#even if we jus trade memes | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

terribluh · 5 years ago

Text

i wrote this for me

ive got this zadr au in my head ill never do anything with and its not particularly special bc every iz fan comes to this inevitable zadr au lmao

this got very long and probably ooc lmao rip dont worry u dont have to read it in fact please dont read this i did not format this at all and i did not proofread

basically dib and zim are dating and dibs home situation has deteriorated, and in light of irkens managing to escape the florpus hole, they kinda go, “lets be young and free and run away together” and so they go to space!!! i feel like these self serving jackasses probably wouldn’t join the resisty straight up?? theyre too dumb for that, like yea dib has a hero complex and zim would probably love to be incharge of people but alas, dibs actually an asshole and zim probably wont hurry to align himself with irken enemies despite kind of being one himself.

so they float through space. things r kinda bad kinda good, but theyre surviving. the irken armada isnt exactly after them, but i imagine they probably have a run in with irkens who just start trying to kill zim and realize avoiding irkens is something they should do. the idea that zim terrifies the tallest is hilarious bc then they operate on a, ill avoid u if u avoid me basis and thats such a concept bc im thinking dib and zim become space pirates. will be honest, got a lot of inspiration from ravagers in gotg bc thats an aesthetic and i was way into kragdu at some point in my life. also im a slut for space operas.

they r in space, kinda keeping to themselves and stealing things. they become space cryptids. i love the idea that they become space cryptids lmao. zim is just such a small irken and dib is this tall gangly human and no one knows what the fuck a human is. lots of humans are fucking weird to other aliens stuff. also i love the idea of them in a fight with space bounty hunters or something, and dib gets shot and just keeps going. this strange lanky figure in a dark coat with blood spilling from his injured shoulder just not going down. and zim as an irken is functionally immortal anyway so theyre like an unstoppable team. i love battle couples!

i like the dynamic they could of had in canon, someone made a post once, where zim wouldve been the one to fight and dib wouldve been mission control, but i think in this au, it would be the other way around? or more equal idk. zim has to learn to do the talking bc dib dont speak alien, and dib has to protect zim a lot. and then over time they just pick up each others slack lol. i just like the idea of dib being kinda intimidating looking, which when paired with zims shit eating grin is such a combo.

theres probably a scene where an alien is like ooh scary bounty hunter that even the fucking irken armada avoids and is scared shitless but its just dib. and dib, never having seen this kind of alien before, starts asking a million questions and is just kinda offputting/adorable lmao and then zim has to drag him out.

anyway things keep like this, they hash out a living on stealing and trading. their number 1 priority is avoiding the massive and any irkens out there. maybe dib misses earth. maybe zim misses… something. the ship they have is kind of scrap and very much homebrewed, all stolen parts and mishmashed pieces and it was originally zims voot lmao, but zim is a genius and dib is a membrane and it still works. zims house computer is in the ship now and minimoose lives in the vents.

and then theres gir. i love gir but also i feel like theres a lot of untapped gir related angst like, gir is essentially scrap??? shit breaks

they shut him down a lot for his own good bc he malfunctions sometimes and its awful bc zim loves gir.

and then one day, zim and dib making a run for it, dib scooping zim up and hoofing it with the alien in his arms shooting over his shoulder and yelling at dib at the same time. and someone or something hits gir hard enough he shuts down, eyes dimming into black and collapsing mid giggle and zim loses it, destroying the attacker while dib grabs for gir and checks his internals and has no idea how to fix him because nothing seems wrong.

and this is something like the breaking point. things were ok, but now things arent. maybe zims pak is broken, has never worked properly, is dying, and they get by with scraps and parts but its very borderline. and the ships basically scrap and supplies are always tight but they make do.

but then gir shuts down, and suddenly they cant keep living on scraps and avoiding the armada. bc they need to fix gir no matter what

maybe theyre like theres no parts enough to fix him oh no, but look theyre right around the corner from the massive and it just so happens the resisty are attacking so zim and dib are like. “were really doing this arent we” and the computers like sigh ok

they really intend to grab a random sir unit and cannibalize it for gir and jet but zim cant keep his mouth shut and suddenly theyre arguing, fighting their way through some irkens that are really just doing their jobs and had the misfortune of running into zim and dib making their escape and its really strangely easy. zims kind of an op destructive force and dibs so used to fighting zim at this point these irkens are like ants and theyve been in space for like a decade at this point, and theyre always in danger anyway, and its easy to get into the swing of it. shoot shoot stab kick yell at zim blast an irken.

and next thing they know theyve busted through the door to the bridge where a showdown is happening between the tallest and the resisty leader and everyone deer in the head lights.

both parties yell “ZIM????” like the beyonce meme and zim instinctively goes “yes it is i ZIIIIM” and dib facepalms behind him the tallest are like panicking and the irkens milling around start gunning for zim and the resisty in equal amounts and theyre severely outnumbered and zim and dib start fighting for their lives foreal this time

and zim yells, “computer! bring the ship around!!!” and dib is like “zim if i die like this-”, “you won’t zim guarantees it.” and its kind of romantic but theres plasma beams everywhere and a deactivated sir unit in zims arms and theyre both hurt but thats what its like, thats what its always like for them and honestly they wouldnt change it for anything.

maybe dib gets zim to go on ahead and escape without him with the sir unit, or zim goes on ahead himself all i have a plan. and dib is mistaken for a resisty agent bc he obviously isn’t irken and unwittingly teams up with then and then all hope seems lost and dibs like “we’re screwed- “

and gir blast through the glass of the ships bridge all, “Maaaryyy i missed you!!!!”

“gir youre ok!”

and then gir barrels into dibs arms, dib jolting back from the impact with an oof

“i died but im ok now!” gir screams as he cuddles into dibs neck

and its v cute but dib is kinda preoccupied with not dying and hes just like “thank fucking god get us out of here” and girs eyes flash red and he salutes “yes sir!” and jets off by grabbing onto dibs back with his tiny hands and thats when the ship pulls up. zim is in the drivers seat and everyone fucking sees him because hes screaming, why is he screaming? hes zim, of course hes screaming. they get away all well and good but lmao their interference was enough that the resisty was able to escape with far less casualties than they wouldve had.

bc they were losing, real bad lmao zim and dib saved them but they dont even care because that wasnt what they were going for but to the resisty theyre heroes and to the irken armada theyve declared war. and dib and zim are just like “our actions will not have any negative reprecussions no siree.” bc theyre idiots!!

their actions have negative reprecussions.

and then they join the resisty.

and at some point dib goes home and reconciles with his family and gaz kicks his ass

anyway i just love the idea that zim and dib dont do nothing on purpose but every damn thing they do affects something big. like some kinda cosmic karma, i amn jus standing herr kinda thing lmao a lot of coincidences and pure luck shenanigans.

an overarching theme of “everything in zim and dibs lives suck except for how much they love each other”

#mine #its late but i saw a fanart and was like damn i love that #this is the fanfic that plays out in my head sometimes before i fall asleep #gir and zim family relationship rights #iz #zadr #i probably wont ever write it bc theres tons of plot holes and characterization issues i dont like #but i still really like certain elements lmao

43 notes · View notes

beca-mitchell · 5 years ago

Text

put a little love on me (1/1)

Rated M/E for phone sex.

Summary: Beca and Chloe miss each other, especially in light of their newfound physical intimacy. Set after breathe me in, but both fics work as a standalone.

Word count: 4,854

A/N: Title is from Jess Glynne's "123".

Also, it is so incredibly difficult to write phone sex and make it half-believable. But this year is all about trying new things in my writing. Hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3 or below.

––––x––––

Mostly, Beca just misses Chloe terribly. It’s not even two weeks, but it’s two weeks too long and all she wants to do is spend time with Chloe and explore their newfound physical intimacy.

It’s kind of a problem that Beca hasn’t been able to stop thinking about from the moment her father picked her up from the Bellas house and Chloe had sleepily given her a kiss goodbye.

Beca cannot shake the image of Chloe’s face from her mind.

More specifically, what Chloe looks like when she comes.

Just the thought of it sends heat rippling through Beca’s body. She flushes - feels it spread from her face and down her chest - and quickly busies herself with taking a sip of the ice cold lemonade beside her, hoping against hope that Sheila hasn’t noticed–

“Beca, are you good with the sunscreen?” Sheila peers at her over the top of her sunglasses. Beca boldly meets her eyes, as if she weren’t just vividly fantasizing about her girlfriend. “You’re looking a little red.”

Beca briefly congratulates herself on not choking before she primly puts her glass back on the side table. “I left the sunscreen in the hotel room. I should probably reapply it.”

With that, she quickly leaves, completely ignoring the bottle of sunscreen Sheila extracts from her bag.

––––x––––

Chloe collapses on her bed, tired of packing already. But, she’s even more looking forward to returning back to Atlanta to see her friends again. To see her girlfriend again.

