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bbreadwinnerrr · 5 months ago

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GEKKO: La chica a mi lado

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Warnings: Fluff, fem reader

A/n: this is my first time using tumblr and posting my writing anywhere online, so I would greatly appreciate any feedback!!

Since it was the weekend and you and Gekko were off duty today, the both of you unanimously agreed to spend the day together. You guys are a couple, after all.

As soon as the both of you knew it, the sun had already begun to set. You and Gekko went out the entire day, going to a cafe for breakfast, going to an arcade, then getting lunch at a small restaurant, after that going to a nearby park to enjoy each other’s company, and then now where you both are walking out of a boba shop.

Gekko reached for your hand and intertwined his fingers with yours, holding your hand with a gentle grip. “I don’t want today to end.” He murmurs as he turns his head to look at you with a cute smile.

You turn your head to face him as he spoke, a small frown appearing on your face knowing that the day was gonna end soon.

Suddenly, your eyes widen slightly and your lips curve upward as your face lit up while an idea popped into your head. “I know what we could do to end the day,” you chirp, your eyes sparkling with excitement.

Taken aback by your excited demeanor, Gekko’s eyebrows raised for a moment before his face relaxed into a grin. “What’s your idea, mi querida?” He asked as wingman hopped on his shoulder, looking at you with a curious gaze.

“How about a movie night? We could run to grocery store right now to grab some snacks and head back to HQ to chill in your room then put on a movie?” You said, anticipation threaded in your voice, before taking the last sip of your drink. You then hand your empty cup to wingman who happily took it and jumped down from Gekko’s shoulders and waddled to a nearby trash can, slamming the cup into the trash and mimicking the planting action he does with the spike during missions.

Gekko’s face lit up, like yours did earlier, as wingman did his thing and gasped. “Why didn’t I think of that? Great idea, (y/n), let’s go now!” He beamed with a chuckle before tightening his grip on your hand and pulling you along with him down the street. You laughed at his enthusiasm and happily followed him, wingman jogging along with the both of you towards a small grocery store near Valorant HQ.

Once you arrive, wingman returns into Gekko’s pouch and you both quickly enter and begin browsing your options in the chip aisle. You grab a bag of chips, one that both you and he liked, and toss it to him. “Hold this real quick.” You remark before walking further down the aisle while resting your hand on your chin in thought.

“Woah!” He exclaims as he fumbles with the bag of chips. He lets out a relieved exhale as he prevents the chips from dropping on the ground and tucks it between his arm and torso.

“What kinda chips do you want?” You inquire. “Oh, I like this one.” You say before grabbing a bag of chips you liked and, once again, tossing it to Gekko who scrambled to catch the bag.

“Hey!” He blurts out as he catches it perfectly. “Hold on and let me choose too.” He whines as he jogs to catch up to you. You laugh a bit before moving out the way as he comes over and scans the shelves for something he liked. “Ah, mi favorito.” He smiles in satisfaction as he tosses it to you, copying the way you threw the chips to him in a playful manner.

You, with a small laugh, catch it flawlessly before motioning for him to follow you. “Can’t have a movie night without candy, can we?” You smirk as you advance to the candy aisle.

As you and Gekko make your way over, you can’t help but notice a pair of girls heading to the same aisle. You think nothing of it, other than that their outfits were pretty, since they didn’t glance at you or acknowledge your presence.

You and Gekko stand on opposite sides of the candy aisle from the pair of girls and browse your options. “Don’t you like these?” He asks as he turns to you and hands you a bag of your favorite candy.

Your face lights up, giddy at the fact that Gekko remembered small details about you, and you eagerly grab the candy out if his hands, “you remembered.”

“Of course I did, why wouldn’t i?” He says as he shoots you a proud smile.

You quickly spot his favorite candy and take grab it from the rack and hand it to him. “And aren’t these tu favorito?” You ask, using your little knowledge about Spanish combined with your expertise about his favorite things.

He lets out a laugh, one that makes your heart melt every time you hear it, “Perfecto.” He replied before pressing a small kiss to your cheek. “I think this is enough, lets go.” He adds before walking with you to the self-checkout section.

You both patiently wait in line while chatting with one another. As you finally reach the front of the line, you notice that the pair of girls that you had seen earlier in the candy aisle were behind you and Gekko in the line.

You try and take this chance to compliment their outfits and turn your head to face them, but to your dismay you hear them whispering to one another. You heard stuff that you probably shouldn’t have.

“Yeah, he’s really cute.” One girl with brunette hair whispers to the other girl with red hair while staring at Gekko next to me.

“You should ask for his number.” The red hair responds while giggling and nudging her friend with the brunette hair.

“But that girl is there…” The brunette mumbles, a small pout on her face.

A knot forms at the bottom of your stomach as you turn away, your eyebrows furrowing and a faint frown appearing on your lips.

Gekko quickly picks up your change in demeanor when you start to give him short responses in the conversation.

He turns to you with a worried expression, “(y/n)? What’s wrong?” He questions, reaching for your hand, as you both walk over to the next available self-checkout station.

You let out a sigh, “Its nothing. It’s just those two girls behind us in line.” You mumble as your previous nasty expression softens at his concern.

“Who?” He asks before turning around and trying to look for who you were talking about. Way to make it obvious.

You follow his gaze to the brunette and the red haired girl, who were at a station near you guys, and see the brunette bite her bottom lip nervously as she gazed at Gekko.

You roll your eyes as the feeling of jealousy sank its teeth into your emotions. You start scanning your items as Gekko returned to your side. “Is it the brown haired girl with the red haired girl? What did they do?” He asks, his voice depicting his huge concern about the situation at hand.

“They just…” You begin before pausing momentarily, “They were talking about you.” You answer bitterly while taking the chips and candy out of his hands to scan them.

He raised an eyebrow up at you, confused. “What did they say? Please tell me, mi amor, I don’t want you to be upset.” He pleads as he steps closer to you and wraps one arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him. His body heat mixing with yours made it hard to deny his comfort, as if you could ever turn it down in the first place.

You finish scanning all of the items and put them into one plastic bag before turning to face him. “They were saying stuff about how you were… really cute and stuff and how the brown haired girl should ask for your number.”

His eyes widen a bit, shocked at what you finally revealed at what was bothering you. But before he could say anything, you hear footsteps approaching from behind him.

“Um, excuse me sir?” Your heart drops as you peak behind him and see the brunette standing in front of him as he turns to face her. She played with her hair nervously with a pink blush dusting her cheeks.

You scoff, balling your hand into a fist, “Oh my god, she’s not actually…”

“I saw you and thought you were really cute… a-and I was wondering if I could have your number?” She stuttered anxiously while batting her eyelashes.

“Uhh, no habla ingles.” He blurts out as he flattens his lips and shrugs his shoulders dramatically.

The girl narrows her eyes suspiciously before chuckling awkwardly, “but I saw you talking to that girl behind you earlier, in English?”

“Ohh ¿La chica a mi lado?” He laughs, “Esa es mi novia.” He starts, before going on a ramble in Spanish and sticking with his act that he couldn’t speak English. “La amo mucho y ella significa todo para mí. Ella es la chica más maravillosa y hermosa que he conocido y no se compara con nadie más-“

You had to suppress a laugh that threatened to come out of your mouth as you stared at how absolutely bewildered the girl looked.

The girl finally stopped his rambling and shook her head dismissively and chuckled awkwardly before she spoke up. “Uh, y’know what? Nevermind, have a great day sir…” she says before turning around and stiffly walking back to her red haired friend who looked at her with a confused expression.

Gekko turns around and faces you with a confident smile. “And thats how to get rid of a girl thats making your girlfriend jealous.” He chuckles before nudging you teasingly.

You try to fight off a smile creeping onto your face. “Whatever, I wasn’t even that jealous.” You lie.

“But you were.” He remarks as he pays for all the snacks.

“Was not.” You argue.

“Was too.” He fires back.

“Was not.”

“Was too.”

You roll your eyes as a smile breaks out onto your face. “Whatever, you win today.” You admit with a small grumble as you grab the bag full of snacks.

He laughs before pressing a tender kiss to my cheek, “thanks, cariño.”

As soon as he does that, you see the brunette and her red haired friend walk by. You catch a glimpse of the brunette rolling her eyes at you and pulling her friend’s arm forward forcefully, trying to get her to walk faster.

“Oops,” Gekko blurted from beside you as he reached for your hand and held it. “I guess my lie was found out.”

You chuckle a bit, “I don’t mind.”

“She sure does.” He joked as you both began walking out of the grocery store, the glow of the sunset shining on your faces.

“What were you even rambling about anyway?” You question curiously. The only thing you picked up on was the lie that he couldn’t speak English.

“Don’t worry about it,” he dismissed my question with the wave of his hand. This made you more curious, but you decide to not press him further. “Anyway, what movie do you wanna watch? I’m down for anything.”

“I’m kinda thinking about ghostbusters right now.”

“¡Sí! Thats a classic.”

#gekko x reader #gekko x you #gekko #gekko valorant #valorant #fanfic #gaming #fem reader #fluff #valorant fluff #valorant fanfiction #x reader

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gayassbish · 1 year ago

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Genshin Girls When You Have Crushes on Eachother!! Highschool AU

Genre: Fluff <3

Reader: Gender neutral | Reader is a little oblivious in Furina’s and Yae Miko’s part

Characters: Yae Miko, Kujou Sara, Keqing, Furina, Sucrose

Yae Miko-

Thought you were the cutest little thing when she saw you on the first day of the new school year. She’s quick to make her move! Befriends you and not too soon after, confesses. She can’t help it! You think she’s just messing with you when she flirts with you. And who can blame you? First, y’all just met a couple weeks ago, and second, poor you can’t even tell if she’s serious or not with that shit-eating smirk on her face.

Yae Miko does nothing to qualm your concerns. She just likes your reactions too much. Your confused and flustered face brings her much satisfaction. You’ve turned into her piece of amusement and she doesn’t want to let you go!

She teases you so so much and you can’t understand if she actually has feelings for you or if she’s just playing with your heart! She really likes you though. Its just that she sees no problem in taking her time with you. She wants to study your reactions and really see what she can do that flusters you the most! In reality, she’s trying to treasure you, hence why she’s taking it slow, but you don’t need to know that do you?

She’s hot and cold with you but never too cold that you lose interest, just enough so she can see that frustrated look on your face.

But one day it got too much for you! You tell her whatever is going on between you two- if there’s anything between you two cause heavens you can’t figure her out- that it’s too confusing for you :(! Yae Miko didn’t think you’d break so easily, but she’s happy nonetheless. She wanted to take things a step further soon! Really wanted to be able to hold your hand and kiss you. But she tells you that she’ll explain everything in due time and leaves you stranded, but not without a kiss to your cheek and flirty wink!

