#rules for gunfighting

[pennyserenade]

gregory peck westerns are a thousand times better than other westerns because he had sense enough to know you could be a little cowboy and make commentary on the fallaciousness of toxic masculinity that so often plagued the men who loved them, too. i do think some of those men might’ve been too stupid to realize that’s what they were about but i appreciate the effort. i saw it gregory peck

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

It has often been said that Donald Trump was running for president to keep himself out of prison. Mission accomplished.

But the fact that Trump wasn’t behind bars long ago, that he didn’t suffer any consequences for his criming and now likely never will, can be laid squarely at the feet of one man: Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland dragged his feet on prosecuting Trump for election interference and pilfering classified documents, making it easy for him to run out the clock.  Coming in on the heels of a literal insurrection, Garland was a bad fit for his job from the jump. He made clear early on that he didn’t see addressing issues from the Trump era as a priority, declaring that he would not look backward. Garland is an institutionalist, leading him to see his real job as protecting the Department of Justice rather than imposing any consequences on Bill Barr and others who turned the DOJ into a corrupt playground. Someone who saw the abstract notion of an institution as more important than actual people and actual wrongdoing was never going to be the person who aggressively pursued an ex-president whose crimes were always in full view, which was what the country desperately needed back in 2021.

Bringing a knife to a gunfight

Rather than moving quickly to prosecute people — including Trump — for January 6, Garland’s first moves were to take actions that actually favored Trump, all in the name of protecting the institution. In May 2021, the DOJ went to court to block the release of most of a Bill Barr memo that might have revealed how hard Barr worked to avoid charging Trump with obstruction of justice after the Mueller report. There, Garland was continuing work that had begun under Trump. But while it made sense that Barr would want to block the release of information revealing his role in helping Trump, it made no sense for Garland to want the same. The country had both a right and a need to learn everything possible about what happened during the first Trump presidency and led to a spasm of treasonous violence. That’s far more important than getting a generally favorable ruling on the DOJ’s right to sit on memos. 

Garland also moved quickly to defend Trump against defamation claims by E. Jean Carroll, brought after Trump claimed she made up her accusation of sexual assault to sell books. The DOJ filed a brief substituting the government as the defendant for Trump so it could argue that Trump’s defamation of Carroll was done in the scope of his employment as president, which would likely have resulted in the case getting dismissed. As with the Barr memo, Garland decided it was more important to preserve the DOJ’s general ability to protect federal officials from defamation claims than to acknowledge the unprecedented nature of Trump’s behavior and let him suffer the consequences he clearly deserved.  Taken in a vacuum, neither of these actions would be quite so galling. In both instances, Garland was generally trying to maximize the DOJ’s power, which isn’t necessarily awful. But what is galling is that he took these two steps with such swiftness, only a few months after being confirmed, while not showing nearly the same concern to address Trump’s crimes. 

Fairness to the point of absurdity

Garland’s desire to always appear evenhanded is also what led to the ridiculously aggressive pursuit of Hunter Biden, naming a special counsel and ultimately successfully prosecuting the president’s son for tax evasion and lying on a federal form to obtain a gun. And don’t forget how swiftly Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate President Biden’s retention of classified material. In early November 2022, the White House voluntarily disclosed that some classified documents had been found at Biden’s think tank. The FBI opened an investigation five days later, and Garland raced to name a special counsel, appointing Robert Hur in January 2023. Hur was a Trump appointee, serving as United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from 2018 to 2021, and he demonstrated his hackishness by releasing a report in February of this year that did grave political damage to Biden by gratuitously describing him as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

While Garland couldn’t move fast enough to protect the DOJ and to aggressively pursue the Biden family to show his evenhandedness, he didn’t get around to naming Jack Smith as a special prosecutor until November 2022, nearly two years after the insurrection. By that time, it was likely already too late. This is true even if Smith had not run into unexpected obstacles, such as Trump winning over the Supreme Court with an absurd argument that he was basically wholly immune from criminal charges.

[...]

All those motions and appeals take time, which is why it was a bad idea to wait until November 2022 to appoint Smith, who then had to convene a grand jury to consider criminal charges over Trump’s willful retention of classified documents and his lies to the FBI about it. Smith didn’t issue an indictment in that case until June 2023. Smith had to convene a separate grand jury for charges related to the insurrection, so the DOJ didn’t indict Trump on those charges until August 2023.

This left Smith overseeing two incredibly complex cases against a defendant with nearly limitless resources, given that Trump could keep tapping political action committees for his legal bills, shifting the cost to his campaign donors and the RNC. By March 2024, Trump had racked up $100 million in legal fees, and while he kept draining the coffers of various PACs, donors were always eager to replenish those funds. Therefore, Trump could file as many frivolous motions as he wanted and run out the clock without taking any money out of his pocket. Smith never honestly had a chance that these cases would wrap up before Election Day. Garland’s foot-dragging on naming Smith is precisely what allowed Trump to run out the clock on his federal criminal charges, setting the stage for a presidential run that culminated Tuesday with his shockingly thorough defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Appointing Merrick Garland to AG was a terrible choice in retrospect, as his timidness allowed a criminal to get off scot-free and run for President (and win).

[honey-minded-hivemind]

I have two questions/requests!

1) Who do you think the worst (X-Men) would be? Who has the worst yandere tendencies and hovers?

2) Thinking about the Batfamily and how they’re one of the few families in DC who can fight really REALLY well without the use of a power. How would X-Men react to a daughter who was raised in the Batfamily and somehow got tossed into their universe? She can fight REALLY well (like Cassandra Cain level) but has NO mutations whatsoever. I feel like Magneto might be a little iffy around her because of her lack of mutation. They would all worry so much lol. Fighting well without a mutation is the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight in their world

I can answer the first one, just not the second, because i don't do DC!

The worst platonic yandere X-Men is hard to pick, but in terms of overprotectiveness, harsh methods, deranged vibes, ability to keep and hunt Reader, and how far they'd go... I can narrow it down to a top five, I think-

Number 5: Jean and Scott. They go together, hand in hand, and both are leaders of the teen X-Men, Jean has the Phoenix Force, telekinetic abilities, mind reading and manipulation, is popular and friendly, and one wouldn't suspect her until it really is too late to go back. Scott can shoot lasers from his eyes, he's a good leader, he's welcoming and a little stern, but can be persuaded to have fun, and is like an older, protective brother, one you can't escape from and who you feel guilty leaving. They have the X-Men to back them up, they have Xavier as a father figure, they have Logan who is like their second proud dad, amd Storm and Hank as well who adore them, not to mention the other X-Teens who back them up and will help them as friends and as teammates. So, yeah, you migh be able to escape, but just barely, and probably have to turn to the dark side to do so...

Number Four: Professor Xavier. He can read minds, control them, use Cerebro to track you whenever you use your powers, and has an entire team and family of mutants who are good fighters, tacticians, and aren't afraid to back down and won't quit until they've got you with them. If he's platonic yandere, well, good luck, so are all of the X-Men, and possibly even Magneto (because if Charles likes someone, Erik will want to as well)! He's inviting, he's soothing, he calming, and he can help you; but he will also keep secrets from you, manipulate you if he thinks you aren't going to stay, and push you to rely on him and the others and see them as family. You will grow emotionally attached, amd it will hurt if you figure out what's happening and what they've tried to hide. But if you run, your only bet is either Magneto and his group, or going where no one can reach you...

Number Three: Wolverine. This guy is nigh unkillable, he has long, metal-coated claws, has heightened hearing, smell, amd sight, can withstand extreme cold, and is super protective, obsessive, and willing to die for you and kill for you. He will make you join his team, he will not let you around people he deems bad influences or dangerous, and he will not stand for you acting or being insubordanate. He won't hurt you, and if he does, it is the last, last resort. He prefers having Xavier and the teens help him, and pushes you and his other wards to be friends, to he family. And if he's interested, well, so is Sabretooth. So if you ran, you won't get far, with either Logan or the teens catching you, or Sabretooth finding you instead. You're very, very scr*wed unless you have a power that helps you in this situation...

Number Two: Sabretooth. He's like Wolverine, but worse. Doubly protective, doubly obsessive, has sharp claws, has fangs, can withstand what Wolverine can, is also near unkillable, and has a temper, too. Don't p*ss him off. There are rules, you better follow them, and you won't be drugged or possibly wounded so you remember why you're still there, and who is the one in charge. If you're hurt or almost killed, he becomes so much gentler, and is treating you almost like glass. If he likes you, Logan is definitely getting involved, and where Logan gets involved, so will Storm and the X-Teens. You will not escape unless it's with the X-Men, and if you go with them, good chance is Victor's watching you all...

Number One: Magneto. He's lost everything, multiple times. His family, his home, his friend, more than once. He's grown to be paranoid, obsessive, cunning, dangerous, and a powerful enemy of the X-Men... He can control metal and the magnetic field. Anything can be a weapon for him. He has a loyal son, a team of Acolytes, Mystique, and the Brotherhood teens, all of whom won't fight back against him and who who what he says. The moment he says you're joining, you're not getting out of it unless by some miracle Xavier hides you with him. But if that isn't the case, you're now stuck where Magneto puts you. If he likes you, that means Pietro and Wanda are trying to see what he finds so fascinating, and that leads them to liking you, albeit begrudingly at first. Then Mystique wonders why he's adding you to their group, spies on you, and is now getting the rest of the Brotherhood to keep an eye on you as well. Someone is always watching you. You feel stressed, unable to sleep, unable to eat. But if you run, if you can't make it to the X-Men, you won't be seen again until you're deemed loyal or unable to leave them... Unless you have Xavier's help, you are not escaping...

[abalidoth]

what is cosmere? (is that what its called?)

The Cosmere is a big, interconnected fantasy universe that is the setting of most of the works by the author Brandon Sanderson. The cool thing about his books is that each series is contained to its own world, and you can read any of them in isolation without realizing you're missing anything, but if you read them all you get a sense of the larger plot happening behind the scenes as those worlds start to collide and things cross over.

Brandon's magic systems tend to be very rule-based and well-defined, with a lot of twists being characters finding interesting ways to use those rules of magic. This lends itself well to the crossovers, because all the magic systems (as different as they are) share the same underpinning principles.

Here's some quick rundowns of different series and standalones in the Cosmere:

The Stormlight Archive

Planned ten-book series, currently four books are out.

A massive sprawling epic about the world Roshar, that's hit by a hurricane about every four days, and all the life has adapted to survive that environment. Knights Radiant -- superpowered individuals with a close bond to a spirit -- are starting to re-emerge in the world after being absent for centuries.

Because there are so many characters, this is where a lot of the character fandom tends to focus their efforts. I wouldn't recommend starting with it, though -- the first book alone is a thousand pages. I'd wait until you have a sense of Brandon's writing. But it's very good.

Mistborn

One trilogy (completed), one tetralogy set a couple hundred years later (completed), two trilogies some time in the future.

One cool thing about this series is that it follows one world (Scadrial) from a vaguely Renaissance tech level in the first trilogy, to 1920s in the second series, and eventually 1980s in the third and space-age magic in the fourth.

The magic itself is very intricate and all woven around metals -- there are people called Metalborn who can ingest metals and burn them in their stomachs to get different effects, including super-senses, strength, and Magneto-ish metallokinesis. That last bit makes the gunfights in the second series particularly fun.

The first book is a heist novel about robbing a thousand-year-old God-Emperor blind. It's a pretty good place to start, although it's a pretty hefty novel to start with.

The Emperor's Soul

I'm putting this one in a different category from the rest of the one-offs for a very good reason -- it's, in my opinion, the single best place to start reading the Cosmere.

It's a novella (just over a hundred pages) about a forger named Shai who uses magic to rewrite the histories of objects. She is captured by the government of an empire to reforge the soul of their Emperor, who has been left braindead after an assassination attempt, in the 100 days before the mourning period is over.

It's a fantastic meditation on art, a cool introduction to the way Brandon writes both characters and magic systems, and Shai herself is one of my favorite Cosmere characters. If any of this sounds at all interesting to you, I recommend you check it out.

One-offs

Brandon has also written a bunch of one-off novels in the Cosmere.

Elantris: His first book, and the one that my tattoo is from. About a prince who is affected by a dark transformation and thrown into a city of fellow undead, and the princess betrothed to him who arrives just in time to be told he died. Good, but suffers from some first book issues, pacing problems, and weird plot cul-de-sacs. Set in the same world as The Emperor's Soul, although there's basically no crossover.

