#what didnt One Direction sell

[sunshineandlyrics]

🦷🪥 Truly, what was this?? (30 June 2023) x

[skunkes]

what do u guys do with non clothing items you dont want anymore and cant rlly sell.... need sum advice.....

[sukuslutx]

Do it for me.

Feat. Toji Fushiguro, female reader

TW. Smut, filming, sexual content

WC: 2k

note | this used to be a fic I did for another character two years back but it didnt really feel like it fitted it anymore so I felt the need to change and tweak certain things and make it about Toji instead. Hope yall enjoy!

It was a quiet night. You were sitting in the dining room across the man who you wished was something more than just a late-night call. Moments like these were rare though, since both of you agreed that this would be just something casual, no strings attached, so more intimate moments were nothing but a hopeless dream. ‘’It’s easier for us both, don’t ya think?’’, you remembered his words that night when you agreed to this. You bit down on your bottom lip recalling it, hoping he wouldn’t notice the sudden shift in the atmosphere. He of course didn’t.

''I've been thinking-'', Toji spoke to you in a steady tone

''Do tell me'', you spoke back with just the same one as you were munching on the food you prepared for the two of you.

''I was thinking we should film a sex tape'', you immediately choked a little on the food you were chewing as you instantly started coughing out. Your cheeks turned crimson red and Toji just smirked in your direction knowing he managed to catch you off guard and fluster you.

''Don't say such things while I’m fucking eating Toji'', you took a napkin to clean around your mouth.

''So, I didn't hear a no... so, is that a yes?'', Toji's tone hopeful, you could see he was getting excited.

''Why do we even need to do that?'', you spoke back finally after cleaning yourself. You would be lying if the idea didn't excite you and turn you on in a way but you would not show that just off the bat.

‘’Think it’s hot, we could even sell it for some quick money, but if you don’t wanna, no pressure''

There was no response from your side so Toji was just about to drop the idea as he didn't want to pressure you to do something you're not aboard with.

''Okay-'', you spoke lowly.

A big smirk was tugging on his face while the look in his eyes was deeply lustful. He jumped out of his seat as he headed to you and picked you up.

''Toji put me the fuck down- I am quite capable of walking by myself'', you screamed at him as you squirmed in his hold

''No can-do princess'', he chuckled making his way to your shared bedroom. He lets you down on the bed as he goes to set up a camera. You expected the moment the light turned red he will join you in bed but instead he sat down on the chair next to the camera, setting it up at just the perfect angle.

''Strip for me'', his tone was lower and the words he spoke were like an order which you immediately obeyed.

Your hands moved slowly to your top as you started unbuttoning it. The silk shirt gently sliding down your shoulders and off of you. You threw it somewhere across the room, it didn't matter. Your hands moved to your breast which were still covered with a bra as you gently squeezed them, looking at your boyfriend straight in the eyes instead of the camera.

''Ah-ah princess, eyes on the camera'', he smirked at you his hand moving to palm the evident tent forming in his pants. Oh, he was already hard.

You turned your head from him to the camera as you continued to take your clothes off. Your pants coming off next along your panties. You soon after unclasped your bra and threw it at him which he catches straight away.

''Now show that pretty pussy for the camera baby and touch yourself just as you do when I am away'', you felt yourself turn completely red, how did he-, you remembered you promised him that you wouldn't touch yourself and him telling you he is the only one allowed to make you cum, yet on some nights you just couldn't help it.

''Oh? You seem surprised princess. You know I have my way in finding out everything'', he smirked at you. ''But- I'll leave the punishment for later, now show me how you touched yourself, how you touched what belongs to me'', you bit down on your bottom lip. You let your hands roam across your body. One hand making its way to squeeze your breast again and the other trailing lover to your clit as you gently circled it.

Toji hummed pleased with the sight in front of him. Your fingers then made their way to your awaiting hole as you gathered the slick and soon after pushed them between your folds. There was something exciting with him sitting there and just observing you, you could feel yourself getting wetter by the second. You started letting out low moans as you worked your fingers, but you needed him, there was no way you could reach your high like this without him.

''N-need you-'', you spoke through moans. He moved his eyes from your pussy to look at your face. ''Hm? What did you say? Speak up.'', he started to tease

''D-daddy. I- I need you inside me'', you somehow manage to mutter out. You could see the proud smirk flashing right at you as he stood up from the armchair and headed towards, the light on the camera still flashing red. He took off his shirt and threw it in some corner of the room.

''Take my pants off for me'', he was standing next to the bed looking down on you. You crawled to the edge of the bed as you quickly moved your hands towards his belt as to unbuckle it for him. He slapped your hands away instantly.

''With your mouth''

You looked up at him doe-eyed as you decided to not test your luck and just obey. You somehow managed to unbuckle his belt and pull the zipper down with your teeth while in the process never taking your eyes off him. Oh, how he enjoyed the sight, if it were even possible he was turned on even more by each second. Suddenly you felt him grip your hair and pull your head up so you were looking at him.

''Should we try anal tonight baby?'', he spoke with faux sympathy.

You shook your head no to his question. ''I don't think I can handle that'', you spoke back. Toji tilted his head with a pout on his face. ''Open your mouth'', again it was an order and you obediently did so. Two of his fingers were shoved to the back of your throat. ''Hmm I trained you well''

''Turn around, ass up'', he spoke to you as you immediately did what he said and you could feel him distance himself from the bed as he was about to go and take something. Not long after you could feel his presence again behind you.

''My bitch has the best ass ever'', he said, rubbing your ass right before you felt a sharp sting from an object coming in contact with your skin.

''Fuck-'' you screamed out as you immediately pulled a pillow to muffle your scream.

''Count-'', he spoke to you before his belt came into contact with your already reddening skin again

''TWO-'', you cried out.

Slap.

Slap.

Slap.

You were counting out, barely holding your composure. The pain was overwhelming but the pleasure was overtaking your body.

''Whose pussy is this?'', Toji inquired before giving you another slap

You mumbled some curses at him not replying to his question, your head still buried in the pillow.

He gripped on your hair as he pulled you back to his chest

''I can’t hear you slut so ill repeat again, who does this pussy belong to?'', a harsh hit of his belt lands on your already bruised ass

''fuck, is yours-'' – you screamed out, tears forming on your waterline. He loosens the grip on your hair as your head gets shoved back into the pillow.

He let his belt down as he moved back to you one hand finding its place on your hip as he moved his cock to your awaiting hole with the other hand. He thrusted his dick fully inside of you as you let a loud gasp. ''Ahh-'' you screamed out loudly. It didn't matter how much time the two of you fucked, you could never be able to actually adjust to his size and that made his ego fly out of the roof. He gripped your chin harshly as he pulled you against his chest. He was pumping in and out of you mercilessly. Your moans were getting louder and louder by each passing second

''You like that hmm? Like it when I fuck you like a cheap whore?'', his pace was just getting faster and his thrusts were harder. It seems as if his main goal was to pound you until you went dumb. From all of the pleasure you couldn't even manage to form a single sentence.

''What's the matter baby? Already going dumb on me? It’s too early.'', nothing but faux sympathy yet again leaving his lips. He pulled out of you as you slumped down completely on the bed. You believe you already came twice in that short period of time but this was far from done.

''We're not done yet'', he took you in his arms as he sat down on the edge of the bed. ''Look at that mirror'', he pulled you on his lap and turned you around to face the mirror.

''You're going to ride me now until you make me cum and while you're doing that your eyes should be on that mirror so you can see how much of a whore you are for me 'kay?'', he patted your head as he brushed off the tears that were staining your cheeks. Soon after he harshly slams you down on his thick cock. You started moving yourself up and down on his dick, trying your absolute best to keep your eyes on the mirror as he said. You could not handle any more of his punishments, it was already enough as it was. He let your sloppy attempts go on for a while but he was growing impatient.

''Is my little slut too tired to ride daddy's big cock?'', he cooed. ''N-no...'' you tried to speak back to him, trying your best to increase the pace of your bouncing on his cock and pleasing him as you failed terribly.

With his patience just at the limit he grabs your hips as he slams you down hard and starts bouncing you on his cock by himself. Your tongue falling out of your mouth as a little drool formed on the side of it.

''I'll need to train you more then baby- you're gonna be daddy's perfect cocksleeve one day'', he kissed your forehead as he kept the same pace. ‘’Stop Toji, fuck- feels weird.’’, you tried squirming in his hold trying to get away but he kept a firm hold on you as he kept going. You felt something uncoil and the next moment you squirted all over his dick some landing on the mirror across from you. ‘’Holy shit, that’s a fucking first’’, he let out a laugh impressed at how much of a whore you were for him tonight, he tipped you over the edge. He could feel himself getting closer and closer, that sight he just experienced engraved in his brain already. With a few harder thrusts into your sloppy cunt he emptied himself inside of you. Your whole body felt numb as you fell backwards onto his chest. He slowly pulled out of you, laying you down on the bed next to him. ‘My pretty girl-'' he ran his hand through your hair as he hummed. ''You did so fucking well for me’’. You just hummed back at him with not much energy left in your body to even respond, as you dozed off. You’ll leave the recurring thoughts of having something more with this man than just casual sex for another day.

[hotchgirlsummer]

mess of mine ⤷ aaron hotchner x reader

summary ⤷ aaron hotchner never expected to find an adorable woman when he was out asking around about their unsub. turns out she's all he needs to brighten up his life.

pairing ⤷ aaron hotchner x fem!bimbo!reader

warnings ⤷ unsub takedown. unsub has a knife. mentions of typical cm violence, killing, and general disdain towards women. rossi calls the reader a bimbo lmao

word count ⤷ 6k words

a/n ⤷ bear with me as i am obsessed with the idea of a bimbo being with aaron in the most adorable way possible 😭 and i dont meant bimbo in a derogatory way! but just someone who isn't book smart ig? the reader in this fic i imagine to be so good with fashion in styling so yeah... i know i didnt do justice with the whole narrowing down the search for an unsub or the way they handled the take down but i have to admit this is just self-indulgent as i want be aaron's brainless girl ❤️ anyway, feedback is appreciated for this! might turn this into a mini series so yeah. happy holidays!

✪

“Excuse me, may I speak with you?” A deep voice made Y/N turn around from where she was organizing some of the new clothes that had just arrived. Smiling at the dark-haired man who stood in a crisp suit, she looked at his clothes and pouted, “I’m sorry but we don’t usually sell those suits, we do have some pastel ones in any case you’re interested in those instead.”

Hotch followed the direction in which she pointed and was surprised to see a couple of suits that are, to her credit roughly in his size, but instead of the neutral tones he’d go for they were in pastel pink and purple. Shaking his head and biting down a small smile he pulled for his badge and presented it to her, “Thank you for the recommendations but I’m afraid that’s not what I’m here for.”

Upon looking at the badge her eyes failed to focus on how he was part of the FBI and instead chuckled when she noticed his name, “Heh, Ay-ay-ron.” Her mispronunciation of his name caused his eyebrows to furrow as he gently corrected her, “Aaron, ma’am. Not Ay-ay-ron, I’m afraid.” Her little bubble popped when she looked into his eyes, mesmerized by the deep brown orbs she shook her head and clarified, “Oh I knew that, that was just from the Peele & Key skit. Never knew anyone named Aaron so couldn’t tease anyone by it.”

“Right,” came Hotch’s sharp reply, worried that their possible lead might be a bust due to the witness presenting signs of being dopey due to addiction. “Is there a back office where I can speak to you in private?” She pointed towards a door that had a curtain in front of it, “We can go there, we never let anyone in there because that’s where our safe and transaction lists are!”

As pleased as he was to hear that they keep a record of their transactions, he was becoming more and more alarmed at how easily she was giving away confidential business information. Inside the small room that he concluded acted as their little breakroom with the microwave placed on top of a small fridge, it also served as their surveillance room and like she said, a safe was placed there. He motioned for her to grab a seat and pulled the folder he brought with him. “The reason I’m here today is we were hoping you could point us in the direction of one of your customers.”

Looking up from the files, he was surprised to see that she was looking at him with a giddy smile, “What do you wanna know, Aaron?” Her bliss-like innocence made him think about if he was really going to taint her by telling her the horrors that brought them to this store; but it was quickly shrugged off when he remembered that there was a possibility that she was on some sort of drugs. “There has been a man who may have purchased clothes through your boutique as they have been using the clothes they purchased to redress their victims.”

“How’d you know they bought it from here?” She wondered out loud to which he replied, “We found one of the boutique’s plastic bags near the crime scene. Would you happen to have a log of your transactions?” Deciding against showing her the photos, he simply joined his hands atop the folder and looked at her. She nodded and turned to the computer table where there was a laptop, she placed it in the middle of the table, “Phoebe has me recording customers’ names, what they bought, and how they paid. Just ‘cause last time I had a mom angry with me just because their child bought a top that, like, showed too much cleavage.”

