#but then you get to spend twice as long with the mo ran who gets his act together

[mxtxfanatic]

Do you have any recommendations for danmei novels that are at all like SVSSS in tone? Or MDZS?

I have already read TGCF, but while I enjoyed it, the extended downward spiral without as many mental breaks from cutting to happier times proved to me a bit much for me.

I also tried 2ha but bounced off it hard as the POV character is just too unlikable at the start (even knowing why he's like that courtesy of tumblr spoilers couldn't save the unpleasantness of his POV).

I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think I’ve read any book that quite hits the same spot as svsss while having similar quality. The only novel I can think of is that’s similar in feel is Peerless Immortal Surrounded by Demonic Disciples, but the writing quality kinda sucks. Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know feels like it has a similar comedic tone to svsss, but that’s about it with the similarities. For mdzs recs, First-Class Lawyer, Copper Coins by the same author, and Record of the Missing Sect Master comes closest. These have MCs that are most similar in personality to Wei Wuxian without also having that extended downward spiral with minimal breaks that you mentioned.

The thing about mxtx’s writing is that I think her most unique skill amongst the writers of cnovel I’ve read with serious topics is her ability to weave humor into dark moments of the story to give reprieve from the pressure without completely breaking the momentum. A lot of stories either end up dropping the humor as the plot gets serious or adding too much humor, causing the somber moments to seem goofy and unserious. However, if you want stories that are mostly humorous with a few moments of somberness expertly woven in, then I’d suggest Ascending, Do Not Disturb and The Times Spent in Pretense.

[moralesispunk]

Silence in the Stars

Din Djarin x Reader

Warnings - none

Summary - After losing the child, Mando doesn't know how to deal with his feelings. In two days, the both of you are going to meet with Cara and Greef to start the mission to get him back. Until then, you try to get him to feel better while dealing with your own feelings for him.

Mando had stayed in his room for the first day, not answering when you knocked to drop some dinner off for him. You would have worried more but when you went to head into town the next day you found the plate now empty outside his door. You spent the next day at the local market as it had been months since you were last on your ship and it would require some food and other materials for your journey. It wasn't the safest place for you to be walking about by yourself but it gave you something to focus on instead of Mando and the kid.

You picked up some fruit from the closest stall and decided to head out of the town. After about 45minutes you decided to stop and take a seat against a large rock that was just off the track to eat the juicy fruit from the stall you hadn't stopped thinking about. It was far enough from Mos Eisley's town that the loud bustle was now barely audible. The quiet gave you time to think about what happened on Tython, about where the kid would be by now, about how Mando was dealing with it all.

While you had grown close to the kid, you weren't nearly as close to him and he was with Mando. It took you by surprise when you first joined them, how this large, beskar covered man could be so soft for his kid. He never raised his voice near him and was never more than touching distance from him. While he was cold towards you when you first met, that had started to change as well. He still barely spoke more than one word answers but you realised he showed his care in others ways. You would wake up having fallen asleep in the cockpit with a blanket now draped over you. He would pull you closer so you were almost attached to his side as he walked you through the many citys and cantinas you had found yourself in. You also found him staring at you when he didn't think you had noticed. While there was a lot that went unsaid between the two of you there was an unspoken connection of trust, and care... and love.

You thought about what he would be doing now. He was most likely sitting still in his room, thinking about everything from a plan to get the kid back to the worst case scenario. He was good at making himself so still that despite his large frame you would not see him when you walked into a room until he decided to move. You had agreed to leave by mid-sun tomorrow and you knew it wouldn't do any good thinking about what might be happening to the kid now until you knew where Moff Gideon was and could start on a plan to get him back.

You hadn't realised how long you had been sitting by the side of the rock until you felt the cool breeze on the back of your neck, sending a shiver down your spine. You closed your eyes to welcome the cool breeze for a moment, a stark difference from the usual unbearable heat on this dry planet. Getting up and dusting yourself off you began to head back to the town, deciding to pick Mando up some food on the way back. You guessed he still wouldn't be up for talking but as long as he was eating that was all you could hope for, for now.

The sun was completely down by the time you reached the Inn so you headed straight to Mando's room to drop the food. Knocking twice before you placed the plate of food on the ground outside the door.

"Mando?" you called out, "I'm going to leave some food out here for you. You'll need to eat before we leave tomorrow."

Before you could completely turn to head back to your room, the door swung open and he stood tall in the frame. He looked at you, then down at the food, before reaching for it.

"Thank you," he said, the modulator hiding just how sincere he was being.

You offered a reassuring smile and when turning to head back to your room he called your name to stop you. You turned back to face him and he remained still in the doorway. There was a silence between you, long but not uncomfortable.

"I went on a walk out of town today. Was good to clear my head, do you want to go?" you asked, hoping he would say yes but understanding if he said no.

He nodded, before looking down at the plate in his hand.

"How about I go and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow, you eat that, then we go?" you offered and with a nod he closed the door behind him.

You made your way back to your room and sat in the quiet, everything already ready to go the next day. Your mind was wandering back to the thoughts of Mando earlier. You were sure that he felt for you the way you felt for him but should you say it? Make sure this is true before you let yourself fall any harder for him, if that was even possible? A short, sharp knock at the door brought you from your thoughts and you opened it to find Mando waiting for you. Grabbing your bottle filled with water from the table you headed out and led the way.

As you made your way through Mos Eisley, Mando's hand never left the small of your back. He pulled you closer to him when he could hear shouts coming from the Cantina and you stayed that way until you made it out of the town. The walk to the spot you sat at earlier was quiet with only a few "watch your feet" shared between you. When you finally reached the rock you had sat at earlier, you turned to him and motioned for him to join in sitting next to you.

"When was the last time you got to look at the stars?" you asked him.

He turned to you, his head tilting, "I see them every night?"

His seriousness made you laugh and cover your mouth to hide your amusement at his comment.

"No, Mando," you smiled, "I mean really looked at them, without this-" you pointed at his helmet.

"I can't remember."

He had explained to you how his helmet worked once before, when you felt brave enough to ask a question about it. He had told you that it wasn't like looking with your eyes, but through a scanner, showing heat and direction.

You moved from his side, round the rock enough so you couldn't see him or him you.

"You should look," you said.

You had always been respectful of his creed and values, never asking too many questions, but as the silence continued you began to worry you had overstepped. That was stopped by the sound of a clicking noise and the helmet being placed on the ground just within your sight. A warmth travelled through your body and you felt your heart beat faster at this one action that proved how much he trusted you. Knowing how uncomfortable he would be in this moment, you started to ramble on and tell stories of your life before your days travelling with Mando and the kid.

"I wanted to be just like my brother when I was younger. One night I heard him sneak out to go look at the stars. He was 5 years older than me and about twice my height but I still thought I could keep up with him. I ended up getting lost and finding myself at the end of some cliff. I was so loud in crying out for my brother I'm surprised I didn't wake up the whole village. He eventually found me and carried me home on his back. I don't know how he put up with me," you laughed.

"Where is your brother now?" Mando asked. He had never asked any many questions about your life before, you couldn't decide if it was because he didn't care or he wasn't used to holding conversations after spending years on his ship alone.

"He's a pilot for the New Republic, so... not really sure exactly."

"Is he the one who taught you how to fly?"

You smiled at his question, a little because you enjoyed him taking an interest but mostly because you could hear his voice without the modulator. It was still deep but softer, holding more emotion.

"Yes. My mum hated it, said I would get hurt. Which I did of course," you laughed.

A shiver ran through your body and you hadn't realised how cold the night had turned until now.

"You're cold," Mando stated.

"Yes, but I don't want to go. I'm comfy here," you almost winced at how desperate you sounded to spend more time with him like this.

"Close your eyes," he commanded. You did it without a second thought.

He stood, knowing you well enough to know you did everything he asked without thinking about it, always trusting him. At first you thought he was standing to remove his cloak to place over you but he placed his hand on your shoulder.

"Move forward," he said again.

You shifted away from the rock, not sure what he was doing, until you felt a warmth behind you. It was only then that you realised his helmet was not all he removed, his chest plate and gloves had been taken off too and with you now sitting between his legs he placed an arm around your stomach to pull you closer, the other hand resting on his thigh. His body was radiating enough heat to keep you both warm but ever the carer, he took off his cloak to place it over you like a blanket.

"Are your eyes still closed?" he asked, his breath warm on the back of your neck making your voice catch in your throat, so you replied with a nod instead.

"Open them," he said, his lips now so close you could feel them move against your neck as he spoke "I trust you."

You sighed in contentment, feeling tears pool at the corner of your eye. Everything you had worried about earlier, about whether he cared and loved you the way you cared and loved for him, disappeared in this one moment. He was completely vulnerable now and trusted you with his whole being. You both sat like that until you felt your eyelids become heavy. Mando must have sensed it and tightened his grip on you, his other hand grabbing your free one to hold.

"You can sleep. I've got you," he said, placing a soft kiss to the back of your neck.

That was enough to allow yourself to give in completely to him in that moment and thats how he held you till morning, glad that you were his and he was yours.

[btsqualityy]

Scripted: Part 15

Namjoon x Reader; Jimin x Reader

Genre: Angst, fluff, President!Namjoon, Head of Security!Jimin

Warnings: (Reluctant) open relationship, mentions of cheating, mentions of a miscarriage, descriptions of violence and injuries 

“Clear the way people! Move now!!” Jimin shouted with authority as he ran alongside the stretcher that Namjoon was laid out on, you following close behind with a flurry of security flanking you. Once you all made it into the hospital, doctors came from what seemed like every direction to work on Namjoon while Jimin worked on locking down the hospital to keep it safe.

“You’re ok Joon, you’re ok,” you whispered to him when you heard a loud groan escape his throat. You figured that he was in pain from both the bullets inside of him and from whatever the doctors were doing to him, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look down at his chest. 

“Ok, he’s stable but it’s touch and go so we’re gonna have to get him into surgery now!” One of the doctors exclaimed. 

“First Lady Kim, you’re gonna wanna back up,” one of the nurses said to you and you nodded, standing up straight and backing up slightly but still holding onto Namjoon’s hand. The team of doctors counted to three before they all lifted the sheet that Namjoon was laying on and moved his body onto a hospital bed. 

“Y/N, you have to let him go,” Jimin said as he walked up behind you, gently taking ahold of your arm but you shook your head rapidly.

“I can’t leave him!” You exclaimed. 

“He has to go into surgery, he’ll be fine,” Jimin assured you, trying to pry you away from Namjoon but you just clutched onto his hand tighter.

“First Lady Kim, we’ll come tell you as soon as we have any news,” a doctor assured you. “But he needs to get into surgery right away.”

“...Ok,” you relented, fresh tears falling down your cheeks as you looked down at Namjoon and released his hand. You watched tearfully as the doctors and nurses swiftly wheeled the bed that Namjoon was on down the hallway, disappearing behind double doors that read ‘Only Medical Personnel Beyond This Point’. 

“Come on, we’ll wait in the waiting room,” Jimin said as he wrapped one arm around your waist and you leaned into him as he led you away from the blood-spattered ER.

Just as the two of you were about to head into the waiting room, you heard a flurry of commotion near the door and when you looked up, your eyes widened as it seemed like all of your worst fears were coming true.

“No,” you whispered, your head starting to hurt from how much this night was turning into a literal nightmare.  

“Oh my God,” Jimin whispered in shock and you broke out of his arms as you ran towards the door, almost colliding with the stretcher that Momo was laid out on. 

“Mo, are you ok?!” You screamed, the very sight of your best friend on a stretcher effectively freaking you out.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, I promise,” she swore, holding up her left arm, which had a thick bandage wrapped around it. “I got hit by one of the bullets when it ricocheted off of the railing of the staircase but it’s a shallow wound.”

“Thank God,” you muttered, throwing your arms around her in a hug, which she returned happily.

“How’s Namjoon?” She questioned and the emergency worker who had been pushing the stretcher that Momo was on started to move again, so you walked with them.   

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “When we got here, the doctors stabilized him but he’s in really bad shape and they basically moved him into surgery as soon as they were sure that he was still breathing.” The emergency worker wheeled Momo into a free room, before bowing to you and walking out to give the two of you privacy. 

“What about Jungkook and Taehyung?” Momo asked and your eyes widened again.

“What about them?” You wondered.

“They got hit by bullets too,” Momo informed you and you couldn’t stop the gasp that slid past your lips. 

“I didn’t know that,” you said. “I was so focused on Joon, I probably didn’t even notice that they got wheeled in as well.”

“When the shooting started, I got hit and Jungkook pushed me down to try and cover me but then he got hit in the leg,” Momo recounted. “I think maybe in somewhere else too, then Taehyung tried to help the both of us and he ended up getting shot too. I’m not sure where though because I effectively passed out after that.”

“What the fuck?” You huffed in disbelief. “Do you know if anyone else is hurt?”

“Not sure,” Momo shrugged. “We were the only ones outside though, so I’m pretty sure it was only us.”

“I’m so sorry that you got caught in the literal crossfire,” you apologized and Momo shook her head instantly.

“Not your fault,” she said sternly. “It’s just some fucking psycho, nothing to do with you.”

“But still,” you shrugged and just before Momo could respond, a doctor stepped into the room. 

“I’m sorry First Lady Kim, but we need to work on extracting some bullet fragments from Ms. Hirai,” she said. 

“Of course,” you nodded before looking back at Momo. “I’ll be back to check on you.”

“Alright, and see if you can find out any updates on Jungkook, please?” She requested and you smiled softly.

“You know it,” you told her, leaning over and kissing her cheek before stepping out of the room. Once you were back out in the hallway, there was still the buzz of activity going on and you found yourself suddenly feeling faint as the reality of everything that had happened in the past hour began to set in. However, like the angel he is, Jimin was by your side in a second.

“Hey, you ok?” He wondered and you shook your head. 

“Feeling a little dizzy,” you admitted and Jimin’s eyes widened.

“You haven’t eaten since this morning before we left my place, have you?” He wondered and you shook your head. “Let’s go get you some water and a candy bar then, yeah?”

.................................................

About two hours later, you were sat in the waiting room with Jimin, still in your blood-stained dress with Jimin’s suit jacket hanging from your shoulders. Namjoon was still surgery as far as you knew, Momo was under anesthesia from getting the bullet pieces out of her arm, and you still hadn’t heard anything back on Namjoon’s, Jungkook’s or Taehyung’s conditions.

In the two hours that you had been waiting, the only thing that played in your mind was the argument that you and Namjoon had had before leaving the Blue House just a few hours ago. You couldn’t help but to be overcome with a huge sense of guilt, not for the shooting, but for how you had never noticed how Namjoon felt about loosing your son. You felt careless, self-centered, and like a terrible fucking wife. 

“Hey, you alright in there?” Jimin asked and you looked over at him, the words tumbling out of your mouth before you could even stop them.

“I had a miscarriage,” you blurted and Jimin’s eyes widened. 

“What? When?”

“A year ago,” you answered. “It happened a little while after Namjoon had announced his candidacy for President.”

“Do you want to maybe, talk about it?” Jimin asked cautiously and you nodded. 

“Once Namjoon decided to run for President, he was never home,” you began. “He was always at his campaign headquarters, or giving a speech, or out shaking hands with people. It was a hard adjustment for me because we went from being together all the time and being able to spend time together to seeing each other twice a month. About two months into campaigning though, I found out that I was pregnant and we were both so excited because we had always talked about having kids.”

“Keep going,” he encouraged you, reaching over and grabbing one of your hands in his. 

“One day, I was really insistent on him coming home and not working late because I was pregnant and emotional and just wanted my husband at home with me. He said that he needed to work and we ended up getting into this huge fight, and I went to bed angry at him. When I woke up, I was soaked in blood,” you said. “It was the most blood that I had ever seen in my life at once, up until tonight.”

“I’m so sorry baby bird,” he whispered, scooting closer to you and wrapping his free arm around your shoulders. 

“You know how Namjoon and I were arguing before we left the Blue House?” You wondered, knowing that he had probably heard the shouting and Jimin nodded. “Namjoon cheated that first time with Hyejin because after I had the miscarriage, I treated him like shit.”

“That’s no excuse for him to just go off and cheat on you though,” Jimin pointed out. 

“I know but it just all makes so much fucking sense now,” you huffed. “I pushed Namjoon away in order to cope with my grief, all while being oblivious to the fact that he was grieving too. It took years for Namjoon to really trust me and to trust our relationship and to trust the fact that he wasn’t going to have to leave me like he had to leave Hyejin, and I ruined all of that in a second.”

“You can’t blame yourself for all that’s happened between the two of you.”

“I’m not,” you assured him. “But I am realizing just how big of a role I played in all of this. I started it by hurting Namjoon, then he hurt me by cheating with Hyejin, then I hurt him again by telling him that our marriage would be a marriage in name only once we decided to do the arrangement when I knew full well that he was trying his best to earn my forgiveness back, and he hurt me by starting to sleep with other women once our marriage was open. It’s been a vicious ass cycle of us just hurting each other over and over again, and I feel fucking guilty that I let it go on this long. Now, he’s on an operating table with fucking bullet holes in his chest and his last words to me were ‘Fine’ in response to me saying that I really do want a fucking divorce!”

“Ok stop, you have to calm down,” Jimin told you firmly, pulling you into a tight hug and holding you there as you wrapped your arms around him as well. “Match my breathing.” You did so, taking slow and deep inhales before letting them out again. The two of you continued this for a few minutes, until your breathing returned to normal again. 

“I’m sorry for springing all of that on you,” you muttered against his shoulder and you felt him shake his head.

“Don’t be sorry baby, I know it’s a lot going on right now and you’re handling it the best that you can,” Jimin replied. You opened your eyes and saw a doctor walking into the waiting room, making you immediately let go of Jimin and stand up. Jimin did the same, the both of you turning to face the doctor.

“First Lady Kim,” the doctor said, bowing to you. “I’m Dr. Song.”

“Hello,” you greeted him. “How’s Namjoon?”

“President Kim’s injuries are just as bad as we anticipated them to be, if not worse,” Dr. Song announced grimly. “He lost a lot of blood, and the bullets did extensive damage to his chest cavity. As a result, he’s now in a coma.”

“A coma?” You squeaked. “And how long is that going to last?”

“Well, only time can tell,” Dr. Song shrugged. “We were able to get all of the bullets out but the damage is so bad that his body just cannot handle extended surgery right now so although we know that the damage was bad, we aren’t exactly sure to what extent and that makes it hard to estimate.” 

“Oh, what about Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook?” You asked and the doctor grimaced.

“Mr. Jeon was hit in the leg and although it’s pretty bad from what I heard, he’ll be fine with some intensive physical therapy in order to regain full, functional use of his left leg,” Dr. Song said. “As for Kim Taehyung, his injuries were a bit more extensive.”

“How much more extensive?” Jimin spoke up. 

“He was hit in the shoulder and in the stomach, which are two particularly dangerous places to be shot in,” Dr. Song replied. “He’s still in surgery as of right now, but he was stable when he was brought in.”

“Thank you so much, Dr. Song,” you thanked him and he just nodded softly.

“As soon as I find out any more news on the three of them, you’ll be the first person to know,” Dr. Song assured you and you smiled softly as he bowed again before turning and walking out of the waiting room. You then turned back to Jimin, fresh tears falling from your eyes again and Jimin just held his arms open, allowing you to follow into them.

“This is like a nightmare,” you sobbed, making Jimin just wrap his arms tighter around you.

.................................................

“Y/N-ah, I know that you’re upset but don’t make a dumb decision,” Yoongi spat as he paced in front of you, and you looked up at him with a glare.

“All I wanna do is make a statement to the press about Namjoon’s, Taehyung’s, Jungkook’s, and Momo’s conditions,” you said. “I didn’t realize that doing that would be counted as stupid.”

“Usually, it wouldn’t be but given the fact that someone just tried to kill your husband a few hours ago, it’s dumb,” Yoongi said and you looked over at Jimin for help, only to see him with a hard frown on his face.

“I agree,” Jimin spoke up, knowing that you were trying to get help from him. “It’s too dangerous right now, especially since we still haven’t caught whoever did it. Can’t you just release a statement through the Blue House?”

“Look, Namjoon has never shied away from anything regarding this job and since whoever did this has made it to where he can’t stand up for himself, I’m going to be the one to do it for him,” you stated firmly. 

“Y/N-,” Yoongi started to say but you cut him off. 

“Look, I’m not going to debate about this any longer. Now, either we can be smart about this and you can set up the press and Jimin can arrange proper security measures, or you can both be stupid and let me go out there alone. Either way, I’m still going out there.”

“Jimin-ssi?” Yoongi said gruffly and both of you looked over at him, seeing the internal struggle that he was going through.

“....Fine,” he finally relented and you smiled at him. “We’ll get someone up here with extra clothes for you while I go and make the necessary arrangements.”

“Thank you,” you told him and he nodded stiffly at you before getting up and walking away.

45 minutes later, you were standing near the entrance of the hospital, watching through the window as Yoongi addressed the crowd of reporters, journalists and camera people. 

“We all set?” You wondered as you turned to face Jimin and he nodded as he listened to whoever was talking to him through his earpiece.

“About one more minute,” he said as he turned to face you, reaching out and fixing the lapel of the blazer that you had changed into. “Remember Y/N, I’m giving you one minute out there to say whatever you need to say and if I so much as see someone move wrong, I’m not above running to you and dragging you back in here, got it?”

“Got it,” you nodded, a soft smile coming onto your face when Jimin leaned forward and kissed your lips lightly. 

“Alright, come on,” Jimin said, pushing open the hospital door and allowing you to walk out first. He stayed close to you, the two of you walking over to the makeshift podium that the hospital had set up outside. Yoongi lightly tapped your hand as the two of you passed each other, and you stepped up onto the podium while Jimin, Yoongi, and the rest of your security flanked the podium. 

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice and at such a late hour,” you began your statement, looking out into the crowd as you spoke into the microphone. “As I’m sure all of you are aware, my husband, President Kim Namjoon, was shot tonight as we made our way to a Children’s Benefit. While the President’s injuries are extensive, he is still alive. However, he is now in a coma as a result of his injuries and we are not sure how long it will take him to wake up as of now.”

“In addition to my husband’s injuries, my personal secretary Momo Hirai, Chief of Staff Kim Taehyung, and Minster of Economy and Finance Jeon Jungkook all sustained injuries in the shooting as well. Now, any questions?” All of the reporters and journalists hands went up in the air and you randomly pointed to a small woman in the front. “Yes?”

“What is the extent of both Minster Jeon’s and Chief of Staff Kim’s injuries?” She questioned. “From the footage that exists, it looked like they were both injured pretty badly.”

“For privacy reasons, I am not allowed to disclose that information as their families are still being contacted and notified,” you said, pointing to a man in the back who had his hand up. 

“As President Kim will be presumably be out of commission for a while, even after waking up from this coma, do you think he’ll resume his Presidential duties?” He asked.

“Well, I can’t exactly say. However, I do know that serving our great country and the people that live in it has been my husband’s greatest mission in life so I think even if he can’t resume his duties as soon as he wakes up, Prime Minster Min has his full confidence.”

“And you?” Another reported spoke up. “Does he have your full confidence?”

“Absolutely,” you nodded. “Prime Minster Min was endorsed personally by my husband and they share the same sense of duty so I believe that our country will be in great hands while my husband recovers. Now, one last question.” You said as you pointed towards a middle aged man that stood near the middle of the crowd. 

“In regards to the people who did this, what do you want to happen to them once they are caught?” He wondered. “I only ask because your husband has notoriously been against death sentences and I’d like to know your thoughts.” You tilted your head to the side lightly, thinking about the question for a few seconds.

“I hope that they burn in hell,” you smiled, a flurry of sound coming from the crowd and an increase of camera flashes started to happen. “No further questions.”

.................................................

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[lovely-necromancy]

A Cure for Insomnia CH.9

TW Purposeful misgendering of MC, and overall skeevy first POV.

MC is agender and here I started this chapter with the POV of someone out right misgendering them.

Capital He/Him pronouns are associated with Slender.

He was angry, but then again when wasn't He. You've wasted too much time on “laying low”. And now He's getting impatient, you're starting to hear whispers about potential replacements and incompetency. First you fuck up your mission then you gave Him the subpar sacrifice of that dumb hippie. He didn't want her, He wanted her. Her being your current and original target.

