#kaiya responds

[rotomblr-kaiya]

I see there's some troubles with Owen.

Luckily there's one method that always works in this kind of scenario.

Murder!

Hm...

Murder...

[rotomblr-kaiya]

You’re amazing!

💬Kaiya

She's nice, a real good friend! I can't thank her enough for coming and helping me out when I was having a panic episode. If ya see this Kai, your amazing!

[dearsnow]

TAKE A BITE

- your best friends challenge you to bring the hottest guy at the bar home, and you can’t manage to say no. (jake “hangman” seresin x fem!reader, random original female characters for plot purposes, ⚠️ alcohol, 18+!! adult content, p in v, jake being a sweetheart for once, I’M BEGGING PLEASE BE 18)

word count: 3,033

a/n - dipping my toe into the adult writing scene for once 😚 i have no idea if this is good or not bc my only experience is one commission i did a long time ago and a half-finished fic from a year ago, so i hope it’s satisfactory. jake is also an unexpected visitor but everyone has their moments <3

“So…” Kaiya drawls, drawing along the rim of her condensation-covered glass, “because no one here seems to want to put themselves out there,” there’s a pointed glance at you, “I propose a challenge.”

Sandy squints at her suspiciously. Kaiya always comes up with the most outrageous schemes, usually drawing in you and the rest of your friend group. “What are you thinking?” She asks.

Kaiya’s manicured nail taps on the table. “We each pick a guy, one that individual thinks is the hottest at the bar— first come first serve, of course. And then we take them home. Anyone that’s successful gets next week’s drinks paid for by the rest of us.”

You roll your eyes. She’s a looker, for sure, which is likely the only reason she proposed something like this. She could get with any guy in a hundred mile radius with her luscious black curls and babydoll cheeks. “Are you sure you aren’t just doing this because you don’t want to pay for yourself?”

Kaiya puts one hand to her mouth, eyes widened in comical horror. “I would never! I just want what’s best for my dear friends.” She exclaims, batting her eyes. Sandy laughs in her own charming way. Sandy is cute, sweet. She’d also have no problem taking her pick.

“I want that one.” Kaiya says, pointing at a tall man with shortly cropped curls. From the looks of it, he’s exactly her type; confident, quick-witted, and evidently skilled as he nails a dart throw.

Sandy pretends to squint around the bar before throwing a thumb over her freckled shoulder. “Buzz cut. I like that in a man.” You peer around her, taking in a nice-looking guy with tanned skin.

“And you?” Kaiya asks, reaching out to thumb at the strap of your top. Her small look of concern makes you remember why you’re her friend in the first place.

She’s always looking out for you, always finding opportunities for you to shine when she is so obviously the star. After you broke up with your boyfriend for some unsavory reasons, she resumed her role as your rock. Even now, she wants you to get over what’s in the past. You curse yourself for even considering that she was being selfish.

You look around the crowded bar, eyes scanning over heaps of mildly attractive Navy and civilian men. You’re about to just pick the closest one before your gaze stops on a person who almost immediately takes your breath away. He’s exactly, exactly what you pictured your dream guy to look like.

Kaiya follows your line of sight and smiles. “Let’s get them, tigers.”

“Alright,” You say, standing as your chair creaks from under you, “I’ll take a bite.”

You lean against the cool counter of the bar, smiling at the bartender. The man you picked out has a beer in his hand and a certain swagger in how he scopes out the room. “Could I have one of those, please?” You ask the woman behind the bar, looking pointedly at the guy. She looks at you with a knowing smile, handing you the drink.

“You have good taste.” Your pick says, his voice heavy with a drawl. His green eyes glance down at the drink in your hand, then up to your face. You swear you almost see him lick his lips.

“So do you.” You respond simply. “What’s your name?”

“Jake, but if one of those idiots asks, it’s Hangman.” He nods over to a group of men by the pool table. In a passing flash, you notice the two your friends picked out mingling. How could this one squad have so many attractive people? “I saw you with your friends a bit ago. I have to say, though, you’re more my type. Not that they aren’t nice girls.”

You take a sip of your drink, eyebrows quirked. His arms are basically bulging out of his Navy attire, and you struggle to keep your eyes off of them. Decidedly, you try teasing him, pushing the boundaries of flirting. “You’re my type too. More than the one with the mustache, but he’s not so bad.”

His smile crinkles his eyes, and you think you might swoon. This is good, you tell yourself. It feels good. It’s a bit awkward, with just the slightest bit of tension, but you’re warming up; you just got out of a relationship for god’s sake.

“Trust me, sugar, however good you think he is, I’m better.” He punctuates his sentence with a wink.

You’re drop dead gorgeous, he thinks. Jake meets gorgeous women every day, but not one has made his heart beat just as fast. When you smile up at him through your lashes, he’s done for. Locked, loaded, and done for.

“You’re that confident, hm?” You muse, setting your beer down on the counter. It took a great deal of complacency to not throw yourself at him and wrap yourself in his large hands. He swipes a bead of water off of your bottle, and you think all sorts of things. His fingers dripping, his face hot and sweaty, his hair messed up… you almost melt at the idea. “I think you’re going to have to prove it.”

He holds an arm out to you, and you graciously accept. “I’ll prove it in a million ways, pretty girl. Dance with me and see for yourself.”

Jake leads you to a small area by the jukebox. His palms skim over your waist, pulling you closer but still leaving you aching for more. A song starts playing, one you don’t recognize, but he seems to know exactly how to move to it.

If you’re being totally honest, he’s a really good dancer. And it’s so hot, unbearably so. He doesn’t step on your feet, and he leads your every step without being overpowering. Every song, you seem to get closer and closer until your chest is basically pressed right up against his, and he can still move gracefully.

“How’s this for proof?” He whispers, lips grazing over the shell of your ear. “Rooster’s got moves, but he isn’t half as good as me.”

You push back on his chest gently, raising your eyebrows. “Now I’m starting to think this is just a ploy to get him jealous. Does mustache man get on your nerves that much?” You grin as he takes your hands in his. He rolls his eyes.

“I got the cutest girl in the room all to myself. Who wouldn’t be jealous? The only ploy here is the one where I try and get you to come home with me.”

Your teeth find purchase in your bottom lip, trying to hide your ever-growing smile. You might be getting free drinks more than once. “Buy me a drink and we’ll see how that works out.”

To his credit, Jake seems completely okay with getting to know you before heading out. The conversation is engaging, studded with flirting and genuine curiosity. It’s like he’s hanging on to every word you say, truly attempting to form any sort of connection. Most guys wouldn’t make this effort for a one night stand, especially not someone who looks like they could have a new one every night.

To say he’s beyond saving is an understatement in Jake’s opinion. With every second that goes by, you’re sounding more and more like his dream girl. You like his beer, his favorite place to eat, and you share a few of his hobbies. It’s like a match made in heaven.

As the night progresses, guilt starts eating at the hem of your shirt. The drinks are running low, and the sky is growing dim, and the opportunity to fulfill your challenge is opening up more with every second that ticks by. Do you really want this amazing guy to be a bet?

He stands to leave, offering a hand to help you slip off your bar stool. “Shall we?”

Your hesitation makes him falter just a bit. Jake would be okay with waiting, if he was being honest. Yeah, he’s been semi hard the entire time you ran your finger up and down your drink absentmindedly, but he could take you out on a real date first. One where you stare at him with those pretty eyes and smile your captivating smile.

The feeling takes over as you take in his willingness. “I have something to admit.” You murmur, almost too quiet to pick up over the din of the bar. Luckily for you, he has great hearing.

“Lay it on me, sweet thing. I can take it.” He grins. Your hands find the edges of your shorts and play with the little string on the seam that you’ve been meaning to cut for a few days now.

“I made a stupid agreement with my friends that if I took home the guy I thought was the hottest at the bar, then they’d pay for my drinks next time.” You blurt out. His eyes widen slightly, sending a pang of anxiety through you, before his lips curl up into a smile.

He takes your arms and wraps them around his shoulders, spinning you towards the entrance of the bar. “Well, we wouldn’t want a nice girl like you to pay for her own drinks, huh?”

You arrive at your small house and fumble with the lock while Jake presses hot kisses to your neck. You’re biting back a whimper as the door finally swings open, walking short, hurried steps into the bedroom. His hands are all over you, burning like fire. They’re gripping at your shirt, your waist, the column of your throat, your upper thigh— anywhere he can get ahold of. You pull off your shirt as the back of your knees hit the soft mattress.

Before you can blink, Jake has taken off his shirt too, and his hands are kneading the bottom of your breasts, beneath your lacy bra. “You sure?” He asks. You nod vigorously, unhooking your straps with your fingers, but he just looks down disapprovingly. “With your words, baby.”