Speaking of said girlfriend–

Beca Mitchell IMG_1930 IMG_1931

Beca rarely sends her images. It is additionally cryptic that it’s not paired with a humorous and mildly self-deprecating message. Usually it’s Chloe initiates all the sending of cute images and memes, much to Beca’s amusement, though she’ll deny amusement if ever asked.

Chloe opens the message immediately. She makes a pleased little sound upon seeing the little gift sent on behalf of her girlfriend.

The first photo is innocent enough. Beca is clearly enjoying the last vestiges of her vacation. All things considered, it’s a fairly bold photo for Beca to take. Her sunglasses perched atop her head and her hair pulled into a loose side ponytail, Beca looks all kinds of relaxed and adorable. Chloe’s going to have to convince her to take a small getaway over spring break.

And of course, there’s the cute black and blue bikini set Beca favors – Chloe can just see it at the edges of her phone screen. Chloe recognizes the angle at which Beca took the photo, ever so familiar with all the tricks of the trade: flattering light and teasing hints of curves that Chloe is all too familiar with.

The second is a full-length shot that Beca has clearly taken through the mirror in the bathroom. Chloe definitely appreciates the photo, eyes tracing up and down her girlfriend’s slim form.

She sighs wistfully.

Chloe Beale You so cute :((((

Beca Mitchell Why would that make you sad :(

Chloe Beale Because I miss you and I want to be with you!!

(Beca knows she shouldn’t read too much into the text, but she does and immediately battles back her immediate desire to send Chloe another photo to rile up her girlfriend even more. But she settles on behaving just for a moment so she can be “soft” as Chloe would call her. She can see Chloe’s knowing smile already.)

Beca Mitchell I wish you were here too. I miss your face :(

Chloe Beale Just my face?

Chloe can practically see Beca’s eyebrows climb up on her face. Gotcha, Chloe thinks. She knows what will happen. Here, Beca will usually back away. Or perhaps change the subject.

Beca Mitchell …and some other...parts of you.

Chloe grins. “Beca Mitchell,” she murmurs to herself. She fires off another text before she can think about it, imagining the blush on Beca’s face. She doesn’t stop to think about the repercussions until it’s too late.

Chloe Beale Is this a sext? :))

Taking pause and re-reading over their messages, Chloe groans and immediately taps her phone against her forehead. She doesn’t want to push Beca into something she’s uncomfortable with, especially since their relationship is newly intimate and increasingly physical.

Chloe Beale Sorry, I was just kidding, babe.

She fires that off just as Beca’s message comes in as well.

Beca Mitchell Do you want it to be? ... No, nevermind, i don’t know what that was

Chloe fumbles with her phone. That’s new.

Chloe Beale No I want it to be I mean, obviously Have you seen you?

Chloe wonders if that’s too far – if she’s sent Beca running for the hills again. Or the beach.

(Chloe will know if it’s too far if she sends Beca running for any kind of literal beach. It’s the last place Beca would be caught dead, always citing her likelihood of burning easily.)

Beca doesn’t run.

Instead, she calls her.

––––x––––

The first thing Chloe thinks upon hearing Beca’s voice is how much she misses her. They haven’t had the opportunity to speak often enough over the break, which Chloe understands well enough, considering that Beca is on vacation and Chloe is fighting with her cousins over video game consoles.

The second thing Chloe thinks is that Beca’s voice is the only thing she wants to hear for the foreseeable future.

The third – well, Chloe is immediately reminded of what Beca’s voice sounded like when she has whispered soft, nasty little things into her ear while Chloe’s hand worked between her sticky thighs.

The heat of Beca’s breath against her skin.

“Hey,” Beca repeats softly. “Are you there?”

“Yeah,” Chloe murmurs back, finally cognizant enough to speak. “Yeah, I’m here.” The silence between them is heavy and laden with unaddressed tension.

Then of course Chloe’s brain misfires to her mouth and she’s speaking again. “So is this a booty call, Beca?”

Beca laughs in both surprise and in release of her own tension. “I’m...kind of? I mean, it’s…” she trails off. “It’s whatever,” Beca says finally and Chloe can tell it takes everything in her to not tack on ‘dude’ to the end of that statement.

Chloe totally understands.

––––x––––

It ends up being a phone call of them catching up.

Beca listens intently and carefully as Chloe relays her latest family drama. She offers suggestions betweens Chloe’s pauses and allows Chloe to rant as she pleases.

In the middle of Beca relaying her own story about a funny incident involving her father and a waiter, she pauses and goes silent for a moment.

Chloe frowns, sitting up in bed as she listens carefully to the abrupt silence. She wonders if Beca’s phone line had gone dead.

“Bec?”

There’s a deep inhale, loud enough that Chloe hears it clearly through her phone.

She grows worried. “Beca,” she calls again.

Then–

Beca kind of laughs. It’s a weak and soft, but so essentially Beca all the same. “I love you,” she says, finally speaking the words Chloe has wanted so desperately to hear.

For a moment, everything falls away and all Chloe knows is the way the phone sits so firmly against her ear – hot and a little sweaty from the proximity to her skin. All she knows is the three words Beca just spoke aloud to her – knows that they must be more than platonic.

And vividly, all she imagines doing is picking Beca up – sweeping her off her feet like she deserves – and kissing her soundly and triumphantly.

But all of this is only a moment and Chloe moves as gracefully into the next – as best as she can without completely breaking down – and repeats the words back at Beca Mitchell like she has wanted to do for so long.

––––x––––

Okay, so it’s mostly them catching up.

Chloe wouldn’t have thought that it’d be Beca who would initiate phone sex, but stranger things have happened.

It’s as cliché’d as Chloe could have hoped for.

“So, I was out on the beach with Sheila,” Beca begins. “And I guess my mind kind of wandered and I was just thinking about how we, you know, before I left for Christmas.”

Somehow, Beca – sweet, awkward Beca – manages to roll her stepmother, Chloe getting herself off, and Christmas into one sentence.

Chloe kind of hates that she thinks Beca is simultaneously the most adorable person she’s ever met and somehow the hottest person she’s ever met. All rolled into one five-foot-one (and a half) package.

“Uh huh,” Chloe intones. Go on, she wants to say, interested in what Beca could say next.

“...and how, when I get back,” Beca continues, with a little hesitation. “I’d like...to do that again.”

––––x––––

The day they first kissed was hot and humid, per Atlanta’s usual standards.

But Beca’s hands were a little cold from being wrapped around her bottle of water. A little wet from the condensation.

Her hands had rested so lightly on Chloe’s neck that she shivered. Not at all from the cold or the wetness, but from the gentleness of Beca’s touch.

The touch of Beca’s lips against hers was nothing but warmth.

Chloe had wondered if there would ever be a better feeling in the world.

––––x––––

“You would?” Chloe asks, all kinds of heat flooding through her body. She can’t help but smiling a little, wondering what Beca would say if she knew Chloe had let her mind and hand wander only just yesterday while showering. “I’ve been thinking about it too. How much I’d...love to see what you look like when you come.”

“Okay,” Beca squeaks out.

“Okay?” Chloe asks to be sure.

“I want to show you,” Beca rushes out. “I…” she takes a breath, as if grounding herself. “I want you to be there when I have my hand between my legs and I’m thinking about the way you looked when she just came apart. I want that so much – I want you to be there. I want your hands on me.”

Chloe can barely catch her breath after that veritable marathon of words from Beca. “Just my hands?” she asks, as boldly as she dares.

Beca makes a strange whining sound. It sounds like it comes from deep inside her chest and stick somewhere in her throat. It makes Chloe think of all the other things she can elicit from Beca – from deep inside Beca. Then Beca is speaking again and Chloe drifts with the sound of Beca’s voice. But it’s her words –

“Maybe your mouth. Lips. Tongue.”

And it shouldn’t be hot, the way Beca seems to plainly lists the anatomy of her mouth, but Chloe can hear something in her tone. It is every last ounce of reciprocal desire that even Beca, for all her awkwardness and occasional shyness cannot even contain.

It must bubble out of her in the same way Chloe feels her own body react to Beca. Such visceral and primal reactions to something as simple as her attraction to her own girlfriend.

Chloe places Beca on speaker and lets her phone flop down next to her head. With her freed hands, she quickly takes off her pajama bottoms and flings them in the direction of her door, sparing a cursory glance to ensure that her door is in fact shut and locked.

“God,” Chloe whispers, once she’s settled. “I wish you were here, Bec.” The sound of Beca’s immediate intake of breath is sharp in the way it sends a jolt straight to Chloe’s lightly-aching clit. She resists touching herself just yet, wanting to let the anticipation build.

“If I were...there,” Beca says slowly, adopting a measured tone. “What would we do?”

“I’d kiss you,” Chloe responds immediately.

(She tries to recall the phantom sensation of Beca’s lips against hers. She tries to recall the gentle tug of Beca’s teeth. She tries and tries, but all she gets are glimpses into the past and the reminder of how hot and restrictive her shirt had felt.

