#still not over the fact nail is just snail without the s

[time-speculo]

Less of a study more of a stylization(?) of my favorite namekians

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Turning Pages

Enjoy~

It was a warm, early summer day as Luz flew through the air back toward the owl house, grinning giddily to herself as the wind whipped through the long hair that laid over her undercut on the left side, her cloak flapping wildly behind her off her shoulders as the wind tugged at the short sleeves of her dark purple tunic.

She did a giddy spin and the leather pouches that held her glyphs and various other things flapped against the legs of her black pants.

The twenty-one-year-old zipped between the trees on her staff, she was so excited, she couldn't wait to show her mom and Lilith what she had bought today after packing up her stuff at the market.

"Luz, your home!" Hooty screeched the moment she burst through the tree line.

"Hey, Hooty." She smiled hopping off the staff with a flourish as he opened the door for her and she ran inside, dropping her satchel by the stairs.

"Mom, Lily!?" she called.

"In the kitchen!" Eda's voice called back.

She hurried into the kitchen where the two sisters were sitting at the table talking. It always surprised Luz at the wrinkles that had begun to line their faces over the last six years, though they both still looked great. Eda claimed hers were from Luz, and Lilith claimed hers were from Eda, which always made the young woman laugh, and Eda make a face.

Before she could think to say anything, Owlbrt was hooting at her from the counter.

"Hey buddy, you wanna play with Mochuelo?" She asked the small owl, who hooted wildly at her.

"Okay, okay, Owlbert, I know you missed your pal," she laughed.

She unscrewed the wooden tawny owl palisman from the top of her staff and set him on the counter next to a hooting Owlbert. Her palisman,  Mochuelo, gave himself a shake, fluffing his dark brown and white speckled feathers, golden-brown eyes blinking up at her.

She scratched both their heads and left the two to palisman play as she laid the empty staff against the counter.

"You're back early, already sell out all your potions in the market?" Eda cocked her head.

"Yup, not a thing left. I'll work on some more tomorrow, but forget about that, I have something to show you!" She stopped, looking around. "Is Amity here?"

"No, she hasn't come home yet, why?" Lilith cocked a brow at her and Luz grinned, digging something out of her pocket.

"This is why!" she exclaimed, pulling a small black box from her pocket.

"A box?" Eda asked. Luz rolled her eyes.

"No! Look!" She popped it open to reveal a bright gold ring inlaid with a deep, square-cut, magenta gemstone and two smaller, clear stones on either side of it.

The sisters both gasped.

"Luz is this…?" Lilith started.

"An engagement ring!?" Eda finished, looking up at Luz with wide eyes.

"Yup, I'm going to ask Amity to marry me," she declared proudly. "I mean, we've been living together for three years now and dating for six. I know there's no one else I want to be with."

"That's wonderful, Luz." Lilith stood and hugged her.

"Yeah, that's great!" Eda wrapped her up in a tight hug as soon as Lilith let go. Luz squeezed her back just as tight before finally pulling back. "Does this mean you two are finally moving out?" she asked with a grin as Luz blinked, wide-eyed.

"I mean… we can if you want us…" she started with a frown, but Eda just laughed.

"Naw, it'd be too quiet without you two. You two don't have to go anywhere unless you want to… and so long as you keep your bedroom door closed," she said seriously, making Luz chuckle.

How far they had come, from Eda being adamant that the bedroom door stay open when they were kids, to now demanding that it stay closed, lest she hear or see something she really didn't want to… again.

"Right, I'll talk to Amity about it later. I'm going to take her out to dinner tonight and pop the question." She grinned.

As if summoned by magic, the front door opened.

"I'm home!" A voice called from the living room.

Amity!

Luz shoved the box back into her pocket as her girlfriend of six years walked into the kitchen with a few bags in one hand and her staff in the other.

Her long auburn hair fell down against her back in a smooth curtain, except the longer sides she still kept pulled back, no longer in a ponytail, but in a neat braid that also fell against her neck.

Her white cloak was hanging from her neck and one shoulder to partially expose the sleeveless black shirt she wore beneath, tucked into her pants and the arm warmers that covered from her fingers to elbow in the customary dark pink of someone of the abominations track, and even after all this time, her nails were still painted black.

"Oh, Luz, you're home from the market already." She looked at her, surprised.

"Yup, sold out of everything pretty quick today, so I figured I'd come home. How was your day, mi amor?" She asked, leaning forward to give her a quick kiss.

"Busy, there's no shortage of problems that need straightening out since they finally put the new coven system in place," she sighed. "I'm exhausted…"

"You probably don't feel like going out tonight then, eh? She frowned.

"I don't think so..." She shook her head as she twisted the wooden dragon off her staff and let the long, golden lizard crawl up her shoulder to wrap his long, scaled body around her neck, beneath the curtain of auburn hair.

"Hey, Calliban." Luz smiled as Amity scratched under his chin. The dragon's long whiskers twitched happily, a puff of smoke coming from his nostrils, his long tufted tail twitched.

"Was there something you wanted to do tonight?" Amity looked down at her as she scratched the palisman.

"Uh… no. We can go out another night." Luz shook her head, she could see how tired Amity was, and it wasn't like she couldn't propose at any time.

Amity nodded and set her bags on the counter.

"If you're sure, I just want to lay down and never get back up," she mumbled.

"I'm sure that can be arranged, mi amor" Luz smiled, wrapping her arms around her waist and setting her chin on her shoulder, though only barely, the witch stood a good five inches taller than her. Amity smiled, leaning back into her.

"Just close the damn door…," Eda mumbled. Luz stuck her tongue out at her and Amity rolled her eyes.

Luz pulled her close, letting the taller woman relax against her for a few moments before she pulled free with a sigh.

"I need to go shower," she mumbled and carefully set Calliban on Luz's shoulders before kissing her cheek and walking out of the kitchen.

Luz hummed, petting his smooth scaly body, his tiny claws pricked at her skin as he settled himself around her neck. His horns poking her under the chin.

"Guess it's not gonna happen tonight?" Eda looked at her.

"No, but it's okay, there's no rush," Luz said and dug the box out of her pocket.

"Will you hang onto this for me? I'd hate for her to find it in our room and ruin the surprise," she asked, holding the box out to Lilith.

"Of course, Luz." She nodded, taking the ring and slipping it into the pocket of her dress.

"Hey, why not me?" Eda sat up, frowning.

"You lost King just yesterday…" Luz frowned.

"He found his way home eventually," she mumbled.

"I think I'd feel better if Lily held onto it. That's three weeks of potions sales I'd really rather not have to replace…"

Eda crossed her arms, pouting while Lilith gave her a smug look.

"I guess I'll just get started on brewing some stuff before dinner." She pulled off her cloak and laid it over a chair as she walked over to the counter, crowded with her and Eda's brewing stuff.

~

"So, you've been trying to propose for a week now?" Willow asked as she sat across from Luz in the Redstone bakery sipping on her tea.

Luz sighed, nodding.

"I just want it to be perfect but we've both been so busy, if I'm not out helping with the reconstruction or selling potions in the market, Amity is attending council meetings and helping sort out the kinks in the new coven system. We're exhausted half the time…I'm not even sure when the last time we had s-.."

"Stop! You're both very busy. I know what you mean..."

"TMI, sorry," Luz chuckled sheepishly.

But Willow just nodded.

"There's still a lot to do and a vacuum to fill since we did away with Belos, but you know, maybe you're trying too hard for the perfect moment?"

"Hmm?" Luz hummed, blinking at her oldest friend.

"We both know Amity doesn't really want the big over the top gestures, so long as you're you, she'd never said no."

"I know… I just wanted to make it special, ya know?

"I'm sure it will be, you'll find that 'Luz' way of doing it." She smiled and Luz snorted, the fact that her name had become some kind of verb her friends liked to use amused her.

"Yeah, I'll think of something… ya ready to head into town?" she asked. Willow nodded and they stood, leaving some snails on the table as they left.

They spent the rest of the day checking on things in Bonesburough.

It had been a year since Belos had been defeated and the old coven system and regime had been dismantled, and things were still being reconstructed in town where some of the heaviest fighting had taken place between the rebels and the loyalists.

Luz hummed as she walked along the streets with Willow, in some ways the town had changed a lot in the last year, but in others had remained just the same

Without the coven system that bonded people to only one type of magic, the covens looked totally different. They still existed, only now rather than only being able to perform one type of magic, people could do it all no matter what coven they were in, but many still choose to join the covens so they could work with other like-minded witches in the types of magic they specialized in. They were more brotherhood's than forced chains pulled by the Emperor, some people often belonging to more than one coven at a time. Luz herself, for her part in the rebellion, was welcome in all nine of the major coven houses, though she didn't actively participate in any of their politics or meetings.

She usually visited to get advice about certain spells from the more experienced witches of the discipline's. They were always glad to see her in their midsts.

The downside to it no longer being against the law to not join a coven was that crime had gone up some, with the less unsavory members of society now having access to all types of magic. The night market was still quite robust, especially during the rebellion when a host of unsavory things have been going on. Luz tried not to think about those days too much.

