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bratkook · 4 years ago

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corrupt. jjk (m)

You’d be crying out in pain begging me to play my games. I could corrupt you, it would be ugly.

pairing: vampire!jk x human!reader genre: smut, pwp warnings: blood play, unprotected sex, dirty talk, exhibitionism, voyeurism, multiple orgasms, spanking, oral (f. receiving), partially clothed sex word count: 5k author’s note: literally everything i write is based on a song so listen to Corrupt by Depeche Mode. This also came to mind because my boss and i are obsessed with the idea of going to a sex club in berlin so i hope you enjoy lol. leave feedback or shoot me a message tysm ily bye. this also isnt edited yet im sorry

Standing in the middle of a dimly lit club in the heart of Berlin, the sound of a german band filling up the space all around you, is not how you thought your night would go.

Utterly alone, shimmying through the crowd of people all scantily clad in forms of leather or lace, some wearing nothing at all. No one seemed to mind you, no one gave you a second glance. The leather body harness you had on stuck to your body like second skin, the straps of it stretched across your breasts and covered your nipples. The only thing on your bottom half was a garter belt, a tiny pair of black underwear and fishnet stockings, finished off with some black heels.

You had begged your friend to come with you, being in the middle of your trip across Europe you wanted to visit the infamous sex club while in Berlin but she had been so against it. Not only was this club notorious for having orgies in the middle of the venue, which she thought was unspeakable, it was also a common hot spot for vampires as well, another taboo for her.

When she told you no you knew it was final so you didn’t mention it again. Instead you got dressed up in the bathroom of your airbnb, draped on a peacoat and headed out without a word. Luckily the club had coat check or else you’d feel entirely over dressed.

This club, unlike other vampire friendly ones you’ve visited, let everyone mingle together. You were accustomed to having dedicated rooms for humans, another for vampires, and a common ground for those who didn’t mind being together. But here it was a giant melting pot of both.

In the short ten minutes you’ve been here you had lost count of how many scarlet eyes you’d seen staring down at you, how many touches of cold skin you’d felt as you slipped by people, you felt very outnumbered and a little vulnerable but it sent a spark of excitement down your spine.

When you reach the bar, your arms press against the slightly tacky surface, a blonde with gleaming golden eyes greets you with a smile, “What’ll you have sweet heart?”

You strain your ears to hear her but try your best to tell her you’d just like a shot of tequila, she has no problem hearing your request, spinning around to grab the tequila from behind her.

Just as you start to ease up to being where you are, the feeling of someone slipping in beside you has you tensing up again. You keep your gaze on the bartender, watching her pour out your shot before sliding it over.

When you reach into the hem of your tights to pull out some cash she waves you off, “Its your first time here, consider it a welcoming gift.” She winks at you and moves on to the next thirsty guest before you can thank her.

You can sense the eyes boring into you from your right, your fingers gripping the edge of the shot glass as you lift it up to your lips. The curious observer just watches with a smirk as you throw back the shot, shutting your eyes as the warm liquid runs down your throat.

When you set the glass down and lick your lips over they finally speak, “First timer huh?”

The hairs on the back of your neck stand up at his voice, the low gravel of it swimming through your ears and getting your full attention. Its melodic, something about it has you turning to him like he had just said something ground breaking, and when you see who the voice belongs to you let out a small shudder.

The dark red of his eyes seems to glow in between the random flashes of light, his eyebrow arched up in curiosity as you drink him in. The hair on his head, parted to the side and showing the sharp eyebrows that frame his eyes, is an inky shade, the tips of the strands landing on his forehead.

He lets you take your time, watching you make your way down his face, reaching his soft lips, parted in a half smile that showcased the sharp fangs where your incisors are. The action should be threatening but all you can think of is having them sink into your skin.

The way he’s dressed is more modest than others, a sheer black mesh shirt hugging his chest, showing off the indents of muscles from how tight the material was. A harness similar to your own sits snuggly against his waist, the leather material matching that of his pants.

You snap out of it when you realize you’ve been staring at his crotch for more than seemed appropriate. Humor is written all over his face when you meet his gaze once more, remembering that the beautiful stranger had in fact asked you a question.

“Yeah, that obvious?”

He just chuckles, leaning against the bar top as well, “You just look a little intimidated is all. What is it, the vampires or the fucking in public?”

You push the shot glass further away from you, “Neither, I’ve had my fair share of vampires and if fucking in public scared me I wouldn’t be here.” Your words have piqued his interest, “Just first time jitters.”

He nods in understanding, “Fair, lets do some ice breakers then, I’ll start.” He clears his throat and inches closer to you, his shoulder nudging against yours, “My name is Jungkook, I’m technically 24, I enjoy making short films and I really want to fuck you.”

The small gasp you let out is clearly picked up by his ears, the smirk returning on his face at your reaction, “Oh wow,” you let out a giggle and he’s enamored by it, “well, my names Y/N, I’m 25, I enjoy baking and I really want to fuck you too.”

Jungkook hums, his tongue running along his teeth, “That can be arranged you know.”

You take a glance behind him, taking in the entirety of the club in the flashes of light. Almost every surface had a couple, at least, in the act of fucking each other in one form or another. In the middle of it all were the people who just came for the atmosphere, dancing along to the music playing as if ten feet away someone wasn’t getting fucked in the ass.

“Where?” You ask shyly, this was after all your first time at a club like this. The rules of dibs regarding location was foreign to you, not knowing what was off limits or not but Jungkook seemed to be very familiar with the club.

“Lets ease you into it yeah?” He murmurs out, his cold hand gently grasping yours and tugging you behind him as he slides through people without a care. The crowd seemed to split for him, humans and vampires alike staring him down but he paid them no mind as he crossed the floor.

The further you walked the more the crowd dispersed until you reached a hallway, the maroon walls were lined up with fetish photos, portraits of girls wrapped up in shibari, men wearing gimp masks along with shadow boxes holding various sex toys. In between each one were open doors, the rooms having a bed in the middle of them with lovers on top, the sounds of pleasure spilling out of the rooms and into the hallway.

Jungkook continued to lead you down the hallway, reaching a room he knows will be unoccupied. It was his room, no one ever used it but him, it was almost like an unspoken rule that it belonged to him so when you rounded the corner and stepped into it, the fact that i was completely untouched didn’t surprise him.

The bed was right in the middle, dimly illuminated by two sconces on the wall behind it. The black silk sheets look inviting, the large gold bed frame drawing you forward until your palms rested on the mattress, your fingers rubbing the soft material.

“I didn’t know places like this had beds.”

Jungkook steps behind you, his hands grasping your hips gently and pulling you back into him, “Mm, theres also a pool in the basement but I can show you that later.” He dips his head down, nuzzling his nose into the juncture of your neck and inhaling when the scent of you invades his senses.

He could hear the pounding of your heart, the blood pulsing through your veins in excitement. Jungkook knew you weren’t scared, you had waves of eagerness rolling off of you. The rythm of your heart wasn’t one of fear and as much as he used to love playing with his meals, knowing he didn’t have to sweet talk you into calming down made this more enjoyable.

“Yeah, later–laters good.” Your eyes flutter shut when his lips touch your skin, gently trailing up your neck and reaching your jaw. One of the hands that was on your hips came up to cup your cheeks, yanking your head around to crash his lips against yours.

The lingering remains of the tequila you had thrown back makes its way into his mouth when his tongue meets yours as he licks his way inside. Slowly you fully turn around, wrapping your arms around his neck and forcing him closer to you as your tongues tangled together messily.

Jungkook makes quick work at unclasping the harness you had on, his fingers coming together on your back and undoing the metal hooks until the fabric sagged off of your body. His lips never leave yours as you drop your arms, letting the leather material hit the floor.

When his hands come up to grasp your tits you pause kissing him, the icyness of his palm making your nipples pebble and he just smirks, almost as if he knows that you’re thinking of how his cold hands would feel inside your cunt.

“Such a pretty little human.” He mumbles out when he pulls back and stares at your exposed chest, his fingers twisting your nipple.

“Please,” you groan out, leaning forward to reattach your lips but he inches back to tease you, a playful smile on his face. “you said you wanted to fuck me.”

He relases your nipple, his hands now coming to undo his own harness, the garment joining yours on the floor but with it comes the mesh shirt. Inch by inch his smooth skin comes into view, the muscles on his stomach rippling as he peels it off and tosses it without a care.

“I do want to fuck you, so badly.” His head tilts slightly at you, watching you standing by the bed with your arms by your side and a pout on your face. “I like taking my time though baby, can you be patient for me.”

He hears the small intake of breath you make, nodding your head immediately. Patient? Yeah you could be patient for him, you could be anything for him. Its like his voice had you in a trance, any request he had could be fulfilled without a problem.

Jungkook reaches for you once more, his lips melting against yours while his hands guide your hips backwards, helping you onto the bed and pushing you back with ease. He slowly pushes you back until you’re fullt resting on the mattress, your hair splayed out around you with him hovering above you, his knees on either side of your thighs.

Your lips smack together for a moment, Jungkook gently nipping your bottom lip enough to draw a small bead of blood. When his tongue laps it up he moans into your mouth, the coppery taste mixed in with a hint of sweetness has his cock twitching. A small taste of whats to come, it takes him all the restraint he has to stop himself from devouring you here and now.

“Tastes,” kiss “so,” kiss “sweet.” He groans out in between kisses, pressing against you harder before trailing his lips down your body. You lay there with your chest heaving, your mind spinning when you feel the wetness of his lips kissing down your chest.

He envelopes your nipple into his mouth, his tongue flicking around it with a moan, his other hand coming up to knead the flesh of your neglected breast and you gasp at the feeling, your back arching into his touch.

Your brain forcing your limbs to come into action now, your hand slipping into his hair and pushing him closer to you. The sensation of your fingers yanking his strands urges him on, sucking on your nipple while looking up at you, your eyes blown out in the darkness of the room, the bright red of his making him look predatory.

He pulls back with a wet smack, looking down at your saliva coated flesh and humming to himself while his hand continues to twist your other nipple. “So sensitive.” He comments when you whine at a particular hard tug he gives you, your head falling back with a sigh.

“Jungkook please.”

He relents, releasing your nipple and continuing his quest down your body, you’re expecting him to tug down your tights, maybe undo the garter belt before taking it all off but instead his fingers hook into the holes in the tighs around your crotch and yank hard. The sound of the fabric ripping has you lifting your head back up, catching him in the act of tearing your tights apart until your black panties were fully exposed to him.

Jungkook had slid off the bed, kneeling in front of you, his arms hooking under your thighs to drag you forward a bit, a smile spreading across his face when you let out a small shriek of surprise. The heels of your shoes rest on his back, your thighs sitting snuggly on his shoulders.

You can feel his breath against your skin, his lips hovering over the flesh of your inner thighs, his fingers digging into you as he licks his lips over. The anticipation is killing you, forcing yourself to drop your head back down because watching him stare at you like that was filling your stomach with nerves.

The soft flick of his tongue on your inner thigh has you tensing up, your hands reaching down to grasp his own, your warm fingers curling around his while they wrapped around your legs. Jungkook trails soft kisses on your skin, taking his time sucking and biting around your panties, his tongue gently flicking over your clit, a teasing motion that you barely feel through the material of your underwear.

He chuckles when your hands clutch his with annoyance, you had told him you could be patient but you were really doubting yourself now. Maybe fucking him out in the open of the club would’ve given you satisfaction a lot quicker.

Just as you’re about to voice your frustration, Jungkook pulls a hand away from your thigh, hooking his finger on the edge of your panties and yanking them to the side. Your glistening core shines back on him, his mouth salivating at getting a taste of you, wondering if your cunt was as sweet as your blood.

“Fuck.” You gasp when he licks a broad stripe up your slit, his tongue gathering your wetness in a practice move, a satisfied moan leaving his mouth at the taste. Everything he had said about taking his time was out the window now, diving into you shamelessly.

He growls when your hand comes back to tangle into his hair, the slight burn of his scalp causing him to eat you with more determination. His lips wrap around your clit, slurping and sucking gently enough to have you whimpering, your back arching up into him at the feeling.

Jungkook smirks when he releases your clit, nosing against it while his fingers circle your entrance, slipping in without resistance. The dirty thought that had crossed your mind before had been proven correct, Jungkook’s long icy fingers felt amazing inside your heat, spreading you open as if they were meant to be there. When he adds a second one, scissoring inside of you to stretch you out, a moan dies in your throat when you choke out, his lips come back to your center in a frenzy.

You can feel every ridge of his finger inside of you, grazing the bundle of nerves each time they thrust out, coupled with the way he’s sucking on your clit its not a shock that you’re quivering on the bed.

“So fucking wet.” He awes for a second, the tug on his scalp letting him know you needed him to go back to what he was doing. A gush of wetness escapes you, dripping down his palm and onto the floor and he hums, he can hear the pounding in your veins increase in speed, the fluttering of your heart sounding like music to his ears.

“C-close,” you keen out, your heels digging into him and bringing him closer, “fuck, bite me. Please bite me.”

Thats all Jungkook needed to hear, his fingers slip out of you to replace his mouth, quickly circling your clit to have you hurdling over the edge. You can feel the pressure building in your abdomen, the controlled flicks of his fingers have you whining out.

Just as you’re about to teeter over Jungkook dips down and kisses your inner thigh once more, opening his mouth to clamp over your skin. In a flash his fangs pierce your flesh, a brief feeling of searing pain shoots up your body before being replaced by intense pleasure when he fully latches on, lips suckling on your skin.

The rich liquid pours into his mouth, the same coppery sweet taste he had sampled earlier is increased with the pleasure you feel. Jungkook’s eyes roll back at the flavor, his fingers not letting up on your clit even with the choked gasp of his name as you reach your orgasm.

Your body trembles underneath him, your hands grip on his hair loosening up as he quenches his thirst. Everything feels tingly, each nerve ending on your body being lit up from the intense orgasm you just experienced. When he pulls away from your thigh, traces of blood spilling around his mouth he moans, nuzzling his way back to your center, gently licking the remnants of your orgasm off of you, enjoying how you whimper on the bed.

“So good.” He rasps out, his eyes flicking up to look at you and you gasp at how much brighter they are, a ruby red sparkling in the dark of the room, his eyebrow cocked up as he trails his way back up your body, letting your legs fall from his shoulders and back onto the bed.

His leather clad legs press against you, the feeling of his hardened bulge against your hip has you shuddering. “I’m not done with you yet, I’m going to ruin you baby.” He kisses up your chest, his eyes never leaving yours. The fucked out look on your face makes him rut against you, “You sure you want this?”

Your arms wrap around his torso, nails digging into his back as you rut up into him. His head drops down onto your neck when you grind against him, your wetness smearing along the leather. “I need it, ruin me Jungkook.”

The hiss he lets out has your toes curling, moreso when his mouth kisses along your neck, a teasing nip of his teeth on your skin, “Oh I will.”

Jungkook reaches down with one hand to unbotton his jeans, tugging them down enough for his cock to slip free. You don’t get a chance to look it over, the size of it being a total suprise to you since his lips were no on yours again, your eyes slipping shut as they worked together, teeth knocking into each other in a hurry.

He wraps a hand around himself, sighing into your mouth as he gives himself a pump. “Jungkook.” You groan into his mouth, wiggling your hips around as he positions himself between your thighs. He nudges your thighs further apart, your heels resting on the edge of the bed while his knees sink into the mattress.

“I know baby.” He mumbles against your lips, pressing another kiss to them. Thats when you feel the tip of his cock pressing against you, a slow rut of his hips following as he coats his length in your arousal.

Your nails dig into his back once more, the silk sheets gliding against your skin when you arch your back to get some sort of friction from him.

Jungkooks eyes are glued to where you meet, watching in admiration when he tugs your underwear to the side and eases himself into you, his cock sinking into your heat slowly. The feeling of him stretching you open has you moaning out loud, your head thrown back and exposing your neck to him.

“Fuck baby, you’re taking me so well.”

The stretch feels almost impossible for a second, you hadn’t seen his length but the feeling of it alone made it obvious that he was the biggest you’d ever had. When he bottoms out, his hips resting flush against your ass you whimper out.

“Feel so full.” You slur, humming softly when he kisses your cheek tenderly.

Jungkook just chuckles, “Gonna fuck you stupid.” Thats the only warning he gives you before inching back, rolling into you over and over until you’re adjusted to his size.

You knew after today you’d be ruined, you’d slept with your fair share of vampires but the way Jungkook’s cock split you open, pistoning into you in the most delicious way, you were done for.

The feeling of your nails digging in his back had him hissing, his arms caging you in underneath him. His eyes were focused on the way your breasts jiggled at every thrust, your body jostling upwards from the strength of them. Your face was screwed up in pleasure, your mouth dropped open as moans spilled out through your lips.

Jungkook was fucking you well and truly stupid, you looked lost in your pleasure, your walls fluttering around his length when he hit your sweet spot.

“Fuck,” you mewl, “so big. So–“ a gasp cuts you off when he speeds up his thrusts, the skin of his thighs smacking against yours with new found energy.

“Where’d those first time jitters go?” He wonders, one hand coming up to softly trail down your face, inching down until theyre placed around your neck, his fingers feeling the ferocious pulsing from your jugular.

“Such a fearless little human.” He grunts out with a groan, “Letting me do what I want with you, do you have any idea what I could do to you?”

A whimper leaves your mouth, your hips coming up to rut in time against his. You knew what he could do to you, if he really wanted to he could rip out your throat and drink you dry. Maybe it was the masochist inside of you, the idea of not knowing what could actually happen, of not being in control of the situation, that kept you going.

“I don’t care.”

That has a curious smile spreading across his face, “No? All you care about is my cock huh?”

You’re nodding immediately, yes his cock is all you care about. The way its stretching you open, the length of it hitting places inside of you without even trying. He fucked you like it was second nature to him, his thrusts being well timed, as if he knew the right way to get you falling apart underneath him.

“Can I–“ you press your palms against his chest lightly, the smal act of resistence causing him to still completely. He watches on curiously when you shimmy out from under him, your knees knocking into his as you turn over onto the bed on your hands and knees.

You’re facing the door now, seeing the flashes of light and the occasional person walking by the door and you briefly remember where you are. Jungkook watches you wiggle your hips at him, your fishnets stretched tightly over your ass.

“So fucking sexy.” He steps off of the bed, taking the time now to fully slip out of his pants, kicking them off and onto the floor before kneeling back onto the bed. His hands grasp your ass, kneading the flesh of them as he settles behind you, his palm coming up to land with a loud smack onto your skin. The sound mixing in with the thrumming bass of the club music and the moan you let out.

“C’mon, fuck me stupid.” You tease, dropping onto your elbows and spreading your thighs apart as you arch your back.

“Mm, careful what you ask for baby.”

His large palm splays across your back, pushing you down further while his other guides his cock back into you. The first thrust is a lot smoother than the last, the glide of your wetness helping him ease in to the hilt. This position has him reaching in deeper inside of you, your hands fisting the cool sheets as you moan out his name.

Its messy, the way his dick squelches every time it re-enters your, wetness coating his cock and dripping down onto the sheets. His palms grasp your hips, fingers digging into your flesh roughly. He knew he could crush you if he wanted to and the fact that you still laid here, drunk off his cock instead of running away, he knew he was just as ruined as you were.

“Jung-jungkook.” You gasp out, rutting back onto him with a small laugh and it catches his attention when he notices one of your hands come up to point at the door, “we have a visitor.”

He hums when his eyes lock onto the observer, another vampire he was familiar with, the dark red hair of Jung Hoseok flashes in the light. He’s leaning against the door frame, a drink in his hand as he watches on nonchalantly.

“Lets give them a show then yeah?”

He grinds against you with more purpose, one hand coming around to your front to meet your clit, rolling the sensitive nub between his fingers until you’re trembling. Your pussy clamps around him, your mouth dropping open in a lewd moan, burying your face into the sheets while you let yourself get lost in the feeling of it all.

Knowing Jungkook was having his way with you while someone watched lit a fire inside of you, the way you were creaming his cock being evidence enough that you were clearly enjoying yourself.

“Harder, fuck me harder.”

Jungkook fulfills your request, starting to thrust into your heat harshly with no qualms about having a spectator. “You’re soaked baby, you gonna make a mess of these sheets?”

All of your senses are full of him, just him and his cock and the way he pounds into you, his fingers flicking against your clit with expertise. His grasp on your hips is the only thing keeping you from toppling over, your upper body laying limp on the bed as you let his ravish you.

When your eyes look up, meeting the gaze of the stranger by the door you smirk, sending them a wink and earning a chuckle from them.

Jungkook can feel you tightening up around him, his own release creeping up inside of him. He needs to taste you again, “Let me have another bite baby.”

He bends over your body until his nose pushes against your hair draped over your neck, a deep inhale sending shivers down your spine. Your hand comes up to move your hair out of the way, mewling when he nudges against your skin, “Oh god, yes.”

His lips latch onto you seconds later, the now familiar feeling of his fangs sinking into your skin making your whole body tense up this time. Your limbs lock up as he moans against your flesh, the warm blood dribbling into his mouth. Blood always tasted different coming straight from the jugular, the taste of it making his eyes roll back as he quickly ruts into you.

The euphoric feeling of him drinking from you pushes you over the edge once more, the pleasure sparking from the open wound until it reaches all of your limbs. Your walls clamp around him impossibly tight as you cum, a shout of his name leaving you as he fucks you through your orgasm.

