#my normal speaking voice isn’t all too high but when I want I can get it VERY high up.

[schyrsivochter]

btw Zeb’s accent sounds like Steve Blum (who is American) is trying to speak Cockney and getting only like half of the way there

ex. his line in An Inside Man ‘I must’ve recruited him’. the way he delivers it it sounds like ‘recruided ’im’. the typical American t→d. it should sound like ‘recrui’ed ’im’

[rottenblur]

Post workout pump|A.ANDERSON

Abby x fem reader 2.3k

Summary: Your gym rat Tinder date isn’t one to not kiss on the first date, a coffee date is much more interesting with her.

WARNINGS: public shit, public fingering??? Dirty talk, Abby being bold as hell, head!! Fingering, quick mention of that liquor. Fucking on the first date.

Abby’s Tinder profile was simple, a couple of gym rat pictures, and a couple cute candid ones someone had taken of her with a background of beautiful scenery. The one that made you swipe on her was a picture of her smiling in the forest, normally you wouldn’t go for “outdoorsy” people, you wanted someone you could comfortably rot away with.

It was her fucking smile. The way that her hair practically glowed in the sunlight peaking through the trees, how her freckles complimented every feature on her face. It wasn’t just her looks though, you weren’t that shallow. Her bio was simple, simple in a way it didn’t seem like she was faking it for people to like her.

“Will fight for you.” And you believed it with every inch of your body, she looked like fought off bears for a living. She could break you in half, part of you wanted her to.

Your conversation on the app was short, you gave her your number pretty fast, I mean she asked for it.

You got a text from a random number quickly after you gave it to her.

(7xx) 8xx-6xxx: Hey beautiful.

You replied quickly.

You: Hey.. this abby?

The typing bubbles popped up immediately, she responded fast and used punctuation, which was rare. In your experience, and probably rare to everyone on dating apps. To be honest, this was your first time on a dating app, you had too much on your plate to even think about dating since high school.

Abby: [IMAGE ATTACHED]

Abby: Sure is.

The picture was a live photo in a gym mirror, she had dumbbells resting by her feet, her body covered in a tank top and loose basketball shorts. Her muscles were huge, you didn’t think someone could be that strong, the sweat making them shiny didn’t help how hard you were staring right now.

You: oh my god…

That’s all you can get out, you have no thoughts.

You: i’m blushing

You throw your phone, you’ve only been talking to her for maybe an hour and yet she already has you wrapped around her finger.

The text bubbles pop up, she’s typing.

Abby: Aw, such a sweet girl, already blushing for me.

If you weren’t blushing before, you were now. You couldn’t stand another minute not being with her.

You: are you busy today? I need to see you

Text bubbles pop up, then disappear, come back then disappear again. Read, for ten minutes. Were you moving too fast? You put your phone down, tidying up your room to distract yourself from the stress. You get into the shower, your phone on the sink counter for music. You wash your hair when your phone starts ringing, fuck.

You grab the towel hanging up, drying off your hands and step out of the shower to pick up your phone, it’s her. You press the green accept button and put the phone up to your ear, pushing your wet hair out of the way.

“Hey.” She says. Her voice, oh my fuck, her voice. It was gentle but so heavy with intent, she sounded like she only spoke if she meant it.

“Hi.” You respond back, wrapping the towel around your body and stepping out of the bathroom to make sure she heard you well.

“God, you sound adorable. I’m not busy, just at the gym right now but I’m free in thirty minutes if you wanna go for coffee.” She says, you can hear the dumb bells banging in the back now.

Your mouth falls open, she really wants to see you? A date? Today? You forget to speak.

“Yeah, yeah please. Where to?” You respond back.

You hear her laugh slightly, then take a breath. “I’ll text you the address beautiful, you’ll like it I know you will.” God people making decisions for you was suddenly so hot.

You agree and giggle, uncontrollably. “Bye bye.”

“See ya.” She says then hangs up. Fuck you were nervous.

You get a text from her, the address was a small locally owned coffee shop just down the street from you, maybe she lived close. Surprisingly you had never been there before, maybe you could have met her sooner if you stepped out of your comfort zone more often, you would have met her sooner.

Twenty minutes had passed, you got back into the shower, finishing it and getting ready. Drying your hair and throwing on a cute fitting outfit, something easy, or just easy access, hey you weren’t against doing stuff on the first date, especially not with her.

You walk to the coffee shop, texting her when you arrive at the front doors, her assuring you she was already there. She was early, you liked that.

You walk inside and that's when you see her. She was in the back, in a booth manspreading under dimly lit lights. You walk over towards her, her hands set on the table, fiddling with a stir stick. She looks up and sees you, her blue eyes light up. She stands up, she towers over you. You look up at her, her freckles are even cuter in person.

“Hey beautiful, you look you know..beautiful.” She says looking you up and down. You smile at her muttering a greeting back. You were almost shaking, she was perfect, everything you could have ever wanted.

“You want a drink? I’ll order, just finished mine.” She says, placing a hand on your upper arm, it engulfed your arm in full. You nod and tell her your order. She smiles at you and walks off to order, you sit down scooting to the inside. A one-sided booth, leaving no choice but to sit right next to her, her boldness was attractive.

She comes back, placing your drink on the table in front of you, scooting herself right next to you placing hers next to yours. You pick up your drink taking a sip, as she lays her arm on the booth behind your back spreading her legs, getting comfortable. “Was that picture from today?” You refer to the picture she sent you earlier. She nods turning her head to look at you.

Her strawberry blond hair slightly damp presumably from a shower, her blue t-shirt clung to her arms, her jeans tight to her legs. God.

“You like what you see?” She says tilting her head at you, looking you up and down in return. You nod shyly looking away as you fiddle with the end of your skirt. She catches that, flicking your hands away, replacing them with hers. “You wear this for me? I like it, looks really good on you sweetheart.”

God the pet name, her hands on you, on your clothes. Her compliments, she has you melting. “I wore it for you Abby.” You say looking at her, she looks up from your legs to your eyes. She smiles, rubbing your cheeks, keeping one hand on your thigh. “God you’re adorable, I got you blushing already.” She takes her hand off your cheek and takes a sip of her drink.

“What made you want to talk to me?” She says as she rubs her thumb on your engulfed thigh. You’re fighting to not squeeze your thighs together. You look at her lips, and her eyes then respond. “You’re pretty, I mean you’re hot, you’re intimidating it’s attractive.” You say. She nods, humming a response to you.

“Well, I thought about how fucking cute you’d look with my head between your thighs.” She said it so innocently, her hand moving up under your skirt, you couldn’t handle it your trap her hand by squeezing your thighs together.

She clicks her tongue at you tapping your thigh with her free thumb for you to open your legs. You submit to her order, opening your legs for her. Her finger grazes your clothed clit, your panties wet from her teasing. You look at her and finally respond. “I’d like that, alot.” Your cheeks were burning up, your whole body was burning up with need.

She leans in closer to you, whispering into your ear. “You’re so perfect, so fucking ready for me, so beautiful.” A whine falls out of your mouth, uncontrollably. Her fingers continue dancing from your clit to your slit, teasing you no, torturing you.

You place one elbow on the table, the other gripping Abby’s thigh, you were dripping onto your skirt it was unbearable. You finally mutter out exactly what you need to say.

“I need you Abby, I need you.” You say. She pulls her hand away, awwing in response, turning your head towards hers with a grip on your chin. She smiles and shakes her head. “Ask nicely beautiful.” You lick your lips and nod. “I need you please, please Abby.

She lets go of your face, standing up and holding out a hand for you, you take it letting her pull you up out of the booth. Your legs were weak, even trembling, she noticed this and smirked at you.

She drove the two of you to her apartment, so fucking close to yours, her hand on your thigh the whole way there, her glances never made you blush any less each time. She parks her car and guides you up to her apartment with your hand clutched all the way there.

She unlocks her door, leading you in first, she walks in behind you, and kicks off her shoes. She grabs you, pushing you against the door connecting your lips with hers, locking the door with one hand, the other wrapped around your waist.

She pulls away, looking at you with those lustful blue eyes, they looked much brighter when you first met her but now there's nothing darker. She locks lips with you picking you up and carrying you towards her bedroom, her hands full of ass.

She’s mirroring your whimpers into the kiss with grunts, your arms wrapped around her neck. As she enters the bedroom with your legs wrapped around her, you fiddle with her braid, undoing it and running your fingers through the loose strands.

She throws you down onto the bed, the plush duvet sinking behind your back. Your quick breaths are loud in the quiet room, Abby stares are you eating you up with her eyes. “What do you want beautiful?” she says to you, stripping her jeans off revealing her grey boxer briefs, a wet spot that catches your eye. Apparently, you're not the only one worked up.

When you don't respond she hums a “hmm?” to you pulling you from your thoughts. “I want you, I want to feel you everywhere Abby.” A quiet grunt comes from the back of her throat. She leans to you, putting her knees on the bed and caging you in with her arms. She kisses you, her tongue tangled with yours. She pulls away to strip her shirt from her body, tossing it aside.

You admire her body, stripped from her tight t-shirt her muscles look even bigger. She places your hands on her shoulders pulling your shirt off. She leans down to unhook your bra and kisses you.

She scans your body, her eyes make you want her even more. She kisses your lips, pushing her knee in between your thighs applying the perfect amount of friction as she moves to make out with you.

She kisses down your bare chest sucking purple spots all the way down your stomach, your neck to your hips littered in hickeys. “So fucking good for me.” She mutters out as she flips the hem of your skirt up onto your stomach. She kisses the inside of your thighs, whines and whimpers falling out of your mouth with need.

She leaves marks leading up to your panties, now even wetter with want. She pushes them to the side, taking a quick lick and sucking on your clit then looking up at you. Her eyes, her face from the angle could make you cum right there and then.

“You taste so fucking good beautiful.” You were melting. She attaches her mouth back to your clit spiralling circles with her tongue, holding your hips down with one hand.

She rubs your hip as you fight to ride her face, take control. She sucks your clit and pushes two fingers inside, filling you so well. Her fingers found places inside you, you never knew existed.

Her tongue quickens it's pace as so does her fingers pumping in and out of you. Moans fall from the back of your throat, you can hear Abby’s grunts vibrating against your clit.

She disconnects her mouth, pumping and curling her fingers to the perfect spot at a brutal pace, she looks up at you, arched back gripping the blanket. “Such a good fucking girl.” Her praises push you over the edge. She connects her lips back pulling you quickly to your climax. You look down to her, as your thoughts dissapear.

You pulse all over her fingers, and she pulls them out, kissing your thigh. She looks back at you, as she sucks you off her fingers. “So good sweetheart, so goddamn good.” She crawls her back up to your lips kissing you gently.

She whispers into your ear. “You make such pretty noises for a slut.” That shocked you, after all those praises, she degraded you. It had you ready for round two all in eight words.

She lays next to you, looking you up and down. “Want a drink?” She asks.

You nod, she gets up tossing you her t-shirt and a fresh pair of underwear from her drawer, a pair of black boxers. They were loose resting on your hips as the shirt went to mid thighs.

She walks out of the room, and you follow her sitting on the couch as she pulls a bottle of dark liquor from her bar cart. You lay down, she sits down placing your legs on top of hers passing you the drink. She tucks her hair behind her ear and looks at you, placing her hand on your thigh.

“Wanna stay the night?”

A/N: AHHHH I wrote this really fast if there are any spelling mistakes/ grammar mistakes LOOK AWAY. I love Abby thank you.

[moonstruckme]

Hii! I love your fics so much and I was wonder if you could do a emt marauders fix where the reader gets a concussion? I just got another one and it’s really taken a toll on me. (Again, I love your work SO MUCH!! It’s so comforting!!)

Hi my sweetheart! I'm so sorry, I swear I highlighted emt marauders when I was writing this request but somehow along the way I seemed to forget that it was supposed to be the au, I hope this is still alright (I'm very down to do another for emt specifically if you would like)! And I really hope you're doing okay!! Concussions are so rough, I hope your recovery is going well <3

cw: concussion

poly!marauders x fem!reader ♡ 1.1k words

Sirius wakes to shushing sounds from down the hall. Bright sunlight has snuck in through the cracks in the blinds, laying itself down in slats across the bed. He’s laying nearly sideways with no one else to shove him away, one of his feet dangling off the side of the mattress and his head on the opposite pillow. 

He gets up though his body doesn’t want to, following hushed voices into the living room. The curtains are drawn closed here, too, though it’s light enough for Sirius to make you both out clearly, you sitting on the couch and Remus with your hands in his, speaking to you in a hushed voice while slow tears dribble off your chin. 

“Hey.” Sirius’ voice betrays his lethargy, but you don’t seem to notice. You look up with shiny eyes as he steps into the room. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” 

The answer takes time to come to you. Sirius isn’t sure if you’re searching for the words or if your thoughts are just evading you as they have been since you got hurt, but his heart twinges when your brows bunch in concentration. 

Remus only looks at you steadily. He’s been the most patient with you; Sirius and James both have the urge to guess at the ends to your sentences when you get stuck, but Remus only waits, letting you parse it out in your own time. 

“I’m sad. Frustrated,” you decide, though you look more glum than angry. You sniff. “I want to be better already.” 

Sirius nods in both understanding and sympathy, going to sit behind you on the couch. He knows Remus isn’t the most tactile, but it kills him to see you with your shoulders shaking and no arms wrapped around them. He’s quick to remedy this.

“We were playing cards,” Remus explains in his quiet way (a way Sirius has been trying to mimic to accommodate your sound sensitivity, though it doesn’t come easily to him), “and she just got a bit upset when she didn’t remember whether aces were high or low.” 

Sirius tsks, nosing at your cheek. “That’s common enough, darling. It can go either way.” 

“That’s what I said,” Remus tells him. His thumbs carve twin paths up the sides of your palms. “It hardly matters, I’m happy to play with them high or low.” 

“I just wish I knew like usual,” you say, though you already seem to be calming. Your voice has taken on that distant quality again. It still sounds like you, just a tad dazed, like when you first wake up in the mornings. 

