#i need to dance with my girlies in a big crowd of strangers with a drink in my hand and music blasting so hard i feel deaf on the uber ride

[jihyolesbian]

need to go out and party i feel like im rotting imiss college

[blushingreid]

Girls’ Night

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

BAU Ladies x Fem!Reader

A/N: Based on this scene in s7ep16 “A Family Affair” (I almost cried Bc I thought I couldn’t find the gifs). We were ROBBED not seeing anything from their girls' night ! So I wrote a lil one-shot about what “happened” during their wild night w/ reader ofc. I hope y’all enjoy it & slide some feedback <3

“Wow you look amazing,” Spencer complimented once y/n emerged from the bathroom. After many cancellations because of cases, she and the BAU ladies were finally having their girls’ night. Penelope had insisted and convinced them to check out a new salsa club that recently opened near her apartment. Spencer had volunteered to watch Henry the couple hours they’d be gone.

Y/n finished putting on her earrings and sauntered over to Spencer who was watching her at the door. “Thanks again for doing this Spence,” she said before leaning up to give him a kiss. She intended for it to be a quick one, but as she was pulling away, Spencer had wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back in for more.

After finally breaking apart for air, y/n’s thumb lightly traced across his bottom lip as they gazed into each other’s eyes, neither one of them pulling apart. “You’re gonna be the reason I’m late.”

Spencer sighed and gave her one last kiss before they headed over to JJ’s. The car ride was quick, even though Spencer had insisted on taking the “scenic route” so he could spend a couple more minutes alone with y/n. When they finally arrived at the house, not even 10 seconds had passed after they rang the doorbell before it quickly swung open. 

“The lovebirds have finally arrived,” Penelope announced as she opened the door and ushered them in. 

Emily waltzed out of the kitchen holding two shot glasses in her hands. With a big smile on her face, she handed y/n one of them. “Yessssss, we can finally get this party started!” she cheered as she watched y/n give her a fake hurt look as she grabbed the shot glass.

“You started pre-gaming without me I see,” y/n teased before tossing back the shot. Spencer’s eyes widened for a brief second as he watched y/n take the shot without a question. He’d never seen her drunk so he wondered how big her alcohol tolerance was.

“Hey you girlies can’t be too drunk before we get to where we’re going,” Penelope whined, snatching the second shot glass out of Emily’s hand. 

Emily’s pleas for it back were interrupted when JJ finally walked out the living room. “Okay, so I got Henry in his little playpen watching Bubble Guppies. That should keep him pretty entertained for a while.”

“Great because our uber is here,” Penelope excitedly announced, opening the door to head out, Emily and y/n following behind her.

“We’ll only be gone for a couple hours. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything,” JJ said as she headed out the door.

Seeing the worry and hesitation in her eyes, Spencer gently ushered her out the door. “I have 3 PhDs, I think I can handle my godson. Go have fun and be safe!” Watching them pile into the car, Spencer stuck his head out the door and waved bye. A hint of worry and curiosity entered his mind about what kind of trouble they would get into. 

JJ sighed once she got into the car. Sensing her worry, y/n gave her hand a gentle squeeze. The car ride was filled with JJ, y/n, and Emily profiling their driver while Penelope ranted about a woman she met in the grocery store the other day. They hadn’t realized they’d arrived until the driver hit the breaks a little too hard. Maybe he’d heard their whispers about him.

“You girlies are gonna love this place,” Penelope squealed as she got out of the car.

“As long as they got some hotties, good music, and alcohol, I’ll love any club you take me to,” Emily said as they entered, she had already starting checking out the club goers. “I’ll grab a table for us.”

“I’ll grab the drinks!” Penelope said, disappearing into the crowd. JJ and y/n looked at each other, silently communicating who should go with who. JJ going with Emily while y/n followed Penelope towards the bar.

As they were waiting for the bartender to make them the special drink of the night, y/n felt an arm wrap around her waist. She instantly shoved it off and spun around to face the stranger. Before she could even tell him to buzz off, Penelope stepped in front of her. “She has a mans already, back off! You’re no where as cute as our Boy Genius,” Penelope barked at the man, staring him down until he left.

“Aw my savior,” y/n awed as she gave Penelope a kiss on the cheek.

After finally getting their drinks and wrestling through all the sweaty bodies, y/n and Penelope found Emily and JJ at a table. 

“Finally! I thought Jayje and I were going to have to send out a search party for you two.” Emily handed one of the glasses to JJ and raised hers in the air. “To girls’ night! Who knows when we’ll ever have another one.”

“To girls’ night!” they cheered, toasting.

“What did you even get us?” JJ coughed after taking a sip of the drink.

Unfazed by the strength of the drink, Emily drank every last drop. “All that matters is it looks pretty and tastes good.”

“The bartender said the green fairy was the special of the night, so I figure we go big or go home,” Penelope shrugged before downing her drink. “Now c’mon ladies, show me that them hips don’t lie,” she said as she headed towards the dance floor.

Y/n hesitated for a second before downing her drink and dancing towards Penelope, who was already mixed into the crowd.

JJ took one last sip of her drink and gave Emily her best puppy eyes. “Em come on, let’s join them,” she pleaded.

Emily sighed loudly, not being able to resist JJ, especially her puppy eyes. “The only salsa I want right now belongs on chips,” Emily groaned as she let JJ drag her towards the dance floor.

After a couple green fairies later and some sloppy dancing all night, they somehow managed to all stumble back to Penelope’s apartment. They barely made it inside before the four of them immediately collapsed from exhaustion.

“I just waaannt y’aaaall to know,... that I lurv you biiiiiitches. I’d step on anyoneee for youu beautiful angeelss,” Emily slurred before passing out on the floor in front of the couch. 

“I f-feel like I wasss uh s‘posed tooo do som’thang. Sleeeeeep sounds better though,” JJ mumbled before dozing off.

The next morning, while they were all peacefully sleeping, JJ was woken up by a buzzing. She couldn’t tell if the buzzing was from her head or something else. Feeling around the couch, her hand was met with a cool object. She held it up to her face, waiting for her vision to clear up. 7:12. Seeing the time, instantly she remembered what she forgot. She sat up and threw a pillow at Emily to wake her.

“Oh no no no! I told Spencer we’d be back in a couple of hours. I left him all alone with Henry!” JJ panicked before running to the bathroom, feeling sick.

“Please. Stop. Yelling. My head is killing me,” Emily groggily muttered.

“I’m sure Will relieved him of his babysitting duties once he got home last night,” Penelope reassured, clutching her head while she went to grab some water. She didn’t make it far into her kitchen before she walked into something, well someone.

“I’m never drinking that much again. My back and my head hurts,” y/n groaned, waking up on the kitchen floor. Penelope helped her stand up before handing her a glass of water.

The next hour went by in a chaotic blur. From each of them throwing up multiple times, JJ’s panicked phone calls to Will about Henry, Emily tripping over Penelope’s shoe collection, and fighting y/n for the cereal, they somehow all managed to make it in time to cheer on Hotch. Slowly, all four of them walked towards the finish line gates. Each wearing their comfiest clothes and biggest sunglasses. They all looked like they’d been hit by a car, and sounded like it too with all the groans they were making.

“Well well well, look who finally made it. We thought y’all weren’t gonna show up till the race was finished,” Morgan teased, Jack sitting on top of his shoulders.

“Couple hours! Couple hours! ‘Oh Spence don’t worry, we’ll only be gone a couple hours.’ And you all didn’t come back home until sunrise!”

“Why are you yelling?” JJ muttered clutching her head.

“Y/n make your man stop,” Emily pleaded as she leaned on the race’s barricade.

Realizing she and her friends have suffered enough, Y/n wrapped her arms around Spencer’s neck and whispered something in his ear before giving him a quick kiss and turning back towards the race. No one heard what she said except Spencer, whose face immediately turned red. He remained quiet the rest of the race, only until he spotted Hotch reaching the finish line.

“So what’d you say to Pretty Boy to get him to shut up?”

[selinakidreams]

Junk of the Heart

this was inspired by this song and a personal experience that i could have only wished ended like this. side note: i thought kiri would b ideal for a first fic post bc........... i wuv him a lot nd i couldn’t get this scenario out of my head; everytime i hear this song i think of him singing it so there u go <3

paring: gn!reader x kirishima eijirou

band member au! so no quirks

genre: fluff

warnings: none, good ol ushy gushy self indulged romance 

Word count: around 3.3k

You were surprised that exhaustion hadn’t taken over your body yet. 

The day was a non-stop escapade of the mundane and the irregular; all in the same day, you went in and out of different big cities, to having afternoon coffee followed by going back to the apartment you were staying at to nap, to visiting a local rose garden, to drawing with chalk on the sidewalk of your friend’s house post potluck. You were only visiting for the weekend so your friends were going to make the most of it. 

By the end of the night, you somehow found yourselves waiting in line on the side of a cozy neighborhood venue to try and get concert tickets to an already sold out show.

You didn't really know what was going on, not that you minded; the motto for the weekend was “go with the flow”. However,  the spontaneity of randomly going to a concert where you don’t know who’s playing has peaked your interest. You’ve never done it before and once the idea had time to marinate in your mind, your heart was set on getting those tickets. 

Waiting for 30 minutes for the tickets seemed like nothing until whispers of, “they’re not giving out any more tickets!” And “they’ve officially sold out!” came trickling down the line, causing your heart to falter. 

Groups in front of you started leaving and your group moved to take their place. “Did you want to see if we could finesse our way in?” Said one friend. “Doesn’t it seem pointless, though?” Responded the other, yet your group remained in line. You didn’t want to leave, there was something in your gut telling you not to, but you were starting to doubt the probability of actually getting in.

Everything next happened in an instant. 

Somehow, you and your friends managed to get up to the window selling the tickets and talk your way into getting in. It didn’t seem like a miracle more along the lines of sheer dumb luck, they just happened to find more tickets- but you didn’t dwell too much on it, you were already inside enjoying the vibrations of the live music moving through you. 

Lights were reflecting off of a giant disco ball, bouncing in every which direction, exposing random people in the crowd. The lights on stage only added to the different colors brightening the dark expanse. Bodies swayed close together as the next song started calmly. 

You had been off to the side, waiting for your closest friend to come back with the drinks she offered when you guys were first greeted by the bass and guitar. The rest of your friends had gotten lost in the crowd, but you didn’t mind. The scene you were taking in felt surreal. You had never seen complete strangers come together in a way that it made it seem like they’ve known each other for years because of good music. 

As your friend made her way through the crowd with two cups in hand when the band announced that it was going to be their last song for the night. You looked up at the members on stage; you had been paying so much attention to the experience as a whole that you hadn’t even seen the band actually playing. 

The first person that caught and kept your attention was the man in center stage. Bright red spikey hair with ruby red eyes to match, and a toothy grin. A white electric guitar with a red strap hung on his sizable shoulders. He looked like the physical version of the music he was playing; a plain black fitted t-shirt tucked into his loose blue jeans with holes in the knees. His black converse seemed worn out, like they’ve been on so many adventures, this night on stage being one of them. 

You tried to look at the other members but your gaze always shifted back to him. 

Now with a sweet alcoholic beverage in your hand, you were pulled to the barricade by your very persistent friend. You heard her say something along the lines of, “you look like you’ve witnessed a miracle! We need to get closer!” 

Nobody seemed to mind your friend’s pushiness to the front, everyone there was just enjoying the show had to offer. 

“Before we get on with our last song of the night,” the red head chuckled at the immediate chant of boo’s that rang out, “we figured we ought to introduce ourselves!” His smile showered over everyone in the crowd. He leaned into the mic stand as his big hand loosely covered the secured mic, “in the back, and away from people where he should be,” a melodic laugh rang out as he looked to his annoyed band mate, “is our drummer, Bakugo Katsuki!” The audience was greeted by an eye roll and a curt wave and gave back an applause. “Next we have our all talented bassist, Jirou Kyouka!” She ran her pick over the strings, you felt the vibrations through your whole body and decided to let out a laugh, joining the others in letting out a loud “wooop!”.

“And on the keyboard, we have the electrifying  Kaminari Denk!” A wink and finger guns were shot out and in response, a few girly giggles could be heard throughout the cheering room as well as a few squeals. Kaminari threw his head back and put his hand over his heart.

“And me? I’m Kirishima Eijiro on guitar!” You could hear the swarm of girls that cheered overpowering the crowd as well as thunderous hollers from a few guys,

‘Pretty popular,’ you thought, taking a sip of your drink. Of course he was popular. His smile was contagious, full and bright. You could see the happiness illuminating his eyes, the crinkles by the corner of his eyes showed he truly couldn’t be more content than in this moment.

Bakugo spun his drumsticks and began playing a beat as Kirishima began to talk,“ We had a fuck ton of fun tonight, thank you for having us. We hope you give the same amount of love to the band that hops on the stage next.” he said, the smile never leaving his face. He adjusted the ear piece before finishing with, “But as for us, this song is called Junk of the Heart, let’s go Bakugo!” And just like that, they dove into the song. Kirishima began strumming to Bakugo’s already given beat.

As Kaminari hit the keyboard, the stage lights changed drastically. All of a sudden there was no color on stage or bouncing off the walls, beams of golden light shot out from behind them, giving them the look of angels. The space got significantly darker; you had no choice but to look at the band in front of you. 

Backlit and beautiful, it was as if you were actually hearing them for the first time.

“See I notice nothing makes you shatter, no no, 

You’re a lover of the wild and a joker of the heart,” Kirishima looked out onto the faces that were close enough to see. He loved seeing how invested people got- to see how music can bring people together and create a bond. It made him feel like he was at the top of the world.

You thought to yourself as you watched him sing into the mic, “He looked so god like, it was ironic that you were looking up at him.”- that was until your gaze was met with his. He stopped the wandering gaze; it seemed as though his eyes got bigger than before, which didn’t seem possible. His eyes were already so round and curious, but making eye contact with you brought a different kind of wideness. 

When he sang, “But are you mine?” it seemed like he was asking you.

“I wanna make you happy, I wanna make you feel alive.” 

Your body and your mind felt disconnected. You couldn’t decode any messages that were being played through your head, all you could feel was the beat of the bass match up with your heart. 

“I wanna make you happy 

If you’re a good girl tonight.” He sang to you before looking back at the rest of the crowd. It looked like he had just broke out of a spell.

“Y/n? Y/N? Was he looking at you?? Do you know him?!” Your friend's voice came into light.

And for the first time in the whole day, when the trip’s motto pushed itself into your head, you waved it aside. 

You looked at your friend with a determined smile before leaning into her and yelling out over the music, “No, I don’t know him but I sure want to. After the song, I’m going to make it so there’s no way he could possibly forget the girl in the crowd.” 

Your friend, stunned at your decisiveness but loyal, slowly began to nod. She reached for your hand and wrapped your pinky in hers, then slowly got back into the groove of the song by spinning you around. 

“Let me make you happy, I wanna make you feel alive at night,” Kirishima sang on, grin growing as his eyes wandered back to the spot you were in. Something warm bubbled in his chest.

‘I want to dance with them’ was the first thing he thought when he saw you smiling in the dim lighting, hips swaying with hands in the air, and not a care to be found.

Finishing off the song, the lights faded to black for a second before the room became a tad brighter yet still dark enough to leave the haze of the concert euphoria just a little longer. 

Kirishima bolted. At the speed of light, he handed his guitar to a snickering Denki before navigating his way through the maze of the backstage and into the crowd. So many heads to look over and so many gazes to catch, but when he caught yours, everything simply melted away. Time didn’t stand still, yet making his way over to you seemed like it was one of the easiest things that he could do. 

“I’m sorry but I really need to hear you say something,” Kirishima said loud enough when he approached you, trying to ignore the intense gaze of the person standing next to you. 

You didn’t really know how to respond- to you, everything happened so quickly. You could only tilt your head in response, to which you felt a jab in your ribs. 

“Please just say my name. Not Kirishima but please call me by my first name in the next sentence that leaves your lips.” He said with a hint of desperation. It was almost like he was hoping your voice was a song he could listen to on repeat- that your voice was something he could eventually turn into a song.

You took a slow deep breath and let it out, there was a self-put urgency to have the next sentence you say mean something. 

“I feel like…” you began to say, and paused when you saw his features change to something you couldn’t quite describe, “... watching you perform on stage is something I could do… more often… Eijirou.” 

Something made his eyes twinkle. Maybe it was a trick of the light or maybe you just imagined it, but it made your heart race just a bit faster. When would it reach the finish line?

He let out a breath you didn’t notice he was holding; his chest slightly contracted.

“Just as I thought, your voice is beautiful a-and so are you.” He sighed. “Can we step outside for a second? I promise you it will only be a second. It would be rude for me to take you away from your friend for the rest of the night.” He smiled at your friend for a second. You were a bit stunned; first, the compliment that tugged at your heart a little too hard and now the decency to respect that you came here with your friends. A true kind hearted man.

It took you a second to reply but before an answer could even leave your lips, your friend yanked you towards them. Kirishima’s ever wide eyes grew again but showed no signs of leaving. 

“Listen, this is all up to you,” your friend whisper-shouted excitedly in your ear. With impeccable timing, live music started playing. 

“Anyway, what I was saying was,” your friend stated a little bit louder so you could hear her over the music, “it’s your choice! If you feel comfortable with hanging out with this dude for the night, do it! This is your trip, do what you want and have fun. Regardless, you know where we are and where we’re staying. Just text me and let me know.” She pulled away, waiting for your response. You smiled and mouthed, ‘I’m gonna go’. She showed her delight by pulling you in and leaving with the final note of, “stay safe,” before disappearing into the mass of bodies, probably to go look for your other friends.

You turned to Kirishima before taking his forearm, noting that it was one of the fittest ones you’ve ever laid hands on, and headed out of the venue.

The temperature drop was a bit of a shock but you held your composure as a wave of goosebumps washed over your body. 

You spun around to face the guitarist, only to be greeted with a shyer version of him. It seemed his sheet of confidence went hand in hand with the warmth from inside. As soon as he stepped out, it was instantly ripped away by the cold.

“I- um, well.. may I ask for your name?” He stuttered out, realization hitting you that you never even said your name. You felt your cheeks grow hot before stepping closer to him and whispering your name then taking another step towards him. The nippy air seemed to have the complete opposite effect on you.

At this point, your chest lightly brushed up against his as you looked up at him; his gaze fidgety while yours is sturdy but kind- set eyes flickering from his ruby reds to his plush pink lips. 

You chose not to question your boldness as you pushed yourself up to the tips of your toes.

He had approached you with such determination, you might as well match his energy. 

With your chest fully pressing into him now, you carefully watched his reaction to see if there were any signs of discomfort before slowly draping your arms around his neck. Even on your toes, he was still a head taller than you. 

“Kirishima, what is it that you wanted me to come outside for that you couldn’t do inside?” The teasing whisper dripped from your lips. 

It was as if he was visualizing the words you were saying, his sight trained on how your lips moved.

“Can I kiss you?” He matched your whisper, his head already slightly dipping in to ghost his soft lips over yours while his large palms fell to your hips, invoking a ripple of heat to coarse through your body. 

It was up to you, the fate of the evening was in your hands. Whatever you wanted to do, Kirishima would do as long as he was with you. 

“You can…” you began as you moved to play with his surprisingly soft hair, “walk me to where I’m staying, and maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll let you.” You innocently giggled as you slowly lowered yourself against his broad chest and pulled away completely.

Kirishima’s dazed expression stayed only for a second before he slightly shook himself out of it, a renewed shade of red dusted on his cheeks.

Another giggle escaped from you before whipping out your phone and texting your friend about the newly made plan; red eyes plastered on you and following your every move. 

You slid your phone into your back pocket and scooped up Eijirou’s hand, relishing the size difference, and started walking.

The walk held the best kind of conversation: the kind that consisted of everything and nothing at all. You two were taking your time, walking around local parks and goofing off by performing air guitar and dancing around to no music. He talked about how his band started and how he discovered his love for making music. You talked about how you were visiting your friends because they moved away for college and you couldn’t bear to not see them for another few months. At that you saw his open figure slightly deflate. 

“So you don’t live around here?” He muttered, unconsciously gripping the energy of the lighthearted conversation downwards, but you stopped it before it could get to the point of no return. 

“I’m transferring here.” You said with a promising smile, Kirishima returned the action with a full blown grin. The topic took a turn for the happier as you two chatted about random thoughts and valid opinions. 

Inevitably, the time came where it was you two standing in front of your door, spare key in hand with the outside light illuminating the mirroring soft expressions. You stepped closer, recreating the exact actions you did in front of the venue, and this time when he asked to kiss you, your response was nonverbal. You took his lips with yours at first with a peck. The delicate sound of you pulling away only lead to a deeper kiss, one that made his planted palms uproot and wrap you up entirely in his embrace. Your tongue danced with his; The closeness and warmth had you sighing against his mouth. You slightly pulled away, watching a thin trail of saliva leave you two connected before leaning back in for another peck. To that, he loosened his hold without actually letting go.

“Can I see you before you go back?” Kirishima’s voice was breathy and low, a really good combination for him. 

“Give me your number and we’ll see.” You replied, trying to compose yourself. He chuckled before fishing out your phone from your back pocket, giving your ass a little squeeze in the process. A squeak instinctively left you as you watched a smirk form at the corner of his lips. You refused to look at Kirishima as you put your thumb on the home button to unlock it, your cheeks were too red. 

He added his contact with a red heart next to it, ‘ironic’ you thought. 

The goodbye was drawn out; a lot of lazy pushing away and pulling back in, in addition to feverish kisses and roaming hands, but that all came to an end when you finally pushed the key into the lock and twisted it open before quickly shutting it, leaving Eijirou outside begging you to come back out. 

“No because soon enough I won’t be able to resist you and I’m going to tell you to come inside and stay the night- which would not be cool to my friends,” you laugh as you hear a huff on the other side of the door. 

“You’re right… and I really want your friends to like me…” he trailed off, letting you ponder what he meant for a second. 

