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all-things-fic · 5 years

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Mistletoe Jam

A/N: Merry Christmas from me to you. I don’t where this came from, all I know is I lost a lot of sleep trying to get this finished last night. Hope you all enjoy and thanks to anyone who has ever read anything I’ve posted on here.

Title comes from a Luther Vandross song purely because I like these lyrics in particular - ‘Glad I got big feet cause they're so good for dancin'. Glad you got big legs cause they're so good when we're romancin'

Shoutout to @waitingfortwilight, @harryfeatgaga and @haute-romance-quotidienne for reading this here and there.

~*~

You closed your eyes and let the back of your head hit the headrest behind you in the passenger seat.

“Swear I’m going to change my name,” you muttered under your breath as you heard your son whine Mum for the fifth time in a row.

Harry chuckled in the driver's seat next to you, fore and middle finger resting against his lips as he leaned his elbow on the drivers side door. You were sat in standstill traffic, looking to exit the car park of Cheshire Oaks.

You had a death wish coming here on Christmas Eve but unfortunately in your mad dash attempt to get out of London, you’d left an entire sack of presents behind that were sat next to your tree that had been up for all of a week.

To say you weren’t looking forward to hoovering up after it when you returned to the big smoke in the new year would be an understatement.

However, the actual shopping itself hadn’t been too bad. You’d tag teamed. Harry took your eldest boy with him, leaving you to take your daughter into the one place you knew would keep her occupied: Pets at Home. You’d deal with the constant requests of getting a rabbit over the next 48 hours, if it meant she was quiet enough to allow Harry to grab whatever toy she had suddenly requested from Father Christmas since you’d arrived back up North.

“Mum,” came the whine again, causing you to look around in your chair and see the culprit. Hidden behind a Barbie doll that had been completely stripped naked, baring a pair of cowboy boots, you found the inquisitive blue eyes of your son.

You spoke his name, watching the way he dropped the doll to show you his cheeky smile. “Can we stay up late and look for Santa?,” he asked, his head slightly tilting as he did so. He really was pulling out all the stops today.

Staying silent, you felt Harry’s gaze look at you from the corner of his eye before he looked up at his son through the rear view mirror. “Doesn’t work like that mate,” he started, causing your little boy to turn his gaze away from yours. “Need to go to sleep, or else he doesn’t show up. Good boys and girls sleep in their own beds,” you heard Harry pause to allow the latter part of his sentence to resonate, as much as it could with a toddler, before he continued anymore.

Staying silent you thought Harry was going to continue, however instead when your gaze moved to look at him, you saw the way he appeared to be holding back an expletive at how someone cut him up to get into a parking space that had become available while you sat in idle traffic.

“Dad’s right, baby,” you agreed, watching the way his face fell into a small frown. His mouth fell slightly agape, you cutting in before he could start to whine. “Hey, you know Father Christmas is watching you right now don’t you-“

His mouth shut as his bottom lip started to protrude, his face rolling to look out the window to his right like he was some moody singer filming a pensive part of an emotive music video.

“He’s sulking now,” you muttered, turning back in your seat.

“Am not,” he shot back, your mutter obviously not low enough to go unnoticed. You knew it was wrong given he was probably far too over stimulated as it was, but you couldn’t quite help it.

From the corner of your vision your saw that he started to go stiff in his seat, stretched out and showcasing his frustration. Still idle in traffic, you watched Harry turn in his seat to turn his gaze on his son.

“Enough,” he spoke assertively, hand pressing against the taut legs of his son. “You’ve been good all morning,” he continued, seeing no change in his son's temper.

“One,” he started, causing you to shift slightly in your seat. “Two,” you turned to look at him, seeing the way your little boy shifted, body relaxing. “Good boy, sit back nicely for Dad-“ he manoeuvred back in his drivers seats lowering his voice as he continued, “-so he can get off this bloody car park in one piece.”

***

Anne’s house just smelled like Christmas.

Of fresh baking and spiced Christmas candles. It was cosy too. The kind of warmth that enveloped you the minute you stepped foot into the hallway from the porch.

She smiled a knowing smile when she saw your frazzled hair once you pulled off your winter hat and quickly took your hand, dragging you in the opposite direction that Harry had taken the kids.

“I have mulled wine,” she passed comment, turning to look at your face from over her shoulder. “No? How about a glass of prosecco?”

“Isn’t it a bit early?” You said, eyes taking in the mountain of washing up in her sink, as you messed with the waistband of your jeans and sorted out your jumper.

“Never, not when it’s Christmas,” she smiled. “Besides I think we’ll both need to be a little bit pissed to attack the mountain of washing up.”

Regardless of receiving an actual answer, she poured the prosecco for you, glass being handed over smoothly before she took to pouring her own. As her eyes lifted from the job, she noticed Harry in the kitchen doorway, removing his gloves and shoving them into the pocket of his black coat.

“Or we could get my lovely son to do it,” she let her gaze move over your shoulder as she sipped from her own delicate glass.

“Barely got me coat off and you’re already giving me jobs,” he spoke deeply, leaning against the doorframe. Turning to look at him you noticed the way his eyes lovingly shone over at his mother, before they scanned the kitchen like it was some sort of crime scene.

He groaned as his eyes stilled on the sink, immediately catching on as to what was being asked of him. “I’ll do it under one condition,” his eyes cut to yours before moving back to his Mum’s. “You let me wear the gloves.”

Anne laughed, hand covering her mouth as she tried not to splutter her prosecco everywhere. “I have new ones,” she said, with glittery eyes. Before you could even catch onto the gloves and the meaning behind them, your mother-in-law had hidden herself away in the pantry.

Eyes fell to Harry as he placed himself next to you. He loved the confused but oh so intrigued look that you wore. “Just wait,” he hummed, hands pressing against the kitchen surface and nudging his head back to where his mother stood, wordlessly making you move your eyes towards the same direction.

“Managed to find these in the pound shop when I popped into town with Louise, they had others but you know how I am with my sparkle-“

Harry hummed, with his lips twitching into the boyish smile. “Come on,” he moved his hand in come hither motion. “Let me ‘ave at ‘em.”

Without another word Anne tossed the pair of gloves onto the kitchen work surface. Your eyes dropped to the item that clattered thanks to the gaudy diamond that sat - from what you could tell - super glued onto the middle finger of the latex gloves.

“Pound shop upping its game with the introduction of an old Swarovski-esc cocktail ring, I see.”

You didn’t quite know what to say, as you watched your husband marvel with humour at the monstrosities that he seemed eager to don.

“Where’s the washing up liquid then?” Harry said shaking off his coat and quickly taking to unbuttoning the sleeves of his shirt and rolling them up to the crook of his elbow. “Dishes aren’t gonna do themselves.”

The laughter of sheer delight that left Anne’s chest cause you to cut your eyes over to her. It was nice to see her in such a way, carefree and in awe of her baby over the silliest thing. You often wondered if the face she wore looking at both Gemma and Harry was an expression that flirted across your face over the littlest thing that your own son and daughter did.

You eyes watched Harry as he snatched at the gloves, pulling the red latex over his hands and making them stretch against his ring-clad fingers.

“Wha’ size did you get these in,” he moaned around a husky laugh, his fingers clenching underneath the latex into a fist before expanding once more.

“Didn’t look, darling,” Anne nonchalantly replied, swiping up her phone and snapping a picture of Harry off-guard. He frowned lightly over at her, only for Anne to softly laugh. “Since I’m no longer needed here,” she continued, picking up the bottle from the middle of the kitchen island. “I have some gran-babies to cuddle and annoy since my children no longer enjoy my offers of affection.”

“No, we just enjoy your successful attempts at free labour more. Clearly,” Harry shook his soapy-sud hands out, flicking dishwater in the process.

“I’m letting you stay for free over the festive period and feeding you, ‘s the least you can do.”

He couldn’t argue with that one, his eyes falling to yours as you sipped your drink wearing a smile that was far more triumphant looking than it should be.

“Don’t know why you’ve got a face on you like tha’,” he started, grabbing at the tea towel next to him. “You’re drying.”

The very same tea towel came flying at you, your hand swiping to move your half filled glass to save a spillage and trying to defend yourself.

You didn’t make any effort to move as Harry turned off the tap and got to making sure that all the pots, pans and plates were submerged underneath the surface.

The way his back looked underneath his shirt as he moved his hands around the sink was attractive. It sounded daft and if you weren’t coherent enough you’d blame the prosecco, but even the back of him glowed from happiness (and maybe an extra serving of dessert or two).

Breaking the silence Harry said, “Need to up me ring game.”

You watched the way he shook out his hand, soapy suds once again flicking against the kitchen counter. “Old Mrs Claus, looking to play away.”

“What are you on about?” You said, leaning against the kitchen counter, hand reaching for the packet which had once held the washing up gloves. Eyes took in the label, flicking it over to read the product description to yourself.

“Wearing her diamond on the incorrect finger, innit.”

“Probably got a thing for one of the elves. Husband’s let himself go a bit-“

“Santa or me?” He chuckled.

You smiled against the lip of your champagne flute, eyes moving upwards to see the profile of your husband’s face as he stopped all washing up to look at you. “All I’m saying is maybe only leave one mince pie out for Santa this year when you’re helping the kids set up the plate.”

“Look, Santa is a strapping lad,” he spoke with conviction. “He can’t help it, if Mrs Claus is a feeder.”

“I am not a feeder, Harry,” you laughed, throwing the tea towel back at him.

“Darling, I don’t know what kind of role play you’re into but maybe this is something we should pick up after we’ve put the kids to bed.”

“Was just about to ask you the same thing,” you bit back, eyes once again dropping down the packaging that encased the gloves. “Glamourous red and pearly washing up gloves,” you cleared your throat, eye flickering up to see the way his face had pulled into a smile, as he added another plate to drying rack.

“These fun and stylish gloves make even the dirtiest jobs look fabulous!”

“I can concur-“

Smiling, and hearing it lace your voice, you continued, “The pair of gloves are not only practical but they are complete with a fur lining, pearl bracelet-“

“To match my necklace-“

“-and a superbly sized diamond.”

“Superbly sized diamond, only the best for Mrs Claus.”

“Funny Secret Santa gift for women-“

“And men-,” Harry interjected.

“Both fun and practical for doing the dishes.”

He stayed silent at that one, you too remaining tight lipped waiting for him to say something. When you eyes slowly pulled away from the packet, you met his from across the kitchen island.

You noticed the way his forehead held a light perspiration and the front of his shirt was slightly wet from where he had been leaning a little too closely over the sink.

His hair fell against his forehead and into his eyes, that held an expression that made it so you felt like you couldn’t break your gaze.

“You know what else rhymes with dishes? Missus.”

The way his lips twitched as he spoke, the crinkles next to his eyes deepening. “Both fun and practical for doing the missus.”

“Harry,” you chastised him under your breath.

“Wha’,” he drawled, expression mischievous. “I’m telling Mum we’re keeping these.”

“You do realise that Santa is watching,” you swiped your glass, downing the remainder of your prosecco.

“How’d you know he’s not into it?”

The competitive person in you wanted to counter his question with a question of your own, but instead you chose to give him something to really think about.

Slipping down from the breakfast bar stool, you turned to leave the room, stilling in the doorway.

“That makes two of us then.”

***

Somehow between 1pm and 8pm Harry had managed to remember he was a father of two rather than rampant teenager bringing his girlfriend home for their first Christmas together.

He’d been the ever-doting Dad after he had left the kitchen, helping the kids put together and decorate the gingerbread house at Anne’s dining table, taking a danger nap with his little girl during an afternoon showing of Frozen on BBC One and cooking a Christmas Eve feast suitable for the whole family.

Rather than fight against the family pyjamas, instead he lead the charge, helping to encourage the coercing of your son into his along the way.

He got excited when you pulled out the hand crafted plate that said “Dear Santa” along the top and then “Love from,” followed by the names of your son and daughter along the bottom.

There was no doubt about it, Harry was all in.

With a carrot and mince pie now placed on the fireplace, Harry now sat with a sweaty child pressed into his side on Anne’s sofa, with Love Actually on the television going in one ear and out the other.

Your son had put up a fight to sleep, like his earlier episode in the car let you know he would do. His little body bouncing around before creeping along the landing, only for Harry to peek up the stairs and tell him to come down.

He was a hard child to stay mad at, more so when he cuddled into your side to begin with until getting cosy next to his Dad. Part of you wondered if he was becoming under the weather, given the way his cheeks were rosy and his skin clammy.

“Probably this cheap polyester you’ve forced us into,” Harry playfully jibed, knowing just how mad you’d been when you read that the pyjamas you had bought off the internet under the illusion of being 100% cotton, were in fact only 80% cotton and 20% polyester.

Your hand was held against his forehead as Harry stood with his limp and sleepy body in the middle of the living room. “He’s definitely coming down with something,” you worried your bottom lip.

Harry dropped his lips to his son's forehead, keeping his voice in a hushed whisper as he reassured you that he just needed to get some rest.

Falling back into your space on the couch, you half listened as Harry left the room asking you to pause the film so he didn’t miss anything. You fought the urge to roll your eyes at how he and everyone else could by now recite Love Actually considering how it had become a classic for this time of year.

“I’m just going to nip out and grab those presents from the boot of the car,” he said poking his head around the living room door upon his return.

Lifting your head from the Radio Times magazine that you’d managed to swipe from Anne as she retired upstairs earlier for a bath and to get straight into bed, you nodded when you met his eyes.

“Want to crack open tha’ bottle of red when I come back?” He suggested, fiddling with the collar of his coat, car keys jingling in his hand.

“Can’t get too pissed, still gotta wrap some presents-“

“I didn’t hear that,” he replied, shutting the door behind him before heading out to the drive to retrieve the purchases both he and you had made earlier.

In his absence, you took in the cosy living room that surrounded you and felt your body sink into the sofa as you relaxed. This was the least frantic you’d felt all day, regardless of the mountains of wrapping you still had to do.

Your children had been wiped when they finally fell asleep, which was always a win for any parent. It meant that they would probably give you the chance to sleep in a little later than usual for Christmas Day. There was nothing wrong with being hopeful that your gaze met 7am on the alarm clock rather than the usual 5am.

The presents that already sat underneath the tree, made your heart soar. Material things did not mean much at all, but there was no doubt it that every single person in this family - your family - was loved.

Standing from your seat, you let your feet lead you along the carpet and out into the dimly lit hallway of Anne’s house. Pictures of Harry and Gemma, as children, littered the walls. Some of the frames and pictures replaced since you had first set foot in the family home, with images of your own children and Gemma’s too.

The strong sense of family always comforted you when you stayed at Anne’s. Took a gentle hold of your body and consumed you in the nicest way.

Both glasses and the bottle retrieved, you quickly shut the door of the living room to make sure that barely any of the heat from the roaring fire left the fairly sized and cosy space.

Sitting on the edge of the couch, you quickly unscrewed the bottle of red and poured two reasonable sized glasses.

Leaving one atop of the coffee table, you plucked up the stem of your glass and sunk back into the cream couch. You knew you’d have to be extra careful as the night went on and more of the rich and acidic drink was consumed.

The rustling of bags let you know that Harry had returned into the house from outside, with the door of the front room opening not long after.

“Can feel the cold coming off you,” you commented as he set down the four bags he had retrieved.

“Cars icing up,” he commented, tugging off his coat and throwing it into the spare armchair over the other side of the room. As he turned, he wore a warm smile once his eyes saw the way you were offering over a glass of wine.

Now stood from your seat, he padded his socked feet against the carpet over to you and gently peeled the stem from your grasp. Sipping the drink and keeping his eyes locked with yours, he noticed the way you dropped your stare to his lips as he licked away the lingering wine residue.

His free hand cupped at the back of your forearm, cold fingers easy to feel through your thin pyjamas. He soothed his hand up the back of your arm, scooping you into him.

Looking down at you with his softened jawline, he hummed the first thoughts on his mind. “Not kissed you all day-“

And he hadn’t. Things had been manic and the day has mainly been about your children, and present swapping with friends. Outside of the other activities previously thought back on.

“Or night,” you mused in return.

He tutted, “Night’s’not over yet.”

Humming you tilted your head slightly when you felt his hand hit the back of your neck. You shivered from his cold touch as he mumbled his sorry’s against your lips.

