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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 1 year ago

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Nothing and Everything - Part 3

Summary: Certain times of the year are harder than others. This is the first year where they have all been present to face the memories of all the trauma. How can they come together when they each have their own traumas to face?

Pairings: Gen fic (they love Layla and she loves them)

Warnings: Heavy dissociation, Mentions of child abuse, some mentions of violence, Depression, mentions of self harm, PTSD.

Word Count: 3394

Part Three: Marc is haunted by the things he never had. Naturally his first inclination is to start a fight or two or three. Layla confronts Jake about his lies.

Previous Chapter HERE

“It’s going to be hot and muggy through the first half of the week. Get out there and enjoy that sunshine while we have it folks because on Thursday it’s going to shift as we say our first goodbye to summer and the first storm rolls in.” The weatherman smiled and turned to bring up the weather map with numbers and happy images positioned all across it.

Marc turned off the television and went to the window. He stared up at the perfect blue sky for a moment.

It was easy to get lost in that blue. Expansive and welcoming.

How many times had he gotten lost in the sky?

Lounging like white fluffy clouds with nowhere to be. Gazing at a sunset filled with more colors than he thought possible. Feeling the crackle of energy in the air as dark clouds rolled overhead to match pace with the wind. Looking at the stars through his telescope and dreaming of being out there with them.

The deep cloudless sky of the middle east. Hot and sucking every ounce of moisture out of his very being to leave him empty.

The black night sky that left him exposed and vulnerable.

And the moon.

Calling and always wanting more from him. How it followed him as he traveled across the world. The same moon. The same sky.

A storm is coming.

He could feel it in his bones. He always felt it. That first storm of the hot summer months. Charged from the heat of the day and crashing into the cold air that tried so hard to change the season before it was ready.

Each time he felt the energy build, his anxiety would rise with it. Responsibility and punishment covering his heart. He was supposed to take care of them.

These end of summer days that brought out the family BBQs and picnics. Happy families making the most of the rare sun filled months and long days that stretched on forever and ever. He could feel the ticking clock. Time running out as they scrambled to laugh and play and do nothing.

How many days had he wasted? Sprawled out on the couch moaning about how bored he was as he enjoyed and hated doing nothing.

“Come play with me!” A younger boy that didn’t yet know that his summer was limited. That didn’t yet know that time was ticking towards nothing.

“I don’t want to play with you! I hate that game and you cheat!”

It wasn’t cheating if he didn’t understand the rules, but Marc never bothered to explain them. Everyone knew the rules. It wasn’t his fault that some people just weren’t born knowing them.

Rules about snack time. Rules about how loud he could be. Rules about playing with his brother or taking care of him. Parents were busy. His father had to study and his mother had work to do.

Tears fell down the rounded cheeks and Marc was glad. Glad for the storm. His parents would be angry with him. He could be mean too. Just for a moment. He could leave out his brother like he was left out. Left out of everything.

Regret filled him as the lower lip trembled. He didn’t want to hurt his brother. It wasn’t his fault.

Rolling off the couch he pointed to the sky. “Look! Rain! Want to go cool off?”

“Mom says we shouldn’t play in the rain. We could get sick.” The tears were gone, forgotten as quickly as they had come.

“It’s so hot!” A reasonable counter argument and the prospect of jumping in puddles was too much to resist.

In his memory, Marc could hear the splashing and laughter. He could see the gray clouds as they danced and competed to see who could get the biggest splash.

The rain was cold but the air was still so hot. He could hear the thunder approaching and he dared the storm to ruin his fun.

Facing the storm, he missed the danger from behind as his mother’s tight grip caught his arm.

“What are you doing? Get inside before you get sick! Get cleaned up! You’ll drip all over the rug!”

Guilt. He was in trouble, but he knew nothing would come of it other than a stern lecture about health and responsibility from his father.

He didn’t care about that. He was lectured all the time.

He cared about the fact that Randall was carried inside in warm arms. That Randall was wrapped up in a fluffy towel and given a warm bubble bath while Marc was left alone and shivering in the hall.

He had to wait for his warm bath. A bath taken alone without toys. Timed with a sharp knock to get out and clean up his room.

He watched as Randall was given lunch first. His favorite and Marc’s least favorite.

Marc didn’t know the words for how he felt then. Left out and forgotten and always second thought of. It wasn’t Randall’s fault. Randall was perfect. It was Marc who was the disappointment.

Marc with his head in the sky.

The sky that would betray him. The sky that took his brother. The sky that took him. That brought the moon.

Now he watched over Steven and reminded himself over and over again: Protect him.

Something was moving just outside of his field of vision and when a hand touched his shoulder it was everything he could do not to spin around and fight off the sudden attack.

Fists clenched, he looked sharply at the form until familiar curls brought him back. Back to the present where he was inside in London in Steven’s flat with Layla.

Her hand lingered and he didn’t miss the way she noticed his balled up fists. He took a breath and slowly relaxed them till they were just hands again with nothing to do.

She raised a single eyebrow and he shook his head ever so slightly.

It wasn’t a flashback. He was fine. She was safe. He was safe.

Her lips turned into a thin line and he could feel that there was something she wanted to say. Something that she didn’t think she should. Perhaps she felt him too fragile? Too emotional? Perhaps it would hurt him and be the punishment he needed for failing her in some way.

“What?” He frowned at her and felt the way his tension was balling up in his forehead.

“Nothing.” She turned away. “Lunch is ready. I got us something from the new Thai place down the street. Hope you don’t mind.”

He watched her for a moment, debating on chasing the argument. He could feel the fight lingering between them like the upcoming storm. He didn’t know what she was angry about, but he needed it. He needed her attention.

They had called him attention seeking in early school. Acting out. Getting into trouble to make his teacher and parents look at him. And perhaps they were right. When else would they look at him?

“I’m not hungry.” He gruffed, knowing that this was a key trigger for her. Knowing that she knew he hadn’t eaten yet today.

She looked up at him from across the table where she had laid out the food. The smell reached him and his stomach pulled painfully in protest.

He stared back at her, challenging.

She clenched her jaw and set a bowl of Tom Kha down sharply. A flash of anger worked across her face and he suddenly had visions of her throwing it across the room.

Instead, she sat down and pulled out her own box of sweet thai basil chicken.

His stomach rumbled and he crossed his arms, hoping she didn’t hear it.

“Are you going to stand there and stare at me while I eat?” She picked up her fork and loaded it with a bite that was far too large but still somehow managed to fit it into her mouth as she purposefully stared him down while chewing.

She wasn’t taking the bait.

Marc shifted and moved to grab his favorite coat. He could go outside. Away from the delicious smell and temptation. What better way to stab the knife in deeper than to just leave? Make her hate him. Make her cry. Make her-

He stumbled as his legs refused to move. Panic clenched his fists as he felt the push back.

Jake.

Jake was not going to let him leave. Not without a fight.

Good thing Marc wanted a fight.

And then the yelling started.

Steven fronted so hard and fast that he had to take a step back as he looked around, quickly taking in where he was and what was going on.

“Oh bugger.” His eyes landed on Layla, who was beet red in the face and looked pissed.

Steven winced, then winced again as suddenly the silence was broken inside. “Oh hell.” Steven tried to hide how uncomfortable he was as he listened to Marc and Jake start to yell at one another.

Layla slid the bowl of soup across to him. “It’s coconut milk and tofu. I normally get chicken but I had a feeling Marc wasn’t going to be eating.” She sounded angry.

“Thanks, Love.” Steven gingerly found his spoon and started to eat. “Uh… Everything alright?”

Everything was absolutely not alright. The yelling was getting louder and things were being said that were going to sting later.

“Just a little disagreement.” She muttered as she ate another bite, this one much smaller than the first one had been.

“Uh huh.” Steven agreed. “Yeah… Uh… I gathered.”

Please stop.

He pleaded with them.

The mood shifted and suddenly Marc was yelling at him. It made no sense. Something about attention and wasting his time.

Then Marc jabbed about work and Jake came to his defense.

Steven put his face in his hands for a moment as he tried to breath through the argument. Through the headache.

STOP. STOP STOP STOP STOP.

It was all Steven could do to keep from yelling out loud as he tried to drown them out.

“Marc’s in a mood, isn’t he?” Layla probed. “Trying to start fights. You can tell him that I’m not doing it. I’m not going to be used like that. I’m not here to validate his self-destructive habits.”

Steven held up a hand to try to get her to stop for a moment as he tried to break it up.

He needed Jake to stop yelling. He needed Marc to stop yelling. He needed Layla to stop being angry. He just needed it all to stop.

SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU! I CAN’T DEAL WITH THIS!

Silence fell and he couldn’t tell if it was because they had decided to fall back or if he had somehow put up some sort of barrier to block them out.

He did know that he was trembling slightly and the room suddenly felt very loud. Layla was looking at him with a shocked look on her face, pale and wide eyed.

“Oh hell…” Steven glanced around as if he might be able to fix it. “Did…Did I say that outloud?”

She nodded, still surprised.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean you, love. I… I was talking to them. They were being loud and..And mean!” He fumbled with his napkin and looked down in shame.

She made a sound that made him look up in alarm, terrified he might see her crying.

Instead she was laughing, a hand over her mouth as she struggled not to choke on her food.

She grabbed a drink of water then laughed harder. “Oh Steven…” She wiped a tear from an eye and looked at him with a smile. “Sometimes I forget that it isn’t fair. Not to me or you or even them.”

She reached across the table and took his hand, letting him drop the napkin before he could shred it.

He looked at their hands then up at her. “I didn’t mean to yell.”

Layla shook her head. “I liked it. I bet it shut them up, too, didn’t it?”

Steven paused then nodded. “Yeah.”

She smirked. “Good. They need a reminder now and then about not just tossing you into things to patch up their problems.” She sighed and patted his hand. “Me too, honestly. I’m sorry I tried to make you the messenger. It’s a shit position to be in.”

Steven smiled a little and relaxed. “I honestly don’t know what they were fighting about. It was pretty nasty, though.”

“He does that. Marc will fight over the color of the sky if given the chance.” Layla let his hands go and pointed to his soup. “Eat. I can hear your stomach from over here.”

Steven looked at the soup gratefully and nodded. “It smells amazing.”

They ate in comfortable silence, though Steven kept one eye on the inside, wondering what the damage was going to be.

–

She waited. You better believe she waited. She knew it was only a matter of time before he’d show his face.

She spent the day with Steven, letting him cuddle into her while he read and occasionally listening to him info dump about what he had just read.

Marc didn’t show up at all. She knew he wouldn't. Even if he had risen to the surface to take a peak, he wouldn’t have lingered long enough for her to catch him. He may have wanted a fight, but this was no longer a fight he wanted to be a part of.

Instead, she waited for another prey. This one could be tricky if he didn’t want to get caught. Elusive and often very very good at slipping away unnoticed.

But she knew him now. She knew him quite well, though not as well as she would have liked. She knew his mannerisms and his ticks that gave him away.

So when ‘Steven’ suddenly put his book down and adjusted his posture, she turned to him with narrowed eyes.

“Jake Lockley, how long are you going to sit there pretending to read before you speak to me?” She crossed her arms and gave him a look.

Jake held her gaze for a moment. He was more stubborn than Marc and lacked any form of self awareness that often hindered Steven when it came to confrontations. When Jake found himself with a challenge, he tended to meet it directly with incredible focus.

He had two exceptions to this rule that defied his ability to reason and found no intimidation in his bluntness: Steven and Layla.

Jake sighed so heavily that Layla thought he was trying to stall for time. “I would have gone longer but our back can only take so much.”

She smiled a bit at that, softening a little. “How are you, Jake?”

He thought the question over then looked Layla up and down.

“I get the feeling that you are irritated with me.” He easily avoided the question.

“Steven had a meltdown the other day. You didn’t tell me how upset he was when we had dinner. I would have waited up for him. I could have done something to comfort him or been there for him. You said he was fine.” She was more than a little irritated.

Jake winced and looked away. “I knew he was upset. I thought he was just reacting to the interview. I didn’t think he was going to react like that.”

She watched him get up and start to make adjustments, rolling up his sleeves and pushing his hair back. Indicators that perhaps he intended to stick around for a bit.

“And what happened with Marc?”

Jake went to the kitchen and started to make coffee. “I stopped him from walking out.”

“Where was he going?” Layla watched him.

“I don’t know. Away.” Jake sounded irritated. “He intended to start a fight with you and I stopped it.”

“Steven said you started a fight with him. It doesn’t sound like any of you are doing well. Should I be worried?” She didn’t want to pry. She didn’t want to push him at all, but she didn’t like how much Jake seemed to be trying to either keep from her or be in denial.

“We had a disagreement. Marc wanted a fight and we had one.” Jake started the coffee maker and leaned against the counter. “It’s been a stressful week. I already told you that Marc was going to be having a rough season. We’re taking care of it.”

“Jake, it’s Tuesday. The week isn’t even halfway through. I’m worried.”

“Hermosa.” His pet name for her that he tended to use when he was feeling frustrated. “It’s just a difficult time.”

“Why is it so difficult? What’s triggering all this?” The coffee maker sputtered and at last started to fill the pot. It was approaching night and he was making a full pot.

She got up and moved to the kitchen.

Jake stared at the pot, watching the coffee drizzle slowly. He seemed to be contemplating on if he should answer her or how much to say.

She waited, trying not to seem angry, suspicious, or impatient. A part of her was worried that he would lie. What was he keeping from her? Did he think she couldn’t help? That she didn’t need to know?

It hurt her feelings a little that he would hesitate at all. He was supposed to be her gossip buddy. He was supposed to trust her.

“Roro’s birthday is coming. This Saturday.” Jake rubbed his temples. “He died at the end of summer just before school started again. It didn’t used to be an issue. It’s been long enough that sometimes the memories are hard and the nightmares come, but it didn’t used to be this bad. Not since we were little.”

Layla looked down. Marc had told her about his brother. She hadn’t gotten the full story until after everything in Egypt and Steven had been the one to mostly tell her.

Jake took a slow breath then pulled his thermos down from the cabinet. “Mom died two years ago next Monday. This is the first year that Steven knows about it. About both of them. I think we’re having some sort of emotional bleed over now that Steven knows. It’s making it seem worse.”

“Jake… What about you? Are you okay?” Did Jake think that he was above all this pain? Did he think he could stop the other two from feeling it?

Jake snapped his thermos closed. “I couldn’t care less about that woman. As for Roro… I never knew him. I am sorry that we had a brother and that he isn’t here, but… It’s not my pain.”

And yet Jake still called him Roro, not Randall like Steven did. Was this another lie?

Layla looked at his thermos. “Are you going somewhere?”

“I have work.” He frowned and set his jaw in the familiar strong and sharp lines.

“Right now? You need to change. You haven’t even had dinner yet.” She protested.

“I have a change of clothes in the car. I’ll pick up something at the diner.” He grabbed his cap from a hook by the wall and fished in a drawer for his keys. “I really need to go. I’m sorry about the break downs. I wish you hadn’t of had to see that. I’ll do better, okay? I’m very sorry.”

He tipped his hat forward then quickly rushed out the door before she could protest further.

Layla stared after him for a moment then put her face in her hands and let out a very strained aggravated sigh that tapered into a strangled yell.

“All three of them. How did all three of them get to be so dense?” She tossed her hands into the air.

They were not alright. Anyone could see that none of them had this and this was quickly getting to be more than she could take care of.

Moving to dig through Marc’s junk drawer, she shuffled through spare change, a utility knife, a whole lot of random tools, batteries, and various keys before she pulled out his old burner phone.

Flipping it open, she scrolled through his short list of contacts then dialed. An old familiar voice picked up after just two rings.

“Allô?”

Part 4 HERE

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight fic #Marc Spector #Jake Lockley #Steven Grant #Layla El Faouly #Two in a day #sometimes I get shit done #Seriously that sky is so easy to get lost in #Layla calling for backup

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sourbat · 4 years ago

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A Missed Call

Because you can never have enough magtok, here’s an old one shot I wrote some time back for the holidays, but never got to releasing.

Summary: After a rough morning and bad rehearsal, Toki retreats and listens to an old, missed call saved on his dethphone.

Pair: Toki and Magnus

Rating: T

Read on Ao3 or click read more below!

Following a long night of painting a recently completed figurine, Toki woke up late on the morning of a planned recording session, one he had practiced for beforehand. Toki checked the time, panicked and hurriedly put on some clothes, skipped the shower, and rushed to the upper levels and kitchen to grab some fruit as a quick and easy breakfast. On his way to rehearsal, he got woozy and had to double back retrieve his insulin. When Toki finally arrived, everyone was already in a foul mood. Knubbler mentioned losing two saved recordings, and apparently Murderface raised a fit about it. No one entertained his tardiness, and Toki could tell that patience was wearing thin, but still insisted he get some recordings in to show his dedication to the band.

Since he left his guitar behind in his room, Skwisgaar tentatively offered one of his own, lips pursed and brows sinking while Toki readjusted the harness, tightened a string. It seemed every small action he performed while scrambling to the tinier recording room earned the ire of his lead guitarist, and when they settled, Toki sensed the increasing weight of the atmosphere, the building gravity and high expectations that few could reach.

He couldn’t concentrate. Not with Skwisgaar frowning at him, eyes stained with contempt, arms crossed tightly to his chest and fingers rapidly tapping the correct rhythm across his rigid form.

Knubbler gave Toki permission to go, but his eyes couldn’t break from the imaginary strings rapidly coursing through Skwisgaar’s busy hands. He knew Skwisgaar was comparing their speed and overall performance. Toki saw the frown extend downwards, finding his attempt inadequate. Toki flubbed the first recording, and just four measures into his part. He messed up on the second and third try. He made it as far as the first rest, then messed up again.

Sixteen measures and another set of wrong notes later, Skwisgaar finally had had enough, and the passive remarks began. Toki couldn’t play over Skwisgaar loudly pointing out every wrong note he tried teaching. With the room filled with a never-ending tirade of “noes,” Knubbler had no choice but to stop recording. The moment he announced the news, Skwisgaar grabbed the guitar by the neck and loudly insisted through Toki’s headset that he would play the parts instead.

The news proved fatal to his esteem. Aghast, Toki pleaded with Skwisgaar to let him try one more time. He grabbed the older man by his top, but then sank and fell on his knees. Skwisgaar wouldn’t have it, nor would Knubbler who, after bringing a hand to cover the red light flaring in his optical devices, suggested an emergency fifteen-minute break.

Tensions were high as Skwisgaar exited the small room, hand clasping the guitar and swinging with a vigor that warned Pickles and Nathan to back off and keep their mouths shut. Murderface left the couch to grab some snacks, and when he returned, saw Toki inching his way to the nearest door.

“You alright, Toki?” he asked through loud chews and smacks.

Toki didn’t answer. His head sank, leaving just a nub of a neck and messy chestnut veil before he reached for the door.

Knubbler turned in his seat. “Tough luck, babe. Come back in fifteen, alright?”

“Or don’ts, nots like we’lls notice,” Skwisgaar said under his breath, earning a sharp jolt from Toki’s shoulder before he stomped out of the room.

Nathan sighed. “Skwisgaar.”

“Dood, no need ta’ be a–”

The door shut, and at the sound of the lock clicking, Toki pressed his back into the adjoining wall. Cool stone tempered his rigid, hot spine. It pushed the heat forward, through his chest, then spilled down his cheeks in a furious heat. Toki slid to the floor, legs retracting and arms coiled round to bring them up to his chest. He sighed and tried shutting his eyes, only to have to watch himself repeat the same mistake again, observe his clumsy fingers resting on top the wrong string, wrong fret, sloppily strumming and ending up with a nasty fuzz that only further infuriated Skwisgaar. A heaviness collected across his beet-reddened face before going limp. He buried his face between his shaking legs. He spent the next few moments in silence, head spinning and throat shut, refusing the smallest intake of air until Skwisgaar’s harsh words turned into blurry static.

The pain that swelled in his chest raged forth, climbing up his strained neck, reaching behind his eyes and sending a throb that warned Toki of an impending sob. He sucked a sharp breath, filling his chest and stomach until his belly hurt, then shuttered an uneven exhale. The anxiety whirled in his abdomen, a miniature storm that threatened to burst into a panicked state if he didn’t act quick.

Toki blinked, feeling the wet sting forming in his eyes. He released his shaking, numbing legs, letting one drop while keeping the other close for support. Head still lost in the dark fog, Toki reached for his pocket, and pulled out his phone. He wiped his face, dragged an arm across his nose and sniffed hard, sucking up the collecting moisture into his ailing throat, and went through his dethphone’s multiple applications.

His thumb lingered over a message dating back nearly eight months. Toki sniveled over it, tongue lapping around his lips as he glanced at the time, the length of the message. Wide eyes darted to the ends of the hallway. When he determined there were no oncoming gears, he pressed play on the screen.

The phone’s display went dark for a second, then vibrated with a rapture of noises. Toki’s bottom lips curled inward, teeth pressing on top the skin as he watched the screen come alive with shadows, the blur of a swaying phone failing to focus on a single image, and the colorful, out-of-focus city lights in the backdrop.

Then, humming. Toki instantly calmed when he heard the slow, off-tune notes, followed by the screen moving, raised up to reveal Magnus' curious face lazily staring into the screen. “…why aren’t you answering your phone?”

The voice fuzzed as Magnus brought the screen closer, angle crooked as he leaned to one side, body lax and swaying with each step.

