#I'm trying to level her up but she's a bit flimsy

[pourablecat]

Hojotoho!

(Was playing fire emblem and thinking how cool Sybil would be as a pegasus knight because of the valkyrie connections, and THEN I learned wyvern knights are a thing)

#discworld #discworld fanart #gnu terry pratchett #sybil ramkin #sybil deidre olgivanna vimes #as a dragon-riding lance wielder #fire emblem #the blazing blade #so far I've only seen Florina #and she is a DEAR #I'm trying to level her up but she's a bit flimsy #samuel vimes #and #samuel vimes jr. #in passing #too bad the swamp dragons are too small and explode-y #all poses here are based off Florina please forgive me for trying to draw a dragon like a horse

[rubythecrimsonwriter]

It was the Year of Oh God What Now 2020 when a little old lady came up to the customer service desk in Lowe's and handed me a pristinely preserved fifteen year old reciept and a plumbing part equally as old.

For those of you who are not from the southeastern part of the continental US, or maybe just too young to recall, fifteen years prior to 2020, something rather signficant happened. It was called Hurricane Katrina, where about 95% of everything at 30 feet above sea level and below was destroyed. Most of the Gulf Coast is below 20 feet.

Now here's the rub. Katrina hit August 29th. This slightly yellowed and otherwise perfectly preserved reciept had April 9th as the date it was printed. So this little flimsy bit was Pre-Katrina.

So this lady already has my full and undivided attention, because very little on the Coast can claim Pre-Katrina status without Ship-of-Theseusing itself. She goes on and on about her husband wanting to do some renovations and then The Whole Horribleness Happened and it kind of got put by the wayside, oh yes we were very lucky, the water got all the way up to our front stoop! But she just wants to return this part, dearie.

Aha. Aha. Ha ha ha. I'm sorry, I say. What?

90 DAY RETURN POLICY sign three feet to her left.

I just want to return this and get my money back for it, she says, oblivious to the low roar of disbelief in my ears.

"Ma'am," says I, trying to figure out how to tell this lady that this receipt is old enough to be making inadvisable decisions in high school. "I can't make the return."

"Well why not?" She asks. "I have a receipt!"

Why not?

7.86 in 2005 is like 12 dollars in 2020 money.

A part made in 2005 is not likely held to the same standards in 2020, and already has the issue of being 15 years old.

And last but very much not least, this is so far outside of the 90 day return policy its wrapped all the way back around to being funny again.

And I'm just so flabbergasted with her idea of what she can do that I just stare at her helplessly.

My Operations Manager comes up behind me, a touchy dude, something that I really normally didn't appreciate with my chronic rib pain. He's got one hand casually on my shoulder. "What seems to be the problem?" he says.

Behind my mask, my mouth opens, then shuts. Then opens again: "She wants to return a Pre-Katrina plumbing part."

90 DAY RETURN POLICY stares balefully three feet to our right.

Behind me, I can almost hear the Windows 95 shutting down jingle as he freezes.

"I've told her that I can't do that," I say past numb lips. "She has a receipt."

I pass him the astonishing piece of paper.

"Uhm," my normally eloquent Operations Manager says. "We can't do that."

"Why not?" she asks. She is not outraged, merely baffled.

My Operations Manager, with the hand that was still on my shoulder, pats me on that same shoulder. "Hey Ruby," he says. "Go take your break."

Well. Don't have to tell me twice.

I get back to the breakroom that has like ten or twelve people in it and I announce to all of them, "This lady just tried to return a Pre-Katrina plumbing part with the reciept."

"Was it from OUR Lowe's?" Plumbing Specialist asks.

"Yes."

"How?!" From about three different mouths.

"Its fuckin' 2020," says Perpetually Unbothered Appliance Guy says, with the southern accent so strong with this might as well happen that it turned twenty-twenty into twany-twandy. "The government will release footage of aliens next, I doan fuckin' know."

(The government did, in fact, release footage of aliens next.)

#storytime! #✨➕♦️

[urmumsdrycooch]

EᒪEGᗩᑎT ᖴEᗰᗰE ᖴᗩTᗩᒪEᔕ

Dana Ward x Reader

Summary: Bad bitch moves on halloween w/ our fav cheerleader

Warnings: Sexual references, swearing as always, Max high asf.

Dana and I are currently brainstorming ideas for this Halloween party that's being thrown. We'd been at this for an hour and still had yet to find the perfect outfit.

"How about my old 7/11 uniform? I could just rip it up a bit and make it all bloody." I suggest.

"Good idea, but no," Dana says with a grin as she continues to skim through racks of clothes. "We need to be matching. Matching, slutty and scary."

"Matching... slutty and scary. Hmm." I ponder, looking around for any outfit combos in the massive pile we'd created on the floor. "How about a schoolgirl outfit, but with bloody bandages."

"Interesting, but no. We need to stand out, not blend in and not look like we're trying too hard." Dana insists.

"How about... the old nurses' outfit I stole from that hospital?"

"Too cliche. We need something more along the lines of..."

Then, her eyes happen to land on a certain piece of clothing. A very specific piece of material that stood out from anything else in her closet.

"I've got it!" She says, grabbing the very clothing she claimed I stole. "We'll be..."

"Sexualised superheroes!" I finish. "All we need is a catsuit and a few men with irrelevant opinions."

"Not what I was going to say, Y/n." She drags, "What I was going to say was... Witches!" She cheers.

"Nope, I saw Stella earlier, and she was rocking that witch hat." I point out, she sighs then returns to searching.

"Oh fucking God."

"What."

"Spies, but like... Under. Cover. 70's. Spies. So we'll wear the most revealing yet old dress with some stockings and of course a good ol' push-up bra." I grin.

"Oh yes, I really want to spend the whole night in a push-up bra." She deadpans.

"You do it for the people, Dana." I grin, "Or are you not the people's woman?"

"That's the worst pun ever."

"I know, but that's why I love it. But I felt it was the right time." I say, she rolls her eyes and chuckles.

I was so engrossed in the moment that I didn't even notice the door being knocked on.

"Coming!" I shout, before running off towards the door in just a flimsy bathrobe. Dana continues to search for the god-forsaken push-up bra.

"Who could that be, I thought everybody was getting ready." I wonder, opening the door.

"What the actual fuck is that?" I ask, looking down toward the feet of one certain Max who stood in her casual jeans and hoodie with a weird grin on her face.

Un-fucking-believable. There is a fucking dog at her feet. It looked exactly like a baby Shih Tzu. I thought it was one of those weird toy dogs at first.

I look back at Max who still had the same fucking grin on her face.

"I know, right? I just found her in the street and I fell in love." She says, crouching down to the creature's level and petting it. Max laughs, then crouches by the creature's level. "Did you want something?" I ask, the dog still sitting perfectly at her feet.

"We will be the best of friends," Max mutters to the small canine, completely ignoring the question. "Me and Chloe have named her-"

"Your friend is a dog, Max."

"A dog with a great personality." Max laughs, petting its head, "You ready to go poopie? Come on." She gets up and leaves, the small dog trotting behind her.

I turn around to see a baffled Dana, frozen in whatever she was doing. "I'm guessing that Chloe and she got as high as a kite." I take a guess at

"Stockings, stockings, stockings," She rambles in search of the item. "Somewhere." She mutters like an insane person, before getting up and continuing her treasure hunt for the elusive garment.

"I'm going to go get changed, come meet me once you're ready."

I run down the hall and into my room, stripping down to just my underwear. I rummage through my cupboard, I need a dress... I have a few, in case of emergency. I pull out the sexiest velvet red dress I could find. Quickly putting it on I look in a mirror to examine the final outfit, but I only get the briefest moment of examination before I hear a familiar voice behind me.

"You look hot." I hear Dana comment, I turn around to see Dana standing in a black dress, exactly what we were going for. "Go buy me a diamond ring, baby,  I'll make it worth your while." She winks, and I giggle at her accurate impression.

"Fuck, you're already getting into character!" I say, "So are we graceful and intimidating spies or tormenting and slutty spies?"

"Oh, neither. We're elegant femme Fatales, who use their looks to their advantage." Dana replies, I nod then turn back towards the mirror to fix my make-up.

Once I finish putting on my lipstick and rub my thumb over it to give the whole look a bit of extra spice.

"Damn Mama, you're looking sexy as hell." Dana purrs.

"You too, we're gonna make so many men hard tonight." She joke.

"Oh, what about women?" I ask, Dana shrugs.

"Well, I don't think we can do much about that, but if we can make men hard, we can make women wet," Dana states confidently. "By the end of the night, I bet even Victoria will want a piece of this."

"You're such a slut."

"We both are. We can be each other's slut."

"Now I'm beginning to think you're a closet lesbian." I grin.

"The closet is open." The cheerleader grins, "You should see it, it's fucking huge and filled to the brim with dildos and vibrators, oh and a few handcu-"

"Okay enough!" I cut her high excitement off.

"For real though, we look so hot," I state as we both stand in front of my mirror, gazing at each other.

"Hey, you're lipstick isn't smudged."

"Why does it need to be smudged?"

"How do you think these elegant femme Fatales get their way?" I smirk.

She leans in, both of us mere inches could be considered a make-out distance. We stare into each other's eyes for a few moments, before Dana slowly moves in and kisses me. It's a deep, passionate kiss, one that makes my toes curl and my heart race. Our tongues swirl around each other until Dana breaks the kiss, and looks at me with a wicked grin.

"Let's get partying."

#life is strange #life is strange x reader #Life is Strange: Before The Storm #life is strange before the storm #dana ward #dana ward x reader #victoria chase #chloe price #max caufield #stella hill

[bespectacledcorvus]

It's back to work, baby! Or rather - I worked a week upon my return and am now going into two weeks of holidays, something I surely need after all the Christmas business in the bookstore and the 9 weeks of living in a dormitory at mediacampus.

I'm going to go to Bratislava again, to see my girlfriend, my sister, and my best friend, I'm looking forward to it. Gonna get to sleep now, I'll be up early tomorrow to catch the bus.

It's not going too well with the relationship, or rather, it has become increasingly draining due to behavioral changes of her, which is a diplomatically adequate expression, I think. She is not the same person she'd been two years ago, and while this is usually taken as a positive development, in this case the negativity outweighs the positivity. I've talked to two people about it who are also friends with her - or have been until recently, not anymore, due to those exact same changes I've noticed. It's becoming increasingly difficult to be around her.

Yesterday I've had a long phone call with my sister, who was once regarded by my girlfriend as her best friend. My sister has been putting up some distance to her now, and my girlfriend ended her friendship with my best friend due to an absolutely flimsy reason in a very hurtful way. Just like that. No remorse, she was even rather gleeful about it. My girlfriend has started to badmouth other people constantly, specific persons, even her friends behind their back and just people in general, all in a way and with words which were just... beyond rude in many cases.

There also have been numerous instances by now where she walked all over me, completely ignoring my feelings, and she usually just stonewalls me when I'm trying to bring up issues which bother me. My sister has been present in some of these cases, so it's definitely not my imagination. If it were, she'd tell me so, because my sister can be brutally honest and is rather outspoken, not holding her punches even with me if she thinks I need it (she's often in the right hah), yet she interpreted those cases same as me, without my previous input. My girlfriend also has developed some very peculiar expectations - it's me who has to be able to earn her love in a financial way, I have to be able to "finance her future lifestyle", she has told me numerous times that she'd simply break up with me if I wouldn't be able to bring enough money at the point of marriage or if I'd come down with a chronic sickness (that came completely out of the blue during a phone call - she'd also told me that if I were to talk to her like she talks to me, she'd most likely break up with me), and that she'd like to receive some kind of pocket money from me... I mean, good for her that she's got clear financial considerations regarding relationships, but this is getting a bit too much for me, especially with the time limit she has set. It's not a relationship in which I feel respected anymore, or on her level. It is simply becoming too much.

I'll try to talk to her and gently breach those topics which have been bothering me for weeks, perhaps months now, yet I can make the educated guess that's it's going to be a catastrophe. It's not... easy to talk disagree with her, and it may get messy, but I'll have to stand my ground. If she doesn't see why all this is bothering me and if I can't get through to her or just get her to listen to me, then I'm going to end this relationship.

Already made some backup plans if everything goes wrong and she kicks me out - as she did with my best friend, all because she had started dating a guy and was excited to talk about it to my gf, which apparently made her so annoyed that she simply told her to get out? Both have shared the same version of events, so... yeah. Who treats their friends like this??

In that case, I have a place to stay at, which is good to know.

As you can see, I'm going into my vacation with a wonderful mixture of dread, anxiety and fear. Oh boy.

#me #09.03.24 #corvus

[pesterloglog]

John Egbert, Dave Strider, Karkat Vantas, Vriska Serket

Act 6, page 7487-7492

JOHN: so tell me about your ridiculous meteor journey!

DAVE: um

JOHN: the dave from the bad time line told me some funny stories when we got together on the grassy hill planet

JOHN: but we weren't actually hanging out for that long, so i didn't hear much.

JOHN: also, i'm MOSTLY sure vriska wasn't alive during their trip.

DAVE: oh well let me tell you

DAVE: vriska was most certainly alive during this one

DAVE: like almost

DAVE: extra-alive, if thats possible

JOHN: haha.

JOHN: i think i know what you mean.

JOHN: i spent some time with her when she was a ghost, and uh...

JOHN: let's just say whatever her mortality status is, she makes her presence hard to ignore.

KARKAT: YES. YES!

KARKAT: I LOVE THIS.

