#i just wanted the bit with henrik at the start but i got so fucking carried away

[slavghoul]

There’s an interview with Martin in the new issue of Sweden Rock Magazine and he talks a bit about Ghost. I know some of you still miss the good ole Omega days and wonder what the hell happened in 2016 or whether he and TF are on speaking terms at all, so I translated the few parts where he talks about his time in the band..

--

There have been countless rumours about the reasons for your departure from Ghost, everything from mental illness to alcohol. I want to give you a chance to sort out what happened when you left.

MP: I don't know if I need the chance. Well, I have severe fucking ADHD, I was diagnosed the other year. And I've been taking anti-depressants for 16 years, I quit three months ago. So yeah, mental ups and downs have been plenty. No more alcohol problems than the average construction worker. It's invasive and so fucking unnecessary to delve too much into it, but in short: after six-seven years of intense fucking work, you get tired of each other in a way that might be unimaginable to someone who hasn't experienced that kind of relationship. It wasn’t just Tobias, it was everyone towards each other. You sit on a tour bus and you don't feel like it's a holiday or a fun thing, but such is life. I see it as a marriage. Ask anybody, let a mate move into your living room and live together in the same room for two years. A lot happens to your personalities and even though we were anonymous, you got a boost of some feigned self-esteem that some of us never had. It was turbulent, but also really fun and beautiful to do those things with that gang. There was nothing dramatic happening, no one doing more drugs than anyone else. Me and Tobbe both thought and think good things about each other. I can say the same about Simon or keyboardist Mauro Rubino or drummer Aksel Holmgren or bassist Rikard Ottoson or guitarist Henrik Palm or whoever. But people don’t need to know everything. It's as bizarre as me talking about my ex to the newspaper. Maybe if I lived in Hollywood, but now I live in Linköping, haha.

Do you have contact with Tobias today? Will you ever reconcile?

MP: Strictly business. I definitely think so. Sometimes you just have to have some time apart. I see no reason why we shouldn't, I see it that way with all the guys involved. It's a bit like having broken up with a girlfriend. It can be hard to see her with a new guy and you have to look after yourself. I've never felt the need to pour this out to people, I think it just does more damage. I understand that people want to know, but it's funny. People buy that it's anonymous for however long and then they want to know the most intimate stuff.

You have an Omega tattoo, your symbol in Ghost. Is it a painful reminder or do you mostly look back on that time as something positive?

MP: I have it on my shoulder, it sits where it sits. The Omega thing has nothing to do with Ghost for me. We had five symbols to distinguish the costumes and I had one stuck to one of my guitars. As we didn't have names, people started calling me that. When I think back on my time with the band, it's many years of great stuff. Being on tour isn't a great thing if you're unwell or homesick, but overall it was fantastic. We had so much fun, it was great and new for everyone and we learned stuff every day. We took it seriously, were smart and strategic and didn't party the whole thing up. If we had been 20 years old, it wouldn't have worked. For me, it's a great, important period.

How different would Ghost's first three albums have been without you?

MP: I'm not going to trample on myself, but I'm not going to put myself on some fantasy pedestal either. The band, the idea and the concept was started by Tobias and bassist Gustaf Lindström. That's it. Five guys don't wake up the same day and have the same idea. He's the main visionary, no question about it. He started Ghost and has written Opus Eponymous more or less alone. But for the next album, we had formed a band around it. It was still his band, everybody understood that he's the boss, but the musicians became more or less contributors. I came up with song ideas, ideas of what we should look like, album covers, concepts. And Tobbe was damn clever. He understood that if something was good, it didn't matter who did the shit. But there was no one with the mandate to take his place. lnfestissumam would have been a little different, but not that different. Some people say that when the old members left, the band died. That's not true. I think the musicians have played a big role live, but in the song-writing I don't think so. It's really hard to say what impact someone has had, but if you've been there, you've been there. On Impera, Hux Nettermalm plays drums and I hear it's not Ludvig Kennberg who plays on Opus Eponymus, Meliora and Prequelle. Aksel has his style and Martin Hjertstedt who played drums live also has a great style. Other than that, there are not so big differences.

The first time I heard that Magna Carta Cartel and Ghost shared members, I thought that the bands had the same singer.

MP: I've heard that plenty of times. In MCC it has been me or Simon singing. Neither Tobbe nor I, especially I, are trained singers. I won't compare us too much, because he's probably done over a thousand live shows by now. But we're from the same town, have the same accent... I can't sing any other way, I can't really sing at all. My voice here is just another instrument. If I'd done it again from the beginning, we'd probably have a different singer. I know people want to imagine it’s Tobias singing in MCC. They can stand in the room when we play and think it's him. People have been talking about the lyrics of "Sway" being about Ghost, but it was written in 2004 and is about a girl I had a crush on. But it doesn't matter how many times you present the facts, people still think things - and it's both amazing and terrifying.

[iamvegorott]

Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt35

First: Link Prev: Link Next: TBA

----------

Jackie was facedown on Chase’s bed, an arm dangling off the side and face buried in the pillow. Chase sat beside his legs and could somehow understand the muffled ramblings from the other. 

“So you’re crushing on Marvin?” Chase echoed. “Did you just realize this, or is it just now starting to, like, make you panic?” 

“It hit me like a truck last night,” Jackie explained. 

“I know that feeling of emotions hitting like a truck.” Chase chuckled. 

“You made out with Henrik during an argument. That doesn’t count.” 

“I mean, you and Marvin could-”

“I don’t want to get into a fight with him!” Jackie pushed himself up a bit, voice and face filled with panic. “I don’t want to be angry or have him be angry!” 

“Is…Is everything okay in here?” Henrik asked after lightly knocking on the door and opening it.

“We’re just talking, Hen,” Chase said with a smile as Jackie flopped himself back down on the bed, talking through the pillow. 

“What did he say?” 

“He said he’s okay, wanted some advice.” Chase translated. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Henrik went over to the bed. “Is it advice needed for something physical? You have not spoken to me a lot about certain things that our bodies do, and if you are confused about how parts work, I can explain.”

“You sound like you’re offering the ‘birds and the bees’ talk,” Chase said.

“I mean, if he has any questions, we can-”

“Nope, nope, nope!” Jackie quickly scrambled to sit up. “I don’t need any of that. That’s not what I’m confused about.” 

“Then what is the problem?” Henrik asked, blinking as Jackie answered with a groan, covering his face with his hands and falling back on the bed. Chase sighed as he stood, holding Henrik’s shoulder and guiding him back to the door.

“I got him, Hen. He’s having an…‘emotional discovery’.” Chase whispered the last part.

“Oh! Is it about M-” Henrik was stopped with a hand on his mouth. 

“Yes.” Chase glanced over and saw that Jackie hadn’t moved from his spot, showing he hadn’t heard or at least understood them. “I’ll call ya if we need you, I promise.” 

“Alright. Are we good for dinner?” 

“Of course.” 

“Wear something nice. No jeans.” Henrik reminded with a poke to Chase’s chest. 

“I’m still going to wear my hat,” Chase said with a grin. 

“Fine, fine, but that means you have to have a tie.” 

“Deal.” 

“I will see you then.” Henrik chuckled and stepped out of the room. Chase gave a little wave before closing the door. 

“Still alive over there?” Chase asked as he sat back on the edge of the bed. 

“Sadly,” Jackie grunted. 

“It’s not that bad.” 

“It’s the end of the world.” 

“Having a crush is not the end of the world.” Chase patted Jackie’s knee. 

“It feels like it.” Jackie sighed and sat up. “Maybe it’ll go away if I just ignore it-ow.” He flinched after Chase thumped him upside the head. “Dude?” “Ignoring it will only make it worse. Trust me.” 

“But what if I like ruin everything? I really like being friends with Marvin.” 

“It’s not going to ruin everything.” 

“How do you-” 

“Chase Brody!” A voice shouted from beyond the closed door. 

“Is that Dark?” Jackie’s question completely changed. 

“What in the world?” Chase grunted and got off the bed, leaving the room with Jackie following him. They came into the living room and saw the other Septiceyes already there, along with their sudden visitors of Dark and Mad. 

“Let go of me!” Mad snapped as he yanked himself out of Dark’s hold. He started reaching behind him and paused when JJ caught his arm, shaking his head. Mad gritted his teeth, huffed through his nose, and let his arm drop. Anti, on the other hand, didn’t have someone stopping him.

“The fuck you think you’re doing?” Anti snapped, shoving Dark back. Marvin saw that Dark only had to take a step back, and that showed Anti had held back, either because he wasn’t fully in the mood to fight or seeing Chase come into the room had him trying to somewhat behave. But he did have his lips pulled back in a snarl, showing off slowly growing canines and softly hissing in a warning.

“He was eavesdropping on mine and Host’s talk,” Mad said. 

“It is not eavesdropping if I am walking through my own home and you two are speaking loudly in the kitchen,” Dark spoke directly to Mad and then turned his attention to Chase. “And I thought we agreed that you Septiceyes were not supposed to interfere with the new Iplier.”

“Night,” Marvin stated. 

“Pardon?” Dark’s voice was thick with annoyance. 

“God of Night. That’s ‘the new Iplier’s name.” Marvin stood with his arms casually crossed. “While you are preventing the other Ipliers from working, we’ve actually made progress.” 

“Putting yourself into more potential danger is not ‘making progress’. Congratulations on getting a name. And you have been beyond lucky at this point that you’ve yet to get seriously harmed. 

“Aw, do you care about us, Darky?” Anti teased, snarl turning into a toothy grin when Dark glared at him. 

“It’s not about caring about you Septiceyes: it’s about not fully exposing us to the rest of the world. Henrik and Edward may be talented doctors, but I can’t see any of you willing to let another die because you can’t get to Henrik on time and end up going to a hospital instead. A hospital where they run specific tests that will give away that we are not normal.” Dark’s words got Jackie to start curling up on himself. “While we are powerful, we cannot go against the world if we are found out. Who knows what they will try to do? They will cage us, extract everything that they can, experiment on what we can and cannot handle, use us for whatever they want because since we are not human in their eyes, we are not worthy of ethical means.” 

“Dark, stop,” Marvin said, seeing how Jackie’s eyes went wider and wider, almost looking ill by this point. “You’ve made your point.” 

“Have I? I don’t think you-” Dark stopped when he saw Jackie’s face. “I know that look.” He said to himself and then addressed Jackie directly. “Something happened to you. Did you get caught?” 

“N-No.” Jackie crossed his arms, looking at anything that wasn't Dark. 

“You have been caught.” Dark saw right through that. “When did this happen?”

“I-I haven’t. No, no, I just-I don’t-I don’t like the thought.” Jackie shook his head. 

“Drop it, everything’s fine.” Chase stepped between Jackie and Dark. 

“There is no need or use in upsetting him.” Henrik stepped in as well. He didn’t know everything but caught on enough to know this was a bad idea. JJ moved in front of Mad and looked at Anti. The movements of their faces showed that he was telling him something but didn’t allow anyone else to hear. Anti breathed harshly through his nose and took a step back, not appearing to be the happiest with that choice. 

“No need? If Jackie has been studied to any degree, we need to know. If there is any record of who we are out there, it’s only a matter of time before they start hunting us down!” Dark’s words got Jackie to hug himself tighter as he took a step back. 

