#if your immediate thought upon coming on tumblr is to share your personal information and Photos Of Yourself then you shouldnt be online
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llitchilitchi · 1 year ago
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it is my firm belief that if a person makes a new social media account and then immediately proceeds to share photos of themselves, their actual name, age, location and medical history, they should not be on social media
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tea-with-evan-and-me · 1 year ago
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well tweam, i never thought my life would come to this. but i am bringing you a conclusion to today's debacle, so read on if you've been following this.
evan peters, if you're out there reading, just know i really love you and care about your reputation because what i just had to do, as a lesbian, amounts to a hate crime.
with the diligent help of @evanboodaddy we have sourced all three of the explicit photos used in what we now know was a doctored image masquerading as a screenshot of frances' patreon page. i'm sparing you all but just know that i went to the trouble of creating a gif of the photos overlaid on top of each other to confirm this with certainty. hell, they're not even the same wiener in all 3 photos. my google image searches were a nightmare (photoshopper was lazy, if you google d pics and click a few ''related images'' you will immediately find two of them), but anyway, it's sufficiently proven that those images are not of evan.
now, let's get to the source. up to this point, i have not spoken with anyone who has openly claimed to, with their own eyes, have seen frances' posts on patreon and/or tumblr, except this user (24hrcunt) who messaged me this morning. what i have seen is numerous users who have viewed screenshots, which makes sense; we know it's been circulating in group chats because rosa is the one who brought it to light via twitter, and her photos are screenshots of the screenshots posted in a group chat she's in.
this person claims to have taken screenshots which she shared in an ask sent to me. you can see the timestamps on top from when i first viewed them, though they had likely been in my ask box for maybe 15-20 minutes at this point as i was busy. this user did not follow me on here. they wrote a longer message seen in the 2nd photo, claiming that they viewed a message from frances on her patreon accompanying the explicit photos, that they conveniently did not get a screenshot of.
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as i started to get suspicious of this story (see time of 5:19pm est) i went back to this page and viewed their tumblr. they had multiple aesthetic type posts such as the one you can partially see in the third screenshot, however, upon checking the timestamps my suspicion was confirmed: all of their posts were from today. the first post on their blog was made at around 10am est and as you can see, these messages followed shortly after. if they had merely created a burner account to share information, they would have had no reason to not say as much, and they wouldn't have quickly reblogged a bunch of random shit to make their page look legitimate. they have since deleted their account. @evanboodaddy also brought to my attention that in the screenshot of the patreon page, the pop-up window showing you must join to unlock posts is rounded on the corners of the actual page. in the edited version showing the explicit photos, you can see that they weren't able to replicate this design.
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so, to anyone who was worried, you can rest assured this story is completely falsified. the photos are not of evan, and frances never posted any of this to her patreon nor tumblr.
not the tweam investigative journalism post i wanted to bring to you, but.... it was necessary.
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starry-blue-echoes · 2 years ago
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Part 2 of my “JoJo’s anime openings as songs”, hope you enjoy!
Fighting Gold
Fighting Gold is a close range combat stand with the ability to turn the things it’s fist come into contact into gold. This isn’t an ability with many super obvious uses, but some practical uses i thought of are: 
Turning windows into gold to block spies or oncoming gunfire,
Turning more durable metals into gold to make them easier to break.
Turning a person’s clothes into gold to restrict their movement.
Also, while hitting a person wont turn them completely into gold, but having a fist-sized chunk of your skin be turned into gold is still going to be really painful.
Personality wise, I think the user of [Fighting Gold] has gone through some kind of deeply repressed trauma, and their ability mirrors their desire to turn the bad parts off the world with something superficially better. 
Traitor’s Requiem 
(Once again, shoutout to my tumblr-less friend who helped me with this one)
[Traitor’s Requiem] is a stand with a ghostly/skeletal appearance that has the power to “Pull Secrets” from the dead. If there is a corpse nearby, the stand can turn into a ghostly copy of the deceased, which that can be asked question, and if it information that the person would have poses when they where still alive, the stand can provide the answer.
It doesn’t have any combat capabilities, so the user plays mostly a support role in whatever team they are on.
As for user personality, I imagine that the user is a detective who for the longest time just used their stand to get leads on solving crimes, before getting thrown into a bizarre adventure. 
Stone Ocean
This one took me a while to figure out an ability for. Since the song mentions “high speed”, “got to get away” and “don’t stop beating”, it would make sense for the stand to be some kind of fast and strong combat stand, but I was getting stuck on coming up with an ability.
I though of “Moving through stone like an ocean”, but that sounds just like [Oasis], and I want that.
So eventually I settled on this:
[Stone Ocean] has the power to merge with it’s user giving them all the abilities of a stand: invisibility to non-stand users, select intangibility, and the inability be harmed by anything that is not as stand. So a mix of combat and stealth ability, but it is only really effective against non-stand users.
Heaven’s Falling Down 
(One last Shoutout to my “JoJo Friend” who helped come up with the initial ability which I then expanded upon.)
This stand can read a person’’s immediate future, which can be changed through the user.
This is different form king crimson’s epitaph since rather then showing a generalized future, or their own, it shows specific potential futures for specific people. And through the actions of the user, these potential futures can be changed.
This works as a parallels the song in an interesting way. Pucci’s version of heaven is a universe where everyone is aware of the actions they take, but are unable to change them. 
The user of heaven’s falling down can perceive the actions others will take ahead of time, but is able to change them by taking action, subverting the concept of heaven, or making it “Fall Down”. 
The phrase “Destiny is Mine” comes to mind….
As for the user themselves, their stand is both a manifestation and a counter to their extreme social anxiety. 
On one hand, being able to see what other people are going to do helps the user conform to social expectations, on the other hand, having no way to predict your own future means that anxiety will never truly go away. 
These stands are all pretty developed, if there was one thing I actually needed help with, it would be their specific designs. I have rough ideas, but not enough to actually draw any of them (which I want to do eventually)
If you liked these, I have ideas for the JoJo outro songs (Walk Like and Egyptian, Freek’n You, Distant Dreamer, etcetera) as stands, so I could share those next.
Ooooooooooooooo 👀👀👀👀👀
also, if I can give a small suggestion: what if to make Stone Ocean a bit more powerful and to tie in with the "high speed" and "got to get away" aspects of the lyrics, when under the affects it gives them a bit of a speed boost? nothing crazy, but enough to make them a bit of a difficult target to hit
also I'd absolutly LOVE to hear your thoughts for the outro songs, these were all awesome so the fact that there's MORE 👀
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dreamhot · 2 years ago
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hey folks
i've expressed this in passing on my alt, but i wanted to start off by saying that i've remained relatively quiet on the situation for numerous reasons - the primary one being that i didn't want to position myself as a place where people would go in order to form their own opinions. others have made more detailed posts on why that can be a problem (see: anchoring bias, as one potential issue), but for me, it was mostly because there was simply no accounting for how everyone might be reacting to the situation. i could speak for myself and nobody else - so why bother, in a circumstance in which we were (and still are) missing so much information?
however, the potential downside of silence is twofold: 1) some people conflate neutrality with a defense of the 'bad' option, and 2) those who share a similar stance might feel... very alone, in an incredibly divisive environment. the most vocal parties are almost always the extremes, and sometimes it feels as though there's no room for people who don't feel they fit in with either camp. and while this is online drama (meaning it doesn't functionally matter in the grand scheme of things), it can still feel scary and alienating, especially when a conflict of this nature springs up so suddenly.
to those who might've felt isolated, confused, conflicted, torn between opposing viewpoints with guilt over how you should or shouldn't be feeling - i'm sorry, and i hope that you've been able to step back and, if necessary, speak with people who might have helped you to process these events as healthily as possible. i will say that whatever your conclusions may be, whether you've decided already or you're still figuring things out, they should come from introspection and your own outlook & comfort level - not what some blogger or twitter user told you to feel. guidance is fine, but the only person who can determine your feelings at the end of the day is you.
i think twitter and tumblr have been the respective homes of the two extremes - the former being those who recklessly posted unquestioning support for dream and cruelly attempted to dismantle & disparage the accuser's statements with nitpicking and mockery, the latter being those who immediately took the most condemning view of the situation and projected their own sentiments as the moral absolute (with the tacit threat that feeling any other way was reprehensible). as someone who resonated with neither group, it was a fraught week to say the least - and i know i wasn't alone in that unsettled space between two vocal factions.
at this juncture, i don't intend to write an essay detailing my precise opinions on the matter - for that, i would simply direct you to jan dwter's post on the situation, which pretty much lays out my exact thought process in its entirety. for now, i would like to highlight one part of her post that i feel is particularly cogent:
"this entire thing is just so entirely subjective and if your personal opinions and values find this all shitty, absolutely no one is going to try and say to feel otherwise, at least not me. but to completely ignore that its just that–personal–values and opinions that determine how you view this, and act as though it is objectively some morally bankrupt, impossible to understand, predatory situation just feels reactionary and disconnected from real life at best and just shitty and even virtue signalling at worst."
the above paragraph does well to capture my stance that compassion has been severely lacking here (a beat not unlike how january shook out), as there's been a distinct conflation of personal feelings with What Is Undeniably Right/Wrong. i think most if not all of us would agree that dream is far from blameless (and if you feel he's done absolutely nothing amiss, here is where i will politely disagree), but different people will still undoubtedly have outlooks that vary based upon any number of factors unique to them and their experiences. from my perspective, there is no moral absolute here. it's really up to the individual person to decide whether or not they choose to support dream going forward.
for me personally, i echo a sentiment i've heard multiple places now - this situation has shown me that i would benefit from disengaging somewhat, if only because that small bit of distance truly does wonders for my mental health and clarity. as it stands, i'm uncertain about the future of this blog & how active i may or may not be in the fandom. my choice to continue following the content for now is contingent on (what is presumably) the obvious, and i know i'll be extra mindful going forward of anything that might strike me as new evidence of actions behind which i cannot rightfully stand. at the same time, this has all taught me that i'm perhaps not as parasocial as i initially feared - all things considered, i kept a level head, i read multiple perspectives, i talked to many people (online and irl), i settled on my stance, and the world continued turning. as my favourite adage goes, this too shall pass.
for now: keep an open mind. be willing to incorporate new information and process it fully without guilt or judgement. remain flexible to changing opinions even if you're steadfast in your convictions. and above all else, strive for compassion. listen to victims, look at the whole context in challenging or confusing situations, support those who might be in need if you're able. it's impossible to know everything, from details on cc controversies to how the people around you might be reacting to something stressful or even traumatic - but we can do our best to be understanding and patient. it's not easy, least of all in circumstances like these where emotions are going to be understandably intense, but ... sometimes choosing love takes effort. it's a worthwhile cause, however.
take care of each other, yeah?
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idy-ll-ique · 4 years ago
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Paparazzi.
Pairing: Sebastian Stan x F!Reader
Genre: Fluff, Angst
Warnings: TOO META, m*sturbation, mentions of s*x
Requested: nope
Summary: I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me... Y/N Y/L/N writes Marvel fanfictions. One day, Sebastian stumbles upon her account and, unable to help himself, reads all the stuff she has written about him. He didn't mean to fall so hard for her but he does. How can he not? She has shown him parts of himself that he never even knew existed.
Author's Note: Hiya peeps! Okay so a few weeks ago I read a similar (but dark) fanfic and I really wanted to write a softer version of it... Enjoy!
---
Same old, boring routine.
Y/N hit post and slumped against the headrest of her bed, sighing. She waited; a minute, then two passed and she noticed that someone had liked her post. She smiled to herself as she kept her phone away. Though boring, she wouldn't trade her life for the world. Y/N… well, she was a university student first and foremost but she was also a writer.
Being a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she had started writing fanfictions a few years ago. She posted them on Tumblr, where her blog, though not very well-known, stood out enough for her posts to get around 800-1000 likes per post. She loved it; she loved writing, she loved posting her stories and especially, she loved the feedback.
Sometimes people were rude, but most times, the reviews she got were fantastic. She read each and every one of them, smiling goofily as people freaked out over her fanfictions. It warmed her heart. A smile automatically blooming on her face, Y/N lay down on the bed and decided to go to sleep, it being almost 3 am.
Unbeknownst to her, someone else was up at the same time, tossing and turning in his bed, restless.
Sebastian sighed as he sat up, running a hand through his hair. He drank some water and lay down again, closing his eyes but it was like sleep was mad at him. Refused to be anywhere near him. He groaned to himself and picked up his phone from the nightstand, deciding to go through Instagram, hoping he'd finally fall asleep to the glare of the screen.
As he logged into his account, he skipped the activity page and went straight to the explore page. Bored, he continued scrolling until his eyes landed on a specific photo. And the breath escaped his lungs when he clicked on it; the woman in the picture was absolutely gorgeous. He just couldn't resist going to her page, smiling widely when he read her bio.
It gave him her basic information; her name, her age, the university she attended. But what caught his eye was the link below the bio. My Marvel Fanfictions Master List. Marvel fanfictions? She was a writer? Smirking, he clicked on the link and it took him to Tumblr. Of course, he'd heard of the site, but didn't have an account on there. At 3 am, his mind sure wasn't working right.
A post popped up on the screen, the same master list she had mentioned earlier. And his eyes bulged out of their sockets; damn, those are a lot of fanfictions. He went through the whole thing, smirking again when he noticed that she had written the most fanfictions about him. Not Bucky Barnes, no, Sebastian Stan.
He clicked on the first one. The date of posting was way back, in 2019. He started reading; nothing about it felt weird to him; he was intrigued, if anything. And as he continued reading, he couldn't help but imagine her being in the stead of the female protagonist. Her, the writer. The woman whose picture had made him end up reading in the first place.
When he finished the story, his heart thudded wildly in his chest. Wow, she really has a way with words. And he had also noticed how in the author's note, she used a lot of slang but reading the story had made him realize that she had an amazing, extensive vocabulary. He went back to the master list and clicked on the latest post under his name.
Posted: 15 minutes ago.
His breath hitched in his throat when he read the warnings: there was going to be sexual intercourse in this one. For one moment, he hesitated; did he really want to read this? "Oh fuck it," he huffed and scrolled, starting to read. The more he read, the more his shaft twitched in his pants. He wasn't really like that during… but oh damn, he wasn't complaining.
"Oh, Seb…"
His hand slid down and he rubbed himself through his boxers, unable to take his eyes off the text in front of him. His strokes got harder and faster as the sex got steamier. "Ungh, I'm gonna cum—" And he suddenly came in his boxers, groaning. Slumping down on the bed, he quickly finished reading the rest of it, going back to the master list.
He took a screenshot with the account's name in it and then went back to her Instagram account to take another screenshot. Keeping his phone away, he slipped out of his boxers, cleaned himself and pulled the covers on top of him, finally feeling tired enough to fall asleep.
---
Y/N was walking across the campus of her university, going to the cafeteria when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Taking it out, she opened Tumblr to read the message someone had sent her just then.
his-username: Hi there! I was binging your account last night, you write really well
your-username: Omg thank you!!!! I really appreciate it, I love getting feedback! 🥺❤
his-username: You're welcome! Especially your latest post, that was really good ;)
your-username: hehe 😈 glad you liked it!
Smiling widely, she kept her phone away and continued walking, not knowing that the person who had texted her was the same man she had written about. Sebastian smiled to himself when he read her text. After getting up in the morning, the first thing he had done was install Tumblr on his phone. Then he made an account for himself.
Figuring out the app was easy; he found out that there was an option to keep your liked posts and the accounts you followed hidden, and selected it immediately. No one needed to know what he did on the app. Then he went back to her account, pressed the follow button and started binge-reading her fanfictions again. Last night had he read only two, and that had left him wanting more.
Funny how much things can change in a night. He liked and reblogged all her posts without a second thought; he even read all her Bucky Barnes posts. She understood his character so well, put him on what he thought was an undeserved pedestal while writing about him. Some of the stories were AUs, which he found out stood for Alternate Universes. Mostly mobster or mafia stuff.