KARKAT: CAN WE SPEND OUR WHOLE REMINISCENCE JUST DESTROYING VRISKA, SLIGHTLY ABOVE AUDIBLE LEVEL?

VRISKA: Slightly?

VRISKA: Karkat, you only have one volume setting.

KARKAT: WOW, FUCK YOU?!

DAVE: ok dude maybe lets not spend our paltime trash talking serket if only cus theres no way youre not getting repeatedly trounced exactly just like that

KARKAT: FFFFFFFFFFFFFYEAH.

KARKAT: YEAH, YOU'RE RIGHT.

KARKAT: OK, I'LL CHILL OUT. YOU'RE RIGHT DAVE, AS USUAL.

JOHN: wow.

JOHN: karkat, for a funny shouty guy, you backed down on that really fast.

JOHN: i'm almost... a bit disappointed?

JOHN: i was looking forward to more of your patented ravings!

KARKAT: HEY, JOHN FUCKBERT, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I'M A LITTLE MORE MATURE AND REASONABLE THAN THE LAST TIME YOU SAW ME.

KARKAT: I'M A LOT MORE THAN MR. HOLLERSPONGE ONE-NOTE, AND ANYONE WHO DISPUTES THIS CAN CORDIALLY INVITE ME TO PLAY THEIR DIRTY SEED FLAP LIKE A DISCOUNT HARMONICA.

JOHN: oh. well, i'm sold.

KARKAT: SERIOUSLY THOUGH, IT'S PRETTY COOL TO FINALLY MEET YOU. I MEAN, UNDER MORE CIVIL, RATIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

KARKAT: UNLIKE WHATEVER THE *FUCK* THAT BRIEF ENCOUNTER WAS THREE YEARS AGO WHERE YOU KO'D VRISKA AND THEN POOFED YOUR FLIMSY ASS INTO THE FUCKALL CONTINUUM.

KARKAT: I KNOW I SEEMED REALLY MAD ABOUT THAT AT THE TIME, FOR WHATEVER REASON.

KARKAT: BUT REALLY, I'VE HAD SOOOOO MANY BORING HOURS ON THAT METEOR TO SPEND BARELY REFLECTING ON THE ROUGHLY TEN THOUSAND WAYS I DON'T GIVE THE SLIGHTEST FUCK ABOUT WHATEVER IDIOTIC TWIST OF FATE TRANSPIRED BACK THERE.

JOHN: heheh. ok?

KARKAT: I'M COMPLETELY OVER IT.

KARKAT: I'M OVER A LOT OF THINGS ACTUALLY.

JOHN: ... you are?

KARKAT: YEAH.

KARKAT: LIKE, REMEMBER BACK WHEN I WAS YELLING AT YOU ALL THE TIME FROM MY COMPUTER.

KARKAT: BACK THEN I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE FELT NERVOUS OR AWKWARD ABOUT THIS ENCOUNTER.

KARKAT: BECAUSE OF... WELL, YOU KNOW.

JOHN: no?

KARKAT: I WAS HITTING ON YOU BRIEFLY, AND IN A VERY CONFUSING NON-CHRONOLOGICAL WAY, WITHOUT EVEN QUITE REALIZING HOW BADLY I WAS SHOVING MY STRUT POD DOWN MY OWN STATEMENT TUNNEL.

DAVE: dude

KARKAT: I MEAN, UNTIL YOU MERCIFULLY AND WITH A FAIR AMOUNT OF TACT SHUT ME DOWN.

KARKAT: DON'T YOU REMEMBER?

JOHN: uh...

JOHN: maybe?

KARKAT: HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER THAT?

JOHN: i dunno, it was a long time ago!

JOHN: and we had a lot of ridiculous conversations...

KARKAT: OK, WELL MAYBE IT WAS A BIGGER DEAL FOR ME THAN IT WAS FOR YOU.

KARKAT: I MEAN, *OBVIOUSLY* IT WAS, THAT'S SORT OF THE WHOLE POINT.

KARKAT: BUT THE *REAL* POINT IS, OR THAT I WAS *TRYING* TO MAKE, IS THAT IT *ISN'T* A BIG DEAL ANY MORE.

KARKAT: BECAUSE I'M OVER IT!

DAVE: karkat what the fuck are you doing

KARKAT: WHAT!

KARKAT: I'M TALKING, QUITE CASUALLY, ABOUT SOME SHIT THAT'S NOT A BIG DEAL.

KARKAT: AND THE *POINT* IS THAT IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL ANYMORE, SO I'M JUST CASUALLY SAYING THAT! GOD.

DAVE: ok its not an unreasonable conversation to have but like

DAVE: we JUST started friend-jamming about past anecdotes to get us all up to speed or whatever

DAVE: and youre already trucking out these guns

KARKAT: GUNS? WHAT GUNS!

DAVE: just sayin, it doesnt sound that casual and no big deal if you keep saying its casual and no big deal oh and also its the first fuckin thing out of your mouth to john in three years

KARKAT: SORRY!

KARKAT: I'M SO TRULY FUCKING SORRY. I FORGOT THERE WAS SUCH AN OUTSTANDINGLY SMOOTH PILE OF SHIT IN A CAPE WITHIN MY JUDGMENT RADIUS!

JOHN: no, i mean, i think i remember.

JOHN: i think you were um, "black flirting" with me or something, but in backwards order, and while constantly yelling.

JOHN: and i didn't really even know what that was.

JOHN: and then i told you i wasn't a homosexual, so it was kind of a moot point, but also, you didn't even know what that was either?

KARKAT: YES!

KARKAT: THAT'S BASICALLY WHAT HAPPENED

KARKAT: AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS *TRYING* TO SAY I WAS OVER, AND WASN'T A BIG DEAL ANYMORE, BUT NOW IT'S A BIG DEAL AGAIN I GUESS?

KARKAT: THAT'S FUCKING GREAT! THANKS DAVE!

DAVE: yo im hardly one to talk here since i am a goddamn geyser of hilariously self-pulverizing freudian bloopers

DAVE: at this point i cant even pretend to keep a lid on any shit ive got in me cause i know sooner or later during one of my rad soliloquies ill just pratfall butt backwards into an embarrassing admission and i just have to be like yeah... yeah ok thats my shit thats what im about lets just get the fuck on with our lives

DAVE: so when johns like hey man and youre all locked and loaded with some stuff about how youre 'over him' and go on and on about it its like some way obvious protest-too-much shit and everybody knows it so i dont see how it salvages any of your dignity or whatever to pretend thats not whats happening

KARKAT: OH MY FUCKING GOD...

DAVE: so what im saying is if youre so eager to push this out there-

KARKAT: I'M NOT "PUSHING THIS OUT THERE"!

DAVE: if youre pushing this out there which you are then maybe we should rap about it

DAVE: i mean discuss it critically and earnestly not drop ill rhymes or anything tho that could be sweet too

KARKAT: UEHRNGH.

DAVE: so are you SURE you still dont have these unreconciled blackrom feelings about john

DAVE: i say we air this out before it ferments into some rank and hella unexamined feeling sauce

JOHN: dave, i think you're making karkat uncomfortable!

JOHN: are you being a wise guy and trying to make us uncomfortable?

DAVE: no!

DAVE: i dont do that to bros thats huge uncool

DAVE: i dont see what has to be uncomfy about chattin out our true ass thoughts and emotions

KARKAT: YEEUURHNGHGHH.

DAVE: dude you clearly had a spades thing for john but i dont recall you ever bringing it up

DAVE: is this something you been thinking about all this time or

KARKAT: NO!

KARKAT: NOT... NOT REALLY

DAVE: yeah we coulda talked about this

DAVE: i have all KINDS of shit to say about john seeing as he was my number 1 dude for approximately the majority of 13 years

DAVE: the main dead end here man is like, nothing personal at all its just that he is literally incapable of hating anyone

KARKAT: I KNOW THAT!

KARKAT: THAT IS THE *EXACT* FUCKING THING I KNEW AND UNDERSTOOD, AND WHY I FELT SO STUPID ABOUT IT IN HINDSIGHT!

JOHN: well...

JOHN: not that i really want to egg on this train of thought, but i dunno if that's quite true.

KARKAT: IT'S NOT?

JOHN: i can get really angry and hate stuff too, just like you. but i think only in extreme cases?

JOHN: the skull guy in suspenders i got REALLY pissed off at...

JOHN: but i am a hundred percent sure that hate was platonic!

DAVE: gettin pissed off at a suspender dude sounds like just the sort of yarn i wanna be all ears for some time

DAVE: but ok thats something to work with

DAVE: hey karkat maybe theres some hope yet maybe its not a total lost cause

KARKAT: NERGH!

JOHN: ok, dave, it definitely sounds like you're trying to own us now!

DAVE: own

DAVE: what

DAVE: no way

DAVE: im being real as a motherfucker

JOHN: being able to hate things i think is...

JOHN: the smaller part of that equation?

JOHN: what about the other part? don't you think that's, uh...

JOHN: a little more significant?

DAVE: what part

JOHN: the part about not being a homosexual!!!

DAVE: john

DAVE: dude i gotta say

DAVE: when you talk about being or not being "a homosexual" you kinda sound like a corny old man

JOHN: what! why?

JOHN: no, that's a normal way of putting it!

JOHN: i mean... it's a pretty normal thing to say, right? when that's... how... you are?

KARKAT: SOMEBODY FUCKING KILL ME.

DAVE: what does normal mean though

DAVE: normal was some crap that ruled our dead civilization

DAVE: we left that behind years ago

DAVE: its all a huge pile of shit that doesnt matter anymore

JOHN: oh. kay?

JOHN: so then, you're saying...

JOHN: what are you saying?

DAVE: im not sure i guess

JOHN: ...

DAVE: ok i guess what im saying is

DAVE: i dont think its all as simple as you think it is

DAVE: or maybe not like ACTIVELY think it is but continue to assume it is on account of NOT thinkin about it much

DAVE: due to a lot of junk about the subject that gets shoved into our brains from movies and stuff while we were just dumb kids

JOHN: i,

JOHN: hm.

DAVE: im just saying it probably isnt as absolute or simplistic as the way youve been framing it

DAVE: or maybe it is for you personally i dont know

DAVE: im just guessing you havent spent much time thinking about it if only cause all the stuff we read and watch suggests that like even examining your honest thoughts about it is perilous road to go down

DAVE: cause if you actually think too much about it without always having that undercurrent of haha nope nope nope THEN what happens

DAVE: what if it turns out youre like...

JOHN: ...like?

DAVE: like not exactly the way you thought you were

DAVE: or maybe not so much that, as old presumptions about what you were turn out to be not that relevant?

KARKAT: (WHY. WHY ARE THESE WORDS HAPPENING TO OUR CONVERSATION.)

DAVE: i dunno man

DAVE: not sure what youve been doing the last 3 years all riding a large boat, then saving everyone from apocalyptic whatever

DAVE: but ive had a fuck ton of time on my hands to think about stuff

DAVE: about stuff ive said and done in the past why i said and did them

DAVE: a lot of things i once would have insisted were like part of my brand and helped me come across cool and smartassy

DAVE: but now im not so sure

DAVE: we used rip on each other all the time for being gay even though we knew we werent which of course is what made it "funny" remember

JOHN: yeah.

JOHN: i dunno, it was pretty funny, sometimes.

JOHN: it was just a lot of joking around!

DAVE: yeah i know

DAVE: it frankly IS funny to say how gay something is sometimes and lets face it sometimes someone or something is just flat out REALLY fucking gay and theres no two ways about it

DAVE: its more like that through the preponderance of all that jokey shit is an underlying implication that its all lame stuff for pansies but not like us no were not lame and ha ha thats the joke

DAVE: which thrives on this like double-buried implication that the REAL COOL SHIT is founded on this absurd wanky ideal about masculinity which if you think about it is 1. dumb as fuck 2. the male adulation of masculinity to that extent TO BE HONEST is pretty fucking gay unto itself and 3. was always some totally impossible shit for us to live up to anyway

DAVE: i think all thats mixed up with the same phony ideals about heroism

DAVE: like living up to the storybook idea of what a hero to me feels almost interchangeable with living up to societys snapshot of what a hard manly dude should be

DAVE: i stopped pretending i could ever live up to either thing a while ago

DAVE: and mainly have spent time looking back on the sheer magnitude of all my "joking around"

DAVE: i used to lambaste fuckers left and right grinding them into the pavement over how gay they probably were and how much they were quite possibly jonesin to kiss some dudes or such

DAVE: and i dont really feel bad about it in the sense that it was jerky or like "insensitive" necessarily even though i guess it maybe was

DAVE: more that i feel like it was probably transparent

DAVE: a massive front of outrageous snark to disguise a lot of insecurity

DAVE: like a fuckin coverup

DAVE: as long as i kept clowning hard about it i didnt actually have to think about it or face my actual beliefs

JOHN: dave, um.

JOHN: all that's cool and all, and...

JOHN: i think i mostly agree?

JOHN: but...

JOHN: ummmm, how do i put this.

JOHN: are you...

JOHN: are you gay now?

DAVE: what no

KARKAT: (THE WORDS. WHY WON'T THE WORDS STOP. DEAR GOD.)

JOHN: i dunno, it sounds to me like you're trying tell me something here!

DAVE: man no look

JOHN: i mean, it's ok if you're gay now!

JOHN: that's totally cool, if true.

JOHN: i just think...

JOHN: you turning gay would be kind of a weird consequence of me changing the time line around?