“Yes.” You breathe. With that confirmation, he wastes no time.

Your clothes are tossed to some unknown corner of your room. You couldn’t care less about where they ended up, not when Jake is running his fingers over your hardening nipples.

He ghosts over them with just enough pressure to get you cursing. He’s hardly done anything and you can still feel a wetness gathering between your legs. When he moves up, taking your left nipple in his mouth, his bare thigh pressing between yours, a gasp escapes your mouth.

“That good?” He asks. His low voice sends vibrations up your chest, and you utter a quiet confirmation. He pays some attention to your other breast as you practically grind against his thigh, desperate for any sort of friction where you need it most.

He gives you a playful sigh, looking down at your writhing body. You look gorgeous, and knowing that his slight touches are enough to make you squirm is the ego boost of the century. Your eyelashes give a slight flutter at his next words. “Patience. I’ll give you what you want eventually, don’t worry.” His hand slips down and squeezes your thigh encouragingly.

“Now, Jake, please.” You almost whine. It’s embarrassing how well he seems to figure out your body. Even now, he’s kissing his way down your neck, finding every place that heightens your growing arousal. You hook your legs around his waist and rest your arms on the sides of his neck. “I want what I want now.”

It’s amazing how quickly your words travel to his dick. Jake’s roaringly hard, and you can feel it pressing against your inner thigh. You rub your legs up and down, teasing, drawing the most beautiful groan out of his open mouth. You’re going to be the death of him, he thinks.

“You drive a hard bargain, darlin’, and I’m not one to refuse.”

His hands travel down your body, taking time to caress your sides and send shivers up your spine. When he finally reaches the puddle under you, he quirks his eyebrows. “That excited?”

You roll your eyes at him, even though all he can see is the slightest movement of your face. “Get on with it, cowboy.”

He chuckles and places a small kiss on your hipbone. “Yes ma’am.”

He slips one finger inside you, pulling a soft noise from your swollen lips. “Fuck, you’re tight.” He grunts. “Might take you a bit to get used to me.” He curls the finger gently, and you see stars as it brushes up against the spot inside of you that you can’t reach yourself. He’s bigger, stronger, longer, wider. A second finger joins the first, the digits stretching you deliciously.

A pressure begins to build in your stomach as his thumb finds your clit, rubbing gentle circles. Ah, fuck, he knows what he’s doing. Your hips buck up slightly on top of your mattress, pressing your core into the palm of his hand. “Please.” You squeak.

He frowns, but his pupils are blown up in pure ecstasy. “Well excuse me for trying to give you a good time.” His free hand moves to pinch the curve of your ass lightly. You sit up fully and trail your nails down his back, reveling in the shiver it draws from him. With one smooth motion, you take his cock in your hand and give him a small stroke that has him jolting in his place.

“We can both have a good time if you would put on a condom and fuck me already.” The words are out of your mouth before you can stop and consider how needy they sound. They seem to work, though, as he smirks at you and guides your hand up and down his length.

“I’m guessing your dresser drawer is ready for stuff like this?” He asks. You feel your face grow warmer at exactly how right he is as you slide the drawer open and grab one. “Ah, you’ve even got my size. What a responsible girl you are.” His voice comes out as a half laugh, and you try to stifle your own laughter with the palm of your hand.

“I like to be prepared.”

“Might as well throw the smaller ones away after tonight. You’ll only want mine when I’m done with you.” He’s so cocky it’s funny instead of off-putting. You hand him the condom and he rolls it over himself. He has a right to be cocky, you think, with a body like that. All taut muscle and chest hair. When he brings his hand up to the back of your neck to lower you down on your bed, your heart gives a mighty flutter.

“Prove it.” You say, for the second time that night. He gives you a look that says he’s going to prove it more than once, over and over until you’re begging him to keep proving it, then a bit more after that.

Your eyes flutter shut as you feel his tip pressing into your warm entrance. As he pushes forwards slowly, teasingly, you’re suddenly aware of just how big he is. Bigger than anyone you’ve ever felt, and despite how wet you’ve become, it’s a lot to handle. You wince as his length stretches you, waiting for the feeling to shift from uncomfortable to ungodly good.

“You bit off more than you can chew, didn’t you?” Jake teases. “We can stop if you want, just say the word.”

Your steady voice challenges him as you try to pull it together. “Keep going. I can take it.”

He doesn’t know how, but Jake gets impossibly harder. He indulges you, though, leaving small kisses on your cheeks to distract you from the pinching pain. Once he’s completely bottomed out, you breathe a sigh of relief. Then, of course, you notice that it feels good. Really good.

He’s pressed right up against a spot that has you seeing stars, and when he moves, slowly at first, the drag forces a moan from deep in your throat. You feel so full, so complete. His pace picks up, and you close your eyes.

“Fuck, baby. You feel so good.” He praises, voice strained. The movement of his hips is delicious. Smooth, quick, deep. When his fingers find his way to your clit, you almost finish right then and there.

You’re panting, breath coming out in hot waves against the nape of Jake’s neck. He shivers at the feeling, pressing closer to you to soak in more of that warmth. “Jake, I’m- I’m gonna…” you trail off, closing your mouth as another whimper tries to sneak out.

“Go for it, sweetness. Let me hear that pretty voice.”

With one, two, three more strokes, you feel the knot within you beginning to unravel. Your nails rake down his sides, one of his hands is gripping your waist and the other is firmly attached to your bundle of nerves, and his mouth is suddenly on yours, muffling your noises. It’s overwhelming. With one sharp gasp, you clench down hard and come undone.

Jake follows soon after as he pulls out with a groan. The sound falls heavily on your blissed-out ears.

You sit up, taking his face in your hand. “You’ve proved it. Oh, and I’m officially tonight’s lucky winner.” You say with a beaming smile. He scoffs lightly.

“You were a winner the minute you stepped into that bar.” He winks at you as your hand moves down to rest on his collarbone. “Just let me join in on your winnings when you cash out.”

“In your dreams, cowboy. The most you’ll get is a beer or two before my friends take their cards away.”

He blows a little air out of the side of his mouth before collapsing onto your bed like he owns it, pulling you into his arms. “I’ll take what I can get if it means I can see you again.”

You sigh happily, snuggling into his chest. “Is that a promise?”

“Sure is. The Hard Deck, next Friday. Bring your friends and we’ll figure it out from there.”

Taglist: @seitmai

[hardtchill]

super random ask and feel free to ignore but idk if its u or hyperfixationsstaion that was talking abt problematic uswnt players and rodman was mentioned. did i miss something? shes one of my fave and i tried to look up if shes done or said something ignorant and i couldnt find anything.. is it the not kneeling during anthem again? im confused she seems lovely lol

Lol, i call Rodman the right wing fetus so i think it was me.

It's the anti vax + disrespect that caused me to say that. She made fun of Kaiya McCullough (along with the cunt called Paige Nielsen). In case you don't know, Kaiya was the brave whistle blower for Washington Spirit. She is the main reason why Richie Burke was kicked to the curb. Without her Rodman would have been playing in that same abusive environment.

Kaiya was going to the NWSL final and said on twitter it would be awkward to see her Washington Spirit teammates again. Nielsen responded asking why in a disrespectful way and Rodman piled on. Kaiya responded saying how basically none of her former teammates had bothered to contact her in almost a year.

[vote-gaara]

How did your oc meet gaara?

At a party. LOL

Yes, you read that right.

In the lore of my fic, there is an annual party in Suna thrown as one last "hurrah" for young ninja who have recently graduated or who have gone on their first official mission (passed D rank). Though the party is meant to be invite only, it's actually super easy to get in as a "plus one." This party is generally "frowned upon" by the adults and superior ninjas, though they mostly turn a blind eye to the loud music, underage drinking and minor vandalism as they themselves were once attendees in their youth, and understand it's probably best for young ninja to get a little bit of living done before they put their lives on the line.

Most young ninja actually tend to get invited a few years in a row depending on how popular they are.

Gaara has never received an invite to this party, but sheepishly asked Temari and Kankuro if he could go with them in an attempt to try and be more acquainted with the villagers.

Since this happened very shortly after Gaara's fight with Naruto, Temari and Kankuro are still quite hesitant towards Gaara. They agree to take him, but end up leaving him alone at the party to go and spend time with their friends, promising to "check in on him".

Gaara ends up planted firmly in the corner, where everyone is avoiding even looking at him.

This is where he notices Kaiya, who is stealing food from the offerings table.

Kaiya was also not really formally invited, as she actually just arrived in Suna, isn't a ninja and, as she says, "doesn't want to be." Her invitation was given to her in passing as a random act of kindness by someone who wanted to welcome her to the village.

