#it’s being down the road from my father again which I cannot and WILL not do.

[applecherry108]

[to the tune of the Lego Movie’s “Everything is Awesome”]

Everything is stressful! 🙃

Every-thing causes anxiety! 🙃

Everything is stressful!! 🙃🙃

When you have ADHD! 🙃🙃🙃

[lanadelnegan]

Cherry 🍒

S7 Negan x Virgin Female Reader

Summary: You sneak into Negan’s bed in the middle of the night and seduce him into ‘popping your cherry.’

Warnings: 18+, smut, age-gap (reader is 18, Negan is mid 40's), unprotected sex, Negan taking your virginity & being sweet with you, mentions of family death, bleeding during sex, oral (both receiving), sitting on Negan’s face, breeding

Note: this is pure filth. If you’re uncomfortable with extreme age-gaps, please don’t read.

You shivered as your bare feet quietly shuffled down the cold hallway, stopping right outside the leader's bedroom door. The sounds of Negan's light snoring filtered through the cracks as you softly pushed the door open, pleased to find it unlocked. You tiptoed your way over to the empty side of his bed before sliding underneath his soft white sheets and inhaling the unique scent of him - leather and fresh linen.

You've always felt comfortable with him. Negan welcomed you to the sanctuary with open arms about a year ago when you were seventeen, after your father passed away. His men found you walking along the road one day and brought you back to Negan, who immediately took you under his wing and made you feel safe for the first time since your father died.

You're not like his wives. More like the daughter he never had and he's made that boundary crystal clear on more than one occasion. You've made several subtle advances towards Negan in the past.. All of which he has politely rejected by changing the subject or blatantly ignoring you.

Still, this doesn't stop you from quietly moaning his name when you touch yourself at night.

"Negan.." You whispered cautiously as you snuggled into the sheets. This wasn't the first time you crawled into his bed at night, feeding him lies about nightmares you never even had. However, this time.. you were determined to get what you wanted.

During your recent previous attempts, you'd remain on your side of the bed and Negan wouldn't even know you were there usually until the next morning - lecturing you when you woke up about how sneaking into his bed is inappropriate. You hated when he used that word. Like a strict school teacher.

A few moments of silence passed until you boldly shuffled closer to him, wrapping your hand around his arm and snuggling your face into his bicep. You breathed in the intoxicating aroma of his soft skin as your legs delicately pressed into his underneath the blanket.

"The hell are you doin' y/n?" He asked, his sleepy voice deeper and raspier than usual and it made your heart flutter.

"Can't sleep."

"I think we both know you're lyin', doll. You know you can't stay in here. We've had this discussion. It's ina-"

"Yeah yeah I know. Inappropriate, geez." You interrupted him, rolling your eyes in the dark.

"Exactly, so why are you in my bed?"

"My.. dreams. They keep waking me up."

"Nightmares again?" He asked, using a softer tone this time.

"No.. no nightmares this time. Just.. dreams."

Negan shifted uncomfortably next to you, scooting up a little in the bed and wrapping his arm around you in the process. "What kinda dreams, doll?"

You snuggled into the nook of his armpit, getting practically drunk off his manly smell as your hand carelessly glided over his shirtless, hairy torso until settling on his lower abdomen.

Without missing a beat, Negan placed his hand over yours, moving it higher on his torso. "Y/n.." He said like a warning, sternness dripping from his tone.

You ignored him, refocusing your attention back to his previous question. "I dunno.. they're just.. like.. sexual dreams, and then I wake up and I'm all frustrated because I don't know what I'm doing-"

"Stop." He sighed with frustration, running a hand down his face. "Fucking christ, y/n. You cannot say shit like that in front of me."

"Why not? It's not like you're my daddy or anything." You teased him, sliding your hand to his lower stomach once again. You almost whimpered when your fingertips brushed over the soft curls peaking out of the waistband of his boxers and your stomach fluttered when he didn't stop you this time.

He let out a long sigh, glancing down to your hand that teased the sensitive skin under his waistband. "Baby...fuck. We can't." He said almost painfully.

"Okay.. I get it." You said defeatedly, removing your hand and shifting to turn over before he stopped you, pulling you back in.

He sighed, like he was about to regret asking you this. "What happens.. in your dreams?"

With the moonlight beaming through the window, you managed to catch a glimpse of the lust that flickered in his gaze before his hazel eyes dropped to your lips.

"You treat me different.. like.. one of your wives."

"Yeah? And how's that, baby?" He asked curiously as his lips hovered next to yours.

"You.. kiss them." You stated hesitantly, hoping it was dark enough in the room that he couldn't see your cheeks burning red.

"Oh? Are you jealous, doll?"

"...a little." You admitted, making him chuckle.

He tilted your chin up, lightly gripping your jawline as his eyes dropped to your lips. He stared at them as if he was contemplating if he should give you what you want.

"One kiss, y/n." He said, closing the gap between you and pressing his soft lips to yours. You whimpered into his mouth, earning a slight smirk from him as he pushed his talented tongue past your lips. You couldn't believe you were finally tasting him and you savored every second of it.

He kissed you until your lips were sore, tangling his fingers through your hair and groaning every now and then, making your panties soaked.

You slid your leg over his until his muscular thigh was pressed right up against your aching center and you couldn't help but grind against it, desperate for some friction.

"Y/n." He warned, knowing what you were doing beneath the covers.

"Please, Negan."

His solid erection pressed into your stomach each time you moved your body against his and you imagined the way it would feel inside of you.

“Please what?” He said in between kisses, allowing you to use his thigh to get yourself off.

“Please let me come."

"I'm not touching you, y/n. But I can't stop you from coming."

And that was all the permission you needed to grind against him harder and bring yourself to an orgasm just from humping his thigh.

You buried your face against his neck and rode out your high, whining and whimpering as you soaked through your panties. "Oh my god, oh my god, Negannnn."

"Satisfied now, doll?" He chuckled.

"No.. I need this." You said, pressing your palm against the hard bulge in his boxers. "Please."

"You don't know what you're asking for, sweetheart."

"I do, Negan. I know exactly what I want.. And I've wanted you for so long." You kissed his neck as you rubbed his cock through the material. "I see the way you look at me. I know you want me too."

He sighed, accepting that you were right. "Maybe. But we can't always get what we want, doll."

You grinned, taking that as a challenge as you slid lower beneath the blanket, kissing his chest. "Why not?"

"Baby.."

"If you tell me to stop, I'll stop." You said, wanting to earn his consent before climbing over his legs and settling in between them. He sighed again, turning all the way over on his back to allow you better access.

You licked a line from the bottom of the trail of hair that led up to his belly button, earning a moan from him as he slightly lifted his hips in response. "Baby, you don't have to-"

"You said you wouldn't touch me, but you didn't say I couldn't touch you." You explained, pulling his boxers down slowly. You watched closely as his cock sprung free, and your mouth practically watered at the sight of it. You wondered how you'd fit it in your mouth, much less your pussy.

"It's so.. big.." You said, wrapping your hand around it. Your mouth fell slightly open at the velvety feeling of it as you stroked it up and down in your palm.

Negan was propped up on his elbows as he watched you through heavy, lust-filled eyelids. For once, he was speechless, waiting for your next move.

You lowered your head, taking the tip of him into your mouth and wrapping your lips around it softly. You sucked on just the tip as you looked up at him through your brows and watched his head fall back while the prominent vein in his neck bulged against his skin. Lowering yourself deeper, he let out a long groan when he felt himself in the back of your throat.

"Fuuuuuck, baby. Feels so fuckin' good."

You bobbed your head up and down on him until your jaw ached, wanting to make him proud. Finally, he pulled your head off of his length, and you watched as the precum leaked from his red, swollen tip. His breaths were heavy as he looked down at you. "Fuck, that's enough. You're gonna make me come, sweetheart.

"I want to taste you, Negan.. please?" You begged, looking up at him innocently.

"Yeah? You want me to come in your mouth?"

You nodded as wrapped your lips around his thick length again, tasting the bead of salty precum. You moaned at the new taste, sucking firmly over and over until you felt more of his warm liquid spurt out, coating the back of your throat. You moaned around him again, not taking your mouth off of his cock until you swallowed every drop.

Sweat ran down the side of his face and his chest rose and fell heavily as he watched you. "Goddamn. What happened to my sweet, innocent girl, huh? When did you learn to suck cock like that?"

"Just now. That was my first time." You shrugged, shuffling up his body until your legs straddled his waist and you pulled your shirt over your head, tossing it on the floor and exposing your perky, bare breasts to him.

You pinched your own nipples teasingly as you bit you lip and stared down at him.

"Fuck, you are so beautiful.” He said, watching you play with your nipples.

"You don't wanna touch?" You pouted, sticking out your bottom lip.

"Of course I wanna fuckin' touch you, y/n. You have no idea. I wanna touch every inch of you." He sighed, leaning up on his elbows again until his face was inches away from your chest. "But, I can't."

"Then don't use your hands.. lick me instead." You insisted.

He looked up at you through his brows before his gaze returned to your breasts. You leaned forward, brushing your nipple against his beard until it hardened even more. When it brushed his lips, he instantly took it into his mouth and groaned, sucking it gently. After a few moments, he switched to the other one, flicking his tongue against it. Your head fell back while your fingers intertwined in his slick, black hair.

"Negannn." You breathed out, and he finally pulled away.

"Take those panties off and sit on my fucking face. Now." He demanded, laying flat on his back.

You eagerly obeyed him, quickly removing your panties and climbing over his face before lowering yourself down slowly. You hovered over him lightly, not wanting to press all the way down until his hands roughly pulled you closer.

"I said, sit." He said before burying his face in your cunt. The tip of his nose pressed against your clit as his tongue devoured your dripping hole and he moaned with approval.

You lifted slightly, being too sensitive too his touch, but he leaned forward, taking your clit between his lips and sucking. You cried out as your orgasm instantly rushed through you and you soaked his face. You came hard and fast, but he didn't mind as he moaned loudly, lapping up your juices. You tried to climb off of him, but he held you in place, still licking you like his life depended on it.

"Negan.." You blushed.

"Hm?"

"That's enough." You giggled.

"I'll never get enough of this sweet pussy, doll. You wanted me, now you've fuckin' got me."

His words made the butterflies somersault in your chest. You hoped he meant it. You hoped he loved you the way you loved him.

"Lay down for me." He said, finally letting you climb off of him.

You did as he said, getting comfortable on your back as he crawled over you and settled between your legs. Looking down, you noticed he was rock hard again and he rubbed the tip of his cock teasingly in between your wet folds.

"Negan.. I need to tell you something."

"Hm? What is it, doll?" He asked, leaning over you and holding himself up with his palms on either side of your head on the mattress.

"I-I've never done this before."

He smirked, looking into your eyes. "I know."

"What do you mean you know?"

"I hear everything in this place, y/n. I've heard you talking about me to your friends." He pressed his lips to yours before looking at you again. "I've heard you moaning my name at night in your bed while you touch that pretty pussy. I know everything about you, doll. I pay attention, even when you think I'm not."

You blushed at his words as you stared up at him speechless, making his smile widen. "So adorable when you're embarrassed."

He kissed you again, so hard that it took your breath away and in that moment, you knew you were head over heels in love with this man. You just wondered if he felt the same.

“What else happens in your dreams, baby? Do you let me fuck this little pussy?” He whispered in your ear, causing a chill to run down your spine.

“Y-yes.” You managed to choke out, making him chuckle.

He leaned back up, placing one of your legs over his shoulder as the other fell open for him.

“You ready for me to break you in, sweetheart? Pop that sweet little cherry?”

"Fuck, yes. Please." You whined, scooting closer to him until the tip of his cock brushed against your sex.

Negan chuckled lowly, pressing the head of his cock right against your hole. He watched you intensely as he pushed just the tip in, stopping before he went any further.

“You good, baby?” He asked, making sure you were good to continue. Once you nodded, he slid slightly deeper, feeling resistance before pushing through with a force.

You cried out at the sudden ripping sensation, making him stop again.

“No.. keep going.” You urged him, already aching from how he was stretching you, but you needed him to fill you completely. So he did, pushing himself all the way in with one swift thrust.

Your mouth fell open silently as he pressed against your cervix and let out a growl.

He fell over you again, kissing your lips as he thrusted into you at a steady pace. “You did it, baby.” He praised you softly. “I am so fuckin proud of you.”

He moved slowly, making you deliberately feel every inch of him. He repeated this motion until your face was on fire and your lower abdomen tingled.

"Fuck, y/n. You are so fucking tight." He said through gritted teeth, looking down between the two of you as he leaned back up on his knees.

"Oh fuuck, look. at. that, doll."

You leaned up on your elbows, looking down and widening your eyes when Negan pulled out of you, revealing his blood covered cock.

His thumb reached down to swipe a trail of your blood off his dick before bringing it to this mouth. You watched him enamored as his eyes rolled to the back of his head at the taste of you and he moaned with satisfaction. You blushed hard at the sight of Negan tasting your blood.

“Who do you belong to?”

“Negan.” You answered without question, following it with a moan as he pushed back into you without warning.

“That’s right, doll. This pussy? Is mine now. Understood?”

“Y-yes sir.” You cried, as he pumped into you faster.

"Ow. Ow, fuck. It hurts."

“I know baby. I know. You want me to stop?”

“No.” You said quickly. “Please don’t stop. I want it harder.”

He smiled down at you proudly as his hips bucked into you harder and your eyes clenched shut as your fingers gripped the sheets.

Looking down between the two of you again, he groaned at the sight of your blood completely coating his cock and leaking out of you with each thrust.

You whined and whimpered, desperately wanting to come again. He grinned knowingly, pressing his thumb to your clit and making your body shutter. "You gonna come on my cock, sweetheart?"

You nodded as tears flooded your eyes and his finger started working over your clit more intensely.

"Yes, yes. Please make me come."

He fucked you fast and rubbed your clit in perfect circles, watching you come undone around him. Once your walls were done convulsing around him, he fell over you again, kissing your neck and groaning in your ear. "That's it. That's my good girl."

Wet noises filled the air as he fucked you unforgivably hard. "You gonna let me cum in this pussy, baby?" He asked, biting your earlobe.

You couldn't speak, so you nodded as your vision went cloudy and his thrusts became more erratic until he stopped suddenly, pushing himself balls deep inside of you as his dick pumped you full of cum and he growled in your ear.

"Fuck, fuck, fuuuck, baby." His thrusts started again, soft and light this time as he pushed his seed deeper inside of you. He kissed your jawline, then your lips, before pulling back slightly to look into your eyes.

"Y/n... I love you. I love you so much, sweetheart. And goddamn I love this pussy."

[ms-demeanor]

Hi. I've followed you for a while and your advice to others always seems pretty good. You seem very knowledge about therapy and driving. This may be a bit out of your depth, feel free to delete this ask if so, but if you have any advice I would greatly appreciate hearing it. I've got a problem: the field I'm studying for and love doing will require frequent trips to places I cannot walk/bike/bus/fly to, and I'm terrified of driving. My father decided the best way to start teaching me was to put me behind the wheel on a small road in a big city with pedestrians and bikes on the road, and tell me to drive. It's been 4 years and I can't even think about getting behind the driver's seat without bursting into tears. Riding in the front passenger seat is fine. I want to get over this fear and finally learn to drive, with paid therapy if necessary, but I don't know what terms to search for to find a therapist that can help me with this. Any ideas?

