#but those sorts of 'noone quite makes what i wanna see. i wanna draw it.' moods ALWAYS JUST FUCKING GO AWAY ONCE I GET MORE ENERGY IN ME TO

[shame-kink]

brain. please.

[colbybrocksmolder]

Arizona – Colby Brock x Reader PART 1/3

“Y/n!” Mike yelled into the car’s speaker. His phone was connected via Bluetooth.

“Hey, hey, hey, little brother. You guys actually make it out of LA before noon?” you asked, putting your phone on speaker. You were currently putting away all of the groceries you had purchased for Mike and his friends.

“We’re actually pulling into phoenix right now.” He answered, the rest of the boys in the car cheering. “With traffic, we’re right under an hour away.”

“Wow, and everyone sounds awake.” You laughed. “Are you guys coming straight here or are you going out? If you want, I can have some bomb ass Mexican food waiting for you.”

“Don’t make me drool in the rental.” Aryia said.

“We’ll head straight there.” Mike answered. “Just make sure to make some super white boy shit for Colby. He can’t handle spice.”

“Hey! My momma taught me better than that.” Colby reached forward to smack Mike. “I’ll eat whatever you want to cook for us.” He assured you.

“Oooo the new kid sounds like he has some country manners.” You laughed. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I won’t make all of it spicy.”

“Thank you.” Colby said, Aryia poking and teasing him for his blushy cheeks.

“We’ll see you soon.” Mike said, hanging up the phone.

A few years ago, you’d bought a huge house just outside the city and for the most part, you lived alone. More often than not, someone was crashing at your house, though. It’s how you liked it. Whether it was your friends, family, or your family’s friends…you liked having a place for the people you cared about to escape to. Mike made this trip a few times a year. Sometimes he’d come alone and sometimes he brought a few friends. The last few times he had dragged Kevin and Aryia along, but for the first time in a while he was bringing a new friend.

You heard the car horn in the driveway when Mike and his friends pulled up. You pulled the plates out and got everything set up for them to eat. When the door opened you ran to hug your little brother. “Put me down!” you laughed, Mike letting your feet dangle for a few more seconds.

“I don’t wanna. I missed you.” Mike pouted.

“It smells like heaven in here.” Kevin said, pulling you in for a hug when Mike finally let you go.

“Foods ready.” You said, moving to hug Aryia. “There’s even beer in the fridge.”

“You always spoil us.” Aryia said.

“And you must be Colby.” You said, moving to pull him into a hug.

“I am. It’s very nice to meet you.” Colby said, hugging you back. “And it does smell delicious in here.”

“Same to you! And thanks. Living out here, you get spoiled with good Mexican food.” You laughed, leading the boys back to the kitchen.

“I’m from Kansas.” Colby laughed. “I don’t even know what to look for in authentic Mexican food.”

“So you ARE a country boy.” You said, grabbing Coronas for everyone while they made their plates.

“Guilty as charged.” He chuckled.

“Mike, don’t put that on his plate.” You scolded him. He had put spicy serrano sauce on Colby’s food. “The last time YOU ate that, you cried and jumped in the pool.”

“Oh shit, I forgot about that.” Kevin busted out laughing. “I think I actually have that recorded on my old phone.”

You grabbed Colby’s plate and set it down on the counter, making him a new one with food you knew he’d enjoy. Colby laughed. “I need to see that video.”

“Here.” You handed him the new plate. “Nothing on there should be THAT spicy.”

“Thank you.” He smiled at you, grabbing a beer and heading to the living room where everyone else was sat eating.

After getting everyone settled in their rooms, the guys decided to go out and hit a few clubs. They spent the next two days doing pretty much the same thing. Hanging out at the house, drinking, relaxing, hitting up some clubs and bringing whoever they met back with them. On the third night they showed back up at the house at around 1 am. There were a handful of girls and a few of Mike’s local friends with them. Like usual, you were giving them their space. The boys had tried to drag you into their parties in the past, but you rarely joined them. You had another building in your back yard that you’d turned into an art space. You had all sorts of supplies. You could make jewelry. You could paint or draw. There was even a computer set up. Just your little escape.

You’d left the door and the windows open, letting the night’s breeze blow through. “Whoa” you heard from behind you.

“Hey!” you greeted Colby, turning back to work on the necklace you were making for Mike.

“This place is rad.” He said, walking around and looking at all of the obscure finished pieces and supplies. He had a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand.

“I’m glad you like it.” You laughed. “Why aren’t you in there relaxing on your vacation?” you asked, tying the final knot in the necklace.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you.” He stumbled towards the door.

“Colby.” You called, smiling over at the tipsy boy. “You aren’t a bother. Come sit.”

He hesitated at the door for a second. “You sure?”

“You’ll learn pretty quickly that I say what I mean.” You stood to hang the newly finished necklace up on a peg and sat back down. “Give me some of that.” You pointed towards the bottle.

Colby nodded, sitting down on the bench next to you and handing you the bottle. “Whiskey?”

“It’s my favorite.” You smiled, taking a decent swig from the bottle and handing it back. “Now are you going to answer my question?”

Colby just sighed.

“Here.” You started sorting through crystal pendants in a small box. “What is your favorite color?”

“hmmm.” Colby took another drink from the bottle. “Blue. And black.”

You grabbed a grey quartz pendant and strung it on a black suede cord. “This blue or this blue?” you asked, grabbing another container of stone beads.

“This kind.” He picked a light smoky blue.

“Perfect.” You said, starting to construct him a necklace of his own. “Now talk. What’s on your mind, country boy.”

He watched you work for a minute, trying to gather his thoughts. “I’m just different.” He sighed. “Mike is hands down one of the best friends I’ve made in LA, but all of them…they just.” He couldn’t find the right word.

“They cope differently than you?” you offered, looking into his soft blue eyes.

“That’s a good way of putting it.” He nodded, setting the bottle down.

You took another swig of whiskey, picking a few black beads to accent the stone ones he had chosen. “I’ve heard you’re quite the party boy yourself, though.”

“Can be.” He nodded, agreeing. “Sometimes it’s better than being alone. Sometimes it’s worse.”

“I feel that.” You agreed.

“They all came down here to hook up with girls and get blackout drunk.” Colby said, looking through a little box of things you had recently made.

“I saw you with that redhead last night. You seemed pretty interested in hooking up with girls and getting blackout drunk too.” You teased.

Colby blushed. “I uh…I didn’t sleep with her.”

“Colby, I wasn’t judging you.” You nudged him with your shoulder. “I was just teasing you.”

“She kind of invited herself to come back with us.” He said, turning to watch you work on his necklace.

“Well, we’re right next to a college town. There’s some wild kids living around here.” You held up two different beads to have him pick.

“I like those ones.” He pointed towards little black stones. “Don’t get me wrong, I do plenty of ‘socializing’” he laughed, using air quotes. “I just usually vibe with the person I’m taking to my bed. I haven’t really felt that with anyone in a while.”

“Well, I live alone for a reason.” You said. “I like people, I like company…Hell you guys are welcome here literally any time you want to come…but I feel you. I haven’t found anyone worth keeping around in a long time.”

“Mike said I’m jaded.” Colby laughed, taking another swig from the bottle.

“Mike just wants to cheer you up.” You smiled over at him. “He doesn’t like when people aren’t having as much fun as he is.”

“That’s true.” He nodded. “Your brother is a good dude. I’m glad he’s finally getting recognition with his music and stuff. He totally deserves it.”

“Well from what I hear, a big reason that is happening is you.” You said.

“Nah, it’s all him.” Colby shook his head.

“That’s not what he thinks.” You argued. “So, if you didn’t come down to the desert to party, what did you want to do down here?”

“Get the fuck out of LA.” He laughed. “A lot of amazing shit has happened for my friend Sam and I, but so many little shitty things have been just picking away at me.”

“Like?” you encouraged him to continue.

He sighed. “Everyone in LA wants to be your ‘friend’” he used the air quotes again, reaching for the bottle of Jack. “But the problem with that is you end up having more acquaintances than friends and if you let one of them in you take the risk of them completely fucking you over.”

“I could see that.” You agreed.

“Some people that I would have just sworn on anything that they’d be good people proved me wrong in the worst possible ways.” He sat, watching you work on the necklace. “Like, I had a friend…” he laughed, shaking his head and taking a swig from the bottle. “I shouldn’t use the word friend. I had someone spend two whole years telling me they appreciated me and that I was one of the only people in LA not to fuck them over…and the second they got a girlfriend they just switched. They started telling people things that I had told them in confidence. Shit that he knew I didn’t trust anyone with. His girl went and started talking shit about our whole friend group. Causing drama and treating fans poorly. And because we have a lot of the same fans, I can’t just call him out, you know? I can’t make a rant video telling people what a backstabber he is because then I look like the shitty person. I don’t even WANT to be the kind of person that throws him under the bus, I just wish he didn’t end up being a dick.” Colby sighed, letting his head fall back. “I just…I rarely get what I give. And it gets fucking old.”

“I can see why you and my brother get along so well.” You said, grabbing the bottle and taking a swig. “We’ve both been there. I think it’s just a little stickier for you because you have so many people watching you. If I want to tell someone to fuck off, I don’t have to worry that it’s going to be recorded or turned into a drama series on someone else’s channel.” You laughed. “And that isn’t really fair.”

“I don’t want to give up on people. It takes a lot for me to cut people out.” Colby said, leaning his head on your shoulder. “My mom keeps telling me not to entertain fools. I wish it was that simple.”

“I can already tell I’d love your mom.” You laughed. “First, that’s great advice and second, she’s raised a great son.” You messed up his hair with one of your hands. “But I agree. Nothing is ever that black and white.”

“Holy shit.” He said, lifting his head and looking down at his finished necklace. “That’s amazing.”

“I’m glad you like it.” You laughed. “Here” you slipped it over his head.

“Wait, this is mine?” he asked, turning the crystal in his hands.

“Duh.” You said, adjusting the length to fit him better. “I think it suits you.”

“Dude, how much do I owe you?” he asked, still in awe that you had just thrown it together.

“You don’t owe me anything.” You said. “Just try to get out of your head and have fun while you’re down here.”

He looked over at you with a soft expression. “Thank you.” He leaned in and gently kissed your cheek.

“No problem.” You smiled. “Let’s go inside.”

“You’re finally going to join the frat boy shenanigans happening in your house?” he gave you a smirk.

“That depends. How’s your beer pong game?” you laughed.

“I already spanked your brother and Aryia like 4 times.” He bragged, grabbing the bottle and standing up.

“Then I vote we aim for a 5th. Maybe even a 6th.” You stood, turning off the studio lights and heading inside.

“Y/N!” Aryia cheered, stumbling into Mike.

“You guys really aimed for ‘white girl wasted’ this trip, didn’t you?” you laughed, reaching for a Corona and sitting on the counter next to Aryia.

Mike walked up to Colby. “I wondered where you disappeared to.” He said, playing with the necklace that hung against Colby’s chest.

Colby blushed. “Is that a problem?” he shyly asked.

Mike shook his head. “I’m keeping an eye on you, though.” He laughed, walking back over to Kevin and a group of girls.

Aryia was telling you some wild story about a girl that tried to get naked in their Uber earlier when you turned and saw a girl hanging all over Colby. When she went to touch his necklace, he snatched it into his hand first. “I’ll be back.” He said to her, hurrying away and walking towards you and Aryia.

“You looked scared of that tiny drunk college girl.” You laughed, watching him take another swig of Jack and hop up on the counter next to you.

“She said she always wanted to sleep with a youtuber and then asked to wear this.” He adjusted the pendant to lay back against his chest.

“Oooo, big party fail. She’s probably too drunk to realize how trashy that sounded.” You laughed.

“Nope.” Aryia laughed. “She said the same thing to Kevin earlier and she was completely sober.”

The three of you started laughing, beer dribbling out your nose as you had just taken a drink. You started fanning your face, laughing even harder. “Paper towel!” you yelled.

Colby reached behind him grabbing the roll. “Here.” He laughed, ripping a few paper towels off and handing them to you.

“Thanks.” You tried to clean the beer out of your nose and off of your face.

“Mike!” Colby yelled. “Wanna see if your sister and I can beat you and Aryia at beer pong?” he asked, lifting his hands to challenge them.

“No fair! She hasn’t been drinking!” Mike whined.

“She’s had about half of this.” He said, raising the bottle of Jack.

“Wooooow, you trying to get my sister drunk?” Mike teased him, shooting him a fake glare.

You grabbed it out of Colby’s hand and took another swig. “You afraid, baby brother?” you asked, hopping off the counter and handing the bottle back to him.

“You kick my ass every time.” Mike laughed, moving to set up another game of beer pong.

Watching Colby relax and laugh while you absolutely destroyed the other two boys in beer pong made you happy you decided to join the party. “That’s three games in a row.” You teased them, turning to high-five Colby.

He threw his arm around your shoulders, giving Mike and Aryia a smug look. “You guys want to go another round?”

One of the girls that had been watching rolled their eyes. “You should let someone else play.”

“Grab a partner.” You said. “I bet you guys will beat them too.”

“I want to be on Colby’s team!” she quickly replied, trying to squeeze between you two.

“Nah, I’ve already got my partner.” He said, pulling you back from the table with him.

She rolled her eyes again. “I don’t know why you’re hanging all over THAT bitch.” She said under her breath.

“What?” Colby asked, knowing exactly what she had said.

“Colby!” Mike called, shaking his head no. Mike knew you could handle yourself.

“But she just…” he started, stopping when he felt you step away from him.

“Sweetie, listen here.” You said, staring the girl in the eyes with a smile on your face. “First, women being shitty to other women because they’re jealous of them is ugly. It’s not a good look. And honestly, it just lets the skeezy men that find it attractive off easy because they get to pick which disparate girl they want so they can hit it and quit it. You deserve better than the attention you’re attracting.” The girl’s face had gone ghost white. “SECOND, this is my fucking house. Everyone gets two chances. You just lost one. I suggest you grab a beer, find a friend, and have a good time because if your intentions were anything other than having a good time, I can order you an Uber.”

She had dropped her head and was staring at her feet. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled.

“Thank you.” You replied. “Now would you like to help me kick my brother’s ass in beer pong?”

Her eyes shot up to yours. “Really?” she asked with a skeptical look on her face. “You aren’t mad?”

“Oh, honey. You really are new around here.” You laughed, handing her a ping pong ball.

When you had spanked Mike and Aryia in beer pong for the 4th time, you left the girl and Kevin to play the next round. You walked back into the kitchen to grab a cold Corona from the fridge. “That was impressive” you heard behind you.

Colby had hopped back up on the counter, bottle of Jack still in his hand. “Making that sorority girl nearly piss herself or single handedly winning that round of beer pong?” you laughed.

“Well, both.” He chuckled, dropping down to stand in front of you. “But mostly the part where you turned that girl’s night around.” He pointed over at her. She was laughing, trying to chug the cup of beer Mike had just landed a ping pong ball in. Kevin was cheering her on. “She’s been a bitch all night and now look at her.”

You shrugged, taking a sip of the beer you had just opened. “I have my ways.”

“I saw that.” He moved a bit closer to you. “I really want to kiss you.” He said, smiling down at you.

“Yeah?” you asked.

“Yeah.” He stood there, refusing to make the first move.

“Well, you’ve got some choices to make, Kansas. Some things to consider.” You put on a pondering expression. “I live about 5 hours away from you, I’m quite a bit older than you, I’m stubborn, and my brother is currently staring at us.”

Colby tilted his head back and forth like he was considering everything you had said. “Yeah, it’s worth it.” He said, catching you off guard by smashing his lips against yours.

“Cooooooolllllbyyyyyyyyyyyy” Mike growled, trying to squeeze through the crowd that was watching them play beer pong.

“I’d run.” You laughed, pushing him away from you.

“SHIT!” He yelled, running around the kitchen island trying to dodge Mike.

“I told you I’d be watching you.” Mike said, not actually angry. This was more the ‘I’m a protective brother and I’ll beat anyone’s ass who messes with my sister’ formality.

“I know. And I’m probably going to get my ass kicked.” Colby squealed, running into the dining room when Mike lunged over the island. “But it was worth it.”

They were stood on either side of the table. “You sure about that?” Mike asked, moving to run around the table.

“YES!” Colby yelled, running out the back door of the house and around the pool, kicking his shoes off and chucking his phone in the grass knowing he’d eventually end up in the water.

You were laughing your ass off the whole time, Aryia and Kevin following them with you. “Why is Mike chasing Colby?” Aryia asked, not having witnessed it like Mike and Kevin.

“Colby kissed me.” You laughed, watching Mike tackle Colby into the pool.

“WHAT?!” Aryia practically shrieked.

“Mike said you two would hit it off.” Kevin laughed, taking another drink of whatever was in his cup.

“Really?” you gave him a weird look.

“Yup. He told me that before he even invited Colby.” He nodded at you.