How hot and wet her fingers were in contrast to the soft warmth of Beca’s skin.

The trail of wetness she had left up Beca’s side.)

“What else?” Beca asks.

“I’d...I’d want you to touch me.”

“Where?” Beca asks after a brief pause.

Everywhere, Chloe thinks.

She lets her hand drift between her legs and swallows. “Where I’m touching myself right now.”

All Beca does is breathe at that, but Chloe feels that sound travel straight through her body to settle warmly between her legs.

Hurry, Chloe wants to say, but she can’t even articulate what she wants Beca to do or say.

“Where…” Beca seems to swallow. “Are you wet?”

“Getting there,” Chloe admits, tracing her finger in a circular motion around her lower lips. Up. Down. Circles her clit once. Twice. “You can help,” Chloe encourages.

“How can I help?” Beca asks, a little helplessly. “What else would we do if I were there? God, I’m doing this all wrong,” she mutters mostly to herself.

It makes Chloe laugh because Beca doesn’t realize how everything she does is so right if only for the fact that she trusts Chloe and wants Chloe as much as Chloe does in relation to Beca. “Trust me, you’re doing everything right, babe.”

It helps. “How can I help?” Beca repeats, her voice a little stronger.

Chloe blanks for a moment, the pleasure too hot and too visceral for her to do much else. “I don’t care,” Chloe admits, finally. “Just as long as you’re here.” Her words come out a little strained and a little bit on an uneven staccato, almost like the only discernible rhythm in her body at all is the steady pulsing of heart and the equally steady pulsing in her aching core. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah, dad sprung for my own room here.” There’s a rustle in the background on Beca’s end, like a body lying down on fresh sheets. Chloe’s brow furrows at the vivid mental image. Beca’s breathing evens out a little. Chloe imagines she’s lying down, arm behind her head. Relaxed as ever. “Are you?”

(But knowing Beca as well as she does, Beca is probably spending an obscene amount of time trying to place her limbs in comfortable positions.)

Chloe hums, nodding. “Yeah,” she says quickly. “Yeah...I...in my room. What are you...wearing?” she asks tentatively, thinking of all the soft skin on display in Beca’s favorite blue and black bikini.

“I changed out of my swimwear,” Beca admits. “Just a tshirt right now. One of yours,” she continues, like it’s a secret.

Chloe would never treat Beca like a secret, but the thought of hushed whispers and intimate touches all in the privacy of her bedroom – just so they can shut out the rest of the world for a few hours...Chloe would give anything for that.

“Is that all?” Chloe asks, wanting to know. “Is that all you’re wearing, I mean.”

“Yeah.”

“Can you...show me?”

“Oh Jesus,” Beca clears her throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like to...do that.”

––––x––––

They haven’t done much with their clothes off entirely.

The Great Shower Incident™ doesn’t count.

(“Dude, I didn’t even look,” Beca had exclaimed.

“You did,” Chloe teased back. “I have eyes. That’s okay.”

“Did you look?” Beca asked, peeking from between her fingers.

“No,” Chloe responded truthfully.

She had always been drawn to Beca’s voice first and foremost. Everything else came after.

Though, she wasn’t going to complain about anything with Beca swinging a leg over her thighs and pressing her back into the bed for an intense, fully-clothed kiss.)

But no–

Nothing with their clothes off entirely. Just wandering hands and muffled gasps. Strained nipples against the rough fabric of their t-shirts.

The slightest streaks of wetness across their underwear.

––––x––––

It feels almost archaic, sending and receiving image attachments. But Chloe thinks she’s almost too shy for a quick FaceTime situation and she figures Beca is the same, more or less.

( Maybe another time, her mind whispers traitorously. Chloe can almost see the jubilant dance her inner mind’s self is doing. Shut up, she whispers back.)

Chloe waits for a little and hears nothing but the faintest sound of movement.

Then, her phone vibrates near her head and she startles, having forgotten momentarily that her phone wasn’t near her hands.

Beca Mitchell IMG_1942 IMG_1943

The first photo is a selfie. Up close just a shot of Beca’s face and her shoulders. Her hair is in a loose ponytail still, her eyes are bright, and her lips are parted slightly. Maybe in a kind of half-smile. Chloe sometimes wonders abstractly if Beca is aware of how attractive she is. Even objectively and completely without bias (lie), Chloe can say that Beca is a very attractive woman.

But this is for her eyes only and Chloe takes it in greedily and quickly, nearly breathless from the thrill of Beca responding positively.

The second photo is what really makes Chloe short-circuit in new ways – a simple shot likely meant to show Chloe her t-shirt, but it’s angled in a way that indicates Beca’s shallow attempt to preserve modesty. Her free hand holds her shirt down and her legs are crossed. Chloe tries not to linger on the shadows - of what lies between Beca’s legs - but can’t do much but helplessly flip back and forth between the photos.

Beca clears her throat.

Chloe had taken too long. Oops. “Oh Bec,” Chloe murmurs. She's not sure she even managed to convey all the reverence and love she feels.

Beca clearly hears something in Chloe’s tone because she doesn’t sound upset or nervous or even awkward when she speaks next. “Yeah?”

“God, you’re hot,” Chloe whispers. “Cute shirt,” she comments.

It is a cute shirt.

And Beca is hot.

But there’s so much more that Chloe wants to say. Like how badly she wants to take off Beca’s shirt and kiss her until she forgets her name. Like how much she wants to lay Beca out on her bed and spread her legs and just–

“I can take it off,” Beca rushes to offer.

“Take off–? Take off your shirt?” Chloe asks, feeling a little silly at having to ask for clarification. “I mean, if you want to,” she says quickly to save face.

“I can,” Beca repeats, more to herself than anything. Another brief silence follows.

“I’d love that,” Chloe says as honestly as she can. She doesn’t know how much she can reassure Beca that she has absolutely nothing to worry about. “You’re honestly beautiful, Bec.”

Beca says something, but Chloe misses it because it’s a little muffled. Her heart beats faster knowing that Beca must be taking off her shirt.

Chloe realizes belatedly that of course Beca’s offer came paired with another photo (she’ll blame her slowly-melting brain), but she’s helpless to do much else until she receives the photo, the sequential vibrating of her phone startling her out of her vivid daydream.

Beca Mitchell IMG_1945 IMG_1947 IMG_1948

Oh.

Oh God.

Okay.

“Bec,” Chloe says before opening the messages. “Bec, you–”

“I wanted to,” Beca interrupts, a little breathless with her own excitement. Chloe’s fingers twitch against her inner thigh, increasingly warm from her own touch and the emotions rushing through her body. “And – and you could send some if you wanted,” Beca murmurs. “I...I’d like that.”

Chloe can barely squeak through the intense way her heart threatens to beat out of her chest. “Okay, I’ll just…” She opens Beca’s messages first, swallowing the lump in her throat.

––––x––––

Beca’s body fills her screen.

Uninterrupted soft skin.

The hint of intimate tan lines against otherwise pale skin.

“Fuck,” Chloe murmurs before she can help herself.

“Is that okay?” Beca asks, sounding shy again, but there is something heavy in her tone, like she’s so eager to please Chloe.

Chloe’s mouth feels dry, but she wills herself to speak because it’s what Beca deserves (and she deserves so much more than what Chloe thinks she can give sometimes).

“You’re perfect,” Chloe says softly and she means it with all her heart. “God, I want to touch you so badly.”

––––x––––

Chloe Beale IMG_6942 IMG_6946

Chloe is a tease, Beca thinks grudgingly. Even thousands of miles away, she gets on Beca’s last nerve in all the best ways possible.

Refocusing on the two photos Chloe has sent her though – one a shot of her face and another angled downwards so Beca can see the t-shirt Chloe is donning, her free hand resting innocently on her thigh.

First, Chloe is incredibly pretty even in the shoddy lighting of her bedroom. Her eyes remain impossibly blue and her smile is somehow a little a shy – an expression that is a little unfamiliar to them both.

Second, Beca whimpers a little at the sight – of the hint of glistening on Chloe’s fingers as her fingers rest against her thigh.

She’s so tempted to ask for more – to see more of Chloe, but she realizes she can wait for that. In any case, Chloe has been more than generous and already so willing to go at whatever pace Beca wants.

When they’re both ready.

But for now–

“I love you,” Beca says again, enjoying the thrill that runs through her body at being able to say that aloud and so freely at that.

––––x––––

“Could I kiss you?” Beca asks in such a way that Chloe slams her eyes shut because it’s so Beca. All soft words and hesitance in light of her pretend-rough edges and sharp lines.

“You can kiss me wherever you want,” Chloe says quickly before she can stop herself. It’s a little bold and fresh, but Beca makes a strange little sound – almost like an exhale, but something sticks in her throat like a whine.

“I would,” Beca finally says after a brief pause. “Kiss you. Wherever you want.”

“Wherever you want,” Chloe corrects quietly. She drags her hand up her thigh slowly, imagining the hesitancy and delicateness of Beca’s touch.