So I think pretty much any decent therapist will be able to help you with this fear, just like any decent therapist will be able to help you figure out how to approach any fear that you've got.

But I'm also not sure this is something you need a therapist for so much as some very good friends and a lot of time. If you don't have your learner's permit I'd recommend getting one, and from there I think I'd say to ask some good friends, who you know are good drivers, to help teach you the rudiments of driving.

I think that you should do this by starting on a closed private property where there aren't people or pedestrians or anything else, and just put the key in the car, put the car in drive, and drive up and down a driveway until you are capable of doing so without panicking. From there, have your safe trusted driver friend take you someplace with no traffic of any kind but that does have some kind of lane markings (school parking lots on weekends, shopping center parking lots late at night, etc) and begin practicing things like stopping, turning, and acceleration. Do that until you're comfortable driving around empty parking lots, at which point I'd say that you should look at enrolling in a driving school with a closed course.

You were put in a very stressful situation that frightened you a lot, but there are ways that you can build up that should help you to see that it doesn't have to be stressful like that. Sit in the driver's seat of a parked car. Turn the car on without putting it into gear. Drive it back and forth just to get used to the car being in motion at very slow speeds.

If you want to work on this with a therapist you're probably going to want to be looking for someone who specifically discusses dealing with phobias around driving or accident-related trauma and recovery; cars can be terrifying and there are a ton of people who have had bad times with cars so there are lots of professionals who have dealt with getting people comfortable around cars as a necessity of our car-centric culture. That's the kind of stuff I'd be looking for, is people who talk about vehicle-related or accident-related trauma.

But also I think that's just a good thing to say out front if you're shopping for a therapist. "I am scared of driving and want to learn to drive, that is my primary current interest in therapy and I'm looking for a professional to support me while I work through this." Say this out loud as you call offices, and DO make calls, don't just look for reviews. People may not advertise this kind of thing specifically because it may just be taken for granted that it's something that their office can help equip you for.

Though, again, I think that you can likely do a lot of that yourself with the help of a good friend or a patient family member who is willing to respect your boundaries and work within them, but you need to think about what your boundaries are and what your goals are before you get to work.

[smok3r7]

They Always Come Back

Aaron Hotchner x f!reader

Explicit, 18+

Eye Catching

Main Masterlist & Series Masterlist - My Ao3

Series Summary: You and Aaron met in college, Criminology Major, funny enough. Throughout your five years at George Washington College, you and Hotchner had this on and off again relationship; it was all fun until you started to realize that you loved him. After graduation the two of you cut ties and left it as dumb college love, going your separate ways. After a decade you finally land your dream job, a seat at the BAU; however when you notice the name copied on the email, you can’t believe your eyes.

Chapter Summary: It’s your Freshman year at George Washington College and you’re determined on getting your doctorate in criminology. Little did you know the handsome man you sit next to in your first lecture, Psychology 101, will have you feeling things you haven’t in years.

Word count: 3.8k

Warnings: anxiety, self esteem issues at first

*a quick little cameo from Professor Joel Miller ;) idea from Chloe with her Seeking series with her cameo of Father Lawrence and @merz-8 with the idea of him being the professor*

—

“Bye Mama, love you!”

“Bye baby, you go rock this shit!”

Your eyes start to well with tears as you back out of the long paved driveway, where your mom stands by the garage door hugging herself, trying her damned best not to break down while she slowly waves to you. When you reach the road and put your truck in drive, you turn your head to look at your beautiful mother one more time as you blow her a kiss. You wait for her to return the gesture before you push your right foot on the gas pedal and you focus your attention on the road in front of you.

Just a four hour drive, all I gotta do, you whisper to yourself as you turn onto the main road that leads to the freeway. You’ve lived just outside of Roanoke, Virginia, with just your mom ever since you were a toddler, and you have no memories of your father or any other family members. He left as soon as he was informed about the pregnancy and all your mom has told you about her family is, well-

“They just let too much shit slide. No one’s ever been held accountable for anything they’ve done. I had to leave, to save you. That’s all I cared about; saving you from their disgusting behavior.”

You have never asked her for further details, gathering on your own that her family, your family, were inhumane and cruel. So you just left it at that, which you really are okay with, at the end of the day. Your mother has been the only family to consistently cheer you on for whatever you do, pushing you to become the smart, strong, and independent young woman you are today. She’s all I need.

—

It’s late August, just on the cusp of September of 1987, and the road trip to Washington D.C is beautiful. The trees are just starting to turn from the bright greens to the light oranges and reds. It’s just amazing to be able to witness the change in seasons. You start to realize that the rest of Virginia isn’t much different than home, which brings you a sense of comfort and calmness.

You love living in Roanoke, it’s so cozy and peaceful, and now that you’re not going to be there anymore, it scares you. The fear of not being familiar with your surroundings is heavy on your mind and heart, since you’ve lived in the same environment and home for twenty-one years.

Even with all that in mind, you’re still extremely excited to start fresh. You’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about Washington D.C - the scenery and structures are breathtaking, and the history of it all enraptures you. But what you’re really looking forward to is the college life; the learning environment, the gratification from being able to move forward in your career, the range of different people, the parties, and who knows - maybe a little fling here and there. Overall, it’s all very intriguing and an electrifying experience that you cannot wait to begin.

In June, you celebrated your twenty-first birthday and that was the day you decided to take your career seriously. Ever since you were a pre-teen and got a chance to talk to an actual FBI agent, who was a woman - insane, right? - in your eighth grade class, you dreamed about becoming a part of the BAU at Quantico. You’ve had a fascination with crime for as long as you can remember, but also, you get this overwhelming sense of satisfaction when you’re able to help others. So no matter the circumstances it takes to get there, you will be able to make it.

You’ve been on the road for about three and a half hours now, stopping to fill up your tank before you hit the city where it’ll cost more. Gotta be smart. When you climb back into your truck, you grab the map that’s on your leather passenger seat and take one more look at it. Your mom insisted on marking the backroads way after a certain time on the freeway to get there with a red sharpie, and honestly, you’re glad she did because otherwise you’d be fucked.

“Just gotta take Fruit Ridge for another ten miles, then take a right on 28th St. ‘n I’m downtown. Perfect,” You tell yourself as you drag your index finger along the red line that leads to your destination. Thank you mama, setting the map down, you put your truck in drive and you’re on your way once again.

The warm summer breeze flows through the open windows of your truck, drying the sweat that’s appeared on your skin, the fresh air rushing up your nose with undertones of country life. The drive has been nothing but sunshine and peace, no one tailing you and no one being an ass in front of you - pretty much just you and a couple cars here and there.

You only have about two miles until you hit 28th St. and the anticipation is starting to hit you. The adrenaline is coursing through your body.

Am I really ready for this?

Can I do this without my mom?

Yes, I can do this by myself, I got this.

Your mind won’t stop racing like the cars and trucks that fly past you, going the other direction, away from the city. You’re starting to get cold feet as you get closer and closer. But, you’ve already made it this far, I can’t back out now.

As you take a deep breath in and out, the back of your head leans back onto the headrest when you notice the large green sign on your right side. You raise your head forward so you can read it clearly.

George Washington College 3 Miles, with a white arrow pointing East.

A soft smile takes over the worried expression you had a minute ago, and you turn onto 28th St., where the scenery changes instantly. Smaller homes and apartments on either side of the road, and people spread all over the yards and sidewalks, unlike the trees and farms that you drove past. A sense of security comes over you, I made it.

Now feeling calm and put together, you can enjoy the last bit of the ride there. With your right hand on the steering wheel and your left arm hanging out the window, the sound of the radio escapes from your vehicle along with the rumble of your engine.

“You’re listenin’ to Classic Hits FM with Doug n’ Carrie. N’ that was The Whispers with their hit, Rock Steady. One of my favorites, what ‘bout you Carrie?”

“I mean how can it not be? But this next one is my all-time favorite right now, can you take a guess at who?”

“Lemme guess, somethin’ by Fleetwood Mac?”

“The one and only Fleetwood Mac, you’re right Doug! My girl Stevie Nicks, the white witch. God I love her! Here’s Seven Wonders, their most recent single that’s been at number one for the last month!”

So Long ago,

Certain place, certain times

You touched my hand on the way, on the way to Emmeline

But if our paths never cross

Well, you know I’m sorry, but

If I live to see the Seven Wonders…

“I’ll make a path to the rainbows end! I’ll never live to match the beauty again, the rainbow's edge.” You sing with a smile large enough to be seen from the sidewalk where a range of people walk up and down.

The beautiful view of the pale brick pillars that hold the black metal gate in between them reads, Professors Gate on the top. I made it.

—

“Knock knock!”

You spin your body around to face the door and your face lights up at the sight of the shorter young lady in front of you.

“Bella! Oh my god!” You yell and run towards her with open arms, “What are you doing here?” You wrap your arms around her, as she does the same. The dorm room fills with laughs and mumbles of words from the both of you.

“I wanted to surprise you, and it worked!” She says into your shoulder as the two of you rock side to side, still holding each other.

“Hell yeah it did!” You step away from her and then the realization hits you, “Wait, is this your dorm?” Your arms wave around to show you meant the room you two are standing in. All she does is nod her head with a huge grin showing off her pearly white teeth, oh my god, no way, you screech again.

You and Bella met in fourth grade and have been best friends ever since. She too only lives and speaks with her mom, and it’s kind of scary to know that someone else has lived your life - but it’s also relieving in a way because you’re not alone, and you can talk about your feelings without feeling judged.

“Criminol-“

“-logy, yes!”

She finishes your question before you can even ask it, something the two of you do subconsciously at this point. Which fits because the two of you are like twins, not identical but the way your minds work together us incredible, and the two of you also share the same birthday, June eleventh, nineteen sixty-six.

The two of you unpack and begin to make the dorm into a comfortable space for the both of you. You and Bella ramble on and on about the drive here and how sad you both felt for leaving your moms at home by themselves. She traveled here about a month earlier than you, her boyfriend needed help moving his things into his apartment - he too is attending Washington College. But you and her knew that this was the best decision, neither of you could stay in Roanoke any longer.

After you both are happy with your sides of the room, it’s about eight at night, the sun has just about set, creating a beautiful pink and orange sky. The two of you kept getting distracted by certain items one of you found while unpacking or just by simple conversation, hence why it took so long.

“Wanna get takeout and watch Dirty Dancing?” You ask Bella as you plop down on your twin sized mattress that’s covered by a sage green blanket. Her face lights up, “What kinda question is that? Of course I do, Domino’s?”

You cock your head to the side and give her an are you really asking? kind of look and she just laughs as she stands from her bed and walks towards the phone that’s on the table on the other side of the room. She picks up the red telephone and dials Domino’s number that you both know by heart, but you realize that you’re not at home, so she must’ve ordered from the one around here in the time she’s been here.

“Hi! Order for pick-up please,” Bella chimes as she wraps the cord around her fingers and sits on the table next to the matching cherry red base. “Bella works, um, I would like-“

She goes on to list her pizza order and your garlic bread balls with chicken wings without any hesitation. After so many years of being friends you know each other's orders like the back of your hands.

“Twenty minutes? Awesome, thank you!” She hangs up the red phone with a click, and hops off the table, “Get dressed, we’re gonna walk. There’s too much traffic to drive there n’ back.”

“So you know where we’re goin?”

“Duh, it’s been my favorite place to get food since I’ve been out here. Now c’mon!”

Okay okay, you concede, shaking your head and laughing as you grab a thin gray hoodie and slip it over your head, then grabbing your black and white Nike air forces and slipping them on. C’mon, Bella drags out with a whine as she stands in the doorway holding the door open, you’re standing in front of the long mirror by your bed just making sure you don’t look too crazy you’re first time out in public in the new city.

“God, you’re so impatient.”

“You should be concerned the day that I’m not, that’s when you know something’s wrong!”

You both laugh as you make your way down the dorm hallway and out into the beautiful summer night air to go pick up your delicious food. When you reach the courtyard, you observe clusters of people spread across the grass. One group of women and men are sitting in a circle, one man has an acoustic guitar and looks like the group is just listening and watching his technique.

Another group of men are sitting on the wood picnic tables as they gaze at the courtyard, much like you are, but they’re whistling and hollering at girls who walk by their table. Not surprised. Then there’s one other group, which looks to be mainly women with a few men scattered and they have a boombox next to their picnic table as they start a dance routine, it looks like they’re practicing for something.

“That’s the dance team, I think we should join,” Bella interrupts your observation, causing you to think back to middle and high school. You and Bella were captains of the dance team for five years, it was one of the main reasons you guys are as close as you are.

As you exit the courtyard and start on the sidewalk, put your hands in the front pocket of your hoodie and turn your face to look at her for a second before you answer. “Maybe, just maybe.”

—

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

Ughhh, you groan rolling over and slamming your hand on the boxy alarm clock on your bedside table as you sit yourself up, raising your arms to stretch your limbs and yawing from exhaustion. After a moment you turn your attention to Bella’s bed and notice that she’s not there. Confusion takes over your sleepy mind. Where the hell did she go?

You gain enough strength in your tired body to hop off your bed and walk over to the table that holds the telephone, where a yellow sticky note lays on it.

Morning sleepyhead!! My first class starts at 7, I’ll be back around noon! I hope your first class goes well baby, love you!! <3 Bella

You smile at her note and stick it next to the red base of the phone. You turn around and look at the clock, 8:40 AM. Okay, I have forty-five minutes to get there. You shake yourself to wake up fully and you begin to pick out of your brown dresser, a pair of jean shorts and a black, thick strapped tank-top, with your classic black and white Nike shoes. Then sitting criss-cross on the floor in front of the mirror, you do your hair and makeup for the day.

After finishing everything, you glance back at the clock and it reads 9:08 AM. Shit, you mutter, swiftly grabbing your black Jansport backpack that’s filled with notebooks and utensils for class, and your schedule with your professors and lectures on it. Then you're out the door, down the same hallway from last night, but instead of going out to the courtyard, you continue down the hall towards the classrooms.

Psychology 101, 101, you repeat as you search the hall for the door that reads the lecture number. After passing about five classrooms, you finally find the right one. The silver plaque on the wood door reads, Psychology 101, Doctor Joel Miller. You glance down at your watch and relax your shoulders when you notice you’re early by just about ten minutes, so you don’t have to rush or worry about being late.

Might as well go in now and get my seat, you think as you reach your hand on the silver handle and gently pull the door towards you. When you open it, the first thing you observe is who you can assume is the professor writing something on the chalkboard. You can't believe that he is your professor. His cream button up shirt is tight around his biceps and chest, but loose around his lower abdomen where the bottom is tucked into his khaki pants. His brown, loosely curled hair is combed to look nice and not messy. His thick beard to match has you feeling like a child with a stupid crush.

His attention turns to you and he smiles, his round glasses fall a bit down his nose as he tilts his head forward to take you in. Wow, he’s hot.

“Hi, I’m here for your class,” you chime, walking into the large room and turning your head to the left to observe the seats and to your surprise it’s about half full, turning your attention back to him, “thought I would come a bit early.”

“That’s a good idea, I admire the dedication. Don’t let it fade away, darlin’, okay? But, your name is?” Dr. Miller steps away from the board and meets you halfway to greet you. You firmly shake his hand and share your first and last name. Well welcome to Psych. 101, dear, he tells you and winks when he lets your hand go.

