#can't trust my own queue | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

helloalycia · 10 months ago

Text

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 [𝐓𝐖𝐎] —𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐎𝐑

summary: Jackie and you become closer and she takes it as a challenge to make you fall for her charms.

warning/s: none.

author’s note: part 2 is finally here, sorry for the delay! i’ve had a migraine all day otherwise i would’ve posted this earlier 😅 hope you like it!

one / three / masterlist / wattpad

A month passed and any reminder of my conflict with Leroy and Tiffany had faded into oblivion. Jackie was correct in assuming they'd drop their beef with me, and once my hand was healed and Jackie's face no longer looked like an overly inflated balloon, there was nothing left to remind me of the incidents that occurred.

The only thing to come out of the whole experience was being a little more than acquaintances with Jackie. I couldn't go as far as saying we were friends, but she definitely felt the need to greet me more whenever she saw me in class, and I didn't mind returning the favour.

The real shift in our relationship began when Van, Jackie, Shauna and I were grouped up for a History class project. It was a presentation we needed to pull together, so we'd all made plans to meet up to discuss everything over coffee, which is how I found myself driving there with Van in my new car.

"You know you're gonna have to take me everywhere now," Van pointed out from the passenger seat with a grin. "I'm gonna be your passenger princess."

I laughed. "Hey, I don't mind. It's a bit of a rust bucket, but it beats skateboarding everywhere." I paused, then added, "Who am I kidding? I'm gonna miss skateboarding everywhere."

"We can still hit up the skate park every now and then," she promised. "But driving is a lot easier, you can't lie."

I smiled in agreement. After using some of my savings and convincing my parents it was time to get a car, they bought me an old, second-hand banger from one of my dad's friends who owned a garage. It wasn't the best looking car, but after a wash and a little bit of sprucing up with some car accessories, it looked decent enough to serve its purpose.

Conveniently, I pulled up at the coffee shop at the same time as Shauna, who was parking a few spots down. When Van and I jumped out the car with our bags, Jackie and Shauna were already approaching us.

"Hey," Shauna greeted us both with a smile, before nodding with approval at my car. "Love the new ride, Y/L/N."

"Thanks," I said with proud smile.

"You got to the part where you have to fill the tyres with air?" she asked with amusement. "It's so awkward when everyone watches you do it."

I snorted with amusement. "I'll be lucky if I get that far. This thing is trying its best right now."

She chuckled and glanced over it once more. "It's still pretty nice. Gets you from A to B, right? Driving saves so much time, trust me."

"Very true," I agreed, before I noticed Jackie checking it out curiously, having greeted Van already. I quirked a brow as I jokingly asked, "What? Not up to the princess' standards?"

Van and Shauna exchanged amused glances whilst Jackie shot me a playful glare.

"That's not what I was thinking," she said matter-of-factly.

I stopped by her side to look at it like she was, giving her a sideways glance. "I was kidding. Kind of."

She gave me a knowing look. "It's nice."

I tried not to laugh as I said, "Thank you."

She rolled her eyes playfully before the four of us headed inside to find a table. After claiming a booth in the corner, we pulled out our supplies and textbooks to get started.

"I'll go order our drinks," I offered, before we got stuck in. "Everybody know what they want?"

After they shared their orders with me, I slid out the booth to get in the queue, but Jackie slid out alongside me.

"You might need more hands to carry it," she said, when I quirked a brow.

I shrugged and the two of us got in line to order. It didn't take long to reach the front, and after giving the barista our order and paying, Jackie decided she wanted a muffin that was on display.

"Shoot, I'm so sorry to be annoying," she said with her signature smile, albeit a little apologetic, as she pointed to the muffin. "Please can we get that too?"

The guy, probably no older than we were, nodded eagerly and got the muffin for her, placing it on the tray. "Of course. It's on the house."

I resisted the urge to smile as I raised an eyebrow, watching Jackie laugh flirtatiously.

"No! Really?" she asked with bright eyes. "You're too sweet!"

The guy shrugged casually, his cheeks turning pink as she gave him all her attention in this moment. Before we knew it, our drinks were added to the tray and I picked it up to leave.

"Thanks again," she said with a tilt of her head and a matching smile.

He watched her leave distractedly, and only when we were walking away did I let out a quiet chuckle at what I'd just witnessed.

"What?" she asked, glancing at me, as if she didn't know what she'd done.

I gave her a look of disbelief. "Seriously?" Her confused expression forced me to continue. "You just bat your eyes and get what you want?"

She looked up thoughtfully before nodding. "Pretty much."

Breathing out through my nose, I shook my head with amazement. It made sense that even strangers fell victim to the Jackie Taylor effect.

"Can you get some napkins?" she asked, flashing me the same smile she gave the barista, but I would be damned if she thought she could fool me.

"Not a chance," I said with a stifled laugh, equally amused by her frown as I was her audacity.

I returned to the booth as she went to grab some napkins for us, and the four of us got stuck in immediately. As well as getting the base of our presentation researched, we also had a nice bonding session. To be fair, Van already knew Jackie and Shauna well, but I enjoyed getting to know them too.

I especially learnt that Jackie was pretty used to getting what she wanted whenever she wanted, and having people fall head over heels for her. This was something that came to light the more time we spent together working on this project. I guess you could say that the project is what intertwined our lives again once more.

—

After yet another studying session with Jackie, Shauna and Van in the library last night, I realised I grabbed Jackie's notebook by accident and planned to return it to her the next morning at school. I found her by her locker, but she was in a conversation with Jeff and I debated whether or not to interrupt.

They weren't together, the two of them surprisingly staying broken up unlike the many other times they'd somehow got back together, so it was odd to see them talking. But it wasn't any of my business, even if I was a little curious to whether they were back together – especially after everything that happened – so I just sucked it up and politely interrupted.

When I stopped by their side awkwardly, their conversation fell quiet and Jeff glanced at me, no doubt thinking of the whole Leroy incident. Without another word, he walked away, leaving Jackie and I alone.

"Sorry," I said to her uncomfortably, before holding out her notebook. "I just wanted to give you this."

"Oh, thanks," she said, blinking, before accepting the notebook. "I was looking for this all morning."

"Yeah, I must've grabbed it by accident," I said with a small smile. "My bad."

She nodded, and I was about to leave, but then she met my eyes and said, "That wasn't–"

She'd stopped, so I prodded, "Wasn't...?"

Uneasily, she explained, "He's been trying to get back together with me. Jeff."

I chewed on my lip, unsure what to respond, because she didn't owe me any kind of explanation. But a small part of me was nosy enough to want it.

"I'm not stupid, obviously," she continued.

"Obviously," I repeated in agreement, otherwise stumped for words.

"But yeah," she finished, a small, awkward smile on her lips. "That's it."

I mirrored her smile, nodding. "Awesome... er, thanks for the update."

She cleared her throat, nodding too, and then an uncomfortable silence filled the air. I was relieved, though I would never admit it, to know that she wasn't considering going back to him. It only reaffirmed all she'd said about listening to me, and it showed that she respected whatever friendship we seemed to share.

"I'll see you in class," I said, straightening up.

She relaxed her shoulders. "Yeah. See you."

—

Shortly after finishing our group assignment together, Jackie felt the need to work with me more often, for whatever reason. She had a lot of friends, so I couldn't see why she needed me in the mix also, but I guess I wasn't totally against it.

I was walking into Chemistry class when I spotted the blonde sat where my usual lab partner, Dennis, sat. Getting a sense of deja vu, I watched her questioningly as I set my stuff down in my seat.

"Is there a particular reason you're sat there?" I asked, when she flashed me a nonchalant smile.

Placing her chin in the palm of her hand, she stared at me through her lashes. "I feel like you don't know me well enough. So, I switched partners."

I resisted the urge to laugh, oddly intrigued by whatever game she was playing. "I mean, we've only been in the same classes all our life, but–"

"It's not the same," she insisted with a wave of her hand, making me laugh.

Not caring enough to be opposed to her trading seats with Dennis, I took a seat beside her and began to get my books out. As I did, our teacher, Mr Turner, approached our table with a stern expression.

"Miss Taylor," he addressed her. "Can I ask why you're not sitting in your assigned seat?"

I watched on with amusement, wondering how she'd get herself out of this one. But if she was sweating in the slightest, it didn't show.

Shooting Mr Turner her signature smile, she said, "I'm sorry, Mr Turner. I was just about to come and ask you permission. I thought moving beside Y/N here would help improve my grade and be less of a distraction than my old partner."

I quirked a brow, glancing between him and her, and watched as his expression softened slightly. Holy shit. The Jackie Taylor effect worked on teachers too?

"Very well," he conceded. "I suppose that's alright, if it's for the betterment of your learning. Just don't let me catch you chatting through my teaching, alright?"

She nodded innocently. "Of course. I'd never disrespect you like that."

My mouth opened slightly with disbelief, her pure arse kissing astounding me. Mr Turner nodded appreciatively before returning to the front of the classroom, and Jackie turned to me with a cheeky smile.

"I'm impressed," I admitted. "Everybody really loves you, huh?"

As she grabbed her book, she shrugged, though gave me a sideways glance as if she was pouting. "Almost everyone."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "C'mon, Jackie. You have the whole school– heck, probably the whole world at your fingertips. Why are you so adamant on making me like you?"

She raised her brows impatiently. "Because I'm likeable!"

The pink tinge on her cheeks, darkening her already-existent blusher, paired with her impatience only served to make me grin. If I'd known treating Jackie Taylor like this would get her so flustered, I would have done it more often. It was definitely entertaining, and she was going through more effort than she needed to, which only made me laugh more.

As amusing as it was though, I knew she'd give up soon. I simply refused to let myself slip under the Jackie Taylor spell that she had over everyone – doing whatever she wanted, treating her like she was god's gift, there at her beck and call... Unlike every other poor soul who genuinely believed they had a chance with her, no doubt because she had a power to make you feel that way, I wasn't naive. Jackie Taylor was out of my league, as a friend or anything more.

I wasn't blind. Her powers of seduction were rooted in her beauty and ability to turn heads wherever she went. It was normal to have a tiny crush on her, I was sure of it, but I'd never let it be more than that.

Of course, there were small micro-moments where I'd let myself indulge for once, to be a little selfish and delirious. Like now, as she sat beside me in class, nodding along to what Mr Turner was explaining. From the corner of my eye, it was easy to make out the perfect curve of her jaw, the glossiness of her lips, the flutter of her eyelashes. And it would have been even easier to give into it all, especially when she asked me to grab her a lab coat from the back of the classroom, a soft smile on her lips and a single bat of her eyelashes.

But all it took was one relinquishment of power and I'd be just another fool who let Jackie Taylor create delusion in their heads. And I refused.

"I don't know what the arrangement between you and your last partner was, but here, you do things yourself," I said with a suppressed smile, appreciating the way her face dropped.

She tensed her jaw slightly, before trailing along behind me to grab a lab coat. After suiting up, we returned to our desk and I got out the lab equipment whilst she read over the worksheet we'd been given.

"Okay, first step is to turn on the bunsen burner," she read aloud, glancing at me expectantly.

"Great." I pushed over the bunsen burner to her. "Go on."

Indifferently, she straightened up and began to connect the hose to the bunsen burner, shooting me a knowing look as she connected the whole thing to the gas tap.

"I know how to do things myself, y'know," she said disapprovingly.

I chuckled. "I know, it's just fun watching you actually do it."

She huffed dramatically before twisting the gas tap without warning, making me jump back quickly as the flame lit up. Her eyes widened as she twisted it off, before falling to me with both concern and amusement.

"Shit, are you okay?" she asked, hand covering her mouth, but a smile was threatening to break out.

I released a breath, touching my shirt which almost set on fire, and shot her a look. "I am, yeah. No thanks to you!"

She began to laugh quietly. "I'm sorry. See? If you'd just done it for us, that wouldn't have happened."

"Oh, if I'd just done it for us?" I asked sarcastically, mimicking her voice.

"Yeah, you should've just listened–" she started, eyes darting between mine with entertainment.

"I should've just listened," I agreed, still as sarky as ever.

"Yes," she agreed between laughter.

I sighed, giving into my smile as she watched me with dismay. This was going to be a long lesson.

—

As much as I hated to admit it, I was enjoying having Jackie as my lab partner, looking forward to the hour lesson where she was as careless as ever when it came to our experiments, but to the satisfaction and humour of me. Of course, she could never know that all of her efforts to sway me were working, so I played it cool.

I definitely didn't expect to see her beyond that, so I was especially surprised when I showed up to the local community centre after school with the intention of improving my college application and saw her waiting outside with a few other students. I did a double take, her face being the last I expected to see.

"Hey," she said when she recognised me, moving to stand beside me with her usual blinding smile.

"Are you stalking me, Taylor?" I asked jokingly.

"You wish," she retorted with a playful eye roll. "I'm here because it looks good for my college application."

"Ah, of course."

She lifted a brow. "You?"

"Same," I admitted sheepishly, making her laugh.

Once the other students turned up, there were thirteen of us in total and the manager of the community centre met us outside to brief us. We were to work on the community garden over the coming weeks, helping to clean it up and plant some fresh produce and flowers to brighten up the place. Only once it was complete would we get a certificate of recognition for our efforts.

We got stuck in straight away, everyone assigned to different areas. Jackie and I were working on planting the flower beds, so the first thing to do was bring over the soil to the designated area. I heaved the giant bag of soil over my shoulder and brought it over, dropping it to the ground with a sigh and wiping the sweat from my head.

Giggling made me look up, and I watched as Jackie got some freshman to grab her bag, twirling her hair and fluttering her eyelashes as he dropped the bag beside mine.

"You're too sweet, Johnny," she said with a classic tilt of her head, touching his arm. "Thanks again."

He shrugged casually, clearly affected by her attention. "Anytime. You need a hand with anything else, just let me know."

She nodded in agreement and watched as he walked away before her eyes found mine.

"What?" she said like it was obvious. "It would've gotten my nails dirty."

I glanced down at the soil staining my shirt, before giving her a knowing look. "Wait until you start to plant the seeds."

Kneeling down, I used the spade provided to dig out the old dead plants from the flower beds. She kneeled down beside me, careful not to dirty her skirt as she did, and watched my hands work.

"I'm curious," I said, glancing at her. "Were you planning to help at all?"

She straightened up with a sense of pride. "Of course." And then reluctantly, she used her hands to help me remove the old plants, but not without pulling a face.

I tried not to laugh as I watched, finding a sense of satisfaction as her fingernails did indeed get stained with soil. Working alongside her, I used the spade to dig out the next plant, but it skidded across the soil, the plant too firm, and I ended up flicking a handful of soil at Jackie.

"Oh, shit," I said with a stifled smile, watching as she looked down at her clothes. "Sorry."

She breathed out slowly and dusted the soil off, but it left dark tracks in its midst. "It's fine."

"Good thing you wore your old clothes, right?" I asked, biting my lip to contain my smile.

She hummed in agreement, jaw tensing slightly, and a grin fell upon my lips. Everything she wore looked too nice to be considered old. Poor Jackie was probably not expecting to lift a finger.

For whatever reason, whether it was to prove me wrong or to prove her own point, she actually helped me with our tasks, no longer using freshmen to get everything done. It was fun, working with her, and it only gave me more time to appreciate spending with her.

Once we'd done our assigned two hours, it was finally time to leave for the day, and Jackie and I walked out together. Parked a few cars down from mine was Shauna's, and I gave Jackie a look of disbelief.

"You made Shauna pick you up?"

"Duh," she said with a shrug.

I breathed out slowly, looking up and shaking my head. "Why do I still get surprised?"

"What? That people love me?" she asked with a teasing voice.

"Yes."

She rolled her eyes, lips pressing into a smile. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Until then, see you tomorrow."

I waved goodbye to her as she kept walking, trying to understand the hold she had on everyone. Her and her silly smiles and silly hazel eyes and silly raspy voice.

Annoyingly enough, I was starting to see it.

—

I found myself in Chemistry class later that week, doodling on my notebook as I waited for class to properly start. Jackie arrived as usual, greeting me, and when I looked up, I took a moment to find my words.

"You look different," I said without thinking, trying to figure it out.

"I'm pretty sure I don't," she said with a chuckle, sitting beside me like always.

But no, there was something different about her today, something that had me admiring her a little more closely than usual. And as I was subtly studying the freckles on her face, the slope of her nose, the golden flecks in her eyes, it hit me.

"Your hair," I said with realisation, making her look up. "It's up. You never have it up."

