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steven1123x · 7 months ago

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Behind The Scenes - Chapter 16: Reunited

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“Okay, Jasmine. I’ll see you at two. And I’ll make sure to bring Steven along.” Rose said she had her phone on speaker.

It was a nice day in Los Angeles. Rose wanted to have a day out with his son, just the two of them, then. Jasmine called her asking if they could come over for lunch, the boys hadn’t seen each other since they left a few weeks prior.

Steven was going to be so excited to see his friend again.

Rose thought that reconnecting with him would be a good idea for both of them, and she could hang out with Jasmine in the process. Maybe even take the boys to the mall or the movies at the end of the week.

Steven felt lonely since Lucas left, and going to California after the incident that happened a few days ago helped tremendously with that. Plus, Steen wants to see his friends and family who all live down here.

Rose hung up the phone after speaking with Jasmine, she walked inside. Steven was on his Nintendo DS, sitting on the couch, he was playing Super Mario Bros. Rose sat by her son.

Steven looks at his mother and pauses the game. he hugged his mom. Rose smiled and hugged him back and kissed his cheek.

“Guess who I was on the phone with,” Rose said.

Steven hummed in thought.

“Jasmine?”

“How’d you know?” she asked. Steven smiles. “Because I’m smart.”

“You are a smart little man,” she said, kissing his hair. Steven giggled, and Rose smiled. She always loved his laugh. Well, they both have the same laugh.

Rose smiled, then Greg walked downstairs wearing a pair of basketball shorts, He walked up to his wife and son and kissed them both on the head.

“Where are you going, Greg?” Rose asked.

“Rollerblading in Santa Monica Pier. What are you doing today?”

“We’re going to Jasmine’s new house today, Steven wants to see Lucas, so why not?”

“Maybe tomorrow we can go down to the movie lot and take a tour also.” his father said. Steven smiled, he had stars in his eyes and he hugged his dad.

“YES! THANK YOU!” he said, not letting go.

“I’m not sure, Schtu-ball we have to see,” Greg said. Steven nods. Then his father walked out the door and went to Santa Monica.

Rose looked at Steven, She got up and Steven stayed there.

“Wait, mom. Aren’t we going?” Steven asked. “Yeah, we're going, I want to ask Garnet if I can borrow her car,” she said.

Steven nodded and waited for his mom. He opened his DS and played more Mario. Steven closed his DS and went upstairs to his temporary room, grabbed his Sonic beanie, and put it on his head. Rose walked downstairs and they were ready to go. Rose had the keys to Garnet’s Lincoln Navigator and they went out the door in the California sun. Rose opened the back door for Steven.

“Do you need help, Steven?” his mother asked.

“No, I’m fine,” he said, finally getting into the car and closing the door. Steven put his seatbelt on and they went to Beverley Hills.

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Steven and Rose both see a luxurious two-story house with an elegant and grand design. Constructed with light-colored materials like stone or stucco, the exterior exudes sophistication. The symmetrical layout of the house is notable, featuring a central arched doorway flanked by tall windows on each side, all adorned with protective ironwork. The second floor boasts additional windows, some with decorative shutters.

Warm lighting illuminates the house, accentuating its architectural beauty. The carefully landscaped front yard includes large trees, neatly trimmed hedges, and flowerbeds, enhancing the property's curb appeal. Enclosed by a wrought-iron fence with stone pillars, the house is accessed via a walkway from the street, creating an inviting and prestigious ambiance characteristic of an upscale residential neighborhood.

With stars in both their eyes, Steven and Rose walked up to the door and Rose knocked. A woman opened it.

“Jasmine!” Rose said, hugging her. Steven gasped as he saw their cat. He ran towards their cat and petted him.

“Hi, Diamond!” he pets her soft fur. Steven smiled and stopped, then he went up the stairs and saw a door, the door was open, and Lucas was inside.

Steven looked at the room and saw a flat-screen TV, and his Nintendo Wii on a black TV stand.

Lucas was drawing at his desk, Steven tapped him on the shoulder. Lucas turned around and hugged the half-human boy.

Lucas smiled and Steven hugged him back. “Well, Isn’t it Steven Quartz Universe!” he said. Steven smiles and hugs him.

“I missed you! how’s LA so far?”

“It’s amazing! and my dad is getting the job next month!”

“Too bad that he won’t be on TV though, my dream is to be on TV, or have my show.”

“Awesome! When you do have your show, let’s always be friends!” Lucas said. Steven smiled and nodded. They played video games for a few hours.

Rose knocks on Lucas’ door. “Hey, Lucas, Steven, you wanna go to the park?” They nod and run out with Steven’s mother.

Steven, Rose, Jasmine, and Rose all go into the car and go to a park in Los Angeles so they can play.

Rose had a basketball in her hands that she’d borrowed from Garnet, Steven and Lucas were going to ride bikes, and Lucas had a spare bike so Steven could ride also.

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The park was coming up, Steven smiled and they both went to play. Steven went on his bike, Lucas and Steven got on their bikes and they rode, Jasmine sat on the bench to read her book.

Rose walks to the basketball courts where a bunch of men are playing a game together. Rose put her hair up in a hair tie walked onto the court and started shooting.

Rose was shooting threes, Steven walked to where his mother was, sat on the bench, and watched her shoot basket after basket.

Steven watched his mother, he wished he could play with her, why not just ask? Steven walked up to his mother, Rose looked and saw his son.

“Hey, Steven,” she said. Steven smiled. “Can I play?” Rose nodded and gave the ball to her son. Steven tried to shoot it but failed. Steven tried to shoot it again but he still failed every time.

“I’m still too short! when am I going to grow, this is dumb, I can’t do anything,” he said.

“Steven,” Rose said, kneeling to his level and putting her arms on his shoulders. “You can do anything, you are an amazing human being.” Steven looked at her.

“But I’m not human…” When Rose heard that, it shattered her. Then, she took his hands into her own.

“Steven… I don’t care if you are not human, I don’t care if you are from space or a different country. You my son, Steven and I love you so much….” Rose paused, then continued. “Do you understand me? I don’t want you talking like that about yourself ever again. Just, stop talking down to yourself.” Rose took her hand and cupped her son’s cheek. "All you need is confidence. you are an amazing person Steven. You can play guitar very well. You are a pretty fast learner in general. Tell you what, when we head back. We can buy a mini basketball hoop for the house.”

Steven hugs her, Rose hugs him back and kisses his head, she ruffles his curly hair, and Steven giggles. Rose smiled and stood up, Steven walked off the court so Rose could keep shooting around.

Lucas and Steven were both swinging on the swings. “Hey, Steven. let’s see who can swing the highest!” his friend said, Steven and Lucas both swung as high as they could, Steven screamed in joy and he laughed. Lucas smiled, he was having so much fun with Steven. He noticed that Steven still had the bracelet that said his name, and Lucas’ braclet sat on his wrist too. Both of them stop swinging and they play on the monkey bars.

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Steven, Rose, Jasmine, and Lucas were going to a restaurant together. They were sitting. Steven was eating some spicy chicken tenders, Lucas got a burger, Rose also got a burger and fries, and Jasmine got a salad.

Steven and Lucas had finished eating and they were talking now. “So, your dad is going to be working next month?”

“Yeah, that’s when my dad’s starting at the Cartoon Network movie lot.” Steven nods.

“Cool!” he said. “Hopefully I get to see all the actors, I hadn’t seen any of them yet,” Steven said.

“Maybe in the future or even as early as tomorrow. I met Sonic The Hedgehog once.”

“NO WAY! WHEN?” Steven asked.

“Last week, he was so nice. I got his autograph,” he said.

“Can I see it when we go back to your house?”

“Yeah!” he said.

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They all went back to the house, Steven and Lucas went to his room and he pointed to a framed picture of the blue blur and a blue-colored messy scrawl across the bottom of his picture of him and Tails.

“Wooooowwww!” Steven said as stars were in his eyes as he saw his favorite video game character’s signature. Steven saw Sonic’s picture also. Lucas smiled as he saw the signed picture of Sonic The Hedgehog

“Steven! Come downstairs I want to tell you something.” Steven walked downstairs with Lucas, both boys went downstairs and towards the kitchen where Rose called him.

“Yeah, mom?” Steven asked.

“Do you boys want to have a sleepover?”

“YES!” Lucas and Steven both said, steven hugged his mother’s legs.

“Thanks, Mom!” Rose smiled and kissed his head.

“I’ll bring a bag for you when I go back to Garnet's.”

“Thanks, mom!” he said, hugging her again. Rose kissed her son on the cheek, Steven saw Diamond jump up on the counter, and she rubbed up against Steven’s arm.

Steven smiled, he got up on a bar stool and petted her. Rose looked at her son and smiled, then she kissed his head.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to pack a bag for you then come back.” she said. Steven hugs her again. “Thanks, mom! I love you.” Rose smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you too, Steven,” she said, walking out the door.

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A|N: Hi guys! I’m hoping that you're enjoying this story so far, I just love writing this story so much for you guys. Sorry it took so long, but I think I’m stuck with some stuff, I’m back now, and I don’t want to rush this either. so… I don’t know what to do, but no matter. Bye, guys!

#comment #like #repost #steven universe #steven quartz universe #rose quartz #greg universe #steven universe actors au #gregrose #writers of tumblr #writers on ao3 #comment on fics #g

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wyuhing · 11 months ago

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hi i'm wong yuhing

but u can just call me yu (please please PLEASE)

this post will double as my accepted portfolio btw but uh hi

i'm an animation student at seneca college (1st year as of posting) and i decided to make this to log my progress because um, yes.

im like really bad at communicating (like. awful) so i hope you don’t mind (your honor, i plead anxiety)

anyway. portfolio. here u are (almost everything is hand-drawn)

hand drawings

you have no idea how long it took to learn the anatomical parts of the hand. i learned how knuckles were formed

they will teach you this in 1st semester life drawing. the construction of bones in the body, that is. you will finally learn where the metacarpals and are how to get carpal tunnel

i kind of don’t know what else to say

interior drawings

okay i actually do know what to say and it’s that perspective is king. obviously yes it needs to be yknow. a bedroom. with stuff in it. but what they’re looking for is not detail, it’s perspective. if you have a lot of stuff but your perspective is all wrong, that’s not it

like are these lines all going to a vanishing point? are all these objects and furniture sized to scale? that’s what they are looking for, and you will learn Interior Layout Made Easy(TM) in 1st sem. exterior and nature scenes is a 2nd sem thing (and also what i am working on as of posting lol).

it took so many tries to make this bedroom look nice… and they aren’t even from opposite corners lmAO

object drawings

also a structural thing, which you actually learn in layout in 1st sem. actually you can boil down every single object in existence to a series of either a rectangular prism or a cylinder and i am not joking

is this object structurally sound? does the object have form, does it adhere to the vanishing points (that are realistically super far apart)? stuff like that

draw any one object per day i promise you it’s an amazing structural exercise. im SO serious.

figure drawings

idk if you should be asking me about figure drawings i barely got out of 1st sem with my life and a 60 but yeah i don’t think they care what kind of figures they are (like 1m gestures, or 20m poses). the ones i drew were both 15m but uh.

for gestures as you may know. they want the gesture. course it had to be relatively proportionate but they want the life in life drawing. movement, form! good line quality! which you will all learn in 1st sem and actually form is a big thing in 2nd sem too.

also by the end you will be able to know every single bone in the body, you will know where the greater tricantor is and how to draw a pelvis.

but please don’t ask me about life drawing i barely survived that class

personal art

wow i hit the photo limit hooray! anyway, i did yet another interior design. why? im gonna be fr w u i just really like drawing backgrounds LOL- of course it’s messed up in all the wrong places but you will know how to fix this in 1st sem. they teach you all the fundies in 1st sem

my other was character design and tbh i cooked up smth random and let it sit. it’s also my only digital piece. really wish i added color but i was on a time crunch at the time.

o by the way you will also learn how to color and render in 2nd sem, i have a 73 in that class idk how i’m still alive.

so yeah that’s my accepted portfolio yayyyy!!!

your honor i plead neurodivergency i don’t know how to end a tumblr post

#wyh tales #seneca animation #seneca college #art #art portfolio

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paleparearchive · 11 months ago

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Sunflowers of Gratitude

Van Gogh's initial 4★ story (3/3) ( 1 - 2 - 3 )

Location: exhibition hallway (morning) ; museum exterior (morning) ; sunflower field (morning) | Characters: Van Gogh, Renoir, Rembrandt, Aoi/MC

Rembrandt: I'm glad the atelier is now cleaaan~

Renoir: Phew… I feel like I've worked a lot today.

Aoi: Ah… Everyone, good job. Looks like you're done with the cleaning. Sorry I couldn't be there to help.

Van Gogh: You had a meeting with an art dealer, didn't you? Don’t worry.

… By the way, what were you doing now?

Aoi: Right now, I was just working on a new layout for the exhibit hall. Everyone worked so hard on the production this month that I wanted to show off the new works in a special way. I'm kind of stuck though. What do I need to do to make your works look better…

Van Gogh: Is that so? If you're stuck, we could help you.

Aoi: Thank you. But it's fine. Just the fact that you cleaned up the mess is enough. It's my job to create an environment where all artists can concentrate on their work.

Van Gogh: (... Miss Curator is truly reliable. This is how she always supports us…)

… Hey, Miss Curator. Can I have some of your time after work?

Aoi: …? Yes, of course.

—

Aoi: Van Gogh-kun, thanks for waiting. Sorry, it took a little longer than expected.

Van Gogh: No, no worries. Well then, let’s go!

Aoi: …? Go where? Ah, maybe to buy art supplies?

Van Gogh: Hahaha, no, not that. There’s something I really want to tell you, Miss Curator.

Aoi: Something you want to tell me…?

Van Gogh: Yeah! So follow me. I want to tell you it in my favorite place because it's important.

—

Aoi: This is…

Van Gogh: Aaah…! It's always nice to come here! After all, the sunflowers are nice, aren't they? Just looking at them makes me smile…

Aoi: Yes… But what's up with us coming all of a sudden here?

Van Gogh: Hehehe… Actually, I just wanted to thank you again.

Aoi: Thank me…?

Van Gogh: Yeah. I’m now able to pursue my dream thanks to you. My dream is to make everyone smile with my paintings. Like sunflowers…

Aoi: … Right. You said so when we first met. I still remember your smile at that time. And I was so moved by it that I took on the job at the Palette Museum.

Van Gogh: Hehehe, thank you.

… But when we met, I wasn't yet skilled enough as an artist. I just kept on painting because I loved it, but I didn't know how to get better at it… But you reached out to me. It’s thanks to you that I’m able to do this now.

Thank you, Miss Curator.

Van Gogh: This sunflower… I’ll give it to you, Miss Curator. Hehehe, this is how I feel now!

Aoi: Van Gogh-kun... I should be the one thanking you. Because thanks to you, I was able to remember how wonderful art is. I would like to continue to support you so that you can shine like a sunflower.

Van Gogh: … Yeah! I’ll grow more and more as an artist, so look forward to it!

You are the reason I smile. Thank you so much for everything you do!

#card tl #card translation #palepare #palepare tl #palette parade #palette parade tl #translation #4★#vincent van gogh #van gogh

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garoujo · 2 years ago

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・✶ ｡ﾟyuuta doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to how good you feel.

♱ warnings — f!reader, inexperienced!yuuta, first times together, aged up characters, unprotected sex. for the previous nonnie in my asks, i hope you see this !

everything with yuuta still felt so new, he could count on one hand the amount of times you’d both been intimate with eachother but it never went past touches of his fingers or your clothed hips against his, and even that didn’t mean he was any closer to not losing his mind whenever he touched you, the slight graze of your skin along his reducing him to sweet moans and soft pants.

you were so pretty, sweet and caring despite his more troubled exterior but you had a way of making him melt into you so quickly, comfortably being able to find a home in your embrace. you’d easily pushed your way into his everyday thoughts until suddenly he’s stuck thinking about you when his hand is wrapped around the base of his pretty, leaking cock everytime you’re apart.

but this, is so much better than he could’ve ever imagined, yuuta thinks as his lips part and his heavy dark gaze stares down at you, a little wide and earnest. “g-god—“ he mumbles, low and choked when his hands tremble and trace along your bare skin to rest on your hips and you whimper, leaning into the touch when you feel the weight of his palm because you’d waited so long for this. you’d become well acquainted with nights of dry humping and long make out sessions but you’d always been patient with him considering how sweet he was to you.

you blink up at him, keeping the silence between you both except from a few shaky exhales from your boyfriend above you, but when you shake your hips a little you watch him blink out his haze with a pink cheeked smile. “are you sure it’s okay?” yuuta breathes, a trembling undercurrent to his voice that’s barely noticeable as he leans over you, pressing a sweet kiss against your lips that’s almost comforting, before you both inhale sharply when the blunt head of his cock rubs along your slick folds.

“yeah, i’m good. promise.” you hum and he nods, placing another chaste kiss against your cheek before reaching down between your bodies to grab the base of his cock, lining himself up.

“i’m j-just going to—“ he breathes and the first swipe of his cock along your folds is clumsy, a little too eager. you hear him sigh under his breath with an almost cute frown before he swallows, a little embarrassed and stumbles back to try again. but you shift, allowing your hand to rest over his when you help him and you watch the jut of his lips relax and curl into a smile when he looks down at you, the head of his cock finally finding the entrance of your flexing cunt.

yuuta whimpers when he finally pushes past your folds, his hand squeezing your hips as he sinks his cock into your warm cunt, your walls flexing harder around him the deeper he goes. “y-you’re so tight, it’s.. so good.” he gasps and you reward the stretch with another squeeze around his blunt head when it glides along the spot that has your thighs twitching either side of him.