Taking it as she had given him permission to browse through their transactions, Hotch nodded, “And Phoebe is your manager, I’m assuming?” She nodded with a cute smile on her face, “She’s so nice. Real patient with me when I was training. Even taught me tricks on how I can close faster.”

As much as he wanted to direct his full attention to her, he was only able to focus on some parts of it as he was more focused on finding the masterlist of their transactions. Just as he clicked on the file he was greeted with the pop up that was asking him for a password which caused him to look up at her, “It’s asking for a password, would you happen to know what it is?”

For all the times he witnessed someone shake their head, he hated how adorable she looked when she did so with a little pout which made her glossed up lips even more tempting, “Only Phoebe knows it. She changes the password every month and I can’t keep up!” She leaned forward with her manicured nails resting on the top of the table, “One time she mixed in some capital and small letters with some numbers. It was very confusing.”

“I can see why that would be,” Aaron sympathized with her as a small smile broke out of his lipa; normally he’d be irritated with this kind of behavior but there is something endearing about her that made him think otherwise, “Would you mind if I have our technical analyst take a look into it?”

“But how? I don’t know the password and Phoebe didn’t leave a note anywhere!” She was clearly distressed about the whole thing, Hotch could also see the faint traces of frustration at not being able to help further in the investigation. His hand moved as if they had a mind of their own and held onto her smaller one, brushing the back of hers gently, “Well our analyst is like a magician, okay, sweetheart?”

Hypnotized by his caramel eyes and the comfort his touch radiated, she nodded and visibly relaxed, “In the meantime, there is something else you can help me out with, if you’re up for it.” Taking her nod as her consent he then untangled his hand with hers, he tried not to let her disappointed whimper affect him, as he opened the case file and landed on the page where they have already a profile of the unsub, “The man we’re looking for goes here often, he spends a long time looking through the clothes because he’s always looking for a particular detail or design. Whenever you speak to him, he appears nervous or shy, but he has enough charm to have you fooled that he won’t harm you at all.”

Hotch was silently cursing at himself for allowing himself to be distracted at the sight of her glossed up lips pursed as she thought hard about a customer who fit his description; looking at him in an exasperated manner as she pouts at him, clearly frustrated, “I’m sorry, but I can’t focus much right now. I could not even help you out with the password.” He grabbed for her hand once more and stroked the back of it gently, “Don’t be too harsh on yourself, pretty girl,” Instead of expressing surprise like he anticipated she would upon being called the nickname, she seems to be pleased and melts because of it, “Why don’t you close your eyes and take a deep breath,” Following his instructions, she nodded as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh while her hand clutched into his tightly, “Now, go back to a day where he comes in. What do you usually do when the boutique isn’t busy?”

“I like to rearrange the clothes — sometimes I group them by type of clothing, then by color.”

Pleased that she was now calmer which effectively made her able to recall when and how she interacted with the unsub, “That’s good. Now, he walks into the boutique. He sees you rearranging the racks. Does he talk to you right away or go browning?”

“I hear shuffling of the hangers first but I don’t turn yet because I was trying to get rid of the lint in one of the clothes,” She smiles, pleased that she’s being a bit more helpful right now. “Good,” His voice wasn’t the only one soothing her as he was rubbing her knuckles too, “What did he do that drew your attention away from what you were doing?”

“He threw some clothes on the floor, he wasn’t happy with the choices that we had that day.”

“What else did he say or do?” Hotch could see that she was working hard to think back to it, as if the frown lines that were appearing on her forehead wasn’t a clear indicator of it, “He yelled, saying what happened to this store and why did it suddenly turn into a dump. Just because we didn’t have any more available items of what he usually likes.”

She was pouting once more which made his heart flutter once more but the rational part of his brain took over as he inquired, “Were you able to get a good look at his face? Can you make out what he looks like?”

Pursing her lips as she thought about it, she looked at their hands that were still holding onto each other as she spoke, “I did see him, he picked up the clothes and apologies. Said that he just had a bad day at work.”

Hotch smiled and continued to guide her through this interview by saying, “That’s good, now do you see what he looks like, sweetheart?”

“He had very little hair, you know, like a buzz cut. Couldn’t pull it off though,” She giggled as she remembered how uneven the cut looked, “He also had this scar by his cheek,” Using her hand that wasn’t held down, she trailed the tip of her finger to her cheek from her cheekbone down near the side of her lips, “He was taller than me too!” Her excitement of remembering something completely died down when she took a good look at the unit chief in front of her — which worried him slightly but he wouldn’t admit that.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” He asked to which she answered right away, “He was taller than me, but he’s not as tall as you. How tall are you, by the way?”

“6’2. Is there anything else you remember from when you guys spoke?” Aaron felt flustered once more upon her taking interest in him but was able to school his features to not give that surprise away. But his resolve was once again almost crumbling down as she tapped her fingers against his knuckles as she thought hard about her interactions with the unsub, “He returned an item once. Said that when he came up he only noticed a stain there. Phoebe told me to not accept items that have stains or any dirt in them, we always throw the clothes in the wash, you know? But there was this whole queue behind him that I just accepted the return even though I wasn’t supposed to!”

Her whine just added to the long list of what made her even more precious in his opinion as he nodded, “Do you remember where you placed this clothing? Would you mind if I took a look at it?”

Nodding she stood up and led him out of the little break room that they were in walked through the shop’s main floor — and what took the tenured profiler aback was how she did not let go of his hand, which definitely caught sight of Rossi wo was in the middle of a phone call with Garcia when he shot a smirk at the two. When a door opened to reveal another room with a washing and drying machine, and a small sink. “This is where we clean and prepare the clothes before we display them outside.”

Removing her hand from where it was engulfed in his larger one, she rifled and was looking through the four laundry baskets that were in there. Spotting the blouse he returned, she was about to pick out the blouse when he stopped her gently by pulling her arm, “Let me go through them, please.”

She nods and steps aside as she watches him put on some gloves before rifling through the baskets, “Why wouldn’t you let me help you look for it?” Hotch paused briefly and looked back at her, seeing how there was a somber look on her face as she wondered that. “You mentioned that there was dirt on the item he returned, yes?”

Nodding her head she hummed her agreement while he pointed at her hands, “Well I don’t want your pretty hands catching onto the dirt, not when your nails look good.” Complimenting a girl felt foreign to him as he hadn’t done so in a while, but it didn’t feel creepy at all. He felt vindicated when she smiled brightly and displayed one of her hands, “Thanks for noticing! I just got the shellac color done yesterday. I did a purple color last month and decided to go back to my favorite color, pink!”

Her giggles helped ease the dread he felt at the pit of his stomach upon finding the blouse that was definitely returned by their unsub. The stain she was referring to looked like blood and soil. Reaching for his back pocket, he reached for the evidence bag he carried with him in case they were to find any pieces of evidence that were hopefully going to be useful in their investigation.

“This is the blouse he returned, yeah?” He asked her, showing the stained article now in the bag. She nodded her head, “That is the one. Do you want me to clean it off before you go?”

Smiling at her well-meaning attitude he shook his head before disposing of the gloves he wore in the trash bin that was nearby. “It’s all good, sweetheart. Don’t worry your pretty little self about it, alright? I’m gonna have to take this as evidence, can you let Phoebe know that?”

She nodded her head with a smile, “I’m sure she’ll understand. She’s nice like that, she won’t take it off my paycheck.” Gleaming at his earlier compliment she then smiled and opened the door for them to exit the tiny room. “Will I see you again?” Her voice sounded small and a bit disappointed, but he tried not to show he was feeling the same as he reached for his coat pocket and handed her his calling card. “Under these circumstances? I hope not.”

Tilting her head as she accepted the card and wondered what he meant, she had a small pout that looked very much like she wanted to be kissed. Instead, he clarified for her, “What I meant is you should call me the next time you see the buzzcut man, okay?”

“Oh! I can do that!” She cheere happily before continuing on, “Gonna call you and let you know that he’s trouble and he’s here!”

“Maybe don’t say that directly,” He warned her as he rubbed her forearms reassuringly, “Instead use a code. When you call me, tell me how you’d love for the food delivery to come right now. That way, he won't think that the FBI will be looking for him.”

Gasping at how well-thought his plan was, she giggled and jokingly gave him a pat on his shoulder as if to congratulate him, “That was so good, Aaron! You’re smart and handsome!” He wanted to prolong their conversation for as long as they could but of course the odds were against them when Rossi walked over to where they were standing over as he informed his former mentee, “Sorry to interrupt, but we got a hit and they need us back at the precinct.”

Nodding his head back to his mentor, Hotch then shot one last smile to her before offering his hand for a shake. “Thanks so much for your help, sweetheart. Keep in touch, okay?” Shaking his hand with a bright smile she nodded, “I like it when you call me sweetheart, but that’s not really my name, you know? It’s Y/N.”

“See you around then, Y/N.”

With that, the two sadly let go of the other’s hand and went back to normal, back to the reality that they had to work. As he exited the store and went ahead to maneuver the car back to the precinct, he could feel Rossi’s teasing grin at him. “What?”

“Sweetheart, huh?” Came Rossi’s reply which led Aaron to be defensive about it, “She was a bit unsettled at first. I was just trying to calm her down.” The Italian man just raised his eyebrows, getting even more suspicious if anything, “Sure, that’s all that was. Wasn’t like you found her attractive at all.”

“She is attractive, but I could also see that she was way too delicate for the horrors that we usually face,” Hoping that was enough to persuade the senior profiler that there wasn't any budding affection on his part. “All I’m saying is she is a gorgeous woman, but even you have to admit that she doesn’t seem all too smart though. She’s what would be commonly referred to as a bimbo.”

Thankful that they had arrived back in the police station so he would not have to hear what sounded like judgemental comments, Aaron slammed the driver’s door a little too hard before defending her, “How is that bad? Save your unhelpful judgements, Dave.”

Back at the station, once he had given the blouse to the precinct’s forensic team to be analyzed, the rest of the team had been brainstorming on their possible suspect pool. It didn’t take less than an hour for forensics to get back to them with a hit.

“Garcia, will you please give us the rundown on John Wesley please?” Spencer requested as soon as he phoned their technical analyst. “Born and raised in Fairfax, Virginia. Well, really raised by a single mom who did not register who the father to her baby was. He has a record for trespassing and peeping when he was only twelve, yikes. Said that since his mom had to work two, almost three jobs to support herself and him he had to be left alone in their apartment complex where sometimes peeped into the unit next door, turns out the not so good example neighbor would bring home prostitutes and saw how rough he was with them.”

“That would explain why there were bruises on the women, he must have thought that beating them up is some sick way of showing affection,” JJ deduced as Penelope unsealed court records and found out more about John. “Seems like John saw like a counselor or a therapist and he admitted that he liked the idea of women being dolled up after a rough session.”

“Seeing the prostitutes go about the rest of their day after a paid session must have left that impression on him. And he didn’t really fully comprehend how that set up works,” Reid thought out loud, to which everyone agreed.

“What’s his education, personal and work life like Garcia?” Rossi wondered.

“Well education, not so much finished high school but without any recognition you know? Took a couple of classes at the local community college but didn’t really graduate from it. Personal, still legally single by the looks of it. Work life? Oh, would you look at that.”

“Why? What is it, Garcia?” Derek was the one who snapped Garcia out of her shock. “Well it turns out he works at one of those mannequin factories. And it seems like he’s been getting reprimanded by his superior because he liked putting marks on them that looked similar to bruises. And for a while it seems like he also took some home or if not, he brought some clothes to work to dress them up.”

“That’s more than enough, did he go to work today Garcia?” Blake wondered. “He should be there, his boss had him scheduled for today until 6pm,” They all looked at the time and saw that it was 30 minutes before his shift ended. “He clocked in but has yet to clock out by the looks of it.”

“Garcia, we’re gonna need his work and home address, please.” Rossi said to which the peppy analyst declared “Done and done, stay safe crime fighters.”

“Blake, you and Reid head over to his workplace to see if he’s still there; if not, gather as much information as you can about him and how he treats the mannequins, maybe that will give us a clear COD. Morgan, you and JJ head over to the house, see if he’s holding another woman there. As soon as you see him, apprehend him. Dave and I will stay here in case there’s any further development, call for backup if needed.”

With that, the team dispersed into their assignments; Rossi slid over a cup of coffee Hotch’s way who was now engrossed as he was reading over Wesley’s file. “You know I didn’t mean anything bad with what I said earlier, right?”

That caught his attention as he looked up from the tablet and squinted a little, “Pardon me?” Rossi only chuckled as he sat down across from the unit chief before clarifying, “I knew what you meant when you mentioned that your sweetheart,” Hotch rolled his eyes at that but didn’t really feel any distaste towards him or his words, “Was a little softer than the ones we usually interact with. But I do see why you would be attracted to her — she’s kind, thoughtful, and can literally and figuratively bring color to your life.” Aaron knew that he was pertaining to how colorful her entire outfit and personality was and had to bite down a chuckle as he instead redirected his focus to the tablet, “You got all that from a few seconds of interaction?”