His lips never leave your neck, suckling the blood from you as your body trembles underneath his. A weak whimper leaving your lips sends him over, his balls tensing up until he’s spilling into you, thrusting his hips against yours as deep as he could. The warmth of his cum fills you up, a soft sigh sounding out when he finally detaches from your neck, the smear of blood around your neck being licked up by him as he shallowly thrusts a few more times.

“Shit.”

Your eyes look up once more to find that the other vampire was now gone, leaving you and Jungkook alone once more, his cock still buried inside of you, your neck throbbing slightly after the abuse.

When he pulls out of you your hips full drop onto the mattress, the cool sheets feeling like heaven against your warm body. Jungkook chuckles at your worn out form, gently grasping you to flip you over to face the ceiling, not giving you a moment to recover before slotting his lips against your own.

You taste your own blood on your tongue, the coppery tang being new to you but you don’t mind it, not with the way he kisses you like you were more than just a messy fuck. He pulls back after a second and you grin at him, your hands coming up to cup his cheeks, your thumb rubbing the drying blood from his chin.

“What did I taste like?”

He presses another kiss against you, “Like fucking heaven, I could die eating your pussy.”

The wink he sends you makes you blush, swatting his chest lightly with a laugh, “I meant my blood you perv.”

“Oh I’m the perv now?” He teases, catching your hand before you can smack him again, “I think you ruined me too baby, never tasted blood this sweet.”

You bite your lip at his words, staring up at him with wide eyes in an almost innocent way as if you hadn’t just participated in this scandalous act. He wanted nothing more than to proposition you into being his blood bag, a somewhat intimate request but he knew it was useless. Considering you had never been to this club before he knew you weren’t from around here, you’d be long gone in a few days, a distant memory that would simmer away over time and for some reason it pained him to think that so he chose to suppress it.

“Let me walk you home, you never know what monsters could be lurking.”

That same giggle that enamored him earlier is back now, “If I could handle you I could handle anyone.”

His eyebrows arch up at your teasing tone, a smirk curling his lip as he stares you down, “Is that so?” His eyes have that same predatory look in them, your skin breaking out into goosebumps at the way he stares at you, looking like he’s ready to dive in once more.

He wasn’t finished with you yet.

#goldenclosetnet #btsghostie #jungkook smut #jeongguk smut #bts smut #vampire!jk #jeon jungkook #jungkook one shot

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missscarletta7 · 3 years ago

Text

The Broken Crown- Chapter 2

Summary: All Margaret Shelby ever wanted, was the opportunity to write her own story. Only now is she beginning to realize that her brother may have already written it for her...

Hello! Enjoy chapter 2!

OoOoOo

"Keep spendin' most our lives, Livin' in the gangsta's paradise,

Tell me why are we so blind to see,

That the ones we hurt, are you and me"

~Gangsters Paradise~

1919

"Mags." Was the first thing the young girl heard as she was gently shaken awake, "Go lay in your bed, eh?"

Upon half-opening her eyes, she saw it was Tommy who had been talking to her. Maggie only then realized she had fallen asleep sitting upright. She responded by rubbing her neck and slowly nodding. Clumsily she got off the bed with her journal in hand.

It was early. The exact time she wasn't sure, but sunlight wasn't streaming through the window yet. She entered the quiet hallway, navigating herself to her bedroom in the darkness. When she opened her door, she discovered a figure standing in the middle of the half-lit room changing clothes.

"There you are," Ada whispered out, shimming out of her slip, "Was wondering what happened to you."

"Slept in Tommy's room," She explained, yawning lightly. "Just get in? What time is it?"

Her sister nodded as she continued to change into a nightdress, slipping the fabric over her head. "It's just past four." She informed as the younger girl motioned her way around her sister to flop onto the bed, making it creak from the force of body weight.

"How was your night?" asked Maggie, moving to make her head more comfortable on the old shapeless pillow.

"Romantic." The older girl hummed, sliding into bed next to her sister. "I've never felt this way about anyone."

Maggie turned her body on her side. "Wish I could put a name and face to this mystery man." She watched her sister's eyes flash with guilt. At the realization of her thoughts were now said aloud, regret formed in the pit of Maggie’s stomach.

"I promise I'll tell you sooner than you think, I just-" Ada didn't have to finish the sentence for Maggie to understand what she was going to say: 'I just can't deal with our brothers if they find out '.

"I know Ada," was the last thing the sleepy girl said before closing her eyes and drifting back to sleep.

Eventually, she woke up again around seven in the morning. Carefully, she got out of bed trying not to wake up her sleeping sister, and dressed accordingly in one of Ada's old dresses. She also made sure to pack her journal into her book bag before making her way downstairs. Once in the kitchen, she saw Tommy reading the paper and Finn eating his breakfast.

"Morning." She said, grabbing a bowl and spoon to scoop mushy porridge out of a metal pot, which was sitting on top of the only working stove burner. Polly had most likely prepared it for them. "How did you sleep?"

Tommy knew that question was directed to him, "Better than I have in weeks." This made his sister smile as she sat down in the chair next to him. "Your writing has improved. But then again, I haven't heard you share your work since you were twelve. Pol says you won't even share with her or Ada. Why's that?" He was genuinely curious.

"I don't think it's ready to be shared yet," Maggie shrugged.

He peered at her as he set the paper down onto the table, "You shared last night."

"Only to put you to sleep." She countered, bringing the spoon to her mouth to consume the beige-colored substance.

"Going to have to sometime," he spoke sincerely. "How else are you going to become a writer, eh?"

He was right, she knew that, but right now, her writing felt sacred. As if her words were only meant for her. She was still coming face to face with a paradoxical problem. Every time she would write something down, it would instantly not be good enough. The pages of her journal seemed to have more scribbled-out lines than actual words. She just couldn't explain this feeling properly, and if she couldn't express her feelings in words, how could she write? No, sharing her words would only lead to not being understood. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the opening and slamming of the front door.

"Tommy!" John angrily stormed into the kitchen, "It's Danny! Those fucking Wops got a hit on him."

Tommy answered back by pushing himself out of his chair and hurriedly following his brother out of the home. Finn quickly tried to follow, but Maggie grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "Let go Mags!" he cried out.

Maggie sighed, "C'mon, let's get you ready for school." Finn could only respond with a groan, allowing his sister to lead him upstairs.

OoOoOo

The next day, a smiling Maggie was squished between John and Finn in the family car. She could barely move without hearing a complaint from John, but she didn't care, she was too excited. They were all on their way to the fair, which had been set up right outside of Birmingham. It had been so long since she had been to one. They were almost there, and she could see the big red and white striped tent peaking over the trees in the distance, so she was confused when Tommy parked the car in a clearing that was still a good distance away.

Arthur spoke up at once, "Thought you said we were going to the fair"

"Yeah, what are we doing?" She asked nervously, leaning her elbows against the front seat.

"We have business first. C'mon, bring your wits." Tommy said getting out of the car with John and Arthur following. He glanced over to his younger siblings noticing they were trying to do the same. " You and Finn stay by the car."

"Seriously?" She just wanted to have a normal day at the fair with her family. Was that too much to ask?

Tommy pointed at her to emphasize. "Stay by the car, Mags."

"What business?" Arthur questioned.

"That's the Lee family," She heard John say.

Great the Lees, thought Maggie sarcastically, as she sank into the seat. Though she did perk herself up when she saw a familiar face walking towards the car.

"Hi, Johnny!" She smiled and waved at the man.

"Well hello pretty lady," Johnny Dogs greeted as he approached the car. "Tell me, have you seen a lass named Maggie?" The teasing tone of his voice was prominent. He had not changed a bit in the four years his presence had been absent.

The girl giggled slightly at his antics, and with a playful air replied, "I'm Maggie."

"You canna be her." He overly acted out in disbelief, "Last time I saw her she was but a child!"

"Hang on a minute," They all heard Arthur say, "You're not swapping the family car for a bloody horse!"

Johnny turned around and quickly walked up to the oldest Shelby, "Of course we're not swapping it. Huh? That would be mad!"

"We're going to play two up," Tommy explained, handing a coin over to the family friend.

"Jesus." Arthur breathed out anxiously, as they all watched the pair toss their coins into the grass and lean forward to get a better view. Silently, Tommy handed over the keys to the car, much to the irritation of the eldest, "I knew it. Tommy, you bloody idiot!"

"Shut up Arthur. I won," Tommy told him, "I promised Johnny I'd let him have a spin in the car if he lost." He watched as the relief washed over his brother's face but was interrupted by collective snickering. He turned to the three men dangerously, "Are you Lee boys laughing at my brother? Are you? Eh? I asked you a question!"

"Tommy! Tommy, c'mon it's just a craic." Johnny reasoned, trying to keep everyone calm, "Get your family out of here and go enjoy yourselves at the fair before they start a war." Johnny then turned to the Lees, and Maggie was able to make out most of what he said. It had something to do about the grandfather she never met before one of the Lees replied, "Yeah, but his mother was a Diddicoy whore."

That had done it. Whipping his weaponized hat off of his head, Tommy slashed at the man's face. Arthur and John quickly joined in. Blood could be seen gushing from their faces as they all yelled obscenities at one another. Finn looked in awe at his brothers, his gaze never wavering from the fight, but Maggie felt sick.

OoOoOo

An hour later they had finally reached their original destination. Looking and walking around the fair was an amazing experience. The many rides, animals, oddities, and food all in one place were a wonderment to the many families that came out from all over the area. Yet, Maggie's level of enthusiasm was less than what Tommy had expected. She couldn't shut up most of the way there, now she was as silent as a stone.

"What's the matter with you, eh?" Tommy questioned as they walked around the fairgrounds together, "Did you want to take a spin on the big wheel ride?" He pointed up to the giant machine with carriages that slowly spun in circles.

She asked quietly, "Did you have to hurt them?" Sure, Maggie knew what her brothers did. She would be naive if she said she didn't, but she had never been a witness to it. The violence that she had often heard others speak of was now forever ingrained in her memory, becoming a standard for their future offenses. "The Lee's." She clarified although she was certain he knew what she was talking about.

"They were disrespecting us Mags," He explained as if she were younger than Finn. "You heard them."

Tommy had always tried to keep her in the dark about their business practices, which was easy when she was younger. Unlike Finn, she had always kept her nose in a book, never really paying attention to the transgressions of her siblings. But now she was beginning to notice and was starting to ask questions he'd rather not answer.

"You couldn't walk away?" Maggie inquired, looking towards anywhere but his face.

He remained silent for a moment before stiffly asking, "Do you want to get on the fucking wheel ride or not?" That was Tommy-ese for 'drop it', so she did, and added herself to the growing line. Tommy followed her lead, standing behind her he pulled a cigarette out to smoke as they waited.

Maggie was quiet the entire duration of the drive back home. The setting sun rays peeked through the gray smog as they entered Small Heath, they all noticed the place had been trashed. Broken and ripped furniture looked like they were just tossed in the streets and all those who watched the Shelby car roll slowly down the street managed to give them all a dirty look.

Arthur was the first to speak up, "Now, what the bloody hells been going on here?"

OoOoOo

Apparently, from what she gathered it had been the new copper that had been behind the trashing of their neighborhood. Maggie and Cara walked through the crowd, as they recounted the events of each other's day. Thankfully the Ryans dress shop had been spared from the destruction and Maggie told her friend everything about the fair, excluding the violent beginning of course. In front of them stood a pile of portraits that had been gathered from around all the homes and businesses of the community. Once they were lit on fire, familiar faces were lit up as well to contrast the darkness. They both soon saw Ross with a crowd of men, most likely coworkers from the BSA. Once he saw them, he waved them off and began moving toward the girls.

"Are you ever going to tell him?" Maggie asked her friend, as they watched the young man weaving his way through the crowd of people.

"I will!" Cara defended before adding, "Eventually." Maggie tried to hide her smile.

"All right ladies?" Ross greeted once he was near enough.

"So, what's all this about then?" Cara questioned somewhat flirtatiously, pointing at the heap of portraits.

"Ask Mags," Ross replied, sending the dark-haired girl a smirk, "It's her brothers that have organized all this, went 'round taking everyone's pictures."

"Oh right, because they run everything by me first." she joked, causing both her friends to chuckle. Cara soon took over in leading the conversation, but Maggie was only half paying attention. Curiously, she watched as Tommy spoke with a man that she had never seen before. He must have felt her gaze because he found her face in the crowd, causing Maggie to quickly divert her stare off her brother. Ross then pulled out a flask from a pocket inside his dark coat.

"Care for a swig?" He asked them, shaking the container slightly. Drinking alcohol was something she had never really made into a habit, for her it was only for special occasions. Without hesitation, Cara took the silver flask from his hand and drank a few gulps before passing it on to Maggie. Maggie glanced back to her brother, who was no longer watching her, but instead had gone back to his discussion with the man who was now writing something down on a pad of paper.

She grabbed the small open bottle in her hand and raised it to her friends, "Cheers." The liquid burned in her mouth, but she forced herself to swallow. She coughed at the sensation, making Cara laugh as she took the flask back in her hand, downing what was inside again. The small group of friends joked and drank for the next hour or so, as the flames of the bonfire created a comforting warmth over the burning expressionless eyes of his majesty the king.

OoOoOo

After drinking so much during the bonfire, Cara must not have been feeling too well because she didn't show up to school the next day. Not only that, but it also seemed as though Finn decided to skip again. So unfortunately for Maggie, she was fated to walk home alone. Slung over her shoulder was her book bag which carried a few books, pens, and her journal. As she walked past the first alleyway, she felt a presence quickly appear next to her.

"In need of some company?" Ross asked, tossing his finished cigarette onto the pavement.

"That would be nice." She smiled up at his tall frame, which had a good five inches on her.

He motioned to the bookbag that rested on her shoulder, "Let me help with that."

"I can carry it myself." She calmly asserted, which made the young man grin.

"Now how would it look to all these people around us if I didn't help you with that, Hm?" He waved his index finger around to point at various people going about their day, "Word will get back to my mum, and she'd beat me for not being the gallant gentleman she raised. And you'd be responsible for that. I'm only trying to save you from a guilty conscience later on."

She supposed she shouldn't let that happen. With a small smile, she passed the bag to him which he took gladly.

"Last night was fun, eh?" He continued, slinging her bag over his shoulder.

"It was," she replied, allowing her mind to wander through the fresh memories. "Though I think Cara had too much fun."

"Sounds like her," he snickered out, "Never scared of fun."

"What else do you think about her?" The dark-haired girl pressed.

"Who, Cara?" He asked and Maggie nodded. "I dunno." He shrugged, adding, "Nice I suppose."

"Oh c'mon, you have to see the way she looks at you" Maggie alluded.

"Never noticed." He admitted, looking uncomfortable.

She knew she couldn't push the matter any further than that. It was time to change the subject, "How's work?"

"Factory is on strike again." He answered her, appearing more relaxed, "Freddie thinks we should be compensated more. Guess we'd need that in order to make up for the wages we've lost."

She couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. Of course, Freddy had something to do with this. Though she always admired her brothers' old friend for sticking to his beliefs, she silently judged anyone whose beliefs ranged on the spectrum of radical. "Freddie needs to be more careful. As do you, he's going to get everyone in some serious trouble."

He smiled at her worried words, "He'll be fine. I heard from other workers that he skipped town after the raid. As for me, I think that a bit of trouble is the only way to get what you want."

They had just turned onto Watery Lane, their pace began to slow until they eventually stopped just across the street from the front door of her home. "You didn't have to walk me all the way home, you know," she told him as he handed her book bag back.

His hazel eyes meet her blue ones, "I'd do anything for you, Margaret," he declared seriously. She couldn't help but think that there was a hidden meaning in his words. Was she reading too much into this? He must have meant that as her friend, right?

"I-," she started.

"Maggie!" Tommy's voice rang out.

Maggie turned her head to see her brother as he made his way toward them. The girl's heart clenched at the thought of what he was going to do. Her mind had quickly jumped back to the memory of yesterday, the slashing, the anger, the blood. She glanced over to Ross, whose expression went from nervous to stoic in a matter of seconds.

"Go inside," Tommy instructed once he stood close enough to the two teens.

"But-"

"Now Mags," he commanded with a low voice. Coolly, Tommy took a drag from his cigarette that was resting in between his fingers, not taking his eyes off Ross.

With a huff and a final look towards her friend, Maggie bid him farewell before swiftly walking toward the front door of her family home. Once the dark-haired girl was out of earshot Ross apprehensively spoke, "Mr. Shelby I- I was just walking her home, I wasn't trying to-"

"I know Ross," Tommy assured the anxious young man, tossing his finished cigarette to the ground. Pol had told him that the young Murray lad had helped look after his sister while he and his brothers were away in France. Had even heard a rumor amongst some of the younger men in the betting shop that he knocked the shit out of another boy who was sniffing around Margaret. If that was true, Tommy felt indebted. He was a busy man, so he cut to the chase, "You beat a bloke that was giving Maggie trouble?"

Ross modestly nodded at his question. "You're a good lad." The gangster commended, passing the young man one of his cigarettes from its silver metal casing. He also lit a match to assist him with lighting it. "Is your Uncle Ian still living in Dublin?"

Ross had to admit, he wasn't expecting the line of questioning to head in this direction. Nevertheless, he nodded once again, removing the rolled tobacco from his lips to allow a puff of smoke to escape from his lungs. The young man's confusion ceased when he watched Tommy pull out two pounds sterling from his pocket. Ross’s eyes couldn't help but widen at the act.

"Good, I want you to do me a favor. Call him and tell him to ask around all the local pubs in town if they know anything about a barmaid named Grace Burgess." As much as Tommy wanted to say he didn't care about this new woman who had found herself working at The Garrison, he needed to know exactly where she came from and if she was telling the truth. Digging out another pound he said, "Here send this to your uncle too."

"I will Mr. Shelby," he assured, accepting the coins in his outreached hand.

Tommy turned away and began walking toward his home, without looking back he added, "Welcome to the Peaky Blinders, Ross."

OoOoOo

When Maggie entered her home, she found Polly sitting in the kitchen reading a newspaper and drinking tea. "Hello, love. How was school?"

"Fine." She replied curtly, dropping her book bag onto the floor beside the table. She immediately moved to the window, looking out just in time to see Tommy lighting a cigarette for Ross. Relief washed over Maggie, this conversation thankfully seemed as though it wouldn't involve fists... or razor blades.

Polly's eyes were now on her, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Maggie tore herself away from the window to sit down opposite her aunt, pulling out her journal and pen from the book bag next to her feet. Tommy ended up entering the kitchen not two minutes later.

"I hope you didn't tell my friend that you'd hurt him." Maggie told her brother much more boldly than she felt, "He was just being kind."

He stared at her for a moment before replying knowingly, "Now why would I hurt my newest recruit." With that, he exited into the betting shop closing the doors behind him. She gapped, still looking at the shut doors trying to process how Tommy could ever involve her friend in whatever schemes he was engaging in.

Her emotions must have shown all over her face because her aunt chuckled slightly. "I wouldn't worry too much about your friend," Polly told her eyes still on the black and white paper. But Maggie couldn't stop herself from slumping into the old wooden chair before she continued writing, ultimately stopping when she felt her sister's presence enter the room.

"Good of you to join us," Polly said to Ada from behind her newspaper. "Where have you been all day?

"In bed," Ada replied. "Couldn't sleep, then I couldn't wake up, then I was cold, and then I had to go for a wee. Then I was with this bear on a boat, but that was just a dream, then I was hungry." Maggie looked up from her journal once again to see that Ada took the empty seat between her and their aunt with a massive slice of bread with a jar of jam in hand.

Maggie looked pointedly at the last of the bread that she had made recently, "Jesus Ada, save some food for the rest of us."

Ada stuck her tongue out, before looking at her aunt, "Why are you reading the paper?" Ada inquired.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Polly questioned back, picking up her teacup.

"I've never seen you read the paper. I've only ever seen you light fires with them." The older Shelby sister continued, taking a bite of her food.

"BSA is on strike" Polly explained, "The miners are on strike. IRA are killing our boys, ten a day." Though when Polly stopped talking, she continued to stare at Ada eating.

The older girl soon noticed her aunt's gaze. "What?" She asked in between her chewing.

"Stand up," Polly commanded.

"Why?" Ada questioned.

"Just stand up," Polly ordered standing up herself, eventually Ada compiled, "Side on," Polly added and Ada motioned her body to face to the side. Maggie was taken aback when Polly suddenly cupped one of her sisters' breasts.

Though Ada was much more reactionary, "What are you doing?!"

"Ada, how late are you?" Polly asked seriously and Maggie couldn't stop her mouth as it fell open slightly.

"One week." Not too bad, Maggie thought. "Five weeks," Ada amended. It wasn't ideal, but maybe she was due any day now. "Seven, if you count weekends." The girl corrected herself once again.

"Holy Fuck, "Maggie shook her head in disbelief.

Ada seemed desperate for this not to be the reality, "I think it's a lack of iron. I got some tablets." She explained to them, as Polly sat back down in her chair.

"But they didn't work." Their aunt concluded.

Ada too sat back down, "No."

Maggie gulped at her sister's answer and looked to her aunt, watching Polly as she took a deep breath. The thought process could not be seen on her face, but the young girls knew that the situation was being meticulously addressed in her mind. "Get dressed. We're going to the midwife. Let's just make sure you are before anyone makes any rash decisions."