Sirius rubs up and down your shoulder, pressing his lips to the side of your chin. He can’t imagine it’s comfortable, feeling so unlike yourself. Worse to know it’s not changing soon. You hit your head a few days ago, and it’ll probably be some time until you feel completely normal again. 

Sirius has been told he can be dramatic, but when you’d fallen he honestly thought for a second that you were dead, you were so still. In the pandemonium of sirens and doctors and waiting rooms that had followed, James and Remus each took a bit of time to process things, get their emotions in order, but Sirius has never been able to cry in public. When they finally got to take you home, he’d gotten in the shower and cried so hard he thought he’d throw up. He’s honestly not sure if he’s ever been so terrified in his life. After you got into bed that night he’d hugged you so hard you’d called him James, and your boyfriends had all laughed before they realized you weren’t joking. 

He and Remus hold you in silence for some time. None of you seem to mind. Sirius is still too sleepy to get bored, you’re presumably too concussed, and Remus is still Remus. He can look at the two of you all day and never need a diversion. 

The room seems to come alive when James gets home, not only because of his sparkling personality but also because he lets in a bunch of sunlight and a cacophony of street noise with him. 

“Hello, my loves,” he says, adjusting his volume halfway through the sentence. He shuts the door behind him with care, dropping his rugby bag onto the floor with far less. “How are we doing?” 

“I’m doing horrible,” Sirius says, though it’s obvious he was really only asking about you. “I haven’t had anything to eat yet today.” 

“You have just woken up,” Remus points out with a droll look, but James indulges him. 

He sets a big hand on Sirius’ head and kisses between his own fingers. He smells like dirt and sweat, gross on anyone else but hot when it’s him. James gives you the same treatment next, palm stroking down the back of your head protectively. 

“You alright, lovie?” he murmurs. 

You hum. “Why?” 

“Nothing.” His eyes slide to Sirius, a question in them. “You look as though you might’ve had a cry, that’s all.” 

“Water under the bridge,” Sirius assures him, giving you a firm squeeze. “We’re all good now, just very hungry and in need of someone to make sandwiches for lunch. Right, baby?” 

You nod amenably, but Remus fixes you with a curious look. 

“Are you hungry, dove?” he asks. 

You take some time to mull this over. Sirius bites the inside of his lip to restrain himself, and he can see James doing the same to his cheek. It’s a good thing that you’re taking such a thorough inventory of yourself, he supposes, but it’s agonizing to watch how much effort it takes you. After a while, you say, “I think so.” 

Remus nods. “Alright. We had a snack a bit ago, but if you’re hungry you should eat. I can make sandwiches,” he shoots Sirius a teasing look as he starts to stand, “since I’m not in the habit of taking advantage of those who’ve just got home from training.” 

“No, sit.” James urges Remus back down with a hand on his shoulder, squeezing fondly. “I’ve got it, I’m on an adrenaline roll right now anyway. Egg and cress all around?” 

“Yes, please,” Remus says. You echo a moment later. 

Sirius can’t seem to detach himself from you, which isn’t unusual but has been worse since your injury. He dots kisses along the edge of your jaw to amuse himself. 

“Are you feeling tired?” Remus asks you. “You haven’t had a nap yet today.” 

Sirius waits for the inevitable joke about your nursing home schedule, but it doesn’t come. You must not be feeling up to it. 

You shrug, mumbling, “I’m okay.” 

“Have a nap with me after lunch,” Sirius says. “I’m knackered, and I could use a cuddle buddy.” 

You make a confused humming sound. “Were you just asleep?” 

“I was,” he admits readily. “And it’ll be even better the second time around, with you there.” 

[scarlethexelove]

Death Dealer

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ!ᴋᴀᴛᴇ ʙɪꜱʜᴏᴘ x ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 1712

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: ꜱᴍᴜᴛ, ᴊᴇᴀʟᴏᴜꜱ!ᴋᴀᴛᴇ, ᴘᴏꜱꜱᴇꜱꜱɪᴠᴇ!ᴋᴀᴛ, ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴀ ʙɪᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴀ ʙʀᴀᴛ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀᴛᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴅᴀᴅᴅʏ ᴋɪɴᴋ, ꜱᴛʀᴀᴘ-ᴏɴ ᴜꜱᴇ, ʀᴏᴜɢʜ ꜱᴇx, ᴘᴜʙʟɪᴄ ꜱᴇx, ᴍᴀʀᴋɪɴɢ, ʙɪᴛɪɴɢ, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴅʀɪɴᴋɪɴɢ, ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ ʙᴏɴᴅ, ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ.

ᴀ/ɴ: ꜱᴏ ɪ ᴅᴇꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇʟʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴡᴀʏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴏɴᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀꜱ. ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴡʜᴏʟᴇ ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ ʟᴏʀᴇ. ɢᴏᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ ᴀ ʙɪᴛ ᴅɪꜰꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴛ. ɪ ᴍᴀʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜱᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ʟᴏʀᴇ. ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ!ᴋᴀᴛᴇ. ᴀɴʏ ᴡʜᴏ ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ.

NO ONE IS PERMITTED TO STEAL, COPY, OR REBLOG MY WORK AS THEIR OWN

A body presses up against your back, hands laying firm on your waist. Normally you would pull away from strangers but your girlfriend is late so you figured why not have a little fun. With the hands on your hips you sway together to the rhythm. Your arms stretched out above your head as your hips sway and grind back into the girl behind you. 

“You’re really beautiful.” A low and sultry voice says in your ear over the music. You can feel her hot breath as it fans over your neck sending a shiver down your spine. 

“So my girlfriend says.” You have to yell a little over the music. The interaction with the girl becomes a game. You know Kate won’t be happy but what’s the harm. 

“I don’t see anyone here.” Her grip tightens on your hips pulling you flush against her. 

“Mmm she’s late but she won’t be happy to see this when she gets here.” You smile to yourself. 

“I can take her.” You can’t help but chuckle at the girl's confidence. 

“I doubt that sweetheart but I would love to see you try. The only reason I’m letting you so close is because I want to make her jealous.” 

The girl behind you growls but before she can speak again you feel her body being pulled away. You turn around and see Kate holding the girl up off the ground with one hand by the collar of her shirt. “Why are you all up on my girlfriend?” Kate's voice comes out rough. The girl looks at you and you shrug your shoulders, a smirk playing on your lips. “Don’t look at her, look at me.” Kate demands of the girl. Her head snaps to look at Kate. “Don’t you ever touch my girlfriend again. Don’t think I won’t kill you.” Kate’s eyes flash a vibrant purple making the girl in her hold tremble. “Do I make myself clear?” Kate’s voice is dangerously low which only stands to turn you on. The girl furiously nods her head and Kate lets her go. As soon as her feet hit the ground she is running out of the club.

Vampires are known to exist but they are few and far between. So when a vampire reveals themself to a human it is normally used to instill fear in them. You cross your arms across your chest and roll your eyes. “Katie what was that for?” 

Kate stalks closer to you gripping your hips. “You’re mine Y/n. What was that hmm? Being a slut for what?” She growls out. Her stair and grip are unrelenting on your body. 

“I was just dancing and she came up behind me. I told her I have a girlfriend.” You tell her nonchalantly. You want to play into this. Enjoying how much it gets on the nerves of your girlfriend. 

“I saw you grinding up against her. Hmm you want my attention sweet girl, is that it?” Her voice is low, and your resolve crumbles. 

“Y-yes.” You stutter out. Kate has this ability to combat any thoughts of bratting out from you. You never seem to make it very far with her, but you don’t entirely mind that either. 

Kate’s eyes darken as she releases your hips and grabs one of your arms dragging you through the crowd of people. You’re honestly surprised none of them stopped for the whole confrontation, but they’re all probably high on drugs or drunk. She pulls you through the crowd towards a side fire exit. She flings the door open pulling you outside. 

The alleyway is dimly lit with a light that flickers. Surprisingly, it isn’t too dirty along the brick walls. You can barely see the sidewalks from where you two are. 

Before you know it Kate is pushing you against the brick wall across from the door. Her solid body flush against your back. You can feel the undeniable bulge pressed against your ass. You can feel her cold breath fan over your ear. “You want to whore yourself out, I'm going to show you exactly who you belong to. Let them all know that you are mine.” You feel a gush of arousal at your girlfriend's possessiveness. 

Kate pushes your skirt up around your hips. She grabs the waistband of your panties, pulling and ripping it. You shiver as the colder air meets your wet folds. You can feel as she breathes in deeply. “ You smell so fucking good sweet girl.” A shiver rolls down your spine. You push back into her wanting her to hurry up. “Already so wet for me and I haven’t barely touched you. Such a perfect little whore for me aren’t you baby.” 

You nod vigorously. “Yes Daddy.” You breathe out. “Please.” You whine as Kate keeps a strong hold on your hips. 

“Hmm do you deserve my cock baby?” You whimper and nod. 

“Yes please Daddy. M’sorry for letting that girl touch me. I’m all yours.” You plead with the Vampire pressed against you. 

Kate smirks at you. “I love when you beg for me.” She takes pity on you stepping back slightly before pulling her pants and boxes down in one swift motion. You feel as the strap slaps against your ass. You can’t help but grind back against her. 

Kate lines the strap up with your entrance before thrusting herself fully into you. You let out a choked moan. She doesn’t give you time to adjust to the stretch as she starts jackhammering her hips into yours. You have to brace yourself against the wall so your face doesn’t scrape against the wall. Small little rocks from the brinks dig into the skin of your palms. The pain mixes with the pleasure. 

Your moans bounce off the walls as Kate thrust her hips into yours. “Fuck.” Kate grunts. Her fingers digging into your hips sure to leave bruises behind. She pulls herself back just far enough to watch as her strap disappears inside of you, a moan tumbling from her lips at the sight. “This pussy was made for my cock.” She punctuates each word with a thrust. 

“Da-Daddy so… good.” You pant as you try keeping yourself up as your legs start to feel like jello. The bricks continue to dig into your palms starting to cut into the skin with her rough thrust. A whimper escaping your lips from the combination of pain in your hands and the pleasure in between your legs. 

What you don’t see behind you is Kate’s eyes flashing purple as she smells the blood of your palms. An animalistic desire burning inside of her. Her fangs popping out. She leans forward scraping the tips against the sensitive flesh of your neck. You let out a moan as she sucks harshly on your skin and her hips speed up. 

Kate starts to litter marks across the skin of your neck and shoulders. Leaving reddish purple marks behind, covering your skin. “Mine.” She growls against your neck. “Only mine.” She lets her fangs sink into the sensitive flesh. Blood pours into her mouth as sucks at the wound. 

“Ah-ahhh.” You whimper. Feeling as Kate drinks from you for the first time. Her inhuman strength holds you tightly against her as she thrust hard into you. She continues to drink from you as she brings you closer to the edge. Your head gets fuzzy from loss of blood and overwhelming pleasure. “Daddy, too-too much.” You whine.

Fangs retract from your neck as Kate licks over the blood drops from the wound. “Sorry baby I can’t help myself when you’re so delicious and all mine. No one will ever touch you again.” She mumbles against your skin as one of her hands moves from your hips up around your neck. She wraps her hand around your neck and squeezes lightly. The other hand moves down your stomach and swipes through your folds finding its place on your clit. She pushes down eliciting a scream that is trapped in your throat from her grip. “You’re mine now, pretty girl.” 

Kate had explained before that if she were to drink from you and doesn’t kill you that it would form a bond. A bond that is unbreakable unless one of you dies. She is just as much your as you are hers. A bond that is not formed often.

“Ye-Yes Daddy yours.” You moan as you push back, meeting her thrust. Your body feels on fire as the bond connects you and the pleasure builds. The knot tightens as it is closer to snapping and you falling over the edge. Your walls tighten around her strap as her hand tightens around your neck and she circles around your clit. “Please.” You breathe as you feel about ready to fall over the edge. 

Kate angels her hips perfectly, hitting that spot deep inside of you with each stroke. “You wanna cum like my pretty little whore? Coat my cock with your cum hmmm. Do it. Fucking cum on my cock.” Her voice is low, dripping with desire. 

Your body trembles in her hold as she squeezes your throat and rubs your nub. Your walls suck her in as your orgasm washes over you. Your hands reach anywhere you can, grabbing at her. A moan squeaks by as you coat her strap in your cum. “Fu-Fuck Daddy.”

Kate continues to rut her hips into yours riding you through your orgasm. Your legs giving out under you, her strong arms keeping you against her. Her hips come to a slow stop as she kisses any part of your skin that she has access to. “Good girl. Such a good girl for me.” She mumbles against you. You hum as you lean back into her. “I love you so much Y/n.” 

“I love you too Katie.” You pant slightly. 

Kate pulls her strap out of you slowly so as not to hurt you. She pulls her boxers and pants back up, tucking the strap back in. She grabs you and tosses you over her shoulder making you squeak. “Time to continue this at home. I’m nowhere near done with you.” She slaps your ass that's hanging over her shoulder as she walks you two out of the alleyway.

[mynameisjag]

Quick Prompt: Wanting What Someone Else Has.

Scott finds out about the new Logan, Wade doesn't care about Scott's problems. Logan isn't even aware.

Wade stared at Scott.

Scott stared at Wade.

At least the mercenary assumed he was, kind of hard to tell, you know…with the glasses…

He’d give him a point for managing to get the drop on him though, showed up late enough not to be any help, early enough were they hadn’t left the mark's disgustingly beige mansion.

It looked better with the splashes of red everywhere.

Even the boring ass, uncomfortable lounges that they were sitting on, looked better with the splatter.

Cyclops was sitting on the less messy one, so maybe he didn’t agree or he just choose that one because then they could just sit and stare at each other face to face.

“Where’s Logan?”

“Better question, how are you alive? This better not be some multiverse MCU bullshit.”

Logan was probably eating his fill in the kitchen, the owners pervert party was catered and why leave and get underwhelming fast food when there was free rich fucks food that was going to go to waste anyway.