“Just as well. Shit.” Toki broke into a chuckle as Magnus stumbled forward. The camera toggled, pointed upwards at the sky. The first time it had happened, Toki yelped, panicked over Magnus potentially falling and breaking his neck. Now, he counted the seconds of Magnus’ extended groan, then smiled at the incoming giggle that sluggishly transitioned into a prolonged, nonsensical song. “Dadadaaaa…”

Feeling a bit more at ease, Toki’ s second leg began to sink, and both hands fixed to the screen as he toggled the phone to its side. When he checked again, Magnus was back to a (crooked) stand, happy and quite pleased with himself not falling flat on his face. A car zoomed by in the background. The lights at the intersection turned green, and Magnus brought his tongue out to wet his drying lips.

“Leave it to the one time I figure how to use this dumb app, just my luck.” Magnus rolled his head back, messy hair whisking, flowing out of tandem with his uneven gait. He shut his eyes. “I know I said…I’m sorry I’m drunk, buddy. God, I miss you right now.”

Toki wiped his eyes, giving a short nod. “S’okay,” he whispered, letting a thumb come close to petting the drunk Magnus who’d broken his promise not to drink too much, at least now without Toki to look after him.

Magnus stared back. Not at the light, nor the screen, but at Toki. “Hope you’re, uhh, having fun right now. Whatever you’re doing.”

Toki shook his head.

Magnus’ expression softened. “You know, I miss you,” he slurred to the phone’s receiver. “A lot. Like, holy shit, dude. You gotta come back soon. Hit me up, even if it’s just to yell at me for breaking my promise.”

Toki sniffled as Magnus pulled away from the camera. His hand turned inward, almost as though he were trying to cradle the screen, reach and cup the face of the Toki who had failed to pick up the call several months ago. Even then, it had been hard to stay angry at him. Disappointed, sure, but Toki couldn’t stay mad at the man who went out of his way to learn how to use his Facebones-time app, call and speak from the heart.

Thinking of it, Toki glued himself to the screen, silently awaiting the next portion.

“I really miss you,” Magnus continued. He leaned against the wall of some unknown building, his sinking head still favoring a particular side. “I know you’re on tour and all, and I gotta be fucking patient but…this is going to sound so cheesy, but I miss seeing your smile.”

Just hearing the words lifted the ends of Toki’s mouth. On screen, Magnus’ expression softened, eyes blurred with sudden realization.

“I miss you telling me to stop scowling all the time, and I miss you telling me it’s ok…”

“If ams not readies to smiles yet,” Toki whispered to the screen.

“–if I don’t feel ready to smile yet.” Magnus made a face that, to this day, made Toki feel just a little anxious. What was going on in his head, he wondered. Did Magnus know what he was about to say?

He watched Magnus palm his hand over his bad eye. “Fuuuuck, what am I saying?”

“Everytinks you wants, Magnus,” Toki answered the recording. His heart picked up, anticipating the final portion of Magnus’ drunken rambling, the denouement of his accidental message, and that final push Toki needed to help him get through this miserable day.

The screen emitted hardly any sounds, producing only the subtle changes brought on by the late autumn winds, the occasional roll of a speeding car, and Magnus’ own relaxed breathing.

“You’ve probably already deleted this,” Magnus murmured to himself. Or to Toki? Hard to say. The smile he cracked was aimed at no one in particular, but each time he lifted his head, and Toki saw his long waves brush across face and reveal the longing in his eyes, he thought Magnus must have known, deep down, what he was going to say. “I’m drunk and I’m swearing and I miss you, and I love you, and the more I think about you being away for two more weeks–”

Just like that. The three words Toki had tried prying from Magnus for weeks, months, had slipped through the cracks and were uttered during a random night spent drinking alone.

“–It kills me. Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Toki stroked the screen. “Ams fine, Magnus.”

“Well, that’s all. I just wanted to tell you I love you. And miss you. And as soon as you get back I want you to tell me how you got on stage and rocked the hell out of everyone’s soul. The same way you do mine whenever you… hehehehehe…ah, shit .”

Caught between their shared laughter was Magnus stumbling forward, and like every past play through, Toki quieted down, paused the video once he remembered what Magnus had said, and rewound it just to hear it again. He obsessed over the second “I love you,” all casual and free. The “I love you” that was comfortably tucked between other facets, and said with no restraints, no second-guessing. It was a feeling he admitted to without any forethought, and spoken from the heart.

“Call me back, ok?”

Magnus’ hand covered the screen. It took him a while to accurately bring an end to the call, but while he muttered to himself, questioned and asked no one in particular how to shut off the app, Toki meandered in place, wiggling as he relived the words, Magnus voice setting free that momentous confession thought the form of a simple, missed call. It would be another two months before he whispered the words, so soft and faint, and yet somehow carrying the weight of the universe on top of it. That sober confession would be as impactful, and while Toki spent nights replaying how shy Magnus had been when he first shyly announced his love to him, nothing quite compared to the drunk Magnus who casually remarked his affections.

“Will calls you soons,” Toki said to the phone, then closed the app. He would, and he’d do everything within his power to reverse the tragic alignments set before him, and turn this shitty day into something decent and worth discussing. Skwisgaar could yell at him, but Toki would still try his best. He’d play his heart out like Magnus expected him to, and would have something to show for it once it was over.

Toki checked the time, and saw he had about five minutes left until his break ended, and another two hours before Magnus had to wake up to get ready for work. His nerves still shook from the memory of his recent failure. Toki sighed. Eyes closed, he saw Magnus standing alone, city lights a messy blur, veiled under a heavy and tiresome drunken haze. If that man could figure out how to use his phone and video call him, cheer him on and tell him how much he cared about him, then Toki could finish a session and get his part in the demo.

He reentered the room a seconds later, warmed face hit with the thick atmosphere.

Pickles and Nathan stopped their discussion to check on him as he slowly approached. Nathan regarded Toki with a gentle nod. “You ok, Toki?”

“Ams fine, thanks for askins.” Toki waved shyly at the two. Thankfully, Skwisgaar was nowhere to be found. While it didn’t guarantee a permanent reprieve from the stress to come, it did allot Toki some additional time to prepare for the rest of his session. Remembering Magnus’ encouraging words, his drunken, cherry-red smile and airy laugh that always reached so high before cracking, Toki exhaled. He pushed out as much of his anxieties as he could, the panic that settled across his queasy belly, and he walked over to Skwisgaar’s guitar.

Pickles raised a brow, popped the gum he’d been chewing as Toki adjusted the strap, and then proceeded to the recording room.

“Hey, Toki.” Nathan interjected, still reclined comfortably in his seat, and not appearing slightly offended when Toki met his obtrusive glare with oblivious perplexity. “Where are you going?”

“To practice,” Toki answered. Charged by his response, Toki confidently turned for the smaller room. “Goinks to show Skwisgaar ams not a screws-up,” he said, voice carrying a surge of an impending storm, raw energy that filled his expanding chest with the assurance he needed to get him through the session.

As he opened the door, Magnus' voice entered his mind:

Rock the hell out of everyone’s soul.

#toki wartooth #magnus hammersmith #fanfic #magtok #hammertooth #drinking #sad times #but wholesome feels #skwisgaar is ams dick in this one #sorry

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leapyearkisses · 4 years ago

Text

O Captain, My Captain 2/2 - (m/m) Salem/Faughn

Part two of the soldier setting.

Lil’ bit of mess. Hair brushing. Yearning. Etc.

---

The bar was dim and full of smoke from the spitting of the fire in the grate. Despite the proprietor’s efforts to shield against the storm, it was raining down the chimney, and the logs were hissing like hecklers at a bad variety show. The haze collected in the ceiling joists with the smoke from the soldiers’ cigarettes. It was crowded and loud inside and stank of wet wool and spilled ale. Could definitely have smelled of worse, though; Salem wasn’t complaining. He tapped his lips against his empty mug, gaze lingering in the shadowed corner of the room.

“Another round for you, sir?”

He looked up, saw Maisie Harpe looking down her nose at him, serving tray under her arm. Her expression was condescending. Salem remembered it fondly.

“You don’t have to call me ‘sir,’” he said, but pushed his mug toward her. “I’m still the same as I was.”

Maisie sniffed dismissively, picking it up. “Gone off and joined the war. Too good for a potter’s life. You think you’re going to come out the other end of it?” Her blonde curls shimmered around her round face with a flash of lightning. “Pa says it’s like watching sausages get made.”

“Hold your tongue, girl!” John Hadditch, the blacksmith of Yens Hollow, came up behind her and shooed her off. “Bad luck talking of that over beer. Go and bring us something better than this swill your Pa’s set aside for soldiers.” He sat down across from Salem and lifted his wooden leg around the bench with a grunt. “She still wants you to be pullin’ her pigtails, Sammy.” He chuckled.

Salem cleared his throat, hiding a smile. “She’s got better prospects than me.”

“Aye, maybe an officer? I heard they’re keeping the brass nice and polished at Maven Broadmoor’s place.” John leaned in. “You got a roof over your head, Sam, or are you out with the poor suckers in the mud?”

“Well, I’m not really brass. Maybe copper,” Salem said, accepting a new tankard from Maisie. “Mrs. Broadmoor is letting me sleep in the horse loft with the other lieutenants. Better than the back pasture.” He tapped his fingers on the table. When Maisie had walked away to another group, he leaned in. “I need to know if it’s safe to talk.”

“Not in here,” said John, taking a long draught of beer. “Come to my shop on the morrow, or I’ll come down to the farm if the bloody sky hasn’t fallen.” Thunder shook the double-paned windows. “My leg’s not as it used to be, though, and riding is a trial.”

“We can come to you.” Salem had been given a small company of men solely for this purpose of meeting with the trustworthy locals… or at least those they hoped were trustworthy. “On the morrow, if, as you say, we’re all still here.”

—

It was still raining when he finished the night, snapping the neck of his raincoat closed at the door, as if that would help. Maisie Harpe moved in the fallen darkness of the banked fire, turning out the oil lamps on the walls and drawing blankets over the men who had passed out at their benches from either drunkenness or exhaustion. Salem kept his tongue to himself, just tipped his hat to her on his way out.

His horse was none too keen to be drawn out of the stable, digging her heels in while he tacked her up. “I know,” he murmured, securing the saddle girth. “But you’ll be home soon enough.”

The streets were the same as he remembered them, and he rode confidently toward the edge of town even in the storm. He’d gone to school here as a boy, every morning hitching a ride on a wagon into town from the neighboring village. His father had been a cooper, building barrels for beer, whiskey, fish, pickles… whatever the fur traders needed, and then when that started drying up, whatever anyone else needed. His mother had been a potter. Technically, he still owned the house and the workshops, but he’d given the plot to a cousin to manage. He wondered absently, focused on the echoing of his horse’s hooves on the cobbles, whether he should go by the place while he was stationed here. Surely no one would begrudge him the chance to see family. …Although they weren’t close.

His mare moved faster on the dirt roads despite the muddy furrows, picking up her pace going out to the farmlands. Salem hunched against the rain. Water was running down his neck and his face, and an ill-timed breath sent a drip up his nose, too. He ducked to the side with a loud sneeze. “Hruuscht!” His horse laid her ears back.

“Sorry, girl.” He wiped his face on his wet sleeve and sighed. It was very late, but he thought, maybe, he should try to meet with the Captain before he went to sleep. To update him on the idea of meeting with Hadditch tomorrow, to tell him what Salem had overheard while drinking, …to inspect the state of him. Salem sighed.

—

There was a lamp still burning at the Broadmoor farm. Salem put his horse away and then slogged up to the main house, shivering on the back stoop. Martha, the maid, let him in to the kitchen and took his jacket, scolding him for coming back so late. She probably thought him a souse. He let her chide him as she brought him a towel and a heel of bread. He ate it after she’d returned to her bed, then left his boots on the hearth, hoping that the fire would dry them somewhat, before going upstairs. He trod carefully. Major General Wallace was staying here as well, and he was said to be a rough character when untimely roused.

Light flickered beneath the door of the yellow bedroom. Salem tapped lightly against the paneling and waited for an acknowledgement.

“Yes?” The Captain’s voice was hoarse. “I don’t need another of your bitter infusions, Doctor.” He coughed. “I’ve had more than enough of them.”

“It’s Lieutenant Desidero, sir.”

“Come in.”

Salem stepped into the room. The Captain had a candle burning and was writing at the desk, quill scratching over the parchment at a steady pace that was uninterrupted by Salem’s visit. Captain Faughn was wearing his hair down for once. It spilled down his back like blood, the same shade, tangled and damp with rain or sweat. Hardly regulation, Salem could hear in his mind, the voice of his long-ago trainer barking away in memory. His gaze followed the length of it to the Captain’s trim waist. He was in his shirtsleeves.

“I have a report,” he forced himself to say. “A short one. I went to the village tavern tonight.”

“Tell me about it,” said Faughn, without looking up.

So Salem did, describing the state of the place, the bearing of the owner, Maisie Harpe, the blacksmith. He talked about the bar’s stable, which had a new roof, and the men who had worked on it and dined there that night. The church had burned two years ago and been rebuilt a little bigger, with a new back room, by the same men. Men from trapper families with nothing to trap anymore, back in town since a few months ago.

Faughn listened to the report without commenting, though he did lay his quill down sometime in the middle. By the candlelight, his eyes were heavy-lidded and thoughtful. His cheeks were flushed high with fever.

“Nice job,” he said when Salem had finished, rubbing his hands together. “I knew I was right to trust this to you. If all goes well here, I will be sure to give you a commendation.” He sniffed hard and Salem heard a liquid shift of congestion in his sinuses. “Is there anything else?”

Salem swallowed. “Your hair, sir?”

“My hair?” Faughn frowned.

“I’d like to brush it for you.”

—

The Captain’s comb was made of whale ivory. Salem sat on the bed behind him and drew the fine teeth carefully down through the Captain’s hair, trying to untangle it without pain. The Captain’s hair was soft despite the rigors of the war. Salem supposed he must keep it oiled under his hat, or some other way protected from the elements. “I’m not hurting you, am I?” he asked.

Faughn had made a small noise, but now he lifted a hand to dismiss concerns. “No. No, you’re fine.” His fingers were slender and strong, but he curled them now under his nose. “I’m going to hh-”

Salem slipped the comb free as the Captain bent forward, crushing his nose to his knuckles.

“Nkktsch! Ngktschx!” His breath caught again. “Hah- hahktschiu!” Moisture shone against the smooth curve of Faughn’s nostrils in the candlelight. He sniffed thickly and reached to the bedside table for a handkerchief.

“Bless you,” murmured Salem, gaze lingering. He looked away when the Captain raised an eyebrow. “How are you feeling?”

Faughn cleared his throat, low and irritated. “I do wish people would stop asking me that.” He dabbed at his nose but seemed hesitant to blow. The corners of his dark eyes creased in uncertainty.

Salem traced his fingers over the comb, thumb pressed along the smooth edge from end to end. The bedroom was warm from the farmhouse’s central fireplace. Heat blossomed also in his belly. He looked at his nail, snagged earlier on his horse’s reins, instead of at the Captain. He could hear from the Captain’s breathing that he would sneeze again. “My apologies.”

“Ngktschiu!” Wet again, but this time enveloped by the folds of the handkerchief. Salem could imagine how it might feel instead against his skin. His arousal swelled. Faughn groaned softly, a private sound. Salem rose to his feet.

“I will report to you again tomorrow night,” he said, placing the comb on the clothes chest by the foot of the bed. He could feel himself blushing. Part of him wanted the Captain to turn and see it, too, but most of him knew to keep it close and hidden. “Good night, sir.”

“Good night, Desidero.”

Salem closed the door behind him and then stood for a long moment in the empty hallway, listening to the rain.

#lyk writes #snz #first lieutenant salem desidero #captain gwalchmai faughn #salemai #*stares adoringly at faughn*#I haven't reread this in ages #it's tender isn't it #hmmmmmm should i write a third part

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captainillogical · 5 years ago

Text

Distant Lands Ch.12

Stranded on a planet with toxic conditions and nothing but the clothes on your back, your only means of survival lies within the gem that got you here in the first place.

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants

The next day or so goes by pretty quickly without incident. You guys have to wait until the weather is good before you can go and retrieve the tracker, but you figure it would be best to go back and grab that before you forget about it. It had rained for the last day and a half unfortunately, so the journey is going to be extra annoying. Should only take.. most of your day to do this.

You sigh out loud in aggravation at the thought of having to go back over near the ruins that was your first camp. It's going to be such a long walk. You were going to go for it alone, originally, because you were the one who left it and you'd be fine on your own, but Spinel said she'd join you. You find yourself thankful for the company.

Which is interesting considering when you first came here, she wanted you to go nowhere alone and you absolutely hated her presence.

It's weird how quickly things can change.

You grab the fruit you're gonna eat for the day and toss it into the makeshift bag you had made, tossing it over your shoulder. You pat down your pocket, feeling your knife in there. Good. You don't think anything else is necessary.

Spinel walks over to the Spire doors and opens them, peering at the conditions outside. It's muggy as fuck outside today, but you're gonna have to deal with it.

"Ugh. I don't wanna go out there." She sniffs the air outside, scrunching her face in displeasure. "I feel like I'm breathing in vapor, the air is so thick."

"You don't even need to breathe technically, so I'm going to be the one suffering here. And we've got to just deal with it, we don't know if it's going to keep raining all week, and honestly Spinel? I don't want to walk miles in the rain." You adjust the bag over your shoulder so the hard angles of fruit aren't poking you in the side, and walk over to where she is by the door.

"Walking in the rain would be so much better than this." She sticks her arm outside the door, her arm drooping like a wet noodle dramatically. "This is miserable."

"No, miserable would be my legs chafing because of wet pants. You can deal with this." You take a couple steps outside, and jesus fuck she's right. The air is thick and swampy as hell. It feels like you're moving in molasses.

"Ugh, let's just get this over with." Her face drops in a show of misery, and you can't help rolling your eyes at her antics.

You both meander slowly in the direction you know the ruins to be in, and it takes just five minutes for you to be pretty damn irritated with the humidity. You feel like you're just dragging your feet along at an agonizing pace. Many parts of the uneven ground are just sopping wet mud pits, and you nearly walk into several.

Because of the humidity and moisture levels of the soil, it takes you two far longer to get over to the ruins than you had originally thought. By the time you can see the hill you placed your keychain on, thick clouds have formed overhead in this late afternoon heat, chasing the sun away completely. You didn't think it would rain today, and you curse to yourself.

They look like storm clouds, and you gulp in nervous anticipation. You hope it's just rain this time.

"Looks like a storm is coming." Spinel says next to you, squinting up at the sky.

"Yeah, let's hope it goes by quickly. We should probably find shelter once we're done and wait for it to pass." You reply as you both breach through the thick of the jungle trees, and you can see the hill with the tree on it.

"If we wait too long though, we might not make it back before it gets dark.." She trails off, and looks to you in concern.

"We'll be fine." You huff. "I think."

"I don't trust these clouds. We should try to be a little faster."

"Spinel if I walk any faster, I'll slide around in the mud. We're almost there." Your legs feel like lead. All your limbs hurt, actually. You feel like the combination of the humidity and the heavy gravity could be used as some sort of slow torture device.

The walk up the hill is rough. You slip and manage to scuff up your knee, and it takes everything in your willpower to not just yell out in frustration. When you finally get to the base of the tree, you head straight for the trunk to grab the tracker.

It's not in the spot you left it.

Your stomach drops, and you freeze for a moment in panic. Spinel catches on immediately.

"What's wrong?" She asks from beside you, as you're kneeling.

"Uh." You say. "I left it here. And it ain't here." You say with a voice you're trying to keep the panic from reaching. Your heart rate has skyrocketed in the meantime.

"What do you mean it isn't here?" She looks at you, clearly concerned.

“I-I don't know, but I hid it so nothing would happen to it, and now it's not here." You say, panic creeping into your voice. You pull the grass apart at the trunk of the tree with your hands, desperately trying to see if it somehow had rolled away. You are checking all around the base at this point.

"Where could it have gone? It's not like there are people here to take it!" She says in exasperation.

"I don't know!" You turn your head to look to her, and a flash of light shoots up in the distance behind her.

Fucking. Of course.

A second and a half later, the crackle of rolling thunder sounds out around you.

"We should probably find shelter, Y/N." Spinel says, and looks up at the horizon.

"No," You reply, and when you stand up, you see another rod of lightning flash, but closer. The thunder booms, and within a few more seconds you're being pelted with chunks of ice. You look around you at the ground frantically, hoping somehow it moved.

“Y/N.” She repeats, and wind starts to pick up, your hair whipping you in the face. You shield your eyes from the incoming hail and rain.

“Hold on,” You say, eyes roaming everywhere.

Two more flashes erupt in the distance, thunder sounding near immediately. The rain and hail starts to come down harder, and the wind is howling in your ears now. You are nearly in tears at this point, this was not how today was supposed to go at all.

“What’s that over there?” She asks, nearly shouting through the gusts of wind. You turn to see what she’s pointing at, and you see something off to the side, peeking out of some grass.

Stepping over to it quickly and nearly tripping, you can see that it’s your keychain.

“Oh thank god.” You groan in relief, grabbing it off the ground and feeling your heartbeats pounding in your ears.

“Is that it!?” She leans over you, shielding her face with her hands from the rain pelting down on the two of you.

“Yeah.” Your shoulders sag in obvious relief.