She lifted a brow with amusement. "I guess, maybe not often, but..."

She'd worn her hair up before, obviously, but her signature look was to leave it out, freshly curled. So, seeing her with it up just happened to draw my attention more, and also show off her pretty face a bit more, which I guess is why I noticed.

Satisfied that I'd figured it out, I nodded. "Yeah, that's it. It looks pretty like that."

Her lips curved into a soft smile, eyes darting away from mine in an uncharacteristic manner. "Er, thanks."

I didn't think much more of it as I returned to my doodling, but then from that day onwards, I noticed she began to wear her hair up more often. And every single time, I found myself admiring her secretly, letting myself indulge just that little bit more.

—

Promising to pick up Van from soccer practice today, I headed to the field to wait in the bleachers for her, having killed time studying all I could before my brain would fry itself. I was a little early, so the Yellowjackets were still practicing.

I took that as my opportunity to get comfortable at the bottom of the bleachers, feet leaning on the ones in front of me as I pulled my headphones on and focused on my book. I was deep into it when something hit me and I jumped, startled.

Yanking my headphones off, I looked down to see a bottle cap, and then looked up to see a laughing Jackie stood by the bench on the field, bottle of water in hand.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, before tossing the cap back at her, which she swiftly dodged.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a grin.

Admittedly, she looked really cute right now, dressed in the school gym kit, a little sweaty and her face flushed pink from all the running she'd done. But I would never give her that satisfaction, so sarcasm was my next best defence.

"Oh, I just had to come and see Jackie Taylor in all of her team captain glory."

She raised her brows, pausing. "Really?"

"No. I'm here to pick Van up."

She scoffed gently, rolling her eyes.

"As much as your many admirers would love to watch you practice, I'm not one of them," I teased.

"Hilarious," she said with narrowed eyes, making me grin. Dismissing my mockery, she asked, "Are you coming to the pep rally tomorrow? First game of the season is this week."

I leaned back, thinking about it. "Eh, why not?"

Hand on her hip, she shot me a disapproving smile. "Don't sound too enthusiastic or anything."

I crossed my legs comfortably as I met her challenging stare. "I'm not big on the whole soccer thing. I'm just going to support Van. That's what a good friend would do."

She began to smile, a glint of amusement in her gaze. "A good friend, huh? Pat yourself on the back much?"

"Someone has to."

She looked away with disbelief, hiding a smile. "Wow, I see."

I quirked a brow, smile forming on my lips. "See how annoying that is? That's what it's like having a conversation with you."

She pursed her lips as she looked over me with feigned irritation. "Touché, Y/N."

I flashed her a satisfied smile as she finished the last of her water before flipping me off then jogging back to the others. I chuckled to myself as I watched her leave, admittedly checking her out as I did. Stupid Jackie and her stupid cute face.

—

We were well into October when it happened. I couldn't have seen it coming in the slightest.

Lottie, one of Van's teammates, was hosting the ultimate Halloween party at her mansion of her house, able to get away with it because her parents were away. Everybody was attending, and if Van herself didn't invite me, at least ten other people had because of how awesome it was supposed to be. Naturally, I said yes, loving a party more than anyone else but especially a costume party.

So, I showed up with Van and Taissa, the latter opting for a Catwoman costume that she very much pulled off, and Van and I dressing up as two of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – her as Michelangelo and myself as Leonardo. They were iconic outfits, what could I say?

Of course, I may have felt a little stupid when we met up with the rest of Van's team, including Jackie who looked drool-worthy in her Supergirl costume.

"Wow, you two look...," she began when she saw Van and I, eyes flickering between our matching costumes. "It's very you."

Van swung her nunchucks in agreement. "I thought so too. Love the sexy Supergirl getup."

Jackie stifled a smile as she nodded in acknowledgement, before her eyes fell to me. "Which one are you? Raphael?"

I pointed to the blue bandana over my eyes. "Leonardo, obviously."

A grin broke out on her lips as she touched the bandana, pulling it over my eyes a bit better and also sending goosebumps all over my skin at her touch. "Obviously."

I swallowed thickly, trying not to let my eyes drift below her head, because her costume was very tight and she looked very good right now.

"Nat's pouring everyone drinks in the kitchen," she said, looking between the three of us. "You coming?"

"Hell yeah," Van spoke for us all, raising her nunchucks in the air, before glancing back at Taissa and I. "Leonardo and Catwoman, on my six!"

I cracked a smile as I readied my sword and followed after my idiot best friend.

It was admittedly an eventful first few hours, with Van and I stressing Taissa out enough times that she was forced to take our pretend weapons off us for the rest of the party. Apparently assuming the personas of our costumes wasn't going down well with her, which, in hindsight, was fair when I remembered how drunk we got.

At one point, I found myself rambling to some random guy about the lore of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, aware that he was passed out on the couch beside me but still talking anyway, when Jackie strolled over to me, just as drunk as I was.

"There you are," she said with a grin. "Come dance with me."

"Jackie, I'm in the middle of a conversation," I said, motioning to my passed out friend.

"He's asleep, idiot," she pointed out, before outstretching her hand and wiggling it. "Come on."

I batted her hand away. "I don't dance."

She lost her smile as her patience ran quicker now that her inhibitions were lowered. "Y/N."

Finding it amusing, I motioned around us. "There's a billion people here. One of them would kill to dance with you. Why not ask them?"

"I'm asking you," she said through gritted teeth.

Not really aware of her anger, I pushed myself off the couch with a stretch. "I'm hungry."

She glared at me as I walked away, pushing through the party-goers and intending to find the kitchen, but Lottie's house was huge and I'd already forgotten the layout. I opened several wrong doors, and then on the last one – some sort of games room – I felt someone shove me from behind, forcing me in.

"Hey–!"

"Why does nothing work with you?!" Jackie interrupted my complaining, shutting the door behind her and fixing me with a frustrated stare.

I blinked, confused.

She scoffed, uncrossing her arms and rolling her eyes. "I've been trying to get your attention for months, you idiot! I even started–" she faltered, embarrassed, "wearing my hair up because of one stupid compliment you gave me."

My brain was working slower than usual, so her words were catching up to me little by little. "I noticed that."

Still not happy, she narrowed her eyes at me. "Why do I even try?"

Realising this was about the Jackie Taylor effect, as I'd rightly dubbed it now, I said, "Everybody loves you. Why is it so important if I don't?"

Her eyes flickered between mine, and I was certain she was going to slap me or berate me or shout at me. But then her expression softened and she admitted, "Because I want you to."

I didn't get chance to register her words before she stepped forward, pressing her lips to mine. Her fingers curled around the back of my neck and I found myself melting under her touch, falling right into her. Her lips tasted like alcohol, tobacco and strawberry lipgloss, and I was suddenly eager to taste her concoction even more, all my senses heightened as I pulled her close.

She moved her lips against mine eagerly, fingers sending shivers down my spine as they tickled my skin, and I pushed my tongue between her lips in retaliation, not even thinking about anything other than her. We broke apart for air, barely seconds passing before our lips reconnected, and I was infatuated with every part of the blonde that had been on my mind these past few months.

Time was a drunken haze – we could have been there for seconds or hours for all I knew – and we were unfortunately interrupted by the sound of the door suddenly opening. Our sloppy movements meant we pulled apart a second too late, and we turned to see Van standing there in her Michelangelo costume. God, did I look that stupid right now?

"You're both trashed," she said, words slurred, before she looked to me. "C'mon. Catwoman is taking us home." Then she looked to Jackie, adding, "Shauna's looking for you."

I glanced at Jackie, heart still racing and her taste still on my lips. The state I was in made everything feel like it was so distant, as if it was happening to someone else, so I still hadn't truly acknowledged what had just happened between us. Jackie was already looking at me, eyes half lidded and cheeks flushed. I almost wanted to kiss her again, but Van impatiently calling my name snapped me out of it.

"Coming," I told her, before tearing my eyes from Jackie and following after Van.

#jackie taylor x you #jackie taylor imagine #jackie taylor x reader #jackie taylor #ella purnell #yellowjackets imagine #yellowjackets

233 notes · View notes

mclarensangel · 6 months ago

Text

Wedding Bells

please pretend that all the dresses are the same, that the skin colour and other items match your own and that the men look like max. I love you all.

All photos are from Pinterest. All usernames were made up on the spot I don't actually know if they're real usernames or not. Might make this a series, let me know what you think and if you want to be tagged!

warnings: weddings, nerves, money, some suggestive comments.

Max Verstappen has posted

maxverstappen1: Today I finally married the woman of my dreams. I have never felt happier or luckier. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you Schat. my vrouw. forever and always

ynverstappen: I can't put into words how much I love you. I am so happy to have become your wife. I will hold the name Mrs Verstappen so dear to me forever.

-> maxverstappen1: I love you so much, Mrs Verstappen. jij bent mijn wereld.

-> lewishamilton: congratulations to the pair of you, your gift should be there soon!

-> maxverstappen1: thank you, Lewis! Enjoy the Almave at the bar!

-> ynverstappen: Cheers, Lewis! And thank you, Roscoe, for coming!

-> roscoelovescoco: woof woof!🐶

landonorris: congratulations mate! I'm so happy for you!

-> maxverstappen1: cheers mate! enjoy the open bar!

-> landonorris: Oh I will be!🍻

maxslefteyeball: I can't believe Max got married and there's not a single redbull item in sight

-> ynverstappen: trust me it was a fight to have the only Red Bull thing be at the bar

-> maxverstappen1: I'd do anything for you schat

-> ynverstappen: awww maxie

-> landonorris: get a room you two🤢

-> maxverstappen1: oh we will be!

-> ynverstappen: MAX!

ynverstappen has posted!

charles_leclerc: Félicitations max and yn!

-> ynverstappen: thank you charlie x

-> maxverstappen1: thank you charles!

ynverstappen: officially changed the name! couldn't be happier to marry the love of my life. I love you so much Maxie, and I can't wait to love you for the rest of our lives. mijn man.

maxverstappen1: I will never get sick of calling you my wife... Mrs Verstappen. ik hou van je, mijn vrouw

-> ynverstappen: ik hou van je

-> landosmiamiwin: congratulations to my parents!

-> Yabadabadoo: when will it be my turn

valteribotass: sleeping on the highway tonight

-> landonorris: same

-> sweetcornsbestie: LANDO?💀

carmenmmundt: Estoy muy feliz por ti, tu boda fue hermosa. mi mejor amigo

-> ynverstappen: gracias mi hermosa mejor amiga. Te amo. Thank you for being my MOH

-> carmenmmundt: yo también te amo <3 It was my honour

-*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

alexandrasaintmelux: Félicitations belle fille!

-> ynverstappen: Merci mon ange! Thank you for being my bridesmaid!

-> carlossapendix: I'm gonna need these wedding photos ASAP

-> maxverstappen1: they're coming just wait!

If, at 18, you had been told that you would be marrying the Formula One driver you were obsessed with, you would have laughed. But here you are at 25. Surrounded by your friends and family, as you get prepared for your wedding. Carmen, your maid of honour, was currently in the makeup chair, whereas your mother was in the hair chair. One of the photographers was capturing moments between some of the bridesmaids. And one of the videographers was interviewing one of the bridesmaids for the wedding video. You were sat in a comfortable armchair watching it all happen around you. You weren't nervous to marry Max, you were however nervous about everything going right. And as if she could sense your anxiety, one of your bridesmaids, Alexandra, came over to sit in the chair next to you. She already had her hair done, and was next in queue for makeup.

"feeling anxious?" she asks, taking a sip from the prosecco glass she had been holding in her hands.

"I'm not nervous to marry Max, it's something I've been waiting for this day since he proposed. I just want everything to go right. And I'm really hoping that Max doesn't have some Red Bull uniform on underneath his tux" you giggle, taking a small sip of your water.

"If Carmen has anything to do with it, everything will go perfectly. I think even the wedding planner is scared of her" Alex responds, the pair of you glance towards the planner who is hurriedly writing something on the checkboard she was holding whilst repeatedly looking up anxiously at Carmen. Both of you look back at each other, before bursting into laughter. Silence falls comfortably between the two of you as you sit and absorb the atmosphere. And before you knew it, you were in the hair chair, whilst Alex was in the makeup chair.

shootingstarphotography has posted!

shootingstarphotography: here are some getting-ready shots for our clients Mr and Mrs Verstappen! Enjoy

-> ynverstappen: thank you all so much! These photos will be posted all over our house!

-> maxverstappen1: I agree with my wife, thank you both so much. I'm going to get ALL of these framed.

-> shootingstarphotography: thank you for having us, the food was delicious as well!

ynverstappen and maxverstappen1 have shared a post!

iamstupid: these are so beautiful I'm actually going to cry.

-> lilysgolfclub: RIGHT! I'm obsessed, look at her!

ynverstappen and maxverstappen1: we wanted to show you some more of our photos. If you would like to see more, we're more than happy to show them!

oscarpastyboy: I didn't think I could become any more obsessed with these two, but then they posted these photos and I'm in love

-*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

the moment you began walking down the aisle to Max, you were overwhelmed with the feeling of love that radiated not just from him but all your guests. Your parents were walking you down the aisle, and Max was standing nearly in tears at the end of it, his best man, Lando, stood just behind him smiling and his groomsmen were behind him, their smiles almost as big as the grooms. Your bridesmaids were waiting for you, each and every one looking stunning in their dresses as a light breeze passed through their hair. Your maid of honour, Carmen, was standing nearest to where you would be stood, the proudest smile on her face. As the music began to play, everyone let out a soft laugh. Max had believed you were coming down the aisle to one of Charles's piano songs, however, you had worked with him to have the F1 theme tune played on the piano to make Max feel happier. You smiled at Max, before placing a hand in the elbow of each of your parents as you made your way almost too slowly down the aisle. You wanted to run, to get down there and marry the man as quick as possible, but you remained in your parent's embrace until the end, when both parents kissed your cheek before taking a seat.

Handing your bouquet to Carmen, you turned and grinned at Max. And the tears in his eyes, made you tear up too.

"you look beautiful schat" he whispered, loud enough for you to hear.

"And you look so handsome, Max" you responded.

"I can't wait to show you what I've got on underneath" You smirked at the teary-eyed man forgetting that you both had mics attached to you. Max's eyes widened before squeezing your hands, trying to stop the flush from his cheeks being too obvious to the crowd.

shootingstarphotography has posted!

shootingstarphotography: with the consent of our stunning clients, we have decided to post some more photos of the Verstappen wedding. Enjoy!

-*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

ynverstappen: we can't thank you enough for these beautiful photos!

-> maxverstappen1: you will always have consent to post the beautiful photos of my gorgeous wife

-> landonorris: simp 😬

-> maxverstappen1: says the single man.

-> ynverstappen: TELL 'EM MAXIE

-> hulkenboy: your honour, I love them

Before you knew it, You and Max were walking back down the aisle, ready to sign the wedding certificate, with Carmen and Lando as your witnesses. You were officially Mrs YN Verstappen. Your dreams have come true in the best way possible.

"What are you thinking about schat?" your husband asks

"how unreal all of this feels. I can't believe you're my husband. I remember the very first time I met you when you were the second driver for Red Bull" You responded turning to face him. He laughed, responding "Don't remind me of those days"

"you'll always be the number one to me" you spoke, leaning up for another kiss before the wedding planner or someone else would pop up to take you away to somewhere else.

shootingstarphotography has posted!

shootingstarphotography: as mentioned beforehand, here is a continuation of our most recent client, part one of their reception

comments have been limited on this post

landonorris has posted!

landonorris: congratulations to one of my best friends, on the wedding, their reception and on their love.

comments on this post have been limited by the user

ynverstappen: thank you Lan, enjoy the party!

-> maxverstappen1: she's the only one I'm ever going to marry, so I had to make it perfect. Thank you for coming mate, and thank you for being my best man!

-> landonorris: I'd do it all over again for the pair of you

-*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

As you and Max sit at the sweetheart's table, you're able to overwatch everyone. Everything had gone perfectly, the cake cutting, the entrances, even the speeches. And it was nearly time for your first dance with your husband. What everyone didn't know, not even the maid of honour or best man, was that you both had been going to dance classes to make this perfect. The pair of you sat there, content, holding one another hands as you absorbed everything in.

"I'm surprised you haven't had a Red Bull yet" you teased.

"Who said I haven't?" he joked back. He opened his mouth to say something else before he was cut off by the announcer.

