hear his answer.

“Quarry… explosive… didn’t notice.” He turns his helmet further into your thighs and his breaths starts to even out.

“No no no, come on. Stay with me.” But, your pleads mean nothing to him. If it weren't for the fact that he is bleeding out, you would laugh at how funny his snores sound in the vocoder. Cursing, your mind starts to work out a plan. You take his head in your hands and wiggle from beneath him. Placing your elbows under his armpits you struggle to pull him over to the bunk.

Rushing to the fresher, you grab a bowl of water and a couple washcloths. You had already gave up on lifting the beast of a man up onto the bunk, so you’ve grabbed blankets and pillows and placed them around him.

Making sure he is still asleep, you start to take his leg armor off. Cringing, you realize that there is no way to treat his wound with his pants on. You sigh, “Forgive me, but you’ll die if I don’t.” Slowly you unbuckle his belt and undo his pants. Heat rises to your cheeks and you bite your lip, giving one last look at the mandalorians visor, you pull his pants down.

You curse at the length of his wound, it travels down from the middle of his thigh to below his knee. “Okay, prepared to be healed.” Dunking the washcloth in the bowl, you start to clean the wound as best as you can. You’re gentle yet firm as you scrub away the already dried blood.

As soon as you’re content with your cleaning job, you grab some bandages and start to wrap his leg. It’s now that you fully realize how exposed your mandalorian is. His pants pulled down to his ankles and his beautiful tan skin exposed for your gaze.

You would think he would be smaller without the bulky armor, but it’s almost as if he has become larger. The air no longer flows in and out of your lungs, it suffocates you with his natural spicy scent.

He groans and you shrink, afraid for when he wakes up. Thankfully, he stays asleep. Sighing, you shake your head and try to run from your improper thoughts. Grabbing a bacta shot, you tap the end, getting rid of air bubbles, and inject the medicine into his meaty thigh.

Taking his pants off all together you fold them and toss them into a corner. You grab another blanket and drape it across his form, giving him some much needed dignity. Trying to make him even more comfortable, you take the rest of his armor off, leaving him in his underclothes and helmet.

You tuck the blanket around him and make sure his head is supported by the pillow. However, when you go to walk away your heart tugs at you. You get a nasty feeling that as soon as you leave, he’ll wake up in a worse state. Weighing your options you eventually lay down next to him.

His soft snores are faint but they soothe your anxiety of him being dead. Slowly, you shimmy towards him. It’s cold in the ship and you can feel the goosebumps forming on your skin. Biting your lip, you lift the blanket and snuggle up against his side, mindful of his leg.

He should be okay for now; or you hope so. The warmth radiating off of his body is starting to make you sleepy. You look up at his chin, admiring the hair that has started to grow underneath his chin, obviously it's been a few days since he’s shaved. Snapping back down to look at his covered chest, you curse at yourself so being so plain with your ogling.

You close your eyes and nuzzle into his chest, succumbing to your slumber.

***

Thrashing limbs and groans wake you up. “Cyare.”

“Hey hey hey.” Your eyes beg to stay closed but you stay awake and sit up. His hands grab at you. “It’s okay, don’t move, you’ll exhaust yourself.”

“Cyare…” His head leans back down on the pillow.

“Hey big boy.” You rub small circles on the back of his hands. “Stay here, I am going to go get some water.” He grumbles something, but you’re already up and walking over to the kitchen area. Filling the bowl back up, you also grab a glass for him.

Sitting back down near him you peel the blanket back. In a panic, the mandalorian reaches down to cover himself.

“Sorry, I had to take your pants off to get to it.” He doesn’t say anything. “Alright… I um got you some water. Let me just rewrap this and then I’ll leave you.” He still stays silent. You frown as you realize that the bandages are already bloody again; must have been from him moving. “Mando, I’m gonna need you to not wake up in tizzy fits anymore, you’re just opening the wound back up.”

You unwrap the bloody bandages and wet a washcloth, then begin to clean it again. He hisses when you press it to his body.

“Sorry… sorry.”

“It’s okay.” One of those warm palms grabs your hip and rubs your skin.

“Okay, this is going to hurt, but you’ll feel much better in about ten minutes.” You grin as you hold up a bacta shot. As you poke it into his thigh, the hand squeezes your hip. “All done, now it’s time to wrap it up, okay?” The hand gives you a couple squeezes.

After you finish wrapping the wound, you pull the blanket back over his form and go to get up. “Cyare, stay.”

You cup his helmet. “I can’t, you need to drink some water.”

“Turn around.”

Giving him an apprehensive look, you follow his command and turn around. One hand stays tracing circles on your hip, while you can hear the other shuffle around. The glass clinks as he sets it back down and the hand on your hip tugs you back towards him.

“You can look now cyare.” You turn back around. “Come here, m’ tired.” He lifts the blanket and his arm, creating a perfect space for your body. Succumbing to his offer, you snuggle up into side. His arm settles down around your shoulders and his fingertips graze across your skin.

***

It’s become routine for the two of you. Every couple hours you’ll unwrap and redress his wound. Then you give him a bacta shot and within ten minutes the stoic mandalorian no longer has a filter. This time being no different. However, he was complaining about the pain so you gave him the shot before dressing the wound again.

“Cyare.”

“Mhm?”

“Am I going to die? I feel like I am going to die.”

Biting back your laughter, you play along. “You can’t die on me, you have a son to take care of. What would he do without his father?”

“Yes, he has a father, but no mother...yet.” His visor tilts to look at you, his voice lower than usual.

Raising your eyebrows, you continue to wrap his wound, “Mm, is that so?”

“Yeah.”

“Well where are you going to find this special lady?”

His hand reaches up and cups your face. “She’s right here. And she’s quite pretty too.”

Your eyes snap to meet his visor. No, that can’t be right, it’s the bacta that's talking. “Alright, hot shot.”

Under his helmet he frowns. “No cyare, I’m serious.” His hand drops from your face to grab at your hand. “Wanna have children with you. Want you to be the mother of my kids. Wanna wake up and be able to kiss you.”

Your mouth is opening and closing, you probably look like a fish out of water, but you don’t care about that right now. You can’t even start to gather your thoughts, they’re moving too fast for you to even process them.

