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upat4amwiththemoon · 5 months ago

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As free as an avis | 7

Summary: A princess and a commoner falling in love was a scandal on itself, but them both being women just adds fuel to the fire.

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader

Warnings: this story will deal with homophobia and sexism, this story is mostly historically inaccurate

Word count: 2359

a/n: lets pretend that it hasn’t been ages since I wrote the last chapter (this series is still my baby)

Tags: @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @themagnificentmx @raven-reyes-wife @spongebobtentacles @friskyfisher @thought-of-you-and-me @rafecameronswhore @sayah13 @wandsmxmff @emsmultiverse @natashamaximoff69 @scarsw1fe

masterlists | guidelines

All parts: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

Ever since Y/N and Wanda said they loved each other, they have gotten braver and braver to show that love to one another, though it still happens behind closed doors, the people of the castle have started noticing their attachment to each other. At this point, it seems like a pair of two overly attached friends. It is inappropriate in many of the castle servant’s eyes, after all, a princess and the lady’s maid should not be so close, but none of them speak of it, as they know the Princess’s stubborn nature.

As the servants don’t speak of their relationship, they have also given up on stopping the Princess from leaving the castle without permission.

Which is exactly what she is doing right now, with Wanda.

“Would you say this is a good area?” Y/N lowers her hood as she glances at Wanda, who is studying their surroundings.

They are a bit away from the bustling city, near nature. The area is wide and open, full of unused fields and a couple of abandoned wooden sheds.

“I know it’s a walk away from the city, but I would make sure carriages would drive here, and there is a future possibility of building a shop near by.”

“Y/N.” Wanda turns to look at Y/N with a gentle smile. “It’s amazing. The walk isn’t too long, building so many homes will create a lot of jobs, this…” she gestures at the nature, “this is a beautiful place.”

Y/N nods and lets out a relieved sigh. She smiles as she takes hold of Wanda’s hand squeezing it softly. Her approval means everything to her. “Yeah?”

“Yes.” Wanda giggles, glancing around before planting a kiss on her cheek.

The two of them are alone—besides the carriage driver waiting where he can’t see them—but they know to be careful wherever they may be, there’s always a chance of someone watching them.

“When will you start building?”

Y/N looks around with a proud smile. “Once I find trustworthy builders, so my involvement won’t go back to my parents.”

“You know all the townspeople would field loyalty to you in a heartbeat, no one has love for the King and Queen like they do to you.”

“You know every single townsperson?”

Rolling her eyes, Wanda links their arms together as they start making their way back to the carriage. “Obviously not.” A small grin adorns her face. “But people talk, and my brother is such a gossip.”

“And you aren’t?” Y/N laughs, pulling Wanda closer. “I’ve heard you speaking with Yelena, you leave no detail behind.”

“That is totally different.” She raises her brows, but can’t hide the small smile growing on her face. “Yelena is brutal with her words, I’m slightly afraid she’ll yell at me if I do not tell her everything I know.”

The skin around Y/N’s eyes wrinkle as she laughs. “She’s merely fun scary.”

“What does that even mean?”

Y/N shrugs, “she’s more fun than scary. She wouldn’t hurt you.”

“But she could hurt me.”

“Oh, without a doubt.”

Wanda lets out a quiet huff, gently pushing Y/N’s side as they untangle their arms, having come near enough of the carriage to see it.

The driver opens the carriage door, bowing his head as Y/N climbs in with Wanda right behind her. The door closes and the carriage starts moving soon after.

The woman sit opposite of each other, smiling and talking silently so the driver wouldn’t accidentally overhear them. Their feet bump against one another’s, giggles fill the carriage every once in a while.

“There’s a quiet corner in the garden where no one else goes to, we could go there after we get back?” One of Y/N’s feet move under the hem of Wanda’s dress, gently tapping against her ankle.

Wanda smiles, “I still need to do my duties, you know, cleaning up and such?”

She rolls her eyes and sighs. Of course she had her own duties to attend to as well, but she’d much rather bail on them and spend all her time with Wanda. “After those duties then?”

“Yes, after we both are done with our duties.”

The Princess’ duties are a bore, at least in her eyes. Besides reading books about being a good wife and baby making, it involves meeting potential suitors. Men, who are supposed to be the next King if they marry. Men, who will take over ruling, because the woman cannot be the one making the decisions, even if she is the rightful heir—to her parents’ dismay.

Y/N sits around a table, one parent on each side and Lord Scott Lang opposite of her, a man over twice her age, which seemed to surprise Scott himself. A nice man over all, but not one she would like to marry.

Most of the discussion has gone through Y/N’s ears, though it doesn’t necessarily affect anything, as her parents will are the one doing the ‘interviewing’ and choosing, it’s only her future after all.

“Darling,” the Queen pinches Y/N’s thigh under the table, causing her to bring her attention back to the conversation, “do you have anything to say to Lord Lang?”

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Lord Lang.” Y/N gives him a polite smile, clearly wanting to get out of the room and back into Wanda’s warm embrace.

Scott nods with a smile, slightly put off by the Princess. “The pleasure was all mine.”

One of the servant guide him out of the room. The Queen lets out a sigh, rubbing the spot between her brows. “She will not be marrying, Lord Lang, he was too…aloof. Maybe we will have her meet Lord Barnes next.”

“I agree.”

Y/N rolls her eyes, leaning back on her chair as her parents talk about her inevitable marriage over her.

“And having a daughter out of wedlock,” the King scoffs, “unacceptable for a king to be.”

“At least he seems to genuinely love her.” Y/N mumbles, mostly speaking to herself, but not really caring anymore if her parents hear her.

Her mother’s cold glare turns to her. “What was that?”

“I said,” she turns to look at her, “that he seems to genuinely care about her, at least judging by the way he spoke so highly of her.”

“What is your problem?”

“I thought I’ve made my problems very clear.” Y/N states, narrowing her eyes. She might as well start a fight. She lifts a finger, “number one is you two,” she lifts another, “number two is becoming queen. Number three-“

“Oh, you need to grow up.” The Queen interrupts, her voice raising in pitch. “You have known what your job in this castle is ever since you were born. You have had all these years to deal with the fact you will be the new queen, but you still haven’t. You know why? Because you’re childish and refuse to make best of your situation. This is a problem you have created and if you don’t get over it, we will be forced to do something drastic.”

Y/N stares at her mother, a frown on her face. She never liked losing arguments. “Whatever.”

The King lets out a sigh and stands up, causing the Queen to follow along. “Listen to your mother, Y/N. It’s time to start acting like the future queen.” The two walk out of the room, leaving Y/N to sit alone, wallowing in her feelings.

“Are you sure no one will see us here?” Wanda looks around the garden as she gets dragged through it by Y/N. She is holding a picnic basket and a blanket in her free hand.

“I’m sure, Wanda.” She slows down her pace as they arrive to a more hidden corner of the garden.

The spot is shaded by an old oak tree and surrounded by tall flower bushes, giving it a private feel. The wind rustles the oak leaves, some falling down as a stronger gush pushes them. Though it’s already evening, the bees and butterflies still fly around the flowers, at times stopping on top of them, and birds communicate to each other, their words coming out as a delightful song.

Y/N and Wanda set the blanket under the oak tree’s branches, small slivers of the lowering sun hitting their face as they sit down. “Well?” The Princess turns to look at Wanda with a smile.

“It’s lovely, very peaceful.” Wanda sets the basket in front of them. It’s filled with different berries and pastries.

“It’s the perfect place for us.”

They set the snacks and drinks onto the blanket in front of them, enjoying them while they speak of everything and nothing in particular.

“You seemed upset.” Wanda mumbles, glancing at Y/N as she bites into a strawberry. “Earlier today, I mean. Before we came here.”

Y/N lets out a sigh, “it’s nothing, just my parents being themselves again.”

“Another suitor?”

She hums and nods, picking up a cupcake. “They’re really starting to push the idea of marriage on me, I think they’re getting desperate.”

“I’m sorry.” Wanda mumbles. She feels bad for not knowing how to comfort Y/N better in these situations.

“It’s fine.” Y/N smiles gently, gently bumping her shoulder against Wanda’s. “I don’t want to think about marriages when I’m with you.”

Wanda bumps her shoulder back, grabbing a handful of blueberries as she drops the subject.

Soon the sun fully sets down, the evening darkness slowly starting to engulf the garden. Wanda and Y/N move the blanket away from the oak tree, so they could lay on it and watch the stars.

“Which one do you want to go to?” Y/N asks softly after a moment of silence.

“What do you mean?”

“When we met, you said you’d like to travel to a stars.” She states, her gaze on the sky. It’s not fully dark yet, but the brightest stars are already visible. “Which one would you like to go to?”

Wanda hums. “I don’t know the names of the stars.”

“We have some astronomy books in the library, I’ll get them for you.” Y/N mumbles, turning her head to the side to look at Wanda.

Her side profile is ethereal. Y/N doesn’t know if she’s ever seen something so effortlessly beautiful. A small smile adorns her face, she swears she can see the twinkle of the stars in Wanda’s eyes, she’s sure Wanda’s eyes are the stars.

“Really?” Wanda turning her head to look at her makes her come out of her thoughts.

