#every once in a while a gifset will make my eyes pop out

[vrag-veshtica]

is nailhim still at it ??? good for them good for them

[nincompoopydoo]

DEBRIS AND MISERY

TRUTH AND LIES ; PART 3 / ?

PAIRING: Loki Laufeyson x Female!Reader WORD COUNT: 3.5k SUMMARY: You and Loki make a trip to the open market which leads to a flurry of thievery, arrests and an almost death. A/N: Hey hey, I guess I’m just updating this series on no porper day because I’m a bitch for procrastination wohoo! There’s so much going on in this chapter, probably a little too long but I hope you like it <3 gif from this gifset by @hiddleston-daily WARNINGS: Swearing, laser rifles, electrocution, intended execution, Loki being annoying. support my writing through ko-fi💖 MASTERPOST ; MASTERLIST

“So, what do you propose?”

Loki questions, walking beside you through the winding pathways of the outskirts of the city of Sakaar. Stalls propped up on stilts, colorful fabric hung overhead as a shield from the blazing sun of the afternoon. He’s dressed like a Sakaarian, drapery of vivid and bright colors, similar to yours—both passing through, hiding in plain sight amongst the crowd of contrasting species.

The place inevitably stinks, living up to the planet’s nature.

Yet, it’s a world of textile mania. Everywhere he looks, there’s a pop of color, radiant and brilliant. Whether it’s the clothes of the locals, the paint that adorns the structure of their faces, or the streaks of blue and red cascading down the walls of the city in the glimmer of the sun.

Your eyes seem to glow in the reflection of the sunlight; the shawl conceals the crimson scar well enough—barely recognizable in your disguise. Your gaze meets his. “Well, I propose we steal one of the Grandmaster’s ships. They're the only ones that are strong enough to enter the Anus.”

Loki flashes you a look, “You have to stop calling it the Anus.”

Your rapid steps come to halt at the foot of a stall, an extensive table with miles of crates filled with an array of vegetables and fruits. Some wiggle their way through the crowd of customers, some rigorously examining every blemish of each fruit while others attempt negotiating the prices with the distraught-looking vendor with a face of sapphire.

It’s a pastiche of a Pieter Bruegel painting. And the two of you are seemingly animate characters at the center of it.

Loki trails closely behind you—much to your dismay— shouldering a two-headed lady by accident, both heads snapping at him with blazing eyes. He mutters an apology as she quickly disappears into the crowd. He turns and nearly loses sight of you, instantly shouldering his way to stand beside your figure as you hum with amusement, brows raised. Your head tilts, eyes on him once more. “Oh, I’m sorry. Would it help if I called it the ‘giant red hole’ instead?”

He blinks. “You have somehow made it sound worse.”

You hum once more, cautiously gazing at the hectic vendor. “It’s one of my many talents.”

With a swift motion, he follows your fingers that delicately pluck one of the odd-looking blue enlarged berries from the stand, sliding it into your stash in a matter of a split second.

He’s almost impressed.

“I suppose thievery is one of your many talents.”

It’s both a question and a statement—Said in a tone of near mockery. Loki is starting to get on your nerves with the unnecessary commentary on every decision you made that led the two of you to this very moment—a routine you’ve repeated for years before his arrival. Oh and he’s well aware of the growing aggravation towards his sheer presence. It’s a feeling he’s no stranger to. It feels like home.

Your once monotony interactions are now turned into a muse for Loki’s own entertainment.

“Look, you really don’t have to announce and narrate every aspect of your silly observations like we’re in a stupid play. Especially, when I’m doing something that’s fairly frowned upon—”

“Fairly frowned upon? Really?”

A groan escapes from the scowl of your lips. You look like you’re about to kill him.

“Just shut up, for God’s sake.”

You snatch him by the wrist, forcing your way through the sea of Sakarriaans. Your grip is surprisingly firm—he scoffs, twisting his arm out of your grasp almost in a child’s manner. “Would you stop that?” he says as you lead him away from the bustling crowd, a corner where two perpendicular buildings meet. You turn to him in a somewhat exaggerated attempt to express your resentment towards him, pulling the shawl away, revealing your face as you hold your pointer finger to him like it’s a weapon. Loki instinctively staggers back in his stance. “No, you stop that!” you hiss, advancing towards him. “I told you not to mess with my shit and what you did there, that’s messing with my shit.”

Again, he finds himself caught in the act of your fury and frustration. He quickly notes that you seem to have an uncontrollable temper, and it’s unpredictable. You’re living in a constant predicament, one slight prod and you’ll burn, spontaneous combustion and you’ll burn right through everything, God or not.

You sigh, caressing your cheek. “I’m sorry, it’s just...I’ve been alone for so long and this,” You gesture between the two of you, “I never thought it’ll be possible to experience this again.”

Loki arches a beckoning brow. “Which is?”

You blink once, then twice, pursing your lips. “Company.” you punctuate it like it leaves an unpleasant taste on your tongue—you’re embarrassed to reveal a side of vulnerability. Like you have been in a constant fight to build the walls around you, to keep your guard up at all times, no matter the circumstance or cost. Whatever happened between you and the Grandmaster, destroyed the remains of your personality, your ability to feel like a human being and coping and living with the knowledge that you will never get off this planet and never return home for years. You deserve a fraction of his reverence, not sympathy.

Forced into the realm of independence with no one to cry out to. Your life oddly and eerily reflects his. He can’t help but feel that maybe it’s fate that hauled him out of the Bifrost, sending him flying into Sakaar and crashing into the very home you reside within.

His mouth runs dry for the first time because there’s nothing to say. You apologize even when you don't need to and the part of you that protrudes is your honesty—a part of you that differs from himself. You’re truthful, even to a stranger. Nevertheless, he nods.

A yell from a distance captures your attention, a man on the other end of the pathway that leads to the markets, dressed in the armor of red—a Sakaarian guard, armed with a laser rifle. The guard, unfortunately, might recognize you, with your face out in the open. Your scar makes you stand out like a sore thumb. It’s every criminal’s nightmare.

You discreetly turn your head towards the wall in a desperate attempt to hide your identity even though you very well know, there’s a significant chance it isn’t going to work. Your figure is now close to his, he can almost feel the erratic beating of your heart. You’re...afraid.

The sentry on patrol nears the two of you, expression unreadable, concealed under the mask of red strokes like warrior paint. His voice is low, authoritative. “Everything alright here?”

He must have noticed the commotion during the heat of your argument, perhaps recognizing the tone of your voice which does not help with the plan the two of you are drafting to get off this planet, or maybe, he is just genuinely concerned. The latter seems improbable by the way the guard stands, hands hovering over the trigger of the rifle.

Loki decides it would be best to negotiate and pretend everything is fine. He would much rather avoid a fight because he would hate for you to end up dying as a prisoner in the arms of the Grandmaster. Well, because you’re on his way out. Nothing more.

He turns to the sentry with his usual charming smile, palms raised to indicate he means no harm. It's an image of vulnerability. The guard seems to relax at this, fingers moving away from the trigger of his weapon although his posture remains sturdy.

He’s alone, no other guards are lurking nearby. If anything were to happen, at least it will be two against one.

How foolish.

“Everything is quite alright, kind sir. It’s just one of our...common little spats, nothing more. The missus says I don’t give her enough attention and well, you would know how that turned out—”

You nearly choke at Loki’s words. Out of all the possible reasons, he chooses a lover's spat as an excuse. An incredibly absurd and petty lover’s spat.

Now, you're his fucking missus.

The armored man is unfazed by Loki’s charm; he doesn’t seem convinced. He turns to you, gesturing to your figure with his rifle. “Show your face, ma’am.”

Loki is quick to step in. “Sir, I believe that would be rather embarrassing for her. You see, she has been crying, and it’s not a pretty sight. Red all over, bloodshot eyes—you know.”

You roll your eyes. Now, all you want to do is send your palm flying across his face. Hard.

Once more, the guard doesn’t completely believe Loki’s explanation.

Loki turns to you discretely, extending his open palm to you. He whispers lowly. “Do you trust me?”

You simply shake your head.

Nevertheless, you take his hand.

Before you know it, you’re being hurled by the arm, head first and now the two of you are in a full-out sprint, spinning, and weaving from every pedestrian. Your shawl is long gone, Loki has magically switched back to his original Asgardian outfit. The sentry tails behind the two of you, close enough to hear him speak through the telecommunication device attached to his armor. “It’s the girl—Scrapper 170!”

The two of you dive down an alley, the sentry starting to gain. Loki turns to you mid-sprint with an exasperated look. “Scrapper 170? What is that supposed to mean?”

“Now is not the time, Loki!” you groan, voice trembling with every land of your quick feet against the ground. The sentry halts and aims. A flash of purple passes you by an inch. You duck instinctively, feet stumbling and your hand leaves Loki’s. The laser beam crashes into a wall, leaving a massive hole in it. You hear a woman shriek from the other side through the hole.

You round the corner, catching the glimpse of not one but three guards running after you. You instantly spin away to see Loki just about a meter ahead. You power through, catching up to his side. The alley breaks into a clearing, leading you back to the open market that teems with the same hectic and rowdy crowd of Sakaarians. Another shot fires at the two of you; it blasts like a hand grenade—the crowd screams. Loki is shoved away from you and with a turn of your head, you completely lose sight of him. Another blast of the rifle, you duck in time as it hits the crate of fruits behind. You kamikaze down the little avenues lined with vendors and shops, careening through the labyrinth. There’s a sentry at every turn, emerging from the crowd, behind the counter, tent flaps, and crates.

Amid the chase, you halt at a dead end. Behind you, the guards are catching up. At the corner of your eye, you spot Loki on the other side of the market, a few stalls away. His eyes are wide, and you’re trying to catch your breath. You step forward, ready to make his way to him when suddenly you hear something tick by your ear, then a wave of excruciating pain burns throughout your body—muscles spasms all over, you could barely control your own body any longer. Then, complete darkness as you felt your knees give out, face hard to the ground. The last thing you heard was your scream.

-

Maybe, you are meant to live your life filled with events of deja vu—a life of full circles and time loops. Maybe, you are meant to live a life of crime with the constant disability to learn from your mistakes, having been caught on numerous occasions because as soon as your brain awakens from its weakening of electrocution torture, there’s a familiar sense of aftermath pain, the sight of colorful grand walls, the feeling your hands cuffed to a rock metal chair and the grinning smile of none other than the Grandmaster.

You are stuck in a cycle, and you’re never breaking free.

The Grandmaster calls out your name with an almost chilling enthusiasm to his tone.

“At last, we meet again, 170! I’ve missed you, you know. You, uh, you really were something, huh? Intelligent. Pretty. Brought me lots of great stuff. Like that guy—What’s his name? Oh! Ares, God of war. He was a brilliant champion. Now, look at you. All dirty, disgusting and that hideous scar, ugh—” The Grandmaster cringes, gesturing to your figure with that melt stick of his. You flinch as he nears you, deciding how much you hate that shimmering golden robe. “Though I’ll have to admit, you are good at hiding. It’s almost annoying...Do you agree, Loki?”

He turns and you follow his gaze. Loki stands by the corner, looking almost sheepish. Your eyes are now immense, face painted with hurt and betrayal albeit you don’t necessarily demonstrate it. Loki averts his gaze to the Grandmaster. “I suppose.”

The silver-haired man laughs with a wagging finger to him. “I like you, Loki. I really do.”

You cringe at his words. He turns to you, smile gone.

“Hey, now you are going to tell me—I mean, really tell me—who exactly you are and where you’re from.”

You spot the furrow of the God's brows. His voice is faint, like the time at the market, asking you to trust him. “Is she not from Earth?”

The Grandmaster seems to be taken aback by Loki’s sudden question, narrow eyes bouncing between the two of you. Then, his mouth curves into an apparent ‘o’. “Oh, I see what’s going on. Wow. You actually believed that little story of hers? That she’s from a planet called Earth and an astronaut? Oh, you poor thing,” He speaks through his chuckles, amused by Loki’s expression of bewilderment.

So much for being truthful.

“You know, I always have the intuition for liars like you. So, there was no way you could have faked it all the way through.” His attention is on you, but you’re too busy looking at your unlikely ally or you dare say your partner's unreadable manner. Blank face. Usual posture. You hope to spot a hint of sympathy or sadness in his eyes. There’s nothing.

You can’t save yourself and neither can he.

You, after all, betrayed him in terms of your unknown identity. It’s expected he wouldn’t do the same. Yet, this is Loki getting a taste of his own medicine. If it weren’t for your imminent death, you would find this situation rather amusing.

“So, are you going to tell us the truth?”

Your gaze returns to the taller man. “No.”

You’re not sure how to feel about that single word being the last word you speak.

The Grandmaster blinks then shrug coyly. “Oh well, that’s quite a pity,” he moves around, gazing at the surrounding guards, hand on his hip. “So, uh, we’re doing this, huh?”

No one in the room moves or speaks.

He sighs, extending the melt stick to you. “Yeah, okay...See ya, then!”

You shut your eyes, ready to succumb to the pain of being liquefied. You wonder if it hurts and that the past victims you have witnessed were being dramatic as they screamed for the end of their lives rather than the pain itself. In all honesty, you’re terrified although you believe you shouldn’t be. Death is inevitable, after all, and you’ve been prepared for many years, living in hiding.

This is it. This is when you finally rest.

You miss home. Wherever that is.

“Wait!”

Your eyes are wide open, they fly to Loki who has his arm stretched out, nearing the Grandmaster. The melt stick is inches away from your face. The Grandmaster spins away from you, attention directed to Loki. “Really, Loki? I was so close to having the pleasure of melting her!”

For an Elder of the Universe, he could erratically act a lot like a child. A child with an obsession with control and murder. Psychopathic child.

You observe the two enter an argument of whispers and dramatic hand movements. Then, the colorful psychopath in that hideous shimmering coat swivels in his stance, gaze at you as a heavy sigh escapes his lips. “Fine. I guess I don’t have to know who exactly you are. On behalf of Loki here who seems very keen on keeping you alive, you are pardoned,” Your mouth flies open in response. “But! I’m putting you on probation. 142 will be keeping a close eye on you. So, yeah. Lie to me again and I’ll have you executed for real.”

The Grandmaster walks away and your wrists are released from the cuffs of the chair.

Loki retains that darn smirk on that charming face of his.

-

The slave quarters seem huge from the last time you were here. In comparison to your unstable shack of a home in the outskirts of the city, anything cleaner and brighter than that shithole was enough to fulfill your heart’s desire for an ideal place of residence. It’s the same room you occupied before you fled and went into hiding. You recognize the markings on the wall, roman numerals, hidden in the corner by your bed, counting the days since you arrived on Sakaar. That was years ago, maybe a decade—you lost count.

There’s a knock on the door; it swishes open to reveal none other than Loki, dressed in a different but relatively similar outfit to his original Asgardian clothing. It’s blue instead of green. You abruptly decide you like the way it brings out the specks of blue in those irises of emerald.

You cross your arms. “So, I assume you got caught, but I want to know how the hell did you not get this thing?” You tap the obedience disk on the curve of your neck. His smile curves into a smirk. “One word: Silvertongue.”

Your snort, nearing him. “That’s two words.”

Loki simply rolls his eyes. “No, it isn’t. It’s two—it doesn’t matter.”

That deafening silence wave over the two of you. You purse your lips.

“Why did you save me back there?”

The God blinks, shoulders squaring. There’s a sudden tension in the air.

“Well,” his head tilts as he clears his throat, trying to form the right words. He wets his lips. “If someone manages to trick the God of trickery himself, maybe that someone is worth saving.”

His response startles a distinct silence from you—the silence of awe and contemplation. He says you're worthy of saving, a sentence you never thought you’ll hear from the man who crashed through your roof and proceeded to be threatened with a dagger. The man who seemed to have some sort of inclination and ambition to annoy the death out of you. It’s bizarre how life works, how two diverging lives end up intertwined with one another in the most unlikely circumstance, and how time truly heals. It mends the wounds of the lonely, the ones who were told they were never enough.

Maybe scarce and scarce turns out to be enough after all.

You see yourself in him, a complex mind and a misunderstood heart. It’s frightening how you somehow understand, and you somehow don’t simultaneously.

People are complex. Life is complex.

He watches you with that same look when he initially heard the vocals of Freddie Mercury.

You’re no Freddie Mercury, you know that.

Your voice cuts through the silence. “Thank you.”

Loki seems to snap out of what felt like forever, responding with a curt nod.

“I’ll see you at dinner then,” he says, backing away into the hallway as he readies himself to leave. “And please, wear something better than that hideous heap of trash.” He gestures to your figure; your clothes are rugged and filled with dust and sand.

It’s your turn to roll your eyes.

“We can resume our plans to getting off this planet after that,”

With a smug look, he spins on his heel and leaves. The door closes with a whirring sound. You feel heavy.

And God, you need a drink.

You quickly locate the drinking glasses, in one of the cabinets above the kitchenette. As you rummage through the rest of the drawers and cabinets in search of a bottle of something, a soft hum from the other side of the room catches your attention.

Your figure spins and you’re met by the sight of a group of materialized armored soldiers, clad in black. You heave a profound sigh of relief, a grin curving upon your lips.

“You guys finally found me! What took y'all so long? I’ve been stuck here for ages—”

“It appears to be a standard sequence violation.” one of the armored men say with an A-50 scrawled vertically on his helmet in orange.

You furrow your brows, feeling your heart stop. “Wait, what—”

“On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Scared Timeline.” Hunter A-50 speaks. There’s a wave of sympathy flashes upon his expression. “I’m sorry.”

The cup falls to the floor, shattering into serrated pieces that surround your feet. Your heart begins to pound. As the other hunters grasp onto your arms, you are hauled through the translucent glowing doorway. Then, you hear the words of A-50 that struck your heart like a dagger.

“Reset the timeline.”

TAGLIST:

@lareinedususpense

@poubxlle

[novelconcepts]

I love your filling in of the moonflower scene. Just the tenderness of it all 🥺

Do you think you might write a short piece about Dani finding the first grey in Jamie‘s hair in the future? Every time I see the gifsets of Jamie‘s (very sexy) grey strands I have to think about Dani‘s possible reaction

Jamie doesn’t tend to notice these things--little changes in her own appearance, little alterations made by the simple passage of time. Her attention, she scoffs when Dani laughs over her failing to pick up on a burr caught in her hair after a trip to the park, is better suited to other things. “World’s big,” she says, tilting her head to allow Dani to comb the remnants of whatever tree she’d walked beneath from her curls. “Why should I go wasting time starin’ at my own damn face?”

“Because it’s a good face,” Dani tells her. She doesn’t add that Jamie’s face, like everything about her, makes more sense than the rest of the world. That nothing about Jamie seems to come out of nowhere--every scrape and scar is accounted for with a story, every wrinkle turned out from the edge of her lips or around her eyes sparked by the familiarity of her frown, the inevitability of her smile. Everything about Jamie can be traced back to the honesty of time spent in the sun, or injuries incurred at work, or letting another year stroke its fingers across her skin. 

She notices the first gray hair maybe five years in. They’re on a camping trip, small tent pitched just upshore of a gently lapping brook; Jamie, crouched beside the water to inspect a turtle, looks up with a grin, and Dani notes a flash of silver at the crown of her head.

She doesn’t point it out. It’s too easy to anticipate Jamie’s amused drawl: “Got a gorgeous beast right here, and you’re worried about my hair?” She tucks the knowledge safely away, entertained by the idea that Jamie is carrying a secret upon her own head and has no idea.

She says nothing, but her fingers seek out the unexpected silver the next time Jamie comes close enough. She trails her hand through rumpled hair, watching the familiar warmth of brown cascade across her skin, pleased to find several more bursts of light wound in among the dark.

“What?” Jamie asks, smile crooking the way it always does when she senses Dani is about to poke fun. “Bein’ a weirdo again.”

“Am not,” Dani replies, and kisses her. 

It becomes a bit of a private game, an amusing turn of events: Jamie, the most naturally-observant human being in the world, has absolutely no idea she’s shot through with unexpected arcs of silver. No idea at all. At first, Dani thinks she’s intentionally ignoring the color leaching out of her hair; a flash of memory spirals back, Judy plucking what she called my little secret out by the strand and holding a finger to her lips as she reached for a box of red dye. Heavy maintenance is very much not Jamie’s speed, but maybe turning her cheek and feigning ignorance achieves the same goal.

A month goes by. A year. They’re turning up on their own time, these pops of colorless strands standing stark against dark waves, and Dani takes it upon herself to brush her fingers across each one she finds. She likes very much the depth they bring to Jamie’s hair, the way the sun catches a little differently when she turns her head. Likes the knowledge that each strand is a stamp of memory--proof of time spent. 

Likes, most of all, that Jamie legitimately seems to have no idea. Jamie, who tugs a black elastic band off her wrist with her teeth, raking the messy tumble out of her eyes, perpetually annoyed with the curls that always seem to evade her hands. Jamie, who spends hours with a book in one hand and Dani’s hair sifting through her fingers, and still has absolutely no clue what’s happening on her own head.

“You’ve never cared, have you?” Dani asks one afternoon, watching Jamie sort through their spectacular collection of cassette tapes, little plastic cases clicking comfortably to break up the quiet. Jamie, cross-legged on the living room rug with Survivor’s Vital Signs in one hand and REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity in the other, raises her eyebrows.

“Seemed silly to go alphabetical while they were multiplying like fuckin’ bunnies, but now we’ve slowed down a little--”

“About looks,” Dani corrects. She’s hanging half off the couch, the tips of her fingers brushing Jamie’s knee. Life has been getting less predictable lately, messier around the edges; she looks into mirrors with breath held tight in her lungs, uncertain of what will look back. Touching Jamie has become less about habit and more a matter of lifeline. “You’ve never cared about how you look. Maybe the only woman I’ve ever known to say that.”