Lo had talked about his…hunting trips…sometimes, always on the move, always going from target to target, that at one point it was just sensible to eat what was there, rest, take what was need and move on. Considering how most of the fucks he went after were people of high importance, government jobs or just rich assholes, their was always alcohol, fancy foods, and wallets that no one noticed was gone till it was too late.

So this current hit was just another day for the feral.

Scott’s Logan was more man then his, could easily be mistaken for just another human without powers.

Wade’s though, his had lost himself to the calling of his inner animal and became it as he hunted those that had hurt his family. Body changing to its new needs, becoming the human predator he needed to be.

Logan hated it, hated what his body became, his behavior, his instincts, everything that changed, he hated it all. He spent so long trying to fit the profile others had tried to shove him into that losing himself to what was himself was a failure in his eyes. A shameful failure.

It wasn’t true of course and they were working on that, both supporting each other because they both were so fucked up but at least they were fucked up together.

Wade talked to the air and the millions of eyes that watched them, Logan would snarl and make more animal sounds then use his voice at times.

The merc highly doubted the X-men, at least this version, were going to be able to handle his Wolverine.

“There’s no dog for you to collar here, laser pointer, so why don’t you make your way back to whoever else has found the well of life in that mansion and fuck off.”

Seemed like he might have hit a nerve as that frown somehow got deeper, “I’m here for my friend.”

“You’re a good couple of states away from your Wolverine’s grave, can get you an Uber there if your that directionally challenged.”

“We know he is here, with you-“

“-Nope! Again, you have eye issues not hearing, your-hear that strain on that-your Logan is dead.” Deadpool reached forward to grab a drink he had set on the end table earlier before getting interrupted, “speaking of dead, you still haven’t answered how you’re still kicking around.”

“Your life isn’t the only one that involves time travels.”

“Oh, good, just the normal X-men bullshit then, should we be expecting the other Logan then?”

“No…he is still…gone…his body, or what we can find of it, is now resting back at the mansion…not all of us are back.”

“Oooh, I probably should have put that puzzle back together before jumping…everyone is still on the fence on whether or not old Wolves would have gotten a kick out of me playing Ninja Warrior with his tibias?”

“And what does that mean?”

“Ignore it and my little chats with the “gremlins” as Honey Bunny puts it, now, I’m going to guess you thought if you couldn’t have one, you figured you could take mine? Did Daddy Professor not drill in manners in all of that training, it’s rude to take other people’s stuff.”

“He isn’t your ‘stuff’, you don’t know how to handle him.”

At that precise moment, Logan ran past in the background, on all fours and a chunk of meat in his mouth, the merc was glad that Cyclops couldn’t follow his line of sight because of the mask. Cause all the red head had to do was slightly turn his head and he would see the man he was searching for bounding upstairs like an overly excited puppy with a new toy.

Either the man found fresh grade A steak or he had decided that some one smelled delicious and took a chuck. 50 50 chance on either option really and at least the blood was everywhere here instead of back in the apartment.

Al was less likely to complain when she didn’t slip and slide through puddles of blood.

“Handle him? Scottie too Hottie!”, at this point he lifts his mask enough to sip at the drink in his hand, grimacing at the flavor, how did they make fruit soda taste bad, “ugh, high society tastes are awful,” he wiggles the can at the other man, “want it?”

“No.”

“Don’t blame you, I can how ever blame you for thinking that for some shit reason that Lobunny, wait fuck that’s a Pokémon, Lo Bun Bun, is unable to think for himself and that I somehow can stop him from going wherever he wants to go.”

“He hasn’t came home, yet, if he was able to go-“

“That place isn’t his home, you are not his X-men, he is not a replacement, well, he is an anchor being replacement but not a ‘pick up where the last Logan left off’ replacement. So what ever regrets or amends you wanted to have, they should be aimed at the grave and not the man you wished was the one you lost,” Deadpool threw the can over the others head, before flipping over the couch he was on, landing on his feet and giving double finger guns at the X-man before the can could hit the wall, “well, good chat, but we gotta go!”

Scott was standing up now, face serious and ready to counter argue when flashing lights from outside reflected in the windows, sirens coming closer, “is that the police?”

“Yeah!,” now the mercenary was opening a window, hanging halfway out of it as he made grabby hands at something above him, “hope you got a ride,” blue colored gloves grabbed his red ones and he was yanked out and upward, “tootles!”

Scott took a deep breath, calming himself down before turning and heading toward his own escape.

He’ll try another day.

[azrielslostshadow]

lemon tart

word count: 1297

azriel x gn!reader

authors note: azriel is cute when he panics. cassian loves to mess with him too. look out for future parts!

pt.2, pt.3

taglist: @andrewgarfield2022 

azriel was gonna kill cassian. 

how could the general of the night court, the man responsible for the high lords' armies actually be so forgetful?

cassian told him it was something about a new mating bond, which azriel knew was ridiculous, cassian and nesta have been mated for 100 years already. he probably just wanted to sleep in with his wife, something azriel figured he would also want if he knew what it was like to be mated to someone. 

either way, he was still pissed off. 

it was also unbelievable that the only thing feyre wanted to eat during her second pregnancy were lemon tarts. lemon tarts specifically from the new bakery the high lady was obsessed with, Lemon Dreams. 

she could have anything in the world and she chooses lemon tarts?

azriel was really reconsidering how he felt about his High Lady. 

he supposed the place was cute… in a country farmish sort of way. it wasn’t really his style, but he supposed he could see the appeal. calming jazz played in the background, while daisies were lay scattered across dark wood counters, and the coffee and berry aroma’s filled the air. it seemed so out of place compared to the dark blue’s, purples, and blacks that normally filled the spaces of velaris’ cafes. 

“anything you’re looking for specifically?” a voice broke out from behind the counter and azriel’s heart fell to his feet. 

there you stood, bright and beautiful and smiling up at him, and oh gods you were beautiful… and speaking right at him! what did you say again? “huh? oh sorry, i-i just completely zoned out, what were you saying again?”

You blinked at him once… twice… and then you giggled at him and azriel thought that if could bottle it up and carry it with him, he might never have to go to majda for healing ever again. 

“its okay. must just be one of those days right?” you clearly carried the sunshine in your smile, otherwise the shadowsinger wouldn’t have to turn away when you made eye contact. 

“yeah,” was he actually out of breath right now? great mother, he was pathetic.

you made your way further down the counter before turning to him again, “so are you looking for something specific?”

“yeah, my friend she wanted a couple of lemon tarts? you have those right?”

“which ones was she looking for?”

“which one?” azriel was confused. isn’t there only one kind of lemon tart?

“yeah, i have lemon-mint, lemon-berry, original, lemon and cream, and i can make specialty tarts for future orders if she’s looking for something in the future.”

it was then that azriel realized why this bakery was called Lemon Dreams. the display trays were filled with lemon desserts. “wow, uh sorry. i didn’t realize that there were so many kinds of lemon tarts… original i guess?”

“original?” 

“yeah! that should work… i hope?”

“hmm…” you started, “who’s it for?”

“what?” there was no way you could know who wanted this lemon tart! velaris is a busy city, you could hardly ever know all the people in your own neighborhood. 

“is she a regular? i remember all of my customers.”

“all of them?”

“every single one! just give me a hint, i think i could figure it out.”

azriel pondered for a moment. it wasn’t like he was putting the high lady a risk… if she really came here so often you probably knew her. and you looked terribly cute, with those hopeful eyes staring into his, “she’s pregnant.”

“feyre?” 

he blinked.

you clapped your hands together, lit up and full of joy, “seriously? i almost thought i was gonna get it wrong!”

“how- how could you possibly know that?” he was shocked. there had to be many pregnant faes who loved lemon tarts!

“i’ve never met someone so passionate about lemon tarts quite like our high lady.” you began pulling various lemon tarts into a bag, nodding towards his left, “she made me that painting right there.”

azriel turned to see a painting of a field of lemon trees under the night sky. it looked exactly like the work he had seen in feyre’s studio a few weeks before. “i didn’t realize you two knew each other.”

“she says this place inspires her. sometimes she brings her sketchbooks and drinks tea in here for hours.”

“really?” 

“oh yeah! honestly, i think she does it to try and get more people in here. i was kind of dying before she started coming around.” 

“really? but it's so… peaceful here.” azriel couldn’t imagine people not wanting to be in this bakery. he wanted to be in here all the time (mostly just to see you smile but regardless he wanted to be there). 

“it’s not very night courtly is it though? i mean that’s fine! but i can see why some might be hesitant to stop by. for you?”

azriel realized you had probably been waiting for him to add to the order, but he couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to see you smile again, “what’s your favorite?”

“my favorite?”

“yeah. i’ll take whatever you like the most.”

your eyes light up, “cake or pastry?”

“pastry now, cake next time.” azriel couldn’t even believe the words coming out of his mouth. 

“lemon danish?”

“is it your favorite?”

“today it is.”

“it changes?”

“every day.”

“well then, i guess i might need to come back and see what else is good?”

you handed him the bag of lemon-flavored treats, “you should.” azriel reached in his pocket to pay you but you stopped him before he could, grabbing his hand and moving it away from his pocket and towards his chest, “it's on the house.”

“what? no. i should-”

“any friend of feyre’s is a friend of mine. you can pay next time.” before azriel could argue any more, you had already walked back into the kitchen leaving him alone at the counter. still he dropped a rather large bill in your tip jar, determined to pay. 

---------

he walked back to the house of wind with a smile on his face, only for it to be replaced by a scowl when he saw cassian and nesta lounging on the couches with the rest of the inner circle. 

“you’re late, brother.” 

“cas if you don’t shut it i’ll rip your wings off.”

cassian visibly flinched at the threat, but still looked toward the bag of goodies, “whatcha get for me?”

“nothing,” azriel slapped his hand away, “you’re not pregnant are you?”

“i could be if you loved me more.” 

the group erupted into laughter as he handed the bag to the high lady, “for you, sister.”

she began digging through the bag, “thanks, az! i can’t tell you how much i’ve been craving these.”

“it’s all she asks for.” sighed rhys, voice tired from his mate’s antics and new love of lemon tarts.

“oh, what's this?” feyre lifted a pastry into the air.

“mine. sorry, i forgot to take it out.”

“is that a lemon danish?” mor exclaimed, entirely perplexed as to why the shadowsinger knowingly purchased a treat, let alone a lemon-flavored one. 

nesta scowled, “why are you freaking out over a lemon danish?”

“because azriel hates lemons?”

“you hate lemons?” asked, feyre.

“he’s hated lemons for as long as i can remember!” cassian jumped up, “cute cashier or something?”

“i like lemons!” argued azriel. 

cassian just gave him a look, “then take a bite.”

“fine!” the shadowsinger argued, before sinking his teeth into the treat, immediately regretting the decision. It was entirely too sweet, too sour, and just not at all something he liked. His face twisted, clearly not enjoying the dessert, while his brothers cackled at his misfortune. “i hate you both.”

[sinsinsininning]

A little bit softer

Chapter 1.

Eustass Kid x crew mate!fem!reader

Thinking of Kid who acts a little bit softer around you.

He’s still loud and moody and argumentative, he still throws things and breaks his projects when something goes wrong. But with you, he eases up, steadies himself before flying off the handle.

TW: Kid being himself, past DV, can one typical violence, eventual smut, smutty thoughts

Reader isn’t overly described in this chapter but I wrote this with a short, chubby reader in mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you first joined, you were the smallest out of the 5 rookies taken on, but you had great aim as a sniper and had already served on a different ship. Kid had been reluctant to take on ‘sloppy seconds’ (Killer had to explain that’s not what that term meant), but your skills were valuable and you didn’t trip over your own feet like the others. Eventually the group was whittled down to just you and one other rookie.

At the start you were like any other rookie, eager to spend time with the higher members of the crew, Kid being no exception. You were bold and even asked to show him your schematics for your dream sniper gun, asking to borrowing some of his tools to make it. Kid enjoyed the attention, preening as you and the others watched him train his devil fruit powers, stars in your eyes. He hadn’t meant to, but looking back, he’d been on his better behavior around you.

Kid spent a lot of time in his workshop, but every time he ventured out it seemed you were EVERYWHERE. Helping Killer cook lunch, repairing the ship with Wire, cleaning up the med bay with Heat. Anytime he came around a corner you were there, your eyes would light up at the sight of him, excitedly greeting your captain with an enthusiasm that rivaled Quincy’s.

But a few weeks after you joined the crew, he has his worst episode in a longtime. After a stand off with some Marines, the Victoria Punk had some serious damage, they had to rush to the port they’d just left and the cost of the repairs were pretty high. He hadn’t meant to hit Wire, but a pipe aimed at the railing ricocheting to strike the tall man on the side of the head harshly, your shocked face broke him out of his tantrum and he vacated quickly. He’d found out later you’d been the one to stitch Wire up.

Afterwards, he caught you talking with Killer, still brand new and unsure how to handle such an ‘unstable captain’. Killer reassured you that Kid meant no harm, he couldn’t see your face, but he could hear your whispered confession.

“That’s what my last captain said.”

Normally being compared to another man, let alone another captain, in any way would send him into a fit. But he held back as Killer tried to comfort you -as much as a pirate can comfort another pirate- and it seemed to cheer you up.

Your behavior changed around him though, you flinched when he shouted in anger -different from his normally loud voice- and you made yourself scarce when he was arguing with someone. You still did all your work, much more efficient than other rookies, and you were getting close with the senior crew members. Wire and Hip particularly liked you, and while Heat thought you were too soft, he still humored you with card games and fire tricks after dinner.

Kid felt like he had a ghost as a crew member, he’d walk into a room, his gaze zeroing in on you, then he’d blink and poof you’d be gone. No one else seemed to noticed, he tried listening in before entering rooms, no one spoke with you or each other about it. It’s not like he really needed to speak with you, Killer was the delegator of chores and unless there were strategy meetings he didn’t really need to speak with a sniper on a daily basis.

But he wanted to. And that was the worst part.

He wanted you around, looking at him like he was the greatest thing you’d even seen. He wanted your soft, teasing voice around, even though you never actually teased him, he still liked it when you wound up Reck or Dive with your wit. He wanted to watch you as you lost yourself in whatever task you were doing, no matter how mundane.