After a few minutes of you just staring you finally start to form words. But his soft snores are the only thing he offers.

***

The spot next to you is cold when you wake up. Panic rips through your body as you shoot up and search for the mandalorian.

A deep chuckle sounds from behind you, “I’m right here cyare.” You turn around and spot him sitting on a chair, thighs spread wide as he keeps his injured leg straight. He has a pair old black shorts on, that are way too short for your mind to comprehend.

“Why… when did you get up?” Your rub at your eyes, trying to shake away your sleep.

“I felt better, and I was hungry. Did you sleep good?”

“Ummm… yeah.” Suddenly all of what he said earlier comes back to you, making heat flow to your cheeks.

Almost as if he understands what you were saying, he leans over and sets his elbows on his knees. “Listen, cyare… I’m sorry for what I said-”

“Did you mean it?” You interpret him before you can stop yourself. Cringing at your abruptness you peer down at the blanket and start to play with the edge.

“What?” He genuinely sounds confused.

“Did, did you mean it? Um, what you said?” The thread that you have been picking at has become even more interesting.

“Cyare, look at me.” He reaches out and his index finger lifts your chin. You let him and finally meet his visor, fighting back the part in you that begs for you to run away. “I am sorry for being so blunt, but I did.”

You nod, not totally processing what he said yet. “Oh.” His hand brushes away the stray hair that fell in your face. Then it finally hits you, “Oh!” Shuffling closer to him, he brushes your hair. “Well you know… I wouldn’t be opposed to that.” You grin up at him and he chuckles.

Standing up you wrap your arms around his neck and hug him. He pulls you close, slotting his helmet into the space between your shoulder and neck.

“But let’s take it slow, okay?”

“Of course cyare.”

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

I hope you liked it! As always, please consider reblogging or leaving a comment!

Love, Lordy :)

Masterlist

Taglist: @ficthots @along-the-lines-of-space @jedi-jesi @coldlilheart @remmysbounty

#din djarin #din djarin x you #din djarin x reader #mando #mando x reader #mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #pedro pascal #pedro pascal x reader

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blackrosesandwhump · 3 years ago

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Whump Prompts Collection

Tag me if any of these inspire you! I'd love to read the result. :)

Asphyxia/suffocation:

Whumpee joins an exploration mission that’s being sent into a place where the air is toxic, so he has to wear some kind of breathing gear; the environment and discomfort cause him to lose his mind and rip the gear off, exposing him to the toxic air and damaging the equipment. The others on the mission have to make an awful decision on who to save.

Denied air, then forced to exercise: muzzle your whumpee or otherwise reduce their breathing ability, then force them to exert themselves. For example, whumper could tape whumpee’s mouth shut, then make them run laps until they pass out. Or force them to wear something that reduces their oxygen intake, then do rigorous chores. Imagine a whumpee on their knees, scrubbing the floor as they struggle to breathe, then passing out on the damp floor amid the cleaning supplies. Such a pretty sight for the whumper to behold…

An airless chamber: whumper has a specialized room that’s been sealed to be airtight, perfect for particularly stubborn whumpees, or even just whumpees that are fun to torture. A couple of minutes in that room, and they emerge weak, gasping, willing to submit just so they don’t have to suffer the horror of suffocation again. And then there’s that one whumpee, the one that won’t break no matter how many times they’re shut in that room. Because it’s not what happens to them that will destroy them, but what happens to the people they love…

Claustrophobia:

Whumpee is tossed into a coffin with their crossed arms bound to their chest and their ankles fastened together, then left there for hours in silence. Claustrophobia sets in and whumpee panics and cries out.

Whumpee is confined to a tiny closet and forgotten while whumper is attacked. Whumpee is discovered by the attackers much much later, completely traumatized.

A is injured and needs to have a brain scan. They start to panic at the idea of being enclosed in such a tight space. The only person who can help calm them down is B, and B is not allowed in the room for whatever reason. Then A sees B through the glass and B’s smile and thumbs-up is enough to help them feel better.

Whumpee is forced to wear an iron mask as punishment. The mask can only be unlocked and removed by someone else, so they’re stuck for an entire day (or however long) unable to speak around the bit in their mouth and also short of breath.

Whumper knows about whumpee’s dislike of anything touching his face and forces whumpee to wear a mask that completely hides his face whenever he’s in whumper’s presence. Eventually the mask becomes part of whumpee’s identity.

Curses/magic:

Hero is given the gift of a scarf. What he doesn’t know is that it’s actually a gift from the Villain. He also doesn’t know it’s been cursed and will strangle him when the time comes. It won’t kill him, though—it will keep him just alive enough for Villain to interrogate him.

Hero is chained up in a dungeon. His chains are cursed so that every struggle causes more chains to coil around him. Villain enters the dungeon to find him completely wrapped in chains: around his neck, across his mouth, restricting his chest. Villain is amused and decides to leave Hero like that for a while longer.

Hero’s weapon is cursed so that every use weakens him for a period of time. The more he uses it, the more it weakens him each time and the harder it is for him to recover. Eventually his body begins to fail from how much he’s wielded it, but he won’t rest because he’s too fixated on using his weapon to its fullest potential.

Miscellaneous:

Whumper knows that whumpee is deathly afraid of buzzing insects, so he slathers whumpee in something sticky and sweet and ties him up so he can’t wipe it off. Then he leaves whumpee outside to be tormented by insects until he’s hoarse from screaming.

Whumper ties whumpee up, but not too painfully and not to torture them; no, this time whumper is going to draw all over whumpee’s skin, to let them know who they belong to now. They’ll be whumper’s canvas, whether they like it or not.

Whumper is given a drug that induces hallucinations and is bound to a chair and left in an empty room for hours…whumper returns to find whumpee bloodied from straining to escape and delirious with fear.

Whumper knows that the rescuers are on their way, so he slices whumpee up just enough to cause him lots of pain, then rolls him up in a rug and dumps him in a corner where the rescuers won’t think to look. Whumpee’s only hope is to make enough noise that they investigate.

Alternately, whumper binds whumpee up and gags him so he can’t move or cry out, then tosses him in a corner as above, so that whumpee can only listen as his rescuers pass by without even knowing he’s right there.