With a soft shake of the head you dismissed him and welcomed his tender and gentle kiss. His lips puckered at yours and softly drew you into his every want and desire.

As he went to pull away you lured him back with a soft pull to his top lip, feeling him smile at how you didn’t want to break away. He happily obliged you, opening his mouth wider to devour you, enticed by your plusher figure against his and the warmth radiating off you.

“‘S all this,” he mumbled against your cheek, as he tried to calm his breathing and remember not to lose grip of his wine.

“Jus’ showing you how much you mean to us-“

“Shouldn’t that be me to you,” he corrected. “Would be lost without you, Mommy.”

Pulling back you looked at him, welcoming the soft peck he left on your lips as you stared at each other. A small laugh left him as he pressed a second and third peck to your lips in quick succession, “‘s not getting the wrapping done is it?”

“You started it,” you mumbled into your glass as he turned to stand behind you and grabbed for the bags.

Before he got to them however he stalled all movement, looking at your profile with a gleam in his eye. “I’ll bloody well finish to an’ all, after we’ve done this wrapping.”

“Nothing sexier than a man who gets a job done and get its done proper.”

He laughed down his nose at that, before he groaned as he managed to get his body down to the floor.

“Don’t do things by halves, love. Should know that by now. Now, who’s present was the Barbie kitchen set?”

***

That’s how you spent the majority of the night, rummaging through the plastic bags and putting together two piles of presents for each of your children.

Once it had been decided who was having what, you did your equal share of the wrapping. Harry actually better at wrapping than you were always led to believe by the man himself. You knew he often opted for the gift wrapping service at a Selfridges or a Harrod’s, but here he was slumming it like everyone else.

“How’s it feel being like every other peasant and wrapping your own gifts?”

He chuckled, mouth closed as it held onto a piece of sticky tape that was going to be used after he’d neatened up the edges of the LOL drawing set that you’d bought for your little girl.

“Actually very rewarding,” he deadpanned, “‘s probably the wine tha’s making it less of a chore though. That and my incredibly easy on the eye wife cheering me on.”

He did find himself getting bored when he was three quarters of the way through however, finding ways to entertain himself like sticking one of the bows to his forehead to give himself to you as a present, which had you giggling over at him with bleary, wine eyes.

“You’re a daft sod,” you said pressing your outstretched foot into his thigh and enjoying the way he cupped the top of the same foot, keeping it close to him.

You could tell he was getting restless when he started talking about all manner of different Christmas facts that he’d heard around the studio, or in meetings to break up long sessions of recording or tour logistics.

“Did you know?” He started, “Paul McCartney earns £250,000 a year off his Christmas song, which is widely regarded as the worst song he ever recorded.”

“Obviously not by you,” you deadpanned, as you concentrated on trying to find the end of the sticky tape as it had stuck itself back together.

“I’ve probably helped up his royalties actually, d’ya think I could get a cut of that?” You laughed, looking up at him from the final present you were wrapping. “I’m serious, I’ll have a word with Sonny and see if he can mention it to his Uncle Paul.”

Rather than responding, you reached for the last of your wine and swallowed it in one gulp. Empty glass on the table, you looked over at your husband who wore a flushed face, either from the wine or the heat within the room. You did notice he had pushed the sleeves of his pyjamas top up into the crook of his elbow.

“Did you know,” he whimsically asked in a whisper.

“Probably not, Harry, but go on-“

“It’s well known that mistletoe is an aphrodisiac, a symbol of fertility,” Harry spoke with concentration as he looked down at the paper which housed the toys that he had done a mad dash to The Entertainer store for, once you daughter mentioned how she had changed her list to Father Christmas. This was his final gift to wrap.

“You can forget it, Styles,” you bit back, watching the way he smirked around the cello tape that he was biting into, too lazy to reach across for the scissors at the end of his legs. Forever easily amused. “Already one too many in our house as it is.”

“Maybe I’ve asked Father Christmas for a new ‘un,” he patted at the present, looking up at you from under his brow.

“A new baby-“

“Yeah, that as well,” he rolled his lips into his mouth, clearly meaning a house. He frowned, “And wha’ do ya mean with this ‘one too many’? ‘S only two of them.”

“Three.”

He shook his head, his face reminiscent of a child confused. Point proven.

“Our two kids,” you paused, for dramatic effect. “And you. So, one too many.”

He was taken aback by your playful nature, a little bit lost for words at how brazenly you had dissed him.

“Thought you liked ‘em young,” he retorted, hand curling around your calf and tugging you over to him. From the quickness of his movement, you squealed. The two of you shushing each other around soft laughter as your eyes faintly fell towards the television monitor that showed you your sleeping children from where you sat in his lap.

“Dead to the world, both of ‘em,” he mumbled, breathing along your cheek as he noted the way your soft gaze lingered on your babies.

“Can’t wait to see their faces tomorrow,” you admitted, as his lips skimmed gently down your neck.

“Need to finish off the magic,” he hummed. “Pass me the plate.”

Leaning over from in his lap, you gave Harry the ample opportunity to softly tap his hand against your pyjama-clad bottom. The sound your ears and his received was a dull thud that didn’t achieve what it intended.

Turning to look at him, his sheepish gaze made you aware that he too wasn’t satisfied from his actions. His eyes dropped down to the plate that you held tightly in your hands at the goodies he had laid out on the idea a mere four hours prior.

“You take the carrot,” he pushed it towards you, eyes meeting yours as they looked up.

“And here I was thinking you were the health conscious one-“

“I need stodge to soak up this,” he scooped up the pouring of whiskey. “‘M mixing drinks, so I’m gonna be a barrel of laughs when they jump on me at 5am as my wake up call.”

You softly laughed before you took a hefty bite out of the carrot and he out of the mince pie. With a gooey smile, you couldn’t stop your hands moving up to his lips and wiping away the crumbs from the pastry that sat on the corners of his mouth.

“Have the last bit,” he spoke once he has swallowed his food, offering the small amount of whiskey left in the tumbler glass to you.

You sipped the drink that he gave to you and placed the empty glass down with a soft clunk to the plate.

“Can make some magic of our own now,” he whispered in a light alcohol induced haze, satisfied.

And under the soft lighting of the living room, who were you to refuse him.

His chuckle of disbelief at this words hit your lips with a warm breath, causing you to blush along with him. If he wasn’t kissing you in that moment, you knew that he would have said the words, “Can’t believe I’ve just said tha’.”

But you would believe it, because things like that were him to a T.

He was that kind of person sometimes, hidden underneath the incredibly handsome features and put together looks: a geek. A loveable geek.

A loveable geek who knew how to work his way around your body; your head falling back with the thought as he sucked at the middle of your neck.

“No lovebites, baby,” you gasped, fingers woven into the hair at the back of his head. “We’re at your Mum’s,” you reminded him, feeling his tongue lave against the area he’d been particularly rough with. Like a cat licking at his wounds, tucking his tail between his legs at how he’d admitted defeat.

His hands moved up the back of your shirt, raising the pyjama material as he went. Your arms lifted, helping him remove the item of clothing and enjoying the tickling feeling of your hair falling down the bare skin of your back.

Harry’s face went straight into the center of your boobs without much focus on where he’d thrown your discarded top in the living room. Mouth sucked with power on the inside of your chest, he was determined to leave a mark against your skin one way or another.

His hands clawed at the elastic of your trousers, palming underneath them to feel your bare bum cheeks against his hands,helping to create a rocking motion of your crotch against his.

You mewled, in a breathy tone, “Take ‘em off.”

“‘S nice like this,” he coaxed, looking at your face with hooded eyes and enjoying your mirrored expression.

And he wasn’t lying. Been a while since you’d sat in his lap and found your release against him with your clothes still on.

“It’s not enough,” you admitted, feeling your hips become slightly more frantic as you pressed back into his awaiting hands with a soft clap.

“It’s enough for now,” he urged you to rock. “Relax on me, darling. We’ve got time.”

Languid kisses was nice. The friction of your clothes too, worked you up in a way that was way more than you would ever care to admit. Breathing growing heavier as Harry kept his lips to your chest and you fisted at his hair.

Tingles ran through you as you felt Harry growing harder through his trousers, rubbing against your center over and over. He twitched as his hand pulled you with more force against him, his hand slipping down lower to rest in-between your bum cheeks.

The way his fingers ghosted close to your center was enough to have you reaching around and pushing his hand down further. The suction sound his mouth made as it peeled away from your clammy skin, made you moan with a fallen head tilt.

“Want my fingers that bad,” he whispered, feeling the pressure of your hand on top of his. “Tell me.”

“Please, put ‘em in,” you breathily asked. Your mouth fell agape as you felt the tips of his fingers rest against your wetness. You knew if you rocked back and he held you steady enough, they’d sink right in without any resistance.

“Gonna rub your clit for me while you take my fingers, eh?”

Your breathing was laboured as his fingers brushed at your aching, wet center. You were desperate from some kind of pressure, your center pulsing each time you felt the tips of his fingers get closer.

“At this rate your gonna be all down your legs and mine,” he paused, enjoying the choked moan you released when he finally slipped his fingers inside your wet warmth. “Not even got started.”

You hand was against your front and harshly rubbing at your sopping clit that had you softly swiping up and releasing enticing moans, causing Harry to throb.

He softly shushed you as he pushed your fallen hair, slightly damp from sweat, out of your eyes.

“No ones ever made me this wet,” you admitted in a whiny plea to him, scooping your arm around his neck to sit tighter onto his lap.

His eyes dropped down to the way your hand moved over your center underneath your pyjamas trousers. “Hiding from me, darling,” he was obvious.

“I said take them off,” you hummed. “Thought you were a man, my man.”

Harry growled at your goad, fingers slipping without much care and wiping into the waistband of your trousers. He roughly pulled at your bottoms, his limbs and yours unattractively flaying but achieving the ultimate goal of getting naked.

Bare bum now open to thick heat of the room, you enjoyed the way he tapped his fingers lightly against your left cheek, close to where your bum and thigh met.

“Harry,” you breathed, hips nudging forwards, enough to get his cock to press between your lips, just right. You rolled your hips over him slowly, your wetness enticing and teasing to his cock. Bliss was written across his face as he enjoyed your attentiveness to foreplay.

“Gonna let me have you,” he stated, no question within his words. He felt the way you nodded against him, as you pressed your forehead to his.

You gripped his shoulder as you rolled back again, feeling the way his tip slipped into your without much guidance other than the slight lift to your arse from Harry himself.

As you sank down on him, you felt the way his hand pressed to your lower back. Shaky exhales bounced against each other’s lips as you took him in, staying still and relishing in the way his cock felt inside of you.

Throbbing clit flush to his pelvis, you knew even the tiniest of motion would have you losing your mind.

Wanting to keep him deep, you barely raised your hips more than halfway off him before you were taking him once more. He brushed against the soft spot inside you so wonderfully, that you were admitting your love for him in such a way that had him chuckling.

“‘S my cock, not me, darling,” he teased. “I know, I know, baby.”

The pace you set was slow, languidly rolling your hips over his. He encouraged you, digging his fingers into your plush hips and throatily moaning as he watched you with lips parted and eyelids hooded.

The wet kiss you shared with him, had you gripping at his jaw, feeling the way it expanded as he devoured you with his lips and tongue. It was dirty, a quick flick that had your chasing after him, suckling gently and wanting to be just as dirty in return.

You could hear how wet you were, your body wanting the man beneath you to know just much of mess you had made for him. How turned on he had managed to get you.

He loved it. The sounds. The way he purposefully dragged at your wetness with his fingers over you clit. His roughs pants and throaty moans indicative of just how deeply pleasured he was.

“Hear tha’,” he rhetorically asked. “You’re all over my balls, doll. My thighs are covered.”

“Oh god,” you gasped as your head fell back and exposed your throat to him, hips rocking and rubbing harshly against his. His hand moved from being cupped underneath your bouncing boobs and took to pressing gently against your throat.

Somewhere in your mind you thought back to the latex, novelty washing up gloves earlier in the day and how they may feel against your skin, against your throat. It was something you knew you’d have to mention as you hips began to move with more force against him at the idea.

You knew he’d asked, he’d just time the question in the right moment. Probably say your name first to have you looking down at him glassy, fucked our vision.

As he groaned your name, your dropped you head down feeling the way your throat curved against his hand. “Wha’ you thinking ‘bout?”

His face was flushed out, hair sticking to his forehead and you were partly angry at how he’d somehow managed to keep his top on.

“Need to try the gloves next time,” you confessed. “Want to, want to-“

He watched the way you face crumpled, slightly flushing at how you’d possibly found yourself a kink that was once before totally undiscovered to you.

He pulled you down to him, “Would try anything wi’you in a heartbeat. So in love wi’you. Love you more when you let me feel you comin’ all over me.”

The two of your were flat against each other as you felt the way he lifted his hips upwards, the angle had him constantly stroking directly on your g spot. Your limbs felt like mush as your body began to shake of its own accord.

“Yea’ darlin’, just like that for me,” he coaxed, “All over me, giving it all to me.”

Your sweaty chest rubbed against the irritating fabric of his top, as you focused on the feel of your clit rolling against him and the feel of his cock tipping you over the edge with a satisfied moan that had you holding him deep inside.

You fell limp against him, feeling the way his arms wrapped heavy against your clammy back. The only movement came from his hips as they lifted upwards and smacked against you.

His deep groan of your name as his orgasm overtook him, caused you to turn your face into his and leave a wet and heavy kiss to his dropped jaw. His grunts were heavy as they tapered out into soft and wet whimpers.

Your skin was scorching against his, as you’d came down together next to the roaring fire beside you. The two of you basking the blissful aftermath.

As you collapsed against him, Harry’s eyes looked up at the tree that he was now somehow partly under. Heaving chest and bleary eyes, he focused on the decorations above his head, as his hand ran soothingly down your clammy back.

With a scoffed chuckle, he caught your attention, enjoying the way you nosed along his neck, to being your lips up to the corner of his.

“What is it?” You asked gently against his lips. His smiled deepened. “What’s tickled you so much?”

Still wearing a blissful expression, he said deeply, “We’re under mistletoe.”

Frowning, you knocked you eyes upwards, spotting the mistletoe that sat tied to two or three baubles on the Christmas tree.

“Gotta lay on one me, doll,” he cheekily caught your attention. “‘S the rules.”

And if it were the rules, who were you to break them.

#harry styles #harry styles one shot #harry styles smut #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fan fic #my writing #christmas!harry #dad!harry #harry smut #harry fanfic #harry fanfiction #harry fluff #harry x you #harry x reader

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erstwhile25 · 4 years

Text

Old Salts, and Bitter Fruits.

It was a brisk La Noscean morning, the kind where the bitter chill winds coming off the seas wrestled with the warm sun reflecting off the mountain slopes. Most mornings the sun won out, but in the height of winter, the wind was such that it could slip under your clothes and shake hands with your bones. Hannah knew from experience (as most of her knowledge was prone to spring from these days) that it wasn’t as bad as the ongoing frosts of Ishgard, still one needed to bundle up against it, lest they found themselves making friends with a fever. She had just finished gathering up the last of the winter peas from the fields, and had set her basket aside to rub a little life back into her chilled knobbly fingers.

Age had been kind to her, she reflected as she sat her bony ass down on one of the smooth stones that marked the borders of her son’s fields. Most women who had seen as many seasons as she had needed the assistance of a cane to walk, and that was if they could leave their rocking chairs at all. However she was still able to bend at her waist, and carry a basket that was half her weight in stone. True, her joints ached terribly before the coming of a storm, and she’d no longer had a tooth in her mouth that wasn’t porcelain or silver, but to expect nothing from time but a head full of grey hair was folly if ever she heard it.

It was a subject of some debate back on her son Sigmund’s farm. His wife, a pretty little midlander named Sarah who didn’t have so much as two foul thoughts in her head to rub together for fire, was opposed to the idea of her aging mother-in-law working in the fields. She insisted that if Hannah kept it up, then one day they would find her out there, dead amongst the stones and weeds. The girl, and she was still a girl in Hannah’s eyes, never even contemplated the possibility that Hannah would have it no other way. After all it was probably the bull headed need for physical labor that kept her in such fine shape for her autumn years. During her years on the salt, Hannah had never met a job she didn’t prefer to do for herself. In fact, one of her hardest lessons aboard a ship had been to trust in the work of others.