“I care,” Jamie says, with very little defensiveness. It is astonishing sometimes, looking back at the woman she’d met in that manor kitchen, how little defense Jamie seems to have for her these days. Questions are met in good faith, answered in kind, like Jamie knows there’s nothing Dani could ask that would intentionally bear teeth. “Care when I need to.”

“Like when?”

“At the shop,” Jamie says, tossing aside a Paul Simon cassette with a wrinkle of her nose. She finds Pat Benatar instead, sets it in the pile between The Beatles and Blondie. “Always look professional, don’t I?”

“But you don’t like--think about it? What you’ll look like in twenty years? Or fifty?”

“Fifty, Christ.” Jamie rolls back her head, grinning. “Be a hell of a thing, stacking fifty more years on. What d’you think you’ll look like in fifty years, mm?”

Dani doesn’t answer. It’s too early to tell what the smudged face in the mirror might mean--too early to panic--but the idea of fifty years more with Jamie seems terrifyingly unlikely. 

“Anyway.” Seeming to sense her unease, Jamie rocks up onto her knees, awkwardly shifting across the rug to lean against the couch. She braces a hand behind Dani’s head, her eyebrow arched. “You tryin’ to say I don’t pay enough attention to my looks? I don’t scrub up enough for you, is that it?”

Her fingers brush Dani’s ribs, digging in just hard enough to tickle. Dani squirms, laughter burbling out against Jamie’s neck. 

She doesn’t bring it up again, preferring the secret of Jamie’s slowly graying hair held within her own heart. The threads are becoming more insistent as the years drift by, joining tiny lines etched into Jamie’s skin. Her hands, put through so much work, are comfortably worn at knuckle and fingertip. Her smile pulls the skin around her eyes a little tighter as they celebrate eight years--nine--ten. 

She looks good with the extra age, Dani thinks. She wears it all so well, without pausing to prod at herself in the bathroom mirror; if she’s the least bit unnerved by the passage of time, she never lets it show. If Dani didn’t know better, she’d think Jamie never really looks at herself in the mirror at all. 

Too busy looking at me, she thinks, and tries not to ache at the idea that Jamie has forgotten herself beneath the need to keep her attention on what she considers more important things. Like watching for one of Dani’s moods to spike up in public. Like waiting for Dani’s shoulders to hunch against ghosts only she can see. 

Dani doesn’t look into mirrors herself much these days, either--though, every once in a while, a glimpse will sneak up. Just the barest flash of her own face in the passenger mirror of the car, or the idling bathwater. Sometimes--less and less often--the face waiting is even her own. 

It is so her own, those days, that Dani finds herself embracing a new concern. Something odd, something she’s only started to really see in recent memory. 

Jamie is starting to show her age, little by little. Not all at once, not in any way that is strange for a woman creeping into her forties--but the years are there, certainly, stamped gently into her skin. The years are threaded through her hair, these silver pops around which Dani’s hands seem to take on a mind of their own. There’s something wonderful, lively, even sexy about the way time is impacting Jamie--grounding her a little more every year, the natural wearing of all those hours hung like medals around her shoulders. 

Dani, catching sight of herself in the bathtub, can’t help but notice: no one could say the same for her. Not that time is beating away at her, not that time is turning her to stone before she’s ready--but that time appears to be doing nothing at all. Her eyes bear no extra marks, though she has spent just as much time as Jamie laughing, frowning, holding her breath as the world spins beneath her. Her hands look just the same as they had in 1987. 

Her hair is still stubbornly gold.

“Do you think it’s strange?” she whispers one night--not entirely sure if Jamie is even awake, not sure she can even bear the answer Jamie might give. 

“What is?”

She swallows hard, fingers carding gently through Jamie’s hair. The gray seems to gleam in the glow of the streetlamp through their window. 

“That I’m not...that I don’t look...”

Jamie pushes onto one elbow, peering at her in the dark. “You look like you,” she says, when Dani is unable to press on. “You look like Dani.”

She’s trying to answer the other question, Dani understands, the one being asked with greater frequency: am I here? am I me? what if I’m her, deep down, and have been all along? She shakes her head. 

“That’s not...I’m not...”

Jamie waits, brow knit the way it always has when she’s listening. Even when her expression smooths out into sleep, that small divot will remain, etched into her skin like a tattoo memorializing all these late-night conversations. Dani reaches up, presses her thumb gently to it now, her breath hitching when Jamie turns to kiss her palm. 

“It’s nothing,” she says. There’s no way to explain it without making Jamie worry more, worry again, lose yet more sleep watching for signs Dani is slipping away.

Jamie nods slowly, not quite believing, not quite daring to call out the lie. “All right,” she says, and the silver in her hair seems to burn, and Dani loves her enough to close her eyes and pretend everything is okay.

When morning comes, she wards off the thoughts. It’s easier, in daylight. Easier to turn her head, fix her eyes on Jamie, allow the familiarity of Jamie’s hands, smile, kiss sweep the fear back under the bed. The nights are long, the dark heavier than it has any right to be, but in sunlight, Jamie shines. The chain around her neck--the colors in her eyes--the silver shot through her hair. In sunshine, Jamie is the most alive any person can be.

And if she is, so must Dani be--because there is so much love in the way Jamie tips into her arms, so much affection in the sweep of her kiss, in the way she leads them around the kitchen in an impromptu waltz. Jamie, as always, burning away the shadows. 

Jamie, who dips her backward, drinking in her laughter with the biggest grin in the world. Who cuts her eyes to the right. Who tightens her mouth in surprise.

“Hang on,” she says, her hands still braced at Dani’s back and hip. “What the fuck is this?”

Dani’s heart gives a giant leap, her hands clutching at Jamie’s shirt for balance. This is it, she thinks. She can see her now. She can see her, not me, and it’s over, it’s all over, it’s--

“Dani.” Jamie is frowning, easing her back to her feet. She crouches down, gazing into the window of the oven. One hand rises to her head, her brow furrowed.

She sees her, Dani thinks, backing toward the sink. She sees her, and--

“Jesus, how long has my hair looked like that?” 

She blinks, shaking the panic away. “What?”

Jamie is looking at her, almost awestruck, her face clean and younger than usual with the last vestiges of sleep clinging to her eyes. “All that gray. Knew there were one or two, but--”

Dani is laughing. Leaning back against the counter, the mirth spilling out of her, she laughs. Jamie, straightening up with a low groan--her knees pop audibly, her head shaking--looks bewildered.

“Suppose you thought you’d just wait,” she says dryly, “and see if I ever noticed?”

Dani nods, cackling too hard to answer. It’s become so normal, counting the bright bursts amid Jaime’s natural hair color; she’s honestly forgotten Jamie ever didn’t have these silver sparks. Every inch of her, from the crow’s feet etched near her eyes to the tiny scars on her hands, is quite simply home. 

Jamie is plainly trying to look grumpy now, her hand tangling her hair. With Dani giggling like this, unable to catch her breath, she isn’t doing a very good job.

“Been this way a while?”

“Years,” Dani giggles. “Since I proposed. Before.”

Jamie rolls her eyes, slouching the two steps it takes to reach the counter and Dani’s shaking frame. “You,” she says in a mock-irritated tone, “are supposed to help with these things.”

“With what?” Dani brushes the hair back from her eyes. “You’re beautiful. And more than that, you’re...stately.”

“Stately,” Jamie repeats with a snort. “Haven’t heard that one. That’s a Hannah word, if ever there was one.”

They sober, just a little, the appropriate affection offered to memory. Jamie’s head bows against her own, her nose brushing Dani’s lightly. 

“I like it,” Dani says, her voice soft. “I like watching it happen. Like growing old...”

She trails off. She isn’t growing old, is the thing. Isn’t changing. Is as incontrovertible as a lake set into ancient grounds. She is not growing old at all.

Jamie’s fingers curl around her chin, tipping her head back. “Growing old together,” she says, firmly. Not denial, exactly--just certainty. Jamie, imposing her will on a world that tries so hard to have its own way with them both. 

“Growing old together,” Dani repeats, and even if it isn’t true in the strictest sense--even if it doesn’t look like it should--she knows Jamie believes it. Knows Jamie will fight tooth and nail to make the universe bend around her love. 

There are things, Jamie believes, that are natural. Organic. Exactly as they should be. There are things that can’t be changed by dreams, whims, magic spells. 

They will grow old together. That is, Jamie believes, the way the world works. The way it has always been and will always be. Jamie’s hair grows silver. Jamie’s skin etches with lines. Jamie’s hands are solid in her own, though she sometimes bends her fingers with a grimace, rubs her wrists when the weather angles toward snow. 

They will grow old together. For Jamie, there is simply no other consideration to be made.

“I like it,” Dani repeats, fingering the nearest strand of gray. “It’s distinguished.”

Jamie, shaking her head, is grinning as she leans in for a kiss.

[luv4fandoms]

Earth Angel (GabrielXOFC) Part 2.2

Second part of chapter 2 because it was too big for Tumblrs limit.

And just in case you are coming across this before the first part...as I say in all the chapters...This doesn't fully follow the Supernatural timeline, somethings have been changed (like Gabriel's death in the au world cause it was stupid and I refuse to accept it lol) so just a heads up. This is also inspired by @askpsychocas 's Angel Courting Ritual post (which I use in my story. Askpsychocas if you want me to take those parts out let me know and I will). This story also has a Scott Pilgram vibe lol.

The link to the first part can be found below.

If you would like to be added to the taglist for this story let me know

Gif by @beneathgabrielswings , I couldn't find it on the Gif search but you can find the gifset here

Part 1...Part 2.1...Masterlist

Pairings: Gabriel x Original female character

Warnings: killing, talk of adultery, Gabriel being a charming/fluffy lil sh*t

Word count: (total) 8,725(this part)4,599

https://ko-fi.com/luv4fandoms

"A date?" I asked, quickly covering up my shock with a smirk of my own.

"Yeah, she only goes after couples right? So let's act like a couple" he explained. And for some reason his explanation slightly hurt.

'All for the case' my mind stated. 

"Yeah...Yeah sure that might help end this faster" I nodded, quickly stepping out of the car before Gabriel could read my expression. My emotions needed to get in check, quick, this whole week they had been in an uproar because of him and I still wasn't sure why.

"Well you could have at least let me open the door for you" Gabriel joked, I forced a smile and shook my head. 

"You gotta be quicker if you wanna do that" 

We headed towards the ticket booth and into the slightly long line, there were already a bunch of couples here, all either holding hands or cuddling into each other. Again I felt a sting of sadness, must be nice to have someone like that-but was it really real? Or was at least one of them simply playing a part? I must have been focused on my own thoughts for too long because I soon felt a hand in mine before a voice spoke up.

"Two please" I looked over at Gabriel as he handed the woman at the booth the money in exchange for our tickets. He thanked her and guided me through the gates, my eyes rested on our hands, how many years had it been since I simply held hands with someone? In this life simple things like that don't come often, and his hands were warm, far warmer than a humans, even if he didn't have giant wings, the heat alone would give him away. I watched his hand move, fingers turning to intertwine with mine before I heard him chuckle.

"Is this ok?"

"Huh?" I asked, looking up to meet his gaze, he gave me a soft smile, hand gently moving mine as if to gesture to what he was talking about. 

"O-oh yeah, yeah it's fine" I smiled before turning to look out at all the people.

"So a red head" I stated.

"Redhead" Gabriel confirmed before pulling me along. 

"I mean, while we're here" he said while gesturing to all of the game stalls.

"Would be a shame to not have a little fun"

"You know almost all of these things are rigged" I stated while looking at all the games, watching as so many people tested their skills in order to win prizes for their dates.

"Well I'm sure I can even out any cheating" he replied with a wink as he led me to a game, this one was the one where you knock down the cans, the one where usually the cans are weighted and the ball is far too light to do anything.

"Hello sir!" The overly eager carnie smiled at Gabriel.

"Hey kiddo, so how does this work?" Gabriel asked, playing dumb.

"Five dollars gets three tries, knock the top row off and get a small prize, the middle row gets a medium price and the bottom row gets a large prize." He explained as he took the money Gabriel handed him.

"See anything you like sugarplum?" He asked, looking back at me. 

"Surprise me sweetheart" I smiled, earning a smile before he turned back to the game and threw the first two balls, acting like the game was kinda difficult, only knocking a few off the top row, before he knocked the entire stack down with the last ball. 

"Saved by the last one" The teenager smiled

"What will it be sir?"

"Hmmm, how about...that" Gabriel told him, pointing to one of the large stuffed animals, the teen got it down and handed it to him.

"Thank you for playing!" 

Gabriel turned and handed me the prize...A giant stuffed wolf.

"Why thank you sir" I smiled and took it from him before he reached down and took my hand again.

"Why a wolf?" I asked, curious but having a feeling.

"Well we did first meet on that Werewalker case" he told me, confirming my thoughts.

"To commemorate our first meeting" I smiled down at the plush.

"And when I first started falling for you" he added with a grin making me roll my eyes.

"Whatever you say there Casanova" I smirked, forcing down the blush and feelings his words brought forth.

"Come one let's play another game"

"Oh but I thought they were all rigged" he smirked.

"They are...But they're still fun" I said with a small smile as we walked towards the balloon dart game, this one was run by a not so happy middle aged man.

"Five dollars gets you three darts, 1 dart wins a small prize, 2 darts a medium prize, and 3 a large prize" he droned on as I gave him the money.

"See anything you like sweetheart?" I asked Gabriel, mimicking his earlier words with a smile, earning a chuckle from him as he leaned against the small counter beside me, he looked through all the prizes before his eyes landed back on mine.

"Surprise me Sugar" I pulled my arm back and aimed, throwing the dart before a "pop" was heard once, twice, three times. 

"Remind me never to challenge you to a game of darts" he laughed.

"How do you think I make my money at bars?" I laughed.

"I figured men just threw money at you as a gift for being able to just lay their eyes on you" he spoke, stepping behind me and placing his hands on my hips, boy was he laying it on thick.

'Just for the case' I had to remind myself as I felt my heart speed up.

"So what will it be?" The man asked, clearly annoyed with us.

"Oh, right, sorry" I laughed, looking up.

"That one" I stated, watching as he pulled it down and handed it to me, Gabriel let go of me so I could turn and trade him the wolf plush for his plush, a yellow candy heart plush that simply read "sweetie". 

"Aw Sugarplum" he smiled.

"Figured it fit since I called you that when we first met...And you eat candy like it's going out of style" I told him as he once again took my hand in his,laughing along with him.

"I love it" he smiled, eyes meeting mine with such a softness that made me stop walking, he had never looked at me like that, not in all the times he almost insisted on eye contact. My gaze didn't break from his, even as my brain took notice of his wings stretching out, seemingly avoiding everyone who walked around us while he brought them closer, the extremely soft looking feathers almost grazing my arms before a voice broke our trance. 

"Hello my children, would you like to play a round?" I looked behind me to see a nun, my eyes widening a bit at the sight, a nun at a carnival? Running a stand? My expression must have portrayed my thoughts because the nun let out a soft laugh before explaining.

"We are taking donations for the church, you can play for free and still win a prize though if you'd like" she explained.

"Oh!"

"Just toss a ball into a cup and win a prize," she added.

"Let's give it a shot" Gabriel nodded, the nun smiled and handed us both five balls, and we both found out that the game was a bit more difficult, and I realized that Gabriel wasn't using any of his abilities, it seems he kept things honest when it came to nuns. Soon I ran out of shots, and Gabriel was on his last one, I watched as he threw it and it bounced off of the edge of one cup before coming to rest inside another.

"Congratulations!" The nun applauded, smiling at Gabriel before adding.

"What would you like?" 

"I'll let this lovely lady pick something," he replied, smiling at me and earning a smile from the nun.

"How about that?" I asked, pointing towards a small golden chain necklace that held a pair of gold wings, I would be lying if I said the winged being beside wasn't the reason for wanting the necklace, but I just wouldn't let him know that. Though I noticed his expression turn slightly shocked. The nun smiled and turned to grab the necklace, while I grabbed some money from my wallet. When she went to hand me the necklace she stopped upon noticing the money.

"Oh my dear I couldn't" she stated, looking from the hundred dollar bill to me.

"Please, I insist" I told her, but when she still didn't reach to take it.

"I didn't go to church, but I was raised in the faith, bible teachings, rosary, watching Mother Angelica every night" I laughed.

"We need people who fight against all the darkness" added with a smile, her face softened and a smile graced her lips.

"Bless you my dear child, the church thanks you more than words can say"

"Thank you sister, just doing my part" I told her, taking the necklace as she handed it to me. We walked away from the booth before Gabriel stopped.

"Allow me?" He asked, motioning towards the necklace.

"Oh, thank you" I smiled, taking the plushes and handing him the necklace, he walked behind me and gently placed it around my neck before clasping it. 

"So, what made you choose that?" He asked, and I had to quickly think of something. No one had yet mentioned his wings so I still figured it was forbidden to talk about. 

"I've always loved angel wing images, and I like gold so" I shrugged with a chuckle. He simply nodded, his expression almost…Disappointed, sad? Whatever it was I didn't like seeing it. 

"Here ya go, Sweetie" I smiled, handing him the heart, earning a small smile as he looked at it.

"Come on" he stated, reaching for my hand and smiling more when my hand met him halfway. We made our way to the cotton candy vender, still looking around for a woman that fit our description. 

"So do we see anyone she would most likely go after?" He asked.

"Almost everyone here" I noted, looking at all the couples.

"We just have to look for couples with a man who has wandering eyes" I added.

"Why do you think she goes after unfaithful men, easy targets?" He asked

"That or she herself was screwed over by a guy" 

"So she's taking it out on any guy she can?"

"Maybe she sees it as saving these women from suffering the same way she did" 

"A little extreme" 

"Says the man who made a frat kid believe he was abducted by aliens"

"Dean-o told you about that? That was funny"

"Funny, but extreme" I laughed

"To each their own" he replied, sticking his tongue out before walking up to the vendor and buying the biggest bag of cotton candy.

"So...Can I ask why this case almost seems personal to you?" Gabriel asked hesitantly while he held the now opened bag out to me. Sighing I reached in and grabbed some.

"Like I said, it's a long boring stor-"

"We hope you two are having better luck" Sam's voice rang out behind me, spinning around. I noticed Sam still looking around but Dean eating his own bag of cotton candy.

"Want some?" He asked, holding the bag out. Opening my mouth to answer I heard a high pitched rumble come from beside me, one that was almost at a tone people wouldn't be able to hear, and after a moment I realized it was almost a sort of growl coming from...Gabriel?

"Na I'm good, Gabriel got us some, thanks though" I smiled before reaching into the bag Gabriel was holding and grabbing some of the candy. Another high pitched noise met my ears, this one more of a pleased hum. Dean simply shrugged and kept eating.

"No luck here, I haven't even seen a red head in this crowd" I told Sam.

"Looks like you've had some luck" a female voice stated, looking over I noticed Claire and Jody. Claire looked down at the giant wolf before looking at me with a raised brow.

"Gabe won it for me" I shrugged.

"So you two just have a date in the middle of a case?" She asked with a smirk.

"We are hoping it will draw her out" I told her, she nodded but the look on her face screamed "you sure about that?".

"Well there are plenty of victims to choose from" Jody stated while we all looked around at the couples.

"If only we knew who was willing to cheat" Sam sighed.

"Tell me about it" I sighed as well, reaching over to grab more cotton candy...Only to grab nothing. I looked over and noticed Gabriel was no longer beside me, quickly looking around I noticed him walking behind the wall and stage that were set up for a magic show that was held earlier in the day. 

"Gabriel?" I spoke, loud enough to catch everyone's attention.

"Where the hell is he going?" Dean asked before we all started walking towards where he went. We rounded the corner to see...Gabriel and a red headed woman kissing, his hands resting on her hips and hers on his shoulders. A flood of emotions washed over me, many that I never wanted to experience again.

"Well it's about time you showed up" I stated, not even trying to hide the anger in my voice, I didn't know why I was feeling it so strongly, but I was, and it was annoying. I quickly tossed the wolf onto a nearby bench that I had noticed Gabriel left the heart and pulled out my gun, which luckily, held witch killing bullets. We watched as they slowly broke apart, before she turned to look at me.

"You really have gone downhill with your tastes Gabriel, you had me, and now you're with some human hunter trash? Pity" 

"Wait...you two?" Sam asked

"Were together, once upon a time yes, though Gabriel has always been the wild one of his family, never staying in place for too long, took me awhile to track him down" 

"Great, two exes in two weeks" I stated with an eye roll.

"Which one was it?" She asked, turning in his arms so her back was against his chest, his arms still around her.

"He had so many, I got rid of quite a few myself" she added

"If he has such a long list why do you want to be with him?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same thing" she snapped before looking over her shoulder at him.

"He made me feel wanted" I didn't like the feeling that was burning in my chest, seemingly wanting to claw its way out as I watched them look at each other, I wanted her away, far away, and that feeling was very new to me.

"But like I said, I've gotten rid of many of his exs already, a little human won't be so hard" she stated, throwing her hand up just as I felt my body being lifted and thrown backwards. I could hear the others yell beside me as they too were thrown, the wind rushed past as I felt a warmth wrap around my back, my body slamming into a steel pole but not feeling any of the impact, almost as if I had an airbag around me. I fell to the ground with a thud, my vision going blurry for a moment, I watched her drag Gabriel along as I tried to regain breath.

"Should have expected that" Dean groaned before I felt someone help me up.

"You ok?" Jody asked

"Yeah I think so" I told her, taking a deep breath and looking around.

"Where did they go?" 

"I saw them go that way" Claire pointed towards all the fun houses that sat at the very end of the fairgrounds.

"Let's go," Dean called, already running forward, we all set off, stopping once we got to the funhouses, all three of them.

"Sam you go with Jody and Claire, I'll take this one, Liz you take that one" Dean instructed, being met with no objections we all took off. I slowly stepped into the mirror maze, my gun at the ready. 