Ada nodded, holding back the tears that threatened to spill over. Maggie's heart clenched, and moved her hand over her sisters, squeezing it slightly. Whatever was to come, they would weather through it together.

#peaky blinders fanfiction #tommy shelby #shelby sister #oc #ada shelby #alfie solomons #john shelby #polly shelby #peakyblinders #1920 #arthur shelby #finn shelby

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pigeontheoneandonly · 4 years ago

Text

Lemongrass

So this was nominally supposed to be about a cooking lesson (loosely prompted by a post from @dr-ladybird), but it came out much more bittersweet and melancholy.

Thanks to @pushingsian for the beta!

NB: In my version of Mass Effect, Nathaly Shepard is vegetarian, and Kaidan Alenko's mother is Thai.

Lemongrass

The haunting quiet of a Canadian night along the Sunshine Coast still kept Shepard awake, even after two months. She missed the endless creaking of the ship, the muffled voices coming through the hatches and decks, the hum of the drive core lulling her to sleep. Everyone thought space was silent. She snorted and wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered on the porch, drawing a blanket close like a shawl. This was silence, this… lonely wilderness.

Footsteps fell soft on the cabin’s wooden floor. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw Kaidan padding barefoot to the door, still rubbing his eyes. Her face broke into a smile despite herself, quiet, tired. “Hey.”

“It’s cold out here tonight.” He rubbed his arms. “Can’t sleep again?”

“You don’t need to get up,” she replied, sidestepping the question.

He glanced out over the property, towards the coastline a half-acre away. “It wasn’t this quiet when I bought it.”

This was where he’d sunk his L2 reparations, into this piece of earth, though the house came after the war. His neighbors weren’t ever sitting in his lap, exactly, but a fair number either hadn’t survived or hadn’t returned. But the lack of people wasn’t the problem. “It’s a planet. It’s never going to be—”

Shepard stopped herself just in time. But her startled guilty glance, at the near slip, said it all anyway. His shoulders sank. “Come inside.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

He put his arm around her and gave her a tug. “Come inside.”

The door swung shut. The main room was cozy in a hand-made sort of way. Kaidan’s mother had sent a seemingly endless stream of crocheted blankets, which now hung off every chair back and piled across the couch. Shepard made the metal-framed furniture herself in their own backyard. Kaidan spent his free hours scouring local extranet ads for books, and a coffee maker, lamps, cushions, anything anyone was selling or trading in the mostly cashless post-war economy. Earth could barely manufacture essentials, much less everyday comforts.

Now he walked over to the small corner defining their kitchen and lit the stove. She hiked one of those blankets higher on her shoulders. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll sleep better with something warm in you.”

She joined him, putting her hand on his hip, leaning towards his ear. “I can think of something warm you could put in me.”

That got her a quick snort of a laugh, as she hoped. “That just wakes you up more.”

But his brown eyes sparkled in the dim light of the slumbering house.

She heaved a sigh, but pushed a lock of red hair behind her ear, and switched gears. “Need a hand?”

Flirtatious interest turned to surprise. “You want to help me cook.”

“Come on. I haven’t boiled a pot dry in weeks.” A touch defensive, but hell, she had been trying. It wasn’t her fault she never had reason or opportunity to learn to cook. At this point, her molecular composition verged on 100% military-issue freeze pack meals and MREs.

“That’s true.” He jerked his head at the cabinet. “Find me the coconut milk, and the stock.”

Kaidan’s kitchen staples came as something of a surprise. Beer and bacon she expected. His mother’s influence, not so much. Not that she knew a whole lot about Thai food to start with. “Where do you get this stuff?”

“My mom is friendly with every southeast Asian family in Vancouver.”

“Sure. But… citrus?”

“You’d be surprised how many people keep a tree in their condo. I’m negotiating for one, but nobody wants to give it up.”

“It’s just as well.” She pulled out a box. “I’ve killed every houseplant I’ve ever had.”

“You’re doing all right with the herb garden.” Kaidan said it with a straight face, despite them both knowing he did most of the work, especially after he caught her burying leftovers in the dirt to fertilize it. Gently, he explained about compost, but it still seemed like a load of middle-man work to her. He also explained about raccoons, which she had to admit had the weight of evidence behind it, in the holes and broken plants they left behind. But Shepard had learned to water and prune, even fuss over the plants, here and there. They seemed to enjoy the attention.

What was the other thing? Stock. Right. She opened the fridge and pulled out a plastic jug, the remains of a giant batch Kaidan made last week from all their vegetable scraps. It had been an experiment, but somehow, all of Kaidan’s kitchen experiments seemed to work out.

“Put that in the pot,” he said, pointing.

She complied, with one raised eyebrow. “Don’t you think this burner is up a little high?”

“It needs to reduce.” He gave the pot an expert swirl and set it back down. “We still have mushrooms?”

“I think so.” They’d stored up too much in the lower drawer. She sorted through the items. “What’re we making?”

“Soup.” He declined to elaborate, and began to slice the mushrooms. “We’ll also need lemongrass, cilantro, and some of those tiny peppers from outside.”

“You’ll send me out in this cold?” she griped, but she was already reaching for the scissors.

He put down the knife. “It’s summer, Nathaly. It’s almost ten degrees outside. And the garden’s right beside the back door.”

“Anything south of twenty is fucking frigid.” Pulling the blanket tighter, she headed out.

The moonlight gilded the leaves in silver as Shepard sorted through the huddled plants, trying not to drop the blanket. Cilantro reminded her of home, the first home she ever had. Her grandmother grew bales of it in window boxes. Bending to cut some, she might have been six again, and smiled to herself in spite of the cold. Or maybe because of it— the Arizona desert took on its own chill at night.

Lemongrass was more foreign. Its pungency stabbed through the air as she cut it near the dirt, gathering several stalks. A side of Kaidan she hadn’t known, like the cooking, until recently. Sure he fixed a few meals in the apartment, back when the apartment was habitable. Seeing him now, it was clear he’d grown up watching his mother, and absorbed everything she had to teach. That added new depth to her understanding of the damage BAaT did to his family. It was easy to sense, lurking there even today, in every interaction between mother and son, but harder to interpret.

When she was done, she returned to the kitchen, and found he’d added tofu, galangal (not ginger, she reminded herself, firmly), the aforementioned limes plus some kaffir lime leaves he’d obtained god-knew-how, and fish sauce to the waiting ingredients. He smiled as he heard the door shut.

“Here you are.” She dumped her handful of fresh produce beside his pile.

“These look great. Take this.” He handed her the spoon.

Shepard held it like a dead mouse. “Wait a minute—”

He took the lemongrass to the sink. “Nope. This time, you cook, and I help. Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it.”

Everything about this read imminent disaster. Kaidan noticed her frown, and pushed her arm towards the pot. “Add the coconut milk.”

It trickled in, aided by her tentative stirring. She put the spoon down. “Kaidan, look, cooking… My biggest accomplishment is getting a microwave burrito thawed the whole way through without drying it out. I know you want to do this whole domestic thing—”

He picked it up and put it back in her hand. “I have never known you to admit defeat on anything. What’s going on? Talk to me.”

She stared into the pot, expressionless face flickering in the burner’s flame.

Kaidan tried another tact. “You’re not sleeping. You barely eat.”

“I…” She let the spoon go, and slumped over the stove, tiredly. “I didn’t expect winning to feel like this.”

His face softened. “That’s because we didn’t win. We just beat the reapers.”

She brushed some of the hair out of her eyes. He rubbed her shoulders, left a kiss on her neck. “Let’s just make soup, ok? Lemongrass is next. Smash it first.”

The damp stalks left small puddles on the board as she ran the knife through them, and then upended it and brought the butt of the handle down on each piece, thump thump. Then the same to the peppers. The motion was almost comforting; Kaidan made this soup a lot.

Kaidan slid sliced galangal into the pot. “Your turn.”

Picking up the lemongrass with the blade, Shepard watched it disappear into the white broth, only to bob back up again, filmed with coconut milk. Already leeching all its intensity and leaving the herb softer, milder, spent; having sprouted and fought through the dirt to the sun, grown tall and proud, only to give up all it made to this. Because she declared that this was its purpose and its end.

A fistful of bright leaves fluttered down over the lemongrass pieces. Shepard started. Kaidan’s brow furrowed, and he touched her arm. “You sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah,” she said, distantly. “I’m just tired.”

He watched her a few moments too long for comfort. “Even the squirrels know that.”

It caught her off guard and she laughed, as he clearly hoped she would. Just one chuckle. But it helped.

“Tofu and mushrooms next,” he prompted. Shepard gathered them up and dumped them in.

She just about remembered to stir it every so often as they juiced limes and chopped cilantro. To her endless gratitude, Kaidan took it back to finish it when it came off the burner; she never could get the amount of fish sauce just right. Somehow, he’d gotten the rice cooker going while she messed with the soup, too. She liked dumping it all into her bowl with the soup, a practice that never failed to earn her a look of mock-disappointment that was half the reason she kept doing it.

They settled on the couch. For a few minutes, they ate in the quiet dark of the cabin, lined in moonlight, wrapped in blankets. Shepard had spent all her life in motion. Now she was trying to learn how to live with stillness.

The soup-soaked rice felt good in her mouth, something she could bite down on. Something solid and warm in her stomach. She hadn’t realized exactly how cold she’d gotten, or how hungry; each spoonful brought a little more color into the room.

Kaidan sipped at his own bowl, smaller than hers, with a slight smile. “Feel better?”

She looked down into her nearly-empty bowl, and back up at him. “How did you know?”

“You skipped dinner. And lunch.” His tone just a little too light. “This isn’t easy for me either, but regularly crashing your blood sugar isn’t helping.”

There was nothing to say to that. “I don’t know what to do with myself up here.”

“Yeah.” He set his food aside and inched closer to her, settling his arm around her waist. “You’ve got a stack of requests piling up.”

“Busy work,” she scoffed.

“There’s never going to be another reaper war, and that’s a good thing.” He gave her a squeeze. “You’ll just have to subsist without the adrenaline and cortisol, high blood pressure, constant small injuries, and all those other things.”

“Tomorrow.” It was too complicated to unpack right now. She set the empty bowl aside.

“Tomorrow,” Kaidan agreed, and pulled her to her feet. “Now, let’s sleep.”

#mass effect #kaidan alenko #nathaly shepard #shenko #fshenko #post-war #fanfiction #pigeon writes

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quarantined-with-bucky · 4 years ago

Text

Crash

Bucky x Reader

Words: ~ 4,900

Summary: Bucky learns what he likes about life: you

Warnings: Angst, but also fluff

A/N: Mildly inspired by “Crash” by You Me At Six!

...

Wait, where you say you've been? Who you been with? Where you say you're goin'? Who you goin' with?

There was a knock on your apartment door. Plucking yourself off the couch, you trotted towards the door, pulling it open. You were met face to face with Bucky, a smile immediately finding your lips. His visit was a surprise, he hadn’t said anything about stopping by. “Hey,” you greeted, about to stretch out your arms for a hug, stopping immediately when he didn’t return your smile.

Oh. And that’s when you peaked over his shoulder and noticed Steve standing on the street, leaning against the car. “Sorry, doll,” Bucky apologized, offering you his arms for a hug.

You accepted, pulling him close and tucking your face into his chest. “’S okay, Buck.” He told you earlier that he may have to be leaving to go on missions, he couldn’t say exactly when or where. But this took you by surprise; it was the first mission he’d been sent on since he’s met you – since he started dating you.

“So, it looks like I’m going to have to raincheck dinner on Friday,” he mumbled shyly, pulling away, but still holding you firmly at the waist. He awkwardly chuckled, hoping you’d at least find light of the situation in his old charm.

You smiled up at him. “Let me know when you’re back?”

“You’ll be my first stop.” He moved a hand to cradle your jaw, leaning towards you for a goodbye kiss. You obliged, biting your lip and watching him saunter back towards Steve.

Bucky stood next to the man, giving you a stiff wave. “Make sure he comes back in one piece,” you call out to Steve, waving back at the both of them.

Steve laughed, waving back. “Will do, (Y/N).”

You stood frozen in the doorway, leaning against the frame as you watched the boys climb into the truck, pulling away, heading off to wherever the hell they were going.

Wait, keep me in your skin, Keep me in your chest. I'll wait for it to start, I'll wait for it to end.

Bucky sat at the camp sight, the soft light of the fire illuminating the picture before him. He held the edges carefully, the image creased perfectly in the middle from where he’d folded it up to fit in his pocket.

It was a photo of the both of you. You were at the bar, one around the corner from your apartment, that you took him to months ago. It was the night of your friend’s birthday, and you wanted to bring Bucky along to meet a few of your friends. He was nervous at first, not sure if they’d recognize him, if they knew his past, if they’d be scared of him.

However, everyone welcomed him with open arms. They didn’t ask him too many questions, didn’t pester him about his arm. Instead, they told him extremely embarrassing stories from your past. And, damn, it made him laugh; you were blushing like crazy, trying to cut them off after every story – doing so by buying rounds of shots if they promised to stop talking about you.

It ended up not working, everyone growing more and more intoxicated as they continued teasing you. But you found it to be all in good fun, just enjoying you night out with your boyfriend and your friends. You spent the whole night attacked to Bucky’s arm, linking your own two arms around his, his hand resting on your thigh. You buried your face in his shoulder to smother your laughter or after they said something embarrassing about you.

It was one of the best nights he’d had in such a long time; he doesn’t remember laughing for so long or so genuinely in a while. Your friend had secretly snapped this picture of you, sending it to you the next morning. You groaned and rolled over in bed; your few hours of sleep interrupted by your phone buzzing loudly. Bucky handed you your phone, holding back his laughter at your raging hangover. You mumbled an “oh my god” and showed your phone to Bucky, cheeks tinted pink.

It was dark, the bar had been dimly lit where you were sitting. Cups half full, empty shot glasses, and beer glasses littered the sticky table in front of the both of you. Your face was buried in Bucky’s shoulder, unable to conceal the drunk smile taking up your whole face. You held on tightly to his metal arm, the glare of the metal prominent in the photo. Bucky was gazing down at you, a similar grin painting his own lips.

As you tucked yourself into his side to resume sleeping, he took your phone and placed it on the bedside table, but not before sending it to himself.

That was the picture he carried with him on missions. He tucked it away into his breast pocket, hidden underneath his armor-plated vest, right above his heart. He patted atop his armor for safekeeping.

He couldn’t wait to see you when he got home.

Just crash, fall down, I'll wrap my arms around you now. Just crash, it's our time now, To make this work second time around.

It was eight days later when he showed up on your doorstep again. This time, when you opened the door, you were met with a smiling Bucky; he was clean shaven, his hair pulled back behind his head. He was wearing that red Henley you loved so much, and his arms were open wide, waiting for you to run into his arms.

So that’s exactly what you did: hopping off the front stoop into his warm embrace. He caught you, allowing you to wrap your legs around his waist, intertwining your hands behind his neck. The two of you stood on your front steps, embracing each other, kissing each other, for what felt like an hour. Eventually, Bucky made his way into your apartment, plopping down on the small sofa, not taking you off his lap.

That became routine for you two. Whenever he had to leave, you’d spend a whole day holding each other when he came back.

We grew up, We worked and changed our ways. Just like wildfire, Been burning now for days. Tearing down those walls, Nothing's in our way. I said, nothing's in our way.

Time flew by; before you knew it, it was your two-year anniversary. Two years of bliss, two years filled with commitment and trust and love. Despite taking it slow at first, after that first mission, you two became inseparable. Given the fact that he spent a lot of time with the Avengers: working, training, and on missions, you had no choice but to spend every bit of free time together.

You’d spent your fair share of time at the Avengers Tower, spending the night at Bucky’s place, joining him at parties, watching the sunrise on the roof of the skyscraper. But there was something about your place that Bucky felt more comfortable. He was like a giant in your tiny apartment. Meager living room, tiny couch, lined with pillows and blankets; modest kitchen, two small chunks of countertop on either side of the oven, shelves crowded with spices and utensils, pots and pans hanging off the pot rack on the ceiling above the island; crowded bathroom, utilities barely able to fit in the small room, no room to maneuver, shower head just too short for Bucky; humble bedroom, packed bookshelves, clothes strewn about, bed pushed under the one window, narrow enough that you have to sleep half on top of Bucky – not that he minded, except for the fact that his feet hung off the edge.

It made him feel small and safe. He hadn’t felt a home in a long time. He went from the frontlines of World War II to the empty cell of Hydra to a block of ice. He’d spent the majority of his life without comfort. And when he was welcomed to the Avengers, he hadn’t received much either. There were shrouds of hospitality, yes, but something about it lacked an intimate feeling. Vast corridors, high ceilings, large rooms; Bucky decided he wasn’t a fan of minimalism. He much preferred “cottagecore” as you liked to call it.

He loved to garden, taking care of your houseplants almost too much. He’d named all of them, from each viney philodendron to the splaying palm trees. He had an almost aggressive watering schedule. Soon, he began spontaneously bringing you flowers and houseplants – your small apartment turned into a jungle.

It was the morning of your second anniversary when Bucky asked if you wanted to move in together. “Do you mean you want to move in with me?” You clarified smugly, flitting your eyes above the coffee mug currently held to your lips.

He giggled childishly, happily. “Maybe,” he mumbled, drawing out the first syllable. He sipped his tea, mimicking you as you couldn’t contain the smile pulling at your lips.

You sauntered across the kitchen – as in, you took two steps closer to him and you were already chest-to-chest – and tilted your head up to his. He kissed you on the tip of your nose before you could respond, the grin on your face already confirming your answer. “You think you can fit all your clothes in my bedroom,” you teased, eyebrows raised in challenge.

He rolled his eyes, pointing his chin towards the open door of the bedroom. Piles of your clothes and his clothes thrown over chairs, folded on top and in the dresser – he practically lived with you already. “I think my clothes fit just fine in our bedroom.” His tone dropped, as did his face, burying it into the crook of your neck, pressing his lips to the soft skin of your collarbone.

You hummed, setting your mug down on the counter beside you, wrapping your arms around his neck and broad shoulders. You traced the top of his spine on the back of his neck, barely dragging your finger on the surface of his skin; the tickle brought a smile to his lips against your skin. “It seems so.”

And then he moved in. It’s not like he had much, anyway; everything he had technically belonged to Tony. He spent one Saturday bringing over his clothes – in which you graciously shoved into the dresser beside yours – knickknacks – to which you’d decorated throughout the apartment, displaying them on shelves, on the walls, between pots of plants – and boxes of memorabilia. Bucky thought about stealing his king-sized bed, just so he’d be able to fit without curling up into you (also so you’d have more room to roll around), but he wasn’t even sure it would fit through the door. He wouldn’t change anything about it, though. Everything felt like home, it felt like you.

You shared countless memories in that apartment: long nights spent talking instead of sleeping as the New York City traffic blared through your window, endless nights of baking (and burning) desserts, numerous movie nights that half-the-time ended in the two of you having sex on the couch or falling asleep innocently in each other’s arms.

No matter how many times he woke up with cramps in his legs and a sore back from falling asleep on your tiny plush couch, he still couldn’t wait to do it again the next night.

…

“(Y/N),” he whispered your name, face pressed up inches from yours, pillows smushed together and against the wall. Your sleeping eyes fluttered, eyebrows twitching, and bridge of your nose crinkling slightly. Soon, though, you were completely relaxed again, and Bucky almost felt bad waking you up – but not really. “(Y/N),” he murmured a bit louder, this time smoothing your wild hair down against your head, pulling his fingers through the knots.

You hummed, stirring in the bed, inadvertently stretching, pressing your palms against the wall, toes lengthening to the edge of the bed, pulling the bedsheets off you (and Bucky). “’Sup,” you mumble, immediately closing your eyes again, burying your face into your pillow and tucking your hands underneath your chin.

He smiles, gazing down at your tired form, obviously exhausted from the night prior’s festivities. “Baby, wake up,” he almost groans, faux upset that you weren’t giving him attention.

“I’m up,” you hum, not moving – not even opening your eyes.

“Let’s get married.”

You laughed in your pretend sleep, reaching your hand out blindly up his arm and up to his cheek, patting it lightly. It wasn’t the first time he said it; although the other times he had either been extremely intoxicated or sleep talking. “Do you have a ring for me, darling?”

“I do.”

And with that, your eyes popped open, meeting his staring back at you. You then narrowed your eyes at him, crinkling your nose. He was beaming at you with a shit-eating-grin, hand curled under the pillow propping up his head, curled up like a goof. You couldn’t find any words.

“So,” he continued, filling the gap of your shocked silence. “Will you marry me?”

Sitting up in bed, you propped yourself up on your elbow, staring down at him. He quickly took the cue, flipping around and digging his hand around under the bed. He returned facing you, sitting up next to you, sheets pooling at his hips. He held up the box, opening it with his metal hand.

Your breath left your lungs.

“Bucky,” gasped, covering your mouth with your hands, eyes flitting between the ring and his eyes: blue, glossy, and glazed over with passion. “Oh my god, Bucky.” You kept repeating yourself, tears threatening to spill down your cheeks.

“So…is that a yes?” He chuckled, nervously holding the box, gesturing it towards you.

“Oh my god, yes!” You nearly screamed, tears now fully flowing down your face, holding your hand out for him to place the ring gently on your finger. You then threw your arms around his neck, kissing your fiancé. He smiled through the whole kiss and you felt his heart beating next to yours.