“Okay can you just open the door one more time please?” So you did. You were greeted by a sweet and soft kiss, reminding you of a dessert that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. 

“Goodnight Eijirou.” You whisper before closing the door gently.

Replaying the gushy romantic events that took place that night, you took it upon yourself to text him to write a song about you- playfully of course. The charming red cherry on top of a perfect Hallmark-movie-type of night.

He ended up taking it seriously,

and performed it at the next live show you went to, a few months after you transferred. 

And it was that night, when he bounded through the crowd to find you yet again- 

instead of asking to hear your voice, he asked to hear your answer on being his romantic partner.

[caffeineivore]

Commission #2

For @nelwynp. Based off a very very old ficverse from wayyyyyyy back in the day called “Freckles” which may or may not be found on LJ. Makoto/Nephrite.

Commissions are still open!! Check out the details here or all the other commissions currently available here!

Long distance relationships are statistically known to suck, and honestly, I wouldn’t have considered myself the rose-coloured glasses type. The real world doesn’t care that you’ve probably, maybe, already gotten your share of crap thrown at you, starting from the death of your parents, and think maybe it should cut you a break. I knew the chances of Nick and myself making it were slim. He would be busy, surrounded by strangers a whole two states away. Sure, we’d known each other since we were kids, and maybe by now, he had become the one constant in my life-- my North Star, perhaps-- that forever friend who’d seen me at my worst and didn’t care in the least. And maybe--- maybe, finally, I’d finally told him those three words that had been nagging at the back of my subconscious for the last year of our acquaintance. He’d said them back, and it was only then that I realized how much I’d needed to hear and say them.

Still, I saw him off on that cloudy morning with dry eyes and homemade eggs Benedict-- that is to say, that I fed him and double-checked to make sure that he had not misplaced anything important. The apartment that he’d been living in was stripped bare, and all of his worldly goods were in the trailer of the U-haul which would take him to his new home. I was plugging his phone into the car charger in the front console when his arms wrapped around me from behind, and turned me to face him. 

Nick has always been a good-looking guy, in that sort of rugged, All-American way, with broad shoulders and a great smile, and I’d learned at some point in our long acquaintance that he gave the best hugs-- the type that lifts you slightly off your feet and makes you feel like some type of dainty damsel even when you’re six feet tall in heeled boots. It’s no different now, and maybe I hung on for a moment too long, myself. He’s not much of a cologne guy, but his sweatshirt smells like laundry soap and I’m pretty sure he’d used my shampoo that morning again, because his hair’s super soft-- and the flowery scent is not nearly as girly on him as it is on me. 

“Call me when you get there.” I hope to Hell, of course, that the fact that my voice is muffled against his neck disguises the unsteadiness.

“I’ll call you every day.”

I wouldn’t hold him to it, of course, but I didn’t say anything to that effect, and I watched as he drove off, and then headed off to the gym for a punishing three-mile run on the treadmill followed by a full hour of kickboxing to a playlist of angry girl rock, and if I cried in the shower afterwards, no one needed to know that.

He did call that night, though. And the night after. And the night after that. And soon, it had become a routine, and maybe I should have given him more credit the whole time. Before I knew it, two months had passed, and he flew down for a long holiday weekend, and after we’d christened three separate rooms in my apartment, we got caught up in person. I’d heard so much about his new place and the people he’d met at his new school that I probably could’ve picked his favourite and least favourite professors out of a crowd. 

This became a thing, and so for two years, we did the long distance thing. He heard about the awful day when the stand mixer went rogue and how I was still picking bits of cake batter out of my hair two hours later. I heard so much about one particularly persnickety city inspector on a project he worked on that I learned to hate the guy as much as Nick did. Our reunions were sporadic, rapturous and never long enough, though half the time we eschewed actual dates in favour of staying in and just being ourselves together-- watching movies, working out, buying groceries and cooking meals, falling asleep so close together that it was hard to tell where one of us ended and the other one began. 

We spent that first Thanksgiving at my place-- Friendsgiving, really, cooking a huge meal in a too-small kitchen, inviting all of our old friends. I shooed Nick and James out of my kitchen and chatted with Raye as she snapped a bowl of green beans for me and sounds of the football game filtered in through the living room. She was a ball of nerves-- James would be meeting her very formidable, very rich, very conservative father when he went over to her home for Christmas. Said father would not be amused to find his only daughter not only dating, but actually fully living in sin with a mouthy city boy-- when Nick had moved out, James and Raye had gotten an apartment together. Amy and Zach had arrived a bit later, because he’d had to pick her up from the hospital where her shift had run over. Kevin and Mina, on the other hand, were at her parents’ house out of state. She’d texted me all types of sad face emojis about how the cranberry sauce had come out of a can and the mashed potatoes had come out of a box, but I had no sympathy. She had parents who cooked for her for Thanksgiving, didn’t she? Besides, if she really cared about food over time spent with them and Kevin, she would have told them that she had Ebola and came over to my place instead.

At any rate, against all the odds, we somehow managed to make it work, and two years, three months and six days after that first time that I told him I loved him, he was on his way down to visit again. I’d gone up to see him get his Master’s degree two months ago and he’d taken me out around the town to celebrate with his friends and classmates. Some of them had met me before, but to those who hadn’t, he introduced me as his girlfriend, and from the easy acceptance, I knew that everyone present had some idea of our history. It had been a wonderful weekend, but I was a bit nervous about seeing him again today. Something had come up, very recently, and I wasn’t sure how he would take it.

At first, I had thought nothing of the symptoms. Fatigue and a bit of nausea doesn’t tend to alarm anyone right off the get-go. Everyone knows restaurant hours are brutal, and as an apprentice chef, any task, no matter how mundane or unpleasant, might get assigned to me on any given day. Certainly, I might get to spend one day arranging delicate edible flowers and a compote of ripe berries around and on top of fancy panna cottas, but the very next, I might be doing nothing but washing dishes and running out garbage. The kitchen I work in specializes in a rotating seasonal menu, and at the time, calamari was in season. Certainly it is delicious deep-fried with casino butter and lemon wedges, sprinkled with sea salt and cracked black pepper, but it’s definitely not as appealing raw, slimy and fishy-smelling. It’s enough to make anyone lose their appetite doing prep early in the morning. But then I was late. And not to work, if you know what I mean. One week stretched into two, then three. The nausea didn’t go away, even when my day consisted of making large quantities of bourbon vanilla buttercream frosting for strawberry white chocolate cakes. It was a week ago that I picked up two different pregnancy tests from Walgreen’s. Both results had come back to tell me what I kind of already knew, deep down, and I was honestly terrified down to the bone.

I had always wanted to have that maybe-stereotypical home and family someday-- the cute house with gingerbread trim and the white picket fence and the garden full of old-fashioned flowers, a husband who loved me and our children and went to baseball games and dance recitals with equal enthusiasm. I wanted to be able to be the mom who baked cupcakes for the bake sale and cookies for the big jar on the kitchen counter, and volunteered to chaperone field trips to the science museum. That had been my own mother, from those distant reaches of old memories, and though I’d lost her, I knew that it was in me to keep her legacy alive. 

But I had not intended to do so when I had just started my career, unmarried and still living in a tiny college-campus apartment, with a boyfriend who lives two states away, who might not even want kids. God! That was a discussion we’d never even had. 

The door swings open, though, before I could think about it any more. Nick has a key to my place, of course, as I do to his. Sometimes he calls, but sometimes he just arrives, like today, a little ahead of schedule. I’m caught up in one of those long, tight hugs, a warm and familiar hand cupping the back of my neck, and maybe he feels a hint of desperation in my kiss. When he pulls back, his eyes are warm, but full of concern. “Everything okay, Freckles?”

“Ugh. Can you not call me that? We’ve talked about that.” Oh, Gods... A baby with his brown hair and my green eyes. His dimples and my freckles. I can almost picture a little girl, toddling on chubby legs, riding on his shoulders, picking dandelions in the yard and blowing the fluff away in the wind. I’d teach her to bake chocolate chip cookies and read her stories where the princess saved herself and buy her pretty dresses for picture day and sturdy jeans for playing outside in. I loved her already, but she wasn’t supposed to even exist. 

“Habit. And you scrunch your nose up when you’re mad, and I shouldn’t like it, but I do.” Nick presses another, shorter kiss to my mouth, then tips up my face. “But you seem a bit out of sorts. What’s wrong?”

“How could you tell if I’m out of sorts or not when you literally just walked in two minutes ago?” It’s an evasion, and I’m sure he can and will spot the bullshit and call me out on it. 

“Because I’ve known you since we were kids, and you don’t have to say or do anything for me to know when you’re out of sorts.” Nick pulls me gently over to the love seat, and sits me down, keeping one of my hands in his as though he expects me to bolt at any moment. “Everything’s okay, right? You didn’t have anything particularly horrible at work this week that I recall from our conversations.”

No, this week hadn’t been bad. Breaking down chickens is fairly mindless work once you get the hang of it. And the resulting bone broth is wonderful for someone who finds it difficult to keep food down some days. Nick deserves the truth, of course, and maybe the ripping-off-the-bandaid approach is best. I shut my eyes to his all-too-perceptive, all-too-loving gaze, and set my teeth.

“I’m pregnant.”

His hand tightens on mine and his next inhaled breath is sharp, but I plow on. “I know it’s not expected, and I know we were careful, but… it is what it is. You don’t have to worry, though. I’m not some delicate little miss who’s afraid of raising a child. The executive chef at work loves me, as he should, and I’m sure they’ll work with me when the time comes for maternity leave. And in this day and age, it’s not a big deal to be a single mom. I’m keeping this baby and she’s going to get the best life that I can give her, growing up.” I don’t know why I was so certain I was having a little girl. But she already existed, to me, and at that moment in time, she was probably only the size of my pinkie nail. “She will never doubt, for a moment, that she’s loved.”

“Of course not.” Nick finally speaks, and his voice is an awed, slightly choked-up whisper. I sense him moving, then one big, warm hand rests on my still-flat stomach, followed by the press of his lips. “We’re having a baby. Wow. Okay, so I guess I should get on with what I’d already planned to do, even though I’d planned for this to be a lot more romantic.” Belatedly, I realize that not only has he moved, but he is down on his knees in front of me, one hand on my stomach, the other one digging into a pocket, and then he pulls out a small black velvet box, flicks open the catch.

I’m not much of a jewelry type of girl-- I wear the same earrings, every single day, but working in a kitchen greatly limits the practicality of going around with bracelets and rings and do-dabs. Still, stereotypical though it might be, I’d always wanted that classic diamond solitaire engagement ring from my husband-to-be, and now, when it’s staring me in the face-- princess-cut and set in platinum, I find myself speechless. 

“Lita Oakley, love of my life, will you marry me?”

Of course he doesn’t mince words. In a lot of ways, I guess we’re past that point. But I draw my hand back a moment before he can slide that ring on. 

“I don’t want you to propose to me because I’m pregnant and you feel obligated. You’d end up regretting it, and that would kill me.” We didn’t live together now, but if we did someday, and then it all went south, and I had to walk into an empty house bereft of his presence and his things and even the way he’d always kick his shoes off any which way by the door rather than make sure they’re put up where no one can trip over them, I knew it would break me in a way that hadn’t been possible since my parents’ deaths.

Nick rolls his eyes, though, and huffs out a breath before digging deeper into that little velvet box, all the way underneath the white satin. He takes out a crinkled paper receipt, and unfolds it, and drops it on my lap. “You are so stubborn. Do you know that? Take a look at that receipt, will you? Just… humour me.”

I do. It’s from some jeweler in his state, and the price of the ring of course makes me wince a little. It’s definitely not cheap. But then I read it a little closer, and see the time stamp on the top. It was purchased at 4:26 PM on the sixth of December, two whole years ago. Perhaps six months after he’d moved away.

“I got it as soon as I could afford it, and I’d been saving up for a while. Probably not very well-thought-out of me, when everything was so up in the air. But I’d always known that we’d be here together, someday, and I’d be asking you to marry me. Anyway, it’s got nothing to do with the fact that you’re pregnant and everything to do with the fact that I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember, and there’s no one else in the world for me, and it’s too late to return this ring, anyway.” He pulls it out of the box, and I see something shining, trailing from it. “I know you can’t really wear rings, working in a kitchen. So I also got a necklace that you can wear this on, if you’ll just say yes. Please say yes.”

“How are we going to do this?” I blurt out, as that other infamous symptom of pregnancy-- emotional hormonal tears-- makes its appearance. I blink and try to sniffle them away, but Nick simply puts the ring on my finger, silvery necklace dangling from it, and gets up to his feet, pulls me gently to mine. “You live so freaking far away.”

“Not anymore I don’t.” He tugs me close, and kisses me again. “My lease is up in a month. I figure I can get another U-haul, and con the guys into helping out. I’m pretty sure that the people can put a good word in for me to get hired in somewhere local-- dumb jock notwithstanding, I worked my ass off these last few years and have the credentials and grades to prove it. Since my lease is up in a month anyway, might as well look for a new place to live. Some place that can be baby-proofed, and definitely not a top floor apartment with a janky elevator like here. Can’t have my pregnant fiancee struggling up five flights of stairs every day.”

He makes it seem so simple, really, as he pulls me in for what promised to be an extended cuddle session. 

But maybe-- maybe it would be. 

[boislut-neo]

Bois list~!

You can find a full list of bois and girls at the bottom of the page~! ^^

Beacon Academy is a school to teach young bois how to be the biggest slut they can be. Every student is taught to worship cock, to worship the balls underneath it, and to know his place as a cumdump whore who needs a sweaty sack to rest against his face.

There are mandatory classes to teach the students everything they need to become the best set of fuckholes they can be!

Wanna see our best best girly bois dressed in yoga pants showing off their sexy bodies? Head on down to the Yoga class! There you can find groups of trained whores putting their ass’ into shape for your enjoyment, go ahead, have a feel! Pick a skank and fuck him in the middle of the class, make all the other sluts jealous you didn’t pick them!

There’s the pole dancing/lap dancing class where bois are taught the importance of workin’ it like a stripper! Watch those stupid sluts work the pole like they were born to~! Have a favorite? Tell him to shake that ass on your lap~! he’ll be happy to give you a lap dance, especially if he can feel your cock pressing against his plump ass~!

And then, there’s my favorite~! Twerking class~!! Watch, as the particularly bottom heavy sissies of beacon start shakin’ their ass’ to the beat of the music, showing just how willing they are to twerk for some fat cock~! Give their ass’ a nice hard smack, it’s practically a requirement~! Wanna make a boi really happy~? Whip out your cock and start slapping it against someone’s bouncing ass, make sure your meaty cock feels every jiggle as you do~!

Let’s not forget about our faunus bois~! They love wearing collars, they love getting led around on leashes, they love doing tricks. They love being stupid slutty pets for everyone~! Pet them when they’ve been good, spank them when they’ve been bad, make sure to use their faunus traits to your advantage~! Cat faunus have rough, textured tongues that feel great against your cock and balls, give it a try~! Remember, it’s not racist if they beg you for it~!

———————————————–

Nora Valkyrie

Nora is an air headed bimbo with cock on his dumb little mind. Who needs smarts when you could have a nice fat cock in your ass~? Call him cutesy names like Baby Boi, Sweetheart, Faggot, Slut, Whore, he loves it! His last Daddy taught him that gropings were compliments and he should thank whoever smacks his ass as they pass by.

“Hello~ This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me~! Whatever that means. The others told me to say that~! They said I’d meet my new Daddy and that he’d make me feel extra good~! Oh! And Emerald told me to say, I hope my slutty body and plump little ass can make you cum lots~! Hehehe~ My last Daddy taught me what that one means~!”

———————————————–———————————————–

Emerald Sustrai

Emerald is a naughty little whore who needs to get his fat ass fucked till his legs start shaking and he’s begging for more. Use him, abuse him, call him a bitch, pull his hair, smack his ass. Hell, you can get away with slapping him across the face.

“This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me, make me regret it~ Want me to twerk for you? Tell me where to shake my fat ass~ You want a blowjob? You better make me suck your balls first~ You wanna fuck me? Tell me to spread my ass for that cock~ I want bruises, I want marks, I want people to ask me if I’m okay because you fucked me so hard! I don’t know how many times I have to say it! Use me! Fuck me! Spank me! I’ve been a bad little twink and I need someone to punish me~!“

———————————————–

Neo

Can’t a guy make a little money doing what he loves~? Neo is a greedy whore, in every sense of the word. Coming up to about crotch height with just about everyone he meets, he loves when a cock flops out onto his girly face. Buy him and you can use him like a little fuckdoll~ Pick him up and fuck his tiny hole, he can take it~ A tiny beautiful slut with a fetish for being manhandled and abused! What’s not to love~?

Neo stood smirking, a sign in his hand “This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me. As long as you can afford me, I’ll be the perfect little pocket slut~!” Neo gave a wink, his hand making a lewd gesture as if jerking off a cock.

———————————————–

Velvet Scarlentina

Poor little Velvet is Beacon’s very own big booty bullied bunny bitch~! Shy, cute, fun to bully, adorable when she cries, has a fat bunny booty built for spanking, a cute little face made for slapping, and is the perfect pretty little pain slut even if she cries and whines about it being untrue~! This sweet little hunny bunny loves having her rabbit ears yanked, practically cumming on the spot as she’s dragged into the men’s bathroom to be used as a cumdumpster, loves getting slapped and groped by every person that wants a handful of her fat, jiggly ass~! Tearing up from the deliciously vicious torment she gets everyday, sniffling and sobbing as her partner leads her around on a leash, selling her holes for pennies to complete strangers~!

Everyone knows the the little slut is acting, getting off to her own sobbing and begging as she’s treated like a piece of meat thrown to the wolves, acting like she’s being forced even as she signed up for it willingly, signed up to get treated like the filthy faunus slut she wants to be, crying like a little princess even as she gets drunk off of sniffing and sucking fat, sweaty nuts~! Yes, Velvet loves being the damsel in distress, the “unwilling* toy to get used and abused, to get smacked around, hands around her throat, called the worst things you could think of~! This sweet little bunny might just have a rape fetish, the poor thing~!

“…Th-…This is an invitation to-.. to do whatever the f-fuck you want to me.. Sniff! P-Please don’t pull my ears, they’re really sensitive.. I don’t-.. Coco makes me dress up like a complete whore, a-and she told me that if anyone tells me to shake my cottontail, I h-have to t-twerk for them and grind on their c-cock.. Please be gentle!”

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

Pyrrha Nikos

Pyrrha is the master of the pole, the best dancer at Beacon, and an all around eager slut. This beautiful redhead came to Beacon to experience life a little differently, and has come to love his new life as a nutsucking whore. He just can’t get enough of how people stare at his slutty body hungrily while he works the pole like a cheap stripper, or how they stare at his voluptuous, bouncy ass while looking at him like a piece of meat~ This perverted champion was a virgin before enrolling into Beacon, and it wasn’t until his second night that he was finally broken in by the entire football team. Fresh out of practice, each one had a turn with the shy yet eager girlyboi, teaching him everything he needed to know about how to properly clean a sweaty pair of cumchurners.

On top of being the best poledancer the school has ever had, Pyrrha also finds himself as captain of the cheer squad, having joined the group the morning after his lovely greeting by the team. Now you can find Pyrrha in the locker rooms after every game, win or lose, ready to be the stress toy for the guys who haven’t even showered yet. And it was this constant exposure to big, sweaty, smelly men that lead the poor little slut to becoming Beacon’s biggest scent freak as well~

“Hello~! Th-This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want t-to me, Darling~! I hope we all get along wonderfully! Would you like for me to p-polish your balls~? Maybe you’d like for me to show you why the team calls me their personal goal post~? I-It’s because my legs are aways open~ Why not use my ponytail as a handlebar while you use and abuse my tight, hot, slutty little asshole~? please be as rough and forceful as you can~ Yank on my hair and smack my ass, make me your dirty little bitch~! I’m here to please, so use my body however you fucking want and stuff me full of you cum~! A-And if you don’t mind.. Could you please slap your cock all over my face and let my worship your balls~? I-I love doing that~”

———————————————–

Penny Polendina

Penny, the adorably eager little slutbot, has been enrolled into Beacon as the prototype model for Altas’ soon to be announced line of sexdroids, and he’s very eager to learn how to be the perfect little slut he was designed to be~ A little airheaded, and too innocent for his own good, Penny will do just about anything you order him to, if he thinks it’ll teach him how to be a better fuckdoll~ From his fat little heart-shaped ass, to his perky little nipples and mini prick, this sentient sextoy was made to be the perfect set of holes for even the roughest of users~ This little bitch is incapable of feeling pain, does not have to breath, and was made with self heating, vibrating holes. Though he can twerk with the best of them, his blowjobs are his defining feature~ Now, this little redhead is very eager to learn how to be the best slut money can buy, doesn’t know how to say no, and loves making new friends. So why not grab a handful of his plush little bottom and do whatever you want to this cute little whore! Choke him, slap him, spit in his face, call him a useless pile of scrap metal! He’ll love every second of it, and say thank you with smile on his face~

As Beacon’s unofficial school mascot, Penny was the perfect fit for joining the cheer squad with his fellow redhead! Bubbly, adorable, perky, and looks damn fine in a mini-skirt, he’s the center of attention at any cheer practice session~! Everyone’s favorite thing to do with the little roboslut is to ‘flip his switch’, activate his slutty programming, and set it into overdrive~ Gone is the lovable, quirky little sweetheart, and in his place is one of the biggest sluts Beacon has ever seen~! Slut-mode Penny has no shame when it comes to dropping to his knees in a crowd, inviting everyone there to have a turn with his eager little mouth while he stares up with a look of pure, whorish hunger~ Penny won’t stop until he runs out of battery, taking groups of people all at the same time as they fill each of his holes. Some students even using him as a simple nut cleaner.