––––x––––

“What do you think of when you…” Beca pauses for a moment, her breathing labored and deep. Chloe imagines all kinds of things: Beca’s own hand trailing down her torso or Beca slowly licking her lips in thought. They’re all equally vivid and vibrant in her mind’s eye and she continues to find herself lost in thought, specifically the thought that Beca chooses to call Chloe hers.

“When I what,” Chloe asks softly when Beca doesn’t continue. She uses her pointer and ring finger to gently part her folds, letting her middle finger graze slowly from her clit to her opening.

“When you touch yourself,” Beca whispers. “When you think of me.” She says all of this reverently, like the most desperate of prayers whispered beneath her breath. Chloe is honoured to be both the subject and on the receiving end.

Chloe swallows hard.

She could say so many things.

“Mostly I think about the kinds of sounds you make when I–” Beca’s breath stutters. “–like that,” Chloe says quickly. “The little things you do or the sounds you make when I’m kissing you. Like you can barely resist. Like you’re holding yourself back.”

“I’m the same,” Beca murmurs.

Something about Beca’s tone makes Chloe perk up. “Where are your hands, Beca?” she asks.

(All she can see in her mind’s eye is Beca’s hand on her own body: Beca’s hands gliding down the flat plane of her stomach; Beca’s fingers skimming the soft, pale skin of her upper thighs.)

That seems to do it. Something rustles in the background. Chloe tilts her head towards the phone, laying by her head.

“Tell me,” Chloe says softly. “Please,” she adds on, unable to stop herself.

––––x––––

Beca knows she’s not going to last. She knew from the moment she called Chloe and she knew from the moment she saw Chloe’s photos.

Her fingers nearly slip right over her clit when she hears Chloe’s choked out exhale. A moan.

“I – more pressure,” Chloe gasps out, clearly focused on one thing at the moment. Beca heats at the thought of being that one thing Chloe focuses on.

Beca wills her mind to draw up a vivid enough picture of what Chloe is doing with her hands – how agile her fingers would be between her legs.

Belatedly, Beca absentmindedly rubs a firmer pattern against her clit, unable to stop the soft cry that escapes her.

“Good?” Chloe asks.

Beca’s mouth dries and somehow manages to mumble something in assent while also trying to envision what Chloe’s face looked like when she was close.

“Yeah?” Chloe asks for confirmation, desperation coloring her tone.

“Yeah,” Beca says quietly. “Yeah. It’s…I wish you were here, Chlo.”

I wish you were touching me. I wish your fingers were on me.

In me.

That last thought jolts Beca and has to will her hips to stay still, lest she fling herself off the bed dramatically. She shuts her eyes, just feeling around her wet folds, teasing her entrance, finally leaving her swollen clit. She could just–

“Two fingers,” Chloe rasps, interrupting her thoughts. “I’m using two fingers.”

“Fuck, that’s so hot.” Beca inhales sharply then – too sharp to merely be another simple gasp of pleasure. “Shit,” she murmurs. She knows she can take two fingers, but she usually likes to build herself up to it.

She knows she can take two fingers, she thinks again. God, maybe three if Chloe keeps this up.

“Beca?” Chloe calls. The strain in Chloe’s voice is so evident and Beca knows. She can see in her mind’s eye the flex of Chloe’s wrist and the flexing muscle in Chloe’s forearm. Where Chloe’s hand had disappeared between her legs the first time around.

Beca aches to know. Beca aches to see.

Two fingers slide in so easily.

Beca slowly pushes her fingers in and out of herself, willing herself not to rock her hips upwards like she so desperately wants to. She’s going to make this last even if it kills her.

Chloe’s voice again. It spurs her on. “Bec, are y-you okay?”

“Yeah, I–I’m just...I’m using two fingers too.”

Beca almost expects Chloe to make a sound of approval or somehow praise her. She eagerly anticipates it. Look, she wants to say. This is all for you, Chlo.

Instead, Chloe moans, a breathy little sound that sounds so fucking hot that Beca’s brain short circuits.

Oh God.

Beca’s hips buck up of their own accord.

Fuck. Stop that, she chastises herself.

“Words,” Chloe rasps quickly, clearing composing herself for a moment.

Beca whimpers. She’s not sure she can handle speaking now. She tugs her lower lip between her teeth, imagining Chloe doing that to her. Her brow furrows as her fingers pick up the pace.

“Words, Bec,” Chloe grits out. The sound makes Beca clench hard around her fingers. She doesn’t know if she can articulate any more than she already has.

A pause grows between them. Beca is so keenly aware of any and all sounds echoing around the room. Her heavy breathing. Chloe’s heavy breathing coming from her phone.

“I’m so wet, Chlo,” Beca whispers, finally. Her voice is higher than usual and a little strained. “I want to feel your hands on me. Your mouth. Anything. I just need you to touch me. God. I’m so fucking tight.”

She doesn't even stop to think about her words – she can't because Chloe moans again, long and low at that.

Her brain fizzles out then, for which Beca is grateful because she’s not sure she can process her own embarrassment at her words at this exact moment. Not while she’s chasing her orgasm and desperately trying to hear the exact sound of Chloe Beale coming apart.

Beca doesn’t have to wait long. She can see it: the strain in Chloe’s neck, the sharp flex of her wrist, the way her thighs clamped together as if to hold her hand in place.

“Beca,” Chloe cries out. It is soft and sweet and so, so desperate that Beca knows Chloe has sent herself right over the edge.

And like the first time, Beca follows right after. Her eyes clamp shut and her lips part. She gasps. Or maybe she moans. It doesn’t matter because a rush of nothingness floods her ears and she’s clenching tight around her fingers, Chloe’s face in her mind and Chloe’s name on her lips.

––––x––––

Nothing is sweeter than the way Chloe whispers “I love you, Bec,” and how Beca easily finds herself reciprocating.

Nothing is softer than the tired way they whisper their goodbyes.

Beca dreams of holding Chloe in her arms; she dreams of waking up to sleep-warmed skin.

She hopes Chloe dreams of the same thing.

––––x––––

There is something sweeter, perhaps, than even managing to come apart at the sound of her girlfriend’s voice, Chloe thinks.

She all but screams in delight when Beca rushes into her arms, dropping her luggage in the middle of the driveway. Beca smells an airplane and rain, but all Chloe feels when Beca tucks her face into her neck is the warmth of finally coming home.

“Welcome back,” she whispers.

She lets Beca pull her into the house and up the stairs.

fin.

#bechloe #mine #my fanfic #writing #fanfiction #beca mitchell #chloe beale #pitch perfect #pp #breathe me in

101 notes · View notes

theduplicitousdame · 7 years ago

Text

Honest Q&A Meme - Naharé Mergrey

What is your full name? “X'nahala Rahz. It's a dead name ta me. Naharé Mergrey is tha name I will live an' die by."

What do your friends call you? “Fer tha most part I respond ta Naha or Powder Keg. Given me temperament tha latter should be pretty self explanatory.”

What is your favorite animal? “Hm. D'lyhhia's lil' dodo has grown on me. Me mammet, Fidget, ain't an animal, but I do love 'im. Sometimes. Tha bugger can get annoyin'.”

Where were you born? “Limsa Lominsa. An' damn well proud 'o it!”

Do you have children? “Aye, I do. Twins. Alexei an' Ana. Me husband wasn't able ta sire so we chose a surrogate.”

Is there a person/people you love? “Love is a pain in tha arse, but I do have people close ta me. Askier Mergrey, me husband, though it ain't tha same as it used ta be. Rollin' Stone m'pretty sweet on. A damn good lookin' man that has his shite together. D'lyhhia Lhuil I care fer like she's me lil' sister."

What is your favorite color? “Ah. Jus' one? That ain't fair. M'gonna give ye four. Black, red, gold, an' purple. I've been told I look good in those colors. They're also relatively easy ta mix an' match.

What is your full occupation? “Heh... Me primary job is with tha Black Pearl Tradin' Company. D'lyhhia helped me get tha job. With 'em I operate outta tha Limsa port managing tha inventory, as well as loadin' an' movin' tha crates. We're also allied with tha Maelstrom as one 'o their trade levies.

When I'm able ta I teach BPT crew basic hand-ta-hand an' gunner combat. What good are tha crew if'n they can't even defend themselves?

Me personal work consists 'o developin' mammets an' turrets, buildin' an' repairin' guns, an' doin' engineer work. I like ta keep me hands busy.”

Are you good at physical fighting? “Damn righ' I am. Fist slingin' was tha firs' thing I learned. Then I learned ta add me feet an' even me teeth. I'll admit I dun play fair. I dun care, either. I'll even use whatever is nearby ta knock ye on yer arse.

As soon as I got me hands on a gun it was all downhill from there. Well, uphill fer me, downhill fer tha sod on tha receivin' end. I put all me attention inta learnin' ev'ry single detail.”

Which form are you best at? “Both. I never let meself get rusty. With tha type 'o environment I work in I can't afford ta let meself get rusty.”