“What can I say? I’m a good profiler,” Now the two laughed at his little joke but did know that it was indeed the truth. “She’d be good for you, Aaron. She lives nearby so there’s no reason for you to not pursue her.”

“How about the fact that she’s younger than I am?” He remarked a bit morosefully to which he was surprised that Rossi only scoffed at, “So? It’s not like she’s underage or anything. She’d be providing you with her consent so there’s really no reason for you to feel guilt or anything like that.”

Opening his mouth to offer another rebuttal he paused mid-thought when he was suddenly hit with a realization, “Wait, why does it seem like you’re certain of her age?”

This time Rossi showed him Y/N’s file that Garcia had sent over to his phone, “Had Penelope do a background check on the employees of the boutique earlier. And let’s just say she has a squeaky clean record and is definitely of age.”

Aaron could not believe how hard Dave was so persistent with the whole thing; but when it all boils down, he’d rather have a supportive friend than one who discourages him to go out there and date. “Well I’ll leave it up to fate if I should make a move; besides I don’t even have her phone number.”

Just as he was about to be yelled at by his mentor, Hotch’s phone rang and on cue, he answered it despite the number unlisted to his contacts he answered it and greeted them by saying, “Hotchner.”

✪

“And I got that good girl faith in that tight little skirt,” Just as she was about to sing the next line, the bell above the door rang, signaling that someone just walked in, “Welcome to Beauty Boutique! Can I help you with anything?” The cheerfulness in her voice died down upon seeing who the man was. She gulped down her nervousness, hoping that the buzzcut man would notice her feelings of unease.

“Just browsing through; thanks though, sweetheart.” An invisible shiver went down her spine; I liked it more when Aaron called me that. Heh, Ay-ay-ron, she thought to herself. But that also reminded her that she was to call him if he ever showed up. Dialing his number on her phone, she bit the skin of her fingertips anxiously as she waited for him to answer.

“Hotchner,” Came his gruff greeting. She giggled for a little before plastering a serious face on before finding the words, “Hi, I’d like the food to be delivered, please.”

On the other end of the phone, Aaron could feel the dread in him knowing that Y/N was within arm’s reach of a dangerous killer. “Alright, we’re coming Y/N. Stay calm and don’t let him see panic in your face okay, sweetheart?” He looked at Dave and nodded towards the precinct’s doors; the man nodded and headed out to let the cops and the rest of the team know that they knew about Wesley’s whereabouts.

She nodded her head against the phone as she secretly watched the unsub’s movements — who was currently busying himself in the dress section of their store — before asking, “How long until the food gets here? I don’t want it to be too cold, you know?”

Chuckling against the phone as he watched how Dave drove with urgency he assured here, “We’ll be there in less than ten minutes. Y/N, do you remember if the back door is unlocked?”

“The back door? It’s unlocked but a bit heavy for me to open, it’ll be better if you come up to the store’s front for the food,” She answered as she recalled how much she hated throwing out the garbage during closing time as it was like lifting a whole tree when she opened the back door.

“Okay good, another thing — if you can try to keep the unsub, or the buzzcut guy, within the store that’d be great. If not, make sure to keep note of which direction he goes into, alright?”

“I’m not sure I can try your spicy specialty. But I’ll give it a try. How long til it gets here again?” She asked nervously, she had eye contact with the unsub and she didn’t like the smile he shot her.

“Almost there, sweetheart. I promise,” Aaron said as he hung up the phone call when he noticed that they were a block away and had to park their vehicle. As they stepped outside he gave instructions to uniform officers to take the back entrance and that it could be a little heavy when they try to open it but it is unlocked for their convenience. “I take it back, Aaron,” Dave spoke as he and Aaron cautiously made their way to the front entrance, “Your girl’s a lot smarter than I gave her credit for.”

“Not my girl,” He said, but Hotch did admit that it sounded nice to refer to her as that.

✪ “Got some food delivered here?” Came the unsub’s question as he brought some items to the till. She nodded as she began ringing up the items. “I did, it’s lunchtime,” She tried to convince him and by the looks of it, he bought it, “Did you enjoy your shopping experience today?”

“Sure did,” he pointed to the clothes, “Found great deals on these great clothes,” Shooting her a wink that didn’t do anything to make her feel attracted to him he tried flirting by saying, “Even had a pretty view when I did so.”

An awkward laugh was all that she could give him before placing all of the items in a bag before telling him, “Your total for today is $29.54, how would you like to pay for that today?”

Reaching for his back pocket, he grabbed for his wallet before answering, “On cash, beautiful.” She just smiled as he handed her a fifty dollar bill. Opening her till she had her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he counted his change but was stopped when he held her hands. Her audible gasp just caused him to smirk even more as he said, “Say, why don’t you keep the change, and in return you can just let me take you out on a date hm? That sounds like a fair trade to me.”

“I can’t do that, my boyfriend wouldn’t like it if I went with someone who wasn’t him,” Came her reply. The man rolled his eyes as he held a tighter grip on her hand causing her to yelp out in pain, “Cut the bullshit. I’ve been here a lot of time to know for a fact that a dumb bimbo like you doesn’t have a boyfriend. So when I say we’re going out, we’re going out.”

“James Wesley, this is the FBI; let go of the woman and put your hands up in the air.”

Tears pooled in her eyes upon seeing that Aaron was in the store; this time he ditched his suit jacket and instead had a bulletproof vest. Instead of following his orders he held onto her wrist more and jumped over the counter, pressing his front to her back as he grabbed a blade from his back pocket and pressed it against her throat, “One step close and I’ll slit her throat.”

Unable to hold back her whimpers, Y/N was now crying as she felt the cold touch of the blade against her skin. “Aaron, please,” Her broken cry broke Hotch’s heart, but he knew he had to be smart; she was at the hands of a sadistic man who took pleasure in beating the crap out of women.

From behind her, James scoffed, “Don’t tell me he is the boyfriend you were lying about. Didn’t think you could land a man like him.”

“You don’t have to hurt her, James. She didn’t hurt you, she didn’t give you the false promise of love, right?” Dave negotiated, on the drive over they were given new intel about how he was hurt by his fiancee when she left him for someone who was abusive to her. Thinking that he had to inflict pain on women in order for them to love and stay loyal to him — that coupled with his distorted view of the prostitutes view rough sex — set him on the course of killing and beating up women then dressing them up, much like how the prostitutes went about their night.

“Hurting women doesn’t make them stay, James. Treating and treasuring them right is how you get them to stay,” Hotch added, which didn’t sit well with the unsub as he shook his head, his hold on Y/N getting loose as he didn’t press on the knife to her anymore. “Yeah? Is that how you get this skank?”

“Don’t you dare call her that,” Came Hotch’s cold reply but he was quick to think of a way to get Y/N out of the situation safely. He made eye contact with the uniformed officer that snuck around the back — which for some reason John didn’t notice, but they weren’t complaining about that — he looked at John's shoulder then to the officer's gun. “Shoot in the shoulder?” Mouthed Officer Harrison, to which Hotch mouthed back “Wait.”

“If anything I’m surprised you’re able to hold onto a woman,” Hotch goaded him, but not too much John would take it out on Y/N. “By the looks of it you can’t even hold onto her right.”

As John looked to see his hands he shouted, “Now!” As planned, Officer Harrison shot John’s shoulder while Rossi shot his elbow, causing him to release his grip on Y/N — who immediately ran into Aaron. Face wet with tears buried in his chest as Aaron pressed loving rubs on her back.

“I was so scared, Aaron. Tried not to panic like you said but he had a knife,” She recalled with so much fear in her voice. He soothed her by rubbing her back keeping her eyes focused on him and not on John who was now being assisted by Rossi and Harrison out of the store and into the cop car. “I know, sweetheart. And you did so well, I saw you talking to him and trying to not let him get away. Wasn’t your fault okay?”

Wiping her tears with his thumbs he tried to console her, “He’s a bad guy, no matter how good you treated him he would have been mean to you. But you best believe I would not let that happen.” She felt something warm — whether it were his hands that settled on her cheeks once he was done wiping away her tears or the way he didn’t stop until the unsub was away from her — but she realized she loved how safe and secure he made her feel was what made her feel warm.

“Thank you for saving me, Aaron. You’re the best, you know?” Now it was his turn to be flustered as he chuckled and shook his head, “Was just doing my job, sweetheart. Couldn’t let you have any more dirt in your clothes and hands.”

That elicited a giggle from her, and he was happy to see that she wasn’t now in tears and distressed by earlier events. “If you need someone to talk to, after how bad today was, you can always give me a call, okay?”

“And if I just wanted to talk to you? Or maybe go out with you for a date?” It was adorable to see her ask him, looking smaller than him and so nervous. He nodded and rubbed her cheeks lovingly, “I’d love that, sweetheart. I’d kiss your cute nose but unfortunately I’m still on the job.”

Nodding in understanding, she then smiled, “Don’t be a stranger and shoot me a text okay? Oh! That reminds me,” She stepped out within his reach and grabbed the pastel pink suit that she pointed to earlier and gave it to him, “Please take this! One of the things I’d love to see is you in this. I just know you can pull it off!”

Looking down at the clothing article, he shook his head as he laughed a little at how insistent she was being, “Sweetheart, I like how you have faith in me but I don’t think this will suit me really well.”

“Please? For me, Aaron?” She looked up at him with a pout and knew right then and there Hotch had found his kryptonite. So, with a sigh, he nodded and smiled, “Alright, but you’re gonna have to give me a hand on how to dress up with this suit okay?” Smiling so wide she gave him a hug and hummed, “Yes, yes! Thank you, Aaron!”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we’re needed back,” Rossi came and with that the two ended their hug. Y/N smiled at him as she held up her hand and grabbed a scarf and gave it to Rossi. “A little something as a thank you for saving me, Mr.”

“Rossi,” He provided, “Y/N, right?” Rossi offered his hand for a shake to which she accepted and confirmed that it was indeed her name. “Good eye, this will go well with this jacket.”

“Italian suit, right? That scarf’s material shouldn’t rub on it the wrong way.” At her input Rossi smiled at her then at Aaron, “Good catch,” Before bidding adieu to her, “See you around, Y/N.”

She looked at Aaron as if to ask what he meant with his remark but was instead interrupted when Aaron smiled at her and lifted her hand up and kissed her knuckles, “I’ll call you later, sweetheart. Take care for now.”

Feeling bold, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed the tip of his nose, “Thank you, Aaron, for keeping me safe. I’ll be thinking of you.” And he knew that as he walked out of the store and rode back with Rossi to the station, his thoughts would be clouded by her as well. And for the first time in a while, he was glad to have this kind of distraction. She might have been a bit of a mess, but from here on out she was his mess.

part two: i’m a mess but

[s0apmactav1sh]

Traitor AU! 141 x male reader.

TW: Violence. Mentions of a knife? Reader going through physical torture. Youve been warned

Theres so real mention of pronouns but reader is a male. Minors, fem alligned do not interact. My works are purely for 18 + and are male centered. Thank you.

- Price who gives the order after a tip off directing them in your direction. For what? For giving out info on the recent mission that got them ambushed. You who wakes up in an interrogation room by freezing cold water being splashed over you.

- Ghost who carries out the first part of the punishments they deemed reasonable for your betrayal. Choosing which bones to break that would cause the most pain and injury to you. Starting with bashing in your knees to make sure you wouldnt be walking out of there. Next deciding on breaking a few ribs. To hell you be damned. Each bone broken had you writhing in pain and pleading with him that it wasnt you.

- Ghost who leaves you with several broken bones all over. None of them even caring to question you. Its not like he comes back either. No he stays away after that being unable to look at your face without seeing a traitor. He had half a mind to go back in to break your jaw or give you a black eye but that was to be left up to soap or gaz.

- Soap. Who wasnt usually quick to anger but this? Was unforgivable and you deserved it right? Each time he took the knife to add another cut somewhere a small voice was telling them there was something wrong. But he shook it off taking out his frustration on you cutting you up. Swapping out different blades depending on how angry he was feeling in the minute.

- Gaz who doesnt even go when its his turn instead ignoring your pleas for them to listen. Just watching you through the two way mirror as other soldiers go in and take there revenge for you betraying them. Watching how they beat you bloody, broke bones like ghost had done, cut you up like soap had done and spread the word like price had done.

- You who gave up fighting against it all after 3 days of the constant beatings and torment you were going through. You tried convincing yourself that they were only angry because they thought it was you. Theyd surely come rescue out of there as soon as they came to their senses. Right? Right??

- You who gave up the hope after two weeks. None of them had returned leaving it up to the other soldiers to torture and do what the wanted to you. Your body had numbed most of the pain. Even when a soldier took a pilars to your teeth. Ripping some of them out. When said solider then broke your jaw with the same pilars leaving your mouth a bloody mess.

