#spare apparel never hurts

[rising-blood-moon]

I spend on accident 80g on a piece of apparel I already got. I'm now trying to convince my brain that there are infinitely worse things that could've happened.

[nishipostitz]

how haikyuu boys would react seeing you in revealing home clothes(or you in general for the 1st time[in forevaaa])

part 2

tw! little to none. mention of cleavage in kita’s, and curves. mentions of hair that can be put in a ponytail. ab workouts 💪 summer bod goals in hinatas. gn!reader x haikyuu boys. everything i wrote so far has been gn :) uh, basically crack(comedy) and little fluff idk!/&:!/&/

characters, kita, tendou, hinata, bokuto

kita

- boy was shocked 😔

- and so were you

“coming!” you said as you ran downstairs. your headphones and phone in hand bc you were just jamming to music while cleaning the bathroom. you had received a text a few hours earlier about your brother needing your help later bc he just bought a new tv. so of course, you werent expecting mr. kita shinsuke 😑. instead you were expecting rin. now, you were met face to face with kita’s skunk like hair. and he was met with your gloves in hand, headphones on the brink of falling out, and your cleavage hanging low in your top. dont look down. dont look down. you were still oblivious of your apparel. “uh.. hello? im down here you know” gosh. now i have to look down.. “what do you even get for being so tall anyway?” a nice vi-*mental slap* stop it kita. this is very un-gentleman like of you. “uh so why are you here again” you gave him a look. “oh suna called me over to help him bring in a tv” he said trying not to blush. “alright. have your fun kids” you said as you walked away, headphones still hanging loosely on your head. man.. sweats really define their curv- GODH STOP IT KITA. THEYRE YOUR TEAMMATES SIBLING FOR GOD SAKES. you entered the bathroom to continue cleaning and before that, you adjusted your headphones and everything. only now realizing how hoey you looked in front of your little brother’s teammate 😔 huh, so i guess thats why he tried to resist looking down. my, what a gentleman you are.. you were thinking one thing in the bathroom, and kita was sharting his pants downstairs trying to clear his mind. (ik this is not like him at all, but i just had to do it bc it was funny..to me-)

tendou

- his face starts turning the same color as his hair

- you were embarrassed tbh 💁‍♀️

“make yourself at home ig” you say as you tie your hair up. this was ridiculous. how could tendou start blushing at the fact that youre tying your hair in front of him while he’s on the couch. tendou had somehow barged into your house while waiting for your little brother, toshi. you knew nothing much went on in his mind, but apparently, your little brother leaked the info on where the spare keys were hidden. so tendou used that to come inside your home. he wasn’t expecting you to be crawling on the floor. especially with short shorts on. why were you crawling? “aw man it hurts” you cried out loud. you had a food coma. to you, it was a good idea to watch mukbangs while eating leftovers as a mukbang. and your stomach couldn’t handle it. luckily, you were being smart so you wore loose clothes. but you were still dumb for thinking you could eat a lot. so now, youre laying on the couch with tendou. him sitting like a statue at the edge, while youre sprawled out. “why are you sitting so tensely? chill a bit. i dont bite. ‘m not necessarily into that” you say. he blushes even more. “i-im fine thanks- TOSHI!” yelling out, hoping your brother can hurry up. “yk, hes never coming down if youre calling him like that. you gotta go up there and pull his ears” tendou swore he could NEVER do that. especially not with ushijima. but here you were, doing the very thing he said he wouldnt do. and you were a whole 8 inches shorter too. “problem solved” you said as you dusted off your hands.

hinata

- yells… a LOT

- hes gonna start praying bc hes scared he sinned for looking at you for too long thinking it was lust but it was actually just curiosity.. 💀

this was only his second time over to noya’s house. he came here today to attend a study date actually, he was here to learn more libero moves and be cooler. but he just HAD to enter the wrong door when noya told him where the bathroom was cliche ik “SWEET MAMA!” he yelled out. you were honestly shocked too. you were in the middle of doing your secret workouts for abs before summer and some ginger just yelled and popped into your room. you tried to play it off cool. “and who are you 🤨? do i know you? or are you another idiot who decided to hang out with noya?” “HEYY!” hinata was flabbergasted. he thought noya was above average looking, but this human right here who could be related to him was ATTRACTIVE. “how could something like that be related to you?” he asked, pointing at you and noya. “oh we’re not, hes just adopted” you say calmly before trying to proceed with your workout as if you werent embarrassed one bit. due to this kid’s innocence, you could act calmer. “-sorry but where’s the bathroom?” hinata tried to break the awkwardness. “its one door down from my door” you said before waiting for him to leave so you could continue your workout and not end up looking like a sloth for summer. this time, you locked your door. after his awaited potty break, hinata rushed back to noya’s room. “are you really adopted?” “really man. really? my older sister just likes saying that. im not adopted..” “yk, theres always a chance tho..” “huh. youre right. let me check with my parents- MOM!”

bokuto

- great.. he was at your house, and you didnt KNOW.

- he took a shower and you thought it was akaashi..

“AAAAAAH” “AHAAHH” screams emitted frim the bathroom shower stall and door. “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BATHROOM?” “WHO ARE YOU? AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY BEST FRIENDS HOUSE?” “first of all, i help pay rent for this house. so it’s basically mine too. but answer my question first 🤨” bokuto was flabbergasted(2.0). “rent?” you nodded. “so youre the sister akaashi was embarrassed of showing me..” he nodded. you were offended. “jee thanks for telling me skunk head” bokuto’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “fyi, its actually the do of the owl. so dont be rude to my hair do” you rolled your eyes. “well, i mean. i think akaashi’s totally wrong. i think youre quite hot” bokuto said. only realizing what he said too late. you were shocked. “-tempered. you started screaming when you saw me 😟” you slapped you forehead. “akaashi’s friend, accept that you called me hot. bc ik i am. and second, you were screaming your lungs out even more than i did” bokuto was speechless. “well wouldnt you be hot though? sweat pants and a sweater..?” you looked over your clothes again. “well ig, idk. but hurry up and get out of the shower so i can use it. but before we do, explain to me why my little brother left an idiot in our house without telling me” in short. lets say bo left your house with a hottie’s number saved in his contacts.

[jeiji]

can i request the karasuno third years seeing their s/o falling out of love?

topic : angst

featuring : sugawara , daichi , asahi

warnings : heart ache.

a/n : omfg this made me cry, i said i wouldnt do angst alone, but.. FINEEE :'((

❥ SUGAWARA smiles softly, admiring your figure as you move gracefully around the kitchen. he always loved this, seeing you cook for him, he couldn't imagine anyone else doing this for him. the tune you've been humming for hours at a time seemed to stop. and then you turned to face him. " hey, koushi.. " you mumbled, loud enough for him to hear. " yes, love? " he smiles softly. god, this is why you couldn't break it to him. he couldn't know, not now. seeing him happy only pained you even more. you loved him. just not as much as you did before. hiding that got harder, but you knew. you knew you had to tell him sooner or later. his smiles fades once yours did, and he knew it wasn’t good. “ what’s wrong, love? “ he asked worryingly. you didn’t realize it, but tears were streaming down your face. you didn’t wanna hurt him, but only faking your feelings would hurt him more. “ im sorry. “ you said. “ i don’t feel the same way anymore. “ as if time stopped, suga’s world came crumbling down. he always knew there was a chance this day would come. it lingered in the back if his mind that one day, you wouldn’t be his. this was the day, the day he had to let you go. he only smiled, a painful smile, and said “ its okay. “ before helping you decided what you wanted to do.

❥ DAICHI you forced a laugh when you were out having dinner with your boyfriend’s family. it’s been happening for awhile, the same empty feeling. you never knew why it felt wrong, but it didn’t feel the same. his parents treated you like their own, and you couldn’t feel happier. but.. the moment was ruined when you stared into the eyes of the one you love no more. he smiles, to which you reciprocate, but it doesn’t feel the same. you no longer feel his warmth, or the love you used to feel at the beginning of your relationship. you didn’t feel happy anymore, and pretending you are only makes you feel worse. you didn’t wanna string him along, but you didn’t wanna hurt him. thoughts swirled in your mind as the voices of Daichi and his parents tuned out. he places his hand on your knee, as you flinched at the touch. “ you okay there, babe? ” he asks. you only nod, flashing him a weak smile. he loved you, but you didn’t. so when you both went home that night, you decided to tell him tomorrow. not wanting to ruin a great day for him, you drifted to sleep. with his arms wrapped around your waist, you couldn’t help but break out into a sob. “ babe? baby, what’s wrong? ” he asks worriedly, sitting up from his position to cradle your body on his lap. you relax in his touch, your head on his chest. “ im sorry, im so sorry. ” you sobbed. he shushed you softly, laying delicate kisses around your face. “ sawamura.. ” you called. he hummed as a response. “ i don’t think i love you anymore. ” he freezes. looking into your eyes slowly. his voice barely above a whisper, “ i understand. ” the next morning, you moved out and away, never to see him.. again.

❥ ASAHI spares you a few glances, before coming up to wrap his arms around your waist. you smile, returning his hug. this was how it used to be, but now, he’s never home. slowly, it was as if your feelings for him were never there. you knew that being an apparel designer can be tough, but he never spared any time for you anymore. and it was painful. you never wanted to let go. but with how things are going, you decide it for the best. he can focus on his job, and you can focus on yourself. he came home at 11 that night, yelling out “ im home! ” you greet him, but before he could give you a kiss, you turned away. he frowns at the gesture. he knows he’s been busy, but you know he’d always love you, right? But you didn’t think he did anymore. distancing yourself was easier than it should’ve been, but when you saw him again, you finally realized it. He still loved you. but you didn’t. “ asahi.. ”. hearing you say his name that way made his heart ache. he begs and begs, but you’ve already made up your mind. what was point of being with him when he brushes you off? there wasn’t anything left to do besides… bid him goodbye. it would’ve been easy, but his sobs, and him saying he never meant for this to happen.. it makes me contemplate my decision. but, the damage’s been done. and it’s been done for awhile now. all you can look back on now is the memories. knowing you won’t make new ones in the future. but who knows what the future holds? will you come back to him? he can only hope as you walk through the door whispering, “ goodbye. ”

[chickensarentcheap]

Never Gonna Be Alone- Chapter 14

Warnings: possible body dysmorphia, mentions of past trauma and abuse

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @alievans007, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @tragiclyhip​

Author’s Note: I have a serious case of extremely low self esteem (thanks anon hate!) and I can’t promise when the next chapter will be out. I’m hoping within the next few days. Fingers crossed!  So I’d post the one I was holding ‘hostage’. 

“I’m not too sure about this, Des,” Esme grumbles from behind a change room door in Bloomingdales.

It’s the last stop of the afternoon before a well deserved lunch; highly praised Thai food at a restaurant near Rockefeller that Desi had to book weeks in advance. It’s been years since she’d been THAT engrossed in a shopping trip; her feet aching and her cheeks hurting from laughing so much and dozens of bags in her possession. For twelve years she’s been caught up in her role as a mother; putting her own needs and wants on the back burner in favour of always making sure the kids never went without. Even with a ridiculous amount of money in the bank, she’d never concentrated on herself; perfectly content with her quiet and unassuming life in Australia, living rather simply and not needing much more than shorts, t-shirts, a small selection of bathing suits and a handful of jeans. It feels strange to be out in something other than her normal and preferred attire; used to choosing comfort over actual style and doing little more than throwing her hair up into a ponytail or messy bun. It had been nice to experience all of that again and had found herself most missing those younger days. When she’d pass the time with hours of window shopping and mindless browsing; daydreaming about all of the designer clothes and shoes and handbags she’d one day purchase if she ever won the lottery. But back then, it had been just that: daydreaming. And she can’t help but feel slightly guilty for splurging and buying things just for the sake of having them; outfits she may likely never wear and will hang in the closet with their original price tags still attached.

It’s hard to break free of that line of thinking; easily remembering the hard times when there’d been hardly any food in the cupboards and there’d been real worry about whether the utilities would be shut off or not. When Millie was still growing inside of her and she’d been trying to adjust to her new life in a new country; living with a man she barely knew but she already was already falling madly and crazily in love with. Materialistic things have never truly mattered; never heartbroken when she couldn’t afford brand new clothes or when their little apartment was filled with mismatched second hand furniture. Despite the financial concerns, they’d been truly happy. Engrossed in a ‘honeymoon stage’ of unbridled passion and lust; finding themselves thoroughly exploring and enjoying one another’s bodies while getting to know each other. It hadn’t been the most conventional of lifestyles; two broken people finding solace and healing in one another in Dhaka, an unplanned pregnancy, and quick and hasty cohabitation. And there’d been hard times; little quirks and hangs up the other had that annoyed them, heated arguments over stupid things, lingering trauma and plenty of nightmares thanks to their harrowing experience in Bangladesh. But somehow they’d made it work; a temperamental and moody Australian and a feisty and over emotional American. Falling in love despite their often enormous differences and making something so beautiful and lasting out of almost nothing.

“I don't know if this dress is my thing,” she frets, and smooths her hands down the side of the ridiculously expensive dress. It’s far more than she’d ever imagined paying for a single piece of clothing; immediately checking the price tag and having a small coronary when Desi had shoved the garment in her direction. Money is of no concern; in a thousand lifetimes the personal bank account will never run dry, nor will there never be a steady flow of impressive income coming in. But it just isn’t who she is; a woman with her wardrobe filled with designer apparel, far more comfortable in sweats from Target and one of her husband’s ratty t-shirts. “I’m just not too sure about it.”

“What is there NOT to be sure about?” Her friend’s voice filters in from the waiting area. “It’s Herve Leger. One of his best pieces yet. And it’s fabulous and it will look even more fabulous on you.”

“It’s too short,” she laments, and tries in vain to pull the hem down closer to her knees. “I don’t have the legs for this.”

“You don’t need legs for days to slay in that dress. And Big E, I’ve seen you in shorts. I know you’ve got killer stems. You can definitely pull this off. You’re worrying over nothing.”

“But it’s too tight. Way too tight.”

Desi sighs in exasperation. “It’s supposed to be tight. It’s a bandage dress.”

“It shows my rolls.”

“Excuse you? WHAT roles? Like you have rolls. Bitch, please.”

“I’ve had seven kids. Believe me, I have rolls. I’m twenty pounds heavier than when I first met Tyler. Twenty-two, actually.”

“And does he give a shit? No. I bet he likes the curves. I don’t see him complaining. Or looking at other women. He only has eyes for you.”

“Most biased man on earth,” she mutters, and studies her form from all sides. Easily remembering what her body had looked like almost thirteen years ago; thin and toned and extremely fit. A far cry from the ‘softness’ she possesses now; dips and valleys and curves where none had ever existed before.

“Isn’t his opinion the only one that really matters? Doesn’t he find you a straight up hottie?”

“That is not the point. He could be just trying to spare my feelings, you know.”

Desi gives a derisive snort. “Isn’t he still tripping over himself trying to get into her pants every available chance he gets? Quit your bitching. You’ve got a beautiful man that worships at the temple of YOU. Now get out here and let me see you.”

“Rolls, Desi. I have rolls.”

“Bullshit. And even if you did, that dress is like a corset. All the different bands built in? They hold everything. And I doubt you have anything to hold in the first place. Don’t make me break down the door and drag you out here. I am not above creating a scene. You should know this by now.”

“Don’t you dare go full queen diva on me.”

“Oh, I will. I will kick that door in and drag your tiny ass on out here for the world to see. Desmond Brownell does not play games. He’s on a mission. And his mission is to see you in that Herve Leger. Don’t make me pull a mommy move. Don’t make me count to three.”

“I tend to go with five, but…”

“Five then. Don’t make me go that direction. Because it will not end well for you. Or me. There’ll be tears. And not on my part. And most likely security guards tossing us both out on our asses. So we do this either the easy way or the hard way. And believe me, you don’t want the hard way.”

Sighing heavily, she smooths down the back and sides of the dress and once more tries to pull the bottom closer to her knees. To no avail. It is so far out of her comfort zone; a woman that insists on always covering her bathing suit with a t-shirt and refuses to remove it. “I am going to sneak into your house at night and kill you in your sleep,” she declares, as she undoes the hook latch on the door and swings it open. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. Keep your eyes closed. Until I tell you to open them.”

“I can’t believe YOU don’t realize that you’re a bonafide MILF. Even if it’s not for you, how bad could it be?”

“Ever seen a sausage when you try and stuff too much into the casing?”

“Have you ever talked to a shrink? You do not look the way you think you look. What DO you see when you look in the damn mirror?”

“I see gray hair, wrinkles, and stretch marks. I see frumpy and plain and boring and just…” sighing, she steps into the middle of the waiting area and frowns at her reflection being cast in several different mirrors. “...old. I see old.”

“I think you’ve done lost your damn mind. Shred brains cell with every baby you had. Because you sure as hell don’t look old. Not even close. Can I look yet?”

“Do you want to be traumatized?”

“Do you WANT me to beat your ass? Tell on you? I’ll tell your hubby. Don’t underestimate me. Then both of us will get on your ass and then what?”

“He’s hardly a good judge. He’d tell me I look good in a garbage bag. He is proof that love IS blind.”

