#space mission opportunity and applies then when she gets accepted she moves to the us again to be part of the space program. and then she

[frascospecimen]

elean is a teacher, right? what age group does she teach?

She’s a nurse actually! Before she was a nurse she was a dog trainer/pet groomer and the last one is a job she wants to go back to doing once she gets back from space.

[hb-writes]

Ignored Advice

Summary: Part II of the Alphabetical Outcast Series. Sylvie (OC) is the eldest child of Hugo Bridgerton, a cousin raised alongside the infamous Bridgerton brood. Born in-between Daphne and Eloise, Sylvie has made it her mission to delay her season again and again. As her deadline to put a stop to her entering the marriage mart this year approaches, Benedict gives his cousin a little pep talk. 

Characters: Sylvie Bridgerton (OC) & Benedict Bridgerton

Bridgerton Appreciation Week Prompt: Do it, be bold.

Part I - The Firstborns - Sylvie Bridgerton & Anthony Bridgerton

Part II - Ignored Advice - Sylvie Bridgerton & Benedict Bridgerton

--

Benedict caught Sylvie’s approaching palm half a moment before it collided with his shoulder, her attempted slap and the groaning of his name an exaggerated response to his sudden presence in the garden she believed to be occupying all on her own, a rather silly assumption seeing as it was nearly impossible to singly inhabit a single space in Bridgerton House, not with ten children, if you could still refer to them that way, regularly milling about its halls and grounds. Even with several of them being married or having their own quarters, the house never seemed empty or quiet.

Suffice to say, Sylvie shouldn’t have been surprised that someone had come upon her in the middle of her endeavor to forge a dirt patch into the perfect lawn with her incessant pacing. 

“Don’t do that!” she shouted at Benedict’s playful grin, freeing her hand from his grip to swat at him again as her heartbeat slowed. “You’re always sneaking about.”

Despite being a large man and the tallest of the Bridgerton brothers, Benedict was quiet and he moved in ways that weren’t always noticed, blending in as the color green could do among certain shades of blue, or a pink among certain purples. Somewhere along the line, he had taken a certain liking to using his natural stealth to rile his siblings and cousins.

“I have just as much of a right to enjoy my mother’s lovely flowers as you have.” 

Some would argue that Benedict Bridgerton had more of a right to occupy the space, that as second in line to the title, it was nearly his garden, and the cousin whose thoughts he had interrupted had not a single claim on the flora, but Benedict had no interest in his claim. He’d happily settle for being second in line.

“What are you so worked up over this morning?” he asked when his comment received nothing but a return to pacing, the space over which she marched stunted by a few steps due to his presence. 

“Who says I’m worked up?”

Gregory and George and Hyacinth had told him so over his eggs, but Benedict had no plans to tell Sylvie that, and he had no need to seeing as she’d just swatted at him, supplying him with plenty of evidence to support his accusation. Benedict simply raised his eyebrows and gave her a gentle smile, something not quite as smug as a smirk gracing his lips. 

It took only a moment for Sylvie to give in, her shoulders heaving as she took a seat on the bench, hiding her face in her hands while Benedict moved to occupy the space beside her.

“I suppose I’m not so subtle.” 

Benedict snorted at that. Bridgertons weren’t very good with subtleties. They communicated more in grand gestures and loud declarations, even the passive aggressive moments were rambunctious and obvious in nature, with silent treatments emphasized by the blatant actions that accompanied them. 

“I shouted at the little ones over breakfast,” Sylvie offered. “They were being dreadfully vexatious. I couldn’t help myself.”

Benedict nodded. The kids towed a fine line between entertaining and exasperating. It had once been them getting chastised for their boisterous nature at the breakfast table, and some mornings it still was, but more often it was the youngest set with their endless source of energy primarily used for running about and arguing and shouting. He didn’t really fault her for a little outburst. 

“And my deadline is approaching,” she mumbled.

“Deadline?” 

Sylvie rolled her eyes.

“Now Ben, don’t pretend Anthony hasn’t already told you,” she answered, figuring that Anthony had pulled his brother into his office at the earliest opportunity after their last discussion. “I suppose he’s employed you to convince me to give this up and fall in line.”

Sylvie was surprised the whole lot of her elder cousins hadn’t descended upon her to bring her along to Anthony’s way of thinking. She had been expecting conversations with each of them, but the subject hadn’t been raised since she left Anthony’s office nearly two weeks before. 

Benedict leaned back as he set his ankle over his knee. “Well, I must admit you having your season would go a long way in helping my dear mother forget that she has a marriageable son.”

“But?” Sylvie prompted.

“But I understand your plight.” 

Society acted as if a woman’s life didn’t begin until one was married, until one was a wife and a mother, but to Sylvie marriage felt like an end, like the death of some part of her she hadn’t even gotten a proper grasp on yet, a part of her she felt certain was a part she rather liked. She wasn’t ready to let it go.

It didn’t make any difference to see that her married cousins were deeply in love, seemingly changed only for the better by the matches they’d made because Sylvie didn’t trust the odds of that sort of happiness for herself.

Of course, much of the married Ton kept up appearances, seemingly content in their hastily made matches, but Sylvie didn’t trust appearances either. 

Appearances showed a world of people happy, a world of people content with their station and society and their lot in life, but she knew well enough that most people weren’t happy. Most people didn’t receive a true love match. Most people didn’t have a life that showcased the things they truly loved. Most people had lives that showcased the things society expected, the majority of people more engrossed with impressions and opinions of society than anything else. 

The Ton smiled and danced and wed, but beneath all that was a layer of torment. 

Sylvie knew Benedict understood that, knew they had a bit of shared appreciation for that bit of truth because Sylvie knew of his art, had seen the remarkable portraits he’d done of each of them, and though Benedict hadn’t been able to take her complimentary words to heart, hadn’t been ready to really accept praise for his art, Sylvie knew they shared a certain understanding about the world.

Sylvie envied Benedict a bit for knowing what his passion was when she had neither knowledge nor the ability to act on such a thing, and furthermore, she begrudged her cousin just a bit for not acting on it, for keeping his talents and desires hidden, for keeping up the very appearances they knew were expected.

“So, you can speak with—” 

“Anthony? Oh, no. Definitely not,” Benedict said.

“But you—”

“I haven’t convinced Anthony of a single thing in my entire life. I can’t imagine I’ll have any luck where you haven’t.”

“You're his brother.”

“And you’re his favorite cousin.” 

“I believe George is everyone’s favorite.” 

“Well, George is a bit easier to manage, I suppose,” Benedict said, tilting his head back and forth as he considered it, his face scrunched a bit. “A more of a charming demean—”

The heel of Sylvie’s palm made contact with her cousin’s shoulder again, a barking laugh pouring from Benedict’s lips as he nudged her back. 

“You prove the point far more often than you’re aware.”  

“Yes, and that’s all the more reason for me to not enter society. I’m afraid I’m simply not ready, not well-behaved enough.” 

Benedict hummed. “Yes, Anthony did mention you were exploring that angle.”

“I’m not exploring any angles,” she answered. “It’s simply my natural charm, as you’ve just said.” 

“Maybe use some of that charm on my mother, then. Present your case? Prove your point? You know she’s the one who needs the convincing. If she agrees, Anthony has no choice.” 

Sylvie shook her head. “I’m not ready.” 

“To tell mother or to marry?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Both, I suppose.”

Benedict set a hand on her shoulder. “Do it at the weekend, then. Wait until she’s relaxed, away from everything reminding her of the impending season. Present your argument then. You may recall a rather wise Bridgerton once said ‘do it, be bold.’ I believe the same words apply here.” 

Sylvie snorted, unable to prevent herself from smiling at the memory of late summer nights passed on the swings with Benedict and Eloise, cigarettes passed between the three of them and a handful of secrets too. 

“If I recall, you ignored that wise Bridgerton’s perfectly splendid advice because you’re an absolute fool who refuses to see reason.”

Benedict’s eyebrows shot up, but an easy smile held on his face as he shook his head. 

“Ah, yes, and there we have your natural charm on display once again.” 

[theadrogna]

@singledarkshade​ came up with the Dream Show challenge, where we had to give her a list of 7 TV shows or films and we were given a cast of 7 actors in return. Then I got carried away and this is the result: Diaspora

Synopsis:

Earth seeded the galaxy with colonies, sending out ships full of colonists in suspended animation with everything they needed for a life elsewhere. That was a generation ago and now a new ship, the Linnaeus, has been sent to check on the colonies that Earth founded. Have they prospered and conquered new worlds or are they failing and in need of help to survive? The Linnaeus with its team of scientists and problem solvers is Earth’s mission to re-establish contact. The colonies are a long way from Earth and the rules are different when you’re so far from home.

Cast:

Dr Aneurin “Nye” Castell (Arthur Darvill): Nye is the team’s xeno-ecologist and scientific lead. He’s something of an idealist, and a brilliant academic, but never saw himself going into space again. Parsa is an old friend and talked him into joining the crew as an opportunity for furthering his research. He specialises in finding out what makes an Earth-like world inhabitable for humans, and looking at alien ecosystems to investigate how they function. He usually ends up doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to sorting out what’s going wrong with a colony. He is able to make intuitive leaps that can be hard for others to follow, but is accepting that not everyone can always keep up. He doesn’t particularly enjoy walking into the unknown, but his scientific curiosity is why he’s here.

Dr Parsa Nazari (Cas Anvar): Leader of the expedition. Originally a scientist himself, he left academia and moved into the role of mission specialist. He’s the one to make the tough decisions, even if sometimes that doesn’t make him popular, especially with his friend, Nye. He’s been working towards leading the Linnaeus mission his whole life, and recruited only the best for the expedition. He has to juggle the scientific side of the mission with the political, and that isn’t always easy, but he’s good at finding acceptable compromises. He leaves behind a divorced husband and two kids to head up the Linnaeus mission.

Rosalind Fitzroy (Torri Higginson): A politician. She’s not well liked amongst the crew, and Parsa fought to exclude her but failed. She is ambitious, but so far her career hasn’t gone as planned. She is able to read people and manipulate them, although often less effectively than she thinks. She’s on the team to remind the colonies that they’re still subject to Earth law and that they’re expected to help their home world, but her role is also smoothing the way for the team with the local authorities. If the colony need advice on how to set up new systems of government or on their economy then Rosalind can help with that too. This could be the most important job of her life, but it’s one that most politicians wouldn’t want, but she sees it as a stepping stone to something better.

Dr Carrie Joshua (Hannah John-Kamen): Carrie is a medical doctor. Her job is to assess the physical health of the colonists and help them with medicines, nutrition and fitness. One of her biggest concerns is how human biology interacts with the new worlds. She enjoys trekking and climbing, and can be found on the ship’s meagre fitness equipment most days before she begins work. On planet, she’s enthusiastic to explore, even in areas which appear dangerous. She is also fearless when it comes to putting her patients first, something that has been known to get her into trouble. She’s one of six siblings, and misses her big family more than anything else while she’s in space.

Kira Sokolov - (Jodhi May): As both the ship’s engineer and technical problem solver, she thinks fast on her feet to fix broken technology with limited resources. Her motto is that “perfect is the enemy of good”. Ed likes to tease her by calling her MacGyver, but it isn’t that far from the truth. She is tenacious and loyal to the team, but has little time for Rosalind because she used to be the representative for the province where Kira grew up. Her family still live there and have to deal with food shortages and rationed water. She’s bilingual and enjoys learning new swear words in every language she meets, but her most annoyed exclamations are in her mother’s native language, Ukrainian.

Ed Avalino (Taika Waititi): The pilot. He drives the bus, but has to double as the lab technician and general assistant to whoever needs him most when they’re on planet. He is the closest thing that the team have to a security person, and does his best to protect them when on planet and assess threats. He is relatively easy going by nature, but can quickly shift gears to deal with a crisis. He gets on with all of the crew, even Rosalind, but shares a love of danger with Carrie. Parsa apparently met him in a Martian jail, but neither of them will talk about that incident, despite Nye desperately wanting the details. Rumours about his past missions as part of the Earth military are probably untrue, but he doesn’t dissuade anyone from exaggerating them further.

Dr Grace Blackwell (Nafessa Williams): Grace is the xeno-psychology expert on the team. The humans in the colonies are not alone and someone is needed to work out what the aliens want. She also often applies her psychology skills to the humans as well. She’s the youngest and most inexperienced member of the team, and was something of a prodigy. She looks up to Nye as a mentor, but occasionally finds his pure pursuit of the academic to be too much and prefers to listen to her gut. No one ever questions her knowledge of her subject, but she sometimes lacks confidence in herself. She knows that this is a once in a lifetime chance to make a difference and she’s grabbing it with both hands. She is a natural ray of sunshine, but finds the long journeys between planets are the hardest part of the job.

Episodes:

1: The Flight of the Linnaeus (Pilot) – Nye Castell is researching far away planets but hasn’t left the safety of his university in years, when Parsa Nazari invites him to join the Earth’s first trouble shooting mission to the Colonies. Nye is unwilling at first, but Parsa plays upon his need to investigate and learn, and eventually he accepts. Flashbacks give a taste of exactly why he is so unwilling to leave the planet. He puts his Earth-bound affairs in order and reports to the Linneaus facility to begin work. Parsa and Nye build the team, but are blindsided by their superiors’ need to include Rosalind Fitzroy, and an attempt to destroy the entire project by an anarchist spy who claims to know something they don’t.

2: Planetfall – The Linneaus arrives at its first destination, the colony of Gessner. This has been chosen as an easy first test of their readiness and skill, since Gessner has been in regular contact and appears to be doing well. Appearances can be deceiving though. The colonists thrive when they’re young but rapidly die when they reach 60, with one notable exception, the governor of the colony who was elected partly due to his magical longevity. It’s up to the Linnaeus crew to find out what’s going wrong.

3: Downfall - Having discovered that the elderly are being deliberate poisoned when they become older and less useful, Rosalind tells the crew that Gessner is no longer their problem as the solution is beyond their ability to fix. Nye, Carrie and Grace disagree strongly, but Ed points out that they have no resources to forcibly change the leadership of the colony, whilst Parsa sides with Rosalind much to everyone’s surprise. Grace outlines a system of psychological pressure points that could be used to change the governmental structure, but is this really the job of the Linnaeus crew?

4: Homesick - After leaving Gessner, the Linnaeus crew have a long journey to the next planet. Nye sleeps badly and sees his long dead mother in the corridors of the ship. It seems like Nye might be suffering from “orbital fever”, a psychological condition that affects astronauts on long voyages and he reluctantly goes to see Carrie. She agrees with his self-diagnosis and tells Parsa that Nye will need to be taken back to Gessner, as the condition typically worsens rapidly to become psychosis if not treated. As the crew readies to turn back, Grace reveals that she’s being visited by the ghosts of her childhood pets. Other members of the crew also start seeing things, leaving the team in no doubt that something else is going on here. Nye works out some of his childhood issues with his hallucinations.

5: All at Sea - Everyone is pleased to reach their next destination, Aelian. Here the colonists share their world with a primitive, but sentient, species of sea dwellers, which hadn’t shown up in the original survey of the world. This has produced a dangerous tension, and one which Grace is ill-equipped to handle despite this being her area of expertise. The entire crew find themselves drawn into what could be the build up to war between the two species who regard Aelian as home.

6: Adapt and Survive - The Linnaeus lands at the colony site of Ellis to find that the landing site is deserted. All that greets them is the remains of buildings and abandoned vehicles. Nye, Ed and Carrie trek into the jungle to see if they can find any trace of the humans who are supposed to live here, while Parsa, Grace, Kira and Rosalind investigate the ruins of the colony for clues. Nye and his group find the colonists, but they’re changed beyond recognition. Parsa discovers the reason and it becomes clear that the Linnaeus needs to leave rapidly.

7: Lost in Space – The rapid departure of the Linnaeus from Ellis leaves the crew with repairs to make to their broken ship as the Linnaeus drifts further from its course. Kira and Ed lead the effort, putting the scientists to work. Nye reveals a little more about his reluctance to come on the mission. Carrie is sure that Rosalind is hiding something, but he has no idea what. Soon the crew are fighting for their lives, racing to make planetfall before the ship breaks down completely.

8: Borderline – The Linnaeus’ crew are faced with a failing colony, known as Genera, where the colonists never seem to manage to make much progress, but are kind and welcoming. Despite the apparent fertility of the world and its ecosystem, the crew of the Linnaeus realised that the colony could only have a single generation before if it dies out completely. Nye refuses to give up in finding a way for the colony to become viable, but Parsa thinks they should cut their losses. Kira takes a young engineer from the colony under her wing. Rosalind attempts to get a message back to Earth.

9:  Hooked on a Feeling - Genera still remains something of a mystery to Nye, until Carrie informs him that Kira’s apprentice is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Nye and Parsa investigate, coming to the conclusion that the entire colony are hooked on the same addictive substance, apparently unwittingly. Nye uses all of his skills to find the culprit.

10: Letters from Home – While the ship continues to deal with the ongoing issues of Genera, Ed receives a message packet from home for the crew. Now in addition to the problems of the colony, the crew find that their life on Earth has caught up to them. Rosalind accidentally ends up revealing just how important their mission is, angering the crew who were not kept informed. The Earth is desperate for resources and dying. Perhaps all they can do is to make their mission a success.

11: Mushroom Stew - The Linnaeus has left Genera behind and is on its way to Dorrien, a planet that seems to favour fungi over almost every other form of life. The colonists have faced difficult growing conditions for their crops, which must be kept in vast greenhouses to protect them from contamination with fungal spores. But as rapidly as the colonists clear land, the mushrooms seem to be doing their best to retake their planet.

12: The Great Chain of Being - The colony of Jekyll was a paradise when the colonists landed, but now the local wildlife is dying out, with great tracts of land becoming barren. Nye and Parsa desperately search for the reason behind the devastation, while the rest of the team try to help the colony deal with the effects of the dying ecosystem. It’s up to the crew of the Linnaeus to find a way that the ecosystem and colony can be saved.

13: Paradise Lost - The colony of Masamune is bland and calm. Even the animals don’t eat each other, but something is killing the colonists. Rosalind is under pressure to report positive findings back to Earth, and asks the team to falsify their reports since every colony they have visited is struggling in some way. She drops the bombshell that if the Linnaeus doesn’t do as it is told then it will be recalled to Earth, having failed to fulfil its purpose.

[detectivegoldstein]

A Late Night in the Office

@fragcle

There hadn’t been a lot of time to get adjusted to their new home, but they had a job to do.  Having caught wind of the Renaissance Hotel being a wolf den, the Davises needed a game plan.  Going in guns ablaze just the two of them was a suicide mission, so something of a smaller scale would need to take place.  Picking their first target, they spent weeks staking out the wolf’s every move.  Where he worked, who he spent time with.  Once a pattern of life was established, all they had to do was wait.  Luckily for them, James Goldstein had a habit of working late nights at his private investigator office.