"I always hated these things" I sighed, using one hand to feel around for where I was supposed to go.

"Poor little hunter" her voice rang out, echoing off of the mirrors.

"You know what one of my powers are? I can see your past, what traumas have cut you and left scars"

"That's nice, do you want a cookie?" I snapped.

"Aww she acts brave, but is she really? Or does she just put up that front to cover the real truth?" I found myself in a large room that was completely encompassed in mirrors, and as I looked around I noticed her reflection in one, I quickly fired and watched as the glass broke to reveal nothing.

"The real truth that she's just a prude" another mirror, another shot.

"Ugly" another mirror, another shot.

"Dimwitted" another mirror, another shot.

"Pathetic excuse for a woman who will eventually die alone" another mirror, another shot, this time though, when it shattered it revealed an open door that led out into the woods that stood behind the fair. Bolting forward I quickly entered the woods, stopping once I got a little ways in, I listened for any sign of movement, my gun at the ready, I only had one bullet left. Just as I heard footsteps behind me I felt arms wrap around mine, pulling them back and restraining me. I tried to move but it felt like I was fighting against a boulder, looking back I was met with those honey eyes, now darker, like any trace of Gabriel was gone.

"Gabe" I spoke, but he didn't respond.

"Neat little trick huh? Something I have been perfecting, makes him do whatever I want"

"Let him go" I spoke through gritted teeth.

"Oh no can do little girl, see this one is the one that I'm not going to let away again. Now that I finally perfected the spell, he's mine forever" 

"The other men, they-"

"Were they just test subjects? Yes, though they were highly useful test subjects. Had to start out with hex bags first, then the better I got, well.."

"You ruined lives!"

"Oh boo hoo, you of all people should know how fickle human men can be, don't give them what they want and they'll find it someplace else. Why do you think I like my men to be a bit more...Supernatural" she smiled, stopping her circling and halting beside me. She leaned over and started kissing Gabriel again, my anger beginning to bubble over once more, but it quickly turned into that familiar hurt when I realized-he was kissing her back. I turned my head, my eyes landing on my gun which lay at my feet.

"Now Gabriel, be a good boy...Kill her" she stated, backing away, and I stumbled forward, landing on my hands and knees when Gabriel pushed me away. I turned around, gazing up at him as he slowly made his way forward, towering over me. His eyes never left mine, even as he kicked my gun, causing it to skid to a halt beside me. I could still hear her talking behind him, telling him to get it over with already, and I watched as he stopped at my feet.

"Gabe...I don't wanna hurt you" I told him, slowly reaching for my gun, if nothing else I would shoot him in the shoulder, maybe that would break the spell, even if it would take my last bullet.

"Get on with it!" She shouted.

"Sweetie" I spoke, watching as a blue light took over his eyes for a moment before I noticed his wings stretch out when he stood taller, rolling his shoulders back.

"Gabe?" I whispered, his eyes snapped back to mine, the honey color back to being golden instead of dark. He mouthed a word, and it took me a moment to realize what he was saying.

One

Two

Three! He dove down as I lifted my gun and shot, watching as it hit the witch right between the eyes, she stumbled back, before slowly falling to the ground. I sighed, looking over at Gabriel who had landed on the ground next to me.

"Nice shot," he said with a small smile.

"Please tell me you weren't just playing along that whole time" I told him

"No Sugarplum, I really wasn't in control of myself-I didn't hurt you did I?" He asked, sitting up and looking me over.

"Na I'm fine, I was just wondering, because if you were, I was gonna shoot you in the foot" wide eyes met mine as I gave him an unimpressed look.

"You wouldn't"

"I would"

"...do you have bullets?"

"Be glad I don't" I replied, causing him to sigh and put his head on my shoulder.

"So how many crazy exs am I gonna have to fight?" I asked while looking at the limp body.

"You gonna fight my exs off me?" He asked, peeking up at me before letting out a slight laugh.

"Hopefully no more"

"Hopefully" I nodded just as I noticed the group running towards us. 

"What the hell happened?" Dean asked, looking between us and the body.

"Gabriel was under the spell, I chased them out here, he broke free and I shot her" I shrugged, Gabriel lifting his head from my shoulder.

"So what do we do now?" Claire asked, looking at the body.

"We'll get rid of...this" Sam said motioning towards the body.

"Claire, why don't you and Jody make sure no one heard any gunshots?" Dean said, the girls nodded and turned to leave, but not before Jody turned to me.

"Thank you"

"All in a day's work" I smiled back, taking Gabriel's hand as he helped me up.

"Need help?" I asked the boys, gesturing towards the body.

"We got it," Sam smiled.

"You go enjoy the rest of the fair, we'll meet you back at the motel" Dean thumbed back towards the festivities.

"You sure?" 

"Yeah, go on"

"Ok, I'll see y'all back at the motel" I smiled, taking Gabriel's hand and walking back towards the fair.

"Wait" he stopped before we got into the eyesight of the crowds, I watched as he disappeared and reappeared with the sound of his wings. He smiled as he handed me the wolf plush, holding onto the stuffed heart. I thanked him as I took it before he took my free hand and walked us into the crowd that seemed unknowing of what just happened not too far away.

"So, what else do you want to do?" He asked, looking over at me. I thought for a moment, looking around at everything before my eyes landed on a certain ride.

"The ferris wheel" I stated, watching as a smile graced his lips.

"Your wish is my command" he replied, leading me towards the ride.

"Let's not" I laughed, earning a raised brow from him.

"You shouldn't be under anyone's command, you're your own person, you should do what you want to do" I told him while we waited in line.

"Very well" he nodded

"But I want to take you on to the ferris wheel" he added with a laugh, earning a laugh from me as well. We climbed into our cart and waited for the ride to start, looking over at the night sky while we waited. 

"So...can I ask you something?" He asked after a moment.

"Bout what?" I asked, meeting his gaze.

"The things Cassandra said, in the mirror room, and in the woods-about fickle men"

"...Only if you tell me how come you and her split" I replied while we started to ascend.

"She was right when she said I used to be the type that never stuck around long, we had a thing, for a while, but she got possessive"

"Thought you liked possessive?" I smirked, referring to his reaction in the car earlier when I said I wouldn't share what was mine.

"There are two types, the get off my man only I can touch him like that...can be hot...But she was the controlling type...like remember how you said you would never tell a guy what he could or couldn't do...she was that type"

"Oh, the toxic kind" 

"Yeah, so I bolted"

"I don't blame you for that"

"So what about those things she said," he said after a moment. 

"A while back, about six years ago, three years after I started hunting, I met a guy. I had only slightly dated a few guys in my teens years, but here I was, twenty-one, and this guy came along...and at first seemed great. Remember how I said I wasn't "that kind of girl", that's because I'm waiting til I'm married to have sex...he didn't like that. What started out a good relationship turned into him getting angry when I wouldn't have sex with him...those things Cassandra said...Were things he would call me-Our relationship ended when I found out he cheated on me." 

"Between him, and my dad leaving my mom for a younger girl after twenty five years of marriage...I don't trust many guys" I told him, hugging the wolf tighter as I remembered everything, but that warm feeling I had felt for a second when I almost hit the pole earlier washed over me again, and I found myself turning to look at Gabriel before I even realized it. 

"No offence, but it sounds like you dated boys, not men" he smirked, referencing what I told him in the morgue on our first case. 

"I suppose your right" I laughed

"If it means anything, your ex is a complete idiot, and if you want I can totally make him think he got abducted by aliens" he smirked

"With slow dancing?" I asked, a smirk of my own.

"Hells yeah! Maybe even to My heart will go on" he replied causing us both to laugh.

"Can I ask you one more thing?" I asked.

"Shoot sweetcheeks" 

"When she threw us, I didn't hit the pole as hard as I should have...You were fighting the spell even then weren't you?"

"Yeah, when I saw her in the crowd I realized she was the witch we were looking for so I went to confront her, that's when she kissed me, and that's when the spell took hold, but I was fighting it the whole time"

"Well thank you, for fighting"I told him, leaning against his shoulder.

"Always Sugar" he stated, wrapping his arm around my shoulder as we both enjoyed the rest of the ride.

And there is part 2! I hope everyone enjoyed it! Let me know what you think and stay tuned for chapter 3!

If you would like to be added to the taglist let me know

Taglist

@sydknee624 @studentdoctorstark @ilearnedthatfromethepizzaman @ambivertedcroissant @sunny-shine44

[i-dont-want-your-hysteria]

a message.

This whole post is full of things I’ve wanted to say for a very long time. So yes, this is going to be very long.

Before I begin, I just wanted to say I’m sorry to the innocent people who had nothing to do with this. I’ve never ever been involved with online/fandom drama before, I hate being in this position so fucking much with all my heart and soul, and I never thought in my whole life that I’d be in this position, either.

Secondly, this is about the DEF LEPPARD FANDOM ON TUMBLR. If you’re not part of this fandom, kindly fuck off :^) This is not about you.

This post explains why I feel this way. And to those innocent people who aren’t involved with this, I’m sincerely sorry if any of this has changed your opinions of me.

I’m in a mood and a half, so I’ll do my best to effectively tell everything from my perspective. Read if you want, but this is just what I’m thinking.

I’ve been running this blog for almost three years now. When I first joined this fandom on tumblr at the beginning of 2018, there wasn’t really a ‘fandom’ per se; all the main blogs were dead, no one ever really posted, and there wasn’t much content. I decided to start a DL blog of my own to vent my love into it and not spam my main account. 

Within a month, I could quickly see that some sort of renaissance was happening in this fandom; more blogs were popping up, more people were posting, and more people were just participating in general. There were memes now, there were conversations now- it was great! There was a real community; it was all about sharing information, spewing our love, getting creative, and interacting! 

There was integrity, and there was respect for the band as well as one another.

I, as part of this community, wanted to do everything in my physical power to contribute in any way I could. I was insanely active and hyper-productive and could not be stopped. I still haven’t stopped, but I certainly have slowed down significantly (due to lack of new activity from the band and increased mental health issues I won’t get into). I don’t want to be self-centered and say that I was “running” this branch of the fandom for the past 2.7 years, but I was certainly a big player in it, and I feel everyone agreed (and some still agree) with that as well.

There were some times where disagreements happened. There were times where many of us knew that someone else was crossing a line in a post. We knew what qualified as “not okay” in terms of being perverted and such. We’d solve this by not blaming, not hounding, not sending anon hate, not calling out, but by presenting facts, talking maturely, and trying to right the wrongs as maturely as we could.

Yes, it was possible. Was.

I don’t think you guys realize just how much content I’ve contributed to this fandom. I have spent basically every single day of the past 3-ish years trying to spread information/content/photos/videos/links/etc. to everyone who follows me (and everyone who doesn’t). This fandom was (and I cannot stress this enough), literally my entire life for the past 3 odd years, and I really wanted to spend the rest of my life contributing to it the way I’ve been.

I don't think anyone on here realizes everything that I have done for this community. Because of me:

this fandom has access to Animal Instinct for free

this fandom has access to the rare picture disc interview

this fandom has numerous scans of photos that may have not ended up online otherwise (I also paid $70 to have access to some of these. You're welcome.)

we have Fabulist Icons content

we have a decent amount of fanfiction that doesn't only focus on the boys banging each other/sex in general (seriously, this simply didn’t exist on here before I started posting my shit)

we have a little more fan art

we have content from Phil's and Ross's books

we have hundreds (yes, literally, HUNDREDS) of edits/moodboards/memes/etc. that I made myself

we have gifsets of things that no one else would have made

we have achieved justice a lot of the time when content was stolen because I have defended everyone without question/rallied up armies the second I heard it happened

some of you have gotten updates on news/facts/history/details/etc. that you’ve never even heard of

probably a shit ton more things, but that’s all I can think of for now. You get the point.

But that’s only half the story. This band and fandom has given me so much to cherish over the past few years.

Because of this fandom and the people (that were once) in it, I have:

met Rick in person

met, quite honestly, my two best friends ever, @ballistic-lipstick-dream-machine (my true Terror Twin) and @paper-sxn (adopted little sister/cousin)

became in contact with Phil's guitar tech from the mid-80s (Mike)

gained creative ambition to play guitar, create art, write stories, make edits/gifs, travel, and basically just better myself

began a record collection that is now in the hundreds and gained a lot of knowledge from it

discovered a whole new genre of music

found a community/culture where, for the very very first time in my life, I felt like I BELONGED.

fallen in love with something and someone for the first time

felt like I actually mattered to people, like I was actually important (because people would always come to me for information or help if they needed it)

basically impacted every corner of my life

just about a million other things, too, but I will be here all night if I try to list them all.

To put it delicately: Def Leppard and this fandom on tumblr absolutely changed my life, and was the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.

I have spread so much information around, you newer people wouldn't imagine. I have gathered and seen so much information, you wouldn't believe how much I know and how much I've learned. I have bounced back and forth between formats time after time again that I feel like I’m stuck in a time warp. I have edited so many things on non-professional programs that I am an MS paint expert. I have been here so long, that I’ve seen 98% of the people in this branch of the fandom rotate in and out at least two or three times. 

That being said, all of the toxic people in this fandom will most likely be gone within the next 6 months. 

Def Leppard has taught me so much, but a big thing was love and loyalty. It's clear that the majority of people in this fandom (read my lips- I am N O T saying anyone’s names. I mean that.) do not know the meanings of either of these words. I've been practically running this fandom on Tumblr for nearly three years now, you’ve seen all that I’ve done for you, and what have I gotten in return?

Slander, cyberbullying, disrespect, consistently stolen content, etc. That’s what I’ve gotten. I’ve never attacked anyone on here, and that is still something I won’t do.

Yes, I am against slash fic, and I can’t believe that THAT’S the only reason why I’m being torn down like this. Something so dumb and immature as that has torn my beloved community in half. I have never attacked ANYONE for writing slash fic, yet I’ve been getting attacked since August (it is November now) for simply believing it is wrong to openly admit you want the boys to fuck each other.

(I’d also like to point out that someone from the KISS fandom ((god knows why)) had the balls to call me “homophobic” for hating slashfic. I can’t even begin to explain how much I laughed at that.)

I just wanna say that these are REAL people you’re writing about, you know. Don’t you think THEY would be against it? I know I cannot stop anyone from writing slash (I’ve said that before, but no one seems to remember it). I don’t think any of you realize that there is a certain line you shouldn’t cross when it comes to the internet, and being perverted in such an explicit and disrespectful way is one of them. We always had integrity in this fandom, and slash was never part of something we stood for. We knew when to stop, and we kept the slash on rockfic.com (where it belongs imo. That’s like their element).

I was very confused when more slash fics started appearing on tumblr this year. Now, it seems like that’s all there is, and I’m disgusted.

Whenever something close to that happened in 2018, everyone would be totally against it, and we’d talk it out and explain. While we all had our fair share of horny (and maybe then some) in this fandom, but we always knew where to draw the line. That was the line. That line doesn’t exist anymore, apparently, and nobody knows how to be mature and respectful to the band, to each other, and just for fuck’s sake. Now, I’m being slammed that being perverted for them fucking their best friends is “just fandom, bitch” and “the norm” and that it’s done “out of respect”, which I will never understand. You can’t use “slash” and “respectful” in the same sentence, and you can’t change my mind, but I know I can’t change yours, either. 

Slash is not, nor will it ever be, respectful. This fandom has become toxic.

Fanfiction is an outlet for creativity to be used for fun, not to be used as an excuse to project your sexually perverted sexuality headcannons/fetishes onto innocent, REAL, LIVE people. If all you write/read is them having sex with each other, then it really makes you wonder if it’s about “respect” anymore, doesn’t it?

In my opinion it’s fucked up that it’s “normal” and “just part of fandom” to create sexualities for- again- REAL, LIVE PEOPLE, and it’s everyone’s first instinct to argue that it’s fine, apparently? If you “respect” your idols so much like you claim you do, then why don’t you maybe respect their actual orientations instead of creating masturbation material for random 12 year olds and boomers, perhaps?

I don’t know what I did that was so fucking wrong in your eyes, as I’ve always tried to keep integrity in this area of tumblr. 

I'm very deeply hurt, more than I've ever been by this. It physically hurts me to admit that this fandom has become as toxic as it currently is. I don’t feel welcome here anymore at all, despite practically running things on here for so long.

I don’t know how I could ever live without this fandom, but now it looks like I’m going to have to try, or at least try and rebuild it on my own (again). I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop posting about Def Leppard, and after all, I only started posting about them for myself to begin with.

We were supposed to be the good fandom, the happy fandom, the fandom with no drama. I am ashamed to be associated with you now. I tried to stop it as best as I could, and hoped people would back me up, but I’ve received nothing but hate for simply trying to preserve some dignity.

You guys have been immature to say the least, and I find it very hard to believe that some of you are legal adults (but let’s be honest; most of you toxic people are probably too young to even be behind a computer, anyway). 

I’ve had to block some people that I really didn’t want to, but the deed is done. Keep your slash to yourself, tag it, do a read more, post it somewhere else, even- that’s how you co-exist. Just don’t come after me because I think it’s wrong. I never came after anyone specifically like that.

This isn’t goodbye, but I certainly am leaving for a while. I hope I got my point, my history, and my perspective across.

And I hope you’re fucking happy, because you’ve destroyed something I loved.

-Rachel

[gamefaq]

your gifs are amazing oh my gosh!! do you have a tutorial or anything on how you make them??? <3

thank you so much!! i don't have a tutorial per say but i can go through my process which is kind of like a tutorial? i'll be going through how to make this:

RECORDING:

for recording i use NVIDIA GeForce which came with my pc i'm not sure if it's something you can just download? otherwise i use OBS but it's rare that i do, it's only really for when i have a game that isn't supported by NVIDIA but it's not bad to use by all means. i just personally think NVIDIA is a bit easier to get to grips with and if i'm using a youtube video then i use y2mate.com

for my more recent gifsets i've been using a lot of console commands to get rid of the HUD and also to no clip for example to get closer to something you wouldn't normally be able to in game or just to have some more fun camera angles. pretty much every game to my knowledge has console commands and the commands stay very consistent. i won't go into it too much since it's not really the main focus of the ask but there's a lot of information online about it and it's very simple to set up

(i’d say if you’re going to use console commands then wait until you’ve beaten the game if possible because console commands negate getting achievements)

MAKING:

to actually get started i use a perfectly legal version of photoshop that i'd be happy to provide so that you don't waste money on the rip off subscription adobe has

and the very first step is to go to file > import > video frames to layers to load up your recording. a window will pop up with your video and here you can crop to a specific section by using the sliders highlighted or put the entire thing into a file (though it's noted theres a 500 frame limit, you'll never need that many frames)

once you've imported your video it should look like this. if you don't have the timeline bar at the bottom then not to worry! go to window > timeline and make sure it's a timeline animation

here is where you'll size down your gif to suit tumblr's post sizing. i think everyone does this part a little different but what i do first if necessary to your project is cropping. cropping is entirely up to you and how you want your gif to look. for this particular example i won't do too much aside from crop some of the floor out but sometimes i adjust the canvas size (image > canvas size) so that the cropping's more even because it's hard to judge by eye

(edit while i’m going through this: sometimes i make a new file in the size i want my gif to be and overlay that white default layer onto my gif so i can get a good look at where exactly my gif will be cropped. i hope that makes sense? but it’s just a visual aid rather than a requirement so don’t worry if it doesn’t omg)

now to actually resize it with image > image size and here's probably my biggest advice. so i'm going to resize it so that the height is 300 and then crop the sides to 540 afterwards. but what i'm actually going to type is 302 and hit ok

due to the fact photoshop works with pixels, resizing leaves this weird transparent border that just doesn't really look that nice as a gif (or in general for that matter)

so to get rid of this and also change our width to 540 (tumblr's post dimension) i'm using canvas size

so great! now your gif is cropped, resized and ready to be edited! to prep it for editing, go to what looks like a stack of lines on top of each other on the timeline bar and convert to video timeline

EDITING:

your timeline now looks like a bit of a mess, but it's okay we're going to fix that. select all of your frames in the layers on the right hand size and go to filter > convert to smart filter. this will flatten out your frames into one singular layer which both neatens up the place and makes it so that anything you do to these frames now will happen across all of them instead of just one! if that makes sense? if not hopefully it will as we continue on

the next step is sharpening, to do this go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen and these are my settings. sometimes i switch in between 0.3 and 0.4 depending on what i'm giffing so experiment with both and see what looks better!

i then duplicate the frames (right click, duplicate layer) and going to filter > blur > gaussian blur. this isn't necessary by all means and not everybody likes to do this, i just personally do and these are my settings

by double clicking on what looks like two lines with two triangles next to where it says "gaussian blur" on the layer, i change the blur opacity to 60 and the overall opacity of the layer to 40%. this is something you can also experiment with for example i used to use 85 and 60%

COLOURING:

the final step is colouring and there's two ways of going about this really, you can either use psds where there's plenty to find on tumblr which imo is perfectly fine to use and have done it myself, sometimes i'm not in the mood to colour. or you can colour from scratch which for the sake of this explanation i will

all of these adjustments are now your best friend. what i'd say really is go a bit hog wild and experiment and see what all these different things do but i would recommend at least using curves and levels.

i don't really know how to explain this other than "move the sliders around like wheee until you think it looks nice"

i'm not going to do too many adjustments just to save some time but here's what i've ended up with (i also would just suggest putting all your layers into a folder to declutter your layers a little). i usually use a lot more layers but there’s also nothing wrong with only having 4 adjustment layers either, sometimes simple is better

(another edit: that layer 501 is just some brush tool to erase some of the ground because it looked weird, it’s not an actual adjustment layer. just in case that caused some confusion!)

and i'll just show the difference between no colouring and with colouring and why it's an important step:

(without colouring)

(with colouring)

an optional final step before we go onto exporting, if you didn't trim the clip you wanted when you first loaded in your frames you can do that step now with the video timeline. just simply drag the work area bar to where you want it (and you can zoom into your timeline bar by using the slider in the bottom left for more accurate cropping) you might also need to use this regardless if your gif ends up being too beefy in mb which we'll get into in a second

so it's time to export after the more realistic hours of recording, cropping, colouring and what have you! go to file > save for web (NOT save as or export) and a big boy window will come up. it might look a little daunting but we're really only paying attention to a few things.

it's been a bit iffy on what the actual gif limit is on tumblr at the minute but the safest bet is to aim around 3mb (but it's okay to go over, i think the max i've done is 6mb) and if it's incredibly large such as 20mb it could be your colouring or your frame count. maybe adjust a couple of things. i think white and blue can make gifs particularly beefy? but i'm not sure. and black makes gifs less beefy which is why my example is only 1mb.

then you want to click save instead of done and save it to wherever you like it to be, and you're basically done! if you want to do an extra step however which is something i've only recently started to do myself, is load up the gif file you just saved by simply going to file > open

you'll notice it's automatically switched back to a frame timeline which is fine for us, select all the frames with selecting those stack of lines again > select all frames. without accidentally clicking off the selecting click on any of the triangles in the frames in the bottom right and then other to manually change the delay of which the frames will play

for whatever reason gifs will save a little slower than what the original video was so sometimes it just makes things look a little smoother. don't change it too much though, just going from 0.3 to 0.2 is enough!

just to show, here’s the difference between 0.03 and 0.02

(0.03)

(0.02)

export just like you had before by saving for web and that’s it! you’re done! you’ve made a gif! i hope this was a good enough run through of the process because i feel like i definitely didn’t explain some things the best or i maybe skipped over some things, so if there’s any confusion please don’t hesitate to message me! i hoped you enjoyed reading either way :)

[ncisjes]

I’d find you in every lifetime

Based off this beautiful gifset by @everythingismadefromdreams and this drabble by @mcgeekle where Ziva is prosecuting a case the team worked. Kudos to them both for creating this amazing AU I am having so much fun writing in. Also a huge thank you to @mcgeekle for letting me continue this. 