“He is proof that there’s good men out there. Good loyal, faithful men. That love every inch of their woman. Inside and out. You know how lucky you are? To have someone like that? Do you see anyone strong enough to drag him off? I’m sure he’s had plenty of opportunities.”

“If the thirsty housewives back home and the new neighbour had their way, he’d be getting all kinds of ass. All kinds of variety.”

“What new neighbour?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you over lunch. But yeah, he’s got a harem of women that would love for him to be tapping it.”

“But he loves tapping YOUR ass. And only your ass. Does he have a brother? Have I ever asked that? A gay brother by chance? Or a gay friend? Bi friend? Help me out here.”

“No brothers. No siblings at all. No gay friends. Not that I know of. But you know who WOULD have a gay friend? My sister in law.”

“I thought he didn’t have siblings?”

“Not Tyler. My sister’s wife. Shaena. She’d for sure have gay friends. And hot ones. You’ve met her.”

“Both her and your sister are fine as hell. I wouldn’t mind getting in the middle of THAT. Hook a brother up. Make it happen. I’ll be at your little Aussie Christmas. Score me a date for then. In the meantime, can I open my eyes now? Don’t leave a brother hanging.”

“As long as you promise you won’t laugh.”

“I am calling you a psychiatrist. You need help.”

“Fine,” she turns her back towards her friends, hands perched upon her hips. “ Look. But no smart ass comments and no laughing. My confidence can’t take it.”

“Your confidence needs a serious makeover. Now let me see.”

She watches through the mirror as his eyes flutter opening; slowly widening as far as they possibly can, followed by a dramatic collapse back into his seat and a hand placed over his heart.

“Fuck…” she grimaces. “...that bad?”

“That bad? That GOOD. Desmond Brownell approves. You look…” he gives two chef’s kisses. “...delicious. I’d bang you. And I have high standards.”

“I’ve seen some of your dates. Your standards are questionable at best.”

“You wound me, Big E. Mortally wound me. That…” he nods in her direction. “...was made for you. Your body is tighter and hotter than you obviously realize. Curves like a back road. And there ain’t nothing wrong with that.”

“You don’t think it’s too much? Or should I say, too little? I am forty-one.”

“Who gives a shit? You look amazing.”

“I’ve had seven kids.”

“Especially amazing for someone that’s popped out that many crotch goblins. Sold. The dress is sold. This isn’t up for debate.”

“I can’t buy something like this. It’s just...not me.”

“It damn well is YOU. I’ll buy it for you. A little extra Christmas gift.”

“A thousand dollar dress is hardly a little Christmas gift. And it’s a little pricey, don’t you think? For fabric?”

“Honey, you really need to get out of Target and up your shopping game. I know how much money you all have, I know you can afford it. I know you could probably afford this whole store. And then some.”

“It isn’t about money. It’s about me. And being out of my comfort zone. I don’t dress like this. I live on the beach. In Australia. We wear shorts and tanks and never wear shoes. Where the hell would I wear this?”

“Date night.”

“Like we have places I could wear this to. I mean, I guess we could go to Cairns. I’ve seen women in some pretty expensive clothes there. I could always talk him into a weekend away. It wouldn’t be hard. And we are going to Santorini in April.”

“That’d be perfect for Santorini. Hell, just wear it in the house. In the bedroom. Just to spice things up a bit. I’m sure he doesn’t see you dressed up very often.”

“Try like never,” Esme laughs. “Okay, maybe that’s a lie. I DO wear makeup when we go out. And cute little sundresses.”

“What about when you got married?”

“I wore something off the clearance rack at a bridal store in Sydney. Cost a hundred bucks. It was nothing fancy.”

“But you wore a little tiara and veil and all that, right?”

“It wasn’t that kind of wedding. I was five months pregnant with Millie. It was a little wedding chapel. We had six guests. It wasn’t fancy.”

“E, you’ve been robbed. You need that bride moment. What about the first time?”

“Las Vegas. Even more casual. Zero out of five stars. Would not recommend.”

“Oh no, honey. No. That’s wrong. So wrong. You deserve so much better. You deserve a big day. You deserve to be a bride. A REAL bride. Poofy white dress, little bling in your hair, fancy little shoes…”

“Seven kids and I’m going to wear white? I think not.”

“I’m having a serious talk with that man of yours. Vow renewals are a thing you know.”

“He’s brought it up. A couple of times. Which is weird, because I never thought he’d ever think of something like that. This is Tyler we’re talking about. This is a man that can kill people with his bare hands. Who has his own brand of romance. Which I love, by the way. But it’s very odd he’d bring up something like that. Getting married again.”

“Maybe he wants to see you all done up. Looking like a bride.”

“Trust me, Des. Tyler doesn’t care about that stuff. That isn’t him.”

“Maybe he’s come to care about that stuff. Maybe he’s getting a softer side to him. Or, his soft side is getting even more soft.”

“Don’t ever tell him that. He’d kill YOU with his bare hands. Do you really think I should get this dress?”

“I think you’d be stupid not to. And you, are NOT a stupid woman. Treat yourself. You deserve it.”

“You know what? I do. I DO deserve it. And I think he’ll really like it. Maybe I’ll even give him a little sneak peek later. You know, to judge his reaction to it.”

“Oh I think I know what his reaction is going to be. Don’t wear any underwear. Just let him yank the dress up and have his way with you.”

“Maybe you know him better than I realize,” Esme laughs. “Fine. I’ll buy it. But if he hates it, I am totally throwing you under the bus.”

“Alright...alright…” Desi holds his hands up in surrender. “...I’ll take one for the team. Now get your little ass in there and get changed. This big man needs to eat.”

*****

“So this neighbour you mentioned,” Desi says, as he nods his appreciation at the hostess who seats them at their table, then gallantly pulls Esme’s chair out and waits for her to sit. “What’s that about?”

She rolls her eyes. “Natalie. She just moved in a few doors down. Her and her little girl.”

“Are you talking about the blond that has the goddamn gall to wear real fur?” Desi slides into the seat across from her. “The one that needs a chisel to take off her makeup at the end of the night?”

“That’s her. The one who looks like Sephora threw up on her face. Too bad you can’t apply makeup on the inside to make something more attractive. Because she is a real peach.”

“Bottle of your best house red,” Desi requests, and then flips open the leather bound menu placed in front of him. “How’d you meet her?”

“Well, it turns out she doesn’t just have the gall to wear real fur. She also has the gall to go after married men. And in this case, MY man.”

“Uh oh. Something tells me this didn’t end well.”

“I’m very protective of what’s mine. Maybe some people would call it possessive.”

“I definitely would call it that. Not that I blame you. I’d be the same way. Hell, I’d probably never let him leave the damn house.”

“I know what a good thing I have. I know how hot my husband is. I’ve seen him naked. Many times. What’s underneath? Even better than what’s on top. And what’s on top? That’s really damn good, know what I mean?”

“I know what you mean. And I’m just saying, I wouldn’t protest if you sent me nudes of him. Our little secret.”

“My husband IS hot. And he’s beautiful and he’s amazing and he’s this walking study in masculinity. But he’s just that. MY husband. I don’t share. With anyone.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve spent three years begging you just to let me cop a feel.”

“So I don’t appreciate some thirsty female from five doors down, honing in my territory. No one is pissing in my front yard. No one. And it’s not just that I’m possessive and there’s no way in hell I’m sharing great dick, but Tyler isn’t like that. He doesn’t do shit like that. He is a lot of things, but a cheater is not one of them. That is one thing I’ve never had to worry about. He is loyal. Fiercely loyal. And he’s had his chances. If he wanted to stray, he would have. Easily.”

“Never struck me as the type who would. He’s way too in love with you. Way too faithful. I see the way he looks at you. Stars and hearts in his eyes. He definitely thinks rainbows and butterflies fly out your ass. So this Natalie…”

“They met at the park. He took Tanner there; after their morning out. And this Natalie was there. Tyler made small talk. And small talk is even exaggerating. Tyler doesn’t do small talk. Any talk, for that matter.”

Desi nods in agreement. “Took me damn near a whole weekend just to get him to say two words. That voice though? Woody. Instant.”

“Well I guess Natalie took his small talk for something else entirely. Which I don’t get, because Tyler is civil, at best. He’s just not a people person. He tries. But you know what he’s like. How he comes across. He’s very rough around the edges and doesn’t take shit and doesn’t care for formalities. He’s a man of very few words. Whatever words he said, she read way too much into. She showed up at the house. Looking for him.”

Desi looks up from his menu, a scowl forming on his face. “She did not.”

“Oh, she very much did. And get this. She made him cookies.”

“What kind of cookies?”

Esme stares at him pointedly.

“I like details. I’m detail oriented. I can’t help it.”

“Oatmeal raisin.”

“The most traitorous cookie out of them all. For shame. I’m disappointed. If you want a man to climb in your bed, you don’t lead with oatmeal raisin. Please tell me your man don’t like that shit.”

“Rest assured, he hates them and your opinion and lust for him can stay intact. But you can believe that? She came calling on my husband. She brought him cookies. And I’m pretty sure if he’d been home, she would have offered him HER cookie.”

“Probably just as nasty as the ones she makes. Probably got cobwebs and dust bunnies and all that shit. Maybe even a barbed wire fence blocking the entrance. So what happened?”

“Well, she got the cold shoulder and snarkiness from Millie first.”

“That’s my girl.”

“And then I talked to her and she was bitchy and off hand and she’s lucky I didn’t throat punch her. She had all kinds of snarky things to say. About my name, about my appearance, about having so many kids. I let her know that I wasn’t having any of her shit. That I was onto her. I told her I didn’t know what kind of married men she was used to, but my husband isn’t one of them. That he wasn’t...and never would be...interested.”

“And?”

“And she left. We fed the cookies to the dogs. Or tried to. Even they didn’t like them. Man’s best friend, indeed.”

A waitress brings the wine; cheerfully introducing herself before taking their orders. Desi waits until she leaves before uncorking the bottle and filling both glasses. Offering a toast to a warm and safe Christmas holiday and the perks and perils of love and friendships. And they’re in the middle of sharing stories of his last trip to Australia -his encounters with the both the ‘friendly neighbourhood Aussies’ and the wildlife that so freely roams and enjoys their stretch of land- when her cell phone loudly vibrates within the confines of her purse. Had Tyler not been out with all of the children and it not been a common thing to often run into some kind of issues with handling so many bodies, she would have just ignored it. And she wishes she had; frowning at the number splashed across the screen and then dropping the phone back into her bag.

“Your mom again?”

Nodding, she takes a swallow of wine. “Third time already today. Only four or five more to go. Maybe she’ll even make it an even dozen before sundown.”

“Can she not read the signs? It’s quite obvious you don’t want to speak to her. What’s her issue?”

“It’s probably easier to ask ‘what isn’t her issue?’. There’s many. So very, very, VERY many.”

“I already know about what she was like you when were growing up. I’m surprised you turned out as normal and sane as you are. It’s more than that?”

“So much more, Des. Where do you want me to start?”

“Start with the biggest one. Or most recent.”

“She hates Tyler. With the passion of a thousand fiery suns. The seventh layer of hell? I don’t think that even burns as hot as her hate for him.”

“Why? He’s a good guy. Treats you right, loves his kids. Will fight like hell to protect what’s us. Die for it, even. What’s to hate?”

“So you know how Tyler and I met. The whole ‘pretend husband and wife’ thing.”

“Yeah, to find Ovi and save him. What about it?”

“Well you also know what happened. During those five days in Dhaka. Between Tyler and I. Believe me when I say that I’m not normally like that. Spend nearly a week banging a guy I barely know. Unprotected, at that. And at the risk of too much information, Tyler was only the third guy I’d ever been with. Sexually speaking. So what happened between us? Totally uncharacteristic for me. It was unconventional. How we met. But, it worked out. We wanted more. We wanted to get to know each other. See if we could make something out of nothing. And we did. We made a life. A beautiful life. And seven little human beings.”

“And she’s got a problem with that because…?”

“After what happened on the bridge, I decided to stay. At the hospital he was flown to in Mumbai. It was touch and go and he didn’t have anyone else and if he wasn’t going to make it, I didn’t want him to be alone. He deserved better than that. And a week later they brought him out of the medically induced coma and he was breathing on his own and he woke up and he was so happy to see me. You should have seen how he smiled at me, Des. He has a beautiful smile. But that? That smile he gave when he realized I was real and I was actually sitting there? By his bed? I had never seen anything like that and I’ve never seen anything like it since. He was happy and relieved and he wanted me there. He even said he was scared to close his eyes at night because he was afraid I wouldn’t be there when he woke up.”

“He was already head over heels for ya. Guess that was his way of telling you.”

“When the hospital said they were shipping him to another back in Australia, he asked if I would go with him. By then I was already invested. I mean, it was three weeks later and I’d already spent time helping him feed himself and getting him on his feet and to the bathroom and taking him to in-patient physio and all of that. I was already in love with him. Of course I was going to Australia. It was never in doubt.”

“And let me guess, it ruffled your mother’s feathers.”

Nodding, Esme takes a long sip of wine. “She wasn’t in control. Of me. And she couldn’t stand it. Neither she or my brothers no longer had in any say in how I was going to live my life. The Esme they knew? She died on that bridge. Or maybe she was left behind. I had a chance. To make a new life for myself. And I took it. I went to Australia and I decided that was where I wanted to be. I wanted to be with HIM. So I took what money we had and I got us an apartment and he put me in charge of handling everything; medical decisions, financial stuff. And then, I found out I was having Millie. Which, to be honest, wasn’t a huge surprise because what do you expect when you spend five days having totally unprotected sex? And I told Tyler and I gave him a choice. If he didn’t want me or the baby, I’d walk away and I’d go home and I’d never contact him again. I told him I didn’t expect anything from him. And I didn’t want him feeling obligated to me or the baby.”

“That must have went over well.”

“Well, needless to say, he wanted the baby. And me. So I stuck around. I was by his side through his whole hospital stay and through all the therapy and his stint in rehab and then we settled down in our new life. And we got married and had Millie. My family? They couldn’t stand it. They couldn’t accept it. They couldn’t accept HIM.”

“All because you decided to make a new life for yourself?”

“That was it. Tyler became public enemy number one. My mom convinced everyone that he stole me away. That he was manipulative and abusive and that I was scared to leave him.”

“Jesus Christ…”

“Right? Tyler is so far from manipulative or abusive. He lived that life. He was on the receiving end of that. And he’s tried his hardest not to walk in his father’s footsteps. And believe me, he’s nothing like his old man. Not in the slightest. But no matter how much or how hard I argue, she doesn’t listen to me. She sees him as this horrible person. That took her baby girl away. And when he had the nerve to stick up for me? Against her and my brothers? That made things worse! You think they would have been happy. I found this amazing man who’s totally in love with me; who sees past all my bullshit and my ugly parts. That should have been enough for them. A guy that’s made me the centre of his universe. Who makes me happy and who I love more than I ever thought I COULD love someone. Who helped me make seven incredible little human beings. Why isn’t any of that enough?”

“I don’t know,” Desi says. “I wish I did. I wish I had the answers. ALL the answers.”

“Yet they practically idolize Mark. It makes no sense. They knew what he was like. They knew he was abusive. And they enabled him. They gaslighted me just as much as he did. And I would have left a thousand times over had they not constantly pressured me into giving him another chance. Had they not convinced me that everything was my fault. My mom stayed friends with him. Right up until he died. What kind of sick person does that? Stays friends with their own kid’s abuser?”

“You hit the nail on the head. A sick one.”

“Constantly kissing his ass and making him out to be some kind of white knight yet having all this shit to say about Tyler. They hate him because he refuses to be like them. Because he stands up to them. Because for once, someone loves me enough to have my back. That’s it. That’s why they hate him. And the things they’ve said? Especially since finding out he’s a mercenary? Constantly wishing death on him? Saying him dying would be the best thing to happen to me and the kids? Who says things like that? I almost lost Addie because of her. I came back from Ireland because I found out I was pregnant and my mom got on her bullshit and I almost lost my baby. Tyler came all the way back just to make sure I was okay. He wouldn’t have done it if he’s even a fraction as evil as they claim he is.”

“You realize it that isn’t really about him, right? That it’s all them. Because they don’t have that control. Over you.”

“I thought it would be all over and done with when we kicked my brother to the curb. I thought once he and Tyler had it out and Tyler kicked the shit out of him, that would be it. That we’d never hear from any of them again. You know how peaceful it’s been? Five years of no phone calls, no text messages, no emails. Five years of pure bliss. And now this…” she nods down at the purse sitting in her lap. “...her on my ass every day, multiple times a day. Isn’t it enough that I acknowledge that the kids received their Christmas gifts? That I showed appreciation and I said they’d send thank you cards? You think that would be enough. Our lives have been so good. Quiet and happy and peaceful. And it’s like she knows that. It’s like she knows how good things are and just has to screw it all up.”

“Normally I say just ignore them. Just wash toxic people out of your life and keep them out of your life. But if she’s as determined as she is, it’s only going to get worse. She won’t stop trying to get a hold of you. And as hard as it’ll be to talk to her, that might be the only way to get her to stop. Let her know. Say ‘thanks, but no thanks’.”