“Don’t drown the boy!” you called out, seeing Mike pull Colby back under the water.

“Save me!” Colby laughed, reaching out for you.

Aryia took this opportunity to push you into the pool with the two boys. “Oh, you’re dead when I get out.” You threatened when you surfaced. “Mike!” you yelled, laughing.

Colby swam to hide behind you, his arms circling your waist. Mike was looking back and forth, staring at the both of you. “I don’t know if I like this.”

“Mike.” You laughed, swimming to hug your brother. “There’s not even a ‘this’ not to like.”

“He kissed you!” Mike chuckled.

“And? You’ve banged like 6 girls in my spare bedroom this year alone.” You laughed, kissing his cheek and swimming back to Colby.

“I’ll still kick your ass if you do anything stupid.” Mike pointed at Colby.

“Dude, your sister is way scarier than you are.” He laughed.

“Hey!” you smacked him.

“You may have chosen to be nice to that girl earlier, but you looked like you could have destroyed her.” He laughed, pulling you against him.

“My jeans are making it hard to swim.” You laughed, reaching for the edge of the pool to pull yourself out.

“Don’t leave me!” Colby pulled you back to him. “Oh, shit! I got this wet!” he said, pulling his necklace off.

“It’s fine.” You laughed, grabbing it from him. “It won’t ruin it. Kevin!” you called, handing the necklace to him when he walked to the pool’s edge. “Can you sit this on the table in there.” You pointed towards your art studio. You realized quite a few people had joined you in the pool. “I should go change into my suit.”

“Nah.” Colby smirked, his hands moving to unbutton your jeans.

“Wow, what happened to your country manners.” You laughed, batting his hands away and slipping your sopping wet jeans off.

“Jack Daniels happened.” He laughed, pulling his own shirt off and throwing it on the ground outside the pool.

“I’ll have to thank Mr. Daniels one of these days.” You quipped, pulling your own shirt off to join Colby’s.

Colby pulled you into a much softer kiss than your first one. “Do you come up to LA much?” he asked, as your hands were unbuttoning his own jeans.

“On occasion.” You smiled against his lips. “You’re gonna sink if you don’t ditch the denim.”

“I’m sure.” Colby said sarcastically. “That’s totally why I should take my pants off. It doesn’t have anything to do with you wanting to get me naked. Not at all.”

“What if it does?” you asked with a straight face, seeing Colby glance over at Mike while he stripped out of his black skinny jeans.

“I’d ask you if there was a lock on your bedroom door because I’m pretty sure Mike is going to try to suffocate me in my sleep.” Colby answered, looking back at you with wide eyes.

“He won’t.” you laughed, wrapping your arms around his neck. “And yes, there’s a lock on my door.”

“Mike said he’s coming back down here for a family thing in like a month.” Colby said, trying not to look directly into your eyes.

“You should definitely tag along.” You said, pressing a kiss to his lips.

“Yeah?” he asked, a bit breathless.

“definitely.” You smiled into the kiss.

When the boys were all packed up and getting ready to head back to California, you made sure to pack them a bag of snacks and force a few water bottles into their hands. “Drive safe, please?” you asked, Mike picking you up and spinning you around in another hug.

“We always do.” He answered, kissing your forehead. He looked over at the group of boys standing by the SUV. “You know, I really hope that works out.”

“What works out?” you asked.

“You and Colby.” He smiled. “I had a hunch you two would be good together.”

“Well, thank you for introducing us, then.” You laughed. “And yeah. I hope it works out too.”

“COLBY!” Mike called. “Don’t leave a girl hangin’.”

You shoved him, waiting for Colby to come say bye. “Don’t look so sad, Kansas.” You said, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“But I am sad.” He sighed, resting his forehead against yours.

“You can visit anytime you want.” You said, kissing him. “And I’ll come visit you guys before your next trip down, so it’s only going to be like two weeks before I see you again.”

“Really?!” he said, pulling you into a slightly rougher kiss. “Thank God.”

“Aww, it’s like you’re gonna miss me or something.” You teased, grabbing his hand and walking with him towards the other boys. “Between this one thinking my boring ass is cute” you said lifting your joined hands, “and Aryia barely coming up for air with that Charlotte girl all week…I think you guys are going to have to come down here a bit more often.”

“I agree.” Mike said, tossing the keys in the air and catching them. “Alright. We’ve have to head out.” He said, walking towards the driver side door.

“It’s always good to see you.” Kevin pulled you into a hug.

“You too.” You smiled, kissing his cheek.

“Charlotte lives in a dorm, so I may be crashing on your couch a lot.” Aryia laughed, pulling you into a hug.

“You don’t have to sleep on the couch, dork. There’s like 4 bedrooms you can claim.” You laughed, kissing his cheek as well.

“I’ll call you when we get there safe. Mike said he always forgets to.” Colby said, leaning down to kiss you one last time.

“Thanks.” You smiled up at him, fiddling with the necklace that was back around his neck. “I’ll see you soon, Kansas.” You said, turning to walk towards your front door.

PART 2

[chain-unchained]

October 3

The sound of a gong rang out over the din of the Fair, as Alex smashed the strength tester yet again; with a grin, he held out his hand to the game operator, who forked over his winnings for ringing the bell. To his dismay, Haley—who he thought had been watching—had long since lost interest and was currently over at the fishing tent with Pam. His disappointment was all but forgotten as Gus walked by, carrying a platter of burger patties waiting to be cooked up for, of course, the all you can eat buffet.

Yes, it was that most wonderful time of year again: the Stardew Valley Fair. Countless visitors from far and wide traveled to Pelican Town, which seemingly overnight had transformed into a grand county fairgrounds. Game booths were set up throughout the town center, offering star tokens as prizes for winning, while a little kiddie coaster had been put up smack dab in the center. Up to the north was the buffet, where Gus was now grilling away not just burgers, but hot dogs, barbeque chicken and ribs as well, filling the air with a mouthwatering smell.

“Thank you, Mr. Gus~” Jas was all smiles as she accepted the bag of fresh spun cotton candy from Gus, wasting no time in tearing a piece off and popping it into her mouth. “Thank you Shane~” She added, as her godfather slipped Gus a fiver for giving Jas some extra.

“You’re welcome, squirt.” Shane ruffled her hair with a grin; he had been worried that the lure of the alcohol on offer would be too much for him to ignore, but it wasn’t so hard since he was focusing on Jas. “So, what do you think? Is this year’s fair better than last year’s?”

“Hmm…” Jas gave the question serious contemplation, tearing off another chunk of spun sugar while she mulled it over in her head. “… Yeah, it’s better.” She answered with a sage nod of her head. “I wish that there were other rides besides that dumb kiddie coaster, though.”

“Whaaaat? You love that coaster, though.”

“Not anymore. It’s for little kids, and I’m not a little kid anymore.” Jas paused, still looking thoughtful as she ate another clump of cotton candy. “… Vincent still likes it though. He’s too scared to ride by himself, so I guess I’d be okay with riding it to make him happy.”

Trying not to laugh at how obvious it was that she still enjoyed the ride, Shane ruffled her hair with a grin. “That’s pretty big of you. Might as well enjoy it while you can still fit in the cars.” He checked his wristwatch and saw that it was already nearing noon. “Well kiddo, I better go and switch places with Marnie so she can work on her grange display. You got enough pocket change to get what you wanna get?”  

Jas held up the small purple purse hanging at her side with an affirmative nod of her head. She had been saving and saving all year just for this fair, so she was quite set for the day. Still, that didn’t stop Shane from digging into his wallet and handing her another fiver for good measure.

“You remember the rules, right?” He asked, kneeling down to her level with no small amount of effort. Pelican Town was safe pretty much every day of the year, but the influx of visitors meant that the Fair was perhaps the most dangerous—everyone could still remember the disaster that was known as the ‘Jockstrap Incident’, loathe though they were to recall it.

“Yes, I remember.” There was more than a slight hint of exasperation in Jas’ voice. If there was one thing in the world she didn’t care for, it was being treated like a little kid. “Hurry up and go help Aunt Marnie alreadyyyy.”

She moved behind her godfather and gave him a good push towards the petting zoo to really get her point across, drawing a half-laugh from Shane as he followed the momentum granted to him. For some reason, he got the impression that Jas didn’t want to be babysat very much. ‘Damn, do kids grow up fast these days.’ He thought with a grin, winding his way through the somewhat oblivious crowds to relieve Marnie of her duties at the petting zoo.

 With hands that trembled from the sheer amount of nervous energy flowing through them, Ashe painstakingly placed his selections for his grange display into the bin, silently fretting to himself as to their layout and orientation; to his right, Marnie too was hard at work making her ranch display look its best, with a massive and admittedly impressive cheese wheel as the centerpiece. To her right was Willy, who was piling high the freshest of fresh fish caught at dawn that morning, and to Ashe’s left was Percy, surrounded by an air of confidence while his own was put together. There were other grange displays, too, being set up by various visitors from throughout the valley—all of whom had similarly intimidating offerings.

Up until last night, Ashe had nothing but the utmost confidence in himself; he had been toiling endlessly ever since he’d learned about the competition, secure in his belief that he was going to win. Yet now that he was surrounded by his competition, beholding their entries with his own eyes, that confidence was evaporating faster than ice beneath the blistering summer sun. Compared to Marnie’s animal product focused display, and to Percy’s all encompassing one featuring the very best finds from the mines alongside pristine farm and ranch products, Ashe’s crops, eggs, milk and gems looked like amateur hour.

‘Maybe I tried to do too much…’He found himself thinking, anxiously fussing with the arrangement in the faint hopes that somehow changing the layout would make it seem more impressive. Would he have done better if he’d narrowed his focus to just one or two areas?

He was so caught up in fretting over his chances that he didn’t notice Marnie had finished preparing her display and was now taking a good gander at his. For a first timer, she thought he had done a fantastic job. “Looking pretty good there, kiddo.” She spoke up, making him nearly jump out of his skin from fright. “Nerves getting to you?”

“M-Maybe just a little.” Pressing his hand against his chest, Ashe took a deep breath to calm himself; hearing her voice helped to bring him back down to Earth for the moment. “Thank you. But I’m pretty sure that cheese wheel of yours is going to win.”

They both took a moment to gaze upon the magnificent artisanal creation taking up most of Marnie’s display, and Marnie couldn’t help but grin at the sight of it. “I’m pretty proud of it, if I do say so myself. Those eggs you brought are sure gonna give me and everyone else a run for our money, though.” She gave the young farmer a reassuring smile. Though it had been close to ten years since her first entry into the fair, she could still recall that almost strangling fear that she had felt, and she felt more than a little pity for the kid. A little confidence boost went a long way in situations like that.

Truth be told, he didn’t really believe what she said, but he didn’t want to let it show just how much he was doubting himself at this point. So he pushed a smile onto his face. “Haha, you really think so? If anything, it’s thanks to you and Shane. Honestly…” The smile began to slip away; perhaps because of his anxiety, perhaps it was something else, but… it felt like there was an icy cold tendril winding its way around his heart. “I owe a lot to you guys. All of you. I want to be able to say that I could have made it this far on my own. But that’d be a lie.”

Turning away from Marnie, whose expression had fallen a little at the oddly somber, melancholic words coming from him, he looked to the display that seemed so paltry to him now. Even still, he relied so much on others—to farm, to learn, to just exist. How long… how long would he have to depend on them? When would he be strong enough to stand on his own two feet? “…. I really do owe everything to you, and Shane, and Jas.” He murmured, turning to look at Marnie with another smile. “Thank you for putting up with me for all this time~”

“Kiddo…” Marnie didn’t like the feeling that she got as she listened to him speak. It reminded her far, far too much of the way Shane used to be, the same sort of language, the same undertones of loathing, anxiety, doubt, hopelessness. “C’mon now, you should know by now that there’s nothing to put up with. You’ve been an angel of a neighbor to us. Heck, you’ve been a literal angel for Shane.” She wrapped her arm around Ashe’s shoulders and gave him a friendly squeeze. “Besides, you’re what? 19 years old? You can’t just expect yourself to have everything figured out right out of the gate.”

The sensation of being drawn close brought a measure of comfort to Ashe. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to stop and breathe; the scent of lavender and lilac filled his nostrils, and suddenly he found himself in a clinical white room, heard the beeping of machines, felt his mother’s cold hand in his own as the scent of her perfume overwhelmed him. It was only for the briefest of moments, with the sound of the gong going off as Alex smashed the strength tester again pulling him back into the present. But that moment, to him, felt like an eternity…

“Ashe?” Marnie snapped her fingers in front of his face, more than a little concerned with the way the color had drained from his face; she practically felt him come back to reality, his entire body giving a shudder. “Are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Seeing how concerned she was, Ashe really tried to pull himself together. “I…. Y-Yeah, I’m alright.” He assured with the best, most sincere smile he could muster. He didn’t want to worry her. “Honestly.”

“You sure don’t look alright.” Wholly unconvinced, Marnie gave his shoulders another squeeze. “… Why don’t you go and talk a walk, get away from the crowds for a bit? The competition’s not gonna start for awhile yet.”

“That’s….” Ashe’s voice trailed off; after a few moments’ contemplation, he nodded. “You know what, I think I will actually.” He glanced longingly over to the petting zoo; what he really wanted to do was go over there and play with the cute animals on display, but there were so many people and children crowded around it that there was just no way it was going to happen. Especially not when he was a mess like this.

Marnie smiled and patted him on the shoulder as he headed off down towards the beach. It had been half a year since Ashe moved to the valley, and she had never seen him like that before. As much as she wanted him to open up to her and be able to let out whatever it was he was bottling up, she knew it wouldn’t happen. The only person that he would do that with was Shane. Deciding that this was more important than her display, she squeezed her way in and around the oblivious tourists piling into the town square, gradually making her way to the petting zoo while marvelling at how rude people were these days.

“Hey hey—HEY! The animals have to stay in the pen!” Shane’s voice cut sharply over the din of the crowds as he pried a poor little lamb from the hands of a kid who thought they were free to take. “This isn’t an adoption pen.” Yoba, he didn’t know if this was better or worse than his time working Black Friday back when he was a floor associate at Macy’s in college… At least there wasn’t a Karen demanding to see his manager for daring to tell her little darling to keep his hands off the merchandise.

…Maybe things weren’t so bad, though. Aside from the kid with the sticky fingers, most of the folks were just enjoying the petting zoo, lavishing affections on the baby farm animals. Shane was never fond of children, if he was honest. He didn’t know how to handle them, and deep down there was a part of him that was afraid of somehow breaking them. It was only when Jas came along that he finally got why people had children—to marvel in their achievements, to laugh at the silly things they said, to watch as they learned about the world around them and grew up… So, yeah, maybe he didn’t completely hate kids like he used to anymore. Still wasn’t super keen on them, though.

A finger lightly tapped him on the shoulder, making him realize he’d been completely lost in his thoughts for the past few minutes; turning around, he relaxed a little when he saw Marnie standing behind him. “That didn’t take long. Got the display set up how you want it?”

“Yes, the display’s all set to go.” There was something in Marnie’s tone that worried him. “Ashe could really use your company right now, I think.”

“Did something happen?”

“I have no idea. To be honest….” She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to look back up at her nephew. “Well, to be honest I think you should get your butt down to the beach and talk to him.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m going.” Shane stepped around her briskly, practically pushing his way through the crowds in his haste towards the south. He had no idea what was going on, but that wasn’t going to stop him from finding out.

 The roar and din of the fair quieted to a low hum, nearly drowned out by the ocean waves as they gently lapped against the shore and the cries of the seagulls who soared overhead. It was calm, and peaceful; despite the cold air blowing in off of the ocean, Ashe stood silently at the water’s edge, gazing out at the endless blue. Lost in a world of his own.

He didn’t hear the sound of footsteps behind him. It was only when Shane came to stand beside him that he came back down to earth. “Shane…?” He asked, his voice soft enough to nearly be drowned out  by the waves.

“I’m right here, bud.” Shane tucked his hands into his pockets as he briefly glanced to him. “What’s on your mind?”

For a long minute, Ashe didn’t say a word. “I don’t know.” He simply admitted. “I just… I don’t know. When I was setting up my display, and I saw what everyone else had brought, I…. guess I realized that I’m not some wonder farmer who’s gonna sweep the competition. I talked so much bullshit to Percy about beating him, but everything he put out there looks better than anything I could hope to produce. And not just him. The stuff that Marnie had from your guys’ ranch looked so high quality. Everything on display from everyone looked wonderful.”

There was a long pause. “… What have I been doing all this time?” He whispered. “If I can’t win a stupid competition, what hope do I have to save Grandpa’s farm?”

“Bugaboo.” Shane reached out and took hold of his hand. “It’s just a fair competition. This isn’t some be all end all judgement of your farming skills.”