"I would like to welcome Mr and Mrs Verstappen to the dance floor for their first dance. The music will be played live by Charles Leclerc and it is a song written especially for this moment" The man spoke loudly despite the microphone in his hand. You turned your head quickly to look at Max, as this wasn't the song that you had prepared. "don't worry schat, I made sure whatever song we practised to was the same tempo, it's going to be as perfect as you" he spoke calmly before standing up and offering you his hand. You graciously took his hand, smiling at him as he led you to the dancefloor. Once the pair of you stood in the middle, the piano began to play, filling the room with its soft notes.

This was perfect.

maxverstappen1 has posted!

maxverstappen1: final post for today. Here is the final moment of our first dance. I will treasure you always my love. thank you for marrying me. forever and always.

ynverstappen: thank you for marrying me, mi corazon. forever and always.

comments on this post have been limited.

whos next???

#f1 fic #f1 fanfic #f1 x plus size reader #max verstappen #max verstappen x plus size reader #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen fluff #max verstappen smau

107 notes · View notes

888-fr · 8 months ago

Text

WHY I DON'T RETIRE MY SKINS: an essay

Disclaimer that I'm speaking from a point of being established here, because not everybody can afford to run their skin shop like I do. I don't judge less established artists for needing to limit their skins because they can't afford to print a run with only 2 people on it. I'm also not judging anybody who does retire their skins after a set number of prints - whole different matter! I'm giving an opinion piece based on my own personal thoughts about running my own skin shop.

Okay, now that's out of the way. I really dislike the idea of time-limiting my skins. There's just no actual justification for me, as an established skin artist, to limit skins I know will sell... aside from prestige, and putting buying pressure on my customers. So there's a couple of reasons I don't like that:

1) Erodes trust in the artist.

Yes, I could probably make more money if I kept my skins limited so people HAD to pick up my skin on release. Maybe even all 4 colors of the skin, including the one they don't really keep in their hoard. Just in case they want it down the line but it won't be available anymore.

Is this good business practice though? Do I want people to start feeling panicked every time I ping for a release, because they just picked up a new project and really really CAN'T afford to be buying skins right now but there's 5 colorways of my skin available and they'll probably be resold for 2kg as soon as they retire?

Personally, no! I want people excited when I ping, not feeling dread in their hearts and budgets. I want people to be thinking: 'Awesome, a new skin! I can't afford that right now but I know he always keeps a few on the AH at print price even after preorders end. Even if I can't buy a skin just this moment, I'll be sure to keep an eye on his thread for when I have gems again.' Or: "Awesome, a new skin! This one doesn't appeal to my lair aesthetic, so I will just nod and smile. I don't feel the need to buy it in case it gets popular for resale, because it will always be on the AH for print price."

People tell me about unsubscribing from GASP because they get anxiety being pinged for skins they want but can't have. So I want people to stay on my pinglist because there's no pressure on them whatsoever to purchase anything. It'll always be here, okay? In the meantime, just enjoy the art, maybe preview it on a scry or two. I'll be here if you're back in three weeks, or three months.

2) Passive income!

I lied. I probably would've made less money time limiting all my skins than by keeping my skins restocked. A couple of reasons for this:

- My earlier skins sold worse. This isn't psychology, it's just numbers. Some of my most popular stock were made early on in 2021/2022. I didn't have that many sales then, so could you imagine if I had retired them immediately after that? There's 230something copies of SAILOR'S WARNING out in the world right now. If that skin was time limited after preorders died down, I would've sold "only" 50 forever.

- People see my shop stock whenever you ping for a new releases. I get 3-4 sales off auction house whenever I release something new and people check my front page. It's not a lot but it's consistent.

- It's a win-win situation, okay? If a skin is popular, there's no reason to time limit it to drive up sales. If it IS popular, then people are going to see it on other people's dragons, go "damn that's a nice skin," and maybe do an AH search for it. And if there's a cheap print price copy available, they're gonna buy it.

2) Reprints are easy!

It was a lot more annoying to keep track of queue numbers and inventory back when reprints had to go through regular queue for a week. Did I put in 10 copies of SUNHEAVEN already? Wait, are my kitsune aethers back yet? How many of MOLOCH are still listed?

Now I can put in a blueprint and get my reprint instantly. No fuss at all.

3) I don't want to buy into the 'this is a retired skin' hype...

This is just personal preference. It makes me feel a little bad when a public skin I made is popular and people can't afford to have it. I'm not judging anybody who does like it when their skins are rare, special, and sought after.

It's just... I get that part of my brain scratched from my customs. They're gorgeous, they're 5 prints, they're on the AH for 30kg if you really want one. Most importantly they're niche and high coverage enough that even if someone hadn't paid me to draw an exclusive skin specifically for their dragon, they'd never do well as a public skin anyway.

Here are some tips for people looking into keeping their skins unlimited:

- You don't need to do it like I do.

Blueprints are expensive. Even I don't have my entire catalogue stocked, only the ones I noticed always have reprint requests. For example, only SAILOR'S WARNING out of 4 total colors for my impm skins is kept stocked because the others don't sell enough to justify it.

If you can't afford to stock them 10 at a time, have the customer provide the blueprints. Shelving your skins but having them be reprintable with a BP and a fee (350g is good for 850g print prices; remember, 500g of that went to you purchasing blueprints in the public run, so it doesn't make sense to charge customers a whole 850g when they're already providing the blueprint) is a good alternative to permanently retiring your skins. You don't get a ton of people who can afford that, but the option is there for people who want it.

- Notice which skins sell!

If you already have a good amount of skins in catalogue and have trouble figuring out which ones to begin stocking, you can start by checking in with your pinglist. Poll them and see which ones you'd want to rerun.

- Don't have so many recolors.

It's a law of the universe that they more recolors you have, the worse they sell collectively. I usually do 2, no more than 3. If you have to time limit your skins to get 6 recolors to hit print, then it's time to cut those recolors down.

There's reasons for this: it's choice paralysis, people may want 'complete sets' and will skip out if you're making that complete set cost 4kg total, and it just plain doesn't make sense for very similar color schemes to cover 4 different skins. Feel free to print personal recolors or have custom recolors open.

#flight rising #my stuff #flight rising skins #long post

131 notes · View notes

takecareluv · 2 years ago

Note

omg meg baby imagine giving steve a haircut <3 he’s like so anxious at first n then he gets so so relaxed n he’s lowkey nappijg by the end and u wake him up and he’s like. hm? with the softest voice ever <3 <3

— @inkluvs (ivy)

mr. perfect hair | steve harrington x reader

word count : 777

author's note : omg it’s so funny you sent this in because i’m literally getting a hair cut tmr !! anyway. . . this is my first stevie request :3 eeek im a little nervous. i hope it's okay! <3

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

although you adored your boyfriend's infamous hair more than anyone, even you could admit he was in dire need of a trim. getting steve to agree, however, would take some serious convincing on your part. especially considering his last trip to the barber shop was, in steve's words, "scarring for life". he didn't leave the house for almost a month after the disastrous haircut without any sort of hat atop his head.

luckily for you, you had that boy wrapped around your finger — knowing exactly what it would take to get your stevie to do just about anything you asked, including giving his precious hair a little trim.

. . .

adorned in your boyfriend's favorite dress, and shoes to match, you pulled a fresh batch of your homemade chocolate chip cookies out of the oven — baked to perfection — and placed them next to a bottle of steve's preferred beer, waiting for his arrival.

as if on queue, steve walked through the doorway, smiling at the sight of you before abruptly pausing due to the sweetness that filled not only the air, but now his senses. "i know that smell. those are your bribery cookies... what are you up to?" he questioned with a suspicious but ever so loving look, preparing himself to inevitably say yes to whatever it is you were about to ask of him.

"well... you see i just made an appointment for a haircut and i was thinking maybe it's time you get one too," you smiled hesitantly, attempting to gauge his reaction.

"i don't know, baby. i don't think i can go back to that salon. they messed up big time. practically ruined me. i can't be steve 'the hair' harrington with no hair."

you rolled your eyes at his dramatics before cutting off the rest of his rant, "i'll do it for you, stevie." noticing him soften at your plea, you continued, "please let me do it for you? can't see those beautiful eyes of yours with all that hair in the way." you spoke calmly while looking up at him with your award-winning puppy dog eyes, hoping it would do the trick.

after a brief moment of silent contemplating, steve let out a loud sigh, "fine." you began to jump up and down in celebration. "but," he emphasized, "only a little bit, baby. no more than an inch, okay?"

you nodded excitedly in response.

"you promise?" steve gave a pointed look, holding his pinkie finger up towards you, waiting for your own to intertwine with his. "i promise, stevie! i'll do just enough to get off all the dead ends, that's it!"

"hey! I don't have dead ends. my hair is perfect!"

"keep telling yourself that pretty boy," you teased while ruffling his truly perfect hair.

. . .

after a few minutes of anxiousness, steve remembered it was only you doing his hair, not some stranger who didn't know the first thing about him, but you. you who probably saw his hair more than he did. you who knew exactly how he liked it styled. he knew he could trust you, he could always trust you.

as you began to gently brush through his ends, you felt him relax and even lean into your touch, letting out a long, content sigh.

knowing he was finally calm enough, you grabbed the scissors you had prepared next to you and slowly started to snip away at his hair, small pieces descending to the floor after every cut.

soon after, you were making one last snip before placing the scissors down and brushing your fingers through steve's soft strands, noticing the way your boyfriend's eyes began to flutter closed.

"feel good, stevie?"

goosebumps cover his body from your whispered words and soft touches. "yes," he hummed in response. "can you play with my hair forever, sweetheart?"

"i'm not sure about forever, but i'll try my best. do you wanna see how it looks?"

he shakes his head. "if you did it, i'm sure it's perfect." pressing a quick kiss to your temple while guiding you towards the couch. "right now i just want you to keep playing with my hair. please?" practically begging at this point, how could you say no to your sweet boy.

. . .

you remain on the couch for the rest of the night, steve's head resting on your lap while you give him all the head scratches he wants and deserves, almost lulling him right to sleep.

"i hope you know you're the only one who's allowed to cut my hair from now on, sweetheart."

you giggle. "are you sure you can afford me? i'm pretty expensive. and those head scratches are extra you know."

#stevie <3 #steve harrington #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington imagine

528 notes · View notes

nightmaretour · 8 months ago

Text

Since people are actually following me for some reason, I thought I should probably make some kind of introductory post I guess.

I'm Zero, I'm a 27 year old visibly disabled trans man with a facial difference living in the UK, and a survivor of meningoencephalitis, septicaemia/sepsis, and a resulting stroke as a teen. I have multifocal right hemisphere brain damage resulting in hemiplegia (including facial paralysis), epilepsy, type 2 narcolepsy, mild anterograde amnesia, and other cognitive issues. I also have arthritis from septic damage, degenerative disc disease, and various mental health issues I'm still waiting for a concrete diagnosis on. I cannot mobilise without an aid (currently crutch and mobility scooter!) and have to live in sheltered housing. I'm open to questions as long as you are respectful.

I post a lot about disability, cripplepunk stuff, trans rights, general LGBTQ+ rights, anticapitalism, etc. A fair amount of what I post is NOT suitable for minors, I guess I can't stop you from following me but I'd really prefer you didn't. My blog runs on a queue, so that I don't spam everyone's feed every time I spend a couple of hours browsing when I don't have the energy for anything else.

I do have neurological problems and am on way more pain meds than one person should have in their body, so you have to be a little patient with me sometimes, my sentences don't always make sense on the first go and I misremember things sometimes. I appreciate it if you respectfully point out if I minced something. I can make my own judgements and form opinions just fine though, so fuck off if you're going to use it as an excuse to belittle and discredit me. Definitely don't just trust me on complex math though, I can barely read an analog clock.

Terfs/radfems, bigots of any kind, eugenics and genocide supporters or apologists, and radqueers (ESPECIALLY "transabled") please interact so I can block you. Forced birthers/anti-choicers, my posts are not and have never been for you, fuck off. If you whine to me about cripplepunk and physical disability spaces being "exclusionist", I will block you. Same if you cannot be respectful about facial differences, strokes, brain damage, visible disabilities, etc, with a zero tolerance policy. I will also most likely make fun of any and all of the above on my blog :)

I am not a free reference for your whump fic, nor am I a subject for your disability fetish. I block able bodied whump writers and disability fetish blogs on sight. No exceptions. Writers wanting to ask RESPECTFUL disability questions are free to do so (although I will not guarantee an answer) but my disabilities are not a fetishistic throwaway trope.

🍉🇵🇸I believe in a free Palestine! 🇵🇸🍉

I will not argue with or tolerate genocide supporters or apologists, my blog is not a safe space for any kind. You are not welcome here.

If any of my image posts are missing image descriptions, please let me know! I do try to add them when I remember but my brain has a very limited capacity, and often things slip through the cracks and disappear. People who make image descriptions I love you, I will paste them into the original post. Please also let me know if you spot any other accessibility issues, such as text not being screen reader friendly.

I also have an art blog over at @disharm0nious ! There's not much on it so far, since I'm dealing with a lot health-wise right now. I do a lot of work with textiles, including screen printing and making my own cross stitch patterns.

(Pfp is by @reflexicon!)

My common tags because Tumblr's blog search function is dogshit (please ignore this post if you're seeing it in these tags):

57 notes · View notes

accidentally-in-fictional-love · 8 months ago

Note

💻🍭🥰🤔- if you want to! hope your day is nice 😽

Donuts by the Bay - Sweet/Romantic Kurt Goreshter Headcanons

Warnings: Fluff Q//w//Q

Notes: You don't even know how happy I am that Kurt is next in my queue I love him so much 🥰 I tried to keep all my hc requests between 10-20 but then I keep just going to 20 so that's what I'm gunna keep doing lol I hope you enjoy and thank you for your patience~ I hope your day is nice too! 💗💗💗

the first time you see him, you think he might be the type to mug you in a dark alleyway, between his tattoos and his haircut and his outfit you end up sweating nervously as he gets closer to you, and you're so busy trying to avoid him that you don't even notice yourself get mugged by a completely different guy until he's grabbing the thief by the arm and getting your attention, giving you back your wallet with a thick accent

you run into him again as you're waiting in line for donuts to bring to work, and he has the same idea it turns out as you properly thank him, and when you end up asking for the same thing coincidentally he gives you such a big smile you don't know how you were ever afraid of him

you see him repeatedly as you both stop for morning treats, and you chat while you stand in line each time until he tells you about his job at a security business, a start-up he and his friend own, and when he gives you his card in case you ever need some home security his personal number is written on the back

the next time you see him (after chickening out of calling him repeatedly) you sum up all your courage and ask him out for coffee, and you learn that while the pastries aren't just for him he does have quite the sweet tooth, another thing to contrast your first impression of him, and you can't believe how incredibly wrong you were as you sit with him in the corner of the café without realizing you're actually swooning as he speaks

after you start dating he greets you with kisses to your temple when you meet up at the shop each morning, kisses to your cheek when he takes you out to lunch, and a kiss to your hand when you finally have dinner together

he's surprisingly affectionate despite his more or less stoic nature by default, not the type to climb onto the nearest table and sing your praises to the world, but more the type to casually have his hand on you in some way no matter if you're sitting or standing, needing to be close to you until it becomes so second nature you don't even realize you've started doing it back

he's smart, so much better at computers and tech than you, and he's always ready to help you with something no matter how small or silly, he never laughs when you think you're asking a dumb question, just listens to your problem and takes a look, and without fail he has yet to not fix whatever task you bring to him

his friends mean a lot to him, the only people who had his back when he was dealing with getting out of Folsom State Prison, and when he opens up enough to let you meet them not just in the 'come check out our business' way but the 'let's all get dinner together one night' way you see just how much they compliment him even though they're all so different

whenever they need to work on a new commercial for X-CON, since Luis loves to keep changing it up purely due to nerves, you're the one he offers up as their test audience, since he trusts your opinion so highly, and while he is unbearably cute as he reads off his cue cards and curses in Russian when he messes up, you're always ready to give them pointers and adjust their scripts so it flows more naturally, which they really appreciate

you end up deciding that you could use a bit of home security after you've been together a while, an unintentional paranoia arising in your stomach after spending so much time around them all and their stories of break ins, some caused by them back in the day ironically enough, but he just holds you close, presses kisses to your forehead and promises that he'll never let anything happen to you

when you do order some cameras to put outside he's the one to personally install them, and he sneaks in a few extra bonuses for you without the others knowing, just to make you feel safer

whenever he visits he always waves at the camera by your door, just because he knows you'll eventually see it, and you keep a small collection of each one because you can't imagine letting them be lost to time

he loves cooking old family recipes from back home, sharing things he was taught by his mother, grandmother, telling you all about what each one means to him as you sit on your counter and watch him, and when you eat together he always lets you try it first so he can see your reactions

as you lay together on the couch or in bed he loves to link his fingers with yours and tell you about his tattoos, where he got his ring and necklace from and how the latter's been passed down through the men of his family for generations, and he teaches you the words for them in Russian

when you're held close he'll whisper things to you that you don't understand, and when he translate them you get him to teach you how to say them too, and his eyes shine when you tell him you love him in his native tongue for the first time

on the nights where you're anxious and can't sleep he brings you hot cocoa in bed and holds you to his chest, softly singing lullabies from when he was a child until your heart calms and you relax into his arms

for your birthday you find out that he's been planning a surprise party for you for weeks, he needed to ask Scott and Cassie to help most of all since Luis and Dave have horrible ideas, and aside from a beautiful cake and dinner they all helped make he also gifts you a box of the pastries you always get with a little ribbon on top, and for some reason (you know why) they taste even sweeter than usual as you all share them together in your living room

for his birthday you also need to go to Scott and Cassie, but only because you have no idea what he wants, but they're also stumped and can't help, so when he shows up at your place you feel bad that you have nothing to give, but he's just happy to make his favourite foods together, just the two of you, and spend the night with you while he shows you a movie from his childhood, and he translates every single line as you watch without subtitles

you never talk about marriage, not even when you date long enough to move into a brand new place together that's big enough for the both of you, but you think he might want it as much as you do when you wake up one morning and find him already awake and looking at you in the dawn's light, his hand brushing gently against your cheek as he wishes you a good morning in Russian, and you don't even realize til later that you understood him and wished it right back, English not even crossing your mind as he then kissed you in response

when he proposes to you he uses his own ring, a stand in until he can afford the one you want, but you just say yes and kiss him and tell him that you want to keep his, he's never getting it back now

#Ray's Headcanons #Ray's Requests #david dastmalchian #kurt goreshter #kurt goreshter x reader #I thought adding my own gifs to each of these would be fun but then I got caught in the loop looking at him OTL HE'S TOO DAMN PRETTY #the title is like cake by the ocean lol I fought so hard to think of something this time and had nothing #I really missed doing these 😊

41 notes · View notes

duchess-of-lara · 3 months ago

Note

What do you recommend doing in Paris? I’m going for a week in March and am working on my itinerary!