“I can not allow her back into my life. OUR lives. I can’t allow any of them back in. I will NOT have my kids surrounded by that ugliness. I will not have people around them that talk shit about their father. Because you know what? I know he’s not perfect. I know he has his issues. He’s the first one to admit it. But he is an amazing dad and he is totally devoted to those kids and they love him beyond all comprehension. And I won’t allow people to talk about him like that. I won’t allow them to break my kids’ hearts…” her voice cracks with emotion, and she takes a swallow of wine to clear away the lump sitting square in her throat. “....I won’t let anyone talk about Tyler like that. He’s not a perfect man, but he’s a good man. And he loves me and he loves his kids. He saved me, Des. In every way a person can be saved. And I won’t let anyone disrespect him like that.”

“Tell them that. Tell them EXACTLY that.”

“I have. I have said it until I was practically blue in the face. They don’t care. They say I’m ‘defending my abuser’. In what alternate universe is he considered an abuser? He has never...ever...raised a hand to me. He’s always said he’d kill himself before he ever let things get that out of control. That he’d never be able to live with himself if he even thought about hurting me like that. And maybe in a way, I DO understand some of the way they think. He’s lived a hard life. A violent life. First the military, then as a mercenary. Yes, he’s killed people. With his bare hands. But he’s never done it because he wanted to. Or because he enjoyed it. He did it because he HAD to. Because it was either him or them. He is not a monster. Regardless of what they think. Or even he thinks sometimes.”

“You’ve never been scared of him?”

“Never. And you know what? If he WANTED to, he could do some serious damage to me. He could kill me. No question about it. But that thought has never, ever crossed my mind. I’ve never been afraid of him. Not even at his worst. When he went back to drinking all the time and abusing the pain meds and we fought constantly. And yeah, there were times he DID lose it. Where he put a fist through the wall or grabbed me trying to stop me from walking away or trying to calm me down and talk some sense into me. But I’ve never been scared of him. Because even at his worst, I knew he loved me. I knew none of his issues were about me. That was him and his brain and not knowing how to cope. And they just don’t get it. They think he’s somehow frightened me into sticking around. That he’s been forcing me to have children. Because it somehow keeps me around.”

“Sounds more like they have the issues. Not you guys.” Desi reaches for the bottle of wine, refilling both their glasses.

“We’re not perfect. And Lord knows we have had some really shitty times. Where we didn’t think we were going to make it. But you know what? We did. We fixed our shit and we made things work. We both busted our asses to change. And he still busts his ass every day to make up for all the bad. We work at it, Des. Every day we work at it. Because we love each other and we both know what it's like to be from a broken home. And we won’t do that to our kids. We won’t let them grow up like that. So we work at it. And it hasn’t been easy. But there’s been more great times than bad times.”

“You two are strong. What you got is strong. No one can deny that. I’ve seen it. With my own two eyes.”

“I will not let my family ruin us. They tried. And in Colorado, they almost succeeded. But we got away. We moved back home. Our REAL home. And we never looked back. I won’t let them destroy things for us. Not when we’ve worked so hard to get where we are.”

“You’re going to have to deal with her, Esme. She isn’t going to go away. Not from what I’ve seen.”

“And I will. I WILL talk to her. After Christmas. I just want to get through the holiday. I just want things to be happy and peaceful. Especially for the kids. I don’t want anyone ruining Christmas for them. Once it’s over and things calm down, I WILL talk to her. But right now? I can’t do it. I just can’t.”

“It’s all going to be alright,” Desi assures her, and reaches across the table to give her hand a comforting squeeze. “Everything’s going to work out.”

“Tyler isn’t perfect. He’s the first one to admit that. In the same way I’m not. But you know what? We’re perfect for each other. And in the end, that’s all that matters.”

*****

When she arrives home she finds the three littlest fast asleep; tightly snuggled together on the area rug in front of the Christmas tree and covered by the knitted throw usually draped over the back of the sofa. Saju and Mac nap close by; curled up together in front of the front of the fireplace and merely blinking their eyes in a form of acknowledging her presence. She can hear Millie and Alannah upstairs; giggling and chattering, their feet stomping overhead as they play a dance game on the XBox. The three oldest boys are out in the backyard; laughter drifting inside as they hide behind ‘fortress’ walls and lob snowballs at one another. It's rare to see the three of them enjoying time together. Tanner normally not comfortable with the more raucous play and choosing quiet time; up in his room reading a book or writing stories or building intricate lego scenes in front of the fireplace.

She stands in the sunroom and watches them; smiling at how jovial and lighthearted they are. Their faces bright and happy; no cares in the world aside from the balls of snow and ice being tossed in their direction. Despite everything they’d been through, they’re spirits so brilliant and bubbly, continuing to love the world and everyone in it. Tanner and TJ (along with Millie) are able to remember the more difficult times in Colorado and being whisked to Mumbai under false pretenses; told they were going on a family vacation only to be sent back to Australia without either parent and then told their father very well might never come home. They still talk about it from time to time; how scary it had been to be away from both mom AND dad and how worried they’d been when they thought their daddy may never make it back to them. They’re able to vividly recall visiting him in the hospital; the scars and bruises on his face that had been in various stages of healing, the sling keeping his badly wounded and surgically repaired shoulder in place, the ‘cage’ that had encased his right thigh, the tremendous amount of weight and muscle he had lost. It HAD been traumatic; more than two months without their father under the same roof and seeing him so wounded and vulnerable.

They’d needed their own therapy; the trauma manifesting itself through moments of rage and aggression and troubles sleeping at night. A child psychologist recommended to them by Doctor Klein had done them all a world of good; disguising therapy with music and play and helping them express their emotions and their fears. And within six months they were back to their old selves; grades climbing and their social skills improving, the rage and aggression diminishing. It still haunts them from time to time; a fear that returns whenever daddy has to leave home for work. But for the most part they’ve healed exceptionally well; full of energy and light and humour and possessing enormous amounts of compassion and empathy.

She finds Tyler in the main floor office; a central area of the main floor that had been the previous owner’s sewing and craft room. It’s close enough to keep an ear out for the kids; able to hear them both inside and out. And a security system enables him to keep an eye on any area of the house; live images cast back to the flat screen television mounted on the wall above the desk. Five years years ago she would have called him paranoid for insisting on such measures. Overprotective, even. But that was until someone had gotten close enough to Addie to steal a stuffed animal right out of her crib. Had the culprit wanted her, she would have been long gone in the middle of the night. And they most likely never would have seen her again. The terror of that night is still very real; the thought of someone reaching across her tiny body to take something so simple in the course of sending a very clear message.

After that, Esme had vowed to never call him paranoid or overprotective again. Evil had gotten too close. WAY too close. And she now understands his fierce and rabid determination to do whatever it takes to keep his family safe.

She watches him from the doorway; intently working at the computer. Admiring the glasses perched upon his face and the lines of his profile; the strong, stubbled jaw and the curve of his lips and the bump in the bridge of his nose. The scars that had long ago become part of him. Marring the left side of his forehead and by his left eye; old wounds that he’d possessed when they’d first met. A handful of others have been added since then. The edge of a metal shovel cutting wide and deep; the scar travelling from the very corner of his right eye and up his forehead and snaking up into his hairline. And the ones left behind from Nathan. The one above his eyebrow thin and faint, the one below his eye much wider and jagged and stretching all the way to his temple. That one had been the worst; deep enough for the knife blade to hit bone and cause irreparable damage to nerves and muscle. And while most would see them as blemishes and flaws, she sees it as adding to his beauty; souvenirs of not only a hard and dangerous life, but of survival.

“Hey,” she greets as she wanders into the room. “What’cha doing, handsome?”

“Just some shit that came up. I would have ignored it, but…”

She stands at the back of his chair. Fingers and thumbs rubbing at tense shoulder muscles before wrapping both arms around his neck; leaning over him and presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, followed by his temple. “Everything alright?”

“Koen ran into some issues. On the job he took. Not going as smooth as we’d hoped it would. Just had to send him some extra cash. And put him in contact with someone who could get him some extra gear.”

“He’s alright though? He’s not in any trouble?”

“He’s fine. Nothing he can’t handle. I know I said I wouldn’t bother with work stuff until we go back home, but…”

“Sometimes it can’t be helped. It’s the nature of the beast. It isn't the most predictable of careers. I’m glad to see you survived your day out with the spawn. Is your sanity still intact?”

“What was left of it. I don’t know how much I had to begin with.”

“I also noticed all seven AND Alannah made it back. Success.”

“They were good. No trouble. They all behaved themselves. Shockingly.”

“Your feral offspring all behaving at once? Hell must have frozen over.”

He gives a small chuckle, then turns his face into her and presses a chaste kiss to her lips. A frown tugging at the corners of his mouth as he pulls back to look at her.

“What’s that look for?”

“Why do you still have your hat on? It’s fucking boiling in here.”

“It’s part of my surprise. I have something to show you.”

“Yeah?” A slow grin begins to spread across his face. “I’ve already seen you naked. Many times. Not that it’s not awesome each time it happens. I’m not complaining.”

“As much as I’d love to just drop my clothes right here and rock your world, it’s something else. I did something. While I was out.”

“New ink?”

“Nope.”

“You got something pierced, didn’t you. Something naughty. Something very naughty.”

“You wish. Those days are long behind me. But it is a surprise. And I want you to promise you won’t freak out. When you see it.”

“How bad is it? Usually when you tell me not to freak out, it’s pretty fucking bad.”

“It’s not bad. It’s just...surprising. You ready?”

“Is it a good thing I’m already sitting down?”

“It’s probably for the best. Turn your chair towards me and close your eyes.”

“Esme…”

“Tyler…”

“What the hell have you done?”

“Just do it. Humour me. Please.”

“Fine.” Turning his back towards the computer, he closes his eyes. “This isn’t where you tell me you want to try pegging is it? Because I thought I’ve already made it perfectly clear that there is no fucking chance of that happening. EVER.”

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s nothing sexual. Get your mind out the gutter, sheesh.”

“I’m sorry, have we met? It permanently lives in the gutter.”

“Never mind viagra. Maybe they can give you something to calm your dick down.”

“You’d miss it. Don’t deny it. It would hurt you just as much as it would hurt me. Are we going to do this surprise sometime today or…?”

Removing the knit beanie from her head, she tosses it out the desk and then runs her fingers through her hair. She feels naked and exposed; the dark tresses that had once reached the middle of her back now shorn and styled into a side parted, sleek bob that skims her earlobes. “Promise you won’t freak out.”

“I promise I won’t lose my shit.”

“Okay...open them...but remember, no freaking out.”

“I don’t know what the big deal is. If it’s nothing dirty or kinky or piercing of some kind…” His eyes flutter open, then slowly widen as the reality of what’s before him sets in.

“You hate it don’t you.”

“I don’t hate it. I just...wow...that’s...NOT what I was expecting.”

“You do, don’t you. Hate it. I knew you would. You always hate when I do something with my hair. Like when I decided to get bangs.”

“In all fairness, I didn’t hate them. I just wasn’t a fan.”

“But you HATE this? This haircut. You hate it being so short, don’t you.”

“Actually…” he slides the chair closer to her and lays his hands on her hips. “...I love it.”

“Yeah?” A smile replaces the nervous frown. “Really?”

“Really. I wouldn’t lie to you, Me. That’s not who I am. Not anymore, anyway.”

“You sure you like it? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“I think you look beautiful. It suits you. You got this cute, tiny little face. Your hair shows it off. I really do love it. You look amazing.”

Placing her hands on the sides of his face, she leans down to kiss him. “It was time for a change. Something different. Something I didn’t have to spend hours on when we go out. You’re sure? One hundred percent? You really do love it?”

“I do. You look beautiful.” Laying a palm on the back of her head, he pulls her down into a kiss. And she laughs into his mouth when his free hand latches onto her hip and she loses her balance and topples into him. “You’re beautiful, Me. Always.”

“I really was worried you wouldn’t like it,” she says, as she settles herself sideways on his thighs. “So you’ve made my day. My year, actually.”

“It suits you. You look amazing, baby. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

“Speaking of making my year, I’m about to make yours.”

“We’re talking about butt stuff, aren’t we.”

“No!” she laughs, and playfully tousles his hair. “I mean, maybe later. When the kids are out.”

“Where are they going? You banishing them to the backyard?”

“Desi offered to take them.”

“All of them?”

“Every last one. Even Alannah. He’s going to take them out for dinner and to Central Park. To see Santa and the reindeer. Maybe do some skating. And then, he’s going to take them to his place. They’re going to have a camp out. In the living room.”

“So we get the house to ourselves? All night?”

“All night,” she confirms. “And well into the morning. You know what that means?”

“Butt stuff.”

She sighs in exasperation. “I means you don’t have to wait until New Years Eve for wild and crazy AND noisy sex with your wife.”

“We might have to tone down the noise. The kids will be right next door. They could still hear us.”

“That’s a fair point. So noisy is out. But wild and crazy are definitely in.”

Tyler grins. “I can do wild and crazy.”

“Oh, I know you can. You’re a master at it. A master at anything sexual, now that I think about it. Man, did I ever luck out. Landing you.”

“I don’t know, I think I’m the lucky one. Girl like you putting up with my shit? You’re one in a million, babe. No doubt about it.”

“I love you,” she says, pressing a kiss to his ear and then nuzzling his temple with the tip of her nose. “More than you could ever know. And thank you. For being you. And for loving me the way you do.”

Smiling, he turns his face into hers and places his lips to her brow; a hand coming up to comb through her hair, palm settling on the nape of her neck. “You’ve made it pretty damn easy.”

[thewitchandtheassassin]

The One with a Hospital Visit (Maria Hill x Reader)

Prompt: 67 from the prompt list + Maria Hill

Words: 954

Warnings: Mentions of death

A/N: So, I’m trying to spread out which characters in a row I write for that way no one gets bored and that way I don’t burn myself out. I have a lot of time on my hands right now. Anyways, I saw this prompt at the same time as a couple of others and this one stuck out and I liked it so here we are.

-X-

The steady beeping around you was driving you mad. You’d been listening to it for hours, willing your eyes to open just so you could turn the damn thing off, but for some reason your body refused to listen. You could occasionally hear a doctor or two milling about, chatting with someone though you couldn’t tell who. You had an idea but you couldn’t be certain – because your freaking eyes wouldn’t open!

A familiar hand slipped into yours and squeezed.

“C’mon, baby, I need you to open your eyes for me.” Maria’s voice was soothing and you tried to follow the sound of it.

With a groan, your body finally decided to do as you requested and your eyes partially cracked open. Maria was blurry, but she was still beautiful. She looked a mess, red-rimmed eyes staring at you, a faint smile on her lips.

You blinked. “Is that my shirt?”

With a watery grin, Maria glanced down and plucked at the material. It was your favorite shirt; you wore it as often as you could but she couldn’t help stealing it for the time being. It smelled like you and God had she missed you.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not standard SHIELD apparel,” you mused, grunting as you sat up in bed. Maria went to protest, but a sharp look from you silenced her. You wanted to be upright for this conversation. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Maria wondered, her hand still in yours. Her thumbed rubbed the back of your hand and you squeezed hers in return.

You cleared your throat. “I remember the mission, interrogating the HYDRA agent and I remember getting into a vehicle and coming back, but I don’t remember anything else.”

Maria sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “On your way back to base, your car exploded. We have no idea why or how, but Fury’s looking into it. He thinks it was an inside job but he can’t prove it yet.”

Nodding, you glanced away. “How many survived?”

“Just you,” Maria replied softly, studying your face. “You’ve been out for three days. The doctors said it was a miracle that you walked away from it.”

You swallowed drily. Some of your best agents were in that vehicle with you. Some of your friends. Knowing they were gone was quite a blow.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.

You appreciated the sentiment, but it did little to make you feel better. You knew quite a few of their families. Some of them were new parents. They didn’t deserve such a terrible ending.

Maria stood up and joined you on the bed, wrapping her slender, muscular arms around you. You buried your face in her chest, a heavy sigh leaving your lips. You were going to personally kill whoever did this to you – to them.

Combing her fingers through your dirty hair, Maria kissed your temple. “I know what you’re thinking. Let Fury handle them. He won’t let this go.”

“I know,” you murmured, “But I still want to kill them.”

“I know, babe. On the bright side, a few of the Avengers stopped in to see you. Tony Stark was particularly worried about you. Said he needed his favorite SHIELD agent to get back to one hundred percent and come help him out in the lab whenever you feel up to it,” Maria informed you, amusement evident in her tone.

You laughed. “Good to know I made an impression on Mr. Stark.”

Maria grinned. You never seemed to realize the impact you had on people. You were so kind and genuine, something most people lacked nowadays. It was refreshing and one of the many reasons she had fallen in love with you.

You would hurt for a long time about the people you’d lost, but you refused to let grief rule you. You would avenge them one way or another – that much you swore.

“So, back to that being my shirt,” you teased, leaning back to eye your lover. “Care to explain?”

“I missed you,” she replied simply.

Cooing at the honest answer, you pecked Maria’s lips. She tried to deepen the kiss, but you pulled back before she could. Confusion was evident in her eyes and you smiled. “I haven’t brushed my teeth in three days, babe. My mouth is probably horrible.”