Quickly his thoughts turned to other ways he wanted you. He wanted you in his bed every night. He wanted you riding him after a long day. He wanted you squealing as he fucked you up against the wall. He wanted you sitting on his face, embarrassed but still cuming as he tasted you. He wanted you cock warming him in his workshop as he finished up projects.

It was driving him insane, making his mind work overtime as he tried to squash these desires down.

It got worse when you’d gotten more established, about 6 months into your life here. You still avoided him, and did a damn good job of hiding it, but every now and again he’d be nearby and could hear you tease your crew mates. No scratch that, you were flirting, maybe that wasn’t your intent but it sure sounded like flirting to him.

“Hip if you wanted to have alone time with me you could just say it.” Said as the blond woman yanked you away from lunch.

“Awww Wire, you didn’t have to dress up for me.” Said as the tall man arrived in a new outfit.

“Makes sense why they call you Heat, cause you’re hot.” Ok that one was to get Heat to break his concentration and lose at poker, but still!

You were avoiding him, your captain, and flirting with everyone else. Even Killer got a line about how you prefer blondes- said only so you’d get a second helping of dessert, which didn’t work but you tried. Kid was trying so hard to not show his struggles, but it was becoming obvious. To everyone but you that is.

Killer had tried to speak with him, to ask what his problem with you was, but Kid just shoved him away. He almost threw a punch, but the image of your scared face after Wire was struck kept him at bay. This didn’t go unnoticed by his first mate of course, but it was misinterpreted. Killer asked if Kid wanted to dismiss you and try to find a new sniper, but Kid shouted no before he could finish speaking.

That alerted the masked man to what was really bothering his captain. He wanted to laugh, Kid hadn’t shown any interest in dating since… well since Victoria. It made sense he was a little rusty.

Kid left before they could finish talking, but Killer made a point to have you regularly help serve the crew during meals forcing you to talk to the captain. He also saved you a spot beside him to eat, making sure you were as close to Kid’s chair as possible. The rest of the crew caught on soon as well, watching their captain clam up and blush, while you kept your eyes on your plate.

The entire crew tried to force the two of you into contact daily. Dive would ask you to get tools from Kid to help her make repairs. Hip and Hop would ask you to spar with them whenever Kid was on deck. Wire convinced you to let him alter some of your clothes to match the punk rock aesthetic more, you were excited until he paraded you in front of Kid and Killer. Kid was red faced as Wire demanded critiques on the clothes you were modeling, though you assumed it was from anger and quickly escaped the situation.

Heat was probably the only one who didn’t interfere, so you ended up spending most of your time with him. Of course that didn’t stop him from commenting on the situation.

“So what, you got a little crush on the captain,” he said breezily on day over drinks at a bar on shore. “Happens all the time.” You nearly spat out your drink.

“What? No I don’t!” You coughed out, he patted you roughly on the back. “Please don’t tell me people actually think that about me and Kid?!” Your face was red as you thought of the crew’s strange new habit of forcing you around the captain. Who was sat nearby in a booth, nursing a beer with Killer, hearing his name he strained to listen.

“You don’t? Oh, I thought that’s why everyone’s been trying to get y’all alone together.” He seemed genuinely confused, but shrugged and drank again willing to let the conversation pass. You however weren’t done.

“I have no idea why everyone’s acting weird. I thought it was maybe like hazing ya know?”

“Nah that’s at the beginning, you barely even noticed the shit we hazed you with.” He grinned, then got serious again. “So you really don’t like him like that?”

“No why would I?” You stared at him, Kid winced a little at that. “I’m honestly terrified of him, I never know when he’s gonna fly off the handle. Half the time I’m around him I’m wondering when he’s gonna just up and hit me.” Your eyes got misty and you fought back tears, knowing how Heat- really all of the crew- feel about crying. You couldn’t help it though, your last captain had been terrifying and sadistic. Compared to him, Kid and his crew were almost kind, but you couldn’t let your guard down.

“Kid wouldn’t hit you,” Heat said seriously slamming his mug down, Kid found himself hoping the loud, jarring action hadn’t spooked you. “He wouldn’t hit any of us, yeah he yells and stuff but he doesn’t hate us. If he wanted to get rid of us he’d just kick us off at port.”

“He hit Wire, made him bleed a lot. It took 13 staples to close that gash.” You leaned forward, meeting his gaze.

“That was an accident,” Heat sighed. “He’d never hit us before except as like, a brotherly smack on the arm or something. Besides, if you’re so sure he’ll hurt you why not leave?” You paused, shuffling your hands a bit.

“That’d make sense, but I love the crew, I love the sea. I can’t just give that up, my last crew wasn’t like you guys.” You glanced away, Heat blushed a little shocked at your sincerity. “I know, I know. I sound pathetic and soft, but it’s how I feel.”

“Heh- yeah you’re definitely the baby of the crew, even more so than Dive.” He laughed. “But I can’t fault you for being authentic I guess.”

You both smile, toast your mugs once more, then you go grab another round. Kid watches you, eyes hard, he wondered who your last captain was. And if he should pay him a visit.

[crazylittlejester]

how do you imagine each of the Chain's voices? 👀

- hero-of-the-wolf

kissing you on the mouth (/p) for asking me this because i actually have so many thoughts and opinions about this (disclaimer these are just my personal headcanons)

Time: Not deep sounding, but it is low, if that makes any sense. I think his voice sounds very solid and strong, but he’s very soft spoken. It can carry if he needs it to and he can sound commanding, but he tends to speak more quietly. He doesn’t typically have a lot of emotion in his voice, and he struggles a bit with his tone. Sometimes he sounds a lot more flat than he intends to. I also think he has a slight stutter. (As far as like overall pitch, i’d put him somewhere similar to Christian Bale as Howl in Howl’s Moving Castle)

Warriors: A bit higher than Time’s but not by much, though because of the way he talks when he’s masking and doing his Captain Persona, it sounds higher than it really it. He’s way too good words he can get whatever he wants and you can hear it in the way he speaks when he’s trying to get information out of people. There is absolutely a difference in his voice depending on who he’s talking to and for what reason (I don’t think Warriors SOUNDS like him, but an example of what I mean would be BG3’s Astarion with how differently he sounds depending on who he’s talking to). He sounds much different when he’s with the chain, his voice gets lower as he gets more relaxed, and similarly to Time, when Warriors isn’t literally acting he’s very soft spoken. He’s not a loud person, no to me anyways, his voice is quiet and smooth and easy to listen to. You can hear the gentleness in it, and when he’s being genuine you can hear his emotions in his voice incredibly clearly. And it’s when he feels like he can be himself that a little bit of his real accent slips through. When’s he’s acting more like ‘Captain Link’ he is SIGNIFICANTLY louder. His voice sounds full and solid and it CARRIES across fields. He has good breath support and is really good at projecting without actually ruining his voice, which took him a while to learn how to do. He thinks about everything he’s going to say before he opens his mouth and he takes the time to clearly annunciate his words (when he’s masking, because he has to he perfect and he’s used to court life), but in situations where he’s overwhelmed or exhausted he stalls a lot and drags out his words. He is the easiest to understand out of the whole group for the most part though, because of how clearly he speaks

Twilight: Now I personally think he’d have a bit of a mid pitched voice, his isn’t low by any means, but it’s not high either. He’s in his early twenties and sounds like it. Sometimes the accent makes it hard for the others to understand him because he’ll smash a bunch of words together in ways the others have simply never heard, or oddly emphasize certain syllables. His voice isn’t as clear as Warriors’s is, it’s got a little bit of a raspy quality to it that’s a lot more noticeable when he’s talking softly than if he’s just talking normally. He’s a quiet person in general to me, but his voice is at that pitch where even if he isn’t talking super loud it’s the one you hear first in a group of people. Like how if a bunch of people are talking all at once there’s always that one person who may not be talking super loudly but because of the pitch of their voice it just carries for some reason and you hear it more clearly. That’s Twi

Sky: Okay to me, Sky has the deepest voice of the whole chain. It has an odd almost melodic quality to it that is completely unintentional on Sky’s part, and he is the kind of person you could listen to read something for hours. His voice is very full and solid sounding, but he speaks gently in an almost unsettling way, like there’s power hidden behind his voice he refuses to use. Listening to him you can just hear that he’d have a strong voice, but he doesn’t ever yell or speak very loudly (unless they’re on the battlefield). This is a guy who could easily command armies but chooses to be laid back and you can hear it in his voice and the way he speaks

Hyrule: Somehow sounds 12 and 19 at the same time. His voice being on the higher end really doesn’t help him seem his age to people who are trying to guess it. It has its moments where it sounds solid but sometimes it has almost a squeaky tone to it. I think he’d sound similar to Hiro from Big Hero 6

Legend: His voice almost has a hollow, raspy sound to it, like he screamed and broke it one too many times and now it’s just stuck like that. I believe in my heart he has an (Irish) accent that he’s trained himself to hide but it slips out occasionally. He tries to speak clearly but he’s a very fast talker, especially if you get him going about something he’s passionate about. Voice quality and pitch wise, I think he’d sound similar to Edward Elric’s english voice, specifically in Brotherhood, but Legend’s voice would be more raspy

Wild: His voice is incredibly raspy and cracks like crazy if he tries to speak loudly at all. It’s hard to hear what it might’ve sounded like before the accident, his voice almost sounds like a whisper but at a normal speaking volume. It’s a bit hard for him to express emotions in his voice but he can more than make up for it in facial expressions and hand gestures, as well as just sign language

Four: On the lower end, somewhere between Twilight and Warriors. He’s quiet in the sense that he doesn’t speak often, but when he actually talks he does so clearly and at a normal volume, I wouldn’t call him soft spoken. He can sound a bit blunt and to the point when he chimes in, but when he’s really excited about something cool he found his voice gets a lot higher. He has a solid voice, it doesn’t crack often at all

Wind: Bless his heart his voice sounds a bit like a crinkling chip bag /j He’s very loud, Time has had to ask him to speak a little quieter more than once when Wind chose him and Warriors to infodump about boats to, and he has a very hard time controlling his volume when he gets excited. Once his voice settles to the pitch it’s going to stay, he’ll have a smooth sounding, solid voice. But for now it’s frustratingly crackly and he hates it. That’s definitely not stopping him from talking Warriors’s ear off

apologizes if things aren’t coherent im having a day where im very bad with words, also sorry for weird spelling errors or oddly autocorrected words

[fear8not1]

heyyy for kiss prompts may i suggest 36 with maxiel? 💖

thank you for your request ! this turned out a bit bittersweet (i rewrote it thrice and just couldn't make it happy LMAO) so feel free to ask for another kiss if it's not to your tastes.

not my best but it's a very fun exercise !

send me a ship and a number and i will write a kiss

36 (as a promise) - on the flip of a coin - maxiel, 732 words

The music is loud. Loud enough to cover Max’s voice. Not loud enough to cover Daniel’s.

“I’m leaving F1,” he yells in his ear, blue lights aggravating his eye bags when he leans back to look at him, “I’m taking a break.”

Max blinks once, twice. He looks down at his drink, mentally counts the shots he’s taken, but he’s nowhere near drunk enough to hear things wrong.

Daniel is leaving. “You’re kidding, right ?” He asks, trying to search for anything on his face that’d indicate he is — the usual amused sparkle in his eyes, the small smirk. But there’s nothing.

Daniel leans forward again, lips brushing his ear as he speaks. “No, I just- I can’t do it anymore, Max. I gotta leave, mate.”

If Max isn’t drunk, maybe Daniel is. He checks the empty glass in his hand, even though he knows he’s only had a beer and a whiskey coca. Nothing crazy. He opens his mouth to ask why and how and when and complain about the fact that it’s the first time they’ve went out in months and losing him now, when he feels like he’s finally reached him, would be unfair but…

But he gets it. Daniel’s skin looks dull, pale, his signature smile long gone. His cheeks aren’t red from laughing, the lines on his face much deeper than they once were, and, from where he is, Max can see his collarbones peeking from his shirt. He’s not wearing his team kit, not a single item reminding that he drives for McLaren. He used to wear Red Bull merch often. Even off track. “I- I can be there for you, mate. You don’t have to- we can talk about it when we’re sober, yeah ?”

Daniel shakes his head, smiles sadly and bumps their foreheads. The contact hurts, but Max’s brain replays the past few minutes so much he barely registers it. “No, Maxie. Can’t do, won’t do. I…,” he takes a shaky breath, steals a sip from Max’s glass, “I need you to know. Now. Press’ll know in a few days. You gotta be ready, mate, they’ll be all over you.”

Max nods quietly, frowning so hard he can tell he’ll have a headache soon enough. He knows why he’s doing it. He understands. It, somehow, makes it worse. He can’t be angry at him, can’t be sad for him — it feels natural, considering the last few years. “Danny, I- will you come back ?”

The Australian shrugs, looks away for a few seconds. It gives Max enough time to look at him, properly look, for the first time in years. Red Bull, Renault, McLaren, they’ve all taken their tolls on him. Like a disease, it has spread throughout the years, quietly and undiagnosed, and it was now too late to fix it easily. He had to step away. Leave for a while. Work on himself as a last chance treatment. Pray it works.

“Probably,” he ends up answering, voice so quiet Max would have missed it had he not read it on his lips, “I’ll try to come back next year. They might not want me back.” His words are carefully picked, as if he had spent his nights trying to figure out how to break the news for others.

Max doesn’t want to think about that. “They’ll do. You’ll come back,” and, as he says it, he isn’t sure if he’s trying to comfort Daniel or himself, “in a year, then. Gives you enough time to go crazy doing normal things. Then, back to us.”

Daniel stares at him for a few seconds, licks his lip clean from the sticky beer residue, and smiles. It’s nothing like his usual smile, but it’s a small victory, at least. He wonders if he’s also thinking of clumsy nights, years ago, when adrenaline would run too high and healthy outlets were needed. If he’s over it, the way Max is pretending to be.