“fuck, hnnn—you’re okay?” he asks again and you nod, legs widening to allow him to sink deeper with a sound that’s nothing more than a needy, breathless whine when you feel him bottom out with a drawn out breath followed by a pleased hiss.

yuuta leans over you as he lets you adjust, pushing his face into the crook of your neck and you feel his fingers flex even tighter into your hips when you shuffle under him after a few moments. your pussy is pulsing around his cock eagerly, pulling a more breathless moan from the man above you as he breathes heavy against your skin before he pulls back to frown at you, flushed to his chest and already fucked out as his cock twitches inside of you.

“fuck—i, i just need a few seconds.. you feel too good, ‘m gonna—please.”

#݁ . ࿓ : sealed#jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen smut #jjk x you #jujutsu kaisen x you #yuuta x reader #yuuta smut #yuuta okkotsu x reader #yuuta okkotsu smut #yuuta x you #jujutsu kaisen imagines

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genshinlover101 · 3 years ago

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So let’s say-the trio-Ei,Sara and Yae Miko-they find out that a short gn reader has a crush on one of them respectively(like three seperate scenarios for each of the three girls) so like how would they react along with the other two and whether they would set them up 😏-hope you can understand how I phrased it- :3

Her Setting You Up with Your Crush

Characters: Raiden Shogun, Sara, Yae Miko x gn!reader

Warnings: none

A/n: I hope I did this right :,)

I kind of had the bullet points be random headcannons, and then the short story be more connective and flow together

• Ei was the hardest to get set up with for you needed to get past the Shogun to see her. Such a stern figure was hard to impress and persuade.

• If Sara was helping you: Sara didn’t know Ei, but she knew the Shogun very well. She knew how to break down her cold exterior, but for the interior, you’d be on your own.

• If Miko was helping you: Miko was the opposite of Sara, she didn’t know the Shogun well, but she knew Ei. She’d have to leave it up to you to get her out of her eternal meditation.

Ei sat on a pillow peacefully in the central hall of the Tenshukaku. She was staring at nothing, debating her next course of action, Sara stood patiently by a pillar, protecting her while her guard was down. She had done her end of the bargain, which was to draw Ei out of her Plane of Euthymia.

It seemed like a silent enjoyable setting until Miko barged in the room with you trailing closely behind her. She had made a grand entrance, “sorry Ei dear, I’m going to have to steal Sara from you. For the meantime I’ll leave you with my subordinate here, that should suffice,” Miko announced. Ei had no visible reaction, she merely glanced at you and then back at Miko.

“Very well,” Ei said. Miko quickly gathered Sara as they pardoned themselves. Miko giving you a quick wink before leaving. You stood frozen like a deer in headlights, Ei’s attention now fixated on you. Now was your chance to confess, you were alone with no interruptions.

“Raiden Ei,” In a 45-degree bow, you shouted nice and loud to show your confidence. She seemed shocked you knew she was not Makoto, did Miko perhaps tell you? “I like you, please accept me!”

She sat speechlessly, her posture held in alert and her eyes widened. “S-slow down child, I do not even know you all that well. How do you know I will be a good fit for you?” She questioned your integrity. Miko and Sara peered through a small crack in the door.

“I haven’t seen her blush in decades,” Miko exclaimed silently.

“Is that a good sign?” Sara asked dumbfounded at her leader.

• Sara was only the second hardest to please, she was a strong Tengu General of the Tenryou Commission after all. However, she wasn’t a puppet, she too had emotions.

• If Ei was helping you: Ei was almost useless in this situation, to be honest. She’s only heard rumors of the child from the Shogun, however she was still Sara’s boss and idol.

• If Miko was helping you: Miko was the master of manipulation. How do you think she managed to get this General to turn her back during the Vision Hunt Decree? She’ll know exactly what to do.

Sara lived a lonely existence, no friends, no family, no lover. When you asked Miko to help you she couldn’t stop laughing at your determination to court the ice-cold queen that was known as Sara. Of course, she got Ei to assist her as Sara was her right-hand woman.

You four sat for tea in complete silence. Sara didn’t talk, and Ei didn’t talk, you were awkward, and Miko found this situation laughable. “Ei honey, mind accompanying me to the bathroom? The Tenshukaku is just so big I can hardly remember the layout,” Miko cooed.

Taking Ei’s hand she hastily left the room, giving you a quick thumbs-up behind Sara’s back. Ei only gazed at you, but the glisten in her eye told you good luck. Such an opportunity to sit with the general alone was rare, you’d take it without any regrets or hesitation.

Nervously you gulped loudly. “General Kujou,” she looked up from her reflection in the tea, curious to hear what you had to say. “I like you more than words can describe. If you’d have me, I will take care of you I promise!” You shouted louder than necessary.

Your eyes were squinted shut, scared that such a stern lady would reject you immediately. “Is that so?” Sara averted her eyes once more shyly with a frown painted on her face. “That’s quite embarrassing, but if you’d kindly have me…” Miko and Ei stood behind a wall, peering just slightly so their pretense wouldn’t get detected.

“Hmm I never expected Sara to have a cute side, she’s always so manly,” Miko whined quietly.

“You would be surprised,” Ei commented back.

• Miko wasn’t hard to please, but she was very picky with her food. She had many little mice like you try to seduce her, you’d have to show her you were different than the rest.

• If Ei was helping you: Miko was the only one Ei could rely on in modern days. Therefore she regarded Miko very highly, she knew her teasing nature like the back of her hand as well.

• If Sara was helping you: She was honestly just slightly useless. Her only interactions with the shrine maiden were business-related, but nevertheless, she’d try her best to help you.

Miko stood gazing at the Sacred Sakura tree, Ei beside her. Both of the women enjoy the silence of each other’s company. All three of you discussed that Ei’s job was to make an appointment with Miko, and hold her there till the afternoon. If someone as important as the Shogun was visiting during daytime hours, Miko would surely shoo all her shrine maidens and guests, making a perfect opportunity for you.

The second step in the plan was to get you on sight. Before Sara and you made your entrance, she asked, “are you ready?” You nodded in confidence. As you both walked in, Sara cleared her throat, grabbing their attention. “Almighty Shogun! Please we need assistance below.”

they both stared at each other, “how rude to interrupt my appointment with the Guuji.” She said to make it more convincing. “I will have to excuse myself, you however, will stay to accompany the Priestess while I am away,” she pointed at you as she walked past with Sara. Now was your chance, you thought.

You stood silently at first, not knowing what to do completely. Looking back at the entrance, and then at Miko, you caught your breath. “Lady Miko,” you announced, catching her attention. “Will you do me the honor and accept my feelings for you.” You bowed in respect to your mistress.

Miko giggled in amusement, such a young human having a crush on her? This will be exciting. “Very well,” she sighed loudly. “Entertain me, I will be in your hands from now on,” she bowed back to show mutual respect. Sara and Ei peered from the corner of a building.

They both looked at each other in awe. Such a lady as Yae Miko so easily entrusting her hand in romance to a mere human. Not that they didn’t believe in you, but they didn’t expect it to happen without convincing.

#raiden shogun x reader #sara x reader #yae miko x reader #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #raiden shogun #kujou sara #yae miko

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mochacoffee · 5 years ago

Photo

I created a 3D model and floor plan of Aziraphale’s bookshop in Good Omens!

I really wanted one for reference and it seemed like many others did too, so I put together my best approximation of where everything is. Beneath the color version, you’ll see I’ve included two simplified, labeled versions of the plan. The verbal labels are so you know what the object is. The numerical labels are there to make it easy to find more information about the object. I’ve put a numbered index below the cut that features the relevant reference images I used for each object and some more information about why I put it where I did/why it’s relevant/etc. I want to be very clear that I did not add anything to this from my own imagination; every single item and feature represents something I actually saw in the shop.

If you have any questions or want more information about this, PLEASE do not hesitate to ask! I put so much time into figuring it out and I would be more than happy to be a resource for anyone who needs it. Also, if you notice any errors, let me know and I’ll update the post. I hope this is helpful!

Update: Here’s a link to an interactive view of the shop! It takes a moment to load. You can click the “3D” tab in the top right to view it in first person and walk around inside. Double click a spot on the floor to move there and pan around by clicking and dragging. The oval symbol next to the person walking gives you a birds-eye view.

Update 2: Here’s a higher quality rendering of the first person perspective! Update 3: I made an alternate first person render here complete with a ceiling, light fixtures, and ambient lighting from outside. This one is optimized for making it seem more like you’re actually there, whereas the previous one is for maximum visibility. This render also has some minor accuracy improvements, which are detailed under the cut in the relevant sections. (The first interactive link with the birds-eye view updates automatically.) Update 4: In case you’re interested in Aziraphale’s books specifically, I’ve made a catalogue of those here.

1. Unknown closet

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There is a door behind Gabriel when he talks to Aziraphale in the backroom. So where does it lead? Well. The wall we can see behind Aziraphale when he encounters Shadwell in the shop (see #17: boxes/storage) doesn’t have a door in it. It’s also facing the wrong direction and it’s in the middle of the southwest wall ⁠— we know this because Aziraphale can see Shadwell in the entrance from there. So the wall behind him at that moment is definitely not the wall of the backroom. We’re left with this door and unaccounted-for corner. The only thing that makes sense to me then is that there’s a closet there between the two spaces. My personal theory is that this closet is “the back” that Aziraphale refers to keeping the Châteauneuf-du-Pape in since I didn’t see any other obvious alcohol storage space in the shop. Update: @n0nb1narydemon has suggested this could be a bathroom for guests or because culturally it’s a room you can use to extricate yourself from situations, which is another possibility! They also asked where I think the doors behind object #20 lead, and I thought it would be good to add here that they might lead to the shop next door or to this unknown room. It’s possible the room actually extends further into the next shop and encompasses the part of the wall where the doors are, but I didn’t have concrete evidence to support that idea so I didn’t include it in the floor plan. Update: I was wrong about the Châteauneuf-du-Pape! In the DVD bookshop tour we learn that the cabinet in the top left corner of the backroom is where Aziraphale keeps his alcohol, including that particular wine. I added a reference photo of Neil pointing it out. Thanks to @fuckyeahgoodomens for bringing the existence of this tour to my attention — ya girl got the special edition blu-ray even though I don’t have a blu-ray player yet so I hadn’t actually seen it. Also, there is a chair right next to this cabinet against the wall which I missed in my initial rendering of the shop but have since added.

2. Part of shop next door (top right)

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This was very tricky to figure out because you can see from the exterior of the shop that there is no wall past the back door, but from the interior there is clearly more space there. BUT in a behind the scenes photo of David during the fire scene, you can see on this back wall that there’s actually a nook with two large entryways, similar to the one that makes up the backroom. From the exterior you can see that the area next to the back door is taken up by the window of the next shop, so I concluded that this little square of space was not part of the bookshop’s interior, but the nook did extend further back than where the shop appears to end from the outside. I had to make one bookshelf more nubby than the others to make this work, but after a LOT of trial and error I decided one nubby bookshelf was the only thing that could explain the apparent architecture of the space. Any floor design that accounted for a bookshelf of the same length as the others just did not make sense on a fundamental level.

3. Part of shop next door (bottom left)

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From the exterior of the shop you can see that this window belongs to the adjacent store, as the wall is a different color. Within the bookshop you can also see when Gabriel and Sandalphon enter the backroom, there’s no window behind them; there’s a sink. So it’s definitely not Aziraphale’s window. The wall of the backroom is also further into the shop’s interior than the wall Aziraphale’s desk sits against, so there’s a corner of space inside that’s unaccounted for. At first I assumed it was plumbing from the sink that had been sealed off or something, but when I realized that’s where the window was on the outside, I figured the space is probably part of the next shop over.

4. Aziraphale’s desk

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This is where Aziraphale sits in the shop like 90% of the time. It’s on the Eastern side of the shop because Aziraphale was the guardian of the Eastern gate in Eden and because production designer Michael Ralph is a goddamn genius (source). Shout out to @posted-omens for this fascinating post analyzing the chariot sculpture on his desk. Update: Fun fact, the ladder behind his desk is actually called a library chair, supposedly designed by Benjamin Franklin. It functions as a ladder but you can also fold it into a chair! Neil mentions this in the DVD extra bookshop tour. I added screen caps of it to the reference photos above since I don’t have a specific section for the ladders!

5. Phone Aziraphale calls Crowley from

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I will be honest with you: I think there’s something a little fucked up about this corner. It is my nemesis. I tried so many things to make it work and I just could not get it exactly right, but what you see in the floor plan is my best guess as to what’s going on. The conundrum is that the spot where Aziraphale stands when he’s on the phone with Crowley is definitely closer to the fence around the staircase than it is in my layout. But the table he’s in front of is also clearly against the outside wall of the backroom, and the stairs being where I’ve put them here is the only thing that made sense based on the reference photos. So there’s some weird spacing issue where there’s a little too much room between the fence around the stairs and this phone. If I were to move the walls to close that gap then there would be way too much space in the backroom and way too little space on the southwest side of the shop, so I think the walls are correct as they are. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. What I can say for certain is that the phone is there and it’s on a table next to a lamp, and the table is definitely against the wall of the backroom and behind the staircase. The distance between these things doesn’t hold up perfectly, but their arrangement does. On another note, this is one of two phones in the shop. The other is on the table next to the cash register (see #9) which Aziraphale picks up when Crowley calls to say they need to talk about Armageddon. I believe this is the same one he uses to call Adam’s house in episode two, only he moves it from the table by the register to the top of a pile of books (which I’m pretty sure were stacked on the circular table between his desk and the sofa). Update: OKAY SO it turns out in the behind-the-scenes bookshop tour on the DVD we get two more teeny tiny glimpses of this corner! I added them to the reference photo album above. It appears I was right about the lamp, phone, and bookshelf being where they are, except that the bookshelf and table are touching. There’s also a ladder propped against the shelf. I’d say it’s possible there are actually two bookshelves here; based on the parallax in the DVD tour, the one next to the phone didn’t appear to be against the wall, but we know there is a bookshelf against that wall because we see it in the show. (P.S. There’s also another chair against that wall which I didn’t see because Aziraphale was standing in front of it, so I added that too.) This leads me to believe there’s one against the wall and another one further from it next to the table. But that’s just my speculation, so I won’t change the actual floor plan unless I find more evidence.

6. Where they’re drinking when Crowley realizes Adam has named the hellhound

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When Aziraphale sits down at this table, the background is of the same space he refers to as the “backroom” when Gabriel and Sandalphon show up. He’s across the table from Crowley, behind whom you can see a bookshelf, the staircase, and the coat rack. The table is half in the backroom half out, since the room has two large entryways in its wall. Update: I realized the wall behind this table actually dips back further! It is a weirdly-shaped wall! But in the DVD special tour of the bookshop Neil walks past it and there’s clearly an area that recesses even further, so I’ve modified that in the interactive floor plan :)

7. Bench of books that start the fire

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When Shadwell leaves the book shop and slams the door, one of the candles knocks over and rolls into a pile of books and other papers (including the Sound of Music lmao). You can see it’s the same bench the customer is standing in front of when he gives Gabriel a weird look after he yells about pornography. (I love this customer so much because they gave me a super HD shot of this particular area.) The poles of the fence around the bench, the staircase behind it, and the smaller shelves beside it holding Terry Pratchett’s books make it clear that the bench is in that spot in the shop and that it’s the place the fire starts.

8. Coat rack with Terry’s hat on it

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Aziraphale hangs his coat here right before Crowley calls him to say they need to talk about Armageddon. Out of focus in the frame you can see the lion sculpture that sits on the fence surrounding the stairs (see #11) and a bookshelf. The camera pans past the shelf and we see him walk past his desk to pick up the phone by the cash register, which puts that shelf right next to his sitting area. We can also see the coat rack in the background when Crowley realizes Adam has named the hellhound. The coat rack has Terry Pratchett’s hat and scarf on it in his honor (source).

9. Antique cash register

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You can see this register in the background when Crowley is on the couch and when Aziraphale invites Gabriel and Sandalphon into the backroom. I know it’s an antique cash register because it’s photographed and referenced directly on page 79 of the Good Omens TV Companion. It’s a typewriter in my floor plan because the website I used (floorplanner.com), who knows why, did not have a 3D model of a cash register from the early 1900s.

10. Back door

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Thank you so much to @fuckyeahgoodomens for this post where they figured all this out!! Wonderful work! You can see this door from the exterior of the shop and its existence is referenced in the Good Omens script book on page 94. It’s also in the background of a behind the scenes shot of Aziraphale pulling away the carpet so he can contact heaven. Behind him in that shot you can see the bust (which moves around a lot - see #19) and a grandfather clock, and in the show from one of the aerial shots you can see that the carpet is pulled west, further confirming the door’s location.

11. Fence around the stairs

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I have concluded that this is a fence to keep customers from going up to the second floor. It looks to be made of golden pillars with wooden shelving atop them. The fence crosses beneath the staircase on one side and the other side ends about where the stair’s railing does. You can see this fence behind Crowley when he realizes Adam has named the hellhound, behind Aziraphale when he calls Crowley to tell him he knows where the antichrist is, and next to the customer who gives Gabriel a look after he yells “PORNOGRAPHY!” It’s also visible in one of the aerial shots of the shop. Update: In the DVD extra bookshop tour I noticed the lion sculpture on this fence is not just a lion, but a lion with a woman holding its mane. I think it might also be a lamp? In one of the reference photos, the one that looks down from the second floor, it appears there’s a light in the woman’s other hand. I’d be interested to see if we can track down what this particular sculpture is and what it might mean. Update: @cantdewwrite has suggested here that the light/sculpture could be a replica of one of the bronze statues in the Victoria Memorial, which does look quite similar. I’m fairly certain Aziraphale’s sculpture is of a woman, which would make it the figure in the memorial representing peace.

