#i love the idea of pt being a pirate so much

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 92 (Conrad's First Love)

cw: Conrad getting pretty spicy 🌶️🌶️🌶️ and not with Heather; references to human and drug trafficking (not depicted).

Follows the events of this post.

As she passed him to put away her gloves, a stunning redhead at Pappy Murphy's Boxing Gym caught Conrad's eye. Though he'd been deep in another bout of anger and self-pity over the death of his mother years earlier, he stopped his workout. Every inch of his being compelled him to talk to her.

She turned with a smile before he could stammer a single word. "Hi, handsome. Did you want a better look?"

He nervously introduced himself and she told him her name. "Ximena." The word floated from her lips like a song. He was instantly smitten.

"Ximena, could I buy you a drink?"

They spent the day in a local pub. He told her everything about his mother's death and his distance from his father in the years since. She listened, but she had a lot less to say about herself. "I live here with my brother. I'm a student, and I'm the only caretaker he has. Our parents aren't around anymore, and it's been just Rafa and me for years."

He could hear an accent when she spoke, and most people in Britechester weren't locals, so he made an assumption. "How long since you moved from Selvadorada?"

Surprised by his guess, she turned defensive. "I don't talk about Selva."

He liked her too much to press and push her away, so they spent the rest of the day flirting and discussing their interests until Ximena invited him back to her place. "You make me laugh, Conrad Gordon. My brother's still at school and I want to get to know you better without all this noise. I hate the music they play in here."

Once Conrad followed her out of the bar and back to the small home she shared with her kid brother, Rafa, he started following her everywhere.

He lost his virginity to her a week after they met. That night, she told him why she left Selvadorada.

"I was going to die or they were going to kill me. I wouldn't let them sell me to anyone anymore, so I made a plan and left with my brother in the middle of the night to come here."

She showed him the scars left by the cartel, and a resolve to keep her safe coloured his already steadfast affection. He let her cut his hair when she said she wanted to show him how freeing it felt to change his look. "It's nice not to recognize the person in the mirror, sometimes," she said.

She told him she was a student, often meeting him at Larry's Lagoon to study but usually distracting him into other activities. One afternoon, she introduced him to an old friend, Jimmy Stefano. "Can you help him out around campus? You're in the same major."

Something about Jimmy Stefano rubbed Conrad the wrong way, but he assumed it was jealousy. Despite this, he would already do anything for Ximena and agreed to take Jimmy under his wing.

He called his father to say he planned to stay at school for Spring Break. "Sorry, I know I said I'd come home to see you."

Stephen Gordon laughed him off, but masked slight disappointment. He had no idea whether his son was flourishing or floundering at college, unsure how he'd been coping so far from home. "Don't worry, son. I'm just glad you sound happy. You're making me and your mother proud."

He skipped classes to spend time with Ximena, but made no mention of this to his father, of course. He spent time with Rafa when Ximena said she had late-night classes, taking him to the park to play pirate captain versus sea monster, and talking endlessly with him about video games.

Rafa wanted to become a pirate captain in Sulani or a game tester in San Myshuno. He had almost no memory of life in Selva before his sister left, but he knew it was "the bad place." He liked spending time with Conrad because he said his sister was too strict. "She just loves you," Conrad assured him. "Parents have to set rules, and she can't just be your sister. She has to care for you like a parent, too."

He realized then how important it was to be a model for Rafa, who needed guidance as much as anyone his age. Conrad had always had his father, but who did Rafa have besides Ximena?

Conrad discovered how she paid for an entire house for her and her brother by accident, stumbling on an argument between her and Jimmy Stefano near the campus fountain. "The deal was thirty pounds for three grand."

"They said if I didn't have five grand they'd only give me fifteen. They had guns, Ximena."

"They all have guns! Knives, too. Get your own and figure out how to use it. Watcher, please, don't screw this deal up for me, Jimmy."

"Who has guns?"

"The cartel," said Jimmy, so nonchalant, yet it still hit Conrad like a missile. His stomach turned as he read Ximena's expression. Every lie she'd told him unravelled with a look.

"Are you really a student here, Ximena?"

"No. They're my customers."

He'd had his suspicions, but he'd always told himself he was wrong. Ximena was supposed to be perfect. Hoping against hope, he still tried to play the fool. "What do you mean?"

She dragged him back home to tell him the truth - how she'd bargained with the cartel to escape a life of servitude to the men who ran product all over Simlandia. She refused to serve them, but her way out was to join them instead.

Conrad was angry, but he couldn't stay mad at her for long. As they lay in bed that night, she asked, "Are you going to break up with me because of what I do?"

"Not a chance. I love you."

"I love you, too." She smiled, resting her head on his chest as he ran a hand through her newly blonde hair. "You look nice without glasses, Conrad."

"You already gave me a haircut, Xime. You don't like glasses?"

"Conrad, you're very sexy. But you hide it and it's silly."

"If you're going to give me a makeover, what should I get you?"

"Are you asking me?"

"Ximena, I want to give you everything you could ever want."

She blushed. "I want you, Conrad. But since I already have you, maybe...jewelry? Like a ring."

"You don't wear any rings."

"Because none are special enough, Conrad."

He smiled. "Alright, that's one idea. But say I wanted to surprise you, what else did you want?"

"You could join me running product for the cartel. Our lives would be made, and we'd always be together."

"I don't want to run product for the cartel, Ximena. But I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be there for you. Rafa, too."

"Right, but what if I go? Rafa loves you, Conrad, almost as much as me. But what if the cartel moved me somewhere else? Would you come with me? Maybe you could be, like, my security. No running, just keeping me safe. Always with me and Rafa."

He'd do anything to protect her, but he didn't answer her that day, refocusing on his studies until he returned to San Myshuno at the end of the semester.

He'd missed his father more than he expected, and they went for walks in warm sunshine by the Spice Market. They talked about school, and Conrad talked about Ximena - leaving out details of her career and focusing instead on her relationship with her brother. Conrad rarely asked his father about work, but Stephen hinted he was inching closer to retirement. "Chester's daughter Nancy is ready to take over the company, but Chester's not quite ready to retire. I think she's plotting a coup, but you didn't hear that from me."

"What happens to you if she pushes out her own father?"

"Hopefully, a retirement package. Chester may not be ready, but I think I am."

On one of their walks, they passed a jewelry store, and Conrad made a beeline for the ring counter. A confident salesman smiled as the Gordon men walked inside. "Welcome. What are we shopping for today?"

"I'm just looking," Conrad said. "What rings do you have?"

The salesman beamed. "Are we thinking of an engagement?"

Stephen eyed his son carefully, but Conrad shook his head. "Not right now. Just like, for an accessory."

"I don't know, son. A ring says you're ready for forever."

Conrad took his father's words to heart, considering what forever with Ximena might look like. He wanted to be with her, but he wasn't ready for a ring. He left that day with a nice bracelet for her, instead.

"Even leaving with a bracelet as nice as that one...she must mean something. I'd love to meet her."

Conrad nodded. "She might be able to visit this summer, if she's not too busy with work," he said.

Stephen smiled and the Gordon men continued their walk, strengthening the bond nearly severed by grief before Conrad returned to Britechester for another semester. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 1 Summary | Gen 1 Start

NOT FUN FACT: Conrad got crab lice from Ximena when they slept together for the first time, which is gross but also fitting I guess. And yet I didn't make it canon because it didn't quite fit the vibe. Plus, he wasn't supposed to find out that early on that Ximena was problematic.

WCIF Poses Used? Various from packs Old Souls Love Differently by @simmireen (when Ximena is blonde), Our First Time by @eclypt0sims (redhead), The Kiss by @simmerberlin (black hair) and Nights Like These by @sakurasims-world (also redhead).

WCIF Jewelry Store? Jewelry Store by Guinifere on the Sims 4 Gallery. Very elegant interior and comes with crafting tables, a vault, charging stations - very nice lot! Needs dressing up with completed jewelry on the counters and in displays to look really spectacular (and I of course went the lazy route), but I wouldn't if I was playing a retail career, and this is a great lot for someone who wants to be a jeweler!

[edgeray]

mygod that siren Arlecchino fic you did is *chef's kiss* IMMACULATE!!! might i request a continuation, mayhaps? Arle mentioned that she'd follow the reader as they sail, so maybe she misses them and either tries to climb onto the boat or the pier where they're docked to see them again? either hurt/comfort or fluff, the rest is up to you!!! love your work and thank you for fueling my Arlecchino obsession :] also i might pop back in here once in a while, may i be moth anon?

The Sea's Calling Pt. 2

(Arlecchino x Fem! Reader)

A/N - Part 1 link here. Yes, you definitely can be a moth anon! Hi :D. I already added you to the anon list. To other anons that have requested and I haven't gotten to, I do see your requests and if you gave yourself an emoji/name I already added you ^^. Anyways, back to moth anon. <333 I'm so glad you enjoyed my siren Arlecchino fic! As my first request I was kind of nervous about it but I'm glad that you enjoy! I'm also really glad that you sent this request! I did always want to write a part 2 but didn't have the opportunity until now. Thanks moth anon, for the reuqest and for enjoying my works!!  If you couldn't tell, I love the idea of found family pirates. One Piece did this to me. The ending turned out to be self-indulgent, forgive me moth anon ;) Even though it's short, this ended up being one of my favorites. Hope you like this one! Content warnings / info - monster x human, arle is ooc bc she's a siren, fem! reader bc pt.1 has fem! reader, suggestive at the end, 1.2k words

You used to think that the most beautiful thing out there was the sky and its stars–to you, nothing was more mesmerizing than them. They are so alluring despite holding this mystique, and they've guided humans on their naval journeys and inspired all kinds of stories of their origins. The stars were all that kept you company, even on the lonliest and coldest nights.

Now, however, the stars aren't your only company. 

“Guys, I'm going to go back to the ship. Don't wait up on me too much,” you to your fellow pirates as you stand up from the stool. You drop off some extra coins on the baa counter, in order to compensate for the plate that you will be ‘borrowing.’ You pick up the plate of your half-eaten slice of meat pie and sandwich and head towards the exit before one of your crew mates stops you, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“Turning in already? C'mon, stay a little bit. We've got enough money for a few more rounds of beer,” he says with a boisterous laugh. You chuckle lightly but shake your head. 

“No can do, sorry. Got something to do.”

“Uh huh, like your little siren girlfriend?” Another crew member states, her teasing smile widening as you flush. 

“One more? Jackie hasn't finished his story!”

“Let the darned woman go see her darn girlfriend, Goldie,” another gruffed with a shake of his head. 

“Fine, fine, go on ahead. Tch, when will I get my own smoking hot siren girl?” Goldie huffs, and you snort. Likely never, but you don't tell him that.  

“Thanks, I'll be back,” is all you say before rushing out of the door, nearly tipping over the plate before you balance it again. You wave them off and you make your way back to the docks. The walk is both short and long, and each step you take is filled with the excitement that buzzes through you. 

Even after these months, being able to spend time with her feels like bliss, like you have just found treasure. Sometimes, you forget she's a siren, she's ever so endearing and follows you around like a puppy. Oftentimes, when you're on the boat, you talk to her as she lingers by. The night after you first met the siren your crew had banned you from jumping into the waters because you had developed a cold which infected a good chunk of the crew; the cold wasn't severe for anyone but still. Since you can't be in the water, you often just talk to her from the railings and she answers. 

It's only when you're docked when you can finally touch her, but those times come rare. It can take days, sometimes weeks to reach an island to dock at, but when you do, you always take the time to sit by the shore. 

Finally, you arrive at the pier. “Arle?” You call out, and you see a ripple in the water. Grinning, you walk to the ends of one of the docks, setting down the plate a bit away from you. You remove your shoes and set them far away. Perching on the dock, your feet dip into the cold waters and you shiver.

You see something gleam in the corner of your eyes, the familiar shine of her scales. You then remember the food, and you start. “Wait, Arle don't splash–”

Too late. Something erupts from the waters and launches into you, a cold, heavy weight thrusting into your body making you tumble on your back on the dock. Pressed between the wooden planks and the creature that straddles you, you can't help but laugh and raise your hand up to her face, the now drenched food forgotten entirely. 

“Hey gorgeous,” you say as you stroke her cheek gently. She's the most beautiful treasure that you found among the seas. Arlecchino gazes down on you, her red pupils glistering as her arms wrap around your torso. She purrs, little fangs apparent as the tip of her tongue peeks out with her open-mouth smile. 

“Missed you,” is the first thing she says, before she leans her body against you, nuzzling her face into your neck. Your clothes get soaked from her, but you pay no mind. You stroke her wet hair, carding your fingers through her strands before kissing the top of her head. 

“I missed you too. Did you eat recently?” 

Sometimes she'd disappear for a few nights to search for another wandering ship for her meals but she never fails to find your ship again. You haven't seen her for a couple days before you docked her. 

Arlecchino nods. “Human food?” She questions. Her tail flicks, thumping against the wood out of eagerness. Although she enjoys the taste of cooked meats, beef especially, you don't believe it's as nutrition dense as… well, the main source of her diet, and it's hard to serve her cooked meat while on sea due to the issue of storing meat on ships. So, cooked meat has always been a treat for her. 

You nod. “You want to try?” 

She lets out an affirmative purr, and you help her sit upright in your lap. It's always a bit difficult considering she has a tail instead of legs, but she maneuvers her tail to encircle your waist, and you support her back with one of your arms. You silently mourn for your now soggy sandwich as you reach for the plate, using her tail as a flat surface. 

“What is it?” 

“Meat pie and a sandwich.” You take the fork and dig out the meat from the meat pie. Balancing the tender piece of beef on your utensil, you carefully guide it to her mouth. 

“Careful, it's hot. And don't bite the fork this time,” you gently warn her as she eats it. She squirms a bit in your lap, an indicator that she's pleased with the taste. 

“More?” You chuckle, adoring the cute plea in her eyes. 

You scrape out more of the meat until she's eaten all of the pie filling, leaving you to eat the pie crust. You're still peckish, so you start eating your sandwich, but not before fishing out the thick slice of ham from it, and giving it to her. If it meant you could watch the way her expression lights up again forever, then you would endlessly eat ham-less sandwiches and savor every cheese and vegetables sandwiched in between wet bread. 

“Did you like it?” You ask in between chews as she leans her head against your shoulder. She nods, and leans up again to place featherlight kisses on your neck. With the cold droplets of water and her frigid lips, it tickles you and you giggle. So adorable. 

You freeze up when you feel her fangs prick your skin and she looks up to you for permission. Another mating bite? You nod, wordlessly giving her permission, and you suck in a harsh breath as you feel her teeth sink in. Purrs vibrate coarse through her mouth as she pulls away, lapping at the mark and the texture of her tongue invokes a throaty groan from you, your body trembling with pleasure. 

Arlecchino leans away, but in her eyes, hunger burns in them. Her hands take purchase on your hips and she pushes your back against the planks. Her tail unwinds around your torso and instead coils around your ankles, securing them together.  

“H-here?” You question, flushing. Her hands wander lower, the sharp nails trailing lower to your thighs, where faint scratches scatter. 

The night that you first met her, she sang so beautifully for you. Tonight, you repay her back, singing out her name so tastefully. 

[o-sachi]

Cowboy, Pirate, or Samurai? pt. 1 ₊⊹ Blue Lock Chars.