The girl who moved to town in the middle of March, YN. Didn't wait for the month to end or come the first week of the new one. Such a strange time to move...almost as if she was running away from something. He had taken an interest in her immediately. You didn't see what was so special about her, just another mousy girl in a small town, very obedient from what you saw.

Maybe that's what caught His attention. A new little puppet to add to His collection...but His urgency with this task didn't really fit. You knew for a fact He wasn't human but...could He have desires of the flesh? Was this a twisted perversion of your god's? The fuzzy feeling in your head gets painful at the thought.

'Ok, you aren't after some ass.' you think trying to appease Him.

It doesn't work, your apology is almost as worthless as you are to Him in this moment. You've really been testing Him lately, understandably this is your last chance so to speak. Bring Him YN or you won't be His problem much longer.

A chill runs down your spine at the ill intent you feel through your contract.

You're working on it, really you are. But she's so stupid and air headed it will take a while to break her for Him to be able to properly mold her. Not to mention she seems to have acquired a new guard dog. One that seems to have problems staying still, yet will spend hours watching her.

You'd seen him around town a few times in the past week or two, he has two other companions who aren't as bad about keeping low profiles. Yeah, you'd seen each of them at her house at one point or another. The short one seemed to have a nasty habit of slinking into her home in the dead of night as she slept. He didn't seem to go in during her drives, only when she'd be there. The tall one would come in the early morning or middle of the day, either to retrieve his partner or to snoop around inside for a bit before leaving. Aside from his partner he never seemed to leave with anything, never went in with anything either. They weren't leaving traces so they couldn't be your replacements.

Even if they had been they didn't seem too tough, you could over take them easy. Show Him you were still good for something.

But worst of all was her fucking mutt. He'd just circle the outside of the house, inspecting it. For what you have no clue, but he kept at it like he had a keen eye and could detect the slightest change of the home. One day he started looking off into the tree line and you'd almost swear he knew where you were. And while his nearly all black eyes made you think he was your replacement, intimidating you, your god suggested otherwise.

Reminding you that they weren't breaking her down for Him. That was your job.

Not only was the twink annoyingly thorough when at her home but he seems to have followed her to work today. You hope this isn't a new habit for him, you'll need to catch YN off guard at some point and you can't do that with that stupid twitching bastard around.

He bought two books and YN had seemed surprised when he came up to chat with her after finishing the first one. She's not your normal type but you can't deny she is cute talking so excitedly, you really wish that fucking mask was off her face so you could see her plump lips move. Come to think of it, twitchy was also wearing a mask. Is that why she talks so freely with him? Was all you had to do to get close to her was wear a mask? Or did she have a little crush on this guy?

No, she's speaking the same way she would with one of the Hornets. He however has a certain look in his eye while they talk. Maybe someone does have a crush...Or maybe he's just a disgusting stalker like you are. Were, like you were that is before your god saw the potential in you. And blessed you as one of his followers.

If he is a creepy little stalker tailing her you could let him do the breaking, and then you'd swoop in for the kill. Would that take too long? Better yet would your god even be happy with the idea. He can get very touchy about plans, down to the tiniest details too. You've witnessed first hand what He does to those who leave gaps for targets to get through.

Reprogramming doesn't seem pleasant. But that'll be the least of your worries if you don't get a move on with delivering Him His choice of offering. In the years you've been of service to your god...you don't recall Him ever choosing his offering. A target yes of course plenty, but His next puppet or a special meal. No this was big, testing your worth probably, very big.

'And you're failing.' that voice isn't yours.

'How, astute.' He's chatty today. That's always a bad thing. For you anyway.

You turn your attention to the bookshop across the street, coffee shops make such great covers especially when you add a laptop and act as though you're writing a novel, no one spares you a glance. It's five and that means quitting time, maybe YN wouldn't go home right away. You could run into her and plant some seeds of paranoia in her.

Mess with her head, have her freak out and cause a scene in town to discredit her further in the future. Your typical MO. After all she is just the simple new girl in town, and small town residents don't trust easy.

'This should be fun.' you think as you pack up your computer and notebook.

Heading to your car you wait in the parking lot for a moment, making it look as though you were busy with your phone while you waited to see that ugly yellow car drive in one direction or another. It doesn't take long before you catch sight of the brightly colored Kia taking the road towards the general store.

Wonderful, one humiliating panic attack in public coming up. This was something you could manage perfectly on your own. Though maybe once your god was more pleased with you, you'd ask for His assistance in giving her a few more hallucinations. After all the faster she's broken down the faster He gets what He wants.

Once at the small store you park one space away from her Kia. Normally for targets you prefer if they don't notice your car but it's not like there's room to go else where in this parking lot. Just as you're about to make your way inside, you hear more murmuring.

How the hell are you supposed to do His bidding when all He seems to want to do is keep interfering? It's getting so frustrating that you're starting to question your god's intelligence.

For your insolence you are hit hard with the worst migraine you've ever gotten since taking up a contract with Him.

'You are not the only one following them.' is the biting retort.

Moving your head despite the pain, you scan the store through squinted eyelids as you stand just out of your car. And you catch sight of him, that twitching guard dog from before. He hasn't noticed you but he seems to be sharing a cart with YN.

Did she get a boyfriend? Were you just unaware of that detail this entire time? She seems too relaxed with him for that to be anything else. They look too domestic together, you'll have fun ripping them apart. She'll probably cry like the bitch she is when you do, that's a very nice picture.

'Leave.' what now?

'Leave before he catches on to you.' The twitchy twink? You could take him in a fight, kid is practically all bones, why should you leave?

Instead of an answer your migraine intensifies. For the first time in years you are racked with so much pain that you would've collapsed on the ground if your car hadn't been near to steady yourself.

A chime of a bell sounds, “Hey pal you alright there?”, it's just Leo. Luckily you've never shopped at his store so likely hood of him knowing who you are or mentioning this to anyone isn't high.

“Ah...yeah,” you say through the wincing, “real bad migraine.”

“I got some Excedrin-”

“I'll just come back later.” you cut him off and get back into your car. Movement isn't easy for you under all this pain but you can feel His presence in your mind gaining control. You'll either wake up back in your bed or on the forest floor covered in blood and ticks. You really hope it isn't the last one as you black out just as you turn onto 3rd Avenue.

Leo comes back into the store almost as soon as he ran out.

“Everything ok?” you ask. You'd seen the man run out when you turned around to ask if he had gluten free vegetable stock.

“Yea, some tourist must'a got car sick or somethin'.” you nod at his gruff reply.

“Oh, do you have any gluten free vegetable stock?”

The old man eyes you warily.

“Kid don' tell me ya got on one a those fad diets.”

“No it's for the Picnic next week. I wanted to make an all diet friendly foragers pie.” you said shaking your head, which snaps right twice. Behind you you hear a muffled clucking coming from Toby.

Toby had hung out at the shop with you today. After he read through The Son of Neptune the two of you had discussed the series for a bit before you almost let some spoiler slip through. Toby couldn't help but laugh when you pushed him into a reading nook to finish reading the series before you ruined it for him. He got two thirds of The Mark of Athena done before you clocked out for the day.

While leaving he mentioned he needed to go shopping and asked where the grocery store in town was because he hadn't seen one in the area. You offered to take him to Leo's shop because it had everything you could need and was a small local business. Like most things in Kepler but there was a Trader Joe's that opened up in town, and they don't have much to offer when you cook from scratch. So here you were shopping together.

“I think we have organic no clue if it's vegan though.”

“Gluten free.” Leo rolls his eyes in dismissal and goes off to find the organic broth for you.

“Was there anything else you needed to grab?” you asked turning to look at Toby.

He had a list with him and had been ripping small tears to cross off what he'd gotten. He nods once then twice as his eyes find items he had yet to find, until they stop near the bottom of the list. Toby's dark brown eyes roll so hard you're pretty sure they rolled to the back of his skull. He lets out a dramatic 'agh' sound at whatever was on the list. Before crumbling it and tossing it into the cart.

“Atomic Fireballs and eggs. Can you grab the candy? Some people get pissy about their eggs.” he says cutting his eyes to the cooler containing eggs. This is probably a regular argument with the group.

With a small nod and an “mmhmm” you run off to the candy isle. You smell the cinnamon candy before you even see the container on the shelf. Before running off back to Toby and the cart, you pause debating if you should grab some M&Ms or chocolate chips to make cookies for tomorrow's movie night. You had stress eaten the snacks you bought last week only having the Surge left for Kirby, like hell you would drink it yourself.

After the week you've had baking sounded really nice. The mind numbing activity would probably be therapeutic since you haven't baked in so long. You grab two of the bigger bottles of mini M&Ms they always taste better to you, plus mini cookies tend to be a bigger hit than their regular sized counter parts. On your way to the front of the store you pass an end cap for chips. Seeing the white cheddar popcorn you like you grab a bag to replace the one you ate earlier in the week.

You should be set now, as long as Leo had the broth. If he didn't gluten free broth seems like something the Trader Joe's would have.

Toby's already at the counter with Leo, who had a box of broth off to the side. Noice. You place the Atomic candy on the counter with the rest of Toby's items. Leo looks between the two of you but brushes off whatever thought or comment he had.

“This it for you kid?”Leo has already begun ringing him out.

You see the movement of Toby's mouth open while he double checks the cart, he closes it when he sees the wad of paper. He must have forgotten something. Going over your own list you double check to make sure you have everything before it's your turn.

“N-n-n-no, can I-I-I get two boxes of condoms? St-s-st-standard and Large.” Toby's popping his knuckles a little more aggressively than normal, well what you've equated to normal for Toby.

'Oh.' the add ons sort of surprise you, but his exaggerated sigh from earlier makes more sense. Why did you even think that eggs caused that sort of reaction? It was probably because he was gonna have to ask for condoms in front of you. His new friend, nearly a stranger. Toby's agitated tics and stuttering are very valid right now.

You miss the look Leo gives you but Toby doesn't and when Leo looks back at him his tics get more frequent.

Looking to Toby when his 'mrrow' tic keeps repeating, you see the tips of his ears are a soft pink. A stark contrast to their normally grayish white complexion. Wanting to help but knowing he's most likely just embarrassed you decide to say nothing and ignore the situation. Thankfully Leo doesn't make any type of comment either as he finishes ringing out Toby and hands him his receipt.

“This it kid?” He says as he starts checking out your items.

“Um...ah, what's the pizza today?” this week isn't your normal pizza week but with the Picnic being next weekend you probably won't do pizza next week. And you have to have a slice ready for Chonk, least he decides to see what human taste like.

“Spinach and mushroom, a white pizza.”

“Yea I'll take one of those then please.”

“Garlic crust?” How very dare this man. What kind of question is that.

“Of course.”

He leaves to the back of the store yet again to retrieve your pizza. There's a silence that falls over the store as he leaves, leaving only you and Toby out front. Not an awkward type of silence but you definitely aren't going to risk a glance at Toby right now.

“I threw in an extra for that stray you've been feeding.” He says as he returns. Toby having calmed down a bit scoffs at the stray comment.

“That isn't a-a-a stray it's a fucking dem-mon.”

“Ok like that's fair, but he is kinda cute.”

“I don't care what it is, just keep it away from my store.” Leo finishes ringing you up. “Bad for business to have a wild animal rooting through the garbage.” Leo doesn't care about that stuff he also fears Chonk, and all his trash panda glory.

Once you settled your tab with Leo you and Toby go out to your car. You place his items in the backseat while you take the trunk, so no one goes home with the wrong item. Stars forbid you end up with the condom bag and have to awkwardly give that to Toby or even worse Brian or Tim. You've had four interactions with the man but already you can hear Brian's teasing banter.

Getting situated in the car you hand your phone to Toby to pick the music. You'd left your entire library open this time and not just the home page, you wanted to see if he'd pick something different or just go with the last thing played. He did scroll a bit before just clicking the last played playlist. Well at least he looked, maybe you'd make a playlist and see what he liked. He could just enjoy the songs.

While you're stuck at the light waiting to turn you remember consciously that Saturday Night Dead is tomorrow. You wonder if the trio would be joining you all. Wouldn't hurt to ask.

“Hey so are you guys coming over to the Cryptonomica tomorrow night?”

“Tim and Brian are.” Toby's eyes glance at the window as he picks at the skin around his nails.

“Oh. Why aren't you coming?” you hope you don't sound too pushy.

“Hi, I'm Toby I have Tourette's.” He says in a deadpan.

“Nice to meet you, I'm YN I have Autism.” you sass back cutting your eyes to him, “and I have tics too remember.”

“You can sit beside me. The gang never mentions my ticcing or stimming during a movie and I sit in the corner to be less of a distraction.”

From the corner of your eye you can see he peeled off a bit of skin and is now bleeding. When you slow down at the light you reach over him to the glove box and pull out a box of band-aids. Tossing the box in his lap you focus back on the road. There's a cracking sound when Toby's shoulder pop from a tic but other than that you two fall into a lull in the conversation.

From the corner of your eye you see Toby put the box in the cup holders between you. This little shit, just because he doesn't feel pain doesn't mean picking his skin is a healthy fidget.

“...I..I'll think about it.” he's still picking at his skin but maybe reassurance will help him calm down.

“Well, I hope I see you tomorrow then,” you can't help the grin on your face, you're just a touch giddy at the fact you've made a friend this fast. “No pressure though.” can't be too pushy you might scare him off.

You hear a huff as he turns more of his body to look out the window. He isn't upset his energy feels calm almost excited, it's nice to meet someone who isn't so confusing with their actions. Though you'd wish he wouldn't try to hide them. Maybe you both have the same idea of not wanting to overwhelm the other right away. You get the feeling this situation...your blooming friendship with Toby, it isn't something he's use to.

Getting to the RV you help Toby carry in the groceries, despite his protests that he can do it. It was just machismo of course, because once inside the RV you noticed how clean it was for three bachelors and their huge dog living in it. Sure there were dishes in the sink but dishes are a care chore that never ended. There was very little clutter that you saw but you also weren't paying close attention since you were just helping bring in groceries and not here for a visit. It would be rude to look, you think.

Once all of the boys' bags were brought in and either on the counter or table you saw a majority of them had blood smears all on the handles. Fucking Toby, you gave him band-aids for a reason.

“Tobais you're bleeding.”

“Thanks Captain obvious.” you want to smack him.

“Do you guys have a first aid kit?”

“Nope.” he sounds so smug when he pops the 'p' sound.

“Ok, then I'll go get the band-aids out of my car and you wash your hands.”

“Don'-uwu- Don't worry about it.”

You have to bite your lip so you don't laugh but the small stream of air coming from your nose let Toby know you were laughing. Despite his mask you can see his pout clearly when he turns to you.

“I...I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't...but it's too,” your giggling is breaking down your ability to speak, “cute.”

The grumpy face sort of melts off of the boy in front of you, but you can tell by the vibes he's still touchy. You try to calm yourself but quickly realize you aren't giggling anymore because of his tic.

“C'mon it isn't even that funny.” he says gruffly, before looking off to the side.

“No...it's,” you keep shaking your head as the movement doesn't stop. The loop won't stop and you're starting to tear up from the muscles in your abdomen seizing up then relaxing in repetition.

Toby seems to realize what's happened.

“No fucking way.” is all he says as he comes closer to your still giggling form. “A giggling tic?” You can only nod, you're starting to get light headed. Toby noticing you starting to crouch down, helps ease you to sit. He stays by your side as you both wait for the tic to cease.

He even tries rubbing a hand on your back to soothe you into calming down. You'll need to tell him physical comfort doesn't really help you. It's still sweet of him to try.

Unlike a laughing fit that will have a gradual die down of the action, your laughing tic has an abrupt stop. But you feel just as tired and even more sick than someone who just got out of a laughing fit. Breath coming out hitched though you try to gasp in more air to soothe your impending headache. Your face is red and covered in tear stains, once again you are thankful for your mask. This isn't a tic you get often but you probably hate this one the most, just from how drained it leaves you.

Toby continues to rub circles into your back as your breathing starts to even. Eventually he gets up to grab you some water. You notice it's quiet in the RV, not even Connor is around Brian must have him today.

“That was probably karma.” he says as he hands you the glass. Looking up to him confused he continues, “For teasing me about my tic.”

“But I w-wa-,” you take a large gulp of water for the raspiness of your voice, “I wasn't teasing. I just thought 'uwu' was a cute vocal tic.” you say indignantly.

Really you had only thought the verbal tic was cute. Also it'd been a while since you heard 'uwu' said aloud so it caught you off guard.

“Not as cute as a giggling tic.” who's teasing who now.

“Haha, don't get used to it doesn't happen often.”

After settling down from you tic it's time to head home. You really don't want to over stay your welcome. The fatigue is also starting to set in and you want to get home before it really hits.

Toby is nothing if not a gentleman you've noticed. And he continues to be on brand as he walks you back to your car.

“So thanks for that.” vaguely motioning as if to say 'y'know' with your hands rather than your words. Toby knows, you can tell from that boyish glint in his eyes.

“Hope to see you tomorrow night.” you say getting back into your car.

“It's sounding better now.” there's a pause, “Get home safe.” he slaps the interior of your window before backing away from your car altogether.

With a final wave you back out back onto the old dirt road and drive on home. When you get home you realize you never patched up Toby's hand, now you have a small bloodstain on your door.

[tomtenadia]

Island Dreams - Chapter 14

Chapter 14 folks. And Lysandra and Aedion are here as well <3

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A few days had passed and finally the big day had arrived. Lysandra and Aedion were on their way. Aelin was pacing in the small arrivals section of Stornoway airport and kept looking at the screen for the status of the flight from Glasgow. Lysandra and Aedion were on their way and she was excited. Finally the status changed to on approach and Aelin was now full on restless. She hadn’t seen them in a while and was dying to hug Lys again and spend two weeks with her best friend and catch up.

Rowan had stayed behind at the bookshop but they were going to him after they had dumped everything at her place. She had offered them her spare bedroom. She had the space so why not? Also, she loved the idea of sharing a flat with Lysandra again. She was hoping to have time to just be with her and in her heart she was begging for Rowan and Aedion to get along so she could get the boys together and be alone with Lysandra. Twenty minutes passed and the screen had been flashing landed for a while when she finally heard her name by a voice that she would have recognised everywhere. “Lys.” She shouted and ran for her friend and hugged her savagely making a scene in front of all the other passengers. The two girls hugged for a solid five minutes until Aedion cleared his throat. Aelin finally detached and gave the man a hug “It’s nice to see you as well.” “It’s fine Ace, I am used to be an afterthought when it comes to you two.” Aelin grabbed some of the bags “Come on, let’s get you out of here.” The drive home was short and sweet and the two women had spent the time catching up, something that would probably take the whole two weeks. Aedion had sat in silence, knowing full well how much Lysandra had missed Aelin. They finally arrived at Aelin’s place and they all got in and Lysandra was staring at the place in amazement. “Aelin, this place is wonderful.” “Just renting it for now, but yes I love it.” Aelin took her friends upstairs, gave them a tour and showed them their bedroom “the bathroom is at the end of the corridor” “Are we going to meet Rowan?” Lysandra was dying to finally be introduced to the guy. Aelin had kept her posted on her development with her two guys and also sent her some of the pictures she had taken of him during their trip. “We are going to the bookshop as soon as you two are ready to get out again. Take your time, I am downstairs.” Aelin left them and went back downstairs and texted Rowan They are here. We are at my place. We will be there in about an hour I think. His reply did not come straight away Busy. I will see you in a bit. I am looking forward to meet your friends. Forty minutes later the couple came down stairs all changed and ready to go. “Rowan is waiting for us.” Added Aelin with excitement. She had been counting down the days to this since Lys had told her over the phone that they were coming. They left and started walking to the bookshop and Aelin acted as guide and was pointing at places and telling them stories as if she had live there all her life. Ten minutes later they were at the shop “Tadaaa” “Is that him?” Lysandra whispered when she spotted a man with silver hair through the window and Aelin smiled in reply. “Holy fuck, young lady, not a single one of the pictures you sent me do him any justice.” “I am standing here, by the way.” Protested Aedion, feeling left out. “Yes, darling, I know.” She kissed him tenderly. “Seriously, you really hit the jackpot.” Aelin laughed and turned to Aedion “you know she loves you right?” Lysandra turned to him a kissed him again “I’ll prove you tonight I much I love you.” And a massive grin spread on his face, while Aelin pretended not to hear. As soon as they entered Aelin felt Rowan’s arms around her waist and a soft kiss on her lips “Hi you.” “Back at you.” She said returning the kiss. Then she pulled away and made the introductions “Lysandra, Aedion, this is Rowan.” She turned to him “Ro, these are my friends.” “Welcome to Stornoway, guys.” Lysandra stared at him and heat flushed through her. His accent added to his already high level of hotness, together with the awesome tattoo sneaking up his arm. Damn the man was sex made real. She had to get a grip. She had Aedion and she loved him. “We are so happy to be here.” “And I am glad there is another guy here. I would have risked to have two week of holidays by myself.” Aedion joked grabbing Lysandra by her waist and pulling her to him. “Cheeky.” “Babe, I love you but when it comes to you and Aelin, most of times I am the third wheel.” When a customer came in, Aelin made a move to go an d serve him but Rowan stopped her “Stay with your friends.” Aelin gave Lys and Aedion a tour of the place and they loved it showing with pride her displays. “So this is where you work just now.” Lysandra said almost beaming at her friend. “You seem happy, much happier than when you left.” And took her hand. “I am…” and her gaze landed on Rowan and Aedion gave them some privacy and pretended to browse some books. “So are you two…” Aelin shook her head “We are taking it slowly, no labels or anything. And we haven’t… you know… that… yet.” “How can you resist it? Have you seen him?” Lysandra pointed out. “We have a promise.” Aelin explained and when she noticed Lysandra’s expression she expanded a bit “It’s a long story, but it will happen but not until the correct conditions are met.” “By the way… his hands…” and Aelin laughed and remembered the day in the office. “I know, they are wonderful.” And winked at her friend. “So you did something.” “Of course, we are taking it slowly, but not that slowly.” “Is he good?” Asked Lysandra who was getting super curious. Aelin gave her a huge grin. “You naughty girl.” The two women were chatting away when the boys joined them again and Rowan held Aelin from behind and put his chin on her shoulder “If you guys are hungry, this is the time when we usually close for lunch. We can go to my aunt’s.” Aelin turned and threw her arms around Rowan’s neck “Fooood. I knew I chose you for a reason.” Lysandra stared at her friend and was stunned by how much she had changed. She had never seen her like that. Not even when things with Chaol were good, she appeared that happy. She was different. A good different and that made her super relieved. The last memories she had of Aelin were of someone heartbroken in more ways than one. “I am starving,” said Aedion. Lysandra and Aedion left the shop and Aelin and Rowan followed after having closed the doors. He grabbed her hand “Let’s go.” A few minutes later they were at the cafe. “Maeve is Rowan’s aunt.” Explained Aelin while they entered the place. It was quite busy that day but they managed to get a table for four. Maeve joined them a moment later with the menus. “We have guests today. These are Lysandra and Aedion. They are my friends from London.” Aelin made the introductions. “Welcome guys. These are the menu. Take your time to order.” “The food here is great.” Aelin told them and she heard Rowan chuckle. “Any problems?” “You would know if the food is good. You already tried it all, twice.” And he flicked her nose tenderly. “Did you forget to take your ‘be nice’ pills today?” She jested and Lysandra was staring at her friend in fascination. “But I love seeing getting all worked up for nothing, mo chridhe.” And he kissed her gently. “Was that Gaelic? The last thing you said, by the way.” Asked Lysandra not understanding the last thing Rowan said. Aelin nodded. “I am sorry, but it’s so sexy.” And she blushed savagely. Rowan laughed out loud “I’ll take it as a compliment.” They finally ordered the food and after a while it arrived. “This looks awesome.” Commented Aedion who was really starving. They had left London very early and had it felt like their breakfast had been a lifetime ago. “So, I had a look at some of the things we can do while you guys are here and I thought about a little side trip.” Aelin explained, pulling out her guide from the backpack “I was thinking a four days trip and head for North Uist.” Then she turned to Rowan “Can it be done?” Rowan nodded enthusiastically “I have a better plan,” he offered and Aelin nodded eagerly he was the local, he had a better idea of what could be done. “Day one, we can head south, catch the second ferry in the morning and in an hour we are on North Uist and we can hang about the north.” He explained “Day two we can drive the whole length of North and South Uist. They are basically loads of islands connected by causeways. Day three, we can venture all the way to Barra. If we leave early in the morning we can catch the first ferry our. Spend the day on the island and come back with the last ferry. It’s June and the days are super long. Day four me come back, but we can take them to some nice places on Lewis.” “Why did I even bother buying a guide, when I have you?” She touched his hand and he grinned back. Lysandra clapped her hands excited “I trust you two. I mean I am open to anything.” “Me too.” Added Aedion. “And there’s beaches” Rowan added and Aelin looked at him “Huge ones.” “What? Better than Luskentyre?” Rowan nodded and Aelin’s mouth fell open “How is that even possible?” “What is Luskentyre?” Asked Aedion curious. “It’s this incredible, stunning, amazing beach. We’ll go there, I promise.” Explained Aelin remembering the first time she went there. “Can we swim?” This time it was Lysandra. Rowan was dubious. He could but he was not sure they could take it “It’s June. If we get a good day, chances are it will be warm but the water might not be that as warm. We are still talking about the Atlantic Ocean.” “But we can suntan? I need to loose my Londoner’s pallor.” Then she looked at Aelin who had gained a bit of colour “Like her.” Rowan for a moment imagined Aelin in a swimsuit. He pushed the image away because they were in public and with friends. “Could you close the shop for four days?” Rowan nodded “I haven’t taken a holiday in a very long time. I don’t care.” And his arm went around her shoulder and she gave him a wonderful smile that almost stopped his heart. “Logistics,” continued Aelin who was having a great time planning the time away with Rowan and her friends “How about a self catering. We get a cottage so we have more freedom?” “I know some places.” Added Rowan “I know one that has a view of the sands from the living room. And the path to the beach is not far away. I can get in touch with them.” “Please.” Said the two women in unison. “Let us know the price and we’ll share. I am paying for Lys. This is kinda a very belated birthday present for her.” And he kissed her tenderly. “Ok, today is Wednesday,” said Rowan “Can we do Friday? I have to go to the school tomorrow.” And he turned to Aelin “I am going for my instructor trial tomorrow morning.” Then he turned to Aedion “you can come with me so the ladies can have some time alone.” “Thanks man, our girls need a few hours of crazy gossiping.” “Lysandra and I can man the shop.”Aelin grinned wildly. “Ohhh I would love that. Yes, please.” Lysandra stared at Rowan with puppy eyes. “Can we trust them?” Joked Rowan talking to Aedion. He had a good feeling about the guy at liked him from the beginning. “It’s your shop, man. I hope you are insured.” Rowan and Aedion laughed while the two women glared at them. “You two are horrible.” Said Lysandra. Aedion hugged her “Yes, but you love me.” “Maybe,” she pouted.

