#so i think i'm doing pretty fucking good here relatively speaking

[seaalgae]

i don’t want to get into a tumblr fight on the post but the bbc article about farmers winning on right to repair is not disinformation in any way? It’s just.

not the end state for the right to repair movement?

John Deere (And Apple, and Tesla, and others) has been consistently been getting bad press for those practices for a while now. As a result, the right to repair movement has been growing and has bipartisan support both in politics and on the ground - actual political progress is slow, naturally, because of course it is. There is interest in changing those laws - one of the first things Biden did in office was sign an executive order to support right to repair, and the movement in support of right to repair is socially, politically, and economically diverse, but the actual process behind drafting and passing bills is not fast nor clean, and it’s still very much not a big ticket issue, especially in the current state of the world.

Obviously John Deere (and Apple, and Tesla, and others) are going to oppose that even in the event that they become legally required to comply, or drag their feet on it - it’s a massive part of their business model. But it’s also something these companies have been getting consistent bad press for - John Deere’s reputation has taken a pretty big hit from it, Apple owners are pretty vocal about how terrible repair costs and processes are even if they still like the product, and Tesla is... Tesla. Eventually it will be worth more to them to drop those policies than to keep them, but we’re not at that point.

but there isn’t any kind of conspiracy going on here. It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s still just a step. What we’re witnessing isn’t coordinated misinformation so much as the actual transition towards political change. It’s absolutely not enough, but it’s not what I’d call a complete loss by any measure

[starry-eyedblog]

just found your account and it’s been lovely diving thru your work, your amazing ✨

If your still taking requests can I suggest celebrating with John as he goes from Lieutenant John Price to Captain John Price

hello, thank you so much anon <3 i'm glad yer enjoying my work, stay as long as you'd like!!

this is such a juicy idea, i'm actually ravenous thinking about it

warnings/tags: john price x gn reader, oral (blowjob), drunk sex, tiny mention of power imbalance

when john officially found out that he was moving up rank to captain, he kept his cool around the superior officers, saying his thanks and showing gratitude before hunting you down to share the good news. of course, you were the first to find out and hugs and kisses were in order.

after around ten minutes of praising him in-between breathless kisses, you rewarded him with a very much deserved blow job. really taking your time with him and doing all his favourite tricks to give him the most pleasure you could with your mouth. he came pretty quick, your eyes staring up at him while you swirled your tongue around his leaking tip.

after you cleaned up, he was off to round up his troop of soldiers he commanded and oversaw to tell them the news with you wrapped around his arm. they cheered and clapped for their now captain, saying there had to be a party tonight to celebrate.

it didn't take long for his soldiers to set up a party last minute that night, making sure there was plenty drink and snacks to enjoy the night. a few of them hung up banners that were kept in the cupboards waiting to be used for all kinds of celebrations, a generic saying written sparkly on them.

you sat on the couch for the majority of the night, watching from afar how a stream of people all different rankings came up to congratulate your boyfriend or make small talk. it made your heart warm, seeing him climbing up the ranks and getting the respect and recognition he deserved.

throughout the night, people would sit next to you and make conversation with you, mostly about john but you didn't mind, getting to speak about your partner and his achievements just reminded you of how proud you were of him but also just how much you loved him.

at some point through the party though you were dragged down a dark corridor by john and into a room you'd never step foot into. as he flickered the lights on, your eyes adjusted and was able to make out that it was an office, and a pretty big one at that. it then clicked, this was john's own office.

"pretty nice, eh doll?" he said smugly as he wrapped his strong arms around your waist from behind, head resting on your shoulder and you could smell the beer and bourbon from his breath. it's not like you were any better though, throwing drink after drink back in happiness.

"they are letting you have this?" you slurred quietly, resting your hands on top of his with a giggle and price chuckled against your neck which had sent a shiver down your spine. "all fuckin' mine sweetheart. c'mon we gotta christen it, dontcha' think?" he mumbled into your neck before he started to suck and bite at the skin, his hands tightening around you.

you squirmed in his grip, moaning and whining before you begged for him to take you over his new desk. it was beautiful, dark mahogany with no scratches or marks and took up a good amount of space in the office.

john had wasted no time in pulling you over to the desk and pinning you down on your back so he could see your face. it wasn't long before he was fumbling with buttons and zippers, desperate to get inside of you but after a bit he finally had managed to get his cock out enough to slip into you and fuck you into his desk.

he felt so powerful here, taking you on his new desk in his new office that was all his. he was a captain now, an even higher rank than you and it just made him harder due to the power imbalance. though he was pretty boozy, his thrusts were relatively on time and he was hitting all the right spots for you.

"fu-fuck captain, so so good." you slurred out, eyes rolling into the back of your head as john pounded into you. when it clicked in his drunk mind what you had called him, his thrusts came to a stop and a rough hand wrapped itself around your throat.

"what did you jus call me?" he grumbled, looking into your dazed eyes. "ca-captain," and after those words had left your mouth, john moaned lowly. "yeah that's right baby, c'mon call me it again." he panted, his thrusts picking up again as you continued to cry and moan for your captain to make you cum.

@bjornthebearguy

@iciclesses

@mothymunson

[inexplicifics]

Oh my gosh, inex! and i thought *MY* Wip list was long! Just what you posted was 46 wips!!!! i think I'm at about half that for *active* Wips (and i lost count of stuff i had ideas for and filed away and never got back to). (one of these days, my muse will return in more than intermittent bursts)

Anyway, a while back, I had started my first Valdemar fic, got sidetracked for whatever reason (probably that muse taking off again), set it aside and then because of you, i managed to get my inspiration back and finished it up! Which caused 2 sequel ideas to bloom (we'll see how they go) as well as a complete separate crossover idea.

So i think you can see where I'm going with this - Vanyel's always been a favorite of mine in that world and so I'm interested in your Vanyel fic :D (heck, I actually reread what you had so far recently!) Not sure you've had time to poke at it recently, but if you have, I'm definitely keen on it.

-Pherryt, because apparently you can switch blogs for replies but not for asks.

Yeah, I have Wordy Bitch Disease pretty badly, and an unfortunate habit of getting new ideas pretty much daily. It's a problem.

Valdemar was a childhood formative influence, and frankly Vanyel needs some fix-its, so if I can dump the poor traumatized bastard into Kaer Morhen with slightly less trauma than canon, it seems like a good thing to do!

Here's a bit I wrote relatively recently:

Vanyel lifts a hand in a tentative wave. The wiedzmin feel muted but definitely cheerful against his Empathy; they both wave back, and reach the steps in a very short time, dropping down to hunker on their heels a polite distance away. Axel says, “Hello!” - In Valdemaran. “You speak our tongue!” Tylendel blurts, excitement flaring up through their bond. Axel shakes his head. “Hello, goodbye, yes, no, Companion, Herald, food, ale, privy,” he rattles off. Vanyel laughs. Those are the most important words to start with, he supposes. Cedric smirks and adds, very smugly, “Fuck.” Tylendel falls over into Vanyel’s lap, laughing too hard to even make a sound.

[tinystepsforward]

i've still been keeping tabs on what's happening at automattic. a couple of things i've observed:

toni schneider (who is a man btw), the interim ceo, has been quite open with staff in ways that mean they generally seem relieved to have him leading the company for now. i've heard people speak optimistically about him from all parts of the spectrum (by which i mean: staff who are trans tumblr users right through to staff who are "anti-woke" or whatever and were absolutely intolerable to work with as a trans person), which seems like... a good sign? maybe.

this relative transparency includes things like weekly updates from an executive level, as well as openly saying that he did have to directly speak to matt and encourage him to, you know, stop posting.

matt is back to his usual milquetoast blogging, and replied to someone on mastodon about the AI issue saying he'd comment on it when he's back in may, so whatever toni said to him seems to have worked for him keeping out of it for now.

people have no idea what it's gonna look like when matt's back.

the best case scenario is that schneider manages to create a significant enough boost in morale and productivity that "it'd be nice if we just kept him" becomes a sentiment that isn't held just by the rank and file. i don't know how likely that is, but there's a sense of cautious hope and of making the most of this reprieve from matt's increasingly erratic decisions no matter what.

the tumblr staff statement was approved by schneider and hr, so i am also hopeful they won't face repercussions. what they said might seem pretty mild from the outside, or carefully worded, but it's pretty clear to me and to most people who've worked at companies like this that it's a pretty bold one.

i'll quote a friend:

keep reminding the more histrionic elements out there that: 1. there really are trans people, INCLUDING TRANS WOMEN, in the fight here. 2. we don't have nearly the power they seem to think we do. 3. we're fighting anyway. was the statement we wrote enough? fuck no. does it fix everything? fuck no. but we literally called out the CEO, and got the greenlight for it from the interim CEO. i don't know where this will end, but that's not nothing.

i'm not sure automattic deserves the immense honor of having this many of its brave, dedicated trans staff put effort into trying to make it better. but it has them, and it would be wise to do its best to keep them. so many of us — even me, even now — believe in the ideals that drew us to the work automattic does, and hope that it can return to them. we will see!

other things i want to say:

the wellbeing of my friends on staff is my priority. i am interested primarily in their safety, and won't pressure them to give me goss. the ways i've spoken publicly are already pretty scary to people who might worry about retaliation against them just for being known to be my friend.

this is a regular personal blog. i'll keep updating if there's shit to update about, but i also don't work at automattic any more (thank fuck, again), have a life, and am not interested in declaring matt my specific nemesis or otherwise acting purely out of spite.

some of youse really deeply do not understand companies, the internet, generative ai, or pretty much anything else i've said. that's okay — big tech in particular is fucked up on purpose bc it benefits those in power to have it be incomprehensible! but maybe it's not a great position from which to get mad at me specifically or at staff for idk not personally assassinating matt.

got tired of blocking transphobes so i've turned anons off. i'll probably flick them back on eventually.

[obsessivestar]

'What If It's All A RomCom?' - a Ted Nivison x Reader

{{- Welcome to Chapter 4! Gonna ditch the Story Description from here on out. If this is your first chapter, I'd recommend reading Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 first! Or just read this one if you want the good shit, up to you ;^) -}}

//General Warnings: 18+ fic, Reader implied to be afab and under 5'5.

Chapter Warnings: Heated language. Heavy kissing. Mentions of Jackbox (Idk if that should count as a warning but the game is in this chapter so if you don't know of it you might get confused)\\

> Word count: 4.7k (I'm so fucking sorry LMAO)

☆▪︎▪︎▪︎Taglist!▪︎▪︎▪︎☆

@k-k0129

☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆

Chapter 4: You Don't Wanna Kiss Me?

The shots we had just done looked very pretty, actually. The crew had gotten this one beautiful shot of the extras throwing around the ball on the left with Ted and I along the flagpole on the right, the bright sun giving this shadowy effect to us all. Good. This way, you can't see how absolutely embarrassed I was with how close Ted was to me; practically had me pinned against that pole. It did make for an excellent shot though, and I could tell Tanner was proud. I didn't want to ruin that for him.

Once we all moved inside, Ted and I finally got to take part in some scenes where we'd be speaking to one another. These next scenes had extras moving around with packed bags and boxes, simulating a large group of friends helping each other move in. Ted and I would be discussing graduation in the scene over by the kitchen table. He and Tanner had apparently made some adjustments to the script earlier in the morning as the personality of 'Mason' needed to be tweaked for Ted's more extroverted personality. I didn't mind it, any new context didn't change my own lines and we were free to improv if need be. Ted would even start the scene by picking up a box from the front door to bring to the kitchen table to make the scene feel more natural. I liked how much Ted was willing to adapt to everything for the production, I'm sure Tanner appreciated it too; and I appreciated getting to see Ted move some more.

Oh man, I'm not actually starting to like this guy, am I?

I have to control my thoughts for the scene to continue. These casual takes are relatively easy to get through when my brain isn't arguing with itself. We shoot several different scenes together, some where we're talking alone and some where we're in a group setting, once again doing any necessary retakes until the sun starts to set once again and Tanner decides to call it for the day. As the film crew once again packed up and dispurse to their own accommodations, I found out who that 5th mystery member of the editing team was. It was Dan, the guy that had almost hit me with the football earlier. He apologized to me more, but I reassured him all was okay and that I wasn't upset with anyone. The interaction had got me thinking about how to wind the night down without us all retreating to our bedrooms. We had ended the 2nd day of filming a little earlier than we wrapped up yesterday, so we had the free time. I pitched the idea to Tanner once everyone else had left, and he loved the idea, so we got everyone else together and met up in the living room.

Tanner was the one to suggest bringing his PC down from his room to play Jackbox, a party game where you use your phones as controllers to connect and play some entertaining mini games. We'd all have to be together for the next 3 weeks anyways; it felt like the perfect ice breaker. At this point, everyone had changed into their own clothes, including Ted, who was wearing a black sweater and some casual dark grey pants. He looked pretty comfy, actually. The couch we were all on was like one giant sofa, all connected together in the shape of a sharp U with a large flat screen TV mounted up on the wall adjacent to us. I had sat myself near one of the corners on the left side, pleasantly surprised when Ted chose to sit next to me. The scent of pine I had caught on him earlier was a little stronger now, even though he wasn't sitting all that close to me.

"Did you put more cologne on?" I ask with a smirk, sitting up a bit more on the couch as he got comfortable next to me. "Yeah. I sweat a lot sometimes and I don't want to smell." Ted admitted, sounding a lot more relaxed than I'm used to hearing. He might've been a little tired from the long day we've had.

"That's actually why I'm sitting over here. Tanner smells like shit, like, almost all the time, so..." Ted jokes, giving a tired grin to Tanner who was setting up his PC to connect to the TV. "That's cap, chat. That's so cap." Tanner casually responds, plugging an HDMI cable to the side of the TV, then moving to sit at the far left end of the couch. Dan had chosen to sit somewhat in the middle part of the large sofa, more on Tanner's side so Joe could sit next to me.

"If you want to sit next to (Y/N), you can just say that." Tanner speaks up again, moving his mouse and keyboard onto the coffee table. I blush to myself, pulling my hands into my own long sleeved shirt. If Tanner of all people is starting to comment on...whatever's between Ted and I, it must be noticeable to literally everyone else. So it can't just be my imagination. "No, see, she doesn't smell like gym socks, so that's fine. I'll take vanilla over gym socks."

"I smell like vanilla to you?" I scoff, turning my head to him and raising a brow.

"It's not 'to me'. I just know you use vanilla."

"What do you mean I use vanilla?"

"You have a little spray bottle that says 'warm vanilla sugar." Ted spreads his thumb and his pointer figure to estimate the size of the bottle. I'm flabbergasted because he's right.

"How the fuck do you know that???" Joe asks, sounding about as confused as I am.

"Because I saw her put it in her bag!"

"Why were you--" a chuckle escapes me. "How do you know exactly what it's called?"

"You left it on the counter this morning and it scared the shit out of me because I thought it was, like, a little container of piss at first, so I looked at it!" Ted admitted, gesturing over to the kitchen with his arm. Everyone in the room starts laughing, myself included. His logic makes no sense sometimes. "And then I saw you put it in your bag, so I know it's yours!"

"Imagine it was actually was a container of piss though. Like, sorry, I left it there." Joe jokes, grinning over at Tanner. "Yeah, sorry chat, I was saving it for later." Tanner continues the joke, laughter once again filling the room. "Man, we should start a podcast." My friends are an interesting pair, I tell ya. I was surprised to see Dan and Ted weren't phased by our strange humor. They seemed to fit right in our strange friend group.

Tanner got the first game up so we could test some of the types of minigames this series had to offer. We quickly realized the trivia ones weren't very fun for us, mostly because we didn't know what any of the answers were. Quiplash gave us some good laughs but got old very quickly, and Tee K.O. was fun, but the creativity didn't last. The ones that really entertained us were The Devil's And The Details, Talking Points, and especially FixyText. There was something about the more cooperative ones that were an absolute blast, especially if I was ever paired with Ted. We'd be pushing and yelling at each other whenever one was trying to stop the other from committing a selfish act in one game, then get close together and share the screens of our phones as we created the funniest text replies in another, snickering and whispering to each other to plan ahead. I think we really blew everyone away with our fake presentations, too. Whenever we were paired up for a game, we'd be inseparable. Sensational, even.

But as always, time is fated to pass and it eventually got rather late in the night. As the last awards of the night are given, I realize just how much closer I had gotten to Ted. I wasn't leaning on his shoulder or anything, but we were practically stuck side by side together with our knees up to our chest, sharing the award we were giving out. I could tell Ted was getting tired as his voice was the lowest I had ever heard it. It was kind of...hot, actually. Especially this close. Dan is the first to say goodnight and head upstairs, with Joe helping Tanner pack away the PC to bring upstairs as well. For a little while, it was just Ted and I.

On that couch.

In that living room.

Downstairs.

Alone.

"You look tired." I speak softly as I look at Ted, who had put his hood up earlier. I could see the subtle bags under his eyes from this close.

"You kept me up past my bedtime.." Ted muttered with a tired smirk, keeping his eyes on his phone. He was checking all of his social media for the night, switching from Instagram to Twitter. "I didn't mean to keep you up.." I chuckled a little, sticking my own phone into my baggy pockets. "You're a big boy, you can make your own decisions."

"I know, but you were staying up, so.." Ted sniffles to stifle a yawn, looking over at me as he wipes one of his eyes with his hand. "Your fault."

"My fault?"

"Mhmm.."

"It's my fault you chose to stay up with me?"

"Yeah. Exactly."

"It sounds like you wanted to stay up with me, Teddy.." I shoot him a gentle grin, taking the opportunity to tease him. "I wanted..." Ted pauses to allow himself to yawn, stretching one arm out while covering his mouth with his free hand before continuing. "I wanted to make sure you'd lose."

"You wanted to make sure I'd lose."

"That's right."

"That's it?"

"That's about it."

"You wanna know what I think?"

"Prolly not a whole lot..."

"I--fuck off, I think--" I let out a cackle, lightly smacking his shoulder. "I think you wanted to stay up with everyone, not just me."

"Not just you?"

"No."

"No?..."

He stops stretching and looks at his phone one last time to close Twitter, then slips his phone into his sweater pocket and turns his head again to look at me. Our eyes meet and the room goes quiet. Ted has this relaxed half-smile as he looks at me, his eyes subtly moving left to right to suggest he's looking at both of my eyes. I return the tired smile, taking the quiet moment to gaze into his earthy orbs. As our gazes stay fixed on one another, I can feel a pit of anxiousness grow in my stomach like a slow, blooming flower. He just admitted it, didn't he? He wanted to stay up for me, with me. I can't deny this any longer. Ted is...a very handsome looking man. I can't break my gaze away. I turn my body a bit more towards him to make my neck more comfortable. His eyes wander along my blushing cheeks. I wonder if his gaze would go any lower, but he returns his stare to mine. I shouldn't. I can't even find the willpower to say anything, but he isn't speaking either. He isn't speaking, he isn't teasing me, he's stopped teasing me. Why has he stopped teasing me? He's so...he's so...