On the weekend, she calls you up asking if you have a spare hour or two to hit the park. Tells you it’s an emergency and you come running thinking she might be in danger!

You come to her rescue at the park only to find a handmade banner tied between two trees and in writing asking, ‘will you go out with me?’ The cherry on the top was the pink haired girl standing beneath the banner with a bouquet of flowers.

Your eyes swell up a little. After weeks of back and forth from her, she finally gave you a clear answer. “Told you it was an emergency.” She says and she grabs you by the arm. She brings you into her arms and holds you in a big hug. “What do you say? Will you make me a girlfriend?” She asks while patting your head and she pulls away to look at you and well.. she already knows the answer from your face ;).

P.S. She had a whole day planned with you, from the park to the movies and dinner!

Kujou Sara-

Doesn’t catch herself falling for you until she’s already madly obsessed! She starts to look at (stalk) your socials, swears it’s not cause she wants to look at you but just to protect you from online haters! You quickly become the thing she thinks about the most, from right into the middle of the night to the early mornings when she wakes.

You start to notice the dark haired women popping up around you coincidentally! (She totally learned your schedule.) But Sara tells herself that she’s just there to keep you safe really (and to see your precious little smile!) She keeps her cool and calm demeanor around you, but she can’t quite look you in the eyes when she talks. She ties your shoelaces and holds doors open for you! Follows you around to the bathroom and to your car until you tell her it’s time for you to go home </3.

She starts to carry your backpack, pencil pouch, water bottle, basically everything you own. When you finally ask her why she goes through the trouble of carrying your stuff ontop of her own, she answers without thinking! Says something along the lines that a cutie like you shouldn’t be carrying such heavy stuff! Sara doesn’t realize the gravity of what she just said until she looks towards you since you’ve gotten quiet… and she’s met with the shyest look she has ever seen of yours!

Sara immediately wants to drop everything and take a picture of you, but instead you guys just walk to class in silence. Sara musters the courage to hold your hand and when she feels you give a little squeeze to her hand back, her heart skips a thousands beats! (she still living though lol.) The walk to your class is long, but it feels so short when you’re at your class door and Sara gives you back your stuff. Sara doesn’t know what comes over her as she asks you out!

“Are you free this friday?” She leans over the door looking at you as a light blush dusts her cheeks.

You nod, “please text me the details,” Sara, stunned, can’t believed you agreed. The bell rings, indicating it’s time for class as you head inside, but not without looking back to see if Sara is still there. “Sara!” You giggle. “You’re going to be late.”

“I already am, so let me look at you while I can.” Sara replies and you can’t help but wonder if Sara has always been such a smooth flirt! You finally head in, but not without the enticement of your date this friday and potentially your new girlfriend!

P.S. Sara cannot hide her feelings for you when you guys start dating so eventually the whole school knows y’all are together. Don’t worry though, she deals with the homophobes for you too <33!

Keqing-

Immediately notices how she feels differently around you from day one. Can’t really handle these feelings so tries avoiding you for a little to see if they die down, but she ends up just missing you even more!

She caught feelings for you once she sat next to you in class and heard you laugh. It’s such a simple thing, but Keqing got herself thinking how she wants to make you laugh more and hear all your different kinds of giggles and chuckles! She got shy at her own imagination and put her head down so you wouldn’t see her heated up cheeks! Little does she know you caught the red of her ears instead >;).

But even though you notice the red on her face when she looks at you and how she starts talking to you all fast now, no progress is made :(! Keqing is still quite the studious girl. She’s worried that you’ll become the biggest distraction ever from her studies! She uses that as an excuse to avoid you, but much to her demise, when you find her in the library that she’s studying in, and pull up a chair beside her, all that homework and those upcoming tests she thought about are now out of sight and out of mind!

She gives up on her little ploy to avoid you and decides she just has to manage her time better to be beside you! You guys take it slow for a while, it’s mainly stolen secret glances at each other that lead to you guys making eye contact sometimes where you both quickly break away but then look back to see if the other is still looking. Or its bad flirting between you two that always ends up in silence and with someone heated up in the face, but eventually… as both your feelings build up and up to its climax, you two practically burst!

Keqing and you can’t hold it in your hearts anymore. You’re both tired of waiting for the other person to make the move, so on one night when you both are out late at a cafe working on a school project. You two are sitting next to each other instead of across, and all of a sudden the cafe turns quiet with a slow song spewing in the background. You both look at each other, wanting to say something about the sudden silence, but instead you realize that the dinning room is left with only the two of you in it and that it makes you feel like it’s only you and her on the planet. You lean in a little.. she leans back.. you guys nudge noses.. she cups your face.. and you cup her neck.. you’re looking into each others eyes.. and then down to each others lips.. when you close your eyes and feel something soft on top of your mouth you realize you had the perfect first kiss!

P.S. You guys were definitely not alone. There’s always someone interrupting what would be the best kiss scene ever in the movies, and now it was your turn to feel that frustration first hand. Like its so homophobic for your waitress to interrupt y’all… (kidding I used to be a waitress and would hover over straight couples going at it like animals (T_T) with their food burning my hand off </3)

Furina-

Doesn’t want to admit she has a crush on you. Denies it so hard and challenges herself to talking to you without turning red! When that doesn’t work well she takes things to the next level…

She starts to make fun of you to prove to herself that she doesn’t really like you. She reminds herself that she’s doing the right thing because she thinks this where you are… beneath her. But after a particular moment when she went too far… she sees the hurt eyes and forlorn face of yours. All of sudden it doesn’t feel so good anymore when she feels like she’s the reason you’re crying! She exclaims that it’s your fault you can’t take a joke and runs away.

It’s not until an outside force (probably Neuvillette or Clorinde) who tells her that she’s acting awfully like an elementary girl with feelings… that Furina snaps. She’s no child and knows how to deal with her feelings! Do note her progress with how instead of denying her feelings for you now when called out, she’s denying thats she’s too immature to handle them. Furina decides to herself that you must be the sole person in this whole wide vast universe that is worthy of her affection.

So the next day at school she’s holding flowers, chocolates, and a big teddy bear with an ‘I’m Sorry’ sign on its belly, and you can’t help but think it’s another one of her mean pranks! When you run away from her and her gifts Furina doesn’t throw a tantrum that you didn’t accept her love, no, she grows even more determined to win your heart!

The game of cat and mouse begins as Furina keeps thinking you’re just playing hard to get! But the longer the chase plays out the more confused you get. Why would someone who made fun of you try to win you over all of sudden? ‘No, this must be another prank!’ Is what you thought until Furina seems at the end of her ropes.

It’s been a month of Furina trying to win you over and she starts to thinks it might just not be meant to be. The last time she tries to capture your heart isn’t with her bombarde of gifts, it’s her just walking up to you after school and asking if you’d go on one date with her. She ignores the confused look on your face as she tells you this is her last chance of trying to win you over and if you really don’t like her then she’ll leave you alone for good.

“Go out with me this weekend and if at the end you admit you’ve had enough, I’ll let you be.” Furina tells you direct and bold but also tired. She’s at the end of her line and you don’t notice the eye bags under her eyes or her messy hair. She has been staying up late these nights thinking of the perfect ultimatum to give you!

You, however, are still confused at what she means by ‘date,’ still not caught onto her feelings just yet. But it doesn’t sound like a bad idea as she promises to leave you alone after.

So you agree, and Furina’s face starts to light up again! She’s lost a lot of sleep over you, constantly thinking about how to win you over but she finally did it! She tells you to get ready by 10 am this saturday and she’ll pick you up.

Furina ends up taking you to the mall. She talks about random things going on in the world until she mentions a thing you both have in common! You forget about all the past teasing for a second as you geek out on this specific thing you like and realize that this isn’t as bad as you thought. The date goes really well and at the end of it Furina’s shown a lot of maturity in the past couple hours. You realize that maybe she does really have feelings for you and you consider them in your head. But when Furina pulls back to your house and she looks a little scared.

She parks on the curb of your house and looks you in the eye. “I know I said I’d leave you alone if you went on a date with me and didn’t like it, but… if by the slim chance you did.. then can I..?” She hesitates at the end and feels like she might’ve been asking for too much from you to be your girlfriend. But she doesn’t want to lose you.

So when you throw your arms around her and promise that you’ll really consider her feelings, Furina almost turns the whole car upside down! Even though she didn’t ask you out yet, that promise means a lot to her!

P.S. And when you finally accept her feelings… then congratulations, you now have a bratty little cat named Furina on your hands!

A/N: Read Furina as your girlfriend here!

Sucrose-

Is just a complete mess around you <3. But even though she embarrasses herself a lot around you, she just can’t find it within herself to pull away from you!

When you smile at her, call her name, or do anything remotely friendly to her, she goes into shock a little and immediately hides behind her bangs! When you talk to her, her eyes gleam but is a stuttering mess in response. She beats herself up about not being more chilled out around you :(.

You’re going to have to be the one to take notice of her feelings because she needs a little encouragement to confess. Originally you thought she was just a little shy (or your resting bitch face was kicking in and intimidated her..) But even after a while, she remains as flustered as she is around you. This leads you think there might be another reason to her shy behavior.

You straight up just ask if you’re doing something wrong and Sucrose immediately wonders as to where you came to that conclusion. You tell her that you want to get closer to her but you feel like she might be scared of you. Sucrose realizes how her shy demeanor can come off as a fearful one, and is quick to deny your concerns! However, she holds herself back from putting her feelings of you into words. Sucrose wants to confess her feelings once she musters enough courage to do so! But when you ask her what you can do to make her more comfortable around you, Sucrose just can’t contain it anymore!

She gets frustrated. Why are you so nice? And why do you have to make this so hard? She mentions that she can’t tell you the reason now, but that she will soon! Sucrose quickly walks away before you can refute.

In a couple days, Sucrose walks up to you. Looking at her feet but not without a letter in her hand extended out to you. “It’s for you…” She mutters as you grab the paper from her hands and your fingers brush against each other. “Oh really? Thanks let me open-“ Just before you can open the paper, Sucrose is quick to cut you off. “No, please look at it when I’m not here!” She finally looks at you in the eyes and you can’t deny her with the desperate look on her face. After you agree, she calms down and class continues like normal.

Once the school day ends though, you read the letter filled with pretty little handwriting as your eyes quickly skim it down. In writing, Sucrose is apologizing for worrying you for thinking that she didn’t like you. She quickly tells you it was the exact opposite case! You read how she likes you so so much that she can’t handle herself getting nervous in front of you and your heart swells! She does apologize wayy too much in the letter for the dumbest things like not being able to tell you this in person and burdening you with her feelings which makes you a little mad as to why she’d apologize for something so human. But you feel the passion written behind each and every letter! You anxiously try to find her and you’re glad she finally felt comfortable enough to tell you this.