Maria pouted. “But…”

Swinging your legs over the opposite side of the bed, you staggered into the bathroom and used the spare, brand new toothbrush to clean your teeth. Running your tongue along your teeth, you nodded before venturing back out into the room. Maria met you midway and slipped her arms around you, tugging you into a kiss.

“Minty fresh,” she mumbled against your lips.

Laughing, you hugged her close. “I’m glad you approve.”

She buried her face in your neck and inhaled deeply. You smelled like smoke and sweat, but you were still you. But still…

“You stink,” she murmured against your skin, kissing the flesh beneath her lips.

You smirked. “Care to help me shower? SHIELD didn’t skimp on the size of that one.”

Tossing her head back in laughter, Maria shook her head. “Even after being blown up you’re still a horndog.”

“I can’t help it,” you pouted, “There’s just something about you…”

Shaking her head, Maria shoved you towards the bathroom. “Shower! Fury’s going to want a debriefing as soon as you’re done.”

Huffing in mock annoyance, you nodded. Maria walked over to the nearby chair and passed you a set of clothes. They were soft and comfortable, something you needed right now.

“I’m not getting that shirt back anytime soon, am I?” you asked jokingly, smirking at Maria who had the decency to blush.

“Absolutely not.”

“Didn’t think so.”

[returnn-of-the-mac]

Companions try to throw a sticky grenade, but they fuck up and throw it onto a wall right in front of them. SS is silent and gives them a blank stare, and then they say, “That was the worst throw ever... Of all time.” How would they react?

I’m 99.999% sure I did this one right. I always misread your requests for some reason and I’m sorry about that lol. But this one was really fun to write so. I’ve been trying to get these reacts out of my inbox cuz they’ve been sitting there for a while. I could *technically* queue them but that’s not as fun as spam publishing! Anyway, please enjoy!😊

FO4 Companions React: Companions Throwing Sticky Grenade At Wall In Front Of Them

Sole and their companion were fighting a raider gang in Backstreet Apparel when suddenly, [companion] pulled out a sticky grenade. As [he/she] attempted to throw it at a group of raiders in front of them, the grenade got stuck and landed on the wall directly in front of the pair.

Sole stared at their companion in disbelief, before finally speaking: “That was the worst throw ever...of all time.”

Gage: It ain’t my fault! Those sticky ones are stupid pieces of shit.

MacCready: [annoyed at Sole] Think you could do better, wise guy?

Ada: I apologize, [sir/ma’am].

Longfellow: Well, that’s an achievement in and of itself. Can we drink to that?

Preston: Yeah...that was bad, wasn’t it?

Hancock: Yeah...wasn’t exactly on my A-game today, was I?

Danse: [annoyed at self] Can’t say I disagree with you, soldier.

Piper: Hey, I tried my best! It just got stuck!

X6-88: Yes. It very well could have been.

Cait: Shut ye damn mouth! You do it next time, then!

Deacon: At least I broke some kinda record! Hope that means I’ll get some recognition.

Nick: That’s unfortunate.

Curie: Yes, that was quite a bad throw. I apologize, [Madame/Monsieur].

Codsworth: Oh, phooey. I’ll do better next time.

Strong: Strong smash. Strong good at smash. And kill. No know how to throw grenade.

Suddenly the grenade started beeping furiously. Sole and their companion nervously glanced at each other.

Gage: We’re fucked, boss.

MacCready: This...this might hurt a little bit.

Ada: This is not going to end well.

Longfellow: We’re about to enter a world of pain [holds up whiskey bottle] Cheers!

Preston: Oh shit...

Hancock: [hits Jet] High or die.

Danse: Godammit! Brace yourself.

Piper: Oh no...that’s not good.

X6-88: Remain calm.

Cait: Shite! Not how I envisioned my death.

Deacon: Well, I always said I wanted to go out with a bang.

Nick: Rest in pieces.

Curie: Oops.

Codsworth: Maybe we should start running?

Strong: SMASH GRENADE BEFORE BOOM!

As soon as the beeping started, it died down. It was a defective grenade.

Gage: Damn. We lucked out there, boss.

MacCready: Phew. I thought we were goners.

Ada: The chances of that happening were astronomically low. We were fortunate.

Longfellow: The pain never came and now I’m tipsy. I’d say it’s been a pretty good day.

Preston: We were so lucky, General.

Hancock: Damn. Good thing I got high.

Danse: Crisis averted. Are you okay, soldier?

Piper: Oh my god. I’m still shaken up, Blue.

X6-88: Incredible.

Cait: Thank god. I was scared my brains would havta be scraped off the walls!

Deacon: Boo! What a letdown.

Nick: We’ve been spared...thank god.

Curie: Oh, thank goodness. Are you okay, [Madame/Monsieur]?

Codsworth: Thank heavens we’ve been spared!

Strong: See? Strong save human!

[kpopisthereasonihavenolife]

From Black to White

Monsta X

Lee Jooheon/Reader [F]

Genre: Demon AU, Fondness, Fluff, Demon to (Guardian) Angel

Words: 3.8k (Not proof read)

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

He monitored all the bad and the ugly in the worlds.  Some would say his eyes reached to the furthest depths of the known and unknown universe.  Maybe even further than that.  He saw all the toxic in every world he came too, and he laughed, smiled and played along with them.  Even furthering to worsen them if he was particularly tickled by an event. That is until he settled on just keeping his eyes on one planet.  A single rock floating in space and it continuously had something somewhere going on.  He decided to spy on Earth.

Starting wars for nothing, or for everything.  Fighting diseases or struggling against the immovable forces of nature.  Building, only to destroy and build more over the remains of whatever was broken before.  Shaming and discriminated others for small attitudes and locking others in cells for heinous crimes.  Yes, humans of Earth were quite fun to monitor and watch.

However, after 300 years of watching, Jooheon was getting bored.

Though it’s true he always helped cause mischief, he himself never physically did anything.  It was more negative influence he poured into the people to urge them on their dismantled ways. Maybe that was the change he was looking for.  Maybe it was time to change things up and to actually stir something among the common folk.  He had to of course familiarize himself with the times, however.  

Sitting on top of a building, just high enough to catch a breeze and but allow the streets below to still be visible.  He had cloaked his presence so that if someone should chance look up, the wouldn’t notice him.  He wasn’t invisible, but he had masked himself to where someone wouldn’t give him a second glance.  It was like passing yet another seemingly unfamiliar, boring face on the streets.  

He observed the way people dressed.  Some were dressed more than others, some more fancy for jobs, some more casual and even a few just sporting a few risque clothing choices, one that he wouldn’t judge.  Some with jewels, some with chains, and if he focused just enough he could even catch a few with hidden guns or knives tucked away.  The world sure it on edge, it’s like it doesn’t calm down or give itself a break.  

Shrugging, he lifting himself up to stand on the edge of the building now, stretching as he casually took a step off the edge and gracefully glided down to set his feet on the ground.  His apparel he had as a demon was nothing like what you humans normally wore on a daily basis. A long, back trench coat that hugged his chest and arms delicately, tigers printed and decorated either side of his lapels.  Underneath, a black dress shirt, tucked into his black pants that hugge his thighs and fanned out around his black boot clad feet.  A matching, black cravat tucked into his shirt.  

Over all of this, his trenchcoat was just covered by a rather color coded vest.  Littered with pins, patches and words of the worlds and galaxies he’s seen or messed with.  Wearing them like prizes.  The vest was rimmed the brightest, boldest shade of red he’d known as the collar of the vest stuck up, almost like a cliche vampire-like look.  Chains and ropes loope over the shoulders of the vest and made him look almost like a decorated soldier.  

His hair was curled into several loops and swirls as they framed his face and brushed his ears, making them tickle with the light intent of scratching them with the light wind.  Threatening to poke his eyes and with each blink of his eyes lashes caught the end of his bangs. Needless to say, if he wanted to be visible, he’d definitely have to change.  

He stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat, spinning on his heel as the trench swung around his legs in his action and he made way into an alley.  He stepped away from the opening, away from the light as he cleared his throat and rotated his neck, ready to try and blend in as a human.  

He pulled off his vest as he tossed it to his side, but it didn’t flutter to the ground, instead stayed hovering next to him, like there was some invisible counter at his side. Next, he shrugged off his coat, as he held it in front of him he snapped the fabric in front of him as if to get rid of any wrinkles or loose dust that caught onto it, and once the tail end of fabric made the sound of that ‘snap’, it vanished like he never held it to begin with.  He untucked his cravat from his shirt, tossing it with his vest, still floating beside him.

He took one last look outside the alley and saw the passersby as his clothes started changing themselves.  His black, ankle fanned pants changed to that of a pair of dark jeans with the knees frayed and a white t-shirt with a flannel over it.  His hair remained the same, but his eyes now held piercing in the lobe and in the other a cartilage cuff gleamed. His boots changed into flat, black and worn looking Vans as he kicked his toes into the hard ground beneath him to adjust to the new feeling.  

With a flick of his wrist, his vest and cravat vanished, spinning into nothing, like they were being sucked into a void of somesort.  He’d change back into them later when he left or was done for the day.  He didn’t really intent on pretending to be a human for very long. Just long enough to cause something, anything, to make him a bit less bored. He clapped his hands together, like they were covered in dust, he didn’t lower the mask he had over himself, he wanted to wander around aimlessly for a bit, and look how they acted before fully letting himself be known.  

He left the alley as he stuffed his hands back into his pockets.  He turned and started down the sidewalk, walking by person after person, no one sparing him a glance as he just strolled.  Looking in windows, watching how people spoke, how they moved their hands and the faces they made.  They were also nearly addicted to the phones they held, some small, some large, some touch screen and few rare flip, dial phones for the older ones.  People with headphones plugged into their ears, or over their head.  How technically obsored.  

He was walking by a window, not looking ahead of him when something rant into his left side, making him stumble backwards and widen his eyes as a surprised noise fell from his mouth. He looked down, and then behind him as the thing that hit him had moved to be slightly at his back.  He regained his balance and saw a girl, a woman older than his physical age looked.  She was hunched over, taking a skip or two to keep herself from falling, he had half a mind to reach out just in case she did end up on her face.  

Her arms in front of her as she stumbled, she let out a sigh as he turned around and looked at him.  His eyes widened further as she seemed to look straight into his eyes, even when his presence was masked.  She should’ve just thought she stumbled on her own feet, but she turned with an apologetic look directed strictly at him.  

“I’m so sorry!  I wasn’t looking where I was going!  You’re not hurt, right? I had a lot of force into that!”  He opened his mouth to respond, but only shook his head.  He cleared his throat as he turned to her, turned to you, and rubbed his neck.

Wearing a pair of blue jean, without any sort of damage in them, and a grey shirt, you had a hair tie around your wrist and your hair was loose as you looked up at him.  Eyes bright and wide.

“I’m fine,” was his simplistic reply. You sighed, this time in relief, and put a hand on your chest.  The watch strapped on your wrist caught your attention as you gasped.  You hopped a bit in your step, ready to turn and bolt it.  

“I’m sorry-I’m late,” you pointed over your shoulder with your thumb.  “I’m sorry again!”  You turned and he watched as you ran and moved around slower people.  You seemed ordinary enough. Just a regular human woman, who just so happened to be late to her job, or wherever she was heading.  His sensitive nose had taken in your scent that rubbed off on his shoulder when you collided with him, and with a smirk on his face, he started to follow the trail the scent left behind.  

You were quite mysterious.

About a 10 minute walk later, he stopped in front of a small cafe. Along with the strong smell of coffee, pastries and the smell of warmth, also came your scent.  You must’ve been in a hurry to get here.  Looking through a window a bit longer, he caught sight of you.  A smile on your face as your held a pen and receipt book in your hand, taking orders from table after table.  A waitress, huh?  

You wore a black apron, and your grey shirt was gone, replaced with a brown one that fit with the aesthetics of the cafe.  He finally, with a heavy breath out, dispersed the mask around his aura, and made himself look like every other human around him.  He moved to the door and pushed it open, the dinging of the bell on the top of the door alerting everyone that someone had just entered.  

You turned and greeted him with a happy smile as you finished up at a table and another one of your co-workers seated him.  Placing him by a window, which worked out for his people watching, in a single booth fit for himself.  They placed a water in a small glass on a coaster, something they did complimentary for each customer seated.  He was given a menu and left with a smile and usual ‘your waiter will be be right with you’ before the coworker stepped off.  

He watched as they stopped you, pointed to the table he was at, and you nodded, flipping your receipt book to a clean slate and made your way over.  He curled his fingers as he brought his elbow up to rest on the clean, wax cleaned table, as his knuckled pushed against his cheek slightly. You stopped at the end of his table, taking the pen out from behind your ear and smiled to him, eyes closed in a friendly manner.  You practically oozed approachable, which he assumed was good for a cozy little cafe like this.  

“Welcome!  I’m Y/N, and I’ll be waiting on your this morning.  Can I get you started with anything?”  He smiled as he just opened his mouth, eyes scanning the menu for a mere second, but with his demon instincts and sense, he was able to read and basically record the menu in moments.  

“A black coffee would be a fine starter, I would say.”  You nodded as you opened your eyes and wrote it down on your small little book then looked to him, finally seeing him as you simply let a small gasp out and covered your mouth lightly with your finger, your pen laced between your thumb, fore, and middle finger.  “Hello again,” he cheekily greeted with a smirk at you.  

“Oh my god, I’m sorry about before!”  You bowed to him as he just waved it off.  It wasn’t like he was offended, any other man might be, but he’s a bit different.  “I was just running late and wasn’t watching were I was going.  I really didn’t mean to run into you.”  He smiled a bit more genuinely as he realized, you really did see and take in his appearance earlier while it was masked.

“There were no bruises or scrapes, so forget it.  It’s all cool.” He was rather unuse to speaking so informally.  However, it was a nice change he supposed.  You put your pen in your apron pocket as it joined your receipt book.  

“Thank you.  I’ll be right back with your coffee, okay?  Just stop me if you need anything else.”  He nodded as you bowed once more and trotted off.  He watched you wait on and disappear back into the back, reappearing with trays of food, drinks and moving so fluidly it was impressive to see that the stumbling girl from before was so steady with a tray of so many things that could clatter to the floor.  

You had brought his coffee to him, black as he wanted, and the placed a small plate of lemon bread next to it as you smiled.  You put your finger over your mouth, slightly smiling as you shush him.  

“It’s on the house.”  You then stood and walked back to where you had placed your tray, and waited for the next task, passing a small moment of time with a coworkers conversation before a table had flagged you down for an extra straw for their glass of chocolate milk.  

Jooheon admittingly never really had human food before, much less something sweet.  He hadn’t always been a fan of sweet things, explaining the bitter, black coffee he had already consumed half of. But, has he picked up the soft bread, the yellow around the crust and the crumbs of flavor sticking the pads of his fingers, it didn’t smell horrible.  Sweet, but not sickening.  He was pleasantly surprised when he took a bit and didn’t want to spit it out.  It was a nice flavor.  

When the plates was empty, save for the few crumbs of lemon, you had come back and skillfully picked it up and placed it on the tray you held at shoulder height adding it to a small stack of other dirty, used plates and bowls and cups.  You asked for his opinion on the bread, and he responded positively making you smile as you walked away.  

He stayed at the cafe for probably going on 3 hours now.  He kept glancing outside, but it was like all time and motivation to leave was lost to his head.  He watched you working, and when he did so, he felt no reason to leave.  He laughed at the irony.  He was content, sitting in a peaceful, calm place like this cafe when his real reason to this entire farce of being human was to stir up some trouble.  But even with this peaceful route, he surprisingly wasn’t bored.  

You had stopped by his table, once again, coffee pot in hand as you refilled his mug, the steam from the new, warm liquid floating into the air.  You looked over your shoulder once your pouring stopped and listened to a coworker telling you that you were due for your break.  You nodded as you passed the coffee pot to a coworker needing it.  

Jooheon had half a mind to ask you to sit with him, but you smiled and did it first. 

“You’ve been here a while, mind if I take a seat and keep you company for the next 20 minutes?”  He nodded, not minding at all.  You untied your apron, setting it on your lap as you slid into the booth, a coworker sliding you a water for your break.  You took a sip of it, happy for the cool feeling to refresh your throat.  Jooheon leaned his chin on his palm as he opened up the conversation.

“Hard worker, aren’t you?”  You shrugged, smiling.  

“I try.  I like this job a lot more than my other one.”  He rose his brow at you and you two talked for the entirety of your break.  You almost didn’t want to go back to work.  He had learned you work a separate job at a local convenience store, stocking shelves and taking inventory.  You had wanted to go to college, but didn’t make it through, as the pressure to be successful lead you to drop out at the end of your first year.  

You had an apartment alone for cheap not too far from the cafe.  It wasn’t in the best condition, but you only had to worry about rent, as the utilities and everything was taken care of by the landlord, a blessing really. You two had chatted and by the end of your break, you had asked about his story.  So, he had to make something up of course.  Blurting out he was a demon just here for fun wouldn’t go over well, not to mention it’d be far too ridiculous.

He had made up the story that he was in the process of moving, and was house hunting in town.  He told you he was your age, as he looked the part, and explained his love for bitter things, and how earlier the lemon bread wasn’t his type of thing, but he did enjoy.  You two exchanged words and before the end of your break, you pulled out your phone.  