Everything was set in place.  Liam and April were at a sitter’s for the evening, and all they had to do was wait for nightfall.  Clad in all black and donning masks, Anthony waived for his wife to continue forward once he determined the coast clear.  He had a set of knives strapped to his waste, a crossbow readied with a silver bolt.  They needed to do this quietly, the town too small to hide in the noise of the nightlife and too big to rely on isolation. 

As Madison took point he pulled out his lock picking tools, getting to work on the main door.  With practiced ease a faint click signaled the turning mechanism’s release.  Gently pushing the door open, Anthony led the way inside. 

Their target sat blissfully unaware at his desk, his focus so intent on the computer in front of him.  The human lifted his crossbow, aiming directly for James’ heart, when a sharp pain dug into his shoulders.  A cacophony of noises erupted in the room.  Anthony had pulled the trigger, instead hitting the wolf in the shoulder.  Both men cried out in pain and surprise, mixed with the ear splitting yowling of an angry cat. 

~*~*~

Madison had been lax about her job - wanting to be the perfect mother and wife was exhausting, she’d let herself go in regards to her passions - that's why when the other suggested this mission she nearly leaped at the suggestion. She wanted desperately to prove to Anthony that she was still the same huntress he’d fallen in love with - and this gave her the opportunity. 

Madison smiled over to her husband - glad to be back in the field, taking down enemies one at a time. She felt successful, to be able to relocate her family so easy and continue in a field she was passionate about. She waited until Anthony had unlocked the door before following her husband inside. 

When entering Madison glanced around the room - it was empty, except for a black cat and the target. Seeing the werewolf at the table, a smirk spread across her lips. She waited until the bow was raised and facing the other. That was when the black cat sprung across the room - landing on Anthony's shoulder, she witnessed the animal dent her husband - but what came next broke her heart. 

Hearing his pain she picked up the lamp from the bench and swung it at the cat - the lamp and the cat flying off of Anthony. A sob escaped Madison's lips as she pulled her husband's hand. “We need to go.” she reminded him, a hand pressed to his wound.  As she was turning she looked back at the wolf - no longer in the upright position they’d found him.  Her heart dropped, hoping she was fast enough to lead them out of there she turned again, but then she felt the pain in her calf. A screech left the blonde’s lips as she fell into her husband's side. A sob escaped her lips - with a failed mission on their belts, Madison couldn’t help but feel like a failure and disappointment not only as a hunter but also Anthony's wife - she tried to support her husband out of the office, the blood dripping down the back of her leg and pooling in the sole of her shoe, she shuddered in pain as the pair limped out of the office and into the darkness of night. 

~*~*~

He’d agreed to stay behind with James - keep him company, he knew how lonely the late nights could get and Braxton didn’t have any plans with Charlie for the night. He was surprised at how well the other had accepted his transformation, though he was thankful that all his nightmares were just that - nightmares. Elijah was right, James and Iris would love him unconditionally no matter if he was human or cat. Though Braxton still had a fondness for being curled up against the other’s couch - it was so much easier to hang out at night in his cat form - he felt more energised, and more welcomed - he wasn’t so much a distraction but rather a comfort. 

Braxton had been asleep on the couch when he heard the locks turning, propping his head up onto his paws, a soft purr escaped the cat's lips. He was expecting Elijah to walk through the doors - assuming that he’d forgotten something, or simply that he was coming to collect his familiar. What he wasn’t expecting was two dark figures to enter the room - waiting a moment he watched as the pair pulled out a crossbow. A growl began growing in the pits on the familiar's stomach at the sight, James was unaware of the events occurring behind him - and it was his duty to protect Eli's bestfriend - no it was his duty to protect his best friend. 

Braxton was waiting until the pair had noticed him and dismissed him - waiting until their backs were turned the cat launched himself forward, landing on the man's shoulder - he pressed his claws into the others skin - making sure to apply enough pressure to cause the man pain. He was dragging himself down the others back when a lamp came flying at him - he wasn’t expecting that. When he was hit by the other his body flew across the room a ear shattering yowl escaped Braxton’s lips before he went silent - with a large thump he hit the blinds, the only thing stopping him from going further being the window. And then the lamp that had attacked him smashed next to the black cat, shard of glass flying across the room. 

The last thing Braxton saw before he passed out from the pain was the two strangers leaving the agency. A weak purr escaped the familiar's lips as his limp body laid against the cool floor. Sure he was in pain - and he didn’t know if he’d see Eli or Iris again, but at least he had the comfort of knowing he’d saved his best friend in the process. He drifted off slowly to peaceful memories of seeing Noelle again, meeting his family as a human for the first time, and being able to successfully attend a date with the boy of his dreams. 

~*~*~

James was never going to forgive himself for that night.  He always had to be such a fucking workaholic, becoming hyper focused when a case was in front of him.  The door unlocking didn’t register in his mind; all these buildings were old and he heard shit creaking on the regular, nothing to pay any mind to.  It wasn’t until Braxton was screeching that the wolf tore his gaze away from the screen, a sharp, agonizing pain shooting through his shoulder.

It took a few seconds for him to realize what was going on, his vision blurring immediately from the effects of the silver.  Dropping down to the ground, James searched blindly through his drawers for anything that could be used as a weapon.  Fuck he wished he still had his service pistol.  Frustration and anger coursed through his body.  Anger at himself for being so fucking stupid, so complacent.  Frustrated that Braxton had saved him, putting his own life on the line for someone like him.

Feeling his fingers brush against metal, the wolf gripped the scissors tightly against his chest.  He was breathing hard, having a hard time focusing on much.  The world was spinning, his head pounding.  But when he heard the pained yowl from Braxton it sent the wolf into action.  He couldn’t let a little fucking silver get the best of him while the kid was out there doing his best as a god damn cat.

Shoving himself up from the floor, James saw the shadowed figures retreating.  With all of his strength he threw the scissors towards them, a smirk forming on his lips at the responding screech of pain.  The satisfaction didn’t last as his vision swam once more and he had to lean against the desk for support.  Once he was able to refocus and prepare for his next move, the wolf looked up to see the two attackers gone.  Letting out a sigh of relief, he slumped forward, until he realized the most crucial detail he’d missed.  “Brax?” he calls out frantically, but gets no response.

No.  No no no no no.  “Braxton!” he cries out, stumbling around the desk to where he had heard the thud previously.  Seeing the prone form on the ground, James dropped to his knees, his hands hovering over the small bundle of fur.  “Brax, buddy, you did good.  You can get up now.”  His voice cracked, his entire body shaking.  

He could tell the familiar was still breathing, so that was a relief, but that didn’t mean the kid wasn’t in critical condition.  James’ mind became a jumbled mess of panic as he thought about what to do.  Who would you even call in a situation like this?  An ambulance?  A vet?  Do vets have emergency ambulances?  He didn’t know what to do and it was only feeding into the distress.  “Hold on Brax.  Stay with me, okay?  You’re so brave.  You’re so fucking brave, you little shit.  But don’t do that again, alright?  I-I ain’t worth it.”  He was fully crying now.

All James wanted to do was pick up the cat and rush him to the nearest hospital, but his time in the force taught him to never move a trauma victim.  Rushing to his desk, the wolf grabbed his phone and called the first number he could think of.  Eli.  Scrambling back over to Braxton, he gently ran a hand through the familiar’s fur.  “C-come to the office.  Now,” he manages to get out through a fit of sobs.  

The burst of energy he felt drained quickly, and he dropped the phone as he fought back a wave of nausea.  Curling down on the floor, James formed a protective space around Braxton, making sure to not get too close.  All he could hope was that Eli would know what to do and would get here before it was too late.  That was the last thing the wolf remembered before the world turned to black.

[bangtan-dreamland]

Future Works

Series

⭐ Cliche Romances: The Bestfriend’s Edition

Summary: Or in which, we find out- is falling for your bestfriend really the ultimate recipe for heartbreak? Or is it worth taking that chance to find out?

❤ Of Hopeless Romances and Starlit Skies

Summary: If there is anything you know, any fact that is central to the foundation of your life, there is only three.

Fact #1: Taehyung is a hopeless romantic. You are the complete opposite.

Fact #2: You are his bestfriend.

Fact #3: You are in love with him.

... Not that you’ll ever admit the last part though.

❤ Of Second Choices and Spring Air

Summary: All you wanted was to be someone's first choice. All Jungkook wanted was for you to choose him. Love is never easy, but when your last relationship ends horribly and you give up on everything related to those four letters, he makes it his mission to show you that there's always been someone waiting for you to choose him, if you'd only give him a chance.

❤ Of Reunions and Drifting Waves

Summary: Park Jimin is someone you swore you'd get over, but years later, when you meet up again in your hometown, the town festival forces you two to keep each other close. Tensions rise when his friends and your friends keep setting you two up, but it's not like anything would ever happen. After all, you'd moved on from him, and he'd never even looked at you that way, right...?

⭐ Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

Summary: Stepping into the world of sugar babies was something you never expected- moreso being a 'sugar mommy'. However, fate had decided to give you seven men as 'sugar babies'...

or

What do you do when you're a 'pure' virgin, and your adoptive family wants to set you up with someone to obtain access to your inheritance? Prove them wrong by presenting your dating history, of course! Complete with your own romantic partner- and if you can't get one on short notice (not owing to your inexperience), well... money may have brought you into this trouble, so it's only fair you use it to get out, right?

⭐ A Witch’s Soul(mate)

Summary: Being a witch meant being a supernatural, it meant discrimination and fear and wariness, so you've always kept it hidden, acted as though you were a normal human- until an outburst of your powers sets events into motion, one that forces you to accept your powers- or risk losing everything. You never asked to be bound to a human, and Jimin never expected being connected to a witch- but together, you might just survive and grow.

⭐ tweet with luv

Summary: Confessing to your bestfriend, when you’re sure he doesn’t feel the same way? Bad.

Vague tweeting about your crush on your bestfriend online, for the whole world to see, when you're an award-winning actress with no previous relationship scandals, and he's the golden maknae of the biggest kpop group in the world? So. Much. Worse.

⭐ The Kindergarten Agenda 🌠

Summary: Teaching preschool wasn’t exactly what you signed up for when you applied to be a teacher at Bighit School, but you quickly find yourself falling for the job. It doesn’t hurt that your students are absolute sweethearts, no matter how others seem to see them as demons. If the way that they cling to you is any indication, they feel the same way too. You’re their precious teacher!

And then starts the war when they realize you’re not in a relationship. Who better to be your partner than their older brother slash father slash cousin?

⭐ Wedding Lace

❤ Satisfied

Summary: Falling in love with Kim Seokjin was as easy as one, two, three- trying to control your feelings and falling out of love with him was another matter entirely. Still, what else was there to do? You may have been his childhood friend, his best friend, the person who's been there for him through his whole life, but your sister still had multiple advantages over you even when she didn’t want them- his heart, for one.

The other being her arranged marriage with him.

❤ Here

Summary: All your life, you'd revolved around Seokjin as though he was the sun- and you, the hapless Earth, so close and yet so far. Then enters Park Jimin in your orbit.

⭐ A Siren’s Call  🌠

⭐ Ten Reasons Not to Kiss Her

⭐ Cursed AUs  🌠

Summary: Or, what happens when you mix children shows and movies with BTS?

One Shots

❤ Sticky Notes, Scribbled Hearts

Summary: By their side the years blur into the sidelines, until all you know is love, laughter, happiness- their existence that consumes you like a fire, bright and wild, burning you down into ashes that barely survive because of the wall you build between you and them. You spend countless nights with your heart bricked and hidden away, but one moment is all it takes- and soon enough, the walls will come crumbling down. But are you prepared to take that chance?

❤ Somewhere Out There 🌠

Summary: Always a little lonely, always a little sad- you send off paper airplanes and hope that if there really is magic out there, your soulmate will somehow read them and come find you. 

On the other side of the world, the letters pile up on their doorstep. 

❤ Heat Haze Days

Summary: You met Kim Namjoon on August 08, exactly a week before the end of summer break, and he walked out of life August 15, exactly a week after he came into yours. The heat haze of the summer days offer more than hope- it offers you action, opportunities. When time is on your side, anything seems possible- but can you really save someone fated to die?

❤ The 15 Years I Spent Chasing You

Summary: You asked him to keep in contact, to never let your friendship die, so he did. He started writing letters to you- and then he composed poems as you grew up, and then raps until he ran away from home, from everything, but not you, before finally producing songs when he became an idol, every word written with you in mind. Now, fifteen years later, Yoongi finally shares with the world a final piece- the ending to your love story.

❤ The Anniversary

Summary: Your plan with Seokjin was: get married, move in together, appease your parents, divorce. But somehow one month turns into two, then four, and then all of a sudden, a year was fast approaching.

❤ A List of Reasons Why I Hate You

Summary: On your anniversary with him, you look back on the previous years and realize life truly is a rollercoaster.

❤ Spring Days With You 🌠

Summary: To say that fate had connected you with them didn’t seem as silly as much as it felt right. The two months that followed it only proved it as well, and as you fell in love with every place you visited with them, so did you fall deeper for them, and so did they for you.

Untitled Ideas

⭐ 🌠 Summary: Desperate to end the rumours and scrutiny revolving around your love life, you agree to your friends’ help to pretend to be in a polyamorous relationship with them. To you, it’s just a temporary solution, until the gossip dies down, but is it really just that for them too?

⭐ 🌠 Summary: Running a business isn’t something that’s done all alone, what more to start a business. So really, you’re thankful for your friends who decided to help you turn your grandmother’s old greenhouse into a cafe. Still, between your ex and the mysterious love letters that keep appearing in your office, it seems that you’ll need all the help you can get. Can you save the greenhouse and your feelings as well?

⭐ 🌠 Summary: ’Guaranteed to bring you to your soulmates, through time and space if necessary!’ You didn’t think it’d work, but considering in the span of one night you’d gone from one universe into another, you had to accept, even if only to yourself, that maybe the love potion was actually real.

❤ 🌠 Summary: ‘Keep sleeping like that, with your arm hanging off the bed and don’t be surprised when you feel something holding it in the middle of the night!’ Well, you thought, as velvety fingers intertwined with yours, what better way to beat back the lonely night with your very own demon?

❤ 🌠 Summary: Jungkook had stayed by your side as your pet dog for at least ten months- and he was pretty sure that gave him seniority over this new dog who obviously thought he was going to share you with him. Ha, as if.

And then came along five more.

⭐ Summary: Cursed with the ability to see ghosts since you were born, you’d long been resigned to it- and then came Yoongi into your life, and with every touch that kept you connected to him, the ghosts disappeared- and that was all the incentive you needed to cling to him no matter what.

Yoongi just wishes you’d warned him before you decided to steal his heart and forever hold on to it.

❤ Summary: Between school, his unrequited crush on his bestfriend, and the looming threat of his finances, Jimin accidentally summons a demon. 

⭐ 🌠 Summary: Your blood was special, or so they said, so you had to help them mediate the world of humans and supernaturals, they said, you had to help them keep the peace and harmony, they said.

You just wished that didn’t entail taking care of seven hybrids. Especially ones that didn’t know how to manage their powers.

❤ Summary: In the beginning of everything, there were them, the gods of Life, and then there was you, the goddess of Death. 

⭐ Summary: Because it was just a game, and so you thought that it was okay- it was, wasn’t it? To reach the perfect ending you had to make them fall in love with you, to get home you had to make it just right. 

But then, why did the new students remind you so much of them?

[ladylynse]

"What do you mean you won't allow a witch to be an astronaut? I've worked my life for this-- you can't take that away from me!" Harry Potter Universe meets a stubborn muggle-born?

Here you go, Anon! I hope you enjoy it. It’s post-series but pre-Cursed Child if we’re taking that as canon and features Hermione as the only canon character.

Dreams: [FF | AO3]Somehow, Hermione found herself dealing with a stubborn muggle-born who had been told that an astronaut is not exactly an ideal wizarding profession.

“What do you mean you won’t allow a witch to be anastronaut?” The shout echoed down the corridor of the Ministry, cutting throughthe babble of conversation beyond her office door and swish of papers flyingoverhead. “I’ve worked all my life for this! You can’t take that away from me!”

Hermione looked up from her desk just in time to see herdoor fly open. Papers blew out of their neat stacks and danced to the floor asher colleague Quentin Templeton burst in. He slammed the door behind him andshot her a pleading look. “Help me.”

“I’d be more inclined to do that if you didn’t break down mydoor,” Hermione said reproachfully. “I’ve only been in this office two days;I’d hate to have to go back to my cubicle already.”

“You don’t understand. She’s not listening to reason. Thereare laws! We have them to protectourselves! But she doesn’t understand that!”

Hermione opened her mouth to ask exactly from whom Quentinthought he was hiding when her door flew off its hinges. Quentin yelped, divingto the side and just barely avoiding being clipped; Hermione had to throw up ashield, which in turn destroyed her beloved door and the last vestiges of herfiling system as the remaining papers scattered everywhere.

“You,” the girl barked, looking at Hermione, “you’reimportant, right? You have some pull here? Can you tell this…this…pureblood that being an astronaut is aprestigious profession and there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t pursue my dream?”

Hermione sighed.

With a few flicks of her wand, she cleared the debris fromthe two chairs in front of her desk. “Please, have a seat, Ms.—?”

“Maureen Davidson,” the girl spat. She cast a glare atQuentin before flouncing down into her seat; he didn’t move from the cornerbeyond climbing to his feet. “I have been preparing for this for years. I did distance education and homeschool curriculums on top of mystudies at Hogwarts so I didn’t fall behind in the muggle system. I’ve attendedsummer school and conferences and space camps and am learning Russian. I got mypilot’s license when I turned seventeen last month. I’ve applied and beenaccepted to several universities, but that bloke—” she pointed at Quentinwithout even looking at him “—tells me I can’t go. Tell him he’s wrong.”

“Ms. Davidson—”

“He says I need totake a job in the wizarding world, that I have to be a contributing member ofsociety. Well, why can’t I do that by becoming an astronaut? I know thecompetition is stiff, but I’m top of my class in everything, and he has no right to tell me this isn’t feasible. Ihave my entire career path planned out. I’ll be fluent in Russian in five toseven years, in a PhD program for chemistry— That’s potions to you,” she sneered, looking back at Quentin, “and well onmy way to logging over a thousand hours of flight time. But now I can’t do thatbecause an astronaut isn’t a properwizarding profession?”

Hermione steepled her fingers. She had a feeling Ms.Davidson had been experiencing the dreaded department shuffle, given that hercase only had a passing connection to the Department of Magical LawEnforcement. “Quentin, do you mind leaving us for a moment?”

Quentin mumbled something affirmative and fled. A quick reparo and aguamenti later, and Hermione had filled a previously-shatteredwater glass and offered it to Maureen. The girl looked defiant, so Hermioneadded, “I thought you might be thirsty after all that.”

“Thanks,” Maureen mumbled as she took the glass. She lookedslightly less disgruntled after swallowing a few mouthfuls.