“Salutations! This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me, please help me learn how to be a slut! I enjoy anal, cumshots, and larger men! Before I came here, Mister Ironwood would use me as his personal sack warmer so I would sit under his desk for hours with his cock dripping on my face while I continuously suckled on his balls~ It always tasted so good, it’s now my favorite part of men to put in my mouth~! He also used to call me his good little sissy, so I love that as well! I’m well versed in all kinds of seduction and sex acts, so please specify what you’d like for me to do for you Sir~!”

———————————————–

Ruby Rose

Little Ruby Rose is not as innocent as he looks, his Daddy made sure of that. While he may not be the most depraved, he definitely loves fat cocks and big yummy balls. He loves when big strong men treat him like a toy, picking him up, slamming him against a wall, and making him squeal like a whore. He may not have the massive tits that that bimbos usually do, but Ruby has an ass made for fucking, slapping, and groping.

“This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me! I can’t wait to make some new friends~! I love cookies, strawberry cake, and big fat sweaty cocks! I hope you like me calling you Daddy, ‘cause I really do! I know I’m kinda new to this, but this ass can take whatever you give~ Please fuck me extra hard, and maybe spank me while you pull my hair~? Please Daddy~!”

———————————————–

Weiss Schnee

Weiss is not your typical bitchy rich boi. He loves big fat cocks to slap him across the face and have a pair of heavy balls rubbed all over it. He loves tarnishing the Schnee name by posting video after video of him taking the biggest cocks in every one of his little holes. He loves to service faunus cock and send the proof to her father.

“I hope you’re watching ‘Daddy’~! Watch your disgracefuly slutty son debase himself for all this fat cock! Ahem! This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me~! Make this privileged little bitch your dirty fucking cumdump and send all the vids and pics to *** ***-****! My ‘Daddy’ will probably want to kill you though!”

———————————————–

Blake Belladonna

Blake Bellabooty, the kitty cat cock slut. He has one the best ass’ around, and he knows it. Yoga pants, booty shorts, thongs, anything to make his fat ass the center of attention. He loves twerking his ass for pretty much anyone who asks. He especially loves shaking it on someone’s lap, grinding his bubble butt right up against a hard throbbing cock. Blake has a rivalry going on with Emerald, both of them believing they have the most fuckable ass, which usually leads to a twerk battle with both of them taking off clothing as to get more votes. By the end they’re always completely naked in public, bouncing their booty’s and showing off their holes for the crowd while begging for votes and cock.

“This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me. I like petplay so ask me for my collar and leash~ I love having huge cocks fucking me into a little slutty mess while someone spanks my fat ass. And yes, it is a fat ass. My ass, the Bellabooty, was made to get fucked, made to be used~”

———————————————–

Yang Xiao Long

Yang is a total party slut~! He’s the life of every party and orgy he can get into to, the center of attention. You can find him dressed to the nines in slutty clothes, shaking his ass for anybody who asks while offering his body up for public use~! A total daddy’s boi, he can’t get enough punishment.

“This is an invitation to do whatever the fuck you want to me~! I love parties, cum, cock, and anybody who want’s to be my daddy~! I just wanna live life like the slut I am and suck some fat sweaty dicks whenever I can~! Come on, let me dance for you, whip that cock out, let’s have some fun~!“

—————————————-

(I’ll be doing the same thing for all the bois at some point) 

Girls to bois: Ruby Rose Weiss Schnee Blake Belladonna Yang Xiao Long Nora Valkyrie Pyrrha Nikos Penny Polendina Ciel Soleil Cinder Fall Emerald Sustrai Neo Salem Glynda Goodwitch Coco Adel Velvet Scarlatina Neon Katt Winter Schnee Kali Belladonna Sienna Khan Ilia Amitola Fembois: Neo (I just really like the idea of him being a trap~!) Jaune Arc Lie Ren Sun Wukong Oscar Pine Whitley Schnee Adam Taurus Mercury Black Roman Torchwick Qrow Branwen (A drunk trap!) Ozpin James Ironwood

[This is a work in progress! Not all of them may stay! I might have missed some, just assume that if I’ve posted about them on my main blog, they’re allowed here to!]

[fictional-downey]

Demons

I am going back and reworking this fic, changing things I wasn’t happy with, etc, and I thought, why not repost it here?  After all, “fictional-downey” was chosen for a reason, and this was it.  I AM A FEEDBACK WHORE so feel free to comment, good or bad (as long as it’s done tastefully, no need to be cruel).  The fic is a little dated, so I’ve begun to change a few things to bring it into the now (imagination, yeah?), but cannot change the fact that music is usually what inspires parts of fics for me and this one was no different.  When “Demons” came out, oh so long ago, Nathan was the first character I thought of, so it had to stay in the first chapter.  Thanks and have a good read!  (BONUS - The first chapter is SMUT!  Not that that’s all you kind people want...)

Chapter 1 - Stranger in a Bar

        Friday night in mid, unseasonably warm October.  There were high school football games being played, couples on dates, husbands and wives playing with their children…but Nathan Gardner was seated at a bar, his second scotch in hand.  This wasn’t Nathan’s usual haunt, but he had stupidly agreed to go out with a couple of casual friends and this was where the night led him.  They told him he needed to “get out there” – he hated that phrase – as well as celebrate getting his old job back.  Steven and Jeff were actually out on the small dance floor trying desperately to flirt with a group of women.  Nathan just shook his head and looked back down into his glass.

         He tried so hard to stop drinking after the fiasco with Charlie, but he was weak.  With his ex-wife still riding his back and the superintendent unhappy about his reinstatement as a teacher, he wasn’t in the mood to try and “fix himself.”  He had just set the empty tumbler down when he heard the barstool next to him move.  He sighed, hoping it wasn’t some chatty creeper who struck out with the women present in the bar.

         “Tequila,” a voice, very much not male, said,  “coconut if you have it…and pineapple juice.”

         “In it?” the bartender asked.

         “Nah, chaser.  I know, it’s girly.”  After a moment Nathan, who was only looking at the wooden bar top, saw two shot glasses placed next to him.  “Thank you,” the woman said.  He watched her manicured hand lift the glass with the tequila, then the one with the pineapple juice.  She all but slammed them down when she was finished.  “Well, that’s a start,” she said to herself.

         Nathan looked up at her, curiosity getting the best of him.  He began to wish for the chatty creeper.  The woman was brunette with dark eyes and berry stained lips.  She had heavy bangs, a neat ponytail, and was clearly going for some type of dramatic look with her dark smoky eye makeup.  Early thirties he guessed…and she realized he was looking at her.

         “Are you going to say something or just keep looking?” she asked, somewhat amused.

         “Ah, sorry,” he stammered.  “Didn’t mean…sorry.”  He waved for the bartender.  “Same.”

         “Amaretto sour,” she said quickly, not wanting the bartender to leave without getting her something else.  They were served at the same time and when she took her drink she looked at Nathan.  “Bye.”  He tried not to, but he watched as she walked away.  She was in a version of the cliched “little black dress”, a generously low cut one that hugged her curves, and black heels.  

         The establishment wasn’t the small, quiet bar Nathan was used to, but it wasn’t like one of the downtown clubs either; it fell somewhere in between.  It was crowded and loud, people were dancing and carrying on, but Nathan was able to keep to himself - especially since his so-called “friends” had forgotten about him.  As long as he could drink, he was fine.

         An hour passed and the woman once again wound up beside him.  “If you’re not going to move from this stool, you’re doing a shot with me.”

         “Uh, no, I’m good,” Nathan said, completely avoiding eye contact with her.

         She pushed herself into his line of sight, wanting to get a better look at him in the dim light.  “I don’t think so,” she said, obviously tipsy.  “Two…cherry tootsie pops!” she said, holding her hand up in the air.  A minute or so later, there was a shot in front of each of them.  “When a woman buys you a drink, it’s only polite to take it.”  She nudged the shot glass closer to him and he took it, albeit reluctantly.  She smiled at him and he felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards…this caused her to smile wider.  “That’s what I thought.”  She held up her glass and he clinked his own against it.  “To a less lonely night,” she said with a wink.  They both downed the shot and put their glasses down.

         “That actually tasted like…”

        “Like being a kid, right?”  She put her hand on his shoulder.  “I’m Sydney.  Dance with me.”

        “I need a lot more to drink before I can even start to think about that.”

        “I can arrange that…”  She looked at him, waiting for a name.

        He shook his head, knowing he was going to give in.  “Nathan.”

        “That’s not a bar name.  I like it.”

        Nathan raised an eyebrow in question.  “Not a bar name?  What does that mean?”

        Sydney giggled.  “It’s a girl thing, but it’s good…promise.”  She ordered two more shots and Nathan let himself loosen up a little.  “So, why are you drinking all alone on a Friday night, Nathan?”

        “I’m not alone…exactly.”  He looked out at the dance floor.  “My ‘friends’ are…”  He rubbed the back of his neck.  “…trying too hard.  Meanwhile, same question to you.”

        “I’m not alone either…your friends are attempting to hit on mine.”  She sat, fumbling a little, on the stool next to Nathan’s.  “Girls’ night,” she said sarcastically.  “They sorta forced me.”

        “Me too,” he chuckled.

        Sydney took a long, deep breath, then turned her whole body toward Nathan’s.  The music changed to a song she loved and she gave him the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.  “We could be miserable together…out there.”

        “Look, uh…”  He struggled to remember her name for a moment.  “…Sydney.  I really don’t think…”

        “Exactly!  Let’s not think.”  She grabbed his hand.  “Neither of us want to be here and we’ve both had enough to drink to make this plausible…pretty please?”  

        He shrugged, then looked at his friends.  They were trying to dance with the women around them, while this very attractive woman was begging for him to do the same.  If anything, maybe this would get them off his back.  “Okay.”  Sydney beamed as she took his arm and all but dragged him out into the crowd.

        “I’m a terrible dancer,” she laughed.  “Fair warning.”  She stumbled a bit, trying to dance on her own and Nathan watched her, barely moving his feet.  Without warning, Sydney flung her arms around his neck and her dancing style changed.  Nathan didn’t even realize he was putting his arms around her until he felt his body  pressing against hers.  “Mmm…”  He could barely hear her above the music, but the sound was there.  She ran her hands along his arms.  “Strong,” she said with a coy smile.  “You don’t dress how you’re built, do you?”

        “I don’t put much thought into it,” he answered honestly.  He was in a rumpled button down shirt, his tie crooked, and his pants were a size too big.

        “Well then, good thing you’re hot,” she added, her finger tracing his jaw line.  Nathan blushed instantly.  She giggled.  “Like you don’t know it.”  She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them he looked…nervous.

        “I…”

        “Not hit on much?”

        “Not hit on ever.”  He inhaled her perfume, light with a strange hint of chocolate.  He didn’t mean for it to happen, but his body reacted.  What could have been the highest form of embarrassment was overlooked as Sydney’s lips found his.  It was closed mouthed and quick, but it was enough to make him allow some lines to blur.

        “Let’s remedy that, hm?”  She pulled him off the dance floor and back to the bar.  A few more shots later and he was losing the remaining tenseness in his muscles.  “My fiancé dumped me for a man,” Sydney confessed.  They had moved to a table and she was sitting on his lap, nuzzling his neck.  His hand was on her backside.  “‘New boyfriend’ left me a couple of days ago…well, sort of…he left for work a while ago, but just officially dumped me... ”  She stopped talking and circled his ear with her tongue.

        “Assholes,” Nathan said, his eyes half closed as he enjoyed the feelings running through him.  “My ex-wife slept with anything that had a pulse…”

        “Bitch.”  She moved her hands to his face and looked at him.  “I know how you want to kiss me…you should just do it.”

        “Yeah?”  

        She licked at her upper lip.  “Yeah…”  Her word was swallowed as Nathan kissed her, his tongue searching out hers.  Without breaking the kiss, she moved her body so she straddled him, grinding against his growing erection.  She moaned into his whiskey soaked mouth, her body aching with want, then broke the kiss and rose from his lap.  She saw the look on his face and bent down to kiss him again.  “Just need…little girls room…”  She winked and steadied herself as she walked to the restrooms.  When she returned, she grabbed his tie, pulling him up from his seat.  “Dance,” she said.  This time she didn’t have to ask twice.

        They shamelessly ground against one another to the beat of the music.  Nathan’s hands were curious and Sydney didn’t bat them away; hers were just as curious.  Both sets of friends noticed them and laughed it off as a drunken tryst, which it most certainly was…for a while.

        “I haven’t…no fun for…”  It wasn’t the alcohol affecting Nathan’s words, it was Sydney’s fingers running along his waistband.

        “I’m gonna offer you something men would kill for,” Sydney whispered in his ear.

        “Oh?”  He cocked an eyebrow, his mouth dry.

        “I got something from the…vending machine in the bathroom.”

        Nathan immediately knew what she meant and became rock hard.  He hadn’t felt like this in years…he wanted the contact so much it hurt.  “Not nice to tease.”

        “Not teasing,” Sydney purred.  “No last names, no phone numbers…I could care less what you make a year or even if you’re a fucking serial killer.”  She kissed him, slow and wet.  “Have you ever slept with a stranger from a bar?”  He shook his head.  “Me either…and I want to.”

        “I…”

        She stopped him.  “Don’t tell me you don’t want to feel good for a night…”

        “I do,” he growled, unable to help himself.

        She smiled, please with his answer.  “You’ve been hard a few times tonight, Nathan.”

        “Have you been wet?”  He couldn’t believe those words passed his lips.  She guided his hand under the hem of her dress, nobody noticing them.  “Fuck,” he breathed, feeling the answer to her question.  He wavered for a moment, unsure if it was due to the alcohol or his awakened hormones.

        “No strings.”  She stroked him through his pants.

        “Where?”

        The tone of her voice was desperate and needy.  “It doesn’t matter…”  She kissed him once more,  grabbing his erection as she did so.  “I’m betting it’s been a while, hm?”  He nodded, his eyes closed and his head tipped back.  “Might not last if we don’t…”  The ill fitting pants were a great help as Sydney’s hand dipped below the waistband, beyond his boxers, and found his bare length.  His body shuddered and his breath hitched.  “Poor baby,” she cooed.

        Nathan’s hand went back under her dress.  “And you?”

        “He was gone a couple of months before he ended…”  She gasped as he stroked the damp fabric between her legs.  “…it.”

        Nathan pulled her closer, still moving enough to look like they were dancing.  He put his lips next to her ear and breathed, “I want to touch you.”

        “You are.”

“I want to feel you.”

        Sydney pulled back just enough to look him in the eye.  “I’m not saying ‘no’ am I?”  It was all Nathan needed to hear.  Her soft hand still stroking him, he pushed her panties aside and slid a finger inside her.  “Fuck,” she panted.

        He bit at his lip as they remained in the crowd, their hands working one another into a frenzy.  “If you don’t stop I’m gonna…”

        “That’s the point.”  She licked his neck.  “Quick mess now means a longer time with me later.”

“Christ…you’re so…ah…”  He felt a surge of new moisture on his finger and he knew he’d made her come…he followed suit, not caring where the mess went.

“Good boy,” Sydney whispered, her cheeks glowing.  “I’ve got it, baby.”  She slyly removed her hand and went to the restroom again.  Nathan worried she wouldn’t come back.

After a few minutes, he went back to the bar, convinced she had, indeed, left.  “’Nother,” he slurred, his body as light as his head.  He hadn’t even bothered touching himself for longer than he could remember and tonight a complete stranger got him off in a crowd of a hundred or so people.  “Hallucinating?” he asked himself, as yet another tumbler appeared before him.

“I was real last time I checked,” Sydney said, wrapping her arms around him from behind.  She kissed the side of his neck.  “Feel good?”

Nathan turned on the stool and took her into his arms, kissing her unabashedly.  His tongue sought out all it could and his hands wandered her back.  “Who are you?” he asked.

Sydney shook her head.  “I told you.  I’m Sydney.”  He wasn’t going to get any more from her.  “We’re two lonely people on a night out neither of us wanted.”  She smiled at him.  “We’re one another’s future good memories with no regrets.”  

“This…this doesn’t happen,” he slurred.  “Happens in movies and, well, pornos and shit…”  Sydney laughed.  “…but real life?”

“Changing your mind?”

“No!” he yelled, far too eager.

“Good.”  She took his hand and led him back to the table they occupied before, so she could sit on his lap again.  “I want you to tell me what you wanna to do me.”

“What?”

“We’ve both had plenty to shut off our filters…”  She nuzzled into his neck again, lightly nipping at his flesh.  “What are you thinking about doing to me right now?”  She sucked his earlobe.  “Be dirty, baby.”  She felt the muscles in his chest tighten for a moment.    

“I…”  Drunk as he was, he just couldn’t.

“Please, baby,” Sydney purred, accentuating the anonymous placeholder.  She was trying to use his name as little as possible; it kept things easier.  “Every dirty little thing you’ve wanted since your ex did what she did…tell me.”

“I wanna bury my cock inside you,” he confessed, unable to stop.  Sydney was right, the filters were gone.  His voice stayed low as he continued.  “I want to fuck you…I want to make you come, coating me…”  He was kissing her chest, his tongue dipping into her cleavage.  “I want you to clench around me and make me…”

“Make you what?”

“I wanna fucking explode,” he growled.

        Satisfied, she rose from his lap and grabbed his arm.  They went out the front door of the bar and were immediately illuminated by the streetlight.   “Jesus, you’re fucking gorgeous,” Sydney all but moaned.  “In there yeah, but…fuck, Nathan…”  He blushed, thinking the same of her, but also thinking she was putting him on.  “You don’t believe me.”  She saw the few lines around his eyes, the traces of gray in his hair and stub - and it made her knees weak.  “You’re in your prime.”  He smiled at her and that was it.  “Do that…do that a lot more.”  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again, heat and want flooding her body.

        “You’re beautiful,” he breathed.  “I can’t…fuck, I…”

        “Oh, yes you can, Nathan…”  She looked around and smiled.  “Back here.”  She led him to side of the building.  The bar was in a nice enough area that it wasn’t a typical “dirty” alleyway, just a throughway between businesses…with a half fence to keep anyone from seeing them.  There was one dim light above them and she saw doubt in his eyes for a moment.  

        He pressed her body to the brick wall with gentle force.  “Why me?” he asked, his voice raspy with want and tainted by confusion.  “All the guys in there, all the younger, better looking…”

Sydney put her finger to his lips.  “First of all, I repeat, you’re gorgeous.  Younger men are a pain in the ass…”  Her body trembled for a dozen different reasons.  “…and you looked broken.”

“You’ve no idea,” he whispered.  

“Two broken people…”  She rubbed his back as he began to place hot, wet kisses along her neck.  He found a spot between her neck and shoulder that made her back arch and she pressed into him.  “…they should be able to fix something for a bit when put together, don’t you think?”

“Never thought of it…”  He kissed her lips, chaste at first.  “…that way..”   His kisses deepened and Sydney mewed into his mouth.  “Tell me you want me,” he whispered, needing to hear it, needing to know this was real.

“I want you,” she said surely.  “Moment I saw you…crazy…stupid…”

“No…”  He reached up under her dress to stroke her again and found no barrier in the way.

        “In my purse,” she answered before he could question.  “So’s…” Nathan understood and backed off, letting her bend and rifle through her small black bag.  She pulled out the foil packet and reached for his belt.  They could hear the music from inside the bar as she released his length out into the unseasonable air.  

When the days are cold…and the cards all fold…and the saints we see…are all made of gold…

She couldn’t help but smile when she looked down.  “Knew what I felt was good.”

When your dreams all fail…and the ones we hail…are the worst of all…and the blood’s run stale…

        He gasped as she sheathed him, even that act feeling better than anything in years.  She looked at him with full, parted lips and could see that he needed just one more nudge.  “It’s okay, baby,” she cooed, stroking his face.  “Fill me.  We’re not making love here, no need to…be formal or anything.”  Nathan took her left leg and hiked it onto his hip.  He ran his length along her folds for a moment, giving her the chance to change her mind.  “Fuck me,” she begged.

        I want to hide the truth…I want to shelter you…but with the beast inside there’s nowhere we can hide…


        Nathan slid himself inside her body and let out a low growl.  He immediately claimed her lips as he reached for her other leg and wrapped them both around his waist.  “Christ,” he breathed, coming up for air.  

“Talk to me,” she cried.  “Tell me…” She wanted to hear every dirty thing he had to say to her.

No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed…This is my kingdom come…This is my kingdom come…

        “So fucking tight,” he grunted.  “So wet…warm…”  He placed his arms between her back and the brick wall, not wanting to hurt her.  “Fuck, Syd,” he hissed…and she hated how he’d just said her name - like he knew her, like he could have cared for her.

        “Harder,” Sydney panted, wanting to break the brief spell she was under.  “Your cock feels amazing, baby…so hard, so big…”  She got what she wanted as Nathan’s thrusts increased.   He held her close to him and she felt how strong he really was.  The air was sobering, but her mind didn’t change.  Nathan looked into her eyes, he was beginning to sober as well, but his pace stayed strong, enjoying every bit of pleasure coursing thorough his body.

        When you feel my heat, look into my eyes…It’s where my demons hide…It’s where my demons hide…
Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside…it’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide…



        “You feel so good,” he whispered in her ear.  “Will you come for me?”

        When the curtain’s call is the last of all…When the lights fade out all the sinners crawl…So they dug your grave and the masquerade…Will come calling out at the mess you made…



         “Yes,” she whined, her body tensing.   She bit on his shoulder to muffle herself and Nathan groaned as her walls clenched around him.  “Fuck…fuck yes…Nathan…”  She regretted saying his name.

        “Say my name again,” he all but demanded.  “Come on me again.”