The new governing system, a council of the new nine coven leaders, was still getting to its feet in controlling stuff, so a lot of things flew under the radar as they dealt with the bigger, more pressing issues, like any remaining pockets of loyalists. It was a work in progress, one Luz was happy to help with when she could. She'd actually gotten pretty good at playing bounty hunter, though Amity didn't like it at all. She didn't go out of her way hunting down criminal witches, they just showed up a lot in the market when she happened to be there, and Luz had never been one to stand idly by.

Things seemed pretty quiet today.

As they walked past the library Luz took notice of a poster pasted to its wall and suddenly she had a brilliant idea.

"Hey, I think I know what I wanna do." She turned to Willow with a bright grin. “I’m gonna need your help.”

"Sure, that was quick…," she laughed and Luz shrugged.

"I just remembered something. I think Amity would appreciate it…" She smiled and Willow nodded. "You think Gus would be my best man?" she asked.

"He'd beg you… not that I won't pretend I'm not a little insulted that you don't want to ask me." She pouted, crossing her arms and making Luz laugh.

"Like Amity would want anyone but you to be her maid of honor." Luz grinned, making the plant witch smile. "Though you might have to fight Em for it," she warned.

"She can bring it on." Willow grinned, making Luz laugh.

~

"Hey, tonight's the night," Luz announced to the living room as she walked down the stairs.

"You're proposing tonight?" Eda looked up at her daughter's grinning face.

"Yup, I know exactly what I want to do and it has to be tonight. I gotta get some stuff ready, you've got the ring right?" she asked Lilith, who nodded.

"Of course."

"Great, I'm going to come back and get it from you in a little bit!" Luz said as she hurried out the front door, staff in one hand, and a dark green book in the other.

The door slammed and Eda shook her head, grinning.

"I can't believe she's really going to do it…," she chuckled. When there was no response she turned to her sister who was sitting on the other side of the couch, frowning, her fingers tapping nervously on her knees.

"What?" Eda cocked a brow at her.

"I...may have... misplaced Amity's ring…," she mumbled, biting her lip. There was a long moment of silence.

"Ha! Now, who's irresponsible?!" Eda laughed, jumping up with a grin.

"Are you serious right now?!" Lilith jumped up, scowling as Eda did that stupid 'moonwalk' dance Luz had taught them.

"I'm not the one who lost the kid’s engagement ring…," Eda sang smugly, dancing across the living room.

Lilith groaned.

"Yes, fine, I lost it, now help me find it before Luz comes back!" She stomped.

"And why would I do that?" Eda crossed her arms.

"Because she's your daughter, and she's going to be devastated that she can't propose because the ring was lost!" Lilith growled, and Eda frowned. Her sister had a point, as much as she liked getting one over on her older sister she wasn't going to do it at her kid's expense. She also knew what Luz sold her potions for, three weeks profit on one ring was nothing to sneeze at

"Alright, alright, where did you have it last?"

"It was sitting on my dresser last night, but when I woke up, it was gone." Lilith sighed, rubbing her temple.

"Well it can't have gotten too far then, let's check your room." The two hurried up the stairs.

They tear Lilith's room apart for over an hour searching for the ring and only find the box, sitting underneath the edge of her bed.

"It's not here!" Eda growls. Lilith sits on her bed, head in her hands.

"Luz and Amity are never going to speak to me again…," she moans.

"Yea…  not sure even Luz can forgive this one…," Eda mumbled and Lilith groaned louder.

"What's up witches?"

They look up at King, standing in the doorway.

"Lily lost Luz's engagement ring…," Eda sighed, hand on her hip.

"How irresponsible. She should have given it to me." He laid a clawed hand on his chest and there was a glint, drawing both sisters' eyes.

There, hanging on the tip of one of his claws was the ring.

Lilith and Eda tackled the small demon, who squealed as they jumped him, trying to wriggle out of their grasp.

"You took this from my room!" Lilith scowled, holding up the ring out of King's reach as he jumped up, trying to grab it.

"Oh, is that Luz's ring? I thought it was an offering." He crossed his arms.

Eda rolled her eyes and Lilith growled.

"Do you know how mad Luz will be if we tell her you stole her ring?" Eda looked down at him with a frown.

King hunched down at that, eyes turning fearful.

Then they heard the front door open downstairs.

"Guys?"

"Up here, kid," Eda called as Lilith quickly slipped the ring back into its box and closed it.

Luz poked her head in the room.

"Oh, what's everyone doing in here?"

They all glanced at each other.

"Nothing!"

"Uhuh… I don't believe that but I don't have time to question it. The ring?" she asked.

“Right here!” Lilith handed over the box.

"Great, thanks. Wish me luck!" She smiled before taking off back down the stairs. They all waited until they heard the door open and shut before sighing in relief.

~ ~

It was dark when Amity hopped off her staff outside the library. The tall building stood empty and dark, it was well after closing time after all.

She wasn't sure why Luz wanted her to meet her here, but she'd gotten pretty used to just rolling with her girlfriend's eccentric ways for the most part over the years. It was easier to not question it. She spun a finger and her staff vanished.

She walked up the steps heels clicking quietly on the stone as she looked around. The building had remained unchanged over the years, it had luckily been one of the few large buildings to be spared during the fighting, for which she was glad. She had many fond memories of the library, it was, for a long time, her only place of safety and solitude from her sometimes, over the top siblings, but more importantly, from her always overbearing and controlling mother, and then had been her and Luz’s secret place for the first some odd months of their relationship, until they had been allowed to be public about it.

The secret room in the romance section had all but been abandoned after her eighteenth birthday when she moved out of Blight Manor and into the owl house with Luz.

She stood at the top near the door, looking around. Now, where was her adorable doofus?

She felt the tingle of familiar magic pull at the back of her mind and turned in time to see Luz become visible, leaning against one of the library pillars as the glow of her palisman’s eyes faded, but her bright grin did not as she slipped the staff into the holster beneath her cloak.

“Buenas noches, mi amor. ¿Cómo estás esta noche?” She took a step forward to stand in front of her and Amity grinned back.

“Mejor, ahora que estás aquí, querida," She mumbled, taking hold of the collar of Luz’s cloak and pulling her in for a kiss, making Luz grin. “Now, are you going to tell me why we’re here?”  she asked, stepping back.

“I just felt like a walk down memory lane,” she shrugged, smiling. “Also considering what tonight is...”

“Tonight?” Amity blinked. Luz jerked her thumb at a poster on the wall and Amity’s eyes widened.

“The wailing star…” How long had it been since she’d thought about that? At least six years, since the time the twins had tried to take her diary as a kid.

“Come on, it’s about to start!” Luz walked over to the door, she flipped open one of her pouches and leafed through the many different papers before pulling out the one she wanted and pressed it to the library door. It dissolved in a flash of pale blue and the door made a quiet click and she pushed it open.

Amity smiled and followed her. When you considered all the trouble Luz could and had gotten into over the years, walking around the library at night wasn’t even worth the breath to protest, not that she really wanted to.

She closed the door behind her and as they walked into the main entry room of the library just as the large stained glass window above them lit up with the light of the passing star, the green glow settled over the books and Luz quickly grabbed a book off the shelf and opened it. Snakes slithered out, making her grin.

“I didn’t really get to enjoy this last time we were here during the wailing star... being too busy trying not to get killed by my favorite childhood book character and all," she chuckled and Luz grinned.

“Same,” she laughed as they moved up and down the aisles, picking up books. Luz saw a familiar book and grinned, pulling it off the shelf and whipping around to Amity.

“Hey, babe!”

Amity looked up just in time to be blasted in the face with a deluge of snowballs.

“You are so dead!” She yelled at her girlfriend’s back as she took off down the aisles, half screaming, half laughing as Amity gave chase, snatching her own copy of ‘A History of Snowballs’ off the shelf.

They chased each other around the bookshelves for a while before finally calling a truce.

Luz giggled as she closed the book and the remnants of snow vanished from Amity’s hair.

“Come on, I know somewhere we haven’t been in a while…” she slid her book back on the shelf.

“I have a pretty good idea of where we’re going.” Amity smiled, walking beside her to the romance section of the library.

“Maybe…” She smiled.

Amity chuckled as they stopped in the romance section and she reached up to pull at a familiar book.

The bookcase slid aside to reveal what once had been such an important place to her, then to them, and now stood dusty and empty, with cobwebs hanging off the candlesticks and rafters. She’d long moved all her books and more important things out of the room and into her and Luz’s room at the owl house.

“It’s dusty…," Amity hummed, running her fingers over the empty shelves inside.

“A bit…, I don't think we've really been here in three years,” Luz agreed.

Amity glanced around before she saw a book sitting in the middle of her old desk, it wasn't dull or covered in dust like everything else in the room.

She walked forward and picked it up, Luz watching her with a knowing smile.

It’s dark green, leather-bound cover was soft in her hands. She blinked down at the title, written in her girlfriend’s familiar looping writing.