"(Y/N)"

I hear my name come from Joe's voice, startling Ted and I a little. I look over the couch to see Joe standing at the stairs, giving me a knowing smirk. How long has he been standing there? I look at my phone and realize it's nearly midnight. We should all be going to bed. I look over at Ted again, but he's already off the couch, cleaning up the empty bottles and cups to the kitchen. Son of a bitch.

I get up to help clean up, as Ted missed a cup since his hands were full. "Hold on." I tell Joe, heading into the kitchen with Ted. It's all one big room, so Joe can still see Ted and I in the kitchen. As Ted's putting the bottles in the recycling, I start putting the cups in the sink. There's a moment where we both reach for the same cup and his hand slightly rests on top of mine. His hand is surprisingly colder than I anticipated. We look at each other and chuckle quietly, then Ted removes his hand so I could put the cup in the sink.

"Clearly I am fuckin' tired.." He mutters and looks at me with a tired smile. "Don't stay up so late next time.." I pester him a little, returning the smile as I move away from the sink.

"I probably will.."

"Right, and it'll be my fault, yeah?"

"It'll absolutely be your fault."

I roll my eyes at his response, not even making an effort to hide the blush on my cheeks.

"Goodnight, Ted."

"G'night, stinky.."

A little laugh slips out of me, finally joining Joe at the stairs. Before we're even out of Ted's sight, Joe is already badgering me about that exchange. He whispers in a criticizing tone, but I can barely hear him over our stepping until we get to the upstairs hallway.

"I literally told you. I literally told you not to flirt." Joe huffs, picking up his tone now that we were likely out of earshot. "No no no, you didn't tell me not to flirt." I shake my head and waggle my finger in Joe's direction. "You told me not to sleep with him, I'm not sleeping with him."

"That's not what it was about to look like." Joe's whisper becomes raspy, like he's quietly yelling at me.

"What do you mean?? I didn't start flirting, he did."

"Did you not feel how fucking close you two were the whole night? He looked like he was about to kiss you just now!"

I look over at the stairs, as if I'm able to look at Ted through them. I think about his eyes and his smile. God, his smile. His stupid smile. "He was?.." Once again, I find myself smiling. It seems I can't even hide these feelings from Joseph. Not sure why I thought I could, Joe's see's everything, especially if I'm involved. He may know me better than I know myself. He's my best friend.

He snaps his fingers in my face to wake me from my gaze, furrowing his brows at me in frustration. I let out a huff, shrugging my shoulders at him. I'm not going to dance around him anymore. I know he has good intentions, but I see him as a brother, not a father. "Well, so fucking what? What do you want me to say, that I think he's ugly?"

"I'd know you're lying to me."

"Exactly! What are you gonna do if it actually happens? I have to kiss him tomorrow anyways. If something else happens, it happens. I don't know what to tell you that'd make you feel better other than I'll be fine."

Joe takes a deep breath, turning his head away from me for a moment. I could see his thoughts through his body language. He was unsure at first, but a mischievous smirk began to take over his expression. I saw Protective Brother Joseph leave his body in favour of Gossiping Best Friend Joseph.

"...okay, you two would be pretty hot together."

I let out a louder laugh than I probably should've, quickly covering my mouth as Joe playfully shushes me. I know Joe just doesn't want me to get hurt, I acted the same way with him when he met his husband. We love each other like family. "But you have to promise me you'll tell me first if anything happens. I need the tea."

"Oh you know I will.." I grin at him, moving over to my door for the night.

"Night, Joe." "Night (Y/N)."

I enter my bedroom and plop right down on the bed, letting out a content sigh. I take out my phone to glance over social media one last time. I see Ted had posted a photo of the 5 of us earlier, and I see just how close I was to Ted. I take a screenshot of it and rest the phone down on my chest, unable to contain my smile. I giggle to myself, knowing what's coming. I fall asleep wondering if I'll be ready tomorrow. There's a very good chance I could freak out.

Turns out, we both might've been freaking out.

The morning comes and goes, mostly because some of us had slept in. By the afternoon, we're having to turn the lights down and close the blinds to simulate it being much later in the night. We've got a bunch of RGB lights and even a light-up disco ball on the ceiling to make it feel like a party. This is the first scene in which Ted and I will be sharing a kiss. I actually really like how the scene is set. Ted and I are sitting in a circle with a bunch of the extras playing Spin-The-Bottle. Of course, after a few spins, the bottle will be pointing for us to kiss. We have to act like we're nervous, which probably wasn't helping. When it came to filming the actual kissing scene, we had to sit down beside each other, turn our heads and kiss, but it had to be slow. We have to linger on it, really show the tension building up just for it to burst with that very first kiss.

But for nearly a whole hour, we couldn't do it.

Maybe it was all the extra eyes, maybe it was the weird angle we were at, I had no idea. Sometimes Ted would be ready and I'd mess up, sometimes I'd be ready and he'd mess up. It was a whole ordeal. I felt bad for everyone that was waiting for us to get this. No one appeared to be mad, but one kiss was taking over an hour. Even I'd start to feel a little frustrated if the leads couldn't wrap it up. We almost get it at one point, but I choke at the last second and start laughing, which makes Ted start laughing as well. He grabs my face and starts shaking me, chanting. "We have to kiss, (Y/N)! This is our job! You need to kiss me, God damnit! Look at my lips and kiss me!" We both were becoming hysterical, so much so that Tanner finally decided to call for a break. I was relieved, actually. As hard as I was laughing, I was embarrassed. I thought I'd be more prepared for this. Perhaps getting this comfortable with Ted was a mistake, now I can't do my job.

As everyone's leaving to grab lunch or touch up their hair and makeup, Tanner approaches Ted and I as we get up from the floor. I half expected him to encourage us to get the kiss over with in front of everyone, but he has a different idea. "Okay, this is going to sound insane, but hear me out..." Tanner begins, gesturing to the both of us. "I'm gonna get the camera rolling...and then I'm just gonna leave it there."

"Leave it there?" I ask, raising a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I just...I feel like all of the eyes watching are making this a little harder for you guys.." Tanner admitted, clasping his hands together. "I can bring another camera and go outside with everyone, I want you two to be comfortable. You can take your time and, yknow, Ted could look at the shot afterwards.." Tanner trails off, probably looking for a specific reaction out of either Ted or I. Ted didn't seem to mind the idea at all, looking over at me with a shrug. I look down at my shoes, sort of clicking them together. So Tanner wants Ted and I to kiss on camera...alone.

"But if you want to wait, we can film something else..." Tanner speaks up again, looking at me with a concerned expression.

"Are you okay...?" Ted pauses, lightly touching my arm with one of his fingers, almost like he was...caressing me. I turn my head up to look at Ted, watching as he tilts his head. "....with that?"

"Yeah, I can do it this way." I finally answer, giving Ted and Tanner a smile. "He probably needs a refresher on how to kiss a woman anyways..."

Ted chuckles and shakes his head at me, though Tanner is satisfied with the answer. "Alright, I'll just set it up and give you two the reigns.." Tanner speaks, moving over to the camera. He adjusts a few things on it, then takes a step back and shoots us some finger guns. "Shout if you need me."

Ted and I watch as Tanner collects the rest of the team and brings them outside, watching one of the bigger crew members pick up an entire camera and hoist it on outside.

Now, it was just Ted and I.

In the living room.

Alone.

On camera.

"Alright, go sit where we were before, I'll make sure the camera's in focus.." Ted instructs, pointing over to the floor. I can't help but blush, only because It sounded like a command. I wonder if he's the type to talk you through it...

Stop it. It's just a kiss.

I go and sit back on the floor, criss-crossing my legs as I watch Ted fiddle with the camera. After a moment, he lets out a sigh and steps back. "Alright. You're in focus. It'll adjust to us." He speaks, coming over to sit next to me. I can feel my heart start beating out of my chest once he sits down. This is really happening. I know I have to do this for Tanner, I want to do it for Tanner, but it's...harder now. For some reason, it's harder now.

"If you want, we could just...talk first.." Ted spoke to me in a condecending tone. Our eyes meet once more and I get that same pit in my stomach that I had last night. No. I'm not gonna let him have this. He got me yesterday on that fucking pole, I'm getting him today. "We could...talk about last night.." I offered, shooting him a little grin. He cracks a smile, gliding the tip of his tongue along his top teeth briefly.

"You wanna get into this on camera?" Ted asks, nodding at me with am embarrassed little smile.

"What!? You're the one that offered to talk!" I start laughing, tilting my head at him mockingly. "You don't wanna kiss me, Teddy? You afraid to kiss me?"

"Fuck you."

"You don't wanna kiss me?"

"This film is going to fail because of you--"

"You don't wanna kiss me?"

"and your--and your giant fucking ego."

"You don't wanna kiss me?"

"Are you done, princess? Are you fucking done?" Ted's swiveling his head in my direction to mock me back, a permanent grin on his face. "Shut your mouth, I'm comin' in."

"You're not doing shit! That's not the tell!"

"Hey."

"'Hey' what?"

"Hey."

"What?"

"Shut your mouth."

I raise both of my eyebrows at him and scoff. Before I can think of another sarcastic remark, he does it. His eyes wander down to my lips, lightly nibbling on the end of his own bottom lip, then he returns his gaze to mine. That's the tell. He's about to lean in, but I don't let him.

My body moves on its own, darting towards him so our lips could finally meet for the first time. All of the tension that had been building between us finally begins to melt as our lips continue to connect, slowly at first. It's not enough. I unravel my legs and sit up on my knees. Ted reacts by placing both of his hands on my waist, pulling me in closer to cause a breathy moan to escape into our kiss. My hands reach up to hold both of his cheeks, his glasses caressing my face as our lips caress each other's tenderly. I can feel the heat radiating off his cheeks, my own warm blush making my breathing pick up. I can't pull away. It feels like his lips were meant to be attached to mine. I can feel his breathing on my chest, his stubble along the palms of my hands, his fingers gripping my lower back, his tongue gliding along his lower lip into mine, his cologne, the tension. The tension. All of it was making me stir crazy. His lips, his kiss, I could lose myself in him. I could truly lose it. I don't want to stop. I want to run my fingers through his hair, I want to bite his stupid lip, I want to be louder.

But we're on camera. Tanner's camera. We have to stop. I have to...

I'm the one to break the kiss, hearing a quiet pop and an airy moan from Ted in response. I connect my forehead with his for a brief moment, keeping my eyes closed until I pull away to look at him. The tip of his nose tickles mine, his hands still wrapped around my waist. We share a quiet moment, steadying our breathing. I don't even know if this kiss was supposed to be this heated, but it's what Tanner's getting. All he wrote was 'Kara and Mason kiss' in the script. He can work with this.

"...I think we got it.." Ted is the first to speak up, but he doesn't remove his hands from me just yet. I can't help but let out a laugh, leaning my head back for a moment. "What? What did I say?" Ted asks, smiling through his teeth.

"No no, I just..." I take a few breaths through my laughter, letting go of his face to wave my hand a little. "I-I think that's the quietest we've been together so far.."

"Oh yeah? We should probably get louder then.."

Now that. That is something I didn't think I'd hear out of Ted, certainly not to me. Did he forget we're supposed to be shooting a scene?

"Camera's still rolling, Teddy.."

"...FUCK!"

Ted nearly throws me off of him and struggles to get up to go turn off the camera. I'm absolutely killing myself laughing as I pick myself up off the floor. No way did the fucker forgot we were filming. He JUST said 'we got it'.

"You forgot!?"

"Can you cut footage on this!?"

"You fucking forgot! Oh my god, you sad fuck!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ted laughs, trying to sound angry with me as he pauses the film on the camera. "Tanner's gonna see that!"

"Hell yeah he is! Great Job, Teddy! You sleazy mother fucker.."

"Me? Me!? He's gonna see you being a fucking slut!"

"Oh I'M the slut!? Really?!"

"Yeah!"

"Really!?"

"Yes!"

"Your hands on my fucking waist? I'M the slut!?"

"Your tongue in MY mouth!"

"You started with it!"

"I did fucking NOT! I felt yours first!"

"I felt YOURS first! YOU started with it!"

"Started with what?"

Tanner suddenly steps into the room, startling both of us. He must've just stepped in from outside, I didn't even hear him close a door. He's got no idea what we're yelling at each other about. "Have you guys kissed yet?"

Ted and I look at each other again as I struggle to contain my laughter. All I can do is nod, pointing in Ted's direction. "Ask him about it. It's on there." I manage to speak after a little while, walking passed them to head outside. I lightly touch my lips as I open the screen door to get outside. The last thing I hear is Tanner asking Ted about all the yelling, and a final huff from Ted himself.

Truthfully, I needed to head outside to compose myself. I could still feel his hands on my warm cheeks, placing my own hand on it to feel just how hot they had become. I couldn't believe he forgot he were filming, he seemed very into...all of that.

What would've happened if the camera wasn't there?

__________________________________

|| Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 (smut) || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9 || Chapter 10 (smut) || Chapter 11 || Chapter 12 || Chapter 13 || Chapter 14 (smut) || Chapter 15 ||

[fandxmslxt69]

CLEM'S BIRTHDAY HANG OUT!!

Hello friends!

As March comes to an end (my birth month wooo) I thought it would be a fun idea to have a little hang out during the last week! So from March 25 - 31 we are PARTYING !

Sort of!

My askbox is open to all sorts of silly dilly fun time! This is my first little hang out so PLEASE BE KIND TO ME i'm just a silly girl who wants to make friends and have some fun! I'm also hoping this might get me back into writing!

Yes, the poster is all Loki NO HE'S NOT THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION!! Here's a little info I guess (I am just winging this as we speak, it is not very thought out):

Rules & Info

The event will run from 03/25 to 03/31 - you can send in as many asks and hang out as much as you would like!!! No I will not kill you if you drop a hello in my askbox start of April - to be honest, I love friends so I won't ever turn anyone away

You can stop by my askbox to say hi, share some thoughts (or thots...) tell me anything, or play a game! (will talk about that in a bit)

Anyyyyoneeee is welcome I don't care if we aren't mutuals or we don't even talk, STOP BY AND SAY HI :D If you are rude or disrespectful in any way, I will kick your butt and break your nose.

This is a positive, fun zone. I just want to have my fun and mind my business, please don't be trying to cause problems. I'm a relatively small blog so thankfully no one really looks my way but I've had some bumps in the past.

THIS IS MY FIRST TIME DOING THIS AND IM LITERALLY GOING TO DIE FROM NERVES SO BE PATIENT WITH ME OKAY

Games:

Fuck, marry, kill - send me any three characters that you want me to decide a fate for....oh my god please don't make me kill anyone I love dearly....

Blurbs!! - send me a little prompt/kink/thought & a character and I will try SOOOOO HARD to put out a little itty bitty something of writing! Like 500 words or so!! Can be fluffy or smutty. Angst is not allowed unless its just a LITTLE sad and with lots of fluffy stuff after

Character Association - tell me about yourself and let me give you a character. This is literally my favourite game ever, and I swear I'm super good at it

Book Recs - tell me your reading vibes/popular tropes you like and I will give you FIVE (not one, not two, but FIVE!!!) book recs because I like talking about books. If you show up talking about non fiction, then sorry but I am not your gal at all.

Chat - Come talk!! Come chat!! Come say hi and giggle with me about anything!! Come be crazy with me over narratives and themes and character arcs!!! Tell me about school or your day, your OCs, latest WIPs or anything currently on your mind!

Okay that's all I could come up with but literally any and all games are free game. I am keeping this as chill and lowkey as possible.

Characters/Fandoms:

You guys already KNOW my vibes and what I'm around and what I'm not, so feel free to send anything! I float around Marvel/DC (just send in any character and if I don't vibe with it I'll just let you know or leave it unanswered), I think it's obviously I'm Oscar Isaac obsessed....um. Pretty much anything. It's free game and I'll put my foot down if I'm down okay with something or don't want to answer :D

I'm..about to tag some friends...if that's okay...

@divine-knight-hand @romanarose @sarahscribbles @lokischambermaid @lokisgoodgirl @sailorholly @in-som-niyah @fictive-sl0th @mischief2sarawr @saturn-rings-writes @superficialdomina @planetwaynez...and I can't remember anyone else now I'm sorry LMAO

KISSES EVERYONE <3

Clem

PS: If you're worried whether I'm comfy or not or familiar with a character or not, just send it in anyway and we'll figure it out from there!

[blacklegsanjiii]

Okay, in a universe where Sanji basically didn't even get to meet Judge (like D! Sora au), he would be Oísin. But I was thinking about names for his siblings, so here I am and this is what I thought:

Reiju = Lune (moon) or Rosier (rose bush)

Ichiji = Kaze (wind) or Pluie (rain)

Niji = Ciel (sky) or Kumo (clouds)

Yonji = Shima (island) or Mori (forest)

I tried to make all their names relating to nature or the universe, since Oísin is pretty much like Ocean.

So good to see you! I truly love this idea and Oísin is Irish for "fawn" or "little deer" and I truly believe that Sora is Irish and has an Irish accent and that Irish is a Northern dialect-yes I know French is like the go to for Sanji but THINK ABOUT IT. Especially in the soulmate au which we will jump back to and also I'm going to give you a slight lore dump that I have for Sora in general that I'm using for her background in general but is going to come in heavily in the sequel to North Blue Language and the Soulmate AU and Skylar is her maiden name in both of these so still pertaining to your ask as well. Not Irish but also just a very good name for this lovely woman.

Sora hails from the Horizon Kingdom at the top of the North Blue and she is the youngest child, the one that will be married off for alliances and security. It's a relatively peaceful kingdom where it's cold and lights dance across the sky year round and one of the more relatively peaceful kingdoms, small and so far away from the others it's seen as a hassle to get there more often than not. It's cold but it's lush and it rains and the kingdom is lively. Think Ireland if it stayed the same but moved to the arctic circle basically. It's small compared to other kingdoms but they try to keep to themselves and keep their people happy as much as they can. The family is tight knit but even still Sora is a pawn for the safety of her kingdom and she accepted that at a relatively young age.

