#but at the same time holy shit that woman DID HER RESEARCH

[jeanjauthor]

While the storylines eventually veered into weirdness (and according to a few fellow readers I know, the author even ends up violating the canon of her own characters' established thoughts & behaviors), Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, starting with the book Clan of the Cave Bears, does actually provide quite a lot of solid research-based evidence in the worldbuilding she did for the two races in the story.

These are the "Clan" (presumed to be Homo neanderthalensis) and the "Others" (Homo sapiens). The author chose to create a "men as hunters only / women as gatherers only" culture for the Clan, establishing the root cause of this lies in the "inherited memories" of each gender, where they can meditate and learn from the ancestral memories of those who came before them in their biological lineage.

In this case, the daughter of the best medicine woman, who in turn was the daughter of the best medicine woman, stretching back into antiquity, would therefore have an instinctive knowing of herbal & primitive medical techniques as well as whatever she was directly taught, with this direct teaching reinforcing the biologically retained ancestral memories. However, because of the weight of these inherited memories (enhanced instincts), it is actually quite difficult for the Clan to learn new things.

The Others, on the other hand (pun not intended), are presented as being much more mentally flexible. Both women as well as men hunt, both men as well as women gather, and because they are not limiting who does what, they literally have more manpower to gather & process both kinds of resources at any given point in time.

It's a very interesting literary / worldbuilding choice, since while it's clear that Clan and Others are close enough biologically that they can interbreed, they're still presented as being culturally very distinctly different from each other. The Clan (Neanderthals) had gender-segregation based activities that were reinforced by their own biology, while the Others (Modern Humans) were far more flexible, and thus far more able to adapt to wildly fluctuating circumstances. If a Clan family's males were too injured to hunt, they would get no meat. If the females were too injured to gather, they would get no plants to eat. (Both, by the way, are necessary for a truly healthy diet, since all primates in the Homo genus are omnivores.)

However...I do not believe this was the case in actual prehistoric times. I don't know for absolute certain about Homo neanderthalensis, (the studies like the ones above aren't always clear if they're only talking H. sapiens or if they include other branches of humanity) ...but I'm pretty sure both males and females hunted. In fact, it would be necessary, since according to several lines of published research, H. neanderthalensis ate diets that were very animal protein-heavy.

It should also be noted that gender-segregated societies of "hunting vs gathering" are more likely to be found in areas where both game and gatherable edibles are plentiful. If it's easier to hunt and gather, then you can specialize all the more. We know this is the case with groups that develop agriculture, because once a society develops a calorie surplus, their members can specialize all the more. This is most easily done through farming & herding, but it can also be done in areas where there is simply that much abundance.

(The cultures of the Coastal Salish tribes here in Western Washington were quite complex and did indeed arise from a significant calorie surplus each year based on quasi-agricultural farming of tending plants growing in the wild wherever they were found--they had plenty of easily attained food most years, and thus had the leisure time to develop their culture. The main reason why their technology did not advance was due to a lack of understanding of metalsmithing. They did have rare access to metal tools, iron axe blades and the like that had been traded from group to group all the way across the Pacific Rim, from the Chinese to the Aleutians to the Haida to the Salish, etc...but they didn't have knowledge of finding ore, smelting it, and forging tools of their own.)

...The reason why I point out Auel's storytelling is because these books, The Clan of the Cave bear, The Valley of the Horses, etc, started coming out in the 1980s.

Yes, the '80s.

Researchers knew prehistorical women had been buried with hunting tools, and Auel found this information during her masses & oodles of research all the way back then, and incorporated it into her storytelling. Again, I'll say that she made a literary choice to portray the Clan (Neanderthals) as strictly males-hunt-and-females-gather...but her portrayal of Others (Humans) as both genders can hunt and gather was spot-on.

The problem was when she released this information in her novels. the 1980s were literally butted up against the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s. Prior to this point, the whole misogyny / toxic masculinity / toxic patriarchy mindset had stolidly established the false narrative that men-hunted-and-women-gathered...which was based on Victorian attitudes & mindsets when people began trying to study anthropology a bit more seriously....bringing a LOT of prejudices into their observations.

...Basically, if anything is based on research coming from the 1800s, eye it at arm's length with great suspicion, because in most cases it will be biased to hell and back.

These days we have been working for literal decades to try to remove those inherited / inherent biases. These days, we have instructors actively trying to teach how to stop your own biases from impacting your observations. They didn't have that in the early days of anthropology & paleoarcheology & archaeology, etc, etc etc.

This is why Auel's assertions, based on a craptonne of research that she did, literally talking to a wide number of experts, visiting archeology digs, so on & so forth, were so revolutionary...and so overlooked at the time.

The climate for accepting that the majority of hunter-gatherer societies aren't gender-segregated still wasn't quite there just yet, back in the 1980s. So here we are, 40 years later...and people are finally beginning to accept the truth that the archaeological record shows.

We have always hunted. Just as we have always fought. Who gets to record history will always have that recorded history come with biases, unless the historian is very careful about excluding those biases...and we have only been focusing on trying to get more people to do that for the last handful of decades.

Lastly, it should be noted that most modern hunter-gatherer societies will have been influenced at least somewhat by the often patriarchal agricultural societies they interact with on the fringes of their territories...which in turn were influenced by other cultures, etc. It's either a very strong or a very isolated culture that will be able to resist all or most outside influences.

To be frank, a lot of men have over the millennia found a genuine thrill in being able to "lord it over" the other genders, believing that "might makes right" and taking advantage of literal physical strength to impose that social control on others. (Power can corrupt, and all that...and if you let the sociopaths get into positions of power, they will alter the culture around them to stay in power.)

In contrast, in societies where every single member is taught to consider others' needs as dearly as their own, you'll find most of those societies are far more egalitarian than patriarchal, gender-wise. And it's also far easier to be egalitarian when everyone has to pitch in to survive, because it's obvious that everyone is contributing. It is harder for sociopaths to be tolerated in those situations, because they aren't going to share resources with others if they don't have to...but in hunter-gatherer lifestyles, they do have to share, and will be socially punished far more quickly if they don't, compared to agriculturally based societies.

Anyway...researchers have known about women being found in graves with hunting tools for literal decades. The research was strong enough that it was incorporated into a popular pre-history fiction series decades ago. (Admittedly in a "rah rah, H. sapiens is superior to all!" sort of way, but it's not like there are any living H. neanderthalensis around to glare and protest.)

It's just that it's now becoming accepted on a wide scale. So my point to my long-winded ramble is this:

Progress is often only made in baby steps across literal lifetimes, folks...but it is progress.

I genuinely believe that Auel's novels had a definite positive impact on budding archaeology & paleoarchaeology students, and yes, even anthropology students. She put it in writing that women hunted alongside men, and men gathered alongside women, in a series of novels that were based on a lot of actual real-world research. (Social & other details were made up, but whatever could be based on archaeological findings was based on actual findings.)

What we write can impact the world, in both fiction and non-fiction.

Analysis of data from dozens of foraging societies around the world shows that women hunt in at least 79% of these societies, opposing the widespread belief that men exclusively hunt and women exclusively gather. Abigail Anderson of Seattle Pacific University, US, and colleagues presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 28, 2023. A common belief holds that, among foraging populations, men have typically hunted animals while women gathered plant products for food. However, mounting archaeological evidence from across human history and prehistory is challenging this paradigm; for instance, women in many societies have been found buried alongside big-game hunting tools. Some researchers have suggested that women's role as hunters was confined to the past, with more recent foraging societies following the paradigm of men as hunters and women as gatherers. To investigate that possibility, Anderson and colleagues analyzed data from the past 100 years on 63 foraging societies around the world, including societies in North and South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and the Oceanic region. They found that women hunt in 79% of the analyzed societies, regardless of their status as mothers. More than 70% of female hunting appears to be intentional—as opposed to opportunistic killing of animals encountered while performing other activities, and intentional hunting by women appears to target game of all sizes, most often large game. The analysis also revealed that women are actively involved in teaching hunting practices and that they often employ a greater variety of weapon choice and hunting strategies than men.

These findings suggest that, in many foraging societies, women are skilled hunters and play an instrumental role in the practice, adding to the evidence opposing long-held perceptions about gender roles in foraging societies. The authors note that these stereotypes have influenced previous archaeological studies, with, for instance, some researchers reluctant to interpret objects buried with women as hunting tools. They call for reevaluation of such evidence and caution against misapplying the idea of men as hunters and women as gatherers in future research. The authors add, "Evidence from around the world shows that women participate in subsistence hunting in the majority of cultures."

[loganthrives]

RimWorld: Anomaly

I want to tell y'all a story.

So. RimWorld's fourth DLC Anomaly released this week, and for the past two days I've been playing it almost non-stop. I'll put it below the cut because its obviously a crapton of spoilers, but I'm just kind of blown away at how much story this DLC adds to the infamous story generator game.

Like, I have over 4,000 hours in this game and this is the first time that its felt like its telling me an actual story.

Spoilers ahead! TW: child death in the context of this cruel cruel video game:

I had this colonist join named Bristle who was described as a "leathery stranger" with a unique ability - he can blow up animals (and people, presumably) with his mind into hunks of twisted flesh. I said, sure, why not! Join my colony, what's the worst that could happen?!

Well, the worst that could happen is he went and studied a monolith on the beach outside of my base and it teleported him into a strange grey labyrinth. Pretty much just as soon as he got here, he's now trapped in some kinda void maze. Great!

It took me a couple of rooms before I noticed the markings on the floor, so once I realized I could read them I examined every single one I could find.

The messages are... Evocative, but they start giving me names. I'm wondering this whole time, who is Raisa? And who is Tom? I checked all of my colonists - I don't have anyone by either name. Are they people I should know? Or... People I haven't met yet?

Fortunately, because Bristle had literally just joined my colony, he came with his own rifle and 12x fine meals, so he could actually bum around and hang out in the labyrinth for a pretty long time. I ended up mapping out the entire thing before his last 6 meals disappeared from his inventory.

I found a couple rooms with fleshspikes - those are these pink little flesh monsters with a giant protruding spike coming out of their heads? - but thanks to Bristle's ability to explode creatures with his mind, I just... Exploded it.

I also found a couple groves of trees underground, a couple of horses randomly, and some bottomless pits. I was tempted to walk over one just to see what would happen (and savescum out of it ofc), but I didn't end up doing it.

I'm really concerned about Tom and Raisa though. Are they okay? Did they make it out?

I'm especially concerned about Tom. That... Doesn't sound okay.

And then I push through yet another door.

This is Raisa... And Tom.

I gasped out loud in real life. Nora came over to check on me because holy shit, that's so sad. Suddenly their notes makes sense. The obelisk abducted a woman and her child, and they got stuck in here for who knows how long. The wounds they had indicated that a fleshspike had done this to them.

I went to the exit - I had found it earlier, I just wanted to keep exploring. Thankfully, everything that had been left behind was kicked out of the labyrinth with Bristle when it collapsed on itself and the obelisk itself vanished from sight.

Including Raisa and Tom. I had to give them a proper burial. Wish I could've done more.

The messages were all from Raisa after she lost her son Tom.

I had done the two researchers one ghoul story start because I wanted to dive right into the DLC, and one of those researchers, Rose, arrived pregnant. Baby Thorn is almost three years old and still doesn't have a name.

Its kind of funny, because when I first landed she idly wandered near the monument, and I had one of those gamer coincidences where she walked by it right at the same time I got the notification that she was pregnant.

So I wound up continuing this colony even though it was a crap start, thinking I'd get some kind of void baby out of the deal? Nope, normal baby, normal birth. He's just chilling in his crib being looked after by the whole community as happy as can be. She must've been pregnant on the screen where I selected her for my colony and I just missed that detail.

Another funny thing about this kid, is that his father is Unknown, and apparently Rose's ex was the ghoul Kaito that I also started with. So, presumably, it was her ghoul (ex) husband's son, but the game's code doesn't seem to be able to link him as the other parent, either because he's a ghoul or because it happened as part of the game's starting conditions. Also she's actually gay on her character sheet, so I dunno how that worked for them? Ehh, I'm not gunna judge.

Anyways, I'm thinking about naming him Tom.

Here's hoping he has a long and full life.

[strykingback]

My Reply to Stop The Hate 2.0

Okay so I know I prompted to stay quiet about this one anti/RWDER but you know what screw it. When I saw what they were posting yes it left me a bit disturbed, but also the fact that he was liking some incredibly wild shit. But one post caught my attention the most and it was and I quote: "Stop The Hate 2.0." So I took a read at it and little to know surprise in the words of Genji from Overwatch.... I'm not impressed. and surprisingly this person needs no introduction I'll just get right into the nitty gritty of this poor individual who has entered the Thunderdome. papitimefire177.

Before I continue with this, I just want to immediately say this: Please for the love of god and all things holy. DO NOT WITCHHUNT Do not send any anon hate just do what I did. Block and Move On. Anywho lets get into it.

This individual here first off says things such as calling people who criticize Jaune (ala Jaune Haters) as fucking stupid and categorizes them all as he quotes: Fucking Morons and how we bitch about "made up stuff that is not true."

Okay, first things first is Jaune has basically stolen a lot of screentime from RWBY. How much? Over around 5,489 Hours of Screentime. Which is one hour thirty-one minutes and twenty-nine seconds (Counting from Volumes 1-6) And oh do please use this chart here. Special thank you to Emotional-Feed 5489 on the r/RWBYCritics subreddit for going through hell and back to get these results.

Further note- This is only going from Volumes 1-6, Seven is not included since he did not get any screentime until Volume's Eight and Nine.

Secondly, Jaune really began to grind my gears when Volume six had to reinforce the fact that Pyrhha is gone. Okay. We get it already Pyrrha is dead and Jaune is literally mourning her still. At this point lets just get it over and done with and move on. Yes, I am fully aware that Pyrrha's death has lingered heavily for him but at the same time it does not take you three entire volumes to take a deep breath in and a deep breath out to carry on.

What really set me off was in Volume nine after, Ruby who had one of if not the MOST SATISFYING mental breakdown scenes and calling out her teammates (Especially Yang) for being horrendous teammates when throughout that whole volume Ruby was going through the shitter, only for Jaune to steal it all the way cause "I suffered more than you have."

Yes Jaune as if you have the whole world on your shoulders? Like dude grow the fuck up. Because you are also talking to someone who is fifteen years old (once again this could be the case of time goes forward but the characters don't age trope.)

Then right after Ruby literally "Ascends" by drinking the tea. It's time for more Jaune angst cause he's going through it more than Ruby did?! It took Weiss, Yang, and Blake almost the entire volume to care about Ruby but it took them just a few minutes in an episode to hug Jaune for his "angst" fuck that.

Now moving on. Of course lots of people do write him out of their stories but some people do keep him only for him to have atleast one or two arcs depending on the writer of course and have him die or keep him around to develop him better than what RT's writers could do. Once more his historical allusion is to the legendary female knight Joan of Arc and I have spoken with a few friends of mine who did have plans for their RWBY Re:Write to have him transition into a woman to better fit the allusion and have him die a hero.

Gee it's not like I have MADE A POST ABOUT THIS.

Also furthermore I did do some research trying to find that "Jaune Arcless" video paptimefire177 talked about in their Stop The Hate 2.0 message. Instead I didnt find jack diddly shit at all. So I can only assume they pulled that out of their ass to try and get their point across as they go on to say that Who wants that because Removing Jaune is fucking stupid.

Which as my counterpoint. Lots of people do want Jaune to be out of the picture whether if relegated to side-character status for him to not be so damn annoying where he wont step in whenever characters like Oscar for example who in Volume 6 got a wardrobe change and some development only for it to be stolen away for a fucking statue sequence.

Or how at the end of Volume eight he could have healed up Penny and got her across the gate to Atlas so that way she could also have the relic with her. Nope lets have him kill her so he can have angst in Volume nine!

And lastly he goes off on a rant stating how Jaune Haters are pathetic along with the hate for Jaune and stating how people who hate Jaune need to wear diapers and go back to the basement we have come from.