‘The Tale of Luz & Amity’

She looked over her shoulder at her girlfriend who was watching her with a grin.

“What is this?”

“Why don’t you open it and find out?” she retorted, still smiling. Amity cocked a brow but turned her attention back to the book and flipped open its cover.

The first page had a memory picture pasted to its pages, one she immediately recognized as the magic of the wailing star worked on it and a small, fourteen-year-old version of her and her girlfriend materialized on the pages.

Them in the cafeteria at Hexside, Amity on her knees on the table, and her hands wrapped around Luz’s collar.

“I know you’re in there! Who are you, what are you? I want answers!”

“Blughhh...

Amity chuckled to herself, watching a younger her shake an abomination goo covered Luz like a ragdoll.

She smiled over her shoulder at Luz, who was looking at her with both brows raised encouragingly.

The next page was their meeting at the covention.

'Oh, it's you, Willow's abomination… thing.'

'Heyyyy Amity…. so, funny story, Not, an abomination, sorry for the confusion last week. I'm Luz, the human, hi.'

'Ugh, put that away.'

Amity shook her head at her younger self. If only she knew then what she knew now.

She flipped the page and this time the little figures of the two of them were partially sewed into a book, running from Odabin in this very library..

‘Now what?’

‘I don’t know! I didn’t even think that would work, I was all like ‘arghh!’

She still smirked at the sheer dumbness of that plan.

The next page held another familiar scene.

'Azura book club? Azura book club!?' an excited Luz bounced.

'As long as it's a secret club, okay?' Amity whispered, cheeks pinking.

She turned the page and watched as the next memory photo popped up, the two of them in Willow’s memories, just after sliding the flaming inner Willow into the lake.

‘Whoo, teamwork, baby!’ The younger Luz wrapped her arms around younger Amity and squeezed her.

She smiled to herself as she turned the page to watch the next scene play out in its entirety.

‘Well, if that’s settled, may I have this dance?’ she held out her hand, and Luz’s filled it.

She grinned at the next one, Luz scooping up her and her broken foot after playing grudgby against Boscha.

Then, pasted to the next page was one of the letters Luz had written to her as her secret admirer. She smiled down at it, though in the back of her mind she wondered how Luz had found it, she kept them all in a special box in their closet.

A younger and bashful looking Luz rose up from the paper with a handful of Blood-Blossoms.

‘These flowers could never be as beautiful as you, but I hope you like them anyway...”

There were also a couple of memories from the Masquerade, their dancing, and after the party had ended in her bedroom. Luz stood behind her, quietly, watching, waiting.

She flipped through its many pages, trying not to get too teary-eyed at some, like the night under the grom tree on their one month anniversary, their first fall shower, or her fifteenth birthday. Of course, Luz also included their fight with the illusion track upperclassmen, their first fight, her first numberry tripout when they were camping and that first, awkward dinner with her parents, as well as another first time she quickly flipped past, cheeks red and Luz, snickered behind her as she rolled her eyes.

Of course, she would add that...

She grinned, eyes glazed over with unshed tears at their second grom, graduation when she'd moved into the owl house, and a host of all the other things in between them were brought to life by the wailing stars' magic.

She turned the page about halfway through the book to find the last page with nothing on it.

This one did not contain a memory photo, instead, stuck inside it was a sticky note with a simple single line of text, the magic of the wailing star made the small magic copy of her girlfriend appear on the page, looking up at her.  

‘Will you help make the next one by saying yes?’

Amity blinked.

“What? Say yes to wh-” she turned and dropped the book, hands shooting up to cover her mouth as she looked down at Luz on one knee, holding up a small box with a sparkling ring sitting in it.

Luz’s heart was beating in her chest so hard she thought for sure it was about to break some of her ribs. Her mouth was dry, but she somehow managed to speak.

“Amity Blight, will you continue our story with me and marry me?” she asked.

What was in reality only a few seconds felt like an eternity as Luz watched the tears well up in her eyes and drip down her cheeks, her mouth working soundlessly.

“Yes!” she finally managed to shout when she could speak again.

Luz broke out into a bright smile and jumped up, pulling the ring out of the box and taking hold of her girlfriend's shaking left hand, and slipping the ring on her finger.

As soon as it was in place Amity practically flung herself on her, kissing her, even as tears slid down her cheeks.

Luz couldn't stop grinning even as her own eyes welled with tears, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around while Amity squeezed her neck.

She finally set her down but Amity didn't let go.

"I love you," She choked, face buried in her neck.

"Yo también te amo, Amity" she mumbled, squeezing her.

After several long minutes, she finally pulled back and Luz grinned at her, wiping the tears from her pale cheeks before she reached down to pick up the book and handing it to Amity.

"Try not to set these on fire…" Luz grinned and Amity gave her a gentle shove.

"Never," she promised as she really looked at the ring now sitting on her finger and tears threatened to fall again.

"It's beautiful, Luz…" she sniffled, and looked up at her, smiling, and Luz smiled back at her.

It was late when they finally left the library and headed home on Luz's staff.

All the lights were still on in the owl house when they arrived.

Lilith and Eda were both sitting in the living room, along with Gus and Willow when they walked in.

They were looking at them, trying not to appear expectant in case Luz hadn't asked but she grinned at them and held up Amity's hand.

"She said yes!" she declares and the living room erupted with cheers and congratulations.

"I'm going to get the good apple blood!" Eda grinned, disappearing into the kitchen, Lilith following behind her to help.

"Dibs on best man!" Gus called, jumping up.

"You got it." Luz laughed.

"So, was it everything you dreamed it would be?" Willow asked, sliding up to Amity, who smiled at her before glancing at her new fiancée as she talked excitedly with Gus and held the precious leather book in her hands.

"It was perfect."

~~

Before anyone absolutely loses their minds, no, this isn't the end, but a secondary plotline that will take place between their adventures as teenagers in the past.

[multifandomimagin3s]

Batsy

Warnings: Smut, strong language, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it, kiddos)

AN: I got this idea from that clip where Harley and Nightwing do the deed and my smutty brain churned out this ;) It’s probably shit cause I can’t write smut for shit but, merry crisis!

“Would it kill you to smile for once?”

Bruce glared blankly from under his mask as (Y/N) poked his cheek lightly with her index finger, twitching her nose slightly in distaste. In any other circumstance he would’ve found the woman very beautiful - which of course, she was, as much as he hated himself for feeling such an attraction to a villain he couldn’t deny that fact. If only their moral compasses weren’t complete opposites...

She huffed slightly when he didn't reply, tapping her nails on the dense helmet area of his mask, close to the centre of his forehead,” Hello? You in there, hun?”

“Don’t call me ‘hun’, (Y/N).”

“Oh, so you are in! Fantastic! Means I don’t have to sit and talk to myself.”

The (Y/H/C) woman turned briskly on her heels, pulling up a small stool to sit adjacent to the caped hero. He took the chance to tug hard at his restraints, grunting in frustration as the ropes didn’t budge, instead tightening around his arms in retaliation. So there he remained, strapped down on his knees, arms strung up like puppet strings. 

“Those ropes are pretty neat, huh?” Bruce rolled his eyes, grinding his teeth as the perky villain returned, plopping down on the stool like an excited child. She pulled up her legs, perched comfortable on the soft suede material,” Those were a gift from my dear old pal, Ivy - she doesn’t like you very much...come to think of it, not a lot of my friends do...”

“Yeah well, your ‘friends’ are criminals, villains like yourself don’t typically like being apprehended for the crimes you commit --”

She clicked her tongue, raising her index finger to cut him off,” Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Batsy - I don’t hate you, per se, you just keep getting in my way - you’re lucky I think you’re hot, otherwise you’d probably be dead by now, Sweetie.”

Bruce quirked a brow at the off-the-cuff compliment, the upper half of his face still hidden behind his mask. His azure eyes scanned her form, from her royal purple boots, to her stripped leotard of a similar hue which clung to her curves beautifully. As inwardly flattered as he was, he knew that allowing himself to be distracted when in a situation like this exudes bad news. He had to get out of there...wherever there was.

“Where are we, (Y/N)?” Bruce spoke curtly, gaze honed in to stare directly into the female villain’s eyes. It made it easier to read a person’s emotions and thoughts, which could be crucial here should she lie to him. 

“It’s a rundown building - no-one else is around but us two, how cute is that?!” She purred with faux amity, uncurling herself from her seat slowly. Her gaze trained on his, she took a few leisurely steps towards him, his face at hip-level due to his kneeling position. She playfully twanged his leg restraints, sitting criss-cross legged no more than two feet away from where he remained. The jovial expression seemed to instantly fall away from her delicate features, now replaced by the blank slate that he was used to,” Now, I need to know what you know.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about Bruce,” His heart almost stopped in his chest...how did she know his name? It was impossible, he had been so careful to cover his tracks in all his years living his double life: playboy millionaire by day, Batman by night. 

“How do you know my name?!”