12. Open book of illustrated story of Adam and Eve

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Shout out to @amuseoffyre for this post where she figured out what this was! Update: I’ve determined that this book is The Gospel in the Old Testament: A series of pictures by Harold Copping. The painting is, naturally, by Harold Copping. It’s called “Adam and Eve after the fall.” Unfortunately this book is out of print and I haven’t been able to track down an ebook or scan of it, so I can’t confirm the text just yet. But based on its premise, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s telling the story of Adam and Eve directly. Aziraphale has a second copy of this book visible on the shelf next to the sofa.

13. Antique computer

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This is the computer Aziraphale does his extremely scrupulous taxes with, as confirmed in this ask that @neil-gaiman answered from @prismatic-bell! It’s an Amstrad, according to the bookshop tour in the DVD extras.

14. Spiral staircase

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These stairs are in many shots of the shop so it was pretty obvious where they were.

15. Sink, teapots, etc.

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You can see this wall right before Gabriel walks into the backroom and behind Aziraphale when he’s drinking with Crowley at the end of episode one. It appears he has two hand towels, a ceramic angel soap dish (aw), some teapots, and a decorated box above it, among other things. On the floor beside the sink is what I believe to be a broom handle, though it could be a mop? Next to that is a bronze statue of an angel atop a small table piled with books. On the other side of the sink is an open book on a stand ⁠— it has a fabric bookmark in it with a crucifix at the end, so I’m assuming it’s a bible. Light reading while you make your tea I guess. Update: Thank you so much to @brightwanderer for pointing out in this post that he has four extra angel wing mugs above the sink as well! I couldn’t figure out what they were! Update: Neil said in this ask that you can see an oven by the sink when Gabriel and Sandalphon walk in. Which you can! It’s real small and there’s a little pot on top of it. I’ve added a screencap of it to the images album for this area. Update: I’m donating my heart and soul to @ack-emma for suggesting in the replies to this ask that the central object above the sink is a samovar!! I had never heard of this so I had absolutely no idea what it was, but I think they hit the nail on the head. Y’all Aziraphale really likes tea.

16. Sculpture

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Thank you @ineffable-endearments, @behold-my-squeees, @srebrnafh, @aethelflaedladyofmercia for contributing to this post about the statue and its potential symbolism! Update: @doctorscienceknowsfandom has added some analysis to the post above suggesting that this is a sculpture of Paris, the figure from Greek mythology. I’m inclined to agree! Update: BINGO! @tifaria has found Aziraphale’s exact statue (confirmed Paris!) in this post. Brilliant work!! This community continues to blow me away. Further discussion about the sculpture’s meaning in the context of the show here — be sure to check the notes for further commentary.

17. Boxes/storage

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These boxes and piles of books can be seen behind Aziraphale when he encounters Shadwell in the shop and behind Crowley while he’s rambling drunkenly about why they should stop Armageddon in episode one. They’re in a nook that goes further back than where the shop appears to end from its exterior (see #2 for more info on that!).

18. Stacks of books

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You can see this stack in one of the aerial shots of Shadwell in the shop. I didn’t include most stacks of books in the floor plan because they’re literally everywhere and I had to manually set how high each book would be from the floor, so putting them in piles got tedious very quickly. But I did include a few notable ones, and this is one of those imo because there’s not much else in that area as far as I can tell.

19. Bust

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This little guy moves around quite a bit, unlike most things in the shop. In some photos/scenes it’s where I put it on the floor plan, but in others it’s closer to the northwestern wall and in this 360 video of the shop it’s right between two of the columns. I chose to put it where I did because it’s there in the scene where Crowley is drunkenly rambling about Armageddon, whereas the other locations I’ve seen it in were from behind the scenes shots and stuff. I’m not sure who the bust is of! It appears to have a little ribbon with a medal around its next though. Update: More speculation about the bust here, courtesy of @aethelflaedladyofmercia! Update: @fuckyeahgoodomens has confirmed in this post that the thing around the bust’s neck is the medal given to Aziraphale by Gabriel in this deleted scene!

20. Divider I think?

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Please for the love of god if you know what this thing is, tell me. My best guess is it’s a room divider because what else looks like that?? But I don’t know why you would put a room divider there. And it still doesn’t look exactly like a divider either. But the decorative element at the top and apparent gap between the metal frame and the red bit leads me to believe it’s not furniture or a box. This mystery object is my second nemesis after the weird corner (#5). Update: @brightwanderer has suggested that it might be an embroidered/tapestry draft screen, which I think makes more sense! Update: In the DVD extra bookshop tour I found a very brief image of this item over Neil’s shoulder which I added to the reference photos above. I think by some miracle I was right and it is a divider. It could be a draft screen but at the very least it is shaped like a divider with at least three sections. Wahoo!

21. Record player

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This is the phonograph that’s playing Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C major (thank you again to @fuckyeahgoodomens for that info) when we first see Aziraphale in the shop. It also plays Queen’s You’re My Best Friend when Crowley runs into the fire.

22. Terry Pratchett’s books

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Another one of the many little Terry easter eggs in the show is this set of his books! @devoursjohnlock made a post highlighting some other specific books you can find in the shop.

23. Chess set

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I saw a post once pointing out this chess set and the implication that Aziraphale and Crowley must play together sometimes, which I thought was a really nice detail to put into the set. But I can’t find the post to credit it! I will update this with a link if I do. Update: Pretty sure this is the post I saw. Thank you to @losyanya for mentioning it :)

24. Circular entryway

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This is one of many circle motifs that production designer Michael Ralph incorporated into the shop. It’s gorgeous. I think there’s actually more room between the archway and the door than I’ve included in this floor plan; Shadwell takes a few steps through it when he runs out of the shop. But I think the fix is just the door being further out from the entryway rather than the entryway being further in. I didn’t want to fuck with the walls to improve this particular area because when I realized the spacing was wrong, I was almost done and would’ve had to manually move each object in the shop over a few inches over. Made more sense to leave the caveat in a footnote. Update: In the DVD extra bookshop tour you get a brief glimpse of something on the inside wall of the entryway. I think it’s a wall sconce or something along those lines. There’s one on either side. I added them to the reference album above! I also figured out how to extend the walls to accommodate some more space there without having to move everything else, so I did that. Update: Here’s a link to some meta discussion about the cupid sculpture in front of this entryway!

25. Sofa Crowley sits on when he suggests they could be godfathers

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You can see that the sofa is next to Aziraphale’s desk and the cash register, and also that there’s a bookshelf behind it. From the entrance to the shop you can see two bookshelves on either side of the central circle, so it was pretty clear that the couch was on the other side of one of those shelves.

26. Wall crucifix

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I find it very interesting that Aziraphale has this considering Jesus isn’t a big part of angelic lore or heaven’s general priorities in the show. It would make more sense to me that he has it because it’s another memento of his time with Crowley, sort of like the illustrated story of Adam and Eve by his desk (#12). Also, fun fact, the opposite side of this wall segment is where he put up all his maps and notes about the whereabouts of the Antichrist in episode three.

#good omens #aziraphale's bookshop #good omens reference #floor plan #ref #i hope people see this i posted it at 2am because i was too excited about it to wait until daylight hours #OKAY SO PEOPLE SAW IT THANKS GUYS #check out the tag:#bookshop questions #for follow-up Qs!

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ladychaos · 3 years ago

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your builds are to fucking die for fam oh my gods do you have any building tips, like layout and decoration? i love your posts and sim dumps so much and i’m excited dot see what your bring next :3

Bonjour, bonjour! ✨

First of all: thank you so much, knowing that you enjoy my builds and my Sims makes me very happy.

I’ll try answering your question with 5 useful tips (but I don’t know if I’m the best person to give you guidance since my mood when building is almost always: C H A O S). Also, sorry in advance if my English is not perfect:

Inspiration

If you don’t know where to start, look for inspiration. For example, I use Pinterest to create mood boards. Before building on a lot, I often have something in mind, but I do need to have a starting point. So I choose a bunch of images that I like to create a vibe and start building. After a while, when I have a basis for my build I’m satisfied with, I close all of the images so I’m not just copying them and continue building.

Layouts

I used to look for real houses layouts on the Internet, but since I do the exterior first, it was not working for me. I’ll always end up changing everything so I could do an exterior that I liked. BUT I do think that if you just started building, it’s still a good tip to create a solid basis for a build that you can play with and change after. Nowadays, I usually begin with the shape of the build while trying to keep in mind that I need some space for each room and a good flow for gameplay.

Decoration (and gameplay)

Speaking of gameplay, I think there are amazing builds out there, but some are just impossible to play with. Which is fine if that’s what you like, but my goal is to share my creations for people to enjoy them. So when I build, I try to keep the players in mind and always prioritize gameplay over aesthetics. I’m not the best interior builder to be honest, I just do what I like and if I’m stuck (which often happens), I just go to Pinterest to find inspiration. But I do create most of my builds for specific Sims, which helps knowing the vibes and aesthetic I want to go for. Building without any kind of characters or storylines in mind is almost impossible for me.

Building Skills

Building what you know is the best way to start creating in the Sims 4 I think. Reproducing styles you’re familiar with will help you feel comfortable enough to create something from beginning to end. Once you’re more comfortable with your skills, you’ll find it easier to build different types of houses.

Take Your Time

For me, it’s impossible to create a build on one go. I first create the shape so I can visualize what I want. I try to take a break from it for a while. Then, I go back to the build over time so I can have a clear mind—and I do this a lot. So finishing a build can take me weeks (months if they’re huge).

Learn From Other Creators

Watch videos by amazing builders. I’ve learned a lot by just watching creators like Devon Bumpkin, SatiSim and Fantasim.

Finally: do whatever you like! I’m always doubting myself and, if I spend too much time on social media, I’ll start comparing myself to everyone and feel like shit. When I reach a point where I’m not enjoying myself anymore, I stop and go back to the game when I’m out of my self-depreciation loop.

Creating in the Sims brings me joy, I just want to do things that I like, and I quickly realized that people were enjoying them too. So I try focusing on that.

I hope this is useful!

Take care. 💜

#ts4 ask #ask

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pilothusband · 4 years ago

Text

A lit torch to the woodpile high

A Paz VIzsla Bartender!AU

Rating: T (for now)

Pairing: Paz Vizsla x F!Reader

Warnings: Alcohol mention (they work in a bar), pining

Word count: 2k

Description: Paz is your boss at the Bear’s Den, a local pub. He’s surly and unfriendly and wants nothing to do with you, but there’s something about him you can’t stay away from.

Author’s note: Title is from a Frightened Rabbit song. Chapters will get smutty later on, I promise.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

A low thrumming resounded in your ribcage as you pulled your old beater into the dusty parking lot. The pub’s exterior was unassuming– its sign was worn and outdated, reading “Bear’s Den.” Today was your first day at your new bartending job, and you didn’t want to fuck it up. Glancing at your phone screen, you noticed you were about 20 minutes early for your shift.

You weren’t sure if you should sit in your car to kill time before walking in or if it would make a good impression to show up early. The original plan had been to show up early, as you always did, not now you weren’t so sure of that decision.

The original plan won out in the end. You locked your car behind you and dusted off your jeans. The building was dilapidated, for the lack of a better word. The stucco exterior was cracked in some spots, reaching up from the door to the roof. The front door was massive and looked older than the building itself. You pulled on the big iron handle, struggling with the weight of the structure.

The bar was sparsely populated. You found yourself hesitating, hovering at the entrance, not sure if you should walk up to the bar or try to find your new boss, Orso.

“Can I see an ID?” A gruff voice sounded in your ear and you nearly jumped out of your skin, spinning around to find you were face-to-face an older gentleman, probably around his mid-50s. He was a thick, severe looking man, with a grey handlebar mustache, shiny bald head, and a black t-shirt that stretched over his large biceps.

“Oh, sure,” you said, scrambling to find your wallet. You handed the plastic card over, looking up at his hulking form as he surveyed it. “I’m the new bartender,” you added lamely.

The man guffawed in response. Guffawed.

“Why didn’t you say so?” He asked. His shoulders were shaking with mirth. You found his entire demeanor changed when he smiled and couldn’t help but smile in return.

“Go on back to the office. Paz should be back there and he can show you how to punch in.”

“Thank you!” You replied brightly. “It’s nice to meet you…” you trailed off, waiting for him to introduce himself.

“Rick,” he said, flashing another smile your way. He held out his hand in greeting and you shook it, giving him your name in return.

You made your way towards the back of the room. There was a door to the left of the bar that Rick pointed out to you. It led to a dimly lit hallway, leading to kitchen doors ahead. The doors on the right were labeled as the bathrooms, while the door on the left had an embossed “Office” label on the front. You knocked on the door, hoping you weren’t interrupting your new boss.

After a moment you heard a muffled “come in.”

The latch on the door creaked as you pushed it open gingerly. There was a man sitting behind a desk that looked absurdly small for his large frame. His hair was ruffled, as if he had been running his hands through it in frustration. His elbow was resting on the desk, chin in hand, as he was writing something down on a piece of paper.

“Um, hi, I’m the new bartender and Rick said I should come talk to you?”

The man looked down at his watch, brow furrowed.

“You’re early.”

You swallowed your nerves before responding.

“Yeah, I um, wanted to get here early in case it took a while to get clocked in.”

The man grunted in response.

“The name’s Paz. I’m the lead bartender and manager here. Orso may own the bar, but I run its day-to-day operations.” He sounded as if he was reading off a script. “Show up for your shifts on time and do as I say and we won’t have a problem. Got it?”

You nodded mutely.

“Follow me,” he said, getting up leading you towards the kitchen. His legs were impossibly long. When he stood up he dwarfed you by at least a foot.

“This is where you punch in. Pretty self-explanatory.” He pointed to a panel just inside of the kitchen. He handed you your punch card and you took it, swiping in for the day.

You tried to ignore the butterflies that erupted in your stomach when your finger brushed against his.

There was an older woman in the kitchen with you, fiddling with the deep fryer. She had grey hair, pulled back with a net, and wore a thick black apron with a Bear’s Den logo on the pocket.

“This is Madge, she runs the kitchen. Don’t cross her,” he said. If it were any other person in the world saying those words, you would have thought he was joking.

“Don’t listen to him,” Madge croaked. “I’ll be back here if you need anything at all, sweetie.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” you said. You introduced yourself, wanting to make a good impression on the woman.

“She’s the new bartender,” Paz mumbled, waving off your introduction to move the tour along. What the hell was this guy’s problem?

The back door swung open suddenly, startling everyone in the room. A young man around your age walked through, coughing.

“Oh, hey boss,” he sputtered, looking over at Paz.

Paz rubbed his temples with impatience.

“Donny, how many times do I have to tell you not to smoke at work?”

“Just a few more times, boss. It’ll stick soon,” he gave Paz a shit-eating grin. “Who’s this now?”

You introduced yourself to Donny, observing the red rims around his eyes. He gave you a lazy smile.

“Come on back whenever you want to steal a mozzarella stick or two,” he said. You could hear Paz huff behind you, earning a laugh from the younger man. It seemed like this guy had no qualms getting on his boss’ nerves.

“Come on, I have more to show you.” Paz said, herding you towards the door.

“These lazy fuckers out here are our servers, Dillon and Harlow.” They were both sitting at a table in the corner, playing some sort of card game.

“We don’t have any customers yet, Paz,” the girl, Harlow rolled her eyes. “Besides, why do you have everyone on staff tonight? It’s Tuesday.”

Harlow was gorgeous, with long brown hair and sparkling eyes. Dillon, the boy next to her, had neatly trimmed blond hair with blue eyes. He reminded you of a frat boy. They both wore what was the assumed uniform: jeans and a black t-shirt.

“Because Orso wanted everyone here to get the new bartender trained up.”

They both turned their attention towards you. Harlow gave you a wide smile, while Dillon looked you up and down with a smirk.

“It’s so nice to meet you, and not just because I don’t have to run around serving and making drinks on busy nights,” Harlow said, getting up and shaking your hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” you chuckled in response.

“Harlow will be training you whenever I’m not around,” Paz supplied.

“I can train her!” Dillon interjected, looking hopeful.

“You’re not a bartender.” Paz said flatly. Dillon didn’t argue, slouching down in his seat. It seemed like Paz’s word was God’s around here.

Paz moved on to show you the layout of the bar, pointing out that the better quality liquor was on the top, while the lower quality and well liquor was below. He pointed out the beers on draught, as well as the little fridge behind the bar that carried the bottled beer and wine wine. The red wine was up on a shelf above the liquor, which was going to be potentially problematic, since it was located far above your head.

“I’ll grab those for you if someone orders red wine,” he said, almost reading your mind as you craned your neck to look at the shelf.

You looked over at him and gave him a grateful smile. He looked away almost immediately as your eyes met, clearing his throat.

“Any questions?”

You shook your head, feeling a little defeated.

“Seems straightforward,” you said. “Thanks for showing me around. I’m sure you have other things you need to be doing.”

He grunted in response, not disagreeing.

It seemed like everything you said managed to annoy him in some way or another. It was throwing you through a loop. Not that it was something you were necessarily worried about. You didn’t need everyone to like you. Not even a ridiculously good-looking man who was built like a tree.

All during the tour, you tried to block out any lustful thoughts you had about your mysterious new boss. You tried to ignore how dwarfed you felt when Paz stood next to you and how large his calloused hands were. You had to hold your breath when he gesticulated with them, because a whiff of his subtle cologne would make its way over and make you sigh like a lovesick schoolgirl.

Nope, you definitely did not get lost thinking about how this man could toss you around like a rag doll, or how deep and rich the timbre of his voice sounded.

A moment later, the first customer walked in. He was a portly middle aged-man, wearing denim overalls and a ratty flannel, and judging by the silent nod Rick gave him, he was a regular.