He wonders, but Daniel puts a stop to it, leaning forward just enough to brush his lips against Max’s. With his free hand, he caresses his cheek and whispers, “I promise, Max. I’ll come back to you,” and kisses him gently. He tastes of alcohol, of beer and whiskey and toothpaste, of salty tears and disappointment, of nights Max will forever miss.

But it’s good enough, for now. It’s a promise he can cling to.

[tiredfox64]

Hello! I came up with an idea for an application.

So, Tomas with a reader who is usually very arrogant and self-centered, so they don't get along very well within Shirai Ryu. But then one day, in a moment of vulnerability, they both have a one night stand and then they went back to normal as if nothing had happened, but since then, Tomas starts having feelings and he is not sure if the reader feels the same way about him. him, but in the end he decides to confess it.

It's quite long, sorry 😞 you can ignore it if you don't like the idea. And sorry if there are mistakes here, English is not my first language.

Thank you! 💕

We Need to Talk About This

Prior notes: There is no need to apologize! No idea is a bad idea unless you are my friend who somehow isn’t in jail.

Pairing: Tomas x Gn reader

Warnings ‼️: it’s a desert over here

Constant bickering between you and Tomas. It never ends. Ever since the first day you joined the Shirai Ryu you’ve gotten on his nerves. The way you would speak so high you of your skills, putting others down just to bring yourself up. Don’t even get him started on how you would leave anybody behind just to save your own ass. This is a clan, you’re supposed to work together.

As much as he judges you, you judge him back. You judge him for caring too much. He was a hunter and an assassin. This is life or death you are talking about and you have to save yourself. You also have to let others know your strength to prevent anyone from messing with you. It’s the way life goes.

You two just can’t agree on anything. But do you know when you’re both able to meet in the middle? When you guys share a bottle of Sake.

Yes and I mean the good kind. The kind that makes you all flushed. The kind that makes you all touchy and call Tomas cute. Makes you do a little strip tease and open your legs wide. The kind of sake that makes Tomas scoop you up and take you right to his bed.

No one could sleep that night. It was the combination of your moans about how good he is at this and Tomas fucking into you roughly that the headboard kept banging against the wall.

That’s what alcohol does, it leaves you vulnerable to anyone. In that moment you were vulnerable to each other. A moment where you welcomed someone’s embrace and let your walls down. Only to wake up with a killer headache and a huge shock.

You were surprised by many things. You weren’t in your bed, your clothes were on the floor, and Tomas was passed out next to you. Soon after Tomas woke up himself and stared at you in shock. He would have asked the same questions you had in your head but he put all the pieces together.

It left you both stunned and sitting there, questioning is there was something hidden under the surface that made you two think this was a good idea. After about five minutes you silently got up and started to put your clothes on. Tomas wanted to say something but it felt like his mouth dried up. You managed to put your clothes and started to walk towards the door. You took one last look at him.

“Let’s just pretend this never happened. The sake was talking for us.” You walked out.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

Tomas couldn’t pretend that the one night stand never happened. Even if he was drunk he remembers some parts of it so clearly.

He can remember how your arrogant and self-centered personality was gone in that moment. How sweet your voice was as you praised him. That look in your eyes could make him think you actually liked him. Like you two were secret lovers this whole time.

But when the morning came he questioned what was the alcohol and what was true. All he knows now is that feelings are true. He wants to see that sweet side of you again.

Now your attitude was worse when it came to everybody else. Everybody knows what happened that night and you want them all to forget as well. During training your arrogance is loud and proud. You’re telling everyone ‘looks like I’m the best and you’re the worst’ which pisses them off.

Someone fell in front of you and instead of helping them up you kicked dirt in their face and walked off. Usually you just laugh at them but kicking dirt in their face was something else. Your actions were really upsetting everyone to the point that Kuai Liang put you on a sort of suspension. No more missions or training until you learn to act right. Or at least a little better.

The only person you were acting better with was Tomas. He would still come up to you to scold you for insulting others. Every time you would look at him he saw a flash of that softness reappear in your eyes before going back to normal.

You started to struggle talking your usual shit to him. Your insults were weak. You couldn’t even say you were better than him without remembering that one night stand. That memory would flash in your head and you’d remember how good and warm he made you feel. Not in just a sexual way but in an intimate, romantic way. You can’t let anyone know that however. They’ll all think you’re weak.

You still hid your feelings well since Tomas questioned if you really felt anything from that night. He was still annoyed with you because you wouldn’t give him a hint on how you felt. You were acting strange but that’s all he knew. He doesn’t doubt that there are people out there who can have a one night stand and walk away without feeling some sort of connection. But after doing it with you and seeing how you are when all loose he believes you’re not one of them.

If somehow you are one of those people, he knows that he isn’t. He felt a connection that night and it can’t be the alcohol talking still. He has to let it out. He has to tell you how he feels. You guys should have talked about what happened the moment both of you woke up. When he found where you were he went straight towards you.

“I need to talk with you for at least a minute.” He said

He saw that flash again of softness before you started acting arrogant again.

“Can’t you see I’m showing these pinhead noobies how weak they are. How they ain’t nothing compared to me.” You spat at one of the clan members who was just sitting there, shocked by your shift in attitude.

Tomas ended up grabbing you by the wrist and dragging you away. He didn’t scold you immediately, he would have to soon, he just wanted to get you somewhere private. He dragged you into a secluded room before letting you go.

“What the hell! Don’t touch me like that ever again. I don’t need your filthy hands rubbing against my nice skin.” You rubbed your wrist as if he actually hurt you.

“Cut it out already. You’ve been even more insufferable after that one night.” He brought it up after you told him not to.

“I thought we agreed we wouldn’t talk about it.”

“You said we should forget about it. I didn’t. And you clearly didn’t either since I see how you react now.”

Tomas has a point and you hate him for that. You hated how he sees your reactions. He knows you are feeling different but you don’t ever wanna say it. You want to run away from it. You tried doing that now by walking about of the room but he caught you by the shirt.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, fine. Let me say my peace before you go walking around with that nasty attitude of yours.” He forced you to look at him before speaking.

He lets it all out. Starting from the moment the sake hit to waking up with you. The warmth he felt when talking to you as you both swayed back and forth even while sitting. How warm your body felt against his. How lovely your eyes look and how they showed affection. And your words, oh those praises, how he felt adored by you. You won’t lie, you remember all of that as well. He really exposed you like that. Everything he said you felt the same.

“I’m not a man who goes sleeping with anyone and never thinking about them again. We were drunk, I know. That doesn’t mean what I feel now is a drunken statement. You don’t have to like me, just know I see something in you. You can leave if you want.” He finished off, letting you know you can leave now if you so desire.

But after that whole thing, how can you just walk away. That man just raised your ego by saying one night with you made him fall for you. You fell for him too but you won’t voice that out.

“I mean, who wouldn’t fall in love with me. I’m just that good in bed.” You replied but it sounded awkward. You weren’t even the one on top.

“Okay fine, so we had a good time. I’m not gonna deny that anymore. And maybe we developed some feelings. So what.” In other words, you like him a little too.

Tomas was surprised by your response. Even if it wasn’t straight forward your body language and your tone told him what he needed to know. He sighed out of annoyed but accepted what he could get.

“You’re so annoying.” He said before bringing pulling you into a hug.

“You’re annoying.” You grumbled but you didn’t push him away.

This relationship will sure be a strange one. One with constant bickering still but with love behind it. Hopefully Tomas can straighten out that attitude of yours. Make you a little more compassionate at least. There is just one more thing he wants you to know.

“I love you.”

“Yeah I bet you do.” Quit the attitude already.

After notes: I was thinking of Ena through this whole thing, don’t know why. I ended it off with the same way I give attitude to my fiancé cause as I was writing he decided to say something that made me become stubborn. I like the way I say trinkets i like trinkets there is no issue with that. Well, to the person who suggested this I hope I have made you happy and have a good rest of your day/night. Adiós!

[lothcatthree]

1. !!!! TELL ME ABOUT PASTRY CHEF CODY !!! Finally he has some peace.

AHHH sorry this took a few days, i was inundated with other WIP's (i'll be answering the other ones soon, too)

@insertmeaningfulusername and @merlyn-bane my darlings, were also interested in this one <3

basically, obi-wan is an exceptionally tired 30yo high school teacher and he begins frequenting a coffee/pastry shop run by cody and rex. ahsoka and anakin are younger adopted siblings (still working out the whole family dynamic). obi-wan gets flustered every time he talks to cody and ahsoka and rex finds it exceedingly hilarious.

this will be a classic strangers to friends to lovers fic and is meant to be fun and wholesome :)

here's a snippet of their meeting ft. gay disaster obi-wan (got a little carried away with it)

“Can I get you anything?”

Obi-Wan is vaguely aware of a voice speaking to him from the counter, but it’s helplessly bouncing around in his empty skull like a ping-pong ball. Any rational thought he had has been sucked out the airlock of his mouth as he’s cut off mid-sentence once he spots the man just behind the register, leaning over a table as he works.

The first thing that Obi-Wan notices is hands. Bronzed long fingers and structured tendons jumping as they knead a slab of dough and Obi-Wan suddenly wonders why he feels warm in the neck. There’s flour all over the man’s knuckles, up his wrists, dirtying the hem of the black sleeves. 

Obi-Wan helplessly watches as the man rolls up his sleeves and grimaces in effort, entirely engrossed with breaking down this piece of dough and, subsequently, Obi-Wan. Rolling up the sleeves would be one thing (and it really is one thing), but there’s miles of black ink swirling around two muscular forearms.

Obi-Wan’s eyes follow the arms up to find broad shoulders and a face with smooth skin, a handsome nose, a jagged scar, and fuck, those eyes. 

He’s just dropped his gaze to the man’s lips when he realizes, far too late, that they've moved.

A sharp elbow jabs into his side and he looks down at the perpetrator.

“What do you want?” Ahsoka asks him with an edge of teenaged irritation in her voice, but her eyes are slightly widened in concern.

Right. He’s supposed to order something.

Something that’s not the devastatingly beautiful man with devastatingly beautiful hands.

Still struggling to get his thoughts into order and feeling an awful blush overtake his pale skin, Obi-Wan stutters.

“Uh..”

“He wants a cup of earl grey and...,” Ahsoka trails off for a moment, scanning the pastry case, “A cinnamon roll.”

Obi-Wan would snort if he still weren’t so flustered and working on averting his gaze from the men behind the counter. The cinnamon roll is, in fact, not for him and entirely for her.

He finally looks up from the way he was burning a hole into the wooden counter and meets the eyes of the man working the register. This one is similarly pretty, though with blonde hair buzzed short and bare arms. Obi-Wan sends a silent thank you for the lack of tattoos, or else he’d be embarrassing himself all over again.

“It’ll be $7.36,” the man tells him and fuck if that isn’t an accent. 

Obi-Wan begins to pull his wallet out of his pocket and distantly hopes the one behind the counter doesn’t have the same one because then Obi-Wan is sure he’d-

“Just charge ‘em for the tea, Rex. I don’t know how good the new recipe is for the roll,” the man at the table pipes up behind- Rex- with, indeed, the same accent and a deep, raspy voice. Obi-Wan promptly drops his wallet.

He curses under his breath and swoops down to grab it, feeling the redness on his skin take on a new, fiery shade. Obi-Wan opens the worn brown leather wallet and pulls out his debit card, thrusting it forward to Rex at a speed that’s certainly not normal.

“It’s alright, I can pay for it,” Obi-Wan clears his throat when his voice comes out weak.

Rex looks at him with a slight furrow to his brows, then he turns around to look at the other man. Obi-Wan follows his gaze and when he locks eyes with the pastry chef (what shade of brown is that and why does Obi-Wan want to bathe in it?), he swallows again.

“Really, it’s ok. These ones are for testing,” the man replies, offering a warm smile. Obi-Wan can’t stop from dropping his eyes to the soft-looking lips as the man shifts his gaze from Obi-Wan to Ahsoka, “As long as you tell me what’s wrong with it, yeah? I have a feeling you’re a professional.”

Obi-Wan turns to look at her and he’s half-shocked when her signature pubescent scowl is replaced with a genuine smile that she usually reserves for Obi-Wan or Anakin.

“I will,” Ahsoka nods and bounces on her heels.

Obi-Wan fondly smiles at her and resists the urge to ruffle the top of her hair (last time he did that, he received a bite mark on his hand that took a week to heal).

Rex clears his throat and says with a polite smile, “Alright, Cody says it’s $3.25, then.”

Cody. CodyCodyCody. 

Obi-Wan hands him his card and darts his eyes to Cody just behind Rex’s shoulders.

“Thank you, Cody,” Obi-Wan says with a small smile, trying the name out on his tongue.

Cody gives him another dazzling grin that makes Obi-Wan’s stomach flip before he goes back to aggressively kneading the dough. Obi-Wan feels his mouth dry up again as he takes his card and receipt from Rex, allowing Ahsoka to not-so-lightly shove him away from the counter and towards a table.

"What is wrong with you?" Ahsoka mutters under her breath as she herds him into a chair.

Obi-Wan sets his bag on the table and helplessly looks over his shoulder to watch Cody begin separating the dough into chunks.

"A lot, I think."

[miyamizuna]

I Have a Secret

akaashi keiji x reader smau

[4] a pretty 3rd year m.list | next

When the teenage Idol group ASRUN disbands leaving It's four members distant. "Kimi" decides to go back to regular high school under her real name y/n l/n rather than pursuing a solo career. Can she go undetected in her new life of a regular girl, or will someone figure out who she really is?

The sounds of students crowding the halls and chatting are such a foreign yet similar concept. I’ve been in crowded venues and lively crowds, but I can’t say I’ve been this close to such a crowd. As I push past students to actually find my classroom, I can’t help but feel lost. It’s like I'm in a maze of unknown and lost in a sea of… creatures? No, that sounds rude… I can’t seem like an egotistical maniac on my first day! Ugh, snap your head out of-

Thud!

Ow…

Great! I bumped into someone on my first day! Way to make a scene Y/n.

“Oh, sorry there! Let me help you up!” A woman's voice calls to me with a hand extending towards my person.