Gaara finds Kaiya to be extremely rude and improper, and is a little put off when she strikes up a conversation with him. He responds politely to her, but is overall pretty cold and quiet; something that Gaara assumes will eventually make her go away when she realizes who he is.

However, Gaara's quiet and emotionless expression isn't interpreted properly by Kaiya, as she tends to ignore social ques because of how she was raised.

Instead, Kaiya is reminded of her adopted father, who never learned proper language and lives in isolation on a mountain before finding and raising her, and the similarities make her feel that Gaara is someone to be trusted.

This makes for an extremely awkward evening, as both of them are extremely confused as to why the other is acting so strangely, but neither of them really knows how to disengage because they're both...

✨Idiots✨

[gojou-violin]

Alpha!fem!oc x omega!Deku hc. Look away if you’re under 18, hate a/b/o, and/or m!preg

Ok uh now that the rats are still here with me. I wanted to share the omega!deku brain rot I’ve been having cuz it’s literally keeping me awake at night-

Basically, my OC, Tetsuo, and Izu fuck like rabbits, so it’s not surprising that Izu would get pregnant— I just don’t think anyone expected that he’d get pregnant at the same time Kaiya would with Shoto’s baby. But that’s a diff side story.

When Izu’s helllaaaa pregnant, I imagine it’s hard for him to get around, so he stays home a lot while the pack goes out, and it just so happens to be a busy day where Kaiya has a doctor’s visit, so she leaves with Shoto and Kacchan; and they’re out of groceries, so Tetsuo decides to make a quick trip to the store.

But ofc Izu goes into labor while everyone’s gone. He tries to call Tetsuo to warn her and have her come home asap, but the poor thing drops his phone and he’s too big to lean down for it, and the contractions hurt like a bitch. Everyone warned them that male omegas have more difficult pregnancies than female omegas…. He just didn’t realize it would be this bad. Nor did he think a baby could come this fast! So he struggles to pull himself to his nesting room, immediately crashing onto his nest, throwing his shirt off because it’s getting really hot, and he grabs Tetsuo’s things to just hold onto because he’s scared and misses her. All he can do is hope that she feels his anxiety through their bond and rushes home.

Tetsuo, at the grocery store, is nearly done and about to check out when she feels it. The pain in her chest, her stomach twisting, her head throbbing. She can immediately sense that something’s wrong with her omega, so she tries to call him, but he doesn’t pick up. She decides to just make a run for it. Leaving the groceries behind in the store, she gets in the car and tries get home as fast as she can, but fucking traffic is between her and her omega… Her poor boy. She knows something’s wrong…. She tries calling Shoto, he says that they’re only just leaving the office, they wouldn’t get home any faster than her.

By the time Tetsuo gets home, Kacchan’s pulling into the driveway, running out of the car before it’s even really parked, all while telling Shoto to carefully help Kaiya inside. Tetsuo’s running. I mean. Fully fucking sprinting. She opens the door and calls out for her omega, but doesn’t hear anything. She sees his phone on the floor and assumes the worst. She runs upstairs and turns the corner to find her omega in his nest, sweaty hair sticking to his forehead, his face red and puffy, tears sticking to his cheeks… And there’s a baby in his arms. They’re half-wrapped in a towel that Izu must have been able to reach for on the nearby shelf at some point… From the looks of it, he barely even had the strength after that to properly clean himself or the baby.

“Kacchan, call for Recovery Girl. Quickly. Go-“ Tetsuo pushes at the Pro Hero’s chest to send him into action.

She’s so careful as she steps into the room, knowing that her omega would of course allow her into his nesting space, but she doesn’t want to spook him or the baby.

“Oh, my poor boy,” she cooes gently. She kneels down beside him, brushing hair out of his face so that she can see him more clearly. “Couldn’t wait for me, huh?”

With tears in his eyes, he shakes his head.

“My sweet boy…”

Tetsuo carefully sits beside him, kissing his forehead and pulling him into her arms. He immediately relaxes. His Alpha came home for him…. He’s gonna be okay. Tetsuo continues to calm him down while trying to cover the baby a bit more— The baby, btw, is fast asleep. Both dad and baby are exhausted, clearly.

“Are you okay?” Tetsuo asks.

Izu hides against her, unable to really respond. They’ll have to wait for Recovery Girl to know for sure.

When Recovery Girl does appear, she waddles in with her things while Kacchan stays at the door— This is for a handful of reasons, but most notably because he’s not Izu’s Alpha, so he has no right to go into the nesting room; but also because he’s the pack’s Alpha, so he’s naturally taking on the role of guard dog. No one’s going in that room unless they’re meant to. No one. Recovery Girl’s giggling at Kacchan and how protective he is of his pack nowadays. She goes on the opposite side of Tetsuo and starts to check on Izu. She gives him a quick smooch to help him heal a bit, then checks on the baby.

She smiles at Tetsuo. “Both dad and baby are fine. He’s gonna need some rest and some stitches, so I’ll have a doctor from the hospital come here to help. But he’s going to be okay. Baby’s a healthy girl.” She pats Izu gently on the head. “You did good.”

And he beams with joy.

After that, it’s just rest, like she said. Tetsuo sits with Izu the entire time, making sure he rests and eats. She takes the baby every so often so Izu can relax. The three of them never leave the nest. Kaiya has to come in after Recovery Girl just to change the sheets and help clean the baby, but aside from that no one except Izu’s mom comes in, and no one leaves. Tetsuo’s not letting her omega get up any time soon, and Izu would be caught dead before letting his baby out of his sight.

Happy family 💚

[gimblestank-the-goblin]

Okay, so there’s a lot to respond/breakdown here because WBL effects a lot of design decisions. So first we need to level set. My understanding is that WBL is not “you can buy any magic item at Walmart”. Rather it is/was a specific design philosophy employed by 3rd edition whereby characters were expected to have a certain amount of GP “tied up” in magic items at each level and that the monsters were balanced around that fact. Using a random example (and making up the numbers), at level 10 a fighter was expected to have 10,000 GP worth of magic items (usually assumed to be a item of +X to attack and damage), and a monster’s stats were increased to compensate.

This meant that players who did not have that amount of GP tied up in magic items were underpowered for their level, which led to a variety of knock-on effects, one of which was DM’s letting you buy artifacts at Walmart to ensure their players weren’t underpowered.

5e has gotten rid of WBL. Monsters are no longer balanced around the assumption that players have magic items. This was a (largely successful) attempt to make the magic items that exist feel more important. A sword of +1 to hit is a massive upgrade in 5e because it lets you break the assumed power curve

Now how does that pertain to my dungeon:

First off, I do have an assumed WBL in that I have planned my dungeon around the players having a certain amount of money by the time they reach a certain level. The dungeon is a closed environment with a set progression (within the confines of metroidvania design) so I have a relatively high control over when and where players gold/XP. So I have a spreadsheet that I use in the background to balance everything and make sure that players get gold and levels in order to create (hopefully) satisfying pacing.

This, I assume, you have no problem with @kaiya

Second, I do have a pacing spreadsheet which covers how many in-game days I expect it to take for players to reach certain sections of the dungeon, what level they should be at that time, how many magic items they should have and the total amount of GP they should have gotten. This is how I was able to quickly and easily calculate the average GP/day that a level 10 adventurer should be getting

This, I assume, is also not the crux of Kaiya’s concern since that is just good planning..

3rd, I am allowing players to buy any magic item they can afford, and I am pricing all the items in the corebooks. This, I believe, is the issue. And there are a few reasons for this.

 

The first is a design constraint. I am designing this dungeon to be “pickup and play”. Once it’s complete I want to be able to run it with as little improvisation as possible. Which means I cannot (and do not want to) rely on altering treasure to better suit a given parties needs. If the players fight a boss which drops a staff of “be a better wizard” and they don’t have a wizard in their party they need a way to trade that in for a sword of “kickass fighter” or whatever. The easiest way to do this (especially since I am already keeping track of how much money they have) is to just let them trade in magic items for their full GP value and then use that to buy other magic items. This is however a gameplay abstraction*

The second is a worldbuilding issue**. This setting assumes a set of relatively complex nation states able to mass mobilize their populations on the same scale as WWI. Within the confines of this paradigm, high level-adventurers are very rarely lone actors***, but rather massively expensive military investments and they are equipped appropriately. A level 10 adventurer is the equivalent of a main battle tank or a fighter jet, and by the time we reach the 15-20th level adventurer we are talking battleships and aircraft carriers.