“You’re up, newbie.”

Paz stepped back, crossing his massive arms to observe your first customer interaction. You turned around and tried to ignore the way the veins in his arms flexed with the movement.

“Hi there!” You tried not to cringe at how overly-chipper your voice sounded and ignored the muffled laugh behind you. “What can I get you?”

The customer didn’t answer your question, instead he nodded behind your shoulder, towards Paz.

“This the new girl?” He asked, a grin on his face.

“The one and only,” Paz said. “Be nice Bob, you’re her first customer.”

“I’m always nice,” the man sputtered. “Especially to pretty little things like her.”

You could almost feel Paz bristle behind you. You immediately wanted to slap this guy, but you swallowed your anger and smiled at him. Do it for the tips.

“What can I get you?”

“Your number, for starters,” he grinned at you lecherously.

“Bob,” Paz gave him a warning.

You couldn’t see what Paz was doing while he said it, but judging by the flash of fear in Bob’s face, it wasn’t friendly.

“Just kidding sweetheart. I’ll take a Miller Light.”

You poured him a pint and handed it over with a coaster. The man’s tip was suspiciously high, but you didn’t question it.

The rest of your shift was slow. Customers trickled in and ordered generally simple drinks. Not that you were surprised; this wasn’t exactly the kind of establishment where you ordered fancy cocktails.

Paz had watched you like a hawk for the first hour of your shift. But after a while he must have decided you knew what you were doing, so he went off to check on the other employees and did more work in the office. He would come out every once in a while to check on the bar, probably to make sure you weren’t screwing up.

Before you knew it, the clock struck 2 A.M. and it was time to close up for the night. Every other employee, besides you and Paz, had left for the night. You felt dead on your feet and couldn’t wait to crawl into your bed.

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll walk you to your car.” Paz strolled out from the kitchen, keys jingling in his hand. You swallowed heavily.

“Okay.”

God, she’s terrified of me.

Paz admittedly knew the effect he had on you. He intimidated everyone, and that’s how he wanted it. But for some reason, he felt a twinge in the pit of his stomach every time you were too scared to meet his eyes.

The moment you walked into the office and introduced yourself to him, all shy and timid, Paz knew he was screwed.

You were so small compared to him, but the curves on your body were impossible to miss. And your eyes – they were so wide and expressive, taking in every word he said. Not to mention your mouth. Fuck, your mouth was almost sinful. He struggled not to stare at your lips every time you spoke.

He found himself fantasizing about reaching out to put his hand on your waist a few times during the tour. Every time it happened he felt a white hot pang of shame. You were his employee. Not to mention he had read your file and noticed you were a whopping 8 years younger than him.

You didn’t need someone like him swooping in and ruining your life.

No, he would walk you to your car and watch you drive away and continue pushing you away, as he did with every other person he knew.

He didn’t get into his car until you were pulling out of the parking lot. He watched your car putter down the street, disappearing into the lonely night.

Taglist: @tenderclio @softdin @maybege

#paz vizsla #paz vizsla AU #paz vizsla x you #paz vizsla x reader #ahhh chapter 1 is out finally!#let me know what you think!

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nowplayingblog · 3 years ago

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Turn and Face the Strange

Read on AO3

Summary:

November 16, 1981

The day Sirius and Remus realize just how much one day can change everything.

Part 1 in the Two Things I Love series: An exploration of how things change when Remus and Sirius raise Harry, how our pasts can inform our present, and a new take on Harry Potter Cannon.

November 16, 1981

Remus wasn’t used to having so many things. The flat he and Sirius had shared before all of this happened was very small, and they had never gotten around to filling it with furniture and belongings. Before that, money had been tight when he was growing up in the welsh countryside, and he had learned to make the most out of very little. But now there were boxes piled high outside of their new home, containing everything one Sirius Black could think to buy, and Remus almost felt like it wasn’t enough. They were responsible for raising a child, money was not an issue, and their new house - Newthaven, Dumbledore had called it - would be where they lived for the rest of their lives. They needed a lot of things now.

Newthaven was an old cottage tucked into the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, well withdrawn from both the wizarding and muggle worlds. They were close enough to the muggle town that they could easily walk to the shops when they needed, but far enough that they didn’t need to worry about nosy neighbors. As for their fellow wizards, Ottery St. Catchpole had no wizarding households, save for one. It wasn’t likely they would be spotted while they were out and about, which was important, because Remus and Sirius were now the guardians of perhaps the most famous wizard of their age.

The house itself was on the small side. The exterior walls were made of cobblestone covered in cracked yellow stucco and overgrown ivy. The roof was thatched, and some of the window panes were broken- Remus made a mental note of that particular issue, as winter was right around the corner, and they would need to be fixed soon. The house hadn’t served its purpose as a home for quite some time, and was in need of many repairs, but for now, what they really needed to focus on was moving in. Boxes of furniture, most newly purchased, though some were leftover from their flat, were stacked outside the house. Remus had been tasked with taking the boxes inside, and placing them in their designated rooms, while Sirius entertained little Harry in the barren living room.

“Wingardium Leviosa.” Remus lifted one more box into the air to join the three others that would float behind him when he went into the house. These would be placed in the dining area, as well as the five smaller, more delicate boxes, which he had cast a feather-light charm on and carried on his own.

He took a deep, calming breath before he went inside. Harry had not been having a good day. He had not been having a good couple of weeks, which was understandable, but today he had been crying ever since they arrived at Newthaven and the constant screams and shouts of ‘No!’ were beginning to wear on Remus’s nerves.

The living room was right inside the front door. It was empty, save for a few of the boxes Remus had brought in earlier, his boyfriend, and his best friends’ child. Sirius was sitting on the floor with Harry. He was propped up against the wall, his legs crossed, with Harry sitting on his lap. The boy was crying his little heart out, his face scrunched up with emotion and bright red as he wailed and wailed. Sirius was trying in vain to distract him with little bubbles coming out of the end of his wand, but Harry was not to be consoled.

“Could you fill his sippy cup with water?” Sirius asked Remus as he walked past. “I’m afraid he’s going to get dehydrated.”

Remus gave an affirmative hum, and Sirius held out the cup for him to take.

“No!” screeched Harry, reaching to hit the cup out of Sirius’s hand, Remus grabbed it just in time.

Newthaven, being as small as it was, had a simple layout. The living room was the largest room in the house, with dark hardwood floors and walls adorned with floral patterns, similar to the one Remus remembered in his parents' bedroom growing up. An archway led into the kitchen, which was just big enough to also function as the dining area. It had tile floors, wooden cabinets with linoleum countertops, and outdated appliances which Remus had been shocked to discover still worked just fine. There was a narrow staircase that led up to Harry’s nursery in the attic from the kitchen. The nursery was a decent size for a child’s bedroom, with slanted ceilings and big windows with a bird’s eye view of the property. Behind the stairs was Remus and Sirius’s bedroom, just large enough to hold their bed, two nightstands, and an armoire. It was cozy and it didn’t take long for Remus to memorize the layout.

He dropped off the boxes in the dining area and went to the sink, but when he turned the knob, no water came out of the faucet. He heaved a sigh of frustration. Remus could hear Harry crying from here. He tried a few more times to no avail.

“The sink is broken,” Remus said, as he reentered the living room.

Sirius took a deep breath, pinching his nose. “Just use Aguamenti.”

“We’ll have to fix it eventually,” Remus insisted, pointing his wand at the sippy cup. “Aguamenti.”

The cup filled with water and he handed it back to Sirius.

“I know,” Sirius said, “But we have to prioritize. Here Harry, have a drink.”

Remus made his way back outside. He allowed himself to admire the scenery for a moment, savoring the relative quiet. Autumn had painted the trees brilliant reds and oranges. Twisted dead bushes lined the path that led up towards the house. Remus thought the beautiful weather was a cruel irony, but he was eager to see what it all would look like in the spring, when everything would be alive and overgrown.

He took a few deep breaths before levitating and charming a few more boxes. It was all beginning to overwhelm him. It had only been a few weeks since their lives had been changed completely. Remus had no idea, and very little past experience in calming Harry down from a temper tantrum. When Remus came back inside it was to find Harry’s sippy cup had been thrown across the room. Sirius had his eyes closed as he took a deep breath through his nose, his head tilted toward the ceiling. Harry was laying on the floor, screaming and kicking his feet.

Upon seeing Remus enter the room, Harry got up and toddled over to him sobbing. He reached his hands up toward Remus, his tiny fists making grabbing motions. The pale lightning scar on his forehead stood out against the angry red of his face. Remus remembered when he had first seen Harry with the large, jagged cut on his little face, in his disheveled nursery.

He remembered the two bodies on the floor he had seen that same night.

Remus shook his head, dispelling the unwanted thoughts and set down the boxes. He hoisted Harry up into his arms.

Remus bounced him soothingly as Harry cried into Remus’s jumper. Remus rested his cheek against the boy’s soft black curls. It wasn’t Harry Remus was frustrated with, not at all. He loved Harry more than he had ever thought possible, and it was hard seeing him so upset and not knowing what could possibly help.

Sirius looked worn out. As frustrated as Remus was, Sirius had been with Harry this whole time, trying and failing to get him to stop crying. Remus thought he must be at his wits end.

“He’s probably tired,” Remus said.

“I don’t doubt it,” Sirius ran a hand over his face, meeting Remus’s eyes. “He hasn’t slept much since…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. Remus appreciated it.

“Why don’t you go up to his nursery and get his cot set up?” Remus suggested, wanting to give Sirius some reprieve. “That way once we get him to sleep we can just lay him down and not have to worry about it. I’ll handle him for now.”

“That sounds good,” Sirius said, giving Remus a grateful smile. “Where’s the cot?”

“Should be up in the nursery in one of the boxes.”

Sirius went upstairs, and Remus turned his attention to the boy in his arms. He made soft shushing sounds, and bounced him as he walked around. “Oh Harry,” he said, “What’s the matter?”

Harry gave no response, other than to cry even more.

“Why are you crying?” Remus cooed. He wasn’t expecting answers, but he knew that just talking to Harry could help. “Are you tired sweetheart?”

“Which box?” Sirius called down.

“The big one,” Remus called up. “It should have a picture of it on the side, it’s the same box it came in.”

Sirius didn’t say anything after that, which Remus hoped meant that he had found it and no longer needed Remus’s help.

Harry’s cries had softened a little, and he sat up slightly in Remus’s arms. Tears still trailed down his cheeks. They weren’t quite out of the woods. Remus kept walking around, bouncing him lightly.

He tried to think of what James and Lily did whenever he had seen them comforting Harry when he was distraught like this. Though, he couldn’t recall ever seeing Harry this upset when his parents were still… here. He reached down and picked up Harry’s sippy cup from where the boy had thrown it earlier.

“Do you want to drink some water now?” Remus asked gently, offering him the drink. Harry accepted it, to Remus’s delight, momentarily stopping the upset noises he was making when he took a sip, though he was still crying.

He remembered one time when he visited Lily and she was putting Harry down for a nap. He was upset, unhappy with being awake, but not wanting to go to sleep either. She had tucked Harry into her arms, holding him as though he was still a newborn and rocked him back and forth, side to side, patting his back firmly until he quieted.

“This always works,” She’d said to him. “You just gotta manhandle him to sleep.”

“You would think that would have the opposite effect,” Remus had laughed.

“I think it makes him feel more secure. It’s why swaddling works with newborns.”

Remus figured it was worth a shot.

Harry had given up on his sippy cup. Remus hoped Harry’s relative calm meant that he could get him to settle down and go to sleep quickly and easily.

He laid Harry back in his arms, holding him tightly, hoping it made him feel more secure, and tucked his arms and legs in around him. But before he could even begin to rock him, Harry screamed louder than Remus had heard all day. Remus tried bouncing him, patting his back, walking around, but Harry screeched in rage, and his cries grew even louder.

“No!” Harry cried.

Remus sighed and sat Harry back up in his arms - clearly Lily’s trick wasn’t going to work.

He was back to square one. The boy’s constant cries were beginning to grate on his nerves. Remus was frustrated at his lack of ability to be what Harry needed. He had no way of knowing what was making Harry so upset, and no way of knowing what would make things better.

Sirius must have sensed his dilemma, no doubt he could still hear Harry crying from up there. “Maybe try holding him with his back against your chest,” He called down. “James used to do that and it always got him to quiet down. I think he likes to see everything.”

Remus remembered something similar, how James would hold him facing outward when Harry was upset, and it turned out all he really wanted all along was to be able to see what was around him.

“Likes to be in command - always has to have the high ground,” James had said. “Can’t wait until he’s old enough to play Quidditch, he’ll be a little Seeker, I just know it.”

Desperate for anything to work, he turned Harry so he was facing outward. Unfortunately, this seemed to upset Harry even more. He threw himself backward against Remus’s chest, straightening his legs. It made it nearly impossible for Remus to keep a hold of him. He set Harry back on the ground, where the boy laid down and continued to cry in earnest.

“No!”

Remus sank down to the floor next to him. A lump formed in his throat. He had never seen Harry like this, ever. Not even on the night Remus found him in his cot in his nursery just steps away from where his mother lay sprawled out on the ground. He didn’t know what could be causing him to be this upset - whether it was because Harry was approaching the supposed ‘terrible twos’, or if he was just so miserable staying with Remus and Sirius he couldn’t handle it.

He wished James and Lily were here.

They weren’t here. Remus remembered the way Sirius had cried over the dead body of his best friend, both draped over the stairs Remus climbed to find Lily’s corpse and the body of the man who killed them.

Merlin, Remus wasn’t equipped for this. He couldn’t be enough for Harry.

And that was it, wasn’t it, Remus realised as his breaths came faster and tears pricked behind his eyes. Harry wanted his parents. Every time they tried something Lily or James would have done, Harry became more upset, it reminded him of what he wanted but couldn’t have.

Remus and Sirius could never be James and Lily. Harry knew this.

Remus hid his face in his hands as Harry continued to scream and cry in front of him, and he choked on a sob.

Remus felt a hand on his back, rubbing in soothing circles. Sirius was sitting next to him, having finished setting up the cot upstairs. Remus leaned into him, and Sirius placed a kiss on top of his head. They let Harry cry it out for a few moments, and eventually the boy got up and toddled up to them, still sobbing. He climbed onto Sirius’s lap, and pressed his face into his godfather’s shirt.

Remus succumbed to emotion. It was upsetting, and draining, listening to Harry scream for upwards of an hour at this point, and Remus was just now coming to terms with everything.

James and Lily were dead.

They were dead, and Remus and Sirius had to look after their child. They were dead, and they had to buy a house that was isolated because their love for this child had unintentionally ended a war, and that child would never have a normal life. They were dead, and Remus would never get to see them again, or talk to them, or ask them for advice. They were dead, and Remus would never truly know what they would have done to raise their son, because they would never see him grow up.

They were dead.

Remus and Sirius were on their own.

Remus didn’t realize how much he had been in denial until it all came crashing down. He was overwhelmed with grief. He sobbed into Sirius’s shoulder, Harry continued to cry in Sirius’s lap, and Remus felt Sirius shake with cries of his own.

He didn’t know how long it was until he no longer heard Harry crying, and Remus could think clearly again. He looked over to Sirius, who was rubbing a soothing hand over Harry’s back. It had been a long hard day for all of them.

Remus reached over and placed a gentle hand on the back of Harry’s head, joining Sirius in comforting him. Harry gave a few tired sniffles, more calm than he had been all day. Remus was determined not to trip at the finish line.

They sat there in relative calm for several minutes, before Remus remembered a song that his mother used to sing for him when he was younger. It was in Welsh, his mother’s first language. She would sing it to him whenever she put him to sleep, or whenever he was upset.

“Huna, blentyn, ar fy mynwes,” Remus sang softly. Sirius gave him a curious look, but Remus ignored him, his eyes locked on Harry. “Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon; ... sy'n dynn amdanat,”

The boy’s gaze settled on Remus’s face. His cheeks were still wet, but Harry’s attention was all Remus’s now.

“Huna'n dawel heno, huna,” Remus continued, his voice a little fried from crying, “Huna'n fwyn, y tlws ei lun; Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenu.”

Remus watched as Harry’s eyelids were beginning to slide closed, half-lidded. The boy didn’t seem to be focusing on anything anymore. Remus could tell he was beginning to get drowsy. His fingers rubbed circles into Harry’s dark curls around his temples.

“Paid ag ofni, dim ond deilen, Gura, gura ar y ddôr; Paid ag ofni, ton fach unig…” By the time Remus had finished the song, Harry was softly snoring, his head resting on Sirius’s chest.

Remus and Sirius continued to sit there long after Harry had fallen asleep.

“Should we move him?” Sirius whispered.

Remus shook his head slowly. “No… not yet.”

So they savored the moment, sitting in their new home, which was finally silent. The three of them sat there, curled up on the floor, Harry asleep in Sirius’s lap, Remus curled around his lover, his head resting on his shoulder. He looked up at Sirius and felt an intense warmth in his heart. Sitting there together was the closest Remus had felt in the past few weeks to the three of them being a family.

After all the emotions he had just felt all at once, Remus felt like this was a reassurance from the universe. A reminder to look at what he still had and hold it close. To treasure it. To protect it.

Remus thought about what Dumbledore had said after they had gotten Harry out of Godric’s Hollow. Their old professor had lectured them about doing what was right for Harry, explaining the blood magic that would protect him if he were to go and live with the Dursleys. How Death Eaters would continue to try and hunt them down, how there was a chance Voldemort himself might even come back.

He had felt selfish at the time, Dumbledore making him feel uncertain in his ability to protect Harry, but now, as they sat there, he had never felt more certain of the boy’s place in their life. Harry would grow up loved, and safe, and Remus would fight to make sure of that.