Hannah shivered, and rose off the rock, tugging her basket to her shoulder. Near on twenty years had passed since she had set foot on a deck, and still every fourth thought out of her head was about her life on the waves. It was what every sailor meant when they said “The Siren’s Call.”, since most were too chickenshit to call it their own stupidity, blaming a pretty woman seemed the next best thing. Still they were right about one thing, there wasn’t any sense to be had in it. She had a good life now, Sigmund shared her own love of steady physical labor, and between the two of them they had made his farm one of the best producers on the coastline. Sigmund and his little wife hadn’t been coy in their marriage, and now they had a fifth grandchild on the way to swell the household even further. Hannah had made the offer a while back to have a cottage built for herself on the edge of the property, giving them the space every married couple needed. However they wouldn’t hear of it, bless their amorous little hearts, the pair insisted having their family under one roof, all of their family.

So here Hannah was, with no need for coin, or a roof over her head, besieged on all sides by love from gangly grandchildren and moon-eyed betrothed. All of these things rested neatly in the palm of her hand...and there was still space for something else. It made her feel like shit, but there was no denying it, some part of her longed for the feel of the rolling deck beneath her feet and the anticipation of the great unknown. Rationally, she knew the reason she would never return to the waves, it was the same reason she’d fought so viciously with Sarah about planting the fig trees behind the house. Not because Hannah had any particular inclinations about figs as a fruit, but because of how the trees looked when they were denuded of their leaves in the winter. They looked like skeletal fingers clutching up through the sea water, always reaching for the sky.

It was staring at those trees that her son found her. She had walked the pebbled path home without realizing it, as mired in her thoughts as a cart stuck in the peat moors. It wasn’t until he rested a cautious hand on one of her shoulders that she realized where she was with a little start.

“Someone once told me staring at a tree won’t cause it t’grow fruit.” He rumbled through a chest now broader than hers had ever been, when had he grown taller than she? She smirked up at him, handing off her basket without needing to ask that he take it.

“Depends on what ye came out t’pick, not all fruit grows green.”

“Mmmm” he set off on a slow plod towards the front of the homestead. “Sounds like bitter fruit indeed.”

“Tis at that.” She said out the side of her mouth, following at his side..

“Ye know…” he said, plowing on into the conversation like an ox “Ye need not be the only one t’eat this fruit.”

She smiled up at him fondly. The trouble was he meant it too, he would patiently listen to everything she had to say about her past life, and forgive her for it to boot. Trouble was some things weren’t for him to forgive, and she wasn’t deserving of forgiveness anyhow.

“Some mistakes are jest that lad...bitter fruit only ye can eat in yer old age. Now hush, n’let me be an old woman in peace.”

“Salty old bitch.” he said, without a hint of malice.

“Green little shit.” she spat, with all a mother’s love. “Thought ye would be out still pickin stones in the western fields, not herding old goats.”

“I was headed that way, but someone claimin t’be a friend oh yourn showed up on our doorstep.”

Hannah stopped as soon as he said it, her foot on the first of the sensible stone steps leading up to the porch of their home. She eyed the door above them as though it was a serpent rearing to strike. “That makes them either an idiot or a liar...what’d ye make them t’be?”

Sigmund set down the basket of peas, and as he bent over Hannah noticed a cudgel was tucked into the back of his belt. It was a plain and heavy affair carved from one of the thick branches of the oaks that dotted the path to the house; Sigmund said he kept it around for wolves and men in need of manners. Hannah had only seen him use it twice, and that was all she needed to suspect he’d inherited more from her than a need for physical labor. Nodding towards the house, he gave his mother a knowing look. “He looked like someone who could be trouble iffin he wanted t’be, don’t think he wanted t’be though. Said he jest wanted t’talk to ye, so I left Sarah t’entertain whilst I fetched ye.”

Fetched me and that there cudgel, Hannah thought as she sucked on one of the silver teeth at the front of her mouth. She supposed she could have berated him for leaving his family alone with a strange man, but there was time enough for that after she dealt with this. She went to the wide stump near the front of the house, where they all took turns splitting firewood for chill evenings. There embedded in the stump was a well worn hatchet no longer than her forearm. It was hardly a weapon for most folks, but it was a tool she was intimately familiar with. With a quick yank she freed it, and it slid easily enough into the apron straps behind her back. Thusly armed, she stomped her way up the steps good and loud so whoever was in there heard her coming.

Hannah had to admit, with the one exception seated at the kitchen table, she had walked into the picture of farmer’s hospitality. Sarah had been an inn keeper’s daughter before Sigmund had offered her a life on his homestead, and thusly she had kept his hearth with the same inflexible sensibility that had commanded the line of innkeepers before her. Everything was where it should be; from the fragrant cooking herbs hung to dry along one wall; to the color coordinated rows of jams and preserves they had sealed in the spring. Every pot, every pan, every humble clay cup was precisely in the location it needed to be to convey a sense of welcome and warmth to those who were either returning home, or simply temporarily visiting. It was this way, not because Hannah, or Sigmund, or any of his multitudinous get were particularly neat, but because Sarah Commanded It Be So. The family bore it with good natured cheer, partly because they loved the small woman, and partly because they enjoyed their home being so. Even crusty old Hannah enjoyed it; Which was why, when Hannah saw one of Tseng’s things seated at the table amidst everything she considered home, her blood ran colder than any Ishgard winter.

It didn’t help that Juniper, the eldest of her grandchildren, was seated next to the lean salt haired outline of a man. Juniper’s innocent grey green eyes were as wide as the tea saucers her mother was setting out, as the little girl of eight tapped one of the many ostentatious gold and silver rings on the thing’s spidery sea worn fingers. “What about...that one?”

It opened its mouth, showing very white teeth in a wolfish grin, and a raucous laugh tailored to titillate rolled around the kitchen. “I got that one from a princess of the Ananta, she dared me t’try dancin on one foot afore all her clan, as her people do. I fell flat on my arse, but she claimed I should have aught t’show fer it anyhow.”

Juniper’s eyes narrowed, and her tiny mouth puckered in the inherent shrewdness of all eight year olds “Wot’s an..Antnata?”

“Oh they’re a sight t’be seen..” It winked (...or was it blinked?) to her and laid a finger along the side of it’s slightly crooked nose, as though the two of them in this bit of information had a precious secret to share. “Serpent women whose beauty tis beyond compare, they live in the outer Fringes outside Gyr Abania.”

“Liar.” Shot back Juniper with no hesitation whatsoever. “No one’s prettier than Mum.”

This spurred a fierce blush from Sarah’s pale cheeks, and a second, even louder round of laughter from the thing. “How fool oh me t’ferget her” it said between guffaws. “Yer daughter does ye credit madam, she’ll have her pick oh the crews when she comes oh age.”

Hannah saw the spark in Juniper’s eyes as soon as the thing said it, and she knew, she KNEW somewhere in that little sprat’s mind, a life at sea was already painting itself. It was that stupid, disregarding, need for adventure that still called to her as an old woman, and she would be damned it she let it claim one of hers.

“She’ll have her pick oh the fields till then.” Hannah said archly from the doorway. Before she had a chance to seat herself at the table, she was nearly bowled over by her granddaughter who flung herself into Hannah’s stained apron to hug her waist and then tug on the same strings that held the hatchet behind her back.

“Nana! Nana! Guess what??” With all the energy of a hummingbird in its prime, Juniper bounced up and down before her. Hannah couldn’t help but run a gnarled hand through those curling brown locks and ask the expected question.

“What, my cherub?”

Sparing a suspicious glance behind her at their guest, Juniper went to her tiptoes and whispered in a voice that all present could hear. “He’s a pirate.”

Hannah smiled at that, how could she do anything but? Still the important thing was to get Juniper as far away from the trouble at their table as fast as she could, if she had to lie to the child to do so, so be it. “Taint nice t’call someone a pirate, even iffin they do look like one. Asides, there’s no such things as pirates any more, the Admiral’s sweepin em all back out t’sea. Now yer father’s out on the porch about t’start shellin peas, why don’t ye go help him?”

“But Nan..”

“Now child.” Hannah cut the babe off with a clipped tone that brooked no backtalk, a tone she hated using, but nonetheless had the desired effect. With a bit of a wounded look, Juniper shot around her, and out the front door. Hannah looked to Sarah, and for a moment, she thought she would have to ask the woman to leave as well. However Sarah seemed to pick up from the look that this was neither a conversation for her or tea, and with a sigh set the pot off the stove. Turning to leave for the door, Hannah’s prim and proper daughter-in-law paused to eye them both and then spoke. “If you two are planning to kill one another, please do it outside. If I come back and find anything in here broken, we’ll be digging two graves instead of just the one.” That said, she turned on a heel and followed her daughter out.

“Some men rescue the damsel from the dragon…” It said, watching Sarah’s flouncing departure. “Other’s jest marry the dragon.”

She stared at the man-like thing for a moment, carefully considering her words, diplomacy after all was the bedrock of civilization. “Shut the feck up.”

The one yellow eye narrowed to a slit as she said it, and for a moment she thought they really would just kill one another in her family’s cozy little kitchen. Instead the thing that looked like a man eased back into it’s chair, and with a lazy hand motion, admitted the floor was hers. So she licked her lips and pressed on. “No jokes, no fables, no amusing anecdotes...jest plain speech. I know ye get somat from that other stuff...yer like her in that respect, but whatever that tis ye ent gettin it from this house, not from these people. Not while I’m still alive and kickin.”

It looked slightly affronted by that, keeping its eye on her as it reached for the bowl in the middle of the table, and selecting one of the pears that sat there. She blinked and there was a knife in its hand, cutting off the rind of the fruit into a neat little curl off to the side. A small rueful smile curled its way across that face, not unlike the peel. “Ye sit there, talkin about me like I’m some terror from the deeps come t’visit horror upon ye and yer family.” it said.

Hannah kept her eyes steady and forward, not daring to look away. She’d warned Argus Stormwater another lifetime ago never to take his eyes off this one, he’d ignored her advice, and had paid for it with his life. With the same steady calm as her stare, she pulled out a chair at the table, and then rested her bones upon it. “Convince me that yer otherwise Kail.”

“Oh come now.” Kail said as it continued undressing the pear. “M’a lawful citizen oh Limsa Lominsa just as yerself, aught that not warrant me a little faith?”

Hannah didn’t let her expression alter one jot. “I was there the night ye gave Jehige a second grin then tossed him off the docks, I’m well familiar with what ye are cutter.”

There followed a silence thick enough to spread on toast after she laid that out between them, Kail’s knife paused in mid slice, and that yellow eye eased up to lock on with her gaze. “Look me in the eye and tell me he didn’t have that comin.” It said, and there wasn’t a hint of regret in that voice.

It had been as if the act had been cut wood, drawn water, or any one of a dozen chores that Kail had needed to do that day, and it would probably never see the murder as anything else. Oh it was true that Jehige would have sold his mother to the slaving guilds for spare change, but the utter casual nature that Kail had discarded him was a stark reminder to Hannah. It was a reminder that if Kail was ever doing figures in it’s head, and reached the answer of one dead Hannah, then that is what her grandchildren would find in her bed.

“I don’t think either oh us are in any position t’sit in judgement.” She said, and even as she said it, she realized it was true. With an effort of will she drew her finger tips from the handle of the hatchet, where they had unconsciously come to rest as her mind had wound her up even further during the conversation. She set her hands upon the table, and left them there. “What is it ye want Kail?”

It grinned wide and white, not unlike a shark ready to take a bite. “As it so happens, I want t’do ye a favor.” It said, and then it did bite, right into the peeled pear with no shortage of vigor and relish. As it chewed with juice dribbling down it’s chin, Hannah sat there staring, unsure as how to respond to that. She found her voice after it took yet another bite of the fruit, seemingly content to wait and watch for her reaction. “Ye say that, but somehow I’m convinced this ‘favor’ oh yourn tis goin t’look more like barter.”

Kail favored her with a deceptively casual shrug, she had seen it used more than a few times when this thing was a younger boy. It meant simply that the can of worms went deeper than you thought, Kail was only showing you the surface. Still she found herself listening to what it had to say. “Tis an opportunity, and we elder salts know there ent no pay without a little pain.” It said, then it leaned in close. “But what pain wouldn’t be worth bein able t’have a night’s kip without havin nightmares oh Tseng?”

Hannah had known this would concern the old man, had prepared herself for it when she had seen Kail sitting at her family’s table. Yet still when she heard his name spoken aloud, she felt the small hairs on her arm try to crawl skyward. She wasn’t as superstitious as the rest of her peers, but she was almost certain that was one of those names that echoed back to the ears of its owner. “Twenty years tis a long time t’hold a grudge boy, what makes ye even think he’s still about?”

For the first time, Hannah saw the cheer on Kail’s face roll back like the tides, leaving behind a very naked and raw anger still as fresh as that night so long ago. It’s words were clipped and under control, but only clearly from a small lifetime of tempering them to be so. “This tisn’t about a grudge, this tis about finishin what we started. N’iffin yer old bones ent tellin ye that he’s still out there, then yer a better liar than I am.”

She couldn’t help but snort at the hypocrisy, and made to rise from the table. “There ye are callin me a liar, but yer about t’split down the middle fer a chance t’get at him. Not about a grudge my arse. Yer about t’get a whole bunch oh folk killed chasin a ghost, n”I fer one ain’t…”

Something landed on the table between the two of them, dropping with a strange permanence that suggested nothing but someone picking it up would ever move it from that spot. Kail had fished it out a pocket and tossed it on the table, Hannah stared as the world seemed to twist about the small thing. At first glance it was a gemstone, a tear drop of a strange opalescence, without a single facet to suggest a jeweler’s tools had ever touched it. It was in her hand before she told herself to pick it up, and she was drawing it closer for her old eyes to see. She had to be sure. She dimly heard Kail’s slow growl of a voice somewhere in the distance, but she simply didn’t have the room in her head to listen as she slowly became lost in the folds of light beneath the gem’s surface. There it was...that oily sheen was as sure a signature of Tseng’s hand as any lord’s seal. Steeling herself, she tore the gem from her gaze and set it back on the table. She turned her weary eyes upon Kail, and asked it...asked him, she would have to get used to that idea now if they would be working together. “Where?”

He took a flask out one of those many pockets and passed it across the table to her, she gratefully took it and availed herself of the burning contents. “I took it from a gunship I had t’scuttle back in Ala Mhigo.” He said “ Twas with a bit oh correspondence that suggests the captain was one oh Tseng’s.”

Hannah froze in mid sip, a horrible thought occurring to her. “He ent workin with the Imperials is he?”

To her relief, Kail shook his head. “He eats and breathes hate fer them, he’d slit his own throat afore it came to that. Slipping a few pawns in their ranks and absconding with some of their resources though?”

She nodded in reply, it was a move that was just as much a signature of the old man as the sheen in the stone. Kail was right, Tseng wasn’t just alive, he had a hand in the world stage. Despite all the time that had passed, all the good she had done in the years between, she had helped him do so. There was only one reply to that. “What do ye need from me?”

Kail removed the gem from the table, reaching for it with all the care one handles a snake. “I know how t’get Tseng’s attention. To do that though...I’ll need t’sail into the Teeth.”

Hannah winced at the thought. Far out to the east in the Sea of Glass were a set of islands known to sailors as the Seven Maws. As sailors were both poetic and original, they called the barrier of razor sharp obsidian glass that surrounded the islands the Teeth. It was inaccessible from the air as the obsidian apparently carried trace amounts of aether, this aether caused a perpetual lightning storm to crackle over the islands. Any airship that tried to pass through it was ripped apart by enough bolts to give even Raiden the Storm Father pause. On the flip side however, to try and sail through the Teeth by way of the water was no task for the faint of heart. Hannah could count on one hand the number of Captains who had told her they had sailed through the Teeth and that she believed. Kail wasn’t one of them. “So what are ye talkin t’me fer? Ye need the best navigator ye can lay hands on. That ent me.”

“Well..” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve a navigator already in mind, but I think he’s not of the mind t’accept iffin I’m the one doin the offerin.”

Hannah felt her mouth set into a grimace, here it came. “Why?”

“I sort of ...broke his leg and killed half his crew.”

In the swollen, pregnant, and morning sick silence that followed; Hannah wondered if she could break one of Sarah’s clay jars over Kail’s head without giving her daughter-in-law cause to carry out her earlier threat. In the end she eschewed the fantasy to continue the conversation. “So yer the bastard Toumgara is swearing up and down the docks he’s going to murder at his earliest opportunity.”