And this, by the by, is where the game abstraction comes in. Because you can’t just go into Walmart and buy a fighter jet, nor can the players just go into a store and by a Rare (or artifact) magic item. Nor, generally, can you simply train to reach that level (you will notice that the characters have fought quite a bit and not managed to gain a single level). The ability to reliably train and outfit adventurers of level 10 and higher are exclusively****  the purview of nation-states which can afford the time and treasure necessary to do so. Generally, if you are getting a Rare or better magic item, that represents an investment into your character by one of those nation states*****, or you spending an obscene amount of money bribing official to allow the sale and tracking someone down who’s willing to sell it for pure cash. Its just that I am allowing the players to set the pace on how much they want to actually interact with this aspect of the setting. The main goal is the dungeon delve after all, so if the players want to just spend money and get magic items we can handwave the hows and whys.

 

 

* It will come up later, but buying a level 10 magic item is the equivalent of buying a fighter jet or a tank. Its something you can buy with money, but money isn’t the whole of it. A nation-state is selling it to you as part of its larger geopolitical agenda.

**Which is itself driven by the fact that I like the idea of player characters as geopolitical actors, and given our previous exalted discussions I feel this is something we are just going to disagree on.

***The idea of the lone adventurer hitting it big and retiring fabulously wealthy still lives in the zeitgeist in the same way as the gold miner or lottery winner who hits it big, but this is about as rare. Even Anglia – the most capitalist of the countries – still treats its adventurers more like East India Trading Company then solitary individuals.

**** Barring Anglia messing this up because they are dumb capitalists who have offloaded this to private corporations. Also Rrath, but he breaks a lot of rules.

***** Diverting for a second to real life, I am an aerospace engineer and I’ve worked the military side a decent amount, specifically at Lockheed Martin. LM sells fighter jets to foreign countries, but what countries and what planes they are allowed to sell to those countries is decided by congress (its complicated, but basically we have a big list of country ranking based on foreign policy considerations and this determines what planes can be sold to who). This is one of the ways the U.S.A maintains its hegemony. A country like, for example, Israel cannot really go against US interests, because if they do they are at risk of being taken off the list and losing the ability to buy US jets. Similar concerns are in effect in this setting. If your country wants to keep (paying) to send their nobles to the Valosian Academy of Magical Arts (so they can have some level 10 wizards) they are going to need to cozy up to Valois, and if they want some monks who know how to punch with their souls they are going to need to ensure they are on good terms with Salcurne.

[prcphesieslie]

she'd been relaxing at the park.

well, relaxing wasn't exactly the word most would use for 'attempting to do homework on a picnic blanket because she desperately needed a change of scenario, but struggling to focus because their was a tap dancing on her... kidney?'. she was going to assume it was her kidney because that's it felt like. but she wasn't going to question the anatomy of it.

not when she was busy trying to study microbiology.

yay, nursing degree.

sweater wrapped around her loosely, it was thrown haphazardly over her baby bump. sure, she was so noticeably pregnant that it really didn't do anything to hide it, but if you weren't attention, it wouldn't hide it. of course, seeing the father's baby sister at the park when he didn't know probably wasn't the best situation, but she wasn't going to ignore her...

no, aviva was too nice for that.

"kaiya... oh, wow. it's um- it's good to see you. you look... older." but didn't they all? struggling to push herself into a sitting position, she sighed. well, it was definitely obvious now. "i'm sorry... hi."

@hxlcycnx​

[rotomblr-kaiya]

16

gym leader/e4 member/fuckin league guy idk what y'all have ur gayest for

Not sure. I've never really thought about it.

Uh... Roxie, I guess...? She's pretty cute and I love her vibe. I've been listening to a bunch of her songs. I love them all.

Oh, also Korrina. She's amazing. She's how I got my Lucario. She also gave me some roller skating tips.

Iris is also really nice. I love her energy. It's so bright and positive.

I've also seen a lot of Iono in my feed lately and honestly? I get the hype. Love her streams whenever I can catch them.

Actually, thinking about league members from Paldea, Rika! Fuck, if I saw her smile I'm pretty sure I'd melt.

Oh and Marnie! I found her while looking up dark types and she's so fuckin' cute. I still rewatch her fight with Gloria.

And Bede too! His fight with Gloria was amazing! His confidence and elegance is something I aspire to have. Come to think of it, I've seen him around Blueberry. Maybe I should talk to him...?

...Actually, would the league club count for this question? Would that mean everyone in the club is on the table?

Though the top five feel too much like siblings for me to be gay for...

Maybe Kieran? If circumstances were different? Still feels kinda weird though.

Hm...

...Gwyn's a part of the league club...

I-I'm thinking about this too much, aha...

Next question...

[rotomblr-kaiya]

Wait-

What do they say????

Do other Rotoms gossip about their owners?

@rotomblr-kaiya

Bzzzt no, most rotomz don't talk shit like I do, your pansy ass domesticated rotoms would never. Too docile to even come out your phone!

Bzzt now your other pokemon? Ohoho they talk mad shit all the time, it's very funny

[piedpipyr]

just fuck my drag right  //  accepting

ngl, that hurt my feelings on like, a corporate level, but go off i guess

[freesomebodybyluna]

Not me sending a mentee a text w the wrong name bc I'm just copying/pasting the same message....

[kkyaka]

Heart Stickers

Summary: Your daughter helps her dad love his imperfections

Pairing: Midoriya Izuku x black!fem!reader

Warnings: dad!deku, hurt/comfort sort of, deku bein insecure, just pure fluff basically

Word Count: 1275

A/N: Repost, and @anubai​ here you go hehe

The scars have always been something that's bothered him, no matter how many times he's tried to divert his thoughts. They always come back to them. There's been multiple times where he doesn't even dare look in the mirror after he gets out of the shower or when he's changing.

But some days are easier than others. He always tells you that meeting you was one of the greatest days of his life, and he swears up and down that it's true. He was really good at hiding how he felt about his body, but when you moved in together, it proved a little bit more difficult to keep it under wraps.

The first time you helped him combat those negative thoughts that had been plaguing his mind, a few tears slipped out. This was probably the first time someone had really held him, your voice was full of nothing but love. He couldn't help it.

Even after he asked you to marry him, the habits you picked up never wavered. The constant kisses to his hands, or how your hand never left his. The soft kisses on his back whenever he woke up in the morning, or whenever he was standing somewhere in the house shirtless.

The love you had for him transpired in different ways and he couldn't be more grateful that he had someone that could always stop him from falling down that dark hole.

And when your daughter came along, the last thing Izuku was thinking about was what he looked like. The only thing he was thinking about was how much he loved her and you, and how he finally had a family to call his own.

But then he got a new scar.

It was a huge fight that he had got into, and he only came out with a nasty gash on his side, luckily it wasn't that deep. He had got it cleaned up and was sent home, his job done and successful, and he was happy that he didn't have to worry you or his daughter any longer.

You weren't crying, he could tell you wanted to, but your daughter was balling her eyes out, scared that something really bad had happened to him. He picked her up and spent the rest of the night reassuring her that he was okay until she finally fell asleep in his arms.

The scar came about a week later, and Izuku was probably at the lowest point he had been in a long time. It was the only thing he could look at, the only thing he could focus on. And he tried, he really did, but he didn't know what else to do.

He jumps when he feels your arms wrap around his waist, and he's quick to put on a fake smile like he's trying to tell you that he wasn't doing what you know he was doing. He flinches softly when you run your fingers over the scar gently, and you look at him.

"Kaiya wants to show you something," you tell him, and you're already pulling him out of your shared room and into your daughter's room. When you walk in, she's on the floor coloring. "I brought your dad," you speak up, sitting down on her bed and resting your back against the wall, your feet nearly hanging off the edge.

She jumps up excitedly, pushing Izuku towards her bed. "Okay, okay, you have to sit down," she orders, and he chuckles softly before fitting his way in-between your legs, his legs hanging off the bed as you wrap your arms loosely around him, his back resting on your chest.

"What did you wanna show me, baby?" he asks, and she waves him off as she goes back to the papers scattered across her floor.

"Hold on, Daddy, you have to be patient," she scolds, making the both of you laugh softly. She gathers some sheets of paper in her hands before prancing over to her bed, climbing on top of Deku, handing you the extra sheets she doesn't need yet.

She holds the first one out, the paper showing a giant heart that she drew. "That's beautiful, babygirl," he starts, and then she pulls it away.

"It's a sticker," she adds loudly before peeling it off. She takes the heart, placing it over the newest scar that adorns his body, and he freezes for a beat before smiling at her. "What's this for?" he asks as she takes another sheet from you.

"I put this heart on things I think are pretty," she tells him almost absentmindedly as she takes the next sticker off, and you watch your husband's eyes widen slightly making you smile widely.

She has a smaller sticker this time, and she plants a kiss on the small scar on his cheek before carefully putting the sticker over it. He's practically speechless, just watching Kaiya put stickers all over the scars on his body. "You think I'm pretty?" Deku asks softly, and she has the biggest smile on her face as she nods.