He had the day off, and he spent the entire time cooped up in his apartment, on his bed, reading. The more he read, the more he started fawning over her, over the version of him that she put out to the world. Dominating, suave and just perfect. He loved it. At the end of the day, he decided to text her again, hoping she wouldn't think he was weird or find out the truth.
his-username: do you wanna be friends, maybe? I'm new to the app, don't really have any friends here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That was a lie, he knew Mark Ruffalo had an active Tumblr account. But it's not like he could tell him.
your-username: Yes sure!!!! I was also thinking of making some friends on this app lol
his-username: You don't have any on here? But you've been here for years, haven't you?
your-username: haha yeah, but I don't really reach out to people much. Sometimes people leave their feedbacks on my posts, text me but that's that
his-username: Ohhh
his-username: well, let's start with names. Mine's Sebastian
your-username: Really?????? omg that's so cool lmaooooooo (didn't think you were a boy but 😳👀)
his-username: Not a boy, I'm a man 😤😂
your-username: 🤣 im y/n, btw
his-username: Y/N, that's a nice name
your-username: thank you!!!! So, what do you do?
his-username: nothing really that interesting, I'm in theatre
your-username: theatre is nice! I'm studying at [university] in New York lmao
his-username: Wait you're in New York? So am I!
your-username: ASDFHKSHKGF that's awesome!!! also I noticed that you've been going through my account the whole day 😏 notifications upon notifications keeping my phone busy
his-username: Oopsie?
your-username: 😂😂 I really don't mind, it was great! Despite the amount of likes on my posts, I only have a few loyal followers lmao gaining one more felt nice
your-username: You a big fan of Sebastian Stan? Cuz I noticed that you were only reading his and Bucky's fics 👀
Sebastian's face heated up.
his-username: kinda yeah 🤷🏻‍♂️😁
your-username: Cool cool cool, I'm a big fan of his too!!!! also got a crush on him but whatever 😳
Sebastian smirked at his phone. A crush on him, huh? That… was acceptable. He suddenly felt his cocky side coming out; the one she described in nearly all her fanfictions.
his-username: wouldn't blame ya, I mean, look at him. You have also written the most fics about him and Bucky
your-username: right????? damn that man has raised my standards. Anyway, I gtg now, I have to finish a paper before midnight. ttyl!
his-username: Bye! 👋🏻
He kept his phone away and took in a deep breath. This was the most fun he had had in years, and he was not letting her go so easy. He realized he was quickly falling for her; rather unhealthy, but he couldn't help it. Look at her. She looks like a goddamn angel, writes like one, makes him feel like one, do you really expect him not to fall for her? That's insane.
---
Months passed by like a breeze. Y/N and Sebastian had become very good friends, and he knew his way around words just enough to keep her from finding out his identity while not lying to her. Y/N also appreciated his friendship, because he was the one to whom she could rant about her most favorite man in the world— Sebastian Stan.
Sometimes, she thought about how weird of a coincidence it was that her new friend and the actor shared the same names, but then she used to brush it off; that was a common name, right? They talked for hours on end; Sebastian (her friend, not the actor) was extremely witty, smart and fun to talk to, she had to admit. Sebastian felt the same way.
His feelings had worsened. Y/N entirely owned his heart now. Somedays, he'd just go on Instagram, go to her account— her username memorized by him— and stare at her photos until he grew tired; he'd never get tired of looking at her beautiful face but his stiff body afterwards begged to differ. She was just so Elysian. He longed for the moment when he could meet her in real life.
His personality had also changed majorly, and people had caught on. Especially his Marvel co-stars, who knew him to be introverted, shy and, in Anthony Mackie's words, "boring". They were surprised at his sudden change in attitude; he knew his worth and Y/N had helped tremendously in finding it. Now, all those adjectives that she used in her fanfictions fit him perfectly.
Sebastian was never tempted to read fanfictions about himself from authors other than Y/N. No, he only loved her work. He was sure no one else could write as beautifully as she did, he was her #1 fan. Y/N even sent him funny Marvel memes she found on the app and he used to enjoy them heartily; God, the others have no idea what they're missing out on. Our fans are awesome.
Everything was going well.
Until one day.
Sebastian was getting bored at home, so he decided to go to the nearby library to clear his mind. He had read not one book in the past few months, hung up on Y/N's fanfictions. At this point, he was obsessed with her and he knew it. It was nothing dark, per se, it was— it was similar to how Y/N was attracted to Sebastian. How she was a fan of his work.
Just the same. He was a fan of her work in the same way. Just how she was attracted to him, he was attracted to her. Walking into the library that he visited often, he gave the librarian a smile and ventured further into the dark place. He checked his watch; the library closed at 12 am, it was currently 9:30 pm.
Not many people were around, heck, nobody was around. He thought himself to be all alone until he heard it. A sigh, coming from a few aisles away. He walked in that direction and peeked around the corner, freezing when he saw the other person. Y/N? Her books were strewn all across the table as she sat alone at the booth, rubbing her temples.
"You okay?"
She looked up and her breath caught in her throat. I'm dreaming. This is not real. Now I know for a fact that Sebastian Stan is not standing in front of me, asking me if I'm— "Hello?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I, uh— I'm— h-hi," she stammered and he almost chuckled. "Hi." She gulped visibly and blinked at the table, not meeting his eyes.
"Can I have a seat?" He wants to sit with me?! "Y-Yes, sure, sir," she blurted out and he easily slid into the booth next to her. "Hey, please, call me Sebastian. What's your name?" He gave her a friendly smile, even though all he wanted to do was push her back into the booth and kiss her wildly. His shaft twitched just by thinking about it; Y/N was a thousand times more beautiful in person.
"I'm Y/N, it's very nice to meet you, I'm… I'm a fan," she admitted, playing with the ring she wore on her left thumb. I'm your fan too, sweetheart, the biggest one. "Y/N, nice name. You come here often? I haven't really seen you around." She shook her head. "Oh no no, I moved to this part of the city just a week ago, this is my first time here. The library is cozy," she shrugged, easing out of her tense position.
Sebastian nodded. "Yes, I know, this place is awesome. Got all my favorite books here," he chuckled and she smiled at him. "What's all this?" A groan left her lips. "Ugh, stupid university work. I have to write a book report but I don't even know what to write about." He smiled gently. "Well, I have a few favorite books, would you like some suggestions?"
"Oh, please! Tell me!"
He started listing some of his favorite works and Y/N noted the names down until he said the last name. At that, she froze. That's the name of my latest— She looked up but he had a smile on his face. "Oh, and the last one is by my favorite author." He took a pause. "Y/N Y/L/N." She froze completely, staring at the man with her jaw dropped.
Sebastian grinned. "We finally meet, Y/N, I've been waiting for months." Her mouth opened and closed several times as she recalled every interaction she had had with her online best friend— scratch that— her celebrity crush. All the times she had confessed her love for Sebastian Stan, all the dirty and inappropriate memes that she'd sent him…
Embarrassment flooded her entire body as she exhaled shakily. "It was you," she croaked out, "On Tumblr, the account— I'm so sorry—" Sebastian frowned in confusion when she blinked back sudden tears, a few still rolling down her cheeks as shame replaced embarrassment. "Y/N, please don't cry…" She looked up at him, his figure blurry due to her tears.
"You've read everything, haven't you? I just— I'm sorry, I don't want to make you uncomfortable—" He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. Y/N couldn't hug back, though she appreciated the hug especially since it came from him. "You don't know how much you mean to me, doll," he mumbled into her shoulder, using the nickname she often used in the stories she wrote about him. He grew accustomed to it easily.
"Huh?"
He pulled away to wipe her tears. "It was an accident," he admitted, "But I stumbled onto your Instagram account from my explore page. Then I clicked on your account, saw that you wrote Marvel fanfictions and I just couldn't resist the urge to read what you had written. Blame it on 3 am me, to be honest. You're a great writer, and I was immediately drawn to your works. They're awesome.
"They've helped me so much in the past few months. You see this changed attitude that everyone's been talking about lately? All because of you, sweetheart. I'm sorry for keeping my identity secret, but after reading your works, I knew I had to get closer to you. I made the Tumblr account just for you, just so I could talk to you. I'm sorry for lying, but thank you."
Y/N dumbfoundedly stared at him for a few moments, her heart beat getting steady with each thump. Here was a man she admired, loved more than anyone else in the world, telling her that he harbored the same feelings for her. How crazy was that?! Not trusting her words, she simply pulled him into another hug. Sebastian wrapped his arms tight around her, pulling her flush against him.
"Can I kiss you, doll?"
She slowly pulled away from him and nodded, shyly biting her lip. Grinning at the endearing gesture, Sebastian cupped her face and leaned in, gently pressing his lips to hers. The kiss grew hungry in a matter of seconds, and Y/N responded just as eagerly. His hands slid down to her waist and tugged on it, pulling her on his lap. She straddled his thighs as they continued kissing.
"Fuck," he groaned when they finally pulled away from each other, out of breath and panting. "You see what you do to me, doll?" Sebastian spoke huskily as he took her hand, placing it right on top of the tent that was forming in his pants. "Oh," Y/N whimpered when she felt him, the sound going straight to his shaft. "How about I take you home and we recreate some of the scenes from your stories, hm?"
"O-Okay."
"Good girl."
---
A/N: What a meta experience 🤡 Leave a like if you enjoyed, thanks for reading!
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localcactushugger · 4 years ago
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Is anyone else amazed that Hawks was only "undercover" with the Leauge for 6 months at the most.
Not only that, one and a half of those 6 months were spent just trying to gain enough trust to infiltrate.
I know it seems like much longer since Hawks made his Manga debut 2 years ago. But he had such a short amount of time on this mission. Hawks was introduced in the manga with his role being the "double agent". We literally have not seen Hawks outside of his "spy" role. Even when he is interacting with other characters outside of the Leauge, his "mission" is still happening in the background.
It seems Hawks made contact with Dabi right before the Hero Billboard chart, this is when he starts trying to infiltrate. His interaction with Dabi in the warehouse begins immediately after Endeavors fight with High-End:
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During this time, Dabi is testing out a High-End Nomu for doctor Ujiko. Which means by the time Endeavor fights High-End, the My Villain Academia arc is already happening. Hawks is assumed to be one of the "members" Dabi is trying to recruit:
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The Leauge has already made contact with doctor Ujiko, and the Doctor sends Dabi to test his High-End Nomu out on Endeavor (even though Dabi didn't know it would be Endeavor) while the rest of the Leauge battle Machia. At the time, Dabi still doesn't trust Hawks at all and he keeps the hero at arms length. While Dabi and Hawks are sharing ominous phone calls, the Leauge is hauling ass and it take's Shigiraki a month and a half to finally beat Machia. (The MLA is "defeated" too):
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After a month and a half of phone calls (while the Leauge gets their asses handed to them by Machia in the background) Hawks is finally allowed into the Leauge when the battle of Dekia City is finally over. Dabi let's him in because Hawks "kills" Best Jeanist.
But there's a problem. By the time Hawks is let in, The Leagues numbers have drastically increased. They have an army at their side, multiple High-End nomu, and are now called the MLA:
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Hawks blames himself, saying that he was "too late". That so many civilians would be alive now if he had been faster. He couldn't round up the Leauge when they were a small group, and now they have an army. A powerful one:
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He's in too deep now. And you can see the stress on his face. I bet he never expected to be part of an army. He was simply tasked to round up the Leauge members while they were a small group, but the MLA was completely unexpected. Still, he decides to improvise and do the best he can with the shitty cards he's been dealt. It's not like he has another option at this point.
So he slips a coded message to Endeavor ASAP. Basically saying "yo, in four months shits about to go down. Ttyl I'll keep you posted lol". He can't tell the guy in person now, because to make things harder, he has camera's on his wings. (and even though he's being watched by camera's, he also gets followed by guards at the mansion):
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After Hawks relays the massge, he stroles around the mansion with his bodyguard and heads towards the cafeteria. With a little eavesdropping (courtesy of his feathers) he also finds out that the Leauges plan is to "Destroy Everything" in four months:
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After he relays the massage to Endeavor, he listens to the Leauges plans of destruction as his thoughts run a thousand M.P.H.
Because now "capture the Leauge" has turned into "Holy shit I now only have 4 months to take down a full fledged terrorist organization/army from the inside-out by myself while I'm being monitored 24/7 with absolutely no privacy & also a full time job as a hero + a public image to maintain. And I can only contact my fellow pro's about this mission through code because if the villains find out I'm a double agent I could be killed and Japan could be destroyed. Also some heros have even joined the MLA so who on my own side can I trust? Only a select specific few for now I guess."
If you thought things couldn't get worse your wrong.
Because around 2 months before the raid Hawks' heart (that wants to be free & has a genuine desire to help people) takes shit a bit too far when it makes him get attached to a certain powerful villain.
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Hawks quckily finds out that Twice is easily the second most powerful villain in the Leauge after Shigiraki. He's an S ranked villain and he'll kick your ass with the power of friendship anyday. He's a great guy, but him and the Leauge are still planning on doing horrible things within the next 2 months. Twice is going along with it because he wants to stick by his friends, which y'know, is a cool motive. But considering that fact that the people Hawks is trying to protect ALSO have friends, and family's, this makes shit difficult and sends Hawks on some major guilt trips. (I would show all the panels of Hawks sadly smiling as Twice calls him a "good guy", but alas- Tumblr has informed me that I've reached my 10 image per post limit)
And tbh who wouldn't feel bad about suddenly getting attached to such a golden retriever of a man and then realizing you'll have to double-cross him at some point! I'm not surprised Hawks would feel this way, especially considering the fact that he never wanted to take on this mission in the first place.
Hawks is very much a people person, and he HATES lying even when he has no other option. This is a man who got "shivers up his spine" when he had to put on a serious face while handing Endeavor a book with coded messages inside. He literally felt icky and thought "this is low even for me" just because he had to use a deadly expression so that Endeavor would get the gist.
And when the Commission made their "proposal" about this mission, Hawks' first reaction was to call them out on their B.S. for asking him to put civilian lives at risk. He even admitted that he was feeling bad about sending Tokoyami away while talking to Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo. Hawks felt guilty about not being able to spend more time with his student, but considering that things with the MLA were starting to get riskier, and that Hawks literally handed Endeavor a book with a coded message inside about an uprising 2 seconds later, I can see why he wouldn't want to risk Tokoyami being around him. The fact that the camera's on Hawks' wings caught his interactions with Endeavor & the students also makes the creep‐factor worse. The MLA saw everything AND talked about it in a meeting later. Continuing to train with Tokoyami would put him at risk.
I love the complexity of Hawks' character, he's incredibly intelligent, logical, and intuitive. But at the same time throughout this entire mission his heart is constantly battling with his mind. Even when he knows he has to grit his teeth and do something shifty, his heart never fails to put up a fight with his logistics. Honestly it's been a pattern for a while that Hawks' sympathy always "Trips him up" in some way, so idk why I didn't see it coming around to bite him in the ass later.
(Tbh it's hard for me to see Hawks as a this super "Morally Gray" person that the fandom likes to paint him as because of a mission that he only spent 6 months on. I personally, kinda see Hawks as a "good person" who works for a "morally gray" agency. But that's a whole different meta)
Basically, Hawks getting attached to Twice wasn't a surprise. But considering how powerful Twice was, along with his role in the League's destructive plans (He was a lieutenant in one of the MLA's "Units") the discourse going on in Hawks' mind makes sense. By this point Hawks has already figured out all of the MLA's "Units" along with the three "bosses" that support the lieutenants of those "Units". It's noted that those "bosses" are extremely powerful and can match the strength of the heros as well. It took Hawks an entire month just to figure out all of the "Units" members. (I would show the panels explaining all of this but I'm at my photo limit)
All of these members were tasked to follow their lieutenants and bosses, and the plan was to attack all of Japans major cities at the same time. Once the cities were destroyed and chaos had set in, Redestro and feel good inc. Would distribute support items to the remaining citizens in the name of "self-defense". It would create a country full of discourse and destruction where Redestro and Feel good inc. Would rule from the shadows. But Shigiraki would be the main leader. He would become "king" and sit upon a "throne of rubble". (At least this was the MLA's plan, Shigiraki himself just kinda wants to destroy everything. But I suppose this would make things easier for him to do that.)
needless to say, the stakes have been upped excessively. But it took Hawks an entire month to gather this info.
This post is honestly just me marveling at what an M.V.P Hawks is
My guy literally only had 4 months to take down an entire terrorist organization for the inside-out. AND he was being monitored during that entire time. He figured out the MLA's intentions within the first month of being there. And it took him another full month to go into detail and figure out all the members, bosses, and lieutenants, for each of their "Units". Hawks even went as far as to immerse himself in the MLA's ideology, and he had in-depth discussions with the MLA's members. HELL HE EVEN FAKED HIS CO-WORKERS DEATH JUST TO GET IN.
AND HE PRETTY MUCH IMPROVISED ALL OF THIS SHIT!!! The original plan was to capture the Leauge when they were a small group! But by the time Hawks managed to infiltrate, The Leauge already had an army! They were a full-blown organization! And Hawks just kinda rolled with it??? He just kinda bullshitted his way through??
Like, "okay I'm now apart of an army I guess. The Leauge is now an entire organization and they're planning on destroying Japan in March. Let's see how this goes. I'll just have to make this work"???
LIKE HOW THE FUCK IS HE NOT DEAD! WHAT A FUCKING MADLAD
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shepard-ram · 4 years ago
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Greeting everyone this is Ender-anon I am typing this from notepad so apologies if this is riddled with grammer and spelling mistakes but I wanted to get some things out of the wayfirst about your subjects. They will not be dsmp or earthsmp members mainly because I took a look at the Earthsmp member list on the wiki and saw there where 135 names so only the Arctic Empire and Buissness Bay members will be mentioned for sanitys sake the sujects will instead be from a certain story driven tower defence game that I have played since it launced I honestly want to see who can guess the game first,with that out of the way lets get this show on the road. I'm gonna try sending it in parts cause Tumblr won't let me send it all at once.