He didn’t know how long they sat there before Sirius spoke again.

“As much as I would love to stay like this forever,” He whispered. “We should put him in his cot.”

Remus sighed, but reluctantly agreed. “Yes. We’ve got more work to do, we should take advantage of him being asleep.”

“He’ll be more comfortable in his cot anyway,” Sirius stood up, carefully clutching Harry to his chest, and slowly made his way up the stairs to the nursery.

Remus stayed on the floor for a few moments longer, leaning against the wall, his eyes closed, breathing a breath of relief.

Sirius came back down pretty soon after that. He sat down with Remus and pulled him into his arms. He kissed Remus’s cheek, and Remus tilted Sirius’s face so that their lips met. When Remus pulled away he sighed, pressing his forehead against his lover’s.

“We did it,” Remus breathed, relieved.

“Yeah,” Sirius huffed a laugh. “With a lot of trial and error.”

“I was beginning to think he would never stop crying,” he confessed.

Sirius’ let out a breathy laugh. “So was I. But we did it - you did it. Seriously Re, you were amazing.”

Remus hummed contentedly, kissing Sirius again. He pulled away and met Sirius’s eyes. “We can’t keep trying to be James and Lily,” he said, “It’s just upsetting him. We’re not them, and he knows that.”

Sirius sighed. “He’s finally starting to realize they’re not coming back.”

Remus nodded. “We can’t keep trying to be James and Lily for the rest of our lives. We need to figure out what works for us.”

“I know,” said Sirius, “I just… I don’t want Harry to forget them. I want to honor what they would have done, have Harry grow up the way they would have wanted to.”

“I know, love.” Remus held Sirius’s face in his hands. “And we can still do that. We can make sure Harry learns about the muggle world, like Lily wanted, and have Harry get his first broom when he turns five, like James always told us he would.”

Sirius laughed, and it sounded wet, his smile wobbly and his gaze distant.

“We just have to do things our own way too.” Remus finished.

“I don’t know if I’m cut out for this,” Sirius admitted.

“Me neither.”

“But,” Sirius took a deep breath, “We’ll figure it out.”

They stayed there for a while longer, before Remus nudged Sirius’s shoulder and they both stood to get back to work. There was still an entire house to be set up.

“You should take a look at the sink,” Remus said on his way out the door.

“Sure,” said Sirius, “I’ll head outside in a minute.”

Remus went outside and picked up a few more boxes. He took in the beautiful Autumn weather. Where before it felt like a cruel irony, Remus couldn’t help but feel a little uplifted. Everything was going to be okay. It may not feel like it right now, but the storm would pass, and they would come out on top.

When Remus came back inside the water was running from the sink faucet. It was a dark iron brown color, but it was getting clearer.

“It wasn’t broken,” said Sirius, who met him as they crossed paths in the doorway. “Just clogged, and a little dirty, but I’m just gonna let it go for a little while until it runs clean.”

“So I was just too impatient before?” Remus joked.

“I think in the moment it just looked like it was worse than it actually was.” said Sirius.

Sirius gave him a peck on the lips and then went outside as Remus brought his boxes to their bedroom.

Just a little more patience, Remus thought. How fitting. Things may feel bad now, but someday they’re going to get better.

#wolfstar raises harry au #wolfstar #sirius #sirius black #remus #remus lupin #now playing: Two Things I Love #harry #harry potter #raising harry #sirius black x remus lupin #sirius x remus #lgbt #fanfiction #fanfic #fic

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frostsinth · 4 years ago

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Burdened by the Stars - Pt. 4

Part 1 | 2 | 3 - MasterList

Picking up a bit of motivation for this story again. Yay! And sorry, the boys can’t seem to get it into their heads that this one is not their story. I’ll try to keep their visitation to a minimum.

But regardless, here’s more of the sass and himbo duo! If you like my work, consider supporting me by buying me a coffee from the link in my MasterList above. I have lots of other inane ramblings there too if you are interested. DM me for commissions, shoot me asks with thoughts/comments!

All the best, and Enjoy!

After a brief assessment away from the dizzying presence of the half-orc, I realized there was very little chance of the Royal quarters actually having what I needed. Nikostratus was the tallest and broadest in the family, and even he did not come very close to matching Erramun in height. Besides, I couldn’t imagine my neat and tidy older brother wouldn’t notice his clothing going missing. But the laundering rooms were near the bottom level of the castle, closer to the city than the towers. There was no telling if once I arrived I would be able to find some appropriate clothing with any ease, considering that laundry from every part of the castle was often washed in mixed tubs. There was also no way for me to know whose clothes would be on rotation for wash today, nor in what state, batch, or bin they might be in if I did find them. Which made a visit to the laundering rooms, while more anonymous and definitely more diverse, absolutely impractical for my devices. However, the guards quarters were not quite so far; only a few levels down and adjacent to the training cliffs. There, I knew, I would be most likely to find the belongings of perhaps the one resident in the entire goblin castle that might have a few items close enough to Erramun’s size.

It was an easy enough trip, though I tried to make it as hastily as possible. No guarantees of what that fool would get up to if I left him to his own devices for too long. I also wasn’t entirely sure he had been completely honest when he had said he could manage the bath. Considering his wooziness since I had met him in the forest, I worried he might just pass out in the water and drown. Not that my being there would be much help, I reasoned. I certainly wasn’t strong enough to haul a half-drowned half orc from the water should he require it. I was also more than a little perturbed with the recollection of the taut green skin running over his shoulders and muscular back. My mind supplied ample fodder for what might be waiting a little further down than my eye had succeeded in wandering during our prior parting. And the thoughts brought a hot flush to my cheeks. I quickly forced myself to focus on the task at hand.

Thankfully, the barracks were also mostly quiet. The majority of the guard would be on their daily patrols, or perhaps in the dining commons catching a meal beforehand. Any left here would be from night shift, so would most likely be resting in their bunks. I had been here often enough, and knew the layout by heart (as I knew most of the castle). I headed towards the largest of the chambers, near the back, where the General kept his private quarters. Retired General, he would say, should you care to ask him. Though considering he still managed to keep busy enough maintaining the guards and patrols, perhaps that was not the optimal word. His title was more ceremonial now than necessity, as he had the guard running like a perfectly well oiled machine, and more often than not you could find him with a drink in hand, laughing alongside the nobles in the sitting rooms of the castle. Still, I was glad General Damjan had maintained some personal quarters in the castle rather than permanently retiring outside its walls. It meant I might actually have a chance of finding a set of clothes that would fit my behemoth charge. I was also fortunate that although Damjan kept his private quarters locked, I knew exactly where the old soldier kept his key.

Damjan was, in a sense, like a grandfather to me. He had been a major part of Grier’s life after his father’s passing, and when Nikostratus had moved to the castle he had taken my brother under his wing as well. So it fell to reason that he had me spoiled rotten by the time I was 11; teaching me all the best goblinese curses, and a few fighting moves that were certainly not proper for a Princess to know. The old half-goblin was also a sound source for advice, and had an ample stock of wisdom to share with anyone willing to listen. Therefore, I had been to visit him in his office and chambers more than a few dozen times over the years. Which meant I knew his rooms nearly as well as mine and Niko’s. Allowing me to steal in and out with as simple a shirt and pair of trousers as I could find and relock his door all within a matter of minutes. I was assuaged of the little stab of guilt I felt by the fact that if Damjan had been around to ask, he certainly would have been more than indulgent of my request. I simply just didn’t have the time right now to look for the old General to tell him I had another half-orc stashed upstairs in my private chambers. I made a silent promise to the universe that I would make him a plate of his favorite pastries to make up for it.

It had barely been half an hour since I had left Erramun when I skittered down an upper hallway back towards the towers. Still, despite having managed to avoid the entirety of the current inhabitants of the castle and with prize in hand, I was anxious to be back. I was so distracted by the thought of what the half orc would be doing alone in my bed chambers that I moved automatically and inattentively. Causing me to almost run head first into a goblin as we both rounded the same corner from opposite directions.

“Ah, little bird!” He exclaimed delightedly as we recovered ourselves.

I nearly squeaked in surprise, quickly hiding the bundle of clothes behind my back as Grier fixed me with his classic toothy smile. The goblin King seemed un-bothered by our near collision, though I had to work quickly to throw a cover over my guilty expression. I saw his scarlet eyes flick over me curiously at my movement, and one slender brow cocked up. I knew I would have to work fast to evade suspicion and make my escape. My brother-in-law was perpetually curious, and keenly observant. Prolonging our interaction would only heighten the chances that I would have to build a lie I wasn’t prepared to forge.

“Sorry, Grier, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” I told him quickly, starting to slide around his side. Careful to face him as I did with my back and hands squarely out of his line of sight. “But I’m sure you’re very busy, so I won’t keep you!”

He spun slowly on heel to match my movement. “No trouble at all, little bird,” He replied, and I saw the suspicion already growing quickly on his face as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, “Nikostratus has been looking for you, you know.”

“Oh, he’s always looking for me,” I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, shrugging my shoulders, “Mostly because the majority of that time he spends lost in the halls. Or searching a place he already checked having turned himself around and gone back on his own feet.”

Grier laughed at that, placing his hands on his hips. “Yes, the man is completely hopeless I fear.” He followed me a step down the hall as I started to retreat backwards. “But none-the-less… you seem to be making a particular point of avoiding him this time around.”

“I am just busy,” I started to assure him, “I-”

“Morgana, you know you have been avoiding us both since you first got here nearly a week ago.” He interrupted, his voice becoming uncharacteristically serious. “I am not sure what we did… or what you’re hiding… but please keep in mind you have the same air of secrecy about you as when you rescued that bear cub from the forest when you were 15.” He shifted his hands to cross his arms over his chest. His thin lips twitching in amusement. “It was halfway through the kitchen pantry before you finally came clean… I do hope you’ve learned your lesson since then?”

I gave a nervous, forced laugh. “I haven’t smuggled in any wild animals, I promise.” Which was technically true.

He gave an unconvinced ‘hmmm’ at that. “But you do know you can talk to us, yes?” He asked quickly, even as I opened my mouth to continue, “About anything that may be bothering you.” His head tilted slightly to one side. “... Nikostratus is worried about you.”

I felt a little tongue of anger flare up in me at that. “I’m not a child anymore.” I scoffed, my brow furrowing slightly. “I don’t need nor want my brother hovering over me like some agitated mother hen!”

Grier considered that as well, and I started to take a few steps backwards down the hall. Eager to make my escape. Shaking my head in frustration and thinking that was the end of it. My brother-in-law was not usually the confrontational sort with me. He was good at gathering information, at poking holes in my defenses; but I tended to think he preferred to be my confidant rather than my guardian. We had developed a rather close relationship since he had married my brother, mostly revolving around how best to manage my tight lipped, straight backed sibling. It had been a rocky start for the two of them, and I had exclusive inside knowledge of how best to break through Niko’s stony exterior. In later years, he had more often than not come to my defense when my brothers had sought to disperse punishments, or withhold liberties. He understood my wild spirit better than either of them, and that it caused my siblings and I to butt heads frequently. Not to say he wasn’t carefully responsible around me. He had taken me as his ward as much as Niko had back our mother had passed when I was born. But he usually left any actual scolding to my brothers.

Which was why I nearly stumbled in surprise when he persisted in the face of my irritation. Rather than letting it pass as he usually would.

“Well, that may be the case, little bird,” He said, even as I continued to inch away from him, “But regardless, you know your brother will always worry about you. And-” He continued before I could interject “- Even if you are upset with him, that is no reason to avoid your commitments. Most prominent being the promise you made to your nieces and nephews.”

That made me falter, and my retreat stilled. “... I didn’t mean-”

“You promised you would go with them to the gardens.” He pressed, not allowing me breath for excuses. The goblin raised one bejeweled hand, silencing any protests I might have had. “I understand if you would like your space from myself and Nikostratus, and I will speak to him about allowing you some. However, I would ask that you do not allow your current disdain to rub off on the children, as they have done nothing to raise your ire, and do not deserve your neglect.”

I winced now, guiltily. “I forgot I…” I hesitated, and half expected Grier to fill the lull, as he often did. But the goblin merely raised his brow at me again, and I shuffled in my shame. “... Of course. I’m sorry. I will be sure to collect them from their lessons today…” I couldn’t help a guilty glance over my shoulder, as if I would be able to see the clothes scrunched up behind my back. “... I just need to drop something off in my rooms first, then I promise I’ll go straight to see them.”

“I appreciate that.” He replied, nodding slightly. “I know you likely didn’t intend for them to get swept up in… whatever this is.” He crossed his arms again. “Still, I hope you and your brother reconcile soon.” His toothy grin returned. “I miss our little bird.”

I laughed softly, dropping my gaze to the floor. “I don’t think we’re fighting, per say...” I hesitated briefly, “...but I’ll… keep that in mind.”

“And I’ll keep in mind that being stubborn and hot tempered runs in the family.” He mused, his voice still light-hearted. “And will try to muster what patience I can to wait this out.”

I almost laughed again, but settled for a respectful dip of my head. I longed to inch away, back down the hall in the direction of my rooms. But waited as long as I could stand under the goblin King’s scrutiny to avoid any more suspicion. Grier did consider me one last time, then sighed and gave his own little nod. Turning to head off himself. No sooner had he started than I spun and darted down the hall. Pulling my bundle of clothes around to shield them from his view as I did. I wondered only briefly what he would make of that, but didn’t bother to linger on it long.

I took the steps to the tower two at a time, my heart pounding in my ears by the time I reached the top. Thankfully, no one else was around at that moment, and I made it back to my rooms unmolested.

I leaned back against my closed door with a brief sigh of relief. I hoped Grier wouldn’t go looking for Niko yet. I knew he would be inclined to tell my brother about our interaction; the two shared just about everything with one another. Still I hoped he might wait until much later in the day. To give me a chance to properly wrap things up here before one of the pair came looking for me again. I didn’t linger long against the wood, my eyes already darting about the small sitting room. But it seemed my strange company was nowhere to be seen. I had been away for far too long for him to be bathing still, I reasoned. Unless perhaps he was a particularly lazy orc, or was enjoying the hot, fresh water a bit too much. Not that I could picture such a thing, though I reminded myself I didn’t know him all that well after all. I gathered up the salve and bandages from before in my bundle, listening for any sounds I might hear. I noticed the door to the bathing rooms appeared to be as I had left it, and hesitantly made my way over. I quickly chided myself, straightening up and squaring my shoulders. These were my rooms. I shouldn’t have to sneak about shyly.

I did however allow him the courtesy of rapping my knuckles lightly against the sliding door.

“Hey, you still alive in there?” I called lightly.

When there was no response, my heart leapt, and I attempted to force down the sudden anxiety trapping itself in my throat. I cracked my knuckles against the door again, then slowly slid it open. More than a little leery of seeming something I didn’t want to see. Or admitting to myself that maybe it was something I did. The memory of our last parting surfaced unbidden to my thoughts, and I stubbornly pushed it away.

The bathing room beyond was empty. The waters rippled and gently gurgled with the natural flow of the water, but otherwise it was still. I might have been able to convince myself that the entire day had been a figment of my overactive imagination had it not been for the pile of soiled towels by the edge of the pool. I groaned internally, bustling in and peeking into the corners as if the behemoth man could have somehow managed to hide behind the potted plants. At least there didn’t appear to be a trail of blood anywhere. I prayed to whomever was listening that the dolt hadn’t deigned to leave the chambers.

“Where are you, you idiot?” I grumbled, tucking my bundle under one arm and heading to the door at the opposite end.

“In here.” Came the reply, and I nearly shook with relief.

He must have keener hearing than I thought. Or he had been listening for my return. The door to my bedroom was slightly cracked, and I shouldered it the rest of the way open, then spun to close it behind me. Using the motion as an excuse to steady myself as the sound of his deep voice seemed to have rattled me strangely.

“I do hope you aren’t-” I started as I turned, then promptly squealed loudly in surprise, dumping the clothes, bandages, and salve unceremoniously to the floor as both hands shot up to cover my eyes.

“Eh?” I heard the shuffle of his feet across the bare stone floor as he must have continued his own turn to face me. “Is something the matter?”

“WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES??” I nearly shrieked.

Though I kept my palms firmly clasped over my eyes, the previous momentary glimpse of the half-orc’s assured nudity was currently seared deep into my mind’s eye. The fine toned abdomen. The taut green buttocks, with a dimple above the top of each cheek in the small of his back. He must have washed his hair, for the long mohawk of growth had spilled over his skin like polished ebony in soft looking tendrils. Leading my eyes over his broad green shoulders. And when he had started to turn… the soft ‘v’ shape at the top of his hips leading down to…

The sight (and now, memory of the sight) left my mouth decidedly dry and my lips refusing to work properly. I felt an unfamiliar twitch in my fingers as the urge to pull them apart and sneak another peek rushed through me. There was no way! No way any man should be that… I swallowed hard, shaking my head with my hands pressed so tightly to my face it almost hurt.

“You said they were filthy, and inappropriate.” He reminded me matter-of-factly, and I could almost hear the shrug of those big shoulders. Big, broad, muscular shoulders-

“That doesn’t mean you should walk around NAKED!” I snapped, finally starting to come to my senses. I shifted my hands so that one covered both eyes, and crouched down in an attempt to blindly find what I had discarded in my panic.

“What was I to wear?” He replied. “Your drying cloths are tiny. I needed three just to-”

“I don’t care!” I managed to find the clothes by groping about with my free hand, and stood. Tossing them towards the sound of his voice and hearing a disgruntled huff as they hit him. “Just put those on, quickly, before my breakfast makes a reappearance.”

Erramun gave an angry grumble, but I heard the shake and shuffle of cloth as he did. “I didn’t know human stomachs were so sensitive.” His voice became muffled briefly as I assumed he pulled the shift over his head. “I always thought my mother was being dramatic when she scolded me for forgetting to dress.”