A blank, creme colors case over it.  You had asked for his number.  He nodded as he stuck his hand in his pocket, and with two taps of his forefinger to his thumb, he grasped a phone out of nothing and pulled it out.  Opening it, it had apps and fake contacts to people that didn’t really exist for the appearance of a phone that’s been well used.  

He handed it over to you for you to put your number in it and text yourself.  You handed it back as you were called back to work.  Standing up, you slipped and tied your apron back on and waved him off.  He left soon after you got back to work and found himself thinking that’d he’d stick around for a bit longer than he thought he would.

A month has passed, and Jooheon had been playing human everyday of it.  He had altered the memories of a small little duplex landlord and secured him a place to live, the papers and money to go with it.  Decorated the place with food and furniture fit for a human and was content being there.  He was always in his demon state when he was in the walls of his home, but with each knock he would quickly change back.  

Another change was that he was visiting the cafe on the days that you worked.  You had quickly become friends, something he deemed he didn’t need, but you were an exception.  He found you the exception to many things. He would scold you if you tripped, he would ‘pass’ you on the streets and walk you to wherever you were heading, tell you to eat and ever take you out if you had time.  It was so rare, but he almost felt protective of you.

That’s what lead to the pure white tattoo on his back.  He noticed it one day, a white ancient looking circled symbol, faint at first, but with each day and each encounter with you, it grew more bold.  Practically glowing white on his skin by now.  He knew what it was, and what was happening, and in any other situation he would be annoyance, furious even.  But, he wasn't.  He was content with it.  

The symbol was the symbol angels had on their backs when they didn’t have wings.  He had passed wingless angels before on the same streets at him, he even ran into one once, speaking with him briefly.  He had his number on his phone now too.  Bleached hair and an attention span and innocent of a puppy.  He was easy to see as an earthland angel.  

Earthbound, wingless angels were usually sent to the ground for a few reasons.  Watching the people and boosting morale of a place in need, keeping a specific place save, some even serving as priests of pastors at churches.  But, normally they were sent to watch over someone. He supposed they could be called guardian angels, but that felt too cliche to him.

Even though that white had began plastering his skin, he dressed like he use to before.  The black never failing to make him reminiscent on his full demon life.  But, he only wore them for one reason anymore, he was waiting for them to shift.  

Black was to demons, so it was only natural that white be for angels.  He was waiting for the day he was cloaked in white from head to toe. It was only a matter of time now.  He was walking around his living room when the ding from his phone caught his attention.  Grabbing it off the charger he sat down and opened up the text he was alerted of.  

[Sent: XX/XX/XXXX   xx:xx AM]

You: Hey Stranger!  We should go out today, since it’s rare I have a day off.  Don’t you dare reject me either.  As your best friend, I say you should go with me shopping.  

He smiled as he got up. Moving around his home to his bathroom, he felt the air around him change, a slight tingle in his back.  He looked in the mirror and smiled as he watched the black from his clothes and hair fade out.  Hair a lighter shade of blonde now. His clothes washing out the black as white took it over, like squeezing the soap out of a rag.  His vest, once black and red rimmed changed into one with a tamed collar and gold and white lines.  

Trench coat disappearing for a proper white, tucked in button down with a pair of white, hugging pants and boots with a slight heel to them.  Cravat being replaced with a tie as a white earring hung from his ear and a small tattoo appeared around his neck, attached to the giant one on his back.  A sign of a changed demon to angel.  It was rare for this to happen, but he couldn’t even be angry at it.  He smiled as he looked at your open message and typed in a reply.  

[Sent: XX/XX/XXXX  xx:xx AM]

Him: Only if we get to catch a movie later.  My choice of course.

[Sent: XX/XX/XXXX   xx:xx AM]

You: Deal!! Meet me at the cafe at 10!

Changing his clothes and taming his hair slightly, he looked at his reflection once more before slipping on his Vans and locking the door behind him as he left.  He’d drink a coffee at the cafe while he waited for you.  Maybe a bit of creamer to sweeten it up this time. It was always a good time for change.  

The best change of his entire existence was coming to earth as a demon and deciding to stay as an angel, leaving his demonic life behind with a smile on his face.  Just for the chance to be your very own guardian angel.  

[royal-writer]

Sacred Place for the Insecure

Hold me tighter, love, and promise you won’t let go.

(( dropping this here: boop ))

He still had cold hands. Roughly textured and firm; frigid as the lake that tried to claim his life. Yet it was a kind touch, filled with hope. His words; so soft-spoken, a plea only for her ears. The glance he gave to her was private with sincerity and gentle as the breeze blowing off the lake.

“Stay with me. Please.”

It made her insides tie in knots.

She held her tongue to the ‘why me’ in that moment. Mostly, she didn’t want to draw a scene. Partly because she was certain his answer would sound as cryptic as the depths of his iris that she grew distracted by, trying to seek answers and fulfill curiosity. A small part of her was simply afraid to hear what he might have to say. Her own answers to his inquiries never seemed to satisfy his appetite to her consideration and attention for him, and she very much doubted his would to her.

It was probably just his way of paying back her thoughtfulness, anyway. He never had responded to her  gentle playful inquiry on their friendship.

Am I your project, Essätha? Your experiment, to see if- if you can redeem me, heal me, then you can do the same for yourself?

Her breath hitched as the cart jumped and bustled down the street.

You cannot rrrun forever, child, what you run from eventually catches up to you.

Essätha reached for her bag, and pulled it a little closer to her side.

Do you identify yourself as human, or half-elf?

Desperately, she tried to shake the thoughts out of her head as they emerged, clawing out from a tar pit of loneliness and self-inflicted disgust.

What do you want from me? What am I to you?

Focus. Focus. Inhale. Exhale.

Beneath her shirt, the spreading of scales like a grotesque infection subsided. The beastly act went unbeknownst to the clueless companions around her.

This wasn’t about her. No one here needed her. This was about survival, and that Raven fanatical fucker, and his sick obsession with murder. Destruction. Chaos.

But if Briarton’s protector would rather her presence then the scaly dragonborn who undressed him, or perhaps the assassin they took in, or even their elven-orc companion who could squash them all with his biceps by mistake in his sleep or the cursed high-elf, she understood that much. There was indeed, less soft-fleshed individuals in the group to appeal to who would make resting a nightmare. Or at the very least, highly unpleasant.

They all clamored out of the cart, and Essie had to resist offering her hand for the hundredth time as Amon nearly fell out and sagged uncomfortably at the knees. Her heart jolted with worry and lodged itself in her throat. Luckily, Caesar was quick to move to his side. The dog sniffed at his apparel as he had been since he’d set eyes on him with ears flattened.

She understood. She felt guilty, too. Shameful. Dirty. She hadn’t done enough. She hadn’t been there. He was hurting and struggling, and all she could do was swallow her worry and try not to drive him mad with her nurturers fretting.

He could have died, and none of them would have been the wiser.

He could have drowned and bled out, with them noticing and arriving too late.

Inhale. Exhale.

By the time they stepped inside the inn to speak with its keeper about room and board, she had perfected her mask again. Unclenching her jaw, relaxing her posture. The mastiff glanced up at her as she joined at his other side, waiting to confirm their room and board. He seemed particularly troubled, with those gentle giant brown eyes searching her features.

Essätha ignored the mastiff.

Lord Amon hobbled forward, coin purse at the ready. She hardly listened to him explaining the sleeping quarter dynamics, or requested rooms. The proprietor merely nodded through it all, only appearing mildly interested. A rather large, unique group of characters they were, traveling with a man clearly of wealth and power. Requesting rooms without windows, strategic placement of the building. But they knew better than to ask questions, at least. One by one, they scooted room keys across the desk as they accepted payment, giving information about some of the local areas, and letting them off to go find their quarters.

Lightly, she placed a hand to Amon’s shoulder. He was perhaps too tired to jump with statlement to the contact, his glazed eyes of exhaustion glimpsing back to her.

She smiled sweetly. “I’ll see about getting us something to eat and drink.”

He offered a ghostly smile of his own. “I’m just going to sleep.” He held out the room key, offering it to her. His knuckles were white. He seemed a little apprehensive.

After nearing being killed yet again, she could imagine why.

“I won’t be long,” Essätha urged encouragingly. She reached down, patting the burly furry monster at his side on the head. Caesar panted, and gave a swish of his tail as he let out a soft ‘boof’ of acknowledgment.

She stayed only long enough to arrange her things in a corner of the room, and listen with amusement; biting her lip to hold her snickering, as Caesar whined when Amon expressed he’d be sleeping beside the door. She did manage to find spare blankets in the trunk at the end of the bed to drop down in front of the door like a mat, but the dog still looked dejected as he was told to stay and lay whilst she departed. His loud huff as he flopped down with the door closing behind her had her snorting back laughter with a shake of her head. That dog was too spoiled with lounging on furniture and at his masters heels to find the floor acceptable, but he was well-behaved enough to only gripe.

He did try to persuade Amon though, to his credit. Briefly resting his head on the side of the bed, and slowly, gradually placing a paw on the edge before he was told to go back to his spot. Poor pup.

Much as her stomach protested at first, Essie managed to eat half of the baked goat flank and garlic butter potatoes she ordered, with a willow tea to calm her nerves. Wrapping up the remainders and a thank you for the service, Essätha hurried back to their stay with leftovers in tow. She wandered outside only look enough in search of creepy crawly critters to feed to one particularly voracious eater popping her head up in greeting from their fur-lined bag. The miniature young serpent had been docile and complacent in her hold for days, accepting the attention of a finger brush along her scales here and there without flinching.

At least someone was comfortable. It felt like nice, feeling understood.

Approaching the door, the Yuan-Ti woman recalled the awkward conversation a few hours earlier, and gave a gentle knock on the door once before entering. Twice. On the third time, she could hear Caesar’s nose from the underside of the door, trying to identify the knocker. His snuffling grew louder as she giggled, placing the key in and turning over the lock to step inside.

While the canine gave her a thorough examination with his snout, Essie skimmed her eyes across the room. Dim and dark, no lantern glow.

Caesar tried to survey the food she held up after a moment, raising his head to its highest point. She raised it up even higher above her shoulder, staring across the room at the figure wound up beneath blankets. Fast asleep.

“Not for you,” Essätha gently scolded the despairing eyes of the pooch. With a sigh as he flopped down once more on his blanket, sighing dramatically, she removed a portion of the flank to place before the dog. He gobbled it up in a flash of teeth and steady flop of his tail against the floorboards. Amon needn’t know.

Placing the remaining meal on the tall dresser out of reach, Essie removed the purse dangling at her hip. Green Bean swayed slowly from the surface, flicking her tongue before settling down back in her safe place. She had a relaxed and disinterested demeanor about everything it seemed, except for food time and the rare instances she’d try climbing up one’s arm in a burst of energy. They curled back within the folders of the fabric silently after a quick examination of the chest of drawers, and deeming it uninteresting.

Creeping slowly across the floor, careful not to awake the resting occupant, Essie shuffled over to her bag and pulled out some oversized plain clothes to slip into. She winced with the rustling of her limbs in the fabric, keeping an eye on the prone form, and the steady rise and fall of the comforter. His snoring sounded more escalated than usual. He showed no sign of disturbance as she unclothed self-consciously and swiftly tugged on a fresh set.

Gratefully, the bed was cushioned and accepted her silently as it dipped down. She wrestled the wound up blankets up just enough to weasel beneath them. Caesar groaned from across the room, and flopped over.

As she shimmied deeper into the blankets, Amon began to stir. His snoring rasped to a halt. She froze.

“It’s only me,” she offered, unsure if he was truly awake or not.

He twitched in his sleep, and began to snore once more. It was muted by the blanket tugged over his face.

A heavy sighed of relief exuded her. Reaching over, her hand loosened the dense blanket away from his head and face. He drowned in water already today, no need to wake up feeling miserably suffocated by covers.

“Rest well, m’lord,” she murmured quietly.

Slipping deeper beneath the duvet, her lungs felt ready to collapse. A sense of impending doom settled heavy on her like an elephant. She dreaded, and she doubted. It felt like success was going to always remain out of grasp. The clear blue skies would never come again. It felt like she’d be running forever.

Not one of these thoughts were new. Not one of these fears were new to her. She felt sick tonight as she did any other with it, perhaps worse. They were prey in a game no one signed up for. They didn’t know the rules or boundaries, hardly knew an inkling about their rival, and any potential allies they could make though them mad or too much a danger to hear them out.

Her eyes, a faded reflection from the torch light barely coming in beneath the door, moved from the ceiling to Amon.

It eased her, if only a little.

At least she was doing something right. She hoped. She prayed. Maybe she was making a difference, anyway. Even if it was only minuscule.

She turned over to her side and made her way past the no-man’s zone. Closer. Closer still, the smell of lakewater still in his hair. He was radiating body heat now, at least. Regardless, still uneasy about his condition, her body curled like a parenthesis, hugging to his bare backside. Her hands she kept close to her chest, too nervous to grow comfortably wrapped up against him. Awkward enough having seen his-

Her face enflamed, and she swallowed back a choked sound. Well. She was usually none-to-shy about such things, but the circumstances were everything against the norm for such intimacy.

Inhale. Exhale.

Essie closed her eyes slowly, hovering against the circumference of warmth Amon seeped out into the bedspread.

“I’ll be righ’ ‘ere if yo’ need me.”

Speech slurred as exhaustion summoned from the depths of her person. All the adrenaline from the rush of fear earlier began to crash down around her. And he was so warm; his presence like a summer’s day with the warm sun enveloping you in heat. He was so pleasantly comfy to be snuggled up against. Even vulnerable and asleep, the room still felt reassuring with him in it. Despite drab décor, despite plain and colorless design, despite the fact they were being hunted and stalked and at any moment it seemed someone else was going to turn and rip into them like animals, it felt… safe.

She fell into a dreamless slumber, grateful simply not to exist for a time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Drowsily, he lifted his eyelids. There was no telling the time of day, without access to a window. Everything seemed quiet, however. Still tired, Amon opted to believe that it still had to be night, or very early. There was no reason to rise. His entire body felt made of stone anyway.

His father would berate him for his tardiness to wake. Even deathly ill, he’d make a fuss. His lip curled. He pushed the thought away, and tugged on the covers closer to yank them closer to his face.

Something was touching him. Tickling? He squirmed a moment.

Warm breath exhaled a bit louder, fanning over his spine. He shivered unexpectedly, goosebumps breaking out all over. Every muscle locked and stiffened as the nobleman halted moving so not to disturb the figure shuffling beneath the blankets behind him.

Essätha finally settled herself again after a few heartbeats more. Her tangled mane of black hair was laying against his back as much as the rest of her was, the back of her balled-up hands against him and her forehead between his shoulderblades. Her knees curled to lock into the back of his. She fit against him in a perfect quotation mark. He couldn’t read and define exactly what it said; what she was trying to tell him.

Amon took a moment to consider how he felt, but it made no difference. He was sleeping well. She was sleeping well. Even humiliated what she may have glimpsed earlier; not realizing how much and how well she actually saw him, he couldn’t find a single damn reason to care. The bed was warmer, sharing two bodies now, and his spot was infinitely moreso with her curled against him.

Yawning as fatigue nipped at his groggy mind, Amon rested his eyes once more. His posture, little to his knowledge, began to mimic Essie’s until he was cradling himself like an infant in fetal position. He was back asleep in a span of a few seconds it seemed.

Unaware, the pair tucked themselves into one another in a tight spoon formation in their sleep. Essätha weaseled against the nobleman until a hand rested against his shoulder, and the other tucked in the gap between the pillow and his head. The Illiad heir’s snoring quietly rose again as he slept, with the bathing of warm breath against him and a nestled face to him.

Caesar groaned, rolled over, lifted his tail and wagged his tail with a single thump against the floorboards as the only witness to the trusting tender display.

The night otherwise rolled on, dangers holding distant in the night.

[insomniacsleepwalker]

Apparel(Part10)- An Ed Sheeran Fanfiction.

The rush in my veins wakes me like my blood is pulling me out of my own slumber. My eyes open to light streaming into the room from the tiny slit in the curtains and the alarm clock says that it's a few hours before I'm supposed to wake but yet my mind is wide awake and my bones groan for movement. I twist around into my pillow and try to go back to sleep but there is a mushroom cloud of thoughts that runs through my head and most of them are irrational fears. A hurricane awakens in my chest, pinning me down in paralysis and I curl my toes and pull my knees into my chest. I wrap my arms around a pillow and squeeze tight till it vaguely resembles the feeling of being held, which eases the hurricane to steady drizzle.

Giving up on sleep I sit up in bed and run both hands through my hair. I take deep breaths, trying to convince my mind into believing that everything is okay because everything is okay. I make a mental list: I have a job, I have a nice place, I am in Corsica where nobody can hurt me, I am okay. The mop of ginger hair and a pair of blue innocent eyes pop into my head and I shove my head into my palms , rubbing the image away from my eyes. I throw the covers off me and walk to the little bathroom. The image in the mirror has changed, one that is a bit difficult to recognise. The hair is slightly shorter, the eyes have hopeless dark circles underneath and eyes of a deer caught in the headlights. I splash water on the face and start to pace around the small room, trying to release all the pent up energy that the hurricane brought along.