Whumpee has been kept underground for as long as he can remember. He’s never seen sunlight, only fire. The earthquake nearly kills him, but he manages to survive. The sunlight on the surface sends searing pain through his entire body, starting with his eyes. He’s blinded, crippled with agony from the overwhelming light. A human voice breaks through the pain: “We finally found you. Welcome to the surface, whumpee!”

Non-human whumpees:

A fae whumpee is exposed to rain that’s been tainted with iron from an iron factory. The water burns his skin like acid. The whumpee has his chemical burns covered with bandages, but the bandages can’t take away the pain…

Sunlight equals torture. Whumpee knows this all too well. After all, he’s a vampire. But whumper has tied him up in a place where the sunlight is intermittent. Every few minutes, the torture stops and his skin can heal a little…but then the sunlight hits him again, and it’s excruciating.

Whumpee squirms as the sun blazes down on them, panicking because they’ll suffocate as soon as the water in the fountain dries up. They need water to breathe. All merfolk do. But whumpee is chained up and can’t escape. Whumper laughs as whumpee tries to get free. “My little fish out of water. I’ll let you go…as soon as you let me harvest your scales.”

Aerosolized poison for inhuman creatures: poison your whumpees with aerosolized versions of the substances that most afflict them. For example, whumper (maybe a hunter in this case) traps the werewolf whumpee in a chamber rigged with canisters of aerosolized wolfsbane. Or whumper could poison a fae whumpee with an iron-based gas. (Not sure how that would work. Just thinking on the spot here.) Imagine the inhuman whumpee trying to survive by wearing breathing protection, then having it ripped off when whumper attacks them.

Weather/environment:

One of whumpee’s regular tasks is to take care of the garden, which they don’t mind, as it allows them to spend hours outside, away from whumper. They dread rainy days because it means they’re stuck in the house with whumper and can’t escape outside. It’s been storming for days and whumper is in a particularly nasty mood, which means that whumpee is about to suffer even more, and they’re already not in good shape…

Caretaker is desperately searching for whumpee in the rain, but whumpee is nowhere to be found. The rain is getting worse and worse and caretaker is about to give up…but then they spot something in the grass. It’s a leg. No, a whole body. Whumpee’s body. Whumpee is unresponsive, their eyes glazed, their skin ashen. Caretaker sees that they’ve just about drowned from exposure to the downpour, and it might be too late…but caretaker is going to save whumpee, no matter what.

Whumpee is locked up in a tower that’s crumbling into ruin. Whenever it rains, the roof leaks and puddles of water form on the floor. They can’t escape the damp and are left to try to protect themselves with whatever they can find in the tower. After a bad storm, whumper comes to get them, only to find that whumpee has gotten dangerously sick from the cold and wet and needs help. But whumper refuses to call a doctor…

Usually prisoners are kept in the dark. This time, whumpee is kept outside in a wooden cage. Their only relief from the sun comes at night…but night is when whumper lets them out to torture them. And every time whumpee is thrown back in the cage, they can’t escape from the heat and light. A cold cloth on their bruises would be heavenly. But they can only dream about it as they wait for nightfall…

Whumpee is barefoot and lost in a pine forest. Cold and exhausted, they can only stumble forward in the dimming light, feet scratched and bleeding from stepping on countless pine needles. And whumpee has nothing except the shirt on their back to bandage their feet…

While hiking alone, whumpee slips and falls down a small cliff, gashing their side on a sharp rock. Exhausted and bleeding, whumpee can only lie in the gathering darkness and hope someone comes looking for them. To distract themselves, they start reciting all the song lyrics they can remember. As they’re slipping into unconsciousness, they hear a strange echo of the song they’re humming. It’s caretaker, blasting the song as they search for whumpee in the dark.

A thunderstorm hits when whumpee doesn’t expect it, when they’re out on a walk to clear their head and don’t have shelter. Lost in the driving rain and hail, whumpee has no choice but to shelter in the first place they find: an abandoned shed. The next morning, caretaker finds their bruised and soaked body in the one place they hoped whumpee would never find.

#whump prompts #whump ideas #whumpy things #writing prompts #asphyxia tw #suffocation tw #claustrophobia tw #magic whump #non human whump #environmental whump

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ally-writes-many-things · 3 years ago

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Tells (J. Kolchek) Part 8

Summary: you and Jason were basically enemy fuck buddies but when you go on a mission to find chemical weapons, are secrets revealed?

Words:

Requested:

Prompts:

Warings or An:

Tags: @house-of-kolchek @thedreamingfish99 @thefictionalgemini @shinydixon @yellowroseskolchek

You three came up to a door that they were about to push open but they couldn’t push it open. Salim looked over at Jason's hat. Which was a 'remember 9/11' hat. "What is the meaning of those markings on your hat?"

"It's to honor the dead. It's the reason why I fight,"

"That's as good as a reason as any,"

"It's a damn good reason. The only reason,"

"I have no grievance with you,"

"Maybe you should switch on the news,"

Salim scoffed. "Listen, there once was a man who built his house on the banks of a river. When the floods came, his walls washed away. When the drought came, the water dried up and the man was thirsty. All day the insects would bite this man's flesh but yet each night he said to his wife that he had all the fish we can eat. Your people choose this war Jason,"

"I think you need to give your mouth a rest,"

Jason started pushing on the door and so did Salim. You noticed a sound that was coming close and you saw a vampire coming through the hole that was in the middle of the hole. "Jason!” You pulled out your gun and started firing at it.

The creature leapt up at you which knocked you back against Jason and that caused the door to be busted down. The creature was still on top of you but you saw a pipe going through the creature and it fell limp on you. “GET IT OFF ME!”

You felt it being lifted off you and you quickly rolled from under it and got to your feet while Salim was taking the pipe out of the creature. Jason quickly walked over to you. “Are you okay?”

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,”

“No argument here,”

You were getting tired of walking and not finding a way out. You were just ready to get the fuck out of here. You three came upon a room with a lot of medical supplies in it. “Looks like a medical bay,”

You searched the place as the other two talked about whatever. After searching a few, Salim talked. "It's caverns,"

You looked over at Salim and Jason and they were looking at the only other opening in here. "Whatever is down there, the explorers got down there first," Jason said as you walked over to them.