So let's start with D! Sora where Sora fucking leaves and starts a crew and becomes an Emperor of the sea where Sanji is no longer Sanji he's Oísin and his siblings all have new names and Reiju doesn't remember being Reiju. Sora's crew all speak a variety of Northern languages and dialects so the names come from everywhere in the sea and it is touching. 10/10 love Rosier and you know the crew just started calling Reiju that because of she's their little flower garden basically, she's absolutely doted on and spoiled, even after all her brothers come along. Kaze is the oldest boy, then Ciel, Oísin, and lastly Mori. The names blend more into the actual world but they all still have the curled brows, all of the kids are blond too. So everything that happens in the D AU is 10,000x funnier when Zeff realizes that Oísin is that Oísin he's losing it. He is not okay, and when the Strawhats find out he's Skylar D. Oísin it's funnier. The chaos is monstrous.

In the Soulmate AU though imagine Mihawk looking at his pink haired daughter and calling her Rosier as they sail away from Germa and Reiju just gets used to the man calling her that, she's pink like some of the rose bushes on Kuriagana and Mihawk will put fresh ones in her room all the time and absolutely dotes on her and calls her his little flower garden as he braids other flowers into her hair. Mihawk has picked up several languages thanks to his travels so they pick the names for the boys and it's lovely, it's great. Shanks thinks Kaze should have been named something to do with fire or blood because thematically the others kind of match their hair and Mihawk threatens him because Sora insisted on the name and Shanks promptly shuts the fuck up. Zoro and Perona being there during the time skip really fucks with them and Zoro now partially understands like three more languages than he did.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Never A Dull Moment

Pairing: Jordan Parrish x Reader

Word Count: 4.4k

Warnings: none

Genre: fluff

Summary: A semester abroad did not make you forget how quick chaos comes to Beacon Hills, but some things, like a new deputy for example, may make the crazy worth going through.

***

You sigh to yourself as you flick on the lights in your apartment and drop your suitcases by the door. You loved your experience abroad but there's nothing quite as satisfying as coming home to sleep in your own bed, especially knowing you're officially done with school. Finishing your final college semester abroad was so brilliant of you. You only make it as far as your couch when you hear your bedroom door being swung open with an unnecessary amount of force and on reflex you grab one of the weapons stashed in your apartment and fling it down the hall before even seeing who is there. You gasp when your eyes register a familiar head of dark hair narrowly dodging your dagger.

"Fucking christ Stilinski what's wrong with you?!" You hiss at him.

"I missed you! I heard you'd be back today so-"

"So you broke into my apartment to wait for me?!"

"I didn't break anything I have a key." He shrugs.

"We live in Beacon Hills Stiles you can't come into people's homes unannounced I almost took your head off!" You scoff wrapping your arms around him in a hug.

"Yeah but you didn't so it's fine." He says.

"You need a lesson in appropriate responses to danger I swear." You shake your head.

"With you and Scott around I think I'm good." Stiles says.

"That's not- whatever. Since you're here you can tell me some of the things I missed that I know you all kept from me because I was in another country."

"We- didn't keep anything from you. Beacon Hills has been dreadfully boring without you. It's all Lydia talked about."

"I know you can lie better than that but I guess I'm glad you suck at lying to me. Spill it Stiles, it'll be much better for you to tell me now before I have to force those memories from you." You say.

"Can you even do that?" He frowns.

"Do you want to risk finding out?"

"Dead pool."

"What?"

"There was a teeny tiny thing we had to deal with called a dead pool." He shrugs.

"This teeny tiny thing wasn't teeny tiny at all was it?"

"I mean- relatively it wasn't so ba- no it wasn't teeny tiny at all. I thought everyone was gonna die and now Malia won't talk to me."

"Okay; explain to me what the 'dead pool' was and then we can circle back to the Malia thing?"

"A- list was going around with a bounty on the heads of every supernatural creature in Beacon Hills so we essentially had to deal with a whole bunch of assassins because Peter accidentally recruited Meredith to enact his psycho revenge plan from after the fire that killed the Hale family and-"

"Woah. Meredith from Eichen?!" You blink at him.

"Yes. That's a whole subcategory of craziness that we can go over in detail later but the moral of the story is we lived and we only didn't tell you because there wasn't much you could do in Monte Carlo-"

"I was in Italy."

"Same difference, it's all Europe regardless of where you couldn't help and well there's no reason to stress you out with that feeling of hopelessness when you're supposed to be study abroading. We swore we wouldn't ruin your last semester for you. Actually, the adults made us."

"Your dad and mama Scott made you promise not to bug me with Beacon Hills problems?" You ask.

"Yes. So, I took notes of everything that happened since you left. You can read them at your leisure. Oh but speaking of my dad, this can't wait, there's a new supernatural you should know about."

"I like to think that I'm pretty good at deciphering all that is Stiles Stilinski but I'm failing to see what the connection is between your dad and a new supernatural. Unless you're saying your dad is now one?"

"No, but he hired a new deputy." Stiles says.

"Give me- one more building block so I can piece this together." You ask.

"The new deputy is the supernatural creature you need to know about."

"Oh! Okay. What is he?"

"We- have some theories." Stiles says.

"What are they?"

"I thought phoenix! Lydia thinks that's dumb." He shrugs.

"Explain to me how you got to phoenix."

"Well he was on the dead pool, which is how we found out he was supernatural at all but he has no idea what he is, he actually hardly knows what any of this is- he thinks Lydia's a psychic- but another cop tried to burn him alive and it didn't work."

"When you say it didn't work-"

"He came out unscathed. Not in the werewolf super healing way where he was burned and healed, I mean he just came right back to the station covered in ash, unharmed. So, phoenix."

"I see how you came to that conclusion but I don't think phoenixes take the form of just- some guy." You say.

"You got any other ideas?"

"Well, gimme like 37 hours with my bestiary and I probably will."

"You have a bestiary?! Since when!?" He gasps.

"Side quest while I was abroad." You wink.

"You side quested a bestiary?"

"You can get anything if you know the right people. And I figured it'd come in handy living in Beacon Hills." You shrug.

"Well hang on let me call-"

"No. Stiles I've been traveling for 13 hours. You're not calling anyone. We can touch on the Malia thing briefly but, I need to sleep and you need to leave so we can't be here all night."

"But you just got home."

"Exactly. Visiting hours are over until tomorrow. I need to sleep for 17 hours."

"17 hours?"

"Yes! At least! But I said we could discuss the Malia thing so why isn't she talking to you?" You ask.

"She found out about Peter." He sighs.

"She found out that Peter's her dad!?"

"Yes."

"How!?"

"She found the dead pool with her name on it in my jacket pocket when she was wearing it while almost dying because of a poison situation. The dead pool listed her as Malia Hale."

"So now she's mad at you for keeping it from her." You say.

"Yes." He nods.

"I- don't have the energy to unpack this right now so I will see you tomorrow but I'm sure things will work out. Give her time to process for now." You say.

"Fine. Tomorrow. Oh but read my notes on Parrish." Stiles says as he stumbles out of your apartment.

"Parrish?" You frown.

"The deputy. He's near the end of my notes but it's all the details I have on him. So you can figure out what he is."

"Goodbye." You sing-song, shutting the door on Stiles. You let out a sigh. Finally, peace and quiet. You take a shower and barely make it through your nighttime routine before you collapse in bed, relaxation seeping into your bones as you settle into the mattress and fall asleep.

It's not until noon that you roll out of bed the next day, mainly because you're hungry enough that it wakes you- seeing as you skipped dinner when you got home. After brushing your teeth and getting dressed you make yourself a late breakfast and get to work researching this deputy Parrish guy that Stiles told you about last night.

Flipping through your bestiary and comparing the lengthy notes Stiles left in your room, you're able to pinpoint the most likely categorization for Beacon Hills' newest deputy. You'd have to meet him to know for sure of course but you're pretty confident in your assessment. By the time you've drawn your conclusion, you realize it's almost 4 o'clock, which means you're expecting at least Stiles to crash your laid back afternoon, but seeing as you're just getting back you're almost sure he'll bring the whole crew along with him. Sure enough, not even ten minutes after you check the clock there's a rhythmic knock at your door and you can hear excited chatter before you even open it. Stiles is the first to come strolling through, b-lining it for your fridge because he's a teenage boy and if they're not thinking with the head between their legs, they're thinking with their stomach.

"Your fridge is so empty what the hell?" Stiles complains.

"I got back last night from living in another country for 3 months, I only have like nonperishables." You roll your eyes at Stiles as Liam wraps his arms around you. "Hey Liam." You pat his head gently.

"Welcome back y/n." Scott says.

"Yeah. Welcome back." Kira smiles.

"You aren't planning on leaving us again are you?" Malia asks.

"Not that I know of." You say.

"Good. We're much better with you around." She says and you smile. You know Malia struggles with expressing vulnerability so you always appreciate it when she tries.

"I'm better with you guys around too. Speaking of where's Lydia?" You ask.

"She- said she had something to do first but that she'd catch up." Stiles says.

"Alright, well I think your deputy friend is a creature known as a hellhound." You say.

"A what?!" His eyes widen.

"Deputy friend?" Malia frowns.

"Parrish." Stiles says.

"She's been home for less than 24 hours and you have her identifying the new supernaturals?" Scott looks at Stiles incredulously.

"Just Parrish! We were dead-ending I figured we could use the help." Stiles shrugs.

"IDing Parrish wasn't an emergency." Scott rolls his eyes.

"Buuuut now we've done it! One more thing off the to-do list."

"Well, hellhound's only a theory. I can only get so much from your notes." You clarify.

"How do we verify it then?" Stiles asks.

"Observation I guess? I dunno. Hellhounds aren't like werewolves or werecoyotes that react to wolfsbane. In fact, there are next to no known weaknesses to hellhounds." You say.

"Is a hellhound good or bad?" Malia asks.

"Neither. Technically. I guess the best place to put them would be chaotic neutral. If a hellhound isn't protecting the supernatural then they're usually only called to hunt something but seeing as this deputy guy doesn't seem to know what he is I'd guess there's a subconscious call to protect something or someone here in Beacon Hills. They are also considered harbingers of death, like Lydia but not predicting it like banshees do." You explain.

"So he's protecting something? That should be good right? He's not an enemy if he's protecting the supernatural." Liam says.

"Most likely. Like I said they don't fall on one side or the other of the moral scale. Their priorities are different. If you threaten the thing they're protecting or get in the way of the thing they're hunting they will kill you. So I guess whether or not you see them as good depends on your relation to the thing they're protecting or hunting." You shrug.

"But this is all a theory?" Kira asks.

"Well, not all the stuff about what a hellhound is. Just whether or not the deputy's one."

"You know what? Let's go to the station now! I'm sure he's working. You can meet him and assess on the fly." Stiles claps his hands together.

"How am I supposed to do that? The guy barely understands that he's something supernatural." You roll your eyes.

"I dunno but I'm sure you'll figure it out. You said you needed to observe." Stiles starts to rush everyone out of your apartment, pulling you towards the door when you don't move from where you're leaning against the kitchen counter.

"This is such an awful idea." You grumble as he tugs you along. Still, it's obvious he's not going to give this up so you grab your keys, your phone, and stuff your feet into your shoes.

"I'm sure my dad is dying to see you now that you're back in town anyway, what better excuse to drop in at work?" Stiles offers.

"I don't need an excuse to say hi to your father at work Stiles." You scoff- still, you're willing to go down if only to see him.

"I'm riding in y/n's car!" Liam announces. The six of you make your way to the station, Liam in your car while everyone else piled into Stiles's jeep.

"Stiles. What the hell did you do this time?" Stiles's father happens to walk by as soon as he enters and sighs.

"Why do you always assume I've done something?" Stiles retorts.

"He knows his son." You interject.

"Y/n? You're back! That explains why everyone's crowding the station." Sheriff Stilinski says.

"Yeah, everyone was at my place and Stiles decided we needed to come here right away." You explain.

"They didn't ditch school to see you did they?"

"No way. I've always prioritized their grades. They should know better." You say.

"Ah, that's why we love having you here." He hums.

"I hope we're not disrupting your day too bad sheriff?"

"I will always have time for you. Let's go into the office." He waves a hand.

"You're never like this when I come by." Stiles frowns as you all crowd into the sheriff's office.

"Because when you come here it's to raise my blood pressure." His dad rolls his eyes at him.

"I resent that."

"I could've sworn I told you not to stress your father out while I was abroad Stiles?" You look at him.

"Oh he's incapable of that kind of thing." His dad scoffs.

"Well hang on! I did my best while you were abroad, you're home now though so the deal is terminated. I did my job." Stiles states matter-of-factly.

"And this is why she gets the reaction she does. Welcome home! You've graduated, congrats! How was Italy? Think you'll move there?"

"No. I mean don't get me wrong, Italy was lovely but Beacon Hills is- like no other. I don't know that I could leave. At least not now, maybe in a decade or two when there are people who can take over what we do."

"Like finding apprentices!?" Stiles asks.

"No? We're not about to go looking for people to protect the balance between the supernatural and the nonsupernatural in Beacon Hills. I just have faith we'll find people willing and able to take on the job when the time comes." You shrug. "In the meanwhile, has it been a busy day sheriff?" You ask.

"It's Beacon Hills, the bar's kinda high." He shrugs.

"Is Parrish in today?" Stiles asks.

"Why?" Stilinski narrows his eyes at his son.

"Y/n thinks she's figured out what kind of creature he is." Malia says.

"I have a theory based on some notes Stiles left me." You correct.

"Stiles left you notes?"

"A whole journal of them. Everything I missed while I was abroad." You nod.

"I figured that would be more effective than trying to recount it all verbally from memory in one giant infodump." Stiles shrugs.

"So now you're looking for Parrish?" Sheriff Stilinski frowns.

"I'm not, please don't disturb your deputy. It's not that serious." You say.

"That's why we're here!" Stiles says.

"No no, I only came to say hi to your dad. Which I've done, so we can head out. After all, he's working and we're encroaching."

"Oh please, that's my dad there's no such thing." Stiles scoffs.

"Stiles." Stilinski groans.

"Riiiight let's go. The Parrish theory can be dealt with later." You grab Stiles and the others follow you. "See you around Sheriff!" You call over your shoulder as the group of you leaves. While most of the station is plenty familiar with you and barely acknowledged you and the teens marching through the station, one specific deputy had noticed you the minute you came through the door. Jordan's eyes follow you from his desk as you leave with your crowd of teenagers and Stilinski notices the way they flash orange as he watches you leave.

"Parrish!" Stilinski calls from his office. Jordan jumps as if he forgot he's at work, and with one last glance at you getting into your car while you yell something at Stiles he rushes into his boss's office.

"Sir?" Jordan prompts.

"Those reports you were supposed to be working on. Got a status report on those?"

"I'm almost through with the last one. Should be done by EOD." Jordan says, gaze drifting outside every few seconds even though your car is gone.

"Her name is y/n." Stilinski chuckles.

"What?" Jordan frowns.

"The young lady with my son and the others. Her name is y/n, in case you were wondering."

"Why would I-?" Jordan shakes your head.

"I watched your eyes follow her all the way out the door, and you've been glancing out the window through this entire conversation. You'll see her around a lot now that she's back in town so you should talk to her if you're interested."

"Is she not from around here?"

"Yes and no I'll leave the details for her to explain when you ask her but she's been around a while. Just graduated college." Stilinski says with a proud smile, bragging like you're his kid, which in some ways you might as well be.

"Give her my congrats." Jordan nods.

"Tell her yourself. Once you get those reports done." 

Jordan takes that as his queue to leave and returns to his desk. The final report takes him longer than it should have as all he can think about is the melodic sound of your voice and the easy smile you couldn't seem to help while at the station. Maybe he'd take his boss's 'suggestion' and speak to you. If he should be lucky enough to see you again soon.

Luck, as you might have it, seemed to be on his side, as he did see you the next day while grocery shopping. He spots you as soon as he walks in, examining pomegranates intently. Jordan walks over to you before he can psych himself out, stopping at the pile of fruit next to the pomegranates, lemons, which he rarely uses but he picks one up anyway if only to justify being next to you.

"Careful Persephone. I heard you could get trapped in the underworld because of those." Jordan nods at the pomegranate in your hand. You startle slightly before giving a smile. The originality of the line gets you, even if being hit on in the produce section would normally just piss you off.

"Don't worry. I won't let Hades see." You quip back. He chuckles, glad the line didn't miss as hard as he thought it would.

"I'm Jordan. I think I saw you at the sheriff's station yesterday?"

"You're the new deputy, aren't you? Parrish right?"

"Well- now I feel at a disadvantage here you seem to know more about me than I know about you."

"Yeah I- just got back in town actually but the sheriff's son who seems to know everything has given me the 411 on everything I missed- including the new deputy. I- I'm y/n. It's nice to meet you. Puts a face to the name." You stick out your hand. Jordan shakes it, hoping his palms aren't sweaty enough to expose how keyed up you're making him.

"It's- nice to meet you too. And I think I've heard your name more than a few times. The kids seem to really idolize you. So- it's nice to put a face to your name as well, and quite a gorgeous one at that."

"Stiles's 411 didn't mention that you were such a flirt." You quirk an eyebrow up at him.

"I'm usually not." He chuckles like he's just as surprised by the line as you are.

"Would've never guessed, you're doing so well."

"I just wanted to introduce myself, John said I'd probably be seeing you around a lot so-"

"Stiles said the same." You hum.

"Why would Stiles say that?" Jordan frowns.

"I assume for the same reason John did- but the surprise in your voice makes me think you have no idea who I am and the Stilinskis are running independent missions." You muse.

"What does that mean?"

"Well I'm not sure what your boss told you but when it comes to the strange happenings of Beacon Hills that are on a need-to-know basis I'm one of those people that always needs to know. I might actually be the first to know quite often."

"When you say the strange happenings of Beacon Hills does that mean you know about the-?"

"Werewolves? Banshees? Dead pool? All of it, yes."

"You weren't even around for the dead pool." He points out.

"That's where Stiles comes in. My little informant."

"Then that means you know about me too?"

"Yeah. When I said Stiles gave me the 411 on the new deputy I mean he gave me all of the information. I might even have figured out what you are." You say.

"I guess I was even more right than I thought when I said it seems you know more about me than I know about you."

"Oh you have no idea." You hum.

"I think it's only fair we level the playing field a bit. Don't you?"

"And, how do you plan to do that?"

"By taking you to dinner, if you'll let me." He says. You can't help the shocked look you give him as his words hang in the air for a moment before you answer.

"Sure. You can pick me up at 7." You say with a smile. You take the grocery list he's holding and scribble your address and number on the back of it.

"Tonight?"

"Why wait?" You shrug.

"Okay. 7 o'clock." He nods.

"Don't be late." You say before walking off to finish your shopping. Jordan doesn't move until you disappear into an aisle. Only once he can't see you is he able to breathe. He can't believe how that conversation played out and now he's got five hours to prepare himself to have dinner with you.