You pulled back to fully look at the rock now sitting on your left hand. “I hope you like it; I had to go through my sister’s daughter, who had to go through a ton of old keepsakes and it took a while so I would’ve gotten it sooner, but – ” he cut himself off, realizing he was rambling when he met your growingly perplexed facial expression. “Anyway, it was my mom’s ring. And my pop saved up forever for it. I know it’s not huge and probably out of style and you deserve a million diamonds – ” he cut himself off again with a deep breath, anxiously scratching the back of his neck. “I just thought it would be nice – but if you don’t like it, you can just tell me and – ”

This time it was you who got him to shut up, leaning forward, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling his lips to yours. “Bucky, I love it.” It was beautiful. The diamond was small, still in perfect condition. The gold band was twisted intricately around the stone, newly polished and sparkling in the light shining through the window. What was even more appealing about the ring was the sentiment behind it. There was no two people that Bucky looked up to more than his parents; he often told you stories describing how much they loved each other, how hard his dad worked to finally convince his mom to go on a date with him. He beamed with pride when he spoke of them, recounting their hardships but how that never impacted their love for each other.

There was nothing more he wanted – then or now – than to give pass his mother’s ring along to you. He just happened to be lucky enough that his sister and niece saved it after all this time. He admitted that he could’ve gotten you a new ring, probably through a loan from Tony. Bucky technically didn’t have an income – just Tony’s money. And he did, in fact, offer to buy you the most expensive diamond ring in the world, a ten-carat ring from Antwerp; but that didn’t feel right. This was the only thing that Bucky had actually felt right about in a long time.

…

One month from that day, it was your three-year anniversary.

It happened during dinner – one random Thursday while the two of you sat at the edge of the kitchen counter, enjoying a casual plate of spaghetti.

“What – ” You choked on your mouthful of noodles. Coughing slightly, you sipped some wine, washing the rest of your bite down. Then you repeated yourself firmly: “What?”

“You heard me,” he responded, casually, mouth full of garlic bread.

“Now?” You ask, eyes wide, but unable to stop the smile forming on your lips.

“Yeah, why not?”

You stood from your stool, holding your palms against the island counter on either side of your dinner plate. “You were the one who said you didn’t want to do anything special for our anniversary.” You laughed, completely knocked off guard, mind moving a million miles per hour.

He raised an eyebrow. “You really thought I’d say that without some trick up my sleeve?” And, in fact, you were surprised when Bucky wanted to have a very low-key anniversary – he’d always been one for romantics. “Thought you knew me better than that,” he smirked, throwing a wink your way.

You rolled your eyes and swatted at his arm. “Are you being serious?” You leveled with him, leaning over so you were staring directly into the eyes of the man sitting beside you.

He smiled back kindly at you. “What do you kids say these days? Deadass.”

And you burst out laughing. Maybe you were a bit wine-drunk – but, god, this was something you’d never grow tired of. And that was perfect, considering you had already agreed to spend the rest of your life with him. There, in all honestly, was nothing that made your heart flutter like Bucky being an old man. “Okay,” you then whispered, cupping his jaw in both of your palms. “Let’s elope.”

So that weekend, that’s exactly what the two of you did.

Bucky had “borrowed” one of Tony’s cars – he assured you that he asked to take it for the weekend, but the smile and laugh in his voice told you otherwise. There was no time to question him further – no need, in fact – as he threw your suitcase in the trunk and opened the passenger door to you, ever the gentleman.

It was a short drive to Brooklyn Botanical Garden. You’d taken Bucky’s word for it, a place he remembered from his childhood; it was somewhere his mother used to drag him to and roam around – obviously with time he grew to appreciate not only the memory but also the serenity. He knew that was where he saw the both of you getting married; he knew that seeing you adorned in white surrounded by the beautiful trees and flowers was a sight he would never get tired of imagining.

Now, it was a sight burnt in his memory, holding your hands in his, a simple white gown falling perfectly on your body, veil pulled back that made it seem as though you were surrounded by clouds, the beautiful angel you were, anyway. Your hair was free, moving ever so slightly with the soft breeze; cheeks tinted pink as your skin glowed in the sun that shined before you; a bright grin painted your lips, so genuine that it made small crinkles form around your eyes. God, those eyes – gleaming in the reflection of the bright light before you, sparkling with love and laced with anticipation.

You faced a similar view, Bucky donning a casual grey suit; you insisted that was the one he brought with, a light grey contrasting his dark hair and deep blue eyes. While you had no doubt that seeing Bucky in an all-black suit was one of your all-time favorite looks, this was much more fitting for the occasion. The bright morning sun, the light-colored leaves surrounding your union; black was too harsh. Black, after all, was the color associated with the Winter Soldier. His uniform was black, his mask, his pants, his boots – his whole life was shrouded in darkness. This could not have been more the opposite; it was untraditional color, but so was your wedding and, hell, your whole relationship.

It was you and him, the officiant and the witness. You couldn’t remember either of their names, and you didn’t care, either. The only thing that mattered was Bucky’s eyes staring down at you, your hands held in his large ones, him slipping the wedding band on your finger.

And the kiss: perfect. You didn’t have the words to describe it. One hand found your waist as the other snaked through your hair, holding the back of your neck, guiding your lips up to his. Your arms folded around his neck, allowing you to pull your entire being flush against his body. He gave you two pecks on the lips before pulling away, letting his forehead rest against yours, staring into your eyes, glazed over with tears. His heart was full, it took all of his willpower not to breakout in tears. “I love you,” he whispered.

Your smile never faltered as you repeated those words to your husband.

…

“Buck, I have to get ready for work,” you called to him, yelling over the sound of the shower running.

“I’m almost done,” he responded, peaking his head from behind the curtain.

You stood at the vanity mirror, holding your hairbrush in one hand, flat iron in the other, makeup bag propped skillfully on the corner of the sink, one wrong movement away from spilling all over the floor. The mirror was fogging up ever so slightly; Bucky always insisted on taking the hottest showers possible. You began work on your hair when the water shut off, curtain swinging open, Bucky stepping out to grab a towel.

The two of you were practically pressed shoulder-to-shoulder, your elbow actually jutting out to nick his side as he toweled-off his hair. He laughed, maneuvering so that he stood behind you, his reflection towering over yours in the mirror. “I think we need a bigger place.”

He frowned, holding his hands against your hips. “But I like this place.”

You set the hot instrument on the edge of the sink, turning around in his arms. “I think we’re out of room,” you replied, thinking of the stacked up boxes of wedding gifts everyone sent you; you didn’t have anywhere to set them out or store them, thus everything remained in their boxes stacked up in your living room. Books and clothes lined every wall of your bedroom; you couldn’t fit nearly anything in the bathroom – and, hell, Bucky didn’t even fit without having to crouch under the showerhead.

He smiled down at you as you ran the brush through his freshly washed brown hair. “I guess so,” he mumbled shutting his eyes, reveling in the feeling of you softly brushing out his hair. “Plus, we’re going to be needing some more room to grow.” He peeked open his eyes, shooting a wink in your direction.

You cocked an eyebrow and yelped when his hand tucked against the underside of your thighs, pulling you up against him; you locked your ankles around his back and held onto the back of his neck, droplets of water still rolling down the nape of his neck and down his back, tickling your skin. You cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh yeah, why’s that?”

“You’re telling me you want little baby Barnes running around this place? It’s kind of a hazard, (Y/N),” he teased, then pressing a kiss to the tip of your nose.

You rolled your eyes and pressed your hand against his chest, signaling him to drop you. Once he did, you turned around, back once again against his chest. “House first, then baby.”

“Really?” He gasped, staring at you in the mirror, wrapping your frame in a backwards hug. His eyes lit up, a huge smile creeping on his lips.

“Better get house hunting,” you said, shooing him off to get dressed so you can finally get ready for work.

Crash, fall down. I'll wrap my arms around you now. Just crash, it's our time now, To make this work, second time around.

There was a knock on your front door. You set down the sponge you were washing dishes with, placing the bowl in the drying rack next to you. Wiping your hands on your jeans as you walked over to the freshly painted door. Bucky had painted it a deep forest green before he left. You’d been waiting for ages to find the perfect color, the best shade to match the cozy, rustic – cottagecore – living space the two of you had cultivated together.

Once the door was done, you felt it was finally finished. Everything was so much bigger, but you two made sure to fill it with large, comfy furniture, displaying all of your wedding gifts graciously (and obviously Bucky’s plants). He made you wait outside while he painted the door; he didn’t want you breathing any fumes in that could harm the baby growing newly inside you. You rolled your eyes: “It’s the twenty-first century, Buck. We don’t use lead paint anymore. It’s okay – plus I want to help.” You picked up a paintbrush, reaching towards the paint can.

“(Y/N),” he groaned, grabbing a hold of your wrist, instead holding it up to his chest. “I just don’t want anything to happen. Please,” he pleaded, giving you his best puppy-dog eyes, curling out his bottom lip.

A soft smile pulled at your lips and you quit protesting. “Okay, baby,” you giggled, gazing up into his blue eyes. He pressed a kiss to the tip of your nose, blushing hard as he did so, laying a hand to your lower belly. It hadn’t grown much, only three months – hell, it was still the size of a plum (which also happens to be your husband’s favorite fruit) – you weren’t even showing yet, nonetheless he was still so excited, so proud, so in love. And nothing had changed since he met you on day one. He still looked at your with the utmost admiration, a lustrous gloss in his eyes as he stared down at you. You’d only grown more beautiful by the day, to him. You were his to come home to, his to protect, his to love.

You spent the afternoon out front in the garden, pruning bushes, watering flowers, and pulling weeds. You’d detested yardwork – everybody did – but there was something about doing it while you called across the lawn to Bucky, still positioned at the front door, cracking jokes and sharing anecdotes that made it all worth it. You wouldn’t trade this for the world: to be able to do chores with Bucky, even the most menial work, because he enjoyed doing them, just because he got to do them with you.

You walked to the door, kicking a few rogue shoes out of the way, and swung it open.

You were met with the sight of a uniformed chest, straight ahead in your line of sight.

You dropped to your knees, holding your hands to your chest, feeling your heart race. You couldn’t breathe – you were almost feeling yourself for a pulse.

He knelt down and wrapped his arms around you.

It was just the two of you in that moment.

You buried your face into his chest, the tough leather scratching your face. The wetness of your tears smeared across the surface of the material, painting your cheeks. His hand rubbed up and down your back, cooing softly in your ear. You didn’t know if he said anything in that moment, your mind couldn’t register anything coming out of his mouth, your ears clouded with a loud ringing behind your eardrums.

It was a loud, open, ugly sob – you sounded like a toddler throwing a fit; damn, this was quite the tantrum.

You pulled back suddenly, fisting at the chest of his uniform. It startled him; he tore himself away from you quickly. There was no way of knowing what you looked like – eyes red and puffy, cheeks glistening with wet tears smudged along your lips and chin as well. You couldn’t even stop, as you pulled away to look into his blue eyes, your own tears kept flowing, eyebrows knitted together and breath still hitching. He looked tired – exhausted; you didn’t know how long he’d been torn up like this. His face was pale, cheeks red and irritated with tears, blue eyes filled with tears exactly like yours.

“Is he really gone?”

He stared at you for a moment, new, fresh tears flooding in his eyes and down his cheeks. He bit his bottom lip, unable to trust his own voice. But Steve found the strength to muster up two words, the words that made you bury your face into his chest again, crying harder than before:

“I’m sorry.”

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes oneshot #bucky barnes #captain america #winter soldier #angst #bucky x you #angsty bucky

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the-a-j-universe · 4 years ago

Text

Alright, cool. I finally have a guaranteed length of time that should be long enough to go through all of these, so let’s do this. I know the plan was to have me address each ask one at a time but that didn’t work out lol so I’m just doing it all at once. I’m also turning it into a post so anyone who wants to can follow along with my journey.

I’m also gonna copy/paste the text of the other asks instead of screen capping them because copy/pasting is faster lol.

I’m gonna put a pic of each one here, give my thoughts, maybe a goofy rating (I dunno), and then pick my favorite. Just so y’all know.

* Tanawy's entry n.1 in the Dragon Quest monster showcase: the all-time classic Slime. When asked to design the Slime like the standard goop monster they usually were, Toriyama said "no" and a legend was born, now cute slimes are more popular than the disgusting goop depiction. Its cousins and variants are numerous and some are very different from one another so as a bonus here the criminally underutilized Mottle Slime and its evolution the Mottle King Slime.

See, I don’t even need to look this one up. Here it is:

But let’s be real, you guys didn’t need to see an image of this dude either. I love this thing. I never went through a period where I thought of the grosser oldschool slimes. This thing has always been what’s come to my mind when I here the word in an RPG context. Which, considering my zero experience with DQ, really speaks to this thing’s popularity. I am actually going to remove this one from consideration, though, for that reason. I just have too much of a bias towards it. I know it too well, and all variations seem to be equally great. It’s a 10/10, though. Truly iconic.

Get the rest after the cut!

* Tanawy's entry n.2: Originally a boss monster, here is the Golem. While not the sharpest tool in the shed, these brick-made guys can be quite loyal, with a child-like personality, downright adorable (I will never forget you Goldirox) but their strenght in battle must not be underestimated. And since St. Valentinus is around the corner here a Chocolate Golem variant as a gift. Friendship chocolate mind you, from a dude to another 😄

I like this guy. He reminds me of a couple oldschool Yugioh cards. They’re all bad cards, but I’m nostalgic for them so that help’s this guy’s chances. I don’t know that I buy him as a threatening boss, though. He seems more like he’d be your big stone pal.

The chocolate variant is absolutely adorable.

8.5/10 overall for both.

* Tanawy's entry n.3: Here are two members of the Machine Family, first the Killing Machine. These relentless hunters are merciless and they are constantly upgrading, so models with different modifications are plenty. They even come with garden sprinkles. Then there is the Mecha-mynah, who puts a different spin on the mechanical Cuckoo-bird motif. Careful these guys have razor-sharp wings and they selfdestruct when cornered.

Alright, not so much for the second one, but the Killing Machine also reminds me of, like, a half dozen Yugioh monsters. Did Kazuki Takahashi just like ripping this franchise off or something? Either way, these are both good designs, but they don’t really work for me that much. They’re a little...plain? I guess? I guess I like my machine creatures rougher and with more detail. 7/10.

* Tanawy's entry n.4: Next are my deepest fears (exaggeration) if they were real; the Waspion, half wasp half scorpion, and the Claw Hammer, Half hammerhead shark half metal scolopendra, all nightmare. Continuing with the caravan of creepiness, here is the Bona Constrictor, just get it away from me. This next one, when i saw it for the first time i yelled "WTF is That?!" here is the Ulcer, a walking awful pile of rotting flesh.

I am NOT a fan of the Ulcer. That thing’s ugly, and not even in a fun way. 0/10.

I like these other guys, though:

The Waspion is literally just Gligar from Pokemon, but aside from that I like animal/creature mash-ups. And the Claw Hammer is a pretty unique one. 9/10 for the whole lot.

* Tanawy's entry n.5: Beef or chicken? Why choose when you can have both? Here is a heavyweight of the Bird Family the taurine Bullfinch. But dont forget your vegetables, or else they might turn into these Plant family monsters, the eggplant Woebergine, the bellpeppers Capsichum and the cucumber Cruelcumber. Also, meet the Peahooter, these guys pelts their targets with arrows taking advantage of their higher ground.

Okay, we’ve got another mash-up creature here in the form of the Bullfinch, but I’m not feeling this one as much. It’s worth, like, a 6.5/10, maybe. The Woebergine and the Peahooter are both pretty interesting. The Peahooter is kinda cute in a weird way and the Woebergine is delightfully derpy. They both deserve approaching an 8/10. I’m not really feeling the Capsichum at all though. They get a 5 or a 6/10.

* Tanawy's entry n.6: Who doesn't like a good dog? Well maybe not these guys from the Beast family: the Chainine who will ensnare their preys with their collars, the Putrefido, who is no longer alive, the Abracadabrador, who will eat your bones, the Crocodog, a levitating (yes this thing floats in the air) dog-crocodile hybrid and finally the Jackal Ripper (long lost relative of Wolverine or just imitator? More at 11 on the news)

Hey now. That’s not really fair to the other entries. Every one of these dudes:

Is a very GOOD BOI. I think I like the Abracadabrador the least. He’s a little too un-dog-like compared to the others. 6.5/10. The Chainine and the Putrfido are both the perfect blend of cute and weird. I like them a lot. They get 7.5/10. Jackal Ripper is a badass 8/10. He’d be cooler if he was wearing jeans. I LOVE the Crocodog, though. 10/10. Perfect. He just looks like a friend, but he also looks like he could kill my enemies. Which is what I like in a monster.

* Tanawy's entry n.7: Here is a taste of Japan with the Boppin’ badger, the most Tanuki-like monster you will ever meet; Then these guys don't need consent to give everyone within their reach a smooch, here is the Lips. Also, beware of these horses of the underworld, the Equinox where they probably hangout with these other lovely fellows, the Hellspawn. Speaking of which here is the demon Teeny Sanguini. Cute eh? Not when it evolves in the Bloody Manguini. Thankfully not everyone of them does that.

Okay, you can’t fool me. That first one is just a regular animal.

Jokes aside, though, I’m not really feeling this bunch unfortunately. The Hellspawn just reminds me too much of mutant can Steven, the Lips is a little boring, and the Equinox, while I like the wordplay in its name, and while it’s cool in principal, is too busy. I’m just not feeling the designs of these guys overall. 4 or 5/10 for the whole lot. Though the Teeny Sanguini is closer to a 5 than a 4.

* Tanawy's entry n.8: There are two species of monsters, the Pips and their cousins the Conks, who constatly imitate the classic classes of the humans, like warriors or priests, but this time the little rascals have gone a little farther and here they are copying the DQ8 4 main heroes in the Trodainian Conklave, the DQ4 heroes in the Zenithian Conklave, the hero of DQ1 and the 3 heroes of DQ2 in the Alefgardian Conklave and the hero of DQ3 with 3 other companions in the Aliahanian Conklave. Cute.

Okay, I love the idea of these things. They’re cute, they fit right in with the general aesthetic of the franchise, and they have a ton of personality. I’m not gonna post pics of all of them because there’re so many, but they deserve ~9/10 collectively. They’re very good.

* Tanawy's entry n.9: Not enough dragons? So here's three: what do you get mixing a T-rex, a dragon and a vicious axeman? An Hacksaurus that's what! Then the Drakulard. Don't be fooled by their mole these portly fellows mean business. Another chubby dragon, the Jargon: dragonic masters of the clay containers, these guys URNed their right to use jar puns and they will make sure you remenber it, even if they have to crack your pot.

Okay now these are more what I was thinking when I heard the title Dragon Quest.

I like the Hacksaurus the best outta them. He just looks nice. They’re all good, though. They fit the art style perfectly, and resemble each other just enough that you buy them all being related creatures. 8/10 overall, though the Hacksaurus is a little above the others, with the Jargon being a barely at the bottom of the barrel. Or the jar I guess.

* Tanawy's entry n.10: The only story entry in this showcase, because just look at him, it's the only DQ big baddie (at least in english) to actually call themselves "the Demon Lord" It's Orgodemir, specifically it's true form which is the first photo you find in the gallery at almost end-page. Let me just tell you this, Orgodemir is a d*ck of the highest level. The brain it's actually an eyelid for a giant eye by the way. Happy Nightmares.

HAHAHAHA. I know there are other forms for this guy, and this is probably not the reaction that anyone who played the game would have, but I just can’t take this guy seriously. He looks like Edward Cullen with bat wings. HAHAHA. 8/10 ‘cause it made me laugh.

* Tanawy's entry n.11: And lastly, in a category i like to call "I can't belive these are real", its the Funky Ferret; yes he and his cousins do exactly what the image shows. And the almost copyright-infinging Owlbear, yes they did not even try to distance themself from D&D with this one (ok they have a variant but is not saying much). There were others in the last category, but since they REALLY did not age gracefully to the modern standards of "acceptable" i prefered not show them.

I love Owlbears, they’re just such iconic fantasy monsters at this point, so he gets a solid 8/10 rating by default. It’s a pretty original take, too, focusing on the cuteness potential of the creature over the badass potential. I like that.

The Funky Ferret, though...

With a name like that this guy coulda been so cool. But he’s just a pretty generic design blended with a fart joke. What a bummer. 3/10.

And there we have it. Probably not exactly what you were thinking but I hope you like it. I don’t hate any of these guys. Some are more boring than others, but there’s something neat about each of them. I like the ones that take badass ideas and make them cute while remaining intimidating best out of all of them, and I think the Crocodog does this best with the Hacksaurus as the runner up. Crocodog is definitely my favorite of these, though. He gets the Best Good Boi award of Bestness.

Orgodemir gets an award, too, though, the “made AJ spit out his rum and Coke laughing” award. It’s not the most coveted, but it’s something.

I know this is a long one, and y’all may not want to reblog, but what do any of my followers think of these funky dudes? Leave a comment on this post or reblog with your answer in the tags!

#long post #my dumb thoughts #dragon quest #monster showcase #trademark

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shipping-receiving · 5 years ago

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Fictober 2019 Day 9: “There is a certain taste to it.”

Rating: T | Word Count: 1490 Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones Relationship: Jaime Lannister / Brienne of Tarth Tags: Alternate Universe – Police

(read on AO3)

//////

When Brienne Tarth was first posted to the tiny police department of an affluent, sleepy suburb on the outskirts of King’s Landing, she thought her life was going to be one thing—

Boring.