"Of course I think you're pretty, Daddy," she answers like it's the most obvious thing in the world, and you huff fondly, your eyebrows raising when you hear him sniffle. You lean down slightly, seeing tears brimming his eyes, trying his hardest not to let them fall.

Your daughter frowns when she sees them, moving closer so that she can cup his face. "What's wrong?" she questions, her voice going soft, and he chuckles as he grabs her tiny hands gently as he shakes his head.

"Nothing, baby, I'm okay. I promise." She's smiling again, and then she's quickly going back to the stickers, and about ten minutes later, his whole upper body is covered in heart stickers.

"Now you're perfect," she comments. "And now every time you don't feel pretty, these stickers remind you that you are."

And this time, he can't stop the tears before they fall, and he's quick to wipe them away. "Do you feel better?" she asks cautiously, and he nods quickly.

"Yes, I do. Thank you." She jumps forward, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he wraps his arms around her, rubbing her back.

"I love you, Daddy," she says into his neck, and he sniffles softly.

"I love you, too, babygirl. Thank you so much." She pulls away, her smile almost wider than her face.

"You're welcome," she responds proudly before turning to you. "I think it worked, Mommy," she whispers but Deku hears her anyway, making the both of you laugh.

"I think it did, baby, good job." She's beside herself with joy, giving both of you a big hug before she climbs off of Izuku, going back to coloring on the floor, and Izuku turns to you which makes you laugh because a decent portion of his face is covered in stickers.

"Did you put her up to this?" he asks, and you shrug.

"She said she noticed you were sad, and she wanted to make you feel better so I helped her out," you admit. "You do look really pretty though," you add, smoothing your finger over the one on his cheek.

He smiles widely, letting his head fall back onto you before he sighs. "Thank you," he tells you honestly, a little bit worried that he might start crying again.

You lean down, pressing your lips to his softly before you pull away and rest your forehead against his. "Of course, Izuku."

And if he ever feels this way in the future, his daughter has a plethora of heart stickers to last him a lifetime.

[vote-gaara]

Strange Things Beyond The Stars:

To the anon who wanted some stories of Gaara and my OC, here is one I think you may enjoy. This story takes place shortly after the two agree to become friends even though they happen to be vastly different people. They are children in this story so this fic is NOT romantic. Instead, it's a glimpse into how Gaara may learn to form social bonds shortly after his fight with Naruto.

Synopses: Night time in the desert presents a certain type of beauty: The stars! They truly are dazzling - even breathtaking - without all the clouds and light pollution found in other countries. Kaiya invites Gaara to go stargazing with her one night, thinking it would be a nice way to spend an evening, however both witness something unexpected that ends their night early…

Ages: 12-13

Content/Trigger warnings: Fluff, friendship, mystery and aliens.

The unusual windless day transitioned into a calm night over the parched desert, making it seem as if not even the air itself had a breath in the already seemingly lifeless country of the Land of Wind. 

Gaara had noted the stillness from where he stood on the roof of the estate, watching as the sky darkened, the sun leaving him to fend for himself through another sleepless night. 

“Gaara!” An excited voice broke the silence, echoing off the buildings of the village. “Down here!”

The sudden burst of noise was jarring, and Gaara glanced down in irritation at the figure waving wildly at him from under the light of a newly illuminated street lamp. He knew who it was, as no one else could possibly make this much noise at this time of the evening, perhaps aside from the overly energetic and obnoxious Naruto. 

Not wanting to have the commotion go on any longer, Gaara used the body flutter technique, disappearing in a whirlwind of sand and reappearing behind the bouncing figure below. 

“You are tumultuous.” Gaara scolded as he glared at Kaiya.

“Tumu-?” Kaiya mumbled in confusion as she spun around to face him, her expression lighting up when she saw him. “Oh! I have a surprise for you!” She exclaimed, bouncing on her tiptoes as was her default gesture when she felt excited. 

“It is too late to be this disruptive,” Gaara complained, his annoyance building.

Kaiya cocked her head to one side, dropping her bubbly demeanor as she stared hard at him. “Well how else was I supposed to get your attention?” She asked rudely.

“Most people knock on the front door.”

“Yeah well, how could you hear me knocking if you were on the roof?” Kaiya shot back hotly, but Gaara didn’t respond. Rather, the two glared at each other for a few moments before Kaiya once again broke the silence, “Well I was gonna show you something really cool, but if you’re going to be like that, maybe I just won’t invite you.” She huffed, crossing her arms. 

“Fine,” Gaara said, moving to walk past her, but as he did Kaiya let out a hurt scoff.

“I just wanted to surprise you with something nice because I thought we were friends, is all,” she said, her voice was pointed but Gaara would hear the disappointment in it, causing him to sigh. 

“What is it?” Gaara asked, turning back to look at her.

“Just something cool that I set up and I wanted to show you.”

Gaara looked at Kaiya as she stood with her arms still crossed. For the life of him, he could not understand what was so pressing at this moment that couldn’t wait for a more reasonable hour, and yet he couldn’t really think of a reason to refuse going. 

“Why me?” He thought to himself before coming to a decision.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

Kaiya’s tough demeanor melted and she gave Gaara a small smile. “Really?” She asked.

“Yes, let’s go,” Gaara repeated, though inside he felt strangely on edge. He hadn’t quite gotten used to being in Kaiya’s company yet, and in most instances she was irritating to him, but he wanted to change his thinking and be more open to new experiences - even as idiotic as they might seem. 

“Okay, follow me!” Kaiya said, “I hope you think it’s as cool as I do!”

***

Kaiya had led Gaara out into the desert to the place where Kaiya had set up her makeshift home, and yet instead of inviting Gaara inside, she pulled him out even further into the desert to a flat object in the distance.

The darkness made it difficult to discern what he was looking at until he was almost on top of it. “You’ve pulled your mattress out here…” Gaara said, the scene in front of him still not clarifying to him what Kaiya was so excited about. She had pulled out all the bedding she owned, and piled it onto a sand dune.

“That’s right,” Kaiya said excitedly, jumping onto the bed to rummage among the blankets. “We’re going to stargaze. I even brought some snacks!” Kaiya pulled a few bags of chips and candies from where she had stashed them, presenting them to Gaara. “I don’t really have anything to drink, but I have water in my house.”

Gaara stared at Kaiya, feeling wholly underwhelmed by the whole ordeal. “Why would you want to do that?” Gaara asked.

“Oh, just come sit down,” Kaiya said annoyed, “Don’t be such a stick in the mud.”

Reluctantly, Gaara took a seat beside her as she offered him a pillow and some of her blankets. He did what she had asked, staring up at the stars, and although they were quite clear and beautiful, he still didn’t understand the point of making a big event out of it.

“I have always loved the stars,” Kaiya said softly from the other side of the mattress. “I never got to see them much growing up.”

Gaara glanced at her and then back towards the sky. “I don’t understand what’s to see, stars are used as navigational devices out in the desert.”

Kaiya sat up suddenly in surprise. “Really?” She asked, “I know that many different cultures use stars as navigation, but honestly it’s way over my head. You would have to be really in tune with the seasons or else you’d end up getting hopelessly lost, and how are you supposed to tell what season it is in the desert?”

“Quite easily.” Gaara said, his tone implying that he thought Kaiya was stupid.

Kaiya picked up on this and leapt to her own defense. “Y’know, you think I’m foolish but remember that I’m not from around here. I get all turned around in the desert and when I leave I’m always confused at just how much time has passed.”

“Perhaps you need a calendar.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll be able to jot down all the appointments I have.” Kaiya said sarcastically, laying back down. “You should try leaving the desert sometime, Mr. Sand Lord. See how easy it is to get used to some place that isn’t littered with the same material everywhere.” 

The two were silent for a few moments, as Gaara assessed the situation. He wondered if socializing would even get easier for him, or if perhaps he was forever cursed to have people react poorly to him. Letting out a breath, he waited for Kaiya to inevitably change her mind and ask him to go.

Yet to his surprise, Kaiya piped up again. “Besides, I don’t think I’d like to use the stars as navigational devices. I would hate to look up at them and see them as anything other than how I currently do.”

Gaara turned once more to look at her. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well,” Kaiya shrugged, “When I look up at the stars I feel this intense notion of belonging…like I’m part of something so much bigger than what’s around me. I look out at all that blackness and all those lights, and I think about how much potential there is and how much have had to have happened in just the right circumstances and at just the right time to make this situation possible, and honestly, I’ve never seen something so beautiful…not a panting, not a book, not anything else that could conjure that feeling of purpose and belonging as strongly as the stars do.”