- Price who was going mad at not finding anything that he could properly pin the betrayal on you. All he had was the tip off but even then was it true? No. It wasnt. Ghost had caught the proper mole. The one who was selling information. The one who had framed you.

- Price who demanded all torture towards you stop. But it wasnt quick enough. Most of the wounds left were infected from being left untreated in a damp room. Even medics were sure you'd heal properly because they werent allowed in to asses your injuries until now.

- Ghost who felt guilty but didnt show it. He was disgusted with how easily they all believed it, how quick they were to resort to torture. Soap who couldnt believe the little voice in the back of his head that he had been ignoring was telling the truth. After seeing you in the hospital covered in bandages and casts for the broken bones he knew he shouldve listened to it but he was blinded by his anger.

- Gaz who had refused to visit you, almost like he had refused to torture you. It didnt mean he wasnt as bad as the rest of them. No he had let others do his piece for him which made him just as bad. Now all he cpuld do was watch you through the mirror to your hospital room hoping you'd heal.

- Price who was in denial over what he had done. Refusing to accept he had given the order. He had been to visit seeing you hook up to the machines the fact that you would have to take leave for who knows how long. And the possible chance that you would never be the same. Torture did things to people, altered their mindsets and he was worried that would happem to you.

- You would didnt properly wake up until a month later, medics having to sedate you when you did wake up since the pain was clearly unbearable from the way you thrashed and squirmed in the bed. You who had to be strapped down so you didnt fall and worsen the injuries that were struggling to heal already.

- You who couldnt even look at any of them when they finally came to visit. Just staring up at the ceiling. Deep in thought remembering the harsh words they screamed at you the way they tortured you in that room for 17 days straight. They tried their best to talk to you or get you to look at them but you couldnt. Nor would you. You didnt feel safe around them. A chill piercing you each time they even touched you.

-now came the question was what would you do when you healed?

Pt 2???

[ladymirdan]

This comment confuses me on so many levels.

Ward wasn't even part of the fantasy productions I think, Prestley left by his own accord a while ago because he didn't like the direction of the company I think and I don't think he never said he intended a victory for anyone, gav wrote like maybe the elves books of the end times but lots of authors wrote the other books too. The end times happen because fantasy was selling poorly and the reason it's so bad is probably caused it was rushed due to aos being realase later. So everyone had to write a ending of a setting with lots of lore and characters in a limited time and tie up some loose ends. Like one of the writer admitted they forgotten a important character. I dont understand people sometimes

You hit the nail on the head. People just make shit up and it is so tiresome because others use it as an excuse to hate stuff. Have any of them actually read Priestley's writing? Let's just say it is a product of its time...

But honestly, blaming and pointing fingers at the writers for what is clearly a corporate decision is so fucking dumb. I'm willing to bet these people don't even know the name Tom Kirby.

I do believe Ward wrote one of the chaos codices in WHFB (chaos daemons, I believe; don't clock me on that; I don't have the energy for research today😅), but the guy wrote about sixteen codices in total, and pretending he favoured all of them is insane. He is a writer; he is doing a job.

The thing is, people who hate Ward don't even know what his main army is. (Hint: It isn't Ultramarines. He wasn't even a fan when that codex came out, and reading that he “relished in writing chaos ending worlds” is even funnier, if you know.)

Warhammer fantasy got shut down because it didnt sell, like at all. The Tactical Marine box from 40k on its own outsold the ENTIRE fantasy range. That is the sad thing about capitalism. It lost money, it had to be amputated.

They wanted to end the world, making chaos win is such an obvious choice. And in my mind, not a bad one. Chaos back then had a reputation of being toothless. That they were the baddies of the day for heroes to beat. So they showed people why chaos couldn't win before the end of the world.

Do you know what resurrected the public interest in Warhammer fantasy, tho? What is partly responsible for them bringing the world back?

Computer games, specifically Warhammer Total War and *drumroll* Vermintide (guess who was the lead writer on the latter?)

[wosowrites]

Saving the Game (Erin Cuthbert x Reader)

warnings: ⚠️injury, swearing, throwing up⚠️

a/n: I had to reimagine the the second leg of the quarter final so let’s pretend erin wasn’t injured and that the game didnt go to penalties. based off this request:

prompt: in which saving the game means injuring yourself during the champions league quarterfinal and erin takes care of you through your injury.

The champions league quarterfinal was a scary time. Emma had made it extremely clear that we could not concede. No ball should be behind Berger. And Chelsea thought they had it, until they didn't. A goal was scored by Vanessa Gilles in the 76 minute, equalizing the game on aggregate. It was a stressful ten minutes, and then out of nowhere, the ball was in Lyon's half.

Guro ran up the wing, speeding through the Lyon centerbacks. She switched the ball to Lauren James who outskilled Wendy Renard, leaving her Gilles and the keeper. LJ spotted Erin, making a run down the middle. The British woman cut the ball back into the space, Erin struck the ball, and it was behind Endler, and into the net.

You let out a scream, full of excitement as you jumped onto Erins back and kissed the top of her head. The fans has suspicions about a possible relationship between the both of you, but it wasn't confirmed.

The celebrations died down, 2-1, agrogate. 4 minutes left on the clock.

Thats where things went wrong. Lyon got hungry, and worried. They needed a goal more than anything. And that's when Chelsea panicked. As Lyon started their counter attack, you tracked back, positioning yourself in the midfield. You almost got the ball from Lindsey, but she faked you out. Magda and Kadeisha were alone. You tried to get back but Magda had no choice. She slid, clipping the corner of Lindsey's foot.

The American went flying, it wasn't a bad tackle, but she needed to sell it. Magda argued, but a penalty was awarded right away. You cursed yourself, wishing you would have gotten the ball.

"Hey. I know what you're thinking. Don't. Do not think anything bad about yourself. Ann-Kat's got this." Erin told you, discreetly putting her hand on the small of your back and giving you a closed lip smile.

Lindsey Horan put the ball down on the penalty spot and breathed in deeply. You positioned yourself in between Magda and Guro, ready to run into the box and clear the ball.

The referee blew her whistle, and the American ran towards the ball. Except she missed. The ball bounced off the crossbar and went flying back into play. You were quick to run into the box, Ann Kat yelling at you to position yourself on the far post. And thats what you did. Except suddenly, you were a bit in front the goal line, and the ball was coming flying in your direction. If you didn't move, it would slip into the night right between you and the post. So, as any footballer would do, you moved.

There was a three meter distance between yourself and the post, and you realized as you were already mid air that your jump to block the shot would end in only one way. Your head colliding with the post.

But it was too late, and you honestly didn't care. All you wanted was for your team to win this. So you took it. The feeling of the ball hitting your stomach and bouncing off hurt, but it was nothing compared to your head smashing into the lower part of the post.

Your screams filled the stadium and even though the ball was technically still in play, everyone had forgotten about it. Lyon and Chelsea players alike crowded around you. You saw double, no, triple as you lay on the floor. Blood clouded your vision as you groaned. You saw people being pushed to the side and then a face so familiar you could have smiled. Erin.

And then everything went black.

You woke up due to cold water falling on your face. You would have jumped up if it wasn’t for Erin’s hands on your chest pushing you down into the turf. "Don’t move. You probably have a serious concussion." she said, gently brushing strands of bloody hair off your forehead. "Why the water?" you groaned. "Sorry, couldn’t do anything with you passed out." the medic told you. "You saved the game y/n. It was incredible. Horrifying to watch by the way, when they showed the replay on the screen Jessie looked like she was gonna throw up." Erin laughed, trying to lighten the mood. You just smiled gently. "Okay, let’s get you off this field." the medic said.

A stretcher was now at your side and both men gently lifted you onto it, telling another medic to hold your head steady. You laid on the stretcher, looking up at the sky through the open stadium roof. You were a little confused when the stretcher lifted up and heard no kind of applause whatsoever. You looked around to see everyone shaking their hands in the air instead of clapping. Honestly, you were relived, you didn’t think your head would be able to take the loud noise. "Our fans are pretty amazing." you said gently. "Tell me about it." Erin laughed.

As they carried you off, you felt your eyes fluttering. You were struggling to stay awake, your body hurt, and you didn’t feel good. It was only when you got carried into the tunnel and when Erin left you as she couldn’t walk off the field that you told the medic to stop.

"Mark. Mark stop walking. I think i’m gonna-" you didn’t finish your sentence as you sat up and leaned over the edge, throwing up.

Throwing up was your biggest fear. You hated it. Hated the feeling, the taste, everything about it. It made you cry, and shake and just want to pass out every time you threw up. Your team didn’t know about this fear, and you wanted to keep it that way.

Your chest heaved up and down as you cried, whispering 'oh my god' multiple times. "Hey, hey. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it." Mark said, calmly. "I’ll get the janitor, bring her to the medical examiners room." He ordered.

You had always liked the medics, they were nice to you.

You laid down on your side, weeping silently. You were scared.

There was a moment in time that was a blur. You got transferred to a bed, another medic gave you a bucket and changed the bandages on your head. He stabilized your neck and then had to do a few examinations on you. It was clear off the bat that you were seriously concussed.

You ended up falling asleep on the bed, tears had made your cheeks wet, and you were so tired your heart hurt.

You woke up an hour later, disoriented, in pain, and wanting your girlfriend by your side. And surely enough, that’s where she was. You noticed her as you turned your head gently, her eyes were closed and she was leaning back on the chair. Well, she was the one you noticed first, it was only a few seconds later that you saw everybody else. Magda, P, Keish and Jessie were squeezed onto the sofa, all of them asleep. Some girls were on the floor, others on stools, and all of them were there with you.

An hour earlier.

The Chelsea girls were extatic about their win, but the fear and worry they felt for you overtook the joy. The second the whistle blew, Erin jogged into the tunnel, followed by Emma Hayes and a few of the girls who were on the bench.

She headed to the medical examiners room and knocked gently on the door. Mark opened it to see Emma, Emily and Erin. "She’s asleep." he said, walking out of the room and closing the door. "And her head?" Emma said, worried. "She’s seriously concussed. Out for about a month I’d say."

Emma groaned loudly, the sound of her frustration filling the room along with the sound of the Chelsea girls coming into the tunnel. "Ill tell the girls, Erin. Go sit with her." Emma told the scottish midfielder.

Erin nodded and thanked Emma, opening the door to the room and seeing your figure on the bed in the corner. She pulled up a chair and sat next to you, noticing the wetness of your cheeks. She gently wiped the cold tears away with her palm, kissing your forehead and then sitting down.

Only ten minutes later, Erin heard the door open and quietly, the team poured in. "You guys don’t need to be here, it’s okay." Erin whispered. "She’s our teammate, and we would still be out there playing if it wasn’t for her." Magda said, earning quiet agreements from the team. "And you’re our teammate, and we’re not going anywhere until she wakes up." Sam added.

The girls settled into the room, all looking at you, who looked oddly peaceful.

Current time.

"Erin," you whispered, sitting up and shaking her gently.

She jumped up quickly, suddenly on her feet as you gave her wide eyes. "It’s okay. It’s all good, I’m good. Sit down." you said, smiling at her lightly.

She didn’t though, not yet. Instead she brought you in for a tight hug and didn’t let go. "Your head… the way it bent. It’s not- it was terrifying." she said to you, burying her head in your hair. "Shh, I’m okay baby," you said to her, rubbing circles on her back.

People were starting to wake up and stand up, but you kept your attention on Erin. She pulled away and cupped your jaw, kissing you a few times before pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"Never do that again," Ann- Kat said to you. "It’s my job to do crazy dives." she added, making you laugh. "And we would have won in a PK shootout. This is is us…" Sam said.

"This is Chelsea." The whole room said softly.