�� how the blue lock boys respond to, “would you rather be a cowboy, pirate, or samurai?”

ଳ characters; isagi yoichi, bachira meguru, chigiri hyoma, nagi seishiro, barou shoei, reo mikage, kunigami rensuke

ᯓ Isagi Yoichi - Samurai

Knowing Isagi's love for manga, I have a hunch that he might go for samurai solely because it reminds him of all those shounen manga that he had read before. Isagi is definitely the type of guy to find swords amazing. If he had the money, he'd buy one of those replica katanas that you can display in your room. But, to be fair, he finds all options cool. It's just that the samurai has an allure to him that the others lack. I'm guessing it's their cold and calculating nature which is resemblant of Isagi when he's on the field.

ᯓ Bachira Meguru - Pirate

It’s no surprise that a spontaneous person like Bachira would choose to be a pirate. After all, they do travel far and wide, and have the most amazing expeditions out of all the three. He isn’t as excited about the sword fights or the bounties as he is with exploring new places. I have a feeling he likes swimming and just being around water in general. His favorite animal is a dolphin, so I’m sure that his jaw would drop upon seeing one jumping along with the pirate ship.

ᯓ Chigiri Hyoma - Samurai

Chigiri will probably choose this more so as a last resort. He can't imagine being a pirate because the sea salt air would ruin his hair. Everyday would be a bad hair day and that's a huge no from him. Being a cowboy would mean being under the sun for hours, sweating and letting grime accumulate. He figures that being a samurai would be the safest option. With his speed, he might even be good at wielding a sword.

ᯓ Nagi Seishiro - Cowboy

Much like Chigiri, I think Nagi will choose this as a last resort. Pirates immediately get a no from him because they move around and go to places too much. He can't even fathom trying to get a good snooze on a ship that's constantly wobbling on water. Being a samurai is also a hassle since they have to be swinging their swords around. Picking cowboy seems like the chillest option since he thinks he can just take care of a horse and... nap with it under some shade after going for a very short ride.

ᯓ Baro Shoei - Samurai

One word: discipline. Baro thinks the elegance and esteem carried by the samurai are unparalleled. As a person who strongly believes in structure, Baro feels that he'd fit in the best in the samurai lifestyle unlike the others which are a bit too carefree for his taste. If he were to be in any other shounen, he'd be the type of character to have a strong sense of justice. Baro also looks like the type to be proud of his Japanese heritage, so it comes as no surprise that he's picking this one out of the choices.

ᯓ Reo Mikage - Pirate

He likes treasure. Pirates also like treasure. It was a no-brainer for Reo to go for pirate. The idea of going out on a grand voyage to discover and acquire precious items appeals quite a lot to him. It's literally a canon event and we can't interfere with it. He'd even go as far as to one up other pirates by purposefully finding more gold or finding an object far more valuable than anything anyone else had found. Reo would love to be a pirate king and lead his crew to a cavern of riches.

ᯓ Kunigami Rensuke - Cowboy

If we're talking about pre-wildcard Kunigami, then he's definitely a cowboy archetype. Cowboys are hard working, but carefree. They protect the innocent with their strength much like a hero. Kunigami fits this mold to a T with his strong sense of self and fairness. And, this is just a headcanon of mine, but I think he has a soft spot for animals. He looks like the big scary guy who's actually a lot more wholesome than he lets on. He'd take care of his horse like it's his best buddy. Post-wildcard Kunigami would probably say... ninja because he's edgy.

[🐟]: adding more characters in the next part~

ε( ε ˙³˙)ɜ ｡° ⚬ ｡ likes and reblogs are appreciated

o-sachi © 2024

[heartfeltcierra]

Reacting to you making/giving them a friendship bracelet Pt. 2 (Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, Bartolomeo, Sabo and Law

AN- I hope you enjoy part two of OP character receiving a friendship bracelet! (You can find part one that included Roger, Ace, Shanks, Marco and Doffy here)

MasterList

Characters- Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, Bartolomeo, Sabo and Law

Warnings/Contents-Fluff, All SFW, Mentions of fights, Law's is a little angsty and a bit longer.

I'll be posting a marine version tomorrow night including Koby, Garp, Smoker and Issho

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔﾉ♡ More under the cut

Zoro

 🍶 Zoro was confused at first but smirked seeing what it said “Best swordsman huh?”  “You need to make one for curly brows that says “Dumbest cook.”

🍶  Immediately took that back saying he wants to be the only one you make bracelets for 

🍶 He noticed there was some spare room on the bracelet, so he came up with a idea to fill the blank spots

 “You were pretty tough.” Zoro said, putting his swords back into their sheath. “I’ll get my girl to add you to my bracelet.” 

 “Excuse me?” Despite being half dead, the  bloody man lifted off of the ground with a rather angry expression. “What the hell does that mean?” 

 “You see this?” Zoro bends down, showing the man the many beads decorating the bracelet. “They represent my victories, and since I won against you, she’ll add a bead to it.” The man could only give Zoro a baffled look knowing he was now nothing more than a mere bracelet charm. “Anyways, nice fight and all but I gotta go. Which way is the exit?”

 “To the left.”    

 “Thanks.”

 “You fool, that's the right!”

 (To bad the bracelet doesn’t have a GPS)

 Luffy

🍗 Rubber boy was very excited when you gave it to him

🍗Would walk up to strangers to show them saying “Y/N made me this, I bet you're jealous!” 

🍗The only person that was genuinely jealous was Sanji 

🍗 Tries to take good care of it, note TRIES

 

  “Y/n…..” You look and see Luffy peeking his head into your room with an unusual gloomy look on his face. 

  “What’s wrong Luffy?” He padded over to you and laid the bracelet, or more like parts of the bracelet in front of you. 

 “It broke earlier during the fight. ” You knew from his tone he felt bad. “I’m sorry.” 

 “It’s okay!” You rummaged through the remains and smiled realizing the damage wasn’t irreversible. “I can fix it.” The frown on your captain’s face was finally replaced by that wide smile you know and love. “I’ll even make it more durable so it’s harder to break!”

  “You’re the best.” Luffy nearly sent you to the floor as he snaked his limbs around your body. “Also can you make one for my other wrist?”

“Sure what do you want it to say?”

 “Meat.”

  (I mean it’s Luffy, what did you expect?)

Sanji

 💛-You might as well have proposed to the man

 💛- Picks you up immediately and starts spinning saying “We might as well plan our wedding~”

 💛- A little bummed to hear you weren’t proposing, but is still eccentric that you made him something 

 “What kind of fighter doesn’t use his hands?” The beaten looks up at Sanji

 “Listen pal, my hands are only meant for two things. For Cooking…” His serious face scrunches up to his signature lovestruck idiot. “And for wearing bracelets made by my dear Y/N-Swan~” 

 (Please make this man more bracelets)

 Bartolomeo

💚 -His soul ascends into the clouds seeing that you made him something (Bonus points if your a straw hat pirate)

💚-Would fall to the ground and cry for a good half hour claiming he was “unworthy.” 

💚- But despite loving the bracelet, he NEVER wears it

 “Look at what was bestowed upon me.” He proudly holds up a small display case. “A friendship bracelet handcrafted by none other than Miss Y/N.” 

 The entire Strawhat lovers congregation would ooh and awe at the encased bracelet.

 “I could sit all day and bask in the sheer awesomeness.” Bart hits the floor with tears running down his face. “I just…I love her so much.”

 “Oh no boss man’s going down!”

  “What do we do?!” 

 “I don’t know, but we better figure something out. Were losing him!”

 Luckily after a cold towel and some fanning, the Barto Club was able to revive their green haired leader.

  (Please do not make this man any more bracelets , unless you want to send him into a coma.)

 Sabo

🎩- You had no idea what you were really getting yourself into

🎩-You know how people flex their engagement rings? Yeah Sabo’s going to do that… a lot

🎩-“Oh this thing? Well my beautiful Y/N hand crafted it for m-“ Would go on and on when literally no one asked 💀💀💀

 

“Y/N come quick it’s Sabo!” You follow Hack in a full blown panic as he leads you down to the RA’s infirmary.

 “Sabo!” You see him lying in one of the beds breathing heavily with a towel on his forehead. “What happened?”

 “Y/N….” You rush to his side and he takes your hand in his. “I’m sorry. But…” Tears roll down his face. “I promise I did everything in my power to save it….”

“To save what Sabo?”

 “My…..my…..MY BRACELET.”

 ….

 ….

 “I’m leaving.” 

 “Why?” 🥺

 “Sabo you literally went into shock, scared everyone half to death and ended up hospitalized , over a bracelet.”

 “But it’s not just any bracelet.” He frowns. “You made it for me.”

 “And I’ll make you another one.” You playfully roll your eyes. “So tell me what exactly happened to it?”

 “To be honest, I burned it off accidentally.” He nervously scratches the side of his head. “I’m still not quite used to my new powers.” 

  “I see.” You nod.  “I’ll see if I can somehow make one that’s fireproof.”

 “You will?” The blonde smiles and wraps his arms around you, pulling you down with him on the bed. “I love you so much!”

“I love you too.” You let yourself relax into his hold. “With that being said, can you promise me that you'll never do this again?”

 “You have my word not only as the chief of staff, but also as your overly dramatic boyfriend….. that I may do this again.”

 (Sabo is a absolute drama queen and you cannot tell me otherwise)

 Law

 🫀- And the crowd goes mild

 🫀- Literally had no initial reaction

 🫀- Law would stare at it, then back at you, then back to the bracelet, then back to you

 🫀- Poor man is not good at showing his emotions, so bear with him

 “Why?” Law gives you a confused look while staring at your labor of love. 

 “Because I wanted to.” You shrug your shoulders,  a little hurt seeing the lack of reaction.

 “I see.” Law doesn’t put the bracelet on, instead he puts it in his pocket. “Thank you.” He immediately turns his attention away from you and goes back to working.

 “Sure” You turn away with a frown. “I’ll go now, see you later.” 

 The second you leave the room Law is pulling that bracelet back out of his pocket while sporting the deepest shade of red on his cheeks. 

 He was so caught off guard and over the moon because of how cute and excited you looked while giving it to him that he completely went brain dead. 