Her (Y/E/C) orbs widened, a grin playing on her lips,” You just told me! Ha! I had my theories but man I didn’t think I was right! Props to me!” Bruce closed his eyes in a silent curse. She leaned forward to whisper in his ear,” It’s okay, your secret is safe with me -” And with that, she peeled off her mask, laying it in front of him,” And now we’re square.”

He took a minute to study her face, now revealed in its entirety for the first time. She was honestly beautiful, but he couldn’t understand why she compromised herself in such a way,” Why did you do that? I know your face, it’ll make it a whole lot easier to capture you.”

She waved him off,” Yeah, whatever - the villain life is good and all but it’s been pretty lonely these past few months - with the Joker dead, Harley and Ivy have teamed up, the Scarecrow is too damn scary for my liking, the Mad Hatter - well, self explanatory...”

Bruce tugged again at the ropes on his arms, pulling hard on a section of yellowing plant matter. The strip frayed slightly under the tension, indicating a weak point - if he could pull hard enough --

He was distracted by a dull thud as clothing hit the floor. Bruce looked over, eyes widening slightly as he watched the villain rummage through a wardrobe of outfits...completely naked other than a flimsy thong. He swallowed thickly, mentally chastising himself for staring like a horny teenage boy. She bent over, displaying the perfect swell of her ass which sent a hard pulse down south in his boxers. She was so prefect, but so wrong for him. He looked down at his growing hard-on in distaste, tugging hard at his restraints again in an attempt to regain his control. 

“It sucks being a villain sometimes, you know?” (Y/N) turned to face him, her new outfit folded neatly over her interlocked elbows; the material covered the most of her breasts but the position only succeeded in pushing the soft mounds upwards, which didn’t help his growing issue any. Noticing his visible discomfort, her eyes slowly trailed south, mouth opening in an ‘o’ shape in realisation,” Oh, uh - wow - really?”

No response, as he tried to pry his arms from their bindings. (Y/N) quirked a brow, sashaying across to the struggling man with a smirk as she realised he was watching her movements. As he opened his mouth to speak, she dropped the clothes, hands falling by her sides. His breath caught in his throat, brows furrowing,” No.”

“Did you like my little show, Brucie? It wasn’t even intentional, I thought that the good guys were pure and all that stuff - but you’re clearly not...” (Y/N) snorted, noticing how his cock twitched in his pants at the sight of her breasts moving when she moved her arms,” I have a proposition for you...”

“No, I don’t make deals with criminals.”

She ignored his adamant comment,” You quite clearly like what you see, and I won’t deny that big, muscly guys really get me going, so...” She plucked a small blade from her dresser, the handle a duo-chrome blue,” How about this - I cut you loose, and you have two choices - you can fuck off, but that means that the next time I see you I will kill you, or...we can have some fun.”

With an accurate, sharp swipe he found his legs to be free, inwardly mulling over the offer in his head as he quickly got to his feet. (Y/N) tossed the knife haphazardly to the side, sauntering across to a single-person bed that was pressed into the far wall. Bruce snapped the ropes briskly, eyes watching her plump ass until it disappeared out of view, as she made herself comfortable on the soft linen sheets. 

“So what will it be, Bruce?”

Bruce palmed her left breast firmly, thumb rolling over her pert nipple, before trailing down to flick her clit sharply. (Y/N) bit her bottom lip, smiling coquettishly, running a hand through his dark, choppy locks; his gloved index finger slid over the soft skin of her freshly shaved mound, trailing over her glistening petals. Surely there would be no harm in indulging himself a little? She knew who he was, there could be no more collateral damage from this interaction than there would be already. 

He gasped as her petite hand grasped his clothed cock impatiently, squeezing lightly as if prompting him to do something. Bruce gave her torso a light shove, sending her further up the bed to give him some room. She let out a giggle at being practically manhandled, which only drove him on more.

Her brows knitted together as he licked a broad stripe across her pussy, flicking across her clit briefly, before taking the sensitive bud into his mouth. A girlish moan escaped her lips, as he slid his index and middle fingers into her slick walls, curling the digits with harsh thrusts that had her eyes rolling back into her head. The rough texture of his glove was delicious as it pressed against her g-spot, a completely different sensation from skin on skin contact. 

“Bruce, I-I’m gonna cum -” She moaned, voice reaching a higher pitch as a familiar warm sensation began to brew in her belly. Just as she was about to reach her peak he pulled away, leaving her to whine with her ruined orgasm,” You’re such a dick -” He stuck his glistening gloved fingers in her mouth, a small smile on his lips as she took the fabric between her teeth, pulling it away from his hand. Her hands made light work of his armour and clothes, as he stood in a pair of plain black boxers, towering over her sprawled out form. 

Her mouth watered as she spied the tent in his boxers, the chiselled God of a man kneeling down on the bed, hand moving to touch her hip. Years of combat training came in handy, as in a flash she had him under her, a dazed and confused expression on his face. Without a word, she winked, pressing open mouthed kisses to his chest, nails scratching against his snail trail which caused his stomach to jump. 

He helped to shimmy off his boxers, his cock now pressed against his stomach, the tip glistening with precum. (Y/N) wrapped a hand around him, tongue flicking out to lick the tip delicately,” So big...I don’t think it will fit.” Bruce took in a deep breath as she took him in slowly, tongue swirling around the head deliciously. His hands collected her hair in a makeshift ponytail, using it as a rein as she bobbed her head, hands jerking off what she couldn’t fit in her mouth. 

“Fuck,” She licked a lewd stripe from his balls to his tip, applying pressure onto the vein underneath his shaft, before sliding up to straddle his waist. His large hands fell to her hips, as she wiggled her hips teasingly, lining his tip up with her entrance, tapping it against her slick folds,” Don’t tease.”

A short gasp filled the air as she sank down on his member, a small sting in her pussy from the intrusion. He was by far the biggest she’d had. Her nails dug into the thick muscle of his shoulders as she began to move, slowly rising and falling on his cock rhythmically. Bruce lightly sucked on her nipples, pulling at them with his teeth as she began to pick up speed.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” A string of curses escaped her perfect lips, head falling back as his cock hit all the right spots. Bruce thumbed over her bottom lip, before pulling her into a bruising kiss; villain be damned, he wouldn’t regret this. His hand drew back, smacking her ass with a resounding slap that had her jolting towards his chest with a playful grin,” If I had known - fuck - that you were this good I’d have offered sooner.”

Bruce chuckled lightly, slapping her ass again - once, twice, then a third time, before wrapping his arms around her waist, repositioning them both on the small bed. Her leg now rested on his shoulder, allowing for a completely new angle for him to fuck into her. Her hands balled into the comforter with a girlish squeal, a pornographic moan erupting from her chest. 

(Y/N) could feel her release approaching fast, leg flicking from Bruce’s shoulder in favour of wrapping both limbs around his hips. He leant forward, thrusting harder, the bedframe creaking in protest to the rampant movements. Her nails scratched angry red trails down his shoulder blades as he let out a hiss, mouth latching onto her neck. With a lurid moan, she came hard, squeezing his cock deliciously within her tight walls. With a grunt, he followed suit, white ropes of cum flooding her pussy, as he collapsed on top of her. 

Bruce rolled sideways, plucking the villain into his arms, as she laid with her head against his chest, sweaty bodies entangled together. (Y/N) smiled, swiping a sweaty lock of hair away from her head,” So does this mean I’m off the hook, hun?”

“For now, yes...I’ll have to cuff you later -”

“Oh, handcuffs? - I knew you were kinky!”

[ganymedesclock]

What do you think is the relation between Light and Void? They are opposites in many ways, like how Ghost can gain Essence only from ghosts, and Soul energy only from living enemies. But both energies still seem tied to what I'd call 'spirit', because essence affects dreams, while soul is self-explanatory. They seem like complementary powers that have similar effects when overflowing, like you see with Godmaster DLC endings compared to the Infection.

So this might seem like a rabbit trail, but, roughly, here’s my thinking.

What Hollow Knight tells us that Silksong’s basic premise confirms is that there are two mutually true statements:

Hallownest is surrounded by wastelands

Contrary to the Pale King’s words in the Howling Cliffs, there are other kingdoms beyond these wastelands

This intrigues me because it’s fair to presume Pharloom has other gods to its name, or at least had at one point, which IMO, would seem to suggest they still have gods. We have yet to see a dead god that truly leaves behind no lingering seed of their presence. Unn is absent according to the tablet her children leave behind but she still has a physical body; she is a weak god, not a dead one. Radiance, when killed in the Dream No More and Embrace the Void endings, dissolves into Essence. And Grimm and Radiance can be refought after their boss fights that ostensibly kill them, even if it’s in a dream. The Pale King is dead- his corpse can be found- but the Seer, who isn’t proven inaccurate about anything else she says- cheerfully wonders if he’s watching Ghost.

Even, seemingly, the “Blackwyrm” Ogrim alludes to- there is some manner of enormous, jet black creature with blue eyes that can be seen in both Godhome and the lifeblood abyss dream. 

