#or at least come close to kicking it

[smilesthroughfandoms]

A Bone to Pick (Chapter Preview)

(Shadowpeach shippers I am serving crumbs on a silver platter, come and eat!)

“Macaque, what exactly are you—?” Before Wukong could finish the question, Macaque had dashed over to The Not-Mayor and, with the evilest grin possible, punched the still-downed man in the gut. The lapdog spat out some blood and what little breath he had in his lungs upon impact, before rocketing down the tunnel and out of the cave. 

“Holy whoa!” Bai He smiled. 

“Guess we’re doing this now, huh?” Mei asked with a lazy grin. 

Macaque sighed happily. “That felt nice… that felt real nice.” He then turned to the others with a casual grin. “Keep up guys,” and then he sank into the shadows. No doubt chasing after the man he just punched. 

“Y’know,” Pigsy crossed his arms, “I forgot fer a second he’s about as old as Monkey King and almost as strong.”

“Well, Team B is moving out!” Mei started jogging ahead, with Sandy and Pigsy right behind her. “You guys better go catch up with Mac-Attack. Don’t want him to accidentally flatten Zhongyu, you know?”

Tang spared one last glance to Team A. “Try not to get electrocuted.” Then, with one last odd glance at Monkey King, he was running to catch up with the others. 

MK exchanged a look with PB and Bai He. “You two ready?”

“You bet I am!” PB grinned eagerly. 

From her spot piggybacking on PB, Bai He gave a familiar-looking evil grin to MK. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day.”

“Great! Monkey King are you—Monkey King?” The trio turned to see the Great Sage standing with wide-eyed amazement, staring at the spot where Macaque had just disappeared. His tail was wagging slightly, his cheeks were a little pink, and his fur looked fluffier for some reason. 

MK reached over and shook the king’s shoulder. “Monkey King?”

“Nothing!” Monkey King shouted, looking panicked. 

“Huh? I didn’t say anything but your name.” MK raised a brow. 

“Oooh, fluffy.” PB reached over and patted Monkey King’s head like he was a kitten, marveling at his new fluffy fur texture. “How’d your fur get so fluffy, Mr. King?”

Face even redder, Monkey King swatted her hand away. “Let’s talk about something else, anything else really.”

“How come you look so nervous and sweaty right now?” Bai He asked. 

“… Anything else besides that.”

“Well we can either talk about kicking Zhongyu’s butt, or we could actually go kick it.” MK gestured towards the exit. “Which do you prefer?”

Monkey King sighed a bit, before smiling. “Actually kicking his but…”

“Great! Then le-go!” MK charged out of the cave, drawing his staff out. PB took off behind him, Bai He giggling in excitement. Monkey King hesitated a bit, waiting to make sure they were far enough away before he frantically started patting and combing his orange fur back into place. 

He decided, pointedly, to not examine what just happened to him until after The Not-Mayor was no longer a problem… but that didn’t mean the butterflies in his stomach were going away anytime soon.

[prixoruno]

i caught up on solarballs and oh god oh fuck caelpiter is fucking doomed yaoi i didnt oh no oh fuck lemme sit down oh g

[softquietsteadylove]

Would you please do one more chapter for the president AU? Like Thena is holding a speech and Gil protects her from a sniper, getting shot on scene but she learns later about his status cause she is being Transported to safety?? Some intense stuff? Thank you so much love your stories never stop please!! ❤️❤️❤️

Thena looked up as Sersi approached her with gentle steps. Sersi always walked lightly but she truly was walking like a deer on a frozen lake. She had been chosen to face the slaughter. "How is he?"

She seated herself quietly. Sersi was also shaken by the events of that morning's press conference. A shooting was always enough to have anyone on edge. And for a bullet to have actually landed--wounded one of their own; everyone was anxious. "He's still in surgery."