You can't believe you agreed to have dinner with him. You replay the conversation at least a hundred times as you do your shopping, leave the store, drive home, unload your groceries, and then try to pass the time until it is reasonable to start getting ready for this impromptu date. Why did you decide it would be tonight?! He was more charming than you expected and in your effort to realign yourself, you've just set yourself up. As if five hours will give you enough time to be prepared to deal with him. Still, by 6:30 you pick out a cute dress and set about to do your preparations. Hair, makeup, external pep talk in front of your mirror. Check, check, and check just before there's a knock at your door that startles you. It's exactly 7. Punctual. You put on your shoes and grab your bag and then open the door for Jordan.

"Hi again." You smile.

"Hi." He says. "You look, amazing."

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself." You say taking in his outfit. It's simple, a button-up and a pair of slacks, but they fit him well and he's folded the sleeves up to his elbows in a way that emphasizes his arms.

"Thanks." Jordan's cheeks tinge ever so slightly pink- it's almost unnoticeable but it makes you smile to know you can make him blush.

"Well, lead the way, deputy." You say stepping into the hall and locking your apartment. Jordan holds an arm out for you to loop yours through and leads you to his car. He opens your door for you and helps you in before sliding into the driver's seat. After about ten minutes you pull into the lot of a local Italian restaurant. You've been here a number of times but the food is good so you certainly won't complain. It's definitely a safe first date option. Jordan opens the door for you to get out of the car as well, and pulls out your chair when you're given a table in the restaurant. You appreciate the little acts of chivalry that he seems to do subconsciously.

"So, since we're 'leveling the playing field', ask me anything you want to know." You tell him once you've both ordered your food.

"Are you from Beacon Hills?" He asks.

"Nope, moved here for college." You say.

"You moved to Beacon Hills for college?"

"Well no, I moved to California for college, I moved to Beacon Hills at the behest of my mother really."

"The behest of your mother?" Jordan tilts his head.

"She said if I insisted on going to school so far from home, I had to live in or around Beacon Hills."

"Why Beacon Hills?"

"The Nemeton." You shrug.

"The- what?" He frowns.

"Nobody's told you about the Nemeton? It's a giant tree- well it used to be, it's been cut down so it's just a stump now."

"I've never seen anything like that and I feel like I'd notice a giant stump in the middle of the forest."

"You would think but the Nemeton is a... special tree. It will hide from those it doesn't want to be seen by. So if you haven't seen it perhaps it's felt no reason to reveal itself to you quite yet." You hum.

"Yet?"

"Well, you're a supernatural who just moved to a kind of small town where you know nobody and took a job at a sheriff's office that I'm sure does not have the greatest reputation because you 'felt called here' for some reason."

"And you think the call was a tree?"

"The Nemeton is more than a tree. It's pretty much a beacon for supernatural creatures and its reactivation would explain your arrival, kind of." You say.

"So why did the Nemeton bring me here?" He asks.

"That I don't have an answer for. Until the Nemeton reveals itself to you we can only speculate. Especially because I'm not even sure I've IDed you correctly."

"You think you've IDed me?"

"I... have a theory if you're interested in hearing it."

"Can I ask a couple more questions first?"

"Of course." You nod.

"Are you supernatural?" He asks.

"Only kind of. I'm from a family of druids."

"Druids?"

"Yeah, druids are like supernatural doctors so not quite human but certainly not anything on like werewolf level."

"Supernatural doctors, interesting. So doc, what am I?"

"My best guess is a hellhound." You say.

"A hellhound?" His eyes widen.

"Yes. Don't look so freaked it's not like you're going to sprout 3 heads and start answering to Hades."

"Well, what does it mean then?"

"Hellhounds are supernatural protectors usually their appearance means they're guarding something specific or maybe hunting something. They're pretty rare actually but I have more information about them in my books at home I just didn't memorize it all before dinner." You tell him.

"A hellhound."

"I'm sure that's not the kind of answer you were expecting but based on the information I got from Stiles about you that's the most likely classification." 

"And it doesn't freak you out?"

"That you're a hellhound? Why would it?" You frown.

"Aren't they dangerous?"

"To those that pose a threat to it, sure. Are you threatened by me, deputy?"

"No." He shakes his head.

"Then I have no reason to be freaked out. Plus it's... kind of hard to fear someone so cute." You shrug. A smile tugs at your lips as you notice pink creep onto Jordan's face at your compliment. He clears his throat and shifts in his seat.

"You said you have more information on them?"

"I do. I can bring the relevant material by the station in the next couple of days for you if you'd like." You offer.

"You'd do that?"

"Well yeah, it's an excuse to see you again."

"You don't need an excuse." He shakes his head. "I really like you."

"I really like you too." You smile. Yeah, it's good to be back.

***

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for complaining about acne when I have "good skin?"

This is fairly petty but I realized recently that I might have accidentally been being inconsiderate to a dear friend of mine so here we go I guess.

I happened to win the genetic lottery with my skin. It's naturally clear and smooth and firm and looks about 10 years younger than I actually am and whatever other crap they use to advertise skincare products doing my skin just kind of naturally does with relatively little maintenance. I very very rarely get any kind of breakout and when I do it's pretty minor - a few very small blackheads and whiteheads, maybe once a year I get a big zit. I really don't want this to come off as bragging because as far as I'm concerned looks are an accident this just happens to be one instant where I meet traditional beauty standards.

That being said, when I do get these small breakouts, it does annoy me! It is still uncomfortable and I don't like the way it looks and I'll kvetch about it some.

Where I think I might have been TA is that one of my roommates and a dear friend of mine has been very open about struggling with serious painful acne their whole life. More often than not their whole face is broken out and they have a lot of pockmarks from picking at their skin and stuff.

Roommates and I are very close and very open about everything so it feels natural to bitch to each other about every little thing, but I realize I might have been so to speak complaining about a stubbed toe to a person with a broken leg. I would often get a seemingly lighthearted "yeah yeah fuck you" when I would complain about this.

(It doesn't help that roommate is autistic and I'm schizospec so neither of us are great at reading social situations, sometimes in a conflicting way to each other.)

Am I just overthinking this? Or was I being inconsiderate/The Asshole?

What are these acronyms?

[scythlyven-art]

hi! i just found your art and holy fuck it's amazing. I'm sending this cause I'm curious about your warlock au you mentioned in one of the posts and if youd be willing to share any info on it

Hi! I’m glad you found my little hole here and that you like my art!! :D

There’s not too much info to share on the warlock au other than snippets I’ve written on Twitter about it but I can share the basics! (Ie just coping some of my tweets lol this is quite the novel so sorry in advance but you did ask for it)

“Basically the au is normal VM minus Percy. Percy in this au is sort of a combo of him and Orthax (some) power and appearance wise. He’s a demon that lives. In a big fancy sciencey castlevania Dracula style castle by himself.

He controls the only known major deposit of White Stone for Residuum and the area is watched over by loyal undead servants or animated suits of armor and the whole area is hidden away.

Not a big user of magic still but it comes free with being a ✨ demon ✨

In a direct fight between Percy and the Briarwoods Percy would easily win- his centuries of knowledge vs a relatively new vampire and necromancer they don’t stand a chance. Which is why they resort to cheating of sorts using an artifact beyond their power.

Whispered One hooks them up with it and they basically wait until the right moment to catch Percy completely off guard before sealing him away in it. There’s not much he can do once he’s trapped and the Braidwoods take full control over the Residuum supply.

Cut to 5 ish years later and VM stumble upon some oldish ruins with a few corpses and hidden treasures. One of which is an old brooch that was given to Percy centuries ago by his human sister- it means a lot to him but has been lost for awhile.

Vex finds it and thinks it looks pretty cool so she holds onto it. It has magical properties from Percy’s possession of it so despite his cage he can sense it being moved and handled. He decides to pay a visit to the new current owner of it later that night in a dream.

It’s a lot of smoke and darkness on Vex’s end. She can’t really tell who or what she’s looking at but it’s vaguely human. In the few hours prior Percy poked around her mind (not extensively) just learning a few things about her.

He proposes to her a deal— he can grant her some extra power (to the extent his cage will let him) as well as knowledge to aid her in battles and to make new arrows and outfit her bow with modifications to make it stronger.

In return she helps free him from his prison.

She wants reassurance he’s not evil since he’s all smokey and clearly a demon of some kind. He can’t guarantee her he hasn’t done things she as a mortal might find evil but generally speaking he’s pretty neutral since he is the main supplier of Residuum for the world.

She needs time to think and process the deal. He tells her to take her time since he isn’t exactly going anywhere. But as a token of his good intentions he spots her some of his magic over the next few days which may or may not help convince her to agree.

She eventually agrees and the pact is sealed. A smokey tattoo takes up the lower part of her inner forearm. She’s careful not to roll up her sleeves or show this in any way to the group. But from this point forward she can freely talk to Percy at any time. The only catch is while she hears him in her mind she has to verbally respond.

Her internal thoughts are kept away from Percy which is good and bad because now she has to be careful about when she can respond so the others don’t think she’s crazy and start asking questions.”

-

I’ve spotted some more ideas from this but I feel like this sums up the main details. I’d love to possibly write it someday but I’m currently working on a fic still and I’m more of an artist than a writer. If I try to start this as a fic before finishing the other one neither will get done :’)

But yeah I hope this answered your question!!

[tia-amorosa]

Sunset Died - Wolff/Sekemoto

Ponderings

Even if there hasn't been any new snow so far, it's still been difficult to get through the snow that has fallen so far and become hard due to the cold.. „Thornton? That's quite a surprise. I've never seen you here before."/ ”Yes, I rarely come by this area. I wanted to talk to Cy, is he there?"/ ‘Sure, come in’.

.Thornton was let into the house by Emma. And he was surprised that it was so tidy here. “I always thought people in shared flats were always totally messy, I was expecting mountains of laundry here…"/ ”hnhn, no, the women are so good at making sure nothing gets left lying around. What gives us the honor of your visit?".

The most important question on Thornton's mind was about the accessibility of the internet. “After Alto finally came out with his honesty, I did some tests and checks. We're safe again. then I made sure the connection is free to use again, any time of day or night. didn't they tell you?"/ ‘Apparently not, Au man, and my wife also thought we only had the one hour in the evening.’/ ‘hnhn, I see’.

“It would have been great if we'd been informed about it earlier"/ ‘I'm sorry that it wasn't gotten through to you yet…’/ ”Yeah, fuck it. And what about now? When will we finally get help? Some contacts must have already been made"/ ”yes, and there have already been some answers. But more from relatives than from the government."/ ‘What the fuck is going on there?’.

“If so many relatives and ftiends have already been contacted, as you say, then something should really get rolling, shouldn't it?"/ ”Sure, I agree with you. But apparently the people outside still have to check the credibility of what regards us here"/ ”What nonsense. Surely someone out there will have something to say and be able to help us”.

While Thornton is venting his displeasure, Blair and Emma are talking outside. “Where's Connor anyway?"/ ”He's trying to keep an eye on the supplies left in the gym. It's all counted out and no one should help themselves to too much"/ ‘I don't think he'll be able to keep track of it for long’.

“Believe me, he'd rather have something else to do than just hang over his writing pad all the time. If he spends too much time in the house, he gets grumpy"/ ”hnhn. But he's still very nice and has his quiet side"/ ‘hn, yeah, that's why I like him’.

Cy: “I've also written a few messages to people who I think will make sure we get help here as quickly as possible. But I also think that the winter could make things a bit more difficult now"/ ‘yeah great, there's going to be a baby boom here soon and at some point there'll be nothing to eat…. Hh, thanks for the info about the internet, then I can use my wife's laptop tonight.’.

After he had unloaded enough frustration,, Thornton became a little calmer and more thoughtful, which prompted Cy to ask how he was doing. “Is everything else okay with you? Is your little one well… And Sam?"/ ‘Our girl can't be well enough, she's a happy little baby, and Sam, well, not so well at the moment…’/ ‘Is he ill?’. Thornton knew he shouldn't talk about it yet, but he was still too upset. “No, he's… He's grieving for his grandmother"/ ‘I beg your pardon? Is she…’/ ‘Yes, but it's still unofficial’.

“unofficially? No one knows about it yet? How long has she been…"/ ”Only a few hours. Sam, he… He predicted yesterday that she would die today. And that's exactly what happened…"/ ‘W-really?’/ ”I know, sounds pretty weird. But apparently he's something of a messiah. And Morgana said something about a hypersensi-thing” .

“Hypersensitivity. Yes, I know something like that, I've read a lot about it and I've heard of people who have it and have developed special abilities as a result."/ ‘I see, well, it makes me nervous, I don't want to know when I'm going to die.’/ ”You're not going to die that quickly either, my friend. And what about…"/ ”Yumi? She's gone. Disappeared into thin air, so to speak. You'd better get information about everything else from Morgana or Sam. But don't tell anyone else for now, I was so stupid and couldn't keep my mouth shut.”

Cy had to smile a little at his statement. “So as far as secrets go, I'm like a Pandora's box… everything gets in, but not out"/ ”Must be a burden… knowing all the secrets. I think I'd burst at some point"/ ”hnhn. I don't have to deal with every single one of them. I'm just a good friend who doesn't blurt everything out again, hn”… Thornton understood his hint and had to laugh a little at himself. “haha… thanks for now, see you around”.

Thornton slowly made his way home again. He wondered who he would contact first. A former business partner? An old friend? So far, he had never used the evening Internet hour; his family had been more important to him in recent months. And now there were more options again…

------------------------------------------------------------------------

@greenplumbboblover ⭐

Note: I couldn't think of a really good title for this episode... But that's often how I feel with some episodes... I hope it was somehow appropriate anyway.

[huffle-dork]

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 10: SepticPirates

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

Bro falls, and lands on a city street. But not a modern city street. It's clear from the cobbled streets and clothes the people are wearing. but it's not quite as medieval as Glasúil. The buildings are made of brown bricks with shingled roofs, and the people wandering around don't wear tunics, but instead frilly shirts and the occasional long coat. The sky above is the bright orange and pinks of sunset. The air smells salty. Nobody really looks at Bro as he appears, but he does get long looks for his strange outfit as he stands there. 

Bro blinks and brushes himself off, flushing a bit self consciously as the people looking at him. He takes it all in and whispers to himself, “… the fuck did we fall now…?”

CRASH! 

A window in the nearest building suddenly shatters as a person goes flying out. They quickly get to their feet. A man wearing a red bandanna around his head and a belt around his chest. "Oh, you be making a big mistake here!" He shouts back through the window. He grabs onto Bro's arm. "Come on, Chase, let's—Chase?!" The man does a double-take, looking at Bro. "What in the deep seas are you wearing?! When did you put that on?!"

Bro starts and jerks his arm back with wide eyes, “woah woah woah!! The fuck is happening?!”

"Wait... you got out really real fast, didn't you?" the man in the bandanna says, looking more and more confused. 

CRASH! Another window breaks as a second man gets thrown through it. And then a tri-cornered hat is tossed out after him. The man scrambles to his feet, putting the hat on his head. "Bunch of ass-bastards!" he curses. "Come on, Jackie, let's—Jackie?!" The man also does a comical double-take, staring at Bro. "What in the blue blazes?!" 

And he's staring for good reason, because Bro looks exactly like him.

Bro flounders for something to say. “Why the fuck did you crash through the window?!” Is what he finds himself saying. Then he jumps again as he stares at his other self. “…holy fuck… are you guys pirates?!” he gasps.

"Are you not?!" The man in the bandanna—Jackie—says. "Why are you in the Cove if you're not?!" 

"Must come from very far," the man in the hat—Chase—says. "What bright garb." 

"But he sounds like he's an Angle, or maybe an Éiran," Jackie insists. 

"Then explain the clothes! I've never seen anything like this in Anglice or Éire." Chase gestures at Bro's whole getup.

Bro holds up his hands, grinning nervously, “Oh right me immmm very very very far from here! Some place you all have never heard of- and some place where I thought pirates like- didn’t exist anymore! …so I guess we’re in the past again??” Bro muses to himself.

Chase and Jackie exchange looks. "Are you a friend of Chase's?" Jackie asks. "Or a relative, perhaps?" 

"I don't have any friends or relatives in strange places." Chase shakes his head. 

“Uhhh- not exactly a relative… I’mmmm kinda him like- exactly?” Bro says with an awkward grin.

"You're... me? But I'm me." Chase looks very confused about that.

"Must be pretty far if ye don't think pirates exist." Jackie grins and chuckles. "Well, what brings you to the Cove, then? Looking to join a crew? Because the Septic Eye has openings."

Bro blinks at the offer and laughs, “…you guys are being very casual about being thrown through a window. Doesn’t that like- hurt normal people?”

"Oh, trust me, it stings," Jackie says, brushing broken glass off his shirt sleeves. "But a brawl is nothing! Speaking of, Chase, what do you say we hand it back to those Dark Waves bastards?!" 

"Um—I think this man claiming to be me is a bit more important." 

"Aww." Jackie looks a bit disappointed.

“Oh well, I’m from…. Another world. Where I’m Chase but… not a pirate-“ Bro laughs, “Uh- it’s hard to explain- but um I’m Chase Brody… from the future I guess…??? Depends on how mythical this place is… or like- imagine if you grew up somewhere different and then met that other you? …that’s what I am! …I’m not sure that’s better ah fuck-“

"...no, I'm not heading where you're leading." Chase shakes his head. "But I'll take mystical as an explanation and leave it at that." 

“Yeah okay magic is usually the best explanation,” Bro laughs. 

"Still wondering what you're doing here, Chase Brody from the future," Jackie says. "Like I asked, you want to join a crew?"

Bro looks to Jackie and thinks, “Uhhhh well… me and my brother are looking for something… but god joining a pirate crew would be kickass… even if I’m sure I’m not cool with like- killing, pillaging and stealing-“ as he’s talking, he goes to hold the tracker- if they need to cross the ocean to find this thing… then this might be the best bet! The tracker says that the parts are out at sea, on a ship called the Antithesis. 

"What an unusual glass eye," Jackie says, leaning down to look at it. "Some witchcraft bob?" 

Bro blinks then grins. “Yeah basically! I don’t really get how it works but it shows me what I’m supposed to find.”

"I'll note that the Septic Eye doesn't pillage," Chase says, raising his hand. "We only steal from ships of nobility."

“Oh! Like Robin Hood!” Bro says excitedly, “I can dig that. Sayyy have you two ever heard of the ship Antithesis? cuz what I’m looking for seems to have fallen there.” 

The smiles immediately vanish from their faces. "Your eye told you that?" Jackie asks, suddenly serious. "Well... hang me, then." 

"Don't say that, Jackie," Chase mutters, tilting his hat back. "He's a tough-looking guy. Surely he can, uh... figure his way on and out of there."

Bro blinks comically in surprise. “…damn this boat really brought down the vibe…” he says, rubbing the back of his head. He then smiles sheepishly. “Oh yeah don’t worry about me- I’m.. kinda magic… I guess.”