“Okay, well, we need to go. This storm is insane and I can barely hear anything.” She says through gritted teeth, squinting at the current state of the weather around you.

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” You reply, and stick the tracker into your front pocket for safekeeping. “Let’s go back to our shelter from before to wait out the storm before heading back to the Spire.”

She gives you a quick nod, and you follow her back down the hill carefully so you don’t slip. The storm gets heavier by the time you both get to the ruins, and you’re utterly soaked when you get inside. You’re both dripping onto the cold floor with the storm raging outside.

It looks the same as you left it. You know it’s only been like, two weeks since you left this area, but it feels so long since you’ve been here. Your leaf pile is still intact, as well as the leftover pile of wood that you couldn’t carry with to the Spire. It’s weirdly quiet, even with the noisy wind outside. You’re torn out of your thoughts when Spinel clears her throat.

“I’m gonna build a fire to wait out the storm.” She says as she walks over to the pile of wood, and grabs a couple pieces to start a small fire.

“What if it passes quickly?” You cross your arms, shivering. Spinel turns her head to look at you purposefully, quirking an eyebrow in judgement.

“I already know you hate being soaked. Do you really want to walk the several miles back like that?” She gestures to you, looking at you from head to toe, dripping and shivering everywhere.

“You have a point, I guess.” You retort, and she turns back to the fire she’s building.

You watch her quickly build the fire. She’s quicker than you, actually, and you’re weirdly kind of proud of her for it. You’re trying to not let your mind focus on the fact that she’s doing this all for you, as you feel weird about it. She doesn’t need to get warm, or dry. She’s concerned about you, specifically.

When she’s done, she turns to you with a ‘well?’ expression, and pats the ground next to her. You comply, and sit down as close to the blazing fire as possible. You bring your legs as close to yourself as you can, shivering violently against your will. She turns to look at you, and considers you for several long moments. You meet her eyes, saying nothing. She blinks, and you feel your heart rate pick up pace for literally no reason. You’re a bit done with it lately, honestly.

“What.” You speak up, nervous as to why she’s just quietly staring at you.

“Are ya’ gonna just sit there in wet clothes..” She blinks, staring at you expectantly.

“..maybe. I think I’ll be okay.” You reply, and another shiver racks your body, betraying you.

“Y/N. Please don’t be stubborn about this, you’re difficult enough as is. We both know that you aren’t going to get dry like that.” She levels you with an unamused look, and huffs out a sigh.

“Oh? Are you gonna try ripping my clothes off me again if I don’t?” You hold your hands out to the fire, attempting and failing to warm them for the most part. You sort of realized what came out of your mouth seconds after it leaves, and your heart beats wildly underneath your skin.

“I’m not gonna-” She cuts herself short, and you can see a blush rising on her face, and fast. “I only tried that because nothing I said was getting through to you, ya’ know.”

“Yeah, because you were an asshole.” You chuckle, and try your best to not stare at her face that you’re finding rapidly endearing.

“I know, and I am sorry! But really, Y/N.” She coughs awkwardly into her gloved hand. “You should take off your clothes. I don’t want you getting sick.”

Of course, she’s gotta be all caring about it. She’s basically twisting your arm at this point.

“Fine.” You pull your arms back from the fire in front of you, and grab the hem of your shirt. “But can you maybe like.. look away?”

She rolls her eyes dramatically and turns her face away, and you pull your wet shirt off with some difficulty, slapping it down next to the fire. “If it makes ya’ feel any better, I can take my clothes off too?”

“Pfft, no.” You snort, and hook your thumbs into the belt loops of your jeans to pull them off. You struggle, but manage to remove them after quite a bit of effort. “That’s a bit ridiculous.”

“You’re the ridiculous one, honestly. I’ve seen ya’ basically naked before.” She reaches over to the other side of the room, and grabs two of the largest leaves to give to you to cover yourself with. The small gesture has you feeling something you aren’t quite grasping yet. Touched? Maybe. “Not understanding why you’re so conscious about it now.”

“I feel like this is one of those things where me being a human factors into the answer.” You reply, grabbing the leaves from her and covering your torso. You’re still cold, but at least you aren’t sopping wet now.

“You’re not so different from me.” She lowers her eyes at you, nearly squinting.

“I’ve never seen a gem get self conscious in my life.” You huff out, scooting closer to the fire. You want as much warmth as possible. “You can shapeshift your bodies to whatever you want. What’s there to be self conscious about?”

“We can reform and hate what we look like.” She stares at you.

Oh. Sometimes you say things you kind of regret.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t tryi-”

“It’s alright, I know you don’t mean it like that anyway.” You watch her as she realizes that she’s still soaked, looking down at herself. She makes quick work of making herself dry again. “I haven’t looked like this for long, so I’m still getting used to it.”

“Well, I’m still sorry for implying that you don’t get self conscious.” You grab the shirt you laid out in front of you, and squeeze out the water so it could dry a little faster. Spinel grabs your jeans, and does this weird twisty thing with her arms, squeezing quite a bit of the excess water out of them. She lays it back down flat, close to the fire on her side. You spread the shirt down on the hard cement, and a violent shiver erupts down your spine.

Spinel coughs beside you, and you turn to look at her. She’s got her arm up, implication apparent with her raised eyebrows.

“C’mon, you’re freezing. Let me help.”

You figure, why not. You scoot a little closer to her, and she wraps an arm around you immediately, pressing you flush against her side. You feel warmer instantly, and almost let out a sigh of relief. Sure, your heart won’t calm the fuck down, but who gives a fuck about that thing anyway? You hope she can’t feel it beating since she’s so close.

The wind howls in the background and the rain pelts against your shelter harshly, yet it seems almost quiet with you two and the fire, almost like you’re surrounded in a bubble. A cold droplet of water falls from your hair and onto your legs folded in front of you, and you watch the bead trail down your thigh in the light of the fire. You are trying to not think about Spinel next to you.

“Warm?” Spinel says.. almost softly, as she looks down at you. The light of the fire flickers across her face, creating strange shadows.

“Yeah, actually. Thanks.” You reply, giving her a half smile. She smiles back at you, and there is either warmth in her gaze, or that’s just the fire flickering in her pupils. You just realized how close her face is to yours, and you feel your brain and heart both screaming at you at the same time as you feel your face heat up a little.

It would be so easy for you to lean in and kiss her.

The intrusive thought is so jarring that your face drops visibly and you feel your eyes going wide. Spinel catches on immediately.

“Y/N? You okay?” She leans in a bit closer to your face, enough to feel her breath. “Ya’ look like ya’ just ate somethin’ horrible.”

With your thoughts running wild, you blink several times to try to clear your head of them.

“Er, yeah.” You shake your head. “Just got some really bad cramps randomly. Ignore it.” You say dismissively. More rain pelts the shelter, and it drowns out some of your thoughts.

“If you say so.” She replies, but the look on her face says she doesn’t really believe you anyway. As if it’s any more possible, she squeezes you closer to herself.

The light of the fire flickers wildly, and you watch her face as she stretches her arm across the room several feet, grabbing another piece of wood and placing it on the burning pile. Your eyes are drawn to the lines on her cheeks, and the way the light shapes it. You wonder if those were there before she reformed, and what she looked like without them. Without realizing what you’re doing, your palm is placed upon her cheek. It’s.. very warm.

She turns to look at you with wide eyes, and you find yourself unable to breathe as your stomach drops.

“Uh. What are ya’ doin?” She says apprehensively, and you rip your hand away from her face once you come about your senses.

“Nothing. Sorry. I spaced out for a minute there..” You say, feeling your face heat up. You’re way too much of a disaster today, and you feel like the easiest thing you could do right now would be to get up and flee. Except there’s a storm out there, and you’re nearly naked.

Nearly naked, and pressed up to a gem in a small shelter, on a different planet. You know, when you thought of your life a month ago, you didn’t exactly think this is where you’d be.

“Why’d you touch my face?” She says, curiously, a bit of an edge to her tone of voice. You’re starting to see a flush break out upon her cheeks. She’s.. she’s cute, you’re starting to admit to yourself.

“I was looking at the lines on your face. Not sure why my hand did that.” You admit out loud with a sigh.

“Ya’ kinda weird.” She replies with a chuckle.

“Listen, you aren’t one to talk. You of all people cannot say that to me.”

“Pfft, why? What’d I ever do?”

“Do you not remember the last time we were in this position? You kissed me ‘because I looked cold’, Spinel.” You say, completely deadpan. You watch her face light up like a cherry in mere seconds.

“S-shut up! Ugh, whatever. I'm not gonna talk about that.” She sputters, turning her face from yours to gaze at the fire blazing in front of you. “I’m glad I made this fire, because look, it’s still pouring like crazy out there. It’s also getting late.”

“Yeah. We should probably wait to go back until morning.” You sigh, and grab your shirt. It’s basically dry, you guess. You put it on, since you’re definitely dry yourself now.

“Ya’ wanna pass out soon?” She asks, looking back to you.

“Do we have anything else to do?”

"Watch the rain?" She replies with a shrug.

"Nah. I'd rather sleep." You grab your pants off the floor, and they're still a bit damp. It's fine enough, you figure, and struggle to put those back on.

When you're done, you walk over to the leaf pile you had left, and flop on it. You immediately regret doing this.

"I miss my tarp pile." You rub at your bottom, feeling sore.

"It's definitely better than this." Spinel says as she leans down to sit beside you, nothing better to do. "It feels weird to sleep this way now."

"My back is gonna hate me later for this." You lay down on your side, feeling the stretch of your aching muscles.

You cover yourself with a couple of the large leaves, and have a hard time falling asleep.

You have problems staying asleep. You wake up an hour later, and it's still raining outside. You think about cursing the sky briefly, as you feel Spinel breathe softly next to you. She's on her back with her head rolled over closer to you, leaning gently on your shoulder with a bit of drool on her mouth. You think it's cute. You watch her sleeping for a while, the gem on her chest rising and falling with every breath, and she shifts in her sleep slightly.

You feel yourself drifting off again, leaning into her warmth.

You aren't sure if you're conscious or not when you feel a hand slide around your stomach, and an arm pulling you to press into something warm behind you. There is something hard pressing into the middle of your back, and there is a body nearly molded against your form.

Once your eyes open, the only thing you see is darkness. The hand trails down your side, slipping underneath your shirt. You feel a warm palm on the skin of your hip, and it traces some of the skin there, tenderly.

Murmuring. It's kind of fuzzy. You can't make out any distinct voices, but it's familiar.

The hand trails up your middle, the feeling nearly setting your skin on fire in sensation. The hand moves to your breast - cupping it in palm, and your mind can't move fast enough to realize what's happening. You can't move at all.

"Y/N." You hear the voice of someone pretty familiar behind you. A finger grazes slowly over your nipple as you feel hot air against your neck, making you shiver.

The hand slips out from your shirt and all of a sudden you're flipped into your back. You feel someone climb on top of you, sitting on your hips, and there's hands holding your arms above your head. You still cannot move.

You.. recognize your surroundings. You’re in your bedroom back on Earth. You still have the posters and drawings Steven had put up on the walls last year in the summer. There’s a warm glow coming through the window blinds, and you can make out the person in front of you.

It’s Spinel.

She’s wearing one of your old shirts, and her hair isn’t tied up. She’s smirking at you.

“Said you had time for me earlier, but ya’ fell asleep on me.” She says softly, almost like a whisper, and leans forward until her nose is practically touching yours. She squeezes her hands, tightening her grip on your wrists as if you even had a chance to break free.

You think words come out of your mouth that she can seem to understand, but you can only hear mumbling and white noise. She nudges her face against yours, kissing you with a fervor you didn’t expect her to possess.

She lets go of one of your wrists, choosing instead to bring her hand down to cup your jaw, tilting your face so she can slide her lips against yours a little better. You find your own hand in her hair, fingers digging into her scalp as the full weight of her warmth presses into you. Her thighs pin your hips down, and you can feel that the both of you aren’t wearing any pants. Just underwear.

She pulls back from the kiss, lips wet and glistening in the small amount of light from what you can see, and sits back up. She grabs the hem of her shirt and lifts it over her head, pulling it off completely and tossing it to the side of your room. Her gem glows a soft light, illuminating her breasts and some of her face. She’s very attractive, and you’re staring at her without caring what you look like.

She leans back slightly, reaching behind her to rub at your thigh. She squeezes the skin there, each finger digging into the meat of your leg possessively.

“I like touching you.” She says, both of her hands roaming your body as if to memorize it. You say something to her again, and she leans right back into your personal space, rolling her eyes dramatically. “You should be a little more patient, honestly.”

You feel her thighs clench, and with a roll of her hips she grinds down against you. The feeling is nearly overwhelming. She grabs your hands with hers, pressing them down into the mattress on either side of your head. Her gaze, lust-ridden, meets yours - and her lips are parted slightly.

She kisses you and grinds down again, moaning into your mouth. There isn’t much you can do considering you’re pinned, as much as you’d like your hands on her hips. She easily falls into a rhythm, rolling hips stuttering against your own.

She’s desperate as she kisses you - sliding her tongue in, completely flooding your senses. The sounds of her panting in between kisses is really starting to get to affect you. She pulls her lips away momentarily, looking you in the eyes.

“Y/N, I-”

You wake up into a dead silence.

There’s not much you can hear other than Spinel sleeping beside you, and the slight rustling of trees. It has stopped raining, and you have no idea what time it is. You open your eyes to see the dark wall of the ruins.

Your heart is pounding, and you can feel your hands start to shake in anxiety. Spinel has her arm wrapped around you, and you very gently lift it off of your body.

You can barely look at her right now. You’re aroused, confused, and mortified. You don’t want to be here right now, next to her. You’re on the verge of a panic attack, and you need to find somewhere else to breathe.

You get up, careful to not disturb her at all, and leave the ruins with as much quietness as your body lets you.

It’s kind of cold out, but that isn’t something you’re concerned about right now. Your legs move on your own, mind going a thousand miles a second as you’re walking in a random direction to put as much distance between you and Spinel as possible.

Within what feels like a minute or two, you reach the lake you had first found that creature by. The light from the moons illuminate the fog drifting a few feet off the ground, and there are glow bugs flying around, softly blinking all around you. You take a seat on the largest boulder, and stare out at the sky.

Your brain is quickly going through way too many emotions all at once. Your arms clutch around your sides, cold air making goosebumps raise along your skin.

You think at first, about the inevitability of your own denial. You know already, as your brain is processing several things, that you like her. And you know that you want to deny this.

You feel so, so incredibly stupid about this. All of this.

You’re not.. you’re not used to having feelings for someone. Let alone a gem. Who stranded you here, and was horrible, and now after all this time she isn’t. She’s a decent person who made some really shitty mistakes, but who hasn’t? We all have things we regret.

So.. what. You have feelings. You aren’t going to act on them, that would be utterly ridiculous.

You hear movement behind you, and whip your head around to see what made it.

Spinel is standing there with a horribly distraught face. Your heart drops immediately.

“Why’d you leave?” She asks, voice almost.. fragile. She walks closer to you.

“I-I-” Your voice cuts out, and you freeze up. You aren’t ready to face her yet. “I needed some fresh air.”

Her eyebrows furrow, face contorting with hurt. She balls her fists, and you can see them shaking. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You were sleeping and I d-didn’t want to wake you.” You curse yourself internally for your voice coming out shakily.

“I woke up alone, without you anywhere in sight. I thought something maybe happened to you? I-” She seems to be kind of frantic.

“Spinel, I wouldn’t just. Leave you. You know that right?”

“Maybe? I don’t know that..” She crosses her arms, shoulders seemingly stiff.

“You can trust me. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

She looks at you vulnerably, and your heart aches.

“I’m not Pink.” You state.

“I know. You’re.. so much better than she ever was to me, anyway.” She says with a sigh, and her posture visibly relaxes. “Why’d you really come out all the way here?”

“No reason.” You shrug, and cross your arms. She takes another step closer to you, leaning into your space. You’re not ready for her to be this close right now.

“I can tell when something’s bothering ya’, you know. Spill it.” She leans against the boulder you’re sitting on, arm briefly brushing against yours. Without thinking, you scoot a couple inches further from her.

Her face drops instantly, and there’s.. pain in her eyes. You are full of mistakes today, it seems.

“Sorry. Did I do something to upset you..?” She leans further away from you self consciously.

“No!” You exclaim, and her eyes widen a bit at your raised voice. “I’m just. I’m sorry, I’m trying to work through something right now and my brain isn’t functioning how I need it to. You’ve done nothing wrong, Spinel.”

“Do ya’ wanna talk about it?” She offers. You scream a resounding ‘UH? NO. IT’S ABOUT YOU, YOU IDIOT.’ in your head.

“Mm, no. I better not.” You cough into your hand.

“I think ya’ should. I felt loads better after I talked to you about my issues, and I bet it would help to talk about it? I’m willing to listen.” Her face is slightly concerned, looking at you.

You’d rather eat your own foot than admit your newfound feelings for her right now.

"I don't have the capability to put words to the problems I'm facing right now, Spinel."

"Is it something we've talked about before? We're friends now, you can tell me." She prys, and you can't even be mad at her for it. She's actually wanting to help you, despite not knowing that honestly, she can't help you with this.

Your heart swells with so much affection that you’re unable to suppress it bubbling up inside you. You feel stupid about this. It feels utterly absurd to have feelings for her, in a matter of weeks, and you’ve only recently stopped hating her, it feels like. She's making this downright difficult for you, unintentionally.

"Listen.." You sigh. "I'm still trying to sort out this shit in my head. It's the entire reason why I needed to get air. Could we discuss this later? When I'm ready."

"I'm sorry for being so pushy about it." She nervously rubs at her arm. "I just wish I could help."

"Eh, you're fine, really. And this isn't exactly something you can help with.." You look at her briefly, and she’s watching you carefully. A glow bug slowly drifts near her head, landing on one of her twintails. “How’d you find me out here, anyway?”

“There’s really only a few places you’d go to nearby, and I didn’t think you’d just walk out into the trees. I just guessed right.” She replies, the glow bug blinking on her head. Another one joins it, landing on the opposite twintail. It’s like she has light up hair accessories, and it’s almost comical.

“Honestly, I kind of just ran here without thinking. It’s like you knew exactly where I’d go.” You shake your head a bit in mild disbelief. “You have some kind of tracker on me or something?”

“No, I just think maybe I know you more than you think.” Part of her face lifts in a kind of wry half-smile.

The fog floats around you two, thick wafts of mist lingering where you step. With the lake and trees also covered in the fog, and the moons clear up above, it almost seems ethereal here with all of the blinking glow bugs drifting around.

“Yeah?” You side eye her. “What’s my favorite color?”

She stares at you like you’ve grown another head, and then her expression changes into more of a smirk.

“I think I can guess.”

“Try me.” You fold your arms in front of your chest. The chill is getting to you, a little.

“Green.” She says, with the full confidence of someone who thinks they’re spot on.

“Nope.” You reply smugly. Her face is looking comically betrayed.

“Is it blue?”

“Nope!”

“Red?”

“Spinel, now you’re just guessing the most common colors. It’s purple.” You chuckle, and she crosses her arms with a bit of a pout that she’s hiding. What a brat.

“Well, I would’ve known if you maybe had told me sometime.” She sounds so sulky. You watch another glow bug hover over her gem, and land right next to it on her chest. She’s got three on her now, like she’s attracting them. She doesn’t seem to notice.

“I would’ve told you if you had asked, you know.” You roll your eyes at her. You can��t help smiling, really. It’s like being around her makes your face and heart do incredibly stupid things, somehow.

“So I just have to ask? It’s that easy?”

“Uh, yeah?” You reply, and watch as another glow bug lands on her head.

“So.. can I ask you something else?” “Go for it.” You shrug.

“What’s your favorite game to play?” She asks with a curious raise to her eyebrow. You feel like the glow bug on her chest is blinking at you in morse code.

“Doom.” You reply.

“Uh.. what’s that?” She looks absolutely perplexed. “How do you play that?”

“With a controller?” You’re not quite understanding what she’s getting at.

“No, Y/N, I mean like tag.” Her deadpan expression makes you almost laugh. How were you supposed to know that’s what she was really asking?

“Oh, you like kid games? I’m a big fan of Duck Duck Goose myself.”

“Did you just make that up?” She looks like she doesn’t believe you.

“No!” You chuckle. “It’s real, I promise.”

“Okay, then show me how it’s played.”

“We can’t play it with just two people, first of all. And you’re a bit ridiculous if you think I wanna teach you how to play a child’s game right now, out here, in the middle of the night.” You uncross your arms, and switch the leg you’re leaning on. You think you should head back soon to sleep, because you’re getting tired again and it’s cold.

“Ya’ know, you can be quite irritating sometimes.” She chuckles softly. There are quite a few more glow bugs gravitating around her, another one landing on her shoulder.

“Whatever, you like me.” You reply to that, voice mocking her. You weren’t expecting for her face to turn a bright red, or to make a choking noise.

“Augh! I’m about to take back calling us friends. You’re beyond my help.” She crosses her arms over her gem, disturbing the insect on it enough for it to leave.

“You can’t do that!” You laugh heartily. “What kind of companion gem are you?! Don’t make me demote you to carebear status.”

“I don’t even know what a carebear is!” She cries out in confusion, and you laugh even harder.

“Don’t worry about it.” You move yourself from leaning on the large rock. “Anyway, I think we should head back and pass out until daybreak.”

“Fiiiine.” She replies, unmoving. You watch her glance around the perimeter of the lake.

