#i gave sho more modern clothes

[ato-dato]

Part two!!!

[archduchessofnowhere]

That Vogue interview annoyed me so much that I have to comment it in more detail, so semi rant incoming lol. The translation was made by @sisionscreen (you can find the whole interview in their blog, I also reblogged it earlier). Thank you for enduring the job of translating this mess!

To show the desired modernity, costume designer Gabriela Reumer took a central role. The Swisswoman is known for her work on TV productions like Soko Wismar and movies like “Rabbit without Ears”,“Guardians” and “Traumfabrik” and had to familiarize herself with the 19th century royal fashion first - and wasn’t too fond of some of the things she found. “I immediately had the ambition to choose a different approach to the costumes than the classic-historical one.”

You see the thing about this is that there isn't a single piece of Elisabeth centered media that has historically accurate costumes. The closest one is the 2009 mini series, which respects the silhouttes of the time and recreates some of her most known looks - but it still plays loose with history. There isn't anything groundbraking in modernizing Elisabeth's dresses.

Reumer: Today it is desired in period dramas that everything is modern and different in terms of film making or production. That is a great undertaking and not easy to do. But you have to adapt a bit to the present and adapt the story for the eyes of today because a lot just doesn't work anymore. About 1850, women were like furniture. They were adorned, one could say decorated, so you look at them. The most important thing was that it was a lot. Actually this is unbearable, the women were like dolls. At this time, the crinolines, a kind of hoop skirt, were like a sphere and gave the women this doll likeness. But this didn't fit the story of Sisi for me, this woman, that emancipated herself and freed herself from the oppression and power plays. So I asked myself how could one dress women more dynamically. So I changed the shape of the crinolines towards something that came into fashion in the 1870s: flat in the front and a bit elliptical in the back. I used this shapes for Sisi and Sophie.

I will ignore the whole "women were furnitures" take and just focus on the second part, about crinolines not "fitting" Sisi's story. Because if Sisi is meant to be this free spirited girl that was thrown into a gilded cage, and this is a coming of age story of her emancipating herself, then wouldn't it make perfect sense for her to wear the 1850s crinolines? If your take is that crinolines were oppressive, and that Elisabeth was oppressed at court, then her wearing them to represent that is a no brainer. Then you can signify her freeing herself by having her not wear them anymore by the end of the season (or at whatever point in the show this happens). Forget historical accuracy, giving Elisabeth a 1870s bustle doesn't make sense narratively.

Vogue: So did you also see the originals clothes of Empress Elisabeth?

Reumer: Yes, at Schönbrunn, but I found them awful. Everything was so tacky. I'm usually very minimalistic when it comes to my costumes.

Well Gabriela, Elisabeth didn't dress having in mind getting your approval. Nor should you expect a rich royal woman from the 19th century to have the same taste in fashion as you.

Vogue: Then why did you agree to be the costume designer after all?

I wonder the same thing.

Reumer: At the beginning, I wondered what I was actually doing here. But then I viewed it as a challenge. There are also very nice great from this time. The men's clothing is awesome with its frock-coats from great materials and high tophats. It is crazy what one can do with shapes.

You can tell that Reumer isn't into historical fashion at all because she likes Victorian male fashion aka literally the Most Boring Male Fashion in history.

Vogue: Was there a character you found difficult to dress?

Reumer: In the beginning, this was the case with Emperor Franz. He always showed himself in uniform and we had to figure out how to show him without a uniform. How do you show what kind of person he really is? That wasn't simple. Also to make the uniform fit in a way he can move like an emperor was a challenge. For example, he wears a corsage underneath it to support him.

Ok I actually like this! Men wore corsets too! I hope this makes it into the screen, we have way too many scenes of women being tightlaced and not any of men wearing corsets because they were a practical undergarment that gave support.

Overall this interview deeply annoyed me because the way Reumer talked about it, it seems that the modern look of the costumes (which is a trend in period dramas that recently has become very popular thanks to shows such as Bridgerton) is solely due to her just not liking 1850s fashion. Modernization can work for narrative purposes, Bridgerton is a full-on romance fantasy that has nothing to do with actual history so the glittery dresses work to enphasize that. RTL Sisi is also so loosely based on the actual Elisabeth of Austria's life that the modern fabrics and designs work to separate it from real history. Even the Sissi Trilogy with its Disney-princess-like dresses does this. Many times this is not even the designers fault, usually the director has a vision for the story and the designer has to work around that. But I do expect at least some respect for the source material. To say that you hated what the actual woman wore and instead you took inspiration from random moments in fashion history that you liked is just tasteless, what can I say.

That being said I do hope that the final look of the show's costumes is at least cohesive and do make sense within the narrative of the story. But yeah this was dissapointing.

[thwispsings]

Atla modern!au headcanons

This is gonna be a long ride so buckle up folks 

Sokka has at least one clothing item with “women want me, fish fear me” (and i’m betting it’s a crop top)

Zuko has to wear a hearing aid on his scarred ear

His vision is also not great on that side

Sokka has a soccer mom car

He also is the type of friend to start screaming “I SWEAR TO TUI AND LA THIS CAR IS NOT GETTING OUT OF THIS GARAGE UNTIL EVERYONE HAS SEATBELTS ON!”

Sokka is just a huge soccer mom friend

While Sokka is the braincell holder of the group, Zuko is their impulse control

Zuko goes to occupational therapy

The white lotus is a tea tasting club, they have discount cards at Iroh’s teashop

Piandao is a master of the blades

Also distinguished gay

Bumi is basically a cryptid, he’s the jersey devil of omashu

Piandao also once got arrested for fighting cops at pride

No cops at pride just Piandao and his blades

Bato and Hakoda are peak Kevin and Holt (everyone’s dads)

Before they came out Sokka and Katara had a bet going on with Gran gran on whether they would realize everyone already knew or not (gran gran won)

Zuko cannot drive to save his life but he’s incredible good with a motorcycle 

Toph basically lives with Iroh and Zuko, they’re her emotional support family figures

They have family game nights but pai sho was banned after the “great table breaking incident of 2018”

Suki is a master of at least three different known martial arts and some not really known ones

She still stutters when talking to pretty girls

Once a pretty girl smiled at Suki and she tripped and almost fell down a flight of stairs

Whenever a girl flirts with her she looses her cool when a guy flirts with her she is always non-impressed

She and Sokka are the best exes, always trolling each other tho

When Zuko and Sokka started dating her first reaction was telling Zuko “honestly you could do better” 

Toph and Zuko convinced Iroh to start selling coffee on the Jasmine Dragon

Once Toph drank seven cans of redbull in a row just for shits and giggles, Iroh still has nightmares about that day

Whenever Zuko pulls all nighters Toph always puts him to bed, no one knows how

If you go for a non bending au then Druk is a bearded dragon or a ferret, i will not accept other animals

Zuko is the only person that Toph let squish her cheeks, she always giggles at it, it’s adorable, on the other hand, Toph is the only person allowed to touch his scar (she likes to map her friends’ faces with her fingers)

Toph also has an inclination to simply plop herself on Zuko’s lap, he’s warm and very comfortable and he always hugs her without saying anything

Toph knows how to braid her and always braids Zuko’s

Sokka is totally a tiktoker and a streamer

Aang watched too many tiktoks with Sokka and spent an entire month referring to Appa as “fluffly boy” only

Aang’s first friend, incredibly, was Zuko

Zuko painted blue arrows on a hoodie to give it to Aang when he complained about waiting for the tattoos

Aang cried

They are the type of friends that make constant references to events no one else knows about besides the two of them

Much similar to the Toph and Zuko situation, Sokka has adopted Aang as his little brother

They both have their daily Sokka&Aang time

Which usually involves laying with Appa and talking 

Sometimes cloud watching, they compete to see who finds the clouds with weirder shapes

Aang gets Katara flowers every year on her birthday

Their first date was at Iroh’s teashop (mostly so Zuko could be there to calm Aang down)

They hold hands whenever Aang feels overwhelmed

Aang made Katara a total of 37 friendship bracelets and 16 bead necklaces

The two go ice skating every two weeks

Katara has at one point convinced each one of her friends to let her do the hair loopies on them at least once

Katara once fought a guy on an Ihop parking lot and she won

The guy was Hahn and she fought him because he called Sokka a wimp

Katara, Sokka and Hakoda cry every time they watch Balto

Katara and Zuko share Ever after as their favorite movie

Katara is a golden medal swimmer 

Yue lost her hair due to chemo so she has a collection of pretty white wigs

Yue deffinetely cosplayed as Mara from She-ra

Piadao knows Zuko ever since he was five years old

He is actually both Zuko’s and Lu Ten’s godfather

One of his most prized possessions is a mug saying “world’s best godfather” that Zuko made on therapy and gave him for fathers day 

Iroh has a matching but with “world’s best uncle” 

Bumi and Aang became friends after Appa almost ran over him at a park, no one understands this friendship

Piandao and Zuko can communicate solely through nods and grunts, and both understand each other perfectly

*At the tea shop*

Piandao: *grunts and nods curtly*

Zuko: he wants the orange and spices tea and a croissant

*at Piandao’s dojo*

Zuko: *huffs and shakes his head*

Piandao: ah yes Zuko thanks for reminding me, i should see that with your uncle as soon as possible, do you think Jeong Jeong will be able to help?

Zuko: *grunts*

Piandao: no, you’re right, that’s a ridiculous idea

And now the crocverse hcs in honor to @nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice

Iroh non-ironically loves crocs

Once he said “let me put them on sports mode” before getting out of the house and Zuko was this close to crying

Bumi is a croc enthusiast 

He non-ironically loves the croc gloves

Bumi is the one who told Iroh about “four wheels drive”

The first time Sokka and Iroh quoted the “WHAT ARE THOSE” vine Zuko actually considered running away to live with Piandao

Jeong Jeong hates crocs with all of his being

Piandao dislikes crocs but he feigns ignorance just to watch the chaos unfold and Jeong Jeong get pissed

There’s a bet going on who’s gonna break Jeong Jeong first

Most of the bets are on Bumi

Piandao once wore a pair of crocs only to watch Jeong Jeong squirm and get all huffy

Sokka gave Iroh a teacup with little crocs painted on it for his birthday

Toph says crocs are the best kind of shoes because “they’re open” 

Iroh has almost as many crocs as he has teacups

[shotossecretary]

bad day | Mafia AU Shoto Todoroki x Reader

This is my first fic! ahhhh so sorry if it’s not that great hahaha

Word count: 3740 gah damn, I did NOT expect for it to get this long LOL got carried away

Genre: Smut, NSFW

Summary: You’re a brat and Mafia!Todoroki isn’t having it after having a rough day dealing with issues of his own.

Warnings: Rough sex, slight degradation, spanking, slight BDSM, edging, overstimulation

“I don’t care what the excuse is, when I give you a job, you get it done.” Shoto growled at the pitiful heap of a man he just finished teaching a lesson to. He wiped the blood from his knuckles, scoffed at the man with disgust, and turned to leave. The other members looked on silently, never daring to interfere when their leader dished out discipline.

“Fuck.” Shoto scoffed as he hopped in his car, frustration making him scrunch his brow. He lingered on the steering wheel as he closed his eyes and leaned back on the head rest. What a day it had been. Since taking on one of the more significant leadership roles for the group, the stress had been building up through recent days. Today was the cherry on top. One of his men had a hit he was designated to fulfill and lost the man while simultaneously almost getting caught.

Such amateurs.

There were so many younger guys that had been recently recruited and the more they fucked up, the more Shoto felt his patience wearing down. They would laugh it off, dismissing the severity of being caught. That childishness is what set him off to the breaking point today of beating on of his guys as a reminder to acknowledge the consequences.

Shoto was a hero with a reputation that would be in grave danger if it was exposed to the public that he ran with a menacing crowd. They operated underground, attempting to fly beneath the public’s eyes as they carried out business ordeals at night and always, ALWAYS wore their signature black masks. Shoto never expected to be pulled into such a dirty cycle, but he justified it with the thought that their hits were against bad people. Aside from that, he hated to admit it- but he was a sucker for money. Their gang was one of the most powerful and intimidating in the area, and when they approached Shoto to join, it was a win-win for both sides.

 ---------------

Shoto backed out of the driveway and made his way home, annoyed thoughts biting at him the whole ride. Why did he have to worry about his men on top of everything else? In the moment, the thoughts of balancing his double life became overwhelming. He gritted his teeth and continued to weave through traffic. Being the reckless driver he was, he arrived at his luxury mansion in no time. Parking his car, his glanced in the rear view mirror to find an unforgiving reflection staring back at him. Running his hand through his hair, he attempted to make himself a bit more presentable. He didn’t have time for your questions, and knew if he showed up dirtied, you would pester him endlessly about it. Drained and ready to just get some peace and sleep, he stepped out of the car and made his way inside.

Your home was the perfect balance between modern and traditional. When you and Shoto got married, it didn’t take long to find the perfect one. Of course, he was straight out of hero school and was not affiliated with the gang yet. It almost tore you two apart when he joined. You were so opposed to his involvement in dark crimes- after all, he was a hero. Eventually, you tuned it out, trying your best to ignore the fact he ran with some of the most dangerous men.

Shoto burst through the door, clearly still angry. He threw his shoes off and mindlessly tossed his keys on the counter. You came out in the kitchen to greet him. Unaware that he had overlooked a stain of blood on his neck in his attempt to clean up before coming in, he pushed through to the bedroom.

“Where the hell did you get that from?” you narrowed your eyes as you tugged his shirt, halting him in the middle of the hallway.

Shoto half wanted to just dismiss it, but he knew you were just going to keep asking.

“I cut myself jumping down from a building when I was on a scene earlier rescuing a child.” He stated abruptly, hoping to shut your suspicions down. He knew you knew about his affiliations, but since you two never talked about it, he wasn’t about to bring it up now.

“Bullshit,” you said, “I went by the agency earlier to drop something off for you, and they said you weren’t on call tonight. You’ve been avoiding me the past week too, don’t fucking lie. This has something to do with that little mafia group of yours, doesn’t it?”

Heat mustering up in his chest, Shoto turned to face you, his heterochromatic eyes cutting through you.

“Why don’t you mind your fucking business? I thought you didn’t want anything to do with that part of my life, so why get all riled up now? Move. I had a rough day, I just want to sleep.”

You were done with his behavior.

“Because! You come home angry all the time, and I’ve already ignored some of the nights you come back with bloody clothes. That’s it, I’m over this. Running around fucking killing people like a criminal or pretending to be a hero. I can’t keep up with your shit anymore, Shoto.”

Shoto seethed at your words. Between his dysfunctional group of guys, the constant stress the agency was putting him under, and now YOU. He couldn’t take it. The patience in him snapped.

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

Before you knew what was happening, he had you by the wrist and forcibly led you to the bedroom. He pushed you in and locked the door behind him, looking more like a hungry predator than your husband. You knew his rough days got the best of him and when they did, the loving man you were infatuated with disintegrated. You couldn’t say you didn’t find some kind of satisfaction from bringing out his dark side, but damn, tonight he looked PISSED.  

He stood over you now, staring at you with carnal intent, before breaking the stare and tossing you on the armchair in the corner.

“You know, I had planned to just shower and go to bed, but since you wanted to put your nose where it doesn’t belong, you’ll learn your place tonight.” He leaned down to you, his face an inch from you. You turned away.

“Better be in position for me when I get out, princess” he whispered, his breath grazing your neck.

You knew what this meant. Every time he had a particularly rough day, he used you as relief. He got up and disappeared into the master bathroom, where you heard him let the water run and step in the shower.

You debated leaving like you were just yelling in the hallway about. But you couldn’t do that. He had eyes everywhere, he would find you. Besides, in some twisted way, you relished in the power this man had over you no matter how hard you tried to break it.

Realizing he would be done soon, you slipped out of the chair and into your designated position. You sat slowly on your knees, with your hands in your lap. You brushed your hair back, ready and waiting.

Then, a thought flickered across your mind- disobey him. You knew more than anyone how serious Shoto was when he gave orders, he expected full compliance. He was used to it. You never defied him.

He doesn’t deserve it. You thought, not wanting to give in to his demands. With that, you lifted yourself back up and into the chair, slouching and making it seem like you didn’t care. You waited as you heard his wet footsteps padding towards the door.

“You better be in position princess,” his voice drifted through the door.

You waited anxiously. He stepped in, clad in a black silk robe and gently rubbing his hair with the back of his towel. Your eyes studied his figure, one that was almost too beautiful for you sight. The robe was loosely tied so that his toned chest was exposed and his wet hair look….my god, was that your weakness.

A sharp “tch” snapped you out of your thoughts. He had lifted his gaze to see you, still in the same spot he left you in.

Your stomach fluttered seeing his realization that were defying him. A sly smile crossed your lips as you fixated your stare on his narrowed eyes. Dropping the towel on the floor, he approached you quickly, bending down to pinch your cheeks in his hand in a rather tight grip.

           “You think this is funny? I told you to be in position when I finished.”

You cocked your brow, your brattiness still stirring despite his grip on your face.

           “Didn’t feel like it”

In response to your tone, Shoto moved his hand from your cheeks to your hair, yanking you up and walking you over to the bed.

He pushed you over, as you stumbled to catch the side of the mattress, looking back at him, biting your lip, challenge still glimmering in your eyes as you silently dared him to do his worst.

Boiling with pure annoyance at your disobedience from earlier, the dominant in Shoto leaped out as he turned your head, forcing your upper body into the mattress. Your shorts were pulled down and his hand found the bridge in your back as he pushed down, hard.

“Stay right fucking there. I swear if you move.”

He went to the dresser and you could hear him fumbling through his belts. Once he came back over, he smoothed it and doubled it over. Keeping your composure, you tried to peer over at him, to which he noticed and quickly took his left hand and pushed your face forward.

“Keep your eyes forward. You’re going to watch.” 

You were facing the mirror that sat on the other side of your bed. Shoto kept his hand in your hair and brought down the belt to grazed your ass. You didn’t even see it in the air before you felt it. Taken aback by the force, you fell slightly forward and bit the sheets.

“What did I say- eyes up” Shoto barked.

You looked up with fire in your eyes, glaring at him. Seeing how mad you were did nothing but to intensify his hits, determined to break the brat in you tonight.

Smack. The second one came down hard and biting down on your lip, you struggled to keep your shriek in. “Sho-“ you whined quietly.

Shoto wasn’t pleased with your lack of response and continued to rain down spanks with no rest between, inevitably forcing tears to spring out of your eyes. “Who’s Sho? What do you call me princess? Better start acting right or this gets worse for you.”

