#problem is trying to find a mcnamara

[voxslays]

“The leaves are changing!”

In which >>> You and your partner(s) notice the vibrant colors of the now orange and red leaves on the trees.

Featuring >>> Alastor, Charlie, Emily, & Vaggie.

(Since I am technically a day behind, I’m posting two today to catch up, sorry for the delay. 😭)

☆ Alastor ☆

Alastor is never comfortable enough around people to let his guard down. He's always high alert around others, and even by himself. Yet, feels oddly safe around you, though. He feels like nothing could hurt him when he's in your presence. It's odd. Evidently, he feels safe enough around you, because after almost a week of restless pacing at night and not getting any rest due to his paranoia, Alastor found himself dropping into sleep on your shoulder.

“Alastor, look at the leaves-“ You immediately shut up once you notice he’s asleep. Alastor remains fast asleep on your shoulder. He seems to be getting some well-needed rest, and he sure wouldn't mind staying in your presence for a little while longer. As Alastor remains sleeping on you, his body unconsciously presses closer to you for comfort, seeking out your body heat as though to soak it up. He snuggles up to you a little more, seeking your warmth and affection unconsciously. He's never been this vulnerable around anyone before. You are as stiff as a board, having the literal radio demon sleeping on you.

Alastor senses your stiffness and subconsciously presses closer to you, as though to seek a sense of safety and security that he can only seem to find while he's near you. As he presses against you, a soft, almost inaudible purring sound emits from Alastor, a sound that he was unaware he was even making. As he abruptly wakes up, he notices that he's practically clinging to you, his head nestled against your shoulder. A jolt of surprise courses through him as he quickly pulls away, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

You look out the window at the brightly covered leaves on the trees that surround pentagram city. Alastor follows your gaze, and his expression shifts to one of mild confusion as he notices you staring out the window. He clears his throat, still trying to recover from the embarrassment of having unwittingly dozed off on your shoulder.

He clears his throat once more. "It seems I… dozed off.” He says, trying to downplay the fact that he had actually slept on your shoulder, seeking comfort in your presence. “Yeah…uhm…” You trail off. Alastor notices the awkward tension in the air and decides to quickly change the subject. "Well, I suppose I was rather tired…" He trails off, still feeling self-conscious about his vulnerability.

He clears his throat again, looking anywhere but at you as he tries to find something to say, anything to fill the silence. "I… appreciate your patience in dealing with my… err, brief slumber,” He says finally, unable to bring himself to directly mention that he had dozed off on your shoulder. “It’s no problem really. Alastor nods curtly, still feeling a bit embarrassed. The fact that he'd slept on your shoulder, unconsciously seeking your warmth and comfort, was something he never thought he'd be capable of doing.

☆ Charlie & Vaggie ☆

“So…what are we gonna dress up as?” Charlie asks, still holding onto you as her hands wrap around you and Vaggie’s arms as she sits inbetween you. Vaggie rolls her eyes, setting her phone down and getting up from the couch. “We're not dressing up.” Vaggie says, putting her foot down. “But Halloween is this weekend, we have to dress up for it!” Charlie exclaims.

“We could go as the Heathers…?” You suggest. Charlie's eyes light up, already loving the idea. “Oh my God! Yes! I love that play! And I call being Chandler!” She says while jumping up and down excitedly. Her eyes glimmering with delight. “Well red is your color.” You say. Charlie beams, and Vaggie can’t help but chuckle. “As long as I don’t have to be McNamara,” she says.

Charlie nods quickly, loving the idea. “Yes! Perfect! We’re settled! We're doing our Halloween as the Heathers!" Vaggie smiles at Charlie's enthusiasm and shakes her head lightly in amusement. "Yeah, it sounds like it's gonna be pretty fun. We'll have to find some outfits and maybe grab some accessories. But we've got time to get everything ready before the weekend." Charlie squeals in excitement at her girlfriend's comment. 

You look outside to see the leaves of hell changing from their normal dead black color, into beautiful shades of orange and red. “Guys look!” You point to the window. Charlie and Vaggie both turn their heads, observing the world outside the hotel. The leaves of the trees are changing color from green to shades of orange and red. Vaggie rolls her eyes. "Really? Leaves?”

“They're beautiful.” You state. Charlie smiles softly, feeling the warm, fuzzy joy swell in her chest. “You're right. It is beautiful.” Vaggie’s annoyance slowly subsides with the sight. Even she can’t deny the beauty of nature in the fall season. “We have to stop and smell the roses every once in a while.” You comment. 

Charlie nods, absolutely agreeing with you. "Exactly! It's important to take time to appreciate the small things in life. Like the changing of the leaves or the scent of fresh rain. The sound of birds chirping in the trees. All these little moments make life so special." Vaggie grunts softly, still pretending to be annoyed but enjoying the little display of affection. The three of you spend the rest of the fall evening cuddled up by the fire.

☆ Emily ☆

You walk with Emily through the beautiful gates of Heaven. She skips along beside you, her wings fluttering with sheer joy. She giggles softly, her silver-tipped head tilting inquisitively as she gazes up at you. "Isn't it wonderful here?"

“It is.” You agree, her contagious laughter making you let out a few giggles as well. *Emily nods eagerly in agreement, her eyes shimmering with childlike awe. The serene landscape and radiant light of Heaven seem to bring out a profound sense of tranquility in the young angel. With each step, she hops lightly, her dress swaying gently in rhythm with her joyful gait. 

Her eyes glimmered with excitement and awe as she looked around, taking in the view of the leaves changing color and crunching underneath her feet. She would occasionally pick up a maple leaf and play with it, spinning it between her fingers or watching it dance in the breeze before letting it fall to the ground. She smiles and looks over at you. “Do you like the leaves?”

“Of course. They’re beautiful…Just like you.” You flirt. A bashful and giddy smile spreads across Emily’s face as her cheeks take on a subtle blush. She playfully twirls a strand of her blue-tipped silver hair around her finger, clearly elated by your compliment. Her eyes sparkle with delighted joy. It’s as if your words had enchanted her.

"You really think so?" Emily asks hopefully, her gaze turning bashful yet curious. Her wings flutter gently behind her, a soft hum of pleasure escaping as she waits for your response. At your confirmation, Emily’s smile grows broader, and her face turns a deeper shade of pink. Her wings flutter a little faster behind her in excitement and gratitude, making a soft, humming sound as she skips a little closer. “Thank you.” She says softly as she twirls a lock of her soft white hair around her finger.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I must say: I’m genuinely impressed by how creative all your stories are. I have three questions related to your writing process, if you don’t mind.

1) How do you stay motivated to keep creating?

2) Where do you find inspiration?

3) have you ever had an idea for a scene that you struggled to execute? How did you work through that to write the scene?

I love your stories! I look forward to every chapter of Charlie McNamara.

1) Motivation to create has never been an issue for me -- there's always some new thing to write about! My issue, and the issue faced by a lot of other writers, is the motivation to stick with a project to completion. That's hard. Everyone's got a hundred "works in progress" they'll never touch again because they took a break and when they came back, their attention was on something new and shiny.

My solution to this? Money.

The reason I started Curse Words as a web serial and opened a patreon for it wasn't because I ever expected to be able to make a living as a writer. I'm as surprised as anyone that so many kind people have put their support behind me and let me keep writing these fucked up stories instead of getting a real job. I did it because I wasn't getting my projects finished. I was doing what we all do; getting three quarters of the way through any given project and then finding something more fun to work on instead. And when you risk disappointing readers by doing that, well, that'll get you back in the seat over the little bumps, maybe pull you back to a project a few times. But when people are paying you actual cash in return for consistent output, on time, to story completion? That's a way bigger motivator. Even if it's just one guy. For a long time, I had one patron! It was enough! It worked! It's not about making a lot of money, which is borderline impossible as a writer (again, I still can't believe my supporters are so generous enough that i can make this my career). But it acts as some level of both proof that your work is valued, and an active obligation on your part to keep producing it on a consistent schedule. My readers are giving me something valuable for this. I can't let them down.

Sorry, I'm sure you wanted a more uplifting kind of answer. But that's just what works for me.

2) I've never really been sure how to take this question. This is basically the age-old 'where do you get your ideas?' and it... doesn't have an answer. You think of a thing and you write about it. As you resolve the problems and inconsistencies in the thing, that fills out more and more of the world of the story.

Angel is born of a mediocre Goosebumps book called Chicken, Chicken. There's a part in the book where the protagonist, slowly shapeshifting into a chicken, rips all his feathers out every morning in an attempt to slow the transformation. The book isn't really about that but it stuck with me for a good two decades until, stuck in the house for two months at the beginning of Covid, I wrote Angel.

Void Princess and The princess in the Tower are both me musing on the old 'princess kidnapped by a dragon' trope. I get really fixated on this trope for some reason; I have four or five others swimming about in my head that aren't full stories ready for the page yet. Wasting Time is just the song Pushin' the Speed of Light, World Builder was written in a fever right after watching Jacob Geller's The Shape of Infinity, Copykate was initially going to be a SAYER fanfic but required enough alterations to the setting that it worked better as a story of its own. The inspiration is out there, the ideas are out there. It's just a matter of practice to turn them into stories.

3) I try to avoid scenes that are hard for me to depict, but this isn't always possible. I'm aphantasiac and struggle a lot with scenes that have a lot of heavy visual elements. Scenes where there's a lot going on that needs to be fairly precisely depicted are tricky, too.

One particularly difficult scene for me was a fight scene in Time to Orbit: Unknown. There's about six people in a small room fighting over the fate of a bunch of other people who are not present, and the reader needs to be kept up to date on the physical positions/activity/intentions of all the combatants, the villain explaining what he's doing and why (lying), the protagonist figuring out that he's lying, the physical condition (injuries, being restrained, et cetera) of all of the combatants, and the fate of the half of the crew not in the room, all with enough detail that the reader can understand the stakes, consequences, and enough of the moment-to-moment logic of the fight that nobody's decisions are confusing. The whole thing is very fast paced and... it's a lot. It's always a difficult balance in these scenes because you want to be detailed enough to keep the reader following everything they want to follow, but you don't want to dramatically slow down the story by describing every detail. If you're using a limited viewpoint, it's a blessing and a curse; you can avoid narrating the stuff your character can't see or isn't paying attention to, but you also have to find a way to get across information that your character might not be able to see, either by forcing them to see it or by having it conveyed in some other way in the scene. With busy scenes like this, I like to work backwards -- decide what specifically the reader needs to know, decide what is needed to get the characters to the places I want them at the end of the scene, and write a scene with as little as possible in it except for those two things. Sometimes, communicating those two things requires a bit of setup.

In Curse Words, there's an ancient magic spell passed down a family line from parent to child. It's a communication spell that allows people to see through each others' eyes and hear through their ears. Before the existence of long-distance wireless communications, this sort of information transfer was enormously powerful; wars can be turned with that power, trade networks created or conquered. It made its family enormously powerful, to the point where they're the most powerful magical family in the world even in the time of the story, with the spell long buried and its advantage lost to an age of mobile phones and cameras. It's massively influential to the worldbuilding of the story.

I introduced it for one reason and one reason alone -- I knew that eventually, I would be writing a climax to the story where a lot of people were doing a lot of things in a lot of different locations, and the protagonist was only going to be in one of those places. And I knew that I was going to need some way to tell the audience what the fuck was happening while he was running around in caves and shit.

[bloody-cupcakes]

Okay okay, let me throw the idea out of just manipulative Yan!Veronica

Can be a fic or headcanons, whatever you want to do, but im willing to let this girl manipulate me idc!!!