I look up to see a girl with brown hair, maybe with a tint of red in there as well. Her expression looks almost critter-like, but it has its charm.

“Oh no, I’m sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’m really sorry!” I tell her as I grab her hand- pulling me up.

God this is embarrassing! I’m just rambling on and on-

“Hey wait, you’re awfully familiar…” she lets out with a questioning tone.

shit have I been figured out already? Was dyeing my hair back to my natural shade not enough?

“Oh, you think so? I’m sorry, I don’t think I've ever met you.” I hope that was convincing enough.

Her face looks puzzled, clearly, she’s deep in thought.

“Eh, you’re probably right.” her face returned to a relaxed critter-like expression. “Anyways I’m Shirofuku Yukie, a 3rd year! What about you?”

“L/N Y/N. I’m a 2nd year!” Is this how you normally introduce yourself to people? “To be honest, I’m new here! I don’t exactly know where I’m going…” I sigh.

That's embarrassing to admit…

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” she smirks “Can’t leave a pretty girl like you around here alone after all!”

Well, that's straightforward…

“Well thank you Shirofuku-senpai. That’s very thoughtful of you.” I pause as I take out the paper in my bag that says my class and hand it to Shirofuku. “Here you go, I’m in class 2-6!”

She takes the paper in my hand and reads it and her eyes slightly widen. “Wow, College prep course, you must be pretty smart to be put into one of those.” she smiles “Also Yukie is just fine. No need for the fancy stuff.”

“Alright, I’ll call you Yukie from now on!”

As we walk together, she leads me up to the second floor. The room was not too far from the staircase she led me up. Now another problem is how to get down from here��

“Well, This is it L/N” she smiles as she pulls open the door. “I do know someone who’s in this class who can help you. His name is Akaashi Keiji, he can come off as a bit stuck up and blunt, but he’s nice when it comes down to it.”

So this Akaashi person is someone I can go to for help?

“Yukie, what are you doing here?” a male voice calls. It's quite a nice voice; hints of calm with a monotone base.

“Speak of the devil~ L/N this is Akaashi, you can come to him for help since you two will be in the same class.” Yukie steps out of the way making this grand-ish introduction for Akaashi. He looks me up and down and has a neutral face that is hard to read but slightly annoyed.

He doesn’t look too happy to be my buddy…

“Well~ I’m off to class! Would want to be late on my first day!” Yukie smiles playfully. “Though, L/N-chan, give me your phone! I want you to text me if anything goes wrong!”

I grab my phone to give to her. Thank god I had changed phones before coming to school, there isn’t a trace I was ever an Idol.

As she finishes typing her number, she gives me back my phone.

“Well see ya later you two! Be nice!” Is all Yukie says leaving me alone with this Akaashi character.

Well isn’t this awkward?

“C'mon, I’ll bring you to the faculty office.” He speaks up, gaining your attention. “You’ll need to meet our teacher first.” he bluntly says as he starts walking, leaving you to catch up with him.

God, this might be a nightmare being paired with this guy.

fun facts:

yukie is silly, I love silly yukie

akaashi is most likely an asshole to most people with his bluntness. he gets nicer after awhile

bokuto will get more character later :3

hmm I wonder what haruka is doing...?

taglist: @keigopika @levoli2407 @fairywriter-oracle @veecynii @sentifua @wassuppartypeople

©miyamizuna 2024

[demigodofhoolemere]

My personal thoughts on the controversial animation for The Celestial Toymaker, now that I’ve seen it for myself.

~~~~~

I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy this, and bought the DVD out of a combination of the sheer curiosity to see it with my own eyes and the desire to have the escape room feature at my fingertips. The animation style left me very apprehensive as I prefer the 2D and this looked very janky and awkward, and I lean far more into purist territory and am not a big fan of taking more liberties than necessary, which anyone could see from the trailer alone that this production did unreservedly. I wanted to go into it with an open mind but I was pretty positive this was just going to be a train wreck. And there certainly are things about it that I don’t like, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was still kind of enjoying myself.

~~~~~

To get the negatives out of the way:

- The animation itself is obviously the thing everyone is talking about. The 3D motion capture approach is not something I want from these animations. It is definitely janky in places, especially with the movement of mouths. There are a lot of times it’s not synced very well, as well as the fact that they often don’t open as wide as they should, and sometimes I caught mouths not even moving at all when they should be. The expressions are also quite limited, and granted, none of these animations are ever going to perfectly capture the kind of things that folks like Patrick Troughton can do with their faces, but I’ve definitely seen better emotion from the 2D ones — it’s not that they couldn’t be expressive in this, but it’s not as wide a range as it probably should be and you certainly don’t get any particular emotion out of scenes like Steven panicking that Dodo is going to freeze. I’ve always thought his voice and the production pictures we have of that were quite moving, but you don’t really get that here, even with the audio being the same.

You also get some jerky movements at times, particularly in the legs. I will say however that the mocap is a massive improvement upon The Web of Fear, and you do get quite used to it over the course of four episodes. It felt almost normal by the end. It’s definitely got problems, but it’s also not the end of the world that a lot of us assumed it was.

- Likenesses. They’re not terrible, and I’d say Dodo and the Toymaker are the better ones, but none of them are great either. Though I don’t want to attribute this problem solely to this particular animation, because you can certainly get varying levels of accuracy in the others as well — just ask Jamie. But it is a bit uncanny valley. I also wish they could get something as simple as eye color right. This isn’t the first time something official has incorrectly colored Bill’s eyes blue and I’m sure it won’t be the last but it gets increasingly silly each time. And in the opposite direction, surely you can look at pictures of Peter to know that his eyes are blue and not brown? (And this is more of an overall design choice as opposed to relating strictly to his likeness, but I couldn’t stop noticing that Steven’s teeth often showed way too much when he speaks and I found it distracting).

- Liberties in visuals. I get why it would be enticing to play around and make things as grand as you want, and if this were its own story it would look great that way, but I’m more of a purist so I wish they’d be truer to the original. If you pretend it’s not based on something else, it all looks fantastic and lots of fun, and despite myself I did get caught up in enjoying it, but because I know what it was supposed to look like and have loved that for years, that’s what I wanted to see and I do feel cheated out of an animated version that represents the actual sets and visuals.

In the behind the scenes feature the producer talks about how it’s kind of sad to look at the original sets because they didn’t have the budget to match the high concept, and as a result it feels claustrophobic because they’re just small sets when it should be big and expansive, but honestly I feel the opposite way. I think the fact that these spaces feel closed in help add to the discomfort of feeling like they’re trapped in there and won’t get out unless they win, and to the eeriness of feeling like this is a real place that you could really find yourself in. I see the appeal of the surreality and vast openness, but I actually find it less imposing than feeling like you’re in a more real, physical space with walls and everything. I also just don’t think it feels as cramped as he was acting like it is anyway.

The expansiveness is also often to the detriment of things that should be more grounded — the “make your last move” scene is largely black space, with the Toymaker and the Doctor being quite small in the middle of the screen and you can’t see their faces. That completely detracts from the incredibly dynamic shot we have from the existing episode, where things are up close and personal and this is an intimate battle of wits that we’re right in the middle of. I was shocked that they made that moment — of all moments, too! — so impersonal. I think they definitely sacrificed too many things in favor of scope.

There are also things like the blind man’s bluff game, which I found very Escher-like and over the top (though again, fun on its own), and one very bizarre sequence in episode three as they’ve entered the room with the dancing floor. I can’t do justice to the trippiness of those visuals by trying to explain them, but I have no idea why they did that. They’re certainly fascinating, and I generally like that kind of thing, but they were just so jarring and out of place, only to stop as suddenly as they’d started. It was also quite jarring at the end of episode one when Clara and Joey lose the game; rather than going limp and then reverting to dolls and having Dodo look back disturbed, which I find to be a very evocative and unsettling idea that really sells the horror aspect of this story, they just sort of… fall into a void, or something, and it jump cuts to Steven and Dodo already opening the cupboard door and exclaiming that it’s empty, as if the audience even knew it was there for them to step into at all before that very second. They hadn’t shown the TARDIS cupboard appearing because they were so focused on the spectacle. I found these kinds of choices pretty awkward.

- Liberties with audio. Piggybacking off of what I just said about altering a scene, there are a number of times they mess with the audio track. Thankfully there aren’t too many other examples of them actually removing something from the audio (though I’m baffled by them removing Dodo’s use of Steven’s name before she says that she’s frightened near the end of episode one; just why?), but there are a number of additions to the track. And I do get why, it makes sense to want to add car noises to their booth-turned-toy-car and things like that, and it’s not like these are a massive irritant or anything, but I just don’t see the need and prefer that it be left untouched. I don’t need icy noises to sell the fact that Dodo is freezing and I don’t need electricity noises to convey the electric floor.

- Liberties with character design. This will also be listed as a positive, just because it is otherwise a very interesting thing they’ve done, making the guest cast all be different kinds of toys, but from the perspective of wanting a recreation and not a total reimagining, this is a big drawback. I want to see these people actually be people, and I think they’re far more intimidating that way. It would be easy to depersonalize your interactions with a tiny rag doll or people literally made of cards, but it’s far harder to feel detached from what is clearly a person right in front of you, which makes their determination to beat you more alarming. It also makes it far more terrifying when they do revert to being a doll or a playing card — this item sitting there was someone you were just talking to, someone who’s been punished for losing by having their freedom taken away again. The whole world of the Toymaker is far more horrific to me when you lean into the fact that these really are other people; Clara and Joey stop being funny when they realize they’re likely to lose because they’re so scared of what will befall them when they do, the king and queen are trying to win so they can reclaim their liberty and not spend eternity as cards, and Mrs. Wiggs and Sergeant Rugg are absolutely terrified of the Toymaker when he comes to berate them for their failure. These are real victims, real people who have been trapped here, and that doesn’t come across the same way when you’re not looking at an actual person the whole time who only later becomes a doll again as a terrible consequence. I think this is a critical aspect of the story and it really gets lost in translation here — and it clearly ended up getting very lost on Peter Purves, because in the commentary he kept going on about the toy designs really selling these characters as purely being toy creations of the Toymaker and not real people, which is the exact opposite point of original serial. Dodo is supposed to be right, their opponents really are alive and have their own agency outside of the Toymaker, they do human things, and it really is an awfully sad place because of what’s happened to these people here. That feeling does not carry over at all when you only show them being dolls the whole time in the first place.

- Decisions that go against dialogue. This is tied into the previous point, because it kept happening in regard to choices they made with character design. Specifically, it kept making both Steven and Dodo look incredibly stupid. When Dodo suggests that Steven should recognize the king and queen and he says that they do look familiar, and Dodo has to tell him they’re playing cards, that makes Steven look like an idiot who can’t recognize a very obvious literal playing card when it’s right in front of him lol. It also makes for an odd moment when Dodo is told to touch the king’s arm to confirm that they’re just as real as them, and she is indeed convinced by this, even though in this version she’s just touching paper. Both of these moments really only work when you have real people here that are merely dressed as the characters on the cards. You also then have her comment later that Cyril was the Jack they saw earlier, which makes no sense in light of the Jack having been made of card and looking nothing like the porcelain Cyril, and Steven’s reply that all of the Toymaker’s creations look alike to him just sounds insane considering the sheer variety they encounter in the animation. To top it all off, having Cyril be made of porcelain really makes Dodo’s decision to check on him baffling, as if she could think a being made of porcelain might be bleeding. It wasn’t her wisest moment to begin with, but I find it forgivable because she’s usually quite perceptive (far more than people give her credit for) and only fails in moments like that when her kindness overrides her better judgment — it’s a silly human decision, just like everyone else in the story. But you really can’t justify it here when he can’t possibly be bleeding. Both she and Steven have too many of these moments that are suddenly outrageously questionable in the context of the character design choices in the animation.

~~~~~

However. I was surprised to find that it was actually still enjoyable regardless, and I’m happy that I actually have positives to talk about.

- I want to reiterate that the motion capture is much improved. Not to say it’s not awkward in places, but it’s miles ahead of The Web of Fear, and honestly you do get used to it. At some point it becomes quite easy to roll with, and I eventually even came to the point where I… kinda liked it? There are also things that I’m not sure how well they could have gotten away with it in 2D, such as all the jumping around in the hopscotch game. I do have to admit that the 3D lends itself to a level of mobility that the 2D models have had a hard time with. I would not want this on any other story, but it just about works here and it is actually to the advantage of scenes like the jumping from place to place, or dancing together. (And yet it’s also apparently still not enough to help animate a hug, because when they reunite with the Doctor, Dodo just kind of… walks up to him and puts her hands on his arms after a moment). I also want to give credit for the animation of the Toymaker’s characters, because I felt they were a lot more fluid and good-looking than the human ones. I think the painted look of the human skin can be to its detriment, but the non-human designs do look rather good because the materials they’re made of don’t have that same problem and they’re not trying to mimic exact human movement in the same way.

- A plus just as much as a minus, the character designs. As much as I’m against them on principle for the reasons I mentioned before, they honestly did work very well for a reimagining. Clara is a weirdly cute little rag doll, the card designs looked great, Sergeant Rugg and Cyril make good porcelain dolls, and my standout favorite, Mrs. Wiggs is absolutely adorable crocheted out of yarn. I couldn’t stop looking at her, I genuinely could have kept watching her forever lol. As its own thing, these really were very good character designs. It’s only hampered by the fact that I can’t make myself not think about how they shouldn’t look like this. This all goes the same for the set designs and the choices regarding the level of surreality. All of these things were actually great on their own, it’s just in the context of the original story it’s trying to serve that I think it fails, and that I’m a purist at heart.

- Having anything that moves at all for the first three parts. It may be inaccurate, but there’s still something satisfying about watching ANY moving version of these episodes, and I’ve often found that, even though recons are and forever will be my go-to and I will swear by them until the day I die, watching the animations tends to help me process and retain things better from that point onwards — for example, my memory of The Faceless Ones is a lot stronger now for having seen “footage” of the missing parts, and it then helps make the recon even easier to follow than before. This one is no exception. My memory is good for The Celestial Toymaker anyway, but there’s just something about movement that roots it in your brain that much better. I’m not one who struggles with recons — obviously, since I still love and choose them over animations — but it still helps to have these additional aids to cement it more firmly. Whatever problems this animation has, I still feel like it helps to have “watched” these episodes in whatever way possible.

- Plain and simple, it manages to have a sort of charm to it, in spite of me. Even while I criticized it for different things the whole time, I somehow still had a good time. I’m sure it’s in part down to the fact that I’ve always loved this story, and it would also just be hard for me to be in a bad mood watching Classic Who, but there’s something about this that still made me happy even in the face of my issues with it. I dislike their choices but I nevertheless found it hard to dislike the whole thing itself. I don’t know what it is.

- bonus: you can tell in the commentary that this animation made Peter so happy and I can’t be too mad at it when I hear how thrilled that darling man is with it.