JOHN: ok, not "weird"...

JOHN: just, unexpected!

JOHN: i dunno what i did that would account for that.

JOHN: maybe saving one of terezi's plush toys did some goofy homosexual butterfly effect thing on you?

JOHN: jeez, who knows!

DAVE: dude you arent listening

DAVE: although a gay butterfly effect is a pretty funny idea lets not dismiss that as a concept altogether

DAVE: anyway maybe what im tryin to say is sorta getting lost in the weeds here

DAVE: the fact that you were wondering if i "turned gay" makes me think maybe youre still not quite on the wavelength im tryin to ramble on here

DAVE: maybe we should wrestle this topic to the ground another time, theres a lot more id wanna say but this is probably not the venue

DAVE: i mean not literally wrestle to the ground because that is maybe literally the gayest course of action we could possibly take but you know what i mean

KARKAT: (YES! LATER! TALK LATER, BECAUSE THEN THE WORDS WOULD STOP! OH WOULDN'T THAT BE LOVELY.)

JOHN: that's fine, we can talk about anything you want, any time.

JOHN: i'm just still confused about what you're getting at, is all.

JOHN: like, what is the bottom line here?

JOHN: are you actually attracted to boys now?

JOHN: do you...

JOHN: um.

JOHN: did you...

JOHN: like, date any boys?

DAVE: uh

JOHN: but there weren't even that many boys on the meteor?

JOHN: well, there's the clown guy, but i don't really see you and him...

JOHN: that really only leaves...

JOHN: um, were you and karkat...

JOHN: ARE you and karkat, like.

JOHN: hmm.

KARKAT: NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.

KARKAT: I RETREAT TO MY SAFE PLACE, AND YET THE WORDS. THE STUPID FUCKING PRATTLE JOCKEYING LIKE ROWDY BARNBEASTS UP AGAINST THE PARTITIONS OF GOOD FUCKING SENSE AND THE MOST BASIC OF PERSONAL BOUNDARIES.

KARKAT: THE GOD DAMNED BLITHER OF TACTLESS NINCOMPOOPS, HOW IT CONTINUES TO HAUNT MY WRETCHED EARS. THE WORDS SPILL OVER THE SIDE OF THIS ENCHANTED METAL FROG DISCUS, LIKE A BABBLING SPRING IN A MYTHICAL FOREST GOVERNED BY A GUILD OF GOSSIP-HUNGRY LOBOTOMY HOBBITS. THIS DELUGE OF WORDS, LEAKED FROM THE INCONTINENT CREVICES OF TWO BRAINLESS GUSHING YAMMERTWATS, IT OVERFLOWETH, OH HOW IT OVERFLOWETH, SOGGING MY GRAY, PRACTICAL PAIR OF PANTS, THE LEGGINGS OF A SIMPLE MAN. A HUMBLE MAN. IT THEN CONTINUES ITS DOWNWARD TRICKLE, DOUSING MY UNREMARKABLE SHIRT, THE SERVICEABLE GARMENT OF YOUR AVERAGE ALTERNIAN "JOE", CHILLING THE FRAIL TORSO BENEATH, A PATHETIC DUFFEL OF MEAT WRACKED WITH HEAVY SOBS, SOBS CAUSED BY WORDS, WORDS WHICH CONTINUE TO DRIP. AND SLEUCE. AND SPILL. THREATENING TO DROWN ME. PLEDGING TO. PROMISING! AND YET I WILL NOT DROWN. WHY WON'T I DROWN? PLEASE LET ME DROWN. LET ME DROWN SO THE WORDS WILL BE NO MORE!

JOHN: dave, i'm pretty sure we're making karkat uncomfortable now.

DAVE: yeah maybe we should drop this

JOHN: ok.

DAVE: i dunno if you ever picked this up from him but hes a pretty sensitive guy

JOHN: what?? nooooo.

DAVE: its true

DAVE: hes pretty much the easiest dude to rip on and makes for an irresistible target but you also have to know where to draw the line

DAVE: really dont wanna actually you know like

DAVE: upset him

JOHN: yeah, me neither.

JOHN: um...

JOHN: what the fuck is he doing?

DAVE: man i dont know

DAVE: thats just his regular shit

DAVE: like, an every day occurrence but with different bodily positions and geographic configurations

JOHN: i see.

DAVE: bro will you get the fuck up here

KARKAT: NO!

DAVE: k suit yourself

DAVE: um anyway

DAVE: as you can see ive been spending probably way too much time with trolls

JOHN: ha ha.

DAVE: it messes with you

DAVE: gets you thinkin about... stuff

DAVE: you know?

JOHN: i can imagine.

JOHN: i think life was a lot more boring on the ship.

JOHN: but we talked about you all a lot!

JOHN: we would always wonder how you and rose were managing to get along with all those crazy trolls.

JOHN: i think mostly we pictured a lot of arguments.

DAVE: thats not too far off

JOHN: i'm still getting used to having such insane, limitless powers that let me go anywhere i want...

JOHN: it's tempting to go to time periods like yours and find out what i missed.

JOHN: but i don't want to mess with too much anymore, since it seems like i got the time line to a nice stable place as it is.

JOHN: so i guess i just have to do what any regular guy does, and imagine fondly what it would be like if i got to travel with you guys.

JOHN: i wonder if i would have gotten like... absorbed in troll culture too? or troll ways of thinking.

DAVE: its really inevitable

DAVE: you pick up the lingo they pick up yours

DAVE: its like a stupid cultural melange after a while that barely makes any sense from either frame of reference

JOHN: i wonder if i would have learned to understand black romance?

JOHN: it's such a goofy idea, but it seems pretty important to trolls.

DAVE: they take all their quadrants pretty seriously tbh

JOHN: yeah.

JOHN: years ago when we first met the trolls, i remember being pretty fascinated by all our cultural differences, when karkat and vriska were telling me about them.

JOHN: i remember really sincerely trying to understand it all from their point of view! it's hard though.

JOHN: i still think about the idea of black romance sometimes, and try to imagine how that really works... or "feels"... i don't know.

JOHN: do you understand it?

DAVE: yeah ive spent enough time talkin about it where i think i "get it" but

DAVE: ive never had cause or any real inclination to put it into practice or anything

JOHN: mainly the idea of hating somebody, and translating that into attraction, or some kind of romancey feeling... it feels so alien to me.

JOHN: and you're right, i have a really hard time even hating anyone in the first place!

DAVE: word

JOHN: i mean, i get ANNOYED by people, sure.

DAVE: like who

DAVE: me?

JOHN: no, not really.

JOHN: well, sometimes, but not much. i always tended to exaggerate my grievances with you, for the sake of laughs.

DAVE: heheh

JOHN: a better example is, more recently, when i was doing my retcon mission...

JOHN: i was getting REALLY annoyed with terezi and her mind games.

DAVE: yuuup

JOHN: it definitely never crossed the line to "hate" though, because we were working together to try and fix a dire situation, and even though she's weird and insane, she's otherwise a pretty good friend.

JOHN: but all her needling and japes at totally inappropriate times, when there was so much on the line...

JOHN: argh, it was SO FRUSTRATING.

KARKAT: EGBERT, I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU.

DAVE: whoa hes back!

DAVE: all right side up and everything

KARKAT: I HEARD YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT QUADRANTS, SO I DECIDED TO PAUSE MY TANTRUM.

KARKAT: JOHN, ALL YOU'RE DOING HERE IS DESCRIBING THE SUBTLE FEELINGS WHICH PLANT THE SEED FOR HAVING A CALIGINOUS CRUSH ON SOMEONE.

JOHN: what??

KARKAT: YOU HEARD ME.

KARKAT: YOU ARE NAIVELY ADMITTING TO STRUGGLING WITH SOME BLACK FEELINGS FOR TEREZI.

KARKAT: SO, THERE YOU GO. QUESTION ANSWERED.

KARKAT: TURNS OUT YOU ARE PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF BLACK ROMANCE.

JOHN: n... no!

KARKAT: A FAIR REBUTTAL. HOWEVER, CONSIDER THIS COUNTERPOINT:

KARKAT: Y... YES???

JOHN: but i don't HATE her, and i'm sure i never will!

JOHN: i'm just saying i find her, like, somewhat annoying, and REALLY aggravating a lot of the time, but that's it!

KARKAT: BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE FEELING IS!

KARKAT: IT DOESN'T START OUT AS FULL BLOWN ANTIPATHY, AND IT RARELY EVEN REACHES SUCH AN EXTREME LEVEL OF HOSTILITY EVEN OVER LONG TERM BLACK RELATIONSHIPS.

KARKAT: THERE ARE PEAKS TO IT, BUT OTHERWISE A GENERAL EBB AND FLOW TO THE DARK FEELINGS, JUST LIKE WITH FLUSHED RELATIONSHIPS.

JOHN: ok, but...

JOHN: i don't know if i'm expressing myself clearly.

JOHN: i felt aggravated by her a lot, but that doesn't fully describe...

JOHN: like, there were those "negative" feelings, but also...

JOHN: but...

KARKAT: YEAH, THAT'S IT, RIGHT THERE!!!

KARKAT: THE "BUT" IS ALWAYS PART OF IT.

KARKAT: WHAT YOU'RE *TRYING* TO SAY IS, YOU HAD FRUSTRATED, NEGATIVE EMOTIONS TOWARD HER, BUT THEY DON'T COMPREHENSIVELY ACCOUNT FOR YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD HER.

KARKAT: MEANING, THERE ARE SOME THINGS ABOUT HER YOU ACTUALLY LIKE, BUT THE NEGATIVE FEELINGS MAKE IT HARD FOR YOU TO PUT YOUR FINGER ON THEM, OR EVEN WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEM.

KARKAT: THAT IS ABSOLUTELY STANDARD. WHAT GOOD WOULD IT BE HAVING A KISMESIS WHO DIDN'T POSSESS QUALITIES YOU ACTUALLY ADMIRED ON SOME LEVEL?

KARKAT: THAT WOULD BE BORING, AND IT WOULDN'T EVEN WORK. THERE'D BE NO TENSION, NO PUSH AND PULL IN THE TURBULENT EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE. THE SUBTLE POSITIVES ADD FUEL TO THE NEGATIVE FEELINGS, OFTEN GIVING THEM A REASON TO EXIST AT ALL. THEY INFLAME THE AGGRAVATING FACTORS, REMINDING YOU DEEP DOWN HOW MUCH YOU WOULD LIKE AND ADMIRE THIS PERSON IF IT WASN'T FOR ALL THEIR INFURIATING FLAWS, AND THE INCREDIBLE SENSE OF FRUSTRATION THAT CAUSES ALONG WITH ALL THE ASSOCIATED HOT-HEADED FEELINGS, THAT'S THE ESSENCE OF BLACK ROMANCE.

KARKAT: AND THE POSITIVE QUALITIES YOU SEE DEEP DOWN IN A KISMESIS ALSO SERVE AS THE BASIS FOR RED FEELINGS TOWARD THAT PERSON, ASSUMING THE RELATIONSHIP EVER STARTS TO VACILLATE.

KARKAT: IT'S ALL PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD, REALLY.

JOHN: no... this is messed up!

DAVE: i dunno john it all sounds pretty logical to me

DAVE: karkat knows his shit when it comes to quadrants

JOHN: argh!

JOHN: it can't be true though...

JOHN: it feels so fucked up!

JOHN: what if you're right though... erg! no...

JOHN: no, no, no, no...

KARKAT: THAT'S PART OF IT TOO!

KARKAT: THE "NO NO NO" IS ALL PART OF THE FEELING. THAT'S HOW IT *ALWAYS* GOES.

KARKAT: THIS SENSE OF SELF INCRIMINATION WHEN IT'S DAWNING ON YOU THAT YOU HAVE THESE CONFLICTING FEELINGS TOWARD SOMEONE WHO BUGS YOU SO MUCH.

KARKAT: OH MY GOD, THIS WHOLE REACTION IS SO FUCKING TEXTBOOK. IT'S HILARIOUS, REALLY.

JOHN: it's fucked up though!!!

KARKAT: IT'S SUPPOSED TO FEEL FUCKED UP!

JOHN: aw, man. :(

JOHN: i just wanted to have a nice catch-up chat, not get so transparently owned at the trollmances.

DAVE: it happens to the best of us sooner or later

DAVE: this crap is kind of old hat to me by now but i get why youre kinda freckling at the implications here

DAVE: you didnt have years of livin with trolls to kinda normalize this stuff

JOHN: i don't think i want it to feel normalized though!

JOHN: i'm not ready to...

JOHN: like, admit that... i have some warped spade crush on her, based on...

JOHN: some feeling i don't understand and makes no sense to me!

JOHN: oh god... what if it's true??

JOHN: i have to try as hard as i can to suppress this feeling and make sure i never think about it again!

DAVE: ok sounds like a weenie thing to do but sure have fun with that

JOHN: fuck.

JOHN: yeah, probably.

JOHN: just...

JOHN: please don't tell her about any of this, ok guys?

KARKAT: JOHN, YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMIND US ABOUT ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL STATUTES OF THE BRO CODE, WHICH IS PRACTICALLY FUCKING SCRIPTURE ON MY PLANET, DATING BACK HUNDREDS OF MILLENIA.

KARKAT: DAVE AND I FUCKING SLEEP AND BREATHE THE BRO CODE AND ALL OF ITS CLAUSES, NO MATTER HOW FINE THE PRINT.