What about magic? “Nay. Nay. An' nay some more. I hate magic. All 'o it. Get it away from me an' keep it that way. I've had too much shite happen ta me an' other people I know from that accursed practice. If'n I see magic users durin' battle then I shoot them firs'. No exceptions. Me half-brother practices tha healin' arts. I tell 'im ta go away an' do it if'n I can."

Which type are you best at? “I dun do magic so I ain't got a type that m'best at.”

Craftsmanship? “I mentioned it earlier. I can build mammets an' turrets. I can also build an' repair guns. Some explosives I can do. Engineering is another thing. Puttin' together Magitek prosthetics I have a knack fer considerin' I got meself one.”

Any other skills? “I can make seashell jewelry, but I dun do it often.”

Are you an only child? “Nay. I have a half-brother, Khajirr, an' a twin sister, Tohba.”

Where do you see yourself in five years? “Alive. Hopefully. If'n only fer tha sake 'o me kids. They ain't old 'nough ta go without me yet. After that? M'not sure.”

Have you ever almost died? “... Aye. Me late brother-in-law was driven ta madness by magics I'd rather not speak 'o. He's tha reason I hate any kind 'o magic. Tha bastard terrorized me an' me family fer tha better part 'o a year. Maybe longer. I've been shot at, stabbed, beaten, scarred... But nothin' compares ta tha abuse from me brother-in-law.”

Do you have a secret, not just a secret, but like a really big secret hardly anyone knows? “Aye, I do. But ye asked me if'n I had one, not tha context. So ye dun get tha context.”

Salty or sweet? “Um, in tha middle? I dun like ta indulge meself too much in one 'o tha other.”

Do you like yourself? “Heh... Sure.”

Do you believe in the Twelve? “Nay. I dun believe in wastin' a good part 'o me time dedicated ta tha Twelve. I only pay partial mind ta Llymlaen.”

Are you religious? “Did ye listen ta me jus' a second ago?”

Do you carry prejudice with you? “I despise most Seeker lads. Tha ones that try ta act like Nunhs, or are Nunhs, are full 'o shite. They ain't as special as they make themselves out ta be. Yer life is more than jus' tryin' ta see who has tha bigger dick an' how many women ye can shove it inta.

An' speakin' o' Seeker women. The ones that even abide by those stupid traditions are nothin' more than glorified breedin' cattle.

Ain't too fond 'o Xaela, either. They seem like a bunch 'o brutes? I dunno. There's too many 'o their damn tribes ta keep up with. I like tha Raen folks more.”

What do you consider entertainment? “Tavern crawlin', an' watchin' people beat tha shite outta each other in taverns or at fightin' events. I like ta jump in meself from time ta time. I like ta see what people are made 'o, an' if'n I can go toe-ta-toe with 'em.”

Favorite drink? “Rum. I dun leave tha house without a flask 'o rum on me. If'n I drink anythin' else then it's pineapple juice. Sometimes mixed with tha rum.”

Do you have any family traditions? “Not really? Sometimes I'll put up some decorations fer holidays, mostly fer Starlight.”

Are you a good person? “I know m'not.”

Thank you for answering my questions. “Tch. I gotta get back ta work.”

Tagged By: @jancisstuff! I had a lot of fun with this!

Tagging: @mirkemenagerie @diskwrite-ffxiv @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast @meandering-mind @vanitysruin @afreesworn @lodsamone @cpl-stone @locke-rinannis @tarot-dancer @subetei-noykin @wsurahbeln @sylsmammets @honhonoura @fyuha @rowahn-xiv

#ffxiv #ffxiv stormblood #balmung #honest q and a meme #honest q and a #nahare #nahare mergrey

19 notes · View notes

ehyde · 7 years ago

Note

For the fic DVD commentary meme: “I’m no happier about this than you are,” Ju-doh says.“You knew it would happen.” The Sky general doesn’t deny it. “When you traded your second sword for a shield, you knew it would happen. Why didn’t you warn her?”“Warn her?” He scoffs at the idea. “She was the one armed with prophecies and dragons. She was the one who turned up everywhere he went. Don’t try to tell me she didn’t understand their destiny.”It’s pointless to argue, and Hak doesn’t care to try.

(from Complete)

Actually I think Judo’s role in this fic was inspired by your ideas of him having some knowledge of the Hiryuu legend/prophecy--something I really hope is true, and as far as theories for canon go, I kinda like the idea of him having thought that Suwon was Hiryuu? What’s he gonna do when he learns that’s wrong, etc. etc. stay by Suwon’s side and say nothing, apparently

In this universe he does fill the role of both sword and shield, but what’s more important to the story is that he knew what was in store for Yona and Suwon--and because of the way the heavens worked things in Yona’s favor, he naturally assumed she did too. A misunderstanding that if cleared up probably could’ve kept the entire premise of the fic from happening.

Anyway, even though Judo’s thoughts on Hiryuu & dragons are still a complete mystery (...) now that we know Il told Suwon about Yona being Hiryuu’s reincarnation, I wonder if there’s some of that going on with him. Yona hasn’t been actively trying to fulfil any prophecy since she finished gathering the dragons, but since everything she does seems to line up with his Big Plan (& sometimes she even does it first/better!) it’s sure gonna look like she’s got a Big Plan too (especially to someone who thinks in big plans).

#this got a little rambly and off topic #but I guess that's how commentary goes #this reminds me #that dragon ear cuff I got that reminded me of Judo's dragon pin #is really uncomfortable to wear #maybe I should turn it into an actual pin #sorasan000

1 note · View note

sungrownarchive · 7 years ago

Text

☼ • → FEAR THE WALKING DEAD SENTENCE MEME FT. REINER ( @apex-reiner )

❝ we have something to trade. ❞

☼ • — ❝ there really is jus’ something i n c r e d i b l e about the barterin’ system we’ve got in this lil’ place, isn’t there? ❞ the words reflect a sincere admiration for the community he’s so grateful to have become a part of, an a f f e c t i o n. he sits cross-legged in the grass ( stiffer now, he’s discovered with a vague sense of melancholy, a subtle allusion to the colder days to come ) and scratches absently at the soft fur behind the ears of the overweight tabby dozing in his lap. though the gardener has made a home at the country club, his wanderings and his time in the city have taken him through the many camps of cheyenne and introduced him to many of the survivors, but this man is unfamiliar. even so, topher extends the same kindness, the same t r u s t that he would to a friend. ❝ were y’lookin’ for something in particular? ❞

#☼ • → i n t e r a c t i o n #☼ • → r e i n e r #( topher 'let me take u on a guided tour of my garden heres a basket so u can pick ur own berries along the way' haas )#( a l w a y s happy to trade w/ other survivors )#( and/or just give them stuff )#( mostly just give them stuff whOOPs )

6 notes · View notes

meldaciomartyr · 7 years ago

Note

☢ five times my muse almost sends a nude, and the one time they do.

Five times meme: (Also known as I-can’t-find-meme-to-link …)

It had been a joke - a passing comment from the well-spoken adviser about the outlander dialect. More contractions than a woman in labour, Ignis said.

And Dave had laughed. If he thought his slang and grammar was bad, jus’ wait til he actually got to Meldacio; yain’t seen nothin’ yet kid. So they had traded numbers under the pretense the head hunter could aid the boys out in their travels.

The first message had been a snap of some graffiti on the wall of some outpost; y’all’dve. That one annoyed the city boy and when Dave had text back and questioned jus’ what was wrong with that perfectly-fine mainland grammar, he had received a picture of a v-sign.

He thought about callin’ the kid’s bluff and sending a ruder pic. Didn’t though.

This is the nonsense I must put up with. Could’a jus’ said look at these idjits. Why spend all that time typin’ out the long message when slang would do? The pic of the blond kid jumpin’ on the big guy made him chuckle though. And then a pic of Ignis pullin’ an annoyed face. They were out in Leide somewhere, judgin’ by the boys’ shirtless forms.

Today was a sweltering day in Meldacio, sun shining through the rock arches and no wind. Dave considered sendin’ a pic of his of shirtless form but instead settled for a pic of the new recruits he had and a ‘help a guy out?’ - they couldn’t fight their own shadows, let alone actual monsters.

III

And I rouse myself to cook for these heathens? He had had no schoolin’ - learnin’ his alphabet from intel binders and other hunting resources. Bring it down a level Ignis … reckon he meant gettin’ up early for those idjits.

The pic of the tangle of bodies made Dave laugh - the prince didn’t look so royal with that blond kid’s legs sprawled out by his ear and big guy’s shoe as a pillow. Looking out the window at Taelpar, Dave judged the hour as somewhere around 5 in the morning - sky was lightening but not daemon-free jus’ yet; damn that boy got up early just to cook. Yawning, the hunter turned for the bathroom and smirked when the text came through - ‘I have a mind to punish them for making me slave away’.