-🐊

Yesss I love that idea so much!! Sorry this is a month late, I got distracted for a bit since I went on a trip to the beach with my friend and didn't get any writing done for a good couple of weeks lmao. I decided to go with both headcanons and a fic because I felt bad for making you wait for so long. Headcanons are below, the fic will be out later this week! 🥰

Tw: yandere/dark content, gender neutral reader, Veronica is extremely manipulative but we love her anyway, brief mentions of suicide (relevant to canon, yknow)

Veronica's one of the more covert yanderes tbh. She's not as domineering as Heather Chandler or straight up crazy like JD. At first, she just appears as your typical teenage girl who's worried about their partner. Sure, she's a little clingy, and possessive, and overly protective, but with people like Kurt and Ram out there who wouldn't be?

Her manipulation is also a lot more subtle than other people's. She's able to easily disguise it as worry, insisting that she's just trying to look out for you when it comes to parties you might want to attend or people you hang out with

She has absolutely no problem making up stories or coming up with lies in order to get you to leave certain people alone. Oh, you didn't hear that so-and-so slept with their best friend's boyfriend? Wow, I thought everybody knew that. She's so trustworthy and genuine, of course you believe her

If you ever manage to catch her in a lie, she's quick to turn it around on you or act as if she has no idea what you're talking about. She'll pretend that she got this information from a second hand source, so naturally it couldn't be all true, but at least some of it has to be, right? So it's still better for you not to hang out with this person, just in case

It's even harder to see what she's doing as manipulation given the fact that her worries aren't entirely baseless. There are plenty of awful people in the school, and it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe that she truly does want to protect you. She may be a bit excessive, sure, but that's only because she doesn't want to see you get hurt

When I say she limits the people you're "allowed" to hang out with, I mean that. Heather McNamara is okay, and maybe Heather Duke, but Heather Chandler is off limits, and don't even think about going anywhere near Kurt and Ram (not that you'd want to, because ew)

Even Martha Dunstock is a perfect candidate for a friend, because she never hangs out with anyone else anyway, which means no one will bother you two. And by bother I of course mean give you any sort of attention

JD is a bit of a toss up. Veronica trusts that he'd never let anything happen to you, but she also knows that he always ends up finding trouble no matter where he goes, intentional or not, so you'll typically only hang out with him if Veronica is also there to keep an eye on him

Overall, she's a great girlfriend! If you don't mind only hanging out with people that she trusts to keep an eye on you or occasionally getting caught up in her and JD's passionate discussion about "ridding the world of popular filth" and all that. But that's nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Even if the eventual suicides of Heather Chandler and Kurt and Ram did seem a bit suspicious...

[leoleolovesdc]

Anyone wanna listen abt my cowboy heathers au?? No? Okay then, I’ll talk abt it anyways

Heather Duke is in a gang-ish cowboy thing with the other Heathers. They scam people, rob banks and just generally do whatever the please as long as they get money out of it, but as Chandler always seems to find a way to get a bigger percentage of the gains than her and McNamara, this makes Duke grow bitter, so much so that she tries to get ahead and ends up stealing some money from Chandler (and by some I mean a LOT). Chandler finds out and obviously isn’t very happy about it, so now Duke’s on the run, trying to get as far away from them as possible, knowing that if McNamara, Chandler or any of their other goons catch her she’ll be a dead woman.

After days and nights of travelling through the country, Duke goes to a farm and pays the owners so they’ll let her stay for a few nights, rest and hopefully help the Heathers lose track of her, but that doesn’t work very well. Duke hears news that her former mates are on the town and packs her things to leave as soon as possible, but just as she’s about to go she finds a woman hidden in the farm. She doesn’t seem to know how to speak english and is clearly wary about Duke and her intentions, though she doesn’t seem to be much of a talker (especially in a language she doesn’t understand) she manages to tell Duke her name; Veronica.

The owners of the farm find the girls trying to interact and kick Duke out. She pretends to leave but comes back in the middle of the night to find the girl again, she finds out that the owners of the farm are basically forcing Veronica to work for them as payment for protection as she’s being chased by the mafia from her home country. Apparently Heather isn’t the only one who thinks she’s too good to resist the challenge of stealing from people she shouldn’t.

Duke breaks in the farm to free the girl and they get into a huge fight with the farmers. After a lot of bang-bang, she and Veronica manage to knock out one of the men, hop on Duke’s horse and run away.

The rest of the story follows them running away from both Heather and Veronica’s demons while at the same time learning how to speak and relate to each other. Heather eventually buys a dictionary to help her understand Veronica, and both get slowly better at communicating. With time what was one impulsive act coming out of some sort of white-knight complex of Duke’s becomes a genuine partnership, if not something more.

Veronica doesn’t plan on staying, though. Heather wants a peaceful life, she wants everything to settle down so she can finally get some rest, the only thing she ever wanted. Veronica on the other hand, lives for the thrill. She likes the adrenaline rush of stealing, having to run away, the feeling of having to free herself from the problems she had purposefully ran into.

She doesn’t want to stay forever. She won’t stay forever. But as long as Duke has a reason to run, Veronica will be running by her side.

After a especially violent encounter with the Heathers, Duke finds herself cornered by McNamara, who has a gun in her hand and is a movement away from blowing her former best friend’s brains out. Duke accepts her fate, she asks Mac for forgivness, says she regrets messing everything up and that she wishes it could have been different.

Duke closes her eyes. McNamara’s finger tightens around the trigger, but nothing happens. She can’t pull the trigger. She can’t do that. Not to Duke. Not to the only person she’s ever cherished and trusted as much a Heather Chandler. She lets her go.

After a long while without seeing the Heathers, they eventually come back. Chandler asks Duke to join them back. She says McNamara has made her see things through another angle and she’s willing to forgive her past mistakes and foolishness. Duke wants to go. She really does, but that’s when she remembers Veronica. She can’t leave Veronica all by herself when she’s being chased by half of the world. She refuses to come back. She says that’s the first time she’s ever had something she feels it’s worth caring for. She has a purpose when she’s with Veronica, she has someone to care for. Chandler stares at her coldly and leaves without another word. McNamara follows. She doesn’t seem to be just mindlessly going after Heather this time.

Veronica asks Duke why she didn’t come back with them. She had been offered forgiveness, she should have been ecstatically following Chandler back home like a puppy. Heather says that she couldn’t go because she’d never forgive herself for leaving. She knows that it wouldn’t be far to leave her friend behind. Veronica wouldn’t abandon her either.

Except that she would.

Everything Veronica ever wanted was a life like the one the Heathers lived. Free of rules, of judgement, just doing as she pleases. Running, but with a purpose, with people who share a similar goal. With a place to stay, cozy houses, people to sit and have dinner with, all of that without needing to ever give up the thrill she so desperately longed for. Veronica would have left anything, anyone for that.

Duke was stupid.

[ncisfranchise-source]

Several new actors are joining Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly in the upcoming Paramount+ series NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which has officially begun production in Budapest. 

In addition to de Pablo and Weatherly starring in the titular roles, the new series regulars joining the CBS Studios drama are:

Isla Gie (Foundation) as Tali: Tony and Ziva’s precocious 12-year-old daughter who is sick of being treated like a child. She’s more intuitive and vigilant than the adults around her give her credit for and she’s ready to prove this to them.

Amita Suman (Shadow and Bone) as Claudette: The Chief Technical Officer at Tony’s private security company and the only reason the place runs as smoothly as it does. There’s no problem Claudette can’t solve or code she can’t crack.

Maximilian Osinski (Ted Lasso) as Boris: A Russian ex-pat and a brilliant computer hacker, one of the best and most elusive in the world. Boris lives outside the law and polite society and enjoys the anonymity and freedom that affords.

Nassima Benchicou (Emily in Paris) as Martine: A former French intelligence agent with the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE). She is elegant and cunning, playing both sides of any conflict masterfully to protect her own self-interest.

Julian Ovenden (Bridgerton) as Jonah: A former computer programmer for the NSA and now the Secretary General of Interpol. Charming, decisive and confident, Jonah sees the ways in which the world is broken and knows he can fix it.

Terence Maynard (Coronation Street) as Dr. Lang: A deeply experienced therapist, gentle and probing, Dr. Lang treats patients with severe traumas and helps them find comfort and agency.

Lara Rossi (The Watch) as Sophie: A highly skilled professional with a background in the Special Air Service (SAS), Sophie brings a unique blend of maternal warmth and hyper-vigilance to her role as a caretaker for Tali.

James D’Arcy (Agent Carter) as Henry: A high-ranking official at Interpol, Henry has spent his career in law enforcement chasing international criminals. Career-focused with no wife or family of his own, Henry has always been happily married to his job.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva picks up after Ziva’s supposed death when Tony left the NCIS team to go raise their daughter. Years later, Ziva was discovered alive, leading her to complete one final mission with NCIS before she was reunited with Tony and their daughter in Paris. Since then, Tony and Ziva have been raising their daughter, Tali, together. When Tony’s security company is attacked, they must go on the run across Europe, try to figure out who is after them and maybe even learn to trust each other again so they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva is executive produced by John McNamara, Weatherly, de Pablo, Laurie Lieser, Christina Strain, Shelley Meals and Mairzee Almas. The CBS Studios series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

[downwiththeficness]

The Usurper-Chapter Nineteen

Summary: Lilah McNamara stole things for a living. It was tedious work and often dangerous, which made it just exciting enough to keep her interested. After botching a routine job, Lilah finds herself standing amid monsters. Wholly unprepared for the horror of living under Amaru’s reign, Lilah decides to use her well honed skills to thwart the queen’s plans and prevent the end of the world.

Word Count: ~8,000

Disclaimer: I do not consent to this work being copied or posted to other sites of blogs.

Start at the Beginning Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Read on AO3 Masterlist

“Read ‘em and weep,” Lilah crowed. She set the cards down on the desk, grinning at Javier’s disappointed face. “That’s three in a row.”

He squinted down at her pairs of nines and fives,”You’re cheating.”

She laughed, “I wish. I’m just getting good hands. Besides, you’re the one who dealt this time.”

Javier made a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat while he gathered up the cards and organized them into a neat little stack. After tapping the deck on the desk a few times, he handed them over to Lilah, “Your deal.”

“Thank you,” Lilah said primly, taking the cards from him. While she shuffled, Javier turned his wrist over to check his watch. It was a nice watch, not as flashy as a Rolex, but the gold was real and there were tasteful diamond accents around the face. Lilah wasn’t much in the jewelry business, at least not for the purpose of fencing later. There were too many ways to track anything worth selling. She wasn’t immune to taking something for herself, though.

“How long ‘til I get kicked out of here?” she asked. Lilah managed to keep from looking at the throne sitting in her periphery. It sat in the same spot as the one she’d burned, looming large and ugly.

He glanced at her in a way that was almost a censure, “Not long. They’ll be coming to the holding room soon.”

Amaru was finally satisfied with the place where she would host her court. ‘Not long’ from now, she’d sit on that God awful throne to hear grievances. Lilah didn’t understand why Amaru was even bothering with it. She’d shown absolutely no interest in the culebras, outside of using them for barbaric rituals or as tools to mitigate her anger. If they were fighting among themselves, Lilah had the feeling Amaru was more likely to turn it into a cage match than attempt to troubleshoot the problem. The cavern wouldn’t be a very good place for that kind of thing. Its shining floors and smooth, rounded walls were too pretty to paint with blood. The stream of water cutting the room in half would make things interesting, though. Lilah didn’t know if culebras could drown, but that might not stop some from trying.

She dealt the cards, “You think they’ll actually show up?”

Javier chuckled and gave reluctant nod, “They’ll come.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. Months in close quarters, arguing over the rations with more hungry mouths arriving every few days. This is their opportunity to have someone they know is more powerful than they are make a decision that is absolute and final.”

She checked her cards and set two down on the desk. While she dealt herself the replacements she said, “I thought they liked living in close quarters. Nests, and all that. How many do you want?”

“Just one,” Javier answered and set a card down, “Its instinctual for them to live in nests for safety. They’re still people, and people don’t always get along.”

“You’ve got a point.”