Let’s assume for a moment that Pharloom is also going to be surrounded by the wastes. Let’s assume- since we have no reason not to- that Hallownest is standard; a kingdom containing all manner of flora and fauna, surrounded by an empty, nearly-lifeless no man’s land. After all, assuming the Pale King is the author of the whispering lore tablets, since they speak in his voice and the author states indirectly they are a Higher Being (”your great strength marks you among us”), we know he traversed the void himself before arriving at the edge of the kingdom to leave behind his Wyrm body. And he claims “there is no world beyond”. It would suggest even if he’s wrong (many other bugs, from Quirrel to Cloth to Zote to Cornifer, suggest or outright state the existence of other kingdoms that they’ve traveled to) he views the world as empty.

This would seem to suggest that life exists by clinging to specific habitable zones created by gods. Possibly, Grimm’s adherents, being oddballs, occupy a travelling bubble of life and safety created by his power- it would explain why, when dream nailed, the two giraffe weevils resting outside his tent are thinking about how the roads are dark and cold, but their master is always guiding them.

That said, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Light and Life are synonymous. While many beings allude to the Void as death, that’s not the full picture. Lifeblood- the substance most directly conflated with “life”, appears to be abyssal in origin. There are artificial void beings- the Kingmoulds and Wingmoulds, among them- and natural ones as well. The snail shamans appear to have been long ago born from the void itself- the shamans you free from the Crystallized Mound and the Soul Sanctum both dissolve into shadow just like the Collector. And what’s more interesting is that Lemm’s remark on the description of the Void Idol tells us that there were bugs that worshiped the void.

Void does not appear by its nature antithetical to light. In fact, the truth seems to be more interesting- void appears primed to devour light when the two come into contact. It seems to take a lot of light and a weakened void for the former to triumph- see the Broken and Pure vessels. And at their pinnacle, Pure wields the power of holy light, effectively and without hurting themselves.

Roughly, what I think is going on is that Light is roughly the energy of a god; they are beings made of Light, who radiate it, like living suns. This is worth noting, because at least Hallownest as we saw it does not appear to have any natural sunlight- outdoor regions are perpetually overcast and dim, and the majority of the kingdom is underground. All light comes from either artificial lighting or a natural glow that seems to pervade certain areas.

The gods radiate light, and, in that light, life flourishes. In the sense of Essence, that’s described as “fragments of light that dreams are made of” but several sources, most noticeably the cut full text of the Elegy for Hallownest, suggest that dreams are not exclusively a gift of the gods. Seemingly, all living beings have dreams.

And most interestingly? That’s not just the light-aligned beings. Kin, when purified of the Radiance, with their spirit freed after the Lost Kin fight, still has essence to give Ghost. The Collector can be dream nailed and read. Ghost’s ascension to the Shade Lord basically predicates on their ability to enter dreams, and on having the awakened pure nail.

This is really interesting if you consider Ghost becoming the Shade Lord seems to involve aggregating a lot of essence to them. And many of the Warrior Dreams, after their defeat, talk about entrusting themselves to Ghost, watching them or coming with them or being taken somewhere by them. The Seer also remarks that “the dreams of this kingdom are starting to stick to you.”

The Elegy for Hallownest also implies both the Pale King and the Pure Vessel took the Kingdom’s dreams onto themselves.

So, perhaps, if Higher Beings can be thought of like stars, then, the heat and pressure that forges that star is by hitting a critical mass of essence. It would explain what gods get out of this symbiosis with “Lower” forms of life- to retain their power, to not fade away and gradually diminish, they need to retain believers, who will continue dreaming the dreams that sustain them. Radiance parasitically forces herself into others’ dreams by creeping through the minds of those who already knew of her, and then as her strength regained she was able to attack the minds of others- helped that she was the  god matriarch of the moths, who specialized in manipulation of dreams.

So where does this leave Void? I think that Void is simply another god’s light- albeit a particularly eldritch light, coming from the oldest god we know of.

The relics from before Hallownest’s history are all void-aligned. The Pale King and White Lady usurped the Radiance to become Hallownest’s new gods, and seemingly pushed aside Unn to do so... but it’s likely that Radiance overthrew another god- because she greets Ghost as “ANCIENT ENEMY”.

I think the Blackwyrm was the first god of Hallownest, and its stamp yet remains on the kingdom- most directly, in the form of the void totems, arcane eggs, the snails and Collector, the lifeblood cocoons, and of course, the black sea at the bottom of the kingdom, but I would expect, before Radiance’s rule drained the water away, it’s likely that sea was much higher than the Abyss.

What makes me say that? Well, Hallownest loves shells, doesn’t it? And the most common kind of shell that appears, all over the place, as high as the Forgotten Crossroads, in-game?

Ammonite shells.

Ancient sea creatures.

Flowing water would likely have bored out the expansive network of natural caverns the kingdom takes place in. And, again, the Snails would appear to be the descendants of natural void creatures. There’s certainly no ‘fetter’ on them like the Pale King imposed on the Moulds and Vessels. There are land snails. There are also sea snails.

The Abyss is heavily conflated with the distant past and this notion of primal life. The Hunter’s Journal entry for the Void Tendrils has the Hunter outright talking about how the bugs of Hallownest wondered what predated them- that the Hunter is wondering about this here would heavily suggest that the primal life of the void is that ancestor.

The Radiance went to war with the Blackwyrm, but, it’s likely the Pale King never did. The White Defender’s journal entry has Ogrim reference only a single “battle of the Blackwyrm”. That’s not a war. And the Pale King is way more willing to stick his face and hands (and children) in the void looking for a leg up on the Radiance.

This could well be a kind of generational ignorance acting here. The King came after Radiance had ruled for long enough to establish the moth tribe, and for the moths to get quite entrenched- if the Resting Grounds are only what was left of the tribe after a long decline, that’s still a rather fancy area with a lot of personalized tombs and markers. So he’d have arrived long after the Blackwyrm’s first defeat. And even the Snail Shaman doesn’t allude to the Blackwyrm- people who mention the idea of life in the Abyss mention it in words of idle curiosity and speculation. If we presume Lifeblood is tied to the Abyss, and tied to the Blackwyrm, as the creature in the background of the Lifeblood Dream and that door in the abyss would certainly seem to imply, then the closest thing the Blackwyrm has to an extant worshiper is Joni the heretic, and implicitly some others given Salubra cheerfully mentions drinking lifeblood is kind of a taboo, which, you don’t establish taboos for something that nobody is even considering doing.

Blackwyrm is a forgotten god- so faded and distant that they’re only peeking around the corners through dreams. It might well be that by the time the Pale King encountered the void, he viewed it as something without sapience entirely. After all, he perceives the Vessels as “mindless” when you could make a two-hundred point bulleted list over things that Ghost canonically does, either actively in cutscenes or implicitly in the thrust and limiters of the game, that make no sense if they’re a mindless puppet operating only on the instructions they’re given. Like, for example, sitting with Quirrel or Marissa, or walking slower in some sections than others.

The implication is the Pale King viewed void as something mindless and godless, but it was neither.

And the interesting takeaway from that? Is the idea that the Pale King may have given the Radiance’s ancient enemy an open door without even meaning to. After all, Bardoon outright says- death to a Wyrm usually means transformation. So perhaps in creating the Vessels, the Pale King was actually just imposing fetters on fragments of the Blackwyrm- and with the Godmaster endings, Ghost was the one to shatter that fetter and ascend to the emptied throne of the God of the Void- the new incarnation of the Blackwyrm.

[thorsstorms]

Swarovski

(Thor x Reader)

Summary: Gossiping with Natasha about the guys bedroom kinks, freaks her out a bit too much. 

A/N: This was written for @bibibucky‘s writing challenge. I wrote it in like 30 minutes because i am procrastinating homework, Okay ENJOY!

Warnings: Slight smut (kinda not really), A bit of language. Thor kink. 

Masterlist

23. “Did you seriously just tell me that? Ew! Why did you tell me that?”

“He did what!?” I whisper-yelled at Natasha. We were sat in the lounge area of the compound and may have had one too many glasses of wine. Wanda retired to bed about an hour ago, claiming she was ‘past her bedtime’ but we both knew it was because Vision had headed that way 5 minutes earlier. Steve, Bucky, and Thor were just across the open plan living area in the kitchen where they were talking over a few beers.

“Shh! Yea I know I was shook at first but then I kind of was like… why not?” Nat explained further.

“I had no idea! Banner never struck me as the type.” She was telling me things I didn’t want to particularly want to know about my semi-new friends. My gaze slipped a bit past her and fell upon my Love. I caught him watching us gossip, no doubt trying to decipher what the hell we were talking about. He stood tall, leaning back against the counter top. His hair pulled back in a ‘man bun’ that I had taught him to do a couple of days ago after he had complained of the New York wind, saying something along the lines of, “Asgard knows no wind, why must it flow towards me,” complaining. His eyes met mine from across the room and sent a quick wink my way. My heart will never get used to him, as it fluttered from a small wink. ‘Get it together (Y/N)’ I thought to myself. We had been ‘out’ as a couple for nearly 6 months now but it still seems surreal that a literal god could enjoy the company of myself.