“If your mother imparted any other wisdom to you regarding humans, I suggest now is the time you take it to heart.” I replied sourly. Careful to keep my palms firmly fastened over my eyes. Though the heat of my cheeks nearly burned me.

I was so focused on not looking, I didn’t hear the soft scrape of his bare feet again as he moved forward. I jumped about a foot in the air as his hands suddenly came around my wrists. Gently pulling them free from my face. Leaving me suddenly face to face with a soft silk and cotton shirt, its untied collar just hinting at the toned chest I had been privy to moments before. I tried to ignore that memory, and fought through a sudden haze at the realization that his fingers were almost as gentle and soft as they were strong. And how close he currently stood to me. My heart skipped and I felt my breath catch in my throat as my head craned back to look up at him. He gave me a lopsided grin that had my knees feeling a little weak, and I felt him gently turn my hands in his. Until the backs of my hands rested in his palms and he could run his thumbs over the pads of my fingers.

“I am sorry, Gana,” He told me gently, “I did not mean to startle you so.”

For a second, I couldn’t find the air in my lungs to speak. I struggled for a moment, and saw those bright emerald green eyes of his flick about my face. Thoughtfully, perhaps… almost appreciatively. And the way he was studying my features suggested he had been meaning to do just that for some time now. Up close, with seemingly time to spare to linger on each inch. I felt the flames beneath each cheek rekindle, but was strangely frozen for another few staggered beats of my heart. Finally, I yanked my hands from his, quickly shaking my head again to dispel the moment. Stubbornly denying it had ever existed.

“Is the apology her wisdom or yours?” I quipped, pleased to find my sarcasm still had a sharp bite to it despite the swirling quality of my thoughts.

My heart nearly faltered again at his answering smile. “A little bit of both, I suppose.”

I scoffed, trying to clear my head as I waved my hand at him dismissively. “Then perhaps there is some hope for you after all…” I took a step back, eager to put some space between us and hopefully regain a little more of my senses. “What are you even doing back here?” I put my hands on my hips. “I don’t suppose your mother ever told you it is incredibly rude to snoop around a lady’s chambers?”

“Hmm. She may have raised that point once or twice.” He grinned again, turning to follow my progression as I stalked around him angrily. I crouched down briefly to gather up the remainders of my bundle from the floor. “But you took longer than expected… And I was curious.” His head cocked to the side as he slowly followed me to the center of the room by the bed. “Are these the Princess’ rooms?”

I nearly dropped the jar and bandages again, spinning on him with the vial of healing salve in hand. “What makes you say that??”

He nodded to the corner. “The jewels and such.” I followed his gaze to my vanity table, where I had left some never used jewelry as thoughtlessly as one might discard soiled clothes on a chair. “I do not think even human servants tend to have such things.”

“I never said I was a servant.” I reminded him sourly, then jerked my chin. “Sit.”

“You haven’t said much of anything.” He shot back, but did as he was told and settled onto the chest at the foot of the bed.

“Eventually you may just conclude that that is entirely by design.” I said, opening the jar as he rolled his shirt up on one side. I pretended not to notice the tautness of his flesh or the shape of his abdomen as I slowly spread some of the salve on his wound. It seemed to have mostly stopped bleeding, which was good. “You may even come to remember that I am looking to get you out of here as quickly as I can. And the sooner that is the better.”

“Do I really disgust you so?” He asked, sounding bitter.

My eyes darted up to his face in surprise. And I got stuck in the quality of those emerald greens for a moment longer than I would ever admit. I adjusted my tongue in my mouth, forcing my eyes away from his finally and reaching for the pile of bandages I had brought.

“... You don’t disgust me.” I admitted quietly.

He snorted, wincing slightly as I began to carefully apply first a clean square bandage, then the longer ones wrapped about him to hold it in place. It brought me uncomfortably close to him. I couldn’t help but take in a breath next to his skin, and found the smell of him made my nostrils quiver. I was just surprised to find he didn’t stink anymore, I assured myself silently. That was all. I had come to expect him to smell like dirt and blood, not this strangely pleasant smell he currently had. It meant nothing that I noticed it.

“You don’t seem to like me all that much.” He replied. “I am not sure what else it would be.”

I straightened, having secured the end of the bandage in place, and crossed my arms over my chest. “Oh, obviously I must hate you then. That must be why, and it has nothing at all to do with the reason why you are even here in the first place.” I scoffed.

“Eh?”

My eyes rolled, and I was grateful for it as I didn’t have to watch him roll his shirt back down over his stomach again. The way his shoulders shifted and moved beneath the fabric wasn’t at all fair.

“You came here insistent that you would be marrying the Princess. Am I supposed to welcome you with open arms?” I placed my hands back on my hips and scowled at him. “Perhaps you assume that since you plan to marry her, that means you should be treated as a Prince?”

That warranted me a loud guffaw, and my eyes widened slightly in surprise. His crooked grin had my heart skipping, and I scoffed again in an attempt to dislodge it from my throat. The big orc stood, swaying for half a moment and forcing me back a step as he reached out to steady himself on the post beam of the bed. I eyed him warily, not too fond of the idea of being crushed by his bulk should he lose his balance and completely topple over. He managed to keep his feet however, and half staggered over to a full length mirror.

The clothes fit him surprisingly well, though it seemed that General Damjan was a bit narrower and lankier than he was. The sleeves of his cream colored shirt bunched up at his wrists, but you couldn’t tell since the collar of the shirt was filled with soft ruffles and the style was of a looser fit. It draped lazily over his shoulders, clinging to his upper arms and chest as he moved, with a straight cut that had him looking even taller than before. His trousers, a dark brown, disappeared beneath the long hanging tails of the shirt, but hugged his thighs snuggly. The outside seam of each leg had a dash of lighter thread, accenting the length of his limbs, as well as their shape. I had to take a moment to adjust my gaze from those firm, muscular thighs of his before his emerald eyes noticed me ogling him from behind.

“I look… foolish…” He grumbled.

I crossed my arms. “Good, you finally reflect your natural state then.” He snorted, turning this way and that and playing with the fabrics. I rolled my eyes again. “The shirt is supposed to be tucked into the pants. You look like you just rolled out of bed.”

He glanced at me in the mirror, then back at his shirt. “... How?? These pants are too tight. There is no space!”

That had me laughing, despite myself. Certainly the goblins had an interesting sense of fashion, preferring aesthetics over functionality and comfort. Though I supposed the same could be said for some of the human court styles. Neither had put much thought into moving around. And based upon his previous attire, pants were not something the young orc was used to. My laugh petered out when I saw his lopsided grin waiting for me in the mirror. His whole face seemed a little brighter for it. I shook my head, unable to hide a lingering smile, and moved over to the bed.

“Alright, enough of that. I have someplace to be. And you should get some rest.” I told him as I adjusted the thick blankets and pillows. Peeling back a corner for him.

“You’re leaving again?”

My eyes darted up to him, surprised to hear the tang of remorse in his words. I slapped the blankets a few times for good measure. Letting out an impatient sigh.

“Yes, it may come as a shock to you, but I actually do have regular responsibilities outside of cleaning up errant wandering idiots.” I teased, straightening and taking a step back to allow him access to the bed. “Plus I have to see to your mare still.”

“... So I can stay?”

I groaned, pushing my wild hair back out of my face. Trying to ignore the odd pitter patter of my heart at the question. I gave him a once over, as if chewing on the thought. Certainly it was not because I was making excuses to prolong his company. That of course I found the half-orc taxing. There shouldn’t be any question that I wanted him out of my life as soon as possible.

“I can’t very well send you off until I know you aren’t going to pass out in a ditch somewhere.” I told him. Making an effort to sound as though I was at least mildly chaffed with the idea. “So yes, you oaf. You can stay.” I bit my lip, shuffling. “... For now.”

Erramun slowly walked over, sitting on the edge of the mattress. His eyes looked over the room again. I shuffled my skirts and turned to gather up a few things to manage the clutter a bit better. Suddenly very aware of the fact that I had a strange man in my personal chambers. At best it was highly improper. At worst, it was downright dangerous. Afterall, I had only known Erramun a few days, and yet let myself be locked up in my bedroom alone with him. If Niko found out, he might just have a stroke on the spot. Though he might remain upright long enough to run my visitor through with his sword first.

“Won’t the Princess be cross that you are using her chambers to wash an orc?” He mused, tilting his head to one side.

“Half-orc, you mean?” I teased, glad my back was to him so he didn’t see my mouth twitch in amusement. “And I don’t think she’ll mind much.”

“She lets you use these rooms for yourself,” He reasoned, and I saw his nose twitch out the corner of my eye, “The bed smells like you.”

I nearly tripped over my own feet. Tossing an armful of my things into a chest and closing it. I glanced at him briefly as I grabbed a small empty basket and put the remainder of the dressings and the jar of salve in it.

“Stop smelling me. It’s rude.”

He grinned. “I will try to breathe through my mouth then. Or would that be rude too?”

“I’m not sure you’re capable of being anything else.” I returned airly, looking around and considering my handiwork for a moment. “Except perhaps a fool.”

Erramun chuckled, a sound that came from somewhere deep in his chest. I glance at him out the corner of my eye. “I hope the Princess will not think so.”

“Don’t count on it.”

“You are close with her then?”

I groaned. Well, it had been nearly a few minutes since the last mention of the Princess that time. “Honestly, do you ever think of anything else?” I grumbled. “Must be dull, revolving your life around marrying a girl you’ve never met.”

“You say it like I have a choice.” He grumbled right back.

I turned to him once more, the morose tone of his voice giving me pause. It seemed in stark contrast to the teasing lightness from before. The half-orc had his head bowed, his over defined brow scrunched. The long tendrils of his damp hair trailed around his face. I considered this for only a brief moment, returning my hands to my hips.

“Don’t you?” He didn’t look up at me at my words. I felt a tick of irritation at that. “You are an orc, half or otherwise. You are not beholden to the whims of a court, or the expectations of your people. You do not have the same responsibility to put the welfare of others above your own freedom and happiness.” I glanced off to the side, my eyes drifting longingly to the window. “You can wander under the open skies, should you so choose. You can see far off lands, go on adventures, take risks-”

“If I want to be selfish, and ignore the suffering of my people.” He interrupted, his voice heated. “Perhaps everyone here is magically accepting, but at the border, being over six foot and having green skin is enough to get you harassed. If not worse.”

“And marrying a Princess will solve that?” I shot back, equally hot.

“It will ease tensions.” He argued. “It will prove that we are not savages. That we can make alliances-”

I threw up my hands exasperatedly. “Even if I had a year, I still wouldn’t have enough time to point out all the flaws in your reasoning. And right now, I have to go collect my nieces and nephews.” I moved over to swipe a clean cloak from one of the hooks by the armoire. “You stew in your own idiocy, or, preferably, sleep. So that perhaps I can have you out of my hair before it starts to turn grey.” I spun on him, leveling one stern finger at his face. “And don’t even think about leaving this room.”

Erramun raised one brow at me, his thick lips pursing together around his tusks. Then his head tilted to the side, and that lopsided grin returned. It made my determination falter briefly, almost so much that I nearly took a step back in light of it.

“You are quite fierce, Gana.” He mused. “If the Princess is anything like you, I will be lucky.”

That had a sound heat rising to my cheeks, but I shook my head. Scoffing loudly. “You are a fool and a half.” I grumbled, turning my back on him so he couldn’t see the strange crash of emotions that fought their way across my face. “Single minded and absolutely incorrigible.”

He snorted, sounding amused. “Something else then. If I sleep in your bed, where will you sleep?”

His words had me freezing in the doorway to the foyer. I tried to ignore the rapid speed of my pulse, swallowing heavily and shaking my head. Based upon the tone of his voice, I knew that stupid lopsided smile was still on his face. I replaced the heat of embarrassment at his implication with that of anger.

“Preferably just about anywhere else.” I snapped, then stormed out to the hall. Being sure to lock the door behind me.

UPDATE: Part Five HERE

#Burdened by the Stars #half orc #orc boyfriend #orc romance #orc lover #slow burn #himbo #sass #regency romance #update #monster lover #monster boyfriend #monster x human #poc #frenemies #terato #exophilia #Royal Flush Sequel #li'un ma shkio

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starrysupercell · 3 years ago

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Silly idea I just thought of: somehow, certain Brawlers lose the ability to lie. The cause could be as innocent as Jessie testing out a new Truth Ray, to something like Starr Park deciding that there needs to be more transparency between brawlers. Whatever the reason, there will be Shenanigans abound

Tbh this sounds super fun, >:) so, of course I'm gonna go into detail on some of them.

(This could be a whole story. Mind the messy layout.)

Brawlers who have to worry the most for business/socially/jobs: Piper, Byron, Belle, Griff, Mr. P probably?, Ruffs, Barley, Gale and, to a lesser extent, Lou (towards Mr. P),

Brawlers who have to worry emotionally: Stu, Penny, the whole Retropolis Gang, Edgar, Mortis.

Brawlers that would be fun if they were hiding something deep, deep down: Bo, Nani, Amber and/or Primo.

(Brawlers who are sus and would be more nervous about this than they should be: 8-Bit, Spike, Poco, Bea, Mike.)

No more sneaky gossip for Piper, and to a lesser extent, Emz. Piper could hardly speak to anyone since she loves weaving so much secret details in her words. I wouldn't call her "fake" because she genuinely enjoys company and has friends, but.. well, you've seen how I've written her. She's just... opportunistic.

Anyway, I'm sure it was in the middle of a conversation that ended badly. I wonder with whom?

Byron can't pitch sales for the time being. 😈

Customer: Well how do I know it works? Is it safe?

Byron: my good sir, I can assure you that...it's a highly experimental concoction. I've never used it myself because I would never be a lab rat to my own mixtures, but I have gotten a few constant test subjects around the park. Besides which, I have the utmost faith in what I'm doing. Even if there have been several unfortunate incidents in the past, I'm undeterred with my skill. Mainly because I'm beyond compare in my abilities but I also know I'm never the one at risk. Hahaha....

Byron:

Customer:

Byron: ...why did I say that?

Sadly Barley is unintentionally rude to several people too. Since this hypothetical truth ray/correction would prevent anyone from keeping their thoughts to themselves, he answers and comments with no filter. Several people (Rico, 8-Bit, Shelly, Bibi, etc.,) find it hilarious, Barley does not.

I truly wonder if the honesty policy also seeps into not only verbal truth, but making somebody avoid anything that's not "Honest" Work?

What I'm saying is, Belle can't even plan heists or delve into thinking up ways to sneak around.

Cue her announcing herself in the midst of a Robbery, ruining the plan and trying to turn herself in. (Unaffected members of her Gang might be able to get her out of there.)

Or, more ridiculously, that "This Pen Is Blue" scene from 'Liar, Liar' with her trying to sketch out a heist.

Maybe this one is a stretch? I'm not sure, but it is for fun.

Ruffs already has a hard time hiding his tail wagging. He's a serious guy who wants to be taken seriously, but now everyone will hear how proud he is of Squeak and how great a friend MXY Kit is to him, and how soft his heart actually is. Which, fine, maybe everybody already suspected, but it was never confirmed until now.

In short, gruff exterior dog is actually fuzzy, but it wasn't that deep down.

THE RETROPOLIS GANG, EDGAR AND PENNY.

1) Bull with his tough guy attitude would have trouble verbalizing mushy stuff. Crow just plain doesn't want to. Bibi is a mix of the two. She's naturally tough, and she doesn't have practice. Imagine it-- the tough gang on the block sharing emotions with each other and being buddy-buddy with people they're fond of! After the ordeal, they agree they need some time apart.

2) Penny is emotionally constipated because she leaves the bad thoughts locked in a chest. Also, she was raised by robots, so it's a little difficult expressing herself... but now she can say exactly what's on her mind! ...if she can even sort through her feelings. The truth device makes you unable to lie, but can it get you to know what you're feeling?

Penny: Holy shit, this is way too philosophical for me, my head hurts, please make it stop

Jessie: D: I wish I could help you!!

3) We all know about this tsundere emo boy. He greeted Colette with a "Hey, Colette. It's really great to see you today. I had a bad morning and you always brighten up my day." And they both knew something was up immediately. Now, as everyone is trying to resolve this, Edgar's Scarf is wrapped tightly after his mouth tightly, lest he says anything else, like how cool he thinks a few certain other Brawlers are, like Shelly, Crow and Bibi. Or how he looked up to and misses

Sorry, he parkour-ed away before he finished that sentence :)

....Stu won't be able to handle this, will he 😔

Stu: Oh, I'm not s-s-sticking around. Rebuild me-e-e when this t-t-truth nightmare is over🤘

Pam: Rebuild? But you aren't--

Stu: *falls into a pile-- he force shut himself down*

People who weren't affected because they're already 100% honest: Jacky, Sprout. That's it. They're the only honest folks here. Everyone else has something to hide.

I think that's about all the ideas I have for the Brawlers.

As for the cause, I like the idea of it being "Starr Park." If they thought complete honesty would work in making things running more smoothly, they thought extremely wrong. In fact, Happiness is dipping at an alarming rate. Clearly, this decision has to be reversed.

If it were Jessie, there's a more peaceful way to resolve this situation, and it started in a more innocent way too. That is, she made a truth ray for fun, but didn't think to make an option that reverses it, so she works on a "Lie Ray" as fast as she can while everyone suffers. (Yes she feels guilty.)

#Brawl Stars #Brawlstars #Too Many Brawlers #Honesty: The Best Policy?#Long Post #Ask

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mshermia · 4 years ago

Text

Full Circle - Webpril 01: Field Trip

summary: Peter and MJ are less interested in the field trip and a little more invested in spending time with each other. Someone, who's not spending any time with MJ at all is Tony, very much to his annoyance...