~~~~~

Despite the fact that I went on considerably longer for the cons than pros, I did nevertheless enjoy this, to my surprise. I’m much more of a purist and want as-faithful-as-realistically-possible recreations rather than all-out reimaginings, so on principle I’m still against many of the choices they made, and I really wish this were just a fascinating and ambitious fanmade production rather than the official one because it means I’ll never get a more accurate version out of them, but I can’t bring myself to hate this. It’s kind of like when you watch a movie that’s objectively a bad adaptation of the source material but still entertaining as its own movie. Honestly, I would watch this again and have a good time. I just hope that they do NOT get it into their heads that this is the right style to keep using going forwards, because this absolutely would not work for anything else, and only halfways works for this to begin with.

I do recommend giving this release a shot despite the animation, but your mileage may vary. This is definitely something that you could either love or hate and honestly I think both reactions are valid, because I’m clearly quite conflicted myself. You can really only know if you watch it for yourself.

Verdict: against all odds and my own criticisms, I actually liked this. It’s not what I would have wanted for it at all, nor do I want them to ever do this again for anything else, but somehow despite myself I did like it in its own weirdly charming way.

~~~~~

Bonus: special features

- Great commentaries as always on all four animated episodes as well as a separate one for the existing episode four.

- Optional reconstructions as per usual. I haven’t watched these yet so I can’t say whether they’re on par with Loose Cannon or not.

- There’s a making-of for the animation, though it’s much shorter than I expected since they’ve typically been longer on other releases. Still interesting but not much going on there.

- Very nice to include the VHS intro by Sylvester McCoy. I love that they tend to add things like that.

- They have an old audio interview with Carmen Silvera. I haven’t listened to this yet but I’m looking forward to it.

- Photo gallery as always. There were actually a few I’d never seen before, as well as larger extended versions of things I’m familiar with as being more zoomed in. Always exciting when they can still surprise you with something.

- Comes with the standard informative booklet, which I always love.

- And of course, the gem I largely bought this thing for, the escape room with Maureen O’Brien, Peter Purves, and Lisa Bowerman. I’m thrilled to say it’s everything I was hoping for, and if you’re like me and could watch the Classic Who family do pretty much anything, this feature alone is worth the purchase. You’re following them through this thing the entire time and it was such a joy for me. So many things cut down the runtime of stuff like this — I remember during the Infinity War press tour they had some of the cast in an escape room that had a time of 40 minutes or so, but the actual video we got was maybe 10 minutes tops and I felt robbed of all the material we could have been seeing, because I could have happily sat there for the whole length of what they actually did. This is not a problem here in the slightest, because as usual, the people making these fun features for Doctor Who releases care about me and know what I want. What I wanted was to see these three’s entire experience in there, and I received. There are moments in it where being much more knowledgeable about Who than them is painful because you’re screaming at them to get it right, but most of the time it’s just a ton of fun watching them try to work everything out and to see their different personalities try to take control of the situation at different times. There’s one surprise in particular that had me absolutely grinning from ear to ear, and if you’re planning on getting this release, I won’t spoil what it is, but oh my gosh. Forget this feature alone being worth it, that segment alone is worth it. Could not believe what I was seeing, it was great. Overall I can’t speak highly enough of this and how much I enjoyed the crud out of it, and I am very much looking forward to the rest of them that they’ll be putting out for the other Classic eras.

[iamvegorott]

Meeting A Magical Man Pt. 48

Part 1: Link Prev: Link Next: Link

Marvin appeared inside his house at the back door, peeking through the window and seeing Mad sitting on the porch, knees tucked up to his chest. He sighed in relief at Chase being correct and sent a quick text before opening the door. 

“Mad?” Marvin sat down next to him, trying to look at his face. 

“This isn’t fair to Mare.” Mad’s voice was soft. 

“Not fair to Mare?”

“I didn’t mean to take off like that, but I…”

“Got scared?” Marvin finished the sentence, and Mad just nodded. “Why are you scared?”

“What if…What if I can’t be what Mare wants? Or what he needs?” Mad let his knees drop. “You and Phantom are so loud and confident, and you know what you’re doing, and I’m just…I’m clueless.”

“You’re not completely clueless.” Marvin snapped his fingers, casting a spell to open his fridge and bring them some drinks. 

“I am. I am oblivious to anything sexual, and it’s not fair to put Mare through that. I’m not good enough for him.” 

“Being oblivious to sexual stuff doesn’t make you not good enough.” Marvin took one of the canned coffees while handing Mad the other. “It just means you need a little guidance and help if you want to have sex. You don’t even have to. Some people don’t, and they still have loving relationships.” 

“I do. Mare’s, like, really attractive, and I-.” Mad’s face went red at his cut-off confession, and he quickly opened his coffee and took a drink to try to hide from it. Marvin couldn’t help giggling before speaking.

“It’s obvious that Mare likes you, too. Nothing is holding you back from just going for it.”

“Everyone has held me back from it.” Mad’s voice dropped into a sad whisper. 

“What do you mean?”

“I’m…I’m not normal, Marvin.”

“Have you met who’s living in this house right now? None of us are.” 

“That’s not…I…I’ve been surrounded by people who’ve treated me like hearing the word ‘sex’ would make me explode. Even back in school, during ‘the talk’, I was taken out of the room because they were worried that I’d get messed up learning about where babies came from. I had to learn all of that on my own. I didn’t even know what a condom was until after I graduated from high school.” Mad was staring off as he spoke. His words came out on their own, like he had no control over them. “I had no friends because they all thought I was weird. I didn’t get their jokes, so they left me alone. I just focused on school when I finally accepted that no one liked me and never would. I knew math equations that made my teacher’s heads spin. I’ve had the entire periodic table memorized since the fifth grade. I know pi up to the thousandth digit. And yet I just learned who Spider-Man is because Jackie was reading one of his comics on the couch the other day.” Mad’s voice cracked, and he finally looked at Marvin. “My own mother only ever kissed my cheek before she passed. I never met my father, so he was no help. I was kept away as a child, and I continued to hide even after I went out on my own because I don’t fit in.” He sniffed as tears started to form. “That was my first kiss. My first kiss happened because I was scared of being seen trying to learn about love and sex through fictional books.” Mad tried to put his coffee down but missed the edge of the porch, and it fell to the ground. That seemed to be the final straw before the tears finally started rolling down his cheeks. “I don’t want to hurt Mare because I’m a fucking mess.” 

“Oh, honey.” Marvin set his drink aside, and he pulled Mad into a hug. “You’re not going to hurt Mare. He likes you because he likes you.” 

“I don’t even know who I am.” Mad wrapped his arms around Marvin and hugged him back. 

“Yes, you do. You’re stubborn and smart and got one hell of a sassy mouth.” Marvin listed with a little chuckle, gently rubbing the top of Mad’s head, fingers going through his hair to help soothe him. 

“I’m a danger to everybody whenever I have emotions.” 

“No, you’re not. You’re a magic user that needs a mentor that doesn’t suck literal ass. I was the same and ended up with Dark, but that’s not going to happen to you. You’re getting the help you deserve, and you’re going to be happy.” 

“That last part sounded like a threat.” Mad weakly chuckled. 

“It’s a promise. I’m also stubborn, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure everything works out how it should. We also have Chase and Mare to help, so we’re already at an advantage.” Marvin looked down and smiled at seeing Mad looking at him. 

“Thank you,” Mad whispered, and Marvin felt like he was about to cry as well. 

Maybe he’d be a fine mentor after all. 

“They’re out back. They’ll be here soon.” Chase’s voice came from inside the house. 

“Is all okay?” Henrik asked. 

“It’s complicated.”

“Looks like Henrik’s here.” Marvin patted Mad’s head before letting him go. “Are you going to be okay to go in there? Do you want to see Mare?” 

“I do.” Mad sniffed and tried to clean his face with the back of his hand. Marvin giggled and pulled a handkerchief from one of his pockets. “Thanks.” 

“Don’t you ever forget that you’re strong and smart as fuck. Have some confidence and show Mare that you like him too.” 

“Confidence,” Mad repeated.

“Let’s go.” Marvin stood up and offered his hand. Mad smiled and let Marvin help him to his feet. They went into the house and saw Henrik, Edward, Robbie, Chase, and Mare in the living room, all talking to each other.

“Confidence,” Marvin said when he saw Mad hesitate. Mad swallowed, took a deep breath, and did a quick nod before going into the living room and straight to Mare. 

“Mad, I-” Mare barely got any words out when Mad grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down into a kiss. 

“Get it!” Marvin cheered while the others looked very confused. Chase turned to Marvin and just gestured as his question of what happened. Marvin just mouthed ‘later’. 

“Hi,” Mad said when he pulled away. 

“Hi?” Mare echoed with a shocked laugh and smile. 

“So? Is this what the important thing is? Them finally getting together?” Henrik asked. 

“It’s probably about the whole Chase threatening to shoot Anti, us getting out of our contracts, and me almost getting choked to death last week,” Mad said casually. 

“What!?” 

----------

Tags: @brokentimewatch @bookwormscififan @d-structive @rainymae523 @ashtonisvibing

[sl-newsie]

Bubblegum Beauty (1950s Spot Colon)

(Summary: High school jock Spot Colon sees a shy girl popping bubblegum and he can’t get enough of it!)

“See you later, Connie! Are you sure you don’t wanna get ready for the game with us?”

I quickly shake my head and search through my school bag for more gum. The final bell just rang, signaling the beginning of Homecoming weekend for Brooklyn High. And when I mention Brooklyn High, just take note that we’re very passionate and proud of our accomplishments- sports being the top one.

“Sorry, Barbra. I’m not sure if I’m going or not.”

My bubbly friend sighs as she closes her locker and gives me a skeptical look. “Hon, you never go to any school events! It is Homecoming, after all. Next you’ll tell me you’re not going to the dance tomorrow.”

“Um, well…” I look at the floor and shuffle my feet.

Barbra gasps. “You’re not? Sweetie, it's already your senior year and you’ve never gone on a single date. If you weren’t always shying away and chewing gum then maybe you could. How do you ever expect to meet someone?”

I roll my eyes and get a rush of relief when I find more gum and pop it into my mouth. “I don’t want to meet someone, Barb. I’m comfortable with the life I have now. From what I hear dating always involves too much drama and overthinking. It’s not worth it when I’m so close to scoring the perfect scholarship. Besides, dances are for pretty preppy cheerleaders. Not me.”

I start walking to the exit and try to ignore Barbra’s nagging as she follows.

“You are pretty! If you’d just go to some social events then people would notice, maybe even that dreamboat Spot.” She gets a dazed look in her eyes.

I gag and nearly spit my gum out. “Spot Colon? That’s a big tickle! Don’t make me laugh. If he even does know who I am he’d never speak two words to me, much less ask me out. I have no need to waste my time with that jock.”

Barb shrugs. “Suit yourself. I’m still going to the dance with Brad if you’re interested. At least maybe come to the game?”

“I’ll think about it. I’ve got homework to do.” I hold the door for her and watch her skip to her bicycle. After she pedals off I start walking the sidewalk back to home, but stop when I see the baseball fields.

Hmm. One the one hand I normally walk home through the park, on the other hand the school baseball fields are a faster way. But then it risks bumping into any unwanted attention. I look between both paths, then choose to go with the shortcut. Thankfully there’s no practice going on so the fields are empty. It’s a bright sunny day, promising good weather for the football game. I would join in and go, but the thought of all the loud crowds and stupid teens isn’t exactly tempting. When I sneak behind the locker rooms and see the edge of the school grounds I think I’m in the clear-!

“Hey, doll. What are you doing here?” A deep voice asks from behind.

I groan. The one day I decide to take a shortcut! After deciding I can’t ignore the voice and keep walking, I turn around to find-

My eyes go wide. Spot Colon? Really? Just my luck I find the very kind of person I do not want to talk to. He’s wearing his jersey and his hair is in an unkempt state, showing that he more than likely just got done exercising.

I take a grip on my fear and pop my gum. “Um, hello. I thought that the team was supposed to take it easy and not exert themselves before the game.”

The dark-haired Brooklyn teen struts up and gives me a playful look. “I’ve seen you around, but I don't think we’ve talked before. You know who I am?”

I pop my gum again. “I know who you are. You’re the hot-headed greaser who thinks education is a waste and believes his only achievement is being the best quarterback. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta get home.”

Spot seems stunned by my answer, but regions his posture. “Why? So you can come to the game and see me score the winning goal?”

I hold my head down and groan. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. No, I’m not going to the game.”

“Huh? Why not? I haven’t seen you at any games, but this is senior year Homecoming!”

Seeing that this is going to be another version of Barbra and my previous argument, I grip my bag tighter and start walking past the smirking teen.

“I’m not one for school events, as you’ve already miraculously figured out. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got homework and chores to do.”

At first I think he’s let it go, but Spot unexpectedly grabs my hand and my pulse sends lightning through me.

“Are you going to the dance?”

Am I-? What the heck is going on?

“Spot, what are you talking about?” I nervously chew my gum and pop another bubble.