Thank you, sir, you smile and turn to head towards the stairs on the edge of the room, so you can claim a seat. You observe the other students here, a couple pairs of friends scattered throughout the seats just talking away, and then the loners, you guess you could call them. But the person who catches your full attention is the man who can’t be much older than you, sitting alone in the second row at the top. He has this longer black hair sort of combed back, but not insanely gelled, with his round thin glasses, and a facial structure that’s sharp and soft at the same time.

Holy shit.

You’ve never been shy to men, you actually tend to be more confident than most, usually making the first move. It’s just something your mom and Bella have instilled in you throughout the years. So you decide to take a shot with this handsome young man in front of you.

“Is this seat taken?”

The intelligent looking man picks his head up from his desk to look at you a few feet away from him, pointing at the chair next to his. He takes a second before he answers, “Um, I don’t think so.”

“Perfect. Thought I’d keep you company up here. Ya know, since you’re all by yourself ‘n all,” you slightly tease with a smirk as you slide your bag off of your right shoulder and set it on the carpeted floor next to the wooden chair.

He chuckles watching you sit down in the seat only a mere three feet away from him, “Oh, did you now?”

“Yes, sir. So, are you gonna tell me your name or am I gonna have to pry that information outta you too?” You laugh as you put your right elbow on the long table in front of you and rest your cheek in the palm of your hand, looking into his beautiful, cognac colored eyes just waiting for his smooth voice.

“Aaron Hotchner, and yours?”

“That was easier than I thought,” you joke before you repeat your name once again, which you feel like you’ll be doing a lot these next couple weeks. You carefully watch his expressions and listen to the inflictions in his voice when he does speak.

He smiles and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms gently as he replies, “That’s surely a beautiful name. May I ask where you’re from? Your accent isn’t from here.”

“Roanoke, Virginia, born and raised. What about you, Aaron?”

“Aah, that’s it, I should’ve guessed. Manassas actually, not too far from here. Just about a two and a half hour drive, depending on the traffic.”

“Wait,” you start before sitting up and leaning your other arm on the back of the chair and using your hands to talk, “so you’re telling me, you’ve lived in Virginia your whole life right?”

Aaron nods his head with a slight smirk on his face, watching you trying to put the pieces together.

“But you don’t have any kinda accent? Like, just none whatsoever?” Your voice raises a bit towards the end of your question, just because you’re genuinely curious on how this man doesn’t have any sort of accent or country twang to it at all.

“That’s right-“

Before Aaron can fully answer your question, he gets interrupted by Dr. Miller, “Welcome to Psychology 101, my dear students. I am Doctor Joel Miller and I will be your professor for this class.”

You and Aaron quickly stop your conversation and focus on Dr. Miller who’s introducing the course to everyone. You were so caught up in conversation that you didn’t even notice the seats that were empty, are now full. After a minute, out of the corner of your left eye you watch as Aaron slides a small piece of paper over to you. Without looking at him, you grab the note and look at it.

My phone number, 202-896-0089 ;)

You fold up the paper and put it in your back pocket. Quickly, you glance over to Aaron and you notice he has this cocky smirk that fades just as fast as it appeared. Your stomach is flipping with joy and anticipation, you wonder what this could turn into. Turning your full attention to the front of the classroom, the eye candy of a professor, Dr. Miller is back by the chalkboard, going over the syllabus for the class.

[fizzyxcustard]

Invisible

Fandom: Robin Hood (BBC)

Pairings: Guy of Gisborne x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Pining, angst, insecurity, vague smut mention, attempted ghosting

Word count: 1880

Summary: From the imagine, "You are in love with Guy and he is still pining for Marian. You cannot carry all the pain."

Comments/notes: Takes place around season 2, despite the above GIF being from season 3. This fic was requested by @sazzlep

As always, if you enjoy, please consider a reblog. If you wish to be added to my tag list for any character, fandom, or fic series, let me know.

Marian had disappeared, leaving you with the shattered pieces of Guy’s broken heart. While trying to mend your own heart, you were busy tending to Guy’s. And that pain was becoming unbearable. Shifting the weight of two broken hearts was crippling you. 

Guy had left your home again at nightfall, having borne his heart to you. The woman he loved and had lived in high hopes of wooing, had run off into the forest with her outlaw lover. In the time you had known Marian, you had been on fairly friendly terms with her. But you had always been aware of her manipulative tactics, taking advantage of Guy’s feelings for her. For all those months and he had been completely blind to it, only seeing her sweet smiles as a hope for something more than just friendship. 

You stood at your front door and watched his dark shape, atop a black horse, disappear into the gathering dusk. You and Guy had been close friends for years, being each other’s rock, and this has been the case since he came to Nottingham as a young man. He had been swept up into duty for the Sheriff, but the two of you had still remained close. Guy had been the one who comforted you when your mother died, and had even brought you food when you fell upon tough times. Potential suitors had come to your door, and if they had not been to your liking, it was Guy who had told them to leave. 

How long could you continue this for? Every day you saw him and you felt more of your heart become warped from the inside, like a disease spreading outward. The only cure would be to take yourself out of the situation completely and sever yourself from him. 

The moon was high in the sky and you remained in that spot for some time, feeling the red hot tears fall down your cheeks. All of your pain was invisible to him; in his own anguish, he had completely overlooked you. 

***

Guy woke the next morning, light bursting through the window. 

Realisation hit him hard that he had overslept. 

He shot out of bed and began dressing quickly, only to see a piece of parchment on the stone floor at the foot of his door. Guy reached down and took the parchment, noting that there was no envelope. The parchment had just been folded. Upon opening it, he instantly recognised your beautiful handwriting. It brought a smile to his face. 

Guy, 

While I know that you are in the midst of deep pain, I must leave Nottingham. I plan to move back to my father’s home and search for work. I cannot carry the weight of both our broken hearts on my shoulders. 

May God watch over you and keep you safe. 

Leaving? But why? 

Guy raced from his chambers, heading down towards the courtyard where he slipped out to the stables and collected his horse. 

Once he had rode to your home, he jumped from the horse and banged on your door. No answer. Your own horse, a brown and white mare, had disappeared from the small field behind your house. 

Your father’s home was a two-day ride, and within seconds, Guy’s horse was galloping through the small patch of woodland which was to the north, leading out onto the main road. Surely you could not have gotten far. Guy was a far more experienced rider than you so would easily be able to catch up to you, despite your head start. 

***

The ride that morning had been pleasant. The sun was shining amidst a cloudless sky. A gentle breeze took the edge off the early summer heat. A simple breakfast was still sitting in your stomach quite nicely; bacon, eggs and freshly baked bread. There was an inn about half way, at the perfect place for you to stop, before continuing on the next day for the second part of your journey. 

All morning and you had imagined Guy’s face upon opening your letter. Would he even care at all? It seemed that he didn’t. Normally Guy was up around dawn, ready for his duties. He should have caught you just before you left, but you had not seen him. And you had given your letter to Abe, one of the guards, at the castle gate, two hours after sunset. Surely Guy would have received it by daybreak. 

You stopped for a quick break, taking a sip of water from a skin in your leather satchel. You sat down on a fallen tree trunk and took a deep breath, looking up at the rays of sunlight piercing through the bright green leaves. 

Suddenly you heard galloping hooves coming from behind. A figure emerged from the edge of the curving path, and got larger, moving towards you quickly. 

“Guy?” you whispered, feeling relief wash over you, but also fear. 

Guy stopped his horse a few feet from yours and jumped from the saddle, storming over to you. He stood in front of you, his arms crossed. “What is going on?” he asked, his voice tinged with frustration. His silver blue eyes were wide in irritation. 

“I told you in my letter. I can’t carry both of us anymore.” 

Guy sighed and sat down beside you. “Maybe you could start with telling me what you’re carrying and stop being so stubborn in carrying it yourself.” 

You looked at him, narrowing your eyes. “Are you sure you really wish to know? Because after I tell you, you won’t want to know me anymore.” 

Guy scoffed and rolled his eyes in annoyance. 

You looked at him, seeing that all too familiar smirk begin to form on his face. It made your heart flutter. 

“If you really believe that then you know me less than I thought you did. In fact, you don’t know me at all.” His tone was accusing and full of irritation.

You could see the offense written on Guy’s face, and you reached out to take his hand. “I didn’t mean it like that, Guy.” 

“Then how did you mean it?” he snapped. “You’re all I have in my life, yet you seem to think that I’ll walk away from you. Despite you being the one who was ready to walk away from me…” The words trailed off into a whisper and loud sigh. 

“Do you want to know the real reason I’m leaving?” you asked. “And if you do choose to turn your back on me then that is your choice.” 

Guy hissed. “I will never turn my back on you.” He pointed his finger at you in anger as he spoke. 

You got to your feet and took a deep breath. “All these years we’ve known each other and I’ve been invisible to you. You’ve never noticed all the times I’ve had to smile at you but wanted to weep. You’ve never seen how I feel about you. Instead all you’ve ever seen is a woman who has taken advantage of you and used your feelings for her to get what she needed. It’s crippled me.” Tears fell down your cheeks. “I love you, Guy. I love you so much and never once did you ever see it. I know you don’t feel the same way and I’m not expecting you to.” 

Guy got up from the tree trunk, and without a word, curled his hand around your cheek and kissed you. The kiss immediately became wanting, needing and hot. 

Reluctantly you shifted your head away and looked up at him, your tears blurring your vision. “I told you that I’m not expecting anything from you...” 

He smiled. “I’ve loved you from since the first moment we met. I was always invisible to you. I valued and respected you far too much to ever overstep any boundary. I was terrified you would think I was dishonouring you. Marian became my way of letting you go, but under it all, I never could. She was the hope of something I could never have with you.” 

“All I ever wanted was for you to be happy, and because of me, you tried to gain love in a place where you would never find it.” 

“It wasn’t because of you. It was my own cowardice. I would look at her and see you, in everything she did. Then with each man who attempted to court you, I could see how impossible it was for me to ever think you’d be mine. A lot of those men were honourable and so much more than what I could ever wish to be.” 

“I know you, Guy, and all you’ve ever wanted is to be loved and needed by someone. I’m offering that to you if you’ll take it.” 

Guy kissed you again, and then let his lips trail down your neck. “And I will give that back to you tenfold, my love.” 

***

The two of you rode your horses back to your home, watching as thick clouds began to swarm in, threatening rain. 

By the time your house was visible, spots of rain began to fall. 

You pulled on the reins of your horse, bringing it to a stop in the pen behind your house. Guy had already dismounted his horse, his hand reaching out to take yours. You couldn’t help but smile and giggle as he helped you down, his ice blue gaze never unlocking from you. 

The two of you kissed again, the rain starting to pour all around you. The horses by now had wondered away into the small wooden shelter which was situated at the back of the paddock. 

“Let’s get inside,” you told Guy. 

He smiled in response and wound his arm around your waist as the two of you walked to the door of your home. 

Once inside, you started a fire and put a large pot of water to boil. “I need to head into the market for food shortly. I hope the rain stops,” you told Guy, glancing out of the window. “Is there anything in particular you would like for dinner? I can cook us a meal.” 

Guy never answered, but instead kissed you again. 

A short time later and the two of you were idly tangled together in your bed, having just made love. You noticed that Guy seemed the most content he had done for quite some time; he had a faint smile on his face as you rested in the crook of his arm. The only sound was the tapping of rain on the roof, and it soothed you. The heavy weight in your heart had now lifted. 

“Was that how you imagined our first time to be?” you asked. 

Guy grinned and kissed you again. “It was so much better than any of my expectations.” He gripped your hand tight in his and then kissed your head. 

“I suspect the Sheriff will be looking for you.” 

“He can wait.” 

You looked across at Guy as you began to slip from the bedclothes and pull your dress back on. “You’re taking a big risk thinking that. You know what he’s like.” 

“I don’t care anymore. I’ve got you, and that’s all that matters to me now.” 

***

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[loopeyfluff]

Spiderman across the spiderverse thoughts and spoilers underneath read more. it's all just gushing, do not expect a proper review.

That. Was. Fucking. Insane. That was the best movie I’ve watched. Literally captivated from start to finish. WHAT AN EXPLOSIVE INTRODUCTION?! with gwen stacey and her drums? Such powerful animated movements, in fact ALL THE ACTION SCENES carried SUCH GOOD WEIGHT, made SUCH GOOD USE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT, and were just generally so well choreographed! The first villain was just so visually stunning and animated, I LOVED his style. And the humour from the very start was just, on point. This entire movie WAS SOOOO FUNNY. IT WAS HILARIOUS! Hahaha the lego spiderman scene? How miguel was like, “you’re one of the best of us” XDDD. And omg the MAIN ANTOGNIST IS THE BAGEL GUY. I CANNOT. THATS SO HECKING FUNNY. HAHAHHWYWHAJABWHAJJAHAHAHAH.

Such a visually stunning movie man. Like the first one was amazing, but this somehow topped that. The ENVIRONMENTS AND WORLDS THAT WE EXPLORED WERE SOOOO BEAUTIFULLY CONSTRUCTED? Indian spiderman- just everything about him was hilarious- had such an amazing universe, just the layered upon layers of buildings and roads EVERYWHERE. omg HOBY??? I LOVE HOBY MAN. How earlier he was like, miles u gotta use ur palms too not just ur fingers, and then he was also very established to be an against capitalism and institution type man, AND OMG MY GUY AAAAAA HELPING MILES OUT!!!! WHEN NO ONE ELSE WAS DOING ANYTHING FOR HIM??? HOBY’S A REAL ONE GUYS I LOVE HIM.

MAYDAY WAS ADORABLE! Peter being such a doting father was so adorable and EVERYTHING. Like that sequence of him showing all the baby pictures to miles and gwen, and then when he told miles that he should HOLD THE BABY IT’LL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTTER!!!! And ofc it did XD THAT TRAIN FIGHT SCENE??? SO MANY MOVIES HAVE TRIED IT BEFORE, BUT THIS WAS THE ABSOLUTE SICKEST TRAIN FIGHT SCENE IVE EVER SEEN. Just the train BULLETING UPWARDS, and then the call back to the leap of faith?

AHHHH but also! So many wonderful computer screen background worthy shots within this film. I absolutely adored the way they kept having the spider people sit and hang upside down. It made so many visually stunning scenes! Like when they were going up the elevator,,, AND THEY WERE ALL UPSIDE DOWN!!! AARHEGEH SOOO COOOL!!!!

Oh man but that brief appearance of peni parker! SHE LOOKED SO TIRED :(!!! URGEGWHW WE GOT TO SEE SPIDERHAM AND SPIDERNOIR AT THE END BUT MAN I RLLY WISH I CUDA SEEN MORE OF THOSE GUYS WYHWHAHWUIAKjahauai!!1!1!?1!1!1 I was so happy when they finally appeared with gwens group of spider allies tho ; - ;!!!!!

Okay back to bagel guy, what a fun and hilarious opening and introduction? Hahaha trying to steal the atm machine and their whole banter, it was just so funny. Amazing introduction. I loved miles’ roommate too! I wish we got to see more of him haha.

Oh oh oh, I loved all of the impact frames in this movie, and also the speech bubbles and sound effects and other fun comic style things, but the glossary squares that kept appearing on screen??? AMAZING!!!! I would love to go through this movie again and just pause and read over everything! THE COLOURS WERE SOOOO GOOD IN THIS MOVIE??? THIS MOVIE REALLY STOOD OUT FOR ME IN IT’S PALETTES! SOME SCENES WERE JUST COMPOSED SO BEAUTIFULLY I JUST AYWHAHAHWUJAHAHAHAH!!!!

