#low res law

[minniiaa]

low res law: zou edition

[airis-hunter]

Dressrosa arc in progress E682

That's twice Luffy's saved him

🤨

Luffy talking so morals into Law lol

Guys stop being so gay omg!

Low res bonuses

[b-else-writes]

The Jedi Are the Elite, Not the Underdogs in the Prequels

I cannot believe i had to read with my own two eyes a take that the Jedi in the Star Wars Prequels occupy some of the lowest rungs in society because something something "they're meant to be Buddhist monks!!" and "it's based off the Hidden Fortress and the Jedi are the two peasants!!!" - what an utterly brain-dead take that fundamentally misunderstands how the Jedi are actually portrayed in the story, fundamentally misunderstands which characters from Hidden Fortress Lucas was grafting onto which character, and fundamentally misunderstands what story the Prequels were (badly) trying to tell.

So first, at the absolute most basic level, the two peasant characters in Hidden Fortress (which Lucas pulled most from for A New Hope and Phantom Menace) correspond, in Lucas' own words, to C3PO and R2D2 in the A New Hope, and Anakin and Jar Jar in Phantom Menace, NOT any of the Jedi characters. Obi-Wan, the only explicit Jedi in ANH, was inspired by Toshiro Mifune's character, who is, guess what, nobility (as men/samurai of a general status usually were in that time period). Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in TPM occupy that same role as well. It is Anakin (and Jar-Jar, who was expelled from his own society and an outcast) who occupies the lowest rung in society, because he's a literal slave and it's that very fact that drives the entire plot. Yes, Anakin is Force-Sensitive, but he isn't a Jedi in TPM, and he is always narratively positioned as being "not one of them" throughout the story (more on this in a minute).

Which brings us to point two - how are the Jedi actually portrayed in the Prequels? It's an old hat to be like "they're the Space cops" but, well, they are the Space Cops. The Jedi are part of the bureaucratic systems of the Galactic Republic. They can speak directly to the Chancellor and offer advice, they are dispatched to quell unrest in the Republic's name. Visually, they are designed to convey power and prestige based on Western cultural cues (large buildings with European facades, marble, white/beige clothes that are sweeping and regal, rare genetic magical powers, and of course, swords).

The defense I've seen is that the Jedi do not have power because they aren't in charge and have to answer to the Chancellor/Republic, but this is like saying, "the military doesn't have power because it has to answer to the President/Prime Minister", it's nonsensical. While the Jedi are referred to as monks and practice a veneer of vague Hollywood Buddhist beliefs, in practice, they operate like Samurai (because again, that was what Lucas was drawing from), who again, held high prestige and power in society. They are not the scrappy underdogs or the downtrodden poor. And they are certainly not slaves.

And that's where the fundamental thing comes in of what story were the Prequels trying to tell? Fundamentally, Anakin's fall is a story about the elites in society taking a child who is at the very bottom (a slave) and raising him up onto their level, while simultaneously having nothing but contempt for him, and then systematically failing him at every turn until he decides that the only solution is that the system is completely broken and we should do Fascism (for the record i'm not saying the Prequels tell this story well, and handle it with the subtlety of a brick to the face like Anakin quite literally paraphrases George Bush). Because the Prequels were written in the late 90s-early 2000s by an American man and are a blunt commentary on the elites in the USA failing and sliding into unnecessary war and growing fascism. It's a story about the fall of a society. And for this entire morality tale of Lucas' to work, it would mean that the Jedi are the Elite as well.

And they are - they're shown to be ineffectual and not very smart and their powers have grown weak and they can't see what's directly in front of them! They have become entrenched into the corrupt system. It matters that it is Anakin who occupies the lowest rung in society and not the Jedi, and that is why he is never one of them and what drives the entire story of his fall (for the record (2), this isn't saying Anakin was RIGHT to become fascist).

I think a lot of people try to twist this because they desperately want to love the Jedi (which you can) but can't reconcile that narratively they're portrayed as having messed-up very very badly and that the entire system that they were part of didn't work and shouldn't have been done that way (#maybe Jacen was onto something before he did Space Fascism 2.0), so they try to say that no, no, no, it's the Jedi who are the scrappy underdogs. But to do that is to just completely misunderstand and misrepresent what is actually being presented.

[baby-xemnas]

nitpick

only thing id disagree with in the tags on prev post is that "luffy hammered the idea that love is not a transaction into law's head" not because its pure speculation but because for me luffy Doesnt really do those types of things

hes not in the business of solving others outlook on life

he will help you punch your problems and will proclaim HIS simplistic (not said as a bad thing, its brilliant) outlook but he doesnt care to fix anybody

law makes his own observations and luffy is no authority on his emotional state lol. im not trying to argue with anyone but i wanted to say this cuz its precious to me

that even law's family has that passive approach like "we are gonna let him do his thing at his own pace" and its a great and beautiful thing, its in no way a flaw but a feature - law is not a person who needs "grab his shoulders and shake him" type of approach. it just won't work. hes way too secure and grounded and rational

tl;dr luffy is not interested in convincing law about how love is not about give and take and luffy is not an authority to law in that way

but good post overall very happy to see cuz i do love it so dearly how hearts balance law out and its good to see it talked abt 💛💛💛💛

[autoneurotic]

my family is cute and funny. my dad got my a quarter of Very Good Weed for my birthday <3

[teaboot]

I feel like if you're using a lot of disposable plastic bags in your day to day life, you've gotta do something sustainable to make up for it. Like using bamboo toilet paper or eco friendly cat litter or something, yknow

Honestly I exaggerate for comedic effect, while I DO routinely use ziplock bags to hold spaghetti I cook maybe once a month and the bag itself is usually for freezer storage. I actually throw out maybe one bag a week? I DO hate washing plates and tupperware and junk but that usually just means I eat sandwiches without a plate.

I agree though that needless waste should be avoided, and I do avoid it- biodegradable bags and recyclables, empty butter tubs used to store leftovers, etc.

This said, though, not applicable necessarily for myself but for a lot of others- I feel that it's importat to remember that there are many people who legitimately NEED things like plastic straws, or catheters, or pre-packaged foods

And the idea that that's a moral failing that individuals need to personally make up for when a single billionaire blows out more CO2 in a long weekend than I will in my whole life on a superjet meet-cute in the Bolivian rainforest between humvee drag races funded by the river-polluting textiles plants they planted in a third world country to avoid EPA laws and give an entire village stillbirths and stomach cancer is an idea that those very same bigwigs have spent a LOT of time and money investing in planting in the public psyche.

Like- Glass bottles are infinitely recyclable, so why are so many drinks in plastic now? Loads of drinks manufacturers used to buy them back and clean them for re-use, so why did they stop? If they chose to make something out of a limited and environmentally irresponsible material, why is it my failing to track down a correct process of disposal for them? What if there are none in my area? Do I lobby for more recycling plants in my area? Do I set aside some of my limited time outside the pain factory of my job- which I have more than one of, thanks to rising costs of things just like that drink I just emptied- to properly dispose of this company's waste FOR them?

Say coca-cola just rolled up to your town and started dumping millions of empty plastic bottles in the street, going, "wow, you should really think about building and staffing a recycling depot, it would be really shameful of you to just put these in the trash." When companies purposefully use materials with limited lifespans- because yes, even plastic can only be reused so many times- and tell you it's your own fault if it harms the environment- that's essentially what they're doing, just with more steps.

Yes, its important to be as environmentally concious as we can in our day to day life, but responsible sustainability is not catholicism. We don't get good boy points from our lord and savior Captain Planet every time the average low-income household gathers together to hold hands and repent for a single-use plastic that allows them to access something they need.

Entire families could eat trees and shit dead lithium batteries for years and still not do as much damage to the planet as an average dye plant or braindead celebrity does in a week just for fun, and I'm mad about it

...this went on longer than intended.

TL/DR: DO recycle and minimize waste, but don't beat yourself up over the little waste you can't avoid, and follow the money.

EDIT: Part 2

[mostlysignssomeportents]

AI’s “human in the loop” isn’t

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

AI's ability to make – or assist with – important decisions is fraught: on the one hand, AI can often classify things very well, at a speed and scale that outstrips the ability of any reasonably resourced group of humans. On the other hand, AI is sometimes very wrong, in ways that can be terribly harmful.

Bureaucracies and the AI pitchmen who hope to sell them algorithms are very excited about the cost-savings they could realize if algorithms could be turned loose on thorny, labor-intensive processes. Some of these are relatively low-stakes and make for an easy call: Brewster Kahle recently told me about the Internet Archive's project to scan a ton of journals on microfiche they bought as a library discard. It's pretty easy to have a high-res scanner auto-detect the positions of each page on the fiche and to run the text through OCR, but a human would still need to go through all those pages, marking the first and last page of each journal and identifying the table of contents and indexing it to the scanned pages. This is something AI apparently does very well, and instead of scrolling through endless pages, the Archive's human operator now just checks whether the first/last/index pages the AI identified are the right ones. A project that could have taken years is being tackled with never-seen swiftness.

The operator checking those fiche indices is something AI people like to call a "human in the loop" – a human operator who assesses each judgment made by the AI and overrides it should the AI have made a mistake. "Humans in the loop" present a tantalizing solution to algorithmic misfires, bias, and unexpected errors, and so "we'll put a human in the loop" is the cure-all response to any objection to putting an imperfect AI in charge of a high-stakes application.

But it's not just AIs that are imperfect. Humans are wildly imperfect, and one thing they turn out to be very bad at is supervising AIs. In a 2022 paper for Computer Law & Security Review, the mathematician and public policy expert Ben Green investigates the empirical limits on human oversight of algorithms:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3921216

Green situates public sector algorithms as the latest salvo in an age-old battle in public enforcement. Bureaucracies have two conflicting, irreconcilable imperatives: on the one hand, they want to be fair, and treat everyone the same. On the other hand, they want to exercise discretion, and take account of individual circumstances when administering justice. There's no way to do both of these things at the same time, obviously.

But algorithmic decision tools, overseen by humans, seem to hold out the possibility of doing the impossible and having both objective fairness and subjective discretion. Because it is grounded in computable mathematics, an algorithm is said to be "objective": given two equivalent reports of a parent who may be neglectful, the algorithm will make the same recommendation as to whether to take their children away. But because those recommendations are then reviewed by a human in the loop, there's a chance to take account of special circumstances that the algorithm missed. Finally, a cake that can be both had, and eaten!

For the paper, Green reviewed a long list of policies – local, national, and supra-national – for putting humans in the loop and found several common ways of mandating human oversight of AI.

First, policies specify that algorithms must have human oversight. Many jurisdictions set out long lists of decisions that must be reviewed by human beings, banning "fire and forget" systems that chug along in the background, blithely making consequential decisions without anyone ever reviewing them.

Second, policies specify that humans can exercise discretion when they override the AI. They aren't just there to catch instances in which the AI misinterprets a rule, but rather to apply human judgment to the rules' applications.

Next, policies require human oversight to be "meaningful" – to be more than a rubber stamp. For high-stakes decisions, a human has to do a thorough review of the AI's inputs and output before greenlighting it.

Finally, policies specify that humans can override the AI. This is key: we've all encountered instances in which "computer says no" and the hapless person operating the computer just shrugs their shoulders apologetically. Nothing I can do, sorry!

All of this sounds good, but unfortunately, it doesn't work. The question of how humans in the loop actually behave has been thoroughly studied, published in peer-reviewed, reputable journals, and replicated by other researchers. The measures for using humans to prevent algorithmic harms represent theories, and those theories are testable, and they have been tested, and they are wrong.

For example, people (including experts) are highly susceptible to "automation bias." They defer to automated systems, even when those systems produce outputs that conflict with their own expert experience and knowledge. A study of London cops found that they "overwhelmingly overestimated the credibility" of facial recognition and assessed its accuracy at 300% better than its actual performance.

Experts who are put in charge of overseeing an automated system get out of practice, because they no longer engage in the routine steps that lead up to the conclusion. Presented with conclusions, rather than problems to solve, experts lose the facility and familiarity with how all the factors that need to be weighed to produce a conclusion fit together. Far from being the easiest step of coming to a decision, reviewing the final step of that decision without doing the underlying work can be much harder to do reliably.

Worse: when algorithms are made "transparent" by presenting their chain of reasoning to expert reviewers, those reviewers become more deferential to the algorithm's conclusion, not less – after all, now the expert has to review not just one final conclusion, but several sub-conclusions.

Even worse: when humans do exercise discretion to override an algorithm, it's often to inject the very bias that the algorithm is there to prevent. Sure, the algorithm might give the same recommendation about two similar parents who are facing having their children taken away, but the judge who reviews the recommendations is more likely to override it for a white parent than for a Black one.

Humans in the loop experience "a diminished sense of control, responsibility, and moral agency." That means that they feel less able to override an algorithm – and they feel less morally culpable when they sit by and let the algorithm do its thing.

All of these effects are persistent even when people know about them, are trained to avoid them, and are given explicit instructions to do so. Remember, the whole reason to introduce AI is because of human imperfection. Designing an AI to correct human imperfection that only works when its human overseer is perfect produces predictably bad outcomes.

As Green writes, putting an AI in charge of a high-stakes decision, and using humans in the loop to prevent its harms, produces a "perverse effect": "alleviating scrutiny of government algorithms without actually addressing the underlying concerns." The human in the loop creates "a false sense of security" that sees algorithms deployed for high-stakes domains, and it shifts the responsibility for algorithmic failures to the human, creating what Dan Davies calls an "accountability sink":

https://profilebooks.com/work/the-unaccountability-machine/

The human in the loop is a false promise, a "salve that enables governments to obtain the benefits of algorithms without incurring the associated harms."

So why are we still talking about how AI is going to replace government and corporate bureaucracies, making decisions at machine speed, overseen by humans in the loop?

Well, what if the accountability sink is a feature and not a bug. What if governments, under enormous pressure to cut costs, figure out how to also cut corners, at the expense of people with very little social capital, and blame it all on human operators? The operators become, in the phrase of Madeleine Clare Elish, "moral crumple zones":

https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/260

As Green writes:

The emphasis on human oversight as a protective mechanism allows governments and vendors to have it both ways: they can promote an algorithm by proclaiming how its capabilities exceed those of humans, while simultaneously defending the algorithm and those responsible for it from scrutiny by pointing to the security (supposedly) provided by human oversight.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/30/a-neck-in-a-noose/#is-also-a-human-in-the-loop

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en ==

[waywardmaslow]

The Epic Codependency of Sam and Dean Winchester

• Dean went and got Sam from Stanford not because he needed Sam’s help finding John but simply because he wanted Sam with him 1.01

• Dean threw himself off a bridge just because that’s what Sam appeared to be doing 1.01

• Sam knew immediately when Dean was really a shifter 1.06

• “We accept homeowners of any race, religion, color… or sexuality.” -Larry and Lynda @ Sam & Dean 1.08

• Sam felt no guilt over someone having to die in order for Dean’s life to be saved 1.12

• “A king or two queens?” -Michael “Two queens.” -Dean “Yeah, I’ll bet.” -Michael 1.18

• Dean no longer wanted to hunt down the thing that killed Mary if it meant Sam dying 1.21

• Dean wasted one of the 3 remaining bullets for the colt on a low-level demon who was attacking Sam 1.22

• Sam blindly trusts Dean when he says John is possessed 1.22

• Sam and Dean coming up with identical cover stories and coming to the same conclusion re: “Dana Schulps” clue while separated during a hunt 2.07

• Dean gave Baby to a stranger and locked himself in with a Croatoan-infected Sam, ready to kill Sam then himself once Sam went rabid(or let rabid!Sam infect him too so they’d be monsters together) 2.09

• “So, uh, ..king-sized bed?” -Susan “No no, we’re uh.. 2 singles. We’re just brothers.” -Sam 2.11

• “Bonny to your Clyde” -Hendrickson @ Dean about Sam 2.12

• Dean was willing to cover up a murder Sam may have committed 2.14

• “You two are bickering like an old married couple.” -Bobby @ Sam & Dean 2.15

• Dean’s current relationship with Sam was more important to him than the normal life he could’ve had if Mary never died 2.20

• Dean cared more about Sam going to law school and marrying Jess than he did about any of what he had purely for himself(his job and gf) in his Djinn fantasy 2.20

• When Lily opened up to Sam about accidentally killing her girlfriend, Sam empathized with her by bringing up how Dean might be dead(for all he knew) instead of bringing up Jessica’s death(which he canonically blamed himself for) 2.21

• “Something big’s going down, Dean. End-of-the-world big.” -Bobby “Well then, let it end!” -Dean after Sam died 2.22

• Dean sold his soul to bring Sam back from the dead (which lead to him breaking the first seal kicking off the apocalypse) 2.22

• Ruby used Sam’s fear of losing Dean then grief after his death to manipulate him 3.02/3.16/4.09

• Sam was willing to bleed an innocent human dry in order to summon the trickster to bring Dean back 3.11

• Sam was willing to become an organ-harvesting immortal to keep Dean from dying and going to hell 3.15

• “Whatever the magic pill is, I’ll take it too!” -Sam “What is this, Sid and Nancy?” -Dean 3.15