“I told you everything is fine.” Chase repeated, trying to use his tone to tell Dark to politely ‘fuck off’. 

“Clearly, it’s not if that is his reaction.” Dark pointed at Jackie and then used that same hand to push Chase aside. “You need to tell me what you did, right now.” He said as he went up to Jackie.

“I didn’t do anything.” Jackie’s voice was soft, body lightly trembling. “Leave me alone.” 

“If we are in danger, I need to know everything that is going on.” Dark moved in closer. 

“Dude, let’s step out and talk about this.” Chase tried again to keep Dark and Jackie separated, but Dark stayed in place. 

“We are talking about it right now. What the fuck did you do, Jackie?” Dark’s voice gave away that he was worried, but he was certainly going about it the wrong way. 

“I didn’t-leave me alone.” Jackie’s breathing was starting to get faster as voices started overlapping with everyone's arguments-

Tell me! Calm down! This is so stupid! You’re being a dick! Stop it! Stop!

Jackie felt like he was trapped, and Dark was directing all of his anger toward him about something that was fixed, something that wasn’t his fault. He didn’t want that stuff to happen. There was too much happening. It was too much. 

“Don’t ignore me!” Dark grabbed Jackie’s arm, and that was the final straw. 

“Go away!” Jackie pulled back his other arm and punched Dark in the center of the chest, sending him flying across the room. There was a hard and solid thud of Dark’s body hitting the wall, the house shaking from the impact. The spot on Dark’s chest where Jackie’s fist had connected was now covered with a ball of swirling black smoke.

There was a pause of silence, and Marvin glanced around the room, seeing Chase holding an arm out in front of Henrik and JJ pulling what looked like a baton out of Mad’s hand. Mad’s eyes were wide and dark blue with patches of red. Anti was tense, looking like he was ready to pounce, but it was hard to tell who he was ready to grab since he kept looking back and forth between Dark and Jackie.

Jackie.

“Jackie?” Marvin noticed how Jackie’s eyes were glowing green, no iris, no pupils, just a bright green, and his jaw was tight from clenching his teeth. “Jackie.” He noticed how Jackie was just glaring at Dark. There was strange, powerful energy radiating off him. It was something that couldn't be seen, it was something that could be felt. “Jackie, look at me.” Marvin saw Jackie twitch a little, likely fighting himself. “Jackieboyman, I will watch the newest Marvel movie without you and spoil it if you don’t look at me.” Yes, it was an odd threat, but it worked as Jackie blinked, and his eyes slowly started changing, the green fading, his pupils returning, and his irises back to blue. 

“What?” Jackie blinked a few more times, and then it registered what he’d done. “Oh shit, oh shit! I’m so sorry! Oh my, God!” He tried to go over to Dark, and Marvin stopped him, Chase scrambling over to help. “I didn’t-I didn’t mean-I’m-I’m so sorry.” 

“Breathe, Jackie, breathe. You know he’s okay. It was just a punch.” Chase said, managing to get his arms around the panicking Jackie and pull him into a hug.

Marvin looked over his shoulder and saw Dark was beginning to get up, grunting and exposing the man-shaped dent in the wall. If he didn’t already know about the supernatural aspects of the House, Marvin would have had more questions when he watched the wall shifting and repairing itself. Dark looked beyond pissed, the ball of smoke gone, and his chest was perfectly intact and clean like nothing had happened. Marvin was prepared to fight, but Anti swept in instead. His body became that black shadow Marvin saw him being the first time they met, and he pulled Dark through the front door. Not opening the door, he had literally pulled him through the wooden surface and to the outdoors. 

Knowing that Chase had Jackie, Marvin went over to the window and peeked through it. He watched as Anti and Dark talked, well yelled, considering how aggressive they both looked. Anti seemed to be doing most of the yell-talking, continuing even when Dark tried to speak. Eventually, he saw the shift in Dark’s face. How it went from anger to confusion, to sorrow and empathy. Marvin wasn’t even aware those were emotions Dark even had. His brows went up when he witnessed Dark place a hand on Anti’s shoulder, and Anti brushed it off, both of them making some interesting faces. Marvin couldn’t fully understand them, but there was definitely something. He was going to need some more tea and gossip with JJ.

“Marv?” Jackie’s voice pulled Marvin’s attention back to the room. 

“Yeah?” Marvin quickly read the space, seeing that JJ was now talking with Mad in a corner of the room, and Chase and Henrik were doing the same in a different corner. Jackie awkwardly held his arm and had a weak smile. 

“Would you really watch a Marvel movie without me?” Jackie asked.

“Hell no. There is no way I could understand half of what was going on without your encyclopedia of comic book knowledge.” Marvin chuckled. 

“Dark’s going back to the Manor,” Anti stated as he walked back into the House. He glanced over to Jackie and then rubbed the back of his neck, sighing, “I filled Dark in, Jackie…I’m sorry. I know you never wanted me to share those details, but he wouldn’t fucking let it go. Dark also believes that Chase knows everything about it as well, but that’s up to you how much of that you’re willing to share.”

“I thought Chase did know everything?” Marvin asked. 

“He knew where I was and has an idea, but I never went into the details,” Jackie said. “Anti only knows those things because he saw them when he…when he did the stuff.”

“Details about what? What stuff did Anti do? Myself and JJ have never been told anything about what is being referenced.” Henrik said. 

“Should…Should I leave?” Mad asked, his eyes shifting between several shades of blue. “I can call Mare to take me home, and-” He paused and looked at JJ. “Why shouldn’t I tell Mare what happened here?” JJ sighed and projected his voice to everyone in the room.

“We’ve handled the problem, and it’s something we can discuss with Dark more at a later point. But we don’t need Mare trying to fight him as well because he technically brought you here against your will. The last thing we need is more arguments while we’re still trying to figure out this whole ‘God of Night’ mess.” 

“Mare wouldn’t-”

“He would.” 

“Do we just keep doing what we’re doing, then?” Mad looked at all the other Septiceyes. 

“We do.” Marvin was the first to speak. “Host said me and Jackie are supposed to deal with Night, so we will. Dark’s just being paranoid because it’s not going to your guys’ usual routine. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to like those things. We'll continue leaving him out of the loop for the most part, and we’ll drag Night’s ass to the Manor, and he can take over from there.” 

“We can discuss that tomorrow. There’s other stuff we need to talk about today. If Jackie is willing, that is.” Henrik said.

“Can we eat first or, like, have some food with it?” Jackie requested, trying to keep a chipper tone, but his anxiety was obvious. 

“Waffles?” Chase suggested. 

“Please.”

[nerhusconnection]

Solveig: “… And as the third element I took pictures with your old camera and used those for that collage, too. I could feel how it added to the meaning, and changed the meaning of the cloth and the painted bits. It’s definitely something I’ll explore further. I have to say, this mixed media project was rather intriguing for a change. I didn’t expect Mr. Cramer to come up with a project like this. Not that my work made it into the exhibition. He decided to pick three rather boring works but they had big titles. One was called ‘Peace’, all blue and doves and feathers, one ‘Exploring me’, she used nudes of herself for it, can you imagine that? I wouldn’t be surprised if he had jacked off on it. And I forgot the title of the third one. Mine was just called ‘A Study in Black and Red’ because that’s what it was. But it was so much better than the ones he picked.”

Malte: "I’m sad I missed the exhibition. Sounds like we could have had a lot of fun there. Will you show me the picture when we’re back home?”

Solveig: “Sure, no problem. I can also show you some other stuff I made since you were here last time.”

Malte: “Yes, please do, I’d love that. But there is one other thing I want to hear about. Mom said the school called again?"

Solveig scoffed: "Oh, I knew it. Are you going full big brother on me again?"

Malte didn't reply, so they walked in silence, with the only noises being the sound of crunching snow and an occasional bird’s call.

After a while Solveig started to talk again. "They said I might fail this year and not get the recommendation for Art College."

Malte: "What happened?"

Solveig groaned. "I just hate it. I just hate everything. And now you are gone, and I hate that, too. Everything bores me and I'm just so angry all the time. The others in my year are mostly busy with calling each other gay or gossiping about who is doing it with whom. Or dissing each other for the most stupid shit. The other day Henrik told Line she was just as gross as her sister. You know, the one with cerebral palsy? I know I should have used other means to convey my averseness to this display of dumbassery. But I couldn't help it. And the biggest fuck? The dean told me afterwards that he feels Henrik had deserved to get his face smashed but of course blablabla."

Malte: “What a jerk. Are you still seeing Dr. Poulsen?”

Solveig: “Of course. And she is amazing, and it does help, and it got much better. I'm good, usually. And yes, we talked about it already. It’s just… it was ok when you were traveling, I knew you’d come back. But now… you’ll probably not. So I’m stuck here. And… it doesn’t make it any easier.”

Malte just nodded. She had been struggling with impulse control all her life and he had to pick her up from the dean’s office more than once in the past. She was her father’s daughter after all.

Malte: “So what’s the status now?”

Solveig shrugged. “I don’t know. Mom talked to the dean, he wants to have written confirmation I see a therapist regularly and I had to apologize to Henrik. And if anything else happens until the end of term they’ll expel me. “

Malte nodded. “That will be a long term for you then. Just one more term, Solveig… Do you think you will manage?”

She took her time with an answer. “I have to, don’t I? If I fuck this up, I have nothing. Mom is looking at me as if I had already failed. And her constant questions and offers... I know she cares, and I wouldn't want to miss it. But it’s not helping.” She grimaced.

“I’ll talk to Mom. And maybe we can arrange more sessions with Dr. Poulsen, like, two times a week?”, Malte asked. “I’ll help with the bills. Also, mom told me there was a new art school in town with an interesting program, maybe one of the classes would be something for you?”

Solveig nodded. “Yes, we already talked about that. Everything away from home and school is good." She grimaced again. "Man, this sounds so bad. I love them, you know I do, right? I just… I feel so trapped and I don’t want to hurt them.” She hesitated. “You know, I'm all happy for you, and I can't wait to meet Rachel, but can't you live here? Or, maybe I can come and live with you?"

Malte smiled. "You know the answer to that", he replied softly. "Also, Mom needs you, even if she is much better these days, and Anne-Lis does, too. And you need them just the same if you’re honest. At least for another while. But things will change, inevitably. And you'll do all the things you dream of, I know that. You can start right now, at least with some of it. You don't have to wait until some distant future happens."

Solveig: "I know, I know... Your footsteps are just so big, I can't walk in them."

Malte: "Solveig, you don't have to. You'll make your own, and they will be beautiful." He hugged her long and tightly. "And remember, I'll always be your pesky big brother, just a phone call away."

Solveig snuffled a bit. "When did you grow up, Fishhead?"

[greydoesthearts]

The Awakening (Swap AU)

TW: Henrik being weird (like usual in this au), emetophobia at the end.

-

Marvin groaned and ran a hand through his long hair as he stared at the phone in his hand. Ten percent left on his battery, and the message that he'd missed his departing train to Ireland by mere minutes.

His breath curled out into the air in front of him and he pulled a long jacket around his body. He could stand here, wait around for a while, or sit inside where it was nice and warm but also... crowded.

Being around people didn't sit right with him. When he was this angry, he wanted nothing more than to go burn a building to the ground, or light fire to some poor dead grass. Neither of those things would lend him any luck in catching the next train in time, but they made him feel better, like a high of sorts.

Ugh.