The plot twist at the end was so good. It was so well built up too, there were so many hints and what not but it only hit me when aaron showed up… the mom’s eyes being different, her not knowing who spiderman is,,, earlier when the screen got the WRONG DNA,,, and also just the different colour palette? So many good clues. I’m over here laughing at how anticlimactic the mom is taking the news, and then AARON SHOWS UP. And the revelation HIT ME LIKE A TRUCK MAN. IT WASN’T A JOKE.

can we talk about the amazing sound track and sound design for this movie??? I watched this in VMAX which is a cinema which had a larger screen and louder speakers, and wow, I WAS SOOO IMMERSED MAN. Not only does the music SLAP and match each new place so well, but it just adds so much to the viewing experience!!!!

This movie was an absolute masterpiece. Wow. Jesus. The first movie was like my favourite movie. But this somehow TOPPED THAT???? Insane.

[ygsunflower]

I know I’m not the first one to notice this, but Carina is a lot more laidback with Maya- She’s comfortable with letting Maya speak for her both in serious (at her visa interview) and non-serious (here at the bar letting Maya order her white wine) situations, or at least allowing Maya to take charge first.

At first I did not like this character “change” at all and I blamed it on the inconsistent writings on Carina’s character between when she first appeared on Grey’s Anatomy and when she moved to Station 19. However, as we see her appearing more on both Station 19 and Grey’s (only occasionally), and as she started to have more storylines apart from Maya and their relationship, I kinda appreciate her different personalities (for lack of a better word).

When Carina DeLuca was first introduced on Grey’s, she was this straightforward, no-filter fireball of a sexy Italian goddess. She was extremely confident and firm about her profession and her sexuality. Yet she has a soft spot for her brother. And we also see her almost losing her usual confidence and fieriness in front her father. She was never afraid to speak her mind, but when she was with her father, and later on her mentally-illed brother, she almost became too scared to speak up and be firm with them. I’m not a mental health expert/psychologist, but from what I saw, Carina has the tendency to shrink her ego and be extra soft to those she loves. I don’t think it’s uncommon for people, but it’s just a more obvious trait for her. Anyways, this is the justification I made to understand Carina’s different personalities with Maya and everyone else.

She loves Maya deeply, so she feels comfortable enough to shrink her ego. It’s not about Maya dominating her in the relationship, but more so about Carina feeling safe to let Maya take care of her and she doesn’t feel like she has to constantly putting her feet down and be firm. But I cannot draw this conclusion until the S6b of Station 19 and Grey’s S19b. Before this two half seasons, we did not see much of her as her independent self. But now we get to see her having her own storylines. The abortion clinic storyline and her running this trauma here on Grey’s showed us the good-old confident Dr. DeLuca is still very much present.

Her scenes in 6x07 of Station 19 even proved my previous point on her trusting her loved ones to make the call for them- once she got yelled by an obviously unstable Maya, she no longer considered this Maya her safe place. She immediately switched to her stern doctor voice to Maya and took back her trust in Maya to make any decisions. Carina did not back down as her last resort to try saving her wife from essentially killing herself.

In terms of her fun and almost rambunctious side of personalities, even though we don’t see her as excited Dr. Orgasm again (wasted potentials if you ask me, both the actual research topic and her overall mannerism during that storyline were gold), we still have the fake abortion clinic comedy and her scenes with Vic and Dr. Lewis are always fun. Her comedic side now is just toned down which I can accept. (Props to Stefania, I love her little physical comedy acting for Carina.)

That to be said, her personality trait of being extremely soft around her loved ones also made it easy for her to get walked-over by her loved ones… Both her father and Maya, as much as I hate putting Maya next to Carina’s dad, they abused and took advantage of Carina’s love and softness around them when they were in a mental health crisis (a longggg crisis). Her love to them made her tongue-tied in front of them and almost turned her into a slight pushover… And that’s why this second half of S6b has been great for Carina’s character- A slow burn Marina recovering road allows us to see Carina realizing the downside of her “weakened heart” around those she loves. After repeatedly getting hurt by her loved ones, Carina is finally burned out this time. She lost her strengths to pick herself up from the pain caused by her loved ones and keep loving them. She is so hurt that she’s scared of not surviving the next pain. She still wants Maya and she is still hopelessly in love with her but she needs Maya to win her back despite her instincts to forgive her again and again. She needs to see Maya’s changes to regain the courage to comfortably let go of her rationale to love Maya fearlessly again. What makes it worthy for Carina is that this time her love is changing, for the better. Maya is healing and she apologized to Carina. And the difference between Maya and Carina’s dad is that Maya now listens to Carina and respects her needs. Despite their downs and heartaches, Carina is still able to feel safe enough to spill all her fears to Maya.

This long rant is just to say that with the past few episodes of Grey’s and Station 19, we finally get a holistic understanding of the character Carina DeLuca. Rather than inconsistent writings, with simultaneous appearances of both Dr. Carina DeLuca and loving wife Carina DeLuca on 19 and Grey’s, her different personalities are explained and demonstrated well. These seemly contradicting personalities now make her more human and endearing.

[formerlyashkatom]

Now that I have gained license the time has come to get a car. After perusing various websites with my mechanic father, we settled on a car about two hours away and went to test drive it yesterday.

When we got there the battery was flat. An ill omen of things to come. The owner of the car charged it off a portable little kit while we went to find a coffee.

Dad's ute broke down halfway to the coffee place.

With much cursing, we were able to push the ute into a parking spot of a local business and call roadside assist. They make it out in 40 minutes and then inform us because Dad's ute runs on LPG, they need a Special Licensed Mechanic for it.

Dad calls roadside assist back to get a quote for a tow and gets disconnected. Eventually we get a quote for $600 (!!!) to make it back to Dad's place. We go 'ummmmmm.....' and say we'll call back. Meanwhile the guy selling the car has got the battery running again and agrees to come meet us where we're stranded so we can still fit in a test drive. We also spend some time googling and calling every local mechanic with a phone number to try to find somewhere local that can be towed to.

The test drive goes well and we like the car. Guy selling the car and I shake hands on it and organise a deposit and safety certificate. Then, being an absolute legend, he's like 'you can tow your ute to my place for the weekend.'

We organise the tow, which is covered for free under roadside assist because it's just up the road. Then when we get back to the place and arrange the ute nicely, Dad gets a call back from one of the mechanics. He's six beers deep so he can't come out and look at it, but this man enters his mind palace and walks dad through disassembling part of the engine to check on a bit that's the likely culprit. I cannot overstate how impressive this man was, he knew everything down to the spanner sizes needed for each itty bitty part.

Unfortunately despite the prowess of this mechanic the ute still isn't running. It's left for tomorrow and we still have to get home. I beg Dad to just let me pay for an expensive Uber, but he insists on the train. We quickly realise the problem with the train: Travis Scott is playing in the city, and it's free travel. We spend an hour and a half packed in like sardines and I remain bitter about the Uber.

We get to the city station where we have to switch lines and get some dinner, because it's dinner time by now. Then, for the final kick in the teeth, we discover the train line we need has been replaced by busses.

I put my foot down and we get an Uber.

Had all gone well, we should have made it home about 3pm. We crawled through my door at 7pm instead.

But: I am now the proud almost-owner of a Hyundai ix35, the biggest purchase I have ever made in my life, and soon I will get to start the journey of driving on my own.

[randomfoggytiger]

Fics That Deserve More Comments (Part IV)

Back on the fic list grind with a part four~!

**Note: Will ghost edit later.**

Loose chronological order below~

@hipsbef0rehands/Millenial_Falcon’s(WBM/WBM)

What do you think Mulder and Scully's best days were, respectively, as children?

He took her onto the navy ship which he he worked, showing her everything from the command room to the engine room. He took her to the tiny bunk beds where the crew slept, the head, and the kitchen. Young Dana looked at the living arrangements in horror.  When he took her to the forward dock of the ship and she could see the vast ocean before her. It was then that she understood her fathers love for the sea and adopted the same passion. It was this day that her love and respect for her father grew immensely, and sometimes where she needs to take a break from life and retreat to her happy place, it is on the dock of that ship. 

Mulder and Scully come to separate but important realizations as starry-eyed children.

4. Mulder shopping for Scully

It had been easy in the past, with women like Diana and Phoebe, he found the most dazzling expensive piece of jewelry and they were happy. The gifts were nice but he never really put much thought into them. That wasn't Scully.

Post IVF-- Mulder wants to pick the perfect gift for Scully's birthday after the IVF and before the impending millennium.

BED SHARING

Scully continued on with he night-time ritual of putting on her pajamas, fluffing up her pillows, and turning down her sheets, when Mulder emerged from the bathroom. He plopped unceremoniously onto the bed disrupting the sheets that she had just perfected. 

Pre-Dating-- Mulder and Scully take their own personal liberties.

20. “You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you.”

Heaving herself out of the sunken cushion of the battered chair, she pushed it closer to Mulder’s bedside. Once settled back into the Scully-shaped indent she had managed to create over the last three days, she hesitantly reached out and took Mulder’s hand in hers. Despite his improving condition, fear wound around her heart, squeezing out all hope and replacing it with the heavy weight of despair. He could very easily be ripped from her life once again. 

Deadalive Scully waits (and begs) for Mulder to wake up.

A Nice Hike in the Woods (Ao3)

“Mulder, are we out here looking for aliens?”

“No” he chuckled. He held his arms out. They were surrounded by pine trees in various shapes and sizes. “Well…” he said. “Pick one”.

Scully raised her eyebrows looking up and down, questioning him with her eyes.

“No, Scully, a tree…. pick one”

Pre-IWTB Mulder tries to make their unremarkable house a home.

You're told to write/direct/produce a msr scene of your own doing for one of the revival episodes.......go.

Taking her left hand he raised it to the level of their eyes. Gently, he began to play with the silver band that no longer adorned her neck but once again, her ring finger.

“I gave this to you almost 4 years ago. I never made good on my promise.”

Revival Mulder and Scully are back on the road and back together, giddy and happy and ready for the next step.

Babylon Headcanon

“She is a doctor, Scully.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard. Well, Mulder, I’ve been a doctor for a lot longer and let me tell you, if you ever do anything like that again, I will have you committed.” 

“Scully… you know I will, eventually” he said with a smile. 

Babylon Mulder cannot, of course, escape a Scully scolding.

You're the only one I trust (archive.org)  

A free-floating assortment of The X-Files fics that are fun to scroll down and read.

mad_martha's (annex-files, x-sites)

Pilot Flipped (Ao3)

In contrast to the corridor outside, the office was brightly lit and austerely neat, its untidiest feature being a pinboard near the door that was covered in newspaper cuttings and photographs.  Even those were arranged in a semblance of order.  There was a desk which, apart from a stack of ageing files,  a set of document trays and a slide projector, seemed to be empty of even normal office equipment; and a set of shelves around the walls filled with orderly rows of books and box files.  Mulder couldn't remember the last time he'd seen any office in the Bureau looking so tidy, and he included the Director's inner sanctum in that assessment.

AU-- Pilot Mulder is assigned to Scully.

9 Minutes

 The label inside the blouse collar bore the name of one of Scully's favourite outfitters and as she examined it, noting that the size was also her own, she made a disturbing discovery.  Just inside the neck of the blouse lay a small tangled gold chain and cross.

   Scully's fingers flew to her own neck, where an identical cross, given to her by her mother on her fifteenth birthday, lay against her skin.  What the –

   Her thoughts were suddenly jerked away by a distant scrabbling sound, barely audible above the noise of the machines around her....

   Scully jumped to her feet.  That voice had been familiar.  "Mulder!" she shouted, hearing her voice echo horribly.

   No reply, but there was a series of thumps and grunts, brought up finally by a loud thud. 

AU-- Pilot Scully flashes to the FTF hallway in the 9 minutes she and Mulder lose on the road.

Conversations

There was a pause as she tried to hang onto her anger and hurt, but Scully's innate sense of what was fair wouldn't allow this statement to pass unchallenged.  "I don't know about that, Mulder," she observed ruefully.  "I can think of a couple of occasions when I haven't been particularly fair to you.  More than a couple, if I'm honest."

"I won't argue you with you, but nothing you've done, or imagine you've done, can possibly match how unfair I've been to you over the past five years."

"I don't want to play "my blame's bigger than your blame" either."

Mulder gave a rough chuckle.  "Okay."

Pre-Dating-- Mulder and Scully get nudged and scolded by her family (twice) and Skinner (once) before they finally confront their S6 hurts and confess their love... in a cave-in.

@two-microscopes/twomicroscopes's

Sicktember 2022 Day 12: Psychogenic (Ao3)

He swallowed. “Scully, even if that’s what I’ve done to you–”

“Don’t make this about yourself.”

“Take care of yourself.”

S1 Scully's health keeps breaking down in her overexuberance to keep up; and Mulder, worried, tries to look out for her.

Sicktember 2022 Day 1 (Ao3)

“Chicken soup, I said–I said I’d bring you some,” he spluttered.

He was so desolate, it tugged at her heart.

“Buffalo chicken pizza soup, to be specific, I guess.”

Scully is sick and snappy about Mulder's mother henning, but relents.

Sicktember 2022 - Chapter 4

“Do you just want to get into pajamas now?”

“Mulder,” she sighed, slumping onto one bed, “you know they took our luggage.”

Ah, yes, when the vengeful cultists also smashed their rental car’s windows and slit its tires. They were nothing if not thorough. You had to grant them that.

Scully is running a temperature, and Mulder gets her to a motel as fast as he can with slashed tires and missing luggage.

Sicktember 2022 Day 5 (Ao3)

He leaned closer and drew a deep, argumentative breath against his congestion, instead sneezing dramatically.

“Great, now I have your germs all over me.”

Scully insists on taking Mulder home after he keeps sneezing in the office.

Sicktember 2022 Day 20 (Ao3)

They’d last seen each other at that briefing–was that three days ago already? By then even Mulder had admitted this case might not be an X-file.

No, a serial killer was ravaging across DC and their already non-existent work-life balance.

Buried in their office, Mulder swam in a sea of tissues, too.

Scully skips an autopsy to care for her sick, insomniac partner.

Sicktember 2022 Day 3: Painkillers (Ao3)

In the dim light, he could make out Scully’s eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. She rolled her head towards him as he leaned down to touch her matted hair. This was worse than he’d been expecting.

Cancer arc-- Mulder rushes to help Scully, reasoning past her refusal to take painkiller meds.

Sicktember 2022 Day 9: Home Remedy (Ao3)

“Scully? Scully!” Mulder called through their adjoining motel rooms’ door.

Faster than a conspirator to a smoke shop, she rushed out of bed and burst into his room.

Post Redux II Mulder's nose bleeds; and Scully rushes in to assess the injury and calm their panic.

Sicktember 2022 Day 10: Excessive Use of Tissues (Ao3)

Here Scully was, curled up with her Capote novella. Only Jeopardy playing in the background split her attention. Oh, and her sickly partner sniffing on her couch.

“Mulder, for the last time, blow your nose.”

“But, Scully,” he whined from her couch, “I just did.”

Dating-- Mulder is sniffly during a cozy night in.

@hamster-on-fire/fade_into_the_dusk_with_me's For The Sake Of Driving (Ao3)

‘I just. I need to drive, Scully.’

It’s trivial & bizarre & it really is too late....