• “Sammy, all I’m saying is you’re my weak spot. You are. And I’m yours.” -Dean 3.16

• Sam tried to open the gate to hell (risking letting more demons into the world) to save Dean 4.01

• Sam tried to sell his soul multiple times to get Dean back from hell 4.01/4.09

• “Are you two like…together?” -Ruby 4.01

• “You don’t need me. You and Ruby go hunt demons.” -Dean being more jealous of Ruby than suspicious 4.04

• Dean willingly handed Anna over to the angels who wanted to kill her because they threatened to send Sam to hell if he didn’t 4.10

• Dean’s siren was an idealized version of Sam 4.14

• Sam consumed more demon blood than normal to kill Alistair and save Dean (it’s likely that this was the turning point when Sam became addicted) 4.16

• Dean knows Sam’s habits so well that he’s able to track him down even when Sam’s trying to do the opposite of what he thinks Dean would expect him to do 4.21

• Sam hunted down Lilith to avenge Dean (which lead to breaking the final seal releasing Lucifer) 4.09/4.22

• “Whatever we have between us, love, family, whatever it is..” -Dean to Sam 5.04

• future!Dean was willing to sacrifice all his friends (including Cass) to avenge Sam 5.04

• Dean prevented the endverse future simply by reconnecting with Sam 5.04

• “We’re all we’ve got. More than that, we keep each other human.” -Dean to Sam 5.04

• “The relationship that you have with your brother seems dangerously codependent.” -Dr. Fuller to Dean 5.11

• Sam and Dean are soulmates with a shared heaven 5.16

• “Sam and Dean are psychotically, irrationally, erotically codependent on each other” -Zachariah 5.18

• Dean decided against saying yes to Michael because he didn’t want to let Sam down 5.18

• Dean prioritized helping Sam over Adam in the beautiful room and it led to Michael taking Adam as his vessel 5.18

• Dean was ready to die with Sam/let Lucifer beat him to death if Sam couldn’t regain control of his body 5.22

• Sam’s love for Dean gave him the strength to overcome Lucifer 5.22

• “Dean didn't want Cas to save him. Every part of him, every fiber he's got, wants to die, or find a way to bring Sam back.” -Chuck voiceover 5.22

• Having a normal apple-pie life means nothing to Dean if Sam isn’t alive to be part of it. -> “I wanted my brother! Alive!” -Dean / “Had I shown up, Dean, you would have just run off(away from Lisa and Ben).” -Sam 6.01

• “That woman and that kid; I only went to them because you asked me too!” & “I showed up on their doorstep half out of my head with grief. God knows why they even let me in. I drank too much. I had nightmares. I looked everywhere. I collected hundreds of books, trying to find anything to bust you out.” -Dean to Sam 6.01

• Dean chose hunting full-time with Sam over staying with Lisa and Ben 6.02

• “The minute Sam walked through that door, I knew. It was over. You two have the most unhealthy, tangled-up, crazy thing I’ve ever seen.” -Lisa about Dean and Sam 6.06

• “Mallory to your Micky” -Veritas to Sam about Dean 6.06

• Dean died to make a deal with Death to save Sam’s soul from the cage and in doing so chose Sam over Adam 6.11

• Sam took on his cage memories so Dean wouldn’t be left alone 6.22

• Dean became Sam’s stone number 1 when he was having trouble telling what was real 7.02

• Sam and Dean each quickly recognized each others leviathan doppelgängers 7.06

• Sam’s grief over losing Dean is paralleled to Amelia’s grief over losing her husband, both believe their loved one is dead, both get their loved one back. s8 Flashbacks

• “Is it just me or are you getting a workplace-romance vibe from those two?” -Michael & “Dude, they just sat and talked about how they have been apart for a year. You were probably right about that whole office-romance thing.” -Brian about Sam and Dean 8.04

• Sam chooses Dean over Amelia 8.10

• Dean chooses to take on the 3 trials mainly because he doesn’t want Sam to do it and risk his life, he wants Sam to reap the benefits of a demon free world 8.14

• Dean’s perfect ending is simply for Sam to get out of hunting and lead a normal apple-pie life till he’s old and grey 8.14

• “Cass, you got your ears on? Listen, you know I am not one for praying, 'cause in my book it's... it's the same as begging. But this is about Sam, so I need you to hear me.” -Dean 8.16

• Dean killed Benny so Sam could be saved from Purgatory 8.19

• “You two fight like an old married couple.” Charlie to Sam & Dean 8.20

• Dean chose a world with demons over a demon-free world without Sam 8.23

• “You know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It’s how many times I’ve let you down. I can’t do that again.” -Sam to Dean 8.23

• “Don’t you dare think that there’s anything past or present that I would put in front of you.” -Dean to Sam 8.23

• Dean violated Sam’s trust and autonomy via tricking him into an Angel possession to save his life 9.01

• “There ain’t no me if there ain’t no you!” -Dean to Sam 9.01

• Dean kicked human!Cass -who was being hunted by angels- out of the bunker rendering him homeless so his mere presence wouldn’t drive away the Angel keeping Sam alive 9.03

• Young!Dean gave up a chance at a normal life so he could continue being there for Sam 9.07

• Dean gave Crowley permission to use one of the brothers’ code words to warn Sam about Gadreel 9.10

• Dean didn’t regret letting an Angel into Sam, even though it had resulted in Kevin being killed 9.13

• Sam could break through the MOC hold on Dean like Collette was able to do for Cain 9.16/9.21/10.23

• “You’re lying to Sam like he’s your wife.” - Crowley 9.17

• Sam tricked a man into selling his soul so he could torture the demon for info on where demon!Dean was 10.02/10.03

• “Right now I’m doing all I can not to come over there and rip your throat out…with my teeth.” -Demon!Dean to Sam 10.02

• “What did Sam say? He wanna divorce?” -Dean 10.03

• “I tried to kill him, Cass.” -Dean “It would take a lot more than trying to kill your brother with a hammer to make Sam want to walk away.” -Cass 10.03

• “Homosexual murderers!” -Bev “Like Leopold and Loeb!” -Hetty 10.06

• “Then would come the murder you'd never survive, the one that would finally turn you into as much of a savage as it did me. Your brother, Sam.” -Cain to Dean 10.14

• Sam was willing to bleed himself to death to unlock the Werther Box to get the codex so a cure for Dean could be found in the Book of the Damned 10.19

• Death wanted Sam to be killed because he knew Sam would never stop looking for a way to free Dean from the MOC regardless of the consequences 10.23

• Sam was willing to let Dean kill him so Death would send Dean somewhere he wouldn’t be a danger to anyone due to the MOC 10.23

• Dean killed Death because he couldn’t go through with killing Sam and Death had threatened to do it if he couldn’t 10.23

• Sam’s efforts to get the MOC off Dean result in the Darkness being released 10.23

• “I unleashed a force on this world that could destroy it to save you. And I’d do it again, in a second I’d do it again.” -Sam to Dean 11.01

• Dean: “Where’s Sam?” Crowley: “Don’t worry about Sam.” Dean: “I’m sorry; have you met me?” 11.10

• Dean chose comforting/looking after Sam over helping Cass fight Lucifer in the cage 11.10

• Dean saw a manifestation of dead!Sam(part of his soul in distress) in the soul-eater’s nest 11.16

• Dean killed himself so he could bargain with a reaper to bring Sam back from the dead 11.17

• Because Dean thought Sam was dead, he was ready to let himself (and the couple they were trying to save) be killed by the werewolf pack they’d been hunting 11.17

• Michelle: “I just watched the man I love die; there’s no normal after that.” Dean: *thinking about how he’s just experienced the same thing with Sam except with a different outcome* 11.17

• “You fight like brothers; you’re almost as bad as [me and Sam].” -Dean “Actually, it’s more like an old married couple.” -Caesar 11.19

• Sam got infected by the Darkness fog and Dean abandoned the people they were trying to protect and instead tried to infect himself so he could die with Sam 11.20

• Dean used his relationship with Sam to relate to Amara and get her to reconcile with Chuck 11.23

• Amara in 11.09: *kisses Dean* -> Dean in 11.23 to Amara: “You simply need your brother. I mean, hell, maybe that’s why you wanted me. But deep down, you didn’t really want me…cuz I’m not him.”

• Sam and Mary: *trapped in Asa’s house by a demon* -> Dean: *stuck outside* “Sam! Sammy! Hey!” *after breaking in* “Where’s my brother?” 12.06

• “We’re like the American Oasis.” -Dean comparing himself & Sam to Liam & Noel Gallagher 12.07

• Sam and Dean were each willing to die so the other could escape the federal prison and live on 12.09

• “You know, sometimes me and Sam have got so much going on that…we forget about everyone else.” -Dean to Cass 12.23

• Dean began to warm up to Jack because he saved Sam’s life 13.04

• Sam and Dean were unfazed by being stuck in the Bad Place because they had each other 13.10

• “I don’t care what happens to me. I never really have. But I do care about what happens to my brother.” -Dean 13.20

• “And if we die? We’ll do that together too.” -Sam to Dean 13.20

• Dean went mute after Sam was killed and later set off on a suicide mission to retrieve Sam’s body or die trying 13.21

• Dean said yes to AU!Michael to save Sam from Lucifer 13.23

• Dean knows Bert and Ernie are gay 5.03 and suggests he and Sam dress as them for Halloween 14.04

• Though Dean was unable to take back control or cast Michael out, his resistance due to his attachment to Sam made him enough of a nuisance to Michael that he willingly let Dean go(temporarily) 14.09

• Sam was able to figure out where Michael had Dean trapped in his mind via knowing how Dean could be best subdued/distracted 14.10

• Sam broke through Michael’s hold on Dean with just one word: “Poughkeepsie” 14.10

• Sam was the only one who could talk Dean out of locking himself in the Ma’lak box with Michael for all eternity at the bottom of the ocean 14.12

• The thought of letting Dean down broke Sam free of Chip Harrington’s mind control 14.15

• “We have lost way, way too much. And it’s hard not to feel like just… cashing out. I felt like that. After Chuck, back at the crypt. But you know what brought me back? You did. By sayin’ that what we do still matters.” -Dean to Sam 15.04

• Dean was willing to abandon Cass in Purgatory, so he could get back home before the portal closed and save Sam from Chuck (that’s the only reason he sent up that prayer to Cass) 15.09

• Dean was willing to sacrifice Jack so he and Sam could have a life free of Chuck’s influence/control 15.17

• Dean was willing to trade everyone(who’d be collateral damage if Billie became the new god) except Sam for a shot at getting rid of Chuck 15.17

• Sam broke through Dean’s desperation to be rid of Chuck no matter what the cost, thwarting not just Billie’s plan but also Chuck’s brother-kills-brother endgame 15.17

• Dean stood outside Sam’s Stanford dorm for hours because he was so afraid of Sam possibly rejecting him, he didn’t know what he’d do if he didn’t have Sam 15.20

• “It’s always been you… and me.” “I love you so much..my baby brother.” -Dean to Sam 15.20

• Dean wouldn’t let go till Sam told him it was ok, he wanted to be sure Sam would be ok without him 15.20

• Sam spent the rest of his life mourning Dean and honoring his memory, named his son after him 15.20

• Dean’s heaven was not perfect till Sam got there 15.20

[intheholler]

re: hurricane helene hey, y'all. so... immense survivor's guilt, subsequent depression and an overall helpless malaise has made my presence on tumblr here weaker during this horrific time. but there's nothing like some good ol appalachian rage to light a fire under the proverbial ass so i'm back to push back on some of the bullshit i keep seeing get spread about what's happening in the aftermath of hurricane helene, and in western north carolina especially. 

appalachia has always been low hanging fruit for the rest of the nation, and now that disaster has struck and we are even more vulnerable than we have been in a long, long time, bad actors are using us as a way to further their political bullshit and conspiracies.

please use some of the cited-information below the cut to push back on and educate any family members, friends or otherwise when you see them spreading misinformation. now is your chance to help appalachia, no matter where you are in the united states. myths, rumors and other flavors of horseshit regarding hurricane helene debunked under the cut. please reblog.

Let me just get my heart out of the way before we get into the nitty gritty, cause I got things to say. #1: "Why should we help these people? They get these storms there all the time. They didn't move away or do anything to prepare for this, and now it's our responsibility?"

These storms are not at all commonplace. For much of this area, especially WNC, this level of flooding and damage--spanning an area the size of Belgium between NC and TN--is largely unprecedented. Growing up, we get told our mountains protect us, that they shield us from the really bad, and that's because historically, they have. Hurricanes blow through, and they bring with them hella wind and rain, but nothing like this.

We do not have the infrastructure for this, physical or otherwise. So many of our homes, businesses and everything in between have been standing for more than a century, unkept and brittle. Dams are breaking or near breaking because they are not meant to hold this kind of water. Our roads tend to follow creeks and rivers and thereby have been completely washed out. Keep in mind that in the individual hollers, and in most of these small mountain towns, we only got one road. You go up holler one way, and you don't come out the other side of it; you leave the way you came because it's the only path to take.

We are not built for this. We were not ready for this. We could not have prepared for this. And even if by some miracle we all received some premonition about this disaster, telling us to "just move" is NEVER the answer to vulnerable people living in volatile environments, especially ones as impoverished as Appalachia. Fuck you.

#2 "Appalachians are lazy and just want handouts, anyway."

First off--which one is it? Are we poor, pitiful fodder for concern trolls who deserve more than we're getting, or are we lazy, needy, greedy people who deserve to rot? Can't have both.

Second off--we been hearing that about us since the dawn of time. Wasn't true then, ain't true now.

Appalachia has been verifiably exploited as long as there have been people to exploit, but that is a topic long since discussed here.

We don't WANT anything. We NEED it. Alongside the aid coming in through donations, official search and rescue and organized volunteer services, much of the boots on the ground are Appalachians themselves!! We take care of our own, and it's always been that way.

They got people on foot hiking up into the hollers to bring supplies to cut-off communities. They got pack mules passing otherwise impassable roads where no car nor other vehicle can tread to get lifesaving necessities to the hollers. Look around, and you'll find countless stories. Just in my personal circle alone, I got a sister bringing supplies up by foot, and her hiking group is moving through so much toxic mud that the soles of their fucking boots are melting. I got a brother in law taking chainsaws to downed trees to clear the path for supply deliveries. I got another sister meeting friends of mine at the state line to collect donations and distribute them by hand to counties all over WNC. We can do this, but we can't do it alone.

#3 "It's a conspiracy/It's not that widespread outside of Asheville because we don't see pictures of anywhere else."

It's happening. It's fucking happening.

You don't see pictures because many of us don't have reliable cell service right now, let alone wifi. Hell, even in perfect weather there's a joke that you better have a friend with a cell phone from each provider when you go out because only one of you is getting service at any given time in any given place. There is no way to document this from the inside for many folks at this point in time, and there is NO WAY IN from the outside.

As I mentioned--you got one road leading up the holler. That road is now gone. No one is making it up the mountain to take pictures of these horrific scenes, y'all. If they're going up the mountain its to care for their neighbors, to bring supplies to individuals and entire communities so isolated by the devastation that the only way they can be reached is on foot (or hoof!).

Which also brings me to my next counterargument: "Nothing is being done to help."

#4 "Volunteers are being turned away/Donations are being confiscated."

Volunteers are being DISCOURAGED from coming in out of state, but they're not being told to leave with a malicious intent. And they are not even being forcibly denied. They can still come, but it's really not a good idea. As I mentioned, these roads wasn't meant to take this kind of damage. They are falling apart, and all this extra traffic coming in on these streets barely hanging on is making them worse and making it harder for organized relief and rescue operations to actually get in there. People are getting stuck and taking away time and resources that could be going to survivors. Outsiders with good intentions are eating up the scarce gas and using up even scarcer water. Some of these places, like Black Mountain, physically do not have enough hands to manage and distribute the amount of donations being brought in in, so they're getting rerouted. Donations are not fucking being confiscated.

#5 "They aren't letting people be rescued/They're closing the airspace off."

The airspace is OPEN, with some temporary restrictions in place by the FAA for civilians and volunteers. Civilians can still access airspace in coordination with officials and emergency responders. What they ain't allowing is people just flying in willy nilly. What they ain't letting in is unauthorized air traffic that is clogging up airspace which otherwise needs to be used by official aircraft to bring in donations/S&R groups. Airspace is still accessible in the area, but it's not safe to just have everyone with a big heart trying to search and rescue, especially with no training, organization or proper skills. What they ain't letting happen is people trying to take trucks up obliterated roads that can't be traveled, no matter how confident you are in your vehicle. Christ, y'all. The point isn't to add more bodies to the count!

#6 "National Guardsmen are being told not to go."

The National Guard HAS been deployed.

And in numbers, too. What you're hearing is rumor of people asking to be deployed and being told no, because that's not how it works. That's not how any of this works. People can't just rush in unorganized. There is a system. There has always been a system.

#7 "But I saw TikToks of people coming to help and locals shouting them out of town!"