You’re trying to find Sucrose but she’s no where to be seen! She very much so ran away after handing you the letter, not wanting to see your reaction. But you scramble around the school looking for her through the mass hallway filled with students leaving the campus. You remember that she’s in the Science Fair and head to her club and low and behold there she is. She’s helping a student with a project and man are you piped to see her. She looks so pretty as she tucks a piece of hair behind her ears and pushes her glasses up looking at the fake volcano she was helping with!

But there is no time to admire her beauty, you run over to her, breathless and Sucrose looks as if she’s seen a ghost! You ask to speak to her in the hall and drag her by the arm before she can decline. You don’t waste another second as you pop the question, “Will you be my girlfriend?” And Sucrose looks as if she might pass out from excitement? Relief? Happiness? You’re not sure as to what, but are more than happy to see her reaction. “Well… is that a yes or a-“

“Yes a hundred thousand percent yes!” This is the loudest you ever heard her speak and she runs into your arms! But her excitement turns into needlessly worry. “Oh I’m sorry! I was just so happy that-“ Before she can pull away from the hug completely you interrupt her.

“We really need to work on that apologizing habit of yours…” You sigh into her neck as you tighten your arms and Sucrose eventually lets herself relax in your embrace.

You finally found the answer to your new girlfriends shy behavior around you! And that answer has led to a newly blossoming love!

P.S. I bet Sucrose gives the best hugs ;-;

A/N: screaming crying and sobbing… where’s my gf?????

#genshin fluff #genshin headcanons #genshin impact #genshin imagines #genshin wlw #genshin women x reader #keqing x reader #yae miko #yae sakura #genshin yae #keqing genshin impact #furina #focalors #furina genshin #sucrose #sucrose genshin impact #genshin hcs #kujou sara #sara genshin impact

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hetalianhistorian · 2 months ago

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Orders for the post-event Hetalia summer goods are now available!

Source link: https://twitter.com/animeshi_jp/status/1828707088173838428

Since the pop-up collaboration shop as ended, goods from the event are now available online!

Goods List

Acrylic Stands - ¥990 yen each

Microfiber Towel - ¥660 yen each

BIG Microfiber Towel - ¥6,600 yen each

A4 Acrylic Panel - ¥4,950 yen each

Blind Bag Badges - ¥550 yen each

Full-Set Badges - ¥4,400 yen each

Blind-Bag Surfboard Keychains - ¥715 yen each

Full-Set Surfboard Keychains - ¥5,720 yen each

Random Acrylic Cards - ¥550 yen each

Full-Set Acrylic Cards - ¥4,400 yen each

Ship Bottom Pouch - ¥1,760 yen each

Clear Stickers - ¥550 yen each

You can order here through the animeshi website!

Note: Not all stores ship internationally. A proxy or forwarding service may have to be utilized. Please keep this in mind and do your own research when buying Hetalia goods from Japan!

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stabbyfoxandrew · 21 days ago

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demon neil please!!!! I love the way that these AUs are phrased like - demon neil, angle neil, arsonist neil, it’s like he’s Barbie, he can do it all💜

WIP Wednesday (10/9) | Demon Neil AU (Part 2)

He's nearly asleep again when Hashbrown chomps on his hand, the fleshy bit between his thumb and pointer finger. Andrew hisses air through his teeth as he comes back online and takes his hand away, glaring at the gremlin on his chest. She isn't purring anymore, just starting a hole through him.

"You're the one using me as a cushion, asshole. Don't bite me." Andrew tells her as he rubs his brand new wound. It doesn't bleed, but it hurts like a bitch. He should've got a fish, fish don't bite. After a moment of the staring contest, Andrew tucks his hand under his blanket far from Hash's sharp teeth.

He expects her to get comfortable and resume her happy rumbling. Or, since the sun's up, jump out of bed and start yowling for food. But she does neither. Instead she stands up on Andrew's chest and starts to sniff his face, her own little nose scrunching up. Andrew grimaces and pulls his head back when he gets a whisker to his eyeball. "Hey, quit that. Go somewhere else."

He doesn't have to tell her twice. Hashbrown takes a step back, right onto his kidney, and yowls before skittering off into the other room. Andrew watches her pouch swing as she goes and sighs, thinking he maybe should've been a cat that wasn't insane. But hey, at least they match. Andrew laughs under his breath and snuggles down into his blankets as last night's debacle comes flooding back to him.

"I'm not a debacle."

#neil really DOES do it all around here doesn't he? :D #ahhh i just imagined a lil hall of Neils... the only au i have where he's Normal is vampdrew :')) and he's not gonna stay human forever lol #angel neil. arsonist neil. mafioso neil. <will be turned into > vampire neil. mer neil. demon neil... collect all 6...#andreil #aftg #WIP Wednesday #Demon Neil AU #🕊️#answered #anon

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putschki1969 · 6 months ago

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2024/05/04 Instagram post by Wakana

Today, I would like to introduce the merchandise for my “Wakana 5th Anniversary Live ~The “VOICE“Stories~” which will be held on May 12! ️🥳🎉 First up is the T-shirt!!👕 With the live title in mind, I designed a logo with a book📖 When you open it, you'll discover five years' worth of stories in it...I wanted the illustration to capture that feeling✨ The T-shirt is a refreshing light blue colour. The material is soft and very comfortable! 🤗 ↑Btw, I am wearing a size L here👍

Next up we have an acrylic stand, it's been a while since I've had one a part of the line-up!! It's called “Swaying Wakana Acrylic Stand”✨ It features a mini-Wakana gently swaying underneath a botanical moon 😊 Try letting Wakana sway every day😊💕

Last but not least, here's me doing my regular physical challenge, the Y-shaped balance! Yay!!

=> 2024/05/05 Instagram post by Wakana

2024/05/06 Instagram post by Wakana

This is the second installment of my live goods introduction for "Wakana 5th Anniversary Live ~The “VOICE Stories”~" 🥳🎉 Today I will be showing you the pouch and ribbon keychain✨ Let's start with “The “VOICE” Stories Pouch which is a light blue that matches the T-shirt. It's made of soft fabric so it can hold a lot of things. You can put in various things. I was able to put in a mobile battery, an eco bag, my earphones, lip balm, gloss, and a wallet 👝 It also has a handle so it's convenient if you want to take it out of your bag 🤗 Then we have the “Shark-chan Ribbon Keychain”🦈💕 The two ribbons each have a different pattern, so you can enjoy different impressions 🎀 And I am sure it will add a great accent to your bag or backpack! I think it would also be cute if you attached it to your cell phone 🤗 By the way, Shark-chan is removable so you can put it wherever you like! 🦈🦈(Source)

2024/05/08 Instagram post by Wakana

This is the last part of my live goods introduction🧚✨ The final item is an "umbrella" which I've always wanted to make! ☔ This "Shark-chan umbrella" can be used for both sunny and rainy days. The inside is black to block UV rays. So you can use it a lot not only during the rainy season but also now and during the summer time when you are concerned about getting sunburns 🤗 Please bring Same-chan whenever you go out🦈💕(Source)

『Wakana 5th Anniversary Live ～The “VOICE” Stories～』 Live Goods Update!

Good news, the acrylic stand is now available for purchase in Wakana's Official Online Shop! For some reason, it wasn't featured in yesterday's line-up so I was afraid they wouldn't make it available for those who couldn't attend the live.

#kalafina #wakana #wakana blog #wakana on instagram #Wakana 5th Anniversary Live #The “VOICE” Stories #merch #merchandise #live goods #I've missed Wa's Y-shape

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momo-no-tane · 2 years ago

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Medicos announced that a Shugo Chara! Pop Up Shop will be held at the Medicos Shop in Shinjuku (Shinjuku Marui Annex 6F) from May 3rd, 2023 to May 21st, 2023. Life-sized panels of the characters will be on display at the venue. For every 1,000 yen spent, customers will receive a random clear card. There are 6 types available. Mail order will also be available on the Medicos Online Shop at a later date.

The prices are as follows (tax included):

Big Acrylic Stands (4 Types) - 1,650 yen

Acrylic Keychain Collection (6 Types) - single: 660 yen / box: 3,960 yen

Pin Button Collection (6 Types) - single: 440 yen / box: 2,640 yen

Postcard Set (1 Type) - 880 yen

Reproduced Original Illustration (1 Type) - 22,000 yen

Acrylic Multi Stands (2 Types) - 1,650 yen

Acrylic Diorama (1 Type) - 3,850 yen

Clear File Set (1 Type) - 990 yen

Fabric Poster (1 Type) - 2,200 yen

Sticker Sets (4 Types) - 880 yen

Name Acrylic Keychain Collection (9 Types) - single: 660 yen / box: 5,940 yen

Pouch (1 Type) - 2,200 yen

Daily Tote Bag (1 Type) - 2,750 yen

Source: Medicos’s website, Nijimen’s website, Twitter

#Shugo Chara!#Shugo Chara #Peach Pit #Medicos #News

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f1-disaster-bi · 5 months ago

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Could you pick the pairing please with song 50?

Take me or Leave Me from Rent

"You can't keep acting like this, Lando"

Lando didn't want to look at the other as he tucked his hands into the pouch of his hoodie. He didn't want to recieve yet another lecture from his boyfriend, the person that was meant to love him unconditionally, about how he needed to change because they were 'grown up's' now.

Every time he got this speech, Lando felt himself shrinking back into his shell that he had worked hard as a teenager to come out of.

"Are you even listening to me?", George sighed, and Lando finally looked up at the other and tried to recognise the man he had fallen in love with under that stern and disappointed gaze, "Are you hungover?"

"No, George, I'm not hungover", Lando replied softly, "I just don't feel like hearing your speech again"

George huffed and moved away from where he had been lurking by the armchair to stand in front of him. His arms where crossed over his chest defensively as he stared at Lando, and Lando hated it. It made him like a specimen being examined. It was like George was looking for faulty parts and trying to figure out the best way to fix them when Lando didn't need to be fixed.

"Would it kill you to take me seriously, to take yourself seriously?", George asked, "How can you ever expect people to take you seriously when you go out partying and come home drunk, or spend time playing games online, all the time? You don't even wear the shirts I bought you. You need to grow up Lando"

Something inside of Lando broke a little at those words, and anger flooded him as he tried desperately to find the man he loved under the corporate robot that was standing before him. He tried to find his George that had once snorted milk out his nose and who yelled at the tv when Lando beat him at Mario Kart, but there was nothing.

Lando was tired of fighting for nothing.