He nodded and put down his hand, “Pair of kings.”

Lilah smiled, “Jack shit. Look at you! You won a hand.”

“About time,” Javier grumbled and began to gather up the cards again. He started to shuffle them when the holding room door opened.

Lilah turned to look over her shoulder, finding Brasa striding towards them. He was wearing his leather. Sunglasses, too. Brasa was Amaru’s man again and wasn’t that just perfect. She could only look at him a second or two before she had to turn away.

Javier, knowing that game was over, put the cards back into the box. He slid it over to Lilah and stood, “I assume she’s on her way.”

“You assume correctly,” Brasa replied. He walked up to Lilah and dropped a kiss to the top of her head, “She’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“Wonderful,” Javier said in voice that rang with dread.

Brasa put his hands on his hips and looked towards the back of the room, “They’re already lined up all the way to the elevator.”

Javier tossed Lilah a knowing look, “Excellent. We’re fully stocked, so I don’t anticipate any scrapes.”

“Good, good,” Brasa replied, distracted.

Lilah pocketed the cards and rose, “I guess I’ll head out.”

Brasa snapped to attention, “Where are you going?”

She pointed to the door leading into the back hall, “Away from here.”

He shook his head, “No. I need you to stay.”

She really didn’t want to do that. “No, that’s okay,” Lilah waved him off. “I’m not in the mood for this kind of show. I’ll just go to my little room and veg with some terrible, terrible TV.”

Brasa grasped her shoulders, “I would really like for you to stay. It’ll be good for everyone to see you.”

Lilah was reminded of another, more violent ceremony where she was supposed to be seen, “Last time, you didn’t want me anywhere near a group of culebras.”

He almost smiled, “You’re stronger now. I think you can handle it.”

She was stronger. Much stronger. Since the night of the burlesque show, Brasa had given Lilah his blood three times. Each infusion left her giddy for hours afterward, laying on the bed next to Brasa while power ran a slow path through her veins. Brasa coached her through it, helping her to relax into something that was becoming less and less unnatural to Lilah. She now knew how to pace herself so that her stomach didn’t slosh around when she moved.

There were other changes that took longer to catch her attention. Lilah’s normal eight hours of sleep were now reduced to six and she rarely felt hunger. The low lighting in the halls didn’t seem to bother her as much now that Lilah could find her way pretty easily. She hadn’t yet tested out the limits of her stamina, but she guessed that she might be able to run more than a few miles without dropping dead—she hadn’t been able to do that since high school.

Brasa’s expression was so earnest that Lilah had to relent, “Alright. But, I’m standing in the back and I want some alcohol to take the edge off.”

“Done.” He turned to Javier, “Would you mind bringing Lilah a drink?”

“Of course,” Javier said. Then, to Lilah, “Margarita?”

She smiled and pointed a finger at him, “Got it in one.”

He went off to the bar to fill her order, leaving Brasa and Lilah alone. Brasa leaned a hip against the desk and passed his hand over his eyes. Lilah thought he looked a little tired and said as much.

Brasa’s smile was brittle, “I’ve been saving my rations so that we’ll have enough to keep them calm.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

He shrugged, “A week.”

“A week?!”

“Its fine,” Brasa replied, “I can go much longer.”

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. You’re hungry. You need to eat.”

His mouth pulled up into an amused smile, “I’ve been told that bondmates sometimes nag each other when they begin to feel comfortable in the relationship. Is that what this is?”

Lilah swatted at him, “Don’t call me a nag. You’re supposed to be keeping that mob under control. You can’t do that if you’re starving.”

Brasa caught her hand and pulled her into his chest, “If we have some blood leftover after this, I promise to eat. Does that satisfy you?”

Her lips thinned, “Barely.”

His reply was cut off when the door to the holding room swung open and Amaru marched in. She was wearing a cerulean cotton dress with a high slit up one side. A brown leather harness was strapped over both shoulders and a knife with a golden hilt rested against the middle of her chest. She looked like a badass and, by the confidence in her step, she knew it. Lilah might have appreciated Amaru’s sense of style if she didn’t hate her so much.

“They’re pacing like animals back there.”

Brasa straightened and moved to stand in front of Lilah, “Its the excitement of being able to speak to you.”

Amaru rolled her eyes, “I can already feel my IQ dropping.”

Lilah bit down on her tongue to keep from making a snide comment. Amaru was in for a rude awakening if she thought treating the culebras with disdain would earn her the right to rule them. Javier was right—people were people. They could only be beaten down for so long before they began to fight back, damn the consequences. Lilah supposed that Amaru didn’t care if she had the right or not—she was stronger than they were and, with Brasa at her side, ousting her from power would be incredibly difficult.

Javier walked through the door at the back of the room, holding a glass. Lilah, seeing her opportunity to get some distance from Amaru, made her way across the bridge towards him. “You’re an angel,” she murmured, taking the drink.

He chuckled, “That’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”

Between sips, Lilah leaned against the back wall, “You’ve brought me the only tool that might help me get through this stupid thing. That makes you an angel.” She took another drink, “I don’t understand why I need to be here.”

Javier moved to stand next to her and crossed his arms, “Brasa thinks Amaru is close to finding the book she’s looking for.”

Her hands tightened around the glass, “How close?”

“We’ve narrowed down the location to a collector near the border. Brasa has sent some of our more friendly staff to negotiate a deal with Mr. Lyle.” He paused, “I suggested we simply take it from him, but Brasa doesn’t want to draw any more attention than we have to.”

Lilah smirked, “Negotiating with him will also drag out the process of getting the book back here for Amaru to use.”

Javier nodded, “If she gets the book and accomplishes the thing that she wants to accomplish, you’ll need to be recognized for who you are.”

This puzzled her, “Who I am?”

Another nod, “Bondmate to Amaru’s right hand.”

Lilah blinked at him, a denial resting on her tongue. She tucked it back down her throat where it belonged. Javier wasn’t trying to blow smoke. Facts were facts and Lilah needed to get used to them. That didn’t stop her from changing the subject, “He says he hasn’t eaten in a week. Can we get him something for after?”

Javier’s brows lifted, “Its been longer than that.”

“How long?”

“A month. Maybe more.”

She let out a soft curse, angry that Brasa would lie to her. It was a stupid lie, but it was still a lie. Underneath the initial anger there lay another, softer anger. Lilah meant it when she said that Brasa couldn’t hope to control his people if he was starving. More than that, she didn’t like the idea of him being hungry. Especially after she’d taken what little blood he might have so many times.

Amaru called Javier’s attention and gave some kind of hand signal. He pushed from the wall and sent Lilah one last glance. She couldn’t totally understand what he meant to say, but it felt a little bit like a warning. Then, he went to the door and opened it. The noise from the outer room got louder. Voices talking over one another until they were a dull drone of sounds.

Standing to the side, Javier guided a long line of people into the room, giving instructions along the way. Do not cross the bridge. One petitioner at a time. No fighting. Bow when you approach your queen. Her decisions are final. No fighting. You will be provided a meal as you leave. If you are staff, you’ll be allowed to the front of the line. No fighting.

Pressing into the rock at her back, Lilah took them in. They looked just like they had before, if dressed a little better. Most of them were wearing slacks and button up shirts in various colors and patterns. A few were in dresses. Lilah noted that their bodies were clean and there was a faint scent of perfume wafting in the air. She might think Amaru passing judgment from her throne was a dumb idea, but the culebras seemed to be taking it seriously.

The line kept moving, filling the back of the room until almost everyone stood shoulder to shoulder. Lilah was allowed a large circle of space. It wasn’t clear to her if that meant they were afraid of her or just they just didn’t want to be near any human. In either case, it worked out for her. She didn’t want to find out if the warnings she’d been getting about the culebras’ volatility was true.

Amaru took her place on the throne, looking over her court with a critical eye. Brasa surprised Lilah by moving off to the side, far enough away that he stood in near complete shadow. There, he folded his hands behind his back and observed the room with a neutral expression. Javier strode past Lilah and worked his way through the crowd until he stood on the bridge. It seemed like the whole room sensed that all the major players were in place and that they were about to begin. The vague murmur that had been constant since Javier opened the door fell into silent anticipation. He pulled a small tablet from his pocket and tapped his finger against it to wake up the device.

Lilah allowed her attention to stray away from Javier’s booming voice while he called out names. One by one, they approached the throne and bowed before beginning to speak. Amaru’s questions were terse and fast, words spitting from her down-turned mouth before the petitioner finished their answer. Inevitably, she would refuse their request and wave them away with an irritable swipe of her hand. Dejected, they walked back into the crowd. Lilah felt a pang of sympathy. She knew how humiliated they must feel. She also knew that it wouldn’t get any better if Amaru got her way.

Maybe Brasa would let Lilah make a road trip up North. If she could steal the book before Brasa’s staff finished negotiating, Lilah could destroy it so Amaru couldn’t use the tome to complete her plan. If it was like the book beneath her bed and couldn’t be destroyed, Lilah would hide it away somewhere Amaru would never find it. A book was easy to hide, she thought, and Lilah knew a lot of good hiding places.

A loud yelp drew her from her thoughts. By the throne, Amaru stood over a man with a thunderous expression on her face. Lilah couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the tone sounded like disdain. Like hatred. Amaru could hear it, too. Her mouth screwed up into a snarl and one of her booted feet kicked out, sending the man flying into the water. A gasp ran through the crowd and several of them stepped forward. Lilah worried that Amaru had pushed them over the edge and that there would be real bloodshed.

Fortunately, Javier moved quickly to calm them, saying, “Remember your place. Remember who made you.”

That seemed to stop the room from erupting into violence, but Lilah could hear the grumbles of the people around her. The air was filled with gasoline and the slightest spark would set off the fire. Even though the cavern was massive, it was also crowded with only two exits.

It was fear that made Lilah move towards the door. She wanted to be as close to an escape route as possible. As she moved, Lilah kept watching for danger. The kicked man climbed out of the water and shook it from his hair. Lilah stared at him while she held her breath. Another man tried to speak with him, but he was pushed away roughly. The crowd parted to let the kicked man pass, most of them looked back and forth between him and Amaru. Lilah was looking, too.

She’d resumed her position on the throne, chin up, eyes narrow. Lilah knew a challenge when she saw one. Amaru wanted the fight. She wanted someone—anyone—to stand up and try something. Would she use the little knife to cut them open? Or, would she use her hands? Lilah was so focused on the slight woman sitting across the room that she didn’t even notice that she was in the direct path of danger.

The man, still dripping, was stomping his way to the door. Lilah couldn’t get out of the way fast enough and he slammed right into her. Knocked off balance, Lilah dropped her drink and fell into the wall. Lilah cringed with embarrassment. The sound of the shattering glass turned every head in the room, including Brasa’s. He was suddenly moving, leaping over the water with a low growl. Lilah had just enough time to push his intended victim towards the door and put herself in Brasa’s path. She caught him in her arms, relieved when he returned the embrace instead of shoving past her.

“Hey now,” she said, “I’m fine. Its fine. We’re all fine.”

Brasa looked unconvinced. His brows were dropped low and his mouth was twisted in anger. She could see the points of his fangs peeking out from between his lips. The eyes behind his glasses were glowing red and focused over Lilah’s right shoulder. In the lens, she could see the man he intended to hurt backing away slowly. The temperature of Brasa’s body was fire hot and rising. His frame was trembling with restraint that didn’t look like it was going to hold much longer. Lilah had to do something, and quick.

Leaning into him, Lilah cupped his jaw in both of her hands, saying, “Look at me.”

The words weren’t much more than a whisper, but Brasa obeyed. The anger on his face softened marginally and Lilah felt a little hope that she had averted a crisis. That hope was squashed when his eyes flicked up and over, tracking movement. The muscles of his shoulders tensed beneath her palms as he prepared to pounce.