Oh, honey. No, what you saw was people doing what they LOVE to do in Appalachia: take poverty tours. Record how we live. Post their poverty (and now disaster) porn with thoughts and prayers and oh those poor creatures to get likes. That's been happening to us since before TikTok. Before the internet.

During FDR's administration, photographers from the Farm Security Administration went down to collect poverty porn and turn it into Hollow Folk, a collection of photographs which was then used by eugenicists and corporations alike to dehumanize us further so we could be exploited and relocated with the favor of the nation behind them.

We're done with it. We been done with it. And now, in this time of crisis where people are DEAD, you're clogging up our roads, taking up our gas, AND shoving cameras in our face. Y'all ain't from here and now more than ever y'all kinds need to get the FUCK out.

✨ FEMA ✨

FEMA deserves its own section, because holy shit. I'm mad that I'm about to defend the man in any capacity but it needs to be done. So, I'm gonna preface this by saying, largely, fuck FEMA. There are many valid complaints against FEMA and their inefficiency, but right now is not the time to use them as a tool of misinformation against Appalachia. We got enough problems without pouring the salt of government conspiracies into these raw, gaping wounds that barely even have bandaids applied to them right now.

SO. Let's get into it.

#8 "This is all planned and by design/Don't evacuate, because FEMA is just gonna take your land and mineral rights!"

If they wanted the fucking lithium or anything else for that matter, they would just enact Eminent Domain. They don't need elaborate schemes and """weather control""" to take it. They can just literally... do it. Did we all fail civics in middle school?

(And this is purely anecdotal so I have no proof of this, but a friend of mine told me a few days ago people were actually being told NOT to evacuate in Lake Lure because they didn't anticipate the flooding to be this bad.)

What y'all SHOULD be worried about are these companies and their "disaster investors" who swoop in like fucking vultures and try to get people to sell their land before FEMA has a chance to assist them. These companies prey on the vulnerable, offering them quick cash for their land and for far less than they'd get if they held out for FEMA's relief instead.

#9. "But... but FEMA is only giving out a piddly $750 in relief!"

Yes, they are giving out $750. INITIALLY. This $750 is initial relief money for immediate needs. Medicine, food, supplies. It is NOT all that's being allocated to folks. From FEMA's website:

This is a type of assistance that you may be approved for soon after you apply, called Serious Needs Assistance. It is an upfront, flexible payment to help cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies. There are other forms of assistance that you may qualify for to receive and Serious Needs Assistance is an initial payment you may receive while FEMA assesses your eligibility for additional funds. As your application continues to be reviewed, you may still receive additional forms of assistance for other needs such as support for temporary housing, personal property and home repair costs.

A service being offered in the meantime, for example, is for temporary housing and you can still currently apply for it!

Long-term disaster relief funds are not being released immediately. That does not mean they do not exist.

Here is what FEMA has already allocated for North Carolina alone.

Please note I said "allocated" but not "paid out." Which brings me to my next point.

#10 "FEMA is giving their relief money to undocumented immigrants!"

This is false, and you can verify this for yourself. Cash payouts to undocumented immigrants isn't even a thing, dude. They haven't even paid out to citizens in their entirety yet. From the FEMA page "Questions and Answers for Undocumented Immigrants Regarding FEMA Assistance:"

This is in regards to STATE, LOCAL AND VOLUNTEER AGENCIES. Not through FEMA or any other federal programs. This is probably what people are hearing about, and not even bothering to look into it before running off to tell lies.

And in this, as you can see--undocumented immigrants who CAN receive assistance are not receiving cash. They are not just getting money handed over to them to spend on whatever your racist, xenophobic uncle thinks they are. FEMA is required by law to report on the use of their funds each month by the 5th day. Historically, it looks like it takes about a week for them to be posted. Keep an eye on this page to see for yourself in coming days that FEMA is not giving out money from their funds to immigrants.

#11 "But FEMA has appointees from Biden!!! How can we trust that this is the truth?!"

Please use critical thinking skills. Please, we beg. Yes, there are appointed FEMA officials from this administration, but there are also appointed officials from Trump's time in office. What sense does it make that during Trump's administration, FEMA employees were Good And Pure, and suddenly, just because they are active under Biden's administration, they are suddenly Evil And Corrupt? This is clear bias and has no solid footing.

Besides, the President doesn't even have any sway over FEMA funding like this. That is ALL congress.

H.R. 9747 "Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025," which provides relief funding (among other things) for the 2025 fiscal year, was ACTIVELY VOTED AGAINST by Republicans, including Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene--two people spreading the bullshit the loudest. UGH. Okay. In exasperated conclusion: Please, please, PLEASE leave Appalachia alone and let us get back on our feet without having to constantly dodge dumbass conspiracy theories. We are heartbroken and grieving and would really appreciate a brief reprieve from being the nation's fucking punching bag. Help us, don't hurt us.

[goingsunnythousandmerry]

Reunion Post-Time Skip- Will the Romance Re-Dawn?

Monster Trio (Sanji, Zoro, Luffy) + Bonus- Law x Reader

Author's Note: So I've been listening to “Guilt as Sin?” by T. Swift on repeat and came up with this idea, based around this one lyric:

“What if he’s written “mine” on my upper thigh only in my mind?

The oneshots are not actually what’s in the song, but just an idea from. Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, or other One Piece oneshot ideas I can help bring to life. Comment down below! Thanks!

P.S. Let me know if you want me to actually write out oneshots for the pre-time skip moments instead of just summaries or if we want some NSFW from this scenarios.

Features: Monster Trio- Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and bonus- Law

Summary:

You, a member of the Strawhat crew, had a romantic moment with one of your crewmates while at Sabaody. This was prior to Luffy punching a celestial dragon, the navy invading, Kuma blasting everybody to all parts of the globe, and the two year training time skip. Now, two years later, you’ve reunited with the Strawhats to continue your journey into the New World.

You’ve spent two years replaying the romantic moment you had with your crewmate. None of the other crew members know about it. You’ve daydreamed about what could have been and what could be when you reunite with them. However, you can’t help but think, two years is a long time, and maybe it was nothing, or maybe their feelings have changed. Maybe they will pretend nothing happened when you see them again.

Bonus with Law: You and Law had a moment on the polar tang before he left for Punk Hazard and sent you and the rest of the Heart Pirates to Zou. You have just learned Law has made it to Zou after the events of Dressrosa. You wonder if your captain will pretend nothing happened before he left, or if you will get to resume where you left off.

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, Hints at NSFW, Hints at sexual interactions in past or in future, Accidental ass/panty flash, lap sitting, nosebleeds, pet names

FLUFF, SFW

General Moment Monster Trio:

You and the crew have just left Thriller Bark and are on your way to Fishman Island. Along the way you meet Cami, a mermaid and are reunited with a former enemy Hatchan. After saving these two and being fed by them to fortify your friendship, they instruct you to head to Sabaody Archipelago. Once there, you set out to find Rayleigh, a friend of Hatchan, who will hopefully coat your ship, allowing you passage to Fishman Island and, thus, the New World. Prior to the major events of this arc, you share a kiss or more with one of your favorite members of the monster trio.

Sanji:

Pre-time Skip Moment Summary:

You were helping Sanji prepare a meal in the kitchen. The rest of the crew were repairing the ship or searching for Rayleigh. While reaching for something that was too high on a shelf for you to grab, Sanji grabbed your waist and assisted you in retrieving it. The intimacy of the close proximity led to the two of you kissing. Unfortunately, you were interrupted by a transponder snail call. The call was from Chopper, Brook and Luffy informing you that Cami was kidnapped.

Post-time Skip Reunion:

Sanji arrived at the Sunny to drop off his gear before setting off to the market. Already on board the ship were you, Usop, Franky, and Chopper. You chose to wear a light blue sundress that was low cut in the front and hit just below your ass. The dress cinched just above your waist and accentuated your breasts. This outfit was ideal for showing off how your curves had grown and changed in the two years you had spent away from the crew. It also showed off how strong you had gotten. Sanji had been yelling back and forth discussing something with Franky as he began to walk aboard the ship. Not noticing the voice, but coming to assist Franky, you had exited the kitchen and dropped something you were carrying. As you leaned down to pick it up Sanji stepped aboard the Sunny. Thinking no one was there as you were distracted by the joy of being reunited with your crewmates, you bent down sloppily allowing your dress to rise up. Sanji’s eyes widened as he was awarded the visual of more of your ass than he ever had before and your pink underwear. Sanji’s eyes turned to hearts, his tongue fell out of his mouth, and blood shot out of his nose like a geyser.

“Y/N-Swan!!!” You heard Sanji call as you shot your head around to look at him.

You quickly grabbed the item you had dropped and stood up, readjusting the bottom of your dress as you did. Your face grew a faint pink hue at your cheeks as you stared at the curly eyebrowed man. He took in the full sight of you, cleavage and all, and the blood from his nose jetted out faster, causing him to faint. You and Chopper rushed to his side and tried to rouse him. Franky and Usop stood behind you and looked down at the fainted Sanji, attempting to cover their mouths to hide their laughter. Sanji’s eyes opened gently and looked up at him.

“I just saw a goddess… I can die happy… Y/N-Swan… is that you..? He asked as he tilted his head to look in your direction. “The goddess! Y/N-Swan it’s you!” He muttered as blood shot harder from his nose and his eyes closed again.

“Sanji!” You yelled.

“Sanji! You have to get yourself together! If you keep bleeding like this you’re going to be in big trouble fast!” Chopper begged.

Sanji took a deep breath and blinked his eyes open again. He slowly cocked his head to look at his crewmates individually. He first looked at Chopper, then Franky, Usop, then back at you. You smiled at him causing his breath to catch in his throat. He gritted his teeth and his eyes grew wide as he looked at you. The color slowly faded from his skin and a small drop of blood dribbled from his nose.

“Sanji!” Chopper yelled. “You have to keep it together!”

Sanji finally regained his ability to breathe and took a deep breath. As he did, he raised a hand to caress your cheek.

“Y/N-Swan… my beautiful Y/N-swan… I didn’t think you could get more beautiful, but here you are. I’m sorry for my behavior…” He began to speak as his hand fell from your cheek.

Sanji looked up at the sky above him, then turned and glanced back at you. You grabbed his hand in yours.

“Are you okay, Sanji?” You asked, eyes glistening with worry.

Sanji closed his eyes and returned his gaze to the sky above him.

“I was in Hell for 2 years… All… All that got me through was the thought of you… the thought of you and our kiss. You’re what got me back here today, Y/N, you’re what got me out of hell.” Sanji said, as he moved to sit up on his elbows and look deeper into your eyes.

Your eyes watered as you stared into his gray-blue orbs and pale face. Chopper wiped away the blood from his face as the two of you continued to look at one another.

“Hold on, wait a minute, did you say "kiss”?” Franky interrupted.

“Sanji… I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that day. I… was worried you’d want to pretend like it never happened..” You said as you broke eye contact with him.

“So you two kissed? When!? Where were we?” Usop urged.

“Never, Y/N.” Sanji replied, lifting your chin and pulling you into a soft kiss.

“AHHH! What is happening?!” Chopper eyes popped out of his head as he screamed.

Sanji pulled you into his chest and the two of you continued to kiss. Chopper slowly backed up into Franky and Usop’s legs. Chopper and Usop sighed and shook their heads.

“It’s okay little buddy. It’s a super thing, guess these two have been lovebirds the whole time and we didn’t know. Come on. Let’s leave them to it.” Franky said as he picked up Chopper and walked away from you and Sanji kissing.

Usop shrugged his shoulders and followed behind Franky. Once they left, you pulled away from Sanji and whispered in his ear.

“I’ve been thinking about a lot more than just kissing over the past two years… Nami is in town and Robin isn’t back yet… should we take this to my room?”

“Shopping can wait!” Sanji said shakily as blood shot out of his nose again.

You stood up and pulled him to his feet. Once on his feet, you grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind you to your bedroom. His eyes were full of hearts as you dragged him away.

Zoro

Pre-time Skip Moment:

You and the crew were on your way to Sabaody Archipelago after Thriller Bark. At Thriller Bark Zoro got badly injured, due to a run in with Kuma. Chopper had asked if you would help keep an eye on Zoro because he loved to take off his dressings to train. One afternoon on your way to Sabaody Chopper and you hadn’t seen Zoro in awhile and well, that made you both nervous. You went on a hunt for the swordsman and you found him training away in the crows nest. The two of you got into a heated argument and well… one thing led to another and the two of you fucked.

Post-time Skip:

Zoro was the first to arrive at Shakky’s bar. He waited for hours for anyone else to arrive, but eventually, he grew bored of waiting, so he decided to head to the Sunny. As he opened the door, you were reaching for the doorknob to the establishment. You looked up and smiled at him as the door opened. You were wearing a dark green spaghetti strap dress. The dress was cut to highlight your curves and muscles that had grown and changed over the past two years. Zoro gasped as he saw you.

“Hey Zoro! Been awhile, good to see you!” You said as you stepped back to let the swordsman outside of the bar.

“Y/N.” He said plainly, barely making eye contact with you.

As he began to step out of the doorway, you lept at him, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. His body tensed as yours hit his, his eyes widened, and his teeth clenched. He inhaled deeply taking in your scent, as he exhaled, he wrapped his arms around your waist. A few moments go by as you both rest in one another's arms.

“I missed you.” You mutter. “I missed everyone. Is anyone else here yet?” You added as you pulled away from him and dropped your hands to rest upon his muscular chest.

You lift your head to gaze into his dark eye and gaze upon the scar closing his other. He loosened his grip on your waist and looked down at you, his teeth clenched harder at the intimacy of the moment.

“Damn forward as ever woman.” He said with a smirk as he directed his gaze to your arms on his chest, causing you to chuckle.

“How have you been Zoro? What did you do for these last two years?! What happened to your eye? Where are you going?” You ask as you reach a hand up to touch his cheek.

“Wow. Slow down, woman. It’s just you and me here so far to answer your first question and well, the rest is a long story.” Zoro interjected.

As he spoke you lifted your hand to touch his left cheek, below his eye, where part of his scar rested. As you did so, the door to the restaurant opened and out stepped Rayleigh. Rayleigh’s face formed a large grin when he saw Zoro holding your waist and you reaching for his cheek.

“Well what do we have here..? Rayleigh asked with a laugh.

Zoro jumped back from you and crossed his arms over his chest. His gaze averted to the ground below him, allowing him to not make eye contact with you or Rayleigh. You blushed and turned to Rayleigh with a soft smile.

“Well, you didn’t have to stop on my account… Y/N, you’re looking as lovely as ever. It’s wonderful to see you again.” Rayleigh said.

“Thanks, Rayleigh. It’s nice to see you too! How have you and Shakky been?” You questioned, with a deepening blush.

“We’ve been good. I just came out to make sure Zoro was finding his way to the Sunny. I remembered he had some issues with directions and thought it might be best if I took him myself. You should come with us, Y/N, I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to the past two years.”

“That’d be great!” you say with a nod.

“I would’ve found the way on my own. I got here on my own.” Zoro mumbled to himself.

You, Rayleigh, and Zoro made your way to the Sunny together. Rayleigh shared tales of training Luffy and you talked about what you were up to. Zoro stayed silent for the most part on your journey, but peered at you through stolen side glances along the way. He was not subtle, so you of course caught them. He occasionally smirked at what you and Rayleigh said, but not much in terms of information sharing on his adventures for the past two years.

Back at the Sunny you ran into a few more members of your crew. Franky was inspecting the ship and Nami was stopping by to drop off her things before going to meet Usop. You greeted them both with hugs and began to catch up a bit. Rayleigh took his leave of you all to go make sure other members of your crew weren’t waiting back at the bar. While you caught up with your other crewmates on deck, Zoro had found a place to nap nearby. While you conversed, you occasionally felt a gaze upon your back.

While Nami informed you about new weather phenomena and navigation techniques she had learned, you glanced over at Zoro and briefly made eye contact with him. You shyly grinned in his direction, he shook his head, smirked, then closed his eye again to return to his nap.Nami of course, noticed all of this and rolled her eyes at you.

“Y/N?” Nami angrily urged.

“Oh sorry Nami, I was just thinking about a funny part of my journey getting here. How’d you get back?”

“Sure you were.” She replied. “Well I better go meet Usop. You can tell me all about your trip when I get back.” She said with a wink.

You waved goodbye to her and she headed off the ship, toward the island. When you looked back in Zoro’s direction he was gone. You talk with Franky for a few more minutes, then finally excuse yourself to go unpack. You couldn’t wait to get settled and reunite with the rest of the crew. In the midst of unpacking you suddenly felt a presence behind you. You turned around and sure enough Zoro was standing in your doorway. His arms were crossed and his gaze directed at his arms in front of him.

“Hey.” You said as you refold a shirt and set it on your bed.

“Two years is a pretty long time…” Zoro began.

“Yeah, it is… but being back on the Sunny… it feels like we left only yesterday.”

“I couldn’t agree more, and well I seem to remember us doing an interesting workout before we left….”

Your breath caught in your throat. Zoro’s blank expression formed a cocky smirk as he noticed your body tense up. He stood tall from leaning against the doorway and pulled the door shut behind him. He walked toward you as you turned to face him head on.