“Reckon y’all’re worse for wakin’ me.” Taking the picture of himself in the mirror, he hovered his finger over the send button but deleted the image. He sent a picture of the empty bed instead.

Oric’s Culinary Chronicles. Well ain’t that a mouthful? More like Oric-the-annoyin’ rookie. That guy was more trouble than any of the other hunters combined; he got lost anywhere and ended up penning awful strange diary entries.

Would be rather interesting to meet with the man. No Ignis. Dave shook his head as he read the message; it wouldn’t be one bit interestin’ - it’d be a downright nightmare and the guy didn’t shut up once he started talkin’ bout his travels. Travels that would’a been half as short if he jus’ stopped gettin’ lost on hunts.

‘No I insist, it would be a great pleasure.’

The pic made Dave do a double-take; the boys were stayin’ in a motel somewhere tonight. Maybe Longwythe by the look of it, but it was the angle that made the hunter look again. Whether Ignis intended it or not, he had sent a snap of his mirrored reflection and it left little to the imagination. Unfortunately the adviser had a towel around his waist.

How easy it would be t’send a snap then and there, but he didn’t - he took the higher road and sent just a text instead. “Reckon y’should’a checked the pic first specs.”

Oh how utterly ignorant of me. Dave nearly dropped his phone when the reply pinged through only a matter of seconds later. Well Ignis had checked the previous picture and changed it alright … the towel was gone.

There were beer bottles to the side of the snap, but Dave hardly registered them. Boy was well-endowed.

His finger hovered over the camera button on his phone but the radio scanner jabbered into life and his attention snapped back to the nighttime hunts running from Meldacio.

We sail for Altissia in the morning, hope to see you when we return. Try to learn some proper vernacular by then, won’t you?

“Reckon yer a-fixin’ t’miss me Ignis?” Sending the text, Dave chuckled; that oughta make the grammar-fanatic’s skin crawl. And the answer came through almost instantly.

Don’t ever send me such filth again Auburnbrie. This time Dave did take the picture, made sure everythin’ was on show; tatts, scars - no boxers and no towels either. “Y’gonna be long in Altissia?”

The phone pinged again before he could even put it down. I will be warping Noctis up to that altar.

#culinarystrategist #this took forever!!!!#Can Ignis and Dave be a thing now? :D

2 notes · View notes

deeafrotailmisstress · 8 years ago

Note

*Looks for embarrassing questions...* FOR MOKI! 27, and 6. For Jaz, 9 (mainly what's her fave holiday!) and 27 (lul). And forrrr Kerso! 18, and 42!

From this ask meme here! Thanks for the asks, they were fun to write! :D

27. If your character was going to get arrested, what would be the most likely reason for it?

Jaz:

“An’ ten o’ dose, please an’ t’anks!”

The store owner stared in slight awe and worry when he saw the little troll leave after paying for five packets of pastries, muffins and rolls that she claimed was a “treat” all for herself. She hopped out with a last inhale of the sweet air, thick with the scent of freshly baked goods. Jaz grinned and walked away with a hum; she and Moki were in town for only a couple of days before they moved on, but Jaz heard that they had great bakeries here so of course she had to try some!

She walked towards a lamp post near an inn…and looked around confusedly with a worried blink. That was strange…before she left, she made Li’l Zut’zeb, her small bear cub, stay put with Moki before she left to get the snacks.

“Oh nooo…” She groaned before grumbling and shoving her newly bought goods under her arm and marched in search for her bear. The little troll trained him so that he understood basic commands, but perhaps he wandered off in search of the yummy smells that surrounded this district.

When she finally heard the sudden cry of the small bear, she whipped her head around to a small trade alley with a relieved grin…but froze at what she saw.

The cub was being held by the scruff of the neck by a goblin bruiser…the largest one she had ever seen in fact, he looked to be around 4 ft 5! The small bear cub was growling and wriggling around in obvious pain from the harsh yanking on his fur, but the Goblin simply looked down at him in disdain.

“This the one causin’ ya trouble?” She heard the bruiser gruffly ask to a fellow goblin who looked to be an irked female merchant that simply nodded and went back to picking up bread that looked like they have been tossed to the ground.

The large goblin sighed and was about to carry the small bear away, until Zut’zeb finally had enough of the bruiser’s yanking before he whipped his head back to snap his teeth hard on the goblin’s hand, making him cry out in pain.

“Ye shitty animal!” roared out the bruiser before he threw the bear harshly to a wall…and that was when Jazali saw red.

No sooner did the Bruiser huff satisfyingly and turn his head, did he suddenly find two machetes being thrown at alarming speeds at either side of his head…and rapidly stick him to the wall behind him. Simultaneously he felt a sharp piercing pain sieze him on both his ears, making him roar again in agony.

“Arrghh what the-!” He shouted before he was interrupted to a fist to the face and guts, making him heave as the wind was literally knocked out of him. The goblin felt a clawed hand yank his face to meet the gaze of a pair of enraged seafoam green eyes.“Nevah go near my cub evah again.” The troll growled at him darkly, before she quickly grabbed both blades and sliced them downwards. The bruiser howled and flailed a fist into the air, blindly trying to punch the Darkspear as he felt both of his ears being cut in half.Once Jazali stepped back, with Li’l Zut’zeb now protectively held in her arms as she smiled sadistically at the bloody pieces of the Goblin’s ears dropping to the floor, the tiny troll heard a sudden commotion and turned to find another pair of bruisers heading her way after hearing all the bloody screams.

“Aw hell…” and with that Jaz sheathed both her blades and squeezed the cub closer before bolting.

Moki:

Honestly….probably getting too drunk one day and harassing too many people until he gets taken away by an officer or a bruiser…and then proceed into getting into even more trouble by resisting arrest and attacking the officer. Which would be cool, cuz Jaz would be there to bail him out xD.

06. Do they have any hobbies that their lover finds unusual, odd, or otherwise annoying?

It was the old Tauren’s turn for the night watch, and usually at a time like this when drinking and smoking weren’t an option, he turned to another form of entertainment. Wood working. More specifically, Moki would find himself sitting by a small fire, whittling away small animal shapes on small pieces of wood he would pick up every now and then.He turned over the small piece and cut his knife into the small eagle’s wing, carving into it so the small bird looked like it was taking off into graceful flight.

“Dat looks cool.”

The old Tauren jolted and quickly hid away his piece into his chest, before rolling his eyes once he saw that it was only Jazali. “What are you doing up this late Jaz.” Moki gruffly asked with an annoyed breath through his nose, as he took out his piece again since the cat was out of the bag anyways.

The little troll simply smirked mischievously and stretched up her arms “It be mah turn fo’ watchin’. Ya gots anymo’ of dem cute animals?”’

At first Moki was inclined to not share anymore of his secret trinkets…but couldn’t help the small bubbling of flattery in his chest and scratched his beard sheepishly before pointing down by his feet; there were many of them in all shapes and sizes, such as bears, fish, deer, frogs and even a crocodile.

09. Do they have a favorite season? What about a favorite holiday?

Favorite season?

A sudden grin burst from Jazali as she waved her hands “Oooh, ya know what mah FAAAVORITE time of da year be?! Autumn! When da breeze not be cold, but jus’ cool enough ta feel awesome on mah fur! Spring be like dat too! Oh oh and summer! Yah, ‘specially at da beach when eez all sunny and da heat be awesome for swimmin’ and playin around!”

Jazali hummed however to contemplate on a final answer however as she couldn’t possibly have more than one favorite!…right? She shrugged “I kinda don’ mind…as long as it ain’t winter.” Her smile suddenly flipped into a grumpy frown that could churn butter “Eez got snow an’ ice an’ everytin be dead an’…and cold. Jaz don’ like da cold. Don’ got any happeh memories in da cold. Mebbe I try some day…but no.”

Favorite holiday?

Jazali gasped long and loudly before hopping up and down excitedly and grinning from ear to ear “Ooh ooh ooh, I LOOOVE Hallow’s end! Me an’ Moki go every year and I get tah eat all da candies since he don’ like any of ‘em and I dress up in badass armor an’ I get tah meet all mah friens an’ family an’ we all party around an -”

Suddenly Jazali cut herself off with another gasp and held out her hands “Wait wait! Da Midsummer Fire Festival! Ah man, I LOVE dat festival, ‘sepcially when da sky lights up wid big bangs and light!” The little troll let out a wistful sigh, her eyes looking nostalgic “Some of mah favorite memories be around dose bonfires and firework skies.”

(she also likes the Brewfest, not because of the drinking, but just ‘cause of the fun atmosphere and watching Moki make a fool of himself. I would say she would love Darkmoone Faire too…but she’s never been haha)

18. What kind of home would they want to live in? Where would they place this abode?

Kerso looked up into the cliffs and breathed in the fresh, spring air; tinted with the flavor of cherry blossoms and the distant smoke of fresh cooking. He had a small nostalgic smile on his wrinkled complexion as he walked up the steps to his humble abode: a humble abode that was hidden away on the highest top of one of the cliffs near the Jade forest. Inside was barely enough room for two people, two rooms with a small bedroom and a grilling stove in the centre of the living area, that had neat piles of books and papers and photos neatly placed around the floor and shelves.