This is so embarrassing late, but I hope you can forgive me and that people may find it useful!

First of all, my biggest recommendation: research, research and research!! And not just the weather or the hotel, find everything that Paris has to offer and think carefully about what you will enjoy the most and how to do it. For example, if I had known that Notre Dame was so close to being reopened we would have gone next summer.

Now we can start with my biggest disappointment:

❌ THE LOUVRE!!! You hear it constantly but it really is humongous, AND very difficult to navigate! If you can splurge on it get a guide or do it with a tour. You might think that you want to explore it on your own, but trust me, you don't! I almost had a panic attack trying to find the exit. I genuinely did not enjoy it. I really would recommend getting a guide or making an extremely detailed plan on how you want to visit it and what you want to see. Trust me you just can't do it all. I did love seeing the Niké of Samothrace and for some reason I was extremely enchanted by Marie Antoinette's picnic set. I can't really think of anything else that I enjoyed besides the jewellery gallery. I have said this to my friends and family, if they are visiting Paris and they don't have much time or aren't super interested in seeing something there... They have my permission to skip it.

On with what I enjoyed (everything else!!):

💜 Saint Chapelle 😍😍😍 Absolute must, it's really a 30min max visit in my opinion and it could be cheaper but it's absolutely worth it!!! Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous, don't skip it.

🔵 Boat ride on the Seine: it's ok, but not a must imo, it fills time but I feel like you're just going to see the same sights walking around all week (If you want to do something like that a dinner on a boat might be cooler).

💛 The lights on the Effiel Tower ✨✨✨ So worth it, so enchanting, just... Hearing that collective "OHH". We had to wait almost 40 minutes until 11PM because we had missed it and it was so so worth it. I'd recommend getting there a bit sooner and choose from where you want to see it. We were at the Champs the Mars, super close to the tower and I really liked it there.

🤍 Montmartre: very cute but I would explore it on my own, we were on a free walking tour and the guide was SO depressing, she kept going on and on about the miserable lifes of the artists of the Boheme (which I get it's a big part of Montmartre, but she seriously only talked about death for two hours and I don't feel like I saw any cute streets!!) Sacre Coeur is beautiful and free so don't miss it, the queue is long but quick.

🤎 OPERA GARNIER 😍😍😍 It's another thing that could be cheaper but SO WORTH IT, my mother was super impressed by it, we kept saying "oooohhh" all the time. There will be loads of people in your pictures though, so be patient to get a good one or go super early.

🟢 Galeries Lafayette: beautiful place to just take a break and look at the Chaumet jewellery you're not going to buy. The rooftop is nice and the only place with a free panoramic view of Paris but it's far from the best one (It's the only one we did because my mother has brutal vertigo so I can't recommend others sorry). Staff was rude though!!

💙 Latin Quartet: gorgeous, we did it with the best guide I've ever had so I found it very interesting, I actually thought the Shakespeare and Company was a tourist trap and I ended up almost crying after he told us the story about it (the original one and the current). The Luxembourg Gardens are GORGEOUS, and I'm not someone who really likes parks or gardens but there's something about it! While you're at the Latin Quarter PLEASE!!! Don't skip on Saint Suplice!! It looks very rough on the outside and it's not perfect on the inside either but it was such a delightful surprise! I still think about the virgin Mary on the altar, it looked like she was in a cloud, I had never seen anything like it. We didn't see Saint Germain des Prés because I didn't know it existed, but they are very close, so do both!! (Both are free by the way!!)

⚪ Le Arc the Triumph: I mean it's there? It's big? It's a beautiful end to le champs-élysées? Nothing more to add 😅 Oh, don't be an idiot like me looking for the way to cross, there's a very obvious subterranean access that I completely mistook for the metro. If my mother didn't have vertigo it's probably the place I would have liked to go up and take pictures, but I thought it was quite expensive.

🩶 Museum d'orsay: I thought it was very good, it's definitely a beautiful place and nicely organised museum, nothing like the Louvre, it was a breeze doing it..... But you have to like impressionism and post impressionism. I don't love it, though it was nice seeing lots of paintings you've seen in history classes, and there were some Pre-Raphaelites that I really like and didn't know were there. There's also lots of Rodin, and if you don't like him like me you won't feel guilty by skipping his museum. Basically, a nice two/two and a half long hours museum, not super expensive, but check to see if you would even enjoy it.

💖💖💖 VERSAILLES 💖💖💖 Oh boy did I LOVE IT!!!! Such a cliché but it really is so beautiful!!! We changed plans once we were in Paris from guided gardens and audio guide interiors to fully guided after the disaster with the Louvre and I'm so glad we did. I would have loved to stay a full day there but we didn't have time. The gardens really impressed me, more than the interiors, which surprised me a lot! I would have loved to see the petit Trianon as well but it was very easy to get there by public transport.

✅ Hotels: I'm extremely happy with my choice and I was very worried because you hear constantly that Paris hotel rooms are terrible but we stayed HERE and I thought it had a fantastic value for money.

☑️ Restaurants: honestly we had so little time that we skipped lunch one day and the rest was very much wherever. But I had researched two places and they ended up being quite good:

Le Mistral: Literally eating looking at the Seine for 17euros the menu???? And the food was very good????? I still can't believe this place existed. Also the staff was super friendly. A normal nice place that had good food and amazing location.

Chez Pippo: Not french but a really good Italian place not super expensive super close to the Eiffel Tower, it seemed like a nice restaurant that People who live in Paris actually go to.

Hopefully this helped. But if anyone has any questions please ask me or feel free to add anything I might have missed ❤️❤️❤️

Also!!! We only went for basically two and a half days and I would really recommend at least 5 if you're only going to it once in your life (living in Spain I know that I can go back any long weekend if I want to, but keep that in mind if it's the journey of a lifetime).

#paris

21 notes · View notes

the-s1lly-corner · 8 months ago

Text

The Angst Alphabet

NOTE: any letter/alphabet prompts that have been made and put in the masterlist that do not specify which list theyre from, assume they are fluff alphabet prompts if they are posted prior to 6/19/24! Always worth to doublecheck, however this is a general thing!

Similar to the fluff and tropes list, you can turn to this list of prompts for ideas of what to request! This list will also be open indefinitely, hooray! If you're unsure if a character has already had any specific prompts done, you can always turn to the masterlist! You can find this list and other pre made prompt ideas at the bottom of the main masterlist! All will be in my pinned! You can find the rules for this alphabet under the cut, please keep them in mind when requesting! You are also free to use these prompts for your own writing!

Naturally, there is a chance that this list may contain subjects that can bring discomfort. I want to make it very clear that for the majority, if not all, of these prompts are in no way meant to be romanticized. That being said a lot of these prompts revolve around emotionally charged mistakes as well as people being naturally flawed; unless the scenario and character calls for it, assume that these are relationship hiccups.

CWs: mentions of death and grief, injuries, mentions of murder, talks of scars and while it can be seen in any way it can be seen in a S/H way however its a vague prompt, general mentions of loss, possibility of trauma depending on character and prompts that are requested together,

You can request up to 3 prompts and 2 characters in a single request! As long as I write for the character (I will let you know if I don't! We'd be here forever if I listed every character I write for..) and what fandoms I currently write for (can be found in the pinned as well as the status! If it says its ongoing, you're good to go!). As stated in the opening note, if youre unsure if a few prompts had been done for a character, check the Masterlist! Or alternatively you can ask me via inbox if it's been done yet! Speaking of, I only accept requests through the inbox since it's easier to keep track of.. as well as this I work on a queue system so expect your request to take a while; you're always free to ask when its expected to be posted! Request status will also be kept up to date in my bio! A lot of these prompts can be applied to romantic or platonic relationships however on the chance you ask for a character i only write platonic for and ask for a prompt that is more romantic leaning, I will do my best to make it platonic. If it cannot be done I will make that aware to you! Tags do not equal the fandoms I write for as thats subject to change! If a fandom is not listed or it's been a while I recommend looking at my pinned to see fandom statuses!

Admirer- What are they like when they have a crush on you, but they already know you dont notice them or reciprocate? Or alternatively, what if you were asked out by someone else before they got the nerve to do it themselves?

Break up- What can break your relationship? How are they like afterwards?

Clique- What if their group of friends and/or family disapprove of you, or outright hate you? How likely are they to crack under the pressure? Will they side with you or them, or will they choose to stand in the middle?

Distrust- How do they try to get your trust back? What can you do that breaks their trust?

Ex- What are they like when your ex turns up? Whether the ex in question is bad or not, how do they work through these feelings? Are they okay with you being friends with an ex?

Fight- How nasty can they get in an argument? Who walks away first, if there is any walking away?

Guttural- How do they show their emotions, do they talk about it? Do they silence themselves? Do they generally keep quiet or do they feel that they can't talk about it?

Heal- How do they make it up to you after a fight? Do they make a promise to do better or do they remain stagnant? Change is not linear, what will progress look like?

Jealousy- Very similar to the E prompt, as well as the Jealousy prompt from the fluff alphabet. How do they handle these feelings? What makes them jealous? Both in general, as well as when it comes to you?

Injury- Much like it's fluff counterpart... how do they handle you when your hurt... however, in this list... how are they in the moment?

Kill- Would they kill for you/out of revenge?

Lonely- How often do they feel alone? Do they seek you out or do they swallow their feelings?

Misery- How do they cope after your passing? How long does it take for them to pull themselves together ect ect

Nightmare- How do they soothe your nightmares? Do they have nightmares themsevles?

Opened- Will they throw something in your face in the heat of the moment, knowing it will hurt you? How do they proceed after the immediate damage?

Protective- How far are they willing to go to protect you? If they give everything they can, and you still get hurt... how do they react? Will they blame themselves, or you? Or will they go quiet?

Quake- Something in the past the effects how they move forward, in general and/or within the relationship

Rejected- How do they handle feeling rejected? Not just a rejected confession, but rejection as a whole? How do they cope when they feel rejected by you?

Strangers- What's it like when you find yourselves in the same space, after breaking up? Will they approach you or will they pretend they don't know you?

Two faced- How likely are they to lie to you, what would they lie about? What happens if they're caught?

Undying- In the case one of you are immortal or otherwise live long... how does that effect the dynamic?

Valentine- Different from its fluff alphabet counterpart, how will they feel if you stood them up on valentines day? On the flip side, what kind of emergency would make them stand you up?

Wounded- Do they have any scars, of any origin? How do they feel about them? How do they treat your scars, of any origin?

Xray- How obvious are they when theyre around something they hate/when you do something that upsets them

Yearn- Similar to it's fluff counterpart, how do they deal with separation or rather, how do they cope with wanting something they've lost and/or don't have?

Zestless- What happens if one or both of you lose your spark for the relationship? Will you try to ignite it, or will you simply part ways?

#tadc x reader #the amazing digital circus x reader #digital circus x reader #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #dca x reader #fnaf sb x reader #slasher x reader #slashers x reader #hazbin x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #x reader #x you #canon x reader #canon x you

38 notes · View notes

m4delin · 1 month ago

Text

WIP - Nothing more than codes and digits (let's add to it)

Since it's new years eve, I want to share what was supposed to be my third title for the Treebark Title Swap 2024, but I ran out of time for finishing it and since then it's been sitting in my WIP document. It's my own title I stole so I didn't feel bad for not finishing it.

I aim to actually finish it, but wanted to share what I got so far since I do like what I've written. Just don't mind all the notes in the brackets, you're getting everything here xD

Words: 6.7k Characters: Ren, Martyn, Doc, Tango Tags: datastream defender lore, C.H.E.S.T is evil, it's taking place in the future (at minimum 80 years after pirates smp ended), androids, memorials, brief mention of assissted suicide, pre-relationship treebark, spring is martyn, despite what martyn believes it is the real world, very much utopia

Summary: Having been one of the earliest people "rescued" from the datastream, Ren has helped a lot of people to get used to their new bodies and the new sociaty. Some has trusted him more, some has trusted him less, and Ren can't fault anyone for that.

Spring is proving to be the most distrustful person Ren has met yet.

A whistle from the kettle echoes through the apartment, and it brings Ren out of the drowsiness that always clings to him when he starts up for the day, just enough for him to yawn and stretch before detangling himself from the blanket.

It’s a slow start, really, it takes a good 15 minutes before Ren is finally on his feet, body awake enough to not move in slow motion.

He probably should ask Doc to take a look at him, it’s been a while since the last check up.

He files the thought to his to-do-later list, and instead focuses on his normal morning routine. Remove the still whistling kettle from the stove, take out a couple of bags of nutrients for his plants and mix it with the still hot but cooling water, throw the binder and tablet into his work bag, ignore any paper that doesn’t stick to the binder, and walk around to water the plants with the now cool mixture.

A small orb appears in the corner of Ren’s eyes, and as he looks at it, it turns into a small holographic image of Xisuma, but instead of his voice coming through, it’s a generic robotic voice that reads up the message.

“I’ll be running late, can you drop by the coffee shop on your way in? Thanks.”

Ren chuckles, and shakes his head at the message.

“Reply,” he says and the holograph changes into himself with a speech bubble beside it. “Sure thing, dude, I’ll get the usual. Don’t fall asleep on the bus again. End reply.”

He watches as the speech bubble gets folded into a letter before disappearing together with the holograph. No matter how many years have passed, he still finds it fascinating to watch the small avatars come and go.

Shaking his head, Ren focuses back on his task. He waters the final plant and hurries back to his bedroom to get properly dressed, since he’ll not only take a detour, but also open the museum apparently, he needed to get a move on.

He’s still buttoning up his shirt as he walks out of the apartment, work bag hanging over his shoulder, and the door locks behind him with a soft click.

[small transition for traveling? ]

The coffee shop is busy when Ren arrives, and he flicks an ear backwards in annoyance. Of course he succeeds in hitting rush hour for the morning travelers. Not that he has much of a choice, he realizes, with Xisuma being so late with his request. Normally the director would know way earlier if he was about to run late, but Ren guesses that today must’ve been an emergency. Or he had stayed up way too late again and slept in.

As Ren joins the queue, he decides that that’s what happened.