Lilah kissed him. It was a completely spontaneous move on her part. She can tell she’d set him back on his heels by the way his body stiffened in her grasp, but that didn’t stop her. Brasa quickly caught what she was throwing at him and his arms wrapped around her to pull her close. The kiss isn’t exactly passionate. Just two mouth pressed firmly together. She hopes its enough to distract him, to divert him away from tearing the guy apart for the sin of running into her. Still, knowing that its just a distraction doesn’t stop the shiver that runs along her skin.

Brasa pulled away first, leaning his forehead against hers. Lilah laid her hands gently along his jawline and counted his breaths. One at a time, each more deep than the last. While she was sure the man who ran into her had taken the opportunity to turn tail and run, Lilah was also sure that Brasa could and possibly would hunt him down. For now, however, he seemed content to remain where he was. She rubbed her thumbs over his cheekbones, letting him hold her for as long as he needed.

Against her hands, Brasa’s jaw clenched. She can feel that his skin had cooled somewhat, but Lilah sensed that they weren’t out of danger yet. Step by step, Lilah walked them backwards at a slow, swaying pace until they were standing against the wall. Brasa went with her easily, head dipping down for more kisses. He was really good at it—kissing. Just the right amount of pressure with an uncanny ability to find the perfect angle. He teased her with a soft slide of skin against skin, then drew along the seam of her lips with his tongue. Before Lilah knew what she was doing, her body was arching forward to meet him and her throat was filling with a low, pleased moan.

It startled her how quickly she was swept away by him—startled her enough that she broke the kiss. The woman in the reflection of his glasses was flustered and breathing hard. Her expression was half wild and her eyes were flashing with desire. Lilah barely recognized herself, but she couldn’t look away.

Brasa’s chest rumbled with a barely audible laugh the only very thinly veiled an ardent, yet comfortable, want. She narrowed her eyes at him while one of her hands drifted down to his chin. She ran the pad of her thumb over his bottom lip. It was still wet from her kiss. And, soft. Very soft. Brasa’s mouth opened slightly and she felt his tongue dab at her skin.

Eyes focused on Brasa’s lips, Lilah turned her thumb to the side a little and pushed it into his mouth just far enough that the tip rested against the point of his teeth. Up close, she could see a dual set of fangs. It was the first of many differences between Xibalbans and Culebras. Lilah knew they were sharp, but that didn’t stop her from gasping as a little bead of red bloomed from the cut.

Brasa’s hand snapped up to wrap around her wrist. The hold was just this side of painful and it sent an ache up her forearm. Lilah didn’t mind much. She was more focused on the way Brasa’s face went lax and how his mouth closed over her thumb with gentle suction. He released a breath through his nose, the tail end touched with a noise of hunger. His tongue wrapped around her thumb, swiping away the blood so that he could swallow it down. Lilah’s gaze followed the motion of his throat, mouth parting around a soundless whimper.

He released her thumb and pushed her against the wall, kissing her hard. Every breath was scented with him and she could feel nothing but his body against hers. It overwhelmed her, made her breathless and dizzy. Nothing existed outside the circle of his arms and the slow tingle of venom that worked its way into her hand.

The arm still around her waist tightened and lifted to put her onto her toes, forcing her to let him hold most of her weight. Blood was trickling in a thin stream down her thumb to pool in her palm. It was warm and faintly sticky. In another few seconds, it would soak the cuff of her shirt.

Lilah tried to pull her wrist out of his grip so that she could catch her balance. She needed to find an anchor—anything to keep her grounded against her own desire. Brasa denied her. If anything, his arms hoisted her higher. He pulled away so that he could lick a hot path from her palm upwards, cleaning her skin with an eager hum. Heat pooled low while Lilah followed the rolling muscle of his tongue on her skin.

Just as he was about to kiss her again, Brasa froze. There was no motion from him, not even breath moving in and out of his lungs. The lines of his shoulders and neck tightened and his lips peeled back from his teeth. Lilah, too, stood still. What did he know that she didn’t? She almost opened her mouth to ask him, but closed it when Brasa let out a vicious growl. She’d never heard anything make that kind of sound before. The kind of sound that carried dangerous power. The kind of sound that made brave men shit their pants. It rolled out from him like a physical thing, making its way towards the others in the room. She glanced around, finding several taking steps backwards.

Right, she thought, Blood in the water. They weren’t at a bar or safely ensconced in their room. They were standing in the middle of a couple dozen predators who were already dancing on the edge of a knife.

Brasa turned and scanned the room, still growling. The culebras closest to them took another step or two back. He waited a few very tense seconds before moving to the side and leaning against the wall with crossed arms. Most everyone began to pretend like they were minding their own business after that.

Amaru, who hadn’t seemed to notice her second in command’s distraction, soon got tired of petitioners and she marched from the room in much the same way as she marched into it. Petulant. Childlike. Annoyed. Javier was gracious enough to herd the culebras back into the holding room. More than one gave her a long look on the way out. Lilah remained by Brasa’s side, picking at her thumb. The wound was already healing, just a pinky-red scratch.

Definitely stronger, she thought.

Javier returned, “Just sent the last of them up the elevator.”

Brasa took his glasses off and rubbed at his face, “Were they fed?”

“Yes,” Javier replied, “We had just enough to feed all of them.”

“Speaking of feeding,” Lilah cut in, remembering what Javier told her. “You lied to me, mister.”

Brasa’s hand paused about an inch from his face, “What?”

“You told me,” she pointed a finger at him, “that it had been a week. Five minutes later, Javier tells me its been a month!”

Brasa cut his eyes to Javier, who was already holding up his hands in defense. “I didn’t know it was a secret,” he said before backing out of the room.

Lilah crossed her arms, “Well?”

Sighing, Brasa lowered his hand and said, “I didn’t want to worry you.”

“So you thought lying to me was the best course of action? Brasa, we have been through this.”

Over and over, they’d been through this. Lilah was so tired of calling him out on the things he didn’t tell her. Especially things that were as important as literal starvation.

“I know,” he said, and he sounded like a child while he said it.

Lilah sighed, looking out across the room. The throne is still sitting there, glittering and gaudy. She could still see Amaru sitting there, could still see her kicking that man at her feet. Her gaze slid over to Brasa, wondering how often Amaru kicked him when she was angry.

“You need to eat,” she said, eventually.

Brasa pushed his hands into his pockets, “I’ll wait for the next shipment. You heard Javier, the supplies are empty.”

She had heard Javier, “You still need to eat.”

“I’ll have to hunt.” Something about her expression must have shown her distaste because he made an exasperated sound, “That’s how I eat, Lilah. Or, did you forget.”

“I didn’t forget,” she shot back.

There were other ways, though, other methods of getting him fed. How hard was it to break into a blood bank? She thought she could get in and out clean, if she had a week to plan. Javier would have to let her get on the net and she might need to stop by a store to make an ID card or two. She could get it done, though. She could make it happen.

Lilah felt something stir around inside her that she recognized. It was the same anxiety she got in the last thirty minutes before the end of a job, right when everything could go straight to hell. All the variables that she couldn’t control reared their ugly heads.

She had to move, do something to expend the energy. Her feet carried her across the bridge and past the throne. “I don’t have enough time to prep, but if you’ll get me into the city, I’ll go be the local blood bank and snatch a few bags. You might have to bribe a few officers to look the other way, though.”

Brasa pushed from the wall with a smile, “No. I can wait until the next shipment. Besides, it would be inconvenient to have to break you out of jail.”

She ignored the implication that she would get caught, “When is the next shipment?”

“Six weeks.”

Lilah turned, “Six weeks? Six weeks? Its already been a month.”

His shoulders lifted in a careless shrug, “I’m old, Lilah. I don’t need to eat as often as they do.”

“That’s not the point. You’re hungry and you should be able to eat.” She didn’t know why she was pushing this so hard. He seemed perfectly fine—except for the way he lunged for her hand earlier. Lilah shivered with the memory of his mouth moving over her palm.

Brasa’s expression was just short of smug, “I like that you’re so concerned about me.”

Lilah’s derisive scoff was completely undermined by the way her lips spread into a smile, “Let’s just stay on subject.”

He stepped forward and took her hands, “Believe me. I’m fine. Can we just go back to our room and relax? Its been a tough night.”

“Fine.”

She turned and started walking, aware of Brasa following closely behind her. A living shadow. Lilah tried not to think about the way she could feel his eyes on her the whole way down the hall. In the bedroom, she went straight for the liquor. Quick hands poured two fingers of whiskey. Lilah sighed and held the glass aloft, starting at it. The amber liquid sloshed as her fingers turned the glass. Her thumb rested snugly around the rim, the cut shining. It looked days old. Didn’t even hurt, anymore. Stronger, stronger, stronger.

Her head cocked to the side and the question was out of her mouth before she could stop it, “What if I gave it to you?”

Brasa flinched and his eyes narrowed, “What?”

She tried to be casual about it, “You need to eat and there’s nothing left. What if I gave it to you?”

“You’re serious?”

She couldn’t blame him for the suspicion in his tone. Lilah took a drink, “Yeah.”

Brasa looked at her a beat or two longer, then shrugged out of his coat. He tossed it over the dresser, “Alright.”

What the fuck are you doing? Lilah screamed at herself.

This was more than just a cut on her thumb, more than catching her tongue on his teeth. Lilah was offering to let him drink from her directly. What could she possibly be thinking to make an offer like that? She couldn’t go through with it—had to take it back, somehow. Suddenly, Lilah couldn’t hold on to the affectation that this was something casual. She drained what was in her glass and poured another while she tried to come up with some way to back out that wouldn’t make her look like an asshole.

“I have a condition,” Lilah announced, stepping away from him and padding over to the bed where she sat. It was a long shot, but she thought she might have a way to get him to refuse.

“Name it.”

Lilah steeled herself, “Take off the gloves.”

Brasa blinked and, for a second, Lilah thought she’d succeeded. The possibility was supposed to reassure her, and it did. It also left her disappointed. Which was so confusing. She ignored her confusion, choosing instead to stare at him while she waited for his answer.

His shoulders pulled back and he said a single word, “Done.”

Lilah covered her exhale by draining her glass again. She wished she’d brought the bottle. Watching Brasa tug off his gloves finger by finger was doing funny things to her stomach and it made Lilah want to back away slowly. Lifting her chin in false bravado, she said, “Where do you want it from?”

He lifted his brows at her, “You’re giving me a choice?”

“Um,” she mumbled, “Yes?”

Brasa smiled, teeth flashing, and Lilah had the vague notion that she shouldn’t have agreed. Too late, now. She was committed. He pulled off his glasses and tossed them onto his coat. His gloves landed next to them with a soft thump. A few steps brought him close enough that he was standing over her. Lilah stared up at him, feeling very small. Brasa dropped to a knee and his hand hovered over her inner thigh, “Here. I want it from here.”

Femoral artery, Lilah thought absently. Throat tight, she nodded. Why was she nodding? Is this what she wanted? Brasa’s smile widened, “Slide up. It will be easier for you if you’re lying down.”

Mechanically, Lilah moved to obey. Side to side she wiggled, until she was laying more or less in the middle of the bed. On the way, she kicked off her shoes. Belatedly, Lilah realized that she was wearing jeans and that she would have to take them off for him to reach her thigh. She fumbled with the button and fly, nervous fingers pushing at the denim. Brasa helped her along, pulling the jeans down her legs until he could get them off.

Resting on her elbows, Lilah resisted the vulnerability of being half naked. It was both easy and incredibly difficult. Easy because every move he made was so confident that Lilah felt like she could absorb some of that confidence for herself. Difficult because he was looking at her like she was the center of his entire universe. Again.

The first touch of his hands was a shock of heat and skin. Lilah held her breath as he traced up the outside of her calves and skimmed her knees to rest on her thighs. Here, he waited. Her attention flicked back and forth from his hands to his face. The black of his iris had spread to encompass the entire eye. His hands remained where they were while he gazed down at her silently. Lilah swallowed, waiting for him to say something.