Okay Papi. since you wanna ball. We're gonna ball. You are the pathetic one seriously do you really think people are going to follow you? You who have used ableist language against someone calling them a slur in DM's no less. Want proof?

Or how you claim to not be a race fetishist but at the same time you liked this.

WARNING RACEPLAY BELOW

(When I looked back in there again to find this man in the likes section of this post I could not find his name but earlier when I did my first post of Jaune Arc A Horrendous Example of A Knight. I did see his name amongst those likes)

Lets also not forget that you would happily block evade through your other accounts as well. Now then are you listening there amigo? Cause I can keep this shit up if you arent too busy. Oh wait, whats that?

You claim RWDE has made as you quoted yourself: "Sends Death Threats, Suicide Bait, False Accusations, Being general assholes, Bitches about everything"

Really then? Where is your evidence? What is your source where made those bold accusations from?

So papitimefire177 do me a favor and go outside, touch some grass, walk around take in nature itself. Instead of trying to start fights with your raceplaying ableist ass... cause guess what. Ain't nobody got time for that.

And if you do plan on replying, you aint gonna be sayin' shit so whats it gonna be!?

[deeptrashwitch]

*wakes up from her sleep*

Holy shit! A Villian!Alicia AU-! No, no a Villian!Specters AU

Guuuys! Listen!!

Taglist: @alypink @stuffireadandenjoy @snootlestheangel @islandtarochips @raresvtm

@piouswolf @midnight193 @mutantthedark @justasmolbard @welldonekhushi

@tapioca-milktea1978 @imagoddamnonionmason

So get this...

During her last day captured: What if Alicia didn't tap the code that alerted the rescue teams that she was alive? What if she simply killed Carabalí and let the world think of her as dead? What if she decides that, since someone from the military betrayed her and her people, she'll burn them all? And she just takes over Carabalí's business even before Red Dragon appears in scene, making herself one of the most ruthless and coldest woman inside the underworld.

And yet, she feels sadness for betraying what she believed and what her family taught her.

Like that she will take over especially the mercenary market, she'll get the best mercenary and over all the best weapons she can deal with. Slowly she'll become the biggest weaponry dealer around the world until two years later, Red Dragon appears and at the same time, she gets her hands over the boys. The first one, ironically, will be Elijah.

What if one day Elijah simply gets tired of everything...and he snaps? That's how Alicia will find him, staring down at the cold bodies of the superiors that so much damage they caused at him. She will offer her hand and give him a place with her, and like that, the only thing remaining of him that night was his dogtags under the mud. That night, Delta joins Origin.

And just a week later, all the information about what the dead officers did will be leaked out. All their sins will be out at the light.

The next one will be Luke, but I'll twist a part of his story to make him find his way to the team. During Operation Ironfist, that will be happening later than it did, it all went as the original one did, but the change will come as soon as the place collapses. Instead of looking for him, his team left him behind. A man abandoned, wounded and filled of rage, because in any universe, Luke is loyal too.

For days, if not weeks, he roams around the world without a place to crash. Soon Alicia reaches towards him and she gets her right hand man. Harlem rises as well.

Then Marcus and Alexander will come in a pair, friends from before. Two Marines that ditched for personal reasons and that simply are trying to protect Keyra from the shadows. Soon they hear about Origin and the power she has, probably the only opportunity to shield her and at the same time shield themselves. Poison and Hawk join too.

The next one would be Nicholas, who, tired of not fitting anywhere and being treated as nothing else than a part of some supposed machinery, flees and simply starts working on his own to some sketchy people to intervene comms. It'll call Alicia's attention, and after following his work and him for a while...she extends her hand. She'll offer him a place to fit in, to be part of, and where to work as one of them.

Clover arrives as well.

After him, Eliiot will come. A man that feels how the military doesn't present a highlight or challenge to his supposed unbeatable intelligence. He'll become more reckless during the missions until he and his team go against them. Then Luke will be the one to completely crush his pride and arrogance to the point it'll be like seeing a shell of himself. And at that state, Alicia will offer him to join, promising challenges and using his crushed pride against him.

Wouldn't he like to be better and beat anyone that dares to stand against him? Then show the world his intelligence? Make them all see how he's one made for the spotlight? And like that, Pride joins them too.

After him, Noah would join. He would have been researching on Elijah's sudden disappearence and apparent drop out. During his research, he'll come across with Elijah himself. And Elijah, out of pure emotion and a bit of thankfulness for Noah's tries to help, speaks with Alicia about him and what he does as part of the SEAL 5. Of course it calls Alicia's attention, a demolition expert would be marvellous to have near her.

She will ask Elijah to offer Noah to join them, giving him permission to offer him subtle protection for his family and even use his own guilt against him. And of course Elijah does, making Noah join them while slowly manipulating him to believe they're doing better. Cobalto joins them.

Next one would be Francis, a young and ideallistic man that only needs some pushes to convince him to join. Especially after a bad misson that might cost him a lot, it'd be Noah who would approach him to speak with him. And after some time, he'll meet with Alicia herself, that would be actually kind to him since Francis reminds him somehow of her own sister's attitude. (Also, it's not like she's a complete bitch with the boys...simply a bit colder for now.)

After a while, and involving a lot of manipulation as well, Viper would join them as well. He'd be the one in charge of planning the routes for the ambushes and raids for merchandise.

Next, Jackson. This time, since the Specters aren't formed, he would continue working with the SEAL 3 and inside the carriers until his mind and trauma make him unable to keep working there. When he retires the Navy, Luke will approach him and offer him a place with them, twisting their main objective to make it look more like they are mercenaries. And since Alicia decided to keep her identity a secret for the most part and uses a mask because of that, Jackson only knows her name and the attitude towards all of them...which kinda helps him to not be paralized by his fear. So, Doc arrives as well.

And lastly. Edward Jackson, Eager.

This one will be the most difficult one to convince, especially because he will intercept a couple of ships from Alicia. However, since he doesn't know who's behind all that and thinks that Alicia is dead, then she'll be the one speaking with him. She'll go personally towards him to speak in person.

The only reason she'll tell him who she is, is for manipulating him with their friendship. Because, if she's alive, where is the rest of the 267? There is where Alicia will tell her story using it at her favor. She will tell him about the ambush, that she was captured and escape. After that, she'll plant the seed of doubt.

Who gave Carabalí the information? Why? Was it because the 267 was a threat? How far would they go to keep the teams under control? What else can they do to anyone related to their target?

"How are you sure you aren't the next one, Eddie? They'll do to you the same they did to me, and you know it, right?"

The Specters are complete.

Edward would doubt more than anyone, mostly becauze he still have faith about what he does. That until Alicia gives him a pair of dogtags that belonged to one of the guys from the 267. And that will be one of the few times where Alicia actually shows what she feels, a mix of anger and sadness. Then he'll accept. Eager is on board.

And the potential for Alicia and Alejandro's reunion! Or even an encounter between her and her family! AHHHH-!

[bbymunsonx]

The Last Time (Ted's Version)

Chapter Eight

chapter warnings: language, talk about abuse

word count: 2.2k

Ted's been exceptionally quiet since him and his wife separated, which is completely understandable. It's been a few days and we've only said a couple words to each other. He wasn't being rude or anything, just sad.  

I would love to do nothing more than to comfort him, even in a purely platonic way. I just wanted him to know he wasn't alone, but I could never find a good time to approach him. 

I was sitting in Rebecca's office as Rebecca, Keeley and I discussed all the men in our lives. 

"Have you guys seen the articles? What kind of fucking bullshit is "Old Rebecca?" Rebecca exclaimed. Rebecca's ex-husband, Rupert, started dating another woman named Rebecca. Since she's about forty years younger than Rupert, the press has been having a field day with calling our Rebecca, "old Rebecca". It's a bunch of misogynistic bullshit. God forbid the press ever call Rupert out for the asshole that he is. They always just blame the woman.

"Exactly what you said. Fucking bullshit." Keeley reached over and held Rebecca's hand, and I put my hand on top of hers.

"Richmond ladies have to stick together." I rubbed their hand with my thumb as I smiled. 

"Alright, enough about me, what is it I hear about you shagging Roy Kent?" Rebecca excitedly said. 

"We've only shagged a few times. And he's bloody good at it." Keeley blushed. 

Rebecca and I both let out high pitched ooo's at the same time. 

"Well, did Lacy tell you who she was pining over?" Keeley said while giggling. 

"Keeley!" I yelled.

"Well, who is it?" Rebecca was beyond intrigued. 

"You can't tell anyone," I began before someone knocked on the door, and in entered Ted. Right on queue. 

"Good morning, Boss," I exclaimed while handing her a box of biscuits. "Keeley. Lacy." 

"Hi, Ted." Keeley waved. 

"Thank you, Ted." Rebecca said as she took the biscuits. "Is everything all set for our new player?"

"Yes, ma'am. Mr. Rojas is going to be very pleased." Ted smiled. 

"That's what I like to hear." Rebecca replied. I've done a lot of research about Dani Rojas the past few days and he seems like a golden retriever dressed up as a man. The other players are going to eat him alive. 

"Lace, did you wanna come down and help us welcome him?" Ted looked over at me. 

"Yes, of course. I'll meet you down there in a minute." I smiled. 

"Alrighty, I'll see you ladies later," Ted waved goodbye as Rebecca and Keeley said their goodbyes. My eyes were following Ted as he was leaving when Rebecca gasped. 

"Holy shit! You're in love with Ted!" She pointed at me. 

I scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

"Keeley, did you see the way she was looking at him? She's either clearly in love with him or just wants to fuck him."

"Or both." Keeley whispered. 

"Okay, goodbye," I laughed as I got up to leave. 

"See! She didn't say no!" Rebecca yelled as I was leaving. 

I walked out to the pitch to meet Ted and Beard on the sidelines as they were waiting for Dani to come. After a few minutes of waiting we hear someone come running out behind us screaming. That must be Dani. 

Out runs Dani, enthusiastic and energetic, exactly what I was expecting from all the articles I read. 

"Boys, meet Dani Rojas. Dani, welcome to Richmond," Ted greeted Dani, who was still jogging in place from all the energy. Jamie was automatically on guard around Dani, fearing that his spot on the team may be jeopardized. 

As the boys were training, Ted had gotten a phone call from Henry. Henry was super excited to see a new player on the team. He loved learning about all the players. 

"Alright, buddy, I will. I love you too. Bye-bye," Ted said on the phone before hanging up and looking over at me. "Henry says hello and that he misses you. Seems like you have your first fan."

I laughed out loud. "What can I say? The boy has good taste. Soon others will begin to follow." Ted laughed in response. 

After watching the boys train for a little, I went back into my office and make a post on the teams social media pages officially welcoming Dani to the team. As I was reading through the comments, Ted comes barging into my office. 

"We may have a slight issue," He groaned. 

"What happened?" I immediately jumped up. 

"He's hurt."

"Who's hurt, Ted?" My tone was a little annoyed. 

"Dani."

"How the fuck did he get hurt? He just got here." I was so confused. 

"Roy had told me that he saw him working out in the treatment room this morning before training. Apparently, in all the time we've been here, they've all failed to mention the treatment room was cursed." Ted explained. 

"What do you mean cursed?"

"Roy said that anytime someone trains in the treatment room, they always end up injured." Ted continued. 

"Oh, that's great." I threw my hands up in the air. I was a very spiritual person, so the thought of a curse wasn't outlandish to me. "What are we gonna do?"

"I was thinking late tonight, we all meet back here and do a ritual, something to bond the team together. I'm telling everyone to bring someone that means a lot to them to sacrifice for the sake of the team. Since you're a part of the team, I'm hoping you'll participate. Maybe get Rebecca and Keeley to come down too."

"Yeah, Teddy, of course I'll be there." I smiled. I realized this was the first time I called him Teddy in a while. 

"That'll mean a lot to the boys. Meet Beard and I outside of the flats at nine and we'll head over." Ted said before walking away. That'll mean a lot to the boys, but not to him? 

***

It was exactly nine when I exited my flat and met Beard and Ted out front of my flat. They both had something in brown bags that they were going to sacrifice. They wouldn't tell me what they were bringing so I'm going to keep my item a secret, too. 

We met all the other players in the locker room. Even Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins showed up. Ted began to talk to everyone, "Thank you all for coming tonight. Not only are we breaking the curse, but we are also bonding as a team. See this here trashcan? One by one, we are going to put our items in the trashcan and then set it on fire, thus breaking the curse. My mom always told me not to set things on fire but I think Mama Lasso will let this slide one time." 

Everyone started to put items into a trashcan. Roy put in his childhood blanket, Higgins put in his recently deceased cats collar, Jamie put in a pair of football boots that his mom gave him, and Rebecca put in the newspaper that called her "Old Rebecca".

It was Ted's turn, so he walked up to the trash can and opened his paper bag. "For my sacrifice, I'm putting in my wedding ring. As most of you know, my wife, or I guess ex-wife, are getting a divorce. I'm so grateful for the time we had together, but I'm also grateful for the opportunity to grow in the future." After he said that, he threw his ring in the trash. I rubbed his shoulder, consoling him because I knew that must've been really hard for him. 

Lastly, it was my turn. 

"For my sacrifice, I'm gonna put in this framed picture of my ex-boyfriend and I. I honestly think it's quite embarrassing that I brought this anyway. But I think I always latched onto our relationship, even when I knew it was over. He- he didn't treat me well. That's why I came here. For the fresh start. I love all you guys and I am just, really excited for a new beginning." I sadly smiled as I placed the picture in the trash. 

I looked around me and all the boys looked like they were all on the verge of tears. They all came around me and engulfed me in a group hug. Ted and Roy were both latched onto me the tightest. 

"Alright, alright. Let's just burn this shit." I laughed so I didn't cry. I only knew these guys for a couple months and I truly had so much love for them. 

We dragged the trash can outside and set it ablaze. We all stood around the trash can fire and looked into it as it burned. 

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Jamie came up behind me. 

"Yeah, sure." I groaned on the inside when I walked off to the side with him. Ted's glance went from the fire to watching me leave with Jamie. 

"I just wanna say I'm so sorry about what happened to ya, with your boyfriend and all. I know I didn't treat you right when you first came here and I shouldn't have done that. I just wanna start fresh, yeah?" Jamie seemed genuinely apologetic. 

"Yeah, Jamie. Of course," I reached up for hug. I could tell during the past few weeks that Jamie was starting to become less of a prick. He'll always be a prick, that's just who he is to his core, but I could tell he was trying to change. 

"We're good, yeah?" He asked. 

"Yeah, we're good, prick." I laughed. I dragged him back to the fire. All the other guys were drinking and having a fun time, while Ted was staring daggers into the fire just taking sips out of his beer. 

I celebrated with Roy and Keeley while Ted mostly talked to Coach Beard for the remainder of the evening. 

"He keeps looking over at you, babe." Keeley nudged at me. 

"I know," I smirked. As I said that, Ted walked over to us. 

"Can I steal her for a second?" Ted asked Keeley. 

"Be my guest," Keeley responded. 

"Don't call the cops! I promise I'll pay for her when I get back." Ted joked with Keeley causing me to roll my eyes. Ted and I walked to the sidelines and both of us took seats in the technical area. 

"As you would say, what's on your noggin?" I asked Ted, shooting him a smile. 

"I just wanted to say I'm so extremely sorry about what happened with Julian. As someone who knew him well, I didn't know he was like that." Ted softened his eyes as he spoke to me. 

"It's okay, Ted. You didn't know. He's good at making it seem like he's the good guy." I laughed at how pathetic he was. 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Ted asked. It might help if I opened up to Ted, especially as someone who knows Julian. 