The first time he introduced me to his friends they were all very hesitant towards me, not really bothering to get to know me. I assumed it was because they travel so often that a relationship could not thrive off of that, so they didn't see the need. I seemed to have proven them wrong because here I was sitting across from a woman that I can now call one of my best friends, secretively speaking of our partners’ weird antics.

“So what about you? Does Thor ever do some weird shit?” I thought about it for a moment. The only thing that he has done that is relatively weird is when he had gotten excited over ice cream. It was like a child trying it for the first time, except it was a grown ass man trying it for the first time. But there are some moments that I love and cherish with him that I sometimes appreciate keeping to myself. Like mornings when we just lay in bed talking about the universe and how it is so large it's impossible to imagine its size. There are so many beings living within the universe that must have yet to be discovered. Yet this massive universe has drawn us together. Wait.. lying in bed together..

“Actually don't tell him I told you,” I say with a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure his attention was somewhere else. “He likes to be a little spoon when he’s mad or upset about something and we lie for bed. I don’t know.. Is that weird?”

“What the hell? How does that work? He’s a giant! You know what that doesn’t particularly surprise me, but you know that’s not what I meant. I mean, yea, that’s kinda funny but.. What's he like in bed?!” I choked a bit on my drink, not expecting her to be so blunt. When I mean I enjoy relishing in the fact that I have Thor to myself and like keeping things to myself, this is what I meant. I get the pleasure of seeing him when he’s overtired in the evenings after a long day saving the world, or in the mornings waking up after a full night's rest with a cute morning grin on his face, and no one else does. I get to see him when he’s smooth, gentle and caring in intimate times. But I also get to see his eyes go dark when he gets a bit frustrated. The first time I unintentionally ‘teased’ him, he went into full dark Thor mode. His crystal blue eyes were so blown out, I could no longer see the thor I thought I knew. We were about to leave to Tony’s 50th birthday surprise but we didn't necessarily make it.

I walked out of the bathroom annoyed that my necklace wasn't clamping between my new nails that were longer than usual. I put on my new dress that was deep red with a straight neckline that rested below my shoulders. I waited until after I had bronzed my decollete to put on my new Swarovski choker, but the clasp was so small I couldn't get it myself. I cascaded out of the bathroom and stood in front of the full body mirror in Thors’ quarters struggling. Little did I know Thor had come in and was watching me join the struggle bus. After I discovered him over my shoulder, I yelled at him for just staring at me and not helping; he finally came over. As I turned to him, he stood up and walked towards me, his eyes raking over my body. I ignored it for the time being, knowing we were already a bit late for the party. To my annoyance Thor was moving like a snail while keeping his eyes glued to me. I turned back to the mirror, my hands still clasping the two connecting ends of the necklace. He showed up behind me unnecessarily close, not that I was complaining, and brushed his fingers across the nape of my neck, moving my hair out of the way and over my shoulder. Trying to rush him a bit I motioned him to hurry up by moving my hands around while still holding on to the ends. After I still didn’t feel him grabbing the clasp, I wiggled around a bit as if to say ���come on now!’ that was my first mistake. His close proximity to me was heating. I could feel his breath on my neck, so close to my ear that I heard him grunt a bit when I did it. I leaned my head up a bit and looked in the mirror to see him behind me. He was staring so intensely it almost made me uncomfortable.

“Babe please do this for me, We need to get going,” I said quietly trying to lighten his mood a bit. I felt him reach for the clasp and finally secure it for me. I stood straight up and examined my self again in the mirror to make sure it looked okay together. I was unsure if chokers were even still a thing, I hadn't worn them before, but Nat said it was the best choice for this kind of neck line. Thor remained behind me unmoving, his gaze staying strong. I looked up at him and patted his chest a bit so I could move past him and slip on my heels, but he remained unmoving.

“Thor, what is up right now?” I asked trying to figure out what his deal was. He looked up from my neck towards my eyes and squinted at me a bit but reluctantly moved out of the way. I moved past him locating my new shoes on the closet floor. I bent down to pick them up and examined them a bit to make sure they had so scuffs on them. When I went to turn around, Thor was once again unnecessarily close. I physically moved him this time out of the closet door way by pushing his shoulder a bit. I walked over to the bed to put them on. I was having trouble with the clasp around my ankle and couldn’t quite get it.

“Hey could you clasp this for me, my nails are already driving me crazy.” He walked towards me and bent down on one knee as he drew up my ankle to rest on his knee. He clasped them both for me. As he stood up, his hand slid up my leg and lingered on my thigh. I stood up, once again having to move him to the side and was grabbing my wallet and rings, ready to walk out the door. I slipped into the bathroom and grabbed my lipstick last minute before I forgot, and left without it. I went to touch it up a bit in the mirror.

“Okay, I’m ready. Lets go. And cheer up dude, tonights gonna be fun.” I started to walk out the doorway of his room but he caught my arm. He whipped me around, slammed the door, and I found myself trapped between his arms up against the wall. His eyes were incredibly dark and I could he his neck veins protruding a bit from his anger at my carelessness.

“Did you really think I was about to let you walk out that door?” His voice was so deep and slick it sent shivers through my entire body. “You think you could tease ME like that and not see it through?” His left hand lifted off the door behind me and slowly felt up my shoulder to my neck where he planted his hand around my new piece of jewelry.

His lips collided with mine. His kiss filled with dominance and lust. He kept a firm hold on me till he noticed me squirm a bit from lack of oxygen. He went straight for my neck while I tried to catch my breath. His mouth trailing over my neck, hovering over the most sensitive spots that he knows melt me everytime. My heart was racing a million miles an hour, my pulse picking up. Thor could feel the effect he had on me. His mouth attached right to my sweet spot and caused me to let out a moan. He growled against my skin after hearing the effect he had on me. He picked me up and laid me on the bed, attacking my neck and chest as if he's never seen me before. He sent shocks of electricity through my body as he roughly claimed me as his own. His hand enjoying its time around my neck, while he shed my outfit, all except the damn choker.

“You seriously wanna know?” I said to Nat, daunting her a bit. Why not tell her? I leaned in closer to her, she did as well, while bringing her glass up to her lips. She turned her head so I could speak into her ear, “He likes to choke me, while he fucks me.” I spoke in a whisper, waiting to gauge her reaction with humor, even though I was serious. She spit out her wine and yelled at me, “Did you seriously just tell me that? Ew! Why did you tell me that?” Our commotion caused the guys to look over towards us with amused and questioning looks. I locked eyes with my love, wondering if he knew we were talking about him. He sent me a small smile and wink, then tried to engage back into whatever conversation the three of them were having before Natasha had yelled at me.

Tag: @bibibucky​

A/N: This is my first time ever writing. I had come to realize that there is a lack of Thor stories out there and decided to take matters into my own hands. Feel free to let me know if it was absolutely horrible, I won't get butt hurt. But also let me know if you liked it!

[cc-hatredisland]

Investigation. 01  {.Cold Case.}

I felt I could picture everything in my head still. I’d probably only seen her body for a few seconds but the image was stuck in my head. If I opened up the autopsy I’d see it again, too. I wondered if there was anyway to open up my head and remove the picture but, well... guess that wouldn’t help me catch a killer much, huh?

Each step weighed on me as I descended and headed to the kitchen area. Each step thundered in my own head. I felt like I was going as slowly as I could but maybe it was my imagination; everything felt like it was screeching to a snail’s pace, somehow.

But, well, if you’re moving to get somewhere you’re gonna get there eventually. So the time came when I arrived at the kitchen. Every movement in the dining room felt like practice for the real deal. One more hurdle now. Just to look in the freezer.

But there was an easy distraction I snapped up before going.

“Seiyama?”

The small hiker didn’t seem like he’d moved at all. If he had, it would’ve only been a few steps and to slink further into a corner. He sat crouched away from the scene, his head buried into his eyes. When I said his name, he looked up with weak and tired eyes. He looked a bit younger than the rest of us... it made sense he wasn’t taking it so well.

“Are you okay?”

“... Yeah... I will be. It’s okay, Tenshi-kun. Ah... don’t tell me, do I really look that bad?”

You look worse than bad. Understandably. But I guess he’s trying to put on a brave face.

“Seiyama, you know--“

“I know you think you’re helping but... talking only makes me remember it.”

I was taken aback by how fast those harsh words came out.

“Sorry...”

“... It’s okay. I get it. That’s the ‘right’ thing to do. I’m just... tired of seeing bad things. Somehow I always end up seeing it. Everyone’s being nice. I think I understand that much but sometimes that kind of comfort just feels... cheap.“

Shit, I felt this kid was a way deeper thinker than I was. I wanted to cheer him up but I felt like I was just doing the opposite.

“Guess I was just worried. Didn’t mean to get in your way.“

“Mm-mm. I understand. It means a lot even if I’m not acting that way. Sorry I’m like this. I’m just... thinking right now. Give me some time to myself, okay? I’ll be better.”