“Yeah,” she whispers, “I’d do anything for you.” Y/N raises up to lean on her elbows, the upper half of her body over Wanda’s. They stare at each other for a moment, before she slowly lowers her face closer, pressing their lips together in a soft and slow kiss.

One of Wanda’s hands moves around Y/N’s waist, rubbing the dress covered skin gently.

They pull away, though their faces are still close enough to feel the other’s warm breath on their faces. Y/N feels like her heart is beating out of her chest. “Do you want to run away with me?” The question comes out so quietly Wanda almost doesn’t understand it.

Her eyes widen and she sits up properly, bringing Y/N up with her. “What?”

“I…I want to run away with you. Go someplace where no one knows me, where we don’t have to be careful or hide.” The heartbeat is almost deafening in her ears.

“Do you mean that?”

“Of course I do.”

A silence falls. Wanda stares at Y/N with slightly furrowed brows, her hands shaking at the prospect of running away with her, leaving her family and friends behind. They would understand, but could she really do it.

“I’m sorry.” Y/N clears her throat, her gaze falling after the silence continues. “It was a stupid idea. Our whole lives are here and w-“

“Yes.”

“What?”

Wanda sets her hands on Y/N’s cheeks, pulling their faces closer together. A smile grows on her face, one of those that hurt her cheeks but she can’t stop. “I’ll run away with you.”

Letting out a laugh, whether of shock or relief Y/N doesn’t know, she sets her hands on top of Wanda’s. “You’re perfect.”

The laughter is contagious. Giddiness and a sense of freedom fill their bodies as Wanda drops back down on her back, pulling Y/N down with her. Her other hand goes to the back of the Princess’ neck, bringing their lips together, their teeth almost clashing together.

They stay like that for a moment, hands wondering and occasional giggles interrupting their kisses. When they finally pull apart, they’re panting, huge smiles on their faces.

“When are we leaving?” Wanda whispers, moving a strand of Y/N’s hair behind her ear.

“Soon. We just need to get ready, say our goodbyes, and make sure my parents won’t do anything.” She lets out a shaky breath, the weight of their decision settling in her chest. “But it’ll be good, I’m certain Natasha and Yelena will help us.”

“My family too.” Wanda smiles, her thumb rubbing Y/N’s cheek. She can sense the nerves in her. “I can’t think of anything better than spending my whole life with you.”

Y/N’s leans her head against Wanda’s shoulder as they lay on the blanket. “Me neither.”

Another silence falls over them, a comforting one. They stay close to each other, Wanda looking at the sky and Y/N listening to the beat of her heart.

A small rustle breaks the atmosphere.

They practically fly away from each other, both of their eyes moving to the direction of the sound. There’s just a flower bush there, no insects, no other movement. Just in case, they stay quiet for a moment, waiting for any kind of disturbance.

“Probably just a bird.” Y/N whispers, fearful of raising her voice.

“Yeah…”

Nonetheless, they gather up the blanket and basket, making their way back to the castle.

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misguidedasgardian · 5 months ago

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Wildcats (Part XVIII)

XVIII. For survival purposes

MASTERLIST

Summary: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis, that’s how it worked.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Zombie apocalypse AU, living dead, zombies, guts, blood, guns, injures, kissing, longing, angst, fluff, reader is horny, girl talk, might miss some important warnings, but you know what this is about

+18, MINORS DNI

You did not have more time to put Daryl up to speed, you both ran towards the place they were holding the meeting, the palace from where you had heard the gunshot. And what you saw when you got there was heartbreaking.

Pete was dead on the floor, headshot, Rick was still holding the gun. Deanna was crying, and in her arms, on the floor, stood Reg, bathed in blood.

Reg! you whimpered when you saw him.

He was the builder of all of Alexandria’s dreams, and there he was, dead, his throat slit open, blood still pouring from it. A katana on the floor, Deanna was weeping, as many others were too. In frightened moans. Jesse was there, watching her dead husband with eyes filled with tears.

You came back home after everything was sorted, you were shaken, but so was Daryl.

“I know he meant a lot for ya”, he said softly as you were walking back to the house

“He was going to teach me how to build real houses”, you whimpered, “meaning, structures and others… things we are going to need in the near future….”, you mumbled. Like the freaking wall around Alexandria.

“You’ll figure it out”, he said softly, leading you with his hand on the small of your back.

You stood on the porch, both of you, like two normal people, who after a normal date, the normal guy would accompany the normal girl back to her normal house and walk her to the normal door. And they were normally nervous, does she invite him in? Does she invite him back to her room?

He took a step forward leaving no space between the both of you.

He placed his hands on your hips, as he sighed.

“Hey”, he muttered

“Hey”, you greeted back, looking at his beautiful eyes.

“I kiss ya”, he said

“Aren’t you sharp, Dixon? nothing scapes ya”, he snorted as you chuckled, “I enjoyed it, and I kissed you too, pretty aggressively, I might add”, you said with a wide smile

“Ya’ wanna to keep kissin’ me?”, he asked again, he seemed unsure, his eyes shone with what looked to be hope, and you hoped you could transmit how much you wanted it with your eyes as he was doing it himself.

“Yes”, you said, hoping not to sound too eager.

“Why?”

“Why?”, you echoed his question, how could he not get it?

“Why would ya? keep kissin’ someone like me?”

“Someone like you”, what does that even mean?”, you asked, incredulously, “someone kind? strong and compassionate? loyal? generous?, someone who would give his life for his family? Someone who can spend days hunting to make sure we don’t starve? someone who can survive in this fucked up world? someone devastatingly handsome? with arms for days?”, you kept going until he was blushing mess

“I’m way older than ya”, he said then.

“I don’t care”, you said with a soft smile, “but I do care that all you’re doing is looking for excuses”, she chided softly, “we are going to find a lot, you too… my only question is why would YOU like to keep kissing me?”

“Ya are the most beautiful person I have ever seen”, he drawled. “You’re badass, protective…”, he said, you smiled warmly at him, “Would ya like me to… keep kissin’ ya’?”, he asked softly.

“I would enjoy that, yes”, you said, nodding excitedly, “and if you get tired I can always… kiss you”

“Soun’ fair”, he said, with a little smile.

“Like this”, you said, leaning in and kissing him softly. He grabbed onto you, returning the kiss passionately.

You released his lips again, because you believed you were never going to let him go if you didn’t, you shared looks, as he placed his forehead against yours. You breathed each other, enjoying eachother’s warmth

“Are you alright?”, you didn’t know what else to ask him, you wanted to know what happened in that trip

“Yeah”, he whispered softly against your lips. “Now I am”, you smiled warmly at him

“Want to talk about it?”, he shook his head. You weren’t gonna lie, you were disappointed but, you were not going to press him. Something happened on his run with Aaron, something that led him to realize something that led him to kiss you.

But if he didn’t want to talk about it, the important part is that he was ok, he was back home, and he had kissed you.

He leaned in and kissed you now, and you enjoyed it even more…

Should you invite him to your room? Should you… screw him good like you wanted to for a while now? since the very first time you saw his naked arms, you believed.

Someone cleared their throats, making you split.

Michonne, Rick, Rosita and Abraham were looking at you, all of them with smiles on their faces. Rick looked at the two of you and he looked positively surprised. Like he just found his teenage daughter with a boy

“Well! about time!”, said Abraham.

Daryl seemed completely uncomfortable, as he cleared his throat, looking everywhere but at the people there, including you

“Let’s leave them alone”, said Rosita, taking Abraham with her.

Only Rick, Michonne, Daryl and you entered the house. The silence that ensued turned awkward, really awkward. Rick didn’t seem to be in the mood to deal with any of it, he disappeared quickly.

Michonne winked at you before she disappeared as well, leaving the both of you alone.

“Do you want us to… go down to your room?”, you asked him, you believed he was going to be more comfortable in his domains. He smiled at you, but he leaned in and kissed you on your forehead.

“Let’s go to yours”, he said. Not only for having… intimacy of any kind with him, but you needed to talk. You were a bit disappointed that he had not let you go down there, since you had never seen his room, but again you were more comfortable in yours.

You closed the door when he entered the room behind you.

“Wha’ happen?”, he asked, “when I was gone?”, you looked back at him with a conflicted look in your eyes. You were for certain nobody was going to hear you, so you could speak freely.

“Everything happened quickly”, you said softly, “Rick and Pete started fighting in the street in broad daylight”, you started telling him everything that happened, “And when Deanna stopped him, he had a gun and started pointing it at people”, he didn’t seem impressed at all, “he started saying, that Deanna’s ways were over, that they needed to change… then Michonne herself knocked him out…”, you explained, “where did he get the gun? then I learned that he stole it from the armory…”, you said, “he told Glenn, Michonne, Carol, Abraham and me that he intended on a hostile takeover of Alexandria… but it didn’t came to it…”, you saw the guilt in his eyes as soon as you saw him, “you knew”, you said

“I did”, he said

“I thought of Carol…”

“She was in it too”, he said, “she stole guns from the armory…”

“Why?”, you asked him

“I didn’t take one”, he said lowly. You took a long breath

“Did you want to participate in a hostile takeover?”, you asked him

“If it was necessary”, he said, “but I wanted to try first”, you believed him.