Don’t want to let you down, but I am hell bound…Though this is all for you, don’t want to hide the truth…No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed…This is my kingdom come…This is my kingdom come…


        He rolled his hips, thrusting deeper within her and she did as he asked, calling out his name, knowing she shouldn’t, but wanting to all the same.  “So good, Nathan…so...fucking…good…”

When you feel my heat, look into my eyes…It’s where my demons hide…It’s where my demons hide…Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside…It’s where my demons hide…It’s where my demons hide…



        She tightened around him again and he couldn’t stop what was running through him.  He kissed her, desperate for the contact, and spilled himself.  “Sydney,” he breathed against her neck.  Nathan thrust once more as his body convulsed with sheer pleasure.  He said nothing else as he slid from her depths and placed her feet back on the ground.  They could still hear the commotion inside the bar, but it sounded worlds away.  “I…”

        Sydney smiled.  “I know.”  She smoothed out her dress and picked up her purse as he disposed of the condom and put himself back in order.  He then took her hand and they made their way back to the front of the building.

        “Staying?”

        She shook her head.  “I don’t think so.”  She looked at the ground.  “I’m pretty sure they won’t miss me. I’ll just get a cab and…” When she looked back up, she was captivated by his eyes and her words simply stopped.

They say it's what you make, I say it's up to fate…It's woven in my soul, I need to let you go…



        “Let me,” Nathan said, not realizing the effect he was having on her.  He hailed the cab that was coming down the street.

        Your eyes, they shine so bright…I want to save their light…I can't escape this now…Unless you show me how…

        The cab stopped and Sydney opened the door.  “Thank you,” she said, “for the cab and…well…”  She looked at him, blushing.  “I said no strings, but…”  Nathan’s heart began to race.  She put her arms around him and her lips to his ear.  “…would you mind if I named my toy after you?”  Nathan’s eyes went wide.  “Don’t be embarrassed, I’m not.”

        “I’m not…I think I’m flattered.”

        “You should be…that was…”  She stopped herself.  “Fuck it, we’ll never see each other again.  Nathan, that was the best orgasm of my life.”  She kissed him and he reciprocated, heat beginning to rise between them again.  She pulled back.  “Get home safe.”  She got into the cab and he watched it take her away.

        When you feel my heat, look into my eyes…It’s where my demons hide…It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside…It’s where my demons hide…It’s where my demons hide…

[animaginativegirl]

Transforming Truth

I watched my two sisters eating the living hell out of the beefsteak on their plates. While me being an introvert child in the family is holding a phone filming every funny acts that their doing. Their habit was totally so unmanerred and their high class etiquettes were gone really bad. As Violet Carbonelle my older sister is munching her beefsteak like a pig, Lavender Carbonelle my second older sister on the other hand was beating her by eating like a monkey with both hands. She eats the last piece of beefsteak and said finish, “I win! Viol you lose bwaahahaha such a loser.”“In your face Lav your just lucky today even though you won, It just proves you’re a monkey that eats like a lion.” wiping the mess of beefsteak on her face.

Lavender rolled her eyes at her. “Shut up Viol.” Violet smirked at her. “You know what they say, you are what you eat.” Lavender looked pissed. “Look whose talk-”

I cut off the rest of their conversation as I clicked the stop button and slam myself in the couch in the living room. Spreading my feet in the comfy seat, I looked over the beefsteak eating contest laughing at my two sisters faces .Lavender is the immature one of our siblings we are actually five and I’m the youngest of them all. My other guy sibling's names are Andrew and Lucas Carbonelle they are a lot more playful in their own circle of friends than with us, having a family bonding together. So back to Lavender she seems the silliest of us but everyone knows not to get on her bad side. Her bad side proves that she is indeed a monster.

“So baby sis, how’s life being a Quider’s wife.”

“Not so good Sister Lavender.”

“You’re not yet in love with that gorgeously handsome guy.”

“No Sister Violet I will not fall for that jerk.”

“Why?”

“His personalities are annoying.”

“I don’t believe you baby sis because the way you look at him there’s a spark in your eyes .Such an indenial Queen.”

“WHATEVER.”

I don’t have the looks of a teenager Andrea brilliantes or the attitude of a sweet little girl. Andrew and Lucas describe me as deadly when you get to know me, Very .To the outside of my comfort zone people say I’m shy and quiet. Violet and my best friend Cassie Quider would give them the ‘Are you seriously crazy look?’ Look. I’m loud? Depends on which I have my close friends and families. But I’m quiet when I’m with other people I barely know .I’ll just curled up in my room read a good book .In short ,I’m plain and boring me. I’m a girl with long curl hair that needs to be cut and layered, has no fashion sense in wearing clothes and doesn’t like hanging out with people. When I first found my best friend in my high school days because she wasn’t like the other girls who are too complainants and can’t stop talking gossip to other peoples lives. I look towards the heaven and yelled to god my ‘thank you’. That resulted to my living nightmare.

Three Months ago during the last day of our class .Cassies’s roommate Girlie Savidra invited as to go to the bar. Most of my classmates would be there as a gathering .She was so excited to go to the bar because Its our first time .I've never been there before ever in my whole existence in this world. So Cassie and I went to the bar together with Girlie .We are having fun at first ,but after a few hours because of my drunken state the bar became too crowded for my vision. As I look to the other side my classmates as will are so drunk that their dancing wildly and crazily. “Cass we need to go were drunk .We are not safe her. I need to sleep, my vision are getting blur and blurry.” But Cassie is not listening so I start walking finding a way to get out of this bar .But my vision is getting blurry and blurry every seconds that I actually bumped someone. I was glad someone catches me before I fall deeply face to face on the floor because of my clumsiness. “Thank you, Sir. You can now let go of me I can handl-”but before I can finish my word the stranger dragged me to the exit of the bar and never letting go of my hand. As we walk, he drags me to his car. “Where are we going? Why are you dragging me in your car?” “Shut up Marinie!”

When my phone rang, it indicates an alarmed sound of my waking clock. A man was the first to rouse. Turning sideways, I realized that I had fallen asleep in a man’s arms! After about three seconds, the event of the previous night started coming back to me. Thunderstruck, I hurriedly jump off the bed and run towards the toilet in a panic. “Oh my god, what happened to me?” As I saw myself naked in the bathroom’s mirror. I hurriedly grab a robe to cover my nakedness and start counting one to ten to ease my fast heartbeat and start opening the door. "Ok Mr. I doesn’t know the name. Who dragged me to my own house .What really happen? And why am I naked in this bedroom of mine?”I was talking to him in a calm tone. “You’re not panicking? Such an amazing woman I must say---.”

Before the guy can start talking the whole event that had happen to us when I’m sleeping. There is someone opening the door that reveals my parents shock as I was."What happen in here?"My dad serious voice as he speaks occupied the room while looking at the both of us."Why are the both of you are not properly with clothes? Jolly get dress properly now and start explaining, what you just did with a guy wearing a boxer?"Mommy's hint of disappointment is evident to her tone and face. What have I done to my contentedly peaceful life? As my parents were gone I looked to the guy's face with furrowed eye brows and scan my room.It’s a mess the bedsheet had a small bright red stain. Female and male clothes are scruffy on the floor behind the bed. I had too much alcohol the night before, which caused me a splitting headache.But this did not hinder my thoughts process.In just about a second, I figured out what had happen between the two of us.

It is not a dream! I’m not dreaming!

Everthing is real!

But the big question is why did the guy knows my home address? I have no other friends except Cassie she is the one who knows my address.I told her my address because she is my bestfriend. My face darkened as I clenched my hand ready to punched the guy's face, who’s in front of me, but I refrained myself from doing it because it is useless .So I yanked my closet open, grab a decent dress and also an internal girls stuff and marched toward the bathroom with a mask of angered face. As I slammed the bathroom's door I shout at him the line 'I am not yet done with you.'

Now I’m walking on the stairs of our two-story mansion down to the first floor where the Office room is located I knocked three times before I open and entered that room .before I can sit down I can see different faces in the room a middle age handsome man, a young handsome man and the king beast who is gorgeously handsome that gives me a headache this morning and also my father Robert who is in his office table and my mom Claire who is beside him.

"Here she is, so it’s stilled now."

"Yes of course Robert. My niece Aaron was willing to take responsibilities for what happen to them. He is willing to marry Jolly. I can say his willing to settle down NOW."

"What! I taught I’m the one who would marry her in the future, because we are fix to be together in the beginning.MommyLa told me that even she is not yet born she will be my wife that’s the tradition of a Carbonelle and a Quider families lineage."

"Yes it is true Adrian, but what happen right now will change. You are free to choose who you want to marry in the Carbonelle's female daughters except my daughter Jolly."

"Mom what’s happening? Who's marrying whom as a tradition?"

"Claire aren’t your daughter suppose to know the tradition of the two families?”

"I’m not marrying anyone in this room. And it’s final."

"JOLLY MARINIE who give you the permission to decline the Quider family. That’s the tradition, only the boys of the Carbonelle and Quider will choose who they want to marry. So settle down and filter your mouth."

“But ….Daddy!" I look at my dad and said my disgust but refrain because of his serious face,facing at me. I look at the side and pleas mom."Mommy please."but failed.

They did not tell me of this tradition thing In Just a day,I became a Mrs. Quider. A wife’s man I barely know with the help of our family lawyer.

As I got home from my parents house I see an Adonis waiting for me in the open front door of our house I let my eyes adjust to the sunlight as I stared at my husband Aaron who's holding the door knob. “Was it fun being with your sisters and not being by my side?” His brown eyes bore into my black ones and I couldn’t speak as I looked into them .They were filled with so many emotion, more feelings are evident as I looked at his face. He was not familiar to me but something inside me said that I know him . His dark hair fell into his eyes and he blew at the strands to move them away from his face. His hair was a messy bed head. His breath smelled like mint and I had to admit when I looked at him he was handsome –no scratch that he was hot and an extremely gorgeously handsome man and it wasn’t something I could not ignore.

“I…am … so .. Happy when I’m with them. ” ‘I’m sorry’ the words that I want to say towards him but no I would not say it loud, I’m not going to be a softhearted towards him, because of him my life change .

“Next time, be a responsible wife to call me if you’re not coming home. I’m worried sick finding you.”

I ignore him.I walk toward the stairs to our room. Put aside the things and hurriedly jump to bed without changing my clothes. I’m tired of all the shits that I had been through with him I have been married with him for about three months. However, it was not a marriage fall of love and our families was aware of that.After we had married, we had effectively avoided each other with tacit understanding.Once we were out of the house automatically we regarded one another as a stranger. But now he just broke a cold treatment with me. How will I react? Just the thought of it made me shudder in fear and panic. I heard a vaguely footsteps coming closer from the room. I act asleep as the door open.

"I know you’re not yet sleeping.Can we talk? A serious talked." "What is it?"

"Can we settle our problem.Can you stop pretending that I don't exist? I’m tired of pretending that Your not my wife, just please can you treat me as your husband or just your friend. Let’s try to be a normal married couple we should act as matured individuals please, I beg you."He plead "Mr. Aaron Jee Quider, I never knew you had the ability to take advantage of me, how could you climb into my bed when I was drunk.You pretend too. Acting like we did something sexual that night! If I remember correctly on our night as a married couple, like a lofty man,the first sentence you said was not to show affection and kindness to you!Now what?Just three months being married to me and you can't contain my cold treatment towards you?"Aaron was silent so I spoke again. "Or have you always wanted to be my husband so you can prove to your self that you’re not in love with me and you'll never will." The moment I said that I burst into laughter before I counted two then my laugh disappeared.I glared sharply at him and said."Will Mr. Quider you are trying to play with my emotion, right? So you want to play with me huh? Alright, I’ll make sure you'll lose and I will break you bit by bit!" I ended it with a cruel tone.

"You want to know the truth. Why I’m being like this? Okay. Fine I’ll tell you my story."

Many years ago

“Aaron where are you?”

An eight years old kid name Aaron who lay down to a Bermuda grass while playing his toy cars, hurriedly stand up."Mommy I'm here!" shouting to her mother while waving his little hands so his mother can see him.

His Mother smiled at him and come closer to where he is playing."The sun’s rays are so hot Baby. Why? Where you playing in this itchy Bermuda grass with your toys?" "I can't play with my car toys in there, Mom. I'm scared of the dark, there’s no Light in that house mom, it’s like a haunted house it’s creepy." She swiftly sweeps the dirt from the back of the kid's clothes."My baby is becoming impatient are we? Our maids and the things are not yet in here.There are still in manila. Your dad doesn’t have time to bring the things and also ManangLoding and April here in Oroquieta city baby. So be patient and please understand your daddy, alright baby." His Mother's voice is so nice to hear to the delectable little ears of Aaron it has a gentle and sweet tone the way the words spill out to her mouth it’s so sweet to hear. Unlike his father’s voice who has always wear a serious and angrily hard tone. Who always have an authority or demand voice. Aaron is totally scared of his father but his father’s attitudes towards him are kind and soft.Whenever his father returns home from work he would play toy cars with him. However his father is not constantly coming home at all times and sometimes he comes home after a year or a half because he is a soldier. His mom wipes away the sweat from his forehead down to his back. “Let’s eat! I cooked your favorite food, fried chicken!"

“Mommy, when will daddy come home?"He innocently questioned his mom.

“And Mommy, why did we move here in Oroquieta city?”

My mother holds my hand as we walk together returning from our new called house, that’s looked like a cottage. It’s so small unlike in manila that we have a mansion. We are in front of a man made mini forest now and it looks like a hide out to me.

“My baby Aaron doesn’t like it here? Do you? Your cousins are living in here. You well love it here that’s a promise, now you are not alone playing with your toy cars because your cousins are here they can be your playmate.”Little Aaron’s mouth blows air. “It’s different from manila.” "Very, because This place is more beautiful, peaceful, and has fresh air, Aaron don’t worry we will come back to manila if the time will come that your father’s works are fine and well done. But for now we need to be here for safety purposes.” He nods his head as he agrees.

“Mommy where is daddy now?” mom stilled and then smiled at me. “He’s somewhere saving people’s lives. Your dad is a superhero!” Aaron smiled. “Mommy, someday when I grow up can I be a superhero too?” She messed my hair. “Yes of course baby you can be the kindness superhero like daddy.”“Kindness?”

“Softhearted,caring and lovable.” Mom hugs him. “You can be a hero now, actually. You can help people and that makes you a hero.”“Without guns? I want a gun, mommy.” “If you’re old enough.You can have a gun. But for now just help who needs your help. For example if I need your help in carrying a basket full of foods in the market, if you’re playing with your cousins make sure they are safe so they would not be hurt, if there is an older person who is passing by in a highway who needs help you will be their helping guide. Okay baby.” He nods.

Aaron was born a hero. Even if his mother would not say something to help others, he will help and help who are in needs of help.

“Aaron!!!” His cousins are Levi and Jan who’s shouting his name for help. “Why?” he turned in their direction while he is playing basketball with Arniel and Kobe. His cousin Kobe hurriedly stole the ball from his hand and shoot, again he loses the game twice. “Adrian was trap, chasing the cat from a tree he can’t climb down because of the dogs surrounding the tree where the cat is. Adrian is scarred of the dogs. ” Jan who had the same age as him was telling all what had happened and now breathing heavily because of running. “He is crying. He’s helpless in there.” “Where?” panicked strike in his heart as the thought that his little cousin is in a big trouble. His cousin needs him.“There! There!” a running Levi pointed out where Adrian’s location is.

Outside of the house’s of Kobe. They all run and seen the helpless Adrian crying while hiding in the branch of a tree while the dogs are barking angrily at him. “Help me please! Someone help me!”Adrian while crying and shouting at the top of his lungs. “How can we help him, Aaron? The dogs are so huge!” Arniel said. Aaron bravely walks towards the dogs. “Aaron! Be careful of a dog’s bite it hurts so badly!”

Levi said to him stopping him from moving forward. He stop and shout at Adrian to let go of the cat that his holding.

His not scared of the dog’s bites. As long as Adrian is safe he will endure the pain if ever he will be bitten by the dogs. “Aaron can do it, god is within him.” “ADRIAN !” I called him as soon as he let go of the cat his holding “Run from the gate now.” As we run together hand in hand from the gate, where my cousins are waiting I pray to god my braveness and thanking him for our safety and my wisdom. As my cousins are cheering my braveness to save Adrian they shouted ‘you’re our hero’.

I felt proud. I’m a hero!

“That day I felt proud of myself Marinie because I became a hero, I told my mom about what happen and she is so proud of me but she also told me to beware of my action. She said I am becoming like my father.”

"GO ON TELL ME EVERYTHING."

“Your daddy hurriedly grabs the gun son to the enemy, I kick their feet and smash their face then I punch and punch and punch!, They landed on the floor and I hurriedly grab the last man and said you’re under arrest and you’re not getting away from all the crimes that you did.” My eyes look wide and wider I was amazed of my daddy’s story, my dad is brave! I WANT TO BE LIKE HIM!

“What had happened next dad?” Now that he’s nine years old, he is willing to listen to all he’s father’s combat stories about being a soldier.

“Bad will never wins against the good, “after his father finish all his stories thats full of smashing, punching, kicking and gun firing. Thank god he’s father is still alive and kicking!

I was amazed and I believed my father's capabilities when I was young about his dedications for his work .but eventually even I'm happy of the action moves and fighting skills about my father’s work my mom will contradict his works.

“What if you get shot? What if you never stole the gun from your enemy? You will be shot in the body several times by your enemies without you knowing and fighting it.” He accidentally heard all the sermons of his mother towards his father that day.

"Bettina, That’s in the past now. It did not happen alright? I’m in front of you now talking, arguing and alive” his father answered while holding his teary eye mother's hand. "I’m worried at you Art when never you’re on your mission.

"This is my work, before we knew each other. This is my job and as a soldier I need to protect our country's people."

As I walk outside of the room. I immediately hide back inside of the backdoor of my room when I heard my mother started crying.

"You’re always not around Art, Aaron was always asking where are you? He grow up not having a father by his side because your busy . I can't tell him that we are here in this situation because of you .Hiding like a thief because we are threaten to be killed by your enemies.” mom pushes dad a side. “Art, I’m tired, tired of this mess .Since I’m pregnant with Aaron, I’m all ways hiding. Scared to be caught because of your stupid job .Mom was right I should have not married you in the first place!”I heard dads gasp. "BETTINA, what are you talking about? Before we get married I already settle it with you - "

"Yes, Art you already cleared it to my face that we are not your first priority. Never will be your first priority because we are just your family I understand clearly even though your not their when I give birth to Aaron, I did understand you even it’s so difficult in my part because I need you that time ,I need my husband beside me caring and supporting me, but you’re not there."

"Why do you have to castigate me now? Bettina? Aaron is now nine years old why do you have to dig the past that was nine years ago."

"No Art it wasn’t nine years ago that you lack. Ever since you married me I never ever feel that I have a husband, that I am married. I made the biggest mistake of my life marrying you! , you are always so good at promising. I should have done the right thing. I should have not married you when you impregnate me.”

"Stop you don’t mean that! Right? We love each other."

"I don’t know anymore I love you still Art, but I can’t no longer contain myself being scared every day. Doubting when never you’re always away. I don’t know when you will come back alive or dead. I don’t want to endure the pain anymore when never I wanted you, needed you by my side." I wanted to cover my ears because of their shouts, while fighting each other. I never understand anything at all that they arguing.

I pecked at them then I saw dad hugging mom so tight.

"I love you so much Bettina and I love Aaron too."

"If you love us please leave your job alone! I want a peaceful life for you and for my son."

"No I will not leave my job Bettina many Filipino people need a soldier like me.”

“How come you always priorities others more than your family? You are the one who we need Art, Aaron needs you! Please Art! You have already served enough being a soldier to all the people in this nation., Please I beg you to be selfish enough and choose us just for once in your life." Aaron doesn’t know if his father answered it .He just saw them hugging while his mom was crying really hard. The next day, his father’s gone again to save other people’s lives.

Aaron was twelve years old when his father’s rank in the army elevated. Until he became a major general they are present in his father’s ceremony. There is a pin that his mother put in his father’s uniform then everyone clap and I salute my father. "One day, you’ll be the hero Aaron.” He said while messing my hair.

There was no new in his family’s set up. He was eighteen when he enrolled a university in manila for a criminology course in college he tried his best to have a higher grade in the first semester because he was inspired and he did have a high grade. After the whole semester was done he was really excited to go home to his mom to tell the good news and his mom will give birth soon in this month. The month of February he will have a baby sister.

“Mom, did dad called you?” I asked mom while I was busy peeling a green mango for her. Next week is her due date.

"Yes son he called yesterday, he’ll try to be with me when I give birth to your baby sister.” Mom’s nose crease. “But I will no longer hope it’s just a promise that he’ll break."

"Mom, don’t say that, dad will be with us, he is trying his best to be with us alright, so he will be here when you give birth. So cheer up mom.” as I console my mother and defend my father.

Mom did not say a single word .she just eat the green mango that I had peeled." Mom what’s the name of my baby sister?” Mom held her tummy. Your dad like the name Cassandra, while me I want Amelia.” I laugh “My baby sister’s name stinks! I like Cassandra than Amelia, mom.” he teased his mother. "Aaron! My disgraceful child!”Mom laugh at my joke and said “I love that name don’t murder it.”

I nod at her "Then Amelia Cassandra Quider is the name .Ah it’s perfect for a royal princess, Mom! That sister of mine is imported .She’s a god send from us."

We laughed at what I said and my mom pinch my ear. “’I’m glad you’re here my big baby you make your mother happy you are my hero who save me from my loneliness.” "Oh God! My mom is such a drama queen.” Mom laughed again and hugged me. "My big baby doesn’t want some loving! Come here and I’ll give you a kiss.” “Mom!” I called her then averted my face so she can’t kiss my cheek. She laughed and mess my hair.

Our laughed continue as we make jokes when we heard loud gunshots. Mom scream “What is it Aaron?” as she saw me looking in the window.

Suddenly I held my left shoulder as I saw my flowing blood, I was shot. I yelled loud because of the pain and hurriedly lay down on floor .

"Mom,be safe lay down!” I yelled and acted like I don’t mind the pain in my shoulder. My mom shivers while hiding under the table as I am trying crawl to her side. 'Dad!dad! Help us ' his trying to shout for Dad’s help in his mind. Where are you? What happen? how come someone wants to harm my family? Where are you dad we need you!