He knew what Ashe was feeling. Back before they met, that was how he used to drive himself into the ground with anxiety—the constant questioning of his worth, wondering why he was even trying, comparing himself to everyone else around him. He got that feeling. “You’re still a kid. Sure, you don’t act like it most of the time—hell, sometimes I forget that you can’t even rent a car yet—but you’re still young. Everyone overestimates themselves when they’re young. That’s just a part of growing up. You fall, you pick yourself back up, and you move on. Well, you’re supposed to anyway. You and I both know it’s not so easy… you get what I’m trying to say though, right?”

“… Not really.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’m trying to say either.” Shane sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. “… Whatever the outcome of the fair is, there’s always next year. And I know for a fact that next year you’ll crush the competition no matter what.” He looked to Ashe and gave his hand a squeeze. “And besides, they haven’t even judged the displays yet. You’ve still got a shot.”

Ashe managed to smile. “Shane, you haven’t even seen my display. I really don’t think I’m going to win.” He took a breath and looked back out to the ocean stretched out before them. “… But you’re right. It’s just a competition. I went and talked myself into a panic over something that doesn’t even matter again. But at least I know how much farther I have to go to save the farm.”

“Uh huh.” Shane shifted closer and loosely wrapped his arm around Ashe’s waist. “And what about how far you’ve come? I ain’t gonna let you just overlook all that work you’ve put in so far. You have every right to be damn proud of that farm.”

“Hehe…  it does look pretty good these days, doesn’t it?”

“Better than what I could do.” Shane gave him a gentle squeeze. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah… Can we stay here for a little longer? I don’t feel like dealing with the crowds right now.”

He didn’t need to ask. Shane didn’t mind staying at the beach for the time being. They couldn’t stay for much longer, though; the bite of the chilly wind soon drove them back towards the town center, back towards the throngs of people and the noise they brought with them. The crowds had migrated towards the buffet area by then, drawn in by a pie eating competition with a nice fat 5k G first place prize. Thanks to that, the petting zoo was far less crowded; Ashe was able to finally get all those anxieties out by petting the baby animals like he’d wanted to.

 Before long, Lewis announced over megaphone that the grange competition judgements had been made, asking all the contestants to return to their displays so the awards could be handed out. The butterflies made a comeback in Ashe’s stomach at the announcement, but they weren’t as bad this time around.

It came as both a surprise and a letdown when Lewis called his name for third place. There was still a part of him that had been hoping for first place, even though he knew it wasn’t going to happen. And there was a part of him that didn’t think he’d even place at all, so he couldn’t help the tiny bit of pride as Lewis handed him the third place ribbon and congratulated him.

Second place rightfully belonged to Marnie and her awe-inspiring cheese wheel, and she graciously accepted the silver ribbon placed into her hands by the mayor. And no surprise to anyone present, the gold first place ribbon was awarded to Percy, who had never doubted that he come out victorious in the end.

“Well, at least he’s not rubbing it in your face.” Sebastian commented, having made his way over to Ashe with Sam and Abigail as the competition wound down and the displays were being packed up. “Easy to be gracious when you’re the winner, though.”

“Hey, third place is still pretty good though!” Abigail elbowed Ashe with a reassuring grin.

“Yeah, especially considering how long you’ve been doing this whole farming thing.” Sam draped his arm around Ashe’s shoulders and gave him a grin of his own. All three of them had seen their friend disappear onto the beach earlier; they could tell that he was stressing out and wanted to support him the best they could.

To their surprise, Ashe nodded with a smile, turning the bronze ribbon over and over in his hands. “Yup. Percy earned the win, and Marnie deserved second place, so I’m happy with third.” Seeing the way they were all trying to lift his spirits up, he realized how much he must have worried the people that cared about him. He didn’t like knowing that he’d done that to them, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel just a little bit happy that they cared so much. “Congratulations on second, Marnie!” He called, as Marnie pulled the cart carrying her entered goods off.

“Hey, how much for that cheese wheel?!” Sam inquired enthusiastically; he loved cheese more than was healthy, and there was something novel about the thought of owning a cheese wheel that weighed more than his kid brother.

Marnie laughed and stopped to look at the teens. “Not for sale, kiddo!” She rebuked with a grin of her own. “She’s going into the cellar to age for a few years. You’ll have to wait, I’m afraid.”

“What would you even do with a cheese wheel that big?” Sebastian asked his friend as the portly woman resumed walking.

“Brag about it, duh!”

Ashe fell quiet as he and Seb and Abigail all began to debate the ethics of owning that much solid cheese. After several minutes, he slipped away from his display, walking slowly over to where Percy was packing up his. “Congratulations on winning, Percy.” He praised with a slightly forced smile, making the posh farmer pause and look to him in genuine surprise. “You knocked the competition out of the park.”

“… Well, thank you.” It took Percy a few moments to regain his composure. He certainly hadn’t been expecting his rival of all people to come and congratulate him. “I have to admit, yours was quite impressive as well. Not that there was ever any doubt that I’d win,” he resumed packing up his display, “but I wasn’t expecting you to pull something that refined together.”

It was Ashe’s turn to be surprised. He… was talking to the same Percy that lived next door to him, right? Because it didn’t seem like it right now. “… Thank you. Next year, I’m going to win for sure.”

He expected Percy to point out how he’d made that claim this year; to his surprise, Percy just chuckled and smirked to him. “I expect you to give me a run for my money. Victory tastes much sweeter when you’ve worked to earn it.”

It had to be something in the water. Ever since he’d come to this backwater place, Percy had changed. Seeing these hicks and hillbillies live their lives, work and toil for the little they had and be happy for it, really had gotten him to thinking. Not that he’d ever say anything to them, of course; after all, he was there on a job of his own, and in the end, he had to emerge victorious just like he had today. But damn if he didn’t feel a little bad about what was going to happen when he won…

[nctcricus]

do you have any advice for other writers?, how are you and your muse different?, talk about your writing, how are you? 💗💗, what motivates you?, are you a jedi master?, describe love, anything spooky happen this week?, describe yourself in two words

 interview the writer

4. do you have any advice for other writers?

Awe. Well, for those who’d ask me I’d say if you’re feeling very strongly about a certain character, and have parts of the story you’d love to explore, or would even like to,  run like the wind to do it to your creative heart’s content little crumpets. And if you do, do it earnestly and entirely for you. Be gentle with yourself. You’re going to have so many things that irritate you, be that with materials or people that you work with or who read your work. Some of those things may even test you and make you feel like throwing in the towel.  Not everyone is going to love what you’re doing, not even ourselves on occasion or maybe even most of the time , but don’t let those things trump the initial draw you had to it to start. Use every experience constructively if you can, and if it’s something outside of you that’s de-constructive – leave it in the rubble of it’s own shit where it belongs. NOONE dictates your abilities and worth as an artist or an individual and what YOU have to offer the world. Only you can bring your vision and if you have a point of view and idea to something, please don’t keep it from the world, preset it to us because guaranteed, you’re gonna be depriving someone if you don’t.  YOU and why you were drawn right where you are is authentic, it’s important to those who appreciate your craft, share your ideas and love of something, and those like-minded gems you may even strike up forever partnerships with along the way because of it. Those things too in connection are important. Draw in the sunshine where it comes your way– run with it and share it with us through some inspired bit of words when it hits you. And again, because it’s most important, always always be gentle and nurturing with yourself and your talent.  No writer started off a great writer off the bat;

 I’ve been writing for over 10 years now and I’m still shite. : p learning. I’m the worst honestly when it comes to perfectionism, which slows me down. Significantly. But that’s where you’ve got to stick with it. When you feel your writing is shit, still do it. Take notes from other writers you respect in places you feel you can improve and open yourself up to learning in general as you continue to write. Give yourself time, give yourself a break, and most importantly give yourself credit; But never stop. 

7. how are you and your muse different? 

-checks watch- look, we might be here all day – but here’s a few good bits; 

I tend to get more than 2/4 hours of sleep on average. 

 ^ to that note, if we don’t we go all sorts of no good to the rest of the world. Where Reg continues to be on top of things. He’s pretty cranky though so I’d say there remains the trade off. 

While I tend to be pretty serious, I think I’m a little more fun and games too. 

I do not like to fight at all or be aggressive in general. See, I’m a libra moon – so, there you have it. 

We’re both pretty soft but I’m definitely softer. By a landslide I’d say. But I consider that an attribute to anyone. Kindness /gentleness and checking the ego, I feel is far more gangster than being a hardass any day of the week. 

We take true vacations. 

We actually make an appointment to get a massage when those are needed. (Such as we did today.) 

10. talk about your writing /  17. what motivates you

You really want me to do that? I don’t really wanna do that. Ok, I’ll do that. 

Although, I’ll be honest, not really sure what to say about it…. so I’ll just say what inspires me and knock out 2 birds with one stone here; 

I adore Anne Rice’s way of storytelling. Her poetic way around words and how she tells a story and particular the words she chooses is a way of writing I really appreciate. Particularly with Reg. I consider myself someone who’s a sucker for the arts. I draw a lot of inspiration from imagery, vivid mood(ies), music, fashion, etc. 

I’ve been writing various Tom characters for a number of years now and I think what fulfills me is the potential of keeping that character alive for those of us who continue to want more of them. I’m a perfectionist by nature so you can imagine I’m a terrible judge of this for myself in general. But I tend to always go with what resonates most loud and clear visually and conceptually. (if this makes sense?) I’m gonna stop this here now cos now I’ve run out of things to say and feel I’m probably talking gooblydeegook.  XD 

13. how are you? 💗💗

I’m fine thank you, how are you?  [insert moon face emoji here] 

18. are you a jedi master? 

Um… 

no. Not quite, 

But we are pretty intuitive. 

19. describe love 

How does someone describe Love really?

I think it’s an inward feeling of sunshine. - It’s vulnerability. It’s strength. 

It’s giving someone the power to destroy you and trusting them not to. 

23. anything spooky happen this week?

Discounting the giddy ghost candy dish I’ve just bought. Fraid not, no – thankfully it’s another week spook-free. And not candy free. 

27. describe yourself in two words

1. Vanilla 

2. Understanding 

[mckennascribblings]

(yes I am still yelling over this art by @moonlitalien )

Max drops first his red pen, then his reading glasses, onto the desk and sighs. The sigh is repeated, longer this time and with just a note of petulance, when he picks up his coffee cup and finds it empty.

He started at 5, and now it’s ... noon? He hasn't been working that long, has he? 

The near-instant (and quite vociferous) complaint from his lower back corrects that particular misconception as soon as he pushes back his chair and stands, and he scowls while he adds find new chair to a sticky note.

With only a scant couple of weeks before the state work period starts, he's been putting in longer hours than usual at home to get everything done; he promised Adri - and his mother, and his grandmother - that he'd actually try to work like a normal person (whatever that means, and not that Adri has any room to talk about someone being a workaholic anyway; he'll certainly be mentioning that bit of hypocrisy when they go Christmas shopping) for the two weeks he's back in Colorado. Not to mention, Krys is coming down four days before Christmas and he's got plans, none of which include working until she falls asleep on the couch.

He's just put the coffee pot back onto the warmer when his Skype notification rings; he sets the mug back onto its coaster and taps the green button on his tablet.

Calypso's face takes up almost the whole screen; the seven year old doesn't quite yet have the hang of properly distancing herself from the camera. "Uncle Max! It's 24 days until Christmas and it's the first snow of December, look!" The light on her face changes; she's clearly now in front of a window of some sort, but the camera doesn't turn.

"You have to turn the ... wait, what are you calling me on, Calypso?"

The still-chubby cheeked girl presses a finger to her lips. "Shhhhhhhhhh, I borrowed Aria's phone."

Max suppresses a smile, silently counts backward. Five, four, three -

"Calypsoooooo! Mom, Calypso stole my phone again!" Aria's voice gets louder as she draws closer to her little sister. "She's not supposed to go in my room! Why is she always in my room? Why are you so annoying?"

Calypso's face screws up in a truly impressive scowl. "Hey, Aria, shut up, I'm showing Uncle Max the snow!"

"He's seen snow before, Calypso," Aria says with the depth of disdain particular to oldest sisters. "Give me my phone!"

Heels click on stone floor, and then Calypso's face disappears, replaced by Adriana's. "Hi, little brother," she says, talking over Calypso's wailing and Aria's continued complaining. "I don't know why on earth you don't have a house full of kids. See what you're missing?"

"Hey, if I could be there already, I'd totally be there for the first snow of December and you know it." He grins. "Let me talk to them."

Adriana rolls her eyes. "Right, that's why you don't; so you can be the fun guy all the time." Adriana's kitchen flashes by, and then both Aria and Calypso are in the frame, glaring at each other before they look at the screen.

"Okay, girls. Go get Harmony, and you have to send me the yearly first holiday snow selfie, right? And you can't do that while you're yelling at each other or crying. If you do that ... well, Aria, you know you'll set off an avalanche and then I'll never be able to get presents into the house."

Aria tries to scowl harder, fails, giggles. "We don't live that close to the mountains, Uncle Max."

"I don't know, you're pretty loud and bossy." He leans closer to the camera, though he doesn't lower his voice. "Just like your mom."

"I heard that, Max."

This sets off a round of giggles from both girls.

"And Calypso, if you go out there crying, your face is going to freeze, and then we won't have any choice but to make you into a snowman."

"I wanna be a snowman. I bet snowmen don't have stupid bossy sisters." Calypso sticks her tongue out at Aria.

"Mom!"

Max wags a finger. "But snowmen definitely can't have Uncle Max's best hot cocoa ever."

Calypso falls silent, clearly weighing the pros and cons. "Wellllllll. Okay, but she has to say sorry! You're not supposed to yell at people on Christmas!"

"It's not Christmas, Calypso!"

"It's close enough, Aria!"

Adriana sighs; Max can practically see her massaging her temples. "Girls, enough. Calypso, you apologize for stealing Aria's phone. I told you that if you want to call Uncle Max, you come ask me so you can use mine. You also need to apologize for calling Aria stupid. We've talked about that."

Calypso pouts, offering a half-hearted, muttered sorry.

"And Aria, as much as I appreciate you doing your best to take care of your sisters, perhaps we can do it with a little less yelling and name calling?"

"Fine." Aria side-eyes Calypso. "Sorry."

"Thank you. Now the two of you go get Harmony and get bundled up - I'm pretty sure Uncle Max sent you new gloves and earmuffs just for this, didn't he? Wear those and you can go out in the backyard and take your picture, and then after you bring the phone back in you can play outside until your snack."

Two sets of rushing footsteps thunder away from Adriana; she's shaking her head as her face comes into view. "They're going to be the death of me."

"You can run an entire company, can't handle two little girls?"

"Don't think I didn't notice you live as far away as you can get and still be in the continental US, Max," Adriana retorts with an arched eyebrow. "You're not sneaky." She looks toward the stairs. "I think they're about ready. See you in a couple weeks, little brother."

[kristallioness]

Bring your daughter to work day

Summary: Katara brings Kya along to the hospital so she can spend some time with her daughter and get some paperwork done.

Word count: 9,406

Author's note: I got the idea for this story after I'd written my review of "Turf Wars: Part One". It's also inspired by my own experience - how I used to visit my dad at his workplace just to play on his computer and what we did together to make the rest of the day more fun when I was a little girl. And no, my dad doesn't work at a hospital, he works at one of the best machine factories in Estonia. I don't know about anyone else, but visiting a machine/metal engineering enterprise for years, knowing every corner, every room, the surrounding territory, the tools and nick-nacks on each worker's desk - it becomes so familiar that I really feel at home over there. This is what I was trying to portray by having Kya visit her mother's workplace - the two of them goofing around to take a break from paperwork, playing with the available items (in this case, Katara's medical instruments), spending time together. @jinoras-light - I know you wanted some headcanons about Kya, so I think you're gonna love these involving her and her mommy. The plot starts from the evening - Kya and Katara have returned from the cafeteria after eating supper and the little waterbender begins playing with a plush Appa. Then it describes everything that happened up until that point and the events move forward from there. Just wanted to make this clear since it might get confusing if you don't notice where it cuts back to the past (it's the paragraph that begins with "When they arrived in the morning..."). Oh, you know how there's this saying called 'get your hands dirty'? I came up with a saying for healers - 'get your hands wet'! Also, there's a reference to one of my older fanfics called "Recovery". And the nutrition bar that Katara gave to Kya is Hematogen, which I personally like very much and have eaten many times throughout the years. I think it's more common around Russia and Eastern Europe (the former Soviet Union countries, including Estonia).

----------x----------

"Mommy, can I play with that Appa?"

"Sure. Why don't you practise wrapping up his injured paw?" Katara reached for the plush toy on the hidden shelf underneath her desk and held it in front of Kya.

"Oh no! Which one is it?" the little waterbender gasped, grabbing the sky bison's face.

"Hmm.. I think Appa says it's this one," Katara pointed to its front right paw.