Gaara blinked as he registered Kaiya’s words, and he turned to look up at the stars once more. “Is that how she really thinks of them?” Gaara thought to himself, allowing his own mind to search for the very same concepts that Kaiya held with such strong sentimental value. 

“Y’know, I actually look at the stars quite often, so this isn’t really a special event for me or anything,” Kaiya’s voice broke Gaara’s train of thought. “It’s just that when you told me that you never sleep, I felt so bad…I thought about all that time you have to be alone with your thoughts, and I know how much that can really suck.”

Gaara’s eyes widened in surprise and he sat up to look down at Kaiya, the stars just barely illuminating the look of sadness on her face. 

“Sometimes my own mind can be a very mean place, and I couldn’t imagine having to face that night after night. At least I can just clock out for a few hours and fall asleep when I’m feeling low,” Kaiya let out a small laugh before her voice became serious again. “I guess I just wanted to do something nice.”

“You did all this…for me?” Gaara asked. A strong feeling of relief and gratitude was forming in his chest and he marveled in it.

“Yeah, I sure did,” Kaiya said with a smile. “I hope you think it’s nice.”

“It is,” Gaara said and he meant it. All of his old doubts and feelings of annoyance had melted away and were far from his mind now as he looked up at the stars again. Suddenly he could see what Kaiya was talking about.

A feeling of belonging…

The two were quiet for a long time, the silence being interrupted by the ruffling of the snack bags as they passed them back and forth between each other. It was one of the most pleasant nights Gaara had had in a long time. Many nights he would wish the hours would just go away, as the isolation felt thick and suffocating in comparison to the business of the day; yet tonight he found himself hoping that the minutes wouldn’t slip away too soon as he was beginning to truly enjoy himself. 

“What’s that?!” Kaiya exclaimed, startled. She shot a finger up to the sky, but Gaara’s eyes were already trained on the object she was pointing at.

There in the sky was a strange arrangement of flashing white lights. Gaara counted that they circled around the large object three times before all of them flashed bright red in unison, the pattern continuing without any noise as the object floated like a cloud across the sky.

‘What is it?” Kaiya asked again, her voice still afraid.

Gaara had never seen anything like it before, but he knew there must be a reasonable explanation. “Perhaps it’s a new form of satellite they are testing. The desert is a good place to conduct those types of experiments.”

Kaiya was sitting up and Gaara could tell she was unconvinced, but she put on a brave face. “It does kinda move like a satellite,” Kaiya tried to reassure herself, “but you would think they wouldn’t have it flashing in such a weird pattern.”

“I agree, we’ll probably read about it in the newspaper tomorrow as something that strange doesn’t go unnoticed for very long. Perhaps it’s a new device that tracks the desert storms across the country.” Gaara said. 

This seemed to relax Kaiya as she lowered back down, and the two continued to watch the strange object float and blink across the sky, the silence between them was now tense and concentrated. 

Suddenly, all the lights illuminated a solid green as the object increased speed. It zipped back and forth in the sky; high, low, side to side and back again as if it were a planchette taken over by an unruly spirit on an ouija board.  

“Nope!” Kaiya exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “Nope! Nope! Nope! I do not like that.”

Gaara also got to his feet, still keeping an eye on the object and straining to see what it could possibly be. “We’ll go,” he said but Kaiya was already walking away, spinning around to look up at the object as she retreated.

“What even is that, Gaara?”

“I don’t know,” He said, catching up to her. 

“That’s not a satellite. Satellites don’t move that way!”

“No…”

“Nope!” Kaiya exclaimed. “No, I don’t like that at all. Oh, and it’s right outside my house!”

“You can come stay at the estate tonight,” Gaara offered as the two of them increased their pace.

“Yeah, okay…I would really like that,” Kaiya said, again looking back at the object. “It’s still going, what is it doing…taking pictures? Watching us?”

“Let’s go!” Gaara said, grabbing Kaiya by the hand and leading her into a run back towards the safety of the village.

The object, as if realizing the fun was over, suddenly zipped away into the deep darkness of space, leaving nothing behind but a small, bright flash of white and the familiar still canvas of the desert sky at night.

[catsnraincoats-archive]

slowburn au where Langa still lives in Canada and Reki is in Japan but they meet online n become friends

im thinking like. Maybe Langa accidentally went to a skateboarding forum and met Reki there, and they hit it off. So they talk a lot and Reki sends videos of him doing simple tricks to see if Langa could recreate them on a board and they spend a year or so doing that.

The time difference is a Problem but they still find time to video call and sometimes Reki would call him during class and try not to be caught. And sometimes when Reki learns a new trick he calls Langa just to show them and even if its two am there langa still picks up. And Langa memorizes when Reki wakes up and sends a "good morning!!" text every day

aaa and imagine at one point Langa and their mom go on a trip to Japan and Langa had never asked exactly where in Japan Reki lived but when he said they were going to Okinawa Reki laughed and asked which play they were staying at

And one time Langa sees a flash of red hair in a crowd near the hotel and then Reki spots him and jumps in to hug them which is how Langa learned that Reki lived here. Then his mom saw that he'd made a friend- turns out she knew his mom back in the day, actually- and they didnt have much to do that day so Langa spent it with Reki.

n Reki already knows Langa can skateboard kinda well- though theres a lot of trouble with dtability- so he brings him to S that night. And just for fun he goes against Shadow and wins (with duct tape, of course) and Reki's just "Holy shit I didn't know you were THAT good"

and Langa spends the night at Rekis house where Reki makes adjustments to his board and by the time hes done its like two am and even thought Langa is still on canadian time he falls asleep on Rekis shoulder and they stay like that until morning

and then the day after he has to go back home and he says goodbye to Reki but he cant stop thinking about how warm Reki was and how nice it would be to cuddle him in canadian winter under a hundred blankets. But thats all he thinks and he pushes any tjought that they might be in love out of their mind because no, this was just a friend. Just a really warm, loving, sweet friend who fixed up his board on the first day that they officially met and hugged a little too tight and who was even better in person than-

he was just a friend

Then a few days later Reki calls again and he seemed a little distant but, hey, maybe he was just tired from skating all day. He said there was a beef against a national team hopeful the night before so that was probably it. Or he could have been up all night making a new board. or something. Anything

then a few days later Langa wakes up to a text from Reki "1 attachment" and he opens it to see a photo of a letter. It has near handwriting but even still it takes Langa a few moments to read it and realize its a love note. Below it Reki's like "????? This was in my desk today????? what do I do???" "Respond to it??? who gave it to you" "This girl- Kaiya? She wants to meet up tmrw" and something in Langas chest sank but he didnt know why "Then you should meet up with her. It'd be cool to have a gf, right? Maybe she likes skateboarding, too." and then he adds on "I have an early class today, gtg" even though he didn't he just couldnt talk about reki and his potential girlfriend this early in the morninh

[valos-venus-doom]

The Foreverlost -- Chapter 5

Linky to Wattpad Chapter List: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/334118555-the-foreverlost

June 2018

It had been nearly a week since Kaiya and Ville had gone out on their date and because it ended so awkwardly neither had the guts to contact the other. Kaiya was trying to work out her feelings about entering the dating scene, meanwhile Ville was trying to figure out what had gone so wrong and if he should just take it as a sign to just forget it.

Ville lay in his bed that morning, listening to the thunderstorm outside, contemplating and mulling over the date for the umpteenth time. The rain pattering against the windows in the grayness was giving him peace of mind to get his thoughts in order.

Despite Ville’s bruised ego telling him to just forgo the entire budding relationship with Kaiya, his heart told him to keep trying. There was something about this girl that fascinated him, she had a magnetic hold on him and he couldn’t just drop her and move on like he was able to in the past with other women.

However, if Kaiya was truly not interested in him, there would be nothing he could do. He couldn’t force her to feel a one-sided connection. If that was the case, he at least needed closure. In the past he’d just let it go but in his 40s, he’d become more bold and communication meant a hell of a lot more to him.

On the other side of town, Kaiya was busy stocking shelves and doing inventory. With such a stormy day outside and no customers in the store so far that day she had time to do miscellaneous tasks that she couldn’t normally do when they were busy.

Kari was preoccupied in the back placing orders and making sure the general back office work was complete. He had no idea that Kaiya had gone on a date with his eldest son and Kaiya hoped to keep it that way. He’d be far too invested and would ask too many questions. Besides, Ville hadn’t contacted her in nearly a week, it was a null and void situation. 

But even though initially after their date she felt like she may not have been ready to take that step, she felt sad that she had possibly blown a chance with someone she had a spark for. But what if she was just too overzealous? Maybe she would have felt a “spark” for anyone at this point? It had been so long since she had any affection from a man in a romantic sense, she couldn’t be certain that she wouldn’t feel warm and fuzzy over any guy. But on the other hand, Ville undeniably made her feel something that she had only ever felt with Nikko; safe. Sure, Kari & Jesse made her feel safe too, but this was just different.