I cried as I got shot on my back .Mom cried too as she saw me in pain. “Mom …” I cried as I felt that my body is numb and the pain was invading my whole body with fire that can burn my skin, and I got shot in my leg again. “Aaron!” A horrible cry was evident on his mother’s face as she saw me in pain. The gunshots did not stop from falling in our house like a rain."Aaron, son!” I look at my mom who called my name but my vision was blurred because of the pain that inflicted my body. Mom needs me I need to stay Awake and alive she needs me and my baby sister needs me! "Mom, don’t move your safe in there just stay there, I’m alright” I shouted at her when she started to move under the table to save me.

Mom held her stomach while trying to hold my hand to drag me in her side. "Son! " She leaves her hiding place so she can save me to be under the table made of a narra tree. I scream and cried as I saw my mom got shot in her chest. “Mom!!" my loud voice echo in all the corners of the house as I shout while looking at my mom who is now trying to breath evenly and she got shot in the back too . And the entire place becomes dark.

As I woke up my whole body was in pain. I was lying on the hospital bed, as it register to my head that I’m alive! All that was happen to him sudden flash in his mind “where is my mom? What happen? Where is my baby sister?” My relatives gasp as I sit on the hospital bed .they tried to calmed me and called a doctor to diagnose me. “Where is my mom? Is she okey? Is my baby sister okay too? Are they already safe?” He heard all his aunt’s cried .his now breathing really hard. He was anxious. “What happen?” “Your mom gives birth, Aaron! Your sister is safe she was in the incubator.” “So where is my mom? Is she okay? Is my dad here? Did he know what happen?” “Aaron, your mom …she’s gone …. Bettina is gone..She chooses to first save the baby than herself. She died after giving birth two days ago.”

The doctor said to minimize my movement so my wound won’t be open, but it did not stop me to run at my mom who was now lying in the coffin. My world collapse as I hold the coffin and look at my mom’s face. “Mom..mom, don’t go mom please wake up ,mom please I beg you please wake up!” “Aaron, that’s enough!”. “Mom! Mommy!” I never felt so helpless and broken before. How come it turns out like this? Why did my mom died? “Mom! Cassandra will grow without a loving mother, you don’t want that mom, right? Mom, why did you leave me? Mom!” I was crying like a kid begging mom to wake up. She’s alive this is not true it is just a dream my mom is alive. “Mom!Mom!” I have nothing to say I am angry at myself, in pain and empty from all that had happen in my life it was a tragedy .My beloved mother was gone .I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye . I did not protect my Mom! I’m not a hero! Mom I’m so sorry. I said it again and again. I feel the pained that will soon crush my heart into tiny little pieces. “Mom, I love you mommy” everything’s too late.

It’s the fifth day of his mother’s wake .He did not do any thing but to guard his mom and never even sleep ever since he left the hospital. The person who’s behind his mother’s death was imprison he was an enemy of his father. His father is the one who give justice to his mother’s death but he those not mind at all because his great so called father will not be home comforting him. Even if he doesn’t go home he don’t care anymore. “Aaron, you need to rest! Cassie is in their sleeping in your room if you like to sleep beside your baby sister. She’s there.” His relatives called Cassie as a nick name of his baby sister. He shakes his head as a sign he don’t want to go. As he saw his father he said “You have no right to be here!” they’re standing on the entrance door was his father. “Son, I need to see your mom, I need to. Please. You need me as a father now, Aaron.” “I don’t need you” he coldly said, “Son.” “I thought you protect and save people, dad.”“ But where are you when we need you when I and mom were in danger? You’re the one to be blame of my mother’s death. Mom was gone because of you! If you just chose to live that damn job of yours we should not be in danger! She should not be died by now! She will not choose who would be save first! If you just hurriedly come home, mom would still be alive today!” His father cried in front of them in front of all the people from his mother’s wake. Aaron held his tears and acted like a stone. “Mom endures all the pain and waited all of your time that you can give just for her, even if she is in pain because of her being pregnant without you, she always takes care of me and always understands you. You wanted to be a hero! A saint! To everyone! Congrats, dad! You have save everyone’s lives except my mom’s life!” “Aaron.” “Have you seen that? Mommy is in there! She’s sleeping peacefully and never ever will wake up .How can you start doing your promises now! When the women you have promise to be with her, Died! If you wanted to be a hero YOU SHOULD PRIORITIZE YOUR FAMILY FIRST! You should stop being my dad because ever since I grow up you’ll never ever act like my father at all. I.HATE.YOU.” he’s father gasp and the pain are evident in his eyes as I spoke every word. His father tried to reach him but failed as I walked away. His dad is angry at him and his angry with his dad too. Seemed fair enough .He hated his father to the core. He is not a hero .Not anymore for him. My heart is a stone for my father. I promise my self that I will not be like him .never ever be like him.he’ll be wiser .if ever he had a wife he will love her and filled her with all the attention that he have, he’s wife will not be like his mother . He promises that to his self. But he was oblivious that he was becoming like his father.

My tears fall as I heard his story the pain was evident in his eyes too .I saw his eyes are sorely red with tears I was a bad person towards him he was holding back his past so that’s why he was being like this an loaf, unemotional cold man on the outside but was a broken soul on the inside “I’m sorry I didn’t know” I hug him tight and said the word that I wanted to tell him since I become his wife “I cared for you. So if you feel like you wanted to cry and wanted to talk again, I’ll listen.”

[pandoralillith]

Winter Lily - Birthday Dance

“Every year on your birthday, you get the chance to start anew”

Title: Birthday Dance Series: Winter Lily Characters: Bucky Barnes, OC Type: Fluff, slight angst A/N: I have been toying with the idea of a mutant/halfling character that I wanted to fit into the MCU universe and possibly create a love interest for Bucky with. This scenario had been plaguing my mind for forever so I decided to write this down. I suppose this would make more sense once I have the origin story written out so it’s clear who Lillith/Pandora is and how she exactly fits into the grand scheme of things. At this moment in time, this “drabble” chapter doesn’t fit in any specific moment of the original timeline, it might be rewritten in the future. Hopefully, you’ll still enjoy this story for what it is right now, feel free to leave your comments or tips if you have any.

At this time, Lillith/Pandora’s confirmed powers are Illusion Manipulation and Erebokinesis, but this might change later.

The glass windows were vibrating to the beat of the music blasting out of the stereo systems, surely they would have shattered if they weren’t build to avoid breaking upon impact after the many, many attacks on the Avengers tower in the heart of New York. The only thing louder than the volume of the music had to be the chattering and laughter of the people who entertained themselves at the party that night. One thing was sure, Tony Stark knew how to throw a party.

Lillith couldn’t remember the last time she actually celebrated her birthday. If she ever celebrated her birthday in the first place. She had been in the hands of HYDRA from a very young age, the organization treated happiness and love like it was some sort of plague and would make it their mission to break you down completely and beat out every bit of happiness out of existence. It was forbidden, in the eyes of HYDRA, there could only be pain and torture. And if her birthdate hadn’t been written down in her project file, she probably wouldn’t even have known that today was her twenty-sixth birthday.

She didn’t want to make a fuss about it, she didn’t hold any value to birthdays seeing as she never had the experience and thus held no meaning. But to her dismay, Natasha made it a point to mention her birthday coming up in casual conversation which gave Tony an excellent excuse to host another Stark-worthy bash, and before she could even protest, the invited had already been sent out.

Most of the guests were no strangers to the Avengers hideout in the first place, the entire team was present, including Thor who stuck around after their last mission to retrieve a stolen artifact from the ‘days of yore’, T’Challa and Shuri who had just returned from Wakanda to supply the team with weapons and uniforms made from Vibranium which Shuri had been working on after analysing what each member needed to enhance their abilities, and surprisingly even Bucky who Steve practically had to drag out of hiding stating that relaxing and having some fun would do him some good.

Then there were the people whom she didn’t recognize, some of them were former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as Natasha had informed her, others were people Tony just knew and had invited because - well, Tony likes to throw big parties with loads of people around so he could boast about anything and everything.

The entire night, Lillith decided to stick around the people she knew and felt comfortable with. Mostly Wanda - who felt as much as a fish out of the water as she did - or Natasha, striking up casual conversations with Shuri and ignoring Tony’s overly excited cheers whenever she was in the neighborhood. As much as she appreciated his attempts at making her feel special on this day, she felt awkward being the center of attention. It didn’t help that Natasha and Pepper had convinced her into a beaded and lace halter top dress, the top snug fitting black with a flowing white and tulle skirt attached to it. If it were up to her she probably would have shown up in comfortable jeans or sweats and a simple shirt. But seeing as this was a party - and she was the center of said party - she had to dress up.

After losing her friends in the crowd, Lillith made her retreat to the side of the room, a familiar figure catching her eye on the balcony.  Sliding through the dancing and drinking guests, she made her way to the slide doors and was immediately greeted with the soft, cool evening breeze pushing her curled mahogany locks. Another good thing about those shatter-proof windows was the fact that they contained most of the sound from inside the party, which made the balcony a perfect refuge for people searching a bit of peace and quiet.

“Well, well, well, Mister Barnes,” She spoke as she slowly approached the brooding man with arms crossed, as he slowly turned his head back to glance upon hearing his name. A playful smile danced on her lips. “Who knew you would clean up so nicely.”

A soft, amused chuckle rolled down his throat as he smiled back at her. “Look who’s talking, doll.” He teased back, letting his orbs of blue trace over her appearance for a moment as she looked about as awkward as he felt in her new outfit. “Nice dress.”

“Admittedly not my style, but I guess I pull off the girly look-” A soft giggle danced along her words as she ran one of her hands over the fabric of the skirt. She stopped next to him and leaned forward against the cool metal bars of the balustrade as her gaze traveled to the city lights below.

“So how do you feel, birthday gal?”  He turned his gaze back to the view himself, enjoying the silence compared to the craziness from inside. Parties were a lot different nowadays than what he had been used to, both in terms of music, clothes, and activities. It was a lot to take in, not necessarily in a bad way. It was just different.

“Not much different than usual, really...” She grinned thoughtfully before glancing his way with a mischievous look in her eyes. “I couldn’t possibly say I feel old in the presence of two dinosaurs and an ancient God, right?” She couldn’t help but snicker at the reaction the super soldier gave her, his eyebrows raised almost in a sense of surprise as he placed his hand on his chest to feign insult.

“Low blow, doll,” He gasped playfully, though she could tell by the look in his eyes that he was just as much amused as she was. “Has no one ever told you to respect your elders?” She couldn’t suppress the laughter she was holding and broke down in a fit, shaking her head at his comment. Bucky watched her with a widened smile, almost fascinated at how cheerful and amused the young woman was at their playful banter.

He had gotten used to her sarcastic comments over the period of time they knew each other and worked together. But he had never seen the young girl genuinely smile or hear her laugh so carelessly as she did at the moment, which was a good thing. The two of them came from similar situations - both ripped out of their own environment, captured, tortured and abused by the hands of HYDRA. Both with just one mission implanted in their brains and both fearing to feel so much as a sliver of positivity or hope since those emotions were punishable by such intense torture, you’d wish you were dead instead. Seeing her genuinely happy was a nice change of pace and actually granted him with the same sense of happiness just by watching her.

“So tell me,” She continued after calming down from her laughing fit, the smile never leaving her lips. “Are you just standing out here by yourself because being mysterious, dark and brooding is your schtick?” Arching a brow curiously, she rested her emerald gaze on his facial features, he still had his scruff which she assumed was just part of his aesthetic at this point, there were a still a couple of faint scars visible on his face, but he seemed a lot less tense than she was used to seeing.

“It’s not my kind of party,” He casually shrugged it off. After all the things he had been through, all the rush and stress and violence and chaos, he had learned to enjoy and admire those precious moments of silence. He also wasn’t exactly a fan of Tony’s ego-fest which this party turned into.

“Mine neither...” She hummed thoughtfully in agreement, a soft sigh escaping her lips as she turned back to the view in front of her. “I always thought birthdays would include cake and balloons and presents-- this is just loud music and alcohol...” Scrunching her nose at her own words, a sad chuckle rolled down her throat at the depressing thought that people her age were living for those kinds of parties, hangover was their middle name. She enjoyed music and a drink from time to time, but she couldn’t imagine herself wasting all her free time living that kind of life.  “How obvious is my lack of childhood?”  

“Cheer up doll, cake and balloons are overrated, anyway,” Bucky replied, glancing down at the young woman’s facial expression with a melancholy smile. Collectively, both of them had been in captivity for about the same time if you only counted the years he was out of cryo-state and doing their bidding as the Winter Soldier. But he had been in his twenties when the whole deal started, while she had spent her life under their grasp. “But who said anything about no presents?”

As she rested her head on her arms in slight defeat, still leaning against the balustrade, she once more turned her gaze to the taller and muscular man next to her. Her eyebrow quirked up at the constant sound of the way he addressed her as doll, something she knew was a sweet nickname back in the ‘40s and she had to admit it had a fun ring to it. “What? Are you going to tie a bow around your head and sing me a birthday song?”

The man chuckled, shaking his head in reply as he let his left hand slide into his pocket, “You didn’t hear it from me, I overheard Steve talking about a gift they prepared at the end of the night but--” He paused for a moment, pulling out a small little box that was neatly wrapped with a little blue ribbon which he held out towards her. She perked up at the sight of the little box, staring at it with big emerald orbs filled with curiosity. “Maybe this can keep your spirit up for the time being.”

She accepted the box with both arms, still staring down feeling almost speechless. She hadn’t expected any gifts from anyone, but she had to admit that Bucky was one of the last people she would have expected anything from. Not that he seemed like an unkind person, since teaming up with the former assassin and getting to know him personally, as well as listening to Steve’s stories of back in the day, he seemed like a kindhearted man with the typical Brooklyn charm and guts. No doubt he had the personality and the manners to woo any young woman, but something as trivial as a teammate’s birthday was something she didn’t expect him to consider nor would she have been upset if he hadn’t.

“I gave you more than just a box, ya know!” He grinned, tapping his metal index finger onto the top of the box as she continued staring at it, speechless. “Open it.”

She nodded silently, carefully unwrapping the bow and taking off the lid to reveal a stunning and elegantly small silver chain necklace, to which a charm was attached. It was a simple silver crescent moon from which a star-shaped jewel was dangling down, the gem itself had an interesting colorful shine; a gradient of black, blue, pink and purple, it almost looked like a mini-universe. “Wow… Bucky...”

“I read about something called the Pandora’s Cluster and all the telescope pictures showed a pattern of those colors…” He tried to explain the odd colored gem that decorated the charm, he actually did his research on her alias and the first thing he came across was Abell 2744, also known as the Pandora’s Cluster. There were several pictures of the galaxy with an array of colors but the most prominent was the mix of black, blue and pink that came together in almost a shade of purple. He came across a small shop that custom-made jewelry and eventually found a charm that would work well with the theme he was going for, something that truly reminded him for her for as long as he had known her. He didn’t even know why he was putting so much effort and attention into the gift, he just felt like he had to for some reason. “Almost like a natural beauty that shines through all the chaos...”

“It’s beautiful, I don’t know what else to say...” She almost whispered, a strange wave of emotions washing over her as she continued to look at the piece of jewelry in her hands. She had never been gifted anything, much less anything as thoughtful and meaningful as this necklace. Her emerald orbs lifted to meet his gaze, a gentle smile pulling at the corners of her lips. “Will you help me put it on?”

“Sure thing, doll...” He nodded, taking the box back from her and lifting the silver necklace out as she turned around and brushed her hair aside. She caught herself smiling as she felt the cool silver charm touch her skin, waiting for him to clip the necklace before turning around.

Gently touching the charm with her fingers, she looked up at the taller super soldier and flashed him a wide smile. “Thank you, Bucky, I love it.”

“Not a bad pick for a brooding dinosaur, right?” He tossed in with a cheeky grin, giving the smaller female a playful nudge as he did.

“Who knew the Winter Soldier could be so sentimental?” She grinned, playing with the necklace in her hands as she leaned against the balustrade once more and released a long and content sigh. “So what did parties look like in your day?”

“Not that much different,” He shrugged thoughtfully as he tried to reminisce. “Everything that comes to mind when you think of the 1940’s, I suppose.” The way parties were hosted and attended didn’t much differ from the way they were now in the sense that all that was hip and happening would take place. The alcohol was different and not consumed as an activity but rather just added to the sociability. The clothes were more modest and people who wanted to show off wore their army uniforms decorated with medals and other rewards. The term class would definitely come to mind. It would be a cliché to say times were easier and more modest, but they were.

Lillith watched his expression change from amused to rather pensive and hesitated for a moment before daring to ask. “Do you miss it?”

“I mean, of course, I do...” He answered honestly, looking at her with a melancholy smile. As much as he was getting used to the world he woke up in and was basically forced to live in, he did miss home. His Brooklyn, his friends, his life when it was so much simpler, back when he wasn’t known as the Winter Soldier. He was glad that he had Steve by his side at least, his best friend with whom he shared the same experience of feeling lost in a world years beyond his time, his last reminder of the person he used to be. “But it’s useless to stay stuck on the past. I know I can’t go back so I just have to focus on a new life.”

There was a bittersweet truth about his words. There was no way to go back in time, much less change the past for their own sake. Lillith understood this, the lives they were living today were the result of the past, and for better or for worse they had to deal with the hand they were given. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t reminisce once in a while.

“Bucky… ” She finally spoke up, her gaze fixated on the stars above them. He looked up at her with a curious expression as she continued. “Do you trust me?”

“Do I--?” His darkened eyebrows knitted in a frown, not really understanding why trust suddenly became an issue or a part of their mindless conversation. “What do you mean?”

“Did I stutter?” She couldn’t help but sass him, turning her attention to the frowning man, her lips curling into a coy smile as she waited for his answer. Rolling her eyes slightly impatiently as he hesitated with his answer, she reached out and grabbed his arm, tugging him along. “Just come with me.”

Bucky still wasn’t quite sure what she meant when she questioned his trust, but reluctantly followed after her as she dragged him back inside. But instead of joining the other partygoers, they continued to the elevator and got inside. Without explaining her plans, Lillith told Friday to take them to the roof to which she obediently complied. She was humming a peaceful tune as the elevator took them to the top floor in no time and pulled Bucky with her as she walked out to the quiet and empty rooftop of the building. You could hardly hear the music from a few floors below them, the clearest sound was that of the wind softly pushing past them as it traveled through the clear dark sky.

Lillith let go of his hand and took a few steps forward, taking in a long, deep breath before turning around to look at him. “Don’t think too much… Do you trust me?”

Trust in his line of work - and with his history - was definitely a sensitive subject. He never knew who he could and couldn’t trust, betrayal was lurking behind every corner. The only person he blindly trusted was Steve because they shared the promise to stick by each other until the end of the line. He had grown comfortable around some of Steve’s friends,  maybe because he found himself relating to the young woman so his gut feeling answered. “I suppose I have no reason not to, do I?”

“Good enough!” She grinned, somewhat content with that answer as she approached him again. Staring up at the taller male, he could see a playfulness in her eyes. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“You said you trusted me, didn’t you?”

“Technically, I said I had no reason not to trust you… ” He corrected her matter of factly, though his words danced on a teasing tone, watching as her brows knitted in a slightly annoyed frown. “Calm down doll, I’m just playing with you.” She playfully hit his shoulder in as he let out a soft, rumbling chuckle before closing his eyes to comply.

“Now relax…” She hummed softly, raising her hands up as black swirls started to dance around fingers. His expression tensed slightly and she could tell he was ready to open his eyes but she continued. “Think back to the 1940’s, imagine being at a party...” He wanted to ask why but she merely hushed him, closing her own eyes as he channeled her powers into his mind at a slow and careful pace, falling into his memory as she felt his mind drifting away.

Bucky wasn’t sure what she was planning but intended on giving her the benefit of the doubt. He could feel soft stings entering his brain, almost like a tickling sensation which he almost immediately linked to her using her powers, considering how close she stood to him. He was very wary of people messing with his mind or memories after the trauma he went through as HYDRA wiped him after every mission. But again, for some reason, his gut trusted her enough to watch what happened. Thus, as she asked him to think back to one of the parties of his time. The last time he remembered was the celebration of Steve’s heroic deed as Captain America, but it was a good example of a great party and he remembered how elated and relaxed he had felt back then. A sense of nostalgia washed over his senses as he could almost vividly picture the decorations of the venue, the sound of the music ringing through his ears as a familiar scent of perfume and cigars ran through his nostrils. It was almost like he was back.

“Lillith?” He finally spoke up after what felt like a good few minutes in silence, deciding to open his eyes to see what kind of prank he had gotten himself into by blindly following her lead.

He had expected to see her standing in front of him on the rooftop of the Avengers building, but instead, he found himself in the exact venue he had just been imagining. Decorations that were very clearly from the 40’s, the familiar scent of perfume and cigars, the hustle and bustle of the people who came to party, dressed in their best outfits. The sound of jazz trumpets filling the room. It was so vivid, so real, Bucky had no idea what was going on. Glancing down at himself, his outfit was replaced by his own army uniform he remembered wearing at that particular event, complete with medals. The only thing that hadn’t changed was the length of his hair, those it was slicked back into a bun instead.

“Look at you, Mr. Barnes,” A familiar voice mused behind him, his gaze snapping around to the familiar young woman who had approached him with a sly smile on her lips. He had to blink twice to realize it was Lillith, fittingly dressed in a marine blue halter top cocktail dress as most women wore during that period of time, her hair fluffed and curled aside. She looked like she stepped right out of the era. “Looking pretty fly for an old guy.”

“How did you do this?” Bucky genuinely wondered, his eyes once more traveling around the room. It was all so real, too real like nothing had ever happened. “Is this... Is this real?”