“You should uh,” You take a step or two closer to her. “You should probably get these guys off you, first.”

“Excuse me?” She gives you a look.

“The glow bugs seem to like you, I think.” You point at her head and chuckle. A few more had joined their comrades. She looks around at herself, eyes going wide much to your amusement.

“What the fuck!” She exclaims with such surprise and disgust that you double over laughing. You can barely catch your breath as she flails around, swatting them all off her almost like she’s some kind of cartoon character. “Stop laughing, you ass! Why are they all around me!?”

“Maybe because of your gem? Like moths to a light.” You say in between chuckles. It takes a while for you to regain any sense of normalcy in your breathing.

“That makes.. absolutely no sense to me.” The sarcasticness of her tone almost makes you laugh again.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe they’re just attracted to idiots.” You look to her, smugly, and turn around to walk back to the shelter. You hear her sputter behind you.

“Ya’ wanna say that to my face, Y/N?” She replies, and you hear her stomping quickly behind you. You pick up your walking speed into a brisk pace.

“Nah, I’m alright over here!” You say as you break out into a sprint.

Her fake cries of anger and her running to catch up behind you has you laughing on the way back for far too long.

Your heart feels a little lighter tonight.

The next day is pretty sunny, oddly enough. It’s still humid, but it makes the walk home a little better than the previous day.

You and Spinel discuss going into the tunnels heavily, to be prepared. You have no idea what’s actually in there, or the conditions it’s in, or how far it goes. You’re nervous, but she reassures you that there can’t be anything super dangerous in there. You think she’s wrong, somehow, but you’re unable to convince her.

You’re currently outside right now, with Spinel. You’re trying to figure out what tree has the best type of sap for a small torch. You and her had already tested the type that comes from the most common looking tree here, and it burns much too quickly and hotly for you to use for any longer than ten minutes. You’re a little frustrated at it, honestly.

“Spinel, what if we can’t find something that works?” You ask her as you’re walking next to her, you’re both in a familiar area about fifteen minutes from the Spire.

“We’ll find something. And if we can’t find a sap, I’m sure if we capture a bunch of those bugs from the other night, we’ll have enough light for something.”

“That wouldn’t even work.” You roll your eyes. “We just gotta keep looking, I guess.”

“Would you prefer if we split up to hit a couple of different places? It’ll be a lot faster and we’ll get more done.” She gives you a look, considering you for a moment. “We can meet back up at the Spire to test out what we’ve got so far in a couple hours.”

“It would be a good idea, I think. There’s a grove of trees on the opposite side of the Spire from here that’s different from the rest, and I’d like to check out that one.” You stop walking, and she faces you.

“So, meet me by the Spire when the sun’s about three quarters in the sky?” She raises an eyebrow in question, hand over her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun.

“Sounds good.” You adjust the cloth bag on your shoulder so it sits a bit more comfortably.

“Alright, see ya’ then.” She says with a smile, and you ignore the way it makes your heart flutter. She spins around to keep walking, and you ahead back in the opposite direction.

With the sun beating down on you from high up in the sky, you feel sweat beading on your forehead despite that you’re just walking. It’s so irritating.

It takes you nearly an hour to get where you wanted to go because you got distracted with passing a small body of water. It’s hot, okay. You take a shortcut to the grove up ahead, squeezing through some dense areas of jungle.

After nearly tripping several times on these large tree roots sticking out of the ground all over in various places, you take a moment to breathe for a second. You notice the air smells.. weird over here. You can’t really describe it. Off to the side, you see this off-color area of dirt in front of two trees that are fairly close together, and walk over to examine it.

It’s looser soil than the rest, and the consistency is a bit off. You pick some up in your hand, sniffing it. It doesn’t smell any different.

You stand back up, and feel the ground shift underneath you. You try to step away quickly, but instead trip on another root, falling to the ground.

There’s several loud noises that sound like the earth shifting and you see the trees shake as the dirt all around you starts to open, sinking into something. You scramble for anything to get a grip on, soil slipping downwards all around you. You manage to grasp a tree root as more of your body gets pulled with the dirt downwards, and try not to panic at what’s happening.

All of a sudden a rock as large as your head flows much too quickly with the soil around you, and it hits you in the shoulder hard enough for you to lose your grip.

You fall into darkness.

#spinel #spinel x reader #su #steven universe #distant lands #fic #my fic #ya'll.#this is a lil gayer ok #im not even sorry for the end of this chapter #you're all in for it now lol

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jaxsteamblog · 6 years ago

Text

Four Toasts

Zuko woke up to see Sokka looming over him. He normally woke quickly, but seeing his friend’s face so close to his own made the shot of adrenaline almost propel him out of bed. Feeling a weight on his chest, Zuko kept himself still, letting his thoughts collect and give him a proper reading of the situation.

He was in bed, but obviously not his own since Sokka was standing next to him and not the body lying on him. He was half dressed as he could feel the shared warmth of skin on skin. Sokka’s face was irritated and bemused.

“Hey, the lights are back on.” Zuko remarked. The air system was working properly now and blew a gentle heat into the room.

“Why are you sleeping with my sister?” Sokka asked. Zuko looked down and saw the tangled cloud of Katara’s wavy hair.

“Because I had the choice between you and her and I mean, can you blame me?” He replied.

“I don’t like that you’re dating her.”

“You’re going to make me marry her to spite you, and is that really how you want your sister to end up married?”

Sokka chuckled and Katara finally roused, lifting her head to glare at them both.

“Can you two put a sock in it? I was sleeping.” She stated.

“You were not. Your breathing changed the moment I spoke.” Zuko said. Katara muttered to herself before rolling back to her side, pulling the blanket up over her head.

Zuko eventually untangled himself from the snare of the sheet and blanket Katara had wound in her sleep. Sokka went downstairs for breakfast while Zuko went into their shared room to shower.

For all the inane rhetoric that had been drilled into his head by various firebending teachers, Zuko felt at peace in the shower. The water hit his skin with muffled paps that sounded like rain hitting the stone pavers in the gardens of the palace. Fat, warm, summer rain that came down heavy from lazy clouds that tottered overhead. As Zuko stood, his head bent to allow the spray to fall on his neck, he could almost imagine being soaked in a surprise storm.

His mother had been caught out in a such a storm before, and Zuko had watched her run shrieking toward a covered walkway. He had been inside, neglecting some lesson, and knelt at the window with his arms crossed on the sill. He had smiled at his mother’s beautiful face - a beauty that all mothers had to their children, but that apparently Ursa had naturally earned herself - and how her long, ink colored hair clung to her face and neck. Servants came running with the thick, fluffy towels she preferred, but paused as another figure approached from the other building. Zuko recalled his father’s face - also young, also beautiful but in a fearful sort of way - as he saw his wife, soaked and improperly laughing with the servants.

But Ursa’s beauty afforded her luxuries not available to many. To only her, really.

Ozai had taken hold on his mother’s face and gently pushed back her wet hair. Ursa trembled, from fear or from a chill, and Ozai only smiled at her.

It had stirred a sort of jealousy in Zuko then. That his father, who hated so many, still had the ability to lay hands on his beautiful mother and to make her afraid. To look at her as one does a rare orchid, or exotic pet.

Years later, after his grandfather had been cremated and Ursa had disappeared, Zuko stood out in a sudden rainstorm. He felt the impact of the drops but not their warmth. He was soaked, but had felt no absolution of the falling water.

The shower he could feel. The water was like Katara’s fingers, tapping against him in a moment of idle rest. He could breathe here, in the warm, wet air, with the steam curling around his face. With the water hitting the back of his scalp, and running down the lines of his cheeks and nose, he was able to breathe. It was an odd sensation, to take in air that seemed as wet as the rain. The first time he had experienced it, it had taken his breath away.

Zuko remembered when Katara had held back the rain.

He never wanted to explain to her how he found that more impressive than the bloodbending. To her, the bloodbending had been dark and weighty, made more important by the very fact that it was forbidden to speak of it. But bloodbending had seemed almost obvious when Katara had done it. How many poems had he read where shedding blood was likened to an ocean wave, or how lust was the moon that pulled on the tide of a body’s pulse?

Stopping the rain was something else entirely.

Determining the strength of the Bender usually equated to the same thing: how much could they control? That implied a sort of physical limitation to the art, and Earthbenders were assumed to be the proof. The most powerful Earthbenders were impressively muscled and could push against the earth’s rigid desire to stay in one piece, in one place.

Toph’s simple existence threw that out of the window as she had been outlifting people five times her size since she was twelve.

Billions had been poured into research over bending, to see what made it occur and how a Bender became powerful. If it was genetic, or tied to chakras, or a manipulation of chi. If it could be found and quantified, there may be a way to increase it.

Zuko had very quietly created a lab to try and answer those questions. He was ashamed of himself, knowing that he did it mostly to see if his own power could be enhanced.

Azula’s ability had made him feel small, or damaged. Katara made him feel like he was standing in the presence of a god.

He had looked up into the sky that day and it seemed like the rain had frozen for miles upward. It wasn’t until that moment that he felt fear, but a sublime kind of terror that occurs when one succumbs to the will of something greater.

Zuko knew he could never match her skill.

With a sigh, Zuko turned off the shower and stepped out for his towel. He steamed much of the moisture off of his body with his bending, but he too had a weakness for large, fluffy towels.

The table had been set with platters of food. Cut slices of toast were decimated and a small plate of butter had been hacked apart. Bacon and eggs were neatly parted on the same platter, with a spoon jutting haphazardly out of the yellow mound. A ceramic teapot sat next to a shiny metal coffee urn, looking like a tall stern husband with his squat cheerful wife. Cream, sugar, pots of jam stood like beehives, with tiny spoons and sticky pools littering the expanse. At the dining table, five seats were taken. Zuko felt a lump form in his throat.

“Hello. Zuko here.”

The embarrassment attached to this very specific fear came on quickly. As he worried about it, Suki looked up and waved him over.

“Good morning Zuko!” She greeted as he approached the table and dragged out a chair.

“He-y.” He faltered, switching the word mid-stride. Clearing his throat, Zuko tried, and failed, not to make eye contact with the two people that scared him the most in this situation.

“So, just to address the Tigerphant in the room, I do already know.” Aang said as he hefted his mug of coffee. Katara patted Zuko’s hand as he hung his head down and groaned.

“See? Just like ripping off a bandage.” Katara said. Zuko groaned louder and let his head fall onto the tabletop. The others laughed and Toph kicked him under the table.

“Cheer up Zuko, I’m pretty sure everyone at the table has had a crush on you at one point or another.” Toph said. Zuko lifted his head but kept his chin on the table.

“Really?” He asked.

“Not me.” Suki said. She smiled at him as Zuko rolled his head over to look at her. “No offense, you’re just not my type.”

“Look, no one cares about you or your relationships.” Sokka interjected. “Today is about Suki and me.”

Zuko snorted and sat up. Katara passed him a coffee and he lifted it toward Sokka and Suki.

“To two of the greatest people I have ever been blessed to know. May it finally be enough to keep Sokka out of my bed.” He said. The others, laughing, lifted their own mugs and cups.

“Here, here!” They shouted and began leaning over the table to clink their drinks.

“Oh by the way,” Katara said as Zuko sat back and started to drink his coffee. “Chang has said that in repayment of you breaking everything last night, you get to do the honors of clearing the snow.”

“Snow?” Zuko repeated.

“Oh yeah man, it dumped snow last night.” Sokka added. Zuko looked from Sokka back to Katara, trying to look as helpless as possible.

“But you’re a Waterbender.” He said.

“I didn’t explode twenty grand worth of electronics last night.” Katara replied in a saccharine tone.

Zuko sighed and rolled his head back on his neck, looking across the table at Aang.

“You are both a Fire- and Waterbender.” He said. Aang shrugged and took a loud slurp from his mug. After smacking his lips, he set down his mug and smiled back at Zuko.

“You’re dating my ex girlfriend.” He countered.

“Fine.” Zuko said, dragging the word out as he set his shoulders. “But can I at least eat first?”

Aang pushed over the platter of bacon and eggs, using his bending to reheat them enough for steam to start curling in the air. As Zuko started loading his plate, the table resumed their conversations and Katara casually reached over to steal his food.

It was normal, light-hearted, and just enough to almost distract Zuko from the more disturbing theories his mind was putting together about his family. It had been years since Ozai had been defeated and his sister carted off to Ba Sing Se, plenty of time for them to plot.

Zuko sat down with his food and swatted Katara’s hand away. She muttered before leaning over the table and using her fingertips to pull the platter closer to herself. Sokka, without pausing in his conversation with Toph and Aang, very leisurely yanked it back. Zuko smiled and bit into the bacon, making sure to lean away from the group as Katara used her bending to splash Sokka in the face with cold tea. Normal and light-hearted.

Reaching into his pocket, Zuko was momentarily paralyzed when he couldn’t find his phone. Remembering the events of last night, he just sighed and continued eating.

“So Zuko,” Aang started and Zuko looked up. “I hear you were wondering about the new king of Omashu.”

“Yeah,” Zuko paused to swallow and wipe his mouth. “Do you know him?”

“I do. He was in Jiangsu when I was there last year. He’s an interesting guy, name’s Li Jing.” Aang said.

“Who is he, though?” Zuko asked. Aang made a few faces as he thought before sucking air through his teeth and rubbing the back of his head.

“Minor nobility I think? Apparently, he’s like a distant cousin of Kuei’s.” Aang replied.

“So it was just a family favor thing?” Sokka questioned, having mopped all the tea off his face.

“So it’s assumed. The ministers haven’t been able to prove the lineage yet.” Aang answered and Zuko scowled. Katara patted his arm again and he sighed.

“Have you heard about him marrying Azula?” Katara asked.

“He’s doing what now?” Aang said immediately and now Katara sighed.

“So this is news to everyone then.” Toph added.

“It doesn’t make any sense. Azula is still a war criminal right? This would take international approval.” Suki said.

“Technically, the Earth Empire has the most skin in this situation you know?” Sokka replied.

“And the Empire and the Fire Nation are the only ones who can really kick up a proper fuss, if they made a decision between themselves, it’s not like the Water Tribes can do anything about it.” Toph said

“But that would….” Zuko drifted as he poked at his eggs.

“Did your uncle know about this Zuko?” Aang inquired.

“He must’ve. My father doesn’t have the power to do something like this on his own.” Zuko answered, staring down at his plate.

“It’s okay, maybe he thought-” Katara stopped when Zuko wrenched his arm away from her reaching hand.

“Thought what? That I was still tied to Mai and going to suffer through that just so my kid could be the next Fire Lord?” Zuko snapped, glaring at Katara. She, looking more shocked than hurt, only blinked at him.

“I’m going to go clear snow.” Zuko said darkly and pushed himself away from the table.

It had snowed a lot.

Zuko stood without his coat and shivered slightly as he surveyed the area. From the stoop, he could see that the main road had been cleared, but the lane from the bed and breakfast was very much not. A snow shovel was propped next to the door, where someone had cleared the snow off the porch steps by hand.

Using fire for this was actually not ideal. There would be the issue of residual water and the chance that he would burn whatever was hidden underneath, but he had been tasked with the job.

Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to just do the labor.

Rolling up his sleeves, Zuko took up the shovel and started his work.

It took twenty minutes for his muscles to start burning. The accumulated snow was almost a foot deep, and it was a heavy, wet snow. Zuko made a good dent into clearing the lane but took a break to use his firebending to clear the small patches that had turned to slush. Sweat pooled between his shoulders and were making small, tickling trails down his back. Exhaustion was starting to creep into his arms and Zuko shook his hands when he turned to walk back to the porch.

He smiled sheepishly as he took the mug Katara offered.

“I’m sorry.” He said and took a sip of the bitter black tea.

“I forgive you.” Katara said and started to walk down the steps, kissing his cheek as she passed him. Zuko sat down on the steps and watched as Katara, like a maestro at her stand, she raised her hand up. Bringing them back down in a sweep before throwing them to the side, the snow responded and was shoved into its banks. Zuko kept drinking as Katara walked down the lane, bending the snow back as she went. Walking back, Katara got to the snow on top of the porch and swept it off. The snow cascaded down the side in a rush, spraying Zuko with small crystals and scenting the air with an icy crispness.

“Zuko, I don’t know if there’s a plot or not, but we can think of something.” Katara said as she stepped up to sit next to him. Forever practical, no matter how much Zuko hated this one habit, Katara started to pull the sweat from Zuko’s skin and clothing. The act always made him feel weird and left a salty residue he had to wash off anyway.

“What are you talking about?” He said and shifted away from her. Rolling her eyes, Katara only pulled the sweat from his shirt.

“I’m saying that, you know, I’ve never been against having kids.” She replied.

“Kat, we only just started dating.” He said.

“We’ve known each other for years Zuko, it’s not like we’re in a preliminary get-to-know-me stage.” Katara countered.

“That doesn’t mean we need to treat this like it’s endgame.” He said. He finally slapped at Katara’s hands and she left him alone.

“Why not? You don’t assume every relationship is going to end do you?” Katara asked.

“For one thing, I’ve only had one relationship. So.” He swirled his tea and fed some heat into it. “For another, I don’t assume anything about relationships because doing so invariably results in disappointment.”

“What do you want to do then?” She questioned.

“I want,” Zuko bit off the rest of his sentence. He couldn’t drag Katara into his paranoia and risk her getting hurt.

“I do want to get to know you Katara. And I want you by my side for however this all goes down.” He finished.

“Every Agni Kai, I’ll go with you Zuko.” Katara said. Zuko lifted his tea.

“To new relationships.” He said.

“Rising from the ashes of an old one, how appropriate Firebender.” Katara remarked and took his cup to drink from it.

“Are we not still friends?” Zuko asked and took back the tea.

“Semantics.” Katara said and waved him away. “Now take another shower. You stink and the party is about to start.”

The wedding rehearsal was restricted to the actual wedding party. They all travelled together to the pavilion - after Zuko had a second shower - and stood by their cars as Aang and Katara cleared the snow. Other cars soon started to arrive and Zuko sank into his coat. He peered gloomily as Aang and Katara started laughing, throwing snow at each other. Aang always carried himself with what Iroh called a summer breeze. He was light and fun, and usually welcome in most instances. He moved through circumstances with an easy confidence and optimism. To put it simply, he was everything Zuko could never be.

Zuko leaned against a car, turning his head, but not really wanting to interact with anyone. Suki walked off as her Maid of Honor and the mayor, Biyu, emerged from a taxi. Sokka walked over to chat while he waited for another car, hopefully bringing his father and his other groomsman. Zuko had only met the other man once, a quiet fellow named Possum. Sokka had spent some time in the Swamp Tribe and Possum had apparently been an adventurous friend, though his timid disposition made Zuko doubt that.

“It’s a wedding Sparky, don’t look so gloomy.” Toph said as she approached.

“Don’t you have a wedding planner to intimidate?” Zuko replied and stepped away from the car. Toph laughed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You know that both of us are going to miss things from time to time. We made certain choices that ensures that.” She said.

“This was big though Toph. I should have heard about this. From legitimate channels.”

“You mean through your uncle?”

“He had to have known. There’s no way he couldn’t.”

“No duh. Why do you think he didn’t tell you?”

“I have no idea.” Zuko fidgeted, snapping little flames down into the snow. Each one hit with an identical sizzle, leaving a small crater in the top of the snow. “It’s the only thing that makes me think this isn’t a plot. And that maybe Azula is…” He stopped himself and frowned, still shooting at the snow.

“Maybe that Azula is about to be yoked to some poor politically hungry sap?” Toph finished for him. Zuko sighed and kicked the snow over where he had been shooting.

“I just want her to be happy.” He said.

“Are we still talking about Azula?” Toph asked. Zuko looked over at her.

“Is Katara unhappy?” He questioned in response.

“It’s just weird that you have this soft spot for your sister after literally everything.” Toph said.

“No offense, but I don’t think you can understand. You didn’t have siblings, or even a pet.” Zuko replied.

“I had the badgermoles!” Toph said indignantly. She punched Zuko’s arm and then leaned back on the car, both of them turning to see that most of the wedding party was now engaged in a massive snowball fight.

“But, you know, you guys are my family now.” She said.

“That’s gross.” Zuko retorted and dodged as Toph turned to smack his arm. They both laughed and watched the snow flying for a moment.

“I get what you’re saying though. It’s definitely different considering the fluid swapping.” Zuko said and Toph snorted.

“To found family.” She said and held out a fist.

“To a bunch of weirdos who let me hang around.” Zuko said and bumped his fist against hers.

The rehearsal went smoothly. The wedding planner, whose confidence steps faltered around Toph, moved them all through the ceremony. Biyu walked Suki down the aisle, whispering something to keep Suki laughing. Sokka stood at the front, holding his hands together so tightly in an attempt to keep them from shaking. Zuko mimed handing over the rings, pretending to trip at the last moment. Sokka’s face went white and Zuko nearly burst something from laughter, while Sokka looked like he was about to throw him.

The wedding planner ended up in a chair with her head in her hands.

After the rehearsal ceremony came the rehearsal dinner. They had all gone back into Kyoshi where the central plaza had been swept clean. Temporary canvas pavilions were propped up with rows of long tables underneath. Tall braziers were standing in various places, the fire held inside looking like plasma. The Water Tribe party was already seated, drinking with some of the villagers.

The dinner started out fairly professional. The local cooks brought out small plates for the wedding party to try and approve. Once the menu had been finalized, and more people had shown up, the drinking really started. As the sun began to set, the musicians started playing. Katara took Zuko’s hands and led him to where the dance floor was going to be set. Other groups and couples joined them and they all started moving and laughing together.