Salim and you started to walk down it but Jason stopped you two "Hold up, will ya?"

You turned around and looked at him "What are you doing?"

Jason got on his knees and drew an arrow pointing the way we were about to go with his initials beside it. Salim looked at it. "You think they're still alive?. That's hopeful,"

"Hope is all we got left,"

You waited till Salim walked up a little and Jason walked past you. You linked your arm through the gap between his arm and side. He looked down at your arm that was wrapped around his, looked at you and smiled.

You three walked into the caverns and noticed that the only way forward is to repel down. You were out of rope but you still have everything else. Jason went down first on his and he told you as soon as he got off, for you to go. You landed and Jason helped you get the repelling gear off you. When you got the gear off and all put away, you noticed that Salim was close to the edge, looking down at something. You walked over to him and Jason followed you. "Is that your wife?"

"It's funny how you could know someone for years and ever really know them. I had no idea my captain was married,"

Jason kept a firm face and tone. "Is that the asshole you were with earlier?"

"He didn't make it,"

"One less bad guy to deal with,"

Even though you hated the guy. This was no time for Jason to say that. You hit him in the chest. "Jason!"

"What?"

"A time will come when you regret this manner,"

"I don't carry regrets,"

You watched Salim throw the wallet into the water as Jason walked away. You three eventually walked into an area that the note from earlier was talking about. It was the area that they had built the winch and elevator in. "Well this is place is a jack in the box,"

The hole was cast a green light through it all and you never saw something like that. Jason looked at Salim and you. "What do you make of it?"

"I have no idea,"

"I've never seen something like it,"

Jason pointed at the wires. "See those elevator wires. The explorers must've went down,"

"I don't think they made it back up,"

You three walked a little more to where the platform was. "That winch still looks functional,"

You and Salim both looked at Jason like he was crazy and you both told him no.

"You got my fuck buddy disagreeing with me now,'

You laughed out loud at that. “Since when do I not disagree with you?”

Ignoring Jason’s teasing you, Salim changed the subject. “The explorers didn't make it out. What does that tell you?"

"That were not archeologists,"

Salim stepped closer to Jason. "Our world is up there, not down there,"

"There's an army of monsters between and the world above,"

The screeching started again. "They're coming! Fire that winch up,"

"Are you crazy? The monsters come from down there. Do you really want to fight them in their own home?"

"It's all what I've been doing since I stepped foot in this country. Get that elevator working,"

Jason and you stood guard while Salim got the elevator working. You heard the elevator click on and come. Before too long the elevator came up and you all three went down it. Whether or not it was a good idea, is yet to be seen.

When you touched the ground, you walked off it followed by Jason and Salim. You and Jason held your guns out in front of you. Not sure how much that would help you but you still did. You looked around and there were what looked to be dead three limbs everywhere and the cavern looked wet which makes sense as you just saw a waterfall. "I've seen some fucked up shit but never as bad as this. They don't seem to be following,"

"Would you like to wait for them or?"

Jason looked at you and you shook your head. “No, If they are alive, they’ll catch up. Let’s go,”

You three kept walking and you came out of the area that looked like it was a living organism and into another area that you had no idea how to describe it other than it was definitely not supposed to be on Earth. It definitely belonged on another planet.

Salim had said something in Arabic.

"Yeah, what you said. What the. Fuck. Is this place?" Jason asked even though he didn’t know what he said.

Salim went quiet for a second before talking again. "What is this place? Is this even real? God is judging us. For the mistakes we've ever made. Zain is all I have left in this world. After my wife left us, I gave him my all. I wanted him to have everything, I didn't,"

You saw Jason's face softened. "Single parent. Tough fucking gig,"

"It is but my boy has made me very proud. He's going to London. To University. If he would only stop stealing. I miss him so much. Is your conscience clear, Jason? Y/N?"

You shook your head. "The only thing that I can think of is not telling my brother that his wife is cheating on him,"

Jason looked at you. "You knew about that?"

You gave him a are you stupid look. “Jase, everyone in camp knows,”

Salim looked at Jason. "Your turn, Jason,"

Jason looked at Salim before looking away from both of you and sighed. You knew what he was thinking about. He was thinking about the checkpoint mission. You walked up to him and placed your hand on his shoulder. “You can talk about it Jason,”

Jason looked at you for a few seconds before looking away again. "Green Zone. Check pont. Nick and I, we are caught in traffic. Check point was targeted by suicide bombers before. There was a woman, she was carrying a bag. Fuck,"

"Tell me,"

"I order,"

Jason's voice trembled and it is rare when it trembles. "I ordered for her to stop. Loud and clear. But she didn't. She kept on walking. I uh had to make a call. Nick.. he shot her dead,"

"What was in the bag?"

"Groceries,"

"I don't understand, why didn't she stop?"

"She didn't hear me. She had fucking headphones on. This. This is bullshit. I'm not here to honor the dead. Truth is. My life was going nowhere fast. I jumped at the chance to sign up,"

"We all have our reasons. They don't have to be profound,"

Jason chuckled. "Profound, huh? When those towers were hit, I was stoned out of my fucking skull. I didn't even hear about it until a week later. How's that for profound? I don't even know what they fuck I am doing here,"

Jason never told you that but you didn’t tell him things about you.

"You're serving your country,"

"That woman had a family. Friends. She had her entire life in front of her and we snuffed it out with a single bullet, I mean. What the fuck?"

You heard noises coming from the distance and so did the others. Salim spoke first. "We're waiting for something to happen. Maybe we should take some initiative and make something happen,"

"What did you have in mind?"

"We go inside there and find a way to hurt them!"

"Those fucking things tried to fuck with our heads. They tried to kill us but me, you and Y/l/n. We are all still standing. Start believing y'all, we're going to get out of here and see the sun again,"

"Is that what you truly believe?"

"ORRAH"

You had to hold back a chuckle when Jason did that because Salim’s face was priceless.. That was the most random Orrah/noise he has ever done and it killed you. "What in the world is that sound?

"Oh, does that make me a marine too?"