The next morning Lysandra and Aelin were ready for their morning alone in the shop and for some well deserved gossiping. The boys were away and they finally had some time alone. “I love this, by the way.” Said Lysandra looking around the bookstore “Rowan has done an amazing job.” Aelin nodded and went to open the door and noticed one of their regulars. She collected the order for the woman and Lysandra studied her friend at work. She seemed a natural. When she was free again, Lysandra decided to begin “So, you and Rowan. Are you seriously telling me that you guys are not together? I have seen how he looks at you. And when he told you that sweet thing in Gaelic? Hell Aelin, that man is crazy about you.” Aelin took a seat next to Lysandra. “I know.” She sighed “And I am madly in love with him. We both know our feelings.” “So why the breaks?” Aelin’s stare was fixed outside the window “Because until a few days ago Elias was still in the picture. Because we both had bad past relationship and both need to take it slowly for once. Neither of us wants to fuck up this one. So no labels for now. Just let it develop as it goes. And I love it. I love him, Lys, so badly that it hurts.” “I can see that.” Lysandra caressed Aelin’s head “And I can see he does too.” Then she took her friend’s hand “I don’t think I have ever seen you so happy. Not even with police guy.” Aelin squeezed Lysandra’s hand back. “And please let’s discuss how that man is sex on two legs, now that I had some time to study him in real life.” Aelin barked a laugh “I am glad Aedion is not here.” “Seriously. One: his hands. The things he could do with them. Two: the backside. He should have a permit because that thing is a weapon that could kill.” Aelin kept laughing. She missed this. They used to discuss together the guy they were interested in, but it was the first time Lysandra was so openly excited about one of her men. “Three… is he a god or something? His body, have you seen him? Imagine him naked…” and Lysandra fanned herself with her hands. Aelin thought back at the day in his office when he had his polo shirt off. “He used to be a professional swimmer, he almost made it to the Olympics.” “Holy mother of all fucks.” And Aelin had missed Lysandra’s colourful language of when she was shocked. “So that’s why the swimming thing for the school?” Aelin nodded “Bad injury. Had to give up.” “Drat, that’s awful.” “Anyway, if you let him go I am coming back here and I’ll thump you.” They were chatting away when the door opened and Elias entered the shop. Aelin almost chocked on the coffee she was sipping. “Good morning,” he said in a very cheery voice and gave Aelin a huge smile. Then he turned to Lysandra “Is it me or Rowan is all of a sudden more gorgeous than I remember?” Aelin giggled “This is Lysandra, she is here visiting.” Then turned to her friend “Lys, this is Elias.” Lysandra’s mouth fell open “Hi…” she managed “I heard a lot about you.” “Good things I hope.” Lysandra nodded. “Shouldn’t you be at work?” “Aye lass, but I have a very tedious meeting coming up in two hours and a desperate need for books.” He leaned against the counter with his hands. “You need book two of The cursed Kingdom?” “And three, and four.” Elias added. Aelin jumped off the chair and went to get the books and Elias followed her at the shelves “Love the display. Are you trying to break everyone’s heart by recommending this series?” “No,” she handed him the books “I am just teaching islanders what a good Fantasy series looks like.” They walked back to the counter under the strict stare of Lysandra. “Can I at least hope in an happy ending? Because the angst so far is killing me.” Aelin put the books in a bag and handed them to him “Nope. As I said, buy wine. And prepare for the worst angst in history. And I am not telling you how it finishes.” “Ok, the warrior guy cannot die and he needs to end up with the Queen.” Aelin giggled and loved the fact that they could still talk and be around each other without it being awkward. “Just text me when you reach chapter twenty five of book two.” “Something bad happens?” “Just text me.” Aelin rolled her eyes. “Of course m’lady.” And he bowed to her with a huge spitting grin. His eyes bright with mirth. “And after this lovely conversation I have to bid farewell to you two lovely ladies and go back to a conversation about environmental friendly engines.” “I’ll text you.” He added staring at Aelin. “I am counting on it.” And with that he left the shop. Lysandra turned all of a sudden to her friend “That was Elias. As in theElias as in the other guy?” Aelin nodded. “Damn, now I understand why you were all flustered and confused. Seriously woman, what do guy eat around here?” Lysandra blurted out “Ok, he is not sex on two legs like Rowan but I’d definitely take him out for a ride if it wasn’t that I love Aedion.” “He is wonderful. Just…” “No spark. It’s fine. At least you are still good friends.” Aelin wanted to reply but a group of what clearly were tourists came into the bookshop. By accident Lysandra moved the mouse with her hand and it woke up the computer and she noticed the screensaver. It was a picture of Aelin on the beach. She had her arms up in the air and her feet in the water and a smile she had never seen on her friend. And her heart ached. She was happy for Aelin, but she also knew that the chances of her going back to London were now non-existent. And the idea of not having her around hurt. But she knew Aelin needed all of the good things that were happening to her and she hoped Rowan was intelligent enough to realise what an amazing woman he had won over. Lysandra got off the chair and started walking around the shop with interest and studied Aelin in her new element.

It was later in the morning when Rowan and Aedion returned to the shop. “Glad to see my bookshop is still standing, Fireheart.” And he pulled her to him for a hug and Aelin could smell the chlorine on him and flinched. She kissed him behind his ear and found a spot where the chlorine did not seem to affect him and smiled. “How was it?” She asked looking up at him. “I loved it. The kids are great and it felt awesome to be back in the water.” He kissed her “And after they all left I stayed in the water and swam a bit.” She stayed hugged to him but turned a little to look at Lysandra “We had a good morning too. And Elias popped in for a visit. He needed the other books in The Cursed Kingdom.” “Poor man,” Rowan joked and kissed Aelin’s head grateful that she did not hide from him the fact that the man had come to the shop. He was okay with them being friends because that made Aelin happy. And that was going to be his next mission in life: make her as happy as he could. “So you are taking the job?” “I will. After our break. I already told them so.” He explained. And Aelin grinned. She was happy that Rowan had made that step, he seemed happier all of a sudden “Now I just need to see you swim.” Lysandra’s eyebrows went up in acknowledgement and she thought about the conversation they had earlier. “I was thinking…” began Rowan and Aelin gave him a puzzled look and he ignored her “What about dinner all of us together at my place tonight?” Aelin was staring at him in disbelief. What had happened to him all of a sudden? She looked at his serene face and she realised they were a long way from the grumpy man who had kicked her out of the shop and told her she was nothing to him. She slid her arms around his waist and almost purred. She did not care if her friends were there. She needed that. Plus, in the past she had to suffer Lysandra and her PDA with other boyfriends. “Sounds like a brilliant plan.”

Rowan had closed an hour earlier and affixed a sign on the door advising the customers that the shop was going to close for four days for holidays. They had all gone to their respective places to pack and get ready for their trip. Aelin felt on cloud number nine. They arrived at Rowan’s at six thirty. They had decided for an early dinner. They didn’t want to stay up too late considering the early departure on the schedule for the following day. Once at the house, Rowan welcomed them in and his place smelled like delicious food. Apparently Rowan was good at cooking. Aelin was eager to see if she could add that one as well to the list of skills the man had. “Come and sit in the living room.” “Wow.” Was Lysandra’s comment at the sight “And I thought Aelin had a problem with books. Looks like you are worse than her. Definitely the man of her dreams.” And she winked at Aelin with a mischievous smile. Rowan pretended to ignore the comment and opened a bottle of wine “You can drink too since you did not drive here.” Aelin rolled her eyes. He was so overprotective. “Yes, dad.” And Lysandra laughed loudly and Aelin had half an idea of why. Rowan filled their glasses “dinner will be ready soon.” And disappeared back in the kitchen and Aelin glared at Lysandra. “What?” He friend whispered “I am just helping.”

Rowan came back a few minutes later with a fantastic series of plates with mouthwatering food. “You made all this?” Asked Aelin incredulous. “I did.” Then he brought over the last two dishes. He had made an amazing pork roast with vegetables, and roasted potatoes. “These are for you.” He gave Aelin a plate with fries “I know you love them, although you are missing out on my roasted potatoes.” “Who said I am missing out?” She grinned. They began eating and Aelin was amazed s the meal turned out to be wonderful and she wondered if her could be any more perfect. “I have found a place for us where to stay. It’s a cottage I knew and they had space for the nights we needed so I went ahead and booked it. Hope it’s okay.” “As long as it’s the one with the beach view.” Aelin had her priorities all right. “It is. I also booked our ferry ticket so we don’t have to worry too much.” “What time would you like to leave tomorrow?” Asked Aelin knowing that Rowan already had an action plan. “I’ll come and pick you up at seven. Better leave early, especially if we plan to go to Luskentyre. I plan on having to drag Aelin away by force.” He grinned at her and brushed her hand “We have the ferry at 13:15.” He took a sip of his wine “I had a look at the forecast and it looks like we are going to be very lucky. There is a warm front coming and it’s going to hit us right when we are away. but…” and he stared at the two women “bring clothes to protect you from the wind. Aelin knows how bad the wind can get out here.” And his piercing green eyes were on Aelin. “I am going to bring a swimsuit. I don’t care. I need to swim in those waters.” “I’ll bring medicines.” He replied glaring at her.

The dinner went on a bit longer but at 9 Rowan decided he was sending everyone home. They had a long day ahead and they needed rest. “You are kicking us out so you can read.” Aelin told him brushing a kiss on his cheek. “I am kicking you out because we are leaving early tomorrow.” He leaned into the kiss. “Do you want a help cleaning up?” She offered but he refused “Pans and pots are already washing in the dishwasher. I just need to do the dishes. It won’t take me long.” “Okay” she said brushing his hand.

Once at the door Lysandra and Aedion said their goodbyes and then the woman dragged her boyfriend away to let the two some privacy. “Thank you for tonight. It was very nice of you.” Rowan kissed her and pinned her against the wall near the door. Aelin’s hands went straight for his hair and replied to the kiss with the same need as him. When she came up for air she stared him in his green eyes “I love you, mo chridhe.” “The more you say it, the more your accent gets better.” And he kissed her again. “I love you, mo chridhe,” His hand brushed her hair and kissed her one last time for good measure. “Tha gaol agam ort.”

[whumphoarder]

Death by Waffles

Summary: When Tony decides to adopt a cat for Morgan, Peter is almost more excited about it than the six-year-old. He just failed to mention one minor issue before coming to visit at the lake house for the weekend.

Or, in which Peter is horrifically allergic to cats but JUST LOVES THEM SO MUCH.

Word count: 1,638

Genre: Fluff, slight whump, humor

A/N: Thanks to @xxx-cat-xxx & @sallyidss for beta reading and giving me ideas! 

Link to read on Ao3

“I still think we should have called him Winston Furrchill,” Tony says with a shrug, watching Peter, who’s sitting cross legged on the living room floor, grinning ear-to-ear, stroking the long-haired cat’s fur.

“That’s so boorrring, Daddy,” Morgan complains. She grabs the little feather teaser and dangles it in front of the cat’s face. He lifts a paw lazily to bat at it. “All your ideas were so boring.”

“What are you talking about?” Tony balks at her, eliciting giggles from Peter and a dramatic groan from the six-year-old. “My ideas were gold. Mr. Meowgi. Bill Clawsby. Genghis Khat.”

Peter snaps once and shoots a finger gun Tony’s direction. “Luke Skywhisker!” he throws in, causing Morgan to groan. “Ooh! Call him Nick Furr-y!”

“No! His name is Waffles!” Morgan exclaims, throwing up her hands in exasperation and causing the kitty in question to dart across the room and dive into his favorite hiding place—the cardboard box that his brand new, untouched, three-hundred-dollar cat tree came in. Tony just rolls his eyes; it’s behavior like this that makes him almost regret spending the last four days in the workshop designing that damn feline an elaborate catwalk and perch system spanning every room of the lake house.

(Almost.)

Morgan sticks her lip out in a pout.

“Aw, Mo, we were just teasing,” Peter says, patting her arm with a kind smile. “Waffles is a great name—I love it.”

That seems to console her. She grins back at him. “It’s ‘cus when we brought him home, he was really scared the first day and he just wanted to hide under my bed. So Daddy said I could eat breakfast in my room with him so he’d feel safer, but then I had to go to the bathroom and when I was gone he stole my waffle,” she rambles.

Peter quirks an eyebrow. “Your cat ate a waffle?”

Morgan nods. “Uh-huh, and then he puked it up again on the carpet!” she explains cheerfully.

“Ah yes, fond memories…” Tony mutters.

“So I named him Waffles,” Morgan concludes. “But I almost called him Syrup, ‘cus he got that on his paws when he walked on the plate, and then he ran around everywhere and it was all sticky. Mommy says that’s why we got ants after.”

While Peter snorts out a laugh, Tony just runs a hand over his face and sighs. “It’s been a long week.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Peter laughs, rubbing a hand at his eyes. He uncrosses his legs and gets to his feet to walk over to the box where Morgan is trying to lure Waffles out again. “I always wanted a cat, but May never let me get one—said they were too much hassle.”

“They are,” Tony says emphatically.

“Are not,” Morgan disagrees. As Peter sits down by the box, she picks up the bag of kitty treats and starts shaking it, causing Waffles to poke his head out. She pours out three little treats onto her open palm. He sniffs them suspiciously, then turns his nose up and buries himself back in the box.

Morgan turns to Tony and shrugs. “I don’t think he likes chicken flavor anymore. You gotta get him the salmon ones, Daddy.”

“But you told me this morning that he doesn’t like salmon,” Tony argues. “He only eats the premium chicken with gravy.”

Morgan shakes her head. “No, no that’s his wet food. He only eats dry salmon, and wet chicken. And sometimes tuna, but only that one in the blue bag.”

“And waffles,” Peter throws in with a wry smile, sitting down to start stroking the cat inside the box. “Don’t forget the waffles, Mr. Stark.”

“At this rate, I’m thinking it’d be better to just install a cat flap and let him find his own mice for dinner,” Tony grumbles.

As if on cue, Waffles meows irritably and leaps out of the cardboard box, straight onto Peter’s lap. However in doing so, the cat’s fluffy tail tickles the kid’s nose. Peter sneezes twice—rather violently—startling the cat to the point that it shoots across the room and climbs halfway up the drapes.

“Waffles!” Morgan cries and races after him.

Sniffling a bit, Peter gives a sheepish smile. “Whoops.”

Tony rolls his eyes and extends a hand to help lever the kid up again. Peter rubs at his eyes again—which Tony notices are redder than usual. He raises an eyebrow suspiciously. “Are you sure ‘too much hassle’ was the only reason May was against you having cats?”

Something flashes across Peter’s face, but it’s gone just as soon as it appears. “Yeah, yeah of course. Well, that and she’s more of a dog person, really, but they’re not allowed in the apartment.”

“Hm.” Tony glances at his watch. “Alright, well it’s almost His Royal Highness’ dinner time.” He gestures to the kitchen. “Let’s go see if we can get him to choke down some caviar and truffles or something…”

X

Three hours later, Tony can’t ignore the signs any longer. After witnessing Peter’s third sneezing fit since dinner, he privately pulls the kid out into the kitchen. “Pete, c’mon,” he sighs. “Just admit it already.”

Taking a tissue from the box Tony holds out to him, Peter shrugs innocently. “Alright, you got me. Guess I’m coming down with a cold.” He wipes his nose.

Tony raises an eyebrow. “A cold that began ten minutes after entering our home and has only gotten progressively worse since?”

Peter chuckles a bit. “Yeah, go figure, right? Perfect timing for my weekend off. What does Doctor Banner call that again?” He tilts his head to the side in thought. “Starts with an L…”

“Pete…”

“Leisure sickness!” he recalls, his face lighting up. “That’s the word. Think I’ve got that.”

Rolling his eyes, Tony starts ticking each symptom off on his fingers. “Your nose is running, your eyes are watery, you’re sneezing—”

“Which is all from the cold,” Peter cuts him off. He coughs twice into his elbow. “See? Sick.”

Tony scoffs. “In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never once admitted to being sick unprompted.” He pauses a beat. “Including that time you were actively vomiting.”

Peter rubs a hand at the back of his neck and gives a sheepish grin. “So I'm really demonstrating growth, then, huh?”

Tony ignores him and soldiers on. “You’re itching,” he says, gesturing to the red welts emerging on Peter’s forearms and neck. “You’re getting a rash—”

Peter tugs his hoodie sleeves down to cover them. “I think that’s the new laundry soap I’ve been using...”

Tony blinks at him. “Your eyes are bright red, kid.”

Peter opens his mouth to retort something, but then closes it again. He drops his gaze to the floor and lets out a hard sigh. “Okay… okay you’re right,” he admits. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t wanna say it around Morgan.” He looks up and, with a totally straight expression, whispers, “I’ve been smoking weed, Mr. Stark. I’m actually tripping balls right now.”

“Peter, just admit that you’re allergic to cats!”

“Huh?” Morgan cries from the living room where she has her kitty on her lap while she watches Curious George. “Peter’s allergic to Waffles?!” The cat dives off her lap and out into the kitchen, hiding behind Peter’s leg.

Peter winces. Then his nose wrinkles up and he sneezes four times into his wad of tissues. When he draws in his next breath, it’s more of a wheeze.

Tony heaves out a sigh. “Alright, we’re done here.” He bends down and scoops the cat up. “Waffles is staying in Pep’s office for the remainder of this weekend.”

“What?” Morgan blurts.

“Yeah, what?” Peter echos, snatching the cat back from Tony’s arms. “You can’t do that!”

“Pete, he’s making you sick,” Tony points out as Peter sneezes yet again. “If you’re already this bad in three hours, how do you expect to breathe in a couple more days?”

Peter looks stricken. “But… But you don’t understand.” He hugs the cat a little tighter and Tony swears he can see fresh hives emerging on Peter’s neck. “I just love him so much, Mr. Stark,” he says earnestly. “I would honestly die for this cat.”

Tony sighs and pats his shoulder consolingly. “Yeah, and that’s looking more and more like it might become reality, kiddo...”

X

It takes some convincing—and a bit of bribery—but eventually he gets the kids to agree to his plan. In the end, Morgan and Peter settle for a six-foot-tall ‘Royal Castle Kitty Condo’ (complete with a litter moat) in exchange for Waffles’ temporary banishment. He then sends Peter to the guest room while he and Morgan transfer the cat’s most essential supplies into the office, grateful for once that Pepper’s staying downtown this weekend.

Waffles promptly makes himself at home on the very top of her bookshelf—after first knocking over two glass figurines and a meticulously ordered stack of papers, sending legal documents flying around the room.

(Tony wonders just what kind of royal castle equivalent he’s going to have to bribe Pepper with when she gets back.)

X

It’s 12:16 a.m. when Tony remembers that they forgot to give Waffles his anti-hairball paste that evening and comes grumbling out of bed to do so.

It’s 12:19 a.m. when Tony opens the office door to see Peter, sitting on the floor with that damn cat curled up in his lap, wheezing out a high-pitched chant of, “Who’s a good kitty? Who’s a good boy?” between puffs of his inhaler as he strokes Waffles’ fur.

It’s 12:21 a.m. when Tony just gives up trying to reason with the kid and goes raiding the bathroom cabinets for Benadryl.

X

Link to all my fics

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Beanimia

Morgan Stark, M.D.

Fevers, Bananas, & Math Lessons

[razorblade180]

Mother’s Day

[Twin Snowflakes]

It’s early in the morning. Weiss has just woken up to something a bit out of the ordinary. Someone had picked her outfit out already. It was an office dress; nothing too special. Except it was pure black with a glittery red belt and a slit in the dress on the left side. What made it strange though was Someone placed her black wig and red contacts next to it.

Needless to say, she was intrigued and was going to wear it. In a matter of minutes she was walking through her hallways in it.

Bleiss:Hello!? Yo, my little rugrats?.....Babe? I know one of you has to awa-

She turned the corner to see Jaune in a dashing white business suit and an over the top decorative bow on his head that was held in place by ribbon that went over his body; complete with a note.

Bleiss:Well hey there sexy. Looking a bit finer than usual.

Jaune:And you look every bit as gorgeous as the day I met you; better in fact.

Bleiss:*red* Are you going to read that note for me handsome?

Jaune:*clears throat* “Dear Mother Goose-

Bleiss:*snorts* (These kids...)

Jaune: “Happy Mother’s Day! We took deliberately or persuading dad to put on the suit you bought for him and waking up early enough to make breakfast downstairs. We’ll be out the house until dinner time. With love, you little rugrats.”

Bleiss:Should we be concerned our children basically know what we- what I like to do when we have alone time?

Jaune:You’re not exactly subtle when you’re like this.

Bleiss:I can’t help that you’re so irresistible. Though I don’t get what’s up with my suit.

Jaune:That wasn’t them. It was all me. I already said this but...

He saunters over to Bleiss who can’t help but smirk as his hand reaches for her waist and pulls her closer.

Jaune:You look really gorgeous today.

Bleiss:Isn’t breakfast waiting for us?

Jaune:That look in your eyes tell me you aren’t that hungry.

Bleiss:Not for food, no. So you gonna kiss me already or-mmph!?

Her words were cut off by a deep and loving kiss. What a good way to start the morning.

xxxx

Nora woke up and did her usual morning routine. Shower, stretching, and her workout clothes. Time to start the day. She walked over to her bed and kissed her sleeping husband on the cheek “Bye sweetie.” Nora said, before heading out of the room.

She almost made it out of her home when something caught her eye. A light from another room was coming from around the corner. The kitchen? Nora made her way towards the kitchen and hit with the glorious smell of pancakes. A hardy stack of them in heart shapes were on the counter while Valerie was washing the pan that they were made in. The girl grabbed two forks and an obscene amount of syrup.

Nora:Well whay do we have here!? Color me impressed.

Valerie:Happy Mother’s Day. How about we also make it a cheat day?