She had been fresh out of the Academy after working her ass off for—for her whole life, really. And she would have been on track for a posting to the King’s Landing Police Department, if not for a string of unfortunate incidents, and a number of even more unfortunate people whom she still occasionally fantasised about punching in the face.

After all of that, she got diverted here instead. Where the crime rate is so low that even a stolen bicycle is enough to send shockwaves through the neighbourhood.

Good for them. Boring for Brienne.

Or so she thought. For some very unexpected reasons, she eventually realised this posting was anything but boring.

Still, the crime scene before her right now is definitely not the sort she had ever expected to encounter here.

“Seven hells,” she exhales. “What in the name of the Mother happened here?”

Brienne Tarth is currently standing in the doorway of the one abandoned house along the suburb’s longest street, accompanied by her partner Jaime Lannister—also known as the source of at least five of those very unexpected reasons why this posting was anything but boring. This house had been left empty and forgotten after its last owner passed away a decade ago. Even though rumours about it being haunted had unsurprisingly spread among the neighbourhood’s younger demographic, it seems harmless enough, most days.

But not today.

Today, its living room is splattered floor to ceiling with blood. No body, or bodies, not that she can see, but there’s a lot of blood.

And yet, Jaime is being unnaturally calm about all of this.

“We should call for back-up, Lannister.”

“Hmm,” Jaime grunts, as he makes his way into the living room, stepping around—no, he’s actually stepping on some of the blood.

“Lannister,” she hisses, “you are walking into an active crime scene.”

“I know what I’m doing, rookie,” he replies. What he’s doing is plastering himself to the floor—in one of the only clean human-sized spots in the whole room—and putting his nose right up to a particularly large puddle of blood. It’s so much blood. Whomever, or whatever, the blood once belonged to, they have to be dead by now.

“Lannister,” Brienne hisses again.

He holds up a finger to shush her. Rude. He’s—is he sniffing the puddle? And now he’s taking that same finger he used to shush her and—he’s dipping it into the blood. Brienne is about to hiss at him once more when he just—

puts his finger into his mouth.

“What. The. Fuck.”

“Interesting.” He smacks his lips. “There is a certain taste to it. Wanna try?” Jaime dips his finger in the puddle again and holds it out in her direction.

“Absolutely not! Are you insane?” That was a rhetorical question. He’s insane.

Jaime just sticks his finger in his mouth again, and sucks it clean. “It’s very sweet.”

Hold on.

“Did you say… sweet?”

“It’s fake blood, rookie,” he laughs. He dips his finger in the puddle again, and walks over to her. “Seriously. Try it.”

Brienne takes a sniff of Jaime’s finger. It does smell sweet, she supposes. Tentatively, she sticks her tongue out and licks his finger, resolutely ignoring the suggestive look in his eye.

“Huh. It is sweet. Tastes like… chocolate.”

“Told you.”

Brienne can’t help but blush with embarrassment as she thinks of her earlier overreaction. “How—how did you know it was fake?”

“Didn’t you notice a distinct lack of that metallic tang in the air, rookie?”

Oh. She had been so taken aback by the entire scene that she hadn’t really noticed, which just made her feel even more stupid. In fairness, it’s not as if she’s had the opportunity to encounter that many blood-soaked crime scenes.

“Anyway,” Jaime continues. “Had to make some one year for Myrcella’s Stranger’s Eve costume. Corn syrup, chocolate syrup, red food colouring.” He touches his still ‘blood’-stained finger to the tip of her nose. “Don’t let her sweet demeanour fool you, rookie. My daughter has a penchant for some pretty intense horror movies.”

Brienne wipes her nose on the back of her hand. She remembers the one time she and Jaime watched a horror movie over at her apartment, and she is absolutely sure Myrcella did not get that penchant from him.

“What should we do now, then? We’re just going to leave it?” she asks, as she follows Jaime out the door. “What if—what if it’s not all fake?”

“Ah, thorough as usual,” Jaime says, with that mocking tone that had so irritated her in her first few weeks on the job.

“You always say that like it’s a bad thing,” she retorts.

“Alright, fine,” he concedes, walking out into the overgrown front garden. “It might be something. Much more likely that it’s a Stranger’s Eve prank. Something usually happens to this house around this time of the year.”

Brienne pauses a few steps behind him. “We should still get forensics in to be absolutely sure.”

“We’ll need a cleaning crew, more like,” Jaime says, turning back around to face her. “And Podrick Payne is not ‘Forensics’, rookie.”

“He has a degree and a job title that says otherwise, Lannister.”

“A degree he received less than a year ago, and there’s barely enough proper equipment back at our poor excuse for a lab for that degree to have any use. Might I remind you that he was hired only to soothe the paranoid minds of all the rich bastards who live in this neighbourhood?”

“Oh, are you including yourself in that category, Jaime?” Brienne shoots back.

“You can save all that sneering for when you finally see my place tonight, Brienne.” Upon saying that, Jaime gives her a searching look. “You’re still coming over for dinner, right?”

“As long as I don’t arrive to a giant pot of fake blood bubbling on your stove, yes, I’m still coming over. My plans have not changed since you last asked me this morning, Jaime.”

“Good.” He looks relieved, and she’s really not quite sure why he’s anxious at all. She knows things have been—changing, lately, between them. She’s having dinner with him and his kids at his house, for Gods’ sakes, even if just as his friend. She and Jaime haven’t really done anything to nudge things firmly in the direction that she knows they’re already heading. But she had thought, between the two of them, that she should have much more cause to be anxious when that nudging finally begins.

Brienne Tarth is finding that there’s still so much more to Jaime Lannister that she hasn’t uncovered. And what she has uncovered so far—all of that already feels like three lifetimes’ worth of secrets.

“The kids are excited,” Jaime interrupts her thoughts, as they walk back out to their car.

“So am I.”

“You aren’t nervous?” That is definitely not a question he would bother asking if she was having dinner with them just as his friend. “You haven’t really spent much time with them besides those few times they’ve come to the station.”

“Not really, no,” Brienne shrugs. “I have full confidence in my charms.”

“Oh, do you?” he teases, as he opens the door for her. On the passenger side.

“Oh no you don’t. I’m driving. I have the keys.” She waves them in his face, making sure to keep an iron grip on them.

“Fine,” he groans, as he gets into the car. “I know you won’t ever listen to me, but could you at least drive slightly faster than turtle-speed, this time?”

“I drive at a perfectly adequate speed, thank you very much.”

Jaime rolls his eyes and closes the door. “So what were you saying about your charms?” he asks, when Brienne gets in on her rightful side.

“I charmed you. Grumpy old Lannister, complaining all day about being partnered with the rookie.”

“I’m very sure you were the grumpy one, being partnered with the Kingslayer.” He can say that word now with a kind of jokingly ominous tone that he would never have been able to muster in the early days of their partnership.

(Of course, that was months before he had told her the real story behind the name.)

Brienne starts the car and plants her hands on the steering wheel. “How about we review the evidence over dinner?”

“I’ll be more than happy to do so,” Jaime counters. “I’ll have Myrcella and Tommen on my side.”

“And I’ll have proof on mine,” she says, as she drives away from the abandoned house. “In addition to my charms.”

She has a feeling, in fact, that Jaime’s kids won’t be as partial to him as he might like to think.

Oh, dinner is going to be fun.

#fictober19 #jaime x brienne #braime #my fic #note the rating is T #i did not go the obvious route

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writteninsunshine · 5 years ago

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It’s Not Unusual - Uma/Doug/Evie - SFW

Title: It's Not Unusual Author: Donnie Fandom: Descendants Setting: Cafe in Auradon Pairing: Uma/Doug/Evie, Uma/Harry Hook/Gil, Doug/Evie Genre: Romance/Humor Rating: T Chapters: 1/1 Word Count: 1789 Type of Work: One-Shot Status: Complete Warnings: Polyamory, Polyamory Discussion, VK's are more likely to be poly than AK's, Doug's a virgin, Uma's afraid of commitment, Vague Kink Discussion, Uma's a dom as usual Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Summary: There was a never-ending bounty of cultural differences between Auradon and the Isle Of The Lost. Doug had never been so floored by one of them before. AN: So, I'm still working on writing and junk despite not having internet, especially while my tablet is throwing a fit and not wanting to work. I want to work on commissions, but I'm also pretty out of it and just need to unwind some. Maybe I'll work on another Clint Barton Bingo piece after this, but there's no promises. My main fandom right now is, apparently, Descendants. Whoops. Anyway, here we go!

Descendants Fic Masterlist It's Not Unusual ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “So, what do you say?” Uma looked flighty, impatience written in the crease of her brow and uncertainty in the straight line of her lips. Doug scooted slightly forward in his chair, leaning so that his chest pressed into the table for a second, before he sat back in his original position; nervous fidgeting, if Uma knew anything about reading people.

“I mean...” He began, pursing his lips and furrowing his brows, staring at the ornate, white metal table the three sat at, absently turning his class ring on his middle finger. Evie reached over carefully, a smile that could bewitch the coldest of hearts on her beautiful face, and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. “It's okay to take your time.” She offered with a little chuckle, “I think it's another culture difference.” “Yeah, it sure looks like it.” Uma rolled her eyes, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest, her left leg following to rest over her right knee. “You Auradon kids are spoon-fed the One True Love bullshit, but it doesn't have to be that way.” Evie's eyes cut and she mouthed 'language', though her head didn't turn to look at the other woman. It was clear that Doug was only growing more anxious with Uma's potential aggression, and the daughter of Ursula finally took a deep breath through her nose, held it, and let it out through her mouth. “I'm not looking for something closed off. For all intents and purposes, you and Evie are the primary in this relationship.” “Uma's dating Harry and Gil, too. Well, sort of.” Evie chuckled a little, “It's really not that uncommon on the Isle to have more than one date at a time. As far as I've heard, Uma's the best about talking about it first.” This time, it was Uma who received a sunshiny smile and tender glance, and Evie's hand slid over the small table, palm up. After a second's glance between Evie's hand and Doug's apprehensive frown, Uma leaned forward to take the other woman's hand and offered what she hoped was a kind smile. The way she felt her mouth moving, however, probably meant she'd only add to Doug's obvious discomfort with the subject. “I don't like for there to be secrets. I don't keep them because I wouldn't want them to be kept from me.” Uma informed, and Doug's slanted eyes widened slightly in understanding. So, the VK's really did understand some levels of decency. Not that he thought much that way after meeting Evie, but he did know that a lot of the AK's assumed that all of those on the Isle were morally bankrupt. Hell, he'd been one of them, at first. “Harry and Gil couldn't keep a secret if their lives depended on it, naturally, but I still wouldn't lie to them. And I know that when it comes down to it, if anyone is perfect for those idiots, it's each other. But they're still my idiots.” “Well, let me get this straight, then.” Doug finally piped up, leaning forward again to rest his elbows on the table, hands clasped up by his lips until he spoke again, pointing towards Uma but not at her, “You want to be in an open relationship with Evie and I, but also Harry and Gil,” Uma gave a curt nod, but let him finish, “But that means that you can come and go as you please?” “Exactly.” Had Gil been present at the little cafe they had chosen for this particularly interesting lunch date, he would have blurted something about Uma's fear of commitment. Which she didn't have. Commitment was her favorite thing in the world, right up there with Bilge Balls and doing dishes. “And what if one of us wants you when you don't want to be tied down?” The question was so far out of left field both Evie and Uma blinked several times and turned to slowly, fully face him. Uma's lips parted as if she might say something, and then closed, following that pattern three or four times before Evie cleared her throat. “I don't think her boys are like that.” She interjected, licking her rose red lips, “Most Isle kids don't get--” “Clingy.” Uma supplied, “I... Don't know how to answer that. I'm...” Scared of commitment, “Not exactly used to being in high demand when I don't want to be.” “So what do you do with Harry and Gil?” Doug asked, curious instead of interrogating, but it didn't stop Uma's defenses from rising around her like a physical wall. “If I want their attention, I seek them out. If I don't, I don't.” Her curt answer was punctuated by an uncomfortably harsh glare, and she tipped her head down to stare up her nose at him, “If you don't want to do this--” “No, it's not that!” Doug cut her off suddenly, leaving her balking at him as he stood, his chair knocked to the cobblestone street and both hands held out. The rest of the patrons of the cafe had turned to look, only adding to the sheepish smile on his face as he righted his chair and sat back down. “S-sorry.” Taking his own deep, calming breath, he finally closed his eyes, rubbing them behind his glasses. “I just... Don't understand, I guess. How you could want to be with someone, but then just... Not. I think I always want to be around Evie.” “And Harry and Gil are attached at the everything.” Uma shrugged slightly, placing both hands tented on her knee, “I'm sure you've seen cats, haven't you?” They had those both on and off the Isle, she knew that much. “Yeah, of course.” “Think of it like that. I'm very capable of...” She had to take a second to say the word, rushing it to push past the rising bile in her stomach at the mere thought, “Love. But I don't think it's prudent to only share it with one person, or to share it all the time. As such, I like to spread it to certain people, those that I find an actual attraction to.” Her eyes flitted to Evie, whose eyes gave a knowing twinkle, and her gentle, gracious smile spoke volumes to her knowledge of the subject, “I don't know you half as well as I know Evie, which isn't a lot in the first place, but... I'd be willing to give it a chance. You never know if you don't try.” Plus, Harry was already driving her insane with how clingy he'd become since Gil and Jay had decided to go on some giant gap year road trip. The biggest problem Uma had with it was that if Gil attempted college after that gap year, he'd be lucky to remember basic math. That and the fact that they wouldn't just let Harry tag along for the sake of his (and her) sanity. “You have a point.” Doug conceded, and he finally rested his nose against the top of his clasped hands and huffed. “I mean... I can't really say it's not appealing. You're both...” His eyes scanned Evie in his peripherals and then took in Uma with a soft sigh, “Wow. I can't believe either of you would--” “I'm going to stop you there, Doug.” Uma held up her hands in a defenseless position, shaking her head, “You have no reason to question it, neither of us would waste our time if we weren't interested.” “What she means is,” Evie jumped in, eyes a little wide as she took both of Doug's hands in hers and kissed his knuckles, “We wouldn't be having this conversation if she weren't invested. Uma doesn't throw her heart around for no reason.” Doug seemed a little more pliable with that, and he nodded carefully. The tense line of his shoulders melted away and Uma couldn't help but chuckle. “Too blunt?” “You still need to work on your people skills.” Evie replied with a playful roll of her eyes and an accompanying bright smile, “So, what do you say, honey pot?” Turning those beautiful doe eyes on Doug, she brushed his knuckles again with her thumb, and he seemed to melt just that much more. “Well... If my True Love is a VK, who's to say that I couldn't have another one?” Uma looked like she might bolt at the idea, but through some miracle managed to stay seated. She smiled, strained and anxious, but nodded a little bit, taking his acquiescence with as much grace as she could muster. “Alright, then we'll try it. But I do want you to try.” “Try what?” Uma's eyes narrowed and she was back to leaning back, arms crossed, guarded. “If we ask you to join us, and you don't already have plans with Harry and Gil, then I want you to try. You might find out you like it.” Prying one hand free of Evie's death grip, he held it palm-up on the table, waiting patiently, “I'm trying something I'm uncomfortable with, too. It's only fair that we're both clueless about some parts of this.” Considering it for what felt like a thousand eons, Uma stared at his hand like it just might bite her, before slowly snaking her own delicate hand into his. The handshake was firm, which surprised her, but she had to admit she was intrigued. “Alright.” She finally sighed, “But there's one other ground rule.” “And what's that?” Doug asked, skeptical of whatever it was she was about to lay down. Some kind of clause to let her slip out like a thief in the night for no reason? “I don't bottom.” Red from his chest to his ears, Doug choked on air at the admission, lurching forward as he coughed and Evie dutifully rubbed his back with a little tinkle of a laugh. Uma's domineering smirk would follow him into his dreams; Or maybe his nightmares? He wasn't sure. “Don't worry. If you aren't into it, either, I know someone we have in common who is.” She winked playfully at Evie, whose quick glance away spoke volumes accompanied by her silence, “It's Harry and I's deal, too, no penetration on each other. I can work with that.” Though she couldn't deny the sudden urge to see how Doug would handle being taken apart with pleasure. He had plenty of hair to tug on, at least. “We'll-- We'll have to, uh--” Doug sputtered, unable to meet either woman's eyes as he gulped, finally just hiding his face in his hands. “Uma, we haven't... Done that, yet.” Evie offered gently, feeling her cheeks flushing as a positively evil grin bloomed on Uma's lips. “Well, we'll have to work on that, then, won't we?” She questioned, leaning back more comfortably, now, reaching forward to take her little plate laden with chocolate covered strawberries to place on her own lap. “I'm sure I could figure out a good way to introduce you to it.” Her eyes were on Doug when she said it, “Don't worry. You're in good hands.” Doug wasn't so sure he was, if only because he suddenly felt even more out of his element. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ AN: Welp, there we go! I've been wanting to write something like this for a while, now, and like... I think I'm actually pretty happy with how this came out. It's kind of cute, and honestly, I love these babies. This won't be the only fic with Uma flitting around from ship to ship, by the way. I have... So many desires for her to be with everyone ever, so we'll see where this goes from here.

#descendants fanfic #descendants fanfiction #descendants uma #uma descendants #doug descendants #evie descendants #descendants evie #uma x doug x evie

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mysticsparklewings · 5 years ago

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Terrarium Nova

Would you guys believe this started out as me trying to practice trees & use up some leftover paints sitting in/on my palettes from other projects? The tree practicing is for a different project I'll be doing later, and I'll share the specifics of then But yeah, I have a good amount of leftover watercolor dried onto a couple of cheap palettes, as well as some acrylics paints in a palette meant to keep them fresh (but unless you monitor it and spritz them with water every couple of days, they will still eventually dry up) and I really hate to waste any of it if I can help it, especially when it's my slightly nicer stuff. (Some of it was, some of it wasn't) So I figured I'd try to kill two birds with one stone, and the end result ended up looking pretty cool, although I do still have some more paint that didn't get used here, so this may not be the last random-ish painting you see from me. Oh, and I was also recycling a little bit since I used the back of a giant piece of watercolor paper I had previously used as a protective mat for my desk. I started with the tree shapes, mostly inspired by Bonsai trunks, and that actually did use up pretty much all of the dark brownish paint I was using, so I was off to a strong start. Then I went in with some metallic watercolor that was leftover from my Butterfly Babe piece, which dried with more of the black and silver I had mixed into it on top for reason unbeknownst to me, so the first little hill/mound I made naturally came out darker and more silvery than the additional hills I added later than came out decidedly more gold. I think after that I added in the orange sun/planet (in my head it's the sun but a lot of the details here are very ambiguous in what they could potentially be) and an accompanying orange horizon line. Originally, I thought I was going to be making a very sunset-ish background with possibly a very red sky and mixing the yellows in more, but that obviously didn't end up happening. I was kinda just going with what I felt like and where the paint wanted to take me. So I ended up going in with the yellows (and later red and magenta) leftover from my $50 vs $4 Watercolors piece (these ones being the $50 ones, the $4 ones were put on a separate palette while I was using them so I wouldn't get the two mixed up) and ended up making many yellow hills to fill out the background some more, though admittedly the ones on the left kinda got away from me a little. And I'll pause here to say that I was using water brushes throughout this entire piece as opposed to actual paintbrushes, and every time I use those (at least when I'm getting proper water flow) I find that I tend to have a somewhat easier time getting certain watercolor effects, mostly when it comes to blending out hard edges. It's funny to me, as a lot of artists would say water brushes have a higher learning curve than regular brushes, and I'm sure some have a harder time with them. I think the main reason I have an easier time might be because back at the beginning of the year when I started re-discovering watercolor, the first set of paints that got (the Viviva watercolor sheets, for anyone who's curious) came with a water brush, and at the time I had never used one and was really excited to try it, as well as I just didn't have a ton of brushes at my disposal. Likewise, I spent a lot of my time learning watercolors on a water brush, whereas, naturally, most artists learn primarily on regular brushes. To be fair, I would like to one day invest in a slightly nicer set than the cheaper set of different size water brushes that I currently have, as these don't always flow correctly and at least one has a very slow leak where the top screws on, which hasn't caused any painting problems but is just kind of annoying because it very slowly gets my hand wet while I'm using it. Anyway. I then decided I hadn't used enough of that metallic paint and went in and added some dots of various sizes in the sky, since I didn't really feel like trying to make proper stars of any kind, but I wanted more up there and that seemed like a good place for more metallic paint. After that, the plan was to start on my red sky, but I started putting the red down and realized I hadn't cleaned my brush very good, so I got this interesting shimmery darker red color, and since I had already messed up, I liked the color enough I decided to make a moon out of it, which is why that red pot is hanging out over on the left side there. Why this "moon" and the "sun" are out at the same time, I couldn't tell you. Sometimes things just happen in art. That led me to the decision that instead of covering the whole sky in a color, I would just add some clouds, and I decided to got with the expensive magenta on my palette. Things were going fine until I grabbed more paint than water (as I was hoping for kind of pale/blended out soft clouds) and I ended up with some pretty nasty unblended lines one of the clouds and it was notably darker at the top than the others. And so I introduced the technique of "this one cloud got messed up so the rest of you have to suffer!" And I also kind of had to be okay with none of the blending and layering on them turning out super smooth or nice for consistency's sake. And you know, it's not fine art or anything, but it doesn't look as terrible as I thought it was going to. (Though that could really be said for this entire piece. ) I also ended up adding in the purple-y mountains in the foreground after feeling bad that I'd neglected some of the paints I'd originally been intended to use the most, and I think in the end it adds a nice contrast and kind of ties the magenta clouds into the piece as a whole more. I knew I still wanted to do leaves on my trees, which were still just bare trunks and branches by this point, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for them yet, so I did this kind of dome thing for the sky, after acknowledge I did not want to have to try and get a smooth, consistent blue wash around everything else I'd already painted in. (Yes, I once again forgot the principal rule of painting--put the background in first) While that dried, I took a break to ponder my next move. I hadn't used any of the acrylic paints that I had leftover (more than I originally would've had too, as I ended up making a sign for my mom that I haven't decided yet if I want to post or not) and one of the colors was green, which is a very basic choice for leaves, but I already had so many other strange colors going on that the basic blue sky and some simple green leaves didn't seem like asking too much. So then I just had to decide what the leaves were going to look like. In the end, I went with using the back end of a paintbrush to dot on some of the green and some of this pale, yellowy color, and a little of a mixture I made using those two colors together (originally for the sign, not this), and I tried to place the dots in mostly realistic places for leaves. And admittedly I could've done a lot more leaves and really filled out the trees, but I felt like it looked better with more of the trunk and branches showing. I also went with the dot thing partially to carry over the dots in the sky. I'm not really sure what kind of theme that is, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. And then last but not least, I signed it with a purple gelly roll, trying to balance in both color and placement just a wee bit. Funnily enough, the most tedious part of this process was actually what came after it was finished. Because I was working on a giant piece of watercolor paper that was previously a mat for my desk, and I wasn't really sure how this was going to turn out, naturally I wasn't really thinking about what size I was painting at while I was working. And wouldn't you know it, my poor painting here ended up being too long to fit in my scanner all at once. So I had to cut it out of the giant piece of paper and then scan it twice; once to get one end, and then a second time to get the other end. Then, of course, the two pieces had to be stitched together in Photoshop, which wasn't too bad. I then spent more minutes than I care to admit trying to figure out how/to what extent the best way was to single out the little oval-ish shape of the painting, as I thought that would be much nicer than leaving the ugly bits an pieces of white scanner background. I tried to keep the actual edges smooth, though I nixed the idea of having it be a perfect oval shape right from the get-go, mostly because of how much of the edges would get cut off in one area or another. So the shape itself is very imperfect. Still, I think in the end everything turned out pretty nice. And admittedly after how the later part of last week went for me, it felt really nice to just kind of go in and not really worry about the details or if everything was turning out exactly right or whatever. Sometimes you need to do something that's just loose and has very few rules to it like this. Personally, I think I really needed this at this time in particular, and for as unplanned and simple as it is, I'm really happy with how it turned out. The title is a little random; the shape and what I did with the sky kinda reminded me of a terrarium, and much like a nova is the birth of a star, this was a pretty spontaneous birth of a...planet, I guess. I almost called it "Terra Nova" (roughly "earth star birth") but upon Googling that because it sounded familiar, I decided I did not want to name it after a movie that came out in 2011 that I know nothing about and have no affiliation with. Anyway, things might be a little slower on the art front this week, as I have a bit of a tall order to-do list, but for the foreseeable future things are going to be somewhat interesting here; I finally ordered a gouache set I've had my eye on, and it should be here by the end of the week, as well as the tree thing I mentioned at the top of the description, and another project I've done some preliminary work for...Jeez, I have an awful lot to try to squeeze in before Inktober starts, don't I? Perhaps I'd best go and get started on all that. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