"Hmm. That would explain your strange clothing... and why you look like me." Chase laughs. 

"If ye be going to find the Antithetis, you'll need to head out to sea," Jackie says. "Need help finding your way back to the docks? I know the Cove can be confusing for people who aren't here often. And I don't think me or Chase will be welcome back in that pub while those Dark Waves sailors are still in there."

“Well… you said you were lookin for crew for your ship, right? Maybe we could.. work something out together?” Bro offers sheepishly.

"Oh yes, that would be a real help!" Jackie grins and nods. "And you can ask Jays about the Antithesis. He knows the most about it." 

"This way, then." Chase points down the street. "Follow us." 

"Ha! The rest of the crew will have fits seeing you!" Jackie grins, and the two of them lead Bro down the street. 

Bro beams and stims a bit, “Brilliant! Oh Jackie is gonna be sooo jealous-“ He mutters to himself as he follows after the other two. Hopefully Alt isn’t too far away- 

————-

Alt lands—lands on the very edge of some sort of platform holy shit—!

For a moment, he wobbles back and forth... and then falls into water with a loud SPLASH!

Alt cries out as he lands, trying to keep his balance- then screeches as he splashes into the water. He breaks the surface and gasps, floundering to try to stay above it as he coughs water out of his mouth.

Squawk! "Man overboard! Man overboard!" 

A bird flies down and lands on the edge of the platform Alt fell off of—some wooden planks of some kind. It looks like a parrot, mostly green, but its head is blue and so are its wing feathers. "Man overboard!" 

"Man overboard?!" A human voice repeats from up above. "Hold on!" Looks like Alt has fallen right into the gap between a dock and a boat. A... large wooden boat. 

A sailing ship.

Alt treads water for a bit to try to get his bearings. It’s hard to glitch when he’s in water… not impossible but not pleasant. He jumps a bit at the squawk then finally looks up to take in the huge ship in front of him. “H-Holy shit…!”

A rope ladder unfolds, dropping down the side of the ship. A man leans over the edge, a man with a mustache. He waves at Alt, and points at the ladder. Then a second face, and a third, lean over the side as well. "Grab and climb!" one says.

Alt shakes himself out of his awe and blinks at the ladder. He swims up and then clumsily tries his best to climb, struggling at bit.

As soon as he gets close enough, the man with the mustache reaches down and helps pull him onto the deck of the ship. 

Alt hurriedly grabs onto the other man and falls to deck, heaving and trying to catch his breath. Alt looks up at the others and then he stares at them wide eyed. “I-I’m… okay… “ he breathes, then weakly pushes himself to his feet, taking the men in.

"Are you hurt?" One of the other men asks. He's wearing glasses, the type where they stay on by pinching the bridge of your nose. He's wearing a long, old-fashioned sort of blue coat. Next to him, the man in the mustache is wearing a frilly shirt and vest, and the third man is wearing a similar outfit, but with the addition of lots of handmade-looking jewelry... some of which include shells, and some of which include bones. Some beads are even braided into his shoulder-length hair. 

"Unusual outfit," comments the man with the jewelry. The man with the glasses rolls his eyes. 

"Yes, in contrast to your normal outfit," he drawls sarcastically.

“I… I could say the same for you all..” Alt mutters. He looks around, “um… where are we, exactly?” 

The man with the jewelry raises an eyebrow. "Did you hit your head on the way into the water?" 

Squawk! The bird from earlier flies towards the group, landing on the shoulder of the mustached man. "Cutlass Cove!" it says. "Cutlass Cove!" 

"As Sam said." The man with the glasses gestures at the bird. "You are in Cutlass Cove. Or, on the Septic Eye, which is docked at the Cove." The mustached man points off the edge of the boat. 

They are indeed docked at a town of some kind, a town that sits on the curve of a bay.

Alt jumps and glitches back from the bird, then hisses a bit, gripping at his arm. He stares at the bird wide eyed then at the scenery. “…holy shit…” he whispers, looking around.

The man with the glasses laughs a little. "What?" He glances at the other two. "That is unusual phrase." 

The man with the mustache raises his hands and... starts to sign. But it's slightly different than the BSL Alt knows. He can still understand it, but there's some guesswork involved. I don't think that's a phrase that exists. 

"Really? It is not some Anglish saying?" 

"Never heard it before--seems a bit blasphemous to the gods, to be honest," the man with jewelry says.

Alt blinks at the others and then smiles sheepishly, “Oh it’s uh… pretty common where… I’m from…”

A faint voice comes from the bag where Alt put his phone. "Welcome to UF-0628724SS," Anti says, his voice too quiet and muffled for the three men to hear. "I like to call it the water world. Cause that's what it mostly is." 

Alt startles a bit at Anti’s voice but relaxes quickly, glad he can still hear him. He snorts a bit at this then looks away from the cove, staring out at the sea. He stares in awe, walking towards the edge at looking out. “This is insane…” he laughs breathlessly.

"...not familiar with that word, either," the man with jewelry says. "En-sain." 

"I can understand from the reaction, though," the man with glasses says. "Grew up somewhere in the middle of land?" 

The man with the mustache nods. That would explain his clothes. 

“Kinda… I live near a beach now but… this is definitely different,” Alt says.

"Where are you from, stranger?" the man with jewelry says. "I'll bet Anglice or Éire from your voice. But I suppose you could be from any in that area." 

"Not Deutsreich, we do not dress like that back home," the man with glasses comments.

Alt turns back to look at the others and sighs, “Alright uh… guessing by how you all talk… this is gonna be hard to explain.” He then straightens up and says, “My name is Alt Brody and- I’m from another world. One very very different from here.”

"Another... world?" The man with glasses repeats. 

"Did you sail off the edge of your last one and land in the water by our ship?" The man with the jewelry chuckles. 

“…yeah that’s pretty accurate actually-“ Alt says to the man with the jewelry. 

The man with the mustache frowns. He looks at the others. Did you hear his surname? 

"No, I did. But the part about the world seemed more urgent." The man in jewelry says.

The man with the glasses reached up, adjusting them. "Well, ah... I am Henrik von Schneeplestein, I am the ship's doctor. This is Jameson Jackson, he is the purser, and Marvin MacLoughlen, he is..." He trails off, gesturing vaguely. 

"I'm the witch." The man with jewelry--Marvin--stares at Alt as if expecting him to laugh or scoff at that.

Alt looks at Marvin and nods in understanding. “You certainly look the part… like a… a witch doctor I’ve seen in pirate- …boooks?” They clearly wouldn’t know what a movie is ah shit-

Marvin grins. "Well... that does make sense, doesn't it?" He turns to the side, making a little pose. "After all, I am also a pirate. We all are." 

"The Septic Eye is a pirate ship, and the Cove has been claimed by us as well," Henrik says. "You must really be from another world if you do not know that about the Cove." 

"Cutlass Cove!" squawks Sam the macaw. "Avast! Avast!" Jameson reaches into his pocket and holds out a little cracker for them, which they immediately start nibbling with their beak.

Alt’s jaw drops. “Nooo fucking way- are you… are you serious?! Pirates??” He glitches a bit in excitement, “that’s so fucking cool!” but quickly stops with a wince. Ugh he needs to dry off… he whispers a spell under his breath then presses a hand to his chest- and he’s suddenly dry again with a zip of green magic. “Oh- that’s much better…”

Henrik laughs. "Well—if you find the pirates' life exciting, then you are not with a nation's navy, clearly. Or the Armada." 

“Oh hell no- I get why pirates do the things they do.” Alt grins. 

Marvin's eyes light up. "A fellow witch, I see?!" he says, matching Alt's excitement. "What spell was that? It'll come in sure handy!"

Alt blinks at Marvin then smiles, “Oh! Uh… I can see if I can teach you! Being wet doesn’t really.. mesh well with my powers.”

"Well—bad luck that you arrived in this world, then," Marvin says. "It's mostly the sea. The land nations are small, some being just islands. Like Éire, that's where I'm from." 

"And it is where our friends Chase Brody and Jackie Menan are from, as well," Henrik adds. "And our Captain Jack." 

"Cap'n Jack!" Sam caws. 

Alt sighs, “I guess that figures…” He then smiles hearing at the others. “Oh you guys do know Chase-! I wonder if my brother appeared by him then…” he muses.

Your brother? JJ asks. 

"Oh, ah... do you know handsign, Alt?" Henrik asks.

“Imm… picking it up mostly-“ Alt says, rubbing his head. “But yeah in my world… Chase is my brother. We’re… technically people from this world too… if you know anyone called Anti… that’s me.” He sighs, pushing up his mask.

"Oh? How fascinating," Marvin says, grinning. He does look a bit... less than hinged, shall we say, but that's probably just the bone jewelry giving him a bad impression. 

"I have never met anyone called Anti," Henrik says. "Or Alt. Certainly not on our crew." 

Jameson shakes his head. 

Alt seems to relax a bit at what Henrik says. At least these guys won’t have a negative image of him. 

Speaking of the crew... now that Alt's really looking around, they're not alone on the deck. There's a woman at the helm, hands on the wheel. There are some men up in the masts. And there's a handful of people around the edges of the deck, tying ropes and scrubbing the deck.

Alt blinks and looks around, noticing the other members of the crew. “Oh damn- there’s… so many more people on here than I thought-“

Jameson laughs—an actual sound. They do tend to blend into the deck, don't they? 

"We were just settling down for the night," Marvin says. "We'll have to ask Jackie and Chase if you can stay on board, if that's what you want. If it's not, you'll have to find an inn on the shore. Plenty of those, though, don't worry your head." 

"Though you said you needed to find your brother?" Henrik recalls. "Another Chase Brody... how strange."

Alt notices that the sun is setting and nods. “Ah yeah… guess this will be a.. longer journey for us this time. Hopefully Chase is nearby… but we’re also looking for something pretty important.” He takes out his tracker- learning the location of the TRVLR piece is on the ship called the Antithesis. He hums and looks back at the others, “…according to this…. It’s on something called the Antithesis? Do you guys know of it?”

All three of the men stiffen in unison. Jameson goes pale as Henrik and Marvin both glance at him. "That is... a ship," Henrik says slowly. "A very... strange ship. Ah... you being a witch, you must know about magic. Have you heard of ghost ships before?"

Alt blinks. “I think so?” …he’s heard of them in a video game before. “But uh- go ahead and enlighten me?”

"They wander the seas, phantasmal ships with phantom crews," Marvin says in a low, spooky voice, like one would use for telling a ghost story. "Some are signs that your own ship will meet its doom soon. Some are simply strange visions. But some will actively attack, leaving damage from cannonballs but no cannonball fragments to find." 

"The Antithesis and its captain are among the most fearsome," Henrik says. "The ghostly sailors will board ships out at night, killing some crew and passengers and... taking... some captive." 

Jameson takes a step back. 

"No one knows how the Antithesis came to be," Marvin continues. "Some say the captain ran aground on purpose on a lunar eclipse, seeking the immortality of ghostliness. Some say the ship was sunk by the Iris Armada. The truth is completely unknown."

Alt’s eyes widen, “Woah…” He glances briefly at Jameson and looks concerned. “…that’s so interesting if it was just like a myth but… sounds like this is something me and Chase need to face now.” He sighs. “cool fun- I can… handle ghosts… probably..?”

"Well... you'll have to be careful," Marvin says. "Can't exactly shoot or stab a ghost." 

And you can't stay on there for too long, Jameson adds. Or... you won't be able to leave. 

"But witchcraft will sure be a good help." Marvin grins. 

“Oh… well that’s- good to know.” Alt smiles at Marvin. He then sighs and looks over near the cove again. “….guess I should start looking for my brother then-“

“Aye, of course,” Marvin says. “I could probably help with finding him—” 

“Ahoy!” calls a distant shout. 

Several of the crew members stop what they’re doing and rush to the bow of the ship. “Ahoy!” Many shout back. One turns around and says, “The mates ’re returning!” 

“Already?” Henrik says in surprise, leaning over the side of the ship. “I do hope the two of them didn’t get in a brawl again.”

In the distance, walking down the city streets, is a man in a red bandanna and two others.

Alt blinks and turn glitches to look towards the streets. He grins as he sees the familiar bright orange of Bro’s jacket. “Hey! There he is!” He laughs, “what good timing.” 

Bro sees the flash of green from the ship and starts to wave wildly towards it.

Jackie and Chase break into a run. "Oh, what's that?!" Jackie shouts in response to the green flash. "Some sort of witchcraft? Never seen the like! What's Marv working on now?" 

"Hmm... I don't think it's Marvin." Chase looks at Bro. "You know what's going on there?"

“Yeah! That’s my brother!” Bro grins. Since they’re running- and because he thinks it’ll be funny to see their faces- he kicks off the ground and bursts into the air sailing towards the ship.  

"What in the blue blazes?!" Chase gasps. 

"Fucking witch stuff!" Jackie shouts, surprised.

Soon enough, Bro is landing down next to Alt with a flourish. “Alt!! Isn’t this so cool?! Pirates!!!” He beams. 

Alt laughs and shakes his head- “I think you just gave everyone on the ship a heart attack bro-“

The whole crew does indeed seem to have had a collective heart attack. One of them reaches for a bell hanging from the side of a mast but another stops her. 

"H-how--excuse me?!" Henrik gapes at Bro. 

"Not a bird! Not a bird!" Sam squawks, and Jameson shakes his head slowly, as if agreeing with the macaw. 

"Amazing!" Marvin gasps, and suddenly grabs onto Bro's arm. "Oh, you're real!" 

Jameson grabs him and pulls him back. You can't just latch onto someone. 

"Ah, sorry."

Bro startles slightly then laughs, “Yeah I’m real! I’m Chase but you all can call me Bro! Nice to meet ya!” 

Alt laughs and rolls his eyes a bit. “Excuse my brother- he likes to show off.” 

“You’re one to talk.” Bro snickers.

Henrik nods. "Well... you do look much like Chase." 

"The spitting image, really," Marvin says. "Except for that leaping through the air." 

“Yeah kinda freaky, huh?” Bro chuckles.

Jameson leans over the side of the ship, looking at the dock. He turns back around and whistles. "Lower the gangplank!" Sam caws. 

The crew members spring into action, pulling out the gangplank and lowering it as directed so Jackie and Chase can come on board.

Once the crew starts to move Bro hurries over to the edge and waves down at them. “Ah sorry! Didn’t mean to leave you!!” 

"Excited to see your brother, huh?" Jackie laughs. "Alright, ye show-off, don't worry about it." 

Bro flushes a bit but grins sheepishly at Jackie and Chase.

"You both dress like that, huh?" Chase comments, looking at Alt. "Might need something new if you don't want all eyes on you." 

Alt looks at his outfit and hums, “…guess we do kinda stick out…” 

Jameson's eyes light up. I could help with that! 

Marvin laughs. "Excited?" 

Excited to give advice to people who will listen to my points on clothes for once instead of putting bones in their hair. "I don't put bones in my hair! Just beads."

“Yes! Oh I love when we get to wear costumes!” Bro stims eagerly. 

“I hate to admit it… but me too,” Alt laughs. “We’d appreciate the help, Jameson.”

Jameson grins. We'll have to go back into the city. There's a clothing shop right on the dock. He leans over, pointing it out. 

"Aye, you can tell by the blue columns out front," Jackie agrees. 

Anyone else want to follow? Jameson asks. 

"Well I want to know more about this other me," Chase says. "Might as well tag along for that." 

"How much rum did you and Jackie have?" Henrik asks. "They're not going to let you in if you wobble like idiots." 

"Not that much!" Chase says defensively. "We, uh... got in a... fight--" 

"Of course you did," Henrik sighs. 

"But we weren't hurt!"

“They both got thrown through a window,” Bro points out. Alt blinks in surprise and stares at Jackie and Chase.

"Hey!" Jackie says. 

"You brainless gulls." Henrik sighs. "Alright, where were you cut?" 

"We weren't!" Chase holds out his arms. "Look for yourselves!" 

"I will be!" Henrik immediately bursts into action, brushing Chase and Jackie down and checking their skin. 

"It wasn't our fault," Jackie grumbles. "Some crew from the Dark Waves were insulting to the captain."

Bro blinks, “…what’d they say?” 

“And what did you do back that got you thrown out a window? Seems like a pretty drastic reaction…” Alt mutters.

"They said that Captain Jack abandoned us!" Jackie growls. "He'd never! Not in a thousand years, in a thousand fathoms! I'd believe he sunk to the locker before I believed he left us!" 

"Maybe you should have said that instead of hitting the man square in the face," Chase says. 

"You got tossed out after me! What did you do?!" 

"...hit his friend in the face." 

Marvin laughs. Henrik rolls his eyes. "Well, you two seem fine, at least. You'll have bruises later but no cuts."

Alt blinks then grins, “Nice- sounds like those guys deserved it.” 

“…what happened to Captain Jack?” Bro asks quietly.

Chase shakes his head. "We don't know. Vanished right off the deck while we were not too far from Anglice. Nobody else on deck at the time saw anything, which is very strange." 

"He left all of his things behind!" Jackie says. "Even Sam!" 

Sam squawks. "Cap'n Jack! Hoist the colors!" 

"We can only guess there was witchcraft involved," Marvin says. "But I'm not sure how it was used."

Bro looks concerned, “…that’s so weird-“ 

“Hm… maybe I could help? I have some spellbooks with me… I could try to see if maybe there’s a trace of what took him still around..” Alt says.

Marvin snaps to attention. "Books of spells?! Yes, if you could find something in them, that would be a great help!" 

But I'm sure the shops will be closing soon, JJ says. How long will this take? We don't want to wait.

“…clothes first- I can do the spell stuff whenever!” Alt laughs. “Especially since if we’re hunting down a ghost ship… we’ll probably be here a bit.” 

“Woahhh a ghost ship?? Like in wind waker??” Bro asks, looking excited.

"Ah, so you told him what the Antithesis is, then?" Jackie asks. 

Marvin nods. "It'll be tough to find it, but maybe that glass eye of yours will make the search easier." 

"So we're going to help them, then?" Chase asks. 

"Of course!" Henrik chuckles. "Do you think we can resist a hunt for something valuable like that?" 

Jameson nods. I'll help out, too, of course. He clears his throat, then smiles. Well? Let's go get those clothes! I'll use my share for it, don't worry, you won't need to pay.

“…I would offer to help but uh- I don’t think we have the right kind of money,” Bro laughs timidly, “So… thanks that’s so nice. We’ll find a way to make it up to you!”

Don't concern yourself, we can get some more! Jameson says cheerfully. 

"Easy enough." Jackie grins mischievously. Chase laughs. "Alright. Down to the shop, then?" 