Nora:I say we are going to need a hundred more pancakes before it counts as a cheat day.

Ren:*walks in* Then I guess you need a master chef.

Nora:Oh you’re awake!

Ren:*kisses her cheek* Today is a special day.

Valerie:Let’s chow down!

Ren and Nora:Yeah!

xxxx

knock knock knock

Ruby:*opens door* Hello-

Summer:*holding a cookie jar* We know this might be a bit weird but....

Nick:*holding Roses* You’re basically like a mom to us too.

Summer and Nick:So Happy Mo-

Ruby pulls both of them into a giant hug and holds them close. The twins look a little stunned at first before hearing Ruby sniffle softly. They not wrap their arms around her in a loving embrace.

Ruby:Thank you....

xxxx

Veronica:Hey mom? Can you come here real quick and help me with some fabric?

Blake:I’m a little busy at the moment.

Veronica:*pouts* It would really be appreciated. If you could help. It would only take second.

Blake:*walking in* If it’s that easy than why- shut the fuck up!!!! Is this....!?

In that moment, Blake remembered what today was. She had been so busy with work that it crossed her mind. Even if she never forgotten, Blake would’ve been happy with a card. Instead she stood in front of an elegant kunoichi inspired outfit. The base was black win a purple haze design that went around it as if to give it a smokey look. Dark purple was also the color of the hems and sleeve cuffs with the black becoming accent on it. All topped off with a beautiful purple bow tied in the back. This alone was exceptional, but something made it better. It was....

Blake:Is this a replica of the main protagonist’s outfit from Ninjas of Love!?

Veronica:To. The. Last. Stitch.

Blake:*tearing up* Veronica this is outstanding! Wait, why are you reading-

Veronica:*red* I like the plot! Moving on... I hope you enjoy this and I don’t know if you’ll get the perfect opportunity to wear this but hey. I’m sure you’ll find an excuse.

Blake:You know I will. *hugs her* I love you.

Veronica:*purring* I know!

Yang:Hey have you seen- woah is that...?

Blake:Yeah it is!

Yang:Veronica knocked it out of the park this year.

Veronica:It’s you that’s the tricky one. *red* Your gift is a little more abstract. I know I’m usually busy and not the easiest person to deal with. I also know we don’t really spend time together that much anymore so-

Yang.*hugging her* Is someone trying to spend the entire day with me?

Veronica:If...that’s okay?

Yang:Silly kitty. It’s always going to be okay. I love you.

Veronica:I....I love you too.

xxxx

*door opens*

Nick:We’re back!

Summer:Please be decent!

Jaune:*making dinner* We’ve been decent for hours.

Summer:We never know with you two. (I’m surprised we don’t have another set of twins or something.)

Nick:Now then, did we come home to mother goose or mama duck? *smiling*

He got his answer answer in the form of long white hair coming from around the kitchen corner and rushing over to grab both him and his sister. All three falling over to the ground as they laughed and hugged each other.

Weiss:Hello my baby ducklings!

Summer and Nick:Happy Mother’s Day mom!

Weiss:It really is, isn’t it?

[Lasting Embers]

Raven:Hey, I’m going out Tai.

Tai:Before you go can you stop by Yang’s and drop off those sunflowers?

Raven:Her house is the complete opposite direction.

Tai:Just open a portal.

Raven:Fine. *opens portal* You know a present means more if-

Yang:SURPRISE!!!

Without warning, Yang comes jumping through from the other side. Tackling Raven right to the ground and hugging her. Raven’s face turns red as she notices balloons and a box with the Schnee logo; most likely some high quality dust blades.

Raven:Yang!? What are you-

Yang:Happy Mother’s Day you grouchy mama bird. *grinning*

Raven:....

Raven:*smiles* After all these years you’re as energetic as ever. Once a baby bird, always a baby bird. *hugs her*

Yang:!!?*red*

Raven:Tai where you in on this?

Tai:Duh. I’m also in on Yang’s gift.

Yang:My gift? I was just home and got a card.

Tai:*smiles* But now you’re here and not home. A lot can change in a matter of minutes.

That peeked Yang’s interest. Her and Raven stared at the portal that was still opened in curiosity before getting up and jumping through. Tai chuckled at their anticipation and went through as well.

He was rewarded with the sight of his daughter covering her mouth with amazement as she tried not to jump up and down like a kid. They were all outside, including Jaune who was smiling. As well as Yujin who was also covered in motor oiled while she posed arms crossed right next to motorcycle that looked liked Yang’s old one.

Yujin:Meet bumblebee 2.0! Built from the ground up by yours truly after months of hardwork. You have many people to think for this accomplishment since this was no blueprints for the original.

Yang:How the heck did you get so accurate! The leather even feels right!

Yujin:Someone remembers what it felt like when it ran full force into him.

Yang:No fricken way....

Yujin:Adam says you’ll personally have to fight him again if you launch this bike at anyone or off a cliff.

Yang:Damnit, no I have to thank him. That was probably his plan from the get go.

Jaune:Stop whinnying and take this thing for a spin. *tosses her a helmet*

Yang:Wanna come admire your handiwork with your dear old mom Yujin?

Yujin:Hell Yeah!

Yang:Let’s go visit Tenzen.

Yujin:*pulls out scroll* He’s a bit busy.

She flips the scroll around and plays a video from earlier today.

Tenzen:*grinning* Hey Yujin, I think my mom likes her present. What’s your opinion? *flips camera around*

Nora:*holding a sloth* This is the greatest moment that has ever happened in my entire life...! He’s so cute!!!

xxxx

(Night time)

Jacquelyn:*watering flowers*..... (Hmm, haven’t seen the kids all day. They must be planning something, or maybe they forgot. No...well, they have been busy lately.)

A frown crept up on her face. She was used to simple gifts since money was tight so that wasn’t a problem. She just wanted them to say. Jacquelyn continue to get wrapped up in her thoughts until something cool ran across the top of her forehead. She looked up to see an orbs of water in front of her. They were floating, all the water she was pouring upwards; her entire body was floating. “Huh?”

A shadow drifted over her during this clear moon lit night; shadows that had horns and cat ears. Jacquelyn looked up with big smile to see her daughters floating towards her with petals of numerous flowers following them. All of them a variety of colors that rivaled any sunset or rainbow. The two grabbed their mom and put her right in the center of it all as they held her close.

Sienna:Happy Mother’s Day to the women who brings color to our lives...

Jael:And sweeps us off our feet.

Jacquelyn:Awww you guys. This is gorgeous.

Sienna:It took us longer than we thought to find enough flowers. This is the desert after all.

Jael:Not to mention the annoying grimm, but we managed!

Jacquelyn:You could’ve just gotten me a card.

Sienna:We do that every year! This one had to be special!

Jael:Yeah, you’re the best! With your powers now your garden will be twice as big.

Jacquelyn:*tearing up* Thank you. (Heh, I almost forgot. With these two....)

Sienna and Jael:We love you!)

Jacquelyn:*crying* (I’ll never be forgotten)

The three remained floating up there enjoying the view. Not knowing a certain someone was watching from below.

Adam:*smiling*

[Premonition]

Blake:*writing*

Secretary:Uh, Mrs Belladonna? It’s time for lunch.

Blake:That’s fine, I’ll just work through it. I have to these documents done by tomorrow night.

Secretary: Ah yes, he thought you might say that. Or I guess he knew you would.

Blake:!? “Knew?”

The secretary walked in a placed a bento box on her desk before leaving. Blake put down her pen and opened it to find it filled with various sushi; cooked and uncooked. Along with heart shaped rice balls and a note. Blake smiles and read it immediately.

“Do your best to unite the world. Can’t do it on an empty stomach though. Happy Mother’s Day.”

Blake:.....

Lucas:*laying in a hammock* (I wonder...if she’ll like it? I followed dad’s instructions but that doesn’t mean she’ll like it.) Hmmm

Blake:Someone looks concerned.

Lucas:Mom!? *sits up* Shouldn’t you be working!?

Blake:It’s lunch break. I wanna spend it with my special little guy. You made way too much food for one person you know? *smiles* Almost like you wanted me to come home to share. Predict that too?

Lucas:*red* More like wishful thinking.

Blake smiled and sat next to him. She quickly learned in a kissed his cheek which made Lucas wanna curl up in embarrassment and Blake laugh.

Blake:Wish granted.

Lucas:Happy Mother’s Day mom.

Blake:Hehe, thank you.

[Rosebud]

Another day, another job well done. For the most part anyways. A couple of nevermore had taken the wind out of Ruby’s sails by launching a feather at her right ankle. Now she was walking home with a limp. Crescent rose on her back didn’t make it easier, or the fact she was going through sand. At least she had the brains to take off her heels before reaching she made it to the rough terrain. The sun was setting but no grimm scared her; at this point she did not care about making everyone of them stone. If she can get over the sand dune in front of her that is.

Ruby:(Stupid nevermore with their stupid sharp feathers. Since when do they curve through the air? That’s definitely new.) Ugh, I’m definitely taking the longest bath when I get home.

???:That sounds nice.

Ruby’s head perked up immediately. She was a bit more tired than she thought. On top of the dune was a person. Not just anybody though, herself? All she saw was a silhouette but she was definitely looking at her old clothes from Atlas. The figure stepped closer and out of the glaring sunbeam. It was Carmine, and she was looking a bit winded herself.

Ruby was thrown for a loop on why her daughter was wearing those old clothes or looked like she ran a marathon. She didn’t get a chance to ask before Carmine lifted her mother up and onto her back; carrying Ruby up the dune.

Ruby:Ummm thank you? What’s this all about.

Carmine:You’re hurt. Why wouldn’t I carry you?

Ruby:I was talking more about the outfit. You aren’t a fan of skirts or anything too fancy.

Carmine:*blushing* Yeah well, I know how much you think I look cute in them so I thought I’d pick the coolest looking one,

Ruby:Awww for me? How cute.

Carmine:This goes right back in the box after today!

Ruby:So is this my gift?

Carmine:You’re a third right. The other half you’ll see when we get to the top.

Ruby:Ooooo

A few minutes passed before Ruby got why her daughter was tired. As they reached the top Ruby saw nothing but what looked like an ocean of crimson that surrounded her house down in the distances. “Is that red sand?”

“Look closer..” Carmine said. Ruby squinted and on closer inspection Ruby realize that the red she was seeing was roses. Hundreds of roses that each shimmered faintly like raindrops being hit by sunlight. “Woah.....”

Carmine smiled confidently. “Now look at it as a whole.”

“A whole? What, is it a pic-my symbol!?” Ruby screamed in shock. The roses were postponed perfectly to recreate her symbol with the house right in the center of it all.

Ruby:How the- this is- Carmine this is amazing! I didn’t even think you could make this many roses!

Carmine:Not without dad’s help. He’s almost has burnt out as I am. I’m sure both of you though will find your second wind in time for bed though.

Ruby:*Blushing* Carmine!

Carmine:Don’t be mad because I’m right. I’ll be knocked out though so I doubt you’ll wake me or Garnet.

Ruby:What’s the third part of this present?

Carmine:He’s at home with dad making cookies.

Ruby:Fuck yeah! This day rules. Worth the injury. Thanks sweetheart. *holds on tighter* You’ve really grown up strong huh? I’m glad....

Carmine:Hehe, I... had good teachers. Happy Mother’s Day....

[rainiedeforest]

Attempt the impossible

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Untamed) Pair: Madame Yu | Yu Ziyuan & Madame Jin Link to AO3: [here] Resume: Seemingly vain conversations with much deeper meanings between Yu Ziyuan and Madame Jin Words: 1917

Madame Yu Birth name: 虞夜花 – Yú Yèhuā

虞 yú – to worry 夜 yè – night 花 huā – flower

Courtesy name: 虞紫鸢 – Yú Zǐyuān

虞 yú – to worry 紫 zǐ – purple 鸢 yuān – kite (bird)

Madame Jin Birth name: 星笑甜– Xīng Xiàotián

星xīng – star 笑Xiào – laugh 甜tián - sweet

Courtesy name: 星紫星– Xīng Shèjì

星xīng – star 紫星 shèjì - wish

“Why not?”

Xiaotian's question, now Xing Sheji after her naming ceremony, made her roll her eyes. Was she really asking her something like that? Was it a joke?

“Because not and that’s all,” replied Yehua, lifting her legs to the bed in the small room they had reserved for the night. “I have enough with having met him again. Is there no more inns in the entire city?”

Xiaotian took off the delicate golden crown that decorated her long black hair and looked at her best friend, raising an eyebrow and clearly amused.

“It was more than obvious that we were going to meet him. Only you thought it wasn’t going to happen something like this.” Xiaotian's words fell like a bucket of cold water on her. “He is guarding the new disciples of his sect towards Cloud Recesses. It is what is expected of a cultivator like him.”

Yehua growled and dropped back onto the bed, covering her face with the pillow so that her best friend wasn’t able to see the frustration that paint each one of her features. Even though she hadn't had too many encounters with Jiang Fengmian since she was given her courtesy name three years ago in that pseudo-ceremony (which she was grateful for, because the kind smile ha gave her, though she thought he was just teasing her because of the sparkle in his eyes when he saw her in the room, had embarrassed her enough to almost annoy her), the few encounters that had happened between them were enough proof that the uncontrollable rapid beat of her heart was something she didn't like too much.

Because that implied that she wasn’t able to keep herself under the rigorous control that she appreciated so much and that filled her with calm.

Her hands absently caressed Zidian's silver ring that remained cold against her skin and she snorted, getting up to remove the outer layers of clothing.

“I don't want to keep talking about it.”

“Someday we'll have to talk about it,” Xiaotian reminded her with a certain sardonic tone, smiling mockingly before continuing to undress. They would soon get into bed to sleep, since tomorrow they still had a long way to go until they reached the GusuLan sect.

“I don’t see why we have to.”

Xiaotian turned, looking at her incredulously, before throwing her own pillow at her.

“I don’t know? Perhaps because you've been completely and hopelessly in love with him since you was twelve.” And there it was the reminder that she couldn't control something as simple as her own feelings. “Look, I don’t want to put the finger in the sore but the boy is handsome, I won’t deny that, and he is very nice, but he doesn’t look like a god. I wouldn't turn to look at him twice. And we have to think that he doesn’t particularly stands out especially by his cultivation skills,” she replied with a laugh, without a single pause, glancing at Yehua and adjusting the tie of her underwear. She expected a great reaction from her friend. “He is good with the sword, that’s true and I cannot denied it. But…”

“And here comes the but…”

“He doesn't have a gold core as strong as yours and that makes him a rather unsuitable candidate for you.”

“Xing Sheji!”

“Yu Ziyuan!”

“Agh! You are impossible!” Yehua exclaimed angrily, almost getting into bed with her shoes. “Let's see. Who, in your wise and valid opinion, is better than Jiang Fengmian?”

Her friend smiled before going to the other girl's bed, climbing on it and getting too close to Yehua. A shiver ran up and down when she felt her so close, staring her into her eyes.

“Jin Guangshan, for example,” Yehua tried to hold back the dry, scornful laugh she doesn’t wanted to share, but failed miserably, causing Xiaotian to look at her with pursed lips. “What?”

Yehua continued laughing, shaking her head before pulling back, at the risk of hitting herself with the wall.

“Tell me you're kidding.  Yes, you have to be joking because you would never name him.”

“Yu Ziyuan! I don’t get why you are laughing at me. What’s so funny?”

“Gods ...” Yehua managed to say when she calmed down a little, seeing how her best friend was not only getting angrier, but was looking at her waiting for a response with her arms crossed. She wasn’t kidding. “No way, you mean it… You really mean it… It can't be true, Sheji.” But one last look made her snort. “He spends more time thinking about his appearance and which maiden is better to seduce, than in his cultivation skills! Which are quite mediocre, if we compare them with your measuring stick.”

“That's not true. Liar”

Yehua raised both eyebrows and shook her head.

“Liar? Come on, A-Tian. He wasn’t able to beat that yao from the forest. And my little sister would have finished it in a single blink!” Yehua replied, pushing the opponent's pillow against her chest to push her away. “Though, he was very good at crying. I think I will sympathize with the poor woman who has to marry him.”

“At least she will be really happy at night,” Xiaotian commented as if talking about the weather, being hit with the pillow. “Ouch!”

“You are shameless,” Yehua chuckled, feeling her cheeks flush, and was soon accompanied by Xiaotian.

It wasn’t that the affairs of lovers were strange to them. When they reached an age, the maids were more than willing to tell them all kinds of details. The married maids, of course, the others were too suspicious to tell anything, not even for a small price. And, fortunately for them, not only the maids, but they could easily see it in the cities.

In fact, Yehua still remembered one of the first nights they met on a hunt... It was in a brothel, not because both girls went to that place consciously, and they both saw things that they would rather not have seen.

“I think one of the two had the wrong gender at birth,” Xiaotian replied once they calmed down.

“What do you mean?”

“Neither of us is too feminine.” Yehua stared at her incredulously and pointed to her clothes. “Just because I like to take care of my image doesn’t mean that I behave like a lady.”

“At least you do it more than I do. Haven't you listened to my mother?” She asked, snorting. “She says that she doesn’t make a career with me, that I should be married or with a view to be, and that she hasn’t educated me to be a little savage. I don't know what she expects from me, really.”

“Do we ever know?” She asked, letting out a big sigh.

Yehua looked at her before beginning to fiddle with the delicate necklace around his neck.

“Exactly. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to be born as a man. They can do whatever they want, go to a lot of places, improve their cultivation and they don't have to get married so soon as we. If they don't want us to behave as one… Why do they teach us cultivation then, if our only goal is to get married and have children?”

“Mm… Yes? Because we have to be able to bear strong children who can inherit, be it a sect or some kind of legacy.”

“If I ever marry...”

“Something that you will do in the end...”

“I wouldn't be so sure, A-Tian,” she replied, trying not to think about it. She didn't know if there was really anyone in the world willing to spend the rest of his life with her. “But if I marry, I will make sure that my husband doesn’t prohibit me from remaining the way I am right now.”

Xiaotian looked down and smiled bitterly, even giggling, silenced by the movement of her sleeve.

“Good luck. We both know that it’s impossible.”

“Then... I'll attempt the impossible,” she replied before laughing. Because even she knew how complicated that would be.

Xiaotian helped her get rid of the ornaments in her hair in silence, neither of them speaking since neither of them knew what else to say. The topic of marriage was something that had been weighing them down since they first bled. And as they approached a suitable age, their families put more and more pressure on them to put aside everything they enjoyed and had known since childhood to become the women they wanted.

“In the next life, one of the two will have to born as a man,” Xiaotian commented casually, setting the decorations on the small table.

“So that we can marry each other?” Yehua asked amused. “You know? I would be a great husband.”

Both girls shared a knowing look before laughing, but their laughter was soon silenced by a high-pitched moan.

“Oh, Young Master Jin!” They heard a woman exclaim through the thin doors of the room they shared.

Xiaotian and Yehua shared a surprised look. Young Master Jin? They only knew one young master, the heir of the LanlingJin sect, but he didn’t stay at that same inn as they. What's more, they had no record of them going to share lessons in the Cloud Recesses with him. However, both girls couldn't help but laugh, covering their mouths so they won’t be too scandalous and attract the attention of both lovers. This was such a coincidence.

“At least someone is going to enjoy the night,” Xiaotian replied before getting out of bed. Although they hadn’t seen him at the inn, because they knew that the Jin clan always reserved the best inn of all for themselves, even if they didn’t fill all the rooms, they imagined that he would also be escorting more disciples or that he would go to attend himself to the readings, the latter somewhat improbable given that he was older than them.

“Yes... I just hope that their enjoyment will let us get enough sleep. Or I will have to visit him with Zidian,” Yehua replied, closing his eyes. “Seriously, couldn't he have gone to his own inn?”

Xiaotian ignored the latter and smiled as she moved provocatively by the room.

“Mm... You better not give him too many ideas. Maybe he will even like it.”

The look of horror on Yehua's face was enough to make her friend laugh again before running to her bed. She loved to make Yehua rage, because she blushed very easily despite the fact that she believed she gave an image of a hard and impassive woman, but she wasn’t so stupid as to stay close to her, especially when she had Zidian in her hand.

“As I have said before, poor of the woman that has to marry him. She is going to have to carry it straighter than a stick.”

“Mm... It can be an interesting challenge,” Xiaotian murmured more to herself than to Yehua, covering with the sheets.

Yehua looked at her confused, frowning slightly. She hoped she had misheard, but when she received no signal from her best friend, she snorted.

“Xing Sheji! You cannot be serious!”

Xiaotian was silent for a few minutes, as if she was really thinking it up, before smiling.

“Mm... why not?”

And after a few seconds in silence, Xiaotian asked, talking again:

“Do you think they will do the postures of the book that we took from your brother?”

“Xing Sheji!”

[monigheandonn1743]

Ceart-leth

Previous Chapters

Chapter 23

Holy mother of God.

Heart pounding and limbs shaking, he collapsed sideways onto the bed, gripping Claire arse and pulling her with him. Her inner muscles were still clenching and quivering around him, making his cock twitch and his body tremble with the aftershocks of his release. Christ alive, he’d never felt pleasure like it, and just the thought of leaving her warm, wet, welcoming body made him want to weep in despair.

“Are ye well, mo gràdhag?” He panted as he threaded his arms around her and pulled her hot, sweaty body as close to his as he could. She was as breathless as he was, and her leg visibly trembled as she hooked it around his, keeping him locked deep inside her.

“Well?” She breathed, shakily as she burrowed into his chest and touched her lips against his hammering heart. “I’m euphoric.”  

“Aye, so am I.” He laughed, kissing her hair and pulling her closer.

He’d never imagined that taking a woman could be as exquisite as it had been with Claire. They’d been one heart, one soul, joined in more than just body, and for the first time in his life, he’d lost himself completely. With her gentle encouragement, and soft words of love, he’d let his mind go free, and allowed his pleasure to out-weight his fears.  

He’d already been teetering on the brink, tempted to have her regardless of the consequences. Since that moment in her rooms at Leoch, he’d been neigh on desperate to take her, to pummel her depths and claim her as his own. He’d needed her like air, and it had only been his fears, new and old, that had stopped him at the lake.

But then his beautiful wife had asked him to make love to her and he’d refused. He’d let his fears come between them once again, and the disappointment in her eyes had cut him to the core. But like always, she’d accepted his limitations, and done what she could to reassure him despite her own sorrow. Yet, he’d still let his past rule his present, and Claire had been paying the price for a woman long dead.  

Though still shrouded in guilt for his own carnal needs, in the end, when she’d fallen apart in his arms, he’d been powerless to deny them what they so badly needed.

And he couldn’t regret it.

She’d been right there with him. Rising and falling in time with his thrust, calling his name breathlessly, and crying out in pleasure. He’d hurt her, of that he had no doubt. He’d seen it in her eyes. But while that knowledge pained him, he couldn’t regret that either, because through that pain, she’d become his.

And she’d enjoyed it.

The deep, wild love that they’d made had pleasured her as much as it had him.  

Just the remembrance of her tight clenching muscles, and her desperate cry of exaltation, had new sparks of lightening striking deep in his stomach. His hips jerked against hers, and she gasped, spasming around his softened cock.  

“Jesus, Claire.” He groaned, as he gripped her hair and pulled her head back. She looked up at him, her swollen lips parted, and her eyes hooded and wonton with desire. “I canna get enough of ye.” He growled as he claimed her lips and thrust further into her depths.  

She whimpered, and tensed in his arms, and he froze.

“It’s okay.” She whispered against his lips, attempting to reignite the flames, as she rolled her hips against him. But his hand clamped down on her arse, stilling her movements, and he pulled back to look down at her.

“Nay, t’is not…”

“I’m fine.”

“No, Claire, ye not.” He insisted pulling her head further back. “Christ, I can tell well enough that ye in pain.”

“Jamie…”

“Hush.” He ordered gently, as he moved his hips and slipped out of her. She winced, and he raised an eyebrow as he moved his hand up to cup her face. “Ye hurtin’ an’ ye dinna need to hide it because ye fear my reaction. I was there with ye, Claire. I saw ye pleasure. Hell, lass, I felt it. So I canna doubt that ye enjoyed it.” He whispered as he brushed a lock of hair off her face.

“I’m sorry.”

“Shh, ye’v nothin’ to be sorry for. This is my fault, t’is I who’s sorry. I’v let my past control our future, an’ I shouldna have. But I was afraid.” He admitted, as he lent to gently kiss her forehead. “Afraid of hurtin’ ye, afraid of losing ye, and afraid of ye fearin’ me.  