“What was on Rick’s mind?”, you asked him

“I dunno”, well, definitively imposing his own vision of things on this place. A violent, but more realistic approach, “he wants to save this place, whatever it takes”, that whatever it takes being slashing some throats, for example.

“What do you want to do?”, you asked him, he looked back at you. Both standing in the middle of the room.

“I wanna us to be safe ‘ere”, he said, “Carl, Judith, ya… ya’ deserve it”. You only looked at him

“At any cost?”, you asked him

“It won’ come to it”, he said, “not after tonight”, Deanna had ordered Rick to execute Pete, Deanna had seen the “light”, so, he was right… You nodded at him.

“So, can we finally call this place home?”, you asked him. He smiled

“Guess so”, he said finally. There was an awkward silence

“Do you wanna stay?”, you asked him. He moved where he stood, uncomfortably

“I reek”, he mumbled

“I don’t care”, you said

“M’gonna ruin yer sheets”, he whispered

“I don’t care”, you echoed, looking at him intensely, “we slept together on the road many times… I think… we should stick together, you know, for surviving purposes”, you said quickly, cheeks heated.

“G’night”, he drawled, kissing you int he forehead, and he left you there. mouth wide open as you saw him disappeared through the door.

He rejected you?

Is anybody else going to block your metaphorical cock? First Rick, then the entire group, and now the very man that was kissing you. You grunted, about to throw a fit like a kid.

You were a woman, a relatively healthy woman, and as such, you had needs.

And now you had a kissing buddy who could meet those needs… but that kissing buddy as much as ran away from you.

But you had just kissed, you couldn’t pressure him, you need to take it slow… a bit hard to take it slow when you had already literally sleeping with him

This meant nothing, right? that he as well as ran away from your room didn’t mean he didn’t want to be with you… in that way… right?

. . .

“so….”, you looked up from the blueprint at Rosita and Maggie, both looking at you with mischievous looks in their eyes. They had found you, the gazebo in the small park had become your sanctuary, is where Reg, Noah and you met, before they both died horribly.

“So?”, you asked, even though you already knew what this might be about

“You had been… kissing… Daryl for a week now…”, teased Maggie, “soo… how is he?”

“Kissing?”, you asked, wanting to throw yourself into the lagoon and never resurface. Because kissing is all you have been doing…

It was… odd, to say the least, he would look for you, place his hand on your hip or waist when he was by your side… he would look for you every morning, to greet you and before he went on runs…

But kissing is all you had been doing, a soft peck on the lips when he said good morning, or good night, or goodbye.

Everybody caught on by now, Daryl made sure to… make his presence known by your side in front of everybody by now, but then, when you were alone, he would just leave, especially when you invited him to your room, or tried to go with him to his.

“No!”, exclaimed Rosita, “you haven’t screwed yet?”

“Hey!”, said Maggie, slapping her shoulder playfully, but then she turned to you, “well… have you?”. you had been on edge, to say the least, you were about to start humping his leg like some horny dog, you were about to start climbing walls like a woman possessed by hornyness.

“Come on! spill girl!”, encouraged Rosita. So you looked at the both of them and sighed loudly

“He won’t fuck me”, you admitted, “he won’t do it, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong”, they shared concerned looks

“It’s not you…”, said Maggie

“I haven’t been sutil”, you warned, “I have invited him to sleep with me, almost every night, on my room, and he won’t do it, I think I scared him, and now he won’t even go to the second floor in fear of me”

“He is special…”, said Maggie

“You know him the longest”, you said, closing your notebook and looking at her, “is he regretting ever kissing me?”, you asked her

“No”

“Have you spoken to him?”, you asked her

“No”, she echoed, “but I’m sure he doesn’t regret it, I mean… he made sure everybody knew you two are together, he might as well pee on you”, she giggled.

You lowered your head, he hasn't even invited you out of the walls, like that day, you had such a good time, and if you suggested it… he shut it down quite quickly.

“Are we even together?”, you asked out loud

“He kissed you”, said Maggie, “he wants to be with you”

“It’s only been a week”, you whispered, “and I already feel like this is not advancing, we aren’t even speaking”

“So weird”, muttered Rosita, “Dixon looks like he would rail the shit out of you”, she said, you both laughed. It was tragi-comic at this point.

Maybe you were getting ahead of yourself, maybe he was the one who wanted to take it slow… but he didn’t even want to hang out with you…

From the gazebo you actually saw Daryl, jumping off of his bike with something in his hand and going into the pantry

He had gone out of the walls everyday since that day… and even though you never needed him here, because Rick had been weirdly calm… you couldn’t help but actually feel trapped in here, you haven't gone out there like he had, He wouldn’t take you anywhere either, so…. you wanted to get out there, maybe, put some distance between you… maybe that’ll do you both some good, to help him figure out what he wanted.

You wanted to be with him, hang out with him, have talks with him, you wanted him to pin you to your bed and…you shook your head… What did he want?

But not only because of him… this place was making you weak, you needed to get out there, you enjoyed it, besides the walkers of course, you liked scavenging, not with the Alexandria team though.

You left the girls behind as you almost ran to the man, who was coming out, empty handed, out of the pantry/garage

“Daryl!”, you said excitedly, he seemed startled, “how did the run go?”

“Found the damn’ pasta maker!”, he said, excited, like he had found the cure. You laughed as you wrapped your arms around him, he placed his hands on your waist, smiling at you.

“I want to go out there”, you said, and yes, you were testing him, trying for the last time

“Wha’ for?”, he asked, frowning, “ya should stay ‘ere”, he said softly, learning in and giving you a peck on the lips, “need to go”, he mumbled, releasing you and walking away like you were the plague incarnate.

You walked back to Maggie and Rosita with your tail between your legs.

You wanted to get out there again, and you knew Daryl wasn’t going to take you.

Also, you wanted to be useful, to your family, and to put your piece into the new community. You wanted to get out there.

And suddenly, you realized where you had to go. And you turned to Rosita.

“I need to ask you something”, you said with a short smile.

. . .

“I want to go to DC”, you said to Abraham, Eugene, Rosita and RIck, you had trouble setting this up, every time you had one, the other was somewhere else, but alas, here they were, besides Rosit helped.

“Why?”, asked Rick

“Those three wanted to go for a reason”, you said, signaling to the trio

“It was a lie”, said Abraham

“Not completely, you said you were talking to people there, and Eugene wanted to go for a reason, and he was right, if there is someone left, is probably there”

“Deanna said they evacuated them all”, muttered Rick

“So it’s gonna be empty, either way”, you said simply

“Are you planning on sightseeing?”, mocked Rosita, you smiled

“I always wanted to see the Lincoln monument, but yeah… I think it’s a good idea, Atlanta was still�� lively”, you muttered, but nobody looked convinced, “look, I will go, I just gathered you here to hear your opinions and if you wanted to join me, it's just a couple of hours from here”, you said surely, “I can go for a couple of days''

“You are not going alone”, commanded Rick. You took a long sigh

“I will not make anybody come with me, I get it's very dangerous”, you said with a convincing look, “but I feel like at least one of us has to see what’s up there, for closure or whatever”, you assured him.

“I want to go with you”, said Rosita, and you smiled

“So do I”, said Abraham, “i want to see what all the fuss is about”

“I think its best if I stay put…”, Eugene kept mumbling objections, so you tuned him out.

“Right!”, you said with a wide smile, “we are a team”, Rick looked a you

“Are you sure you want to do this?”, he asked

“Damn right”, you said

“I’ll need to talk to Deanna”

“Why?”, you asked that so quickly you earned a look of disapproval from Rick, “Sorry I forgot”

“Yeah, I don’t like it either”, said Abraham, “since when do we ask for permission?”

“I think it would be best”, he said simply, “let her know”

“But if she insists that one of those idiots has to go with us, I will cancel the whole thing”, you warned, he smiled and shook his head

“Right”, he said, “are you all sure?”

“We need to score a big run”, said Rosita, “DC is out safest bet”

“Fine”, he said, nodding, “I’ll tell Deanna tonight”

“No others”, you said

“You didn’t tell Daryl?”, all eyes were on you when Rick asked you that.

“No”, yous aid shortly, “he is out with Aaron, didn’t want to concern him

“Fine”, said Rick

@crazyunsexycool @capricxnt

#misguidedcats #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon the walking dead #the walking dead daryl #daryl dixon #twd daryl #daryl x reader #daryl twd #daryl fanfiction #the walking dead daryl dixon #the walking dead

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bestanimal · 4 months ago

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Round 1 - Phylum Brachiopoda

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Brachiopoda is a phylum of animals that are superficially similar but entirely unrelated to bivalve molluscs, in that they have hard valves (shells) protecting their bodies. However, unlike bivalves, who have a left and right shell arrangement, brachiopods have upper and lower shells (trust me, it makes sense anatomically). Their shells are hinged at the rear, while the front end can be opened for feeding or closed for protection. Most brachiopods have a stalk-like pedicle which projects from an opening near their hinge and anchors the animal to the sea floor (see 3rd image). Some brachiopods use their pedicle to emerge and retract into a burrow. They are filter feeders, using a lophophore to feed. However, unlike bryozoans and entoprocts, their lophophore is U-shaped. Some species do not have an anus, instead combining solid waste with mucus and periodically "sneezing” it out. Brachiopod lifespans can range from 3 to 30+ years. They only live in the ocean, in areas with cold water and low light, and without strong currents or waves, Some are commonly known as “lamp shells.”