"He was my high school sweetheart. I was the prom queen and he was prom king, ya know? Bullshit like that. Well, about three months before we graduated, my parents died in a really bad accident. I had no where else to go, so I stayed with Julian and his family.  I guess that's where he realized how much power he had over me. It started with him making sure I didn't see my friends. Then it escalated to me not being able to really talk to anyone when we were out. It ended with him hitting me. I mean, I guess I shouldn't sugar coat it. He beat the shit out of me. I just never had the money, or the guts, to leave. He always told me that if I ever left him that he would just find me and bring me back. That I'll never be able to leave him and he'll always be a shadow right behind me. That's why I immediately took the job when the Dean told me about Rebecca's offer. He was out with his friends, so I just packed my essentials and left. I don't plan to ever look back. I don't think I've ever been happier." I sadly smiled. Ted hadn't taken his attention off of me the entire time. 

"Just know one thing," Ted held my hands in his, "You will always be safe here and you will always have a home with us." 

The two of us just sat in the technical area watching the team have a blast by the fire. I sat there smiling to myself, thinking about how full my heart was. Even if Ted and I were to remain friends, I will forever be grateful for his friendship and the kindness he's shown me. 

***

The next morning, I was sitting at my desk doing some work when Ted burst into my office. 

"Rebecca is out of line. She cannot get away with this." He stated. He was furious. 

"Ted, breathe. What happened?" I grabbed onto his shoulders so he'd focus. 

"She traded him. Jamie. He went back to Man City."

"She what?!" I gasped. 

Just as Jamie started making progress with everyone on the team, including me, he's gone. 

authors note: sorry this chapters a bit of a filler! the next two chapters are literally so long and filled with drama I'm so excited to fix them up and bit and get them posted! I actually cried writing them so get your tissues ready hehe thank you all so much for the support you've shown my writing so far. it means so much :)

taglist: @nerdgirljen

[sun-lit-roses]

The Torment of Tantalus

Woohoo, I’m on a roll! The last episode really made me want some more Stargate, so let’s see what Season 1, Episode 11 will bring. Is it greedy to ask for another new planet?

Are they turning the stargate by HAND?

Ah, old timey stargating.

Hey, Daniel’s as impressed as I am!

Two days of tests?? Jack, I would also be doing anything at all to avoid that.

Woah, that doesn’t look a record of a failure to me!

Wait, where are the old timey team going? Are they in a diving suit? Well, one guy. That’s not going to work.

Nope, that sure didn’t work.

Back to the present! Holy shit indeed, Jack.

And who is this lady?

Catherine! 

Who’s Catherine?

Someone who Daniel told about the stargate. Wait, who already knew about the stargate?

Oh good, old timey misogyny.

Earnest, the woman just solved your gate problem while looking stunning and giving you a neck rub. If you don’t snatch her up, I will.

Wait, was she part of the people researching it before Jack, et al started going through?

Is Daniel supposed to just pop a secret recording into any old VCR? Or remove it from base? I know it’s been declassified, but that doesn’t exactly mean let’s have a movie night.

So she worked on the stargate and brought Daniel in?

Ah hah, he isn’t supposed to be sharing this. This will not go well.

Nope, this isn’t going well.

Aw, Jack knows Catherine as well!

Did Jack just call the General a teddy bear?

She did used to run the program!

Rescue mission time!

Sam, too? Everyone knows Catherine!

Aw, the General is a teddy bear. No man left behind.

Wait, if she worked on the stargate, why has she never seen it in action? Or gone through it? I’m a little fuzzy on the time line.

Jack isn’t going to kick her through like Sam, is he?

Oh no, much nicer. I would like to know everyone’s backstory with Catherine. They all seem to love her!

Looks very abandoned.

Earnest? Hello, Earnest?

Is that man naked? Wait is that Earnest?

Sam’s little duck out of the way is priceless 😂 Don’t want a hug from the naked guy, Sam?

Wait, what was that? I was kind of expecting some sort of emotional reunion?

Exactly, Catherine! Fifty years and she gets that??

Oh man, he’s been stranded here alone for fifty years? That’s horrifying. What’s he been doing for food?

Is there some sort of alien who’s been masquerading as Catherine? Or has he just been hallucinating?

This is very heart wrenching, but maybe they should first take him back, get him some clothes, maybe an extensive amount of therapy?

Also this castle does not look very stable.

Wait, that’s what DHD stands for? Dial Home Device?

Welp, guess that is not going to dial home, whatever it’s called.

Is there an alternative, can they turn it by hand?

Once again, Sam to the rescue! Hopefully!

Cool! Four aliens races! I like the idea of a Space UN.

Pretty floaty things!

Pretty floaty atoms, apparently.

Atoms as the universal language - chemists will be very smug.

That is very cool, but I’m with Jack. Learning the secrets of the universe won’t help very much if they’re all dead.

Ooo that’s a very creaky roof.

And we have power!

Briefly.

Jack to the rescue!

That DHD is definitely not DHD-ing again.

You know, if they need power now that the DHD is a giant hole in the floor, that library thing with the pretty floaty atoms looked like it had power - at least the middle glowed red. Glowing red thing probably means power. Oh, I bet Daniel would not be happy if that’s the solution.

Uh oh, it looks like this delegation came to the same conclusion that I did.

...and Daniel is not happy.

Yes! Some fire stick action!

Although it doesn’t seem to have done much. Et tu episode? Why are you all thwarting my love of the fire stick?

Ben Franklin thing? They’re going to fly a kite?

Ah, rig up a lightning rod. And pray a lot, it sounds like. 😬

Earnest is talking a lot more now! Must have just been rusty.

Aw, here’s the emotional reunion I was looking for 💛 ‘Sometimes what we already possess has more worth.’

I can appreciate the excitement of this discovery, but Daniel is being more than a little short-sighted and selfish here.

I like this talk between Earnest and Daniel, too. ‘No prize is worth attaining if it cannot be shared.’

Good, finally listening to reason and evacuating!

Oh no, are they going to make it?!

Yay, there they are!

The gate looks tired.

No more Space UN. You know, if they had to abandon that location because of the instability, they probably built a new one. Buck up, Daniel!

Hugs for everybody! Except Sam. I hope someone remembers to hug her as well.

Rating:  🔘🔘🔘🔘 

4/5 Gates Interesting premise, I liked Catherine just as much as everyone in the show did and I hope she comes back, Daniel annoyed me but I’m glad he didn’t die and it does seem like it’s in-character for him to lose sight of the big picture based on the episodes so far, Sam got to genius, and there was even a tiny bit of fire stick action! I’m wondering if I should adjust my scoring, but this episode and the last were good times.

[imfearlessfics]

Chapter 2: The Beginning

Song: No Celestial by LESSERAFIM

Pairing: Yunjin x female reader

Genre: Fluff, funny, romance

Warnings: Mentions of anxiety and panic attack, explicit language

Word count: 1.2k

3 years earlier …

Holy shit. 

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit, that’s Huh Yunjin. 

Can bi-panic be a thing? I guess that wouldn’t make sense if I like men and women because liking a man is to be expected but so is liking a woman, but I’ve never dated a woman so would this classify as bi-panic? I mean if I really break it down - 

God, even my internal ramblings are insufferable. Pull it together, y/n.

But honestly, how can I? Has there ever been a more perfect human? She’s stunning. I’m halfway across a giant building, and I can see that clear as day. The long brown hair with just the right amount of wave to give it an “I-woke-up-like-this” look, but I know it took at least two stylists to make it curl like that. The cute bags under her eyes that make her that much more precious. The button nose that scrunches up when she laughs. And that smile. 

My goodness, that smile is everything. Bright and perfect and angelic and … can a smile even be angelic? I’ve never seen an angel; How would I know what their smiles look like? Do angels smile? I mean I say I’ve never seen an angel, but looking at her, I just - 

God dammit, there I go again. 

How can she make me this flustered from across the room? I’ve never even met the woman. 

Wait. I’ve never met her, but I very well could! I’ll be working in the same building as her. What if I bump into her in the hallways? What if we lock gazes in the cafeteria? What if we like to go on walks at the same time every morning and we end up awkwardly running into each other every single day and then -

Stay cool, y/n. You didn’t come all the way to South Korea to have a meltdown on the first day. 

I haven’t always wanted to travel. In fact, I spent most of my life preparing for the ordinary. Mortgages, tax returns, sensible footwear … But after COVID, I got an itch I just couldn’t scratch. There was so much world to see, and despite sometimes feeling invincible in my 20’s, tomorrow is never promised. So I dove right into the deep end. I started taking Korean classes at the local university, did mind-numbing amounts of research, and just did the thing. 

As simple as I try to make it sound, though, I’ve never done something more challenging. My self-esteem was buried six feet under for the longest time. I took up as little space as possible, spoke quietly and only when spoken to, and I just felt stuck. My insecurities were chains that kept me trapped in a cycle of hopelessness. I fell into a funk and almost gave up on the whole thing. Korean was kicking my ass, applying for jobs in a different continent was so confusing, and I constantly questioned if I was good enough to make content for such a big company.

And then I heard LESSERAFIM for the first time, and everything just clicked. The powerful lyrics, their work ethic, the transparency of their journey - I saw myself in them, and I got a new rush of inspiration to follow my dreams. 

It’s been two years of non-stop grinding, but I am now standing in the lobby of Hybe (holy shit), getting ready to start my first day as a content creator for Source Music. It sounds too good to be true, but trust me when I say that years of hard work, dedication, and -

Oh my god, why is she closer than she was a couple of minutes ago? Oh my god she is walking in my direction. My direction? It’s not really my direction, I don’t own it or anything. The direction that I’m in? Towards the general vicinity? 

Y/n, shut up and focus. 

“Annyeonghaseyo” Did she just say hi to me? Why are my lips not fucking moving? Say something - anything! What was the point of all those Korean lessons if you can’t say one freaking -

“Annyeonghaseyo. Mwohsseul deulilkkayo?” Why is someone asking me what I want? Oh …

Her (gorgeous) smile is for the barista. At the cafe. That I’m currently standing right next to. I forgot I was grabbing a coffee before the introductory meeting. I also forgot to pick my jaw up off the floor as she walked by, so I probably look like I’m losing oxygen right by the freakin’ latte machine. 

I love when I play it cool. Just love it. 

I quickly grab my cup that’s been sitting there for goodness knows how long and shuffle to the elevators. Dying from embarrassment wasn’t on the list of things to do on my first day, but we love a good plot twist. 

The ride up to the 4th floor is agonizing. I don’t know when the nerves started kicking in, but I can feel it building in my chest. Come on, y/n. Not today. Please not today. 

I’ve had anxiety since I can remember, but years of therapy have helped me come up with ways to lessen the blow when my brain decides to have a cortisol rager. Deep breaths, counting backwards from 100, tucking my knees to my chest. They’ve all worked to an extent, but the thing that brings me back to earth the quickest is something my mom taught me when I was young. 

“Put your hand over your heart, y/n. Close your eyes, and say ‘I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m safe.’ Think of the things that bring you peace, and don’t stop until you understand that you’re not in danger.” Years of therapy, and this works better than just about anything. 

I look at my reflection in the elevator doors. Brown, curly hair, brown eyes, and a whopping 5’4” - average. That’s what I always thought about myself, but I’m starting to realize the beauty in my figure. I have thick thighs with beautiful stretch marks and a tummy that sticks out ever so slightly. “That’s a full belly, sweetheart. And it’s beautiful,” my mom used to say. My hair is just as stubborn as I am, with curls that get tangled if someone even breathes near me. But my favorite feature is my tattoo. A red snake that runs the length of my right arm. It’s easy to think I got it just cuz I’d look badass, and while I absolutely do look badass, it’s more than that. Red is the color of passion and love, and snakes represent transformation and creativity. I spent my whole life doubting myself - doubting that I’d ever amount to anything great. But in the last couple of years, I’ve realized how much power I truly hold. I refuse to spend any more energy believing that I’m not worth it, and this tattoo represents that growth. 

Existential thoughts in the Hybe elevator … take it down a couple notches, y/n.

I place my hand over my chest just like my mom said, and repeat the mantra. “I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m safe.” I’m interrupted when I hear the ding of the elevator, and I cautiously step out. I’ve officially made it to the first day of the rest of my life.  

__________________________________________________________

Hi everyone! Hope you like chapter 2:) It's not super exciting, but I wanted to give some backstory to the main character!

[popfishjr]

Killers Will Be Killers (Part 3)

Warnings: murder, as usual

Note: holy shit I survived

Previous

Next

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"Leo Lazarus... Leo Lazarus... Leo Lazarus... Le-" Miles suddenly shot up from the ground that he was previously lying on, mumbling to himself. He scrambled to his desk and grabbed the magazine he had boasted about earlier, damn near crumpling it with his excitement. He flipped to the third page, and there it was.

Homicide detective, Miles Cadet solves the murders of his late parents, Zoe and Rio Cadet, and local journalist, Joanna Lazarus.

Joanna Lazarus! That must be it! Researching Joanna shouldn't be too hard, considering she wrote fairly decent papers. Researching a nobody would be much harder. Joanna was all over Google. She was well-known before she was killed, and when she was, she got even more attention. Soon, Miles found out that she had a son, Leo Lazarus. He ran away a few days after his mother was killed and has been off the grid ever since. He also found out that Joanna had a sister too. Hailey. At least she wasn't off-grid. Miles called Jean to inform her that he was going to Hailey's house and that she should visit Noah's family while he's there.

"Uh, can you explain again why you're going there?" Jean asked

"To get clues on where Leo might be," the detective replied.

"But, shouldn't you be investigating Jane's case?" She paused. "Ohhh, I get it. Was it too hard for you, and now you're using this as an excuse to take a break from it?" 

"You are one insult away from starting a war. Shut up or you'll regret it." He hung up the phone.

-

After some research on the address, Miles arrived at Hailey's house. The lights were off, but as he approached, he heard noises coming from the crack under the door. He pressed the doorbell and waited patiently. No answer. He tried again by knocking. Still no answer. 

Oh well.

Miles slowly turned the doorknob, and to his surprise, the door swung wide open. Now he knew what the noises were. It was music. Or more specifically, "Tell me whyyy! Ain't nothin' but a heartache..."

"What the hell?" Miles muttered. Through the darkness of the house, he could make out a figure slouching on the sofa, but when he stepped closer, he realised that the white sofa was soaked through with fresh blood, staining it dark red. He noticed the body was mutilated in the same way Jane's body was. The body was that of a woman. She had long, ebony hair and a pale, angular face, drained of blood. But her most defining feature was a slit neck, so deep you could see the spinal cord peeking out. Miles' hand instinctively went for the gun on his belt, his face turning white with dread when he grasped nothing but air. 

"Shit," Miles cursed. How could he have forgotten to bring his goddamn firearm? And what was up with this song?

"Backstreet Boys," said a voice coming from behind Miles. "But, I doubt you listen to music."

The detective spun around, but without his gun, he felt exposed and vulnerable. Perhaps he never should've come here. "Who are you?"

"Oh, come on. Use that big detective brain of yours and take a guess." 

There was a pause. "Leo," Miles answered, alarm bells going off in his head.

"Ding, ding, ding!" Leo had a Cheshire grin on his face. "I didn't try that hard to conceal my identity anyway."

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Miles held his awkward stance. It was hard to be intimidating without a weapon. Leo had the upper hand here. He had a dagger, and that was all he needed to finish off Miles.

He chuckled. "I keep tabs on police and detective activity, Miles." The way Leo spoke his name sent chills down Miles' spine. "I mean, how else do you think I hid from the police for so long?"

"Why did you kill Hector?" Miles was trying to stall for time. It was the only thing he could do. Should he take his chances and run out the door? Or should he pounce at Leo? No, scratch that. Only idiots would do that.

"You're a curious one, aren't you? Revenge. It's obvious. You should understand, Miles. He killed your parents too."

"Killing isn't the way to do it, Leo!"

"Well, I've got my own opinions on how to do things." The whole situation was quite amusing to Leo, with "I Want It That Way" playing in the background. 

"Why don't you just kill me?"

"Trust me, I would. But, consider me sparing your life as a gift for arresting Hector. Sure made my job a hell of a lot easier." 

"Then, why are you here?"