All of the uncertainty had put Kaiya in a shitty mood for days and she just couldn’t shake it.

A bit later as Kaiya was getting ready to take her break, she heard the bell above the door jingle and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Ville walking in, his jacket hood up to protect him from the rain.

“Hey.” He said nervously, struggling to make eye contact with her. Taking his jacket off and tucking it under his arm.

“Hi.” Kaiya responded as casually as she could. “What can I do for you?” she tried to act cool and professional, knowing Kari was in the back with the security monitors on. Even though she figured there was no sound on them, she knew Kari would know something was amiss if her body language became distressed.

Ville approached the counter that Kaiya was standing behind, “I have to apologize. I should have called…”

“No. I don’t blame you, I wouldn’t call me back either.” Kaiya admitted, her eyes not meeting his. Instead, she looked down at her hands as she picked nervously at her cuticles.

Ville blinked, now he was confused, “Did I do something? I mean, one minute you were fine and the next you—you seemed put off. Like I had upset you. That’s why I haven’t called, I’ve been trying to figure out where I went wrong. Sorry if this is really forward but I’ve got to know.” He wasn’t getting any younger and did not want to waste his time.

Kaiya mentally cringed, he was blaming himself and that’s the furthest from what she wanted, “It wasn’t you, it was me. And I know that’s totally cliché but it’s the truth.” Kaiya swallowed hard and made eye contact. She owed it to tell Ville what was going on in her head, but didn’t want to dive into all the details thinking it would send him running. “The truth is, um, my… ex hurt me, well, um, what happened with my ex hurt me really bad and I don’t really think I’m ready to move on just yet.” 

When she saw the look of disappointment cross Ville’s face she felt a twinge of pain in her gut. “But… If you’re willing to take it slow – and I mean really slow, like, glacier paced slow – I wouldn’t mind going out on some more dates to see where it goes with us.” A tiny appeasing smile formed at the corner of her lips.

Ville nodded and gave her an affirming smile, “Perfect. When do you—“

Kaiya cut him off. “I get off at 8.” She grinned at him.

“Wonderful. So…” he pulled out his phone, pausing for a minute as he looked up an address, “Meet me here.”

As he said that, Kaiya’s phone dinged with a text notification with said address. “Wonderful.” Kaiya replied using his words, smiling and blushing a bit.

Ville left the shop feeling considerably better. Kaiya was interested, that was clear, she just needed to move at a slower pace than Ville had considered. He could handle that, despite his impatient nature, she was worth it. As long as he could still take her out and enjoy her company, that's what truly mattered to him. Ville chose to look at the positive, it was keeping the physicality out of the situation, which meant they would inevitably establish a deeper bond, which in turn would make getting physical all the more satisfying.

Kaiya was feeling better about the situation as well. Ville seemed to understand her feelings and he had agreed to move at her speed. She huffed a heavy sigh and leaned against the back counter behind her. Her hands grasped the edges of the countertop and her fingernails clicked a rhythm against it as she mulled over their conversation in her head. Hopefully now her bizarre, off-putting behavior made sense to Ville.

Later that evening, Kaiya finished putting the last of the inventory on the shelves; movies, dildos, costumes, props and more. She often got a giggle out of some of the ridiculous products, rolling her eyes that people actually bought things like a 21 inch bright pink, rubber penis. “Who is this even for?!” she’d scream internally. She stood at the register, staring off into space.

“Alright, dear?” he asked, a warm hand on her shoulder.

Kaiya smiled, “Yeah, I’m good.” opting to not divulge her personal problems onto her adopted dad.

“Isn’t it time for you to go? Not that I’m rushing you out of the door, just figured I’d remind you.”

Kaiya glanced up at the bright pink Heartagram clock on the wall, Kari was truly proud of his son and displayed little Heartagram knickknacks anywhere he could. Sure enough, it was 8 o’clock. “Oh, yeah. I should get going.” Kaiya grabbed her purse from beneath the counter and slipped on her jacket. “See ya, Pops.” She smiled.

Kari beamed, “Be safe, daughter” Kaiya began walking toward the door when Kari spoke up again, “Oh, and Kaiya?”

“Yeah?”

“Have fun on your date tonight.” He winked.

Kaiya’s face dropped, “How did you--?”

Kari smiled, “The cameras have sound.”

Kaiya made her way to the address on her phone which was not very far from work, thankfully. The June evening weather was pleasant so the short walk helped give her a second wind. She rounded the corner and in front of her a gigantic blue rectangular building, Kaiya laughed and rolled her eyes, “You have got to be kidding me…” Ville had given her an address for IKEA.

She approached the front doors and Ville was standing there looking at his phone. “You’ve a great memory.” Kaiya said, announcing herself.

Ville laughed, “Hey, you said it was your favorite food.” he responded with a shrug.

The pair immediately went into the cafe and ordered their meatballs, and Ville watched her as she picked over her food. He knew that the history behind the quirk was sad, but he truly found it adorable. Kaiya caught him staring at her, “Oh, um… I’m weird, I know.” she blushed.

“Who isn’t?” Ville shrugged and smiled kindly. 

“I should probably go to therapy.” Kaiya mumbled before shoving another whole meatball into her mouth.

“Yeah, but who shouldn’t?” Ville nodded, trying to come off as compassionate and understanding as possible, which Kaiya truly appreciated. He wasn’t judging her, and she felt her walls lower even more.

“I need you to do me a favor.” Ville piped up. “There was an ulterior motive to why I brought you here.”

Kaiya paused like a deer caught in the headlights. “Oookay…”

Ville chuckled, “It’s nothing sinister, promise. I moved into a new place in 2016 and I've been busy, so I need help picking stuff out. Mostly a bed. I… this is embarrassing. I sleep on a sofa. I haven’t had an actual bed in years.”

“Same.” Kaiya blurted out, before she realized she might have just told on herself. 

“You… haven’t had a bed in years?” Ville questioned, “I mean, I’m not judging, obviously. But even when you were in Russia with your ex?”

Kaiya cringed, “Oh, um, yeah. No, it was a, um, weird situation. In-in Russia, I mean.” she stammered. “But okay! Let's get you a bed. I’m happy to help.” She quickly tried to change the subject, and then grabbed Ville’s hand in an attempt to stunning him enough that he wouldn’t ask anymore questions. 

And it worked, Ville shut up and let Kaiya hold his hand as they perused the gigantic furniture store, loving the way her tiny hand fit in his. He had never dated someone quite as short as her and he didn’t realize how much he would love it. She was adorably beautiful.

They got to the bedroom section and Kaiya let go of his hand and took a running leap into one huge king sized bed. She spread out her arms and legs like she was making a snow angel and sighed happily. Ville watched her with a smile on his face, feeling secondhand joy. He loved seeing her whenever the walls fell down, when she was freely and unapologetically her. Ville crawled into the bed beside her. “Alright, thoughts on this one?” he asked with a sigh.

“Anything is better than a cement floor, right?” Kaiya replied, “But, we gotta test the buoyancy.” she grunted as she stood up on the mattress. “Hmmm…” she hummed as she lightly bounced, making Ville laugh. “Not very bouncy. Tell me, Ville, how much bounce-ability do you need?”

Ville chuckled, “Uh, well, I do like bouncier beds. Makes certain activities more fun.”

“Oh?” Kaiya raised her eyebrows, “Well then, this bed just simply won’t do. Next!” and she leapt off the bed onto the neighboring bed and began bouncing. “Oh yeah, now this, this is bouncy.”

Ville got up and laid down on the bed she was currently bouncing on, “Seems so. Feels pretty good.”

Kaiya stopped bouncing and laid beside Ville, “I agree. This one is much better than the other.”

The pair rolled onto their sides to face each other and looked into each other’s eyes, “I just realized I never asked you your favorite color from the other night.” he muttered to her quietly, pushing a strand of hair out of her face behind her ear. “And you can’t say black.” he smirked.

“Jade.” Kaiya blurted out as he barely finished his sentence.

“Why?” Ville asked barely above a whisper, knowing exactly why she said it. It was his eyes. She was mimicking his answer from before; “Cerulean,” because of her eyes.

“You know why.” she whispered, realizing Ville was closing the gap between their faces.

“Please…” Ville whispered, his lips moving closer to hers.

Kaiya knew what the ‘please' meant, and she obliged, meeting his lips with a gentle kiss. They were in the middle of a brightly lit store, people passing by, but Kaiya and Ville were not even in the same reality with the rest of the world, that world had long disappeared. Kaiya felt every molecule within her begin to stir, absolutely vibrating from the chemistry between them. 