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neoangelz · 7 years ago

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cafe prince | jung jaehyun

college student!reader, barista!jaehyun, fluff, lots of nonsense that I tried to edit and fix pffffffft

overview: jaehyun has been nicknamed the cafe prince by the locals because of his handsome looks and charming personality. what they don’t know is that he’s really just a dork with stupid pickup lines that somehow manage to woo you.

word count: 2k+

The cafe seemed busier than usual. Students at this place wasn’t a surprise; they came here to study, gossip after school, grab a sweet treat, take pictures for social media to look cool, etc. Today, however, an unruly amount of teenage girls were packed inside the small building, giggling and trying to sneakily take pictures of someone working behind the counter. You peeked over the large line to see who attracted such a large crowd.

Suddenly you understood.

Behind the counter, carefully adding whipped cream and chocolate to a girl’s frappuccino, was a very good looking barista. Wisps of brown hair fanned in front of his lashes. He finished making the drink and handed it to the girl, flashing her a bright smile. You could feel the entire line of girls, and yourself, swoon. Then you shook your head, embarrassed at being seen acting like a fool. You’re a university student, not a blushing teen in love.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, it was finally your turn to order. The handsome barista returned to the cash register and rested his hands on the counter. He gave you a warm smile. “What can I get you?”

At that moment, you realized you didn’t even think about what you wanted, so to avoid embarrassing yourself further you said the quickest thing that came to mind. “The 127 latte.” You weren’t too fond of the 127 latte, but you panicked. There’s no turning back now.

“Hey that’s my favorite drink, good choice.” The barista winked at you. You fought the bubbly feeling that was making you a bit spacey and handed the money to him. As he was getting your change, you glanced at his name tag.

Jaehyun huh?

You noticed he was wearing an IU sweater under his apron. “Hey, I like IU. Her latest song with G-Dragon is good,” you said casually. Jaehyun looked up at you in surprise.

“How did you?-”

You pointed at his shirt and he looked down for a moment before he started giggling. A shy blush was evident on his cheeks. “Ah, I didn’t realize what shirt I had put on this morning. Yeah I’m kind of a big fan. I went to one of her fan signs and she autographed my album.”

“Did you get flustered?” Jaehyun snorted and got to work on finishing your latte, shy smirk on his face. You noticed deep dimples appearing.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t,” Jaehyun chuckled, sticking his tongue out at you. He handed you your latte and a napkin. You thanked him and went to find a place to sit. Some of the girls around you, mentioned you a few times in their conversation and you wondered what exactly they were saying about you. Sitting down at one of the booths in the back of the cafe, ready to study for your first exam, you noticed that Jaehyun scribbled something on your napkin.

Are you from France? Because madamn

You almost choked on your spit. You bit down hard on your lower lip so that you wouldn’t burst out laughing. What kind of lame pick up line- and to steal it from th internet no doubt. You couldn’t fight back the smile that stretched itself across your face as you took a sip of your latte.

For some reason, it tasted better than you remembered.

Months had passed since that day, and Jaehyun had earned himself a nickname from the locals. They referred to him as the Cafe Prince for his good looks and charming personality. Sure that was true, but you personally knew that he was also a giant dork with poor pick up lines that somehow managed to woo you.

Every time you came into the cafe, he greeted you with a wink. “What will it be today milady?” Which had you rolling your eyes, but smiling nonetheless. You knew each other’s names by now, and had this weird relationship going on. You started ordering the 127 late more frequently, mostly because it was a drink that took a while to make, which gave you time to converse with him. Within the time span of two to three minutes, you two talked about music, what you did outside of the cafe, where you go to school, etc. Of course only if there wasn’t a long line waiting behind you, then you only got a few words.

Today, however, you wanted something different.

“The Cherry Bomb tea sounds good to me.”

“Hey, that’s my favorite drink!” Jae laughed.

“Really? Because I thought the 127 latte was?” You raised your brow.

Jaehyun motioned for you to come closer. You leaned forward, and it was when you could feel his breath on your ear your realized exactly how close you were to him. Your heart sped up and mentally you told yourself to calm down.

“See, I’m not exactly a coffee person. I prefer tea,” he confessed. You pulled away with a dramatic gasp, covering your mouth to be even more so. Jaehyun laughed.

“You heathen!” You joked. You both laughed it off before he yelled your order over to his coworker, Taeyong, whom you had also became quite acquainted with. He then turned back to you.

“So how did your exams go? From what you told me last week, they sounded brutal,” he inquired. You groaned and started going on and on about how your professor kept adding unnecessary info in your study guides, causing extra stress. When you spoke, Jaehyun always paid close attention, his focus entirely on you when he wasn’t making a drink.

You heaved a sigh. “I think I did okay, but it was a stressful experience.”

Jaehyun patted your shoulder in sympathy. Today he was wearing a fitted black long sleeve shirt and jeans. A pair of rounded glasses rested perfectly on his nose. He always looked so incredibly good, it wasn’t fair. You couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles flexed when he worked, the tight material of his shirt only allowing you to see them even more. He could make even the slightest gestures look unbelievably hot, and the already attractive gestures become knockouts. For example: when he wears dress shirts and rolls the sleeves up.

The whole plan of you not becoming attracted and falling in love wasn’t working so well.

“I hate when professors do that, luckily I haven’t had anyone like that this semester,” Jaehyun said, adding a tiny bit of sakura syrup to your drink. He finished his work and handed you your drink. He leaned forward again and motioned towards Taeyong. “Hey look, this drink almost matches perfectly with Teayong over there.”

You placed your hand over your mouth to stifle your incoming laugh knowing very well that if Taeyong heard you, both you and Jae would get a slap upside the head. Taeyong had earned a nickname from the locals as Sakura Teayong because of his bright pink hair.

Taeyong placed his metal pitcher of steamed milk down and turned towards you two. “Are you guys making fun of me?” He leaned on his elbow and raised an eyebrow.

Both you and Jaehyun gulped and returned to your previous position and giggled.

You cleared your throat. “Aside from pinky over there, have you seen the others recently?”

There were also times where some of Jaehyun’s friends would come into the cafe and whole place always got ten times louder whenever they were around. It disrupted your study sessions. One time, you watched as a really tall boy ruffled Jaehyun’s hair while speaking in a cooing voice, causing Jae to laugh so hard he almost knocked over a pot of coffee. Then Taeyong came over and told them to quiet down or leave. For someone who appears as soft and gentle as he does, he sure wasnt someone to mess with.

“Nah I haven’t. But I overheard some girls talking about some really weird coffee that we don’t sell. What did they say? Lulu coffee?” His nose scrunched up as he tried to remember. He looked like a cute, confused puppy.

“Foofoo coffee?” You asked.

Jaehyun looked at you, even more confused. “Foofoo coffee?”

“Yeah, it’s what people call coffee with lots of syrups, sugar and whipped cream,” you explained. Jaehyun nodded before a dumb smile appeared on his face.

“Heh. Foofoo coffee.” Then he burst into a fit of giggles. He turned towards Taeyong. “Hey Ty?”

Taeyong turned around again. “What?”

Jaehyun could barely get the words out without snickering. “Foofoo.” Then he threw his head back and laughed so hard he had to brace himself on the counter as he slowly sunk down to the floor.

Taeyong sighed before pushing Jaehyun to the back. “This is why people don’t come here often, you’re too obnoxious and disrupt the peace I try so hard to preserve” he muttered under his breath. Jaehyun was still laughing in the background.

It had been almost eight months since you first met Jaehyun. Summer came and left, and now you were starting a new semester at college. Fall colors were everywhere and you were so happy to start wearing sweaters and sweatpants again. You and Jae had become so close, people at the cafe were wondering if you two were dating. You laughed at the thought.

“You’re the first person today to not ask for a pumpkin spice latte, it’s kind of refreshing,” Jaehyun sighed as he handed you your caramel iced latte, also known as the Yestoday Latte. You laughed and paid Jaehyun for the drink and went to your usual spot in the back. This time, you were upset to see that he hadn’t included a napkin with a terrible pick up line. You sighed, you were really looking forward to it, as much as you hated to admit it.

You can’t date the cute barista Y/N, you never engage in activity outside of the cafe. Just stop thinking about it.

As much as you tried to push down your silly feelings, they just resurfaced, growing each time. You couldn’t even focus on your homework because your thoughts kept distracting you. You let out a groan of frustration, slammed your textbook shut and gathered your things. Jaehyun watched as you leaved the cafe in a storm.

“Hey! Y/N, are you alright?” He called out.

He got no response as you hastily left the cafe and made your way home. Upon reaching home, you stormed up the stairs and into your room. You flopped onto your bed and let out the loudest and longest groan possible. You can’t keep hanging around the cafe, Jaehyun was too big of a distraction.

Since then, you ordered your drinks to go and left as soon as they were finished. Jaehyun was sad that you didn’t stick around, your presence always put him in a better mood. At first he wondered if you stopped hanging around because he forgot to write a pickup line for you on a napkin. It wasn’t that he forgot, he just couldn’t think of anything at the moment. Did you suddenly lose interest in him?

Days turned into weeks, which turned into a month. He only saw you when you ordered a drink and then left.

You thought that your life would get easier by not hanging around much, but you were wrong. You missed Jaehyun and his silly pick up lines. You missed watching him work from afar and engaging with his friends. You missed watching him getting smacked by Taeyong whenever Jae made fun of him, you missed his deep dimples and catching him looking at you or vice versa. You missed your conversations over your common interests and your lives at university.

Congratulations Y/N. You really like this dork.

You couldn’t deny that fact anymore. Looking over at your calendar, you decided to go to the cafe on Saturday. You had to talk with him.

Saturday morning, you woke up earlier than you wanted. Your body seemed to be anxious. You took a shower and put on a casual yet nice looking outfit of jeans and a sweater. Standing in front of your bathroom mirror, you desperately tried to hype yourself up and at the same time tried to calm your nerves.

You can do this, just casually invite him to go see that new movie you both were talking about. Not that hard.

If only it were that easy. The moment you stepped into the cafe, you were shocked to see that Jaehyun wasn’t there at the cash register. Taeyong was there instead. Did his work schedule change? You walked up, trying to not to look surprised or upset. However Taeyong could read you like an open book and gave a soft laugh when you walked up to the cash register.

“Jae isn’t here today, it’s his day off.”

You nodded and all hope flew out the window. I guess you would have to do it another time. You thought about going back home, but you didn’t want Taeyong getting suspicious, even though you’re sure he’s been onto you since day one. “What makes you think I’m here to see him? I just want a 127 latte please,” you huffed, crossing your arms.

Taeyong snorted. “Right away your highness,” he teased.

You rolled your eyes and waited for your drink. Taeyong made it faster than Jaehyun did. You unzipped your purse and got out your wallet to pay, but Taeyong stopped you. “It’s already taken care off,” he said, giving you a smile. Your eyes widened but you didn’t say anything. You were about to leave the cafe when Taeyong called out. “Hey what are you doing? You can’t leave with that cup!”

You looked down and realized he made your drink in one of the cafe cups, meaning you had to stay inside to drink it. To be fair, you never said to make it to go. Giving him a suspicious look, he just shrugged before winking at you. Before you could say something back, two costumers walked in. You went and sat at your usual spot in the back. The table had a bunch of napkins on it, the previous customers must’ve grabbed more than they needed. You reached for one and just stared at it, before you reached into your purse and pulled out a pen.

The napkins made you think of Jaehyun and his pick up lines.

Jaehyun.

Your hand moved before you even processed what you were doing. Two minutes later, the napkin was covered in doodles and Jaehyun’s name written in different ways. Soon you had gone through five napkins, each covered in doodles and Jaehyun’s name. You were busy working on the sixth one, forgetting all about your latte.

“Wow, you write my name nicer than I do.”

You shot up in surprise, the pen flying out of your hands. Jaehyun was leaning on the table, a mischievous smile on his face. Your heart did triple flips. “H-how long were you standing there?” You stuttered before words started to form properly. You made a move to scrunch up all the napkins you doodled on before he could see any more, cheeks flushed.

“Not long. Can I sit?” Jaehyun pointed to the spot across from you. You nodded and he slid in.

“So, I haven’t seen a whole lot of you. What’s up?”

This is it. This is your chance, right here, right now. “I’ve been kinda busy, I really want to do well in my classes. I’ve been studying more at home because I felt kind of distracted here.”

Jaehyun nodded. “I see. What was so distracting?”

You gulped. Was he on to you? Did he figure it out? Were you that obvious about your crush on him? Jaehyun was staring at you, his lips twitching into a smile. Jerk, he was totally doing this on purpose. You justed want to crawl into a hole and hide.

“Hey,” he said softly. You looked at him and tried to stay focused, but it was really hard to do that when he was looking at you so endearingly. This was so unfair.

“Hmm? Anyways, I uh was wondering if you’d like to- well it’s because we talked about it and you seemed really interested in it so I kinda figured-”

“Y/N?”

You stopped babbling. Jaehyun had leaned in super close to you, resting his chin on his hand. “Yes?” You held in your breath.

“Would you like to go out sometime?”

Was it your heart that exploded? You felt like you could rocket out of the building in excitement and yet your body relaxed, your nerves calmed down and you felt yourself melting under his gaze. You exhaled and rubbed your temples, cheeks flushed. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Jaehyun’s dimples never looked deeper as he gave you a big smile. The two of you sat there, just looking at each other until Jaehyun gently took hold of your hand and softly rubbed the back of it with his thumb. Your heart flip flopped at the gesture. You were so tempted to close the gap between the both of you, his lips looked so soft and inviting.

Jaehyun seemed to know what you were thinking, because he started to slowly move in. Then a hand shot between your faces and you both jumped away in shock.

“Ew, not in public please. I have a pda-free, friendly atmosphere to preserve,” Taeyong huffed.

You laughed but Jaehyun was glaring at Taeyong. You poked his cheek to get his attention. “Weren’t you going to take me out anyways, Cafe Prince?” You teased. Jaehyun grinned and took hold of your hand.

“Of course.”

#jung jaehyun #jung yoonoh #jaehyun x reader #jaehyun one shot #nct scenarios #nct oneshot #nct x reader #nct u #NCT 127

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wkakadrac · 8 years ago

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Work in Progress: Zakhara for 5E

I’ve had to scrap a lot of my prior work re: Adapting Al-Qadim content for 5th Edition due to major balancing, overlap, and / or over-complication issues. Progress continues to be made, if a fair deal slower, so expect me to release a bunch of posts on the matter eventually.

That said, I’ve also begun work on an Plane Shift:Zendikar-esque primer for people interested in running games in the Land of Fate. Below is what I’ve currently completed, with the main things I still need to include / write out being:

1) A proper geographic summary of Zakhara

2) The differences between the Al-Badia (nomadic) and Al-Hadhar (settled) demographics

3) A rundown of the Cities of the Ancient

4) A theological tl;dr of Zakhara’s predominant faith(s) / deities

5) Some suggestions on how to apply existing Background options to the Zakhara setting.

If all goes well the rough draft should be complete by today, at which point I can try slapping it down in the DM’s Guild by Wednesday for feedback. If anyone has any critique, commentary, desired additions, or so-on, my Ask Box and Replies are always open. Bear in mind that some thematic aspects of the AD&D2E setting will be omitted to keep the adaptation in line with modern Wizards / 5E design principles, leaving DMs who further research the subject free to decide whether they want to include such themes / content or not.

"There is no Fate but the Fate which we are given." -Zakharan proverb

Introduction Dungeons and Dragons has a rich history of official campaign settings stretching back over a span of four decades and five editions. A treasure trove of inspiration for Dungeon Masters seeking to add something unique to their campaign, this document offers a brief look at one of the more frequently acknowledged - but rarely focused upon - backdrops of the Abeir-Toril setting: Zakhara.

Released as "Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures" back in 1992 for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, the setting of Zakhara was in some regards a prototype of the modern Dungeons & Dragon world. It featured some of the first official Dungeons & Dragons material to separate a creature's race from a universal archetype or nature, introduced several monsters that have gone to become staples in modern Monstrous Manuals, and made extensive use of class kits whose designs were closer to modern class archetypes than they were the usual AD&D 2nd Edition kits. At the same time, it was - and still is - a world of its own, drawing inspiration heavily from arabic history and mythology both pre- and post-Islam as well as contemporary (at-the-time) pop culture invoking to the same subjects.

Pushed to the wayside during the 3rd and 4th Editions of Dungeons and Dragons, the setting was brought back to the attention of Dungeons and Dragons players with the release of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide in late 2015. Teasing readers with hints of the distant land, it is my hope that this document will further kindle that spark of curiosity and inspiration within players and dungeon masters alike.

Zakhara: The Land of Fate "Far to the south of Faerún, beyond Calimshan and even the jungles of Chult, are the Lands of Fate. Surrounded by waters thick with pirates and corsairs, Zakhara is a place less hospitable than most, but still braved by travelers who hope to profit from its exotic goods and strange magics. Like Kara-Tur, Zakhara seems a world away to Faerúnians. It is thought of as a vast desert, sprinkled with glittering cities like scattered gems. Romantic tales abound of scimitar-wielding rogues riding flying carpets and of genies bound in service to humans. Their mages, called sha'ir, practice their magic with the aid of geneies and, it is said, might carry the lineage of these elemental beings in their blood." - Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

"Zakhara is a world of extremes. Travelers may cross a seemingly endless sea of dunes, cresting wave after wave, and then suddenly find an oasis as lush as any imagined paradise. They may climb snow-capped mountains that soar above 15,000 feet, or discover the deadly Pit of the Ghuls, whose murky depths plug well below the level of the distant sea." - Adventurer's Guide to Zakhara

Provide a quick overview of the overall geography and major differences from the north. The expansive deserts that define its more iconic Western lands and the lush jungles clinging to its Eastern shores. The preponderance of Genies and other Elemental kin and relative absence of many traditional beasts such as Dragons. How its gods defy the common northern conventions of belonging to any one race or sub-race in either worship or form.