Spot keeps looking at me funny but I pay little mind to it. He looks down at our joined hands and back at me with a face I’m unable to read.

“The Homecoming dance? Tomorrow night?” He rubs his thumb against my knuckle.

I squirm a little and let out a carefree laugh. “You’ve got the wrong girl, Colon. I’m not breaking my no-dance streak.”

Spot’s jaw drops. “You’s never been to a dance? Well it’s ‘bout time we changed that.” He pulls me closer, and my instincts tell me to pull away but for some reason my brain is on autopilot. “Connie, will you go to the dance with me?”

Oh God. I’m being asked out. My life’s doing a summersault.

I start chewing more intensely and pop another bubble. Yet again Spot flinches.

“Me? Wouldn’t you rather have one of them pretty cheerleaders or someone more… exciting? I’m not exactly the life of a party, Spot. You’re talking to a girl who’s highlight of a Friday night is baking cookies, far from anyone you’re probably used to.”

Spot smiles again, but not a devious smile. This one is more innocent, more affectionate. “I don’t think you’s boring, Connie. I’m sorry you’s never gone to a dance before, and I want you to have a good time before you graduate. You’s prepared good for life after school, unlike me, but right now you’s gotta loosen up a little and have fun. So whaddya say, beauty?”

The whole time my eyes stay wide and unmoved from Spot’s face, trying to decide if he’s being serious. The strange thing being I think he is. Wow. I never thought it’d be possible. I never thought Spot could be this considerate for someone like me, but here he is: a nice, good-looking guy asking me to a dance. I never thought I’d see the day.

“You’re not usually this thoughtful, Colon. What made ya change?” I blow another bubble and Spot turns away. What’s he so skittish about?

“I think you made me, Connie. Um, could ya please stop that?”

Huh? I get nervous and start chewing again.

Spot grits his teeth. “Don’t. Do. That.”

“Do what?” I blow another bubble and give it a loud pop! 

“Stop doing that!” Spot gives out a noise, one that almost sounds like a cross between a moan and a snarl, and pushes me against the brick wall. Now we’re face-to-face, and I can feel his heavy breathing against my face. This is the closest I’ve ever been to a boy and my heart’s racing like a rabbit.

“You’ve got no clue just how much you tease me with that, beauty.” The Brooklyn quarterback leans in to rest his forehead against mine. “You know that?”

“I- I-” I stutter to make out a simple sentence, let alone phrasing to ask the question of what on Earth he’s talking about.

He chuckles. “You don’t? You really don’t, do you? God you’s one innocent doll, I’ll tell ya.” He closes his eyes and whispers: “It’s when you pop that gum.”

When I-? Huh. I’d never expect that.

“R- Really?” I struggle out.

He nods, eyes still closed. “God yes! I see that perfect mouth-a yours toss that gum around and for some freaking reason it drives me up the wall! Please stop before I do something I’ll regret- you don’t wanna see me get agitated.”

Me, little bookworm Connie, is driving Spot Colon up the wall? Gee times really are changing! Grasping a hold on my nerves, I slide a hand up Spot’s neck to hold his chin and bring him to look at me.

“What if I don’t mind it?” I bring my mouth closer and Spot stiffens.

“Are- are you sure? I don’t wanna- ugh!” Spot groans when I place my free hand behind Spot’s back to pull him closer.

“I’ll decide for myself, Spot.” I pop another bubble and in a split second Spot shifts his head forward and closes the small gap between us. Oh God… It’s so… numbing, like all of my worries have melted away! I can tell Spot is definitely experienced, but he doesn’t rush me. If anything, the slightest tug on Spot’s shirt makes him stagger the tiniest bit, and when we pull away to breathe he closes his eyes with a euphoric look on his face.

“Connie… God, that was amazing! And, um…” He gets a sheepish look.

I smirk. “You’ve got my gum, don’t you?”

Spot looks at the ground and nods. “Yeah.”

In a boost of confidence I ask: “How does it taste?”

The Brooklyn teen closes his eyes and gets a dreamy smile on his face. “Strawberry, right?”

“Correct. I prefer it to bubblegum, not as bland.”

“It’s delicious!” Spot leans in and gives my lips another quick peck. “Just like you, beauty.”

All of a sudden I feel my nerves tighten up again and look away. “You say that now. Sooner or later you’ll see I’m just as boring as everyone says.” Before I can second-guess myself I step away and let go of Spot’s hand. “Don’t get me wrong, Spot. I think you’re a nice guy when you wanna be, a loyal Brooklynite to the end. But you’re you and I’m me, and I don’t wanna start something I can’t finish. It’s best to just brace for disappointment and stop before someone gets hurt.”

I go to walk away but Spot keeps persisting. “Before some-? Connie, please. I’d never do anything to hurt you, I swear. You ain’t boring-”

“Lies!” I hiss. “Everyone at Brooklyn High will tell you I’m the most boring person in all of New York. ‘Connie the bookworm!’ ‘Connie never goes out!’ Well sue me for actually trying to better myself to make a living!”

Now Spot’s getting heated up too. “Hey, I never said-! Jeez, why release your venom on me? All I’m say’n is that I think you’s a beautiful goil and I wanna take you out.” He approaches me slowly and puts a hand on my cheek. “I’ll be good, I promise. And if I ain’t, you can punch me in the face.”

A small smile makes its way onto my face. “Y’know I could do that with or without your permission, right?”

He shrugs. “Yeah. But now I’ll know to expect it. So you’ll come?”

“Where?”

“To the game. And to the dance… with me?” Spot actually looks nervous!

“I don’t even know how the game works! I’ll be so lost it’s not even funny. And… I can’t dance.”

Spot gets new-found enthusiasm and laughs. “Poifect! Neither do I! And as for the game, you don’t have to follow along if you don’t wanna. Sometimes the game is just for school spirit, and… cheering on your favorite quarterback?” He adds with a hopeful smile.

I give a carefree laugh and wrap my arms around Spot’s neck. “Y’know, for once I’m actually starting to have fun. You’re a bad influence, Colon.”

Spot kisses my forehead and sighs. “As long as I’m yours, beauty. So whaddya say? Will ya give this dumb jock a chance and let me take you out?”

“Oh, I donno.” I tease Spot and pretend to look around. “Where is this ‘dumb jock?’ Because all I see is a tall, dark, and handsome character who’s too cunning for his own good.”

At first Spot must think I’m joking, but then gets a grateful smile on his face. “Really? You don’t think I’s just a dumb jock? That’s a foist.”

“Well, the same goes for you for not thinking I’m a boring book nerd. Now-” I give Spot a quick kiss and start walking towards home. “If you’ll excuse me I’ve gotta go get ready for tonight. And pick out a dress for tomorrow!”

I feel Spot run up behind me. “Really? You’re gonna come to the game? That’s wonderful! I-!” Spot cuts himself off and suddenly gets really anxious. “Does that mean, um… that you’ll go out with me to the dance?”

Instead of answering I grab Spot’s shirt collar and push him against the wall, pressing my lips to his for a deep, passionate kiss. He’s surprised, but soon joins my enthusiasm and pulls me flush against him as if I’m about to fly away. Time is meaningless. It seems like hours before we finally pull away for air, but even then Spot keeps pressing kisses down my neck between each breath he takes.

“God, Connie… You’s just full-a surprises. I feel like the luckiest guy in the woild!” He pants.

We both share luvestruck laughter and keep walking to the edge of the school grounds, hand in hand and leaning together. When we reach the street corner I reluctantly detach myself from Spot and start walking towards my street. As I do so I pull out another wad of gum and start chewing just to taunt Spot.

“See you tonight?” Spot calls one last time before I turn the corner.

I smile and wave at the handsome jock. My handsome jock. “See you tonight!”

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

From A Storm Comes Blood -- MOON 4

First

Previous

See the cats

============

Gladekit curled up beside her father, her little tail draped over the edge of the nest. She had recovered from her bout of whitecough, however Dovewave had gotten what Minnowfur called ‘heat exhaustion,’ and it was now him who was kept in the medicine den. 

“Do you want to go play?” Dovewave asked her. His ears flickered, he could hear Flintkit playing with Rosenewt and Tuftedpaw, who had become an apprentice only a couple of days ago and was enjoying a break from her new duties.

Gladekit thought for a moment, then shook her head. She remembered how miserable she had felt when she was sick. She didn’t want her father feeling the same way.

“You know, you can just tell me when you want to spend time together,” Minnowfur joked. “I know I’m the medicine cat, but getting sick isn’t the only way we can see each other!”

Dovewave purred in response. “Oh, admit it, you’re happy I can sleep in the den with you again.”

Minnowfur rolled his, but his mouth was curled upward in a smile. 

Gladekit looked to her other father. “Can you tell me a story?”

Dovewave licked her cheek. “Which one, my dear?”

Gladekit thought for a moment. “Tuftedki–er–paw said that Sweetdapple knows a good loner story. Can you tell it?”

Dovewave shared a look with Minnowfur. Dovewave visibly swallowed.

Why?

Dovewave shuffled, not speaking for several long heartbeats. “Once, many moons ago, there was a loner named Peak. She was a beautiful golden she-cat with fur as delicate as fresh ferns and spots as white as first snow. One day, Peak bore into the world two little kits–one son, and one daughter.”

“Like me and Flintkit!” Gladekit cut in.

For some reason, Dovewave’s eyes widened at her interruption. “Er...Yes, good catch!”

“Are you sure you want to tell this story?” Minnowfur asked. He was finishing up sorting the herb piles and came to rest on Dovewave’s other side.

“She wants to hear it,” Dovewave answered. “She’ll hear it from us, or from someone like Sweetdapple.”

Minnowfur grimaced, but said nothing else.

Dovewave continued. “Peak may have been young, but she was an excellent mother. When she hunted for her kits, she brought back enough fish to feed an entire Clan twice. She had no warrior training, but she didn’t need any, because she only had to look at a fox with her best ‘don’t you dare touch my kits!’ face, and the beasts will be running away with their tails between their legs!’”

Gladekit giggled.

“But...” Dovewave’s voice fell, growing deeply serious. Gladekit leaned in, eyes wide. “...Not even someone as great as Peak could battle the worst enemy of all: nature itself. A horrible storm hit Peak’s home, sweeping her and her kits away to unknown lands. None of them could see, there was so much rain that their skin ached from it, the clouds were so dark that they couldn’t tell sky from water, and Peak was swallowing so much water, her lungs burned more and more, she was growing more and more tired.”

“What happened?” Gladekit asked. She couldn’t help but notice that Dovewave was acting a lot more solemn in his telling of this story than he normally did when he spoke of dramatic tales, but she was too distracted by the story itself to pay that detail any mind.

“Peak could hardly move,” Dovewave told her. “Her legs were so stiff that they felt as heavy as logs, and the water was sweeping her faster and faster through unknown lands. Peak was dangerously close to death, but she had only one thing on her mind: protecting her kits. Peak used every bit of the strength that was left and pushed through the waves like they were puddles, and grabbed her kits. She held them as high as she could, keeping them safe from the water while it battered at her. She focused. She had to get them to safety. She narrowed her eyes. Nothing. Only more water, until at last she spotted shore! Peak had to work against the current. Her legs didn’t want to move, and it took every bit of her will to get her limbs to kick out just once, let alone twice. But she did it. She kicked, and kicked, and kicked, until finally she made it onto the shore. She collapsed, too tired to do anything else. In the distance, she saw two toms, and heard them asking if she was alright. She knew that they were safe, that her kits would be safe with them, and so Peak let out her final breath, happy in her final moments, because she knew her darling kits would be safe.”

Gladekit stared at her fathers for a moment. “Then what?”

Dovewave blinked at her. “That’s the end.”

“But is she really dead?”

“She is,” Minnowfur confirmed.

“What do you think?” Dovewave asked. Was he holding his breath?

Gladekit frowned. “It’s stupid!” she decided. “If I were Peak, I wouldn’t have let silly water kill me!”

Dovewave gaped at his daughter. Why? It was just a story!

Minnowfur looked upset as well. “You’re a RiverClan cat, you need to learn that water can be your greatest ally and most dangerous enemy,” he said sternly. “Don’t disrespect anyone like that again, fake or not, understand?”

Why was he so mad? “But I–”

“Go see if Flintkit wants to play.”

Gladekit glared at him. “Fine!” Rising from the nest, she stormed out of the den, fur bristling along her spine.

When she had disappeared, Dovewave shook his head. “You shouldn’t have been so hard on her. She doesn’t know.”

“When should we tell her?” Minnowfur asked. 

“Tell her what? She knows she and Flintkit weren’t born in the Clan. They both do. Rosenewt’s not their real mother, and you and I can’t exactly have kits.”

Minnowfur sighed. “They’re bound to have questions one day about how we found them.”

“And we’ll tell them then.”

Minnowfur rested his chin on Dovewave’s shoulders. “I just worry that someone else will beat us to it, someone more harsh.”

“You’re too in your own head,” Dovewave told him gently. “The worst they can be told is that we’re not their first parents, and they already know that.”

“And then what? That their fathers found their mother dead on the shore, and left her there without a burial?”

“We did bury her,” Dovewave reminded him. Though Snailstar saw no point, Dovewave and Minnowfur snuck out that night to give the mother proper respects. After all, she had given them two beautiful kits. And she had to die for them to have them.

Minnowfur was silent for a bit. “Do you think she will remember this? When we tell them what really happened?”

“Why do you ask?”

“What if she’s angry that we didn’t tell her the truth–”

“We did. We told her about a heroic she-cat who died protecting her kits, and that’s exactly what happened. We can worry about telling them who those kits were another day. Until then, would you mind getting me some feverfew?”

=============

--Dovewave and Minnowfur deeply respect the dead mother who they found with the kits that they took in, and have come to calling her 'Peak,' to at least give her a name--something possibly decided on when they sat vigil for her.

--Of course, Dove and Minnow came across 'Peak' after she had died, and have no way of knowing her exact story. But they like to imagine that she was a wonderful mother--she did, after all, die for her kits.

PROMPTS:

--Gladekit recovered from yellowcough!

--Dovewave has heat exhaustion.

--Dove tells Gladekit a story about a loner, but Gladekit doesn't react kindly to the loner's poor luck.