[wellpullmystring]

hm. knowing how so many ppl disliked ts4 (i know ppl who actually hated it) and also knowing disneys tendency to self-correct, added to bo not appearing in that first look... im scared man. i have faith in pixars writing teams of course (even monsters university which i didnt care much for had some really interesting concepts) but then i think of the incredibles 2 and the whole screenslaver thing, and in general how ppl dont know how to talk about technology to kids who were basically raised by it... its a lot to ask from a movie. and then i dont really like the delusional buzz bit anymore tbh... idk. from what you said im kinda worried

There's so many intricacies to filmmaking, especially when it's a big franchise that's being overseen by a massive corporation. It's really so hard to tell how a product will turn out when there's such a wide array of moving parts here. The fact that all four Toy Story movies have been great (IMO) is a complete miracle. I don't think any other franchise has kept that consistent quality. There's always risk involved in doing another one. I'll say that I have faith the movie can be as great as the others. Andrew Stanton hasn't let us down with Toy Story yet. He has a great track record. And The Incredibles 2 did have a different creative team behind it. I think a movie being directed by the man who did Wall-E has the potential to sell the whole "technology" bit. Toy Story 4 seemed like a completely different movie when you compare the teaser with the final product. I know that Disney has overcorrected sometimes, but Toy Story 4 was still a critically acclaimed film that won an Oscar. I can believe that any undoing of TS4 can be done with tact. I noticed on another look that Woody isn't wearing his badge in the concept art. Jessie still has it. There's some continuity being kept there. Regardless, it's gonna be an interesting ride. Thanks for the ask

[lostbutincognito]

i dont follow u here but i followed u back before downsizin , but i like to come to ur blog to get other perspectives when my dash is being dramatic, and its always VERY good points abt VERY true things, like recently with wilbur - not defending him but pointing out both the fixation on him as 'evil' rather than uplifting shubble, and the subsequent dehumanization- i dont get tons of it on my dash but get enough to be glad to have somewhere with . a different perspective so I dont get stuck in the gunk of fandom . and then i saw ppl talking abt qsmp melting, so i rolled by here to see an Actual perspective instead of . the wider fandom , and its still banger points - the double standards and the very very valid question.of . who the hell are these 'higher ups' . this is quackitys smp . who is 'actually' in charge.? and i didnt hear ANYTHING abt 'we need money or qsmp will be shut down' bc that is an absolutely RANCID thing to say and im gonna go . look into where that statement is from lol to see how sugarcoated or whatever it is (if u have like a source or whatever ? like did someone stream or post ? ill hunt it down either way lol) and i cant . HELLO.... 'give us money or we shut down' WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ALL THE MONEY YOUVE BEEN MAKING? what kinda corporate hellscape bs .... uagh . why would u make a project u cant support on your own ? relying on viewers for money to keep this thing going with so many people involved? theres no way theres not enough money if this is an honest thing . ok im gonna go look at stuff but its annoying as hell ty for perspective on things my dash can be . bad abt <3

so I want to be clear this is what I was referencing:

it's not a direct 'give us money or we shut down' but I've already seen people begging Q to sell more qsmp merch so they can support the server which is exactly what I knew was going to happen lol. 'if I don't have money to cover the project the project will end' is a very sensible approach (how else do you want to run a project after all? by not paying the people lol?) but it's also a clear signal to the fanbase, fully conscious or not.

and I am not saying there's anything wrong with wanting to support the project you're passionate about as a fan! but there is something to be said about the business decisions being made in the quackland, considering there's already issues with current merch he's selling never being delivered and the fact that, well, again. if he never noticed people working for him were not compensated AND apparently he said that he's already losing money on the qsmp (I don't have direct source for this one I heard this from my friends)...well. where's the money going man. are people scamming you behind your back, are you this negligent to not know what's going on in your own companies, or are you lying to everyone to cover your own ass?

*sigh*

here's the thing. q is evidently under stupid amounts of stress and we have seen this ever since he started ghosting everyone and pivoted the qsmp from the original vision as presented to us in the beautifully animated intro video to the low quality 'hi we're a worldwide server now' announcement. we don't know why that is, despite the obvious things we can assume. and on a human level I am concerned for him. on any other level than that, well, I just have to ask WHAT IN THE FRESHEST OF HELLS WERE YOU DOING THIS WHOLE YEAR TO LET THINGS COME TO THIS YOU POOR EXCUSE OF A BUSINESSMAN.

[ultimateheadcanontournament]

Round One

Sniper

"LORD THIS IS SUPER SPECIFIC LMAO. OK FOR THOSE NOT IN THE TF2 COMMUNITY:

Sniper has a secondary weapon called Jarate, which. Im not sugar-coating it. Its piss in a jar. Sniper has the bladder of a god and can refill a jar of piss in 20 seconds. I dont need to tell you that its not normal for that to happen. If I do, please consult your doctor.

Sniper develops this… superpower by taking Saxton Hale Jarate Pills, which supposedly tripled the size of his kidneys (and caused massive organ failure, which he supposedly cant feel because of the hale brand painkillers). Now, something super important to note: Saxton Hale is a fraud GASP. Its a well known fact that Hale's products are horrible, bottom of the barrel, sad excuses for products. He sells rocket launchers that can't even kill a man on direct hit.

NOW, I CAN ADDRESS THE NON-TF2 AND TF2 COMMUNITY AS EQUALS:

IF SAXTON SELLS SUCH SHIT PRODUCTS, WHY WOULD THE JARATE PILLS ACTUALLY WORK, AND WHY WOULD THE PAINKILLERS WORK?? HALE PROBABLY THINKS PEE IS STORED IN THE BALLS THIS MAN HAS 0 CLUE HOW ANATOMY WORKS.

Now, here's where the headcanon, dare i say FACT comes in: the biggest symptom of diabetes is lots and lots of piss. Other symptoms include abdomonal pain, which sniper can mistake as organ failure. Now why would Sniper never progress far enough to die of diabetes if he thinks its the pills?

Simple! Medic's medigun is a device that can restore cut off limbs, bullet holes, and my proposal: restore blood sugar to its normal levels. Medic probably knows but just keeps forgetting to tell him / thinks its funnier he doesnt know, and schedules regular medigun appointments to make sure Sniper doesnt die of what diabetes was once known as- pissing disease.

But behold! The piss rabbit hole deepens! Im 1800 characters deep talking about my piss headcanons why the fuck not right?? After the teams disband, Medic (finally) tells Sniper he has diabetes. He learns to manage it, leading up to the events of the comics- where sniper has access to needles. NEEDLES!!! THE SAME KIND I BASICALLY HAVE, A DIABETIC. We even KNOW Sniper has no reasonable reason for them- he has no poison (he injects them with moonshine), and while he IS a mercenary who enjoys his job (snipin's a good job mate), you can argue he'd want to keep his personal life and work life very separate, weaponry and poisons included. Sniper had the needles to administer insulin, especially since we know its just the needles, no poison or extra materials nearby. He literally says its his PARENTS house, why the hell would he bring weapons over that would bother them?

To summarize, Sniper has a lot pointing to either massively humongous kidneys, or diabetes. He shows classic symptoms, had access to 'treatment' without knowing it, and later shows up with needles at his disposal in an environment where he really shouldn't have needles. Ur honor, i rest my 3000 character long piss case."

"just show the jarate thanks. sorry for saying piss so much i absolutely know you didnt think you'd be reading piss headcanons but i genuinely love the idea that sniper has diabetes, as a diabetic myself. It just comes with the side effect that the main reason i headcanon it is entirely around fucking piss. I hope life is kind to you stranger :)"

Josuke Higashikata

No response given.

[sadboytournament]

ROUND ONE

Propaganda

Adriane Tepes/Alucard: Bro's mom got murdered and his dad went insane and tried to wipe out humanity, and Adrian had to kill him to save everyone. AND THEN he had to deal with people trying to revive his dad to cause even more deaths! Also he's immortal so he's outlived everyone he's ever cared about 😭

Jason Todd: (tw: sexual assault mention) the second robin, gets taken in by bruce after his abusive dad walks out and his mum dies of an overdose (and he also steals the wheels of the batmobile, king). bruce trains him to be robin and for his original run he was a pretty cute kid (with the occasional Angst Arcs that are pretty common w robin - special shoutout to jason finding out his dad was actually killed by two face and he just didnt know, and an arc where a woman that reminds him of his mum gets raped by a guy that iirc has diplomatic immunity i think?? or enough power to get away with it? anyway jason fucking kills him so not that immune ig) then death in the family happened and jason found out his mum isnt his biological mum so he sets off trying to find his bio mum, and eventually he meets her, but shes working for the joker and sells jason out to him. the joker then proceeds to beat jason with a crowbar and blows the building hes in up with his mum also inside it, killing them both. dc then does a fun thing for the next 20 years where they start treating jason like the '"""troubled""" """angry""" robin who was too reckless and was always going to end up dead. eventually dc brings jason back (as dc is wont to do), by having him wake up inside his coffin years after dying, dig his way out with his bare hands, and walk half-dead in the general direction of wayne manor until he's hit by a car and taken to the hospital (where all his says is 'bruce' over and over, and when asked who bruce is he responds 'my dad' and passes out) eventually he ends up in talia al ghul's care and is dunked in a lazarus pit to revive him completely, and he finds out not only is the joker still alive, but batmans also replaced him as robin. jason returns to gotham as red hood and has an honestly pretty slay arc where he taunts bruce by doing a better job of cleaning up gotham than him ngl. eventually it all culminates with him luring batman to a building where hes keeping the joker and telling b that his no kill rule is bullshit, and he shouldve killed the joker for taking jason away from him. he gives bruce an ultimatum thats basically if you dont kill me ill kill the joker, you gotta pick' and bruce chooses to instead disarm jason and save them both, and jason escapes. what follows is a lot of ups and downs for red hood comics (mostly due to the "angry robin" narrative dc writers have spun, making a lot of jasons appearances wildly ooc fights, lots of weird (tragically in character) cringefail behaviour, and this odd period where hes a natural redhead and his helmet is this ugly dome). itd be too long to list every jason todd sadboy moment from the last 20 years here but i do want to give a special shoutout to a currect story arc where bruce (who thinks hes being controlled by a 'perfect batman' hes got in his head) gets sick of jason's """reckless behaviour""" and fucking alters jasons brain chemistry so that whenever his adrenaline rises, he'll have a panic attack so severe hes basically incapacitated and can barely speak through his fear (the instant he escapes bruce's captivity he jumps into a burning building to save a little girl im SOFT for him!!). also second special shoutout to the jason todd in the arkham games who didnt even have the luxury of dying at the jokers hand, and was instead tortured for like 3 years, branded, beaten by p much everyone in batmans rogues gallery (and some of jokers goons dressed as batman), eventually jason breaks himself out only to find out that NOT ONLY has bruce replaced him, but it took the man like. a month. like jason wouldnt be thought dead for a long time, he was missing and bruce just went 'ill let this new kid adopt himself' ig? also theres a vr game in the arkham series where you can go into arkham asylum and hear jason screaming 🙃

[the-kr8tor]

BDAS SPOILERS

Katy writes so good to where you can ultimately predict some of the stuff that happens from the writting, yet not all of it. You can see the direction its going and still have no clue how itll end.

I KNEW IT WAS THE QUEEN IVE BEEN CALLING IT SINCE WHEN?!?!?! I KNEW IT WAS HER WHIPPIE. Im so glad i got that correct.

But god damn fucking mathias no one likes you and its obvious let me be with the love of my life i dont care if you hate him its not your choice. I hope hed commit more felonies on your ass.

So glad how the guard didnt follow and just let us go while he helped the queen. Love how R also sold some of her stuff and negotiated it so she could get the love of her life dafe. Love how people on the crowd even hated hobies execution because it was undeserving. The royalty is just pricks and the stuff that r said to the queen is 100% true. Just comes to show a lot.

Also i love all the metaphors we get to fire and how people in this series have fire spread within them. Its been here for a long time.

And i love the squad coming to help and asking r what to do and then sending r after hobie so she can get him safe

GAHH i could go on a rant all day about this chapter alone and so much more.

I like how even katy could get enough of bdas and was like “what should i do…. Oooo second story”

Is this gonna become like a book deried? Percy jackson era?

THANK YOU, BESTIE!! That's such a great compliment, I'll be storing it inside my brain forever and ever ❤️

YOU DID!! You actually predicted a lot! (You and your big brain ❤️)

I love how everyone hates mathias and the queen bc that means I did an okay job at writing the villains!

Miguel and the hired mercenaries did a good job at preventing them from following (everyone say thank you to miguel)

R does not care which stuff she sells as long as she gets hobie back in her arms again 🥺

Yeeesss Hobie was their beacon while R was their fire they needed to finally fight back!