 But he was now back to his senses and remembered the frown on your face as you left the room. 

 ~~~~

 You were laying on your bed sulking when you heard a knock on your door followed by a “It’s me.” You recognize your boyfriend's voice, but you're still hurt from earlier so you don’t reply. Instead you bury your face deeper into the pillow

 “SHAMBLES.” 

 “I didn’t say you could come in…” You spoke into the “pillow” which is now none other than Law.

 “You also didn’t say I couldn’t.” His tattooed arms pull you closer into his chest. 

 “Guess not.” Despite being angry at him, you can’t help but enjoy the closeness. “Is there something that you need, captain?”

 “Yes there is actually.” Law says in a matter of fact tone  “I have a very important task to assign you to.” You look up at him completely confused. “I need you to make me a bracelet with our jolly Roger on it.”

 “You want another bracelet?” You pull back from his hold. “I didn’t think you liked the first one I gave you.” 

 “I didn't like it, I loved it... see.”  You smile seeing the bracelet was in its rightful place on his wrist. “So do you think you can do it?”

 “Of course I can.” You jump up from the bed and run over to your desk that was covered in different colors of twine. “I’ll work on it right now!”

 Law feels relieved seeing the smile he fell in love with back on your face. Mission accomplished. He was about to leave the room to let you work, but couldn’t help but notice a huge pile of bracelets sitting in a basket on your dresser.

 “Damn Y/N you really like making these don’t you?” Law said while rummaging through the bracelets.

 “Law, wait!” It was too late, he was already holding the cheesy couples bracelets you made out of self indulgence. “I umm. I just made these for fun..”

 “Oh really?”  Law smirks while spinning the bracelet around his finger. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll take this one with me.” 

 “Are you sure?” 

 “I’m sure.” Law nods before throwing the other bracelet into your lap. “And you should wear yours too.”

 Law leaves you an embarrassed mess, but at the same time,  despite his “cool guy” act, he was just as embarrassed if not more. Why does she have to be so cute??? 

 (Won’t say it out loud, but is loving the fact he now owns a bracelet that say “I ❤️ Y/N”)

[zwhoreo]

⋆. Link to pt 1 :> ⋆.

gray moon pt 2 - luffy x f!reader

SMUT!!

summary: a sequel to the first gray moon. You and luffy get an overwhelming need to express your desire for each other 

Includes… very virgin luffy, oral both ways, brief mention of reader’s sexual/romantic trauma

words: 2.7k

_________________________________

You’re pinned on the deck. You’re pinned on the deck with a view of the night sky and Luffy’s face, the trickle of saliva from his lips, you’re both stunned with your own desires and you just stare at each other, drinking in each other, before he kisses you again. Hard. You didn’t even breathe yet and neither did he, he’s panting into your mouth, and he seems to function off raw instinct as he shifts himself to rest between your legs, his hips against you, you’re lifted against him off the deck with flexed, powerful arms as he tries to get so close that you’re one with each other, heart beats in sync. He kisses your neck, collarbone, shoulder, heavy, wet kisses and licks of his tongue.

“What’s happening…” he murmurs and you reach up to pet his hair. His nails start to dig into your skin and there’s the first jerk of his hips, rocking your body up against his. It’s an instinctual, hungry movement, starvation for something he never wanted until now. His lips find your neck and he’s biting and kissing so hard that you’re afraid there will be blood, but he’s Luffy so he’s being gentle still, since he loves you. 

But you’re overwhelmed and push away a little, which surprises him and snaps him out of his state. You stare up at him and your heart squeezes in your chest. It’s going too fast, like these things have for you before. Being vulnerable, feeling trapped, being kissed, being held with so much passion, when you didn’t have time to breathe. Tears come to your eyes again.

Luffy looks confused and sad, he pulls you into his arms and you’re warm again. “What’s wrong?” he whispers against your face, being so genuine. 

“I don’t know. It’s just… this is all hard for me. I’ve gotten hurt before. I love you but… I just need a second to calm down and get a hold of myself, ok?”

“Gotten hurt? Did you get beat up by pirates? That’s dumb, you’re strong, you-“

“No, Luffy… not like that, not that kind of hurt. Sometimes when you love someone, or want to make them happy, you let them do things to you that you don’t really want. Being with someone like this… it hasn’t been easy for me before.”

“Oh…” Luffy looks at you, misty eyed. “I thought you liked being kissed? And hugged?”

“I do. By you. But sometimes you can get reminded of something terrible, just with the smallest similarity. Remembering the last time I was kissed like that… it didn’t feel good like it does with you.”

“Oh.” He says again, looking upset at the idea of you being hurt, holding you in his arms a littlel tighter. “Then… I guess we should make this time really good, huh? So you can remember this instead?” He grows a hopeful smile, eager to get back to kissing you, to seeing you happy and comfortable.

“Mhm, I’d really like that, I think…”

“You’re not gonna get hurt again. Not ever, ok?” Luffy almost commands, quietly. He wants another kiss. His breath is heavy but he’s so patient.

“I won’t, not with you around.” Your lips return to his, your hands to his, your tongue to his. You’re going to make him happy but out of pure love and pure desire and out of the trust you’ve built for countless months, because you know that love and happiness will come back to you a million times over. Because it’s Luffy. 

You don’t want “real” sex right now but you still want something insane tonight. Fingers trail down his chest and take hold of his waist. Weight and balance shifts to you, you lean against him and suddenly he’s so excited to just hold you while you do things to him he’s never felt. 

“I wanna touch you somewhere special, Lu. I wanna touch you down there.” You murmur as you hide your face from him, deep in his neck, as you kiss and nibble at the tender, chewy skin. You say it so sweetly, so comfortingly. 

“Why? Is it fun?” He stares down at you with wide eyes as he tries to process this all, relaxed in spite of everything. 

“Yeah. I think it’ll be really fun… but you can tell me if you don’t like it, ok?” You place your hand on his shorts between his legs, he’s half hard and he probably doesn’t know why, or what that sensation is. But a low groan escapes his lips, so he likes it. 

“Yeah, ok!” he agrees happily, giving your forehead a kiss. He’s smiling, he’s ready for any kind of new adventure you want to give him, no tension in the muscles that flex beneath your hands. In the clothed cock that twitches in excitement at a graze of your fingers. 

Breath hitches inside a kiss as his zipper is pulled down, he’s not wearing underwear which takes you by surprise as your fingers sink into thick black hair. It’s warm and sweaty, a furnace was ablaze in there, it feels good against this cold night. You meet his eyes for encouragement and he’s grinning, shivering in excitement. So you move lower and the heat builds, sensitive, paper-thin skin over taught muscle meeting your touch and Luffy leans in to kiss you again, desperate for more contact to soothe his explosion of pleasure. 

“God… oh…” he says under his breath, followed by a little whimper when you wrap your hand around it and draw it out of his jeans, free to pulse and throb in your gentle hold, Luffy looking down in curiosity at his own body and how it burns in such a nice way. “It’s bigger…” he comments innocently, “and it feels nice, this feels… mm…”

“Does this feel ok?” You give him a slow, loving stroke, leaking tip to base, squeezing veins and swiping your thumb over his slit. All so carefully.

He just gives you a choked moan, hips faltering as they thrust into your touch. His cheeks are pink and his tip is blooming red. 

You kiss his neck as your hand moves. Making all his nerves flare at once and his arms grip you tightly, pulling you close, cock bouncing against you. You kiss his collarbone and shoulders, he smells like strong, palpable male arousal, so thick you can taste it on his skin. Your strokes become rhythmic as he squeezes his eyes shut, trying to soak in all of it at once. He moans in your ear.

“I want you to kiss it,” he says simply, looking up at you, face flushed as you reach up to touch his cheek. 

“Yeah, I can do that…” you murmur a bit nervously as you push him gently back against the mast, settling yourself between his legs, lying down. You kiss his stomach lovingly, still stroking him up and down. You look up at him for encouragement as he nods eagerly. 

You give the tip a soft, tiny kiss, and even just that makes him thrust his hips forward in excitement, before you quickly put your hands on his waist to still him. “Luffy! Hey… this is important… you can’t thrust or push my head as I’m doing this, ok? It’s gonna hurt me. Can you promise you won’t do that?”

“Oh… I’m sorry!” He looks at you in embarrassment, as his eyes still beg you. “I promise!”

So your lips return, in a quick yet delicate motion he’s taken a couple inches into your mouth, your tongue swirling the flower petal skin. He gasps in pleasure and excitement, hand resting on your shoulder but careful not to push. It’s a strong, sweaty taste, but you’re surprised how much you like it, probably because it’s him. And you like everything about him. You close your eyes since you don’t really know where to look, you just focus on doing what you never thought you’d get to do, moving your head up and down, a hand wrapped around anything you can’t fit in your mouth. Luffy’s gasps turn to moans turn to groans turn to whimpers. He’s trying so hard not to jerk up into your throat, he’s doing so well. But he’s shaking in pleasure, so you know he’s enjoying himself, you feel your own arousal build in time with his, everything in sync, you feel his heartbeat in the veins on your tongue. 

Your saliva builds around him, he feels warmth like he never has, softness, a massage of a tongue, it feels like a kiss but on his nervous system, or his heart. Somewhere unimaginably sensitive. He watches you intently with hooded eyes as he feels his world shrink and build towards a point of full connection. Tension grows in his stomach. He wants to say something but he doesn’t really know how to explain what’s going on, just that something is about to happen.

You know at least a little, how his cock is a burning fire on your tongue, picking up in heartbeat, shuddering from his body growing more and more and he can’t resist anymore, digging his hand into your hair.

He cums into your mouth, down your throat, with a sudden and inescapable force. You choke, but you swallow, pulling away to cough after a moment.

“Sorry…” he murmurs, dazed.

“It’s ok.” You smile up at him, wiping your mouth, letting him admire you as his high fades. You lean up to kiss him and he flinches at his own taste on your lips. But he kisses back, hard. 

“I liked that. Can I do that to you?” His eyes are curious, bright, full of genuine desire to make you feel what he just did. You take his hand as he rests his head on your shoulder. 

“Y- yeah…” You lay back down. You face away from him. You look up and nerves shoot through your body as he admires you, reaching for your pants as you did to him. He’s confident. He grabs your belt line and digs his fingers into the soft flesh down there, making you squirm and whimper. His eyes are soaking in every part of you, flicking from your face to your body to his hands. He pulls down your pants, exposing soft lace panties, a murmur stuck in his throat. His lips are trembling.

“Woww. Can I take these off, [name]?” He’s grinning widely as his thumb snaps mindlessly at the line of fabric over your hip. 

“I’d like that…” You turn your eyes to the sky as it feels freer than here. A breeze comes from the ocean and hits new skin just as Luffy pulls your panties off, you shiver and he immediately returns his fingers to the flesh on your hips. But now his breath has gone labored again. He pinches you to try to get you to look at him and when you do, you see his eyes are brighter than the stars behind him, amazed and excited over you in a way you’d never seen from any man before. 

“You’re real pretty,” he says softly. His hands are moving in circles now, all around your thighs, he’s smiling and it’s infectious, even though you’re still gripped by nerves. You smile. You thank him. 

You tell him, “So are you.”

And as you pet his hair his eyes return to your legs, your inner thighs, your bare pussy. He is captivated by the way it shines, he doesn’t quite know what he’s seeing but he wants to do what you just did to him so he leans in and gives you a kiss on your clit, making your eyes squeeze shut and your body flicker like lightning. His warm breath cools you. He gasps after that tiny taste and immediately returns his lips to the sweetness he found there. His tongue presses against the silky folds it finds and he moans and speaks indistinctly against you there, saying something about how good this tastes. You’re staring up at the gray night sky again, you’re overwhelmed with emotion and sensation from every direction but his arms clamp around your thighs to spread you open and hold you in place. That’s grounding. You’re being held. 

He is in awe of the abundance he’s found as his lips press past a juicy shell and he sinks his teeth into something so tender, like the inside of a fruit, you have just enough time to tell him, “No biting!” but he bites anyway. His high from earlier mixed with the smell and the taste and the feel of you have set him alight and he wants more, more, more.

He makes no attempt to hide noise or motion as he eats you out, gnawing on the softness now in reach of him, you’re like satin on each other, his tongue greedy and ceaseless, your walls eager and melting. He gets up onto his knees, dragging your thighs over his shoulders, face buried between your legs as he devours messily with no coordination but with so much care. You hear the sounds of swallowing, of true, real enjoyment, he tries to talk to you again but he’s muffled and he’s talking into you now which sends vibrations shooting through your body. You melt against his mouth. You reach up to give his head an encouraging pet, he’s exploring, his tongue is tracing roughly through your pussy to each corner, another bite on the clit, another swipe through each fold. He finds your slit, the hole into you, he moves his tongue in a slow circle in simple curiosity before diving in with a smile, making you moan as his tongue slithers inside your body. It’s an overwhelming explosion of sensation, maybe his rubbery tongue is stretching out inside of you or maybe it’s just crazy that this is happening at all and you’ve never felt something like this. 

“Yeah, you’re doing good, Luffy! You’re doing�� so good…” you gasp because he probably likes hearing stuff like that. 

He tightens his hold and then — where did he learn this? He’s sticking two fingers inside you, pumping in rhythm with the laps from his tongue, you feel and hear the wetness build as he murmurs praise and you let yourself get lost here. It’s so much, it’s so everywhere. 

It takes awhile but Luffy doesn’t slow down, in a burst of shooting stars and white light and you feel your body spasm and you orgasm into his mouth, he makes a surprised sound but is overjoyed to be able to taste more of you, and he doesn’t set you down or move away from the glistening, swollen skin until you’re clean, clean from his mouth, his endless appetite. You’ve never felt anything like that. You didn’t know that was possible, even, for it to feel that good, that loving.

Luffy sets you down and then with no time for breath he scoops you into his arms and places you on his lap, his hug firm and protective. “Was that good? Did you like it?”

“God, I liked it so much, Luffy. It was perfect. You’re so good at that. How’re you so good at that?” You whisper into his ear, rubbing appreciative circles on his upper back, your body spent. 

“I’m good at it? I just did what I thought would work… and it made you happy!” He says with a smile, face pressed against your cheek. 

You sit like that for a long time. The night is freezing but there’s nowhere else you need to be than in his arms. 

There’s nothing but wind and breath in the air, a quiet, foggy night, a gray moon, faded stars, a sky made from India ink. Your bare skin prickles from the cold. Luffy presses his face against yours in a kind of love you’ve never felt before in your life. You wonder what it will be like now, if you’ll be a couple after this, or just go on like this forever without closer inspection, if things will feel different or strangely the same. But none of that matters in this moment, right?

Eventually, Luffy pulls away and looks at you. “Wanna go hang out in my bed? It’s really cold.”

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

01/22/2024 Daily Recap

Hey all! It's been a long day huh? I wanna apologize ahead of time, whatever sickness my kiddo had last week finally got me so I'm not feeling terribly well. I'm gonna do my best to articulate todays events for ya!

===Renew As A Crew====

So the very first thing I want to touch on today is updates from @renewasacrew. As you may have heard, they were going to be changing leadership as the shift in priorities changed from renewing to saving OFMD. That being said, the leadership change happened over this weekend with some hiccups (I don't know what the hiccups were entirely and I'm not going to speculate, if you wanna delve down that twitter hole you can, but having been in it for today I'd recommend against it for your mental health, and we don't want to be drawing a bunch of media attention to it) there's a lot of confusing information, and as we know things can get conflated fast if we don't have all the pieces to the puzzle-- let's not speculate and wait for the to come out with more info.

So what I'm focusing on today is @renewasacrew's message to please give them some time and practice some patience while they get back up and running. This also includes anyone you happen to know on twitter working with them, for example: @TheCozyPirate. Let's give them some grace, they've been steering us well so far.

The good news is, several folks, on tumblr: @iamadequate1, @quirkysubject, @asgardian--angels, On twitter: @havethisonelife @yougotoofast @Lcmwriter100, we have all we need to keep going for a few days while things get ironed out. (If I forgot someone please let me know, sorry I am half awake tonight)-- see the HOW CAN YOU HELP section below.

One thing I will mention-- we are moving so very fast right now. It's only been 13 days since the announcement that OFMD wasn't renewed, and we've accomplished SO MUCH. So when there's a lull, it's going to feel like things are standing still and maybe something is going wrong. Don't fall into despair, that's just how things go with negotiations. Take a break, take a breath, and just keep on Polite Menacing until we hear more from the leadership team.