Someone at some point let Hakoda in on the changes, and Zuko had caught the man’s eye at one point in the evening.

Hakoda had been an interesting man to interact with. Zuko recalled meeting him for the first time right after the war. He saw the man struggle with a lot of things. Zuko was representative of everything Hakoda had hated; he was Fire Nation, had chased after his children, had fought with them. He was the son of Ozai, the great-grandson of Sozin.

It had been hard, but Hakoda had accepted him as an ally, unable to truly hate him when Zuko wore the badge of his own father’s hate bare on his face. Over the years, the group had drifted, and Zuko hadn’t been much in contact with the leader of the South Pole. However, with the wedding looming and Zuko bankrolling a lot of it, Hakoda now had to deal with the feeling of shame that turned into projected anger.

And so Hakoda watched as his daughter, his heir, a piece of his late wife, laid her head on Zuko’s chest as they moved slowly on the dance floor.

Zuko didn’t know how to tell him that Katara’s love was both a weight around his neck and the only thing that made him feel free. Having her in his arms made him forget about Azula, about plots, and about the future in general. His entire existence was just in this moment, and he couldn’t gather together enough curiousity or desire to think about what would come next.

Hakoda, watching from his seat, lifted a glass of sparkling wine. Zuko gave a quick nod and saw Hakoda sigh, but the other man tossed back his drink and turned away. Zuko looked down at Katara and spun her out, watching her face light up with laughter as she twirled under his arm.

“So what about your destiny?” Zuko asked as he took Katara’s hand and put a hand on her hip.

“What do you mean?” She moved easily with his steps and kept her eyes locked on his.

“After you cure HIV and become the world waterbending champ, aren’t you going to rule the South Pole?” Zuko inquired and Katara chuckled.

“Who knows? The Swamp Tribe is probably going to be the new capital, considering the global market connections and political stability.” She answered.

“Would you be okay being the wife of the disgraced Fire Nation prince?”

“Are you asking?”

Zuko moved them both through a wide turn, dipping Katara and holding her there.

“Not yet.” He replied.

“Then you’ll never know.” She whispered. Zuko pulled her up and Katara took the step in, kissing him in full view of the gathered group.

Perhaps it was even more impressive that she could make his whole world come to a complete standstill.

#jax writes #zutara #atla au #modern au #part 4

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multi-fandom-imagines-party · 6 years ago

Text

Western Stars: An Adric/Nyssa Western AU one-shot

(gifs not mine, credit to the original posters)

Western Stars: An Adric/Nyssa one-shot

(Requested by @4thdoctorjellybabies)

The heat from the sun suffused everything, causing sweat to break out all over the young man. He could feel beads of moisture dripping down his back underneath his shirt, vest, and coat as he took out his handkerchief to mop his brow. He readjusted his hat, not wanting the sun to burn and damage his pale complexion. The stagecoach kicked up puffs of dust as it rattled away over the dirt road, leaving him standing in the middle of Traken. The town had the largest bank for miles around, and he was to be the new manager.

He looked up at the wooden building, seeing the brightly-painted sign denoting it as the bank. He hoped his future would be as bright and cheerful as the sign, but he doubted it. After his failure, this supposed promotion was actually his exile.

Walking up the steps of the building, he toppled to the ground as someone stumbled into him mid-step.

“Oh my goodness, I am terribly sorry!” A gloved hand reached down into his vision. “Here let me help you up,” a feminine voice said.

He looked up, taking the proffered hand. The hand was attached to a woman, older than himself, but beautiful. Her curls hair was doing its best to escape the ribbons that tied it back, leaving ringlets to bounce on the side of her face. Her red blouse and vest accented her figure quite nicely - although he really shouldn’t be looking at that. His eyes widened as he realized she was wearing.... trousers!

He shook his head, trying to clear away the thoughts. “My apologies, miss. My mind was elsewhere. Thank you, miss...?”

“Oh! My name is Nyssa, Nyssa Sutton. And you are?”

“Adric Waterhouse, at your service,” he said.

“Well, Mr. Waterhouse, any business you have at the bank will have to wait. The old manager died, and no replacement has come yet,” she said as she shook her head.

“I was sent here by my superiors; I am to be the new manager of the bank.”

Her eyes brightened. “Finally! It will be good to have someone new in town. The doctor has the keys. I can take you to meet him.” She stepped down, then looked at him, waiting. It would be rude to refuse her offer of help.

Adric tried to think of something, just so he could keep talking to her. Her voice was melodic and soothing. “Have you been in town long, Miss Sutton?”

She shook her head. “I don’t live in town. I own Sutton Ranch, about nine miles east of here. I raise cattle and horses.”

Well, the trousers made more sense, although she could at least wear a skirt in town. “Why does the doctor have the keys? I would think the sheriff would hold onto them.”

“Our doctor and sheriff are the same person. This is a quiet little town, and the doctor is a good man, the best around. He simply prefers to be known as a doctor, rather than by his sheriff title.”

She stopped in front of a two-story wooden building. “This is the doctor. I have to leave, I have business to finish here in town before I go back to the ranch. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Waterhouse.” She smiled at him, a bright, sunny smile, which faded into a sheepish expression. “I do apologize for stumbling into you, though.”

Adric smiled at her. “The pleasure was mine, Miss Sutton, and you have nothing to apologize for.”

Adric’s earlier hopes of a bright, sunny future as the bank manager were proven to be false, much to his dismay. There was barely any work for him to do since, with the exception of Miss Sutton and the doctor/sheriff, the majority of the townsfolk distrusted banks and those who worked at them. The doctor, older than Adric but still young, soon became his only friend in town, the other man being remarkably amiable. Adric was sure the doctor was the only reason the townsfolk hadn’t run him out of town; even though he was a banker, he was the doctor’s friend, and apparently that counted for more than the other.

His days were filled with a whole heap of nothing to do. Granted, he was still getting paid, but for how long? He was sure he’d be fired after his earlier mistakes, but now it seemed he was to be blamed for the failure of this branch, then fired. With a reputation like that, it would be difficult to get a job.

On the bright side, Miss Sutton, or Nyssa as she soon insisted he call her, visited him every time she came into town. She, like himself and the doctor, prized reading and education, and brought books for him to read in his moments of nothing. Mostly they were on animal husbandry, farming, and other things useful for more agricultural pursuits, but it was still fascinating to him.

When she came to visit, they would often talk. She told him about how her father had passed away, leaving Nyssa to run their ranch. She told him what it was like for her, growing up without a mother in the middle of nowhere. She told him about the struggles of being an unmarried woman and running the ranch. He, in turn, told her about his childhood in Alzarius, how his own parents had died in a fire leaving him and his brother to grow up by themselves. He told her how his brother died during a fight between his gang and a rival one. He told her about how, eventually, he moved to Logopolis, with the dream of becoming a mathematician or a lawyer. Their time together caused him to develop a fondness for her.

One day, yet another boring one where no one came to the bank, Nyssa stormed in the front door. Adric fumbled his feet off his desk, the book he’d been reading flopping down. Nyssa’s hair was in disarray. When she looked at him, he could see tear stains on her cheeks.

“Nyssa, what is wrong? What has happened?” He’d never seen her like this before; while she would rant about her difficulties running her ranch, she’d never cried.

She burst into tears, throwing herself at him. Surprised, he caught her in his arms as she sobbed into his shoulder. He remembered his mother used to pat him on the back when he was a child; perhaps it would be as soothing to Nyssa as it was to him? Awkwardly, he gently patted her on the back. To his dismay, it only increased her tears.

The doctor came rushing in, looking around wildly. “Adric, have you seen- oh, you found her! Excellent. I was worried about her.”

“What is wrong, Doctor? She has not said anything since she came in.” Adric was becoming more worried by the second.

The doctor sighed. “A man, claiming to be her father’s brother, came to the ranch. He brought with him a will of her father’s that left everything to him, instead of Miss Sutton. It is a later date than the one we have.” The doctor shook his head, his mouth a grim line. “I believe it is a fake, but I do not have the power to declare it as such. I sent a telegraph for a judge, but I do not know how soon he will arrive.”

“What happens if the will is declared genuine?”

“It isn’t real!” Nyssa shouted, her eyes full of anger. “My father was an only child; he had no siblings at all, much less a brother! He would have told me. He... he would have told me...” She trailed off, tears filling her eyes once again.

“I will stall him for as long as I can.” the doctor said as he patted her shoulder. “In the meantime, I think that you,” he said gesturing to Nyssa, “should either have someone stay with you at the ranch, or stay here in town with someone. I do not trust this so-called uncle of yours.”

Nyssa shook her head. “I’m unable leave the ranch, not at this time of the year. It’s foaling season.”

The doctor looked at him, a glimmer in his eye. “Adric, will you stay with Nyssa? I can deputize you, giving you authority to deal with anything that might come up. Just... be careful. As I said, I do not trust him.”

Adric nodded. If the man was a criminal, there was no telling what he was capable of. If he hurt Nyssa... Adric had already lost his brother, he wasn’t going to lose anyone else. “You two are the only ones who come to the bank; I doubt I will be missed here.” He looked at her. “Would you consent to my- ?”

Nyssa’s eyes shined brightly, a light blush staining her cheeks. “Would you? I hate to impose, or seem improper, but I would feel safer with you.” Adric was struck by how the light from the windows sparkled in her eyes, and his breath caught in his chest. He cleared his throat, nodded, and smiled at her, not trusting his voice at the moment. From the corner of his eye, he saw the doctor watching them with a pleased look on his face. Whatever did the man have to be pleased about?

The winds were blustering by the time Adric and Nyssa left town. The sky grew darker as the clouds changed from fluffy white, to dense, heavy grey. They could both smell the coming storm. They only hoped they would get to the ranch before the skies opened up. Being caught in a storm would be dangerous, especially if it was a thunder storm. The wagon rattled and bounced along the dirt roads as Nyssa hurried the horses along. Adric focused on holding on to the side of the seat, trying to keep from bumping Nyssa with his legs.

As time passed, the clouds grew darker and more numerous. Neither Adric nor Nyssa could see the sky itself, only the clouds. They saw a flash of lightening in the distance. The boom of thunder pealed around them. The first few raindrops fell.

“We need to get to the ranch!”

Nyssa shook her head. “We are only halfway there; we won’t make it.” She stopped the wagon, as more rain fell down on them. Another clap of thunder sounded, and Nyssa urged the horses down a track on the left side of the road.

“Where are we going?”

“Farmer who left a few years ago, his barn is still standing. It’s closer than the ranch, and we need shelter.”

The wind picked up speed, whipping their wet hair into their faces. The wagon bumped and thumped along the track, which was barely wide enough. Adric held on, afraid he’d fall off if he didn’t. Soon the barn came into view. While the paint was peeling all over, the roof and walls appeared to be secure. Adric jumped down to open the doors as Nyssa led the horses in. He wrestled the doors back into place, and laid his damp coat over the side of the wagon to dry.

Movement in the shadows caught his eye. “Nyssa, behind you!” A man wrapped his hand around her neck, his other arm restraining her. As Adric froze, not wanting to do anything that would cause Nyssa to be harmed, a heavy object thudded into the back of his head. The world darkened as he fell to the ground.

Pain caused Adric to regain consciousness. Trying to move his hand informed him that he was tied up rather securely, around his wrists, arms and torso, and legs. He could move his head though, and he saw the man from earlier sitting with several others; someone else stood apart from them, talking to them. They were a tall gentleman, with slicked back dark brown hair and a beard. Adric didn’t like the way he looked; his eyes were dead, and he had a cruel twist to his sneer. Looking to his left, he saw Nyssa, also tied up. She was so still, he was afraid that they killed her. He was relieved when a small moan came from her let him know she was still alive.

“Ah, it appears my niece is awake.” The villain walked over and knelt by Nyssa. His voice was cultured and oily, the voice of a villain. Adric closed his eyes almost all the way, only enough for him to see through, and worked to keep his breathing even. He didn’t want the man to notice he was awake. “You have such poor luck, my dear. You and your friend stumbled right into our grasp.” He reached out, gently patting Nyssa’s curls, then sharply grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I will make this quite simple. Desist in contesting your father’s will, or both you and your friend will die. Your own will shall be found, making the ranch over to me. Since no one will challenge it, I shall receive what I want anyway. You have until the storm stops to think it over.” He let go of her and walked away, settling near a small fire his goons had built.

Adric’s mind was racing. Even if Nyssa agreed to the new will, they both knew this man was dangerous. He would likely kill them anyway, to make sure no one knew his secret. Adric had to get himself and Nyssa free, and to the doctor. Perhaps... He twisted and wriggled his hands, just the way his brother had taught him. He worked slowly, carefully, making sure their captors couldn’t see him. The ropes loosened slightly. Not enough for him to free himself, but it was working. His wrists were being rubbed raw, but he couldn’t let a little pain stop him. Nyssa’s life was at stake. He couldn’t lose someone else, not like his brother. He couldn’t lose her.

Finally, the ropes loosened enough for Adric to slip his hands out. There was a hole in the wall closest to them, just large enough for Nyssa and him to escape. If he could find something sharp, he could cut their ropes. A boom of thunder startled the horses, and their captors had to quiet them. One was more frightened than the others, and refused to calm down.

“Quiet, you ugly nag!” One of the goons threw a bottle; instead of hitting the horse, it hit the wooden post above Adric, showering him in glass fragments.

“That’s enough, you fool!” The leader shouted angrily and cuffed him over the head.

A sharp pain alerted Adric to a piece of glass by his hands. Feeling it, he was overjoyed to find it was a large shard, sharp and sturdy enough to cut through the ropes.

Slowly, hoping and praying he wouldn’t be seen, he inched towards Nyssa. When he was close enough, he touched her hand. “Nyssa,” he whispered, “I have a piece of glass. There is a hole in the wall, above our heads. I will cut the ropes on you, then myself. You head through the hole first, I will follow.” Nyssa wiggled her fingers against his; Adric hoped that meant she understood. He sawed through the ropes. They fell apart as he did. Finished with Nyssa, he passed the shard to her, and she worked on him. The last ropes on his feet came apart, when they heard noises outside.

“This is the sheriff! You are surrounded. Come out with your hands above your head!”

The goons stood up, shouting in confusion. There wasn’t any time. She had to be safe.

“Run Nyssa!” Adric pushed her towards the hole, and she stumbled towards it. She wriggled her way through as he followed her.

“No!” A hand caught his boot, pulling him back in. The imposter glared down at him, fury etched on his face and blazing in his eyes. “You ruined everything!” His hand reached into his coat pocket. He drew out a small revolver, the metal glinting as a flash of lightening illuminated the barn. Adric froze as he watched the revolver point at him. A clap of thunder sounded. Pain blossomed in his chest. His shirt and vest felt warm.

The doors burst open. The doctor rushed in, a rifle in his hand pointing at the the villain. Several men, from the ranch and town, followed him, their own rifles pointing at the criminals. “Lay down your weapons,” the doctor said in a commanding voice, “or face the consequences. We caught you red-handed.”

The imposter tossed down his revolver, holding his hands above his head. The doctor came forward and shackled him. “Tie them up with the ropes.” The doctor swayed back and forth as he stood over Adric- or was that his vision getting worse? The doctor knelt, and Adric shook his head as two of him appeared. “Get my bag from the wagon; Adric’s hurt!” the doctor yelled

Nyssa cried out his name as she ran towards him, tears in her eyes. “There’s so much blood. Adric, Adric, listen to me, do not die. You simply can not die, I need you,” she said as stroked his hair and face; Adric was struck by how her hands were callused and work-worn, yet equally soft and gentle. He tried to focus on what she was saying, but his vision grew dark. The last thing he heard was Nyssa screaming his name as his eyes fell shut.

Adric shaded his eyes as he watched the foals playing in the pasture. The tree above him rustled as a breeze blew through. A shout caused him to turn, and Nyssa rode up with a basket. She smiled as he helped her down from her horse.

“I thought you might be hungry, so I brought lunch for us both.” Her smile was radiant, and Adric couldn’t get enough of it. “I also brought a letter for you; it’s from the bank.”

He ripped open the letter, a grin of delight breaking out over his face as he read the words he’d hoped for. “They accept my resignation!” he whooped as he picked up Nyssa and spun her around in his arms. They both laughed as they tumbled to the ground, dizzy from excitement and spinning.

“Who knew a banker would have such a fine head for horses and cattle?” she teased, though her tone lacked any bite.

Now that he was free from that miserable bank, there was only one thing to do. Nyssa had insisted on looking after him as he healed from the bullet wound. They’d become even closer as time passed. Adric had never felt this way about anyone before. Last night, he’d looked through the few things he had from his parents.

Sitting next to Nyssa, he held her hands in one of his, the other reaching into his pocket. He looked deep into her eyes. “Nyssa, you are a wonderful friend to me. You are kind, thoughtful, intelligent, beautiful, and so much more. I am unable to properly describe all the happiness and joy and good I feel because of you. This ring belonged to my mother; my father gave it to her. Nyssa, will you marry me?”

Tears filled her eyes. She said nothing. Adric began to fear he’d made a mistake, when she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yes! Yes, I will be happy to marry you!” She kissed him firmly. He leaned back.

“Nyssa, your reputation-” He was cut off with another kiss. As petals drifted down around them and the foals played, Adric thought that maybe kissing wasn’t such a bad thing to do with no one else around. As Nyssa leaned back, he tangled one hand in her hair, the other wrapped around her waist, and pulled her in for another kiss.

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unicyclehippo · 7 years ago

Note

Hey, I hope you've had some moments today that will become happy memories! I have an ellie/dina prompt for you if you're up for it: adventures in the rain, either pre- or post-dance?

ellie shivers, a chilled wind catching her by surprise where it slips beneath the slightly wonky back wall of the shelter. she pulls her shirt down a bit, tucks it into her pants, and then has to suffer when immediately a drop of rain plonks down onto her exposed collar.

‘hmm. that was a, wow. that was an ugly face.’

‘you’re supposed to be sleeping,’ ellie says, and she pulls another face, just to make dina laugh. ‘couldn’t sleep?’

‘i don’t love storms,’ dina says, tone purposefully light, and the way she says it—not quite casual enough to avoid a slight hitch, or dina not trying to hide it from her, maybe—catches ellie’s attention as surely as a tap on her shoulder. dina doesn’t continue, even when ellie tilts her head and nods, keeping her own expression light, so ellie leaves it be. ‘we can switch, if you want. i’ll be awake anyway.’

ellie considers the offer for a half second before she nods; no reason for both of them to be exhausted. they shift positions quietly, trade near-silent laughs when ellie’s jacket hooks on a nasty jagged scrap of the roof, jostles a slop of water down her own back when she tries to free herself. dina helps her get free and she grins when ellie shakes herself vigorously, trying—and failing—to dry off like a dog.

they’ve bundled their packs in the corner, into an uncomfortable pillow, and ellie keeps her knife unsheathed at her thigh just in case, which she shows dina, who nods, eyes grim. ellie lays with her limbs loose, ready to move if the night requires it—knees up, one hand resting on her belly. the rise and fall of her own breathing, mixed with the sound of rain on the corrugated iron roof, sends her quickly into a light doze.

it can’t have been long—she’s not yet stiff and she doesn’t think she’s dreamed at all—when the first crash of thunder breaks through the sky.

ellie grasps her knife, holds it hidden by her leg. she scans the small shelter: dina, safe; entry way clear; ground puddled with water but not yet muddied; a brilliant flash of light throwing light across the inside of the shelter in even scored marks, the gaps between the slatted walls, and then nothing. she relaxes. another burst of light, and the answering call of triumphant thunder. as her heart rate evens out, no longer thundering in her ears, ellie hears a hitch of breath and looks to dina again.

‘dina,’

she doesn’t look to hear ellie. still, eyes wide and darting about—ellie guesses from tree to tree outside their shelter—she clutches the rifle more like a bat than a gun and ellie feels her back twinge in sympathy at how tense dina looks. ellie eases upright, chews on the inside of her cheek as she considers how to help.

‘dina,’ she says again, louder. ‘i’m going to take the gun, okay?’ setting her hands above each of dina’s on the rifle, she works the gun free of her hands—tight and unmoving, as though petrified, and ellie thinks about medusa and about the snake that swallows the world and basilisks all in a muddled, sleep-hazed way, and it’s silly but she’s relieved to feel that dina’s hands are soft and still flesh, if a little cold.

ellie sets the gun on what had passed as her bed, her knife next to it in easy reach, and when she turns back to dina she finds that her girlfriend - without the gun in her hands - is now hugging herself tightly. ellie bites harder at the inside of her cheek. it hurts, she hopes it jolts her brain into some kind of action instead of just making her stare at her girlfriend. sure, she’s never seen dina so still. dina is always on the move—always energetic, always ready to move, to help. even when she’s resting, she taps and fidgets and strokes and chews at her chapped lips and it’s endearing, yes, but more than that it’s dina, purely dina, an overflow from everything within her that she can’t contain, and ellie doesn’t know whether this stillness means she’s more controlled, or if there is very little going on within.

she has to do something, though, and she figures that if dina miraculously knows how to be good with ellie when she’s freaking out, maybe there’s some clue in there for what dina needs.

ellie reaches out and covers dina’s elbows, over where dina has folded her hands into the vulnerable soft of her waist.