There are two major categories of brachiopod; articulate and inarticulate. Articulate refers to the tooth-and-groove structure at the hinge of the shell, which inarticulate brachiopods lack. Inarticulate brachiopods have larvae that look like miniature adults with extended lophophores (seen in gif below), which live as plankton for months before growing too heavy and sinking to the sea floor. Articulate brachiopods have larvae which look like blobs with a yolk sack and live as plankton for a few days before metamorphosing.

Brachiopods have existed since the early Cambrian, but lost about 2/3 of their once great diversity during the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Today there are about 100 living genera, though there are 5,000 fossil genera.

Propaganda under the cut:

Brachiopods hit their peak in the Paleozoic era, occupying many ecological niches and being the most abundant filter-feeders and reef-builders. After losing most of their diversity in the Triassic, they’ve lost this position to bivalves. But we must never forget the Old Kings of Shell.

The smallest living brachiopod, Gwynia, is only about 1 mm long and lives between grains of gravel.

The largest brachiopods known lived in the Carboniferous: Gigantoproductus and Titanaria could be 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) wide. Today, most brachiopods range from 1 to 100 mm (0.04 to 3.9 in) long, with the largest being Magellania venosa.

Brachiopod flesh is apparently Not That Great, and not much preys on them. Even fossil brachiopods are rarely found with evidence of predation in the same way fossil bivalves are. Humans, however, do fish for one genera commercially, though on a small scale. Because of course we do.

Brachiopods are apparently very sensitive to pollution, and are good indicators of water quality.

Brachiopods are the state fossil of Kentucky. No specific species. Just all of them, I guess.

#round 1 #animal polls

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goozzby23 · 1 year ago

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cyncerity · 9 months ago

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Finally! The Store Shifter AU dad story!!

Holy shit this took so long, i’m still not fully satisfied with the ending but this story has been like genuinely over 5 months in the making so i’m leaving it as is. also this will need a part 2 so expect that hopefully in a shorter period of time than this one took!

guys this thing is like almost 5k words lol

tw vore: don’t like it don’t read it

“Bad, are you sure this is the best idea?” “Yes I’m sure, now be quiet, we’re almost there.”

Skeppy huffed, blowing a few loose strands of hair out of his face. Bad always got like this when they went on retrieval missions. The kind and funny (if not somewhat naïve) man he married buried beneath a stoic, focused outer shell. He couldn’t blame him, though. Humans were horrifying to be around, and if Bad felt like he needed to turn off everything to get them all out of there safely, so be it. Usually it was just the two of them, Skeppy and Bad against the world as it always seemed to be, but Sam was with them today. He’d been pretty silent through their walk, but Skeppy could sense the unease practically radiating off him. Sam was a builder, after all; he almost never went near humans. But, according to him, some homes in their colony had been damaged by storms and needed repair work that would be significantly easier with human tools.

So, here they were. Bad, Skeppy, and Sam, headed towards a human market. Skeppy had been fully opposed, but the hunt and crops had been poor at the colony, and their supplies likely wouldn’t be regrown until a few months from now if they were lucky. Bad suggested the human’s market, where he’d heard other borrowers say they’d seen humans come in with nothing and leave with bags full of god knows what. He was confident they’d be able to find the necessary rations there, and even if he was scared, he wouldn’t let Bad go to some human infested place without him. Then Sam had joined them and off they’d gone, promising the rest of the colony to be back in a day or two.

As they neared the market, Skeppy could see Bad tense. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed the slight crease of his brows, the minute shaking of his hands. That’s part of what made him a great leader for their colony; he was able to stay calm and collected no matter what. But having known him for so long, Skeppy could read him like an open book. He was scared. Sam, meanwhile, wasn’t even trying to hide it. He was quaking, clearly terrified of going into a space filled with creatures he knows could and likely would kill him if given the chance. Skeppy, honestly, was equally terrified. They almost never ventured this far into human society, and certainly never into human inhabited spaces. But, all for the good of the colony.

They approached the building and saw humans leaving the store, making Skeppy’s stomach turn in fear. He was sure that his fear was just as noticeable as Sam’s was, and he wasn’t sure how Bad was managing to keep his cool while him and Sam were panicking right next to him. But somehow, Bad pressed them forward, and they had little choice but to follow. They’d already made it this far, and like hell Skeppy was gonna back down and leave Bad to do this alone now.

They managed to get in the door right behind a human before scurrying back to the shadows for safety the second they entered the building, and holy shit was it bigger than he’d thought it was. There were dozens and dozens of rows one hundred times bigger than any one of them, even if they were small compared to the trees of the forest. “We’ll have to search from above,” Bad whispered quietly, breaking the unspoken vow of silence that the three had been following since nearing the shop. “Skeppy, lend me a rope. We can hoist each other up on each level.”

So, that they did. One of them would climb, then throw a rope for the other two to climb to meet them, only occasionally having to hide behind whatever human product was nearest to avoid being spotted. Thank god there weren’t as many humans in the place as he’d initially thought there would be. After a while, the three had made it to the top, overlooking pretty much the entire shop. Skeppy took note that most of the food they’d need was farther back in the store, unfortunately, but at least the platforms they stood on were close enough together that they could jump them. He also took note that a good number of humans were leaving, which was great for them, but also meant that night was likely coming soon, so they had to be fast. It wasn’t safe to travel the woods at night. Bad seemed to recognize this, as he gestured for Skeppy and Sam to follow him, leading them towards what they’d need. After a few more minutes of the three heading to the back, almost all the humans were gone except for a few in bright green vests. Skeppy reasoned that they were the ones who operated the place, if they all dressed the same and stayed when no one else did. But he wasn’t worried; what were the odds that the humans would look up to see them?

“Hey, Nick, you wanna head home early? You don’t look so good, I’m sure Dream wouldn’t mind.” Skeppy heard a human say. He knew it’d be best to stay back, but Skeppy was nothing if not stupidly impulsive. He leaned over the edge of the platform they’d been walking on, catching the attention of Bad and Sam too late to stop him. The human who had spoken was wearing a white sweater and gold chain with blonde hair and pale skin. He was talking to another human, “Nick” apparently, who was slumped over some boxes he was putting on a shelf, back turned to where the borrowers were. This one had a dark red hoodie and black beanie pulled over his head that almost matched the shade of his hair. The first human was right, though; if human body language read anything like a borrowers, this guy really wasn’t looking good. Nevertheless, he responded. “Hm? No, no, I’m fine, Punz, really.” He mumbled, barely looking up. The blonde one, “Punz,” didn’t look like he believed it for a second. “Bullshit. C’mere, let me take your temperature.” He said, pulling the other human to face him, and-

No.

No fucking way.

Skeppy could feel that Bad at this point had noticed his absence and had come over to drag him away from the conversation by force, but he shook himself free from his grip, eyes never leaving the scene in front of him. That was him. There’s no way it wasn’t. His hair was different, far different from the hazel brown he remembered, the same shade as his father’s, but it was him. He even had the discoloration around his eyes to prove it, the scar that had nicknamed him “Pandas” all those years ago. He looked older, much older, no longer the teen Skeppy remembered, and more tired. Worn down, even. He really did look sick.

Bad wasn’t letting go, and now Sam was trying to help him. Punz and Nick- no, Sapnap, he was sure of it- were still idly chatting below, Punz trying to convince Sapnap he needed to go and Sapnap insisting he was fine. At another insistent yank from Bad, Skeppy finally snapped, pulling away and grabbing Bad by the front of his hood, dragging his face close. “Bad,” he whispered as quietly as he could with tears threatening to spill from his eyes, “it’s our son.”

He saw Bad’s eyes light up for a moment before fear masked his expression. He looked down at Sapnap, who was now sat alone, staring at the ground. Punz must’ve left at some point without him noticing. Bad sat in stunned silence, and for once Skeppy couldn’t read his expression. An expression he could read, however, was Sam’s. He looked an odd mix of confused and mortified. Skeppy was confused at the odd reaction before it hit him; Sam didn’t know Sapnap was a shifter. “That’s Sapna-mph?!“ “Shh!!” Sam whisper yelled before Skeppy slapped a hand over his mouth. “Ok, i don’t know what he’s doing here but yes, it has to be. He can…do this. I mean, he can look human. But he’s not! It’s…it’s a long story, dude.” “I- He..what?? Bad, you knew about this?” Sam whisper yelled again, quieter. “…Yes.” Bad took a moment to answer, like it pained him to admit out loud that the ‘human’ down there was his own son. “How can…how long has he-“ Sam cut himself off as Sapnap’s head snapped up, revealing that his eyes were almost black with how large his pupils were. He looked out of it entirely. He looked…predatory.