===How can you help?===

**Go to visit the DAILY RENEWAL TASK LIST there's lots of ideas and ways you can help! Have more? Shoot me a dm! I'm happy to add stuff!**

*Note: To our international fans, I promise I'm working on a write up for you as well I've just been sick today and have been able to finish!*

Something new today-- a lot of you have expressed your desire to help in the @renewasacrew efforts. Well if you did-- and still want to, now you can volunteer! Many thanks to @redshiftsinger for getting this up so quick!

Please visit their survey: Volunteer Intake form and fill out how you may be able to help!

=== Cast and Crew Sightings ===

As if on cue, Chaos dad reached out to everyone on twitter today to express some encouragement!

He also saw we were at 77K and posted his astonishment!

Some folks have been a bit weary about his vagueness today, but as we know, Daddy Jenkins is the king of vague-- and he has to be! If there are contracts in the works, he can't be hinting at things. Don't lose hope!

===Samson Kayo ===

Our beloved Oluwande updated his IG with some pictures and a message. If you have IG I'm sure he'd appreciate some love!

Next up was our favorite Captain, Rhys Darby, promoting a fellow comic @jamesroguecomedy over on IG!

And our pirate queen Ruibo Qian was making posts about saving ofmd and fanart about Zheng! Featuring folks you probably know around tumblr: @mistysblueboxstuff and @tsutsu_ya over on twitter

=REMINDER: Cross Fandom Watch Party! on 01/23/2024 1 PM PT, 4PM ET=

Looks like there's gonna be some cross fandom watch parties on twitter you're welcome to tune in for Jan 23-26 on twitter. They'll be watching good omens in an effort to try and get engagement up with PrimeVideo. It sounds like it'll be similar to the LubeAsACrew but with Good Omens fans! Thank you to @Dandeebakes on Twitter for getting these organised!

Hashtags to use: #PirateOmens #AdoptOurCrew #SaveOFMD, and helps to @PrimeVideo

===Articles===

New article, but take it with a grain of salt, see @TheCozyPirate's message:

Our Flag Means Death's marketing was concerned about the shock of violence in the show

===============================================

Alright lovelies. Here we are again, I told you it'd be quick. Today was very very very busy. Take a break and get some sleep ya? Lean on your crew, we are here to support each other. I'll end with a quote from Tolkien (it being all of us in your crew):

"May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out."

Tonight picture features Taika and his "I love you eyes" at Rhys. Thats me, I'm Taika, I love you all.

PS: Idk why this isnt showing up in my recaps repository but ill figure it out in the morning.

[youfreakinturltle]

Protect You Pt. 4

(A/N): Okay friends! So sorry for the delay, life has definitely been interesting lately! Here is part 4 in the Protect You series! I believe this will be the final part and is kind of a long one! I based the haunted house off a house that’s actually in my home town that I visited once before it was bought. The TLDR of it, I have no idea what this house’s backstory is, it is not open to the public, nor was it when my stepmom and I decided to go take a look lol! But this is based off an experience I had when I was about 15 and the house was up for sale before being bought by a lovely family. Out of respect for the family and their safety, I won’t be giving in depth details on the exterior of the house, nor it’s location, but I will say I grew up a whole 5 minutes away from this house so it’s image is forever engrained in my mind. For the story’s sake, this will take place with the house as it was when I visited! Hope y’all enjoy!

Warnings: pirate mentions, ghosts, slight violence,some language, blood mention, mild nsfw (mostly bc I’m too awkward to go past mild 🥲), death mentioned (don’t worry, no one dies lol)

As you grew accustomed to your, as you began calling it, “second life”, you noticed that all in all, not much changed. You still went on all of the guys’ adventures, stayed at their house, and kept watch over them when it came to the paranormal. When your body was returned to you, you looked exactly the same as you had when you died. Still in your black corset (which served more as armor than an accessory in your previous life), white tunic, and leather jacket, pants, and boots. And luckily, your daggers were still snugly in place on your lower back. Some time before you died you’d had the local armorer on Nassau add holsters for them onto the back of your corset, forgoing the need of a clunky belt like your crew mates. You did take notice though upon returning, the lack of bullet holes in your clothes, something you hadn’t realized Mara had taken care of until you woke.

While you knew the time you woke up to catered to far different forms of fashion than you were used to, you realized it was also a time period where most people wore what they wanted without a care. So, taking this into account, you typically styled yourself how you would’ve when you were still a pirate. Often opting for a tunic like shirt, some leather pants with knee high boots, of course lots of jewelry, and your ever reliable jacket. On occasion you would wear your corset over your tunic of the day, but typically opting for forgoing it.

Today was one of those days where you not necessarily wanted to wear your corset, but rather had to. You see, the guys decided for their first night of Hell Week to visit a little known, but very haunted house in Texas. They couldn’t find anything online about the house or its story, but had been told about it by a fan online. The mystery behind it, not knowing what could possibly be there, is what unnerved you the most and prompted you to bring your blades. The girl online had told them briefly about her experience, being too afraid to delve too deeply. Among her recount though, included a book being thrown at her head. Of course it wouldn’t be a nice spirit, that would be too easy.

You’re sitting in the front passenger seat next to Colby, who was driving, your hand held tightly in his. About halfway from the airport you noticed his hands had begun to shake, so you quickly took one in yours and had yet to let go, too embarrassed to admit you needed it just as much as he. Something about facing the dead after having your life returned to you left you feeling uneasy. Like every spirit you crossed paths with since knew your secret, and they were angry about it.

Before you know it the car is turning off the main road and into the short driveway of the faded pink house. Immediately, you get a sinking feeling in your gut, but you quickly push it away when you turn around to smile at Sam who was speaking into the camera in the back seat. Today it was just the three of you and Kat. You loved the other guys, but sometimes their antics could be a bit much during an investigation. Once the car is stopped the four of you step out and take a look around. Thankfully, because the house is foreclosed, you’re allowed to be on the property so you don’t have to worry about anyone driving past and seeing you. Going inside on the other hand, that you’re not too sure about.

After finishing up the intro for the video, Colby turns to the group and asks if everyone is ready to head inside. There is a hesitant chorus of yes’s that causes all of you to chuckle nervously.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll protect you from all the scary ghosts,” you say laughing as you grab onto Colby’s hand again. Not wanting to waste any more time, you lead them all to the porch. Walking up the steps you notice a tin cup sitting on the railing of the porch right next to the stairs.

“That’s not weird or anything,” you think to yourself before continuing on to the door.

“How do you think we get inside? You think there’s a window unlocked somewhere?” You hear Kat ask from behind you.

“Hmm, maybe…” you say thoughtfully, your hand already traveling to the doorknob in front of you. To everyone’s surprise, the door clicks open with ease.

“Okay… getting weirder…” you think walking through the entryway. But before you can get any further, you feel a firm hand on your right shoulder. Almost like it’s trying to push you into the floor. Whipping your head around to look at Colby, you ask what he wants.

“What are you talking about? Are you okay?” He asks looking at you with concern.

“I swear I just felt a hand on my shoulder… I’m sure it’s nothing, I’m okay,” you say shaking your head a bit and smile up at him. Everyone else walks in behind you and astonishingly enough, all of them felt it too. You look around the entryway and see stairs to your right with what looks like the remnants of a reading nook to the right of them next to the door. To your left is a sunroom, chimney in the middle of the far wall with windows completely surrounding the remaining wall space. Inside are a few bookshelves on the left, half filled with old books that look to be falling apart, a small couch in the center, and a grand piano on the right. You take note of the fact that the top of the piano is wide open and the fall board, or key lid, is shut with the bench pushed under it.

Moving on, you walk past the stairs and into the living room where you see another, larger couch in the center, another fireplace, some end tables, empty bookshelves, and a large somewhat empty picture frame above the fire place. At first glance, it appears as if nothing was ever in it, but looking closer you can see that a painting had been torn out of it as some of the edges are still sticking out of the frame. This immediately causes you to begin exercising extreme caution, and your hand goes right to one of the daggers on your back.

Behind you, you hear Kat let out an ear piercing shriek as she all but launched herself into your arms.

“What?! What happened? Are you okay?? Kat what’s wrong?” Sam asked frantically, pointing the camera to the ground out of respect for his girlfriend.

“Is a- it’s- it- a- a- r-r-RAAAT!!” She finally gets the word out, still violently shaking in your arms. You all let out a breathy laugh of relief as you attempt to calm the girl down. You all are about to walk into the kitchen when you suddenly hear a rattling noise from the sunroom. Furrowing your brow, you look to Colby and motion for them to go into the kitchen while you investigate.

Walking quietly through the living room, you don’t realize you’re holding your breath as you unsheathe your daggers to hold them in front of you. Your steps stutter when you feel a finger ghost it’s way down the scar across your eye, the one you received in your fight against Captain Flint so long ago. Back when you still gave a shit about him. Chills make their way down your spine as you begin to realize something that utterly terrifies you. You can’t see this one. You could always see the spirits, even after you woke back up, no matter how strong or weak they’ve been. But this one, you can’t see, you can’t hear, you can barely even sense its presence. Like it’s purposefully keeping itself hidden. But from what you can sense, it’s bad. Very bad. It almost feels familiar but you just can’t place it.

Shaking off the feeling, you finally step into the sunroom once again. As soon as you set foot in there though, the grate that had been firmly closed in front of the fireplace came crashing open as dozens of bats came flying out at you. In an instant, you threw yourself to the floor with a loud thud, narrowly avoiding them.

“Shit! (Y/N) are you okay?! What was that?” You hear Colby call from the kitchen.

“I’m fine! Just some bats, a little creeped out, but I’m okay.” You rise to your feet once you confirm the bats have all made their way upstairs. Figuring the noise you had heard came from the bats, you make your way back to the group in the kitchen. As soon as Colby sees you he reaches his hand out for you to grab and asks if you’re sure you’re okay.

“I’m okay, but we shouldn’t linger long. I have a bad feeling about this place. There’s something watching us, but I can’t see it.” You say taking Colby’s hand in yours. He immediately looks worried as he is the only one fully aware of the fact that you can still see spirits.

“You can’t… you’re sure?” Fear written all over his face, he begins looking around as well.

“I’m still here with you guys, alright? Everything’s-“ You’re cut off from trying to calm them all down by a loud, crystal clear, music note chiming across the house. You all freeze before slowly turning your head towards the sunroom once again.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me…” but before you can utter a single other word, you all hear plain as day: a beautiful interpretation of a song you hadn’t heard in a very long time. Coming from the piano that should by no means, be making any noise above a dull thud, let alone playing as clearly as it is. None of your friends can figure out why you just went as pale as a sheet as they wouldn’t have any way of being familiar with this song, for it was one sung on your old ship. One only members of your former crew should know.

“We need to leave. Immediately.” You don’t realize how badly you’re shaking until Colby rests a hand on your shoulder. You’re in the middle of trying to calm down so you can properly protect them when you hear something so jarring, it sends you to your knees. A deep, low hum, the note carrying out across the house.

“The king… and his men… stole the Queen from her bed…”

“What the hell is that?!” You hear Kat shriek from beside you. You’re now on the ground shaking so violently, you can no longer answer her. You now have a feeling as to who this could be. And you have the slightest inkling as to why this being would be so angry with you. Though the thing you can’t figure out is how he ended up here of all places. Somewhere so far from your home that it just doesn’t make sense.

“…and bound her in… her bones… the seas be ours… and by the powers… where we will… we’ll roam…” the deep, unsettling voice continued.

“You guys need to leave.” You tried convincing them to get out of the house. You so desperately didn’t want them to experience a remnant of your past. Especially one as jarring as this.

“Not a chance. I’m not leaving you here alone,” You hear Colby blurt out next to you. Before you can respond though, you hear everyone start screaming as you feel cool metal touch your neck. Right beside your ear, you hear a deep raspy voice say, “sing… the song… be reminded… of yer brethren…”

The touch of the blade seems to bring you back to your senses, as you’re suddenly calm and no longer shaking. You’re about to comply when you see another figure step out of the shadows. This new figure, you can see first off, but has a visible, heavy limp. Each step he takes, accompanied by a loud thump of wood on wood.

“Ye remember him… don’t ye? Or have… ye forgotten us… in this new life of yers…” the being behind you seems to spit out the words “new life”, as if the thought of you having anything remotely good happen would be a sin.

You finally manage to croak out a single word as tears begin streaming down your cheeks, your friends almost completely forgotten now: “John.”

You feel warm liquid trickle down your neck, indicating the skin had now been broken. More screams permeated your consciousness, bringing you back to the present. Looking up at Colby, who is now white as a sheet, you urge them to run. You make the correct assumption that they can at the very least see the blade at your throat. You’re not sure how much they can see but you aren’t taking any chances.

“I won’t leave you! Not after everything you’ve done for us!”

“Please, Colby. Take them and go. I’ll be right behind you,” you said, trying to sound calm and brave. Truth be known, you hadn’t been so afraid since before your death, but you couldn’t let them know that. Finally listening to you, Colby takes Sam and Kat’s hands and runs out of the house with them.

Letting out a sigh of relief you turn back to John, “why- what happened? Why are you here?”

Instead though, the being behind you speaks, “ye mean… ye didn’t hear… we lost… ye were right… shoulda listened to ya… they brought us here… to rot… shoulda just… hanged us wit’ our dignity…”

With this, your suspicions are confirmed. This being- no, this man behind you, is Captain Flint. Instead of being fearful though, you grow angry. So angry you can no longer even bring yourself to ask what happened to John’s leg. Your rage that had been building for over 300 years had finally boiled over. At Flint, Vane, Charleston, even John. Why? Why had they done that to you? You had been nothing but loyal to them. You did anything and everything Flint asked of you, going so far as to keep his stupid fucking secret from the crew! How many brothers had you lost because of them? How many lives were on your hands because of them? All you know is it was so many you still can’t wash off all the blood.

As your rage grows, so does your spirit energy. Something you came to realize you could still manipulate after returning to the physical world. Though instead of controlling it, your anger causes it to grow at a rate you had never experienced. Everything from furniture to photos start violently shaking as doors and cabinets slam open and shut.

“(Y/N)!!”

Whipping your head to your left, you see Colby.

“Colby… Ye silly scallywag… What on Earth are ye doing back here? I could hurt ye…” You think to yourself upon seeing him. But it’s too late, your power has already reached a cataclysmic point of seemingly no return. With the last bit of control you can muster, you send Colby flying back out of the house and slam the door shut.

As soon as the door slams to a close a scream rips from your throat and the last thing you see before blacking out is John reaching for you. You barely hear him say, “I’m sorry,” before your vision fades.

When you come back to you find yourself lying in bed. At home. But how? The last thing you remember is- oh… John. But what happened?

Climbing out of bed you see that you still have your clothes on from before. Though now for some reason your shirt has blood stains all over the collar. Stumbling your way into the living room you’re greeted with a gut wrenching sight. Kat in Sam’s arms, the both of them with tears streaming down their faces, and Colby sitting silently on the couch staring blankly ahead. You step out further and they are alerted to your presence. Kat quickly flings herself at you, sobbing all the while about how scared they were to find you “like that”. Sam gently tugs her away so Colby can step forward and take you in his arms. He squeezes like you’re going to disappear again.

“Guys… what happened back there?” You hesitantly ask them, having taken notice of the blood stained towels in the trash.