Warbreaker: About a world where souls (Breaths) are bought and sold, and used to animate objects to do work, ruled by The Returned, living gods who require a steady dose of Breaths to live. One of my favorites, and an essential if you'd like to get into the crossover-y parts of the cosmere, as it introduces a bunch of elements that show up later (Especially in Stormlight)

Tress of the Emerald Sea: The first of his wildly successful Kickstarter project books, it's a fairy tale style story about a girl who braves a sea of bubbling, deadly spores to rescue the man she loves. It's lovely, especially if you're into a more Diana Wynne Jones kind of vibe to your fantasy. Probably a pretty good place to start!

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: The third Kickstarter book. About a shrine priestess who stacks rocks to draw spirits, and a man who paints the nightmares that roam the streets of his city to banish them -- they become trapped in each other's places and must learn about each other's worlds to survive. This is currently my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE cosmere novel, oh my GOD it's so good. I'm not sure it's a great place to start, as a lot of the conclusion might feel a bit rushed if you don't have a good feel for the vibe of how Brandon writes magic, but honestly it might stand alone just fine even then.

The Sunlit Man: Fourth Kickstarter book. I haven't read this one yet.

Novellas: There are a bunch of novellas and short stories, some set on worlds we haven't otherwise seen, some set on Roshar or Scadrial.

If any of this sounds good to you, I recommend you give his writing a shot. He's one of my all time favorite writers (the tattoo should prove that, lol) and the Cosmere fandom is by and large wonderful and welcoming. I've made many lifelong friendships there.

[szollibisz]

Curtwen intricate rituals save me... Save me curtwen intricate rituals........

I think about it so much like. All they had was those few times a year they saw each other and maybe some letters or phone calls in between. They had to shape what little they had into something resembling a proper relationship, that truly, neither of them were built for.

I think they felt the same way about a lot of it they just never told each other. Both of them would be too embarrassed to admit that sweeping a room for bugs felt like doing mundane chores together, or that standing back to back in a gunfight made them feel safer than anything else in the world.

I think they just wordlessly constructed these rituals to get the affection and love they both craved but could never ask for. Their wrestling matches had elaborate rules and prizes, their nightly outings to bars were romantic dates in earnest, their mindgames and records on missions could only happen because they trusted and admired each other so much and their letter writing habits included code phrases only they understood.

What makes me go so crazy is how they must've held on to these for years as the best moments of their lives, even after the fall when the memories became soured. They picked up each other's habits and built so much out of so little, all while they rarely if ever truly expressed how much that meant to them.

[wordstome]

Endless Nights - Price x Reader

I started thinking about Sandman again because of Barry Sloane as Destruction of the Endless and went back to reread everything Destruction is in, including his Endless Nights story. Now I can't stop thinking about Price x archaeologist reader...

1.7k, please forgive any archaeological or military errors I only took like 1 anthropology class two years ago

You've been on all sorts of digs, but this has got to be one of the most chaotic. Your team's been sent to this peninsula to unearth some recently discovered artifacts. They think it's remnants of a little-known indigenous population, and it's your job to dig everything up safely.

Only problem is, there's a military base on top of it.

"Maybe it won't be so bad. Military personnel are good at following orders," your coworker says while you're unpacking your tools.

You snort. "Yeah, but they're equally good at putting holes in things and blowing things up. I don't think they have a lot of respect for fragile ancient artifacts."

"Ouch," your coworker says, wincing and putting a hand to his chest in a mock expression of pain. "No love for our nation's bravest?" You roll your eyes at him.

"It's not like that. I'm just saying we need to be vigilant about keeping them away from work sites. Take no shit, as it were."

"With the military? Good luck, I guess."

It's not that you dislike or even distrust every single person who's ever been in the military, it's just that you don't have much faith in their ability to hold respect for your work. Archaeology is quiet, meticulous work, a far cry from gunfights and kicking doors in. You're going to be here for quite a while, and if you don't establish boundaries right out of the gate, you'll be fighting an uphill battle for the rest of the dig.

That's what you're telling yourself as you sit in a gray, featureless meeting room. You and your supervisor are supposed to be meeting with a John Price, a British SAS captain. Kate Laswell, an American CIA agent, told you he's the proxy you'll be cooperating with during the dig.

You're prepared for all sorts of men to walk through that door: a balding middle-aged man with a power trip, or perhaps some blustering meathead whose voice no longer goes lower than a shout. Instead, the man that walks through the door and shakes your supervisor's hand leaves you staring, just barely keeping it together enough so you're not drooling with your jaw on the floor.

He's hot.

Your head fills with static as he turns to you and hits you with possibly the most endearing smile you've ever seen on a man. It's not just that he's somehow pulling off the beard and mutton chops look, or that his rough British accent is making you feel some type of way down there. It's the way he walks, like it's heavy—

"Pleased to meet you," Price says, shaking your hand. His hand engulfs yours as he gives it a brief squeeze. It takes your every last brain cell to answer with something other than Please tell me you're not wearing a wedding ring because you're actually single.

The meeting consists of him and your supervisor laying ground rules while you nod mutely and try not to audibly moan when Price adjusts himself in his seat, his hips moving in a way that is definitely going to undo you if you think about it too hard.

You walk out of the meeting having barely survived, but confident that the whole ordeal was a one-time thing. He's just who you complain to if one of the soldiers stumbles into a work site and smashes one of the artifacts, after all. You'll never have to see him.

Except you do. Every day, multiple times a day, he's there. He's obviously got his own shit to do of course, but it's like you can't get away from him: walk into a tent, and he's there chatting to one of your coworkers. Eat a meal, and he's there talking to a squad of soldiers and clapping someone on the back with a hearty laugh. Turn a corner, and he's there to full-body slam into you—

"Pardon me, sweetheart. Didn't see ya there." You're ashamed to say you don't do much more than stare at him with what must be the most pathetic petrified doe eyes as he gives you a pat on the shoulder and goes on his merry way. That was like running into a solid brick wall...

It would be fine if it were just you having a silly little unreciprocated crush. You've had those before and survived. But what starts to get to you is the little things: the way his eyes flick to you when you enter his vicinity, accompanied by a nod. The way his eyes linger on you for a moment too long before looking away. The brief touches against your shoulders or hips when he's maneuvering past you in a small space.

Frankly, it's driving you crazy, and it's starting to show.

"If you dust that piece any harder, you're going to damage it," your coworker scolds you. You all but jump backwards from the piece you're working on. You'd been so absorbed in mentally dissecting his body language the last time you were in the same room as him that you'd brushed the piece far beyond the point of being clean.

This won't do. You have to do something about this.

Mercifully, you've been given your own individual room to sleep in, which is quite the luxury after a career full of sleeping in dusty tents or sharing bunks with coworkers. It also gives you enough privacy to...take care of business, as it were.

Obviously, you didn't bring any "tools of the trade" that weren't useful for your work, so it's just you and your hand past 11 pm. You feel beyond perverted, slipping a hand between your thighs as you think of Captain Price.

You can still feel the weight of his hands on your body, brief though they were, and picture what else those touches could be doing. Your own voice slips out in a moan as you imagine his, low and grumbling yet soothing while he pushes you into the sheets, that endearing smile turned devious and devastatingly sexy as he spreads you open for him with those hands of his and collects your wetness on his fingers...

Your heart jumps out of your chest as you hear a knock at the door. You all but fall out of bed, scrambling to pull on enough clothing to be decent. "J-just a minute!" you call, inwardly cursing yourself for how breathless you must sound.

You answer the door, flustered and a mess, to see the subject of all your fantasies staring there. For a split second, you're petrified by the possibility of Price having heard your desperate whines and whimpers and knocking on your door to politely ask you to quit cranking it in his barracks.

"Apologies, sweetheart. Hope I didn't wake you up?" His eyes are so striking, so sincere, that you know he could have woken you up from the best sleep of your life and you'd still be unable to be mad at him.

"No no, I was...no need to worry. What can I do for you?" you say, relief flooding through you. Of course he didn't hear you. He's not a total pervert like you.

"Well love, I...it's probably best if you come take a look for yourself," Price says, looking almost sheepish. Your heart sinks a little—this cannot be good.

He leads you out of the barracks towards one of the job sites, directing you towards a table with several excavated artifacts laid out. "One of my men thought it'd be wise to steal his mate's torch, had him stumbling around in the dark out here. He says he bumped one of these tables and heard something fall on the ground, and I figured you should know right away instead of waiting 'til the morning and having all sorts of people tramping through here."

You give him a brief grateful look before crouching down with a flashlight. After a bit of looking, you find the missing object: a thick shard of pottery, lying forlornly on its side by a table leg.

You reach forward to pick it up, but the captain has spotted it as well, resulting in his hand landing on top of yours over the pottery. For a brief, dizzying second, his hand lays heavy and warm over yours, and you could have sworn that his fingers had shifted as if to take your hand in his.

In a blink, the moment's over, and the captain's hand shoots back to his side. Trying not to make an utter fool of yourself, you push yourself back up to a standing position, examining the pottery shard with a discerning eye.

"Looks like no harm was done," you say to him with a smile. "Mayday averted."

"Good to hear. I'll make sure the knuckleheads who did this receive a thorough dressin' down for this incident." You're grateful that the warmth rushing to your face at his stern tone can't be seen in the dark as you carefully set the pottery back in its place on the table.

"I'll walk you back to the barracks. Can't have my favorite archaeologist stumblin' their way around themselves, now can I?" You nod mutely, unable to look at him for much longer than a few stolen glances.

The two of you are quiet all the way back to your door, where you stand in the hallway, fidgeting with your hands and feeling the urge to say something, anything. "Thank you," you blurt out. "For not waiting until tomorrow morning. There's no telling what foot traffic would have done before we noticed the missing piece."

"Your work's important, love. And while you're here, you're our guests. It'd be rude to not be taking care of your work, wouldn't it?" You nod shyly, basking in the warmth of his attention.

You're frozen to the spot as he leans in to whisper directly in your ear, his lips brushing against it. "Next time you're relievin' a bit of tension, feel free to stop by my quarters, yeah? I think you'll find there's a lot more I can take care of than just your work."

Your eyes go as wide as saucers as he winks at you. Before you can even process what just happened, he's already walking away from you down the hall.

Feeling like you've just been handed some delicious and forbidden secret, you whirl around to shut yourself into your room, sliding down with your back against the door to sit on the floor. Did that truly just happen? Are you hallucinating? Or had you fallen asleep by accident and you're really just having some beautiful, delusional dream?

It doesn't feel like a dream when you realize you're soaking wet.

God, I cannot wait until Barry Sloane's Destruction promo images drop. For reference, these are the posters we got for season 1:

To be very honest, I wrote this like a possessed woman in the span of like an hour. I don't think there's going to be a part 2 unless you guys really get me going with some new ideas 😅

Also, I don't have a tag list (because I write almost exclusively for one particular Austrian), but I will tag my beloved @danibee33, and @ceilidho, as thanks for giving me Barry Sloane brainworms.

[spikesbunny]

♥︎ HAVE YA SEEN HER? ♥︎

+ warnings: pet names, dehya has a cock, unprotected sex, public sex, vaginal fingering, cowgirl position, intoxicated sex, dehya is an outlaw (sorta ooc, speaks in a western accent), not proof read 'cause i wrote this in tumblr drafts

+ ft: outlaw! lioness dehya x fem reader

+ wc: 2.1k

+ desc: have ya seen her, 5'9", thick and fine? well, actually about 5'6", in her 20s, and a lioness cowgirl?? well, you have! and she walks into the same damn bar as you on your birthday night. so what happens when a town girl meets her ride or die - and takes a ride for the night?

+ notes: this was originally supposed to be the 'cowboy hat rule' , but i decided making it tyrant inspired was much much better (but don't fret, i will write that hat rule <3)

nsfw under the cut... minors + men dni !!

the small town you called your home always had something going on. rebellious scholars picking fights with locals, nightly bar fights, and of course, the shoot offs. you don't understand how this place even still stands, so much crime went around.

it wasn't like any of the locals cared, you all learned to turn a blind eye. it was better to stay out of trouble with the outlaws, especially the cowboys.

under any normal circumstances, you wouldn't even think about going to the bar. but tonight was different. it just so happened to be your birthday, and candace so lovingly invited you out for a drink or two. just for fun is what she told you.

you find her sitting there, smiling and waving you over. "i'm glad you came, you never really want to come to these little hangouts" the guardian chuckles as you settle down next to her in the cramped booth.

the place reeked of booze, vomit, and sex. all you could think about how this spot practically screamed 'please commit crimes here.'

"i'm surprised you of all people want to come here. isn't you duty over at aaru village the guardian?" you ask, looking over the menu. at least the drinks are cheap...