Bad gasped, stumbling back from the edge of the platform he’d been watching from and fell to the ground, clutching his chest, unable to control his ragged breathing. Skeppy and Sam were immediately right there beside him, Sam trying to lead him through breathing exercises as quietly as possible as Skeppy asked him what was wrong. After a few moments, Bad managed to choke out words. “We- we need…to go. We..we need t- to go now.” “Why? What’s going on?” Skeppy asked. Before Bad could give any semblance of an answer, they heard boxes be knocked over. To curious for his own good, Skeppy went to see what it was, and Sam and Bad reluctantly followed.

Sapnap was stood again, back turned to the three as he looked up at one of the shelves near him. And there stood- “Alex?” Skeppy heard Sam whisper, hope full in his voice. Skeppy had almost forgotten that the day Sapnap ran away was the last time Sam had seen his own son. Quackity looked older, too. His hair was longer and he looked more well nourished and muscular than the scrawny, scrappy little boy Skeppy had watched grow up. He also still wore his stupid little bandana and the face covering Karl had made him after he’d got that gash through his mouth. But even with that mask on, Skeppy noticed the confusion and pity in his eyes as he looked at his boyfriend.

“Sapnap?” Quackity asked, but there was no response. He kept looking for a little bit before sighing and looking around. What for, Skeppy didn’t know, but what he did find was them. Skeppy saw Quackity’s eyes go wide as he noticed the three, and he looked horrified. Sam stood and waved, moving to say something before Quackity violently charaded to keep quiet. He then started to shoo them, and Bad immediately took the hint and tried to pull the both of them away, but Skeppy and Sam held their ground. “Why?” Sam said just barely loud enough for Quackity to hear across the aisle, but also loud enough for Sapnap to notice apparently, as he started to turn around towards them. “Just go!!” Quackity screamed, drawing Sapnap’s attention back to himself as his head snapped back. Quackity took a step forward about to yell something else before time froze.

Faster than he could blink, Sapnap had reached up and roughly grabbed Quackity off the shelf, holding him to his face for a short moment before stuffing him in his mouth. He could hear muffled yelling, too distant to make out any words, and could see indents of Quackity pushing against Sapnap’s cheeks trying to fight his way out. Bad was silent, ghastly white and completely unmoving, not even breathing, which left Skeppy to turn his attention away from the scene in front of him to keep Sam quiet. He quickly and forcefully wrapped his arm around his mouth and pulled him back, using his other hand to push Sam’s head into the crook of his elbow to muffle him. Sam was yelling and screaming; clawing, kicking, doing anything just to make Skeppy to let him go, but he endured it. It was all he could do to not think too heavily into what he’d just seen. There was no way Sapnap would…eat him. He’d watched Quackity and Sapnap grow up together. Before Karl came along, it’d really just been the two of them. They were best friends from the start, and early in their teenage years, it turned to something more. Sapnap cared more about Quackity than himself, he knew that for a fact. There had to be something he was missing here, right?

All at once, Sam fell silent. The screaming, kicking, everything stopped. Everything but his crying; Skeppy could feel his sleeve growing wet with tears. Maybe this was a good sign. Maybe Sapnap had spit him out, maybe it was all a prank, a joke, anything. Sapnap was raised by him and Bad, after all. He’d seen his fair share of trolling from his fathers. Sapnap couldn’t do this, he and Bad hadn’t raised a monster. This wasn’t happening. Everything was ok.

As he looked up, the sight ahead of him said otherwise.

Sapnap had his head tilted up, one hand lightly pressed on something- no, someone in his throat, while the other was holding something just outside his mouth; a tail. Quackity’s tail. Quackity was moving under the pressure; squirming, thrashing even, under Sapnap’s skin, yet the expression on his son’s face read nothing but bliss. Skeppy could even swear he saw drool seeping out of the corners of his smile. He couldn’t watch this. He couldn’t stay here and stand to see the boy he had raised, had loved his entire life, kill someone that Skeppy had thought he’d watched him grow to love. But he couldn’t move. He stood frozen, tears welling in his eyes and his body cold from fear with Sam limp and silently sobbing in his arms. Sam, poor Sam, who sat here watching his son be eaten alive not only by his previous future son-in-law, by his own best friends’ son. Bad, who’d been so silent that Skeppy had nearly forgotten he was here, barely seemed to be breathing. His only signs of life were the tears pouring down his face and the violent shaking that wracked his entire frame. He looked so scared Skeppy was surprised he was still standing.

The three of them watched in silent horror as finally, after what felt like hours, Sapnap let go of Quackity’s tail. They watched his form fall farther and farther down Sapnap’s throat little by little until finally his struggles had disappeared beneath his lover’s collar bones, sealing his fate. Sapnap dropped his head and sighed, the blissful, at peace expression he wore making Skeppy sick. He watched Sapnap seemingly subconsciously trace a line down his torso, no doubt following where Quackity was within his body, until he finally placed a palm on his stomach. And if there was any doubt (which at this point could only be chalked up to wishful thinking) as to what fate Quackity had truly met, it had all been dispelled as the three heard horrible, violent gurgling sounds coming from Sapnap’s stomach. Sapnap covered his whole midsection with his arm, face tinged pink in apparent embarrassment as he whipped his head side to side to make sure no one was around. Luckily for the three of them, he still didn’t think to look up. He blinked a few times before looking down at where his arm laid for a few seconds and subsequently sighing, rolling his eyes (which Skeppy belatedly realized were back to normal instead of the horrifying all consuming black). He began rubbing his stomach as a few more gurgles were heard and he pulled a little thin black box from his apron, tapping it a few times before holding it to his ear.

A few seconds of silence later, Sapnap was speaking. “Hey, Dream! Did Punz tell you I was sick? He said he was going off to find you like 10 minutes ago.” More silence. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine now. I think I just needed something to eat, if you know what I mean.” Skeppy’s heart skipped a beat hearing Sapnap so nonchalantly refer to his own species, to someone he loved, as food. “I’m just gonna go on break now if that’s ok. Could you meet me by the security office? I need you to help me, uh…get rid of something.” Another break. “Ok, sounds good, I’ll meet you then. Bye.” He said, tapping the black box again before slipping it back into a pocket and moving to leave the aisle. At that, Skeppy decided it was far past time to go. He went to grab Bad before realizing that he was fully unconscious, likely having passed out from fear. Sam, on the other hand, lay sobbing. Skeppy could do nothing but try to drag him to away, but ultimately failed. “Sam,” Skeppy whispered, voice cracking through tears and shivering, “We…we have to go.” “I failed.” he responded, not bothering to whisper since Sapnap was gone. “I failed as a father. I couldn’t save him. I- I couldn’t save them. Either of them.” He chocked out, tears pouring harder. Skeppy stood shocked; Sam rarely mentioned his other son anymore. It’d been so, so long since he’s been around that Skeppy (as much as it pained him to admit it to himself) had almost forgotten he existed completely. And didn’t that just make this all the more sad; Sam didn’t deserve to lose another kid. He didn’t deserve to have these old scars ripped back open again. “You couldn’t have known.” Skeppy said, sitting down beside him. “There’s nothing you could’ve done. I…I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Sam.”

Skeppy wasn’t sure why he felt the need to apologize, but in some way, this felt like his fault. Sapnap was his son. What had he done wrong? How long had Sapnap been planning to do this? What would Karl say if he saw this? Is Karl even still alive, or did Sapnap get to him first? How were they gonna tell Tina that her younger brother got killed by his fiancé, of all people?

Skeppy was only snapped out of it when a hand rested on his own, and he turned to see Sam looking at him. His tear-stained expression held no anger, no contempt for the man who had raised the person to have just killed his son, just…pity and sadness. Sam didn’t hate him. Sam felt…sorry for him. Sorry that his son had turned out like this after so many years being away from home. Sorry that the boy who they’d both loved growing up was gone, twisted into a psychopath and cannibal. In a way, they’d both lost their kids today. Skeppy couldn’t do anything but break down, clinging to Sam and sobbing as he finally processed everything that he’d seen today. Sam just hugged back tightly, like Skeppy was his only lifeline, and sobbed with him.

“We should get going.” Sam sighed after what felt like hours. “We need to help Bad, and I’m sure the others are wondering why we’re not back yet.” Skeppy, still numb, just nodded and helped sling one of Bad’s unconscious arms over his shoulder while Sam took another. The walk back to where they had come from was silent, neither of them willing to bring up the fact that they hadn’t actually retrieved any supplies and the whole trip was kinda pointless, but were met with a sight that neither had been expecting.

The doors were tied shut with chains. They couldn’t get out.