KARKAT: FEEL FREE TO COME AND TALK TO US ABOUT THIS ANY TIME. YOUR SECRETS WILL ALWAYS BE SAFE.

DAVE: dude that sentiment is well and good but

DAVE: when youre pledging a vow of secrecy maybe you should try to keep it down a little

KARKAT: DAMN. YEAH.

KARKAT: SORRY.

JOHN: this is really confusing though.

JOHN: assuming you're right, and i am "busted" on having those feelings... and i'm not even saying you aren't.

JOHN: but...

JOHN: i thought humans weren't supposed to be able to feel stuff like that?

KARKAT: LIKE WHAT EXACTLY?

JOHN: like, perceive and feel romantic stuff, in the same way trolls do.

JOHN: because we're aliens to each other!

JOHN: well ok, humans can feel the gay stuff pretty often, i guess.

JOHN: i didn't think we could feel the spade stuff, though.

JOHN: i dunno, i just thought it was some screwy biological difference?

DAVE: nah i disagree

DAVE: both humans and trolls are emotionally versatile sentient beings that can feel many hells of different things

JOHN: you're probably right.

JOHN: you would know better than me, at least.

DAVE: thats always a smart fallback position btw

DAVE: especially on rap

DAVE: i could school you on rap too are you confused about rap

JOHN: no dave, i think i'm pretty squared away on rap.

JOHN: at least for now. :p

DAVE: so uh

DAVE: this has been a hell of a reminiscence so far

JOHN: yeah...

DAVE: seriously though i wasnt actually intending to fork this like instantaneously in the direction of some like

DAVE: legitimately sincere dialogue on fuckin sexuality and romance

DAVE: i didnt plan on this dude you gotta believe me

JOHN: i believe you!

JOHN: it's been cool though.

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: did we cover everything

JOHN: um...

JOHN: probably not?

JOHN: oh, right.

JOHN: you dated jade for a while, so there's that.

DAVE: whoa what

JOHN: i mean, dave sprite did.

DAVE: oh

JOHN: and of course i mean, the one from my time, obviously not the one from this time, who died i guess before that happened.

DAVE: right

JOHN: man, that still just seems... so sad.

JOHN: i guess even when you fix things, not everything can be perfect.

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: so

DAVE: howd that go

DAVE: me and jade

DAVE: or...

DAVE: him and jade

JOHN: ok, i guess.

JOHN: my sense was, it was kind of dramatic overall.

JOHN: i'm not sure it was the best relationship, probably because of dave sprite's uh...

JOHN: "unique issues".

DAVE: hmm

JOHN: but there were a lot of fun memories.

JOHN: i'll tell you about them some time. maybe when jade is awake, because i'm sure she'd want to know too!

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: hey

DAVE: um

JOHN: ?

DAVE: the girl you came with

DAVE: roses mom

JOHN: roxy?

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: whats she like

JOHN: she's nice!!!

JOHN: really nice.

JOHN: she is fun and easy to talk to...

JOHN: it almost feels like she has always been one of our friends, you know?

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: how uh

DAVE: how long have you and she actually been traveling together

JOHN: umm...

JOHN: not too long.

JOHN: we only met like a day ago, i mean, from my perspective.

DAVE: huh

JOHN: she's been through some really difficult stuff recently.

JOHN: well, we both have, actually.

JOHN: but i feel like it was all... a bit more personal for her?

JOHN: being on her adventure, then suddenly losing all her friends, and watching rose die right there, while she'd been kinda viewing rose as a version of her mom...

JOHN: i was just some goofball drifting randomly here and there between realities, so i was mostly just confused by everything.

JOHN: but for her, i could tell it was all really devastating.

JOHN: i'm so happy she gets to be with rose again!!!!!!!!!!

JOHN: not to mention all her other friends!

JOHN: for some reason i feel happier for her getting to reunite with people she lost than i do for myself.

DAVE: it sounds like you like her

JOHN: i do!

DAVE: no i mean

DAVE: actually like her

JOHN: oh.

JOHN: ... uh, hm.

JOHN: i don't know.

JOHN: maybe.

DAVE: wow dude after one day maybe you should slow your roll

JOHN: i didn't say i did though!!!

DAVE: im joking its fine who cares

JOHN: oh, ok.

DAVE: shes my mom isnt she

JOHN: man.

JOHN: i'm not sure if we should keep thinking about all our relations that way.

DAVE: why

JOHN: it's kinda weird!

DAVE: is it

JOHN: ...

DAVE: do you feel weird about dating my mom is that it

JOHN: i'm not dating her though!

DAVE: but if you did

DAVE: then you wouldnt wanna think of her like that because of like the familial weirdtimes it invokes

JOHN: jeez.

JOHN: i don't know. i...

JOHN: i don't know if i'm ready for every single "deep" conversation we can squeeze into this wacky rapid fire session of fun pal-talk!

DAVE: ok

DAVE: but

DAVE: i think i like thinking of her as my mom

DAVE: even if its a lil weird

JOHN: you do?

JOHN: why?

DAVE: not sure

DAVE: i never even stopped and thought about it before

DAVE: the idea of what it would be like to have a mom

DAVE: instead of a hyper-aggressive lunatic of an adult male guardian

DAVE: i never let myself give it a second of consideration

DAVE: but now

DAVE: seeing her actually here even though shes just some teen girl i never met

DAVE: i like the idea

DAVE: its nice

JOHN: ...

JOHN: ok, that's actually kind of cute.

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: yeah i guess it kind of fucking is

JOHN: alright, well.

JOHN: no matter what happens, it's ok with me if you want to think of her that way. :)

DAVE: sweet

#homestuck #john egbert #dave strider #karkat vantas #vriska serket #homestuck act 6 #page 7487 #page 7488 #page 7489 #page 7490 #page 7491 #page 7492 #homestuck act 6 act 6 #homestuck act 6 act 6 intermission 5

[moved2usagiiboo]

Love spell

MINORS DNI (I know I can not stop you but if I find out, you will be blocked.) This is my first time writing a fan fiction on Tumblr, let's see how this goes !

Warnings: Degrading, face fucking, explicit description, oral male receiving, sexual acts using toys. (Let me know if I missed any)

As a young girl, you believed in finding your prince charming, he'd swoop in on his mighty steed and steal your heart. You'd be enamored by his wits and courage, and he your beauty and intelligence. "The one".

At the age of 17, a high school student obsessed with the idea of traditional love. You found him. Your one and only, but he was far from prince charming, he didn't ride a mighty steed nor own a castle, but he was yours and you love him. Your highschool sweetheart, you both have cried together, laughed together, experienced many emotions together. You, in many ways, were each other's firsts.

First break down, first date, first hand holding, first kiss, first lover, and after a year of dating, you were each others' first time.

You could still remember the night, you have both been planning this for months. On your one year anniversary, you would get a room for the night at a local love hotel, there would be soft music playing, dimmed lights, candles burning, and that's where and how he take your virginity and you his. Perfect.

It didn't go that way to say the least, being very inexperienced. The first time he tried to penetrate you, you pushed him off and hide under the blanket saying, "that's not going to fit", during foreplay you accidentally hit his head with your own, not to mention almost setting the room on fire with the lit candles. But after many laughs and giggles, you successfully lost your virginity to him and you couldn't be happier.

It was far from movie perfect but for both you and him it was everything and more.

Present day you are almost two years into your relationship and you both couldn't be happier. Draken treated you with the utmost respect and care, he always takes care of you, there's barely any arguments between the two of you. Everything is perfect. Kind of.

That's how you found yourself in the streets of Shibuya's red light district, near the brothel where your lover grew up in, so you think. You looked down at your phone.

"Shit!" You hit the side of your phone as it read "connection lost, rerouting", this had been the third time it has done this, you zoned out while trying to fix your phone so you can actually make it to your destination before it gets too late. You didn't hear the woman calling your name.

"Y/N!" You felt a hand gripping your shoulder, spinning you around to face them.

"Oh! Akai!" You exclaimed happily as you locked eyes with the person in front of you, a younger woman in a red silk dress, short blonde hair with long lashes.

"What are you doing out here? It's late. Shouldn't you be home by now?" She asked in a concerned tone looking you up and down. You wore an all black hoodie with baby yellow accents, along with black joggers.

"Oh, well, I'm was looking for you." You said bashfully with a slight giggle in your tone.

"Oh?" Akai questioned.

"Well, not you specifically but the hotel! You see, I got lost trying to find it and my stupid phone keeps rerouting me!" You complained, while pushing your phone in her face to show her your problem. She simply laughs, she locks arms with yours.

"Dont worry, big sister Akai will take you there, then you can explain why you're looking for us in the first place." Akai said with a wink.

A few minutes passed and you've arrived at the brothel, she brought you a drink and sat you down in her room with a couple of other girls, you all on the floor together, after short introductions and small talk Akai 'cut to the chase' as she likes to say. Chugging her bottle of beer, she looked at you with her slightly flushed face, along with the rest of the girls there.

"Spill the beans, whats going on? Trouble in paradise?" Akai smirked crawling her way towards you. You lifted your knees to your chest wondering if you should even be here, was this a stupid idea? You must've sat with your thoughts for a while, Akai looked at you with a bit of sadness in her eyes.

You could feel your face heating up with embarrassment, your heart was beating out of your chest. You figured this would be the best place to go to learn how to do it but what if they would make fun of you? What if they tell Draken? You really didn't think this through as well as you should have.

"Hey, whatever is going on.. You can tell us, we see you like our little sister ya' know?" She says with a smile, wrapping her arm around your shoulder to comfort you. Shes always been like this, ever since she walked in on you and Draken kissing, she's been the biggest help and supporter of your relationship. You couldn't ask for a better friend.

With a deep breath you decide tell them your issues, you were here anyways.

"Okay, so, I want to learn how to give oral." You said looking down at the ground fiddling your fingers, quite embarrassed about what you just said.

"Draken has, well, done it to me a couple of times and I wanted to return the favor. The thing is, everytime I try he rejects me. Telling me, 'i don't have to do things like that'. He's so considerate sometimes it pisses me off." You ranges to the girls as they listened with opening ears.

"I mean, what type of guy rejects a blow job? It's not like he has erectile dysfunction or his dick is small. I just don't get it." You were practically fuming at the memory of him pushing him off of you as you tried to suck him off.

"Maybe he's just shy?" One of the girl's offered her opinion.

"Oh no, this man is not shy! At all" You explained remembering some of the down right filthiest things he's muttered in your ears during your time together. "He's anything but that."

"Maybe he's scared you'll bite it." Akai said causing herself and others to snicker at her comment. You could only sigh.

"Would I be that bad my first time?" You muttered to yourself.

"Everybody is, it's a practice thing." Akai explained, she got up to grab herself another bottle of beer. "What you need, is practice." She smirked handing you the bottle.

"Yeah, but how? He won't let me." You said tilting your head at her statement, taking the bottle out her hand.

"Alright girlies, get out." Akai said while looking at the other women in the room with the two of you.

"Ehhh? Whyy? We wanna help too!" One of the girl exclaimed, getting multiple replies of other girls who agree.

"We don't wanna make Y/n feel any more embarrassed than she already does." Also sighed at the childish responses of her coworkers.

You were hiding your face in your phone at this point, it was honestly one of your worst ideas, but if it helped you with Draken it was worth it.

Small "awh man", "I wanted to hear more", and other complaints came out their mouths as they left the room one by one. You waves goodbye to the girls muttering a small thank you to them for listening.

"Alright!" Akai exclaimed while squatting down to reach under her bed, pulling out a box full of,

"Toys! The best practice you can get in such a small amount of time." She smirked pushing the box towards you. You could feel the blood rush to your face as you stared at the box filled with sex toys, you're far from innocent but there's still things you've never used or seen before, toys being one of them. Akai dug in the box full of excitement.

"I'll be your first!" She smirked, she pulled out multiple many toys just throwing them out the box without a care as to where they'll land. Finally, she pulled out an unopened box, "private fun" read the lable, it was all black with dark purple letters on it, it was a sleek box, very fancy to say the least.

"I haven't used this one yet, considering I never feel the need to. This'll be my first gift to you." She said tossing the box to you while looking for something else in her closet.

"Just what exactly is this?" You asked picking up the box to further examine it.

"A dildo! Duh." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world,

"Oh! And this!" She threw a small bottle towards you, "Love spell" a small pink bottle that could be mistaken for a 5-hour energy drink.

"Draken won't be back home for a while, which means, we have around" She looked at the clock hanging on her wall, "an hour and thirty minutes. Which is just enough time!"

"Wait wait wait!" You looked at her with complete confusion, "I have no idea what's going on! Why do I need all of this?" You looked at your hand and the items that are now in your possession, "Love spell", a dildo, and beer.

"Welllllll," Akai said drawing out the word, "You need practice, not like you can fuck a rando before Draken gets back, you also need liquid courage and a secret weapon!" She explained. "Now we don't have much time, chug both the beer and our secret weapon." She winked at you.

You're really starting to reject your decision, but there's no backing out now. You opened the bottle of whatever was in the pink container and chugged it down, quickly opening the beer to help with the bitter taste of the first liquid. It could show on your face the level of disgust you had for drinking this, you could never understand how Draken drank beer all the time, and whatever the hell this 'love spell' is taste disgusting. It was bitter and tangy, it even overpowered the beer.

Akai worked on opening the package to the dildo, while you were dealing with the taste of the liquids you just drank. She looked at you with menacing eyes and a devious smile that sent shivers down your spine.