Maybe he should just risk it, take a taxi to the middle of nowhere and do something about his frustration. Then he'd be in a much better mood to deal with whatever bullshit excuse Shannon wanted to throw at him about not seeing his daughter this week when he got back home.

Fuck it. He stepped up to the curb and started up the app to order a ride before his phone shut off when a car pulled in next to the very curb he was standing on.

Marvin raised a brow, then groaned again as his phone shut off in his hand while the driver of the vehicle rolled down his window.

"Excuse me, sir!" The driver called in a thick foreign accent, face obscured by shadows. "Do you know how to get to the hotel from here?"

"Oh, uhh..." Marvin muttered and stuffed his dead phone away in his pocket. Why couldn't people just leave him alone? "No, sorry, I'm not from around here. GPS not working?" He pointed at the very device he could see inside of the vehicle in suspicion.

The driver chuckled. "It does, but I'm terrible at following these things. Much better with spoken word or physical directions. Say, you headed anywhere?"

"Not in particular," Marvin shrugged. And that was a half-truth. "Was waiting for my ride, actually, so if you'll excuse me."

He stepped back from the curb, turning with his arms crossed over his chest and flicking his thumb across the insides of his fingers a few times like he was activating a lighter. A small flame sparked from the action which he used the heat from to warm his hands.

Behind him, he heard the car shut off and the door open before fancy shoes clicked on the pavement nearby and stopped.

"You were, huh?" the driver asked and Marvin halted in his tracks. Why was this guy so persistent? "Well, what if I drive you to this nowhereland? I ask no payment but the company you may provide--"

Marvin actually laughed out loud at that, turning slightly back toward the man and peering at his confused--and familiar--face. He barely paused. "You don't want my company, trust me. I don't keep well trapped with people I don't like."

"Aww, you don't like me? But you don't even know me!" He sounded genuinely... a little bit hurt. Marvin wasn't falling for it.

He laughed again, let his flame die out, and turned his body entirely back toward the strange man, getting a better look. Something was so familiar about him, and tied with the accent, he felt like he should just know this, but it escaped him. The man didn't even shift under his gaze, though, so that had to count for something, right? It provided some semblance of... innocence wasn't the right word, was it?

It finally clicked who the man was; he tried not to let the realisation show on his own face. Bar news television came in clutch this time.

"See, the problem there is that I really don't care that I do or don't know you. Your vibes are truly awful." Marvin taunted him. His phone was dead, and he still didn't want to go inside the station where there were at least a dozen people, but he had a feeling he could get this man weak. He deserved what he had coming. "Terrible."

The man chuckled, one side of his mouth quirking up slightly more than the other. "My vibes? I'm afraid I'm entirely unfamiliar with that concept."

"Just means you're a weird, weird man, that's all," Marvin shrugged again. "But, hey, listen. If you really wanna drive me to a secondary location, at least take me out to dinner first, yeah?"

"Dinner first?" The man said, finally catching on, a frown overcoming his previous grin. "Ah, well, you got me."

Marvin beamed with pride for only a moment before his expression turned sour. "My only question now is how the fuck you're out here, in the open, trying to pick off any poor unfortunate soul you come across and yet... you haven't been caught."

Henrik approached him carefully. "Tis a good question, there. I just- don't think it's the right one. That question should probably be why I chose you despite how brilliant you seem."

Marvin's lip curled as he moved up in front of him, the top of his head only reaching Marvin's chin, and patted his back as if they were old friends.

He pulled his coat around his body again, resisting the urge to reach out, grab the t-shirt peeking through Henrik's open coat, and set fire to the fucker. But all signs pointed to that being a bad idea if he ever wanted to get home. Still, he couldn't stop the fidgeting flick of his thumb against his fingers, causing flames to hurdle toward the ground and die out.

"I don't care why I was targeted, no," he emphasised and Henrik grinned. He narrowed his eyes in return.

"Not at all a little bit curious?" Henrik asked, tilting his head. "Because it's very interesting how I've come to know you at all." Marvin shifted his feet in place and looked away ever-so-slightly. "There it is. You are interested, aren't you?"

"Fuck off back to wherever you came, man," his own accent came out stronger as he spoke this time. "You're not even worth the effort..."

He tried to walk away, finally regarding the inside of the station as the best place for him to not lose his entire cool, but the hand on his coat sleeve ruined all of that collected cool and he lashed out, the palm of his other hand fiery and as skilled as he preferred; not very.

The fire burned through Henrik's coat quickly, yet the only indication of pain was a slight hardness in his eyes as he stared Marvin down in cold blood, then tackled him over. Even though his frame was smaller, he did the damage well enough as he watched Marvin's head hit the concrete and his eyes rolled back into his skull.

He was entirely too quick and quiet to have alerted anyone inside of the station, and from the windowless entrance no one could see them, or him as he dragged Marvin's body back to his car.

When he woke up, Marvin's head was killing him. He didn't remember what had happened, it was all so fast...

That man. Aw, fuck, what was his name? The fucking-- the murderer... Henrik, that was it!

Whoever, or whatever, the fuck he was, he must have done something to him. Well, he did, but Marvin couldn't remember what. Couldn't? Yeah, that was about right. His brain felt empty, all things considered. All he'd wanted to do was get home, then there was the fuzzy conversation, the stark realisation, and then nothing.

His hands burned like he'd used his magic recently. If he had, that meant he couldn't have been knocked out anymore than ten minutes, but the intensity called more for five.

He hadn't yet opened his eyes, but he didn't think he was moving or being moved, so he wasn't in a car being kidnapped or anything. He just felt nauseated and like everything was spinning, probably from the hit to the head.

Is that what happened?

"Fuck..." he put his arm over his face and cursed, but it came out a garble, like the word was stuck in his throat, choking on it. He coughed to get rid of the feeling, then finally opened his eyes as something wet dribbled down his front, and wiping his mouth and looking.

Wherever he was may have been dark, but the blood on his hand was darker.

Marvin sat straight up, trying to get any more blood out of his mouth by spitting, but it just kept coming and coming, and he was choking and choking, until he suddenly felt the need to throw up, emitting a ton of, practically black, blood onto the floor in front of him with a sickening splash. And that caused more sick to rise, until his stomach was empty and his mouth needed to be washed extremely badly.

He spat a few more times messily to make sure he was clear, then laid back down on-- it was a fucking couch, fake leather creaking beneath his body, he noticed. But he couldn't give a shit. Weakness was setting in and his eyes refused to stay open any longer.

Quickly, before he could fully pass out, he lifted his hand back to his mouth and touched the inside. His tongue... was...

His tongue was fucking gone.

[iamfruitie]

Kinktober 2023 Day 25

Overstimulation

Henrik moaned for what felt like the thousandth time, hips rolling down against Edward’s fingers, feeling them thrust and rub against every perfect spot inside of him. He leaned his back against Edward’s chest, hands gripping his thighs and brain becoming foggier and foggier. He was a mess of sweat, drool, and his own cum.

“E-Edward~” Henrik whimpered, squirming and moaning again since each movement of his had him grinding back on Edward’s cock, teasing him accidentally and getting his fingers to fuck him faster. “Fuck, Edward~” 

“There you go, relax and enjoy.” Edward chuckled. He’d been naked with Henrik almost the entire time they’d been at this, but he saved all of his attention for the other man. Edward was now determined to get Henrik to cum for the fifth time before finally fucking him. He wasn’t sure what stirred this desire to turn Henrik into a brainless puddle, but after telling Henrik what he wanted to do, he was more than excited about it, having even told Edward to ‘ruin him’ before pulling him into a kiss. 

Apparently, Henrik’s had a stressful week.

“Please, I am-I am so close,” Henrik whined, looking down at his thighs and shivering at seeing the teeth marks there, reminding him of the second and third rounds they’d had. The first happened from just kissing and grinding, showing just how pent-up Henrik was. 

“Go on, cum for me again, and then I’ll bend you over and fuck you.” Edward nearly growled into Henrik’s ear, taking his other hand and stroking Henrik’s cock. He was also fairly pent-up and was about to reach his breaking point. 

“Shit, shit, scheiße~!” Henrik’s last curse became a loud moan, cumming again and adding more of a mess to himself. “Edward.” He tilted his head as Edward kissed his neck, pulling his hands away to give Henrik time to recover. “Edward, please…please…” Henrik could feel his brain cells leaving, but they were still there. 

He wanted them gone.

“Got it.” Edward chuckled deeply before moving, putting Henrik on his hands and knees. He wasn’t shocked when Henrik didn’t have strength in his arms and went down to his elbows, trying to tease and hold his ass up, but his legs started sliding out from under him. Edward caught his hips and kept him up. 

“Hurry,” Henrik whined, feeling Edward rutting against him. 

“I thought I was going to be the impatient one.” Edward chuckled and then slowly pushed in. “Oh, fuck~” He groaned at how good Henrik felt around his cock. “God, Henrik, you always feel so perfect.” Edward leaned over, pressing his chest to Henrik’s back. He moved an arm around his hips as the other rested his hand on one of Henrik’s. 

“You…You always make me…make me feel so full.” Henrik panted. “Please…please fuck me.” 

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Edward kissed Henrik’s shoulder and started rocking his hips. Henrik leaned his chest more against the bed, eyes rolling a little as he softly moaned. 

“More~” Henrik let himself fully relax, showing Edward he could go for it. 

“Yes, sir.” Edward bit into the crook of Henrik’s neck, turning the little whine into another moan as he thrusted harder and faster, finding a pace that drove both of them crazy. 

“Ed-Edward-ah~!” Henrik tried to find words but soon was only able to moan, hands grasping desperately at the bed covers. 

It was too much in the best way possible. He blinked away the tears forming, and his throat became dry since he couldn’t stop his sounds. His legs were shaking without his control, and each thrust felt like Edward was fucking away any thought Henrik could have. 

“I’m close,” Edward grunted. “Want me to cum inside you?” Henrik could only moan and nod eagerly. 

He wanted it. He needed it. His body was burning with that strong, painful pleasure, and he was moments away from it all finishing up. 

Edward bit Henrik again, sinking his teeth into the base of his neck, muffling his own moan and cumming. He kept his hips going, fucking through his high and managing to adjust his arms so he could start stroking Henrik’s cock once more. 

It wasn’t much longer before Henrik was crying out, voice cracking and knuckles going white as that final rush made him feel like he was going to pass out. His vision blurred as his eyes rolled and crossed as he tensed up, cumming hard. 

“Holy hell,” Edward said after swallowing and trying to catch his breath, feeling Henrik going completely limp under him. “Hen?” He gently pulled out and kissed Henrik’s cheek. “How are we feeling?” Henrik only looked at Edward with glossed-over eyes and giggled. “Oh, you’re gone gone.” Edward chuckled, brushing Henrik’s hair out of his face. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll get you and the bed cleaned up, and then we’ll cuddle for the rest of the night.” 

“Eddy~” Was the only word Edward would get from Henrik for a while. 