“Zoro, I…” You start.

Zoro walked past you and sat down on your bed, still not looking at you. He leaned back on his hands.

“Two years, and I haven’t been able to do a workout as well as that one… Think maybe we could try it again?” He said as he glanced at you, with his one eye to see your reaction.

“Two years is a long time to go without a proper workout… Guess we have a lot to make up for.” You said as you moved to stand in front of him, your lips twisted devilishly as you stared down at him.

He reached up with one hand and grabbed you by the waist. You gasped as he pulled you to sit upon his toned lap. His chapped lips pressed against yours. Fingers danced up and down your torso. Your hands wrapped around his neck and started fingering through his hair. He pulled back from your lips a string of saliva between you. You both chuckled as you stared at one another. He was more muscular than he was two years ago and maybe a bit rougher around the edges. You weren’t sure what he had been through these past two years, but in that moment you realized he was still the same Zoro from two years ago.

“Let’s see what two years of training has done for you…” You begin with a smirk.

Luffy

Pre-time skip Moment:

Luffy had ridden the ferris wheel alone with Cami, your fear of heights prevented you from joining them. After his ride with Cami, Luffy insisted on taking you. Luffy asked Chopper, Pappagu, Hatchan, and Brook if it was okay, and if they would look out for Cami while he was gone, they agreed. You rode the ride alone with him only to freak out at the ride's peak height. Luffy had no idea what to do, so he kissed you. He quickly pulled away apologizing to a stunned you. Once you had realized what had happened, you pressed your lips back against his. The two of you shared a passionate makeout session, but were interrupted by the sound of Chopper yelling about a yummy snack as the ride got close to the ground. Luffy rushed to the window to see what the ruckus was and he got too excited about food, to talk with you about what just happened. When the ride docked, he grabbed your hand and pulled you off the ride towards the food. Then while you and your crewmates were distracted by food, Cami got kidnapped and well the rest of the events of the arc occurred.

Post-Time Skip:

Luffy was the last to arrive at the Sunny, and he was being chased by the navy when he arrived. You watched him from the deck as he ran towards the ship. You couldn’t help but grin at seeing your reckless captain getting himself into trouble again. You stared on in awe as he, Zoro, and Sanji approached the ship. Your thoughts were interrupted by Nami yelling for assistance to prepare for departure. You and the rest of the crew quickly sprung into action to help prepare the Sunny for your ocean descent to Fishman Island.

Zoro and Sanji made it to the Sunny and you greeted them both with quick hugs. Luffy made it on board, but before you got the chance to hug him, cannon fire began to target Sunny. You and some of your crewmates started to panic. Zoro and Sanj prepared to begin deflecting the cannon fire. You looked out at the encroaching ships and noticed another one nearby that was not one of the marines. One of your crewmates mentioned it, because it moved into the path between your ship and the marines, causing the marines' cannon fire to stop. That’s when Luffy informed you all he had spent the past two years on or near the Island of Women with the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.

Usop and Sanji took turns trying to see the pirate empress with their binoculars and swooning at the idea of being stranded with her. This information and watching your other crewmates melt at the idea of Luffy’s adventure made your heart ache with jealousy. Yes, you’d been apart from Luffy and knew you hadn’t talked about your kiss, but it had meant something to you. Two years hadn’t changed your feelings, frankly seeing Luffy only rekindled them. Maybe though, two years and losing Ace had changed things for him. More gun and cannon fire awoke you from your thoughts and you helped the crew protect the Sunny. Thankfully Luffy’s friend, Boa Hancock, helped you all escape.

As you descend into the depths of the ocean, you and the crew caught up a bit. You learned more about Luffy’s adventures. You wandered towards the Sunny's figurehead. The rest of the crew chatted on the main deck or went to finish unpacking their things for the next leg of the journey. You stared into the abyss that was the ocean in front of you and thought of your dreams, and of Luffy. Your thoughts were shortly interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Y/N.” Luffy said with a large grin.

You felt his stretched arms wrap around you and pull you across the top deck into his embrace. You softly laughed at the familiarity as you turned to look into his eyes, his arms returning to normal at your waist. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight embrace. After a few seconds, you dropped your hands to his chest, gazing upon his new scar before returning your gaze to his onyx orbs.

“Luffy… Luffy I’m so sorry about Ace. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.” You sais as your eyes started to glisten with tears.

Luffy pulled you back into his chest. Your smile widened at his action causing you to let out a chuckle, as a few tears dripped down your face.

“You shouldn’t be comforting me! I should be comforting you.” You added, pulling back from the hug again. “I know how important he was to you.”

“Thanks, Y/N. The past two years haven’t been easy.” Luffy said, as he still held onto your waist, but directed his gaze into the ocean. “I’m sorry I selfishly took them. A friend of mine reminded me, I still had a reason to pursue my dream… this crew… So I took two years to get stronger to make sure that could never happen again… because, Y/N… Y/N if I lost you…” Luffy looked down at his hands and he gripped your waist tighter. “My dream couldn’t come true, because my dream isn’t my dream without you by my side.” He said as he looked back up to meet your stare.

“I’m not going anywhere.” You replied as a soft smile grew upon your pink lips.

“Good. Then I’ve been waiting two years to do something.” He said, a devious smile forming across his face.

Luffy pulled your waist against his with one hand and placed the other on your cheek. He gently pulled your lips to his. His lips were warm and soft against yours. Once the initial shock wore off, you kissed him back, settling your arms around his neck to pull him deeper into you. Your lips parted slowly allowing his tongue to slip inside. Your impassioned kiss on the top deck of the ship lasted a few minutes only to be interrupted by Nami.

“Hey lovebirds! There’s something following us!” Nami yelled.

You looked past Luffy’s shoulder and noticed a ship quickly approaching the Sunny. Luffy stretched his neck to look behind him, a big toothy grin forming on his face as he looked out. He laughed.

“I can handle anything the New World throws at us, as long as you and the rest of this crew stay by my side. It’s good to be back.” Luffy said as he grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the rear deck.

Law

Moment before Dressrosa:

Law had just announced to you, and the rest of the Heart pirates, that he wanted you to take the Polar Tang to Zou, while he dealt with an important mission elsewhere. He left out a lot of details, but he informed you that the next day you’d be dropping him off at Punk Hazard then continue on to Zou without him. The entire crew gasped at the announcement and grew upset. Law in classic Law fashion, reminded them it was an order and as members of his crew they had to do as he instructed. The crew agreed, but reminded him they weren't happy about it. You, being especially close with your captain, as the only nurse on his crew, went to his quarters that night to demand more of an explanation. However, many of your crewmates, mainly Bepo, had the same idea. You didn’t get a chance to confront Law until the next day. You caught Law in his quarters and he allowed you to come in to talk to him. The two of you got into a heated argument about his plans, which ended with a passionate kiss initiated by him. Unfortunately, your kiss was interrupted by the Bepo knocking on the door to inform Law you’d arrived at Punk Hazard. Law stepped away from you, apologized, and exited the ship. You chased after him yelling, but you were ignored and Law exited the ship. Once on the deck, he used his room ability to teleport himself to the island. You, Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo all cried as you watched Law walk off.

Reunited at Zou:

You had gotten word via News Coo of the events at Dressrosa and were proud of your captain for his actions. He was alive and that was the most important thing. However, it had been months since he had left you and the rest of the Heart Pirates to go off on his own. You were still missing a lot of information on why he left. He didn’t explain why he had to go, where he had to go, or why he had kissed you before he left. Had he only explained that kiss, maybe you wouldn’t have been so mad. When news reached you from the Minks of the arrival of some intruders and to be on guard, you knew it was him. Your heart warmed at the thought of being reunited with your captain. Butterflies danced in your stomach and your thoughts soared into hopes of getting an explanation for that kiss. You finished tying the string around your neck of the tightfitting yellow dress one of the minks had given to you and walked outside at the sound of cheers.

Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin found him first, no surprise. You allowed the rest of the crew to swarm him when he made it to the Guardians layer. You watched from afar as your crewmates hugged Law, his body tensing with every touch. You smiled and giggled as they began asking him a million questions about the Strawhats and Dressrosa.

“That’s enough. Meet me inside and I’ll answer all of your questions. I’ll put my stuff down then meet you in the main room.” He said shortly as he tossed his sword back over his shoulder.

“So glad to have you back, Captain!” Bepo called as he headed into the Guardian’s layer.

“Yeah, Captain. Can’t wait to tell you about what we’ve been up to.” Penguin said.

“Glad you’re okay, Captain.” Shachi added.

You walked inside with Jean Bart, both of you guessing at what could be the next adventure for you and your crew. The crew had planned a surprise celebration for Law’s return once you’d received news about the events at Dressrosa. The early warning of intruders on Zou, that the minks had received that morning provided you and the crew ample time to cook and decorate. You had been the mastermind of course, and you knew Law would pretend to hate it, but he’d actually appreciate it. Besides, it had been so long since you had seen him, you had started to wonder if he would come back at all. Planning this event gave you and your crewmates a glimmer of hope. Before you could go check on the final details, you noticed a blue circle form around you. Suddenly, you were in a hallway standing in front of Law.

“C-C-Captain.” You stuttered, surprised to suddenly be looking in the face of the man who crossed your mind every second of every day for the past year, since you had joined his crew.

“I didn’t see you when I first arrived.” He said flatly as he stared at you blankly.

“Yeah, well, I hung back, I thought I could catch you later. Everyone was so excited to have you back. I….” You replied, rubbing the back of your head as the butterflies in your stomach frenzied.

“You weren’t?”

He glanced down at the space between you and placed his hand in his pocket. You took a step closer to him.

“Law… I” You started, tears beginning to form in your eyes. “I just needed a minute to know that it was real… That you were real.”

He looked up at you, breath catching in his chest as he saw the tears forming in your eyes. You took a deep breath.

“I’m so happy to see you, but I’m pissed at you.” You said as you shoved his shoulder. “How could you leave like that? We saw the alliance in the papers and… I.”

“I said I’d come back.” He replied, his eyes darting to meet yours, then to study the ground before him.

You sighed and turned your head. He looked exhausted. Taking down Doflamingo couldn’t have been easy, you had just wished he had let you be there to help.

“I haven’t been on this crew long, Captain… but Law, I like to think I know you a little bit… and you didn’t mean it.” You voiced with furrowed brows.

You stared at him longingly, heart sinking as the silence grew around you in the empty hallway. You wiped a tear from your cheek and swallowed hard, stepping away from him.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Captain.” You said with a sigh. Now, the crew has planned a celebration for your return, try to be nice”. You replied as you wiped your cheeks and began to walk away from him.

A hand caught your wrist causing you to gasp. The hand whirled you around and moved to your chin, where suddenly, soft chapped lips were against yours. Your chest tightened and heart soared as his other hand moved to rest upon your waist. You blinked your eyes a few times, letting them soften closed as you tilted your head into his kiss. The rise and fall of your chest accelerated as you parted your lips open and began pressing back against his. Your hands wrapped around his neck and pulled him deeper into your embrace. A few minutes passed before the two of you broke apart gasping for air. A string of saliva still connected your lips.

He dropped his hands to your waist and watched the rise and fall of your chest. You stared at his lips, desperately wanting them back against yours, but you knew you had to return to your crew. Law’s teeth clenched and he tightened his grip on your waist.

“I just needed you safe. It was my mission. I was willing to die for it, but I wasn’t willing to take you down with me.” He spoke between pants.

“Captain, don’t I get to decide who and what I live or die for?” You responded as you rested your forehead against Law’s.

“I thought… I told you to call me Law in private.” He said with a smirk.

“Don’t think that…one kiss gets you off the hook. You better behave yourself at this celebration and tell us everything.” You raised your eyebrows at him sternly as you spoke.

“I thought I was the one who gave the orders around here.” He replied as his hands began roaming your waist and torso.

“You’ve been gone a long time and someone had to take charge. Maybe I don’t want to give it up?” You replied with a laugh. “Well behave and after the celebration, I’ll let you order me around back in your quarters. You are the only person I take orders from.”

You deviously smirked at Law and walked down the hallway.

“Y/N, nice dress by the way. Suits you… But I think it will look better on my floor.”

“As you wish, Captain.” You replied, turning around to salute him as you did.

[feyreswaterybowels]

⭒The Silent One⭒

#1 Azriel x Fem!OC

⭒Part 1⭒Part 2⭒Part 3⭒Part 4⭒

Word Count: 4k

Summary: Velaris was home to many pleasure houses but when the high lord learns the owners of these houses aren’t abiding bu long reigning laws he and his inner circle steps in—in the process taking in an Illyrian female that had been abused and tormented.

Warnings/Tags: mute character. slow burn romance. trauma. sexual abuse. found family. building romance/trust after trauma. violence. strong female character. protective!azriel. protective!IC.

Authors Note: All likes, re blogs and comments are welcome, appreciated and highly encouraged! Let me know if you’d like to be added to the tag list for the next part! Bold italics are mental communication, regular italics are inner thoughts.

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The smell of smoke was thick in the air. The floor was wet, the air moist and chilled. The building Azriel and Cassian just entered was one of the many pleasure houses in Velaris. This was no ordinary visit for pleasure. No. They were on a mission per their High Lord’s command.

The Velvet Pearl was a pleasure house where those who entered could pay for sexual services. Men and women alike were welcome and the Pearl was known to have anything a person was looking for—whether that be a specific species, body type, hair color, skin color or a specific act. It could all be found here. The Mistresses made it their job to comb through the streets looking for those who would enjoy the work.

That’s what led their mission here tonight. Pleasure houses are no secret in Velaris. They are out in the open. There can be one found for many vices. Gambling, dancing, drinking and of course sex. There aren’t many rules for these houses by the High Lords command, but a big one had been broken recently.

Consent.

The law of consent in these pleasure houses is major, one of the most important to the High Lord, Rhysand, and the ones before him. One cannot force another to drink. One cannot force another to gamble. Once cannot force another into sexual acts. Any person visiting or working at these establishments must be there of their own free will.

With the pleasure houses specifically this rule had been broken when one of Azriel’s spies fled into Rhysand office, informing him of many pleasure houses buying fae citizens off of families who needed money. The high lord was shocked, they hadn’t had any issues like this in centuries. He immediately summoned his inner circle looking to them for advice.

That’s how Azriel and Cassian ended up here now. They, and a few other soldiers, were to patrol the pleasure houses for the next few night. Look and listen for any signs that confirm the information given to them.

The Velvet Pearl was a very niche business. A large luxurious building, mirrors lined the outside walls reflecting the beauty of Velaris on the outside. The inside however was lined and decorated in blacks, red, green and golds. The lights were low and colorful. A huge bar with various types of wines, liquors, spirits and beers. They always had heavy music playing. Poles and stages for the workers to dance on. On the upper most floors were doors lining the walls. Private rooms that could be paid for and used for the services.

However, the luxury ended when one entered the Dungeon as they called it. A fitting name for the place they had just entered. The place where one picked their partner for the night. Caged cells lined the room and sat atop one another zig-zagging around the room like a maze. Males and females, mostly lesser fae but some high fae as well, a few different species. All naked. All pressed against the bars of their enclosures. Heavy lidded eyes trained on the two massive Illyrian warriors before them. Reaching out to touch, but not actually touching, they all knew better than to touch anyone who doesn’t explicitly ask for it. Some of them, however, touched one another through the bars, enticing a buyer to take them both for the night.

“I’m really good at wing play, I’ll make you cum in less than a minute,” A pretty fae, purred. Lesser fae Azriel noted, long dark hair curled around her perky breasts, skin a dark blue with eyes to match. She was definitely attractive.

“Sorry, I prefer it to last a little longer than that,” Cassian winked at her, getting a giggle in return. Azriel rolled his eyes but a barely there grin that only his brother would notice played on his lips.

They continued on. Looking at every fae in the room. Analyzing them, reading their body language making sure they truly wanted to be here. These fae, as they should, all seem to love their job. That’s how it should be. It’s when they got to the end of the line, nearly out of the room that things took a turn.

A cell that was previously empty was now occupied by a female and a mistress—mistresses only accompanied new workers. A snap echoed through the space and the two warriors shared a look before walking over. Both hiding their shock at the sight in front of them.

There pressed against the back of the cage was a female, not just any female though. Her eyes were wide as she watched them approach. Eyes scanning their wings, siphons and weapons. Pushing herself into the corner and trying to cover her nakedness with her hands. Another snap echoed, her hands dropping to the side as she cried out when the mistress struck her thigh again.

“No need for that,” Azriel growled. His shadows raced around him, curling around his ear to whisper to him.

Glamor. The female is glamored. They hiss.

He gave Cassian a side eye before locking eyes with the mistress.

“Remove her glamor,” Azriel ordered. The mistress blanched, eyes wide in shock.

“I don’t know what you’re—”

“Do we need to tell Thane you don’t know how to follow orders?” Cassian snarled. She gave a meek head shake.

“As you wish,” She said before waving her hand, the glamor shimmering away leaving both men there shocked at the sight in front of them.