"To convince you to stop trying to find me. I would much rather not have a detective following my trail, thank you," the killer chuckled. He looked down, his brown hair brushing against his forehead. "But of course, I'm not stupid enough to try to convince you. Just know that I have all of Jean Wilson's personal information. Don't try anything unless you want Jean dead." And with that, Leo slammed his fist into Miles' jaw, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

[piratekenway]

everyone is in the “ok we fucked around. uh. now what.” stage: they rescued Desmond! he’s safe and conscious! uh......well, now they figure out what the fuck the plan is now. Abstergo is freaking out, and the Assassins are certainly poking around in the servers there wondering what’s just happened, so in the meantime it’s best for them to lie low and just. go from there. and then they all still have to like, be in the same general space as each other, which includes those two Templars over there currently covered by either “is also Desmond’s ancestor” (Haytham) or “did not turn on them when he had the chance so is being tentatively trusted to not do it again but Shao Jun is keeping a REALLY CLOSE EYE” (Shay). at best it’s awkward. at worst...

yeah, at worst there could well be bloodshed, so everyone is trying their hardest to be on their best behavior. Edward ends up making it very clear that because he’s aware tensions might run high, everyone put their damn non-bracer weapons on those racks over there and keep their blades sheathed.

(Evie: what about if we have improvements to the bracer? like myself and Jacob and Jayadeep, and Arno? Jacob: sister no don’t tell— Edward: give me the bloody ammunition and I’ll stick it in a drawer somewhere.)

Edward is...look, now that he’s had the time to process everything, he really gives a shit for both his adult son and his adult grandson, who’s much keener than Haytham on sailing and has an air to him that honestly reminds him a little bit of Mary Read, may she rest in peace wherever she is. (may she not be wandering around with an existential crisis, he hopes.) so he keeps an eye on Haytham’s drinking and then gently cuts him off after a bit, with a light note of “no more for a gentleman like you, you lot can barely hold your bad liquor anyway”.

but also, this entire weird little patchwork group, after being told Everything, is just like. okay. (unspoken agreement: we’re going to keep this guy safe. holy fuck, this sounds like a mess.) it’s sort of surprising to Ratonhnhaké:ton that his father doesn’t make too much of a fuss over “how far the Brotherhood has fallen” (at least compared to, say, Altair or Ezio), but that might be the drinking.

but let’s say that, at least in the little group of ancestors + Desmond, there’s an understanding going on. they’re not quite family (although it’s clear they all at least consider Desmond family), but there’s a sense that...at least for now Altair and Ezio won’t view Haytham with suspicion.

meanwhile Edward is just like. well! now that’s done, I want to see if this server has Adé running around!

Haytham immediately chokes a little bit.

--

ooooh yes!! I actually kind of like the idea of like. Juno left behind a little bit of her consciousness inside Abstergo’s servers, and then when she died, that bit was still there. with the Assassins kicking Abstergo’s anti-virus firewalls in the face and pulling Desmond out of Templar servers to safety, it was enough to wake her up too. and like. boy she’s pissed none of her plans have gone well. she’s too weak, though, to be able to slip out into the real world yet, but she clocks that the Assassins have been busy little bees and decides to use their research. in the meantime, while she hides in the servers, she decides to slip into Lydia Frye’s simulation and start infecting other simulations from there, using the Assassins’ virus against them.

like, say: 1794 Paris, where Elise is just beginning to wake up. 1735 Port-au-Prince where Adéwalé is grappling with his past as a slave colliding with his present as an Assassin (and with fun memories coming in from beyond 1735, oh boy).

1868 London, where a gang leader named Maxwell Roth is very keen on a mystery woman’s message.

(personally: I haven’t played the JTR DLC! I have no real plans to, bc I’m personally really uncomfy with playing a historical serial killer, which carries over into being uncomfy around writing the Ripper. but Roth’s a fun villainous character to contrast against Jacob and I think it would be fun to continue that.)

Adé is in the same situation as Lydia, where he’s largely unaware of Juno’s presence in the simulation, but he’s more aware than she is that this all is a simulation. Elise and Roth become very, VERY aware of Juno’s presence—Elise bc Juno manipulates how hurt and furious she feels towards Arno for repeating her death over and over again, and Roth bc. look. he just wants to have some fun. mystery woman promised him tons.

so! the twins and Jayadeep pop into Paris on their way back to London with Arno after some time on their base, thinking, hey, it’ll be chill, we’ll just drop Arno off here and then head back to the train, do some cargo hijacks, watch a movie or two. except when they pop into Paris, it’s...much, much glitchier than before, and the server bridges are far more frequent, and Arno swears he can see Elise in the crowds, but that can’t be right because he moved on past that memory.

Juno, somewhere, says, gleefully taunting him: maybe you did, Arno, but did you let her?

--

Ratonhnhaké:ton, back on Great Inagua: and that is how you skin a wild pig. Desmond, muttering: this looked so much easier in the Animus, Christ—

this little hunt-and-bond moment gets very quickly interrupted when something glitches and Evie tumbles through a server bridge (does it look like someone pushed her out? did Jayadeep push her out? what the fuck? says Desmond), frantically seal it closed, and go SO UH. WE HAVE SOME BAD NEWS.

the post is getting Too Long on my blog and it’s breaking my poor phone so. WHEE. new one!

gang sails off into the distance! and by “distance” I mean they’re high-tailing it into the Assassin servers in order to regroup and recuperate and figure out what the fuck to do now since. well. hey, they retrieved Desmond and they’ve kept him safe! uh. now what. if there were other Assassins’ memories in Abstergo, how long until they gain sentience as well? and how the fuck did Desmond and Jacob find a movie projector on the ship?

Desmond is still kind of reeling from everything that’s just happened, and to his surprise, despite the whole awkwardness surrounding Uh Fuckin Everything, the Kenways are willing to take him in, altho Edward somewhat morbidly jokes that their dysfunctional family being an improvement over his is really kind of sad when he thinks about it. then he offers to let him take a turn at the wheel—he needs to go see what they’ve done to the captain’s cabin anyway, he wasn’t able to since the collision and it’s probably messed with a few things.

they do need a base to operate out of for the time being. Davenport Manor is suggested, then somewhat reluctantly shot down bc of the two Templars around who are immediately like yeah uh No. Café Theatre is too cramped, although in a pinch it could do. the Frye twins’ train has little to offer in the way of bedrooms. Monteriggioni is considered and makes it into a top five list, only losing bc an entire town is a little too big and prone to glitches. (Desmond is a little peeved about it.) eventually everyone settles on finding a version of Great Inagua in the Assassin servers and regrouping there so they can figure out their next move. and maybe Edward is a little bit smug over it.

I do like the idea of Desmond teaching the gang how to really break shit in Abstergo, like—Juno is still in there, and there’s a possibility there might be more sentient data representations of dead Assassins (and dead Templars) rolling around now in the servers. Ezio shudders to think of Juno at the same time that Shay does, and they’re both concerned about the idea of Juno being able to simply possess somebody, and if she’s able to do that in the digital realm, there’s the lingering possibility of her being able to do that to an actual flesh and blood person. which nobody wants! so that’s on their priority list. and also all the other possibly-sentient people who might be running around the servers.

Arno and the twins and Henry listen to all of this, then sit in contemplation. then all three of them are like. oh shit we have to check on our simulations bc Lydia and Elise might also be gaining sentience and god KNOWS what they’re doing right now without us. who wants to come with, we’ve got spare clothes for you. (aka: how to justify the legacy outfits lol.)

The “Too Long Post” which was about the playable characters in Abstergo’s games gaining sentience for easy reference. (And considering we ended it after they got away, we can count that as Arc 1 XD)

Honestly, I think the only valid locations for their homebase would be the Great Inagua or Davenport Homestead because they also need to park their ship (depending on who you ask, it’s either called ‘Aquila’ or ‘Jackdaw’) and the Seine river would be hard to navigate while the Thames is chock-full of other ships and boats and the moving train means they can’t always get to the ship quickly. Also, they all try to fit in the mansion that Edward had ‘commandeered’ but it becomes clear that there is a division. Altaïr, Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton took the rooms nearest to Desmond. Haytham took the room furthest away from everyone and Shay took the room to his left. Shao Jun took the empty room nearest to Ezio while Aveline took the empty room nearest to Ratonhnhaké:ton. Jacob’s the only one who went ‘whichever room is free’ and Arno took the room furthest away from Shay which sorta put him between Jacob and an empty room that Evie took for herself. Jacob joked of Jayadeep just sharing a room with Evie so he took the room on the other side of Jacob instead, making Jacob roll his eyes. Edward just took his old room (which was the largest room). So… they might be in this together but they’re definitely not exactly the bestest of allies at the moment.  

Desmond taught them what he knew, things he didn’t know when he was alive but he just… knew once he ‘woke up’. He doesn’t even know if these skills came from his memory of Clay or from his memory of Dionysus (holy shit, his Isu ancestor was the god of wine and debauchery? What the fuck???) but he wasn’t going to reject such a boon. He’s quiet about his life though, only sharing a bit if anyone asked about what they saw. 

And the only one who asked was a worried Shao Jun because Shay was keeping his distance and the others either didn’t have such a bad memory to watch (Aveline, Evie and Jayadeep) or didn’t even see any memory (Jacob and Arno).

The ones connected to Desmond though… Desmond told them everything. Even Edward who was just in the room with the three people who had the biggest urge to find Desmond and Haytham who Edward believes had been affected just as much by the time they started to piece Desmond back together. Edward provided the alcohol back then (although Altaïr did not partake) and they finished more than five bottles of Edward’s hardest liquor. He was especially worried for Haytham who grabbed an entire unopened bottle and just started topping his glass with it and ended up finishing it and still requesting his glass to be filled afterward.  

Are we talking about the Juno in Desmond’s dataspace or the real Juno in digital space? Because if it’s the real Juno and this is set after Syndicate BUT before the comics where she died, then Juno is out in the real world (which would give us an excuse to have our sentient Assassins travel into other corners of the internet XD).

However, I do like the idea that they’ve unintentionally created Juno 2.0 from Desmond’s memory of her (and also a bit of Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton’s memories). This also gives Ratonhnhaké:ton a reason to want to take her down since she… technically didn’t lie but she absolutely used Ratonhnhaké:ton and gave him the short stick in that deal. (With her past misgivings to Ratonhnhaké:ton, Edward would be on board and maybe even Haytham once he learned how everything had been set into stones because of the path the Isus have chosen the world to walk to, including how the Kenway family ended).

You know what would be fun? If they made the grievous assumption that the data are gaining sentient while they were gone BUT the real reason why they’re slowly gaining sentient is because all sentient data (them) are still connected to the virus that started this all. Now, the virus was fast-acting in Abstergo because it was meant to fuck shit up there but the virus also have a failsafe that makes it dormant when it knows it’s no longer in Abstergo’s servers. But… the virus itself might be dormant but constant exposure to it will still affect data. 

… wanna make Arno have a bad time once more? Élise is slowly waking up and she starts remembering…

The many times Arno repeated her death, together with the pain and rage that consumed her during those days, not knowing Arno repeated that memory over and over again to try and save her.

You gotta wonder… if Élise would even be happy to see Arno once more when her most lived memory was her death.

(Also… Lydia would be fine being sentient since she loves her grandaunt and granddad who raised her but… remember… Jack the Ripper is also in the servers). 

[persephones-journey]

As The Gods Make It

Hello, so this is another prompt from @morosemagick Songs of the Unbroken Celebration Challenge. 

All right, so first warning this oneshot has Smut in it; it’s got oral (female receiving), fingering, sexual intercourse (between a man and woman), so if this is not your thing, please skip. 

Tagging: @emilyhufflepufftlk @medievalfangirl @lauwrite1225 @93xdiagonxalley 

@blah-blah-blah-bla @solinarimoon 

This one shot is for the Last Kingdom (honestly have I written anything that hasn’t been about that? No, I have not) and it has, yeah, you know, Finan. It also has my OC Aisling.  And this one shot is about Finan coming to the future to be with Aisling. 

So enjoy.

Aisling took the stairs up to her loft slowly. She stopped when she heard the guitar coming from her place. She leaned against the wall in the stairwell and closed her eyes.

It was Finan.

It was always Finan.

She thought back to the morning seven months before when she has opened her eyes and rolled over in bed and found the man lying there beside her.

“HOLY SHIT!” she screamed as she jumped out of bed.

The man with the kindest warmest shade of brown eyes she had ever seen looked at her as he sat up. Her eyes trailed down to his bare shoulders and chest. She swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes followed the dark chest hair on his chest, down his stomach as it disappeared below her sheets. He held up his hands.

“Calm down,” he said softly.

“Calm down?! How did you get in here?! Who are you?!” she demanded her heart pounding in her chest.

He opened his left hand and out fell her Celtic cross pendant. She touched her chest and frowned. She was still wearing it. She looked at him. He had tears in his eyes.

“Freyja sent me, Aisling,” he whispered. “We didn't get enough time together. You,” he shook his head. He smirked and Aisling's heart skipped a beat. “I am going about this all wrong. I'm Finan.”

Her ocean blue eyes took him in. “How did you know my name?” she asked feeling much calmer than she had before. She didn’t know why but his voice and his presence calmed her and felt right. Him being there made her feel safe. 

He gave her a sad smile. “I will always know the name of the woman I love.”

And that was when things went wrong right away.

Aisling did not know how to deal with a man who was completely and utterly in love with her.

No one had ever loved her before.

No one had ever even tried.

And Finan, the poor man could not understand why her walls were so high and so thick.

So she avoided him by going to her classes and going to work at the bar she lived above of.

And he picked up her Nan's old guitar and toyed with it. Along with learning all he could about this new world he had been dropped into from watching the television and reading the papers and everything he could. And just last month, he had gotten a job at the same bar, washing the dishes.

But they barely spoke any longer.

So Finan has suggested getting his own place.

The minute the words were out of his mouth, Aisling wanted him to forget them.

Then she realized that she just wanted him.

“Fuck,” she muttered as she rested her head against the wall. “I think I love him.”

No, don't lie. You know you love him. The moment he suggested leaving, you saw your life go back to how it was before; silence, books, research, emptiness. Now though, with Finan, even though you barely talk, there is someone always there. He makes you coffee in the morning, he runs a bath for you after you've spent half the night on your feet. And he sits in the quiet with you. Your favourite time is when you sit against him reading your textbooks and he has his arm around your shoulders gently rubbing your arm and kissing your head every once and a while as he reads or watches television.  

Aisling opened her eyes and continued up the stairs. She got to her door and opened it slowly. She slipped inside and smiled. Finan was still strumming the guitar. She kicked off her sneakers and walked into the large living room. She leaned in the doorway and watched Finan.

He had the guitar on his thigh and had his cheek resting against the curve in it as he strummed it. He turned and looked at her. Aisling, you are a blind fool. Look at him. How is it you have gone seven months without jumping him and having your way with him? You are insane. He put it aside and stood from the chair.

“I,” he stopped, “I found a place,” he said.

No. I can't let him walk out the door.

“When would you be leaving?” she asked.

“Next week,” he said.

No, no, no, no.

“I'll-,” Finan started.

“Freyja sent you here,” Aisling cut him off. “Why?” she asked.

He looked at her. She took in his green t-shirt and light wash blue jeans. He only had socks on his feet and his hair was all messy meaning he hadn't been out all day.

“What?” he asked.

“You have never told me why Freyja sent you. I want to know.”

She watched as Finan reached up and scratched his beard. “I,” he looked away from her, “I went to her shrine in Norway.”

She looked at him and waited several moments. He didn't say anything more. “Finan, I want the whole story.”

He cursed in Irish. “Why?” he demanded. “Why suddenly now do you want to know?”

“Because I don't want you to leave!” she yelled.

Silence echoed around them. Aisling stood straight. She looked at Finan. He was watching her intently.

“Say it again,” he said as he took a step towards her.

“Stay,” she answered as she took a step towards him as well. “Stay, Finan.”