I have a splitting headache but I've had it for a while now, so I've gotten used to it. I follow my daily morning routine; I change, I jog to the centre of the town, pick up some produce and jog back. The flat is messy with clothes strewn about everywhere, so I do a load of laundry as well, given the extra time. The silence gets to me so I turn the radio on. I used to listen to a lot of music, but I keep away from the spotify these days because listening to his voice in a mood like this is never helpful. Voices fill up the crevices of the tiny studio as I start to prepare a breakfast for two. I've managed to get a better hold of the language since Anna started giving me lessons at night when minds need most occupying from the annoying shadows of loneliness and storms of bad thoughts. She'd quiz me on verbs every night as we'd stack shelved, or teach me how to swear someone out or win a haggling argument. It helped with the mind-occupying, and it got Anna and I talking more.

It's almost feels like the universe is correcting itself by bringing Anna into my life. She and Charlie are like the parents that I wanted to have; neither dead, nor a dick. We were like puzzle pieces, those two and I. Anna told me about how she could not conceive and I told her about my parents and Ed... And then Anna taught me some French. They needed someone to work in the bookstore, which was not doing too well financially, and I needed a job and a first class honours degree in management. We fit.

I'm focussing on not burning the eggs and breathing in and out when the latter is held redundant at the sound of Ed's voice coming from the radio. I'm... just stood there. Something seems to go through my limbs, my ligaments, my bones that nothing moves except my heart, which wrestles against my ribs. I should change the station, switch it off... stir the eggs, literally anything other than remaining stood there, staring at a pan of eggs that may soon end up as a very disappointing breakfast. I haven't heard his voice in a while. I had forgotten that there was a rasp to it when he sung. I didn't know him long, but it feels like it was forever. Or just about enough that the rest of the time could not be held comparable. I finally move. I breathe and stir the eggs. I turn the heat off, I put the eggs on the plates and I take the bacon out of the oven.

I set the table and take my seat and start eating as I listen to him sing. I recognise the tune, it was the same one I had hummed in the studio. It almost makes me want to cry but I just sit and eat my breakfast. Midway through the song, Anna uses her spare-key to let herself in and I acknowledge her presence by quietly getting up to make her a cup of coffee. She doesn't say anything, just smiles at me when I set her mug down in front of her. There is a knowing look she has when she recognises the song but she doesn't say anything. So the morning continues; we eat and we listen to a man who once spoke softly in my ear and it's okay. Everything is okay.

Once she's done though, Anna gets up and changes the station on her way to put her dishes in the sink. I don't protest against it, but I am suddenly feeling frozen again. She comes up to me, gently strokes my hair and leaves a kiss on the top of my head.

With a smile, she says, "Store in ten."

I nod and smile back and when she's gone, I switch the station back to where it was but they're not playing his song anymore. I feel a flush of embarrassment go through me and I kind of want to scream. Stupid fucking feelings just fucking up everything. I put the dishes in the sink and leave the apartment to walk down to the store. I'm usually the first one in, but Charlie said that he would open up today. The two of them are already giggling like children when I walk in. They're not even embarrassed when they get caught, they just carry on canoodling. This is what I mean when I say that the universe must be correcting itself when I see them acting around each other like this. They would've been the kind of parents who would make their children believe that love is long-lasting and worth fighting for. I could've actually fallen for it if my brain would shut up once in a goddamned while.

"Can we stop with the PDA, please?" I call out and they just giggle a little more, but break away nonetheless.

Charlie goes back to working behind the counter and I give Anna a hand with re-stacking shelves with the new-arrivals. We talk a little more about the business and I suggest that we should add a sitting area for people to read and get to know their books before they invest their time in it and maybe serve some coffee and stuff.

"Haven't you had enough of pouring coffee?" Charlie jokes.

"For twats, yes." I joke back.

Anna and Charlie glance at each other with this knowing, parent-y look and I groan out loud.

"I'm fine, guys, seriously and it's a good idea." I say, "Trust me."

"We didn't say anything!" Anna says, on the defensive, "And it IS a good idea, but where do we have the space for that?"

"Oh the referencing shelf can be moved to the back," I tell them, "People don't refrence anymore."

"Really?" Charlie asks, "Huh, alright, we'll discuss it later."

"Okay, it'll send the sales through the roof, though." I tell them, "Anyway, it is my lunch break," I walk over to Charlie and hold out my hand, "gimmie."

He shares another look with Anna and I groan again, "I'M FIIINE."

"We didn't say anything!" Charlie says this time, as he drops a hand-rolled cigarette into my waiting palm.

"But you're shit at communicating with your mouth shut." I tell him and he laughs.

I walk out with a smile on my face, feeling much better than I did this morning. That's what I love about those two, they always make me feel better. I walk along the cobbled streets, make a stop at a grocery store to pick up a sandwich, and keep walking till I reach the lookout spot. I've had a funny relationship with the place, the past couple of months. A lot of crying, a lot of thorns, and just overall unease of being in a place alone where I just wanted to have Ed with me. I sort of avoided it for a bit in the middle, but I've grown to like it a bit more. It gives me hope that maybe I could bring someone here, someday and it won't end up being horrible. It's a far-fetched dream, but it's something. I can almost feel her in the wind that passes though my hair, telling me that things will fall into place.

I eat my lunch and then light up my cigarette and let the tingles take over my fingertips. It's a bad habit, Anna has been barking at me about it for weeks now, but it's the only thing that overpowers the anxiety and doesn't make me cry. I finish it rather quickly and I'm already craving another one. It's why I don't buy my own; I won't stop smoking them. Plus Charlie rolls really well and I can't roll for shit.

I check my watch and I have some time before I have to get back. Usually I don't wait around but something about the water today, I can't seem to look away. I lean against the railing and just watch as the water rages at its depths but eases gently onto shore. It's quiet. I like it quiet. Even my brain's shut up. I breathe in and out, and this time it's quite easy. The wind's nice, and the sun feels warm on my skin and for once I can close my eyes and just be. It's quite nice actually.

And in timely fashion,

"Not planning to jump, are you?" I hear from behind me.

Merde.

[fallout4holmes]

Journal 14

The Personal Journal of Mr. S. Holmes Diamond City, The Commonwealth, 2288

It was slightly disorienting to wake up on a mattress near the the Railroad’s back door. My body protested as I stood and looked for my companions. Hancock was talking with Deacon, the small crowd of agents around them wearing smiles of disbelief. Deacon was animatedly finishing a story involving two Coursers, a stick of gum, and a super mutant suicider. Hancock reclined in his chair, inhaled a small puff of jet, and said, “If any of that were true, I’d be damn impressed. But let me ask you, brother… you ever meet a comic book hero?”

I’m certain Deacon knew exactly what Hancock was referring to, but he played along and the tale was begun. I decided to let them have their fun and glanced around for Valentine. I saw him talking to Dr. Carrington. I took a step toward them, and was stopped by Desdemona.

“I can't say I'm thrilled with having the Mayor of Goodneighbor here.”

She didn't seem upset, and in fact she was possibly amused. “He's been letting your agents operate in his town for years,” I said.

“I’m not concerned he's going to go running to the Brotherhood with our location,” she said, “he's just… unpredictable.”

“He's perfectly predictable. Good guys get helped, bad guys get hurt. That is more or less a direct quote.”

She chuckled, and turned the conversation to business. Apparently, there is a loosely affiliated group of raiders that has been causing trouble for the Railroad, a particularly sadistic lot calling themselves the L&L Gang who take great delight in finding and executing synths. Desdemona claimed the Railroad had lost more synths to them over the years than even the Coursers. They had a lead on one of the gang’s top figures, a man by the name of Lucky Tatum. He was hiding out in Back Street Apparel. As I’d be headed in that direction to return to Diamond City, she wanted me to deal with him. I agreed.

Valentine approached, “What's the plan?”

“How does eliminating a few members of a synth hunting gang suit you, Mr. Valentine?”

“Synth hunting, hm? I'd be lying if I said that didn't hold a certain appeal.”

“Deacon will join us,” I stated, but Desdemona answered as if it had been a question.

“He wants to help. How'd you guess?”

“I never guess,” I said with a wry grin.

She was unimpressed, but it doesn't matter. I approached the two men still engaged in verbal one-upmanship. “Mayor Hancock. Deacon, Valentine, and I are going to deal with synth hunting raiders, will you be joining us before you return to Goodneighbor?”

Hancock smiled sinisterly. “Sounds like my kind of trouble.”

“He's coming?” Deacon asked. “You uh, sure that's safe?”

“Safe?” Hancock laughed as he stood, “where the hell’s the fun in that?”

As we walked, I asked Deacon what the status was of the Courser he'd gone after. He said it was taken care of, but that I got to fight the next one.

“Courser, huh?” Hancock said from his position in front. “That must have been a hell of a - oh, shit!” he turned the corner, and immediately backed up, his shotgun at the ready, “If you got any explosives, now would be a real good time to use ‘em!”

The deathclaw’s roar echoed over the shotgun blast as it came around the building. “Don’t let it get close!” Deacon called out, “Pop a Stealth Boy if you got one!” and he promptly did.

Hancock swore, colorfully, followed with, “We’re in a goddamn alley, and he says ‘don’t let it get close.’”

Deacon managed to flank the beast, as Hancock, Valentine, and I continued our assault while moving as quickly backwards as we could until we cleared the alley and could gain some distance. Being attacked from all directions confused it enough for us to put it down with relative ease. As easy as killing a ten foot reptile of sheer muscle and rage ever is.

Once it was dead, Hancock sighed. “Could use some jet after that.”

Deacon limped over to us, wincing. “Another deathclaw down, another of my nine lives burned. Yay.”

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just a bruised rib. Ribs. Ribcage. Ow. Got hit by the damn tail.”

“Walking away from a fight with a Deathclaw is no small feat,” Valentine mused. “Nicely done, everyone.”

Hancock nudged the deathclaw’s head with the toe of his boot. “So what do you think it would take to train these things to just eat super mutants?”

“Well, first we’d have to find a baby and name it Fluffy,” Deacon quipped.

Hancock laughed, “Anyone up for deathclaw steaks? Nothing like eating a meal made from something that tried to eat you.”

“That’s like, every meal,” Deacon said as we moved forward. “I mean, except the vegetarian ones. Unless there are mutant man-eating plants out there. Attack of the killer tatos.”

“Brahmin don’t try to eat you.”

“Not yet.” Deacon spared a last glance at the deathclaw. He shuddered. “Man, I do not like those things.”

“Yeah, give me the chills, too,” Hancock admitted.

Valentine and I followed as Hancock and Deacon continued bonding over their shared terror and continued hypothesizing on the existence of various other life forms that could kill them yet would taste good.

“Holmes,” said Valentine, “you got a weird taste in friends.”

“Said the man at the top of the list,” I smirked.

“Doesn’t make it any less true,” he said.

After the deathclaw, Lucky Tatum and his crew of bigoted sadists didn’t stand a chance. It was a massacre. All four of us present hadn’t been necessary, but I knew why Deacon had wanted to be there. He didn’t say anything, and the sunglasses continue to make reading his thoughts difficult, but when it was all over he said, “No comparison to Deathclaws.”

“Yet just as necessary to deal with,” I said. “The circumstances are slightly different, besides.”

He looked at me, inscrutable for a moment, before smiling. “No giant tails to dodge, for one thing. I gotta see the doc when I get back to HQ. Ugh, won’t that be fun.”

“Found some ammo in here!” Hancock shouted from a far room.

Valentine spoke quietly as Deacon joined the Mayor, “If I ask what that was about, am I going to get a straight answer?”

“Deacon trusted me with details about his life, which to be perfectly honest I don’t know are true or not. My instinct leans towards truth.”

When it became clear that was all I was going to say on the matter, he said, “You could have just said ‘no, Nick, man’s got a right to his secrets.’”

I grinned. I don’t know for sure if Deacon was thinking of the creature or the gang from his life story when he said Deathclaws, but I thought the acknowledgement should be there, should he choose to take it. Perhaps the gang never existed, perhaps Deacon was never married, perhaps, perhaps… and yet. The possibility of its truth is enough to respect his wishes that it never be known. He went through the trouble of erasing the recording of it. That might count for something toward its validity.

Deacon said he would let Desdemona know the good news as we left the area. We said our goodbyes, and the three of us turned toward Diamond City. Hancock seemed to be enjoying our company, and avoiding his mayoral duties. As we passed the guards patrolling outside the Diamond City entrance, he grew silent and stern, exuding deadly confidence as each guard watched him pass.

“Would you like to come in?” I asked.

He frowned. “You know ghouls ain’t welcome.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

He chuckled, and said, “Nah. I appreciate the gesture, but we’d be makin’ Nicky here an accomplice or some such bullshit, and he gets enough crap as it is. I’ll sneak in on my own sometime. I’m countin’ on you to keep my removal dignified when I do.”

He left, and we went inside the city. “How’re you feeling?” Valentine asked.

“Fine. Why do you ask?”

“You were in rough shape before. Just checking on you.”

“I’m fine, Valentine, truly. We’re home, what is there to be worried about?”

He laughed softly, “Alright. Can’t blame an old synth for being worried. I’d hate to lose a partner to something so mundane as poor health.”

We checked in at the Agency before he told me to go home and spend some time with my son. I didn’t argue. I was glad to see Shaun, and together we worked on a few experiments in the workshop. Now it’s late, he lies asleep upstairs, and I sit at my desk in the living room. Codsworth is continuing his evening routine. Everything is as it should be. I stored the pack of mentats I found on a raider in the desk drawer. It’s tempting to take one, but this time I’ll concede to Valentine’s concerns, and get some rest.

[dramarising-replacement]

A tiny frustrated rant #2, "Re: you greedy ass don't care about newbs" edition

My main issue with the Spare Inventory is that it increased the gap between old and new players. Festivals used to be a solid and simple source of investments, so players who joined in late 2014 could get, for example, a bunch of Companion Comets, wait for prices to rise, sell the Comets and get Sprites, or whatever else they want - genes, Eliminates, whatever. Sure, as the site grows, more festival items would enter the system, so retired items wouldn’t get as expensive, but popular ones would still be a good way to get money for a newbie.

NOW, newbies don’t have that option. The only fail-proof way to invest is to buy cycling Gem items, especially silks and WC scrolls, and that requires you to have these gems to begin with. The only valuable, retired items are old ones, mostly sitting on old accounts, and newer players are just out of luck because admins robbed them out of wonderful investment opportunities.

I’m not saying “weh poor newbies have no money”, there are still lots of ways to earn gems/treasure and save up for that KS thing you want (I’m doing that through Coliseum and some item and dragon flipping, it’s working out pretty well actually), BUT the Inventory and “never-retired” policy did hurt them the most, imo. Not even mentioning how boring festivals are now. It’s just a near-monthly update with one new apparel piece, one familiar, one vista that most people won’t use, and a bunch of accents and skins. Better than some updates, but I really want something new to do during festivals, if I can’t invest. So, you know, they’d be… fun? A wild concept these days, really.

[hella-queer-hero]

The Purpose Of A Business Is To Create A Customer Who Creates Customers

Each official whether fruitful or a starter, fantasies about turning into a motivation for other people. It is his method of working his treatment of the representatives and building up the association that drives him to the zenith. Business advancement is an immense idea followed by each business person to expand his overall revenue and the grins on his client's face  Custom Made Jewellery For a drawn out progression in the market portion the business visionary needs steadfast clients, devoted redemption and just about zero odds of grumble for his administrations

Development is an unavoidable piece of life and even your business can't escape from that. To extend your firm or your organization in a positive way you have to investigate each and every development openings accessible and you need to continue observing the opponent entering the market. Competition is another part, however conveying your best to individuals will be an advantage for your business improvement process.

Business Development can be a courageous procedure. Not every person has the enchantment wand of recruiting individuals for help at a prompt position. Be that as it may, some assistance consistently changes a circumstance either in a positive or in a negative way.

Let us look at the advantages and disadvantages of being a courageous designer.

You are the commander of your boat, AKA your developing realm. It tends to be a natural pecking order, adornments or an apparel line, or a masterful brand. The motivation lies all over the place. One thing you should recall that there is no skyline for the individuals who need to extend so as to serve and elevate individuals. Marked and well known organizations like McDonald's, Nike, Adidas, Gucci, Dolce, and Gabana, Reliance and so forth have developed from poverty to newfound wealth. This is certainly not a one or a one-year work. This will be you life and the endeavors of your subordinates too.(if you recruit them)

There would be scarcely any problems of documentations. You would need to advise the expense office need a made sure about and confirmed ledger and an appropriate spot to set up your endeavor. Remember the idea of security

Whatever you procure you would keep it. The money related advantages high or low would immediately go to your financial balance and you won't have to minimize your satisfaction.

Individuals consistently eye the ones who are flying noticeable all around. It would be the situation with the business improvement process. As you are beginning your firm, individuals would be curious and pose inquiries, however nobody would think about the system or the net revenue. At the point when you shoot out with a blast presenting your imaginative methods that is when individuals would acknowledge and get bulldozed.