I nodded, slowly and then backed away. If I’m being honest I was still pretty concerned about him but what could I do? He needed some space I guess and I didn’t have the time to waste banging on someone’s emotional door. The somber mood followed me into the freezer and well, just as expected... there was Anzai’s body. Wakatsuki and Anzai were really dead. You couldn’t just shut your eyes and play it off as fake. Not when she was right there in front of you. I frowned but as I tried to enter, something hit my foot. Oh right, I remember seeing that before... when we first discovered the body.

Clue discovered!

Broken Sandal: There’s a sandal left on its side. The string has been torn.

It must’ve been hers. The only other person to wear sandals like these was Buki and she seemed to have hers. Maybe it snapped as she ran or something...

Now that I was looking on the floor I couldn’t help but notice something sparkle in the distance on the floor. I guess the freezer would have to wait. That seemed to be something of note... I reached out my hand only to have someone grab that very hand back.

“Waaahh!!! What are you doing?! You wish to be cut? Infected? Plagued by the loss of blood?!”

Well, with a speech style like that it could only be one.

“What is it, a glass?“

“A ceramic, as a matter of a fact. Before you ask, it was there before I arrived. S-so you cannot place it on my hands... clumsy though they may be at times.”

Clue discovered!

Ceramic Shards: A smattering of shards from a plate are on the floor.

So that meant these might be a clue too, I guess. I get to my feet and trace the ceramic trail to the shattered remains of what I guess’d be a plate. That seems to line up with Buki’s words.

“I see...”

“Actually, what are you doin’ tailing me? Aren’t you watching the body with Rie?”

“Ah? Yes. Of course I am. However I could not help but notice the danger you were putting yourself in. So I rushed over.”

Without thinking? Just like that? Geez, it was only a plate...

“Besides! Hanji-dono and Tsukumo-dono are also with us. As long as there are two people at least in a room, I have confidence we will be able to keep truthful.”

That part makes sense at least.

“Well, I’m gonna head in and check out the scene myself. It’s okay, right?”

“I believe all hands and heads will aid our cause tremendously.“

I’m not actually sure why I even asked. I just felt the need to get confirmation somehow. Or maybe I was looking for reasons not to. With nothing holding me back, I enter the freezer and take a deep breath. Anzai’s pale face was frozen in pain. I can’t imagine what her last moments where like.

“Sh-Sh-Shimizu-san! S-s-s-so! You have arrived!”

“Guess so. Have you guys found anything?”

“You arrive only to demand others do the work for you? I have no intention of repeating myself. If you want to find something out, find it yourself.“

And he was as chipper as always. It was amazing to think an event that should really bond us and inspire us to work together did precisely jack shit. Maybe my standards were too high.

“Yeah. Okay. Great.”

“Silver the Shithog over there’s apparently found a ‘ton’ but he ain’t been talking much.”

“I f-f-f-found the sandal outside!”

“Don’t bother askin’ me. I’m just standin’ watch. Last thing I wanna do is steamroll the evidence, trust me, I know what I’m capable of.”

Hmm. This was going nowhere. If I wanted to find something I guess I’d have to dig in there and find it myself... no matter how hard it’d be. I don’t know why Anzai’s death was messing me up more than Wakatsuki’s. It’s pretty messed up anyone died. But I guess... she seemed like she really knew what was going on. Like I could trust her somehow. The idea she was gone... it still felt weird to me, somehow.

I approach the body, my eyes avoiding her face. Instead I look down at her shoes and then to her hands. As expected, she only had the one sandal on. Her hands looked stiff, clenched. Occasionally shimmering-- wait, what? No, hands didn’t do that. On closer inspection, I guess she was holding something.

Light-haired Strands: There appear to be hairs clenched in Satoko’s right hand. It’s hard to tell the colour but they’re quite light.

“She got a swipe at her killer... ha, you really tried your best, huh?”

“What is that?”

Wait, so he doesn’t want to share anything but if I find something suddenly I have to? My pride wanted to tell him to get bent but this wasn’t about me. And I wasn’t about to sabotage Anzai and Wakatsuki’s justice for one snipe at Hanji even if it might’ve seemed tempting in the moment.

“I think Anzai took a swing at her killer. She had some hairs in her hand.“

“Oh. Yes, I also found that. Continue.”

Well, at least I don’t have to worry about being cold. The anger’s gonna keep me toasted for years. What a piece of work.

Moving from the hair, I look at the neck area. It said she got strangled, right? Well, it used a bigger better word for it but I figure the super specifics could be skimmed. Looking at the area, guess I wasn’t surprised. The whole neck had this purple tint to it with a really dark ring ‘round it. I couldn’t help shuddering the longer I looked. I forgot to breathe for a few seconds. What a way to go. At least I hope Wakatsuki’s was quicker...

Clue discovered!

Heavy Bruising: Severe bruising covers Satoko’s neck, as if something was tightened over it for quite some time.

I was about to look elsewhere when I noticed a fleck of something off-colour, something redder... I reached out to touch it before recoiling, as if approaching something that should simply just... not be approached. Like at all. So instead I squinted to get a better look at it... and yeah, something did look off... there seemed to be a cut there, too. Deeper than a nail, I’d say, but not by much. It looked to only be a nick... so I guess maybe there was an accident there. I’m not sure how relevant it was but I figured I’d jot it down anyway.

Clue discovered!

Thin Cut: There’s a small and thin cut on Satoko’s neck. More like a nick than a slash.

“So... out of curiosity... do we know what killed her?”

“O-oh! I know! Sh-sh-she was str-str-strangled! That’s what the c-card s-s-said.“

“Yeah, I know but... with what?”

“H-h-hands I’d guess! B-b-because! Me and Sh-Sh-Shiratori-san went and pi-picked up all the weapons we c-c-could.”

I wasn’t sure hands were responsible with bruising like this, though...

“Where’d you put them?”

Hirotsugu shook his head.

“I d-d-d-don’t know. Sh-Sh-Shiratori-san said they’d b-b-be safe with him. And I tr-trust him!“

“Hmm. Okay, thanks.”

He seemed to really enjoy the thank you. But if Shiratori was keeping a hold of most of the weapons then... what had killed Anzai? I had to assume the sickle was one of those special items but was this one too? Rope or something? What was this, Clue? Geez...

Wait... on that note... if anyone would know about this house, then...

“Hanji. The ‘Something Dangerous’ part of the motive...“

“Get to the point, Shimizu-san.“

“... If anyone’d know about their hiding places other than the person themselves... it’d be you. Right? Any chance you know where to find them?“

I’m shocked to a see a triumphant and smug look on Hanji’s face as he adjusts his glasses.

“What you are questioning is whether or not I know where to find the household’s weapons. I am no amateur. I would like to think I know my house pretty well, thank you very much.”

That’s some damn good news.

“Then... then we can just use process of elimination to--”

“I do not know which weapon belongs to which party, however. I am quite sorry to break it to you, but. several weapons were missing. I counted ten. Not sixteen.“

“Well... is it possible you just didn’t find ‘em all? I mean maybe--”

“Insult me again and this conversation is over.”

Not much I can say after that...

Clue discovered!

Hanji’s Testimony: Ten of the specially-delivered weapons were found still in their hiding spots. Six remain to be found.

Just as I open my mouth to speak, a booming voice fills every part of the house with its cocky noise.

“Can I get uhhh, yeah, attention. That’s what I’m after. I crave it, really, don’t we all? Okay, so... you got two minutes left. Woo. Time sure flies when you’re having fun now, doesn’t it? So good luck! Happy hunting! May the odds ever be in your flavour! ... Ack. Flubbed it.“

T-two minutes? But I still wasn’t sure about a ton... I’d found out a bunch, sure, but I wasn’t any closer to pointing the finger at anyone... least... I didn’t think so. I was feeling a little overwhelmed so I left the freezer area.

“Thank goodness I found you in time... I asked Otomiya-kun and figured you’d be here.”

Looks like Manabu’d been in a rush.

“Wh-- looking for me? Why?”

“Hmm. I’ll tell you on the way. I want to show you something.”

I wanted to ask about it but he was already on the move. We didn’t have the time to discuss that kind of thing idly anymore, I guess. He was moving at a fast pace so I pushed myself to match it. I couldn’t help wondering what all this was about.

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[autopilotrecruiting]

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Cold Calling Tips - The Secret Sales Formula For Rapid Profits

S

Cold calling tips and sales techniques make most sales-people’s blood run cold with fear.

Most companies and biz owners would rather pretend cold calling doesn’t work than spend time calling freezing cold prospects.

Don’t let yourself (or your company) ignore these cold calling tips while your competitors are (greedily & secretly) using this strategy as a bottomless goldmine…

BEST PART: The tips in this article guarantee to make your cold calling so comfortable, your grand mother could do it (and do it like a star).

Cold Calling Tip 1 – Set Achievable Goals

I’m going to go ahead and deliver the harsh, honest truth: True, full-on sub-zero phone prospecting will always fail to sell anything directly.