[longbobmckenzie]

GIVE ME THE FUCKING HOCKEY AU IM ONSESSED WITH SPORTS ROMANCE FICS

SORRY IT'S TAKING SO BLOODY LONG TO GET TO IT

I already got asked about this one (here) so for you I'll give you a list of the prospective cast. These are subject to change if/when I rework the idea, but for now here's what I've got! Also I'm probably gonna have to cut it down a bit because the cast is enormous 😆

Bailey - Main Character. Daughter of the team's owner, she's starting a new job with the team doing PR/social media

Henrik - Love interest. Plays forward, is planning to quit hockey after the season is done because he wants to do more climbing (he got a knee injury the previous season which meant rehabbing all summer and that was frustrating for him)

Magnus - because obviously Henrik's brothers have to be included. Magnus is a star player on the team and also a fuckboy. I have to rework a bit with him, but expect him to sleep with a lot of people

Rasmus - Henrik's other brother, who plays for an opposing team

Lucas - the team physio (no I'm not changing it to Jack but he can be there as a background character I guess), also Henrik's best friend. Has a crush on Bobby

Bobby - an import from the UK, he's a total pest on the ice - scrappy, runs his mouth, but nobody understands his accent. He's also really, really good, which makes him even more infuriating to play against. Oh, and he's sleeping with Magnus 😏

Graham - team captain. His surname is Crumb for the lolz

Hope & Priya - Bailey's friends/roommates, and puck bunnies. Both trying to sleep with the team's goalie

Noah - the team's goalie

Blake - PR

Elisa - social media, is engaged to the coach

Jake - the coach

Rohan - assistant coach. might also have a little thing going with Jake and Elisa

Jo - zamboni driver. she's constantly souping it up

Gary - rink maintenance. keeps having to fix the zamboni. ETL with Jo

Rocco - runs the bar where the team hangs out

Felix - wide-eyed rookie

Carl - analytics guy

Iain Stirling - play-by-play announcer

Jakub - strength and conditioning coach

Marisol - sports psychologist

Jasper - Henrik's agent

Hannah - local sports reporter

Tim - waterboy

Levi - Bailey's ex from college (also plays hockey)

I have a whole list of other characters who'll likely be players on the team or on opposing teams. This list is obviously just S1-2 but there will definitely be some S3 characters sprinkled in, and once I rework it I'll probably try to add in some others, especially S6.

If I end up changing it so that Roberto is the LI, I'd probably have Marshall in the Magnus role, but I'm not sure what I'd do with the Lucas/Bobby/Magnus thing because it wouldn't hit the same with Marshall. Plus Roberto wouldn't have the same relationship with Lucas that Henrik does, so I'd have to rethink that.

Thanks for the ask!!

ask about my wips

[nessiefromspace]

Last Line Tag

Tagged by @moonshine-nightlight ! Thanks for the tag! Tumblr didn't notify me, but I saw it and her we go!

This is from a snippet of a novel length "Short fic" I'm working on. Working title is just Monster High. Main character is getting help pulling out a car engine and please be nice, I do know a fair bit about cars, but not enough off the top of my head and I'm not researching the terminology.

Rules: Post the last line(s) you wrote/edited.

“Would you like help taking it out?”

“Sure.” She smirked at him. “It’ll let me see your muscles.”

He laughed. “I’ll make sure to flex, then.” It was hard and laborious, but they finally got it out with some rigging. True to his word, she saw Jacob flexing, she flashed him a wide grin. When they got it out of the car, Jacob held it.

She eyed him. “You gonna carry that thing all the way to the car?”

“That’s the plan.”

Her brows rose and her eyes appraised him appreciatively. He flexed again and she squeezed it. “Damn, that’s nice.”

He smirked and it lit up his normally stoic features. “You’re pretty damn nice yourself.”

His words washed over her like a fire on a cold night. She grinned in approval and led the way. He set it down gently in the trailer. “Thanks.”

He nodded. “Not a problem. I’m here every weekend if you need any help.”

She nodded. “Oh, I’ll definitely need it.” She eyed his body. He laughed.

As they reached the others, Alice came running over. “I almost forgot!”

Adelaide smirked and whispered. “Here it comes.”

“The day before the party, we’re having a dry run, to make sure there’s no mishaps and so everyone can meet each other. We’ll see you there!”

Frederick put a hand on her shoulder. “Can you try asking him if he’d like to come?”

She frowned at Frederick and then stared at Jacob. “You’re welcome to come!”

Frederick smiled. “Thank you, Alice.”

Jacob laughed. “I’d love to come. It’ll be my first tea party.”

Alice grinned wide. “Perfect! It’ll start at noon!”

They went to the front desk where Jacob’s uncle, Henrik, asked for a large sum. Adelaide produced it in cash. 

His uncle scrutinized it. “That ain’t stolen money, is it?”

She smirked. “Nope.”

“Uh huh.” Henrik took out a pen to check each bill.

She grunted and waited, brushing off some debris off Jacob.

When his uncle had marked every bill and they came away clean, he eyed her. “This better not come back on me.”

“It won’t. ‘S not illegal money.”

He looked her over. “But you did do illegal things to earn it.”

“Uncle,” Jacob sighed.

Adelaide shrugged. “Take it or don’t. I don’t care. I’ll just return everything.”

Henrik clicked his tongue. “I’ll take it, I just don’t wanna see any cops in here about it.”

She grunted.

Receipt in her hand, Jacob walked her out. “Sorry about that, he can be paranoid.”

She smirked. “Nah, he’s got good reason. It did come from some shady ass people.”

That made him laugh. “Well, see ya around.”

“See ya.”

She climbed into the car and they drove off.

“I like him!” Alice said.

“He’s always been a polite kid and returns books a day early,” Frederick mused.

“Ada liked him, too,” Auri cooed loudly.

She ignored him to text Fride and Simon in the group chat the two had made, warning them about the dry run Alice wanted.

   Chapter Nine

The day before the party came. Everyone was up at six whether they wanted it or not. They needed a couple last minute ingredients, so the three siblings walked to the convenient store.

On their way back, Alice stopped. “Whoa, what are those?”

They looked to see three figures, all of whom had teeth for a face. “Fuck, hide.” Adelaide led them down an alley to the backyard of a house. “Don’t let them see you. They can smell Monster Hunters and they’ll go after you.”

Ambros looked at her. “They know you, then?”

She nodded. “Go home and I’ll lead them away.”

“Addie!” Alice whined. “You can’t!”

She kissed Alice on the forehead. “Stay safe and stay with Ambros. I don’t need both of you on their radar.”

After a moment, Alice nodded and she and Ambros went the opposite way.

I don't know who's been tagged and who hasn't been tagged and it's midnight and tomorrow is my (3) kids' birthday party, so I'm just gonna say, if you see this, you're tagged. <3

[inkribbon796]

Egotober 2023 Day 7: The Little Things

Summary: Ethan wants to be a hero, he wants it more than anything else in the world. And Silver is terrified when he won’t take no for an answer.

Prompt: Leaf/Leaves

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Ever since Ethan was little he could remember the heroes. They had a team in his own home city. When he was five his mom moved him and his brother into Egoton.

He saw Silver flying around and even doing aerial tricks. And as a young gymnast, Ethan thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

It was all he wanted, and now literally the only thing standing in his way was Silver himself. Someone who seemed to believe that Ethan should do anything but be a hero. And literally everyone in the Coalition seemed to be making Syndrome jokes, and that was only making Ethan want it even more.

Dark even seemed to be under the impression that not only was Ethan working with Silver, but was his kid or at least a younger brother. And anyone who saw Ethan, at least in costume, was to chase him out of the area. Or if Dark was in the area to bring the “child hero” to him.

On one particular slow Saturday, Ethan was wandering around town, trying to find things to do. He was crunching any leaves he could see on the ground, some gave what he was looking for, others were disappointed. He was minding his own business, trying to keep an eye out for Dark’s enforcers, when Silver flew in.

“Fuck off,” Ethan said, trying to sound bigger and tougher than he felt.

“Let’s talk,” Silver said. He was holding out a baggie. “Your mom mentioned you were allergic to peanuts, before you ask. It’s safe.”

That disarmed Ethan a bit, so he took the bag as Silver touched down on the ground.

“Talk about what?” Ethan asked, looking at the sandwich inside. It looked like a normal burger.

Silver canted his head to the side. “Somewhere a bit more private, we’re too close to Barnum Park.”

“Park’s a great place to talk,” Ethan said, pointing his thumb in that direction.

“Yeah, just not that park. C’mon, I’ll explain once we get to 5th Street Plaza.” Silver began leading the way, actually walking.

“Can’t you fly?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, but you can’t, and I could use the exercise,” Silver said and started walking.

Debating for a second, Ethan watched him go before following Silver down five blocks until they got to the plaza. The changing leaves following the whole walk.

Silver asked how school was going and when they got to the plaza Ethan had eaten half of his sandwich and it had yet to cause an allergic reaction.

Besides a free sandwich was a free sandwich.

Instead of sitting down on some random bench, Silver directed Ethan up three flights of stairs to a roof. On the top of the roof was a couple air conditioning units and two benches that were side by side and overlooking the plaza.

“Sometimes we come up here to talk and get a break during patrols.” Silver brushed off some leaves and sat down on one of the benches.

“Okay,” Ethan said and took a seat, sitting around some of the leaves as he eat the rest of his sandwich. “Nice view.”

“It is,” Silver agreed. “Barnum Park is owned by Dark, he’s got spies all over the place in there.”

“Oh,” Ethan said.

Silver nodded. “Yeah, anyways, Bing, Jackie, and I have been talking and you’re in if you want to be.”

“Yeah,” Silver said, a slight sigh in his voice. “Bing and Henrik got apprentices behind my back and it’s not fair that they got in and you don’t. Even if all three of you should get kicked.”

“When did that happen?” Ethan asked, excitement bubbling up inside of him.

“One of them happened a couple of days ago, and the Septics have been sitting on theirs for a couple weeks. They're both seventeen."

“This is awesome!” Ethan shouted.

Silver held up a finger. “Wait a minute, we’ve gotta set some ground rules, first.”

“Sure, whatever.” Ethan could help but grin.

“No, not whatever, you break the rules, you’re either off the team or suspended.”

Ethan sat back down, unable to stop his legs from bouncing.

“First, you don’t tell a soul. Your parents will know, but that’s it. I don’t care if you think you can trust your best friend with your life, they can’t know. Your grandparents, siblings, cousins, they can’t know. For any reason. You keep pretending like the only thing you want to do is be a superhero and I keep saying no. But don’t overdo it.”

“Okay.”

Silver stood up and pointed to his spot on the bench. “Sit here, it’s got a better view. Jackie always takes it first.”

Ethan quickly took the spot and Silver moved to the spot on the bench where Ethan had been.

“First thing’s first,” Silver said. “You picked a hero name yet?”

“Blank or Crank,” Ethan smiled at him.

“You picked one yet?” Silver asked.

“Blank,” Ethan said, “cause invisible.”

“How does it work?” Silver asked. “You use it often?”

“Sometimes,” Ethan said, which sounded like a lie and Mark wished that Ethan could see his face. “Anyways, I just concentrate and I turn completely invisible. It used to just be me, and my clothes wouldn’t go, but now I can do it with anything I’m wearing or holding.”

Silver leaned forward. “Really, anything you’re holding?”

“Well, the more things I hold the more I have to concentrate,” Ethan said. “Heavy stuff takes a while. And if someone taps me I tend to come out of it real easy.”

“Neat power, how long have you had it?” Silver asked.

“Maybe a year,” Ethan said. “I don’t know when it first started, and it took a while to figure out how to control it.”