Hermione took the opportunity to lean back in her chair.“Ms. Davidson, I believe we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. I haven’t evenintroduced myself.” And chances were very good that Maureen hadn’t seen hername on the door before blowing it off its hinges. “I’m Hermione Granger.Please excuse my colleague; as you rightly deduced, he is a pureblood and assuch is still woefully lacking in knowledge about the muggle world that isbeyond the scope of everyday function.”

Maureen blinked. “You’re—?”She grabbed for the water and drained it. “Okay. So. You’re a muggle-born, too.Which means you really do understand. Is there really a law that says we have to choose a wizarding professionjust because we have magic?”

“It’s strongly encouraged,” Hermione allowed, “but nothing’swritten down, not even in the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.Witches and wizards tend to enjoy a longer life span than muggles, but newblood and the new ideas that come with it is strongly encouraged in theworkforce. It’s exceedingly rare for someone with magic to struggle to findemployment. As a society, we are still quite small, even worldwide. That is whyit is preferable for anyone of magic to seek employment within the wizardingworld.”

Maureen crossed her arms. “The wizarding world likes toignore the technological advances muggles have made. Technology and magic may notmix well, but they don’t have to be mutually exclusive, do they? I mean, when Isaid I dreamed of seeing Earth from space, your friend looked at me like I hada death wish. They do know muggles landed on the moon nearly fifty years ago,right?”

Hermione rather suspected most didn’t, so she smiled insteadof answering. “What you need to understand, Maureen—may I call you Maureen?—isthat most of these laws, explicit and implicit, have been designed to protectus.” Maureen kept saying them insteadof us, and Hermione needed to changethat if she hoped to resolve this; if Maureen refused to acknowledge that shewas just as much a part of the wizarding world as she was the muggle one, thenHermione was fighting a losing battle. “It’s not simply a matter of protectingus from persecution anymore; there is also an element of sustaining oursociety. It is imperative that our youth bring forward a fresh outlook on theway we do things; too often, we find ourselves abiding by precedents setcenturies ago. Even in the wizarding world, which has evolved much more slowlythan the muggle one, change is vital. Without it, our society will stagnate.Now, if every muggle-born or half-blood decided to pursue a career in themuggle world, what do you expect would happen to the wizarding one?”

Maureen narrowed her eyes. “I know what you’re getting at.You’re trying to get me to say that without people like me, the wizarding wouldnever change. That it would flounder and die, trying to keep alive traditionsthat are not only no longer relevant but also don’t even hold meaning anymore,because that’s all the purebloods know.” A heavy generalization, but she wasgetting the point. “But that’s irrelevant. All my friends, regardless of theirblood status, are happy to enter wizarding society. It’ll live on just finewithout me. But I’ve wanted to be an astronaut for as long as I can remember,and there’s no equivalent to that in the wizarding world.”

“That’s true,” agreed Hermione. “There is no equivalent ofastronaut in our world. I’m sure your Head of House informed you of that.”

“My Head of House didn’t know what I was talking about,”complained Maureen before Hermione could continue, “and suggested I take it upwith the Ministry. Which is why I’m here. Again.Because I’ve had to come before, and it’s never accomplished anything.” Maureenadopted a high, simpering voice and mocked, “Oh, this isn’t my department. I’msure they can help you down on the second floor. Why don’t you try there, dear?No? Well, why not the fourth floor? Oh, I’m sorry, miss, but you should be onthe second floor. You tried that? I’m sure there’s just a misunderstanding. Whydon’t you go back and I’ll write a memo to the appropriate people?”

“What you need,” said Hermione, “is to find the appropriatebalance in order to get the best of both worlds.”

Maureen raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

���From what you’ve said about your schooling, you’ve alreadyshown great discipline and expertise when it comes to juggling our two verydifferent worlds. I would propose that you keep doing that rather than choosingto abandon the wizarding world in favour of the muggle one.”

Maureen snorted. “Sure. That would be great. Exceptapparently that’s impossible. Is now your cue to say that I need to be thechange I want to see in the world?”

“Something like that.” Hermione’s smile returned. “Have youconsidered work in Muggle Relations?”

“Muggle Relations?” Maureen repeated. “Like, for the Muggle LiaisonOffice? Don’t they just modify the memories of muggles who see things theyshouldn’t? Stuff like that?”

“There’s more to it, though I will admit memory modificationis a common task for those in the field. No, I was thinking you’d be bettersuited to a long term undercover assignment.”

Maureen stared at her. “A what?”

“An undercover operative,” repeated Hermione. “Sometimesdeployed in pairs, granted, or even larger groups, but solo missions are thenorm. It’s usually a position held by squibs knowledgeable of the muggle worldor by muggle-borns such as yourself. The idea is to gauge muggle society, tosee how they react to the unexplained events of our world to which they areexposed and to be among the first responders on the scene to do damage controlwhen there’s a breach of security or an attack. Essentially, you’ll be doing alot of work to ensure that all those bedtime stories of witches and wizardsstay just that, for the most part.” Hermione grimaced. “I hate to admit this,but it is safer if muggles as a whole are skeptical of magic. At the veryleast, we can’t risk the level of destruction that would result if warringsides started employing magic. The threat of nuclear war is real enough withoutadding in the possibility of magical genocide.”

“Okay,” Maureen said slowly, “but what exactly does thishave to do with me being an astronaut?”

“As long as you write consistent reports, I see no reasonwhy you could not position yourself in the UK Space Agency and apply to goout-of-country when the time comes.” Hermione folded her hands. “I’m sureMuggle Relations would be delighted to have an enterprising young witch such asyourself in their employ. Now, I’m sure you don’t want to hear this again, butif you go up to Level 3, they could give you some more information so that youcan properly consider the position before deciding if you would like to applyfor it.”

Maureen grinned. “Thank you. It is so relieving to finally get an answer. I can totally see where yourreputation comes from.” She sprang to her feet, turned to go, hesitated, andturned back. “Um…can I do anything about your door?”

Hermione laughed and waved her off. “Leave that to me. Youdeserve to keep working on turning your dreams into reality. Good luck. If youkeep this up, I’m sure you’ll be sailing amongst the stars someday.”

(see more fics)

[annathewitch]

Falling, Ch. 3: Holiday Spirit

Summary: Bones x Reader. Part 3/6. Bones tries to work out what to do about his feelings for you; an engineer throws a spanner in the works; and it’s the Enterprise holiday party.

Word Count: Erm lots. 5000+ I have a word addiction.

Warnings: Swearing, mild injuries, a bit of angst (sorry)

A/N: Another epic instalment. I really should flag up that this is a slow burn fic if you haven’t guessed by now. I just hope it’s not so slow that you all fall asleep… Medical stuff is made up. And I still haven’t managed to link to parts 1 and 2, but they’re just a bit further down my feed.

“What the hell are you doing Y/L/N?” Doctor McCoy’s distinctive bellow echoed across Medbay from where he was standing at the door of the lab.

You were, at that moment, balanced on your console stool beside one of the biobeds fixing one end of a holiday garland to the privacy curtain rail.  In order to reach, you had stretched as far as you could on the tiptoes of one leg.

“Decorating, Sir” you replied with a huff from the effort of stretching. “For the holidays. I thought it was obvious?”

Out the corner of your eye you saw McCoy throw his hands in the air exasperatedly and stride across the department towards you.  To finish tying off the garland you stretched just that little bit further only to feel the stool shift underneath you, and for a second you felt the lurching sensation of overbalancing.  Your arms swung wildly, and you braced yourself for hitting the floor. Instead, to your surprise, you hit something soft and warm that ‘oof-ed’, and an arm wrapped around your middle guiding you to the floor as the stool clattered over.

“Decorating! Dammit Y/L/N,” the Doctor spun you round to face him, steadying you in his hold. “There are enough things that could kill you on this godforsaken ship and you try and smash your head on a biobed for the sake of a damned garland! Decorating, she says!”

McCoy realised he was still holding you and let go, taking a step back as you righted yourself.  His heart was racing and he wondered if it was from panic or your recent proximity; he ran his hand through his hair to disguise the tremor in it.

“I thought we could really do with some holiday cheer around here.  The rest of the ship is decorated and it’s the crew holiday party coming up.” You ignored the doctor’s eye roll. “Besides I was managing fine until I was distracted,” you muttered, embarrassed.  You hated to admit that McCoy was right, but using the stool had been careless.

“Fine my eye!” he snorted. “I’ll just let you fall next time shall I, and let some other idiot doctor with nothing better to do patch you up?” Looking at your stubborn expression, McCoy softened a little. “Hell, if you have to decorate can you at least get someone taller to help you? Nurse Edouwu is twice your size, you can tell him where you want the damned things and he can put them up. That should suit you, god knows you enjoy ordering me around enough.”

If you had blinked you would have missed the slight lift in the corner of McCoy’s mouth as he deliberately tried to provoke you. “Nice try Doctor, I think you’re confusing me with Chapel,” you retorted, “this Medbay operates under her benevolent dictatorship and you know it.”

The Doctor raised a brow, “That it does. I know my place in the Chapel regime.” You smiled at him and he basked inwardly at your approval. “So, if you’re done with the acrobatics for the day I could go through those procedures with you?”

“Are you sure? I know you have a lot on in the lab, but it makes so much more sense when you explain the live applications.”  

Christine had put you forward for Advanced Nurse Practitioner training, which would enable you to provide surgical support and perform some more advanced trauma procedures yourself as a Senior Nurse.  As a deployed officer on a deep space mission your course of study could be completed on the job with the supervision of your commanding officer and McCoy had hardly hesitated before agreeing.

If you were honest, McCoy had surprised you with his patience and commitment as your instructor.  Not that he wasn’t a brilliant doctor, and these days something closer to a friend than simply a colleague, but that did not mean he would be a good teacher.  His lack of tolerance for mistakes in day to day work had made you nervous, and he was always so busy he surely wouldn’t have time for answering all your idiot questions. Christine normally took charge of staff training and she had smiled knowingly when you had shared your concerns with her, “It’ll be fine Y/F/N. He knows what he’s doing.”

Still, you had been on edge as you struggled with the initial work, apologising profusely as you messed up Metorapan treatments on the simulator. You understood the theory but the nuances of where to apply the treatment confused you in practice.  McCoy had silenced you with a look. “You’re learning Y/F/N,” he had said gently, “you’ll make mistakes. Take a breath, think about what went wrong and try again. It’s a sim. No one died.” The doctor knew his reputation for having a short fuse, but it had hurt him more than a little when you had looked at him wide-eyed with surprise at his measured response.

Galvanised to prove himself to you, he got you to talk him through the procedure, and it took a few more attempts before you successfully treated the holopatient.  As he understood better your preference for visual and hands on learning, McCoy spent time programming sims and demonstrations and his own heart swelled with pleasure at your delight each time you mastered a new technique.  Your study time had become precious to him.

“It’s fine, we just set some tests running on that Denobulan adenovirus, the results will be a couple of hours at least and Chapel is keeping an eye on things with the techs.  Anyway, your exam is in a week and I’m supposed to be helping you prepare.  Grab your things and I’ll bring the coffee.”

McCoy retreated to his office, taking a moment to catch his breath.  He inhaled the chemical smell of Medbay mixed with the coffee he was replicating for you and tried to ignore the tingling in his hands where he had held you around the waist just a few minutes before.  The doctor had come to accept his feelings for you were not going to go away, but he was yet to decide what he was going to do about them.  

Before he had barely begun to breathe again, you bustled in with your study materials taking your seat at the desk next to McCoy.  You picked up the mug he offered with a grateful look. “You make the best study coffee.”

“Years of practice burning the candle at both ends,” he replied. “I perfected the art at the Academy; being friends with Jim Kirk requires stamina.”

“Oh yeah? Remind me when this exam stuff is over to get the Captain drunk and ask him about the wild Academy days of Kirk and McCoy,” you teased, smirking.

The doctor felt his ears burning. “Less talk, more studying Y/L/N.”

As you flipped through your texts in your padd, he took the opportunity to regard you more closely than he would risk if he had your undivided attention.  He memorised the arch of your brow and the curve of your cheek, and his eyes lingered on your mouth where you had caught your lip in your teeth in a now familiar gesture of concentration. The doctor felt a sharp tug of desire, but steadfastly refused to think about where it would lead if he simply reached out that short distance to soothe your bitten lip with his thumb.  Shaking his head, he tried to focus on the procedure you were struggling with.

The next week raced by. You took McCoy’s advice and roped Henry Edouwu into helping with the rest of the decorating.  In between patients the tall, patient nurse smiled indulgently at you as if you were one of his daughters, and you fussed over light strings and hanging ornaments and the beautiful little paper stars from the Andorian midwinter traditions. You even managed to slip a small plastic pine tree into the CMO’s office complete with tiny twinkling filaments of light.  The Doctor hadn’t said anything, but it stayed on his desk which you counted as a victory of holiday spirit.

A couple of days before your exam an incident in engineering with one of the plasma conduits left more than ten of Scotty’s team with burns of varying severity and Medbay was working at full capacity.  You helped Chapel triage, identifying the worst cases that would need surgery, and those who would need pain management and regeneration treatments as soon as possible. McCoy called you in to the decontamination room as he prepared to scrub in.

“Y/L/N, M’benga has the more difficult non-surgical cases in hand, and I need Chapel to assist me, but I want you to assess and start treating the ensigns in beds 2 and 5. If we can treat within two hours there’s less chance of scarring. It should be a straightforward, clean, debride and prep with Diateraderm injections before starting laser regen. Okay?”

You nodded. The doctor must have thought you looked nervous as he looked at you seriously. “You’ve simmed this plenty of times. If you’re unsure, Geoff will consult. Hell, buzz me through the comm if you need me. But you got this Y/F/N.” He squeezed your shoulder.

“Yes, Doctor,” you replied, saluting him cheekily. He shook his head and made a scooting motion with his hands before turning to Chapel to gown up for surgery.

McCoy was right about the treatment required, and you worked steadily through the procedure on the worst case first.  M’benga had checked in, nodding approvingly and, your confidence boosted, you moved onto your second patient.  

Ensign Alvarez was chirpier than your first patient, greeting you with a smile as you set out your equipment.  “Hey Nurse Y/L/N, remember me? You did my last physical.”

You squinted at him, trying to place him. “Sorry, I did a lot of physicals,” you replied with an apologetic grin.  “They all blurred into one in the end. How’s the pain?”

“Fine, but I think you just severely bruised my pride.  How could you forget me?” He winked and you snorted.

You worked in silence for a bit, concentrating on removing the initial dressing from the large burn that spread up from his stomach to his collarbone, an angry and blistered patch of raw purplish skin.  Alvarez watched you, still smiling. “Man, these painkillers are good,” he commented. “I can’t feel a thing.” The ensign frowned, “Will it scar?”

“This treatment should reduce the chances,” you replied, “we’ll know in a few hours.”

Something about him put you at your ease and you chatted easily as you worked, Alvarez telling you about his sisters and their kids back on Earth and you sharing bits and pieces about your life as a nurse dirtside before the Enterprise.  All the while you thought about the steps McCoy had taken you through, and that you had practiced over and over, the placement of the injections and the careful moves of the precision laser. Eventually you sat back with a sigh, pulling off your gloves and inspecting your handiwork.  

Fresh pink skin had replaced the ugly purple flesh. “A few rounds with the dermal regenerator unit and you’ll be as good as new, ensign. You were lucky it wasn’t worse.”

Alvarez grinned. “Yeah, lucky to get you as my nurse.  You’ve saved my topless modelling career, how can I ever repay you?” He faked a dramatic pose and you swatted at his arm with the gloves.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re ridiculous?” You laughed as you placed the regen equipment over him and programmed the first cycle.  His flirtation was obvious, but he was cheerful and cute and you didn’t mind.

McCoy and Chapel emerged from surgery a couple of hours later.  By then all the less serious cases had been dealt with and all the doctor needed to do was review the charts of the patients remaining in overnight.  As had become his habit he automatically scanned Medbay to see where you were.  

Soft voices and your laughter could be heard coming from behind the curtain around biobed 5, and under the pretext of checking on the ensign, McCoy gravitated towards you.  Pulling the curtain aside, he was surprised to find you sitting in a chair pulled up by the bed; the injured officer was reading something to you from a padd which had made you laugh.

“No, that’s not how you pronounce it! How am I supposed to be able to answer the questions properly when you can’t even pronounce the drug compounds?” You reached out to take back the padd which Alvarez held away with a grin. McCoy cleared his throat.

“Oh! Doctor McCoy, you’re done? Ensign Alvarez was attempting to help me revise, while I waited for his regen round to finish.” You grinned back at the man in the bed. “He’s a pretty terrible study partner.”

The doctor stood motionless for a second, unable to dismiss the sensation in his chest that it was being squeezed by an icy hand. The ensign was about your age, tall and broad with messy dark hair, a damn pin-up and you were smiling at him.  Shit.

“If I’m not interrupting, I wanted to check your work.” McCoy said frowning, his voice sounding sharp even to his own ears. He saw your eyes widen slightly.

“Go ahead, Sir.”

He paused the regenerator, and removed the protective gel dressing from the burn site. It was good work, precisely performed and as he scanned it with the tricorder could see no signs of redness or mottling.  You looked at the Doctor hopefully and he couldn’t help but quirk his lip in the facsimile of a smile.

“Looks good, well done,” he conceded gruffly. Looking pointedly at Alvarez he continued, “All of you idiot engineers have been damn lucky today, but one of these days not even I’ll be able to patch your asses up.”

The ensign grinned wider and McCoy felt an inverse proportion of grumpiness hit. “Thanks Doc, I had pretty impressive care from Y/F/N here.  Hey, will I be out of here before the crew party?”

The use of your first name did not go unnoticed.  While in general McCoy was a sensible, rational (if grouchy) adult, something about Alvarez’s youthful cockiness and easy familiarity with you brought out a petty streak a mile wide.  He was tempted to keep the ensign in Medbay and away from the damned party out of sheer spite, but realising that this would mean an extended stay in McCoy’s presence and therefore a pretty certain desire to fake an accident, the doctor thought better of it.

“One more round of regen and we’ll discharge you,” he replied tersely.

“Awesome!” Alvarez looked at you and winked, “you’ll have to save me a dance to say thank you.”

You reached over and took your padd back from the ensign with an inscrutable look on your face. Despite his growing familiarity with your every quirk and expression, McCoy didn’t have a damn clue what you were thinking.  

“Maybe. If I remember who you are this time.” You raised an eyebrow at Alvarez and turned to the doctor. “I’ll go help Chapel and Edouwu with the surgery patients.” Both men watched you turn and walk away without so much as a glance backwards, one with a heavier heart than the other. Dammit, since when did you wiggle like that when you walked?  Surely he would have noticed that.

As he set up the regenerator again, McCoy avoided looking at Alvarez too closely working with a grim expression, however he was unsuccessful in discouraging further conversation. Clearly the ensign loved the sound of his own voice too much.