There is a colloquialism that two hands are sufficient to support thousand hearts. An independent business visionary can satisfy his clients by getting limits his items or bringing great assortments of apparel or beverages for them to wear and taste. At the point when you convey the item to your client, you become a wellspring of steadfastness and fellowship for them. They would confide in you for giving them the best and as you would likewise be eager, you will attempt your best.

Lawful REQUIREMENTS FOR A DEVELOPING BUSINESS

Track achievement for your monetary record and records. Like inland incomes and worth included assessment

It would be treacherous in the event that we simply center around the positives of a business. We as a whole have dim and the light sides.

· Financial uncertainties ascend, as banks don't offer advances to new companies that without any problem. It is a thought that it may fall flat or the proprietor probably won't have the option to restore the sum.

· Single-gave payoff probably won't have the option to accumulate huge units of creation and that outcomes in low benefits. So purchasing the merchandise in discount would not be conceivable.

· If the proprietor crosses the rainbow connect out of nowhere then what will occur? Business can crumple because of these numerous variables and you should be prepared for anything. All things considered, you have decided to work for yourself so you should be dependable.

Another name for business is hazard. Whatever you produce or purchase is going to cost you. Some may lose their psyches and offer join or oil somebody's palms for additional fund yet in the event that they can't take care of, at that point it brings about a debacle. Along these lines, regardless of whether you have a little weight or long working hours simply remain solid. All things considered, Rome was not worked in a day.

You are never going to be a borrower on the off chance that you work easily and productively. All things considered, on the off chance that something occurs, and you have to recompense, and afterward don't spare a moment to shred a few bucks from your investment funds. You can likewise remove some additional costs. Concentrate on your office insides and consider how it can draw in more clients. Purchasing new furnishings, keeping specialized contraptions, having everything state-of-the-art is sufficient to catch eye for a normal crowd.

Regard must be earned. Keep in mind, a business is a piece of your life; it isn't your spirit. The essence is in the event that you lose your uprightness, at that point it won't return except if you endeavor hard for it. So don't undercut yourself for anything you need. Your loan bosses and banks will sit tight for the cash in the event that they trust you.

Building up a business will make you see lows and highs. It will cause you to endure and it will make you grin. Consistently you will gain some new useful knowledge and extraordinary. It would be your background.

SETTING UP A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP-:-

THINGS TO MEMORIZE.

At the point when two individuals choose to cooperate there will undoubtedly be an agreement. It isn't about some bent relationship yet setting conditions to abstain from confronting issues in future. There are organization acts that are sanctioned under the demonstration of the year 1980, and both the gatherings are relied upon to tail it. It resembles an implicit understanding that you can't hurt him/her as you are attached to a solitary string.

A decisively archived organization before an outsider is commonly the most ideal choice. The outsider is a tactful legal counselor. He can assist you with revealing your issues and privileged insights and settle them without debates.

Both the gatherings sit with the attorney and put their ideal terms and understandings. The legal advisor thinks about their profundity and force and appropriately places them in the agreement. There would be no distinction if the accomplices were male and female. Terms would continue as before for the sexual orientations. By the by, if the lady needs to put t some security provisos only for the wellbeing of she then it is totally alright and legitimate. These things are not composed to place you in question however to make you mindful of the morals of the business world.

The gatherings are given some an ideal opportunity to include or substitute the provisions. It may happen that the fresher is teaming up just because and probably won't be clear about the terms. They can inquire as to whether they are still in question then after a given period they can put their pie in the sky conditions. Just thing is it should influence the venture.

One implicit arrangement about the business is that you are accomplices in all things. Everything implies completely everything. In the event that the business brings about misfortunes, at that point you will undoubtedly endure it. On the off chance that the overall revenues rise, at that point you will get adequate offer. On the off chance that your capital sharing isn't equivalent, at that point you need to pick an alternate game plan however at long last, it must be Equal.

WHAT CAN U EXPECT IN CLAUSES?

An understanding in organization brings about the accompanying focuses:-

- Capital methods both the accomplices ought to contribute monetarily, truly or with resources in the improvement of the association. That commitment will be taken into agreement. They can likewise concede to raising equivalent offers or some different speculations.

- Their offer in net revenues would be equivalent so the intrigue that they pay each year on the benefit deals ought to likewise be formally dressed. In the event that in the event that the contrary party has rendered abundance measure of capital, at that point he/she will undoubtedly get bigger offers on benefit. Whichever individual gets everyone's attention will undoubtedly get the prize.

- Their remaining task at hand ought to likewise be determined. On the off chance that one individual bears additional time to finish his work, at that point the remuneration ought to likewise be more. In any case, in the event that the work stays pending in the wake of investing more than the necessary energy, at that point it is taken as an invalidation on accomplice's duty. He is committed mindful of his error or is interrogated concerning his capability.

Dainty OR HUGE COMPANY STRUCTURES-WHAT CAN YOU DO.

Size of the organization has an imperative effect on its turn of events. It isn't that new businesses need more opportunity to eclipse, yet a perfect changed structure unquestionably acquires overall revenues. Its synchronization is all around kept up and the representatives can work as per the giving errands and timings. There is consistently a push to diminish the endeavors and increment the outcomes. They work with innovative supplies that diminish the working hours and make your errand simpler to perform. In the event that the organization is immense, at that point the contemplations are likewise enormous.

Assorted STRUCTURES OF ORGANIZATIONS.

Altogether there are six sorts of organization structures that ever business person centers around.

Pre-bureaucratic

Little and medium undertakings select this sort of structure. Here there isn't a lot of extension for procedure or an isolation of obligation. The work is partitioned by the timeframe and need and there is little degree for intensity. One individual is relied upon to play out numerous jobs, so these frequently brings about job disarray or in riotous calendars the work probably won't be done according to the desire and it leaves the representative depleted.

DOMINATIVE

The word itself gives you a thought of the structure. This is more confounded than the past one. It capacities on a uniform scale not leaving any choice for making botches. To some degree like the dictator Hitler, this anticipates that you should work easily anticipating an incredible outcome. The bit and etiquette of the organization is kept up at any expense and the representatives are relied upon to keep their work-principles high.

AUTHORITY AND LIABILITY

A blend of the definitive and the liberal, this network structure assumes a significant job in determining authority and settling on valuable choices. This sort of request is normally found in little and medium measured ventures

[ofblcckcats]

You do not do, you do not do Any more, black shoe In which I have lived like a foot For thirty years, poor and white, Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you. You died before I had time— Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, Ghastly statue with one gray toe Big as a Frisco seal And a head in the freakish Atlantic Where it pours bean green over blue In the waters off the beautiful Nauset. I used to pray to recover you. Ach, du. In the German tongue, in the Polish town Scraped flat by the roller Of wars, wars, wars. But the name of the town is common. My Polack friend Says there are a dozen or two. So I never could tell where you Put your foot, your root, I never could talk to you. The tongue stuck in my jaw. It stuck in a barb wire snare. Ich, ich, ich, ich, I could hardly speak. I thought every German was you. And the language obscene An engine, an engine, Chuffing me off like a Jew. A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen. I began to talk like a Jew. I think I may well be a Jew. The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna Are not very pure or true. With my gypsy ancestress and my weird luck And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack I may be a bit of a Jew. I have always been scared of you, With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo. And your neat mustache And your Aryan eye, bright blue. Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You— Not God but a swastika So black no sky could squeak through. Every woman adores a Fascist, The boot in the face, the brute Brute heart of a brute like you. You stand at the blackboard, daddy, In the picture I have of you, A cleft in your chin instead of your foot But no less a devil for that, no not Any less the black man who Bit my pretty red heart in two. I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die And get back, back, back to you. I thought even the bones would do. But they pulled me out of the sack, And they stuck me together with glue. And then I knew what to do. I made a model of you, A man in black with a Meinkampf look And a love of the rack and the screw. And I said I do, I do. So daddy, I'm finally through. The black telephone's off at the root, The voices just can't worm through. If I've killed one man, I've killed two— The vampire who said he was you And drank my blood for a year, Seven years, if you want to know. Daddy, you can lie back now. There's a stake in your fat black heart And the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you. They always knew it was you. Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through. In Memory of W. B. Yeats by W. H. Auden I He disappeared in the dead of winter: The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted, And snow disfigured the public statues; The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day. What instruments we have agree The day of his death was a dark cold day. Far from his illness The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests, The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays; By mourning tongues The death of the poet was kept from his poems. But for him it was his last afternoon as himself, An afternoon of nurses and rumours; The provinces of his body revolted, The squares of his mind were empty, Silence invaded the suburbs, The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers. Now he is scattered among a hundred cities And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections, To find his happiness in another kind of wood And be punished under a foreign code of conscience. The words of a dead man Are modified in the guts of the living. But in the importance and noise of to-morrow When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the Bourse, And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly accustomed, And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom, A few thousand will think of this day As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual. What instruments we have agree The day of his death was a dark cold day. II You were silly like us; your gift survived it all: The parish of rich women, physical decay, Yourself. Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry. Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still, For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives In the valley of its making where executives Would never want to tamper, flows on south From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs, Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives, A way of happening, a mouth. III Earth, receive an honoured guest: William Yeats is laid to rest. Let the Irish vessel lie Emptied of its poetry. In the nightmare of the dark All the dogs of Europe bark, And the living nations wait, Each sequestered in its hate; Intellectual disgrace Stares from every human face, And the seas of pity lie Locked and frozen in each eye. Follow, poet, follow right To the bottom of the night, With your unconstraining voice Still persuade us to rejoice; With the farming of a verse Make a vineyard of the curse, Sing of human unsuccess In a rapture of distress; In the deserts of the heart Let the healing fountain start, In the prison of his days Teach the free man how to praise. Proem: To Brooklyn Bridge by Hart Crane How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest The seagull's wings shall dip and pivot him, Shedding white rings of tumult, building high Over the chained bay waters Liberty— Then, with inviolate curve, forsake our eyes As apparitional as sails that cross Some page of figures to be filed away; —Till elevators drop us from our day ... I think of cinemas, panoramic sleights With multitudes bent toward some flashing scene Never disclosed, but hastened to again, Foretold to other eyes on the same screen; And Thee, across the harbor, silver-paced As though the sun took step of thee, yet left Some motion ever unspent in thy stride,— Implicitly thy freedom staying thee! Out of some subway scuttle, cell or loft A bedlamite speeds to thy parapets, Tilting there momently, shrill shirt ballooning, A jest falls from the speechless caravan. Down Wall, from girder into street noon leaks, A rip-tooth of the sky's acetylene; All afternoon the cloud-flown derricks turn ... Thy cables breathe the North Atlantic still. And obscure as that heaven of the Jews, Thy guerdon ... Accolade thou dost bestow Of anonymity time cannot raise: Vibrant reprieve and pardon thou dost show. O harp and altar, of the fury fused, (How could mere toil align thy choiring strings!) Terrific threshold of the prophet's pledge, Prayer of pariah, and the lover's cry,— Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars, Beading thy path—condense eternity: And we have seen night lifted in thine arms. Under thy shadow by the piers I waited; Only in darkness is thy shadow clear. The City's fiery parcels all undone, Already snow submerges an iron year ... O Sleepless as the river under thee, Vaulting the sea, the prairies' dreaming sod, Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend And of the curveship lend a myth to God. Tom O' Bedlam's Song anonymous ballad, circa 1620 From the hag and hungry goblin That into rags would rend ye, The spirit that stands by the naked man In the Book of Moons, defend ye. That of your five sound senses You never be forsaken, Nor wander from your selves with Tom Abroad to beg your bacon,    While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. Of thirty bare years have I Twice twenty been enragèd, And of forty been three times fifteen In durance soundly cagèd. On the lordly lofts of Bedlam With stubble soft and dainty, Brave bracelets strong, sweet whips, ding-dong, With wholesome hunger plenty,    And now I sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. With a thought I took for Maudlin, And a cruse of cockle pottage, With a thing thus tall, sky bless you all, I befell into this dotage. I slept not since the Conquest, Till then I never wakèd, Till the roguish boy of love where I lay Me found and stript me nakèd.    While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. When I short have shorn my sow's face And swigged my horny barrel, In an oaken inn, I pound my skin As a suit of gilt apparel; The moon's my constant mistress, And the lovely owl my marrow; The flaming drake and the night crow make Me music to my sorrow.    While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. The palsy plagues my pulses When I prig your pigs or pullen Your culvers take, or matchless make Your Chanticleer or Sullen. When I want provant, with Humphry I sup, and when benighted, I repose in Paul's with waking souls, Yet never am affrighted.    But I do sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. I know more than Apollo, For oft when he lies sleeping I see the stars at mortal wars In the wounded welkin weeping. The moon embrace her shepherd, And the Queen of Love her warrior, While the first doth horn the star of morn, And the next the heavenly Farrier.    While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. The Gypsies, Snap and Pedro, Are none of Tom's comradoes, The punk I scorn, and the cutpurse sworn And the roaring boy's bravadoes. The meek, the white, the gentle, Me handle not nor spare not; But those that cross Tom Rynosseross Do what the panther dare not.    Although I sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. With an host of furious fancies, Whereof I am commander, With a burning spear and a horse of air To the wilderness I wander. By a knight of ghosts and shadows I summoned am to tourney Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end: Methinks it is no journey.    Yet I will sing, Any food, any feeding,    Feeding, drink or clothing;    Come dame or maid, be not afraid,    Poor Tom will injure nothing. After the Persian by Louise Bogan I I do not wish to know The depths of your terrible jungle: From what nest your leopard leaps Or what sterile lianas are at once your serpents' disguise      and home. I am the dweller on the temperate threshold, The strip of corn and vine, Where all is translucence (the light!) Liquidity, and the sound of water. Here the days pass under shade And the nights have the waxing and the waning moon. Here the moths take flight at evening; Here at morning the dove whistles and the pigeons coo. Here, as night comes on, the fireflies wink and snap Close to the cool ground, Shining in a profusion Celestial or marine. Here it is never wholly dark but always wholly green, And the day stains with what seems to be more than the      sun What may be more than my flesh. II I have wept with the spring storm; Burned with the brutal summer. Now, hearing the wind and the twanging bow-strings, I know what winter brings. The hunt sweeps out upon the plain And the garden darkens. They will bring the trophies home To bleed and perish Beside the trellis and the lattices, Beside the fountain, still flinging diamond water, Beside the pool (Which is eight-sided, like my heart). III All has been translated into treasure: Weightless as amber, Translucent as the currant on the branch, Dark as the rose's thorn. Where is the shimmer of evil? This is the shell's iridescence And the wild bird's wing. IV Ignorant, I took up my burden in the wilderness. Wise with great wisdom, I shall lay it down upon flowers. V Goodbye, goodbye! There was so much to love, I could not love it all; I could not love it enough. Some things I overlooked, and some I could not find. Let the crystal clasp them When you drink your wine, in autumn. Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard by Thomas Gray The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds: Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, Molest her ancient solitary reign. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or busy housewife ply her evening care: No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share, Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; How jocund did they drive their team afield! How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

[socomtacticalairsoft]

How to Airsoft on a Budget

Like most quality past times, getting started with airsoft requires some investment. At the very least, you need some amount of protection and an airsoft gun. Most people who get started airsofting borrow guns from friends, but eventually everyone wants airsoft gear to call their own. Here’s our realistic guide to budgeting your gear.

How to Choose Airsoft Gear

When you’re choosing gear to buy, it’s never easy deciding which items to purchase. Check out our beginner’s guide for more information. There are several important things to remember when it comes to airsofting on a budget. You want to get the most for your money and kit that is going to last. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting money.

How to Airsoft on a budget

Your Airsoft Gun

When choosing an airsoft gun, your budget will depend on what you’re interested in. Assault rifles are the most popular kind of airsoft gun. If you’re looking for an airsoft assault rifle, you should dedicate around £200. You can get a decent submachine gun for a bit less, while sniper rifles start as little as £120. If you want to just go dirt cheap to get in there and give airsofting a try, you can pick up an airsoft pistol for less than £100 and go at it like the wild west! Again, it’s all down to what you’re interested in.

Budget-friendly AEGs

AEGs come in a huge variety, so check out our video for a breakdown of some of the best on a budget.

Budget-friendly airsoft pistols

The WE Browning Hi-Power includes a precision machined barrel assembly, realistic faux-wood grip, adjustable sight, and smooth full metal slide. This is all topped off by an efficient blowback system and solid trigger response. The WE-Tech Hi-Power is one of the best pistols to come to the airsoft market to date and ideal on any budget.

Your Protection

Getting shot can hurt, but getting shot in the face REALLY hurts. Even if you’re on a shoestring budget, don’t ignore the fundamentals. You can pick up some effective eye protection from as little as £15 and full head covering for £30. As for the rest, knee pads are the first thing you should buy and you can make do with layers until you can kit yourself out with tactical apparel.

Filling your loadout

Before reaching for a trusty sidearm, make sure you have a few other basics. A spare battery, magazines, ammo and tactical pouches will round out your basic kit. You can pick up these bits for around £30 – £50.

The gear discussed above will get you started. When you realise that airsofting is awesome and you want to spend every weekend doing it, you can start to build out your gear. We would recommend picking up a sidearm and updating your apparel first. This will give you better protection and more versatility when you play. After that, look to improve your primary airsoft gun, or experiment with different guns to find the one that best suits your style.