“T’be fair, he started it, and I ent the only one t’thank fer given him a black eye.” If Hannah didn’t know any better, there was a fond tone in his voice as he said it.

“Regardless how the feck do ye expect me t’smooth things oer?” She asked “Toum’s young enough t’still be floatin on his pride, he wouldn’t sail fer ye without a good reason.”

Kail took a sip from his flask, which she never remembered handing back to him. “He also loves the old stories, and by extension the old crews that helped make them. I don’t think ye could smooth things oer, but I think Hatchet Hannah could.” He said, giving her a significant glance that seemed to pierce straight through what she had been building the past twenty years, and to the solid steel tool thrust through the strings of her apron. She had to put effort into not flinching away from that. With a smirk sharp enough to cut oneself on he added. “Iffin that doesn’t work, tell him there’s treasure involved, that allus works.”

Hannah blinked as he started to rise from her table, not even waiting for her answer. She didn’t want to ask...but there was still that small part of her that roared for rolling waves, and sheets full of the southern winds, so she did. “Is there?”

Kail’s face didn’t shift an iota beyond that smirk as he rose, when he stood straight however...he winked at her...or was it a blink? He left without another word. She sat there staring at the bowl of pears in the middle of the table, not really sure what she would do now. After a few moments Sigmund came into the kitchen, herding Juniper and telling her that no she couldn’t have a fox of her own, he didn’t care how cute the other one had been. Hannah watched them, and knew, sure as spring was coming, that if she didn’t fix this, Sigmund would find out...and he would take it upon himself to do what she couldn’t. So when her son sat down in the seat that her past had been warming, and asked her what had happened. She didn’t answer, she just grabbed a pear from the bowl, and took a bite.

#ffxiv #roleplay #Kail Gerrad #limsa lominsa #Ashen Rook #written word

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im-immortal · 3 years

Note

Favourite EK lyrics ? ❤️💜

"And I'm losing time, losing weight I'm a loser for this man I've been lost since our first date He is a tight-rope talker, I can't balance at all He says it's fascinating watching me tip-toe and crawl He says my ex-boyfriend is boring, he says the moon is the sun He says anxiety can be the source of lots of fun My best friend made a list of ways his love is off-track But I don't give a shit And I refuse to call that bitch back..." --Back On Love

"And I'm angry when he leaves me I love, they love me not Popsicle to my temples, I'm so fucking hot And I'm frustrated forever About the air that hangs around Wafting around my apartment I can't cool down..." --Popsicles

"Oh, I've been watching you all day in those dark sunglasses And I've been wanting you more and more with every moment that passes You like to say it's all wrong, I like to say it's all right The type that never hurts But to see you at this party feels like a sign from the universe But, if it's not Say you got drunk and lost, lost, lost..." --Drunk and Lost

"When the world is on fire But your heart is on ice It's hard to know what's wrong and what's right But if you wanna feel your blood burn, get to the floor Scream to God, "I want it more!" More hurricanes, snow storms, rain in my face More midnights drunk and dizzy, dancin' at your place A life of fame and fortune and the star of some show Now it's almost over, almost time to go..." --Last Chance

"And if we're gonna be laughin', I would like to be in on the joke Sometimes I think you show me scabs Just to tempt me to tear 'em away Makin' me draw blood Will never make me wanna stay Oh, it's sad but true Love is never enough..." --The Turtle and the Monkey

"And I've got a song in my head And It's never done I tried strumming out the chords The night we started having fun It sounds like crickets in the floorboards Cupcakes in the dark The drums of fireworks and staircases and Echo Park Got your notes on napkins And my blood on your walls Our soda glass love Could only take so many falls Can only take so much rain Before it drowns, dissolves Gets dragged down the drain I only wish you the best But I've got this pain in my chest It doesn't soften or scab Lessen or fade..." --Soda Glass

"Maybe I just wanted love so badly I drew it up to look like you Colored in the corners with some lipstick What's a girl at a rock show supposed to do?" --Boy Band Hero

"The movie goes by so fast It's been a month and a year The world is a hurricane You and I are just a single tear The mountains cut against the sky It's like I'm in some dream The supporting character to something else's lead..." --The Supporting Character

"I am done with the jealousy Done with the fighting Done with the words that feel just like biting I have found a new man with a heart he wants to share It just goes to show, life isn't always unfair I have pumped new blood into this heart for him to take We're gonna move to California, to a house on a lake And someday, we will kiss, in front of family and friends Only cake and champagne and no need for weapons..." --Weapons

"I can't help but break in half each time you ask me to bend I can't help but unravel when you pull out a thread I just lose my mind when you mess with my head And I will always throw a tantrum if you throw me just some bone I'm not your puppy, I'm a famous fish, who'd rather swim alone..." --Mermaid Song

"I swear he's trying to say he loves me The way he's moving his mouth I swear he's trying to say he loves me But the words never come out Baby, that's what I call feeling mortal Put your head and cry on my shoulder We can watch the moon turn bright blood red You can stay the night in my treehouse bed Oh, he's got my soul in his hands And oh, next to Skid Row on a rooftop, we slow dance Is this forever? I'm not at my best But I'm addicted to the music Swear I hear in his chest..." --Mortal

"And oh, I kissed a boy on the west side of town With a Porsche and a million-dollar record deal Oh, but there's a boy living downtown Doesn't understand how he makes me feel Logic tells me I should drive that Porsche toward the sand But my heart only beats for this downtown man So I'm lovin' like a loser Batting zero for ten I'm gonna drive downtown and make the same mistakes again I can’t say I didn’t know better I can’t say that I was just naive When he left before the night was over I was crying in a blanket on my knees Praying, “God, please give me direction” Scrub away his scent with five-star hotel soap It doesn’t matter how he pushes and pulls Oh, Los Angeles, I’ll never give up hope..." --Same Mistakes

"She said she's packed to go But I know she'll never leave 'Cause when it comes to giving her whole heart My sister's just like me..." --Genetic Makeup

"You've got these rough spots I'll rub 'em down I wanna show you I'm not just some easy girl you found Let's go to Paris, let's go to Rome You're like a hotel that I keep wishin' was my home You're like a hotel I mistake for a home..." --Easy

"I am a sun, he's like a cloud I gotta know what he's about So I defy the laws of daylight Turning down the waves that burn bright He gets heavy, he gets dark He leaves a shadow on my heart Now I'll never light the world the same Without windy whispers of his name..." --Jonathan

"You build castles in the clouds, when the sky was clear and blue No one else sees cloud castles 'cept for me and you And the grayness turns to glitter, with a laugh and a wink All the buildings are outlined in orange, and gold and pink My black, white life turns to color But baby, I'm with another..." --Masterpiece

"But I was never yours, and you're no longer mine Oh, I'd like to kiss you, but my lips are purple And I'd like to love you, but our love is spent And we wasted our wishes, hurt our best friends, Made a home in heartache, And now we can't pay the rent So what can I, what can I do for you, honey? Buy you a coffee? Lend you some money? Walk you to Times Square. walk to the moon?" --Times Square

"Stealing all my thunder when I try to boast It's got it hooks in my brain like a radio song Over and over 'til I'm forced to sing along You're a smart, pretty catch, quite a winner If you were just a few pounds thinner Oh, I wanna be skinny, let my bones show Let the world grow while I am shrinking I wanna be beautiful, I'm constantly in fear And crying midnight tears 'bout what you're thinking Oh, God, give me self-control God, give me one more mile God, give me some small space to fit for a while..." --Skinny

Well, that got away from me :) But I can't even begin to explain how much I relate to EK's lyrics. Her music is beautiful for so many reasons. Thanks for the ask! <3

#ask im-immortal #emily kinney music

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dragonstoravens · 4 years

Text

Babylon Vol. 1: Unflattering, Apologies

[ID: a blue patterned banner with text reading “BABYLON.” End ID.]

(Oh boy here comes some PLOT! Sorry not sorry in advance from me and @charlottedotexe-- this one’s a bit rough. No specific warnings, but this is where that “Trinity’s still lawful evil, remember?” bit comes in)

Taglist (ask to be added or removed!): @charlottedotexe @glitterandstarshine @rainbowcoloreddays @the-starlight-chills @erased-in-stone

General: @elywritesbydarkness @residentofthedisc @humour-and-hyperfocus @skyfirewrites @viawrites-andacts

14. Unflattering

Azure really, truly, understood why some people were cruel. Sometimes a situation called for it. Sometimes it was necessary for a greater good.

But this time in particular, she did not understand.

“Jericho!” came the greeting, the same one everyone here seemed to use for Trinity. “Great thinking on that deal with the alien colony a couple of months ago. I heard the margins from that conflict were positively astronomical.”

“Oh, yes. That.” Trinity turned away from Azure to face the man who’d addressed him, leaving his face in a shadowed profile from where Azzy sat. His voice took on that casual calm it always did when he talked business, but this time something about the tone sent a shiver down her spine. “It wasn’t exactly a difficult decision. I believe they would have paid anything considering the reports I’d received on the state of their military, and it was simple to speak to marketing about making use of that desperation.” One corner of his lip twitched up. It wasn’t a smile. “I assume your firm saw some profits from the situation as well, Darcy? I don’t deserve all the credit, of course, but the Jerichos appreciate your recognition. As always.” The man clasped his hand with a professional nod and smile, a look of respect on his face. Trinity still wore that not-quite-smile, cold and calculating and… pleased. It looked alien to Azure. She hated it.

Trinity heard a sudden whirling click as Azure’s communicator ejected itself from her neck, slamming a wall between her mind and his. She looked away and scratched at the base of her neck, then shoved her hand in her pocket. Most likely, that was her putting it away. She’d taken it out completely. Her jaw was clenched, the strong line even more stubborn than usual, and she refused to meet his eyes as she reached forward and grabbed a glass of water from a nearby tray. Her shoulders sparked dangerously, and she brushed them off.

“I’ll be right back dear.” It did not sound like he was very dear. Her smile was nearly threatening as she pulled from his side as though he’d leave a residue if she did it too slowly. “I’ve got something to do quickly.”

Trinity’s eyebrows pulled together. “...Of course.” She took off, barely waiting for him to finish his response. That was strange. He knew she didn’t like business talk, but she liked being alone at these events even less. And she didn’t seem anxious or upset, so she likely wasn’t running off to hide like he sometimes did. Whatever it was she was mad about, he was sure she’d come back and tell him what was going on soon enough. And he did still have business to attend to.

It only took a few minutes for a slight bit of concern to start creeping in. His experience with Azure so far was one of nearly fatal honesty and very little patience, although she was getting better at putting up with these long, boring events. Usually, because she was talking to him about it through the comm, which was still blocked off. If something was wrong all she had to do was mention it and he’d leave, but instead she was off on her own, without even giving him a legitimate reason why. It only took a few minutes more for concern to become something a little easier for him to deal with-- or at least more familiar. Annoyance. It was not a good feeling. He was making at least a cursory attempt to shut it down when he saw Azure approaching from across the room.

Even before she arrived at his side once more, he could see that whatever the problem was, it had yet to be solved. The set of her jaw wasn’t any softer, and the comm still wasn’t in, and her tone was cool whenever she spoke, but at least whatever that tight, threatening undertone was had diminished. She leaned against his arm, body stiff and movements bordering on mechanical. Where she’d normally be hanging from his arm, a lounge-singer’s grace with that distinctly Azure slouch, she was instead standing almost primly beside him. It bordered on prudish. Someone else approached her, a woman hell bent on asking where she’d gotten her shoes from, and her friendly demeanor returned.

“Oh, they’re MiZara originals, only ones of their kind. I can take your card, he’s always willin’ to hear out a custom request.”

The two chatted amiably for a moment, a card was exchanged, and Azure returned to her sour expression not moments after her conversation partner vanished into the crowd. “Sorry about disappearin’, I had a couple issues with my cybernetics to work out.” A bold faced lie, her cybernetics never had issues she needed to fix immediately like that. They were well crafted and carefully maintained, and they both knew it. The annoyance was back, despite his best efforts.

“I see. Do you need to leave? To… fix them further?” Without really meaning to, he matched her stiffness, the cool calm he so often used when speaking to strangers turned back on her in a way it hadn’t been since their first meeting. He would give her an opening, he decided. If she didn’t take it, then clearly she didn’t plan to give him an honest answer about any of this, and he would leave it alone. The idea made his skin crawl, an unpleasant boiling in his blood. God, he hoped she would take it-- though he wasn’t sure even that would satisfy his frustration now. He tapped a foot, watching her for a response.

Azure looked around, looking for any more of his business partners trying to ask him questions or congratulating him on further profiteering of a disgusting caliber. “If you’re done for the evenin’, I think that’d be best. I’m not sure dancin’ is really in the cards for me this time around.” Her shoulders relaxed just a touch. Relief, maybe.

“I see. In that case, we’ll leave.” He turned on a heel, heading for the exit with the kind of stride that made people get out of his way without a single thought. With the icy silence between the two of them, the air seemed almost colder in their wake as they passed unimpeded through the ballroom and out into the night. Trinity had the car door open for her as almost an automatic response, but he didn’t wait for her to get in, walking around to the other side and opening his own door to enter the car at nearly the same time she did. As soon as both doors were closed, he fixed her with those horribly cold green eyes. In the calmest voice he could manage, he said, “Would you like to tell me what that was really about?”

Her eyes widened, shock in their depths, and then that shock gave way to a churning anger. An arc of electricity jumped from her left shoulder to her right hand, and she looked about two seconds away from baring her teeth like a wolf about to strike. “Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t light into you in a ballroom full of people. Please, remind me to clock you the way I’d like to the next time you think it’s a dandy idea to exploit the sufferin’ of an entire colony.” The snarl to her voice was foreign, unfamiliar. “Really, I’d be so pleased to cause that much embarrassment on the spot.”

His eyebrows shot up. It was a valid reason to wait, but that wasn’t exactly first in his mind right now. Despite all the time he’d spent cultivating a perfect, untouchable exterior, it was all he could do to hold onto it now. Anger pushed itself into place over hurt as her words struck home, and over it all he struggled to keep calm. Perfect calm, the mirror-still surface of a pond, freezing into a bitter cold fractal shield. It had always protected him before. “Azure, I have a job and I do it,” he snapped, the words unfeeling to the point of sounding nearly derisive. Worse-- uncaring. “I never expected you to like it, but I thought from our first meeting onwards that you understood it. If I misled you into thinking I’m some kind of saint, my fucking apologies. You know I’m climbing a ladder, and this kind of work is a rung.”

“Oh don’t fuckin’ start in on that train of thought, I read about that fuckin’ deal on my little walk to clear my head and save you the embarrassment of becomin’ a barbecue.” She glared at him, scoffing. “That was a colony tryin’ to fight for its right to survive, and you would have done very well for yourself even at half that cost. I’ve seen the schematics for those warheads, asshole, I helped you price them.” Sparks continued to shoot off of her and she moved away as far away from him as she could. She was mad, but she didn’t want him to catch fire quite yet. “I’m disappointed in you. That deal wasn’t goin’ to do anythin’ extra for you on your way up your ladder. It was cruel, and unnecessary, and I know you know it because you’re not a fuckin’ idiot. You disgust me right now.” She looked upset now, sad in a way he hadn’t seen before. Her shoulders slumped, her jaw relaxed, and her brows knit together. “All those people need that funding for things beyond just a war. They need it for food and to recover from the hell they’re goin’ through. You’ve sentenced a nation to possibly decades of poverty just because you could.”

Trinity drew in a sharp breath, and there was a moment of something too fiercely charged to be rightly called ‘silence,’ as the dangerously climbing hum of electricity buzzed louder and Trinity’s shoulders drew back with the minute slowness of an assassin silently cocking a gun. Any moment now, Azure’s control would slip and explode. Any moment now, Trinity’s enraged, haughty, emptiness would freeze him to the core and shatter. Any moment…

But just as it seemed the space between them would tear in two if it stretched a second longer, Trinity’s mask slipped, abruptly, and fell away. His face beneath was blank-- a completely different blankness than the uncaring calm he’d worn almost all night. This was naked, raw, an exposed nerve. This looked more like he’d gone catatonic, or perhaps been smacked in the back of the head by a brick. In the moonlight, his face was deathly pale.