Down to the shop! Jameson hurries over to the gangplank, and Chase follows him. Sam the macaw does as well, flying overhead.

Alt and Bro shared glances then grin at each other and hurry after the others.

————

The clothing shop, identified with the blue columns as Jameson pointed out, is filled with all sorts of outfits. It's a real eclectic collection, a mismatch of patterns and colors. There are some fancier-looking dresses and coats, but most of it is more casual, better fitted for a life on the sea.

Alt and Bro look around at all the materials and patterns.

“Dudeee this is sick!” Bro grins excitedly. Alt chuckles and nods. 

 A woman walks out from a door at the back, wearing a long red outfit that's reminiscent of traditional Japanese clothing back on Earth. "Oh, Mr. Jackson, welcome back! And Mr. Brody as well. And--oh!" She hurries over to Bro and Alt. "So vibrant! What is this material?" 

The brothers both blink at Haru checking out their clothes. “Uh… cotton I think? Or… something synthetic- that’s why it’s shiny.” Bro tries to explain.

 "How beautiful," Haru coos.

"Ah, Bro, Alt, this is Haru Milton," Chase says. "She and her husband run this place."

“It’s nice to meet you,” Alt smiles shyly.

Haru backs away, looks between the two Brody brothers, and bows. "Nice to meet you too." 

They'll be sailing with our crew for a while and want something suitable, Jameson says. 

"Oh, of course, of course, a pleasure to help." She pulls a measuring tape out of her sleeve. "Though your clothes now are quite amazing. I have never seen anything like them. Do you mind measurements or would you prefer to go by sight?"

“Oh! This is so fancy-“ Bro giggles with glee. “I’m okay being measured.” 

"Fancy?" Chase laughs. "It is, isn't it? But the Miltons take their work seriously." 

“Um- I’d prefer sight,” Alt mutters, messing with his mask.

"Of course, of course." Haru nods and starts measuring Bro, starting with his chest and waist. "Mr. Jackson, please help your friend while I help Mr. Bro here." 

Jameson nods. He looks at Alt and smiles. You like layers, then? Here, I think these are close to your size. He walks over to a rack of coats.

Alt blinks and follows after Jameson. “Oh yeah layers would be good…” his eyes brighten at the sight of the jackets and he grins wide, starting to look through them.

Bro holds out his arms and stays very still for Haru. He laughs, “We don’t have anything like this back home! … or if we do I’ve never been!”

"Oh no, not back home where I'm from, either." Chase laughs. "Me and my family had about four sets of clothes each, and my son's clothes were mine when I was his age." His smile fades slightly. 

Not many space for clothes on a ship, either, so you have to be sure what you have fits, Jameson adds. 

Haru finishes up measuring. "Yes, I see. Over here, Mr. Bro. These should fit your form nicely." She gestures to a corner of the store.

“Oh you have a son?” Bro asks then furrows his eyebrows in concern. But, he’s distracted by Haru and he giggles at the name. “Ha- Mr. Bro…” as he goes to look over where she directs him.

Chase nods slowly. "Yes... I haven't... been home in a while, though. My wife, Stacia, she found out that the ship I was sailing on was a pirate ship, and she was... not happy. She told me to get out, and I... I want to return, but..." He sighs.

Bro winces and looks back at Chase, “Damn… that’s rough, buddy. But I’m sure you’ll be able to get back some day!”

Chase laughs. "I'm sure. But we are far from Éire right now, so it will be a while." He pauses. "The next time we sail nearby, I'll ask the others if I can go see them." 

You don't need to ask anyone, Jameson says. You're the first mate. You can do as you want. 

"Well it wouldn't be right to go off without telling the crew, would it?"

“Oh you’re first mate! …I forget what that means but it sounds important!” Bro laughs.

Chase laughs. "It means I'm second highest, right behind the captain. I'm not sure why Jack chose me, especially when Jackie and Henrik had been on the crew much longer than me--" 

Well, Henrik's a doctor, isn't he? Jameson says. 

"Jackie, though?" 

He's happy where he is. Jameson smiles. You do great, Chase, don't worry. He looks at Bro and Alt. Well? Found things you like? 

"I have a room in back to try the clothes," Haru offers.

Bro beams at his other self, “Yeah other me! I’m sure you’re awesome!” 

In the meantime Bro has piled a couple fabrics and things he likes in his arms, including a bright orange piece- close to the color of his jacket. He grins, “Heck yeah! I’m busting out all my movie knowledge lemne see how this looks!” 

Ah yes, orange must be a favorite color of yours, given the bandanna, Jameson says, chuckling. 

Bro beams and nods then rushes into the room to try stuff on. 

Alt has picked out a dark gray blue coat and is looking it over, smiling slightly. “Bet this will look cool-“

Oh yes, I'm sure it will! Jameson says excitedly. Try something green as well, to bring out the unusual coloring in your eyes. 

Alt blinks at Jameson then smiles and nods, “Alright! Something green…” Alt starts to look around and soon enough finds a teal-ish vest and a green sash. 

"Having fun?" Chase comments, smiling. 

I am! None of you ever listen to me! Jameson laughs.

Then Bro rushes back out, throwing out his arms to show off his look. “What do you think?!” He has an orange bandana wrapped around his head, a soft blue open collared shirt and a gray vest with blue stripes on the front. The vest and shirt are tied with a striped sash that’s yellow, white, gray and blue. He had tall brown boots on and brown braces on his arms and black and blue striped pants. He grins wide, giggling in excitement. 

"Oh!" Chase gasps, and laughs. "You look more dashing than I do!" He pushes his hat back. 

You'll fit right in! Jameson says, grinning. You have a good eye on you. Both of you. He nods at Alt. Make sure that fits. 

Alt grins at Bro and laughs. “Looking good dude!” 

“Thanks! Hurry and go try your stuff Alt!” Bro encourages. 

Alt flushes a bit then checks over his stuff- grabbing a grayish undershirt and pants and hurrying into the back.

"How many eights, Haru?" Chase asks. 

"No more than a handful, surely," Haru says. "Here, let me find the details." She goes around the counter, taking a ledger of some kind from beneath it. 

Jameson goes over there, too, taking a small bag out of a pocket.

Alt comes out after a bit, pulling on the long trench coat and adjusting his mask self consciously. Underneath the coat he has on a teal vest and that gray shirt- tied together with a thick green sash. He has dark blue pants and black boots. He smiles sheepishly. “Not nearly as flashy as Chase but… eh?”

"Not as flashy, but not everyone is flashy!" Chase looks over at Jameson. "Is that something like you'd say?" 

Jameson nods. Don't worry, Alt, it looks great on you.

 Alt smiles a bit more, playing with his necklace. “Thanks…” 

“You look good Alt!! Very nice!” Bro laughs, looping his arm around Alt. 

Alt glitches a bit in surprise then playfully shoves at Bro. 

Jameson takes some coins out of the bag and starts lining them up for Haru. Big, golden coins--very pirate-y. No, wait, they're not exactly coins. They're more octagonal in shape.

Bro then wanders over to Jameson and looks at the coins with wide eyes. “Woah! Pirate coins!! They’re so big-“

"Aye, the pieces of eight are the main form of coin in this part of the sea," Chase says. "Though it's not the only coin. There's... um... I don't actually know." 

Jameson laughs. Silver pieces are another popular coin, and pieces of jade as well. 

“Ohhh- neat!” Bro laughs. 

Haru takes the coins as payment. "I'll assume you just want to wear those out?"

Bro smiles at Haru, “if that’s okay, that’d be grand!” Then he blinks, “oh my other clothes-! Alt can you-?!” 

Alt walks over, stuffing their clothes into his backpack. “Way ahead of you-“

Chase laughs. "Glad that someone thinks ahead, because I also forgot." 

"Pleasure doing business with you," Haru says. "As always, Mr. Jackson." 

Jameson nods, and turns back to the others. Now, let's go back to that ship to try that witchcraft.

Alt zips up the backpack and nods with a smile. “for sure!” 

“Thanks Jameson!” Bro grins.

The group says goodbye to Haru and head back to the docks. The sky is darker now, becoming a dusky blue as the pinks and oranges of sunset started to fade. The Septic Eye's gangplank is still lowered, and there's some music coming from up on the deck. Cheerful accordion and fiddles, along with some singing. 

Chase laughs. "Sounds like they've cut loose while we were gone. I bet you an eight that Jackie started it." 

I'm not taking that, because you're probably right, Jameson says. 

"Pieces of eight!" Sam the macaw squawks from the edge of the ship.

Bro hears the music and starts to rush for the gangplank excitedly. “Ohhh!! They’re throwing a party!” Alt shakes his head and laughs.

The deck is filled with people, a circle of crew around the main mast playing instruments. The others are singing, clapping along to the beat, and some are even dancing. 

"Avast, Chase, Jays!" Jackie shouts, sitting up in the netting you'd use to climb up to a mast. "And our newcomers too!" The crew all shouts in greeting, a chorus of "Aye!"s and "Ahoy!"s and "Avast!"s.

“Aye!” Bro greets and raises his hand. He watches the circle with a big grin and looks up at Jackie. “You guys sure do know how to put on a show!” 

Once they’re close enough Alt glitches up and goes to sit on the edge of the wall of the ship, curiously watching the people playing the instruments and singing.

The crew shouts in surprise as Alt glitches, but they quickly shrug it off. Alt shrinks in as he surprises eveyone and hides his face in his mask. 

"Come on, join in!" Jackie shouts to Bro, laughing. "Ye'll learn the lyrics fast enough! And if you don't, just sounds are fine, too!" 

"You all are going to feel this tomorrow!" Henrik shouts from... somewhere. It's hard to see him through everyone else. 

Bro blinks and looks out before shrugging and then climbing up to sit next to Jackie on the rigging, “Maybe you can teach me!” 

"Maybe I can!" Jackie grins. "Alright, we're coming to a call and respond section! Repeat with me! And now we sail on the bright blue seas!" 

Bro grins back and follows Jackie’s lead, singing out loudly, “And now we sail on the bright blue seas!” 

"Looking for bounty for you and me!" Jackie continues, laughing. 

“Looking for bounty for you and meeee!” Bro sings with a flourish, finding himself giggling. 

"Fighting 'gainst monsters from the waves!" Jackie and half the crew sing. 

“Fighting ‘haunts monsters from the waves!” Bro calls in response with the other half. 

"The crew of the Eye will prove we're brave!" Jackie sings. 

Bro grins and repeats, “The crew of the Eye will prove we’re brave!” 

"And say 'aye aye aye!' Away!" Jackie shouts. 

“And say ‘aye aye aye!’ Away!” Bro shouts too, pumping a fist into the air. 

The whole crew cheers, and the sea shanty goes into an instrumental section, the musicians fiddling away. 

Bro cheers too and starts to clap along to the music. “Damn! This is a riot!” He grins at Jackie.

Meanwhile, Marvin hops up next to Alt. "Can you teach me to do that disappearing thing or is it just in your blood?"

Alt glitches a bit in surprise as Marvin joins him and then blinks at him, “Oh my glitching? It’s… blood… I think. It’s uh… complicated but- it’s kinda only something I can do really…” he says self-consciously, fiddling with his necklace.

"Ah." Marvin sighs. "Would've come in hand to appear and disappear like that." 

Alt chuckles, “It is very useful.” 

Marvin brightens up again though. "Nice coat, by the way! See you still have your bag as well. Your books of spells in there?"

Alt flushes a bit but lowers his mask to smile at Marvin. “Ah, thanks… and uh yup! Lemme see if I can still read it before it gets too dark…” he plops his bag in front of him and pulls out his normal spellbook, flipping through the pages. “Maybe… something with divination…? Or a tracking spell…” he mumbles to himself.

"Oh, you can use the lantern if the shadows get too deep," Marvin says, pointing around and indicating a bunch of lanterns hanging around. "My divining didn't work, myself, but maybe something about your powers will be different."

Alt nods and starts looking through his spells. He hums in thought, “…if your divining didn’t work I’m not sure mine will… my practical spells are still kinda… iffy. Maybe if I had something of his…”

"Do you think you could use Sam?" Marvin points at the bird as they perch on Jameson's shoulder. "If not, there's plenty of his things still in the captain's cabin."

Alt thinks, “Probably something that hasn’t been touched as much by other people… that way his like presence? isn’t muddled with someone else’s… if this even works… “

Marvin nods. "The cabin it is, then." He hops up. "Come on, I'll open the door for you." And he leads the way around the singing crew towards the stern of the boat--the back.

Alt hops down from the wall and follows after Marvin, still looking through his book as they walk. 

The captain's quarters is unlocked. Marvin pulls open the set of double doors, revealing a wooden room with a single set of glass windows. There's a bed in the corner, a wardrobe in another corner, a desk against one wall with a bunch of papers and some books, and a framed map on the wall that is most definitely not of Earth. Little bits of sea-based paraphernalia litter every surface.

Alt enters the room and looks away from his book, taking in all the details. He whistles at the sight of the map then runs his hand across the desk with the papers. Trying to see if there’s anything lingering here… any magic he can sense.

Marvin lights a few of the lanterns in the cabin as Alt looks around, turning the little keys at the bottom. Seems this world has gas lights, as opposed to the world of Glasuil, still with only candles and magic. 

Alt looks at Marvin turning on the lanterns with a bit of fascination before getting back on track. 

Alt can't really sense any magical signatures from a specific item. But there is a vague feeling of something... dark. Dusty and salty, like a turbulent sea. 

He tries to focus on that dark salty feeling, closing his eyes and clutching at his necklace, using the chaos star symbol to channel his magic- trying to see if he could divine… something. Thinking of how the Jacks in the other worlds looked could help maybe?

A moment passes. Marvin leans closer, watching him with interest. 

And then, a shadow forms. A flickering green figure. Alt can't discern many details, but he sees the figure take a hat off its head and hang it on the corner of the wardrobe—where a hat actually rests. And then another figure appears. It seems to walk through the wall from the side. The first figure spins around in shock, and the second one lunges, grabbing onto it before it can react. And then they both disappear.

Alt gasps as the vision forms and watches with wide eyes. “S-Someone attacked him… it must have been a… a ghost cuz it came through that wall-“ he points at where he saw it came from. “Then it grabbed Jack and just… disappeared.” He walks over to where Jack’s hat is and touches it lightly, frowning in concern.

"A ghost?" Marvin blinks. "Oh no. Don't tell me we'll be dealing with that ghost ship for more reason than one. The Antithesis has haunted these waters enough. That ship's captain is the only ghost who'd have a problem with Jack."

“…if the Antithesis’s captain had a problem with him then… that’s your best lead.” Alt says gravelly. “…why would the captain want Jack though? Enough to steal him away with no pomp or circumstance?”

Marvin shakes his head. "I'm not sure. No good reason. Maybe he'd want to make him into a ghost with the rest of his crew? Or maybe it's revenge for--" He stops. "Oh, I'm not sure I should share that. Not my business, really. You can ask Jays about it, see if he'll tell you."

“I hope he’s not a ghost now…” Alt mutters. He closes his spell book and walks back towards the door, raising an eyebrow at Marvin. “…sure- I’ll bring it up with him later.” He shrugs.

They leave the captain's cabin. Out on the main deck, people have broken off into smaller groups that are talking loudly while the band plays a different song. 

"Where did Chase go?" Marvin mutters. "We'll need to talk to him about what to do pursuing the Antithesis. He's the one in charge while the captain is gone."

Jackie is hanging upside down from the rigging and Henrik is shouting at him to be careful-- "I do not want to fix more head injuries!" 

Bro is trying to copy Jackie, giggling to himself and waving down at Henrik. “He’ll be fine bro, chill out!” 

Henrik throws his hands up in the air and curses in German--or, a language that sounds German. Given how they called English "Anglish" earlier, they probably have a different name for that language, too. Bro giggles more, reminded of how him and his Jackie push Dr. J’s buttons.

Alt sticks kinda close to Marvin, warily eyeing the crowd. It’s a bit more manageable now that it’s in smaller groups but- god there’s still so many people… “Oh yeah I heard he was the first mate… um-“ Alt tries to help look around for him. He sees his own Chase hanging from the rigging like a doof and rolls his eyes.

Chase is up on the deck with the helm, leaning back against the wall and holding a brown glass bottle, taking a swing. Jameson in here, too, with a bottle of his own. 

"Ah, Alt! Marvin. Care for some rum? This is fruity." 

"Remember to drink water, Chase, to help your headaches," Marvin says.

Alt blinks at the two of them, hesitates, then shrugs with a grin, “Ah sure what the hell?”

Chase hands the bottle out to him. It is, indeed, very fruity, more like a cocktail than straight rum. 

Alt tries some then blinks at it in surprise, “damn- this fucks.” He grins, taking another swig. 

Jameson laughs. Let's use that phrase in the future. This fucks.

"Alt just did some of his witchcraft in the captain's cabin," Marvin reports. "Says that a ghost might have taken him. Meaning we have another reason to find the Antithesis." 

Chase blinks. "Alright... and you're telling me?" 

You're the acting captain, Jameson says. "Ah, yes, of course." Chase leans back, pressing a hand to his head. "We'll stay in the Cove for the night, and then set off in the morning. I'll assume those glass eyes can give us a heading. Ghost ships are usually only found in fog or at night, so we might be at sea all day."

Alt listens to the others and then nods, “Yeah that sounds good to me. Our tracker… eyes- they can give us pretty specific info on where to look.” He smiles to himself as he hands the bottle back to Chase. “…not gonna lie- I’m actually kinda looking forward to sailing on a real ship like this.”

Chase takes a swig back. "A real ship? As opposed to a fake ship?" He laughs. "I suppose you don't sail much where you're from."

Alt laughs, “No not really- …my friends all got to a little bit back but I-“ He grips at his arm, trying to push back to unpleasant memories of that trip. “…I couldn’t join them.” He shakes his head and tries to smile, “But now I get to so- it’s all good. And it seems like Chase- my Chase- is already getting comfortable being on one again,” He laughs, gesturing towards Bro and Jackie.

Jameson turns to look at Bro and Jackie, frowning. I do hope they don't get hurt. 

"Well, the other Chase can fly, so I wouldn't worry about that," Marvin says. "He'll probably catch Jackie, too." Bro seems to slip for a second from the rigging but catches himself with a laugh. 

Chase smiles at Alt. "Sailing isn't for everyone, but the life can be... the sea can pull to you. The open ocean, the salt in the air..." He laughs a little and shakes his head fondly just thinking about it. "So. Will you two be sleeping on the ship tonight? We do have spare hammocks. Or if not, you can stay in the Cove."

Then, Bro parkours off the rigging and hops over to Alt and the others, “Sup lads! Oh hell yeah are we drinking?!” 