“We were so scared. We just… heard you scream and then bangingandthislightand-“ you cut Colby off as he begins speaking faster and faster. Assuming your role of group mom, you sit everyone on the couch so they can explain what happened. To make a long story short, apparently you accidentally blew the house up, sending the spirits over at the same time. When they found you you had been covered in wooden boards and debris, dirty but otherwise unharmed. Though they were highly alarmed to see blood coming from your nose, ears, and eyes. Which would explain your shirt and the towels. You calmly explain to them that there’s nothing to worry about, that just tends to happen when you overexert yourself. Though you have to contain your laughter at the bewildered looks you get from that comment.

You do ask them how they managed to get out of there without getting the attention of the authorities. You chuckle, shaking your head thinking to yourself, “ah, sink me… can’t take these scallywags anywhere,” as they tell you about grabbing you from the debris and high tailing it out of there before anyone had time to show up. “Well… they’d make decent pirates at least.”

You all take some time to decompress together in the living room before branching off to your respective rooms. Walking into your shared room with Colby you announce that you’re going to wash off all the dust and dirt from that house. You can practically feel him staring a hole in your back and you can’t decide whether it’s out of concern or intrigue. You decide to act on the latter and pull your shirt over your head as you walk into the bathroom, playfully tossing it behind you into the bedroom. Behind you you hear an excited little “Ooo!” followed by the pattering of footsteps. He rounds the corner as you’re shimmying out of your pants and turning the water on.

“So… does that shower have enough room for two?” You giggle, looking over your shoulder at him.

“Hm… I suppose it could… if only someone could help me out of the rest of my clothes.” You grin back at him sending him a wink. Turning back around you lift your hair up for him and almost immediately feel his gentle fingers on your spine. Letting out a soft sigh, you feel the clasp of your top come off. The feeling of his lips on your neck and his hands sliding down to your waistband takes over your senses and suddenly there’s only Colby. He’s all you can see, hear, feel. He’s the only thing you crave. Regaining just enough control you step under the warm water and gesture for Colby to follow you.

Since meeting Colby he’s become your happiness. Your entire world. And two years later he proves that you’re his world too. When he takes you to Nassau, back to your home, and proposes to you in the very fort where you spent most of your previous life.

The year following the beautiful proposal, you have your wedding. As Colby puts it, “One fit for a Pirate Queen.” The two of you spend the rest of your life together in bliss, hunting ghosts and chasing happiness.

*Thank you all SO SO MUCH for sticking with me through the Protect You series!! I’m so sorry for the long wait, as a reader I know how frustrating that can be, so I really appreciate you guys!!

**Tags:

@iwantsleepplz

@katie-tibo

@trashmouthsahra

@astropotato5

@givemethemaknaes16

@starsaroundmyscxrss

@somerandomrants

@chewisophogus

@kay-811

[mamamittens]

Oh, Sweet Child of Mine (Pt. 2)

Masterpost, Part 1

Platonic Whitebeard Pirates & Reader-Insert (with glasses)

Warnings: Platonic Yandere behavior and yes, the kidnapping is still actively occurring. If yandere content disturbs or otherwise unsettles you, I deeply suggest you do not read this series and block the tag "oh sweet child of mine" as well as "one piece yandere". Though mostly framed in a humorous way, it is still very toxic and problematic behavior that you should, in no way, entertain in real life from anyone.

Stay safe and enjoy.

Word Count: 1,540 (would be longer, but I didn't want to have this transitionary chapter be squished in with meeting Whitebeard and settling in)

When you became a marine, you had considered what you would do if you ran afoul of pirates. Assuming they didn’t kill you outright, that is.

In none of these imagined scenarios did you picture yourself awkwardly curled up in a med bay on one of the ‘junior’ Moby Dicks. As it turns out, Fire Fist and The Phoenix were running a small supply run simultaneously to another junior vessel since none of the surrounding islands could accommodate the Moby Dick herself—the Yonko ship being so absolutely massive for her crew and captain. A young man with a blue mask over his eyes ‘Masked Deuce’ was wiping your face and inspecting your nose for any damage that hadn’t been healed with a critical eye. Fire Fist was somewhere else—likely getting food for himself if his gluttonous behavior was any indication—while The Phoenix appeared to be starting your medical file.

That… was probably not good. The slim possibility that you were going to just be ransomed seemed to dissolve with every scratch of ink he added.

“Well, aside from some possible malnutrition and exhaustion, you seem in good shape. Not what I’d expect of a marine in these parts, though I guess they didn’t care too much about your physical condition.” Deuce placed a firm hand on your shoulder and smiled. “If you’re interested, we can get you into good shape in no time! Or maybe you’re interested in pursuing something else? Oyaji has plenty of resources we can use.” You couldn’t help but grimace and tug on your hat.

“I uh… I’m a marine?” You said, wincing at the questioning tone. “I didn’t enlist for the uniform, you know… I… I’m supposed to try and arrest pirates. Not… join them.” You explained awkwardly. Deuce just laughed while The Phoenix snorted softly.

“Everyone adjusts differently. You’ll love it here eventually.” Deuce winked before handing you a set of clothes to change into. The shirt was emblazoned with Whitebeard’s Jolly Roger.

You were rather at a loss for words. You… well, you couldn’t exactly fight them. You knew that. But you felt rather like the world had tilted dramatically the other way on it’s axis while you weren’t looking. The only way this could get more bizarre is if Fleet Admiral Sengoku called you and congratulated you for the successful adoption and your new, very criminal, pirate-Yonko family.

“Bring-ring. Bring-ring. Bring-ring.”

Oh god, you weren’t ready!? Please no?!

Horrified, you scrambled to pull the snail from your pocket, The Phoenix sliding up and leaning on the bed as you answered.

“Ensign—”

“Where the hell are you?! Ensign Williams was found, thoroughly beaten mind you, on the ground! You were assigned to be his partner!” You almost wept with relief that you were just getting torn a new one.

“A-Ah—W-Well, I-I attempted to flee with Ensign Williams when The Phoenix was spotted with Fire Fist but was… very unsuccessful.” You admitted lamely as one of the men responsible for your plight gave a placid smile, his eyes fixed on you with a horrifying intensity. Though you had no idea what for. If he was pissed you answered, he was more than welcome to take the call himself at this point.

“And why not, Ensign?! Your orders were quite clear!”

“Because I was captured instead?” The snail sputtered.

“Then escape and return to base!” The operator screamed. You were nearly in tears, your day successfully having gone from bad to absolutely the fucking worst.

“How?!” You whispered in horror, practically seeing the dry response in The Phoenix’s eyes.

Run and I will scoop you up with my talons and fly you all the way to Oyaji myself.

The receiver was plucked from your hands and you were torn between thanking your captor or trying to get it back. In the end, you did neither.

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening. Feel free to mail us their last paycheck because they won’t be returning. Consider this their resignation.” The snail blanched.

“On who’s authority, you filthy pirate!”

The Phoenix grinned, all teeth and eyes narrow, sapphire slits.

“Their new big brother.”

It would almost be inspiring how confident he sounded if he didn’t say it like he was declaring that your kidney would taste delightfully delicious.

Any response was cut off by him lifting up the transceiver shell and crushing it with his bare hands.

His smile turned much more friendly as he set the traumatized snail down, but the edges still seemed… feral. He ruffled your hair, knocking off your marine cap in the process.

“Get changed and wash up properly before dinner. It’ll be a few more hours before we meet up with Oyaji. Ace will make sure it’s burned.” Overwhelmed and horrified, you couldn’t help the slight whimper.

“…but I like my uniform.”

The Phoenix paused, giving you a slightly pitying smile as he gave you a side hug, blue fire flickering over the both of you. Any other circumstances, it would feel warm and reassuring.

“I know it’s a lot, kid. But you’ll be fine, I promise.” He paused looking down at you. “The hat’s gotta go, but, I tell you what, how about you keep this, yoi?” He tugged the blue neckerchief loose and placed it on top of your ‘new’ clothes.

Against your better judgment, you were a little touched at the suggestion.

What is your life now? You’ve been kidnapped, forcibly made to join a Yonko crew, and now you feel touched because one of the commanders is letting you keep a token of your job?!

Whatever.

You’d just get issued a new uniform later.

If you ever get away from this crazy ass band of pirates.

“I do like the color…” You added lamely, unwilling to push the argument considering how laughably easy it would be for him to force the issue. And then you’d have nothing left of your own.

“I like the color blue, too, yoi.” You looked at him with a frown. Glancing at his shirt.

“Not purple?” The Phoenix blinked, surprised at your dry response before chuckling.

“Alright, sassy pants. Get marching.” He smirked, shooing you to the bathroom to get changed. Flush and embarrassed, you escaped before he could say anything else.

Now… did your new pants even have pockets big enough for your animal treats?

--*--

Surprisingly, the new clothes fit well. Roomy enough that you didn’t get weirded out that they had your exact size but small enough that it wasn’t going to fall off of you anytime soon.

Your marine blue neckerchief was tied around your right wrist. The only part of your uniform you got to keep besides your shoes.

Any blood was gone from your hands or face but Fire Fist still felt the need to inspect them, playfully pinching your nose to see if it hurt still. Upon seeing that you were in perfectly fine shape, and freshly clean, he beamed.

“I can’t wait for you to meet Oyaji, he’s going to be happy to have a new kid running around. It’ll be a while before you get assigned to a division, but don’t worry, they’re all pretty great! Well, not as great as mine, but still!” Fire Fist laughed boisterously as The Phoenix rolled his eyes, lightly smacking Fire Fist’s head.

“They gotta get used to the crew first, Ace. Don’t jump the gun so quickly or you’ll hurt their feelings.”

Ah yes. Their biggest concern in this whole debacle.

Your feelings.

Cause fuck the law, that’s why. And everything else for good measure.

But also your feelings, because if that was actually a concern they would have left you with your asshat partner and a bloody nose.

… your previous circumstances does not, in fact, justify kidnapping and forced recruitment.

You are a marine damnit! Maybe not a strong one, or even a great one (yet), but there has to be a line somewhere!

“Ahah~! Right, sorry! Here, we’re having soup! It’s not as good as Thatch’s food, but we’re getting back too late for dinner so it’ll have to do. He’ll want a little more warning to pull out all the stops anyway.” Fire Fist laughed, handing you a bowl of hot soup. It smelled good, but despite your hunger, you were still a little thrown.

“…Does he often want to impress captives?” You whispered, more to yourself than anything. Fire Fist paused and actually flushed, laughing to himself.

“Sort of, yeah. He kept trying to feed me while I tried to kill Oyaji for over a hundred days, you know!” You blanched, horrified.

You had forgotten that little tidbit, although most of Fire Fist’s recruitment into the Yonko crew was a mystery, you had overheard that bit.

Suddenly, your prospects of getting out of this scot-free seemed… unlikely.

If being a marine isn’t a deterrent, and neither is many murder attempts, then what the hell could get you out of this? Fire Fist kept laughing as you caught The Phoenix’s eye.

He seemed darkly amused and very much aware of your predicament.

He clapped your shoulder reassuringly.

“Don’t worry about it so much. You’ll figure it out.”

Somehow, you don’t think he was talking about escaping.

[rorywritesjunk]

(lmao I was given an idea and decided to go for it. I had fun writing Shanks as a teen boy.)

pt 1 + pt 2 + pt 3 + pt 4 + pt 5 + pt 6 + pt 7 + pt 8 + pt 9 + pt 10 + pt 11 + pt 12 + pt 13 + pt 13.5 + pt 14 + pt 15

pt 8

It wasn't Buggy and his captain that came through the door this time but someone else. A boy around Sunny's age with red hair and a strawhat on his head. He was with someone needing work done by Miss Pins, of course, why else would anyone come to the shop?

Sunny greeted them as she was told to do, asking what they needed help with as her boss came from the backroom. Just pants needing to be mended, length hemmed, and pockets needing to be fixed. Pants that have seen better days.

She looked at the boy who seemed to be watching her curiously. At this point Sunny was used to it.

"Do you need work done as well?" She asked politely. He shook his head, grinning widely as he leaned on the counter.

"How about you give me a tour of the town?" He asked. Sunny looked at him funny before looking back at her boss who was reaching for her shotgun.

"I have work to do."

"Aw, well, what about after?" He asked. Sunny didn't want to do that either.

"I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"Work." She told him as she flipped through a few pages of the ledger, looking for the Captain's name as Miss Pins took down details of what he wanted. Sunny glanced at the boy again. He was leaning on the counter, grinning at her. What was with boys her age? Why were so many of them dumb? She found the Captain's name. "I have a boyfriend."

"Oh really?" He grinned. "Where is he? I bet he's some wimpy Marine."

Sunny shot him a look. "He's a pirate. Now if you're done bothering me I have things to do."

She walked away after that, not bothering to look behind her as she went to the backroom. Why did she say she had a boyfriend? Nothing was official with her and Buggy, they... They were just friends. Friends who liked each other. He was a friend who she held hands with and kissed his cheek and she was wondering if she was falling in love with him.

Ohhh she wished Buggy would show up and scare the boy off. She didn't want to deal with this for a week.

~

He showed up the next day nearing the end of her shift and Sunny ignored him. He even introduced himself, saying his name was Shanks. She intentionally didn't tell him her name but when one of Miss Pins' assistants called for her, it was all over. The dumb boy knew her name now.

"Wanna get some food when you're done for the day?" Shanks asked with a grin. "I bet you know all the best places to eat."

"No." She told him firmly. "I'm not interested."

"Aw, c'mon, we can just be friends! It doesn't have to be a date!" He insisted. Sunny rolled her eyes.

"I'm not interested in being friends either!" She told him. "Besides, my boyfriend could show up any minute. I would rather spend time with him, got it?"

"Where's your boyfriend then?"

"I told you, he's a pirate."

"And? What's his name?" Shanks grinned. "Maybe I've met him."

Sunny looked over at him with a frown. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell him Buggy's name, but at the same time she didn't want him to know more than he had to. She sighed.

"His name is Buggy."

The look on Shanks' face was of shock, confusion, and sadness, one after the other. Sunny had never seen someone change expressions that fast. The boy leaned on the table, smiling half heartedly at her.

"Blue hair? Red nose?"

Sunny blinked and nodded. "Yea."

"How's he doing? We used to be on the same crew."

Sunny looked surprised. "Really?" She paused, thinking back to when she first met Buggy, how hurt he had been. He only told her so much, about losing his captain, his friend, and his sister so quickly. He never mentioned names but she wondered if Shanks was the friend he referred to.

"He's doing well. I see him every few months." Sunny told him. "I last saw him a few months ago. He's smiling more."

"Yea? I'm glad." He grinned. "So, he got himself a girlfriend. That's something I didn't expect."

Sunny felt her face grow warm. "Okay, I may have lied a little bit. We... Aren't boyfriend and girlfriend. I just said that to have you back off."

"Ohhh, so what you're saying is you're single?" He grinned.

"N-No! We-We still spend time together when he visits and- and you know, if I tell you to leave me alone you should just do it, you pest!"

"I'm just being friendly!" He laughed. Sunny huffed in annoyance. "So, you two kiss yet?"

"Excuse me?!" Sunny turned red. "What is wrong with you? Why would you ask that?!"

"I'm just curious what he's been up to! I don't know if I believe a pretty girl like you would be friends with Buggy."

"Well we are, okay?! For a year!" She shot back, turning redder. This boy was getting under her skin. Normally something like this didn't bother her but he certainly was. "And I care a lot about him even if we aren't dating."

"So are you going to kiss him?" Shanks grinned. Sunny covered her face with her hands and shook her head.

"Why are you asking me that?! I don't even know how he feels about me!"

"Aw, I bet he likes you." Shanks reached out for her and she started to take a step back. "That necklace you got on. Did he give it to you?"

"Y-Yes." Sunny told him as she touched it. It was a little too clunky to wear sometimes but Sunny liked the weight of it. The pedant was a locket, the design on the front of some kind of sea king. Buggy said he found it and wanted her to have it. He didn't have a picture of himself to put inside it so he just wrote his name on a piece of paper and stuck it inside.

"See, the Buggy I know wouldn't normally let go of fancy things like that, but I'm betting after a year he's changed." Shanks grinned. "He must like you if he gives you things like that."

"You think so?" Sunny lifted the pendant up to look at it. "Really?"

"Yea! So you should definitely kiss him next time you see him." Shanna insisted. "Let him know you're serious! He's probably too scared to say anything. He's never had a girl as pretty as you around him."

Sunny wasn't sure if he was trying to flirt with her while also encouraging her to date his old friend. Maybe she should tell Buggy how she felt. If he didn't feel the same way then fine, she just would be sure not to be in the shop any time after that. But if he did...

"What do I even say to him?" She asked Shanks. "I've never done this before."

"As far as I know he hasn't either." Shanks told her. "And you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen and I bet you he thinks the same, so next time you see him just give him a kiss and see what happens."

That seemed... Like an okay plan. Sunny just wasn't sure when she'd see Buggy again.

[imagine-that-fanfics]