“Why?” he asked softly.

She walked towards him and he towards her. They met in the middle of the room. Aisling looked in his brown eyes and saw nothing but love in them. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked at him.

“Because I love you,” she whispered looking in his eyes. “I don't want you to leave because I love you, Finan. I-.”

He kissed her. Her words were drowned out by his mouth over hers. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer. The kiss was slow and soft with his lips gently pressed against hers. She opened her lips and sucked on his bottom lip. The kiss felt so right and so perfect. Aisling had never felt this way before about anything, let alone one kiss. Finan's lips on hers sparked a fire inside of her and she needed all of him. She felt his hands run down her sides to her ass. He gripped it in both hands and pulled her hips closer to his. She moaned when she felt his cock growing hard. She dug her fingers in his sides and felt her core ache and throb.

“Say it again,” he said pulling his lips away from hers. She moved her head to claim them again but he held them back. “Say it again, Aisling,” he whispered her name his accent making it sound like it was always meant to.

“I love you,” she said opening her eyes and looking into his.

He smiled and Aisling's heart beat faster. “I love you too, my beautiful, perfect dream made real,” he said.

Aisling wrapped her arms around Finan's neck when he pulled her close and kissed her again. He sucked on her bottom lip and lifted her up with his hands on her thighs. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on to him tight. She smiled when he backed up and pressed her against the wall. She raked her fingers through his hair and kissed him over and over. Every kiss stoked the fire burning in her and made her ache more for him and his touch. She wanted, no needed all of him. She ached for him to be inside of her. After several moments, she pulled away to breathe and rested her forehead against his. He smiled and she felt his hands grip her thighs tight.

“Tell me how you ended up here, Finan,” she whispered as she ran her hands down his neck. “And how did you know who I was.”

She watched as he looked at her. “I don't want to lose you,” he whispered.

She leaned in and kissed him again. “You won't,” she promised. “Just tell me how you came to love me.”

Finan's brown eyes filled with tears. “The curse is real, Aisling, the curse from Skade is real and you tried to break it,” he said.

Aisling felt her heart beat faster. “But?”

“But instead you ended up outside of Coccham. Sihtric found you and you told us who you were and we believed you. Well, Uhtred did,” Finan said. She saw him look at her, taking in every feature of her face. “And you and I fell in love.”

Aisling looked at him. She stroked his bearded cheek. “I have the feeling you are skipping a whole lot of story there.”

Finan smiled. He shook his head. His eyes took her in like he was seeing her again for the very first time. “God, I had not realized how much I had missed this, missed you,” he said tears rolling down his cheeks. “Being here with you and not being able to hold you and love you.”

“I'm sorry,” she said as she stroked his cheeks and brushed his tears away.

“No, don't be, you didn't,” he closed his eyes. She saw pain flash across his face. And she knew without him saying it that he had lost her before he had been ready to. “Aisling, you died,” he whispered.

Aisling looked at him. You died. The words settled inside of her. She watched as he opened his eyes and looked into hers. She saw that he wasn't lying. She pushed him away and he set her on her feet and she pulled away from him. She closed her eyes and stood in the middle of the room. Her childhood nightmare suddenly came crashing into her mind from where she had buried it years before.

“It was in a battle,” she said. “I saw the man coming for you and you couldn't hear me screaming. So, I ran and knocked you out of the way and his axe got buried in my chest.”

Silence echoed in the room. She opened her eyes and turned to look at Finan. He was watching her confused and in awe.

“Yes,” was all he said.

She nodded and laughed. “My nightmare. I had it all my life for as long as I could remember,” she looked at him. “But you, I could never see you. You were a shadow. A voice screaming my name begging me to stay with you.”

She saw the pain in his eyes. “I screamed for what felt like hours. You died in my arms and took my will to live with you.”

She looked at him. She did not know how, but she could feel his love for her. Her body remembered every touch, every kiss, every caress, like he had been holding her and loving her for years; and he hadn't yet. She felt her own tears begin to fall. “And you found a way back to me.”

He nodded. “Freyja. She was the one who made it so we will always find each other, Aisling. I left Wessex and went to Norway. I found her shrine and I offered myself up as sacrifice and woke up in your bed. She brought me back to you this time.”

Aisling let her tears fall. “Stay with me! Do not leave me! Aisling! I love you!NONONONO!” His voice filled her head. His voice that was filled with sheer pain and anguish. She had convinced herself the voice was not real, could never be real, because no one could ever love her like that. She remembered those nightmares. They had terrorized her and she had spent years going to doctors taking medications but nothing worked. She would have them on and off for years. Until she turned sixteen and they disappeared for good.

Now she knew it wasn't a nightmare. But a memory.

A memory of a past life.

And standing before her was her soulmate in every lifetime.

Thanks to the will of a goddess and Finan's strength on conviction that he would find her again.

“Aisling?” he asked softly.

She ran and threw herself in his arms. He held her tight and close. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart beat. She felt his arms hold her tighter. She closed her eyes and felt him bury his face in her hair.

“You were real,” she said softly.

He nodded. “I was and am,” he answered. He kissed the crown of her head. “I once told you I would love you for a thousand years, Aisling. And you laughed,” he pulled away and cupped her face in his hands. “I was right.”

Aisling laughed. She shook her head. “Smug Irish bastard,” she muttered.

He smiled. And Aisling felt her heartbeat faster. He smiled a true smile, one he had been hiding from her since he had gotten here. She fell in love all over again. “God, have I missed those words coming from that perfect mouth.”

Aisling stood on her tiptoes and let her lips ghost his. “You know what else my mouth is perfect for, right?” she asked smirking.

Finan groaned and pulled her closer and kissed her. It was a messy kiss filled with want and need. “I have even missed that,” he said as he kissed her again and again.

Aisling gripped his t-shirt and pulled him towards her bedroom. She pushed it up and moaned against his lips as her hand touched his stomach. The minute her fingers brushed his skin, she felt a spark. She looked in his eyes as she pulled away. He pulled his t-shirt off and tossed it aside. She pulled off her long sleeved shirt as well and smiled when he pulled her back in his arms. She placed her hands on his chest and sighed. He laughed.

“Have you been waiting to do that for a while?” he asked as he kissed her neck and placed his hand on her lower back as he backed her into her bedroom.

“Shut up,” she said as she grabbed his jeans and turned them around so he was the one backing into the room.

Finan nipped her neck and moaned. “I have missed you ordering me around. Fuck, Aisling, I missed every moment we shared.”

Aisling shoved him and smiled as he fell on the bed. She walked over and straddled him. She kissed him deeply. She felt his hands grab her ass again and run up her back. Every time his hands touched her bare skin, she felt heat pool in her core and it ached more and throbbed. She wanted him, she needed him. She felt him undo her bra and she pulled away as he pulled it off and tossed it aside. She moaned into his lips as his hands gently caressed her breasts.

“You don't have to miss another moment ever again, Finan,” she said as she ran her hands down his back. She felt his scars and ached for him. “I am here,” she said as she kissed him again. “I am here and you won't be without me again.”

She smiled as Finan turned and dumped her on the bed. She looked into his eyes, they were almost black with desire. She arched her back against him as he kissed along her jawline and to her neck. She ran her hands down his chest to his jeans. She made quick work of the button and pulled the zipper down. She moaned as he sucked on her skin of her neck and nipped at it. She slipped her hand inside and moaned when she felt that he was not wearing underwear. He smiled against her skin.

“You won't be without me again either,” he whispered in her ear. “Now, I have waited months for this,” he nipped her ear lobe. “I want to taste you.”

Aisling felt herself get even wetter and did not know how that was possible. She rested her hands on Finan's chest and nodded. She felt him smile against her skin again and he placed hot kisses along her neck. He moved much too slow for her liking but every kiss he pressed to her skin, lit up her nerve endings. She felt pleasure and warmth spread all over. His weight over her gently pressed her into the bed and she loved it. She felt his hand ran down her side and to her jeans. He undid the button and slowly pulled down the zipper as he kissed in between her breasts.

“Finan,” she moaned as she felt his hands tug on her jeans. She looked down and saw his dark eyes look up and meet hers. “You're moving too slow,” she whimpered.

She felt him smile against her stomach. He gently licked her skin and she moaned. He kissed lower his eyes never leaving hers. “I am taking my time because I want to remember every single moment of this,” he answered as he let his tongue run along her skin right above her panties. Aisling whimpered again and arched against him. He chuckled. “God, you never were a patience one when it came to my tongue.”

“I want you,” she huffed.

She felt him kiss her stomach again. “All right, love,” he said and Aisling felt her heart beat faster at him calling her love. There was something about the way he said it with that damn accent of it. It was soft like a caress to her skin, but this one for her ears. It was heavy with meaning though, she was his love. She was his.

She whimpered when Finan pulled his body away from hers. She rested her head on the bed when he pulled off her socks and then tugged her jeans down. She lifted her head when he did not immediately pull her panties down. She watched as he pulled off his socks and pushed his jeans down and kicked them off. Her eyes followed that patch of hair down his belly and his abs, and lower past his belly button. She bit her lip when she took him in; thick and long. She looked back up and met his eyes.

“Fuck,” he said. “That look I have missed more than anything else.”

Aisling smiled. She watched as he fell to his knees by the bed. He tugged her closer to the edge of the bed. She let her head fall back as his thumbs hooked under the band of her panties and he tugged them down. He pulled them off. Aisling opened her legs and moaned when Finan gently ran his fingers up her legs from her ankles to her thighs. His touch was soft and gentle. He pressed gently in certain spots, like behind her knees, and he pressed his lips to the skin on her thighs.

“Oh god,” she muttered as she felt Finan's beard rub against her thighs. She felt him smile against her skin and his tongue gently lick her skin. “You Irish bastard,” she muttered as she covered her face with her hands.

Finan kissed, oh so slowly, closer to where she desperately wanted him. She moaned his name and felt herself ache and throb for him. She huffed out a breath when Finan's lips and tongue finally touched her core. She closed her eyes and reached out and grabbed the comforter with her hands. She fisted it as Finan's tongue teased her clit and his lips sucked on her folds. She arched her back as she felt the tension building. She felt him slid one finger and than another in her knuckle deep. She moaned his name.

“Fuck me,” she moaned as Finan's tongue finally stopped teasing her and began licking her clit. He stroked her and crooked his fingers in just the right way, that every stroke sent pleasure waves over Aisling. He began sucking her clit at the same time and Aisling could barely breathe. She reached down and pulled Finan's hair as she felt the tension build more. She looked down and saw him look up at her. His eyes held hers as the tension finally broke and she fell off into the pleasure.

“Finan,” she moaned his name as the breath left her lungs and her whole body tensed for a moment. She closed her eyes and saw stars as her body trembled and she seemed to float away and than slowly back to herself. She felt Finan's fingers still stroking her as she came back to herself. She stroked his hair with her fingers and opened her eyes. She looked at him as his eyes watched her.

“God, you are still so goddamn beautiful when you come,” he said as he removed his fingers from her. She whimpered as he licked them. She sat up and reached for him. She kissed him, tasting herself on his lips, as he wrapped his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.

“Do you want to be on top?” Finan asked as he kissed along her jaw.

Aisling looked at him. “God, do you have to be so perfect?” she asked as he held her close and turned them so he was sitting on the bed. She straddled his lap with her knees on the bed on either side of him and stroked his beard. She saw him smile and her heartbeat faster. “Fuck, you are gorgeous,” she said kissing him. She felt his hands grip her ass and she moaned. “How did I not notice it before?” she asked as she ran her hands down his chest, her fingers gently stroking the hair she found there.

Finan laughed and Aisling felt him nip her lips. “Can we discuss later how blind you are? Right now, I am trying to bed ya, love, if you haven't noticed,” he said as his fingers dug into her ass cheeks.

Aisling smiled. She ran her hands down his chest and lower. She took his cock in one hand and stroked him. She kissed him on the lips softly. “Have you been with anyone else?” she asked softly.

“No,” he answered. “Not since you,” he looked in her eyes. “I only wanted you.”

Aisling nodded. “Than we don't need a condom, since I am on the pill,” she saw Finan frown. She smiled. “I will explain that later.”

Finan kissed her. “Bring me where I belong, love,” he said his lips ghosting hers, “bring me home.”

Aisling stroked him again and looked down. She moved closer and positioned him right at her entrance. Finan moved his hands to her hips as his tip entered her. She kissed him and let go of his cock as she felt him sink into her and stretch her. She rested her forehead against his once he was completely inside of her. She opened her eyes and looked into his. Finan met her eyes as well.

“You're home,” she whispered.

He smiled. He rolled his hips and Aisling moaned. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. She rolled her hips with his and could feel the tension beginning to build again. She moaned and let her head fall back. She felt Finan's lips and tongue on her neck and collarbones. He nipped gently at the skin as he moved his hips and pulled her hips against his. He set a comfortable pace for them and Aisling had to admit there was something that felt so familiar about making love to him.

The feeling of him inside of her, pulsating and stroking her, his body against hers skin to skin. It felt like too much and not enough at the same time. She let her head fall forward and she claimed Finan's lips in a messy kiss as she felt his fingers digging into her skin. Everywhere his skin touched hers a fire ignited her nerve endings and she felt warmth spread across her skin. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders and neck as she let her teeth bit his lower lip.

“God, I love you,” he muttered in Irish as he moved one of his hands from her hips to in between them.

She moaned as he began to stroke her clit. “And I love you,” she whispered her voice hushed and raspy.

Aisling could feel the sweat on her body and Finan's. She leaned down and bit his neck right where his pulse was. She sucked on the skin there and felt Finan begin to move his hips faster against hers. The warmth and heat that had spread across her body seemed now to pool in her stomach as she felt the tension build more and her gut began to tighten the closer she got. She bit on his skin harder and moved to his ear. She nipped his ear lobe as she felt his cock twitch inside of her and the feeling of his hips stuttering as he came.

“That's right,” she whispered in his ear, “fill me up and claim me as yours. Harder, lover, fuck me harder,” she muttered feeling her release coming.

She felt Finan wrap an arm around her waist and he held her close as his hips snapped into hers. He thumb moved quickly rubbing her clit. She moaned in his ear as she came the tension finally snapping. She held him close as her body trembled and her toes curled. She felt him release inside of her as her walls clenched around him and spasmed. She huffed and tried to catch her breath as her heart pounded in her chest. She nuzzled her face in his neck and was grateful he held her against him otherwise she felt like she would have melted to the floor.

“I forgot all about that mouth you have,” he muttered as he gently brushed the hair away from her neck and his fingers caressed her skin.

She smiled against his skin. “It's how the gods made me,” she whispered. She felt him tense up for a moment. She pulled away and met his eyes. “What?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing, love, nothing at all,” he leaned in and kissed her soft and gently before he laid back on the bed with her on top of him. She smiled as he held her against him. “I think now is the perfect time to discuss exactly how blind you were before.”

Aisling laughed. She kissed his neck. “Before round two, right?” she asked.

Finan nodded. “Oh definitely. I hope you did not have any plans for tonight or tomorrow because you are not leaving this bed until I have made you scream my name multiple times.”

Aisling looked at his eyes and watched them darken with desire. She pressed her lips to his in a messy kiss. “You promise?” she asked as she ran her hand through his hair.

“I swear it,” he answered.

She kissed him and moved to straddle him. She felt him grow inside of her and she pushed herself up so she was sitting on his lap. She looked at him beneath her.

“Good, because I think I can make you scream my name as well,” she answered.

Finan smirked and Aisling sighed. He is perfect and by the gods, he is mine. And he is mine forever.