They were stuck there till morning.

~~~~~

Sapnap sat in the break room fiddling with his phone when he saw Dream come in, twirling a set of keys on his finger. “You said you needed access to the security room?” “‘Bout time.” Sapnap responded sarcastically, standing up off the beanbag chair with a hand over his stomach to keep the extra weight in his gut from swaying as he moved. Seriously, no matter how many times or how often he’d done this, he was never going to get used to it, was he? “Sorry I needed to lock up the store, asshole.” Dream replied, leading him out of the room to the security office down the hall. “Ranboo is staying at my place tonight so Tom and Tubbo aren’t alone, so I had to lock up from inside today cause someone invited me to stay the night to work on parkour stuff.” “Don’t pin this on me, I’m being nice to you for once.” Sapnap replied, lightly elbowing Dream as he tried to unlock the door and messing him up. Dream flipped him off without even moving his vision away from the lock before getting back to work. “Are you at the security office yet?” Quackity asked, startling Sapnap which in turn startled Dream, who gave him an odd look. Sapnap just pointed to his stomach and Dream rolled his eyes and went back to work on the lock.

“Yeah, we are. Holy shit, dude, you scared the fuck outta me, I thought you were asleep. You haven’t said anything like this entire time.” “I couldn’t fall asleep. Something…something happened, man.” “…Well that doesn’t sound ominous at all. What kinda something? Something bad?? Are you ok, did I do something?” “I’m fine!” Quackity quickly responded, picking up on his fiancé’s nervous tone. “It’s just…well I don’t know yet. You’ll be able to see for yourself on the video camera. I don’t want to freak you out if it’s nothing.” Sapnap went to ask what that meant before Dream finally managed to open the door with a little cheer of celebration. He ushered Sapnap in as he started to log into the camera’s system.

“Ok, so can you tell me what happened?” Dream questioned. “It’s been a while since I did the instinct thing, so I guess I looked kinda sickly, so Punz ran to get you. After that I started to feel nauseous and sat down and passed out. When I woke up again, Quackity was in here and I felt a lot better. I think my instincts just fully took over so I wasn’t conscious, like, at all. I figured I would see what exactly happened and then delete the footage so no one else could see me lose it.” Dream nodded. “Yeah, I figured that’s what you meant by ‘needed something to eat.’ Kinda also figured that instincts had something to do with why Punz said you looked sick, so I asked Quackity to go and look for you.” Sapnap vaguely heard Quackity confirm what Dream had said. “Oh, thanks dude.” “No problem. Now, where and when was this again?”

Sapnap gave a few more specifications on what had happened, and at this point he could feel Quackity nervously pacing in his gut, which felt…weird, to say the least. “Quackity, dude, are you ok? You never move this much in there, it’s kinda freaking me out. And it feels weird.” “Sorry.” He heard as he felt Quackity drop back down to sit, almost immediately starting to tap his foot. “You’re nervous about something.” “No I’m-“ “You’re sitting with your eye sockets pressed into your knees while tapping your foot. I’ve known you my entire life, I don’t need to be able to see you to know what you’re doing. You only do that when you’re really anxious, what’s up?” “Like I said, you’ll see on the video.” Sapnap was about to respond again, but was agin cut off by Dream. “Found it! Oh shit, yeah, you look really out of it, I’m surprised you made it as long as y- what the fuck is that??” That bit caught Sapnap’s attention. He moved closer to the tv and noticed what Dream was questioning: on the grainy monitor, there were 3 small silhouettes on top of an aisle in front of Sapnap. “Are those…borrowers?” Dream asked, looking over to Sapnap. “They have to be. What the hell are more borrowers doing in the store? Q, is this what you were worried about?” “…Mostly.” Quackity responded, and Sapnap nodded to Dream so he could follow along. “…fast forward, see if you can tell when they leave.” Sapnap relayed the request to Dream, who did as he asked.

“Oh no…” Sapnap whispered. “What?” Dream asked, but Quackity was apparently more than aware of the issue. “They didn’t listen, did they? They didn’t go when I told them too?” “No, no they didn’t…” Sapnap whispered again, in shock. He felt Quackity stand and start to pace again, but this time couldn’t care to correct it. “What? Who didn’t what?” Dream asked. “The borrowers on the aisle. Quackity was signaling for them to leave so they wouldn’t see me do..that, but they didn’t. They’re seeing everything.” Sapnap gestured back up to the screen, where at this point he could see Quackity entering his throat and the borrowers backing up, one even kicking and fighting another to do something. “Well…thats not good, but it can’t be that bad, right? I mean, what are the odds you’ll ever see them again? I mean, sure they can tell a colony about a human that ate a borrower, but you guys have always kinda been under the impression we did that anyway, right? At the absolute worst, they’ll have another horror story to get kids to bed on time.” “Dream, I just traumatized 3 random borrowers for life.” “I was under the impression you were all just kinda traumatized from shit in general, is this really that much worse?” “Sapnap, tell him to shut up.” Quackity interrupted. Sapnap obliged by smacking a hand over Dream’s mouth and putting a finger over his own lips. “…I need you to let me out.” Sapnap looked confused for a moment. Quackity had only been in there for a few hours; normally when this happened he would just stay the night since it was more of a hassle to get dry and clean just to put on pjs. Something was wrong, still, Sapnap would never hold the man he loved against his will.

Sapnap quickly brought him up, placing a hand under his mouth as Quackity climbed out. Quackity’s head snapped immediately to the security footage. At this point, Sapnap could see himself finally swallow Quackity down, and the 3 borrowers react accordingly with varying levels or fear and distress. One of them even went unconscious. Quackity watched with a look of worry that made Sapnap anxious; in all the years he’d known Quackity, he’d never seen him like this. Why was he this worried? He barely registered that in the video he had regained control, only focused on what could have caused the fear in his fiancé’s eyes.

Until one of the borrowers turned enough for their face to be seen in the camera.

That…that was his dad. That was Skeppy, holding onto someone who had to be Sam. His other dad was taller than that. That means that the last one, the borrower who’d passed out when Sapnap had swallowed Quackity was…

Sapnap felt his breath speed up. He quickly set Quackity down on the desk as he clutched a hand to his chest and his vision started to blur. “Sap?” Dream questioned, hands hovering around him in concern, “Sapnap are you ok??” “That’s…Those are…” He couldn’t get the words out. Fuck. No, fuck, god no, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go, they weren’t supposed to know, they weren’t supposed to ever see him again but now they knew everything.

They knew he was a monster.

“…those are our dads.” Quackity whispered, barely audible as dreams eyes widened. “The one crying is my dad, the other two are Sapnap’s.”

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spoonfulofmilo · 11 months ago

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I really want to see the arthur leclerc x verstappen! male! reader since we dont have much of him

okay, if you want something driver based instead of this mafia fic, I will be writing it at some point :)

also sorry this took me so long to get out I tossed a few options here and there before deciding on this one :)

Okay I came up with this so it’s a little different to the original moodboard, but if you want something accurate to the moodboard, see here

if you want to participate in my 100 followers event, look here :)

my masterlist can be accessed here

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Also…i know there’s all the shit going around about christian horner, i just want to say that i don’t condone his actions at all, and while I have left him in this fic, I am separating the character from the person.

also warnings: death, general mafia shittiness, homophobia, bad dad jos

arthur leclerc x male!verstappen!reader

“Ermitage will be safe for you, Y/N. It has kept Max safe for years and I trust their teachers. Professor Marko, who will teach english, Professor Horner who will teach history and public speaking, and Professor Dominicelli who is the head teacher all sing their praises of Max, and have helped your admission into the school. The school does not regularly take students mid year, however based on your prior behaviour and safety. I needed to send you here.”

Y/N scoffed at his fathers words. His ‘prior behaviour’ wasn’t all that bad. Max had been sent to this school for an arson attack that had almost resulted in the deaths of 5 people, including 3 of his dad’s own men. He was being sent to this school for running away from his bodyguards, drinking and making out with a boy. But Max was his father’s golden boy, and Y/N was the spare in case a rival gang took out Max. And he was sure that Max despised the 2 of the professors, based on his letters to Y/N. He seemed to adore Professor Horner, so maybe that would be Y/N’s respite.

As the car pulled up in front of the school and crunched on the gravel driveway, Y/N took a minute to admire it.

He smiled as he saw the young children running around near the junior school. He got out of the car, smiling as he felt the warm French sum combined with a small breeze. The car had pulled up on the other side of the driveway, in between 2 other buildings. One looked very traditional, however there had clearly been an extension or five as parts looked very modern with a lot of glass. The other building was gorgeous. The other building was very traditional, looking like one of Jos’ summer houses in Denmark, all white and clearly spacious, however it had a metal spiral staircase on the outside that led to the roof. Jos would’ve killed a builder if that had been left there at their house. It made the building look less professional, and even Y/N wasn’t sure that he liked it.

Y/N watched as 3 men came out from the doors of the building. The 2 in front, both had greying hair and stern expressions, whispering amongst each other, while making disgusted looks towards Y/N. The third looked a little younger and shorter, with grey hair, attempting to look serious and stern as he walked towards the 2 with Y/N’s big brother in tow. Y/N smiled as his brother walked out with the teachers. He looked happy and better and less like he’d just torched a building than the last time he had seen him. Max whispered something in the younger man’s ears and the mask of sterness dropped to smile at the boy.

The group reached the pair of Verstappens, and Max let his guard down a little after shaking hands with their dad to give his baby brother a big bear hug, and provide some intel.

“Who’d he catch you with, huh?”