A day you'll never forget. Part 1
You awoke excited after all you were going with Enciodas to the Artic Empire for reaffirm trade agreement,ok you knew that it would be your regent Enciodas making the deals while you and Tenzin stayed in the royal gardens since you were only there for formalities sake since as you were the future ruler but it would be both your first time leaving your home country and your first time on a plane. You did need to one of your neighbours in order to get a plane as your country didn't have any airfields but it would be worth it to fly for the first time .You hurried to pack a book and toy to keep yourself occupied while the grownups did their boring grownup talk ( though if the look in your regents eyes when he looked over the trade agreement draft it would be anything but boring) the book was a simple collection of local legend of your country from the Pegasian Knight sisters who saved the country when enemys surronded it to one of the oldest the legend of the founder of your dynasty their name had been lost through the centuries so they were known by only as a human doctor who mannaged to unite the fractured hybrid tribes into a mighty nation in order to repel the tides of an enemy empire who name was also lost to time, the doll was therefore of your dynastys founder or well what your people though they looked live as no detail of their appernce or even gender remained only the knowledge of the black hooded coat emblazoned with your nations symbol and the black helmet like mask that they never seemed to remove. The trip to the airport was uneventful other than General Buldrokkas'tee trying to conivince Enciodas to take one of the Armourless Union as your guard while your regents youngest sister Ensia stuffed you coats pockets with candy for the trip.Unfortunately the crew of the plane wouldn't allow Tenzin to fly around the cabin so rather than cage him you held the falcon for the entirety of the trip though your regent took him off you when he saw you starting to driff off at the halfway mark.You awoke to your regent softly shaking you awake making sure to hold his hand as you gazed around awestruck at the size of it all there were more people than you have ever seen and the palace itself looked to your eyes anyway to be almost as big as your capital. After entering the palace your regent made sure to take you and Tenzin to the expansive gardens before going to meet Emperor Philza, the falcone immediately took off for one of the many trees eager to spreed his wings after staying still so long you by contrast sat beneath the tree Tenzin had chosen about to pratice reading to your doll when you heard a child sobing.
Part 2
Alarmed you sought the source of the noise only to find a child not much younger than yourself in high quality cloths ( the child of a courteir you reasioned )looking up at a toy stuck in the large tree and crying, determined to assist him you took off you coat and circlet and set about climing the tree like Ensia taught you. After a few attemps you managed to reach the toy and retrieved it handing it over to the awestuck child (had he never see someone clime a tree before?) after snapping out of his stupor looking over the toy with worry before going "its broken" and starting to sob again. Quickly thinking you offered to play tag that caused the sobbing to stop he quickly tapped you before turing to run yelling over his shoulder "YOUR IT". After running around the garden for a while the child got tired so you offered to read to him to which he gleefully accepted reading tales of your country from you book,Tenzin deciding that he wanted attention swooped down next to you for pets which you gladly gave the child ( who you still didn't know the name of) looked like he wanted to pet him as well so you asked him if he would like to,he seemed estatic to do so. As the sun started to set and you started sharing the candy Ensia gave you it only just occured to you that you didn't know your new friends name upon asking you were met with a bewildered look and after a few seconds passed he said "you can call me Tommy" after saying the name a few times to make sure you were pronouncing it right, Tenzin quickly swooped off towards a door where Enciodas emerged a grin on his face and a look of victory in his eyes ( you guess talks went well) and informed you that it was time to leave as you went to turn and say goodbye to your new friend he grasped you arm in a tight grip and asked "Why do you need to leave? Can't you stay longer?" after getting your arm free you placed your doll into his hands and informed him that you would most centainly come here again,that you would write to him and that he could have your doll as a gift of friendship.As you saw him grasping the doll close to his chest waving goodbye as a man with wings looked on in amusement that turned to surprise as you yelled your goodbyes as your plane took off, after such a exciting day its no wonder you fell asleep before long but before you did you thought to yourself that this would be a day you never forgot.
Part 3
The best day of his life
Tommy was bored his brothers where in their lessions, Tubbo and his family were off visiting relatives and wouldn't be back for weeks and his dad was stuck in trade talks with a tiny nation that probably wasn't worth the paper the deal was writen on. Looking through his toy chest he grabed the toy plane that techie got him for his last birthday and went to the gardens to play with it, he was having a great deal of fun with it untill a large bird suddenly flew into a nearby tree causing him to accidentally throw the plane into a tree he had hardly begun showing his thoughts on this development when someone he had never met came round the cornor saw him and for some reasion remove their coat and a circle piece of metal with a gem on the part where your forehead would be, before stepping back looking at the tree and you started climing it and almost falling a few times before catching yourself a determined look on your face, how where you so brave climing that massive tree? When you finaly came back down toy in hand he was amazed it took him a few seconds before he saw that the propeller was broken as he felt the tears start to come back he heard you ask "Do you want to play tag?" you still wanted to play with him smirking he quickly tapped you before running away as fast as he could informing you as he ran that you were it. You were fast he thought as he sat trying to catch his breath but now he was tired you would probably leave him to go play elsewhere and leave him like "do you want to hear a story?" relief filled his chest as sat beside you as you grabed a frankly massive book and told him storys he had never heard before about sister knight who saved a traped nation from distruction, a medic who when her squad was traped by a enemy army unsheathed her sword and single handedly defeated the army and his personal favorite the tale of the first ruler of your nation a person who united a broken people inorder for them all to survive against a terrible evil empire, you even showed him your doll that was based on the ruler. Tommy couldn't think of a day where hes had this much fun from the games, stories, getting to pet the large bird that spooked him in the first place (though he was grateful for that know after all if he hadn't lost his toy he wouldn't have met you) and now your shareing with him candy that hes never heard of. Maybe he can convince his dad to make you stay or to make you his personal servant if your a visting nobles yes then he can introduce you to Tubbo when he gets back and "I just realised I never asked what your name is".What? You have to be kidding right? You'v been so nice to him you have to know who he is? But the seconds drag on and your face don't look like your lying about not knowing who he is. He's about to tell you his full title and name but stops himself no he doesn't want you to call him prince Theseus even if you'v only spent the afternoon together you mean so much to him now you treat him with a kindness only his family show him so you should call him what they call him he reasions and he tells you his name is Tommy he helps pronuounce it correctly and it reaffirms that yes this feels right.
Part 4
The moment however is ruined when the bird (Tenzin you told him it was called) flew to the doors as they opened and a snow lepard hybrid emerged followed by his dad who looked ecstatic that talks were over. The snow lepard hybrid told you that it was time to leave ( with a single sentence Tommy began to hate that hybrid) as you were grabing you things he grabed you as tight as he could manage and asked as calmly as his voice could manage why you had to leave after all he reasioned in his mind he could make sure you were payed much better if you worked for his family. You turned to him with a gentle look in your eyes and placed the doll into his arms while you said " This won't be the last time we shall meet, I will be sure to be sure to write to you when i can't vist and if you get lonely you can have this doll as a symbol of our bond so that way you won't be lonely" all with that smile that he had only seen his family give him. As he held your doll close as possible waving goodbye over the sound of the plane about to take off he heard you yell " Goodbye Tommy" and while he couldn't see his dad eyes he did see the full body flinch as he heard you call his son a name he only permited family to use. As he gushed about you to his dad and asked if he could maybe make you work for them rather than that snow lepard hybrid only to be informed that was your regent and that you weren't a servant but the next ruler of that nation at that revelation he held the doll of your ancestor close and began to formulate a plan as he asked if they had an embassy in your nation after all if you couldn't be with here with him, he would just go with you after all being the ambassador to you nation seemed like a wonderful job if you were there.
Ender,,,, you can't just drop am entire fic on is like this,,, head empty but bravo- this is great
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inonibird · 4 years ago
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How do Kaleesh names work?
Uh-oh. Long answer incoming.
I remember Kaleesh naming conventions being one of the very first things I explored when I started doing world-building for Kalee in my fic, seeing as the theme of name and identity is greatly significant to Grievous’ story. (This was around the same time I decided to use Sumerian as a stand-in/inspiration for the Kaleesh language; I have had a Sumerian-English dictionary tab open on my phone for...longer than I’d like to admit.) Official naming rules didn’t exist, so it was time to get creative—through research! Ahh, research.
At first I was thinking the middle bit of Kaleesh names might be something like a nobiliary particle (especially since they were presented in lower case, something that still bothers me), but finding out that the name “Sheelal” referred to his role as the “Dreamer” in the Dreamer/Dreamt parable (meaning it probably wasn’t a family name or a nom de terre, but more like an epithet) threw that idea out the window pretty quickly. Wookieepedia and the “Lord of War” article both made mention to the “Lig tribe”, and the structure of that name (monosyllabic, three-letters) was too similar to the “middle names” I knew of (jai, lij, san) for me to ignore it...and it didn’t hurt that “Lig” and “Lij” were so alike at a glance. Tribe names they became, though I ultimately ended up calling tribes “clans”. Also knowing about Sheelal = Dreamer helped point to what that third name might represent—not a name a person was given at birth, but rather, again, an epithet that was given once they did something worth earning a new name, like a rite of passage.
I also poked around elsewhere online to see if there was obscure naming lore I wasn’t aware of, and HAHA wow, my findings. Turns out I’m not the first to get nerdy about this kind of thing, because not only was there a Kaleesh name generator, there was a tumblr discussion critiquing the generator and making alternate suggestions, and they brought up ideas that aligned SO WELL with what I’d been quietly exploring. There are excellent thoughts out there on Kaleesh names, and everyone can headcanon whatever they want, but for my own world-building and story-telling purposes, I landed on this:
birth name - clan name - earned name
Birth name: Just what it sounds like. It’s your given name. Your parents name you when you’re born. There’s a nice little ceremony and everything. These names mean about as much as any given name can mean, and it’s not uncommon to name children after parents or elder-parents.
Clan name: Okay, a bit more complex. I kept with the trend of monosyllabic, three-letter clan names and have a whole stinkin’ list of Kaleesh clans in my back pocket. Clans are regional and made up of multiple families that aren’t necessarily immediately related, and I decided the Kaleesh subscribe to patrilineal kinship. You retain the agnatic name of the clan you were born into. Thus, you have Qymaen’s father, his cousin, and his cousin’s son all belonging to the Jai Clan, with Qymaen also being born into the Jai Clan, but Qymaen’s mother retaining her own clan name—this serving as a sort of reminder that these two clans are now considered allies. Clan names often translate to geologic features (Jai = clan of the deep valley) but also concepts or things (Nim = morning sun, Kal = shield).
Earned name: This is the name that truly defines the individual. You “earn your name” that aligns with your personality or your deeds. Perhaps it’s something you’re good at...which means earning a combat-oriented name is about as common as having a surname like Smith in the US. Usually a Kaleesh doesn’t get an earned name until they’re of age (12), give or take a few years (and like a birth name, there’s also an associated ceremony), but if you, say, have a prophetic dream that comes true when you’re only three years old, you’re earning a damn name then. Usually parents or elders approve of the earned name for a younger Kaleesh. One can change their own earned name later in life, but such a decision is frowned upon, since an earned name is seen as the essence of a Kaleesh, and to change your earned name is like changing your very soul. Can’t imagine what would drive someone to do that. 9_9
So, yep! In my mind, for my fic, this is how naming works. Names are important on Kalee. As a certain character will eventually say, “In my language, our names inform our identities. My name is my title, my title is my name. It is all my being.” Kaleesh strangers will introduce themselves by their full names and that immediately tells the other Kaleesh where they are from and either a primary facet of their personality or a skill they excel in. Acquaintances and subordinates call you by your earned name; clan kin and friends usually use birth names.
Thanks for the question! Now that I’m posting the story it’s fun to share behind-the-scenes stuff like this!
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guiltysecretpasttime · 4 years ago
Text
Adversity - 13-A
Fanfic update
I’ve decided to utilize this tumblr space to put in WIPs/partial chapters/unedited stories from my end. Then I’ll post it somewhere in Ao3 or FF.net. Maybe.
 In the meantime, here’s an installment of Adversity (the chapters here in tumblr aren’t updated – it would make much more sense if you check it out on Ao3 first before coming back here). In essence this is part of Chapter 13.
Keen to hear what you think about this portion :)
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Adversity details
Multi-chapter, work in progress, AU, pre-LoK,
Latest status: up to Chapter 12 uploaded in A03
Blurb: Lin and Tenzin are both at the height of their respective     careers – she with the Metalbending Police and he with the Air Nation.     Questions about their future begin to arise and things come to a head when     Lin responded to an emergency call. Would her job take them from each     other forever? Eventual happy ending. Alternatively: The one where Lin and     Tenzin had to go through adversity like Lin’s dangerous job, a near-death     experience, temporary separation and memory loss, unplanned pregnancy and     Tenzin’s responsibilities before they end up with a family.
Tumblr chapters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Ao3 link |   Ff.net link
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Adversity – 13-A
 Tenzin clutches a warm towel and wipes it across her forehead. He did not know why and if it would help but he thought it might make her feel better.
Her chest rose and fell with each breath, no longer laborious or irregular. Nonetheless, he kept vigil and held one of her hands. It reminded him of incidents in the past years where he kept watch over her – that night in the Fire Nation Royal Compound when they first found her alive, those nights after missions that might have gone fatally wrong…
The day had started promising. But as always with the two of them, it never was easy…
Once he had the cabana in his view, he should have known that Izumi would have pulled something like this.
---
Tenzin received a message from one of the staff that the princess requested for lunch to be served at one of the beach cabanas. He did not think much about it; it has happened before and figured that maybe Izumi was being a good host.
There was only one person else in the cabana – Lin, who was looking puzzled and was frowning at something on the table.
His feet hit the sand and the earthbender turned to him. “Oh, it’s you.” She looked at him incredulously.
“Sorry to disappoint.” He deadpanned, seating across her. He did not ask questions, assuming that she was led to the cabana using the same ruse.
"I had no idea that you were the man that Izumi said that I'll be meeting for lunch." Lin flicked a note towards him. “Why is she doing this? I found that upon arriving here.”
He caught the paper that slid on the table.
It was in Izumi’s handwriting – informing Lin to please consider (consider – the word was underlined heavily, the insinuation not lost to the reader) this man that she has invited for her. And that they would be left to their own devices as the princess has taken the entire family off for a scenic tour of the island on Druk, Appa and Oogi.
Trust that Izumi would have connived with the rest of the family to pull something like this off.
Tenzin felt the need to apologize for their meddling family and did just that.
Lin shrugged, seemingly uninterested. “Is this supposed to be a test?”
“A test?” What does she mean?
“For me – or for you?” Lin asked back.
“Like for your memory?” To the airbender, it seemed like they were having a different conversation.
The earthbender looked vaguely uncomfortable now, hand lightly patting her belly. “Um no – I mean, for you – is Izumi…?” She trailed off.
For the life of him, Tenzin could not think of what the continuation was.
“Your partner?” Lin finally asked.
What.
“No!” Tenzin’s voice rose, surprised by the question that he did not even consider that the response might have sounded rude. “Of course not!”
“Don’t you protest too much?” Lin was amused. “It’s fine really – or is it a matter of security?” She was being nonchalant about it though Tenzin could have sworn there was a tiny bit of relief in her voice.
“What. No – it’s not like that.” Tenzin had to disabuse her of this ludicrous idea she had. “They’re all just meddling – they mean well – look, Izumi – she’s not my type -!”
Now you just sounded like a whiny teenager.
He cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. “Well, seems like they’re setting us up.”
“Whatever for,” She rolled her eyes then grinned. “Let’s not waste the food then.”
He found himself chuckling at that as Lin proceeded to scoop some food on her plate. “Joke’s on them though.”
Lin’s only response was a raised eyebrow.
“I actually intend to ask you out for dinner today.”
She paused and left her chopstick hanging in the air. “Dinner.”
He wet his dry lips. “Yes.”
“I take it you haven’t told them yet?” Lin examined the other dishes available to them. “What time do we need to get ready or we don’t know yet, depending on how soon they get back?”
Tenzin held the back of his neck as the heat crept up. “I mean, dinner – just us, you and me?”
As much as he did not want to admit, maybe Bumi was right – he did not have game.
Lin’s face was unreadable.
He was able to back-pedal when he heard it.
“Okay.”
 ---
The rest of their lunch went a smoother.
They talked about the mundane things – he talked about Republic City, she talked about the Fire Nation. She asked about what he does in the council and how the RCPD was when they left. He was more than happy to oblige and took the time to answer her questions in great detail.
Before long, when she declared that she felt too full for dessert, he invited her to walk along the shore. He pointed out a cluster of rock formations at the edge of the island.
Lin looked intrigued and they set forth.
He explained that Lord Zuko had told them when they were children that the rocks were formed when the volcano used to be active. It made for an impressive sight, tall and a bit forbidding.
That did not stop them though, Tenzin shared, as they would keep going back there to play when they were younger.
They stood beside the rocks, sandals soaked by the sea, small waves lapping at their legs.
He was in the middle of a retelling of the time Bumi had dared Su to race him to the top (not knowing that the kid can earthbend really well by then) when rather large wave crashed against the rock formation, spraying and drenching them with salt water.
He was laughing, saying he probably should have warned that that usually happens. His eyes alighted on her and was caught mid-laugh.