‘Yeah- um, yeah, alright.’ She nods along to herself, as if he can see her. As if it matters.

Car rides shared between Mulder and Scully through the years.

@sunlightscully's

Travel

There are moments where he makes a fool of himself in airports. He catches glimpses of dark braids, swinging for just a moment before disappearing into the throng of people, and finds that his hands are shaking. She is forever escaping him, forever just a few steps ahead, and his chest tightens with the absolute conviction that it was her, that those braids belonged to her and now he has lost her again in the crowd.

It happens for the first time around Scully. She reaches for her gun and then his hand. He is incredibly grateful, suddenly; he hadn’t realized he’d been afraid that she wouldn’t.

Early seasons Mulder and Scully bond in airports, learning to appreciate each other.

City in the Clouds

He tells her he wants to settle down in the country, grow old where he can see the stars. He tells her she could be a mother, and she thinks for the first time of settling down with him. Fleetingly, she sees herself in the window of a little white farmhouse, wearing an apron. Cooking oatmeal.

She couldn’t stand it.

Scully realizes, years later, that she did want to live Home Mulder's domestic dream.

Kitchen

On the tabletop, her index finger splashes into a small pool of blood. “Come on,” she says, and Mulder leans obediently forward. The cut isn’t bad, or deep – head wounds always look worse than they actually are – but she dabs at it anyway, cleaning the blood away, applying disinfectant. He hisses, tries to move away, but she has one hand pressed to the top of his head, holding him steady.

Scully cleans up Mulder's latest injuries; and the two make a laughing but important blood brother pact.

Food

“There’s cheese on your mouth,” she says, and he tries to see it in the reflexion of the window but the car weaves and she grabs his arm instinctively.

“Mulder! Watch the road, I’ll do it.”

She wipes the corner of his mouth crudely with the scratchy brown napkin.

Mulder realizes he loves Scully while they eat food in the car, scratchy napkins and celestial comparisons serving as evidence for his belief.

Beautitudes

“I can’t accept it,” he says, and she wants to say, “You have to, it’s happening,” and, “There’s nothing anyone can do about it,” but he wouldn’t believe that either.

He makes everything harder.

Somehow, though, she is thankful. He’s fighting for her, and no one fights harder than Mulder.

Scully and Mulder support each other through their shared and separate tragedies.

My_Love_Forever's

The Strength of Their Beliefs

Sometimes he talks. Don't leave. I need you to stay. Keep fighting. I'll make them pay for this. I don't know who did this. I can't let them let you go and I can't make you stay. 

One Breath Mulder desperately clutches Scully's necklace while Scully feels his gaze, even in her coma.

The Realization of Weakness

Hidden in the back of his mind, the thought of not finding the thought of the Scully he lost. He has noticed that things faze her that she never blinked at before. Now she turns away and says she needs a moment when she is faced with the horrors of the world where previously she would have been fired up with rage at the perpetuator and would be shooting down his theories with facts. That is one of the things he missed most when she was taken for that long time; he would say "I think you have a vampire problem here" and pause, expecting her to take a deep breath and start listing all the reasons why that can't be after her exasperated "Mulder."

Irresistible Mulder wants to help support or heal Scully, hoping that, somehow, he is.

Waiting, in Reverse Order

For once, in a change of pace, she waits at his bedside. They have changed places, one sleeps on the bed and the other keeps a vigil in the uncomfortable chair at the bedside. Last time she was the one in the bed and he was waiting but now they have changed. She saved his life and waits at his bedside, hoping that her last memory of him is not the one where he ditches her to keep her safe.

End Game Scully waits in the hospital instead of Mulder, for once.

Viridian5's

Blowing Smoke

"Things are tough all over," I replied in my best hard-boiled voice.

He smiled darkly. "A change is gonna come..."

"Yeah?"

"You may not see me again. I think I'll be getting a promotion soon. I only had to stab a few backs to capture it."

S2 thug observes Krycek on a break.

Haunted

//As the roar and keening whistle grew louder, I stood up and walked into the trough between the rails. With an increasing feeling of clarity and peace, I turned to face my ride. When I threw the empty bottle against the rails, I couldn't help smiling at the sharp, crashing sound it made as it shattered. It sounded final. The approaching train looked liked a darker, moving cutout in the night. Except for the flashing lights.

//The lights.

//I couldn't move. Terror and a bone-deep feeling of loss gripped me along with paralysis as the flickering lights froze me in place. I couldn't see through the glare, and I heard someone screaming, and I could swear it was a girl, and she was screaming words, but I couldn't make them out, even as I sensed that she yelled the same word over and over again, and I was helpless and couldn't move again...

//NOT LIKE THIS! FIGHT! MOVE!

Mulder is transported to the memories of his childhood suicidal ideations while investigating a ghost and train tracks casefile.

Dead to the World

He looked so pale and still lying there. He had something odd, something that had left bruises and abrasions, wrapped tightly around his neck. Two more lines of that something enveloped his wrists. When she felt his neck to search for a pulse her fingers brushed it and quickly shied away. It was warm, moist, and alive. The other end of each of the lines trailed off into the darkness.

But he still lived. She took a scalpel from her coat pocket and prepared to cut him loose.

Mulder's eyes slowly opened, as if consciousness didn't come easily. She watched so many emotions flicker through them before he settled on blankness.

S5 Mulder willingly lets a monster parading as Samantha kill him; and Scully watches, horrified at his suicidal tendencies.

Circle - Chapter 1

It’d be interesting to see what Alex’s Consortium would be like. Maybe no better. Maybe his would even be worse.

But he was the one paying me.

AU-- Cashier rises through the Consortium ranks with the help of Krycek... only to face him again, years later, in a darker context.

Unprotected

"You have a neck brace on. You could have been killed. It was a stupid thing to do."

Mulder couldn't tell if he felt rage or despair. It teetered from one side to the next from second to second. He told myself that she was just upset that he'd ditched her and injured himself again, but--

He remembered why he never confessed anything to her or anyone if he could avoid it.

An injured Mulder feels alone after a careless comment from Scully.

7-Eleven Nightmares at 3 a.m.

Mulder was surprised his whole head didn't get devoured in his last yawn, which felt like it had split his face. //If I were a cartoon character...//

An insomniac Mulder is bored out of his mind... then starts to question his sanity after spotting a cup of very black, very oily diner coffee.

Starbuck_Lover's Under The Milky Way - Chapter 1

“You insisted I come with you in the middle of the night, you won’t tell me where we’re going, and you’re being incredibly vague,” she gestured wildly, “Excuse me for noticing a pattern.”

“You’ll love it,” he beamed at her, “I promise.”

Mulder wakes Scully up, taking her to a field to watch the stars.

Deb Longley's

Whistlewood - Chapter 1

I take a little longer than I should to turn back around, but the room behind me has transformed: it is lit softly, by candles fixed on each side of the fireplace, casting amber halos on the walls, and the fireplace now has a fire, which has burned down to nothing but softly smoldering ashes....

I swing back in his direction. He hasn't budged. Unexpectedly, he moves past me into the room, startling me into a yelp which he doesn't seem to hear.

An unconscious Mulder witnesses the vision of a dead man sledgehammer his family.

The Fear Place

I wonder what other people see when they look at him; the man is beautiful with his wild, windblown dark hair, and eyes, and tall, lean frame. A few of them are audacious enough to look him up and down, but they usually stop when they get to his eyes. He's thirty-eight, but he has the eyes of an old soul. He sees deep, and through, observing things that others overlook. He looks at smiles and perceives the lies hiding behind them. He sees the truth.

Mulder's messed-up knee and mother-son dynamic drives him to call Scully on Thanksgiving for reinforcements. Tena finally relents, if only a little.

story_monger's Predictable

He’s predictable, and he knows that.

Want to see the Mulder guy do some flips? Stick him in front of a missing child’s report; make it a little girl with dark hair. Watch him run.

He feels sick....

They should know that there’s a girl missing, and she has dark hair, and she’s supposed to turn ten in a week.

Mulder loathes his own reactions to cases similar to Samantha's; and Scully helps him to calm and get some sleep.

enigmaticblue's

True Hearts

He’s told Scully that the truth will set them both free, but he feels like a hypocrite for saying it. Mulder believes in the truth, he trusts in its power, and yet he’s hiding the truth from his partner.

Mulder has half-convinced himself that it’s not important, that they have to get through this crisis first. He owes Scully the truth, but he can’t bring himself to add to her burden.

Post Memento Mori Mulder feels guilt over not telling Scully about her ova.

Let Them Eat Cake

Scully peruses the plate of donuts at the end of the table, irritated when she realizes that cake donuts are all that’s left. She feels someone lean in close behind her, and an arm snakes around to snag one of the chocolate-frosted ones with multi-colored sprinkles.

She glances over her shoulder to see Mulder’s grin. “You didn’t want that one, did you, Scully?”

She resists rolling her eyes through a strong effort of will. “I don’t like cake donuts, Mulder.”

“Cake donuts are the best kind,” Mulder protests, taking a big bite, catching the crumbs with his tongue.

S6 Mulder and Scully debate donuts at a team-building conference.

Under the Mistletoe

“Hm?” He adjusted his glasses as he looked up at her.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me?”

“About what?”

“You know about what.”

He frowned, clearly confused. “No, I don’t know. What did I do?”

Scully pointed to the mistletoe, waiting for him to confess, or at least smirk. Instead, his face remained completely innocent—although that didn’t mean much, since this was Mulder.

Pre-Dating-- Scully notices but avoids the mistletoe. Mulder does not.

Reflections

His old man had missed Vietnam, but Doggett had an uncle who’d joined up. He’d heard a few stories, most while on leave after boot camp. Uncle Duane seemed to think they shared a connection that hadn’t been there before, and he talked about steamy nights that were filled with gunfire and the smell of reefer.

Later, much later, when he’d been given an honorable discharge after Beirut, Uncle Duane had talked about the horror of watching your friends get limbs blown off, of hands stained with the blood of innocents.

Pre-This Is Not Happening Skinner shares the details of the Unrequited case with Doggett. Both wonder what was and wasn't worth it.

A Strong Shoulder

The knock on the door came as a surprise around ten, and Scully heaved herself up off the couch, one hand on her back for support. A quick glance through the peephole had her hurrying to open the door.

Mulder stood there, a crooked grin on his face, his eyes a little lost, a little vulnerable. “Hey.”

Post Three Words Mulder slowly drifts in, glad Scully wants him to stay even if he's handling reentry badly.

All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue

Scully gave thanks that William was such a good-natured baby; he stirred once as she bundled him up, opening his eyes sleepily, then immediately closed them again once he was secure in his carrier. Keys in hand, she set the car seat down in the hallway to lock the door behind her, then froze as she heard footsteps.

How was it that she could recognize his walk after he’d been gone for months? How was it that she could sense him coming even though she had no expectation of his arrival?

AU-- S9 Mulder returns to Scully and William for Christmas; but he leaves again, though both wishes he could stay.

@cauldronoflove/thegoodthebadandthenerdy's

Close Your Eyes, Be Patient

He stood in his forlorness like it was a new winter coat. It was draped across the downward curve of his shoulders, tugging impishly at his struggling-to-remain-steady mouth. It wasn't that she'd never seen him like this - as much as he tried to hide it, she knew there were certain cases that kept him awake long into the night, same as her - it was just that she'd never seen it so set in.

Pre-Dating-- Scully makes a calculated effort to carefully disentangle Mulder from his mind.

The Prairie State Debate

Dinner twisted away like dandelion wishes, table plated in hard plastic cups and warm to the touch dishes. The tea was syrupy sweet, made by the hand of a true Southern child despite their current place on the map, and the food sported heavy gravys and savory score marks - a combination that left Scully, two servings and only yeses for 'would you like a refill?' Scully, ready to collapse into the gossamer sheets of her bed until tomorrow.

But when she felt fingers on the rise of her shoulder, heard an absence of footsteps beside her, glanced up at a dazzling marquee, she lead the way in to the theater. She was tired, yes, but she had been more so, no doubt would be same time next week, and these moments like monthly allowances were something she needed as much as anything.

Dating-- Scully remembers their first not-date.

••• - •- -•--

It's dark out, moonlit sky extrapolating between the slats of still open blinds, but he gets the sense that it's not the same night he remembers falling asleep in. The only other light is a small lamp somewhere above him, casting low light that does nothing for his pale, thin skin. He looks fragile, even from his own estimates - battered and bruised and made from poorly picked and sewn together parts.

He can't help but think he doesn't deserve the smile he finds waiting for him, not in this state. That doesn't stop her though....

Scully saves a drugged up, nearly dead Mulder.

All I Need's a Fraction of Your Happy Heart

Scully ducked her head into the street, looking both ways before bustling across the crosswalk, Mulder following a single footstep behind. To onlookers, their height difference was exasperated as they hitched their arms up and jogged quickly through the sounds of honking traffic, but it never seemed to cross their minds. When they picked back up on the sidewalk, he ducked his head and leaned forward, just enough so she could hear him, just enough so she could let a laugh kick up her throat.

AU-- Scully, giddy and freshly married on a case, reflects on the events that led to their mutual proposal, and courthouse wedding.

Gravity, Oh Gravity

because the second thing he sees is scully. scully in a shirt he's had to have seen her in a thousand times, the one he thinks is green, but isn't sure because his eyes have always betrayed him. his eyes have to be betraying him. scully and-

and         and                  and

(and his heart stops beating.)

it thunders back to life as he stumbles forward, legs feeling like they've been chopped from his body and reattached in the wrong direction. 

AU-- This Is Not Happening Mulder wakes on the ground to the stars and Scully's face. Even Skinner cries.

Looking Back Over My Shoulder (I See it Clear as Day)

There are few people that Mulder is okay with calling him Fox. Admittedly, they're all named Scully....

Her sister isn't, though. 

Revival Mulder and Scully chuckle over Melissa's ghost's audacity to chew out her sister's partner.

@youweremytouchstone's First time she winked at him!

He looks back over at the door. As usual, nobody down her except for him this early in the morning. He turns his attention to the cases piling up on his desk.

And then in a flash, she’s at his desk, looking at him like she’s been there the last hour.

Dating-- Scully enjoys teasing Mulder and pretending it never happened.

@pukajen's (Ao3, LJ) Sleep Cycle

Even all these years later, it feels like a stolen moment to watch him sleep peacefully; undrugged, unconcussed, in their bed, the one they've shared for years. So many times in the past she's kept vigil over his hospital bed, watching him sleep, worried he'd never wake up.

Revival Scully still loves watching Mulder sleep.

@dinascully/unsedentary's Miles Adrift

She said something about being blinded by someone’s brights, losing control, ending up in the ditch, and he tries not to think about whether or not this was an accident. He’s already called Skinner.

He waits a few minutes before trying to start the car again. If he’s lucky, they’ll be on their way and home before Scully wakes up. But the car has other plans – it coughs pitifully, whines, and refuses to go anywhere.

Breakup-- Scully and Mulder reconnect after a car accident. His car breaks down, forcing them to have a tearful conversation.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[oubliette-odette]

The Reluctance of Love Pt. 30

Hey guys! I was away out of town for a couple weeks and was out of service during that time so I'm finally here with a few chapters ready to post. Which is perfect because I'll be out of town again for the next two weeks and I'll make sure that I get a post out for you so you don't all suffer. Things are getting gooood.