She stood up and squatted in front of you holding that item in her hand as if it was nothing. Your eyes widened at the sight of it, it was big, yet flimsy. It was a pretty light blue color for such a naughty item.

"Take it." She handed you the dildo, "grip it with both hands." And so you did it. Following her every command.

"N-Now what?" You questioned feeling slight tipsy from the bottle of beer you just chugged, your face flushed from either holding a dildo or the beer, you couldn't tell, but it made this whole situation a lot worse for your lower region.

"Open." Akai tapped the bottom of your chin telling you to open your mouth, and so you did with the most innocent look in your eyes.

"Slowly bring it to your mouth, you want to tease him, lick the tip." You stuck your tongue out making small swirls onto the tip of the fake cock, "Alright, now slowly take it in, don't force anything." You opened your mouth wider to take in the inches of the cock, bringing it to the back of your throat causing you to choke and gag as it hit it. You quickly pulled the fake dick out and began to cough.

"I told you slowly. Let's try again." She squished your face with a hand pulling it up, the other held onto the dildo. "Open." She said again and you did. She guided the dildo into your mouth, slowly moving it in and out, barley reaching the back of your throat. "Breathe through your nose, don't panic." She said as she began to pick up the pace. Rapidly moving the dildo in and out. "Use your tongue at the bottom of it, stick it out." She commanded. Spit began to drip from the side of your mouth onto the floor, you felt as if you were losing yourself. Tears welled in your eyes as you swallowed down the dildo. It wasnt even real, it wasn't even Draken's but for some reason it made your head pound and your pussy twitch with excitement. If this feels as good as it does, you couldn't help but wonder how Draken's would feel, how it would feel against the back of your throat.

Akai picked up on the pace making the dildo hit the back of your throat causing you to convulse onto the dildo, you close an eye and winces as it attacked your throat.

"Try it yourself." She said letting go, letting you have full control. You started slow, pushing the dildo in and out your mouth as she did, trying to follow her lead. You tried to take more of it, you shoved the dildo deep into your throat, forcing all the inches into your mouth, you could feel it bulge through your throat as held it in place forcing you to choke on it. You felt your warm tears drip down your face, you weren't letting up. You wanted to feel it down your throat, the warm, the tightness, you wanted to feel Draken. You finally pulled it out, watching as the inches slipped out of your mouth.

"Guess what bottle really did wonders!" Akai giggled. "Deepthroating huh? You're basically a pro." You looked at her with a stained face, drool down the side of your mouth, and glassy eyes. You finally felt the embarrassment hit you, you covered your face dropping the dildo onto the ground making incoherent noises.

"I think you're ready." She smirked patting your head watching you in distress.

"I am?" You questioned, it was that easy?

"Yep! Actually, take this." She tossed you one last thing before telling you to go wait in his room. As you walked to his room you felt your head ring, the only thing you could hear was the needy throbbing of your inner walls. You couldn't wait for Draken to get back, just what did Akai give you? You had no time to be embarrassed about what you just did in the other room, you just wanted him. All of him.

You found yourself in his barley lit room, sitting on his bed. It was him, his scent, you could feel him around you even if he wasn't physically present. Your inner walls clenched at the thought of your boyfriend. You changed out of your clothes and into what Akai gave you, it was a sleek princess pink teddy with a deep V neck to perfectly show off your breasts. There were straps in the back that cupped your ass making it look juicier than before. There was a deep slit in the middle of the dress, a small move and not only would your stomach be revealed but your pussy would be as well. You made your way over to his bed to wait, you sat down and got engulfed in his smell. It was painful to just wait, the way your panties got wetter by the second, you decided to lay down but it only got worse. Minutes passed by but it felt like hours, you wanted to call him and tell him to hurry but you already showed up unannounced. You didn't want to pester him anymore, so you waited. You don't know when but you found your walls squeezing your fingers tightly as you moved them in and out. Moans and a wet sound filled the room as you toyed with yourself. Your face was in his pillow breathing him in as your other hand was toying with your breasts, pinching, squeezing, and pulling your nipples. It felt good but not good enough, it couldn't bring you to that high that Draken could. You found yourself calling him out, chanting his him like a mantra underneath your moans. You didn't even notice when he came in the room.

"Y/N?" Draken called out as he closed the door. The look on his face was priceless, his gaping mouth and widened eyes as he looked at the sight of you being so desperate for him calling out his name with fingers inside your cunt.

"D-Draken, m'sorry, couldnt wait. Need you." You whined. Pushing your fingers deeper making your back arch. At this point, he was stunned. The shy girl who never seeked anything sexual, the same girl who blushes when they held hands even after being together all the time. That girl was fingering herself on his bed begging for his cock. It was an instant turn on.

"S'all your fault!" You cried out with tears in your eyes, you got up and looked him in the eyes. "All cause you won't let me touch you..." You pouted.

"Ha? What are you talking about?" Draken questioned you. You weren't paying attention to him, you crawled from the bed stepping on the cold floor with your bare feet. You got on your hands and knees in front of Draken, looking at him with the utmost admiration, but behind those eyes was a look of neediness.

"W-What are you doing?" He watched as you played with his belt buckle, you locked eyes with him once more,

"Can't I?" You asked, kissing the bulge through his pants, "Want you, wanna feel you in my throat." You pulled his pants down revealing his boxers, you rubbed your hand feeling the hardness through the fabric, placing small kisses on it while you you waited for a go, a sign, anything.

"Shit Y/n, who knew you could be so slutty hm?" Draken smirked, "Go ahead." You beamed a smile at him as you pulled his boxers down revealing his harden cock. This is the first time you've seen it up close, it's pretty. It almost looks angry with how flushed it is on the top.

You began to kiss his freed cock, starting from the shaft up, remembering what Akai taught you. Tease him. Littering his cock with kisses, you reached the tip, you began to leave small kitten licks, swirling your tongue on around the tip, prodding the tip of your tongue into the small hole on his cock.

"Shit," Draken muttered under his breath, his voice sounds as if it's gotten deeper. You look up at him to see his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes completely focused on you. "Stop with the teasing." He demanded.

"Don't wanna." You continued to look at him, staring into his gorgeous orbs, "s'punishment for not letting me do this early" You smirked against his dick, bringing one of your hands up to slowly move your hand up and down his shaft. You watched as his breath started to break, his tough exterior was crumbling and it was all because of you, but it wasn't enough, you want to keep going. You have a show to put on.

You open your mouth sucking on just the tip of his cock, bobbing your head slowly with swirling his tip in your mouth.

"Y/N, fuck." He places his hand behind your head as his breath began to get more rapid and broken apart. "Come on, take some more." He was practically begging at this point. So slowly but surely, you widened your mouth, stuck your tongue out, and pushed your head further down to his cock. As much as you could take, the remainder you began to jerk with your hand. Bobbing your head on the inches you could take up and down with jerking him off. Listening to his soft grunts and groans. He was big, you knew this but it's different with it's in your throat, you can see it, your mouth felt full and you didn't even completely take it in. You kept going on this pace, proud of yourself for breaking Draken's tough exterior.

"Going to damn slow." He gripped the back of your head forcing his cock down your throat, you gag at this sudden action. He uses your mouth like a rag doll, forcing his cock in and out your mouth and a hellish pace without stopping, bobbing your head up and down. It hurts, taking all of him.

"Wanna be a dirty slut, gonna treat you like one." He said while gripping your hair harder as he pulled you off his cock, "spit on it." He said, and you did, you spat on the shaft of his cock and opened your mouth again for him to assault your throat.

"So eager to take this dick hm? Couldn't even wait for me to get home, had to play with yourself while I was gone? Who knew my pretty girl was such a dirty slut." He chuckled, under his breath as he continues to use you however he pleased. You placed your hands on either side of his thigh to try and control the pace but it was futile, he was much stronger than you, all you could do was hold yourself up and try not to vomit. Drool dripped down the side of your mouth as he thrusted his cock down your throat.

"Taking all this dick, good girl." He praised you as he held your head against his pelvis forcing his dick down your throat, he looked smug as he saw the outline of his cock through the flesh of your throat, you slapped his thigh to try and get him to let go of you, needing air. The feeling of you shaking on his cock trying to push away to get air was a sight to behold for him, he wanted to bury his cock in your throat forever, never taking it out. He watched as tears dripped down your face, your hair was mess, face stained with tears, drool dripping out the corners of your mouth. You gagging on his cock, digging your nails into his thigh.

Draken finally let go, you gasps for air you so desperately needed.

"Open up." He says pushing your head back, "Stick that slutty tongue of yours out. Gonna cum in your mouth."

You put your hands on your knees, sitting up higher to put the tip of his cock in your mouth as he jerked it. His eyes glared at you, you listened to his grunts like a melody. You never seen him like this, during sex he was very calm and collected, gentle. Never used harsh words, this was different though. For some reason, being used like his cocksleeve had you dripping.

"Gonna cum, Y/n, take it all, don't spill a single drop." His warm cum spurted onto your tongue, he wiped his tip clean on your tongue "that's it, good girl, now swallow it." You closed your mouth and with a single gulp you downed his cum without a second thought.

"Tastes weird..." Wiping the drool from your mouth with the back of your hand. Draken lifts you up by your arm and tosses you on the bed.

"Had to go and get me riled up..." He said while taking his shirt off, "gonna fill you up real nice." He pushed his lips against yours hungrily devouring your mouth, tasting a mixture of both liquor and his own cum, his mouth explored your own in a heated make out session, his hand traveled down past your panties and onto your bare cunt, a finger pushed pass your slit making it's way in. You moaned into the kiss, giving Draken more access to your mouth, swirling his tongue with your own.

You pulled away from the kiss to let out a soft moan as his finger toys with you, he puts another one in causing you to arch your back. His other hand rubs soft circles on your clit, he claims your mouth with another hungry kiss as if this will be the last time he felt your lips against his own.

"So needy, barely did anything to you." You moaned against his lips as he brought you to a high.

"D-Draken!" You moaned out.

"Fuck, trying to amputate my fingers? Loosen up. " He grumbles, his lips go down to your neck, sucking and biting against your fleshing leaving bruises everywhere his mouth touches. You wrap your arms around his neck pulling him in closer, as you begin to grind your hips against his fingers as they work their way in and out of you and the others against your clit.

"Gonna cum on my fingers?" He questions in your ear while biting your ear lobe.

"Gonna cum on em!" You reply, moving your hips faster, you begin to convulse as he brings you to your well deserved orgasm.

"You're gonna do that all on my cock." He muttered against your neck as he works his way down to your tits. He puts his fingers in your mouth muffling your moans as he begins to suck on your now perky nipples. He pushes his fingers in and out your mouth forcing you to taste your own juices, the same fingers that were just in you, that brought you to your orgasm.

After assaulting your mouth with his fingers he reaches over to the side his of bed to grab a condom.

"Put it on for me." Still high on your orgasm you slowly reach your hand up to take the condom out of his own, that's when he pushes your head own to his cock. He rips the packaging placing just the tip of his cock into the condom.

"Use that pretty mouth of yours." He smirks as he watches you take all of his dick into your mouth, pushing the condom down in the process. "Make sure to get it all the way on, wouldn't want any cum to spill out hm?" He says as he caresses your head.

"Such a good girl." He praises you as you bring your head up, "Gonna make you feel real good okay?" He kisses your forehead as he leans you down into the mattress. He slaps your pussy a couple of times with his cock, prodding the tip at the entrance, pushing his tip every so softly in and out, barley giving you anything to work with.

"Stop with the teasing Draken." You whined, locking your legs around his waist, trying to push his cock further into you. He clicks his tongue at your actions, pulling himself completely out before lifting one of your legs and putting it on his shoulder.

"I don't remember you being in control here." He guffed out. He rammed his cock into you without warning causing you to gasp, your eyes wide and mouth agape. "That's more like it." He smirks at your appearance.

He begins to thrust in and out of your tight pussy, watching you unravel on his cock. One hand holding your leg on his shoulder and the other turning your head to face him.

"This what you wanted right?" He honeyed out, this voice being quite sweet unlike his thrusts, the way his cock pulled out of you only to slam right back in. Sounds of skin against skin filled the room, along with your sweet mouths chanting his name like once before.

He pried your mouth open with his fingers bringing his face closer only to spit in your mouth, "Good little whore" he mutters against your ear. His thrusts never stopped, not once, he keeps going until he brings you to an orgasm.

He could feel your body going limp, but he wasn't done yet. He flipped lifted your body, he was now on his knees and you on his lap, your hands tangled in his hair while being wrapped around his neck, his mouth devouring your nipple, he slams his cock into you while being in this new position. His hands on either side of your waist slamming your body onto his own matching the rythm of his thrusts. He bites down on your nipple, you pull his hair as payback, you finally meet eyes. His hair all disheveled and out of his normal braid, his eyes slanted, full of hunger, he looked like a animal eyeing his prey, and you looked extremely delicious right now. He captures your lips in a heated kiss as his grip tightens on your waist, you grind against his cock as you moan into the kiss. You suck on his tongue and he does yours, you bite his lower lip slightly tugging on it.

"God Y/n, who knew you were so cock hungry. Wouldn't have been going so easy on you of I knew you could take it." He chuckles as he lays your body back down onto the mattress and begins pounding your body against his locking his lips with yours again.

"You're sucking me in like crazy." His voice is rough and out of breath. Your walls only tightening around him while hearing his voice, his hand goes back down to your clit rubbing it aggressively.