@benditlikepress @rareshbones

Read on AO3//FF

Take Your Time

Sipping her second drink of the night, she sits at the bar alone watching what feels like the same old news on ZNN. Being stood up was a rare occurrence for her, but this time she really could not fault the man. In the past two weeks they had agreed to get drinks after work on three separate occasions, and all three times she had bailed to work late. 

The Simmons case was moving along on schedule, but it was still too early to tell how the jury was leaning. Her opening argument was flawless, but the expert witnesses had not fared as well as she had hoped under the scrutiny of the defendants defense team. Their one hundred thousand dollar an hour retainer was clearly paying off for their client. 

Regardless of whatever lead the defense had, she was still determined as ever to win this case. Being new to DC, she needed to establish herself as a capable prosecutor. Her track record here had a much slower start than in New York, but that was mostly suffering through learning the quirks of the system and the judges preferences. She always knew the legal field was cutthroat, but D.C. gave New York a run for its money. 

Luckily for her, the jury had yet to hear from the investigators whose findings built her entire case. She had planned to call Leroy Jethro Gibbs as her first witness, but as life would have it an emergency case had popped up keeping him and his team from attending the hearing. 

Though it had been a month since she had seen him, she had to admit she found herself thinking about Special Agent DiNozzo quite a lot lately.  While his delivery could have been better, his charm was what intrigued her to invite him back to her office to try his luck again at asking her out once the hearing had concluded. There was just something about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Wondering what he would be doing on a Friday night like tonight, she imagined him sweet talking his way into some unsuspecting co-ed’s bed for the night.

Taking a long slow sip of her drink, she scans the room in hopes of finding someone to take home herself. Her eyes begin sizing up each prospect, noting their features and what she would like to do with them. Her gaze locks on a brunette that is all legs with grayish brown eyes which jogs her memory of a night a few months back. She cannot remember the woman’s name, but the curl of her tongue is still very vivid in Ziva’s mind. Seeing her arm wrapped around the blonde sitting next to her,  Ziva continues to scour the room in hopes of repeating the ecstasy her mind just recalled. 

Her search comes up empty as everyone in the bar has seemingly paired off. She’s about to signal for her tab and call it a night when she spots him out of the corner of her eye. He’s leaning over the bar talking to the blonde bartender who’s name always escapes Ziva. She laughs and leans over the counter, not only matching Tony’s stance but giving him a much better view down her shirt, Ziva is sure. Her fingers play with the condensation on her glass as she waits for him to notice her. He doesn’t disappoint, leaving the bartender without a second glance a few moments later and hastily making his way to her. 

“Ziva David. Fancy finding you here.” Tony leans on the stool next to her. 

“Hello Special Agent DiNozzo.”

“I see you’ve forgotten my name all ready.” He fakes offense.

“It is a lawyer thing. We have to be proper in court and it transcends into our personal lives.” 

“Deflecting really doesn’t help your case here counselor.” 

“I have not forgotten your name, Tony, and I see you have not forgotten your charm.”

“So you do find me charming.”

“I would not go that far.” She smirks.

“So what’s a girl like you doing here alone on a Friday night?”

“Who says I am alone?” 

“This seat is pushed too far in for someone to have just gone to the bathroom. Unless of course you’re waiting for someone, but judging by your empty drink and the condensation collecting on it you’ve been waiting for quite a while. Our hot shot lawyer from New York couldn’t have been stood up, now could she?” Returning the victorious smirk she had given him moments before. 

“Putting your investigative skills to use on your off time?”

“Only if it means I can sit down here.” 

“I do not think that is a good idea.” She cautions him, her eyes going from playful to serious. 

“Ah come on, who is going to see us? There’s none of you legal types in here. Plus I’m not your witness. Gibbs is.” 

“But you are still a part of his team which makes-”

He waves his hand to shush her, causing her to balk at him.

“One drink.” He holds up his pointer finger as if to make it concrete that they’re only going to have a single cocktail. Somehow she finds herself relenting. 

Taking his seat, Tony waves to the bartender he just abandoned to call her over. Arms crossed over her chest she stares back at him, not moving a muscle. He winks and makes the come hither motion with his finger,  hoping that all can be forgotten with a really good tip on his tab.  She scoffs, throwing the towel she is holding to the ground and walks through the swinging door to the back. 

“Guess we won’t be served by her any time soon.” Tony comments, shifting his body towards Ziva. Before she can respond the other bartender approaches. 

“Hey, sorry about that. Heidi can take things a little too personal sometimes. I’m Jack. What can I get you?” 

“Scotch on the rocks for me and for-”

“I will have another mojito, Jack, thank you.” Ziva answers, effectively cutting Tony off. 

“Sure thing.” Jack smiles and winks at her as he saunters off, causing Tony’s jealousy to spike for some unknown reason. 

“So, you come here often?” Tony asks, drawing Ziva’s attention back to him. 

“Is that what you really wanted to ask me? Generic pick up lines usually work to get girls to take you home with them?”

“I didn’t know that offer was on the table.” He leers at her, grabbing an ice cube from her drink and popping it into his mouth. 

“No I do not come here often, and no it is not on the table.” She glares at him. 

Jack arrives with their drinks, breaking the small amount of tension that had built up. Tony pays in cash and raises his glass to Ziva.

“To future offers. May they be successful and enjoyable for us both.” He gives her a big toothy grin before touching his glass to hers and taking a swig; his eyes never leaving hers. 

Ziva is the first one to break and look away, muttering something under her breath in Hebrew but still finding herself smiling before taking a long drink.

“So tell me, how does the rising star of Mossad find herself practicing law in America?”

“I see you have done your research.”

“It is what I do for a living.”

“Not well enough clearly or you would know the answer. How did one make the jump from Baltimore P.D. to N.C.I.S. with such subpar skills?”

“Answering my question with a question? Deflecting won’t work with me. I use  the same tactic all the time on the job. Nice to know you’re doing your own research on me too though.” He winks at her as he takes another sip of his drink. 

“For the case-”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. Now my question?”

Their gazes lock and the power struggle begins between them, sizing the the other up, their pupils dilating and contracting with each breath. Finally giving in, Ziva breaks away to look at the bar door closing before her eyes settle on the ice in her drink, her hand fidgeting with the straw. 

“After serving in the Israeli army I joined Mossad at my own volition. I advanced quickly through the ranks, earning awards for my exemplary skills and talents. I had just become a handler when I decided to leave and come to America.”

“What made you do that?”

“My brother.”

Tony stares at her intently but does not push the subject. He can sense she is having difficulty discussing this. She takes a long swig of her drink before continuing. 

“He cautioned me about promoting any higher, said I did not know what I was getting myself into or who I was really working for. As a handler, I was given more access and told more secrets, but I still had some plausible deniability in the big picture of how Mossad operates. It was not until he was killed three months later that I realized he was right.”

Tony’s eyes study her body language as she tells him the bits and pieces of what seems like a much longer and much more painful story than what she is letting on. He doesn’t push the subject, instead letting the silence fall comfortably between them. 

“You did not ask me.” She comments after a few moments pass and the drinks lessen in their glasses. 

“What's that?” 

“The one question everyone wants to know; how he died.” 

He doesn’t meet her eyes as he finishes his drink. 

“I figured if you wanted to share you would.” 

She twirls the last of her mojito in her glass, watching the clear liquid dance through the crystal ice cubes. Pausing as if she is really considering divulging the information. 

“He killed a member of the secret service, Special Agent Caitlyn Todd. He was killed shortly after by what was reported as a terrorist bombing but really was Mossad cleaning up their mess.” 

Tony’s whole body tenses, not only because he knew Special Agent Todd but because he remembered the bombing that occurred following her death. The reports played for days on ZNN of the horrific injuries people had suffered caused by excessive shrapnel intended to inflict the most pain. The death toll seemed to climb by the second. 

“After his death I was obsessed with getting revenge. I had already lost a sister to a Hamas bombing and to have my brother taken from me the same way… I was determined to bring whoever took him from me forward. When I found out it was ordered by my own director… I could no longer remain loyal to an organization that operated that way.” 

Grabbing her glass, she drains the last of her drink before slamming it back on the bar nearly causing it to shatter. 

“I decided to come to America to bring justice for those who could not get justice for themselves.”

Her eyes are downcast as her fingers play with the condensation on her glass once again. Tony takes a moment to collect himself before tentatively reaching to touch her shoulder.

“Hey, I’m sorry for your loss, and I’m glad you’re here.” 

She gives him a shy smile, leaning into his touch. They stare at each other for a few moments before Tony breaks the contact. 

“Worked a case with Kate Todd. She was a good Agent.”

Ziva’s eyes widen in shock, not only because he knew her but that they both were affected by the same event. 

“I am sorry for your loss.”

“No, I’m sorry to end your night on such a downer. Didn’t mean to bring up such painful memories.” 

“It is alright. I did not mind spending it with you.” 

The words fall out of her mouth before she realizes what she’s said. Luckily she is saved by a man interrupting them. 

“Hey, Tony, sorry to bother you.” He leans on the bar beside him. 

“No worries McInterruptus. Ziva David, this is Timothy McGee, the other and less attractive member of Team Gibbs.” 

Ziva smiles at the glare he gives Tony before extending her hand.

“It is nice to put a face to the name. I read your report in the Simmons case on how the device’s design was flawed and ultimately caused his death. I was amazed by the immense detail you used and then I found out you have a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins and a degree in Computer Forensics from MIT. Very impressive.” 

“Oh, you’re the prosecutor Tony wouldn’t shut up about and the boss wished he would have sent me to check up on instead.” 

Ziva laughs as Tony strikes McGee across the chest.  

“Quiet McTattletale.” 

“One in the same.” Ziva adds, still laughing. 

“Well it’s very nice to meet you Ziva. Tony I hate to steal you away but Abby had too much to drink and is in the bathroom puking. Jardine is in there with her but she’s probably cleaning every surface. We’re probably going to have to carry her out.” 

“I told you to watch her Probie.” 

“Yeah, you try taking her drink away when she’s ranting about people who say they’re vegetarians but eat chicken.” 

“Good point.” 

Tony stands to leave, pushing in the chair as he does. He stops to turn to Ziva before walking away. 

“Don’t move, I’ll walk you out.” 

She doesn’t understand why she listens. 

A few moments later Tony and McGee emerge from the back of the bar with Abby between them, each of her arms slung over their shoulders. Ziva sees a woman exit quickly from behind them, clutching her bag tightly to her as if not to touch anything. The group stops in front of her as Abby begins to babble. 

“Who’s this? Tony, she's pretty. You’re very pretty.” 

“Not now, Abs.” 

Tony motions for Ziva to follow them and she grabs her briefcase from the bottom of the bar before walking behind them. 

There is a cab waiting outside and McGee drops Abby’s arm to open the door before getting in on the opposite side. Tony struggles to keep Abby upright as she goes limp in his arms. Ziva comes up from behind to grab her other side and help get her into the car. She settles in the backseat with her head in McGee’s lap. 

“Tony did you get her number? Get her number!” Abby calls out as Tony moves to close the door. 

“We have her number Abby.”  

“It was nice meeting you!” McGee yells out to Ziva. 

Tony finally shuts the door, letting out a loud breath, his hand wiping over his face. 

“Sorry about that.” 

“It is quite alright. It is nice to see people taking care of other people.” 

“Do you want to share a cab?” 

“No, I actually live right down there.” She points to a grey building a little ways down the street. 

“Oh so you do come here often.” 

They both laugh at the implication. 

“Well I guess this is goodnight then.”

“Yes, goodnight Tony.”

“Goodnight.” 

He extends his hand and she meets him in the middle. The touch lingers for a little while too long, sparking electricity in them both. After several moments, Ziva finally breaks away, turning on her heel to walk away. He watches her walk until she makes it to her building, his eyes enjoying the way her legs strut in her tight pencil skirt. She pauses to wave to him before unlocking the door and going in. Tony turns to heads home, feeling excited for the first time in his career to attend court. 

[angrycowboy]

A couple weeks ago, I decided that for my birthday, I was going to attempt to put together some of my favorite things this fandom has created. I say *some* because this is an incomplete list. There are so many wonderful and talented creators in this fandom that this list would go on forever otherwise. If I have I ever reblogged something of yours, flailed in the tags, reached out to via DM or sent you a message, talked on discord or even Twitter, know that I love and adore not only the things you’ve created, but you yourself as part of this fandom.

And now, without further ado…

FIC

memento by @nielrian

I was obsessed with the idea of coming up with the backstory to the photo we see Michael look at in 1x02. When was it taken? Does Alex have a copy? Did Alex bring his with him to the other side of the world? How often do you think Michael looked at his own copy? And Nicki took a little prompt of mine, and wrote an achingly gorgeous piece about one photograph, and it’s significance to Malex in less than 700 words.

a little something to make me sweeter by @partsofthesamecosmicbeing

Camluca + D.E.B.S. is like a recipe for the perfect fic. I freaking love the movie, and when I saw this fic pop up on tumblr one day? I couldn’t even contain my excitement (seriously, the tags on my reblog were just me flailing wildly because it felt like Ly had reached into my brain and written something I wanted to read before I even knew it myself). Casting Alex as Scud and including Malex in the mix just made me love this fic even more.

And the Sun Rose Red by @michaels-blackhat

A Miluca Kissing Kate Barlow AU? SIGN. ME. UP. I adore Christi, and I adore her writing. One day she was like, “miluca kissing kate barlow au?” and the only appropriate answer to that is HECK YES. Michael/Maria is also a dynamic that just works for this AU, given their canon relationship, and Michael’s penchant for fixing things and Maria’s desire to have someone just be there for her. *runs off to re-read fic*

something broken in this town by @irolltwenties

Okay so, Meagn is one of my favorite people in this fandom. We kinda ramble at each other, and one day this happened where she started talking about the parents. About the relationship Jesse, Jim, and Mimi had as kids, as teenagers, as young adults. How they got sucked into aliens and government conspiracies. How they became the people we see and hear about in S1. If you’ve ever had the privilege of talking with Meagn, you know how amazing her mind is, how she takes these characters and the mere scraps we’ve been given in canon with some of them, and creates entire lives for them, and it’s beautiful.

open up my eager eyes by @haloud

It took me a while to get into Mylex, but apparently it was just because I hadn’t read Hal’s series yet. I’m usually terrible about multi-shipping, but once I find a writer that nails the characters down, I could probably read anything they write. And Hal writes all three of them perfectly. (I mean, Hal is just a phenomenal writer in general, but I digress.)

META

Michael’s bisexuality by @chasingshhadows

There’s been a lot said in the fandom about Michael’s bisexuality and how it’s been portrayed. While the show was airing, I was having trouble finding people who felt the same way I did about how it was being shown - that it wasn’t problematic, but that it was good and accurate. Not to mention that it made me feel seen. I tried writing out what I was feeling but nothing sounded right - until Chasing wrote this piece. It was everything I’d been trying to find the words to express, and it remains one of my absolutely favorite pieces of her writing.

Semiotics of Roswell by @hannah-writes

Hannah did this amazing thing where she took the camera work of RNM and analyzed the shit out of it. And in some moments of doubt, where I was still worried about Malex because of the direction the show had been taking, Hannah’s semiotics (or better known as “Why Malex is Endgame”) pointed out how the camerawork for Malex and Echo is very similar, not to mention deliberate as fuck.

Maria Can’t Catch a Break by @ober-affen-geil

I adore Maria Deluca. She has gotten such a bad rap in the fandom because of the “love triangle” business. But fandom in general has done her dirty in that without removing the shipper goggles it is very hard to see that the show has established Maria as a character in her own right, just as much as it has with Kyle and Alex. And that’s why I love Riley’s meta about everything that Maria is dealing with, what she’s going through, and what it’s been like for her to be the one left behind 10 years ago.

GIFSETS/EDITS

i would know him in death, at the end of the world by @vlamito

I don’t even remember now who told me I had to read The Song of Achilles - it was pre-RNM hyperfixation, but I absolutely loved it (I definitely cried while reading it). And then I saw this gifset, oh mah gawd. Mich just has this ability to find quotes from other media and fit them seemlessly into Malex. And the moments she chooses for her gifsets are utter perfection. I think everyone has probably seen this now, but it’s a gifset I just keep going back to over and over again.

Are you okay? by @maxortecho

So I adore Echo. There is something about their softness, the way they look at each other, the way they act around each other that is just beautiful. Mo made this set, and pointed out in the tags that Liz pushes her arms underneath Max like she’s going to hug him, and it broke me. Like, I thought that scene in the finale was heartbreaking enough, but pointing that out? It hurts and I loved it.

Leading Ladies Appreciation by @lsobelevans

Lucie does some amazing things with color that truly make her edits stand out, and stick out in your mind. And it’s one of the things I love about her gif sets especially - it makes them uniquely hers, her own signature if you will. And this edit is no different - the splashes of color, the texture used for the background, the highlighting of the leading ladies is stunning work. 

Same page/Different book by @bisexualalienblast

Let’s just say that picking ONE gifset of Amanda’s is an impossibility for me, okay? Amanda’s sets are the reason I wanted to learn how to gif - her gifs are beautifully colored, they’re crisp, she always picks the best fonts, they’re smooth, and her ideas are stellar. Anyway, she more recently made this set, which just so perfectly illustrates Malex’s issue IN TWO GIFS. That’s it. Their entire problem in S1, right there. Beautiful.

VIDEO

Juice | Women of Roswell by @isakvaltersnake

Katie is a wizard with the video editing. She’s going to be a force when we’ve got more than one season of footage to play around with. And this video is fun and hot and LOOK AT THE WOMEN. They are smart, they are kind, they are flirty, they have agency, and they’re all hella sexy.

Weird Science | Liz & Michael - Science Bros by @soberqueerinthewild

Hands down, this is one of my favorite videos from the fandom, and definitely one of my favorite things Christina has made (though I basically love everything she does). It’s silly and ridiculous and 100% fun. She found every bit of footage in S1 and matched it to the song perfectly. It’s impossible to watch this video and not smile and laugh - it will instantly brighten your day.

MISC

RNM Texts From Last Night by @audreyblanche

I am slightly biased here, because while Irena came up with the idea, I encouraged her to actually go through with it, promising her that the fandom would enjoy it. So because of that it’s next to impossible for me to pick a favorite out of all the ones she’s done for this series (though the one where we settled on the Camluca ship name, as well as one I specifically requested for Malex come close), and I’m hoping that with the new season (and when she returns from hiatus), she can pick this up again.

[pies-writes-and-more]

Blue

Word Count: 3, 334

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Fem!Reader

Warnings: None? Drinking alcohol but all characters are assumed to be legal.

Masterlist

(Wrote this fic and then found the perfect gif [shown below] made by @capsgrantrogers​ who was an angel and let me use it! The full blue Steve Rogers gifset can be found here! Go see it, like it, love it, cherish it - PERFECTION.)

“You are all cordially being invited to a party, next Saturday,” Tony had announced, a wide grin on his face. “We shall celebrate my birthday in the only appropriate way, in style.” He gave the group a cheeky smirk before strutting off without giving any real details of the party.

“It’s nothing too fancy,” Pepper explained after he walked away. “Just semi-formal.” She offered, glancing as the boys shared a look. 

Internally, (Y/N) groaned. She enjoyed hanging out with the Avengers, really she did. But parties meant more guests, more new people to meet, more socializing. She sighed, also knowing that a reason to dress up was, in Wanda and Natasha’s minds, a reason to get Steve and her together, much to her embarrassment. 

“He’s going to wear that blue shirt, you know,” Wanda smirked as she smoothed out her dress. “Try not to drool this time.”

“I don’t drool,” (Y/N) grumbled, staring at her closet. “Why is always blue? Why can’t he wear some other colour..”

“He looks good in it, It matches his eyes,” Natasha offered, shrugging. “What’s with you? I thought you liked him in that shirt?”