Discovering this fact can be very disheartening for beginner sales people.

So many biz owners (and wannabe sales-folk) set unrealistic telesales goals – only to then give up (prematurely) when sales are not immediate.

Phoning total strangers and requesting they hand over their credit card details is going to win you no friends (plus, the consolation prize is verbal abuse).

The “phone and push for a sale” technique doesn’t work in many markets (I’d struggle to name more than two industries).

The ideal approach is, instead, to incorporate cold calling as the “touching base” which then brings new (warmer) prospects into the businesses sales cycle.

When you commit to an achieve goal for your calls, it becomes easy to be (and feel) like a success. This feeling of success itself, for you and/or your sales staff, is only going to breed more positivity and success.

Here is a few achieve, realistic and profitable cold calling targets:

GOAL: 100 “Customer Permissions” to send information (via snail or e-mail) with subsequent follow up “warm calls”

If your product is innovative and valuable, you can hit this powerful goal in under a week of just by getting on the phone daily from 8am to 12pm.

Try posting out something extraordinary and unusual (like a brochure in the shape of a giant tree – whatever) to ensure it gets opened. The recipient needs to notice it, so bizarre is good.

GOAL: 10 Sales appointments with qualified prospects

This works well in the Business-to-Business market and in industries like Financial Planning and Insurance, where setting for home appointments is the goal.

A cold calling expert can convert around ten percent of even freezing prospects. Newbies should expect around five percent.

Just a single, full day of calls will get you the 10 appointments. I know Insurance people who nail it in one Sunday afternoon.

Cold Calling is REALLY about getting “the opportunity” to pitch another day

The examples above show that intelligent cold calling is all about bagging an opportunity (and the permission) to contact the prospect and sell to them at a later date.

An important psychological phenomenon exists, which explains why this works so well…

The public are conditioned to be intuitively mistrusting of stranges – especially of anyone attempting to sell to them. Any attempt to accelerate the sales is going to go outside the comfort zone of your prospect. Expect increased resentment and objections.

By proving a couple of points of contact, your prospects will have time to warm to you, your product and the sales-pitch. Many effective cold-callers keep a lists of contact numbers from up to 12 months in the past. “Calling back” often results in even better conversions.

Cold Calling Tip 2 – You’ve got Three Seconds. No pressure though.

The critical part of cold calling (where 96% of the newbies go wrong) is the first three seconds after the prospect answers.

These three seconds represent the “window-of-opportunity” you’ve got to push your prospects “curiosity button”. If they aren’t interested after three seconds, they’re going to dismiss your offer and you. Instead of listening, be sure that they are grinding the mental gears by thinking up objections and excuses to get off the call.

How can you hit the Cold Call curiosity button in 3 seconds?

Be awesome – offer legitimately exceptional product/service:

Easier said than done, it really does help if your company is doing something so extraordinarily, unusually awesome that folks just can’t wait to hear more. This is (unfortunately) a long term goal for some.

Offer a super-quick and easy, no-commitment “next step”:

Usually, “getting permission” for the next step is the objective of the cold call. This could be as easy as asking for permission to keep talking, or even better, asking for permission to send a free sample.

Have your prospect feel special:

If your prospect gets the impression they’re the 200th cold call you’ve spoken to that day, they’re not going to enjoy the call.

In B2B cold-calling you can get turn on the curiosity by mentioning the industry competitors you’ve been “talking to”… and explaining why you thought your prospect would be interested in your pitch too.

Prepare a concise, articulate, scripted three second introduction: You’d think this one should be obvious, but so many companies and sales reps fail to realise the importance of a smooth introduction. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.

A good three second intro that follows these basic principals would look like this:

“Hi ! I’m calling from XYZ Lawns & Gardens Inc. … We’re doing a unusual promotion in your street by expertly clipping people’s lawns. For free! If that sounds interesting, I just need to get your perfect time and date for your free mow.”

It may not be realistic to cut lawns for free but, regardless, can you see the value of putting these cold calling tips into action?

Cold calling is still, despite everything you’ve heard, the fastest sure-fire approach to building a profitable business… fast.

Best of all, it doesn’t have to be difficult. With the correct, intelligent approach you can rapidly turn huge numbers of strangers into satisfied customers – while you enjoy the freedom, wealth and happiness of a successful sales person and entrepreneur.

Enroll in a System designed to improve interpersonal skills and recruit one a day.  https://tinyurl.com/n47wfwu

Business Opportunity Get a 0ne minute presentation with Erving Croxen Skype= network4seccess1

Or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1497107700584907/

“Finally, An Easy Way To Recruit – Rejection FREE – Without Wasting Your Time & Money Chasing Dead Beat Prospects & Leads…” https://tinyurl.com/jwjzmxh

[nervouswreck-96]

How ESPNEWS has been made redundant

Note: This is a bit of a spiritual sequel to this earlier post. Read on for a story about a cable channel that may not exist in five years.

In 1996, the landscape of sports television and cable television were changing. Recognizing this, ESPN launched a third channel, ESPNEWS, on November 1st of that year. The concept was simple enough. It would take ESPN's flagship show, SportsCenter, and build the entire schedule around it: all highlights, all the time, 24 hours a day. Strictly speaking, the programming on ESPNEWS wasn't actually "SportsCenter", but a pared-down version simply called "ESPNEWS", broadcasting from a different studio within ESPN's Bristol campus and using different hosts. However, the difference was negligible at best. ESPN had built a dream channel, a perfect place to tune in whenever you couldn't sleep and there was nothing else on at 1:00 in the morning. ESPNEWS even carried some innovations that its more wide-reaching sister networks didn't have. In the early-to-mid-2000s, when the ESPN networks had new "BottomLine" tickers, ESPNNEWS's ticker was larger and carried more information at any given time than the ones featured on ESPN and ESPN2. Whereas the ESPNEWS ticker could show a score and statistics from it at the same time, the conventional ticker had to switch between scores and statistics, scrolling through the latter at a snail's pace until moving along to the next score...which really annoyed me whenever I wanted to know how the Cardinals were doing.

From January 2006.

From August 2008, but the same general era.

The first steps on the slippery slope of ESPNEWS came around the early 2010s (I can't pinpoint the exact date), when ESPN decided to dramatically expand SportsCenter's hours, making sure that there would be an SC on one of ESPN's networks even in case of programming conflicts on the main network. That meant that once per day on most days, SportsCenter would be seen on ESPNEWS. And since the programming on ESPNEWS was a slightly lower-budget version of SportsCenter anyway (without all of the fluff that SportsCenter had that I complained about earlier), it pointed to a redundancy with the network's model, as well as the fact that ESPN was prioritizing the growth of the brand of SportsCenter above all else. This continues today; during a live sporting event that moves SC to ESPN2 (night baseball games, for example), the network identification on the BottomLine is intermittently replaced with the words, "SC: now on ESPN2", encouraging viewers to click over to their flagship show at all costs. Original programming also increased on the network. At one time, it carried the TV simulcast of Mike and Mike in the Morning (a show that my dad inexplicably watches every morning) until that moved to ESPN2, although it still airs on 'NEWS sometimes when live sporting events air on ESPN2 during the morning. Later, a soccer talk show called ESPN FC premiered on ESPNEWS, because the other two channels were too clogged up with shows like "Around the First Interruption Take & Hers Nation". And then the inevitable happened. By 2013, ESPN simply had too many sporting event rights to handle, and began shoving them onto ESPNEWS. The past few years have seen NASCAR Nationwide Series races, NBA playoff games, Wimbledon matches, and most especially college football games aired on what has become essentially ESPN's third main outlet for live sporting events. (It could be worse - some college football games in 2010-11 were shoved onto ESPN Classic, which has no HD feed because it was made for broadcasting classic sporting events!) To put the nail in the coffin, the network's own highlights show, by then known as "Highlight Express" to differentiate it from SportsCenter, was cancelled in 2013 due to low ratings, leaving ESPN FC as its only original program left. The rest of the regular schedule is taken up by reruns of ESPN shows and the occasional SportsCenter. ESPNEWS has now become essentially ESPN 3 (not to be confused with the online distribution service) - a fitting ending, given the fact that months before its launch, the network was tentatively named "ESPN 3".

Today’s there’s talk of ESPN abandoning ESPNEWS altogether, or making it a digital-only channel, similar to what they plan to do with ESPN Classic. If they’re serious about cutting costs, it seems that a wiser route is just to abandon redundant and low-rated channels like ESPNEWS and the Longhorn Network altogether. Seems a better option than laying off dozens of people every few months. As one final sad, ironic twist, local cable network MASN, in lieu of producing its own sports highlights show (because their budget is basically peanuts), has aired a simulcast of ESPNEWS for those who don't receive the channel, as 'NEWS is often located on an extended tier on cable systems. ESPNEWS has all but completely abandoned highlights on its regular schedule, but MASN2 still picks up the feed. That means that outside of baseball season, MASN2's schedule consists of reruns of garbage ESPN "talk" shows (I use "talk" in the loosest definition of the word possible).