“As real as your memory can make it,” She stepped closer to him, almost proud of what she had accomplished. While Wanda was able to alter people’s minds or give them vivid visions, Lillith was able to recreate memories and make them come to life based on how well her target focused on it. It was one of the things that had to be completely voluntarily for it to succeed and even then was a risky task. She only accomplished such a feat a few times, all of which under the influence of her captors. But never had she managed to create a situation so vividly as she had now, maybe because Bucky was almost longing for this memory. “You may not be able to go back permanently, but at least I can help you go back and enjoy yourself for a moment.”

“You are truly amazing, you know that?” His lips parted in the most genuinely happy smile she had ever seen, not a hint of sadness or awkwardness in his eyes. She could truly see how relieved he felt being able to relive a moment in time where he felt at home and she was thankful that she was able to give him that.

“Tell me about it, sugar,” He quirked a brow at her nickname, a playful grin tugging at the sides of his lips as she merely laughed at his reaction. “It was either that or sweet cheeks.”

“Sugar works fine,” Another amused chuckle rolled down his throat, truly enjoying this playfulness between them and the fact that she seemed to fully emerge herself in his era, as he held up his hand in offering. “Care to join me for a dance?”

Lillith glanced down at the hand he held out to her, noting that both of his hands were still made of flesh. It somehow surprised her that he was still able to picture himself in this setting without his hand, but it made sense since his memory took place long before he lost his arm and disappeared.

It wasn’t until he followed her gaze that Bucky figured that the Vibranium arm had disappeared as if he never lost it in the first place. He stared at his left hand, almost admiring it in a sense, before she drew his attention back as she placed her hand in his. The touch of her skin on his felt so surreal, something he had not felt for a very long time and had almost forgotten while her soft touch tickled his own. He met her emerald stare and subconsciously mimicked her soft smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Lillith was surprised how much of - what she assumed was - the real Bucky shone through as he lead her onto the dance floor. The way his blue orbs almost seemed to bury through her own emerald gaze and into her soul, his face carrying a soft yet crooked smile that showcased part of his charm. He seemed confident and at ease, right in his element. She was glad this part of his humanity hadn’t been destroyed by HYDRA’s tight regime, this was exactly the type of person she had imagined after hearing Steve’s stories. She was entranced with his expressions as they moved to the music, a slow song coming on as if on cue. Lillith wasn’t the type to dance, but she naturally let herself go with the flow and back in the day it was more than natural for men to take the lead in any dance.

Bucky was thankful to be able to relive a moment he longed for all this time, though the sense of disappointment still lingered at the thought that this was just temporary, it was exactly what he needed after all he had been through. She seemed to fit right into his world, the style complimenting her features and beauty in a way he had never considered before. Aside from their joint experience as weapons of HYDRA and their fight for redemption while protecting the Earth, all he knew about the young woman was that she was sassy and stubborn and - quite literally - out of this world. But the more he fought with her, spoke to her, spent time with her, the fonder he grew of her in a way he never imagined he was able since waking up out of his time. She had given her a priceless gift, however, and felt at ease being in her presence.

It was interesting how a simple dance could become so intimate, but both former assassins kept eye contact through the entire slow dance. Hands tightly held together, his other hand carefully resting on the small of his back as her hand was placed on his right shoulder. Both expressions peaceful and softened, communicating without words. It could have been an impulse of circumstance, but as they continued swaying to the music, Bucky slowly leaned in closer towards her. He hesitated and unexpectedly felt his heart race at the urge that crossed his mind. She hadn’t flinched or moved or reacted as he inched closer, she merely continued to look at him with that soft smile, her cheeks coloring a soft shade of pink. Making up his mind, he closed the distance between them and carefully pressed his lips against hers. She didn’t seem to fight it, instead, she leaned into the kiss and returned it to both their surprises. She could feel her cheeks flushing, burning as she returned the kiss and almost admired the sensation of his lips against hers, his scruff tickling her sensitive skin but she didn’t seem to mind.

For a brief moment, the two stayed connected in the kiss, her head was reeling with the sensation as their surroundings quickly fading in and out of existence like some sort of glitch in a holograph. Breaking the kiss, Bucky quickly glanced around with his brows knitted in a worried frown as the venue faded in and out of view again in just a brief second before pulling them back to the 1940’s, “What the hell was that?”

Lillith took a deep breath, it was only now that she realized how everything around her felt like it was spinning at a rapid pace, her vision slowly blurring as a soft thud was pounding in the back of her head. Keeping the mirage going took a lot of concentration and energy, but as her attention was drawn to the moment the two were having, she slowly lost her grasp on her creation and hadn’t realized how much it was actually draining her. “Sorry…” the apology almost slurred out of her mouth as it took every drop of energy just to speak. “I think my mind slipped out of it.” 

His eyes dropped to her face, still carrying the worried frown. Her face was flushed from color, even the soft shade on her cheeks had disappeared, the paleness even reaching her otherwise warm colored lips with an alarming sight “You don’t have to keep this up, it’s hurting you.” She shook her head stubbornly, not wanting to ruin this moment of happiness she managed to give him, but he insisted. “It was fun while it lasted, baby doll, but I think it’s time to go back.” Carefully brushing a stubborn curled strand of hair behind her ear, he could have sworn he saw her lips curl up into a slight pout.

“N-no, I can still...” Her voice sounded both tired and disappointed as her sentence got caught off, closing her eyes for a moment as she was unable to keep her grasp on the temporary reality she created and collapsed onto the ground. 

Bucky felt a shock in place, a jerking sensation like the rude awakening after falling in a dream, and in a blink of an eye the entire venue disappeared, the scent disappeared and the music died out, finding himself back in the darkness on top of the roof. The disappointment he had anticipated earlier washed over him for only a brief moment, releasing a content sigh before his focus was drawn to the young woman slumped in front of him. He immediately kneeled down in front of her, carefully brushing some strands of her hair out of her face. “Are you okay?”

She lied in reply, nodding her head carefully as she tried to ignore the throbbing in her head. The world behind her closed eyelids was still spinning beyond her control, a scary feeling which she hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Her entire body was shaking, aching as though screaming at her for starving herself from energy. She felt her mind grow fuzzy and wander off, longing to give into the fatigue.

“Lillith, stay with me...” His voice subtly cracked with concern as he noticed how her breathing became more shallow and her arms, upon which she had rested the weight of her upper body to try and keep her somewhat upright, were faltering. “Hey. Hey! Look at me!” His voice broke through the haze in her mind as she felt his strong arms supporting her shoulders, the touch of his Vibranium hand cooling against her almost burning skin, shaking her softly to try and regain her attention. “Open your eyes, baby doll. Look at me.”

She continued to fight the urge to give into the screaming fatigue and pounding sensation in the back of her head. Bucky’s commanding voice growing louder and louder as she slowly snapped out of her dizzy spell and peeled her eyes open. He gently placed his fleshed hand underneath her chin and forced her to gaze up to meet with his, finding herself almost drowning in the intensity of his steel blue stare, which only hardened at the alarming sight that her gaze had grown distant. As she focused on him and him alone, the pounding in her head slowly drifted away and the world seemed like it stopped spinning at an abnormal pace, regaining her balance once more as her heartbeat slowly but surely steadied. “There she is...” He offered her a careful smile amidst his worry as he noticed her focus returning, her body stopped shaking in his grip. There was a sense of guilt that continued to grow within him, he never asked her to use her powers to such an extent but neither did he stop her and part of him felt responsible for the state she was in. “You’re with me, right?”

“Yeah...” Her voice sounded weak, almost like a whisper as she felt her energy slowly dripping back, “I’m sorry I ruined the moment...”

“Hey... We don’t need the past to have a moment...” He softly chuckled in an attempt to make her feel at ease once again. The moment they shared was special, it might not have happened ever if she hadn’t sent them back into his memory, he wasn’t even sure what the moment meant in the first place since it all happened so suddenly. Not that he regretted it and it was comforting that she reciprocated. “Are you okay? Think you can stand up?”

She swallowed harshly, mustering up the confidence before nodding, reaching up for his hand to support her as she carefully got back to her feet. The blood in her head rushed down, obscuring her vision as she struggled to keep her balance when a strong hand rested on the small of her back to keep her steady. “Talk about a rush...” She muttered, her eyes traveling up to meet his. 

His blue orbs moved over the soft features of her face, the color in her cheeks had yet to return but her skin was considerably less pale as it was just a moment ago, hints of the stray tears still lingering on her lashes as her expression still screamed exhaustion. And even in that state, she looked beautiful to him. Like he had described the cluster of stars that shared her name, he found a sense of beauty in chaos. “You keep surprising me, doll.”

“Do I?” Her eyebrow quirked up as her lips curled up into a playful grin. She wasn’t quite sure what exactly he was referring to but he took it with jest anyway. “There’s a lot more where that came from, sugar.” A teasing hum rolled down her throat as she continued to look at him, the sheer happiness that radiated from his expression made her heart leap in a way she never imagined to be capable. Bucky deserved a break, he deserved a piece of happiness and she was glad to be the one that could grant him that much. It surprised her how much she was drawn to him in what seemed to be an innocent exchange, it was a sensation she hadn’t experienced before, and the sudden kiss was just the last piece of the surprisingly amusing and soothing puzzle.

Her posture was alluring, the coy tone of her voice drawing him in once more as their eyes connected as they did before. She had immersed herself into a seductive person that knew exactly how to speak to his instincts. The kiss on the dance floor was an almost careless move he made that reminded him of the heartthrob antics he used to partake in. His senses were overcome with a feeling of enlightenment as he had not a single care in the world, or so it felt. And here she stood - back in their present day, recovering from a gift so precious to him that he forgot it affected her like a curse. Her emerald gaze burning through his own, connecting with him in a way he feared he would never be able to again. There was something about her that fascinated him, drawing out the Brooklyn charmer he thought was long gone. It felt nice not being treated like a weapon or a monster, it was comforting to connect with a person who truly understood him. He wanted to make the first move but she was just one step ahead, already leaning in to press her soft lips against his.

Lillith surprised herself at how quick she gave into the attraction that flooded her senses and took over her better judgment. It felt like a second nature to approach the tall and brooding man whose eyes for once were filled with a sliver of hope. She had never experienced this sensation, it frightened her because it was so unknown, but even more so because it felt so right at the same time. She realized the man before her, whose lips were rough but somehow seemed to comfortably fit onto her own, hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary of how people often treated each other. He was kind to her when he wanted to, curt with her when he needed to, but most importantly he gave her a sense of worth that she so desperately longed for. She had been weaponized, plagued by her past and her destiny. Cursed by her origin and unable to escape no matter how desperate - no hand could end the torture she had to bear every second she was awake. And then there was Bucky, a man with an equally complicated past and an unsure future, who treated her like any other human being and on this very evening - despite the fact that it should have been her special day - made her feel home and at ease in a situation where she felt like nothing more but a fish out of water.

Bucky gently pressed his hand against the small of her back, pushing her closer to his own body as they deepened the kiss, sending a chill down her spine. Parting their lips, their tongues intertwined in a playful dance as she carefully reached her hand up and rested it on his cheek. Again, her head was reeling but in a positive kind of way as he stole her breath away. The rugged, brooding man caressed her with such ease and kindness that one would forget how dangerous and violent he once was. It was a perfectly blissful moment that neither wanted to break, but the need to breathe reminded them that all good things would come to an end.

She slowly pulled back, smiling against his lips before completely breaking away. Eyes closed, she let the feeling linger for another moment before releasing a slow breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Her eyelids fluttered open, meeting with his warm blue gaze which colored her cheeks with another shade of pink. He smiled down on her as the same sensation had filled his heart and rushed through his veins, at this moment it was just the two of them connecting, their longing for a normal life fulfilled by the other. But another feeling lingered in the back of her mind, one that she had encountered before, one she often tried not to give into. It was an ominous feeling that almost slapped her in the face as a sort of reality check, there was a reason why she never experienced true happiness or joy - because that very sensation was often followed by something terrible.

“What’s on your mind, baby doll?” The way her expression changed so suddenly naturally didn’t go unnoticed, a frown now forming above his wondrous blue eyes. He was worried she was going to collapse on him again, dealing with the aftermath of using her powers.

She released a long sigh, stepping away from him with a guilty aftertaste. She wasn’t sure how to explain her troubles since it didn’t make any sense at this point. There was no captor that would tase her, stab her, shoot her, sedate her or torture at any moment if she were to give into the warmth that had trickled into her heart. There was nothing that would stop her from finally experiencing what normal people would, without fearing the outcome. Sure, this mutual attraction was strange, new and very exciting, it was unknown territory for the young woman who believed all her life that she was nothing but a monster.

“Did I do something wrong?” When it came to courting or romance, Bucky was just an innocent soul who meant to harm but to love unconditionally. After all he’d been through, it was something he longed for the most. He wasn’t sure if love was the proper way to describe the events between them, but he was certain that there was chemistry that he was very willing to explore and experiment with. But at least he had some experience, he had fallen in love before - or at least experienced infatuation. “I’m sorry if I--”

She snapped around almost immediately, her eyes widened as she vigorously shook her head at his implications. Bucky had done nothing wrong, there was nothing he could do wrong when all they did was kiss and she had initiated the second one. “No! No, no, no! It’s not you, it’s me!” Her nose scrunched up as the words were ringing in her own mind, realizing the only times she heard those words in movies was when they were uttered nearing a break-up. “Wait! I mean… I-I love this, this- whatever this is,” She nearly stuttered, waving her hands almost frantically, an exasperated sigh rolling off her lips at her own inability to explain herself. She didn’t want to label whatever it was that drew them together, because she honestly had no clue what to label it as. “It’s just... Every time I inch closer to that feeling of happiness, bad things happen… And that scares me...”

Bucky watched the girl wave about her arms in frustration as she tried to explain what was on her mind, an adoring smile creeping up on his lips as he understood her perfectly. “You don’t have to worry,” He assured her with a calm voice, taking careful steps towards her as he took her slowly chilling hands into his own. “I promise you, nothing bad will happen. You’re safe - we’re safe. An as for us...” The playfulness returned to his voice as he gave her hands a soft squeeze, toying with the thought of there being an us to refer to in the first place. “We are in no rush.”

She pressed her lips together, wanting nothing more than to believe his words. She wanted to explore being happy, she wanted to explore what was brewing between the two of them, she just wanted to be sure that nothing was going to happen that could jeopardize this experience - that could hurt him. “James Buchanan Barnes, brooding dinosaur and part-time poet.” She managed to rekindle her sassy demeanor as she took note of the cute little rhyme to his words, it was unrelated but managed to lift the mood.

A loving laugh rolled down his throat at her comment, shaking his head, closing the distance between them once more. “Shut up, birthday gal.”

[ireflectaut]

Post Three

Things to explore and think about that I learnt from my research:

Listing- I found the listing in Eloise Goes To Paris so compelling and entertaining.

The poetry & rhythm of both books was beautiful and integral to the writer's art.

Dialogue was a great part of both books as well; Eloise had such a strong voice that made you feel and love her, and Max’s character came through in his dialogue. The phonetic spelling and humour in Eloise Goes To Paris was a great was to make the character come to life, and the dynamic nature and visual aspect of Max’s dialogue in Where the Wild Things Are was captivating.  

Maurice Sendak’s story doesn’t rely on an abundance of unnecessary words; he gets the point across concisely and vividly. Both stories also have an assertive protagonist which is something I need to work towards.  

I adore aesthetically the abstract nature of Sendak’s writing; I think it lends well to the concept as a whole and getting children to explore their imagination in less rigid terms, and also makes the illustrations come to life and have creative licence to elevate the story.

Themes of childhood emotion, imagination and being boundless in what your protagonist can do was very inspiring to me as well.

I wrote drafts of a few different stories that were inspired by my research in order to find one that I could then edit, and use as my final story.

One:

What I am trying to explore: 

Abstract concepts, interesting dialogue, themes of imagination and using repetition. Also themes of who you are and who you can be that I was interested in in my proposal.

Story:

“Hello, me!” said Sam to the mirror

“Hello, you!” said the mirror to Sam.

“I’m doing something different today.”

The mirror smiled back.

Sam liked their hair long,

Sam liked their hair short,

Sam liked that their hair had a life of its own.  

Today Sam’s hair wanted to be long.

So they stepped through the time hole.

They were very very squished

And then, suddenly, hugely stretched out

And Sam popped out in one year.

They looked in the mirror

“HELLO, old friend!”  

Sam was bewildered,

Their hair twirled all around.  

Sam twirled with it.  

Two:

What I am trying to explore: 

Exploring listing & imagination. Thinking about poetry; alliteration, rhyme, cadence & repetition.

Story:

My Things

I have a million things.

They are all me,

And I am all them.

This one cost two whole dollars!

This one I found

In the middle of a tree!

This pile of things is very heavy

And very dusty

Because they stay very still

And I watch them intently.

These are my jewels.

I collect them on my walks.

I give them to friends

Who come in all sorts.

Sometimes I lose my things,

In fact I do it a lot...  

Usually it's those silly Grimbles

This is a Grimble hot spot.

Flowers are my favourites.

Its ok if they get dry,

I stick them between a book

Or just paint them with my dye.

This one I made  

It hangs on my wall,

If I focus and point,

I can make it fall.

This one is expensive,

My mum got it for me.

I get under the covers,

And I go off to sleep.

Three:

Inspired maybe a little too heavily by Where the Wild Things Are; inspired by the narrative structure and themes. Also playing with the use of capitals like Sendak does.

A mean finger pointed in Lolas face

A big red mean finger attached to a big mean red ogre

That looked like he was about to SWALLOW Lola whole

Lola screamed and she ran and ran and ran and ran

And her face was wet with tears.

As her tears fell something strange happened

The tears became bigger and bigger  

And more and more

Until they themselves grew larger than Lola

And they swallowed her up.

Lola tucked her knees to her chest

And locked her arms around them

She closed her eyes and sobbed some more.

Lola created a bubble around her

So that nobody from outside could enter her tears

And no creatures from her tears could enter her bubble.

She was all alone.

One hundred years passed  

and the tears had dried up

And Lola was alone...

“YIPPEE” she said! “WOO HOO” she yelled!

She danced around the land!

She twirled all day! And skipped all night!

And yelled into the air

“I AM ALOOONNNEEEEEEEE!”

She looked around....  

She danced around the land, again.

She twirled all day.

And skipped all night.

She whispered to herself

“I am all alone.”

So she walked across the land,

And back across the hundred years,

She found her tears  

And swam.

She found the big red ogre

Who had shrunk back to his regular size,

With his shirt tucked in,

And his big round eyes.

He bent down to little Lola

To show her a smile.

He was no longer red.

And she      was no longer scared.

Four:

Inspiration from the craziness of the world around Eloise- I love the flamboyance of the crazy hotel she lives in and the strangeness of the world around her.

Story:

Amelias house lent to the left  

Unless there was a particularly strong wind

Or you told it off,  

In which case it leant to the right.

Amelia didn’t like to tell the house off

But sometimes it got carried away

And squashed her cats

And once it almost squashed Amelia

When she was sleeping

(and she had to grab bricks from her dream and pile them up  

So she didn’t get squashed)

(she made sure to return the bricks later)

After that incident she had to tell the house off  

Really bad  

And it lent to the right for a while after that

Which made the furniture look funny.

Amelia did what every normal child did;

She made sure to pay the monthly bills

She talked to important people on the phone

She worried about money  

and made sure to find as much as she could on her walk to work.

Her work was petting strangers' cats.  

She loved it, don’t get me wrong, but boy was it stressful sometimes.  

When she got home from work, she said to house

“UGH, will you let me put my bag down first!

Before you start harassing me for things!”

And then she poured herself a glass of something strong;

Tonight, it was lime cordial.  

On the weekends she slept in

And said oh boy, I wish everyday was like this!

She made sure to read the news paper

For her news, on paper

And she shook the pages around  

And flipped them back and forth as best she could

And made sure to fold it in a few different ways.

Sometimes she would grab a pen and say to house

“what's a four-letter word for flabbergasted?”

And then do a big loud “Hmpfh”

And turn the page over.  

Since all of this was really quite exhausting,

Amelia was lucky to have her parents' house to escape to

If she needed it.

Five:

What I am trying to explore: 

Themes of childhood emotion, actively trying to write an assertive protagonist. Using repetition & alliteration. Also trying to write so that when read out loud it will be amusing.  

Story:

I put on my favorite dress,

My secret favorite dress, nobody knows

Its girly and pink and the sparkles go BOOM

And then I heard the voice,

He always comes

Whenever I put on the secret dress

The voice is slimy and dark and dank

And throws you into a deep dark hole

The hole is so deep and dark and deep

Sometimes I think I'll never leave.

He says yuck, that dress is girly

So girly pink and yuck

You look silly, didn’t sally say?

When you wore that dress to school one day?

But there is one thing that I can do

When that slimy voice comes

I pull out my sword and say GO AWAY

And I cut the slimy thing to the bone

The funny thing is,  

The thing behind the voice

The slimiest sluggiest slip slop yuck voice in the whole wide world

Is the smallest tiniest silliest thing,

It's hard not to laugh at it.

Six:

What I am trying to explore: 

Story:

There once was a little girl who never spoke.

Well, she had spoken once, as a baby. She said ‘baba’ which in baby talk meant “please get off my bed, big brother, I would like to be alone now”

But her brother laughed, and pointed a big red finger at her and called their parents in.

“What, what?” they said, “hurry up boy!”  

“Look at Amelia trying to talk!”

They crowded her and staired at her with their big round eyes, waiting.

Amelia tried to say: “I'm not sure what the commotion is about... I know what I want to say, I’m just figuring out how to get it out. I’ll figure it out soon, mummy, daddy.”

But only a loud babble came out: “Mmm gaba.”

Her family scrunched up their faces and started laughing at her.  

“Well, she's not going to be the brightest of the bunch!”  

And they left her all alone.  

Amelia was so embarrassed from that day forward that she didn’t say a word again.

That was nine whole years ago.  

Since Amelia’s family didn’t believe her to be bright, they never sent her to school.

But Amelia learnt in her own way.

She taught herself how to read and how to paint using things from around the house. Marmite was a great black, and if she cut out parts of magazines she could create great images of colour and people.