42. Is there anything in your character’s past that they regret, haunts them, or they wish they could change?

The old dragon sat on the floor, bracing his back against the bed as the whelp continued to sleep. In his hands a steaming cup of tea as he took deep calming breaths, trying to forget the flashes of memories that arose during his slumber…

“You are a failure to our kind Kerso..” Dark threatening emerald eyes peered down at him through their snout as one would peer down at a gnat that they found in their drink.

His friend, his oldest companion…staring at him with shame “Don’t you realise the consequences of what you could have done?!”

Hot. Searing. Painfully sharp claws dug into his hide. His carcass dripping, his throat soar from roaring…

“Perhaps it would be best to be rid of you for good…”

The orc shook his head and held it in his hand with a gruff curse in Draconic, the scent of rejuvenating herbs helping to calm down his breathing, if only for a bit..

(Kerso had done many things when he was younger that were brash and reckless and caused for him to no longer be able to roam with his kind, all of which he does regret yes.)

5 notes · View notes

theinvinciblenoob · 6 years ago

Link

Facebook’s latest PR crisis has cast a lurid spotlight on a GOP-led publicity firm called Definers Public Affairs, after a New York Times investigation revealed last week the firm had sought to discredit Facebook critics by, in one instance, linking them to the liberal financier George Soros — a long-time target of anti-semitic conspiracy theories.

The sight of any company paying a firm to leverage anti-semitic and antisocial sentiment on its behalf is, to put it very politely, not a good look.

For Facebook, whose platform is aflame with socially divisive fakes, it’s bombshell bad news.

Although it’s not the only tech firm caught tapping Definers’ oppo research tactics. A piece of internal moves news the PR firm emailed us last month, in happier times for its own reputation, containing promotions and personnel moves in its Washington office, enthused about Definers adding “three new team members to its Bay Area office in California”.

“Today, Definers is a team of 40 with locations in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and an affiliate operation in London,” the upbeat announcement ended.

How well the Definers brand survives its brush with Facebook remains to be seen.

Tarnishing

Facebook was quick to issue a rebuttal to the NYT article, claiming it had never asked Definers to generate fake news or anti-semitic memes in an attempt to smear its critics.

But it could not deny it had hired a mud-slinger in the first place, raising questions about due diligence, business oversight and, well, whether Facebook has any self perspective at all in the midst of a global brand trust scandal.

Zooming out for a second, you do also have to pause and wonder at quite how radioactive the corporate culture must be when the ‘solution’ to a string of hugely damaging disinformation scandals is to reach for whataboutery and even actual fake news, as the NYT has claimed, to try to muddy the waters in your favor.

It’s almost as if manipulation is in the corporate DNA.

Though again Facebook has decried knowledge of exactly what Definers was up to on its behalf. Yet not knowing isn’t any kind of defence when your business stands accused of defective oversight, self-serving opacity and having a vacuum where its moral compass should be. Accountability? Facebook’s algorithms keep saying no.

It’s still not clear which individual (or individuals) at Facebook actually signed on the line to put a controversial PR outfit to work slinging mud on its behalf.

In a call with reporters the day after the NYT story broke Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg claimed not to know — suggesting: “Someone on our comms team must have hired them.”

He then went on to imply — in the same breath — that there could be more skeletons in the closet, reaching for his favorite solution to self-made scandals (another self-audit), by saying: “In general we need to go through and look at all the relations we have and see if there are more like this.”

As we reported earlier Facebook’s comms department has a bunch of ties to Definers. While Joel Kaplan, its longtime chief lobbyist, looks a very likely candidate for an intimate acquaintance with ‘oppo research’ dark arts — if indeed COO Sheryl Sandberg is in the clear on this one.

But without an actual answer from Facebook we’re left to speculate.

Meanwhile, Facebook users, investors and lawmakers should absolutely be left staggered at the WTFuckery of all this. How is it possible that no one in senior Facebook management knew what its left hand was doing? Where was even basic oversight of its own crisis PR response?

And who in its exec team actually feels accountability for all these fuck ups since no one with actual responsibility has fallen on their sword (though CSO Alex Stamos left recently, apparently of his own volition) — despite 2018 being another annus horribilis for Facebook, with a freshly cracked pandora’s box of privacy scandals, trust breaches and PR own-goals.

Zuckerberg’s artful political question-dodging on home turf and over the pond, in the European parliament, has merely served to further enrage lawmakers who — much like journalists — really don’t like being fobbed off with PR guff.

As a strategy the tactic necessarily burns its own runway. And it already looks to have boxed Facebook’s leadership in.

This is also — let’s not forget — the year that Zuckerberg made it his personal mission to ‘fix Facebook’. Frankly he might have had more success with another f-word.

Mud sticks

Whoever at Facebook made the call to bring in Definers opened the door to dirt-digging and smear tactics that are euphemistically passed off in political circles with the vanilla-sounding label of ‘opposition research’.

More knowingly it’s referred to as ‘the dark arts.

The basic modus operandi is to locate (or indeed generate) selective information and seed it to the media (or, nowadays, the socials) with the intention of discrediting an opponent.

These tactics are typically associated with the free-for-all of campaign season politics. And even there it’s always a dirty, unpleasant and ugly business.

Smear tactics and cynically spun counter narratives are also of course the bread and butter of murky interest groups seeking to manipulate public opinion without disclosing their actual agenda (and funders).

Plenty of wealthy individuals and industry groups have been fingered on the non-transparent lobbying front. And social media platforms like Facebook have, ironically enough, made it easier for shadowy agenda-pushers to deploy astroturfing techniques to mask and pass off their self-interested lobbying as grassroots activism — and thus to try to shift public opinion without being caught in the act.

Facebook engaging a PR firm to fling mud on its behalf squares this virtue-less circle.

And the connective tissue is that all these self-interests are being very well-served indeed by unregulated social media.

Since the NYT story broke, Facebook has claimed journalists were well aware that Definers was working on its behalf. But the truth is rather murkier there too.

We checked our inboxes and none of the pitches Definers sent to TechCrunch made an explicit disclosure that the messages they contained had been paid for by Facebook to push a pro-Facebook agenda. They all required the recipient to join those dots themselves.

A proper journalist engaging their critical faculties should have been able to deduce Facebook was the paying customer, given the usually obvious skew.

But if Definers was also sending this stuff (and indeed worse things than we were pitched) out more widely, to content seeders and fencers that trade on framed outrage to drive online clicks, their tasty-sounding tidbits would not have been so critically parsed. And angles they were pushing likely still flowed where they could influence opinion — thanks to the ‘inverse’ osmosis of social media.

(As far as we can tell none of the Definers’ oppo research pitches that we received ended up in a TechCrunch article — well, until now… )

You might find it interesting…

Here’s an example of Definers’ oppo mud-slinging we were sent targeting Apple and Google on Facebook’s behalf:

Just came across this – thought you might find it interesting: https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2018/08/21/google-data-collection-research/

“A major part of Google’s data collection occurs while a user is not directly engaged with any of its products. The magnitude of such collection is significant, especially on Android mobile devices, arguably the most popular personal accessory now carried 24/7 by more than 2 billion people.”

The study’s findings are rather shocking… It really highlights how other tech companies should be looked at critically – scrutiny shouldn’t just be on FB for data misuse. Apple & Google have been perpetrators of data abuse as well…

“Scrutiny shouldn’t just be on FB for data misuse” is the key line there, though it’s still hardly a plain English disclosure that Facebook paid for the message to be sent.

We received multiple Definers’ pitches on behalf of what looks to be three different tech companies — and only one of these is explicitly badged as a press release from the firm paying Definers to do PR. (In that case, e-scooter startup Lime.)

We weren’t entirely convinced even then — given the sender was a random public affairs company — and ended up emailing our own Lime contacts and CCing their press email to double-check.

Generally, though, the Definers pitches we received looked nothing like traditional press releases.

A different pitch that was also sent (we must assume) on Lime’s behalf sought not, as the aforementioned press release did, to trumpet a positive PR goal (of Lime shooting to make its global fleet carbon neutral) but to fling dirt on rival scooter startup, Bird.

Dirt doesn’t fit in a traditional press release template though. So instead we got this email…

I read your piece on Bird’s custom scooter and delivery. Just wanted to flag that Bird’s numbers seem off based on what they have listed on their website: https://www.bird.co/

They’ve taken a bunch off the list. Seems odd since they just announced 100 cities two weeks ago. Thought you’d find this interesting.

Other similarly mug-slinging Definers pitches we received included more fulsome info dumps in the body of the email — not just a link or few lines trailing something selectively “interesting”.

Sometimes these data dumps came with key lines highlighted. Sometimes there was also a chattily worded email intro (like the one above) to frame the content — typically including a clickbait-style appeal to journalistic curiosity. (The word “interesting” seems to be a popular choice with Definers flaks.)