“You’ll learn more, after we talk to your folks, you’ll be working directly under me, and we’ll make sure you know how to use those powers better. Just make sure you’re not stealing anything or peeking in the girl’s restroom okay?”

“Hey, I only have stolen one candy bar, I’ll have you know,” Ethan said.

“At least you’re honest,” Silver said, laughing a little. “We’ll get you a better outfit too. Can’t have you running around in sweatpants. And you’ll get to meet the other two apprentices: Logic and Stripes.”

“Awesome,” Ethan looked out over the plaza with a huge smile.

He was finally getting everything he wanted and he was so excited he could hardly stand it.

[allykatsart]

I missed monster AU. I am so excited. Are there any fun facts or tidbits you want to share :D

Many actually! And I am absolutely gonna take this ask and run with it as far as I fucking can. I've been w a i t i n g and you may regret asking. Thank you! ❤️

Henrik and Marvin

Something I haven't touched on a lot in my art is how Marvin and Henrik met. Marvin was thrown out of his coven for his practice of summoning demons, and was wandering for awhile, before he found and befriended Henrik.

They met at a supernatural friendly bar. And um. Well. They both had a bit of a 'Mad Scientist' complex when it came to magic. Not so much in that they want to do anything harmful with it, but they'll do stuff just to see if they can.

Henrik has been to school and likes the non magical sciences, knows a lot about them. Marvin is self taught and has experimented in areas he probably shouldn't have. They wanted to know what would happen if you mixed the two.

Henrik has a project in mind, and they began working on it at Henrik's mansion, growing into good friends as they did so. Eventually, Marvin just ended up living at the house.

And that's how Robbie came into being and got his two dads! (Make of that what you will lol)

(side tangent, Covens in this world are just a group of witches within a certain area or each other that generally band together or have similar goals. Kinda like a friend group. Each is different and has different rules, and there are witches who belong to multiple Covens)

Marvin did not have multiple covens, he had one that he was really into. But his friends grew distant over time and eventually tried to talk him out of summing demons, which was morally objectionable to them. Marvin didn't listen to them and didn't respect their boundaries, so got kicked out.

(more under the cut)

Henrik needs human blood, but he doesn't like taking directly from the source. It reminds him that he's not immune to impulse, that he could lose control of himself if he's not careful.

Marvin also isn't comfortable with being a bloodbag for his vampiric friend, so they both agree that Henrik never feeds off of Marvin.

(on top of that the magic in Marvin's blood makes it taste spicy so Henrik doesn't like it)

Marvin and Henrik share something else in common, a flaw. They both crave control. For Henrik, it's control of himself. For Marvin, it's control of his life. Marvin wants freedom, Henrik wants self discipline. Both can delve into unhealthy behaviors to achieve these things. But they understand what the other wants.

Kinda alluded to before but they may have a relationship? When asked, both reply vaguely and refuse to elaborate. They both find it incredibly funny.

Marvin has lived in the mansion long enough he knows all the secret passageways and hidden nooks. He can disappear into the house and not be found for weeks if he wants to be.

Jack and IRIS

Since I only recently started incorporating it into my AU, I wanna get my thoughts out about it.

IRIS here is kinda a bad thing. It's a group of humans who have decided that the supernatural is bad/has bad effects on people, so have dedicated themselves to hunting down any overtly supernatural creatures and either killing them or containing them. They alone have caused most of the monsters to go into hiding.

They have 'Hunters' who go around trying to find supernatural entities to either capture or kill. Hunters are usually human, tho occasionally they might have some supernatural enhancement, if IRIS approves of it.

Jack used to be a part of these hunters until he became a monster himself. From there he had to do a lot of self discovery... And it eventually lead him down the path to meet Anti, the demon of fear and nightmares.

During this time, IRIS lost contact with Jack and didn't know what happened to him. They were/are also unaware of Jack being a werewolf.

Jack was able to escape Anti, and kept on the down low, hiding from IRIS for some time. It was only when he saved Chase from Anti that IRIS found him again.

IRIS won't force him back into their ranks, but they are very suspicious of him reappearing after years of no contact. They suspect he's hiding something, or has had a change of heart.... Which Jack has had.

(Also, to clarify, Jack is not Sean, it's the character of Jack.)

Jack is unaware that IRIS had found him until Chase was taken in for questioning. Once Chase came back, Jack suspected it was IRIS, and began worrying about them. This pushed him into a spiral and he began having nightmares again... Which pushed him into Anti's domain again and caused the demon to try and find him again

Basically bad things happen to Jack and it's all IRIS's fault!

[beerecordings]

Werewolf AU - Part 13

Something about the slightly mildewed but overwhelmingly warm smell of Sean's office is becoming so familiar to him. Today, walking into his office, he realizes he doesn't mind being here. Or not too much, anyway. Definitely better than going to jail.

"Marvin!" Sean greets him. "And Jackie, hi!"

Jackie grins and then flops down face-first on the couch. Marvin cracks up, shaking his head. "Don't mind this idiot. He just worked for like eight hours without breaking on his latest project."

"And now there's no brain left in my head," Jackie mutters into the cushions.

Marvin sits down at the table with Henrik and Chase, pleased to see them both looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Not literally, unfortunately. He would like to see both of them in wolf form together one of these days, but they remain tragically human in appearance today.

"Marvin, the guys told me that some people yelled at you for being werewolves the other day and you didn't even get angry." Sean sounds so relieved by this news that Marvin feels a little bit bad he didn't tell him right away, but honestly, he didn't even think about it.

"Yeah, I guess. They grabbed Schneep by the collar and all. But it didn't even really occur to me to get angry that time. My brain didn't even start to go there."

"Oh? Why not?"

Marvin blinks. "I... don't know. I guess Jackie was handling it, and Chase and Schneep were there, so I didn't want them to... yeah."

He didn't want them to get scared, so he just stayed calm and watched their backs. Then his Alpha got them out, and fed them, and everything was okay.

How can it be that simple when he's gotten in so many stupid fights for less?

Sean grins at him like he knows something Marvin doesn't, which would definitely piss him off if it was anyone other than Sean McLoughlin. As it is, he just bares his teeth playfully, and Sean leans down and pretends like he's going to bite his ear for a second before straightening back up and messing up his hair.

"Well, Schneep has some exciting news too."

Henrik looks completely abashed to be made the center of attention. He shrugs and plays with his hands, but grins a little too. "Just shifted once, that's all."

"Oh, good!" cries Marvin, clapping his hands together. "You crazy little bastard, you came this close to the full moon!"

"Whatever," says Henrik, and that makes Marvin laugh too, because from the way he says it, he's pretty sure Schneep picked it up from Chase. Whatever, bro. Fuck, they're a funny pair. This is the thing about wolves, he's found, that the most unlikely people can come together as if on instinct. He turns to look at Jackie, and his cousin's dumb face pressed against the cushions of the couch makes him smile despite himself. Jackie's summer scent clings to his neck like a hug.

"Maybe Jackie wants to share his good news too," he suggests.

Jackie grins weakly on the couch. "You do it. No brain."

"I can't say that for you!"

"Fine," grumbles Jackie. He sits up just a little. "I got my house back. Asked my dad to leave, and now he's gone."

"You should have seen him on the phone," Marvin purrs. "Guilt-tripping, threats, screaming. But Jackie didn't budge."

Jackie accepts a hug from Sean, who practically leaps at him, but then Jackie won't let Sean up again, and it turns into a whole wrestling session, with Chase and Henrik laughing at them from the table, and -

Yeah. Marvin really doesn't mind that he's here.

As class starts, Sean gives the guys some info about werewolf culture and different folklore in comparison to the science of this stuff, which is actually pretty interesting. Marvin moves to share the couch with his cousin, and Jackie doesn't talk for the rest of the session, but he sits with his head on Marvin's shoulder and listens to Sean talk. He moves into their plans for the full moon as class draws to a close.

"I know Friday is not our usual day for class, but I want you all here with me by the time the moon comes out. Chase and Henrik shouldn't be having their first shift alone, and Marvin and Jackie can help and demonstrate to me that they have control so I can put that in my court report."

"So... does that make us close to the end of all this?" asks Chase, sitting up.

"My actual non-official course runs several weeks longer, and I expect you all to keep coming! But in terms of actual certified rehabilitation, I want you all to get that as soon as possible, with the minimum requirements, and we'll build from there without the legal constrictions. So once you can shift on command, can retain control through a full moon, and have gone through my basic info courses, I can recommend you all for certification."

"And then they can't stop me from having unsupervised visits with the kids!" Chase cries, almost leaping to his feet. "Yes! Thank you, Sean!"

Marvin thinks the number of hugs going around lately is pretty damn cute, watching Chase and Sean rub their heads together fondly, but it isn't lost on him that not everyone is equally as excited. Henrik looks slightly lost on the other side of the table, mouth pressed thinly together, nails drumming against the wood. Marvin pities the position he's in, truly. Turned in a foreign country... will he be able to force himself to go home, now that he's found wolf friends here? Or maybe it's the other way around: maybe he'll force himself to go home whether or not it's the best choice for him. Maybe he'll try to go back to his old life, and then... will he ever find a pack like that?

Marvin's chest hurts, for a second. It's just not fair. You're not supposed to turn a human unless you have a pack ready and waiting for them. Pack compulsions are strong - that's supposed to be a good thing, not a burden.

Jackie nudges him with his head, ready to go. Marvin gets up and drags his eyes away from Henrik as everyone starts to disperse. Schneep follows them outside, but Chase doesn't. Marvin watches as he goes to pull Sean aside, leaning in to speak closely with him. But Henrik doesn't say anything about it, so Marvin doesn't pry.

Jackie goes frigid for a second as they step outside. Marvin puts a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? Need to go back inside and sit in the quiet for a while?"

Jackie blinks. Shakes his head, eyes narrowing. Marvin puts his nose up.

Is that what's bothering him? A far-off storm in the air?

"What is that?" asks Henrik uncertainly, stepping in circles with his nose lifted. "That's not right."

Marvin glances at him. "Thunderstorm coming."

"You're sure it's a storm? A real one?"

"Yeah, dude, rain in the air."

Jackie rumbles a noise Marvin doesn't like so much, but he'll just have to ask him about it later. His cousin's done for the day. Needs a nap.

"We'll walk you home," Marvin adds warmly. "Don't want you getting rained on. Chase coming out soon?"

"Yes. I think he just needs a minute."

"Everything okay with you two?"

Henrik puffs out a sigh.

"I guess."

Marvin doesn't press him further.

.

Chase presses the scrap of fabric into Sean's hand.

"I wanted you to take this, if you can," he says, hands shaking a little as he lets it go. "I think it needs to go to the police. It's pretty faded by now, but..."

"I know this smell," mumbles Sean. "What is that?"

"You probably remember it from when you met Henrik and I at the hospital," says Chase wearily. "After our attacks. I know I must have smelled like him."

Sean's eyes widen and his scent twists in a way Chase doesn't understand, the flame smell rising like a fire with gasoline thrown on it, inciting a roar of forest-consuming heat, blazing with light. He stares down at the piece of fabric, holding it close to his nose for a moment, and his jaw tightens; his eyes flash.

"I didn't mean to hold on to it," says Chase, worried, for a moment, that he's angry with him. "The doc convinced me to let it go. To give it to you."

Sean places the scrap tentatively in his hoodie pocket.