Surprisingly the line goes by fast and it doesn’t take long until the cashier is looking at Ren expectantly.

“One Cream Coffee and one Radiator to go, please,” he says as he lifts up his wrist, a small section of it lightning up. The cashier hums as they tap on the screen in front of them before lifting the other hand, holding a small square thing above Ren’s wrist. It beeps once and the cashier brings back the device.

“5 minutes,” they say, and waves Ren to move out of the queue. Ren does as instructed and watches the people move around him as he’s waiting for the drinks. [description of humans and androids? Ren receives the drinks, one blue, mentions of him passing breakfast at home?]

The walk from the coffee shop to the museum isn’t a long one, the perks of working in the city center, but it’s long enough for Ren to feel like he properly got to stretch his legs out and having sipped enough of his drink for a third to be gone.

It’s later than it’s supposed to be when Ren finally reaches the employer door to the museum, a showing of his wrists makes the door beep and open, letting him inside.

The building is silent at this time in the morning, even with Ren’s enhanced hearing. Or it usually is, but now one of his ears twist as he hears a high pitched sound from a light somewhere close by, no doubt about to go out during the day. Which he would have to replace.

Ren sighs heavily, and heads towards Xisuma’s office to drop off his coffee in the heat preserving container, before he goes to his own while downing his the rest of his drink.

The door to his office unlocks when he puts his hand on the handle, and opens without a complaint, and Ren is greeted by the sight of papers covering the floor.

Right. The research. He’d forgotten about that, honestly.

Luckily it’s only printouts of different texts that he was trying to decipher, so he’s not exactly careful as he walks over to his desk to put down his back and the now empty cup. He would start cleaning the room up normally, but since Xisuma was running late, and it would just be the two of them today, so not only did he have to change that light bulb, but also prepare the museum to be opened.

Ren isn’t sure if he’s happy or not that he can’t get headaches anymore.

He ignores the chaos that is his office, even adding a little bit more to the pile on the floor by pushing down a couple of more papers from the desk, and heads back out to start preparing the building.

He’s barely closed the door behind him when the small white orb appears in the corner of his eyes again, this time shifting into a goat when he gives it his attention. Instead of it starting to read up a message, the robotic voice let him know it’s an incoming call.

“Answer,” Ren says, and the goat shifts into the upper half of Doc.

“Good morning, Ren,” Doc says, one hand raised in a greeting.

Ren gives him a big smile. “Doc, my dude! Was thinking of you this morning! My body seems slower than usual in the mornings, think you can take a look?” He continues on his way towards the ground keeper’s office, Doc’s hologram floating beside him.

Doc blinks, and looks down into something in his hands. “Perhaps next month then. Been a couple of years since your last check up.” Then he shakes his head. “But that’s not why I called. Can you come by the lab next monday?”

It makes Ren pause in his step, and he looks properly at Doc again. “Have you found-”

“Yes,” Doc cuts him off, “another prisoner. Tango and I are setting up a body for them, and it should be done by the weekend, but I know you like to have your weekends off.”

Ren continues his path to the ground keeper’s office, but with quicker steps than before. “I want to be there when you wake them up, you know this, dude. Got any name on them?”

“No.”

The heavy sigh that accompanies the words makes Ren’s artificial heart sink as he steps into his destination. “Oh.”

“The disk was named though.” And… That’s unusual.

Ren pushes the buttons in the office to activate the cleaning robots, and doesn’t pay enough attention to the screens to see if they’ve been turned on properly. “That makes it sound like it’s not numbered,” he says as he steps out of the room, and continues down the hallway.

“It was titled Spring. Does it ring a bell?” Doc asks, and Ren wishes that it did.

“Hasn’t Tango looked through the police reports on the whole ordeal?”

“He has, and found nothing. But you’re the history expert on C.H.E.S.T, so figured it was worth asking,” Doc says, waving a clipboard around.

Ren frowns, and his ears lay down flat against his skull, and gets behind the front desk. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’ve never heard of something called Spring before. I’ll make a deep dive though, see if I can find anything.”

“Appreciated, Ren. I’ll send a message when it’s decided on when we’ll wake them up. Bye,” Doc says, and Ren says his own goodbye before the hologram of Doc turns into a white dot again.

Well. At least now Ren knows what he will spend his free time on til monday arrives.

With thoughts focused on the upcoming research, Ren hurries through the preparation of the museum’s opening for the day.

-----

[small scene that transition into the lab]

It’s easy to find the room where Doc and Tango would wake the prisoner[another name?] up, Ren has been here plenty of times already, and Ren clutches his bag closer to him. [add that he’s carrying a bag of drinks with him]

He’s honestly excited, it’s been a few years since they last discovered a disk that wasn’t broken.

Ren pushes the door leading to the viewing room open, and pauses as he only sees Tango in the room, sitting in front of the big window, and looking through it.

Tango glances away from the window, and smiles when Ren meets his eyes. “Ren! Good to see you, come on in!”

Ren makes sure to close the door behind him, glancing through the window. It’s a view of a spacious room, a wardrobe in one corner, a tv on the wall next to it, and on the opposite is a bed with a table beside it. A bed currently occupied by a generic looking android body that shouldn’t be up and moving, but obviously is. Beside the bed is Doc sitting with a tablet in his hands.

“I thought you would wait to wake them up until I arrived,” Ren says with a pout, ears pressed down against his skull.

Tango shrugs. “We planned to, but when we were preparing the body and inserted the disk, they woke themselves up,” he says, and looks back to the scene in front of them.

The android body is holding a tablet of their own, their head tilted slightly as they’re listening to what Doc is saying.

“That’s unusual. How many years has it been since that happened?” Ren asks as he opens up the paperbag with the drinks. He takes the smallest one out, and hands it to Tango.

Tango takes it, pops out the straw, and takes a sip. “Not in the years I’ve been working here. I think it has happened three times now in total?”

“Four,” Ren corrects as he digs out a larger drink, and puts it on the table behind Tango. “I mean, if you’re counting this dude too.” After digging out a small package of milk and making sure there’s only two drinks left in the bag, Ren returns to Tango’s side.

Tango snorts. “Why are you asking me if you remember that?”

“Years tend to float together after a while, the amount of times it happens are easier to remember,” Ren says with a shrug, before looking towards the second door on the other side of the room. “I’ll head down, and save the poor fella from Doc’s technical ramblings,” he says as he moves towards the door.

Tango giggles behind him. “Sure, old man. Remember to ask Doc for an upgrade in your cache at the next check up!” he shouts behind Ren. Ren just shakes his head as he goes through the door, and down the stairs.

Doc’s voice comes through the moment Ren opens up the door downstairs.

“-o problem at all- oh. Hello, Ren,” Doc says as Ren walks into the room, putting the tablet down into his lap. The android turns their head with slightly narrowed eyes, and Ren gives them both his best smile.

“Hi, dudes! Everything good?” he says as he walks up to the bed. The android is still looking wary, but Ren looks at Doc as Doc nods.

“I’ve given him the rundown of his new body, including a tablet for customization requests that’s not the generic type,” he says, and taps a [tablet pen?] against his own tablet. “Now I need to check more how his fine motor control is working, to make sure everything is in order, and then I need to-”

Ren chuckles. “I’m gonna stop you right there, bud, but one step at a time, yeah? We don’t need to overload his brain right at this moment,” he says as he pats Doc on the shoulder, and gives the android another smile.

“That… would be appreciated,” the android says as he looks between the two.

“With that approval-” Ren begins as he grins at Doc, “-I’m sending you off to the break room. I’ve brought a chocolate[other drink?] to you, it’s up with Tango in the room.”

Doc nods, and gives Ren a smile. “Thank you. I’ll be back later, whenever you’re ready to learn more about how your body functions,” Doc says, and with that he raises up from the chair, and walks through the door Ren had arrived from.

Ren puts all his focus on the patient, and gives him a smile. “Apologies for just switching like this, but Doc tends to get into the technical stuff immediately, and most people find it overwhelming,” he says, and fishes up a third, blue drink from the paper bag as he walks closer to the android.

The android looks between Ren and the drink he’s holding out.

“It’s a drink called ‘Radiator’. It’s a fluid that people like you and me need to have a functioning body, and this one is made into a drink so we can mimic drinking. It’s calming for some people,” Ren explains, and watches as the android slowly takes it into his hands.

Ren gives him a smile when he does take it before he walks over to the chair Doc left, and digs out the fourth and final drink out of the paperbag. He discards the bag beside the chair, and hangs his work bag over the backrest before sitting down.

The patient is looking hesitant at the drink, and Ren knows how weird it is in the beginning, so he takes a gulp out of his own Radiator.

“You said people like us?” the android asks when Ren lowers his drink, and is now obviously glancing at Ren’s ears.

“Yep! People stuffed into an android body,” Ren says, and taps one of his ears, it flicking out of range at the touch, since it has the android’s attention. “These babies are custom made. Had human ears for a good amount of years, until Doc figured out a way to customize bodies without risking us shutting down. Real genius that man!”

The android frowns, and looks down at his drink in his lap.

“Had a tail for a while too, but let me tell you, not worth it! Not only do you have to make custom clothes, especially pants, but they wear[?] out too fast. As good as I am at repairing them myself, there’s only so many times a man has patient to repair his own pants per month,” Ren continues, chuckling at the memory. Yeah, he had to repair way too many pants.

The room falls into silence, just for a moment, as Ren looks at the android and the android is still looking at his drink. The tablet the android had been messing around with earlier is laying in his lap.

“This is a lot, I know,” Ren says with a soft voice, and the android glances up. “If you have any questions, go ahead. Kinda why I’m here, being the social dude so Doc and Tango can focus on making sure your body is functioning correctly.”

The android seems to think for a moment before he lifts up his head properly.

“The doctor said your name was Ren?”

Ren slams a hand on his forehead, and an ear flicks in annoyance. “Introduction is a thing, yes,” he says as he lets the hand fall back down into his lap, properly gripping his drink again. He gives the android a smile.

“Yeah, name’s Ren, he/him, I’m an ex-employee of C.H.E.S.T-”

The difference between normal androids and people with an android body is really fascinating if you ask Ren. Androids often just mimic expressions that humans make in certain situations, while the people have the mini[miniture? miniluscus?] expression change that androids seem incapable to mimic, despite having the same built body. And this is a perfect example of it.

Because the reaction is instantaneous.

Deep rooted fear flashes across the android’s face, as well as his body going rigid, but it’s there barely a second before the android’s face is neutral once again, although his back is much straighter than before.

It tells Ren that this person has dealt with C.H.E.S.T before.[not happy with this line, find alternatives]

Ren clears his throat, and pretends that he didn’t see it. “-I worked in the public and civilian sector, but when I started to investigate the disappearance of some of my colleagues, I ended up as one of their victims as well. They stuffed me into a digital disk, and stayed there until I got woken up by Doc. Don’t remember much of the time I spent being digital that way. Today I work for the Hermit Museum, working on preserving the memories of all of C.H.E.S.T’s victims, giving them a memorial for those we haven’t been able to find and give a new chance on life, as well as making sure that all of C.H.E.S.T’s crimes is known to the world.”

The android seems to still be on guard, and Ren doesn’t blame him. So Ren takes a sip of his drink before giving the android his best smile.

“Before I ask you your name, or any question for that matter, know that you don’t have to answer them. As much as I would love to know who you are, you’re entitled to keep any information to yourself,” he says in hopes to make the man relax just a little bit at least.

The man nods, and makes no attempt to introduce himself.

The next smile Ren gives him is softer. “Is there something I can call you the very least? Can’t call you dude or android the whole time.”

Again, the man doesn’t attempt to speak.

Ren’s shoulders slump forward a bit as his ears twist backwards. “Okay then. I’ll call you Spring until you’ve given me something else to call you,” he says, and watches how the man reacts to the name. There’s no more reaction other than him watching Ren cautiously.

“So. That’s me. Any questions?”

Spring is silent, his mouth in a thigh line, and then-

“I want to be alone.”

Ren sighs, and leans back in the chair, almost tipping it over. “Sorry dude, no can do. Until Doc and Tango have made sure your body is functioning well, and you need an identification number in order to be able to move around in society without getting, like, arrested, you need to have someone with you.”

Spring frowns at that, and stares into his lap again, drink still not touched and tablet seemingly forgotten.

And Ren knows that this feels invasive, especially when you don’t trust the ones who're supposed to look after you. But it’s a rule put in place for a very good reason.

“But,” Ren continues after a little bit of silence, “I can leave the room.”

Spring looks up, confusion written all over his face.

Ren gestures towards the window close to the ceiling, and Spring follows his hand until he sees it. And goes stiff again as he sees Tango and Doc sitting by the window, not looking into it but having their backs to it, seemingly having a conversation between the two of them.

“This room has no cameras, no microphones, no motion detectors. It’s completely soundproof. The only thing that can monitor you is if someone sits behind that glass, and we will until we’re sure your body won’t suddenly break down on you.”

Spring looks back to Ren, and Ren tries to give him a reassuring smile, but it probably ends up looking more sad than anything.

“We won’t keep this strict watch for long, tops two weeks if your body is having troubles. And after you’ve gotten your identification number, you’re free to go wherever. But we want to help you, we really do. We can get you in touch with a therapist, arrange for you to have an apartment, help you get a stable life. Just-” Ren takes a deep breath, hands clenching around his own forgotten drink, “-let us know if you don’t want life anymore. We- no, I- want to bury you in that case. You deserve a funeral, however you want it. You, and your story, deserve to be remembered.”

As excited Ren always is to meet someone new, this is the hardest part of helping them into this modern world.[?]

Offer them a chance to actually die, not simply being suspended in an empty dataspace.

It’s still better than finding out that they ended it by themselves.

Spring is giving Ren a strange look, and to be fair, it is strange to offer to bury someone. Ren doesn’t blame him for it.

“I-” Spring starts, but cuts off himself. He shakes his head and Ren tilts his head to the side, watching as Spring comes to a conclusion.

“I would like to be alone,” Spring repeats, and Ren nods. Without much further aboe[?], Ren gets up from his chair, pulling his work bag over his shoulder with his free hand, and walks over to the door.

But there he pauses, and looks over his shoulder at Spring.

“By the way. Doc and Tango has never been associated with C.H.E.S.T, neither of them was even born when that organization got busted. Even if you don’t trust me, you can trust them.” With that, Ren leaves the room.

“You good?” Tango asks when Ren gets up into the viewing room, and all Ren can do is to let out a deep sigh.

“He got real bad trauma with C.H.E.S.T,” Ren says as he sits down by a chair furthest from the window. While he can’t leave, he will at least try to respect Spring’s privacy when Doc and Tango aren't there to keep watch.

Doc hums, and both he and Tango look through the window. “Isn’t surprising. We’ll take it slow then, try to give him as much privacy as we can,” Doc says as he tips his cup back, and then frowns as he removes it from his face. “Empty,” he grumbles, and places it on the floor.

“I’ll try to get his identification number as soon as possible, should get it at the end of the week if I pull the right strings,” Tango says with a nod.

Ren tunes out his two friends as they talk and plan how to go forward this coming week.

Seems like honesty straight out of the bag wasn’t the way to go this time. But then again, it’s hard to know what to do when you don’t know who will be waking up.

With another sigh, Ren takes a big gulp of his own drink. He’ll just keep watch from a distance then, and help Doc and Tango out whenever they need. It’s not the first time they had to work like this, nor will it be the last.

But he does wish that he would be able to help Spring better than this.

---

A week and a half. That’s what it takes until everything starts to fall into place.

It takes about a week for Doc to calibrate Spring’s body to not stumble when he moves too fast, and to give Spring a general look[?]. And then they just had to wait for the identification number, which Tango pushed hard for.

Ren had visited and invited Spring out for walks whenever Doc and Tango had allowed it, and he had pretended not to see when Spring was looking around and taking in their surroundings in more than just fascination with the scenery. These walks always felt a bit bittersweet to Ren, since Spring never seemed to relax during it, nor afterwards. In all honesty, it probably had to do with Ren himself, which he doesn’t blame Spring for.

But hopefully today would be different.

Ren runs a hand through his hair, and sighs heavily. The plan for today was to take Spring to the museum, both to show him how to use public transportation and how to navigate around the money system. He hopes everything goes well.

Steeling his nerves, Ren pushes open the door to Spring’s room, and smiles at the man when he looks up.

Unlike the first time Ren saw Spring, Spring now looked like an actual human. Instead of looking like a generic android, he now had blond hair pulled into a small ponytail, blue eyes and pale skin, with a hoodie over his torso and jeans on his legs.