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Nothing could ever even compete with the way Peter's stomach would flip when he would swing through the urban canyon that was Manhattan. Sure, Queens was awesome, it was his home after all, and there came a special sense of accomplishment with protecting one's home.

But there was absolutely nothing like swinging from one skyscraper to the next.

Now, it had been forever since Spider-Man had been seen in Manhattan. Not since that day he had climbed onto that spaceship. He hadn't gone out there patrolling for a while after that final battle. When he had put his suit back on for the first time, it had seemed more important than ever to stick to his own neighborhood.

But patrol was not why Peter was back in Manhattan.

He craned his neck, eyes narrowed as he looked up to the very top of the MetLife Building. The name pulled an uncomfortable cringe on his face. It wasn't right. Years ago, the Stark letters had stood up there, only to be replaced by the Avengers symbol after the invasion of New York.

A cold shiver ran down Peter's neck and his entire back spasmed at the sensation. Aliens. The purple grape man. He shook his head. All that was in the past.

"Hey, you okay?" MJ's hand slipped into his, hidden by their jackets from the rest of the group.

Peter forced his lips into a smile. Well, it honestly came easy whenever he looked at her. His skin broke out in goosebumps once again, in a good way though. In a way that matched the crazy rhythm, the butterflies in his stomach were dancing to.

MJ squinted up at the very top of the building herself now. "You ever been up there? When this was still Stark's?" She kept her voice low. It hadn't taken her long to figure out just how far she had to drop her voice for her words to stay just between her and Peter's enhanced-hearing.

"Long time ago," Peter nodded. "A few parties and tests in the lab before he sold it."

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, Penis."

Peter stumbled to the side as Flash push himself past them, right between him and MJ. With a heavy sigh, he stopped right in front of them, hands perched on his hip like he was supposed to be the center of attention.

"Actually, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results," Peter hisses through his teeth.

"Well, you would know, Penis, wouldn't you."

Peter's eyes flickered close in resignation, his arms tightly crossed in front of him.

"Get lost, Flash." MJ stepped back next to Peter and pushed him to the other side of the group.

"That's so sad," Flash laughed. "Look at you all whipped, Parker!"

"Just ignore him," MJ mumbled, eyes now on Mr. Harrington who was handing out lanyards to every student.

Peter nodded, eyes on his feet. It was embarrassing, always had been. It was way worse though with MJ right there to witness it.

"Dude, I'm so psyched!" Ned had been first in line to get his lanyard, excitedly waving it in Peter's face. "How close do you think they'll let us get to it? You think we get to touch it? I mean at least the... the exterior... wall... thingy?"

Some of the tension fell off Peter. His lips slowly pulled back into a genuine smile at Ned's excitement. "Not the way you're buzzing, man... you'll have to be careful not to trigger a fission reaction."

Ned's face morphed into a mask of serious consideration. "That would kind of defeat the clean energy aspect."

Peter laughed. "Exactly!"

"But..." Ned's fingers were drumming against his chin like he was preparing for his full transmission to mad-scientist. "...it would get me Tony Stark's attention though for sure!"

"Ha," Peter barked. "Yeah, but not the kind of attention you're looking for, dude."

Ned grinned at him before he stormed back to the front of the line. Peter however decided to hang back after Mr. Harrington handed the last two lanyards out to him and MJ.

They walked into the lobby side by side though MJ didn't reach for his hand again. Instead, she was craning her head along with everyone else, looking at the oversized window fronts that were projecting different things from facts about the building's layout from floor 1 to 70, the different companies renting office space as well as the event plan for the next few months. When the Tower was still owned by Stark Industries they had had information on all kinds of things that were happening in SI buildings all over the planet projected there, all the way up to the tall ceiling of the entrance area.

"You ever seen one?"

Peter glanced at her. "An arc?"

"Yeah." Her eyes were now following the lines of the interior design along the columns to the exquisite marble floor.

"I have. Not this one though," he shrugged. "They had one at the Compound upstate."

It had been where Peter had spent most of his real intern days, long after the Tower had been sold, after Toomes but before the purple grape man.

"Not this one? No parties next to the big bulb of energy then," she smirked.

Peter shook his head, glancing over at her. "Nah. Most of Tony's guests prefer the top floor to the basement."

That did get her attention. "The top floor, hm?"

She said it in a tone that made those butterflies in his stomach tumble excitedly. "Great view up there..."

"Yeah, I bet." She held his gaze for a moment before a lady from the security team ushered them through the barrier.

The students in their group were bouncing excitedly, following behind the tour guide towards the line of elevators on the far side of the entrance area.

"You know," MJ said, her tone as aloof as always. "I've always been more into architecture than energy technology. Structural engineering, that kind of thing."

Peter kept his eyes on the group, his fingertips buzzing with a new kind of excitement. "You love clean energy."

"I love to use it, but it's not like I necessarily want to build the things that generate it..."

Peter chanced another glance at her, MJ's eyes waiting to meet his. They were halfway across the room when Peter decided to hell with it, he'd just go for it. One hand on MJ's arm, he held her back for a couple of steps, letting the gap between the two of them and the group expand before he pushed her to the left, heading straight for another corridor that forked off and led to a single elevator.

They kept their heads low as they stole around the corner out of sight. The corridor was empty like it always had been even when this had been Mr. Stark's personal elevator. The doors opened right away as Peter pressed the call button and they both slipped into the waiting elevator car.

MJ shot a glance over her shoulder then grinned at Peter as the doors closed behind them. "You know, if they arrest us for this..."

"Can't arrest us for something they didn't outright ban us from, can they?"

One hand clutching her heart, MJ beamed up at him. "Peter Parker, I'm so proud. I bet they'll change the procedure from now on and move the lecture on which sections are off-limits to before they hand out these." She gave the lanyard around his neck a little flick.

Peter barked out a laugh. "Proud of how you're corrupting my pure innocent soul?"

She stepped a little closer to him. The hand that had just been resting on her heart came to lie on his cheek instead. "The circle is now complete." She leaned forward, her lips softly brushing against Peter's. "Student... master... someone becoming the other..."

The butterflies in his stomach, well... they were excited. Excited enough that a flush of heat was rising up to the very tip of his ears. His eyes were falling shut as he leaned against MJ, her lips warm and soft against his until his eyes flew back open. He leaned away from her just enough that MJ staggered forward a little, her eyes flickering open as well.

Peter studied her face, his mouth still gaping a little. "Did you just quote Star Wars to me?"

The confusion fell off her face. With an un-ladylike snort, she dipped her forehead against his shoulder. "Let's say it's your reward for the rule-breaking initiative." Her hand found his as she turned towards the elevator wall. "Let's do this." Her head spun back and forth a couple of times before Peter even caught on to what the problem was. "Wait, there's no control panel."

"Shit..." His heart sank. That tiny detail was going to ruin this for them. "No panel, it's voice-activated. Fuck, I forgot."

"So, you just say the floor and it gets you there. That's pretty cool." MJ looked up at the ceiling. "Level 70."

For a moment, they both froze in anticipation but the elevator didn't move an inch.

Peter rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead. He was starting to sweat. This had been such a dumb idea. "You need clearance for it to work," he grimaced. "Shit, sorry. That was a bit anti-climactic."

Like he was taunting the universe, the doors of the elevator opened and both of them jumped in surprise.

"What up, Parker," Flash chimed up amused. "Trespassing, are we?"

"Jesus Christ, you gotta be fucking kidding me," Peter hissed under his breath, clutching his heart.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Ned was right behind Flash and followed him into the elevator car.

"Nothing. We were just leaving."

"Eww, were you trying to sneak off to hook up with her?" Flash made a face, his upper lip curled up as he looked from Peter to MJ and back. "What a sleazy move."

A bead of sweat was running down the side of Peter's face, anxiety clawing its way under his skin.

"Don't be such a perv, Flash." MJ had her arms crossed, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Whatever," Flash mumbled as the doors of the elevator shut again. He craned his neck looking around the car. "How does it move?"

"It's voice activated," both Ned and MJ groaned in union.

Peter squinted at Ned. "Wait, how did you even know where we went?"

"Saw you sneak off, didn't we... floor 70," Flash called out to the ceiling. When nothing happened, he pursed his lips. "Floor 70, please?"

Ned snorted, pulling a scowl onto Flash's face. "Well, I saw you. That one," he pointed at Flash, "just stalked me."

Eyes narrowed, Flash turned on Ned. "Maybe you should work on your sneaking skills if you don't want to be followed."

Ned waved him off. "You try it, Peter!"

Excitement rang in Ned's voice, like Peter had the secret key to make this work. All it did was make his heart sink. It would have been bad enough to disappoint MJ, but Ned had just skipped out on the very thing he had been daydreaming of for years, seeing the arc, to follow them to a different adventure that Peter would not be able to deliver. Letting him down was even worse than embarrassing himself in front of Flash.

Peter pressed his eyes shut in resignation. There was no way the elevator would move. Without FRIDAY, he had no clearance. If it hadn't been for Flash and Ned, he might have made use of his web-shooters to steal up the elevator shaft with MJ... well, if it hadn't been for Flash...

Still, he owed it to Ned to at least try.

"Floor 70, please," Peter mumbled, resigned to the trip turning out to be the bust he had expected it to be.

His knees almost buckled underneath him as the elevator started to move.

"Woohoo!" Ned cheered, clapping him on the shoulder. "Dude, you did it!"

MJ grinned at him, only Flash looked a little pale around his nose. In all honesty, Peter didn't feel much better than Flash looked as the elevator was climbing higher and higher. This shouldn't have worked. He hadn't been in that building for, well 2 to 7 years, depending on who you'd ask. Tony had sold the Tower in 2016.

His head still a little fuzzy, Peter hesitated as the doors opened onto the top floor. He had almost expected them to crash some kind of function. That would have certainly explained why the elevator worked, but the entire floor was empty. It was almost eerie to see it like this when Peter had only ever experienced it lined with cocktail tables and packed with people in fine evening wear.

"Shit, this is so cool," Ned mumbled, slowly advancing towards the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked Manhattan. "You can basically look right into the Chrysler Building!"

Flash had walked up next to him and waved towards the other building like a little kid waving at all the other cars passing through the rear window of a car. "You know, my dad said he's gonna buy this whole thing one day. So, if you ever want to be invited to one of my parties..."

"Well, he's a little late for that. I doubt the Tower will go back on the market for the next few decades."

Peter's insides froze. For a moment, he was hoping that it was just an illusion, that maybe he was just having a stroke or a minor concussion from patrol he hadn't noticed before. But when he turned, there was no doubt. The man that stalked towards them, decked out in a three-piece suit, dark shades on his face, was no other than Tony Stark.

Both his friends and Flash had turned at once.

Ned looked like he was hyperventilating while his high-pitched whisper rang through the room. "Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod..."

"Oh. My. God," Peter groaned. "What are you doing here?"

Tony gasped, his face pulled into affronted shock. "Is that how you greet your favorite Avenger?"

One hand twisted in his hair, Peter could only stare at him. "I can't believe this is happening right now," he mumbled, staring straight at Tony.

"Okay, while Peter is still trying to reboot that genius brain of his." Tony pointed at Ned who's eyes were in danger of bulging out of his head. "Ted, I presume. Don't know this one," he mumbled as he pointed to Flash, but then his attention singled in on MJ. He strode right past Peter, an outstretched hand extended to her. "That means you must be MJ..."

MJ's eyes were wide, shifting from Tony over to Peter and back. "Mr. Stark..."

"Call me Tony." The smile underneath his dark-tinted glasses was blindingly bright as she shook his nano-tech hand. That in itself left Peter at a loss for words. "I wish I could say I've heard a lot about you, but that would be a lie." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder a couple of times in Peter's direction. "You'd think he was guarding Fort Knox. Scratch that, it was easier to get in there than getting anything out of Peter when it comes to his new girlfriend."

"Oh god, please, stop talking!" Peter's face was hot, glowing like the surface of the sun. Even as he was hiding behind his hands he felt like he was illuminating the entire room.

"See, even now he's acting like this is all a big secret. Like I wouldn't notice how he rather spends his weekends in the city now than with dear old me, but I noticed and I do have his aunt's number. I mean, what does a guy have to do in order to be granted some time with their... well, intern. I only saved the universe, well, half of it. The lost half. You're welcome, by the way." He pointed at Ned and Flash as well. "You too, I guess."

Unaccustomed to Tony's rambling nature, MJ, Ned and Flash were sporting an identical look of opened-mouthed wonder, eyebrows slightly pulled together as they tried to follow Tony's chaotic monologue.

"It's not like I don't still have about a million things to teach him. Lesson number one," he turned to Peter. "You never ever stop making out with a girl to point out a Star Wars reference. I didn't think anyone would have to be taught that!"

Peter's jaw popped open. "Oh my god, you were watching us this whole time?"

He waved a hand at Peter. "FRIDAY and I were quite amused, I'm not gonna lie, but-- hey, come on!"

One hand on Tony's upper arm, Peter pushed him toward the other side of the room. While the other three were rooted on their spots in stunned silence, Peter had no such reservation.

"What in holy hell do you think you're doing?"

"Would you calm down? You're the one who's sneaking off without thinking about the 5 gazillion cameras that are installed in this building."

"And how exactly do you still have access to all these cameras, huh? Did you bribe someone to spy on my field trip?"

"Yeah, talking about that field trip, you know you could have just told me your team wanted to see the arc and I could have—"

"Don't change the subject!"

Tony tilted his head a bit to the side. "I don't usually have to bribe anyone to access what's mine."

Even though his eyes were almost entirely hidden behind the dark-tinted glasses, Peter stared at him. But no matter how long he did, Tony did seem entirely serious. "You bought back the Tower."

It wasn't a question and Tony didn't bother to pretend like it was either.

Peter's shoulder's slumped in resignation. "When did this happen?"

Tony shrugged, suddenly suspiciously quiet.

His nerves reaching an all-time high, Peter blew out a long breath. "Was this before or after my school's decathlon team happened to be invited to visit the arc?"

"Erm..." Tony pursed his lips, pretending to think. "I mean, I'm not sure about your little club's time table or anything like that so I wouldn't be entirely sure if—"

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Peter ran both hands through his hair, at a complete loss. "What the hell is going on with you?"

"Hey, it's not like you gave me much of a choice." Tony's finger was pointed at him, his eyebrows raised above the dark rims of his glasses, like Peter was in the know of what was going on.

"I have no idea what you're even talking about."

He huffed out an annoyed little breath. "Well, why is it that May got to meet your girlfriend and I'm still wondering if you made her up or not? And even that just because Pepper let something slip that May wasn't supposed to talk about when—"

"Okay, please..." Peter's arms and hands were stretched out, voice low like he was trying to calm a skittish animal. "...please tell me, that you didn't buy back the Tower just so you could meet MJ."

Tony crossed his arms in front of himself. "Oh, don't flatter yourself, Underoos."

"Oh god..." His head was hurting.

"I did not. Pepper would skin me alive."

Peter wasn't quite sure if he meant for spending that kind of money or for meddling with Peter's love life in general. "Then why didn't you just tell me you bought it?"

His arms twitched with another shrug. "I thought it would be a fun surprise."

Peter glanced over his shoulder in the direction of his friends and Flash, but they were well out of sight. "Listen, I'm sorry I haven't made it out to the cabin that often. It's not... it's not like I don't want to come out, it's just... it's the other side of town and—"

"And there's not enough room and you don't have a desk there to work at and the basement is too small and Morgan's up at what feels like dawn and has you grumpy in the mornings and the woods are creepy and you still don't like driving and what did I miss?"

Peter's head was bowed low. He had never said those things to Tony. Not out loud. He'd thought them for sure though.

"I know things haven't been ideal and with the Compound gone, well... this will be the better option."

Peter frowned, slowly looking back up at Tony. "The better option?"

"The lab in the Tower will be big enough that we can have like three desks each, easily. It's close enough for you to drop by whenever you want or go home in time so you, you know, don't miss a date or something. If you want to stay over there's no reason your room has to share a wall with Morgan's, the kitchen, or the living room, so no early wake-ups. No creepy trees outside your window and the subway station is just around the corner."

Peter's eyes were burning. Somehow... somehow this did sound a lot like he was the reason why Tony bought back that damn building after all.

With a swift motion, Tony took off his glasses, the expression on his face soft but sincere. "I miss you, kid. I'm not happy with how things have been going since they... well, since we've moved back to the cabin full time."

Peter moved his weight from one foot to the other. It wasn't like he hadn't missed Tony. He didn't even mind the cabin all that much, things had just been, well, different.

It wasn't just about where Tony lived now, that he was married with a kid. It wasn't that he had retired Iron Man, not really.

Everything was just so different and for some reason, Tony of all people acted like nothing at all had changed between them.

"Listen, Pete, I don't mean to—" He stopped himself, lowering his voice little further. "If I overstepped and you actually... well, if you actually just want your space and you want to cut back on the erm... internship, either way, that's perfectly fine and of course, we can figure out a new routine for the... neighborhood side project to—"

"I can't believe you bought the fucking Tower for me," Peter mumbled.

Tony tilted his head to the side. The corner of his mouth was pulled back into a soft smirk. "I invented fucking time travel for you, kid."

Peter's throat was dry, but he tried to swallow the growing lump anyway. "You did that because of the purple grape. Because of what he did to like 50% of the universe."

There was a beat of silence between them. Tony held his glance, staring at him unblinkingly. "Did I?"

Peter's lips parted, but there was nothing to say, his mind simply blank. "Tony... I... I'm not sure—"

"Alright now..." Without another moment of hesitation, Tony stepped a little closer, his arms pulling Peter into a tight hug. "We won't do that now. Not here. Not today," he whispered. One of his hands, the human one, was on the back of Peter's head when he quickly pressed a kiss against his temple. "I missed you, buddy."