“I shoulda trusted ye. What’s between us is different. Yer different, an’ I’m different with ye. But by being afraid, I have made ye fear me.”

“I’m not afraid of you.” She protested vehemently.

“Aye, ye are.”

“I’m not…”

“Claire, ye constantly fearin’ my reaction.” He argued. “Ye worried that one wrong move will send me runnin’. Ye wouldna told me of the blood oath if ye didna have to, an even when ye did, ye took the responsibility for my actions. Then, although ye wanted it yerself, ye tried to stop me from takin ye because ye feared I’d regret it. An’ now that I have, ye hiding ye pain because ye fear my response.

“It canna go on, Sassenach. Ye’v made me happier than I’v ever been in my life. Ye my wife an’ I want to spend my life lovin ye an’ raisin’ a family with ye. So no more fears. We’re in this life together, an’ I willna continue let my past create a chasm between us.”

“You’re right, but I’m not blameless, Jamie. I should have trusted you as well, and I’m sorry.” She whispered, as she ran her hand across his shoulder and up into his hair. “I love you.”

“As I love ye.” He smiled, “Now, tell me. Are ye in pain?”

“A bit…okay a lot.” She amended, blushing, when he raised his eyebrow again. “You are bigger than average, you know, and for a first time, that’s a lot to take.”

“Aye, I ken.” He smirked flashing her a wink. Men weren’t exactly shy when it came to pissing or bathing, so he’d seen enough cocks to know he was well endowed.

“Cocky bastard.” She laughed, slapping his arm. “You weren’t exactly gentle either.”

“An’ who’s fault is that? I seem to remember ye beggin’ for more.”

“Yeah, I’m a regular Oliver Twist.”

“Who?”

“What? Oh my God!” She gasped sitting up and wincing as she stared down at him wide eyed... and naked. “Oliver Twist hasn’t even been written yet! Or Great Expectations, or Pride and Prejudice, or Dracula…Christ, I could make us a fortune, I’v got some of them on my phone! I should totally rewrite the Harry Potter books...”

“Are ye really talkin about books, when ye lyin’ naked in my bed?” He growled, grabbing her waist and dragging her back down. “With ye breast right there beggin’ to be…”

“Yes…and…oh...” She squeaked when he lent down and bit her nipple. “Ah…Jamie.”

“Aye, that’s more like it.” He murmured against her skin, before soothing the stink with his tongue. “Now tell me…ye reached yer pleasure twice. One straight after the other.”

“That’s not a question.” She smirked, tilting her head back as his fingers replaced his lips on her breast.

“How?” He clarified, pinching her nipple, and almost feeling her gasp in his awakening cock. “The ache of wantin ye hasna left me, an’ I could take ye again now. But if I’d reached my pleasure in ye hand, like ye did mine, I couldna have taken ye then.”

“Call it an unfair advantage.” She moaned, as he twisted and pulled at her pebbled flesh. “Woman don’t need…ah, God, Jamie…we don’t need recovery time…Jesus ah…”

“What do ye need, lass?”

“For you to stop teasing and to make me come.”

“Come where?”

“Nowhere…Christ…make me come, it means make me orgasm…to make me find my pleasure.” She explained haltingly as she writhed on the bed beside him.  

“Mmm.” He hummed storing that away for further use, as he twisted her nipple again.“Ye like this?”  

“God yes! Don’t you?”

“I dinna ken.” He shrugged as he let his fingers begin a slow trail down her stomach. Nobody had ever touched him like Claire did, he’d never felt a woman’s embrace as he took her.  

Annalise had lain like the dead, with her hands and legs flat on the bed, clutching the sheets and screwing her eyes closed.  

She’d never been a part of it with him.  

Not like Claire had.

“Then we’ll have to find out.” She whispered, sobering slightly at his admission.  

“Aye, I suppose we will.”

He smiled at her, then looked down to follow the path his fingers were taking. But as he got to her naval he stopped and slowly drew them back up her body.

Shit.

It was no wonder she was in pain.

There was blood, and a fair amount of it, on her inner thighs and hip where his hand had held her. It was on his legs too, as well as his hardened cock, and around the edges of his nail.

She’d warned him that, with her courses, making love in the bed would be messy, and he truly wasn’t bothered by the sight. He’d seen enough blood in his time to be immune to it. But that didn’t make the sight any less alarming.  

The fact that his cock looked like it had been massacred, was bad enough. But to see so much blood coming from his wife was horrifying.  

He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before leaning down to kiss her lips tenderly. She’d explained this to him, told him the whole process of a woman’s cycle. Of how and why a woman bled for five days and didn’t die.  

And he’d promised her, not ten minutes ago, that he would let go of his fears, and he would.  

It was perfectly normal, he reminded himself. Natural even, and he wouldn’t be alarmed by it. It was just her body’s way of expelling what she didn’t need, and preparing her to receive his seed. If she didn’t bleed again in twenty eight days, it meant she was carrying his bairn.  

She wrapped her arms around him, deepening the kiss, and he let her, as he reached blindly onto the bedside table and retrieved the wet rag. It was cold, but it would have to do until he could get her in the bathtub.  

He placed it between her legs, shushing her, and moving his lips to her neck, when she startled.

“Let me take care of ye.” He whispered against her throat as he gently cleansed her skin and the apex of her thighs.  

“You didn’t have to…”

“I know. I want to,” He breathed, as he lifted his head to look down at her. Almost losing himself a over again in her whiskey eyes. “You’re my wife, Claire, t’is my job, and my privilege to care of ye. When ye ready, there’s a bath waitin’ for ye…”

“How?”  

“I told the lasses to draw it for ye while ye were changin’.”

“You dear, sweet man.” She whispered, her eyes glistening with tears as she reached up and cupped his face. “Thank you, so much.”

“Ye welcome.” He smiled, before looking away to clean off her hip and to drag the rag over himself.

“Will you join me?”  

“In the bathtub?”

“Yes.”

“Aye, if you’ll have me.”

After giving strict instructions that she wasn’t to move from his bed. Jamie made his way towards her dressing room, and knocked once on the door to ensure the lasses has left. With no sign of life, he depressed the latch and walked in.  

It was warm, maybe too warm, with the roaring fire and the billows of rose scented steam rising from the water. But it was perfect, Maggie had done exactly as he’d asked.  

He’d not bathed in a tub with anyone since he was a wee lad and had to share the water with Willie. But he’d been intrigued by Claire’s suggestion, and having expected a relatively chaste wedding night, he’d wanted to do what he could to make it special for her.

And he knew well how much she loved the water.

The shutters had been drawn for privacy, making the room cosy with naught but the light from the fire, and the few candles that had been left lit on the walls. As requested, a decanter of wine and two glasses, sat on a small round table next to the tub, and he smiled when he saw them.

Maggie was discreet, but that simple request was bound to have tongues wagging below stairs. His request for daily baths had caused a few raised eyebrows, but now they knew he would be sharing them with his wife, and thescandal would have them entertained for months.

He laughed, not in the slightest bit bothered. He loved his wife, and he wasn’t ashamed of it. His people would know that well soon enough.  

Satisfied that the water wasn’t too hot, and all was as it should be. He flipped the lock on the servants door, and returned to retrieve his bride.  

“Ah, so ye can do as ye told.” He smiled as he made his way over to the bed and scooped her up into his arms. She came willingly, with a soft sigh as she laid her head against his chest.

“On occasion.”  

“When it suits ye, ye mean.” He laughed kissing her forehead.

“Mmm.”

“Ah, Sassenach.” He sighed, as he stood her by the bathtub and pulled her naked body against his. She looked up at him, her eyes warm and her smile soft, and he couldn’t resist leaning down to kiss her lips. “What ye do to me.”

“I can feel what I do to you.” She murmured, trailing her hand slowly down his chest and stomach until she brought it to rest over his cock. It twitched in her hand, and she wrapped her fingers around him, stroking him softly as she awakened his desire.  

“I beg of ye, lass.” He groaned, digging his fingers into the flesh of her arse. “Dinna start what ye canna finish, I’v only so much restraint, an’ I dinna want to hurt ye.”

“Who says I can’t finish?” She winked, as she released his cock and stepped out of his arms.  

“Ye dinna seem to be finishing anythin’.” he complained, trying to grab her hand back as he gestured to his weeping cock. It was nigh on painful, his need for her to keep touching him, but seeming oblivious, she simply smiled and turned to dip a rag into the water. “Claire...”

“I’ve not even started yet, My Lord.” She all but purred, the sudden huskiness to her voice making him shiver with need, as she dropped to her knees before him.

“What are ye doin?”

“Cleaning you up.” She whispered, licking her lips, and drawing the warm wet cloth up the inside of his thigh.

Dear God above.

She was trying to kill him. She kept her dark, hooded eyes locked on him, gazing up at him through her long eyelashes, as she folded the rag over his cock. His hips jerked, and a low groan built it his throat and brushed past his parted lips. It wasn’t the wet heat he wanted to feel, but Jesus Lord it felt good.  

She took her time, cleaning him throughly, and driving him half insane. When she gently eased back the skin, and wiped the cloth around the bulging head, he couldn’t take any more. His bollocks were aching, and if she didn’t stop he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.  

“Enough.” He growled, stilling her hand as his heart pounded erratically somewhere near his throat. “I canna take much more, lass.” Her lips twitched and she dropped the rag before wrapping her wee hand around the shaft. “Claire…”

“Sshh.” She breathed, as she rose higher on her knees, bringing her eye level with his cock. “It’s my turn to take care of you.”  

He was seconds away from forcing her to stop, or begging to lie back and spread her legs. His mind was so clouded in lust that he didn’t know which, but before he could decide, she moved forward and ran her tongue along the length of his cock.  

“Claire…what are ye…”

“Ssh.” She murmured again before wrapping her lips around the weeping head and drawing him into her mouth.  

“Jesus Christ.” He cried as lightening shot through the base of his spine, jerking his hips and making his whole body erupt in goosebumps. “Claire…lass…shit.”

She hummed around him as she worked her hand in time with her mouth. Sucking, pulling and twisting over and over as she massaged his length with her tongue, and danced it around the head. He was blinding by stars, and too overcome with awe and pleasure, to even think about stopping her.  

He’d never felt anything like it in his life, he was in mind numbing bliss, and without though, his hand went to the back of her head and he buried his fingers into her hair. He could feel her sharp nails digging into the flesh of his arse as she pulled him towards her, encouraging him to move.  

With what sanity he had left, he tensed his muscles, locking himself in place, least he thrust forward and hurt her. But she growled, her dark eyes hungry and begging, as she scrapped her teeth along his cock, and he was lost.  

His hips shot forward, pushing his cock further into her mouth, making her moan and her stretched pink lips to tighten around him. He gripped her hair harder and thrust against her, again and again going deeper and deeper with each shallow movement.  

He was in heaven, with white hot flames burning under his skin, tightening his balls and pulling him closer and closer to the inferno. He wanted to close his eyes, to throw his head back and roar with pleasure, but he just could not take them off her.  

She looked sublime, and the utter bliss and triumph in her eyes, was only fueling his need.

She moved her hand and placed it with her other on his arse, helping him move until the tip of his cock was thrusting against the back of her throat. Her muscles contracted, gripping his cock so tightly that he cried out and pushed in further, making her gag.

“Christ…I’m sorry.” He panted, pulling back until his cock slipped out of her mouth.

“No.” She begged, wrapping her hand around it again, and pumping it firmly as she drew him back towards her lips. “You have no idea how…God Jamie…I want you too…please do it.”

“Lord God, lass. Ye slay me.” He groaned pushing back in though her parted lips, all the way to the back of her throat. She gaged again but her eyes begged him not to stop, so he tightened his grip and thrust forward.  

He’d already been so close to to edge, but as she swallowed and moaned, licked and sucked at the thick shaft of his throbbing cock, he lost all control. His balls pulled up, and his movement turned jerky and rapid. He was close, so very close.  

“God, Claire…I canna stop…” He cried thrusting in as deep as he could. All his muscles contracted, and he groaned long and low as he twitched and released his seed down the back of her throat. “Argh Christ!”

She swallowed around him, over and over, taking everything he’d given her, before slowly slipping his cock out of her mouth.  

They were both breathless and panting, with their hearts pumping wildly and their eye locked. He fell down to his knees before her, and pulled her shaking body into his arms.

“I’ve never…Lord I thought my heart would burst.” He panted, as he kissed her head and ran his hands smoothly up and down her back. “Are ye well? I dinna hurt ye?”

“No, you didn’t hurt me.” She promised as she wrapped her own arms around him. “That was the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“Aye. I canna argue with ye there.” He laughed, kissing her again and moving back sightly to look down at her. “Now come, lass. Before the water gets cold.”

Chapter 24

[shipmistress9]

You could stay

Another one-shot I wrote, set between ‘Blindsided’ and ‘Shell Shocked’.

This story was a chance for me to get another bit of my personal headcanon down. And I want to explain that one before we get started here, lest I get too many angry comments on how they behave totally out of character… We all know Astrid to be the fearless warrior, never afraid of anything and we also know Hiccup to be more cautious, sometimes even shy and awkward. But I believe that, when it comes to their intimate relationship, their roles are reversed.

Astrid never was good when it came to social interactions, not when they were meaningful and important. She wouldn’t even open up to Heather when it comes to her feelings.

Hiccup, on the other hand, gets far more secure when he knows something is important. He then is able to scramble up every bit of confidence needed.

So, yes, I believe that when it comes to intimacy, Astrid is the shy one, as it is hard for her to open up, while Hiccup takes the lead, as he’s used to acting despite his feelings for her by now.

“…and then, hopefully, we can confront Viggo without any further interruption.” Hiccup said excitedly. “With you and me and Toothless, he’ll have no choice than to hand back the Dragon Eye! That’s it! We did it!” He walked around the table, still staring down at the model with all those tiny figurines and notes and ran his hands through his disheveled hair. “That… that really could work!” He looked up at her, eyes gleaming and Astrid couldn’t help but smile back at him. But, Odin, she was tired!

They’d spend hours in his hut now. This morning, Heather and Dagur had shown up and had asked for some help on Berserk Island. There were boulders to be blown up and a lot of useless wood to be burned down, ruins of former houses that needed to be removed before new ones could be built. Of course, with Windshear and Shattermaster they would have been able to do all this on their own but when it came to blowing stuff up and burning things down, nobody was as efficient as Snotlout and the Twins.

Hiccup had been reluctant to go, though. During the past few days, they’d begun to work on a plan to confront Viggo and he wasn’t exactly keen on the idea to interrupt that, now that they were finally making progress. In addition, Heather, who always saw more than anyone else, had only needed one glance at them, at the way they, Astrid and Hiccup, looked at each other, to know. She then had come up with an idea that suited everyone, even though Hiccup had been reluctant, again, to agree. He still felt like it was his responsibility to watch over the Twins even though they were hardly the troublemakers they once had been and Heather had already proven her capability to rein them in, anyway.

It hadn’t been hard to convince Fishlegs to go with them. Meatlug could be of great use in removing rubble, too, as well as producing Gronkle Iron for later use and Fishlegs’ knowledge of architecture would also be helpful. And then, he was excited to spend a few days with Heather anyway. So the Berserk siblings had stayed for lunch and afterward, all their friends had left Outpost Island. None of them had thought twice about it, except Heather, who’d winked at her once, and why should they? This wasn’t the first time she and Hiccup were all on their own, after all. They’d been on regular scouting patrols together for four years now, this was no different. Except, it was! Because Hiccup had kissed her after she’d regained her sight and now everything was different!

Although, not that different, really… After their friends had left, the two of them had returned to Hiccup’s hut just like on all the other days before and had brooded over their plan to finally get the Dragon Eye back from Viggo and Ryker. After those first awkward days of their relationship, they’d been able to work out some kind of routine by now. It wasn’t like they purposefully wanted to lie about their relationship to their friends. But being together was awkward enough even without the ever prying eyes of Team Snotnuts so they hadn’t said anything yet. Instead, they’d tried to concentrate on their plan, which would have been entirely impossible with one of their friends around, always trying to catch them doing things they weren’t supposed to do.

Astrid watched Hiccup as he now went over their plan once more. Their plan to gather every single available dragon rider, pair them into small groups and attack Viggo’s outpost in one strategical assault. He was enthusiastic about it and with good reason. This was a good plan and Astrid liked it all the more because of the way it had come to pass in the first place. This plan combined both their assets perfectly, her knowledge of fighting and how to best use their different skills to their advantage and Hiccup’s strategic mind to combine it all into one executable plan. They were good together!

She raised her hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. It was long past nightfall, surely past midnight as well and these had been many long hours with this to her rather unfamiliar activity of planning and discussing. She was tired but it was different from the fatigue she was used to. Normally, her body told her it had had enough activity for one day and needed rest but clearly, that wasn’t the case today. No, today it was her mind that was tired, her head felt like it was filled with wool and thinking became harder. She really needed to go to bed!

Astrid stood up and walked over to him, to say good night and maybe steal a kiss and embrace. She liked these little gestures, these proofs that, finally, they weren’t just friends anymore. It had taken a long time to reach this point and even these little things were still so new, so meaningful. They hadn’t kissed often so far, not real kisses at least. These playful pecks of their youth didn’t count! Kissing wasn’t something that came naturally for them and with all the work they had around the Edge and with this plan… Well, every single one had been a highlight so far, the one he’d given her that day at the stables, the one she’d stolen early in the morning a few days later when they’d met in their clubhouse while everyone else was still asleep, that first, deep good night kiss they’d shared a few days ago and the others thereafter, that had been far more cautious than that first one.

“Hiccup?” She addressed him self-consciously. Dammit, why was her usual confidence not working around him anymore? This was Hiccup, the same Hiccup she’d happily punched or embraced without further thought. Why was this so hard all of a sudden? “I think, we’ve been through this enough times now. It’s pretty late so…” She trailed off, hoping he would react, look up at her, maybe even offer to walk her to her hut. Not, that that was necessary, but it was nice. Walking together, even if it was just this small distance, was nice! It was a way of getting rid of all these important thoughts about plans and tactics and, for that short time at least, just thinking about each other, of them, together.

But Hiccup didn’t react, really, just grunted distractedly and reached for one of the small figurines to adjust its position. “Hiccup, I’ll go now. It’s late and I’m tired,” she tried anew. “And I wouldn’t want to fall off the bridges later.” She added half-jokingly. Maybe she would at least get him to laugh if nothing else.

But, again, there was no reasonable reaction and he just nodded. He reached for another figurine. “‘As you wish…” he murmured absentmindedly. “You know you could stay, right?”

Astrid had turned, resigned to leave without a kiss that night, but then stopped dead in her tracks, thunderstruck. What had he said? She whirled back toward him, to stare at him, dumbfounded but he still didn’t react and just leaned heavily on the table, engrossed in his thought. “What?” she asked aloud. Surely he hadn’t meant that like it had sounded, right? Her heart was racing at the mere thought, he could… could have implied… But no! Surely, he hadn’t! Not that she didn't… want to, but… Freya, they’d only kissed a few times so far! She knew Hiccup well enough to know that if she would have to decide now, she would choose to stay with him for the rest of her life but… Hel, that didn’t mean…

She felt herself blushing as she stared at her boyfriend. Even this term was still so strange! How could he say something like that and be completely unperturbed by it? But then, he wasn't… In one moment, he was still looking thoughtfully down on the table and in the next he stiffened, flinched and slowly, very slowly, finally turned toward her.

“You’re not Fishlegs.”

She blinked at him, uncomprehending. Why was he staring at her like she was a ghost, some terrifying monster to haunt him? And of course, she wasn’t Fishlegs! “Do I look like Fishlegs?” She asked angrily, her eyebrows drawn together. If this was supposed to be some joke then it wasn’t a funny one! But Hiccup back paddled, eyes wide and hands raised to ward her off or calm her down, she wasn’t sure which one.

“No! No, of course not! It’s just… I-I’m not used to you… being here, I mean…” He took a shaky breath and gulped. “I mean, normally it’s Fishlegs with whom I’m working through the nights,” he explained more coherently. “And more often than not, he stays. Sleeps on the floor, over there…” He gestured toward the corner where his small workshop was and where the heat of his forge outside provided a comfortable sleeping place. For being on the floor…

Astrid relaxed. So, he hadn’t implied… hadn’t asked her to spend the night with him after all. “I see…” She whispered and averted her eyes. Dammit, why was she disappointed now? “That… makes more sense… I think. More than me… here…” She broke off and bit her lip. Not, that she wanted to actually have… have sex with him… She wasn’t ready for that yet! But staying? Sleeping next to him, warm in his arms? Why was this thought so appealing all of a sudden?

“That… makes more sense… I think. More than me… here…”

“No!” Hiccup agreed hastily. “No, that wouldn't…” Mortified, his gaze wandered through the room. Thor, how could he have been so stupid? Ask Astrid if she wanted to stay? Wanted to spend the night here? In his hut? With him? Not that he wouldn’t want her to, but… Gods, she was Astrid Hofferson, the fact that she was here, now, with him, was incredible on its own. He still could hardly believe that he really was this lucky! And of course, he wanted her to stay, had dreamed of barely anything else for years but, oh Gods, he couldn’t tell her that! He still barely dared to get close to her, even though she seemed to like it. And he wanted… Oh, Thor, he wanted her to stay! Not… not like that! But… But he wanted… “But I want…” Holy Helheim, had he said that out loud? He bit his lip and cautiously glanced at her, whether she’d be angry. Gods, she would have every right to be…

But she wasn't… “You want… what?” She asked quietly. Too quietly maybe? Gods, he was dead.

“Nothing!” He said hastily. “I… nothing… really!”

She dropped her head and nodded slightly. “You… want me to go, then?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“Yes! Ahm… no! I…” Gods, he wished he could see her eyes right now, wished he could guess what she was thinking. He didn’t want her to go… “You… You could stay… if you want.” It was a risk! It was a risk and he knew that. But he really didn’t want her to go! This was too perfect, with their friends gone, no one would ask any questions in the morning. And it was not like he wanted to… to have… Not now, not tonight, not…. Not really! But he wanted to be with her, to hold her, to kiss her more than just once before they parted. Oh, Thor, please, let her stay!

“Okay” came her quiet answer and she looked up at him again. Her expression was cautious, maybe even a little frightened but there was this gleam in her eyes. A gleam that spoke of excitement and anticipation and his heartbeat quickened. She made one hesitant step toward him but then stopped, insecurity clear on her face. He gulped once and then made a decision.

She had chosen him. She had chosen to believe in him, back then when she’d first found him with Toothless in the cove, had chosen to follow his lead when he’d started to train dragons for Berk’s aid and when he’d decided to fly out and look for new land all these months ago. She had chosen to stay at the Edge, had chosen to return after she’d instructed the A-Team. A few days ago, she’d chosen him and now she had chosen to stay. That had to mean something… Up until now, there had been only one living being whom he trusted completely, around whom he had never felt the need to act out anything he wasn’t. One being who wouldn’t judge him and in return also trusted him completely. Toothless had given him the confidence he’d needed to become the person he was now but if he wanted to go on he probably would need more. Another person with whom he could be himself and more confidence as well. And she had chosen him…

He took a deep breath and made two quick steps with his long legs toward her, startling her and pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face into her hair. It was another risk, maybe he was too forward, maybe she would push him away and leave, for now, or for good. If she did, he wasn’t sure how he would go on, could go on, but he needed to take it anyway. They stood at a threshold, with their lives in constant danger, fighting almost every day and with an uncertain future ahead of them. He didn’t know whether their plan to attack Viggo would really work or would end in a suicide mission. And they had already wasted so much time because of his failure, he didn’t want to waste any more, especially not now when they’d finally made up their minds. Theirs was not a relationship that needed time to grow, they already knew each other so well. All they needed was getting used to this new situation. Or so he thought at least… Freya, please, let her think so, too! Either she would choose him again now or he didn’t really care what happened to him…

For an agonizingly long moment, nothing happened though. She was stiff as a statue in his arms, not moving, neither toward nor away from him and not saying one word, not making any noise. Gods, if this should be the last time he would hold her…

And then he felt her hands through his tunic and leather armor, not on his chest, not pushing him away but on his back, holding him close, drawing him in. He gasped into her hair, the relief that washed through him almost painful. She had chosen him, again.