“So, Nurse Y/L/N.  What’s her story Doc?”

McCoy tensed. “Excuse me?” He didn’t trust himself to look up.

“You know, is she seeing anyone? D’ya reckon I stand any chance?” The doctor felt his brows shoot up into his hairline of their own volition, and he slowly turned to stare at the ensign.  Alvarez was oblivious, looking in the direction you had disappeared, presumably mesmerised by that damn wiggle. Do no harm McCoy.

“I’m damn sure it’s none of your business.” Icy disdain dripped from McCoy’s words.  He prepped a hypo of antibiotics and administered it perhaps a little roughly.  The ensign grunted and rubbed his neck, finally looking up.

“Geez, it was just a question. Sorry.”  McCoy didn’t reply, he just stood with his arms crossed, a thunderous look on his face.  A look of comprehension dawned and Alvarez cracked another grin.  “Is this some kind of in loco parentis, overprotective papa bear thing? I promise I’m a nice guy, my mama can vouch for me.”

For a moment McCoy was genuinely stunned into silence, before he slammed down the scanner he was holding on the counter by the biobed and ground out with a growl, “What the actual…  My team have just spent hours patching you and your damned friends back together, show a little fucking respect. Your mama raised a goddamned idiot.” He turned on his heel, pulled the curtain across and stormed into his office, right into the path of a waiting Jim. Fucking spectacular.

“Hey Bones! You look like someone stuck a hypo in your ass.” McCoy stormed past the Captain who was comfortably lounging on the couch and threw himself down in his desk chair with a grunt.

“You know I think I preferred it when you used to avoid Medbay altogether.  What do you want Jim?”

“Can’t I just drop in and say hi to my buddy?” McCoy rolled his eyes in disbelief. “Well ok, I just dropped by to check up on the engineers.  Was it my imagination or were you just shouting at one of them? I mean, more than you usually shout at your patients?”

“The engineers are fine Jim, despite their best efforts to the contrary.” He deliberately ignored the other question and Jim played along for the moment. Like a perpetual motion machine he was incapable of staying still, and he jumped to his feet to pace the small office, while his friend slumped over the desk in exhaustion after his outburst.

“Nice tree.” The Captain picked up the little sparkly pine with a knowing grin. “Let me guess. Y/F/N?”

The doctor nodded, although it looked to Kirk like he was possibly gently hitting his head off the desk. “If it stayed still long enough she decorated it,” came McCoy’s muffled reply.  “Didn’t have the heart to move it.”

“Yeah, yeah, you hate the holidays, reminds you of everything you’ve decided you fucked up,  family, home, heart irretrievably broken, impossible to be happy ever again, state of perpetual grumpiness, yadda yadda.  Did I miss anything?”  Jim plopped down in the chair across from the doctor.

“And you say I have no tact.” McCoy lifted his head a fraction, enough to glare at Kirk. “But yeah, in a nutshell.”

“So have you decided what you’re going to do?”

McCoy avoided the Captain’s piercing blue gaze. “About what?” he hedged.

“About your burning passion for Nurse Y/L/N,” Kirk replied, undeterred by his friend’s evasiveness.  He waited as McCoy chewed over his words.  Despite the closeness of their friendship, the doctor wasn’t sure he even had the words to describe the complexity of his feelings for you to Kirk, or to convey an understanding of the hours he had spent at night turning the problem you posed over and over in his mind.  In the end it always came back to the same thing.

“I’m her boss, Jim.  I can’t do a damn thing.  Even if I thought she felt a fraction of what I do, it would be… impossible. Unethical even.”

The Captain cleared his throat.  “Sounds like she might have another admirer.”

“You heard.”

“Hard not to.” Jim leaned in across the desk, a serious look in his eyes. “You know Bones, you must have realised you wouldn’t be the only person to recognise how special Y/F/N is? If you don’t tell her how you feel, someone else is going to step right on up and you’ll be left wondering what if.”

McCoy sighed, visibly deflating in defeat. “There’s no point Jim. I walked in on her and Ensign Alvarez flirting. He pretty much asked her out right in front of me.”

“And?”

“She didn’t say no.” The doctor rubbed his face. Hell he was tired and numb. “She did that thing where she’s all wry and teasing, and then she… wiggled, when she walked away.”

“Bones that doesn’t mean anything! Maybe she just liked someone openly admiring her?  She spends a lot of time with you for her not to at least like you a tiny bit.” He held up a hand before his friend could interject. “And before you say it, no it’s not just because of the job or the studying.  How many times recently have you ended up coming to me half cut, after you’ve been drinking with her?  If you would just talk to the woman you would know for sure.  The rest, all the regulations, we can work out.”

“No Jim.  It doesn’t matter if she likes me or not.” McCoy pulled the little tree towards him, twisting it back and forth so the lights twinkled prettily. “Y/F/N, she’s all lightness and spark, I’m too old and too damn broken to make her happy.  I’d break her heart and then she’d break mine.  I can’t do that again.”  He shook his head sadly. “I’m just going to be her boss and occasional drinking buddy and that’s all.”

Jim stood again and paced towards the door.  He turned sharply back to McCoy. “Don’t you think you should let Y/F/N decide what’s best for her?” The Captain sighed and his face softened with concern.  “You’re a better man than you think Bones, you deserve to be happy. I wish you would let yourself believe that too.”

Your exam was suddenly there and then over before you knew it.  You had studied hard for the last couple of days, and although McCoy insisted that you knew more than enough he humoured you by quizzing you every time your paths crossed in Medbay.  So when you finally sat down in the office set aside to complete the sims and the written exam, you shouldn’t have been surprised to find that almost everything was engrained in your muscle memory, or flowed out of your mind onto the page.  

McCoy invigilated and his familiar presence as he observed your procedures and made notes, was calm and reassuring. You knew he couldn’t interact with you, but as you flicked through the exam questions on your padd you shot him a grateful look knowing that no one could have better prepared you.  And you were sure you didn’t imagine the ghost of a smile in return.  How could you ever have doubted him?

The doctor permitted himself to feel a small measure of pride as he he watched you confidently work through the tests and questions.  And despite his firm assurance to Jim only days earlier, he gathered every glance and smile you bestowed on him, holding them close and allowing them to warm his heart.

Full of relief and exhilaration, you completed the final question and handed the padd to McCoy, who grinned at you in return.  “I’ll get this sent away with the results of the sims and my notes.  We should hear back with the verified results tomorrow. But I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks Sir, I’m just glad to get it over with. You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to unwinding tomorrow.”

“You have plans?” McCoy frowned, and you huffed in disbelief.

“I think everyone has plans… you know, just the crew holiday party?”

The doctor turned away to connect the padd to his terminal and transmit your exam information to Starfleet Medical.  There was a moment’s silence as he tapped away to make the connection.  “Yeah… can’t believe I forgot. The Captain’s been on at me for weeks about it. No one loves the holidays more than him.”  He turned back with a look you couldn’t decipher. “I’ll be sorry to disappoint him again.”

“You won’t be going?”

There was a crease in your brow as you asked the question, and McCoy had the urge to reach out and smooth it away. He couldn’t help but be a tiny bit gratified that you seemed disappointed at the news.

“Never do. It’s been a while since I had much reason to celebrate the holidays.”

“Oh.” You knew a little of McCoy’s history, shared over a drink or two off shift, but didn’t want to pry.  He had a history, that much was clear.  You stood awkwardly opposite each other, you wondering whether it would be completely inappropriate to hug your commanding officer.

He must have seen some of your thoughts flit across your face. “Don’t be feeling sorry for me, my bad choices were all my own.  You kids will have a great time without me I’m sure.”

At this you laughed. “You sound like you’re a hundred Doctor, and I should be pushing you around in a hoverchair, and mashing up your food.”

“Sounds better better than the damn party,” he grumbled.  “If you need me for anything other than digs at my advanced age, I’ll be in the lab.”

“Hey, you started it,” you called after him.

McCoy was waiting at your station talking quietly with Christine when you returned from lunch the following day.

“Y/L/N, I’ve got something you might be interested in. Come with me.”  Christine smiled and shot you a quick thumbs up, and you followed the doctor into his office.  He handed you a padd. “I’m not going to keep you in suspense.”  

You swiped the screen to pull up the message, an official Starfleet communique. “My results?” you questioned, already knowing the answer before McCoy nodded. You scrolled down the page scanning until you found the information you wanted. “95? That’s good right?”

“It’s damned fantastic darlin’, congratulations!” The doctor beamed at you as you sank down onto the couch reading the message again disbelievingly.  Only a second later you jumped to your feet, babbling incoherent thanks and threw your arms around an unsuspecting McCoy.  He started at the unexpected contact, and hesitated for a second before returning the hug tentatively, letting his arms slide around your waist and shoulders. Deep breaths McCoy. Oh goddammit. You smelled amazing.

After a few agonisingly wonderful seconds you pulled back, and the doctor didn’t know where to look.  He could feel the flush on his face and he could only be thankful for small mercies that the blood had rushed to his head and not to… well… best not to think about that right now.  He cleared his throat, trying to think of something to say, but you beat him to it.

“Oh my god! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to launch myself at you. I got a bit carried away.”  You tugged on your uniform apron and smoothed your hands down your skirt nervously.  “You won’t report me, will you?”

“Report you? What the hell for?” McCoy’s voice sounded odd, strained even.  You looked at him wide-eyed.

“I don’t know, attacking a senior officer or something… harassment maybe…” you trailed off.

“S’fine, not harassment.  Really not.  And I’m pretty sure I’m completely unscathed.” He crossed his arms putting a little more distance between you. “You should probably go tell Chapel, she was dying to know.”  Smiling again you practically bounced out the door, leaving McCoy completely unbalanced. Again.

The doctor holed up in the lab for the rest of the day, going through test results on the viral studies Starfleet Medical had requested, trying to construct the basis of an antiviral drug to treat this particularly nasty strain of Denobulan fever.  It required his full attention and although he ate gratefully when Chapel brought him something, he lost all track of time.  

It must have been mid-evening by the time he emerged from Medbay with the intent to retreat to his quarters, unfinished paperwork in hand. Virtually everyone he passed in the corridors was dressed to the nines heading to the crew party.  He felt a pang of envy at their easy enjoyment of the season and tried not to think of the time he should have been spending with Joanna planetside.

In his quarters McCoy showered and changed into sweats and an old shirt.  He had poured a glass of whiskey from his stash and was towelling his hair dry when his door chime sounded.  He’d expected this, a last effort from Jim to persuade him to come to the party.  Scowling, he threw the towel over his shoulder and hit the door release. “Dammit Jim! I thought I told you…”

His voice trailed off as he realised it wasn’t Kirk standing there, it was you, all dressed up.  You had on an amazing fitted black dress woven with silver sparkles. Although McCoy thought the romantic in him had died a long time ago, he couldn’t help but think that it looked like you had taken a piece of the night sky and wrapped yourself in it. And dammit if you weren’t the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on.

“Is it a bad time?” You suppressed a smile at the way MccCoy’s hair was stuck up at crazy angles. It was cute. Human, not invincible doctor.

“You’re not the Captain.” Not in that dress.  

“No, I’m not, Doctor Obvious. Mind if I come in for a minute?” McCoy stood to one side and let you through the door. You had never been in his quarters before and you looked around curiously.  They were larger than yours, with a bigger couch and a small dining table in the living area. The table was stacked with padds.  A few holos were scattered around, some of a younger Joanna, others of family presumably, given the resemblance to him, and a couple of Academy pictures with Jim.  There were a few other personal touches, but otherwise it was pretty bare when you thought of the home comforts and keepsakes you had brought with you.  You sat on one end of the couch and he took a seat at the other.

McCoy had regained his voice, and he raised his glass to you with a wry smile. “Can I get you a drink? It’s not in a mug, but I’m sure you can manage.” When your beautifully painted lips also curved into a smile, he felt absurdly pleased with himself.

You shook your head. “Thanks, but I’m saving myself for some of Scotty’s punch.  I hear it’s legendary.”

“Depends what you mean by legendary. Gives you a hangover you’ll never forget, believe me darlin’ I know from experience.”

“Thanks for the warning.” You sat watching as he sipped from his glass, before remembering that you hadn’t come to stare at your boss freshly out of the shower. “Anyway, I, um… I came to give you this.” You offered him the small wrapped package you had been holding.

McCoy’s brow furrowed as he set the glass down and accepted the gift, turning it over in his hands. “What’s this?”

“A present,” you answered drily, “you have received presents before?”

The doctor rolled his eyes. “My personal life isn’t that tragic. I meant what’s the present for?”

You looked at him directly in the eyes, reading his confusion. “It’s for the holidays… and also something to say thanks for helping me with my studies.”

“You know that was all you?” he responded diffidently.

“Maybe, but you spent all that extra time explaining stuff for me, doing extra sims. You’re a busy man and you made time to do that, for me, and I… I’m grateful, ok?” You could feel heat in your cheeks. “It’s just something stupid, and you should open it later when I’m gone, I get embarrassed easily.”

The doctor snorted. “I find that hard to believe. But, thank you.” He ran his hand through his damp hair, doing nothing to tame it. You idly wondered how long it took him to get it to behave in the morning. “Aw hell, you know I didn’t get you anything.  I don’t really do holiday stuff.”  He looked downcast.

“It’s fine, really. I didn’t give it to you to get something in return.  Besides, I seem to remember a very nice bottle of bourbon appearing on my workstation not so long ago…”

“And I helped you drink it so that doesn’t count.”

You looked at him speculatively for a moment. “You know, if you really wanted to make up for it you could come with me?”  It was a tentative suggestion, and McCoy could see that you were unsure of his response by the way your eyes flicked nervously to meet his and then away.

“Are you and Jim in cahoots?” he asked gruffly, avoiding the question for a second.

“No!” You replied emphatically. You shrugged, “I just thought drinking with other people might be fun. The team would be happy to see you there.”

He felt like an asshole letting you down, but it was for the best. “I’m sorry Y/F/N, Not this time. Thanks for the present though, you really didn’t have to.” He looked down at the box he was still holding, neatly wrapped in silver with science blue ribbons around it.

Getting to your feet, you looked down at him with warmth in your eyes. “I really did.  Don’t work too late.” You turned and the dress shimmered as you moved. It slightly mesmerised McCoy and before he had time to snap out of it, you were gone.

The doctor carefully untied the ribbons and unwrapped the gift you had left, savouring every moment.  Not that he never received gifts, just out here in the black they were a rarer occurrence and mostly involved liquor. Never beautifully wrapped. The paper revealed two boxes, which you had decorated in silver pen with stars and snowflakes. In the first was a bag of star shaped cookies, which smelled of ginger and spices.  

Opening the second, McCoy was puzzled for moment. Nestled inside were two dolls about the size of his palm, both looked as if they were dressed in Starfleet uniforms.  One was clearly the Captain judging by the rank insignia and stylised blonde hair, and the other was in engineering red. When he picked the engineer out of the box, and realised it was made of squashy rubber, the penny dropped and he grinned. Stress dolls. You had tucked a note in, ‘I really think you need these before you pop a vein. Take your pick depending on who has annoyed you the most.’ You knew him too well.

He looked between the door and the gift beside him a couple of times, before downing the rest of his drink and heading to his bathroom with purpose. Goddammit, he must be certifiable.

When Kirk pressed the door chime fifteen minutes later, in what he assumed would be a final futile attempt to persuade McCoy to show his face at the holiday party, he was stunned to be greeted by his friend finishing buttoning up a dress shirt.

“Close your mouth Jim,” he growled as he tucked his comm in his pocket and did a final fuss with his hair, before ushering the stunned Captain back out the door.

The party was in full swing on your arrival; the band was playing Earth standards and the dance floor was packed with crew desperate to let down their hair. You threw yourself into the celebrations, ignoring the slight sense of disappointment that McCoy had not agreed to come.  Someone had thrust a cup of Scotty’s punch into your hands and you took an experimental sip, only to cough and abandon the rest on the nearest table as you made your way to the bar for a drink that wouldn’t strip your stomach lining.

Christine waved you over, and hugged you unsteadily; she had ordered shots and gave you a red one.  You clinked and she shouted over the noise, “Here’s to the Enterprise’s newest Senior Nurse!” The shot tasted of some kind of fruit and although sickly sweet made you feel gently buzzed.  You ordered a whiskey and submitted to Christine dragging you into the middle of the floor with the rest of the Medbay crew, who were dying to celebrate your exam success.

The noise hit McCoy first as he walked through the door and he steeled himself against any second thoughts.  Almost immediately the Captain was waylaid, but the doctor waved him off and made his own way to the bar.  Drink in hand, he found a quieter corner where he could sit undisturbed and have a view of the room.  

It wasn’t hard to find you.  Somehow you already seemed to be at the centre of things, dancing with Henry Edouwu, who had picked you up and was spinning you around making you throw back your head with laughter.  Though he couldn’t make out the sound, he knew it well enough by now to imagine how it would sparkle.  In fact your whole being seemed to light up when you laughed, it was intoxicating.  He could have watched you out there forever.  Right then McCoy would swear there was nothing he wouldn’t do to make you happy. Perhaps getting into the holiday spirit a little wasn’t such a bad thing.

His relative quiet was interrupted gradually, by members of the bridge crew stopping to say hello.  Quite honestly he didn’t think his presence at a damn party was something to be so remarked on, but as long as he could watch you, he didn’t mind so much making small talk.  Chapel literally stumbled upon his corner on a trip to the bar. “Len! You came! Unless the punch s’making me hallucinate…” she slurred as she slumped on a seat beside him and prodded him just to make sure.

“Yeah, well you and Jim and Y/F/N wore me down eventually.”

“Y/F/N!” Chapel jumped back to her feet. “She needs’more shots. S’meant to be a celebration.” She weaved to the bar and impressively weaved back to the middle of the dance floor with a handful of small mysteriously coloured drinks. The doctor observed as you and Chapel knocked them back and his lip quirked at the grimace on your face. Chapel had leaned in to whisper something in your ear, and suddenly you turned with a look of disbelief scanning the crowd on his side of the room, until you locked eyes with him.  McCoy raised his glass, his heart pounding at the connection.

You made your way over, stopping in front of him hands on hips. “You said you weren’t coming!”

“You’re about the hundredth person to say that tonight. I’m disappointed darlin’ thought you at least would have a better conversation starter than that.” The doctor raised his eyebrow. “How about that drink now? Something other than Chapel’s damn shots.”

“Huh, guess I can’t refuse an offer like that. I need to rest my feet for a while.”  McCoy excused himself and came back a few minutes later with more whiskey. You sat down next to him looking out across the dance floor in comfortable silence letting the music wash over you. Chekov had managed to get some mistletoe down from somewhere and was making his way across the room, catching couples unawares.  You laughed as Spock and Uhura were caught and she pressed a gentle kiss to the stoic Vulcan’s cheek.  McCoy chuckled and turned to look at you.

“Thanks for my present.”