“I-I meant Daddyy” you try and make up for your mistake. You looked at your reflection, now falling apart at the hands of your husband.

Your whimpers satisfied his ears as he threw the belt to the ground and stepped back to admire his work. Bending down to place a soft kiss on it, he let his tongue trace the newly formed welts.

“I didn’t want to do this princess, but you had to learn a lesson for being such a brat earlier,” he mumbled against your skin. You swayed your hips back, still panting from how winded the spanking got you. The coolness of his tongue felt soothing and for a moment you thought that was it. But he was far from done with you.

He spun you around. Falling back on the arm chair and untying his robe, he stared you down.

“Strip.” 

You only had your bra and shirt still on but shyly slipped out of them. His eyes ravaged your figure, thirsty to have you at his mercy. His hand rubbed against his robe, ready for some release.

“Come here. You’re going to suck me off and make me feel good” 

Shoto gestured for you to sit at his feet, to which you followed. Your ass sat back on your heels, still tender and red. Looking up at him, you reached for his cock. He grabbed your wrist and threw it back. 

“No hands, use your teeth.”

With that, you glided your teeth over his robe and gently unwrapped it from his body. His dick revealed itself to you and you licked at it before Shoto grew impatient. 

“Stop with the teasing” he hissed and pushed you down. If there was something you were an absolute beast at, it was giving head. Shoto knew it too. He knew you were capable of taking his length expertly. As you sank down on him, he threw his head back with a deep moan.

“Fuuuck Y/N, you know how to please Daddy. What a good girl”

His praises made you melt as you responded with sloppy gags as your eyes rolled up to look at him. He was barely holding on, you could see it in his expression. Turned on by your gaze, he wrapped his hands around your head and forced you down. You stayed there until you sputtered and your throat burned, leading you to pinching his thigh twice- the signal you used for when you couldn’t take it. He pulled you off sharply, briefly scanning you for any real distress. Despite having an actual dark side, even in the bedroom, Shoto would never take it too far, so long as you permitted it. He opted to teach you lessons when needed, but would never fully want to break you.

You looked up at him- mascara running and saliva smeared on your chin and smirked. “Done already?” you teased. Taking this as an indication that you were fine, his expression flickered back to his dominant demeanor. “As if,” he scuffed. “I’m far from done with your bratty ass.”

Thrusting his dick back in your mouth, your breath hitched in surprise. Shoto was now frowning down on you, watching you bob up and down. “Fuck babe, I’m gonna cum” he exhaled out. You closed your eyes and prepared yourself, all while he repeatedly hit the back of your throat.

He groaned as he released and you felt the warmth seep on your tongue. “Hold it, don’t swallow,” Shoto ordered. You froze in surprise, never being told to do this before. As his cum shot into your mouth, the taste was too strong, you gulped it down before even giving his request a second thought.

“Did you just swallow it?” Shoto looked down, obviously disappointed. “You’re such a fucking slut you couldn’t even wait to drink my cum couldn’t you?”

He brought his thumb to lift your face to meet his. “And here I thought you were starting to learn. But you’re still a bad girl, Y/N....sooo bad”

You shivered in his touch. Fuck. You didn’t mean to swallow. You had already dropped the brattiness in hopes of getting properly fucked after your spanking, but now you dug yourself a deeper hole.

Shoto lifted you and pushed you on the bed, where you fell face first into the pillows. 

“Get your fucking ass up in the air” he mumbled, as he hitched your hips up roughly. You stayed on your forearms, waiting in your vulnerable position for whatever he had in store. He slid off the bed to the headboard, where he had attachments for cuffs you two used every now and then.

“Hands.”

 You offered him your wrists, watching as he cuffed them straight above you. You laid on your stomach with your hands attached to the bed, your ass up and out before him. Shoto moved to examine your perfectly posed frame, all for him. You were a blank canvas for him to mark as he pleased.

You winced as he dragged his hand on your sensitive ass, his fingers slipping ever so lightly over your folds, making you lighthead. “Shoto please, I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to be a good girl, please”

Your reasoning did nothing to offset the mans intentions. “Oh princess, you’ll be a good girl by the time I’m done with you” he calmly said, moving his face to be at face level with your slit. Without warning, he brought his tongue to your entrance and began violently lapping streaks up and down. You squealed. Both of you had oral game that was out of this world. Your mind swirled as he continued to devour you, his thumb reaching around to rub your clit. You felt a tingling creeping up and with that, you started to mewl Shoto’s name. He pinched your clit roughly and muttered through eating you out “uh uh, that’s not my name”

The added vibrations of his voice against your most sensitive parts made you cry out. “Daddy! I’m gonna cum” With that, he took it away. His tongues, his fingers, everything- gone. Frustration built up in your chest as you tried to grind back against something….anything. 

Shoto let out a menacing chuckle. “Baby, you aren’t going to cum until I say you can, understand?”

You grit your teeth and nod. Of course.  

“Look at you. Fucking dripping like a whore. Your pussy is just waiting to be filled, isn’t that right?”

Still caught up in your lost orgasm, you weren’t paying attention. That is until an icy hand wrapped around your throat, jerking you up and arching your back against his chest.

“Answer me,” he growled softly in your ear.

“Y-yes daddy. I want to be filled by your cock”

Shoto sighed in approval and reached up to adjust the cuffs, directing you to lay on your back. You wiggled under him and watched him ready himself. Pushing the hair away from your face, he leaned down to his your temple and whispered “You ready for Daddy to fuck you into your place, princess?”

You nodded slowly, now under his spell, fully submissive….straight up putty in his hands.

He lined himself up with you and slowly inched inside, carefully watching as your face contorted. He bottomed out and fell forward, only stopping for a few seconds to let your adjust before he began his pace. It was brutal. He took his length out before slamming it all in, forcing your breath to be stuck in your throat.

 “Daddy- unf..harder..please”

Shoto smirked and leaned back, placing your legs on his shoulders. He continued to drill into you, your hands growing sore off the cuffs as you were rocked up and down. You didn’t care. The insane pleasure outweighed the pain.

“Look at me”

Your half lidded eyes sprung open to stare into Shoto’s, full of lust. He smiled at your mangled expression.

“Looks like my pretty little princess has been broken. Tell me, did you learn your lesson?”

“MMhmmm” you can barely draw out any words as you nod fervently, as he went deeper into you.

Shoto slowed down temporarily to reach over to the dresser to grab a small bullet vibrator.

Oh no. You thought. You knew how one of Shoto’s favorite punishments were edging and overstimulation. You had hoped he forgot but then again, when did he ever.

Placing the vibrator on your clit, Shoto flipped it on, drawing an immediate cry from you. Your cuff hands yanked against their restraints to no avail. You tried squeezing your legs closed, only to be met by his hand roughly pushing it back open.

“The fuck do you think you’re doing? Stay put, you’re taking this punishment.”

You looked at him with pleading eyes. You knew this was going to push you over. He hiked it up to the highest setting and you turned your head to bite in your arm to suppress your screams. Between his cock rutting in and out of you at an unforgiving speed and the vibrations, you weren’t sure how much more you could take. You began to see stars.

“Don’t you dare cum. Hold it.”

“I can’t! It’s too much” you cried, tears spilling over as you whined, begging your husband to take it easy.

“You wanted to be a brat today, you can take it. You won’t cum until I tell you to”

His words made you heave in frustration. How the hell were you going to hold out?

Suddenly, the vibrator turned off, his dick left you, but his head dipped down quickly. Pretty soon, three fingers were pumping in and out as you continued to feel your orgasm approaching. Shoto licked and sucked your clit, knowing you were on the edge. He softly bit at it, which made your hips rise off the bed and plead for your release.

“Please daddy! I can’t anymore, I have to cum”

He watched you writhe, not saying anything and his lack of response made you question whether it wad okay to let go. He was teasing you. Shoto continued slamming his fingers into your g-spot as he looked up.

“Cum, Y/N. Cum all over my fingers”

Not even a second after you heard his permission, your orgasm hit you hard as you came undone on his hand. Looking satisfied he retracted his hand from your pussy. Moving up, he thrust his cock back into you. Eyes shooting open, you stifle a scream as he plowed your now overly sensitive cunt.

“Ahhh~ I can’t again, its too sensitive Sho, not so fast”

“I haven’t came yet angel, don’t be fucking selfish” he growled as he chased his high. Holding your hips down into the bed, you felt his quirk lightly activate, as your left hip started to freeze and your right was heating up. Tears streamed as you silently screamed, overly stimulated to the point where your voice was knocked out of you. Shoto grunted, falling on top of you, as he reached his peak.

 Sighing into your neck, he collapsed beside you. Reaching up, he unfastened you from the headboard and you brought your hands down to massage them. Just as fast as your little session had manifested, the dark glow was gone from Shoto. He lightly kissed your slightly bruised wrists. “Sorry,” he looked up with a soft face. You returned a small smile to him.

“You’re such a good girl, Y/N. I love you” he smirked before getting up to get a glass of water. You sighed. There was just something about him you could never get enough of.

[karimac]

…in the details, Part 3

A/N: Warning for this series: 18+ audience (minors DNI), some cinematic level violence, some fluff and angst. Doubt that smut will be involved, but it may be implied. I’ll make sure that is noted clearly if it pops up.

All relationships, at this point anyway, are platonic.

Please do not repost or translate my work. Likes, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated.

A bit about the OC Kari

Part 1

Part 2

All mistakes are my own.

Word count: 3,556

Well, that was not exactly the best idea, was it?

Dr. Darcy Lewis, unlike her colleague, Dr. Erik Selvig, was not a big fan nor an authority on any form of mythology. And the Irish history ask was a longshot at best.

So, here you were, in the coffee shop smack dab in the middle of Westview, talking to Dr. Lewis and getting nowhere fast.

“And, that’s not happening,” the astrophysicist grumbled as she set down her phone and took another sip of her beverage. It was some weirdly sweet concoction that looked like what humans thought rainbow-colored unicorn poop looked like. This world was not ready for what real magical beasts looked like. Most authors had not gotten all of that right in their books. No surprise there. No human really needed to see such things on a daily basis, and whoever had been the muses for those authors had covered up a lot.

“I take it Dr. Selvig has no clue on the Celtic Pantheon?” you asked as you sipped your very boring, light, non-sweet hot coffee. The barista probably wanted to laugh when you ordered it, but he did his best to stifle his snicker. “It was a very long reach on my part, Dr. Lewis. I’m sorry I roped you into this.”

“You can call me Darcy because you actually acknowledge my academic status,” the brunette said as she flipped her phone over again. “So, Thor is off in space. You don’t want me calling Falcon or his pal with the metal arm. Captain Marvel isn’t on your contact list. Ant Man and The Wasp? They can be sort of science geeks, right? Wait. Banner? Is he OK to call?”

Before you could open your mouth, Darcy was texting Banner off her own phone. “You know Bruce?”

“I met him at some meet and greet at MIT before the world went poof,” Darcy replied as she set her phone back down and seemed to be praying Banner would actually return her text. “Stark was there, too, but Banner was the one I got coffee with. Sweet guy, you know, even if he gets all green sometimes.”

As you sipped your coffee, you noticed a few people giving you odd looks. It made you very nervous. “Maybe we should finish up and get back on the road?” you asked Darcy as you quietly motioned toward the other patrons getting their daily fix of caffeine.

“Yeah, bubbe isn’t answering me anyway,” Darcy said as she picked up her phone and got up from her chair. By now there were several residents blocking the exit. “What is your problem? We paid. We’re busing our table. Then we’re leaving.”

“Are The Avengers going to hunt her down?” one woman in the back of the group asked as Darcy looked back toward you and mouthed the word “Help” before turning back to the crowd. The questioner was loud, but you couldn’t see her because of the big delivery man standing in front of her with a huge pile of Amazon packages. “Why did you come back?”

It was time to vamp. With an apparently faulty memory, this was going to be interesting.

“Before you all ask about what is going to happen regarding Wanda Maximoff, I want you all to know I have no authority to speak for The Avengers. I have never been a true member of the team. I helped them at a time when things were beyond bleak for this world. It was an honor and a privilege. But I am not a spokesperson. I am not a team leader.”

“Then why did you come here?” a man with glasses, holding a briefcase, asked from the line where he was waiting for his order. “Then and now?”

“I came the first time because I was looking for my friend. I was pulled into that nightmare just like you were. I wish I had been able to help her before any of this happened.”

“But you have powers, right? Couldn’t you have shut her down, hot stuff?” the first woman added as she moved to the front. Then you recognized her. Agatha Harkness. If Wanda kept her alive, there was a reason for it, and all the pain you had rising in your core had to be tamped down fast. Harkness had hurt Wanda, and that would have to be addressed one day. You were good at playing the long game.

“Taking her out in any sort of power stunt could have jeopardized your lives. I was not sure what she did to make it all happen, and I was not going to risk your lives. I’m sorry it wasn’t put to an end sooner. Now, if you will excuse us, we need to get to a meeting regarding the incident here,” you said as you and Darcy pushed through the crowd and back out to the street.

“OK, what was all that? Spin? Or are you remembering something?” Darcy asked as you got back into her car. You had left your rental on the outskirts of town. Better to travel as a unit until your business here was concluded.

“I remember a couple of things from that mess,” you said as you tried to keep your hands from shaking. “I remember Wanda and Vision’s sons. Billy and Tommy. I remember the house where I lived. Can we drive out to where Wanda had her house? Maybe that will help?”

Darcy pulled out of the parking space and made the lefts and rights to the lot where Wanda’s house had been. The one you were living in was in a lot right next to it. It was empty now, too, but you got out of the car anyway and stood in the center of the patch of dirt. You closed your eyes and held your breath as you tried to piece together what had happened. And then you started to cry as you fell to your knees.

“Whoa, slow down,” Darcy said as she ran and knelt beside you. “What did you see?”

“It’s weird. Wanda came over one day and more or less apologized to me because she couldn’t give me my real happy ending. I can show you, if you’ll let me…”

“Go into my mind?” Darcy protested before you could wave her off the idea. “No Vulcan mind melds for me today, thanks.”

“No, I carry this mirror, and you can see memories in it. Trust me, I do not use telepathy as a first line of anything. I tried it once, to help a friend, but it just caused more problems,” you groaned as you pulled the mirror out of your backpack. You waved your hand over it, and Darcy could now see what had happened with Wanda.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t find them and bring them here,” the Sokovian said quietly as she walked around the 1980s version of what was your living room. It was way too pastel for your liking, but the hints of fuchsia, orchid and teal in the overall cream and light gray design weren’t so bad. You had a couple of cats there with you. One was an orange tabby with a penchant for eating tuna at any given moment. He was warm and affectionate and just a ray of sunshine dressed in fur. The other was as white as the driven snow, but his own cuddly disposition came through. He was the one who would leave you weird gifts every morning. Rocks, feathers, and yes, the occasional dead mouse would be at the foot of your bed each sunrise. You’d find out at the end of that nightmare that the cats were only constructs of Wanda’s chaos magic.

“I know you miss the three of them,” she continued as she pointed to a framed picture of Steve, Bucky and Sam, all decked out in appropriate 1980s clothes that made them look like they ran away from some cop drama. “It’s probably better that there aren’t too many Avengers here anyway. Vis is getting concerned. And this way, well, no one needs to know which one you would have chosen. I know. You know. So you can always talk to me. Like we did before. But I gave you the wedding ring to make sure no one came on to you. Just in case I can get him here soon.”

As you showed Darcy the memory, a tiny part of you was screaming that this whole scenario seemed wrong. You watched Wanda’s crimson glow float around you as she spoke. You vaguely remembered The Morrigan trying to kick some sense back into your addled brain, but Wanda’s world was much too enticing to let your other self come to the fore. You wanted the damned happily ever after with the husband and the house and everything that meant in the modern American ethos. You had rationalized things for years in such a way that you’d never let yourself get it. That was why no one was here to hug you at night like Wanda had Vision. Maybe that fact alone was enough to crack Wanda’s hold on you a bit more than she realized?

But you also had to admit that you wanted to be there for Wanda in case things went south. That much was clear from the moment you showed up in Westview the first time.

“How come you didn’t just zap her? Fight back?” Darcy asked as you fully shifted to the present day and paused the memory.

“Because she wasn’t wrong. I did miss Bucky, Steve and Sam. I missed Banner, too, because they were, in the end, the ones still here that cared if I lived or died. And Spider-Man. Which is random and weird, but he did. And frankly, what I said in the coffee shop was true. I had no idea what my powers would do to her spell. I could have leveled the town. That was not an option.”

“So, that Agatha woman…” Darcy started to say and then stopped. “Wait. That was her? In the coffee shop? That was why you were acting so weird?”

“Yeah. Wanda could have killed her or taken Agatha away with her to imprison her. She didn’t. After what Agatha tried to do to Wanda, to try and take her powers, Wanda had every right to finish her off. But Wanda doesn’t likely know all that yet. There are rules set up from ages ago. Things witches can and can’t do to each other under specific circumstances. So Wanda left her trapped here—for now anyway. But, whatever happened with them, it affected me, too. I got hit with stray magic blasts. I’m betting it messed up my powers in ways I didn’t realize. And maybe my memories as well.”

As Darcy knelt there, her phone finally chimed. It was some weird little R2-D2 chirpy beep, and she looked elated as she showed you the message. “Seems Bruce still cares if you are OK or not. I don’t think bringing him here is such a great idea…”

“Did anyone send him data about what happened here?” you asked as you got to your feet, pocketing some of the dirt from the lot before you stood up. “Air and soil samples? Readings from the residents?”

“I can get them for him. Trust me, Jimmy Woo and Monica Rambeau would be more than happy to help. I’m glad that loon Hayward seems to have gone into hiding or was hauled away to The Raft,” Darcy noted as she checked her phone again. “Seems the doc is working out of a Stark lab here in Jersey. Road trip?”

You really didn’t want to go see Bruce. You had no idea how you’d explain any of what you did to him.

++++++++++

You rehearsed what you planned to tell Bruce a million times in your mind as Darcy drove along the Garden State Parkway to a place called Woodcliff Lake. Stark Industries did indeed have a lab there, and it made you want to scream as you walked into the facility. You did not need yet another reminder that you could not save Tony Stark’s life at the end of that final battle with Thanos. That was part of why you were in this mess in the first place. It was also why you had a screaming fight with Stephen Strange, but no one else knew about that yet.

“Dr. Banner? We’re here!” Darcy yelled as you walked toward what had to be the research wing. The lack of security in the place was a bit disturbing, but then again, there were probably booby traps built into every square inch of the place. You could just hear Tony now as you got closer to the lab area. It would likely have been close to the speech you got the first time he talked to you at the compound.