"Fuck you", Lando didn't yell but his words were cold and the surprise on George's face almost made him want to laugh, "I work my ass off at my job five days a week. I am up for promotions, but you never ask about that, do you? You just pick and pick and pick at my personality as if I am a problem to be solved and not the person you fell in love with, and I am a person George. I don't live for my job, I leave it at work. I dress comfortably because it's what makes me feel good, not some stranger in a restaurant that costs half my salary and leaves me hungary when I leave. I play games online because it's time spent with friends who have moved away and it's relaxing. I go out, occasionally, because it's fun. When's the last time you had fun, George?"

"Lando, stop", George tried to argue, stepping back from Lando, "You are being too defensive"

"Because I have to be around you", Lando pointed out, tears burning his eyes, "There hasn't been a week for the last half year where you haven't tried to make me into someone I am not or complained about something I love because it doesn't meet your standards, and I'm tired George. I'm tired of fighting to be with you when I am clearly not enough for you"

"I never said that", George whispered, and he looked like he had seen a ghost as Lando's words sank in.

He probably hadn't realised what he had been doing to Lando but Lando couldn't take it anymore as he shook his head at the other.

"Not in those exact words, but in everything you did and the way you treat me", Lando replied as he ran a hand over his face. His heart was breaking because he knew what he had to do, and he didn't want to, "George, you can take me as I am, or not at all because I won't pretend to be something I am not even if I love you"

George didn't answer. He looked paralysed under the weight of Lando's words, and Lando took that as his answer as he nodded to himself before he swollowed down the tears he felt building.

"I guess that's my answer" Lando whispered, heartbreak numbing him as he began to move, grabbing his phone and turning towards the hallway to go grab some essentials, "I'll leave then. I...I'll come back for my stuff in a few days"

He managed to quickly pack without any interuptions, and it wasn't until he was shoving his feet into his runners that George spoke. His hand gentle on elbow.

"Please, don't leave"

#norrussell #george/lando #lando/george

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packman-packaging-india · 11 months ago

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Factors that Make a Good Corrugated Box Manufacturer

Corrugated boxes play a pivotal role in the packaging industry, ensuring the safe transportation and protection of goods. Choosing the right corrugated box manufacturer is essential for businesses aiming for efficient and secure packaging solutions. Several factors contribute to what makes a corrugated box manufacturer stand out in the industry as explained in this blog by Packman Packaging which is India’s top manufacturer of corrugated boxes.

What factors make a good corrugated box manufacturer?

Mr. Gaurav Jalan, Founder of Packman Packaging shares factors that are responsible for a good manufacturer of corrugated boxes. These are:

1. Material Quality:

A reputable corrugated box manufacturer prioritizes the use of high-quality materials. The durability and strength of the corrugated board significantly impact the protection of the packaged goods. Quality materials ensure that the boxes can withstand the rigours of transportation and handling, providing a reliable shield for the contents within.

2. Customization Capabilities:

Every product is unique, and packaging requirements vary. A reliable manufacturer should offer customization options to meet diverse packaging needs. Whether it’s a specific box size, printing requirements, or specialized coatings, the ability to tailor solutions to individual client needs is a hallmark of a good corrugated box manufacturer.

3. Technological Advancements:

Keeping pace with technological advancements in the industry is crucial. Modern machinery and cutting-edge manufacturing processes contribute to increased efficiency and the production of high-quality...

Read Here: https://www.packman.co.in/blog/good-corrugated-box-manufacturer-india/

#buy corrugated boxes #buy courier bags online #packman packaging #corrugated box manufacturers #corrugated boxes #leading corruagted box manufacturer in delhi #top corrugated box manufacturer in india #buy food packaging in india #buy stand up pouches in india #buy courier bags in india #buy corrugated boxes online

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genderqueerdykes · 2 years ago

Note

i usually pack with a mr. limpy (and god do i wish it had a different name) which to my knowledge is still one of the most widely available & cheapest good packers on the market, but i also frequently use a nonhuman-looking silicone packer i got from a fantasy adult toy company. to keep my them in place i usually wear packing underwear i got online at transguysupply or wear harness underwear under boxer briefs.

packer info: packers can be made of several kinds of materials. most will require powdering (usually with some kind of starch) after cleaning to make sure they aren't sticky. silicone doesn't have this problem, but tends to be much stiffer than other materials and is more difficult to pack discreetly, though as long as it's ~5in or smaller it's not usually a big deal. if you're using a normal packer, things seem more natural if you shift the shaft to point towards one leg. if you're packing with a STP (stand-to-pee device) it's best to pack "up" towards your stomach instead.

packing info: packing underwear tends to be expensive if it's something you want to use daily. getting or creating a packing pouch (see: new york toy company & DIY tutorials online) you can pin in any underwear is much less expensive and has a similar effect.

it never occurred to me that there are Nonhuman packers and now i realized i definitely do want to get one LOL thank you so much, we really appreciate you taking the time to answer! the information is super helpful, and also we are glad to hear you found something that works for you! you are rad, take care

#asks #answers #packers #packing #information #save #resources

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goldentarlos · 2 years ago

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read on ao3

chapter one chapter two: share your food with them

trigger warning: mentions of dieting. it doesn’t go too into detail but i don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable 💓

“Can you please tell your fiancé his body is perfect and that he can eat a carb?” Nancy groans as she hands Carlos his and TK’s takeout boxes. Carlos says a quiet “thank you” as he sets the boxes down onto the island of the 126 kitchen.

“I tell him all of the time.” He settles down on the stool, folding his arms as he waits for TK. “What did he order?”

“Chicken Fajitas.” They both look up when TK enters the kitchen, Nancy giving him an unamused look. “Without the tortillas. With very special instructions of no oil or grease and for the vegetables to be steamed, not fried. They probably spat in there, too.”

TK crinkles his nose in disgust. “Ew. Why would they do that?”

“Because you’re a brat.”

TK sticks his tongue out at her, walking over to Carlos and placing a hand on his back. “Hi, baby.” He sits down next to him, smiling when Carlos places a hand on his leg and squeezes. He takes note of his slightly red eyes and how tense his body is, brown eyes looking at him worriedly.

Judd and Mateo enter the kitchen next, and Carlos waits until they’re conversing amongst themselves before asking quietly, “You okay?”

TK blows out a shaky breath, shoulders deflating slightly. “Yeah.” He reaches for his box and opens it, the strong smell of the fajitas hitting their noses. Carlos leans closer so that TK meets his eyes, causing him to roll his own and laugh. “Not the cow eyes.”

“C’mon. Talk to me.”

“Just my dad.” He smiles reassuringly at Carlos. “I’m okay. Promise. Just a little stressed.”

Carlos hums sympathetically at that. He knows TK is downplaying it. He knows it’s been a lot of stress lately. His fiancé, who has been shouldering so much lately, has been so wonderful dealing with it all. Carlos is always in awe of his strength and resilience; but he knows adding whatever his dad is hiding from him into the mix has started to take a toll on him. Judd says Owen does it to protect TK and prevent him from “worrying about his old man”, but Carlos knows it hurts him more in the end.

Judd stands across from them with his plate of food and Carlos chooses not to push any further. He shoots TK a look — we’ll talk later — and opens his takeout box.

The strong aroma of his Carne Asada tacos fills the air. From the corner of his eye he can see TK pause mid-bite to sniff noisily. “What is that smell?” He groans and closes his eyes.

Carlos stifles a laugh. “I think it’s mine.”

TK looks over at his plate of food longingly. “Tacos?” He pouts when Carlos nods. His favorite.

“Carne Asada.” He confirms. He hesitates before asking, “You want?”

He loves TK and wants to be there to support him through everything, even through this (unnecessary) diet; and he doesn’t want to be the one to set him back. When TK had first brought up the idea to him a few weeks ago he was confused, not able to understand why his fiancé would need to be on a diet eighteen months before their wedding, but he was supportive and understanding, even if it was difficult for him at first.

Carlos has always loved to feed people, something that he knows he gets from his abuela, so that same night he searched and saved paleo recipes he found online that they could try out together.

TK always says he’s a few pounds heavier than he’s ever been in his life ever since they moved in together. Carlos has seen old pictures of TK when he was in New York, and he remembers when he first met him. He compares them to the beautiful man that stands before him now and his heart swells with pride. He likes that his cheeks are rounder. He loves that he’s softer, loves to kiss the soft pouch of skin under his belly button that TK tries so hard to get rid of.

He’s happy. He’s healthy, both physically and mentally, and it’s been the most beautiful thing Carlos has ever witnessed.

“I shouldn’t.”

“TK, a few tacos won’t hurt you.” Judd pipes up, looking at TK in amusement.

Carlos smiles gently at TK, careful not to pressure him. He sees the moment he gives in to the temptations, his shoulders sagging in defeat. He grabs the takeout box Carlos slides towards him, completely pushing away his own plate of chicken fajitas to the side, forgotten.

He moans in delight at the taste of the tacos, causing Mateo to laugh, Judd to watch in amusement and Carlos to smile at him fondly. “I needed this.”

After he eats one he pushes the box back towards Carlos, who shakes his head. “You can have them, babe.” Carlos combs his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Are you sure?” He asks but is already taking a bite out of the second taco.

Carlos laughs and nods his head, sliding TK’s box towards himself so he can finish his tortilla-less, very bland fajitas.

#tarlos #tarlos fic

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deanwinchesterscumrag · 2 years ago

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One Last Night

word count: 2k

warnings: drug use and idfk

a/n I just started reading conversations with freinds and I couldn’t stop picturing Nick as Pedro Pascal and I need this. I can finally sleep now.

summary: Kenndy and Dylan have been bestfreind since they were kids. They started acting from a young age and one night after an after party for a show they filmed a photographer, Eleanor, asked to write a piece about them. After Kenndy met Eleanor’s longtime boyfriend, Pedro something seems to be happening between them.

Dylan and I first met Eleanor at an after party, for a show we were filming. Eleanor took our photo outside, with Dylan and me smoking. I was checked out, holding my cigarette in my right hand gripping my left wrist for dear life, as if my wrist was going to get away from me.

Eleanor used a big professional camera and had multiple expensive-looking lenses in her special camera pouch. She talked to us and smoked while taking our pictures. She complimented our performance and we talked about her work, which we had come across online. When the bar closed Eleanor told us we were welcome to come back to her place for a drink.

We all got a uber back to Eleanor's place. Dylan sat in the middle with his head turned to speak to Eleanor, so I could see the back of his neck. Eleanor gave the driver an address in Tribeca and I turned to look out the window. I felt excited, ready for the challenge of listing a stranger’s home, already preparing compliments and certain facial expressions to make myself seem charming. The house seems insignificant, it was a red-brick building with a scrawny tree outside. Under the streetlight, the leaves looked orange and fake. I was a big fan of seeing inside of other people's houses, especially people with money. As soon as I step into her house I decided I was going to remember everything about here home, so I could describe it to my other friends later and Dylan could agree.