“Liam. At least it wasn’t bloody Frederik or he’d be here to inform you that I got caught up in the crossfire of a shooting and my funeral is tomorrow.”

“It was simply a matter of time. Anyway, you will like it here. Try and steer clear of Marko, he is incredibly strict and if it was still legal he would hang you from your arms from the roof until your shoulders dislocated. You will barely see Dominicelli, he just rocks up to greet you now, and you will never see him again. Horner is also our housemaster. He’s amazing. He’ll like you. He kinda adopted me after I told him how much of an asshole dear father is.”

“Okay.” Y/N smiled tensely as he pulled himself out of his brother’s hug and turned to greet the 3 strangers.

The first one looked old, as in old enough to retire, and had a stern face, as in someone who would scold you for laughing too hard. Someone after his fathers’ own heart he presumed. He held his hand out, and the man took it, shook it once, and then dropped his hand, as if disgusted to be touching ‘someone like Y/N’. So an old homophobe then. He then turned around and started talking to Jos, and Y/n tried to eavesdrop as he met the other men.

“Lawson has been dealt with, I’m just concerned about…”

The 2nd man, held out his hand and shook Y/n’s twice which was an improvement, at least until he dropped it.

“...he sort of always showed signs but I never thought…”

Then he tried to discreetly wipe his hand on his pants.

“...The Mercedes guys were there, if they had realised who he was…”

Y/N picked it up, and looked down at the ground, slightly awkward, unsure of what to do as the final teacher approached him.

“...Hamilton is pissed, one of his men was caught in the crossfire of trying to get Y/N out…”

Professor Horner immediately engulfed him in a tight hug.

“...see the problem is I can’t explain to anyone why they were shot in a random club on a random thursday to get my son out…”

It was the first time for a long time that Y/N was getting a hug from someone older like her dad’s age. He was so shocked that he missed the next part of Jos and Helmut’s conversation and strained to hear the next part.

“...i can’t tell them my son was in there…so now it looks like i shot up a nightclub for no reason…”

Christian started reassuring him in his ears about how he was safe here and whatnot, but all Y/N was thinking was about how he was preventing him from properly eavesdropping the conversation

“...No, no one important, a lackyman, Aron or something…”

Y/N could feel his heart drop. Paul was dead? He’d known Liam was dead, Jos had used him as an example, but he hasn’t even known that Paul was at the nightclub.

“...it’s done, there’s 2 dead bodies to dispose of, which im gonna do when i get back, but just keep an eye on him please…”

Christian seemed to realise the internal struggle that Y/N was having and started hugging him tighter to make him feel better.

“...He’s gonna get everyone killed and he will only realise when he loses his brother the consequences his actions have…”

‘I KNOW WHAT CONSEQUENCES MY ACTIONS HAVE DAD, YOU KILLED MY KIND OF BOYFRIEND IN FRONT OF ME!’ Y/N wanted to scream at his dad, but that would make him realise that he was eavesdropping and why he was actually here.

Christian felt him tense and tried to sooth him into the hug.

“Alright, that’s enough, Christian, how about we head inside?”

—

Arthur could recognise the boy walking in, but he couldn’t see the father which would help if he could work out why his body was in fight and flight mode as the boy had seen him, waved and smiled at him.

A memory flashed, of a meeting him and all his brothers together in a meeting room, as their father ran them through their highest enemies. He could remember the smile of a kid his age. He remembered Lorenzo asking how a 5 year old could be a threat…he doesn’t remember the rest or why this kid is a threat, but he remembers the goofy smile, the smile that was being flashed his way now, and the eyes that held so much happiness that seemed to hold a lot more pain now.

He couldn’t remember why this kid was in the powerpoint, so he supposed it was okay and irrelevant and smiled back, before being hurried on by Lorenzo.

---

taglist: @leosxrealm, @ghostking4m

#f1 x reader #miloformula123fan #f1 fanfic #f1 x male reader #f1 fic #f2 x reader #f2 fanfic #f2 fic #f2 x male reader #arthur leclerc x reader #arthur leclerc #arthur leclerc moodboards #arthur leclerc x male reader #arthur leclerc x you #arthur leclerc x y/n

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awheckery · 2 years ago

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I need some help

so. this is hard. here goes:

for the last six-ish weeks, I've had an exceptionally challenging time of things re: my haunted devil body being exceptionally haunted and full of devils, and I have missed a lot of work. a lot of work. might be losing my job soon, in fact, but I'm trying not to think about that.

I'm trying to crawl my way out of the hole, but I have nothing in the bank right now and no money coming in, literally this is a screenshot of my account from today, and it's not showing the insurance payment that put me $50 in the negative this morning.

I have no other savings, my credit card's maxed out, I don't know how I'm going to pay my upcoming rent and my cupboard's down to baking ingredients and canned vegetables, so the sitch is looking pretty gd grim for me right now.

if anyone wants to donate and can afford to be kind, I'm linking my paypal and cashapp below, but I'd prefer to be able to offer something in exchange.

I think most y'all are following me because it is known that I make quilts, but that's mostly a side effect of my true hobby: collecting fabric. (this is a joke. mostly.)

I don't know that I have the energy to commit to making quilts or other complicated goods right now, but I do have a truly massive stash and excellent color sense. I've pulled these curated fat quarter collections as examples of what I have on offer:

this is a very small sample of what I have in my stash; I've been collecting fabrics since 2014, so I have a massive collection of rare & out-of-print fabrics from Moda, Free Spirit, Windham, RKaufman and other brands, a portion of which I've catalogued and uploaded to gdrive here.

that's nowhere near my full collection, it's just a jumping off point of what I've got to work with. I'd put fq bundles on etsy or something similar to make it easier, but the total lack of funds has temporarily kiboshed that idea.

in the meantime, I'm selling individual fat quarters for $2.50 each and curated stash-builder sets of five like the ones above for $15. I'd also be happy to make coordinating pot holders not unlike this one at $35 for a pair.

(pls don't ask me for oven mitts, I don't want to talk about one of my greatest failures)

NOTE: all fabric comes from a smoke, pet and fragrance-free environment, and will not be prewashed. I know that makes a difference to a lot of folks, not just me.

I'm also open to assembling pre-cut quilt & other craft kits, PM me to discuss what you're looking to make and I'll figure out if I can make it happen for you.

I appreciate any and all help more than I have words to communicate, and I know I'm pretty damn wordy! I'm pretty far down in the weeds at the moment, and I need to raise around $1800 in the next ten days in order to pay rent, catch up on my bills and pay for food and medication.

please help out a chronically ill artist and shop my stash!

cashapp

paypal

#help needed #signal boost #idek how to tag this #fabric destash #I guess?#I cannot overstate how much more awesome stuff I have than is listed in gdrive #that's just the fabric I had at least a yard of #(and had enough of the selvage to record the name and designer)#I also have a ton of unbranded fq's and yardage from joann's #idk how but I'll try to find a way to work some of that into the stash library #it's shockingly hard to photograph fabric tbh #quilting hell #sufferpunk life

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chibrary · 1 year ago

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ARTICLE: AS A ROOKIE IN THE SHIFTER CLASS (AT 15 YEARS OF AGE) HE WON THE WINTER CUP… WITH A FEVER! (2022)

source: mattia livraghi, tkart series: karting, 2013

Among the classes of international karting there is one that represents the arrival point in the career of a professional kart driver: KZ. First it was called Formula C, then KZ1, but the name matters little, the essence is that we are talking about the top class, in which super experts race, even at 20-30 years of age. People who have practically nothing more to learn and who by profession demolish the new recruits, the rookies, until these, based on many overtakings and after a lot of competitions, cut their teeth and enter by right, in turn, in this small circle of drivers who are referred to as "the senators". But every now and then, to tell the truth, very rarely, particular rookies appear on the karting scene capable of overturning this practice. As in 2013, when in the opening round of the season, the Winter Cup at the South Garda Karting in Lonato, a teenager from Monte carlo showed up who, despite being physically KO, decided that certain habits ... were not his cup of tea.

It is 17 February 2013 and it is cold, as it should be on a winter Sunday when you are near Brescia, precisely at South Garda Karting in Lonato, for the Winter Cup. KZ was not scheduled for that weekend, so all the top drivers of the premier class poured into KZ2, which had something like 70 entrants. Among these, names that have marked or would go on to mark the history of karting: Davide Forè, Marco Ardigò, Paolo De Conto, Arnaud Kozlinski, Bas Lammers, Anthony Abbasse, Ben Hanley, Patrik Hajek, Roberto Toninelli, Fabian Federer, Yannick de Brabander, Flavio Camponeschi and Rick Dreezen, just to name a few in no particular order. However, there was also a boy from Monte Carlo born in 1997. His name is Charles Leclerc and he had already made himself known globally for his excellent results (above all by winning the 2011 CIK-FIA World Cup in KF3, the junior class of single speed karts at that time) in the other classes in which he competed. After a 2012 in KF2 (the year in which the now famous long-distance bickering with Max Verstappen occured, which we talk about in the article "Editorial - Leclerc vs Verstappen: the true story of the first clash in the days of karting"), his manager and Charles's team manager decided that the time had come for him to gain experience with "the seniors", in KZ and KZ2.

Charles did not hold back. To the contrary: "He was very motivated and eager to start his journey in shifter karts - Marco Lombardi told us, his mechanic in ART Grand Prix, the brand and the team for which Leclerc was racing at the time, also because he always wanted a more performing vehicle. He was thrilled to have the sensation of feeling closer to racing cars”. Leclerc had his first race ever in a shifter kart two weeks before the Winter Cup, in Muro Leccese, on the occasion of the first round of the WSK Master Series, where he finished in sixth position. His team manager Armando Filini, a historical face in karting, as well as one of the best chassis builders in the sector, was not that surprised by the disarming naturalness with which the young driver form Monte Carlo took his first steps in the new class: "I have known him since he was little, because Jules (Bianchi, editor's note) was his mechanic in France in the MINI class and brought him to me in Maranello Kart for his debut in the Junior class. Charles was very smart: he quickly adapted to everything. At any race he participated in, with any type of tyre, there was no need to spend a lot of time studying the track or anything else: he was already racing strongly at 90%, so it was much easier to get good results with him."But it's the difficulties that make certain stories worth telling.