"Don't worry, Appa! I'll help you feel better!" Kya took the toy in her hands and scampered to the examination table. She attempted to safely push Appa up there while Katara fetched an elastic bandage from one of the cupboards. The elder waterbender lifted the younger one up on the bed next to the toy and handed her the necessary item.

It'd been a relaxing Saturday evening at the Republic City hospital. Katara needed to do some paperwork, hence she'd decided to go to her workplace during her day off at the weekend to catch up.

Kya wanted to accompany her since she wanted to spend time with her mother. Besides, she was used to visiting her mother's office - the familiar smell of herbs in the cabinets, the breathtaking view to the city and Air Temple Island from the vast window on the top floor, the similarity to the healing hut in their temple.

The place almost felt like an extension of their home, exactly like Aang's office at City Hall - another safe place Kya could always go to if she ever needed to be with her parents and they weren't on the island. Right now, Aang was at home taking care of a 2-year-old Tenzin with Bumi being there to lend a helping hand as well. Their older son had never been as fond of going to the hospital as their daughter. He figured he'd have a lot more fun, and get into mischief, by hanging out with dad.

Katara wouldn't even be surprised if her boys eventually burnt the house down. Leaving the three of them alone for almost an entire day ended with some sort of a mishap quite often. Bumi playing pranks on the acolytes, a training session gone wrong, something getting broken...

Katara released an exasperated sigh to take her mind off of that, hoping that everything will be alright when they return home tonight. She continued looking over the last few applications sent in by new members of staff, who'd recently been given a job at her hospital. Sure there were recruiters who handled the entire process, but nothing went by without getting the final approval from the head of the hospital, the best healer in the world herself.

Picking up the last application, she glanced at Kya, who was quietly playing with the sky bison toy. Katara would usually give it to her youngest patients to play with during their checkups so they wouldn't feel so scared. Her own little healer was nearly done wrapping the bandage around the pretend broken paw. Kya marvelled at the job well done, making sure it was tied together strong enough and fastened by two clips. She jumped off the examination table and ran to her mother to show her.

"Mommy, look! I did it! I wrapped up Appa's broken paw!" she grinned proudly, supporting the plush toy on the armrest. Katara lifted the toy in her lap to get a better look.

"You certainly did. It's all wrapped up nicely. Good job, sweetie!" Katara praised Kya by stroking her head.

"You know, thanks to your healing hands, Appa says he's feeling much better now. Would you be a dear and carefully unwrap the bandage so I can have it back?"

"No problem!" the little waterbender declared, grabbing the sky bison in her hands and scampering to the other side of the desk. She plopped down on the blue armchair opposite to her mother's and began untying the elastic bandage.

Katara thought that Kya had been very brave to last through the day in that boring office. Thanks to her imagination, she could learn new things or practise her healer skills with minimal supplies. And with the help of Katara's will to play along, the two of them had come up with some clever solutions to make the day more fun.

When they arrived in the morning, Katara had three huge piles of documents on the corner of her desk waiting to be filled out. She started with her patients' records first, filling in the descriptions of the treatments and medicine she'd given them, but hadn't managed to write down in great detail earlier due to such short breaks between the appointments.

Katara had already explained to Kya that she needed to focus on that task in silence back home. She brought along a pencil case with a bunch of pencils and found some white sheets of paper from her drawer for the little waterbender to draw on in the meantime. Kya seemed to enjoy that hobby very much and she didn't bother Katara too much. When her mother attempted to take a peek at what she was sketching, she quickly covered the piece she was working on with a clean sheet, telling her mother that it wasn't finished yet. Katara giggled and then dove back into her own paperwork, even though she couldn't wait to see what the pictures will look like.

Kya had finished three pretty masterpieces and Katara was more than halfway done with the pile of patient records by lunchtime. She escorted her daughter to the cafeteria, which was located more than a dozen floors below inside the hospital and where they had a light lunch. Kya didn't think much of the hospital food. Their home cooking was far more tasty. Katara wholeheartedly agreed, however, she'd gotten used to the bland taste of the dishes they had to offer.

There were a couple of employees who walked by to say hello to their boss and to meet her precious daughter. According to Katara, most of them were specialists, family physicians and those last two were nurses. Kya only recognized one of them, a cheerful old childhood friend of her mother's who she'd seen several times before - Niyok from the Southern Water Tribe. She'd really grown on Kya ever since they first met. Niyok liked playing with her, too, and she would sometimes visit them on Air Temple Island along with her sister Nutha.

Half an hour past noon, the two waterbenders returned to the office so that Katara could continue filling in the last quarter of patient records. During the first hour and a half, Kya managed to finish her fourth drawing of the day, putting it amongst the other three. By then, her mother felt like her arms could fall off any second.

"Sweetie, can you help me with something?"

"Of course, mommy. What is it?" Kya had put the drawing away, jumped off the armchair and walked over to her mother's side. She watched how she pulled off her right armband.

"I wanna teach you something about your healing abilities. Get your hands wet," Katara ordered, waiting for Kya to summon some water from one of the two large pots behind them at the back of the room. She waterbended the water around her small hands like gloves, ready for further instructions.

"Now, I want you to move the water up and down my forearm, like this," Katara grabbed Kya's right hand and moved it along her right forearm, exactly in the motion she described. She released her hold once the little waterbender began using both hands and got the hang of it. The water glowed a familiar bright blue colour, showing that she was actually healing.

"And what am I healing by doing this, mommy?" Kya wondered out loud.

"I've been writing for hours, so my arms are really tired. You're helping by untangling the knots in the muscles. It's even more effective when you gently press the path down with your fingertips, like this," she explained, taking a hold of her daughter's hand again to press her fingers down repeatedly. Kya attempted to copy the pattern. Katara felt a shiver run down her spine as her stiff forearm loosened up after being in a strained position for so long. She let her little healer continue for another few minutes until it felt tingly, like she'd just received a massage.

"Aaahh.. that's much better. Thank you, Kya," Katara softly rubbed her forearm, putting the armband back on.

"Don't you mean 'healer Kya'?" she asked playfully, waterbending the remainder of the water back into the pot and then climbing into her mother's lap.

"Thank you, my little healer Kya!" Katara corrected, then tickled her sides and peppered her cheeks with kisses, making Kya burst out in a giggle fit as she squirmed in her embrace.

After that refreshing experience, the master waterbender went on with filling in eleven more patient records. The younger one started work on her fifth drawing of the day.

Katara was so delighted to finish the biggest pile of documents an hour later that she decided to reward herself and Kya for being so obedient with a game of tag. Seeing that the waiting room was empty and there weren't any patients on that floor, they could run around the couches with ease and screech as loud as they wanted to.

"Okay, mommy, here are the rules: when I get behind the first couch, you can start chasing me. If I get back here in three laps, I win!" Kya pointed her finger around in a circle, acting like an important referee.

"Ready.. go!" she began running towards the seat and as soon as she was behind the corner, Katara sprinted right after her. Being a lot bigger than her daughter, she had to be careful not to hit herself against the coffee table in the middle nor against the edges of the couches. Luckily, Katara learned how to get through those thin spaces between them pretty fast and soon enough, she could catch Kya. She let her win the first time, though.

Their laughing and screams of joy echoed in the long corridor, reaching both the western and eastern wings. They must've run that same circle over a dozen times. In the end, Katara won three times and Kya managed to evade her four times.

"Alright, I think that's enough.. one more and then we head back to my office, okay?" Katara stooped slightly as she panted after their last race, wiping beads of sweat off her forehead. Kya nodded, doing the same to catch her breath.

"You remember how it goes? First one to run as fast as they can to the end of the eastern wing, touch the wall, run back and sit on the bench outside of my office wins."

"Mhmm, got it, mommy!" Kya said with a determined look on her face, taking a starting position next to her mother. The starting line was next to the elevator in the waiting room.

"On your marks.. get set.. GO!" Katara exclaimed. There was no way she was going to let Kya win this one without a fight. They dashed straight past the reception area and rounded the first corner equally, taking a sharp turn to their right to run to the end of the long corridor. The elder waterbender was in the lead by the time she reached the wall, gave it a strong pat and began heading back the other way. She almost crashed into the little waterbender, but jumped over her by stepping on another bench and giving herself a boost upwards. Kya nearly stopped in her tracks to marvel at that graceful move her mother just did, but she resumed running to still try and beat her. Katara reached the western wing in a few seconds and quickly sat down on the bench outside of her office. She giggled when Kya finally caught up with her and jumped into her lap to hug her.

"You won, mommy!"

"You were great, sweetie! I was so scared that I was gonna bump into you," Katara said, combing Kya's long loose hair.

"But you didn't! That move was so cool! Do it again!" the little waterbender begged, slightly bouncing in her mother's lap and making her chuckle.

"Maybe next time. C'mon, I still have two piles of very important papers to read through," she put her daughter down, stood up and grabbed her hand to guide her back inside. Kya scampered behind her mother's desk and opened the lowest drawer on the left where some of her patients' folders were stored in alphabetical order.

"Kya, what are you doing? Don't mess up my filing system!" Katara hurried to her side once she'd closed the door and noticed what she was doing.

"I'm not. I'm trying to find my own folder."

"Your folder? Why do you need your medical records?" Katara wondered with a puzzled look as she squatted down next to Kya and helped her search for her name from among those folders.

"It's a surprise," she replied, grabbing the folder in her hands once her mother found it and handed it to her. Kya took a seat in her armchair, placed her folder on the corner of the desk and continued colouring her fifth sketch while Katara moved on to the second pile - job applications.

After her mother had approved three of those, Kya remembered that she didn't have to be so quiet anymore. She was becoming bored of drawing, so she decided to finish colouring her last drawing after having some fun. She started looking at what medical instruments were scattered on the desk. She spotted a rubber hammer right under her nose.

"Mommy?"

"What is it, sweetie?" Katara asked, not taking her eyes off the paper she was holding.

"Can I play healer with you now? You promised," Kya pleaded. This time, the elder waterbender gazed at her daughter, seeing how she grabbed the hammer and looked at it curiously. She smiled lovingly at the sight.

"Of course you can," Katara said, watching how an excited Kya jumped off the chair, walked around the desk and stepped right beside her.

"Are you gonna check my reflexes first?" she tilted her head playfully, pushing herself a bit further away from her desk in case the little waterbender actually hits the right nerve.

"Mhmm. After all that running around, I wanna be sure your knees are okay," Kya nodded. Katara let her hit her left knee a couple of times. She frowned, she couldn't find the right spot.

"That's okay. You don't have to nail it the first time. Even I'm not that good. Just keep trying. Maybe try with the other one?"

Kya took her mother's advice and hit her right knee. Katara counted the number of times she missed. Five.. six.. seven... Her knee was starting to ache, so she merely kicked her leg up a bit at the ninth attempt to stop her.

"Wow! Did you see that, mommy?"

"I didn't just see it, I felt it. You almost hit the right spot. Good work, sweetie!" Katara rewarded Kya with a kiss on the cheek. The latter felt so inspired by her accomplishment that she scampered back to her armchair to finish colouring. She was done half an hour later.

Kya glanced at her mother, she was busy writing something on one of the applications. The little waterbender used the opportunity to hide all five of her drawings between her medical records and slip the folder in between the last pile. After that, Kya handed the rest of the clean sheets of paper back to her mother, who put them away in the drawer, completely oblivious to what she'd done with her drawings. Next, she picked up her pencils and put them inside her pencil case, after which she walked over to the door. Katara's shoulder bag was hanging from the coat rack next to it. Kya dropped the pencil case inside so she wouldn't accidentally leave it behind.

Soon it was time for the two waterbenders to eat supper in the cafeteria. The clock on Avatar Aang Memorial Island had struck five in the evening almost half an hour ago. When the bell inside the clockwork rang six times, Katara and Kya's tummies were full. They'd chosen a table right next to one of the windows, which the elder waterbender had cracked open once they were done with their plates. Now they were breathing in some fresh air and gazing at Republic City all lit up at nighttime.

"Look, mommy! There's our home!" Kya pointed towards Air Temple Island. She also spotted her daddy's huge statue on the other island, which was located quite close to theirs.

"Mhmm, I can see it, sweetie," Katara looked outside, too, sipping some of her tea.

The hustle and bustle going on in the streets made this metropolis seem so alive. People who had to work even during the weekends were beginning to head home. Others were enjoying a nice walk or riding their ostrich horse carriages through the traffic jams to reach their destinations. There were two police airships flying in the night sky, further away from the hospital. Kya heard a siren, wondering whether it was an ambulance or a police carriage driving by.

"How's auntie Toph doing? And baby Lin?" she wondered. Katara looked at her daughter, putting the empty tea cup down on the table.

"She's doing fine. I just spoke to her on the phone two days ago. And little Lin is growing into quite a healthy girl. Auntie Toph is having trouble getting her to stop being so clingy all the time, so she called me for some advice."

"Lin is exactly like Tenzin. He likes being close to you, too, mommy," Kya concluded, making Katara chuckle fondly at the thought.

"That's right. So were you when you were little," she booped her daughter's nose with her finger, which prompted her to laugh as well.

"But when it concerns Lin, I believe that she misses her mommy very much, because her mommy has to spend a lot of time away from home catching bad guys. And ever since her daddy, your uncle Kanto, left them behind, it's been hard for her to spend so much time alone. At least I think that's why she's so clingy.. Don't tell your auntie Toph I said any of this, though! She'll crush me if she finds out," Katara scratched the back of her head. Kya simply giggled and promised not to say a word. She didn't want her auntie Toph to hurt her mommy.

"C'mon, let's go upstairs!" Katara picked up their trays of empty plates to put those away and began heading towards the elevator, quickly followed by Kya.

Back in her office, the little waterbender wanted to practise her waterbending, so Katara went through some simpler forms together with her before letting her try those out for herself for a while. Kya had already mastered keeping the water ring flowing around her body thanks to Aang teaching her when Katara had been sick. She could easily use it to stream the water in various ways, forming snake-like shapes or small bubbles. Or simply learn how to direct the water towards another waterbender, that being Katara, and take control of it again at just the right moment without losing a drop when her mother waterbended it back towards her.

After practising for almost an hour, Kya waterbended the water she'd been using back into one of the pots. At the sound of the clock striking seven times, she walked over to the large window behind her mother and looked outside. The view was from a much higher point, the pedestrians down below looked like little ants crawling around the streets in an orderly fashion. The little waterbender squinted to get a better look at their island. She spotted Appa flying above it along with two other sky bison. She'd recognize their big fluffy buddy anywhere.

As she happened to stand at the back of the room, she noticed a plush sky bison on a shelf underneath her mother's desk when she turned around. The toy looked similar to the one she had in her bedroom. Kya asked whether she could play with that one. Katara said 'yes' and presented her with a problem - Appa having a broken paw.

Now the little waterbender was busy untying the elastic bandage she'd used to wrap up the pretend broken paw. She rolled up the bandage and put it on the desk, slightly nudging it closer under her mother's nose.

"Thank you, Kya!" Katara picked it up once she noticed that her daughter was done with it to place it back in the proper cabinet. Kya continued snuggling that Appa plush. It certainly looked more secondhand than hers with all the loose threads and the coarse fur. She counted the stripes on its back just in case. Four.. five.. six! They were all there.

The little waterbender plopped back against the armchair and sighed. Her cerulean eyes ran across the room, but she couldn't think of anything fun to do alone. She wanted to play with her mother.

"I'm hungry."

"Sweetie, we ate supper at the cafe less than two hours ago," Katara protested while writing something down on the last job application.

"But, mommy!.. It wasn't as yummy as what you make at home. I just want a snack," she whined.

"Oh, alright.. come here," Katara beckoned Kya to approach her. She dug in one of her drawers for a while until she found a small pill bottle. She gave it a shake before opening the lid and dropping three tiny yellow balls in the palm of her hand.

"Here you go," Katara held them in front of Kya's nose. She tilted her head and eyed the round pills.

"What are these?"

"Candy," Katara barely managed to finish the word before Kya grabbed all three pieces and stuffed them in her mouth. After a few seconds of moving them around in her mouth and licking off the outer layer with her tongue, she made a very sour face as her lips puckered.

"Bleh! It's soooo sour!" the little waterbender cried, but she didn't spit them out. She swallowed quickly. Katara giggled as she picked up an empty glass and went to fetch some water from the sink.

"That's because those were vitamins meant for children. They taste like lemons from the inside, but sweet on the outside. Here, drink this," Katara sat down on her knees and handed Kya a glass of water. She took a few sips.

"That was not nice, mommy!" Kya knit her brows, then continued drinking. Katara chuckled, her angry face was too funny to be taken seriously.

"You're right, I'm sorry for tricking you. I'm gonna make it up to you. Finish that water and I might just have something else that's edible.." Katara said, opening another drawer to take a peek at what's inside. She pulled out something bigger, something that reminded them of a candy bar. Kya swallowed the last drop of water and handed the glass back to her mother, who'd unwrapped the top of the bar.

"And what's this?" she pointed a finger towards the brown sweet.