When Eleanor let us in, a little red spaniel came racing up the hall and started barking at us. The hallway was warm up the lights were on. Next to the door was a low table where someone had left a stack of change, a hairbrush, and an open tube of lipstick. There was a Modigliani print hanging over the staircase, a nude woman reclining. I thought: this is a whole house. A family could live here, “We have guests!” Eleanor called down the corridor. No one appeared so we followed her into the kitchen. I remember seeing a dark wooden bowl filled with ripe fruit, and noticing the glass conservatory. Rich people, I thought. I was always thinking about rich people then. The dog had followed us to the kitchen and was snuffling around at our feet, but Eleanor didn't mention the dog so neither did we, “Wine?” Eleanor said, ”White or red?”

She poured huge, bowl-sized glasses and we all sat around a low table. Eleanor asked us how we'd started out acting. We had grown up together and both and had a love for acting and as child, I was a Broadway actor, as teens we both got casted into a teen show and we’ve been acting ever since.

Eleanor had her camera on the table and occasionally lifted it to take a photograph, laughing self-deprecatingly about being a "work addict." She lit a cigarette and tipped the ash into a kitschy-looking glass ashtray. The house didn't smell of smoke at all and I wondered if she usually smoked in there or not. “I made some new friends”, she said.

Her boyfriend was in the kitchen doorway. He held up his hand to acknowledge us and the dog started yelping and whining and running around in circles. “This is Kennady”, said Eleanor, “And this is Dylan. They're actors.” He took a bottle of beer out of the fridge and opened it on the countertop.

“Come and sit with us,” Eleanor said.

“Yeah, I'd love to,” he said,” but I should try and get some sleep before this flight.”

The dog jumped up on a kitchen chair near where he was standing and he reached out absently to touch its head. He asked Eleanor if she had fed the dog, she said no. He lifted the dog into his arms and let the dog lick his neck and jaw. He said he would feed her, and he went back out the kitchen door again. “Pedro’s filming tomorrow morning in Canada,” said Eleanor.

We already knew that the boyfriend was an actor. He and Eleanor were frequently photographed together at events, and we had friends of friends who had met them. He had a big, handsome face and looked like he could comfortably pick Eleanor up under one arm and fend off interlopers with the other.

“He's taller than I thought,” Dylan said.

Eleanor smiled as if "tall" was a euphemism for something, but not necessarily something flattering. The conversation moved on. We got into a short discussion about the government and the Catholic Church. Eleanor asked us if we were religious and we said no. She said she found religious occasions, like funerals or weddings, "comforting in a kind of sedative way." “They're communal,” she said. “There's something nice about that for the neurotic individualist. And I went to a convent school so I still know most of the prayers.”

“We went to a public school,” said Dylan, “It posed issues.”

Eleanor grinned and said:” like what?”

“Well, Kennedy was a SUPER big nerd and dragged me down with her,” said Dylan, “ And Kenndey is also Jewish and went to Jewish summer camp.”

“I also don’t think I remember any of the prayers,” I said.

We sat there talking and drinking for a long time. I remember that we talked about the poet Patricia Lockwood, who we admired, and also about what Dylan disparagingly called ‘pay gap feminism’. I started to get tired and a little drunk. I couldn’t think of anything witty to say and it was hard to arrange my face in a way that would convey my sense of humor. I think I laughed and nodded a lot. Eleanor told us she was working on a new book of essays. Dylan had read her first one, but I hadn’t.

“It’s not very good,” Eleanor told me,” Wait till the next one comes out.” At about three o’clock, she showed us to the spare room and told us how great it was to meet us and how glad she was that we were staying. When we got into bed I stared up at the ceiling and felt very drunk. The room was spinning repetitively in short, consecutive spins. Once I adjusted my eyes to one rotation, another would begin immediately. I asked Bobbi if she was also having a problem with that, but she said no.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” said Dylan, “Eleanor.”

“I like her,” I said. We could hear her voice in the corridor and her footsteps taking her from room to room. Once when the dog barked we could hear her yell something, and then her husband’s voice. But after that we fell asleep. We didn’t hear him leave. ***********************************

Dylan and I had first met in pre-school. As a teen, I was very opinionated and frequently spent time in detention for a behavioral offense our school called ‘disrupting teaching and learning’. When we were Fourteen I got my nose pierced and we took up smoking. Nobody liked us. I got temporarily suspended once for writing ‘fuck the patriarchy’ on the wall by the principles office. There was no feeling of solidarity around this incident. But Dylan was considered the show-off.I found school easy, I was always smarter than the teacher and knew everything they were teaching so I found that seeking off and skipping class challenged my mind; finding a way to get off campus, seeking past the school cop, lying my way of getting out of trouble. When we were fifteen we had to attend a fundraising dance in the school assembly hall, with a partially broken disco ball casting lights on the ceiling and the barred-up windows. Dylan wore a suit that made him look like a twelve-year-old at their school graduation and looked like he hadn’t brushed his hair, but he still looked amazing. He was radiantly attractive, which meant everyone had to work hard not to pay Him any attention. I told her I liked her dress. He gave me some of the vodka he was drinking from a Coke bottle and asked if the rest of the school was locked up. We checked the door up to the back staircase and found it was open. All the lights were off and no one else was up there. We could hear the music buzzing through the floorboards, like a ringtone belonging to someone else. Dylan gave me some more of her vodka and asked me if I liked him. It was very easy to act unfazed around her. I just said: “sure.”

I wasn’t betraying anyone’s loyalties by being Dylan’s girlfriend. I didn’t have close friends and at lunchtime I read textbooks alone in the school library I was lonely and felt unworthy of real friendship. I made lists of the things I had to improve about myself. After Dylan and I started seeing each other, everything changed. No one asked for my homework anymore. At lunchtime, we walked along the car park holding hands and people looked away from us maliciously. It was fun, the first real fun I’d ever had. After school, we used to lie in his room listening to music and talking about why we liked each other. These were long and intense conversations and felt so momentous to me that I secretly transcribed parts of them from memory in the evenings. When Dylan talked about me it felt like seeing myself in a mirror for the first time. I also looked in actual mirrors more often. I started taking a close interest in my face and body, which I’d never done before. I asked Dylan questions like: “do I have long legs? Or short?”

At our school graduation ceremony, we performed a spoken word piece together. Some of the parents cried, but our classmates just looked out the assembly-room windows or talked quietly amongst themselves. Several months later, after more than a year together, Dylan and I broke up. It wasn’t of our will thought, my father didn’t approved of our relationship. He threatened me that if we didn’t separate there would be consequence. My father, Tony Fitzgerald, he is a business man. By business I mean crime, he hates when I say hes in the mob because apparently thats not what it is, “Now damnit Kenndy I’m in the ‘family business’ you stop that shit now!” He would yell at me. Me and Dylan tried to stay together but some of the men that works for my father threatened Dylan. He never told me what happened but he came back with a black eye and will not step foot inside my fathers restaurant so I can only assume what happened.

***********************************

Eleanor wanted to write a profile about us. She sent us an email asking if we were interested, and attached some of the photographs she had taken outside the bar. Alone in my room, I downloaded one of the files and opened it up to fullscreen. Dylan looked back at me, mischievous, holding a cigarette in his right hand and pulling on his fur stole with the other. Beside him, I looked bored and interesting. I tried to imagine my name appearing in a profile piece, in a serif font with thick stems. I decided I would try harder to impress Eleanor next time we met. Dylan called me almost immediately after the email arrived.

“Have you seen the photographs?” He said, “I think I’m in love with her.” I held my phone in one hand and zoomed in on Bobbi’s face with the other. It was a high-quality image but I zoomed until I could see the pixellation. “Maybe you’re just in love with your own face,” I said.

“Just because I have a beautiful face doesn’t mean I’m a narcissist.” I let that one go. I was involved in the zooming process still. I knew that Eleanor wrote for several big literary websites, and her work circulated widely online. She had written a famous essay about the Oscars which everyone reposted every year during awards season. Sometimes she also wrote local profiles, about artists who sold their work on Madson Square Garden or Time Square; these were always accompanied by beautiful photographs of her subjects, looking human and full of ‘character’. I zoomed back out and tried to look at my own face as if I were a stranger on the internet seeing it for the first time. It looked round and white, the eyebrows like overturned parentheses, myeyes averted from the lens, almost shut. Even I could see I had character.

We emailed her back saying we’d be delighted, and she invited us over for dinner to talk about our work and get some additional photographs. She asked me if I could forward some copies of our work and I sent her three or four of the best pieces. Dylan and I discussed at length what Dylan would wear to the dinner, under the guise of talking about what we should both wear. I lay in my room watching him look at herself in the mirror, moving pieces of his her hair back and forth critically.

“So when you say you’re in love with Melissa,” I said.

“I mean I have a crush on her.”

“You know she’s taken.”

“You don’t think she likes me?” said Dyan. he was holding up one of my white brushed-cotton shirts in front of the mirror.

“What do you mean likes you?” I said, “Are we being serious or just joking?”

“I am partly being serious. I think she does like me.”

“In an extramarital affair kind of way?” Dylan just laughed at that. With other people I generally had a sense of what to take seriously and what not to, but with Dylan it was impossible. He never seemed to be either fully serious or fully joking. As a result I had learned to adopt a kind of Zen acceptance of the weird things he said. I watched him take his shirt off and pull on the white shirt. He rolled up the sleeves carefully.

“Good?” he said, “Or terrible?”

“Good. It looks good.”

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal one shot #pedro pascal fic #fanfic #joel miller #joel miller fic #psedro pacal smut

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mirasmirages · 1 year ago

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Making Friends

For the @julybreakbingo squares "Collection" and "Engage"

Ao3

Arwa was bored.

She had finished her pancakes and sat swinging her legs while Mom and Auntie Amara talked about all sorts of boring stuff, like the news and politics and the wallpaper Uncle Nadir had chosen for his new apartment. Arwa couldn't understand why they cared about any of that.

Since they weren't paying attention to her at all, Arwa decided to find something better to do. She slipped off her chair and went to the most interesting thing in the diner: a little girl sitting in a booth near the counter, with a coloring book and crayons all over the table.

"Hi!" Arwa said. "My name is Arwa, what's yours?"

The girl looked up, but didn't say anything. She just stared at Arwa like she was waiting for something.

"What are you drawing?" Arwa asked. The coloring book was open to a page with a horse which had as much color outside the lines as within them.

The girl didn't answer, just kept looking at her.

"It looks pretty," Arwa said. "I like this purple color. Can I sit with you?"