He did. Eventually. In a voice that scraped the back of of his throat, Brasa rumbled, “You need to make room for me.”

“Oh,” she said. “right.”

Feeling stupid, Lilah let her hips fall open to accommodate his impossibly broad shoulders. Brasa dropped to his belly and hooked her thigh into the crook of his elbow. Black eyes glanced up at her, “Ready?”

Lilah nodded even though she was not ready. Her breath shuddered in and out of her lungs, but she refused to look away. She wanted to see this. Brasa’s dark head bowed over her skin. Lilah could feel the ambient heat of his breath before his lips kissed softly. Even that small touch felt at odds with the sharp rise in arousal building in her body. Lilah bit down on the inside of her cheek and gripped the comforter below to keep herself still. Then, his teeth were sinking into her flesh, leaving Lilah hissing towards the ceiling.

It hurt. She should have expected it to hurt, but she hadn’t. The pain surprised Lilah enough that she cried out before she could cut off the sound. Brasa rubbed a soothing hand over her stomach, applying subtle pressure to remind her not to move. She breathed through the pain, focusing on relaxing the tense muscles of her hips and thighs so that she didn’t strangle him.

Brasa made a soft, chuffing sound that drew her attention. His head was turned, mouth scalding hot against her skin. He drank slowly. Every swallow was methodical, not a drop wasted. Just like he taught her to do. His eyes were closed, but she could see how his lashes fluttered against his cheeks. He had such pretty lashes. Long and curling upwards in a way that no amount of makeup could accomplish. In between sips, there were hums and rasping growls that rumbled from his chest.

Drawn by the clear evidence of his pleasure, Lilah reached down and rested her hand on the back of his head. She scratched gently at his scalp in an attempt to convey...something. The confusion and apprehension about what they were doing hadn’t dissipated, but there was something new hiding in the tangled mass of her feelings. He was feeding off her, drinking her blood, and she wasn’t disgusted by it. Or afraid. Even her semi-constant resentment about how they got to this very moment seemed to have dissipated. Laying there, with her hand in his hair and his mouth working against her thigh, Lilah gave in to the jagged desire that had been there since the moment she saw him standing in that church.

Brasa leaned into her hand and squeezed her thigh. She caught the ruddy pink of his tongue sliding between his lips to catch an errant drop. It swirled around his bite, heat and pain rolling in its wake. The heat kept growing, moving in either direction up and down her leg. Lilah felt her skin prickle with it, felt her nerves perking up to take notice. The further away it got from where Brasa’s mouth was latched onto her, the less like heat it became.

It was more like a tingle, now. Like the feeling of being slowly dipped in a glass of carbonated soda. Little bubbles that felt almost like kisses. The word ‘venom’ whispered across her mind, along with the reminder that she’d felt something like it in his kiss before. Except, this wasn’t a kiss, wasn’t like catching a drop or two in a cut. Brasa’s venom was being pumped steadily into her blood with every second he drank from her.

Lilah struggled to keep her breaths calm while her body flushed and her heart thumped a heavy rhythm. Her vision threatened to blur. There was a ringing in her ears. Adrenaline pooled low in her belly, bringing with it a kind of focus that made her hyper aware of Brasa’s mouth sucking at her thigh. She could feel the way her hips strained inwards on either side, held open by the unforgiving breadth of his shoulders. Arousal pooled in her chest, then her belly, then lower down.

She croaked his name and Brasa’s eyes opened to look at her. Huge and black and shining, the sight of them made her wonder what he was seeing. Lilah was sure that she looked like she felt—flushed and sweaty. Not exactly an attractive picture. The buzz in her body rushed along every vein, leaving her incapable of caring. It anchored her into her body, refused to let her push away the sizzle of sensation that worked its way into her core.

Her arm gave out beneath her, forcing her to clutch at the sheets for purchase. The hand on her belly stretched wide, pushing down when her hips wanted to lift. Lilah exhaled loudly, her inhale equally as loud and twice as unsteady. The bubbles had reached her chest and were working their way over her throat and up into her brain. They scrambled her thoughts until speaking words was impossible. All she could do was lay there while she panted and whimpered.

Brasa let go of the bite. He was breathing as hard as she was, little puffs of air touching her wound and soothing the fresh pain somewhat. He laid his cheek against her thigh while his hands moved over her skin in slow circles, inflaming her already soaring senses. Lilah snatched the one from her stomach and held onto tight. If she let go for even one instant, Lilah thought she might levitate right up to the ceiling.

A dark shadow rose up into her vision, Brasa’s face wavering into view. His brow was creased with worry. She wanted to run a finger over the little patch of skin to smooth it, but moving was not going to be an option for a while longer. Lilah even didn’t think she could speak, leaving her staring at him in weighty silence.

His mouth was pink and wet. It parted while he ran his eyes all over her face and body, skimming the curve of her breasts and down to where her hips were splayed open. Lilah followed the path of his tongue across his lips, staring unabashedly with an expression that was touched with pride.

The tide of her arousal soared higher, lighting nerves from her head down to her toes. Lilah squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth against it. She’d given up trying to control her breaths or the sounds she was making. Nothing mattered but riding wave after wave of the venom while it rushed through every corner of her body.

Brasa loosened the death grip she had on his hand and she felt him move to lay next to her. With effort, Lilah turned her head to look at him. She needed guidance. Needed him to tell her how to deal with the insanity she was feeling.

He seemed to recognize that need, saying, “It doesn’t last long. Maybe another minute or two.”

Lilah wasn’t going to last another minute, let alone two. She was already moaning constantly and squeezing her legs together to put pressure on the ache between her thighs. Blindly, she reached for him, letting Brasa support her through the motion of rolling to her side. One hand gripped the collar of his shirt while the other tugged him down for a kiss. Lilah poured every bit of the need she was feeling into it, uncaring that she could taste the copper of her own blood on her tongue.

Brasa matched her passion, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling so that there was no space between them. His body was molten, heat billowing from every pore until the whole room was thick with it. The palm of his hand caressed down her spine and over her hips, flexing into the muscle of her ass to pull her more firmly against him. He took her mouth with kiss after kiss, stealing the breath from her lungs and stoking the fire of her want ever higher.

It wasn’t close enough. Lilah wanted to melt completely into Brasa until there was no way to separate the two of them. She wanted to make him feel the same way she was feeling now. All shaky need and fierce, dripping desire. Lilah swung a leg over his body, tilting her hips forward into the hardening length of his cock. Around her, Brasa shuddered. He broke the kiss and buried his face into her neck with a loud, desperate moan that was followed by the ragged call of her name. Encouraged, Lilah anchored her thigh and began working her hips against him in a slow, firm rhythm.

Gasping, Brasa sucked a wet kiss to Lilah’s neck while he moved in time with her. He rasped words she barely understood, telling her how good she tasted, how he wanted it whenever she would give it to him. Lilah was too far gone to respond. The only thing she could think about was how to assuage the intense burn in her belly. Just a little more. A little more. Almost... If he touched her, it would be enough to take her where she wanted to go.

She must have said some of that out loud because Brasa was nodding along. “I’ll get you there,” he said while he worked a hand between them. He barely got his fingers beneath the waistband of her underwear, barely swiped them over her swollen clit, when the first contractions began.

Lilah bowed forward with a harsh grunt. The pulse of her orgasm was hard, almost painful. It grabbed at the core of her and yanked downward. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. All there was for Lilah was blinding, all encompassing pleasure. When Brasa’s fingers swirled over her soaking folds, she finally found her voice. Lilah cried out his name, took a breath, and then nearly yelled a wordless moan. She rolled into him, bearing down on his fingers until he didn’t have any room to move. Brasa made a soft sound and curled his hand over the curve of her mound so that she could ride the pressure until it was over.

Mouth dry, eyes bleary, Lilah slowly relaxed. She felt somehow distant from the wild, disheveled, satiated woman lying on the bed. It couldn’t be her tilting her head back to allow Brasa more room to nuzzle at her throat. Nor could it be her shivering as he grazed his fingers lightly over her fluttering pussy. He kissed her slowly and Lilah had to admit that it was, indeed, her. She was definitely the woman slowly coming down from an orgasm so good it was fucking ridiculous and it was definitely her tugging at his shirt to pull it loose from his pants.

Lilah held the button of his slacks between her thumb and forefinger and looked up at Brasa. ‘Yes, yes’ he said between kisses. As if to emphasize the point, he pushed his hips forward into her hands. Lilah’s mouth pulled up into a devious smile while she opened his fly and reached down to palm him. She hadn’t really considered that he might not be like other men, that being Xibalban meant more than just a sharp set of fangs. He certainly felt normal enough. Heavy and thick, leaking a little from the bulbous head. She gave an experimental stroke, thumbing over the tip and smearing precome. Brasa breathed raggedly, the hand between her legs lifting to hold himself steady on her hip. His wet fingers squeezed and she heard him swallow hard.

She let him go briefly so that she could push his clothes out of the way and get him on his back. Brasa whined a soft, needy sound, but went where she directed. Lilah rewarded him for his patience with a deep kiss and a long, slow caress. He caught her motion quickly, hips lifting to push his cock through the circle of her fist. Lilah followed the direction his body gave her. She learned that he liked firm pressure and that the head was incredibly sensitive. Running her thumb over the slit earned a choked moan that sent little shivers down her spine.

His body grew tense with the rise of his pleasure and his head fell back against the pillow, exposing the long line of his throat. She bit her lip, inordinately pleased at how quickly he melted into her touch. Lilah leaned down to lick over the taut muscle of his neck. His skin was sweet and touched with salt. Brasa’s chin lifted to give her more room and Lilah rewarded him with more kisses to scorching hot flesh. She veered off to the side, teeth scraping behind his ear. Brasa huffed a surprised groan and his movements became disjointed. He jerked his hips up hard a few times and then he was spilling over her fingers. Lilah smirked at his helpless little moans and the way he relaxed into the mattress afterwards.

He recovered far too quickly, giving her a soft, sweet kiss before grabbing a towel from the bathroom and wiping them both clean. Lilah let him examine the bite on her thigh, her chest warming with faint embarrassment at the contented little grin he wore while he prodded gently at a wound that was already closed.

The room was quiet. There wasn’t much to say that couldn’t be conveyed with a soft look or touch. Lazy and tired, she snuggled under the covers while Brasa turned on the TV to her favorite channel. He exchanged his wrinkled shirt and slacks for a soft pair of sweats and a t shirt so that he could join her on the bed. Then, he laid next to her, barely paying attention to the screen.

He kept gazing at her with that now familiar awe. Lilah didn’t mind so much, this time. Occasionally, he would run his fingers over the exposed skin of her arms or neck. The motion soothed her, made her so incredibly relaxed that exhaustion took over. Lilah was asleep long before the narrator on the TV could hypothesize that aliens might be involved with building the pyramids.