[elysianslove]

Please wrote more surrogate fics please . could I request one with SakuAtsu or could you just start a series on these. If you'd me comfortable with that. That on IwaOi surrogate fic brought me so much joy. I can't even describe it.

oh my goodness i’d love to!!! it makes me so happy knowing you liked it cause like,,, idk why it’s just special to me :) also im so glad you asked for sakuatsu bc these two ships are basically my favorite jhfgbsj. and yesyes i’d love to have a mini series with like little scenarios of each ship <333

this was insanely long. like insanely. 

content warning; artificial insemination, pregnancy, haikyuu manga spoilers, gay people being happy idk 

being iwaoi’s surrogate 

BEING SAKUATSU’S SURROGATE 

↬ it took forever to even get them together, so with a duo as indecisive as them, it’s imaginable how long the decision to raise a child together took. it took a long, long while for that transition from enemies to lovers to be final, and even then, they hadn’t realized how serious their relationship was until they were off getting married and then suddenly wanting a child? 

↬ it was something atsumu brought up out of the blue, just casually as they sat side by side on the couch. “wouldn’t it be nice if we raised a child together?” and it stuck with sakusa ever since. he didn’t know why he was obsessively thinking about it as much, but it’s all he could think about. literally. anytime he so much as thought about atsumu with a child, and a child of their own too, his stomach did a thousand and one flips. sakusa was never the biggest fan of children, and he knew that neither was atsumu. but, this would be different, wouldn’t it? Still, he tried to remind himself of the cons; they were pro-athletes, they didn’t have time, they didn’t understand the weight of the responsibility, were they even ready for something like that? somedays it was too tiring to take care of themselves, of each other. were they ready to be responsible for a whole life, someone dependent entirely on them? it seemed too— unrealistic. like something he could only hope to dream about, and just dream about.

↬ until he thought of atsumu with a little kid, a spit image of either one of them, sitting on his lap, giggling and laughing and squealing in glee. and so he decided, there will always be cons, he just has to see if the pros outweighed them. and honestly, they did. they were pro-athletes, sure, but that also meant they were financially stable, and could provide for a child, properly. they were mature now, knew each other very well, and had adapted to living with one another. they had family and friends all around. the kid would for sure grow up loved and cared for, and him and atsumu would add another person to their family. it really seemed like a dream, but this time, an attainable one.

↬ so as he ate dinner with his lover, he blurted out, “let’s raise a child together,” and atsumu honest to god choked on his food. he asked sakusa if he was serious, if he meant it, if this was real, and sakusa’s answer was yes to every single one of his question. yes, he was serious; yes, he meant it; yes, this was real. as real as can be.

↬ they both already knew they wanted a surrogate, and it didn’t matter who was the father. so long as the child was theirs.

↬ finding a surrogate was, well, a pain, to put it into perspective. sakusa was so picky about the “requirements,” if you will, and atsumu was suspicious of every single woman, it was kind of ridiculous really. he just “didn’t trust that they wouldn’t run away with the baby!” in his words. atsumu suggested sakusa’s older sister, which seemed perfect in his head, but sakusa refused, claiming it was 1. extremely weird, and 2. he doubted she’d say yes, with her own life to handle.

↬ and it finally, finally, came to atsumu: he could always just ask, well, you. he had met you during his college years, and since then, he’d been coincidentally crossing paths with you ever since then, and you’d even managed their msby jackals team at some point. it was weirdly ironic how he’s coming back to you, kind of like fate.

↬ so he suggested it to sakusa, and for once, the latter didn’t really have any way to object, except, “what if this inconveniences her?” other than that, you were the perfect candidate. they knew you well, trusted you, knew they could rely on you. and atsumu was sure you wouldn’t run with the baby. with regards to the inconvenience part, well, they could always just deal with that when the time came.

↬ they invited you over for some breakfast two days later, after they’d thought about it properly, endlessly, and figured you were their best option. it was weird seeing them so nervous when you first arrived, like they were breaking up with you or something. atsumu barely ate with how nauseous he felt, and sakusa spent the entire time watching you eat instead, hands fidgeting and legs shaking. it was really weird, but you didn’t bring it up, letting them take their own time to tell you whatever it was they wanted to tell you, because obviously, they clearly had something to say.

↬ after breakfast, you sat in their living room, just watching the tv quietly, until sakusa offered to get you some water. you weren’t really thirsty, but you agreed anyways, unsurprised to see atsumu rise from his own seat a minute later with a, “be right back,” as he headed to the kitchen. you could hear them bickering and whisper-yelling, and if you weren’t starting to grow as nervous as they were, you would’ve had it in you to laugh. they returned looking like they were bearing the most daunting of news, sitting down on the couch perpendicular to you. atsumu’s hands were sweaty and intertwined tightly together, while sakusa tried to remain as composed as possible. it seemed like the dark haired man would speak up, finally, parting his mouth with a deep breath.

↬ but it’s atsumu that blurts out, “please have my baby!— our baby. please have our baby.”

↬ honestly, your first response was to laugh, in disbelief, as you clutch your glass of water. but then you see their faces — god they looked so goddamn scared — and you realized that, they were really serious. they really wanted you to carry their baby for them. holy shit?—

↬ you were mostly speechless after that, stuttering as you ask them to please explain, you’re honored but are they are, have they thought about this? properly? in depth?

↬ to your surprise, they really knew what they were doing. they’d done their research, and thought about a million other options before deciding that you were the best one. they also repeatedly told you that you didn’t have to do this, and that they didn’t want to guilt-trip you into doing it either. they wanted you to say yes only if you yourself wanted to say yes, and if this wouldn’t negatively affect you or halt your life in any way. you were the one that was going to be carrying the baby anyways, weren’t you? at the end of the day, this was all about you.

↬ you asked them for time to think about it, and reminded them that it wasn’t a no. you just wanted to make sure you were making the right decision whichever that ended up being. a few days later, you call them, asking them to meet up one way or another, and atsumu’s even more nervous than he was asking you; not even sakusa’s gentle lips to his temple or large hands soothingly rubbing at his back or his kind words could help him. sakusa himself was insanely anxious. in his head, it seemed like your ‘no,’ would finalize everything. that it would really mean no hope in having a child of their own, their very own.

↬ you invite them over to your home, and the kettle is already boiling when they arrive. you make them tea and make small talk if only to delay the inevitable. but, to each of their surprises, you take a deep breath and say, “i’d be honored to carry your baby for you,” with the brightest, warmest smile. sakusa has to bite his inner cheek to will himself to not cry, because he can’t believe you said yes. you agreed. you’re going to carry their baby. him and atsumu were having a baby.

↬ atsumu doesn’t stop himself from throwing his arms around you, collapsing on top of you in tight hug that you kind of can’t breathe, but you let him, and you laugh when he thanks you for saying yes, that he’ll “be forever in your debt.”

↬ it’s the happiest you’ve seen either of them.

↬ when you’re done with the process of insemination (of course, atsumu does joke that the three of you should go the natural way and have a threesome, to which he earns a smack from his lover and a smack from you, at the same time), the three of you just have to wait, really. it’s the longest period of waiting you’ve ever had to do, but you try to be patient, as patient as you can be. when you wake up one morning and throw up, you look at your period tracking app to see if maybe you were pms’ing. except, you weren’t. you were late. like a good three weeks late.

↬ immediately, you’re booking a doctor’s appointment. you wait to tell sakusa and atsumu after confirming your suspicions, because you don’t want to raise their hopes up for nothing. they’ve already been swimming in a pool of doubts ever since the insemination, calling you everyday to check up on you and ask for any progress. when the doctor confirms your pregnancy — holy shit you were pregnant — the first thing you do is go over to their house. you know it’s not the best idea to show up unannounced, but with how long they’ve been waiting, and how much they’ve been wanting this, the more and more you fed into it, you couldn’t wait any longer to tell them. you arrive, and the moment sakusa opens the door for you, you gasp out, “i’m pregnant.”

↬ sakusa’s quite literally frozen in shock, his mouth pressed in a thin line with eyes wide open, while atsumu walks over and goes, “oh hey,” in greeting before noticing sakusa’s face and just ???? “what’s going on?”

↬ “i’m pregnant.”

↬ “you’re what?”

↬ you show them with tears stinging your eyes the results of the test you’d taken at the doctor’s, and atsumu grips the report so tightly, like it’ll disappear if it slips only slightly from his hands. sakusa’s still in shock, trying to process everything. it takes him a good while before he can function properly again.

↬ the pregnancy itself is a lot smoother than you’d imagined. iwaizumi, as their athletic trainer, although not well versed with pregnancy, knew a lot about health and taking care of yourself in general, so he made sure you were always eating right and healthy. he even accompanied you once when sakusa and atsumu couldn’t, to the doctor, and made sure to ask him specifically what you should and shouldn’t be eating. all of the olympic/national team are more excited than anything. they’re insanely protective over you, and always pamper and care for you you when they can, whether that be back/neck/shoulder massages or giving you their food when they notice you eyeing it or letting you lean entirely on any of them for support as you walk. granted, they do make fun of you, especially the bigger your stomach got, but they mean well, really. suna once made fun of you and, because of the hormones, and because he was genuinely just mean, you started to cry. since then, suna swore off bullying you, at least until you gave birth.

↬ osamu is beyond ecstatic to become an uncle. he’s so excited it makes atsumu incredibly emotional. he goes with his brother on trips to ikea to buy a crib and gifts him an insane amount of baby clothes and always begins a conversation with, “how’s the baby?” every time you’re around, osamu’s hand can be found resting on your stomach, soothingly rubbing, excitedly grinning when he feels a kick. he is just so happy for his brother, he could cry.

↬ you ask them if they want a gender reveal when you find out or to keep it until the delivery of the baby, but they’re both insanely impatient (even though sakusa does try to convince atsumu to wait because it’ll be exciting, he himself isn’t even that convinced of that and they just ask you to tell them). with the help of osamu and his and atsumu’s parents, you organize a gender reveal party. the moment he sees the pink smoke, atsumu cheers so loudly it makes you laugh till your stomach hurt. sakusa’s grinning wider than you’ve ever seen him, grabbing atsumu’s face and kissing him, before pulling you into a tight hug. it’s literally the cutest thing ever, everyone just cheering loudly around you and celebrating with you.

↬ when you go into labor, you’re with neither of them, but with osamu, aran, and kita. they were staying the night at a hotel since they had training away from where they lived, and you were spending the night at osamu’s because the fathers of your baby really didn’t want you to be alone so close to your due date, and who better than osamu? your water didn’t break, but you kept having contractions. you were brushing it off as normal pain at the start, but they started to get worse, and closer together in time. kita, because he’s kita, had been keeping track, and told you how far apart your contractions were. to which you went, “contractions?!”

↬ aran’s calling sakusa and atsumu as kita grabs your bag as osamu grabs his keys and helps you to his car. you really couldn’t have been around a better set of men, because they were perfectly composed the whole time, helping you breathe and stay calm by staying calm themselves, reassuring you that you didn’t need to worry and that you will get to the hospital in time. they did flinch every time you screamed or cried out in pain, but aran held your hand the entire drive there, and kita guided you to steadying yourself as osamu drove as fast as he could.

↬ the issue was with sakusa and atsumu. to say they were freaking out would be an understatement. they were positively losing it. atsumu’s anxiety was louder than sakusa’s, but the latter’s was clear as ever on his pale skin and clammy hands. they were so annoying in the delivery room, literally faring worse off than you, who was pushing a whole baby out of her body. when you finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl, atsumu sobbed and sakusa cried in his hands, so maybe it was alright after all.

↬ they literally couldn’t believe their eyes when the nurse handed you the baby and placed her on your chest. she was so, so tiny, so beautiful, and theirs. honestly, you couldn’t hold back your own tears at the sight of her, and at their reaction to her. you held her in your arms as they thanked you, over and over and over again, for the biggest blessing they could ever receive.

↬ despite the fact that you were simply their surrogate, sakusa and atsumu knew they couldn’t just separate you and your baby, and neither could they just take her home all of a sudden. so for the first few months, you stayed in their guest room, but the baby slept in her own room. it was more difficult than you expected it to be when you were leaving her to go back to your own home, but they promised you repeatedly that they’re not really taking her away. it wasn’t as if you couldn’t visit at any time you wanted to come visit her. but at the end of the day, you knew what you had been signing up for, and that she was their daughter.

↬ she grows up to be a gorgeous woman. she’s interested in volleyball, sure, she’d been raised with volleyball players everywhere around her, but it’s not her immediate passion. atsumu thought he’d be more upset about that than he actually was, because he found out that it didn’t matter at all what she wanted to do. hell, if she wanted to do nothing at all and stay home forever with them, he was 100% on board with that. whatever made her happy and healthy, he was okay with. she grows up to be really close and really comfortable with both of her fathers, and they make sure with every passing day that no matter what, she can always come to them. and she does, about every little thing. and each and every time, they listen and advice and guide her properly. a s parents, they’re a perfect balance of strict and lenient. they set and raise her to never cross those boundaries, but otherwise they give her complete freedom. they respect her privacy, her decisions, everything.

↬ there was a day when she came back home from school, and they had taken a biology class for kids, where a teacher had explained periods to them. obviously, as curious as ever, she’d asked her dads about it, because she didn’t really get it. she wanted to know the how’s and the why’s and the what’s and the when’s. with every passing second atsumu had felt his lifespan shorten. eventually he suggested they call you, who she knew as her ‘aunt’ for the time being, since you were a woman and nobody would really explain it better than you. when she did get her period eventually, and had to sheepishly and shyly ask her dads to go to the store for her because she needed, um, supplies, atsumu lost it. sakusa had to try and calm him down all while laughing as he got ready to go to the store for her, because the drama of miya atsumu never gets old. he just couldn’t believe she was already getting her period. what the hell! what the actual hell!

↬ of course, he proceeded to embarrass her by telling osamu, telling sakusa’s parents, telling his parents. not cool :(

↬ when she was old enough, especially to understand the concept of being a surrogate (oh my god the sex talk was a whole other insufferable thing), they told her about you, and that you were actually her biological mother and not just an ‘auntie.’ she tried to be angry at them for keeping it from her, but she was honestly more excited about finding out than anything. it brought the two of you closer together, and for the next mother’s day, she organized a whole brunch for you, her and her dads, got you a gift, flowers, everything. yeah, you did cry.

↬ you genuinely have never been more satisfied and thankful for a decision like this one, ever, especially because of how much of a blessing the outcome had been.

can u tell this isn’t my first time thinking about this. ever since i posted the iwaoi one i’ve been wanting to do a sakuatsu one, but i didn’t really know whether anyone had enjoyed that or would want more, so thank you for sending in this ask!! love u all mwah <3 

[colossal-fallout]

Can we have a hella needy (to the point near crazed) dom Hange annihalating a GN reader's cognitive functions with a strap? Thanks :D

I certainly can. 😚

Hange just awakens something in me...

GN reader X Hange

Warning: NSFW 18+ SMUT. Mouth spitting. Slight deg. Strap on.

   “Levi, did you need section A3b put with the Research grant, or the Research progress report?” You ask, holding up two rather large chunks of paper work.

Levi’s eyes flicker up to you from his standing position at a table in Hange’s office; elbow deep in his own work. 

“I have no idea.” He mutters honestly. “Ask shitty glasses.” 

You turn to look at Hange who was usually at her desk in the corner. “Hange, do I pu-” 

You freeze when you notice she’s staring at you intently, her elbows on the desk and covering her mouth with her entwined fingers; her eyes dark and an eyebrow raised. You knew that look. She was so deep in thought that you would probably have to rouse her from her daydream. 

“Hange?” 

“Oi, wake up.” Levi scolds, throwing a wooden pen-pot in her direction. 

She flinches as it crashes onto the surface of her desk. 

 “Hm?” She blinks. “Sorry. I was miles away.” 

“We know.” Levi mumbles with a cold glare from his steely eyes. “Which file do we put A3b into?” 

“Both. You need two copies.” 

You and the captain both let out an exasperated sigh, pulling out an extra sheet of paper and readying your quills. 

 Her chocolate pooled eyes return to you, her mind slowly sinking back into her daydream as if she were sliding into a hot bath. Those beautiful orbs latch onto your form, drinking you in deeply. You’d assumed she was pondering some science thing like she usually did. But unbeknownst to you and Levi, under her desk her legs were crossed tightly, her crotch thudding and pulsing with intense yearning for you. There was just something about you that just ignited the kerosene of her wildest, most feral desires. 