"It's a nutrition bar. That means your body will get a lot of good vitamins and other nutrients when you eat it, so you can grow into a healthy little waterbender. It tastes like dark chocolate."

Kya quirked an eyebrow, she was still suspicious whether her mother was telling the truth. Katara took a small bite to prove that it tasted good.

"Mmm... Do you want some?" she offered the rest to Kya, who took it in her hands and then bit off a larger piece. This time, she chewed it carefully to understand what it tasted like.

"Hmm.. You were right, mommy. It does taste like chocolate. Not as sweet though, but still good."

"You happy now?" Katara patted her daughter's head. She nodded and walked back to the armchair opposite to her, sitting down next to the plush Appa to enjoy her snack. A few minutes later, the master waterbender happily pushed two neat piles of documents to the left side of her desk.

"There.. done! Now I only have one more thing left to do. Would you like to help me? It's really easy and it won't take long."

"Only if I can play healer with you again," Kya replied, biting into the last piece of the nutrition bar and handing the wrapper to her mother, who threw it away in a trash bin.

"You must be really bored by now, huh?" Katara glanced at her daughter, seeing how she nodded in agreement.

"Okay, but what do you wanna do?" Katara asked, waiting for an answer by putting the patient records she'd filled out during the first half of the day back in the lower left drawer in the correct alphabetical order. Kya looked around the items scattered on her mother's desk and her gaze fixed on a cup containing a couple of things.

"Can I use these?" she pointed towards the medical instruments. There were several wooden tongue depressors, an otoscope and a thermometer in there. The elder waterbender stopped organizing her folders for a second to look at what her daughter had chosen, she smiled.

"Sure," Katara closed the drawer and stood up, grabbing the last as well as the smallest pile of documents. She put the stack on the examination table, then walked over to Kya to pick her up from the armchair and carry her up on the bed, too. Katara also reached for the cup Kya had chosen, bringing it along with her as she took a seat on the examination table right next to her daughter.

"What can I do to help, mommy?" Kya asked as Katara lifted her onto her lap and placed the cup on the nursing trolley, which was pushed right next to the examination table. It was more convenient to have the patient sit close by while Katara prepared the equipment she needed to give an injection.

"Well, I need to arrange these patient files for appointments coming next week. I thought that maybe we could get through them faster if you helped me read the dates and times so I can sort them according to the days."

"I can do that!"

"Great! But first, what would you like to do to me, healer Kya?" Katara smirked as she emphasized the title. The little waterbender looked behind her, thinking which item inside the cup she should pick first. She decided to measure her mommy's temperature, so she reached for the thermometer.

"I wanna be sure you don't have a fever after working so hard all day," Kya said in a concerned voice, making Katara giggle. She attempted to shove the thermometer underneath her mother's short-sleeved water tribe coat, but the fur collar was too small for her to reach any further from that angle. Katara grabbed the thermometer from Kya's hand to give it a try. Having lifted her left arm up a bit and moving her tunic out of the way, she managed to place it under there. The elder waterbender pressed her arm against her side and held her hand on her belly.

"That should keep it from slipping away. Would you like to check?"

Kya touched the bump below the coat and tried to move it, but the tip of the thermometer didn't seem to budge too much. Katara held it tight.

"I don't think it's going anywhere," the little waterbender agreed, after which her mother nodded and grabbed the first patient's file in her right hand.

"Alright, let's see here.. on which day does this person have an appointment with me?" Katara wondered out loud, holding the folder closer to Kya so she could read the date and time written on top.

"Umm.. on Tuesday at 2 p.m."

"Okay, so this one goes into the 'Tuesday' pile.. what about this one?"

"Wednesday, 9.45 a.m."

Katara arranged the folders into five different stacks according to the days - from Monday to Thursday in separate piles, Friday and, if there were any scheduled for the rest of the weekend, in one. Before she reached the middle of the unorganized pile, she found a folder that didn't have a time for an appointment written on it.

"Wait a minute.. this is your file, sweetie!" Katara exclaimed. Kya looked at it curiously, nodding as she recognized her own name.

"Kya.. is everything okay? Or do you wanna make an appointment with me because you're sick?" Katara's voice became rather serious. She dropped her daughter's medical records on the examination table and cupped her cheek. She began to worry that maybe something was horribly wrong and her baby girl didn't have the courage, or the heart, to tell her. That wasn't the reaction the little waterbender had expected.

"No, mommy! I'm okay, honestly," Kya laid her own small hands on her mother's to convince her that this wasn't the case. She was still frowning.

"You sure?" Katara asked again, receiving a nod for an answer.

"That's not the reason why I put my folder in the pile. I wanted to surprise you, mommy. Look inside the folder!"

Kya watched how her mother hesitantly opened the folder by lifting the cover. She gasped and covered her mouth with her right hand. Her frown turned into a smile and tears welled up in the corners of her diamond blue eyes.

"Aawww! K-Kya..." was all Katara could say as she sighed in relief and began wiping her cheeks dry. She felt so awkward for misreading the entire situation. Kya wrapped her arms around her mommy's waist in an attempt to comfort her with a hug. Katara supported her chin on her daughter's head and pulled her as close as she could by using her right hand, mindful of the thermometer under her left arm. She didn't wanna ruin their playtime, too. Kya squeezed her a bit tighter when she felt a few tears drop on the top of her head.

"Do you like it?" she asked in a hushed tone after a minute had passed in silence, her mother's quiet crying being the only sound filling the room. Katara stroked her back and sniffed.

"Mhmm.. I love it," she nodded, rubbing her cheek against Kya's temple.

"Don't you wanna see the rest?"

"Of course, show me," Katara said with a more chipper tone, releasing her embrace and wiping off the last of her tears. Kya picked up the first drawing she'd seen and began explaining in great detail what she'd drawn. There were two girls sitting, the bigger one was healing a scrape on the smaller one's knee. The water around her hands was coloured in a pretty shade of cyan.

"That's you healing my boo-boo, mommy."

"Oh, I remember this. That was like.. three weeks ago?"

"Mhmm," the little waterbender nodded, a proud smile on her face, and waited for her mother to finish marvelling at the drawing. She handed her daughter the next one, laying it on top of the first.

"And what's going on here?" Katara chuckled as she looked at the second drawing. It seemed so cheerful and full of life thanks to the bright colours Kya had used.

"Daddy's playing his flute and Bumi and I are dancing."

The master waterbender recognized her husband in the familiar palette of reds, oranges and yellows. If not that, then the sky-blue arrow tattoos were a giveaway. Momo was sitting on the emerald green grass right next to him. Her two children, as well as her husband, were wearing flower crowns and clearly jumping around with joy. Kya even drew a few musical notes above them.

"I adore all the bright colours you used. It really brings the drawing to life. And this is such a precious moment."

"Thank you, mommy!" Kya said, giving her a quick hug.

"Let's not forget to show this one to daddy when we get home. I'm sure he'll love it!" Katara lifted her daughter's chin up to look into her glistening cerulean eyes. She beamed at her.

"Good idea!"

"Now.. what else do we have here?" the elder waterbender wondered, seeing how the little one reached for the third drawing.

"Another drawing of me?" she quirked an eyebrow. Kya slid a fourth piece of paper out from underneath that one, holding the two pictures side by side so her mother could see both at the same time.

"Wow.. is my hair really that poofy?" Katara blushed and combed the fingers of her right hand through her locks. Kya merely giggled.

"Maybe.. I just really like it because I think it looks pretty on you. Your hair is so long and soft, just like mine," Kya explained, patting her own head a couple of times.

"So you wanted to show that by making it seem so poofy?"

"Yeah."

The top drawing was a close-up of Katara. She was in awe of how well the little waterbender had captured all of her details - from the beads in her hair loopies to the carving in her mother's necklace, the blue eyes and even the patterns around the fur collar of her coat. The other drawing was a full body shot of her wearing some of her healer equipment.

"That was really nice of you. But, what am I wearing in this picture?"

"That's your healer's belt."

"I'm impressed! How did you remember it so well?"

"I saw an ambulance worker at the cafeteria earlier when we were having lunch. He was wearing it. And I also drew your pouch, see?" Kya pointed to a black-and-brown striped semicircle, which was drawn near the figure's waist.

"Yes, I see it, sweetie. And what's this long shiny necklace?"

"That's not a necklace! That's your stethoscope, mommy!" she corrected, making Katara laugh. Kya had based the design of that medical instrument on the one she saw on her mother's desk, painting the tube a matt black. Her mother marvelled at the two different depictions of herself.

"These are lovely. Is there anything else you wanna share with me?"

"Just one more.." Kya leaned forward to pick up the last drawing she'd slipped between her medical records.

"Wow! What is this?" Katara said, her mouth remaining agape as she ran her right index finger down the white uncoloured edge of the paper.

"It's a picture of our family. Look, there's you and daddy! Tenzin is in your arms. Bumi and I are standing next to daddy. And I didn't forget Appa and Momo!"

Kya described everything perfectly - it was a drawing of their entire family standing in front of the temple. She'd drawn her parents standing really close to each other, which was such an irrelevant little thing considering the context of the whole picture. But if that was the way Kya saw her parents in their domestic life - being loving and supportive of each other - then it was all Katara could've hoped for and it melted her heart.

She was also amazed at how well her daughter remembered the details of the courtyard - the bridge going over the small pond, the exterior of their home, even the tower of the temple. All coloured in pretty shades of grey, yellow and blue, with a bit of emerald green for a couple of bushes in the background. All five of them fit right in front of Appa, Momo was sitting on top of the sky bison's head.

"This one's my favourite. It's so beautiful!" Katara smiled.

"Really? Thanks, mommy!" Kya hugged her from her middle again.

"Really. These are all beautiful. Shall I put these in my shoulder bag so we wouldn't forget to take them back home?"

"Okay."

"But before I do that, maybe you'd like to take a look at my temperature?" Katara offered, carefully pulling the thermometer out from under her coat. The reading was probably ready minutes ago and she'd been wanting to move a bit more freely for a while now.

"Oh! Yes, please!" Kya slightly bounced in her lap and held out her hands, waiting for her mother to hand it over. Both waterbenders stared at the mercury inside the glass.

"36.6 degrees, that's completely normal. Right, mommy?" Kya looked up at Katara with her big cerulean eyes, sensing how she let a hand run down her back.

"That's right, sweetie."

"No fever, yay!" the little waterbender clapped her hands together as she let her mother place the thermometer back into the cup. After that, Katara lifted Kya up in her arms for a second to lay her down on the bed so she could stand up and stretch her legs. She grabbed the five drawings to put those among the rest of the drawing supplies already packed up inside her shoulder bag.

"Alright, my little healer.. now where were we with these appointments?" Katara wondered as she walked back to the examination table, took a seat and lifted Kya back on her knees. She pushed her daughter's medical records a bit further away from the other stacks so she wouldn't forget to put it back in its proper drawer. The two waterbenders continued sorting the rest of the folders for almost a quarter of an hour.

During that time, the clock on Aang Memorial Island had already struck eight in the evening. As soon as they'd arranged half of the pile, Katara allowed Kya to choose the next item she wanted to use to play checkup. She picked one of the many tongue depressors.

"Stick out your tongue!"

Kya burst out in a giggle fit when Katara blew a raspberry.

"Cut it out, mommy! I wanna look at your throat!" she said through her laughter, but seeing her mother's funny face only cracked her up. Eventually Katara started giggling, too. They took a minute to get it out of their system.

"Open wide!" Kya asked nicely once she'd calmed down.

"Aahh!"

Katara obeyed her little healer like a good patient, letting her look inside her mouth for a few seconds.

"So.. how did it look?"

"Okay."

"Does that mean I can do this?" Katara asked before she began peppering Kya's face with kisses, trying to get her to laugh again. It certainly worked. The little waterbender squirmed in her mother's embrace until she stopped.

They resumed sorting the second half of patient files after that, with Kya helping Katara by reading the days and times of the appointments out loud. By the time there were only four folders left, the little waterbender crawled off her mother's lap to fetch the last medical instrument she hadn't used already. Katara glanced at Kya as she crawled closer to her right side and stood up, balancing herself by holding onto her shoulder. Her mother didn't say a word, she simply tilted her head in the opposite direction a little bit so she could examine her ears better by looking into them with the otoscope.

"Ow! Ow-ow-ow.. Kya, be careful! Pull my ear back a little before you insert it in there," Katara warned her, grabbing her right ear and pulling it back herself since Kya was already hurting her. She carefully withdrew the medical instrument from her mother's ear.

"Oops! I forgot.. I'm so sorry, mommy! I didn't mean to hurt you," Kya said, a sad frown on her features as she stroked the back of her head. The gesture made her mother smile.

"It's okay, sweetie. I forgive you. Accidents happen. Why don't you try again?"

Katara looked down to her left and waited until Kya went on with her second attempt. She followed every step correctly this time. She crawled to the other edge of the bed and repeated the same procedure with her left ear. Katara tilted her head to the right as she read the date of the appointment written on the last patient's folder.

"All done?" she asked when she felt Kya remove the otoscope and heard her drop it back inside the cup. The little waterbender hopped onto her lap and wrapped her arms around her middle.

"Mhmm," she nodded.

"Good, because I'm done, too. See?" Katara waved a hand towards five piles of documents, all sorted according to the days and in order according to the times of the appointments.

"That's great, mommy."

"What do you say, should we call daddy to come pick us up? Or do you wanna read some new waterbending scrolls with me for another hour?"

Katara had agreed with Aang that if she didn't finish early, he'd come after them at ten o'clock. Otherwise, she would call him on the phone to tell him to fly Appa to the hospital sooner. Kya pouted and held a finger in front of her lips for a few seconds to think.

"Hmm.. do those scrolls have pretty pictures in them?"

"They're called illustrations, sweetie. And yes, some of them do," Katara shrugged.

"Then, okay!" Kya grinned. She jumped off her mother's knees and ran to her armchair to take a cosy sitting position while she waited for her mother to join her. Katara lifted the separate piles of patient records into one, starting with the appointments on Monday and the ones scheduled for the weekend remaining at the bottom. She carried the heavy pile of documents on the corner of her desk, not forgetting to put Kya's medical records back in the lower left drawer. The little waterbender scampered to the nursing trolley to place the cup with the medical instruments she'd already played with back on the desk, too. Katara noticed it.

"Thank you, sweetie!"

She turned off the lights in the ceiling, leaving only the table lamp on. Katara thought that maybe reading in a more dim room would give her daughter the feeling of being at home, in her own bed, and help her fall asleep.

She sat down in her armchair and, seeing how Kya eagerly held out her hands, picked her up and lifted her onto her lap. Katara opened a drawer to grab one of the new scrolls she'd recently received as a gift from the Northern Water Tribe, but hadn't managed to read yet. After that, she slouched a little bit before opening the scroll to begin reading, allowing Kya to snuggle up to her chest.

The little waterbender gazed at the few pretty illustrations of waterbending, which were drawn at the top of the text. They weren't much to look at, she was done admiring them in less than a minute. She tried to read the first paragraph of the text below, but the letters reminded her more of fuzzy scribbles than words or sentences.

She sighed and raised her hand a bit higher, laying it above her mother's heart. Her fingers grazed the soft blue fabric of her coat. Katara lifted her left hand from the armrest and wrapped it around Kya to offer her some warmth and hold her close. Her baby girl looked up at her with her big cerulean eyes, resting her head on her chest. Sensing her mother's calm breathing helped her feel relaxed, too.

Kya stared at the shadows formed on the wall to their right, the scroll in her mother's right hand, the Appa plush she'd left on the other armchair. Everything seemed so still, the office was quiet. If she didn't know better, she would've guessed that they were at home, her mother was reading her a bedtime story and she was getting ready to go to bed. But she wasn't tired. She tried to focus on her mommy's heartbeat and let that lull her to sleep. Instead, she had an idea - if she wasn't sleepy, she might as well play a little bit more.

Katara's eyes widened when she saw Kya slip out of her embrace, slide off her and walk away.

"Kya, where are you going?"

"Nowhere," she said, merely taking a step closer to the desk to grab the stethoscope. Now Katara understood. She smiled, waiting for Kya to climb back onto her lap. She welcomed her daughter back with a kiss on her forehead.

Katara didn't let Kya's playing bother her, or at least she thought it wouldn't bother her, hence she carried on reading through the scroll. The little waterbender placed the earpieces into her ears and grabbed the diaphragm. First, she lifted the white fur trimming on the lower half of her mother's coat and snaked the other hand under there to listen to her tummy. She moved the stethoscope around underneath the coat, but that only made Katara want to giggle because it was tickling her, badly. She managed to stifle her laughter pretty well, though.

Katara heaved a sigh of relief when Kya stopped tickling her from her stomach. She pulled the metal end of the stethoscope out and laid it on her mother's chest. Being covered up by three layers of clothing - including a sarashi, a navy blue tunic and the water tribe coat - made it very difficult to hear any vibrations. But Kya liked to pretend like she could hear something nevertheless.