[humorisstoredinthetits]

Heathers Pokemon AU

Veronica Sawyer: Pokemon Researcher

Assistant to Prof. Fleming

While starting her journey, she encountered Ram and Kurt, who work for Team Rocket, trying to harass the Heathers and steal their Pokemon, and stepped in and beat them in a battle

The Heathers, being the useless Lesbians they are, invited her to their group seeing not only her strength, but also that she was hot

Veronica, who was unsure about what she really wanted out of life, decided to join them in their journey, forgetting that she was planning on traveling with Martha

Martha gets extremely upset and ends their friendship over this, bc the Heathers, more specifically Duke, bullied her in the past and she couldn't believe that Veronica would choose her bullies over her

Veronica is desperate to reconnect but is afraid their friendship has gone past a point of no return

She meets JD on her travels and she enters a love triangle between her, him and the Heathers

Eventually develops feelings for the Heathers after spending so much time with them over her travels and seeing their soft sides

Decides to study ancient Pokemon, more specifically Hisuian forms after discovering them with JD

Team;

Blastoise (Mega) - Starter given by Fleming

Aurorus - Found as a Sail Fossil while stuck in a cave with JD

Hisuian Liligant - Started Veronica's interest in Hisuian Forms, discovered in a special grove for the few remaining Hisuian Pokemon

Espeon - Given as an Eevee by the Heathers as a gift for joining their group

Corviknight

Chandelure

Heather Chandler: Pokemon Trainer

Wants to be the very best, aiming to become Champion

Absolutely loathes JD

Has a bad habit of pushing her Pokemon too hard in training to try and get them to be stronger

Her Pokemon build a resentment towards her because of how she treats them, and it's part of why JD doesn't like her

Eventually Mac had to step in and mediate between Chandler and her Pokemon because they refused to listen to her any longer

Her first instinct is to throw money at any of her problems, if that fails she sends out her Blaziken and threatens to burn down the building if she doesn't get her way

Being out in the world away from her family shows her that she can't always get what she wants and that anger gets her nowhere

Is already in an established relationship with the other Heathers when they meet Veronica, but when they meet her they all agree to try and invite her into their relationship eventually

This is the other point of contention between her and JD, they both fight over who gets to seduce her without Veronica finding out

Team:

Blaziken (Mega) - Starter

Jolteon - Gift from Mac when they first became friends

Tsareena

Nidoqueen

Kingdra - The 3 of them are all regal Pokemon, which help feed into her superiority complex

Annihilape - The straw that broke the camerupt's back with her Pokemon, she pushed her Primeape too far that it got so angry that it died and evolved into Annihilape and went on a rampage

Heather Duke: Pokemon Ranger

She travels to different ranger stations around the region, essentially interning at them to see where she would like to work after she finishes her journey

The cook for the group

Her and Martha were friends when they were really little, Martha gifted her a Ralts from her parent's Gardevoir who had twin eggs

They fell apart after Duke became friends with the Heathers and they started bullying Martha

Her Ralts evolved into Gallade while Martha's evolved into Gardevoir and they have an intense rivalry

She's really guilty about how she treated Martha, but is too afraid to apologize to her, especially because of how the Heathers took Martha's best friend twice now

Team;

Meowscarada - Starter

Vaporeon - Gift from Mac when they became friends

Gallade

Honchkrow

Pyroar (Female)

Scizor - Caught bc it would be useful with Ranger stuff, like cutting down branches to get through the woods

Heather McNamara: Pokemon Breeder

Her Dad breeds rare pokemon such as regional variants or uncommon Pokemon, like Eevee

Thats where Mac keeps getting the Eevees to give to people, she gives them out as a sign of friendship

She dislikes battling, bc she hates seeing them getting hurt

She's been around Pokemon as long as she can remember, eventually she will take over the family business

Has a soft spot for orphaned/injured Pokemon

Occasionally participates in contests, she thinks they are fun and a opportunity to show off the unique pokemon her dad breeds

Her and Martha had a heart-to-heart after one contest

Martha had completely dominated the contest, she worked her butt off

Mac came to congratulate her after bc she could see how hard Martha had worked and Martha got really upset bc she expected a rich popular girl like her to throw a fit over not winning and the fact that she was congratulating her was messing with her perceptions of how the Heathers were

Mac opened up to her about the Heathers and how Duke and Chandler just use their bitchiness as a front and how Duke really does feel bad about how she treated her in the past

In return Martha vented about how the Heathers had treated her and how abandoned she felt by Veronica choosing them over her and Mac apologized and told her about how they met and why she actually joined

Team;

Ampharos (Mega) - Starter, Ampharos is a common guardian pokemon at the ranch her dad owns so she was given a Mareep to start out with

Flareon - One of the Eevees that her dad bred, she was given as a present

Alolan Ninetales - Another present from her dad

Bewear - During her journey, she found a orphaned and injured Stufful alone and dying, she nursed it back to health and it joined her team

Gengar - Found pulling pranks on people while they were at a Ranger station, the Rangers + Duke stopped it and it took a liking to Mac

Lapras - It was being attacked by some Sharpedo, and after the Heathers defeated them, it joined Mac's team as thanks

JD: Pokemon Trainer

He's on the run from his Dad, Big Bud Dean, who is the leader of Team Rocket

His dad uses pokemon who are able to explode to threaten people into handing over their pokemon, money or whatever he's after

Bc of this, JD developed a fear of any pokemon that can use explosion, like Golem, Electrode, etc.

He wants to confront his dad, but bc of his fear he can't do it alone and is journeying for strong trainers who can help him

Finds Martha shortly after the initial confrontation with the Heathers and befriends her and joins her on her travels

He shouts super loudly during her contests, to the point of embarrassing Martha

Falls in love with Veronica when they first meet

This starts a rivalry with him and Chandler, and he always beats her in battle because of how she treated her pokemon

Once she starts treating them right, she starts to win against him

Tries to get Veronica to leave the Heathers and apologize to Martha

He doesn't actually hate the Heathers, he just dislikes how they changed Veronica, at least from what Martha told him

Team;

Hydreigon - Starter, it has rage issues and JD rarely brings it out

Tyrantrum - Found as a Jaw fossil in the same cave Veronica found her Sail fossil

Vanilluxe - FRRRREEEEEZZZZZEEEEEEE YOOOOOOOOUUUUUURRRRRRR BRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNN but fr it makes slushies which he couldn't otherwise get while not in towns

Lucario (Mega)

Basculegion - Caught at the same time that Veronica got her Hisuian Liligant

Crobat - Caught during an argument with Chandler over how she treats her Pokemon, arguing that JD had no room to judge her bc he wasn't friends with his Pokemon either, so he caught a Golbat and said that by the next time they met it would be a Crobat (bc Golbat evolves via friendship), and sure enough it was

Martha Dunnstock: Contest Star

When she found out that Veronica was going to join the Heathers, she became livid that she was losing her best friend to the Heathers for a second time

This inspires her to become Contest Champion by herself, to prove that she doesn't need friends to succeed

That was the first time in her life that she had stood up for herself, and while it felt good, she regretted the way she broke her friendship with Veronica and after she realized that Veronica probably didn't realize that joining the Heathers meant abandoning her

But she decided that she will not go back to Veronica unless she apologizes first

Prefers Fairy Types

Team;

Gardevoir (Mega)

Galarian Rapidash - Won as a prize from the Contest that Mac had joined earlier, Mac hoped to get it to give to her Dad to breed more bc Galarian Rapidash are hard to come by. Martha had wanted one since she was a kid and was part of why she worked so hard to win that contest

Sylveon - Evolved from the Eevee Mac gave her after their heart-to-heart

Mimikyu - She found it all scared and alone, and she related to it's story of being a Pokemon that disguised itself so that people would love it, and it joined her team

Togekiss

Azumarill

[cofe-doodles]

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be explaining - in detail - the different au's I have of the sides. During the time I was active in the fandom, I made a lot of au's; some I remember, whilst others I don't. I will try to remember discarded au's as well just so that I can give you all content (and maybe drawings, but most of my content - as for now, since I am busy in school - will be in writing). So, without further ado, the first au we will be discussing is the:

Heather's AU!

Character Information:

Virgil Sawyer

Once popular turned outcast; Sawyer lives his high school life low-key. After graduation and upon entering the dreaded life of a high schooler, Sawyer finds himself in a mess; torn between his best friend and a chance at happiness again.

He wouldn't say that he didn't miss popularity because, in truth, he did. He missed having friends who would have his back and he missed the feeling of freedom; wherein everyone doesn't care what he does because he was one of the 'popular kids'.

So, between his life, the life of his best friend, and the lives of the innocent, Sawyer faces the most difficult choice of his life yet. Become a popular again or risk losing his sanity; he hesitates just once before making a choice.

Roman Sanders-Chandler

Rich, famous, and undeniably gorgeous, Chandler has the whole school wrapped around his pretty finger. Having been born in a rich family, problems for him were as easy as typing out his credit card info. The easy life was what he always had wanted, but the climax of his story was just nearing.

Fixated over the 'new' kid, Chandler finds himself drawn to a classmate. He swears he has seen him before, but can't really remember where and when.

There's nothing that stops him from reaching out, maybe even offering something he never offers to anybody. What can he say? The Sawyer kid caught his eye.

Logan Duke-Sanders

Obedient, intelligent, and often ignored by the king bee. Duke had always been the black sheep but that didn't stop him from achieving higher than any of his peers. He metaphorically crawled his way to the top; to where he is now, so why in the loving freak of nature is Sawyer doing in their table?

Confused and utterly mortified, Duke tries to understand why the self proclaimed king bee invited an outcast into their circle. Unwanted thoughts of what if's metaphorically knocked his noggin, a sense of rejection hitting him.

Was he being replaced by a former somebody?

Patton McNamara-Sanders

Ever smiling and ever laughing McNamara; the sweet lamb of the wolf pack. People often see him as the 'friendliest' Sanders which he takes advantage of. What can McNamara say? It was just that easy to fool people these days. Manipulative and charming; a dangerous combination.

So it's not a surprise as to why Sawyer opened up to him first. With the given information from the former outcast, McNamara can either break or make Sawyer; but don't tell Chandler that.

McNamara keeps secrets, like everyone in high school, but he feels like he can trust Sawyer.

Janus De Felice

With physical scars that reminded him of his past, De Felice moves out of his father's house and into a new city, meeting new people; meeting a potential boyfriend. The mystery of his past seemed to have Sawyer on a leash, and maybe De Felice doesn't really mind that.

Remus Sanders-Ancar

Moving from school to school due to his 'bad' behavior, Ancar finds himself in the same school where his wannabe cousin was. He decided to get himself suspended but reconsidered when meeting a winsome boy with the cutest eyes.

Relationships:

Virgil - Roman, Logan, & Patton

Virgil has mixed feelings about the three considering that he always viewed them as up-tight and mean people.

Roman - Virgil

Roman is interested in Virgil; not in a romantic sense but something close to that. Though, he flirts with Virgil a lot of times.

Logan - Virgil

Logan doesn't really like Virgil but flirts with him due to Roman.

Patton - Virgil

Patton feels indifferent of Virgil.

Virgil - Janus & Remus

Virgil likes them both, but it's not necessarily romantic. He just feels comfortable with the two since they don't really care about status or reputation.

Janus - Virgil

Janus has romantic feelings for Virgil considering the fact that Virgil is really easy going compared to other people. It's mostly because it's convenient.

Remus - Virgil

Remus has an unhealthy fixation towards Virgil; it started as a way to spite his cousin (Roman) but it grew to be an unhealthy obsession.

Janus - Roman

Janus doesn't like Roman but flirts with him to spite Remus.

Remus - Roman

Both hate each other.

Janus - Logan

Janus doesn't particularly like Logan.

Remus - Logan

Remus likes to flirt with Logan just to spite Roman.

Janus - Patton

Janus hates Patton.

Remus - Patton

Remus likes Patton because of his manipulative nature.

Roman - Logan & Patton

Roman considers them as friends. He likes hanging out with them because they let him be 'in control'.

Logan - Roman & Patton

Logan looks up to Roman in an unhealthy way, he also kind of has a crush on Roman because of the power Roman has on him. Logan likes Patton since both have different views that they can talk about.

Patton - Roman & Logan

Patton admires Roman openly. He also likes Logan and is very honest about his feelings for the two.