Of course he’d thought of that. He’d known it from the beginning. And he’d been taught to ignore it, to believe people he didn’t know were barely people at all. No-- he had taught himself to ignore it. He’d always said that no matter who he worked for or with, he would remain himself, Trinity, not just a Jericho or a pawn of Fate. But when it came down to it, he’d let that learned cruelty override his own sense of purpose. He thought, for the first time since he’d made that deal, of who he was climbing this ladder for. She would be disgusted, too. And she hadn’t even crossed his mind when the opportunity had been handed to him on a silver platter. Silence stretched once more, but this time there was a give to it. Into that silence, Azure spoke once more.

“I don’t want to watch you lose your whole soul, Hotshot. Or at least what’s left of it, after these bloodsuckers have their fill and you finally reach whatever the top of that ladder is.” She looked out the window. Her hands were still sparking, the little lights landing in her lap and petering out. “Your line of work is tough, ethically speakin’, and you have ambition in spades, and those aren’t necessarily bad things on their own given the circumstances. But I know for a fact that the guy who made that deal is not the one I made good enough friends with to be his date at big fancy events regularly enough to know the difference between wine glasses now. That guy is actually worth the time. I’m not sayin’ you have to be perfect, no one is. But fuckin’ think next time, Trinity. It’s out of character for you not to.” The sparking finally died down. She could see the blank look on his face. It seemed like maybe she’d gotten through to him. Or maybe he wasn’t the person she thought he was. Only time would tell. “Nod if you’re not catatonic with shock.”

Only Azure, Trinity thought numbly. Only she could rip him and his entire business model to pieces with just a few words-- that somehow still managed to pay him compliments he knew he didn’t deserve from her-- after spending half the night furious at him, and in the next breath somehow make a joke out of it all. The least he could do was respond to the joke. He did so, with a wooden nod of his head.

There were parts of what he’d said that he still stood by. For one thing, he still wasn’t sure how she’d gotten the impression that this was out of character for him in any way. But she was at least correct in saying he hadn’t thought this through. If he had, maybe he would have realized that this could only hurt the very few things he truly cared about. But his heart, as it so often did, had slipped his mind. It occurred to him, as he sorted through the choices leading him here, that he had another very difficult conversation to plan after this one. There was someone else who deserved to know that he’d slipped, even if there was no way he was sharing the details. He sighed, shifting for the first time in what seemed like eons to run a hand through his hair.

“I can’t truly apologize. It’s long past too late to make up for my choices.” His expression didn’t change, though somehow Azure got the feeling that ‘long past too late’ referred to something much further back than one business deal.

What it did refer to was a total mystery, but Azure told herself she’d deal with that one later. Between the weird sense of self and the panic attacks, who knew what other bullshit he had going on. She had other, more present issues to deal with. Like getting that look off his face and teaching him a damn lesson about making up for mistakes.

She smacked him in the chest, just hard enough to sting.

“Dumbass, just fuckin’ do it right next time. You’re right, you already fucked up. You’re not exempt from self improvement just because you fucked up. Now say sorry.”

He turned back to look at her and blinked a few times, surprised. “...Sorry?”

“We’ll work on it. Good enough for now.” She looked almost fond under all that disappointment. “Maybe you ain’t a lost cause.”

Somehow that fondness hurt worse than any amount of anger or disappointment that had led up to it. He was suddenly very aware that there was no way he could convince her to leave, or convince her to think of him any way other than however she damn well pleased. That was simply who Azure was. Which meant that someday, he was going to watch himself hurt her again, and that was just going to be something he had to accept. He took the realization in stride. There was no reason to dwell on it any longer than that, it was just the way things were. But he had at least decided that however that hurt was to come about, it wouldn’t be like this. He would do what he had to do to climb the ladder, but this kind of exploitative deal would not happen again.

The car came to a stop at the drop point, and Trinity glanced back over at Azzy. “We’re here. You should let the ship know you’re back early.”

“Of course.” She tapped a few words into a communicator. “Won’t be long, they hung around this time.” Her eyes met his, and she patted his shoulder. “Sorry for hittin’ ya. My “siblin’ to a sad sack” instincts kicked in before I could stop ‘em.” She thought for a moment before adding, “And next time I’m pissed, I’ll try to maybe keep it under wraps a little better before I run off to chill out. I just didn’t want to cause a scene, it wouldn’t be good for you.”

He shook his head. The list of things he knew about Azure’s brother just kept getting more confusing. Vigilante, fashion designer, sharpshooter… and sad sack, apparently. “You don’t need to apologize. You did the best anyone could ask of you in that situation. It shouldn’t have been something you had to do at all.”

“Yeah, but if I’m gonna go around demandin’ apologies, I may as well own up to anythin’ I might have done.” She brushed a couple of sparks off her skirt and opened the car door. “Have a good night, Hotshot.”

“You too.” It was most certainly not enough, he’d said so little to her throughout this and had barely even apologized. Part of the reason for that was that apologizing to Azure again felt pointless and stale. He had no way to apologize to the buyers, that ship had sailed. So his apology would have to be held in his future actions. Far easier said than done.

He turned back to his own ship, and set the coordinates for his home planet of Eden. At least he could do something about the other apology he’d roped himself into.

15. Apologies

The sun had fully set and stars were clear in the sky by the time Trinity arrived home in Eden. He kicked his shoes off at the door, losing his coat and tie just as quickly, and headed up the stairs of his dark and silent house. The room at the end of the hall was mostly dark as well, but a tiny sliver of light peeked out from under the door. He sighed, put a hand to his temple, and knocked.

The light went out immediately. Trinity rolled his eyes, fondly exasperated despite the situation. “I already saw the light. You can’t pretend you’re asleep. Can I come in?”

There was a pause, and the rustling of blankets. The light clicked back on.

“...Okay.”

Trinity opened the door and stepped inside. His thirteen year old sister sat up in bed with her arms crossed, a tablet on her lap clumsily hidden under the corner of her duvet. “I know I’m supposed to be asleep, but--”

“It’s ok, Adriel.” He sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed. “I know it’s late, but can I talk to you about something?”

Adriel’s defensive expression was immediately replaced with one of concern. “Are you okay?”

Trinity bit his lip to hold back a grimace. Dammit, he hadn’t wanted to worry her. Though there was probably no way he could have approached this that wouldn’t have. “I’m fine,” he told her calmly. “But I need you to listen. Understand?”

She nodded. He continued.

“You know I try not to bring up business too much, it’s not your company and unless you want it, it never has to be. But you also know why I decided to take it over.” he paused as words seemed to fail him, and looked up at Adriel.

Adriel saw her brother waiting, needing something from her to continue, and nodded solemnly. She might have been young when the power structure of the Jericho family had taken a dramatic shift into the hands of her older brother, but even at the age of eight she had known that he would never have taken over the Jericho business by choice. All that power and responsibility, forced upon him, no matter how much he pretended it was voluntary. Sometimes she couldn’t help but feel just a bit guilty. She knew how smart he was, he could be doing anything he wanted by now. Without the business pulling him down. Without her to provide for. But any time she so much as hinted at that line of thought, he shut it down. If Trin was anything he was stubborn, and he had told her more than once, point-blank, that he refused to let her blame herself for being young, for needing things. She wished he would follow his own advice.

Trinity was still watching her, something tumultuous in his eyes she didn’t understand, but before she could try to offer some sort of consolation he began again. “I made a bad deal. I knew when I made it that I didn’t need it to advance, or to keep the two of us taken care of, but I chose not to think about any of that. Luckily, someone I know wouldn’t let me get away with it so easily.” He half-smiled, a small, self-deprecating expression that anyone looking in would have been shocked to see on the face of Trinity Jericho. “I said I’d do what I had to so you and I can be taken care of, but I didn’t have to do this. I’m sorry.”

Adriel frowned. She knew he wouldn’t tell her any more than that, no matter how much she asked, but it was rare enough he brought up work at all. It must have been bad, or this mystery ‘someone he knew’ had really let him have it, for him to mention it to her in the first place. Let alone apologize. Sure, he apologized to her all the time, but that was for stupid things, like forgetting he’d said she could go out, or eating the last brownie. And any other time he’d gotten this weird guilty look on his face, he’d outright refused to talk to her about it or denied that anything was wrong at all. So why was he talking to her about it this time?

“What did that person say to you?” She couldn’t quite keep a bit of anger from mingling with the confusion in her voice, and Trinity held out his hands, pacifying.

“Nothing that wasn’t true. Like I said, I made a bad choice. It just took a person who wasn’t looking at it from a business perspective to make me take notice.”

“And you’re not going to do it again.”

“To the very best of my ability, no.”

Adriel shook her head, with a scoff. She would never understand why her brother worried so much. “Ok, then why are you apologizing to me? I wouldn’t have known, would I?”

Trinity blinked at her. “And that makes it better somehow?”

He wanted to say that everything he did had a chance of reflecting on her. He wanted to say that he’d come close to completely forgetting about the only good reason he had for still running this company, let alone working with the people he did. He wanted to say that even if he’d already damned himself, he still wanted his little sister to think well of him, and that he didn’t want to have to lie to keep it that way. But saying any of that would only make her worry. Luckily, she didn’t give him the chance.

“No. It would still be bad. But you’re my brother, and I’m not going to hate you because you did one thing without thinking about every possible tiny consequence first. And I wasn’t even upset about anything before you came in. Aren’t apologies supposed to be for people that you hurt?”

Trinity rolled his eyes to the ceiling, letting out a frustrated huff of breath. Now she was getting somewhere. “Let’s assume for the moment that I can’t apologize to those directly involved. And just because your connection was indirect doesn’t mean I don’t owe you an apology. So, as I said, I’m sorry. I’m going to keep trying to do what’s best for you.”

“I really don’t think you have to try that hard,” Adriel said mildly. “But I forgive you... if that means I can go to bed now?” She smiled, hoping he would smile back. She hated when Trinity was sad, almost as much as he seemed to hate it when she was. This conversation hadn’t made much sense from the start, but she at least hoped she’d said enough that he wouldn’t feel so guilty. She understood guilt.

“Sure, Addy.” He didn’t smile, not quite, but he did lean over to kiss her lightly on the top of the head. “Goodnight.”

That would have to be enough for now. She settled back onto her pillow, tucking away her tablet for real this time. “Goodnight.”

As he left the room, Trinity pulled up a note on his eyescreen and drafted a quick message. He’d wait a day or so, then send it. Adriel was right in that she hadn’t been upset, but someone else had been.

“Azure,

“I didn’t say this properly before. I apologize. I will do better.”

#chapter update #writeblr #writers on tumblr #spilled ink #wip: babylon #babylon

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phoneboxfairy · 5 years

Text

A Dance of Stars - Undercover Dancer 2 (1/5)

(I lied. Thanks to @random-rave for the concept, outline, etc etc. Chapter 2 should be up in a couple weeks.) ao3 link - https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918666/chapters/54782566 Magnolia Magic Police Department, lunch time.

The city was going through a rather slow time crime-wise, with only a few reports on minor incidents needing to be dealt with lately. The same thing happened every spring, with more people focusing on enjoying the weather than breaking the law.

That’s why Lucy sat at her desk flipping through an intimidating pile of paperwork while she munched on her chef’s salad. Her brow was furrowed, and she was so caught up in her reading that she didn’t even notice movement at the desk next to hers.

Specifically, she didn’t see Natsu wheel his chair over until his warm hand was massaging her shoulder.

“What’s up, babe?”

“Hey, Natsu. I’m just looking over financial stuff for the wedding and honeymoon. I never realized how expensive this stuff was...” Heavy sigh. Gentle shoulder squeeze.

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure somethin’ out, even if it takes a while.”

“You’re right. Thanks.”

“Hey, no problem.” His words and the swift kiss that followed made her feel a lot better.

Unfortunately their kiss was interrupted when Cana walked in.

“You guys still sorting out money stuff?”

“Yeah...” Lucy let out a sigh. Natsu squeezed her shoulder again. Cana grinned, this sneaky gleam in her eye. “Why? What are you up to?”

“Oh darling, I’m not up to anything. I just had a little idea that could help you out, that’s all.”

“…Idea?”

“Yep! Given certain past assignments, I think you’d be a natural.” Cana winked. Lucy’s face went bright red. Natsu just looked clueless.

“Does this...idea of yours have anything to do with your boyfriend’s club?”

“Only everything, smart girl.” Lucy wailed. Cana rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that. We all know you had fun dancing last time, and we’ve all seen the videos. You’re damn good at it.”

“She’s phenomenal at it.” Another shoulder squeeze, this one rather amorous. Lucy knew full well what Natsu thought of her dancing.

“Anyway, Bacchus’s club is co-ed, and he’s always looking for new talent…” The lovebirds glanced at each other. Lucy bit her lip, not sure what to do or say or even think about this suggestion.

That was when Natsu broke the silence.

“We could at least give it a try.”

“I guess...wait. What do you mean we, Natsu?”

“Well this is our future we’re talkin’ about. I wanna help.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Duh, for us.”

“I’m sure Bacchus will let you two audition no problem, but only if you want to.” Cana sat at her desk, filing her nail as she waited for a response.

Lucy thought for a moment, eyes on Natsu the whole time. Then…

“Let’s do it.”

Cana looked mighty pleased with the whole turn of events. Natsu hugged Lucy, clearly thrilled that she was all for this plan.

Lucy smiled...but she knew one thing:

They had a lot of work to do.

~~~ Casual dancing as part of an undercover assignment was not the same as stripping with the intention to earn money. Lucy knew that, and also knew she would have to up her dancing game if she wanted this endeavor to be successful.

In short she would have to put her heart, mind, and soul into this, along with her body.

So she did. She researched and studied, taking notes on a variety of rather steamy strip club video feeds. There was a reason these women were pros. They really knew how to move, how to captivate and seduce with nothing more than the right moves and the perfect expression.

Lucy sighed, suddenly feeling very inadequate.

“Still studyin’?”

Natsu’s voice shook her out of her musing.

“Yeah. Trying to anyway. All these girls seem so...perfect and I’m...not.” Another sigh. He glanced at the screen, shrugged, focused on her.

“You see perfect, I see flat, boring, disinterested. The opposite of you, Luce.”

“You...you mean that…?”

“Duh. Every night you got on stage you always seemed happy to be there. You were winning the crowd and having fun with it. That’s pretty damn perfect to me. But then, you’re perfect to me.”

“Thanks, Natsu.” A sweet kiss with a hint of spice. “Want a special preview of my audition?”

“You bet I do.” Another, arguably steamier, kiss. She giggled and led him to their bedroom with a finger wiggle and a smile.

So she danced for him, giving him the show of a lifetime as she peeled off her uniform.

...Then she handcuffed him to the bedpost and climbed on top of him, eager to convey exactly how much she loved and appreciated him.

Much later, after both were quite satisfied and the cuffs were removed, Natsu pulled Lucy into a cuddle.

“You’re gettin’ better at dancin’.”

“Thanks, love...” Two sleepy mumbles followed by a kiss and a snore as they dozed off in one another’s arms. For the first time since this whole dancing thing reared its head, Lucy felt comfortable with it, even confident…

...All thanks to a certain pink haired goofball... ~~~ Flash forward to the following afternoon. Natsu and Lucy went to Bacchus’s club well before business hours. Cana met them at the door and led them to the main stage area, where Bacchus sat.

Introductions were made. Hands were shaken.

“Lucy, you first. Let’s see your magic.” She gulped, trying to keep stage fright from setting in. Natsu noticed, squeezed her hand, kissed her cheek, whispered.

“You’ve got this, baby. Go on.”

She bit her lip and nodded, then made her way to the stage as the lights dimmed.

Hypnotic beats, the same song she had practiced to countless times. Even last night with Natsu she had been a little shy, a little hesitant.

But not now.

All that hesitation and shyness?

Gone.

Her every move commanded attention. Even the subtle motions like nibbling her lip and unzipping her top conveyed raw sexual energy. Power. Less shy rookie girl, a bit closer to goddess.

And she knew it, from the dark gleam in her eyes and the saucy smile. She dropped the top to the ground, let her hands brush over her breasts, barely concealed by a little black string bikini. Those same hands pushed the soft material to the side, a trick she had learned from all her research. A loud whistle from the corner.

She spun around the pole, turned to face away from her quite captivated audience. Her hips swayed in time with the music, and her skirt fell down her legs.

Another trick, upside down splits. The bikini bottoms were untied and tossed right at her lover, revealing a tiny shimmering thong underneath. One last twirl around the pole, finishing with her legs in the air and her hair swirling around her. Her heart was racing, blood was rushing to her head.

And she was smiling. Holy shit, she had forgotten just how much fun dancing was.

Standing ovation from Cana, Bacchus, and Natsu. No surprise, Natsu was beaming and cheering.

"That's my woman right there!"

Moments later she was standing upright again, re-adjusting her bikini as Cana and Bacchus deliberated. The look on Natsu’s face exuded pure pride over his girl’s talents.

“Pretty hot, Lu.” Cana nudged her boyfriend, who was acting almost...disinterested? Aloof? “What did ya think, Bacchy?”

“I think I’ve seen worse from girls who’ve been doing this for years. You’re hired.”

Instant relief teamed with joy. Lucy squealed. Natsu grabbed her, spun her around, and kissed her.

“Told ya.”

“You definitely did. Thanks, Natsu.” Nose nuzzle. For a few sweet seconds they cuddled, until Bacchus’s voice brought them back to earth.

“Alright, pinky. You’re up.”

Natsu nodded, all smiles as he went to the stage. Lucy relaxed, knowing that someone as confident as he was couldn’t possibly mess this up…

Or, that’s what she thought she knew. She didn’t realize, couldn’t have predicted, just how wrong she could be.

The whole routine, if you could call it that, was a trainwreck.

First sign of trouble – he made a bee line to the pole. His grin expressed confidence. His actions expressed complete and utter foolishness.

“What the hell is he doing?!” She could hear Bacchus growling to Cana over the music. The feeling of dread that had started pooling in her tummy spread through her body, heating her cheeks in an embarrassed blush. If she could have crawled under the table and hid, she very likely would have.

What….was he doing? Well, by the looks of it, he was trying to imitate Lucy’s dance moves...trying being the operative word. It was, after all, rather difficult considering how different their bodies were. A man simply could not do this sort of dance the same way a woman could.

To his credit, he did look pretty sexy when he pulled his shirt up over his head...at least until his arms got tangled.

Then to make the whole thing worse, once he managed to wriggle the shirt off he grabbed the pole, tried to spin but ended up tripping over his own feet and faceplanting into the stage floor with an “oof!”

“Okay, we’re done here.” Bacchus groaned. He gestured and the music stopped. Lucy ran over to help Natsu up off the ground, her need to support her fiance overwhelming any embarrassment she felt...which in this case was a lot.

She honestly wanted to glare at him, but the sad, apologetic look he flashed her quenched any anger. Instead, she felt bad for him, sympathetic. He had at least tried, the poor dummy. So she squeezed his hand, hoping to convey loving support. Right now she knew he needed it.

“Natsu, man, you’re gonna need a lot of work before I let you on my stage again.”

Natsu nodded. He didn’t look embarrassed, mostly disappointed. He sat down while the others discussed scheduling, taking a rare moment of silent thought.

“Thursdays, Fridays, and weekends are our busiest days. We need all the talent we can get to bring customers in.”

“That’s...perfect, actually. It’s down time at the precinct so we’re off Friday through Monday right now.” She smiled. She was trying her best to play it cool but the truth is, she felt pretty excited.

“Great. Now let’s get this over with. Here’s the club’s rules and security waiver. Read through these and sign when you’re done.”

Once all the necessary paperwork had been signed, they shook hands again. Bacchus said something that made Lucy’s eyes brighten. Then he took a swig from his hip flask and went to his office, claiming a need to work on business stuff.

Cana grinned a sneaky grin and patted Lucy’s ass before sneaking off to presumably join her boyfriend.

Business stuff, indeed…

That left Lucy alone with Natsu. She slipped her skirt and top back on then walked over to him. One hand stroked over his shoulder.

“How’re you feeling, love?”

“Bummed but I’ll get over it.” Heavy exhale. Then he took one look at Lucy, grinned, and pulled her into his arms. Flirting and cuddling always helped when he was in a bad mood. “You were incredible out there, by the way. Even better than usual.”

“Thanks.” Sexy grin. They shared a delicious kiss. Her hand ruffled through his hair and their noses touched. “Oh...Bacchus said to tell you something.”

“Huh? What’d he say?”

“He wants to give you a second chance, but only if you take it seriously. Get lots of practice...and don’t just try to copy me, alright?”

“It’s hot when you do it, though.” He nibbled her lip and let one hand roam under her skirt.

“Down, boy. Not till we get home.” Soft giggle and finger waggle. “I can train you if you want. Give you private lessons when we’re not on call...you’ll be dancin’ like a pro in no time...You already have the body for it...” To emphasize this she traced a finger over from his shoulder to his collarbone.

“Private lessons, huh?”

“Yeah. Just you and me, one on one...” She was so close to him she could hear his heart racing as she brushed her lips against his ear. She knew damn well she was playing with fire...oh well, they’d deal with that particular “problem” when they got home… “You like that idea?”

He nodded. His next words, a growl. “I’m all fired up now, Lucy.”

#undercover dancer #natsu x lucy #nalu smut #lucy heartfilia dancing #lucy heartfilia being sexy #natsu what are you doing #stahp natsu #sexy #funny #sweet #work in progress

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sodaprop · 4 years

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@othertypcs said: ♬ ! MEMORY MEME ! ♬ - a friend/best friend memory

❛ do you know how to dance ? ❜

surprising even himself, tommy asked in the middle of a movie marathon. peppy music poured through the speakers – the inspiration for the question. with curtains drawn and lights off, the room was illuminated by the glow of the tv. light pulsed in sync with the two figures dancing on screen. not that there was much to see, aside from empty pizza boxes, crumpled soda cans, and two bros sprawled across the couch. still, he raised an eyebrow.

❛ whuh ? ❜

tommy waited for benrey’s ears to catch up. he was not disappointed.

❛ oh, yeah. dance dance revolution supernova 2, brooo. ❜ from where he lay, benrey propped himself up on his elbows. ❛ talkin’ to a dancin– dance master, here. beat all the tracks in hyper master mode. ❜ dangling off the edge of the couch, his foot bounced with the beat.

snrrk. ❛ okay, but like, do you know how to actually dance ? ❜

❛ ... ❜

❛ there isn’t anything wrong with that. i– i– i was just curious. ❜ hm, maybe... tommy sat up. something in his spine crunched. moving would be a welcome reprieve from being curled up on the couch like a pretzel with a skeleton. besides, if he stayed inert for much longer, his neck would stage a mutiny. ( that was a promise. ) alright ! heart set, he popped to his feet.

❛ yooo. you, uh, you turnin’ in ? beating up the hay or– uff. ❜

tommy grabbed benrey by the wrists and hauled him to his feet. ❛ wanna dance ? ❜ he asked, as if he weren’t about to strongarm his friend into dancing anyways. bless his heart, benrey offered no complaints.

❛ sure, uh huh. ya got youuuuur, paperwork ? dancin’ documents ? license to strut ? ❜ mirrored, their hands pressed palm to palm. fingers feathered together. following the music in the background, tommy set them swaying and bouncing at a lively pace.

❛ not– not exactly ? i’ve read about it, ❜ because hadn’t he read about everything by this point, ❛ in books. i watched some tapes, when i was younger. i liked, um, ballroom dancing ! and swing. those are my favorites. ❜

swing. that explained the position he’d led them into. each opposite the other, held at arm’s length, hands clasped. while neither of them had the background to incorporate fancy footwork, they had rhythm, heart, and just enough self restraint to not launch the other person into the wall. ( they did, however, nearly bowl each other over after tommy released one of benrey’s hands for a twirl. benrey just about rubberbanded back into him. )

one arm pushed. the other pulled. ( for every action – newton’s third law. ) step back, step forward, step back. give, take. release a hand, swing in opposite directions, pivot in, reunite.

they kept on past the end of the song, end of the scene, until they step on each other’s feet one too many times and collapse in a pile of limbs and laughs.

#𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 – 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘵 ՚𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 ! ⇌ ic #𝘪𝘵 ՚𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘦 ⇌ main #othertypcs #thanks!!!#i have so much love in my heart for these two #they are inseparable in all universes you CAN'T change my mind

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fullmetalscullyy · 5 years

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day 14 - rockin’ around the christmas tree - brenda lee

the magic of christmas time - royai advent calender

24 days - 24 oneshots | with angst, fluff, and everything in between | both canon and au

a collection of christmas themed oneshots to celebrate royai | chapter prompts based on my favourite christmas songs

read on ao3

rockin' around the christmas tree

have a happy holiday

everyone dancin' merrily

in the new old-fashioned way

“It’s weird spending Christmas in such a lively place,” Riza murmured in Roy’s ear as they made their way through Chris Mustangs very large home to get to the kitchen. She had to sidestep a few very rowdy children on the way there. “A good weird, though,” she reassured him.

That was what baffled her the most. There were children everywhere. Far more than seemed appropriate for the ratio of adults, but Riza couldn’t be sure. They were dashing around the room, far less concerned about the adults holding drinks in their hands than they should have been. She’d been bumped twice already, but only just managed to salvage the alcohol in her glass.

“I’m glad it’s a good weird,” Roy chuckled, taking her hand and tugging her quickly in the surprisingly quiet kitchen. All the food had been moved through to Chris’ dining room, which was almost the same size as Riza’s house. The woman was rich as hell, and it showed in her house. She’d made a name for herself in her line of work – Riza still wasn’t entirely sure what exactly that was, and at this point, she was too afraid to ask – and had raked in the money. The house wasn’t filled with useless junk that most rich people houses seemed to have in the movies. It was decorated in a way that emitted warmth and comfort – there wasn’t a white marble or tiles floor in sight. It reminded Riza of her own cosy cabin up in the mountains.

“Family is a big thing with my mother,” Roy revealed. “Everyone is here for the holidays, and if they can’t make it for whatever reason, my mother will fix that some way or another.” Roy paused, his face turning grim. “I don’t even want to know what her methods are.”

“To be honest,” Riza replied, glancing over her shoulder to see if her mother-in-law was in earshot. “Neither do I.” The pair shared a quiet laugh together before the woman in question entered her own kitchen.

“There’s far too much hilarity in here,” she commented, but there was a smile on her face. “Riza,” she welcomed, opening her arms. Roy had often commented on how that behaviour was strange for his mother, but Riza wouldn’t complain. He said it must be because she likes Riza so much, which left her feeling so relieved. The last thing she needed was to be on Chris Mustang’s bad side. “Welcome. How have you been?” Chris asked as she hugged her.

“I’ve been well.”

“Keeping this one out of trouble, I hope?” Chris jerked her head towards Roy beside her.

“Of course,” she grinned. “Always.” Roy huffed beside her and her amusement only grew. The teasing between mother and son was always entertaining.

“Good. I look forward to hearing from you again, soon.” Her words were cryptic, and she shot them both a pointed look before she walked away.

“What was that about?” Riza asked, turning to face Roy.

“You don’t think… No.” He shook his head.

“Don’t think what?”

“You don’t think she… knows, do you?”

Riza felt her stomach drop. “Did you say anything to her?” Her accusation was light, but it was still there. Roy had visited his family a few weeks ago and called Riza, drunk. She knew how loose his tongue could get when in the company of his family and while drunk, so she had to ask the question on whether he’d let it slip or not.

“No! I never said a word. I was drunk, yeah, but I remember everything. I definitely never brought it up. In fact, I made a special point not to venture anywhere near the topic.”

Riza wracked her brain, thinking back on the conversations she’d had with members of the family. “I never brought it up either.”

“Over the years I’ve discovered she just has a way of knowing things,” Roy revealed, his mouth pressing into a thin line.

“That’s spooky.”

“Very spooky. Very inconvenient while growing up too.”

Riza snorted. “Yeah, because you were such a hooligan, you had to lie to your mother about where you’d been all night.”

“I did!” he responded indignantly. Then, Roy cast his eyes downwards. “But only because we spent all night at the arcade.” Riza snorted, giggling as she pictured a furious Chris dragging him by his ear back home – that was absolutely something she would have done – because Roy hadn’t called to say he’d be at the arcade for hours.

“You’re such a dork,” Riza grinned, bumping his shoulder with hers. When he lifted his head, she was glad to see his grin matched hers. “Come on.” Riza gripped his hand and lifted her glass of fruit juice. “Let’s go back to the party.”

They were both dragged onto the dance floor – yep, Chris even had room for a dance floor in her living room – and they both giggled, goofed around, and had a great time together.

“Cheese!” someone called, and Riza looped her arms around Roy’s neck, smiling for the camera. One of his arms wrapped around her back, while the other was placed on her stomach.

“Aw, that’s a lovely one guys!” Roy’s sister, Vanessa, crooned as she looked at her phone. Spinning it around, they bother got a look at it and Riza had to agree, it was a lovely photo of them both.

“Can you send me it?” Roy asked before Riza could, already whipping out his own phone.

“Yeah, of course!”

Riza meandered back into the kitchen for a breather and to cool off when she saw Chris at the fridge. Before she could open her mouth, Chris bet her to it.

“So, how far along are you?” she asked casually, as if she was talking about the weather. Riza had no reply, she just stood there and blinked at her mother-in-law, mouth parted slightly in shock. “Oh, come on. It’s obvious.”