Alt laughs and rolls his eyes before looking back at Chase, “spare hammocks would be grand. We haven’t really had much chances to rest so- I’m afraid if we slept in an inn you’d all cast off without us!” 

“Oh yeah- I’m probably gonna sleep like a baby tonight-“ Bro laughs.

Chase laughs. "You want some? Jays, give him yours, Alt got mine." 

Jameson rolls his eyes but holds out the bottle to Bro. 

Bro eagerly takes it from Jameson and raises it up, “Cheers!” He takes a large swig then blinks down at the bottle. “…dude this fucks!” 

“That’s what I said!” Alt laughs. 

"We'd be sure to remember you I'm sure!" Marvin says. "After all, you'd provide the heading. We wouldn't know where to go if you weren't with us!" 

"Aye! Gus, Mona! Find some hammocks for our two new travelers!" Chase shouts. 

"Aye, mate!" a voice shouts back.

“Hey Marv, what’s a heading? S’that like directions?” Bro asks, taking another sip.

Marvin laughs. "Heading is the direction to point the boat! A course is how you'll get there, you need the heading to plot it out. Chase was our navigator before Jack made him the first mate. Now that's Jackie." 

Which is why he should always be careful not to hit his head, Jameson says, watching as Jackie slips in the rigging for a moment, his foot getting caught. He's going to give Henrik a conniption.

“Oooh okay! Cool! Learning new things!” Bro grins. He takes another sip before passing the bottle back to Jameson and backing up. “Heh- if Jackie is so important I’ll get back to keeping an eye on him then! Just in case~” he grins then hurries back to Jackie, climbing up the rigging a little more sloppily. 

“Oh boy…” Alt sighs.

Luckily, Jackie is just about to climb down and ends up meeting Bro halfway. "Other Chase, I was thinking, you'd be a great topman with your flying craft. Or a lookout. No need to climb all this!"

Bro blinks then grins wide, “Oh yeah! I think my Jackie tried that out last time! That’d be fun- it is fun to climb these too though~” he giggles. 

"Isn't it?! This is why I became a sailor!" Jackie laughs. "Saw them all climbing up the ropes from my windows and wondered what it would be like to do that out on the open ocean." 

“Ha! My Jackie was the same way when we first got on a boat,” Bro grins, “he took to the riggings like he was born to be a sailor!” 

"Someone remind your brother to drink water as well," Chase laughs. 

“I’m torn between letting him get drunk and regret it or trying to stop him,” Alt mutters.

"Well... if you'll think he'll be able to help us cast off in the morning if he weren't drunk, maybe try stopping him," Chase says. "Personally? The drink doesn't come out as much on the open sea, so I say why not take it while you can?"

Alt contemplates this then shrugs. “Chase burns through alcohol quick- and since we’ll be here for a bit-” He glitches over to grab the bottle from Chase before suddenly sitting on the wall behind him. “You’re right! Why not let loose?” He takes another big sip with a giggle. 

"Ayyyyy!" Chase laughs. "Let me get you your own rum, then! So you don't have to keep swiping mine." 

"Henrik better have those headache cures ready in the morning," Marvin says, grinning. Alt grins too. 

The night goes on, the sky darkening and filling with stars. Seems they're not the only ones partying, as there are a couple more ships in the dock lit up with strains of music. And some seems to be coming from the city on land as well. The people in this world really know how to celebrate, don't they? 

Bro and Alt get probably too into drinking- considering how good the rum tasted. Bro talks and laughs with the other boys and the crew- trying to dance and sing to the songs they’re playing or join in any games. Alt tries to see if there’s any instruments he might know how to play- but soon enough gets too drunk to really try.

Luckily, Jackie gets off the rigging before he gets too drunk, and there are a handful who stay away from the rum to keep an eye on things. Henrik is one of those, and Marvin stops fairly early before going to bed, but the rest of the crew goes on until they all eventually trickle off, down to the decks below. 

Jameson shows Alt and Bro where they set up extra hammocks for the two of them—right at the end of the rows, closest to the stairs into the next deck up. Then he heads off. Apparently intending to sleep in the purser's office instead of with everyone else. Henrik must have done the same with the doctor's office, and Marvin disappears to who knows where, but Chase and Jackie take to the hammocks with the rest of the crew.

True to his word, Bro seemed to burn off the alcohol fast but he stayed decently buzzed until they started heading below deck. But, that also meant he had to help Alt who was a giggling mess. The older brother helped get Alt into a hammock before smiling down at him and patting his hair. 

Alt usually isn’t that good at falling asleep around others- but it does seem their adventures have caught up to him as he slips into sleep. Bro climbs into the other hammock and sighs, feeling exhaustion pull him down too.

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time. i'm behind af again i hate it here!!!!!! friday we watched voy's "someone to watch over me" and ds9's "when it rains...," saturday we did voy's "11:59" and ds9's "tacking into the wind," sunday we did voy's "relativity" and ds9's "extreme measures," and last night was voy's "warhead" and ds9's "dogs of war."

someone to watch over me (voy):

while the concept of "seven learns to date people from the emh" sounds absolutely rancid on paper, the execution was actually so incredibly charming it's become one of my fav moments from seven and the emh both

like they SANG IN HARMONY. what do you want from me

speaking of romance, janeway asking seven oh so casually about dating. i see you girl

i was v excited to see sandrines again. idk why bc when it showed up regularly i got bored to death with it. nostalgia is a funny thing

tom paris teasing the EMH about his crush was pretty cute. "whatever you say maestro" got me chuckling.

i respect the emh so much for stepping out rather than helping seven change clothes. i would have been mad if he'd stayed

the b plot was also excellent. an increasingly frantic neelix showing the drunk monk around...incredible

when it rains... (ds9):

kira my BELOVED. i want her to kill cardassians <3

mixed feelings about the starfleet uniform. they should have had to bow to her while she was rocking the bajoran look

garak mocking odo for his drab clothes lol

do we think the part of odo he loaned bashir is sentient...like can it see and hear for him...i hope so

winn turning dukat out extremely funny and very IC for her. she loves hurting other people to feel strong

i predicted that starfleet infected odo about halfway through the episode and it made me feel like this tiktok:

11:59 (voy):

this episode fucking sucked

the thing is, when i turn on star trek, i wanna watch star trek. not a hallmark movie

also, what was the moral of this story? sell your family business and home to usher in the future?

like why couldn't they have built this in a field somewhere? why did they need to knock down an already-existing town??

ALSO, what is up with everyone suddenly caring so much about their ancestors...white crew members you do Not want to go on this 23andme journey. you'll find out your family tree was full of colonizers like picard. like jesus christ

tacking into the wind (ds9):

really good: the mommy shifter threatening to vaporize weyoun 8 as soon as the cloning facilities were up and running again

i had mixed feelings about odo not telling kira about how sick he was but have ultimately decided i like it - it's made better by her knowing and pretending not to know. also, whatever he had going on with garak. in many ways they are still getting breakfast. i do love that garak romised not to tell and then immediately snitched, also

REALLY good when odo pretended to be the mommy shifter

CHANCELLOR WORF. we could have had it all. i can't believe he gave it to martok...if martok cares about the empire more than doing the right thing he's exactly the kind of person we CAN'T have leading, but worf is way too autistic to tolerate corruption. CHANCELLOR WORF!

also rip gowran i will miss him and his huge peepers

damar shooting that cardassian who wanted to shoot kira <3 fun and hot of him. damar's arc is getting very good. YEAH DAMAR WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE GIVE THOSE ORDERS? kira is enacting REFORM!

relativity (voy):

this one was sooo fun. i think time travel bs is way more tolerable when you poke fun at how much sense it doesn't make

also, i love the genre of episode where everybody gets incapacitated and seven of nine has to save the day

gay people moment when she asked past janeway to trust her

i wish she could stay in the starfleet uniform...it was soooo nice to see her out of that catsuit

it took me awhile to recognize braxton. rip to that guy also. i don't think it's fair to take his younger self to task for something he hasn't done yet though

i was a little disappointed they never asked about do we get home in the future...obviously the answer is gonna be "can't tell" but it would have been a fun moment

extreme measures (ds9):

THIS ONE WAS SAAAAAUR GOOD

shoutout to tale of two cities which was in wrath of khan...yet another subtle bashir/khan comparison. love it

i love that sloan realizes bashir's intelligence has made him dangerous...it's his ideals that keep him from using it for evil, but when he decides he will commit evil acts in the name of good, he is VERY scarily good at it. he was freaking o'brien out a few times i could tell. i know the genetically enhanced thing was a retcon but it works SO well because he's showing obrien his true self and it's freaky but it's still julian

the plot twist was SO GOOD i did not see it coming i was thrilled

also, the bit at the end where they confessed to liking each other more than their respective love ineterests.

warhead (voy):

the premise of this is so stupid. HOW COULD THEY NOT KNOW IT'S A WARHEAD

that said, congrats to janeway for being less racist to machine

some fond nostalgia about kirk suicide baiting machines in tos happening during this episode. imagine our surprise when the machine did then kill itself

i was pretty "eh" about this until the warhead said "for all your doctor's accomplishments and how he became more than a doctor did he ever stop being a doctor? i cannot stop being a weapon." alright king

harry kim has been on this ship for 5 years and they still treat him like a baby. i wish he could do something more interesting than kick himself over this warhead business. it's not like he hasn't been on away missions before. this isn't that different

dogs of war (ds9):

SO much going on in this episode

the julian/exri was bad. elevator kissing was funny or would have been if it hadn't been right in front of worf's salad but the rest was bad

got surprised by rom being chosen to be the new nagus but ultimately that scene was funny as hell. did NOT like quark talking about demanding sexual favors from his staff but you could tell in the beginning he realy was gonna give leeta and m'pella their extra 10%. king

also, quark fot fetish also funny. he should get together with bashir. when rom was like brunt you will NOT be my advisor and quark was like don't say that til you get a petticure from him. hilarious genuinely

DAMAR THE LEGEND! kira looking at damar like that...ohhh dukat would have been SICK

killing the old defiant was a dumb thing to do to fake us out and make us sad if we were just gonna get a new one. like what was the fucking point if it didn't mean anything

it was so fun to finally meet mila! she did encourage them when they were down, too

and i like that kira's response to feeling down and out is to plan to blow something. true from the pilot to the finale. that's my girl <3

TONIGHT: the ds9 series finale :( i am gonna miss them so much...

[island-ofthelost]

okay.. so this is going to be long because it's something that has been hurting people I know on here a lot lately.

I saw a reblog you did to a post someone did on here today about Five, and originally when I read this particular post this morning, it made me feel bad. I know it was just their opinion and they have every right to it, but the way they wrote it was just so, "Everyone else who doesn't see it this way is wrong."

Your reply in your re-blog was what I think we all need to hear.

I'm being a wuss-bag by saying this anon, but I don't want to get into it with people on here.

I would make this comment on the post, non-anon, but I have already had so many shitty bullying anon asks sent to me about my posts that I do for anon replies, and on many of my other posts where I am just trying to have fun and be creative. People have also come after me non-anon about me writing stories with Five in romantic situations or because they think my other posts suck. I am just trying to avoid more of that mean stuff and the back talk from these guys that they do in their other posts that they may or may not think don't get send around to all of us.

Message to them-we do see them. It's a relatively small community within the TUA fandom.

Mostly, I just want less hate and judgement going on, and your reply was a great way of explaining another way to look at this that includes everyone, and I really really appreciate that.

I just wanted you to know, that there are so many people out there that feel bad about this stuff, and that they and I agree with you. I support you and I think that you made very good sense without being mean to anyone.

I also just wanted to say how brave you are for speaking up to make the very good point that, yes, Five Hargreeves as a fictional character may be aroace, or maybe not so much, or maybe somewhere in-between on all that, just like so many real people are. But he also very much could have had real romantic feelings of intimacy with Dolores and he could have those same things with someone else if given the opportunity and time to get there.

Five may be into girls, or guys, or both, or no one. He may like blondes or pink haired people or banging aliens with two heads for all I know. He could be autistic. Fuck it, he could be anything because he's a fictional character we can all bend anyway we want and project our own beliefs and feelings on. That's the point of fanfiction. The show and comics lay out stuff pretty clear about Five on emotional stuff and all that relationship stuff, be it with Dolores or chicks he is hitting on, or his family, but still all of that is up to interpretation by the many viewers out there and it's all good. That's the big picture.

People need to stop putting down others on here. It's all good guys!

I see posts on here all the time by people saying cruel things about different ships they don't agree with, or about other users tastes, either intentionally or maybe not intentionally, and they do it because when the people they don't agree with dive into the fictional world of Five, they see him as someone capable of anything, and often times this includes a romantic relationship with someone real.

And yes, I see Five's interactions with Dolores romantically, and I might be wrong on that, but I do. Even well after Five was out of the apocalypse and he came to her, he missed so badly. He feels things for her whether she is real or not. It's real to him. It's heartbreaking but real. Five kisses her and says mega romantic things to her in Italian in season 3 when Jamie spits on him. That was in his head. His thoughts. His desires. His feelings coming out in that scene. She didn't make him do or see that. I thought it was sad and beautiful and only made me love the character more. I think Five has more heart than any of them-capable of so much love if he's only given the chance to give and receive it. Like you said, maybe somewhere down the line, Five could have that. I hope he does, but even if it's not romantic or physical love, that's perfectly fine to. I can bend my brain to see anything.

I have seen it called disgusting to think Five capable of physical forms of love and intimacy that are romantic or sexual in nature. I have seen posts bashing the writers and the people that read anything with him in these situations. There's many on here making posts for the soul purpose of calling other people on here disgusting for envisioning Five as someone with infinite love of all kinds. They say they are sickened by all the Five X reader insert pairings tags, and they are horrified by people out there who want to envision a part of themselves in these stories with Five. All sorts of tags have been called disgusting and really, if they feel that way and don't want to see it, then you can filter tags you don't like so you never see them. Why not do that instead of bashing people who have done nothing to you.

I often wonder how they would feel if they saw posts saying what they thought or wanted to read or buzz excitedly about was disgusting?

I think they'd feel judged and pissed and sad. And they wouldn't be wrong.

I think it is sad to tell anyone else that what they feel is wrong. I don't think that is exactly what the post I am referring to today was doing or trying to say. I think that person who wrote that is a very nice person and a great writer, and they love the show and the character, and they are just trying to answer the question as it was put to them, as in how they see Five. They just didn't see the potential for the hurt that could be taken with the way they wrote that reply. Again, it was an ask reply, and they were just giving their answer, but I see and feel the pain in the way these things come off, and I wish people posting would consider that before posting the way they do.

I never want anyone to feel embarrassed or be shamed by something as silly and normally fun as fanfiction and what they like to read or write in it.

If we could all see that nobody wants to be judged for how they feel and for who they are, I think the world would be a better place.

There is nothing wrong with romance, no romance, sex, no sex, hugs, no hugs, or whatever. By dividing each other by things like our desires or lack of them in certain things, we separate ourselves in ways that aren't good, and it makes the problems of understanding and accepting each other all the harder.

We are all people, and we are all okay no matter who we are. Thank you for making me feel that way. ❤️

Well fuck, this is a long ass ask, but thank you so much for trusting me with your feelings, anon. I don't know if I'm the best person for this, because I'm famously not a fan of Five in romance fics, and not because of his sexuality but the fact that his body is still a minor in most of the contexts they're written in, but if people age up his body I still find it strange because I do think he is on the aroace spec, but I would never find it disgusting or tell people what they can or can't do based on my headcanon no matter how popular. you wanna write Five fics that take place in or post season 4 or with him aged up? go the fuck ahead. not my cup of tea, but I would never harass anyone for it.

what I find troubling is that people want to discount the feelings he's clearly shown to have as a "trauma response" or "something he knows is wrong" in favor of their headcanon that isn't confirmed is frankly cringe as fuck. he's a complex guy that probably was genuinely romantically involved with the mannequin, no matter how weird. love is love until it's not allowed to be I guess.

Idk, again I find most Five fics weird as fuck but people are allowed to do whatever they want, it's not hurting a community that I happen to be a part of and I'm sure some of these people are not part of, and if you don't wanna read a fic (which again, I don't) just don't read it, nothing is being shoved down your throat.

Thanks for the ask.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for "gossiping" about a coworker?

I (27m) work in a liquor store and am quite genuinely the most competent employee despite having been until very recently the newest. Other than the owner, there are 2 who've worked there longer than me and both of them (I'll call em C (31m) and M(39f) have made much less effort to learn about liquor or even, quite frankly, people skills than I have. And lemme tell you, I started out very socially anxious. I'm a regular socialite now.

So C, at least, has a really good work ethic. He's not super socially adept with customers but he makes up for it by going above and beyond, like taking initiative to do a lot of the relatively "shit" work that the rest of us don't wanna do. I'd also say I get along with him very well bc he's pretty intelligent and open-minded.

M, meanwhile, is genuinely the most simple-minded person I've ever known in my life. The good thing is that she seems to be kind of self-aware of not being very smart and able to be a good sport about it (ngl it helps that I'm gay and she's the type to want a sassy gbf so i can kinda get away with being mean as a joke) - and she is also often just as self-aware about the fact that she doesn't do shit at work. Like she'll literally pause deliveries just bc she doesn't feel like driving, she never takes out trash, she's basically always late, she mentally shuts down at the prospect of any math despite working with money, she has little to no decision-making skills either, she spends half her shift in the bathroom and the other half literally playing solitaire, she isn't able to help customers with shit bc she's never made an effort to learn about anything we sell, etc. But she's nice, and we really don't need her help that much with anything other than just having people behind the counter.

And that's more or less what I told the newest hire, S(25F). It was in the context of explaining exactly how incredibly easy this job is - that basically almost nothing was gonna be expected of her. As examples I told her how M does the least here by far after being here for over 2 years and is at no risk of being fired. I really didn't think much of it bc my intentions were purely to point out that this is a chill job.

But a few weeks later, seemingly at random, M kinda blew up at me for being "disrespectful" about something entirely unrelated. In short it was a matter of me getting a little too comfortable joking about her incompetence in front of a customer, and I hadn't realized in this particular instance it would be upsetting but I understood after the fact and I apologized. She responded literally ONLY by saying "you're not gonna disrespect me, I'm grown" and went on to literally just leave for the day. I was baffled, but when I saw her next I basically immediately gave another apology. She explained then that the reason she was upset was that the new girl S told her that I said she was the laziest one here, saying "I thought we were friends."