"Now, let's not get ahead of us ourselves,"

"Okay,"

Jason walked up to Salim and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, whatever happens out there, I got your back,"

Salim nodded and touched your shoulder. "We'll stand together. It's the only way,"

You three started walking down whatever this place is and there were moss like things that were giving off bioluminescence everywhere. Salim had stepped on one and it shot off fireworks. "What is this?"

You were looking around, not realizing how much further up then Jason was but he noticed. Jason grabbed your arm and pulled you up. "Stay close. We don't know what's down there,"

"Sorry,"

Jason let go of your arm and continued on the path you were taking. "This must be the place those things come from,"

You sped your walk up in order to keep up with Jason and Salim. "Looks like it,"

Salim didn't take his eyes off the area you were in. "But the question is where the hell are they?"

As you walked around, Salim and Jason picked up another conversation about this place. Salim said something about how we got this backwards and we are the ones intruding on them.

"Look at this,"

You turned and looked at Jason who was staring at one of the creatures. "It's one of those creatures. Only older,"

"Ancient,"

"You don't think it's alive, do you? Touch it,"

Salim looked at Jason as if he was stupid. "No, you touch it,"

You could see that Jason's top lip slightly went up. "Pussy,"

You just chucked and shook your head. Jason didn't even look at you. "Man, I could never get tired of hearing that chuckle,"

Your heart skipped a beat. That was the first time Jason has ever said something like that to you and judging by the way Jason’s body got tense, he didn’t mean to say it out loud. Jason reached out to touch it but you quickly grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare,"

"Come on,"

"No. If you touch it, you’re not touching me again,"

Jason just stared at you and then gave up. "Fine,"

Salim laughed and Jason turned to face him. "What?"

"How do Americans say this? She's got you whipped,"

Jason shrugged, not seeming like the comment bothered him. "I mean, if you had her like I have, you would listen,"

“JASON!” You yelled as you punched him in the arm. “What is your deal with telling everyone our shit?”

“Ow,” Jason laughed while rubbing the spot you hit him in.

“Glad it hurt. Now moving on. Let’s go,”

You weren’t really mad at him or even embarrassed but he does need to chill out with airing your business to everyone including your brother.

You could hear the boys' footsteps walking behind you. As you walked you noticed that the only path that you could take was getting smaller. You didn't really think too much of it because this place was filled with narrow passages and you've managed to cross them without any problems.

You saw something in the distance that you couldn't make out. You slowly walked up to it and saw that it was some person that looked to be ancient. It looked almost mummified. Jason knelt down to get a better look at it. "Holy shit,"

"Look at him,"

You knelt down beside Jason and pointed at the armor. "That armor,"

Jason knew what you were thinking. "This guy is damn near biblical,"

Salim knelt down next to you and flicked his lighter to lit it and held it close to this person. You were looking at it and you saw the one eye twitch which sent you and Salim standing up and took a couple of steps back. You and him both looked at each and talked in unison. "Did you? Yes!"

Jason turned and looked at you and Salim. "What are you talking about? What happened?"

"The eye twitched,"

"It's still alive,"

Jason shook his head. "That can't be possible,"

“Jason, we’re not making it up,”

"In this place, anything is possible,"

As if on cue, the corpse started to moan which made Jason look at it. "Holy shit. This guy has been alive all this time with half a skull?"

You looked and noticed that there was some kind of fluid going in him. "There's fluid going in him,"

"That must be what's keeping him alive. Preserved his flesh. His brain. What should we do?"

You gripped onto Jason's arm. We can't live him like this,"

"Well, shit. He's had plenty of time to get use to it,"

"We're serious, Jase,"

Jason took a long look at you and then back at the person and started to bring his gun up. Salim grabbed it and pushed it down. "No, the noise will bring the vampires. I'll do it,"

Salim walked up to him and looked up to the sky and spoke in Arabic and then looked down at the guy and spoke in english. "It's time for you to rest, warrior,"

Salim took the pipe and stabbed him with it.

You three kept jumping off ledges and then climbing on another other one to get through this whatever the fuck it is. You were getting more and more exhausted as time went by. You fought against it and tried your best to keep going but it was getting harder and harder to do it.

You saw Jason walk over to the edge and pick something up. You followed him over and saw that it was a skull. "Looks like someone is avoiding the dentist,"

You pointed to the mouth. "There's no fangs,"

Salim came closer to you and Jason. "Can you see? The bone is ruptured where it should be. It's like as it was smashed from the inside out,"

You looked at Salim. "Meaning what?"

"Maybe these things weren't originally vampires. Maybe they got infected,"

Jason placed the skull back down and continued on just a bit. "Guys,"

You and Salim went to where Jason was saying. "Yeah?"

Jason pointed with his gun in front of him and you two both looked. "I think we hit the motherlode,"

You saw cocoons and cocoons and cocoons spanning who knows how many. You couldn't concentrate on whatever Salim and Jason were talking about. A million thoughts hit your brain.

How many are there? How do we get out here? What happens if we accidently bump into one? How do we get rid of them? Is Eric okay? Is Rachel? Are they alive? What are you going to do without your only brother?

"Hey,"

Jason's voice snapped you out of your mind and you turned your head to face him. "I can hear you thinking, what's up?"

You frowned. "Just worried. That's all,"

Jason grabbed ahold of your shirt and pulled you closer to him and you wrapped your arms around him and he kissed the top of your head. Honestly if Jason acted the way he is now towards you in the first place, you would fall in love with him sooner.

You welcomed his warmth and wanted nothing more than to stand in this position for as long as you could but you knew you couldn't do that so you pushed away from him and smiled at him to know that he wasn't the reason you were pushing away.

You three maneuvered your way through the tens of cocoons as you made your way past them. You stay as close to Jason as you could without hindering him. You had a loud crack as you looked up and said that they were hatching. "Jason, they're hatching!"

You three took off running as more and more hatched. "Where do you go?"

You three got concerned by one of them and you didn’t know what to do. You were starting to think the worst. What if Eric was alive and he finds you down here? You didn’t even get to say goodbye. "Hey fuck face. I got something for you,"

You turned your head and saw Nick was standing there with a gun. He shoots an explosive from a gun and it blew when it hits the creature giving us a time to escape. "Run! For God's sake. Run!"