“Hey there, Spring!” Ren says as he walks closer to the bed where Spring is sitting, fiddling with a book. Ren gives him a smile, but per usual Spring stays silent and warily watches Ren.

“I have good news for you. Your identification number should arrive very shortly, and thus we shall venture out further than the gardens today!”

Spring raises an eyebrow. “What?”

Ren grins, and pets his shoulder bag. “We’re heading to the museum today! You need to know how to transfer money as you soon will be released from here, and it’s easier if I just show you. And it will be nice to be outside this place, yes?”

That catches Spring’s attention, and he puts down the book on the nightstand. “So… we’re going to the museum so you can show me how to pay?”

“And to show you how society works [fix this?]

Ren glances over his shoulder at Spring, who was looking everywhere but at Ren. There’s a lot to see, considering that this is the first time they’ve been so far away from the facility, so Ren is just happy that Spring is still following him and not trying to bolt the moment he could like Ren thought he would.

There’s so much Ren wants to ask the man, but he bites his tongue as he focuses his eyes forward on the street ahead of them.

Or rather, the opening of the buildings and the street which gives space to a big open area with a lot of different statues lingering about.

“The museum is just ahead,” Ren says with a grin as he speeds up just a bit. As much as he loves helping people out, he has missed the museum and working on his own projects. But he’ll get back to them soon enough, Spring just needed his identification number after all before getting released.

“That’s. A lot of statues,” Spring says, and Ren slows down to walk beside Spring instead of ahead of him. It earns Ren a sideways glance.

“Eyup! The classic ones are on the left,” Ren says as he motions in front of them. “Not easy to see from this angle, I realize. Come on, we’ll see them better when we get on the main path!” Without thinking, Ren grabs Spring’s arm in excitement to drag him with him, but stops when Spring pulls back his arm just as quickly as Ren had grabbed it.

Ren looks back at Spring who’s staring at him with a blank look, arm held close.

“Oh, uh. Sorry, I forgot myself,” Ren says, ears pressed flat backwards in embarrassment.

Spring moves his eyes from Ren to look at something behind Ren, face just as blank as before. “You’re excited for the museum?” He asks, voice carefully [blank? other word]

Ren nods, and motions towards the statue garden in an invitation to start walking again. “Yes,” he begins as Spring starts moving, and he joins Spring, “how can I not be? It’s a great workplace, I have wonderful colleagues and it gives me the best chance to just learn about history! I always love showing off what we have.”

There’s a moment of silence before Spring speaks again. “I thought you worked at the facility?” [check when ren introduces himself]

“Not really,” Ren hums, steering the two of them towards the street that runs in the middle of the statue garden. As they get closer, it becomes more obvious that there are two different sections of statues.

“I mean, I help Doc and Tango out with like. Social stuff like this. Helping people get back into society. But that doesn’t exactly happen enough to be an actual job.” Ren shakes his head. “I’m a [curator?] and researcher at [hermit museum?]. If you want we can go past my exhibition, but honestly, that might not be a good idea.”

Spring glances at Ren before looking in front of them, the two finally entering the main street leading to the museum, statues on both sides of them.

“How come?”

“[I research the damage C.H.E.S.T has done to society and its victims,” Ren says, not reminding Spring that he had already told him this when he introduced himself.]

Spring stays silent, and Ren lest him digest what he just told him, before clearing his throat, and motioning to the left.

“But, yes, the classics! They are just copies of the originals of course, but it’s nice to have something more physical to look at as the guide books tell you about them, rather than a hologram,” Ren says with a grin, and it seems to snap Spring out of his head.

Then Ren motions towards the right. “And that’s modern art. Statues. Eh, yeah, not really my department, but if we bump into Xisuma[? check how many i wrote works here] he will happily tell you all about it. There’s more modern art inside, and more history stuff too.”

Spring nods, but stays silent until they reach the doors of the museum which has been propped open to let the cool summer winds into the building.

Ren waves at the android sitting at the reception desk, who only tilt its head in acknowledgement to his presence, but it gives Spring a smile when it notices him.

“Hi, and welcome to [hermit museum]. Would you like a map, or a recommendation on where to go?” It says, voice a tad flat.

“Oh great, need to tell [groundkeeper] that they need to fix up Lucy’s voice again,” Ren says with a sigh before turning to Spring who has stopped by the desk, hand stretched out for the map that he was offered.

“You don’t need the map if you don’t want it,” Ren says as Spring grabs it, before shrugging when Spring gives him a raised eyebrow. “Again, I work here, I know this museum almost better than Xisuma, and he’s the owner of the place.”

“I think I’ll take it anyway,” Spring mumbles, and tucks it into his hoodie.

“Alright,” Ren says, one ear flicking backwards before turning back. “So, where do you want to start? It’s a big place, and I’ll show you how to interact and activate the holograms, though I’m sure Tango has already given you that lesson.”

Ren smiles as Spring looks at him, and waits patiently as Spring brings out the map to look at instead of asking Ren what places there are.

“Uh. What about here?” Spring says as he points at his map, and Ren leans over to take a look at it.

“Ah,” Ren says with a grin, “the [department]. That’ll be fun. Now! On our way!” This time he refrains from grabbing Spring, and Spring follows after a brief moment just looking at Ren. Again, Ren is very excited.

Two hours goes by, in which more visitors arrived, but it was still a far cry from being crowded. Spring had been looking at some of the holograms, but nothing had really captured his interest for long, so Ren had continued to guide him through the building in hopes that Spring would find something.

Ren is walking backwards, facing Spring, as he talks about [ämne], having entered his guide mode.

He doesn’t keep track of where Spring’s eyes wander, so when Spring suddenly stops and fixates his gaze in one spot, it takes a moment for Ren to remember where in the building they are.

Ren slows to a stop, and glances towards the big, open archway which reveals some big plaques[?] with a lot of text and pictures on them.

The C.H.E.S.T exhibition.

Ren looks back at Spring who has not looked away from the archway, obviously having seen one of the plaques that has the words C.H.E.S.T on it.

“You want to go and take a look?” Ren says with a soft voice, and to his surprise, Spring nods and doesn’t wait for Ren to move, instead taking the lead properly for the first time this day. Ren follows and stays silent as Spring slowly walks into the exhibition, head constantly turning as if he’s trying to take in everything at once.

Spring stops at the closet plaque, and Ren slides up beside him.

“This part is mostly information about C.H.E.S.T. About who they were, their public front and shadow business, how they were able to trick the public, how it got discovered and its downfall,” Ren says, eyes staring at the C.H.E.S.T logo. Spring glances at him.

“Despite that it’s been [50 years?], there’s a lot we don’t know about this organization. I’m the main researcher on it around here, as the police stopped investigating some years ago, and other people who are researching this are doing so in other countries.” Ren cast his eyes down to the floor, trying to sort his thoughts. He doesn’t want to overwhelm Spring with all of this.

Spring turns his head around, taking in more of the room, before he looks back to the plaque in front of them. Then he reaches out to touch the button that activates the personal hologram.

Ren stays silent as Spring listens to the private hologram, and he follows him when Spring moves to the next.

They spend longer time in here than in any other exhibition. Spring stops at every plaque, and Ren lets him, ready to answer any questions Spring has. [allow ren to talk abt the lore i’ve come up with?]

But Spring doesn’t ask him anything. He simply watches and listens to the holograms, and then he moves on.

Ren doesn’t stop him until they start getting close to a smaller, but more decorated archway.

“Spring,” he says as he holds his hand up, stopping them both. Ren gives him a [soft?] look before motioning towards the archway. “I know you want to listen to the holograms but. Through that archway is the memorial. For all the victims of C.H.E.S.T. And since this will be personal for both you and me, I would like to talk about them,” he continues, bowing his head down. When he looks back up, Spring has a small frown on his face.

“You’re a C.H.E.S.T employee,” he says, and with a tone that indicates that he doesn’t think Ren should be allowed to.

“Ex-employee. And I worked in the public sector, not knowing what was going on.” Ren raises a hand to his own hand, and taps one of his ears that flicks away from the touch. “I’m as much of an android as you. I know you don’t trust me, but please. This is the way I can show these people respect. Please let me talk about them.”

Many emotions seem to cross Spring’s face, until eventually he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes, he nods.

“Okay.”

Ren smiles as he straighteners his back. “Thank you,” he says, and takes a step to the side. He motions towards the archway. “Let’s begin.”

Spring takes the lead, but Ren is quick to end up walking beside him.

“These people,” Ren begins as they enter the memorial area, “are people who C.H.E.S.T have one way or another killed. Be it by mercanaries, tasked to take down who they consider enemies, or being forced into the datastream.”

It’s easy for Ren to slip into his [curator] role, and to forget why they’re here to begin with.

“[names] are some of the last victims that C.H.E.S.T caused[?] before the police and government started to crack down on them. In fact, most people here in the beginning section are later victims. Many of which were straight up killed as C.H.E.S.T tried to figure out who had betrayed them, not quite getting that there were too many people who were asking questions at this point. But there were quite a few that they sent into the datastream as well,” Ren says as he continues to slowly walk down the rows of plaques with pictures of different faces.

He stops as Martyn stops by a plaque and just looks at it.

“People who ended up in the datastream are people who we might be able to recover, as long as their data hasn’t been corrupted. Sadly it’s a too common recurrence that the data chips they reside in have been broken or rendered useless, so these are all we have left of them.” Ren looks ahead of them, eyes distant as he remembers waking up for the first time since being put in the datastream.

“Those who we’ve found to still be uncorrupted, we’ve given an android body and given a chance at life again. Most do not wish to be contacted, so please refrain from asking.”

Spring lets out a huff beside him, and Ren gives him a smile. “Apologize, there’s been a lot of people who ask to speak with them, so it just slipped out. Anyway.”

Spring shakes his head, and starts to walk down the row again, to which Ren falls in line with.

[reading up a few names?]

“As said, most people in this part were killed, and this ‘late stage’ started roughly 5 years before C.H.E.S.T was shut down,” Ren says, hands clasped behind his back. “Of course, that’s the official shut down. The police needed to hunt down underground sections for years after, but at least C.H.E.S.T didn’t have control of the public anymore.”

They cross a line on the floor, and Ren unclasps his hands and motions to the closest plaque, now sporting a different color in the background. “These people are more from the ‘middle stage’, for lack of better words, and many of them ended up in the datastream. We know this thanks to documents C.H.E.S.T kept, and we have found plenty of ‘resting chips’ as we have come to call them. Again, most of these are sadly corrupted, so a burial is all we have been able to give them.”

[more names? more walking around?]

As the room opens up [spreading?] into different paths for showing more plaques, Ren takes the lead, looking towards a wall, and slightly raised platform.

“These people,” Ren says as he comes to a halt in front of the display, “were a part of a group[name?] that tried to fight and stop C.H.E.S.T. It was created very early on, and was able to fight off C.H.E.S.T for a good amount of time, but sadly the targeted attacks became more and more intense. Too soon, many of these people disappeared.”

Ren lets his eyes trail over one picture at a time. “[name]. Viktor ‘Doc’ [name]. Martyn Littlewood. [name]. People who, at the time, just vanished to never be seen again.”

#treebark #m4ds writing #fun fact: this is roughly only halfway #:)

12 notes · View notes

jackassbrainrot · 6 months ago

Text

one last time [dunn x f!reader]

desc: you and ryan break up, but you can't resist having each other one last time

a/n: wasn't planning on writing more fics today (except the hcs I wrote earlier today that are still waiting in my queue) but I had to indulge @mcgpoy, hope it lives up to what you wanted!! angsty sex with ry is truly something

warnings: smut, angst, p in v, crying during sex, unhealthy bad life decisions DO NOT DO THIS

word count: 832

You never thought you'd find yourself in this position. You were standing in your kitchen, holding onto the counter for balance, feeling your heart break into a million pieces after your long term boyfriend told you he was breaking up with you.

"I'm sorry, y/n, but it's for the best." Ryan said, his voice painted with pain. You knew he was right. He was constantly away for filming, risking his life every day for a living, which you had to admit was stressing you out more than you thought it would. It was fine when you were younger, filming silly skits for Bam's skating videos in high school, but the older you got, his injuries and your anxiety were getting worse by the day.

You couldn't speak, your heart beating out of you chest, words lost in the mess of your thoughts, replaying all the memories you'd made over the years. Your eyes were stuck on the floor, unable to meet his, knowing you'd cry if you did.

"Y/n, please say something, you're killing me here." He pleaded, and you knew he meant it.

"You're not the one being broken up with here, Ryan." Your voice came out much harsher than you'd wanted as your eyes finally met his.

"It hurts me too, you know." He says, walking over to lean on the counter next to you. "I didn't want it to end this way. Hell, I didn't want it to end at all."

"Why are you doing this, then?"

"For you."

"Don't fucking say that, Ry." Your eyes fell to the floor again, tears threatening to spill from them any second.

"I'm serious!" He sounds like a child desperately trying to get their angry parents to trust them. "I still love you, y/n, but I'm not good for you."

You knew he was right but you didn't want to accept it. Overflowing with emotions, you turn towards him, pulling him into a kiss. He stills for a moment before kissing you back, unable to resist your touch. "Y/n..." He says your name like a warning before you cut him off. "One last time, Ry. Love me one last time. Please."

He groans into your mouth, losing all of his restraint. He lifts you up onto the counter, standing between your legs, hands holding your thighs. The kiss was desperate, both of you wanting to savor every touch you shared. Your hands were all over him, in his hair, on his arms, his back, his chest, taking in his form, knowing you were never going to touch him like that. You wrapped your legs around him, pulling his body against yours, his hands moving over your body.

He took your shirt off, his mouth moving from your mouth to your neck to bite gently, making sure not to leave marks for the first time since you had to sneak around in high school. His warm lips on your skin made you shiver. You pushed his shirt up, raking your nails over his body, his groan vibrating through you. His hand slipped into your pants, rubbing circles on your clit. A whine leaves your lips as you dig your nails into his arms.

"You're perfect, angel." He says, pulling your pants off and pulling his dick out of his pants. You ignored his words for your own sanity, shifting closer to the edge of the counter to make it easier for him to enter you. You feel every inch of his dick as it slides into you, the feeling so familiar and satisfying.

He fuck you slowly, lovingly, which finally breaks the dam, tears spilling from your eyes freely despite your moans. An array of praises leaves his mouth as he slowly thrusts into you, reaching up to your face as he wipes away your tear. "Relax, sweetheart, let me make you feel good." He whispers directly in your ear, his fingers coming to rub your clit again.

You pull him closer, holding him like you were going to lose him, because you were. You feel heat rising in your stomach, your moans crescendoing. The combined feeling of his skilled fingers and his dick thrusting into you so slowly, passionately, made you feel like youHe's started babbling, his own orgasm nearing by the second.

"Fuck, I love you so much." As those words leave his lips, you cum, hard. He keeps fucking you through your orgasm, biting down on your shoulder before he cums in you. His head falls onto your shoulder, both of you breathing heavy against each other. As you collect yourself, the reality of the situation hits you. You push him away gently as you straighten yourself out.

"I think you should leave, Ryan." You say sternly, but the sadness in you voice slips out.

"Yeah, I think I should." His voice mirrors yours. "Can I kiss you again? Please."

You kiss him one last time, before watching him walk out the door, and your life.

#OH MAN THIS SHIT MADE ME SO SAD FUCK #never make me make ryan sad again #even though he's sliiightly manipulative during the actual sex #but shhhh it's ryan it doesn't count #ryan dunn #ryan dunn x reader #jackass #jackass fanfic #jackass fic #cky #jackass x reader #viva la bam

20 notes · View notes

taylorswifttournament · 7 months ago

Text

We’ll be doing just one poll a day for like two weeks I think, just so I don’t have to struggle to queue up a bunch of stuff while I’m on vacation next week 😋

Lyrics under the cut

You're On Your Own, Kid

From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this I hosted parties and starved my body Like I'd be saved by a perfect kiss The jokes weren't funny, I took the money My friends from home don't know what to say I looked around in a blood-soaked gown And I saw something they can't take away 'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned Everything you lose is a step you take So, make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it You've got no reason to be afraid

Death by a Thousand Cuts

My heart, my hips, my body, my love Tryna find a part of me that you didn't touch Gave up on me like I was a bad drug Now I'm searching for signs in a haunted club Our songs, our films, united we stand Our country, guess it was a lawless land Quiet my fears with the touch of your hand Paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust Tryna find a part of me you didn't take up Gave you too much, but it wasn't enough But I'll be alright, it's just a thousand cuts

#taylor swift #polls #best bridge #you're on your own kid #death by a thousand cuts

30 notes · View notes

floralifetime · 2 years ago

Text

Toruk Makto's Sister

Warning: Very bad writing, some grammatical error (English is not my first language, so please be kind), mentions of racism, mentions of death, mentions of abandonment.