Orc Male x Half-Elf Male, Fated Mates, Forbidden Love, Slow Burn Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 Content Warnings: violence, light torture All orcish is from orcishdictionary.com, created by Matt Vancil.

I stood in the center of the Great Hall, surrounded by men that I had grown to despise for their pathetic neutrality on every decision. I had told them everything my father had done, sparing nothing. I shook with anger, but Selhar stood beside me, barely more than a boy, yet holding himself with the stature of a grown man. Him being there made everything feel far less frightening. We stood, side by side, in the center of the room while the Council circled around us, each keeping their own judgements to themselves while they studied and stared at us. The room was silent as they took in the information I had given them. It took everything in me to not scream back at them to just believe us as I held each of their gazes.

Suddenly, like a large exhale, all of them seemed to erupt with questions. It was clearly a division between those who believed me and those who found my tale preposterous.

“Do you understand what you are accusing?” Councilman Orin rose to his feet. I detected exasperation in his tone and I felt my body go rigid. I remembered he was one who had always admired my father and the two worked close together often. “I understand that since the death of the Duke’s Consort, there has been a change in you. I do not see a benefit in bringing your familial problems to this Council. You understand that if you succeed in removing your father from his role, what it will mean for Berdusk? And what it could mean for Triel if what you say is true? This would mean an entire upheaval in two bodies of government. These are not accusations to be given lightly, son.”

“I certainly would not bring these accusations if I did not intend to do that exact thing.” I said, my voice quivered as I bit back my emotion. “Something must change. An upheaval is necessary. Do you understand what you would permit to continue if nothing is done?” I raised my head and looked directly at Orin. “You would be permitting a radical group to exist beyond our control and persuade this and neighboring lands and it would be that radical group - the Red Hunters - that would begin determining who would be able to travel between roads without trouble, who could trade with us and who could not. What belongs to us would belong to them. Their hands would forever be in all of your pockets and making choices that do nothing for our people.”

Another man rose, he was older and hunched, but his glassy eyes looked kindly down at me, “I cannot deny that I am entirely unbelieving. The Duke and I have often been opposed in our opinions, but I always respected his leadership as long as it was in the interest of the citizens of Berdusk. I believe we all can agree that in the years following your mother’s death, he has not behaved as he used to. I’m not opposed to his removal, but I believe we all find ourselves unprepared to handle what this could mean to Berdusk.”

“Precisely!” Another interjected. “What is to be done if the Duke is gone?”

“Are you not able bodied to lead the people without a Duke?” Selhar asked, his exasperated tone went over their heads, but I caught the way he looked over at me with a roll of his eyes.

“But the Hilmars have led and protected these people for generations.” Orin responded, he looked at me, a dark gleam in his eye, “To lose their duke and the entire way of life would bring utter ruin.”

“You say Commander Gideon has been investigating the Duke as well?” The kind, glassy eyed councilman spoke again.

I nodded, “He is not currently here since the Duke suspected his disloyalty, but we have convinced a number of his guards to speak on his behalf…those that have been forced under my father’s instructions to go against their creed.” I gestured to the line of guards that stood at the door behind me. They all remained silent, but stood stoically and alert. “I also have the means to contact Commander Gideon, should we find it is safe for him to return.”

I turned to a hunched man who sat before me, he was buried in a large book, frantically running his knobby fingers down the page before frantically turning to the next.

“Treasurer,” I gently spoke, drawing the man’s attention. “What have you found in your research?”

He shook his head, sighing. “Gentlemen, the Young Lord is correct. There are withdrawals made by the Duke once a month with no notation, which is well… I-I don’t know how such a thing passes through my clerks.” He removed his spectacles and looked up at me, “And just as you said, there are also payments that are received from Triel that are given right before each of these withdrawals, which are noted as a trade for goods…but I don’t believe goods were ever traded?”

Many shook their heads, “I’ve not been aware of any trades between Triel.” One said.

“It appears that the evidence is stacking against the Duke.” The old councilman sighed. “But Councilman Orin - though I am reluctant to admit - has made a point. Our people expect there to be a Duke in this land…there is no easy way to dismantle what has always been. Young Lord, what do you suggest be done now that the truth is out?”

I nodded. “I understand the burden this places on you and the rest of Berdusk. It is my intention to take his place as Duke.”

Selhar stiffened next to me and whirled his attention on me. “Altan.” He hissed.

I raised a hand to calm him, “I know I have been…reluctant to bear the responsibilities that were always mine. I have watched my father rule in silence, but no more. He speaks with poison on his lips and has held back the progress of Berdusk for too long. Our people deserve to thrive with a leader that believes in the spirit of unity, and honesty. No more walls, no more secrets. We can bridge Berdusk better with the surrounding communes.”

“Ah,” Orin interjected. “I’m beginning to see the whole picture.” He looked to the other Councilman. “This pup wants to free his orc lover and bring its people to our town. Is that what has spurned your interest in ruling all of a sudden?”

The room grew uncomfortably still and I felt my face begin to burn. I had expected this turn to happen, I had never been good at subtlety. And I certainly had been far from subtle the moment I met Drunrag.

“I won’t deny that I have a personal interest in seeing Drunrag released from wherever my father has imprisoned him. And I won’t deny that I wouldn’t invest my influence to foster alliances with outside leaders, but I promise you my choice to do this didn’t come from a place of selfishness. My mother, the late Duchess Telmira, taught me that every individual should be treated with dignity, no matter how different they may be from our understanding. Because what we do not understand is not something to fear, but to learn from and the way we grow is often doing the thing we fear the most. We cannot progress without these connections. The Duke has separated us and choked our people from alliances that would strengthen us.” 

I took a breath, “To be truthful, I don’t want to be Duke. If it were truly up to me, I would dismantle this entire government and start over.” I glanced over to Orin, “It would be easier to just run away and never take responsibility for what I’ve brought to you. And yet, that’s not what I was raised to do and it would be on my conscious if I chose that path. We are all currently facing an uncertain future, but I believe uncertainty is the best place to begin building something we want that’s better than where we were. Uncertainty is just another word for possibility. And if we can build bridges and repair what’s broken, imagine what Berdusk could be. A homeland to traditions old and traditions new. A caretaker to friends and strangers alike.”

“That’s a very optimistic perspective, son.” Orin snidely remarked. “What makes you think people will want this change?”

I hardened my stare, “Perhaps they don’t…but I think people are allowed to change their minds if they want something different. But they won’t know until we give them that opportunity.”

The Council exchanged looks of concern and skepticism. It wasn’t a surprise to see such reactions, I had resisted and ignored my responsibility for a long time and had gone to great lengths to make my dislike known to everyone and now here I stood, sputing flowery words of hope and connection. I certainly wouldn’t trust them if I were them. What I was suggesting was entirely new, foreign to Berdusk. I held each of their gazes and tried to return an expression that exuded confidence and faith in what I said. 

“Lord Altan.” Orin said again. “Are you prepared for the consequences that will come from this?”

“Are you prepared to no longer have my father’s money lining your pockets?” I retorted.

The look of disdain on Orin’s face could not have been more satisfying. “How dare you!?”

I folded my arms and smirked. “Change will come whether we want it or not, it does not care how we feel about it. I won’t lead Berdusk into ruin, and I will see that whatever ‘privileges’ my father has given some of  you is returned to the people. I’m not really here to be liked by any of you.”

The glassy-eyed councilman nodded, “Well, I do not wish to hold back this spirited young lord, I see great potential in him, but we still have the current Duke Hilmar to concern ourselves with. We must try him for his crimes and come to this answer ourselves. Do you disagree?”

I shook my head, “I do not.”

A guard behind us cleared their throat and announced, “Duke Hilmar left early this morning. He didn’t say where, but he appeared to be in a hurry and in a dark mood according to some of the staff here in the Great Hall.”

“Running away perhaps…” Someone mumbled.

The councilman talked amongst and over themselves, struggling to know what to do next.

“A decision cannot be made until the Duke has been tried for his crimes.” One finally said.

“Have guards sent to seek him out, find him!” One yelled.

“If he doesn’t return in three days, we must concede that he is guilty.” Another declared.

“Young Lord, permit us to hold any further discussion until the Duke is found?” The glassy-eyed councilman asked.

I bowed my head, “Granted. Thank you gentlemen, I look forward to seeing this through.”

“As do I.” He replied with a weak smile.

The meeting seemed to awkwardly end as everyone eyed one another with wide expressions and vacant smiles. Admittedly, I had done the equivalent of dumping ice cold water on all their heads and left them with barely a solution. Was I really the best I could offer Berdusk for a better future? I had to believe that my mother taught me what she did for more than just being the pawn of someone else. Change would come slowly, but it would change. And I prayed that it would eventually lead me to Drunrag and he would stay by my side to the long, bitter end.

Selhar grabbed my hand next to me, “Are you mad?” he whispered as he began to pull me away. “You didn’t tell me you would do this.”

“I had to.” I said. 

“But…” He bowed his head. “You told me you wanted to travel, to sing and make art and meet people. What about Drunrag?”

I felt my smile fade from my face, “Those dreams would mean nothing if I ruined your dreams, Selhar.” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I had to do what needed to be done. I will not regret this.”

He nodded, but couldn’t meet my eyes.

We began to walk down the hall when I suddenly felt a faint burning in the pit of my stomach. I stopped and placed a hand on the flat of my stomach and wavered. This feeling, so familiar, so painfully vivid in my memories. I stumbled back and leaned against the wall, my breath suddenly becoming shallow and desperate. I placed my other hand on my chest, feeling the quickening in my heartbeat.

Lordhovid. It was back.

“Altan!” Selhar reached to catch me, his eyes wide.

I held him back, my eyes unfocused as I felt the burn begin to spread. “Selhar, I need to get out of here.”

“What? Why? What’s happening?”

I looked up at him, but flinched as a wave of feverish heat punched into my loins. I bent down and gasped for air. “I’ll explain later, but I need to leave…” I reached into the pocket of my tunic and found the crumpled letter from Gaius Gideon. “Here. Take me here.” I shoved the paper into his hands before I gasped again and collapsed to the ground. The heat was unbearable, worse than it had been before. And through the pain and fog, I could feel the tight, unyielding pull in my gut that tied me to my beloved.

Want to be updated on new chapters? DM me to be added to the tag list! I'm so sorry that I missed you guys last chapter!

@eltrolodecadadia

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[samhatch]

Things I would put in my ACOTAR fixit fic:

Stone Heart

ABOUT: When I first read ACOTAR, I thought this was unique to Tamlin. I don't recall it being said in the first book that it was related to Amarantha's curse, so I thought this was just something about Tamlin's past that we would learn later.

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE: I'd really like to take this in a Howl's Moving Castle or Odin direction, that Tamlin had to sacrifice his heart in order to gain a powerful ability. I would make that his shapeshifting ability. Making this ability something he gained on his own, rather than something he inherited, would be so much more interesting! It would also mean that his true "high lord beast form" is something we still haven't seen, and is an ultimate form even Tamlin is afraid of using. This would also mean that when Feyre gains abilities from all the high lords, she does not gain the ability to shapeshift, which could solve some plot issues down the road. Also, also: this would mean that his heart is stone forever, and cannot be healed by breaking the curse. He made a faerie deal, and those can be unforgiving.

2. Feyre's Mother

ABOUT This line from the book has always stood out to me: “Didn’t … ,” Tamlin interrupted, his deep voice surprisingly gentle, “didn’t your mother tell you anything about us?” I prodded the table with my forefinger, digging my short nails into the wood. “My mother didn’t have the time to tell me stories.” I could reveal that part of my past, at least. Lucien, for once, didn’t laugh. After a rather stilted pause, Tamlin asked, “How did she die?” When I lifted my brows, he added a bit more softly, “I didn’t see signs of an older woman in your house.” (Page 79-80.) WHAT I WOULD CHANGE I want to make Feyre's mother fae. Specifically a Selkie, that Papa Archeron would have kidnapped on one of his sea voyages when he was young. He hid her cape that allowed her to transform back into a seal, and she was forced to marry him and have his children. Because she was in human form when she had her daughters, they would all be 100% human, and not fae, despite having a fae mother. This also explains why Feyre's mother was so bitter and disconnected from her family. She only ever wanted to go back to the ocean. But eventually she died of heartbreak and homesickness. This is also why Feyre is so hung up on her promise to her mother, even though she wasn't treated very well: it was a fae contract and unbreakable, without Feyre ever realizing it. I think it's also possible that one of her mother's relatives (or maybe Tamlin, since she would have been one of his subjects) would have cursed Papa Archeron for not returning her to the ocean, and that's why all of his fortunes changed so drastically and suddenly. It wasn't until Tamlin lifted that curse that her father was able to make money again. (I also like the idea that her father is genuinely a savvy businessman who was cursed to make bad deals, and all the riches he earns after the curse is lifted were earned by him and not just cash that Tamlin magically threw at him.)

3. Illiteracy

ABOUT Feyre being illiterate is important to her character as a human, so I wouldn't change that, but I would change how she gains literacy in the second book. WHAT I WOULD CHANGE This might be cheating, but I would just have her gain literacy after the high lords give a piece of themselves to resurrect her. Give her pieces of their knowledge about each court as well, and it helps bridge the uncomfortable age gaps, fast tracks her literacy, and gives her important strategic knowledge of the whole of Prythian. This way, her becoming a leader feels more legitimate, and that it's a position she could actually command with genuine competence. Is it cheating? maybe. Would it change her character completely? probably. But no more so than her character already changed form book 1 to book 2 I think.

4, The Trials

ABOUT I know this was some folks' favorite part of the book, but for me it was the opposite lol! The first half felt whimsical and magical, and the second half felt rushed, anticlimactic, and disjointed. To this day, I don't understand why Amarantha made a deal with Feyre, when she'd already won! There was no benefit to this deal for Amarantha, she could have captured and tortured Feyre to her heart's content. It's lazy writing, honestly. WHAT I WOULD CHANGE Amarantha needs something from Feyre that she can't get on her own. I don't know what that is yet, but I'll figure it out (maybe it's her mother's selkie coat for some reason, or maybe there's magic protecting Feyre that prevents Amarantha from killing her outright, so she puts her in a no-win-scenario aka: the trials.) I would also change the trials. I hate the worm. It felt so lazy to me, like a Dune worm? Really? If there is actual faerie-lore to back this up, I'll accept it, but it just felt like SJM was throwing in the kitchen sink of sci-fi cliche's. I would nix the worm completely, and redo the trials. The only trial I liked was the one where she had to read, because it felt like there was actual build up to that in the books, and the cost of losing being her friend's life rather than her own felt like the stakes were really high. Too bad she only won by cheating. :/ I would craft the trials in a way that force Feyre to think outside the box, and really understand the fae's love for wordplay and cleverness. Here's how I would construct the trials: 1. A Hunting Trial - where Feyre has to hunt a mythical beast. She thinks it's going to be a terrifying monster, but isn't prepared for it to be a pucca that looks like her mother. Trauma ensues! :D 2. The Riddles Trial - I wouldn't change anything about this! It forces Feyre to come to terms with her stubbornness and unwillingness to accept Tamlin's help when he first offered to teach her to read. 3. Embracing Tamlin - keeping the inspiration from the Ballad of Tam Lin, Feyre needs to hold onto Tamlin while Rhys reaches into his mind and forces Tamlin to take all kinds of terrifying shapes that hurt Feyre. Feyre never lets go, and passes the trial despite all the harm it causes her. Feyre passes the trials, but at the cost of her life, and Tamlin has to hold her dead body, knowing that his shapeshifting killed her. :'(

I'll reblog this and add to it as I get more ideas! Let me know what you think! I'll write out an actual fic at some point, but I feel like I need to finish reading the first three books to do it justice.