The girl was very shy, so Arwa took her silence as a yes and climbed up next to her on the bench, sitting on her knees now that Mom wasn't watching and making her sit properly.

"Do you wanna see my marbles?"

Arwa took out her velvet pouch of marbles and carefully poured them out on the table, making a barrier with some of the girl's crayons so they wouldn't roll off the edge.

"I have even more at home, but these are my favorites." She picked up the marbles one by one and explained what made them special. "I like this one because it sparkles, and I won that one from a girl in my class at recess, and my uncle gave me the big orange one that looks like Jupiter. Did you know Jupiter is the biggest planet? I wanna get marbles that look like the rest of the planets too, but my brother said that's stupid because Saturn has rings and marbles don't have rings, so I told him he's stupid and I can make the rings myself. And this one is the most special of all of them." She held up a small, blank marble. "It looks boring, but it isn't because I got it from a soda bottle! It's this special kind of soda from Japan that uses a marble instead of a lid, and you have to push the marble into the soda to open it! And after I finished the soda I wanted to take the marble out but I couldn't, so I asked my brother to try, and he couldn't either, so we looked it up online and figured out you have to set the bottle on fire, so we did that and my uncle got really mad because we coulda burned the house down, but we didn't so it's okay, and now I have the marble! You can hold it if you want!"

Arwa held the marble out to the girl before she noticed that one of the waitresses was standing by their table watching them.

"Hi," the waitress said with a big friendly smile on her face. "Nova, did you make a friend?"

The girl didn't say anything, and suddenly Arwa got a bad feeling in her belly. Maybe the girl wasn't just shy. Maybe she didn't like Arwa or the marbles and just wanted her to go away and Arwa hadn't noticed because she never noticed when people wanted her to go away, even her teacher said so, and her brother and her classmates all called her annoying and now the girl thought so too!

She was just about to swipe her marbles back into the pouch and leave when the girl nodded.

"You did? I'm so happy for you!" said the waitress, and turned to Arwa. "What's your name?"

"Arwa."

"What a beautiful name! My name is Delia, and this is Nova. Nova doesn't speak much, but it is so nice of you to play with her! Is that your mom over there?"

When Ms. Delia went to talk to Mom, and Arwa turned back to Nova.

"Your name is Nova? That's pretty," she said. "Did you know it means star? My name means goat, but no one knows that unless I tell them. My mom says my name fits me because I climb on everything, and my brother says it fits me because I'm as stubborn as a goat. Did you know that when a star explodes it becomes a supernova? And then it becomes a black hole!"

Nova didn't say anything for their whole conversation, but that was okay, because Arwa could speak enough for both of them. She talked about space and names and her family and animals and ranked Nova's crayons by how much she liked the colors. Ms. Delia gave them a big cookie to share and Arwa told Nova how lucky she was to have a mom who let her eat sweets on a normal day, but then Mom said Arwa was allowed to eat her half of the cookie and she felt pretty lucky herself.

When it was time to leave, Arwa sorted through her marbles and picked a purple one with glitter in it.

"You can have this one." She held the marble out to Nova. "It sparkles like stars, like your name, see?"

Nova hesitated, but held her hand out, and Arwa dropped the marble into it.

"This means we're friends," she said. "That means you can come to my house if you want and I can teach you how to play marbles."

She would have waited for Nova to reply, but Mom was getting impatient and Nova hadn't said a word all day, so after a moment of hesitation, Arwa gave Nova a hug before running out after Mom.

#July Break Bingo 2023 #JBBingo2023 #Fandom: Original Work #Ship: None #Mira writes #OC: Girl/Nova #OC: Delia #OC: Arwa #I didn't make Arwa she came to me in a dream #Any bets on whether Arwa will be diagnosed with ADHD at some point in her life?

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gossipsnake · 1 year ago

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Bugging Each Other || Anita & Parker

TIMING: August 8, 2023 LOCATION: Lyssa’s Peak PARTIES: Anita (@gossipsnake) and Paker (@wonder-in-wings) SUMMARY: Anita invited Parker out to hike and search for insects in the woods. Unbeknownst to her, Parker is under the effects of an abnormality crystal. Anita is her usual self. Things go exactly how you would expect they would, featuring an unexpected guest star.

Anita wasn’t entirely sure why she invited this man to one of her favorite bug spotting locations. None of their online interactions had been remotely positive. They were neutral, at best, and frequently tapered off from neutral to negative at an exponential pace. Yet there she was, the early sunlight of the dawn creating golden shadows that danced across her features as she stood on the edge of a forest trail awaiting this irksome and questionably qualified curator.

Maybe that was it - she wanted to see Parker in action and figure out just how well he knew his shit. After all, a novice curator without any professional training couldn’t possibly be more knowledgeable about insects than Anita was. And that wasn’t to say that intellect and formal education were corollaries, but Anita had dedicated every aspect of her life to this niche topic - she needed to be better at it than he was.

Having done as much online stalking as she could, Anita recognized the tall blonde man immediately. He was also the only other person around, which given the time of day was a fairly dead give away as to who he was. “You’re late,” the idea of starting off on the right foot had crossed her mind, but she ignored it.

—

Day 8.

The Warden thought the conversations online were shaky but ultimately, Anita could’ve called herself either the garbage queen or even a fae at this point and Parker would’ve taken her up on an offer to go searching for bugs. Granted, this was before the incident with Felix and when he had the idea for how this would go in his mind, he wasn’t anticipating having to compensate for the plunge into abyssal, emotional depth he’d taken. No… that wasn’t correct, even now. It wasn’t a plunge, as though he got to choose to jump into the murky black tar that clung to his every thought, his every waking moment, every feeling on his skin, even some of the looks he gave. It was an edge. Or a pendulum. Fortunately, she had opted out of a graveyard. Unfortunately, Parker wasn’t as well-versed in Lyssa’s Peak. Even more unfortunately was as he arrived at the approximate coordinates she had left for him, trudging to the path from the car he parked a safe distance away on the off-chance something would happen, she decided to make a comment about how he was late. No wonder her roommate had left her, if she was like this all the time, the way she stood there with her arms crossed, her expression naturally glaring and vindictive and with a bite to her tone. He approached her, slowing to a stop and standing a foot taller than her and yet she carried herself with the authority of a woman demanding she speak to his manager. Not a great start and Parker’s dominant hand subconsciously began flexing and extending, opening, closing in a rhythmic gesture as he settled the immediate wave of frustration that washed over him. He didn’t want to turn around and wordlessly go back the way he came. “Apologies.” He muttered through gritted teeth, a false apology. He normally wasn’t late; he normally wasn’t many things he was that early morning. And he wasn’t about to explain why he was late, as the reason was both exasperating and embarrassing. Maybe if she was observant she’d be able to see the uncharacteristic dark circles that had rapidly accumulated under Parker’s steely blue stare and apply logic. Or maybe she could see his thick leather belt with its many pouches, daggers and the spiked iron knuckles that hung from a chain and wouldn’t press any harder. …The latter of which was definitely going to happen, if first impressions and conversations online were anything to use as references. “What specimens frequent this area?” He decided to ask, pushing through the formalities though he kept his eyes on her keenly.

—

Not that she would ever think to admit it, but Anita was a bit impressed by the fact that he didn't even bother to justify or explain why he was late. It fit with what she knew about the man - not one for niceties for the sake of niceness. He wasn't exactly what she had expected. He seemed unnecessarily angry and on edge. Having never met him before, however, Anita had no way to know if that was his usual posture or if was something reserved for this specific interaction.

After taking note of his affect, the next thing she noticed were the weapons affixed to his belt. Were Anita not confident that she could hold her own against him they would have caused her concern - he came out to meet a strange woman in the woods and he came fairly heavily armed. It made her wonder what he knew about these woods. ”No specimens that warrant all that,“ she replied, gesturing towards the belt.

In an effort to show that the daggers had no effect on her, Anita turned her back towards him and began to walk down the path towards the clearing she intended to bring him to. ”There's a fair amount of beetle species out this way. I like this area in particular because as you head further towards the peak you come across a variety of different micro-ecosystems which provides a fair amount of biodiversity.“

That was going to be part of her personal test of him, checking on how quickly he was able to identify the different insects they came across. Anita wasn't so snobbish to think that his lack of formal education constituted a lack of knowledge, but she was petty enough to hope that she would catch him off his game and prove that she was the true expert between them. ”Hopefully you got your beauty rest, we've got a bit of a hike ahead of us.“

—

He understood that he might’ve been a little bit over-prepared for something as seemingly innocuous as hunting for bugs that early morning but given everything that was in that town, let alone how unnecessarily on edge he constantly felt over the past week, Parker didn’t really consider any of it to be superfluous. She certainly didn’t seem to be intimidated by anything on his person as she willingly turned her back to him to lead him to wherever they were supposedly going, which… he didn’t really think that she would’ve been. Everything about her exuded confidence, a sense of intellectual superiority from how they’d talked online. So, he followed her, feeling the soft morning air on his bare arms as the sleeves of his blue Henley were gathered around his elbows, glancing around the unfamiliar environment. She mentioned beetle species and he wondered if she was being purposefully vague due to the assumption that she didn’t think he knew what she would’ve been talking about by mentioning specific suborders. Parker wouldn’t have put that past her, either and the thought sent another pulse in his hands, which gripped the thick leather of his belt tightly but briefly before loosening again. “Rest is rest; its appearance has no merit on anything. I’ll keep up, you needn’t concern yourself with that.” He remarked rather absently, though he didn’t want to think about how he hadn’t received much of any sleep the night before, beautiful or otherwise. Instead of lingering on that aspect, he continued on after her with the knowledge already cemented in his brain that he would most likely be sore after this venture, but ideally with a new specimen or two to add to his collection. “Are we talking about polyphaga?” He asked in an attempt to make small talk as they walked.

—

There was something about the cool August morning air that made Anita slightly homesick. Even the dead of summer in Maine never got quite as hot as her desert home but the feeling of the warm sun on her skin always pulled her back there mentally. But now wasn't the time to dwell on that, especially not with the present company. Instead she just continued leading them down the forest path keeping a diligent eye out for certain flora that she knew would be a prime host for unique insects.

The mention of polyphaga was amusing, and thankfully with her back still towards him Parker wouldn't have seen Anita's slight smirk at the mention of the scientific name. “Given that 90% of beetles fall into that suborder... yes, I expect we will see many polyphaga. Around this time of year there are a lot of curculionoidea and tenebrionoidea.”