Previous Chapter ➡️ Next Chapter

⚠️⚠️Phrase and image are not mine, all credits to the owners.⚠️⚠️

Orange means Na'vi language.

Chapter n.6 The Tsahik

A king bows only to his queen.

Another Na'vi, decidedly more adult and important than those who had surrounded my brother, was the owner of the voice. She looked annoyed, her tail wagged quickly as she walked, I don't know if she was mad at us or the others given the reaction they had towards Jakey and mine. I lost myself in watching her for a couple of minutes, just as she made her way towards my brother and me. As that woman joined us, I lost myself in observing her around me too, more carefully than I ever did before. Neytiri didn't look concerned, like what seemed to be usual about her. However I noticed in them a hint of…Pain, perhaps? Is that what keeps them from getting the best idea of our race? What have we done?

“And who is this supposed to be?” my brother asks, whispering while I sigh again and look at him with a look that couldn't be more tired than his big mouth. “You told me to be still, not quiet!” he tries to be ironic and I can't help but agree with him. “Yeah, then please don't say anything stupid, okay? For the rest, stay still, is that clear?” I hiss at him, even though I've just realized that I've dug my own grave anyway having given him permission to speak anyway. “That is my mother, the one who interprets Eywa's will.” Neytiri introduces her, always with her composure but also with a hint of curiosity, I don't understand towards what or who. I nod and, clearly, my brother immediately had to make me regret my kind concession. “Who is Eywa?” he whispers, because he somehow understood that he will get less “punishments” if he only talks to me. I sigh heavily and look at him sideways, slowly turning my head towards him, still holding a calm and deep breath, otherwise I would have gotten angry with him again and I didn't have much strength to do it, I also lacked the desire, I wanted to keep my rage to “protect” both in case the Na'vi decide to attack. “Ok, I got it. Shut up, Jakey.” I hissed and he immediately understood that it was better not to mess with me.

Meanwhile the lady had joined us, she went around my brother, examining the tail, the queue, and the body in general. She seemed very rude towards him and I wondered if she would use the same bullying with me once she was done with Jakey. I can bear it, I've been through worse, but I wonder if little ones can do it and what he will think of me, an Avatar who carries little ones of clear Na'vi origin on her shoulders. What if she doesn't believe my story? They don't trust us, we must have done something really bad to get that much suspicion from them, so even my brother's word might not help our situation much…The only one who could calm things down in such circumstances would be Neytiri who didn't show the slightest sign of disturbance when I mentioned the children earlier, perhaps she had already seen me taking care of them then, or she had imagined that I would not hurt them. I don't know, but guessing is currently useless, I just have to take what comes and react accordingly, hoping that my words and my story are convincing enough for her. I also hope she doesn't ask me to deprive myself of the little ones, I already love them, I don't want to be separated from them, at least it's not the best thing for them but I know that I will suffer a lot in case.

“What's your names?” she asked suspiciously. “I'm Jake Sully.” my brother replied as he looked at her with a look too arrogant for my liking, a nudge from me got him to fix this, but it was disrespectful that he didn't bow his head when the Tsahik presented herself in front of him, which I had done. The woman nodded, she didn't seem to be offended or want to make a tragedy of the fact that Jakey didn't properly show the respect an important figure like hers deserves, I sighed relieved because we are in enough trouble even without her joining us too. The woman's cautious and suspicious eyes moved to me, she hadn't examined me yet, but I think she won't be long in doing so. “And what about you?” she asked me, with a slightly softer voice than the one used for my brother and a more good-natured look than the previous one. Perhaps she appreciates my showing respect in a way that she deems appropriate for her culture. Here we are in their home, showing respect and behaving as their culture wants is the minimum. I raised my arm slowly, bringing two fingers to my forehead and bending down, greeting the Tsahik as any other Na'vi would, no difference in manner or fluidity of movement. Sometimes I amaze myself how natural it is for me to behave like them. “Oel ngati kameie, Tsahik. My name is Y/N Sully. May I ask what your name is?” Tsahik smiled briefly, I don't know if she has ever smiled at a Dreamwalker, but from the astonished and incredulous reactions of the other Clan members, I can surmise that it never happened. “Mo'at, child. My name is Mo'at. Oel ngati kameie.” I bowed my head again. “That's a wonderful name, Tsahik. Your daughter has a beautiful name too.” I didn't fail to notice the smile briefly appearing on both of their faces, even though Neytiri isn't very close, I can still see her quite clearly. Mo'at pricked my brother with a sharp bone, then ran a finger over the wound and brought it to her lips. It's their way, they taste some of your blood so they can get a deeper opinion about you and whether they should trust you or not. From what I know it is something that only the Tsahik has the power to do, but I would not exclude that this method can also be taught to those who follow the training to become such, perhaps the best.

After checking my brother carefully, Mo'at approached me. She walked around me, carefully examining my hair, my tail, the queue at the end of my braid but she was much more delicate with me than my brother, probably in homage to the respect I showed her, also because she would have had no other reason to be so kind. “Can I see your wrist, kind and respectful girl?” she asked in a soft tone, more conciliatory and warm than the cold and slightly nervous one used towards my brother. The difference in treatment between my brother and me cannot be more accentuated than this. I just nod as I offer her my wrist, the wounded one. She doesn't sting me, she loosens the leaf slightly, takes a drop of blood with her finger and brings it to her lips. Not even a second later she opens her eyes wide in an expression mixed between admiration and amazement, quite the opposite as I look at her confused and worried, not so much for her opinion as for her health. “Are you okay, Tsahik?” I ask alarmed, the last thing I want is to cause suffering to any of them, despite being a member of the army, hurting is not something that drives me crazy, quite the contrary. Mo'at took a deep breath and then turned to her daughter. “Neytiri!” Her name was called with such urgency that I became more concerned for Tsahik's health. Her daughter was beside us in a hurry, looking at her mother knowingly, as if she expected to be called for the reason she thought, meanwhile I'm not understanding much. “Proceed too.” her mother invited her, Neytiri did the same thing Mo'at had done before her, her look when she tasted my blood showed more awareness than amazement.

“What do you feel?” her mother asked her, in a tone I couldn't describe and a look I couldn't decipher. “Brave heart, noble spirit, kind soul.” she make a list and I couldn't help but look down with a purple hue spreading across my cheeks, even reaching down to my ears and the base of my neck given how embarrassed I was. I don't know how long I remained in that position, but at a certain point I felt an elbow hit that forced me to raise my eyes, meeting the much more benevolent gaze of both Na'vi women. “She must be special…” Mo'at murmured. “I knew she would be up to it.” began, still calmly, Neytiri. “How did you know? You spoke of signals from the Great Mother, tell me one.” replies her mother, I don't dare interrupt and, thanks to the Great Mother, not even Jakey dares to say anything. “Utral Tirea interacted with her, the Atokirinas seemed attracted to this particular girl. Now do you all understand why I couldn't kill her and had to bring her here?” It seemed that every single Na'vi of the Clan had released as much air as their lungs could hold in a single instant. I looked around to check on the other Clan members, see if I could figure out what was going on. Disbelief was the feeling that was the most popular, but a touch of distrust and denial continued to be in the depths of their looks. Jakey always says that I'm good at reading other people's emotions, but I don't think it's true, even if I admit that I'm someone who observes a lot, there's no doubt about it. “Utral Tirea, that's not possible.” I turned to where the voice was coming from and noticed that it was Tsu'tey who had spoken, Neytiri stared at him as if she had interpreted his denial as a challenge. “And yet it happened. I saw it with my own eyes, even the Atokirinas are a sign of the Great Mother, clearer than these could not happen.” Neytiri replied firmly. “Atokirina? Utral Tirea react like this with a demon? One of those who have caused us so much suffering?! It is not possible! They are too pure for this scum!” Tsu'tey replied more and more furious, with the corner of my eye I noticed that my brother was quivering with anger towards this Na'vi, for the words he had addressed to me. “Why are you sacred and pure? But do me the favor! If you were, you wouldn't have talked to Y/N like that without even know her!” my brother retorted aloud, anticipating whatever Neytiri might want to say. Tsu'tey turned to him and hissed at him showing his fangs, Jakey reciprocated but, before the irreparable could happen, a voice was heard screaming. “SILENCE!”

It was Eytukan's voice, he had slipped between my brother and Tsu'tey, although it was clear that he didn't want to be in that place. “Your Tsahik hasn't finished examining the female demon yet! And if my daughter is telling the truth, the signs have been clear! Let your Tsahik finish the job she is doing and only then will we take a decision!” Mo'at wore a disappointed look as she stared at the man who, earlier, had led some kind of cavalry against me, Jakey, and the little ones. After a brief moment of silence where tension you could cut with a knife, what I had been waiting for happened. Both children, evidently exhausted by the amount of tension and psychological distress I was dealing with, burst into desperate tears. Hearing their cries all the Na'vi were alarmed, Mo'at moved my hair and immediately noticed the little ones crying. “I knew it would happen sooner or later. They have been too good at remaining silent and still until now.” I spoke through clenched teeth, turning to my brother who was already staring at me for directions, ears pulled back to try and escape the confusion caused by the children. “Come and give me a hand.” I wanted to smile but I was exhausted and couldn't. My brother approached me cautiously, while Mo'at and Neytiri watched him suspiciously, I don't know what they think he might do, but he would never harm children that small. “Check them and then pass them both to me, okay?” My brother nods and, after I hiss at him twice at his lack of delicacy, he carefully pulls out both male and female, and he passes them to me.

“Shhh…I know my loves, screams are bad.” I whispered while I cradled them both in my arms, the two little ones looked around frightened, they seemed to be looking for someone, they stopped looking around only when they saw me, guided by the purr I made to reassure them. "It's all right my little ones, you're safe." I said softly as I gently pressed them to me. The little girl, while she was looking at me, snuggled against my chest clutching my shirt and, listening to my purrs and feeling me kissing her forehead, she soon calmed down by herself, coming to emit only a few sporadic sounds, much calmer. Luckily for me the little girl seems to have a basic quiet disposition, so calming her crying doesn't seem to be difficult, which cannot be said of the little boy, who kept crying. I wanted to join in the cry too since the little one had wrapped her little tail around my injured wrist and held it tight. Having calmed the girl, I diverted my attention to the boy. “Awww, what about you baby? Why are you crying, are you scared?” A few strands of my hair fell forward and, swinging, enchanted the little one. “Do you like my hair, my little one?” The baby moved his little hands and arms, grabbing my locks and starting to play with it, my laughter helped calm the little one who also ran his little hands over my nose. “Everything is fine, my little ones. I'm here with you, it's all right.” I reassured them both, because even if I'm looking at the boy, I have to make the girl feel my attention too. The little one gave me a toothless, rubbery smile, laughing as I kissed his nose and wrapped his little tail around my wrist, squeezing it like he was worth his life. The girl draws my attention complaining about her, so I slowly turned towards her, also because the boy didn't want to leave my locks. “It's all right my baby.” I whispered to her tenderly. “Do you want a kiss too?” I asked her about her as I heard her moan, I smiled and lifted her slightly towards me, then kissed her face a couple of times, making her smile and giggle again.

Finally having calmed both babies I was able to lift my head to meet suspicious gaze but with a hint of tenderness of Mo'at, I looked at Neytiri and saw her staring at me with a much more tender and convinced look of my good intentions than the mother's . “I didn't kidnap them, if that's what you think.” I anticipated as I cuddled both babies. “Then where did you get them?” she asked me, looking at the little ones, probably she was trying to find any possible wounds or marks. “I found them in the forest, their crying led me to them. As you can see they are all painted.” I started by showing the boy who didn't moan if I moved him slightly for Tsahik to see, as opposed to the girl who moaned and cried if I tried to pull her slightly away from my chest. Mo'at looked at him carefully and her golden eyes widened at the sight of the paint that still smudges him, I hadn't had time to wash them and I didn't even think about it to be honest. “Even the girl has the same colors and shapes painted on her.” I explained as Mo'at moved closer to the baby to better observe him. “Can I hold him?” My eyes widened, I never expected her to ask permission, I thought she just took it. “Sure, here.” I smiled and handed her the little one who didn't seem very happy with the change, he moved confusedly and looked around disoriented, whimpering. Contrary to what I expected Mo'at smiled and waved me over. I did it and as soon as the little one saw me he smiled and calmed down and stretched out his little hand to touch me, I smiled, I stretched out my free hand and let him take my fingers, I sighed moved by his toothless smile.

While the little one was distracted by my fingers and playing with it, Mo'at examined him carefully for a couple of minutes. “Can you confirm that the marks on the boy are the same as those on the girl?” she asked me. “Sure, they're the same, I have a feeling they don't mean anything right, it's that true?” Mo'at looked at me for a couple of seconds, then exchanged glances with her daughter and spoke again. “Do you care and take care of two children who are not even of your species?” I looked at her strange. “Of course I do, why shouldn't I?” I asked her without quite understanding what she was getting at, I don't know if she's being serious or if she's bluffing to test my intentions but I don't really want to think about it. “What should I have done, in your opinion? Leave them both where I found them and walk away ignoring that they needed someone to take care of them?” I insist. “We both know that if I had turned my back on them they would never have survived, both from predators and from the temperature of the forest at night. They are too young to stand a whole night in the forest.” Tsahik moved her ear slightly, letting me know that she was listening to me much more attentively than I expected. “Why should these innocent children die, who have done nothing wrong? It doesn't matter what species they are or I am, anyone would have done it in my shoes, even you. And you know very well that it is.” I conclude, I don't reveal what I really feel, that is slightly offended that Mo'at even thought about the possibility of abandonment, I would never do it. Despite this, I can't help wondering the reason behind this insinuation of hers. “And if I told you that these children have a family here and that it is better that they grow up with them, what would you tell me?” I swallow hard, trying everything not to cry. The eventuality I feared had presented itself, the little ones have another family and I would have to give them back, I don't want to do it but the doubt eats me up. Would I really be able to raise them? What's best for them? Is what's best for them the same as what's best for me? If they really have family, why didn't I see anyone when I found them?

I feel a hand on my shoulder that makes me turn, making me see my brother who smiles at me. “If they really had a family they would have already recognized and claimed them, don't you think? I think she's lying to test you.” my brother whispers. I look at the little girl who is still curled up against my chest and I can't think of giving up on her, I look at the little boy who is still playing with my fingers and I can't think of giving up on him either, but what would be the right thing for them to do? “If their family is willing to take good care of them I can consider leaving the babies to them, but what about their lack of attention in the forest? If they were a family worthy of the name, they would have rescued the little ones.” I start. “They may not have heard them.” she replies. “Don't lie to me, we both know how loud babies are capable of crying, at least if they were here I don't see why they shouldn't have heard them.” I answer back. “If it was really the best for them, I might as well do it. But I have to be sure, aware that they will take care of the little ones in the best way. Let me express my doubts given how they behaved and how they left them in the forest.” I don't leave her time to speak. “Because there's no way I'm leaving the little ones in the hands of whoever left them there, since we both know that the little ones didn't come alone in the middle of the forest. Someone brought them there, and who could it be but a family member? They are so small, there are still purple parts near their fingers.” I say, pointing to the purple halos present near the little one's fingers. “That said, I have no intention of leaving them in danger. They drew an archery target on their chests, I don't think it's a mistake, it was done on purpose.” I sighed. “I'll keep them with me, at least I won't abandon them in the forest. Please let me take care of them, I love them already.” I conclude. Mo'at smiled and allowed me to pick up the boy again. Having done this, she moved away from me slightly and began to speak in a serious and peremptory tone, addressing the entire Clan, while Neytiri approached me, I don't know why.