"Fuck, I'm close, fuck fuck fuck." He announces, muttering an array of curse words as he feels himself getting closer to his climax. "Cum with me, cum on my cock one last time." He picks up the pace with his thrust and the attack on your poor nub, you were nothing more than a moaning drooling mess at this point subject to Draken's aggressiveness, your body shakes and your back arches for the last time as you release your juices onto Draken's cock coming to your final high, he thrusts one last time before he releases in the condom.

He pulls out taking off the condom and throwing it in the nearby bin, he watches as you slowly drift to sleep but not before saying, "I love you."

"Mhm, I love you too, my little vixen." He kisses your forehead before he lays next to you and drifts to sleep.

Sorry if this wasn't the best, it was my first time writing for Draken. He's kind of a difficult character, I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!

#smut #tokyo revengers smut #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #draken #draken x reader #draken x y/n

[quinncupine]

An Explosive Surprise

Word Count: 5,792

Relationship: Izuku Midoriya X Female Reader

Warnings: Explosions, disasters, blood, violent action, language (manga spoilers with quirks?)

Notes: I really just wanted to write a bit of angsty action today and some good ole worried Izuku. I do love making that man freak out😆

Summary: on the eve of Izuku's birthday you wanted to set up a special surprise at his office for the morning except your faced with a new (and deadly) surprise of your own.

Quinns Masterlist

It was nearing midnight and the decorations were almost complete. Izuku's birthday was tomorrow and you wanted to surprise him by decorating his office before he arrived in the morning. The only problem was getting him to leave. That man was a workaholic if you ever saw one. When he finally did leave, with a bit of convincing from his assistant Margie, you snuck in. The only staff on this floor was one of his sidekicks, Dewpoint, working the night shift. The other sidekicks on the night shift were out on patrol, it was the perfect opportunity to decorate the place.

You and Margie spent almost two hours decorating, but it was well worth it as his office turned into a bright shiny spectacle of celebration. When you checked your phone, it was nearly one. "Suppose we call it a night Marg, thanks for the help."

"My pleasure dear, he's going to be so surprised tomorrow," the older woman giggled as you shut the office door behind you and headed for the elevators.

Dewpoint was sitting at her desk, the radio beside her spouting out codes from the others on patrol as she lazily swirled the last bit of coffee in her cup. When the two of you walked by, she grinned at you. "All set for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm so excited, I can't wait!" you shrugged your jacket on. "I don't know if I'll even be able to sleep tonight."

"Technically it's already tomorrow," Dewpoint swallowed the last bit of her coffee and stood. "But get some sleep, don't want to drift off during the party now."

"I will," you laughed, waving her off. "Goodnight.”

And with that, the two of you stepped into the elevator. Searching through your purse for your keys, you realized you forgot to leave the small gift for him on his desk. "Crap," hitting the button to open the doors again, you hopped out. "Go on home Margie, I've gotta drop this off real quick. See you tomorrow!"

The old woman waved you off as the doors shut and you quickly trotted towards his office. You could hear Dewpoint in the break room getting more coffee as you slipped into Izuku's private office. Turning the lights on, you admired all your handy work. Everything was done up in his signature colors and you even brought in little Deku balloons to give him a good laugh. It was perfect, you knew he would love it.

Placing the gift on the center of the desk, you bit your lip, wondering if it was too cheesy. Inside was a photo of the two of you. It wasn't much, just a simple candid from a few years ago, a few months after you had started dating. That was your favorite picture of the two of you. Of course, you had other gifts to give him for the party, but this one was one you wanted him to open alone with just you.

A buzz in your pocket startled you out of your memories and you fumbled for it, cringing when you saw Izuku's name pop up. You'd told him that you were out with friends tonight and to not wait up. It was a vague, flimsy lie and his perceptive nature usually saw right through them, so talking was not a good idea. You felt a bit bad about letting him go to voicemail, but being the horrible liar that you were, it was for the best.

A bright flash of light caught your eye outside the window. Glancing up at the giant wall of glass that gave you a spectacular view of downtown, you noticed something bright making a beeline towards the building. It took only a second to realize what it was.

Eyes wide, you nearly tripped over your own feet as you twisted around, running for the door. Fingers racing to call Izuku, but before you could even pull up his name, the entire office exploded behind you. It was sheer luck that the small missile hit his giant wooden desk first, taking the brunt of the impact, but that didn't mean you were spared. The force of the blast knocked you and most of the wall into the main area of the open-plan office.

Despite your panic, you had managed to activate your quirk when the explosion hit. Said quirk allowed you to change the density of air within a two-foot radius. That was the only thing that saved you as you were tossed across the room in a flurry of heat and drywall, slamming into a shelving unit. Paper and other random office supplies scattered around you in your own personal hurricane. The dense air surrounding your body took most of the impact, bending the metal frame underneath you. Unfortunately, the hit still hurt, jolting your body so hard you blacked out for a few seconds. When you came to, smoke had filled the large space and you gagged, trying your best not to choke on the thick smog.

After a few tense moments, you risked a glance up. Half of Izuku's office was gone and all your decorations with it. Wait, no, that wasn't the main concern here. A fire had broken out where the missile had struck, rapidly spreading out. The heavy winds sweeping through the gaping hole in the side of the building only served to feed the bright hungry flames. There was no sign of Dewpoint anywhere and you prayed she didn't get caught up in the blast. There was no answer when you called her name. Whether that was good or bad news, you couldn't decide yet.

A second explosion rocked the building and office furniture erupted in a giant wave of fire. You still had enough sense to duck back down, shielding your head. An armchair slammed into the desk beside you so hard that one of the metal legs impaled the wood. This wasn't a one-and-done explosion. This was an attack. You needed to get out of here. You needed Izuku.

The phone! Searching around you, there was no sign of the small device. Dammit, you must've dropped it when you were flung halfway across the office. Maybe one of the desk phones still worked. A cursory glance around to find a spot that hadn't been affected didn't help, the suffocating fog gave you almost zero visibility. Okay, the new priority is getting out.

Staying low, you crawled through the maze of overturned desks and broken computers, ignoring the bits of broken debris digging into your skin. Breathing was difficult. Even with your shirt pulled over your mouth, the thin material could only do so much. Crawling proved fruitful when you stumbled across a phone lying on the ground, but when you picked it up, all you got was an annoying dead tone. The lines must've been cut either from the explosion or by someone else. Either way, it was bad.

Tossing the useless device aside, you continued on towards the stairs. Unfortunately, the Deku Agency was on one of the top levels of the nearly forty-floor tower. That was a lot of stairs between you and the ground. Too focused on where you were stepping with your hands and knees, you almost ran straight into the door. It was a good thing you stopped in time because there was a bent metal piece of what looked like what used to be some sort of gym equipment wedged into the door. Sharp edges poking out in all directions like some sort of modern art display. That blast must've been strong if it managed to knock items from the gym, the room on the opposite side of this floor, all the way over here.

Just how much of the building was destroyed? Was the villain still out there? Were the stairs even a viable option anymore? Did Izuku know something had happened yet? Were you going to get out of here alive? Were you going to- wait, stop. Calm down. Freaking out won't help. With as deep a breath as you could manage, you closed your eyes for a few seconds to regroup and figure out what to do. There was another set of emergency stairs on the other side of the floor, next to the break room.  If you could just make it there, that might give you a way out. It was better than sitting here waiting to get caught in the flames.

As quickly as you could, you rose to your feet, a bit dizzy from getting tossed around like a ragdoll. Small steps were better than no steps. Slowly, you made your way back through the office, trying your best to skirt around the most damaged parts. You made it twenty feet in when another blast rocked the building and a loud snap vibrated underneath you. Then the floor gave out.

A scream tore from your throat as you dropped halfway through the floor before your hands caught hold of an exposed pipe. The sudden stop jarred your arms and sent your body swinging into the jagged tear. One of the now exposed metal beams supporting the floor had ripped off in the collapse and your thigh was unfortunate enough to catch the sharp end as your body dangled helplessly. Agony raced up your leg, injecting pure lava in your veins. The pain was too much to bear and your hands slipped.

It was about a ten-foot fall to the next floor and you landed with a loud echoed thud. Air punched out of your lungs as whatever debris you landed on tore through your back. You weren't quick enough to activate your quirk this time. Everything hurt, but your adrenaline-filled mind put all that on the backburner as you gasped in the slightly fresher air, taking in your surroundings. The smoke hadn't reached down here yet which meant the blast was at least contained to the upper floors as far as you could tell. The floor was unoccupied so it was practically empty aside from the few spare pieces of furniture scattered around. The dim emergency lights weakly flash in the darkness, casting everything in a hazy yellow. If the explosions hadn't hit this floor hard then you could probably escape through one of the stairs here.

Attempting to roll on your side proved to be a bad idea. Something was definitely broken, most likely a rib or two, and nothing else if you were lucky. Although, you'd be hard-pressed to call this situation lucky. Moving was going to be hard, but you didn't really have a choice so you rolled again and an even worse stab of burning hot pain shot through your chest, leaving you gasping on your back. Maybe if you laid still for just a few seconds, gather yourself up, you'd be able to do it. Shallow short breaths were all you were capable of at the moment, but at least you were still breathing so that was something. Lying still also proved to be a bad idea when you heard a deafening crack above you.

The area you'd just fallen through wasn't stable enough and another large section collapsed. The section just above where you landed. All sounds of panic caught in your throat as you held out your hands. Then it hit.

‎Izuku frowned as you went to voicemail. You'd told him you were going out with friends tonight, but when he got home and you still weren't back yet, he was a little concerned. It was nearly one and he hadn't heard a peep from you since this afternoon. It was unlike you to be out so late… and he would never say it, but he was a little upset that you weren't with him before his birthday. Every year, you would always reserve time for just the two of you during special events so it came as quite a surprise when you didn't want to spend the evening with him this year.‎

He paced around his home gym, having used it as a distraction ever since he got home, staring at the phone, willing it to ring. When it didn't, he set it down on the bench with a sigh. There was a small ball of ice growing in his gut. Something wasn't right. Grabbing the water bottle in frustration, he took a small swig, pacing a nervous path up and down the mat. Should he try calling again? He didn't want to seem overbearing, but it was past one and no sign of you. It was nerve-wracking, to say the least.

After a few minutes in deep thought, the phone rang. He dropped the bottle and dashed across the room to grab the buzzing device. Disappointment bubbled to the surface when he saw Margie's name instead of yours. It was a little odd for her to be calling at this hour.

"Hey, Marg-"

"Get to the office now!" she cut him off, out of breath.

That simple sentence was enough to send him sprinting down the hall to the closet that held his spare uniform. "What's going on?" Instantly in hero mode.

"It's under attack!" she yelled. "They were targeting the agency! The whole top of the building is on fire!" Sirens in the background nearly drowned out her voice. "Y/N was still in there!"

A spike impaled his heart as he absorbed that news. He stopped in front of the closet, ripped the mask off his suit, and continued on towards the balcony. There was no time to change, he didn't want to waste time to change, he needed to get there now. So, in nothing but sweats and a thin tank top, he ran down the hall.

"What the hell was she doing there?" There were so many questions running through his head and no time to ask them all. Fear pounded his heart into little pieces, but he kept his composure. You didn't need a worried Izuku, you needed the hero Deku.

"She was decorating the office as a surprise for tomorrow," Margie cried. "She ran back in to do something and when I got down to the lobby, the first explosion hit. She and Dewpoint were- oh my god!" A huge crash on the other end sent horrifying anxiety rippling through him.

"Margie!" he yelled as he threw the balcony doors open and jumped into the air without hesitation. "Margie, are you okay? Talk to me, what's going on?"

A few heart-pounding seconds before she came back on. "Debris is falling! They're moving us back, but Y/N-"

"Get to safety Margie, I'm on my way!" Hanging up the phone, he pulled all his concentration on going as fast as he could.

It was another six minutes before he landed in a chaotic scene. Firetrucks and ambulances were already rushing about, trying to get a handle on things. Several heroes were rushing people out to safety. A loud explosion a few blocks down rattled the ground. Glancing that way, he caught sight of a few heroes battling a villain before a familiar voice called out his name.

"Deku!" It was his sidekick, Dewpoint, helping a startled-looking man towards triage. "We've evacuated all the critical floors. I was just going to help with the fires, but the villain-"

"Y/N, Where's Y/N!" Izuku desperately looked around, scanning the makeshift triage area, but saw no sign on you. "Margie said you were with her when the blast hit."

‎"I-no, they both left…" the sidekick trailed off, glancing back at the building. "No, I saw them leave. It was just me on that floor… or I thought it-"‎

Izuku didn't let her finish, leaping high into the air with such force that it nearly knocked the woman over. He barreled towards the destroyed space that used to be his office, floating for just a second to take in the damage. The entire wall had been blown out, most things in his office either obliterated in the explosion or coated in flames. There was no sign of you. Gritting his teeth, he slipped his mask on and rushed through the burning hold, landing in one of the few parts of his office the fire had yet to reach.

"Y/N!" he yelled above the roar of the fire, voice a bit muffled from the mask, "Y/N!"

They really did a number on the place. Hardly anything remained. The floors and walls had mostly blown out, but he did catch a few charred remains of what looked like banners. If you were in here before, you definitely weren't now. The implications that held weighed almost too heavily on his heart, but he refused to think about what they meant. For now, he had to assume you were still alive somewhere in this mess.

He floated into the main space that held the bulk of his agency for fear of the floor giving out on him. This part of the building seemed in slightly better shape, but it still looked like a warzone. Fire had spread out along the walls, slowly licking away at the furniture, growing bigger and deadlier by the minute. A sharp pang at the base of his skull had him instinctively jumping to the side to avoid the ceiling collapsing above him. The place was coming down fast. He had to find you quickly.