She sat in her garden and learned about the bugs and the trees, and about how the leaves on the trees fell when it was getting colder, and how flowers started popping up when warmer weather was on its way.

Amelia was lucky to have the kindest next door neighbour in the world; Miss Andrews.  

Miss Andrews was as loud and chatty which made up for Amelia’s lack of words. She also played violin.

I also wrote an alternate path for this story, but wasn’t able to finish either due to lack of time.

Amelia walked to school by herself every day.  

She crossed busy roads and walked down dark alleys.

She walked past bullies who pulled her pigtails and stole her lunch;  

Not that they were very impressed with it, Amelia's family weren’t big cooks

Usually, her lunch was packed with ice,  

or sometimes a lemon found its way in.  

Amelia never said anything to the bullies.

She was too scared to talk.  

Amelia had a horrible teacher who picked on her in class.

She forced all the children to read their work out loud

And if they could she would yell “PAAASSSSS!”

But if they couldn’t she would yell “FAAIILLLLLL!”

And make them run 100 laps around the field,  

rain or shine.

Luckily, Amelia had a friend.

Her name was Lola.

Lola ran laps around the field with Amelia,  

Even when she didn’t have to.

Lola made fun of the bullies when they weren’t looking,

And Lola shared her lunch with Amelia, so she wouldn’t be hungry.

Amelia walked into class and took her seat next to Lola.

Seven:

Laura wasn’t good at anything.

She didn’t know how to be good.

She tried drawing but she did it wrong

And her parents told her off.

She tried reading but she didn’t know the words,

She tried writing but it came out all wrong,

The words were lopsided and fell off the page.  

She tried cooking but she made a mess

She tried tidying but somehow... made it even messier.

She hid from her mum after that,

But she wasn’t good at hiding.  

Laura felt silly and strange so she sat in her garden

And she closed her eyes for a very long time.  

When she woke up, she got quite a shock.

Her garden had grown into a tall dark forest,

With flowers and vines and big dense bushes.

Laura looked around. She was lost, and cold. A howl echoed far away.  

But then – she heard a smaller howl. A tiny one. She turned to see a little wolf.

The wolf looked at her and growled – he was scared too.  

Laura crawled slowly to him and held out her hand.

“Come here, little wolf. Its ok, I won't hurt you.”

The wolf whimpered and cautiously sniffed her hand.

She pet him on the head and he came into her lap.

“Where do you live, little wolf?” asked Laura, and they heard another loud howl in the distance.

The little wolf tried to howl back but was so quiet Laura barely heard it herself.

“I see.” she whispered. “I��ll get you back home.”

So Laura and the wolf took off looking for home.

I ended up choosing my three favourite stories and working on them to find what my final story would be.

[the-green-haired-fellow]

Green eyes of envy Jerome X Reader

“Shoo kitten I have important business to attend. I don’t need you hanging around my shoulders.. You’re getting in the way.” Jerome stared at me his green eyes glimmering with anger and what I read to be hate. Nodding afraid I backed out of the room Jerome and the others were in. This new group of obsessed cultists that built Jerome up to be a god, having broken Jerome out of Arkham for the whole Bruce Wayne circus thing. Now he was just an uppity, cocky, brat! None of the Gotham officials knew where he was only the fact that he was gone. This made it so we could live fairly comfortably in the mansion of one of the cultists. 

At that moment they were all chatting about their great come-out called “Panic! under the disco” the name being a close rip-off but was accepted due to Jerome’s enthusiasm. Unimpressed I stormed back to the room Jerome and I shared slamming myself down on the bed weakly hitting one of the pillows.  Mockingly I insulted Jerome with childish remarks like “Rotten Ginger” and “Bitch baby blah blah blah” things he would probably not like to hear. “Oh darling!” He cried happily his footsteps coming down the same hallway I had just stormed down. I sat up acting happy “Yes Jerome?” I said pretending to be happy. He poked his head in the door smiling his usual wide smile. “Oh there you are” I watched him stroll confidently sitting down on the bed in front of me crossing his legs like a child. “I need you to put on the most ravishing and..” he came close to me whispering deeply. ‘and revealing” I smirked watching him put on his show of explaining that I was going to be the main bait. Great. I loved being bait. Like the good girl I am I nodded happily snooping around in the closet for my tight black dress that had crossed strings all the way down the dress stopping in an arrow just before my... girly parts. I absolutely despised wearing revealing clothes it made me feel unattractive and like a caged animal only there to let greasy eyes fantasize about the things they would like to do to me. Jerome watched me put on the dress smirking like an asshole. I carried on flicking my long black and purple hair behind my pale shoulders. walking into the bathroom that connected to the right of our walk in closet. 

Jerome didn’t follow only saying “We tango in five!” then left the room. I rolled my eyes applying my make-up faster then I was comfortable with. I settled with a mediocre smokey eye and the overrated winged eyeliner everyone and their grandma wore. When I was satisfied I grabbed a pair of black flat and ran barefoot out the door. I saw black SUV we used as transportation creeping down the driveway. Knowing Jerome would never have them stop for me I began to run at the van the gravel below my feet seeming to rip my sole to pieces. When I got close enough the back door swung open and I was able to dive in panting.  I heaved out of breathe looking at Jerome who sat smiling smudgy in the front seat. “I hope you brought other shoes doll, those flats just won’t do.” I looked down worried knowing that I was most likely going to be a cause of one of his legendary melt-downs. He sat up suddenly in his seat peering angrily at me. Without me being aware what was going on a par of heavy black heels was thrown at me striking me hard in the face. Jerome laughed clapping his hands. “Strike one!” turning his attention way from me to the road ahead. I held my stinging cheek breathing deeply to avoid crying. Jerome got off on tears, mine would only get him going more. He had become such an asshole ever since he had his face flailed off, just because he had come back from the dead and has all these new followers didn’t mean he was so high and mighty. I shook the thoughts away pulling on the heels. “Stop huffing and puffing dear it’s not attractive.” I glared at his face which was gazing still out the window. o my surprise he turned his head seeing my hateful glare. I dropped my head hoping he wouldn't say anything, he didn’t having been interrupted the the SUV having it’s breaks slammed. 

Jerome bounced up and down excitedly in his chair. “Woo! you ready boys!” He slammed the drivers shoulder. They all jumped out hollering sneaking in through the back to go planting some bomb or do whatever they had planned for the nights festivities. I grunted opening the door and getting out. My ankles wobbled in the heels Jerome had struck me with due to their height and weight. I wandered up the side of the building towards the entrance. It was spray painted with cults and gang sighs, a type of art work that had seemed to be marking every corner of this city. I didn’t know how I felt about that to wbe honest, now I was no goody-goody I had killed more people than most war vets but still I imagined a mother holding her sons hands walking down the street, her son would smile and point to the bit of graffiti asking innocently ‘what is that mommy?’ she would only frown having a feeling that her sons infatuation could lead to involvement and then blam! death by gang member. I wouldn’t want my kids to end up this way. Coming around the front I spotted the doorman, he was young and handsome, easy to woo. I smiled walking up to him. “Gee it’s awful cold out. Do you mind if I step in and warm my hands.” Gently I swirled my hands around his belt feeling his heartbeat quicken. “Su-Sure step right in” I winked walking past him. “Thank you” I would make sure he would live on past tonight. Inside the club was the same as the rest of them baring music, flashing decorations, dumb young people blah, blah, blah. I made my way to the bar ordering three shots of tequila, salt on the rims or each. 

The bartender was quick and courteous serving me them up quick so I could down them all feeling the unwelcome burn of hard alcohol. I grimaced at the taste. I took money out of my bra and slid it a crossed the table thanking hi before turning around and mapping everything out. Jerome was no where to be seen only a mass of bobbing heads none of them having the fire red hair he did. I grew lonely at the thought of him not being around but then again I didn’t really ever want to see him when he was around. He had become to cruel ever since he came back to.. dead. almost. 

I squinted looking harder, nothing. “Hello miss?” I heard a smooth voice say. I turned to it looking at the face addressing me. He was a thin guy handsome strong jawline, thick black hair. I smiled “How-do-you-do?” I said politely warming up to the stranger. He blushed almost shocked to have my attention. “I’m doing goo-” he dropped his head embarrassed, chuckling to himself quietly. “The real reason I came over here was to ask you to dance. You’re so beautiful and.. alone. It do sent seem right” Now this sounds pathetic but my heart seemed to skip a little. He had the face of a kind hearted man that understood other struggles. I quivered a bit. “S-sure”  He led my carefully out to the dance floor reaching the far right corner where it wasn’t to crowded. We faced each other getting into a casual dancing routine, polite and friendly. Neither of us talked very much but we often exchanged looks smiling like fools whenever his happened. A part of me wanted to lay my head on his shoulders to feel his heart beat as well as the sway of his body, but I didn’t not wanting to ruin the moment. I opened my mouth to ask him his name but before I could get it out a voice cracked over the loud speakers. “Good evening ladies and gentleman what a great-” The voice cut out. Squinting i looked towards the speakers that seemed to be projecting the voice. Jerome was standing in top of the tallest speaker microphone in hand, DJ bleeding out next to him. Jerome’s stare seemed to radiate disgust and hate. “Oh Y/N?” he said in a matter of fact tone. I tugged on my new found friends shoulder urging him to leave with me. “Hey someone stop her!” Jerome yelled something like panic wavering in his voice. I grabbed onto the strangers hand harder pushing our way through the mass o confused people. 

None of his men could catch us so we were out of the club and out of sight by the time they reached the front door. “You need to get in your car and hurry home” The stranger nodded knowing who Jerome was. Before he turned to leave he closed in on my face slowly planting a warm kiss on my lips. I shivered this being the first compassionate kiss since.. well.. never? He walked away without saying another word leaving me out in the wet night air. I giggled like a little girl twirling around on the sidewalk until something cold stopped me. Cringing I knew exactly what it was.

 “Who’s your new boyfriend?” the voice writhed. Sighing I turned around “Jerome-” he cut me off with one finger grabbing my hand and leading me to the alleyway we had parked in. “Let’s talk doll?” Nervously I stopped dead in my track knowing this could end in one of his famous torture cessions. He glared back at me snarling. “I said let’s talk.” he yanked harder on my arm forcing me to follow behind. “ladies first” he said opening the passenger side door ushering me in with a big smile. Nervously I gt in feeling a bit relieved to be off my feet, He got in the drivers side silently fuming as he started p the car. I avoided his gaze instead focusing on the city lights that whizzed by. He headed in the direction of the home we were currently staying in., hopefully if all things went right we would hash out of anger in the bedroom between the satin sheets like we always had but I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be one of those times. We had just reached the gravel driveway when Jerome slammed on the breaks. He looked at me smiling sickly “I apologize I haven’t had my drivers license since.. well.. never!” he shrugged happily for a moment until his grin faded. He started the breathe heavily staring uncomfortably into my eyes. 

I tried to look away wanting to focus my attention on the night sky but his gaze held me still. We stayed put for a few seconds until in some fit of rage he pulled out a pistol and stuck it to my forehead. “ya know I should kill ya’ doll embarrassing me in front t of all those people?” he snaked towards me a mulishness grin overtaking his face, he was hurt though something in the deep part of his eyes told me so. I wanted to scream at him expressing how horrible he had been to me but that would only make him want to blast me even more so I took his cruelties. He stared st me not blinking until I nodded acknowledging him. Slowly he took the gun down looking out the front window chuckling to himself.

 I wiped a tear off of my cheek sneaking a look at him, his eyes were widened with the night sky, his fists pulsating on the steering wheel. Suddenly he began to laugh harder thrashing his fists and head off of the wheel yelling nonsense at no one in particular. He grabbed my hair pulling me closer to his face. Seething in my ear. “Why did you do this to me?” His hand shook as he held onto my hair. “I-I’m sorry I-” I shook my head slightly trying to loosen his grip but it was no use. “You will be sorry Kitten- I you were stronger than this” I opened myself up a little hoping to deescalate the situation. “You’re cruel to me Jerome. You treat me like one of your thugs that you can just throw around all you want. I’m not though and you know it.” He let go of my hair looking coldly into my eyes. “Since when have you become so entitled?” He asked ending with a horrible laugh. I rolled my eyes getting out of the SUV before getting out all the way though I chucked the blasted heels he had previously thrown at me. They hit him and he gasped, I didn’t see his reaction due to the door slamming him out of my view. 

I started walking the sound of the cold gravel crunched under my feet. I focused on the sound instead of the possibility of Jerome starting up the car and running me over. “Y/n wait!” I heard him yell beginning to jog after me. I started in a full run hoping to get far far away from him. His pace quickened behind me I was always a slow runner and plus he had shoes on so it wouldn’t be long until he caught up to me. Again I tried to focus on the night sky as I ran but it was no use the feeling of his hand latching onto my arm. “gotcha” he said  His fingernails dug into my skin, I winced at the pain kicking him as hard as I could in the shin. He growled loosing his balance and falling to the floor. I took off in a full sprint distracted when I heard him cock his gun behind me. I ducked hearing it fire three times. I stayed flat on the ground feeling the dust form the rocks get into my eyes. I blinked rapidly trying to rid myself of this pain. Jerome walked up to me sticking out his left hand, his gun still in the right. I grabbed it and he helped me up. “What is the matter with you?!” I said mad. 

He shrugged looking into my face. “You think?-” He shook his head looking for the right thing to say. “Look I haven’t been the nicest guy- I know- but seeing you kiss” He growled violently kicking rocks, “I dont want to talk about it! the point is- I’m sorry! Just stop doing this and be my doll again.” I was shocked at his words he looked defeated his face morphed in sadness. I nodded grabbing his hand.. “Why did you kiss him?” he said suddenly walking back to the car. I shrugged “I don’t know” he scoffed “I don’t know?, I don’t know!” His hand wrapped around my throat. “How do you not know. You act like it’s nothing but you don’t have to live with it. You don’t have to live with that-” he busted out laughing striking the car with his fists until his knuckles bled. Pan icing at the smudged blood on the car window I ran up behind him and hugged his waist as hard as I could hoping to calm him down. He stopped breathing heavily. “Oh doll you kill me” he said hopelessly. 

I unraveled my arms and grabbed his hand skipping the car ride home walking him the ten feet to the house. I opened the front door letting us both in. “Who was he? huh? Some stud? Business broker with his life in gold?” Hr groaned leaning up against the kitchen table that sat to the right of the door. I shrugged again saying ‘I don’t know’ he winced at my words flipping the table over. “Stop saying that! You’re my whole world and this is how you-” he laughed. I dropped my head all to be lifted up when he was quickly in front of me. “I need to speak with you in the bedroom.” He growled walking away. I grew excited watching his broad shoulders imagining them without the white button up shirt he was wearing. I smiled skipping behind him entering the bedroom just as he was sitting on the desk in front of his bed a devilish look on his face. He snake up to me whispering in my ear. “I’m going to make you forget all about him. I’m the only stud in your life. You got that Doll?” I nodded my hear pulsing in my head. 

His hands made their way up under my shirt, his skin cold on my body heat. I closed my eyes letting myself enjoy the sensation until my shirt was completely off. His lips kissed my neck smoothly while he continued to grip the rest. I sighed wishing he was always like this. His lips moved up to my ear, nibbling slightly on my earlobe. He began to whisper. “Don’t even hurt me again.” I opened my eyes sadness coming over my whole body until I saw him smirking as he left the room. “Jerome!” I yelled. IT took awhile for him to answer. “Sorry kitten things to do, places to be, doll snatchers to kill. But don’t worry” Jerome poked his head into the room smiling “I will be back when he’s dead” I shivered in excitement as his foot steps traveled down the hall again and out the front door. 

Thank you for reading all more to come Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!

[thingsireflecaut]

Post Three

Things to explore and think about that I learnt from my research:

Listing- I found the listing in Eloise Goes To Paris so compelling and entertaining.

The poetry & rhythm of both books was beautiful and integral to the writer’s art.

Dialogue was a great part of both books as well; Eloise had such a strong voice that made you feel and love her, and Max’s character came through in his dialogue. The phonetic spelling and humour in Eloise Goes To Paris was a great was to make the character come to life, and the dynamic nature and visual aspect of Max’s dialogue in Where the Wild Things Are was captivating.  

Maurice Sendak’s story doesn’t rely on an abundance of unnecessary words; he gets the point across concisely and vividly. Both stories also have an assertive protagonist which is something I need to work towards.  

I adore aesthetically the abstract nature of Sendak’s writing; I think it lends well to the concept as a whole and getting children to explore their imagination in less rigid terms, and also makes the illustrations come to life and have creative licence to elevate the story.

Themes of childhood emotion, imagination and being boundless in what your protagonist can do was very inspiring to me as well.

I wrote drafts of a few different stories that were inspired by my research in order to find one that I could then edit, and use as my final story.

One:

What I am trying to explore:

Abstract concepts, interesting dialogue, themes of imagination and using repetition. Also themes of who you are and who you can be that I was interested in in my proposal.

Story:

“Hello, me!” said Sam to the mirror

“Hello, you!” said the mirror to Sam.

“I’m doing something different today.”

The mirror smiled back.

Sam liked their hair long,

Sam liked their hair short,

Sam liked that their hair had a life of its own.  

Today Sam’s hair wanted to be long.

So they stepped through the time hole.

They were very very squished

And then, suddenly, hugely stretched out

And Sam popped out in one year.

They looked in the mirror

“HELLO, old friend!”  

Sam was bewildered,

Their hair twirled all around.  

Sam twirled with it.  

Two:

What I am trying to explore:

Exploring listing & imagination. Thinking about poetry; alliteration, rhyme, cadence & repetition.

Story:

My Things

I have a million things.

They are all me,

And I am all them.

This one cost two whole dollars!

This one I found

In the middle of a tree!

This pile of things is very heavy

And very dusty

Because they stay very still

And I watch them intently.

These are my jewels.

I collect them on my walks.

I give them to friends

Who come in all sorts.

Sometimes I lose my things,

In fact I do it a lot…  

Usually it’s those silly Grimbles

This is a Grimble hot spot.

Flowers are my favourites.

Its ok if they get dry,

I stick them between a book

Or just paint them with my dye.

This one I made  

It hangs on my wall,

If I focus and point,

I can make it fall.

This one is expensive,

My mum got it for me.

I get under the covers,

And I go off to sleep.

Three:

Inspired maybe a little too heavily by Where the Wild Things Are; inspired by the narrative structure and themes. Also playing with the use of capitals like Sendak does.

A mean finger pointed in Lolas face

A big red mean finger attached to a big mean red ogre

That looked like he was about to SWALLOW Lola whole

Lola screamed and she ran and ran and ran and ran

And her face was wet with tears.

As her tears fell something strange happened

The tears became bigger and bigger  

And more and more

Until they themselves grew larger than Lola

And they swallowed her up.

Lola tucked her knees to her chest

And locked her arms around them

She closed her eyes and sobbed some more.

Lola created a bubble around her

So that nobody from outside could enter her tears

And no creatures from her tears could enter her bubble.

She was all alone.

One hundred years passed  

and the tears had dried up

And Lola was alone…

“YIPPEE” she said! “WOO HOO” she yelled!

She danced around the land!

She twirled all day! And skipped all night!

And yelled into the air

“I AM ALOOONNNEEEEEEEE!”

She looked around….  

She danced around the land, again.

She twirled all day.

And skipped all night.

She whispered to herself

“I am all alone.”

So she walked across the land,

And back across the hundred years,

She found her tears  

And swam.

She found the big red ogre

Who had shrunk back to his regular size,

With his shirt tucked in,

And his big round eyes.

He bent down to little Lola

To show her a smile.

He was no longer red.

And she      was no longer scared.

Four:

Inspiration from the craziness of the world around Eloise- I love the flamboyance of the crazy hotel she lives in and the strangeness of the world around her.

Story:

Amelias house lent to the left  

Unless there was a particularly strong wind

Or you told it off,  

In which case it leant to the right.

Amelia didn’t like to tell the house off

But sometimes it got carried away

And squashed her cats

And once it almost squashed Amelia

When she was sleeping

(and she had to grab bricks from her dream and pile them up  

So she didn’t get squashed)

(she made sure to return the bricks later)

After that incident she had to tell the house off  

Really bad  

And it lent to the right for a while after that

Which made the furniture look funny.

Amelia did what every normal child did;

She made sure to pay the monthly bills

She talked to important people on the phone

She worried about money  

and made sure to find as much as she could on her walk to work.

Her work was petting strangers’ cats.  

She loved it, don’t get me wrong, but boy was it stressful sometimes.  

When she got home from work, she said to house

“UGH, will you let me put my bag down first!

Before you start harassing me for things!”

And then she poured herself a glass of something strong;

Tonight, it was lime cordial.  

On the weekends she slept in

And said oh boy, I wish everyday was like this!

She made sure to read the news paper

For her news, on paper

And she shook the pages around  

And flipped them back and forth as best she could

And made sure to fold it in a few different ways.

Sometimes she would grab a pen and say to house

“what’s a four-letter word for flabbergasted?”

And then do a big loud “Hmpfh”

And turn the page over.  

Since all of this was really quite exhausting,

Amelia was lucky to have her parents’ house to escape to

If she needed it.

Five:

What I am trying to explore:

Themes of childhood emotion, actively trying to write an assertive protagonist. Using repetition & alliteration. Also trying to write so that when read out loud it will be amusing.  

Story:

I put on my favorite dress,

My secret favorite dress, nobody knows

Its girly and pink and the sparkles go BOOM

And then I heard the voice,

He always comes

Whenever I put on the secret dress

The voice is slimy and dark and dank

And throws you into a deep dark hole

The hole is so deep and dark and deep

Sometimes I think I’ll never leave.

He says yuck, that dress is girly

So girly pink and yuck

You look silly, didn’t sally say?

When you wore that dress to school one day?

But there is one thing that I can do

When that slimy voice comes

I pull out my sword and say GO AWAY

And I cut the slimy thing to the bone

The funny thing is,  

The thing behind the voice

The slimiest sluggiest slip slop yuck voice in the whole wide world

Is the smallest tiniest silliest thing,

It’s hard not to laugh at it.