The royalty are such royal pain in the asses! (Hehehhe) And They will be much more pompous in book 2

R is secretly katniss confirmed. 'It's been a here for a long time' omg you're so right

They're a team your honour! Mathias said love won't defeat him but it did

PLEASE RANT MORE!!! THE SMILE ON MY FACE HASN'T STOPPED SINCE I'VE BEEN READING EVERYONE'S NOTES ☺️☺️☺️

My train of thought was "they need to be pirates more and go on more adventures but that won't fit here. Oh I know book 2!!" Lol

Idk yet! Probably 🤔

[svankmajerbaby]

ok i just watched the mina le video on movie musicals, and im still thinking about how movie musicals are marketed but most importantly to me, how theyre made

so bc musicals are "cringe", three movie musicals have been hiding the fact theyre not musicals in their trailers, and focused on selling, what else, nostalgia and the association with a previous intellectual property. in the actual context, its not a surprise, though it does mean theres a void of actual interesting movie musical projects. i personally think that the fact that we havent had a movie musical of the best original one made in years, hadestown, is a real shame... but considering that, even though its not a particularly hard musical to convert to screen, it would be extremely easy to fuck up through movie star casting and a bad choice of director who doesnt know their way around a musical number... still, i would like to see someone try.

but anyways.

what i personally have an issue with is the decision between movie actors who cant sing and stage actors who cant act in the way movie directors supposedly want. the choice to go with big movie actors the audiences are familiar with, and that also act like the audiences expect actors to act, is understandable. producers suppose actors can do anything if they try hard enough and they can carry a tune and do some dancing with the proper coaches and a month or two of rehearsals. but i personally am of the mind that a theater actor, a stage actor, is a much more valuable performer in a movie musical because they already know how to inhabit a musical character, how to move and interpret the overwhelming emotions a musical character needs to embody. besides, at least to me, the beauty of a musical is to see an amazing musical performance, that matches accordingly with a compelling story and characters. i wouldnt want to watch a billy elliot movie musical if it didnt have great dancing, for example. i wouldnt want to watch a wicked movie if the actors couldnt perform the songs perfectly in character. musicals are at their best, of course, when the music drives the story forward, and i feel like thats a skill that most directors dont have. the reason les mis didnt fully work for me is less because of the "realistic, flawed singing" (which did bother me at times, especially with the more action involved characters like valjean and javert) and because the cast was so badly directed and unbalanced. thats why something like west side story 2021 is so important to me: a movie with 99% musical theater actors, which are all well directed by a movie director who knows how to move the camera around the performers to instill a sense of dynamism and excitement. i maintain that choreographers in general should try directing movies. the in the heights movie, even if i didnt personally care for the music, was excellently directed because it was obvious the director had a sense of the rhythm the movie needed, and that the best way to convey that was through the camera. this is why i thought guy ritchie, an action director, would have been great for the aladdin live action remake –and then i was proven wrong. i keep blaming disney, though: watch the man from uncle and tell me ritchie wouldnt have been a pretty good movie musical director in other universe.

apart from the mean girls musical remake, which didnt even have that good a score in the first place, i do have faith in the future of movie musicals. if we need to go to already preexisting intellectual properties, and have five remakes to be able to have one original movie musical (even if that movie musical is something like la la land), it would have been worth it. i still dont understand why the entire cast of the west side story remake arent established cinema stars, apart from rachel zegler and ariana debose. or why there arent more opportunities for stage actors like amber gray and mike faist to make the jump to screen, or why tried and tested screen actors like amy adams and evan rachel wood who have proven that, given a score that allows for their specific voice types to shine, they can be great at performing movie musical roles. there isnt a bigger focus on the creativity i havent watched the color purple movie musical yet, but the fact that the director has worked with beyonce for her music videos immediately gives me hope that this is someone with the creativity and talent to know how to move the camera with the performers and the music. the wicked movie has the in the heights director, so even if the cast is half movie actors (i have little faith in jeff goldblum and michelle yeohs singing abilities tbh), i trust that at least it will be an entertaining watch. similarly, i try to have faith that, if the hercules live action remake gets out of preproduction, theyll have a strong set of muses actresses coming from stage musicals to carry the best songs, and that guy ritchie will be able to be more creative and take bigger risks –that is, if the evil mouse allows him to.

wonka was a decent, middle of the road movie that just works. to me, it didnt become the great musical it could have been because it didnt fully get the need for a stronger underlying darkness that makes the spirit of roald dahl, and because it kept tying itself with the mediocre 1971 movie. but i think it was a step in the right direction, with the right director and the right music, even if it relied too much on stunt casting.

[gypsypendragon]

Pieces of the Heart

2: Coin Hunting 

There had been a lot of things Shachi and Penguin would have used to describe Law when they’d first met him; while they were still getting used to him. Things like meticulous, paranoid, sadistic were a few of the most common that sprung up over the years. Hell they were even more likely to put insane over a few other adjectives. Bepo’s choice of adjectives were a little more lackluster, but they couldnt really say they were surprised taking in their navigator’s more timid nature. Probably two or so years into sailing with him they discovered something quite, un-Law like. 

He collected coins of all things. 

The duo would have guessed something as wild as bones, or skulls long before even considering their teen captain collected coins. He’d denied it, sternly, when they’d asked about it one day. He looked almost appalled theyd even think he’d be into such a “frivilously pointless hobby”, and he’d been so convincing about it the two had thought they’d severely missed the mark. 

All those coins they’d seen on the table one day must have been a fluke, or something else despite how meticulously they’d been set out. 

Promptly after the inquiry the coins disappeared and they never saw them again. Bepo didnt seem to know anything about it either, so the two eventually forgot about the whole thing entirely as the months stretched on. 

At least, until Shachi personally witnessed Law bartering with a shopkeeper over a coin. 

They’d gone ashore, leaving conspicuous Bepo and his powerful electro to guard the tang, to do a small resupply. The island was quite busy; bustling with merchants and traders of all sorts. A large number of other ships had found port at the island, and after talking with locals it appeared the port town was a common resupply and trading outlet. Most didnt even see the trio of teenagers as they moved through the crowds let alone peg them for pirates. Shop owners easily bartered and bargained with them, and locals were eager to share town gossip or snippets of information they’d supposedly heard here and there. Law did most of the bartering; his dealings with merchants far more numerous than Shachi and Penguin’s experience. Swallow island hadnt exactly been a place of heavy trade and commerce after all. Information gathering was their job at the moment. They picked up any information that might be useful to Law and his (still a little vague about it but they were getting pretty clear clues lately) goal, or important for pirates to know in general. 

By the time they’d returned from a round of gossip chasing they’d found Law at a smaller stall. He and the shopkeeper seemed to be talking quite effortlessly, Law’s face and stance neutral telling them easily he wasnt currently being underestimated (he quite hated when adults underestimated them, him, and his posture would change dramatically if it happened warning the two of his coming temper). A small pile of the shopping sat near Law’s legs, and as far as they could tell it looked like that should have been all they needed. Assuming their captain was probably pining after something medical at this point Penguin wandered to a stall selling a number of weapons. Shachi had acquired a katana he was quite happy with a few islands back, so opted to continue towards Law. As he grew closer though, the shopkeeper lifted up whatever they must have been talking about and Shachi halted his advance. 

Low and behold, a shining gold coin was held up in the man’s fingers as he gestured to the face of it, and to Shachi’s curiosity Law nodded like he knew exactly what the man was talking about. In fact, as Shachi dared to creep just a bit closer, he realized Law’s eyes looked a little more lively than they usually did.

He ducked behind the wares of a partially crowded stall when Law turned his direction as if he could tell someone was watching him. Shachi remained hidden for a while pretending to inspect the merchandise around him before he peered around the crowd carefully. Law had turned and retrieved the shopping before leaving the stall. Shachi wandered forward slowly as Law moved away before turning to the shopkeeper himself. He was so curious… 

“Hey, you sell coins here?” He asked bluntly as his eyes scanned the merchandise from behind his glasses. 

The older man chuckled before shaking his head, “Used to son, but a boy ‘bout your age or so just bought the few I had.” 

Shachi grinned, “Oh, no problem then!” 

He slipped away just as he saw Penguin coming down the street; looking around for them no doubt. Spotted, the older boy trotted over.

“Seen Law?” He asked simply.

Shachi broke out into what Penguin would have described as a “suspiciously pleased” grin. The shorter of the two threw his arm over Penguin’s shoulders pulling the older down a bit to his height as they started walking. 

“Remember those coins?” Shachi started. 

It took Penguin a second to realize what the ginger was talking about, but he nodded. 

“Guess what I just saw Law buying at that stall back there…” Shachi’s grin widened, “Old man said he got all the ones he’d had left!” 

Penguin blinked at him for a second before standing up straighter, “Coins? If he’s actually interested in them, why’d he brush it off so aggressively?”

The ginger shrugged as he folded his hands behind his head, “Dunno, but whatever the reason guess he doesnt want anybody to really know.” 

The older boy huffed, seeming almost to take offense to the statement, “Well fine, I guess. We’ll just pretend we dont know anything.”

“Think Bepo knows?” Shachi asked after a moment of silence.

“It’s Bepo; he’s glued to Law. He’s gotta know.” 

…

The duo had spent a while trying to spy on Law after the discovery of his, apparent, secret hobby. They hoped to catch him slipping just to confirm they were indeed right about his secrecy, but Law was meticulous. No matter how long or how many times they tried they could never quite catch him doing anything with coins.

Over time the intensity of finding out faded to a simple, it is what it is, and the secret just became a part of Law to them. 

One island brought a particularly rich merchant presence, but Law had stayed on the Tang with Bepo after coming down with a mild illness. Sent to resupply and gather information alone Shachi and Penguin had taken their time to stroll a bit. Penguin ultimately ended up stumbling upon a particular stall where the woman was selling “collectables”, but what caught him was a small coin in the mess of wares. It was a shining gold, imprinted with a multitude of numbers and such he didnt understand, but there was an intricately designed depiction of a Sea King on the back of it. It certainly wasnt a coin Penguin had ever seen exchange hands before, and he collared Shachi as the ginger rejoined him to have him look at it too. 

“You think those are the things Law’s looking for?” Penguin muttered as the two stared at it, “I’ve never seen a coin like that before; that means it’s special right?” 

Shachi nodded slowly, “I’d definitely say so… I mean, I doubt he’d be going around buying regular common coins…?”

“Do you boys collect these?” The sales woman had at some point come over to them.

They looked up, a little startled. 

“This one’s quite a good find if you do!” She nodded smiling brightly, “The Sea King coins are hard to come by you know! I heard a lot of them got lost!”

“So these are, collecting coins?” Shachi asked slowly as Penguin took a closer look at it, “A friend of ours is into these…” 

She beamed suddenly, “If that’s the case then you would definitely be doing them a favor! Even if they have one already, each Sea King on the back was designed differently so duplicates are impossible!”

“That’s gotta be what Law’s doing right?” Penguin speculated to no one in particular, but he glanced at Shachi quietly. 

The ginger regarded him for a split second before nodding lightly. 

Penguin looked at the woman carefully, “How much are you selling it for then…”

She looked down at them, studying the pair for a moment. The shorter ginger boy would have been better alone she guessed; he didnt seem as savvy as the taller boy. The gaze currently on her was cautious and familiar with how bartering worked. 

She sighed as she leaned back, crossing her arms lightly over her chest, “I havent had many people come through here that are even aware of coins, so I’ll tell you what… buy two more items from me, and I’ll let you have the coin for a quarter of what I was originally going to sell it for.”

Shachi seemed eager to accept, glancing back between her and Penguin with an eager twitch to his lips. Penguin though mulled over the offer. A quick glance around the other wares told him there wasnt technically anything they needed here, and he could only guess maybe a want or two and light ones at that. 

The woman’s eyes studied him carefully; the older boy wasnt stupid. 

“One item full price, the second half, and the coin a quarter.” Penguin finally offered. 

Her tongue clicked against her teeth for a moment as she considered. She’d had decent business today, and like she’d said the coins werent something anyone who frequented was ever after. The pair hadnt seemed interested in anything else she had but the coin, and any business was better than none. 

“Alright.” She finally relented with a wave of her hand, “But the more expensive of the two you pick remains the full price item.”

“Deal.” Penguin finally agreed. 

The pair picked their items half heartedly, both just grabbing something that mildly caught their attention right away, before they were finally on their way back to the Tang. Law’s coin was tucked carefully in one of Penguin’s pockets as they discussed how to get it to him.

“Do we just… give it to him?” 

Penguin shook his head, “Na… I dont think Law would take it if we did; he’d deny wanting it again… maybe I can sneak it onto his desk somewhere…”

Shachi laughed, “Think that’ll confuse him?”

“I dont think it’s that easy to confuse Law.” Penguin sighed, “But guess we’ll find out.”

Law was wandering the halls of the Tang, albeit slowly, by the time they returned. He looked a little less worn out at least. His attention had been drawn to the odd trinkets they’d been carrying but between the two of them and their commonly random impulses he didnt think twice about their half assed cover of ‘they’re cool looking arent they?!’ 

The Tang soon set out from port, Law lingering up in the control room with Bepo as they began charting their next direction. 

The pair took the chance to slink away toward the rooms to deposit their hidden treasure. Law’s room was, despite himself, always a little messy. They’d been in and out of it before, and it had surprised them the first time they’d seen it. The desk was always just slightly covered in half heartedly stacked papers or books; the bed was only ever half made; even rare occasions would yield a few clothes on the floor. This time, they took the slight mess as an ally, as they slipped the coin onto the desk. 

“Put it under the papers a little bit!” Shachi said quietly, “He’ll think maybe he forgot to put it away or something!”

Having not seen a single coin since the day they confronted him about it all that time ago, Penguin doubted Law would have “forgotten” to put them away, but it was as good as place as any.

Despite their, attempts at sneaking around though, a body lingered outside the door of the room unbeknownst to them. 