"we both can fight, can't we? besides, most of the ruckus happens up front. we shouldn't have to worry about this dingy old booth back here."

you smile softly. damn, she really thought this out. "well, cheers then. to another year of me throwing away my life."

your friend shakes her head, her different colored eyes peering at you. "you never give yourself enough credit. nonetheless, i won't lecture you tonight. this rounds on me, okay?" she informs, calling a waitress over to order you a round of shots.

as the night passes on, you loosen up, sharing a few more rounds with candace. honestly, you hadn't even noticed any of the no good criminals walking in and out of the place.

that was, until she came. pretty, long brown hair with amber highlights, pretty dark skin, a muscular build, and... a cowboy hat? oh no, oh no no no, this can't be good.

you try to shake away the thought of her, but there she stood, by the bar, nails resembling cat claws tapping at the counter as she waited for a drink.

damn, she even had a cute pair of lion ears to match. she was the whole package - minus the obvious crime affiliation.

candace takes note of your staring, glancing over. "oh, lord. dehya?? come on..."

"what?" you ask. "she can't be that bad."

"she's an outlaw! a very notorious one, at that. well known for hosting gunfights and starting ruckuses."

"oh, well, maybe i can change her?" you sounded so stupid, you told yourself. you can't change an outlaw, that's insane?? right?? yet why did you want to do it so badly?

"candace, it is my birthday..." you plead, looking at her.

"fine, i have a patrol anyways. stay safe though, okay? call me if you need anything." you nod, thanking her for the time. discreetly, she slides you a pair of handcuffs across the table. pink, fuzzy ones.

your face reddens at the object laid on the table. "candace??" you whisper, looking around, pocketing them into your purse. "seriously???"

"what? she's an outlaw, she's probably into that stuff." she replies, walking off. "now, bye bye, have fun and stay safe, okay?"

you nod, waving bye to her. she was more compliant than i expected... maybe this dehya isn't that bad?

you down another shot, building up the courage to approach her. after all, outlaws like talking, right?? besides, she seems more docile than the others present in the bar.

you rise from your booth, slowly making your way to where the chestnut haired women stands.

the lioness, alert to the sound of your approaching footsteps, turns to face you. "well, hello, darlin'" she purrs, a country drawl. it wasn't native to sumeru city, you could tell, she was definitely part of the western side of the desert. "what brings a pretty gal like you ta me." her tongue swipes across her crimson painted lips, almost like he was licking the air around you.

"well-" you start, a bit nervous now that this gorgeous beast of a woman looms over you. "you seemed like a sweet woman, so i was wondering if you cared to share a drink?"

damn, you were never normally this bold.

"why, of course not. i'd be a damn fool not ta throw one back with a lil' lady like ya."

you nod, letting her guide you to a new booth, more secluded than the previous one.

"so, what are you doing in this small town? i know we draw attention to a lotta outlaws, but you seem a bit... classier? than this old hunk of land."

dehya giggles, shaking her head as she sips her drink. "oh, pretty girl, no town's too small f' me. in fact, your town's quite cute n' quaint. if i didn't have the reputation i do now, i reckon i mightva settled down here." she confess, a genuine smile on her face. it was pretty, how her lips curled.

her grin turned predatory shortly, sharp canines poking out. "but, i can't deny, i love my lifestyle. the freedom, the adrenaline, rush, oh! get's me goin." she purrs, a soft rumble in her chest.

"and what about you, dollface? 's this town really enough f' ya?" she ask, her ice blue eyes meeting yours.

you take a sip of the drink she bought you - a screwdriver, which just so happened to be one of your favorites. "well, i was kinda raised here, so i'm a bit used to the usual quietness, minus all the disturbances local outlaws like to cause." you reply, giggling. "i've never really considered going further than here, ya know?"

dehya nods, understanding. "yea, this place don't seem too bad. but a pretty girl like ya deserves somethin, homier. a nice house, a lovin family, not this shitshow rundown town."

you blush at her words, hearing the genuine meaning of them. god, candace, why'd you even tell me she's a criminal? she seems so sweet...

"anyways, sweetheart," the lioness starts, her eyes roaming your body in the dimly lit bar. "a girl like you got a lucky man?"

"oh, no, no no!" you reply, waving your hands. "i, uhm, i don't swing that way. much more into women."

"ah, so a lady with refined taste? i shoulda guessed by the way ya downed that screwdriver." she winks, a predatory smile crossing her lips.

that wink caused a full array of butterflies in your stomach. you didn't know if it was her, or the alcohol getting to you.

as the night progressed, the two of you continued to discuss simple things, dehya eventually moving to sit next to you in your booth. her body was pressed so close to yours, you could feel the muscles in her biceps and thighs flexing as she crossed her legs, or moved to grab a drink.

subconsciously, you lean into her shoulder, relishing in the scarred skin. her touches on your thighs lingered, and your head slowly moved to rest against her chest.

the two of you sat cuddled up in the booth, alcohol turning your brain fuzzy, the urge to make a move filling every nook and cranny in your mind.

luckily for you, dehya made the move.

as the night dragged on, her lips slowly found their way to your neck, her kisses small and gentle at first, before developing into sloppier, wetter, hungrier ones.

her hands trailed across your thighs, searing her lust and need into your own skin.

you find yourself settling into her lap, your thighs pressing against her much more muscular, sculpted ones. those pretty calloused hands roam your waist, as her lips and fangs find their way to your collarbone.

"sweetheart, i reckon this night's gonna get a bit more rowdier... ya ever rode a cowgirl? or more specifically, a wanted outlaw?"

you shake your head no. this was definitely a first, especially in such a public setting. but with the new position, her hardened cock pressed so deliciously against your cunt, the clothes a sweet friction yet tedious barrier.

dehya takes your hips, slowly guiding you to grind against her. the rhythm started slow, your hips ever so gently rolling into hers as lips collided.

she kissed you softly, before delving into something deeper, and more primal, lips clashing and tongues mingling, hands groping and grabbing at whatever you two could.

the corner was dim, so no one could really see you two, lost in a haze of sudden lust.

the lioness wasted no time, her rough hands moving aside your panties, swiping up your slit and collecting the slick that was pooling.

"goddamn, darlin, ya're already so drenched. didn't know i had that affect on such a cute lil thing." she coos, her calloused thumbpad rubbing circles around your sensitive clit.

you hide your face in her neck, groaning softly as the outlaw leisurely works at you, dipping one finger into your entrance, her thumb still tracing shapes.

"good girl" she purrs roughly into your ear, her cock twitching against her trousers. god, she needed to be inside you now.

dehya slips another finger in, curling them in your velvety walls right against that gooey spot, earning a louder moan from you. her fingers continue their pursuit, trying to draw you to your orgasm.

"you said 's ya birthday, pretty?" she ask, her tail flicking against your leg.

you nod, unable to speak out of fear of moaning loud enough for other bar-goers to hear. her fingers drew lewd, wet sounds from your cunt, and dehya relished in it.

you groan, orgasm approaching, squeezing her fingers. the outlaw takes it as a hint, picking up the pace, her fingers bringing you down from your high.

she kisses your cheek, before licking it, purring into your ear. "think of this as a 'happy birthday gift', would ya?"

her hands go to her belt, undoing it hastily to free her dick from her restraints.

she waste no time, rubbing the head against your slit, earning a hiss from her. "fuck, baby, need to be inside"

"please?" you whine in agreement, moaning messily as her tip bumps your sensitive clit.

dehya nods, positioning herself, slowly sinking into you as you sit on her lap. she bites down gently on your shoulder, her words whispered into your flesh.

"you wanna ride, or want me to take control?"

"you."

she kisses your jaw, sloppily rutting up into you, stretching you out deliciously. the way her cockhead hits that spongey spot has you seeing stars, her lips and hands burning your body as she thrust up into you.

"shit, squeezin' me so good, dollface." she groans, kissing your pulse point.

you prayed no one in the damn bar could see how wrecked you were, after all, how would it look, the goody-two-shoed town girl getting fucked in a bar by a bypassing outlaw? who had many wanted posters?

it was erotic, to say the least.

and she did it so well, always hitting that spot in you, every roll and rock so deliciously enticing. it was the best birthday gift you could get.

you can tell dehya's getting closer, her thrust growing more sporadic and messy.

you can't help but clench around her, practically holding her inside as you cum again tonight, causing a chain reaction of her spilling into your pussy, pretty white ropes filling you up.

she stills her hips, panting softly, fixing your hair out of your bangs.

"well, dollface, why don't we get outta here, hm? i can take ya back to ya place, and, ya know, maybe see where else this night goes?"

you nod, letting dehya readjust your undergarments and skirt while zipping herself back up. she leaves the tab on the table, winking at the waitress as her hand clasp yours.

"wait, ya might need this." she replies, settling her hat over your head.

you blush, unsure of exactly what to do, but follow her out of the bar, guiding you and her home.

and that's when you remember the handcuffs.

maybe you could get her to cuff you up later?

©2024 spikesbunny - please do not repost or translate my works on other media sites ♡

[psyphigirl]

How to play Caravan (New Vegas)

While I was tryin to learn how to play Caravan I saw loads of guides were just explaining the win conditions and not the actual rules or controls. So this post'll explain everything about caravan from top to bottom. (The only reason to play Caravan is for the two achievements, win three times and win thirty times; I don't find it very fun, not the fastest way of making money, and has no bearing on any plot.)

Getting the Cards

The only way to get the Caravan Deck is from Ringo after completing Ghost Town Gunfight (or looting it off his body). You don't need this, but it gives you the minimum number of cards you need to play. If you don't take it you'll have to manually find enough cards for Caravan to be available for you You can get cards from vendors and merchants (~two caps per). Keep an eye out for 6's, 8's, 10's, and Kings (The strat I'll describe needs those cards). You can have multiple copies of the same card (i.e. more than one 6 of Spades)

I got the most cards from Lacey (the bartender) at the Mojave Outpost (anywhere from three to eight). Buy the cards you need and wait three days for her to restock. There's a semi-rare bug where she'll sell two of the exact same card (i.e. two Ultra Luxe 8 of Hearts): Buying both'll crash the game

Sierra Madre Cards

If you have Dead Money installed you can find additional cards for Caravan in and around the Sierra Madre. Below is all the cards you can find and where they are:

8 of Clubs - Sierra Madre Casino & Resort (Cantina Madrid): On the floor in front of a file cabinet to the right of the Cafe Madrid terminal and restaurant manager desk. King of Clubs - Medical District: Inside a 2nd floor room with an active electric hot plate, north of the Villa clinic and above a ground level cafe sign directly west across a courtyard from the room containing the 6 of Diamonds, on a round table in the northeast corner. 6 of Diamonds - Medical District: Inside a 2nd floor room northeast of the Villa clinic and directly east across a courtyard from the room containing the King of Clubs, on a wooden shelf in the southwest corner behind an orange chair. 10 of Hearts - Villa: Some distance north of the Villa police station and west of the room containing the 5 of Hearts, on the interior corner of a walkway to the southeast of a wall fountain. Going from the 5 of Hearts, out the door with a wall fountain, down the stairs, in the corner of the interior walkway on the left. 6 of Spades - Salida del Sol North: In the northwest corner of a small courtyard with three bear traps and a dead tree, on the ground between a wall and three pipes, just west of the stairs leading to a room containing Dean's Secret Stash, a radio and two pool tables. 8 of Spades - Villa police station: In the northwest corner of the cell Dog is located in.

Who can I play with?