I obviously tried to apologize profusely, promising her that it wasn't a "talking shit" sort of thing and trying to explain the context of that, etc. But also I think it's pretty fucking rich and kinda insane of her to be so upset that I said she was lazy. She says so herself, all the time. Also the fact that S would tell M about this conversation and clearly either leave out the context or just do nothing to dissuade M from being upset about it.... Basically idk if I should feel bad about this. In the future I won't be talking shit to S just pragmatically speaking but WAS i wrong to do it at all? AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[greatideas-badwriter]

Worth The Risk: Chapter 10

Mature Content Warning

Sakura's eyes shot open the moment she awoke because the last thing she remembered was leaning in to kiss Sasuke. Her brows furrowed when she looked down to see the man in question lying on his back, fully dressed.

It was apparent the alcohol had taken over the woman last night because one of her legs was hooked across his chest, and she held his head loosely to her midsection, her upper body angled slightly around it. Long fingers loosely grasped her ankle, the man's other hand resting flat on his stomach.

Looking further down, a slight snicker left her mouth when she saw he was still wearing shoes, 'I must've given him hell last night. Will he be angry?'

"Something funny?" Sasuke suddenly spoke, terrifying the poor, hungover woman.

She squeaked before holding her breath and eventually groaning, releasing his head and covering her face with both hands, "Let me start my three-part apology by saying I'm deeply humiliated, and I don't remember much."

He absently patted her ankle, grumbling, "Next time, I'm leaving your ass up here to be horny on your own."

Sakura recalled telling him she wouldn't mind kissing. Even to a sober man, that was a green light, and he was pretty drunk, if she remembers correctly. A moment of silence passed before she gathered the strength to speak, "I am so sorry, Sasuke."

The man looked up, making her peek through her fingers to see his tired smirk, "If you'd stop falling asleep just when things get fucking good, that'd be great."

Humiliated, she untangled herself from the man and sat up, running her fingers through her messy hair and releasing a big yawn.

"How is it you look hot even now? It's not fair."

Blushing, she frowned at the flirtatious man, falling lifelessly against the pillows before closing her eyes, "I won't take advantage of you again, so you can stop teasing me. I've learned my lesson."

"Take advantage of me any time you want," Sasuke reached over to grab her hand, uncharacteristically rubbing his thumb over the back of it, "Hey, can I ask something? You just have to answer yes or no."

"I guess so…"

For some reason, Sakura didn't pull her hand away when she very much would've before that party last night. 'Maybe I'm grateful because he kept me safe and didn't even try to sleep with me when it would've been easy.'

Her walls weren't relatively as high as they used to be, and she wondered how this dangerous, egotistical man was the one to make that happen. It made no sense. He was almost as toxic as her ex, the most significant difference being that he was honest about his faulty personality, whereas her ex pretended to be a great person.

"Did you lie about the scars coming from a car wreck?"

Sakura's eyes shot open.

'Of all the things I expected him to ask, that was not it.'

She took her time deciding how to respond. The fact that he was asking meant he strongly felt that she'd lied. What he was really asking was if she felt comfortable enough to talk about personal things with him. That was what made her hesitate because why would he want that? Sasuke's not the type to have female friends, but he also doesn't have girlfriends. He has fuck-buddies and one-night stands, and she didn't want to fall under either of those categories.

'But do I want to be his friend? Girlfriend is out of the question. I think I'm ruined for the rest of my life in that regard.'

Hesitantly, the woman turned to look at Sasuke's profile. His eyes were open, glazed over as he stared at the ceiling and waited patiently for her to say something. Her mouth moved before she could second guess her choice, "Yes."

He turned his head to meet her gaze, his body slowly following. She moved onto her side, too, feeling more nervous than she had last night when surrounded by strangers. This was a different kind of anxiety, though.

To her surprise, the man didn't ask her where the scars really came from. They just lay there and stared at one another for a while before the sound of others waking up and going downstairs met their ears.

In the shower after that, Sakura scrubbed her face, mid-panic attack, 'Why did I tell him that? And why did we look at one another like that? What am I thinking? What is he thinking? I'm so confused! I think I'm going crazy.'

'Oh, God. I think we're already friends, and I just didn't realize it until this morning.'

When did it happen, though? Was it when he offered her this job, or maybe when he apologized for being so cold the other day after she helped Itachi? Perhaps it was last night when he saved her from being drugged by that Hyo guy.

One thing was for sure: Sakura had never intended to let this happen, nor was she happy about it. 'It's too late now. Just thinking about drawing a line makes me feel guilty. I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I shouldn't even care. What the hell is wrong with me?'

Sakura spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house from the previous night's party. On Monday, after classes, she was called into Yahiko's office, only for Konan, Nagato, and Sasuke to also be present. Clasping her hands together so she wouldn't nervously fiddle with them, she sat in the seat in front of the desk and tried to figure out what she'd done wrong. When she glanced at Sasuke with a silent question on her face, he shrugged.

'Oh, God. It's so bad that even he doesn't know what's happening! What if I did something I don't remember the night of the party? Did I anger someone?'

"I've called you here today because my wife and I would like to officially ask you to join our family."

Sasuke's expression was so stunned that she noticed it in her peripheral view but tried to act like she didn't notice.

"Family?"

Konan said, "The party was a test to see if you could perform in high-stress environments, and you did fairly well. With a little practice, I see you becoming a person capable of great things."

Sakura shook her head confusedly, "I appreciate that, but I still don't know what you're asking of me. You want me to agree to something that I don't understand?"

The married couple shared a look before Yahiko continued in his wife's stead, "I recommend you keep in mind the NDA you signed as I tell you this," he paused to ensure she was carefully listening, "Have you heard the name "Akatsuki" before?"

She had. During her short-term employment at Oasis, there were a few instances where she overheard customers speaking about some super powerful street gang that went by that name. Though she didn't know much, she knew enough to stay out of it.

The woman nodded, "I-It's a gang, right?"

"Something like that," he said, "I am the current leader of Akatsuki, and all those living under this roof are active members. We would like you to become one, as well. We require someone with medical knowledge, and you've already proved yourself capable."

'Don't show that you're terrified. This isn't some guy from Konoha; this is a family of trained criminals. You can't act without thinking.'

Sakura was completely and totally surprised. She knew Sasuke and the others were dangerous, but she'd consciously tried not to stick her nose where it didn't belong. Maybe that's how she missed it.

Now, though, things began to make sense. The odd conversations she'd sometimes overhear pieces of, the fact that so many different personalities lived under one roof, and even how Itachi had shown up with a bullet wound and the others were afraid to take him to the hospital even though he might die were all signs she'd ignored.

More than anything, Sakura felt betrayed by Sasuke. He selfishly tricked her into moving into a gang's house. Even now that they'd grown closer, he hadn't said a word about it and let her look like a clueless fool, all for his enjoyment.

Blinking back tears, she gathered her composure and lowered her head, "I'll continue working until my contract ends if that's alright, but I'm not interested in that type of thing. I won't say anything to anyone, either."

Everyone's eyes widened, even Yahiko's.

Standing, the pink-haired woman pointedly kept her gaze locked onto his, "May I be excused?"

The man stood as well, visually taken off guard by her direct rejection, "The offer still stands, but yes, you may be excused. I suggest you think things over again, more thoroughly this time."

Sakura knew that was a politely worded threat but nodded before leaving the room. She burst into tears as she hurried upstairs to lock herself in the bathroom so she could properly hyperventilate without the chance of someone walking in.

'What do I do? Will they kill me if I refuse? If I leave town, will they put much effort into finding me?'

If she withdrew all of the money she had saved since being hired here, she'd have enough to relocate like when first arriving here. However, a job would immediately need to be found wherever she went to stay afloat. Turning on the sink faucet to mask the sounds of her crying, she washed her face and began forcing herself to calm down.

'I'll wait a few days so they don't suspect anything. Then, I'm gone.'

"What the hell was that? You didn't say anything to me about having her join!"

Sasuke was angry. No, more than that, he was pissed. It felt like the rug had been swept out from under his feet, and now he was flailing around, trying to catch his balance so he didn't fall.

"I don't recall ever needing your permission to make decisions on behalf of the family. Control yourself," Yahiko spoke calmly, but his gaze was ice.

Konan added, "Were you not the one who swore to kill the woman should she betray us? Don't pretend to care for her well-being now. If you did, you'd have never brought her here."

Nagato sat in silence, watching and listening to everything around him. He never was much of a talker.

The Uchiha man took a calming breath, 'If I don't get it together, they're going to do something about it. Simmer the fuck down, Man.' A moment later, he reopened his eyes into a firm stare upon the family leader, "Sakura will never agree to this."

Konan rested a hand on her husband's shoulder when he stepped toward Sasuke, his hand reaching into his back pocket for one of his weapons. The woman's eyes narrowed on him, "Either convince her to join us or find someone with the same skills and recruit them. You have a month before we take action."

As soon as Sasuke left that office, he had a strong urge to hit something. 'I can't talk to her now, or we'll fight, and it'll just make things worse.'

Deciding to blow off steam first, he left the house and went to Oasis for a drink. Once there, he sat at the bar, ignoring Kisame's curious glances as he drank whiskey and glared at the counter. Hours passed, the man becoming angrier as he got drunk rather than calming down when a vaguely familiar voice met his ear, "If it isn't the bully that got my friend fired. What's got you down, Handsome?"

He turned his head and saw the busty redhead that'd taken over after he and Sakura got into their argument and had also been at the club with her the night they almost hooked up.

Dark eyes swept over her appearance, the lowcut shirt and short skirt barely covering the woman's overbearing sexuality, before he tossed back the rest of his drink and averted his gaze, "Let's get out of here."

She smirked, leaning against the bar with zero restraint on her ogling, "I still have a few hours left of my shift, but-" "You came over here because you want me to fuck you, right? Tell Kakuzu you're leaving early, and I will."

Sasuke was angry at Yahiko, Konan, and himself. He was pissed that he cared so much about what happens to Sakura. 'I need to get laid. Then I can think with my fucking head and not my dick.'

Unconsciously, he tried to convince himself that doing this would make his feelings for the pink-haired woman disappear. So, the redhead drove them to the house. It was the first time he allowed any hook-up to enter his room or drive his vehicle.

He wasted no time with formalities once the door was closed and shoved her onto the bed with a glare. The redhead seemed to enjoy that and went along with things as they undressed, moaning when he thrusted into her. The sound made him angrier for some reason.

Continuing anyway, he looked over her abundant curves and faultless skin with hateful eyes. There was nothing wrong with her. In fact, she was sexier than the average woman. Not only that, but she didn't beat around the bush or play coy about wanting to hook up, which made things easier for all parties.

Sasuke's breath got stuck in his throat when, suddenly, a flash of Sakura's inebriated, turned-on face from the night of the party came over his vision, disappearing just as quickly.

Then he groaned because he was staring at this slut instead.

Becoming more irritated by the second, he turned her onto her hands and knees, pressing her down into the pillows so he wouldn't have to look at her face.

The Uchiha man straightened his spine, hands on her hips as he let his head fall back and closed his eyes, trying to imagine it was someone else, someone with gorgeous green eyes that were always full of tears. It immediately felt a hundred times better.

'Why the fuck is this happening? Why can't I even close my eyes without seeing her damn face?'

Karin, at least he's pretty sure that's her name, moaned louder as she tightened around his cock, which he didn't like because her voice wasn't nearly as pleasing to the ears as Sakura's.

"Shut up," he growled, leaning over her to cover her mouth with his hand, nearing his limit.

With closed eyes, Sasuke recalled the way it felt for her to straddle his hips, to kiss him like it was her god-given right, and found himself climaxing, the whore beneath him following his lead. The moment it was over, a massive wave of disgust washed over him, and he pulled out, and fell to lay on his back with his hands covering his face, cursing under his breath, "Fuck!"

Karin, breathing heavily, rested her chin on her crossed arms and mused, "You're a real mess, aren't you? It's pretty hot."

'She's pissing me off.' Sitting up, he tossed her clothes at her, "Get dressed."

The woman was understandably confused, "What?"

Sasuke finally lost his temper after hours of it boiling hotter, "I said get fucking dressed. Go home."

Sakura woke to the familiar sound of people hooking up, which wasn't unusual under this roof. What was surprising was that it came from Sasuke's room. Tears were in her eyes when she realized the man was sleeping with someone, which only upset her further.

'I feel like I'm going to puke. I don't want to hear this,' she thought, climbing out of bed and trudging her way to the bathroom to wait it out.

The Haruno woman was hurt. She was angry, and she had absolutely no idea why.

It was only a day ago that she realized they were friends. His sex life should mean nothing to her, so why was she sitting on the counter in a dark bathroom, trying not to cry?

Who was she kidding? Sakura knew the reason. She knew from the moment he comforted her when she was crying after missing the bus to Konoha that unwanted feelings were developing. It was just wishful thinking that she'd be able to protect herself, her heart.

'Why do I keep falling for people who are bad for me? Am I a masochist and just haven't realized it? Is it my self-hatred manifesting?'

She rubbed her eyes before taking a deep breath and standing with dread filling the pit of her stomach. It was then that she admitted only to herself, aloud, "I like him."

Ten minutes later, the woman headed back into the hallway, hoping not to hear any more unwelcome sounds from Sasuke's room. To her bewilderment, just as she reached for Zetsu's doorknob, the Uchiha man's bedroom opened, and out stepped a familiar face. Karin's hair and clothes were messy, and she appeared disgruntled. She almost walked right past Sakura but did a double take and froze.

The pink-haired girl breathed out, "Karin…?" Her eyes danced up to see Sasuke staring with wide, dark eyes in nothing but a pair of boxers.

"What are you doing here, Saku?" The redhead glanced back at the Uchiha man before going pink in the face, "Wait, are you guys together?"

'I can't believe he'd do it with one of my friends! That asshole!'

Tearing up, Sakura grabbed Karin's hand and began leading her downstairs without a second glance in his direction, "Come on. I'll walk you home."

The two women walked in an awkward silence for the entire half-hour walk to her and Ino's dorm, but when they arrived, Karin asked, "I'm right, aren't I? You two are together. I swear I didn't know, or I would've never gone home with him. Please believe me!"

Sakura wiped at the few tears that managed to slip past her control, trying to smile, "N-No, we're not, and even if we were, I know you'd never do something like that. I'm not angry."

"But….Sakura, you look like you just caught him cheating," the woman paused before laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "You like him, don't you?"

She couldn't hold it back anymore and burst into sobs, nodding with her hands over her mouth as she explained, "I don't want to like him. He only thinks about himself!"

So, the two women sat on the steps of the dorm building and talked a little before Sakura sighed and decided to call it a night, "Thank you for listening to me, and I'm sorry for being a big baby. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Don't apologize. Men are shit. Text me when you get home so I know you made it."

With shivers trembling her entire body, the woman walked home slowly, not eager to find out if Sasuke was waiting up, 'If there was even the slightest chance of me doing anything with these feelings, it's gone now. It doesn't matter if he sees me the same way or not; sleeping with my friends is going too far. He knows that.'

She made the half-hour walk stretch into a forty-five-minute one before the house came into view. To her dismay, the man of the hour sat on the steps, coming to stand as she approached. The entire way home, she thought of what she'd say or do when next facing him, but instead, she tried to walk right past him.

He grabbed her arm, "Sakura, wait."

The woman snapped. She yanked the limb away, fixing him with a fiery glare, "Don't touch me." His eyes narrowed angrily, but she continued before he could respond, "How could you, Sasuke? Fuck whoever you want, but not my friends! Are you trying to hurt me? Is that it?"

"You know that's not what I want."

"Then what do you want? Because I can't tell anymore. I thought you wanted sex, and that's why you were being nice, but then it felt like you…. It felt like you actually cared, even if it was only a little bit." She was crying and almost yelling, but she didn't care.

Sasuke's glare didn't falter, and his voice raised to the same level as hers, "I don't fucking know, okay?"

Sakura's mouth closed at his outburst, the tears becoming thicker, 'I must've been holding onto a sliver of hope that he'd say the right thing, but I should've known better.'

Shaking her head, the woman turned and headed up the steps to the door, only for him to try stopping her again, "You're really going to walk away right now?"

"Don't talk to me."

The woman went inside, upstairs, and into Zetsu's room, where she turned to shut the door, only for Sasuke to grab it, dark eyes leering down at her as he bit, "Why are you so pissed off? We're not dating. We're not even sleeping together, Sakura! What is your problem?"

Hands fisted at her sides, Sakura hissed, "Friends!"

Sasuke's face fell as he shut the door behind him, and she sniffled but held his gaze firmly while speaking in a much quieter voice, "I thought we were friends. I thought you changed from how you were when we first met, but I was obviously wrong."

She covered her eyes, feeling humiliated, "I'm sorry for losing my temper. I misunderstood the situation, so I overreacted." Green eyes remained closed as the woman sighed after waiting to hear Sasuke leave, and it didn't happen, "Please leave me alone. I promise I won't do something like this again, so just go."

'I was a fool. He's probably standing there trying to figure out what to say so things aren't awkward between us for the rest of my contract.'

"Sakura."

Warmth ran through her body at the softer, desperate tone Sasuke used. Her hand fell slowly as she looked at him with wide eyes. He glared with a frown, but it wasn't hateful like she'd grown used to seeing. It was something else that couldn't be pinpointed. The woman's chin quivered as he stepped toward her, tensing up when he reached for her hand.

"Hit me if you get scared."

She opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about, only for him to swiftly close the distance between them and pull her into a deep kiss. His arms were tight around her middle, holding her firmly against him.

For a moment, she was swept up in the moment with a happy cloud in her head, only to realize what was happening and tear away, slapping him with all her might. He let go like she knew he would, a hand to his cheek and an expression that said he'd expected the hit but had hoped it wouldn't come.

Sakura's voice cracked as she whispered, "You have no idea what you're doing, do you?"

Sasuke didn't respond and just stared with that same look of bewilderment.

She stepped closer, gently slipping her hand beneath his to caress the reddened skin. 'I'm either about to make a good choice or the biggest mistake of my life.'

Searching his eyes silently, she guided his face lower so their noses brushed before saying, "If you kiss me again, that means you're serious. Don't do it if you plan to sleep with other girls or get rid of me when you get what you want."

His breath hitched, his eyes widening as she pulled back slightly.

Neither moved momentarily before she said, almost pleading, "Please, don't hurt me."

'I'm choosing to trust him right now. Sasuke, don't you dare make me regret it.'

To Sakura's relief, the man didn't immediately respond by moving away or kissing her. No, he stayed where he was, searching her face with his hand cupping hers on his cheek. He took the time to think about it, which was reassuring.

Then, he cautiously ran his fingers into her hair on the back of her head and held her still as he leaned in to press his lips to hers.

The kiss was slow and emotional, unlike anything the woman ever expected to experience from Sasuke Uchiha. He didn't even try to take things further. He just kissed her like it'd make up for all the suffering she's done because of him. It was breathtaking, filling Sakura's chest with electricity that made it challenging to inhale, but in a good way.

'For the first time in years, I don't feel even the slightest bit afraid.'