Lin stood stiffly, her eyes wild. One hand on her cheek (her scars), another on her chest - breathing erratically gulping air.
“Lin!” He immediately held her by the shoulders; she was shaking. “Lin!”
A panic attack.
Each breath rattled against chest as she started blankly, unseeing. Lin was insensible to her surroundings.
Tenzin scooped her up and ran as it all clicked.
Captain Tomasu did say that they had found Lin in the water.
Damn.
The minutes it took him to the rest house felt like hours. With the family away on whatever excursion Izumi and Iroh planned, he had to rely on the staff to come to their aid. Fortunately, the in-house healer was at hand.
The rest was a blur.
 He felt the moment she regained consciousness. Her breathing shifted yet her eyes remained close.
Tenzin continued to run his fingers on her knuckles, whether to comfort her or himself was unclear.
Lin blinked slowly, her breathing sped up. Her hand quickly slapped to her cheek, tracing the scar with shaking fingers.
The airbender could hear her murmuring softly.
“My name is Lin. I’m in Ember Island. I’m okay. I’m safe. We’re -.” Her eyes focused and saw Tenzin at the periphery. “The baby?”
Tenzin leaned forward, grasping both of her hands and placing them on her stomach. “Is okay. You’re both okay – I had you both checked. You just had a little panic attack.”
There was no use alarming her.
“Panic attack…” She whispered to herself. “I used to black out before…”
“I’m sorry,” Tenzin said quietly. “I should have paid more attention to you.”
“You couldn’t have known.” Lin said in an equally soft tone. To his astonishment, she pulled his hand up to her cheek and leaned on it. “You couldn’t have done anything.”
He extended his fingers, gingerly touching her cheek. There were still times in the past weeks when he could not believe that she was here and she was alive. Little touches like these were rare and he savored the moments to remind himself that she was truly there.
“The rice granary,” Lin began, staring at the ceiling, actively avoiding Tenzin’s gaze. “It exploded, you know, the man – the firebender –.”
The airbender waited, this was in the papers and the reports that he was very familiar with.
“He knew what he was doing,” Lin held on his fingers tightly. “He saw me and he set fire – I fell to the water. I felt like drowning – maybe I did.” Tenzin gripped her hand back. “It was really hot and there was a lot of metal scraps. I remember sinking and maybe removing my armor…” Her face scrunched, obviously thinking. “The current was fast, rapidly swept me away – it was so cold. I thought I was going to die.” She resolutely focused on the ceiling when she heard Tenzin’s gasp. “I don’t know how long it was – it was dark, then there was light. My lungs – they burned so bad. Next thing I knew – I was aboard Captain Tomasu’s ship.”
Tenzin’s own breath caught.
Could it be… her memories have returned?
“Don’t force it.” He rubbed her wrist back and forth, hoping to sooth her.
“It’s still blank.” Her face was troubled and eyes were shiny with unshed tears. “I don’t remember what happened before the explosion.”
Feeling her get distressed, Tenzin moved closer to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m Lin Beifong, my mother is Toph – we grew up together in Republic City.” She now turned to him. “I live in Republic City now…”
His stomach churned. “What’s the last thing you remember from before?” He asked cautiously, afraid of triggering something.
“I’m deputy chief, I think.” She racked her brains. “There’s this small apartment. I think I live there.”
Tenzin swallowed. This was from a time before they lived together, when they were still exploring their relationship.
“I’m not losing it, am I? That really happened?” Her green eyes wide, seeing reassurance.
He nodded, still silently contemplating what this meant.
“After that – it’s blank.” She released a breath. “Did something significant happen during that missing period?”
“You got promoted to Chief of Police.”
“Maybe that’s it…something to do with work.” Lin guessed absentmindedly, biting her lip.
He added tentatively. “We’ve also decided to move in together.”
The way she looked at him now – it was as if she was seeing him for the first time.
“You’re the father.” She stated it so plaintively with a hint of caution.
“That’s the first time you’ve told me that.” Tenzin attempted to downplay the significance of the revelation. “Don’t worry about it – you probably didn’t know you were pregnant back then before –.” He waved a hand around, at a loss for words on how to explain the situation.
“You’re not even questioning it?” Her voice was tight and her posture tense.
“Not at all.”
She finally let tears flow.
 ---
He embraced her, murmuring reassurances that he will be there for her and the child. He will be involved.
But somehow – there was still that gap in her memory. She was missing something crucial, she can feel it - it was about the Air Nation. The gut feel was of hesitation and wariness. What was it about?
She had talked to Aang the previous days and there were no mentions of issues with the Air Nation.
Maybe it had something to do with crime? With her promotion as Chief of Police?
If only her mother were around… Maybe she could help her piece her memory together.
Lin pulled back from the airbender, who suddenly looked at her with apprehension.
“What happens now – what if I don’t remember?” Now that she had part of her memories back – she hated the feeling of uncertainty.
“We’ll take it one day at a time.” Tenzin inched closer to her, gently cupping her face in his hands, wiping her tears. “Just know that you’re never alone.”
The sincerity in his eyes was enough for her. She did not even need to employ her seismic sense to know he was telling the truth.
She closed her eyes as he moved. She felt his lips on her forehead.
The airbender sat back down, a soft smile on his face.
She looked at their entwined fingers.
She will take this chance.
This was for her child. All for their child. And it will be enough.
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latinasmoak · 4 years ago
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the sweetest life (and the loving is easy when you’re with me)
tumblr version:
rating: mature
tags: no warnings, mutual pining, idiots in love, jealousy, colin my dramatic king, penelope is confused
Chapter Two: Strawberry Crème Brûlée p. 1
For the first time in his life, Colin Bridgerton wasn’t hungry.
Nevermind that he had invited himself over to Eloise’s and Penelope’s flat with the singular intent of sneaking in some sweets made by his favorite homebaker. All of that was swept aside, his gigantic appetite becoming non-existent at the sight displayed in front of him.
The easy upturn of his lips, a smile famous for charming all the women in his life, quickly vanished. The glimmer of mischievousness in his eyes dimmed, the words he had prepared to announce his arrival got caught in his throat; because who the hell was that man towering over Penelope in the kitchen? Why was this stranger whispering so close to her? And why was she giggling? At the sweet sound of her laughter Colin inexplicably felt a mad rush of... frustration. The urge to go and physically separate the two was overwhelming and he almost took another step inside the tiny kitchen when what happened next made his stomach drop.
The prat, after taking a spoonful of whatever it was in front of them, moaned and smiled brightly at Penelope before leaning down for a hug. Worse still, Penelope with her eyes alight with joy, happily reciprocated the embrace and wrapped her arms around him.
Colin couldn’t even begin to understand all the tumultuous feelings inside him at the sight. All he had were questions upon questions running through his mind. Who was he? How long has this been going on? Since when did she bake for someone else?  Colin shook his head as if the simple act would brush away all the unanswered questions cluttering his mind.
When he had decided on his last minute trip to Greece over two months ago, he never imagined he’d be coming home to this. Since his friendship with Penelope deepened, he found that his attention to his phone increased dramatically. What simply started off as links for recipes, became chats where they talked about anything and everything. That's when he knew that Penelope Featherington wasn’t just his family friend. She was his best friend. So why, during all the countless chats they shared while he was away, did she never mention the fact that she was dating?  
As much as he wanted to get to the bottom of all his queries, the thought of walking in and having to witness the apparently happy couple up close, made him physically ill. He just knew he couldn’t act as if all was well. Colin was struggling to come up with reasons as to why this new information didn’t bring him happiness for his friend. If anyone deserved to be in a loving relationship it was Penelope. He knew that. So why did the mere thought of her being in one make his jaw clench?
It was a small comfort that his arrival wasn’t expected. To the entirety of his family he was still in Iceland, he had made the last minute decision to cut his trip two weeks short, and instead of alerting them, Colin had been giddy at the thought of surprising them all. It had been a spur of the moment decision to drop by Eloise and Penelope’s first, before settling in the room set up for him at his mum’s place. Next time however, he’d be sure to give a heads up. He couldn’t bear to go through this again. To come unannounced and heaven forbid, see them in a more compromising position. Just the thought of it felt like someone suckerpunched him in the gut. Colin simply and quietly turned around and walked away.
“Penelope you are a genius!”  
Phillip Crane moaned as the blackberry cream melted on his tongue. He finished his spoonful of the delicious filling the lovely redhead was making before continuing his praise.
“Eloise is going to love this. I can’t even begin to thank you enough for helping me out.”
Though he was never one to initiate grand displays of physical affection, Phillip couldn’t help but reach out and hug Penelope with the utmost gratitude. Her help in his grand plan to convince Eloise that it was time to declare their relationship to their respective families was invaluable. He wanted her to meet his older brother and he wanted to finally get to know the alphabet personally. He knew that without Penelope’s support, his ideas would have never manifested as grandly as they did. That, and she had already agreed to watch his twins overnight while he wooed Eloise on a weekend getaway. If anyone needed proof that Penelope was on her way to sainthood, they only needed to learn that she volunteered to take care of his little hellions. Thank god for angels on earth.
“All you have to do is make sure my best friend is happy,”
Penelope disengages from the hug and takes a step back, making sure to look up into his eyes. The seriousness of her following words could not be ignored. She may be tiny, but the protective love she held for Eloise shrouded Penelope with unmistakable power. She could be a threat if the need arose.  
“Because if she’s miserable, or heaven forbid hurt, I will personally ensure that you will be too.”
Penelope’s voice maintained its sweet inflection, while her blue eyes turned into an icy glare. Phillip gulped before nodding solemnly.
“She’s the most magnificent woman I've ever met. If I'm the fool who makes her miserable, I deserve whatever torment you deem appropriate.”  
The ice in her demeanor melted as Penelope swooned on behalf of her friend. She patted Phillip on the chest in approval before focusing on the various ingredients before her. She had planned to make Eloise’s favorite fruit tarts but with a twist.
“I’m glad we are in agreement! Now back to the sweets. I can recreate this cream for the tarts, all I need is more berries and those edible flowers you were talking about earlier! You will have to be in charge of dinner, I can bake but cooking still eludes me.”
Penelope herself was more than happy to help Phillip in his quest of making his relationship with her best friend public knowledge. He had been smart enough to realize early on in his relationship with Eloise that Penelope’s opinion was of the utmost importance. So he tried to be friendly, even when his stoic demeanor could often be misconstrued as snobbish elitism. Penelope was keen enough to know there had to be something about him that held Eloise’s attention. In the end, they ended up bonding over literature, -though Eloise loved to tease that it was a miracle he read anything outside of his botanical interests- and gardening. Phillip soon began to gift Penelope with the excess fruit and herbs he grew in his own little greenhouse so she could turn them into magical bites of perfection.
Sworn to secrecy, Penelope never hinted or uttered a word of his existence to the other Bridgertons and in the end, the only beings who knew of this relationship were his twins and herself. Penelope was excited for the secret to be out! It was alarming how often she found herself wanting to share the news. She wanted to join in on the inevitable teasing, she was eager to brag about the fact that she knew this secret before any of Bridgertons, and she was ready for someone to complain alongside her about how sickenly sweet they were with one another. She often imagined Colin being quick to tease or annoy Eloise about it... and just like that, Penelope felt her heart ache. As thoughts of Colin were known to do.
She missed him. It was alarming how much she missed him. He's been gone before so she really had no excuse to act as if this were new, but then again, before the eclair incident she had never spent so much uninterrupted time with him. He had spoiled her with his singular attention. They still texted each other almost every day but it wasn’t the same. She had gotten used to his physical presence. The way he towered over her, often helping her get things off the top shelf. The way he would sing her a song as he cleaned the dirty dishes and she would try and harmonize with him as she dried them. She also missed his chaotic energy in her kitchen, even when it could annoy her at times. The way she would need to slap his hands away to prevent him from dipping his finger in the raw batter or when she would have to take away the bag of chocolate chips to ensure there were enough for the cookies she planned to bake. He could never stay still but it was always such fun and there was always a delicious snack at the end of the night as a reward for all their hard work. He might never love her the way she loves him, but she had gotten greedy, soaking up all the moments he freely gave her and now she was going through withdrawals. Oh Colin, how am I ever going to get over you? Do I even want to?  
After ensuring everything was going as planned, and shaking thoughts of Colin out of her mind, Penelope shooed Phillip out. Eloise was soon to return and she didn’t want the surprise to be spoiled. Penelope baking alone is no longer an odd sight, but if Eloise came home to her boyfriend being there unexpectedly, she would stop at nothing to get the whole truth.
A single beep from her phone alerted Penelope to an incoming message. Her heart picked up in pace as her anticipation rose. It's been a few days since she’s heard from Colin. The longest bout of silence since he left two months ago. Penelope took a deep breath before swiping the lockscreen away. Immediately her shoulders drooped, and she tried to temper her disappointment when she noticed that the message was from her baby sister.
Felicity: hey pen, the love of your life came back early!
Felicity: it was a shock to the whole fam, hyacinth even canceled our movie night! something about blue gifts or whatever.
Felicity: anyways, just thought you should know 😇
The initial joy at the news of his early return was quickly marred with the confusion over the total silence on his end. Did she do something to upset him? Or maybe she was making a big deal out of nothing. She really needed to stop expecting him to update her on his personal matters as if she was his girlfriend. It wasn’t fair to put those expectations on him, and it wasn’t fair that she kept disappointing herself because of her daydreams.
Penelope ignored her phone, not giving Felicity the satisfaction of adamantly protesting her feelings when they both knew she was not off the mark. Instead she pulled out a recipe she had been eyeing for weeks now. She had been waiting for Colin to come back before attempting to make it. Only she would spice it up and make it with strawberries. She knew that he had a fondness for them and she wanted this treat to be special, to be more than the usual standard.
Strawberry Crème Brûléé
She was tempted to reach out to him and ask him if he wanted to join her while she baked it, but she thought better of it. Surely the trip back home must have been exhausting and whatever energy he did have, must have been depleted after a dinner with his family, a boisterous lot that they were.
Looking over the recipe, Penelope noticed that it called for the creme brulee to chill overnight. She smiled as this offered the perfect solution, tonight she would bake the night away and keep her mind busy, and tomorrow she would invite him over and hope that she was simply imagining any weirdness she felt over the sudden silence. Grinning to herself, Penelope nodded decisively and set out to make a delicious strawberry compote.
-
Colin woke up moody, frustrated and tired.
Sleep evaded him all night; he had been plagued with nightmarish situations, each one of him of losing his best friend, of losing Pen. The more he thought about it, the more it terrified him. Penelope having a boyfriend meant that those late night baking sessions would come to an end, the constant trips to other bakeries would not be as frequent, and while Colin was sure that Penelope wasn’t the type to shun her friends in favor of her relationship, Colin wasn’t sure he could stomach the thought of being around her while she was kissing someone else. When she should be kissing me.
Colin paled as the thought crossed his mind, a thought that should not exist when Penelope was only a friend. Just a friend, friends don’t think about kissing their beautiful friends.  
Although now he couldn’t stop thinking about how plump her lips were, especially after nervously biting them while she waited for his verdict on her sweets. He wondered if they were as soft as they looked? He would have to lean down to reach them but he could already imagine himself holding her closer, pressing himself against her soft plump curves and cupping her face. Lightly biting her bottom lip before using his own tongue to soothe the sting. He wondered if she would simply gasp and let him use that to his advantage, or if she would bite him back, Penelope was unpredictable afterall, he would never know what to expect from her...
Colin groaned as pure lust slammed into him the more he thought about Penelope. He laid back in shock over how quick his mind was, to turn against him like that, but it was like a pandora’s box. Now that it was open, things would never be the same. Colin couldn’t help but look back and notice all the little things about her that made her shine. The way her eyes crinkled when she smiled, and how when she blushed it was obvious for the world to see on her normally milky skin. The way she would be the first to share her food and would always offer encouraging words when needed. Colin thought of her laugh, and how loud and contagious it was, or how her bottom lip would tremble as she tried not to cry when she accidentally burnt or cut herself. All these moments rushed through his head and it killed him that someone else was learning these things about her right this very second.
Yes, her voluptuous figure, tiny stature and dark red curls were attractive on their own, but paired with her intelligent blue eyes, witty humor and overall sweetness, it was no wonder she was taken. It was a miracle it hadn’t happened sooner! How could he have been so blind? If he had never gone on his most recent trip, would he have been able to stop it from happening?
A subtle buzzing on the bedside table alerted him to his incoming messages. He blindly reached out, not even bothering to use any excess energy when all he wanted to do was waste away in bed. It’s what he was good at apparently, wasting time.
His heart began to accelerate when he noticed that it was Penelope.
Pen: a little birdy told me that you are back home.
Pen: welcome back 🥳
Pen: i was going to text you later in the day but I have something exciting to share with you!
Pen: knowing you, you’ve probably already had breakfast by now, or you're about to! come to my place right after! see you soon.