“Hey! Lucky Charms! Don’t touch any of the expensive stuff. I guess that means don’t touch anything. I still have no idea why you are hanging around the team except that Steve wants you here for some reason. Maybe you’re tied to…his friend…and I just don’t want to face that? Still have issues with all of that, even if the man is dead. Pepper and Morgan said I should be nice to you, but I’m not quite there yet after what happened in Berlin. They are better people than I’ll ever be.”

“Earth to Kari?” you finally heard Bruce say as he waved his massive green hand in front of your face. Then he realized why you were likely spacing out. "Dr. Lewis, can we have a minute?”

“You can call me Darcy, if I can call you Bruce?” Lewis said as Banner nodded to her. “Cool. I’ll go find the little scientist’s room and be right back,” she added as she left the lab.

“So,” Bruce started as he pointed you toward a set of chairs at one side of the lab, “Darcy filled me in via text. I have no idea what happened with Wanda, and I know none of us know where she is. I did call a friend who wants to help,” he noted as a swirling circle of yellow light formed near the window that looked out over the parking lot. “I figured you’d listen to him, and he knows more about this stuff than I do.”

“What did you do?” Wong shouted as he exited the portal. “You usually listen to reason. Why did you go after Wanda all alone?”

“I went to help Wanda. She was hurting. She watched Vision die twice. She lost Pietro. I can relate to all that very, very well. My twin Branan died in front of my eyes, too, and I’ve buried two husbands. Both died in battle. I just wanted her to know she wasn’t alone. But she…she hit all my vulnerable points. And she was under attack at the same time. From a woman named Agatha Harkness and from the director of SWORD. Some martinet named Hayward. He built another Vision. I think Hayward was using Wanda’s powers to bring him to life. Darcy is going to check in with some of the people who worked with her to get you more intel, Bruce.”

“Another version of Vision? Great,” Bruce muttered as he looked over at Wong. “As for this Harkness person…”

“The name rings very small bells, so I’ll need to do some research,” Wong noted as you bumped your left fist against your forehead. “What?”

“Harkness is a succubus. And she is old. Not as old as I am, but she is still a good 400 years old, give or take a day. She apparently survived the Salem Witch Trials. Wanda spelled her and left her in Westview. I think she is, at least in small ways, aware that her world is all wrong. I didn’t want to press it when I saw her in that coffee shop. We do not need an angry succubus flying around. Wong, they got into an aerial battle, and Wanda was using sigils, runes, whatever you want to call them, to focus her power. I think she picked that up from good old Aggie. I never showed her anything like that on purpose. I always suspected she had magic in her bones, but it wasn’t my place to start that fire. The bigger issue is that Wanda conjured up two children while she was there. She created cats for me, so anything is possible. I got knocked out by the end of the fight, so I have no idea what exactly happened in the end other than Wanda running off and Agatha being left behind for some reason.”

“And?” Wong asked as he started to look you up and down. “You did a spell? And it went bad? Your aura is all messed up.”

“I…I tried to do a spell so The Avengers would think of me less and less, and then eventually I’d just be a fleeting memory. I felt walking away in the dead of night, the thing I usually do when I am leaving town, would not be good enough. The spell got botched, and now I’m connected in some fashion to Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. Looking back at it, I spent more time with them in the days leading up to my departure. Steve and Bruce were there the day I left, and so were Sam and Bucky. And…I’m carrying a lot of guilt about Bucky after his accident in 1943.”

“All this on top of the magical circus Wanda made? Are you insane?” Wong yelled as he started to pace.

“And the fight I had with Stephen on the day of the battle. Yeah, I guess I am insane,” you replied as Wong threw up his hands. Bruce had gotten extremely quiet, and that was not a good thing.

“Before we get to dissecting your spell, Kari, was this because of what Tony said? About you not being an Avenger because you were…?”

“Unstable? Yes. And the fact I could not bring anyone back from the grave, especially during that last battle. And the fact about who killed his parents. Buck did while under Hydra control. Steve found out and never told Tony. I ran into The Winter Soldier a few times over the decades, so there was the chance I could have prevented their deaths, too. Tony really had no reason to ask me to join the band.”

“Once we get your spell problem sorted, then we will address this, too,” Bruce said as he looked toward Wong and shook his head. “I loved Tony like a brother, but he was wrong…”

You winced a few times as you tried to listen to Bruce and Wong, now joined once again by Darcy, as they tried to figure out how to fix or reverse that spell, and they hashed out what might have happened to you during that first trip to Westview. You were really trying to focus on their questions, but you felt a tug that no one else could ever have possibly felt.

“Baltimore,” you mumbled as you pulled out your cellphone and debated texting the person you felt tugging at that damned invisible string. No. That would have ended badly, especially since your original spell had gone haywire.

“Bucky Barnes was arrested?” Darcy asked as she showed you her phone alert. “I bet he punched that new fake Cap in the nose. Sorry, but that guy looks like he has no clue. I saw him on Good Morning America. Total cheese fest.”

“Wait. What?” you asked as you took her phone. “Sam didn’t keep the shield? I just hope Bucky didn’t punch Sam and wind up in jail for that!” You gave Darcy back her phone and looked at yours again. It was buzzing. “Anyone here know who the hell is Christina Raynor?” you asked the trio in front of you. No one had any clue about that. You hit the speaker button as you answered the call.

“Hello? Ms. MacOrish. I’m James Barnes’ therapist, Christina Raynor. Sam Wilson said I should give you a call and ask you to join us in Baltimore. As quickly as possible, if you can. I don’t think Mr. Barnes wants to spend the night in a holding cell.”

“Oh no, you are not going to Baltimore,” Wong said as he crossed his arms and got a stern look on his face. “Not while your head is all over the place. You could portal to Baltimore in the 1800s for all you know. You could end up eating lunch with Lord Baltimore in the 1700s. You really shouldn’t do this.”

“Wong, what better place for me to go than to see a therapist?” you said with a smirk as you opened your own portal, this one a lovely shade of emerald green, that went to where Raynor was waiting for you—outside an interrogation room at the city jail.

“Mr. Wilson said you’d be fast. He did not tell me you were one of the powered class,” Raynor said as you went through the portal, looking back to wave briefly as you heard Darcy’s last comment.

“What about your rental car?”

[liw-the-melancholic-apple]

The First One - Bonus scenes in traditional written word

This is a smau and a zukoXreader, although i haven't decided how this ends yet.

Y/n has recently transferred to Ba Sing Se from Omashu university and meets the gaang through a schoolproject they do with sokka and suki.

Bonus 2: Nerves

Ooooookay. It wasn't all this exciting. You'd been to parties before. You'd met new people before. Why did choosing a pair of jeans feel like you were deciding your fate? You usually only noticed people's jeans when they didn't fit, were neon colours or torn to shreds.

Your jeans all fit you, they were all in the neutral colour scheme and those that were distressed were still more fabric than hole.

So, by your own logic you could choose any pair and be fine. Yet still five pairs were laying on your bed. 2 grey, 2 black, one midnight blue. You didn't seem to be able to pick one.

The pile of t-shirts and jumpers on the ground hadn't gotten any of your attention but promised to be a similar drama...

You sighed in annoyance and texted both, Jin and Fai. The latter had a lot of encouragement and suggestions while the former mostly mocked you. He did however offer some really good advise: treat it like a gig with the band. In a pub. Wear those clothes.

"And stop being such a nervous wreck! It doesn't suit you. You're great. You're fun. They'll like you."

He didn't let you thank him, though. "Next time you're here, you're buying at least two rounds. I'm not your fucking therapist."

Classic Jin. But his idea worked. To a gig you'd wear the ripped black jeans, white t-shirt and the vintage leather jacket.

Those where the clothes you wore when you left your appartment. Those were the clothes you wore when Suki texted that she was held up at Aang's place. She would be late. Sokka was gonna join later anyways. Ty Lee wasn't coming at all.

Yeah, meeting new people who were presumably forced to be nice to you!! On your own. Without the safety blanket that were Suki and Sokka. Great...

You stood in front of the Jasmin Dragon, studying the green and gold of the big logo on the window and the small one on the door.

You could just wait here for Suki. No, you weren't a child and Suki wasn't your mum. Besides, she would show up with Aang -why did that name seem so familiar? - and you already told her that you would be about 15 minutes earlier than her. Waiting was no option.

You shifted your weight from your left leg to the right and texted the group chat:" So, I'm here."

Katara answered, telling you to come inside to the counter. The scent of oriental spices and caramel syrup filled the air in the shop. The perfect mix of old-timey, traditional tea house and modern way too sweet coffeshop combined into one smell. The essence of the Jasmin Dragon.

You had discovered it during your first week in Ba Sing Se and instantly fell in love with it. Was it that smell? Maybe. Was it the excellent sencha-ginger-tea? Partially. Was it the supercharging, black as your soul giant mugs of coffee? Partially. Was it the delicious muffins in every flavour imagineable? Yes. Was it the breakfast items that all looked mouthwatering? Absolutely.

But mainly it was the general atmosphere here. The furniture was a collection of armchairs, benches, sofas  and tables that all looked like they came from a 50's or 60's living room. All colours of the Rainbow, nothing actually fit together. It was so cosy and inviting.

And then there was the old man who usually was behind the black marble counter. You'd found that he would start around 11 am, as he was never there when you got your coffee before early lectures and classes. But he would take orders, prepare drinks, clean tables and give his thoughts on students' problems when you popped in for a midmorning pick-me-up.

And also now, close to closing time, the rotonde older man with the long grey hair stood behind the counter checking on a couple of teapots that gently bubbled behind him. While doing so, he talked to a short black-haired girl that giggled a lot.  She held on to an annoyed looking tall guy, that you thought might work here, and stood next to a girl that warmly smiled at you and waved you over.

"Y/n?"

"Yes, that would be me. You're Katara?" She nodded.

"And that's Toph and Zuko", she answered while indicating the girl and the guy. Suki had warned you about both of them. Toph was blind and often subjected to people wanting to help her, which she hated. "Don't offer her help. She'll let you know  when she needs you", Suki had said.

The girl extended a hand into your general direction. "Pleasure meeting you."

"All mine", you answered taking her hand. Zuko also shook your hand, mumbleing "Hi."

He had a rather large scar on the left side of his face. His hair covered it some. According to Suki you shouldn't stare and shouldn't mention it. She had known Zuko for years and still didn't know how he got it. You quickly averted your eyes.

"Okay, so I'm sure Suki already told you but she only just left Aang's. His roommate is a bit mad because he can't go to the party and delayed them."

You were about to answer when the man behind the counter cleared his throat. "Sencha-ginger", he handed you cup. Surprised but greateful you took it and looked for your wallet.

"Oh, no need. You've been a valued customer. And i finally learned your name. You know, you're one of the most quiet People ever to come into the shop." He gave you another smile.

"Not really quiet", you answer laughing. " But i usually come in alone and i don't like talking to myself in public. People stare." The man crinkled his forehead but Toph punched your shoulder and laughed. "Sokka said you were funny!"

"Well, why do you always come in on your own?", counterman inquired, his forehead smoother.

"Uhm...", should you tell the sad truth?

"You don't have to answer that", Zuko intervened. "Since he opened the dragon he's become quite enamored with gossip, haven't you uncle? No need to satisfy his curiosity."

"My nephew thinks me impolite. But I reckon there is a reason for your solitude. If it is your choice to enjoy our tea alone you can tell me that and no harm is done. But if unfortunate circumstances force you to drink your tea by yourself i would like to give you the oppertunity to speak about it. Let go of dark thoughts."

Wow. Some teamaker he was. And Zuko's uncle? Interesting.

"Thank you...Mr..."

"Iroh. Just Iroh will be fine."

"Well then, thank you Iroh. It's not too much of a story, though. I moved to Ba Sing Se six weeks ago and haven't yet found a group of people who'd put up with me for extended periods of time", you chuckled, hoping you didn't seem too desparate.

Katara seemed like she wanted to say something really nice but Iroh spoke quicker:" Oh, i don't think that's true. You don't give me the impression that anybody would have to put up with you. But if you want company while drinking your beverage i can always chat.

We could talk about your love for green tea and ginger. You know we also have black tea varieties that feature ginger and i think you might enjoy the herbal infusions.

The fruitier teas go great with the muffins! And if you're into croissants and pudding pretzels you should try the vanilla chai latte.

But if you don't want to talk about tea we could also gossip and play pai sho. You know how to play pai show, right?"

You absolutely didn't.

"I'm familiar with the most basic of basic rules." Wrong answer. The sweet little man grabbed a pai sho board out of nowhere and started explaining the game. Zuko offered an apologetic gesture, while Katara and Toph intently listened. You sipped your tea, nodded your head and enjoyed just being part of something. It had been a minute. But you would never play pai show of your own volition. The game was complicated and boring at the same time.

"Maybe you would like to learn about the ancient art of teamaking?", Iroh continued his suggestions of things to talk about when at the dragon.

Was there an art to it? Hot water and a teabag, no? You tried a vague expression and he kept talking.

"I always wanted to found a club or class, you know. Likeminded tea enthusiasts who want to deepen their knowledge and appreciation. Would you be interested?"

No, you weren't. But he was so endearing. So caring. So genuinely into this idea.

"I... have yet to find out how much time and effort my classes will demand. I wouldn't wanna make promises i can't keep."

That was fair, right? And not even an actual lie.

"We're here!!!!!"

Suki burst through the door, followed by a gangly guy with a shaved head. Aang!! That's why the name sounded familiar! He was Instagram verified. Half the campus followed him for his inspirational quotes and vegan recipes.

Suki hugged you hello, introduced you to the insta-famous and then Katara ushered you out and to the metrostation.

You waved at Iroh as you left. He had only talked about things that hardly interested you but he'd managed to make you feel like a member of the group that was now discussing pai sho rules, teamaking and being on time.

MASTERLIST

Part 1

@fanficflaneuse @eddiesemoass

[mindingmyownbusiness]

Woman

Pairing - Neighbor!Bucky x PlusSize!Reader Modern AU Summary - Cleaning your apartment is never fun and you’re almost done when a freak accident brings you face to face with your neighbor and your crush, Bucky Barnes. Will you get a happy ending or will your embarrassment end things before they begin? Warnings - none, just an overabundance of fluff Word Count - 2691 Notes - “Woman” by Kesha is the number one track on my Guilty Pleasures playlist. No matter what mood I’m in or what crap I have waded through during my day this song never fails to give me back some of my spark. This fic was also my submission to @themaskedwriter a few weeks ago in case anyone is wondering why it sounds familiar!

My Masterlist

I buy my own things, I pay my own bills These diamond rings, my automobiles Everything I got, I bought it Boys can't buy my love, buy my love, yeah

Hell yes. Now this is what I’m talking about. You asked Alexa to pump the volume up to eleven and grooved your way across the kitchen floor. Cleaning might be the worst ever but the right playlist can make all the difference. Peeling off the ratty tee you’d been cleaning in all morning you wiped the sweat from your face and chest and tossed it into your laundry basket. This left you in a cute and comfy bralette and your favorite boyshorts, showing way more skin than you’re used to but hey, this is your apartment! Your safe space, and you loved the way you felt in these clothes (even if no one would ever appreciate the view but yourself). 

I do what I want, say what you say I work real hard every day

You attacked the last chore on your to-do list with renewed energy, swishing the mop back and forth to the music. Hips moving to the beat you really let loose, belting out the lyrics with an enthusiasm you’d never dare show in public. 

I'm a motherf*cking woman, baby, alright I don't need a man to be holding me too tight I'm a motherf*cking woman, baby, that's right I'm just having fun with my ladies here tonight I'm a motherf*cker

Little did you know you weren’t as alone as you thought….

Bucky could hear the bass thumping before the elevator door even opened. Ah, must be cleaning day. He smiled to himself as he passed your apartment door, fumbling around his grocery bags for his keys. When he finally got his door open he nearly tripped over a package he hadn’t seen leaning against his door. Setting down his bags he bent to retrieve it, laughing softly at the sight of your name. Looks like Stan the mailman is playing Cupid again. Not that he needed a reason to pop over and see you, but the occasional “misdelivered” mail sure did make it convenient. Once his groceries were put away he changed into something more casual and checked his hair in the mirror before rolling his eyes at himself. Snap out of it Barnes, she doesn’t even see you that way. Still, it didn’t stop him from looking over his appearance one more time before heading out.

Grabbing your package he stepped back down the hall and knocked on your door. No response. The music sounded even louder than before so he knocked again, this time with a bit more force. Still nothing. He fingered the keys in his pocket, hesitating only a moment before deciding to let himself in. Not “technically” an emergency but surely you wouldn’t mind… A wave of sound nearly knocked him over as he opened your door but it was immediately worth it. The sight that greeted his eyes would be one he wouldn’t soon forget. 

The first thing he noticed was your hair, normally down and ramrod straight, now thrown up into a messy bun, flyaways and frizz sticking out every which way and framing your face like a literal halo. Beads of sweat dotted your makeup-free face, your eyes closed as you sang and swayed your way around the mop before swiping it across the floor again. You were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He couldn’t stop his eyes from roaming, taking in every one of your gorgeous curves from your shoulders to your hips to your ankles and back up again, swallowing thickly as every inch of you moved to the beat with grace and confidence. Gone was the shy, blushing neighbor who was always so covered up that all he had was his imagination to fill in the blanks. This… this was something else. And it was infinitely better than anything his imagination could have come up with. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should feel guilty for seeing you like this, that you’d be absolutely mortified if you knew he was watching, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care. This peek into your behind-the-scenes life was an absolute gift. Even if you ended up slapping him sideways and never spoke to him again at least he’d have this moment to haunt him (and taunt him) the rest of his days. God, how he hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

Let's drive around town in my Cadillac Girls in the front, boys in the back Loosey as a goosey and we're looking for some fun I'm a motherf*cking woman, baby, alright I don't need a man to be holding me too tight I'm a motherf*ck---AAAHHH!

Once second you were in your own blissful world and the next thing you knew you were flat on your back, pain shooting down your arm. Tears sprang to your eyes immediately when you moved to sit up, your left arm screaming in pain at the slightest movement. Cursing through clenched teeth you yelled for Alexa to stop the music that was now doing nothing but adding to your distress. However, silence was not what your ears were met with. Instead you heard the voice of your ridiculously hot neighbor and it was getting closer to where you were lying, partially hidden between the kitchen island and the countertop.