Katara glanced at Kya, her chest swelling with pride when she felt her baby girl go through a familiar pattern while pretending to listen to her heart, then her breathing. She seemed so focused and in character, like a true healer.

Kya tugged at her fur collar and placed the diaphragm above it on the bare skin below her collarbone, practically under her neck. At least she could hear her mother's heartbeat from there. Lub-dub.. lub-dub.. lub-dub... It was remarkably slow, the rhythm ever so soothing. Her body language spoke the same. Katara must've been utterly relaxed. She noticed how Kya was listening from a spot where she could actually hear something. She took a few deep breaths to let her listen to her lungs, too.

Kya yawned as she turned the chestpiece, then laid it back on the same spot to listen with the bell, too. That recurring cadence was starting to lull her to sleep. She rubbed at her eye before taking the stethoscope out from her ears. Katara stared at her wide-eyed as she placed it into hers instead.

"Hold this," Kya whispered, then resumed her cosy spot from before, snuggling up to her mother's chest.

"Do you wanna listen, too, mommy?" she looked up at her with her big cerulean eyes.

"Uh.. okay," Katara merely shrugged. Kya grabbed the diaphragm and slid it under her own light blue tunic, pressing it softly against her chest. She held it above her heart, both hands tucked below her chin. The little waterbender took a deep breath before she closed her eyes. She was too tired to put the medical instrument away, hence she'd decided to let her mother hold on to it. Her breathing became even, she was curled up like a baby in her safe place. She fell asleep.

Katara had watched what she'd done, feeling slightly puzzled at first. When she saw that Kya fell asleep, she figured her little waterbender was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. And right now, that bed meant being snuggled up close to her mother.

Katara snaked her left hand back around Kya's middle to hold her close. She didn't move at the contact, but she held the stethoscope tight, like she was cuddling one of her toys. Katara could hear Kya's slightly faster heartbeat, but it remained within normal range for a child her age. She adjusted the headset so it wouldn't hurt her ears.

Listening to that steady rhythm was comforting, but also starting to make her sleepy, too. Katara yawned, but tried to read through the longest paragraph on the scroll. She blinked after every sentence, then after every single word.. She stopped stroking her daughter's arm. Her right hand slowly dropped on the armrest and her diamond blue eyes gradually fell shut. The two waterbenders had both fallen asleep.

Almost an hour had ticked by when Kya woke up. She'd heard the last few bongs coming from the clock under her daddy's statue. It was loud enough to be heard all the way back to the furthest point of Republic City, even when the windows of the buildings were closed. The same applied to the hospital in the heart of the capital. It was nine o'clock. The little waterbender yawned and looked up at her mother.

"Mommy?" Kya whispered a few times, but she didn't budge. Katara was completely out of it. She looked around her mother's office, everything was so quiet. Silence seemed to prevail in the room. Daddy had promised to come pick them up in an hour. Kya didn't wanna wake up her mommy either.

She summoned some water around her left hand, using the tentacle like an extension of her arm to reach for the Appa plush on the opposite side of the desk. Kya carefully waterbended the toy onto her mother's belly and grabbed it so it wouldn't fall down. She waterbended the water back into the pot and cuddled her new companion, snuggling against her mother's chest and closing her cerulean eyes to nap for another hour. Katara released the scroll in her right hand, leaving it hanging on the armrest, and wrapped her hand around the plush sky bison through her sleep. She mumbled a little bit, but otherwise remained lost in her dreams.

It was five minutes past ten in the evening when there was a gentle knock at the door. There wasn't an answer, so Aang quietly opened it and peeked inside.

"Katara? Kya?"

His grey eyes grew wide as he stepped inside his wife's dimmed office. That certainly wasn't the picture he imagined he'd stumble upon in his mind. His girls were sleeping. Having closed the door, Aang tiptoed over to the armchair and squatted down next to them, observing their weird poses.

Kya's head rested above Katara's heart, slightly rising and falling according to the pace of her mother's breathing. She was curled up in the fetal position on her tummy. She was cuddling the plush sky bison and something else seemed to be stuck between her and the toy. Aang followed the tube of the stethoscope, seeing that it reached Katara's ears. He chuckled at the sight. How many times had she fallen asleep on his chest by listening to his heartbeat? He'd lost count during their first years of being together as a couple.

Aang stared at their tranquil features - Katara and Kya looked so much alike. Same pretty blue eyes underneath those lashes, Kya had her mother's cute widdle nose, her luxuriant brown locks, even her smile. But she had the spirit of an airbender, his optimistic view on life, his carefree attitude from his childhood. And apparently, even his snore.

Aang tenderly stroked Kya's head, slowly waking her up.

"Mmm.. daddy?" she said, releasing a short yawn.

"Hey there, sweetie! What'cha doing?" Aang smiled at her. He kept his voice down in order not to startle Katara.

"I was sleeping," Kya said as she rubbed an eye.

"Do you wanna go home now?"

"Mhmm."

"Come here," Aang said fondly, carefully lifting Kya into his arms along with the plush sky bison she was holding onto. She hugged him tight.

"What were you and mommy doing before you fell asleep?" Aang asked with amusement as he stared at his wife practically sprawled out in the armchair, still sleeping peacefully. He'd noticed the waterbending scroll on the armrest, too.

"Mommy and I were reading that scroll, but I became bored, so I played healer with her. Then I felt sleepy listening to mommy's heartbeat and fell asleep. And then mommy fell asleep, too."

"What do you say, should we wake mommy up so we can head home?"

The little waterbender nodded again, watching how her daddy gently ran the back of his hand over her mommy's cheek until her eyes began to flutter open.

"Katara?.. Kataraaa..." he whispered her name, after which her lashes began to tremble. She slowly opened her diamond blue eyes and met her husband's loving gaze. She noticed an awake Kya cradled in his arms, too.

"Aang.. you're here. Why does everything sound so loud? And why are my ears aching?"

Aang and Kya looked at each other before snickering quietly. Katara watched how her husband leaned closer to her, reaching for something on her belly. He grabbed the metal end of her stethoscope and pressed it against his chest. Hearing the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, Katara blushed and averted her gaze, realizing what'd happened. She remembered now. She tried to remove the earpieces ever so slowly.

"Ow-ow-ow!.. My poor ears. I don't think I'm gonna be able to listen for a week," she said, rubbing at the inside of her ears.

"This ain't the first time it's happened, you know," Aang said with a smirk while wiggling his brows. Kya started laughing when Katara gently nudged him in the ribs. She took the stethoscope from his hands, coiled it up and put it back on her desk.

"So, did you have a fun day at work with mommy?" the airbender wondered, tickling his daughter's chin while his wife rolled up her waterbending scroll and put it back in the drawer.

"Mhmm, it was really fun!" Kya said excitedly. She began retelling everything fun she'd done with her mother ever since they arrived in the morning. Aang handed the plush Appa over to Katara so she could place it on the hidden shelf underneath her desk. She turned off the table lamp, almost leaving them in complete darkness. Luckily Aang used his firebending to provide them some light. Katara grabbed her shoulder bag from the coat rack, scanned over her office one last time, then stepped outside along with her husband and daughter, locking the room with her key.

"I drew some pretty pictures, daddy. Mommy loved them and she thought that you might love them, too!"

"Really? Well then, remind me to take a look once we're back home. I'd love to see them."

Even though the dim nightlights in the ceiling were turned on, Aang kept firebending to light their way as they walked down the corridor of the western wing and entered the staircase to head to the rooftop of the hospital where Appa was waiting for them.

"Appa!" Kya exclaimed as she rubbed her cheek against the sky bison's furry face and hugged him with her tiny hands. Appa grunted, closing his big brown eyes for a moment to enjoy the display of affection. Aang still held Kya in his arms, he grabbed Katara from her waist and she did the same. He gave all three of them a boost with his airbending and they landed on Appa's head. Kya continued talking about all the shenanigans she and her mommy had been up to throughout the day during their ride home.

By the time she'd finally climbed into her own bed, it was almost eleven o'clock. Aang joined her, letting Katara get ready for bed in the meantime, and to look at those drawings she'd been talking about so much.

"This is really beautiful!" the airbender said, looking at the picture of their entire family.

"Thanks, daddy!" Kya crawled out from under her blanket, closer to him to hug him from his middle. Aang stroked her head in return.

"Sweetie, would you mind if I framed this and put it up somewhere in my office?"

"Really, daddy? You'd do that?" the little waterbender gazed into her father's twinkling grey eyes. He nodded, a proud smile on his face.

"Mhmm."

"No, I wouldn't mind. Can I help you pick a spot?"

"Sure, you can come along to work with me next time I need to visit City Hall. Just like you went to the hospital with mommy today."

"Can we go see uncle Sokka, too?" Kya pleaded with her big glistening cerulean eyes. It'd been a while since the councilman had seen his little waterbending niece. Aang pulled his daughter into his embrace and kissed her temple.

"Of course. Nothing would make me happier."

[brynne-lagaao]

(Fanfic) Set in Stone - Chapter Thirteen

Title: Set in Stone

Pairing: Sarumi

Chapter: 13/18

Rating: R18 (explicit content)

Mirrors: AO3 | Website

Summary: Yata wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he performed a summon on his own in a fit of drunken loneliness. It definitely wasn’t some asshole demon with a bad attitude, even if that demon happened to be frustratingly hot. But breaking their contract was going to mean working together, and he wasn’t sure how much of that he could take before he snapped… one way or another.

Note: Thank you to @dropletons for being my beta and to @chromekins for helping with the magic aspect. This fic is not entirely accurate in terms of modern magic and the demon lore was basically made up to suit the story, but I tried to keep somewhat of an authentic feel, so hopefully that succeeded.

He didn’t wake up until past noon the next day, and when he did, his body was sore in places he didn’t even think he’d known about. Yata groaned a little as he transitioned from blissful oblivion to awareness, not quite ready to open his eyes, and tried to shift.

There was something pinning him in place – a warm something. Actually, a warm, moving something. There was a soft, amused hum almost right next to his ear, followed by a low murmur of, “That’s a nice sound.”

Right… That was why his ass felt so goddamn sore.

Not that he was complaining. Yata cracked an eye open partway, taking in the blurred outline of Fushimi’s face on the pillow next to his. “Morning,” he mumbled, feeling a bit more awake.

It was somehow relaxing to wake up like that, squished onto his bed with an attractive lover who’d blown his mind last night with some amazing sex. They’d ended up like that by choice too, not really talking about the logistics after cleaning up and instead just climbing into bed together without even bothering to put shirts on and passing out almost instantly.

Well… he had passed out almost instantly. He wasn’t sure about Fushimi.

Does that guy even actually sleep?

He seemed rested enough at least, considering he’d moved on to nibbling Yata’s ear, and his fingers were toying with the waistband of Yata’s underwear. The message was loud and clear.

And… despite how thoroughly they’d taken care of this last night, not at all unwelcome.

Yata allowed himself a small, rueful smile and a quiet huff. “Didn’t you get enough last night?” He shifted a bit, rolling onto his side so that they could face each other fully.

Fushimi offered him a lazy smirk in response. He wasn’t wearing glasses, and that plus his mussed hair made him look a bit different. Still hot as ever, but the new look was more of a lived-in, casual sort that made Yata’s heart start to race for no particular reason. “You’re already hard,” he murmured, taking the move as the permission it was and sliding his hand down to palm the hard lump of Yata’s morning erection through his underwear.

Yata shut his eyes, moaning appreciatively at the pleasurable touch.  “You started it,” he mumbled back. “Anyway, s’not what I asked.”

“It was enough then.” Fushimi slid his fingers around and down, tracing the outline of Yata’s balls through the fabric. “But this is now.”

He didn’t have an answer for that, and he was already feeling too good to want to waste time arguing. Yata settled for a gruff, “Right,” and arched forward obligingly into Fushimi’s touch.

They hadn’t quite used up all of his condoms last night, but they’d come close, and he’d even used one of them himself. By the time they had their final round in the shower, he was feeling sore – it had been a long time since his ass had seen any kind of activity, much less multiple rounds in one night – and so he’d fucked Fushimi against the tiled wall instead. Which had been a nice way to finish things off. After being so thoroughly worked over, it felt great to be on the other side of it. And Fushimi’s reactions were just as sexy as when he was on top, so he’d obviously enjoyed it too.

Hell, everything about last night was great…

Indulging his preferences so precisely was new actually, now that he thought about it. Yata didn’t really care for the expectation of bottoming for a partner every single time even if he wanted to most of the time, so most of his – short-lived – relationships were with guys who liked to switch. Pretty much all of them were interested in keeping things even in terms of how many times they took on either role, which meant compromise. He was okay with it, and would’ve been fine if that was what Fushimi had wanted, too. But considering how eager he’d been to repeatedly fuck Yata the past night, it didn’t seem to be. And he’d been enthusiastic enough about bottoming in the shower too, so it wasn’t like he had any of those annoying expectations.

Despite being an asshole in a lot of other ways, it seemed like Fushimi was just a really generous lover.

Also a really eager one, seeing as how he’d already parted the front flap on Yata’s underwear and pulled his dick from its confines. Yata let out a low, clipped groan as those clever fingers stroked him, body responding honestly to the pleasant stimulation.

Fuck, he’d had so much of this last night… Should it have been this easy to get him riled up now?

Who fucking cares. It felt good, and that was all that mattered in the moment. Letting out a little growl from deep in his throat, Yata surged up to capture Fushimi’s lips. He reached out in the same moment, roughly pulling him in by the hip so that their bodies came into contact. The hard length of Fushimi’s erection brushed his, amplifying his arousal, and he opened his mouth to bring their tongues into play, reveling in the damp heat that resulted.

Fushimi moaned with obvious approval against his mouth, opening his hand to allow their cocks to rub together with more freedom and thrusting into the contact. The damp head of his dick slid against Yata’s abdomen, hot and slick, and Fushimi’s body shuddered in reaction. Encouraged, Yata reached down to join his fingers with Fushimi’s, clumsily forming a makeshift circle around their erections as they moved sinuously against each other in search of that delicious friction.

It was crazy just how compatible their bodies seemed to be. Here they were, just like last night, going with the flow of things and what felt good – and everything seemed to… click into place.

At least this much was easy between them.

He definitely wasn’t dwelling on the complicated things in a moment like this, though. Yata let his mind empty, focusing on the pleasure, and it wasn’t much longer before he was releasing into their joined hands, a little moan on his lips and shuddering sensation rocking through his body. Fushimi followed not long after, trembling and flushed, mumbling Yata’s first name almost like a prayer as their kiss broke.

They lay panting in the aftermath for a few seconds afterwards, and as Yata’s mind and vision started to clear up again, he took the opportunity to study his bedmate.

As he was, Fushimi didn’t look much like a demon; disheveled and sweaty, face still flushed from the early morning exertion and lips swollen from kissing. He could’ve been someone Yata had met at a bar or on a dating site and liked well enough to bring home with him.

Hell, if he had done that… If there was no inconvenient contract and this was just a normal hook-up…

If that had been the case, then… from here, maybe…

A tiny ache was forming in his chest, and he couldn’t quite place where it was coming from. Yata furrowed his eyebrows, frowning a bit as he tried to piece together the source of that confusing feeling. It was like he was right on top of it; if he just reached a bit further…

Fushimi squinted at him then clicked his tongue and pushed himself up on one elbow, materializing a pair of glasses so he could eye Yata skeptically. “Why are you staring like that?” He raised an eyebrow, corners of his lips edging up. “Want another round already?”

Yata snorted. “Yeah, and then we’d never get out of bed. I’ll pass for now.” He shrugged off the earlier thoughts, pushing himself to sit up somewhat gingerly and grimacing as he noticed the sticky mess on the sheets. He was gonna have to change them – again – and if this kept up he’d probably be doing laundry way more often. “I pretty much already missed work, and we wanna try to grab another charge today, right?”

“If you say so,” Fushimi drawled in response, sitting up languidly. “It’s not like I care either way.”

That’s new. “Heh. Weren’t you the one who wanted to stay up all night getting this done?” Yata had stood – only a little bit shaky on his feet – with the intention of getting a clean outfit from his drawers, but he turned at that, offering a smirk. “What happened to ‘no excuses’, huh?”

He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but something in Fushimi’s expression seemed almost wary. He offered another of those lazy smirks, drawing out his words as usual, but it felt different in a way that Yata couldn’t quite put his finger on. “Sex doesn’t count as an excuse.”

“Yeah, sure.” That brought something back to the front of his mind, though. Yata frowned a little, feeling awkward about bringing it up. “Hey… so, you already figured out… y’know… the shit that I like.” He wasn’t sure why it was so damn hard to say ‘being fucked’ when they’d done it so many times the night before, but whatever. “What about you? Don’t you have a preference or – ?”