Colin could feel the cold brittle fingers of dread latch on to him. Weighing him down and chilling him to the bone. He had just come to the startling realization that he kind of, sort of liked his friend as more than just a friend and she was going to tell him all about her new relationship. Any fleeting hunger he might have felt was chased away by the churning in his stomach. And even though a large part of him wanted to make up an excuse, any excuse to get out of this sure to be painful encounter, avoiding Penelope Featherington after having spent so much time integrating his life with hers, would be like wishing it never rained in London, absolutely impossible. Taking a deep breath, Colin finally got up out of bed and went about preparing for what he was sure to be, the worst day of his life.
-
As soon as Penelope received a text from Colin, letting her know that he was on his way, Penelope pulled out two of the chilled ramekins from her fridge. She also pulled out the homemade whipped cream she had made last night, a couple of fresh strawberries and the turbinado sugar. She was quick with the knife and sliced up all the strawberries, ridding herself of the green tops and setting the rest aside once finished. She had gone all out and gotten herself a kitchen torch for the sole purpose of making that crunchy top layer that made creme brulees so fun to eat.
She was excited to have Colin try it. She had originally intended to call him over later in the day but then remembered she’d be taking care of the twins. Seeing as she didn’t want to have to explain that, Penelope figured it was best to call him now, she was just glad that he hadn’t made any morning plans already.
When Colin finally walked into her kitchen making use of the spare key, it only took a split-second to realize that something was off with him. Penelope used a kitchen towel to pat her hands dry before walking towards him. She tried to catch his gaze, but it seemed as if he was looking around for someone. Her head tilted slightly in confusion, Penelope wondered who he could possibly be looking for, surely he was aware that on Saturday mornings Eloise had brunch with his mum and sisters?
There was something downtrodden about him and the urge to comfort him came at her so fast, she was unable to resist. She didn’t really want to resist anyways. Opening her arms wide she pulled him into a hug, pleasantly surprised when he returned her embrace with gusto.
“It’s so good to see you! Am I being silly if I admit that I missed you?”
Penelope murmured into his chest. He was so damn tall, she wondered if he even caught what she was saying.
-
“Well I missed you too, so we can just be silly together.”
Colin had meant for that to come out in an upbeat, charming reply, but his body had a mind of its own, and instead he simply squeezed her tighter, he dipped his head close to hers and he softly admitted that she was no more silly than he. In fact he could have gone on to admit that he was more than silly, he was a damn fool for letting her get away, for not realizing that the feelings he had for her were more than just platonic. He wasn’t sure if it was love, but he knew that it could grow to be, it was all a moot point now, he wouldn’t even get the chance. So he held on, he breathed in her sugary sweet scent and wished that he could stay like this forever. Colin didn’t want to let go. How was he supposed to let go? In the end, he didn’t have to force himself to, she had pulled herself away.
-
As much as she would have loved to stay in his arms forever, the knowledge that something was wrong made her want to help him in whatever way she could. The way he clung to her let her know that whatever was ailing him was really serious. And she wanted to enjoy it, she wanted to close her eyes and melt in his embrace. But she felt guilty, deriving pleasure from his pain felt wrong. Knowing that food could at least partially help, Penelope withdrew from the hug and looked up at him, smiling at him softly as she tugged him closer to her counter.
“I made you something! When I found out you were back I just knew I needed to welcome you back home with style.”
“Pen, you didn’t have to do that.”
Colin rubbed the back of his neck, and Penelope wondered if the slight flush on his cheeks was him blushing or if she was just imagining things.
Penelope let go of Colin to make her way to her ramekins. She quickly and with minimal mess, poured two spoonfuls of the brown sugar on the top of the strawberry custard before spreading it around, covering the light pink creme from view.
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to,”
She grabbed the kitchen torch and turned it on, giggling at Colin’s alarmed reaction and wary eyes.
“Plus, I really really really  wanted to use this today.”
She directed the open flame on the sugar and giddily watched as the sugar melted and browned, turning itself into the perfect crust to crack. She felt the moment Colin stepped into her bubble, the way he was looking over her shoulder was a move he’d done in the past and she’s proud she no longer jumped or startled when he invaded her space. Her heart still races, but at least her body no longer expresses her shock at him being so close. In fact, Penelope was proud her hand was still steady. No accidental burnings yet. When the first creme brulee was finished she breathed a sigh of relief before swiftly moving to the second, finishing  that one too. Once both were done, she turned off the torch and grabbed the whipped cream, adding a generous spoonful on each, before finishing with the strawberries as a garnish.
“Ta da! A strawberry creme brulee. This is an experimental recipe so please be honest in your feedback. I think you’ll like it. I promise, no artificially flavored strawberries are found in this creme brulee!”
Penelope pushed his dessert closer to him as he had moved himself to the left of her during her explanation. She offered him a spoon and then grabbed hers. She wasn’t going to bite into it just yet, she was dying to see his reaction.
She watched as he cracked the top layer with his spoon, a satisfying snap resounding in the kitchen. He gave her a brief smile before dipping his spoon further in to capture some of the creme. Penelope flushed when she noticed his tongue lick around the spoon, not willing to miss a single bite. She just stood there, a little dazed as he dug in after that initial spoonful. She finally got ahold of herself and beamed at the way he devoured it. She managed to bite into her own and softly moaned when the velvety smooth creme melted on her tongue, the caramelized top adding the perfect crunchy texture to every bite. She had truly outdone herself.
So caught up in her own taste testing, Penelope never realized that Colin had turned stiff at the sound of her moans.  She couldn’t have known that such a little innocent sound had triggered a tsunami of misconceptions and angst. No, she didn’t know anything about the regrets swirling around Colin’s brain at the moment. She did, however, notice that he was leaning heavily on the counter, gripping the edges so tightly his knuckles appeared ghostly white.
“Colin what’s wrong? Are you feeling sick? You look a little pale…”
Penelope set her own dish down and quickly closed the small distance between them. She stood on her tiptoes so she could reach his forehead, he felt a little warm but nothing out of the ordinary. She cupped his face, wanting to get to the bottom of what was wrong.
“Colin look at me, please tell me. What happened? Did my food make you sick? Do you need to lie down?.”
Penelope lets go of his face to reach for his hands, she gently pulls his hands away from the counter, clasping them with her own. She holds them and squeezes softly, quietly letting him know that he can depend on her. She looks up at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something, anything.
-
How could he begin to explain everything that was wrong?
It was a small comfort that he didn’t have to meet her significant other, but just knowing that moments like these, where he can stand over her shoulder and just see her doing something she loves would be an activity she would share with someone else. Someone else would get to hear her make those little moans, someone else would get to make them happen in a different setting. How does he tell her that it's killing something inside him to know that it won’t be him?  How does he begin to explain that he feels this possessive urge to steal her away and never let her out of his sight? He doesn’t even know where to start. He’s not even really sure that he should.
Before he can wave her worries away, before he can reassure her that her food would never make him sick, before he could pretend like he was just feeling off. Something in him takes over and all that comes out is the most important question that will guide him in regards to how he should treat Penelope Featherington.
“Are you happy?” is all that comes out, ragged in its intensity. Colin’s eyes burning with the need to know exactly how she felt.
Whatever Penelope was expecting, it was obvious from her reaction that this was not it.
“What?!”
Colin closed his eyes briefly, gritting his teeth as he gathered the bravery necessary for this inquisition. He opened them and this time he used her grip on his hands to his advantage, bringing them up to rest against his chest. He wondered if she could feel how fast his heart was beating for her.
“Are you happy? With him?”
|| CHAPTER THREE  ||  || AO3 ||
24 notes · View notes
majosullivan · 4 years ago
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About a month ago, we reached the mid season finale for Castle Swimmer season 2, and what a season it has been so far. This recent set of episodes with Siren were absolutely incredible, an excellent way to come to the climax of Siren’s part of the story. While I do want to talk about those recent episodes, for now, I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while, Lord Ogo. Lord Ogo has been both the catalyst pulling Kappa’s part of story forward and the catalyst that has quite literally been pulling Kappa around. At the moment, we still don’t know what prophecy Ogo is linked to and why exactly Kappa is being pulled around. This is the topic I’m planning to discuss.
Before we go into what I think is going on with Ogo’s prophecy, I think it would be good to cover everything we know about Ogo at the moment. While he first appears in episode 42, we first learn of Ogo’s name in episode 62, where Herm describes him as the following:
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Right at the start of the next episode, we get Ogo’s backstory: with him starting off the same size any normal carb, but was much more aggressive than the rest of them.  This aggression led him to fight the creatures around him, with each victory causing him to grow in size due to his power’s as a minigod. All of this battling, of course, leading him to being the size he is at present time. In addition to this ability to grow upon victory in battle, Ogo also possesses the ability to disappear under the sand and reappear somewhere else, as seen quite a few times in the series so far. From what Herm has said, he has been wandering through the Purple Peaks for years, having built his home there
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As for his personality so far....let’s say that Lord Ego would be a better fitting name for him, with him immediately trying to crush Kappa for being ‘unworthy to speak his name’ and him mocking the witches as he talks about his strength.
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Now with the basics about him covered, what exactly do I think could be his prophecy? Well with all our information on him and from what we’ve seen in the story so far, I think Kappa has to fight Ogo and possibly kill him. To start off with my evidence from inside the comic, I first started suspecting this with Herm’s first description of Ogo, ‘the great fighting beast’. With this description, Ogo’s backstory and Ogo’s own dialogue on his abilities, whatever the prophecy is, it would only make sense for it to be linked with Ogo’s title and abilities as the ‘Great Fighting Beast’. In addition to this, a piece of evidence that points to this outcome is Kappa being stuck to Ogo in the first place. As Kappa stated in episode 7, there are two different types of catalysts involved with prophecies: objects or people....or in this case, it would be better to just say living creatures. With Kappa being stuck to Ogo, in order for him to complete this prophecy, he has to interact with him in some way, with Kappa assuming in episode 44 that he needs to talk to him. However, considering what we have just discussed about Ogo’s title, it seems much more likely that what Kappa actually needs to do is fight and defeat him or possibly kill him. 
Another factor that can play into this idea is seemingly no one being linked to this prophecy. During episode 62, Kappa asked Herm about Oho being involved with a prophecy and if there was any castle around that could need him, to which they states the following: 
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Kappa himself states how strange this is, with Ogo lacking a connection with any possible castle and castles purposely avoiding him. Even with the possible destruction Ogo could cause, you would think a castle would still want to stick around the area if they are in need of him. And that brings me to my point, what if no one is in need of Ogo? What if the prophecy is to get rid of Ogo? And was not a solution by one castle, but a collaboration of them? Image this, you’re living a peaceful existence in the Purple Peaks, when a giant mini god comes along and takes residents, causes massive amounts of destruction. You and the rest of your people try fight back against him but due to his powers and sheer size, you fail, causing the problem to quite literally grow even bigger. Not wanting to abandon your home, your people decide to team up with other castles in the area to come up with a plan of attack. At this time, the elders all come together and purpose a solution....a prophecy. Within this prophecy, the beacon would come and defeat the mini god and bring peace to your land. However, as possible years go by, the beacon never arrives. Your people finally decide there’s no point on waiting for the beacon any longer and for the safety of your people, you finally leave, to go and find a safer place to build a new castle. 
Perhaps, if this theory turns out to be the case, could play into Ogo trying to crush Kappa. If he ever found out about the prophecy, it would make sense he would want to kill Kappa the second he could, before Kappa could learn about it. However, I don’t think that is the case and his reaction was purely based on Kappa ‘being unworthy of saying his name’. Maybe he doesn’t even know he’s involved in a prophecy or just doesn’t care about it? It could be possible that he didn’t even realise Kappa was the beacon. With all of that aside, the idea is still good food for thought. 
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Now that I’ve covered most of my evidence from in the comic, now it’s time to move out to outside sources and the thing that heavily based this idea for me. To those that follow Wendy on tumblr (or those that have been following her work for a long time), you may already be familiar with her old comic ‘Kappa’. Castle Swimmer is actually a reboot of this comic, with it following old characterisations of both Kappa and Siren, along with a race of mers called Näkki. If you haven’t checked it out already, I would highly suggest you do. Not only is it interesting to see how far the original story has developed, but it’s also amazing to see how much Wendy’s art has changed and developed over the years. But on to the topic at hand, those who have read it will know that season 2 of Castle Swimmer has taken a lot of inspiration from this comic. This can be seen with the Octaila, being a reboot of the Näkki and the witches being reboots of some of these Näkkis characters, with the obvious example being Nethimir, being a reboot of the Näkki queen who shares the same name. But more importantly to the topic of Ogo, the conflict of the comic centres on a group of crabs who have endangered the Näkki kingdom and Kappa having to fight their giant leader to get the crabs to leave. Sound familiar? Taking this previous plot point and also looking at the evidence I have present so far, we seem to get a clear image. Speaking of Kappa’s mission to kill this giant crab, there’s another line in season 2 that can link to this past comic. During episode 71, we get this conversation between Kappa and Mucku 
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While this knife comment is probably gonna play into Kappa’s backstory and may cause an interesting interaction between him and Siren, due to him having a knife, this dislike of knives could play into a possible parallel between Kappa and Siren when looking at what weapon Kappa was given to kill the giant crab in that Kappa comic
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A spear.
With both boys having a dislike of a weapon due to a past traumatic event and taking on a different weapon because of that, only for the weapon they take on being the one the other has a dislike for would be interesting to see. 
With season 2 taking inspiration from the Kappa comic and the evidence that has been laid out in the actual comic, I think it’s a solid conclusion to say that Kappa has to defeat or kill Ogo in a fight to break the prophecy involving him. But this brings on the question and the start of my speculation on if Kappa could actually do it. Considering he was almost crushed during their last encounter and him having no fighting experience, I doubt the witches would be okay with Kappa fighting Ogo and with his new knowledge from the god mouth, his people’s past experience with minigods and his general protectiveness of Kappa, Siren is definitely going to be even less okay with it (and that’s even before he eventually finds out about the whole Kappa almost being crushed thing). And for Kappa himself, he’s probably gonna try to go through with it due to his guilt over whatever his failed prophecy was. However, instead of just going in to do what would basically be a suicide mission, I think he’s going to work around the prophecy while still following how it was written. This idea brings me back to episode 63, with Herm explaining how minigods get their powers:
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Now how Herm has that fossil in the first place is a conversation for another day, considering the fact for them to have it, whatever minigod it was originally in would have to be dead. While I do have an idea, which happens to involve a character our dear shark boy is looking for but like I said, a conversation for another day. This line and the Kappa comic have given me some ideas on what may happen.
Kappa gets eaten by Ogo and kills him from the inside like in the Kappa comic
Kappa gets eaten by Ogo and steals the fossils inside him to take away his powers and defeat him
Kappa gets eaten by Ogo and not only kills him from the inside, but also steals the fossils inside him to take away his powers
Which event occurs will probably be based on if Kappa has to kill or just defeat Ogo, but at the moment, I’m more on option two. If does turn out to be the case, what ever option happens, our poor boy Kappa is gonna be adding ‘being eaten alive’ to the traumatic experiences card. As I have mentioned, this last section has been more of my speculations on what could possibly happen if my theory turns out to be true. 
Whatever the truth turns out to be, I’m very excited to see the rest of season 2.
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whattheheehaw · 4 years ago
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Hey I hope ur okay, all the mess that went down on twitter must've overwhelmed you. I hope you are doing well
Oof I haven’t checked Tumblr until now, but thanks for checking in on me! I’m doing well! :D
For people who don’t know what happened yesterday on Twitter, I got ratio’d/cancelled because I made a tweet about the popular trend of saying “I hate hets”. If you look for it, you can probably find a screenshot of my tweet, but basically I was stating how that joke has spiralled out of control to the point at which it’s socially acceptable to hate and harass a group of people based on their sexuality. And my conclusion to that thought was that people shouldn’t be subjected to hate and harassment based on their sexuality. I notice that a lot of people on the internet advocate for equality, but also turn around and invalidate the opinions of heterosexuals solely based on the fact that they are heterosexuals. And this raised the question: Why is it socially acceptable for me to say “I hate heterosexuals” but not “I hate homosexuals”? Where do POC, people with disabilities, and members of the trans community that are heterosexual fall upon the spectrum of “I hate hets” and “if you’re het, you’re invalid”?
In hindsight, I recognize that my tweet wasn’t worded in the best way, considering that most people interpreted it as me saying that heterosexuals are oppressed and heterophobia exists which is not true. At all. And I think a large part of that is due to the fact that tweets are limited to 280 characters and it’s difficult to bring nuance into a conversation with such a small character limit.
That being said, I think the community on Twitter is very close-minded because anything that someone says that is remotely different from the status quo is immediately shot down and clowned upon. I feel like Twitter users rely solely on their first reaction/instinct when seeing an opinion that differs from theirs, and that usually manifests in quote retweets that say “pee pee poo poo” with a little fancam attached or “you should be embarrassed”. From my short time on Twitter, the best way that I can describe it is “how can I make the snappiest comment in the shortest amount of time so the person that I’m arguing with doesn’t have a chance to make a comeback?” And for someone like me who is not succinct in her replys, this is not an ideal situation.