You're never explicitly told who you can play with, you just have to ask around. Here's the full list; Limited: You can only play with them five times and then never again Restricted: You have to have good rep with their faction to play

Cliff Briscoe - Dino Bite gift shop - Limited Dale Barton - The Fort - Restricted Dennis Crocker - NCR Embassy Isaac - Gun Runners Jake Erwin - NCR Embassy Johnson Nash - Primm - Limited Jules - North Vegas Square Keith - Aerotech suite Lacey - Mojave Outpost - Limited Little Buster - Camp McCarran Q.Master Mayes - Camp Forlorn Hope - Limited - Restricted No-bark Noonan - Novac Ringo - Goodsprings/Crimson Caravan Camp Jed Masterson - Northern passage - Only available with Honest Hearts

Johnson Nash uses more face cards than other players which can break the strat I'll describe later. No-bark Noonan is the easiest to play against

Building your Deck

After offering to play with someone, and after setting your bet, you'll be shown two long rows of cards. The top row is the deck you'll play with in the game, the bottom row is the cards you won't be using

Use your arrow keys to move left and right, pressing W to add a card to your deck and A to remove it. Only select your 6's, 8's, 10's, and Kings. If you don't have enough of these to reach the 30 card minimum, add some Jacks or Queens. After that press F to play

The Controls

The descriptors of the controls listed along the bottom right can be a little vague or misleading, here's a better explanation;

Arrow keys to highlight a card in your available hand (these will be the cards revealed to you in a fan) W to select a card Q to discard a card (counts as a full turn) If you select a card and want to deselect it, press R. With no card selected, R is the forfeit button E lets you completely discard a caravan you've built

When you select a card it will move to the left side of the screen. This is where the game is played. Use the arrow keys to place your selected card in one of the six sections available (these are the caravans)

Number Cards and Face Cards

Ace - Value of 1 Number Cards - Value of 2-10

You can play face cards on your caravans or your opponents caravans, and they can do the same to you

Jack - When played on an Ace/Number Card, removes that card along with any card attached to it Queen - When played on an Ace/Number Card, supposedly reverses the direction of hand and changes suit of the hand. I'm not sure if it's just my game being buggy or if I'm using them wrong, but Queen cards don't seem to do anything for me. I use Queens as null cards: Just something to fill up my deck. If you know what they actually do I'll add a proper explanation here. King - When played on an Ace/Number card, doubles the value of that card. Multiple Kings can be attached to the same card Joker - When played on an Ace, removes all other non-face cards of the ace's suit from the table (except that card) When played on a Number Card, removes all other cards of that value from the table (except that card) You can place multiple Jokers on the same card to remove any card of that suit/value placed after you placed your initial Joker

Playing Caravan (6 8 10 K Strat)

This isn't a strategy I invented, I found it online. But I only every found it in posts that assumed I knew how to play already. So I wanted to put it here alongside a tutorial Also, just as a rule of measure for how weird this game is, we're only now getting to how to actually play the game ...

You're aiming to have the values of the bottom three card piles (your caravans) be higher than their matching top three values (your opponents caravans), while keeping your values between twenty and twenty-six (values outside of this are invalid).

You might notice that you can't place a card on a caravan that already has a card in it. This might be for a few reasons;

There's a difference between attaching a card to another, and stacking a card on top of another: Press the up and down keys to move along the various heights of a caravan. Face cards can only be attached, number cards can only be stacked

You can't place two number cards of the same value in the same caravan. But you can place as many of the same face card as you want in the same caravan

Place a 10 and a 6, or a 10 and an 8 in each caravan, attach a King to the 10 in 10/6 caravans, or to the 8 in 10/8 caravans. These will each bring your value up to 26. If you don't have any of the cards you need, discard something you don't want (like a Queen if you have any in your deck and are using them as null cards). It's worth having a handful of Jacks in your deck to use against your opponent

Beating No-Bark

I'm not certain, but I think No-Bark's deck has no 2's, Queens, or Jokers. He only has three to four Jacks, and two to three Kings. After you've placed your initial card in each of your caravans he'll use a Jack against you one or two times. Rarely three, very rarely none. After your first few moves he's very unlikely to use Jacks again. I only saw him using a king against three times out of thirty-five games. Sometimes he deliberately busts his caravans. I have no idea why he does this

The strat I use against him is to place 6's and 8's as my first card in each caravan, then replace any cards he removes. It's only after three to five moves that I actually start building my caravans. Unless he's particular nasty with his Jacks, or you're particularly unlucky with whichever cards you draw, you should be able to get to 26 in each of your caravans immediately. If not, don't forget to Jack or King any caravan of his that reaches 20

Conclusion

Caravan sucks

If I missed something or didn't explain something right I'll make edits

Peace and love

[1rsoldiersince2012]

Bound by Law (Matt Murdock x Reader)

organized fanfic with links to chapters, for easier access (ongoing)

Summary:

You and Matt met in the courtroom. Now, you may think that Matt was a knight in shining armour and defended you in the name of all United States laws, but that was not the case. Matt was totally destroying your client, and you wanted to tear him into pieces right then and right there, because with Murdock as your rival, your head is on the firm's plate with each case. Did Matt care? No, he only cared about bringing justice, he was a human-machine, driven by the need to bring righteousness no matter the cost. Or was he just that? What happens when you get involved in Fisk's business and Daredevil's lies against your will?

Clash in the Court

The Losing Team

Start Of Something Better... or Worse?

Shadows of the Past

Not Again

Strange Thoughts

Into the Ring

Union Allies

Bitter Company

Innocent Get What They Deserve

Mixing Business

Coffee Delusions

Crack in the Walls

Back when it all made Sense

Karma is a...

Breaking rules is fun (and dangerous)

The Big Call

Unexpected Encounter

Things are about to change

Old Friends, New Beginnings

Jealousy, Jealousy

In the Blood

Smoking Day

Time is a Fragile Thing

King's Right Hand

Chasing Wind in the Dead of Night

Deadly Dance

Chasing Wind in the Dead of Night, pt. 2

World on Fire

I don't want to be a part of this

Grasping the Straws

Better if you Do

Lawyers, Guns and Money, pt. 1

Lawyers, Guns and Money, pt. 2

Man-Eater

Interlude

bad idea, right?

Poisonous Affair

Nelson v Murdock

running away is all I know

Guilty Crimes

Field Day

my world was falling apart

The ones we left behind

not the best lawyer, but a goddamn good criminal

Daredevil

All 'thanks' to the Devil

this might've been just a dream, right?

Another night in Hell's Kitchen

of first dates and men

Bang

Dogs to a Gunfight

[oldschoolfrp]

There are plenty of real reviews out there, but I'll just add that the D&D movie is, finally, what I was hoping for when the first discussions about making one popped up in the 80s. It's a fun action movie that clearly is based on the game to a great extent, yet is accessible to everyone. My party of viewers included me, who started playing in the 1970s, and someone who had played a little in the '80s but none since, and someone who had no knowledge of the game beyond its name. No one felt like they weren't the intended audience.

We see a party coming together with a mix of humans and fantasy races, the different abilities of the complimentary classes are highlighted, their backstories unfold along the way to varying degrees, and everyone gets to contribute to the team effort. The theme of 'found family' plays an important role.

Major locations and factions are faithful to an official published campaign setting. The necessary dungeon and dragon both appear. All of the creatures are from the Monster Manual, most being unique to the game from its earliest editions. Most of the magic can be identified easily by spell name, with a few exceptions for the effects of magic items & artifacts.

The main variations from core rules are concessions to movie making that could be considered house rules. The druid wild shapes many times for the same reason you don't see gunfighters stop the action to reload in classic westerns. It effectively showcases the character's most notable ability, just as the bard is shown inspiring others throughout the story, without bogging down in the mechanics of spell casting in a way that also could step on the sorcerer's role as the pure caster.

(Minor spoiler) My favorite moment seeing my own gaming experience on screen would be when the party hears a confusing verbal description of a difficult floor tile puzzle trap and fails to solve it in the intended way, bypassing it to get on with the story.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Composure, Tiers of Fear, and Monsters in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

Time to make another post about a cool mechanic in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, this time about Composure, a mechanic that has actually been mentioned a bunch of our other posts because it interacts with a lot of other mechanics, but hasn’t gotten its own post. Hopefully this will make all those other posts make a lot more sense.

So, every PC in Eureka has a Composure of 7. Think of Composure as kind of an emotional HP, though it is not ‘sanity’. Composure loss represents stress, fear, fatigue, and anything else that can make people not quite work at their peak performance.

Here’s how that works:

Normally, a character’s base stats for any skill max out at +3. +3 in Eureka is actually a very good modifier and will make the roll very very likely to succeed, and it represents expertise in the subject of the skill in question.

Composure, however, caps those skills. If a PC has 7/7 Composure, they’re fine, and their skills are unaffected. But a base skill modifier(the modifier that comes from putting skill points into a skill) can never be higher than the level of a PC’s current Composure. So if a PC has only 2/7 Composure, then that +3 becomes a +2. Skills that were already +2 are unaffected, but the PC now can’t make use of the full extent of their skill. Their hands are shaking, sweat is dripping in their eyes, they’re tired, and they’re more likely to mess up because of all this. At 1/7 Composure, their skills max out at +1, and at 0/7 Composure, their skills max out at +0. Thankfully, Composure cannot go into the negatives, but having +0s at best for all rolls is pretty bad.

There are ways to get around the Composure cap, but I’m not going to get into that for the sake of simplicity. You can find the full rules explanation for free in the shareware version of the rulebook on our website.

One way that PCs lose Composure is by making Composure Rolls whenever they encounter something particularly threatening. Failing these rolls takes away Composure. The modifier for these rolls is dictated by their Tiers of Fear.

-3 Horrific: -2 Terrifying: -1 Frightening: 0 Unnerving: +1 Creepy: +2 Obnoxious: +3 Ridiculous:

Tiers of Fear is a little chart on the character sheet that tells you how scared they are of certain things. There are mandatory Fears that must go on this chart, such as gunfighting, but players can also add their own.

What is “horrifying” and what is “ridiculous” varies from person to person. For example, an adventurous whip-swinging college professor who brawls with Nazis on a seemingly regular basis might consider a fistfight Obnoxious and a shootout Unnerving at worst, but any kind of snake is firmly in the realm of Terrifying or worse.

Whip-slinging Archaeologist Example Tiers of Fear -3 Horrific: Snakes -2 Terrifying: -1 Frightening: Monster +0 Unnerving: Witchcraft/Magic, Gunfight, Blood/Gore, Death, Corpse +1 Creepy: Arachnids +2 Obnoxious: Extreme Heights +3 Ridiculous: Fistfight, Melee Weapon Fight

So when gun combat starts, the PCs must first make a Composure Roll with a modifier based on how much they fear getting shot at. A worse modifier, obviously, makes it more likely they will lose Composure points.

There are also ways to lose a flat amount of Composure points, such as by skipping a meal or staying up all night, and ways to restore Composure points, such as eating 3 meals a day and getting a full night of sleep(resulting in a restoration of 2 Composure points a day.) Composure points can also be restored by the PCs comforting each other. See the rulebook for the full rules.

Here’s where it gets really interesting, though.

PCs that are literally Monsters.

Monsters are not limited to +3 in Skills, they’re supernaturally powerful, certain skills can go up to +6 or sometimes even higher. (They can still only put 3 skill points into a skill though. See the full rulebook for rules on how to make a monster PC.) link

Because their skills can go so high, they obviously start feeling the effects of the Composure cap a lot sooner, but for a lot of types of monsters, the way they gain and lose Composure is very different. Vampires, obviously, do not fear guns very much, nor do they have to worry about eating normal food or getting a good night’s sleep. This means that while their opportunities to lose Composure are fewer, they also have fewer ways to gain it… that’s where the part about eating people comes in.

Monsters eat people to restore composure. Not every monster literally “eats” people, but you get the idea. They hunt people and do their thing, or else, organically by the way Composure works, their supernatural powers will start to wane. This gives monster PCs a choice: Do they eat innocent bystanders to keep their strength at its peak, or do they let themselves wither and soldier on weak and helpless in the hopes of sparing more lives?

Note: No, you cannot just eat “bad people” who “deserve” to be eaten. If you have enough time, foresight, and detective skills to effectively and consistently determine if every meal is a “bad person” that “deserves” to die, why haven’t you already solved the whole mystery by yourself then, hotshot? Engaging in one’s True Nature may be a necessity for continued existence, but do not pretend this is an act of heroism.

You can pick up the free shareware version of this game from the download link on our website, or the full version for $5 from our Patreon.

[slytheringlambert91]

Theft in the Family...By Jason Todd Chapter 3

This chapter is a bit shorter, Exams are stressing me out xD

I have Chapter 4 done, it'll be posted once I finish chapter 5

The last week had calmed down some for Jason. He was slowly gaining control of the other gangs in Crime Alley, so now his job is mainly enforcing his rules and continuing his climb up the metaphorical food chain.

Currently he was on a rooftop overlooking the usual corner the working girls frequent.

He feels his half cape/cloak thing (Jason still doesn’t know what to call it, ok) waving gently in the breeze. It felt nice to have a moment of downtime, even if it was in the middle of the day.

Just as he was getting used to the (very rare) almost peaceful atmosphere, a child’s yelling cuts through the air.

Jason rushes off in the general direction of the sound.

He arrives just in time to see a large man slamming a kid against the wall, one hand wrapped around the kid’s throat.

Jason growls, jumping into the alley. He rips the man away, pushing himself in between the kid and his aggressor. “Leave. Him. Alone.” He draws one of the swords on his back, leveling it at the man’s chest.