“She’d like it better if she was taking the shirt off,” Wanda snickered, ducking a tissue box that (Y/N) threw at her in retaliation.

“Shut up!” (Y/N)’s cheeks were bright red, quickly drinking more of her cooler as her friends laughed. Definitely wasn’t drunk enough for her. “It’s not that I don’t like the shirt, it’s just that...” She hesitated, wondering what it was about the blue shirt that made her swoon so hard.

“Regardless of the colour of the shirt, his muscles and chest are still going to make you drool,” Natasha pointed out, smirking as (Y/N) huffed, shifting through the dresses in her closet. Nat finally gave up and came to her rescue, pulling out a dress for her. 

“Really?” (Y/N) gave her a glare as Nat shoved the hanger into her hands. “Didn’t we just discuss the whole blue thing?”

“It’s a pretty dress!” Natasha argued. “Plus last time you wore this was that party were Steve broke his whiskey glass, remember?”

Wanda burst out laughing at the memory, looking at the girls through the mirror. “His eyes were about to pop out of his head, I swear.”

(Y/N) gave them another glare, stripping down to pull the dress on. “I swear, you guys attend different parties than I do. He wasn’t even looking at me.”

“Wanda, remind me to videotape this shit sometime,” Natasha rolled her eyes, zipping the dress from behind her. “You two are so disgustingly in love with each other. Every time one of you looks away, the other one stares.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes, sighing as she changed the subject to something else, fixing up her makeup just in time as FRIDAY informed them that Tony was asking for their ETA.

“Down in 5, FRIDAY!” Wanda called out, slipping on her pair of heels. “How do I look?”

“Not too shabby, Maximoff,” (Y/N) teased, tugging at her dress once more before they headed towards the elevator.

Steve was over it. This party was like all the other Stark parties - loud and crowded. He leaned against the bar, nodding a thank you to Thor as the demi-god poured some of his Asgardian alcohol for him. “I am glad to be sharing this with a Midguardian,” Thor grinned, patting the super soldier on the back before disappearing into the crowd of people.

“I’m glad to be getting a buzz off of it,” Steve mumbled into the drink before swallowing some of it down.

“Oof,” Sam muttered, eyes looking past Steve. “I always forget how good the girls clean up.”

Steve whirled around, gaze immediately attracted to the tight fitting blue dress walking around. The alcohol stung his throat as he coughed in surprise, putting his glass down and turning away from the girls’ entrance.

“Damn, guess Cupid missed the heart and went for the lungs,” Bucky smirked as he downed a shot. “You know, Steve, if you don’t ask her for a dance tonight, I will.”

“Might have to fight me for her attention,” Sam agreed, giving a low whistle as his eyes examined (Y/N) in her semi-formal attire.

Steve shot his friends a glare, clearing his throat, “Ask who?” He replied stupidly.

Sam and Bucky shared a look, rolling their eyes together. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence she’s wearing the same colour as you tonight,” Sam mentioned smoothly.

“I don’t either,” Steve mumbled. “I think it’s called ‘Natasha’.”

“Or you know, maybe she wants your attention,” Clint spoke up from behind him, grinning. “She always says she likes you in blue.”

Steve glanced at him, reading his gaze for a moment. It didn’t seem like he was lying, but how come (Y/N) never mentioned it to him?

“Boys,” Natasha smiled, leaning against Clint’s shoulder. “You all look...decent,” she smirked before looking up at the Captain. “I think gentlemen are supposed to tell the ladies they look nice tonight.” She nudged Steve’s arm, nodding her head towards (Y/N), who rolled her eyes.

“Nat, stop that. I, for one, am happy to compliment them for a change,” (Y/N) laughed, smiling at the boys. “You all look so cute in your fancy clothes.”

“Cute?” Sam wrinkled his nose in response. “We aren’t hamsters.”

“Fine, handsome, my bad,” (Y/N) laughed. “I haven’t seen you all dressed up before, Barnes. It’s a nice look.”

“How else am I going to grab your attention tonight, doll?” Bucky responded with a wink, Steve tightening his grip on his glass slightly as (Y/N) giggled.

“I paid good money for these people to come play their music,” Tony called out, interrupting the conversation. “I invite you all to a party and you’re just standing around? Come dance, unless you think you’ll make a fool of yourselves. Then absolutely come dance so that Pepper and I can show you up.” He grinned, nodding at Steve before walking back to his wife.

“Hey Bucky, those girls over there are eyeing us,” Sam mentioned with a grin.

“Time to suit up,” Bucky snickered and the two of them walked away, both turning to give Steve a look.

“Clint, where’s your lovely wife? Go ask her to dance,” Natasha insisted almost immediately after, the two of them scurrying in Laura’s direction.

(Y/N) bit her lip, wishing Wanda hadn’t left earlier to find Vision. She signaled to the bartender, quickly asking for a shot. She definitely wasn’t able to be around Steve in that incredible blue shirt of his while sober. He had the sleeves folded up and she could see his muscles tugging at the fabric. God, I need to stop, she thought to herself, finding every excuse to look away.

“(Y/N)?” Steve spoke up after the bartender passed her the shot. She threw her head back, grimacing at the feeling of the alcohol burning its way down her throat. “Nat was right,” he cleared his throat, standing a bit taller. “My ma would be very unimpressed with me right now if she saw me standing next to you, all prettied up, without letting you know just how gorgeous you are.” The words spilled out of his lips quickly, leaving him to wonder just how fast the Asgardian liquor worked.

The smile on her lips though made Steve’s stomach go warm. “Awe, thanks Stevie.” She smiled, reaching over to straighten his shirt collar slightly. “Blue’s more your colour than mine though.”

Steve bit his lip, feeling the warmth of her skin so close to him. “I’d never wear it again if it meant I could see you in this dress more often,” he mumbled quietly.

“Hm?” (Y/N)’s eyes caught his, smiling happily as she smoothed out his shirt. 

“Never mind,” he gave her a quick smile, offering her his arm. “Dance with me? The prettiest girl here shouldn’t be the one standing at the bar.”

(Y/N) must be going crazy. Did Steve really just ask her to dance? She nodded eagerly, both of them avoiding their friends’ eyes.

She wasn’t much of a dancer, but she was surprised to find that Steve led well. There was something so comforting about being so close to him, but she also felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. She would catch his gaze every now and then, his blue eyes making her feel like she was hypnotized. 

Meanwhile, Steve hoped that she couldn’t feel the shaking of his movements as he lead her around the dance floor. She seemed so loose in her movements, the dress flowing after her body like an angel. Never in his many years of living did he think a girl could be this close to Heaven. 

(Y/N) couldn’t help but feel her cheeks burn with how much she was smiling. She felt the heat of her blush grow as eyes followed them. She tried to hide her disappointed as his hand pulled away from her waist as the song finally ended. He gave her a little playful bow, winking at her before they were whisked away by different groups of people.

 (Y/N) was overwhelmed meeting Tony’s guests, and re-meeting some of the ones that had been at the complex before. She knocked back a few more drinks, nervously interacting with those nearby.

Soon, the room became too warm with conversations and social interactions. (Y/N) quickly found herself feeling incredibly small, sliding along the wall until she escaped down the hallway and onto the balcony nearby. She threw herself against the railing, gasping for fresh air as her heart slid out of her throat.

Cursing to herself, she swallowed down the rest of her drink and let herself feel the cool night breeze against her bare arms. “I hate parties,” she mumbled, tapping her fingers along the steel railing.

“(Y/N)?”

She turned to find Steve standing in the doorway, looking worried. “Are you okay?” He asked, rushing to her side and touching her arm gently. 

“F-Fine, just needed air,” She told him, having to steady her balance slightly. Her gaze quickly dropping from his face to his chest. He looks so good in this stupid blue shirt, she thought to herself.

“Thank you,” he laughed, her cheeks suddenly turning red as she realized the thought had escaped through her lips. “But if you think it’s that stupid, I’ll wear a different shirt next time.” He gave her a nervous smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

“No!” (Y/N) yelped, blinking quickly as she scrambled to come up with an answer. “I-I just... You just looked really good in the shirt and it’s really difficult to not notice,” she admitted, slurring her words slightly. “I hate blue.” She mumbled, leaning against the railing. 

Steve’s smile faltered slightly, “Well it looks incredible on you,” he insisted softly.

“N-No no.” Her eyes squinted at him slightly, “You always look so damn good in blue. I hate it. Can’t you try to look bad for once?”

Steve chuckled, leaning against the same railing the girl was swaying against. “Why would I want to look bad in front of a girl like you?” He asked her, placing his hands on her hips to hold her steady. “Had a bit to drink haven’t you?” He teased.

“I didn’t want to socialize,” She pouted, looking up at him. “Don’t make me go back and socialize, Captain, please,” she begged, tilting her head to one side. “Just stay out here with me, will you? I like it when you stay with me.”

Steve felt his cheeks go pink but gave her smile, wondering just how much alcohol it would take for a girl this beautiful to act like this around him. “How about I take you to your room and you can head in for the night? It’s getting pretty late.”

(Y/N) shook her head quickly, huffing, “My room’s a mess. I don’t want the Cap’n to see how messy it is when I get ready.” She insisted, standing up off the railing. “Take me to your room.” She demanded. Somewhere in her mind, sober (Y/N) was wide-eyed and screaming that she stop talking.

Steve’s eyes also widened, stammering out a response quickly, “S-Sure but I don’t know if my room will be comfy for you, love. At the very least you should get out of those clothes.”

“Tryna take me out of my clothes, Steve Rogers?” (Y/N) giggled, poking his chest. “I knew there was a bad boy in there somewhere,” she smirked, stepping out of her heels and heading inside. “I will go get pyjamas!” She exclaimed, stumbling in the opposite direction of her room.. 

Steve shook his head, laughing as he grabbed her heels and walked after her. The tipsiness Thor’s liquor gave him disappeared when he couldn’t find (Y/N) in the ballroom, having been worried she was sick. “Doll, this is my room,” he raised an eyebrow as she pushed the door open.

“I know.” She playfully glared at him, walking in. “I’m not dumbbb. I want to stay here, I told you.”

Steve watched as she sat down on the bed, attempting to reach the zipper at the back of her dress for a few minutes. “Steeeve,” (Y/N) finally called out, waving to him earnestly. “Helpppp,” she whined.

Steve quickly moved to close the door behind him, not wanting Sam or Bucky to find him undoing her dress. The teasing would be endless. He sighed, finding some old clothes of his and tossing them to her before sliding the zipper down.

He quickly turned away, pretending to be finding other clothes for himself as he heard her throw her clothes around and slide into his. After a moment, he peaked over his shoulder to find her looking as innocent as can be in his shirt. She giggled as she scrambled into his bed, proclaiming, “I’m ready!”

“Ready for what, doll?” Steve smiled at her gently, sitting down next to her and helping her pull the bobby pins and hair elastics from her hair.

“For my goodnight kiss,” she gave him a smirk and Steve hesitated. Could she feel his heart beating faster? 

“(Y/N), you’re drunk,” he stated simply, pulling an old shirt over his head. “Very very drunk.”

“Oh come on, I haven’t had that much,” she gave him a pout, leaning her head against a pillow.

Steve laughed, raising an eyebrow. “Oh yea? Sober (Y/N) never acts like this around me. Bucky maybe, but not me.”

“Is Stephen Grant Rogers jealous?” Her eyes widened, allowing herself to take in his now casual attire. “It’s easy to flirt with Bucky. He doesn’t have those stupid blue eyes of yours. Every time you look at me, I wanna keep looking back but I’m worried I’ll stare. Plus he flirts back, why don’t you flirt back with me?” she pouted, her hand gestures becoming a bit overly expressive.

Steve rolled his eyes playfully, pressing a kiss to the top of her forehead. “I wish you were sober,” he murmured to her softly, “maybe then I could work up the nerve to tell you just how much I like seeing you in my bed.”

(Y/N)’s eyes were as wide as can be, pretty sure she was imagining things and hearing only what she wanted to hear. “I’m not good enough to be the Cap’n’s girlfriend,” she mumbled out, sighing and settling under the covers. “He doesn’t even pay much attention to me.”

Steve frowned hearing the last words to pass her lips before her eyes fluttered shut. Did she really think she wasn’t good enough? He sighed, grabbing one of his other pillows and tossing it to the floor. Tonight had gone oddly... okay.

(Y/N) groaned as sunlight woke her up, muttering some curses to any higher power in the universe. She rubbed her eyes open only to find an unfamiliar bed and unfamiliar clothes. She paused, staring at herself and wondering how lifelike a dream can be.

She slowly turned to find an empty bed beside her, crawling to the edge towards the sound of soft breathing to find Steve lying on the floor, a light blanket covering him.

“Oh my g-” (Y/N) quickly covered her lips with her hands as short images of last night flashed through her memories. Had she really asked him for a goodnight kiss?

Embarrassed out of her mind, (Y/N) threw the blanket off of her, scrambling to pick up the things she had drunkenly thrown onto the floor.

“G’morning,” Steve drawled, waking up to the sound of her shuffling and yawning as he sat up. “Didn’t think you’d be up so early.” 

(Y/N) quickly avoided his eyes, stammering out some answer about needing to leave.

“Nothing happened, doll, promise,” Steve looked at her, standing up and stretching slightly.

“I-I know, I just feel bad I had you sleeping on the floor,” she admitted, a blush creeping onto her cheeks.

“Sometimes the floor feels more familiar than the bed,” he confided, rubbing the back of his neck. “You had quite a bit last night, hm?”

She nodded, swallowing hard as she tried not to focus on the blue eyes staring at her. “Y-Yeah so you can ignore everything I said, I’m so sorry, I must’ve crossed so many lines-”

Steve smiled, wondering if she was always this cute when she got flustered, “Why are you so nervous around me, doll?” He asked softly, sitting on the bed so she didn’t feel like he was looming over her. After everything she said last night... she had to like him back right? With a newfound piece of confidence, Steve ran a hand through his hair saying, “Can’t tell you how jealous I used to get when you’d flirt with Bucks right in front of me.”

(Y/N) blinked, staring at him for a moment, “Jealous?”

He nodded, “I don’t know how much you remember from last night, but I loved every moment I got to steal you away from everyone else. You looked..perfect in blue.” His voice was soft and (Y/N) shifted her arm to pinch herself, making sure she was absolutely conscious.

“Am I still dreaming?” She murmured out loud, biting down on her lip. “You’re Steve Rogers and you’re telling me I look good in blue?” She moved to stand near his legs, watching as he shifted nervously. “No one compares to how good you look in blue, Captain.”

Steve watched her, his hand reaching up to play with her fingers gently, “Any chance I could get that goodnight kiss from you tonight?” He whispered.

(Y/N) hesitated, wondering just what her drunk self said to make Steve this confident in front of her. “I-I’d like that,” she breathed, eyes moving down to look at his lips.

“Captain, I hate to interrupt,” FRIDAY’s voice startled the two, causing them to both jump. “But I thought you’d like to know that Mr. Stark has requested to see the security tapes of where Miss (Y/L/N) went last night. He and the others are worried she had been kidnapped.”

Steve groaned, making (Y/N) giggle, “FRIDAY, tell Tony not to worry and that I’ll be up to kick his ass in a moment.”

“In those exact words, Miss?”

“Yup,” (Y/N) smirked, kissing the top of Steve’s nose gently, whispering something to him quickly before turning away.

it was Steve’s turn to blush, watching as she slipped away from the room in his clothes, making him wonder if she was going to get dressed first or if he was ever going to hear the end of it if Sam and Bucky caught her in his clothes.

Her voice echoed in his mind as he got up to head to the shower, ears pink with happiness. “Don’t think I forget how happy you were to see me in your bed, Rogers. But if you want me back... all you have to do is just ask.”

This woman was going to be the death of him. He was certain of it.

Feel free to send me any requests you may have for a Steve Rogers (or other Avengers) fanfic!

[btswrckd]

Jealousy

Jung Hoseok x Fem!Reader

Summary: Hoseok is not happy after you spend most of the week ignoring him while at the new stop on their tour

Just a little something I couldn’t help writing after that unholy gifset popped up on my dash.

Warnings: jealous Hobi, fingering, unprotected sex, really just a bunch of smut with a little bit of fluff and humor

--------------------------------------------------

“It’s a full set tonight, so try not to over exert yourself.” You warned, swiping along the screen of your tablet, going over the details of the concert to make sure nothing gets missed. Feeling Hoseok’s stare on your figure leaning against the counter, you cleared your throat and ignored him, “And really look after Jimin tonight. I know he slipped on stage at the rehearsal and they were supposed to have scuffed his shoes to keep him from falling, but we still have to be careful.”

“Jimin said he was okay,” Namjoon tried to break the tension from his seat beside Hoseok’s, watching his friend roll his shoulders in irritation, “but I’ll make sure he stays away from that spot.”

“Thanks, Joon,” You smiled warmly at him and Hoseok’s nostrils flared at getting your cold shoulder only for you to be so chummy with his junior. “So the stage crew marked that spot just in case, but if for some reason one of you guys feel like it’s not enough, let me know so I can get with Brandon during the---.”

“And what exactly will Brandon do?” Hoseok snapped, the stylist ruffling his hair freezing in place and glancing at you. It wasn’t very often that he had a temper like tonight so everyone was surprised with his attitude. “You’re awfully friendly with someone you’ve barely known for a few days.”

“He’s part of the stage crew, Hoseok, he’s very important. And it is my job to make sure nothing goes wrong.” You rolled your eyes at his tone, having been with them for about 4 years now and knowing full well what a tantrum from him looks like. Not a full on fit, but passive aggressive comments that never affected you the way it did others because you learned how to handle them. “What exactly is your problem with Brandon anyways? He was the one who suggested using softer lighting for Jimin’s set and it helped. Frankly, I’m a little concerned with how ungrateful you’re acting because you don’t like him. It’s our last night here so the least you can do is act like an adult for the next few hours. Right?”

“Everyone out.” He growled, snagging your wrist in his hand and watching the makeup artists and stylists scramble for the door. He exchanged a glance with Namjoon in the mirror before his junior rose from his seat to leave the room, closing the door on his way out and taking time to lock it.

“Problem?” You asked with a raised brow and caught the tic in his jaw, his displeasure at your attitude evident in the way he pulled you onto his lap roughly. Your squeak of surprise as you sat perched on his lap made him chuckle and pink tinted your cheeks when your hands landed on his bare chest. Feeling his chest tense under your touch was foreign to you, having never been as close to him as you were now, his nose bumping against yours and making you shiver. 

You spent quite a lot of time with each member, helping them with wardrobe or their mics, but never pressing against them the way Hoseok held you in place now. The chains around his neck gleaming in the bright light bouncing off the vanity mirror in front of him. The hunger in his eyes never wavering made you duck your head to shy away from him, but he was having none of it. His large hand threaded the hair at the back of your neck and the other splayed between your shoulder blades, crushing your chest to his.

“I’ve been patient with you, Y/N,” Hoseok mumbled against your lips, not quite touching them but not leaving a lot of room to pull away either. “I’ve behaved myself every time you’re around, giggling and laughing with the other members, and when that stage crew member was drooling over you last week. I’ve been good about not letting my temper get the best of me when I actually wanted to rip his arms off for even trying to touch you.”

“Hosek,” You breathed his name as the memories of flirting with the rather attractive American crew member came flooding back. The boys had spent all day rehearsing and when they had five minutes to themselves, they were bombarded by their management team and the new intern Hyerin. 

She was a sweet girl and had developed a crush on Hoseok but like you, she chose to ignore it because it would cost your jobs if either of you were caught being intimate with a member. But the last few days, Hyerin didn’t seem to mind the thought of losing her internship as she had helped him wipe the sweat from his face and neck, sometimes lingering a little too long for your liking. 

You were embarrassed to admit your jealousy so you instead ignored Hoseok’s requests and needs in favor of Jimin, or Taehyung, until Brandon had struck up a conversation with you. Noticing the way Hoseok had attempted to get your attention, you simply gave Hyerin the task with the excuse that she won’t be an intern forever and would need to become used to running around like a chicken with her head cut off.

“You ignored me yesterday,” Hoseok sneered through clenched teeth and felt your fingers curl into fists against his chest, the grit of his voice sending a wave of arousal through your body and shooting straight to your core. Tilting his head playfully, he pressed his lips to yours gently, testing your resolve by toying with the zipper of your sundress and catching the way you clenched your thighs together. “That wasn’t very nice of you, baby.”

You whimpered as his hand came around from your back to gently pry your thighs open, his fingers massaging your skin. The heat radiating from his hand scorched your skin, your nails digging into his bare chest and he groaned before claiming your lips in a desperate kiss. If his hand went any further up your thigh, he’d no doubt come into contact with your damp panties and the thought had you wiggling around on his lap, grinding down on his crotch in order to get comfortable.

“Don’t tease me,” He gasped, dropping his head to your shoulder while his hands quickly came to rest on your hips. Despite his words, Hoseok had aided you in rocking back and forth on his lap, his cock straining against the zipper of his pants as he grew painfully hard. Feeling your fingers play with the zipper of his pants, his hips bucked under your touch, encouraging you to pop open the button and reach under the waistband of his boxers. He hissed against your mouth when you pulled him free, his cock slapping against his stomach, the tip red and pooling with pre-cum. 

Any other time you would have drooled at the sight, but you couldn’t stop yourself if you tried and wrapped your hand around his girth, stroking along his shaft slowly and gently. At the same time, Hoseok’s hand wandered high on your thigh, rubbing his fingers up your slit and you whined at the uncomfortable feeling of your panties sticking to you. Pulling back from his kisses, you concentrated on your hand bobbing up and down his cock, giving him the freedom to leave open-mouthed kisses along the column of your neck biting down in tandem with his fingers pushing past the fabric of your panties to sink his fingers knuckle deep in your pussy.