Never let go of hope pt.3

Finally got Part 3 rewritten Woo, it took way longer than I thought It would and I got so carried away I had to split my original part 3 into 2 separate parts lmao anyway hope you enjoy :) Part 1 Part 2 Part 4

After a few more months I had decided that the best way to get the answers I wanted was to be nice to Peter, as much as I hated that idea. Of course being nice didn’t mean taking whatever crap he would throw at me, but I did my best not to argue with him as much. I had eventually won over and got close to most of the lost boys, there were still some boys that were sceptical about me, it was mainly the older boys and the ones that were close to Peter. I noticed that no one else called Peter, well Peter they all called him Pan, he would always get annoyed when I called him Peter and tell me not to and threaten to cut out my tongue, but I didn’t listen. I knew he wouldn’t do anything don’t ask me how I just did and after a while he either gave up or he actually began to enjoy me calling him Peter, whichever one it was I didn't really care. During those months I'd make sure to always be around Peter but I would make sure to give him his space when he needed it, I wouldn't want to be too annoying. At some point we seemed to have grown a mutual trust between each other and sometimes when Peter and I were alone he’d open up a little let me know things no one else did, not even Felix, but when it got too personal he would clam up and change the subject it was quite frustrating though because even though he wouldn’t tell me things, I would tell him anything and everything if he asked, but I came to the conclusion that he just needed more time. sometimes when we would hang out alone together and talk we stayed out way past sunset and sometimes even long after all the lost boys had gone to sleep.

During these talks of ours I had started to notice small things about Peter things I never noticed before things that that made me annoyed with myself for even thinking the way I did, like the way his eyes sparkled when he smiled, a real genuine smile, which was rare but man did I adore that stupid smile of his and I seemed to be the only me lucky enough to even catch a glimpse of it. Even more annoying was that damned smirk of his started to make my heart flutter and no matter how hard I tried to deny it I was like a fly caught in a spider web that would never get free. His laugh, not his malicious and evil laugh his genuine heartfelt laugh, was like a melody that I couldn't get out of my head no matter how hard I tried, and trust me I tried, but I began to make it my mission to get him to laugh at least once each day no matter what I had to do and if it meant that I got all scraped up from 'accidentally' tripping over a tree root, then so be it. I wished he would open up to me more and let me in. A part of me believed that despite everything I had seen him do or say so far in front of others there was something good in him and the way to find that was to continue to get close to him and hope I was right. That hope however was soon dispersed however because he showed up.

A few years had gone by, Peter and I had grown closer than ever, I had become his left hand, Felix being his right of course, Felix wasn’t too keen on the new arrangement but he never questioned Peter. We had run ins with pirates, which sometimes secretly I would converse with a few and get them to tell me stories of the other realms they had been to, Hook never seemed to mind although he was always on guard and wary when I was around. During that time Tinkerbell also showed up, Peter wasn’t thrilled by it however he did come to an agreement of if she stayed clear of him and the boys they would stay clear of her. I would often visit Tink happy to have another girl on the island, I loved the boys but sometimes it’s good to have someone who understands certain things that the boys otherwise wouldn’t. Things seemed relatively peaceful for a while that was until she appeared, Wendy Darling, the shadow had been sent out to pick up a new lost boy, however it came back with her. At first I didn’t mind, I didn’t feel so out numbered but that didn’t last long as I noticed that not only the boys were being unnaturally friendly so was Peter that’s when I decided I hated her and one way or another she had to leave. I did my best to be subtle about it ‘accidentally’ throwing my dagger in her direction just enough to miss but enough to scare the shit out of her, getting her alone and telling the stories of how Peter and the lost boys really are, I hate to admit it but Pans ways had rubbed off on me ever so lightly. Peter caught me once sizing Wendy up, he was not happy about that he made Wendy to head back to the camp before turning back to me “what the hell do you think you’re doing?” I looked up at him and scoffed a little “what? Nothing, I was just letting her know the truth about this place and that she better stay in her lane and not to get in my way” Peter let a slight smirk slip out however quickly covered it up and if looks could kill Peter was definitely sending one of those my way. "don't you dare do anything that will mess this up got it?" "mess what up Pan? You and the boys replacing me? If you wanted me to leave so badly you could have came up with a better way to do it!" Peter's eyes widened, shocked that was the first time I'd ever called him Pan, "are you jealous?" I scoffed as I rolled my eyes "yeah... as if" I decided I had enough of the conversation and left, I stayed with Tink that night.

Turns out Wendy was part of a plan just not the plan I thought was happening, Peter explained to me the next day I saw him, turns out she was bait of sorts, a way for Peter to get who he really wanted here to Neverland. His name was Baelfire and with his arrival I learned the true colours of Peter, he was a demon, one of the worst. He planned to take his heart however once Bae arrived he found he also wasn't the one he needed. I was relieved that Bae would be safe however Peter still planed to take someone's heart and not just anyone's but the heart of an innocent young boy. It was horrifying to think that he could just take a boys heart and his life without feeling just an inch of guilt. I helped Bae to get off of the island, it was the least I could do, seeing as even after learning of Peters plan I still wanted to be close to him, I stayed with him, and the boys. I told myself that I was only staying for the boys' sake but deep down I knew that it was because of Peter and a part of me hoped that I'd find a way to change his mind and help him find another way to save Neverland and him too.

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Christmas Reruns 2023 Day 4: A Pirate's Christmas Carol (1/2)

Christmas Reruns 2023 Day 4: A Pirate’s Christmas Carol (1/2)

Merry Christmas if you celebrate it and happy holidays if you don’t!  One of the things I love about Christmas is watching reruns of all the old classic Christmas movies–Christmas is a big time for nostalgia.  A few years ago, I decided to incorporate that tradition into my fandom life and post my CS holiday reruns.  So here you go!  Enough holiday (mostly) fluff to get you to New Year’s Day. (With a new story posting on Christmas Day.)

Rating: G

Word Count: 2517

Other chapters: 1 2 3 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 32

Note: This fic was written in 2016.  At the time, it was a “future fic”, but now it’s more of an “alternate” canon fic.  A Pirate’s Christmas Carol (pt. 1 of 2)

Killian admired the Christmas tree from his perch on the couch.  The colorful lights shown to full effect in the last hours of the night when all was still and dark and silent.  Tomorrow was the feast of Christmas, and Swan and the lad were so excited they could barely contain themselves.

Killian had to admit he was curious about this Christmas holiday.  What an odd tradition to bring a tree into one’s living room and decorate it with lights and colorful baubles of all kinds!

The Swan-Jones family had spent a pleasant Christmas Eve with the Charmings.  He and Swan were both strangers to the love and joy of family, and so the traditions of the season were both foreign and delightful to them.  It warmed Killian’s heart to see the incandescent joy on his wife’s faces as she watched her parents open the gift she’d selected for them.

It was all he’d wanted for such a very, very long time—to be with the one he loved, to belong to a family.

At least it was all he’d thought he’d wanted…until the day some seven months past when Swan informed him that he was to be a father a month into the new year. 

To say he’d been elated at the news was quite the understatement.  The thought of having a child of his own was a dream he’d long since despaired of realizing.  He loved Henry as his own son, of course, but there was something fitting and beautiful about creating a new life through the True Love he shared with Swan.

Killian reached for his flask, lying on the end table.  He took a long sip and waited for the burning liquid to calm his frazzled nerves.  Swan slept peacefully in their bed, their unborn son nestled warm and peaceful inside of her, but Killian found sleep eluding him on this Christmas Eve night.

He was happy about the approach of his little one’s birth; of course he was, but he was also bloody terrified.  What did he know about being a father?  His own father had been a piss poor example of what a parent should be.  Killian knew his faults; knew he had a tendency to let emotions rule logic, a tendency toward impulsiveness.  Would he prove to be as much of a disappointment to his son as his father was to him?

The thought made his stomach turn.  Raising a child with Swan—this was one adventure he could not stand to muck up.

Killian had no idea how long he sat there worrying about his inadequacies as a father, but eventually the twinkling lights on the tree and crackling of the fire in the hearth lulled him into an uneasy sleep.

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

“Wake up, Little Brother!” someone said as a gentle hand shook Killian’s shoulder.

“Leave off, Liam!” Killian said sleepily…before the shock of what he’d just said—what he’d just heard—penetrated his sleep-fogged brain and woke him completely.

“Must have been dreaming,” Killian muttered to himself, rubbing his eyes with his good hand.  Likely the day spent with family brought his own lost brother to mind.

A deep chuckle interrupted his musings.  “It’s not a dream, Killian,” came the very definite voice of Liam Jones.  “I’m quite real.

Killian turned, staring open-mouthed as his beloved brother, the man he’d personally seen move on to his eternal reward, took a seat on the opposite end of the couch in his and Swan’s living room.

“H…how are you here, brother?” Killian croaked, too shocked even to feel the intense joy he knew would hit soon.

“Technically speaking, I’m not,” Liam said cryptically.  “I’m nothing but a shade, a ghost if you will.  Your distress has not gone unnoticed.  I’ve been sent to help you, to be your guide of sorts.”

“My guide?” Killian asked, brow furrowed.  “I’m afraid I don’t follow, Liam.  My guide to what?”

“Your past,” Liam said, getting to his feet and extending a hand.  “You could call me your ghost of Christmas past.  Come.  I’ve much to show you this night.”

“But, Emma…” Killian said as he got to his feet as well.  “She’ll worry if she wakes to find me gone, and in her condition—you’re to be an uncle, Liam!—I hesitate to cause her any more distress than is absolutely necessary.”

“Fear not about that, little brother,” Liam said with a gentle smile.  “Your wife and babe will be quite well while we’re gone.  I can promise you they won’t even know you’re gone.  Take my hand.  Do you trust me?”

“Always,” Killian said, finally taking the proffered hand.

Killian suddenly felt weightless, as though he’d taken flight.  He looked down and saw the world below him spin away, as though he were moving faster than the airplane Swan had convinced him to board on their honeymoon.  Were he being guided by anyone but Liam, he’d likely have called out in fright, but he’d spoken truthfully.  He knew he could trust his beloved brother to have his safety and best interest at heart.

Killian had scarcely the time to wonder where they were headed before he and Liam landed gently right in the middle of a jungle.  Killian’s heart dropped to his stomach.  He would never in his life be able to forget this place.

Neverland.

He turned betrayed eyes to his brother, but before he got the chance to reproach Liam, a full regiment of Lost Ones whooped and hollered as they tore through the forest…stopping just outside Baelfire’s cave.

“Pan’s waiting for you,” the leader, Felix, called into the opening of the cave.  “He’s ready to play.  Are you ready to play Baelfire?  It’s not wise to keep Pan waiting.”

Killian stepped forward, hand fisted, hook raised, but before he could confront the psychotic bullies, Liam stopped him with a hand to his sleeve.  “They can’t see or hear us, brother.  We merely watch events already transpired.”

The thought was surreal…but not nearly as surreal as watching himself, fully attired as a pirate, complete with vicious scowl and finely sharpened hook bound onto the scene and step between Baelfire’s cave and the Lost Ones.

“Not today, mates,” the Hook from the past growled, raising his signature weapon threateningly.  “You’ll have to do without Bae for your sport.”

“Think carefully, captain,” Felix snarled.  “It’s unwise to cross Pan.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Hook said.  “Now return to your demon master, lest you feel the bite of my hook.”

Felix looked as though he wanted to argue further, but then his eyes fell onto the sharpened hook.  Evidently deciding he didn’t wish to go up against the infamous Captain Hook, the Lost One turned away, motioning his followers to do the same.  “You’re going to regret this Captain.  Pan will not be pleased.”

Hook watched until the Lost Ones were out of sight, and then gave a sharp rap to the stone surface that functioned as Baelfire’s front door.  A moment later teenage Bae came into view, looking as though he didn’t know whether to thank Hook—or to go off on him.

“Thanks,” Bae said finally. “Thanks for making them leave.”

Hook waved off the thanks, reaching up to scratch at the spot behind his ear.  “It was no trouble, lad,” Hook said.  “Things may have gone…badly…at our last meeting, but I wish you no harm.  I wish to ensure your safety while we are trapped on this accursed island.  It’s what your mother would have wanted.”

Bae shot him an inscrutable look.  “How can I trust you?  Just yesterday you let the Lost Ones take me from your ship!”

Killian reached into his bag and pulled out a large pastry.  “I mean you no harm, Baelfire.  I never have.  Please accept this cake as a token of my commitment to protect you.”

Bae continued looking at Hook, mouth set in an angry line, but finally he nodded ever so slightly, reaching out to take the proffered gift.  “Thanks,” Bae said

Killian felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned back to look at Liam.

“Come little brother,” Liam said.  “We’ve yet one more stop to make.”

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

Killian felt the soaring, speeding sensation once more, and when he came to a stop, he found himself in the Charmings’ loft.  He looked around and saw himself and Swan seated together on the loveseat, their hands entwined.

“Now if you need anything, anything at all don’t hesitate to call.  If you can’t get ahold of me, you can always call your father at the sheriff’s station,” Mary Margaret said, agitation clear in every fiber of her being.  “Oh I hate leaving like this!  If I didn’t still have Christmas shopping to do, I’d never go, but…”

Emma got to her feet, went to her mother and patted her shoulder.  “Don’t worry, Mom!  Killian and I will be fine.  Little bro will be just fine with his big sis.”

“And though I might not have as much experience with newly born babes as one might wish,” Killian said, standing and putting an arm around Emma, “I look forward to spending time with the little prince.  No harm will come to your lad while your daughter and I are caring for him.”

“Besides,” Emma added.  “It’s Christmas Eve!  Even the Snow Queen wouldn’t dare attack on a day as magical as today.  Go!  Enjoy your shopping.”

Snow looked unsure for another moment, and then she nodded, giving first Emma and then Killian a hug.  “I won’t be more than an hour.  And don’t forget!  Call me if you need anything!”

“Goodbye, mom,” Emma said, gently steering Snow toward the door.  “And don’t rush.  Killian and I are excited about staying with Neal.  Enjoy yourself!”

With one last worried look back at them, Snow finally left the apartment.

Killian smiled as he watched the hour unfold.

“Pleasant memory, brother?” Liam asked.

“Aye,” Killian said, nodding to his other self, holding a sprig of mistletoe over Emma’s head and then leaning in for a long, slow kiss.  “As you can see the first quarter of that hour, while the prince finished his nap, was spent in quite the pleasurable manner.”

“So it would seem,” Liam said with a sly grin.  “My prim and proper lieutenant brother has learned how to comport himself around the ladies.”

Killian grinned back.  “Aye, so he has.  Although this particular woman, my true love, never ceases to keep me on my toes.”

“As I said back in the Underworld, Killian,” Liam allowed.  “I was wrong about Miss Swan…or should I say Mrs. Jones?  Love quite becomes you, and I have my charming sister-in-law to thank for that.”

“More than you know, brother,” Killian said, thinking about the years of pain and vengeance he’d given up when he met Emma.

A cry shattered the tranquility of the apartment, and Emma pulled her mouth free from Killian’s with a groan.  “Guess someone’s up, and he doesn’t sound like he’s in the mood to be patient for his lunch.  I better go get him.”

Killian stopped her with a hand to her arm.  “Let me, love.  You’re far more expert at using the miniature heating box to prepare Neal’s bottle, and I’ve developed quite a fondness for your tiny brother.”

Emma laughed and pecked him once more on the lips.  “It’s called a microwave, Killian,” she said, moving in the direction of the kitchen.

“What a thoroughly illogical moniker,” he responded as he headed toward the little nursery off of the Charmings’ bedroom, the sound of Swan’s continued laughter following him about his task.

“Let’s follow,” Liam said, heading toward the nursery, “this is the moment I particularly wished to bring to your memory.”

Killian walked expertly to the cradle, reached in and maneuvered hand and hook beneath the infant, lifted him, and then placed him in the crook of his arm.  Neal stopped crying as soon as he was in Killian’s arms.

“There you are, my little prince,” Killian crooned to the child as he slowly walked back toward the apartment’s common area.  “Have you a smile for your Uncle Killian this afternoon?”

The little one continued peering up at his sister’s boyfriend, content but stoic.