Instead of scrambling back, the man stares at the sword and chuckles, pushing it away and drawing a gun. “The kid’s comin’ with me.”

“Yeah, nope. Not happenin’, jackass.” Jason draws his own gun with his other hand, this time aimed at the guy’s head. “Don’t think I only brought a sword to a gunfight. Besides, I guarantee you, I’m faster.”

Jason spares a glance behind him, and his heart nearly stops as the kid sits against the alley wall with a dazed look.

Fuck

That’s Damian.

Alright, fuck mercy. This guy is dead.

He uses the flat edge of the sword to knock the man’s gun hand wide, closing the distance between them. He uses his body to pin the man to the wall, and sheathes both weapons.

With his hands free, he wraps one around the guy’s throat (we’re gonna call him Chad now), and the other wrenches the gun from Chad’s grasp. “See? I’m faster.” Jason almost chuckles, before his tone turns dark again. “Do you know who I am?”

Chad barely manages to nod, and gasps: “Phoenix.”

“Good. Do you know what my main rule is?” Jason doesn’t even give him a chance to answer this time. “Do /not/, under /any/ circumstance, mess with kids.”

The man looks truly scared for the first time in this interaction. “I—I’m sorry! I didn’t know he was yours! He’s a Bristol kid, look at ‘em!”

“/All/ kids are under my protection. But you won’t get to make the same mistake twice.” Jason draws his gun again, aiming not at his head, but his groin. A cruel smile splits his face, not like the man can see that though.

The man whimpers, and Jason glances back at Damian again. The kid is still dazed, but he was standing and watching the scene play out.

“Get outta here, kid, I’ll catch up and make sure ya get home safe in a sec.”

Damian seemed to struggle to understand the instruction, but when he did, he stood firm. “No.”

“Kid—”

“No.” Damian scowls at him. Jason rolls his eyes, but mentally shrugs. The kid was raised by Ra’s Al Ghul, he’s seen worse.

With that, he turns his attention back to the weeping man in front of him. He debates saying something else, but decides against it. No need to draw this out any longer.

He takes a step back, and fires. The man screams, collapsing to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Jason holsters the gun (he’ll finish the man off in a second) and steps over to Damian. Kneeling down, he reaches out a hand and runs it through Damian’s hair, searching for injuries. “Y’alright, Habibi?”

“I have had worse.”

“I know, kid, but my question stands.” His glove comes away bloody when he reaches the back of the kid’s head, and Damian flinches slightly. “Alrigh’, I’ll take you home and clean you up, but you’re telling Bruce. Where even is the Old Man anyway?”

“I presume he is back at the diner, where I left him.”

Jason rolls his eyes, picking Damian up and settling him on his hip. “‘Course ya ran away. Now I’m gonna have Bats after me.”

A bark sounding through the alley snaps Jason’s attention away from his brother, and he sees Bruce and Ace running into the alley.

“God dammit, speak of the devil.” Jason mutters, eyeing the duo warily.

“Give me my son.” Bruce speaks lowly, clearly eyeing the distance between them.

Jason scoffs, “You lost him. I found him.”

The man on the ground groans, and Jason is reminded of his unfinished business. Without taking his eyes off Bruce, he fires another bullet into Chad’s skull. Bruce flinches at the gunshot.

“Give him back, before I call the cops.”

Ace growls, stalking forward. Bruce drops the leash, and the dog lunges forward.

Jason turns, making sure his body is between the snapping teeth and his brother.

Just before biting, Ace stops, his nose twitching as he sniffs the air, and his tail waves in the air. The growls turn to whines as he noses at Jason's leg. Something in Jason melts a little at the sight of his childhood dog.

“Ace!” Bruce calls, but the dog ignores him in favor of Jason.

“I think you have broken the dog,” Damian comments, and Jason pets Ace before pulling out his grapple gun.

He fires the grapple, watching Bruce’s eyes widen as he feels the familiar tug of the line hooking. Bruce lunges for him just as the gun pulls him into the air. In the short trip in the air, Bruce has pulled out his phone and is frantically talking to whoever he called.

In the same moment, Damian wraps his arms around Jason’s neck, and Jason remembers that this would be his first experience with grappling. With flying.

Jason smiles at his brother when they land on the roof, before realizing he wouldn’t be able to see it.

Jason grapples back to his apartment without saying another word.

When they enter (through the window, of course, no doors allowed), Jason sets Damian down and starts taking his gear off.

The hood and cape are first to go, followed by his masks and gauntlets. When he turns back to Damian, the kid is pouting at him.

“The hell are you pouting for, I thought ya wanted to see me?” Jason grabs the med kit from under his sink and walks over to his brother.

“I thought you would come back with me.”

Jason sighs, “We discussed this, Habibi. I can’t go back. Besides, Bruce doesn’t even know it’s me who has you. There’s gonna be a fuckin’ manhunt now.”

“He took your book,” Damian’s pouty face somehow… gets more pouty..?

“The one I gave to you?” Jason had to suppress a chuckle, but goes about cleaning the cut on Damian’s head.

“Yes.”

“What’d ya do to get him to take that from ya? He never took my books.’

“I may…or may not…have attempted to stab Drake.”

Jason scowls at him, “What did we talk about, Damian?”

“You said not to kill or maim anyone! It was just supposed to be a light stabbing…” The kid is sulking now. It’s almost cute, if Jason weren’t a little pissed at him.

His phone ringing cuts off any reply he may have had. He fishes it out of his pocket, answering it and setting it to his ear before going back to cleaning the cut on Damian’s head. “‘Sup?”

There’s silence on the other end of the line, before a faint voice comes through. “...Master Jason?”

Jason almost drops the phone in shock, and it takes him a second to remember how to use his voice. When he does speak, he’s choked up. “Hey, Alfie.”

Alfred takes a shuddering inhale before continuing. “It is good to hear your voice again, my boy. Although I do have a rather urgent reason for calling. We seem to be missing the child you delivered to us three weeks ago.”

Jason raises an eyebrow at the kid in front of him, finally putting down the gauze and medical supplies. “Are you now?”

“Yes. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, would you?”

“Nope, not a clue. You should probably keep better track of your birds.”

Alfred sighed, seeming to realize the bluff. “Shall I inform Master Bruce that he is taken care of?”

Jason chuckles before answering. “Nah, let him panic. It’ll do him some good. Besides, finders keepers. Kid’s mine now.”

Jason can hear a hint of a smile when Alfred speaks next. “Hm. Well, try to have him back at the Manor for Sunday crepes. You are welcome to join as well.” It’s Thursday. That gives him four days with his baby brother.

And four days to make Bruce panic, which is always a plus.

He will have to move safehouses though, he wasn’t exactly watching out for cameras on his way here.

“Will do, Alfie. I’ll drop him off Sunday morning.”

They exchange goodbyes, then Jason drops the phone on the couch.

“Wanna explain why ya ran away?”

“I wanted to see you, Akhi. I had not heard from you since you dropped me off.”

Jason sighs, sitting down and pulling Damian closer to him. “You could have asked Alfred to contact me, kid. It’s not safe for you to run around Gotham on your own.”

“I can protect myself!”

“Like you did today?”

Damian scowls, “It is not my fault he caught me off guard.”

“Dames, no matter how highly trained you are, the people here will still win the fight when they are two to four times your size. You have to stay with an adult.”

Damian just huffs in response, and Jason gives the argument up. He’ll just have to keep a better eye out from now on.

[layla4567]

OPLA (Monster trio) WILD WEST AU

The hat rule (nsfw drabbles, fem): Sanji, Luffy, Zoro

Warnings: well smut, p in v sex, suggestive (the smut is just at the end), everyone is of legal age, beta read, I don't know much about cowboys or the wild west so don't expect this to be very accurate.

wc: sanji- 1.606, zoro- 1.583. luffy- 1.917

Zoro

You entered the saloon with your chaps on well and a red scarf around your neck. Upon entering the double door collided with the walls and the noise caught the attention of those present. A boy with green hair hidden in his beige hat was sitting at the bar drinking beer, he turned his head and when he saw you a frown crossed his forehead and he wrinkled it slightly. You were Zoro's declared enemy since you were the daughter of a famous rival gunman of the green-haired man's father. You rejoiced at the looks of fear and respect that were directed at you, you looked everywhere analyzing the local people until your eyes met Zoro's, at which point he rolled his eyes and looked away. You were thinking of having fun today and that consisted of making the cowboy angry, so you confidently walked towards the bar and sat down next to him. He ran you up and down with a raised eyebrow.

"Hello pretty boy, did you miss me?"

In response he snorted and drank his beer, ignoring you.

You laughed softly, shaking your head. "I see that you are still a man of few words as always."

“What do you want Y/N?” He finally said, looking at you a little upset.

"Aww don't pretend you're not happy to see me Zoro, it's adorable"

Zoro rolled his eyes again in annoyance and your smile widened, you loved making him angry.

"And apparently you're still as irritating and talkative as always, or am I wrong? Look, if you don't mind, I'd rather be alone and keep drinking, I don't want to fight."

"Ooo the cat took out his claws" You said raising your hands in surrender without stopping smiling "Easy cowboy, I just wanted to chat with you"

"And what made you think that I want to talk to you?"

You rested your elbow on the table, approaching him and put your chin in your fist "Well, I think you'll want to talk to me when I tell you what I heard out there…"

Zoro still wasn't paying attention to you so you decided to double the bet.

"About you..."

This seemed to pique the cowboy's curiosity because he stopped drinking and stood still holding the glass suspended in the air. You smiled from ear to ear

"I'm not interested, they must be rumors anyway" he said downplaying it

"Mmmh okay, but then don't say I didn't warn you when they call you chicken"

You stood up from your seat to leave when a hand grabbed you firmly and quickly by the arm. You jumped a little but then looked at him trying to hide your smile. Zoro's look was more serious than usual.

"What's that chicken thing, huh?"

You sat back down, raising an eyebrow mischievously. "Oh nothing, it's just that people comment that I'm not only a better gunfighter than you, but I'm also a better horseback rider, and that you are a chicken for not daring to challenge me"

Zoro's hand squeezed the glass until his fingers turned white. Your satisfied face said it all, you had set a trap for him and he had fallen like a rabbit. Zoro pretended to look at the contents of his glass.

"For me, let them say what they want.."

"Oh, are you sure? Because I think they're right. Now that I remember, you've never challenged me to a horse race."

The green-haired man closed his eyes and pursed his lips, he was trying with all his might to control his frustration. Then, as if nothing had happened, he opened his eyes and raised one corner of his lips in a small smile.

"If I haven't done that before it's because I know I'm guaranteed victory." he said looking at you

You shrugged your shoulders. "That's what those who don't dare to lose always say. Anyway, it's a shame, I think you'll have to get used to the nickname."

Now you got up from your seat without him stopping you. You turned your back to him and although you couldn't see him you felt his eyes on you. You were heading towards the exit when his voice called you.

"Wait, not so fast"

You turned around and saw Zoro stood up and walked towards you. His walk was similar to that of a hunched and angry gorilla. When he was in front of you he gave you a look cold as steel.

"How do I know you don't say those things just to make me angry?"

You giggled. “Oh so it really bothers you? Is your ego so fragile?”

The other people gathered in the saloon were now paying attention to their conversation, some soft laughter and murmurs could be heard. People smelled the fight and now they didn't want to miss anything. Zoro looked around now without hiding his discomfort. You decided to play with him a little although you knew you were taking too much risk. Zoro wasn't stupid and he was really good with a gun (although you would never tell him that) and if he wanted he could threaten you. But the game had started and it was too late to back out.

"What's wrong? You don't like being called chicken?" You said and then shamelessly imitated the sound of a chicken while you waved your arms pretending to be wings.

The people began to laugh louder while Zoro's frown grew until his gaze darkened.

"Hey, enough is enough"

You didn't obey him and continued making fun of him, laughing while the others looked at you funny. You only stopped when his fingers closed on your arm, firm enough that you couldn't escape but not so tight that it hurt you. The cowboy's face had gotten very close to yours and his eyes fixed on yours were intimidating.

“Y/N I said stop.”

His voice was deep and brooked no reply, your smile faded a little and you became serious. But you wouldn't let him threaten you or make you afraid. Roughly you broke free of his grip and moved closer to him until your noses almost collided.

"Fine, then what are you waiting for? Challenge me to a horse racing duel, and you'll see who wins." you said under your breath, sliding your gaze from one eye to the other.

He tilted his head slightly without flinching. "I won't do that, I already told you."