Charles Leclerc heads to the track together with his mechanic Marco Lombardi.

Leclerc talks to Lombardi and Piergiorgio Ballarini, another mechanic who was working with him at the time, while he is leaning on his kart (ART GP - TM Racing), just outside the ART Grand Prix team tent.

Do you think that the Winter Cup, in the rookie class, could represent a fairly intense and arduous challenge? You would be wrong. In fact, another factor complicates things for Leclerc, the absolute co-protagonist of this story: a fever. That's right, Charles Leclerc showed up at the Winter Cup with a 39°C fever. "From the first days it was clear that he was not in great shape and from Friday he was not at all well", admits Lombardi. “He had flu and was physically weak. At the end of the day, after having raced, he was completely down and out”. A physical condition for which most mere mortals would stay in bed to rest, the most daring, perhaps, on the sofa watching TV. Instead, the fifteen-year-old from Monte Carlo was on the bends of a kart track taming a vehicle with a weight/power ratio comparable to that of the best road supercars. But on one condition: "I told him, Lombardi remembers, 'Look, if you have a high fever, at least skip the last free practice session', but he replied with an endless series of 'No'. He wanted to get on the kart and race to the last, regardless of everything". In the end, a short trip to the pharmacy, accompanied by the engineer of the ART Grand Prix, to buy some medicines was a must. But the real therapy for Charles seems to be another, as Lombardi explains: "When driving adrenaline kicked in, it was so intense that it gave the impression that his fever had passed". This allowed the young driver form Monte Carlo to work at it and improve during free practices: “His driving was quite clean. The problem arose when the track was a bit more slippery, like in the early rounds and he, despite this, wanted to see the time, even if the track was 'slow'. He complained if they gave him two tenths, not considering that there were more experienced drivers who knew how to adapt better to those conditions".

Leclerc laughs with Lombardi before entering the track.

Leclerc celebrates, together with Lombardi, the success he achieved, with a fever, at the 2013 Winter Cup.

It goes without saying that when Charles sets the 11th best time in the qualifiers, with his TM Racing powered ART GP, he was anything but satisfied: "He had suffered at the beginning because the track was was not rubberizing quickly and he loved grip", explains Marco. "He was a driver who tended to always keep his foot down, so in the first races in KZ he found himself in difficulty in slippery track conditions: he forced too much and wore the tyres a lot". But Charles does not lose heart: “he was demoralized, continues Lombardi, but he motivated himself as soon as he got back on the kart the following morning. When he was unable to do something, he was even more motivated and in any case it was enough to explain things to him once: he immediately took everything literally and put it into practice". In fact, Charles performed very well in the various heats, winning a second place as the best result and climbing up to eighth place in the general rankings. Thanks to his driving style, more and more effective with an increasingly rubberized track, and to excellent teamwork, Leclerc continued to progress and, as the weekend continued, managed to take fifth position in the pre-final. Marco Lombardi recalls that he “always earned at least one or two positions at the start. It helped to have the driver in front as a reference point, which always pushed him to say: 'I have to go and get him, I have to overtake him". While the performances on the track improved, the same cannot be said of Leclerc’s physical conditions, still with flu and feverish.

In fact, on the day of the final, looking at his face, which was pale and suffering during the parade of the drivers, anything could be predicted except what would actually happen. Charles still managed to stay calm on the starting grid: "I always told him, Marco says, 'You already have a heavy foot, but in the race you have to use your head, especially when overtaking: study your opponent, identify the right moment to pass and be firm. Don't pretend, because if they take advantage of the driver behind and, with him, the group following him, five of them will take you". In short, a fifteen-year-old in a cage of lions: Leclerc dashed from the third row, while the first was occupied by his teammate Ben Hanley and the Birel De Conto standard bearer. “We had more of a chance with Hanley, admits Armando Filini. “With Charles we still didn't have the certainty of the final, we didn't know how he could behave over the duration”. Only a phenomenon can surprise even a long-time karting figure such as Filini, who had already seen it all… But he could not have imagined what he was to witness that day. Ready, go and already the first surprise: the driver from Monte Carlo darted off and, overtaking the entire row in front of him, moved into third position. The spectators were almost stunned seeing that cat-like leap and Armando reveals that it was not only Charles' skill that allows him to do certain things, but also his attitude: "When he had his teammate in front of him, he had to go and get him, even at the cost of trampling over others".

Ever since the traffic lights went out, the race was of an incredible sporting intensity. However, after an excellent start, Leclerc seemed to be in trouble: in fact, he was overtaken first by Ardigò and then by Forè. However, the driver form Monte Carlo maintained an impressive coolness and was not intimidated, even when he happened to miss a gear and risk being "devoured" by those behind him. "It was difficult to give him advice", Armando specifies. "He was very instinctive, so we also let him do his thing a little bit. Especially because he was a youngster and you couldn't think that he already had the mentality of a 30-year-old professional". Charles still asserted himself in the midst of more experienced and titled drivers, so much so that he took back third position towards the middle of the race, thanks to two masterpiece manoeuvers: the first against Forè, the second against Ardigò (two multiple world champions). Leclerc thus found himself in the wake of his teammate, who in turn was staying very close to the leader De Conto, but a few laps from the end Forè tried another attack on the driver from Monte Carlo and went far forwards, hitting Charles. Ardigò took the opportunity to overtake and the young driver of the ART Grand Prix team returned to fourth position, also losing some ground against his rivals in the lead. When the chequered flag was just around the corner, in a situation like this and in a class like KZ, most people would naturally throw in the towel and accept that the gap with the podium was now unbridgeable, especially if they then suffer a "blow" like this as a fifteen year old, in his second experience in the highest class of karting, with a 39°C fever.

The helmet that Leclerc used at the 2013 KZ world championship and with which he became vice world champion. Charles gave it to Lombardi, autographing it and referring to the nickname that Marco gave him: “Sgrintela”, which means “lizard”. The driver for Monte Carlo made a small mistake and wrote "Sgrintera".

Instead, Leclerc still managed to amaze. A few metres to make sure there was no damage and the driver from Monte Carlo went back to pushing himself, without being discouraged: "I had five or six drivers like Leclerc, including Bianchi, Barnicoat, Harvey and Hanley, but in my opinion Charles was the one who was hungrier, he wanted to achieve results as soon as possible”, Armando reveals. "The others had a little patience: they knew they had to learn and were aware that sometimes someone else could simply be faster and therefore there was little to do. On the contrary, he refused this possibility. Even when he knew that drivers from other teams were more incisive on a certain circuit, he had to find something to stay ahead. With this goal, therefore, he tormented everyone: me for the chassis, Franco Drudi of TM Racing for the engines and the telemetry operator. He was obsessed”. And Leclerc proved this determination precisely in the last rounds of that Winter Cup. In fact, the driver from Monte Carlo firstly got back into third position, taking advantage of a spin by Ardigò, caused by a rear-end collision by De Conto. Then, following a contact between De Conto and Hanley for the leadership of the race, he managed to overtake his teammate thanks to an extremely shrewd manoeuver: after receiving a body blow, Hanley was forced to widen and Charles dived right into that space: “It was a crucial moment of the race, he managed to take advantage of it (taking second place behind De Conto, editor's note) without coming into contact with anyone.

However, he then began to have some fears," admits Marco. The driver born in 1997 was one step away from completing an unthinkable feat and it was natural that even he would be a bit insecure: "He kept looking back, watching who was chasing him and I kept signalling him to look forwards" . But in the end Leclerc kept up the pressure and crossed the finish line in second position. The young driver from Monte Carlo let loose his joy, while the spectators started rubbing their eyes to understand if what they had seen was true: "I knew he could do well right from the start, but I honestly wasn't expecting a podium and it surprised me" Lombardi confides. “He didn't expect it either, considering the fever problem too. But he never gave up, he gave 100% to the last. He had gained confidence in seeing himself improve constantly over the course of the weekend and in the final he drove with a knife between his teeth”. A great effort that deserved a great prize. If, in fact, Charles was already enthusiastic about the silver medal and having kept his expert teammate behind him, the icing on the cake came when, after the award ceremony, he learned that De Conto had been given a penalty of five seconds for his manoeuver on Ardigò.

Leclerc thus inherited the victory and was over the moon: "he was really happy and didn't even seem sick anymore" remembers Marco. "It was his first really important race in shifter karts and there were all the drivers participating in the world championship. That Sunday evening, he had so much adrenaline in his body that he wanted to stay and eat with us, but at a certain point his father told him that it was time to go home". As a winner.

#series:karting #format:article #year:2013 #charles leclerc

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