Frantic eyes swept the destroyed office desperate to see some sort of indication of where you were. Panic threatening to spill out the longer he looked. The further in he went, the heavier the smoke became. It was hard to see anything at all and it took everything in him to remain calm. He needed to think this through critically. Margie had said you came back to his office. The area that got directly hit. A shuddered breath and he shook his head. If you made it out before the missile struck, then you would've run through the office towards the stairs. He followed your path, coming to a large piece of machinery that used to be part of his training center wedged into the door, blocking any chance of escape. The floor in this area had collapsed too, making the terrain nearly impossible to navigate on foot. Where would you have gone next? The second set of emergency stairs on the other end of the office!

"Y/N!" he coughed out, the filters on his mask were having difficulty keeping up with this much toxic smoke surrounding him. "Y/N! Answer me, please!"'

He twisted around, facing the direction where the second set of stairs were when something caught his attention. It was a voice, faint and just barely heard over the fire. He waited, body stiff, breath held, ears strained. A few more impatient seconds, hovering in place before he heard it again. A faded "here" called out. It came from below. Another portion of the ceiling to his right crumbled, sending out a thick wave of dust into the already smoke-heavy air.

Blinking the soot out of his eyes, he carefully dropped through the hole, landing next to a large concrete slab of what used to be the floor to his agency, eyes scanning his surroundings until a piece of fabric caught his attention. He crouched low to peer underneath the chunk of solid concrete, heart leaping into his throat.

"Y/N," he breathed, forcing himself to sound calm.

Arms shaking, you turned your head slightly, squinted eyes landing on him. Instant relief flooded your face. Tears spilled out of the corners of your eyes and a pained whine came from deep in your chest. Izuku took in the sight. There was a thin space between your hands and the large chunk of debris where the air distorted slightly. Your quirk, he realized. That small cushion of air was the only thing keeping the heavy chunk of debris from crushing you. It had saved you, yet inadvertently trapped you as well.

"Heavy," it was barely a groan, finding it hard to say anything with such a weight on your chest.

The slab shook, dropping closer to you. Your quirk was already past its limits, you wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer. Izuku wasted no time, using Blackwhip to secure the edges and carefully lifted the burden off you with the ease of super strength.

As soon as the weight was gone, the bubble of condensed air dispersed, arms falling to your sides as you took in staggering gulps of air. Whatever damage you took in your chest made it hard to do just that so you ended up choking on each breath which only caused more stabbing pain in a vicious cycle.

Depositing the chunk a safe distance away, he knelt next to you, hand on your head, taking in your rough state. Your thigh was a bloody mess. A thick jagged rip stretched across the skin and frighteningly dark blood pooled beneath your lower half. A few burn marks marred your shoulders and neck, but besides that, you were still awake and aware.

"I'm here," Izuku said, softly as he prodded parts of your limbs and torso, checking for injuries. When he poked just below the sternum, you gasped and tried to crawl away from his touch. He held you firmly in place as to not aggravate any more injuries. "I'm sorry," he glanced around as another section collapsed, bringing the fire with it. Smoke was filling up this level too fast for his liking. "I know it hurts, but I have to make sure I can move you safely."

The smoke had you coughing harshly and you weakly clutched at your chest. Izuku pulled off his mouth guard, securing it around your face. It helped even if your throat was coated in soot by now. "Izuku…" it hurt to speak and Izuku was quick to shush you.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." The man tried for a smile, one which you frailly tried to mirror, despite being hidden by the mask.

Nodding, you tried to focus your eyes on his face. The emergency lights colored everything a hazy yellow, casting his hair in a slight golden halo. Maybe it was the definite concussion, but you couldn't help but think that despite the obvious concern he was wearing, he looked a bit angelic at the moment and you wanted to laugh. Instead, some sort of garbled noise escaped your lips that could barely pass as a laugh.

After a quick examination of your neck, he finally deemed it safe enough to pick you up. "Don't worry, I've got you," it was soft yet firm and you believed every word he said. How could you not? Slowly, he shifted his hands underneath you, lifting your limp form in his arms, tucking you as tightly as he dared to his chest, trying not to strain your damaged body any more than he had to.

With a heavy groan, you buried your face into his chest, one arm dangling beneath you while the other fisted his shirt with all your remaining strength. Holding that thing up had exhausted you. Sheer terror the only thing keeping you awake. Now that the major danger had passed, you were hanging on the edge of consciousness.

The floor above him groaned and cracked. It wouldn't hold up much longer. That sharp jolt in his head told him to run and he did. Hugging you tightly against him, jaw set hard, he sprinted for the window. Right before he slammed into it, he twisted around so his back hit first and hunched over to protect you from the shattering glass. Izuku tumbled out in a free fall for a split second before he righted himself and came to a slow halt, floating in mid-air. A wave of dust and debris flew out the window behind him as the rest of the floor caved in.

Finally letting out that breath he'd been holding, he glanced down at you. Eyes closed and breathing labored, you looked pale and in pain. All this just so you could surprise him for his birthday. Well, it was definitely a surprise, just one neither of you was expecting.

Helicopters hovered around the building and he knew cameras were most likely on him, they always were. But he ignored them, focused completely on you. As he descended, a spotlight fell on him, the harsh light only illuminating your injured state all the more. A few medics rushed out to meet him halfway once he landed. Handing you off to them was difficult, but they would be able to help you better than he could at this point. Once they assured him (more than a few times) that you would be alright under their care, he reluctantly pulled himself away. There was still a villain to catch.

Eyes dark, he rocketed into the air once again, this time, aimed at the explosions raining down on the buildings a few blocks east. The closer he got, the more destruction he saw. Overturned cars, wrecked storefronts, people being herded away by a few heroes. It was a disaster, to say the least.

A stray missile speed into the air and course-corrected to him. A heat seeker. Izuku lashed out with Blackwhip, slashing right through the small but highly destructive weapon. The explosion wasn't all that big, but the blast still sent him flying back. Now that he'd given his position away, three more missiles popped over the buildings, coming in straight for him.

He couldn't risk all three colliding and creating a bigger impact so close to the buildings so he flew higher, the missiles chasing after him. Once he was high above the city, he whipped around, catching all three missiles in his tether and smashed them into each other. This time he was prepared for the backlash and shielded himself.

Being this high up gave him a great vantage point. He could see the center of the chaos, heroes closed in on all sides of a single villain although that didn't deter the man in the least. He rapid-fired missiles of varying degrees, some coming dangerously close to striking the heroes. He must've been powerful if all the gathered pros were having difficulty catching him. Izuku needed to end this quickly.

Dropping Float, he dove back to Earth in a free-fall. From this height, directly striking the villain would most likely kill him and as much as he hated the man for all the unnecessary violence he'd caused, he would never go that far. So coming in hot, he smashed into the ground beside him, the resulting shockwave sent him flying into a nearby building. Izuku wasted no time in jumping from his spot with lightning speed, slamming the dazed villain back into the wall of the building, holding him easily in place with one arm, the other restraining a rocket launcher that was attached- wait, that was the villain's arm. So that must've been his quirk.

"DEKU!" The villain, in a cheap getup with fabric covering his eyes, roared as he squirmed under the iron-clad grip. "Let me go or I swear I'll blow us all to hell! I'm not done with you yet! You're the reason gack-"

Izuku shoved his arm into the villain's throat, blocking off the rest of his rant. "Shut up," he growled, leaning in close, a fiery storm brewing in his eyes. "I don't want to hear it. You hurt innocent people today. I don't care if you come after me, but come after the ones I care about and there will be severe consequences." His voice was ice and cold enough to even freeze the criminal in place. "I will not tolerate putting innocent people in danger. Do not test that tolerance again."

A few other heroes joined him and with one last deadly glare, he let go of the man who seemed to lose all fighting spirit in the wake of Izuku's threat. He was quickly cuffed and lead away, leaving Izuku stiff, body still itching for a fight.

When a hand landed on his shoulder, he nearly flinched out of his skin. It was Dewpoint who was staring at the ground. She looked guilty beyond belief. "Deku sir, I just came to tell you that the fires have been successfully put out." Then she finally looked up at him. "And to let you know that Y/N was taken to the hospital a few minutes ago. The medics said she'll be fine!" Then backed up a bit, bowing in apology. "I'm so sorry, I made a terrible mistake. I should've double-checked the floor, there is no excuse!"

He didn't have the energy for this conversation right now. Not when you were still at the forefront of his mind. Running a hand through his sooty hair, he sighed. "This could've gone entirely different Dewpoint. This job requires our full attention but mistakes still happen." Placing a hand on her shoulder, he looked her in her watery eyes. "Finish helping with evacuations of the area and keep me updated. We'll talk more about this later when things have calmed down." When he's calmed down.

Dewpoint nodded, steeling her face and charging off into one of the buildings. She was a recent graduate, still learning, but her mistakes nearly cost you your life tonight. He'd have to bring her in for some one-on-one lessons on proper civilian evacuation scenarios. The woman had potential, it's why he hired her in the first place because he saw a lot of himself in her.

Shaking his head, he sprung into the air, towards the hospital. He knew the way well, he'd been there enough himself. The hospital wasn't far from the agency and when he landed at the front doors of the emergency ward, the place was abuzz. Other worried families here to see loved ones injured in the attack were filling up the lobby and he squeezed through to the front desk. The one good thing about not being in costume is that he wasn't so easily recognizable without it. besides, the last thing people would look for is a frantic hero in the crowd, they had more important things to worry about.

"Excuse me, I'm looking-"

"Sir," the nurse said, busily moving forms around, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait. We are still admitting patients. If you're looking for someone from the incident tonight, you'll have to wait until we call out names. Fill this out in the meantime." She didn't bother looking up at him as she handed him the paperwork.

"Midoriya," a quiet voice said behind him and he whirled around.

"Dr. Okura," he hurried over to the woman in scrubs. Izuku knew a lot of the staff around here. He spends a lot more time here after battles than he cares to admit. "I'm glad to see you."

"As am I," she tapped his shoulder, ushering him past the lobby and down the hall. "I heard what happened. I'm glad you managed to come out relatively unscathed."

"Yeah, I’m not here for me," he said a little impatiently, "Y/N was caught up in the attack. They said she was taken here."

Nodding, the doc lead him over to the nurses' station where she typed in your name on the computer. "Oh good, she was actually admitted a little while ago. Come on, I'll take you to her room."

"Thank you," Izuku closed his eyes with a relieved sigh.

The two of them quickly walked down the hall until they came to a closed door. Dr. Okura knocked and opened the door, Izuku right behind her. Inside, you were lying on the bed, looking a bit dazed, but otherwise fine as a nurse spoke to you.

"Y/N," he brushed past the doctor and knelt next to your bedside.

The nurse blinked as she realized the man kneeling next to the bed was one of the top pro hero's Deku. She looked to the doc who waved her over and discussed your chart before the nurse was dismissed.

"Looks like she'll be alright with enough rest and care," Dr. Okura smiled at the two of you. "I'll let the two of you have some time, but Midoriya, she does have a concussion, so keep an eye on her and don't let her fall asleep. If you need anything that button rings the nurse." With a grateful nod from Izuku, she shut the door.

"You came." Your voice was nothing more than a gravelly whisper. One arm draped over your eyes, shielding them from the dim lights while the other snaked its way out from the covers to find his hand. "Knew you would." A small smile replaced the grimace on your face for a brief second. "You always do."

"And I always will," he managed a small, wobbly smile back. The events tonight scared him more than he realized and just hoped you didn't feel the tremors in his hands.

‎"What a sap," you laughed. Peering out from under your arm, you locked eyes with him. "Thanks… and sorry."‎

"What are you sorry about?"

"I don't know, for putting you in that situation in the first place. It was dumb, I wasn't even supposed to be there. I just wanted to do something nice for your birthday this year. It was gonna be great. I even made a cake." Frowning, you covered your eyes back up. "And it got blown to smithereens."

"Hey," Izuku gently peeled your arm off your face enough so he could look you in the eyes. "It wasn't dumb and it wasn't your fault. I'm a hero, it's kinda my thing to save people who need it." He examined your face: pupils blown, a few cuts scattered over the skin, and some light burns that traveled down your neck. The best thing I can have for my birthday is you; safe and right here with me."

"Yeah, but a cake would've been nice too," you mumbled, covering your aching eyes back up.

He just shook his head with a breathy laugh. "Focus on healing and then we can make a new one together."

Lifting your arm up just enough to smirk at him, you said, "you're good at a lot of things, but baking is not your forte. You should probably stick to the whole hero thing."

That got another laugh. "Fair enough. How about you make the cake and we can eat it together."

Satisfied, you dropped your arm back over your face with a tired, slightly pained sigh. "Sounds good. You deserve the best."

He brought your hand up to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. "I already have the best."