‘dina,’ she says again, and squeezes gently. ‘can you hear me? can you feel my hands?’ she taps. dina doesn’t react, except that the darting of her eyes slows for a moment. ‘um. hmm, okay.’ ellie shifts then so she’s sitting between dina and the open entrance. she feels an itch take up on the back of her neck, every inch of her hating to leave her back exposed, but there’s been no sign that they’re being followed and nothing but the storm to disturb them so she forces herself to relax. checks to see if dina has reacted at all.

dina doesn’t seem to see ellie at all, seems to still be searching for something outside, jaw and neck and shoulders rigid, her breathing shallow.

it didn’t help, and ellie hates being so exposed, so she shifts back to the side and moves so that she’s sitting with dina on her left. pulls the rifle to her right hand side. she spreads her legs, left straight out and behind dina, pressed against her, and her right along dina’s right, bracketing her.

‘i’m, i’m right here,’ ellie tells her, and she sets her left hand on dina’s back, a solid and warm fixture for her, and keeps a careful watch for them both.

dina falls asleep a short time before dawn.

ellie catches her when she sags and she tugs her into her chest, wraps a protective arm around her.

the storm moves on too. it takes some time for it to pass completely—the thunder and the wind howl through the night for miles and hours, hunting down the lightning that darts away—and when the sun crawls up from behind the mountains, all that is left of it is a low fog and a miserable hanging cloud that drips a cover of slow, cold rain. miserable weather, and ellie decides then and there that they’re finding proper cover tonight. somewhere they can start a fire, chase the clinging chill from her skin.

she adjusts her jacket where she had wrapped it around dina’s shoulders, curses herself out in her head when the gesture makes dina grumble, and then shift, and then come awake.

‘wha—‘ she jerks up, nearly knocking ellie’s chin into her teeth, and casts dazedly about for some sign of where she is. ellie is relieved when she looks right at her and recognises her, the worry visibly flooding out of her. her arms fall limp at her sides, her eyelids drop in a very slow blink, relief and exhaustion mixed. ‘ellie,’ she sighs, reaches over to set her hand on ellie’s knee, clutch at her jeans.

ellie licks her lips. ‘hey,’ she offers, immediately kicks herself. ‘good morning.’

dina frowns over at her and ellie wonders if she had read her expression wrong; she looks worried, maybe?

‘dina?’ she asks hesitantly. ‘are you okay?’

‘am i—we could have been killed last night,’ dina says, voice ripping rough and quiet from her throat. despite the way she curls her knees to her chest, putting a barrier between them, she also curls her fingers tighter into the grasp she has on ellie’s jeans. ‘i stopped paying attention, you trusted me and i fucked up,’

‘whoa,’ ellie leans forward, halts herself when dina ducks her head. ‘um. we’re both alive,’ ellie says. she keeps her hand close to her own chest, not wanting to freak dina out, but she waves between them. ‘obviously we’re still alive. and i woke up, so it’s fine.’

‘it’s not fine, i—‘ dina stops. ellie waits; she’s quite interested in knowing what happened. ‘we need to—we should go, cover some ground today.’

ellie holds herself still, well aware that her form takes up a lot of the tiny shelter. she doesn’t want to make a sudden movement and have dina flinch again, so ellie waits until she has grabbed her bag and slipped out of the tiny cabin before she follows.

they find a mostly intact building later that day, deep into the afternoon, and ellie suggests they stop because she’s not sure what else they’ll find that’s better than this. the rain hasn’t let up at all, still miserable and grey and wet, obviously.

‘we can set up a few noise traps some way from where we camp. that way both of us can sleep,’ ellie suggests, and her words are jarring after hours of the two of them barely speaking. dina, hair heavy with moisture and slicked to her head, just nods. ‘you can start a fire, i’ll get the traps set up?’

dina nods again.

when she disappears into the office, ellie watches her leave. plants her hands on her hips and puffs her cheeks out thoughtfully.

‘what are you doing?’ she asks herself, shakes her head. ‘traps first, mental health second.’

she scours the place for cans and bottles and fragments of glass, puts together a few nifty traps. some she designed herself, some she copies from ones seen on the road.

by the time she returns, a nice fire is burning in a gouged out pit where some of the tiles had broken and been carried away, the ground exposed beneath. ellie doesn’t love the proof that other people know about this place, but she thinks—hopes—they’ll be alright for one night.

‘that’s nice,’ ellie groans, appreciative, and she shrugs out of her jacket and flings it over the back of a chair. ‘what do you think—jeans too?’

dina grins over at her. the heat of the fire looks to have put a bit of colour back in her cheeks and ellie beams back, pops the first button of her pants and then the second.

‘they’re a bit cold, aren’t they?’ dina agrees, and she stands, wriggles out of her own pants and hooks them over another chair, catching ellie’s when she tosses them over, the fabric slapping wet and heavy over her arm. ‘gross.’

‘you’re telling me,’ ellie agrees, grimacing. ‘i had to wear them.’

‘you didn’t have to fall into that pond.’

‘obviously i didn’t mean to,’ ellie grumbles but she takes the teasing with good humour. ‘i have a spare shirt—do you?’

‘mm, i think so.’

‘thank god for waterproof backpacks.’

‘thank joel, he found them.’

‘true.’ ellie grabs out her spare clothes, pulls her soaked and muddied shirt over her head and stops, blinded by the cloth, when dina puts a cold hand on ellie’s belly. she tenses, arms above her head, twisted in the wet shirt. ‘dina?’ ellie gasps when a hot mouth presses against her sternum, lays a series of kisses across her collar. ‘oh my god,’ she breathes, ‘dina, what,’

‘have i mentioned lately,’ dina says, and she kisses up the side of ellie’s neck so that she can hear her perfectly clearly, ‘that i love you?’

‘i—‘ there’s a gravity to the words, as new as it is familiar, and it’s like what ellie imagines standing on the moon might be like. recognising the earth in front of her but seeing it for the very first time. ‘can i finish taking my shirt off?’

dina hums. ‘i guess.’ when ellie doesn’t move, dina flicks her fingers up over the planes of ellie’s abs and then takes the shirt, pulls ellie free.

ellie searches for dina’s face immediately, sees the red in her cheeks only partly from the heat of the fire. the steadiness of her lovely, oh so pretty brown eyes. ‘i love you too,’ she tells her, and she reaches her hands up to cradle dina’s face with utmost care. dina isn’t fragile, she’s strong and brilliant and incredible and she proves that every day, but still ellie likes to be gentle. the world is hard and they take enough knocks. she likes the idea of being someone who helps dina forget about all that, if only for a little while.

‘oh phew,’ dina says. ‘bit awkward if it were a one sided kind of thing.’

ellie rolls her eyes. waits a moment. then,

the kiss she gives dina is exquisitely careful; she’s careful to kiss dina the way she likes the most, long and soft like they have all the time in the world and just an edge of desperate, which ellie can’t really help because kissing dina feels like it’s too good to be true sometimes and ellie wants, wants more, wants to be closer, wants to show dina in every way she can, for as long as she is able, that she is loved.

dina walks her back against the desk, claims another kiss from her before they part, breathing heavy on both their parts.

‘i’m sorry about last night,’ dina says, and ellie loves her and wants to reassure her that it’s fine, that they can talk about it whenever, but dina’s hand is burning hot on her thigh and ellie’s brain is turning to mush.

‘uh huh,’ she manages.

dina smiles at her, fondly. her fingers stroke at the tense muscle of ellie’s leg—ellie is sure dina would know the medical name for it but she doesn’t, all she knows is that it feels crazy good when dina massages at it. ‘i don’t want to talk about it yet,’

‘okay,’ ellie breathes. focuses, frowning hard to clear her thoughts, so she can tell dina, ‘we can talk about it whenever, or not at all, but i’m here for you and,’

‘you held me.’

‘um.’

‘i remembered that while we were walking,’ dina tells her. ‘thank you.’

ellie feels shame slink through her, cold and barbed. it plucks at her insides, makes her squirm. ‘i didn’t know how to pull you out of it,’ she admits. ‘or if i should, or if you were okay, or what i could do.’

dina shrugs. ‘i don’t know either.’

‘it’s—something we can figure out together,’ ellie offers, very sincerely, and she watches her girlfriend lean in and kiss her very gently before she snaps at the band of ellie’s underwear.

‘these?’ dina says, voice serious. ‘these have got to go.’

they share out their cold dinner after, wriggling toasty toes maybe a bit too close to the fire. feels good, though.

‘thank you,’ dina says quietly, leaning into ellie’s side.

‘oh i assure you, it was my pleasure,’ ellie drawls, a bit incredibly smug, and she relishes in dina’s surprised laugh.

‘not that,’ she laughs, slaps ellie on the thigh. ‘but thanks for that too.’

‘you’re welcome.’

‘i meant,’ dina says, narrowing her eyes in a warning for ellie not to interrupt, and ellie smiles sweetly back at her, tilts her head so she can drop kisses onto dina’s freckled shoulder, ‘mm that’s nice. i meant thanks for looking out for me.’

‘i know,’ ellie says quietly, and she pauses in her administrations. dina nudges her. she starts up again, and when she speaks, she kneads at the tense muscles in dina’s back instead for compensation for not kissing her. ‘you’re my, my girlfriend and i love you,’ she says simply. ‘i would do pretty much anything for you.’

dina hums. knocks her foot against ellie’s. ‘same.’

‘say it. please?’ ellie pouts dramatically and dina clicks her teeth threateningly, laughs when ellie waggles her eyebrows. she does kiss ellie again, follows through on her promise and bites that lip. ‘don’t make a joke again,’ ellie asks as best she can, not wanting to move too far from kissing dina.

‘why would i make a joke?’

‘you said some dumb thing about one sided confessions and,’

‘i love you too,’ dina interrupts.

ellie knows it, and beams. ‘good to know. does wonders for a, a lass’s confidence to know that.’

dina rolls her eyes. leans comfortably against ellie’s shoulder again. ‘we’re really gonna have to deal with both of us being smartass shit heads our whole life, huh?’

‘yeah.’

‘wow.’

‘pretty cool, right?’

‘can’t think of anyone better at the moment,’ dina shrugs and ellie pinches her side in a gentle reprimand, but smiles when she feels dina’s laugh shake through her, and they’re warm and happy and safe and if the storm returns that night they don’t hear it, curled together by their fire and protected by the sturdy building around them.

#tlou #tlou 2 #prompt fill #ellie x dina #video gays

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batkatbrown · 7 years ago

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Beyond the Sea - C 15

Big Thanks to Marinus, Ghost, 'somebody' and Anons for sponsoring this chapter on ko-fi.com/batkatbrown

Read on Ao3 Here

Jesse lazily swam through the highway of tubes while Hanzo showered. He stretched out to trail his fingertips along the walls before diving down to the bottom floor. The living room made more sense now that he could get some perspective on it.

Exploring the winding hot pink, neon yellow and electric blue tunnel, he chuckled to see just how much things had changed since he’d first come here. There was mess everywhere for one. Not enough to make the average person cringe but the clinical, baren feeling was gone. There were books scattered on the coffee table and stacked in haphazard piles around the sofa.

The leafy plants had broken from their carefully confined pots to spread across the window sill in the kitchen and the mint was threatening to jump to other pots. Jesse paused to look into Hanzo’s magic room. Little more than a closet, it now stayed open most of the time. Notebooks full of scribbling and diagrams littered the space and jars of seaweed and sand and tiny bones from fish were stacked along the walls and piled up where the shelves were too full.

He wanted to hold one of the massive pearls that were nestled on a blue velvet tray. It would be the size of his head. He’d loved diving for oysters back home and slurping the tasty little treat down straight.

Pearls felt good in the mouth and crunched so perfectly between his teeth. He licked his lips and wistfully daydreamed about foraging with Hanzo in the warm water along the coast. They would swim lazily down together. Hanzo’s arms would go around his waist, his legs curled around his tail as they dove.

Hanzo’s hair would drift like ink in the water and the sunlight would shimmer endlessly on his face. Jesse would crack open the clams with his claws and offer the tender meat. He could see the way hanzo’s face tightened with pleasure as he slurped it from the shell.

They would wander the coast till they were tired.

The fantasy began to fall apart.

Where would Hanzo stay? Would Jesse deliver him to the surface and watch as the man walked away. Could Jesse convince him to stay under the waves and slumber in a nest made for two.

Hanzo left in the middle of the night.

The moon was hidden behind a thick veil of clouds and he was just another shadow lurking in a dingy alley. Fine mist hovered in the air and he blinked away the moisture gathering on his eyelashes as he waited.

The neon sign glowed and shimmered like an otherworldly harbinger of prophecy across the street. It cast shards of hot pink across his face and stabbed into his eyes. He blinked them away and let the minutes trickle past.

“You should really wear less cologne. I could smell you down the block.”

Hanzo tensed as a figure appeared from the shadows next to him. The white of his mask reflected the light and the markings seemed to curl and undulate. Horns arched from the crest and fangs jutted from the grinning mouth.

Hanzo threw himself forward and dragged the figure into a tight hug. “I have missed your terrible sense of humor.” He laughed into his brother’s shoulder as he was picked up. Ribs groaned as his little brother crushed him and his feet nearly left the ground. “Have you grown even more?”

“I just stand straighter these days.” Genji released him and slapped him roundly on the back. “We should not speak here. There are eyes, even here.”

Hanzo nodded and stood to the side as Genji drew his short blade. The edge shown green in the night and the mist made streaks of color smear in the air. Four slashes, too fast to follow, and a portal opened. The diamond mouth dragged in the air around them and Hanzo shuddered. He never liked traveling this way.

The dragons rolled under his skin and he had to quiet them with a murmured promise of safety. There was no danger here. Other than being shattered inside the portal and disappearing into oblivion.

Genji was already stepping through with the casual recklessness he always displayed. Hanzo straightened his shoulders and raised his chin. He was proud that his hands only shook slightly as the void swallowed him.

He sucked in a harsh breath as reality snapped back around him. Cold air burned his lungs and he coughed into swirls of snow. High mountain winds blustered him and knocked him back. He squinted into the gale and glared at his brother.

“You did not warn me you lived in the mountains now.”

“It’s not far! I thought you were tough, brother?” Genji’s shit eating grin was clear in his voice, even behind his mask.

Hanzo rolled his eyes as they started to climb the hill. A small village layout below them, covered in snow and bundled tight against a storm. Hanzo kept his head down as they drifted across the mountain. The pathways wound up to a large building with sturdy cut stones. It was ancient and Hanzo shivered as they passed beneath a stone arch way.

The dim morning light struggled against the heavy clouds.

He was glad to be out of the wind as they climbed steps to a small room. A bridge ran from it to a central building but the door kept most of the chill out. The window was covered in frost.

“Forgive the cold. I will bring the fire up.” Genji knocked snow from his shoulders and crouched in front of the hearth. A bank of coals glowed when he breathed on them and then burst into raging flames.

“Show off.”

Hanzo huffed at the shameless display of magic but drew close to the fire. He warmed his hands and shed his damp coat. The room was heating quickly and he began to relax some. Soon there was a kettle of musky, fragrant tea leaves and spices over the fire and both brothers stared into its depth with blankets drawn around their shoulders.

Genji pulled the kettle from the fire and mixed in milk from a small container sitting near the coals. It turned the tea into a beautiful swirl of color and Hanzo could lose himself into it. He breathed in the scent before sipping.

It was sweet and welcomed on his tongue.

“Your message was cryptic.”

“The witch still thinks you are dead.”

“More cryptic than normal.” Genji pushed the mask back enough to sip the burning liquid. “What have you gotten yourself into Hanzo?”

“I need your help getting into far more.”

“I have lived for this moment.” Genji crowd and they clicked their cups together. Trouble had always brought them together and Genji snatched the grimoire from his hands with a wild light in his eyes. “Trouble indeed.”

Hanzo stumbled home as the sun rose, shivering from the portal’s void. There was a wax paper packet folded and sealed closed stashed in the lining of his coat. The green dragon’s mouth roared from the wax seal and gnashed it’s teeth.

His dragons undulated slowly in response, a lazy teasing type of energy as if the green dragon was merely a rambunctious puppy. Hanzo touched the spot over his heart and he could feel the hidden spell.

Heat lingered despite the snow that was melting on his shoulders from his brother’s tight hug. They had spent the night pouring over the grimoire again and sharing stories of the past year apart.

They parted with promises to meet again as soon as it was safe. The portals were too easy to track to use frequently and Genji still owed the Witch of the Waste enough that her eyes were peeled for him.

Hanzo hung his coat by the door and tugged the sash out of his hair. It feel around him with a horrible kink from the band. He fussed with the damp strands as he shuffled to the kitchen and fell upon the first food he could find.

“Can I have some?”

Hanzo whipped around guilty, spoon hanging out of his mouth and jar of peanut butter in hand. Jesse waved from his locked tank, sleepy and soft with his hair sticking up wildly. Did he sleep on land?

“Of course,” Hanzo shuffled into the living room and unlocked the tank. He lifted his little damp friend from the sand and half collapsed into the chair. He slunk down in the seat and pillowed Jesse on his chest. He licked the back of the spoon clean before dipping the tip into the jar. He offered the little dollop to Jesse.

The merman shuffled forward and nosed along the spoon. He tried to lick some off but struggled to keep his balance on his single hand. Hanzo waited for a moment, trying not to smile, before smearing a little of the creamy peanut butter on his index finger.

He offered it to Jesse and popped the spoon back in his mouth.

“You spoil me, Sugar,” Jesse crooned and leaned in to lick it off.

Hanzo squirmed as a long tongue flicked out and swirled over the skin. It was a tiny trail of warmth and sent pinpricks of pleasure down his spine. He tilted his index finger to press just a bit into Jesse’s ministrations.

Sharp teeth scraped along the valleys and mountains of his fingerprint to chase the treat and Hanzo was soon dipping it back into the peanut butter. They repeated the ritual and Hanzo forgot his hunger as Jesse lapped along his digit, his arm wrapped tightly around the knuckle.

He gulped around a hot throbbing need in his throat.

Help Fund the next chapter on Ko-fi!

#Mchanzo #Beyond the Sea #g/t #overwatch #merman

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tetchtetchy · 4 years ago

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wildfire preparation—air quality edition

i'm writing this as of july 2021 which means it is wildfire season for us who live in the dry parts of the northern hemisphere, especially the western united states.

why the u.s. west especially? i'll tell you: diverse microclimates fill the region; climate change leading to wet winters where the diverse fauna grows at an enormous rate and then heatwave, drought ridden summers that kill the expansive growth; and dense populations are the main culprits. Dense populations = more buildings to burn down, more vehicles on the road, more harmful human activity. because let's face it. fires aren't always started by lighting storms. often it's faulty utility infrastructure. or the heat from vehicles setting dry grass on fire. embers from a bbq/cigarette/camp fire. sometimes it's a person throwing sparks from hammering steel on steel (or iron) while working on their ranch.

anyways.

as someone who lives in the western u.s. and works in air quality, i've got some info i'd love to share with you. i truly hope it helps. the summer months of choking on smoke can leave one feeling helpless and bleak. i'm hoping you can feel less helpless.

SHIT TO GET BEFORE A FIRE/FIRE SEASON

n95 masks

MERV-rated filters for your HVAC (heating, venting, air conditioning central unit; you know you have central air con if you've got the big compressor outside/on your roof that has the big fan that throws up air when the AC comes on) system if you have one (check your intake flow to see what rating your system can handle. most new HVACs can handle MERV 16. Anything 13 and above will trap smoke particles)

humidifier and/or kettle depending on what you've got already and what you're willing to spend. get both if you can and don't already have them

an air purifier if you don't have HVAC and can spare the money. ikea's advertising an air purifier for a good price but i have no idea how the quality is. you would probably need to get a few of them and designate flow rate exchange zones (one per room, open concept floor plans would be one per zone function such as where you eat, where you relax, where you sleep)

a mop/wet mop if you don't already have one

some house plants. seriously. don't reference that 1989 nasa study on plants and indoor pollution, it is laughably outdated. just pick plants that you can keep alive and have as much surface area on the plant leaves as you can get. we're not trying to produce oxygen, we want the plants to catch the small, harmful particulates on their leaves and break them down into their basic states in the plant's soil

non-perishable food that doesn't need cooked

optional items include battery powered headlamps in case power goes out, battery banks for phones. i'm recommending battery powered lights in case power goes out and not candles because let's be self-aware. don't create a fire hazard in your home when the power went out due to fire.

WILDFIRE PREP

have a backpack ready to go in case your area gets hit with an evacuation order!

for you backpack you'll need:

original, notarized documents and IDs (birth certificates, civil licenses, housing agreements, passports)

copies of original documents instead if you happen to have a fireproof safe to keep said documents

phone and charger

family heirlooms you'd be devastated to lose (photo albums, jewelry, keepsakes)

a change of clothes if you've got room (socks, underwear, and a fresh shirt can go a long ways)

non-perishable snacks

a filled water bottle

cash (wildfires can threaten electric grids making electronic banking useless)

if you own a vehicle, try to keep as much fuel in the tank as possible in case your area gets evacuated. traffic conditions during an evacuation tend to be majorly congested and you do not want to sit in that with little fuel

check the perimeter of where you live for anything that could catch fire from embers that travel from neighboring fires. remove those dead plants, place seasoning/seasoned firewood further away from you residence. landscaping and drought can make for a catch-22: you need to conserve water but dry plants lead to fuel for fires. go with your gut and common sense as much as your scenario allows.

water your house plants

you may lose power during a wildfire event. fill water bottles, have non-perishable food stocked.

for wildfire season, i just live out of this aforementioned backpack. if i go places and need my phone, wallet, etc then i transfer those things to my pockets and then put them back in my wildfire pack when i get home. this pack becomes your forever home for these items during this time. if a wildfire is somewhat close to my area, then i travel with my pack just in case. a friend of mine had his home burn down while he was out playing tennis. all he had left were the clothes on his back and the five dollars in his pockets.