Looking through all of the quote retweets on my tweet, I realized that nobody had brought up a valid rebuttal of my statement. The closest comment to a valid rebuttal that I received was “you’re cishet”, which isn’t even a true statement. I dislike how Twitter uses race and sexuality as a way to discredit someone’s argument, seeing as that is a textbook example of a logical fallacy. I’ve tried to avoid talking about my sexuality online, mainly because I’m scared of someone I know finding my fandom account and outing me, but seeing as a lot of people were calling me cishet, I didn’t feel like I had any other choice than to come out on the internet as queer. I’m bisexual, and it kind of sucks how this drama was what caused me to share this information.
I think the funniest part about this Twitter drama is that people started going through my profile and looking through my tweets and retweets. Somebody found my retweet of a statement about proshipping, screenshotted it, and used that to discredit my arguments. I fail to see how proshipping is relevant to the “I hate hets” joke but I guess that’s how Twitter works. 
I still stand by my stance on proshipping, which is that people shouldn’t harass others over what someone ships. I know that there are people that ship incest and pedophilia, and as much as I hate that it happens, I acknowledge that whatever I say or do will NOT stop someone from shipping what they ship. I know some people use shipping as a coping mechanism for their trauma, and it’s not my place to decide whether or not shipping something that I find distasteful is a healthy coping mechanism for them. I just have to hope that whatever they ship doesn’t manifest into their real, personal lives. And I advocate for curating your fandom experience so you avoid seeing stuff that you don’t want to see. The block button exists for a reason, and I choose to use it liberally.
As for the weirdest part of this Twitter drama, I’d have to say that I found it odd that 20 year olds were clowning on a post made by me, a minor. This isn’t the first time that adults have taken issue with what I’ve said and put words in my mouth, telling me that I support something that I don’t. This was just the first time that it happened in the ZK fandom. And I guess this experience was a learning curve for me. I’m not going to agree with everyone in my own fandom and I should expect people to say negative things about me when they disagree with my opinions. And when this happens, I shouldn’t expect a nuanced and informed debate to occur; I should expect a quick snide remark and then a reaction image as the end of the conversation.
Frankly, I don’t care whether or not these people on Twitter hate me or talk badly about me. I’m the only person who can determine my own self worth, and I’m not about to let some anonymous people on the internet impact the way I see myself. I’m not close with these people and I don’t hold them in high esteem, considering the way they present themselves online. If these people want to spend their time “shaming” a minor and making callout posts, I’m not going to stop them. They can stay mad.
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bizlawgal · 4 years ago
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I wanted to share a prompt! Hope is ok ❤️: Emma is norman's bodyguard. And he's so cute 😳. But she has to focus because she's a professional 😎. But he's so sweet and treats her like she was a princess! But he's also super important and she needs to give the 100% to protect him. But the way he calls her, it's just... Would be people surprised if she falls for him? What would people think if she tries to take him for her 🤭😏.
This took a while. 
Here’s Lyn’s first contribution to the N/E tag for 2021 on Tumblr.
I personally enjoyed writing this because it’s so angsty, but it’s a dessert with a cherry on top for an ending. 
I. There was no fitting person for the job other than her.
With a slender built, an agile reflex, and a taste for anything below the surface of safety, she was more than willing to accept the terms and conditions that came with the job.
"Oliver tells me you're experienced in this line of work," said Ray, the person-in-charge with most of the personal bodyguards assigned to the Minerva Family. "You do know that individuals who prefer this line of work are the ones who have —"
"— nothing left to lose, I know," she continued. This line was something she had memorized long ago. "No one will be looking for me if I do lose my life somewhere along the line. I have no more family to go back to."
Her father had died a couple of years back. Incarcerated for a murder she knew he did not commit, and died a sorrowful death behind bars because of an undetected disease.
Since then, she had taken a liking to the profession of looking after people; being a bodyguard gave her a purpose to live, and another way to make amends with her helplessness.
Ray's face echoed skepticism. "As long as you won't die before the person you're in charge of, then there won't be any problems. At least during this coming election period. Your service is of utmost importance."
Emma released a deep sigh upon learning that she had finally landed this job. "Who am I in-charge of protecting?"
"The heir of the Minerva Family," he answered as he flipped through her folder full of credentials one last time. "Consider this as your first day on the job. Here's the itinerary for today. He's a very busy person but make sure you leave a good impression."
He? She had never worked as a bodyguard for any man before, but being ever-so devoted to what she did for a living, she shoved the underlying curiosity in her mind.
Emma nodded submissively as she extended her hand to claim the supposed itinerary and immediately implanted the details inside her head. The idea to process everything in an instant was something she was good at.
"Memorized it?" Ray quipped, a challenging smirk making its way to his lips.
"Yes," she beamed, "I’ve memorized it by heart."
"Do you still have any inquiries about what your job will be? About the person you're in charge of?"
She shook her head in an absolute stance. "I think I'm well-informed."
"Good, because here comes the Minerva you're in-charge of."
She heard the simultaneous clicking of heels against the marbled floors, and when the door to the room opened, she swang her head to officially meet him with a smile.
Instead of a smile on her lips, she only registered an expression of awe; lips parted in wordless wonder and eyes widened with a different kind of expectation.
He was the first to move on, reflecting the same enchantment on his face, and spoke, "You must be —"
"Emma," she supplied. "I'm Emma Mikhaylov, and starting today, I'll be your personal bodyguard, Sir Minerva."
He smiled, and she was sure that it might've made her heart twitch a bit. "It's nice to meet you, Emma. Are you aware of our itinerary for today?"
She looked over at Ray, and back at the heir. Her breath hitched upon answering. "Yes, sir."
There was one thing that Ray failed to mention.
Norman Minerva, the heir to the family of politicians, was a damn well-proportioned, good-looking man.
II.
"How are you supposed to protect me if you're the one behind the wheels?"
It was another one of his comments that initially swayed her to think that he wasn't just one of those old money brats from a political dynasty.
It had been three months of being his bodyguard, and she couldn't deny that he was suspiciously treating her better than how he did with others.
Without taking her eyes off the road, she answered, "It's my job to chaperone you, too."
He subtly scratched his head. "Do I have to spell it out for you that I want you next to me? We could've asked Ray to chaperone us, could we not?"
"Ah, but Ray is out doing his own chaperoning for your sister."
He snorted. "There is no winning that. He fancies my sister, after all."
Emma chuckled lightly. "Miss Anna is really lovely. I doubt anyone would second-guess their attraction towards her, sir."
"Emma." There was a sternness to the way he said her name that made her slightly jolt in her seat. "I've told you a thousand times to simply call me by  my name."
"It's inappro—"
"It is not," Norman sighed heavily, thinking how many times they've had this conversation. "I already told you that I do not think of you merely as my bodyguard. I simply enjoy your company and I think you know by now that I fancy you. We should try to be more casual."
This brought out another laughter from her, yet it was laced with awe and disbelief. She hoped that he couldn't see how hard she was trying to gulp down her nerves.
"That isn't part of my job description, si— Norman. What you're suggesting is highly inappropriate."
Norman raised a skeptical brow from the rearview mirror, and she tensed in her seat when his eyes bore into hers. "But you find Anna and Ray's illicit affair romantic? What makes my attraction for you different from theirs?"
Emma took a deep breath and internally reminded herself that she was a professional. This was not something she should be entangled in, especially since her sole purpose was to keep him safe until the elections were over.
She was simply thankful that they had arrived at the first one on his itinerary. "Would you look at that? We're here! Wait for me to open your door, okay?"
"Emma, you don't have to —"
She whipped her head and raised a finger. "No buts. This is my job."
It was when she got out of the car and paused for a second did she let the facade fade from her face.
Just being in the same space with him was getting harder and harder each day.
III.
It was rare for her to curse, but given the scenario they were in, it was hard not to.
"Damn election period," Emma hissed at the side, aiming the gun towards the door.  
The Minerva Estate was breached and unidentified men were detected rummaging within the massive palazzo. Ruckus could be heard from the outside of the walls, and the more it came, the more fear resonated between her fingertips.
"Emma!" Norman cried out from within the confines of his walk-in closet, drenched in his own fear and misgivings. "Let me out this instant!"
It was rare of him to question his lack of strength or physical means to pry a door open; this was one of those rare occurrences.
"No can do, Norman," she vocalized it with depth, making it known to him that there was no way she was letting him out for the sake of his safety. "Stay right there. It's for your own good."
In a hysterical voice, he rebutted, "And what about you? Why can you not hide here with me?"
She found the whole thing utterly ridiculous. "Are you insane? I'm your bodyguard, remember? It's my job to keep you safe!"
"And what will I do if you die trying to protect me?" His words were more of a plea than a question, knotting within the hollows of his stomach.
"I cannot lose you, Emma."
She hissed at the words, and begrudgingly closed her eyes before snapping her view at the walk-in closet.
"And I cannot lose you!" She almost screeched it — everything that she had been bottling inside for the sake of her sanity, eating away every bit of suppressed emotions that she carefully placed at the back of her heart. "I will not allow anything or anyone to bring you harm. I can’t let another person I care for die! This is my job —"
"Who cares about this job —"
"— and this is what I feel for you! Do I have to make it more obvious?" She gritted her teeth and sucked in what was left of her confidence and her time.
He couldn't see her face, but as she spoke, he could imagine her smiling, the one that was ever-so bright in his eyes and never wavered.
"I'm keeping you safe not only because it's my job, but also because... I love you."
The sounds of constricted breathing inside the closet kept crushing her from the inside.
"Emma, I —!"
It left him no room to speak when he heard the door to his room opened, and the succession of gunshots took place.
Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours.
Silence consumed him, yet successions of calling out her name proved no merit.
She never answered.
IV. 
"You are an idiot! An idiot, I tell you!"
Emma winced, not only for the pain inflicted on her by the graze of a bullet but also for the commotion caused by the man that had just barged through the door.
One look at him was enough of sedation for her; he was unscathed and safe.
She was about to lift herself up, gradually moving to position herself to sit on the bed, when his pair of arms reached out and enclasped her in an embrace.
His smelt of honeydew mixed with smoke, and she could feel the debris of wherever he had gotten himself into while she was asleep, against her cheek. Hearing his raspy shivered breathing against her ear struck every nerve on her body and the amount of tension on the tips of his fingers indicated that he was beyond worried for her dear life instead of his.
If they weren't surrounded by a mountain of eyes that would dare scrutinize this shared moment between then, she would've tackled him to the ground herself.
"I'm glad you're ok—"
"You idiot! Don't ever do that again!" His voice was demanding — pleading even, and seething through her skin. "I thought... I thought I lost you!"
His arms remained tightened around her, and she could only eye Ray with green eyes full of hesitancy. He only shrugged, but the way he cradled the smirk on his lips wasn't enough to deceive her.
She was merely her bodyguard.
She had no rights to him.
"Earlier," he voiced out, trembling, "You told me what you felt. What was I supposed to do inside that closet you locked me in, Emma?!"
The way he held her instigated that he no longer held any plans of letting her go.
"I wanted to keep you safe, si—"
"Do not call me 'sir'. I am simply Norman to you, and you're simply Emma to me."
His eyes are stained with unshed tears; only remorse for moments that he thought he'd never have with her again. "Will you let me hear it again?"
Emma seemed lost. "Hear what?"
His face softened with the memory. "What you told me earlier. Let me hear it once again. Let me know that it wasn't just a hallucination on my end."
That unexpected confession of hers from earlier earned her a bright, rosy blush all over her face.
"I-I have feelings for you."
Norman gave a low chuckle. "I guess that's another way of saying it. But I'm in love with you, Emma. From now on, stop being my bodyguard and simply be with me instead. Please, consider it." His smile came off sheepish. "I can't handle your constant disregard for your own safety for the sake of mine."
"B-but who's going to guard you?"
"I'll take over," Ray interjected, arms crossed over his chest. "It’s not as if I haven’t noticed the way you two have been acting for the last couple of months. Also, it's high time you stop being so reckless, Emma! You shouldn't have handled that situation all on your own. You could've called for back-up in his room!”
Emma nearly winced at Ray's reprimanding; he was right on the dot. She placed her sights on Norman and said, "But I'd still like to look after you. I've... grown to like it."
"Emma," he said her name a soft and gentle as he always had, and she knew that what would come next after her name were words meant to last a lifetime.
"I might not be as strong as you are with a gun, or as fast as you are when you run, but I'll look after you all my life, just as you'll look after mine. I’ll be your family. We’ll be a family."
Emma tried to suppress the grin on her face, but it failed spectacularly, and now she was facing him with immense joy, intertwining her fingers within his. His touch his warm and inviting, and it allowed her to further lament why she never allowed the idea of ever becoming his and him ever becoming hers.
"And we'll be equals?"
She searched his sights and he responded with the same amount of affection in his eyes; in his hold, she’d always be home.
"We were always equals."
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witchcraftingboop · 4 years ago
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Re: Jbird & RainS. (Briar) Discourse
Previously, I have spoken with the person who made very serious allegations against JBird, calling him a racist, that were then used by others to spread slander against him. They have since apologized and admitted that JBird isn't a racist, and I genuinely think there was a stark miscommunication that went on to prompt such a claim. I don't want to name them or involve them here, since I do believe they've already reflected enough on the situation at hand, and is still deeply considering the multi-faceted hornet's nest of problems they've stumbled upon.
However, in light of the blatant dismissal and refusal to submit actual proof against the two, I feel as if I should share the information I offered this person before.
If you are basing your arguments against Jbird and Briar off of the previous, separate Discord group discussions of Trio & co. - screenshots of which have been, and continue to be spread years later, by Prim - then I especially implore you to be open to what I have to say. As a third party to this continually and rapidly spiralling debacle, I feel like there's not much I can say or do to assist my friends in being heard, but I feel as if I ought to try. Prim's following is large and actively prepared to follow her "do not interact even to ask questions" policy, so I worry it may be too late already. But I am not without hope or faith.
Tumblr is, unfortunately, a place where hate spreads rapidly, and while I do love the broad community it fosters, I am also aware that, even with the best of folks, it is hard to see the side of someone you've already decided is guilty and not worth approaching for an explanation.
First and foremost, I believe in innocence until proven guilty.
Now then! Onto my offered commentary/input! (Sorry to prattle on so much.)
To start, thedesertgod, also known as Trio, did go through and look for her personal information, which is messed up. But that person has already apologized, if I'm remembering correctly, and left Tumblr. And the other main user who helped spread information about Prim being a race faker also admitted wrong and left. The others in the chat, particularly Mystic and Ronan appear to just be making jokes and stating factual informative summaries, respectively. E-muete also said "ok no" after the Dolezal comment, which is a common "no that's too far a comparison/joke/statement" substitute among their forums and chats and often means they don't actually agree with what they themselves said. Ruby also politely reminds Trio that it's impossible to tell someone's race off of their appearance alone. So what I see here is definitely problematic, but entirely on Trio's part. I'm not saying it's not screwed up to find pictures of someone's parents and debate their race, but the persons who did those things have already left the Tumblrsphere.
Unfortunately, the people you've pointed out don't have a good history with Prim even before the whole "Trio nitpicking her race" thing. Prim used to follow more than a few of them and use their posts to fuel her platform, oftentimes creating uninformed mish-mosh articles with a voice of authority that simply wasn't warranted. As I'm sure you're aware, it's hard enough dealing with people stealing your content word for word, but to attempt to steal your knowledge? Your initiations and rites of passage? And use them to sell yourself as a master of a breadth of practices? The tradcrafters of that particular circle decided to band together and block her from interacting with them directly for that very reason. And because of that, Prim started telling her followers that they are all racist and elitist and ableist and gatekeepers. These terms over the years have become almost like triggers in that once they're said, everyone seems to put on a blindfold and fall into a frenzied rage. And to be fair, Prim is far too quick, in my opinion, to bring up racism as the reason others disagree with her. Most times, I've noticed at least, that if she calls someone racist or says they're unsupportive of POC, she nearly immediately brings up BLM activism in her posts or reblogs. I'm not saying I necessarily support calling all of her activistic inclinations performative, but where the tradcradt group she calls racist is more than willing to talk of and show proof of their contribution, Prim never has and avoids it if asked. I can see both sides, really. But the fact remains that calling someone performative in their actions, does not a racist make. Neither, in my opinion, does interacting with people who are assumed (without real and concrete proof) to be racist.
I can appreciate where you're coming from; honestly, I can. People have grown accustomed to hearing the prefix trad- and preparing for the worst. Racism is a systematic and prevailing problem in the society all around us, so it makes sense to be on the lookout for it. You want to protect yourself and your community. I can understand your sentiments perfectly. But I cannot support "guilty by association" viewpoints. As a WOC who grew up in some rough areas, I have seen boys killed under that very same reasoning. Jbird is a good friend of mine, and I have never questioned his morals or ethics. I have seen no sign of my being looked down upon for the color of my skin, nor anyone else who runs in that very same circle.
What I see is what I see in a lot of faces on this hellsite: hurt. Before Trio and after Trio left, the tradcraft community has been slandered and ostracized. They have shut themselves off to outsiders for the very thing you've done to Jbird just yesterday. They hold their secrets closer than most other communities now because persecution is seemingly forever at their door. On Prim's end too, there has been struggle and pain and needless arguing and hurt. If those you approach seem prickly, it is often because the world has roughened their edges, not because they personally are against you.