Six:

What I am trying to explore:

Story:

There once was a little girl who never spoke.

Well, she had spoken once, as a baby. She said ‘baba’ which in baby talk meant “please get off my bed, big brother, I would like to be alone now”

But her brother laughed, and pointed a big red finger at her and called their parents in.

“What, what?” they said, “hurry up boy!”  

“Look at Amelia trying to talk!”

They crowded her and staired at her with their big round eyes, waiting.

Amelia tried to say: “I’m not sure what the commotion is about… I know what I want to say, I’m just figuring out how to get it out. I’ll figure it out soon, mummy, daddy.”

But only a loud babble came out: “Mmm gaba.”

Her family scrunched up their faces and started laughing at her.  

“Well, she’s not going to be the brightest of the bunch!”  

And they left her all alone.  

Amelia was so embarrassed from that day forward that she didn’t say a word again.

That was nine whole years ago.  

Since Amelia’s family didn’t believe her to be bright, they never sent her to school.

But Amelia learnt in her own way.

She taught herself how to read and how to paint using things from around the house. Marmite was a great black, and if she cut out parts of magazines she could create great images of colour and people.

She sat in her garden and learned about the bugs and the trees, and about how the leaves on the trees fell when it was getting colder, and how flowers started popping up when warmer weather was on its way.

Amelia was lucky to have the kindest next door neighbour in the world; Miss Andrews.  

Miss Andrews was as loud and chatty which made up for Amelia’s lack of words. She also played violin.

I also wrote an alternate path for this story, but wasn’t able to finish either due to lack of time.

Amelia walked to school by herself every day.  

She crossed busy roads and walked down dark alleys.

She walked past bullies who pulled her pigtails and stole her lunch;  

Not that they were very impressed with it, Amelia’s family weren’t big cooks

Usually, her lunch was packed with ice,  

or sometimes a lemon found its way in.  

Amelia never said anything to the bullies.

She was too scared to talk.  

Amelia had a horrible teacher who picked on her in class.

She forced all the children to read their work out loud

And if they could she would yell “PAAASSSSS!”

But if they couldn’t she would yell “FAAIILLLLLL!”

And make them run 100 laps around the field,  

rain or shine.

Luckily, Amelia had a friend.

Her name was Lola.

Lola ran laps around the field with Amelia,  

Even when she didn’t have to.

Lola made fun of the bullies when they weren’t looking,

And Lola shared her lunch with Amelia, so she wouldn’t be hungry.

Amelia walked into class and took her seat next to Lola.

Seven:

Laura wasn’t good at anything.

She didn’t know how to be good.

She tried drawing but she did it wrong

And her parents told her off.

She tried reading but she didn’t know the words,

She tried writing but it came out all wrong,

The words were lopsided and fell off the page.  

She tried cooking but she made a mess

She tried tidying but somehow… made it even messier.

She hid from her mum after that,

But she wasn’t good at hiding.  

Laura felt silly and strange so she sat in her garden

And she closed her eyes for a very long time.  

When she woke up, she got quite a shock.

Her garden had grown into a tall dark forest,

With flowers and vines and big dense bushes.

Laura looked around. She was lost, and cold. A howl echoed far away.  

But then – she heard a smaller howl. A tiny one. She turned to see a little wolf.

The wolf looked at her and growled – he was scared too.  

Laura crawled slowly to him and held out her hand.

“Come here, little wolf. Its ok, I won’t hurt you.”

The wolf whimpered and cautiously sniffed her hand.

She pet him on the head and he came into her lap.

“Where do you live, little wolf?” asked Laura, and they heard another loud howl in the distance.

The little wolf tried to howl back but was so quiet Laura barely heard it herself.

“I see.” she whispered. “I’ll get you back home.”

So Laura and the wolf took off looking for home.

I ended up choosing my three favourite stories and working on them to find what my final story would be.

[envirotravel]

We Solemnly Swear We Are Up To No Good: A Harry Potter Bachelorette Party at Universal Orlando

One thing I’ve been hearing from you guys is that you want to hear more about my current travels right after they happen. Well, ask and ye shall receive! I’m jumping in to start sharing some posts from Florida and Tennessee, a trip so fresh I just unpacked from it. This post is brought to you by Universal Orlando Resort.

If there is one wedding trend you will never hear me grumble about, it’s destination bachelorette parties. A chance to get away with a group of my best gal pals? Sign me up! Let’s face it — the opportunities for girlfriend getaways are fewer and far between as time goes on, families get started and responsibilities pile up. So I’m all for making the most of indulgent time away well we can.

Plus, you know I can’t pass up an opportunity to raid the closest arts supply store! If my girl Angie’s Bachelorette Bonanza in Bonaire was any indication, it’s not a Wanderland-stamped bachelorette bash unless it’s replete with crafted and curated goody bags and coordinating outfits.

When I first told our dear family friend Ashlee that I was working with Universal Orlando for the year, she nearly fainted with excitement at the mere thought of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Not long after, she got engaged. My travel-idea wheels started turning, and soon a Harry Potter Bachelorette Party for Ashlee, my sister Olivia and I was born.

Both girls arrived on a Friday afternoon, and we spent a low-key evening enjoying dinner and girly giggles at the Royal Pacific Resort. I’d had a big week at Volcano Bay, and so I was thrilled we were having an early night in to prepare for the big day out ahead!

While we had a few delays in the morning and weren’t the first ones banging down the gates at opening time, we did take advantage of the extra hour of park admission for onsite hotel guests. We were visiting on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, so crowds should have been crushing. But by planning out our route and taking advantage of onsite guest perks, we really did make the most of our visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

My advice? Check to see which parks have early admission — on this particular day, only Islands of Adventure did. (Remember, Hogsmeade is in Islands of Adventure, while Diagon Alley is in Universal Studios, and they are connected by the Hogwarts Express ride. Thus, a park hopper pass is required to visit both in one day.) So we started our day in Hogsmeade, and rode all three rides there as soon as we arrived, waiting only for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey — which in retrospect, we totally should have sprinted to first out of the three rides, since it’s the only one that doesn’t accept the Express Passes that we received included in our stay at Royal Pacific.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is definitely the standout of Hogsmeade, and it truly left me speechless! Dragon Challenge is a traditional crazy coaster that you could ride twice and have two totally different experiences, and the Flight of the Hippogriff is a more family-friendly roller coaster.

Once we had all the rides under out belt, we wandered in and out of the beautifully themed shops, took a million photos, and giggled while Ashlee did spells. While neither Olivia nor I are huge Harry fans — though believe me, it’s growing on me! — we seriously were having a blast and loving how much fun Ashlee was having.

“Is this what it’s like to be parents?,” Olivia mused, as we watched Ash waving her wand around with huge smiles. While I’m normally not much of a souvenir-buyer, wands are an absolute must for the true Potter-head. They allow you to perform spells at mapped locations all over the Wizarding World!

While this was my third trip to Universal Orlando, I had never truly experienced Hogsmeade before, so it really was a blast for me. After a Butterbeer toast to seal the morning, we were off on the Hogwarts Express — which again, thanks to our Express Passes, magically had no line!

And after a whirl on the world’s only inter-theme park ride, we arrived in Diagon Alley! I was so excited to see the girl’s reactions to this truly magical place, one of the greatest themed lands I’ve ever seen in any theme park anywhere in the world.

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts was down temporarily, so we wandered the alleys doing more spells, splitting an ice cream, and checking out all the fab little shops and details.

Throughout the day, we were overwhelmed with super sweet and sincere compliments from Universal employees on our outfits, and Harry Potter glasses specifically. Considering they’ve seen it all, we were pretty dang proud of ourselves. The best part was, since I’d had to order an eight pack, we had extras to hand out to strangers who asked us about them — so fun!

Next up, it was time for a lunch — and air-conditioning! — break at The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar in CityWalk. I’d heard raves about this spot and while we were all boring and ordered (super delicious) salads and soda waters, I am totally coming back some night for their craft cocktails and signature Burgushi®.

After lunch, we headed back into Islands of Adventure to hit my favorite area of Universal Orlando… Seuss Landing! The girls humored me with spins on both The Cat in The Hat (which I’d been on before) and theThe High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride (which I hadn’t.) Neither had more than a two minute line.

Turns out the train ride has some of the best photography vantage points in the entire park — it’s so cool to see it all from above! So whether you’re a Seuss fan or not, if you’re coming with a camera you might just want to hop aboard for a spin.

After, we headed for my favorite ride in the park — Jurassic Park River Adventure. At this point, the late afternoon holiday weekend crowds were at their peak, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and a nap before the rest of the day.

My big regret of the trip? Not taking the girls on my beloved Hulk coaster and not trying out the two water rides, Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls and Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges, when it was blazing hot! Sure, we could have fit it all in if we’d stayed in the park from open to close, but with a long weekend of fun ahead, we chose to pace ourselves — which is the exact reason I’d recommend travelers invest in at least a three day park-hopper pass so they don’t burn out while trying to enjoy all Universal Orlando Resort has to offer (which is, if you haven’t picked up on it already, a lot.)

Thankfully, by the time the sun set we were well rested for a night on the town — the town, in this case, being Universal’s CityWalk! One of my favorite things about a Universal vacation is you don’t have to get in a car once if you don’t want to.

You can eat, stay, play all in one compact, well-connected resort without fussing with rental cars, cabs, or Ubers. It actually makes it the perfect bachelorette bash port of call — between the security checks into CityWalk, the free water taxis back to the onsite hotels, and the peace of mind of keeping everyone in one place in a big group, you really couldn’t ask for a more worry-free destination for a girl’s night out.

CityWalk is bursting with dining options, which made it hard to narrow down our dinner reservations, though we finally settled on Antojitos for a festive Mexican meal. It did not disappoint! The modern and colorful interiors left us swooning — table for three in a birdcage? yes please! — and the menu left us drooling.

Don’t miss the ginger mojitos or the fresh guacamole made to your specifications right at the table!

After dinner, we rushed back into the park for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, which we literally sprinted to when I read on the Universal App had reopened! With late summer hours, you really can make the most of your day — and night. Diagon Alley looks totally different at the dark, which made the ride being closed earlier in the day actually feel like a blessing in disguise. We got on what must have been one of the very last runs of the evening, and exited right as the nightly fireworks were going off. Talk about timing.

After, we strolled back into CityWalk ready to dance — and sing. We kicked things off at my personal favorite venue, Rising Star Karaoke, where you can croon with a live backup band and backup dancers. Unfortunately we arrived right as the band went on a lengthy break so the girls didn’t really get to experience Rising Star in all it’s glory, but our friendly waiter conceded that on a busy weekend you really need to arrive at opening to have a good chance of singing, anyway.

After a few drinks and sing-alongs, we were off to check out CityWalk’s two nightclubs, The Groove and Red Coconut Club. As very dedicated researchers, we did a thorough comparison of both — and while the dancefloors were packed and we had a blast at each, Red Coconut won out as our favorite for the retro kitsch decor (The Groove was more general-Myrtle-Beach-nightclub in comparison.) Both were totally unpretentious, with an all-age crowd all just looking to have a good time. And if you’re staying onsite, you’ll get free entry to every CityWalk venue by showing your room key — so why not check out both?

Not so much for the club scene? There are also some great bars in CityWalk — Bob Marley–A Tribute to Freedom has great live music (and Jamaican specialities on the dinner menu), Pat O’Brien’s boasts dueling pianos (and cajun food), and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville has, well, a margarita-filled erupting volcano (and cheeseburgers in paradise, duh).

CityWalk’s last call is 2am, but make sure you close out your tab a bit earlier to grab late night slices at the Red Over Pizza Bakery. We took them to-go and hopped on the last water taxi of the night back to Royal Pacific, which turned out to be one of my favorite moments of my entire eight days in Orlando. Why?

When we boarded the boat, I noted that the professional young captain was a girl around our age. The only other group on the boat was another crew of ladies coming back from a big night out. As we pulled away from the dock, the captain wordlessly turned on a speaker and started blasting Madonna’s classic hit Lucky Star. When she started busting some serious dance moves at the wheel, we excitedly began belting backup from out seats. We might not have made it onstage at Rising Star, but the boat become our grandstand, the seven of us aboard rocking out for a one-song headline.

When we docked, we laughed and thanked our lovely captain for an unimaginably perfect ride home. “Well, I figured it was just us girls,” she said with a wink.

Just us girls indeed! It was the perfect day at the parks, and a bachelorette for the books.

What’s the best destination you’ve discovered for a bachelorette weekend? 

This post is brought to your by Universal Orlando Resort. I am a member of the Universal Blog Squad, and have been compensated for this partnership. I maintain full editorial control and as always all thoughts, opinions, and over-ambitious craft projects are my own. 

Pin It!

We Solemnly Swear We Are Up To No Good: A Harry Potter Bachelorette Party at Universal Orlando posted first on http://ift.tt/2k2mjrD

[envirotravel]

We Solemnly Swear We Are Up To No Good: A Harry Potter Bachelorette Party at Universal Orlando

One thing I’ve been hearing from you guys is that you want to hear more about my current travels right after they happen. Well, ask and ye shall receive! I’m jumping in to start sharing some posts from Florida and Tennessee, a trip so fresh I just unpacked from it. This post is brought to you by Universal Orlando Resort.

If there is one wedding trend you will never hear me grumble about, it’s destination bachelorette parties. A chance to get away with a group of my best gal pals? Sign me up! Let’s face it — the opportunities for girlfriend getaways are fewer and far between as time goes on, families get started and responsibilities pile up. So I’m all for making the most of indulgent time away well we can.

Plus, you know I can’t pass up an opportunity to raid the closest arts supply store! If my girl Angie’s Bachelorette Bonanza in Bonaire was any indication, it’s not a Wanderland-stamped bachelorette bash unless it’s replete with crafted and curated goody bags and coordinating outfits.

When I first told our dear family friend Ashlee that I was working with Universal Orlando for the year, she nearly fainted with excitement at the mere thought of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Not long after, she got engaged. My travel-idea wheels started turning, and soon a Harry Potter Bachelorette Party for Ashlee, my sister Olivia and I was born.

Both girls arrived on a Friday afternoon, and we spent a low-key evening enjoying dinner and girly giggles at the Royal Pacific Resort. I’d had a big week at Volcano Bay, and so I was thrilled we were having an early night in to prepare for the big day out ahead!

While we had a few delays in the morning and weren’t the first ones banging down the gates at opening time, we did take advantage of the extra hour of park admission for onsite hotel guests. We were visiting on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, so crowds should have been crushing. But by planning out our route and taking advantage of onsite guest perks, we really did make the most of our visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

My advice? Check to see which parks have early admission — on this particular day, only Islands of Adventure did. (Remember, Hogsmeade is in Islands of Adventure, while Diagon Alley is in Universal Studios, and they are connected by the Hogwarts Express ride. Thus, a park hopper pass is required to visit both in one day.) So we started our day in Hogsmeade, and rode all three rides there as soon as we arrived, waiting only for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey — which in retrospect, we totally should have sprinted to first out of the three rides, since it’s the only one that doesn’t accept the Express Passes that we received included in our stay at Royal Pacific.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is definitely the standout of Hogsmeade, and it truly left me speechless! Dragon Challenge is a traditional crazy coaster that you could ride twice and have two totally different experiences, and the Flight of the Hippogriff is a more family-friendly roller coaster.

Once we had all the rides under out belt, we wandered in and out of the beautifully themed shops, took a million photos, and giggled while Ashlee did spells. While neither Olivia nor I are huge Harry fans — though believe me, it’s growing on me! — we seriously were having a blast and loving how much fun Ashlee was having.

“Is this what it’s like to be parents?,” Olivia mused, as we watched Ash waving her wand around with huge smiles. While I’m normally not much of a souvenir-buyer, wands are an absolute must for the true Potter-head. They allow you to perform spells at mapped locations all over the Wizarding World!

While this was my third trip to Universal Orlando, I had never truly experienced Hogsmeade before, so it really was a blast for me. After a Butterbeer toast to seal the morning, we were off on the Hogwarts Express — which again, thanks to our Express Passes, magically had no line!

And after a whirl on the world’s only inter-theme park ride, we arrived in Diagon Alley! I was so excited to see the girl’s reactions to this truly magical place, one of the greatest themed lands I’ve ever seen in any theme park anywhere in the world.

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts was down temporarily, so we wandered the alleys doing more spells, splitting an ice cream, and checking out all the fab little shops and details.

Throughout the day, we were overwhelmed with super sweet and sincere compliments from Universal employees on our outfits, and Harry Potter glasses specifically. Considering they’ve seen it all, we were pretty dang proud of ourselves. The best part was, since I’d had to order an eight pack, we had extras to hand out to strangers who asked us about them — so fun!

Next up, it was time for a lunch — and air-conditioning! — break at The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar in CityWalk. I’d heard raves about this spot and while we were all boring and ordered (super delicious) salads and soda waters, I am totally coming back some night for their craft cocktails and signature Burgushi®.

After lunch, we headed back into Islands of Adventure to hit my favorite area of Universal Orlando… Seuss Landing! The girls humored me with spins on both The Cat in The Hat (which I’d been on before) and theThe High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride (which I hadn’t.) Neither had more than a two minute line.

Turns out the train ride has some of the best photography vantage points in the entire park — it’s so cool to see it all from above! So whether you’re a Seuss fan or not, if you’re coming with a camera you might just want to hop aboard for a spin.

After, we headed for my favorite ride in the park — Jurassic Park River Adventure. At this point, the late afternoon holiday weekend crowds were at their peak, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and a nap before the rest of the day.

My big regret of the trip? Not taking the girls on my beloved Hulk coaster and not trying out the two water rides, Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls and Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges, when it was blazing hot! Sure, we could have fit it all in if we’d stayed in the park from open to close, but with a long weekend of fun ahead, we chose to pace ourselves — which is the exact reason I’d recommend travelers invest in at least a three day park-hopper pass so they don’t burn out while trying to enjoy all Universal Orlando Resort has to offer (which is, if you haven’t picked up on it already, a lot.)

Thankfully, by the time the sun set we were well rested for a night on the town — the town, in this case, being Universal’s CityWalk! One of my favorite things about a Universal vacation is you don’t have to get in a car once if you don’t want to.

You can eat, stay, play all in one compact, well-connected resort without fussing with rental cars, cabs, or Ubers. It actually makes it the perfect bachelorette bash port of call — between the security checks into CityWalk, the free water taxis back to the onsite hotels, and the peace of mind of keeping everyone in one place in a big group, you really couldn’t ask for a more worry-free destination for a girl’s night out.

CityWalk is bursting with dining options, which made it hard to narrow down our dinner reservations, though we finally settled on Antojitos for a festive Mexican meal. It did not disappoint! The modern and colorful interiors left us swooning — table for three in a birdcage? yes please! — and the menu left us drooling.

Don’t miss the ginger mojitos or the fresh guacamole made to your specifications right at the table!

After dinner, we rushed back into the park for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, which we literally sprinted to when I read on the Universal App had reopened! With late summer hours, you really can make the most of your day — and night. Diagon Alley looks totally different at the dark, which made the ride being closed earlier in the day actually feel like a blessing in disguise. We got on what must have been one of the very last runs of the evening, and exited right as the nightly fireworks were going off. Talk about timing.

After, we strolled back into CityWalk ready to dance — and sing. We kicked things off at my personal favorite venue, Rising Star Karaoke, where you can croon with a live backup band and backup dancers. Unfortunately we arrived right as the band went on a lengthy break so the girls didn’t really get to experience Rising Star in all it’s glory, but our friendly waiter conceded that on a busy weekend you really need to arrive at opening to have a good chance of singing, anyway.

After a few drinks and sing-alongs, we were off to check out CityWalk’s two nightclubs, The Groove and Red Coconut Club. As very dedicated researchers, we did a thorough comparison of both — and while the dancefloors were packed and we had a blast at each, Red Coconut won out as our favorite for the retro kitsch decor (The Groove was more general-Myrtle-Beach-nightclub in comparison.) Both were totally unpretentious, with an all-age crowd all just looking to have a good time. And if you’re staying onsite, you’ll get free entry to every CityWalk venue by showing your room key — so why not check out both?

Not so much for the club scene? There are also some great bars in CityWalk — Bob Marley–A Tribute to Freedom has great live music (and Jamaican specialities on the dinner menu), Pat O’Brien’s boasts dueling pianos (and cajun food), and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville has, well, a margarita-filled erupting volcano (and cheeseburgers in paradise, duh).

CityWalk’s last call is 2am, but make sure you close out your tab a bit earlier to grab late night slices at the Red Over Pizza Bakery. We took them to-go and hopped on the last water taxi of the night back to Royal Pacific, which turned out to be one of my favorite moments of my entire eight days in Orlando. Why?

When we boarded the boat, I noted that the professional young captain was a girl around our age. The only other group on the boat was another crew of ladies coming back from a big night out. As we pulled away from the dock, the captain wordlessly turned on a speaker and started blasting Madonna’s classic hit Lucky Star. When she started busting some serious dance moves at the wheel, we excitedly began belting backup from out seats. We might not have made it onstage at Rising Star, but the boat become our grandstand, the seven of us aboard rocking out for a one-song headline.

When we docked, we laughed and thanked our lovely captain for an unimaginably perfect ride home. “Well, I figured it was just us girls,” she said with a wink.

Just us girls indeed! It was the perfect day at the parks, and a bachelorette for the books.

What’s the best destination you’ve discovered for a bachelorette weekend? 

This post is brought to your by Universal Orlando Resort. I am a member of the Universal Blog Squad, and have been compensated for this partnership. I maintain full editorial control and as always all thoughts, opinions, and over-ambitious craft projects are my own. 

Pin It!

We Solemnly Swear We Are Up To No Good: A Harry Potter Bachelorette Party at Universal Orlando posted first on http://ift.tt/2k2mjrD