Jason pushed you forward as you ran forward. Jason and Salim tried to climb up but they couldn't get a good grip on it. You noticed that there was an opening at the bottom and you quickly got on your stomach and looked through it. You saw that it wasn't blocked off. "Under here,"

You quickly moved under it as you heard Nick yelled that he'll cover you guys. Then it was Salim, then it was Jason. Once Nick was through, Jason tapped Nick's shoulder a few times. You heard the happiness in Jason's voice. "Shit Nicky! You turned up like the fucking calvary! I thought you were dead,"

Nick took a deep breath before shaking his head. "Not my time,"

You looked over at Nick. “Nick, where’s-”

You stopped when you saw Eric coming through the hole as soon as he got through it, you ran and jumped into his arms and buried your head in his neck. “I thought I lost you,”

It took him a moment to realize that it was you but when he did, he immediately wrapped his arms around you. “You’re not gonna lost me,”

You hung on your brother for a few minutes before pulling away. Jason walked up to Jason and held a hand out for him to shake it. "Colonel! You made it through,"

Eric got to his feet and sighed. "Yeah, crawling through that tunnel was a highly uncomfortable experience," He reached out and shook his head this time. “Thanks for looking out for my sister,”

He shook his head. “Nah, She kept me alive. Quite literally,”

You heard Rachel coming through the tunnel. "Good to see you again, ma'am," Jason said, offering her his hand. "Take my hand,"

Rachel grabbed his hand and he helped her stand up. Your tone kind of dropped when you saw her. You didn’t mean for it to happen but you just couldn’t stand her. “Rachel, good to see you,”

You looked over at Nick. You couldn’t stand him but he did just save your life. “Thanks for the save,”

#jason kolchek #jason kolchek x reader #jason kolchek x you #house of ashes jason kolchek #house of ashes #house of ashes eric #house of ashes jason #dark pictures eric king #dark pictures #dark pictures x reader #dark pictures house of ashes #dark pictures Jason #rachel king #house of ashes rachel #house of ahses nick kay #nick kay #salim othman #house of ashes salim

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delimeful · 4 years ago

Text

neither calm nor quiet

BTHB: Trapped In A Net

warnings: miscommunication, past familial and domestic abuse mentions, injury, violence, terrible decision making skills

When Virgil finally decided to brave shallower waters, it had already been nearly half a moon cycle since Logan had vanished.

He’d made excuses at first, telling himself that the dread he felt was just his normal brand of overwrought paranoia. For the first few days, he was half-convinced that his curiosity-prone friend would appear at any moment, probably lugging some sort of stray litter or ‘interesting human artifact’ along with him to explain why he’d been late.

Things would be normal again. Virgil would find some rocks for them to sun on and Logan would ramble on about the potential uses of his find, and maybe Virgil would teasingly suggest some outlandish way the trash was secretly a violent human weapon, just to hear Logan thoroughly refute it.

After another three days passed with no sign of the other selkie, Virgil was forced to let that fantasy fade. Logan had never been this late before, not even that time he’d managed to carry an entire minifridge along with him for Virgil to identify.

Something had to have happened to him.

He’d spent the next week scouring the currents for any sign of his missing friend, even approaching other pods and asking around, requesting that they keep an eye out for any signs of Logan. He didn’t expect much from that; the two of them didn’t socialize with other selkies often enough to make any friends, and their two-person pod was too small to spare any food during winter, so there was nothing for the other pods to gain by helping them.

Virgil knew better than most how selfish pod politics could be.

Every few days, he would return to their meeting spot and catch a few hours of sleep to keep himself from crashing, always naively hoping that Logan would be there when he woke. He never was.

In the end, he had to face what he’d already known from the beginning: either Logan was dead, or he’d gone onland and gotten himself bound by a human.

He didn’t want to believe Logan had decided to brave the human world even after Virgil’s many, many warnings against it, but believing the alternative was even worse. So, he steeled himself to do the one thing he’d sworn to never do again, and headed for the cold, rocky shores of the nearest human settlement.

Naturally, he spent so long swimming back and forth between different stretches of beach, trying to force himself to take those literal first steps, that he didn’t notice the woven fibers dancing in the water until he’d plowed right into them.

A fishing net, dyed skillfully to blend in with the water, and large enough that when he tried to twist out of it, he only became further entangled.

Panic set in, then, clouding his mind and leaving him thrashing ineffectively like a simple animal. He couldn’t help it-- he couldn’t breathe underwater in either form, had no gills to keep him steady as he was dragged along by the current. He couldn’t untangle himself while adrift, couldn’t find solid ground while tangled. He would drown.

Between one blink and the next, he found himself in open air, gritty sand pressed against his face. Waves crested gently around him, a sharp contrast to the headache pounding around in his skull.

He never thought he’d be relieved about blacking out and beaching himself, but then, he’d never been worried about drowning in his own element before.

Okay. There weren’t any humans around to see the stupid idiot seal stuck on the beach. This was still salvageable.

Taking a deep breath, he attempted to bite through the netting with his incisors, and got a mouthful of sore gums for his trouble. The dyed fibers seemed to be woven around a base net of fishing wire, because of course they were. He let his head thunk back to the sandy ground, groaning at the new surge of pain the motion caused.

Sun-warmed saltwater continued to wash over his tail, and he blinked slowly, measuring his breaths. He could figure this out. He wouldn’t dry out. He just needed a moment to put himself back together. He could… He…

His eyelids grew heavy, and everything went dark.

Roman thought the guy was a pile of garbage at first, to be quite honest.

Not on purpose, of course! But, come on, when one sees a mound of mystery washed up on shore, it generally ends up being a bunch of tangled old fishing nets wrapped around half-rotted driftwood, not a bunch of tangled old fishing nets wrapped around beautiful strangers wearing expensive-looking fur coats!

His next thought, once he’d gotten closer, was that the beautiful stranger wearing the expensive-looking fur coat was dead, and that a body had washed up on his little strip of shoreline. Pallid skin, blue lips, and deep shadows under their eyes-- the beautiful stranger wasn’t exactly giving off an aura of vim and vigor.