It was interesting. Had their online interactions gone differently this meet-up may have been more of a meeting of the minds opposed to a competition. But that wasn't the case. Anita looked up at the tree cover above them, watching some of the birds dance around in the spotted beams of sunlight. ”You're not a local either, if I remember correctly.” Ameture bug enthusiasts usually had limited information on the insects of foreign ecosystems. “So, why insects?” It was a question she got asked all the time and while, in her younger years it had bothered her, Anita had grown to appreciate it. After all, it was nothing more than an opportunity to talk about one of her biggest passions.

—

She was being smug and he, in turn, was thankful that she had her back to him otherwise she would’ve caught his lip curling slightly in disdain; if she hadn’t been vague in the first place, he wouldn’t have felt the need to specify, if only a little bit. “I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a specimen from pyrochroidae; it’s been a while.” Parker remarked rather quietly, one of his hands continuing to rest on his belt in its familiar place of safety and comfort while the other subconsciously flexed and extended his fingers in their rhythmic motion, giving him something to do silently as he dealt with any threatening swing of the pendulum in his mind. Tired, but ever-sharp blue eyes were narrowed, almost like a hawk scanning the environment for prey which wasn’t entirely inaccurate - Parker, raised in the bayous of Louisiana, wasn’t accustomed to these temperatures but the crisp morning air wasn’t unwelcome, seeming to do the trick to forcibly wake him up where he might’ve been lagging in certain mental aspects. “Why not insects.” He replied at first, perhaps a little too casually and it took him about a minute before he realized that she was either trying to engage in small talk or test him to see if he really was interested in the subject as she was. “Insects were my learning tools when I was a child.” He explained after the moment of silence. “I was… motivated by little else.” He opted to leave off the parts where his family, even his mother, chalked him up as a failure because of the limited scope with which he viewed the world. ‘You’re broken. But I don’t hate you for it anymore’, his father had said, late into their relationship and shortly before he died. “...” He breathed in, as though about to say something else but nothing came out except for a soft exhale and his mouth closed once more. “...You?”

—

His response was vague. Anita couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t care to talk about it or if it was because he didn’t care to talk to her about it. At least in their online interactions even when he was being a dick he was still talkative. It wasn’t as much fun without the tet-a-tet back and forth. “My grandfather had an extermination business. My father took me with him from time to time on jobs and before I even had words for them, I was captivated by insects. The curiosity grew until it consumed me entirely. Like most of the natural world, they speak to an inherent truth that people often try to resist: everyone has a place in their ecosystem and their value has nothing to do with their size but, rather, their contributions to that ecosystem.”

Turning her head just enough to make brief eye contact, Anita continued, “Ecosystems are delicate. When creatures fail to fulfill their purpose within them, they fall apart.” It was one of the few absolute truths that Anita knew and she wondered if he knew it too. Sometimes it felt like that is what Anita had done to her own ecosystem - to her own family. She failed to fulfill her purpose, she left, and as a result things fell apart.

As they turned a corner and approached a small clearing, Anita spotted a cluster of trees with decaying bark at their bases that should be home to a plethora of pyrochroidae and other similar beetles. Without pointing it out or saying anything, she changed course and headed towards them, dropping into a squat once she got close to them. “You spend much time out in the woods?” Maybe that was why he had an arsenal of weapons hanging off his hips. Maybe he knew what else was out here.

—

Her answer was much more robust than his and Parker wondered, just briefly, if he was supposed to supply a heartier answer than the one he had given. The thought was brief because he was already under such a strong impression that he was being silently tested by Anita, scrutinized from every angle in an attempt to seem like she was better than him that he assumed her judgment extended to something as personal as why he had gotten into entomology. As he thought about it, then thought about thinking about it, he could feel himself threatening to fall into a spiral so instead, he pushed the thoughts aside and caught eye contact, keeping his eyes on her far longer than she had as they walked. They turned, he followed her without prompting and he continued to look around as he chewed on what she had said, about how fragile nature had a tendency to be sometimes and how one weak link could disrupt the chain. Part of Parker wondered if she was simply waxing poetic or if there was a hidden meaning in her words but the thought was discarded as they drew close to a selection of trees with their peeling bark. Wordlessly, as she crouched, he tread more lightly and took a few steps to a different trunk, blue eyes scanning the surface for movement, a place to gently pry the bark away. “I do.” He replied, again almost leaving it at that. ‘Man, she gives you one impression that she doesn’t care and suddenly you clam up. That’s not becoming, bro.’ “Being outside of town provides clarity. I don’t… get along well with humans.” Parker added, his delivery still blunt and objective.

—

There was something familiar, and therefore unsettling, in Parker’s prolonged eye contact. Anita was not naive enough to believe that the only dangerous creatures out in the woods were like her. She knew there was a perverse breed of humans that were objectively an evolutionary marvel, who had evolved to track and kill those like her. She’d known some in her time. Eaten most of them.

Based on how their conversation had been going, Anita expected that Parker was going to end his response with those two words. Instead he continued, his response being the first real thing that he has said that piqued her interest. “I get along with humans but I don’t care much for them.” It was possibly too telling of a response but she could explain it away if necessary. “I feel that nature, these creatures,” gesturing to a cluster of bark beetles she had uncovered, “this is where I’m most understood.”

“Can I ask a question without you immediately becoming offended by it?” Anita was going to ask it anyway, but she decided to preface it with that inquiry. In her mind it softened the question. In her mind it was a way to signify that she was asking without judgment. That’s how it came across in her mind, anyway. “Your temperament suggests you would make a fine scientist. Your ego suggests you would make a good one, possibly. Why no formal schooling?”

—

Her response to his comment about people was unusual, to say the least. She wasn’t a fae, that much was obvious. Perhaps Parker should’ve said that he didn’t get along with ‘people’. Every once in a while, it slipped his mind that there were shifters, vampires (which he also assumed she wasn’t one because the sun was creeping into the sky and from his limited understanding, they couldn’t be in direct sunlight) and other associated beings in town. It was easier for him to separate fae from humans, from people who lived normal lives and weren’t interested in disrupting humanity for petty reasons. But he didn’t say ‘people’. Parker said ‘humans’, which was his mistake and now with the thought that maybe she wasn’t a human herself created a new wariness inside of him. He wasn’t afraid of her and likely wouldn’t ever be, but he could hear his father telling him that it was good to be prepared for anything, regardless of whether or not he was equipped to. And the Warden couldn’t say that he could relate - insects were just that, and he wasn’t an insect. They were beautiful, serving their purposes, whatever that was, feeling part of their environment. Parker was a machine, an automaton who didn’t fit in anywhere. He wasn’t created to fit into a grand scheme, a plan, a tapestry. He was genetically engineered to perform one function and he had long since accepted that about himself. It was this explanation that answered her question before he could formulate the words. “It… wasn’t considered important.” He replied rather quietly, once he clenched and unclenched his hands as he felt the initial wave of frustration wanting him to become incendiary towards her for prefacing her question with ‘don’t get offended’ pass over him. “To my parents, it was a teaching method. To the rest of my family, it’s a shortcoming.” He explained, his gaze softening as he approached her trunk to see what she had found; they may not have gotten along, but it was easy for him to set aside his pride when it came to observing insects, appreciating them. “I wasn’t designed for this. My father considered me a failure.” Everything Parker said was said in the same tone, flat and blunt though he could feel his insides wanting to burn up with irritation that his father thought of him like that so late into his life. ‘And I still do sometimes, boy.’ “So it’s a passion, but that’s it.” He acknowledged, looking sideways at Anita. “I probably don’t know as much as you. But I know enough to be considered an outlier to my family and the purpose of my existence.”

—

Finally, Anita thought as Parker provided more than a one-sentence response. It was proving difficult to keep pestering him about the like, two things she knew about it. Strained familial relationships, that was something. Unfortunately for her, it was something she related to all too well. Shit, maybe this was backfiring. It was easy enough to not empathize with him, but this was venturing towards sympathy. “Formal education wasn’t considered important in my family, either.” Anita decided to opt for the truth, content with acknowledging the distinctions in their paths. “My family does not give a shit about my degrees, my accomplishments. They think it all a waste.” She didn’t add the humanity context. They only felt that way because they could not wrap their heads around her choosing to live among humans. “My father is the only one who supports me, despite not understanding.”

Maybe that last bit was unnecessary to add, but Anita wasn’t going to acknowledge that. Instead, she decided to move on. It was never in question but it was extremely satisfying to hear him admit she knew more than he did. At least he had some common sense. “And what is the purpose of your existence?” She worked hard to make sure that her tone sounded genuine, like a deadly robber fly presenting itself to the world as a harmless bumble bee. It seemed unlikely that he would continue to open up… but she wanted to see how far she could push this.

—

As they examined the insects that skittered along on the bark, minding their own business, Parker didn’t think he was expecting… ‘Is it empathy or sympathy?’ His brother asked. ‘Like he can tell the difference.’ His father replied as the Warden remembered this conversation vividly as it happened decades ago now. Whichever one it was, he had little to say in terms of emotional value when Anita explained her own reasoning in an attempt to do either of those things. Usually, that was the part of the story where the two sides of the same coin would engage in some wholesome conversation about how they weren’t so different, how they could find things to bond over. Anita’s family apparently didn’t understand her, either. That was where it ended, though. They didn’t understand, but she still sought higher education. Her father was the only one who supported her; Parker couldn’t say the same about his own father. She got to do whatever she wanted to do. She didn’t speak like a hunter and she wasn’t a fae. She might not have been human, but then again, neither was he when he recalled what other people called him. Then came the main question, the one Parker never really had a sufficient answer for for some reason or another. He kept his half-lidded blue eyes on the insects astutely as he let the question linger in the air - he figured she didn’t like the pauses between conversation, but she wasn’t the only one vying for control in this scenario. There was also the likely possibility that she didn’t care; from their interactions so far, nothing about her indicated that she actually wanted to know. This was all small talk. They might not have been so different but they were different enough. And Parker didn’t benefit from having someone similar to him in the same vicinity. “It doesn’t matter.” He replied, standing back up and glancing over at the other trunk he had been examining before she found what they were looking for. He wanted to say ‘you don’t care anyway’ but then he would’ve gotten a ‘you’re right’. And he didn’t care that she didn’t care, it wasn’t something that elicited sympathy or empathy. ‘See, I told you he couldn’t tell the difference.’ It simply was. “Can you answer that?” He offered, turning to look down at her. It was a nebulous question, not one that most had the answer to, in his experience.

—

His response was expected and therefore incredibly boring. Anita had invited him out here to prove that she knew the most about the insects they had a shared interest in, but now she was eager to show that she knew about the humans they both had a disinterest in. She didn’t know whether or not he parroted her question back to her because he didn’t have any original questions of his own to ask or if it was a challenge. She took it as the ladder - a push to imply she maybe didn’t have one.