There was a boo from the crowd and a shout "What are you so afraid of?" But the green-haired boy ignored him, he only looked at you.

"Ok then I'm the best at riding…" You said with a shrug and walking away a little.

"No, I am" he said irritably

You rolled your eyes in frustration, he looked like a 5 year old throwing a tantrum. At this rate neither you nor he would agree. Suddenly you had an idea that will surely leave him speechless. If you couldn't beat him by making him angry, you would beat him by making him nervous. You took a step forward, smiling proudly.

"I'm the best at riding and I'm going to prove it to you" You said, slapping off his cowboy hat and putting it on your head.

The people at the bar gasped, but the best reaction was the one in front of you. Zoro had turned red and swallowed loudly. His face was so deadly serious that you wanted to laugh. You placed your hands on your hips, looking at him victoriously. He noticed your impudence and smiled sideways, hiding his embarrassment. He was also willing to play that game so he approached your ear.

"Are you sure? I can't guarantee your safety, I'm a bit wild"

Now the one who swallowed saliva to calm the confusion was you. You looked into his eyes whose pupils were now dilated. You nodded several times and he smiled walking away. And that was the beginning of everything, it will be a long night, you thought.

Just as you predicted that night in your bed Zoro was sitting up and you were straddling him. The green-haired boy hungrily kissed your neck, causing the temperature to rise.

"Zoro～ ohh.."

He smiled against the skin of your neck. "We haven't even started and you're already melting like butter in the sun."

As best you could, you grabbed the hat that was resting on the mattress and put it on your head. "We'll see who melts first."

You grabbed onto Zoro's shoulders and began to move your hips back and forth, making the cowboy grab your waist tightly, digging his fingers into it. You let out a moan as you felt his hand squeeze your flesh. His face was in the crook of your neck near your shoulder, that way he muffled his gasps and moans.

"Keep it up, ngh d-don't stop" he gasped against your shoulder

But it was difficult. Zoro wasn't lying when he said he was wild. His fingers on your skin would surely leave a red mark the next day. And from time to time he moved his own pelvis upwards to sink you deeper into him. Your nails dug into their shoulders and their torsos were beaded with sweat. But at no point did you stop or drop your hat. In the end they both collapsed exhausted on top of each other. It seems like there were no winners or losers this time, but Zoro's satisfied moans and sweaty face were your consolation prize.

Sanji

Sanji was outside the saloon taking care of his horse. With one hand he groomed the animal's head while with the other he brushed its back. His fingers traced soft scribbles on the horse's skin. You were waiting from afar for your father to finish unloading the suitcases full of clothes and belongings from the carriage, and you took the opportunity to see the cute cowboy. Almost without wanting to, you started playing with your braid, wrapping it around your finger. The blonde boy was focused on taking care of his horse but he was not stupid and he felt a look of intense eyes on the back of his neck. When he turned to see you, you looked away, biting your lower lip in embarrassment. For his part, Sanji just smiled amused and returned to his task.

You turned to see your father struggling with the luggage, you thought it would take him a while to get all the suitcases out so, nervously wrinkling the hem of your dress, you headed towards where the blue-eyed cowboy was.

"*clears throat* Good afternoon, sir."

The cowboy with a bright smile and tender gaze turned his head to see you and found a little girl with a sweet and affable look. Soon he couldn't help but let his gaze slide over your figure. Your tight skirt and corset marked your best attributes.

"Well, well, good afternoon to you missus"

His voice was even better than you imagined, syrupy like honey and soft like a feather pillow. Suddenly your legs felt a little weak.

"What's a cute little princess like you doing talking to a cowboy like me?"

You swore that your cheeks began to color and to hide it you covered your mouth slightly with your fingers and smiled while you looked at his horse. Would he always talk like that to all the women he saw? Sanji knew he had hit the nail on the head so he kept looking at you with that flirtatious smile of his.

"Umm, I just wanted to admire your horse more closely, if you don't mind, gentleman"

"Oh, so you're attracted to horses?"

"Very, sir. I always wanted to learn how to ride one."

The blonde cowboy laughed at your good manners.

"Please, my name is Sanji. And you must have a name too..."

"I'm Y/N"

You held out your hand to him and he kissed it gently on the knuckles. His lips against your skin tickled your lower belly.

"If you want, I can teach you how to ride Crystal," he said, stroking the horse's mane.

"Oh, Crystal? That's her name? it's adorable!" you said smiling pleased and caressing the animal

Sanji couldn't stop looking at you and smiling, you seemed cute to him.

"So? What do you say Y/N? Do you want me to teach you how to ride?"

You were about to answer yes with a big smile but suddenly your father screamed calling your name, he seemed upset. You turned around and saw that he was walking towards you, clenching his fists.

"I'm sorry but I can't now, maybe another day-..!"

Your voice sounded disappointed but you couldn't say anything else because your father had already reached you and grabbed your wrist to pull you away from Sanji. The blonde boy watched with some annoyance and disappointment as you left, but not for you but for your father who didn't think it was right that he dragged you like that just because you had moved a few meters away from him. And it made him even more angry when he heard the exclamations he threw at you "Y/N, what did I tell you about talking to strangers?! Those filthy cowboys only flirt with girls and then leave them stranded!" The days passed without Sanji hearing from you until one day he had taken a walk in the countryside and saw you there alone and looking at the forget-me-not flowers and then collecting some. He got off Crystal and approached you, when you turned around you had a big smile that made his heart melt.

"Hello princess, have you decided to ride Crystal yet?"

You blushed to the roots of your hair and said shyly "I'm not a princess.."

Sanji loved to make you nervous "Really? But you do have a very pretty face, a sweet voice and good manners. Yes, I think you are one…at least for me"

You lowered your head, trying not to look at his perfect smile that seemed to mock you. "T-thank you, but you're right, I want you to teach me how to ride."

The blonde boy smiled satisfied and took you by the hand to get you closer to the horse. "You'll see, you'll learn quickly. Crystal may seem intimidating at first but she's a good girl."

The warmth of his hand sent shivers down your spine, you tried to hide it as best as possible, smiling confidently. Suddenly Sanji grabbed you by the waist firmly to sit on the horse, in surprise you let out a moan that made the blue-eyed boy laugh. Already on top of the honey-colored horse, Sanji told you to find a comfortable but upright position, he guided your hands towards the reins of the animal and told you to hold them firmly but without pulling. After several more explanations to which you listened attentively and looked at her beautiful dreamy eyes trying not to drool, Crystal began to walk. Sanji was at your side all the time with one hand on the horse's back to give you courage. After you had mastered Crystal, she began to trot until you were riding faster. After walking around a few times you came to Sanji who was applauding you happily.

"Bravo doll, that was perfect. You have a natural talent" He said grabbing your waist to make you get off the horse, completely ignoring your rosy cheeks.

"Well, give Crystal credit, she was very good to me" you timidly tucked a strand behind your ear.

"Oh and you're also modest, how adorable."

Damn, why was he flirting with you so much? Did I do it on purpose? It was making you nervous and making something grow in your belly that you didn't want to find out what it was. When you saw him again he was staring at you biting his lip with a smile, oh so he did it on purpose. Hiding your embarrassment you directed your gaze towards his brown hat.

"I like your hat, it's pretty" you pointed your finger

He took it out and looked at it "This one? Really? Oh but it's quite old… do you want to see it?"

You nodded excitedly and grabbed the hat in your hands. It was a little big and the fabric was worn on one side. You happily made a gesture to put it on your head when Sanji interrupted you, smiling mischievously.

"What are you doing?"

"I just wanted to try it on"

He laughed shaking his head "I wouldn't do that if I were you…"

You frowned in confusion, you didn't understand why he was laughing. "Why not? What's so funny?"

"So you don't know the hat rule?" Sanji said, coming a little closer to you, with slow steps.

You shook your head, somewhat intimidated, you felt that this rule was something important…or something that would humiliate you.

He laughed at your confusion "Then it's better that you don't know, forget it."

You put your hands on your hips in frustration. "Oh come on! Tell me, I want to know!"

The blonde cowboy leaned close to your ear and whispered "Wear the hat, ride the cowboy."

Sanji moved a little away from you just in time to see your eyes looking down and your face turning red. You didn't expect it to be something like this, with an innocent mind you could say that you had never been intimate with someone like that. But Sanji really seemed attractive to you, what if this was the time to complete something you had been thinking and feeling for a while? Somewhat hesitantly, you slowly placed your hat on until the brim covered your eyes. Sanji looked at you surprised and now he was the one feeling a little nervous and blushing. Even so, he smiled confidently again and took your chin to lift it and see your eyes that were covered by the hat.

"It seems that you are not as shy as I thought, Missus." he purred

That night without your father knowing, Sanji invited you to his house, he was so considerate and kind to you, he made sure that you were comfortable at all times and calmed you down when you didn't feel safe doing so.

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to, sweetheart" He told you compassionately

In response, you held the hat with one hand and leaned over Sanji's body to kiss him lovingly.

"I'll be fine, do not worry"

You settled your pelvis above his. From his position Sanji enjoyed the view of your body bouncing on top of his and how your eyes turned white as you held the hat with one hand and with the other you touched his well-formed abs.

"Ohh～you feel so good..." The words slipped out of your mouth like pomaded butter.

"That's it, gorgeous. You're doing incredible"

The blonde couldn't stop praising you and guiding your movements by holding your thighs and raising his pelvis. And your moans of pleasure and satisfaction were his best reward. Without knowing it, he had not only taught you how to ride a horse…

Luffy

Luffy was in the tavern sitting at a table playing poker, although he tried to keep his face serious in his mind he was celebrating and jumping since he had been dealt a good hand of cards. Sitting in front of him was you, you weren't that good at hiding your facial expressions as you were frowning slightly because you didn't have such good cards. From time to time Luffy looked at you and smiled, he knew you were about to lose. The brat would even stretch out his arm to tickle you or push you with his foot under the table making you laugh. After a couple of minutes Luffy put his cards on the table, being the clear winner. You pouted and threw your cards on the table in anger. The boy, laughing mischievously, grabbed his chips and his prize, happy. You crossed your arms around your eyes and smiled. Since you were children you could never beat Luffy, you were inseparable friends and he had taught you how to play and in turn Shanks had taught Luffy how to play.

Luffy stood up from the table with his bottle of sarsaparilla and his dried meat. A smile crossed his face from ear to ear, he looked like a child. You looked at him and laughed happily, it was impossible to get angry with him, you loved him so much. Luffy approached you with his food.

"I promise to share my food with you… at least a little"

You laughed, patting his shoulder, if something characterized the brown-haired boy it was his gluttony. You grabbed the bottle and bringing it to your lips, you took a few sips while he looked at you. When you finished you sighed contentedly and wiped your mouth with the back of your hand.

"Hey, what do you say we go shooting practice?" You said giving him the bottle back.

He chuckled. "You mean YOU practice shooting."

You laughed. It was true, he didn't know how to use the gun very well but you always offered to teach him, but he preferred to see you and that's it (and if he could eat while looking at you, the better)

"Ok little cowboy, you'll watch me practice and you can also bring your food" You said pointing to the bottle and the beef jerky.

He smiled from ear to ear and gave a small shake of happiness. He hugged the meat and the bottle of sarsaparilla and followed you like a puppy towards the exit. They both rode until they reached an open field where only dry, yellow grass could be seen and a few oak trees casting shade. On one side there was a wooden board with a few bottles ready to shoot, you always went to that place to practice. You two got off the horse, leaving them tied to a nearby tree. You stood a few meters away from the bottles and Luffy stood next to you adjusting his black hat. You took out your gun and while the boy put a dried meat in his mouth, looking at you, you smiled and looked at the first bottle, winking. The first shot had been successful, the bottle had shattered as Luffy looked from you to the bottle in amazement and admiration while still chewing. With the other subsequent bottles it had been the same, just a little concentration on your part and the bottles would fall into pieces. Only one was missing

“Wow Y/N you are so good at this!!”

I smiled warmly, thanking him for the compliment. Suddenly you looked at the last bottle and when you were about to shoot you changed your mind and looked at your friend who was looking at you expectantly.

"How about I teach you how to break that bottle, huh?"

He looked at you doubtfully thinking about an answer, before he responded you said "Don't worry, it's easier than it seems, I'll help you."

Luffy looked at the bottle for a while and then looked at you "Okay, if you say it's easy, I'll do it" He said smiling.

Smiling, you offered to take care of his food and gave him the gun. You placed your hand over hers to guide her fingers and lock them over the trigger. At the slightest touch of yours on his skin, Luffy smiled widely and stared at you while you dedicated yourself to explaining the movements he had to do to avoid missing the shot. When you finally looked at him you found his gaze penetrating yours and you blushed slightly.