A minute later, she leaned against him more heavily and sighed. “I… really am tired, you know…” she mumbled reluctantly and Hiccup chuckled shakily. He pulled back to look at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Let’s go to sleep then,” He took her hand and lead her up to the higher platform where Toothless already lay on his customary stone. Tiredly, he opened one of his big green eyes when he heard them, his gaze wandering from him to Astrid and back again. He blinked once and then closed the eye again, hiding behind his remaining tailfin. With a small grin, Hiccup shook his head at the dragon and turned toward his nightstand. Out of habit, he loosened the bracers on his forearms and pulled them off before he turned to glance at Astrid.

She stood unmoving and pale, shaking slightly and just stared unseeingly through him. Hiccup frowned. What was up with her? She wasn’t usually timid like this, not even when it came to putting off their armor in the presence of one another. They’d done that on multiple occasions during the last couple years after all. Like, to go swimming or at nights around the fireplace when they’d been on longer excursions. This wasn’t any different. Or was it? He stepped toward her, his gaze questioningly. “Astrid?” he asked and she flinched.

“I-I’m fine!” Her voice was shaking and he saw her swallowing. “It’s just…” She glanced up at him for a moment and blushed. “I…” she shrugged awkwardly and crossed her arms in front of her.

Hiccup watched her for a moment as her gaze wandered through the room, never meeting his eyes. She wasn’t comfortable being here… “Do you want to leave?” he asked calmly. If she wanted to go, he wouldn’t hold her back. He wanted her to stay, but not if she wasn’t at ease with it. He wanted her to be happy. Above all else, he just wanted her to be happy.

She bit her lip and then slowly shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “No, I, I don’t want to leave.” Another blush spread over her face and Hiccup finally understood. She felt just as awkward as he’d felt a few minutes ago before he’d decided to not waste any more time. But he wanted this to work! Maybe he was pushing his luck, but he really, really wanted this to work…

“May I help with your armor then?” He tried to keep his voice level and calm, to not let his own nervousness show. He hoped that would help her to calm down as well. Astrid’s eyes widened but she nodded mutely and Hiccup stepped closer to her, close enough to inhale the mayweed scent of her hair. Oh, Thor, this is going to be interesting. He thought dizzily and carefully reached beneath her left pauldron to unclasp the buckle there. He knew how to put off her armor, after all. He’d made it! Carefully, he lifted the leather and metal over her head and placed it on the trunk beside them before he turned back toward her. And gulped, suddenly self-conscious after all. He hadn’t thought this through! Her skirt? There was no way he could put that one off, too! Luckily, he didn’t need to.

When his eye met hers again, he noticed the change in her. She wasn’t as timid as before anymore, her eyes gleaming, filled with a soft emotion he couldn’t name. She stepped even closer toward him, stretched and a moment later, her lips met his. He gasped in surprise, the sound lost against her mouth before his eyes fluttered shut and he kissed her back.

This kiss was way better than the ones they’d shared during the last days, better even than that first deep kiss three days ago, almost as good as their first. He felt her soft body beneath his hands as his arms curled around her waist and he parted his lips as he felt her doing the same. Cautiously, he pushed his tongue out to meet hers, playfully, carefully exploring. He could lose himself in kisses like this one…

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when they parted, breathlessly. Seconds? Minutes? Years? He didn’t care… All he cared about was the girl in his arms with her wide smile and brightly gleaming eyes. “Can we do that again?” she asked, panting slightly and he gasped, his lips twitching into a grin before he leaned in to kiss her again.

A part of his mind noticed how they got closer to his bed, how she kicked off her boots and shimmied out of her skirt and how he, too, shrugged off his boot. Somewhere along the way, he’d even managed to get rid of his leather armor and fake leg, though he didn’t remember how really. All he remembered later was how he’d held Astrid Hofferson, the girl of his dreams, in his arms, how they’d kissed and cuddled for he didn’t know how long and how she’d finally fallen asleep, nestled into his arms and blanket, relaxed and with a smile on her rosy lips. He stared down at her, watched her sleep and still could hardly believe how lucky he was. There was only one downside to this, but it was one he was willing to take.

He wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.

[sanhatation]

ri’s thicc 2017 reflection post !

its still quite a few hours away from 2018 for me but i just wanted to take this time to reflect on my absolutely Lovely 2017!!! yay time 2 get sappy as i word vomit and overshare about my year on tumblr.com !!!!

thank you loads to all of my LOVELY followers !!!!!!!!! yall are the cutest, make my day on the daily ! i wish you the best 2018 that the world can offer !!! stay healthy, take time for yourself, love yourself, love others, and be kind! 💓💓

this Riley Rant here, is gonna be here for me than anything. like a Fat journal entry !! and i am an Oversharer so here she goes [jeopardy music]

to begin, i have met and befriended so many amazing people on here this year and WOW!!!!!! lovely and supportive and talented, beautiful aroha friends??? it doesnt get better than that!!!!! i would attempt to tag all of u but yall know who u are ;)) im endlessly grateful to those of you who have really made being on here worth it. heck ya sometimes im like “why do i even spend time on here” but then!!!! idk sunny comes swingin in with just a heart full of love or sara comes swingin in with her eggs or marian comes swingin in with her rare pairs or j comes swingin in with her baking posts and thats not even HALF of it !!!!! seriously.....love you guys tons.

to my friends who i have had the pleasure of remaining your friend this year and getting closer to u !! i love you. i really dont know how yall handle me especially 2015/2016 me?? a MESS! yall are the REALEST. again, yall know who u are ;)) i hope we can continue to talk and have fun in 2018, i wish yall the best. 

and lastly....heres a THICC shoutout to my six shining stars. 

as for me as an individual, 2017 was a freaking Whack year. it was incredible....dare i say, iconic. and now its time for.....RILEY’S 2017 HIGHLIGHTS !!!!!! (also includes: the sucky parts bc even those allowed me to grow !)

- man, did 2017 start out pretty rough when my country decided it was a good idea to elect a freakin cheeto for president. however! i had the lovely opportunity to attend the women’s march at my capital the day before inauguration !! and it was powerful!!!! truly an experience ill treasure forever!

- binch....thank u Winter Dream for my whole life. tbh i wont forget sobbing at my best friend’s house when it dropped. thank u Miss Again Dance Practice. thank u Miss You & Me MV. thank u Miss Cotton Candy Choreography. thank u. 

- ah.....when some pinhead started that tr*mp chanting at a basketball game lol! so iconic that we made the new york times! gotta love that....

- OMG !!! HOW TO SUCCEED !!!! an absolutely amazing experience. granted, the male lead was a Snake, but i had a blast. Rosemary will forever be close to my heart and ill always cry a little when i hear Brotherhood of Man or Paris Original !! such an awesome opportunity. i learned a frick ton about myself as a performer. i improved a ton in acting and dancing, and also came to learn that i am very good at receiving instructions and memorizing lines quickly. i learned that i need to work on some of my facial expressions and i also learned some of my habits ! i miss u Queenie H2$ :’’)

- had my first tap dance performance ever??? i really enjoyed learning tap, and i hope to pick it back up in the future !!!!

- BIIIIIINCCH i had the opportunity to visit my sister in korea!!!!!!! wow.....truly the BEST week of my entire year, maybe even LIFE! i went to the dog cafe, the sheep cafe, mcountdown, the lunar festival kick off, gwanghwamun palace, dongdaemun, shopped a ton around hongdae, ate food by the han river, visited namsan tower (but not without getting lost), hit the noraebang TWICE, walked into a private Fantagio board meeting, ate delicious chicken on a STIIICK, ran in the rain, ordered delivery mcdonalds, had the BEST fried chicken, met a bunch of monks, was led around dongdaemun by a very old korean man, SAW EUNWOO AND DOYEON AND RECEIVED MUCH LOVE AND NEARLY DIED, hit the convenience store literally every day, snuck out, GOT A WAVE FROM KEY :((( , bought Winter Dream and lots of skin care products and lots of cute clothes, had the clearest skin ive ever had in my life, went to a buddhist temple, witnessed a drunk man fall into the splits inbetween the ground and the subway, ran up and down 1000 subway stairs, fell in love with a man named Peanut, drank too much banana and strawberry milk, sobbed my face off at the festival as korean grandmas bowed to me, tried tons of new foods (including the nastiest bowl of cheese ramyun ive ever had in my life), bought lots of socks, rode an airplane for......like 40 hours in total? literally the best week of my Life

- had my junior vocal recital ! it was a cute girl. i felt my acting had really improved since sophomore voice recital !! 

- had prom on my 17th birthday and had a jolly good time !!! my mom made my dress and i felt like a Stunner

- dream pt. 01...she rly is that Bad Bih. best era. miss her loads. none of us ever deserved her. 

- les mis !!!!!! two whole weeks.....another Best Time. i learned so much, made so many lifetime friends, had a blast, sang my heart out.....such a freaking good time. i miss her

- got to spend the ENTIRE summer with momo!!!!!!!!!!! literally the ENTIRE!!!!! and what did we do? hit the park, watched lemonade mouth and fantastic beasts and starstruck and that random unicorn movie, made the Best slime, made that ICONIC weki meki video, laughed a ton, cried a ton, stayed up all night for the sunrise, stayed later for the sunset & thunderstorm, walked home in the pouring rain & lightning (IT IS VERY WET), went to the beach, met many dogs, got me hairs cut, befriended that Cat, and went to a painting class

- cabin week !!!!!!!!!!! whatta lovely time

- my brother’s wedding !!!! honestly? my best outfit of the year... had a bangin time. his wife is truly a cutie and i love her tons!

- there was that Mess in august and i still feel sorry to those who felt hurt because of it. i learned a lot about how things especially on the internet can be easily misunderstood and misinterpreted, so u gotta be EXTRA careful with your words ! 

- through that i also came to accept that u cant get everyone to understand or like u, and tbh that is okay for now. all we can do when we make mistakes is try to understand & learn, apologize, and try to better ourselves. and sometimes even when u do that, u still may not be liked. and thats okay. as long as you are trying your best and recognize mistakes, its all good. 

-skinny dipped at girls time wow what a freaking TIME

- woah dude i dropped out of my arts school lmao!!! the BIGGEST change in my life since 2014.;..wow! i dont even have the words to say how much stress was lifted off of me and i love senior yr !!!!

- momo came to CT!!!!!! 

- seeing svt live !!!!! but tbh the best part was seeing momo, “I LOVE A MAN WHO CAN SEW”, “I!!!!!!!!!! LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JIHOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, “IM UNDERAGE”, and when Mo BLASTED to that other line

- LAKE COMPOUNCE LMAOOOOO I LOVE JIHOON PT2!!!!

- my mom, sister, and i took an eight week painting class! i finished two paintings and learned a ton!! honestly a good time

- dream pt. 02.....shes that other Bad Bih....absolutely adore her

- i also learned that its okay to cut people off who are toxic. especially if you have already informed them that they make u feel bad, they are not worth trying to please or keep around. take care of yourself. similarly, its okay to block people, and you dont owe them an explanation

- MADI CAME HOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my other half...missed her so much :(((

- riley’s calligraphy christmas !!!!! was so much fun and i loved people’s reactions and i loved learning arohas favorite astro lyrics !!!

- ah...............one of the hardest weeks of my whole life. the pain still lingers, and i know itll hit me again like a boulder the next time we see only four of my angels standing on stage. for four months, i was worried sick about another member, and i even knew he was hurting, that his mental illness was real. my heart aches and there is a piece of it missing, but it will never be replaced. i know you are much happier now, jjong. i love you. 

- and also because of that, i have been able to think a lot about how i live my life. thoughts like ‘am i watching out for my family and friends enough?’ ‘am i listening enough?’ ‘is this funny comment worth it?’ ‘am i happy?’ im trying to be better. to not take things for granted, to only be kind, to always be there for those i love, for those who love me. and i will try my hardest to not complain about small or petty inconveniences. to try harder to be optimistic. 

- christmas was with my whole family for the first time in five years ;;; she was such a cute girl!

and now on to the next act !!!! its called RILEY’S NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS !!!!!!!!!! 

1. lets start with the basic stuff that im 99% not gonna pull through on: keep ur room clean. keep everywhere u go clean, it makes mom upset. eat better, u know there is other foods in this house besides peanut butter and pepperoni and popcorn. 

2. send out at least one Lovely Ask per day. i made this goal sometime over the summer, and i did it for a few months until i started to forget ;; its not that hard, u just gotta remember to do it !! 

3. sis.....quit Procrastinating.......GET ur FREAKING application done...do ur homework the night before lmao! call who u need to !!! write those thank u cards!!!! go get them scholarships!!!! enter that graphic design contest lmao!!! just DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! time is wasting

4. just be happy 

[amandahoyle]

My boys first night actually together and being soft and cute.

I am the most proud of this because I didn’t give them enough personal time together in the first one so I made up for it in this one.

"Maybe you were just late to notice. I would not mind a beautiful woman keeping you distracted, after all Arwyn is my second." The look he got could have killed anything standing and laughter slipped past his lips.

"You know that I don't have feelings for her. That's just rude." Fingers found his own and intertwined with them. Cold but perfect against his own.

"I know. I was teasing." Something he had never really done. Not often.

"So I can see. You are terrible at it, you should practice more. How long have you been here then, skulking around in the shadows?" Fingers played softly against his own and he huffed softly under his breath. He had not been skulking. No he had simply been observing and seeing how Croi had gotten along here. That was all.

"I was not skulking. I was just, curious how you had been and I see that you are fitting in here perfectly. Your father would be proud. I am proud of you, mo chroi. I am also very happy to see you but I did not want myself to be a distraction for you. You were busy." It was true, he didn't want to take away from Croi's night with his people and Croi's responsibilities. He knew what it was like to have people to look after, he may not be a king but Lord of the Hunt wasn't all that far off as some like Madoc believed. He had told Croi last time that their responsibilities and people would come first, and not just his own. The moments they could have together would be be rare and few between on both of their parts. Meaningful but sparse. Gwyn did assume it would be mostly himself, though he knew that Croi would not be without his own concerns and responsibilities.

"I haven't really done anything to be proud of...not yet. I do have something I wanted to talk with you about but not right now. I've missed you and I just want to spend some time with you before you have to go. Come on." Croi got to his feet, tugging Gwyn up with him. He wanted to ask what the other meant but that would ruin the time they did have together. He knew he would tell him eventually, and it was hard to turn off that part of him that was all business. Especially when things outside of that made him nervous and he was nervous as he followed Croi. Alone time they had only had once, and even then it had been different than this. Gwyn had so much on his mind then, so much to tell him. Business and he was good with that. He was good with being serious, but with having fun and just relaxing and enjoying the moment. He was not good at that. More so when it went more romantic and for pleasure. He hadn't done that in a very long time.

Croi led him the one house like structure, and Gwyn felt the magic as they went inside. Croi's magic and he was impressed. Last he had seen the other's touch of magic, it had been more ice and snow and less controlled. Controlled enough to not do it randomly but this was a lot different and he was proud of him even more. He let the other's hand go, a soft smile on his lips as he looked around. Oh yes the place very much screamed the other. Full of nature and yet a mess at the same time.

"It looks like a tornado has been through here, you've become quite messy on your own." The look he got was worth his attempt at teasing and he moved over stopping the other from picking anything up. It was all on the floor and most of it clothes and books, he didn't mind that. It actually felt homey with everything like this. Lived in. The Hunt always moved and kept very little personal items and Gwyn himself had not been in a place that felt truly like a home since he was young, he missed it. Gwyn was curious about all the books, but he let it go. Croi deserved better than him bombarding him with questions. He could do the one thing he was good at and be silent and enjoy the other's attention. He wrapped his arms around Croi's waist, letting go of his wrist once he was sure that he wasn't going to try and clean again.

"Leave it. Its not in the way. I don't want to miss out on any time. Come lay down with me?" He nodded towards the bed before slowly letting him go. His hands lingering on the other as much as he could. His heart was in his throat and he knew that it showed. Even if his voice was calm and didn't waver, his eyes were different. The wide grin on Croi's lips made that clear and he was prepared to be teased about being nervous but those weren't the words that escaped the other's lips. Not at all, in fact, he was strangely quiet as he took Gwyn's hand and led him to lay down. Gwyn got comfortable on the bed, as best as he could. He wasn't used to something soft and he was still in full dress, blade and all. It didn't take long for the other to notice and tug him back to his feet.

"You are cute, you know that? Absolutely adorable. Relax, you can drop your stuff wherever you want, or you can put it on table with my weapons. It's all safe here, I'm the only one that comes in here, outside of Faill and the worst she does is bring in dead animals." There was a playful cringe and Croi gave him a small push to the shoulder. He moved over to table Croi had motioned at, and undid the belt that held his weapons. He didn't have all of them, most of them were on his mount who he had sent off once Croi's people had gotten curious. She wasn't overly fond of them and he knew that she would come when he called, she would have just been bored waiting around for him. He did however have two blades on him, a regular steel one, and the other one of magic. Specifically Wild Hunt magic. It was safer on his person and as Croi had held it before, he did not worry about leaving it bare and in the open here. His cloak came off next and he laid it down beside his blades and the chill of the air hit him. There was a breeze, a bit cold, but he hadn't noticed with the warm material over his shoulders. He ignored it for now, after all the furs on the bed looked plenty warm enough and something else had caught his attention anyways.

Croi had blades made of steel just as Gwyn did though his were new and undamaged from lack of use. He knew the other didn't like the longer blades. That wasn't what caught his eye, what did was the small dagger. The very familiar silver blade that had once been a gift from the previous Leader of the Hunt and he had in turn gifted to Croi. It was very well taken care of, and it didn't looked like it had been used very often. Even during his time in the Hunt, he had only had to use it once or twice. Now he had even less reason to use it. Gwyn ran his fingers along the gems on the hilt before turning back to the other. He spoke before he got distracted by the sight in front of him.

"You kept it, the dagger." Croi had his back to him, and had tugged the jacket and his shirt off. Both were laying over the edge of the bed and Croi had already managed to get his boots off as well. Once he had tossed those aside he made his way back over to Gwyn, a smile on his lips. Like Gwyn had said something funny and if he had, he had not idea what. Of course, Croi was very distracting shirtless. He had only seen him that way briefly when they shared a sleeping space and of course when he had patched him up when they first met. This was different, he had never lingered on him. Never had the chance to see the scars that covered his back and shoulders. The one across his chest that was deeper than the others. Gwyn liked scars, because he liked seeing proof that others could hold their own, so it didn't bother him but it was distracting. Overall because he was shirtless and walking towards him looking more amused than he had all night.

"Of course I kept it. You gave it to me, why wouldn't I? It means a lot to me and its a little piece of you for when you aren't here." It was sweet and not the answer he had been expecting. He could feel his face heat up and he turned his gaze down to the side as Croi came to stand right in front of him. The other, however didn't let him, not by much. He felt the fingers tugging on his chin and pulling his gaze back to him.

"You are more kind than I deserve." Gwyn would always think that, always. Not that he thought he deserved less, but what had he done to deserve Croi he did not understand. He had not really been his friend before, he had been the leader he was used to being and in that he had taken care of him. Gwyn had fallen quite fast, and it was not a surprise, anyone would be lucky to have Croi. He was wonderful and sweet, and caring, and snarky. Gwyn didn't understand how Croi had fallen for him, he had kept a wall up between them. Even when they got together he was still distant. Now as well, though he was trying not to be. Gwyn was still surprised with the time apart that Croi had picked up where they left off, like they had spent no time apart. He didn't know how to return that, he didn't know what the other needed from him.

"You aren't good at taking compliments. I thought I was bad at it, but you are worse. Its cute. Gwyn, I want to be with you. You deserve to be happy. Leader of the Hunt aside. That isn't all you are and I'd like to see more of you. Know more about you. I know that we won't get to see each other a lot, but we have tonight and we have once a month until winter returns. I don't think that's so bad, its plenty of time if you are open to sharing your life with me." Of course he wanted that, he had just never talked about himself before. He didn't know how to start, and most of all he wanted Croi happy. He never wanted to bore him, or not give him enough of the attention and love he wanted.

"I am, of course. I wouldn't be here, if I didn't want this with you. I just don't know...how. I haven't done this with anyone before you. Not like this, not where I was wanted and I wanted back."

"I haven't either. I mean one night stands occasionally. But no one has ever wanted me. This is new for both of us. I just happen to be better at faking that I know everything." Soft laughter escaped his lips and the fingers moved from Gwyn's jaw and down till their fingers intertwined.

"Let's figure out together. Like you said, let's go lay down. You are still wearing a bit too much." He didn't complain when fingers undid the coarse strings holding his shirt tight on his body. Not at all, when his shirt was tugged over his head and tossed near everything else. The fingers back in his own guided him to the bed and this time when he laid down he was very comfortable and the nerves had receded enough that he could enjoy himself. I almost forgot about the taglist I’m bad. @cawolters

[juniper-rose-blower]

FEEL. -How does your character react to a persons touch? A random stranger’s? A loved one’s? A friend’s?

Alright, so we’re going to delve right into this one (and the other questions, which I hope someone sends me!). I’ll give OOC answers, mostly for the sake of giving full answers.

Juniper, believe it or not, is incredibly introverted. She has a small streak of talkativeness when it comes to her botany, but other than that, talking is a bit uncomfortable. For those who are extroverted (which I the mun am), introverts function a bit differently than we do. Where we might love to spend time out in the crowds having a great time, that can actually be far more taxing and exhausting for an introvert. Instead, they find solitude and peace to be far more rejuvenating (something we might find boring in larger doses).

June is very much the same. Spending time talking to, let alone touching, other people, is not something to which she’s accustomed. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but the prevailing reaction to touch, especially from random strangers, is discomfort.

Now, if we delve into the oddball relationships she keeps with her colleagues in Blackbay, it’s a bit different, as she views each person with a specific set of rose-colored glasses.

For @heyzailene‘s warlock, Lady DuCass - aka ‘Magpie’: June equates a lot of her own mother to Magpie. The woman is older, and quite ‘proper’ in the same senses her mother was, and fusses over little things in ways that dredge up unwanted memories of the woman. But Magpie has also been far kinder than her mother ever was. In truth, Magpie’s existence has begun to soften June’s remembrance of her mother, albeit very slowly. So when there’s a touch from the elderly woman to Juniper, she’s normally adjusting something or rearranging something in a light and gentle manner. June mostly tunes it out, letting the woman do what she feels necessary without feeling overly bothered by it.

For @monettemason - aka ‘Swan’: Mo is the guild Den Mother. I’m certain I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating because it is very much the truth. She watches out for and cares for the group as her own children. Funnily enough, June does not think of Mo as a mother per se, as memories of her mother are not overly pleasant. Instead, she views Mo the same way she viewed the Apothecary in Gilneas who began teaching June about herbalism and botany and alchemy prior to the Fall of the Wall. The man was kind, and gave June an ear when she had a burning question, much as Mo has done time and time again for the Botanist in her emotional turmoils. When Mo has touched June, it’s been in reassurance, and June has found a quiet comfort in the motions, typically grateful for the times when they occur.

For @quai-mason - aka ‘Wren’: Juniper and Quai bonded early into her introduction to the covert group, sharing both moments of peace and moments of turmoil together. Something that really stuck with June early on was having to set Quai’s broken leg in the little cottage in the hills of Northern Elwynn. But she didn’t have to think twice about how she needed to do it, for Quai’s sake. She’d already been made aware of the situation, and she pressed forward with the best way to aid the woman in easing her pain and speeding along her healing. Since that time, June has interacted more than once with the Shadow within the other woman, finding a strange similarity and familiarity in the vibes it gives off. It reminds her of her own feelings, and does not cause her discomfort as it may others. Of all the members of Blackbay, June has probably had the most physical contact with Quai (mostly because she keeps getting hurt *ahem*). Not only does this contact not bother her, June would actively seek more time with her if she did not think it would make the other woman feel awkward. She views Quai as an older sister, and highly values her opinion.