You gasped and arched your back, hand stilling in the process, head dropping back to allow him more access as he kissed and bit his way down to the tops of your breasts. A moan broke from you, echoing loudly around the room, your body tense with the sudden prodding of his long, veiny fingers. “Jesus, Hoseok. A little warning next time, huh?”

“Of course, baby,” He half promised, not really paying attention in his quest to wreck you in every way possible. Tugging on the straps of your dress, the top pooled down to expose your bra clad chest, he growled at the offending material and curled his fingers to reach that spot that you going crazy. “God, if I had more time, I’d ruin this.”

“This was expensive.” You narrowed your eyes at him, lingerie wasn’t abundant in your closet, but the few pieces you did own cost an arm and a leg. You remembered asking why the hell it was so expensive when you’d gone shopping with your sister and she had giggled at the scowl on your face.

“Yeah?” Hoseok tilted his head, his fingers working you up once again at the thought of you wearing it on a date with someone else. “Who’d you buy it for, Y/N? Something expensive like this surely wouldn’t be for no reason. Tell me, baby, who was lucky enough to see you in this, hm?”

He was teasing you. You knew that and still you couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out, “Kihyun. He asked me on a date before we left for the tour.”

He stood from the chair abruptly, spinning you around to face the mirror, his hand pushing down on your shoulder blades to flatten your chest against the counter and causing a pitiful whine to leave you. “Don’t test me, Y/N.” The tips of his fingers brushed against your sex, your knees buckling under the weight of his chest pressed to your back. Your hair had been pushed away from your neck so he could plant kisses against your skin, leaving pretty bruises behind.

“I’m sorry!” You gasped out at the feel of his long fingers pushing aside your panties once more and burying themselves in your sex, curling deliciously and making you squirm.

Hoseok’s deep chuckle vibrated against your back before he stood straight to flip the skirt of your dress up, his hand smoothing down the swell of your ass with a satisfied hum. “If I didn’t have to go on stage right now, Y/N, I’d punish you. Your skin would look so pretty all red from my hands.”

“Hobi, please,” You weren’t entirely sure what you were asking from him but he seemed to understand just fine, using his foot to spread your legs and grind himself against you while his fingers worked on bursting the familiar coil in the pit of your stomach. Your nails scratched against the marble of the makeup counter, your cunt clenching around his fingers at the feel of his cock running along your slit. 

“Was it fun flirting with that crew member, baby?” He teased the head of his cock against your entrance, withdrawing his fingers and running his tip along your wet folds, smirking at your desperate pleas. “What his name again? Brayden, Ben?”

“B-Brandon.” You provided, looking up to find his reflection staring back at you, a wicked glint in his eye as he buried himself to the hilt. A sharp gasp left you, the stretch of his cock burning as he bottomed out quickly and held your hips still against his until you could get used to him. Head falling forward to rest against the counter, you shifted from foot to foot, tears stinging your eyes at his girth. It had been far too long since you last had sex.

“Are you okay?” Hoseok leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to your temple, threading his fingers through yours against the countertop and waiting for your permission to move. He really should have prepped you more but the temptation of you; your voice and your smile, it all had him much too eager to have you. He was going to wait to ask you on a proper date once the tour was over but he’d snapped when he saw you carrying a comfortable conversation with the stage crew and knew he couldn’t wait any longer.

The stress of attempting to ask you out coupled with the anger of having been ignored by you showed in the way he’d stomped around stage during rehearsal, snapping at his fellow band members and even making Jimin cry from a ridiculous argument (that he later apologized for), he found himself slamming his hotel door with the request of being left alone for the night. On top of everything, he’d woken the next morning to find a text from Hyerin saying she’d be helping for the day because you would be far too busy with soundcheck. 

“Hobi,” Your small whisper broke him from his thoughts as you pushed back against his length, “please move.”

“Tell me if it’s too much.” Hoseok left another loving kiss to your temple before pulling out halfway and thrusting back in, creating a good pace and hearing the smack of his hips against yours, moans tumbling from your slack jaw. He hissed at your clenching walls, bracing one hand against the mirror and groaning at the sight of your reflection, having imagined on many many nights what you’d look like coming undone because of him. His hand and imagination hadn’t done enough justice in comparison to the real feel of you.

“You’re doing so good for me, baby,” He praised with a moan as he peppered the back of your neck with kisses, his bare chest sticky with sweat against your back but neither of you seemed to mind. “You feel so fucking good, Y/N.”

You panted at the way he sped up his thrusts, the tops of your thighs burning as they rubbed against the edge of the countertop with each buck of his hips and he seemed to sense this, pulling your back flush against his chest as he stood straight and took two small steps back to the chair he’d occupied earlier. “Fuck, Hobi!” 

“Shhh, baby, wouldn’t want your little pretty boy to hear you, hm?” Hoseok sat back, lifting you onto his lap and watching your jaw drop in ecstasy at his cock sinking deeper with the change in position. With your head dropping back to rest on his shoulder, he was free to watch your chest rise and fall heavily, staring at his marks painted across your skin. A sense of pride bloomed in his chest at the sight because everyone would know what happened in this room, Brandon included.

Rocking back and forth on Hoseok’s lap, your hand came to rest on top of his when he pushed down on your belly to pull you as close to him as possible. Your other hand curled around the armrest of the chair, your body hot with sweat beading across every surface of your skin, your eyes fluttered shut while your back arched when you felt his fingers rubbing messy circles against your clit. “Hobi,” You chanted his name like it was the only word you knew and he groaned in understanding, your walls clenching around his cock so tight that it was getting harder to move.

“Cum for me like a good girl, Y/N,” He breathed against your ear, his fingers stilling as the familiar heat in your belly burst and you cried out, orgasm washing over you in waves, chest heaving, and body falling limp against his in exhaustion. Helping you ride out your orgasm, he filled you with thick ropes of cum before he could stop himself and pull out. “Shit,” He mumbled as he nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck, mumbling his apology for not realizing sooner how close he was.

You didn’t say anything as you took the time to observe yourself and him in the mirror in front of you, running your hand through his sweaty and damp hair, almost giggling at the thought of the stylists scolding him for fucking up his hair. Hooking a finger underneath his chin, you pulled his face to yours for a proper kiss, finally feeling his soft lips against yours and coming to the obvious realization that no one would ever be able to do it for you again. Hoseok was it, everything you wanted and more, and sure you’d had feelings for him since you started working at Big Hit but you did your best to keep them at bay. You had zero idea he felt the same way and you could honestly say you didn’t give a damn about the rules now that you did.

The rules!

Reeling back from Hoseok’s kiss, you quickly scrambled off the chair to straighten yourself and smooth out your hair, frantically looking towards the door as two sharp knocks made you jump sky high.

“Hyung,” Namjoon’s deep voice carried through the heavy door clearly while you worked on tugging your dress back up, “we’re on in 10 minutes.”

“I’ll be right there.” Hoseok took his sweet ass time making himself presentable, as if 10 minutes was a shit ton of time when he still needed to get dressed.

“Oh shit,” You began to panic and pace around the room, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of your arousal sticking to the insides of your thighs, “Oh shit, oh shit!”

“What?” He asked as he heard Namjoon’s footsteps moving further and further away from the room.

“What?!” You parroted and slapped at his shoulder roughly, “Do you know how much trouble I’m going to get in, Jung Hoseok?! There’s a reason Big Hit is adamant about not hiring single people, stupid! Oh, my god, I’m dead. Your managers are going to kill me and the rest of the members are going to be upset with me.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Hoseok gripped your shoulders to keep you from pacing about, cupping your face gently with a smile on his face. “Who said you’re going to get in trouble? The staff knows how I feel about you and so do the guys...I was waiting...to ask you out.”

“Oh, well,” You nodded in mock understanding and narrowed at eyes, “glad we at least got the formalities out of the way.”

Hoseok chuckled at your joke, sweeping his hand through his hair to push it back from his forehead where it stuck. “I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have happened this way but I like you, Y/N, a lot.”

“I like you too, Hoseok,” You sighed and shook your head, unable to tell if you were simply dreaming or if Jung Hoseok actually had feelings for you. Post sex haze was a strong thing, teaching you on many occassion that a guy will tell you just about anything to get in your pants again. “But this, us...what if it doesn’t work?”

“It’ll work,” He promised, taking your hand in his and squeezing it in assurance. “I can’t just go back to being friends. I want to at least try. Please?”

Chewing on your bottom lip, you searched his face for any sign of doubt, but Hoseok was a man of his word and if he didn’t think you stood a chance as a couple then he never would have said anything. “Okay,” You conceded with a nod, squealing as he beamed and picked you up by the waist to spin around in joy. “Hoseok! You’re going to drop me!”

“Hyung,” Jimin’s timid knock interrupted and you had to slap Hoseok’s chest to have him put you down. “Um we only have five minutes before we go on and the stylists said they need you.”

“Go,” You pushed at your now boyfriend’s naked chest, smiling at the shit eating grin on his face as he opened the door, Jimin, Jungkook, and Taehyuhng all falling flat on their faces. 

“Uh, hi hyung,” Taehyung laughed nervously at being caught with his ear to the door and was ready to fully blame Jungkook for betting that Hoseok was finally confessing his feelings. Both he and Jimin didn’t think it was true but the smile on Namjoon’s face when he came back down the hall proved otherwise. “So, how’d it go?”

“Out, you little brats.” You scolded and ushered them away from the doorway so Hoseok could leave and finish getting ready. “Yah, Jeon Jungkook, aren’t you in enough trouble? Have you even apologized for the prank you pulled on Jin yesterday? Go, all of you.”

The three maknaes sprinted down the hall before Hoseok could get his hands on them, all laughing and hollering with the goal of the entire city hearing their teasing. Your threats to murder them followed but they paid no attention and you couldn’t deny that they truly share one brain cell. 

“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Hoseok wrapped his arms around your waist, kissing your cheek and nuzzling his face into your neck, a relieved sigh leaving him when you giggled at the tickling of his lips against your skin.

-------------------------------------

Later, you watched him run across the stage with more energy than you’d seen all week, his smile so wide that you couldn’t help the pride rising in your chest, giddy that you were the one to make him feel that way. You watched him dance with vigor, his body rolls and hip thrusts sinful as you blushed a deep shade of red and pulled on the collar of your shirt to hide the hickies he’d left behind. 

“I hate him,” You mumbled to yourself when you grew hot from all the people crowding around you, but you had to change out of your dress after Hoseok had wrinkled it up. Hoseok shot you a wink from his spot on stage and playfully tripped Taehyung, making the crowd go wild at their banter but really it was payback for spying on you earlier. You laughed along with their management team but your smile faltered when you caught Hyerin’s sad face, the longing for him recognizable to anyone. You felt bad, truly, because you knew she’d seen his marks all over your neck and put two and two together.

“Y/N!” Hoseok shouted as they all came rushing from the stage to change into new outfits, the excitement from the crowd making him buzz with his own. Rushing to lift you from the ground and spin you around until you were dizzy, he kissed you deeply, erasing all doubt and Hyerin from your mind. 

He didn’t know how she felt and Hyerin didn’t fault him for that, she only laughed along with the crew at his display of affection, pulling you aside after he left to tell you how cute she thought you two were. You apologized in return for how things turned out, but she waved her hand and wished you all the best, spending the rest of the concert at your side and asking questions that would prove helpful when her internship was over.

[lost-your-memory]

Old friends, aliens and curiosities - Part II

Listen, I can’t stop thinking about this gifset made by @lonely-night in which H.G Wells (Warehouse 13) & Lena Luthor (CW Supergirl) are old friends and working together in the present to retrieve a curiosity (A ping, darling) meant to kill Lena.

So this is VERY AU-ish and with a crossover no one knew we needed but well, we do. Here’s the second part (it covers the third gif, I think), I’m gonna try to write the whole thing.

---

“You have to stop bypassing my assistant on a regular basis,” Lena sighs as she enters her office, waving at Jess to let her know everything was fine. From her spot on Lena’s couch, Helena only smirks and raises a tumbler full of what looks like one of her finest Scotch. The way the amber swirls in the glass, heavy and slow, makes Lena longs for it, but she only shakes her head and takes a detour to drop her purse on her desk. “Where’s the fun in that?” Helena muses, voice low and grave. Her thick accent makes Lena’s ears buzz with memories and she can almost hear the distant echo of a string of “bollocks”. “Anyway, I’m not just here to make another dent in your fine alcohol collection.” “Oh really? Shame, you’re clearly doing a great job at that,” Lena sasses as she drops in her chair, already firing up her laptop. Helena rolls her eyes. She stands up from the couch and brings her glass with her. She places it on the edge of Lena’s desk before she starts pacing around, the smug smirk on her face gone. “We’ve identified a curiosity in the area, something specifically designed to …” Helena pauses and tilts her head, pacing a little faster before she stops entirely. Her eyes lock with Lena’s when she sighs. “It’s a device meant to kill you.” Lena shrugs. She glances at her laptop and winces when she sees the cohorts of emails that needs her immediate attention but since Helena is still looking at her, she smiles. “Okay.” The victorian-writer looks utterly dumbfounded for a second, before she narrows her eyes. “Did you not hear me?” Helena takes a step closer and she almost leans over the desk when she speaks again. “I tell you someone with an artefact is planning to have you killed and all you say is okay?” Lena shrugs again and clicks on one of the most urgent emails before starting to type an answer. “All I’m hearing is that you still call it a curiosity, while I believe the right term these days is … a ping?” “Have you been corresponding with Claudia again?” Helena glares but she dismissively waves Lena’s upcoming answer. “Never mind. This artefact is … unusual. It’s alien technology, I believe it’s a thing on this earth now?” “I don’t know, you tell me,” Lena curtly replies, waving at the TV currently displaying Supergirl’s latest combat. The few aliens in front of her have blue skin, big horns and they breathe fire. “Lovely,” Helena mutters under her breath. “Although, the one with the suit is very easy on the eyes …” “Don’t you have a TV now, in the warehouse? Not to mention that Claudia is both a tech genius and a geek so surely, you’ve heard of Supergirl before seeing her on my TV …” Lena snorts, finishing her email before starting a new one. “Supergirl?” Helena prods, eyes traveling from the screen back to Lena. “Is that how she calls herself?” Lena reaches out and grabs Helena’s abandoned tumbler of Scotch. She takes two large sips before placing the almost empty glass back to its previous emplacement. “The name stuck, yeah. Cat Grant chose it, a while ago,” Lena replies, not meeting Helena’s eyes. She can still feel the interrogation hanging in the air so she keeps talking. “She’s the former CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media, once Press Secretary for the White House under the Marsdin administration but she resigned, not too long ago. From what I last heard, she’s traveling the world with her son.” Helena moves and from the corner of her eyes, Lena sees her friend get hold of her Scotch decanter and another glass. When she comes back, she’s already poured an unhealthy dose of alcohol in the tumbler and places it in front of Lena. Then she refills the one she previously had. “Something you want to tell me, about that … Supergirl?” Helena has always been extremely perceptive. It’s one of the thing Lena misses the most, maybe. The way the author could always read her, no matter what. It had felt so nice, back in her past, to have someone she didn’t even have to talk to to feel understood. Helena had been one of the few people in her life to truly and completely get her. Today, though, too much time had passed. Too much had happened and Helena wasn’t up to date with the latest tragedies of her life. She couldn’t possibly understand. “Honestly? No. I really don’t want to talk about her. Not today, maybe not ever,” Lena replies, shaking her head. Helena nods, letting it go. They drink in silence for a while, with Lena sometimes typing an email in between sips of Scotch and Helena losing herself in her thoughts, eyes wandering on the city’s skyline behind the bay window. “Alright, enough sappiness,” Helena shakes her head and finishes her drink, bottom up. “Let’s talk about this person who wants to kill you.” Lena chuckles dryly and takes another large gulp of her Scotch. “Which one? You’ll have to be a little more specific, I’m afraid …” The look in Helena’s soulful brown eyes is priceless and Lena savors it for a little while. Until she sighs. “Let’s say that being a Luthor in this century is … a lot of work. Especially a live one,” Lena offers a tiny, clipped smile. “Here I thought that after so many years in the bronze, life would finally get easier …” Helena sasses and with her thick accent, the sentence sounds incredibly sarcastic. It makes Lena’s smile grow wider. “Not quite,” Lena counters, waving a hand in the air before she reaches for the decanter Helena had left on the edge of her desk. She fills her tumbler and then adds “What’s the artefact anyway? How comes it’s alien?” Helena throws her a meaningful look. “The creation of an artefact is simply the meeting of an object, a person and …” “A moment.” Lena concludes with a pang of nostalgia in the pit of her stomach. “Caturanga used to tell us that, I remember.” “It means that aliens, too, have the ability to creates artefact. What I don’t get is … how could an artefact be created to kill you specifically?” Helena frowns, playing with the heavy glass in her hand while the other rested against the base of her neck, toying with her necklace. “Well … My enemies are legions,” Lena shrugs and rolls her eyes. “I’m guessing someone has something against the only living Luthor left and they either designed or got their hands on an already existing device they programmed to kill me. After all, it would require only my DNA to be able to target me specifically …” Helena looks unimpressed at that. Her eyes narrow and all of a sudden, Lena finds herself being scrutinised. “You do know an awful lot about this …” “Pff, please. It’s basic science, with just a hint of engineering,” Lena waves, disdain lining her voice. “Hm,” Helena doesn’t reply for a moment but she keeps staring at Lena as if she was trying to figure out something. After a few minutes during which Lena kept writing, Helena finally relents and paces again. “Who would know that level of basic science and engineering, though, and have both the means to create such a device and the emotional involvement needed to make an artefact out of it?” Lena pauses in the redaction of her email, her mind racing over the possibilities. “The skills are pretty much common in my circles, so that won’t narrow it down,” Lena thinks out loud. She’s the CEO of a very advanced technological company and the products L-Corp put on the market every year are counted by dozen, if not hundreds. “The emotional involvement though …” Her mind goes to Kara, because of course it’s the first name she can think of. It’s ridiculous because Kara has no reason to kill her. It would be the other way around actually, if Lena wasn’t so hopelessly in love with the girl who betrayed her. She shakes her head and focuses back on Helena, who’s watching her carefully. “I don’t know. I’ll think about it and I’ll call you if I a name pops up,” Lena eventually says, waving at her friend. “Now, I do have work to do and day drinking with a century old friend isn’t helping.” “As if you’re not actually older than me,” Helena mutters under her breath but still loud enough for Lena to hear. “By six months, Helena, it hardly counts,” Lena rolls her eyes but there’s a smile tugging at her lips, strangely affectionate. “It totally counts. Alright, see you around Lee,” Helena relents but she has a smile of her own gracing her lips. “Be safe, alright? It’d be a shame to die so …” “Young?” Lena laughs, the echo of it swirling in the office. “Early,” Helena counters, a knowing look sparkling in her brown eyes. “If you say so,” Lena shrugs and then focuses back on her emails. After a minute, she hears the sound of her door closing behind Helena. 

[nehswritesstuffs]

Twelveclara- post LC-A run in with 11 during an adventure, Clara getting injured/hunted that illustrates to her the difference in depth and intensity of the doctor’s feelings. Angst with hurt/comfort. Thanks for the last one by the way. It was amazing.

No, thank YOU for the prompts! They are so much fun to consider as I go about my day. :D

2796 words; took a while to get going, but once I did the writing part of this came out relatively smoothly; as much as I want to believe that Eleven and Twelve would get along splendidly, I also get the sneaking suspicion that they would probably bicker and pick at one another like Robin Hood and Twelve; get ready for mangled semi-quotes from Jane Eyre, as I was inspired by Ginger’s gifsets and even though I haven’t reblogged them here I still highly rec and appreciate them; mostly Whouffaldi with some Souffez, along with some depictions of injury as well as angst and fluff and a lot of hand-waving/vague detailing in regards to certain bits of the situation overall; Twelve is a romantic sap but also a dweeb that can’t make a move go ahead and fight me on this

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It didn’t take long for the Doctor and Clara Oswald to get back into the swing of things. Putting the Santa Incident behind them, they moved to being on adventures together more often. Not every day, as that would be completely disruptive, but it was still more often than just Wednesdays. With stars in their eyes and shimmering in the air, they travelled throughout time and space, content simply with being together.

Today, for Clara at least, it was a Saturday afternoon. For Hans Christian Anderson, it was Tuesday in the early evening. He had been saved from the Saturnyne and was now back at home, safe and sound. It left Clara and the Doctor to wander about the streets of 1834 Copenhagen, the Time Lord puzzling away.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you keep making that face that it’ll get stuck permanently?” Clara joked. They were walking by the seaside, on the way back to the TARDIS.

“Huh…? Oh, no, I was still thinking about the Saturnyne—the last time I met one, it was in much warmer waters. I didn’t think they could survive this far north and for this long, if any survived at all.”

“Is the water in Venice that much warmer?”

“The difference of a degree or two is the difference between a hospitable environment or not,” the Doctor frowned. “I can only imagine what the invasion protocols would have been like had they landed in a different century.”

“Ugh, don’t make me think about that.” The TARDIS was in-sight now, ready for them to pop off towards their next adventure. They were about fifty meters from the ship when they froze, dead in their tracks…

…another TARDIS was materializing right next to theirs.

“This is bad,” the Doctor scowled. He pulled Clara along as he ducked into an alleyway, hiding from his soon-to-be-other self. “Crossing time streams is a very dangerous thing. When I first stopped the Saturnyne, I made a monitoring sweep of the planet to make certain that none escaped and were planning on taking over elsewhere. There’s a gap in my memory—this must be it.”

“…a gap in your memory…?! You mean you ‘forgot’ about meeting yourself?!”

“If I knew then I would look like this now, it would have devastated me. I was a bit vainer then, if you’ll believe, and although it wasn’t the worst I ever was—let alone the worst quality I’ve ever had—it’s still enough to want to avoid it.”