“These children were abandoned by their parents, they would have died of cold and hunger if it hadn't been for the kindness and courage of this Dreamwalker! Observe and learn because here among us there is someone who dared to commit the worst sin against their children, of the gifts that the Great Mother has entrusted to these two parents. Learn from her, who didn't leave them in the forest to die of starvation, despite the fact that they are children that don't belong to her and are of totally different species from hers, for her this difference doesn't matter because she loves these children as if they belonged to her! She proved herself better than theirs parents and better than us who didn't realize the tragedy that was about to unfold under our noses!” she turned to me, who was kissing the boy's cheeks, holding the girl close to me, and beckoned me to approach her. Unsure, I looked around as Neytiri waved me over to her mother. Still uncertain, I approached Mo'at, not knowing what she had in mind and what to do. “Children deserve to grow up with those who love them and it is clear that you love them, the little ones will stay with you!” I smiled moved. “Irayo, I don't know what else to say except…Irayo.” I hugged the little ones to me, happy that they would remain under my care. “Don't thank me, I didn't do anything relevant. You did everything, you and the love you feel for your little ones.” I bowed my head respectfully and walked back to my brother who was smiling contentedly, I noticed Neytiri was smiling too. “Jakey, did you see? They will stay with me!” I cheer happily as he widens his smile further and kisses my forehead. “Yes, these little guys are lucky, nobody loves them more than you.” I nod and look around, noticing Neytiri staring at me as if she wants to get closer but she can't, I don't know why she hesitated so much, I don't understand why she's undecided, she has shown that she isn't afraid to say or do what comes to her mind.

“Neytiri!” I called her and her ears moved, she heard me and she was listening. “Come here, come and see them.” I invited her, she looked around for a second and then approached me cautiously, as if she didn't want to scare the children. I took a couple of steps towards her, so we met halfway. I moved my arm slightly where I was holding the boy, he moved his ears constantly to listen to all the noises around us, while the female didn't seem at all interested in anything that surrounded us, it seemed as if it was enough for her to be safe among the my arms, as if she wanted nothing else. “This here is the boy.” I said to her as I saw her bend down a bit to have a better look at him. The little one, for his part, smiled and cooed happily. “He's already a talkative one.” I smiled as Neytiri stroked his face, letting him grab her finger. “And also very strong. He could make an excellent warrior or an extraordinary hunter.” she said looking at me. “You have nothing against it?” she asked me. “No, he can become whatever he wants, I'm sure Eywa will have chosen the most suitable path for him.” I smiled kissing the baby's forehead. “I trust her.” I say and see her smile, she seems to be happy with what I said. “And this is the girl.” I told her, showing her the little girl who had moved her ear slightly, showing that she had heard us. “She seems to be more calm and reserved than her little brother.” I smiled as Neytiri gently ran a finger over the little girl's black tufts, they both smiled as the little girl turned her little head to look for me. “She look for her mom, the one who gives her unconditional love.” Neytiri smiled while I couldn't hold back a happy, relieved smile.

“Fixed this problem, tell us why you came here.” Mo'at's voice interrupts mine and my brother's celebreations and the happy moment shared with her daughter. We turn around and Jakey seems to have forgotten the warning I gave him earlier. “Oh, we are here to learn.” my brother replies. “We already tried to teach some human beings, it didn't go well. It's hard to fill a cup that's already full.” she affirmed with a hint of disappointment and resignation in her tone and look. “Trust me, my cup is totally empty.” my brother jokes and I just can't help but giggle. “It's true, yours is filled only with air.” I smiled as he looked at me in mock offense. “Why are you looking at me so badly, it's true!” I say laughing. “In addition to being full of air, it is also hard!” I finish as Jakey tugs at my hair, giggling too. “Lucky for us yours isn't like that!” he says. “You're joking I hope! If my cup was like yours, we'd all be dead by now!” we both laughed and not even Mo'at or Neytiri could keep from smiling or snorting lightly. “Maybe her cup isn't quite empty.” smiled my brother pointing to me. I looked at him as if he was crazy. “What? It is not true!” I immediately denied, I'm far from having the “cup full” as they say. “But yes, it's you who can speak their language, you proved it. It is you who know how to behave towards their most important figures, you have proved it. In any case, you know how to deal with them, their traditions, their rites, you know these things.” he began to say. “It's not true and anyway, even if it was, I'm far from knowing everything as she means and as you think.” I explain. “It wouldn't hurt to learn a little more and enrich my mind. Fill my cup further.” I conclude, looking at him with what should be a raised eyebrow, in the human body it would be. “Would you be willing?” Tsahik's voice interrupted both of us. “What?" I asked her, confused, not so much about what she said as about what she meant. “He is right.” she begins, pointing to my brother who was looking at me triumphantly, he loves to be right. “You have shown that you know much more than he does. Would you be willing to increase your knowledge? If any of us taught you, would you be willing to learn?” she asks me. “Sure, I would really like to be honest.” I smile as Mo'at nodded and turned to my brother.

“What are you?” she asked looking at Jakey. “We are all warriors, of Clan Jarhead.” I turned to him, obviously he had to say his nonsense, otherwise he's not happy. I was afraid this statement from him might cause him trouble, so I approached him. "Warrior? Ah! I can kill him easily!” Indeed, exactly the result I expected. I recognized the voice, it was Tsu'tey's, who hadn't spoken yet since Neytiri described what had prompted her to bring Jakey and me here. I took self-defense courses, both at due to the will of of my older brother and because I felt safer knowing some tricks to defend myself in unpleasant situations, which I happened to find myself in several times. I quickly place myself between Tsu'tey and my brother, knocking the Na'vi warrior to the ground by sweeping both of his legs off. I was quick enough to surprise him, as he fell on his back like a sack of potatoes, yellow eyes wide and an incredulous expression on his face, I had to use all my strength not to laugh, embarrassing him more. “I rarely pull such drastic maneuvers, so I don't think you'll see any more for a while, but I can't let you threaten Jakey. Have I been clear?” I spoke using a firm but at the same time sweet tone, like that of a mother who scolds her son for a not too serious problem. He remained silent, while I leaned towards the little girl to kiss her cheek, hearing her giggle. Everyone around me seemed to move in slow motion, with bated breath, I don't know who he is, if he had led the warriors when I arrived he must have some importance within the Clan, however I don't care. As with Eytukan, if you don't deserve my respect you won't get it. I'm kind not stupid.

“If you stay silence we don't get along my friend.” I smiled as he scrambled to his feet, not expecting to be knocked down by a Dreamwalker, that's for sure. “I'm not your friend!” he yelled in my face. “Hey, take it easy! You are nobody to threaten Jakey, I don't care who you are! Respect and you will have respect back!” Before Tsu'tey could answer, another voice caught our attention. “Stop!” it was Eytukan, and I haven't heard him speak for quite a while. “They are the first Dreamwalkers of their…Kind, that we know, we need more information.” I smiled and walked towards my brother who smiled. “Maybe I should have warned you before she did it, but there's no point in provoking her.” Tsu'tey answered him by hissing at him. “Fine, the decision is made.” this is the voice of Mo'at, taking a step towards her daughter. “My daughter, you will teach the boy. You will teach him how to walk and talk like us.” Neytiri was not happy with this part of the decision. “But why me? It's not right!” she moaned. “You brought them here, you will help educate them.” her mother replied, firm. “I would have preferred to take care of the girl.” she continued to moan. “Tsu'tey will take care of her.” her mother froze her, and Tsu'tey and I also froze in place. “Me?! And why should I teach something that can't be learned to someone who can't learn!?” he protested vehemently. “I said the decision is made!” Mo'at raised her voice slightly as I rocked the children so they wouldn't get scared. “You, my daughter, will teach Jakesully, while you, my brother, will teach Y/Nsully. Neytiri you will also teach to walk and talk like us, Tsu'tey, you can do without teaching our language, she seems to already be able to speak it. Learns well, Jakesully and maybe your insanity can be cured.” her eyes sought mine. “I can already tell that you will do well, Y/N.” she smiles kindly. “Thank you very much, Tsahik.” I nod. “As for you, Tsu'tey.” her gaze returns to the warrior, and she approaches and whispers something to him that I can not hear.

After helping me put the babies back in their carriers, Neytiri and Tsu'tey accompanied us and guided us to a healing tent. “Well, who comes in to help her? You or me?” she asks once we reach the tent entrance. “It's up to you, I can't bear to start being with her so soon.” spits Tsu'tey, with much poison ill-concealed in his words, a snake is less poisonous than him. “Okay, but you're not doing well.” Neytiri retorts, Tsu'tey rolls his eyes as Neytiri escorts me inside the tent. “Behave yourself, Jakey!” I tell him as I enter. Once inside, she and I remained alone in comfortable silence while she treated my wounds, at least comfortable silence until I asked her questions about the herbs she used and the method of use, already showing my boundless curiosity and desire to learn. I wonder why Mo'at assigned me to Tsu'tey and not Neytiri who seems more enthusiastic about me than my brother.

Once out we went back to Jakey and Tsu'tey, the former was happy to see us the second not much, on the contrary, he probably would have preferred to see only Neytiri. To be honest I'm sorry he feel that way about us but I can't tolerate my brother being so openly threatened I couldn't do anything for Tommy, for Jakey I must be able to do something or else what kind of sister am I? I hope that the conception of me will improve over time, after all I'm not here to be despised, but to learn a culture that I think is fascinating and capable of teaching a lot to those who are willing and courageous to question themselves and learn it. “Now we take you to another tent where you can change into more suitable clothes.” Neytiri communicated as Jakey placed the last kiss on my head. "Alright. Irayo.” I smiled, I noticed a strange look in Tsu'tey, as if he was about to make fun of me but was interrupted right on the best by something done too correctly to be resumed.

The walk was very silent on my part at least, not so much on Jakey's part since I had to call him constantly, he stopped often and willingly, or embarrassed both me and himself, I would have preferred to know him in silence. “Here we are, decide who enters first. If you need a hand with the little ones, I can come in with you.” once again it is Neytiri who gives us a minimum of indications. “Doesn't it bother you to help me?” I ask, she shrugs. “No, it must be complicated with two such young children.” I nod. “Yes, I would like.” I smile even if I hear Tsu'tey snort. “What is it Tsu'tey? Do you want to keep the little ones?” he widened his eyes and looked at the smiley faces on my shoulders, you could tell he didn't know where to start. “Obviously.” I conclude as both me and Neytiri, who was smiling, enter the tent. I took off the carrier and set it down on the floor, kneeling in front of my babies, smiling and playing with both of them as Neytiri gathered a couple of dresses to give me. “Here, these are for you.” she said handing me some simple but very nice clothes, with some light decorations superbly drawn on the fabric of both the thong and the top. “They don't belong to anyone?” I asked, just to be completely sure I wasn't stealing anything. “No.” she just answered. “The decors are very nice, I didn't think there would be.” I think out loud and her eyes widen. “Do you already know that the most decorated clothes are worn by the most important members?” she asks me, amazed. “Yes, I thought being an apprentice would not give me access to the beautiful clothes you wear.” I nod as I take the clothes from her hands and look at them more closely. “You are a peculiar apprentice, the Great Mother seems to have taken a liking to you, so I thought you might wear a couple of decorations.” she explains while I nod and look at them without quite understanding how to wear them. “Uhm…Would you give me a hand?” I ask her embarrassed, she smiles and approaches. She helps me take off my human clothes and put on the typical Na'vi clothes. “Irayo, I didn't think I could hope for such kindness.” I smile as I let the children look at their mother's new clothes. “Huh? Neytiri did a great job, what do you think?” I asked as I lifted them one by one, making them both laugh. “Come on, Tsu'tey and your brother are waiting for us. And Tsu'tey doesn't have much patience.” she smiles, I put the carrier on my shoulders and we go out. Again Jakey fills me with affection and compliments when he sees me with the new clothes, then it's his turn and his loincloth has no decoration like mine, Tsu'tey must have respected the custom to the letter, in fact he glared at Neytiri when he noticed that my clothes were decorated, albeit slightly. “Everyone must be having dinner by now, let's go.” Tsu'tey cuts short, and we set off.

Once we arrived we realized that Tsu'tey was right and everyone was eating in more or less large groups, all seated in a circular manner. Tsu'tey starts off without saying anything while Neytiri motions us to follow her and sit down with them. Jakey, as we walk, has to apologize several times because he steps on almost every tail he comes across. Finally we can sit down and thank goodness I am provided with two baby bottles made of leaves to be able to feed the little ones so I can sit quietly and feed them while my brother tries to talk to Neytiri without her being very happy with the interaction.

“Excuse me?” I hear myself called and I turn towards the direction from which the little voice is coming, finding myself in front of a little girl but still bigger than my two little ones. I smile at her softly “Hi baby, can I help you?” I ask inviting her to sit next to me. The girl accepts and sits down. “Yes, well…I wanted to know…” she looks doubtful and embarrassed, I smile at her hoping to encourage her. “Don't be afraid, honey.” I encourage her. “Here, I wanted to know if you and him.” points to my brother. “Are mates. And if they are your children.” My eyes widen, the children evidently not being allowed to attend the huge assembly that was called upon our arrival, and Jakey turns around with a shocked face. “Um…No, darling, we're not mates.” I smile and reach out to stroke her cheek, the little one leans into my touch. “He and I are brother and sister. He is a year older than me, while the little ones here I found alone in the forest and I took them with me because I couldn't leave them there.” she nods in concentration and my brother has to say something of his. “I love her, but not like this.” I snort smiling and my expression makes the little girl laugh. “Irayo!” she says out of nowhere and I look at her confused. “Why irayo, honey?” she looks at me with a toothy smile. “Because everyone say Dreamwalkers aren't nice, but you are!” she nods convinced and I smile at her innocence. “Sure honey, but I'll tell you a secret. There are Dreamwalkers who are kind and good. We are not all the same.” I say tenderly tapping a finger on her nose, she giggles cheerfully covering it. “Are you rare?” she asked me in the tone of someone who has discovered a beautiful treasure. I reflect, I don't know what to answer. If I told her a lie, I could expose her to dangers, if I told her the truth…Well, I don't want to disturb her innocence as a child, all little ones need to believe in the magic and goodness of the world, it's reassuring. It is for this reason that explaining evil and its existence to them is not easy at all. I'm in the military, safety first. “Yes, little one. Unfortunately we are quite rare.” I nod. “But you know what? This makes you even luckier, because you know not just one good Dreamwalker, but two! Me and my brother.” the little girl smiles and, before she can say anything else, she is called back by a little boy, I think he is her older brother. “Thank you for answering me. Have a nice dinner and have a good rest!” I greet her in their own way and she happily reciprocates and then runs to join her older brother. I smile gently as I watch her walk away, she's a lovely little girl.

“You were kind.” I hear someone talking next to me, I turn to notice that Tsu'tey was looking at me with a twinkle in his eyes that I can't decipher, as I kiss the forehead of the little boy in my arms. “It's not my habit to be aggressive.” I nod as he looks at me with a gleam of amusement behind that hard, angry gaze. “Except when you knocked me down.” he reminds me and I can't help but giggle. “Well, you threatened my brother.” I say like it's the most obvious thing in the world, and to me it is. He nods and the conversation ends there for him, I don't want to push him, he's already talked to me for a long time, before returning his attention to my little ones, I look at him briefly and he seems immersed in distant thoughts, in distant memories.

After dinner Neytiri and Tsu'tey took us to the area where we would sleep, the same one where they all sleep. After that brief interaction during dinner Tsu'tey stopped speaking and returned to being aggressive as he had done before. “Should we climb up there?” asks my scandalized brother. “Sure, and we should wake up early. Na'vi's life generally begins early, and more so if the Na'vi in question are warriors or hunters." my brother looks at me shocked. “Need a hand with the kids?” Neytiri asks me, I look briefly at Tsu'tey and see that he doesn't roll his eyes or sigh heavily. “Is everything all right, Tsu'tey?” I ask him worried. “No, I'm fine.” cut him short. “I don't believe you, but I don't insist.” I smile and then turn my gaze towards Neytiri who was waiting for her answer. “Sorry, no irayo. I can do it." I smile at her, she nods but, just to be safe, she waits for me to settle down. After I've taken the babies out of the carrier and tied it to the end of the bed, I lay down on my side, holding both little one close to me. “Good night brother.” I greet him as I hear him settling into his bed, not far from mine. "Good night little sister.” he reciprocates and I kiss the babies foreheads, humming a lullaby to them, before drifting off into dreamland, ready to return to my actual body.

Well, this is the end of the sixth chapter✨…I know, it's as long as few, but I couldn't narrow it down more than that if I wanted to insert all my ideas into it, sorry😅. In any case, thanks for reading in case you did and, if you want, we'll see you in the next chapter, number 7👋.

Taglist: @avatarbyamara, @sweetirilly, @0eye0, @elegantkidfansoul.

#tsu'tey x reader #tsu'tey #avatar #jake sully x sister reader

135 notes · View notes