"Thank you, Chase," he says, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. "I'm proud of you."

His heart rises in his chest, and he knows his smell blooms, because Sean smiles at him. "Oh. Yeah. Sure thing."

"I'll make sure this gets to someone who can do something about it."

"I knew you would," Chase replies.

"Are you okay?"

Chase swallows, nodding valiantly, or he hopes it's valiant, anyway. "It was time to get rid of it. I need him to stop haunting me."

Sean looks up at him. His eyes are very clear.

"Of course," he says.

And then he adds, under his breath: "He will."

"You good, Sean? Don't really look any less tired."

Sean blinks at him for a second, then pouts. "But I have been sleeping. A little more."

Chase chuckles and pretends to bite his ear the same way Jackie and Marvin and Sean do. "I'll see you Thursday. Take care of yourself."

"See you Thursday. Just be careful... full moon's coming. Instincts can get a little wild. Keep on your toes, fresh-turn."

And he winks with one tired blue eye.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I’m now just-over-halfway through my series 15 rewatch/watch, so here are some thoughts so far at this halfway point. I suppose technically I should have done this after “Promises, Promises” if I wanted it to be a proper halfway-point post, but I thought it would make sense to write this up after “Great Expectations”, as obviously Tara’s exit is a bit of a turning point in the series.

- The Ric and Lilah sexual harassment accusation storyline was... not as bad as it could’ve been. I mean, false harassment accusation stories are not the sort of thing I particularly enjoy watching, but there was some interesting stuff in this one, as it wasn’t a flat-out unfounded allegation but in more of a grey area - Ric kissing Lilah wasn’t harassment but it was majorly unprofessional and somewhat unethical, given his position of power over her. And him trying to improve her assessment scores just because he fancied her was really fucked up. Definitely worth a slap on the wrist, but nothing he should’ve lost his job over like Imelda kept saying.

I found it interesting how Lilah’s accusation against Ric was such a big deal that he faced so many consequences for, compared to Henrik’s harassment of Sahira in the previous 2 series, which was essentially public knowledge and yet he faced no consequences for it. I expect that was deliberate, as this was the era when Holby was clever enough to do those sorts of things.

For ages I assumed Ric and Lilah had slept together and that’s what they meant when they were talking about “last night” at the start of “How Lo Can You Go”, but in later episodes they only ever referred to a kiss so I guess that’s all it was after all and “How Lo Can You Go” just took place a day after “After the Party”.

- Tara deserved better. I know I’ve said this before, although I don’t think I say it enough, but she did. Her storyline was brilliantly done, I thought, and her final episodes were even more heartbreaking watching them with full context. But it still frustrates me that she died for Oliver’s manpain, especially as the Holbyverse still does that sort of thing (poor, poor Fenisha!). Plus, it meant that they only got to have the brilliant Jing Lusi for a year.

- I adore Gemma. I can’t believe I didn’t realise how great she is until now. I’ve been over the reasons why in plenty of other posts, so I’ll spare you all from having to read through it again, but... yeah, I love Gemma.

- I didn’t realise how much of a prick early Arthur was, either. He’s nowhere near as bad as early Henrik, but he really wasn’t the saint he’s often made out to be.

- Two under-appreciated gems of episodes that later Holby could have done with taking cues from are episode 7 “After the Party”, and episode 20 “Unravelled”. “After the Party” has a really carefully written and handled storyline about a teenage girl who was raped, that was better done in one episode than later storylines like Chloe’s rape, That Noncanon Henrik One We Don’t Talk About, or the Evie and Mia CSA story. “Unravelled” handles Gemma’s trauma after being held hostage and her getting psychiatric help for it really well, and doesn’t treat her as a ~poor little broken victim~ like later trauma storylines tended to do, but as a person who’s struggling to move on from something traumatic.

- I really, really like the Malick and Jake storyline. I do feel a bit like Anna was fridged (nowhere near as much as Tara was though), but the storyline is still good. It feels so realistic, and I like how simple and human it all is, and I’m enjoying seeing Malick try his best to connect with Jake. I love Malick in general though, so I might be biased towards this storyline.

- I’m starting to realise that Henrik, Malick, and Oliver all feel like either the same character in different fonts, or different characters in the same font (I’m leaning towards “different characters in the same font”), which is probably why I love them all. No, I will not elaborate. Well, I would elaborate, but I don’t know how to put it into words.

- Jonny is terrible to Jac. I know we’re seemingly supposed to see them as an exciting will-they-won’t-they couple with lots of bickering and tension, but... I don’t see it, I just see Jonny being emotionally abusive to her.

I keep wanting to make a comment about how Henrik and Jonny are both emotional abusers and misogynists that are somehow romanticised by both the show and fandom, and how the women they abused (Sahira and Jac respectively) get treated like they deserved it for being “bitches” and “frigid”, but that wouldn’t really be fair because, unlike Jonny, Henrik was clearly depicted as abusive in this stint. The episodes while Sahira is actually there were clearer about it (S13E33 flat-out parallels Henrik with a 42-year-old woman who groomed her teenage student!), but it’s not like they tried to paint him as great or heroic after Sahira either. He’s more of an anti-hero in this series. I’d like to say “of course, nowadays they wouldn’t have kept him on as a main character at all, and rightly so really”, but then I remember Faith Cadogan is a literal attempted rapist and Casualty still have her.

- Chantelle is my autistic queen and I love her. I don’t have anything in particular to say about Chantelle, I just wanted to acknowledge how great she is.

- Serena is a lot more tolerable pre-Jason. I still hate her and am not a fan of her by any means, but she’s not so bad when she can’t go “look what a saint I am for tolerating my autistic nephew!” all the time, lol. Also, seeing her try to overthrow both Imelda and Henrik has made me wonder what it would have been like if Serena had ever actually been CEO long-term. She couldn’t have been worse than Henrik to be fair.

[pointreyesjournal]

The SS Palo Alto : ep174

Un-fucking-believable.

It’s Friday morning, I’m running late and I can’t find my keys. Cheyenne and I are going to Carmel for the weekend and I was supposed to be at her place twenty minutes ago, but the keys to the Tahoe are nowhere to be found.

I’m the only person home, where the hell could they have gone? I’ve looked in the bedroom, the bathroom, in the couch cushions, and torn apart the kitchen.

Nothing.

There’s a bowl in the kitchen (it’s actually a koa wood mortar from my pestle and mortar set) filled with a few guitar picks and the keys should be in there. They’re always in there! The Ducati keys are in there. There’s even a set of keys for Henrik’s Ferrari California in there (why? I have no idea, but I suspect I should tell him).

I text Cheyenne.

“Sorry I’m running late, can’t find the keys to my Tahoe”

She responds.

“You checked all the usual spots? Under the bed, in the kitchen, etc etc?”

I reply.

“I’ve looked everywhere.”

The words of wisdom arrive from Cheyenne.

“Did you look in the Tahoe?”

I open the front door to find a red Ferrari California sitting in my driveway with no Tahoe to be found.

I text Cheyenne.

“Keys found. See you in a bit”

I throw a little weekender duffle in the back seat and set off for San Anselmo.

When Cheyenne’s door swings open to greet me I can see her gazing right past me inquisitively as she leans in for a hug.

Cheyenne: So, you didn’t find the keys?

Me: Fucking Henrik. He snuck in last night while I was sleeping and stole my Tahoe so I’d have to take the Ferrari to Carmel for the weekend.

Cheyenne: Have you ever considered getting normal friends?

Me: Floody is normal.

Cheyenne just stares at me filled with the silence of incredulity.

Me: Well, you’re normal. So I guess that’s a start.

Cheyenne continues to stare at me in silence filled with incredulity.

Me: Shit. I’m sorry. Nobody wants to be called “normal.”

Cheyenne: Just shut up and give me a kiss so we can get out of here.

…

The plan is for the three hour drive from San Anselmo to Carmel to take all day.

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in a convertible Ferrari is something that everyone should be lucky enough to do once in their life. We’re crossing a gigantic red bridge in California in a tiny red car called a California.

Our first stop is at P Town Coffee and Tea in Pacifica. It’s an old railroad caboose that’s been converted to a tiny coffee shop along Highway 1. Even if the coffee was shit, you’d have to stop just for the experience. Fortunately, the coffee is quite good, and we each enjoy a biscotti dipped in a latte. From there we continue south through the sleepy little town of Half Moon Bay where we stumble across an overly authentic British pub called Cameron’s. We enjoy fish and chips surrounded by more British memorabilia than you’ll see on the tour of Windsor Castle. There’s even a big red double-decker bus parked out front.

We enjoy our fish and chips with a Guinness … because we’re American and don't know the difference between Ireland’s finest export and the authentic English pub ale they’ve got on tap. Ignorance is bliss.

Then we head south passing through Santa Cruz to Pacific Grove only stopping for gas and to see the shipwreck in Aptos.

[iamvegorott]

Meeting A Magical Man Pt. 33

Part 1: Link Prev: Link Next: Link

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Henrik rubbed at his eyes as if trying to scrub the sight he had seen earlier from them and his memories. Marvin sat a mug of coffee on the table in front of Henrik, mask off and wearing a pair of briefs and Chase’s shirt, while Chase sat across from Henrik in just his pants. 

“I am going to need bleach.” Henrik groaned. 

“You didn’t even see that much.” Marvin scoffed, sitting in the chair between Chase and Henrik. 

“I saw more than I should.” Henrik kept his hands over his face, sliding them down just enough to see the other two. 

“If it makes you feel better, I’ve heard you and Edward have sex before.” Marvin shrugged. 

“You have what!?” Henrik yelped, hands slapping down on the table and showing his cheeks had gone pink. 

“Where was I?” Chase asked with a laugh. 

“Why were-when did-? Marvin!” Henrik struggled to form a proper sentence. 

“It’s fine. It just means we’re all even.” Marvin shrugged.

“Technically, Edward and I are out of the loop,” Chase said. 

“Could kill two birds with one stone and have a foursome,” 

“Absolutely not!” Henrik yelped, the pink now turning to a dark red. 

“Well, it’d technically be an orgy or something like that if you fuck your boyfriend while I fuck mine in the same room.” Marvin decided to let the phrase drop mid-‘argument’ to get it done and over with.  

“We are not-wait…did you just say boyfriend?” Henrik’s embarrassment faded in an instant. 

“Maybe,” Marvin said with a soft smile. 

“Are you two?” Henrik looked to Chase. 

“Yep.” Chase smiled as well. 

“Fucking finally!” Henrik exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air. 

“I think he approves.” Chase chuckled.

“Just a bit.” Marvin sighed, keeping his soft smile

“Oh hush, you two were more terrible when it was myself and Edward. Let me have this.” Henrik scrunched his nose up at the others before chuckling at himself. 

“Figured I’d share some good news real quick…since I’m assuming what you want to talk to us about isn’t the happiest stuff in the world?” Marvin clicked his tongue. 

“That is fair and correct.” Henrik chewed his cheek for a bit. “I want to discuss Robbie and also what plans you two have for finishing the task Dark gave you. I was also going to ask if you two were okay with each other, but that has already gotten answered in several ways.” 

“Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy the view~” Marvin played up a fake purr. 

“Can we start with Robbie? That while hand thing isn’t normal, right?” Chase realized his wording after it was too late, remembering how Robbie had pleaded to be normal. “Everything I’ve read about it never mentioned that stuff.”