 The way you moved for example; to anyone else you’re just... moving. But to her its like your movements are pronounced, your unique mannerisms standing out as if the air around you were a liquid and you just sort of...stood out. 

And those eyes... that smile... that ass.

 You and Hange Zoe had been dating for a little while now, but it wasn’t too often you got to spend time alone these days. Erwin was really piling on the workload and the much needed anti-stress hormones only added fuel to the fire. 

Her thighs tense and squeeze together, hardly not able to take the hot gushing sensation her body was providing her with; her skin heating up as she watches your furrowed brow concentrate on your writing.

 She runs a hand through her hair in frustration, her leg beginning to bounce up and down with impatience. 

 Come on, Levi. Hurry and finish your work... She silently pleads, her nails now digging into the wood of the chair her own perfect ass was placed upon. 

Her eyes enlarge when you bite your lip in concentration - the last time she saw you do that was when you were riding her face into glory. Your cum so deliciously sweet and filling. Who needed food if she had your bodily fluids to feast upon? 

She relives the moments you’d come undone at her doing, your cries of pleasure melodic, your facial expressions as you -

“I’m done.” Levi finally sighs with relief, head rolling back to your direction. “You need any help? Or can I go and take a shit?” 

“They’re fine.” Hange snaps her head up. “I’ll help them if they need it.” 

“Okay.” Levi shrugs. “Don’t torture them too much.” he heads for the door. 

Oh if only he knew.

Hange gets to her feet, slowly circling to the other side of her desk as he makes his way to the door, trying to hold herself back as much as possible during those torturous last few seconds of Captain Levi’s presence. 

She follows him to the door feigning a yawn as he opens the door. 

“Goodnight, Levi.” 

“Night.” 

 Not even a second after he leaves the threshold of her office, she slams the door behind him and locks it, the loud bang catching your attention. 

“H-hange?” You ask, noticing her expression as she stalks towards you - The very same she rarely showed when she was about to go ape shit over something. “S-sorry, i’m almost done I swea-” 

She silences you by yanking your hair and slapping her lips off yours, tongue instantly sliding down your throat with no reservations. Her free hand rips your shirt before you even have time to register what’s going on. Her hands ravish you, like a person who’d been staved for days, finally able to get their hands on a human sized piece of meat. 

“Take off your pants. Now.” She growls. 

The authority in her voice sends an immediate rush of arousal down between your legs, yet you were still trying to take in what was going on. You automatically obey, sliding your trousers down your thighs, her hand grabbing your sex as soon as it tasted the fresh air. 

“This is mine.” She growls, her teeth nipping your neck. “And I demand to use it. Right now.” 

You nod, lips parting. “Y-yes ma’am...” 

In a flash she has you bent over, face on the desk sticking to the now not-so-neat stack of papers, your hands pinned behind your back as she harshly takes her free hand and slithers it around your body, starting to rub and caress between your legs, her crotch grinding against your bare ass as her clit demands your friction. 

Her long body leans down and caresses her face into your nape, hand still working you as you whine, her hips rolling against your soft flesh. 

“mmm...” She groans in your ear, “Your body is mine. I can do what I like to you.” She reinforces this with a territorial sinking of her teeth, sucking your neck and leaving a nice darkening mark upon your flesh. 

Hange is beyond feral. 

She crossed that bridge an hour ago when you’d dropped your papers and bent over in front of her. 

She was now well within the territory of hysteria. 

Her grinds become more desperate, your shoulders hurting from how she hand you pinned, but it was complimented deliciously from how her hand and fingers were attentive to your sex, your knees weak as her hot breath invades you in the best possible way. 

She suddenly spins you around, the relief of her grasp making you sigh deeply while you watch her remove her own trousers and unveiling her pussy - her arousal leaking from her lips and spreading to her thighs and ass as she harshly pushes you down onto your knees, pushing herself into your mouth with a high pitched whine. 

“Good little soldier...” She hums, eyes closing and head throwing back as her hands rock your head at her own pace, totally under her control. “You make me feel so... ah~! so good.”  

The taste of your lovers thick juices makes you whine like a little lap dog, wanting nothing more than for her to totally ruin you like the little bitch you were for her.

Her over sensitive slit that was good to blow at the best of times began to flex and quake, her loud moans warning you she was about to detonate.

Your eyes enlarge as she screams your name again and again into the heavens, her orgasm igniting the flames of your own yearning as she cusses and swears, her grip on your hair becoming tighter.

She begins to laugh softly as she comes back down to earth, the euphoria of finally having you possessing her - that succubus within her clawing its way to the surface as she throws you back onto the desk with ease, reaching into the drawer.

She'd been prepared.

She knew you were going to be in her office this evening and she wasn't about to let this chance of annihilating you slip through her starved fingers.

"Hange..." You whine in wanting when she pulls out her large strap, not taking her snug eyes off you as she fastens it to herself, adjusting it with such familiarity she didn't need to look down.

Running her tongue up your neck and into your ear, she lines it up to you, the anticipation a disgusting drug that made you feel almost ashamed to be excited to be destroyed by this magnificent woman. Hange turns you into something you weren't too familiar with, but you didn't care; especially as she slides it into you after spitting down onto your entrance.

You cry out as she thrusts, the friction on her clit from the toy enticing an evil grin as she fills you to the brim over and over again - that wild insane gleam in her eye as she smirks at you was enough to hurtle you into your own corner of lustful insanity.

"Beg for me" she hisses with malice, grabbing your face with force.

"Hange! Oh my god! Please! Harder!"

Her nails dig into your cheeks as she graces your wish, slamming herself roughly in and out of you, watching your eyes roll and cross, your body becoming a pile of mush in the palm of her hand.

She gives your cheek a squeeze. "Open."

You obey, parting your lips and flattening your tongue as she gathers spit at her lips, pushing it out with her wet muscle and watching you swallow it like it were holy water - a sinner desperate for their retribution.

Her hips slam harder, the desk clanking everything that were in the drawers as your orgasm quickly hurtles towards you.

"Cum for me." She commands.

You heard the scream. But it didn't feel like it came from you. But apparently it did as your body explodes into waves of white hot surges, rolling through you over and over again, your jaw slackening, still in Hange's grasp, your tongue falling out - the sight of this pushing your lover back into that higher plane of existence her own loud cries almost harmonising with yours and you both blindly tumble down into the void.

Hange had wanted - no needed you for days. The supernova of finally having you was more than heavenly as your ruined sex gets pushed into ecstasy again and again. Hange really does bring some dark shadow aspect of yourself to the surface. You really were just her bitch.

And you love it.

[kellinrk800]

my thoughts on episode 11 of wonder egg priority

tw// neglect, possible abuse, murder, human experimentation

holy SHIT is there a lot to unpack.

first of all, everyone except ai and neiru have now experienced the truth of what happens when you complete the total amount of people to save. at the end of episode ten we saw momoe’s breakdown and panic’s death and at the beginning today’s episode we saw rika find out and mannen’s death. (i previously wrote that neiru and pinky had experienced it but after someone kindly let me know after a rewatch that it was in fact momoe, not neiru. sorry for the error)

however, ai is now the only one who knows about frill and what happened to her. speaking of, there are a RIDICULOUS amount of parallels between the two. i’ll be reblogging some posts that explain it a lot better than i ever could right after i post this.

what i really want to focus on is frill. despite her fairly questionable and downright evil actions, i can’t help but feel a shred of pity for her.

born out of quite literal boredom and under strict surveillance, she was almost destined to be unloved. she was not made to be a human, but simply something for acca and ura acca to love. in the way you might buy a doll for a small child. their mistake was adding such severe jealousy and stubbornness to something they had created to be perfection.

stuck at the age of 14 permanently, it’s no surprise her mental state was damaged. imagine the jealousy, the intense emotions, everything you go through at that age.

she is at least somewhat aware that she is artificial intelligence considering how open those who are around her seem to be about it. however, she does not seem to be keen on accepting it or believing it. after all, she is not programmed to. she is programmed to sense things in the way a human would. and that opens a whole world of other doors about how anyone could be an ai and not know it but i doubt wonder egg priority would get that meta this close to the end.

time to tie up all these loose ends. around midway through the episode we are introduced to a love interest (who i have forgotten the name of, apologies) who causes a split in acca and ura acca’s relationship (marriage), and she soon becomes pregnant with a child. a human child.

frill was programmed to be able to understand her parents in the way a daughter would. she begins to taunt ura acca about his husband cheating on him with the woman he loves and once she finally finds out that the baby is a girl, she decides to kill the mother.

the motivation behind frill’s mental deterioration is slowly becoming clearer and clearer. i strongly suspect that she felt she was being replaced with a human child and realised the inherent inferiority she was going to have once the child was born, and became overcome with jealousy. not only would she now have to take on the role to be a big sister (which she was not programmed to accept or do. she was programmed to be stubborn and jealous in the way a 14 year old girl would be) but she would lose the ability she had to be perceived as a human daughter by the parents who raised her.

imagine being created for the sole purpose of being the perfect daughter for somebody to love, and then being replaced. i am by no means excusing murder, but it’s hard not to see her motivation.

as punishment and as relief of acca’s grief, frill was then locked away with nothing but her ai machinery for anywhere between 12 and 15 years*.

enter himari, the child that survived despite frill’s attempt at murder of both mother and child. she is described as having “saved” ura acca and acca from their state after the mother’s murder and the abandonment of their artificial daughter. when we see her able to talk, she is shown asking ura acca to marry her once she is older to make up for the pain of the loss of her mother. she is stated as being in junior high at the time (*my timespan reasoning for the time frill was locked away). while this scene made me greatly uncomfortable, it might be to show frill’s impact and influence on himari. if they had come into contact, frill would arguably do anything in her power to gain back control of her parents.

perhaps himari asked this purposefully to anger frill, which is supported further by the fact himari was found dead (cause of death suicide) the night later.

suicide. what’s the entire theme OF the eggs? i don’t know about you but i can hear lightbulbs beginning to flicker.

ura acca and acca began research into girls suicides at that age, and found a steady surge around the same time as himari’s death.

acca and ura acca are trying to bring back himari, possibly their wife, and maybe, maybe just maybe frill as well. i think that is the real purpose of the wonder egg project.

we also finally have our answer as to why girls and boys suicides are different with wonder eggs! acca and ura acca are indeed sexists, just not about suicide.

i’ll let you do the rest of the theorising.

now for the loose ends that i don’t think can be tied up.

why are hyphen and dot named after punctuation? is their goal to bring frill back to life?

what was neiru’s family’s involvement in the wonder eggs? in fact, where is neiru?

is frill alive or dead? is there even a way to distinguish with someone in her state?

what happened to acca and ura acca to make them.. well, to make them like that? last i checked, turning into mannequins isn’t a symptom of grief. are they even alive?

MOMOE. WHERE THE FUCK IS MOMOE. GIVE ME MOMOE OR GIVE ME DEATH.

there are a shit ton of new, unspecified entities we’re learning about. what actually are hyphen and dot? are they AIs like frill? perhaps not fully formed? and thanatos and eros?

where do the girls go once they’ve been freed? is “freed” even the right term?

what did mr sawaki say to ai about koito? why did koito die? is mr sawaki going to have a bigger role than a consistently fucking annoying red herring after all?

rika’s father? why have that as a big factor in an episode conflict if it’s never going to be addressed again?

the sketchy lesbian representation compared to the consistent positive trans ftm and gay representation? why have the only canonically wlw character be a product of a harmful stereotype after treating everything else so respectfully?

and most importantly, how the FUCK is this going to get cleared up in one episode?

i don’t even think that’s possible. if it is, i’m really disappointed. after consistent excellent pacing, writing, storytelling, and everything else, cramming everything into the last couple of episodes is just cheap and annoying. if i wanted to drone on for an entire series before an explosion of poor plot points for shock factor, i’d just go watch the second season of the promised neverland (/hj).

the only somewhat reasonable explanation would be a second season, but it is a terrible media decision and i can’t imagine much, if any, good coming from it.

in conclusion, what the fuck. how the hell is this going to salvage itself in one episode?

also i wrote this entire thing while on my sleep meds. if there’s logical, grammatical, spelling or just general errors i apologise and i’ll fix them when i’m not half conscious.

[lunmelia]

Listen I know that Jack had to “grow up fast” because the world is a “dangerous place” or whatever but if he was born a baby?? I would’ve watched the hell out of that show. Just two dudes, their mum and an angel raising the devil’s baby. Because I say that they kicked Lucifer’s ass to the alternate world and everyone lives (except Kelly. Sorry.). Could you imagine? 

You have Mary; the woman who has experience in raising two babies, even if one was only for six months.

You have Dean; the man who basically raised Sam and has vague memories of helping out when his brother was a baby. Helped Lisa with her son and baby niece. Took care of a shapeshifter baby for a day. Also had a daughter for a couple of days but didn’t interact with her much. 

You have Sam; not much experience. Also took care of a shapeshifter baby for a day. Strong in research, might manage to find them at least a paragraph of how to raise a nephilim. Killed his niece. Not a great sign but he promises he won’t do that this time. 

You have Castiel; the angel expert. Is a literal angel. Has no experience with babies apart from that one night he babysat for his co-worker. Kind-of-sort-of-not-really a dad to a teenage girl. Only times he’s had to interact with a nephilim is when he’s been ordered to kill one, so, not a good sign but he promises he won’t do that this time. 

Together, they make do. But holy shit is raising Jack tough. 

He may not have a true form like Castiel but he does have wings and a true voice. Which he can’t control. So the tantrums. The tantrums. When he was born he made their ears bleed from the crying, and the lights exploded. Cas was miraculously able to calm him down before further damage was done, but the humans always make sure to have earplugs on them from then on. They also had to buy a large supply of lightbulbs to replace the ones in the bunker every time he cries. 

They had to baby proof the bunker. And I mean baby proof the hell out of the bunker. You think a normal house can be dangerous for a baby? The bunker is huge. And full of knives, guns, spellbooks, ancient artifacts, and just about a thousand other things that are not. good. to have around a baby. The baby proofing took a week. Two days of exploring the bunker and recording everything that needed to be baby-proofed, two shopping trips in a day to buy the things needed, and another three days of installing everything. Cas had to stay with Jack in his room while Mary, Sam and Dean did all the baby proofing. 

(also yes this is an AU in which Dean and Cas get their shit together, confess their feelings, build a house and raise Jack as his dads. the build a house part comes in when Jack is like 3)

The absolute freakout Dean had when Jack flew the first time. It happened when he was five months old, and Dean was changing his diaper. He turned around for a second to throw out the wipes. Heard the flap of wings, turned back around with a greeting for Cas on his lips, and Jack was gone. It went like this: Dean, staring at the empty table: ... Jack? Jack- *realisation* Cas! Cas, the baby’s gone! Cas! The baby can fly! Baby’s flying- Cas, appearing in front of him with a giggling Jack in his arms: yes, I am well aware Dean: oh my god- Jack: *disappears again* Dean: *yelps in alarm* Cas: *simply reaches up and just. plucks Jack out of thin air. one moment there’s empty air and the next Jack is just in Cas’ hands* Cas: this may become... difficult Dean, leaning over with his hands on his knees: I’m gonna have a heart attack

Turns out, baby Jack can heal! Which is what Mary discovered when once she had held Jack after coming back from a hunt with a few scrapes, they miraculously disappeared. 

You know when toddlers will get into the flour and leave a mess that you have to clean up for the next two hours? Yeah, well Jack got into a box of spellbooks and opened one which released monsters from fables. So that was a very panic-filled 6 hours that included Sam, Dean and Mary researching how to put them back / kill them while Cas held Jack close to make sure he didn’t fly away. Turns out, baby-proofing a bunker is pretty useless when said baby can fly through walls.

Apart from the many mishaps thathappened during raising Jack from infancy to toddlerhood, he’s just a weird kid. And kids are usually weird, but Jack is weird. 