Thena nearly curled over her knees completely in her seat. It wasn't the presidential thing to do. But she couldn't breathe. "Sersi-"

"Thena, I'm sorry," her friend whispered, leaning across the seat to rub her back.

Sersi had witnessed first hand the way Thena had cried and screamed Gil's name as she was dragged away from him for her own safety.

There was always a risk for her safety. It came with the job. But the shot was planned, came from above. Only the wind and Gil's sharp instincts had saved them all. And while he had gotten her down in time, he was less fortunate.

His name had ripped out of her throat at the sight of his blood. She couldn't control it, couldn't conceal what seeing him hurt did to her. The rest of her SS guard pulled her away and under the cover of their protection. She could remember her hands clawing to get back to him. In the end, they had picked her up in order to evacuate without her struggling against them.

Gil's body was just...lying there.

"Sersi, I can't do this," Thena repeated, nearly gasping for air. Air Force One was far, far from crowded, but she felt as if she were being tossed around in a glass jar.

"Yes, you can, just breathe," Sersi encouraged, kneeling in front of her. "He's alive, Thena, that's all you need to worry about for now."

He was alive for now. But the thought of the man she loved lying on a steel table being operated on--possibly never hearing her last words to him; it was unbearable. It was unthinkable that their last kiss had been in the office between meetings, or that the last they'd held hands was when he was helping her in and out of the beast.

How could the last time she told him she loved him be 17 hours ago?

Thena attempted to pick her head up. She blinked, but the tears were far from controllable at this point. Not that Sersi minded. She shook her head, "if he dies-"

"You can't think of that right now," Sersi tried to urge her to calm herself again. She stood, using the natural movement to ease her back into her chair properly again. "He's getting the best care he can right now. I promise as soon as we get word we'll turn right around."

They couldn't. And even if redirecting the Eagle were that easy, they were only so capable of speed. Sheer distance still separated him from her. And if things took a turn for the worse and she didn't make it in time-

"Thena," Sersi followed as she stood, unable to sit any longer. The sound of their heels was muffled on the aircraft carpet. "You have to-"

"I don't have to do anything!" It was true, that was her position as designated by their godforsaken country. And with anyone else, she might not have felt quite as bad for it. But Sersi's face betrayed immediately what her outburst felt like to receive. Thena sighed, lowering her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I just...you don't--I can't lose him."

If Sersi had wondered at all what their relationship was before - which was honestly doubtful - she certainly had her evidence now. But she came over to her again, wrapped her arms around her and hugged her as a friend, not an advisor or cabinet member. "You won't."

Thena shook her head again. She wasn't so confident, and in a rare moment like this when she could afford to be unsure, she was rampant with doubt. She hugged her friend back. "This can't be how it happens--it can't."

Sersi gave up on the empty platitudes, rubbing her back as she listened to her weepy breaths.

"I can't do this without him," Thena pulled her head up again, attempting to resolve herself. "I mean it. I can't do this - any of this! - without him. I'll go insane."

Sersi had no argument for that. Gil was her personal aide, as well as defacto security for her, and that said nothing of the fact that Gil was just the best at generally handling her. "Things will work out."

The words barely sounded like words by this point. Thena looked out the window, starting to pick at her nails. Gil would usually pick up on her nervous ticks and stop them. He could say it was unsightly for Madam President to bite her nails, and then he would have an excuse to hold onto her hand for three whole seconds.

What good was having an aircraft with the highest level of clearance in the world if it still travelled at this kind of speed?

"So," Sersi started along a different path. She lightened her tone, seating herself and looking up at her, "how long?"

Thena remained staring out the window, tearing at her finely cared for nails layer by layer. "You want the exact date?"

It was sharp and sardonic, but Sersi smiled. "I suppose not. Obviously it's long enough, though. And I'm guessing it was since before Ikaris."

That did pull Thena's attention away from the clouds below them and back to her friend. She didn't bother hiding her surprise; Sersi never talked about Ikaris in any way.