“It is not usual. I need to do more research, but I believe it’s related to how he got brought back.” Henrik said. 

“There’s not a lot of research on mixing science and magic. People just don’t do it.” Marvin added. “Well, at least your average person doesn’t do it.” 

“None of us would be what anyone would consider average.” Henrik weakly chuckled. 

“I mean, I’m just a dude.” Chase tried to help with the joking as well.

“So, what do you know about Robbie’s thing?” Marvin asked, deciding to skip over a different kind of joke he was going to make about Chase being ‘above average’ in a way that would get Henrik to blush and yell at him again. 

“From what he has told me, it seems like his body can go on the defensive, getting those hands and eyes he showed us, but I also assume it may come with additional strength. Thinking back on some more details, his veins appeared to have thickened with that change in his hands. And this may be a leap in logic with no evidence yet to back it up, but him being stronger would not shock me.” Henrik was now resting his elbow on the table, leaning forward with his hands on either side of his head as if trying to hold his thoughts together. “He’s just a kid. For now.” He dropped his hands and sighed. “Who knows how long that will last, or…how long he will.” Henrik sniffed and used the back of his hand to scratch the tip of his nose, trying to hide his sorrow. Marvin reached across the table and placed his hand on top of Henrik’s other one, giving it some comforting pats. 

“I think he’ll stop at twenty-one.” Chase suddenly said. 

“What?” Marvin and Henrik said together.

“I mean, like, we’ve all just been saying Robbie’s fifteen 'cause it seems right. What’s to say he’s not actually seventeen? The same age Marvin’s magic stuff kicked in? Robbie probably doesn’t know how old he is because he doesn’t even know when he was born since he’s jumped so much in such little time. He is like, totally a mix of you two; nerdy, sarcastic, and stubborn as hell. The magic in this house started when Marvin was twenty-one. I think that’s when Robbie will stop his jumping and continue as usual.” There was a long pause as Henrik and Marvin just stared at Chase. Both were in shock at the logical connections and conclusions he made on his own. “What?”

“That was probably the smartest thing I have ever heard you say,” Henrik said. 

“Even himbos can have their moments.” Chase had the biggest grin. 

“Hen, you might want to head out because I really want to fuck this man again.” Marvin almost seemed to have hearts in his eyes. 

“Do not tell me that while holding my hand.” Henrik slipped his hand free. “But Chase does have a point. With how weird magic is and how I made it weirder by adding science, that does not seem too long of a shot.” 

“Guess we’ll just have to watch Robbie a bit more,” Marvin said. “And probably ask him how he feels on all levels of that.” 

“True. But for now, he needs to rest. I hope there is never a day when he’d have to use that other…um…form of his.” Henrik said, and there was another pause before he changed subjects. “What are your plans now that you know who and where the apprentice is?” 

“Step one is to talk with Mad,” Marvin stated. 

“Talk to him about what?” Chase asked. 

“From what I saw, I think he hates Actor and is only agreeing to stay with him out of fear of literally exploding. The guy in charge of watching over him, Mare, also seems to like Mad a lot more than Actor.” 

“Like or Like like?” Henrik traced out a heart with his hands. 

“Honestly, I have no clue. They’re at least very close. I’d need more time watching them to figure that out or at least a few minutes of watching them that doesn’t involve hiding from someone who would likely benefit from my death.” Marvin hummed in thought. “We should call Phantom while we head back to that house tonight and confirm if Mare is his brother. If they’re related, we can use that to our advantage.” 

“Do you have Phantom’s number?” Chase was already standing to go get ready. 

“No. But I have Jackie’s.”  

----------

Tags: @brokentimewatch @bookwormscififan @d-structive @rainymae523 @ashtonisvibing

[lilakennedy]

Marvin calling Jackie to tell him to not chase him again implies that that is a thing that has happened - that is a story I’d love to hear! If it is already existing, could I have a link please? :D

ah!!! it doesn’t exist yet, but i mentioned some stuff about Jackie & Marv’s relationship here!

and because you asked so nicely - (update from future me: i got carried away)

﹀

The sun had just fallen against the horizon, the last few rays of light leaving the sky in various hues of orange and red. People made their way home from work and school, the streets slowly getting more and more empty as night time rolled around. 

Laughter and chatter could be heard through the open windows on the street, people enjoying the mild weather, while through some open doors one could smell food that would make your mouth water. 

Most people were starting to settle in for the evening, as the world started to calm down.

Sitting in the cold light of an LED lamp, was Jackie. His eyes watching each small movement the gloved fingers against his biceps made. 

The room was drowned in the golden light of the sunset. The sharp, cold hue of the LED standing next to him and shining onto his arm being a nearly beautiful contrast against the warm sunlight. 

A small piece of debri carefully got pulled out of the wound, making Jackie wince which earned him a raised brow from Henrik. 

“You go against all kinds of criminals, but you wince at that?” He questioned, tone unimpressed as he placed down the tweezers and moved a rag across the edges of the wound to clean off any blood that was still sticking to Jackie’s skin. 

“To be fair, I do also wince when I get thrown through a window.” 

Giving a small chuckle at Jackies reply, Henrik turned his attention back to the nasty cut that Jackie had somehow gotten in the span of two hours since the doctor had last seen him.

Henrik was curious, the question about how he had ended up with such a deep gash was at the tip of his tongue, but he knew Jackie would share if he wanted to. 

They had these moments a lot, their relationship not quite a friendship but slowly getting more comfortable and casual rather than professional. 

It also wasn’t the first time that Jackie stood infront of the door to Henriks home instead of his clinic, making Henrik glad he always kept some tools and first aid supplies around the house. 

So here they were, Jackie sitting in the kitchen with his bloody hoodie and shirt thrown over the back of the wooden chair. His spear had gotten abandoned in the umbrella holder in the hallway, thanks to Henriks strict rule to avoid having Jackie break any of his belognings.

On the table next to the two of them, Henrik had placed bandages along with a small tray with suturing tools. A few paper towels stained with blood were laying in the bin next to Henrik, and the sharp smell of desinfectant Henrik had used to clean the table as Jackie arrived hung in the air and was impossible to ignore.

The radio Henrik had standing in his kitchen was quietly humming its melodies, the station playing various types of music with the occasional news report thrown in. It was audible, but not loud enough to distract or drown out any other noise. 

Jackie had been humming along to a song he recognized, bouncing his leg to the beat. Throwing the used rag into the sink, Henrik used his free hand to push against the heroes bouncing leg, giving him a small glare through his glasses. 

Without any words, Jackie understood and gave an apologetic grin as Henrik reached for the tray that was holding thread and needle. 

Henrik motioned for Jackie to turn his arm toward him a bit, which he did with ease and a few moments later Henrik got to work. 

The needle piercing skin still was far from pleasant, but it was something Jackie had gotten used to. And because of that, Jackie was able to get lost in thought despite Henriks careful work against his wound.

A few moments passed before Jackie spoke up again:

“Thanks man, I don’t know what I’d do without your help.”

“Probably use ductape.” Henrik replied, sounding condescending but the small smile on his face was even visible from where Jackie sat. “Or try to burn it shut.”

Jackie gave a small hum in reply, not wanting to laugh and move as Henrik was patching him up. 

“I should try that one day.” 

The rhythmic movement and repatitive sound of the needle driver didn’t get interrupted as Henrik glanced up to Jackie for a moment. “No you shouldn’t.”

Giggling at Henriks tone, Jackie shook his head and moved to watch the world outside the window as he focused on the radio again. 

They were talking about the weather, and Jackie swore he could hear Henrik sight at the report of heavy downpour on the next day. Thinking back, Jackie did notice that Henrik never had any umbrellas around. Maybe he should get his doc one the next time he stops by. 

But it wasn’t until the short recap of the daily news started that Jackie perked up. 

“- Merely an hour ago a panic broke out in a jewrely store in a southern part of town. An unknown amount of people seemingly managed to steal a multiple hundred thousands worth amount of jewelry.” 

The second newsreporter voiced his disbelief at what was said, urging the lady to continue, which she did with a small laugh. 

“I know it sounds insane, it was nearly the perfect crime if the robbers had not made a mistake on their way out, which set off the alarm and alerted security. But it’s still unknown how many people exactly where involved - Given that all their CCTV seemed to black out right before the time that is estimated to be the start of this robbery.”

Both reporters laughed in disbelief, comparing it to a movie as they mentioned more details, getting Jackies attention more and more. 

“Most of the witness reports don’t align either, it is as if multiple things happened at once, which makes this entire thing seem even more bizzare. But it is said that one of the culprits has been seen on their way to the city center, although it can’t be proved either.” 

“Don’t you dare.” 

Henriks voice brought Jackie back down to earth, looking over to where Henrik was cutting the last thread and finishing the sutures. He felt the way Jackies muscles tensed, his posture changed as he turned more and more towards the radio with each word that was said. 

“But you heard what -”

Henriks was pulling the gauze over the wound, trying his best to make sure it wasn’t too loose or too tight. His reply followed after a small groan.

“I just put you back together twice today, and I am frankly too busy to deal with it a third time.” 

“I’m not gonna get hurt!” Jackie protested, ready to jump up as soon as Henrik would be done with the bandage. “It’s nothing dangerous!”

“You say that each time and at this point I think you gravely misuse that sentence.”

Giving the bandage a pat that was a bit harsher than necessary, Henrik leaned away from the finished dressing around the wound, watching Jackie grimace at the sublte sting. 

“If I see you infront of my doorstep again in the next 3 days I might just change my mind about letting you try to cauterize your own wounds.”

Standing up with a smirk, Jackie gave Henrik a small salute as he reached for his short and hoodie again, immediately throwing it over his head as if the stitches on his arm were no hindrance to his movement at all.

“Got it, boss!” 

Henrik rolled his eyes as he watched Jackie walk out the room and disappear around the corner with steps so fast and light, they were nearly totally inaudible. 

The last thing Henrik heard was the unmistakable sound of Jackie pulling the staff out of the metallic umbrella holder and then slamming the door behind himself.

Henrik sighed as he moved to clean up.

A few minutes later Jackie had made his way towards the city centre. The sun set fully at that point, leaving everything dark and only illuminated by the streetlights.

 It was still buzzing with people as he watched from his spot ontop of a parking garage, fastening his wrist brace with his teeth. 

It was gonna be hard to figure out if any of these people were who he was trying to find, but sometimes criminals are dumb and make giant mistakes that give them away to anyone that knows what they’re looking for. 

Jackie had seen it various times, criminals getting cocky and reckless as soon as they think they’re safe.

And sure enough, sooner rather than later a person caught his attention. 

He didn’t know why, but something about them seemed off. The hood hanging over their features. The way they carried their bag, they held it as if it was filled with heavy items but it swayed in the wind. All the times they glanced over their shoulder. 

And as they rounded the corner into a smaller street, Jackie set off to follow.

Doing his usually parkour with only his right arm slowed him down, made him take small detours, but he still caught back up to the person of interest. 

He made sure to follow from a distance, making his way over fire escapes and roofs. This part of town was extremely familiar to him, he knew every small bump in the street. Jackie was confident, he was at a giant advantage. 

 As his target walked down into a small path connecting various backyards, Jackie decided to face them. 

Jumping from the fire escape, Jackie landed a few metres behind the other, who immediately stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of Jackies boots hitting gravel. 