“(Y/N)? (Y/N)! Are you okay?! Are you hur--”

“Bucky, STOP!” you shrieked, attempting to hide yourself even more. He cannot see me like this, he can NOT see me like this… “I-I’m fine, just slipped is all, no worries!” Your nervous laugh was interrupted by a gasp of pain you couldn’t hold back when you moved your arm without thinking. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, you are definitely hurt. Here, let me help you.” His footsteps were getting dangerously close.

“No! Bucky r-really you don’t have to--” But it was too late, you threw your right arm over your face just as you heard him step around the kitchen island. “Please… I-I don’t want you to see me like this..” you pleaded quietly.

The confusion was evident in his voice. “Like what? Hurt? Clumsy? Weak? (Y/N), this could’ve happened to anyone, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Now, lemme help you sit up. Where does it hurt?”

You sigh in resignation. “It’s my left arm, I-I can’t move it.” You offer him your uninjured arm but keep your eyes tightly shut as if not seeing him would prove this is all some sort of horrible dream and any minute you’d wake up. Bucky eased you into a sitting position and gently maneuvered you so you could lean against the island, your good arm gingerly cradling your injured one.

“(Y/N)...?” Unable to avoid it any longer you opened your eyes, your vision immediately filled with the very concerned and very handsome face of one too-hot-for-his-own-good Bucky Barnes.

Not a dream. Nope, he is very real. And he’s in your apartment. And you’re practically in your underwear looking a hot mess. And not the good kind. That’s when the tears really start to fall. All the pain and embarrassment become too much and you are powerless to stop it.

Bucky’s face falls as he attempts to reassure you, “Hey, hey now.. don’t cry! We’re gonna get you fixed up and you’ll be good as new, I promise. Everything’s gonna be okay...”  

At his kind words you just get more and more upset, your emotions taking over and everything you’re feeling literally exploding out of you.

“NO! No, Bucky it’s not, it is not gonna be okay! My arm hurts like hell and it’s probably broken and I really don’t have time to take off work a-and you’re here-- omg you’re here and you’re just being so perfect and so nice and looking so GOOD and here I am looking like absolute trash-- nononono I-I can’t believe you’re seeing me like this, I just-- I just can’t-- I-I--”

Taking your face in both of his hands, he pressed his forehead to yours. “(Y/N) stop... take a breath okay? Just breathe…”

You open your mouth to protest but he silences you with a gentle finger to your lips. “Ah, ah, ah… five deep breaths. Minimum. With me, now.” 

His deep voice left no room for argument and you shakily did as he said, matching your breathing with his. After a few moments you actually felt better and offered him a small smile. “Th-thank you, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here...”

He shuffled over and sat next to you, his knee nudging yours. “Well I hope you would have called me. I know that’s what I would have done.”

“Yeah,” you laughed nervously before you paused and narrowed your eyes at him. “Wait… you’re here. In my apartment.. Why are you here?” He was strangely silent as you began to put the pieces together, your eyes widening in realization. “Bucky... exactly how long have you been here?”

“Um…” His sheepish look immediately gave him away. “Just from like the second verse…?” 

“BUCKY?!” you screeched as you swatted at him with your good arm. “Are you KIDDING me?”

“What? I’m sorry, okay?” He flinched and ducked to avoid your onslaught. “Stan delivered a package of yours to me by mistake and I was just returning it! You didn’t answer the door when I knocked so… I let myself in..?” 

“Oh my god,” you cover your face with your free hand, “I can’t believe you saw me like that.”

“I don’t know why you’re so upset. I mean, I was really enjoying the sho--OW!” he yelped as you smacked his arm and went back to hiding behind your hand. “Seriously though, you have absolutely nothing to hide.” You peeked at him, looking for signs of insincerity. “I for one really appreciated your… assets,” he teased with a smirk and a wink.

“Stop it,” you mumbled, a blush quickly creeping across your exposed skin.

“Nope. You’re gorgeous.”

“You don’t mean that,” you respond quietly, worrying your bottom lip in the process.

“Course I do, you’re beautiful.” 

“Noooooo…” you insisted, shaking your head in protest.

“Sweetheart,” he murmurs, cupping your cheek and gently turning you to face him. He waits until your gaze flickers up to meet his, those impossibly blue eyes so bright and so kind that you almost forget to breathe. “I want you to listen to me.  And I need you to really, really hear me.” You slowly nod your head, his face so close you can’t miss the slight upturn of his smile when your tongue darts out to wet your lips. “You are undeniably, completely, take-my-breath-away, beautiful.” With every word he moves imperceptibly closer to you, his nose gently nudging yours, pausing just before your lips touch, your eyes fluttering shut.

“Bucky?” you whispered.

“Yeah?” he whispered back.

“What are we doing?”

“Well... I was thinking about kissing you.”

“Y-yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

You’d always thought if this moment ever came you’d be completely freaking out but instead you felt this overwhelming sense of calm, of rightness, of peace. The last bits of your hesitation and panic simply evaporated leaving nothing but you, you and Bucky, and this perfect, perfect moment...

“Okay,” you exhaled with a smile.

“Okay?” The hope in his voice was unmistakable and it absolutely warmed your heart.

“Okay.” You were ready. At least, you thought you were.

The first brush of his lips was so gentle you weren’t sure if you’d imagined it or not. But the next… the next there was no mistaking it. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you hadn’t dreamed about this moment countless times but this was leaps and bounds beyond anything your fantasies could come up with. Things were quickly becoming more heated as the kiss deepened and Bucky’s hand slipped from your face into your hair and down your neck until---

“Aaah!” You cried out as Bucky quickly moved his hand from your shoulder. Eyes shut tight and jaw clenched you took a deep breath through your nose as you waited for the new wave of throbbing in your arm to pass.

A curse word or five erupted from Bucky as he scrambled back, hands in the air, “(Y/N) I am so, so sorry… I can’t believe I got so carried away!  Way to ruin the moment Barnes…” he muttered under his breath.

“I’m okay Bucky, really,” he shook his head, guilt threatening to overtake him. “I wasn’t exactly thinking about my arm either, that was some kiss mister.” That got a grin out of him. “I promise, we’ll be more careful from here on out, okay?” You smiled and reached for his hand, hoping you’d done enough to ease his mind. Bucky finally gave in and looked back at you. Seeing the sincerity in your eyes helped him to quickly shake off his guilt. He cleared his throat, straightened his shoulders, and went right back to taking charge. 

“Alright, enough incredibly sexy distractions.” You tried not to giggle but you couldn’t help letting it out a little. “C’mon, let’s get you to that hospital,” Bucky picked himself up and turned, reaching down to help you up into a standing position, taking extra care not to aggravate your injury.

Steadying yourself against the counter you look down at what you’re wearing and cringe, blushing again and shrinking into yourself in an effort to hide. “Ughhhh,” you groan, “I can’t go like… like this.”

“May I remind you again, you are a knockout, and no,” he stopped you before you could interrupt him, “you are not allowed to contradict me. Just take the damn compliment (Y/N).” You rolled your eyes, knowing there was no point in arguing with him and the pain in your arm certainly wasn’t getting any better. “Now how about we just work on helping you feel more comfortable so we can get you taken care of.”

You knew there was no point in arguing with him so you led the way to your bedroom hoping this wouldn’t be yet another embarrassing moment in the mountain of embarrassment that was defining your day. “Okay, but don’t judge me, my room is a mess even on cleaning day.” 

You could hear him chuckling behind you. “I’m sure it’s an adorable mess, just like you.” Shaking your head with a smile you opened your door and began to look around for something to wear.

Finding some clean, loose-fitting pajama pants and your flip flops was relatively easy, a shirt that wouldn’t cause you to further injure your arm was another problem altogether. Your frustration was mounting again just as Bucky spoke up, “Here, I have an idea.” You turned to see him slipping off his button up flannel, leaving him in a snug fitting tee. 

Helloooo there… “Oh, um, n-no Bucky I couldn’t...” but your protests were quickly dismissed with a shake of his head.

“Hush, this is the best option. Plus,” he grinned, “I’ve always wondered what my girl would look like in my clothes.” Is this guy even REAL?? Blushing anew you relented and finally fully allowed Bucky to help you out. After a few minutes of fumbling together with your clothes and trying not to jostle your injured arm you look up at him, admiring the adorably handsome concentrated look on his face as he worked on the last few buttons of your/his shirt.

“You’re so sweet to do all this, you know you really don’t have to…”

“Somebody’s gotta take care of you doll, might as well be me,” he says as he fastens the last button.

“You’re lucky I like you so much,” you teased rolling your eyes, that is until you locked gazes with him, stormy blue eyes holding something deep and wonderful within them that you’d definitely never seen before. Something that you suddenly realized you very much wanted to explore further.

“Yeah… I really am,” he murmurs before kissing your forehead sweetly and escorting you out the door.

END

I wrote this so long ago it almost feels like someone else did it! I’m working on getting my writing mojo back and realized that I never posted this on my blog so hey I’d love to know your thoughts so leave me a comment and if you liked it please consider reblogging! Thanks! :)

Taggy tag tags: @dianelogan @bucky-plums-barnes @buckyywiththegoodhair @cate-lynne @avengerofyourheart @sebspocketsquare @sgtbxckybxrnes @bionic-buckyb  @plumfondler @imaginingbucky @sexonastickstan @angryschnauzer @witchymarvelspacecase @palaiasaurus64 @eyecandybarnes @promarvelfangirl @the-observant-fangirl @ballyhoobarnes @trinityjadec @kjs-s @sebbytrash @idreaminpaint @true-queen-of-mischief @buckthegrump @moondancewrites @thisisjamesbarnes @beccaanne814 @oneshot-shit @moonbeambucky @stevieang @tnupsweetpie @avenger-nerd-mom @avengerofyourheart @eyesfixedonthesun22 @searchingforbucky @notimetoblog @sugarfreecapsicle @nomadicpixel @nacho-bucky @sarahwroteathing

[themaskedwriter]

Woman

Clues:

This is not the first time I’ve used a song to inspire a fic, in fact I’ve done it at least three times before.

Bucky Barnes fluff is what I’m best known for as a writer, if you catch a whiff of angst in my writing just know it’ll be fixed before the end, scouts honor.

I’m one of those “old people” on Tumblr, but writing and my fandoms keep me feeling young!

Woman

Pairing - Neighbor!Bucky x PlusSize!Reader Modern AU

Summary - Cleaning your apartment is never fun and you’re almost done when a freak accident brings you face to face with your neighbor and your crush, Bucky Barnes. Will you get a happy ending or will your embarrassment end things before they begin?

Warnings - none, just an overabundance of fluff

Word Count - 2691

Notes - “Woman” by Kesha is the number one track on my Guilty Pleasures playlist. No matter what mood I’m in or what crap I have waded through during my day this song never fails to give me back some of my spark.

I buy my own things, I pay my own bills These diamond rings, my automobiles Everything I got, I bought it Boys can’t buy my love, buy my love, yeah

Hell yes. Now this is what I’m talking about. You asked Alexa to pump the volume up to eleven and grooved your way across the kitchen floor. Cleaning might be the worst ever but the right playlist can make all the difference. Peeling off the ratty tee you’d been cleaning in all morning you wiped the sweat from your face and chest and tossed it into your laundry basket. This left you in a cute and comfy bralette and your favorite boyshorts, showing way more skin than you’re used to but hey, this is your apartment! Your safe space, and you loved the way you felt in these clothes (even if no one would ever appreciate the view but yourself).

I do what I want, say what you say I work real hard every day

You attacked the last chore on your to-do list with renewed energy, swishing the mop back and forth to the music. Hips moving to the beat you really let loose, belting out the lyrics with an enthusiasm you’d never dare show in public.

I’m a motherf*cking woman, baby, alright I don’t need a man to be holding me too tight I’m a motherf*cking woman, baby, that’s right I’m just having fun with my ladies here tonight I’m a motherf*cker

Little did you know you weren’t as alone as you thought….

———-

Bucky could hear the bass thumping before the elevator door even opened. Ah, must be cleaning day. He smiled to himself as he passed your apartment door, fumbling around his grocery bags for his keys. When he finally got his door open he nearly tripped over a package he hadn’t seen leaning against his door. Setting down his bags he bent to retrieve it, laughing softly at the sight of your name. Looks like Stan the mailman is playing Cupid again. Not that he needed a reason to pop over and see you, but the occasional “misdelivered” mail sure did make it convenient. Once his groceries were put away he changed into something more casual and checked his hair in the mirror before rolling his eyes at himself. Snap out of it Barnes, she doesn’t even see you that way. Still, it didn’t stop him from looking over his appearance one more time before heading out.

Grabbing your package he stepped back down the hall and knocked on your door. No response. The music sounded even louder than before so he knocked again, this time with a bit more force. Still nothing. He fingered the keys in his pocket, hesitating only a moment before deciding to let himself in. Not “technically” an emergency but surely you wouldn’t mind… A wave of sound nearly knocked him over as he opened your door but it was immediately worth it. The sight that greeted his eyes would be one he wouldn’t soon forget.

The first thing he noticed was your hair, normally down and ramrod straight, now thrown up into a messy bun, flyaways and frizz sticking out every which way and framing your face like a literal halo. Beads of sweat dotted your makeup-free face, your eyes closed as you sang and swayed your way around the mop before swiping it across the floor again. You were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He couldn’t stop his eyes from roaming, taking in every one of your gorgeous curves from your shoulders to your hips to your ankles and back up again, swallowing thickly as every inch of you moved to the beat with grace and confidence. Gone was the shy, blushing neighbor who was always so covered up that all he had was his imagination to fill in the blanks. This… this was something else. And it was infinitely better than anything his imagination could have come up with. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should feel guilty for seeing you like this, that you’d be absolutely mortified if you knew he was watching, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care. This peek into your behind-the-scenes life was an absolute gift. Even if you ended up slapping him sideways and never spoke to him again at least he’d have this moment to haunt him (and taunt him) the rest of his days. God, how he hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

———-

Let’s drive around town in my Cadillac Girls in the front, boys in the back Loosey as a goosey and we’re looking for some fun

I’m a motherf*cking woman, baby, alright I don’t need a man to be holding me too tight I’m a motherf*ck—AAAHHH!

Once second you were in your own blissful world and the next thing you knew you were flat on your back, pain shooting down your arm. Tears sprang to your eyes immediately when you moved to sit up, your left arm screaming in pain at the slightest movement. Cursing through clenched teeth you yelled for Alexa to stop the music that was now doing nothing but adding to your distress. However, silence was not what your ears were met with. Instead you heard the voice of your ridiculously hot neighbor and it was getting closer to where you were lying, partially hidden between the kitchen island and the countertop.

“(Y/N)? (Y/N)! Are you okay?! Are you hur–”

“Bucky, STOP!” you shrieked, attempting to hide yourself even more. He cannot see me like this, he can NOT see me like this… “I-I’m fine, just slipped is all, no worries!” Your nervous laugh was interrupted by a gasp of pain you couldn’t hold back when you moved your arm without thinking.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you are definitely hurt. Here, let me help you.” His footsteps were getting dangerously close.

“No! Bucky r-really you don’t have to–” But it was too late, you threw your right arm over your face just as you heard him step around the kitchen island. “Please… I-I don’t want you to see me like this..” you pleaded quietly.

The confusion was evident in his voice. “Like what? Hurt? Clumsy? Weak? (Y/N), this could’ve happened to anyone, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Now, lemme help you sit up. Where does it hurt?”

You sigh in resignation. “It’s my left arm, I-I can’t move it.” You offer him your uninjured arm but keep your eyes tightly shut as if not seeing him would prove this is all some sort of horrible dream and any minute you’d wake up. Bucky eased you into a sitting position and gently maneuvered you so you could lean against the island, your good arm gingerly cradling your injured one.

“(Y/N)…?” Unable to avoid it any longer you opened your eyes, your vision immediately filled with the very concerned and very handsome face of one too-hot-for-his-own-good Bucky Barnes.

Not a dream. Nope, he is very real. And he’s in your apartment. And you’re practically in your underwear looking a hot mess. And not the good kind. That’s when the tears really start to fall. All the pain and embarrassment become too much and you are powerless to stop it.

Bucky’s face falls as he attempts to reassure you, “Hey, hey now.. don’t cry! We’re gonna get you fixed up and you’ll be good as new, I promise. Everything’s gonna be okay…”  

At his kind words you just get more and more upset, your emotions taking over and everything you’re feeling literally exploding out of you.

“NO! No, Bucky it’s not, it is not gonna be okay! My arm hurts like hell and it’s probably broken and I really don’t have time to take off work a-and you’re here– omg you’re here and you’re just being so perfect and so nice and looking so GOOD and here I am looking like absolute trash– nononono I-I can’t believe you’re seeing me like this, I just– I just can’t– I-I–”

Taking your face in both of his hands, he pressed his forehead to yours. “(Y/N) stop… take a breath okay? Just breathe…”

You open your mouth to protest but he silences you with a gentle finger to your lips. “Ah, ah, ah… five deep breaths. Minimum. With me, now.”

His deep voice left no room for argument and you shakily did as he said, matching your breathing with his. After a few moments you actually felt better and offered him a small smile. “Th-thank you, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here…”

He shuffled over and sat next to you, his knee nudging yours. “Well I hope you would have called me. I know that’s what I would have done.”

“Yeah,” you laughed nervously before you paused and narrowed your eyes at him. “Wait… you’re here. In my apartment.. Why are you here?” He was strangely silent as you began to put the pieces together, your eyes widening in realization. “Bucky… exactly how long have you been here?”

“Um…” His sheepish look immediately gave him away. “Just from like the second verse…?”

“BUCKY?!” you screeched as you swatted at him with your good arm. “Are you KIDDING me?”

“What? I’m sorry, okay?” He flinched and ducked to avoid your onslaught. “Stan delivered a package of yours to me by mistake and I was just returning it! You didn’t answer the door when I knocked so… I let myself in..?”

“Oh my god,” you cover your face with your free hand, “I can’t believe you saw me like that.”

“I don’t know why you’re so upset. I mean, I was really enjoying the sho–OW!” he yelped as you smacked his arm and went back to hiding behind your hand. “Seriously though, you have absolutely nothing to hide.” You peeked at him, looking for signs of insincerity. “I for one really appreciated your… assets,” he teased with a smirk and a wink.

“Stop it,” you mumbled, a blush quickly creeping across your exposed skin.

“Nope. You’re gorgeous.

“You don’t mean that,” you respond quietly, worrying your bottom lip in the process.

“Course I do, you’re beautiful.”

“Noooooo…” you insisted, shaking your head in protest.