>Al-Badia & Al-Hadhar< Use this section to highlight the two (broad) lifestyles of Zakhara: Al-Badia (Nomadic) and Al-Hadhar (Settled)

>Domains Within Zakhara< Offer a brief summary of the following reaches:

>>Cities of the North<< The northernmost polities of Zakhara, closest to the Great Sea and Faerún. Major cities include Hawa (practical capital to the Corsair Domains), Qudra (Huzuz's most firm grip on the region), and the so-called Free Cities of Hafayah, Liham, Muluk, Qadib, Umara, and Utaqa: Relatively independent city-states as well as the most common destination of foreign visitors and merchants to the Land of Fate.

>>Cities of the Heart<< The geographic and political heartland of Zakhara, located along the fertile stretches of land bordering Suq Bay and its tributaries. Here lay Huzuz, seat of the Master of the Enlightened Throne and peer to Waterdeep in both size and grandeur. Other major cities include Halwa, Hiyal, and Wasat.

>>Cities of the Pearl<< The chief economic financiers of Zakhara, located along the Western shores of the Golden Gulf and Crowded Sea. While its cities - Ajayib, Gana, Jumlat, Sikak, and Tajar - are among the wealthiest in Zakhara, only Jumlat and Gana actually produce pearls in noteworthy quantities. The rest make do with othervaluable exports, including rare metals, spices, woods, and other exotic wares.

>>Cities of the Pantheon<< The spiritual heartland of Zakhara, situated along the Eastern shores of the Golden Gulf and Crowded Sea. Here one will find the most pious and stringent adherents to Enlightenment in the form of the Pantheist League, though the form this piety takes sometimes varies greatly between members. Major cities include Fahhas, Hilm, Hudid, I'tiraf, Mahabba, and Talab.

>>Cities of the Ancients<< The

Races of Zakhara Ostensibly, humans are the dominant race within the Land of Fate. They are by far both the most populous and most widespread of its inhabitants, and it is with their city-states that those outside of the realm most frequently interact with. No other nation within the Land of Fate comes close in either size or breadth to that pledged to the Enlightened Throne.

In practice, however, the division of power is highly complex. Many settlements disproportionately include nonhuman races among their seats of soft and / or hard power. Genies and their kin frequently serve as advisors and generals to the mortal leaders of the Land of Fate, with many more wandering its vast wilderness in pursuit of their own agendas. In the East villainous Yak-Men operate with nigh-impunity from their stronghold within World Pillar Mountains, and in the south the jungles of the Haunted Lands yield only the most tenuous of grips to its recent Zakharan occupiers.

Nonhuman races account for approximately ten percent of the total population in most Zakharan settlements, this number trending closer to fifteen or even twenty percent within more cosmopolitan cities such as Qudra and Hiyal while the cities of the Pantheist League rarely surpass more than a five percent nonhuman demographic on their official census'. The predominant nonhuman races found in major cities include - but are not limited to - elves, half-elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, orcs, half-orcs, genasi, kobolds, ogres, goblins, hobgoblins, hill giants, lizardfolk, and gnolls, with coastal settlements often including communities of merfolk and locathah as well.

To outsiders looking in, Zakharan society can appear almost alien or even mad. Dwarves laughing alongside kobolds and hill giants at a city's dock as they wait to unload their final vessel of the day. Lizardfolk in suits of maile standing watch as an ogre in fine clothes supervises the closing of their shop. Gnolls kneeling alongside elf and human as the sound of prayer bells echoes through a caravanserai. But to natives of the Land of Fate, this melting pot of various races and origins comes as naturally as the rising of the sun or the stages of the moon. And while it would be inaccurate to say that race has no bearing whatsoever, it is ultimately how one acts - what values they come to honor and exemplify - that is most important within Zakhara.

Faiths of Zakhara Use this section to give a brief rundown of The Loregiver, Enlightenment, and the local divines. Also mention Kahin (Idol-Priests) and the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods. Only deities marked with an asterix (*) are viewed as proper deities within the Pantheist League.

>Zakharan Deities<

Deity; Ideal; Symbol Bala of the Tidings; Music; A zither *Hajama the Courageous; Bravery; A featureless disk Hakiyah of the Sea Breezes; Honesty, Truth; A cresting wave Haku, Master of the Desert Wind; Freedom, Independence; A stylized gust of wind *Jauhar the Gemmed; Wealth; A gold dinar Jisan of the Floods; Fruitfulness; A rain cloud *Kor the Venerable; Wisdom; A sunburst *Najm the Adventurous; Adventure, Curiosity; A single arrow pointed upward *Selan the Beautiful Moon; Beauty; A ringed moon Vataqatal the Warrior-Slave; War, Duty; A red-bladed sword Zann the Learned; Intelligence, Learning; A fountain's jet

Player Backgrounds

>NEW BACKGROUNDS< Desert Rider Oft traveling beyond the outskirts of society, you have spent nearly as much of your life in the saddle as you have on your own two feet. Whether you hail from one of the many nomadic tribes who eek out a living in Zakhara's unforgiving wilderness, delivered messages or goods between distant city-states and villagers, or sought to put your past as far behind you physically as it was chronologically, you have learned not only the art of survival but how best to handle and care for your steed in the most tumultuous of situations.

Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Survival Tool Proficiencies: One type of musical instrument. Languages: One of your choice. Equipment: Your steed, a pack or riding saddle, a set of common clothes, a worn but functional tent, and 5 gp.

Trusty Steed Well suited for desert environments, Camels remain the traditional mount of choice for Desert Riders hailing from the Land of Fate. Be that as it may, adventurers are rarely a traditional lot and hail from a wide variety of sizes, cultures, lands, and circumstances. Should you prefer a different mount, discuss with your DM possible alternatives to choose from. Potential steeds should generally be of 50GP value or less, or - in the case of creatures without a given market value - 1/4 CR or lower. Example alternatives from a Desert environment include several breeds of Draft Horses, Giant Lizards, and - in the case of Small riders - Giant Wolf Spiders.

Feature: Born in the Saddle So long as you are not incapacitated, you have advantage on saving throws made to avoid falling off your mount and grant your mount advantage on Wisdom saving throws against being charmed or frightened. Furthermore, so long as you remain within 30' of your mount, you may treat their exhaustion level as one point lower than it actually is. Thus a steed with one level of exhaustion does not suffer from Disadvantage on their ability checks, while a steed with two levels can still move at its full movement rate.

Matrud You did not always live on the margins of society. Once you had a place to call home, people you could call family and friends who would staunchly vouch for your honor. They're gone now, taken from you by your exile. Maybe you committed whatever unspeakable crime it is that stains your reputation, or perhaps you were framed by another in an attempt to ruin you or your family. Whatever the truth, you have learned not only how to survive but to thrive with nothing more than your wits, the strength of your arm, and what few belongings you have yet managed carry with you.

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Perception Tool Proficiencies: One type of tools from the following: Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit, Herbalism Kit, Poisoner's Kit, Thieves' Tools. Languages: One of your choice. Equipment: A set of tools (one of your choice), a set of traveler's clothes, a bag of caltrops, and a pouch containing 10 gp.

Feature: Ear to the Ground You can easily find the local outpost of the watch or similar organizations, and just as easily pick out dens of criminal activity within a community. In addition, you can't be surprised by allies or recent (≤1 minute) former allies while you are still conscious.

Additional Materials

Playtested rules for Aarakocra, Deep Gnome, Genasi, and Goliath player characters may be found in the Elemental Evil Players Companion available on dnd.wizards.com .

Rules for Pyromancer Sorcerous Origin and Inventing Options may be found in Plane Shift: Kaladesh available at either dnd.wizards.com or magic.wizards.com .

Rules for Merfolk player characters may be found in Plane Shift: Zendikar available at either dnd.wizards.com or magic.wizards.com .

Playtested rules for the Storm Sorcerous Origin and expanded backgrounds may be found within the "Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide" (ISBN 9780786965809) available for purchase at dnd.wizards.com.

Playtested rules for Aasimar, Firbolg, Goliath, Kenku, Lizardfolk, Tabaxi, Triton, Bugbear, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Kobold, Orc, and Yuan-Ti Pureblood player characters may be found within "Volo's Guide to Monsters" (ISBN 9780786966011) available for purchase at dnd.wizards.com .

#dungeons & dragons #d&d 5e #Al-Qadim #Zakhara #Al Qadim #5E #D&D

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tristanlovesthequeen · 3 years ago

Text

Son/of/Aragon

Son of Aragon

Episode 1

We find Basels son Sergio on horseback on the path to the brewery. There are moths and pollen in the air, everywhere there is beauty. The world whispers.

Besel: Hello, dear reader, I am Basel the ancient wizard. I have gone on holiday, away from general wizardry and heroism to stay with my dear friends. Who are they? The elven monks who run the brewery Eastvleteran, the namesake of which is also a drink which I helped invent.

(Enter into Basel's chamber where he is working on an illuminated manuscript. Tic toc tic toc a timer is ticking in the background. The timer dings)!

Basel: Ahh time for dinner to be cooked. (Puts rabbit chunks in pot of stew. Sets aside rabbit skin in a bowl). That will be for the rabbit skin glue. We'll let that churn a bit. Ah yes, now back to my manuscript. What's the occasion you say? Behold...(Basel sits at desk, page zooms in on manuscript page.

(In story mode)

Basel: It all started with an empty amulet. The amulet was a gift from the elven god Adrifan, god of the ether realm to his love interest, the the high priestess of the celts, Apixa. Her beauty was reknowned throughout heaven and earth. She was born of this world from the stamen of a forest flower, fertilized by a sacred spirit, who was rebirthed as a bee on his visit from the heavens. Her family were the fairies who lived in the woods that encapsulated this forest flower. The elf found her one day while hunting geese at a nearby pond. He saw her amongst the tall reeds bathing. It was love at first sight. You may wonder what this has to do with anything. It is an ancient elven secret that the monks have kept. On every anniversary of the meeting of Adrifan and Apixa, a warrior who is righteous in spirit and will retrieve the amulet from the sacred place, and return it to the elven kingdom for the ceremony of restoration. The transporters of the heart will receive knighthood in the elven kingdom and the ceremony brings purity back to the elves.

(Three raps at the door and Basel answers to find Sergio at the door).

Basel: Sergio my boy! I've been expecting you! Come right in, you are most welcome.

(Sergio is not the only one looking for Basel. A demi-vampire has been following Sergio through the woods in the form of a bat).

Sergio and Basel sit down to Mugwort tea.

Sergio: (Holding cup). How have you been pop?

Basel: (Takes sip). I'm glad you asked. It was happenstance that I found myself in Whimzleton at the National Gallery in a meeting with the portraits of the Greats. While discussing Fair Trade Diamonds, a thief stole a minor work called “Reclining Nude of Grizelda,” done by the late fauvist painter Rees Van Livingston, c. 1905. He was attacked by a museum guard with a billyclub, poor boy, and as he fell, he ripped right through the canvas face first. This, of course, was in front of the fair trade diamond protest of the gnomes of the North, which is why I was there in the first place. The leader of the protest started to shout on his blowhorn, which aggrivated the guard. People started to argue which was disrupting my meeting, and, before a riot could assue, I cast a spell to freeze time. I cast another spell that healed the thief, flawlessly stitched the painting, and wiped the memories of the crowd. When the authorities arrived, everyone was very confused as to why the thief was carrying the painting through the museum in the first place, casually observing the main hall. He was arrested on the spot and the painting was returned to the museum, an amalgam of errors easily removed.

Stake: (Arrives at window as a bat). Screech Screech!

Basel: (Noticing window). Stake! Show your true form my lad, you could have given an old wizard like me a cardiac arrest! Not that I would succumb to such candor. (Opens door).

(The bat turns into his elf-like form).

Basel: Ah good, just in time for supper. Stake, would you come in?

Stake: I thought you'd never ask.

Basel: (Takes sip from ladle over stove). Please sit, the rabbit stew is ready. (Places a bowl of stew in front of Sergio and one in front of Stake with a spoon. Sergio begins to slurp).

Sergio: How do you two know each other?

Basel: Stake is a knight here on elven territory.

Sergio: Then why was he...(motions toward window).

Stake: I am also part vampire. I'd say, half elf, half vampire. Dema-elf. After all my years as a knight, I have been assigned this year to retrieve the sacred amulet due to my condition as a vampire. After the way my wife and I were transformed, the elven society believes my life to be unhealthy. The constant blood lust is the source of constant ridicule for my fellow knights, however shallow it may be. So I have come to find you, Sergio, to accompany me on this quest.

Basel: The high priestess has given me a wind chime that enchants the spirit, allows one to see the location of the amulet, the prize gift from the warrior spirit. I will be your guide.

Sergio: Wait what? I was eating soup.

Basel: I said you're going on this trip, it will be a great diservice to everyone if--

Sergio: Relax, I heard you the first time. Why me?

Stake: Given your superior strengths as a wizard--

Sergio: Yeah, I got ya, very powerful mage, yadda yadda, when do we leave?

(They set off on their journey Sergio on a giant lion. Stake is a bat. First location is the forest. They travel along the coast and stop for the night).

Stake: Let's stop for the night, we'll resume tomorrow.

Sergio: Oh you mean we'll be alive tomorrow? Super.

Stake: Mmmaybe. I will. You might not make it.

(Stake and Sergio set up camp and Stake start to read by the fire).

Sergio: (In a thought bubble). Sometimes I start to read and realize the words are about me. Take for example, this part of the book. This actually happened to me. I must be famous or something.

(In the text) There was one time when I tried to get Satan Himself to help stop my pop from controlling Earth realm. He was offended. And when Satan is offended, all hell breaks loose, literally.

(Sergio hides behind a 1968 Pontiac GTO waiting to attack. Bullets fly over him. He is in Hell. Hell looks like a cavern underneath the earth. He pops up and shoots flame from his hands at his attacker who is Satan.

Satan leaps into the air with a tommy gun narrowly avoiding Sergio's attack. He lands in a drop kick knocking Sergio flat.

Sergio kip ups and one of Satan's minions tries to run him over in an El Dorado Super Sport. Sergio back flips over the car and it t-bones into the shelled out GTO. The minion is dead, smashed through the glass, on the hood.

Sergio: Just come with me politely and I won't fry you to a crisp.

Satan: What am I a cuck, Sergee? How long have I known thee?

The devil spins into the air letting out a spiral of bullets.

Serge leaps under the devil, grabs his legs and slams him into the hood of the GTO with a cold shoulder.

Satan: Yowee!!

Sergio: You goddamn snake! Keep off me!

(They roll off the hood of the car and the devil gun butts Sergio's jaw. Serge puts his two hands to the devil's gut and torches him up into the air. Faroosh! Cut to devil's face, it says radio edit over his mouth like a type writer. Devil lands on his feet with a crunch! It cracks the ground).

Satan: You think you can contain me? I am the devil!

Serge snaps his fingers and a diver's cage drops on the devil.

Satan: Daww. (Slumps in cage) So anyways... (walks out of cage through front door). May I offer you a cigar? (Take out couple of cigars).

Sergio: Naw I don't smoke. Spits. Wipes mouth.

Satan: If you say you don't. What is it that you want me to do Sergio? (Checks scratch on arm).

Sergio: It's my Dad, he's attempting to take over Earth realm again. I need--

Satan: Eh, you want.

Sergio: I want you to come serve him up a slice of devil's pie.

Satan: With you? Please, Sergee, what a bum you're being. Who am I with? I live in hell! I'm the guy that never leaves, y'know Prince of Darkness, has wife, grandkids, little brats, minions, y'know the whole shebang. What do I care what goes on on Earth? I live in the immortal afterrealm. You're threatening my whole way of being, here.

Sergio: Don't be a dipshit. The more deaths there are on earth caused on Earth by my father, the larger his undead army will become, his army will become stronger while your army diminishes.

Satan: What has he lost his shit again? In other words hell on earth. Look kid, I'm already slaying princess Leia, my army of minions is well established and only really comes in handy when fighting against the heavens. Hell on Earth? Let those guys deal with it (points upward)

Sergio: Forget I even asked. Thanks for the fight.

Stake: (In a thought bubble). I have on occasion, dealt with the devil, and like all full blooded vampires, he only cares for himself.

Sergio: (In a thought bubble). Can't say I care for him. (Voice bubble) One thing I have been meaning to ask you, can't believe I didn't get around to it sooner, you're a daywalker right? (Lays back on Leo).

Stake: Correct. I would consider myself half elf. That is elven born. It is for this reason that I haven't completely been overcome by vampire desires. (Fades to dream) In 1869 I was to be married to an elven princess. Her beauty was unparalleled. We were madly in love and would often take trysts in the forest where we would... shag about. I was to travel off to war with the elven army, the king had made plans with the gnomes to sell one thousand pieces of elven chain mail and they had scoffed at his offer, saying gnomish grade metal would suffice. On top of that a gnome had seduced an elvish chambermaid during his stay at a hospital on our land. Needless to say, a victorian era elven king is not the most easygoing person hood, and in the face of the gnomes' offense, he called for a draconian response. Before we set off, and before she could pout, I asked her to be my bride. She said yes! I was so enthusiastic I asked for the royal hall to throw a ball after the wedding ceremony. That night, as my wife lay awake in anticipation.

Vive: I desire, half crack! A vampire in the form of a bat sat outside her window.

Vampire: Dear little, wife, how my soul aches for thee. It is I, Pavel, ahem I mean Stake, wouldn't you care to see me before the wedding. I can give you what you desire...

Vive: No you can't! (crosses arms and starts to pout)

(Door starts to open with a creak)

SERGIO: Wait, what? A vampire, that seems a tad bit random.

STAKE: Almost. In a battle with Aragon's army, I had decapitated a warrior king. I later found out that with a few stitches and Aragon's magic he had been ressurected as a vampire-drago, vampire of dragon blood. From then on he had been stalking us, I had felt evil eyes watching from afar, feeling his cries that he would someday come for my bride.

SERGIO: Devilish. So she turned into a vampire?

STAKE: Yesssss. Unfortunately the bite on her neck is not all he left with. (Stake looks down and tears start to fall from his wincing face). I still recognized her as my bride as did the royal court and that night we attended the royal ball although shaken by the events prior to the wedding. She seemed faint and not all there. Frowns were upon us.

Ball attendee 1: She was raped (Turns back to wife)

Ball attendee 2: She sees someone else (Turns back to husband)

Ball attendee 3: You gave her to him. He impaled her mouth with his--

(Stake and Vive hand in hand start to frown)

(Focus on their hands clasped, they start to squeeze)

Stake: She whispered to me...

Vive: You are my fate, live with me forevermore as my sex slave, and I will seduce you every night. We will make deep passionate love in every sect of our chambers. I want you in between my thighsss...”

Stake: How was I to live without my beautiful wife, as vampirellic as she was, and with that we kissed as she sunk her teeth into my tongue. (DREAM SEQUENCE ENDS)

SERGIO: What happened to the vampire that turned her?

STAKE: I still feel his taunts, he is seldomly ever seen or heard from, especially not in the elven kingdom and as a vampire I feel akin to him in some ways which makes it impossible to kill him.

SERGIO: So why seek the amulet?

STAKE: It will cure my bloodlust and that of my wife. The elves still ridicule me even though it is under their breath. Once worn one is immediately cured from that which guilts him. Only those who know it's true location can don it, and it is said to bring euphoria to those who wear it, which might make it difficult to take off.

SERGIO: Sounds interesting. Well I'm feeling glum. Time for me nap.

(Dream Sequence)

(Sergio sees Aragon at his crystal ball. A covered with hands appears and it is Basel ringing the windchime. He turns.

Basel: Sergio my dear boy! So glad I have found you. (Dog barks). Down girl down! Good girl. You deserve a treat. The ring of the windchime is leading us out of the forest to the city of Yarx. You and Stake should have no trouble finding it if you continue east. Watch for the temple in the midst of the forest.

Crystal ball starts to crack and Aragon's eyes roll back as he faints. Dream fades and it is dawn. Serge yawns and stretches. He is propped on Leo. She opens one eye and goes back to sleep. He has been riding the lion since he was a boy and they have a deep bond. Whatever happens to the lion in essence happens to Sergio. Stake is still asleep. He farts. There is a raccoon corpse next to him drained from the night before. A nightingale lands on his napsack and starts to sing green sleeves. He hisses and snatches at it with his eyes closed and it flies away. He is awake. Serge throws some beans and eggs on the griddle atop the fire.))

Serge: Want some?

Stake: Yes'm.

Serge: Basel contacted me in a dream. We're to head east to Yarx.

((Cut to scene of tavelling through jungle. Sergio is on the lion, Stake is flying as a bat. We're going on a lion hunt. Trudge, trudge, trudge. A hidden temple! Can't go under it. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Can't go through it. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Gotta go over it! Trudge. They hike up the temple steps into the throne room. It is made of stone with torches alight along the walls. There are one million bananas in a pile against the back wall.))

Tiger: Roarr! ((A tiger runs out at them and the lion leaps in front of her bucking Sergio onto the ground. They get up into each other's personal spaces and grapple. RAWOORAWOO! A banana salesman boomerangs a banana at the tiger.

Banana salesman: Now Catsy! That's not how we treat our new guests! (Wearing underwear. Pets Catsy under jaw as she purrs.) I've been in this temple hoarding bananas. It is how I gain my bride. Do you know how long it takes to hoard a million bananas? Speak!