Azriel heard Cassian's intake of breath. Hidden behind that glamor was a pair of Illyrian wings, bound behind her in a way that was obviously very uncomfortable with the way they twitched and shifted in their bindings.

“Remove her binding as well. Do you know what can happen to Illyrian wings if they stay bound like that?” Cassian said, arms crossing over his chest in an attempt to not rip the bars from the cage. The bound female looks between the two men, cautious and weary as the Mistress narrows her eyes.

“She’s unclipped and doesn’t know how to control them. We bound them so she doesn’t hurt herself or someone else,” the Mistress explained, but it wasn’t the right answer to give.

“Unbind her now,” Azriel ordered, his voice a booming echo in the room, it was not a question. The Mistress understood that tone, turning to the female, grabbing her roughly and turning her. She cut the rope and the wings instantly sagged, finding relief outside of the bindings.

“See, she can’t even hold them up,” the Mistress snapped, pushing the female back against the wall.

“She can’t hold them up because the muscles have been weakened due to lack of use caused by binding them,” Cassin snarled right back, satisfaction coiling in him at the way she flinched away. “How the hell did you acquire an Illyrian female without even knowing anything of their basic anatomy?”

The Mistress glared at him again. “She was sold to us unsullied by a third party. Half Illyrian, half high fae. Her father gambled away all of their money, he was in debt and sold his daughter off to pay his debts.”

“The purchasing of females to work in pleasure houses is illegal. You are in direct violation of breaking that law,” Azriel spoke, staring the woman down. “Open the cage. She’s coming with us.”

The cage opens and Cassian gestures for the mistress to exit the space. She looks at the female before reluctantly stepping out. Azriel steps but keeps his distance.

“I’m Azriel. What is your name?” He asked, catching her green eyes that almost seemed to glow in the dim lights.

“Don’t bother. She’s had her tongue removed,” the Mistress answered, mouth snapping shut when Cassian’s head snapped in her direction.

Azriel growls low in his throat, but stops himself when he catches the look on the female's face in front of him. Terrified. She was absolutely terrified.

“It’s okay,” he offered softly, stepping further into the cage “cover yourself.”

She looked at him skeptically. Weary. Cautious. She glances at the stick the mistress leaned against the wall then down at her red streaked, bruised thighs. She was scared he was going to hit her if she covered herself. He silently ordered one of his shadows to remove the stick from the room. Rhysand would definitely be hearing about that.

“No further harm will come to you, please, cover yourself,” Azriel soothed, shifting so she was out of view of the horrible Mistress behind him.

She watched him for a second before she dropped her head down and slowly folded her wings around herself, effectively covering her body.

“Have you ever winnowed before?” Azriel asked, watching her brows furrow. “Don’t be scared. I need to touch you but I’m only going to wrap my arm around you okay?”

The female was hesitant, but took a step forward. Those two men were terrifying, but they never looked away from her face unlike every other male who only stared at her body. Maybe wherever they were going to take her would be better than this place.

Azriel outstretched his hand, watched her eyes track the movement and take in his scars and siphons. Though she still seemed terrified she shifted in a way that he could easily wrap his arm around her back.

“You’re coming with us, too,” Cassian snarls to the Mistress, grabbing her before slapping his hand down onto Azriel’s shoulder.

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One minute they were standing in the pleasure house then the next there was nothing but swirling darkness. She clung to Azriel, somehow finding comfort in the arm wrapped securely around her.

When things came back into view the first thing she noticed were the stars in the sky. It had been so long since she saw the sky. Only she hadn’t been able to focus on it long, realizing they weren’t on a flat surface they were in the air and…falling.

A scream threatened to escape from her lips but that arm tightened around her and they were no longer falling but gliding lower and lower until they swooped through a window. She couldn’t really tell where she was at but as soon as her feet hit the ground she collapsed into herself. She pulled her knees to her chest inside of her winged cacoon, pushing her forehead against them and willing the sickness in her stomach to go away.

She didn’t look up at the sounds of a struggle, trying to ignore the grunting growls of a male who had just been slapped before the high pitched voice demanded, “Let me go! Take your hands off of me, you have no right!”

And she had been too scared to look up when she heard a booming voice that seemed to shake the very ground she was clinging to.

“He had every right,” is what that booming voice said, commanding silence from everyone in the room.

The silence was deafening.

She heard the sound of heels clicking, closer then further away then back in her direction again. She still didn’t look up. Not when she felt those heels next to her, or when the person wearing them wrapped something warm around her.

“My High Lord, please—”

“Take her to a cell,” That voice ordered again, not as loud but just as commanding and for a moment she thought they were talking about her.

She was about to beg. Don’t make me go. Please. Please, don’t take me to another cell!

It was only when she heard the other female, the Mistress, struggling again that she realized he wasn’t talking about her. He wasn’t locking her away…not yet anyway. When the struggling stopped and the shouts could no longer be heard. That’s when she looked up.

Her eyes instantly met dark violet. He looked similar to the other two males…golden tanned skin, dark hair, tall, but no wings. Unless they were hidden like hers had been.

“My name is Rhysand. What’s your name?” The voice asked, soothing almost, easing the tension from her shoulders.

“She can’t speak, Rhy,” the male from earlier, Azriel spoke. “They cut her tongue out.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath beside her and she remembers someone had been beside her. She looks up, taking in the heels, red silk top, blonde hair curled, and a pair of deep brown eyes on a beautiful face.

There is sadness in those eyes, etched in her flawless face and she has to look away. The anger flashing in those violet eyes isn’t much easier to look at.

“If I get you a pen and paper can you write?” He asked, again that voice soothing her in a way she didn’t quite understand. She shook her head.

Her father never taught them to read or write. They had no need for either being locked in that basement…that dark, cold, terrifying basement—

The male, Rhysand as he’d been called, frowns. Looking towards Azriel as if they were having a silent conversation before his eyes fall on her again and he takes a step forward, crouching down so they were eye level.

“I’m a daemati. Do you know what that is?” Rhysand asked. She shook her head again. “It means I can see and enter into people’s minds. Like this—hello, my name is Rhysand.”

Her eyes widen as that voice echoes in her head. What is happening right now? She meets Rhysand’s eyes, mouth falling open slightly. “You can hear me, too?”

“I can,” he responded out loud. “May we have the pleasure of knowing your name, sweetheart?”

She thought for a moment. No one had asked her for her name. They called her a lot of things…but never her name. She swallowed thickly, cleared her throat and nodded slowly.

“Cassandra. My name is Cassandra.” She answered, watching a warm smile come over his face as he stood and took the last few steps, offering his hand to her.

She doesn’t hesitate, placing her hand in his and allows him to gently pull her to her feet. She glances in the direction of Azriel and the pretty blonde just as the other male from before enters the room.

He shares that same look with Rhysand, like they’re communicating silently and now she knows that’s most likely the case. Rhysand dips his head in answer to whatever was said.

“Let me properly introduce you,” He says, gesturing to the three people in the room with them. “This is Azriel, Cassian and Morrigan. Everyone, this is Cassandra.”

Her heart skips in her chest. She hadn’t realized that it could feel so nice just to hear someone say her name. She gives Rhysand a small grateful look, hoping he understood what it means. He just gave her a single nod.

“Cassandra, you are officially under the protection of the night court,” Rhysand said, as she stood there staring at him. She felt something in her mind, like an opening and assumed it must be him waiting to see if she needed to say something.

“High Lord?” Cassandra asked and he nodded though he looked confused.

“Yes, I’m a high lord. Do you know what that is?” he asked. She shook her head, shrugging her shoulders meekly. The four of them share a look and it makes her want to drop back down into her cocoon and hide. “We can do a run down of titles and histories later. I am High Lord of Velaris, I rule this city and all of the people in it. Cassian is the commander of my armies. Azriel is my spy master. And Morrigan is my third in command as well as my cousin.”

Cassandra stands there. Everything coming from his mouth sounded foreign as if he was speaking another language. She nodded her head but it was more than obvious she didn’t really understand.

“Morrigan will escort you to your room—”

“Room? Not cell?” She asked surprised, not meaning to cut him off.

“You are not a prisoner, Cassandra. So, no, you won’t be sleeping in a cell. You will have your own room and you can do as you please,” Rhysand promised. “I have two amazing females, Nuala and Cerridwen that will tend to you. I would also like you to know I’ve placed a special ward on your room. No male will be allowed to enter your room, not even me unless you specifically invite them in. I want you to feel safe here. No one will lay a hand on you again without your permission. Not here. Not anywhere. Not ever again.”

Cassandra isn’t exactly sure what to say or what to do. No one, not even her own family has ever been this kind or considerate of her. She feels the tears in her eyes as she looks at him.

“Thank you.” Is all she can manage.

“There’s no need to thank me,” He shakes his head. Genuine. Sincere. There’s no trick behind his kindness. “Nuala and Cerridwen will take care of you, if you need anything ask them and they’ll get it for you. Once you feel comfortable and settled please come join us for dinner if you’re hungry. Do you need any special foods?”

“No…just soft foods. If there’s meat it just has to be small,” She answered, not wanting to show how special it felt that he asked that question silently.

“Not a problem at all,” Rhysand promised, giving her a small smile before waving Morrigan back over.

“Come, you’ll be right through here,” the beautiful female speaks, her voice smooth and warm. It reminded Cassandra of her mother.

Cassandra gave a small head nod before following Morrigan. The stone floors cold under her bare feet as she pulled the cover tighter around herself. The large, wooden double doors opened seemingly on their own accord. Cassandra looked back, locking eyes with Azriel, that male with the shadows, for a moment before they turned out of the room.

They walked down the hall in what Cassandra could only describe as comfortable silence. It gave her time to take in the beautiful home that seemed to be carved from…stone? Accented by wood and golden lights.

Cassandra slowed when they passed a particularly beautiful painting that caught her eye. The click of Morrigan’s heels slowed as well. The painting was of a large city, glow lights, and a bright river all at the base of a beautiful huge mountain. She scanned the painting. It felt so warm and inviting just like this home and the people in it.

“That’s Velaris,” Morrigan says from behind her. “Have you ever seen the city?”

Cassandra’s eyes stay on the painting and shakes her head. She hears the other female swallow thickly but still can’t tear her eyes from the beautiful painting.

“This is the city, it holds houses and businesses,” Morrigan begins pointing at the painting and tracing around the area she was talking about before moving to the brightest, most colorful part of the painting. “This is what we like to call the Rainbow. It’s where our artists of all kinds live. I like to go there to eat the music, it’s home to the best pastries, too! This here is the Sidra River, it’s sparkling blue in the daytime and winds all the way through Velaris. And this is where we are. We call it the House of Wind.”

Cassandra’s jaw drops a little when Morrigan points to the mountain, to the house carved in it. She looks around then back at the painting. Beautiful.

“One day, when you’re feeling up to it, you and I could have a girls day in the city. Just me and you. And I could show you all of the best shops, we could walk along the Sidra, you’ll love it. But only when you’re ready!” She clarified and Cassandra finally looked at her hearing the excitement in her voice.

“I don’t have many female friends and I can only have so much fun with those males,” She said, a smile stretching her red painted lips.

Cassandra tried to return the smile but she was sure it didn’t look genuine, she liked the idea of being…friends with Morrigan. But she didn’t know what all that entailed. Would Morrigan expect things of her if they became friends? Like those girls at the pleasure house?

“Come let’s get you to your room,” Morrigan cut through her thoughts and Cassandra offered a small nod before following once again.

Two more turns and a flight of stairs got them to where they were going. Two beautiful females stood outside an open door, dark skin with eyes and hair to match.

“Nuala and Cerridwen,” Morrigan motioned to each female, “this is Cassandra. Please, help her get cleaned up, changed and settled in. Cassandra, once you're settled, like Rhys said, please, consider coming to join us for dinner.”

Morrigan offers a smile before turning away. Cassandra’s hand shoots out to grab her wrist, to stop her, only to realize what she’d done and let go immediately, stumbling back a step.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Morrigan soothed, reaching out to steady her. “Would you like me to walk in with you?”

A jerky head nod was the answer she got.

“Alright, come,” She breathed softly, walking in the room first and waiting patiently for Cassandra.

When she entered the room her mouth fell open at how large it was. Situated in the middle of one wall was a huge bed—so huge she was sure she could lay on it, stretch her wigs out as far as they would go and still have room to spare. The covers were white and looked so fluffy. There were glowing lights all around the room. The opposite wall of the bed held a wall of glass less windows. Another wall held a table and chairs and a shelf with books. Then the other side opened into a large bathroom.

“Take a moment for yourself. Your life is about you now, Cassandra. You will never be used for someone else's pleasure or entertainment ever again. This is your room. This is your home now,” Morrigan speaks and Cassandra feels her eyes tear up but then Morrigan's heels are leaving the room and those two dark skinned beauties are leading her to the bathroom.

⋆ ݁⟡ ݁☾ ݁⟡ ݁⋆

As soon as she was out of the room Morrigan broke down. Hot tears slid down her cheeks as she made her way back to the room she left the other three male in. She had just calmed herself when she walked in and saw them standing together.

“Is everything okay, Mor?” Cassian asked, siphons gleaming atop his hands.

“I don’t think she’s ever been outside before, Rhys,” and just like that Morrigan’s eyes were brimming with tears once again. Rhys fixed her with a look urging her to explain, an ache in his own chest. She takes a breath, looking up and wiping the tears from her eyes. “We were passing that big painting of Velaris and she had no clue what she was looking at. She had no idea what her own home looked like. And on top of that she was terrified to even walk in the room alone, I had to walk her in. And—and she looked at the room like she didn’t believe it was real. Especially the bed and I keep thinking that maybe she never even had a bed!”

Cassian is the one to walk over and offer Morrigan the comfort of a hug. “It’s okay. We’re gonna take care of her now. Find all the people who did this, help her through it all and help her find herself. She’s gonna be okay.”

Rhys and Azriel look at one another. “There’s no telling how many other girls like Cassandra there are out there. I’m hoping she will join us for dinner so I’m able to ask her some questions without her feeling cornered. Azriel, Cassian, I want you two to go talk to that mistress, find out what you can without harming her…for now. Her and anyone else involved will be prosecuted accordingly. Go. now.”

[minniiaa]

i have a folder on my phone called “low res laws” because I actually cackle when I catch these and cannot believe these are even real

presenting: dressrosa edition

[radio-fmm]

Turmoil

Law x gn reader

Warnings: little fight between Law and reader but nothing crazy, sfw and fluff at the end, good ending, FEELINGS

Word count: 1.6k

Summary: In which you save Law’s life and he gets mad at you

Masterlist

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The moonlight danced with the dark sea water, accompanying you in your office as your eyes struggled to stay focus on the paper work in front of you, it was hard to tell the time when you lived in a submarine, but your body knows its well past 2 am, begging for you to snuggle into bed and drift away

From the shadows behind your door emerged your Captain, looking as tired as you did, a brow arching in confusion

“What are you doing?” His low raspy tone makes you jump on your seat as your eyes open wide in his direction, before they roll in annoyance and your eyebrows furrow

“Doing the work that YOU assigned me, Captain” the tone of your answer lets Law know that you’re still mad at him

“Should’ve thought better before-“ suddenly, and surprisingly you interrupt his so re-used speech he had given you a million times over since that evening

“Oh give me a break!” You trow your pen on the table, slamming your hands before gifting him the nastiest look he had ever witness painted on your face

Some days ago, the Heart Pirates found themselves in yet another fight were things weren’t going well for their Captain. You were the crews strategists and whenever you were caught in situations like these you were always by Laws side, but this time he had made you promise to stay out of trouble for this one, which in all honesty had struck your pride. Everyone knew how relentless of a fighter you were, that’s why you had gained such a position in the crew, so being told to back up was like a punch in the stomach, specially coming from your trusted Captain

Trafalgar Law was a stubborn, stubborn man, and that sometimes got him in more trouble that he could handle, as the enemies arrow flew trough his direction and a sword was drawn to his heart, in a blink of an eye you jumped in to protect him, without a second thought

Nothing bad had happened to you, you had came out victorious with a couple of scars nothing out of the ordinary, so when you were met with Laws angry eyes, a long speech on why what you had done was absolutely stupid and a punishment, you were left puzzled, and humiliated in front of all of your crew mates

Since then, you had been locked in your office, getting the extra work the doctor had assigned you so that ‘you learn how to listen’ done, and avoiding any words and looks of his

“I saved you” you got up of your chair as you walked towards the frame of your Captain, he may tower over you, but that would not stop you

“You put your life on the line y/n-ya, that I don’t tolerate” he answers you with a stern voice, eyes examining your every expression

“I did what I did because I wanted to, you may be the one giving orders around here, but you do not get dictate when or how I die”

As you get closer, Trafalgar cannot help but start to feel that maybe he was being selfish, after all, you had given him the greatest of gifts

Knowing there’s someone out there that is willing to die for you, no questions asked

But at the same time, the mere thought of losing you because he couldn’t be up to the task of protecting you boiled his blood and made his stomach turn a million times over

“Then maybe, you shouldn’t have joined my crew in the first place” he blurts out, every single word hitting you like a venomous snake bite, your heart clenching at the thought of being unwanted

Your greatest fear

Suddenly your body language does a 180, your anger being replaced with what could only be perfectly described as heartache. Almost immediately the doctor regrets even stepping foot in your office, before he can say anything you’re already back on your seat

“Sorry Captain” the pain in both your voice and your face makes Law hurt, and panic, and regret, yet words fail to come out of his mouth… just when he needed them most

“Don’t stay up too late” is all he can say before closing the door behind him

Next days in the Polar Tang were a pain, Law had been quite more irritable around everyone, even snapping on poor Bepo. You were either locked away working or in your room and sometimes even skipping dinner just to not cross paths with the damn surgeon, and if you were unlucky enough to do so, you would turn away immediately

Everyone knew something was up between the two of you, Ikkaku and Penguin had showed up at your office asking if everything was ok. You decided to keep it to yourself, you knew if Law found out you’re talking about him behind his back, about personal matters? Yeah, you would be dead to him, and even when mad, you respected him

Shachi was send to dig around Law, but when your name crossed his lips the doctor immediately shot down the conversation, this confirming their suspicions

But then, you finished the damn paper work, and guess who was the one you needed to hand it to?