Golden eyes stared at them quietly as his hand hesitated on the doorhandle. He’d come back intending to lie down again when he’d heard the two of them inside. Rooms had never been a, private, feeling between the four of them. All of them often coming and going as if doors didnt exist, so Law hadnt thought twice about hearing their voices from inside. 

He’d paused though, when he’d heard them mention coins in their (particularly not) hushed discussion. Unable to help himself he’d bristled a little and had intended to storm in and throw them out; he’d thought they’d long since given up trying to figure that line of inquiry out. 

Their next few words though, had stopped him. 

“We’re going to keep looking, right?” Shachi had asked Penguin with genuine, dare Law say, concern in his voice. 

What was there to be concerned about? It wasnt as if there was any threat hanging over them if they didnt; in fact Law was set to argue there was more threaet from him if they did. 

“Of course!” Penguin seemed oddly enthusiastic all of the sudden as he turned to the ginger, “Law’s not… I dont know… normal about stuff!” 

Law blinked; what was that supposed to mean?

“If we want to do something for him we gotta be quiet about it.” Penguin had luckily continued, their odd silent communication not the choice of voice this time (thank goodness, Law would later think), “Let’s face it Shachi, we all suck at expressing.”

“I express enough!” The ginger seemed offended.

“Yeah, anger!” Penguin’s words were followed by a soft thwack to the back of the head, “You know what I mean! Law took us with him even though he could have totally left us. He keeps taking us with him; keeps patching us up; keeps teaching us. If we're gonna thank him for it all, we gotta be quiet… he’ll never accept anything like this straight.”

Shachi grumbled, but nodded, “Yeah, but wont he get suspicious if they keep showing up?”

“We’ll just, space out dropping them off or something…” Penguin half suggested with a shrug, “He’s always so busy with medical stuff or the library I’m sure he wont notice one or two every so often.” 

Law had quietly let go of the door after that, turning and carefully walking down the hall back to the control room. He felt a little offended, kind of, but found more concern with the creeping, warm sensation that tugged at his chest and face. While he didnt think they needed to go to so much trouble, let alone thank him for anything, he’d let them do as they would if they really needed to do something for it all. 

Besides, he definitely couldnt let them see him like he was right now or he’d never hear the end of it….

… 

As time stretched on, and the crew grew larger, the odd shore habit of the pair was quickly picked up on. New crew members would catch one or both wandering away from the main group to inspect rather odd choices of stalls. The pair had slowly begun to search more frequently as Law’s attention was drawn further and further away from his own thoughts, and into the consuming realm of Doflamingo and his goal. They’d picked up the seriousness of Law's disregard for himself after witnessing him glance over a set of coins before forgoing even inquiring about them (they had promptly picked them up in his place before the Tang departed that island).

Ikkaku was one of the first to find out what the two were up to, and instantly had been on board keeping an eye out for these coins their captain apparently collected. She clued in Uni some time later when she and the taller man were sent on shopping duty, and he’d been eager to help look for the little gifts for Law. The information spread slowly, but surely, through each member until all of the Heart Pirates were aware of their captain’s not-so-secret secret. Some, like Bepo, who would be able to obtain the coins but lacked the quietness of sneaking in and dropping them off, often turned to Penguin for help. Though Shachi was pretty good, no one matched Penguin’s ability to traverse quietly through the Tang. More often than not it fell to the older to take the precious trinket and sneak it into the room while Law was gone, distracted, or (the easiest of times) when he was holed up in the ever accumulating library. 

Hakugan, rarely one for shore based activity, stumbled upon a rare find one time that ended in many of them spending much of their personal allowances in one go. A rather stingy seller had a numerous amount of coins (many none of them could recall obtaining previously) that the Heart Pirates knew they could not leave without. Though more bodies searching now made coin spotting easier, it did not make finding them any more frequent. Coins were few and far between, especially ones that looked like they would be something Law’s meticulous mind would enjoy, and they were not about to pass up such a treasure of a find as this one. 

It had taken Penguin, Ikkaku, and Clione (the most frequent of the shore run participants) to haggle, argue, and exasperate the man down to a, questionably, reasonable price for the lot. In the end a number of them forked over the beri needed to obtain the whole amount, but no one complained. 

Law had been driving himself into the ground lately, and they were all for trying to find anything that would help give him some form of serotonin.

The lot had yielded a grand total of 10 gold coins, and five strange silver ones none of them had ever seen before. Having never seen silver in Law’s possession before Penguin had been skeptical, but the detail of the designs had been enough to include them in the purchase. It was, however; a large amount of coins to just slip onto Law’s desk. 

In the end they decided to divide the coins into two at a time over the course of at least a few months. Seemed reasonable enough, especially with Law’s distracted attention lately.

The first round was set a week later to avoid suspicion, and soon Penguin found himself creeping outside their captain’s room. No one had seen Law all day, so he was either in the library, or for a more difficult outcome, in his room. Penguin had a few back up lies in case their captain was indeed in his room and inquired about the spontaneous visit. 

He pushed the door open as quietly as possible, but in the silence of the Tang that late at night even the tiniest of sounds felt agonizingly loud. Creeping forward slowly Penguin made sure not to trip over the pair of boots that were haphazardly thrown near the bed as he rounded toward Law’s desk. The desk that currently held the sleeping form of their captain; much to Penguin’s misfortune.

Law seemed, for once, deep asleep despite the hunched over positon he’d fallen into. Penguin stood quietly next to him for a long while as he made sure Law was indeed asleep. Most of the crew members’ mere presence too close would wake the younger man due to his Haki, but he, Shachi and Bepo had apparently been around Law long enough that they didnt so much as register when they breached his personal space anymore. 

With Law, Penguin took the wins where he could get them.

The man remained fast asleep, and finally Penguin moved. He fished the two coins out of his pocket before scanning the desk for a good place to slip them.

There was quite a mess around this time; Law’s form actually sleeping across some of it. A bit of luck seemed to favor Penguin that night though, since he realized Law must have been in the middle of going through his coins before passing out. There were rows of them spread out neatly in one side of the desk while others were piled together atop one another; clearly waiting to be organized with the others. Penguin took a second to take in the amount, and finding it quite a lot more than he would have guessed at. As he looked at the desk he realized Law’s arm was over a small notebook. A mess of jagged scribbles he recognized as Law’s handwriting filled the book in messy, but meticulous, columns. He couldnt see all of it, obscured by Law’s arm as well as the low light, but Penguin could make out enough that he almost barked out a laugh. 

Rows of scribbling read in meticulous order the numbers engraved on each coin, followed by a date, and then a name. It wasnt some random name either, but a name of a Heart Pirate. Some were written confidently, Penguin and Shachi’s names the most common, while others were less sure. Small question marks lingered near Ikkaku’s name on one, and Clione’s another. 

Penguin realized they werent as sneaky as they thought they’d been. Truthfully, he guessed, they should have given their captain far more credit than they had. Law wasnt dumb; far, far from it in fact. He sighed, silently, before a smirk spread across his lips. 

Well if Law wasnt going to say anything, and was going to keep playing this “secret” game with them, he’d certainly do the same.

Shaking his head Penguin returned his attention back to his pervious mission; finding a place to put the newest additions Law would have to catalog. He glanced once more around the desk before his eyes landed on a pair of wooden boxes sitting near the unorganized pile of coins. 

One was much smaller and held a pristine condition, but the slightly larger one it sat on was far more worn. Areas of the paint around where one might lift and close it from were wearing away; fading slightly against the rest of the color around it. Curious about them, but deciding he’d spied on their captain enough, Penguin carefully placed the two coins on top of the boxes before turning and heading out of the room. 

Shachi was lingering around the corner as he closed the door, “What took so long?” 

“Just… making sure Law didnt wake up.” Penguin said quietly as they moved away from the room, “He was in there, asleep at the desk of all places. Moved a little, so wanted to make sure he was still asleep before I tried to leave the coins.”

“Law mentioned something about a long term recon somewhere; think we can slip all the rest while he’s away?”

Penguin grinned lightly, “Maybe… if he hasnt clued in yet, he probably wont notice then…”

…

When Law finally returned to his crew after a long, draining dive into the underbelly of a particularly large island; the resounding chorus of cheers were a kind of remedy he would never really be able to prescribe. They partied, ever his rowdy crew, and made sure Law was ever present in the center of their groups as if they wanted to make sure he wouldnt disappear again. Well into the night it went as the Tang sailed calmly under the dark waves.

He’d been exhausted when he’d first boarded her, and had been sure he wouldnt have kept up with his crew’s antics. Yet as he quietly left the sprawled out crew in the common room to return to the cool atmosphere of his own, he felt oddly re-energized. He sighed, heavily, as he closed the door to his room and let the quiet atmosphere envelope him for a moment. It was tidy and clean, and he huffed out a small smile; of course they’d fixed it for his return. 

Shedding his jacket, letting it lazily pile near the end of the bed, Law fell into the cool sheets. The Tang hummed quietly around him, it's familiar sounds and smells welcoming him back in it's own way, and he felt a wave of comfort slowly wash over him. Deep beneath the waves, with his crew and the Tang; Law would never feel more at ease anywhere else.

He turned his head slowly, eyes lazily sliding over his desk which had also been (partially) tidied up. He stopped though, when something subtly reflected the shimmer of the water outside. Sitting atop the boxes he left carefully stacked at the corner of his desk, closest to the bed, was a numerous amount of coins. 

Helpless against the feeling rising in his chest, Law laid there and stared at them for a while as he grinned to himself in the quiet darkness of his room. If they kept this up any more, he was going to have to get another box for those secret coins that kept strangely appearing on his desk.

Not that he minded much really; he was more fond of that collection now than the other one anyway…

XX🐠🏴‍☠️XX

I've returned with another short, some light fluff.

I wont lie these soft short stories are a bit tricky for me, I'm an angst/hurt/comfort writer tbh. I dwell in the tragedy and injury devastation side of writing.

These are good practice for me though, so it's nice. There will most certainly, probably, be some angsty shorts in the future though. I can only deny my nature so long haha.

If you've got any suggestions for a prompt or so also let me know! I'm always fishing for more ideas.

I always thought law's coin collection hobby was an interesting choice on Oda's part, but I'm also a little bias. My dad used to collect coins, specifically quarters, he had whole boards of the US states that he could put each respective quarter from that state of whatever year he was after. I cant even remember how many he had tbh; there were a lot.

(Also if you're ever looking for all the pieces im going to be posting for this shorts collection im going to be tagging them all with "Pieces of the Heart by KC" in the tags so they should hopefully be easier to find.)

[alinktoana]

local elderly girl sells stickers at a japanese food festival

not gonna lie, the entire experience is very emotional to me and it's been a month but moon channel's vid essay about cool japan, and the release of smt5 vengeance (lol) inspired me

tldr: i made some stickers, got real existential about it, will keep making more c: if youd like to check them out, here's a link

ive always wanted to draw, i used to say i was gonna become a painter or a fashion designer when i grew up. none of that happened, but i did go to film school. my final project was a script for an animated short highly inspired by nbc hannibal, majora's mask (i know, it was 2016, it makes sense to me lol) and a huge loss in my life from which i havent fully recovered, 10 years later.

the point is, ive always been art adjacent but i never really drew, until i got inspired by_hannibal itself_, noel fielding, kylux (LOL) and a roommate who was who was really inspired by art youtubers like frannerd and drew around the house, so i picked up a pencil and started drawing hannigram fanart bc i was so insanely in love with that show lol i remember who i was before i drew. i spent my days reading and watching tv, bc i love stories and stuff, but i was a consumer. and once i got a job after college i felt so incredibly isolated and directionless. do i have a direction now, as i work as a """"designer""" for a company that sells a mental health app? no. but like demifiend was force fed a magatama and got demon powers (LMAO BEAR WITH ME I JUST BOUGHT SMT3 HD REMASTER), i caught the art demon (like steven zapata says). and i caught it bad. i spend my day to day rushing through my work and chores and everything so i can have enough time to draw in the evening, to do whatever, and sometimes the need is so immense i cant do anything bc im not good enough, my skills are fading, im worthless, what's the meaning of all this? so i took a chance and showed my work at an arts alley on a japanese food festival i was helping organize. mind you, i was juggling that with my 9/5, promoting the event, finishing drawings from years ago. and when i got there, nobody got it. people looked at the stickers and didnt recognize the characters, and went on to buy the stickers my friends had that were more current. it was all japanese fanart. we were there with the single purpose of baiting weebs like us lol

ive always dealt with clients, im used to this. but im used to business to business, bc sigh i am a corporate girly. and im a beginner in the demon arts of arting. i felt so ashamed people were preferring other people, that i had the audacity to think i was worth anything. but i stood there, standing still with my brain boucing off my skull wanting to leave but also enjoying the experience and hoping someone, anyone would get it. and some people did. to my surprise, jack frost was my best selling sticker, lol. jack frost, from the smt franchise, a franchise im so new to but i love so dearly. im 100% a poser, ive never finished a megaten game. but… it just speaks to me. and thats where my cool japan feelings come from bc, like i said, i was selling at a japanese food festival. people my age, from the country i come from, were exposed to dragon ball and cardcaptor sakura from birth. and learning about history and the atrocities of the japanese empire is just. who can you trust. but ive aways resonated with one thing from japan, and it's the way they portray sadness in their works. it's become a ritual since last year that i will listen to smtv's ost when im on my period bc it literally brings me back to life. no one but i know how many times ive drawn goro majima and taiga saejima bc their mere existance and their sorrow resonates with me so immensily and i dont wanna see them being sad, nor do i wanna see me being sad. it's. it's really difficult to be to admit that im from brazil, bc our country sells happiness as an export but for many, many years the most popular genre is butthurt country music, and it makes sense, you know? people dont wanna admit they're sad. and i can only imagine what it's like for regular japanese people, bc we (i) get to see their big exports of bittersweetness… i dont know, maybe other people get to see that from brazil too, i dont know. the arts in brazil, or specially where i live, it's just isnt in the cards for us. but ill keep trying, you know. and i know fanart is a hack. but im trying. despite everything and everyone wanting us (me) to work for mining/metal/oil companies, make the most money, have the least health, drink all the alcohol (but call an uber), consume, reproduce and die, i. i just wanna draw tiny people, you know. it's. not that big a deal. all this to say that yes im gonna keep drawing and making stickers and, who knows, you know. these are stickers that i wont ever find near me, or that im too broke to get them from artists/official stores, so if youre like me, here's some pdfs in case you wanna print them and stick them wherever c: ty if you got this far, this is a big ramble… but it's been years in the making and despite everything im happy about it c:

[meatriarch]

RAPHAEL "DANNY" ALEJO-OSORIO.

raphael - freshly twenty - three years old at the time during the search across austin & newt for his long-time best friend, maria flores - has had his fair share of a turbulent upbringing and social life.

his parents - marcos & salome - were never a married couple. due to her refusal of his several proposals and having raphael out of wedlock, their relationship and raphael's early years were spent observing a wildfire of hate claimed to be "love".

( young raphael had sworn to himself if that is what "love" was supposed to look like, then he never wanted to feel it. )

he witnessed the countless arguments, furniture getting smashed and thrown and knocked over across their home, his father towering over his mother, screaming into her face. of his mother hissing back to lower his voice, that raphael is in the room - which only prompted glare in the childs' direction before his mother was dragged off into another room, where voices and crashing turned muffled to raphael's ears.

by the time raphael turned seven, his mother decided to leave. to return back to her family in colombia - partly why she had never accepted his fathers' proposals, he would later learn. she wanted marcos to meet her family first, and he refused every time, claiming he didn't need to until they were married; until she was trapped with him.

she packed little and left, after spending a weekend with him. doting on him, taking him wherever he wanted to go. turning away at times, to hide the fact that she was crying.

a goodbye - not a see you later. for he has not seen her in person since.

( she had believed he would fare better in the states than back home, and she only had enough money to ensure her own return. she wanted to take him - she just hoped he would live better here. )

raphael didnt hear from her for a number of years ( found out his father hid the letters' she would send; it was fuel he tried to poison him against her with, to claim she abandoned him, forgot about him, didn't care ). but when he had finally discovered the box in his fathers' closet one day, and the stack of pre-opened and read envelopes, raphael to a point forgave his mother for her choice.

he also learned, through chicken-scratch and undecipherable drawings, that he has a little half-sister - carina.

he has yet to meet her in person, still. but, they send letters from time to time ( there's alot to catch up on, alot to learn, alot to digest. )

THE WRONG CROWD.

he was involved in a bad kind of friendgroup in his early to mid teens; most being the sons and daughters of his fathers' friends and co-workers - not the greatest bunch themselves.

the group were asshats, to place it plainly - getting into fights, randomly targeting people to harass and attack. breaking into homes, stealing and selling property and valuables stolen from the owners. even stealing some cars here and there.

the only consistently good friend he had was maria, when they had met between the time his mother and her father left, respectively. and he learned this fact the hard way.

maria, in spite of her own home life being rocky at the time, was always there to grant him a space of peace, a place at a dining room table that he didn't need to be tense over if it would be shoved out of the way for his father to go after him.

she was the only avenue where he felt like he could relax and just be himself - the only person at the time he was comfortable with crying in front of ( he had it quite literally punched and kicked into him that men don't cry - if he cries, his father vowed to give him something to actually cry over. )

but when one of his 'friends' little break-in plan went to the fuckin' shithole - they broke into a sheriff's fucking house, the motherfucker didn't do his research - and raphael was held at gunpoint while the others tried to scatter. leaving him there, alone, to be arrested that night.

the others' were eventually caught, even in spite of raphael keeping quiet on who he had been with. he ended up in juvie regardless, for several months.

lesson learned on who he should place loyalty - when not a damned one of them bothered to go see him.

no one except maria, and her mother and sister.

raphael was embarrassed for her, having to walk into that damn building - to have self and bags searched and contents dumped and ripped apart. every single visit ( because she insisted on it, on coming by after school, spending her allotted visitors' time with him. )

she did so without complaint. without negative word, without annoyance at being humiliated time and time again, by officers' who'd let her into the visitors area. he kept telling her she didn't need to. and she kept repeating that she wanted to, and didn't want him to be alone in there.

and its still a mystery to him, how he ever deserved to have someone like her as a friend.

and sometime later, after he had gotten out of juvie, after listening to maria pour her heart out over him - pleaded with him to think of himself and what he wanted for his life, if the people he was around where doing him any good. to please be careful, to not get himself into trouble like he had, where he easily could have been shot and killed - did he finally cut them all off, started to focus on his studies, started to focus on himself - on her and her friendship.

( she showed herself countless times to always be in his corner - and he fuckin' needed to prove that he deserved a place in hers for it. )

it was her study sessions, her gentle encouragement, everything that brought him to the point of graduating - barely, but he made it. and he credits her for being at his side, getting his shit together.

ALTERATIONS TO THE TIMELINE.

as my general canon across this blog is set that maria & gaines are not a couple or, depending on au / route, recently broken up if anything, i'm going to disregard anything on that front for the start of the search. on this blog however, i do want to note that i mess around with the timeline of maria going missing thru to when basement brawl happens! rather than the week of march 20th being the last anyones heard of her, maria left a few days before spring break of 1973. spending time with the friends prior, and with lee for his birthday as she'd be missing it on the 15th, maria left for her trip on wednesday, march seventh in the afternoon in 1973.

the seventh thru to friday the ninth, she spent bouncing around all over central texas, driving to specific areas to find her flowers. particularly, she wanted to find sunflowers yes, but wanted to find marigolds to snap photos of and send back home to lee for his birthday. depending on au but for nosy specifically, she meets johnny that friday night at a bar and they spent the remainder of the weekend meeting up before he takes her to the sawyer property and takes her captive ( shine / sunlight / wilted / coldcase / etc all have different ways that her & johnny meet - nosy however follows a little closer to gun-canon! )

the university's spring breaks typically land around the 10th - 18th, give or take. and so, by the end of that week, the only person ( in terms of nosy au ) who has heard from maria since her last letters went out on saturday the 10th, was lee. the start of the week back to classes, maria never showed. and no one heard anything until ana got in touch with them all, to let them know her car had been found - abandoned, and she was no where to be found. and so, the search began.

( and lasts until sometime between the start to middle of april. )

THE SEARCH FOR MARIA.

raphael, at the time it was discovered that maria was missing, was down along the coast of texas for his trade school - underwater / hyperbaric welding. he received the frantic call from ana, begging to know if he'd heard from maria - a complete mess from through the phone. when he managed to get her calmed enough to understand what she was trying to ask, say, raphael started to throw his things into a duffle. recanted the other friends' numbers and where their dorm houses to ensure she had them written down, and told her to immediately get in touch with them all and find out if they knew anything. and when they hung up, raphael was in his truck and on the road back up to austin.

there was no hesitation on his part. no doubts, no waiting around. if he got all the way there and it was revealed she was fine? so be it.

by the time he arrived in austin, the search was officially started and the friends all aware of her vanishing into thin air. and whether they all tried to cross-check each other to ensure none of them had seen or heard from her at all, try to get down where she last was, where she might have gone, etc., raphael got right back in his truck and started to scour around for her.

hours turned to days. and the days creeped on into a week, and then another, and then another. frustration, hope, was hanging in the air - fragile as a spiders' thread. no matter who they went up to, who they showed her photo to, it was all the fuckin' same.

another dead end. another shake of the head. another shrug of shoulders. and raphael knew every fuckin' one of them was full of shit.

his irritability only grew as time passed. his words clipped no matter who he spoke to. his patience running dry and thin. took alot from julie or sonny or lee to take the edge off of him, calm him down. the worst of it was with ana - the both of them constantly butting heads, snapping at one another. the friends knew to try and keep them as separated as possible, after a while.

drove him crazy, when they'd have to stop, take a break under the sweltering sun overhead. when they'd have to camp out for the night. he'd stay in his truck, or lie down in the bed of it. stare up at the stars, the dark above them all. knew with that sinking feeling in his gut that something fuckin' bad had happened to her. and wherever she was? she was in danger. and it made him sick to think they were, otherwise, peacefully oblivious to whatever she was going through, sitting out here under the night sky - having each other, while she was alone out there. knew she had to be scared. didn't want to think that she may possibly be dead this entire time.

as march moved into april, raphael started to break off from the others less. but temper grew hot. and he'd find himself leaving to search for hours before finding them again, continuing with them.

and it was yet another argument between him and ana, most likely, that raphael took off once again on his own, before the others ran into the old man at the gas station, before they were suggested a place to camp. before they came across the man with the jackal grin. before the ambush happened.

raphael found himself on the far outskirts of what they all would discover to be the vast properties belonging to the sawyer-hewitt family. truck left hidden down the road, obscured by trees and tall, thick bushes. walked along the road, to one of the only homesteads he'd seen for what felt like ages. the only one, as the sky overhead started to darken with cloud cover, with the porch light on - with some sort of sign of life tucked away inside.

knew it was a gamble. but at that point, what the fuck else did he have to lose?

raphael walked up to the homestead - owned by the hewitts, extended from the sawyer family - and knocked on the front door. where he was greeted by our mom luda, who stared at him through the screen door, past spectacles along the bridge of her nose.

raphael would ask her about maria then, if she could look at the photo of her and let him know if she or anyone else in her family may have seen or heard anything about her whereabouts . . .

the name stuck out to her. of course it did. she knew maria quite well, by that point ( of her trailing into their home behind johnny, timid, like a little mouse. kind girl. sweet, quiet. scared. )

but a shake of the older womans' head brought a heavy disappointment in his chest. knew it was all for nothing. not with these people all the way out here in fuck-all-nowhere. luda, however, spoke up again. offered him to come in and sit a moment. her older boys' a sheriff. maybe he's heard or seen anything? he'd be home within the hour. you could rest a moment, eat somethin'. raphael paused and mulled it over. really didn't wanna deal with another prick of a cop, not with the rest of them being as useless as they've been. but. what did he have to lose, really? and so, though he felt alarm bells ringing like crazy in his head, raphael accepted the offer - under the assumption that if anything? he'd ask this son of hers and then leave right after.

( people say to always trust your gut . . . raphael was always a believer in that mantra. and yet, turned his back to it at the worst time. )

raphael made small talk with luda for a time. she kept him pre-occupied, with the promise of something simple to eat, a glass of water. before she'd excused herself a moment, told him to take it easy and wait at the kitchen table for her.

and its then that raphael caught onto a smell, lingering in the air. something foul. something rotten. heavy and pungent. caught onto the sound of the older womans' voice, speaking to someone over the phone. heard, faintly, the woman mention someone looking for the girl . . .

and time froze then. gut feeling vindicated. seething blistering in his chest. the woman knew something. she was warning someone. someone who knew where maria was.

had her, still, even. or worse.

he was out of the chair and down the hallway - past the tall, metal doors behind the staircase, to the back room to where luda stood by sidetable with phone to her ear, grabbed the phone from her and brought it to his own, ignoring her startled cry, ignoring her shouts for thomas, as he demanded through the receiver, to whoever the fuckin' bastard on the other end of the line was, where the fuck is maria? and he was met with silence. for a moment. in spite of the commotion breaking out behind him, of metal slamming open across the floor, of heavy footfalls storming into the room, up behind him.

his mind was racing and all raphael could hear properly was his heartbeat thumping in his ears, of the static of the phone through the other end, of the person on the other end of the call breathing, calmly, before a noise makes it through - something of amusement, something of a laugh - taunting. voice picking up after, warning that he should pay attention to what's behind him, instead. as footfalls finally reach his ears, and whipping around, raphael finds himself face to face with a man towering just above himself, eyes wild and enraged from over leathered mask covering the bottom half of face . . .