But she continued, breezing over the mention of their past with treachery. "It was easy to tell that you were close, and not just as handler and VP."

She didn't think they had been so obvious. But then again, Sersi actually had an oddly sharp sense for the dynamics people could have with each other. It was part of what made her such an asset.

Thena finally sat down again, wrapping her arms around herself, only to start biting her thumb. "It was just going to be nothing--in the beginning. It happened once, let's move on."

Sersi waited patiently for the rest of the story.

Thena sighed, "but then it happened again, and then a third time. But we always said it couldn't be more than that. We had jobs to do. And we both understood that."

"Until," Sresi prompted her, and even smiled impishly when she was glared at for it.

Thena closed her eyes, and imagining Gil's smiling face was almost enough for her to smile in real time. "He was escorting me, as always. We ended up talking and, in essence, we both determined that we were not achieving the casual intentions we had claimed."

"So, you were already in love, is what you're saying," Sersi clarified. Thena glared at her again for her impertinence, but it did nothing to make the quiet woman back down. "I could have told you that."

Thena rolled her eyes, but it did bring somewhat of a smile to her face. "We agreed to explore the potential for more--quietly."

"How did you keep it a secret?" Sersi asked and leaned forward, her curiosity pulling her in. "I mean we had our suspicions but the biggest doubt was simply 'how would you even get away with it?'."

"With practice," Thena conceded, even letting her head tilt back to the head rest. "We got good at sneaking him in and out under different covers. And it worked--for well on a year."

"A yea-?!" Sersi nearly burst out loudly, even for being within the sound cover of a jet. But she managed to rein herself in. She cleared her throat more quietly, "a year?"

Thena nodded. The best years of her life. She gnawed at her cuticle. "Then everything happened. The transition of my position was so fast and so imperative, we didn't really have time to talk about what this meant for us. But Gil...Gil said he wasn't going anywhere."

Tears sprung to her eyes again.

Sersi put the pieces together. "You did fight awfully hard to keep him as your personal detail when you took office."

Thena scoffed, "and let some stranger guard me?"

"They wouldn't be a stranger," Sersi scolded her for denouncing the entirety of the rest of the secret service. But she sighed, "but I suppose you wouldn't have been a good protectee for any of them anyhow."

Especially not if she knew she could have Gil instead.

"It had to be him," Thena resolved, going back to fidgeting with her hands on her lap. "We kept saying we just had to make it through the rest of the term."

Sersi made a face. It wasn't nearly so simple to just exit the office. But this wasn't the time, and she knew that very well. "Thena-"

"He made it!" Kingo ran out, holding up the satellite phone in his hand as if he were a horseman riding at dawn. "They got him stabilized, at least."

"He's alive?" Thena asked, although she immediately discovered she had no air in her lungs. She stood and walked towards Kingo but her knees weren't strong enough anymore.

Both Sersi and Kingo lunged for her as she fell in the middle of the aisle.

"Whoa, hey," Kingo whispered as he caught her, lowering her into a seat properly. "Gil's alive, we're already cleared to return to land and we'll put a bypass on the hospital so you can see him, okay?"

Thena gasped. She couldn't breathe, but for an entirely different reason. She accepted Sersi's shoulder as she cried, hyperventilating into her soft green cashmere dress.

"He's fine, Thena, just breathe," her gentler friend soothed her, running her hand over her hair. "Not much longer. I promise we won't pull you away until you've spoken with him."

"Uh, we really can't-" Thena could hear Kingo begin, and then cut himself off, presumably being glared at by Sersi. He cleared his throat and stepped back, "you got it, Boss. I'll tell Phastos the news."

"He's alive, he's alive," Sersi repeated to her, whispering in her soft accent like a lullaby. "You'll be with him soon."

"I love him," Thena choked out desperately. It ripped out of her just as desperately as she had cried out his name after seeing him get shot. She had to say she loved him, just in case something tried to take him from her again.