“Not really.” Fushimi cut him off, his tone flippant as usual. He got up from the bed gracefully, stretching, and Yata was momentarily distracted by the fact that he hadn’t bothered to materialize any underwear. It was… not a bad view. “I’m flexible. Though if you want to talk about preferences…” His smirk widened, eyes going lidded as he picked up on Yata’s lingering gaze. “I’d say, anything that makes it so that you can’t stop thinking about” – there was a pause, almost unnoticeable – “it.”

Yata bit back a shiver, still somehow finding himself transfixed even after being thoroughly satisfied physically. “R-right.” He swallowed, letting that dizzying wave of attraction run its course before adding a bit roughly, “Well, if there’s something you wanna do or whatever, just say so. I can be flexible too, y’know.”

Fushimi hummed, low and amused. “I noticed that last night.”

A vivid memory of being bent over himself with his knees braced on Fushimi’s shoulders as he was penetrated at just the right angle to hit his prostate came rushing back; Yata felt heat rising fast on his shoulders and neck, and quickly turned to yank his drawer open, scowling. “That’s not what I meant, goddamnit!”

“Mmhm.” Fushimi brushed past him, close enough so that they made contact and Yata’s skin prickled pleasantly in reaction. “I’m using the bathroom first.”

Of course he was. “Sure.”

It was still well before sunset when they were ready to head out, and the weather was holding – Yata was kinda hoping that was a sign the rainy season was over. Not only because it mean they’d be able to finish what they were doing more easily, but because tomorrow was –

Oh. Right.

“By the way,” he started, pulling on his shoes, “I forgot to mention, tomorrow's no good for charging.” To Fushimi’s questioning look, he explained, “I gotta be at Homra all day and late into the night. It's the solstice.”

“Seriously?” Fushimi clicked his tongue. “You're just mentioning this now?”

“Hey, I didn’t think you’d be around this long, okay? Anyway, I forgot.” Yata shrugged it off. “I got a lot on my mind lately.”

"So I noticed." Fushimi’s tone was dry. “What does your coven do for solstice anyway?”

“Fire ritual.” It was one of the things he looked forward to every year. “We do it out by where my garden is, so I usually head out early to start getting stuff ready and everyone meets me out there. We light the bonfire just as the sun’s going down.”

“The usual, then.” Fushimi let out a short sigh, seeming resigned, and then gave him another of those inscrutable gazes. “We only have four charging points left anyway, so it won’t be much longer after this.”

Only four... He’d been keeping track of the number, but now that he thought about it, that really wasn’t much. Two days and two nights – and then they could null the contract and go their separate ways.

The thought gave him a funny feeling – he wasn’t sure entirely what, but it sat heavy in the pit of his stomach, as if weighing him down. There was something familiar about it, but he couldn't quite place it. Just a general sense of... restlessness? Discomfort? It was confusing. “Right,” he agreed gruffly to cover the moment. “So what’s next, anyway?”

“Two options for now.” Fushimi materialized his laptop, open in front of him. He held it one-handed, manipulating the mousepad with the other. “One would be the point we found yesterday, and the other...” He shot a little sideways glance at Yata. “I'm guessing you know it.”

Right, that. He'd almost forgotten about it with everything else that was going on, but there was still that location that was meant to be personal to him. The discomfort he’d felt earlier grew to more of a gnawing sense of unease. “Yeah.”

It wasn’t like he hated the place, exactly... More like he had a mix of both good and bad memories, but a lot of it was more painful to think about than anything. He wasn’t gonna be able to repress that – hell, he couldn’t even hold it back now, just talking about it – which meant he’d be sharing it, and he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea.

The thought of showing more of his weakness to Fushimi gave him another of those odd feelings. It wasn’t like it had been at the beginning. More like... he was anxious. Not so much about getting that shit aired, or even the invasion of his privacy, but… well…

If he broke it down, what he was really anxious about was having to put this on Fushimi. He hadn’t exactly signed up for it. What the hell was he gonna think if Yata kept dumping his baggage on him?

“I don’t mind, if that's what you’re worried about.” When he shook off his thoughts, Fushimi was giving him a searching look. He glanced away when Yata met his gaze, deliberately focusing on the screen of his laptop as his voice lowered to a mumble. “Either way, we’ll have to do mine tonight.”

Oh yeah. That was right, it wasn’t just him – Fushimi had a place that was significant to him in some way too. Yata still wasn’t sure why – if he couldn’t come to this realm without a contract, then how had he formed memories here? – but it made sense they’d have to go there next if there were only two moon charging points left. One was gonna be Munakata’s place and they were supposed to do it last, so there wasn’t any more searching or planning to do at all.

Tonight, then. The thought gave him a tiny surge of something like excitement. Fushimi had been an enigma from day one, and it was hard as hell to learn to read him, even if Yata thought he’d picked up a thing or two by that point. He was secretive and evasive, and he barely dropped anything about his personal life if he could help it. Yata couldn’t help being curious; if there was something at this place that might give him a clue about what was in Fushimi’s head, he was all for it.

But as far as sun charging points went… Yata tilted his head, frowning a bit as he thought it over.

He wasn’t totally sure what to make of the reaction in front of him; in the first place, he wasn’t great at reading Fushimi’s expressions – and the hunched posture was the same as usual. If he was going purely on that, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

But…

Going with his instincts was always best. Yata straightened. “Then we’ll hit up mine today too.” He grinned when Fushimi glanced at him. “Get ’em both out of the way, right?”

He could tell right away it was the right move; for a brief instant, Fushimi’s eyes widened, expression almost charmingly startled. He blinked twice, staring at Yata with something that looked a lot like the bewilderment he’d shown a couple times in the past, and then seemed to recover, looking away again with a frown and clicking his tongue. “Whatever you say.”

Not honest at all. Yata was starting to find it cute, in a vaguely frustrating sort of way. He shook his head, still grinning. “Right, let’s go, then!”

It wasn’t far to fly, mainly because it wasn’t all that far from Homra. One of the reasons Yata had picked his current apartment was because it was also pretty close to his coven’s headquarters, so by proxy this place wasn’t a long way to go from where he lived either. They were still completely separate neighborhoods, though, and despite both being residential districts, there was a different feel to them. His current place was close enough to the entertainment district to be generally more adult; kids weren’t playing on the street, and there weren’t any schools or playgrounds in the area. Their destination was more like Jungle’s home turf – or rather, the family housing area that flanked it.

That was why he’d mentioned Jungle being like the place he lived when he was little. Because it was like this place.

At the end of one block, there was an apartment complex – only three stories, with about five or so small income housing units on each floor intended mostly for young families and couples. Yata flew right to it without bothering to check any of the other buildings in the area, landing on the roof with confidence and raising his face toward the sun without any surprise as the energy increased in intensity. He retracted his wings immediately and pulled on his shirt, closing his eyes against the wave of nostalgia that struck as he took note of his surroundings and letting that warm light relax him.

Back here again… He really had mixed feelings.

Still, he wasn’t flaking out – as Fushimi landed behind him, he opened his eyes and reached into his pocket, drawing out the moonstone and holding it up to expose it to the familiar, comforting power of the sun beating down on them.

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Fushimi spoke. “You lived here, huh?”

“Yeah.” Yata shot him a rueful half-grin. “Kinda thought you’d guess.”

“It doesn’t take much,” Fushimi murmured, meeting his gaze for just long enough to acknowledge it before turning to glance around curiously.

The weather was good and it was after school hours, which meant kids were out playing, gathered mostly on the small playground in front of the elementary school across the street. There were smaller groups of older kids clustered on the sidewalks and in corners of the school grounds, but most of their noise was lost in the unmoderated voices of the younger ones.

The neighborhood was still as active as ever, even if there was obviously no one he’d recognize. Yata felt the familiarity strike him as he followed Fushimi’s gaze, almost dizzying. When he’d lived here it had been on the third floor, so the view out the window was nearly the same as this. It didn’t have to be the same kids outside to feel like deja-vu.

“Misaki, if you go out, you have to promise me…”

Yata blinked, shaking his head against the sudden, vivid memory of his mother’s voice. He hadn’t noticed at the time, but she’d been really anxious. When he was a kid, it hadn’t registered, but now… Yeah, he could see how hard it was, trying to give him as much of a normal life as she could without alerting others to his… nature. A tiny lump rose at the back of his throat, the remnants of that nearly forgotten hurt surfacing along with it.

“Why would you even think about keeping him? The kid is a fr – ”

“Don’t you dare say another word!”

“Damn,” he muttered, reaching up with his free hand to rub the back of his neck. Even now, he wasn’t sure why it was so much easier to remember the painful stuff than all the good moments he’d had here, living with just his mom. Hell, he’d even met Kamamoto here, a friend he’d reconnected with later and relied on to this day. And he sure hadn’t thought much about the bad shit when he was little.

But now somehow, it was only the things he’d brushed off then that stuck with him.

Like that shithead’s voice…

Fushimi stepped up beside him, silent for once in the face of Yata’s fervent emotions. Even his gaze was turned away, as if he had a sense of any scrutiny being unwelcome in the moment. When Yata glanced at him, looking for a distraction, he was standing with a slight hunch, noticeably awkward, but without any indication of annoyance. His expression was placid and even, almost bored, but it was possible to see the keen spark in his eyes as he surveyed their surroundings. Regardless of how he wanted to appear, he was taking everything in.

Maybe this situation wasn’t the most comfortable for him, but he was there – actively engaged and not just physically present. That said something.

Yata couldn’t stop the little surge of appreciation, lips curling up despite his earlier mood, and it was enough to draw Fushimi’s gaze to him, along with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing.” Yata shook his head, letting out a wry huff. “Just… I’m glad you’re here. Or something.” Not wanting to leave that assertion hanging on its own, he quickly went on. “I lived here with my mom ’til I was seven. It wasn’t bad or anything, just… I was a kid, y’know?” He reached up to scratch the back of his head, agitated. “First time I brought my wings out, I was like three.” Drawing in a breath, he added, “I didn’t really… get why it was bad. You know how kids are.” Shrugging awkwardly, he pulled another rueful smile. “Mom was always double checking that I wouldn’t do it in public. But she still let me play outside all the time – I think she just wanted me to feel normal, even if I wasn’t.”

Fushimi made a soft hum of acknowledgement. “If you were anything like you are now, she probably just wanted you to use up your energy.”

The unexpectedly pragmatic response startled an amused huff out of him. “Yeah, fuck you too,” Yata responded without any resentment, jabbing out an elbow lightly at the arm closest to him. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“You ‘weren’t’, huh?” Fushimi offered him a lazy smile in response. “Does that mean you’re worse now than you were as a seven-year-old?”

“Quit being a prick!” Yata elbowed him again harder, but grinned sharply back all the same. “You know what I mean.”

“I know,” Fushimi agreed easily. “For the record, I don’t believe you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Asshole.” It was almost a term of endearment by that point. Yata shook his head. “Anyway, in case you’re wondering, mom remarried and we moved somewhere else when I was seven. I got a brother and sister who are a lot younger than me. They’re – y’know – normal. Human.” He shrugged again, finding it a bit harder to keep it casual. “They don’t know about me. Mom never asked, but I just… stopped. Never brought my wings out again, until Homra.”

He paused there, not sure how much he wanted to unload, and a little surprised by how strong the urge to just go ahead with it was. It had to be something about the mood. In a weird way, now that they were at this point, some of that reluctance to burden Fushimi with it had gone. He kinda wanted to share it.

Maybe if I do, he’ll trust me with his past, too.

That was a good enough motivator right there. “Actually, my real dad lived here too, back then. Like, the three of us lived together. I don’t remember a lot about it.” A face red and contorted with anger and fear popped into his head, mouth moving around that one word. After the first time, his mom had always stopped it partway through.

Freak.

Yata shut his eyes, swallowing back the little ache. It shouldn’t have affected him after all this time – hell, it hadn’t at the time – and still… “He wanted to get rid of me. Dunno how. I mean, I was registered and all. He hated the wings, though.” He felt his mouth curl into a sneer. “Not being normal really pissed him off or something. Anyway” – he shrugged again, trying to dismiss the inexplicable hurt – “they argued all the time, until one day he stopped showing up. Never saw him again.”

Fushimi didn’t say anything. When Yata opened his eyes again, checking, he found himself being regarded silently, without expression. It was oddly comforting.

Made it easier to continue, too. “After that it was just me and mom. I didn’t mind it. I mean, as a kid you don’t really get it, right? I didn’t figure most of this shit out until I was older.” Another shrug, and as much of a grin as he could summon. “I was, what, four? Obviously no one was more important than my mom.”

“‘Obviously’,” Fushimi repeated slowly, as if to himself. His eyes were strangely distant. He shook his head when Yata shot him a curious look, a slightly sardonic smile on his lips. “Never mind. Go on.”

“Right.” Shoving down his questions – there was a chance he’d find out later, hopefully – Yata nodded and continued. “So I figured it’d always be like that, just me and her. Then my stepdad showed up.” He couldn’t help the way his mouth quirked at that, not exactly pleasantly.

Not that his stepdad was a bad guy – actually, he was a really good guy, and somehow that had made it worse. Even at six years old, he’d at least gotten a sense that the little world he and his mom had with just the two of them wasn’t as good as what a new husband – a new family – could offer her.

“After they got married and they had my brother, things got weird. Not really bad – like my family’s pretty cool and all – but they’re a real family, all of them related and everything. All of them normal.” It was the first time he’d even started to wonder why the hell he was different when everyone else was the same. Yata looked away from Fushimi, frowning down at the street instead. “It started to feel like even though my real dad was an asshole, he mighta had a point. It probably would’ve been better for my mom if she didn’t have me.” He let out another huff, this one humorless, and attempted again to shrug off the residual ache. “At least, it would’ve been easier.”

There was a stark moment of silence between them as those words hung in the air.

Fushimi clicked his tongue sharply, breaking it before there was time to wallow in those feelings. “You know,” he mumbled, meeting Yata’s gaze when he turned, “there’s something I had to learn after the Captain hired me.” His lips quirked, a hint of annoyance reaching his features. “It’s something he’d probably say actually, but it’s still worth thinking about.” The dry tone eased off into something a little more serious as he added, “The easier path isn’t necessarily the best one to take.”

Yata blinked at him, momentarily taken aback. “R-right,” he managed, after a beat.

It wasn’t so much the sentiment – although it was a little jarring to apply it in this context; he’d never really thought of his mom’s feeling in that sense – but the fact that Fushimi had said he’d had to learn it. The similarity to his own struggle in the past years was a little too striking to ignore; he’d come to the same conclusion regarding his own situation, after the weight of all the years he had in front of him had started to feel crushing and oppressive.

Easier would’ve meant still not taking his mom’s calls. Distancing himself from Homra completely. Giving up on going out or looking for connections. Resigning himself to being alone, since everyone he cared about would die again and again before he finally followed. Never bothering to trust, because of how easily it could’ve blown up in his face.

“I don’t want a goddamn freak for a kid – are you kidding me?”

He didn’t think there was any part of him that would’ve considered taking that easy path, not for a second.

Maybe she felt the same way. There was a sting behind his eyes; Yata blinked a few times to hold it at bay, and then gave up and lifted his free hand to scrub at his face, brushing aside the traitorous moisture. “Heh!” The word came out thick, but he didn’t bother to worry about it, offering a real smile. “I figured that one out too, but thanks for the reminder.”

Fushimi’s lips quirked a little in response, not quite a smile. “I didn’t do anything special.” He turned his gaze, looking a bit awkward about it. “You don’t have to be grateful when all I’m doing is reminding you of things you already know.”

“Yeah, well, still.” Somehow, that little frown made his heart skip a beat. It was sorta cute, maybe. “S’not really about what you said. More like, you listened to me seriously. It helped a lot.” The smile on his face widened. “So just accept the thanks already!”

Fushimi clicked his tongue, but finally allowed that tiny smile to overtake him, eyes shutting briefly. “Fine. If it’ll shut you up” – he turned to meet Yata’s gaze again, one eyebrow raised – “you’re welcome.”

Yata shook his head, the grin on his face not slipping. “Jerk.”

The light hum he got in response sounded almost like music to his ears.