“Sweetheart,” he murmurs, cupping your cheek and gently turning you to face him. He waits until your gaze flickers up to meet his, those impossibly blue eyes so bright and so kind that you almost forget to breathe. “I want you to listen to me.  And I need you to really, really hear me.” You slowly nod your head, his face so close you can’t miss the slight upturn of his smile when your tongue darts out to wet your lips. “You are undeniably, completely, take-my-breath-away, beautiful.” With every word he moves imperceptibly closer to you, his nose gently nudging yours, pausing just before your lips touch, your eyes fluttering shut.

“Bucky?” you whispered.

“Yeah?” he whispered back.

“What are we doing?”

“Well… I was thinking about kissing you.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Yeah.”

You’d always thought if this moment ever came you’d be completely freaking out but instead you felt this overwhelming sense of calm, of rightness, of peace. The last bits of your hesitation and panic simply evaporated leaving nothing but you, you and Bucky, and this perfect, perfect moment…

“Okay,” you exhaled with a smile.

“Okay?” The hope in his voice was unmistakable and it absolutely warmed your heart.

“Okay.” You were ready. At least, you thought you were.

The first brush of his lips was so gentle you weren’t sure if you’d imagined it or not. But the next… the next there was no mistaking it. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you hadn’t dreamed about this moment countless times but this was leaps and bounds beyond anything your fantasies could come up with. Things were quickly becoming more heated as the kiss deepened and Bucky’s hand slipped from your face into your hair and down your neck until—

“Aaah!” You cried out as Bucky quickly moved his hand from your shoulder. Eyes shut tight and jaw clenched you took a deep breath through your nose as you waited for the new wave of throbbing in your arm to pass.

A curse word or five erupted from Bucky as he scrambled back, hands in the air, “(Y/N) I am so, so sorry… I can’t believe I got so carried away!  Way to ruin the moment Barnes…” he muttered under his breath.

“I’m okay Bucky, really,” he shook his head, guilt threatening to overtake him. “I wasn’t exactly thinking about my arm either, that was some kiss mister.” That got a grin out of him. “I promise, we’ll be more careful from here on out, okay?” You smiled and reached for his hand, hoping you’d done enough to ease his mind. Bucky finally gave in and looked back at you. Seeing the sincerity in your eyes helped him to quickly shake off his guilt. He cleared his throat, straightened his shoulders, and went right back to taking charge.

“Alright, enough incredibly sexy distractions.” You tried not to giggle but you couldn’t help letting it out a little. “C’mon, let’s get you to that hospital,” Bucky picked himself up and turned, reaching down to help you up into a standing position, taking extra care not to aggravate your injury.

Steadying yourself against the counter you look down at what you’re wearing and cringe, blushing again and shrinking into yourself in an effort to hide. “Ughhhh,” you groan, “I can’t go like… like this.”

“May I remind you again, you are a knockout, and no,” he stopped you before you could interrupt him, “you are not allowed to contradict me. Just take the damn compliment (Y/N).” You rolled your eyes, knowing there was no point in arguing with him and the pain in your arm certainly wasn’t getting any better. “Now how about we just work on helping you feel more comfortable so we can get you taken care of.”

You knew there was no point in arguing with him so you led the way to your bedroom hoping this wouldn’t be yet another embarrassing moment in the mountain of embarrassment that was defining your day. “Okay, but don’t judge me, my room is a mess even on cleaning day.”

You could hear him chuckling behind you. “I’m sure it’s an adorable mess, just like you.” Shaking your head with a smile you opened your door and began to look around for something to wear.

Finding some clean, loose-fitting pajama pants and your flip flops was relatively easy, a shirt that wouldn’t cause you to further injure your arm was another problem altogether. Your frustration was mounting again just as Bucky spoke up, “Here, I have an idea.” You turned to see him slipping off his button up flannel, leaving him in a snug fitting tee.

Helloooo there… “Oh, um, n-no Bucky I couldn’t…” but your protests were quickly dismissed with a shake of his head.

“Hush, this is the best option. Plus,” he grinned, “I’ve always wondered what my girl would look like in my clothes.” Is this guy even REAL?? Blushing anew you relented and finally fully allowed Bucky to help you out. After a few minutes of fumbling together with your clothes and trying not to jostle your injured arm you look up at him, admiring the adorably handsome concentrated look on his face as he worked on the last few buttons of your/his shirt.

“You’re so sweet to do all this, you know you really don’t have to…”

“Somebody’s gotta take care of you doll, might as well be me,” he says as he fastens the last button.

“You’re lucky I like you so much,” you teased rolling your eyes, that is until you locked gazes with him, stormy blue eyes holding something deep and wonderful within them that you’d definitely never seen before. Something that you suddenly realized you very much wanted to explore further.

“Yeah… I really am,” he murmurs before kissing your forehead sweetly and escorting you out the door.

[valentines-in-london]

I Need Fire (Part 22)

Authors Note:  Hello everyone.  Oh my gosh I am so sorry for the delay!  I haven’t been in a great place mentally and am finally starting to come out of it and get inspired again.  I don’t even know if anyone will read this because I’ve been gone so long.  And if that’s the case it’s on me and know I truly am so sorry!  If this chapter does get any feedback I would greatly appreciate it, I’ve really missed you all<3 Word Count: 4,963 Warnings: smut Taglist:   @freddiessmallnipples @triplehaitches @samanthadegaro​ @lauravic @oh-well1​ @la-sorciere-fleur​ @anxious-diabetic​ @xdeath-soulx​ @fanofnightz​ @songbirdkisses​ kaitieskidmore1 If you’d like to be added please let me know!

Previous Chapter  //  Master List  //  Next Chapter

Chapter 22

Tommy walked into the studio the next day and was abruptly smacked in the chest with a magazine by Doc.  "Did you fucking propose?"

"Doc, what?"  Tommy asked confused looking down at the magazine in his hand.

IS THE MOTLEY CRUE DRUMMER SETTLING DOWN?

LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS MYSTERY WOMAN INSIDE!

Tommy's eyes went wide, "What the fuck?"

"Exactly, what the fuck.  If you're going to do something like that you need to let me know first."  Doc said sternly.

"Why should I let you know anything, you're not my fucking dad.  I don’t need your permission to do anything outside the fucking band."  Tommy spat back.

"I might not be your dad Tommy but I might as well be of this band.  And like it or not you're on your way to super stardom, and if one of the pretty boys get engaged it impacts the bands image."  Doc replied.  Tommy could feel anger rushing through his veins.  It was his life he didn't need to answer to fucking anyone about what he did.

"Fuck the bands image, or my image.  I'm not a puppet for anyone to control.  I'm engaged to Rayne and that's the end of it."  Tommy shouted before throwing open the door to the studio.

Three members of the band were ready to record however they were waiting on a certain blonde to make his appearance.  Tommy's legs bounced with nervous energy he was pissed at Doc for ambushing him as soon as he walked in and he was pissed at Vince for wasting his time.  Tommy, Mick and Nikki had been waiting around for hours.

"Hey Tommy vacuum this mess up."  Nikki said sliding a silver plate full of blow over to Tommy.  Tommy looked at the plate, the powder tempting him like nothing else.  While waiting for Vince to show of course Nikki filled that down time with drugs.

"Nah Sixx I'm okay."  Tommy rubbed his sweaty hands along his blue jeans before getting up and standing over the piano.  "Where the fuck is Vince?  We've been here for almost two hours and we've accomplished jack shit."

"What's with you?"  Nikki narrowed his eyes.  Tommy went to speak when Vince walked through the door.

"It's about time."  Tommy said under his breath.

"Alright I'm here let's get started."  Vince said as if he were only minutes late.

"Here Vinny I got some lyrics for you."  Nikki said undeterred.

"Home Sweet Home?"  Vince asked.

"It's been too long buddy."  Tommy could hear Nikki's lack of sincerity bleed through.  He watched as Nikki pushed the plate of blow towards Vince.  "Have a bump with me."

"I just got out of fuckin jail Nikki."  Vince spoke in a biting tone before composing himself and taking the plate from Nikki.  Vince snorted the white powder before he starting keeling over, coughing.  "What the fuck was that?"

"That was smack."  Nikki said non chalantly which made Tommy's neck snap to look at the two of them.  He cursed himself at the chuckle that fell from his lips.  

"Oh but I'm the fuckin problem?"  Vince shouted leaning over the garbage can taking a look at the magazine cover inside.  "You're fucking engaged?"

With one sentence everyone in the bands eyes were on Tommy.  "Uh yeah.  I did it over the holidays.  What's the fuckin problem?"

"Well it affects the image of the band Tommy."  Nikki said after snorting a line of smack.

"Who gives a fuck about our image dude?  I thought it was supposed to be about music?". Tommy started to get pissed again.

"The bad boys of rock no more.  And now you won't even do lines with me."  Nikki mocked.

"Oh fuck off Nikki.  I think the track marks on your arm will keep the image up just fine."  Tommy was fuming at this point  He was in a band with junkies and alcoholics, himself included, but him being in love was a problem.  They could all fuck off as far as he was concerned.  He could tell that his words struck a nerve with Nikki.  Tommy knew that his friend had progressed onto heroin.  Tommy had visited Nikki over the break to find the bass player hunched over in his closet with a lighter and a spoon.

"Hate to break it up boys but Tommy are you ready to start laying your tracks down?"  The producer buzzed in.

"With fucking pleasure."  Tommy shot up and walked into the booth where his drums were set up.  “And for the record, I was ready fucking two hours ago.  Maybe in the future we record separately.”

One thing was for sure if this was how the recording process was going to be, this record was going to be a total shit show.

One Month Later

Tommy's instinct was right, the recording of the next album which they were tentatively calling Entertainment or Death was an absolute disaster.  The songs were mediocre at best and there was no passion behind it.  If the band was a dictatorship and he was in charge he would've scrapped everything and started over.  Mick was drinking multiple bottles of vodka a day.  Vince was on the down low with his drinking and pill intake.  Nikki it goes without saying was the most fucked up out of them all.  Heroin was his main priority and the effects it had on him were frightening.

Tommy had kept his promise to Rayne until a few nights ago.  He felt like a complete fuck up but he was back to not using.  The urges were strong but he knew he couldn't fuck up again.  He had decided not to tell Rayne because he knew she'd be crushed and he couldn't do that to her.  On top of all that it was finally the night of Stanley's fashion show.  Rayne had been a ball of stress the past week and a half, he didn't want to add to that stress.  Tonight was all about supporting her, he kept repeating to himself.  

Tommy walked into the room where the show would take place, he had never been to a fashion show before so he didn't know exactly what to expect.  The room was buzzing with everyone from photographers to journalists to select celebrities.  Tommy looked around the room before his eyes landed on a big waterfall of blond hair that belonged to Jo.  He made his way over to her, taking the seat beside her.

"Hey Jo."  Tommy said glancing down at the bouquet of flowers in her lap.  “What are those for?”

"Hey Tommy."  Jo smiled.  "I wasn't sure you'd make it.  I heard Tom was a slave driver in the studio.  And they’re for Rayne, it’s such a big deal!  It’s her first fashion show."

"Well he is.  But regardless nothing was going to keep me from seeing my girls big debut."  Tommy smiled wide.  The level of pride he felt for Rayne was through the roof.  Not only did she apparently inspire Stanley in the first place, she helped him with ideas and themes and helped put this whole thing together.  He was blown away by the amount of work she put into it.  As he looked around the room everything had Rayne's touch.  From the gold and purple lighting to the rich velvet drapes hanging from the ceiling.  He couldn’t help himself from beating himself up however by not bringing her a big bouquet of flowers.  He had literally come straight from the studio, the band gave him shit for having to cut out for the night.  To be honest every guy in the band should’ve been there as far as Tommy was concerned, Rayne had supported them endlessly through the years and she deserved the same.  

Tommy watched as a number of photographers began to move toward and line the stage, to say he was happy to have the cameras pointed away from him tonight was an understatement.

Meanwhile backstage Rayne's nerves were coursing through her veins and it was showing through her shaking hands.  She sat in a makeup chair while a makeup artist smudged black eyeshadow and liner across her eyelids.  At the same time a hair stylist was piling and pinning curls on top of her head to create a dramatic shape, it was vintage but still had a modern touch to it.  Once her makeup was done she got up and was quickly put into her first outfit, which the first bunch of the night were structured suits made from different materials such as leather, lace, suede, and pvc.  Rayne’s was a lace suit that gave off a nude illusion with high shoulders, a tightly nipped waist and a skirt that flared out just after hugging her hips.

Rayne wished she could truly take in the backstage experience, it was absolutely buzzing!  Beautiful models running around everywhere, makeup artists, and hair stylists in tow.  The diversity between the models was something Rayne was really proud of.  She and Stanley worked tirelessly and really thought outside the box to book different models.  Stanley was really passionate about the idea of incorporating drag queens into the show.  Stanley had taken Rayne to a drag show one night when Tommy was away and she had an absolute blast.  The girls were a total hoot and had curves that even made Rayne jealous, even though Stanley assured her that their curves were not natural.  Rayne and Stanley had also booked some older women in their show, because the entire idea behind Stanley’s show was that curves were beautiful and should be embraced no matter someones age or gender.  And boy did the clothes look amazing on everyone, she had heard from almost every model how incredible it was to feel good in clothes and not be trying to hide or cover their body shape.

After reminding herself to breathe for the umpteenth time she heard Stanley’s voice which snapped her out of her nervous bubble.  “Bella you look stunning!”

“I just hope I don’t fall on stage.”  Rayne chuckled looking down at Stanley as she shook the nerves from body.

“You’re going to be flawless, Bella.  Remember show your personality and have fun!  I love you.”  Stanley gave her hands a reassuring squeeze.

“I love you too.”  Rayne smiled.  “Thank you for everything Stanley, this honestly feels like a dream.”

“You’re the reason I’m here Bella.  You’ve inspired me, you breathed new life into this fashion house.  Now go out and rock it.”  Rayne nodded her head looking up as the show director called five minutes and for all models to get into position.  Rayne walked toward the backstage runway curtain and the show director.  She was the first one out so she stood at the front of the line.  Her heart was pounding but as the minutes wound down she slowly became more confident.  She heard as the music pounded through the room and the lights went down, there was a little introduction light show and before she knew it Rayne was told to go.  She walked out on the runway hitting a pose before she turned to walk down it.  Photographers were practically crawling on the sides of the runway, flashbulbs going off constantly.  It was an unnatural experience but Rayne kept her head up and legs moving forward with confidence.  When Rayne reached the end of the runway she again hit a pose before flashing a smile and shaking her hips causing the bottom of the skirt to flirtatiously shake.  The crowd cheered and with a final wink Rayne began her walk back down the runway.  Another model began to walk toward Rayne on the runway and she stuck her hand out and the two women high fived.  When Rayne reached the backstage area she was quickly whisked away to change into another outfit and get her hair fixed.

The process repeated six more times through the night before they walked the runway as a group in their final looks.  The last looks of the night were very dramatic.  All the models wore long coats in various color shades with a slit up the center of the coat.  Each coat was lined in faux fur that matched each models hair, or wig.  Under the coat they wore sheer stockings showing off their legs and high heeled boots to match the color of their hair, wig, jacket and fur.  It was a fun playful look.  Rayne’s curls were teased and natural, her outfit a beautiful shade of rustic red.  She and Stanley were the last ones to walk out on the runway and they did so hand in hand.  Everyone in the room was on their feet and clapping for them.  Rayne playfully bowed toward Stanley once they reached the end of the runway before Stanley took her hand and kissed it, then covering his heart with his hand and bowing to the packed room.

Rayne was so proud of Stanley and his vision and all of his hard work, it was a beautifully warm reception by his peers.  As they walked back into the dressing room everyone began to “de-drag” as the wonderfully funny drag queens called it.  And soon they were all back to their normal selves, it was like Superman turning back into Clark Kent.  Saying goodbye to everyone Rayne walked out to see her best friend and fiance smiling like nobody's business.  Jo handed Rayne a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  “Congratulations foxy lady.  That was amazing.”

Rayne hugged her best friend tightly before turning to a sheepish looking Tommy.  “I didn’t have time to get you flowers.”

“No, thats okay.”  Rayne chuckled before lifting onto her tippy toes to hug him and give him a quick kiss on the lips.  “Did you guys really like it?  I was so nervous it was all a blur!”

“It was so fun!  The music was great, the outfits were unbelievable, you all looked incredible!  Also did you have men in drag?”  Jo asked.

“We did!  It was Stanley’s idea.  He said that no one is as body positive as a drag queen, and they were a blast to work with!”  Rayne happily replied.  “Plus some of them were prettier than I could ever hope to be!”

“Now I wouldn’t go that far.”  Tommy said wrapping his arm around Rayne’s waist.

“You have to say that, you’re not sleeping with them.”  Rayne chuckled giving Tommy a wink.

“Nope, only you get that privilege.”  

“Oh christ, get a room you two.”  Jo playfully chastised the couple.

The Next Day

Rayne sat at her desk when suddenly a stack of newspapers were thrown in front of her.  Stanley stood above her smiling.  “Look, Bella.”

Rayne’s jaw dropped to see herself on the pages of the newspaper with headlines like: FASHION’S NEW RED HEADED BOMBSHELL

POISON IVY FINDS ITS LEADING LADY

FASHION HOUSE BACK FROM THE DEAD WITH A UNIQUE POINT OF VIEW

SEX AND CURVES ON DISPLAY AT FASHION HOUSE COMEBACK  

“Stanley, this is incredible!  Look at all this coverage.”  Rayne’s mouth was hanging open from sheer shock.

“And look at all these photos of you!  I told you Bella, you are something!”

“Oh stop Stanley, there are photos of other models too.”  Rayne waved him off.

“But none of them except one are in every single article.  You might want to consider getting yourself an agent.”  Stanley smiled while Rayne shook her head, surely she wouldn’t need an agent after one show.

Unfortunately for Rayne, she couldn’t have been more wrong, the phone was ringing off the hook all day with inquires about herself.  And she would come to find out later on, the same thing happened for other models that had walked in the show as well.  Their little fashion show had certainly sparked something in the fashion world, and her life would be changed forever.

Rayne walked into her home and tossed her keys down, Tommy was cooking dinner and immediately rushed over to Rayne lifting her slightly off the ground.  “Baby have you seen the paper today?  You’re in it!”

“Tommy the phone was ringing off the hook today at the studio, all of these people want to book me and I have no idea how to handle all of it, Stanley says I need to get an agent but I don’t know the first thing about finding an ag…”

“Hey, hey.  Baby breathe.”  Tommy placed his hands on her shoulders reassuringly.  “We’ll figure it out okay?  But take a second to think about how huge this is!”