For @brian-wellson - aka ‘Kestrel’: This relationship is probably the most complicated of June’s. Kestrel represents, in the young woman’s mind, a chance at having something she never had - a father. Hers was never in the picture - to whit, she doesn’t even know who he was, or that he was a nobleman, or what his accomplishments were... *cough* spoilers *cough*... Kestrel has been hard and sharp in a number of moments, confusing and misunderstood in others, and a few times has been utterly surprising. He’s an enigma that she cannot uncloud, a puzzle she cannot seem to solve. He offers her help in one moment, but when she reciprocates, he seems to turn her away. Some of these moments have been caused by her naive perception and not by Kestrel. I’ll admit, her interactions with Kestrel are some of the most fun, not only because riling up my muse is entertaining (yes, I can be an evil mun), but because the growth June undergoes through each one is so exciting. The few times Kestrel has made physical contact with June, it’s been a hand on her shoulder, strong and reassuring. It makes her wonder sometimes whether he’s similar to her in level of comfort around others, but the interaction does not bother her.

For @malorincan - aka ‘Albatross’: June has a funny awkward friendship with Mal. The first time they met, she had to tote him back to their Val’sharah cottage on her back (in her travel form, as she is a druid). The two have bonded a great deal, which of course includes having little disagreements and spats over little things that didn’t last very long. There have been times, mostly out of curiosity, that June has been a bit unfair to Mal, grabbing his tail and holding onto it for short periods. It’s easier than trying to hold his large hand, and she finds it a little funny that it makes him blush. But she likes that he’s grown accustomed enough to it that his tail curls around her hand now. They’re good friends, with a bit of a crush on Mal’s end right now, and he actually made her genuinely smile the other evening when he was concussed out of his mind. She cares for his well-being, and does not at all mind their physical interactions.

For @justinegrotius - aka ‘Osprey’: Ho boy. This is probably the most difficult one to put into words. June has had an overwhelming sense of confused emotions regarding Justine. The woman has played an integral part in how June has adapted since joining Blackbay. She’s been instructive and sharp, as a teacher would. She’s been reprimanding at time, as a mother might. She’s been supportive and reassuring, like a sister or a friend. But something Osprey likely did not count on was also something that June never counted on. Justine reminds June of Liam. The one person who ever gave the young botanist butterflies in her stomach. As a young woman who spent her time from the age of 15 to the age of 19 *alone* and generally avoiding people in large quantities, having this recurrence of emotion and feeling crop up this way has been massively befuddling. Right now, June doesn’t know what to do about it, or what to say, or whether to do anything about it at all. But lately, she’s felt overwhelming embarrassment over the things that flit through her mind. There was a singular specific moment that really stands out to her in which the two shared physical contact. June was in a threadbare cot in a rundown shack in Westfall, healing from a nasty wound. Justine sat by her bed, and absently ran her fingers through June’s hair in a soft caress. The tiny little touch still echoes in June’s dreams, weeks later. It resonates with her. It makes her heart flutter. And it terrifies her. It fills her with dread at the impending rejection she’d face if she ever voiced her feelings. And it’s wonderful! Each interaction with the woman is something June both looks forward to and wishes to avoid at the same time, and each one helps her grow into the woman she’s becoming.

To @jazimina, thank you for the ask. ^_^ I’m sorry it was so long. But it felt great to delve into June’s character. Y’all send me more of those questions! And to my Blackbay peeps, too! They’re all great, and I love them.

[biofunmy]

States Are Making Progress on Opioids. Now the Money That’s Helping Them May Dry Up

ST. LOUIS — Bryan Garner was homeless and injecting as much fentanyl as he could get his hands on when he found the Missouri Network Outreach Center, a community center in an old brick rowhouse in St. Louis that connects people to addiction treatment.

Mr. Garner, 51, accepted the center’s offer of assistance and has not used any illegal drugs since January.

“I really feel like, without this place, I wouldn’t be here now,” he said.

But how long the center will survive — and how long Mr. Garner will be able to get free treatment — is in question. The center exists thanks to $3.3 billion in opioid crisis grants, approved with strong bipartisan support, that the Trump administration and Congress have allotted to states since 2017, when a record 47,600 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids. The money for treatment, prevention and recovery is the administration’s most tangible contribution to addressing the opioid epidemic, and a rare example of an initiative that has received almost full bipartisan support in Washington during President Trump’s tenure.

But even as Mr. Trump has started to claim victory over the epidemic, citing “results that are unbelievable” at a drug abuse summit in April, neither he nor his administration’s top health officials have talked publicly about extending the funding beyond next year, when it is scheduled to run out. Many in the addiction field fear that, with opioid overdose deaths finally beginning to level off, and other problems like high prescription drug costs emerging as campaign issues, the attention to treatment will dissipate.

“I’ve been in this field over 35 years, and I’ve never seen an investment like this,” said Mark Stringer, the director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health. “Our plea would be for it to continue.”

The Department of Health and Human Services referred questions about the future of the grants to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which oversees them. Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, that agency’s director, was noncommittal. “If I could, I certainly would” continue the funding beyond next year, she said in an interview.

Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that opioid overdose deaths dropped slightly in 2018, although deaths involving fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that caused a sharp surge in deaths over the past few years, continued to climb. The final month of data for the year is expected to be released this week.

The grants have been especially crucial in Republican-led states that decided not to expand free Medicaid coverage to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees addiction treatment as an “essential benefit.” Many of these states have been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, and the grants are their main source of financing for treatment.

But Missouri is quickly exhausting its $65 million share, and other states that have not expanded Medicaid, including Kansas and North Carolina, are in a similar predicament. They have had to spend most of their grant money on medications and doctor appointments — expenses that expanded Medicaid has covered in other states — instead of on other important assistance like housing, recovery services or even naloxone, the overdose-reversal drug.

“When we first heard the money was coming, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a lot,’” said Nora Bock, who helps oversee addiction treatment programs for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. “Now it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s nowhere near enough.’”

Some lawmakers in states that have been hit hard by the opioid crisis are starting to make noise about continuing the funding. Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, introduced legislation last month to continue the grants through 2024, at $500 million a year. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, has a bill that would increase the grants to $5.5 billion over five years, Both bills would let states use the money to help people addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs, not just opioids.

“My state is a little nervous that Congress is going to say, ‘Gosh, we’ve solved this problem and we can move on,’” Mr. Portman said. “If you take away this foundation we’ve built, the edifice comes crumbling down.”

To qualify for the money now, treatment programs must offer at least one of the three medications that have been approved to treat opioid addiction. Though it is backed by scientific evidence, that approach has nonetheless been rarely used in the past.

But the one-time nature of the grants — they were first authorized in 2016 by President Barack Obama, for two years — makes it hard for states to build out permanent treatment systems. The Bipartisan Policy Center noted that problem in a recent analysis, as did several witnesses at a House hearing on the federal opioid response last month.

In West Virginia, a state that expanded Medicaid but has been devastated by the epidemic, the grant money is “just a patch,” Angela Gray, a public health nurse there, said at the hearing, adding that “without a long-term stable funding commitment and plan, my state will continue to bleed.”

Here in St. Louis, which has one of the highest overdose death rates of any large city, the need is extreme. Even now, only a fraction of the opioid-addicted population is benefiting from the money: about 5,650 people over the last two years, most of whom were prescribed buprenorphine.

The $230,000 that the MO Network community center that helped Mr. Garner received through the federal grant program this year is paying its rent and funding salaries for three full-time and six part-time employees. The center uses funds from another source to buy and distribute clean needles to people who inject fentanyl and other drugs, which the federal government is prohibited from paying for.

The center’s staff members persuade many people who come for needles or group activities to try treatment — 82 in May. They link them to Assisted Recovery Centers of America, a Missouri company that is the main treatment provider under the state’s grant program.

“People come for needle exchange in the morning, get put in an Uber to a treatment site, get buprenorphine that same day and get put in housing that night,” said Rachel P. Winograd, an associate research professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who has helped the state plan how to use its allocation. “But boy, does that soak up money fast.”

Missouri decided not to use any of its grant funds for residential care or group therapy, opting instead for a “medication first” approach that does not require lengthy initial assessments, counseling, participation in groups or drug-free urine samples as conditions for obtaining medication. The lack of barriers has led to better retention in treatment, Ms. Winograd said.

Assisted Recovery Centers, or ARCA, is using grant money to treat about 1,200 patients for opioid addiction in St. Louis and, through telemedicine, in several dozen rural locations throughout Missouri. That is about 40 percent fewer than last year, as the company had to slow admissions to avoid running out of money. It is also providing temporary housing for about 82 of those patients; the state imposed a 45-day limit after it realized how quickly the grant funds were disappearing.

“With the volume we are asked to serve, we will be out of treatment dollars again by the middle of August,” said Suneal Menzies, ARCA’s executive director.

Nor is Missouri the only state that is struggling to keep up with the need. In North Carolina, where one million people remain uninsured, grant money that was supposed to last until May ran out in February. The state is spending $2 million a month through the program and hopes to have just enough to keep treatment for thousands of uninsured patients going through September.

“We’re digging ourselves out of a meteor-sized hole with a teaspoon,” said Kody Kinsley, a deputy secretary at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Kansas, too, has struggled. Its grantees ran out of their second year of opioid grant money last fall, months ahead of time.

Shane Hudson, president and chief executive of CKF Addiction Treatment, a treatment center based in Salina that has received more than $2 million in grant funds, said that with Medicaid expansion, “these opioid grant dollars could go much further, and we could afford more skilled staff to provide more of these services.”

The center is already preparing patients for the likelihood that they will have to take on the cost of their treatment eventually, Mr. Hudson added.

While the money has undoubtedly saved lives, many who have benefited from free treatment remain fragile.

One recent morning at ARCA’s clinic on Chippewa Street in St. Louis, Brandi Russell, 37, said she had been receiving buprenorphine through the grant program since January. But she had relapsed on her birthday, in April, after seven weeks of sobriety.

“Fentanyl is everywhere in this area — you have no clue,” she said as she waited to see her doctor. “Dealers will come up to you at the gas station, say, ‘Here’s some samples, let me put my number in your phone.’”

The MO Network recently retrofitted an old ambulance to hand out naloxone and tell opioid users on the streets about free treatment options, including at ARCA. It takes the vehicle out into the community several times a week.

Driving the vehicle past an empty warehouse near the Mississippi River one evening, Aaron Laxton, a social worker, stopped to talk to Albin Martin, 36. Mr. Martin said he had been kicked out of a recovery home 10 days earlier for using fentanyl. He had gone on to overdose twice in the last week, he said, but other homeless individuals had revived him with Narcan.

“They said I was completely cold and blue,” he told Mr. Laxton and Chad Sabora, who helped found the group in 2012. Back then, Mr. Sabora said, St. Louis had a five-month wait for any kind of drug treatment.

Mr. Sabora gave Mr. Martin a card with the MO Network’s phone number. The center gives clients more chances than most other recovery housing options, letting them stay even after they have relapsed several times.

“Don’t use alone, O.K.?” he told Mr. Martin as he climbed back into the mobile unit.

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[updatedc-blog]

New Post has been published on https://www.updatedc.com/2018/12/03/dji-osmo-pocket-hands-on-review/

DJI Osmo Pocket hands-on review

The DJI Osmo Pocket was just announced, and luckily here at Newsshooter, we have been able to get hold of a full production version for a couple of days to review. So without further ado, let’s get on with it.

From the air to the ground

The Osmo Pocket is quite literally a drone camera that has been attached to a handle. Just like the original Osmo, the Pocket leverages DJI’s drone technology and a lot of the tech that they have developed over recent years. DJI has always pushed the boundaries with what is possible. The Mavic Pro really was an engineering marvel, given its capabilities and small size. The Osmo Pocket builds on this philosophy of miniaturizing tech and making a product that is as small as possible. But will it be a case of style over substance?

If you compare the original Osmo which was only released 3 years ago, to the Osmo Pocket, you can see just how far technology has come. DJI is essentially giving you a very similar product that is a fraction of the size at a  lower price.

It’s tiny

The Osmo Pocket is absolutely tiny and unlike the BMPCC 4K, this actually does fit in your pocket. I wasn’t quite ready for just how small and lightweight it actually is. It’s 4.8″ (12.19cm) tall and weighs just 4 oz (113.4g). It’s physical size (or more specifically, it’s lack of) is what sets it apart from any other product on the market.

What it is and what it isn’t

I’m going to come out and say it, the Osmo Pocket is a consumer product, not a professional one, and I have absolutely no problem with that.  That’s not to say it can’t be used in a professional environment, but you really need to be aware of its limitations. Anyone who buys an Osmo Pocket and expects it to be some sort of miracle device that can replace other more expensive gimbals and cameras is probably going to be disappointed.

The image quality is not going to rival a GH5, BMPCC 4K, X-T3, Sony a7, or any other similar camera. The Osmo Pocket uses a tiny 1/2.3-inch sensor and a fixed f 2.0 lens. The focal length is around 26-28mm (35 mm format equivalent).

It’s certainly not a replacement for a larger gimbal, but more of an additional tool you can keep in your bag. Even though it is squarely aimed at the massive consumer market, there is no reason it can’t be used by a professional.  If you were, or still are an Osmo owner or user, you will probably be quite happy with what the Pocket has to offer. In saying that, it does have quite a few limitations, and as long as you are aware of those limitations, you can get fairly decent results in the right conditions.

For Vloggers, VJs, news crews, people wanting to shoot BTS footage, and anyone who needs to get the occasional stabilized shot and not draw attention to themselves, the Pocket is a nice bit of kit to have in your bag.

Buttons and control layout

The buttons and layout of the Osmo Pocket are simple and straightforward. With this device being aimed at a large consumer market, DJI needed to design the Pocket to be easy to use and operate.

There are only two buttons on the Pocket, a record button and a multi-purpose button that acts as the power on/off, menu button and as a function button when you are shooting. There is also a kind of locking hot shoe style interface where the lighting connector, USB-C connector, and accessories can be attached.

When you are shooting the multi-purpose button does three things:

One press – A single press of the button toggles between Video and stills mode.

Two presses – By pressing the button twice, you recenter the gimbal and camera.

Three presses – By pressing the button 3 times, you flip the gimbal into selfie mode. If you press it three times again it will spin back into its original position.

At the bottom of the gimbal, there is a USB interface for charging.

On the side, there is the slot for the Micro SD card.

There are no mounting points anywhere on the Osmo Pocket. If you want to mount it to something you will need to buy the additional accessory mount. I found a way around this by just using a simple smartphone mount.

Build quality

The Osmo Pocket is surprisingly fairly solidly made. I guess that DJI had to take into account that it was going to mainly be a consumer product and people are bound to drop it. The body of the Pocket is a lot more robust than the gimbal and camera (no surprises there). The weakest link is definitely the camera. That’s not to say it’s going to break easily, but it will break before the body of the Pocket does.

The locking hot shoe style interface is nice and robust and I found that the lightning and USB-C connectors stay firmly in place.

What do you get?

The Osmo Pocket comes with a lightning and a USB-C connector, a USB charging cable, a lanyard, and a nice carry case.

Touchscreen

The gimbal camera uses a 1-inch integrated touch screen that is reasonable quality and can act as a live view as well as allowing you to toggle through the various shooting modes, adjust settings, and review your footage.

The inbuilt screen is postage stamp size and you can’t realistically expect to be able to judge anything more than framing on it. I do like that the Pocket does have a screen because at least you can see what is being recorded and frame up your shots (well sort of). The weird thing about the touchscreen is that it displays a 4:3 image and not a 16:9 one. This means what you are seeing and what you are actually recording are two totally different things.

Speaking of the touchscreen, it is very responsive to the touch and easy to use. DJI has done a nice job with the interface on such a tiny screen. This is how it works:

Swipe left – This gets you into your shooting modes where you can choose from Photo, Video, Slow-Mo, Timelapse, and Pano.

Swipe Right – This goes into playback mode so you can view your clips.

Swipe Up – This goes into your gimbal control mode where you can press to recenter the gimbal, flip the gimbal into selfie mode, change from slow follow to fast follow (or vice versa), and change between tilt lock, FPV, and Follow modes.  the gimbal. What I like is when you press on the icons it tells you exactly what they are.

Swipe Down – This goes into the settings mode where you can see your battery level, Calibrate the gimbal, turn the tilt control on and off, enable the auto power off function after 5 minutes, see how much media storage you have and reformat your card, change the antiflicker setting, change the operating language, find out what firmware you are running, change the panorama mode, and change the brightness of the touchscreen.

It’s very easy to get out of the menu system, all you need to do is press one button. While the controls are pretty good on the touchscreen, they are somewhat limiting and you really do need to use the app on a smartphone to make a lot of the key changes. There is no way on the touchscreen of changing, let alone seeing key information like shutter speed, ISO, and white balance. You also can’t change between the auto and manual video shooting modes.

If you have made manual settings with a smartphone attached and then you disconnect your phone, the Osmo Pocket will keep those same settings.

The touchscreen display is really only useful if you are primarily shooting in the Auto mode. By default, the Osmo Pocket automatically goes to 4K 30p if you don’t have a smartphone attached and aren’t using the app.

You can change the resolution and frame rates by swiping left once you are in the video menu. Strangely this only allows you to choose between either 30p or 60p. There are no options to choose 24, 25, 48 or 50p. If you want to shot in these resolutions then you need to select them using the Mimo app. Hopefully, this will change with a firmware update.

Battery

The Osmo Pocket uses a built-in LiPo 875 mAh battery. This can’t be replaced or removed. DJI quote an operating time of 140 mins when shooting 1080p 30 fps video continuously and a charging time of 73 mins.

Yes, it’s a pity the Pocket doesn’t have a removable battery that you can swap out, but the good news is that the battery charges up really quickly. I was finding that it took just over an hour for a completely dead battery to get charged up to full capacity.

I found the battery life to be more than acceptable if you are just going to use the Pocket for a few hours or a handful of shots.  If you are taking it somewhere remote or you want to shoot with it for a whole day then you will need to get hold of a USB power bank.

The nice thing is, you can actually charge and operate the Pocket at the same time. If you have a USB power bank it’s pretty easy to just plug it in and use it with the Pocket. I recommend you use a long cable and perhaps place the USB power bank in your pocket (not the Pocket, but your actual pocket!) because you can’t really attach it to the Pocket or your phone.

DJI Mimo app

To get the most out of the Osmo Pocket you really do need to use the Mimo app and a smartphone. The Mimo app lets you monitor the Pocket’s image in real time as well as control all of its functionality and features. The only downside to using the app is you have to connect your smartphone to the Pocket, which takes away from the compact nature of the product.

Ideally, I think the best solution is to probably get the optional Wireless Module. That way you can connect via Bluetooth and make changes and monitor on your smartphone while maintaining the small footprint that the Pocket has. It’s strange that the Bluetooth wasn’t built into the Pocket, maybe they just ran out of room, or they just want to you spend more money by buying additional accessories.

Frame rates and resolution

Despite being a consumer product for the masses, the Osmo Pocket has quite a few frame rates and resolutions to choose from. If you want to shoot in anything other than 30p or 60p you need to be in the Pro mode and not the Basic mode. Once in the Pro mode you can select 24 (23.976), 25, 30 (29.970), 48 (47.950), 50 or 60 (59.940). Now anyway you look at it, 4K 60p is impressive in a device this size. Even the new Mavic Pro 2 can’t do 4K 60p.

The Pocket can record in .Mov or .MP4. The H.264. Mov codec being used is a variable bitrate YUV 4:2:0 codec that records in an ITU-R BT.709. color space. I did a few tests where I shot the exact same shot (a moving shot to stress the codec) in both HD and UHD at 25p using the Fine and the Superfine setting. I also tested both UHD and HD at 60p (this can only be done in the Fine setting). I wanted to see exactly what bitrates were being recorded in the various modes and resolution.

Here are the results:

HD Superfine 25p – 30.71 MBit/s

HD Fine 25p – 24.85 MBit/s

HD Fine 60p- 67.16 MBit/s

UHD Superfine 25p – 87.75 MBit/s

UHD Fine 25p – 79.88 MBit/s

UHD Fine 60p – 100.23 MBit/s

Now as this is a variable bit rate codec these figures will change depending on the shot you are doing. It was interesting to see that the HD bitrate is still very low, regardless of whether you are shooting in Superfine or Fine. The difference when shooting in Superfine or Fine in UHD is very marginal and I’m not sure you would actually be able to tell the difference between the images.

    DJI likes to spruce that the Osmo Pocket can record at 100 MBit/s but this is only the case if you are shooting in UHD 60p.

Auto and Manual shooting modes

You can choose to shoot in an Auto mode or M (manual) mode. If you use the Auto mode your ISO and Shutter speed are changed automatically. The only thing you can manually adjust is the EV, but even if you do adjust it, the ISO and shutter speed will automatically adjust to compensate.

The Auto mode allows you to just turn the gimbal on, hit record, and capture usable footage in a hurry without having to do anything. Given how quickly the Osmo Pocket turns on, you could literally pull this out of your pocket and capture an event that was unfolding in front of you in seconds.

I found that the Auto mode worked ok in nice even lighting conditions, but it does struggle in high contrast or high dynamic environments. The auto exposure does take a bit of time to adjust (although it does do it quite smoothly).  Just like the exposure, the AFC (Auto focus continual) works ok if you are in nice even lighting situations, but as soon as you try to use it in contrasty conditions it starts to struggle and is very slow at making adjustments.

Manual Video controls

For any professional user of any camera, having manual control over key parameters is a must. While the Osmo Pocket doesn’t give you a ton of manual controls, a lot of the key parameters you would want to change manually can be changed. The Pro mode will also have a Color tab where you can change between normal and D-Cinelike (this wasn’t available on the version of the app I was using).

You have to be in the Pro mode in video settings to take advantage of most of the manual control options that are available on the Osmo Pocket. In the Pro mode, you have the ability to control the following:

White Balance

You can choose from a variety of preset white balances or you can dial in your own Kelvin color temperature. I found that the auto white balance did a pretty good job unless you were in mixed lighting conditions. When using the custom white balance setting I still found that the white balance never quite looked right to my eye. Without being able to do a physical white balance the colors you will get will always be slightly off. Again, in nice even normal lighting conditions it’s fine, but as soon as you get into mixed lighting it does struggle.

Anti-Flicker

This is very useful to have and can help you avoid flicker from fluorescent lights. There is a setting where you can choose to select either 50 or 60Hz, but you can only change this in the Auto shooting mode. In the manual shooting mode, it defaults to whatever frame rate you have chosen to use. It’s strange that you can’t change it in the manual shooting mode as if you want to shoot in say 25p in a country that is 60Hz, you can’t change the anti-flicker to 60Hz, it will be stuck on 50Hz.

Volume Amplification Level

This allows you to adjust the in-built microphone between Auto, Low, Moderate, and Fine.

Noise Reduction

This turns on/off noise reduction.

Overexposed

Overexposed is actually zebras. There is no way of changing this, it simply just shows you zebras on areas that are overexposed.

Histogram

There is a basic histogram you can bring up on the Pocket. This is handy to have as there aren’t any other exposure assist tools available on the Pocket, apart from the EV. You can change the position of the histogram by simple dragging it on the screen.

Focus Mode

There are two focus modes available on the Osmo Pocket, AFC (Auto focus continual), and AFS (Auto focus single). When you use the AFC mode, whatever the yellow box is on is what will be in focus. When the yellow box is thicker it has grabbed focus, when it is thinner it hasn’t locked onto anything yet.

You can lock the focus by holding down the yellow box until a little lock symbol comes up.

I found the AFC to be fairly slow in a lot of cases and it takes quite a long time for the focus to transition from something that is close to something that is far away. It also doesn’t work well in constrasty scenes or low light conditions.

I found the AFS mode to be a lot quicker and more responsive, but it does mean you have to physically touch the screen to select focus.

ISO

In video mode, the ISO can be adjusted from 100 up to 3200.

Shutter Speed

In video mode, the shutter speed can be changed from 1/25 up to 1/8000. The shutter speed can only be shown in degrees and can’t be shown as a shutter angle. The shutter speed always has to be manually adjusted it won’t follow the 180-degree shutter rule. If you select 60p for example, the shutter speed won’t automatically jump to 1/120. The only exception is if you choose the slow-motion shooting mode. In this mode, the slowest shutter speed available is 1/120.

EV

The EV is a nice way of at least being able to know whether your exposure is in the ballpark or not. If you are in the Auto shooting mode there is a brightness slider so you can overide the exposure. But it is important to note that this conversely affects your ISO and shutter speed.

The only manual feature that is missing is aperture control and that’s missing because the camera has a fixed F2.0 lens. It would have been nice if the Osmo Pocket had an adjustable aperture, but it doesn’t. For a stabilized 3-axis gimbal that can capture UHD 3840 x 2160 60p images and costs $349 USD, it’s hard to complain that it doesn’t have an adjustable aperture lens.