Peter's fingers were clinging to Tony's back, his eyes pressed shut as he tried not to think about what Tony had said. Tried not to analyze what it meant if he had really done all of it just for him.

It took a few more mumbled words from Tony until he let go. His head held low, Peter ran the sleeve of his shirt over his eyes.

"You want this?" Tony held out his glasses for him to take.

With a wet snort, Peter waved his hand away. "Yeah, 'cause that's not super obvious at all..."

Tony shrugged, the smirk on his lips deepening. Just before he pushed his glasses back onto his face, Peter caught a glimpse of the glassy brown eyes, a little red probably not unlike his own. With an overly heavy sigh, Tony wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulder. „Come on, buddy... I think at least one of your friends is dying to see that technological marvel in my basement.”

Peter scrunched up his nose, not even trying to pull away from him. “Can you at least try not to be weird?”

“I won’t make any promises.”

"You could make up for it and let Ned touch the arc." He bit his lip, hiding a smile. "He really really wants to..."

"Why do you want to break that thing I just bought for you?"

Peter let his head drop against Tony's shoulder. "It's okay, I'll help you fix it."

This is the first time I've written something for this fandom that is *not* whump, so let me know, what you think!

I'll try to fill a bunch of these prompts, because I love running from my WIPs. Don't hate me for it ;) <3

#webpril #webpril 2021 #webpril 2021 day 1 #field trip #peter parker fic #irondad #IRON DAD AND SPIDER SON #iron dad fic #tony stark lives #tony stark fanfiction #fluff #post-endgame

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regencysims4 · 4 years ago

Note

did you ever furnish von osterly estate in your game? also do you have any tips for furnishing and building homes? I have a Pinterest board but nothing ever comes out

hi :) I remember fussing with a floor plan and throwing some furniture in there, but I don't have that build in my game anymore. but there is a floor plan and interior images for Osterley Park, which it was based on, in its section on my houses board on Pinterest! and you're in luck if you're particularly fond of that build, because it's the setting of a very sweet movie, The Grass is Greener, that shows you through the house. I also have a brand-new section full of floor plans (that I had previously kept private since they're not all from the period); anything is useful to get an idea of proportions, flow, and how spaces can be divided.

I'm not honestly sure I can give any tips that will help, but I can walk you through my process(es) and something might be of use! and my Pinterest has boards for interiors, residential exteriors, community lots, floor plans, furniture, and art, which I hope can be helpful! there's like three thousand pins total lol why am I like this

how I build:

> collect as many pictures as you can of a building, then pick a facade and go off! I tend to build a single wall as the front ground/first-floor facade and add windows and doors before building the whole shape of the building; it's easiest if you get a feel for the proportions first when you're working from an image, and then you can use that knowledge to add the other walls for that level, and then the other levels. using the window bays as a unit of measurement always helps me: you'll often have more than one of the same, so get that window and its surrounding walls right, then you can replicate that little room as many times as you need to fill out your walls. pay attention to stairwells, making sure you have reasonably-sized landings, a window for light/atmosphere, can get to each part of the house without too far a walk, all that. i like to have a shell of a building before i do anything else, and i try not to do too much laborious exterior ornamentsation before i try out a floor plan in case the room proportions need changing. > look up whether there's a floor plan or any architectural design drawings for what you want to build, because if there is you're in luck. you can use the room tool to make each of the rooms and then adjust them until they make the shape of the building; or inversely, get an aerial view of your lot and build the shape you see, then divide it into rooms according to the plan. when building shibden hall I went absolutely nuts and used the size in pixels of each room in the floor plan images to convert to numbers of in-game tiles each room should be - this is insane and you can totally just guess. once you've placed all interior walls, doors, and stairs you're in good shape.

how I furnish:

> once I have walls up inside the shell of the house, I place basic furniture in the rooms to denote what each room is (a bed, a couch, a desk, a dining table, etc). each room needs windows, doors, and a fireplace if it doesn't have them; then i start placing larger furnishings to create the layout of the room. it's easiest for me to go from the bigger things on down – placing sofas and coffee tables, then living chairs and end tables, then rugs and decorations. more historical building means keeping lighting (and heating/cooling) in mind: writing desks often go near windows, reading chairs go near fireplaces, and little tables, shelves, or torchères can go wherever your sims would need to see; and for homes classy enough to afford them, I tend to place wall sconces and chandeliers first according to the architecture of the bare room. outside-in is a good way to work if you can't visualize the layout of furniture: line the walls with bookshelves, cabinets, counters, fireplaces, mirrors, side tables, whatever; place chairs, tables, or sculptural pieces in front of windows; and then build in from there. since it's sims, I get kitchen (stove, fridge, sink, counter), bathroom (bath, sink, toilet), and bedroom (bed, dresser) squared away first so that all the necessary functions are usable. hypothetically, decor and clutter go last, but there are no rules in creativity ;)

general tips

when in doubt, do a bunch of googling/pinteresting, and then just copy what you see!

whatever inspires you will motivate you, so if a color scheme, furniture style, a set of CC, or any detail sparks joy, don't be afraid to start from there.

zoom out! when you're staring at a screen for a long time, ya lose perspective. literally zooming out and asking myself if where everything is makes sense always helps me.

if you're wondering why your build doesn't look quite right, the answer is usually proportions: changing wall heights, roof pitches, window sizes, and especially the wall length/amount of space between corners-windows-doors-et cetera (relative to the size of said architectural details) often fixes it!

watch filmed-on-location tv/movies and look up filming locations. built sets often have wonky unrealistic proportions and although interiors and exteriors are sometimes shot different places, a period piece shot in a real historic place gives you a feel for how spaces are lived in (plus it's fun).

did any of that help anyone? I can try to answer any question, the more specific the better, to the best of my ability!

#correspondence #regencysims4

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readingbatfamficsat3am · 4 years ago

Text

Universe Jumping

Rose stood outside the building. The black pant suit she wore was uncomfortable over her body armor and hidden weapons - knives, shuriken, her twin blades and even a small hand gun strapped to the inside of her thigh. Rachel was waiting on a rooftop nearby, they had agreed that her magic wasn’t necessary for this mission. It was a simple infiltrate and rescue type thing and S.H.I.E.L.D, for all their bedazzle and secrecy, weren’t anything Rose couldn’t deal with by herself.

Rachel had stolen a security card for her the previous day, while Rose had been in the abandoned building across the street, trying to figure out the layout of the S.H.I.E.L.D base. Rachel was lucky that her magic allowed her to shape shift, it would have been very difficult to go unnoticed with her dark purple hair, grey skin and red headstone that glowed every once in a while. She had taken the liberty of turning Rose’s silver hair brown and temporarily healing her eye, which was very much appreciated.

Rose thought back to the conversation she’d had with the demon not ten minutes ago and smiled softly to herself.

“Be careful in there.” Rachel had said, “I know you are very much capable of defending yourself but I worry sometimes. Just go in, get Jason, try to avoid people like Romanoff the best you can and I’ll see you out here in half an hour.”

Rose remembered smiling then too, “I love that you worry about me, even though it’s rather unnecessary. It’s cute,” she had tapped Rachel’s nose and leaned in to give her a kiss, “I swear on Gar’s love for stupid video games that I will get in and out with minimal trouble but I can’t promise that I won’t accidentally kill someone on the way.”

Rachel had shrugged and grinned, “Good enough for me, now go and rescue that idiot before he makes an even bigger problem than jumping across multiverses. Does he know how exhausting it is to open portals across multiverses, if he’s not dead already I’ll probably kill him myself.”

“I better go. I’ll let you know if I run into any trouble and need some help.” She had said, though she highly doubted that even if she did run into Romanoff she would have a problem.

Now, Rose glanced once up at Rachel before walking down the busy shop street in her impractical yet doable 3 inch heels towards the S.H.I.E.L.D building that despite appearing to be just another corporate company, it screamed shady government division to Rose. It just had that look about it.

Without her eye-patch -- which she strangely missed -- people barely gave her a second glance. Most of the agents around her were also in black suits, some even had shades which in her opinion was way too on the nose. Trust Jason to end up in a place like this.

She hadn’t seen him in over five years, not since before he died. Rose had broken up with him about two months before his death, and had been devastated to hear what had happened to him. Now she had heard that he had come back to life eight months later and had told no one, but reappeared five years later with a vengeance and a smoking addiction that were both likely to kill him.

He’d even developed a habit for murder, even worse than Rose’s -- which was hard to do if she was being honest.

She reached the check-in point at the end of the room and gave the woman sitting behind the desk an easy smile. Rose’s father had drilled that smile into her, make people feel at ease, make them trust you with a few nice words and stab them through the back afterwards.

The woman took the security card from her and scanned it through the system -- Samantha Marshall, 24 years old, Clearance Level 5, whatever that meant. Rose was going to break into anything, as long as she got what she wanted. There were no problems and Rose quickly took the card back before moving through the turnstile and heading towards the elevator.

“Any problems?” Rachel asked, with what seemed like boredom laced through her tone. Despite her worry earlier on she trusted Rose to be able to take care of herself on missions like these.

She tapped at the earpiece before replying, “Nope, for top secret security logistics division it’s surprisingly lax on security. We should probably stay off comms though, it might look suspicious if I look like I'm talking to myself. Thanks for checking in.”

Rachel gave her a quick, “No problem” before turning off the comms. Just then, the elevator opened and three agents stepped out and Rose stepped in. She didn’t actually know where in the building Jason was, she was actually planning on torturing the information out of someone in the back of a supply closet. It wasn’t one of her greatest plans but it was far from being one of her worst. At least if anything went wrong, there was a demon sorceress capable of destroying the universe outside.

Just as the doors were about to close, another woman stepped inside. They gave each other a quick nod before they both turned to face the closed doors. Rose recognised the woman as Melinda May from her brief hacking trip through S.H.I.E.L.D’s systems. May was almost as skilled as Natasha Romanoff and had developed a nickname in The Cavalry. She smiled to herself, and decided to have a little fun and take advantage of being in a universe where no one had ever heard of her.

“I hear they call you The Cavalry around here.” She got barely a nod in response, but she could tell by May’s subtle change in body language that Rose was irritating her. “I’d say i’m a fan of your work but I didn’t know you existed until two days ago. Besides there are cooler nicknames to have.”

She could hear May’s slight intake of breath and almost grinned. Rose liked fucking with people like May, they had a tough exterior that’s usually enough to get people running in fear, but had certain topics or issues that caused that exterior to crack when poked at.

“Do you have any suggestions for a ‘cooler’ nickname then?” May’s tone was flawless, no trace of any annoyance or irritation to be found.

“A few, none that you’d be interested in.” Rose turned to grin at her. Finally the doors opened allowing Rose to step onto the floor and to say without turning back, “It was nice meeting you May.”

As she made her way through the building she glanced at the various agents passing by her in the halls, trying to find one likely to give her the information she needed. Rose found them in Jonathan Clarke. Dabbing a bit of chloroform onto a handkerchief she pulled her pocket, she waited in a corner for Mr Clarke to walk by. She didn’t have to wait long, he only managed to struggle for a few seconds before the knock out drug took affect. The hardest part of the whole thing was dragging him into a nearby closet without making a mess.

“Hey, Rae. I was wondering if you could let up on the magic? I was hoping to do the rest of this as myself.”

She didn’t get a reply but a quick glance at her shoulder saw that her hair had returned to its silver and Rose assumed that her eye-patch had returned. She ripped off the pant suit, her ‘Ravager’ outfit underneath. The guy was starting to wake up so she pulled out a few of her knives and got to work.

*********

He lasted longer than she’d expected but not long enough that it was difficult -- or fun. Rose left him in supply closet to bleed out but left the door open so that if he was lucky someone found him before he died. She ignored the fact that there were security cameras at every turn. No one here could stop her unless they had a rocket launcher on hand.

There was already blood on her face when the first agent tried to take her down. There was some in her hair by the time she was finished with him. Five more came running at her. A flick of Rose’s wrist brought three of them down with knives in their chests. Whipping out a blade she blocked a bullet to her left and slit a throat on her right before stabbing the agent who had dared to try shoot her.

Alarms blared around her and lights flared, illuminating the rooms and halls in a red hue. It seemed fitting for the state of affairs Rose was currently dealing with. She reached the stairwell and began climbing. The agent had told her Jason was on the 7th floor so Rose cut her way through S.H.I.E.L.D agents until she reached that floor.

There was a small army of agents waiting when she finally opened the door to the 7th floor. Rose just managed to duck behind a desk before they opened fire. She took a deep breath. She really hated doing this, even though the bullets wouldn’t kill her they still hurt like a bitch. She grit her teeth and jumped back out into the fray. Two bullets pierced her shoulder and Rose let out one quiet cry of pain before whipping out five shuriken, each one finding their targets in five agents. Her twin blades cut through the remaining agents easily. Her clothes, hair and armor was soaked with blood, some of it was her own.

Two more agents shot at her from behind and her back arched in pain before she turned to face them and got three more bullets in the chest. Rose let out a cry of anger and ran at them. Sliding onto the floor, Rose kicked at Agent 1’s leg, hard enough to break bone. In the same moment, she swept Agent 2 off their feet and brought a sword straight through his chest until it hit the floor boards underneath.

She quickly jumped to her feet, glanced around at the blood covered room and grinned. Agent 2 let out a scream when she pulled her sword from his chest and Agent 1 -- who was the agent with the best chance of living as he only had a broken leg -- practically pissed his pants when she licked one of her knives clean.

Five minutes later -- god this building was huge -- she was striding down the final hallway towards her friend. Rose kicked in the door, and found Jason sitting in a chair across from Phil Coulson, Clint Barton and Natasha fucking Romanoff. He was in a complete state of calm, at least until she came charging through the door, then he had turned pale.

Romanoff had pulled out a gun and was about to pull the trigger when Jason stood up, “Stop, stop! She’s a friend. Besides, bullets would do nothing.” The assassin turned S.H.I.E.L.D agent gave both of them a strange look before standing down. Coulson and Barton had stood up by then, but Rose didn’t care. She only saw Jason.

“Is it really you?” She whispered, tears in her eyes. Jason only nodded. Then he pulled her into a hug, ignoring her blood stained attire. Rose allowed herself one moment to appreciate that he was here before she pulled back and punched him across the face. She was pretty sure she heard a crack. Romanoff had her gun up again and Barton leaped across the desk to tackle her. Rose quickly put him in a headlock and faced Romanoff to tell her to put the gun down when Jason stood up again and stood between them.

“Rose, Natasha stop please.”

Rose growled at him before releasing Barton. “You’re such a piece of shit Jason. We mourned for you. Dick had a mental fucking breakdown. And you were alive the last five years?” She was yelling now, poking at his chest, getting blood all over his $5000 suit. “I get the whole revenge crusade. Trust me I get it but the Titans were your family. I was your family in a way and you not only died, but you came back to life and decided not to tell anyone for five motherfucking years. Then when we finally realize it’s you, you decide to start universe jumping?” Coulson, Barton and Romanoff all looked utterly confused by Rose’s speech but said nothing. “Oh, by the way there are about fifty agents outside dying. You might want to take care of that.”

Jason looked horrified at that, “You killed the agents outside?” She rolled her eyes, “It’s not any worse than anything you’ve ever done, so cut the hypocritical bullshit. Besides I thought you were being held hostage.”

Coulson pulled out his phone and Rose assumed he was getting medics to the agents outside but he didn’t leave the room. Instead he turned to Jason, “Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on.”

Jason let out a sigh, “Coulson, Clint, Natasha meet Rose. She’s an...old friend.”

Rose scoffed, “Old friend doesn’t even begin to cover it.” She turned to face them. “Jason and I are from another universe, another multiverse, where I am the daughter of one of the world’s most dangerous assassins and Jason is the adopted son of Batman, the one who died five years ago but came back to life God knows how and became a crime lord and a serial killer. No judgement on the serial killer thing, I’m not much better.”

No one said anything so Rose continued on, turning back to Jason, “By the way Rachel is waiting outside and preparing to skin you alive. Do you have any idea how much it drains her to open portals across multiverses?”

Jason had the sense to look guilty, “Shit, on a scale of 1-10 how mad is she? Like will she do that creepy thing with her eyes or will she summon a demon monster to torture me.”

Barton interrupted Rose before she got a chance to answer, “What the fuck is going on? Coulson why haven’t we taken her into custody? She just killed thirty people and…”

“Shit. Thirty died. I am so sorry about that,” Rose interrupted. “Just give me a sec and I’ll fix all this.” Natasha -- who haden’t spoken up until then -- said, “How are you going to fix the murders of thirty people?”

Rose ignored her and turned her comms back on, “Hey babe.” Jason looked at her then, she waved him off. “Yeah im fine. Guess what, Jason actually isn’t being held hostage and I just killed thirty of his friends so I was wondering of you could do some of your wiggly woos with your fingers?” She didn’t get a reply but a large purple circle suddenly appeared at the wall and Rachel stepped through it, still in her casual wear of a crop top with jeans and sunglasses.

Romanoff must have an itchy trigger finger because the second Rachel stepped into the room shots were fired, which she stopped with a lazy hand raised. Rose however pulled out her sword and glared at the assassin, “Don’t you dare shoot at my girlfriend again.”

Rachel put a hand on her shoulder, whispering that she was fine. Jason was trying not to stare them. He was clearly startled at their whole relationship and he was probably scared of getting flayed by Rachel in the middle of Phil Coulson’s office

#marvel #dc #ravager #raven teen titans #rachel roth #phil coulson #natasha romanoff #black widow #clint barton #hawkeye #jason todd #red hood #fanfic #crossover

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