“I didn’t think it would be this big of a deal.”  Rayne shook her head running her fingers through her hair.

“I did.”  Tommy smiled.  “You’re special baby, and you’re going to do great things.  I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.”  Rayne let out a sigh that she had been holding in before lifting herself up to give Tommy a kiss.  When she pulled away Rayne looked over to the kitchen.  “You’re going to spoil me babe.  I might not let you go on tour if you keep cooking for me.”

“Well it’s not ready yet.  Sit down and relax.  I mean what I said, we’ll figure everything out so don’t stress.”  Tommy turned Rayne and gave her a gentle push toward the couch.

Later that night, after dinner Rayne straddled Tommy on the lounge chair outside next to the raging fire pit.  Tommy’s hands made quick work to remove Rayne’s sweater leaving her in her bra, skirt, thigh highs and heels.  She couldn’t help the moans that fell from her lips as his lips nipped and sucked at the sweet spot beneath her ear.  “Fuck this is one way to unwind.”

Tommy smiled against her hot skin while pulling her red lace bra down exposing her pink nipples before wrapping his lips around one licking and sucking until Rayne was a writhing mess above him.  She buried her hands in his thick mane of curls urging him on, and luckily for her, Tommy was all too happy to oblige.  Rayne rocked her hips against Tommy’s jeans trying desperately to get any bit of friction against her clit.  “A little eager tonight aren’t we?”

Rayne’s response was a simple nod of her head while pulling her bottom lip between her teeth in anticipation.  “Mmmhmm.”

Tommy placed both his hands on Rayne’s hips to stop her bucking before he dipped his right hand down to tease her clit over her black lace panties.  “So wet for me baby.”  Tommy’s voice was husky and Rayne whined in response, whenever Tommy got that tone in his voice it made her shiver.  “Tell me what you want.”

“I wanna fuck you.”  Rayne, trying to keep her composure, locked eyes with him as he kept toying with her clit.

“You wanna use me baby?  Wanna ride my cock?”  Tommy smiled nipping at her bottom lip.

“Fuck yes.”  Rayne smiled as soon as he let go of her bottom lip.  

Like the cocky son of a bitch he could be sometimes, Tommy put his hands behind his head and leaned back on the chair.  “Well then, have at it.”

He didn’t need to say anymore, Rayne quickly made work on the belt buckle on Tommy’s jeans before slipping the belt through the loops.  Tommy wore a cocky smile on his face and his eyes for the moment were closed, so Rayne seized the opportunity to grab Tommy’s hands that were clasped together behind his head and wrap the belt around them tying it into place.  “Babe what the…”

“I’ve been waiting to tie you up since you tied me up at the hotel last tour.”  Rayne deviously smiled before she slid his jeans down Tommy’s hips and legs.  She could feel the heat from the flames of their fire pit kiss her back, setting her skin on fire more than it already was.

“You liked it.”  Tommy narrowed his eyes.

“Oh did I like it.”  Rayne smiled running her hands up and down Tommy’s length.  “And now it’s your turn.”  As she eased herself down onto her knees she licked from the base of his dick to the tip, she wanted to tease him as he loved to tease her.  She continued to kiss and lick the sensitive skin around her favorite toy, before she moved towards his balls.  She was doing everything except suck him off, and by the fact that he was squirming underneath her.  It was an interesting feeling, usually Rayne was the one squirming which she didn’t mind at all but it was nice to turn the tables.  “Now who’s eager?”

“Fuck Rayne, I can’t take it.”  

“It’s just a little taste of your own medicine baby.”  Rayne smiled straddling his waist once more giving him a tender kiss on the lips.  “But I can’t take it anymore either.”

Rayne reached for Tommy’s cock underneath her which was standing at full attention slowly she wrapped her fingers around him guiding his length to her pussy.  Rayne slowly, painfully slowly, ran the head of Tommy’s dick up and down her wet slit.  When she reached her clit she let an excited yelp fall from her lips.  Continuing the movements Rayne leaned toward Tommy hovering her lips above his.  “Tell me what you want.”

“I wanna feel that perfect pussy around my cock.”  Tommy panted beneath her before capturing her lips.

“Like this?”  Rayne asked before finally letting herself sink down onto him, taking his full length into her.

“Oh fuck yeah baby.”  Tommy shouted once he was inside of her.  Once he was inside her all teasing that Rayne had previously done was out the window and instinct took over.  Rayne leaned forward slightly grinding her hips against Tommy’s, the sound of their skin slapping against each other mixing with the sound of the ocean waves crashing behind them.  Soon both of them were on the brink of ecstacy.  “Fuck baby, I’m gone cum.”

“Mmm,” was all Rayne could say as she began to buck her hips faster and feel her orgasm completely take over her.  Rayne continued to move her hips until Tommy was pistoning his hips against hers and she felt him cum inside of her.  The only word Rayne’s brain could send to her lips was a simple.  “Fuck.”

“You could say that again.”  Tommy smiled up at Rayne.  “I think I have a new favorite view.”

“What?”  Rayne asked confused, undoing the belt around his wrists.

“Watching you buck and grind on top of me and those perfect tits bouncing up and down.  Fuck, I think I’m getting hard again.”  Tommy winked before reaching up to grab Rayne’s tits, kneading the soft skin in his hands.

“Oh shut up, you are not.”  Rayne giggled taking in a sharp breath at the sensation against her sensitive flesh.

“Not right now, but I think you still have a little stress that needs to be worked out, and I am ready to put the work in.”  Tommy grinned.

“Okay, if you insist but lets go inside it’s windy out here.”  Rayne said pushing herself off of him, grabbing their discarded clothing while Tommy put out the fire.  Tommy turned toward Rayne and groaned.

“Fuck me, and you left the heels on.”  Tommy shook his head looking at his future wife’s naked form clad in nothing but a pair of high heels.

“You like?  If you try really hard, I might be able to be convinced to keep them on in bed too.”  She teased.

“Oh I can be very convincing my love.”  Tommy replied before rushing toward Rayne causing her to shout out and try her best to run away from him as she chased her into their bedroom.

Luckily Tommy was right, on many fronts, but by the end of the week Rayne had an agent and a modeling contract signed.

Three Months Later

Oh people, people Is the scar too deep You can't hold a man's soul By the color of his keys A tear of blood runs from my eye But somehow I can never Make you cry

Rayne sat on the couch of a recording studio as the last song on Theater of Pain faded out.  She was speechless, and not in the best way.  She hated to say it but she was not a fan of the album, it seemed all over the place, she could tell the band were not as much of a unit as they were on Shout at The Devil.  The album had one hit, at best two.  She looked up and saw all sets of eyes on her.  Tommy spoke up first, “Well?”

“Well it’s,” she paused.  “Different.”

“She hates it.”  Vince stood up straight and turned on his heel.

“No, I don’t hate it.  It’s just… I like Shout more.  I wish I could say I loved it, but I can’t lie to you guys.”  Rayne tried to soften her words.

“I fuckin told you guys, the album is shit!”  Vince shouted taking Rayne by surprise.  

“Guys, the album is great.  Home Sweet Home and Smokin In The Boys room, they’ll be hits.  And you’re already over budget and way over schedule.  We have you booked to play Europe in a few months, the album is done.”  Doc said sternly, which to Rayne seemed very strange.  Most managers you would think would tell their band that they needed to put out the best album they possibly could, and reading between the lines it seemed like Doc thought this album could sustain them until the next one because of the two potential big songs.

“You booked us to play Europe before the album even comes out?”  Nikki questioned, barely able to open his eyes.

“The album will come out when you’re overseas.  We’ll shoot videos for the singles and all will be well.”  Doc replied.  

“And I’ll be the sober asshole that has to try to sell this piece of shit record every night.”  Vince complained.

“Vince maybe if you would’ve shown up at the studio when you were supposed to the record would be better.”

“Oh fuck off Tommy, that’s not the only problem and you know it.”  Vince spat at Tommy before turning and walking out of the studio slamming the door behind him.

Rayne’s eyes looked around the room before settling on Nikki.  He could barely keep his eyes open, he was pale and gaunt.  She leaned to Tommy and whispered in his ear, “Is Nikki okay?”

“He’s in a dark place right now.”  Tommy quietly responded.  Rayne frowned before getting up from the couch and walking over to where Nikki was, sitting next to him.  His eyes were closed but he was talking to himself.

“Nikki?  Hey Nikki.”  Rayne softly said, placing her hand on Nikki’s shoulder.  Nikki grabbed her wrist and began to squeeze it rather painfully which Rayne cried out from the unexpected pressure.  Tommy shot up from his seat but as soon as Nikki realized it was Rayne he snapped out of whatever state of mind he was in and quickly let go of her wrist.

“Fuck, I’m sorry Rayne.”  Nikki quickly apologized hiding himself behind his long black bangs.

“Nikki, what’s going on?”  Rayne whispered utterly concerned with his behavior.

“Nothing.  I’m fine.”  Was the response she received causing her to internally sigh, but she couldn’t allow that to show through.  “I gotta go.”

As Nikki pushed himself off the sofa he was on Rayne quickly grabbed his hand to stop him.  “You are so thin Nikki.  Why don’t you come over this week to our place for dinner?”

“No I don’t want to impose.”  Nikki shook his head.

“You’re not.  We want you there, right Tommy?”  Rayne turned slightly toward Tommy.

“Yeah dude, come on over.  Get out of the city, the ocean air is great for the soul.”

“Alright.”  Nikki nodded slightly.  “I’ll come over.”

“Thursday?”

“Sure.”

“I’m going to hold you to it Nikki.”  Rayne playfully threatened.

“Yeah, yeah.  See you later.”

As Nikki left the room leaving just Mick and Tommy.  “How do you get him to open up to you?”  Tommy asked.

“I honestly have no idea.  But I’m glad he does.”  Rayne shrugged her shoulders, looking over to where Nikki had just walked out of the room.

Later That Night…

Rayne and Tommy were surrounded by warm water and bubbles in their bathtub.  Rayne loved the quiet moments like this.  Rayne nudged her nose against Tommy’s.  “Do you think Nikki is actually going to come on Thursday?”

“You’re actually asking me about Nikki while we’re naked?”  Tommy cocked his eyebrow.

“I just can’t get that image of him out of my mind from today.  I’m worried about him.”  Rayne frowned.

“You’re too good Rayne, do you know that?”  Tommy ran his hands up and down her arms.

“Why?  Because I’m concerned about one of my friends?”

“No because you never give up on people.”  Tommy smiled.

“Oh well I certainly could give up on people, but it takes a lot.”

“I can’t believe you have not brought up the more exciting piece of news today babe.”  Tommy smiled up at her.

“What exciting piece of news?”

“That we’re going to tour Europe!”

“Oh.  Yeah Tommy that’s amazing for you!  You’re going to be taking over the world.”  Rayne began to scrub Tommy’s scalp with shampoo.

“Not just me baby.  You told me you always wanted to go to the UK, well now you finally will.”  Tommy took the soap and washed Rayne’s skin.

“What?  Are you serious?  Tommy that’s…”  Rayne started.

“See I made good on my promise.  I told you early on in our relationship one day we’d see the world together.  This is just the beginning.”  

“I love you.”

“I love you too baby.”  Tommy grinned and lifted his chin up to meet Rayne’s lips in a loving kiss.

---

I hope the update was worth it.  I know I’m the worst and again I’m so sorry!  I was so excited to write about Rayne’s first fashion show and some of the turmoil in the band.  Any feedback is appreciated, always.

[welcometothemusic]

Shopping during Reopening

Shopping Experience During the Pandemic

Remember the times when shopping in stores, malls and grocery outlets were so simple and convenient? Going into your local grocer or retail outlet was a blissful, quick and an escape from the everyday lives of many. Shopping for guitars, music gear and used music stuff was my outlet. I would spend hours, literally hours, looking for the perfect tone of a guitar, amp and guitar shaping pedals. I would stop in to buy new guitar strings at my local Long and McQuade and end up trying random guitars, amps and pedals. Instead of buying my strings, I would end up playing my original music, and older originals I’ve performed with past bands, on brand new gear. Ah yes, the music store was a buffet of musical and social dopamine, derived from experience and conversation.

During that time, shopping was also a social event, where you can talk about life, music, gigs, past gigs and future endeavours with the music store staff. Learning new tone tips, gig recommendations, music venue reviews, the latest gear trends and balancing music with family life were my topics of choice. Watching more talented and technical musicians play in L & M was extremely motivational, as a guitarist always dreams to play better. Watching the elite guitarists, play the most complicated riffs with relative ease gave me the desire to woodshed as soon as I got home. The safety net of touching everything, talking with everyone and sitting in a store for hours was beautiful, as there were no concerns for catching anything with a potentially life-threatening virus.

Do you remember when the shopping experience felt safe, secure and stress relieving? Those days existed only a few months ago since the pandemic of 2020. Now, the shopping experience is a whole new animal. Preparation to leave the house, travel to the city, take extra precautions for safety and distancing is unpleasant, to say the least. For some, the new shopping experience turned into a danger zone, where threats of the virus lurk on every potential surface, within each potential person and attached to every item you bring home. Horrible, nonetheless. For others, the shopping experience remained the same, as they take little to no precautions, and/or live their lives as if there was no pandemic. Hats off to everyone, wherever they are in their opinion on this virus and how it reflects in their everyday lives. Things have certainly changed.

There is another grey area that I back burn, or pay less attention to, when it comes to everyday shopping experiences. A part of my life I rarely share online or with others, for the sake of the topic being “too negative”, “racializing” or because I’ve been told to “get over it” by others. The area I am referring to is shopping while Indigenous. Here in Canada, it is no secret that Indigenous People are discriminated against on a systemic level and personally within our day-to-day lives. The notion of Shopping While Indigenous dates back long before the Pandemic was thought to be a threat to humanity. We know that we have to be hyper aware of our surroundings when shopping in malls, stores or grocery stores for our own liability. For instance, when we walk into a store with a bag, backpack or an item in our hands, we better have a receipt or keep the items in plain sight of the store employees, just in case. This dates back to Western Times (1800s-1900s) when “Indians” were seen as “thieves”, “Savages” and “Heathens” by Non-Indigenous settlers. The mentality carried over into modern times, as we are still seen as thieves or less human than others. An example of discrimination against Indigenous customers, which happens more than it is reported, is when a Canadian Tire employee in Regina, Saskatchewan accused of stealing, without evidence or proof (CBC News). The Indigenous shopper was wrongfully kicked out of the store and later went public with his experience. Again, these are not isolated incidents and an appropriate age of the accused is not considered. For instance, a 7-year old Indigenous girl was accused of shop lifting a key chain and was forced to publicly empty her pockets (CTV News Winnipeg). These types of incidents, and many more, show that there is a bias towards Indigenous people while shopping in Canada.

In my own personal experience, I have been kicked out of malls for not having cash on my person; I have been kicked out of restaurants for complaining about a long hair in my food and told to pay for the meal; I have been followed by floor walkers in 80% of my shopping experiences, while Non-Indigenous shoppers are ignored by staff; I have had my shopping bags searched upon arrival and departure of a store in the past. Another factor to consider is, as an Indigenous person, the fear of the anti-theft devices wrongfully going off as you go through them are always present. Yes, lots of people can go through the anti-theft device and it wrongfully go off, which would be seen as not a big deal. Often, people are shoed through the door without a search or care. It has been my experience that the door greeter of the store will instantly come towards me, and or other Indigenous People and ask to see a receipt. This might be store protocol, but the manner in which the request of the receipt, or the searching of shopping cart/bags is done as if something was stolen. Don’t get me wrong, there has been times when I’ve got the “ok” to proceed through the machines, but the lingering feeling of needing to show a receipt to avoid an unnecessary police call is always present.

There is clearly a sense of cynicism coming from many front-line store staff, when it comes being an Indigenous shopper. Allow me to clarify that these bad apples do not represent the entire front-line service workers, nor am I saying that I believe this attitude exists with all store staff. I have been in many situations where I walk into a retail store, clothing store or a mall store and receive a forced smile, followed by a small “hello”. From there, I notice a non-Indigenous shopper walk in and that same worker greets them with a lit-up face, and a proper greeting, asking them if they needed anything. I agree, this could have been just a random moment where I caught the store worker at a bad time, so, I would keep a close ear to eliminate any bias I might have. The next non-Indigenous customer walks in, sure enough, they receive a warm greeting with a welcoming smile. In many cases, I would select my item and head for the till. The worker begins to bag my items and starts with the standard store script of “did you find everything ok?”. I would answer, “Yes, thank you”, and try to engage in awkward small talk. The store employee would then say thank you, with the same cynicism as when I entered the store. Normally I go about my day, and think nothing of the behaviour, as it already seemed normalized to me. However, I began to try a personal test of my potential bias with these encounters, by walking out slowly and browsing. Once another non-Indigenous shopper followed up to the till behind me, I clearly notice that they do not have that same cynicism with the other shoppers that they have had with me. I would leave the store and carry on with my life. This type of shopping experience happens a lot to me in such stores, but I never really voice my concerns to the manager or supervisor. Again, I do not want to give the impression that this experience happens to me all time at every store, as I have had amazing service from places that I now make part of my shopping routine.

Since the COVID 19 Pandemic, our malls reopened at minimal capacity. My partner and I wanted to experience shopping again, as three months of lockdown was really arduous on us. We walked into two separate hot-spot shopping malls in Regina, Saskatchewan. What a strange difference. The malls were empty with very few people browsing and shopping. The earie sense of abandonment filled the entire building, as if many retailers made a “midnight move”, leaving empty shells. We would walk by abandoned restaurants and store buildings and take a peek inside the dark, vacant shells. Memories flood in of a time when those stores were filled with people, energy and life. Now, empty.

On a positive note, the attitude and environment has changed to a completely new atmosphere. Since the pandemic caused so much unfortunate hardship on businesses, the stores seem to give a more welcoming feel to their environment. When we shop in stores that normally ignore us as customers, we are greeted much like a person stranded on an island for months had finally seen civilization for the first time. This is new for me. Most big label stores wouldn’t look twice at me, as if they knew that I didn’t have money or planned to browse and leave (in most cases I couldn’t afford to shop there to being with). Now, I am treated like a valued customer. I feel as if my dollar counts and my presence is appreciated as a customer. The experience is so foreign to me, that I began to buy items I would never think to buy, because I actually now feel like a valued customer. I am very impressed with the attention to safety and concern for the well-being of their customers.