At other times the pitches didn’t include much or any foreplay at all.

One “ICYMI” email subject line pitch was introed in the email body text without fanfare — with just two words: “see below”. Another had no intro text at all.

The “see below” content in the aforementioned pitch referred to this Mashable article — literally pasted word for word but with two paragraphs highlighted, drawing attention to the author’s claim that the next iPhone “could have significantly slower LTE data speeds than competing Android phones”; and to an “independent” speedtest study cited in the article (which was actually carried out by a company owned by Mashable’s own parent company… ) — and which the author concludes “revealed just how inferior Intel’s modems are compared to Qualcomm’s latest modems”.

It’s not yet been confirmed who Definers was working for to spread that particular cut-n-paste conjecture — but one obvious candidate is Qualcomm . (And for the why, the Mashable article includes an accidentally helpful pointer, noting the pair’s legal disputes over patent royalties and Apple moving away from using Qualcomm chips.)

Another “ICYMI” cut-n-paste job that Definers sent us also targeted Apple — though likely, in that case, the mud was being flung on Facebook’s behalf.

Here the pasted content was this article, by the National Legal and Policy Center, reporting on an Apple shareholder filing a proposal for the company to make a report on human rights and free speech.

So for free speech read ‘Facebook’ as the most likely self-interested source.

(The NYT article also suggested Zuckerberg was especially unhappy about Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly blasting privacy hostile business models — suggesting Facebook might have been keen to find a way to throw shade at its claim to ‘human rights’-based moral high ground.)

As an aside, the Apple-China talking point surfaced by Definers via the aforementioned National Legal and Policy Center article is also, interestingly enough, something Facebook’s former CSO Stamos has sought to hammer hard on in public…

I agree with almost everything Tim Cook said in his privacy speech today, which is why it is so sad to see the media credulously covering his statements without the context of Apple's actions in China.https://t.co/UIxJovocFc

— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) October 24, 2018

And while Stamos may have left the building at 1 Hacker Way he’s continued to speak up on behalf of his former employer and its choices in public — and liberally fling blame at Facebook’s critics.

That Facebook’s ex-CSO is using the exact same attack points as Definers is interesting in terms of the PR alignment. How deep does that strategic ‘infowars’ rabbit hole go?

Returning again to Definers, in another instance the firm reached out to me via email to “pass along some context” after I wrote this article — about a tool created by Oxford University’s Oxford Internet Institute to aggregate junk news being shared on Facebook.

“Facebook ahas [sic] been working to curb the proliferation of this kind of news and there have been encouraging results from three different studies in the past month,” wrote the flak, flagging three studies to back up his claim — summarizing them in short bullet points (without linking to the cited research).

The ‘context’ being pitched here boiled down to:

an academic study that Definers claimed suggested “interactions with fake news sites declined by more than half on Facebook after the 2016 election”;

a metric created by another university to measure the Facebook distribution of the number of sites that share misinformation — again with the pitch claiming ‘dramatic improvements’ for Facebook at the same time as flinging shade on Twitter (Definers wrote: “The metric was very high for Facebook in 2016 — much higher than Twitter’s — but beginning in mid 2017 it was dramatically improved, and now Facebook has 50% less of what the University of Michigan calls “Iffy Quotient content” than Twitter”);

and a study by French newspaper looking at 630 French websites and claiming “Facebook engagement with “unreliable or dubious sites” has halved in France since 2015”

As another aside Facebook policy staffers recently cited the exact same ‘Iffy Quotient’ metric in a letter to the UK’s DCMS committee — which has been running a multi-month enquiry into online disinformation and trying (unsuccessfully) to get Zuckerberg to personally answer its questions — as part of several pages of ‘contextual filler’ Facebook used to pad out yet another letter to UK lawmakers that contained the word ‘no’.

Committee chair Damian Collins was not impressed by Facebook’s attention-sapping tactics.

“We will not let the matter rest there, and are not reassured in any way by the corporate puff piece that passes off as Facebook’s letter back to us,” he wrote. “The fact that the University of Michigan believes that Facebook’s ‘Iffy Quotient’ scores have recently improved means nothing to the victims of Facebook data breaches.”

Well, quite.

Further reflections

Facebook’s approach to its own publicity brings to mind something that academic and techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufecki wrote earlier this year — when she asserted: “The most effective forms of censorship today involve meddling with trust and attention, not muzzling speech itself.”

Although, in that moment, she was actually talking more about online disinformation tactics than the distribution platforms themselves.

Yet the point does seem to stand — when, in Facebook’s case, the platform business appears to be reflecting (or, well, channeling, via its PR) the same problematic qualities that mire and/or bog down content on Facebook.

Again, returning to how Definers sought to engage with us, in another more labor intensive episode, it pitched another TechCrunch journalist — ahead of a Senate Intelligence hearing which was attended by Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey. But not by any senior execs from Google.

Here the firm worked to flag up and critically frame Google’s absence, after the Facebook adtech rival had declined to send either of the two C-suite execs the committee had asked for.

“Hey… Are you covering Google’s lack of cooperation for next week’s Senate Intel hearing with Twitter & FB? If so, let me know. May have a new angle for you,” was its opening gambit to a TC colleague in an email sent on the last day of August (the committee hearing took place on September 5) — which earned it a “happy to entertain a pitch” response from the journalist in question.

Definers then suggested a phone call. But after about an hour of radio silence it emailed again, now fleshing out its ‘Google isn’t taking the committee’s concerns seriously’ angle:

I’m sure this is on your radar, but wanted to flag something for you. Google isn’t sending an exec to testify at next week’s Senate Intel hearing:

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/29/technology/google-senate-intelligence-committee-hearing/index.html

From all reports on the Hill, it will be an empty chair. Given recent news that disruption campaigns have been launched by the Russians and Iranians, it seems very irresponsible on their part. After all, Google is not only the most powerful search engine, it also has one of the largest market shares on digital ads.

I think there is an interesting story on how Twitter and Facebook (while both are far from perfect) are taking the committee’s concerns seriously and Google is absent.

Thoughts?

Note the “both are far from perfect” fillip aimed at Twitter and Facebook to lay down a little light covering fire for a reframed double-barrel assault on Google as the really big baddie for not even showing up.

A few days later the same Definers’ staffer pitched this reporter again, now the day before the Senate hearing — offering “an interesting backgrounder re the committee’s members’ campaign expenses for FB ads, campaign contributions from big tech, and the data tools senators are using to track visitors to their website”.

After getting through on the phone this time they emailed to hammer home a final thought: “Check out the attached docs – there’s a level of hypocrisy here especially before tomorrow’s hearing with FB & Twitter”.

More smear tactics — now aimed directly at the lawmakers who would be asking Facebook tough questions by seeking to attack their moral right to defend privacy.

A month later the Definers operator was back pitching the same TC reporter. Though here it’s even less clear who’s the paymaster behind this particular pitch.

“Hey – any interest in taking a look at Apple employees’ political contributions from the last 14 years or so?” the PR opened.

The pitch was for a report written by another Washington-based PR firm, called GovPredict — whose website describes its business as “research, analytics, and actionable intelligence for winning public affairs campaigns” — which Definers said it could share ahead of release time, under embargo.

The report in question consisted of a six-page proprietary “analysis” conducted by the other PR firm which claimed to summarize the recipients of political contributions of Apple employees — slicing the self-structured data by political party and breaking out contributions to key individuals (e.g. Hillary Clinton, Obama etc).

“In total, 91% of Apple employee contributions have gone to Democrats, and 9% to Republicans,” concluded the ‘report’ — which had been compiled by a PR firm whose stated business is “winning public affairs campaigns” on behalf of its clients, and which was seeded to a journalist by another PR firm being paid by an unknown tech firm to daub Apple in partisan colors.

Whoever was paying to paint a picture of Apple in near pure Democrat blue clearly had an agenda to peddle. Just as clearly, they didn’t want to be seen doing the peddling themselves.

Nor did they need to — given the mushrooming influencer PR industry that’s more than happy to be paid to fling mud on the tech industry’s behalf. (Even, seemingly, at the same company for different paying clients. Nice but dirty business if you can get it then.)

Yet many of the wider problems of big tech which are the root cause of their brand trust crises boil down to a problematic lack of transparency. And the chain-linked lack of accountability that flows from that.

Throwing more mud at this problem doesn’t look like a fix for or an answer to anything.

Nor is it a great look for a scandal-hit adtech giant like Facebook, whose founder claims to be hard at work fixing a flawed platform philosophy that’s failed repeatedly on integrity, transparency and responsibility, to be found dipping into a murky oppo research well — even as it’s simultaneously trying to cast the specter of regulation from the door.

For dark arts read fresh scandals, as Facebook has now found.

Yet it’s interesting that someone at the company — realizing it was in a trust hole — only knew how to keep digging.

via TechCrunch

#IFTTT #TechCrunch

0 notes