[dukeofdelirium]

If you look up Child Bride by Suzanne Finstad, you can find it on Amazon. I'm not sure if it's online anywhere. The Elvis-Priscilla timeline is basically that they were "courting" a bit while he was stationed in Germany, but it was quite common for teenage girls to do so while chaperoned. They saw each other for five months only on the weekends with other people, listened to music, normal stuff. Then he left and they did not see each other again for two years, though Priscilla wrote him a TON of letters (he didn't write her back a whole lot; as that other commenter said, he had his own steady girlfriend back home!). When she was 16, she visited his family for two weeks and left. About 2 months before she turned 18, she started begging her parents and Elvis to let her come over and live in Memphis. This was weird because Elvis was shooting movies and wasn't in Memphis at all at the time, but it was agreed that she could come if she would live with Elvis' father and his wife so she could be taken care of. But after being there for a few weeks, she just moved all her stuff into Graceland. It was kind of understood that Elvis did want to marry her when she was older, he thought it's what his mother would want for him, but he was also wishy-washy and kind of just went along with what his girlfriends wanted to avoid any conflict or hurt feelings. It was another 3 years before they got married, so she was 21 and he was 31. I think what's annoying is that people DO get the impression that they were together non-stop from the time she was 14, which is not true at all, and Priscilla was definitely the one who was pursuing it the most. Modern minds cannot grasp this, but women used to drop out of school and get married so often in the '50s-'60s, and it was considered fine to date an older man if you intended to get married one day. It was the idea of living together that was more of the scandal, and I think that's partly why Elvis' manager wanted to get the knot tied so bad. (And because he was close with Priscilla's family.) So yes, they "dated" but you also have to adjust your definition of dating to "Elvis wants to go to the movies with a bunch of other people, do you want to be there also?" ... and also he is dating multiple other people all the time. XD So it was not exclusive or serious at that time, it was more, "Let's put a pin in this and circle back down the road." I also want to emphasize that this was all very chaste, Elvis would physically leave the room a lot of times if Priscilla tried to make something happen, even after 18. This was his biggest sin to her.

Hm, interesting stuff. Thank you for the detailed explanations. I’m going to see if I can find this book online or download it somehow as opposed to buying it.

It sounds like to me based on what you’re saying that she didn’t have a personal relationship with him let alone an intimate one despite her continued pursuit of it. I’ll have to do more research in my free time and see if I can read this book, but I already hate Priscilla so this just makes it worse to me lol.

Though I can’t speak of hatred toward her when it comes to Elvis because I am not a fan of him. But I cannot stand the things she says about Michael Jackson and the way she tries to villainize him for the crime of *checks notes* wanting a family with his wife…. My real issue isn’t even the villainizing, it’s the fact she’s trying to say that this black man would be so privileged to be around Presley genetics and that their white genes are so precious and sacred and that he desperately wanted it by any means necessary that comes off as very racist of her.

Especially considering MJ clearly didn’t give a fuck about “Presley genes” bc he had a nobody nurse birth his first two kids 😐

Priscilla seems to live in her own world where in HER reality MJ saw the Presley bloodline as above all others or something. But in reality, he was a Jackson and he certainly didn’t need the Presley name, fame or “genes” and he also wasn’t even a fan of Elvis

Anyway, rant over (for now lol). I’m gonna check this book out and do some digging

[miscfandomwrites]

Academically Kickass: Chapter One

Pairing: Avengers x Mafia! Student! Fem! Reader

Warnings: Language

Words: 1.7k

Location: Mavel > Wanda Maximoff > Series

Tagging: @tyler-t0t

“Ms. (Y/N).” Clarke said as she saw me exit the building. 

I nodded to her, pausing and stepping beside her, letting the rest of the school flow out the doors.

That’s when I noticed Jack, who exited the door and made his way over to us.

He was following me. Godammit-I should have seen that. Fuck, here comes the lecture.

“Ms. (Y/N), did you notice I wa-”

I cut him off before the lecture started. “No, Jack. You’re supposed to let me know anyway, if I’m being followed. That is a rule.” I told him as I turned, heading down the walkway. 

Clarke kept pace with me, tugging on the leash for Roscoe. Meanwhile, Jack had to jog and dodge students to get to us. 

 I chuckled as I kept walking, taking the long way around the school to the teacher’s parking lot. 

Finally Jack caught up with us, and gave me a sour look and nothing more (thankfully).

Perks of being a Mafia Lord's Daughter: You get to park anywhere. And since my Father is a main donor of the school, I not only get top-tier classes and good academic results, but I am well known.

Oh please. I work my ass off for my grades-I made sure to explain that to the Board and to my teachers. Just because my Father has influence does NOT mean I get treated any differently. 

We headed to the parking lot, and I immediately knew which car they took to get here. 

The dodge challenger-black, as the majority of our cars were. It was beautiful, I’ll give you that. 

Money makes beauty. But money cannot be beauty-you actually need to work for that. 

We headed to the car, Clarke unleashing Roscoe who walked towards the car, sniffing around and under it. 

Clarke unlocked it, and opened the driver’s side door for me, and I got in. Roscoe got in the back with me, sitting on the passenger side. 

Clarke would be driving, and it seems Jack would be the passenger.

I opened my book again after putting my seatbelt on, and lost myself in it as we headed home. 

Thankfully the car was silent, which not only gave anxiety but took it away. 

How bad is it? With three of them now, it’s bound to be bad, yet it’s not bad enough where I needed to be taken out of class, much less have a bodyguard with me at all times. 

The drive back to the house took almost twenty minutes, and I spent most of it either reading or glancing at my phone now and again, awaiting a message from either my father or my brother, explaining things to me. Nothing. 

Finally, I peered up from my book and glanced around the car. Clarke was focused on the road, Jack was on his phone, messaging whoever, and Roscoe was facing forward, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I raised my eyebrows before flipping my phone over and tucking my head back into my book.

~~

The gates opened automatically as we pulled into the driveway leading up to them, and we pulled around to the front of the house….

“What the hell is going on?” I asked out loud as I saw the new guards posted. Four out by the front doors, two holding rifles, and a quick glance at the roof had me seeing two men with long-range rifles posted up. “Jesus Christ…” I murmured as I got out of the car. Shouldering my bag and tucking my phone in my back pocket, I headed up the snow-encrusted steps. Only a light dusting, enough for the snowmelt to already start eating away at it. 

Jack opened the doors and we walked through. There were more guards, at the balconies and at the foot of the stairs. I saw more posted at the doors. Thankfully, my father and brother were already there. Along with a few other people I recognized, mostly as my father’s associates and ‘helping hands’.

I only took note of my surroundings, waiting for him to speak. 

“(Y/N), I’m glad you’re home.” Father spoke. I tilted my head in interest. I am usually called a pet name, such as darling, or babygirl, etc… for him to call me by my first name is when I knew it was serious. 

He didn’t bother to turn around before he raised his hand, dismissing his cadre. They filtered out to a side room and I turned my attention back to my father. 

“Why don’t you get changed and...dressed up so you can meet our associates?” 

I only nodded before taking off up the stairs, heading to my room. Jack took Roscoe and they stayed behind, while Clarke followed me into my room. 

I dumped my bag next to my desk and tossed my book on it, before starting to take off my outer layers of clothing. 

“Something nice, I suppose then?” I asked her as I hung my jacket on the back of my chair. 

“I suggest something feminine, perhaps a dress?” She said as I took my shoes into my closet. 

I hummed and started looking through the racks of clothes, before settling on a decent black dress. Paired with some gold or diamonds, some heels, and my knives, it’ll do nicely. 

I made sure to shave and wash my hair, but I tried to keep getting ready relatively quickly. 

No less than twenty minutes later, my hair styled down and my knives strapped on, I pulled on my heels and finished with my jewelry before heading downstairs. 

Clarke led me through the house and towards the back of it, where some of the main meeting rooms were. Through two sets of doors and two sets of guards, we arrived at the room where my father only met with his highest, and most important clientele. It wasn’t used often, so when I needed a quiet place to work I was often found here. 

The walls held various guns from various times, some dating back to the civil war and some as recent as last year’s newest chinese additions. All were in perfect working order, and well taken care of. And I’ve shot them all. I guess that’s one of the perks of being in my odd little family-being taught from a young age how to defend myself and those I love. 

But at the same point, I never got to really experience a decent childhood. I don’t remember a time my father and I spent any time together outside of my ‘training’ or dinners. 

Father stood at the head of the table, my brother to his left and Jacob, his second in command, to his right. There were the associates, along with three men and two women I didn’t recognize. There was an empty seat at the other head of the table, right in front of me. 

“(Y/N), I’m glad you could join us.” He said, motioning to the chair in front of me. We all sat down and I turned my attention to the strangers. 

The men, one dark skinned and with an eyepatch. Looked clean cut, with mostly leather and black accessories. The man to his right, a blonde white boy who was very well muscled and wearing a suit. Then the other man whom I recognized as Tony Stark, someone that I’ve seen only in mention and in passing. And the two women: Natasha Romanoff, an inspiration and one of the most notorious assassins. I’ve seen her only twice, both in dealings with my father. 

Why would she deal with him? She’s an assassin with her own goals, which were none of my business unless they directly affected me or my family. And the other one, someone I’ve seen only on television and heard about in conversations. Wanda Maximoff. 

“So, do you have an idea why you are here, Miss (L/N)?” The one with the eyepatch-Fury, if I can recall correctly-asked me. 

I leaned back into the chair, nodding my thanks to Clarke as she set a cup of coffee in front of me. I took it in my hands and quietly thanked her before I studied the man and took a sip of the warm drink. 

“If I did, why would you be asking me that?” I replied, raising my eyebrow. 

“You are being asked to join the Avengers Initiative.” 

I looked towards my father. Who sighed and sipped his bourbon. 

“Before we get into any details, does this explain the heightened security and three guard team assigned to me today, father?” I asked him. He nodded. 

“Our rivals decided to ban together. And as it seems, have joined forces with Hydra, their” He gestured to the group “Enemies as well. They know that our bloodline has...abilities. And all three of us, myself, your brother, and you are being searched for.” 

“Then why does the invitation not extend to my brother as well?” I asked. 

“Because I’ve already been tested, (F/N), and I don’t show any abilities. Neither does father.” He replied.

“And me?” 

“You have been tested and shown the aptitude. But you haven’t shown any outward signs yet, as far as abilities beyond advanced healing and a high IQ.” Father replied. I nodded and took another sip of my coffee before turning back to Fury.

“And why do you want me to join?” I questioned him. 

“Because you need training for your abilities as they come into play. And you would be a good ally to have.” Steve told me. 

I sighed and set my coffee down, looking towards my father. 

“And what about here? Do you need my assistance or are you willing to let me go and do this?” I asked him.

He ran a hand through his hair and tilted his head back. 

“Princesa, this is your decision. I can influence it but that wouldn’t be fair. This is your choice. I suggest you go. You’ll be surrounded by people like you, and you will be able to do good.” He finally said. I nodded.

“And the family?” 

“We can take care of ourselves. I will keep in contact, however.” He replied. 

I turned back towards Fury. 

The world needs me.

“When do I leave?”

[ldysmfrst]

Breaking and Entering (4) - Mikhail

Status: Ongoing Series

Chapter number: 4 of unknown

Word count for Chapter: 1,073 

Word count for Story: 9,534

Genre: Werewolf

There are no chapter titles, but each chapter will have a name listed that indicates which POV the chapter is from. Mindlinks are in italics. Conversations with their inner wolf are in bold italics.

A little about the author: I am a mother of two beautiful children. One of which is special needs, and on 3/28, they lost 75% of their vision. I started a Patreon if you feel the heart to donate towards helping with the medical costs of appointments, medication, and modifications to the house, which insurance doesn't cover.

Warnings: (I am not good at this, but I will try. Let me know if I missed anything!!) NOT BETA READ!! This story will have a bit of angst, fluff, smut, f/m, and m/m. This chapter doesn't have any warnings... unless I missed some.

BREAKING AND ENTERING MASTER LIST

LDYSMFRST MASTER LIST

My world got flipped again with two simple works – High school.

Like actual high school with other students. 

Not alone with a tutor in the library of the packhouse. 

After my father wished me luck, Aliaksandr, Mitch, and I moved to Gamma Jon's office to discuss my day. I started at 8 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m., followed by training with the warriors my age, who would be under my command. 

"What do you mean I have a free third period? What is brunch? I thought there were sports after school, not training?" I ask no one in particular as I look down below, watching the students starting to come in quickly. 

“What’s with the block schedules?”

Most students are dressed lightly for the heat until one student catches my eye, leaving the building … wearing pants and a hoodie. Watching the student walk away, I can feel Borya get restless.

"MIKY!" Aliaksandr raises his voice, and I spin around and glare at him before I say anything, "If you want us to answer all your questions, you might want to listen to our answers. Besides, you have five minutes to get to your first class with me, and Professor Clark is not one to mess with."

"You are lucky you are my Beta, Sasha," I say as I grab my coat.

Mitch hands me a backpack and says, "In here, you have everything you need for your first 2 classes. Your locker has the rest of your stuff. I know you aren't dressed for school, but we will make do."

"What do you mean I am not dressed for school?" That is when I remembered I was dressed for the office. 

I thought this morning's meeting would be with an advisor or to settle something urgent, so I wore a three-piece charcoal gray suit with no tie and black dress shoes. 

"I cannot go to my first day of school like this! What kind of impression would that be? I am stuck up, prick, right? I think not. Hold on."

Papa, can I run home and get on something other than a suit? I mindlink my father.

Yes, Misha. You can start after brunch. Take Sasha with you.

"Sasha, you and I will go back to the packhouse so I can change. Mitch, you go ahead and get to class. We will meet back here during the third period. Understood?"

They nod in unison, and Mitch jogs out of the office. 

Sasha and I head home to my car, a deep purple Toyota Highlander, and along the way to the packhouse, I decide it's time for some answers.

"Sasha, when did you know this was going to happen?" I glare at him quickly, trying to keep my eyes on the road.

Avoiding my eyes and looking out the front windshield, he responds after a second, "About two days ago, but Mitch knew about a month ago because Gamma Jon mentioned something to him in passing."

"So, explain high school."

Listening to my Beta tell me about the cliques, the squabbles between the circles, and all the chicks, I know this year will be challenging. I not only have to integrate like I am just another student, but I also have to find the balance between being one of them and being their next Alpha.

Then, I have to deal with multiple teachers instead of one tutor. 

While it seems like a lot, this will probably be my most straightforward transition. Despite what my father thinks, I already know most of the pack. Then, my tutors were from the school and would switch depending on the topic. Having more than one at a time shouldn't be challenging, but we will see. 

The hard part is finding my mate. According to Sasha, it should be easy with all the females at the school turning 18 soon. 

Even though it seems like it would be easy, Sasha doesn’t seem to consider all of my Alpha duties. Taking the time out of those duties to attend coming-of-age celebrations means later nights for me.

I have always wondered what it would be like for humans who must go through trial and error to find a mate. In my sleepless nights, I have read books about epic battles over love or heartache over being with the wrong human mate.

Can you imagine wasting months or years of your life only to have your chosen mate be the wrong one? 