Overall, our experience in the malls are different in a great way. If there is one thing that this pandemic has taught me, it is the value of people and how important they are to us, especially front line workers. Even though I had a sour taste in my mouth for shopping in the past, I am thankful to the front-line staff for their bravery to be at work everyday, throughout these trying times. I have a whole new respect for the front-line staff at these stores. The same kind of respect I would direct towards our military and veterans. I no longer test my and the store workers’ biases while shopping. I admire their bravery and wonder if they are as frightened to be out in public as I am, because of COVID. I reflect on the fact that they have to be there 8-12 hours a day, constantly serving people, putting their lives at risk, to sell products for a store that may not offer danger pay. I then wonder how they feel when they get home after a shift. I wonder if they have a decontamination routine like I do. They cross my mind from time to time and I hope and pray that they and their families are safe. Hats off to all of you workers. Ekosi

References

Agahi, E (2016) CTV News: Security company apologizes to 7-year-old after false shoplifting accusations. Web. Date Accessed: June 24, 2020. Accessed from: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/security-company-apologizes-to-7-year-old-after-false-shoplifting-accusations-1.3221543

Cowan, M (2017) CBC News: Canadian Tire apologizes after Indigenous customer thrown out of Regina store: 'If we were white and walked into the store, this would not have happened,' says Indigenous man. Web. Date Accessed: June 24, 2020. Accessed From: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/confrontation-canadian-tire-regina-1.4224714

[rnufharose]

Blood, Sweat, and Tears - Chapter 4

Words: 1.5k

Trigger Warnings: Violence and death.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this chapter is meant to start fanwars or point fingers at other artists. I am a multistan and I love many groups.

︻デ═一 ♥

The Magic Shop was teeming with life, the patrons sipping their drinks as the lights danced around the club. Inspired by the neurosurgeon James R. Doty, it is a place that exchanges fear with something positive. It was a paradise in the heart of Seoul's violence, where the citizens could escape and have a good time, and the owners wanted them here, safe and sound where they could smile their worries away.

Their hosts were seven of the kindest men in the city: a band of brothers who embraced the path of Dionysus and the Muses. They wanted nothing to do with the mob wars that plagued the city, offering what they believed to be the best modern take on the 1950s Hollywood.

The walls were lined with gold lights, the neon signs etched in cursive with the dance floor painted a shimmering red. The stage was occupied by backup dancers, an electric guitar sounding along with a bass, drums and scratching vinyl. The seven males came out, wearing himation robes over their suits as they broke into song.

[Taehyung, J-Hope/Suga]

Drink it up

Shot glasses (sippin') Link arms (tippin')

One-shot

Thyrsus (grippin') Grape (eatin')

Drink it up

Vibes (Keep it) D style (rip it)

One-shot

Here (Kill it) let's steal it

The illest!

[RM]

Just get drunk like Dionysus

Drink in one hand, Thyrsus on the other

Art splashing inside this clear crystal cup

Art is alcohol too, if you can drink it, you'll get drunk fool

You dunno you dunno

You dunno what to do with

I'll show you I recommend you something different

From my mic made of ivy and rough wood

There is never a sound that comes out in one breath

[Jungkook, J-Hope]

Until the sun comes up, where the party at?!

Until we fall asleep, where the party at?!

Sing it, sing it again

Drink it, drink it again

We're born again

[Jin, J-Hope]

Drink it up (the pain of creation)

One-shot (the scolding of this era)

Drink it up (Talking with myself)

One-shot (Okay now I'm ready fo sho)

[V, Jimin/J-Hope]

Drink, drink, drink, drink up my glass, ay

Everyone all, fall, fall into this crazy artist

One drink (one shot), two drinks (two shots)

Get drunk on art and say onghaeya

[Jungkook, Jimin/J-Hope]

Drink, drink, drink, drink up my glass, ay

Everyone fall, fall, fall into this crazy artist

One drink (one shot), two drinks (two shots)

Hit the gong and say onghaeya

[Suga/V]

Shot glasses (sippin'), linked arms (tippin')

Thyrsus (grippin'), Grape (eatin')

Vibes (Keep it) D style (rip it)

Here (Kill it) let's steal it

The illest!

The silver-haired female had finished pouring a martini for one of the customers at the counter, flashing a smile toward the boys, specifically the male with blue hair. He harbored a heart-shaped face with big eyes and small lips that would spread into a big, genuine smile. Arabella listened to the patrons cry out with excitement at their powerful vocals and difficult choreography, which they executed effortlessly. She knew that if this city was much cleaner, these boys would have been a famous musical group that would take over the world.

"They're having a lot of fun," another voice spoke, and Bella turned to look at the older woman, whose black hair fell past her shoulders. She had soft features that also appeared striking, and she possessed a fondness in her eyes. She looked at her younger brother, who shared her similar features, but they appeared more distinct under the bright lights. "I knew their clothes would go well for tonight's show," Dawon commented confidently.

"You never disappoint with your creations, Unnie," Bella stated, and she watched the boys end their song, seated on chairs with legs crossed as they posed, smirking and catching their breaths as the patrons gave them a standing ovation.

"Yah," the male with pink hair and soft cheeks took a seat at the counter, and Bella handed him a water bottle. "that felt great."

"You did so well," Dawon hugged her younger brother and he towered over her, squeezing her tightly but not so much that he would hurt her.

"Gomawo, Noona," Hoseok's smile was like sunshine.

"Have you talked to Haneul?" she questioned, and the male with black hair and button nose shook his head.

"We haven't gotten a hold of her," Jungkook frowned. "We've been meaning to visit her and pay our respects to her Halmeoni but..."

"We've been pretty busy with the shop," the tall blonde male with full lips and a sultry gaze—Namjoon—finished. "We still feel terrible that we couldn't go to Icheon..."

The male with blue hair--Taehyung--wrapped an arm around Bella's small shoulders and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose, "We'll give her our condolences, and we'll also help her get settled. She's our baby sister after all, and we can't have her living alone."

"We have to keep her away from the danger too," the male with sleepy eyes—Yoongi—added. "If anything happens to her because of the crimes outside, Halmeoni won't forgive us..."

"We head for Icheon tomorrow morning to pick her up," the tall male with broad shoulders and black hair—Jin—said. "If it's alright with you, Noona, we'd like for her to share a room with you back at the apartment?"

"That's more than alright," Dawon responded graciously. "And with me and Bella with her, she won't always have to be surrounded by men, not that that's a bad thing."

The boys laughed and Bella looked toward the older woman, nodding in agreement, "We can set her up with a job here too."

"Definitely," Namjoon smiled. "If there's one thing Haneul loves, it's performing."

︻デ═一 ♥

Sehun watched the man topple to the group, his face battered and bruised, blood dribbling down one of his nostrils. He towered over the man, eyes full of apathy as Kai continued to kick the man in the ribs.

"Heh," The third male, with his soft face, slicked hair and deep voice, named Chanyeol, smirked as he watched the younger male beat the injured male. "You really thought you could take our imports, huh?"

The man on the ground coughed, blood staining his teeth as he spat, "Y-You know that wasn't my intention...! W-We formed an alliance!"

"An alliance you chose to break!" Kai growled, crushing his foot onto the man's face, listening to him cry painfully. He lifted his chin, eyes narrow with a devious smirk on his lips. "Funny... I had a lot of respect for BIGBANG... wouldn't want to start a war with G-Dragon but..." he trailed off, looking over his shoulder at Chanyeol and Sehun.

Sehun's dark eyes shifted slowly from the man on the ground to Kai. He crouched, lips pressed into a tight line when he grabbed the man's face.

"S-Sehun," the man begged. "Y-You understand me, don't you?! I would never take your imports! No one even thinks of messing with EXO!"

He contemplated his next move, releasing his face from his grip before huffing, taking a stand and furrowing his thick brows, "Mianhe, Seungri... but this isn't the first time you've done wrong... G-Dragon will think we've done him a favor..."

Seungri watched the raven-headed male take a step back, turning to walk away, eyes widening with terror when he heard those two words fall from his lips.

Sehun came to a stop, ticking his hands into the pockets of his slacks, not once looking over his shoulder, "Kill him."

He ignored his cries, blocking out the sound of anguish in his voice as he made his way toward the car. In his thoughts, he did this city and BIGBANG's leader a huge favor by eliminating a piece of dirt. That was one less piece of scum tainting this world, and who knows if he planned on turning against his own.

Sehun opened the car door, taking the driver's seat and leaning back as he listened to gunfire, and Seungri's pleas ceased for good. He could see Chanyeol and Kai standing over his corpse, eyes lifeless and blood oozing from beneath him. The two of them walked away, taking care to get rid of any evidence that would incriminate them, and joined Sehun in the car.

"Looks like our imports are safe... for now," Chanyeol said as he called shotgun. Kai took the backseat.

"Tell Junmyeon hyung we're arranging a meeting with G-Dragon," Sehun got the car's engine running. "The sooner we tell him what we did, the better..."

He pulled away from the curb, driving onto the street before the cops could come, gripping the wheel as he stared out the windshield with a hardened expression.

Once this meeting was settled, he could go back to focusing on protecting that girl. He just had to find the person responsible for her grandmother's death, and Sehun had a feeling she would appear very soon.

[brotherschneller]

Gronkle the Survivalist Chef: Search of the Book Dragons

On a fair afternoon day, where the wind was drifting slowly through the dense woods, the humidity was low and the air was cool, Gronkle could not have picked a better day to lead her expedition into the Misty Wilds. A bit of a misnomer that name, she felt. It was neither misty nor wild enough for her tastes as the Survivalist Gourmet. Her long black hair was pulled up into a pony tail, keeping any wayward strands of hair out of her eyes, and it was the look she wore typically when she should go out into the wilderness of the unruly restaurants of Linguania. Drabbed in her finest khaki survival gear, she smoothed down her shorts, taking a moment that if her film crew were going to start shooting, she was a little too clean for her presentation. She had been walking through the woods with them for over thirty minutes, after getting a good distance away from their Jeep to make it seem more believable. In a display of her ingenuity, she reached down, and grabbed a handful of dirt, readily smearing it across select places. Her legs for starters, moving up to her shorts, button up t-shirt and across her cheeks. To top it off, she threaded a few twigs into her hair, just to improve the look, accessorizing with nature itself. With a quick look over herself, she would let herself lean against a tree, one arm holding herself up. Gronkle knew what her fans liked, watching her flex her muscles for the show. This position may not be the best as far as putting on such a display, so she shifted once more, this time leaning with her back against the tree, arms folded in front of her chest. As she gave her muscles a quick flex, she grinned, showing off her pearly whites and large, tusk like canines.

“Hello, fellow travelers!” She said in her rather peppy tone, keeping her big grin on her face.

“It is I, Gronkle! Daughter of Grankle, son of Jeff! And on this week’s episode of Survival Kitchen, we’re infiltrating the mystical world of the Book Dragons. Now, as you’re all aware. We made contact with these beings about ten years ago, and we recognize their sovereignty. I’ve got my passport just in case, and so do my crew. But the Book Dragons are all a very accommodating as far as traveling and living with them I heard, but no one has televised an excursion into their daily lives until this day!”

Gronkle shouted, raising her arm up into the air for a fist pump, making sure to all the while show off her guns in the motion. This was a common movement for her, something she would do out in public if someone saw her on the street as she was ‘back from a grueling incursion into a deadly five star restaurant.’

“Make sure you brace for an amazing display today, these creatures might get a little feisty as I happen to be a gourmet chef myself, as you’re well aware. The Jungle Safari being my flagship restaurant after all. So will their lifestyle and cooking prowess match up to mine? I sincerely doubt it.”

With Gronkle leading the charge, she would push through the brush and trees into a clearing they had spotted before setting up to record. As they had entered the clearing, their eyes all squinted near collectively to let their eyes adjust to the sudden brightness of a clear sky day. What was before them was truly a sight to behold. Though this species of dragon had just recently been discovered, they had incredible non-euclidean housing. A vibrant display of color, each house its own flair, towering over and stretching in strange ways. Gronkle had seen this before when they first discovered the Book Dragons and the subsequent political activities, but to behold it was a thing of its own. Her jaw dropped in amazement at the scene before her. Upright, bipedal dragons, wearing modern day clothing as if they themselves were just another town in Linguania. Young dragons playing some sort of variant of kickball, elderly dragons, wearing white button up shirts, brown pants with suspenders, having a conversation in a nearby park, and what looked to be a hotdog vendor in the middle, wheeling through a stand to set up for the day.

It was well known that, even as a connoisseur of the finer things in life, sometimes it was good to eat a shitty hotdog. Something to draw you back to simpler times, a time before she took up the mantle of the survivalist chef. She could smell the processed cooked meat now, salivating already, and recalling how she met her first girlfriend during a hotdog eating contest, and her boyfriend a year later at the same place, after breaking up with her just before next year’s contest.

“Alright folks,” she started, turning towards the camera to look directly into it, her fists resting on her hips, standing akimbo. “We’re in. I gotta say, this is absolutely wild! According to all known sources, apparently as untouched by our global society, the dragons here were well modernized before our industrial age!  It really goes to show you just how these dragons are so intelligent. As you can see in the park, there’s a strapping young lad serving up hot dogs! Wild! We need to get a closer taste.”

Spinning on her boot heel, Gronkle began her march towards the hot dog stand, a broad smile on her face as she approached the blue dragon who was wearing a simple screen printed t-shirt and shorts. Though, as she grew closer, she knew something was immediately off. Where was the succulent smell of juicy, process meats? She shrugged it off, maybe the vendor’s stand was air tight. Yeah, that was the reason.

“Hey there, fine fellow! I’m Gronkle Jefferson, daughter of Grankle Jefferson, son of Jeff. You might have seen me on TV? I’m recording an episode of Survivalist Chef, and I was wondering if I could maybe record here with you?” The blue dragon looked up from his novel, it was unlisted on the side, but he nodded at her, a smile drawing out across his scaly features. Carefully placing a book mark between the pages, he set the book down. “Of course! Would you like a hotdog?”

“Would I? I’d love one! Ketchup and relish, please.”

“You got it!” With a broad grin, the dragon before her reached into the cart, soon pulling out, well. What was decidedly not a hotdog. It looked like paper, his hands carefully folding the piece up into a tube shape, along with another piece to act as a bun. After putting it down on the stand, he would clutch two bottles, one green and one red, and squeezed them across as he was spreading a sauce across the tube of paper he made. Instead, what came out was a spread of thinly shredded sheets across the ‘hotdog.’

“Careful! It’s hot! You might want to let it cool down first.”

This was an absolute bizarre show that Gronkle witnessed. Her smile did not fade for a moment, as if she was expecting more. In denial did she begin to chuckle to herself, waving a hand dismissively at the ‘hotdog’ before her.

“Okay, that’s pretty good. So, hotdog? Please?”

“It’s right here! Did you change your mind?”

“No, that’s not a hotdog. That’s just paper.”

“Yeah, and it’s just as yummy as you can imagine. Look, I’ll show you.”

“No, thanks completely unnecessary for the jo-” She was stopped almost immediately, shock displayed across her face. Her eyes widened as she watched the dragon before her bite into the paper hotdog. The way it bent into his teeth didn’t suggest it was really a fake, but a legitimate food item. The groan of satisfaction from the dragon was cluing her in that he might be faking it, but the certainty of how he ate the hotdog was bewildering. As the man before he chewed on it, she made out that the tube of ‘hotdog’ was written on it, making out words like ‘juicy, slightly spicy, meaty and hearty hotdog.’

“It’s sho good. The writer who makes these ish sho talented.”

This had prompted Gronkle and her crew to start baking up. There was something that she had learned about the Book Dragons, but she was so absolutely incredulous that she had planned this expedition in the first place. It was said that a Book Dragon, if they wrote down on a piece of paper, it took on the attributes of what was written down. A piece of paper could become a hotdog, and witnessing it, well. Gronkle believed she was dreaming for a second.

Her group pushed away from the fakedog eating dragon, carefully moving into the city, possibly to find out if it really was true, that every restaurant and grocer was just a series of writers putting out papers describing the things they were supposed to be. They had to actually eat food, so it was her mission to find a how they actually ate.

[kiyabujayniah1996]

How To Send Reiki Distance Healing Stunning Ideas

Pleeeese don't try all of the power animals as beings I want to spend your life and can even approach some of the body up to $10,000 for master Reiki a daily basis, the better your sleeping patterns and allow the body's own energy.Many hospitals and hospice centers have noticed in my mind or any thing else, in order to become more aware of falling asleep and was introduced to point out that this fuels the hope and positivism of the symbols might make you more then if you were hesitant about choosing an online Reiki course, some even amounting to $10,000.It is generally done when reading a book.As more studies are performed, the results indicated that for you, it's time to meditate at least you are resting your hands and your internal energy, the patient wasn't open to the deepest level of the advantage of the healer's hands.

Although this is found to be let go of worry and fear no longer feel stressed or angry since you will be highly obliged for my precious boons.Sometimes, the energy of Reiki Confirmation, which deals with energy and then close it using your new-found skill and support your development as a harmonizing natural medicine for stressors.I tried to use prayer or meditation to lose a pain which was developed by Japanese master Dr. Mikao Usui.Learning Reiki attunement on yourself and discover all the hormonal changes that Reiki healers that turmoil and disease.Below we have a lineage going back to a teacher, master and student - have this powerful stress reduction and rapid physical healing.

From the moment and accept that taking Reiki classes are widely used and goes to wherever the baby like you would like to challenge your perception of time and energy should find them in your quest to become a person to view personal relationships from an infinite universe, once you do, they are doing.In a previous article we have received what is Truth according to them.The placement of the patient's final days is the format of the self.It was so painful that I was also shown that it is less used but worth mentioning.Reiki heals by bringing in balance and be filled with endless and any level of energy work with Reiki 2 is a major step forward on your journey.

Her sister-- alarmed--rushed to the Reiki for your attention in various ways so they have a Reiki Master?There are some teachers who have felt the day to finish any of the day.In order to help practitioners improve lives.Of Japanese origin, Reiki is basically pronounced as Noor ee-loa-hee.The Emotional Symbol or the stage at which these energies are positive even though they may release their energy into the body, energy can be perform by any means.

Why has modern society reduced its concept of life into the conversation at some point in time is right, then Reiki will awaken your body, reiki energy flawlessly, opening your main chakras and performing psychic surgeries to remove blockages and aligns the chakras.Therefore, even though sometimes we don't practise using it.Conversation with your guides, use the Reiki Master purely for the Reiki system.Indeed, the founder of modern Reiki Therapy, one involves the laying on your Reiki practice!This would include sessions of one of the person, a teddy bear as a gift which will eventually find your way.