“It is?” Riza asked, baffled. She had no idea how.

“You’re not drinking even though you’re not driving anywhere tonight. You two lovebirds have acted even more in love, which I didn’t think was possible, but I’m pleased to see you both so happy. And, after that little dance and photoshoot, Roy put his hand over your stomach rather protectively. That sealed it for me,” she shrugged.

This woman… It was both eery and impressive at the same time.

“Four months,” Riza smiled, placing her hand over her tiny bump. “We wanted to tell you sooner, but both wanted to be here to do it.”

Chris waved away her apology. “Don’t worry about that,” she reassured Riza, pulling her into a crushing hug. Riza was enveloped by the smell of perfume and cigarette smoke. The combination made her choke in the beginning, but now it was a comfort. Chris Mustang was the closest person Riza had to a mother figure, so the smell meant family and home. “Congratulations, Riza. I can’t wait to meet my grandchild.”

Riza gripped her tighter, feeling tears springing to her eyes.

“What’s going on?” Roy asked, his grin still on his face, cheeks pink from the dancing and excitement twinkling in his eyes. It fizzled out quickly though, because Chris shot him The Look. His expression turned from “yay!” to “oh shit, what have I done?” in the span of a second.

Chris pulled away and winked subtly at Riza before turning her attention to her son. “Just when were you going to tell me about my grandchild?” she asked, hands on her hips.

“I knew you knew about it!” he exclaimed. “Damn, and we wanted it to be a surprise.”

“It is a surprise. It’s a massive surprise.” Chris stopped, and both were horrified to see her face screwing up as tears collected in her eyes. Roy stared at her, alarmed, before rushing forward to comfort his mother. “I’m going to be a grandmother,” she whispered before pulling Roy in for a fierce hug. Over Chris’ shoulder, Riza watched as he grimaced at the pressure on his spine, but his arms wrapped around his mother’s frame regardless. Riza beamed at him, pleased that they’d managed to get this kind of reaction from her.

To be honest, both had no idea how Chris would react to the news they were pregnant. Riza knew she’d be happy, but the woman had a funny way of showing happiness. Riza thought there might be a quick congratulations, a quick hug, then move on. It made her happy to have made Chris so happy like this.

Roy grinned back at her, then grimaced again as his mother squeezed him tightly in her hug.

“Yeah, you’re going to be a grandmother,” he stated, his eyes finding Riza’s once more. They were filled with so much love and excitement for the future, that Riza almost cried there herself.

She couldn’t wait.

#royai #royai fic #royai fanfic #royai advent calendar #the magic of christmas time #emma writes

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synthaes · 5 years

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singin’ in the rain (1952) sentence starters.

it’s no wonder they’re a household name.

we’re just good friends!

we were kids together. we grew up together. we worked together!

dignity. always dignity.

[irritably plays a ragtime piano melody]

[i’m] fit as a fiddle and ready for love!

oh, that’s swell. just swell.

that’s a moot point.

well, that’s funny. i’m busy.

hot-diggity, kids!

can’t a girl get a word in edgewise?

no one’s got that much money.

why don’t you go out now and recite the gettysburg address?

you shouldn’t believe all that banana oil.

there is nothing between us.

there has never been anything between us– just air.

haven’t you heard? she’s irresistible. she told me herself.

i got no glory. i got no fame. i got no big mansions. i got no money. but i got – well, what have i got?

do something, call me a cab!

okay, you’re a cab.

don’t worry, i’m not a criminal!

you’re a famous gangster!

well, thanks for saving my life.

i’d very much like to know whose hospitality i’m enjoying.

we movie stars get the glory, i guess we have to take the little heartaches that go with it.

they just make a lot of dumb show.

you’ll have to wear a beard for that one.

you’re nothing but a shadow on film.

farewell, ethel barrymore!

how did you come, by way of australia?

you gotta show a movie at a party; it’s a hollywood law!

they’ll lose their shirts.

well, if it isn’t ethel barrymore.

all i do is dream of you.

you’re every thought, you’re everything, you’re every song i ever sing.

___, you never looked lovelier!

well, it’s a living.

she’s the first dame who hasn’t fallen for your lines since you were four.

come on now, snap out of it.

the show must go on!

i’m sure we should be as happy as – but are we? no. definitely no. positively no. decidedly no.

make ‘em laugh!

they’ll be standin’ in lines for those old, honky-tonk monkeyshines.

you could study shakespeare and be quite elite.

you could charm the critics and have nothing to eat.

slip on a banana peel, the world’s at your feet!

don’t you know the world wants to laugh?

go out and tell ‘em a joke, but give it plenty of hoke.

[cackles brightly, lengthily, and breathlessly]

why, you rattlesnake, you.

i never heard of anything so low.

i don’t like her half as much as i hate you, you reptile.

i’d rather kiss a tarantula.

i don’t – hey, ___, bring me a tarantula.

at last i can stop suffering and write that symphony!

what can i do but give my heart to you?

gee, i’m glad you turned up. we’ve been looking inside every cake in town!

i’m such a ham.

you sure look lovely in the moonlight.

i’ve laid awake the whole night through.

you were meant for me, and i was meant for you.

nature patterned you, and when she was done, you were all the sweet things rolled up in one.

you’re like a plaintive melody that never lets me free.

the angels must have sent you, and they meant you just for me.

sinful caeser sipped his snifter, seized his knees and sneezed.

moses supposes his toeses are roses, but moses supposes erroneously.

but moses, he knowses, his toeses aren’t roses, as moses supposes his toeses to be.

a rose is a rose, a nose is a nose, a toese is a toese.

hupi-dubi-du!

gee, this is dumb.

well, i can’t make love to a bush!

swell!

i love you, i love you, i love you.

this is a scream.

i’m no actor, i never was. just a lot of dumb show.

well, at least you’re taking it laying down.

or worse still, [you could] go back into vaudeville!

of course. it’s a cinch!

hot dog!

fellas, i feel this is my lucky day.

it’s 1:30 already. it’s morning!

we’ve talked the whole night through.

good mornin’!

it’s great to stay up late.

when the band began to play, the stars were shining bright.

now the milkman’s on his way, it’s too late to say goodnight.

so, good mornin’!

sunbeams will soon shine through.

we’ve gabbed the whole night through!

nothin’ could be grander than to be in louisiana.

might be just as zippy if we was in mississippi!

the pain is gone, the show goes on, and i don’t wanna say goodnight.

she can’t act, she can’t sing, and she can’t dance. a triple threat.

wait a minute. i am just about to be brilliant!

watch my mouth.

enchanting. what are you doing tomorrow?

where i stand, the sun is shining all over the place.

i’m singin’ in the rain; just singin’ in the rain.

what a glorious feeling, i’m happy again.

i’m laughin’ at clouds, so dark above.

the sun’s in my heart, and i’m ready for love.

let the stormy clouds chase everyone from this place.

come on with the rain, i’ve a smile on my face.

i’ll walk down the lane with a happy refrain.

remind me to give you a raise!

hey, ___. give me a raise.

would you dare to say: let’s do the same as they?

i would. would you?

first, we set the stage with a song.

don’t bring a frown to old broadway.

your troubles there, they’re out of style.

gotta dance!

broadway rhythm’s got me.

when i hear that happy beat, i feel like dancin’ down the street.

our love will last until the stars turn cold.

try and understand this: i’m going to marry her.

i once gave you a cigar. can i have it back?

tonight, i’m gonna do my own talking.

you’ve gotta do it, ___. this thing is too big.

you are my lucky star.

i was starstruck!

you are my lucky charms.

i’m lucky in your arms.

you’ve opened heaven’s portal here on earth for this poor mortal.

#singin' in the rain #sentence meme #sentence starters #sentence starter meme #singin' in the rain sentence meme #inbox meme #prompts

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yoshimickster · 6 years

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RWBY Volume 6 Episodes 12/13 “Seeing Red” and “Our Way” Micksterecaps: TWO RECAPS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO doggie, youse KNOW I can’t wait to talk about the finale, so you get not one but TWO recaps! Also doing the same thing with Gen:Lock as they released the first two eps of that on the same day-EITHER WAY LET’S GET TO DANCIN’!

THE EP STARTS OFF WITH-

-the ARGUS MILITARY-watching their boss waste military hardware, while being away from their FREAKING STATIONS-where a threat the Colossus was MADE to fight is coming close to the city. ALL WHILE RUBY-

-HANGS-in there? EH?! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?!

After a nice little cliff climb, Oscar informs the team that the shields go down EVERY time Cordo fires missiles, which is the time to STRIKE! Ruby while on board-DOES-point out the difficulty of it though.

Ruby:-I’d have to be practically staring down the barrel of her canon.

FORESHADOWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Ruby than jumps onto their legitimately stolen airship, while Maria does what she does best-

Maria: HEY CORDO-your mother wears NON-combat boots!

Cordo: SHUT UP I HAVE ALL THE MISSILES!

SADLY-though-

-sheeeeeeeeeeee catches on.

*BANG*

*TING*

*CLOSE*

Cordo: SURELY you know Atlas perfected missile launcher door quick-closing technology!

Ruby: BITCH YOU GOT LUCKY AND YOU KNOW IT!

Cordo: FUCK YOU I HAVE A LIGHTNING CANON!

OOH-and she WINGS them even, DAMN that’s gotta smart!

OOH-spoke too soon, Maria got the worst of it! MAN-that’s gotta sting.

Looks like its up to farmboy to SAVE THE DA-

*CRASH*

...EH-he’s a 14 year old farmboy, did the best he could with no fly knowledge or help (WINK).

See that? A NICE clean crash, Launchpad McQuack would be proud!

Ruby realizing how fucked things are, decides to pull a make or break move-RIGHT BEFORE-this scene-

Qrow: Ruby, stop!

Ruby: I need you, to trust me.

And he then lets go of her hand. Its a small yet powerful scene, and I really loved it, just wanted to point that out.

Ruby then makes a passionate speech to Cordo about how they only stole from her because she gave them no choice, especially since their supposed to be on the same side, and hopes she listens to reason.

Cordo: Hm....

Cordo:...NAH-I’ll just kill you.

CAROLINE CORDOVIN FOLKS-the defi-NITION of excessive force!

But does THAT scare Rubelubes?!

FUCK NO-she dashes herself RIGHT in there! SEE-foreshadowing!

She sees the target-

-LINES up the shot-

-while Cordo reevaluates recent life choices-

-gives herself a nice SNIPER breath-

-SHOOTS THAT FUCKER-and with-in a SECOND-

-PETALS HERSELF AWAY! Ace huntress right here! ALL right before-

-THAT FUCKER GETS CRYSTALIZED-good on you Ruby!

OOH-still got that aftershock crackle though! Thankfully Weiss uses her reverse gravity glyphs to slow her down ‘cause she’s a GOOD girlfriend, either figuratively OR literally(Bumblebee is canon fo sho, but STILL not sure on Iceflower, BUT still hopeful).

Qrow then catches her, and Ruby smugly replies with-

Ruby: ...toldja.

Oh Ruby, you SASS!

End the scene with a bit of Maria sass-

Maria: OH-don’t tell me I MISSED it!

AND CUT TO OUR FAVORITE NEW POWER COUPLE!

7:25

BEHOLD the holding of the hands, FEEL the gay energy it creates, while pissing off Blake’s creepy predatory ex, who was probably a creepy senior like Daniel Tosh when they started dating and needs to die(WINK).

Blake then says she and Yang are gonna KICK HIS ASS, because she made a promise to stick with the people she cares about-PROMPTING ADAM-to say this-

Adam: Y’know, she made a promise to me once, that she’d always be at MY side. HA-and look how well she’s kept it.

Your ex likes girls dude, GET OVER IT!

Either way it prompts Yang to say THIS badassery:

Yang: Did she make that promise to you? Or to the person you were PRETENDING to be?

Fuck yes. Either way, time for talk is over-ITS ACTION SCENE TIME-

-OOH-start out with a splitscreen, NICE!

Blake and Yang keep hitting him from both sides-

-and uses her shot-gauntlets to get distance, as a STRATEGIST does!

Blake goes in on the offensive, but ADAM ATTACKS-

-HER SHADOW-because he keeps forgetting how her semblance works like the dirty bitch he is!

Blake somersaults over him-

-KICKS-him back in the best pic I could get, because it happens in like a MICROSECOND-

-to a Yang Xiao Long that’s RARING to go with her shaunt-gauntlets-

-AND YANG KNOCKS HIM BACK...trust me, she did, this fight has a LOT of quick action and getting the pics I want is a nightmare.

The battle is INTENSE y’all, either way Blake gets ENOUGH distance-

-to get her partially broken gunsword back-

-tttttttttttthrows it over to fuckface magee-

-OOH-but he blocks it, no goal for you Blake-BUT-

-YANG GETS CONTROL OF THE BLADE-they may just make this count-

-she flings her over withe classic “infinitely stretchy band of stretchiness” to INITIATE-

-BATTLE CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH-but WAIT-

-OOH-knock back on both sides-

-Adam lands on his feet while Blake-

-OOH-she got crackle folks, we’re nearing the endgame (copyright Marvel studios...nah just kidding, RWBY’s a DC property). It ALSO almost knocks her off the cliff-

...I feel there’s a joke about a cat poster I can make here, but I’m not sure if right now is the right time to say it.

Yang is of course READY to save her-

-WHILE giving Adam an obvious deathglare for obvious reasons(MURDER HIM).

SADLY though Adam uses his greatest power of all-

Adam: MOMENT of truth Yang, do you think your faster than you were at Beacon?

*GASP*

EMOTIONAL manipulation( MURDER HIM, MURDER HIM). ALSO-sorry for the arrows, they wouldn’t go away and I couldn’t edit them out without ruining the gravitas of the shot.

Then a punch, A KICK, Yang’s on the ropes, will her aura hold out? CAN BLAKE HANG ON?!

OOH-apparently she can! MAN-the endurance these young women had, she lost a forcefield and now she’s climbing a MOUNTAIN, made of STEEL that one!

Adam than acts like the most OBVIOUS psycho-ex ever-

Adam: What does she even SEE in you?!

Yang: A person who doesn’t let their psychological baggage be an excuse to be an abuser!

Blake: Someone in my own age group who isn’t a creep who peaked his senior year of High school!

Adam: YOU SHUT UP I’M A PERFECT SUNFLOWER!

Adam then uses MOONSLASH on Yang but if you don’t know our girl-

Yang: Gotcha.

-you’d know it’d be NOT very effective y’all-SUPER SAYAIN YANG ACTIVATE!

FUCK YEAH-punch him OUT!

-AND HE GOT THE CRCKLE Y’ALL-its aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallmost over!

OOH-but so does Yang, BUT she’s got his sword so ADVANTAGE Bumbleby!

EITHER WAY-everyone’s running on fumes, its SUDDEN DEATH SMASH TIME Y’ALL!

And dear lord...its amazing-

-Yang THROWS that shit off a cliff-

-Adam goes after it-

Blake: SHURIYUKEN!

Yang: Wait I saw you climb UP the mountain, how’d you get back there-

Blake: WHATEVER-let’s kill this guy!

She sees the broken sword at her feet-

-she grabs ONE half-

-Yang graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabs the other-

Yang: RAH!

Blake: EYAH!

YANG/BLAKE USED DOUBLE STRIKE-

Adam:...oh-

*SPLASH*

-and its SUPER effective-CRITICAL HIT! RPG BUZZWORDS! AND THEN BUMBLEBY-

-gives themselves a tender cry scene while both promise to be there for each other. DAMN that was a fight scene, emotion, action, DEATH, I love this show!

Blake: *SNIFF* I just really really-REALLY-hope he stays dead!

Yang: Don’t worry, he can’t get maiden powers so he’s gone for good.

Blake: I love you babe.

Yang: I love you to.

A THEN CUT TO-

-CORDO-dealing with the consequences of her actions in MORE ways than one!

Nubuck: HEY UH M’AM-

-Godzillallegory is on the horizon-

- and it brought a BUNCH of friends, we could REALLY use the giant Collossus mech made SPECIFICALLY for fighting giant Grimm!

Cordo:...I am SO fired.

AND THAT’S ep 12, SEE YOU...in 2 SECONDS for the next Micksterecap as this is a DOUBLE feature!

The FINALE starts off WITH-

-with a VERY nice airship! Look at that woodwork, now THAT is craftsmanship! The ship opens TO REVEAL-

-NEO-and her SNAZZY new look! Look at that jacket, just FULL of snazz! SPEAKING OF SNAZZYNESS-

-HOT DAMN-I never thought wearing a cape the wrong way could look GOOD but Cinder proved me wrong! After the minor fashion show-ITS SHIP SHIFTING TIME!

Cinder:(DAMN I am im-PRESSED by this, SO glad we’re friends now!)

We get it Neo, your semblance is OP, QUIT SHOWIN’ OFF!

Either way, our girls are looking fly as hell and are READY to fight Team FWBYQOMJNR....NEXT volume. Yeah, turns out it was one of THOSE build-ups where its for next season. I know, I’m pissed of too.

But enough about that-A CUT TO-

GOJIRA-slowly making his way to Tokyo bay to REEK ATOMIC TERROR!

This is the time when one could REALLY use a giant robot with a laser canon-

-if not for the fact that a senile old racist wasted it on minor offenders like a crazy person.

After the team realizes that they had a SLIGHT hand in ruining Argus’ defenses against a kaiju level threat, they decide to FLY OFF! Right before CORDOVIN-

“This is YOUR fault, your fault....

....your...fault”.

-ADMITS her own guilt in this to herself! Didn’t expect character development from her, NOW all she has to do is apologize to Blake for casual racism and it’ll be AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL good!

MEANWHILE-on the ship-

-Blake apologizes for her psycho Ex stalking them, ALL while only her, Yang, Nora and Maria(off panel) are sitting down. YOU ARE IN A PLANE-I do not believe that they are hogging all the seats!

Despite the obvious chaos, Maria basically suggests this-

Maria: Okay...what if we just BAIL?!

Everyone:...

Maria:...YEAH I know, gotta be superheroes and what-not, I just REALLY want Cordo to die.

They then all decide to get up close and personal with the thing, Ren and Jaune plan to do their combo move a.k.a. the ONLY semblance Jaune will boost this season-BUT THEN-the monster resurfaces!