THINGS TO DO WHILE AN ACTIVE FIRE DECREASES YOUR AIR QUALITY

check your air quality

you can check AQ by sticking your head out your door. haze and smell are the best indicators tbh. if outside looks hazy and smells of smoke, close up everything and stay inside

you can also check AQI (air quality index) at sites like AirNow, PurpleAir, World's Air Pollution

check wind speed and direction

checking wind can tell you if you're going to be hit with smoke, or if you are hit with smoke but there's no fire in your area, you can find out if the wind may be carrying the smoke into your location

i use this wind map and windy.com for my area

run your air purifier and/or HVAC

put in that MERV-13 or above rated filter for your HVAC system and lower the temp for your AC so it comes on (thermostat is usually set to "auto"). your AC is cooling and filtering air already in your residence instead of drawing air from the outside

DO NOT TURN THE FAN TO "ON"

THAT WILL DRAW OUTSIDE AIR

give your AC a break after an hour

air purifiers can run nonstop, don't turn those off

when your air con is off, do the following

fill your humidifier and/or stovetop kettle with water and run them. also turn on the shower/faucets if you're keen. when the smoke in my house is at its worst, i run everything that i can. with the drought so bad this year, i won't be able to be so cavalier with my water :/

ANYWAYS increase the humidity level in your place ASAP

the moisture in the air bonds with the smoke particles and enlarges them. they become heavy and fall to the floor.

DON'T VACCUUM THAT WILL DESSICATE AND RESUSPEND THE PARTICLES

YOU WORKED SO HARD TO MAKE THEM HEAVY AND FALL OUT OF THE BREATHING ZONE

this is where the wet mop comes in

you've humidified the shit out of your home, now mop your floor

don't dry mop

you gotta wet mop

and just use water

resist the urge to also clean other stuff

you do not need to be cleaning with like bleach and stuff when your windows and doors are shut tight. protect your indoor air quality!

now you're done for a bit, give yourself a break

rinse and repeat with AC/humidity/wet mopping

if you go outside, wear an n95 mask ALWAYS

try not to go outside bc that lets in pollutants and n95 masks are kinda one and done type of deal. you'll see a grayness seep into the inside of the mask when you've worn them too long

your clothes also trap particulates, entering the home with you. try to have a place to dump your clothes without polluting the rest of your residence (an entryway, garage, side door)

check on your plants and loved ones

read/write/play games as you wait out the smoke. escape to clean air if you're able to

this is not conclusive and is based on a mix of empirical, anecdotal, and well researched studies. please be safe and stay healthy. i may add/edit this post to better serve this information.

#wildfires #fire season #air quality #info dump #long post #resources #links #my post #original

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thecoroutfitters · 7 years ago

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It only takes one blizzard, excessive ice on power lines, or a computer board failure in the furnace system to leave you without heat at time when you need it most. And if you look around these days, you can easily imagine what a holiday at the North Pole feels like, so heating is the last thing you would want to lose.

Here are some things you can do to make sure you stay warm in a time when it may be difficult or impossible to use your primary heating system method.

1. Understanding How Heat Moves Around Your Home

Before you begin planning how to heat your home in a crisis, find out what kinds of advantages and limitations you are dealing with first: oddly shaped rooms, hallways, doors, and other structures can change the flow of air, and thus heat through your home. In some cases, the answers may surprise you and lead to changes in how you get the most out of alternative heating method placement.

Here are some things you should know about and experiment with:

If you have central heating, make sure that you know which order heat is delivered to the registers. Usually, the registers closest to the furnace will receive hot air first, while those further away may receive cooler air, si take advantage of register order. Instead of closing off a room that is very close to the boiler, use it more and close off rooms that are further away.

Take temperature readings at different heights, around corners, and in other odd room or hall arrangements, to make a good idea of how air enters and exits each room, then you can see how the temperature changes are affected by that air current. In some cases, using a small fan in one area will push the heat further into the room instead of building up in a corner. If you have cats, check where they are inclined to nap that aren’t directly related to air registers: these will be warm spots or have warmer drafts that you can take advantage of.

Find out where and how cold drafts influence the way heat moves through so you would know how to use alternative methods that may not supply as much heat. If the drafts are pushing air inward, put your heating source in front of the draft so that it moves the warmed air in along with the cold. You should still try to limit these drafts because the supply of colder air coming in is endless, while the heat produced by your system is limited.

2. Electricity and its Role in Winter Heating

Maybe you have plenty of oil or other heating fuel, you made sure all furnace heating system and maintenance needs were taken care of, and even have a “smart” thermostat or other “smart house” technologies that ensure is at an optimal temperature every room.

All this can lead you to believe you can’t lose your primary source of heat, but you would be wrong.

Click HERE to Get the World’s Smallest Battery, That Powers Your House For More Than 2 Days!

The more complicated your heating system is, the more likely it is the system relies on electricity. The amount of electricity required to run blower fans, pump fuel into the furnace, ignite the fuel, and carry out other activities may be more than you provide.

If you don’t already have a tested system in place for generating power off-grid, then blizzards, ice storms, and other events will lead to serious power disruptions. Unless you can generate sufficient power, or your heating system does not require electricity, you must take into account alternative heating methods.

3. Preparing for an Electrical Outage

It can take years of trial and error, plus a range of equipment to generate enough electricity to live off the grid.

If you are especially low on funds, and need to prepare for winter power outages now, buy a generator, or household scale batteries that can be charged and stored away for use during a storm. Your best option will be alternative fuels and heating devices, as well as good information on how to make the use of it.

4. Alternative Fuels to Have Onhand

If you are already reeling over the cost of home heating fuels such as wood, coal, oil, and gas, then you might wonder how to afford alternative fuels. You can make some from household junk and you can buy other in small quantities and store away for a time of need.

Here are three alternative fuels that will work in just about any situation so long as you have adequate ventilation and can safely manage a fire.

Newspaper Logs

This is one of the easiest and cheapest to make: take newspapers, junk mail, and just about anything else made of paper (try to avoid glossy, plastic, or heavily dyed pages as they will smell bad when they burn) and tear it up into shreds. Next, soak the paper in water for a few days to make it as soft as possible.

To make the brick shape, set the papers into a pan and squeeze the water out. Once the bricks are dry, you can burn them just as you would wooden logs.

Candles

It is best to buy a wide range of candle sizes that can be used for different locations and needs. For candle heaters and similar radiative devices, you can use tea lights and votives. If you want to heat up a smaller area and get more light at the same time, use a taper.

Seven Day Candles or the larger jar candles may not offer much in the way of heat or light. Aside from the fact that many of these candles are made with thinner wicks that don’t work well, the heat from them is usually trapped by the jar itself.

You can also make candles from just about anything that has fat or wax in it. This includes tubes of chap stick, cans of vegetable shortening, sticks of butter, crayons, or anything else that you can get some kind of wick into.

For smaller “candles” you can use toothpicks or other splinters of wood. Rolled up paper will work well for shortening can candles and others that are larger in size.

Rubbing Alcohol

Even though it takes a lot of experience to make wood, or rubbing alcohol, you can still buy it at a fairly low price. Just purchase a bottle or two each time you go shopping and store it away for a time of need.

5. Easy Devices You Can Buy or Build

You should have one kind of stove for each fuel that you are setting aside. Paper logs may be the easiest and cheapest fuel to make, but they will be useless if you have no safe place to burn them. Burn them in an outdoor open barrel, or set up a wood stove indoors with a proper chimney system. Even though you can do quite a bit with lengths of stovepipe, they must still eventually attach to a suitable chimney.

Remember, down drafts and other problems can truly make burning these kinds of fuels indoors an art form. While dampers in the stove pipe may alleviate some of the problem, it still takes a bit of work and maintenance to use these systems safely and to the maximum benefit.

Here are some smaller, easy to manage devices that you can make or purchase for other kinds of alternative fuel:

Candle Heater

You can purchase prefabricated heaters made of clay flower pots, or you can make your own. If you decide to assemble your own, be sure to use zinc free washers, nuts, and bolts.

When heated, metal hardware with zinc in it can give of toxic fumes. Since the candle heater can raise temperature of the metal to several hundred degrees, it will not be worth your safety and well being to use fittings that have zinc in them.

During the winter months, it is also very important to periodically dry out the ceramic pots in an oven. This will reduce the moisture content and ensure that heat will flow through the pots more easily.

If you choose to make your own candle heater, do not forget to include a saucer cap on top of the flower pot array. Once the candle heater is going for about an hour, you will have more than enough heat to warm up food and beverages in heat safe bowls.

I do not recommend large, or heavy cookware. Anything light and thin that transmits heat easily will suit your needs better.

Rubbing Alcohol Stove

As with candle heaters, you can also purchase prefabricated rubbing alcohol stoves. Or, if you have some soda cans onhand, you can make one from those. Since rubbing alcohol stoves are very efficient, do not be surprised at the amount of heat you will get from such a small device and a relatively small amount of rubbing alcohol. Do not forget you can also put a metal tripod over the rubbing alcohol stove and use it for cooking. Overall, the rubbing alcohol stove will be more efficient in this area than the candle heater.

Propane Stove

Even though propane bottles cost more than rubbing alcohol, propane devices are very useful for emergency situations. Propane stoves or heaters can be used for cooking meals, as well as providing heat.

Depending on the cylinder size and the setting of the stove or heater, you may get just a few hours from each cylinder or much more.

6. Backup Systems to Consider

If you have more time to work with, devise other systems that can be used without burning various kinds of fuel. You will also need to find a way to transport the heat into each area of interest to you.

Compost Pile

Did you know that a medium to large compost pile can produce enough heat to warm up water in pipes buried in the pile? All you need to do is take a coil of plastic pipe and fill it up with water.

Regardless of the temperature outdoors or the weather conditions, your compost pile will always be producing heat at the core level. To get some of that heat into the house, continue the plastic line into your home and then pump the water around the room and back out to the compost pile again.

You can also add water radiators with metal fins to disburse the heat more readily as the water is piped around your home. Try to limit your pump size to ones that will run on a 12 volt battery.

In an emergency, just keep a fresh and fully charged car battery or other deep cycle battery on hand to run the pump.

Solar Can Heater

If you have a sunny spot on a rooftop or in your yard, then you can generate a good bit of heat with a solar can heater since these devices only require an insulated box with a glass covering. Inside the box, set up series of plastic pipe, and then encase the pipes in cans.

After the main system is built, you can either run water through the pipes, or simply let hot air from the pipes vent into your home.

As with the compost pile, pumping water in will also give you the advantage of having hot water on hand in a time when none may be available because of the weather situation.

7. Managing Your Woodpile

When it comes to managing your wood pile, make sure the wood stays as dry as possible. If you are concerned about being trapped indoors during a blizzard or other severe weather, keep as much wood as possible near the house.

Keeping enough wood chopped and ready to burn for at least three weeks will always be to your advantage. You can also try to find a place in your home to supply at least one weeks worth of heat so that you can stay indoors as much as possible.

Many people don’t realize that you can burn less fuel without losing out on a lot of heat efficiency. Bank the fire every few hours so that the existing heat has a chance to circulate. Once the fire is burning well, don’t add other materials such as paper or cardboard.

If you are going to burn these materials, do so when you aren’t planning to burn wood until the embers from the other material are in a condition where they can be banked.

You can revive them easily enough with wood, however mixing fuel types can make the fire burn too fast or too slow and cause it to be less efficient.

8. Managing Oil and Other Fuel Lines

If the temperatures get cold enough, fuel lines might freeze up. Make sure that you know how to thaw the lines out safely, as well as how to tap the main tank so that you can keep some fuel onhand indoors.

Have a valve installed so that you can cut off the main fuel line, and attach a line inside the house that will draw from a bucket of fuel. Just be sure to monitor the system each time it is burning for the sake of safety and fire prevention.

9. Passive Methods for Pacing Fuel Consumption

You can block off windows at night, and then open the shades during sunlight hours to let heat in. Running ceiling fans can also help push warm air back down into the room where you need it most.

In the most extreme situations, you can also pitch a tent in one room of your home and stay in it to conserve as much body heat as possible. Take the time now to practice using candle heaters and other devices outside the tent, as well as how to get the most from them in a time of need.

Remember that hot food and beverages can also go a long way to preserving your core body temperature. Even if you cannot heat up a whole room using alternative methods, you may still be able to warm of food and beverages that will help you avoid freezing to death.

10. Emergency Survival Kit

Overall, building an emergency heating survival kit is not especially difficult. Here are the most important items to have onhand:

candle heater and candles

rubbing alcohol stove and fuel

hair dryer or other heat source for thawing water pipes

additive that can be mixed with heating fuel to prevent freezing in the first place

matches or other means of starting a fire

emergency heat retention blankets

tent

plenty of water for hydration

foods and beverages that can be heated up

solar powered coffee mug or other devices that can be used to heat up water or soup without using electricity or a fire.

At this time, there is more debate than you might expect about whether or not the planet is heating up or cooling down. If you have ever seen the way ice melts in a beverage, then it may be easier to understand why some data points one way, while other studies indicate the opposite.

Regardless of how or why, the fact remains weather patterns are becoming more extreme, which means that you need to all you can to prepare for extreme cold and situations where your primary heating system fails.

Having a few devices and alternative fuels onhand may not seem like much, but it is more effective than doing nothing at all, or simply hoping for the best!

This article has been written by Carmela Tyrell for Survivopedia.

from Survivopedia Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

#SHTF #TEOTWAWKI #MARTIALLAW #BUGOUT #PREPPERBAG #USAF #USSOCOM #ARMY #NAVY #SurvivalFirestarter #Sur

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blissfullylostinarabbithole · 8 years ago

Text

Tackling the Flag Pole

Pairing: Steve x Reader

Word Count: 1k

Summary: Steve pops a boner (no smut, just awkwardness).

Everything that could go wrong on this mission, had. The intel was so bad, it’d have been kinder to send you in blind. You looked over at Steve and noticed even he was starting to look tired. As if feeling your eyes on him, he faced you with a reassuring smile, not seeing the missile that was being aimed at him.

“STEVE!” You bolted toward him, reaching him just in time for the thing to miss you both and hit the wall behind you. You tackled him, and seeing pieces of the building about to fall on both of you, he yelled for you to curl up and covered as much of you as he could with his shield.

“Are you ok?” he asked when the dust settled.

“I think so. What about you?” You had a little room under the rubble to lift your head enough to see him.

“Yeah, thanks to you,” he smiled gratefully.

“But no thanks to me, we’re trapped now.” You wiggled your body, trying to feel out how much room you had. You didn’t hear Steve’s breath catch. “Maybe I should try to get up.”

“No!” he quickly cut you off. “Just, I mean, I don’t think either of us should move for a bit.”

“Why not? What’s wr-” You stopped when you felt something developing between the two of you, suddenly realizing you were straddling him. “Oh my g- Steve, I’m sorry, you said ‘curl up’ and I…” you couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Anyone have eyes on Y/N or Steve?” you heard Natasha through your comm.

“We’re trapped under some wall on the north side of the research building,” you responded quietly, not knowing if someone was waiting close by to finish you off.

“Negative,” Clint responded.

“I don’t see ‘em,” Sam called next.

“Hey guys? Can you hear me?” you asked, receiving no answer. “Is yours on?”

He shook his head apologetically. “Mine fell out when you knocked me over.”

“Ok, I think mine’s just shut off. I’m gonna have to, um, move a little bit...” you shifted to release your arm from under you, bringing a grunt out of Steve as he grew harder beneath you. The noise, and the contact, was starting to make your body react, too.

Bucky rang in your ear next. “Steve, you there? Do see Y/N?”

“I’m so sorry.” You could hear the humiliation in his voice, and looking up at him, found the bits of him you could see were as red as a fire truck.

“It’s just a reaction to the stimulation; nothing to be ashamed of,” you soothed, ignoring the heaviness in your heart at the admission. “It doesn’t mean anything.” You switched the comm on, giving you both a respite from the awkwardness. “Can you guys hear me now?” You were met with silence. “Hello? Tony? Sam? Anyone?” Nothing again. “I guess mine’s broken. Maybe yours fell out somewhere around here?”

“Guys, I’m not getting anything.”

“Y/N,” he warned.

“Come on!” you hissed. “It happened, I get it, it’s embarrassing, but we can’t just stay here like this.”

“Fine,” he conceded. “Just, please don’t hold it against me,” he pleaded, avoiding eye contact.

You smirked, unable to help yourself. “Well, if you wanna get technical, you’re the one holding it against me.” To your surprised, he laughed. It was pained one, but a laugh nonetheless. You searched as much of the area as you could reach to no avail. You only succeeded in making Cap Jr. nearly burst through his suit, struggling to stand at full attention, and in turn making you hyper aware of your own arousal.

“FRIDAY’s out, I can’t scan for them.”

“Hey,” your body began to shake with suppressed giggles. “maybe we should say the Pledge of Allegiance until it goes away.” You buried your face in his chest to muffle your laughter in case there were still enemies nearby.

Steve moaned, causing you to freeze. “Please stop moving.”

“Sorry,” you whispered. “I saw that in a movie once. It was funny.”

You both lay in silence for what seemed like ages. Unable to ease their worries, the rest of the team’s frantic words filled your ear. Steve released the biggest sigh you’ve ever heard anyone make. “It’s not nothing.”

“Hm?”

“This, um… this,” he nodded toward his lower half. “I really like you. I have for a while now, actually. So, it does mean something.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” you asked, heart pounding at an alarming rate.

“I was afraid, for starters. And I wanted to wait for the right time. Guess my body decided for me, huh?” he snickered.

You bit your lip, taking his hand in yours. You brought it up to your lips and kissed it, making his eyes widen in shock. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve like you for a while, too. And if this suit were made out anything else, you’d feel that my body’s betraying me right now, as well.”

Steve smiled and somehow maneuvered himself to come face to face, pulling you into a heated kiss.

“Are you makin’ out in there?!” Bucky’s shocked voice stunned you out of your lip lock. “Guys, I found them,” he called into his comm. He didn’t waste any time in pulling the debris off you, and began to laugh when he saw your position. “Nice,” he nodded appreciatively.

Steve grinned, mildly blushing. “Shut up, Jerk. Get us out of here.”

Unfortunately, Bucky wasn’t finished before the others showed up to hoot and whistle at the sight. Steve was still sporting his little problem, but was no longer embarrassed by it. Regardless, he strategically placed his shield in front of himself.

“In the middle of a mission, Steve?” Natasha shook her head in mock disappointment. She winked at you before heading toward the jet. You made to follow her, but Steve grabbed your hand to hold you back.

“So,” he began once everyone was out of earshot. “Can I assume you’d like to go on a date with me?” His charming smile made your tummy erupt in a storm of butterflies.

“You can,” you grinned.

“Good.” He engaged you in another kiss. When you broke apart, he leaned into your ear. “I like you on top,” he purred, leaving you thankful again for the moisture repelling material of your suit.

Tags: @melconnor2007 @ria132love

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #captain america #captain america x reader #avengers #reader insert #reader #marvel

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kansascityhappenings · 5 years ago

Text

Joe’s Weather World: Watching Friday’s storms…and more summer weather coming (THU-9/26)

It’s going to be a really nice fall day in the KC region. We’ve started the day with a low of 55° and we should finish well into the 70s…with low dew points. The dew point situation will change overnight and when you wake up tomorrow you’ll feel that summer humidity again. There are some clouds forming though this morning, especially on the south side of KC

This is ahead of a cold front that will move through later tomorrow. That front coming into the building heat and high dew points will allow storms to develop quickly and in some cases rather strongly. There is a risk of severe weather…mainly from the Metro southwards…we’ll be tracking that front tomorrow because it will be a big player in the severe weather risk.

Post frontal storms/rains are likely and may be heavy tomorrow night into Saturday AM at least.

Forecast:

Today: Partly cloudy with clouds more common this morning south of Downtown with highs 75-80°

Tonight: Increasing clouds and windy conditions developing with lows 65° but rising towards daybreak to near 70°

Friday: There may be a brief scattered shower in the morning but otherwise partly cloudy, windy (gusts to 30 MPH) and warmer with muggy conditions…highs approach 85°. Storms are possible after 4PM as a cold front comes towards I-35.

Friday night: Storms with areas of heavy rain expanding in the region. Lows dropping through the 60s

Saturday: Off and on rain/drizzle and cooler with highs in the lower 70s

Sunday: We go back into the muggier weather again with perhaps a scattered storm. Highs 80-85°

Discussion:

There is a lot going on over the next week…and I don’t want to forget about the more substantial cold front likely sometime next Wednesday which will send our lows down considerably…and the highs too…later next week. More on that next week though.

Enjoy today…

Let’s start with the dew points this morning. It’s one of the big reasons why things feel so nice out there to start the day. Dew points are near 50° locally…but the following map shows the much higher dew points south of KC…towards OK/AR.

65°+ dew points south of the I-44 corridor…that’s important because while today the winds will be more from the SE…tonight the come around towards the south…so we end up with these dew points by mid day tomorrow.