I asked for a couple examples from the group and one person (I'll keep them anonymous because I didn't confirm they'd like their name here) said: she has talked about saint magic (trio), hadean pamphlet (trio), hubris (Ruby), fairies, trad craft shit (Mahigan among others), etc etc
From what I personally have seen, her most recent was the Witch Fire podcast. A few tradcraft blogs had a debate/discussion about Witch Fire and its traditional eurocentric foundations in witchcraft not that long ago, and then Prim decided to put out a podcast that was so uninformed, I'm still worried about how younger or newer witches might be hurt by it.
Unfortunately the tradcraft community is vulnerable to that kind of thing [being called names or falsely accused] and an easy target. That's why being called those kind of harsh words - like gatekeeping, elitist, racist, and ableist - are met with so much anger from them. I take it very seriously because I've seen the kind of whiplash it has, especially on such a closed off group.
[A Reply.] Yeah no, Prim "apologizes" by talking about how she's been previously given a hard time with interjections of "but please don't go around spreading hate" and never directly apologizes to the tradcrafter in such posts. Unfortunately, her "apology" did more harm than good. I was hoping she'd just ignore it but . . . This tends to happen too 🤦‍♀️
I think that if both sides were able to approach it as openmindedly as you have, there would be a lot less drama and in-fighting on this app 😩 I really did enjoy talking with you though!
That just about covers everything I'd like to say on the matter.
I do not condone spreading hate, just as I don't condone misinformation or blind allegiance to what one person says. So if you can respectfully and openmindedly address your questions/comments/concerns, I don't see why you can't interact with Briar, Jbird, or myself. I understand it's easy to get caught up in the first perspective you're given, but it is my hope that Witchblr as a whole can be more open to hearing both sides of the story. Blindly blocking and cancelling certain bloggers is something I don't support nor encourage. I understand Prim must be tired of addressing all of the drama that churns around her, so I won't speak as to what her reasoning could be for suggesting such a solution. I'm simply stating what I hope for the community as a whole.
| | Note: The statements above were written early (I think, my sense of time is off) yesterday, and as of yet, I have still seen no concrete evidence that Briar or Jbird have ever made racist comments. On Briar's part, I have seen her observation that activism on a performative platform such as Tumblr can come off as performative, but she never once said she doesn't know or see why Prim would support and promote BLM activism. Something I think was misconstrued and lumped all together to sound as if she thought Prim were faking her contributions altogether. | |
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piracytheorist · 4 years ago
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A Kiss for Good Luck (10/15)
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Summary: So this is the story of one born lucky, and one born unlucky. Fate will keep making them cross paths, but is it to bring them together, or to test them? Captain Swan AU.
Rating: T (make sure you’re okay with the warnings on AO3)
Word count for this chapter: 4.9k (50k in total) AO3
Read from the beginning: Tumblr | AO3
~
Chapter 10: Killian Jones, October 19th 2015 – May 19th 2016
Killian only holds back because Emma does; if she gave him any indication, he'd be really reaching into the kiss. She pulls back gently, her cheeks having gone slightly red.
He directs his eyes back into hers to distract himself from the fact that she either enjoyed the kiss a lot, or didn't enjoy it at all. He's about to smile at her when he sees Eloise from the corner of his eye and turns to her. She's looking at them with her typical cold expression that hides a ton of judgement underneath.
He swallows his sigh for Emma's sake; he's so tired of Eloise and her everything. He shrugs at her casually. Did she actually expect something from him?
And if she did, does he care anymore?
He turns back to Emma. “Don't worry,” he says, hoping Eloise's appearance didn't dampen the mood, and a thought jumps into words before he has the time to stop it. "Wanna add me on Facebook? It's Killian Jones, if, if you're interested...” To do what? Find something to tell her, find something! “We can share favourite songs."
Emma snorts, amused. "Like we're in high school?"
He doesn't have the best memories from high school, but he remembers enough about that awkwardness to know he feels similarly now. "I won't stalk you if you don't add me, just saying."
His stomach nearly does a flip when Emma smirks at him. She reaches into her belt bag and takes out her phone, which immediately slips from her fingers.
"Shit," she says. When she picks it up, they both can see that the screen cracked a bit. "Shit!"
"Oh. I feel as if I've caused that." As if he hasn't made things awkward enough.
Emma shakes her head. "It's replaceable. Don't worry. Killian Jones, you said?"
His chest feels warm at the sound of his full name in her voice. He should stop her; even in the slightest chance that she's actually interested, he's not the best person for any kind of connection.
But Emma is quick with her phone and says, "Friend request sent,” and he nearly leans down to kiss her again. “So we can chat about hot, new releases," she adds, still sounding amused.
He's about to ask for her last name. His battery is dying and he probably won't have the time to open the app before his phone turns off, and now that she did add him, his curiosity is skyrocketing.
"Hey," an older woman calls at Emma from the side. The woman looks at him with a slightly cautious glare, and looks a bit alike with Emma.
"Coming," Emma tells her. "So, we'll keep in touch," she tells him, actually pointing at him with her phone.
He just smiles in response, giving her a slight wave goodbye.
Watching them leave, his eye catches Eloise pouting, keeping her arms folded and staring at him from afar. He snorts and takes out his phone, impatient to accept Emma's request and find out her full name.
Instead of the Facebook app, he accidentally opens the camera, just as Klaus Meine walks right by him. He sees Killian, phone in hand, stops walking, and smiles.
"S-Selfie?" is all Killian can say, shocked.
He doesn't even see Eloise walk furiously towards him, his eyes fixed on the perfect selfie he got with the lead singer of the group they just watched perform.
"What was all that about?" Eloise says upon reaching him.
Killian looks at her, retort ready. "That was me taking a selfie with Klaus Fucking Meine."
Eloise scoffs. "You were kissing that bitch."
"Oh, come on,” he taunts her. “You're just jealous you didn't get a selfie."
"I'm serious," she says, her 's' whistling through her teeth.
"Serious? About what? We're just fucking, and you know that. You treat me like a piece of meat and you expect full commitment on my side? Maybe you're thinking of the wrong woman as a 'bitch'."
Eloise is speechless. And he is suddenly feeling powerful.
"You know what? Fuck that. We're done. You drive back to Brighton, I'm not gonna put up with a return trip if you're involved."
"And what are you gonna do?" she spits back at him.
"We're right in the center of town. I can afford to stay in a hotel for one night." He starts leaving.
"It's late! You'll get charged double!" She hasn't even taken a step towards him – she's waiting for him to go back to her.
She can wait all she wants.
He turns towards her, walking backwards. "I don't give a bloody damn," he tells her, then turns forward and leaves.
He leaves her.
How did he forget how calmer his nights are without her? The receptionist doesn't even charge him double – they'd just prepared a room that got cancelled last minute, and providing Killian leaves on time the next morning, it's just the standard price.
The room is nice, yet his mind is still going back to Eloise.
Damn, he left her. He made it.
And all because Emma was bold enough to kiss a damn perfect stranger.
He picks up his phone, now connected to a charger the hotel offered. Emma's friend request is right at the top of his notifications.
He smiles as he accepts.
His first day away from Eloise brings to the forefront how their relationship was way, way more than sex, only in a bad way. How he'd go to sleep some nights, nearly shaking with despair to go buy a bottle and with fear that Eloise wouldn't react well to him doing that. How that bled through to other parts about his life, how he had let her control it, and how she jumped at the chance to do so. He has a full day on his own to reflect on his thoughts and worries with a clear mind.  
It ends on one conclusion; reconciling with family.
Nemo greets him back with open arms, and though Shakespeare keeps a collected face, he embraces Killian warmly too.
He spends the night there, falling asleep at the sight of his old drawings on the wall of his old bedroom. He hasn't picked up a pencil in some time...
Nemo doesn't ask anything the next morning. He's just happy Killian is back and willing to connect, and gets him to try playing chess with him, his new hobby. Killian doesn't even have the nerve to joke about Nemo's apparent mid-life crisis.
Once again, he's being more than Killian deserves. But maybe, once again, Killian can work towards being a man deserving of that love.
Before lunch, he's found himself with a picture of a forest landscape open on his phone, sketching from reference, when he receives a video call from Emma.
His heart speeds up. His hand is shaking slightly as he picks up the phone and looks at the screen, itching to tap “Accept”. He runs to the bathroom, making sure he's presentable, then back at his room, settles on his chair and accepts the call.
Her face fills the screen, and he gives her a cocky smile. She looks fresh from sleep; a different sight from the one in the concert, but what a sight still.
“Good morning,” he says. Is it? “Or afternoon? Have you gone back yet?”
“Yeah,” Emma says, smiling wide, “I arrived last night.”
“How was your trip?”
“A bit more tiring than I'm used to. But safe.”
“Than you're used to? You do it often?”
Emma explains about her extended family in Norway, her visits there a few times a year, and being used to long flights.
He finds himself feeling a little jealous. The only two times he travelled abroad brought years of bad fortune on him.
Emma definitely seems to hold something back, but he pays no mind; his closet has no fewer skeletons. They start chatting about music and end up talking about their plans for the holidays.
Time flies by and it's only when he hears Nemo call for lunch that he realizes they've been talking for an hour.
Bloody hell, he thinks, why do they have to eat so early?
He excuses himself, telling her he'll see her soon, and he can't help noticing how she seems to be holding back something again. He hopes he didn't disappoint her, and ends the call.
He looks at her name on his screen and he nearly taps it to call her again.
He locks his phone and puts it down. Wait a few days, give her time, he thinks.
He goes back to his apartment that same evening, and there's a box of the stuff he kept at Eloise's place. He checks the drawers he kept for her, and they're empty as well. Eloise's spare key is inside the box, with a note for him to not bother with his spare key of her place, as she'll be changing the locks.
He actually feels surprised. That's really mature of her, and he doesn't have to see her again.
Maybe that's what she wants too. Better for both of them.
Before he goes to sleep he starts looking for therapists, and though he doesn't contact anyone yet, he considers it a step towards the right direction. He'll get there.
He calls Emma three days later, and before he's even noticed it, they develop a schedule, chatting two times a week. He wishes to talk to her more often, but he still sees the reserved expression he knows too well on her face, and he knows she needs time. Of course, half the time it's her calling him, and she participates in conversation as much as he does.
She wants it, he knows. She's just taking it slow, and if he's honest, he needs slow too. What he had with Eloise may have led to him meeting Emma, but it still had an impact on him – and not that long after he lost the woman he loved, too.
The same afternoon he makes an appointment with a new therapist – and dreading it, considering the pile of information he'd have to give them – he gets a call from an unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Is this Killian Jones?”
“Who is it?”
“My name is George Rogers, I'm a private detective. Could you confirm your name, please?”
The detective is looking into Milah's murder. He's – lawfully – found suspicious contacts between Gold, his false witnesses and two now convicted criminals in the States, and he's opening her case. Killian's case too, considering he was assaulted as well.
Killian can barely speak. He'd lost all hope that Gold would receive any judgement from anyone but Killian himself. He thought he'd just have to live with the burden that Milah's murderer walks the streets free until he would grow desperate enough to get a gun and kill him himself.
He agrees to meet with the detective at his office and he looks at his phone when he hangs up, catching his shocked expression on the reflection, unable to even close his mouth.
When Killian opens the door to Rogers' office, he freezes as he sees the man.
Rogers just gives him a warm smile. “Mr. Jones.” Then he nods at Killian's stunned silence. “I know.”
The resemblance is uncanny; Rogers has a few grey streaks and more wrinkles, so Killian feels as if he's looking into what he'll look like about ten years from now. Physically, at least.
Rogers has acquired the testimony Killian gave when he was still at the hospital, and is trying to piece the crime together and prove the two convicted criminals are the two bodyguards Gold had hired that fateful day. With a bit of luck and skill, he can lead them to a confession. They're already in prison and it seems that Gold's finances haven't been going well lately. If he hasn't been keeping his false witnesses content, they may not be hard to persuade.
Rogers excuses himself for a moment, and Killian looks dumbfounded at the chessboard Rogers has set on his desk. Nemo didn't pick the habit up, but Killian did. He starts playing on his own, trying to distract himself from the pile of questions for Rogers and the anxiety that is building up. He doesn't want to let himself hope for Gold's arrest; he won't be able to deal with the result of the case going cold again.
“Do you play?” Rogers asks, nodding at the board.
Killian shrugs. “I started a few weeks ago. I play a bit online to...” He looks up at him, still a bit shocked at their physical resemblance. “You said you opened this case. Why?”
Rogers sits down at his desk. “It's my job. I was hired to look into it.”
“By whom?”
“Confidentiality, mate. I was looking Gold up, and after some digging I found out you had accused him for murder and assault.”
“I tried.”
Rogers shakes his head. “That bastard's a few million pounds away from starting a bloody mob. Hiring a few false witnesses is a piece of cake for him. Unfortunately for him, he can't cover all his sources and expenses. Questions start piling; where did he get all that money, and where are they going to? Especially now that his businesses are supposed to be failing.”
Rogers can't promise anything, but he looks determined to do his best. Killian doesn't allow himself any hope. He focuses on his life; going back to work with Shakespeare, finding a new AA group, starting therapy again, and talking to Emma.
He doesn't realize how much he's changing his own life until Emma points out that he told her once he's an early bird, yet there he is at two in the morning his time, chatting with her. And indeed, Shakespeare was willing to give him a late shift, but Killian didn't mind it that much either. He shifts the conversation to her choice of snack, making a sour face at the pop-tart in her hand.
“How can you eat that thing? It's like sugar-coated sugar,” he teases her.
Emma laughs, saying it's European candies that need a good dose of sugar instead.
With Christmas approaching, Rogers takes time off officially but keeps doing some work from home, and he calls Killian one evening to discuss some details about his testimony.
Killian finds a taxi fast, which manages to avoid all traffic and red lights and he arrives early at Rogers'. He's in a bathrobe and his hair is wet when he opens his door.
“You're early,” he says. “Come in.”
Killian steps in, immediately noticing the girl sitting cross-legged in front of a coffee table, playing chess.
“That's my daughter, Alice. Perhaps she can teach you a couple tricks,” Rogers says, smiling. “I'll be back in a minute.” He disappears behind a door.
“Wow,” Alice says, looking at him. “You do look like papa. He told me so but I didn't believe him.” She turns innocently to her chessboard.
A lump forms in Killian's throat; neither he nor Rogers commented much on their resemblance, but with another person so close to Rogers pointing it out, he can't help the possibilities that fill his thoughts. His deadbeat father had already left two children; what would one more before them change anything?
Could it really be?
“Can I ask you something?” Killian asks when Rogers is done with his questions. “How old are you?”
Rogers looks a bit taken aback. “Forty-five. Why?”
Thirteen years older than him. Which means his father would've been fourteen when Rogers was born. Unlikely, but still...
“Were you born here?”
Rogers sits back in his chair, his eyebrow raised. “Actually, I was born in Seattle, but my folks moved us back to Plymouth when I was five.” He pauses. “Are you curious...” he points between their faces.
Killian shrugs, but relaxes. The possibility of his father, at thirteen years old, travelling to Seattle and impregnating a woman are downright impossible.
“I was also curious, when I found your file and saw your picture. But I see a lot of people in my line of work, and trust me, there is a notable number of almost twins out there.”
Feeling comforted, but still vulnerable, Killian confesses. “It's just... my father was not much of a parent. I wouldn't put it past him to have another child he never mentioned to us.”
“I understand. I can assure you, though, it's just a coincidence.”
“It's also that... my mother's name was Alice.” He smiles at that, though.
“Oh. That is peculiar. But I simply liked the name for my daughter, and it's not like it's a super rare name.” He then turns to look at the clock as a thunder rumbles somewhere not too far. “I'll be making some dinner, would you like to stay?”
“No, it's alright.”
“You can either help, if you want, or keep Alice company as she teaches you tricks.” Rogers rubs at Alice's back, who has come to stand next to her father.
“How long has she been playing?”
“Since before I could read,” she says, proudly crossing her arms.
Killian smiles at her.
“For real,” Rogers says. “She was still in preschool when I started teaching her. That's more than six years of experience.”
“Which is why I always beat you,” Alice tells him.
Killian stands up. “Then I have no hope against you. Thanks for the offer, but you've already done enough.”
“Come on, mate, it's pouring rain outside.”
Killian smiles a little wider. “I have a good feeling about it.”
Indeed, the rain slows to a drizzle and the taxi he calls arrives quickly.
Most of his nights for the past four years have been plagued by the thought that he'd never see Gold pay for his crimes. He had a few nights of blissful calm, either brought by alcohol or the occasional good time the last couple months, but this is the first night that he feels at least relieved. Not confident or hopeful, yet; he knows better than that.
Emma confesses to him that she won't be spending Christmas with her extended family and that she lied to her friends so that they wouldn't cancel their plans for her sake.
He sneakily looks into flights for Boston while he's still on chat with Emma; a cold dread spreads in him when he's reminded of what both his trips to the States caused him.