“Excuse me.” a stern voice snapped them both back to reality, it was an IKEA employee.

Kaiya lifted her head, “He’ll take this one.” 

August 2018

Unfortunately for Ville, the bed Kaiya helped pick out for him was out of stock that evening that they had their IKEA date, but it finally came in and was delivered to his house that August afternoon and Ville was now tasked with the chore of putting it together when he got a knock at the door.

Confused, since he wasn’t expecting anyone, he opened it to find Kaiya standing on the other side. “Oh, hey, how are you?” pleasantly surprised.

“Hey there, you said the bed was delivered, right? Well, I come bearing gifts!” Kaiya answered him cheerfully with several Amazon boxes in her arms. Ville took the boxes from her arms and let her in.

“Holy fuck, what’s in here?” noting how heavy they were “More importantly, how did you manage to carry these with your tiny little legs?” he laughed.

Kaiya scoffed, “Tiny little legs, huh?” and she playfully kicked him. “Anyway! If you’re anything like your brother, you have this whole ass bed but didn’t have the presence of mind to get fuck-all for it. And that’s where I come in.”

Kaiya pulled out a pocket knife and began opening boxes, revealing a set of 4 pillows and a black, remarkably soft bedding set. “Oh, wow, Kaiya, you didn’t have to do all that. Can I pay you back?” Ville was shocked. Aside from his mother, no other woman had done this for him. Kaiya was thoughtful, and he added that to the ever growing list of why he was starting to fall hard for her.

Kaiya turned her head to look at him with a furrowed brow, “Absolutely not. This is just a friend doing something nice for a friend.”

Friend… Ville cringed. God how he wanted her to be more than that. He fixed his face into a smile quickly, “Well, I’m extremely grateful for this, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Kaiya beamed. “Alright, let’s put this bedding on.”

“Erm… there’s a problem.” Ville painfully admitted. “I haven’t put it together yet.”

Kaiya closed her eyes, “Ah, fuck… I walked myself right into this one didn’t I?” she giggled. “Fine, I’m gonna help you put this bed together, but I’m not doing it for free.”

“What payment will you be requiring, my lady?” Ville smiled at her.

“Order us some food, turn on some music, and let’s get going.”

A FEW HOURS LATER

“Part Q needs to go into Part R with the stupid fucking hexagonal bolt thing!” Kaiya barked at Ville as they struggled to put the frame together.

“Kaiya, I realize that, but we’re out of the hexagonal bolts!” Ville barked back.

“No we aren't, they're in the box!”

“What box?!”

“The box with the thing!”

“That doesn’t help!”

Their voices were raised, but not at each other, just at the painfully frustrating situation, which they both understood.

“Ville, there is not enough pizza in this world to make this bullshit worth it.” Kaiya growled.

“Well then you sold yourself short!” Ville replied bitterly

A FEW MORE HOURS LATER

“And done.” Kaiya sighed with relief as Ville finished tightening the last fastener with the absurdly small wrench IKEA provided them.

Ville sighed as he stood up, “Good team work, thank you.” he held his fist out, which Kaiya met with her own fist.

“Yep. Teamwork makes the dream work.” Kaiya nodded.

Kaiya brought the Amazon boxes up to the bedroom and began making Ville’s bed up with the new bedding as he cleaned up all the trash from the IKEA boxes. When Ville came back up to the bedroom after taking the garbage outside, he found Kaiya lying on her stomach, sprawled out on the bed. He smiled admiring her ass, he longed to just attack her lustfully but knew that would be a mistake.

“Take a picture.” Kaiya muttered, knowing what he was doing.

“Don’t mind if I do…” Ville muttered, pulling his phone out as Kaiya giggled into the duvet. “Oh, yeah, I’ll be saving this for later.” Ville bit his lip suggestively.

“My fully clothed ass is what you’re going to whack it to later?” Kaiya sat up and looked at him skeptically. “I work at a porno shop, say the word and I can bring you better jerk off material.”

Ville approached her and bent down to kiss her, they were still in the closed-lip-kissing phase of their situation-ship, so Ville indulged whenever he could. “What if I told you I didn’t want to see anyone else’s ass?” he whispered against her lips.

Kaiya pulled back, “What if I told you I didn’t want you to see anyone else’s ass?” she breathed.

Ville smiled, “Then I would tell you that I want to be exclusive.”

Kaiya blushed, “Okay… and what if I wanted to be exclusive too?”

“Then… I think that would make you my girlfriend.”

“And I guess that would make you…”

“Your boyfriend.” Ville breathed against her neck before kissing it gently.

Kaiya couldn’t help it. The walls came tumbling down and she kissed him deeply and began reaching for the waistband of the lounge pants he was wearing. Ville hesitated, confused and unsure because he didn’t want to push her past her comfort zone. “Kai- Kaiya…” he breathed. 

“Shut up and sit down.” she demanded. Ville did as he was told and Kaiya made quick work of removing his pants as Ville removed his shirt. Ville was already painfully erect and Kaiya marveled at it for a moment before taking it into her mouth as deeply as she could, earning a gasp and groan from Ville. 

“Oh fuck… Kaiya.” he moaned, his hands traveling to her hair. Kaiya licked him base to tip, swirling her tongue around the head and repeating until he began pulling slightly on her hair, a sign he wanted her to take him in deep, and she happily obliged. Kaiya looked up at him with his entire length inside of her mouth and Ville felt hypnotized by her stunning eyes, Kaiya lifted up, a ‘pop’ leaving her lips each time she came up, but then she’d immediately take him back in balls-deep. Ville was in pleasurable agony as he watched her work her magic, but soon it became all too much to handle.  “Kaiya, I’m going to–” Ville couldn’t even finish before he released himself with a strangled moan of ecstasy. Kaiya let him finish, then swallowed and smirked at him. 

“Fucking christ…” Ville breathed. “F-fuck.. Thank you.”

“Anytime.” Kaiya grinned. 

“You need to let me return the favor” he bit his lip and he pulled her onto his lap and began tenderly kissing her neck. Kaiya drew in a sharp breath as Ville nipped and kissed at the sensitive skin and his hands traveled down her back and onto her ass. Kaiya wanted to stop, she wasn’t ready to be vulnerable with him like that yet. “Ville?” 

“Yeah?” he responded, looking at her.

“I need to go. I have work tomorrow.” Kaiya admitted painfully. She wasn’t lying, it just wasn’t the whole truth. The truth was, she was ready to give physical affection, but she wasn’t ready to receive it.

Ville looked at her stunned, she was willing to give him a blowjob but wanted nothing in return? It was odd, but he wasn’t going to argue. He didn’t want to push and have all the progress they made come tumbling down. Instead he just smiled and kissed her. “Alright, want me to get you an Uber? I’ll pay. It’s the least I can do.”

“Nah, I got it.” Kaiya shook her head.

“No, I insist. You came over with gifts, helped me with manual labor, and then gave me mind-blowing head. It’s the least I could do.”

Kaiya smiled and got up off his lap to check her phone, where she found a text from Jesse. “Fuck…” Kaiya groaned. “Well, save your money I guess.”

“What?” Ville questioned.

“Well, turns out Jesse and Hanna are back together.” she rolled her eyes. “And Jesse asked if I could stay here because I guess they’re going to be loud about their reconciliation.”

“Well tell him thank you, because I didn’t want to sleep in this brand new bed all by myself anyway.” Ville shrugged.

Kaiya eyed him, “Okay, you win… but I don’t want to have sex.”

Ville scoffed with fake outrage, “Excuse me? What kind of hussy do you take me for? I am a good, chaste, Christian man.”

Kaiya snorted with laugher, “Okay, whatever you say, you fucking dweeb.”

The pair got ready for bed, Ville laid down in only his boxers, but much to his chagrin Kaiya climbed in fully clothed. He didn’t want to have sex with her, well, he did, but he knew that was off the table. But he at least was hoping to feel her skin against his as they slept. “Hey,” he spoke up, “If you want, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Kaiya smiled at the gesture, “I’m good, you’re fine. This is your bed, you need to sleep in it.”

“You’re fully clothed, I just figured you might think sleeping in the same bed was too much.” Ville explained.

“I appreciate that, I do, but I’m fine.”

Ville accepted her answer, maybe it was just another one of her quirks? He wasn’t going to push it. Instead, he pulled her close and held her tight, her back against his chest. Her hair smelled incredible, just as intoxicating as the scent of her skin. “Goodnight, girlfriend.” he mumbled into her hair before kissing her head. “Also I’m sorry if you wake up with a boner poking you in your back. I can’t control that.”

Kaiya chuckled, “Okay. Goodnight, boyfriend.”