There’s a whole world of airsoft stuff out there to try. This is just a jumping off point to get you into playing.  If you’re just starting out or looking to get into airsofting, you can get loads of friendly advice in our store or on our Facebook page.

How to Airsoft on a Budget was originally published on Socom Tactical Airsoft Shop Blog

[jokertrap-ran]

[まとめ髪]黒霧時宗 (SR) [Gathering Up Hair] Kurogiri Tokimune (SR) 女性目線の助言 Female Apparel Advice

仕事の妨げになるものは排除いたします。 I'll eliminate everything that gets in the way of my work.

All Episodes Translations : Translator’s note : MC’s name shall remain as my normal (水嶋ラン) Spoiler friendly : Translations under cut !

Episode 1:

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

水嶋さん、今お時間よろしいでしょうか？ Mizushima-san, could you spare a little time right now?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

こんにちは、先輩。大丈夫ですけど、何かご用ですか？ Hello, senpai. No problem but is there something you need from me?

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

ええ。明日、買い出しのご同行をお願いしたいのです。 Yes. I wanted to ask you to accompany me to shopping tomorrow.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

えっ。私が、先輩のお手伝いをですか……？ Eh. You want me to help you……?

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

発注担当者のくだらないミスが原因で、 Due to a stupid mistake the ordering person made, 徒会の備品に、不足が発生してしまいまして。 We ended up having a shortage of Student Council equipment. 急遽、私が買い出しに行くことになったのです。 So I ended up being the one having to go buy them in a sudden decision.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

わかりました。私で良ければ、お手伝いします。 I got it. I'll help you out if you don't mind it being me. なんでもしますから、遠慮せずに言ってくださいね。 I'll do anything so don't hesitate to tell me.

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……何か誤解をしているようなので言っておきますが。 …...I'll tell you this since you seem to be misunderstanding something here. 今回あなたに同行をお願いしたのは、蓮様から、 The one who asked of you to accompany me this time was Ren-sama, 女性の意見も取り入れるよう、命ぜられたからです。 Seeing as he wanted to incorporate the opinion of a girl. That was what I had been ordered to do. それ以外の余計なことは一切しないようお願いします。 Please do refrain from doing any unnecessary things asides from that.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（わ、わかってたけど、相変わらず厳しいな……） (I-I know that but you're still being as strict as ever……)

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

詳細は追ってご連絡いたします。では、私はこれで。 I'll contact you with more details later. We'll then, I'll be taking my leave here.

Episode 2:

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（約束より早めに着いちゃったな……って、あ、あれ？） (I've arrived earlier than the appointment time…...wait, h-huh?) く、黒霧先輩！？ まさか私時間を勘違いして……！？ K-Kurogiri-senpai!? Could it be that I've mistaken the time we were supposed to meet……!?

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

落ち着いてください。あなたは時間通りです。 Please calm down. You're right on time. 同行を願い出た手前、お待たせしては失礼ですから、 It would be rude for me to make you wait since I was the one who asked of you to accompany me. 私が、待ち合わせ時間より早く待機していただけです。 That's why I was waiting here earlier than the appointed time.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

でも、結局は、お待たせしてしまったんですよね？ But, I've made you wait in the end, haven't I? 黒霧先輩、遅くなってしまってすみませんでした。 Kurogiri-senpai, sorry for being late.

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

私は西園寺家の従者として当然のことをしたまでです。 I've just done what a servant of the Saionji family should have. 謝罪は必要ありません。落ち込む暇があるのなら、 I don't need an apology. If you have the time to be depressed about it, その無駄な時間を、買い出しに活用してください。 Please use that wasted time to shop instead.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

は、はい。すみませんでした……。 O-Okay. I'm sorry…...

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

こちらとあちら、どちらの商品が良いと思いますか？ Between this and that, which product do you think is better?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

えっと、女性受けが良さそうなのは、こっちかと……。 Err, this one would be more suitable for a girl…...

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

わかりました。購入して参りますのでお待ちください。 Understood. Please wait as I go make the purchase.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（……私、少し意見を言うくらいしかしてないな……） (......I didn't do much except state a little of my opinion……)

Episode 3:

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（私って、ちゃんとお手伝いできてるのかな……？） (I wonder if I was able to properly be of help……?)

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……何か言いたげですね。私に何かご不満でも？ …...You seem as if you have something to say. Are you unsatisfied with me or something?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

い、いえ、不満だなんてそんな……！ ……ただ、 N-Not at all, I'm not unsatisfied, how would I be……! …...It's just that, ちゃんと先輩の役に立ててるのかなって、不安で……。 I'm just uneasy about whether I was able to be of help to you.

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……何かと思えば、そのような些末事ですか。 …...I was thinking what the matter was but it was something so trivial huh.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

えっ。で、でも、お手伝いを頼まれたわけですし……。 Eh. B-But, I mean you were the one who asked of me to help you too so…...

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

昨日、私が言ったことを、もう忘れられたのですか？ Have you already forgotten about what I told you yesterday? あなたに求めている仕事は、女性目線の助言だけです。 The only thing I've asked from you is just opinions from a female's perspective. その役目さえこなしていただければ問題ありませんし、 There's no problem since you've already done that at the very least so, 現状、その点に関してはこちらに不満はありません。 I'm not unsatisfied with anything regarding that matter as of now.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（良かった……私、ちゃんとお手伝いできてるんだ） (I'm glad……I've managed to be of proper help to him.)

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

どうでもいいことに思考を割いている暇があるなら、 If you have the spare time to think about what's already done and over with, 足を動かしてください。さあ、次の店に向かいますよ。 Please walk. Now, let's head to the next shop.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

あ……ま、待ってください、先輩！ ……きゃっ！？ Oh…...p-please wait up, senpai! …...Kyaa!? （な、何！？ 急に髪の毛が引っ張られて……！） (W-What!? Pulling on my hair so suddenly……!)

Episode 4:

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（あっ！ 店頭のツリーに髪が絡まっちゃってる……） ( Oh! My hair got entangled with the shop’s tree……)

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……そんなところで何をしているのですか、あなたは。 …… What are you doing in such a place over there?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

す、すみません。木に髪が引っかかってしまって……。 S-Sorry. My hair caught on a tree…...

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……仕方ないですね。私がほどいて差し上げます。 …...It can't be helped huh. I'll help you untangle it. 痛い思いをしたくなければ、じっとしていてください。 Please don't move if  you don't want it to hurt. ……終わりました。もう動いても問題ありません。 …...It's done. It'll be alright if you move now.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

は、はい。黒霧先輩、ありがとうございました。 O-Okay. Thank you very much, Kurogiri-senpai.

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

こうなる可能性くらいあなたでも予測できたでしょう。 You've also predicted that something like this would happen, didn't you. それなのに、何故髪をまとめて来なかったのですか。 So why didn't you gather your hair up?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

その……最初はちゃんとゴムでまとめていたんですが、 Well…...I did tie them up with a rubber band at first but, 待ち合わせ場所に向かう途中で切れてしまったんです。 It broke on the way to the meeting place. でも、新しいのを取りに戻るには、時間がなくて……。 But, I didn't have time to go get a new one…...

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

そこで予備を用意しておかないから、こうなるのです。 And so, it turned out like this because you didn't prepare spares just in case. あなたは本当に、肝心なところで詰めが甘いですね。 You're honestly too light-hearted on the places where you have to take notice of.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

はい、おっしゃる通りです……すみません。 Yes, it's just as you say…...I’m sorry.

Episode 5:

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……仕方がありませんね。そこで少々お待ちください。 …...There's no helping it huh. Please wait there for a little while.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

え？ あの、黒霧せんぱ……。……行っちゃった。 Huh? Um, Kurogiri-senpa………...he left. （アクセサリーショップに、なんの用なのかな……？） (I wonder what he needs from an accessory shop……?)

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

――お待たせしました。こちらをどうぞ。 ——Thank you for waiting. Here, have this.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

え？ ……これって……髪ゴムと髪留め、ですよね？ Eh? …...This is…...a Hair ribbon clip, right?

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

はい。また同じようなことが起きて足を止められては、 Yes. Because if the same thing happens again, it'll only hold us back 時間の無駄ですから。これで髪をまとめてください。 And it'll be a waste of time. Please tie your hair with this.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

あ、ありがとうございます……あ、そうだ、代金……！ T-Thank you very much…...oh, right, the payment……!

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

支払いは結構です。そのままお受け取りください。 Don't worry about the payment. Just accept it like how it is.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

えっ。で、でも、それじゃあ申し訳ないです。 Eh. B-But, I'd feel bad that way.

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

遠慮はいりません。本日のお礼を兼ねた贈り物です。 You don't have to thank me. It's a gift to thank you for today. 休日に私用で女性を連れ回して、礼もしないのでは、 To bring a girl around during a weekend without any thanks is, 西園寺家の品位に、関わってしまいますので。 as a servant with a position in the Saionji family, something that can never do. それでも、どうしても気になるというのであれば…… Or, if you're still worried about it…... 少し早いクリスマスプレゼントとでも思ってください。 Please just think of it as an early Christmas present.

Episode 6:

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

わ、わかりました。そういうことなら、いただきます。 I-I understand. If that's how it is then I'll take you up for your word. ……あの、この髪留め、つけてみてもいいですか？ …...Um, could I try putting on this hair ribbon as well?

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……私がなんのために買ったのか、もうお忘れで？ …...Have you already forgotten what I bought it for?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

そ、そうですよね。それじゃあ、さっそく……。 R-Right. We'll then, I'll put in on at once…... （あ、あれ？ 手鏡越しだと上手くいかないな……） (H-Huh? I can't really do it well without a hand mirror……)

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……貸してください。私が結んで差し上げます。 …...Please pass it over. I'll tie it up for you. あなたに任せていてはいつになるかわかりませんから。 Who knows how long it'll be till it's over if I leave it to you.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

す、すみません……。その、お願いします。 S-Sorry…...err, I'll be leaving it to you.

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

では、まず髪を梳かしますので、背を向けてください。 Then, I'll be combing your hair first so please turn your back towards me. できました。もう髪が引っかかることはないはずです。 It's done. Your hair should no longer get caught in things.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

……すごいですね。あんな短時間でセットしたのに、 …...That's amazing. Even though you managed to set it in such a short time, こんなに大人っぽくて綺麗な髪型ができるなんて……。 to think that you could make such a beautiful-adult-like hairstyle…...

黒霧 時宗 Kurogiri Tokimune

……あなたには、その髪型と髪留めに見合う程度の、 …...I've just done it so that the hairclip matches your hairstyle 落ち着きと余裕を持ってほしいものですね。 So that you'll have a more calmer feel and more freedom. そうすれば、少しはあなたの評価を見直せるのですが。 If I do that, I think I can review your evaluation a little.

[alexschurick-blog]

Holiday Gifts for Cyclists

Stumped for what to give the bike lovers, gourmands, and world travelers in your life? We surveyed our friends in the worlds of cycling, food, and wine for the gifts they’ve been personally loving and coveting. See what the experts suggest for every price point (and every age), and you may even find a few things to add to your own holiday wish list.

Peloton | $1,995.00

“I do the Peloton even when I don’t want to do it, and I never regret it.” – Andy Levine, DuVine founder

When it comes to cycling, it’s said that there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. But for those who like to use winter weather as a reason to take cycling classes instead, the Peloton offers everything that’s great about studio cycling—in your home and on your schedule. The carbon fiber bike and live and on-demand instruction makes year-round devotees out of this seriously addicting system.

Leatherman Sidekick Multi-Tool | $46.50

“This is the most universally useful tool. I always need it!” – Seamus Mullen, Chef

Small enough to fit in a stocking (or your jersey pocket), this gadget has spring-action pliers, knives, screwdrivers, a metal file, and even a bottle opener for your brew break. Give the gift of preparedness in unexpected scenarios, from quick mechanical fixes to carving up an impromptu picnic lunch. And Leatherman’s 25-year warranty makes it the gift that keeps on giving.

Hincapie Arenberg Zero Vest | $150.00

“Cowboy up for the winter with this versatile vest and go.” – George Hincapie, Hincapie Sportswear

Remember when we said there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing? No excuses: a vest is one of those essential layering pieces to keep dedicated cyclists riding through all conditions. This one by Hincapie is breathable, comfortable, and visible thanks to a HyperOptic RoubaixTM reflective treatment. We love this brand because it’s made by cyclists, for cyclists in an ethical, family-run factory.

Finest Roots Mastiha Liqueur | $26.97

“Made from the resin of a Mastic tree, this sweet after-dinner drink has an unusual earthy flavor.” – Jody Adams, Chef

Take it from our Chef on Wheels: this unexpected hostess gift is an up-and-coming holiday spirit. It tastes like Christmas with notes of anise, pine, and herbs, but it conjures the Greek island of Chios where it’s produced in wooden casks. Offer it on ice at your cocktail party, serve it after Christmas dinner alongside coffee, or sip a shot of it as the night wears on. This premium brand was founded by two Greek brothers who come from a long lineage of local distillers.

Cashmere with Fur Throw | $2,000.00

“Love the softness and quality of this throw. A perfect wintertime gift.” – Jung Lee, Fête NY

A staple for frequent long-haul fliers, this Italian cashmere throw will wrap its recipient in super luxe comfort. It’s the antidote we’ve all been looking for to combat frigid in-flight A/C, and it transitions beautifully to a literal security blanket once you’re checked into a faraway hotel room. Of course, it’s also delightful to leave it home for cozying up by the fire on Christmas Eve. And for the fashion forward, it doubles as a cape, too.

Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm | $27.00

“Because I’m either cooking or riding in harsh conditions all weekend, my hands take a beating. This beautiful, fragrant balm is such a treat!” – Lentine Alexis, Skratch Labs

Super aromatic (it smells like sweet almond, citrus, cedar, and lavender) and hydrating, this is one non-greasy hand cream that transcends the women-only world of luxurious cosmetics. The cool, unisex packaging doesn’t hurt, either. Pick up two: one for a stocking stuffer, and another for yourself to use on the  Sonoma Wine Country Women’s Bike Tour With Lentine Alexis.

Garmin Varia Rearview Radar | $199.99

“Choose your weapon with your favorite Garmin product, but this one is essential for bike commuters.” – Richard Fries, MassBike

The world’s first cycling radar helps keep road riders safe. On a handlebar-mounted screen, it warns of vehicles approaching from behind up to 153 yards and syncs to a tail light that brightens and flashes to notify traffic that you’re there. The entire unit integrates with Garmin Edge cycling computers, and an optional head unit takes even more stress out of commuting.

SpheroVelo | $110.00

“With my mild obsession with design and bikes and as a father to a young boy, this gorgeous kids’ bike grabbed my attention.” – Richard Banfield, Fresh Tilled Soil

Start them young with this push-along ride for 10-24 month olds. Removable stabilizers make it safe whether kids are just learning to control balance and coordination or feel ready to go it alone. This is one toy that doubles as a design object instead of looking like clutter!

Markets of Provence by Marjorie R. Williams | $19.99

“The excellent photographs and indispensable information in this guide make one of my favorite pastimes even more enjoyable.” – Eric Jausseran, Attaché

Get inspired for a DuVine trip to Provence with this guide to the region’s 30 best markets. Detailed maps and day-of-the-week organization arm you with all the information required to shop for French treats. When ordering fromage and a fresh baguette, Markets of Provence prepares you with tips on negotiating and paying, and includes lessons on etiquette when you’re eyeing apricots and haricots—so you’ll never seem like an out-of-towner.

ASSOS Laalalai Bib Short | $249.00

“ASSOS is one of the brands in cycling, and let’s be honest—no cycling apparel is more important than comfortable shorts.” – Arien Coppock, DuVine Guide

This Swiss brand is renowned for high-quality gear that relies on painstaking research for every garment. In keeping with their high standards, these bib shorts are ultra-chic and clean looking—to say nothing of the performance. We’ve all had those rides that end too soon because staying in the saddle is just too uncomfortable, so keep your favorite lady riding on in something designed especially for the female body. After all, if you’re going to wear tight pants, you might as well look hot doing it!

Skimo Dynafit Daulaghiri Ski | $699.95

“For the skiing cyclist, Skimo makes incredibly light, hard-charging skis, boots, and bindings.” – Tim Johnson, Cyclist

If you change sports with the season, put this complete gear overhaul on your list. Pair this super-advanced ski technology with Skimo’s Dyanfit Radical FT 2.0 bindings and Dynafit TLT7 boot for uphill sessions or on the lifts with family and friends. We also love the new SkimoEast event series, which straddles borders with races in Quebec and Vermont resorts.

VinniBag | $29.99

“When I find a wine I like, I really value being able to bring it home with me immediately.” – Carlton McCoy, The Little Nell

An ingenious solution for wine enthusiasts who collect from around the world or someone who’s planning a forthcoming tasting trip. Spare them the cost of international shipping fees, since these inflatable and reusable sleeves put drinkable souvenirs right in your suitcase. They pack flat until you fill them with wine or olive oil, and bottles arrive intact leaving luggage contents safe from spills and shatters.

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