Serge: Can't say.

Banana Salesman: (Putting on overalls) Not that long actually. You see they're everywhere. Me and Catsy here maintain the stock. What brings you to the jungle?

Sergio: We're on our way to Yarx coming from an elven monastery. This is the only way through. I'm Sergio, this is Stake.

Banana salesman: How about the cat?

Sergio: The lion's name is Castle.

Banana salesman: My name is True. I'm actually on my way to Yarx. I've got a big rig. If you help me load the bananas I'd be more than happy to take you the rest of the way. (Stake and Serge look at each other and shrug.)

True: Load em up!! (True has created an incredible machine to load the bananas. Serge pops a balloon with a force wave. A feather escapes and tickles the toes of a sleeping nymph. She laughs and sits up hitting her heard on a platform. A can of beans rolls off and falls into a glass. The platform sinks and releases a machete that swings cutting the rope of a catapult that sends a nymph in a helmet flying over with a parachute and a blowhorn

Nymph: Move em out cows go go go!

(They are frightened and start galloping off. They are tied to a net containing a gigantic load of bananas. They split up and the bananas are hoisted onto the back of the big rig. Another nymph closes the pull down and locks the back. True ends with a glass of milk. Aaahhh. Serge and Stake look at each other and high five.)

Episode 4

(Serge has fallen asleep in the cockpit of the vehicle. He begins to dream. Drream sequence begins) Basel is on a fixed gear. He stops to do a trackstand. Does tailspin hopping over handlebars and lands in a trackstand. He begins to ride. He is dressed in full messenger attire.

Basel: Hey Serge, I hear you're gonna be in Yarx, hit me up dude! I've got a document here for you that I''ve delivered to Merril's, it's an old stationary store that we used to rack from. It's a right of passage that you will need to get you to the Amulet of the Sacred Heart. I'll explain more later. Toodles, I gotta get tatted after my next run.

Serge awakens and True has arrived at a small shack where he is selling off the load of bananas to a business owner. He climbs to the top of the truck and opens the back letting the bananas slide all over the ground.

True: Enjoy! (He says with a smile. He hops back in the truck.) Hey thanks again for coming with. I have one small errand to run.

Stake: Which isss?

True: To find my wife.

The Legend Of ETF (Truck drives into the distance)

Stake: Mind if we come with?

True: Not at all. I could use the company actually, she stays with a graffiti crew whose name is ETF, they have a mission for my wife to do before we get married...at least I say she's my wife.

(We find ETF inside of a dingy old apartment with high ceilings. The room is reminiscent of an old drug den, cluttered yet fancy, and covered in tags. There are five people, one standing. We hear the door ring.)

True: BUZZUP! Hey can I come up?

Spake: Yea that's chill, come on up! (Hand on buzzer)

(Oner turns to leave) Yo I gotta leave theres peopl--

Spake: It's chill.

This is Big Lug, he is the leader of the team. Big Lug is using a 3d computer that surrounds the room. He is using scarlet sage which provides him with a brain chemical that allows him to control his virtual realm in cyber space.

Serge, Stake, and True enter the room.

Big Lug: True! Buddy, long time no see! How long has it been?

True: About three months

Big Lug: Naw man, it's been a year! Don't worry, we've been waiting for you (Sniff's fingers) Here smell that? (Puts fingers in front of True's nose, he refuses.) It's your wife's butthole, don't worry we've been keeping her safe, well, I have.

True: You make me want to vomit.

Big Lug: I'm just messing with you man. You know it's all love. Now come here.

(True receives bearhug from Big Lug) True: Can't breathe.

(From corner of the room) Guy with teddy bear aka Spake: I've been so lonely.

Big Lug: I'll give you a squeeze.

Spake: I'd rather vomit.

Guernica: I hear this little voice.

Toubolde: You sure you're alright? I mean maybe you should take your meds. (To Big Lug). Man he's depressive. Shyaa! We all hear voices!

True: So what's the plan? I sold the bananas and made a mint! I could live off this for the rest of my life.

Big Lug: So the plan is to do a hangover. I mean hang off. Sorry the scarlet sage tends to have its effect.

True: Doesn't the fall cause us to, um, die?

Big Lug: I've created a program that allows the user to create three dimensional holograms that transpose upon any outdoor surface in the natural realm. Of course it will be seen in public, but nevertheless nothing illegal. And yet illegal (stares off into space).

(In a bubble)

Big lug: There are two ways into the application. The old fashioned way, which I use, might hurt your head. The other way is to use a VR helmet. To each his own.

(A Safari van is flanked by two vespas. They are going Straight to L.A. To the heavens...)

Rivera, Toubolde, Big Lug, Spake, True, Stake, and Sergio are crouched on a grassy embankment on the side of the freeway in L.A..

(Cats purr).

Deb: Hey guys I'm here! Can I help? I brought cans.

True: Thank the lord! (gives her a big hug)

Sergio: Well, I thought about it, I could climb up that pipe, cut the razor wire. shimmy over to the far left above oncoming traffic while the wind billows me around. Or I could just point and click (Snap! Snaps his fingers. And a funky hologram that reads “Sergio” appears on the back of the freeway sign. I'll watch, you write. Maybe take flicks (hands in shape of camera).

As a team they climb like gorillas up the freeway sign's column.

Rivera: We're about to f*ck this sh*t up

Toubolde: Be the cockiest you can be on this sign.

Big lug: Be careful.

True: I feel vomit coming up.

Deb: This is a humdinger.

(They are all on the freeway sign facing camera as the platform begins to wobble. Focus on Deb and True *his outfit looks like Tie's she's his twin)

Deb: Here, my love, man up, spray safe. Soon I'll be your bride.

(They all do pieces, they go big. They shimmy back down and the reader has a look at their pieces, they appear holographic, slightly blurry. They all climb a ladder over the freeway wall to a tree, working their way down the limbs to a small drop. As soon as they land they see police lights flash and hear a Bloooop!)

Police: (Over loudspeaker) Hold it right there!

Rivera: Vamanos!

(The team jets to the Safari van losing the police temporarily. They all pile in. The van squeals off as do the vespas. The team dumps their bags from the moving vehicle. They turn a corner and cop lights flash. Five police vehicles are now on the team's tail. The engines rev and the police start to overtake the vehicle, a dark shadow followed by a low hum. )

True: What's that noise?

There is an aircraft floating above the speeding cars.

Aircraft: Calling all cars, calling all cars, stand down immediately from the high speed chase. Do you read, this is the chief of police, Bob Barx of the Yarx police department, I've got a team with me, we'll take it from here.

(Sirens go silent and police cars slow to a stop)

Deb: Shiiiiiiit!

Big Lug: Looks like we got a fun run. (Big grin, steps on gas)

They hear a rumbling and the vehicle starts to shake. The car illuminates. We see a beam of light coming from over head from the ship. It seems the aircraft is actually a U.F.O. The beam abducts the safari and the vespas. The team is now inside the ship.

Loudspeaker: Hey, are you guys alright? Come into the cockpit, we would love to meet you.

Spake: Okayyy?!

Everyone makes their way into the cockpit where there are two extraterrestrials sitting smoking scarlet sage. They turn from the window which looks at the stars.

Alien: (Inhales, holds breath) Hi. (Exhales deeply). I'm Hans, this is Alfredo.

Alfredo: Ciao. (Sips espresso with pinky out)

Hans: Welcome to the brotherhood (says with smile) we saw what you did back there, takes gusto, how exactly, how, did that come into fruition?

Deb: Well see, I'm due to be married to Truesy here, so for a final bow, we decided to do this Heaven in L.A. Holographic style!

True: That was a rush, I see what you guys live for. Kiss me sweetie. (Puckers up)

Deb: Ah, ah, ah, not in front of the gang!

Hans: We are graff writers too.

Spake: Oh yea, (chuckle) what do you two write?

Hans: I write Hans.

Alfredo: And I write Alfredo.

Spake: Uh. Cool.

Rivera: Not to be an earwig, but what's the plan?

Hans: Oh we'll come out of orbit in a sec. One full revolution which will take about 3.5 seconds and we'll land back in Yarx.

Big Lug: Just in time for you two to be married. (Smiles as he chews eclaire).

(UFO lands back in Yarx in someones backyard. Family is confused. Cut to True and his wife Deb in the back of the banana truck making love below a banner that reads “just married.”)

Episode 5

(Sergio and Stake are eating ramen in Yarx, at a corner bar. The Lion is outside. They have their own glasses of a potent steaming potion.

Sergio: (Sips) Have to get that right of passage

Stake: Got that right. (Sip)

Sergio: Check! (Put one hand up)

(Cut to Sergio walking with lion. Stake is a bat. As they walk strangers thought bubbles direct them)

Stranger 1: (Face covered in 9's) The right you seek.

Stranger 2: Is in a cup..

Stranger 3: At the bottom of a well.

Sergio: (Pulls out map of Yarx) Let's have a look see. (They are a blip on the map). There's a well here near the sewage containment facility...or there's one here in the castle yard of this castle. (Looks at map, reads Gronkagel). I detect castle guard (Points to blip on map.) It's a balrog. I figure it's the one with the balrog.

(Scenes of travel, the life is colorful, homeless, street hustlers, restaurants, basic city scene. The scene changes to the country side, life slows down. Eventually they reach a tall hill on which the castle Gronkagel lies. They begin their hike. They reach a wall with a tall door).

Sergio: Hey Balrog! Balrooooog! Hm. No sign of him. I guess we play the breaking and entering game.

(Sergio points to the top of the wall and Stake flies up and over. First a rumble then a creak. Doors open and Stake stands. Sergio enters. As soon as he enters three palace guards come to greet him.)

Castle guards: (In unison) Welcome to castle Gronkagel, where the Gronk! (Bonks Stake and then Sergio with a spear) Comes first. You have been knighted!

Stake: Ssss! (rubs head) you're god awful but I accept.

Sergio: Yea, me too. Say, what is there to do here in Castle Tintag- I mean Gronkagel?

Castle guards: (In unison) We have a well, and a tower that oversees the land.

Sergio: Take us to the we--

Stake: (Overlapping Sergio) to the tower!

Sergio: I mean to the tower. That would be very nice.

Castle guards: (In unison) Very well. (They turn and start to leave the castle.)

(All five start to climb the tower stairs).

Castle guards: As you can see--

Stake: So anyways (Throws castle guard off ledge)

Sergio: (Knocks castle down with lightning bolt).

Castle guards: Would you look at that? Better go check on the Bal-

Sergio: Have another taste of lightning!

(Serge knocks them into a pile with bolt of lightning).

Stake: Oh suck my cock! What about the Balrog?

(Balrog gets up from pile of rubble)

Balrog: So much for my nap. Feel like I hit me head.

Sergio: (From tower) Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! (Shoots three to Balrogs chest)

Balrog: Ow, oh bullocks! Let me guess you came for the write of passage? Well if you want it that much come 'ere then. I'll lower you into the well.

Stake: Oh yea right! (In a yell)

(Serge and Stake approach pile of rubble)

Balrog: (Takes flight) I mean come 'ere!

Sergio: Oh I see by here, he means come to us (under his breath). Attack!

Stake: (Pulls out dagger )

Sergio: You're never gonna get anywhere with that! (Pulls out dagger. Jumps at his neck and Slam! The balrog slams him into the tower floor.

Stake: (Jumps onto the balrogs neck and with his cape makes him blind.) Please hold.

Balrog: (Takes flight).

Stake: Let's go for a ride! (Balrog throws him off)

Sergio: Long jumps onto his neck attempting to strangle balrog with a whip.

Balrog: (Falls into a swamp in the forest. Balrog is out cold.)

Sergio: So much for balrog. (Pulls out map. Blip turns gold)

(Sergio and Stake walk through the rubble).

Sergio: Go down

Stake: Kay

(Stake turns into a bat and flies into the well. He nosedives into the water, sees a sewer rat, and winks. Finds chest because of it's glow, and brings it up over the well wall. Sergio makes finger into a key and slides into lock. He opens chest and inside finds a cup. Inside is the writ of passage. It glows.)

Basel: You've got the writ! Cheers to you! (Takes a sip of beer.) Now for a pint of Eastvleteran. The best beer in the world. My fellow monks and I brew this stuff. It is highly rated and always sells out, gets better with age, we know from experience. A word of advice for whenever the fear hits, no one rules the world so until then fight for your breath. By the way, what does it say? Points to the writ and takes note. Smiles.(Scene ends).

Stake: Hey can we go to Dragonvild, my wife is there, I thought she might like to meet up for an exchange...there be dragoooons.

Sergio: Down for whatever, as long as it's on the way. I'll ask Basel the next time I sleep. (Hops on Leo Stake is a bat, they take off in a dynamic closeup from the side.)

Episode 6

(At camp at night. Sergio is about to pass out, Stake is awake. Sergio is resting on Leo. Stake looks at a small heart locket. The picture is of his wife, she winks and smooches. He smiles adoringly. She then picks up a small rat, and drains it's blood with her fangs. Stake does the same thing. The rat squirms and then goes limp. Sergio looks at him with his eyebrow raised. Stake tosses the rat aside and pours himself a glass of wine, then pours Sergio one. Stakes wife drinks wine in the picture frame. Some drizzles down her cheek.

Sergio: Ooh, thiz wine izz ztrong. (Passes out).

(Basel appears in a spiral in Sergio's dream. He has a baby pet dragon. He is feeding him an omelet).

Basel: Hello my boy! It seems you are on your way to Dragonvild, where you will enjoy food, drink, and many a dragon like this little tired tyke. (Feeds him omelet). The whole town is dedicated to dragon preservation, hence the ancient architecture *reminiscent of gaudi* and abundance of gold. Keep in mind Stake is a sex slave to his wife so they will be in bed almost the whole time. So build capital while you are there. I suggest you join the dragon racing league, with your experience riding dragons as a child you should be a shoo-in. So shoo!

(Leo stirs, awakening Sergio. As usual, the fire is out, Stake is asleep amongst a pile of dead rats. Sergio opens a can of beans and puts some steak and eggs on the griddle).

(The scent drifts into Stake's nostrils Snif! Followed by Sss! He's awake.)

Stake: Can I have some?

Sergio: Nah, can't. (Serves him up a dish)

Stake: If you say I can.

(A small gnome comes and sits by the fire.)

Small gnome: Mah!

(Stake serves up some eggs on a plate to the gnome and licks his teeth with a smile. Travel scene through the forest. As usual Stake is a bat. They approach the town on a hillside. The scene overlooks the town. When they arrive at the gates, they are greeted by butterflies. Serge approaches a dragon rental. Stake goes to find his wife. There are several dragons in disrepair in a pen and one handsome stud.)

Sergio: Hey there, how much for this handsome stud?

Clerk: Actually that one is a girl.

(Leo purrs).

Clerk: She'll cost you approximately 15 quid a day plus tax. You're already insured with the umbrella insurance, but you won't need it. That one there knows what she's doing. (Points and winks). We'll include a manual on how to feed her, a leash, and a saddle. She's very friendly. She eats mostly fruit that is native to the land. Any experience handling or riding dragons?

Sergio: Yes when I was very young until I was a teen.

Clerk: Then this will come naturally to you. She regularly races in the minor dragon racing league but this is her off season. So don't you dare race her or it'll be your head.

Sergio: (Smiles). I wouldn't dream of it. (Puts fifteen coin down on the table. One of them spins).

(Stake is walking along a cobblestone street. He is alone. He arrives at his wife's residence. It is a tall Gaudi-esque villa. The placard near the door reads “Chateau d'omnivore.” He rings the doorbell, which sounds like a screech. The door opens and a woman's arm reaches out and pulls him in. He has one dozen roses behind his back. The door shuts. His wife stands before him, one arm up and one arm down in a long dress).

Stakes wife (Vive): Here I am!

Stake: I haven't seen you in a long time. I got these for you. (Hand is out with bouquet).

Vive: (Takes bouquet smiles with greedy eyes then throws them behind her. She goes in to kiss his neck and puts a hand on his crotch.

Stake: (Looks calm and bashful as she kisses his neck) Oh how I've missed you.

Vive: (Takes his hand) Come to the bedroom, I've got a lot to show you.

(Back to Sergio)

(Sergio stands in front of a banner that reads “Dragon Racing Major League Tryouts Today.”)

Clerk of the course: Alright, you've made the cut. What's your dragon's name?

Sergio: T

Clerk of the course: Well then we'll see you and T next day of the Sun. Be prepared because the Marauders from the middle east are coming to town.

(Back to Stake)

(Stake and Vive are making love in a bed that looks like it belongs in a castle. She orgasms.)

Vive: “Ooooohhhhh!” (We see her “O” face) I'm cuming, hard!

Stake: Me too, my love.

(She leans in to kiss his mouth).

Vive: I've missed your sperm.

(Stake and Vive cuddle in each other's arms).

Vive: I've got new stationary. It's cool I'll write you a note.

Stake: I'd like to read it sometime. Perhaps I need to check on Sergio and his dragon quest.

Vive: I'll strangle you if you do.

(Stake smiles). Mmhmm, sure you will.

Vive: Or maybe I'll write Pavel a note. You know, just to apologize.

Stake: Mmhmm, sure you do.

Vive: So how did you like our rape?

Stake: Well, I sure did have fun raping the girl from the ville--

Vive: Maybe I'll rape the bard, he plays guitar. In fact I already did. He has a humongous-- (bites her lip)

Stake: Eh, no. That was just his fantasy. Let it all be a dream.

Vive: I'd rape you.

Stake: No, we'd make love.

Vive: Like we just did. I need a snack.

Stake: I'll fix you one. Fruit, with a cup of.

Vive: Dragon blood.

Stake: K. Be back in 5.

(Cut to Sergio. He is in a field with a dragon. In the distance a stranger who is female plays fetch with her dragon using a large bone).

(Leo rubs against Sergio and runs to catch a field mouse).

Sergio: Ok, T, to win this race we're gonna need a little cooperation. (Tries to mount her. She roars and spits a ball of flame). Okay really, I cannot.

The dragon from across the way runs into their camp and catches a bone knocking into Touloula. They flit).

Girl from dragon camp: Hey over there! I apologize for my dragon. Having trouble with yours? Here's what you do. Take the tip of your finger and prick it then place a drop of your blood in the dragon's eye. See what happens! (She winks and takes bone from dragon).

(Sergio frowns. Takes out knife from sheath and pricks finger. He calmly takes Touloula's bridle and squeezes a drop of blood into her eye. Her pupil dialates all black then it squeezes back to a slender half crescent.

T: Mango.

Sergio: You want a mango?

T: Yess pleasse. I will be your mizztrezz.

Sergio: Hey now, slow down. I'll go find you some fruit. How bout an apple?

T: I'd prefer a Mango. (Burps a flame). It helps me concentrate.

(Leo comes over with a mango in her mouth, and drops the mango at his feet. Then goes to play with field mouse.

Girl From dragoncamp: Here boy! (Tosses bone).

Sergio: Okay, let's see what you can do. T, go get it! (Throws mango into the air, and without a moments notice T leaps into flight and chomps at the mango. T lands on ground softly. Whump! Girl from dragon camp claps). Good job, T!

(Back to Vive's bedroom).

Freshening up in mirror in bathrobe.

Vive: Oooh my fangs are so sharp. Ladadee, ladada. (Spritzes perfume on neck). We see a bat at the window sill. Then two. (Vive sees in the mirror over her shoulder, then drops perfume. The perfume breaks. Smash)!

(More bats fly to the balcony rail. There are now ten).

Vive: (In shock). Gasp!

Two bats turn into vampires on the balcony

Vive: Pavel!

Pavel: Steal your gold...WIFE! (Smashes door with cane).

Stake: (Bursts through the door. He is nude. He drops the tray and wine).

Vive: (Grabs dagger from the dresser).

Stake: (Runs in front of Vive). (To her): Stay back! (Equips cane and draws a fiery blade). Stay away from me!

Pavel: Hisss!

(The bats on the window sill leave in a flurry.) Scurry!

Stake: (To Vive): Go to the other room! I'll handle them.

Vive: We'll fight them...(Dagger turns into a torch) Together.

Pavel: Come, now my dear, don't do anything too hasty.

Vive: Die! (She jumps through the air dagger in hand).

Pavel: (Sidesteps. Crack! He uses the handle of his blade to hit the base of her neck).

Vive: (Winces and cries in pain).

Stake: Vive! (He lunges and catches Pavel on the arm with his blade). Yaaah!

Pavel: (Holding arm). Kisssss your wife...GOODBYE! (Throws high kick which Stake guards).

Stake: Knees Pavel in the groin.

Vampire 2: (Grabs Vive and holds her unconscious body underneath her arms. He has a knife to her neck). Stay back! I'll kill her if you move.

Stake: You wouldn't.

Vampire 2: I will too! Try me! (Presses blade to her neck).

Pavel: Stake, she's not your wife. She's a vampire now, not an elf. You would be too if you started acting like one. We'll hold on to this one until you get your act together. This is for the time oh I dunno, you cut off my head? Oh, and do bring me the amulet, it is also oursss! Meet us at Chateau d'Ormsby by 5, the day you were wed.

(Vampire 2 backs up onto the balcony with Vive. Eight vampire bats lift Vive by the arms and carry her from the balcony. They all leave in a flurry).

Vampires: She's our familyyyy! What a rapist! They captured it in crystal!

Stake: Noooooooooooooooooooooo. (Looks down

#grimes #Tristan Chase Arcelona

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