I'll add more as I build the world and story :)

[cassiawinters]

KAT MCNAMARA // have you seen CASSIA WINTERS around the crash site? we’re trying to make sure they’re still alive after the crash! according to the manifesto SHE/THEY is a TWENTY SEVEN year old NON BINARY**. i hear they’re known being a HACKER. CASSIA is also known to be ALTRUISTIC yet also AVOIDANT at times. we have a couple questions for CASSIA when we find HER, we heard something about a secret they might have? such as THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE IN PART FOR A CAR CRASH THAT KILLED TWO PEOPLE! (dev, 31, gmt, they/she***)

TW: Car Crash, Death, Awful parents, Addiction, Cass' personality in general

Cassia was taught from a very young age to hate herself and everything different about her. That she was wrong, a monster, and that she would only bring death and pain in her wake. Something she still believes to this day, it’s not something you just simply decide to stop believing when everyone you’ve ever loved died as a result of something you couldn’t stop. She has failed to protect everyone, and that, in her mind, just proves her father right in that regard. She has a lot of self loathing and self hatred.

But she is not her father. And she refuses to be associated with him. she doesn’t believe in his work either. She’s pro a lot of things that she was ‘made’ with the intention of eradicating and being used against. And while she’s not a people person, while the very thought terrifies her, she has no problem standing up and being in the way when it counts.

She’s a selfless person with an extremely altruistic nature. She sees nothing wrong in hurting in the place of others. Especially those more deserving of living and of being pain free. That isn’t limited to people she knows either. She would put her life in danger for a perfect stranger without even thinking twice about it. The nature to protect others, is very prominent in her. No matter how much she tries to play it off or act like its the same as anyone else would do.

She cares about people, and while she can’t really say it, she can definitely show it and she does in both subtle and not subtle ways. She doesn’t let anyone she cares about not know it, whether that’s through touch, looks, concern, or just constantly checking on them. Or even just using a softer voice with them, or listening to them more than she would a normal person. She’ll never walk away from anyone she loves. And make no mistake she does know what love is. And she is one of the people who loves deeply and without remorse over it. Both platonic and romantic. She rarely makes the distinction because to her they are both equally as important to her. One isn’t less than the other.

Part of her resistance to let the words be out there, to really throw her cards on the table, to even consider a relationship or lasting friendships, or anything else of permanence, is that she has a huge fear of abandonment. of being left again, of not being enough. She’s suffered so many losses, so many setbacks, messed up so many things, and hurt people, that she doesn’t think she ever can be good enough for any of that. Never mind deserve it.

She’s been broken and remade in the name of one man’s mad vengeance quest, and then broken again through even more tragedy and loss. But she clawed herself back up and rebuilt herself. She’s made of iron and steel. That’s the one thing people forget when they set out to break someone. To strip them down to nothing for their own purpose. They forget that the person knows what it’s like to be at rock bottom. To have nothing, they know what it’s like to go through the worst in life, and survive. And that’s cassia at her core. She’s a survivor. She will walk through hell and come out of the other side. No matter what you throw at her, no matter what you do to her, she’ll survive, she’ll push herself back up from the ground. Because she’s endured worse and survived. So she knows she can. And god help anyone who pushes her to that extreme.

She’s not hard to get along with or speak to, she’s a good person at her core, and as much as social situations make her uncomfortable, she won’t be rude about it, unless the other person is too. She tries her best, even though she's awkward and that’s all she can do. But if people start unnecessary drama, she’s out, she’s gone, she will climb out the window and down the drain pipe if she has to. That sets her anxiety right off and she doesn’t know how to deal with that. And she doesn’t think she should have to anyway. She has social anxiety, so she’s not the best at making friends. But she does try to keep the friends she has. Even if she can’t really handle a lot of attention.

Cass has a penchant for trouble. She has a sarcastic sense of humour which doesn’t help and she will make jokes to ease situations, or just because she thinks it’s funny. Even if it might not be the best time or place. Her mischievous nature probably doesn’t win her any points either. Another thing that probably doesn’t win her any favours with some people is that she won’t hesitate to call someone out on their bullshit.

She finds it almost impossible to trust people. It would probably be easier to win the lottery than it would be to earn her undoubting trust. She’ll always have that thought in the back of her mind that it’s a trick, that she’s going to end up betrayed all over again. Though she’s not intentionally cruel, she’s actually quite shy. But after her father all but tortured her, she finds it hard to accept kindness, her lashing out with words, and sometimes physically is just her way of trying to protect herself. It’s an unhealthy way to think but she knows no different

Though while she’s bad with trusting people, she does build up affection for people in her life and she’s naturally softer with them both emotionally and humour wise, without noticing. Her loyalty can be earned, if you can put up with her. And to those people she’s extremely protective of. There isn’t anything that she wouldn’t do for them. Legal and very much illegal wise. She would legitimately die for those she cared for. And while she can’t trust other people, she does help people if she can. Whether that be with giving them a roof over their head for a few nights or hurting someone who has hurt them. She’s a giving person deep down. and she knows what it’s like to suffer, and she doesn’t want anyone else to have to.

She doesn’t really advertise she’s a hacker to unknown people. She has circles she travels in that get her steady business, and if she feels like it she can hack into a huge business and siphon off some cash without them ever being able to trace it back to her. Though she’s only done that twice before, and neither was for her own benefit. It was for the benefit of people who needed and deserved much more than money from the companies that had fucked them over.

She was always a bit of a computer genius and hacks into anything no real questions asked, for money. It’s not her dream job, but it lets her feel like she has control. Control that she’d been missing all her life. and that’s a huge thing for her, to have control for once, It’s why she can freak out if she loses control of a situation. She never learned that not being in control isn’t always a bad thing.

Nobody’s perfect and i can see people not liking her at all. She’s insubordinate, reckless, impulsive, sarcastic. All that fun stuff that makes her not the most easiest person in the world to like. She might be a pacifist to some degree, in the regard that she doesn’t want to hurt or kill anyone, and she probably couldn’t take any more blood on her hands, but if she has to step on a few toes, or break the law. It’s worth it to her to protect those she loves.

Cassia never attended any sort of school or college, she never had a mainstream education. Though she was taught the basics in the program she was confined to. But there was something about that, that, when she was able to, she taught herself more than she needed to know. It was like she was trying to make up for things she had lost by proving to herself that she could hide scars and faults and damage under intelligence. And she is intelligent, she has a big iq, and she studies things for fun, even to this day.

People could say that Cassia has a high pain tolerance, but, with her, it’s not that she doesn’t feel pain, or cry out after a point. It’s that she’s just used to pain and torture. And as a recovering addict, she knows she can't take any sort of pain relief anyway, so she just got even more used to pain.

It’s true that she’d most likely have more of a reaction to emotional pain than physical pain, something that she was trained to be used to. She could get injured and not even notice she was bleeding. Because it’s something she was so used to that it doesn’t even register in her mind to check on herself. It just happens. She’s also stitched herself up more than once.

Cassia has trouble with doing nothing. She can’t really stay still, she always has to be doing something, Always has to be on top of things and stimulating her brain. She gets restless super easy and part of it is that she’s not good at thinking things through. She acts on impulse. She doesn’t wait she leaps into things head first with no safety net. Which is both a blessing and a curse. She’s always been impulsive.

She has a heavy heart, and she feels things intensely, especially negative things like guilt and remorse. She will forever carry the guilt of things she’s done and caused, of the people she couldn’t save. she’s hard on herself and she doesn’t let herself forgive herself. She doesn’t seek out forgiveness either. Doesn’t think she deserves it or ever will.

She’s the type of person to face her fears head on when challenged with them. Deep down she knows the only way to overcome something is to stand and face it. She spent years running from her problems, from everything she fears and it only ends in disaster. People get hurt, she gets hurt. But sometimes she forgets that she’s just a human being, that she can hurt and feel and fail. That she can feel fear and have things she’s scared of losing. Just like she has things she’s scared of.

Her own emotions are often strangled and pushed to the back burner, in aid of helping someone else, or in aid of not feeling them and their effects. She hasn’t cried in several years for example. And she knows she struggles with putting herself first, with dealing with her own emotions. But she’s a master at compartmentalising and acting like nothing is ever wrong or gets to her

On the fear front, Cassia is a nervous flyer, she hates being in small, cramped spaces. She loathes elevators, refuses to even get in them. It’s a fear dating back to where she lived most of her life in confinement. Forcing her into a situation like that is a guaranteed breaking point. She also has a fear of birds.

[ofhalleys]

[cis female, she/her] Welcome to Aurora Bay, [HALLEY COOPER]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [KATHERINE MCNAMARA]. You must be the [TWENTY-SEVEN] year old [NURSE]. Word is you’re [EMPATHETIC] but can also be a bit [HOT-HEADED] and your favorite song is [BAD HABITS - ED SHEERAN] I also heard you’ll be staying in [OCEAN CREST APARTMENTS]. I’m sure you’ll love it!

tw drugs, tw panic attacks, tw anxiety

Halley was born to a mother that simply couldn't take care of her. With a mother addicted to drugs, life was difficult. After finding out she was pregnant, she went to rehab, got her act together, and had Halley happily in the rehab center, but the minute she got out, she went right back to her old ways. In fact, when she was born, her name wasn't even Halley. She couldn't tell you today what it was, and she didn't want to ever know. Before her first birthday, she was put into foster care, a life that no little baby should have to deal with. A young gay couple received their adoption papers signed and approved only a few weeks earlier when they got a call about Halley. At the time, the orphanage wasn't calling her by a name, she was just "Baby X". They hadn't felt the need to keep the mother's choice for the name, as she'd only decided on it after she'd gone back under the wagon.

The two men, Brian and Camden Cooper had been married for three years at this point, and dreamed of having a child of their own. They'd hoped for a kid with red or dark brown hair, to match either one of them. When they heard about Halley, they couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet her. Her bright red hair matched Camden's perfectly and she had Brian's eyes. It was a perfect match. They rushed to the orphanage to meet her and she instantly took to them, not wanting them to leave. After they did, she cried and cried, and cried. After what felt like months, Brian and Camden adopted Halley and brought her into their home. Both of them met and bonded over their mutual love of astronomy and the stars, so they couldn't help themselves and named her Halley, after Halley's comet. She was the absolute apple of their eye.

Halley grew up loving both her dads. She knew nothing else. Even when they told her about her past, she refused to listen. She had no desire to know. During school, she was an excellent student, always wanting to help everyone, feeling really protective almost instantly. But that was a problem in itself. Because of her protective nature, sometimes, her anger and sass would get the best of her. She was always the one to instigate a fight because someone said something rude to one of her friends, or even to a random stranger in the hallway. This very quickly became a problem, resulting in her dads having to come into school often to deal with her behavior. Halley never meant to hurt anyone, and never did. It was always her words that hurt others. She was just trying to take care of people close to her. School from then on became a struggle. She was given accommodations for classes, and tests, because she'd get incredibly frustrated easily, lashing out, at either the test, or herself, causing her to cry and have full blown panic attacks. Halley hated being limited in her abilities and being told she might be just a little bit different.

Despite the stress that school then began to cause her, Halley made it through with grades no one expected her to. She went to medical school, became a nurse, and never looked back. This way, she could help people and if any patients got out of line, she'd been given permission to be the one they send in to help. Halley adored it. Life was good.

Because of her fathers, she has a fondness for space too, and probably knows way too much of it.

Personality: Halley is a good friend, really. She's very kind and protective of you if she likes you. But she's got a bit of a temper, and is known to get very quickly frustrated if things bother her. Her fathers tease her about it and say that it's because of her fire red hair. She's trying to work on it, and constantly has fidget toys in her pockets, in her car, and all around her apartment in case she starts to feel anxious in any way. Because of things like this, she's very big into comfort, and loves any kind of physical touch that she can get. Hugs, hand holding, small little things, people playing with her hair. She can't get enough of it. Her apartment is full of fuzzy, soft things, and anything squishy. Even her bed is full of stuffed animals and squishmallows. Halley just needs comfort and soft kindness, or like her fathers again tease, she'll explode into a meteor.

Wanted Connections:

Ex: One that just couldn't tolerate her attitude

The One That Got Away: This is the ex that could actually keep her calm, and help her out when she was stressed, but for whatever reason, they broke up, and it hurts her, so much. She still probably has feelings for them.