"I know," Sersi soothed. "You can be with him soon."

[sejarcus-archive]

Vesta and Marcus being actual close friends, Strabo and Marcus being stuck in an endless silent beef with each other, cause Marcus knows all the horror stories about Strabo from Sejanus and how much he made him suffer, and Strabo will never think of anyone as good enough for his son

[earl-grey-crow]

.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

Y'know, I have a feeling that no matter how much Viv says Vox and Velvette are gonna be on the same level as Valentino, they really w o n ' t -

[tackrusso]

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw

[sysig]

Blusters in, flusters out (Patreon)

[wolfwarrior142]

I'm slowly playing through the Final Shape campaign. And it has me over here almost crying and getting all emotional. Cuz the message it's giving, of Ghosts being there for their Guardians all the time, whatever it takes, because they're "made of the same stuff," and all that...that's always the bond I've envisioned for my guardian Cerys-8 and her ghost Pepin.

Yeah I bet most players who created characters for their guardians feel that way, but the way they're wording it here speaks SO much to how I feel that Pepin cares for Cerys. She deals with a lot of mental health issues after the loss of her awoken hunter friend, Arjun, to Taken. She has been slightly suicidal in the past as a result of it. She's done stuff that has worried Pepin. And that just made him dig deeper into being someone who Cerys can rely on, her last line of defense. Because he brought her into this life as a guardian without any choice from her. So he is going to try his best to help her heal and keep going. He knew that from the start, and felt it even more after she declined.

Pepin had Cerys name him because he didn't have a name before and he didn't care to give one to himself. So Cerys picked Pepin, because it sounded like a play on saying that he was peppy. Happy. Cheerful. Bringing light to dark moments. He isn't an overly cheery and emotional ghost, but he always tries his best to find the positive in a situation. Or at least, make the dark not seem so strong. Cerys saw that from the start, which made him feel even stronger about being a protector for his Guardian when it comes to her internal struggles. He wants to be there for her, almost like a parents or an older sibling she can go to in her times of need, especially after she lost Arjun. And then during the Red War. And after losing Cayde- and so on. Cerys struggled to accept his caring at first, but as she healed, she realized just how much she actually appreciated it. How glad she is to have Pepin as her ghost and closest friend in the world.

I've felt that about them for years. So. Needless to say. This dialogue in the game about the ghosts caring so much about their guardians and their struggles- more than I remember it being talked about ever before- is making me kinda emotional.

[mongrelmutt]

Veterinarian diagnosis of pinched cervical nerve confirmed by human medical professional! Now gonna go take a muscle relaxer and pass the heck out because I haven't slept well* in like a week. Goodnight! lol

[eightspringdays]

Don't know why, how or when but I woke up on the floor this morning and my first thought "if I hit my head wouldn't THAT be funny" but my pupils are good and reactive so it's all good 😗✌🏻

[hollowfairybabybat]

youll never guess who threw on hadestown again (its me)

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Me realizing summer is almost here, which means more people might be able to finally sit down and read/catch up on my fic:

[hauntingblue]

Sanji: I don't even like them but I wanna save them

Luffy: that's my boy

[nehswritesstuffs]

what stinks sometimes about writing is that you know you need to get x amount more done in a multichapter fic before posting it, or else it will end up languishing like many of your other multichapters, but you’re also *checks* 21k in and nowhere near halfway done but you know ~(￣▽￣)~* it’s the process

[designernishiki]

I feel like whatever was going on with majima/mirei/katsuya in the early 90s was some sort of complicated bisexual love triangle situation. like majima is majima and katsuya’s handsome and eloquent and absolutely doesn’t seem straight to me, but on top of that it feels like there was some sort of confusing tension between katsuya and mirei, not sure if it was romantic or one-sided or what but. SOMETHING. I don’t know what the hell was going on with those three really but no way in hell do I believe the romantic/sexual/??? depth ends with majima and mirei