Feeling a sense of triumph, Jackie stepped forward and shoved them against the wall, using his healthy arm to press against their throat. 

Once he finally saw the mysterious criminal face to face, he deflated like a sad balloon.

“Marvin?!”

Immediately breaking into a laugh, Marvin felt tears come to his eyes as Jackie stepped back and gave his friend room. 

Jackie looked all kinds of betrayed and embarrassed as Marvin finally stood up straight again and smiled. 

“Is a hood and some baggy clothes really all it take for you to think I’m someone else?”  Marvin asked in an extremely humoured tone. “I really thought you knew me better by now.”

Jackie blinked a few times, mouth gaping as he let his shoulders hang. Marvins grin didn’t falter and a few seconds later, it seemed to click as Jackie gasped. 

“You knew I was on your tail!!” Burying his head in his hands, Jackie groaned as he realized Marvin had been playing a game with him. 

“I knew you were there as soon as you popped up on that garage.” Marvin shrugged as his attire changed in the blink of an eye, which didn’t even seem to phase Jackie. “Decided to have some fun.” 

“So - So all that weird behaviour-!” Jackie began, voice raised as he removed his hands from his face and gestured, the blade of the spear barely missing Marvin by a hairs width as he didn’t bat an eye at it. Instead, Marvin cut into Jackies exasperated rant: 

“Was on purpose.”

“Oh my god!!” Jackies frustrated yell made Marvin chuckle and nudge him with his elbow, making the hero look over to him like a kicked puppy. 

“Let’s go home.” 

“Huh?” Jackie raised a brow, wondering if Marvin really wanted to just go home and relax for the evening. At this point he was used to Marvins little stunts taking a few days.

Marvin stopped in his tracks and turned to look back at Jackie. “Don’t tell me you were so focused you didn’t even notice that we’re nearly at home.” 

“Hey! I know that!” Jackie threw back at Marvin, visually offended as they both started to walk the last few meters to their back door. “You’re gonna pay for dinner, just for being a dick.”

Grinning wide enough to rival the cheshire cat, Marvin twirled a golden ring between his fingers. 

“Gladly.”

[iamfruitie]

Kinktober 2023 Day 16

Threesome

“H-Holy shit~” Chase stammered out, head tilting back and resting on Henrik’s shoulder, hand down and holding Anti’s hair as his head was between his legs. “Fucking hell, guys.” He groaned, feeling Anti’s tongue slowly drag up his achingly hard cock and Henrik’s hands groping his chest, gently pinching his nipples. “What did I do to deserve this?” 

“By simply being yourself, dear.” Henrik hummed, kissing Chase’s shoulder and neck. “You always deserve to be spoiled.” 

“It’s also a lot of fun,” Anti giggled before biting down on Chase’s inner thigh, adding another hickey to the growing collection. Chase squirmed and softly moaned, cursing under his breath. 

“I think we have teased him enough, Anti,” Henrik said, his hands sliding down to rub at Chase’s sides. 

“Aw, but he looks so good like this.” Anti played up a fake whine, shifting up to his knees and casually wrapping his hand around Chase’s cock, stroking him as he spoke. 

“Yes, but he would look so much better with your cock inside him.” Henrik grinned when he could feel Chase shiver from that. “Do you like the sound of that, Chase?” He asked as a whisper into Chase’s ear, earning another shiver and a slight whimper with that. 

“Y-Yes.” Chase barely managed to get out, hips rocking into Anti’s hand. He whined when Anti let him go and kissed the center of his chest. 

“Aw, Chasey, don’t get all pouty on me. Give me just a moment, and you’ll be nice and full~” Anti grinned at how his words got Chase to melt more against Henrik. He continued as he grabbed the lube and popped it open, coating himself generously with it. “I think you’ll cum so quickly on me, and then you’ll get to cum from Hen’s cock too. We’ll make you look so pretty as a nice little mess~” 

“Just fuck me already,” Chase huffed. 

“No, please? So rude.” Anti playfully nipped Chase’s collarbone, shifting his hips closer and rutting against his ass, making it clear that he would keep teasing until he got asked politely.

“Please. Please, fuck me, Anti.” Chase quickly begged, hearing Anti and Henrik chuckle, one sounding a little more wicked than the other. 

“Good boy~” Anti praised, putting a hand on Chase’s hip to adjust their angle enough so that he could start pushing in. 

“Finally~” Chase sighed, keeping himself as relaxed as possible and letting out a shakey breath when Anti was fully in him. 

“Keep a good hold on him, Hen.” Anti lifted one of Chase’s legs so it wrapped around his hips. “I’m going to make him scream my name~” 

“Wait. Chase, what is the word?” Henrik did a quick check. 

“Apple,” Chase said the safe word after a swallow, panting in anticipation. 

“Okay, have at it, Anti.” Henrik hugged Chase’s waist. As soon as he did, Anti began thrusting. He went a bit slow at first, giving Chase time to adjust since he didn’t want to actually hurt him. Chase held Henrik’s arm with one hand as the other went to Anti’s shoulder, pulling him down closer so he could get a kiss. Anti eagerly gave Chase the kiss he wanted, nipping and using his tongue to turn the kiss into a mess and drinking up the sounds Chase made as he fucked him faster and harder. 

“Fuck~!” Chase cried out, body still rocking a lot despite Henrik’s firm grip on him. 

“You already look so delicious~” Anti purred as he found that perfect pace that always got Chase to forget there was a world around him. 

“An-Anti, Anti, holy-holy shit.” Chase panted. He always became a sensitive mess after being teased for so long. “Hen!” He cried out when Henrik changed his hold and wrapped a hand around his cock, stroking him to match Anti’s thrusts. 

“Is our doctor being impatient?” Anti teased, hips not missing a beat. 

“Yes,” Henrik answered bluntly. “I need to hear him cum as soon as possible.” 

“Be honest. You just want to fuck him. You want to fill him up and fuck him till he can’t think~” Anti looked at Chase as he said that, his grin growing when he got exactly what he wanted by doing that.

“Shit~!” Chase tensed up, cumming hard and making a mess all over his own stomach. Anti slowed his hips to a stop. 

“Do you think you can handle Henrik fucking you next~?”

“Please~!” 

[litgwritersroom]

What if Marisol had two dates when Lurik came in, and was most popular then? Would she be less likely to get tempted by Rocco if she has both Lucas and Henrik on her tail? Also, who would she end up with? This concept has always interested me, so it’ll be great to see someone else’s take.

Hey babe! @mrsbsmooth here!

Firstly, I'm so sorry it's taken us so long to get to this one. It's been sitting in the back of my mind for weeks. Thanks to @i-boop-you for her help on this ask, too!

I've always found Marisol an interesting character, because for someone who seems so driven by logic and reason, she sure seems to follow her vagina a lot.

It's my opinion that:

Even if Henrik & Lucas had actively pursued Marisol, she would still have ended up with Rocco.

I know, I know. But wait.

Here's my rationale:

First, let's look at what Marisol's other (male) Love Interests have in common:

Em pointed out that it's a common trope when writing bisexual female characters, to assume that they like men who are a little bit trash and girls who are a little bit too perfect, and Marisol's definitely been slapped with this.

Think about it - Gary, Graham, and Rocco. She's got an instant attraction with all three of them. She likes the tattoos, a bit of scruff, a bit of ye olde' toxic masculinity - and this is coming from someone who proudly picked Gary on their first playthrough. He's trash, but he's our trash. So we know that she likes them a little rough around the edges.

So she'd like Henrik, right? He's as rugged as they come.

In a word? No. Because I don't think it's just about the rough & scruffy for her. I think that the main thing that attracts her to Graham and Rocco, is that they are actively pursuing her, and they are quite assertive about that fact. Plus, Gary flirts with anything that moves, so that's where he fits in to that.

But Henrik? No way. I just don't see him as being assertive enough for her. Excluding r!Henrik, Henny is a harmless labrador puppy, and Marisol wants a pitbull.

So while she thinks he's hot (because she's got eyes), sorry, Henny, you're not for her.

Okay, so the assertiveness makes sense with Lucas. But he's not exactly rough around the edges?

You're right. Lucas is many things, but rough around the edges is not one of them. The man is so polished that it squeaks when you give him a handjob.

However. Lucas is one of the (read: the #1 IMO) most hyper-masculine guys in the villa. Not in a one of the lads kind of way, though. He's just got all that Daddy/Dom thing going on. Which we know that Graham's also into (rope, sex dungeon in the fort, etc.), so I HC that Marisol's at least a little bit into it.

Lucas & Marisol are also both brilliant, and I think that, intellectually at least, he's one of the only boys who's going to be able to keep up with her. He's also assertive enough to go after her, which, if he did it, she would have absolutely gone for. Plus, don't even get me started on how much the motorbike would get her revved, IYKWIM.

But the key point is that in this universe, Lucas is actively pursuing her. If that was the case, then yes, I think Marisol is definitely going to show significant interest in Lucas.

But would she have gone for Lucas over Rocco?

Ahhh, see this is where it gets tricky. My first thought was yes. Because she's not a fucking idiot. Marisol analyses the shit out of every relationship, so I think it's pretty safe to assume she's doing the same to her own. She's going to be weighing up the pros and cons of each. And if she's looking for love, is she picking the handsome physiotherapist who lives an hour and a half drive away, or is she picking the flighty food-truck guy who lives an hour and a half flight away?

But Marisol's not that shallow!

No, you're right, and she's not thinking about this because of money. She's thinking about it because of values. It's ultimately canon that neither her or Lucas want kids. Which definitely helps.

So what would turn her off Rocco, then?

If anything, the thing that would have turned her off Rocco is that he's actually far more pretentious than Lucas. And yes, I know Lucas is pretty pretentious as far as the real-world use of the term goes.

But in terms of actual pretense? Lucas plays down the impressive things he's done. Rocco straight up lies about things he hasn't. I don't think she'd like that.

Okay, but you seem to be talking her out of going for Rocco. Why would she pick Rocco over Lucas?

Simple. It's almost entirely about trust.

Marisol's not fussed about her guy being flirtatious with other women. We know this, because when Graham flirts with Elisa and Jo (🤢) she's like 'If he's trying to make me jealous, it's not going to work'. Plus the fact that she still wants to be with Rocco after Roccogate... yeah. So it's not that that's going to turn her off him. Trust.

If a guy opens up to her, she loves it. I think, for all her psychoanalysing and pretending to not care about. When you interrupt Graham & Marisol in CA, he's opening up to her about a time when he felt really scared for his crew. And she's eating that shit up like it's his grandmother's dressed crab. Rocco opened up to Marisol about why he dropped out of Uni before he opened up to anyone else in the villa. And it's almost immediately after this that we start seeing her actively going for Rocco.

Lucas... is... sigh. I'll just say it. He's cold. It takes a long time for him to open up to MC, so we should expect it would be the same with Marisol. I actually think that Marisol's psychoanalysing would have prompted a similar reaction in him that it did from Rahim - with frustration, annoyance, and closing the fuck off. And I think, ultimately, this is going to be the thing that turns Marisol off Lucas. Because despite their obvious attraction to each other, I think she would have just gotten frustrated with the fact that he won't let her in.

So that's my take!

I hope this met your expectations, and I'm so sorry again about how long it took me to do! I hope it's not too rambling :)

xxx MrsBSmooth