You tried to convince anyone else to deliver the papers to Laws office, but it seemed like everyone had catch up and found this as an opportunity for you to make up with him, frustrating you beyond comprehension. They had even got to Bepo first

“Sorry y/n, I was told to tell you to deliver it yourself” he offered you a sympathetic smile, afraid of your answer, you just sighed defeated and thanked him anyways

“Just go in and hand him the papers! That easy” Ikkakus voice rings in your head as you try to wash your nervousness away in front of Laws office. Hesitantly you knock on the door, feeling lightheaded at the mere touch of it

“Go away Shachi” the doctors muffled voice meets your ears, confused you answer with the tiniest “It’s me, Captain” After a pause that felt like it lasted a decade, thinking he may had shambles himself out of the office, you hear a “Come in” so you do

You enter the office slowly, almost as if you made any sudden moves you’ll get caught like a pray in the wild. Trafalgar is sitting at his desk, his hands fidgeting and eyes following your form

“I have the paper work you asked for” you stay pretty far away from the desk, fear written all over you making Law feel twice as worse as he had been feeling this past few days

“Thank you y/n-ya, just leave them here” his voice sounded softer, but this didn’t made you feel any less scared as you approached the desk, gaze fixated on the papers in your hand. As you positioned your hard wok on the desk Law makes the uncharacteristic decision to hold your wrist before you retrieved, a shock running through your whole body at the action

Law’s heart beats a million times per second as he finds the right words to approach the matter, maybe he should’ve thought about them before taking your hand, your soft skin touching his freezing him. You lock eyes for a second and finally Law understands everything he had done wrong, from being ungrateful, rude, harsh and just overall mistreating the person he cares for the most

He would rather being shot than admit he was in the wrong, but he knew if he didn’t he’ll lose you, which was the reason he had caused this mess in the first place, so he swallows his pride

“I am sorry, I shouldn’t have screamed at you in front of everyone, or made you do all this work and… saying those awful things”

The fear washes from your body as you hear his apology, something you never thought you’d witness in your life, you let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding since you stepped foot on the door, offering Law a genuine smile that made his heart fall to his feet

“It’s ok Captain”

“Law” he says, letting your hand go as his own insecurities disappear, thinking you were gonna bash at him after his apology

“Law” you parrot back, earning him another sweet smile of yours

“I just… didn’t wanted to lose you, I was so lost in that thought that I didn’t realize that’s exactly what I was doing” you had seemed to have pushed a button because he just couldn’t stop the thoughts that just fell directly to his tongue and overflow like a cascade out of his mouth

Laws eyes open wide as he sees you approach the other side of the desk, your arms wrap around his wide shoulders like the softest blanket, hugging him while he still sits on the chair, your head resting in top of his hat. The surgeon stays completely still, taken aback

“Thank you for apologizing Law, I really appreciate it” you whisper making his face bright red and his hands shake, the way your body weights over his makes his brain malfunction and his heart go wild

You let go and approach the door of the office, Law remaining completely broken and flushed in his seat

“See ya’ at dinner.. Law” you say his name mischievously, giggling after before you disappear

The Captain stays still for a while, alone in his office, thinking about everything being open about his thoughts and feelings had gained him, and how addicting his name sounded falling from your sweet lips

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This came to me in a dream and wrote it in almost one sitting lmao, feel free to request anything you wanna read I am having so much fun writing his emo ass

Reblogs are appreciated ;)

[veroniquesboutique]

A Good First Impression - Atsushi Murasakibara x AFAB!Reader

I am feral over Atsushi Murasakibara. Worms using my brain for food type of feral. Foaming at the mouth type of feral.

He is unironically my phone background type of feral.

So, uh....here's this. Personally, I feel real great about it, so I hope you enjoy it as well.

Title: A Good First Impression

Rating: Explicit

Warnings:

AFAB!Reader, Female Reader, f-receiving oral, fingering, it is genuinely only him eating you out, mention of m-receiving handjob, super intense orgasm, squirting, reluctance/hesitation about the squirting but not quite dubcon/noncon, baby used regularly as pet name, college au, fear of getting caught, getting caught after the fact, home for the holidays, parent mention

Characters & ships: boyfriend!Murasakibara Atsushi x AFAB!Reader

Word count: 2.6k words

Summary: Your long-term boyfriend is nervous about staying at your childhood home and meeting your parents for the first time for four reasons:

1 - He's tall, and people tend to comment on it. Too much. 2 - First impressions are a big deal, and what if he fucks it up with his future in-laws? 3 - He met you in college and is terrified of learning something about the you from before (spoiler: you pass the test!) 4 - He can't keep his hands off of you, and he doesn't want the embarrassment of getting caught.

18+ Minors DNI!

More explicit below the cut

Atsushi Murasakibara was nervous to meet your parents for many reasons.

First, his height. This was the first time he was meeting your family, and your parents weren’t exactly short per se, but he was a towering 6’10”. He hated new people having to crane their neck up to look at him, he hated the same three questions and two jokes that every person tells when they meet someone as tall as him, and he hated that he was going to have to learn the careful layout of your childhood home since it was likely not designed with someone of his towering stature in mind. It was always so embarrassing when he’d bump his head on too-low ceiling fans or when he had to bend too far to reach the sink. No one really realizes how weirdly isolating it feels to be at least a head taller than everyone around you, and that’s if he’s lucky. It definitely makes the first impression game much harder.

Second, the holidays. For some reason, instead of meeting your parents for the first time at a low-stakes dinner or briefly in public, he agreed to stay for a week for the holidays at your house. It wasn’t ideal, but they lived in the countryside, and a hotel would have been so inconvenient, so you two decided to stay with your parents. He even sat through the awkward conversation where you all had to figure out if he was sleeping in your room or on the couch. Your parents weren’t exactly the most conservative people in the world - they knew you lived with him now for God’s sake, so it’s not like they had no idea what you two got up to - but everyone was deeply uncomfortable with the suggestion of anything happening under their roof. That being said, none of their couches could handle him - re: the aforementioned height problem - so they made the disgruntled decision to let you two room together. Just no locking the door.

On top of it all, he wanted to bring them gifts, but he had no idea where to even start with holiday gifts for future in-laws he’d never met. You insisted that he didn’t really have to get them anything and that they’d be thankful for anything he put thought into, but that didn’t ease the burden of deciding if your dad was a beer guy or if he was a tool guy or if he was a sports guy or a grill guy or a music guy. The options made his head spin, and that’s not even touching all the possible gifts he could get your mother. This was it - THE first impression - and if he didn’t get it right, he was afraid of a rocky relationship with them forever.

Third, your childhood. He didn’t know you before you two met in college, so everything about you before you moved to the city is a complete mystery to him. His worst nightmare was discovering something about you that he would never be able to unsee. He had always hated the vulnerability in this moment in all of his previous relationships, and it had soured more than one relationship well before its expiry date.

The night you arrived, you showed him to your room, and he held his breath as you swung the door open for him. He walked in, looking around, waiting for the weird childhood shoe to drop, but…it didn’t. The room was fairly normal. It looked like it could be a teenage room in a movie. It seemed stale, set in time, but it didn’t give him the same feeling of ick throughout his body. Carefully, shelf by shelf, he investigated your knickknacks and decorations and memories, and everything he saw made him love the small piece of you that he knew more than the last. By the time he had overturned every stone in your room, his heart was beating harshly in the rhythm of your name.

“You look like you were expecting something crazy,” You laughed at him, having watched him snoop through your past.

He looked at you, his eyes full of warmth. “I was. I didn’t find anything.”

And then he snuck a kiss.

Fourth, the final most important reason he was nervous was you. Well, to be more specific, he was nervous because he couldn’t keep his hands off of you, and this trip wasn’t going to change anything.

He was nervous because he didn’t want to get caught.

“Ah-Ah, ‘Sushi!” You moan, high pitched and trying to keep the volume low as you wiggle in his grip in an attempt to free yourself from the intensity of his tongue between your legs. Your wrist is pressed against your lips to dampen the sound. He tightens his grip on the back of your thighs, pushing your legs further apart and against your body, opening you up for him, and his tongue continues roughly sliding against your sensitive, buzzing clit.

“They aren’t home. You can be loud,” He grunts against you before wrapping his lips around you and sucking you into his mouth, and you can’t help it as you throw your head back and cry out at the feeling.

“They could be home any second!” You hiss, your hips bucking involuntarily against his face, and in response, he moans deeply, sending tingles through your body.

“Then cum before they get back.”

Biting your lip and panting, nearly winded, you stare down at him, meeting his eyes watching you just over your pelvis, and when his tongue dips into you and presses against your trembling walls, you moan loudly with a furrowed brow. Your fingers tangle through his messy purple strands, pushing his face against your core harder.

He slurps the messy wetness dripping out of you, the sound lewd enough to make you blush. “God, you taste so good,” He groans into you, his tongue desperate. “It’s been too long.”

“It’s been three days!” You laugh breathlessly, body convulsing at the small nudges of his nose against your clit as he drinks you in.

“And that’s three days too many,” he complains, shaking his head and smearing his face against the slickness between your legs. “I can’t wait like that. I need you all the time.”

You pant in response, unable to form words when his tongue finds your clit again, brushing against it at a punishing pace. Your eyes roll to the back of your head, your stomach spasming, and he finally releases one of your legs from his controlling grip just to slide it up your needy slit and dip one of his long fingers into you. You nearly cum then, your back arching so aggressively that you hit your head against the wall, and he can’t help the small laugh that rumbles against your nerves.

“Careful, babe,” He mutters, curling the single finger inside you, and the feeling is such a warm, pleasurable tightness in your core.

“I’m going to cum,” You whisper, dropping your jaw open in pleasure, and you feel his smile in response.

“I’m not done yet, so if you cum now, you’re going to have to handle it when I keep going.”

You whimper, lip quivering and body shaking. Breathing, you attempt to stave off the orgasm that has you dangling off the edge of sanity. He slows his movements, watching you closely as he wrings you of cute little sounds and moans and shivers, and it helps when you suck in air, huffing through your nose to stop the trembling in your lower abdomen.

“Y-you said cum before they get back,” You counter, hissing the words through your teeth as you lean up, your toes curling tightly. His tongue helicopters against your throbbing clit, and he takes the hand that was on the back of your other thigh and places it atop your pelvis, pressing down as the finger still deep inside presses up, and you feel the telltale tightening in your core that makes you panic a little.

“You can choose to cum now and be overstimulated, or you can choose to cum later at the risk of your parents hearing you,” He looks up over you with a smile, a second finger suddenly pushing into you to meet the other. “I’m a believer in autonomy.”

As his two fingers now press into the gummy sweet spot in you, you confirm the tightening is definitely going to cause many, many more problems than he’s considering. You bring your hands to grip the bedding below you, trying to wiggle away again. “’Sushi, I-I, wait, I’m going to-” You frustratingly cut yourself off with a groan as his mouth finds your clit again.

“Going to what, babe?” His voice rumbles against you, and there’s a soft wash of pleasure moving through you like waves against a shore. You can only think that it’s going to be a pain to clean after this.

“It’s going to-I’m going to-”

“Aw, baby, I need you to use your words,” He teases, batting his eyelashes innocently when you shoot him a glare.

“I’m going to make a mess,” You grunt through gritted teeth, raising your eyebrows in hopes of him understanding the euphemism, and when it clicks in his brain, his eyes go bright and wide.

He hums darkly, pressing his fingers into you deeper and earning a surprised squeal out of you. “You’re going to squirt for me, baby?”

“God, I hate that word!” You yelp, involuntarily grinding your hips down onto him and panting out in tight, restrained pleasure. “You-you gotta stop now, I-”

“I wouldn’t dare waste this opportunity. You know I love making a mess of you.” His voice is dark, his eyes still teasing as he draws circles around your clit, and between the stretch of his now scissoring fingers, the pressure on your pelvis from his large hand, and his unrelenting pace on your sensitive spots, you’re seeing stars.

Falling back, you groan again, the feeling of uncomfortable tightening worsening deep in you. “The bedding!” You exclaim, arching your back, “I can’t-ah, fuck, I’ll mess up the bedding.”

“Your parents have a washer.”

“The bedding was from my grandmother,” You groan, scrunching up your face and writhing, closing your thighs around his head when it gets too intense. Hyperventilating, you press the side of your face into the pillow, bringing your hand to your face to bite down on your hand to quell the rocking of pleasure inside you now.

“Pity,” He mumbles, distracted too much by the sounds pouring from your mouth, the clenching of your pussy, the taste of your arousal coating his tongue, the slick sounds of his fingers deep in you, and the promise of even more to come (literally and figuratively). “We should’ve put a towel down, huh?”

You groan, frustrated by his lackadaisical demeanor but unable to communicate it as the feeling of pleasure floods your body. You can feel your eyes go a little hazy, and moments later, you call out, your orgasm hitting you like a wall of bricks. It feels like an electric shock through your body, every muscle in your body tensing with a tight zap as the dam breaks inside of you. You squirt, gushing and coating the bed and, effectively, Atsushi’s face, and the only thing that cuts through the absolute sensory overload of your pleasure is his praise that he groans against your skin.

“That’s it, baby, that’s so good. Feel it, c’mon, you can breathe. You taste so good, thank you, baby, thank you.”

With your heavy pants and soft, whimpering moans as aftershocks of the orgasm reverberate through you, your pussy pulses and throbs in time with your heart, and when he softly pushes into you one last time to wring the rest of it out of you, you squeak out a last whine as the final wave of your cum rushes out of you and over his hand. He chuckles at the sight, pulling out of you and dragging his tongue up his fingers while making dark, teasing eye contact with you. Watching his tongue work to lick all of your cum off his skin, your body trembles with both your world-shattering orgasm and the sudden impending need that pulses through you yet again already.

“Kiss me?” You breathe softly, lips barely parted, and he cracks a wide smile, laughing like he’s disbelieving of you.

“You’re going to be the death of me, baby.” His voice is tense and dark with desire, and he crawls up your body slowly, and he meets your mouth with his extended tongue. You lick against it, tasting yourself, and he moans out loud, his hips pressing against yours. His length, hard and impressive, rubs against you, and the friction makes you cry out. You’re too sensitive and overstimulated, but he just smirks against your lips. “I told you to choose carefully. I wasn’t done with you.”

His hand drags down your body, feeling your curves with a hint of possession in his grasp. When he reaches his waist where his hips are pressing into yours, he grips his belt, pulling at the buckle, ripping it through the belt loops on his pants -

The front door opens. The sound of rustling bags floats up to your room. The floorboards creak.

Your eyes go wide in panic.

“Sweetheart?” Your mother calls up the stairs. “We’re home! Atsushi and you should come down and help us with dinner.”

“Get up, get up!” You mutter under your breath, gently batting at his shoulder as he frantically slides off you and off the bed, fixing his belt and helping you by pulling your bedding off. You’re searching for clothes, quickly pulling them on your legs.

The stairs whine as someone climbs step by step.

Your face burns at the impending embarrassment. Atsushi is struggling to hide his arousal with his clothes, and you’re struggling to wipe the slowly drying slick from between your thighs. Your bedding lays in a crumpled, suspicious ball on your mattress.

“Sweetheart?” Your mother asks again, her voice much closer than before.

The doorknob jiggles against the lock.

“C-coming!” You call back, pushing your fingers through your hair as Atsushi wipes his hands down his face to clean up any mess left behind.

“Your door’s-”

You cut off your mother’s inquiry about the locked door by swinging it open. “Sorry, force of habit,” You laugh, opening the door wide enough that she can see Atsushi sitting at your desk with his phone in his hand. He nods a greeting at her.

Her eyes flit to your unmade bed, back down to you, and back over to Atsushi. A slight blush covers her cheeks. “We…we brought groceries for dinner. Would you two like to come help?”

You look over your shoulder at Atsushi who meets your gaze. After a moment, he shrugs and nods. “Sure, we’d love to.”