“He’s too young to be smiling yet,” Emma said, coming up behind him and looking at Neal over Killian’s shoulder.  “Won’t start that for another month or so.”

“So it seems,” Killian agreed, turning his head to kiss her gently.

“Want me to feed him?” Emma asked, reaching out for the baby.

Killian sat back onto the couch.  “That’s quite alright Swan,” he said, reaching for the bottle, “I’d quite like to do it myself.”

“Suit yourself ‘Uncle Killian’,” Emma said, curling up next to him, laying her head on his shoulder, and reaching over to hold little Neal’s hand.

“Come, Killian,” Liam said, putting an arm around his shoulders, “it’s time we return to your home.”

A moment later, Killian found himself back in his own home, seated once more before the fire and the magnificent Christmas tree.  Liam stood before him.  Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but he looked less solid, less corporeal than before.

“You sense it, do you not, brother?” Liam asked.

“Pardon?”

“You sense that my time with you is nearly over,” Liam said.  “I’ve completed my task, shown you what you needed to see.”

“No!”  Killian said, getting to his feet, trying to reach for Liam; his hand went right through his brother.  “I’ve only just found you again.”

“I’m afraid I must go, Killian,” Liam said with a bittersweet smile.  “Paradise calls to me.  But brother, I know what’s troubled you this night.  I know your fears about your coming son.  You mustn’t be afraid; you will make a tremendous father. Until I see you again in the life to come, brother.  Farewell.”

And with that Liam faded gently away, his exclamations of delight the last thing Killian heard as his brother returned to his place in Paradise.

Notes:

–So this story is obviously based off of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”.  That’s always been one of my favorite Christmas stories (and movies), so I thought I’d see if I could turn it into a CS story.  In this version, of course, the returning “ghosts” haven’t come to convince Killian to give up his miserly ways before he ends up dying miserable and friendless (and taking a one-way ticket south), but rather they’ve come to show Killian that he doesn’t need to fear his coming fatherhood.

–Up next:  Killian is visited by two more ghosts—one showing Christmas present and the other showing Christmas future. Will these ghosts—one a face very familiar to all of us, and one of them not—succeed in calming Killian’s upcoming fatherhood fears?

NEXT CHAPTER-->

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Spiderwebs, Pt. 3: Looking Out for the Little Guy

So this one is pretty straightforward but timely. Franky’s the one who really sells this idea, but the Tontatta are the main vehicle Dressrosa has to invest the Straw Hats in the nation’s story. Incidentally, you could argue this is where Rebecca subtly is taken off the table. If we were just going to stick to Law’s plan she’d have more reason to run and less time to see the chance to go back. She gets to, because Dressrosa’s past was worth going back to in a way Wano’s wasn’t. Leo and the Tontatta by extension though fill a very basic structural role like Kiku and I’d argue Chiffon in Totland as well. The Tontatta are very fundamentally symbolic here; as Luffy’s star rises the crew needs to think about collateral damage. How what you do affects the little guy. Kiku’s story is one of being hurt by that same damage. We could have done this without Dressrosa reduced to rubble.

What we see in this scene is also something we’ll see with Franky and it plays into Robin’s growth that, like Usopp’s, will blossom more come Wano. If anyone ends up in that orator/organizer combo Usopp is showing why he’s volatile in that role. He doesn’t have the tact to do that at the level we need. It’s just like Chopper serving as Helmsman in a pinch earlier or even Usopp the de facto shipwright. It was fun, but he’s a sniper. His big feats first with the Tontatta in beating Sugar and then with awakening haki this arc set that in motion. The first contributes to earning Izo’s recognition in Wano which is huge for him; that’s a marksman on the same tier as his dad. Franky, if you’re wondering, has a good moment for this early on. It’s the shakedown, he and Luffy try to interrogate a guy and it’s the right idea but he just isn’t the guy for that. Same with Nami & co. and their failed diversion with Giolla. I’m also counting Donquixote Kin’flamingo. That gets us back to Leo.

Bahahahahahahahahaha! I love this gag of Leo & Mansherry. Cindry-grade lack of chill. Mansherry & Giolla, don’t let it slip that’s pretty damn similar to Holdem & Tama. But seriously, we mentioned this with Cavendish. The Grand Fleet captains have a shard of what’s missing, but they aren’t quite right for a full member on the main ship. One of those things I’d really look at in Kiku or someone like her stepping into a Quartermaster role defined by working with the Grand Fleet is that potential dynamic. Someone with that archetype threads the needle well. In Leo’s case? He’s the driven, ambitious arguable prodigy. The standout of his people. Quite capable and very noble but humble. Also love the bit about him going whole hog into the pirate aesthetic, I’ve mentioned if it’s Kiku I think she’ll do that. But he’s a little too naive and lacks tact. Leo’s lovely, but he can’t do the diplomat/negotiator side.

If my hunch is right by the way, cool in hindsight we introduce Kiku as this cover serial is wrapping up. These two shots line up with Luffytaro Returns the Favor & The Ruins of Oden Castle. This kind of stuff is why I don’t mind daring to dream, the potential for it to all fit together so beautifully. Since the Tontatta are easy, let’s just lay this out:

Cavendish could fill this position but he’s too vain, too much his own captain, and can’t control his demon side.

Barto could as well, but someone like Kiku can do more than just provoke and Barto’s earnest admiration is a little too much. Sorta the same logic as why Boa wouldn’t fit but the Kuja under Luffy’s banner would.

Leo as said is too naive and lacks tact. He has the spirit but needs guidance or his trusting nature becomes a liability. 

Orlumbus is the opposite. He has the poise and skills to do this, but needs to develop that scoundrel side. Too stuffy.

Don Sai is a tricky one. His example has a lot more to do with Baby 5. There’s a lot to be said about the hyper-people pleaser and a marriage happening here on the battlefield. It’s not as much of a problem for Cavendish the exiled noble, but Sai’s position with Kano is also a relevant hurdle here. It’s why Kiku’s the only Akazaya this would work with, right? Because she does have the wiggle room to be dissatisfied with that role. Sai isn’t.

Hajrudin & Ideo were the least developed but they do have relevant elements. They have the combat prowess but they’re still young and full of potential. We just need more than that for the main officers. Hajrudin has the national pride and honor angle & Ideo’s cover story shows a little diplomatic skill but they need room to grow. You could also argue these two are reminding you how great Jinbei is. I don’t think the Captains are supposed to be equal; Cabbage & Barto are in a different class. Worth noting from my angle at least once too, Kiku does outshine all of them in terms of battle prowess. I’d say Stussy as well but Vivi would have to be full on field marshal. Which would work just fine. Either way, it’s an ensemble who’d all play nice with this type of character in a dispatch/command capacity.

[ella-norah]

So well.... recently, i've started listening to ateez and it didn't take long for me to start loving them all so much.

And well, a couple days ago, i ordered their album, Golden Hour pt 1 (still in shock that pt 2 is gonna be available soon) and it arrived and it caused a really strong and excited feelings from me.

And of course, strong feeliings of excitement flooded my brain, and i just had to let them out somehow, which in turn ended up with me starting a very first fic for them (and likely not last, depending on how the words word). I just.... i have no idea what i'm doing and i'm still learning a lot about each of the members, but this feels right in a way.

Anyway, I'm rambling now, but the thing is, i have some words written, and i wanted to share that, so if anyone's interested in the story, there's a snippet below.

Basic information about the story - it's an omegaverse, but also has pirates (gotta include that part of ateez lore, or well sorta include it). The main pairing are Seonghwa and Hongjoong, but they're also gonna be slow-ish burn. Another pairing that will be included is Wooyoung and San, which is gonna be fun to write, i believe. And of course, a lot of closeness between the members, that are gonna be platonic, or possibly more depending on how the words word. It also includes quite a bit of angst, because angst feels almost natural for me to write. The story is set in modern times - yes, i decided there are modern day pirates, because it's fun!

Now, onto the snippet - it's below. There's a little mention of implied noncon, and death - but it's all just in the conversation. No one is actually dying.

“So are we doing this, hyung?” Mingi asks, looking at Hongjoong for the directions. 

The plan is ready, so logically, it’d make sense for them to just do it. They’re ready for this. They all know what this entails – giving up the safety of the ship and going to get their own. 

“We came so far,” Hongjoong answers. 

“There’s no going back once we do this,” Yunho says, being the much needed voice of reason. 

“We’ll be killed if we stay,” Mingi reminds them. “I’m an useless coward of an alpha, you’re an omega so they’ll either use you as a stress relief method,” Mingi makes a disgusted face, “or kill you along, and Joong-hyung is a beta and alphas hate betas.”

Yes, that is an undeniable truth all three of them are trying to avoid. They can’t stay. Not if they ever want to be free. 

“We’ll leave. Tonight.”

“Yes, Captain,” Yunho and Mingi say in unison.

[bloodgulchblog]

Armor by John Steakley pt 1

I know a little more about Armor than I did last time I said anything about it. The book is divided into 5 sections, and I just finished the first. The next one starts the "space pirate section" which, if reputation is to be believed, is kind of a slog compared to the front end, so we shall see how that goes for me.

So. The front end.

Armor is about a power-armored soldier named Felix as he goes on his first combat drop onto a hellish planet called Banshee to fight the endless hordes of the ants (which is what humanity calls the bug-like aliens they are fighting.)

In keeping with the tradition of Starship Troopers (the very obvious inspiration for this book), the ants' motives are not known and there is no effort made to explore them. They are a soulless living tide of enemies, and nothing more. We also know very little about humanity's goals, or how the planet Banshee fits into any of them.

Felix, having proven himself naturally skilled with the armor in training, is chosen to be a Scout instead of a Warrior. This mostly means that Felix's odds of surviving this are even lower than they already were. Despite this, of all the soldiers on his team that drop, Felix is the only one who survives.

When he manages to link up with the rest of the force, he finds them in dire straits struggling to survive against an endless onslaught of ants that is far worse than anything any of them were prepared for.

It all goes very very badly.

This section of the book is written in the third person, so we spend a lot of time with Felix but we don't actually know a lot about him. We have some faint hints that his backstory might be interesting, but what we do know is limited to this: He thinks they're all going to die, he's probably right, he's bitter and frustrated and terrified. He keeps having these dissociative episodes where he feels like he isn't himself, instead being driven by this ruthless, cold, practical entity inside him he calls "the Engine" that is able to keep surviving no matter how much Felix the guy should probably be dying.

I'm too early on to comment on the book as a whole because I don't totally know where all of this is going, but I'm having an interesting time as a book nerd.

So far, the good:

Steakley is at least trying to do something interesting stylistically? That isn't to say that I think the prose in Armor is good, because it frequently is not. But I am the kind of reader who gives points for moxie when someone tries. I can't throw too many stones from my glass house, you guys know how much I love a dramatic turn of phrase.

Also, I guess I do want to know what Felix's deal is.

The bad:

There are some cool ideas in here, but Steakley's lack of experience as a novelist shows. Some details of the world building and the military strategy are dumb. For example: All armor has a self-destruct mechanism, but nobody is allowed to know about it because they might misuse it (???).

The philosophy he clearly wants to imbue this with feels kind of weak and generic. "War is hell" is true, but I've consumed so much "war is hell" that it really needs some fresh teeth on this truth for it to inspire me to feel anything. Compared to The Forever War, Armor is obviously written by someone with sincere interest but without really saying anything.

When people tell you Armor is Starship Troopers without the politics, they're kind of right. It doesn't have a project (at least so far) the way Heinlein had his whole "what if there was an authoritarian government where you had to join the military to be able to vote" project in Troopers. I think any time anyone writes about war it's inevitably political, and people who think they're writing apolitically about war are just blind to how their politics inform what they think an objective view of the world is, but that caveat aside: Armor is writing about the fantasy of an alien war where the enemy isn't people, you don't have to consider the personhood of the enemy for even a second, and thus that pretty much invalidates the depth of anything it has to say about "war" because "war" in this book is so unlike what real war is.

…That's not to get into the phenomenon of unpersoning the enemy to desensitize soldiers to killing them (a very real thing), but this section is getting long and I have other things I want to talk about.

Like style, again.

While I am positively predisposed to the effort I've seen so far and I think I am guilty of some of these sins often enough myself, I know what I am and what I'm about, I still have to say Armor feels a bit raw and over-written. It could've seriously used a much firmer editing pass than whatever it got, there are a lot of darlings in here that needed the axe. Steakley uses a lot of short, choppy sentences that would flow better with a little more connection. On the other extreme, he frequently describes things in super dramatic ways with obvious play with wording/sentence structure that are kind of cool but… he does it a bit too often. You can only make big plays so many times before you start getting more bad results than good. He sometimes pours way too much gravitas on moments that don't need it, and it becomes repetitive. Even worse, when he does give you a sentence that might actually be beautiful, it's drowned out by all the other things that aren't.

But speaking of repetition: Let's talk about the action sequences.

I feel like they are very polarizing. Some people love, really really love Armor for its action sequences. Steakley gives you punch-by-punch descriptions of a lot of ant fighting, and through cursory perusal it seems like the Internet falls along two camps about this:

One group loves and praises it. This kind of person wants every detail written out so they can see it in their mind's eye in perfect detail.

One group finds it incredibly tedious and repetitive, because there are only so many ways you can describe somebody punching an ant and the way the ant's body parts come apart, and there are thousands of these things and they have no emotional stakes attached.

….As you may have guessed by this juncture, I am definitely one of the latter camp.

But I'm not here to insult people for liking things I don't like. I'll accept there's a whole school of action writing (and action reading) that just isn't my dish.

If that is you, so far I think you might like this.

But I'm just in the first section, so I am not ready to endorse the book.

I've heard the back 80% of this thing is like, kind of rough and weird and also maybe not something I'll have positive words to say about.

But we'll find that out later.

…And maybe I'll loop back and talk about the plot in more detail.

In the meantime, here are some specimens of Armor's writing for you:

Here's some of Steakley being super dramatic:

Here's a fight scene:

(I think this is example is one that works better than a lot of the others? The ones from later in this section where a bunch of warriors are fighting ants paragraph after paragraph are worse.)

[memories-are-mine]

The Pirate King

Ok so this is chapter 1 of my The Greatest Showman Pirate AU- I took some inspiration from pirates of the carribean but it’s not really based off it, but there are definite parallels So the fic will switch between focus on Phillip and Anne- with occasional pt and charity and maybe Jenny ;)

Summary: Wealthy governor’s son Phillip Carlyle has a secret, actually he has a few secrets, one, he’s friends with famed pirate captain P.T. Barnum, and two, he’s in love with Anne Wheeler, one of his father’s maids. 

Chapter 1:  (Phillip)

Phillip Carlyle left his house just before the sun set. He had told his family’s guards that he was simply going for a stroll, to look at the ocean for a while, maybe watch the sun set over the water. That was true, but he didn’t mention where exactly he was going to do that. After all, he would be executed for treason if anyone knew that he was going to spend time in the company of pirates.

He had met them by accident, wandering down to the docks as a young boy and literally smacking right into Phineas Taylor Barnum, or just P.T., as many knew him, one of the most famous of them all. If P.T. had lived up to the rumors, Phillip would be dead. But P.T. did not live up to the rumors. The “King of Pirates” may have been a liar, a scoundrel, and a thief, but he also had a heart. The way that he looked at his wife, Charity, who he called his “pirate queen,” and their “pirate princesses,” Caroline and Helen, would have told anyone that. He may have started rumors about it, but P.T. Barnum wasn’t the type to harm anyone who didn’t deserve it. All the rumors were pure humbug.

If anyone had bothered to get to know them, they might even like them. And they had taught Phillip a lot. As the only son of the governor and wealthiest man in town, he was more at risk than the average person from pirates, if they happened to find out who he was, they thought his life might be worth something. It may not have been a huge risk for him, the walls of the city were kept fortified and strong against pirates, at his father’s command, but it was definitely there.