"Alright I hope you understood, come on shoot the bottle" You cleared your throat nervously.

The cowboy nodded and winking while sticking out his tongue in concentration, he pointed the gun and fired. The shot wasn't perfect but he managed to break the glass bottle that fell to the ground. You brought your hand to your mouth shouting and cheering him on.

"See? I told you you'd do it right!"

He blushed with joy and smiled "Well that's just because I have a good teacher."

You rolled your eyes in amusement and gave him a gentle, loving blow to the jaw with your fist. He laughed and suddenly hugged you tightly and spun you around lifting you into the air. You opened your mouth in surprise, squealing and laughing happily. So you spent a long time playing and chasing each other like cats and dogs, playing hide-and-seek or tickling each other, until the sun went down over the horizon and it became dark.

"How about we go to my house? It's too late to go to yours, and we can have dinner too if you want"

You laughed thinking that he was always eating, but he was right. Your house was further away from his so you nodded and riding away from the place. Along the way they were chatting happily and commenting on childhood anecdotes. When you arrived at Luffy's ranch you saw that there was a light on, he lived alone but he always left a light on just in case. You both entered, the interior was cozy, there wasn't much but it was comfortable, it had just what was necessary. Luffy put his food on a table and you took off your jacket to place it on a nearby coat rack. As you did so you couldn't help but admire a painting that had hung on the wall. It was a passage where you could see a cliff and a river. Everything had a perspective from the heights and distance, in the background a beautiful sunset full of purple and pink colors.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"

You gave a little scream and jumped in place when you heard Luffy's voice so close to you. When you turned your head the brown haired boy was standing right behind you, so close that he could almost put his chin on your shoulder.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The painting, is pretty, isn't it? I won it at an auction. I don't know who painted it and I don't know much about art but I liked this one."

While he was talking he looked at the painting and you couldn't help but see his brown eyes, they seemed prettier than you remembered. When he finished speaking he looked you in the eyes with his typical happy smile. Oh, you felt like the world around you was freezing and only you two mattered. You stayed like that for a few seconds until you found the courage to turn around and face him completely.

"Yeah I, uh..!"

You couldn't finish your sentence because when you went to take a step your foot got tangled in the leg of the coat rack and you tripped and fell on top of Luffy. The blow was so strong that he ended up with his back to the floor and you on top of him with your cheek on his chest. Luffy began to giggle softly that grew until it ended in laughter, you raised your head embarrassed and confused while he looked at you laughing. You frowned and blushed heavily. He touched your cheek with a finger.

"You look like a red apple, you look cute like that" he said laughing

You looked away embarrassed, Luffy made fun of everyone in a friendly way and sometimes said things innocently without bad intentions. But your shame was so much that you became angry at his words. You were going to respond with a mild rudeness when he opened his mouth before you.

"But I think you're missing something…" And then he took off his cowboy hat to put it on. "There! Now you look like a cowboy apple!" He said smiling and laughing innocently

Oh no. Didn't he know? It seemed not. Was he so naive as not to know the hat rule? Luffy thought his action was innocent and happy, he didn't mean anything bad by placing his hat on you but you knew that meant something else and now he really wanted the earth to swallow you.

"Uhh Luffy? Do you even know what the hat rule is?" You asked cautiously, controlling your nervousness.

He frowned in confusion and then his face changed in a few seconds to one of raised eyebrows and wild eyes. He quickly walked away from you and sat on the ground a short distance from you.

"OH NO NO NO, I'M SORRY I DIDN'T REMEMBER IT!!!"

He covered his hands a little embarrassed while you smiled shyly. It made you laugh that he was more embarrassed than you. At least he knew what it meant after all. You crawled closer to him slowly and removed his hands from his face, looking at him amused, you gave him a kiss on the cheek to which he looked at you surprised, who was the red apple now?

"We don't have to if you don't want to-"

In response Luffy gave you a kiss on the lips. It was fast and tender but that was the beginning of everything. Later, at night in his room, Luffy was lying face up on his bed and you were straddling him, leaning over and kissing him while you grabbed his cheeks. You asked him if he was ready and he nodded several times, quite excited you could say. You stood up and he placed his hands on your butt, squeezing and kneading your buttocks as if you were sourdough and he was the baker. You gasped in surprise and he smiled. It doesn't matter, you'd give it back. Because when you started bouncing on him, Luffy dissolved into purrs and gasps, he was a mess. You thanked heaven that Luffy lived alone because soon the room and the entire house were filled with moans.

"AhHh Y/N～ keep moving like that…"

The naughty cowboy liked to touch, too much. Now his hands were clinging to your breasts, trying to hold on to something and not crumble like a block of ice in an oven. A couple more bounces, some more moans from there and you two had ended up exhausted. You wrapped an arm around his torso as he circled your shoulders and caressed them. You smiled happily and were about to close your eyes when you suddenly opened them and looked at him worried.

"This won't ruin our friendship, will it?"

He laughed "Of course not, bad apple."

“Oh shut up you whiny brat” You rolled your eyes smiling.

[and-claudia]

Against All Odds (Joel Miller x fem! reader)

wordcount: 2363

warnings: death, blood, cannon typical violence

General Warnings for later on: The main story will have an age gap between Joel and the reader (Reader will be 25 once we get to the main storyline), this will also be your warning that it will eventually be an x pregnant reader (if that's not your jam, I'm sorry) there is also going to be more graphic/trigger parts later on so please always to be sure to read the warnings BEFORE reading. This story will also be 18+ and TO BE ON THE TAGLIST YOU CAN NOT BE AN AGELESS BLOG (i do actually check that) also there first hand full of parts are all prologue so Joel won't actually be in it for a bit

Taglist Sign-Up (read my rules carefully before filling it out)

Ten years. Ten long years in Boston. I couldn’t even tell you what it was like living anywhere else. These ten years felt like twenty and everything before getting here just seemed to melt together. The only thing I could remember was losing everyone. From Ma, Alan, Roy, and Marc on the first night of the outbreak. To Chris in Knoxville. 

By the time they made it to Boston, only Zeak, Scott, Pa, and I were left. How had this happened? It wasn’t even the fucking cordyceps that took most of them, only Ma. And now, it was only Pa and I in our little apartment. 

Zeak got caught up in some illegal shit. Something about dealing pills to someone. He missed a deadline on a payment. I was told they shoved him off one of the buildings. That story spread like wildfire. Even now, 6 years later you can still hear whispers about the poor country boy who got too big for his britches. 

Scott died about a year ago. Our block was notorious for fireflies breaking out in gunfights. Scott got caught in the crossfire. I found him, shot full of bullet holes in the alley by our building. He was only a few feet from the door. He had almost made it. I held him as he bled to death in my lap, knowing there was nothing I could do. Even after his hand that was grasping mine went limp, I held on. He was all I had. Pa still resented me for what happened to Chris, even with his memory failing him, he remembered that much. The nightly patrol found us and took his body from me and escorted me upstairs. 

When I got there, his blood was still all over me. 

“Where the hell have you been, girl?” 

“You’re not wonderin’ where Scott is?” I asked. 

“He’s a man he knows how to handle himself just fine.” 

“Really? You wanna know whose blood this is?” I snapped. 

He stayed silent. 

“It’s Scotts. You hear those gunshots earlier? Yeah, those landed themselves in your son. He bled to death out in the alleyway. He’s gone! He’s dead! Just like everyone else! You happy, Pa? Huh? You gonna blame me for this one too?” 

I did wait for him to answer. I stormed out of the small living room and went into the bedroom.

After that, Pa and I hardly talked. His memory got worse. I swear there towards the end he couldn’t remember why he hated me just that he did and that was that. But we were all each other had left. So when he died, it still hurt. I was now alone.

But life goes on. I found him in his bed yesterday morning. I knew he’d be getting tossed in the burn pit today. Just my luck that is where I was stationed to work. I got up, got dressed, and headed out.

I said hi to the regulars I saw along my route. Despite the events of yesterday, I went on with a smile. No need to make my problems anyone else’s or make anyone feel my sorrow with me. A few of them offered me their sympathy, which I took gratefully. 

I checked in at the workstation and then went to my assigned area. As I scanned the area I didn’t see anyone I recognized. Sometimes that was nice other times it was nice to have someone to talk to, it helped pass the time. 

Work went by uneventfully until I saw him.

 "Careful with that one!" The words left my mouth before I realized it. 

The man that was about to pull my father's corpse out of the truck gave me a weird look. 

"Sorry." I said quickly. 

"You know him?" He asked. I couldn’t tell if his tone was sympathetic or just annoyed. 

"My dad." I said, stepping over to help him. 

He gave a small nod, “Give me a hand then.” 

We hauled him over and tossed him into the pit. I took a deep breath to keep the tears at bay. 

"Don't cry. Not here." The man mumbled, patting my arm roughly and I nodded. 

We continued to work in silence after that. Until we were leaving at least, then I spoke up again. 

"Hey, I don't see you around often. Do you jump jobs or something?" I asked. 

He nodded, "I go for whatever's paying the most at the moment." 

"Well, what's paying right now?" I asked. 

"Why would I tell you?" 

"Look man, we just tossed my father into the pit. I'm kinda on my own now. I need money." I reasoned. 

He sighed and I could tell he was thinking it over. 

"Come on." He nodded for me to follow. 

It definitely wasn’t going to be the funnest job, none of them were, but money is money. 

"Thank you..." 

"Joel." 

"Yn. It's nice to meet you." I said holding out my hand for him. 

He nodded and shook it. Then we went our separate ways.

The next morning I found him fairly quickly as we headed in for our shift. 

"Good morning," I said quite cheerfully. 

He side-eyed me, clearly not happy to be up so early. 

"Why are you in such a good mood?" He huffed. 

"I woke up this morning." 

"And...?" 

"That's it. I'm alive to see another day." I explained.

"You're optimistic." He gruffed. 

I smiled at him, as I opened the lid on my thermos. I took a drink and nearly gagged before holding it over to him. 

“What is that?” 

“Why don’t you tell me.” I nodded to it to signal him to take a whiff. 

His eyes went wide when he smelt what it was. 

“Have some.” 

He hesitated before taking the thermos and taking a drink of it. I watched with a small smile as the coffee visibly woke him up more. 

‘That’s so good shit right there.” 

“My old man had a stash of it that I was never allowed to touch… I hate it. The rest of what I have is yours if you want it.” I offered. 

“What do you want for it?” He asked, clearly skeptical of my offer. 

“Nothin’.” I shrugged. 

“That’s a lie. Everyone here wants something for something. Nothing is free. So what do you want for it? I willin’ to bet I can get my hands on it.” He said. 

“Damn, you’re determined to get some coffee, aren’t you? How about a friend?” I asked. To be honest despite his rough exterior and not knowing him long I was warming up to him. I didn’t really have friends so why not. 

“What?” 

“Look, I don’t really have anyone anymore, so yeah, a friend would be nice right now.” 

His face softened and he held out his hand for me to shake, “Deal.” he said with a small smile. 

I smiled back at him as I took his hand and shook it. 

Our friendship grew from that day on. We worked nearly every day together. And even spent our days off together. One afternoon we were sitting on the roof of my apartment building having lunch when he asked me where I was from. 

“Texas.” I replied. 

“No, shit, me too.” He said with a small smile. 

“I feel like now would be the time where I am supposed to ask what part of Texas but, I honestly wouldn’t know the difference,” I admitted. 

“It’s okay, what part were you from?” 

“Canton.” 

“Oh, I know that place, cute little town.” He commented. 

Things were great, then I met Tess. She didn't like me much and didn’t seem too keen on my joining them outside of the city but Joel eventually convinced her. 

Then about a year after we met things went south for me. My block was taken over by the FireFlies. I got caught in the crossfire. I collected what I could of my belongings, which wasn't much, to begin with. I made it out with a shot to my shoulder. It hurt like bitch but I kept going I made it to Joel's and pounded on his door to be let in. 

He threw it open and his face dropped when he saw the blood seeping through my top. 

"What the hell?" He pulled me into his apartment. 

"Fire Flies." I answered. 

"Gunshot?" 

I nodded and all but collapsed into the chair at the table.

"Hey, stay awake." He said to me before calling for Tess. 

"Why'd the kid bleeding?" She said, almost annoyed. 

"I'm not kid." I shot back. 

"Cut it out you two! Get the tweezers." He said to her, she sighed and grabbed them, getting ready to help me.

Joel began reaching for the hem of my top. 