“Great…come…down when you’re ready,” Your mother says awkwardly, quickly excusing herself back down the stairs. Once you hear her shoes click into the kitchen, you shut the door again, pressing your back to it as you finally let the air in your lungs go in a long sigh. You look up at Atsushi who is trying to bite back his laughter.

“Do you think she noticed?” You wince, knowing the answer.

“Oh yes, absolutely. She knows everything,” He stands, lumbering across the room towards you. He kisses your nose, his hand meeting yours on the doorknob. “Let’s go help with dinner.” He thinks. “And maybe later you can pay me back with a handjob in the shower.”

You groan, the thought of the blush on your mother’s face making your embarrassment burn brighter. “Absolutely not.”

[sherewrytes]

Love and Gunshots, Eren x Black Reader

Gang member Eren x Introvert black reader

Summary: In a dangerous urban landscape, y/n, an introverted Criminal Law student, finds herself drawn into the violent world of the Sixx Gang through her protective cousin, Onyankopon. When she locks eyes with Eren Yeager, a hot-headed gang member, a twisted game of desire and danger begins.

As Eren becomes obsessed with y/n, he threatens to unravel the fragile balance Ony has maintained to shield her from their brutal lifestyle. With loyalty tested and violence lurking at every turn, the lines between love and danger blur, leading to a dark climax where the heart proves just as lethal as a gun.

Genre: Dark Romance/Crime Modern au

Warnings: Graphic violence, drug use, smut, obsession

I'll re edit this when I'm better, in the mean time happy reading

Taglist: @topshotdivaa @prettypink-princesss @burpzz @niaizzy1623 @jcoleisbetter @msjaeger @hidd3nbimbo

Chapter 3: Trapsta

Eren POV

The days following that night on the bridge were marked by an aching tension, a gnawing restlessness that settled deep in my chest. I couldn’t shake her presence, the way she stood there with her chin raised, eyes brimming with defiance and something else—something she wasn’t ready to admit. It was as if her essence had seeped into my veins, an unrelenting current that refused to let go.

Every corner of the city whispered her name. The dim alleys where shadows stretched long into the night, the crowded bars where laughter and shouting overlapped like a deafening wave—even there, I couldn’t escape. My world had become a labyrinth where every path led back to her. Each step I took, every breath I drew, carried the ghost of her scent and the memory of her touch.

I found myself on that same bridge again, leaning against the cold metal railing, the wind biting at my skin. The night was deep and dark, the stars above obscured by the city’s light pollution. The silence was broken only by the distant hum of traffic, a lullaby to the restless. The city lights flickered on the river’s surface below, creating a distorted mirror that seemed to mock my turmoil.

“Back so soon?” Her voice sliced through the night like a blade, sharp and sure. I turned, a smirk playing at my lips as Y/n stepped out of the shadows, her figure outlined by the soft glow of a nearby streetlamp. She looked both fierce and fragile, like a flame that could either warm you or burn you alive.

“Could say the same for you,” I said, unable to tear my eyes away from her. There was something magnetic about her presence, something that made my pulse quicken and my carefully constructed walls start to crack. The air between us was electric, heavy with unspoken words and unresolved tension.

She folded her arms over her chest, a defensive move that did little to hide the vulnerability beneath. “What is this, Eren? Some kind of sick game?”

I took a step closer, closing the distance between us until I could feel the warmth radiating from her skin. The scent of her perfume—soft, intoxicating—wrapped around me like a chain. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s the only thing that makes sense anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed, searching mine for an answer I couldn’t give. Silence fell between us, thick and suffocating, as we stood on the precipice of something we weren’t ready to name. The wind picked up, tangling her hair and sending shivers down my spine.

“You’re going to ruin everything,” she whispered, the words trembling as they left her lips. I saw the way her throat bobbed when she swallowed as if the confession itself had been painful.

I reached out, my fingers brushing against her cheek, and for a heartbeat, she didn’t pull away. The contact sparked something primal that sent a shiver down my arm. “Maybe,” I said, voice low and laced with something dangerous, “but maybe some things are meant to be ruined.”

A flicker of fear flashed in her eyes, quickly replaced by defiance. She grabbed my wrist, her grip firm and unyielding, sending a shock through my system. Her touch was fire and ice, a paradox that left me breathless. “This has to stop, Eren. Whatever this is, it’s going to destroy us both.”

I leaned in, so close that our breaths mingled, the space between us shrinking to nothing. Her eyes locked onto mine, their wariness mingling with something deeper, something she tried to hide. “Then let it,” I whispered, my voice a challenge, a promise.

For a moment, the world stood still. The city around us, the chaos and noise—it all faded into the background. All that existed was her, the rapid rise and fall of her chest, the fire in her eyes that matched the storm in my own. I felt the rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins, daring me to push the boundaries, to see just how far we could fall.

Then, just as suddenly as the moment had come, she pushed me away, the spell broken. The sharp sting of rejection cut through me, and I felt the urge to pull her back, to hold on until she stopped fighting. My hands clenched at my sides, every muscle straining against the need to close the distance again.

“This isn’t over,” I said, more to myself than to her, my voice hoarse with unspent emotion.

She looked at me one last time, something unreadable flickering across her face before she turned and walked away into the night. The sound of her footsteps echoed long after she disappeared from view, a haunting reminder that the battle had only just begun. The darkness swallowed her, and I stood there, the taste of her defiance and fear lingering like smoke in the back of my throat.

I leaned back against the railing, eyes closing as the night wind stung my skin. My heart pounded with a ferocity that refused to be quelled. This was more than a game, more than an obsession—it was a descent, and neither of us was prepared for how deep it would go.

The morning light sliced through the half-open blinds, casting thin, golden stripes across the room cluttered with evidence of last night’s excess. The tang of cheap perfume and stale liquor hung heavy in the air, mingling with the acrid hint of smoke from cigarettes I barely remembered finishing. Annalise was sprawled across the sheets, limbs draped in a careless tangle, her blonde hair fanning out like a halo that mocked the sharp edge of her smirk. She was a means to an end, a temporary balm for an itch I needed to scratch, a way to drown out the nagging pull of Y/n’s absence.

A sharp knock at the door jolted me from my reverie, rattling through the haze of leftover adrenaline and exhaustion. Before I could react, the door swung open with a force that made the hinges groan, and Ony stormed in, eyes dark and deadly. He scanned the room, pausing on Annalise just long enough for his expression to harden into something venomous before snapping back to me, flames in his stare.

Annalise slid off the bed with a lazy stretch, a wicked grin spreading across her lips as she walked over to Ony. Her eyes glimmered with mischief as she reached out, brushing her hand over his chest, nails grazing his skin. “See you tonight, baby,” she purred, her voice a deliberate taunt before she sauntered out of the room, hips swaying with calculated arrogance. The door clicked shut behind her, and the silence followed was electric, the air between us crackling with unspoken threats.

Ony’s fists clenched at his sides, muscles coiling beneath his skin like taut wires ready to snap. His chest rose and fell with heavy, deliberate breaths. I leaned back against the headboard, letting a smirk curve my lips, the deflection coming as naturally as breathing.

“I thought this was about Anna,” I said, tilting my head with a mocking lift of my brow.

He rolled his eyes, the gesture sharp and dismissive. “No. She’s fucking Connie too,” he spat, voice dripping with disdain. The room fell into a momentary silence, a pause heavy enough to suffocate. Then, without warning, he surged forward, grabbing the front of my shirt and yanking me off the bed.

The floor rushed up to meet me, and I landed hard, the impact reverberating through my spine and knocking the breath from my lungs. Dazed, I barely had time to process before Ony was on me, his fist a blur as it connected with my jaw. The pain exploded, hot and electric, radiating through my skull. I laughed through the blood that seeped into my mouth, the metallic tang fueling the reckless defiance simmering in my veins.

“That all you got?” I taunted, wiping the blood from my split lip with the back of my hand. The sting sharpened my senses, cutting through the fog of pain and exhaustion. Ony’s eyes flashed with something primal, an emotion too raw and fierce to name. He yanked me up again, our faces inches apart, his breath hot and ragged against my skin.

“You don’t get it, do you?” His voice was a low snarl, vibrating with barely controlled rage. “I know she’s been sneaking out to meet you. You’re going to get her killed, Eren.”

The words landed like a punch, heavier than any blow he’d thrown. For a moment, the room blurred at the edges, the implications sinking in, pressing down like a weight on my chest. But I couldn’t let him see that. Couldn’t let him think he had the upper hand.

“Better me than you,” I said, my voice cold, defiant. The smirk returned, a mask of indifference that belied the chaos inside me.

Ony’s eyes flared, and before I could brace myself, he slammed me against the wall, the plaster cracking under the force. The impact rattled my teeth, but I barely registered it before we were grappling, fists flying, the room dissolving into a blur of raw, unfiltered violence. Each punch, each shove, was a testament to the unspoken war between us—a fight not just for dominance, but for the fragile line that tethered Y/n to safety.

Breath came in ragged gasps, muscles aching, skin slick with sweat and blood. Ony’s knuckles connected with my ribs, sending a shockwave of pain that nearly buckled my knees. I retaliated with a strike to his jaw, the sharp crack echoing in the small room. His expression flickered with surprise before morphing into a snarl, and he tackled me, sending us both crashing onto the floor.

Pinned beneath his weight, the pressure on my chest made breathing a struggle. His eyes bored into mine, seething with rage and something else—something that looked a lot like fear. He gritted his teeth, fists still poised for another hit.

“Why do you not want me around Y/n?” I gasped, the question tumbling out before I could stop it.

Ony’s expression darkened further, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he held back words that seemed to scorch the back of his throat. Finally, he released me, shoving me back to his feet with a glare that promised this wasn’t over.

“You’re going to get her killed.” The echo of his words chased me long after he turned and left, the door slamming behind him like a final warning.

I glared at Ony, wiping the blood from my lip and smiling. “Maybe I love her, you don’t know.” His eyes widened, a flash of shock breaking through the mask of anger, and before I could react, he grabbed me by the shirt again and swung at me with another bone-jarring punch. I watch Ony storm out of my room and then my apartment. Ony slammed the door so hard it rattled the door frame. The sound echoed in the room, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence that sat heavy in the air. I blinked, staring at the spot where he’d just been, trying to process how the night had turned on its head so fast.

My jaw tightened as his words replayed in my mind. "You’re going to get her killed." What the hell did he mean by that? I wasn’t about to sit back and let Ony dictate who I could and couldn’t see. Not when it came to her.

I exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down my face as I tried to shake off the frustration bubbling up in my chest. Ony’s my boy, but he doesn’t get it. She’s different. Quiet, soft, nothing like the girls who hang around the block, hoping to catch a piece of me. She doesn’t even know the power she’s got... or maybe she does, and that’s what’s driving me crazy.

I sat back on my bed, reaching for a cigarette to smoke, eyes narrowing. The tension in my body refused to ease, and I smirked bitterly. One can try to keep her away from me, but he doesn’t know me like that. I always get what I want.

Your POV

The hinges of the front door creaked as I slowly pushed it open, my heart thundering in my chest. The house was dark, just as I’d left it hours ago, but something about the stillness felt… off.

I slipped inside, easing the door shut behind me. My feet moved cautiously over the hardwood floors, barely making a sound as I crept towards the stairs. The thrill of sneaking out was long gone, replaced by a gnawing sense of unease.

“Where were you?”

The voice sliced through the silence, low and sharp, and I froze. My stomach dropped as my eyes darted to the living room. At first, I couldn’t see him, but then a faint glow from the streetlights outside caught the outline of Ony slouched in the armchair, his arms crossed, his face shadowed but unmistakably stern.

I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the heat rising to my face. "I was—"

“Don’t even try it,” he cut me off, leaning forward so the light caught his expression—cold, angry, and something else I couldn’t quite place. “You think I don’t know where you were?”

My pulse quickened. I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.

“Eren,” he spat the name like a curse, shaking his head. “Of all people, you went to see him?”

My mouth opened, but no words came out. What could I say? I wasn’t sorry. Not even close.

“You don’t understand,” I finally managed, my voice barely above a whisper.

“I don’t understand?” Ony’s laugh was bitter as he stood, his presence towering over me now. “You don’t understand, Y/N. You don’t know what kind of man he is, what kind of life he lives. And I’ll be damned if I let you get caught up in that.”

I clenched my fists, feeling my frustration bubble over. “You can’t tell me what to do, Ony! I’m not a kid anymore!”

“And yet you’re acting like one,” he shot back, his voice rising now. “Running off in the middle of the night, sneaking around with someone like him? Do you have any idea what you’re playing with?”

I flinched at the venom in his words but held my ground. “You think you know him, but you don’t. He’s—”

“He’s dangerous,” Ony interrupted, his voice hard now. “And you’re going to get yourself hurt. Or worse.”

We stood there, the weight of his words hanging in the air. My mind raced, my heart still pounding, and for a moment, I felt like a kid again—caught, cornered, and desperate to break free.

The air was thick with tension, each breath feeling heavier than the last. My heart raced, but I wasn’t about to back down. Not this time.

Ony stood in front of me, his eyes burning with an intensity that made my skin crawl. His words echoed in my mind—dangerous—but what did he know? Was he so sure about Eren, about everything, just because of the rumours and the past? His past?

"You don't know him like I do," I finally said, my voice shaking with a mix of defiance and something else I couldn't place. "How long have you known Eren? A few weeks? Maybe less?"

Ony's face twitched like he wasn't expecting me to question him back. Good. I wasn’t some naïve kid anymore, living in his shadow, following every word he said without thinking for myself. I stepped forward, my feet hitting the floor with more force than I meant.

"What about you, Ony?" I asked, the words slipping out before I could stop them. "You think you know the kind of life he leads, but how long have you been doing this? How many more people have you hurt in your ‘game’?”

His jaw clenched, a flicker of something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite read. But it wasn’t fear. No, he wasn’t afraid of me. It was something darker, something more resigned. “You don’t get it.”

I took a step closer. "No, you don’t get it, Ony. You're talking like you're the only one who’s been in this world. Like you’re the only one who’s seen the violence, the dirt, the blood. But Eren... he’s different from you."

Ony scoffed, but I wasn’t done. "He’s been through shit—stuff you couldn’t even imagine—and yeah, maybe he’s dangerous, but you’re not some saint either. You’ve been in this world longer than Eren. Hell, longer than any of us. So don’t stand there and pretend you know what’s best for me, for my life, just because you’ve been around longer.”

I swallowed, trying to steady my breath, but it felt like the walls were closing in. "I need to figure this out. I need to know who he is. I need to understand why I feel this pull to him. Don’t act like you’ve got all the answers, Ony, because you don’t."

His eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I thought he might lash out, his anger pushing him to something he couldn’t take back. But instead, he exhaled sharply, almost as if the weight of my words had hit him harder than he cared to admit.

“You don’t know what you’re messing with.” His voice dropped, quieter now, but just as sharp. “Eren’s a ticking time bomb. And when it blows, you’ll be the one left standing in the wreckage.”

I stood there, feeling the intensity of his gaze bore into me, but there was no turning back now. I was done being scared, done hiding from the truth.

“Let it blow then.” My voice was steady, unwavering. “Let it all come crashing down.”

Ony’s expression shifted from anger to something sharper—something colder. He took a step closer, his presence almost suffocating now, and I felt a chill run down my spine, but I stood my ground.

“This is the man you want, Y/N?” Ony’s voice was low, dangerous, as he shook his head. “Him? Eren? For real?”

I didn’t flinch. “You don’t get it, Ony. I don’t need your approval.”

He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned in, his eyes locked onto mine. “Eren’s a fucking mess. And you wanna get tangled up in that? Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Don’t make me call Aunt Marsha and tell her what you’re up to.”

I froze for a second, the mention of my mom slicing through me like a knife. "Don't you dare bring my mom into this," I hissed, my teeth gritting as the tension crackled in the air between us.

Ony didn’t seem fazed. “I will if I have to, Y/N. You think you know what you’re doing, but you’re playing with fire. This is the last time I’ll warn you.” His voice was dangerously calm like he was speaking to a child. “Stay away from Eren.”

Something inside me snapped. I wasn’t a kid. I wasn’t going to let him control me, not like this.

I tilted my chin up, looking him dead in the eye, and said, “I don’t give a fuck.”

For a long moment, Ony just stared at me, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His face twisted in disbelief like I’d slapped him across the face. “Excuse me?”

I wasn’t backing down. “I said I don’t give a fuck.”

He blinked like he was processing what I’d just said, his hands tightening into fists at his sides. But then, something broke in his expression. He laughed, a sharp, almost incredulous sound like he couldn’t believe his ears.

“Nah, nah. You must be trippin’.” He shook his head, still laughing. “You think I’m gonna let you throw your life away over this?”

I didn’t flinch. I didn’t even blink. “You can keep laughing all you want, Ony, but this is my choice. Not yours.”

The tension in the room grew thick enough to choke on, but I held his gaze, refusing to look away. “Stay the fuck out of my life.”

Ony’s laughter faded, but there was still that cold edge to his stare. He looked at me like he didn’t know who I was anymore like I was some stranger standing in his living room.