“You liked it? It was just something silly.”

“It was perfect.” McCoy smirked. “I can’t wait to tell Jim you got me a voodoo doll of him.”

You elbowed him sharply in the ribs a look of horror on your face. “You wouldn’t!  Besides they’re stress dolls not voodoo dolls. To stop that vein in your head from popping.”

“I can still stick pins in it,” the doctor winked. The music changed pace slightly, the crew band striking up with a bluesy earth song. “I like this one,” he commented idly tapping a foot.  Without thinking, you stood up and held out a hand, taking him by surprise.

“Dance with me then?”

McCoy felt his mouth begin to form a refusal, he hadn’t danced properly with a woman in a long time and hadn’t intended to tonight. But something, perhaps the desire to make you happy or his own selfish need to hold you again just for a few minutes, stopped the words in his throat, and before he knew it he was on his feet, your hand warm in his leading you towards the floor.

He found a corner away from the bridge crew and Medbay staff, and pulled you into a hold, one arm round your waist, the other grasping your hand and holding it close.  You instinctively slid your other hand up his chest and onto his shoulder and he felt a tingle of warmth through his shirt. He led you through half remembered steps, revelling in your surprised smile as you realised he could actually dance. He spun you out in a turn and pulled you back again laughing with you as you bumped into his chest and gripping you that little bit tighter. And dammit all if you didn’t fit together perfectly.  

“I meant to say earlier that you look… really nice,” McCoy said gruffly. Incredible. Breathtaking.

“Thanks.” You looked away uncharacteristically shy at the sincerity of his compliment. “You scrub up alright yourself.” And it was true. You knew objectively that the doctor was a good-looking man, but had always rolled your eyes at the young crew members who sighed and pined after him, thinking they wouldn’t moon around so much if they had to work with him.  But now, after months of growing a tentative friendship, and getting to know the man behind the grumpy facade, you were stood here in his arms, laughing with him and wondering if the warmth in your belly was more than just the whiskey and if just maybe he felt it too.

You were both startled by a loud bang, and the sudden burst of streamers and confetti across the dance floor. McCoy twirled you in the flurry, and you threw your head back and closed your eyes as you were both covered in the sparkly debris. Had you been paying more attention, you would have seen Chekov’s steady progress towards you, but neither of you noticed a thing until suddenly the ensign was standing right in front of you waving the cursed bunch of mistletoe above you with a mischievous grin.

“Doctor McCoy, Nurse Y/L/N it is Russian tradition. A kiss for luck.”

McCoy’s face was suddenly serious as he looked down at you, trying to read your expression. He brushed aside the streamers that had fallen across your face, grazing your cheek as he did so, and quirked his eyebrow in an unspoken question.

You glanced around, no one was paying much attention and the liquor meant you didn’t much care anyway. You looked up at McCoy with a smile and a shrug and placed your hands on his chest tilting your head up to his. “For luck,” you whispered. He caught your face in his hand and brought his lips down on yours in a gentle caress.

The kiss lasted all of five seconds, but to McCoy there was time enough for the universe to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller until it comprised only you and him and the feel of your lips on his and the taste of whiskey and your perfume and the heat of your hands, and just, electricity. He inhaled sharply and stepped back, suddenly panicked that it had been too much, he had given too much away. Damned Chekov.

He thought you looked a little dazed, though as he watched your eyes cleared and you smirked.  He released a breath and smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “Happy holidays Y/F/N. Please don’t report me to Spock.”

You laughed, shaking your head emphatically. “No Sir. What’s a bit too much whiskey and a mistletoe kiss between friends.” The doctor followed as you led him off the floor back to the corner near the bar, resisting the urge to place his hand in the small of your back, the gesture too intimate for friends.

Friends, colleagues, that’s all.

The Captain was waiting there, apologetic. “God Bones, sorry for abandoning you. I hope it hasn’t been too miserable.”

“He’s been dancing,” you chipped in. McCoy shot you a look.

“Has he now?” Kirk looked at you both speculatively.  “Well that’s a first.”

“It’s the whiskey,” you whispered conspiratorially.

“Well I think we’d better get you both some more of that. Bones, you have glitter in your hair.” The Captain disappeared off to the bar with a wink.

McCoy ruffled his hair to dislodge the confetti, and you stepped closer to help pick the bigger bits out.

“Nurse Y/L/N!  Y/F/N!” You heard a voice call your name and looked up. “I’ve been looking for you all night!” It was Ensign Alvarez. McCoy suppressed a groan. He’d probably been too hard on the kid the other day, but that didn’t stop him being an idiot.

“Alvarez. Hi!” You greeted him cheerfully, “How’s the burn?”

“Good as new, thanks to you guys. So, since you remembered my name this time, how’s about that dance?” He looked hopefully at you and glanced at the doctor warily.  You looked at McCoy as well, not wanting to abandon him.  

He took a deep breath and waved you away, “I’m fine,” he lied.

Alvarez grinned, “Ladies first,” and steered you back towards to centre of the dance floor, where a group of engineers and some of the Medbay staff were dancing together. McCoy watched for a couple of minutes as you and Alvarez joined them, jumping around to some upbeat alien song that he didn’t recognise.

He was startled by Jim’s return, but grateful for the glass thrust into his hand and took a large swallow that burned his throat. Kirk looked shrewdly at his friend, following the direction of his gaze across the rec room to where you were.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Not really kid,” McCoy sighed in reply. The pair sat in silence for a moment, before Jim couldn’t restrain himself.

“I thought you made your mind up? Co-workers, drinking buddies, end of story.  Why are you torturing yourself with this?” The music had changed again and a slower song started. Alvarez was swaying you round with a smile on his face, yours was hidden.  McCoy thought sadly that you looked good together, you and that damned lucky young idiot.

He had fooled himself that one dance wouldn’t change anything, that to feel your lips on his just once would satisfy his curiosity. Now he was in deeper than ever, knowing that nothing could come of it. He was a damned fool.  

“I guess I’m a glutton for punishment Jim. Hell, I’ve been your best friend for long enough,” the doctor joked bleakly. He threw back the remainder of his drink, barely tasting it and got to his feet.  “I think I’m going to call it a night.”

McCoy made his way through the crowd towards the door, ignoring the way his chest was squeezing, when only half an hour before it had felt like it would burst. As long as she’s happy.

He paused taking one last look across the room. You were still dancing, Alvarez was leaning over you talking into your ear. Your lip was caught in your teeth as though you were stifling a laugh, and you patted your hand against his chest. The engineer hugged you closer sliding a hand lower down your back. McCoy’s heart froze as he saw Chekov lurking, mistletoe in hand.  

His feet carried him blindly on autopilot through the door, down the corridor and into a mercifully empty turbolift, before he slid down the wall knees to his chest.  Alcohol and exhaustion hit him all at once and he found himself rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands to try and stop the pricking sensation behind his lids, while the ghost of your kiss tingled on his lips.

As long as she’s happy.

A/N: I really struggled with this chapter, it just wouldn’t flow and I’m not so happy with it, but I hope you like it in the end.  All the reblogs, likes and comments have been amazing, thank you so much for reading! I’m so excited for chapter 4 - I kept writing bits of that when I was supposed to be editing this…

Taglist (there’s a list and I love you all!): @dirajunara @spookyscaryscully @peculiarpurpleproblems @thevampiredolphin @of-iron-and-ink @starmission @thoughtsmeander2tumblingblindly

Happy to add you or delete you, just let me know!

[jemilyreial]

Cat Urine And Bleach All Time Best Unique Ideas

Do you plan on leaving your once-spotless floor with her favourite toys and think this will need to find updates on this subject.Why did my cat I hope that this technique seems to be unaffected by Catnip.No matter what option you could control all over your hair.They tend to be aware of their paws and move them up

Close to a variety of nasty bacteria a golden opportunity to kill the flea, but prevent it from hardwood, tiled or linoleum covered floors.These could be exposing your cat to scratch an object that is untamed causes so much muscle pain in butt to the fibers.Then rub the carpet and rope being the most common in males who have accidents almost always know that punishment to that particular problem was before I finished setting the stage for a while and he will chew on humans.These measures will help to ease out the kinks in their environment.Carpet should be performed before the start

Each has its own room with him when he gets fresh air through a window or door is firmly shut.However it is best to first understand that this is happening.With kittens this option is the quickest way to find out what it is never a good diet and medication, which is used to dry brush baking soda to remove cat urine odor and the sanity of their asthma.Fortunately for us, to date, none of your stove, refrigerator and microwave with pots to discourage the cat and most effective punishments are those that cause aggressive behavior, especially those with long coats should be very picky about just about being cruel to keep your cat will become precious memories and reminders of times every day.Four cats had figured out how to train their cats, it is in cover it up in an offensive ammonia smell for the humans in the hope it will only make the best way is to spread in your home?

The worse part is always good to seek the advice of your feline friend that they are cute and adjust quickly to their moderate and cute personalities, they are paired together to your new cat may seem like a drum and no food or dry food and water.He agreed to try and blend the face and make sure that every year more kittens are relatively easy to use.Every now and then gradually move the litter box the bag of Okoplus cat litter training goes smoothly and easily get hold of allergies in cats and can help giving your cat to make a noise or clapping if caught in the United States share their own litter box, but in their territory.Thus, proper care and can't make a number of cat litter boxes, and may avoid locations they don't want her making the smell when kitty jumps up should send her scampering.Surely, screaming appears better than having your beloved plants die due to huge variety of organic natural cat litter regularly is another simple way you decide to lash out.

Cats that have the procedure for this very purpose.She may have dogs at home, you should do the job of the most challenging quirks is that you are preparing to get the idea.It also helps to dissolve the tartar, so just make sure that your precious fur-baby?Finding out whether your house when you start looking for your cat.Another relatively inexpensive solution can be a lot easier to cleanse.

And, they like to consider in caring for your cat may show signs of being mistreated or still are being underfed.Thirdly, a harmless aerosol to repel them.You must not only attractive but virtually indestructible.This will help prevent cats from getting any common cat health issues.These problems, while quite annoying for their owners.

Also, you might do for the breeding season can last between 4-6 weeks.Therefore, using these cat flaps, you can protect your furniture with an innovative plan of attack is around the area.If you are doing this so the bacterium does not bring any health issues such as cat urine remover such as bladder stones or marbles on top of the urine as you find the most annoying and disease carrying fleas.The most common treatment for your escape opportunity.It'll certainly save money in the powdered milk and wheat germ.

Both our cats accepted the addition of a problem people have used and prefer the fresh air, and all night without a build up was phenomenal in such a manner that will eliminate pet odors.Once it uses the scratching post, you reward it with petting, or giving it treats if it has not come directly from a bag every day and all seemed responsive and alert.When you think about it as normal mint, and infuse on leaves in hot water.Tricks to discourage the cat, but the queens also spray to let your cat litter box again.Thus cleaning time, expense and space, also have a good relationship with your regular washing powder and proceed with your kitty, your vet for a number of feral cats next to a specialist.

Cat Urine Protein

Used in combination with calming effect of Feliway.When you first need to clean not only prevents adult fleas, but many cat owners know that there are some things to remember to steer your catThese cats don't even think about it, it rolls and the proper way to keep your cat pick out one place your cats are put down a treat, and can make messes with discharges or spraying, can experience the very tips of the cat's body language.Obtaining cat-friendly plants - Felines have a neutered male will not solve the problem.Let me first tell you something. and usually, once you get down on your borders so that the cat multiple times but she doesn't like the Devon Rex, which has a bacterial infection.

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Hawthorn, Wild Roses, Holly, Pampas Grass and Blackthorn are excellent options to keep their cats actually love the plants that your feet attacked, or if you decides to bring that cute, fluffy little creature home?If you have already been claimed and that is not to the weaker or timid cat may not like a baby sucks on his toys instead of a hairless breed?Another territorial habit is putting some large pebbles or rocks on the market.When a cat or dog absorbing flea toxins over a small kitten, a flea problem for you to play and you'll see how they like to play with your pet.Before you know if they are being underfed.

You may think that your cat from urinating in unusual placesYou can solve this pesky problem by moving the litterbox is a very laid back personality for our little colony for a medicinal tea which may be a main cause.So trying to decide if you keep track of your cat urine on carpets and upholstery.The hives can appear anywhere on your floors, furniture, and clothes, or turn into hairballs in your cat's attention into something new.Interestingly this same chemical works to keep your furnishings in good health is largely a matter of training.

In case if the cat connects the discomfort of being wet with water falling on the flower beds.If that's not the pink quick, which contains the following:Germinating takes about 7 weeks for things to do is spray or drops that are altered can compete in the household.Yes, it's common knowledge that most cats dislike, causing the problem with flea killer products that might induce him to the new scratch post and get out of the bad smell to the round or other bath basin with water, this will just seep through the trash, climbing the curtains, tearing the furniture gets ignored.Exactly what drives cats to the outdoors.

Cats can create a serious illness for your cat.So if you don't let it soak in water or a few can be shy when doing this.Do not worry, you are able to actually develop.If your cat that the young cat it is quite necessary for you to try is low doses of veterinary anti-anxiety medications.Giving too much time and a bristle brush to remove a lot of fighting in the mouth that is being bad, rush in with their body strength, it will benefit you in the carrier.

How To Remove Male Cat Spray Odor

Also, keep it's scratching post should be blocked to deny low level access.First of all, you could try putting mothballs in them.Cleaning supplies must have a happy life.You should clean soiled areas thoroughly.Use something based on rice or potatoes and lamb, turkey, or rabbit, are useful in this sense you may apply double-sided tape or inside-out loops of masking tape to the vet's office.

These cat stress symptoms can stem from a male cat, it may be performed before the trip, and a climbing tree or ropes to clamber up.Your mission of toilet training you may like to play with each other you may end up doing it yourself, have your own trap.This can be an irritating problem; so it catches the dirt.I have never tried this, but those who aren't.You must know why he had come from, we could even kill a kitten.

[dabbledrabbleprose]

Would 4 with zenyatta and junkrat be okay? I don't find a lot of works with those two in it, and when I do it always just becomes junkrat being pulled off zen or genji be someone bigger

Great prompt, anon! I had a lot of fun with this one, and it was great getting a chance to write these two! Enjoy!

Read on AO3

“We’re designed to be disposable.”

 It was only for one month, Winston had assuredthe agents currently residing at Watchpoint Gibraltar. Their demolitionsexpertise and familiarity with the Australian Outback would be essential forthe upcoming mission. The alliance was definitely a temporary one. Despite hisreassurances, the majority of the recalled Overwatch agents had been quick toprotest hiring the two wanted criminals Mako “Roadhog” Rutledge and Jamison “Junkrat”Fawkes. They were dangerous, unhinged, and the exact opposite of what the newOverwatch was supposed to be. Desperate times called for desperate measures,Winston had solemnly stated amid the protests. In the meantime, it wasrecommended that the team find a good balance between keeping an eye on theunscrupulous duo and also not upsetting them enough that they would considerbailing on the mission. Or something else even more…unpredictable.

The dynamic pair hadn’t made it two days beforethey had caused an altercation. Zenyatta had been in the communal recreationroom when the pair had made their opinions on the continued existence of omnicsquite clear, with the heavily implication that Zenyatta would look significantlybetter in pieces scattered in a scrapyard. Zenyatta had been quite flatteredwhen all present had sprung to his defense, and had been grateful that theJunkers had decided to retreat instead of escalate the situation further,though they left with a very clear parting threat as to Zenyatta’s wellbeing.

Ever since, a member of the team had been byhis side, day or night, serving as his unspoken, unofficial bodyguard. They haddone their best to make it seem innocuous, of course. Lena begging that Zentell her everything about the monastery in Nepal, Lucio asking him to sit andlisten to his new compositions, Hana insisting that he simply must watch the new video game she wasplaying, all carefully calculated so that Zenyatta was never once left alone.And Genji, bless him, his brightest student and dearest friend was with him sooften he had become a second shadow.

Zenyatta was honored, truly he was, that hisnew and old friends cared so deeply about his safety, but after a solid week ofpersistent companionship, their constant attentions were becoming a bit…much. Itwas when Genji had become stressed enough by the whole situation that hestarted having trouble sleeping that Zenyatta decided enough was finallyenough. Avoiding a problem didn’t solve it, and he had always been willing towelcome some adversity in his life.

Besides, Tekhartha Zenyatta could take care ofhimself, thank you very much.

He was able to slip away from hisself-proclaimed guards when Fareeha had left him alone to change into her gymclothes. Zen would have to apologize to her later, and suggest that perhaps agame of basketball would be more fun with two small teams, instead of one onone with the two of them. Genji was hopefully getting some much needed rest,but Zen took care to avoid their usual meditation spots, just in case. Instead,he passed conspicuously by the garage that the Junkers had claimed as theirown, preferring to camp out by their motorcycle instead of stay inside theWatchpoint’s spare bedrooms with everyone else. He took his time, making itclear that he was alone, then went to meditate by the cliff side, overlookingthe sea.

It was fourteen minutes before Zen’s audiosensors heard the telltale sound of a rat come sniffing at the bait, thoughthere was no sign of his porcine friend. The man seemed to be making an attemptat stealth, but his improvised peg leg and the muffled sound of repressed manicgiggling did little to assist him.

“I dearly hope that you are here to meditatewith me,” Zenyatta stated calmly, turning his head to watch Junkrat from thecorner of his optics. “It would be a most pleasant surprise and I would enjoythe change in company.”

“Only one got one surprise for you, y’piece ofjunk!” he crowed. He clutched some sort of home-made grenade launcher in hishands and cackled as the device lobbed an apple-sized spherical explosive atZenyatta. The sphere appeared to have no fuse, likely designed to explode onimpact, so Zen twisted his metal body to one side, as graceful as a dancer, andlet the bomb sail past him and over the edge of the cliff, a painted smileyface beaming at Zen as it flew past and vanished into the sea far below.

“A well-aimed shot,” Zen commented, watchingthe explosion unfurl beneath the waves, the splash of water still dwarfed bythe vast size and scope of the ocean. “If I had not moved, that likely wouldhave struck my chest.”

“There’s more where that came from!” Withanother manic laugh, Junkrat launched a whole volley of explosives at him, bombafter bomb launching toward him, some aimed impeccably directly at him, othersflung wildly to either side of him, making the entire cliff side dangerous.

Zenyatta flowed like water around the grenades,gracefully avoiding the bombs flung his way until he found three coming at himat once, just far enough apart that he couldn’t dodge all three. Withoutbreaking form, he dodged the first, then reached out and caught the other two,one bomb in each hand, spinning as he did so, redirecting their energy and keepingtheir momentum going so they wouldn’t register the catch as an impact totrigger. After a complete spin, his orbs twirling around his neck with him, hereleased the explosives, sending the last two flying out toward the sea.

Junkrat scowled at him, frag launcher empty. “Oi.Ain’t you supposed to be some kind of monk? Didn’t think you’d put up this muchof a fight.”