Near to above 70° are the forecast dew points off the NAM model from earlier this morning).

In addition to the moisture at the surface…the atmosphere as a whole will be pretty saturated…

The map above shows the Precipitable Water or PW. The higher we go above 1″ the more moisture there is for whatever develops to turn into efficient rain producers. It’s not as high as the set-up last week (over 2″) but it’s pretty darn high for late September and it will be aligned with the front coming through the KC region later in the day. This means that as the storms form…they will be forming in an environment of juicy air not only at the surface but also above us as well.

By the way this “juicy” air stays with us for the entire weekend.

The front which will set everything into motion tomorrow late day/evening…doesn’t really exist yet…nor will it really till tonight. The colder air mass will develop in the northern Rockies and spill out through the northern Plains and then move southeastwards towards us tomorrow afternoon.

So that by 4PM Friday…surface temperatures will range from the 90s in the Plains to 50s in the northern Plains…

You can see the forecast temperature contrast across our area more clearly with this next map…

This is from the hi-res NAM that has the front through a bit quicker…

Notice northern MO…then the contrast towards Downtown KC and southwards.

All this should come together for storms later tomorrow.

There will be a cap that needs to be broken however…and that is certainly worth mentioning…for storms to fire along and ahead of the front. As a matter of fact this may be being underestimated right now in my opinion, at least for the potential of severe weather. IF that cap holds…the risk of severe storms may not come together in time.

Here is the severe weather risk via the SPC…

This seems about right to me…again that cap needs to be watched because IF the storms form behind the front…our severe weather risk would be lower in the KC and points north area.

Hail/winds are the two main threats if storms break through the cap

Storms that do form will do so with the front. The front is oriented from the NE to the SW…the storms will be moving from the SW to the NE and the front itself will only slowly move south of KC…this leads to training cells as a concern and with all the moisture in the atmosphere…remember the map I posted above…that means there should be some pretty heavy rainfall rates despite the fact the the individual cells will be moving along at a nice clip.

As a matter of fact IF this front doesn’t push too far southwards…we may see the front return northwards rather quickly on Saturday. That is both a good and bad thing. We get more unstable Saturday…and there is a wave coming out from the SW…that has to spell more rain and storms…

By the way…the wave coming out on Saturday…is the same upper level system that’s been spinning around Arizona for the last few days bring them all sorts of crazy (by Arizona standards) storms and flooding rains. That thing targets our area Saturday. The NAM model in particular is rather strong with this thing Saturday…

So at this point…have some plan Bs ready to go for Saturday…it may not rain all day…but it probably won’t be a pretty day.

I haven’t been able to get to a Royals game this year…I have tickets for Saturday night…so I do have an interest in getting some drier weather here in time.

Our feature photo comes from Debi Jordon Zink out in Grain Valley from earlier this month.

Joe

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/09/26/joes-weather-world-watching-fridays-storms-and-more-summer-weather-coming-thu-9-26/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/09/26/joes-weather-world-watching-fridays-stormsand-more-summer-weather-coming-thu-9-26/

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ganymedesclock · 8 years ago

Note

if Blue Diamond has hydrokinetic powers, what kind of powers do you think the other diamonds possess? Yellow Diamond moved a bunch of bubbles in That Will Be All. Could that indicate her having telekinesis?

My theory at this point is each of the Diamonds have a major elemental affinity, though they probably have other powers on the side. Since I’m a fan of the Rose Diamond theory, I kind of use Rose’s capabilities as a rough measurement for how I feel each of the Diamonds operate. Rose has a couple of auxiliary abilities- floating, the healing tears- but the primary bulk of her powers are related to plant generation and control.

Another small assumption here, is, while there’s four Diamonds, it would make sense to assume they adhere to the four element system of fire/water/earth/air, my thinking is that they actually seem to adhere to four of the five points on the five element system of fire/water/earth/wood/metal. So I don’t think there’s an “air” Diamond, and while I’m not sure where exactly element earth is, my rough thought is Pink - Wood, Yellow - Fire, Blue - Water, and White - Metal. Going into more details here:

Blue

My thinking is that Blue is primarily a weather manipulator- both hydrokinesis and aerokinesis- since both the Gems under her and the blue-colored areas we’ve seen appear split evenly between oceanic motifs and sky motifs. This might implicate her as the source of the “weather bomb” geode from House Guest.

It’s also a pretty clear building off Lapis’s powers as we’ve seen them since, while it’s thus far not been commented on, multiple episodes have shown the sky clouding over or clearing abruptly in response to Lapis’s moods. This makes sense as clouds are mostly water and Lapis’s powers have an impressive range to them- easily enough to reach clouds however high above her they are.

This also fits with my assumption that Lapis’s partner would be the missing “Moon Goddess”- thus, heavy on the sky motifs. So I think if/when we meet that partner, she’d be aerokinetic, which would seem to fit with the Lighthouse Gem we saw in Horror Club.

She manipulates objects, spinning them like it’s in a whirlwind, she’s able to recreate people’s voices (a property of breath) and she can literally breathe life into things like the scarecrows and fake bats. When she forcibly manifests herself in the lighthouse, she uses a mouth- mouths are thought of as consuming, but, to a Gem that doesn’t need to eat, the mouth is the primary avenue of both breath and speech.

If we assume Lapis and her partner operate the way Ruby and Sapphire do in Garnet- that is to say, their separate, equal elemental spheres create a new domain when fused, the logical overlap of “ocean” and “atmosphere” is weather- especially if you consider on a massive scale, something like hurricanes are only born from the warmth and moisture of tropical seas, so logically you couldn’t have an air-manipulating Gem create a storm like that without impressive control of water as well.

As far as auxiliary powers, I think that some of Lapis’s mirror abilities and LG’s propensity for “echoes” probably overlaps. I don’t think Blue has a means of discerning the future, but I think she does have some kind of power over the past- possibly, if we’re going to set her up as a thematic opposite to Garnet, who is precognitive, Blue is postcognitive- able to access and view things that happened in the past? It’d obviously have to have limits like Garnet’s future vision to not be a total game breaker, but that would be interesting in the context of my theory that Blue came to Earth in The Answer because something about Pink Diamond’s death wasn’t adding up and she wanted to investigate.

White

As I’ve mentioned, I think White is associated with metal and this is a pretty easy connection to draw considering the composition of the pyramid temple. Not only does it have a lot of shiny, silvery metal, in the spike traps and lower chambers, but thematically, it’s a death course that challenges people to have the resilience of steel- to be able to stand up to searing heat, freezing cold, and incredible pressure.

This would seemingly set White up as the opposite of Pink Diamond, which might suggest they were at odds. While wood is the concept of growth, renewal, adaptation and evolution, metal evokes permanence, immortality, but also something, to a degree, cold and lifeless. I think it’s very interesting if the pyramid temple is in fact White’s mausoleum, that she is not only the only Gem we’ve seen involved in some kind of funerary practice, but the Crystal Gems were notably very uneasy about coming in there in the first place, and it was an episode about facing fear.

White’s design, just going by her murals and obelisk, would also seem to be split between white and black, which are both colors that have been associated with death and mourning. Thematically, interesting, if she’s the one of the Diamonds who actively succumbed to grief- but it also would explain if she has a particularly ominous or foreboding reputation if I’m right in my theories that only White could’ve become the corruption bomb.

That said, I don’t think White’s metal manipulation is nearly her main trick as much as Blue or Pink’s elemental powers are theirs.

I think that we’ve seen White’s powers and roughly how she fights: in the form of the robot shooty thing from Lion 2: The Movie.

Metals are identified by generally being good conductors- of temperature (heat and cold) and also electricity. The RST fights with fire, ice, and lightning, by alternating between three different phases.

That’s what I think White does- she blinks herself into different colored “phases” and wields multiple elements to a lesser degree than the other Diamonds. I think her affinity for metal, and possibly, magnetism, actually falls to the wayside while her “triple threat” fire/ice/lightning trick takes the main stage.

Yellow

Yellow I think of as not only fire-associated, but with a sun motif. In practice this works because she’s trying to convince everyone they can rebound and move forwards from the war. She’s the biggest force trying to drag the rest of Homeworld forwards out of the aftermath, she’s trying very hard to be the rising sun of new hope and progress.

Stars run on nuclear fusion, and my read that this concept is how YD’s powers operate has gained a lot of traction as it’s how her emotions operate. The thing is, nuclear fusion creates absurd amounts of energy. And YD is an incredible force- driven, hardworking, incredibly focused- but she’s one that burns herself out rapidly. She just is not in a state to keep that pace up for long until her own sense of exhaustion and despair derails her. But at the same time, she’s pushing herself well past thresholds.

So I think YD’s powers are incredibly, devastatingly powerful- massive amounts of light and heat, and with her aptitude for technology I’m pretty sure YD has found new ways to crank the heat up even further.

But I think she’s playing a dangerous game at this point- because while a fusion reactor can tick away perfectly happily as long as everything’s accounted for, YD at this point basically has most of her safeguards sawed off. She can’t allow herself to rest or slow down for fear of succumbing to her own issues and she’s surrounded by people who are already there- the incredibly self-destructive coping mechanisms she’s stocking in are the only things she has keeping her on the move and in her eyes, Homeworld needs her. They need somebody at the helm keeping them moving and thanks to the rhetoric built around roles and duties, YD sees it as a situation where she’s the only one who can possibly steer this ship, and so she’s lashing herself to the steering wheel and refusing to let go.

So power-wise I feel like YD can only exert herself in very short bursts without serious complications. I see her as the antithesis of Steven, whose powers are heavily angled towards healing, defense, and communication- YD’s powers can destroy almost anything with little effort, but that includes herself. She’s capable of throwing out more light and heat than she herself can actually handle.

Annd we don’t really need to talk about Pink since *motions at Rose Quartz*

#Steven Universe #Blue Diamond #White Diamond #Yellow Diamond #Pink Diamond #Rose Diamond #Blue Fusion theory #theory #readmore

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liloelsagranger · 8 years ago

Text

I want to know what love is (Rocketshipping-oneshot)

Attention: Since English is not my mothertongue you might find some spelling mistakes or syntax errors. I apologize in advance. My mothertongue is Swiss-German so I normally imagine a sentence in German and try to translate it as well as possible into English, sometimes there is a lack of vocabulary or I don't find a match or the appropriate idiom but I want to improve my English and become a better writer. Another thing I want to make clear is that I use „..." to introduce direct speech! „ are not commas but the German quotation marks, just to avoid confusion.

Attention Number 2: I didn’t dare to post this story on fanfiction.net, because I was really insecure about the topic. Please, tell me what you think. I searched for descriptions of thunderstorms and tried to improve my writing and I also borrowed some ideas (I just want to mention that I’m not a thief, those were phrases that are offered freely on the internet to embellish stories).

I want to know what love is

Jessie, James and Meowth noticed the upcoming of a nasty thunderstorm. Grim clouds darkened the cocktail-blue sky, billowing from the east. The first thunder was to be heard a long way off. The air grew heavy and the humidity pressed down. It was suffocating. The first raindrops slapped down onto the blades of grass. Team Rocket sought protection under a large oak tree. Jessie pressed her body against the massive trunk. She shivered not only from cold but she was also trembling with fear. James observed his best friend huddling together.

„I don’t think this is a safe place to abide. They always told us to stay away from trees during a thunderstorm. They’re often the tallest objects and make great targets for lightning strikes“, James informed. Jessie flashed her eyes at him.

„Can’t you just shut up, James“, her voice had a hysterical undertone. She buried her face in her hands, flinching every time a thunderbolt struck several miles away. Her uniform was soaked, she tried to calm down by holding her breath for a few seconds and exhaling slowly. Droplets of moisture began to drip from the leaves. Meowth and James were concerned about their team mate. Jessie seemed to get into a froth. She was shaking all over, a shrill scream escaped her mouth once a streak of hot silver split the sky. James went down on his knees, squeezing Jessie’s arm. She was petrified with terror and winced.

„Is everything okay with you?“, he asked, almost whispering. Jessie shook her head.

„We need to find a safe shelter“, she muttered. James gave her a leg-up and the trio started to run along the grain field. The clouds speat out their beads of water. So much rain was falling that the sound blurred into one long, whirring noise. Water accumulated and formed giant puddles. Their boots were drenched. James almost slipped, but was able to keep his balance. A flash lit the dark leaden sky, Jessie gave a jump she could hear the rumble of thunder. They were on the lookout for a hut or a cave when suddenly Meowth spotted a scarlet red roof standing out of the grey mass. James raised his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes from the piercing raindrops. He could see broken windows in the distance. They reached the manor, an imposing building, but the paint would flake off and most of it was barricated with logs. The shutters clattered, they were rotten and worn away. „Let’s climb through one of those windows“, he suggested while seizing Jessie’s arm. She was completely disoriented, trying to shut out the howling sounds from her ears. Meowth took over the lead. He jumped on the sill and attempted to open up the window pane. It broke open and he entered the building, closely followed by his team mates. James helped Jessie squashing into the room, he pushed her gently.

Jessie fell on the floor, lacerating her shin.

„Can’t you look what you’re doing?“, she snapped at James. Her friend tried to dig his way through the small inlet and landed with a loud bang on top of her. He bobbed up immediately and apologized for his inconvenient landing. Jessie stood up and loaded her leg, she was still shaky and edgy from before. She had always been terribly afraid of thunderstorms and rememberd a childhood memory. Jessie was not older than five back then, a storm had been raging for hours. She considered the area under her bed as the ideal hiding place. Her stuffed animals kept her company. She closed her eyes, trying to suppress the harsh lights from outside. She whipmered and called after her mother, but no one was there to console her.

Jessie didn’t notice that James and Meowth were already exploring the old manor. They walked down the corridor that led to another unlit room at the end of the building. Meowth searched for the light switch and pressed the button. A lamp on the ceiling shed light onto a bordeaux leather sofa. There was a small wooden tea table and several oil paintings hanging on the walls. One of the pictures showed an affluent elderly man with a monocle and a twirly moustache. He gazed at them with a withering look as if he knew that they had entered his home without permission. James swallowed hard, the picture had a magical attraction. The squire seemed to be a trusted person, but he couldn’t remember the face for the life of him. „Why are you staring at this oilpainting?“, Jessie had snuck up from behind and scared James to such an extent that he almost lept out of his skin.

„Did you calm down?“, he asked. Jessie nodded, her eyes wandering to the open fireplace. „We can’t go outside, so why don’t we stay here and lit a cosy and warming fire instead?“, she proposed. James didn’t feel good about using the fireplace, sitting down on the couch and make themselves comfortable and feel like at home. At home was slightly exaggerated, they hardly ever had a roof over their heads. Team Rocket was used to sleep outside under the worst conditions. They never had beds, not even blankets or pillows. They were hardened and had learned to freeze and get a touch of the jitters.

Meowth agreed with Jessie’s idea. He grasped at a chair and broke it in pieces, Jessie helped him out and took a hold of a table leg in the corner of what appeared to be the parlor. James cringed. He was always included in Jessie’s and Meowth’s illegal acts and he didn’t dare to contradict them. Jessie was intimidating and Meowth’s scratch was highly effective, he had no alternative but to support his team mates.

He piled the kindling loosely in the middle of the fireplace and set it aflame. James slowly blew some air onto the fire, adding firewood on top. Jessie observed her friend and was visibly amazed that he knew the art of lighting fires. The wood crackled in the flames and it gradually began to heat up the entire room. Jessie, James and Meowth nestled in front of the fireplace.

„Do we have some leftovers?“, Jessie wondered and searched through their backpack. She fished some cookies and a couple of marshmallows out of the bag. „Let’s share them equitably“, she handed James and Meowth a chocolate-chip cookie and put the marshmallows on the skewers. Meowth refused to eat his portion. He was exhausted and informed his friends that he would go to sleep very soon. He scouted for a basket or a giant pillow and was soon beyond their range of vision.

Jessie and James remained silent for a moment. They were listening to the crackling of the fire. James gnawed at his cookie and observed the flames licking higher. Jessie looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. He was lost in thoughts. James was probably thinking about his Cacnea and how he had given his beloved Pokémon to Gardenia. It had been severe and anguishing for him. He wasn’t good at saying goodbye to his companions. James cared for his Pokémon, he always asked them to accompany him, it was his unique and pleasant nature that attracted them. The shock was deeply felt. Jessie had something on her mind and she thought it was time to address the problem. She slipped a bit closer to James, so near that she could feel him breathing. „James, would you kiss me?“, she asked. James turned to her, his eyes went wide in surprise. „What?“, he was flabbergasted. The normally so overbearing and furious Jessie asked him to kiss her. He pulled the blankets over his head and recoiled in fear.

„What’s that sudden change of mind?“, he wondered, still distancing himself from Jessie. „Only a few hours ago, you told me to shut up and scolded me for my clumsy behaviour“, his voice trembled.

Jessie sighed deeply. „James, I reached a certain age, I’m not the youngest person and I’m aware of that. It’s just that I don’t want to die as a spinster“, she was exceedingly open and honest towards James, almost vulnerable. „Oh, never mind. I’m sure one day, you’ll find the right partner“, he tried to liven up his friend, but Jessie kept a straight face. „I know I’ve been talking about true love and romance recently. That I imagine my partner and future husband to be strong, creative and a self-starter, but what if that man is you?“, she presumed.

„Why me?“, James wondered. He felt more than uncomfortable to talk about feelings and love, not least because he had made some really bad experiences in the past.

„I don’t know. Maybe, because I can trust you and because you know me better than anyone else on this planet“, she assumed. „Besides, I’ve never met someone so attentive and caring like you. The way you treat your Pokémon, Meowth and me. You’re always solicitous and courteous. I think you would go through fire and water for us, especially for me“, her usually wayward and egoistic manner turned into a friendly and sincere attitude.

„Remember the time we headed toward a Team Rocket Headquarters, when it suddenly exploded? You hold onto my arms to console me. We were pressed against each other. When Giovanni asked what we wanted, I hid behind you and grabbed onto your arm. Yes, I felt safe with you protecting me and I still do today“, she tried to unbosom herself to James even though it was harder than she had originally thought. James was very restrained, he didn’t want to reciprocate her feelings.

„Let me ask you again, would you kiss me?“, she repeated her question. She knew that James could rebuff her and it wouldn’t be the first time in her life. Many men had exploited her and her feelings that’s why she appeared to be coldhearted and withdrawn at times.

James didn’t dare to look into her sapphire-blue eyes. Not only was he shy and sheepish, he was afraid of commitment and didn’t want to rush his fences.

„I can’t, Jessie, excuse me“, he replied. „It has nothing to do with you, it’s just that I can’t imagine having a relationship with a woman, not after experiencing such horrible days with my ex-fiancée“, he whispered, still not ready to affront Jessie.

His best friend could relate to him. Jessiebelle was a boiler. She was domineering and presumptous, but James had never told Jessie what happened between him and his fiancée.

„James, don’t you think it’s time to open up and tell me what happened?“, she wondered.

James was sitting on the couch, his arms around his knees, fragile and deathly pale.

„It was terrible. When we were eighteen, I dated her for about two months. Back then, I had feelings for this woman, I think I was blinded by love. She was graceful and gorgeous, but she used to hit me with her whip when I didn’t obey her stupid orders. She wanted to change me, change my whole personality, she didn’t like the way I ate, drank or walked, she forbid me busying myself with Growlithe. I couldn’t bear it any longer and wanted to run away and leave my old life behind, but she followed me at every turn. Do you remember when you asked me about that scar on my right leg? That was a whiplash at full tilt, she tried to retain me, I slipped and...“, James didn’t have the chance to complete his sentence, Jessie kissed his cheek so he would turn his head her way. She was decisive and confident. She tilted her head to the left, leaned in and placed a tender kiss on his mouth.

James was taken by surprise. He could feel her warm and soft lips on his.

The kiss sent shock waves throughout his body. He closed his eyes to heighten the intimacy. They let the kiss last for a few seconds. Then he slowly drew his lips away, keeping them close enough to Jessie’s so that they were almost touching. Jessie dared to open her eyes in order to see how James would react. She had finally done it. He stared at her, completely dazed and then he cupped her face and gently pulled her towards himself, kissing her again. This time it had a touch of passionate devotion, it was more intense. Jessie ran her hands through his lavender mane, he caressed her cheeks.

James had almost forgotten about his devastating past. He felt a strong bond between him and Jessie, he was happy that she acknowledged him, quirks and all. She accepted his sometimes blundering behaviour. Their lips parted.

„So, what do you say?“, Jessie wanted to know.

„That was...good?“, James felt slightly insecure. „I kinda liked it, it was different from what I knew“, he admitted.

„Then we should probably maintain it“, both chuckled. Jessie’s fear of rejection was unfounded and James would eventually be able to combat his fear of commitment.

„You think like a...couple?“, he asked shyly.

„I don’t know, maybe one day, we both will be ready“, Jessie replied wishfully with a gleam of hope.

„You think so?“

„Mhm“, Jessie faced away from James, hiding her embarrassment.

„What about Meowth? Are we going to tell him about the kiss?“, James asked. „Well, I think he already suspected that there’s more between us than an amicable friendship“, Jessie replied.

„Yes, and it was high dime for both of you do recognize each other’s feelings“, Meowth said, leaning against the fireplace.

THE END

#fanfiction #oneshot #jessie #james #meowth #nyarth #kojiro #musashi #read #review #new idea #topic #rocketshipping #rocketshippy

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