It may not be that different from living your life without being moonmatched. 

When we get to the packhouse, we have some time before we have to get back. I decided to raid the fridge for breakfast, shower, and change into dark denim jeans, a dark blue polo shirt, and blue and black Nikes. For some reason, since I learned about going to school, Borya has been restless. 

Borya, what is wrong? Why are you acting like you haven't been on a run all month? We ran last night.

She is near, our mate; she is finally close.

Do you mean she is eighteen already? We need to find her fast. 

I don't think she is eighteen yet, but I can feel her. Being an Alpha allows us to feel things before anyone else, including her.  

Right, but she is here, and I may meet her sooner than we thought.

Running downstairs, I call for Sasha. I cannot wait to tell him what Borya said. "Sasha! Sasha! I have great news!" I yell as I barrel around the corner into the main hall, almost running into my mother. 

"Good Morning to you too, Misha," she smiles at me. “I hear your father finally told you the good news. You're starting in an actual high school. Remember, you are still 18 years old. Have fun with school, make friends, and find yourself."

"Mum! I am so sorry. Where is Sasha? I have great news! Borya said he felt our mate, which means she is here! She really is here!" I say with a massive smile, hugging my mother tightly. 

"That is wonderful! Now, you must ensure you are a man worth being a mate with. Oh, I had Sasha wait for you in the car. I wanted to wish you luck on your first day of school," she tells me as she walks to the front door, "Now off with you. Good luck, and make us proud."

((edited on 9/14/24))

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[actually-the-antichrist]

My qualms about syncretism

[Just putting down some thoughts I’ve had over the past about syncretism between polytheistic cultures plus some personal theological frameworks]

Of course syncretism as a practice covers a broad range of ideas, among these, one way it can function is by the specific claim that a god worshipped in a certain way in a neighboring culture is actually the same god as one which is worshipped locally, just under a different name. Personally, the questions I have with this specific practice revolve around problems of association, positionality and context. In particular, I have many thoughts about the Odin-Hermes-Thoth trio.

1. Association

Often, the reason I see given in academia for why the ancient world did syncretism is that people saw facets of the “two” deities that were similar or the same, and thus considered them to be the same deity. Setting aside the question of whether that is really a reason for which people did syncretism, if it is, it is an insufficient reason in my opinion. This relates to my own worldview; gods to me are not a conglomeration of their associations, but are in part the connection web that is formed by their associated areas. A god is, in a sense, a thesis; a specific culture/region’s thesis about some aspect of their lived experience. The idea that two deities can be syncretized because they share a certain trait is insufficient to me- say two deities are both related to knowledge, but one might also be related to some other unique aspect that the other is not, and this association changes what the concept of “knowledge” means to the first deity, making its isolation impossible.

2. Positionality

With polytheistic systems, though a coherent structure across time and region is impossible to summarize, each deity at any given time and place is worshipped within a system of other gods, and not in isolation. This means that their position within the local “pantheon” matters in relation to the domains that they oversee. That both Odin and Hermes are associated with roads, travellers, trickery and knowledge is certain, but that Odin is at the same time the All-father whereas Hermes holds the position of one of the Olympians (specifically a son of Zeus) is also an inherent part of their divinity. Positionality-wise Odin might be closer to Zeus, while by association he is closer to Hermes. However, a god is both their positionality and their association and these two cannot be seperate. Or rather, their seperation risks dissolving already existing webs of meaning, and at that point one would have to ask why and for what reason this is necessary/justified.

3. Context

In addition to occupying a positionality related to the other members of their localized system, deities also present a cosmology that is related to the cosmology of their culture at large. To give an example using Hermes again: he and Thoth are both gods of knowledge, magic, language and so forth. In many ways, Hermes and Thoth are very comfortably syncretized. However, the overall cosmology of the Egyptian world is quite different from that of the “Greek” world, including differing ideas of divine order, the place of magic, the function of human beings etc. Because Hermes and Thoth exist within their respective cultural contexts, their representations of knowledge, magic, language etc mean different things. Most notably, the Egyptian cosmology placed a high emphasis on the concept of a cosmic order that even the gods must follow, and a lot of magical workings are based on appeals to this order. This is less prominent in the Greek world. Syncretism at the cost of decontextualizing deities from their related cosmologies might seem okay in the closer geographic regions, but looking at the bigger picture reveals certain absurdities. For instance, while Hermes is both comfortably syncretized with Thoth and with Odin, it is more difficult to imagine that anyone might syncretize Thoth and Odin, seeing as they play quite different roles and characters within their cultural areas. 

These are some thoughts I have right now, and all are liable to change as I continue to study more about the ancient world and their religious practices. 

[vid-writes]

My Suitor Arrives (Ch 1)

13224 chars

2523 words

TW/CW: Adult novel, smut (but not rn), dark romance

This is the first full chapter of my novel I'm writing called Whispers of Frost and Petals: The Enchanted Union

I stare out of the closed ornate window in one of the little nooks in my family's castle, watching the procession of carriages and cars moving through town. I had no clue which one held the man my father had brought to meet me as a suitor for marriage, but if I had to guess, it wasn't one of the ornate silver and blue carriages. Those carriages continue down the main paved road of the smaller kingdom town, and the few cars pull in towards the castle.  

My guess was correct. I tear my gaze from the cars and start to meander through the castle. As I walk, all the plants around me bloom more. Anything with a flower on it changes through a wheel of colors seamlessly as I walk by and then return to their original state as I get far enough away. Having nature magic has that effect on plants, and my aura alone is powerful, and all my training has minimized it to this. 

As I make my way through the castle that's modernized here and there, I return the respectful bows and curtsies of the staff. Typically, royalty didn't interact with staff the way I did, but I was different in more ways than one. I finally wind my way to the waiting room attached to the throne room. Tradition says the court won't need me for at least another hour, but I don't have it in me to be anywhere else right now. A fire roars in the fireplace despite the warm spring weather outside, and this piques my curiosity for a moment. Before I could put too much thought into it, my phone chimed with the notification sound meant for my best friend. 

Have you seen him yet? 

No, not yet. I'm not allowed to for another hour. 

Tradition blows. 

I let out a wry chuckle as I sat on my favorite lounge seat. 

Blows harder than a late summer windstorm. 

When Clarissa doesn't reply, I busy myself scrolling through social media. I'm so entranced with the cat video I'm watching that I don't even hear the door open. I realize I'm not alone when I notice the room drops a few degrees in temperature. Suddenly, I'm thankful for the fire that's still roaring. 

I look up, and my breath catches my throat. A man is standing with his back to the fire and is the most handsome man I've ever seen. And I've met celebrities personally. His eyes finally stop roaming the plants, dancing with growth and magic behind me. When I notice one is yellow and the other is as blue as the ocean's depths, I cannot stop the gasp that escapes my lips. 

"Not to make assumptions, but I'm pretty sure you're the one I'm here to meet. Though I know I'm not supposed to be here yet," he speaks, and his words fill the silence in the room. A naturally deep rumble to his words makes them seem louder despite his quiet tone. 

I quickly rise to my feet as heat rises to my cheeks. This man is my suitor, a prince. I sink into a deep curtsy and wrench my gaze from his eyes to stare at the floor respectfully. 

"My apologies, Your Highness, for not greeting you when you entered the room," I say as I rise out of my curtsy. When I look up, he's lowering himself into a bow. 

"No need, Your Grace. It is I who should apologize for sneaking up on you. I was following a hunch when I noticed the plants seemed to bloom more and dance with colors the closer they were to this room," he explains as he straightens up and fixes his gaze on my face again. I brush a strand of my strawberry blonde hair from my eyes, and I know he's trying to figure out whether my eyes are glowing green or an effect of the lighting in the room. Hint: it's the former. 

"Oh yeah, that's my doing. Nature's magic and strong aura make for some of the most beautiful gardens in the country. It's our biggest export," I say, shifting into formality mode. Gods, I hate being so formal all the time. 

"I'd have to argue they're the most beautiful gardens in the world, Flora," he smiles as he strides closer—his stark white hair curls around his ears in thick, heavy waves. I know running my fingers through it would feel like playing in the snow, minus the cold. I shake the thought from my head as my cheeks heat more, but the room drops in temperature again. 

"You wouldn't maybe want to see the castle gardens up close, would you?" My question doesn't even catch him off guard, and he nods. I tucked my phone into one of the many hidden secret pockets I sewed into the many folds of this dress's skirt. As I lead us out of the waiting room and through the castle hallways, he stays by my side but a respectful meter away from me. The chill that started in the waiting room seemed to follow us as we headed for the garden. Once outside, he seems to sigh with relief. 

The gardens grow taller and fuller as if on cue, the hedges that start the giant but easy-to-navigate maze. The sudden hedge growth startles a flock of little tan and white speckled birds out of the first hedge on the left. 

"Kari, is this cold your doing?" This question seems to startle him a little bit, and his gaze contorts from amazement at the hedges to sorrow when he looks at me. 

"I was born with winter magic and had to be born on a mountain peak. My mother still never complains to this day, but I always feel a little bad she had to go through such a laborious process in well below-freezing temperatures," he explains as he scratches the back of his neck with one of his large, tanned hands. 

"Well, luckily for you, your future possible bride-to-be has powers that beneficially oppose yours," my words are warm, making him smile. As we wind our way toward the maze's center, I idly stroke my fingers along every flower that grows in my path due to my aura. Kari follows me quietly, but nothing about his presence is awkward. Despite the cold he radiates, he also gives off compassion in waves much more potent than his magic. And none of it is even remotely pretentious. 

So, tell me why the knot of nerves in my stomach refuses to unwind. 

I'm usually different with meeting new people. I've even met two previous suitors, neither of whom my father considered acceptable very early on. But something about Kari won't allow me to be my usual easy-going self. 

We reach the center of the maze, which holds a massive greenhouse where my favorite flowers grow. Well, okay, my favorite flowers and all the other plants are toxic to cats. I have to keep rodents out of the gardens somehow, and I won't allow the cats to come to any harm because my magic is uncontrollable. Thus, this greenhouse has been specially built. I use my thumb to open the digital lock and ensure none of the mouser cats are around before I open the door. 

"Quickly before any of the cats wander by. Lots of these plants are toxic to them," I explain as I motion with my arm for Kari to step inside. He does so without even noting my severe informality. Once I make sure the hum of the digital lock has quieted, I turn around to find Kari staring around in wonder. 

"Apologies for the informality when I rushed you in here, Your Highness; I just care about the cats too much to risk them being nearby. That's why the plants closer to the maze's center are less alluring than expected. They repel cats mostly, without harming them, of course," I feel myself babbling, so I force the mental dam in my mind to close. Logically, I know Kari's magic isn't doing this to me, but I can't help but want to blame him somehow. No, blame isn't the right word. 

"Stop that shit," he suddenly yells out as he whirls around to face me. "You know my name, so when it's just us, you are to drop the formalities with me. Understood?" 

It's the first time he's commanded anything of me, and unlike when the other two previous suitors did so, it goes straight to my core. Even the woman my father had initially liked didn't sway me. 

"Yes, Yo- Kari," I correct myself, and his gentle demeanor returns. 

"I'm sorry for commanding you like that and about not being formal," he admits as he scratches his neck again. "Please show me your favorite flowers and plants around here?" 

The apology throws me before I start moving through the greenhouse, gathering up some of my dusty rose-colored skirts so it doesn't drag through any of the loose dirt. 

"So, this is my special greenhouse; of course, I'm not the only one who can get in. Gardeners have to do their jobs, but everything here is either my favorite or deadly toxic to the pest control cats," I explain as I wind my way toward the patch of Cala Lilies. 

"Well, this is now my favorite place because of how warm it is," he says with a little laugh. I laughed, too, and turned to face him. It's then that I notice the small trail of permafrost on the ground behind him that's melting quickly due to the natural warmth of the greenhouse. Wordlessly, we meander through the greenhouse for a minute before we come to the giant patch of flowers in the whole place. 

"These are Amaryllis flowers. They're my all-time favorite flowers," I explain as I gesture. As usual, they're dancing through all the colors on the spectrum to the human eye. Sometimes, my gift is a curse. 

"Hang on, stay there," I say as I get a sudden idea. For some reason, I want Kari to see these flowers in their natural bloom. So, I turn and march away the necessary few meters to get my aura to stop affecting the flowers. When I turn back around, I see more than I hear Kari gasp. The flowers are in their normal state, and they're more gorgeous this way. It makes me happy that he appreciates that. The variety that blooms the most is the stargazer variety. He studies the flowers in appreciation for another minute before he makes his way back over to me. 

"I can see why you would want a less powerful aura for such beautiful magic," he admits. My cheeks heat again as I approach one of the many ornate cushioned benches here. I arrange my dress before sitting down, and Kari sits with some space between us. 

"I am glad you don't like formalities because neither do I," I blurt out to fill the silence that is about to become awkward. 

"That's good to hear, Flora," he says as he catches my gaze. I really could get lost in those eyes forever. 

"I'm glad to hear that," he chuckles. I didn't even realize I had said that out loud. "Most people see them and quickly give me a wide birth of space." 

"They're gorgeous, Kari," I admit, a little breathy. The coldness of his skin registers on my cheek before I realize he's cupping it in his gloved hand. Gloves, I'm also just now noticing. They're the same color as his blue eyes, and I only look away because his cold breath hits my face. 

"Then you'll forgive me if I forgo all formalities to sate a curiosity I've had since I laid eyes on you?" His eyes are so fucking captivating. My hand moves on its own to trace his face from the outer tip of his eyebrow down to his cheekbone—the yellow eye flares with fire. 

"I think I can do that." My agreement is all I get out before his lips crash into mine. I nearly moan as his hand slides into my ringlets, the coolness of his fingers sending a shiver down my spine, and my finger continues to trace the same patch of skin next to his eye. Even though our eyes are closed, I can still visualize his striking eyes. His tongue parts my lips, and as his taste fills my mouth, I don't manage to hold back this moan. The kiss ends as quickly as it began, and I'm left reeling slightly. His cool forehead presses to mine, and his cold breath fans my face as he pants softly. 

"Like honey, just like I imagined," he manages once he catches his breath, his voice a little thick. It takes me a second to realize he meant how it tasted to kiss me, and heat blooms in my face once more. My father must approve of him. 

"I hope he approves, too," he chuckles and plants another soft, quick kiss on my lips. 

"I have to stop doing that," I groan as I realize I said my thought out loud again. "So that you know, I'm not normally like this. Babbling my thoughts out, having a tough time keeping the conversation flowing, saying my thoughts out loud. You are doing something to me far beyond magic." The admission is out of me before I can even think to stop it. 

"Which is crazy because my sister is the one who can control emotions. To clarify, she can amplify or nullify them," he explains. 

"She must be fun at parties," I joke. Kari pulls back from my embrace, and I reluctantly stop tracing his eye. My hand drops to my lap, but he scoops it up with his. 

"She is, and she isn't," he shrugs like he doesn't care. "We should probably head back in there, but there is one more curiosity I'd like to sate right now, but I'm not going to." 

Without allowing me time to object, Kari takes our joined hands and pulls me to my feet. I will be coming back to this later. For now, I follow him back out of the greenhouse. Once I've unlocked the door, Kari retakes the lead, even stopping to check for cats before fully opening the door. Once the hum from the lock is silent again, he winds us back to the entrance of the maze I brought us through.

Buy me a coffee?