[clownmoontoon]

As a traditional artist, I really appreciated that post. I also use crayola, but I scan, and i find that it tends to separate the colors that I blend. I might try to start taking photos, do you have any elaborations on the whole light thing? How do you do it? -PS your stuff is super cute!

ohh yeahh haha i have learned that scanners are basically color vampires

they suck the life out of any colored piece u_u

tbh i would only use a scanner if the drawing is monochrome or maybe monochrome + red. red is so forgiving hahaits one of the only colors that looks great no matter how you scan or photograph it

and awww!! thank you so much!! QuQ

its a bit hard to offer tips for lighting things bc its honestly so much about experimentation! here’s a few things i can think of off the top of my head tho :0c

1. morning to noon sunlight!

if youre going to be using sunlight coming in from a window for your photos i recommend using light from 10am -12pm/1pmimo this is the most flattering natural light!

also!! this is the most flattering light for selfies too ;D

it creates a very soft yet warm light that will bring out your warm tones but its still soft enough to compliment your cooler tones too!

very flattering all around (which is why it looks nice on your face too haha)

this photo was taken under morning light! the warmer tones (like the hair, tights and skin) are a bit brighter looking than irl and i love that! when you start learning how light works you can make your photos look even better than the original! the pinks in her ears are actually barely visible irl, but i knew that the soft warm light would bring it out just enough to look really pleasant in the photo ^u^

2. white light!

if you can find a light somewhere that is completely white i recommend trying this too! white light is super pure and wont really affect your colors at all except by possibly making them a bit pale. which, if your drawing is pastel or light/soft in nature is a very good thing!

besides morning light ive found white light to be the most flattering and most able to not affect my colors in any way which is good bc obv you want your photo to be as close to the original as possible!

this photo was taken under white light and it looks p much exactly the same as the original!

3. take a photo of white paper

your eyes can play tricks on you! a photo may look fine on your phone but once you upload it to your computer it looks incredibly dark, blurry or weirdly colored!

i recommend taking photos of what ever white paper you are drawing on in all light sources you are considering using, and then upload those photos and look at the paper. you might be surprised to see how differently colored your paper looks in different lights!

whichever photo is the closest to the original paper’s color is the light you wanna go with if you want to make sure that your color is barely affected, if at all, by the light (like the pic above of howlite and moon!)

if your paper looks yellow in the light that means it has a warmer tint. it will make your paper look a bit like parchment and give a sort of vintage feel to the drawing like this one:

this drawing is actually quite old but its the best example i have of the yellow light effect hahatbh i dont really care for yellow light (which is why i dont have many new examples) bc im much more aesthetically drawn to the cooler or white lights but yellow can def have a neat affect!

i hope these tips help!!

[sometimescarolinewrites-blog]

Someday I Wanna Marry My Oldest Brother, Here’s Reasons Why.

Being the only daughter in my family, I grew up with two older brothers. My brothers and I have a huge age gap. With my oldest, his name is Bobby (from the Robert Kennedy), there’s like 13 years of age gap, while for another, the youngest one, Tito, (from Joseph Broz Tito) there’s 9 years difference of age.

My dad loves politics and history so much, he even named all his children with the world’s best leaders. I guess my mom loves him even more, she only satisfied with 1 Javanese name she put in all of her children’s names, lol. Mine would be Elizabeth, well it just happened to be my baptism name, inspired from the Queen of Great Britain herself and his Queen of his heart, his Mama, my Granny.

Moving on, my dad had always wanted a daughter. Apparently, having a daughter was some sort of pride in Flores culture, where Flores tribes adopted and honored the matrilineal system. (Oh, how I adore this kind of thinking!) Again, inspired by his former boss in the military, where the general and his wife had an unexpected pregnancy in the age of 46, that made my dad thought they still had a chance to have another baby. At that time my dad was 39 and my mom was 35.

Long story short, I was born in 1989. So, imagine my two brothers who had spent their bromance time, suddenly had to make some room for this tiny little baby girl in the house. For me, the apple’s of daddy’s eyes. Lol.

Anyway, that was just an introduction of my family. Things that I wanted to share with you was a lot bigger than just my family background.

So, did you happen to read the article of Reese Witherspoon and her thoughts about the women and ambition. If not, I suggest you to read everything she has to say about the power of female ambition. Now I truly understand why she was awarded as Women Of The Year in 2015 by Glamour Magazine, because she and her thoughts are amazing! Quoting one of her statements in that pep talk-essay is:

“Run away from a man who can’t handle your ambition. So many men think ambition is sexy.”

Yes. You read that right. She strongly advised us (women) to runaway from a man who can’t handle our ambition in life. Those men who can’t accept our views and goals are not worth a damn second of our precious time, because women with vision and dreams belong to nobody but her vision and dreams itself.

So please, let me explain about my daring and a bit misleading title, about me wanted to marry my oldest brother. 

My brother got married in 2009 with my sister in law. And then they have two kids and in 2011, a few months after my niece was born, my brother decided to resign from the creative and advertising agency he used to build his career on. When he resigned, he was the Creative Manager of that one agency (where he and his wife had met, because at that time, his wife was his client), and his decision might have shocked my parents. He quitted because he wanted to be a stayed at home dad but would have still accept some creative design work from home (a freelancer).

My Dad was completely shocked at that time. My dad was old enough and he was raised conventionally where the man should be out of the home making some career and cash, not the woman. The thought of being a stayed at home dad and being a freelancer was something he could not imagine. He was a bit upset but he knew he was helpless because he respected the idea that my brother built a family of his own. So my dad told everything about his concerns to…… of course, yours truly. 😅

But long before my brother made this decision, he told me his vision. Due to that, I had some ammo to carefully explain to my dad why my brother took that action.

Here’s the reasons:

1. My brother saw the hard struggle being a mother and a career woman. He learned the struggle from our mom, who happened to have a career yet she was still able to manage to do all the house works for her husband and three kids.

2. He saw that struggles in his wife. The stressful days at work sometimes got on my sister in law’s nerves and it caused her an unnecessary tension and stress. The overnight working hours, deadlines, and all that so he knew he had to take actions before everything could get worse.

3. He just simply used his logic. He knew that his wife’s career was way better than what he was having at that moment, if he asked his wife to resign from her work, this would create an imbalance cash flow for his family. And of course, he was eager to send his children to the best Catholic schools in Jakarta, for my nephew to be in Colese Canisius (his beloved almamater), and for my niece is Santa Ursula. (Where I wasn’t accepted there probably because I wasn’t smart enough -- tears).

4. If they both were still working, their children would not get the parent’s affections and attentions, as they would probably grow up with other’s affections. You see, in my brother’s opinion, to give a full attention at your children is already the hardest thing, imagine if you have to do it while doing deadlines and all that work stuffs?

5. But despite all that, he saw that his wife had the passion and ambition to go further on her career, so he took action by NOT throwing her any challenges at home and supported her all the way to achieve the best at her career.

6. He knew, his wife had a better education, so he thought that my sister in law had invested the money and time long before they even met each other. He didn’t want his wife to bury all of her dreams, when instead he encouraged her to pursue her dreams and career.

7. Those are the things that I really wish I could get in my future partner. To support and encourage each other for greater benefits, to step down when needed, to sacrifice all of his ego so that us women can have more values other than just the baby and home maker. My brother truly believed that every woman was born with something more than that. This shows of how he raise my niece, Gia, where he never stop encouraging my niece to pursue and achieve whatever it is she’s aiming, as long as it’s something positive.

8. My niece currently takes ballet, drawing and singing classes at her school. And for every noon she would play some soccer in our neighborhood along with other boys. He even tells me that Gia is so much alike me, so he hoped one day Gia could be a woman that I am now, but without attending the “digit” school. Hahaha. Well I wish Gia would be the woman more than what I am now too Mas Bobby! ❤️

9. My brother does not pity himself for making breakfast each morning for his children, taking them to school, attending parents meeting, taking Gia to her ballet classes, taking Kaka to his soccer games, you know all that Stayed At Home Dads duties, cause he is proud of what he is and he does not care about what other people think of himself, cause guess what, these people opinions do not pay my damn bills. (Well IDGAF Attitude somehow runs real well in our blood haha).

10. But don’t get him wrong, he still takes his freelance jobs doing some creatives for advertising/designs. I won’t mention any brands but they’re huge cause I’ve seen him staying up all alone late at nights creating all these ads. Dan setiap kali invoice cair gue suka kecipratan hore!

You see all the reasons why I wanna marry someone who carries the same vision like my brother someday? A man who strongly believes that women were born with many purposes in lives other than just to marry and have kids. That we are capable of doing something great or even do what men’s currently do as well. Best way to wrap my writing is, find yourself a man who is not afraid of your ambition but instead thinking that your ambition is logical, achievable and makes you sexier!

[mamakittea]

Diary of a Horny Barista ~ Rachel, My next conquest

“Mmm… Logan…” He pressed light kisses along my neck, his hand up my shirt, caressing my breast. We’d been seeing quite a bit of each other recently, managing to, instead of fucking in the back of his car, get a hotel room. It was just more comfortable. It was 2:30 in the morning, my alarm had just gone off. Since we were on one end of Waikiki over by Ala Moana, and the coffee shop I worked in was all the way in Diamond Head area, near Kahala, I had to leave a little earlier than I normally would to get to the store by 3:30. Plus the extra time meant I could shower and brush my teeth before I left. It didn’t look like I’d be doing any of that today though.

 As soon as my alarm had gone off this morning, Logan had rolled over and started to kiss the back of my shoulders. He knew by now, from a few weeks of meeting up in secret, where all my little spots were. Back of my shoulders, along the shoulder blades and just up the back of my neck were the surest ways to get me going. I had rolled over on to my back so that I could wrap my arms around him, but he had easily captured both my wrists in one of his hands and pinned me to the bed with his body. “Logan I have to get ready…” he pushed my shirt up over my bare breasts – because who wears a bra when they’re sleeping? – trailing kisses down my neck and over my collar bone, until he took my breast into his mouth.

 Gasping, and arching my back into his mouth, I let him do as he pleased. Logan was a little bit needy, I had noticed, but I liked it. I liked that he needed me, and that I could satisfy him. He started to move lower, trailing kisses down my stomach, releasing my hands as he went so that he could pull my panties down my legs. When they were off, he tossed them to the floor, and spread my legs. Logan lowered his head and flicked his tongue out. I moaned softly, reaching down and tangling my fingers in his luscious brown hair. He licked my clit with such vigor it wasn’t long before I had my orgasm.

 Panting softly, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him as he positioned himself to slide into me… but then my 3 o’clock alarm went off. Groaning, I pushed him off, and got out of bed. He grumbled, “So unfair…”

 I chuckled, turning the lights one so that I could find my panties and put them away, exchanging them for clean ones. “Well dear, it wouldn’t do to not show up to work with the manager knowing where I was the whole time now would it? I think it would look pretty bad for me… I’d have to lie.” I pulled out a black button down shirt, a bra, a skirt, and some socks.

 He rolled onto his back, sighing in defeat. “Who do you open with today?”

 “Rachel.”

 “Really? Huh. She doesn’t usually open.”

 “Yeah. I think she switched with someone. Something about, like, needing the evening off or something. I don’t know.” I shrugged my shirt on, buttoning it up quickly and efficiently, stealing Logans last open look at my chest. I grabbed my phone from the bed side table and slid my thumb across the screen to unlock it, tapping on the Uber app and calling myself a driver. “Maybe I’ll see you later,” I said, kneeling on the bed and giving him a quick peck on the cheek before grabbing my bag and leaving the room.

 I didn’t really want to leave him like that, I felt a little bad that he didn’t get off, but I wasn’t going to think about that as I headed into work today. Logan and I were a fling, nothing more. I intended to explore some of my other coworkers a bit, just wanting a taste, and Rachel was my next conquest. Which made opening with her a sweet coincidence. Sure, there wouldn’t be a large truck for me to fuck her in, but I’m sure I’d come up with something. There were all kinds of places that the cameras in the store couldn’t see us, I’d just have to maneuver her into one of those blind spots before I could make my move.

 The Uber ride from the hotel to the store didn’t take very long, it being 3:15 in the morning and all, and I was able to start the opening tasks already before Rachel even got to the store, which was good, because then we’d have less to do later. I smirked to myself, letting myself in and punching in the alarm code.

 There were three places that would work best for this sort of thing: The oven, though very unsanitary, the hallway by the refrigerator though a little uncomfortable, or the little stock hall way by the door, though to get to the stock portion of the store, you had to cross in front of the camera watching who was coming in and out of the door.  The fridge area was probably the safest, and it’s not like I needed her to sit down or anything. This was going to be fun, I could feel it.

 As it drew closer to opening, I decided to move a chair over to the fridges so that dear Rachel would be comfortable. I realized, begrudgingly, just how impractical it would be to seduce and then tongue fuck my coworker during the half hour we would need to make sure we were prepared for the opening of the store. Since it was a Friday, I realized how unfair it would be to my coworkers, and put the chair back, electing to not be a selfish asshole. Sighing, I finished making ice coffee and teas.

 At exactly 3:30, Rachel showed up, and I let her into the store. “Morning!” She said as cheerily as she could at this ungodly hour.

 “Morning,” I murmured back, smiling faintly as she hurried passed me into the back of the store so she could clock in and put on her apron.

 I undressed her in my mind as I went back to the opening tasks. I made shure we had coffee grounds in the espresso machines, made sure the ice bins were full, made sure we had backups of all our sauces, etc. Rachel used her time to put expiration dates on our food items, setting up the food station to make life easy. She also put all the lunch items away and made sure everything else in the back of the store was stocked.

 We spent the next half hour in silence, each doing our own thing. At 4, when the store opened, I returned to the back of the store to deal with my Shift obligations, ordering food, sauces, etc., as well as putting away the order that came in last night. Lots to do, lots to think about, but the only thing on my mind was Rachel.

 She’s about a head short than I am, with thin but soft brown hair that she usually fashioned in a ponytail or bun, for work. And because her hair was so fine, the shorter hairs in front would sometimes slip from her hair tie and frame her face. She had a lovely oval face, her eyes were perfect, slightly pinched on the edges, making her slight Asian heritage apparent. She had this nose that just fit perfectly on her face, it was so cute I wanted to just boop her, pretty much all the time, and her mouth was petite and beautiful, and the kisses I wanted to bestow on her lips would ravage them. Rachel was thin, her hips subtle giving way to gloriously adorable legs. Her breasts were petite and I imagine would fit perfectly within my hands were I to be so bold.

 I got through the day relatively quickly, constantly getting distracted whenever Rachel walked by, and I felt like a total creep by the end of the shift. We both ended at noon, thank goodness, and as she was packing up to leave, I hesitated for just a moment before asking, “Wanna have lunch with me?”

 Rachel turned around, her eyes slightly widening. I wasn’t sure if she was surprised… in a pleasant way or if she was thinking, ‘creeper alert’. I felt my face heat up and scratched the tip of my nose nervously. To my relief though, she smiled. “Sure, I’d love that. Where did you have in mind?”

 “Oh well there’s this burger place over at Kahala, I think we went there once with some of the guys…” I shrugged. “You seemed to like it the last time so…” I started to feel the need to fidget as she took me in, probably trying to figure out my intentions… or maybe not. Maybe she just thought I wanted to hang out.

 “Yeah I remember it. Sounds awesome.”

 “Great. I can drive us there if you want. You usually take the bus right?”

 “Yes, I do. So a ride would be awesome,” she grinned as me, and we walked out of the store, waving goodbye to the miscellaneous coworkers milling about on the main floor.

 The drive to the mall was quick, painless, but finding parking was a nightmare, as would be expected at lunch time. The silence in the car was slowly driving me insane and I can’t begin to express my level of relief when we finally found a parking spot relatively close to the burger place. The restaurant was called The Counter, and you could build your own burgers (or of course pick from one of the ones they suggest on their regular menu). We were seated in a booth over by a wall of windows, saddeningly far from the bar, but that was alright. I wanted my wits about me when I worked up the courage to ask Rachel to sleep with me.

 Lunch was nice. We ordered out burgers and order some delicious parmesan fries, and just talked. We talked about life, about work, about how school was going for her, about why I didn’t go to college, all kinds of stuff. It wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t weird, our conversation flowed and peaked and it was just really nice. Have you ever clicked with someone so easily that every other conversation you’ve had with potential partners mean nothing? Usually, on what I would consider a first date, I always hope there will be a spark in my stomach, something that draws me to the person other than the possibility of sexual attraction. With Rachel? I was feeling fricken fireworks.

 I wanted to take her home, but I knew my mom and brother would probably be home by the this time. I also realized that I didn’t want to rush this. With Logan, it had been pure lust, pure passion that drove us to fuck in his car. With Rachel, there was suddenly something else, there was suddenly something more and instead of fucking her senseless and walking away, I wanted to explore this a little more thoroughly.

 Rachel and I said goodbye outside of the restaurant. She was going to take the bus home, she refused to let me drive her, and I was planning on doing the same and taking another cold shower to clear my head. I gave her a hug and was surprised at how perfectly she fit in my arms. How cliché, that I felt like my arms were made just told her in them. I felt a blush creep into my cheeks and watched her walk away for a moment before heading to my own car.

 Logan texted me and wanted me to come back to the hotel, so I did and we fucked quite a bit, quite thoroughly, this way and that, on every surface of that room. Afterwards we just laid in bed together and I told him about my day, leaving out my lunch with Rachel. At some point we ended up in the hotel restaurant, eating some delicious Japanese food and drinking some fancy wine. I got a little bit tipsy and let Logan undress me and get me into bed after dinner. The whole time he made love to me though, I couldn’t stop thinking about a lovely little barista with eyes that held the highest of expectations.