Ony’s sigh was like the air leaving the room, heavy and resigned. He rubbed his hand over his face, a tired motion as if he was worn out by the whole thing like this conversation was more of a burden to him than a warning. He stared at me with a mixture of frustration and disappointment.

“You’re an honour roll student,” he muttered, his voice suddenly low, almost sad. “Look at the fucking hood around us, Y/N. You want in that life? The life I’m in? The trapping, the pushing, the constant paranoia? You always gotta be on your toes ‘cause of the opps lurking around? You think this is what you want?”

His words hit me, hard. The weight of them, the harshness, the reality he was trying to drill into me. But I wasn’t some naive little girl, and I wasn’t going to let his guilt trip pull me back into a corner.

“You want a man in that life?” he continued, his voice growing sharper. “Don’t fuck your life up for one man, Y/N. You know he’s fucking around with other girls, right? Do you think you’re so special? Do you think you’re important? Don’t be dumb.”

I blinked, his words stinging, but something inside me snapped—something raw and real. I felt my chest tighten, the anger rising like a tide I couldn’t hold back.

“You think I don’t know?” I finally shot back, my voice colder than I meant it to be. “You think I’m stupid?”

His face twisted in disbelief like he was expecting me to fall apart, to let his words break me. But I wasn’t about to.

“You’re right about one thing,” I said, my voice steady now. “This life you’re in—trapping, pushing, the constant danger—isn’t something I want. But I’m not some stupid girl who’s gonna let you tell me what I can and can’t want.”

Ony looked at me, his expression hard, his jaw clenched as he watched me with growing frustration. But I wasn’t done.

“Yeah, I know about Eren.” I swallowed, feeling the tightness in my throat. “I know what kind of man he is. And you think that’s gonna scare me away? That’s gonna stop me from wanting to know him?”

He threw his hands up, frustrated. “You think this is some cute little love story? Do you think you can just waltz into his world and get a happy ending? It doesn’t work like that.”

I took a step forward, my fists clenched, but I wasn’t shaking. “I don’t need you to protect me, Ony. I’m not some kid who needs you to shield me from the world. I’ll make my own choices.”

Ony stared at me, incredulous, like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. For a second, I thought he might explode, might lash out. But instead, his shoulders sagged, his eyes dropping to the floor.

“You’re making a huge mistake,” he said, his voice almost quieter now like the fight was draining out of him.

I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to. The choice was already made. I was done listening to his warnings. I was done being told who I could and couldn’t care about.

“I’ll make my own mistakes,” I whispered, but I said it with conviction. “And I’ll live with them.”

I turned to leave, feeling Ony’s gaze on my back, the weight of his disappointment heavier than I wanted to admit. But nothing was going to stop me now.

My feet pounded against the stairs as I stormed up to my room, the sharpness of Ony’s words still echoing in my ears. The frustration, the anger—it all felt like a storm building inside me, one I couldn’t outrun, even if I tried.

I could feel the tears starting to prick at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not yet. I wouldn’t let him see me break.

But as I slammed my bedroom door behind me and leaned against it, my chest tight, the tears came anyway. It wasn’t just the anger I felt—it was the hurt. The deep hurt that Ony, my cousin, could speak to me like that. He’d never done that before. Not even in the middle of our biggest fights. He was the one who’d always been there for me, the one who'd protected me, but now it felt like he was pushing me away.

I wiped my eyes furiously, pacing the room as my thoughts swirled. How could he say those things to me? How could he be so cold, like I was just some naive kid who didn’t know what she was doing? Was I making a mistake?

No. I had to stop myself. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t the same girl anymore. I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me what I could and couldn’t have. Not even Ony.

But the doubt still lingered. He had never spoken to me like that before. Never in all the years, I’d known him, even when we fought over the stupidest things. It felt like I had shattered something between us, and I wasn’t sure if it could ever be fixed.

I let out a shaky breath, sitting down on the edge of my bed, staring at the wall, lost in thought. Why did it have to be this way?

Why couldn’t I just want what I wanted without everyone trying to control it?

Eren’s POV

I walked into Connie’s place, the door creaking shut behind me, and immediately the smell hit me—the thick, heavy scent of weed. Connie’s place always had that vibe, a comfortable chaos where nothing was ever off-limits. The faint buzz of a stereo in the background, the low murmur of voices, and the haze that hung in the air made everything feel slower and more relaxed. But that vibe didn’t match what I saw when I stepped into the living room.

There was Ony, slouched back in the armchair, a fat blunt dangling from his fingers as he lazily cleaned his AR-15. He looked like he was in the middle of something, but his eyes—those cold, sharp eyes—shot straight at me the moment I walked in.

I moved closer, past him, toward the couch where Annalise was sitting in Connie’s lap. She didn’t even look up at first, too busy with her hands working a joint in between her fingers. But as soon as I leaned down, I placed a soft kiss on her cheek, a brief moment of affection that she responded to with a smile, the corner of her mouth curling up.

“Hey, baby,” she said, her voice light, her hand still rolling the joint like it was second nature.

I sat down beside her, but something about the atmosphere in the room felt off. Ony’s gaze never left me, a heavy, calculating stare that made my skin prickle. The air between us was thick, filled with an unspoken tension.

I could feel it before I even said anything—the simmering hostility. Ony’s expression was cold, eyes narrow as he took another drag from the blunt. His fingers gripped the gun tighter, methodical, as if cleaning it was more of a distraction from whatever was going on in his head.

“What’s up, Ony?” I asked, my voice casual, but I couldn’t ignore the way he was looking at me. It was like he was waiting for something, some opening to lash out.

He exhaled smoke slowly, the room thick with the scent of it, and without breaking eye contact, he muttered, “Nothing. Just cleaning my shit.”

I raised an eyebrow, knowing that wasn’t the full story. I could feel the undercurrent of frustration radiating off him, but I wasn’t about to back down. Not now.

I leaned back on the couch, glancing at Annalise, who seemed oblivious to the tension building in the room. But Ony? Ony was staring me down like he was waiting for me to make a move.

“You’re still fucking with her, huh?” Ony finally spoke, his voice low, but there was an edge to it. “After all this time? You think you got her under control?”

My chest tightened, the irritation rising as his words sank in. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, my voice sharp, as I shot him a glance that was heavy with annoyance.

Ony scoffed, his lips curling into something close to a sneer. “You think I don’t know what’s going on? You think I don’t know what you’re doing with Y/N? Playing around with her, messing with her head? Man, you’re seriously out of your mind.”

I leaned forward, my temper starting to flare. “What’s your problem with her? You still think you can control who she talks to, who she fucks with?” I felt the edge in my voice, but I wasn’t backing down.

Annalise looked up from what she was doing, sensing the shift in the mood. But Ony wasn’t having it. He flicked the ash from his blunt, his gaze never leaving me. “She’s a fucking honour roll student, and you’re dragging her into this life. Don’t act like you’re a good guy in all of this, Eren.”

I clenched my jaw, feeling the tension escalate. Ony always had a way of pushing my buttons, but I wasn’t going to let him bait me into a fight. “I’m not dragging her into anything. She’s her fucking person.”

He laughed bitterly, his eyes flicking to Annalise for a split second before he shot me a look that was all too familiar. “Yeah? And you think she knows what she’s getting into? Do you really think you’re the one who gets to decide what’s best for her? Come on, man, don’t be dumb.”

I stood up suddenly, my chair scraping against the floor. “You wanna talk about dumb? You really wanna lecture me about what’s best for her when you can barely keep your shit together?”

Ony stood up too, slow and deliberate, the tension between us thickening. But before anything could escalate, Connie called from the other room, his voice cutting through the silence. “Yo, chill out, both of you.”

I looked at Ony one last time, the animosity thick between us, and then I turned back to Annalise. She didn’t seem to care about what was going on.

I eyed Connie and Annalise, the air thick with unspoken tension before I let out a laugh that didn’t reach my eyes. “Guess you were right, Ony,” I said, glancing back at him with a smirk. “Anna’s really fucking... loving the crew.”

Annalise rolled her eyes, not even giving me the satisfaction of a response. She just kept working, her fingers still focused on rolling the joint like everything was normal, like there wasn’t this storm swirling around us.

I was about to speak again when the door to the apartment creaked open, and Jean and Reiner strolled in, their usual swagger making its entrance before their words did. They dapped up everyone in the room, completely ignoring me.

“Yo, the fuck?” I muttered, irritation bubbling under the surface. “Since when we beefing?”

Jean didn’t even spare me a glance before he replied. “Cause I heard you’ve been making trouble for Y/N’s life, man.”

My eyes narrowed, and I could feel the annoyance rising in me. “If anyone’s got a fucking problem, they can shoot me. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me from doing what I want.”

That was when Ony moved.

It was quick, too quick for me to even process. I felt the sharp pain before I realized what had happened. A burst of fire shot through my thigh, and I staggered back, looking down at the dark stain spreading through my pants. My hand automatically reached for the wound, but the pain was already searing, burning through me.

Ony stood there, his cold eyes locked on me, his gun still pointed toward the floor. “You talk too much, Eren,” he said, his voice low and calm, like he hadn’t just shot me in the fucking thigh.

I gritted my teeth, fighting through the shock. The room was quiet for a second, the air heavy with what had just happened. The others, Jean and Reiner, looked on, no one daring to make a move. I could feel the blood beginning to pool, the sting of the bullet still fresh.

“What the fuck, Ony?” I spat, trying to stay on my feet, but the pain made my vision blur. “You really wanna do this right now?”

Ony didn’t flinch. “You’ve been warned, Eren. I told you to stay the fuck away from Y/N.”

Jean finally stepped forward, a half-smirk on his face. “Guess that’s one way to shut you up.”

Reiner didn’t say a word, but his eyes flicked to the wound and then to Ony. I could see the hesitation in his stance, but he didn’t interfere.

I swallowed the pain, the anger, and everything else building up inside me. “This shit’s far from over,” I growled under my breath, my vision clearing as the adrenaline kicked in. “You’ve made a mistake, Ony. But I’m not done.”

But Ony just shrugged, the same cold expression on his face. “You keep thinking that, Eren.”

And that was all he said before turning away, walking back to his chair, and picking up the blunt like nothing had happened.

Connie let out a heavy sigh, his eyes flicking between me and Ony before settling on me, a mix of frustration and disbelief on his face. Annalise, on the other hand, looked like she’d just seen a ghost. Her mouth was hanging open, and she was frozen, eyes wide as she looked between me and the blood seeping from my leg.

“Annalise!” Connie barked, his tone sharp, and she snapped out of her daze. She hurried off to the other room, her feet scrambling across the floor, her movements quick and jerky like she’d just woken up from a bad dream.

Connie pulled his phone from his pocket, already dialling as he stepped closer to me. His jaw was tight, muscles in his neck twitching with the annoyance he clearly didn’t want to show. “Goddamn, Eren,” he muttered under his breath, shaking his head before he lifted the phone to his ear. “Hange, it’s Connie. We’ve got a problem.”

I gritted my teeth, trying to focus, trying to keep my head straight despite the pain. My leg was on fire, the blood rushing faster now, soaking through my pants. But I wasn’t about to show weakness. “I’m fine,” I muttered, though the words were strained, the pain threatening to overpower me. “Just need to patch it up. I’ve had worse.”

Connie didn’t even look at me. “Shut up, Eren. You’re not ‘fine.’ You’re lucky Ony didn’t blow your fucking leg off.”

The truth of that hit me harder than I cared to admit. Ony wasn’t playing games anymore. I knew he wasn’t the type to hesitate, but this? This was something different. He wasn’t going to just let me walk away anymore.

Annalise came back with the first aid kit, her hands shaking as she knelt beside me, her expression conflicted between worry and disbelief. She quickly opened the kit, pulling out gauze and bandages. I could see the hesitation in her hands, the way she was trying not to look directly at the blood, but she was quick. She knew what she was doing.

“I’m sorry, Eren,” she muttered, her voice softer than usual. “I didn’t... I didn’t know he was going to...”

I shook my head, forcing a chuckle through the pain. “Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.”

As she applied pressure to the wound, I gritted my teeth, trying not to wince too hard. The burn of the bullet in my leg was making it harder to focus on anything else, but I wasn’t about to show weakness.

Ony, though, was silent. The only sound was the faint flicker of the blunt burning down to the filter in his fingers, and the occasional deep drag he took as he watched me, a quiet satisfaction behind his eyes. It wasn’t just about the bullet. It was about power and control. He wanted me to feel this.

Connie’s voice cut through my thoughts as Hange picked up on the other end of the line. “Yo, Hange, we need you here. Eren got hit. It’s bad, but it’s not fatal.”

Hange’s voice came through quickly. “Got it, I’m on my way.”

Connie ended the call, his gaze flicking back to me with a look that was less about concern and more about the chaos that was about to unfold. He didn’t have to say it out loud, but I knew. This wasn’t just about a bullet wound anymore. The tension was building, and there was no way we were leaving this room without something else going down.

[howi99]

Prince of Vale 7

Meeting room

Jaune: *looking at the leaders of every major nation* Messieurs, leaders of Vacuo, Atlas, Mistral and Menagerie, i welcome you. *Bow in sign of respect to his guest*

All of the representatives: *bow to the king, showing their respect*

Jaune: *taking a seat* As all of you must know, i have summoned all of you to discuss two major incidents. The first and least important one being the demands of Jacques Schnee, demanding the day of my mother's funeral, the queen funeral, that i take one of his daughters as queen consort. The second and far more grave incident was the Prime Minister of Mistral accusing me of protecting the princess of Menagerie from the Mistralean judicial system.

Ghira: *looking directly at said Prime Minister* Is that so?

PM: *adjusting his tie* With all due respect, your daughter did participate in White Fang's activities. Both of your nations may not see them as a terrorist organization, but the material damage they are causing in the name of liberty cannot be disregarded.

Jacques: *a calculating look in his eyes* And should i remind you, your majesty, that said material was the property of the Schnee Dust Company? Not only that, but my daughter was placed in the same team as said criminal?

Jaune: *coldly looking at Jacques* First, may i remind you that you are only the manager of said company and not its true owner? *Looking at Willow* Your wife is the one allowed to speak without constraints during the meeting. And secondly, you shall address her by her title or miss Belladonna.

Willow: *surprised* Your majesty?

Jacques: ... *Sigh* I must ask your forgiveness. It slipped my mind.

Jaune: I see. *Now looking at the PM* Now, as you probably know, Miss Belladonna isn't part of the White Fang anymore. Not only that, but her crimes were committed as a minor. Furthermore, she isn't a Mistralean resident, meaning we are in no obligation to extradite her.

PM: *frowning* You are saying that she won't be punished for her crimes?

Jaune: *shaking his head* I never said that. She will be judged according to Valean laws.

Ghira: *nodding* And i approve of this decision. Tell me, wouldn't you prefer we bury the hatchet and try de-escalating the situation?

PM: ... *Sigh* What would be the sentence?

Jaune: Under our laws, she committed vandalism, vigilantism and endangerment of civilian life during said vigilantism. For the remainder of her time in Beacon, she will have to do community service every Saturday. Furthermore, she will be forbidden from leaving the vicinity of Beacon UNLESS it is for said service.

PM: ... Fine, we shall accept those conditions. *Looking at Ghira* In exchange, we simply ask for the White Fang to stop attacking the SDC shipments to our cities.

Ghira: *sigh* I would love to, but i have limited influence on them i'm afraid.

Jaune: *looking at the annoyed Jacques* Maybe the SDC could make some concessions? *Smiling, now looking at Willow* What do you think, lady Willow?

Willow: *nervous* I-i... My husband...

Jaune: *gently cutting her* Has no authority during this meeting.

Willow: *Feeling the gaze of her husband* I... *Shaky voice* Y-yes your majesty. The company has gone too far.

Jacques: *low angry voice* Willow...

Willow: *looking at Jaune with more resolve* I am fully aware of the wrongdoing of Jacques. In exchange for those concessions, however, i want the rights of the SDC's old mines back.

Jaune: *pensive* The one from before the faunus war, i assume?

Willow: *nod* Yes, your majesty... I will be frank with you, Jacques demands were mostly aimed at re-appropriating them back.

Jaune: *sigh* It would have been so much easier to say so... *Nod* You are free to restart mining on Valean soil. However, some of the mines were privatised. Is this fine with you, my lady?

Willow: *nod* I was already aware of that. Besides, competition never hurts.

Ironwood: *surprised, whispering to Winter* It's the first time i've seen her speak up.

Winter: *as surprised as him* Same for me here. I always thought she was completely under my father's thumb...

Jacques: *furious, getting up from his chair* Willow, what are you doing!? "I" own the company! "I" brought it back from the mountain of debts your father had to pay!

Willow: *looking at him* And in doing so, you ran my family name through the mud. *Getting up, locking eyes with him* You made us enemy number one of faunuskind, you supplied both the government and the criminals alike in the name of profit and that's enough! I'm through with this!

Jacques: What are you-

Willow: I'm divorcing you, you twat!

The Vacuan representative: *whispering to Jaune* Soooo.... Would it be a bad time to talk about the unlawful exploitation of our Dust by the SDC or?