Sure, it was a strange question to ask another person. But Anita wouldn’t have asked it if he hadn’t implied that he, or his family, believed that he had some specific purpose for existing. “I don’t believe I have one singular purpose for existing,” she replied with a shrug as she stood up and looked around the patch of forest they were in. “Just like those beetles that you’re watching, I think we all play important roles within our own ecosystems. Some of us are much further up the food chain than others. Our purpose is just existence. What we do with what we are dealt, well, that’s not purpose - that’s choices. The paradox of free will.”

And as part of her own free will, Anita was starting to think of ways to end their interaction early. Maybe if she provoked him further he would be the one to crack first and leave? “After all, if we have free will, can we also have a pre-designated purpose for existing? Conversely, if we have a pre-designated purpose for existing… can we be said to have free will?” That was, admittedly, all Anita knew about the paradox of free will as she never did much philosophy beyond an intro class she took because some girl she wanted to hook up with was taking the class. But it was enough to sound good. “I’m team free will.”

She had moved around a bit as she was talking, and right after topping off her brief rant a tree branch fell right near where she had just been standing. It startled her very slightly but she tried to maintain an unfazed effect in front of him. Had he not been around Anita likely would have looked up into the tree to see where it had fallen from, but she felt that not even acknowledging it was maybe the cooler way to play it off. “So, yeah, I clearly can answer that question.”

—

The Warden hadn’t anticipated that by him passing the question off to her, placing the ball in her court, it was going to kick-start a lecture. Already quiet, Parker narrowed his gaze as she stood and looked around. Philosophy wasn’t something he held inherent interest for, and hypotheticals weren’t a currency he traded in. He believe in the butterfly effect, to be sure, but with the way his being taught about the fae from such a young age weaved itself around his ideologies, he had long since learned that whether people liked it or not, Fate was predetermined and while one could pull at the threads, the final tapestry would remain the same. So, in essence, it was as Anita had described it. “Why use five words when fifty will do.” He replied dryly instead of saying something conducive such as ‘we might agree’ or ‘I understand your point’. Those thoughts were alien to him on the best of days, and on his worst they inflamed something in his mind. Parker couldn’t stand mirrors, though he never understood why, even now. She spoke too much and then said that she could clearly answer the question but that wasn’t it, was it? Or was that it and she was trying to sound better than him, more superior to him again, as had been the case every time they’d started to engage in conversation? His hands clenched and unclenched as he felt tension start to ripple through his muscles; the pendulum was starting to swing again. And he was getting mad, which was why he wasn’t expecting it to mix with surprise as she moved and almost immediately after, a branch had crashed down where she’d been standing. Instinctively, he glanced up, his brow still furrowed but with a sharp eye darting around like a hawk trying to find its prey. “Stop talking.” Parker ordered, just as dull in his delivery as before.

—

By this point, Anita was beyond done with the conversation. It wasn’t even just because he was so annoying and generally frustrating -- it was because he was boring. Parker hardly even engaged with her and was evidently back to incredibly short responses. It wasn’t fun bothering him when he didn’t react to her. “Here’s five words for ya: stop being a little bitch.” Not her best comeback by any stretch, but it felt satisfying to say.

Had she not been so focused on making a grand exit she may have noticed how his attention turned towards where the branch had fallen with a furrowed intensity. Instead, she turned to go back up the path from where they had come from and hopefully never have to interact with him again. Just as she started leaving, however, another branch fell and the end of it scraped against the back of her arm as she moved. “Ok! Seriously, what the fuck!?” Finally turning her attention upward, Anita tried to figure out what was going on but she didn’t spot anything particularly out of the ordinary and turned her attention back towards Parker, kinda hoping to see if he would get hit with a branch next.

—

The flagrant insult, the choice of words, the fact that Anita justified the Warden’s behavior as him just being difficult for the sake of being difficult (which is exactly what Parker thought she was doing), flared the Warden’s temper and he resisted the strong, white-hot urge to give her a sharp backhand in immediate retaliation. His breath caught in his throat as one of his hands clenched so hard one could almost hear a bone cracking in the tension that wavered dangerously between the two and the inflammation of anger spiking into him was strong enough that he had to physically pull himself away from being so close to her. He didn’t realize that if he just waited a little longer, she would’ve gone through the liberty of removing herself first but as it was, he took the step back, his movements solid as though his iron-toed boots were glued to the ground. Whatever was in the tree had temporarily been completely forgotten as Parker struggled not to react viscerally to what was really such a shallow combination of words, so far beneath him, that he shouldn’t have felt the need to react at all. His nostrils flared with evident irritation and he tore his icy glare off of her back as Anita turned to skulk off, probably thinking that she had ‘won’ this invisible tug-of-war though Parker wasn’t ever competing with her over anything. He hadn’t been, he was content not to. He didn’t care. He just did his job and engaged in his hobbies and someone always had to– Anita’s voice punctured his thoughts and, brow still furrowed, he snapped his head to look in her direction once more where she herself was looking up at the trees again. He glared at her until she looked back at him, where his gaze drifted up towards the trees, much more slowly than before. Right, that’s what he was doing before she decided to turn this into a whole thing. Parker looked into the leaves once more, going from tree to tree, his expression shifting into one that much more closely resembled his default as he felt the pendulum in his mind settling once more. As he was turning more in the direction of where the first branch had come from - he assumed she reacted because she got hit by another one - his sharp eyes caught movement and one of his arms shot out, acting almost autonomously as his hand caught a branch that was aiming right for his shoulder. “It’s an agropelter.” Parker explained, dropping the branch casually and reaching for one of the small crossbow bolts that sat in a quiver on his overly-ambitious utility belt. “You must’ve been making too much noise.” He said pointedly.

—

Anita didn’t know the man in front of her well enough to understand his actions or predict his next steps. She hadn’t had the opportunity to really observe him to get a sense of his temperament. Maybe that was why it was more than a bit surprising at how fast his reflexes were when he caught the tree limb in mid-air. It was impressive and if it had been anyone else who had done that, Anita may have acknowledged that fact. Instead, her expression remained sour as she processed the word he used to describe the creature. It wasn’t one she knew - or had ever heard of before. Another thing that may have been impressive in anyone else. Not that she could really confirm that was the real name of the creature. He could have just been full of shit like she presumed.

Before she could voice her objection to him, essentially, calling her loud; Anita’s eyes caught his hand move towards one of the weapons affixed to his belt. His attention seemed to remain on her as he spoke, creating serious doubt in her mind as to what he intended to do next. Without transformation, Anita had no weapons at her disposal. And based on his recent show of dexterity… she had a feeling he wasn’t going to miss whatever his target was.

This was why she truly hated her human form. Anita hated that, as she stood there, all of her fleshy bits were so exposed and she had no natural defenses. It felt like time was passing so slowly as she waited for him to show his hand and she had two competing survival instincts swirling around her head. Turning to the Mojave would offer obvious physical protection, however, it would simultaneously put the life she had built in this town at risk. She didn’t know this man, or why he could catch that branch with such ease, or why he knew the name of the strange occupants of the trees above. She didn’t know what he would do if he knew her true form. So, against some of her better instincts, Anita remained planted there in all of her humanity with her focus dialed in on his weapon.

What had happened, whether it was him catching the branch, stating what it was that was assaulting them or how he carefully reached for and retrieved one of the bolts from his compact quiver, it had finally sufficiently gotten Anita to stop throwing her weight around. Parker’s icy glare focused on her for a moment, gathering the bolt between three fingers before they darted up to the branches once more and he sent the bolt hurling through the air quicker than the human eye could perceive. The bolt disappeared into the foliage where a loud squeak of surprise and pain met his half-deaf ears. A pause, then something small with dark fur fell solidly out of one of the trees and landed on the ground, the bolt protruding from its chest. Parker didn’t need to approach the twitching, quivering mass of fur and flesh to know what it was, nor did he feel the need to put the creature out of its misery as it gasped for breath through a puncture wound in one of its lungs. “It’s a shame you’re insufferable; I would’ve enjoyed discussing insects with you further.” He said bluntly, clenching and unclenching the hand that threw the bolt in a rhythmic motion as he felt an unpleasant combination of anger and what might’ve been… ‘Pride? Do you feel pride?’ Walker asked. Whatever it was, it made the Warden’s body ripple with tension, the coiled spring that was his musculature still on edge from the agropelter and perhaps even what Anita could’ve done to him; Parker had no reason not to think that she was a normal human but nowadays, he knew better than to assume anything about anyone aside from spotting potential weaknesses in movement, deficiencies in behavior. He figured she was something of a fighter, at least if she could match her mouth in terms of meaningless insults. He didn’t want to turn his back to her, and yet… Parker said nothing further to her; as far as he was concerned, this interaction was over. It was over and he felt as though he’d wasted his time. He could’ve just left her to the agropelter; it might’ve taken one or two of her fingers if not just content with throwing things at her, but even when his mind was as annoyingly unstable as it was, pumped with all of those emotions and extreme reactions to things that shouldn’t have been reacted to, he was still a Warden. The agropelter was still a fae that could hurt someone. She didn’t need to know that. Crossing his arms with an irritable sigh, Parker turned and silently walked off.

He was going home. This was a waste; all he got out of it was agitation and being needlessly insulted again.

—

Even with her eyes fixed on his apparent weapon of choice, Anita was sure that her reaction to him deploying the weapon, however small and slight that her muscles flinched, was noted by the man. It felt like a display of weakness though she was unsure why it felt that way. There was no question that he had hit his intended target, the small lifeless body of whatever woodland creature had been in the trees was indisputable evidence of that. Once again, something that she would have expressed openly how impressed she was had the act done by nearly anyone else.

For a split second, no longer, Anita did wonder if she was being too stubborn. Through all of her interactions with the blonde curator, it was apparent that they had substantial commonalities yet she felt so intensely disfavorable towards him. His final comment reminded her why, however, and replaced any lingering positive impressions with a growing rage.

As was her reaction to most circumstances of conflict, Anita immediately considered how easy it would be to simply swallow the arrogant man whole. Surely her mouth could open wide enough to accommodate his ego. Fortunately for Parker her curiosity, morbid or otherwise, told her that it would be more satisfying to get to know him better first. To draw out her inevitable victory and in doing so make the day she did finally vanquish him that much more satisfying.

“I’ll be seeing you,” she finally responded as he began to walk away from her. “Small town after all.” She had no idea if he would take the statements as the threat she intended them to be, but as he faded from her view he similarly faded from her mind for the time being. Anita collected the deceased creature Parker had slain, intending to examine it further back at her lab, before walking off in the opposite direction. Sure, her car was back towards where he was headed but taking the long way back was worth it to not risk any additional interaction.

#bugging each other #parker #writing #para #chatzy #c:parker

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