Superfine

There are two quality setting modes, Fine and Superfine. When using the Superfine video setting, footage gets recorded at a higher bit-stream.

Superfine can only be used when you select Pro in the video settings. If you are in the Basic video mode then the option for Superfine is greyed out. You cannot use the Superfine setting when you choose frame rates above 30p in either HD or UHD recording.

There is a warning that comes up if you do select Superfine that says, Shooting superfine video may cause the camera to heat up. This is a fairly vague warning that may leave people a little confused. Does it mean that the camera will get really hot and shut down, or does it mean that it will just get a little bit warmer to the touch but everything will still be ok?

From my time testing the camera I did definitely notice that the Osmo Pocket did get a lot hotter when selecting the Superfine setting. It didn’t turn off or come up with any warnings, it simply just got hotter to the touch.

Picture profiles, adjustments, and D-Cinelike

There are no picture profiles available on the Osmo Pocket and no D-Log. There is also no way of changing sharpness, saturation, or contrast. Basically what you see is what you get. It would have been nice to have had the ability to change the image parameters, but at the end of the day this is a consumer product, so it’s not a massive surprise to me that DJI didn’t include any of these features.

The Osmo Pocket will have a D-Cinelike color profile option you can choose, but in the version of the app I was testing, it wasn’t yet available. According to DJI,  D-Cinelike video will be available for app updates that will be released soon.

  Tracking

Just like on some of the DJI drones, you can track an object or a person by simply drawing a box on the screen. This can only be done on a smartphone using the app.

The tracking function is available in almost all the shooting modes (including slo-mo), but not when doing 4K 50/60p.

I found the tracking to be a little hit and miss. Sometimes it worked fairly well and other times it didn’t. It also seems to have a bit of a slight delay where it is always trying to catch up with the subject you are tracking.

How do you get into underslung or briefcase mode?

DJI recommends two methods for doing this:

Method 1: Lock the gimbal, hold the Osmo Pocket handle, tilt the camera until the camera faces straight ahead, and the Osmo Pocket will enter Flashlight mode automatically. Hold the Osmo Pocket upright to exit Flashlight mode.

Method 2: In Follow mode, hold the Osmo Pocket handle, tilt the camera until it faces straight ahead, swipe up on the screen, and click Recenter to enter Flashlight mode. Hold the Osmo Pocket upright, and click Recenter again to exit Flashlight mode.

Slow motion

If you select to shoot in the Slow Motion mode it does this with quite a substantial sensor crop.

It also seems to default to 1080 30p and there is no way you can change the frame rate to anything else. This is bizarre, to say the least. The Pocket also doesn’t tell you anywhere what the actual frame rate is. All you get is a little icon that says 1080 4x. The video that is captured is 120fps in a 30p file. This means it is already slowed down and you don’t need to conform it later on. The max bitrate when recording in slow motion is around 25 MBit/s.

As far as the image quality goes in slow motion, it’s actually ok, but it’s not nearly as good as the normal modes. The low bit rate and compression certainly don’t help and there are quite a lot of image artifacts and noise present in the image. In nice shooting conditions the slow motion can look decent, but if you try and use it in tricky lighting conditions you will quickly see its limitations.

UPDATE: Apparently there have been reports that this feature is going to be removed from the shipping units. I contacted DJI directly and found out that it won’t be in the shipping version, and neither will Story Mode.  Both Slow Motion and Story Mode will, however, be available at some stage, but that availability is not yet known. 

Image quality

The actual video quality really depends on what you are doing with the Osmo pocket. It’s fairly decent in controlled conditions, but it struggles in certain shooting scenarios.

What separates the big boys from the little boys is how a camera handles mixed lighting conditions, high dynamic range scenes, and shooting scenarios that aren’t perfect. Any camera can look good in nice even light or controlled conditions and its hard to pick a cheap camera from an expensive one. Where cheaper cameras fall over is in difficult conditions that aren’t controlled or when you using them in mixed lighting.

This is exactly the case with the Osmo Pocket. The footage looks pretty good in nice even light, and scenes without a lot of dynamic range. As soon as you try and use the camera in mixed lighting, high dynamic range scenes, or where there is a strong light source, it tends to fall over. That’s not to say the image becomes unusable, but you do need to know this camera’s limitations.

With no picture profiles (although D-Cinelike is coming), you really do need to shoot in a way that is going to very close to how you want your final image to look. As I mentioned earlier it’s a 4:2:0 code that has a fairly low bitrate unless you are shooting in UHD 60p. You can’t go pushing it or trying to correct issues in your edit. There is also no way of adjusting sharpness, contrast or saturation so the images you get do look overly sharp in a lot of situations.

Now I did purposely try and push the Osmo Pocket by shooting in very difficult lighting conditions to see how it held up. There is no point in reviewing any type of camera if you are just going to go and shoot some shots in nice even lighting conditions. You really need to see how a camera performs in the real world. Some of the conditions I shot in would have been a challenge for even the most capable of cameras.

You can still get nice results, but again, and I’m going to keep stressing this throughout the review, you need to know its limitations. In saying all of this, I was fairly happy with quite a lot of the shots I got.

In my opinion, the footage you can obtain from the Osmo Pocket is very similar to that of the original Mavic Pro at most frame rates. It has a similar look and feel to it, but overall it’s a little bit sharper and has slightly less issues due to compression. That’s not to say the Pocket still doesn’t suffer from compression issues because it certainly does in some shooting scenarios. I don’t think this is a camera that is available on any of DJI’s drones, I have a feeling it is a brand new camera. There is a good chance this may be the same camera that ends up on something like the Mavic Air 2.

  The camera also has that quite nasty and not very pleasing flare that is reminiscent of what you will get from most fixed camera DJI drones.

Any light that is shining straight down the barrel of the lens tends to cause a magenta tinge to your images. This is not something that can be easily corrected later on.

It’s no coincidence that the best looking images are when you record in UHD in 60p. I did do some tests in HD, but with the low bitrate I found the images looked quite soft comapred to when you shoot in UHD.

Dynamic range

The Osmo Pocket’s dynamic range is not great. Above you can see the lack of information in the mids and shadows if you try and protect the highlights. The way DJI are processing the image seems to elude to the fact that they want to crush the mids and shadows to reduce noise.

Above you can see that even though the highlights are clipping, there isn’t much detail being preserved in the shadows or mids.

Above is an extreme example, but if you try and expose for your mids in a high dynamic range scene the highlights become massively blown out and the overall image falls apart.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test the D-Cinelike color profile. Whether you could obtain better results using D-Cinelike given the fact that it’s a relatively low bitrate 4:2:2 8-bit codec that is being recorded, I’m not so sure.

In pointing out all of these limitations, you do need to keep in mind that this is a $349 USD camera/gimbal that can capture 4K 60p that fits in your pocket. I’m willing to give the Osmo Pocket a hall pass when it comes to image quality because, in all honesty, I was never expecting it to be any better than it actually is.

How does the image compare to an iPhone?

As far as an image comparison goes I wanted to see how the Osmo Pocket compared to an iPhone, in this case, an iPhone 7+. Now you may why be asking, why is he comparing this to an iPhone? Well, everyone is carrying around smartphones these days and they are quite capable of capturing pretty good results in the right conditions. The Osmo Pocket is no different. Both the iPhone and the Osmo Pocket use small sensors so I think it is a fair comparison.

I did a couple of short tests with both the Osmo Pocket and the iPhone 7+ recording UHD 30p in their auto modes. I wanted to see how the overall image quality compared, as well as to see how they both dealt with noise and mixed lighting conditions. Both cameras looked quite different in their auto settings. The iPhone image is a little cooler and the black levels are slightly raised. The iPhone also has quite a desaturated image compared to the Osmo Pocket, but the image from the Pocket is far sharper and more detailed than that of the iPhone.

As far as noise goes, they are fairly similar, but I found that the iPhone seemed to be cleaner when used in dark environments. The iPhones cleaner image does come at the expense of sharpness and detail. The Osmo Pocket’s image is sharper and more detailed.

The iPhone (at least when the auto settings are used) seems to handle mixed lighting conditions a lot better than the Osmo Pocket. The iPhone image looks more natural, while the Osmo Pocket seems to take on quite strong color casts. In saying that, this could come down to the auto white balancing functionality of both cameras.

As far as highlight handling goes, again they were very similar. In the auto settings, the iPhone 7+ does seem to capture a lot more information in the mids and shadows, whereas the Osmo Pocket seems to crush them down quite a lot.

The ISO and shutter speed shift in Auto mode is quite a bit slower on the Osmo Pocket than it is on the iPhone.

You really do need ND

The optional ND filters that will be available for the Pocket are in my opinion, an absolute must. Even at 100 ISO on normal sunny days, you will have to run upwards of 1/400th shutter to maintain correct exposure. Running such high shutter speeds does give the images a very almost overly sharpened look.

Low light performance

The Osmo Pocket isn’t a low light powerhouse. If you have ever used a DJI Phantom, Mavic or Spark you will be well aware that you can’t really push the ISO very much. The Osmo Pocket performs well at 100 and 200 ISO, 400 is ok, 800 and beyond start to get quite noisy. At 1600 and especially 3200 you start to see very blocky fixed pattern noise. I would be happy using it up to 800, and in a pinch, I would use 1600 or 300 if I had absolutely no other options.

There is a Noise Reduction mode you can activate, but in all honesty, I couldn’t really tell much of a difference with it turned on or off at higher ISOs.

I tested the camera’s low light performance in HD as well as UHD. In HD there is significantly less noise than when shooting in UHD, particularly at higher ISOs. Above you can see a 200% crop in at 800 ISO on both the UHD and HD images. The HD images have far less fixed pattern noise and are generally cleaner at any ISO levels above 400. If you shoot in UHD and then edit in 1080, the noise becomes slightly less noticeable.

Usability

This is probably the cameras biggest selling point. Its tiny size and weight mean it can be literally kept in your pocket and you can just pull it out and use it at any time. The convenience factor of this alone makes the Osmo Pocket worth getting.

The usability of the Pocket if you don’t want to connect it to your smartphone and use the app is quite limiting. You really do need to use a smartphone and the app to get the best results out of the Pocket.

The app is simple and easy to use and being able to hook up a large, bright screen to it certainly helps with composition, framing, and getting proper exposure and focus. This is something that can’t easily be done with just the Pocket alone.

The only problem with using a smartphone is that all of the weight is being supported by the lightning or USB-C connector. This means that quite often both devices (your phone and the pocket) are wiggling around slightly. This causes your gimbal shots to not be as smooth as they could be. You really do need to hold both the Pocket and your phone at the same time. I can see a lot of people breaking the lightning or USB-C connector on the Pocket.

If you place the Osmo Pocket down on a flat surface with the phone attached, it is going to lean to the left. While this isn’t a big problem, you should be aware of it.

I actually found that by placing the included USB-C connector under the left hand of the phone, put everything back up to the right height.

Gimbal performance

I’m not going to sugar coat it, I didn’t find the gimbal performance of the Osmo Pocket to be that amazing. It’s not nearly on the same level as say a one-handed gimbal from Zhiyun or DJI’s own Ronin -S. When using the Osmo Pocket the gimbal performance just never seems smooth or refined. The Pocket’s gimbal was probably originally designed for drone use and not for use on the ground.

While it does to an adequate job for following subjects I found it was a little shaky if you start trying to move around too much. A lot of this could be related to having a smartphone attached to Pocket that is causing the balance to get thrown off ever so slightly. To check I did some tests with using the Pocket with a smartphone attached and without. I didn’t find any noticeable difference in the gimbals performance.

As the gimbal is based on drone technology, it’s no real surprise that the Pocket performs well at high speeds. I found the smoothest shots I was able to obtain actually came when I was riding a pushbike.

Audio

The Osmo Pocket does have a built-in microphone, actually two built-in microphones. DJI says that the microphones adopt a noise-reduction algorithm, greatly improving the Osmo Pocket’s recording quality. The quality is ok,  but it is not great, it’s also quite susceptible to wind noise. You wouldn’t want to rely on the internal microphones in the Pocket for any kind of quality audio capture. It’s best to think of it as a scratch mic.

What you do need to be aware of is that no audio meters get displayed on the Pocket’s touchscreen, and you can’t see any audio meters on the Mimo app until you hit the record button. You can’t physically set any audio levels, all you can do is choose either Auto, Low, Moderate, and Fine. These sort of act as audio level controls, but I think it would be far easier to have just had an option for Auto as well as the ability to manually set a level.

There is also no headphone jack so you can’t monitor the audio in any way. When you play back clips using the Mimo app you can listen to the audio.

You will be able to attach an external microphone to the Pocket, but that can only be done by purchasing the optional DJI Osmo Pocket 3.5mm Adapter.

Timelapse

The timelapse options on the Osmo Pocket are actually pretty good and you can manually set the recording interval (from 3-60 seconds), the length of the timelapse you want, as well as your ISO and shutter speed.

The only problem I found, is just like the Slow Motion recording, the file only gets recorded in HD in 30p. You can’t do a UHD timelapse and you can’t select any other frame rates.

Playback

You can see and play back all of your video clips and photographs on the Osmo Pocket. You can see key information, export the clips straight from your phone, or trash anything you don’t want to keep.

Accessories

I can never quite work out why DJI releases a product and then you have to wait for ages for the accessories to become available. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have all of them available at launch?

Here is the entire line of accessories will be available.

Accessory Mount- The accessory mount makes Osmo Pocket compatible with action camera accessories so you’re able to capture your adventure footage, such as when mounted on a helmet, backpack or your wrist.

Wireless Module– The wireless module supports Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth transmission between Osmo Pocket and your smartphone, providing remote access to the camera feed and control of Osmo Pocket; perfect for setting up a Timelapse or Motionlapse on a busy city street.

Controller Wheel– The wheel allows you to precisely control gimbal movement (left-right or up-down) enabling you to easily adjust the composition of your shot. Re-center the gimbal or switch to selfie mode easily with dedicated buttons on the handle.

Expansion Kit– The expansion kit includes the Accessory Mount, Wireless Module and Controller Wheel.

ND Filters Set- Specifically designed for Osmo Pocket, ND filters attach to the front of the camera to reduce the amount of light entering the sensor. The ND Filter Set offers several levels of filter darkness and allows for more control over the camera’s aperture, exposure time, and sensor sensitivity settings.

Waterproof Case- Bring a unique underwater perspective to your footage using the Waterproof Case which can be placed at a depth of 60 meters.

Extension Rod– The Extension Rod attaches to the Lightning or USB-C port and provides 31 inches of reach to Osmo Pocket, opening a world of new creative angles that are normally difficult or impossible to get. A gimbal control joystick and camera button on the handle were designed for remote control when using the Extension Rod and a tripod was added to the bottom for expanded use cases

Charging Case– This dual-purpose case not only protects Osmo Pocket while in transit but charges it as well. Dedicated sections were added into the case for your MicroSD card and ND filters so you can quickly grab your Osmo Pocket and know you’re ready to capture those moments and adventures.

3.5mm Adapter– The 3.5mm Adapter allows you to connect an external microphone if you prefer to capture audio using a separate device.

Competition

I know the Osmo Pocket is bound to get compared to the GoPro HERO7, but in all honesty, I feel like they are two completely different tools, despite their similarities. The HERO7 has a much wider field of view (6mm min – 33mm max) and is a lot more robust for use in action sports and mounting on cars etc.

I actually think the Osmo Pocket’s main competition is from smartphones. With the video and still recording capabilities continually improving on smartphones, you can get some pretty decent results in the right conditions. Just about everyone has a smartphone and it’s something that we almost always have with us. Despite the Pocket’s portability, you will have to convince potential buyers that it’s worth carrying around another device that offers similar image quality.

Hopefully, there is an Osmo Pocket Pro in the works

A lot of professional shooters would be fairly happy if DJI released an Osmo Pocket Pro that utilizes the same camera that is on the Mavic Pro 2. If it had a larger 1″ sensor, H.265 recording and 10-bit, even if it had to be physically bigger, I think it would tick a lot of boxes for people looking for a small, compact and more professonal solution.

Is it too expensive?

$349 USD doesn’t sound like a lot of money, heck most of the media cards I own cost more than this, but for a consumer market, it might be a little on the pricey side. I’m surprised DJI didn’t actually make something with slightly less functionality and market it for $199 USD.

I personally think the price is ok given what it can do and its feature set.

Conclusion

Despite some of its limitations, I really like the Osmo Pocket. It’s just a really cool product that is bound to find its way under a lot of xmas trees this year. Even though it costs $349 USD (which is expensive for a consumer product like this), I still think it will sell in droves. Just look at how many people have bought drones.

No, it doesn’t have any picture profiles, it can’t shoot in Log, it’s not particularly great in mixed light, it doesn’t handle highlights particularly well, and the gimbal performance could be better, but you know what, none of that matters. The size, convenience factor, and capabilities of the Osmo Pocket make you forget about what it can’t do, and remind you what it can do.

The Osmo Pocket is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none. It’s a capable device that I think a lot of shooters will buy just to keep in their kit. I like to think of it as a nice emergency camera that I can keep in my pocket or a bag and pull out in situations where I need to shoot something that isn’t possible with another camera.

[therealestatesparkblog]

Are Condos Profitable as Investment Properties? Let's Look at the Numbers.

The short answer is probably not, but maybe you know, it kind of depends. There certainly can be times when it makes sense to buy a condo or co-op.* For example, we recentlybought a package of 17, which was a very good deal. But there are a lot of things that you need to be careful about when investing in condos or co-ops. Well start with flipping. Flipping a Condo The biggest concern I would have with flipping a condo regards the market you live in. If you are in a dense, urban area like Manhattan or San Francisco, then there isnt much of a problem with flipping a condo. But in some more sprawled out areas, condos tend to be less liquid. In other words, they can be harder to sell. For example, here are days on market (DOM) for active listings in Kansas City, MO: Houses DOM Condos DOM

As you can see, in August of 2018, the average actively listed house had been on the market for 23 days and averaged about 30 or so days since the beginning of 2016. On the other hand, active condos had been on the market for 50 days and had averaged about 70 days since January of 2016. This is more than twice as long! Nationwide, according to the National Association of Realtors, condos and co-ops have a slightly longer number of months of inventory than houses (4.5 to 4.3), and that has been slightly higher for the last few years. (Months of inventory denotes how many months it would take for all the currently listed properties to sell given the number of sales there were that month.) While that discrepancy is much smaller than Kansas City, it must again be stressed that this depends on the market you are in. In a densely-populated city with a large number of condos, there shouldnt be much of a problem with liquidity. But in a city that is more spread out (like Kansas City), it can present a bit of a challenge. The reason for this is rather simple: Most people looking to buy a home are looking to buy a house. A survey from Zillow, for example, showed that 83 percent of those surveyed preferred to buy a single-family home. Part of this is because some condos dont allow pets, and Americans love their pets. In addition, Americans love barbecues. (Although the lack of lawn maintenance that condos provide is nice.) Related: How We Purchased Our Easiest (& Weirdest) Deal Yet: A Package of 17 Condos The other problem with flipping condos is related to the first; the HOA (Homeowners Association) fee. Each condo or co-op has an HOA, and each HOA charges a monthly fee. While these HOAs do provide some services (to be discussed below), what they mean for the flipper is primarily that your holding costs will be higher. Each month you fail to sell that condo is another month you rack up HOA fees. These may be relatively minor on a more expensive flip, but they may eat into your precious profit margins on a cheaper one. Again, I am by no means saying that flipping a condo doesnt work. You just need to know what kind of market you are in and build in a bigger margin for higher holding costs. Holding a Condo Far and away, the biggest problem with holding a condo or co-op is the HOA fee. Now, HOAs do valuable things, so they are by no means useless. They will usually do all exterior maintenance and repairs, as well as pool maintenance if there is a pool. They will almost always pay for trash removal as well. HOAs provide insurance on the exterior of the building (you will need insurance on the interior of your unit of course). Sometimes, they provide maintenance and replacement of the HVAC and electrical systems. Sometimes they pay for water and sewer. Sometimes they pay for a doorman. It all depends on the HOA in question. But these services are usually things you could have done cheaper or dont need in the first place. Most of the time, Ive found that the HOA eats up any profit margin I was hoping to have when analyzing a condo. For example, heres a condo with a $300/month HOA and a market rent of $895 (something Ive seen quite a bit in Kansas City):

OK, so you make $270/month, which isnt bad. But what if you want to finance this condo? A condo with these types of numbers could go for around $100,000 in many parts of Kansas City. So, if you got a 75% loan at 5% interest with a 30-year amortization (which is very hard to get on a condo bought as an investment in the Midwest), the monthly payment would be $402.62 ($4,831.44 annually). In other words, you would be losing about $132/month or just shy of $1,600/year. But if these numbers were for a house and you could get rid of that pesky $250/month HOA, all of a sudden you would be making $118/month. (Of course, your maintenance and recurring CapEx would go up some, so it would be more like $50-75/month). That being said, weve found condos that work, but even the ones that work are tighter on the cash flow. In Kansas City at least, condos that make sense as investments almost always have an HOA of $200/month or less. (This is for condos whose prices range from $50,000-150,000.) The Bylaws Another thing you have to be very careful about is the bylaws. Always request a copy while doing your due diligence and review them carefully. We had one condo we almost had to back out of (or flip) because the bylaws said we couldnt rent the unit until we had owned it for three years. Luckily, the HOA had relaxed that rule. In one of my less brilliant moments (of which, admittedly, there have been a few), I got a condo in Overland Park under contract. We requested the HOA bylaws, but never received them, and then I just forgot about it. Once we started to try and rent the unit, though, we realized that condo owners in this complex were prohibited from renting out their units. So we decided to sell. This wasnt the end of the world because we had equity, right? Well, unfortunately we ran into the problem noted above, and it took a good long while to get the unit under contract. Then, the buyer had to lower their offer because of something to do with the loan they were getting (long story), and I decided to accept it because that HOA fee just kept eating away at our equity. In the end, our profit came to $2,498. Not a disaster by any means. But also not the typical real estate success story youll hear from whatever guru on a late night infomercial. Related: The Ultimate Guide to Investing in Condos and Townhomes Regardless, though, you need to carefully read these bylaws and make sure they dont contain anything objectionable. In some areas (particularly those expensive, dense cities that are usually the best place to buy condos and co-ops), the bylaws give the HOA a lot of power over who an owner can rent or even sell to. Indeed, these boards can reject leases. Ive even heard of them rejecting refinances! But there are other questions you need answered as well. Are pets allowed? What does the HOA pay for? Do you have a parking spot attached to your unit? Etc., etc., etc.

Management Quality and Special Assessments One of the other things I really dont like about owning a condo is that I become dependent on the HOA to make sure the complex doesnt go to the birds. In fact, we backed out of one condo recently because the HOA was out of money, the complex needed serious repairs, and there appeared to be a high level of vacancy. As the owner of only one out of many condos, you just wont have the power to turn such a complex around. And if it starts to fall apart, theres not much you can do but cut your losses and sell (unless, of course, you want to run for HOA president and spend your precious time squabbling with the rest of the board and other angry condo-owners). In this same vein, you have to keep in mind the specter of the special assessment. If the HOA needs to do a large repair and doesnt have the money in the bank, it will have to issue a special assessment to all of the condo owners. This is just an additional fee that is over-and-above the normal HOA fee. In some instances, they can be quite high. Therefore, if you are looking to buy a condo, ask to see the HOAs financials to make sure they have some money in reserve. And take a look at the building as well. Ask yourself (and the HOA manager) if there are any major repairs the complex will soon need and if a special assessment may be coming down the line. Conclusion In summary, condos and co-ops usually make for difficult investments. But they are by no means impossible. A small percentage of our portfolio is made up of condos, and Ive seen plenty of people successfully flip them. Indeed, if you consider a $2,498 profit to be a successful flip, then I have one of those under my belt as well! Typically, condos and co-ops make more sense to pursue as a flip than as a hold and also make more sense in densely-packed cities. But they can be a good investment anywhere. I would just be very careful with them and probably avoid them as a beginner. *The difference between a condo and a co-op is that with a condo, you own your unit and a percentage of the common elements. In a co-op, you are a shareholder who owns a percentage of the entity (typically a corporation) that owns the complex. Condos are generally a bit more desirable and usually sell for more than co-ops.

Would you invest in condos? Why or why not? Comment below! https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/are-condos-good-investments