Best Friends: Friends that despite her anger and anxiety, still love the hell out of her and would do anything for her.

Anything else!

[theopulenthq]

+1 Wanted Connection Added!

[CLAIRE STUART], our [KATHERINE MCNAMARA], from [SCOTLAND], is looking for their [FORMER ENEMY/POTENTIAL ALLY]. This is a [PLATONIC OR ROMANTIC OR MISC] connection that looks like [ADELAIDE KANE, DAISY RIDLEY, HANNAH DODD, COURTNEY EATON, SOPHIA BROWN, UTP / TOM BLYTH, TAYLOR ZAHKAR-PEREZ, GENDRY WHITE, UTP ]. They are [25-35] years old. Everything else you need to know is under the cut! Please [DO] contact the writer @GLORIOUSNCSS.

[Claire is hoping to find some kind of solution to the line-of-succession problem that Scotland currently has. She knows France’s constitutional monarchy seems to be the best solution, but Scotland and France are bitter enemies. I’m thinking of making things a bit spicy and having Claire either become very close friends with  a French noble or fall in love with someone French to create that Romeo and Juliet kind of vibe while also trying to use their connection to forge a peaceful future between the two nations ]

[scrunchie-87]

Oh my god you should not have asked that I have 3, the royalty au, the pure fluff au, and my new bodyguard au. I’ll explain the last 2 first since oh boy that royalty au is a real piece of work

The fluff au is just your average Nothing bad happens and everyone is happy and gay. It takes place with the main cast as adults and it’s also where i dive into fankids(This was just called the fankid au since it mainly centered around them, but now it centers more around the chansaw family’s life)

The bodyguard au takes place in a elitist private school westerberg, where it’s all about connections, power, and money, a place where Chandler’s bitchy self can truly thrive. What Chandler “fails” to “realize” is that her actions have consequences no matter how many people act like they like her, and she’s actually hated by more than half of the school.(lmao she knows they hate her)

As they are all hormonal kids with too much money on their hands it’s a common practice for there being a hitman or assassin after Heather. Mr Chandler has enough of seeing his daughter nearing her death and hires a hitman, a young talented girl who could easily pass a student in westerberg and manage to protect Chandler at all times.

This is getting quite long but basically Veronica teaches Chandler to be more aware and respectful so she doesn’t have 27277291 million people after her ass, and Chandler decides to teach Veronica how to live life little, taking her body guard to do rich people activities.

*cracks knuckles* oh boy, i’ll try to break this down in simple terms.

The royalty au is just me acting like i know politics but basically. Veronica Sawyer is part of a noble family and is the only heir, Heather Chandler is a crown “princess” and is also the only heir. This information is important as Veronica is an only child out of choice, but Chandler is actually an orphan and doesn’t open up much about her parents, especially not her mother(this woman did shady things but thats a spoiler)

Since Heather is an orphan, “who tf is taking care of the kingdom”, you may ask, surely they wouldn’t make an literal 7 year old the ruler of an entire nation? Well this is actually correct and wrong, Chandler gained the title of “Queen” at 7 but the real government is the royal court, made up of high ranking officials, noble families like Veronica’s, and overall old people that think they’re better than everyone else. They’re all there to entertain Heather, shit on each other with eloquent words, and like %2 of it is actually solving problems within the kingdom which i have yet to name.

Some of the royal council is highly sus tho, and surprise surprise, trouble is brewing between the fractions and Chandler herself. Veronica is put in the spotlight as the Sawyer family had amassed many followers against the young queen and the shady ass “royal advisors”, even coming into contact with the Duke’s who are appropriately named, and the Mcnamara’s as Mr Mcnamara is a popular pope father person i am not original nor did i put as much thought on characters besides Veronica and Chandler.

Anyway Veronica knows that something doesn’t feel quite right and overhears a few members of the royal council, including her parents, talk about planning a coup against Chandler. Luckily a few are unsure and it gives Veronica time to at least talk or warn the queen about the possible uprising. At first Heather, who has her head up her ass, doesn’t really believe that anyone would betray her, but Veronica is everything if not constant in her warnings and even saved Heather from an attempt at her life. After that Chandler takes her seriously and finds herself interested in wanting to know more about Veronica who’s seems to actually care about her.

Anyway this is getting to long so yadda yadda yadda boom chansaw but since they’re like both girls and therefore unable to give their respective families any heirs, also, they’re like “no gay” but chansaw is like “fuck you” to them and monarchy and end up creating a new council with the rest of the og characters, and no president either it’s legit just based off whatever warrior cats was on. The kingdom is big enough as it is so everything gets “neatly” separated in cities or towns and the each chose atleast 3 representatives to go and actually discuss the now nations needs.

Can you draw Heather Chandler movie version?

Nope.

[angelnightrose]

Have some Heathers au doodles because I’m still in love with this concept. 

[sapphicrpc]

It's not disgusting to speak up when she's in the hospital to avoid her pulling her poor me childish crap. I find it hard to believe that nobody else finds it extremely creepy and callout worthy how obsessed that woman is with kat mcnamara and hande ercel. you will call out people for being obsessed with korean idols in this manner but she gets a free pass when she is far more weird and disturbing. ok then.

we're not allowed to be fans of people anymore?!?! lmfao be for real.

also you just misgendered them in my inbox - dev uses they/she pronouns and you just called them a woman and you're not using their pronouns correctly. you are DISGUSTING.

if you find someone on here that you don't like there's this really cool feature where you can block them and you don't have to see them again - hell you can even blacklist their name and url if you want to. there is nothing inherently creepy about being a super fan of any celebrity but if it makes you uncomfortable you should block and move on instead of coming into everyone's inboxes about it and spreading your weird malicious vendetta.

although honestly, if you think being a fan of people/things is creepy then you should probably find a new website to inhabit because tumblr really is the home of fandoms. try facebook, you fucking loser.

dev spends so much time and energy making gorgeous gifs for the community to use and i've seen her make so many resources for bipoc and so you trying to act like they're a demon for having interests is so suspicious to me. like what is REALLY your problem because this feels so unserious right now.

[llovinjoonie]

More incorrect Heathers because it’s really funny to me

JD: ‘i am not out of control! i’m a law abiding citizen!’

Veronica: really? name one law.’

JD: ‘don’t kill people.’

Veronica: ‘that’s on me, i set the bar too low’

-

*JD and Veronica skipping stones on lake*


Veronica: It’s such a beautiful evening.


JD , whispering: Take that you fucking lake

-

Veronica: Violence isn't the answer.

JD: You’re right.

Veronica: *sighs in relief*

JD : Violence is the question.

Veronica: What?

JD , bolting away: And the answer is yes.

Veronica, running after him: NO-

-

Veronica: Sorry it took me so long to bail you out of jail

JD: No it’s my fault, I shouldn’t’ve used my one phone call to prank call the police

-

JD: 'Person of interest' is almost too flattering.

JD: Like, if the police were to pound on my door and go, 'A man has been murdered in your building and you are a person of interest,' I'd be like, 'Moi? Oh, do go on.'

-

Veronica: Remember when you didn't try to solve all your problems with attempted murder?

JD : Stop romanticizing the past.

-

Veronica: Go to Hell.

JD, tearing up: I wish i could.

-

JD: I'm a reverse necromancer.

Veronica: Isn't that just killing people?

JD: Ah, technicality.

-

Veronica: I was arrested for being too cool.

Heather C: The charges were dropped due to a lack of supporting evidence.

-

JD: This is bothering me.

Veronica: Well, you are digging up a corpse.

JD: No, not that. That's, uh, pretty par for the course, actually.

-

Duke: Everyone, synchronize your watches.

McNamara: I don’t know how to do that.

Chandler: Gross, I don’t wear a watch.

Veronica: Time is a construct.

-

Veronica : What time is it?


JD: I don’t know; pass me that saxophone and we’ll find out


JD: *Plays sax loudly and extremely out of tune*


Chandler: WHO THE FUCK IS PLAYING THE SAXOPHONE AT TWO IN THE MORNING


JD: It’s 2 am

-

JD, negotiating with the Heathers: We have Chandler. Give us ten thousand dollars and she will be returned to you unharmed


Chandler: Whoa, whoa, wait, you think I’m only worth ten thousand dollars?


JD:


Chandler: make it one million

-

JD, holding a python: Guys I impulsively bought a snake, what do I name him

Martha: You did WHAT–

Veronica: William Snakepeare

-

Veronica: In your opinion, what’s the height of stupidity?

Chandler, turning to JD: How tall are you?

[boyf-reinds]

Heathers AU (Zombie Apoc >:D, if you already know this shit then your a friend of mine)

okay so lets say jd moved out his dad's house

is basically living in an alleyway

and he wants to do something to get revenge

this mf digs up a few random things in the trash

then makes the zombie thingy thing idk what its caLLED I FORGOT

he goes to kurt and ram

k and r are weirded out, jd tells them to host a party

they agree

jd comes, and spreads tjhe zombie thingy thing without them knowing

then soon it spreads out to the entirety of ohio. the heathers are panicking

i feel like writing ab this but anyways

they all spread out into duos

veronica and mcnamara

duke and chandler

veronica and mcnamara run into a horde while looking for a place to stay since their houses arent safe anymore

mcnamara offers to distract them while veronica goes to search for a place to stay

veronica finds one, then goes back to tell mcnamara

the horde is gone

but mcnamara is nowhere to be found

they never see eachother again after that

veronica grieves in the bakery, but then soon its attacked by another horde

she gets bit in the wrist and is slowly becoming infected

sometimes having the mindset of a zombie

then sometimes having the mindset of a human

she goes to look for a new place

finds duke's bunker

then duke lets her stay

meanwhile chandler is dead, duke doesnt know since chandler promised to be back while searching for food

veronica asks about her then duke just brushes it off

a few days later, they both start to worry about chandler

they split up to search for her

they end up finding eachother and also finding chandler

one problem

shes dead

on the ground lifeless

they try to get her back alive, but fail

after some digging they find out she killed herself

but they dont know why

after some more digging their conclusion is; she got tackled by a zombie, then killed herself with her pocket knife

they actually get some food

and go back to bunker

not knowing what to do, they just stay there, hoping for the best

veronica forgets about her wrist

and soon the infection gets worse

they thought they had already taken care of it

but; they were too late

it had already started infecting her silently

soon veronica's skin starts to rot in some places

and her zombie mindset goes on for longer for periods of time

they panic even more

so duke tries to figure out how to fix this

she kind of isolates veronica from any signs of life for a bit

and thats when it hit her

jd, kurt and ram

she noticed that one of the three, or hell, all of them would be watching a horde be killed in the corner of her eye

she goes to those locations, while veronica is left alone at the bunker, basically trapped there

duke eventually finds jd

threatens to kill him if he doesnt get veronica back to normal and cured

and if he doesnt give him the location where he last saw mcnamara

jd gives in due to duke holding a fucking knife up to his throat and a gun to his head

jd tells her the locations

whats sus is that theyre all alleyways

jd and duke go to the bunker

and over a course of a few weeks

they manage to atleast not really "cure" veronica but kind of- numb the infection? if u know what i mean

so veronica's zombie settles down

they bandage up and clean her rotting skin

then they work on getting mcnamara

they go to all the locations

but they dont find her

veronica thinks of an idea

shes like "if i were mcnamara rn and everything was completely fine where would i be"

she remembers that mcnamara often pretended everything was fine

then she goes to a list of places mcnamara would be at

the wishing fountain, the park, etc. etc.

they find her sitting by a rusty statue

now heres the thing

mcnamara actually is a zombie- but has a human mindset

they get her to the bunker

and do the same thing they did to veronica

mcnamara slowly is being cured

they decide that jd focuses on mcnamara getting cured; and duke focuses on veronica getting cured

now im not so sure if i should end it with a happy ending- so its up for interpretation for what happens next

@noni004 :)