“I’m still trying to get over the fact that you forgot this,” she hissed. “I thought you rarely forgot a thing!”

“Rarely doesn’t mean never.”

“Clearly.”

“Clara…?”

The two adventurers cringed as they heard the new voice, both turning slowly to meet the source. It was the Doctor alright: it was the Doctor as a younger man, both superficially and time-wise, with his outer mask of a strong chin and floppy brown hair and a bowtie that was at-odds with the Time Lord’s older state.

“So… then it’s well after my initial sweep for the Saturnyne,” the Doctor in a hooded sweatshirt and jumper scowled. The Doctor in braces blinked curiously.

“You are me?”

“How else would Clara have gotten here? Only with someone as charming and dashing as ourself.”

“This is true, but the question now is how do you fit in?”

“I really don’t think that is the question you should be asking yourself,” Jumper replied. Braces bristled at that. “I think the question that we,” he gestured at himself and Clara, “should be asking you is why you are suddenly crossing a time stream that I have been extremely careful to not allow myself to cross?”

“Well, I don’t know now if I should say.”

“Doctor,” Clara insisted, putting a hand on Braces’s arm. “Please.” Jumper knew intrinsically that she was merely urging another version of himself along, yet it still did not mean that he was a bit jealous seeing the contact.

“If you must know, Clara Oswald, I was merely waiting on Wednesday to happen along when I picked up a reading on the TARDIS’s scanning systems that revealed there was a pair of dangerous non-native lifeforms converging in this particular space-time coordinate. Naturally, I investigated.”

“We already destroyed one,” Jumper noted. “Did it say where the other one is?”

“I do believe I’m looking at him,” Braces said.

“Boys, stop, you’re both pretty,” Clara cut in. She linked her arms with theirs—Jumper on her left and Braces on her right—and gave them each a stern look. “Now, it’s not often that I get two of you at once, and I am going to enjoy it, so I need you both to quit your bickering and shut up and take me for a nice walk around town.”

“Yes ma’am,” both of him grumbled. They walked with her out of the alley and onto the pavement, where they ambled along amongst the varying people who were milling about and conducting business along the canal. The Doctors grumbled and whined about the position they were in, whilst Clara had absolutely none of it.

She was determined to diffuse the situation, and she was not going to let it be ruined by a couple of whiny babies.

As sunset dimmed the air and lit the lamps, the three time-and-space travelers began to relax as they wandered around, the Human almost smug in the fact that her plan worked. They munched on chips and peeked in on shops (and stood outside in silence whilst Clara peeked in on other shops), taking their time as the bossiest of their group dragged the others around in her determination to see what she could.

“Overall, this has been a lovely day,” Clara mentioned. They were now walking alongside a different canal than the one the TARDISes were parked along, the crowds having thinned out in the nighttime air to only a few people in the distance. “I got to meet a famous author, I saved said famous author from a murderous alien, I got to spend the remainder of the day with two of my favorite alien…” She turned around to see Braces and Jumper following at a short distance, both with their hands jammed in their trouser pockets and with annoyed looks on their faces. “Will the two of you stop being so irritable?”

“I can’t help that I used to be irritating, Clara,” Jumper grumbled.

“I’m the irritating one…?” Braces scoffed. “You look like you just rolled out of bed after a thousand-year sleep and refuse to change out of your jim-jams.”

“You keep on postulating as though you’re the cleverest here.”

“That’s because I am—I’m the Doctor.”

“Yeah, and I’m the Doctor too! We can at least share the position!”

“If you really, truly are me, then you know that we simply don’t share that easily.”

“Only if Clara allows it.”

“Then what do you say Cla—”

Both the Doctors paused their bickering to look at Clara, who had most certainly disappeared from the pavement. The ground where she had been standing was wet, with a trail leading to the canal.

“CLARA!” both the Doctors yelled. Braces scrambled for his sonic screwdriver, whilst Jumper began to shed his upper layers.

“What are you doing?!” Braces gasped. “We don’t know what just took her!”

“I do, and she is not going to get out of this that easily.” Now down to a t-shirt with a skull surrounded by smoke on the front, Jumper dove into the water without another word. Braces scanned the canal below, searching for signs of himself and their friend.

Moments later and Jumper surfaced, pulling an unconscious Clara long with him. Braces helped them ashore and frowned as he watched himself panic over the woman’s torn clothes and lack of breathing.

“This could be one of the echoes, you know,” he stated. “They die.”

“She isn’t one of the echoes—this is my Clara! She’s the real one!” He scanned her over with his sonic screwdriver, pinpointing what he needed to do. “We need the medbay. Now.”

“Give me a mo’,” Braces said. He scurried off, the TARDIS materializing next to Jumper and Clara the moment he turned the corner. Opening the door, he poked his head out and glanced down at his other self. “Back.”

“Out of the way,” Jumper growled. He picked up Clara gently, cradling her in his arms as he brought her into the TARDIS. He went past all the old interior of the console room without so much as a second glance—nostalgia was not the important thing now…

The important thing was making sure Clara lived.

Finding the medbay with ease, Jumper placed Clara on a bed and began to work. He pulled down the life support mask and affixed it to her face, attached a vitals monitor to her wrist, and began to tear the rips in her clothes further open. She had multiple bites and gashes in her torso, arms, and legs, all of which were very eerie to Braces.

“There was another Saturnyne,” he realized.

“Yeah—we were not the other dangerous non-native lifeform on the radar, but that thing was,” Jumper snapped.

“In Copenhagen…?”

“Yes! In Copenhagen! Now are you just going to stand there or are you actually going to help yourself save her?! We are the Doctor and we save people!”

Braces couldn’t argue that; shedding his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, he grabbed a pair of devices from the nearby counter and handed one to Jumper. With one on one side and one on the other, the two took meticulous care to rejoin muscles, sinew, bone, and skin together, making it so that there was going to be little—if any—scarring in any layer of her body. They melded together the damaged tissues, making them whole once more. After what felt like hours they were done—now all they had to do was wait.

“Something to put on her, please?” Jumper asked the TARDIS. The ship whined, though Jumper seemed so entranced by staring at Clara that he did not hear her protest.

“I think you might want to reconsider,” Braces suggested gently. “I don’t know what Clara’s done between me and him, but it was obviously important.” The TARDIS whirred in a huff and a set of warm, soft pajamas appeared on the table behind him. He picked them up and presented them to his future self, nearly in offering. “Need help?”

“Yes, please,” Jumper nodded. He and Braces then worked on carefully taking off the remaining shreds of clothing from Clara’s body, making sure she was clean of blood and canal gunk before putting her in the pajamas. She seemed so calm and peaceful once she was fully dressed again, so much so that had it not been for the mask, it would have nearly appeared she was just a heavy sleeper.

Without a word, Jumper gingerly picked Clara up from the bed, making sure she was secure in his arms before walking out of the medbay. Braces followed his future self out the TARDIS, only pausing for just long enough to snatch the sweatshirt and jumper he had shed earlier. They went into the other TARDIS, the future one, and entered the other medbay, where they laid her down and swapped out life support masks.

“I think I’ll leave her to you,” Braces said solemnly. “She’s in the best possible hands, it looks like.”

“How are you so sure about that?”

“…because they are mine.” He then left himself alone with Clara, going back to his own TARDIS without incident. A few moments and Jumper could feel himself vanish from that point in the space-time coordinate—he could feel the TARDIS take off.

Deciding it was for the better, the Doctor placed a kiss on Clara’s brow before leaving the medbay for just a moment, using the opportunity to put their own version of the ship into the vortex. Once they were safe and riding the ebb and flow of time itself, he returned to her side, seeing that she was now on a larger bed. He laid down next to her, curling up along her side.

“Clara… my Clara…” he crooned. He held her hand between both of his, bringing it to his lips to kiss. “The threat is over. My other self is gone. You are now safe.” He closed his eyes and exhaled heavily—all he wanted was for her to wake up.

“If I wanted safe, I would have stayed at Coal Hill.”

The Doctor opened his eyes and saw that Clara was looking over at him, a strained smile on her face as she took the mask off. “Why am I so sore?” she asked, “Where’s the other you?”

“You were nearly eaten by a second Saturnyne,” he explained. “My other self was able to help save you via his medbay, but only just.”

“…but I thought the TARDIS hated me back then…”

“It seems like it was around then she had her change of heart.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and moved in closer, placing his forehead on her shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I don’t think I would have forgiven myself—both of myself—if you had died.”

“You silly idiot,” she chuckled weakly. “What do I have to fear when I have you by my side? The Oncoming Storm? The most dangerous being in the universe? The rogue Doctor, who has forsaken his people and their ways if only because he wants to save them?”

“…all nothing compared to you, my Clara.” His grip became a little tighter—a hug—and she smiled at that. It did not stop his face from darkening in thought, however, further twisting the situation in his mind. “Am I cruel in my love?”

“Not at all, Doctor,” she assured. “Don’t address me as if I were a beauty; I am your plain, ordinary Clara Oswald. I ask only this: don’t send for jewels, and don’t crown me with roses: you might as well put a border of gold lace ‘round a plain pocket handkerchief before you become cruel for my sake.”

“It pains me to be misjudged by so good a woman,” he said, smiling wanly.

“That should be my line,” she smirked.

“Fine, then,” he murmured. “You are a beauty in my eyes, and a beauty just after the desire of my heart—delicate and aerial. I will make the universe acknowledge you a beauty, too.”

“That’s better.”

Ignoring the protests of her body, which was still sore thanks to recovering from the Saturnyne attack, Clara shifted onto her side and looked the Doctor directly in the eyes. They were so loving, so fearful, so enraged, that she truly had no choice. She cradled his face in her hands and leaned in, kissing him tenderly.

“Shall I travel?” she asked, resting her forehead against his. “And with you, sir?” She watched as a couple layers of his thought processes fizzled out, with a few others working wildly at his response.

“You shall sojourn at Peladon, Iceworld, and Mars,” he only half-quoted, “at the first Yuan court, scientific dungeons, and the Old West of North America: all the ground I have wandered over shall be re-trodden by you: wherever I stamped my hoof, your sylph’s foot shall step also. My entire life, I flew through time and space half mad; with disgust, hate, and rage as my companions: now I shall revisit it healed and cleansed, with a very angel as my comforter.”

“I am not an angel—besides, you make it sound as though the people you traveled with then did nothing for you.” His face darkening in blush, he dipped his head down and buried his face in the crook of her shoulder. “Doctor…? What’s wrong?”

“I have traveled with many people over the years—good and bad—and nothing I say now means their time with me was insignificant,” he replied. “They cannot help that none of them were you, Clara, and that the impact you’ve had on my life far and away is more than most of them combined.”

“Ah.” She knew that was likely the end of his explanation, and that soon he would be hiding behind mangled Brontë quotes once again. Skritching his scalp and pressing kisses in his hair, she allowed him to remain silent. There was a reason why, she knew, as to why only this Doctor was the one by her side and not both, and she indulged him with quiet touches and gentle, wordless assurances that she was going nowhere.

“Am I hideous, Clara?”

Right on cue.

“Very, Doctor: you always were, you know.”

[emmvline-blog]

˙ ˖ ✧ jennie kim, twenty-three, cisfemale, she + her // was that EMMALINE BYUN stepping aboard the GUCCI jet? oh now it’s a party! we all know they can be pretty INSOUCIANT, but also pretty OPEN-MINDED on a good day, just like an ARIES. they’ll be blasting STORMY WEATHER BY TINASHE for most of the plane ride, i can already tell. i think they added IBIZA, SPAIN to the list of places to visit this year. let’s pop the champagne and get going!

trigger/content warnings: divorce, child neglect

hi babes! i’ve been so excited for this group to open so i could bring my absolute awful trash princess to life.  she’s a total sasshole & is basically the product of money and a ton of trauma. a good fourteen years of her life were spent in the middle of a bitter divorce battle between her parents. her father was an exec for a record label, and her mom was a former model who seemed to know where every single skeleton in her ex-husband’s closet was located. that fact alone kept hefty alimony payments sent her way, and a blood feud between them that seemed never ending.

half the time, emmaline felt more like a pawn in their games rather than their actual daughter. any time spent with either of her parents would always wind up the same way: they’d grill her for information about the other, and create some sort of horrific narrative of them that emmaline was far too young to hear. fortunately, she spent more time with nannies and other employees of her parents’ than them, and whenever she’d question it, they’d just shower her in opulence any child would wish upon stars for. she knew nothing but being rewarded for venom and toxicity for much of her life, and the bulk of her behavior began to reflect the things she witnessed.

she constantly acted out in school; taking things from other children because she felt she was entitled to them, trying to embarrass any teacher who gave her a bad grade, her demeanor only growing colder as she aged. her parents didn’t do much to correct it, they’d only give her more presents to keep her quiet. as unfazed as she appeared to be, the fact that her parents didn’t seem to care about being around her or getting to know her was deeply hurtful. she figured if she had to feel that way, why not spread the misery around? of course it wasn’t the right thing to do, but the very people who were supposed to set an example did nothing but tear each other down. and she was nothing if not her parents daughter.

here are some skuhtistics

name: emmaline hana byun age: twenty - three gender/pronouns: cisfemale & she/her occupation: LOL like this bitch works sexual orientation: bisexual romantic orientation: biromantic social class: upper height: 5 ft 2 in weight: 116 lbs hair color: dark brown eye color: brown aesthetics: shimmering lipsticks, worn out credit cards, butterfly doors, corinthian column bed frames, black marble, gem encrusted high heels, lace bustiers, getting drunk in high end boutiques, backstabbing, twin holidays. hogwarts house: slytherin alignment: neutral evil mb: isfj favorite food: duck confit favorite cocktail: flaming volcano (will 100% try to house it by herself) favorite movie: st. elmo’s fire

i would really love any of the following connections for her!!

best frenemies - heavily inspired by this gifset. these two are each other’s closest friends and most bitter enemies. emmaline is extremely competitive and has a major inferiority complex so while she’ll smile in this person’s face and gossip with them about other people and do all the things annoyingly self-centered best friends do, she’ll also trash them behind their back, sabotage them at every turn and get extremely jealous anytime they get something she doesn’t, and vice versa honestly. i just want a super toxic dynamic where they both lowkey hate each other, but keep each other close regardless. whatchamacallit - inspired by this post, this post. romance has always just been a game to emmaline. her sexual partners are nothing more than toys for her to pass her time with. she is a legit fuckgrrl. this (and most of her other issues) stems from trauma she suffered as a child due to her parents’ highly tumultuous divorce that took up her formative years and beyond. she was used as a pawn in their battles with each other for over a decade, and it dealt a tremendous blow to her comfort with herself. she deflects this with an inflated ego and a lot of big talk, but i would absolutely love for there to be someone around her who renders those fort knox defenses completely inoperable. for her to have finally met her match, after years of playing cat and mouse with people’s feelings. to actually, maybe, possibly care for someone; another actual human?? and for it to make her so angry inside that she can barely stand to be around them, or she’ll get too flustered and start cussing someone. *chef’s kiss*

get in loser, we’re going shopping 1/?? - based on this post. just a big ol’ squad? THE BIGGEST SQUAD OF FRIENDS/ACQUAINTANCES PLS? emmaline is insecure, she literally always has to have people around her. shopping trips, yacht excursions, tropical vacays, ski weekends. what fun is any of it if you can’t invite ten of your dearest friends, half of whom’s name you can’t remember?? funding or planning the party has always been one of emmaline’s most tried and true ways of getting people to stick around, so a lot of superficial “friendships” based on that would be cool! - @guerrcros​

thought you were bae, turns out you were just fam - a relationship that actually ended amicably for emmaline? the fuck you say. no, it really did happen, and they’re still pretty cool with each other to this day. this person knows all of her dirty laundry anyway, so it’s not like she can just dip, right?? nah but she can actually let down her defenses a bit with this person since they (for some god forsaken reason bless their heart) bothered to try and get to know her despite her treatment of them in their relationship. they learned that emmaline wasn’t all bad, she just hated feeling inferior or unimportant, and it often presented as rude comments and other venomous behavior. they also came to find that a lot of her treatment of others was a direct result of the things she’d seen her parents do to each other and say to and about one another. these things had almost been normalized in her brain, and this person actually takes the time to try and work with her on it. they have hope she’ll wake the fuck up one day and stop emulating the bad things she once saw.

and honestly maybe exes that ended badly, people she’s connected to through her parents, flirtationships, friends who constantly roast each other, neighbors who hate each other are some other things i’d love to ddu-du ddu-du. i’m honestly down for whatever so pls do lmk if you’d like to plot with this gucci garbage pail <3

[lostinfic]

Summary: She writes for magazines about luxurious resorts in exotic places and five-star hotels in glamorous cities. He’s photographed devastated war zones, refugee camps and child soldiers. For both of them travel is an escape, but he’s had enough of this grim reality, and she’s had enough of this disconnected fantasy. Perhaps together they can find something in between, something real, and stop running from themselves. Each season, a new destination and a chance to grow closer.

Pairing: Alec Hardy x Hannah Baxter Rating: Teen (for now) Word count: 2.3k

Ao3    |    Gifset

Hardy woke up gasping for breath. The room spun above him. The pillow was damp under his cheek. He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath until his heart rate slowed down.

The city shone through the curtain-less window. 3:16 blinked on his alarm clock.

He turned on every lamp in his tiny flat, filled the empty space with light. He scrubbed a hand down his face and prepared a cup of tea. As the computer whirred to life, a knot formed in his stomach.

Nightmares were nothing new for him, but they harassed him more frequently since he’d been tasked with selecting his favourite photos for a retrospective exhibition of his work. For twenty years he’d roamed the world with his camera, documenting the best and worst of humanity. Mostly the worst. From war zones to refugee camps, from barren deserts to overpopulated slums. Shining a light on those forgotten and left behind. Twenty years of anonymous faces. Twenty years of people he’d promised to help staring back at him on his computer screen.

Had his work really made a difference?

He clicked on a folder labelled “Syria 2014”. Thumbnail pictures popped up one by one. He’d never accustomed to this jarring feeling: looking at devastated places from the safety of his flat. His brain couldn’t reconcile the vivid memory of fear gripping his guts and chemicals burning his lungs with his quiet surroundings. Here, only the rattle of a too-close commuter train track and one nosey neighbour bothered him. But his brain sought hidden dangers, pushed warnings through his blood.

Tess would have helped him pick the photos, he thought. She’d once been his editor. She’d encouraged and admired his work until his commitment to it drove her into another man’s arms.

Just like this flat, the separation from Tess was meant to be a temporary situation. But three years had passed and now the divorce papers rested in their sealed envelope on the corner of his desk. He wasn’t sure which of the divorce papers or his old photos were the hardest to look at. The children and women he’d failed to help properly or the woman and child he’d failed to make happy.

He opened another folder of pictures, these ones from Tunisia in 2010, during the Arab Spring. An intense time, exhilarating. Still on his chair, he felt the protesters pushing against his body, carrying him like waves. He felt their thirst for freedom, the shift in the balance of power.

He selected a photo of a passionate young woman, shouting her heart out against the regime. Her eyes glistened with tears, her hands held high in peace signs. Red smoke surrounded her like a divine aura. In the next shot, a soldier punched her in the stomach. Hardy’s first instinct had been to take the photo. Thankfully, a young man came to her rescue. Hardy scrolled farther down the folder to another picture of the same young woman, a month later. In the crowd of protesters, she and the young man who helped her are exchanging wedding vows. He wondered what happened to them. He wondered what happened to their hopeful spirits.

Hardy slipped a hand under his grey t-shirt and touched the fresh scar on his chest.

Maybe this retrospective exhibition of his work was a second chance. An opportunity to atone for leaving these people behind.

The exhibition was still months away, in autumn, during a World Press Photo conference. Until then, he’d have to live with the nightmares.

His computer pinged with a new email notification. His eyebrows rose when he saw the sender: Ellie Miller.

I’m sorry to reach out to you like this, out of the blue. I know I haven’t been in touch, but we need your help.

Maybe you’ve heard, I’ve moved to Indonesia. There’s an island here, Pulau Kesuma, and there’s something really wrong going on. Foreign investors seized a huge part of the land to build a hotel, the Mahal Kita, and it’s been having a terrible effect on the local people and nature. I’m sure they must have done the same in other countries too.

I tried to reach out to my former colleagues at BBC World but it’s a small island and they’re all very busy. What we need is a photographer to show the destruction.

Give me a shout if you’re available and I’ll tell you more.

Hardy’s doctor had warned him against stressful work, but not helping people in need stressed him out more than throwing himself in the middle of a conflict. He replied to Ellie right away.

*

Hannah signed on the dotted line and returned the contract to her editor, Duncan. In exchange, he handed her a plane ticket to Pulau Kesuma and the necessary documents to complete her assignment for Elite Travelers magazine.

“The Mahal Kita Eco-resort & Spa,” Hannah read out loud. “Eco-resort? Didn’t you say ecotourism is a load of bullshit?”

“It is. That’s not the part I’m interested in: this island was closed to the tourism industry before now, at least not our kind of tourism. Smelly backpackers could go all they wanted and sleep in a goat pen.”

“How come it’s opened now?” she asked.

“There was no point in keeping it a nature reserve after the tsunami. So the Indonesian government lifted the restrictions. About two years ago. In exchange, the company helped restore the island.”

“That’s nice.”

“Anyway, just focus on the resort, the beaches, the night life… ”

“I’ve an angle to sell it, the ecotourism—” she spread her hands in a presenting gesture— “treat yourself to a guilt-free escapade.”

His reaction was something between a nod and a shrug. He didn’t believe it could interest their readers, but the comments on her blog told her otherwise.

“Stick to what you’re good at. Don’t fuck this up. If you get this right, you could become a senior writer.”

Hannah gasped and smiled. “Really?”

Senior writer meant less freelance work to make ends meet, business-class travel, press pass to fashion weeks, yachts and five-star restaurants. Not to mention she’d be the youngest and only female senior writer.