He’d spent a few moments staring at his contact list, trying to figure out what in the world he was supposed to do about a body. Should he call 911? … Should he call Remus?

Before he could make a decision either way, he finally picked up on the shallow rise and fall of the beautiful stranger’s chest, and realized that they were still alive! Potentially not for much longer, laying out in the cold all soggy like that, but Roman could work with mostly alive!

And so, he found himself here, carefully carrying the small but surprisingly dense stranger up to his home by the cliffs, and risking looking like a total serial killer doing it.

He couldn’t help but theorize as he walked. A beautiful stranger in expensive clothing, tangled in nets with what appeared to be a head wound… It read like an old unsolved case in a detective novel, where the mysterious stranger in question got in too deep with some dangerous people and ended up clubbed over the head and dumped into a river to tie up loose ends.

“Except you managed to survive, obviously,” Roman said to them, mostly to reassure himself. He really had to stop eavesdropping on Remus’s true crime podcasts. “And you made your way to me! Excellent choice, I’m great at nursing people back to health. Probably. I don’t have much practical experience, but, you know, I’ve read extensively about this exact thing. In romance novels. As one does.”

The beautiful and mysterious stranger continued to be unconscious. Roman was starting to feel grateful for it.

His house was empty, thankfully, since his brother had work to attend to today. He fumbled with the keys for a moment before pushing the door open and carrying the stranger inside, sighing with relief at the warm air.

“That’s got to feel much better, hm?”

He sat the stranger down in the foyer, removing his shoes to go grab some scissors from the kitchen.

“First order of business,” he announced in his best announcer voice, “getting all that netting off of you. While I’m sure you could rock fishnet leggings, fish nets on their own just don’t have the same je ne sais quoi, you know? Also, they look very uncomfortable. You’re great at staying still, so just keep that up.”

He carefully cut his way through the looser parts of netting, pulling it off piece by piece until all that was left were the abrasions where they’d formerly cut into skin. Roman had no idea how they’d even managed to get that tangled up, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. It couldn’t have been pretty.

In the process of removing the net, however, he’d noticed another rather pressing matter.

Going by the flash of thigh he’d accidentally witnessed while shifting the net around, the stranger definitely wasn't wearing anything under that fur coat of theirs. Like, nothing.

(Exactly what kind of situation had the stranger been in before this?!)

Even so, leaving them in a sodden coat couldn’t be good for their constitution. Or his poor couch’s upholstery.

Roman spent a few moments puzzling the situation out before coming up with a brilliant solution. He retrieved the fluffy gold comforter from his bed and draped it over the stranger, covering their front half with it. Then, he carefully worked their arms out of the coat’s sleeves, very pointedly not focusing on the adorable freckled shoulders this operation revealed. Finally, he tugged the entire coat out from behind them, wincing at the slight furrow that appeared in their brow.

“Sorry, sorry, I know the cold floor can’t be comfortable…”

Soggy coat removed, he was free to continue bundling the rest of the comforter around the stranger’s back, therefore making it easy for him to pick them up in a neat little bundle of blanket and deposit them on the couch. No nudity awkwardness required!

Pleased with his solution, he draped a fluffy towel over the stranger’s head and carefully dried some of the dampness from their hair. Next, he wasted no time in stoking the fire higher in his hearth, sending waves of warmth into the room and making it so the stranger’s skin didn’t look quite so clammy.

Once he’d cleaned up the mess left in the foyer and grabbed the first aid kit from under his sink, he planted himself in a chair next to the couch, feeling ready to handle anything.

“Okay, Google. How do I treat a head wound?”

Virgil felt as though he’d woken to a nightmare.

He was in the wrong body, surrounded on all sides by heavy fabric and warm air, and his coat was missing. That list of facts alone was just about as bad as any night terror he’d had.

The humming was unusual, though.

A soft tune, occasionally broken up by a half-muttered lyric or two, carried through the air, voice completely at ease. His mother had never sung to him in front of others, and it sure as hell wasn’t his father.

He tried to remember where he’d been last. The back of his head stung… he’d ended up on a beach? The tide had been turning, from high to low… He must have dried out up there, changed into his less durable form. And now he was warm and dry.

He clenched his fists weakly and grit his teeth, knowing that a human had found him and stolen him away. Just like his mother. He’d come to find Logan and lost himself before ever even starting. Typical.

“Are you with us, Sleeping Beauty?” a bright voice asked.

The humming had broken off while he was absorbed in his thoughts, and now he could hear the shift and rustle of movement next to him. He opened his eyes, already aiming the coldest possible glare at his captor.

He was sort of surprised to find that the human sitting at his side wasn’t holding his coat. His father used to make a point of handling his mother’s coat at any opportunity. He’d liked to watch his mother stare at it, resting assured that so long as he held it in his possession, she could do him no harm.

This human was much younger than his father had been, probably around as old as Virgil was now. He had dark skin and soft eyes that reflected the firelight, and he was smiling hopefully at Virgil.

“Hello there! It’s excellent to see you looking a little more lively! I was starting to think about actually calling the hospital, heh.”

Wordlessly, Virgil slowly shifted to sit up, shoving the thick blanket out and shaking the cloth from his head. He looked down, confirming what he already knew. No coat. The human hadn’t even bothered to dress him up in human trappings to ‘make up’ for the absence.

“Ah, yeah... I sort of basically pulled you out of the ocean and what little you were wearing was completely soaked.” The human rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I figured it’d be less of an invasion of privacy to just let you get dressed yourself once you woke up?”

Oh, the human was worried about his privacy? What a joke.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, truly!” the human continued, oblivious to Virgil’s rising ire. He gave a mocking little bow, pretending to respect the one he’d abducted. “My sincerest apologies.”

He was done playing along with mind games like these. Better to let the human know where they stood right off the bat.

“I’m going to kill you,” Virgil promised, and then lunged for the human’s jugular.

To his genuine surprise, he actually made contact, hands clamping onto the junction between collar and throat. The human let out a high-pitched yelp as his chair toppled over, taking both of them with it.

Virgil landed knee-first on the human’s sternum, and paused to blink down at the wheezing stranger, who apparently had been so confident in the weakness of his victim that he hadn’t bothered to bind Virgil from harming him in advance.

Unless.