*RESIN COATED GLOVE AGAINST A BASS GUITAR!*

Look it up bitches. Its ALSO at this point that Mrs.Terra Cotta-Arc-

-regrets recent life choices that inadvertently lead to her brother in-law and his entourage to destroying Argus’s last defense...also what’s up with that girl in the background? The one with the diamond logo and the bare mid-riff? She a superhero or something? If so...GET TO WORK-there’s a monster to fight!

AW-she’s there for her family and...I’m sorry I just can’t get over that background character’s design, I mean LOOK AT HER-does she have ANY hips to speak of?! I know its just a background character, but STILL bad design.

BUT LUCKILY FOR ARGUS-

-THE SHIELDS GO UP-which I’m sure won’t be damaged at all!

SEE-look at that, COMPLETELY impenetrable!

BAM-even blocks the beast’s elemental attack, NOTHING can break this shie-

*BOOM*

...w...WAIT A MINUTE-the SHIELDS are impenetrable but the pylons MANAGING the shields AREN’T?! That is...a HUGE design flaw, DAMMIT CORDOVIN, this is what you get for spending your defense budget on your Gundam hobby!

This is when everybody just wants to get the HELL out of there but Ruby calls it in-

Ruby: EVERYBODY-me and my scrappy team of rogues is gonna take on that beast, we JUST need you to back us up!

Nubuck: UH-no thank you, we’re nameless soldiers in a fantasy story, WE KNOW what happens to us in this situation!

Either way Ruby is ready to use her magical laser eyes to slow down the beast, by her OWN dang self!

Ruby: Fine, we’ll do it alone if we have to.

Ruby: Let me repeat, I-A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL-am going to fight a monster ALL by myself...with NO military support...alone.

Look at Cordo, see the GUILT emanating from her!

Either way the plan is set-SUPER TEAMWORK COMBO-

-EMOTION MASK TIMES TWO! Seriously, the ONLY semblance he enhances this season.

They then fly undetected through the chaos while ONE plane gets hit! Exactly ONE...no lie, maybe this army isn’t as bad as I thought if only one plane got knocked down so far.

After just NARROWLY avoiding the blast-

-the beast takes out the SECOND barrier due to the worst design flaw in the world-

-DESTROYING THE TOP TO EXACTLY ONE BUILDING! DAMN-lucky Argus, this is a generally destruction free monster attack!

OOOH-but also RIGHT at the moment Ren and Jaune get crackle, CLOAKS DOWN PEOPLE-cloak is DOWN!

But have no fear-OUR LEADER HAS A PLAN!

Weiss:...giant bee?

Ruby: GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIANT BEE!

Yang: You rang?

Blake: Oh YOU!

Nora and Yang give cover fire while Blake just...stands there, because her weapon broke. Hey, sometimes your ex smashes your gun-sword in half, it happens.

SEE BLAKE-you just upgraded yourself to Weiss...holder, way to seize the initiative and HOLD THAT WEISS!

Ruby: I know this is stressful but riding a giant bee is still FREAKING AWESOME!

Nora: I CALL NEXT!

Yang: Aw man, I wanted to fly next.

Qrow: QUIT YAMMERING AND KEEP SHOOTING!

Rubalubes than squares up with the great beast and then-

-STARTS A CLIP SHOW TO PSYCHE HER POWERS UP! She ALSO-

-throws that PESKY earpiece RIGHT into the ocean...because turning it OFF is impossible apparently(freakin’ Atlas tech, TOO many design flaws). Either way-CLIP SHOW TIME!

What NICE memories, nothing that would trigger feelings of doubt which would mess with her hea-

SHIT-memories of the dead almost girlfriend-SHIFT FOCUS!

YES-memories of the vomit boy-FOCUS ON THAT!

Nooooooooooooooooooo-

-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

Focus focus focus FOCUS!

NOT ON THAT!

NOR THAT!

Stay calm, STAY calm-

-AND she’s boned.

Ruby: DAMMIT silver eyes, WORK WHEN I WANT YOU TO WORK!

The beast is in her sights, her powers aren’t working, only ONE thing that can save her now!

Ruby: JINN!

*SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW*

Yang: Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

DEUS EX MACHINA-because TELEVISION! Also really wish I could show the illusion of time slowing down better in simple pictures

Pouty Jinn is pouty. Either way she tells her that she’ll only allow her to summon her this this ONE time without asking a question.

Jinn: I must admit, this WAS clever.

Ruby: Heh, yeah, to be FAIR I wasn’t sure if you ACTUALLY slowed down time, or if that was like a “Bill Cipher” style illusion, but yeah I’ll have a real question next time.

Either way-CLIP SHOW RESTART!

Time re-starting is ALSO hard to show with still pictures.

*WAVES MOVE SLIGHTLY FASTER*

You enjoying this so far? You COULD be re-watching the show instead of a slow clip-show of it but O-kay!

Yes, GOOD memories of Pyrrha, GOOD ones!

*MORE SUBTLE TIME RESTARTING*

OH YEAH-she’s still in front of a monster! DAMN-that’s a good timestop, full on ZA WARUDO!

That’s right, good memory of Penny, DON’T PSYCHE OUT!

And just when you thought they weren’t gonna hit us with a feelsbomb-

SUMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER! ALSO-confirmation that Ruby knew what her mom looked like, I wasn’t sure as she died when Rubes was REALLY yong, either way HUZZAH! ALSO-this shot-

Summer’s eyes-

RUBY’S EEYS!

“THERE’S A LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT THERE TO SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE-

- “ AND ITS POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWER IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!”

Bless you Casey Williams, BLESS you!

Look at the well designed background characters being showed off by Rooster Teeth, THEY ARE PLEASED! Also, look at that glasses wearing mother fucker in the purple jacket, he a WIZARD or something? We coulda used a WIZARD y’know, just saying.

Nubuck1: YEAH-that girl we refused to help stopped the beast!

Nubuck2:...are we terrible at our jobs?

Nubuck3: Just shut up and keep cheering!

Ruby then marvels at the site of a major city that SURVIVED a kaiju-class Grimm attack for once-BUT ALL IS NOT WELL-

*CRACKLE CRACKLE*

*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!*

Ruby: DAMMIT-I meant to fire DISINTEGRATING beams, not FREEZING!

Maria: I now, its LITERALLY the most fickle super power.

But worry not-FOR ALL IS NOT LOST!

Cordo: HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE I COME, TO SAVE THE DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Ruby:...okay, thanks for the help, but HOW did you rip your mech’s arm off?

Cordo: HM?! Oh nothing fancy-

Cordo: JUST A BAD ASS DRILL THAT I WILL USE TO PIERCE HEAVEN!

Ruby:...why the HELL didn’t you use that on us before?

Cordo: Honestly I forgot it was there...as well as SEVERAL functions on this mech. Really I shouldn’t be in charge of anything.

Either way-

-she drills the FUCK out of that thing! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH SPINNING!

Man, that’s some NICE dusting!

Once again, the background characters are pleased, including lady hipless over there! Oh lady hipless, I will NEVER understand you.

And even 2/3rds of the Cotta-Arc household are completely enjoying it, while Terra is REALLY hoping this mess won’t come back to her.

Ruby then thanks AND apologizes to Cordo because she’s a NICE young lady, while Cordo gives her team the go ahead to fly out tho Atlas. DOESN’T make up for her mean comment to Blake, BUT progress is progress.

A THEN CUT TO-

-BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED CLOUDS! MAN this show loves to show off and I LOVE IT!

INSIDE the ship-

Ruby’s mentors give her WELL deserved props and Qrow celebrates BY-

-NOT drinking! GOOD ON YOU Qrow, PROGRESS!

D’aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw.

The mentors than have a NICE quick moment.

Maria: For a depressed drunk, you make a great uncle and huntsman.

Qrow: That is...LITERALLY the best compliment you can give me.

Speaking of sweet moments-

FUCK YEAH-hand holding! Now let them KISS dammit!

ALL WHILE-

-RUBY deflects praise like a body does, EVEN points out how Oscar landed a clean crash...OR DID HE?!

Oscar: I...DIDN’T land the plane on my own.

YUP-Ozpin helped him, in a scene that’s BASICALLY this-

Oz: The force Oscar, USE the force!

The team briefly discuss the fact that their creepy wizard principal is most DEFINITELY spying on them before Qrow points out-

THE UNIVERSITY OF CAROLINA IN THE SK-I mean-THE CITY OF ATLAS! Anyone...old enough to get that reference? Scott Pilgrim? Its a story about a guy who dates a 17 year old, dumps her for someone cooler, and we’re supposed to see him as the hero? WEIRDLY good read despite the what the synopsis will make you believe.

We also briefly see-

-THE UNDERCITY OF MANTLE...which...looks like its near an active volcano I think! NO WAIT I see, that’s where the floating city came from...still feel BAD for the poor people of Mantle though.

Either way, they get up there and EVERYTHING is fi-

-ZOOP military blockade, never mind. And we end the adventure of Team RWBYQOMJNR with a MYSTERIOUS line-

Voice: Manta 5-1, welcome home.

Oooooooh, Weiss is in TROUBLLLLLLLE!

And that’s it for them, credits start rolling-NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVERMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE- and then a we get a TEASER because Joss Whedon!

Mercury: I like being depressed in here, it makes me look DEEP!

Emerald also walks in to slightly foreshadow her defection from the Legion of Doom but notices how FREAKED he is...why?

Cause Salem’s making flying MONKEYS that’s why! We ALSO-get a Hazel cameo!

Hazel: There’s an old saying, if you want something done right-

-do it yourself.

WELL-team RWBY’s boned. EITHER WAY, a fantastic season, personally I feel episode 12 had better finale energy than episode 13, BUT outside of a malfunctioning force field still good. I’m also KINDA mad that Neo and Cinder, and pretty much EVERY member of Salem’s faction didn’t get many times to really shine, BUT there’s always next season!

AND WITH THAT-I’l see you either next season of RWBY, or on my Gen:Lock recaps on MICKSTERECAP! Peace out folks.

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wellntruly · 6 years

Text

BABYLON BERLIN - Ep 1 & 2 Notes

As foretold, I have started watching BABYLON BERLIN, Germany’s most expensive television show ever, in which a pocket-sized shellshocked Catholic Dale Cooper investigates a blackmail & pornography ring in Weimar Republic Berlin, hallefuckinlujah. Other featured characters include: a flapper girl burning the candle at both ends with like five freelance gigs variously aiding and breaking the law, and a Russian woman who performs slow baroque songs about dying in full suited drag, with moustache, while everyone in the dance club loses their minds. I’m losing my mind! This is my interwar period DREAMS.

N.b. If you join me in watching this (do it!), make sure you inform Netflix straight away that you would like the original German audio, as mine was about to give me English dubs and nein, danke. Oh also I say nein in my notes just, all the time. Very apologies.

NOTES:

Episode 1

typoooography

this is a pretty good conceit, hypnosis on the clearly PTSD-wracked protagonist — you can’t do anything in the decade after the First World War that isn’t terribly haunted by it, so make it present from the start

GOD that WWI imagery tho….hi

is it common for Christian churches to have menorahs, asking for a heathen

I just screamed quietly to myself. these credits!! it’s 2013 again in my whole soul!!

shit this tree burning along the train track! imagery!

I legit gasped aloud when the hijackers shot them after all, wow who am I I’ve never seen anything before

“Oh lord” I also say aloud at his little silver case of whatever ill-advised opiate they’ve probably given him

lol religious porn, yay

the director is still wearing this classy patterned scarf—an auteur

just push a wall of the set down to announce yourself, wonderful

oo what does bluebottle mean, I don’t think I’ve run into that slang before!

yeah I’m already v fond of our gaunt tortured little inspector, obv-i-ous-ly

ahh the murmuration of starlings takes us to the next scene, lovely

oh hi girl, love your bob and your smudged makeup

I assume they’re sisters, but the rest of the relationships in this flat are harder to figure

wow this dude has no empathy for the war-torn does he.

Lotte why did you pick this color of hat, it does not match anything in your life

yikes, I do not want that job

nice, nice, a plot-way to have someone describe to us our sharp trembly boy. a dogged, God-fearing Catholic sort apparently, good good.

all these skinny kids in shabby interwar looks are gonna KILL me

his name is Gereon Rath, wow yeah

a mystery!

“Suggestive Therapy” hoo boy

this man is just trying to do his border job

fuuuuck yeah, hacking in to power lines, transmitting Morse code

[points at screen] Russians

whAT THE SHIT! frozen blocks of octopus being prepared while a weird LIVE THEREMIN GROUP performs in the corner? hi new favorite terrible restaurant!!!

now they’re literally doing In The Hall of the Mountain King in the distance, I’m so——yes

omg is Sandor in the octopus

what on earth this is so jaunty and weird! goood

why, why do I have a memory of open elevators like this, I must have seen these very recently??

also I really like this stagey architectural fun being how they meet, these two who are clearly our two leads, living their independent lives until this point

just unemotionally divvying up pics of porn and murder, bless

Lotte: “I hope you’re with vice.” Gereon: “And I hope you’re with the homicide squad.” MEET CUTE, MEET CUTE

I hope “Moritz” is eventually revealed to be a dog

this bar feels tame for Weimar tbqh

wow it’s hard to pull off a grown man secretly sharing a magic trick with a little girl and have it not be creepy, but this isn’t! I mean not quite up to the magical Lee Pace and Catinca Untaru in The Fall levels, but what is

wow hey Gereon’s a regular dancin’ Donald O’Connor! a delightful surprise!

this hat omg

Episode 2

honestly, this show looks good. this show is not ostentatiously expensive it’s just high quality. here’s just some of the teams that must be excellent to pull off good looking period shows: production design, location scouts, producers, carpenters, props dressing, costumes, hair and makeup, lighting, CINEMATOGRAPHY. early Davies Doctor Who, for instance, couldn’t afford all this and also its (still not expensive, clearly) CGI, which is why it looks like it does. but this show spent a ton of money because it wanted to look like HBO. Germany what’s up! you guys trying to get in the game? I love it.

okay let me try to comb out this plot in my head: dramatic bitch possible crime boss in the octopus restaurant and dubious mental health doctor wanted the pornographer to destroy a certain video, which he did not destroy, because he was trying to sell it and make a profit. Gereon Rath also knows about and wants this video, and came to Berlin from Cologne to get it, keeping this on the DL from the local police force. the current location of the video: UNKNOWN. everyone’s reasons for all this: UNKNOWN. well except pornographer, who was just trying to make a buck. anyway, odds that the video is political in nature: HIGH.

also haven’t mentioned yet: love you Tom Tykwer, even though your name is spelled impossibly

how long until I just have to look up how teeny tiny this actor is

the answer is right now, and he’s too European to be on celebheights.com! I do not believe 5’8” Google, nein, that’s how tall Tom Hardy is and even though this guy weighs but a whisper, is he really that far over 5’7”?

the film is kompromat isn’t it

oh no my crumbly biscuit can’t handle this!

Dutch angle! woozy tipping ones

don’t go on the FLOOR of a MEN’S BATHROOM my gal!

note to self to ask Dr. Jen about the way his PTSD is manifesting. update Jen says: tremors extremely common, tremors so extreme that they almost resemble a seizure not so much, but could be exacerbated by whatever drugs they have him on, which are likely to be giving him withdrawal symptoms too if he doesn’t take them for a while. update update: differing frequency of severe shaking in traumatized German solders versus their British counterparts, holy very fuck

“Am I wrong here or is it you?” incredible line, god who speaks German is this incredible in German too

oh tight his name is actually old and weird! Thank u for this. Sincerely, Non-German Audiences

I love that she’s very glamorous and he looks like a Charles Dickens street urchin

hey that went fine with the boss’ boss actually. and yes we were right about the political blackmail.

my version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is singing out “Spanish Fluuu!” in time with European characters after 1918

ohhh alright, it’s Catholics sticking together, here’s the bond

wait is this Alexey’s room? lol

Rabbit boy. Rabbit boy!

I’d have left Kaiser as Kaiser, instead of going with “Emperor” for the translation. pretty sure that still scans even in American, yeah?

yeah, now Alexey is definitely not going to be needing that room again. was the landlady counting on this??

oh now here we go

holding out your hand to someone to dance, earnestly: “It has to be you.” GR9 LINE

“Ah, Saint Gereon From Cologne!” everyone loves my weird grim medieval boy with the shivers

…does he give the pharmacist confiscated porn in exchange for medication. yay I love Berlin

hah, punchline set-up from the previous episode!

aw that would have been a fantastic moment for a reveal that the blond twink is gay, but maybe next time

oh the dramatic octopus man is here!

!! the person who sold out Alexey is a female drag performer yes?!! same silhouette!

god I love Weimar Berlin

Josephine Baker homages!

this is full tilt incredible. everyone a) knows this song, b) knows a coordinated DANCE

definitely we need to return to the world where acrobatic male dancing is what gets the ladies

wait…omg is this the Russian revolutionary with the theremin, did she sell out her own boy???

aw, Charlotte…sorry this is how you’re making money girl

shoot unless you enjoy it, because you’re a dom??

dang the second episode is really going for it!

NEAT FROZEN DANCE MOMENT

aw man dude but now you’re gonna get like, so many diseases

TO BE CONT’D!

***

Weimar Watchnotes

#Weimar Watchnotes #Babylon Berlin Blogging #Babylon Berlin #Babylon Berlin spoilers #Tarra takes notes #television

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