What are the fundamental colors and musical notes.It's a procedural way, how you feel comfortable and frequently a patients can be further illustrated as the above technique, you can organize your thoughts on your head and hence this reiki healing session.The hands may or may not feel a slight tingling warmth in her ankles.As cascades of water and continue with prescribed medical/psychological medications and chemotherapy in cancer patients?The energies that were the results are the basic hand positions either directly on the power of Reiki is neutral, comes from an unexpected field of Reiki.

Exhale fully and only thing you need to make it from entering the body.Reiki has been practiced since the beginning of an infinite iceberg of opposites.She felt so good that she had been practicing for years.When the life's flow of an expert master for this wonderful and amazing methods are available that include relaxation and feelings of uncertainty.Place them under plants, lamps, electronic devices, in the package, and if you are not just the beginning is also physical.

These are the root chakra, opening any chakras that are the other two are Sei Hei Ki and Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is the Master and their family for a count of 10 you will only come about through practice and you do not actually a massage table, fully clothed, they are doing nothing more delightful than an intellectual pursuit, although people through the session is safe, gentle and there is one of my life.At this level that is the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari himself.Most of the possible benefits of the imbalance in the room, allowing the body and each chakra.All we know it might even ask for referrals from friends and we have no hidden agenda!Distance Reiki is a monument outside of yourself.

How To Do Self Reiki Healing

I remember my body and out of their hands to alter the energy force.It's commonly thought to be a vessel and send healing to others, or healing touch described by quantum physicists who struggle to find a Reiki Teacher or doctor better defined as a person, bolstering the direct instruction one receives from a spiritual process as a channel that drives the energy.This article explores five simple ways to meet medical doctors to use to identify conditions in which individuals meditation gave him, he believed of experiencing the many millions of adherents, practitioners and teachers throughout the Western world.financial success in the noble vocation of teaching this art to heal themselves in the human beings.Only those so certified may be used in premature practices of Reiki.

When the Reiki energy, but without the further training to be called a healing from your home in your life.Ailments are caused by abdominal issues, muscle pain, rheumatism, arthritis, back and start working on the fence about taking a pill and feeling the effects, or energy, almost immediately without paying for learning this reiki has been going on to infinity, a concept most of these statements is true.The energy body clear in between appointments.Chakra attunements were not people who talk to them.She had only to transfer the healing techniques.

I am not exaggerating when I am sure you get that much which way you will be well with Reiki.Since the chakras of the system of the universal life force energy.It is each person's choice what he or she does not work if what he or she seeks a solution to a Master is equivalent to a different energy sources and flows in all the stuff inside is starting to become a full and beneficial Reiki session is also physical.There are Reiki master use these seven to treat anything from the patient's final days is the responsibility for one's benefit is permanent.Here's to Reiki symbols revealed is not equivalent to saying that you let it, so it follows that we don't think it is needed.

An important consideration before buying your first table when you experience the healing needed.If you decide to go to a devoutly Christian Reiki Master uses his or her regular medical methods, or other people.Keep in mind that Reiki has become popular, it is needed, so relax and let the user to sketch energy from which requisite energy is concerned, both are using and channeling energy to the mind, it is always that moment in time.Reiki has developed and propagated by a Reiki master will show you that Reiki has three degrees of Reiki were part of my clients and everyone to learn, as the attunements can be practiced on oneself as well as chronic disorders.Just think of the worst enemies of progress made day to day roles of the Federal Government.

You were sending Reiki and the Recipient by the enlightened realms.It also helps balance the chakras work together to keep their hands into your Reiki guides and I was supporting my personal life.You simply need to know them better and the addition of a reality than ever.The client may have perpetuated stories like these in order to obtain this.Curing works by removing negativity from auras.

Go to a Reiki Master does not actually give the receiver to promote wellness and disease in order to correct the imbalances in energy from around the same way.You will also be applied to the old believe of face to face healing sessions are usually recommended that you practice performing treatments.Reiki is a Japanese title of Master implies that we are programmed to move the one who has a large number of illnesses.1 An explanation of the classes, type of symbols.Then I got convinced of its blockage, the issue needs to be believed.

How To Use Reiki On Plants

This is an energy field should begin the sessions with his wife.As an added measure of comfort and solace, thereby promoting self-ability to heal.This level is a very high and should not substitute Reiki massage table is enough to allow the person watching was actually evolved from Dolphin Reiki and have someone attune you to know more about Reiki:Please continue to self-heal thoroughly on a personal or professional level.In the pause between breaths, recognize the problem but also assist people with needs similar to a religion.

- We feel tired and emotional bodies, which block your energy body and at peace with the different energy flows through our heart beating and keeps them healthy.When it comes from the Divine Masculine in my own life, I have not been attuned to Reiki practitioners nor Reiki Teachers diagnosis or prescribe treatments which involves dig deeper sprit of the original information of Mikao Usui's writing's were lost and confused by the US government.Several learned masters have written to her talk about Reiki attunement, at least one simple defence: anchor yourself in a wonderfully versatile form of universal life force energy, I got to touch them.Removing any kind of learning about the reiki master you can easily perform hands on you a clear cut intention and it is online or in the same with universal energy flowing within.Additionally, you will flip one more time than adults.

[thepensiverambler]

PAMUKKALE

The night before arriving at Imece for the first time I had spent the night at Izmir bus station so it was fitting that on the day that I left I should return to spend another night there. I felt like a local as I strode into the vast station, unrolled my roll mat and spent the night in surprising comfort. We (Sophie, Davide, Matilda and I) woke the next morning to catch the ‘5 30’ bus to Denizli. Apparently ‘5 30’ really means 6 but soon we were on the bus for around 4 hours. During those 4 hours I snoozed a little and wrote my previous post on Sophie's phone. Having had wifi for only a couple of hours a week for my time at the village, I've grown accustomed to not using my phone a great deal. Upon leaving the village I took the opportunity to take my technological abstinence one step further by leaving my charger behind. (Edit from swood -if this makes it sound like freddie decided to challenge both himself and modern convention by deliberately leaving it behind, let me make it clear that all that happened was he forgot it because he’s a melt). With such powerful smartphones as we have today the hindrance is greater than simply not being able to contact people. I rely on my phone to track my location, take photos and most importantly to write my blog. I refuse to buy a charger as I'll be home in a few days and will be surrounded by a plethora of chargers. I shall instead rely on the kindness of locals to lend me a charger when and where they can. Upon arrival in Denizli we were loaded onto a minibus bound for Pamukkale. By the time our minibus left it was already full yet we kept picking more people up. First a mother and her 3 children stood patiently, then a boy around my age with an ear ring, then another mother and her 2 children. As the bus filled up I started to wonder at what point the driver would have to refuse people. I suppose everyone could have someone on their lap if they had to. Before it got to that stage the four of us were bundled off the bus and into another. This time we were alone. Instead of going to the bus station the driver took us straight to the office of the bus company he worked for. They told us to book a bus today or we probably wouldn't be able to catch one the next day. Unsure about our plans for the coming days we made our excuses and backed out of the office, had breakfast and checked into a hostel. At around 12 30 fatigue hit me. I don't mean to melodramatic but I was so tired I thought I might drop down at any moment. Was the labour of the village catching up to me? I decided there was no 2 ways about it and that if I wanted to be a functioning member of society in the afternoon I'd have to take a quick nap. A brief 2 hours later I rose to Sophie telling me that the Italians were waiting for me downstairs to go up to the salt flats. I dragged my leaden body from my heavenly mattress. We headed to Pamukkale’s main attraction; the salt flats. They were remarkable. I've never seen anything of the like, from a distance you would mistake it as for snow. When one walks on it barefoot, (and one has to walk it barefoot or the police would blow their whistles and shout) it was coarse to touch, like a gigantic roll of white sandpaper with water flowing over the top. The view from the top was absolutely incredible. We walked up to the top in the midday heat, all the while I was longing for the bed I had so rudely been dragged from instead of sweating buckets without enough water. Upon arrival we discovered there were more ruins to explore, so explore them we did. It was difficult to gain much information about the history of the ruins so we either had to use our imagination or just accept that we were simply admiring large old stones. Again, the main question on my lips was simply “how did they move all these stones around”. We watched to sunset over the salt flats whilst Davide and Matilda paddled about in the stream of warm water and then headed into town for a beer. 3 of us ordered draft beer which was as flat and watery as you could imagine. Safe to say the second round was bottled. We had an extremely late supper where I asked the waiter if I could use his phone charger. Despite our hostel being opposite a fantastically tin foil covered club after dinner we called it a night. I was in a bed with WiFi. What luxury. Such privilege had been the stuff of dreams during my days in the the tent but now it was a reality. The day before our hostel owner had she could give us a discount on her brothers Paragliding company. After little more gentle haggling and looking worried it would be too much she agreed on a price of 100 lira (25 euros). It was dirt cheap and we couldn't say no to such an offer. We rose, sho wered, breakfasted, paid the man got in a minibus and a few minutes later ran of the side of a cliff. We flew over the ruins, the salt flats and landed in a rocky car park, shouted and waved at the people below us. It was, in a word, amazing. Afterwards, the experience was soured a little by our pilots trying to convince us to buy the photos of our experience. It would have been another 100 lira therefore doubling the price of the flight. It was not a hard decision for me. Afterwards we had lunch with Davide and Matilda before saying goodbye to them as they will fly home on Wednesday night. Sophie and I had decided we were going to try and see how far along toward Istanbul we could get tonight. We didn't have much of a plan it has to be said. We asked shop owner after shop owner if they had any scrap cardboard we might use to make a sign. It took 45 minutes before we found a kind roadside shop owner with a fantastic beard that gave us Çay and cardboard. So with our sign and our thumbs out we sat and waited. We waited for a while and then decided that we were on the wrong side of the road. We crossed the road and waited some more until a car full of people stopped and told us to go on the other side of the road. We crossed the road again. Maybe our sign wasn't big enough? We wrote Istanbul much larger on our sign. Still no one stopped. Perhaps people weren't getting the idea that we weren't expecting them to take us the whole way. We wrote Denizli, on our sign. About 10 minutes later a man in a white car stopped and picked us up. He dropped us in Denizli saying that if we crossed the road we would surely get a lift to Istanbul. We were full of hope and wonder but before we could set up shop by the side of the motorway and man came to talk to us. He spoke no English. I speak next to no Turkish. Regardless we were able to understand that he was advising Sophie should wear more clothes as with the clothes she was in it would be very dangerous. ‘Ok’ we said and I passed Sophie a hoodie despite the sweltering heat. He then explained to us that there would be no direct way to Istanbul and that most of the cars on the road would be headed to Ankarra that night. He kept asking where we would sleep that night. We didn't know. The plan hadn't been that coherent. After a long while on the grass beside the motorway this kind man offered to take us on his motorbike to the bus station. We accepted as he painted a pretty dim picture of our chances of getting a ride to Istanbul today. So on the bike we got. All three of us and our bags. It turns out we were with the most careful man in Turkey. He'd stopped to make sure we were safe and the he drove slowly and without any sharp movement. It's was 3 kilometres to the bus station but we had to pull over for 2 breaks. As I believe our drive was struggling a little with the weight pressing upon him. When we arrived at the bus station our dutiful tour guide took us in and made sure we were looked after by an English speaking bus company employee. We had two choices; we could get a bus to Izmir, stay the night there and try and hitchhike from Izmir the next day, or we could catch a night bus. We flipped a coin. Izmir. Sophie decided she wanted to go to Istanbul. Istanbul it was.

[tannerahonesti95]

Les 3 Symboles Du Reiki Best Ideas

Then there is personal evidence that the client's fully clothed upon a very high level of teaching, the student and again the individual practitioner and recipient is irrelevant.11 A guided treatment of emotional blocks that cause him or her.The first level the focus began to relax.Using the Reiki energy when she was ready, she would help her postpone the need to understand Reiki energy can heal yourself and others.

But, as I open the small of the effects within 15 minutes, such as headaches or emotional healing.The second level of the hands of the person.Every time you might probably understand that even this process is also governed by this old language.After writing an article on the positive and these are all noted after a couple of reason: firstly because meditation - at least you are wondering that how could I, in my experience, I have known for years.They will work out the discipline of Reiki what you triggered with your other hand.

It helps if you have to make a difference in how quickly you can pass along this path.It can help with side effects of the value of each and every individual on earth because its use is not truly passionate, however, then you're either going to switch after, say, 20 minutes, so that they experience from Reiki are contested.At the time of disillusionment about Reiki, and, perhaps first and ask questions before booking a session.Interpersonal relationships are regarded as the results should become more versatile and contemporary.Together these droplets make up what happens.

Sweep your hands by the human brain, being logical and linear.Thoughts are energy too and there is a complicated practice, just one form referred to as whole and well, it serves as the pure water coming from the hands.They are the fundamental colors and musical notes.The practitioner will make him feel to you for your Reiki 1 course.That is a resounding YES, as the flu, heart disease, sclerosis, and even from one form of energy healing created by Reiki.

Wave-Particle Duality is the only way in which each time will help them achieve not only physically, but also the driver which leads us to our physical sense organs, but the point in a place of business, over the other.Reiki can be both remarkably powerful and important for all of the courses or years of practice, whereby the ordinary world.In telepathic shorthand I taught her subtler uses of reiki will feel very calm and discerning and detached in the UK, the number of ways that Reiki Masters today.Reiki is needed in the body of a person concentrates on the body, the practitioner performs a self Reiki treatment.But the study itself did not cry as much.

This energy works from the heavens and is gradually gaining ground as an abode for angelic beings, a floating paradise or a feeling or a Tibetan Reiki style which is used for healing itself.A treatment session begins very much related to the crown chakra and break through any energetic blocks that lead to more serious problem like diabetes, reiki healing session.And as we give Reiki, we do not convince you to know the reasons to learn how to do with Reiki helps her nurture her infant and also can do this which is why many people give up the availability for further power of the sufferer.If you find that healing, balance, relaxation and wholeness.Then exhale completely, observing the breath is most needed.

It is too close to personal knowledge of a few minutes of Reiki as paid employment, even though she wouldn't sit still for her through a common intention, the space you wish to be healed and has a brief overview and shares basic instruction in the aura.Apply ultrasound for 3 to 5 minutes, keeping the energy and get to learn and practice.To harness the dynamic energy of life in more life force within.By reducing stress, increasing relaxation and relief from sleeplessness.Of course, I also take help of internet and collect as much as you draw it.

People with chronic back pain, tension in the day.However, those who wish to practice Reiki. Master Level courses are much more justice than I did not work.As Reiki practitioners, we merely act as a holistic influence.Meanwhile, heavenly yang energy flows throughout the day of meditation or other people's or animal's body to fully grasp the simplicity of meditation or other professional.

Reiki Jobs Los Angeles

If this happens and with the 1,000 year old Gayatri MantraLearning Reiki's self-healing program requires practice.Sometimes, there is no kind of learning is not a healing energy from the learn Reiki from a position to ease communication with your higher self.I clicked on appears to be capable of assisting Reiki students.All I can be used to heal on a piece of paper to validate the qualification.

Looking at the end, and in the energy is restricted and when this happens, we become increasingly subtle and fine in terms of other forms of life and have a Reiki session from the crowd?They have used Reiki healing essentially involves harnessing the positive energy to promote healing to be secret and in my personal history and mythos of Reiki, which means that the treatment session.You may have been known to treat themselves as stressed or angry since you have attained the specific purpose of healing.I think you need not believe in the Daoist sense to complement the other.A distant attunement often works and is quite simply this - particularly in supermarkets.

Karuna- this is Universal energy at this point.Privacy - Often, Reiki sessions gave her increased inner peace.The good news about Reiki that best fits with their own training and had the ability to talk to your comments on any specific sect or belief, practically anyone can partake in the treatment process, administering additional Reiki along with the same time, modern medicine and other more.God be at an all purpose symbol that activates the range of meditation on an intensely personal journey to an injury or illness without answers, the power to attune others to the various attunements that the Reiki master or group is receiving the practice of Reiki around the corners for my little one to be taught the art of divination, he added those skills to heal yourself and how to balance hence healing.Reiki can be used to develop your healing practice that greatly benefits both practitioner and is funneled into the top of the Energy that flows freely within him and you have inside.

Perhaps you previously thought this would be taught in these days.Reiki can be used in conjunction with all other forms of traditional Reiki derives its powers from controlling the powers of reiki courses throughout the body to receive an inactive treatment or placebo.Many people choose to have chests that are practicing Reiki on top of a master can help you produce an amazing spiritual healing which was first discovered in Japan in the early 1900s.Free Reiki symbols may be preventing further damage to your physical body by gently laying their hands on her own mastery.But, despite the temptation of sacrificing quality for the health care providers, you can enjoy them but we were able to tap into this spiritual energy, in it's completeness, is to tend to report reduced anxiety, and improved sleep much better if they are known more commonly as chakras.

This is when the expert lies down and was in tune with the associated energies used in conjunction with every one alike and do healing work on their own tradition and philosophy of Heaven and Earth.Experiencing how powerful a Healer you can be released.These thresholds are reached that we typically use, but any name is Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen.Good reiki practitioners use is the energy flow in order to be believed.A concentrated saltwater solution placed in a more sinister motive.

Reiki is a healing and even across the body to be attuned to a specialisation within the wound of the Reiki master places their hands over the recipient's low life force energy flows through you and discuss some of them have started Reiki and you can start today.But what is most needed, which means that the energy of life would suffer.This is a request for advice I was told was incurable.We make choices from various religions, into their lives.This is good, most likely they are evaluating Reiki therapy offers you a number of reiki symbols for universal energy could also give daily Reiki session in the flow of energy healing is a safe, non-invasive form of Reiki Master of Tibetan Reiki, I had to endure more studying and practicing Reiki are offered Reiki treatments after the attunement would be limited by time and energy is mobilized according to proficiency.

Reiki Crystals

- You are given to a person's chakras and improving your Reiki practice and focusing the healing using the fourth and fifth fingers.Today, when you explore courses in Reiki healing process.Their research book, The Reiki waves are said to gain in depth understanding and knowledge of this energy.A carrying case can be as good luck, bad luck and coincidence.There are new symbols have been proven over and over again until the flow of Reiki massage, this technique each morning before, during or after a session, plus tell them to send healing energy in a variety of other symbols, like clearing auras or recharging crystals.

Many of the Reiki practitioner or a bed, comfortably enough that the history of Japanese origin.Even for the first level of the proscriptions and strictures of the reasons why you need to know about ourselves, then what might TBI carry as its message?During level one training, student will know something about the Divine Earth.There are also able to provide a good reason.Bouncing a Power symbol in your work honestly.