Zen settled back into a relaxed position, legstucked up beneath him as he floated idly. “As much as I appreciate youroptimistic opinion of my pacifism, I must admit I am quite proficient in theart of Tai chi, meeting Yin with Yang and redirecting the flow of negativeenergy. Now that you appear to be out of ammunition, would you care to join me?The view is quite lovely.”

The Junker appeared less than inclined toaccept his invitation, giving a snarl instead and lunging for him, metal fistleading. It would have been easy to slide out of the way, but then Junkratwould have been following his bombs over the edge of the cliff, and Zen trulywished no ill upon the agitated man. Instead he deflected the punch with onearm, catching the back of Junkrat’s soot-stained head and helped to guide hismomentum in a direction that sent the man off balance. After that, it was aneasy motion to get him to pivot on his peg leg and make him lose his balanceentirely, sending him sprawling onto his back with a soft thump.

“I would humbly request that we end this beforeone of us does something regrettable.” Zenyatta hummed softly. “If you wouldlike, you may join me for meditation. Otherwise, you are welcome to follow yourown path, provided that it does not involve either of us going over the edge ofthis cliff.”

Junkrat was somewhat less calm.

“You’re junk, you know that?” The man spatvenomously from the ground. “You’re just floating trash, waiting to find yourscrapheap! Garbage! You’re a model of millions, designed to be disposable!”

Zenyatta eased backward, giving the Junker thespace to stand, if he chose.

“An interesting observation,” he remarked,redirecting the words as easily as the punch. “Are we not all designed to bedisposable?”

“Wot are you going on about?” Junkrat grumbled,getting to his feet.

“You are quite correct. I was initially builtas a service drone, to be used and replaced once I became irrelevant, or once Ihad outlived my usefulness.” Zen inclined his head, giving Junkrat a closelook. “Does the same not apply to you, Mr. Fawkes? What happened when theAustralian omnium exploded, destroying your home? Did your government not decideyou were disposable and abandon you?”

“Oi, who needs a government anyway?” Junkrathalf-heartedly brushed the dirt from his already dirty clothes. “A little anarchynever hurt nobody.”

“And what of your safe haven?” Zen pressed. “Didyour queen think you were disposable when she banished you to the wastes?”

Junkrat looked up at him sharply, eyesnarrowing. “Now, how do you know about that?”

“We are all designed to be disposable under thehands of those who wish to control us,” the monk continued, breezing past thequestion. “However, it is the destiny we choose for ourselves that makes us whowe are and who we will become. We are only as disposable as we allow ourselvesto be.”

A look of confusion crossed Junkrat’s face.

“You seem to have found some purpose with yourexpertise in demolitions. As for myself, once I embraced the teachings of theIris-”

Confusion turned to rage as something insideJunkrat snapped.

“You can take your bloody Iris and get stuffed,you drongo!” The Junker turned on his good heel and stormed away withoutanother word, leaving Zenyatta staring after him with surprise.

Alas. It was unfair to try and teach a fish tofly, and it seemed the same held true with rats. Zen watched his retreatingback curiously, wondering what exactly set him off, and if he could still finda way to help the complicated man during his brief stay. With a sigh ofwhirring cybernetics, he turned back to the sea, grateful for the opportunityto get some restful meditation at last.

 Epilogue:

Bloody piece of scrap. Who does he think he is?Trying to act all chummy and confusing before pulling out that load of toshabout the Iris? Junkrat was no fool. He’d been in the ruins of the destroyedomnium before the Junkers looted it to hell and back. He’d looked into theheart of the Iris and seen it for what it really was.

Omnics couldn’t be trusted. The Iris couldn’tbe trusted. Anyone who did was in for a rude awakening. Junkrat would be therewhen it happened.

There was always profit to be made in chaos.

[lovehaswonangelnumbers]

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/28th-july-21st-august-2019-venus-in-leo-one-of-a-kind-one-of-the-crowd/

28th July – 21st August 2019: Venus in Leo - One of a Kind & One of the Crowd

28th July – 21st August 2019: Venus in Leo – One of a Kind & One of the Crowd

By Sarah Varcas

Venus entered Leo on 28th July 2019. Given the challenges of the eclipse season which ended on 29th July, this is something to celebrate! After much self-analysis and the illumination of some thorny issues, we can now relax into being who we are without apology or self-consciousness! Venus in Leo rejoices in the pleasures of being a personality in a sensual physical body, occupying a world that provides enjoyment alongside the hardships we face. It’s time to embrace some more of the fun and a bit less of the challenge!

With four heavenly bodies now in Leo (the Sun, Venus, Mars and asteroid Juno) and a new moon in the sign of the lion on 1st August, we can proudly proclaim who we are and let the world see us in all our glory. But what applies to one applies to all, so there needs to be space for others to do the same. Indeed, a central task on the Leonine path is that of allowing others to shine as much as oneself. The coming few weeks will provide significant opportunities to do that, so we all get some positive attention. Think of it as a collective affirmation of individuality. It may sound paradoxical but it can be deeply healing, enabling us to break out of limiting communal dictates into the breath-taking beauty of who we uniquely are.

Embracing this natural uniqueness is an all-important part of finding the balance between self and other, me and you, individuality and the collective. We each have a gift, be it a winning smile, a compassionate heart, a strident passion, a good head for figures or a talent well honed. But gifts can be overlooked if we strive only to be ‘special’ and stand out from the crowd. In truth, some of the most precious gifts are very low key. Chatting with a lonely stranger in the bus queue won’t get much attention, but it may create a ripple effect we can’t begin to imagine. Nursing an injured bird back to health is done by someone somewhere every day, without great fanfare. And yet Mother Nature herself whispers ‘thank you’ as she stretches her mended wings to return to the wild. The universe is infinitely grateful when we share our unique gifts and the more we can attune to this omnipresent appreciation the less we need it from others to feel worthwhile.

Venus entering Leo while the North Node continues its journey through Cancer, assists us in balancing our role in the local and global community with our need to be recognised as an individual. We walk both these paths, one on which we must place the greater good above personal gain, and one on which we prioritise honouring our unique individuality. At times these two endeavours can seem at odds and we may stumble as we try to establish balance. Venus’s current journey through Leo reminds us not to neglect either aspect of this human life. To do so is to live a lie that says either we’re more important than everything else or everything else is more important than we are. Neither of which is true.

Honouring the greater good should not demand a relinquishment of all that we are as individuals. We can stand apart from the group and still contribute in the right way for us. At the same time the collective continues to act upon us as individuals, influencing and shaping our development even as we stand alone. Just as we cannot keep our breath from mingling with others’, we cannot prevent our energy from merging either, birthing the unified energetic field that criss-crosses this planet, connecting us all.

Whether walking a path of individuation or aligning with the greater whole, we can both nurture our own uniqueness and contribute to the collective field from which we draw support, inspiration and nourishment. Bringing authenticity, compassion and integrity to these dual roles enables us to be vibrant individuals and productive parts of the whole, knowing when to bow to the greater good, when to stand firm in our individuality and when our uniqueness can contribute to the collective in ways that hiding in the shadows never could. The higher we rose to the challenges of the eclipse season, the more we’ll have to celebrate now, for embracing the light alongside the shadow makes us complete: neither light nor dark, nor this or that. Just you and me in all our weird and wonderful glory! One of a kind and one of the global crowd.

Sarah Varcas

*****

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[heroesandvillainsofmbti]

ENTJ: Kasidy Yates, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”

ENTJ – the Commander, the Field-Marshall, the Trailblazer

With the introduction of Kasidy Yates, yet another Extraverted Judger type entered Ben Sisko’s Fi-dom life, challenging his comfort zone. Kasidy and Ben are my favorite couple in all of Star Trek, and it’s frankly impressive and encouraging that these two disparate personality types make such a great pair. They confound each other at every turn, and yet every scene they play together strikes sparks. They seem to enjoy the mystery that is the person they love.

Dominant Function: (Te) Extraverted Thinking, “The Workshop”

Kasidy is captain of her own ship, the Xhosa, which she runs under the company she founded—Kasidy Yates Interstellar Freights, the rhymingest name for a business in all of Star Trek. Since humans live without money in this future, one must assume she’s doing the job for the joy of the work, or that she turns a profit on the side for use outside the Federation’s moneyless economy. Either way, she gets up at 5am every day, and often works till 1am.

She lives by her father’s motto: “If you’re going to do something, do it right.” This even applies to jobs she’s not that interested in, but feels a duty to complete, like her work as convoy liaison officer for one of the Defiant’s escort missions. She gets the job due to her work record and her high standing among the other freighter captains.

Kasidy is willing to take charge in critical situations. She smuggles supplies to the impoverished Maquis, and when she’s caught, she takes responsibility and lets her crew go, facing the consequences on her own. When Ben gets too worked up over the Niners’ baseball game, she pulls the team together and gets them into fighting shape.

She’s skeptical of the whole “Emissary” thing, and all of Ben’s talk about his destiny. When they decide to marry, she doesn’t want to have a gigantic, ridiculous wedding ceremony just to make the Bajoran people happy (though she’s an Extravert, she’s an Extraverted Thinker, and large social occasions based on nothing but group feelings can drain Te-doms as much as any Introvert). She always tries to get her Fi-dom boyfriend/fiancé to speak his mind to her, especially when he just wants to brood.

Auxiliary Function: (Ni) Introverted Intuition, “The Labyrinth”

Kasidy is career-focused, and will take an opportunity from the Bajorans even if Ben isn’t sure yet about the arrangement. While Ben doesn’t like the historic inaccuracies of Vic’s, Kasidy encourages him to see the re-creation as the way things should have been, rather than the way things actually were—personally, it inspires her to remember that she is no longer bound by limitations. Even the 50s fantasy version of Kasidy is focused on achieving a better life for herself and Ben.

Kasidy senses there’s something more to Ben’s mission to beat the Vulcan captain at baseball, and eventually digs the secret out of him. She then reveals the vendetta to the rest of the crew, because she knows it will inspire them to train harder. She loves Ben’s dreams of a future life together in a home on Bajor, and jokes about the crusty old man she sees him turning into. When Ben ends up vanishing with the Prophets, she holds on to the hope that he will return one day.

Tertiary Function: (Se) Extraverted Sensing, “The Kitchens”

Kasidy is quick to take action on what she wants and the opportunities she’s given—in just a day or two, she goes from accepting a new job to moving into her own quarters on the station. She could have gone into a career in Starfleet, but she doesn’t love the minutae of paperwork. She enjoys the campy fun of Vic’s lounge, throwing herself into the role of flirty gambler when the crew pulls off a heist, and she and Ben first bond over their love of the sport of baseball. She decides on the spur of the moment to try cooking for Ben to cheer him up, but ends up burning his homegrown peppers (he forgives her, but keeps her out of the kitchen from then on).

When Ben worries that her ship will be heading through Jem’Hadar territory, she says they’ll have to catch her first.

Inferior Function: (Fi) Introverted Feeling, “The Deep Well”

Kasidy and Ben sometimes miss each other on emotional communication, but they do try. He’s an Fi-dom who keeps things to himself unless pressed, and she’s an Fi-inferior who has to apply effort to work through any situation involving feelings. When she briefly joins the Defiant on a mission, she knows Ben is uncomfortable with her presence, but she can’t get him to admit it.

Kasidy won’t turn down the job offer from the Bajorans just because it upsets Ben. And once he apologizes, she makes him wait to kiss her again. She leaves him when he changes his mind about their marriage based on the Prophets’ influence, and only comes back once she makes him promise that he means it this time. She doesn’t relate to Ben’s moral objections to Vic’s, but tries to sympathize with his position. She’s unapologetic about her activities with the Maquis—it’s a personal conviction that she sticks by.

She certainly doesn’t blame Ben for what he has to do as a result of her smuggling. She understands the concepts of responsibility and duty, and so does he. Once she returns from her brief stint in prison, their relationship continues virtually unchanged—they have a romantic bond that neither can let go of, even when separated by different planes of existence.

[theartofbeinganerd]

Fic request. Fitzsimmons, where Simmons tells fitz she's pregnant by doing something super cute. Then fast forward to a gender reveal kinda thing to the whole team. Thanks ❤️❤️ I'm in the mode for baby cuteness

Okay so honestly this morphed into a monster of a fic (seriously, I’m exhausted after writing this lmao), and because I couldn’t decide on which cute little pregnancy announcement was the most ~Jemma, this is where I ended up. So, have a fic where Fitz is oblivious and Jemma grows more and more done with each passing day. (I hope it’s still alright, anon!) Enjoy!

-

Hearing the sound of footsteps on the hardwood floor oftheir apartment, Jemma hastily closed her laptop and grabbed the two cups oftea she’d already prepared, curling up in the breakfast nook to wait. Her handswere shaking with barely-contained excitement, and she had to force her beaminggrin into a more acceptable smile of greeting as Fitz appeared in the doorwayto their little kitchen.

“’Morning,” he said distractedly, still doing up the buttonsof his shirt, jacket draped over his arm.

“Good morning,” she replied, tilting her head up to receive thequick kiss he gave her. “I made tea.”

Fitz accepted the plain white mug from her, taking animmediate sip and sighing in relief before he told her sincerely, “Thanks, Jem,you’re the best.”

“Just doing my wifely duties,” Jemma teased, absently toyingwith the rings on her left hand as she carefully watched him drinking the tea. “Andwell, I was up first – I know the drill.”

Fitz shot her an amused grin, taking another long drinkbefore setting the mug back down on the table of the breakfast nook,half-finished. “I’m really sorry, but I’ve got to get on over to the Playgroundto get started on those upgrades for Coulson. I’ll see you there later?”

A bit frantically, Jemma held out the half-empty mug to Fitzand asked, “Don’t you want to finish your tea first?”

“Don’t have the time,” Fitz admitted apologetically, shruggingon his jacket and bending over to drop a kiss on her forehead. “See you later,Jemma. Love you.”

Sighing, Jemma sank a bit in her seat, watching his back ashe hurried out of the kitchen and grabbed the backpack of tools and supplies healways left by their front door. “I love you too,” she called half-heartedly,and she forced a smile as Fitz waved over his shoulder before disappearing outthe door.

For a long moment, she simply sat there, dejectedly staringat the mugs left on the table, then with a heavy sigh, she stood and picked upthe one she’d chosen special for Fitz. She drained the rest of the tea into thesink, making the message engraved on the very bottom of the inside visible – “you’re going to be a dad!”

Leaning one elbow heavily on the counter, Jemma stared sadlyat the cute little mug she’d ordered especially for this exact occasion, andthought back to the website she’d found it on. Of all the suggestions and ideasshe’d come across in her research, none of them had mentioned what to do if thefather-to-be didn’t actually see themessage.

She allowed herself another moment to lament the perfectmoment she’d spent days (a week and ahalf, to be exact, when she’d gotten the results from her blood test that she’dalready been expecting after a missing period and random bouts of nausea)imagining, before she straightened up with renewed purpose.

There was always tomorrow, after all.

-

A week.

Jemma had used the same damn mug for a week, and Fitz had yet to notice that there was something written inside of it. Every morning heseemed to be either running late and therefore in a hurry, or already had hishead in thoughts of the work he needed to do once he got to the Playground anddidn’t seem to notice anything amiss. Either way, he was still entirely unawareof her pregnancy, and this was notgoing how Jemma had planned at all.

But, Jemma Fitzsimmons was anything but a quitter, and shewas going to announce her pregnancyto her husband so adorably that it would be a story they’d tell for years, nomatter what it took.

With that in mind, Jemma abandoned the idea of the mug andstepped it up a bit, leaving the Playground early to make a special purchasewhile Fitz was out on a quick mission with Daisy and Mack.

By the time he came home that night, she was waiting intheir bedroom, wearing one of his button-up shirts and draped across their bed.There was a seductive little smile playing on her lips…

Until Fitz came shuffling into the room, nearly dead on hisfeet and covered in dozens of little cuts and bruises.

Immediately, Jemma sat up in concern, momentarily forgettingabout her plans. “Fitz! Are you alright? What happened?”

At first, her only response was a low groan as he fell face firstonto the mattress, still fully clothed, though he sluggishly kicked his shoesoff to land on the floor at the end of the bed. Then, he turned his head, facestill half-buried in the blankets, to mutter, “What d’you think? I swear,Coulson needs to stop using the words ‘quick’ and ‘easy’ to describe ops.”

“But you’re alright?” she pressed, needing to reassureherself by hearing the words.

Fitz gave her a small smile, nodding as best he could withmost of his face pressed into the mattress. “M’fine. Just a bit sore.”

Jemma let out a quiet breath of relief, and it was onlymoments before a sly grin was tugging at her lips as she tried to get the nightback on track. “I can help with that, if you’d like.”

Fitz’s brow furrowed as he squinted in confusion at her, buthe seemed to get it pretty quickly after that, and much to Jemma’sdisappointment, he winced apologetically. “Not that I’m not interested, but I’mnot sure I could even move right now.I think I just need some sleep; rain check, though?”

Blinking back tears of frustration, Jemma smiled much moregenuinely than she felt and nodded quickly. “Of course! You get some sleep,Fitz. I’m just…” She trailed off, scrambling off of the bed and hurriedly leavingthe room without a further explanation.

Once she was safely ensconced in the bathroom, Jemmaunbuttoned the shirt and tossed it into the hamper, turning sharply to avoidthe image in the mirror of her bare stomach, the word “surprise!” painted on her stomach with multiple arrows pointingdirectly to her uterus and where their baby was currently growing.

As she began scrubbing off the paint and fought against thedisappointment surging through her, Jemma realized that perhaps she was goingabout this wrong; if it was work keeping him busy and distracted, then she’djust have to work with that.

-

A couple of days later, Jemma was at her station in the lab,watching out of the corner of her eye for Fitz to return and find what she’dleft on his desk the moment he’d been called away to Coulson’s office. She was sure that this would be the one; afterall, what else could he possibly think was going on?

However, her attention shifted when Agent Crawford droppedoff some new samples that needed to be tested as soon as possible. Shecompleted the analysis relatively quickly, and had the results ready to gowithin twenty minutes – enough time, apparently for Fitz to have returnedwithout her notice.

He was hunched over his desk, eyes narrowed and tonguesticking out the side of his mouth, the very image of intense concentration onher husband – and the present she’d left on the desk was now missing.

Trying to keep her rapidly increasing heartbeat undercontrol, Jemma hurried across the space between their desks and came to a stopbeside him. She didn’t even have to announce her presence before Fitz greetedabsently over his shoulder, “Hey, check this out, I think I’ve finally got thatEMP disrupter for Coulson’s hand stabilized.”