"I gotta take this off, okay?" He asked gently. 

"Buy me dinner first." I joked, not really thinking about the consequences of my words, but we flirted all the time so it shouldn’t be an issue. 

He laughed a little and slowly and carefully took it off. I hissed in pain. 

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"Where?" Tess asked large tweezers in her hand. 

"Back of shoulder." I said leaning forward.

She went to work and the moment I felt the cool metal touch the raw flesh I flinched. 

"Damnit, stay still, kid!" She reprimanded me. 

"Sorry, hurts." My eyes watered. 

She went in again and I flinched. 

"Okay, Yn, imma hold you down, okay?" Joel asked. 

I nodded lazily. 

"Keep your eyes open." He said, holding me down to the table. 

I felt the cold metal touch my skin once again but didn't flinch this time. 

"Fuck!" I gasped in a breath of air as I felt her pinch the raw flesh of my wound instead of the bullet. 

"That's not the bullet you fucker, that's me!" I said through gritted teeth. 

"Joel, it's wedged in there..." Tess said quietly. 

"Just cut it out. I few extra stitches is better than dying of infection." I said reaching for my knife in my pocket. 

I got it and tossed it on the table. Joel quickly grabbed it and poured some alcohol on it to disinfect as best he could. 

"Can I hold your hand?" I asked, holding out my good arm.

He nodded and slid his hand into mine. I squeezed the hell out of it as I felt the blade cut into my shoulder. 

"Breathe, Yn. You gotta breathe through it." Joel said, taking deep breaths to get me to mime him. 

Focusing on him helped and soon enough it was all over and I was stitched up. 

"There you go kid." Tess said, patting my other shoulder. 

"M'not kid." I slurred as I leaned more into the table. 

"Here go lay down on my bed, you'll be more comfortable." He said, helping me stand.

I stumbled but he was quick to catch me, "Can I borrow a shirt? I got blood on mine." 

He laughed a little, "Yeah I'll get you one in a minute." 

Once he got me into a new shirt and laying down he sat beside me on the bed. 

"Sorry bout the floor. I'll clean it later." 

"Don't worry bout that. Just rest." He said, giving me one last look over before standing to leave. 

“Wait…” I called out and he stopped. 

“Will you stay with me?” I asked quietly. 

Joel stayed silent for a moment, “I’ll be right back.” 

He left and I could hear muffled voices through the walls but couldn’t make out what was being said. Then I heard the door slam and a few moments later Joel walked in. I gave him a confused look. 

“What happened?” 

He shook his head, “Tess left. It’s okay. Get some rest.” 

“You too, come on.” I used my good arm to lift the blanket up beside me. 

I could tell he thought about it for a moment. But a moment later he was shedding his boots and crawling into the bed beside me. From that night on we shared a bed. Our relationship grew more and more and although we never officially defined it, we understood that we had something together. 

A little over a year after that night was my first time leaving the QZ. I was very nervous but Joel assured me everything would be okay and that he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. It was the night before we were supposed to leave. Joel and I were laying in bed together and I couldn’t settle down. 

“Be still.” He mumbled. 

“Sorry.” I tried not to sniffle but failed. 

He pushed himself to sit up and turned on the small lamp beside him, “What’s wrong?” 

I bit my lip trying not to break down, I was embarrassed by how scared I was to leave the QZ. Part of me was still very insecure that I was so much younger than he was. I never wanted him to think that I was immature. I sat up with him and pulled my knees to my chest. 

“I don’t know if I should go tomorrow…” I whispered. 

“Why not? Did Tess say somethin’ to you? Because she’s just trying to get in your head. We’ve never taken anyone out with us before. It’s more risky, but I promise you’ll be fine.” 

“How do you know?!” I snapped at him, “How do you know?” I repeated much quieter as the tears began to fall as the memories of being attacked by an infected all those years ago resurfaced. 

Joel pulled me to sit between his legs as he held me tight. 

“What happened, sweetheart?” He asked gently. 

“On our trip here from Knoxville, we were less than 5 miles away from the QZ, I got attacked…” I continued to tell the story of what happened that day and how Scott had helped me. 

“Sweetheart, I promise, nothing is going to happen to you tomorrow.” He said gently, pressing a kiss to my temple. 

He continued to hold me before I began falling asleep in his arms. Then he carefully laid us back down but continued to hold me close as we both drifted off to sleep.

I had to fix the taglist, if you're tag is not working please let me know.

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[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Imagine Tangerine’s wife getting abducted by one of the twin’s enemies and the Twins are LIVID (rightfully so), gather their supplies, their rain coats, and storm the place she’s being held… No one’s left standing within a couple minutes but a Tan, Lem, and a very traumatized Y/n who now doesn’t want to ever leave her husband’s side

hii lovely, sorry it’s taken so long. love this idea- super soft and cute. hope you like it 💌

not letting go (tangerine x fem reader)

wc || 967

warnings || mentions of abduction and weapons

masterlist + rules

taglist

You knew someday that being married to Tangerine would eventually bite you in the arse, but you never actually expected it to happen. You were aware of the consequences of being the wife of a man who has lots of enemies, but you didn’t care, as he is the man you decided to love.

But right now you were cold, alone and terrified. You were abducted presumably by someone with a vendetta towards the twins. You were the only thing that could truly hurt them, obviously meaning that their enemies will use that to their advantage. For several hours you had been tied to a chair in the middle of a dark, dingy room, wrists aching from the friction of the rope.

You knew the twins would save you, you just told yourself to be patient but as more time passed the more antsy and scared you became. They’ll be here soon, they have to be.

The gang that took you had kept rigorous tracks on you, they knew exactly what you’d be doing and where- which was the perfect time for them to strike. They had taken you from your car when you were out, so when you didn’t come home when you said you would, the twins were extremely worried. When you didn’t answer the twenty calls, they already knew what had happened. They have their ways, they will find you.

A guy lurks from behind the metal pillar holding a large knife, playing with it as if to taunt you. Slowly pacing forward as he brushed the metal point along his hands, purposely trying to intimidate you. Your mind raced as you tried to remember all the tips the twins had taught you, in case you ever found yourself in a situation like this, but unfortunately, your mind was completely blank. No adrenaline to push the fight or flight, it was just pure fear.

The man edged forwards, running the point of the knife along your jaw, pushing your chin up to look at his disgusting face. The gang were using you as bait, they weren’t actually going to harm you, well not until the twins got to you anyway.

His repulsive fingers replace the knife under your chin, holding it up as he looked into your teary eyes. “If they’re not here soon… you’re a goner.” Slapping the side of your cheek as he walked away and into the back.

You felt his dirty hand leave a warm imprint on your face and you knew that these torture tactics were about to get a lot worse. The guys were really rough on your arms when they transported you, leaving purple bruises on your upper arms and grazes over your legs.

You could feel a drip of blood run down the side of your face, you were guessing that it was when they hit your head earlier on.

Gunshots were fired outside at an alarmingly fast pace, you weren’t sure whether it was good or bad. More gunshots fire from the mezzanine level above you, crouching your head between your knees as you tried to comfort yourself.

After two minutes the bullets stopped, the silence was actually scarier than the gunfight.

Hearing the familiar voice of your husband as he shouted around the small building trying to find you.

“I’m here.” You softly replied too shaky to accentuate your voice.

He must’ve had super hearing with all the adrenaline running through him, as he located you instantly. Footsteps rushing around, panicking as he tried to make his way to you.

Immediately dropping to his knees in between your legs, his eyes wide and worried as he looked over your face. Delicately cupping your cheek as his thumb swiped across, eyebrows curling in the middle as he noticed your wet and red under eyes.

He licks his thumb before softly swiping it over the dried blood on your temple. “I’m so, so sorry.” He softly gushes as he unties the rope around you. “I’m so sorry.” He says under his breath as if he’s trying to calm himself.

The second he sets you free, you wrap your arms around him, too shaken up to let him go just yet. He understood immediately, so he pulls you in tighter, his hands clasping at your back as he hushed you.

You were hugging his bloody poncho, but you didn’t care, burying your face further into the crook of his neck as you softly cried.

“I’m so so so sorry, love.” His hand brushing over your hair. “Let’s go get Lem.” He quietly offers as he kisses the crown of your head.

“Okay.” You meekly respond, wiping your eyes on the clean parts of his shoulder.

His arms loosen to let you go, but you vigorously shake your head ‘no’. “Please don’t let go…”

“I won’t, I won’t- don’t worry.” Tangerine reassures, holding you tighter into him.

Lemon runs into the room, clearly glad to see you. “Oh my god, thank fuck.” He blurts as if he can now finally breathe. “We’re so sorry.” Slowly making his way over to you, kneeling beside you on the chair. Gently circling the smalls of your back as Tangerine took care of the top half.

The three of you sat like that for a couple of minutes, until your husband told you it isn’t safe and you need to get going. Tangerine carried you to the car, keeping you close to his chest, not once letting you go. He didn’t even separate to get in the car, holding you on his lap as Lemon sped away. Tan strokes his fingers in your hair, “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He quietly says into your temple, kissing it one last time as he held you close to him. Never wanting to leave each other's sides.

[girlactionfigure]

🟪 TUESDAY morning - events from Israel  

ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

▪️OPPOSITION LEADER MK YAIR LAPID.. Yesh Atid party, spotted in Washington, DC meeting with Barak Obama, after meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

.. Lapid to US Sec State Blinken: "Israel will not be able to recover from the bloody impact, 101 abductees have been in danger of their lives for 346 days. Don't let Hamas get away with evading returning hostages. We will provide a safety net (meaning the opposition votes will offset coalition parties who would vote against a deal) to bring the kidnapped home. No extremist parties will be allowed to overturn a deal within Israel.”

▪️POLITICAL RUMORS.. rumors and leaks continue to swirl over whether MK Sa’ar and his small opposition party, a break-away from Likud 5 years ago, will join the coalition.  The latest from the rumor mill: The security portfolio to Sa'ar - Minister in the Prime Minister's Office to MK Elkin - Deputy Foreign Minister to MK Sharan Hashakal - New Tikva party will be independent for now (will not immediately re-merge with Likud).

.. (Ch. 14) The details regarding Gideon Sa'ar are already closed.  Alternative source: The negotiations are close to closing, there are still a number of small issues remaining.  Another source: Sa'ar will have a veto on the promotion of legal reform.

.. (Ch. 14) Likud officials are preparing to thwart the return of Gideon Sa'ar to the government.

▪️AMMO THEFT.. Huge theft from an IDF base in the south - 18 containers with military equipment were broken into, a huge amount of ammunition was taken. (Ch. 14)

▪️ISRAEL RETURNS TERRORIST BODY.. to Jordan, from the Allenby crossing attack that killed 3 civilian workers.

▪️RED ON RED - JENIN.. Arab reports, the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, abducted and arrested tonight the senior Hamas operative in the Jenin Tha'er Lahluh Brigades, known as "Abu Sanad".  Violent gunfights broke out between Hamas and PA forces.

▪️TERROR WIFE?  Arab reports, the army arrested Abla Sa'adat tonight in the city of El Bira in Ramallah, the wife of the secretary of the Popular Front in the Territories, Ahmed Sa'adat, who has been imprisoned in Israel since October 2001 for his part in the murder of Minister רחבעם זאבי, hy”m

▪️HOUTHIS WARN.. against an attack against Yemen following the launch of the missile at Israel.

▪️HOUTHIS CLAIM.. "The US offered to recognize our rule in exchange for the cessation of attacks."

▪️US SEC DEFENSE TO ISRAEL.. Austin to Def. Min Gallant: Israel must give the talks (with Lebanon) time to succeed, escalation will have devastating consequences.

▪️UN SEC GENERAL - ISRAEL BAD.. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that "nothing justifies the collective punishment" imposed by Israel on the population of the Gaza Strip "who experience unimaginable suffering".  In an interview with the French news agency AFP, Guterres claimed: "It is clear that we all condemn the terrorist attacks of Hamas, as well as the kidnapping of the hostages, but the truth is that nothing justifies the punishment. The collective of the Palestinians, and this is what we see dramatically in Gaza."

♦️COUNTER-TERROR - SHECHEM.. clashes that developed in the Balata camp in Nablus tonight, between IDF forces who arrived to make arrests, and local terrorists who tried to prevent the arrests, unsuccessfully.  Casualties reported among the terrorists.

⭕3 rounds of HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS at northern towns overnight.  Significant damage in Menara.

✡️A brief daily word of Torah: Truth reveals God’s Oneness in the world. - Sefer Hamidot, Rebbe Nachman of Breslev