Sam basically sprinted back to the car with a five-year-old Jack in his arms after Jack had held a woman’s hand in his at a playground and gently told her, “the events that lead to your father’s death were never your fault. He is in his Heaven now and although he is at peace, he begs that you make room in your heart for forgiveness of his wrong doings.” Yeah, they were very close to moving town when that happened. 

One day when he was 6, he walked outside into the back yard and just sat down in a random spot and stared at the ground. After a couple of minutes of glancing out the window to check on him, Dean walked up to him. Dean: whatchu up to, kid? Jack: there is a daisy that is going to grow and bloom here in 15 days. I’ve never seen a flower grow. I would like to watch it, if that’s okay? Dean: you want to sit here, in this exact spot, for 15 days so you can watch a flower grow? Jack, still not taking his eyes off the spot: yes Dean, who’s honestly used to this behaviour after witnessing it for the past two years: ... alright, sure. I’ll bring you dinner in a couple of hours, that sound good? Jack, finally looking up with a beaming smile: yes, thank you! (Cas and Dean did not let him sit in the same spot for 15 days. They did sit next to him for like two hours when the daisy did bloom, though. And despite the creak and buzzing ache in his knees and back, Dean can’t find it in himself to regret it.) 

he had a phase when he was 7 where he would say hi to everyone he came across. Everyone. Dean and Cas cannot make one shopping trip with him without everyone in that store knowing Jack’s name. He says bye when they leave too. 100% every time they get at least 5 people saying bye back. 

On the year he turned 8 they decided to enrol him in school. After weeks of telling him not be “weird” and teaching him to be as normal of a kid as he could be. When the 4 of them are confidant that he won’t go around using his powers, they enrol him. They did not anticipate the school calling him the first day, telling them that Jack had explained to the other kids that Santa isn’t real and they should “learn to not set themselves up for disappointment or believe what their parents say” which caused the entire class to burst out into tears. It was another “maybe we should move town” moment.

Another kid: my dad broke his leg. he has to walk with crutches now. sometimes he lets me use them! Jack: both my dads have died. one of them was torn to shreds by hellhounds who then dragged his soul down to hell where he was tortured for 40 years, but then father rescued him, that was how they met. but then father was blown to bits by my biological father. but then my grandfather resurrected him! they’re fine now.  Their teacher: uh, wow... Jack. sure sounds like you have some very vivid dreams Jack, remembering he’s not supposed to talk about this kind of stuff: ah, yes, of course... dreams. I woke up... crying. a lot. the dreams... scared me. 

I have... so many other little moments in my head, but this post is already so long so let me know if anyone wants more. 

[ninjanervana]

The Spark and his Wolf

"Stupid fae doing stupid things and taking my stupid wolf," Stiles grumbled. "The nerve." He trudged through the Preserve, carefully making his way across the uneven ground. It would be his luck to trip and fall, bash his head on some rock or tree root and leave Derek trapped forever in the Seelie Court. He did not spend the past two days researching and planning and preparing for his plan to fall apart at the last possible moment. It had taken a lot convincing and a few threats to get the pack to let him go alone, assuring them that he would howl if he needed them. He snorted softly at the thought; if they couldn't hear Derek trapped in the Preserve, he doubted they would hear his human howls. But whatever it took to convince them not to go with him, he would do. He had to be the one to go after Derek. Adjusting his grip on the wicker basket he carried, he headed deeper into the forest, occasionally glancing at the crude map he had drawn.

The thing about the Seelie Court, and fae in general, is that if they don't want to be found, they won't be. Stealth was one of their greatest strengths, the way they had survived hundreds and hundreds of years under the noses of humans. Between that and their magical ability to create entire realms in places that should be physically impossible, the fae really weren't someone you wanted to go up against. But they had taken his wolf, snatched him while he ran in the Preserve, and that was not acceptable. Thankfully, his spark and fae magic were of the same family, evening out the playing field a bit. Hopefully it would be enough.

Stepping around a massive tree, Stiles sighed in relief as he saw a faint shimmering coming from a small hollow in the trunk. It was a blink and miss it glimmer, but it was enough for Stiles to know that he was in the right place. Adjusting the sword strapped to his back, he squared his shoulders as he stepped into the tree. His stomach swooped as if he had stepped off the edge of a cliff, his breath leaving him in a whoosh as colors raced past his vision before abruptly stopping. He fell to his knees panting, his basket fallen beside him. "Holy shit," Stiles groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, his vision wavering for a moment before settling again. The Seelie Court was bright and noisy, filled with fae chattering about. A hush fell over the room as he was noticed, all eyes turning to him. "So much for a silent approach," he murmured as he made his way through the crowd, his eyes scanning the room for Derek. As he began to worry that he chose the wrong portal, he spotted Derek shackled to the wall, his body slumped in exhaustion as a fae lounged against the wall beside him.

"Hello traveler," she said as she straightened up, approaching Stiles. She was a bit shorter than Stiles, but she moved with power, the type of person who was used to being respected and feared. "It has been a long time since we have had a visitor find our home. You must be special."

Stiles's eyes glowed white briefly before flickering back to their normal brown. "It depends on who you ask," he replied easily. "I have been called determined. Loyal. Maybe that is what makes me special. I don't let go of what is mine easily."

"Oh, a little spark has come to visit us. You are special indeed." She smiled cruelly as she circled him, her teeth sharp. "And you believe we have something of yours?" she mused. Chuckles ran through the room at her comment, amused at the conversation.

"Yes, the wolf is mine," he retorted, biting his tongue to hold back a sharper retort. He could feel the eyes of all the fae on them; he had to tread carefully if they were going to get out of this mess.

"You should take better care of your things," she tsked as she moved back to Derek's side. "Otherwise, they could get lost. Or broken."

"Or stolen," Stiles added tartly. "Rest assured, I will keep a better eye on what is mine. That is a promise."

The woman hummed softly, brushing a fingertip against Derek's cheek. "Not all lost things are regained, even if found. I think I will keep your wolf. He is quite handsome, isn't he?" she commented, flashing a smile over her shoulder at Stiles. "He would fit right in with us. He could dance with us forever, bask in the beauty of the Court."

"My wolf doesn't like dancing," he answered, his fingers flexing as he resisted the urge to draw his sword. He knew if Derek was conscious, he would have flinched away from her touch and the mere thought made his blood boil. He could definitely take on one, maybe two of the fae with it. But he was vastly outnumbered. "He's not one for Court either. He's kind of an introvert who likes to work on his car. The Court is no place for him."

"My wolf, my wolf," she sneered, "Call him by his name if he is yours. He does not wake to your voice. Maybe he has eaten from our table, drunk from our cups. Maybe he wishes to stay at Court. Maybe he doesn't want you."

"The chains holding him to the wall would suggest otherwise," Stiles snapped. "My wolf is smart, clever. He would not eat your food or drink your wine. Nor would he give you his name and neither will I. I am his spark and he is my wolf. And I have come to take him home."

She moved quickly toward him, standing nearly chest to chest with Stiles. "What claim do you have to him?" she snarled.

"He is my mate," Stiles snarled, pulling his shirt collar aside to expose his mating bite. "And I am taking him home."

A shocked murmur ran through the crowd, the sound quickly growing as Stiles's words were passed from one person to the next. There was one thing that he found consistently throughout his research to get Derek back, one fact that popped up over and over as one of the only things that could help them: Fae respect mate bonds.

The fae stepped back quickly from Stiles, her expression darkening. "Your mate? He chose you?" she sneered.

"Will you stop me from taking my mate home?" Stiles asked, ignoring her comments as his eyes glowed white. "Because if you try to, I will burn this Court down; that is a promise."

She glanced around uneasily at the crowd, listening to the comments around her. "Take him," she spat after a long moment, throwing a key at Stiles's feet. "He is not worthy of staying here if he would pick one like you as his mate."

Stiles waited until she walked off into the crowd before bending to pick up the key. He wanted to get Derek out of there quickly, but didn't want them to notice his unease and fear; it would be like blood in the water to sharks.

"Kochanie," Stiles murmured as he unshackled Derek's wrists, gently guiding his arms down before patting his face. "You need to wake up; we need to go." It took a few minutes to finally rouse Derek, his tired eyes fluttering open slowly. "There's my mate," he sighed in relief, grabbing a bottle of water from the basket he brought and opening it. "Come, you need to drink this and we need to get the hell out of here, like now."

"Sti?" Derek mumbled in confusion, shakily holding the bottle of water. "How did you get there?"

Stiles snorted lightly as Derek sipped at the water. "Do you think there's a place you can go that I wouldn't follow you to?" he asked. "I'd follow you into hell to bring you back home."

"Sap," he teased quietly, reaching for his hand and squeezing it lightly.

"Yeah, yeah," he laughed, hauling Derek to his feet. He drew his sword with one hand, using the other to drag Derek's arm across his shoulders. "Come on, we have to get going. The pack is gonna freak out if I'm not back by moon rise and I have no idea what time it is down here. Let's go home."

"Home," Derek sighed, tucking his face against Stiles's neck briefly. "Yeah, let's go home."

Also posted on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/39040227

[so-writing]

Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea- Matthew Tkachuk (8)

all parts in the master list

--

There was no fucking way you were hopping into the elevator and making your way up to Matthew’s place. 

No, not a fucking chance, despite what you told him the night before.

Onyx was laying at the foot of the couch and rubbing his face against your feet as you started the next episode of ‘Vanderpump Rules’.

 The bus ride home was confusing for you because Matthew was kind and, for the first time, he revealed a personal part of himself to you. He was reading the books that ‘Game of Thrones’ was based on and you were more than surprised by that. 

His big smile when you started comparing the book to the show was blinding and you hated how you giddy you felt when he followed up in conversation. 

“I mean I haven’t read a ton of books but I’ve heard that they’re always better than the screen remake,” he had said. 

“Most of the time, yeah that’s accurate.” 

That easy conversation turned into Matthew driving you home and you learning that the two of you shared a building.

Of course he lived in the top floor penthouse, of course his views were beautiful. Of fucking course Matthew Tkachuk had everything and more. 

++

Onyx was laying between your legs as you sprawled out on the couch watching reality tv. The knock on your door was hard and scared the shit out of you. 

“Oh my god,” you stood up and headed toward the door, “what?”

You didn’t expect to open the door to the unruly, red curls and blue eyes of Matthew Tkachuk, but there he stood.

“Hey,” he hesitated slightly, “I missed my boy.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Onyx.”

“Oh, your boy?”

“Yeah, we met and the connection was instant, we’re fucking besties.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” you rolled your eyes but stepped aside anyway, “he’s just going to run away as soon as he sees you. Onyx hates people.” 

You expected Onyx to bolt for the bedroom but he sat on the arm of the couch watching Matthew with big, curious eyes as he entered your apartment.

“Hey bud, you remember me?” 

Onyx looked like he was about to take off, and he did, but rather than hide in the bedroom, he was nuzzling his face into Matthew’s shins. He began purring furiously when Matthew leaned down to rub behind his ears and scratch just above his tail.

“I am amazed,” you shook your head in disbelief at the interaction between Matthew and your cat, “he doesn’t ever do this. Literally, he never does this ever.”

“He trusts me and wants to claim me. I looked it up.” 

“Really? You did research on cat behavior?”

“Yeah,” he blushed slightly and dropped his eyes to the floor, “I was curious. I’ve never had a cat.” 

Silence fell between the two of you as you continued standing in the doorway watching Matthew love on Onyx. 

“You know, Onyx might be interested seeing Calgary from above.” 

Matthew perked up right away, smiling at you in a way that was so annoying you couldn’t do anything besides return it. 

“If he comes up, he might like the views and he might not want to come back.” 

“Oh, don’t worry, he’ll want to come back. He does want the views though.”

*

The number of women that Matthew had seen in his apartment, taking in the views and trying their best to charm him, was foreign at that point. This was brand new, though. 

He never expected to see this woman, much less a cat he didn’t know she had until recently, in his second home, surveying the view from above and maybe, maybe, not hating him as much as she used to. 

“This is incredible, it’s crazy how we live in the same building but our views of the city are so insanely different.”

“Yeah,” he tried to be cool, “give me the boy, please.”

“Ugh, whatever.”

She gently set Onyx on the floor and watched as he practically begged to be picked up by Matthew before turning her eyes back to the views of Calgary below her.

This woman wasn’t the same one he’d known, and disliked, for two years. She was someone entirely different and he hated how drawn he was to her because, actually, she was the same woman and he wasn’t ready to face that just yet.

*

“You can’t have my cat, Tkachuk.”

“But he likes me so much,” Matthew pouted and you resisted the urge to find it adorable.

“He likes me more, I promise.” 

“Fine!” 

It wasn’t a serious response, Matthew set Onyx on the floor just inside your apartment and backed a few feet away.

“See you in the morning, I guess?” 

“Yeah, obviously,” he playfully punched your shoulder, “we work together.”

“You gonna be nice to me from now on? Now that your best friend lives at my place?”

“Yep,” he responded as he popped the p, “g’night. Goodnight Onyx!” 

++

You knew you weren’t into Matthew Tkachuk. He was largely a trash human and you had plenty of experience with him to back up that accusation. 

Still, it didn’t stop you from thinking about him as you lay in bed with your wand pressed against your most intimate parts. It was purely physical, you told yourself, Matthew was hot but that was it. That was absolutely it. 

Sleep overtook your body and when your alarm went off in the morning, you were groggy and irritable and absolutely not in the mood to go to work. 

“Good morning, sunshine!”

“Hey,” you weakly greeted another staffer as you made your way into the arena. 

“No sleep for the wicked?”

“None at all,” you smiled at her as she offered you a hot coffee and everything bagel.

“Today’s going to be rough on the guys.”

“Why?”

“They’ve been breaking rules, Chuky especially.”

That piqued your interest.

“What did he do?” 

“He was treating one of the assistants like shit and it got back to Sutter.”

“Who was he treating like shit?”

You knew, obviously.

“No idea, but Sutter’s pretty upset and Matt is going to have to deal with that.”

“Oh,” was all you could say. 

*

Holy fucking shit. He was sure he was going to fucking die. 

As soon as practice ended, Matthew hurried off the ice and toward the toilets. It was a hard practice and he knew he was just barely going to make it to the toilets before he started throwing up. 

His eyes watered as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the porcelain bowl and when his stomach finally felt secure, he still found himself sweating. 

“Hey, Chuk, you ok?” 

“No,” he probably should’ve lied but fuck it, “no I’m not.”

“You know why this happened, right?” 

“No, I’ve got no fucking idea.” 

“The whole floor thing. You know?” 

Jesus Christ. He knew he fucked up for doing that to her, but when was he going to finally stop paying for doing it?

“Yeah,” another wave of nausea washed over him, “yeah I know.” 

*

You stood just outside the toilets in the locker room listening to him wretch into the bowl. It was hard to hear. 

“Matthew?”

“Oh, shit!” 

He jumped back in surprise and clutched his chest when he realized who had called his name, “you scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed. He wasn’t in a good state and it was very obvious. Matthew pushed past you in a rush and all you could do was watch as he headed back to the ice. 

++

“Tkachuk is on fire tonight! Three goals and we’re only halfway through the second,” the announcer’s voice boomed across the arena and you couldn’t hide your grin.

Matthew was being bitchy to you at the moment but there was something there. The Flames won and you felt electric. 

You were sure this was what he wanted. He’d been dropping hints for a week and you were tired of playing dumb. You were pretty fucking sure Matthew wanted you, almost as much as you decided you wanted him.

Now was the time to go for it. You knew he was home, the game ended hours ago, and you knew it was time to just fucking go for it.

So you knocked on his door and when it opened, you were met with the sight of a beautiful blonde with big eyes and a sheet wrapped around her body asking ‘who are you’ and all you could do was fucking run to the elevator and frantically press the button to your floor.

Who the fuck were you kidding? You didn’t have the body and face of a supermodel. Matthew didn’t want you. He never would.