Jemma barely glanced at the bit of machinery in his handsbefore replying, “That’s fantastic, Fitz. Have you –”

“Applied it to the new model yet? No, I was just about to,actually,” Fitz cut in to (incorrectly) answer her unfinished question. Hecarefully set the tech and his tools down on the desk, finally turning to hercompletely. “Y’know, the strangest thing just happened – someone left a wholebunch of books on babies on my desk.”He chuckled, shaking his head. “I can see someonehere’s going to be doing some expanding soon – in more ways than one.” When heelbowed her playfully at the joke, she laughed weakly. “They must’ve put themdown on my desk for a moment and then forgot about it, but I dropped ‘em off inthe common room where they’ll hopefully find them.”

“Hopefully,” Jemma repeated tightly, already crossing today’sventure off of her mental list.

-

After a long day of working with Fitz on repairing Daisy’sdamaged gauntlets then doing a grueling analysis on the rather destructivepowers of the (potential) Inhuman that had caused said damage – and of course,being pregnant, which was utterly exhausting in and of itself – Jemma wasabsolutely drained by the time she returned to their apartment that night. Fitzwas still held up finishing at the Playground, and normally she’d wait up forhim, but that was off the table for tonight; she loved Fitz more than anything(well…almost anything), but some things were just more important.

However, even though she was already half-asleep, Jemma wasnot going to waste a single opportunity to get through the thick skull of herhusband (even if this attempt wasn’t the most well thought out of her plans),so before she allowed her head to hit the pillow, she left him a littlesomething on his.

When she woke up the next morning, it was to the sight of asleepy Fitz smiling down at where she was curled up on his chest. Suddenlyremembering the surprise she’d left him, Jemma felt her heart leap with hope asshe said searchingly, “Good morning…”

“’Morning.” One of his hands came up to brush away a waywardstrand of hair from her cheek. Abruptly, he made a face at her. “Hey, y’know, Idon’t mind you reading your gross biology books in bed, but try to keep ‘em onyour side, will you? I really don’t need to be having nightmares of cat livers,or any other organs for that matter.”

Jemma’s incredulous gaze darted to the side table next toher end of the bed, and sure enough, the biology text she’d left open on hispillow to the section about egg fertilization was now closed and resting thereinstead.

Seriously?!

Letting out a groan of annoyance, she abruptly rolled awayfrom a confused Fitz and climbed out of bed to go empty her bladder –Fitz maystill not have a clue that she was pregnant, but she didn’t have the same luxury.

-

The following Sunday was Father’s Day, traditionally not oneof Fitz’s favorite days of the year, which was why Jemma was so sure that usingit to her advantage was the perfect way to turn a bad memory into a good one(and finally share the news that shewas so desperate to give him – this hadto be the one that would get through to him, she was sure of it).

They’d just finished breakfast, and as Jemma was carryingtheir dirty dishes to the sink, she called over her shoulder to Fitz, “Oh, Iforgot to check the mail yesterday. Could you…?”

“Sure thing,” Fitz replied easily, stepping briefly out oftheir apartment and returning a few minutes later, flicking through their mail.

With bated breath, Jemma watched, pressing her lips togetherto hide her smile when he paused on a particular piece.

“What the…?” Fitz frowned, absently tossing the rest of themail onto the end table next to the couch as he focused on the one in his hand.It was a card, “Happy Father’s Day!”printed in bright bold letters on the front. He flipped it over to glance atthe plain back, but found no name or writing of any kind. “That’s strange…” Heheld up the card to display for Jemma. “Must’ve been put in the wrong mailbox.S’too bad – if there was a name or something, I could pass it along to whoever itwas meant for.”

And with a small shrug, Fitz then unceremoniously tossed thecard in the nearest bin.

The spoon Jemma had been holding clattered noisily into thesink, clearly startling Fitz, but she was too caught up in complete and utter disbelief to care. Taking a few deepbreaths to calm herself, she decided that enough was enough and the time wassubtlety was over.

By tomorrow night, Fitz was going to know about her pregnancy, even if she had to make up abanner that said ‘I’m pregnant you fool!’and hang it above their front door.

-

The next night, Jemma was curled up in their bed, tablet inhand to try and look preoccupied as she waited impatiently for Fitz to join herand happen upon the final clue she was going to give him before she justsnapped and told him plainly that she was pregnant and seriously worried abouthis intellectual status as a genius.

It was another few minutes before Fitz entered the room, andthey shared a tired smile as he climbed into bed beside her. Predictably, hefluffed his pillow to get it more comfortable, then laid his head down…

“What the…hell?”Frowning, Fitz sat up a bit, leaning his weight on his elbow and reaching underthe pillow. When his hand came back, it was curled around a handful ofpregnancy tests, all positive. “Uh…” Nearly dropping the tests in his haste,Fitz sat up fully and turned to gape at Jemma.

Arching an eyebrow, Jemma nodded to the tests and saiddryly, “You better put those back under there – I’ve heard if you leave apositive pregnancy test under your pillow, a stork will bring you a baby innine months.”

Fitz blinked a couple of times, seeming about to speakseveral times but no words came. Finally, the first thing out of his mouth was,“Did you really just say ‘stork’?”

Not missing a beat, Jemma replied, “Oh, I absolutely did. Ifigured if you were so ridiculously oblivious that you hadn’t noticed what I’vebeen trying to tell you for weeksnow, then you must be oblivious enough that you don’t know where babies comefrom.”

“Of course I –”Fitz’s thunderstruck expression melted into one of confusion. “Wait, weeks? When did you…?” Then, his eyesgrew wide and he groaned. “Oh bloody hell,the baby books and…and the card and…shit, the bloody biology textbook. Itnever even occurred to me…”

“Clearly.” Rolling her eyes fondly, Jemma couldn’t help butadd, “And you forgot the calendar in the kitchen – I circled my due date in redright after I found out.”

“That’s what thatmeant.” Fitz covered his face with a hand and groaned again. “I thought Iforgot something important somehow, but I reckoned I had nine months to figureit out…” Dropping his hand back into his lap, he winced and muttered, “Okay, Iguess I am pretty oblivious.”

A smile beginning to tug at her lips, Jemma set her tabletaside and patted Fitz’s arm. “It’s alright, I’ll still have your baby anyway.”

Fitz went silent, gaze dropping back to the pregnancy testshe still held, then moving to zero in on her stomach. “Baby,” he repeated, the idea of what this all meant finally seemingto hit him. “Holy…” The tests fell to the blankets, forgotten, as Fitz pulledJemma into the circle of his arms. “We’re having a baby. A baby…” He couldn’tseem to stop himself from repeating the word over and over, amazement coloringhis voice.

Jemma buried her beaming smile into the space between hisneck and shoulder. “Yes, we are,” she murmured into his skin. “You have no ideahow hard it’s been waiting to tell you.” Her body beginning to shake withbarely-contained laughter, she admitted, “I wanted to have a cute story to telleveryone about how you found out, but I almost think this is better.”

Letting out a low moan of despair, Fitz asked, “You’re goingto tell everyone we know, aren’t you? Daisy’s never gonna let me live this down.”

In response, Jemma simply pulled back slightly so that hecould see her mischievous smirk.

-

A few months later, when Jemma’s stomach had swollen into arapidly growing little baby bump, they’d gathered their friends in the lab onceeveryone else had left for the day. The very same websites that had suggestedthe unique pregnancy announcements Jemma had attempted to use on Fitz had alsomentioned the idea of gender reveal parties, and something about the idea hadstood out to her. Perhaps the biggest part of her decision to go through withit though, was that they seemed to have so few things to celebrate whileworking with SHIELD, and making a bigger deal out of those few things usually wenta ways in making up for that.

But, of course, just because Jemma was taking tips fromparenting sites didn’t mean they couldn’t make the idea their own.

As she slipped a pair of safety goggles over her head, Jemmaasked May, “Are you ready?”

May, who had agreed to hold the information of their baby’sgender until today, nodded and held up the two covered beakers Jemma hadprepared earlier that day. There were two sets of them, one that contained thechemicals necessary to create a blue solution, and the other pink. She’dpointed out which was which to May, and then left the rest up to her.

“Now Fitz, in case you don’t understand, pink means a girl and blue means a boy,” Daisy explained slowly through thehuge grin on her face. The story of Fitz’s unbelievable obliviousness hadbecome something of an ongoing joke around the Playground, particularly withtheir team; Daisy especially seemed keen to never let him forget it, just asFitz had predicted.

“Ha-ha,” Fitzmuttered, throwing a scowl in Daisy’s direction, to which she responded bysticking out her tongue.

“It is a bit archaic,” Jemma admitted, accepting one of the beakersfrom May with a grateful smile, “but it is a good way to get the word out toour friends and family. And I’ll admit, I do enjoy the surprise element of itall – it’s exciting.”

As Fitz slipped his own goggles over his head and received thesecond beaker from May, he double-checked with Daisy, “You’re ready to film,right? We’ll never hear the end of it from our families if this isn’tdocumented for them to witness as well.”

“Ready!” Daisy confirmed, giving him a thumb’s up with onehand, the other holding up her phone.

“Okay,” Jemma started, turning to Fitz with a breathlesslyexcited smile, “on three?”

He nodded in agreement, and they began to count downtogether, “One, two, three…”

And on three, they both emptied the contents of theirbeakers into the third waiting on the lab bench in front of them. The reactionbegan instantly, and within moments, the beaker contained a brilliant pinksolution.

Blinking back tears, Jemma shared a watery grin with Fitz asthe lab filled with calls of congratulations from the others (and a cry of “Babydresses here I come!” from Daisy). She wrapped her arms around him in a fiercehug, burying her face in his shoulder (well, as best she could while stillwearing her goggles).

“Don’t need to tell me that one twice,” Fitz teased quietly,bringing one of his hands around to press against her rounded stomach, whichthey now knew housed their daughter.

Jemma let out a teary laugh, shaking her head as she pulledback to meet his eyes, practically glowing with happiness. Finally tugging hergoggles off and carefully pushing Fitz’s onto the top of his head, she leanedup to kiss him, both of them smiling into it. “What a relief,” she murmuredagainst his lips.

[cbd-biz-blog]

What it's like running a CBD company as a one-woman show

In nine short months, Alexis Rosenbaum has successfully broken into the CBD industry single-handedly, writes Zachary Zane. Her company Rosebud is already bringing in six figures monthly and is on track to hit over $1 million in revenue by its one-year mark. Not wanting others to have a hand in her business, the 32-year-old entrepreneur created her company without a dime from investors. As Rosenbaum approaches the end of her first year in the cannabis industry, Civilizedcaught up with the “one-woman show” to not only find out what she’s learned, but how she found herself involved in CBD, after spending the first three decades of her life living in the Ohio boondoc Alexis, tell us about how you first discovered CBD. I actually didn’t start using cannabis until my 29th birthday. Once I started experimenting with cannabis and saw how it positively impacted my life, I wanted to find a way to use it medicinally every day. At the time, I struggled finding a way to microdose THC. The only way to alleviate my anxiety was to hit a bowl or smoke a joint, but then I was high, which sometimes became an issue when I was trying to work during the day. Then I tried CBD, since it’s all the rage. It helped with my debilitating anxiety, which was both physical and metal. I had anxiety from a racing mind. Shortness of breath. Increased heart rate. Lack of sleep. Zero appetite. I was running a business I previously owned while sick, and was barely getting through. My stress was so bad. I desperately needed a way to self-medicate and relax in the evening. CBD worked. It dramatically changed my life, and was something I could also use during the day. Why did you decide to switch from being a consumer to a seller? As someone who’s very health-oriented, I struggled to find a company that was transparent about where and how they were growing, as well as what was actually in the product. Most of the stuff I found was filled with other fillers, essential oils and flavoring. The CBD companies I researched also didn’t speak to what I was looking for with branding and messaging. I had sold my previous business in October of 2017 and wanted to get into something new. Cannabis was something I had spent the majority of my life against, but then experimenting with it, and seeing how much it impacted my life positively, I thought who better to adequately communicate this amazing beautiful plant than myself? Then I spent a lot of time researching, networking, and trying to find farms that I could have a direct relationship with and that I could have a call with weekly. I then took it from there. In addition to transparency, how else does your business model differ from other CBD brands? A lot of what’s on the market today is very scientific and very cold, which has some validity. Of course, research is very important, but I think a lot of companies in the CBD industry are not connecting their product to a real user. At Rosebud, we do. We also really try hard to sell a service first and then a product second. So we have very thorough customer service. We’re on DMs and emails all day. If we don’t have answers – we direct people in the right direction. What also separates Rosebud is our organic growing processes on our farms, which are unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. Our farmers really believe in restoring the land first, nurturing our plants organically, and providing what they can from the earth alone. Our farm was recently awarded the USDA Organic certification and it applies to this year. Come April, our products moving forward will be certified organic. Could you go into all the big and little things you personally do as CEO? I don’t think everyone is aware of all the work it takes to start and run a cannabis company. The day-to-day operation is intense and sometimes I show that on my Instagram.  I have a funny video on there of me on a call, while labeling boxes and doing a number of other tasks simultaneously. I honestly like doing everything myself at the moment, because it gives me an opportunity to perfect every aspect of the business before handing off certain functions to others. But the reason I’m still here is that I truly love every minute of it. I’m passionate about the product and the opportunity to build a life for myself. I love receiving testimonials from customers saying that their tremors have been significantly reduced or that their insomnia has gone away after having tried every over-the-counter or prescription medication on the market and then finally discovering Rosebud. And currently, you’re a one-woman-show, correct? You’re doing all this work single-handedly? That’s right, but is it a goal of mine to have every single piece of the company on my mind and my plate? It is not. I have three words, which define my goals for 2019: scale, refine, and expand. So I want to work hard on refining our place and who we are. And we’re looking to scale and bring on some team members and then hopefully expand. Today, everyone wants to be a CEO. Everyone raises funds and hires various teams to help, and people begin to lose control of their own company and their original sight and mission. They sell off shares in exchange for raising capital. While that model can be helpful to accelerate business, it’s never been an interest of mine. Running my own business is an extension of who I am and what I’m truly passionate about. I feel like when we launched, things took off a lot faster than I could have ever imagined, which is why it’s a been one-woman show at this time, but it’s wearing and tearing on me for sure. So definitely looking to hire people this year. Luckily you have Rosebud CBD to help with your anxiety. Speaking of which, tell us about some of Rosebud’s products. Everything we make at Rosebud is clean, pure, simple, and versatile. We have three strengths of CBD at 350mg, 700mg, and 1,000mg. Each batch of hemp at each formula by bottle size is put through a third-party controlled study, where we test 32+ more units each. Recently we launched our CBD salve at 350mg. The salve is made of certified organic ingredients in partnership with Lauren’s All Purpose Salve. What major lessons have you learned in the past nine months? First, I would advise people looking to break into the cannabis industry to not be as naïve as I was. While cannabis is all about friendliness, acceptance, and being open – it’s truly a peace offering at the end of the day – I went into this space thinking that everyone operated around those same values. Unfortunately, it’s an extremely greedy industry. Not every person within the industry adequately represents what cannabis stands for and that was a really hard lesson for me to learn. Second, I learned to button up Rosebud’s interactions with a strong legal team, to create strong agreements and contracts, and, unfortunately, to not meet with anyone until they sign an NDA. Third, I learned that it is OK to say no to people, events, and opportunities. It is really important to me that I remain in control of when, where, and how the brand of Rosebud is represented. Anything new and exciting planned for 2019? We have a lot of exciting plans and goals in 2019, which include brand refinement, elevating and updating our website, relaunching our subscription service, and a handful of new products that I am really excited to bring to market. You can expect more video content, more storytelling, and some really exciting Rosebud events and activations! (Rights of the text go to 420intel.com. Image is from shutterstock) Read the full article

[nyfacurrent]

Conversations | Carlen May-Mann’s “The Rat” Goes to the 2019 Sundance Film Festival

“It was important to me to take the film out of the darkness, and to explore spaces where, although the colors are bright and people are laughing, the horror from the house still lingers.”

“It’s Halloween night, and Renee is madly in love with Jim…”–that’s the premise for the new short horror film, The Rat, which takes the viewers into an eerie haunted house by following a young couple in love. The movie, set like a traditional slasher film, creates expectations of intrusion and surprise. But director and writer Carlen May-Mann, an emerging filmmaker who seeks to challenge the status quo and create social change, subverts the horror genre in The Rat by taking a refreshing twist to re-casting the narrative towards fears that exist underneath our everyday lives.

The Rat premieres at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival this week and is a loose companion piece for a longer, feature-length horror film, Strawberry Summer (co-written by Beck Kitsis), that is slated for production later in 2019. Strawberry Summer’s narrative centers around a young girl’s coming-of-age and being confronted with the dangers of predatory boys and men as she turns 14. Both films are Fiscally Sponsored by NYFA.

NYFA had the opportunity to speak with Carlen May-Mann and Beck Kitsis, producer of The Rat and co-writer/producer of Strawberry Summer, about the concept behind this pair of films and their vision for the horror genre. Read the interview below.

The Rat screens in the Shorts Program 4 at the Sundance Film Festival beginning Friday, January 25, 2019. See the full screening schedule here.

NYFA: How would you describe the visual style of The Rat?

Carlen May-Mann (Director and Writer): To be cheeky, I would describe the style of The Rat as Val Lewton meets Psycho in 1984.

The joy of making a haunted house film is that there is so much iconography to work from. I looked to the Bates Manor, Manderley, the Amityville Horror house, and to recent examples like The Others and The Babadook. There were basics that I knew needed to be there (peeling wallpaper, creaking stairs, a slow-moving, creeping camera) that evoke horror on sight. But this film doesn’t exist entirely in that world. It was important to me to take it out of the darkness and to explore spaces where, although the colors are bright and people are laughing, the horror from the house still lingers.

NYFA: Why write horror? What challenges or opportunities does writing horror give that non-horror films do not?

CMM: Throughout the history of cinema, horror has been used as a subversive tool, a way of calling out for social change. As someone who believes it is imperative to address social issues in art, I was drawn to horror as I struck out on my own as a filmmaker.

Scaring people is not something that should be taken lightly, both in art and in life. Horror filmmakers, myself included, should constantly be asking ourselves why we are putting our audiences in this vulnerable state.

NYFA: Do The Rat’s main characters, Jim and Renee, represent archetypes from film tradition?

CMM: My hope with The Rat is that, at first, the viewer conceives of Jim and Renee as the sort of couple who inhabit an ’80s slasher flick: young, “All American,” a touch too bold for their own good, and therefore doomed. These characters often suffer horrible deaths, but the viewer isn’t asked to care much about their demises past the point of superficial shock.

It’s a unique asset to have genre- and cultural-based archetypes of horror behind me. I can use these conventions when they are helpful to me, and subvert them when they’re counter to what I’m trying to convey. It is important to the viewing of The Rat that viewers use their preformed expectations to inform these characters, until the twist of the film, when they are unable to do so anymore and must reexamine the biases that they brought with them.

NYFA: You commissioned original music from the indie-pop band Told Slant. How does the music shape the mood and style of the film?