His grip loosened slightly, just in time for the human’s fist to catch him squarely in the mouth. He threw himself backwards, rolling with the force of the motion to get some distance and hunkering in a crouch. It had been too long since he’d been active in this form, his sense of balance was in shambles.

The human scrambled to his feet, and grabbed the back of the chair, eyes wild. He thrust it out between them like a barrier, as though it could prevent any more strangulation attempts.

“What is wrong with you?!” he shrieked, voice cracking as his gaze flickered back and forth between Virgil and some far off point. “I tenderly nursed you back to health, and your response is to try and murder me? Unfair! Cruel! Rude!”

“Where is my coat?” Virgil replied, voice hoarse and split lip stinging. A test, because humans were tricky and loved to lie.

“Your— your coat?” The human pulled up short, head tilting slightly in a bewildered manner. A convincing actor, if nothing else. “Is that what all this is about? I put it on the coat hanger to dry! I know better than to try and wash someone’s fancy fur coat without permission, yeesh.”

A low warning growl in the back of his throat, Virgil turned his gaze from the current threat and followed the gesture the human had made.

Sure enough, there it was. His freedom, draped on a peg in the open with all the rest of the human’s fabric outer layers like some common garment.

“Do you… want me to get it— eep!” The human lifted the chair back up in paltry defense as Virgil snarled at him. He rose up and crossed the distance to his pelt in five wobbly strides, before the human could try and return it to him and lock them both into a loveless marriage.

Some of the tension eased from his shoulders as he quickly wrapped his second skin around him, that grounding weight settling back where it belonged. He still couldn’t shift back, not here, but the ocean was close enough to taste in the air.

The human was still huddled defensively by the fireplace, looking indignantly bewildered and not at all like he knew he’d just given up the perfect opportunity to control Virgil.

Which meant that-- barring some incredibly convoluted scheme-- he really had no idea. And Virgil had tried to strangle him, even if under false pretenses. He drew the edges of his pelt closer around him, rolling the beginnings of an apology around in his mind.

The mysterious stranger was still glaring at Roman like they were contemplating continuing to try and strangle him to death at any moment.

He’d brought a half-drowned stranger into his home and tenderly treated their injuries, and what had he received in return for his efforts? A murder attempt, which now that he thought about it was maybe an outcome he should have considered earlier. Remus would never let him live this down.

Assuming he lived long enough for his brother to give him shit about it, that was.

The stranger seemed to at least be a little calmer now that their reclaimed coat was thoroughly wrapped around them, rendering them more lump-shaped than person. Roman felt much more secure in glaring back, too.

He set his impromptu shield/chair down firmly on the floor. “I have no idea what your problem is, Gloomy B. Jones, but where I’m from, the response to someone saving you from dying of hypothermia is ‘thank you’, not a strangulation attempt!”

The murderglare intensified. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Yes,” Roman said, disbelieving, “because you were too busy being unconscious. On the beach. In 40-below temperatures!”

“That’s my problem, not yours,” the stranger responded snappishly.

Roman threw his hands in the air, but his impending frustrated rant was impeded by the sight of a stifled flinch running through the stranger. Feeling a stab of guilt, he lowered his arms slowly before continuing.

“It seems I made it my problem when I dragged your soggy self all the way to my house, so--”

“Great news for you, then: I’m leaving.” Baring their teeth in a distinctly unfriendly manner, the stranger turned to do just that.

“Hold it!” Roman called, alarmed. “You’re going into town like that?! People will think you’re a flasher!” Even his brother wouldn’t go out dressed in nothing but an oversized coat. ... Probably.

The stranger paused, squinting at him warily. Roman took it as a cue to continue.

“Look, clearly we got off on the wrong foot here. Several wrong feet. Let’s try again. I’m Roman Faroe, I work for the local newspaper, and you are…?”

“None of your business,” replied the stranger, with all the stubborn petulance of a toddler digging their heels in and refusing to move whilst smack dab in the middle of an overcrowded supermarket.

“Would you like me to call you ‘Almost-Corpse-I-Dragged-Off-The-Beach?’ Perhaps make up a thematic nickname or two for you? Because let me tell you, this is exactly how you get called--,”

“Hold on,” the stranger cut him off, a realization seeming to dawn on him, “did you say you worked for the news?”

“Yes, I mean, the newspaper not the news. Although I’m sure I’d make an excellent anchor,” Roman gestured to all of himself for effect, “my true passion lies in my carefully curated romantic advice column!”

“So, you get all the information in town,” continued the stranger, who had a strange glint in their eye.

“I mean, if you want to be a nerd about it.”

“How about this.” The stranger stepped forward, straightening out of their defensive slouch for the explicit purpose of being just tall enough to loom over Roman. “You want to know my name? I’ll tell you, if you help me track down something important that I lost.”

An investigative quest for a mysterious MacGuffin? Roman swallowed, feeling his heart flutter wildly with what felt less like intimidation and more like excitement. He could totally keep his cool, he just had to open his mouth and say something suave.

“I also want to know your origin story,” he opened his mouth and babbled instead.

The stranger narrowed their eyes for a moment, and Roman belatedly remembered the near-strangulation. Perhaps he shouldn't be agitating a femme fatale type, what with all the emphasis on the fatale.

To his surprise, it only took a moment before they capitulated, sticking a hand out. “Fine. After my thing gets done.”

Roman shook gladly, trying not to shiver at the cool touch. Had they checked to make sure the stranger wasn’t hypothermic yet? “It’s a deal, then.”

“Great.” They twisted on their heel, stalking to the door. “Let’s get this over with, already.”

“Hold on there, Surly Temple.” Roman called, hand on his hip. “I hate to break it to you, but if you go into town mostly naked, the only news we’ll be hearing about will be your immediate arrest.”

The stranger glanced down at his attire, and then released the door handle with a low sigh. “... Pants first?”

“Pants first.”

#sanders sides #ts virgil #ts roman #selkie AU #bthb #bad things happen bingo #writing #my writing #neither calm nor quiet #ncnq #oneshot #... theoretically #disclaimer: do not do anything roman does here #he is a lucky fool #logan is fine btw #theoretically.#i feel like im forgetting tags. well whatever #selkies

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