He goes to bed very late that night, hating himself. Emma needs someone to spend the holidays with, she wants someone, and he's too afraid of his own superstitions to be that someone for her. And the worst part is, he used to be lucky. He knows what's it like to throw caution to the wind and still everything coming out fine. It's the first time in four years that he's started to feel that things have started going well. He's too afraid to push his luck.
He resorts to sending her a collection of his favourite seashells that he's gathered over the years as a gift. He's happy to hear it arrives in time, and he has a celebratory video chat with Emma on Christmas day, going along with her and her pop-tarts.
He regrets not going to Boston, or at least offering to help pay her tickets so she could come visit him, when it's New Years Eve and he has to show a happy face for his family while he knows Emma is all alone.
Just two hours before midnight his time, he takes Nemo's car and manages to find an open toy store. The owner says Killian is the luckiest bastard of the year, as he was about to close for the night. Killian buys a confetti cannon, thanks him, and wishes him a happy new year.
He allows himself exactly two hours of celebrating with his family before he goes to bed. He wakes up at half past four and sets everything up for a surprise celebration for Emma, checking at least three times that he's got his timezones right and it's still before midnight in Boston.
He starts calling her at quarter to five, but she's not online. Then again at ten to five. When she doesn't answer at five to five, he sends her an SMS to turn her WiFi on. As he waits for her to become active, he prepares to tease her for falling asleep on the one night most people want to stay up. He sets into a smug face and calls her immediately after her dot turns green.
His face falls when she accepts his call and he sees her tear-stained face, broken by a sorrowful expression.
“Oh, Swan,” he says.
Emma bursts into sobs. He waits for her, he doesn't give a damn if they miss the countdown, they can do one of their own. As long as Emma is alright.
As her sobs slow down, he feels tears in his own eyes. How he wishes he could reach over and hold her.
What a coward he was. When she wipes away her tears, he gives a silent promise to never let her experience anything like that again.
“Thank you,” Emma says.
Killian looks at the clock he's set up. “It's thirty seconds now. Do you want me to count with you?”
“Yes, please.”
He sees the smile on his preview turn more cheerful.
Emma looks at him, her smile widening as the seconds go down, contrasting her red and puffy eyes.
Killian pops the confetti cannon, but his eyes never leave her reflection. “Happy New Year!” he says.
“You stayed up,” she says.
“I... woke up,” he admits. “I mean, I went to sleep a bit early, and even I would say two is early for New Year's, so I snuck in a few hours of sleep before the alarm went off.”
Her face is so vulnerable, and the wish to hold her overwhelms him.
“Thank you. Thank you so much,” she says.
“I wouldn't forgive myself if I let you change the year alone.” Nor if I let it happen again. “Especially after you told me what you didn't tell your friends. Losing a bit of sleep is nothing.”
He has a whole array of snacks prepared for his late night with her, but he sets it aside when she says that all she has is the few pop-tarts left from Christmas.
She seems to love them so much. “Perhaps I chose the wrong flavor,” he says. “If I visit Boston one day you'll get me all kinds and I'll taste them all.”
He almost says 'when' instead of 'if'. But he has to be rational; financially he cannot yet support a trip, and he owes Emma an honest promise only when it's possible.
There's not much he's wanted from life; and by now he's learned to not push for more than he has. But is it too much to think that he's in love with her? That he's reminded what it feels like, to feel his heart full of love and not thirsty for revenge?
Is it too much to hope he can have something with her?
He makes himself some coffee, determined to stay with her until she falls asleep. Her eyes are drooping closed when he takes the phone to the window, to show her the lighter blue streak of the early sunrise. Her eyes are already closed when he sits back and sings Auld Lang Syne to her. When the song ends, he lets a few seconds go by before he calls her name once.
When there's no response, he ends the call and sends her “Happy new year, love,” in text.
The new year arrives promising. Only three days in, Rogers calls him to tell him one of Gold's fake witnesses confessed.
Killian needs to attend two sets of trials; one for Milah's murder, and one for the assault against him. Both are draining, but Nemo is beside him, and Killian bursts into tears when Gold gets life sentence.
He thinks about Milah's boy, Jack; he's barely fifteen years old, and he's dealing with what Killian had hoped he never would; seeing one – or in his case, probably both – of his parents as a monster. Gold had remarried; right after divorcing him, Belle, his now second ex-wife, was the one who had hired Rogers to look into Gold. She attested against Gold in the trial, but she seemed to care a lot for the boy.
Three weeks later he hears that Belle took custody of Jack. Killian is sure the boy hates him already; all he can do is hope his stepmother will care and provide for him.
His heart had stopped aching for revenge, but that doesn't mean it's not relieved that a murderer who chose to ruin him is now behind bars.
And with Emma, it soars. Through those emotionally taxing months, talking to her is his one constant.
Before either he or Emma realize it, their chats become a daily habit, even when there's little to say. Sometimes they just synchronize their Netflix to watch something together. Sometimes just each other's presence there on the phone screen is enough while doing housework.
Killian has completely switched to late shift at Shakespeare's boat rental, so that he can stay up late and talk with Emma after she's done with her shift.
For years, his mind was consumed with thoughts of revenge. His consciousness felt lighter, but his heart still felt empty after Gold was convicted. With Emma, he remembers how it feels like to care for someone that way, the way he did before Gold took that away from him.
Emma is in no way a replacement for Milah; but he knows it's time he moved on, and he can see in her someone he can do that with. Someone he can be happy with. Milah would want him to be happy, as he would want that for her.
Killian shares the story of his family slowly coming apart; his mother dying, his father leaving, and the final straw when his brother died. He tells her how he was nearly lost himself, how he has no idea where he'd be if Nemo hadn't, quite literally, saved him.
Emma shares her story of growing up an orphan, of being adopted and finally feeling she belonged, until her adopted mother was deported and she had to fend for herself, resorting to trusting the wrong person.
It's yet another time that Killian wishes he could reach into the screen and hold her. It could've been him, the one who trusted the wrong person and lost everything. And Emma is still standing on her feet.
He tells her about Eloise, she tells him about having done time – which makes her current standing even more admirable. Where would he be if his lawyer hadn't managed to get him on probation for breaking and entering on that stupid, desperate night?
He tells her about staying off of alcohol. How he'd thought he'd never stay clean for good. What he doesn't tell her is that it happened to be that he got the strength to keep up his sobriety just after he met her.
He loves her, he knows that. And he doesn't think lightly of their kiss at the concert, but he's not sure she's ready to hear she's had such a positive impact in his life.
And all because he was cheerful enough to hum a song and Emma happened to hear it.
With his emotions muddled by the trial, the stress, the anticipation for the results, and eventually the worry for Milah's son, he is surprised to realize it's late April and he can afford much, much more than a trip to Boston, thanks to the eighty thousand pounds he got from Gold as compensation for losing his hand.
He chooses to not wait too long for Emma. He wants her, and he wants to be good enough for her. Even though he'll need time for that, and he feels she's not ready for anything too quick either, he feels excited to meet her again.
When he tells her he's thinking of visiting her in May, she immediately offers her place for him to stay at.
His heart soars, he smiles widely – and Emma's connection cuts off.
When she comes back in, her smile reflects his. It's a relieving conversation that night, to tell each other that they want something more, but that they both need to take things slow. And one first visit can clear the path, so to speak.
He's still slightly nervous to get on the plane; he treated himself to a first class seat, however – not provoking karma by sneaking into someone else's unclaimed seats this time – and he's surprised to be awaken by a flight attendant when they've already landed at Logan Airport. There were apparently disturbances that delayed landing for an hour, and he slept peacefully through it all.
He turns on his phone and he feels a little relieved seeing Emma's message that she would have to be late. At least she wasn't left to wait for him.
He spots her as soon as the automatic doors leading out of arrivals open. She smiles and waves at him.
When they embrace, his chest feels lighter than it's felt in years. He pulls back and looks at her calm, happy face, then his gaze drops to her lips.
She closes her eyes when she pulls up to give him a peck.
~
(A/N: Finally, things start happening! And not just with them getting together at last!)
14 notes · View notes
peterspideyy · 5 years ago
Text
just a fan
summary- what’s the worse that can happen when tom stumbles upon your fan account on tumblr?
warnings- fluff, swear words, sexual comments?
Tumblr media
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tom didn’t know how he got onto tumblr. you can’t blame him though. quarantine has got him doing stuff he’s never thought of doing before. he was on tumblr, reading fanfiction. or more specifically, fanfiction about him.
if his mates saw what he was doing, they would never let him live it down. he wouldn’t if one of them was doing it. but, something about how millions of people wrote about him made him so intrigued. he’s addicted.
his favourite ones are the stories about his characters. mainly peter parker. it reminds him of how he was like in high school. socially awkward around his crush. rambling when nervous. everything people where saying, was spot on.
see when tom finds something, he doesn’t stop. so, he must of read thousands of imagines across millions of accounts. every second of the day, whenever tom found time, he was on tumblr, reading. he actually made an account (without giving away who he was) to follow and like his favourite accounts and stories. he jumped around numerous of blogs, until he found yours.
something about yours, intrigued tom. the way your wrote about him, captivated his attention. how you described his actions and feelings, made tom swoon in awe at you. he was falling in love with a tumblr account. and he didn’t know your name. unless your name was ilovetomholland, based off your username.
so, tom did what any normal guy would do. he texted you. tom has done some pretty nerve wracking things in his life, but texting you was the most nerving.
hey :) i love your account!
tom sighed. is this a good first impression? according to your caption, you were 22. but, you could be saying that. minutes went by, and a notification went off. it couldn’t be. tom scrambled to unlock his phone to see if you replied.
hey! thank you so much, that’s so sweet of you!
it was you. you replied.
no worries, i’m stanley by the way!
tom laughed. hopefully, you won’t find out who he is.
i’m y/n!
weeks passed, and you and ‘stanley’ had became internet best friends, by sharing your love for marvel and tom. well, maybe only you loved tom. but you didn’t have to know that, you were infact texting tom holland.
tom does feel bad. whenever, you text about how much you love tom holland, he whinces. he can’t imagine, the amount of embarrassment and pain you will feel when you find out that you’ve been texting your favourite actor all this time.
there’s been so many times, when he has typed out ‘funny you say that, because i am tom holland’, with his finger hovering over the send button, but quickly deleting it. so many times, he’s wanted to tell you the truth. but it’s nice. it’s nice to talk to someone, who doesn’t know who you really our. to you, ‘stanley’ is a normal person. tom likes that.
months passed, and you and tom have became extremely close. the coronavirus has gone, and you really want to meet ‘stanley’. tom does too, but he’s scared on your reaction.
“mate, i forgot to tell you, but my cousin is coming in today, and she’s bringing her friend with her. they’re both going to be staying with us for a week or so.” harrison spoke, bringing tom out of his thoughts about you.
“oh, that’s fine,” tom replied, not really caring about what his best mate was saying, “what do they look like?”
harrison scrolled for a bit, clearly trying to find a photo of the two people, while tom waited for a reply from you.
“here they are.” harrison spoke, holding his phone towards tom.
tom looked up briefly, “oh they’re nice- WAIT!”
he couldn’t believe it. you were the friend. it was you. of course, over the months of talking you have sent photos of you, while tom sent photos of random people from instagram. sounds bad but, what else could he do?
“wait, you know y/n?” harrison questioned, pointing at you on the screen. tom sighed heavily. maybe this was the time he told harrison what he’s been doing.
“so, you have been reading fan fiction about yourself, and found this blog and y/n runs it? and you’ve been texting for months? does she know who you are?” harrison finally spoke, after taking in all the information tom just said.
“yes, yes, and no.”
“mate, you’ve gotta tell her!” harrison shouted in disbelief, shaking tom to get him to realise what he needs to do.
“she’ll be shocked enough when she comes here, and see’s me! does she even know i live with you?”
“well, not exactly. i don’t think she knows i live here either.”
“so she’s going to a place where she doesn’t even know who lives there?”
“can’t be worse than speaking to her for months, and not knowing who they are texting!” harrison shouted back.
“fine, you win.” tom exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
harrison laughed, “of course my cousin knows who i am, but i think if she tells y/n then she will act all weird y’know? especially when she finds out her favourite actor and his best friend is going to be at the house they’re living in.”
“when is she coming?” tom inquired, bitting the inside of his cheek.
“err, tonight?” harrison mumbled, unsure on how tom was going to react.
“TONIGHT?!” the actor exclaimed, tugging at his hair slightly. he couldn’t believe this.
“more like, in a couple of hours?”
“you’ve got to be shitting me! why have you only told me about this, now?!”
“i forgot!” harrison responded, shrugging slightly.
tom groaned loudly, leaving the living room to go to his bedroom. what will your reaction be? will you find out that he’s stanley? his thoughts got stopped, when a notification went off. he looked at his phone, to see that you texted him.
you’ll never believe what’s happening! i’m going to be landing in london in a few hours! hopefully we’ll see each other ;)
tom gulped. you certainly will see each other.
hours passed, and tom was pacing around the living room, nervously. harrison sat on the couch, watching his best friend, literally fall to pieces.
“tom, i’m not joking, if you walk around one more time i’m going to knock you out.” harrison joked, but it was laced with seriousness. tom huffed, sitting beside him.
ding dong
”harrison, i can’t do this.” tom panicked, shaking slightly as he stood up going to the window. there you where. standing outside his house.
“just go and answer the fucking door!” harrison belted, jumping up and down. he was so excited to see how you would react.
tom glared at him, before unlocking the door with a big smile on his face, “hey!”
when you saw who opened the door, you couldn’t believe your eyes. the tom holland was in front of you. you couldn’t breath. this can’t be happening right now. never in a million years, would you expect to see him. sure, you were hoping to casually meet him in the streets in london, but never ever in the house you were staying.
“hey tom! hi harrison!” your friend spoke, giving them both hugs while you stood there, with your mouth open wide.
“you must be y/n?” tom spoke, trying to hide his nerves from you and to hide the fact that he knows you personally.
“y-yes. and you’re, tom holland.” you laughed in disbelief, giving your friend the look.
“sorry to disappoint you.” tom stuttered.
“not disappointed at all, just shocked i guess.” you smiled, awkwardly hugging tom and harrison like what your friend did.
you both went inside, while harrison gave you both a house tour and said where you were sleeping for the next week or so. you and your friend both unpacked, while you were literally freaking out to her that you and tom holland were in the same house. tom heard the whole conversation, from the hallway, smiling to himself. maybe he won’t tell you about ‘stanley’, until the week is up.
ding
tom jumped, when his phone boomed a notification. he quietly looked at his phone, to see you texted him.
you will never believe who i’m living with!
“hello?” you spoke into the hallway.
“h-hi y/n!” tom replied, waving slightly.
“your phone went off as soon as i texted someone you know.” you laughed, still in shock that you were talking to tom holland. you were both so engrossed in each other, you never noticed that your friend left.
“y-yeh. instagram.” he replied awkwardly. hopefully you won’t think much of it? you smiled slightly, before typing on your phone again. shit.
tom’s phone went off again as soon as you hit send. you looked at him, confusion wrote all over your face, causing tom to blush massively.
“p-probably instagram again!” he mumbled.
you typed again, keeping your eyes on him, while you clicked send again. when you heard tom’s phone go off again, you gasped.
“y-your, i-it’s you?” you couldn’t form words. embarrassment filled you instantly, covering your whole body. you wanted to cry, at how stupid you have been. the amount of times you said ‘i want tom holland to raw me’ makes you cringe massively.
“right y/n, i can explain.” tom gulped. this wasn’t going to end well.
“n-no, i think i need some air.” you whined, briskly walking out of the door, to go into the garden.
“y/n! wait.” tom immediately followed after you, while you ignored him. tears threatened to fall, as you were hit with sunlight. you walked over to the swing, sitting down with your head in your hands.
“y/n? i’m so so sorry,” tom whispered, sitting down next to you, “i-i don’t know how i got onto reading imagines. or how i found you. but, i’m so glad i did. over time, i’ve fell in love with you. i’ve fell in love with how you write. i’ve fell in love with how you speak about me, without you knowing. i’ve fell in love with you. i know, i’m not stanley. but, it’s been so so nice and refreshing to talk to someone who doesn’t use me because of my fame. i know you won’t use me, but you wouldn’t of acted like yourself if you knew who i was. i wanted to tell you sooner, but when i found out you were coming, i was planning to tell you on your last night. but, i’m so glad you found out now. do you forgive me, darling?”
you sat up, cupping tom’s face before leaning in to kiss him deeply. tom melted at your touch. you pulled away, biting your lip as you lost yourself in his hazel eyes.
“i forgive you tom. but, i’m just so embarrassed! i said some weird shit about you.”
“it’s alright! it was quite funny actually.” tom replied, before smiling widely at you, leaning in to kiss you again. but, you stopped him.
“oh and, i love you too, stanley and tom.” you beamed, before crashing your lips to tom again.
maybe there is a pro about writing imagines.
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a/n- hope you enjoyed this imagine! i wrote this at 1am, because idk i had an urge? chapter 2 for partners in crime will be up this week some time, but i’ll let you all know when :)
also, maybe this story is me letting y’all know that i am tom? i’m jk
unless....
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