Phineas had shown him the best places to hide, how to disappear into a crowd. He had taught him the rules, the code that all pirates followed. He had told him what to say and do if he was ever cornered. Phineas looked out for him, and Phillip was grateful. In return, Phillip had used his influence, and a bit of his father’s money, to make sure that the guards and spies around the city left the Barnums in peace. Phillip half wondered if a favor for Phineas wasn’t the only reason he’d done it.

Phillip’s father was known for being ruthless to pirates. Phillip smirked as he wondered what he would have thought if he had known all his son’s dirty secrets: that there were pirates living within his perfect city, that Phillip associated with them regularly, and that he knew almost everything there was to know about a world that he would never belong to. Doing little things to spite his parents was always something Phillip took pleasure in, especially considering that his parents didn’t give a damn about him.  

Phillip’s thoughts turned to another thing his father would not have been pleased about, as they often did. He thought about his love for one of his father’s maids: Anne Wheeler.

She was something, Anne. She may have been a maid but she was so much more than that. She was witty, talented, Phillip had seen the way she climbed things, heard the way she sung when she thought no one was listening. Not to mention she was beautiful. Phillip had met her five years ago, at the age of seventeen, and he had been head over heels ever since. He had never acted on his feelings, though. He was almost certain that Anne didn’t share them. Why should she? After all, his family treated her like dirt, this whole damned town treated her like dirt, simply because of the color of her skin. Phillip never had. Even from a young age he felt like it was simply wrong.

Anne had been wary of him at first, shaking off his attempts at even a friendship, but eventually she became less cold towards him. Phillip wouldn’t call himself her best friend, but they were friends, he’d even talked her into calling him “Phillip” instead of “Mr. Carlyle.”  

But even if Anne did share his feelings, there were so many obstacles in their way. Phillip almost wished that he could just get on a ship and sail away with Anne, that would make things a whole lot easier.

But that was crazy. Phillip sighed as the thought he’d had a thousand times before went through his head. He couldn’t just go and ask the Barnums to sail away with him. That would just make a mess, cause problems for everyone. Better to just enjoy the time he had, the fragile bond he’d created with Anne, and the friendships he now had with the pirates.

He stepped up to the door of the Barnums’ apartment in the slum of the town. They could have moved next door to the governor’s mansion with Phillip’s help, but the slums were by the docks, and that was where they wanted to stat. It was a nice place. One of the nicest on this side of town, but the best part was the laughter he could hear coming from inside, the smell of beer and bread.

He knocked, and the door swung open almost immediately. P.T. Barnum greeted him with a smile and a hug and moved aside so that the girls could greet him.

Charity greeted him with a friendly embrace. “Phillip, how wonderful you could make it,” Charity Barnum had always been a charmer, it was what made her such a good pirate. She could simply smile that warm, welcoming smile, and charm almost anyone into giving her exactly what she wanted. Phillip was one of the rare people for which her friendly, almost motherly affection towards him was genuine.

But out of the Barnum family, the ones who were most vocal about their love for Phillip were the slightly smaller pirates, Caroline and Helen. They ran to greet him, each wrapping an arm around one of his legs. They never failed to make Phillip laugh, and this time was no exception.

“Hi, girls,” he said with a smile, picking Caroline up and swinging her around so she shrieked with delight. “So, you have to tell me about your latest adventure. I heard it’s quite the story.”

Caroline, Helen, Phineas, and Charity had recently gone on an escapade to God knew where, but upon their return, Phineas had sent Phillip a message saying that he just had to hear about what had happened, with a promise that it would leave Phillip in stitches.

“It was certainly an interesting time,” Charity said with a laugh.

Phineas laughed heartily. “Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint, now would we? Sit down, have a drink.”

Phillip happily obliged, and a mug of beer was placed on the table in front of him. He took a sip and waited for Phineas to start his story. Helen climbed onto his lap, and he adjusted his position slightly so that he could hold her and drink at the same time.

“So,” Phineas began. “I’ve told you before about Jenny Lind and how terrible she is.”

Jenny Lind was a famous pirate captain, and P.T. Barnum’s biggest rival. Except, she was much more popular than P.T. was. Her method of pirating was to give most of the money and resources she stole to the poor citizens of the nations. Something that P.T. did not do, in fact, he said that doing so almost didn’t make her a pirate.  

Phillip nodded. Phineas had ranted on and on about Jenny Lind, what a horrible pirate captain she was, that she gave the men of the sea a bad name. From what Phillip could understand from what PT has said, it was a rivalry based on Jenny stealing a mug of Phineas’s beer one time about ten years prior. He’d retaliated by stealing her ship, The Nightingale, before later returning it with rude words scrawled into the hull. She’d retaliated to his retaliation by stealing his ship The Bailey, which Phineas had named after his mother, stranding him on an island for two days, stealing all his alcohol and gold, then beaching his ship on the island. And thus their relationship was summed up.

If Phillip didn’t know better, he always would have wondered what there was to be scared of. From what he’d heard, it was just a lot of decently nice, slightly alcoholic people stealing each other’s belongings. But he knew that there was more to Jenny Lind than just petty revenge and alcohol thievery. There was a reason many people were so afraid of her. She may have been the poor peoples’ champion, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, but she was truly ruthless in getting what she wanted, and the survivors of the towns she sacked had told chilling horror stories. Phillip had heard them. Even Phineas sometimes spoke of her with a tremor in his voice, even though he tried to hide it.

He just hoped that she would remain simply the subject of the jokes and stories from far away. Two full-sized pirates and two miniature ones were about all he could handle. As much as he liked Phineas and Charity, he wasn’t too sure that he would be safe around them if they had been any different. And any other pirate would be much, much worse.

Phillip shook the thought away. It’s not like Jenny Lind was about to march up to his front door. Right now, she was simply a far-off laughingstock.

“So this time, I met her royal ‘Captain’ in a bar on a land where I was hoping I could get a good deal on a new mast, and maybe permanently borrow a few things.” Phineas always used words like ‘liberate’ or ‘borrow,’ Phillip didn’t know why. It made him seem like less of a bad guy, he supposed. “They make masts for merchants’ ships, there, see, and my mast’s been through a lot, and I didn’t want her breaking in the middle of a storm. So, I went in and there she is, sitting and negotiating with the man who was supposed to be waiting for me. So I go up there, and…”

Phineas regaled Phillip with the tale, with Caroline and Helen cutting in from time to time. The story involved a drinking contest, a lot of yelling, singing, and a spontaneous tap dance routine. Phillip was, as promised, in stitches by the time it was done. He was laughing so hard that he didn’t notice Charity’s face darken when P.T. mentioned the alcohol.

“And so he charged me more than he charged her for the mast!” Phineas finished. “All because he thought that her singing was pretty!”

“Jenny’s singing is not pretty at all,” Caroline said. “She’s so annoying, and such a bad pirate captain.”

“She sounds like a gopher!” Helen agreed. “And daddy’s a way better Captain.”

“Now girls,” Charity said, her smile fading a little. “What have I told you about repeating what your father says about Jenny Lind.”

“I mean, they are right, Chairy,” Phineas said with a chuckle. “She has about the voice that a gopher does if a gopher could sing. Actually, a gopher might have even more musical talent.”

Phillip laughed even harder, nearly doubled over by this point. He knew that he should take Jenny Lind seriously, but it was hard to when he heard stories like the one Phineas had just told. “That’s your best Jenny Lind story yet.” It took a minute for him to compose himself slightly, though the thought of P.T. Barnum, suave pirate captain getting into a drunk tap-dance off made that difficult. “I can’t wait for the next one, though I don’t know if you can top that.”

“As long as Jenny is ridiculous,” Phineas said. “I will have stories to tell. She will be ridiculous till the end of her days, so, my boy, there will be plenty of stories to tell till then.”

“Phin,” Charity frowned as she glanced in Phillip’s direction. She had been laughing while Phineas was telling the story, but now she seemed troubled. “As funny as it, might have been , Jenny Lind is not someone to take lightly. She may be irritating and petty, and your rivalry may all be in ‘good fun,’ but she is still dangerous. She’s feared perhaps even more than we are, and for good reason.”

“Oh, Charity,” Phineas said. “I know, but Jenny isn’t here, and there isn’t a reason in the world that we should be concerned about her.”

“Oh there isn’t, is there?” Charity’s voice took on a harsher tone. “What about that necklace you took? What if she comes for it?”

Phineas walked over to a nearby chest and opened it. He pulled out an unremarkable looking necklace, gold with a bird, presumably a nightingale, for a charm. He looked at it and shrugged. “What about it? It’s just another pretty piece of jewelry. I thought it’d be a nice gift for you. She won’t even notice that it’s gone.”

“Not if it puts you, or our family in danger,” Charity said with conviction, a little anger in her tone now as she glared at the necklace. “You stole that thing basically right off her neck, she wears it everywhere. I will not keep that. You should just throw that away and pretend this never happened. No necklace is worth that.”

“I’ll take it,” Phillip said. He almost was surprised at himself, that necklace surely came with a lot of danger. But he would rather that danger be focused on him than the Barnums. “Give it to me, I’ll give it to my mother. She’ll love it.”

“Phillip, no,” Charity said. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Absolutely not,” Phineas agreed. “I won’t have you put yourself at risk, especially not to someone like Jenny.”

“Jenny isn’t here,” Phillip replied calmly. “I’ll take it, get rid of it, I can figure out a way easily, know plenty of people who’d love something like this, and then you’ll be able to sleep easier. Let me do this, then we can just forget about it.”

Phineas and Charity exchanged looks, looking from Phillip, to the girls, oblivious to what the adults were discussing, then back to Phillip.

Phineas reluctantly handed him the necklace. “Hide this. Get rid of it tomorrow, do you understand? The less time you have it, the better.”

Phillip nodded, sliding the necklace into the pocket of his jacket. It was getting late, and if he didn’t go back soon, his family might start asking questions. “I’d better go.” He reluctantly pushed away from the table and got up to leave. “My parents…”

Phineas nodded. “Thank you, Phillip,” he said, opening the door to let him out. “Come back tomorrow?”

“I’d love to,” Phillip replied with a warm smile.

“Bye, Phillip,” Caroline and Helen chorused, giving him a collaborative hug.

He tousled each of their hair in turn, and gave Charity a reassuring smile. She still looked at the pocket where the necklace was concealed as if Phillip was carrying deadly poison. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She nodded, and her familiar smile came back, though she still looked troubled. “Of course, goodnight Phillip.”

He wished her the same, and stepped out into the night, the necklace in his pocket growing heavy. The sooner he got rid of this thing, the better.

Phillip was on his guard on the walk home, more on guard than usual. It was good to watch one’s back when walking the streets alone at night, but tonight was especially important. If someone found that he had Jenny’s necklace on him, and word got back to his father…

Phillip pushed the thought aside as he stepped quietly into the house. He didn’t want to wake anyone, certainly not his parents. It seemed as though the house was asleep.

“Phillip?” came Anne’s soft voice.

Phillip turned and caught her gaze on him. She stood on the staircase with a load of washing in her arms, the moonlight from the window catching her curly brown hair, giving it an almost unearthly glow.

“Hello,” he replied, trying to sound casual, praying she wouldn’t ask questions. “It’s late, shouldn’t you be asleep,”

“I’d ask you the same question,” Anne replied. “That was a long walk.”

Sometimes it seemed that Anne could see right through the facade he put on.

“I -ah-I had a lot to think about, you know, government and all that, and the ocean seems to help.”

Well, it wasn’t a complete lie, but Anne didn’t look fooled. She looked at him curiously for a long time, before she turned away to head back up the stairs.

“Goodnight,” Phillip called after her.

“Goodnight,” came her reply.

Phillip was about to follow her up the stairs, find a good place to hide the necklace, when he heard the bells begin to ring. Heard the voices crying out.

Pirates. They said over and over. Pirates were coming.

[eustassslut]

Hii! Uhm... hello... I was searching for a blog like yours! Everyone seems to be so busy and I just can't take this lack of Killer content. (͒˃̩̩⌂˂̩̩ ͒) So.. if you don't mind... may I request a small body worship and praise kink with Killer being the center of attention? He needs to know how godlike his body is. (Reader can be neutral or female, your choice)

Okei. Thank you. Bye byeヾ(＾ ∇ ＾)

sorry for the late posting, i got overly excited with this one and kept coming up with new ideas to add. this turned more fluffy than i intended to though, so i'll be making a pt 2.

word count: 852 words

Killer knows he must be attractive, he's seen how people react to him when he walks past. He’s seen how women stare at his muscles, mouth wide open and almost drooling over him. But knowing and believing it are two very different things and Killer simply doesn't believe or accept the idea that he's attractive.

That is until you had joined the crew. You were the perfect partner for Killer, always understanding what he needed and how to help him without him even voicing it to you. Killer, a man known to be able to mask his emotions from those around him always felt exposed around you, almost naked. You simply got him (probably too well most of the time), you understood how his mind worked and understood how his insecurities worked.

Knowing that Killer was so insecure however, simply broke your heart. You had fallen head over heels in love with him the very second you met him for the first time, in your eyes he was your idea partner and the ideal man.

The first time you had seen his face, you had watched tears well up in his eyes and the large man almost shrink before you as he gave into the lingering insecurity that you would leave him after seeing his face. The tears in his eyes had made you burst into tears as well, and as a result had forced him to spend the remaining day kissing all over of his face and trying to convince him that he was incredibly attractive and that you loved him.

Now, Killer will never admit it you (despite it being incredibly obvious) but he's incredibly touch starved. Being on a pirate crew for as long as he has and constantly sailing from destination to destination for weeks on end means naturally that he doesn't typically get the physical attention or care that he secretly needs. So when you join the crew and cannot stop yourself from touching him as much as possible, it gets to him far more than he expects.

The first time you placed a single to Killer's neck out of the blue, he had let out an accidental moan. Flushed red and embarrassed, Killer had attempted to pretend like you didn't get to him by just casually touching him. But unfortunately for him, it's so blatantly obvious to you.

Which leads to the current situation Killer finds himself in. He had been pushed onto your shared bed soon after dinner had finished, with you quickly scampering onto his lap and tugging at his shirt until he had pulled it over his head.

Now, tramped under your thighs, with your lips clashing against his and your hands gently pulling at his hair has Killer almost whining into your mouth, only just managing to display a small amount of self control. This self control, however, simply fades the very second your hands start moving down his body, gently caressing the muscles you love so much and your lips begin to move down his neck, placing multiple small kisses in various locations. With your lips sometimes parting to whisper out small words of praise for him to hear, Killer can't hold back the resulting whines and moans that slip from his lips.

"You're so pretty Killer." You murmur against his neck, silently delighting in the way his eyes flutter shut at the praise and his hands move from your shoulders to grip your waist. You're going to savour this moment as much as possible, checking into your memory so you can never forget the way he looks underneath you.

Killer honestly thinks he's done for when he feels your lips begin to move slowly down his body, placing gentle kisses everywhere from his face to his neck to his chest to his arms and finally to his stomach. But the very moment you place a gentle kiss over his heart and he hears you mumble a quiet "I love you Killer, you're so perfect", he almost wants to burst into tears. Never before has Killer felt so complete, so comfortable and so loved than in the moments he has with you.

"I love you more." The response Killer has you responding with a glare and leaning up to cup his face between your hands. 'Lies lies lies' is all you can think to yourself as you place a small kiss on his lips, delighting in how a light blush begins to decorate his cheeks and the wide grin that breaks out on his face as you pull away.

"I'm so glad you're all mine Kil. " Is all you can say as you begin to kiss your way down his neck again, relishing in the way Killer seems to shiver under your touch and the small words of praise that seem to tumble out of your mouth.

"All yours sweetheart, forever." And Killer means it, he's all yours until the day he dies. Whilst you sometimes scare him with how well you seem to know and understand him, Killer wouldn't have anyone else know or love him as well as you do.