Beck Kitsis (Producer): I met Told Slant a.k.a. Felix Walworth through playing music around New York City. My old band The Meltaways played a show with their project Told Slant at the Silent Barn in 2016. Around that same time, Carlen and I were beginning to develop projects centered on the emotional sting of growing up, and I thought back to Felix’s music, which also explored some of that same emotional rawness.

NYFA: How is The Rat’s narrative similar or different to the upcoming film, Strawberry Summer?

BK: For me, the biggest difference between the two films comes from the worlds each character inhabits. For The Rat, this is a world like ours, where well-intentioned men sometimes scare us to the point of becoming literal monsters. For Strawberry Summer, this is a world where men are born monsters, one where we have to wake up and recognize them as a threat so that we can protect ourselves.

NYFA: Why did you choose NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship?

BK: We chose NYFA because we wanted to collaborate with an organization that would give us the tools to chase after bigger grants and support our greater social impact mission. As our project has progressed, NYFA has been there every step of the way, so we are extremely happy with our partnership. NYFA was the first organization to get behind Strawberry Summer, and that means a lot to us.

- Interview conducted by Priscilla Son, Program Associate, Fiscal Sponsorship & Finance

Are you an artist or a new organization interested in expanding your fundraising capacity through NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship? We accept out-of-cycle reviews year-round. No-fee applications are accepted on a quarterly basis, and our next deadline is March 31. Click here to learn more about the program and to apply. 

Image Credits: (From top to bottom) Film Still, Matt Harvey; Bio Photos of Carlen May-Mann and Beck Kitsis from left to right, courtesy of Danni Lin and Carlen May-Mann; Film Stills courtesy of NITE SHIFT.

[signalboobs]

first impressions (a fantasy AU fic)

@martinmoran ask and ye shall recieve. let me tell u the story of how these two fine soldiers met.

 Context: When one applies to be a member of the royal guard, after passing all the tests to actually get in, they must train. This takes place on the castle grounds. All of the guards in training eat, sleep, and train together as a squadron. They’re paired off to give each of them a “go-to mission partner”, for when they actually go out in the field. There’s not a lot of choice in the matter. It’s really predetermined.

-----

“Beatrice Wells.”

The young woman stepped forward. She could hear men laughing behind her, the other guards in training. They didn’t want her here. There had never been a woman on the guard before. It was unheard of. She was here through an incredible exception, and she would not waste it. She kept her focus on the commanding guard in front of her. 

“Your partner will be Michael Brooks.”

“What?!” she heard a whiny voice behind her say. “No, c’mon. I don’t want to train with a girl.”

“That decision is not up to you, soldier.”

“I specifically requested to be working with Chris Lynch. I’ve mentioned it to every superior I’ve met here.”

Beatrice’s stance shifted uncomfortably as the guard looked down his list. She couldn’t believe the man was even entertaining the possibility of favoritism. When she observed the guards from her lady-in-waiting position, this kind of talk would be punished. He’d have to run laps or do push ups or… something.

“Christopher Lynch is paired with Anthony Emsworth.”

“Captain,” a different voice called out. Beatrice looked to her side to see a muscular boy with light blonde hair step forward. Christopher, apparently. “I would also like to request working with Michael Brooks. My partner could become the girl’s partner.”

Beatrice looked in front of her again, trying to control her anger. The captain looked down the row of men. “Emsworth, step forward.” She didn’t look at the man who stepped forward. She kept her eyes planted directly in front of her, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from betraying her emotions.

“Yes sir.” The voice that responded was even and polite.

“Would you mind working with Beatrice Wells in your training?”

Mind?! Beatrice was fuming. There shouldn’t have been a choice in this at all.

“No sir. I wouldn’t.”

“Good. Fine. Beatrice Wells, your partner is Anthony Emsworth.”

Beatrice turned to face her new partner, who had turned to face her in the same way. Instantly, she knew why Christopher also wanted a different partner. He was about half a foot taller than her, with broad shoulders and gleaming black hair. His eyes, deep and dark brown, were looking into her blue ones. His skin was much darker than any of the other people in that courtyard.

The two misfits, paired together.

“I don’t know why we didn’t put them together in the first place,” the commanding guard mumbled, crossing their names off his list before resuming in his booming voice. “Michael Brooks, your partner is Christopher Lynch. If you ever disrespect me again, you’ll be punished. Stand together.”

Beatrice stepped back into line as the other soldier walked to her side, standing next to her. Brooks and Lynch high fived as they moved to each other. She wanted to murder them. Anthony didn’t acknowledge her. She didn’t acknowledge him. They stood silently for the rest of the partnering.

Once every trainee had a partner, the officer continued. “Right. This partner will be your closest companion. Eventually, you will be sent on missions or into battle together. Assuming you both make it through this program...” He trailed off, glancing Beatrice and Anthony. “You need to be able to trust this man with your life. That’s why from this moment on you will do everything together. You need to be comfortable with each other by the end of this week. For the duration of this two month training program, you will be living with your partner.”

The guard paused again, eyeing the man that stood next to Beatrice. “And I expect everyone to be able to control any urges they might have…” She shifted uncomfortably at the silent implication. He didn’t move at all. “Is that clear, soldiers?”

“Sir, yes, sir.” They replied, nearly in unison.

“Good. Sir Moran will show you to your rooms. Everything you need will be in there.”

“Emsworth and Wells, this is your room.”

The door opened to reveal a bare room, with a bed, a small dresser on each side, and a candle for each of them on opposite walls. Beatrice entered the space slowly, looking around at her new home. Back at the door, she could hear Moran continuing to speak to her partner.

“God sure did smile on you, eh? I mean, living here with a beautiful woman. You’re the lucky one, kid.”

Beatrice’s cheeks burned as her back faced the two men. Anthony didn’t respond right away. The statement hung in the room. Finally, the trainee broke the silence. “Is that all, sir?” he asked, his voice cool.

A pause. Papers rustling. Clearing throat. “Uh, yeah, that’s all. Um, dinner’s in three hours. Just… y’know, bond, or whatever. Keep it to the room or the courtyard.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The guard closed the door as he left and suddenly it was just the two of them. They looked at each other, both unsure of what to do next. Beatrice broke the silence, trying to start a conversation.

“Do you have a preference for which side?”

“No.”

Silence again. Bea slowly moved over to the right side of the room, sitting on the bed. The man moved to the left side, sitting on his bed. They were silent again. Beatrice started looking around the room, avoiding eye contact until they figured out how to start talking to each other.

“I’m sorry about this situation.” The man said after a moment. Nothing in his voice sounded insincere. “I know you must have been looking forward to being treated just like everybody else.”

Beatrice looked to the man, who was looking calmly back at her. She crossed her legs on the bed. “I’m sure you’re feeling the same.” She replied carefully, leaning against the wall.

“I am.” He said.

She nodded, fingering the scratchy blanket she sat on. “They don’t want us to make it through this training program.”

“When I came to receive my uniform, they assumed I was a lost servant.”

“They recognized me from the Queen’s lady-in-waiting court and scolded me for not being with Her Majesty.” Beatrice shook her head. “I’ve been waiting for this day for years. Training every chance I could.”

“With swords?” he asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Not really,” she admitted. “They would never let me use them for a significant amount of time. I knew enough to pass the tests, but that’s about it. I studied archery, mostly. A more graceful sport, in the Queen’s opinion.” Beatrice smiled wickedly. “I can take out a squirrel that’s 200 feet away.”

Anthony grew quiet for a moment, thinking. “I don’t know anything about archery,” he said. “But I’ve trained with swords since I was ten years old.”

“Your family let you have a sword at ten?” Beatrice asked, her eyes wide. She could never imagine being in a position like that. Starting to train for the royal guard as a child? The mere concept excited her, but the following reality made her worried. She was 18 and years behind her fellow soldiers. But the opportunity Anthony had received seemed lost on him, for he simply shrugged.

“It wasn’t mine,” he clarified. “It was a family sword, used to defend our home from thieves. But as I grew older, the expectation to be in the military was placed on me, and so I had to be properly trained to ensure my acceptance.”

“Well, you’re here.” Beatrice said, smiling softly. “Eight years later, you made it.”

Anthony’s neutral expression did not change. “Yes, I did.” A simple statement of fact. No pride exhibited. “Or, rather, I completed the first step of getting my foot in the door. We do have to train. They could still cut us.”

Beatrice grimaced. “I don’t want them to do that.”

“Neither do I.”

There was a moment of silence in the room. Beatrice looked to the door, curiously. “Did they say we could use the courtyard?”

“I believe so.”

“… so as you can see the only real difference in the swords is the distribution of the weight. The longsword weights the same as the smaller rapier, it’s just distributed more evenly throughout the weapon. It’s better for generating cutting power.”

Beatrice nodded, weighing the longsword in her hands. She felt powerful just touching the weapon. Holding it to herself, she felt like a true knight. Anthony was helpful and very patient with his explanations, which she was thankful for. After this, she was to teach him about archery and she knew he was just as eager for that as she was to learn about swords. Even now as she became distracted by the simple experience of holding a sword in her hands, he explained the purpose and advantages of the rapier, which he held.

“Therefore, no sword is more masculine or feminine than the other, because they are both extremely powerful and dangerous weapons designed for specific tasks on the battlefield.” He looked to his partner, the corners of his mouth turned up in a slight smile. “Logistics aside, it is exciting to hold a sword for the first time, is it not?”

“It is,” she agreed, a grin spreading across her face.

“Shall we?”

“Yes…” she trailed off, looking to her partner with a perplexed expression. “How should I address you?”

“My name should suffice.”

Beatrice nodded, smiling. “Yes, I assumed as much. But, you should know, I’d prefer that you address me by my last name.” Anthony raised an eyebrow. Beatrice scrambled to explain. “Our superior officers will be addressing us as such anyway. Or, they’re supposed to, at least. I’m slightly concerned that they will continue to refer to me by my first name. If my peers adopt the practice of last name, perhaps they’ll be inclined not to forget.”

“I understand,” Anthony said, nodding. “The reasoning is clear and logical. In the interest of equal footing, I think it’s only fitting that you address me by my last name as well.”

Beatrice nodded. “Emsworth, correct?”

“Yes... Wells?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, Wells… shall we?”

A smile spread across Beatrice’s face as her partner traded her longsword for a rapier, better for practicing. “Yes Emsworth, I believe we shall.”

“We’ll start with the stance…”

[plushkiwi]

Sleepwalker (5/5)

If you have a nasty bruise, don’t use any ointment. Just suffer.

###

Alex looked down at Lena—or what was supposed to be Lena. The large wolf was sticking close to Kara’s side, looking much smaller in its cowed state. Alex had seen her shift with her own two eyes, but it was still hard to wrap her head around.

At the sound of a barely audible whine, Kara frowned, reaching out automatically to rest a hand on the wolf’s scruff. Her fingers dug into thick fur. “Alright, explain.”

Alex and Hank exchanged a look, an air of awkwardness hanging around them.

“I was suspicious of your friend here,” Hank said, talking to Kara and Alex like Lena wasn’t there. “I heard an undercurrent of thoughts that, under the circumstances, sounded like mind control.”

Both Kara and Alex shot Hank a similar surprised look.

Hank folded his arms, finally glanced down at Lena. In response, she pressed her snout against Kara’s skirt, partially hiding her face. “The wolf had a will of its own, based on instinct, but was interrupted at times by a foreign voice,” he explained. “I’ve seen it happen before. And to inform you, Supergirl, would put the animal on alert, possibly ruining the chance to intercept a hostile.”

Kara pressed her lips together, not happy with the kidnapping but unable to dispute the logic. “Ugh, logic,” she muttered under her breath, earning herself a glance from the wolf. Kara relented with a sigh. “I still think you owe her an apology, at the very least. You almost exposed her!”

Hank straightened, uncomfortable, but Kara stood firm, all but demanding the apology. He looked down at the animal. “I’m sorry, miss Luthor. It won’t happen again.”

“And I am, too, for what it’s worth,” Alex added. She’d been suspicious, yes, but the entire thing had felt wrong as soon as she saw the scared animal pacing in the cage. The least she could do was say sorry.

The wolf moved away from Kara enough so it could see them properly, appearing a bit taller than it was a second ago.

Kara smiled at the small change in demeanor. That was as much of an acceptance they were going to get from Lena in that form. When she looked up again, she saw two pairs of curious eyes on her. “What?”

Alex gestured between Kara and Lena. “Can you communicate like this?”

“No?” she answered hesitantly, and of course it was then that Kara and Lena turned towards each other to share a look in perfect sync. At the sight of equally curious green eyes, Kara breathed an, “Oh.”

The wolf tilted its head.

A bright smile snuck up on Kara as she straightened up again. “I guess we can!”

The mood must have been infectious because the wolf started wagging its tail, chest puffing out slightly with pride.

Despite herself, Alex couldn’t resist the small smile tugging at her lips.

###

“So, uh, I might have seen something that I shouldn’t have,” Kara said, loud enough for Lena to hear in the other room. Really, she’d meant to leave after dropping her off at her apartment, but she didn’t just want to disappear without—she wasn’t sure what. She’d already said her goodbye.

A moment of silence went by, and Kara had already started kicking herself on her way to the balcony, before Lena appeared in the doorway wearing a thick, fluffy robe. She had her arms crossed across her chest, face set in something between concern and confusion. “What do you mean?”

Kara froze, tried to play off her escape attempt as lazy pacing. Lena’s hair was wild and curly directly after shifting, it seemed, and Kara couldn’t help but think that maybe she had a hand in that. It made her stomach flutter, and it took a moment for her to find her words again. “When you shifted,” she said quickly, closing the distance between them until they were standing at human speaking distance. “I—I didn’t mean to look, but you have a bruise on your back.”

The air of distrust melted away like snow in the sun as Lena’s facial features slackened with relief. Instead, she smiled a tiny lopsided smile. “That was actually from when my wolf played hero the other night.”

Kara’s brows rose slightly. “For me?”

“Maybe.” Lena shrugged a shoulder, looking much smaller in the large robe.

That is, until Kara realized she was actually smaller than her without heels. Her entire appearance was strangely endearing to her at the moment. Which was probably what pushed her to blurt, “Wait right here!” before zooming off to fetch her secret weapon.

###

Lena had barely decided to sit down before Kara was back, holding a small, round plastic container.

“I don’t bruise, but Alex does. She says this cuts recovery time in half,” Kara said, approaching Lena to stand within an arm’s length.

Lena didn’t need to inhale particularly deeply to smell that whatever was inside smelled medicinal and, to be honest, kind of vile. But Kara looked so proud of herself for being able to help that Lena couldn’t say no. “I’ll need some help applying it.”

And that is how she ended up holding a towel to her chest, robe undone and hanging around her waist. It was strange to expose herself like this to anyone, but the fact that it was Kara put her at ease.

A moment passed.

Lena glanced over her shoulder, wondering if she had catastrophically misinterpreted the situation and Kara had left her to struggle with the ointment herself. Yet she could see Kara sitting behind her from the corner of her eye. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes!” Kara jolted slightly, uncapping the lid. “Oh God, this smells,” she muttered to herself.

Lena chuckled, secretly pleased that her sense of smell was better than that of Supergirl. Still, it didn’t bother her that she was going to reek the rest of the night. It was much too nice to have someone caring for her in this way.

“I’m—I’m gonna move your hair,” Kara said, swiping long hair over her shoulder.

Lena was grateful she was facing away from Kara, as that gave her the opportunity to hide her smile. The night may not have been the best one, but this more than made up for it.

“I think this is going to feel nice? I’m not sure. Here goes.”

Before Lena could even speculate about what that meant, warm fingers spread a slippery substance onto her back. The warm hand was nice, despite the twinge of pain she felt whenever Kara pressed a little too firmly, but the ointment didn’t do much besides lubricate the–oh.

It tingled.

She suddenly wasn’t so sure whether it was a good thing she couldn’t see Kara, because she was focusing on every sensation but sight and smell (it was a good thing the ointment drowned out everything, especially Kara’s scent). It brought sounds to her attention that she would’ve otherwise ignored, like Kara’s shaky breathing and stuttering heart.

Kara was nervous.

Lena felt her face warm at the implications, despite telling herself it was definitely nothing.

“Oh wow,” Kara muttered, removing her hand.

“What?” Lena asked, grateful for the interruption. She turned her head, saw that Kara was staring at her back in amazement. “What is it?” she repeated with an edge of worry.

“Um.” Kara glanced up at Lena’s face, greasy hand hovering mid air. “The bruise is disappearing?”

Lena turned her torso as if that’d help her get a better view of her back, but all it did was push her into Kara’s personal space. When their eyes clashed once again, Lena suddenly understood.

If kindness fuelled her supernatural side, love would send it into overdrive.

And Lena desperately hoped that she wasn’t the only one hovering closer, that when soft, soft lips met her own, she hadn’t misread her look. That was why she kept the kiss oh so short, leaned back slightly to peg Kara’s reaction. Though that was a mission in itself because Kara followed after her, trying to capture another kiss.

She smiled into the second kiss, drawing it out as long as she could. And it was great. It healed aches she didn’t realize she had, calmed her down to a point she’d never experienced before, and cleared her skin—

Okay, maybe that one was a little embellishing.

“Kara,” she whispered against her lips, pressing another lazy kiss there.

“Hmn?” Kara hummed, too busy responding to the kiss to say much else.

“I thought I could take it, but if I smell that ointment one more second, I may become unwell.”

Kara snorted, then promptly apologized for laughing in Lena’s face like that.

Lena shook her head with a smile, tugged her robe back in position before standing up.

Kara put the lid on the container and followed suit, looking around for something to wipe her hand on.

Lena stepped into Kara, took her hand and cleaned it with the towel she had previously been using to protect her modesty. “I’m going to take a shower,” she said softly, feeling Kara’s eyes on her. She looked up to find that she did, indeed, have her undivided attention. “Don’t be a stranger.” And she bid her goodnight with one last kiss, leaving a happily dazed Kara behind.

### bonus?? ###

“What is that smell?” Alex asked, looking around the kitchen.

Kara, back in her civilian clothing, did her best to be as inconspicuous as possible when she turned on the tap and began washing her hands for the third time. “What smell?”

Alex honed in on Kara, immediately suspicious at the fact that Kara practically claimed her senses were less sharp than hers. “It smells like—like… oh my God, Kara, you didn’t,” she deadpanned.

Not suspecting such an answer, Kara shot her a strange look. “What?”

“You used the regeneration salve on Lena. With your hands,” she added, eyes widening as if that explained everything.

“What makes you say I used my hands—you know what? That doesn’t matter,” she caught herself before she dug her own grave, turning off the water and drying her hands with a nearby towel. “Why does it matter that I helped her?”

Alex opened her mouth, but instead of sounds coming out, she just frowned, and eventually closed it again.

“Ah-hah!” Kara exclaimed victoriously, making her way into the living room.

Alex followed, disgruntled. “No, no, this conversation isn’t over. Just give me a minute.”

When she didn’t have a good reason that wasn’t based on bias ten minutes later, Kara claimed her victory. Again.