Duncan drummed his hands on his desk. “All right, fuck off, I’ve other writers to babysit.”

After the meeting, Hannah went straight to Stanford, an iconic travel bookshop in London. Even as a child she loved this place with its hundreds of globes and ceiling-high shelves of guidebooks. She’d pester her parents relentlessly until they agreed to take her here.

There was an enormous vinyl National Geographic map on the floor, and she trailed her feet from England to Indonesia. It elicited a lightness in her chest, and she nearly danced to the Asia section.

She would spend a week at the resort, then she intended to visit the rest of Indonesia for two weeks. She flipped through guidebooks, and compiled a mental list of ideas she could pitch to other magazines.

In the periodical section she checked out the trends and the competition. She scanned the racks and flipped through a few magazines. Three of them mentioned carbon-neutral travel, zero-emission hotels or sustainable tourism. She didn’t want to bore her readers with the science of climate change or to make them feel guilty about flying in a private jet, but being environmentally-conscious was trendy right now so she needed to get on that.

Hannah herself had become interested in the subject after a trip to St. Maarten in the Caribbeans. Not because of the trip itself but a documentary she saw after about a side of St. Maarten hidden to tourists: a vast and ever-growing landfill caused by the flow of cruise ships. Half the island’s population lived in that junkyard. Filled with good intentions, she had bought the filmmaker’s latest book. A year later, it was still on her nightstand, a bookmark halfway through chapter two. It had not been written for neophytes, that much was clear. She had returned to her usual travel ways, but a discomfort lingered.

Should she stick to what she was good at, as Duncan put it, or go all environmentally-friendly? She knew what her editor expected but, if done right, bypassing his instructions could work in her favour. Or ruin her chances at a promotion.

Back home, she dropped her magazines on the small kitchen table that doubled as a desk. For all intents and purposes, her two-room flat was a storage unit: a place to keep her things while she travelled the world. She had plans to make it cozy and pretty but had yet to do it. The few weeks a year she was here, she spent working, eating takeout and trying to catch up on whatever normal people did with their lives. Still, the flat held all her souvenirs and books. It was a place to rest her weary feet and head. A place to listen to the rain and traffic, and to dream of her next trip. When it came to travelling, having a home was just as important as having a passport, it was the difference between traveller and vagabond.

Ben was coming by later, meanwhile she fixed her make-up and curled her hair.

When he arrived, he entered without knocking first. He carried a plastic bag of thai takeout.

“Panang chicken for you,” he said as he placed the white oyster pails on the counter.

“Extra pineapple?”

“Extra pineapple.”

“Thanks, you’re the best,” Hannah kissed his cheek.

He blushed lightly and looked her up and down.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, but don’t get any ideas, it’s for my followers,” she replied with a humorous tone.

She handed him her camera and stood in front of the one nice wall in her flat. She posed in a calculated casual way with various travel accessories and her new book on Indonesia.

“How much are you getting paid to have that bottle of sunscreen lotion in the frame with you?” Ben asked.

“Don’t ask, it will only make you mad.”

“Do you even like that stuff?”

“It’s alright.”

She actually couldn’t afford a regular supply of it beside the one sponsored bottle, but the product was very on brand for her.

After Condé Nast named her in their top ten travel blogs, her follower count surged. Sponsored posts became a significant source of income which translated as two more trips a year. She liked thinking of herself as an entrepreneur. She sold herself and her lifestyle— well the brighter side of her lifestyle— and it allowed her followers to indulge in a little fantasy.

She looked over Ben’s shoulder as he swiped through photos on the camera screen.

“Are we done? I’m peckish,” he said.

“Just a couple more, I’m not sure about that shirt.”

After some consideration, she switched her top for one that wouldn’t make her look so pale.

“Thankfully I’ll have a nice tan soon,” she said.

The change in Ben’s mood was subtle, he blinked too fast and his shoulders stiffened. And she felt herself becoming defensive, her cheeks warmed up.

“Oh. You’re leaving again.”

“You realize that’s like me saying: ‘oh you’re going to the office again’?”

“Yeah, the office, a cubicle with annoying coworkers and a boss, not a five-star hotel in L.A.”

“Christ, Ben, you know I didn’t become a writer for Elite Travelers by lounging around the pool all day.”

“I don’t need your resume.”

“I wouldn’t need to give it to you if you stopped implying mine’s not a real job.”

Ben tried for levity: “I’m just saying, why go halfway around the globe when you’ve got the best right here? You said so yourself.”

Hannah went along with the joke even if she knew part of him was serious. She tried not to create false hopes in him. She’d said she wasn’t interested in a relationship, that he shouldn’t wait for her. But when she travelled alone and felt lonely, she called him and, in-between trips, he was her only friend left in London.

She offered him a beer from the fridge and neither of them mentioned the trip again.

As they ate, she chose the best picture out of thirty and posted it on her Instagram account. She was the first to use #pulaukesuma, but not the last if she did her job well.

Scrolling through her feed, she noticed a picture posted by her sister: her son’s birthday, with their whole family gathered for the occasion. It was today and they hadn’t invited her. “I didn’t think you were in the country,” Jackie replied when Hannah confronted her in a text message. She didn’t insist. What was the point? She was leaving soon anyway.

After the meal, she watched a movie with Ben, but her mind kept drifting off to her next assignment. She repeatedly stood up to get a glass of water or add something to her packing list. At the thought of Indonesia, her limbs buzzed with a sort of restlessness and her stomach swooped.

She often thought of visiting new countries as a fling. The way they occupy all your thoughts and that anticipation of seeing them. You want to know everything about them. There’s always more to discover and experience. You can’t get enough, but you know it can’t last. And in a way, that’s the best thing about it because you only have time to see the best of them. You must enjoy it while it lasts. When it ends, you’re sad and miss them, but, in all honesty, you wouldn’t settle there permanently.

She was only ever faithful to London. Or perhaps she had yet to find the one.

***

→Chapter 1: CGK

[nohshinwoos]

would u ever do a gif tutorial?? i love your gifs !! 💓

first of all, thank you 💖💖 and sorry this took a while to answer/make, i have had a lot going on and found it hard to make myself focus on this! but here it is now :D

i did make a tutorial earlier this year, but since i feel like that’s slightly outdated now (because i’ve changed the way i make my gifs quite a lot during this year), here’s a new one :’)

in this tutorial i included how i:

download

cut out the part i want to gif

import to photoshop

how to use actions (because i’ve started using that a lot and will in this tutorial)

crop (action)

put the text on (action)

sharpen (action)

colour (psd)

save

‘delay’ the gif so it’s a (in my opinion) good speed (again with an action)

i use photoshop cc 2018, but i think as long as you can open video clips in it and it has the ‘timeline’ you should be fine no matter what ps you have. (don’t hold me to it, though, that’s just my own speculation.)

i’ve included some things too:

an ‘action pack’ including: crop, sharpening, text and ‘delay’.

3 colouring psds (2 from the last tutorial+the one used for this tutorial)

i’ll be showing how i made this 540x300px type of gif:

from this gifset.

(tutorial under the cut! warning for a long post, with a lot of text and pictures. sorry if this is very in depth i just can’t stop talking sometimes. some things might be small details, but it’s things i wish i learned sooner myself. anyway lets get into it! also i’m not an expert, just speaking from my own experience.)

downloading the video

the first thing i do is download the video i want from clipconverter.cc. paste the link in the field, press continue, choose mp4 and highest possible quality (preferably high definition (hd) 1080p or 720p) and then press start. it takes a while to process the video, but once that’s done just press download and wait for the video to download, which takes another while.

if you know which part you want, and don’t wanna download a full video, you can just put in what part you wanna download like this at the bottom:

cutting out the part i want to gif

i use quicktime player (download link) to open the video and then i cut out the part i want to gif using the ‘trim‘ tool, found under edit -> trim… i always leave more than i need when trimming, just to be sure i get all of what i want to gif, then trim it a bit more later in ps.

trim by pulling the yellow things until you’re happy, then hit the button to the right.

when you feel like you have the part you want, just click file -> save… and name it and save it where you want.

importing the clip to photoshop

i simply import a clip by pulling it from the folder into ps, like this:

this will open up your clip like this:

i always work in the video timeline like this, because i find it easier to move stuff around in it - especially text. and because you can listen to the video clip as you do the text part of the gif, so i don’t need to have it open on the side.

how to use actions

using actions may sound hard, but it’s honestly the best discovery i’ve done in ps this year! now i tend to use it more often than not, because it makes gifmaking simpler (in my opinion). basically, the action does the things for you instead of you having to click a lot of buttons

depending on how you’ve set up your ps, the ‘actions’ panel is on the right. if it’s not, open it by clicking window -> actions.

to import an action to photoshop, you click the little lines at the top right corner of the ‘actions’ window. then click load actions…

find the action (.atn) you wanna use and click it to add it to ps.

then you just click the action you wanna use in the actions window on the right, and hit the little play button (see pic below) and let ps do the rest.

click the action (red circle), then play (blue circle)!

nothing more, nothing less!

crop (action)

following the steps above we’re now gonna crop the video.

my ‘big’/one line gifs are usually 540x300px because i find that to be a good size for those.

click the ‘crop 540x300px’ action and ‘play’. done!

and before we move on, this is usually when i trim the gif from the excess i left when trimming it in quicktime player.

place the marker (red circle) where you want to cut the clip, use the scissor (blue circle) to cut it. click the clip you don’t want anymore and delete it.

text (action)

when i make gifs with text, i find it best to do the text right after the cropping. if the gif doesn’t have text, i just go straight to ‘sharpening’.

first close the video group by clicking the little arrow next to it, then click the video group:

add the ‘text’ to the gif using the action. the text layer won’t go all the way out, or it might be too long depending on the clip’s length, so just pull it so it fits the size of the whole clip:

this something to remember to check once we get to colouring as well.

then what i do is that i play (the button marked in blue below) the clip in ps, listen for what i want to be in that particular gif and then pause where i want to cut it, and simply cut it with the scissor. make sure the text layer is selected before cutting it.

you can either keep the layers like this, or you pull down the top one to the same line in the ‘timeline’. i always want them all in the same row because i find that simpler.

i keep cutting the text where i want the gifs to end. you could say that each section of text is a gif in the gifset, because that’s how i think when i gif like this.

then it’s just to put the text you want for each part of the gif.

click the section of text you want to write in, click the ‘type tool’ and then the text on the gif to start writing.

i always make my text boxes higher than i need to, because i never know how many lines the text will be. then i just hit enter to jump down as many lines as i need in order for the text to be at the bottom of the gif.

sharpening (action)

when you’re gonna sharpen the clip, you’ll need to open the video group that you previously closed again.

click the ‘video’ layer and apply the ‘sharpening’ action just like with the other actions. 

now that we’ve sharpened it, when saved the gif will look something like this:

colouring

i most often colour every gifset by itself nowadays, because i love experimenting with colours and try to find something that works for every gif/gifset. it can be challenging, but i personally enjoy that kind of challenge!

for the tutorial i made earlier this year i included some psds that you can find here. you can find the colouring i made for this tutorial there as well! if you just wanna apply the psd and not colour from scratch, i explained how you do that here!

the layers i use are:

‘levels’ (to lighten/darken)

‘vibrance’ (to make the colours ‘pop’)

at least one ‘selective layer’, but usually a few more (to experiment with colours and change/desaturate colours completely)

sometimes a ‘curves’ layer as well (if the gif is very dark or just need some more light other than what the ‘levels’ layer can do)

sometimes i use ‘hue/saturation’ as well (if i wanna change a specific colour to another or saturate it completely)

all adjustments layers i use can be find at the bottom of the ‘layers’ tab, the button is called ‘create new fill or adjustment layer’:

since my colourings differ from gifset to gifset, this is just generally what i do when colouring. it also varies depending on if it’s more colourful gifs (like this or this, or like the phil one i’m gonna show now), or just one more subtle coloured (like this, this or this).

if there’s requests for more colour tutorials i can make more :’)

but now back to this gifset!

i always start with adding a ‘levels’ layer. my settings for this gifset was:

the first value is shadows, second is midtones and third is highlights. i usually keep my shadows value at 10-20, midtones 1,20-1,50 or 1,60-1,70 if i need to, and leave highlights as it is. (i don’t use the output levels at all.)

after ‘levels’:

second layer i add is usually ‘vibrance’. (sometimes i add ‘selective layer’(s) before ‘vibrance’, but i find it easier to do ‘selective layer’(s) last.) my settings for ‘vibrance’ is usually:

so i basically always turn ‘vibrance’ up to +100, sometimes i’ve used ‘saturation’ too and put it at like +10 or +20 but i find that to be a bit too much most times.

after ‘vibrance’:

‘selective layer’ is for me the most frustrating part, but also the most fun because you can get such cool colours with it - or even just enhance the already existing colours just a bit.

‘selective layer’ have many different options and depending on what my ‘goal’ for the gifset is, i use these differently. something i always try to have in mind, though, is that the colours ‘disappear’ a bit when i upload the gifs to tumblr and it’s okay if it’s a bit too ‘much’ in ps.

my biggest tip is probably to explore it on your own and play around with it a lot. that’s how you learn what works and doesn’t work and also what you personally like or don’t like. if it doesn’t look good, just delete the ‘selective layers’ and start from scratch again.

my first layer is always in the reds and often in the black one as well. for the phil gifset my settings were:

in the reds i enhance his skin colour and in the blacks i make everything black a bit darker. if it’s a colourful gifset i always make the reds a bit ‘stronger’ than i need to, because a lot of the skin colour disappears when i keep adding layers and changing the colours in those.

after this layer the gif looks like this:

in the second layer i played around with the blues and magentas, to try and change the blue and magenta colours in the gif - in this case phil’s sheets, his sweater and his eyes.

my settings ended up being like this:

and then the gif looks like this:

layer 3 in this gif is just magentas, in which i kind of saturated the magenta and blue colours a bit.

then it looks like this:

i wasn’t really happy with the green (the pillows) in the gif, so i added another layer in which i changed yellows and greens, and put it beneath the rest of the ‘selective layers’.

in this layer i played with the yellows and greens, because green always contains yellow and green. putting the cyan to -100 in the yellows layer will make it more reddish and the yellow at +100 will make it more yellow. changing the greens and putting the cyan on -100 made it more reddish too, the magenta at +20 gave it a kind of orange-ish tone and yellow at +100 made it a bit more yellow.

and this is how the gif looks now:

all in all, i find that to get good or interesting colourings you just have to play around with the different layers. and add more ‘selective layers’, to change the colours even more. as i said before - if it doesn’t work or looks weird, simply delete the ‘selective layers’ and start over :’)

saving

one of the final steps in gifmaking is saving. i save my gifs in two steps, and this is the first one.

to save the first gif, just place the markers like this:

so it matches with the ‘text’ layer.

click file -> export -> save for web… for my laptop it takes a little while to process it, but soon this window will pop up:

in the bottom left corner of the window you can see the gif size.

it needs to be under 3mb for it to work in a tumblr post. if it’s over that, you can either exit the window now and shorten the gif a bit more - or you can save it now and remove frames in the ‘delay’ step further down. i personally most often do the latter because i find that easier.

on the right of the gif are all the settings, mine are:

i mostly focus on the top half i find ‘selective’ and ‘pattern’ to be the best settings, but that’s a matter of taste really. you can always play around with it until you find what you think is best for your gifs.

and make sure the looping options at the bottom is set to ‘forever’, so the gif doesn’t suddenly stop.

when you’re done, click save… and save your gif where you want.

move the markers (red circles) to match with the next text layer to and repeat the steps to save the next gif.

‘delay’ (action)

once the gif is saved i always open it again to change the ‘frame delay time’ and sometimes (like for the gif used in this example) i add another ‘vibrance’ layer if i find that the gif lacks some colours. you can of course do this during colouring, but for me this works as well.

find your gif, open it in ps. choose the action called ‘delay 0,05’, then hit play. this will make the gif a bit slower than it is when you first save it in ps.

if you want to add another ‘vibrance’ layer, you can do so now. in the ‘layers’ tab, scroll all the way up and click the first layer and then add another ‘vibrance’ layer and set it to the value you want.

(i usually go for +50 or +100.)

if you know your gif is too big (over 3mb) from saving it earlier, you can now delete frames in order to make it smaller. what i do is delete one or two frames at a time until it’s under 3mb.

to delete frames, click the one frame, hold ‘shift’ and click as many frames back as you wanna delete. click the tarsh bin (blue circle) to delete them.

once you’re done, click file -> export -> save for web… again to save your gif. i usually save over the one i saved before, because i see no use having two gifs that’s almost the same. i only confuse myself so i don’t know which one is which without having to open ps again.

now you’re finally done and can post your gif(s) to tumblr :D

the final result!

before all effects:

after all effects:

if you found this helpful, please like or reblog! thank you for reading :’) 💖

[mysticsrose]

I got asked a while ago how I make my gifs and I didn’t have time to make a tutorial until now. So here’s how I make my gifs.

What you need:

-video in 720p or 1080p for good quality

-video player that has a screencapping option like kmplayer or gomplayer (there are also some others, check this post)

-photoshop (I use cs5 portable but any version should work), you can find links to download it here

This is gonna be very detailed and long tutorial so let’s start.

1. Screencapping

I use GOMplayer for taking screencaps, it’s really easy and fast. Here is the link to download it if you want to use it.

Open your video in the player. Find the scene you want to gif.  Then with a right click on the mouse a menu will show up. Go to Video > Advanced Screen Capture

or simply press CTRL + G on your keyboard. When you do that, this will show up

these are my settings. You can always change the number of frames you want to capture. I like to capture more and then delete the ones I don’t need later. Also, when you’re choosing the folder to save your captured images, make sure that you make a folder for every gif because later it will be easier to import in photoshop.

So basically what you’re gonna do now is play the video, start at the beginning of your scene and having the advanced screen capture settings still on, you’re gonna press burst capture as soon as you start playing your scene.

Then you’re just gonna wait a bit til it’s done capturing, don’t press anything. You’ll see when it’s done.

Now go to the folder where you’ve saved your screencaps and delete all the pictures you don’t need. Leave 50 max in the folder.

I know this might seem complicated but once you get the hang of it, it will be so easy.

2. Importing screencaps into photoshop

Now that you have your screencaps ready, open photoshop and in the top left corner click on File > Scripts > Load Multiple DICOM files

Find your folder, click on it and press OK.

When all the layers have been loaded, it’s time to make a gif.

3. Making the gif

First, you’re gonna go to Window > Animation and you’re gonna get this

Before converting to frame animation, select the very first layer. 

Then click on this

and then Convert to Frame Animation

Or you can simply press this button

and it will convert to frame animation.

Once you’ve done that, you’re gonna press the little button in the top right corner again and select Make Frames From Layers

And you will get your layers.

Now you’re gonna click on that little button once again and then Select All Frames

On the first layer click on that little arrow next to the time and select other.

You’re gonna get this little pop-up window where you’re gonna put the time of your frames.

I always put 0,06 but that varies from person to person. Most common I believe are 0,04-0,07.

Also, one note:  

when you’re deleting the frames in photoshop, always, and I mean always delete it from animation window.

Because if you delete it from the layers in the bottom right corner, you’ll have a gif with blank layers. When you delete it in animation and later when you convert to timeline you’ll get this

and then just delete those layers and your gif’s gonna be fine.

One tip: when you’re selecting either layers or somethig else to delete or move, the easiest way to do it is by selecting the first layer and then while holding SHIFT on your keyboard, clicking on the last one (as I’ve done in the gif).

Okay so back to the gif.

Now we are going to crop. Depending on what kind of a gifset you’re making, you’re gonna need certain dimensions.  Here are the dimensions for most common gifsets. You don’t have to strictly follow these, but you should use the size of the width stated there and change the height if you want to change dimensions.

Make sure that all of your frames are selected before you crop. When the gif is cropped, keep all the layers selected and convert to timeline

or just press this button

You’ve converted to timeline and what you’re going to do now is click on your first layer with the right click on your mouse and then Select Similar Layers

Once you’ve done that, you’re gonna go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters

Now is the time to sharpen your gif. There are tons of actions you can use (here are some), I use this action by @selenapastel (I started using it lately cause I wanted to change my gifs a bit but this the one I used before).

4. Coloring the gif

Well, we’ve come to the coloring. What I like to do here is just use one of my psds instead of creating a new one everytime (tho I end up making a new psd quite frequently). Anyway, if you don’t feel like making a new psd, here’s tons of psds from other people who shared them for other people to use. You can also check them here, here and here. But if you wanna make your own and don’t know what exactly to do, here’s a lot of coloring tutorials so make sure to check them out.

Also, another note: every resource that you download, make sure to like or reblog the post where you found it. Don’t claim any of those resources as your own.  People who share their resources have worked on them and spent time on them and are kind enough to share them for everyone to use so please give credit.

When the psd is added and you don’t really like the result, you can always adjust layers in the psd or what I like to do – put a selective color layer under the psd and adjust colors and especially neutrals and blacks.

Now make sure that the gif is the right size aka the size you’ve cropped it, go to Image > Image Size

Here is my finished gif.

5. Saving the gif

And now we’re going to save the gif. Go to File> Save for Web & Devices

These are my settings

Maximum gif size is 3mb so keep an eye on that because if it’s bigger, the gif won’t move. Also always, and I mean always make sure that the looping is on forever.

And there it is. I didn’t include how I put the text on or how I make colorings because this tutorial is already really long so if you want another tutorial on adding text and making psds, just let me know. I hope this helped, and if it did, please like or reblog this post. Also, English isn’t my first langauge so I apologize for some repetitive words or mistakes.

Also, I’ve already said it but I’m gonna say it again: I’ve put the links to posts of the resources so if you download any of those I’ve mentioned in this tutorial, please please like or reblog that post and please don’t claim it as your own.