Taglist: @dorki-time @peachsenpie @thecindy @miriobaby @awilddreamerwrites @kiyoobi @dragonsdreamoffire @amive2567 @justscar

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#izuku x reader #izuku midoriya #deku #pro hero deku #angst #action #violence #villain attacks #destruction #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #izuku midoriya x reader #deku x reader

[traincat]

I feel like I've read a ton, but I'm honestly still pretty new to comics rn. That being said... What is one more day? Ik we don't like it and it happened a while ago, but that's about it [,=

Time for Spider-Man History With Traincat: Highly Controversial Storylines! And that feeling is totally normal with comics with huge canons -- you can read a ton and still have some fairly big blindspots in your understanding of the total picture. That being said, this is kind of a big one, both in terms of Spider-Man history/canon and in terms of how Spider-Man fandom functions. I would say probably no other storyline has had quite as much impact on how the fandom views and interacts with the source material as One More Day/Brand New Day. It's been the Wild West out here ever since it happened. (Which was in 2007, so like, yes, fairly long ago, especially when you look at how Spider-Man canon has evolved since, but in the grand scheme of things, also kind of recent. One More Day is not old enough to rent a car.)

So when people talk about Spider-Man's One More Day, they're usually actually talking about two related arcs: One More Day and Brand New Day. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to be covering both. For the sake of transparency, I am going to admit that I think One More Day, as a self-contained story, is good, actually. This is controversial! I admit that! But I stand by my stupid opinions on this blog, for some reason. I think One More Day when you examine it on its own, by which I mean you ignore the decade and a half worth of canon that came after it, as a Spider-Man story and as a PeterMJ-centric story holds up under scrutiny and that people who don't like it don't like complicated love stories and might actually throw their own mothers under buses. No offense to the OMD haters. Little bit of offense to the OMD haters. Brand New Day, which is the continuation of One More Day, on the other hand -- largely bad. Very largely bad.

But let's backtrack. One More Day is a four issue crossover storyline that takes place directly after Civil War, during which Iron Man and Captain America got divorced and divvied up the superhero community and Spider-Man made some startlingly bad decisions and made a fugitive out of himself and his family in a manner that got Aunt May shot, and Spider-Man: Back in Black (Amazing Spider-Man #539–543) which examines Peter's actions immediately after Aunt May is shot and ends with him humiliating the Kingpin in front of an entire prison. One More Day consists of Amazing Spider-Man #544 -> Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 -> Sensational Spider-Man v2 #41 -> Amazing Spider-Man #545. In One More Day, Aunt May is dying, all of Peter's efforts to save her have thus far failed, and, consumed by guilt, he is rapidly running out of time. Approached by Mephisto, a literal demon from hell, Peter is offered a deal: Aunt May will live -- and Peter's identity, which was previously revealed to the world at large during Civil War, will once again be hidden from the memories of all but a select few -- if Peter trades him his marriage to Mary Jane. Peter and Mary Jane struggle with this, but eventually both agree to the deal. The clock strikes twelve, the deal is done, and Peter and Mary Jane's marriage fades into history.

(ASM #545) A reasonably simple premise for a story that caused so many problems -- most, I would argue, not actually the original story's fault. So obviously, this was an unpopular move -- Peter and Mary Jane had for a long time been a fan favorite Marvel couple, and in a fictional universe where most relationships are doomed as soon as they begin, the enduring Spider-Marriage was sacred ground. And then, with a snap of its fingers, it was gone: Peter wakes up in Aunt May's house, no longer married, with Mary Jane out of the picture. (She would not return to the book on any sort of consistent basis for over 50 issues.) In the wake of One More Day began Brand New Day, which is basically what it sounds like: a promised "brand new day" of "exciting" Spider-Man content and a publishing schedule where Amazing Spider-Man came out three times a month. (Which sounds good on paper but I think in practice caused more problems than it created good storylines.) Peter, newly single again, had new love interests! And also Harry Osborn was alive again for some reason! I generally like Harry's post-BND stories so that part's fine with me.

But overall? Brand New Day is a mess. It knows it wants to tread new and exciting ground with Peter -- tell new stories! ensnare new readers! make them fork out for a book three times a month. -- but it doesn't know what those stories should be. Readers who were invested in Peter and Mary Jane's relationship -- a major facet of Spider-Man comics for decades at that point -- felt rightfully betrayed that the marriage could be so easily traded in and that Mary Jane herself, perhaps the second most important figure in Spider-Man comics after Peter, could be tossed aside. From a personal point of view, I think Brand New Day fails in large part because it abandons what has always made Spider-Man such a compelling series, and that's the mix of Peter's personal life with his vigilante life. BND sees Peter with new friends, new jobs, new love interests, etc -- it is very much a brand new day! But it isn't a better day compared to the stories that came before it. I do like some post-BND stories, especially American Son (ASM #595-599) and Grim Hunt (ASM #634-637), but compared to pre-BND where I think the majority of canon is good, it's a very lacking body of work that is hurt by the way it divorced itself from the PeterMJ marriage as Spider-Man's central relationship.

"But Traincat, I thought you said you liked One More Day?" Yeaaaaah. I do. This is why I keep saying I like One More Day on its own merits, and not on the merits of the stories it opened the doors for. I like a good romantic tragedy in fiction, and the way Peter and Mary Jane's final scene in One More Day plays out is beautiful. I like the idea of Peter caught in this impossible situation, being asked to choose between two women he loves more than his own life. A really common criticism I see leveled against One More Day is that Peter should have chosen his relationship with Mary Jane over May's life, which is -- okay, I think it's weird that people keep insisting on this, not in the least because by asking Peter to sacrifice his aunt's life they're essentially demanding he commit a callous, out of character act in order to further his own interests. It's also weird because the thing is, Peter already chose Mary Jane over May -- that's what gets them into this situation. It's literally in the scene where May is shot:

(ASM #538) When the gun goes off, Peter's spider-sense kicks in, and he covers Mary Jane, leaving May in the path of the bullet. He does choose Mary Jane over May, regardless of whether he realized what he was doing. And that's why he can't make that choice a second time. His actions in One More Day do make sense for him as a character, whether or not any individual reader likes them, and Mary Jane's actions make sense, too -- after all, she's the one who ultimately tells Mephisto that they agree to the deal when Peter can't bring himself to voice it.

A lot of people also like to nitpick One More Day by going, well, why could (x) or (y) with life saving powers save Aunt May which is like -- yeah, I guess, but if we're going to ask that about this specific comic book near death setup, you kind of have to do it with every single one, and I'm not going to stake every single moment of comic book drama on whether or not that gold kid from the X-Men was busy at the time. Comics are soap operas in flimsy paper form: serialized longform storytelling that relies heavily on melodrama. Sometimes you have to go with things. Sometimes you sell your marriage to the devil. Stuff happens. That in and of itself doesn't make One More Day a bad story -- and while some people blame the Spider-Marriage's dissolution entirely on One More Day, I think that's a little shortsighted when you look at the history of Spider-Man since the turn of the century. It's clear -- and Marvel themselves have been perhaps a little too open about this -- that Marvel in the past few decades has had trouble with the direction they want to take Spider-Man. They WANTED Spider-Man to appeal to a distinctly youthful audience that they didn't think they were actually reaching -- understandable, considering that Marvel nearly went bankrupt around 2000 and was saved by Ultimate Spider-Man, an out of main continuity series which retold Spider-Man from the beginning and focused heavily on Peter as a teen -- but the problem was Spider-Man in the main continuity was at that point in canon a happily married man who was pushing the dreaded 30 whether or not they wanted to admit that. This is also why Marvel has continually pivoted away from Spider-Man having kids, because they feared that making him a dad would age him too much and make him unrelatable to their coveted audience of Teens. (This is also why almost every new Spider-Man property, especially the live action movies, perpetually stick him back into high school, despite that occupying a very small slice of 616 canon.) So around the year 2000, they started trying things in relation to the Spider-Marriage, which was viewed as a major problem -- after all, what's more adult than being married and liking your wife. First, they had Mary Jane presumed dead. Then, they had Mary Jane and Peter separate. Then, when Mary Jane and Peter had only recently gotten back together, One More Day struck. If One More Day specifically hadn't gone the way it had, it's pretty clear that the Spider-Marriage was going to go one way or another -- it's a little bit of a shame it happened when it did, because OMD is the end of J Michael Straczynski's run, and JMS wrote a really beautiful Peter and MJ relationship. But Marvel as a company and especially editor in chief at the time Joe Quesada viewed Peter and Mary Jane's relationship as a major problem in how they wanted to portray Spider-Man and thought that striking the relationship from the books would allow them more freedom in their portrayal of him as younger and more relatable to their Desired Audience of people who I guess really wanted to see Peter sleep with characters who weren't Mary Jane.

(ASM #546. Younger! Fresher! Less attached! Kissing random women in the club!)

The problem with One More Day has always been in the follow through -- from the content of Brand New Day to the pacing of events to the fact that Marvel withheld key information for such a long time that it allowed misinformation to thrive. After all, what does it MEAN to trade Peter and Mary Jane's marriage to the devil? It altered the events of canon in Peter and the majority of other characters' memories so that the marriage didn't exist, but it left people wondering -- did the relationship as they remembered it existed? How much of Spider-Man canon was altered? And the answers didn't come for over 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. One Moment In Time or OMIT (Amazing Spider-Man #638-641), which revealed that while Peter and Mary Jane never got married in the altered canon they did continue their long committed relationship up until just after Civil War, was published in 2010, so essentially readers were hung out to dry without answers for three years. That's a long time to string people along, but not as long as it took Marvel to confirm that the popular fan theory that Mary Jane retained her memories of the original timeline as part of her own deal with Mephisto was also true, which happened this year. I would say, at least from my perspective, a lot of the frustration doesn't come from the individual One More Day storyline so much as how Marvel has continually dragged out the aftermath, using the promise of a Spider-Marriage return to keep fans on the hook. Which is why One More Day continually comes up in discussion of current Spider-Man, because Spencer's run has relied very heavily on imagery from that period with a serious question of whether or not there actually was going to be payoff, something which is still up in the air.

This has been Spider-Man History With Traincat, brought to you by anonymice like you.

#traincat talks comics #long post #*replies

[minthesupremacy]

i actually feel like recently LO has gotten a little (only a little) better abt unpacking demeter. her place within most of the story as just a straight up villian is mad stupid, even zeus’ backstory as the only one not physically abused by kronos adds some depth to why Hes Like That. demeter isn’t offered that level of complexity most of the time. i do think her reaction during the trial/arrest is better abt this tho. her genuine fear over the way zeus has used her (at least to me) makes a lot of her parenting make more sense. many “helicopter parents” r abusive & neglectful in affect, not intention, (not that this makes it any better or any less abusive) & i feel like the more recent updates have characterized demeter’s parenting as a consequence of generational trauma rather than genuine malice. i don’t have much hope that this will be stuck to, considering the way the author team openly has characters it Dislikes and Likes, but still, i thot it was a little more fleshed out this time. feel free to disagree tho!

I agree mostly! I think the scenes where she talks to Hera aren't inherently demonized, and she's presented as a 'good mom with behavior'. But the thing is, even though we're presented with the fact that Demeter is a helicopter parent, I don't really see that outside of her not wanting Persephone to move out? Like... Idk the narrative acts as if Persephone's sisters and friends are pieces of flimsy paper and the only way she could have joy is through meeting another god (and it is not lost on me that being with the same people can be and is boring and repetitive). It just feels like we don't really see Demeter as this overbearing figure in Persephone's life at all. If she were so overbearing, why isn't she calling Persephone nightly? Why isn't she sending letters and an allowance to remind her that Demeter is thinking of her? So when we're told she's overbearing, it feels like RS is trying to demonize her a bit, bc it just isn't shown by the narrative.

I think the only reason RS is making Demeter less villainous this season is because she's on Persephone's 'side' and defending her AOW. But the moment she stands between H/P again, (just like you said, this nuance of her character will be dropped) she'll be demonized again when she has the power to do something about it, and not just yell at Hera for a cheap gag.

I feel like she's becoming a bit more fleshed out just because she's not in the way of the ship; while I appreciate the writing, because I love Demeter, I'm usually wary of it after Minthe's treatment. But I do agree, I like Demeter's new characterization wrt to trauma, and how she fears that Persephone might be abused/taken advantage of, and that's why she hid her (even if the Fertility goddess plotline is stupid and sucks).

#asks #thank you for the ask! #love demeter hate how RS treats her #LO crit

[itmighthavebeenintentional]

We've Got Tonight - Ch 5

Summary: “It’s not your job to do this, Andy. You make people happy. I was in the diner all of ten minutes, and you knew exactly how to get me to smile. You do normal, real things like garden and sing karaoke. Saving the world is my job, Sam’s job. Sometimes it’s even Cas’s job, but it’s not yours.”

Inspired by Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight”

Warnings: Major Character Death, More Major Character Deaths (sort of?), higher than show level violence, blood, light smutting, language, demons, apocalypse, inferred suicide, cult activity.

18+ ONLY, MINORS DO NOT PROCEED

Author’s Note: This story is set hazily around season 8. Just squint a little, and it’ll settle in somewhere. I wrote this story after certain big revelations in the show, but before other big ones; you’ll most likely be able to tell which. I play with time a bit in the story itself, so if things seem out of order, they are. Hopefully, by the end, all the pieces will fit together.

What the hell, let’s give it a shot.

Image and major edits by the incomparable @there-must-be-a-lock . Heavy editing and cheering by @thoughtslikeaminefield . Thank you both so much.

This chapter in particular is dedicated to @foxyjwls007 . If I'm going to torture you with something, it's not going to be a cliffhanger. I'm going out of town for two weeks, so you get an update early since I won't be able to post while I'm away. Thank you for the encouragement.

In case you missed it: Chapter 4 ItMightHaveBeenIntentional’s Masterlist

...

We’ve Got Tonight

Chapter 5

“Miss? Miss? Hey, are you okay?”

A hand grips Andy’s arm, firm but polite, and she jerks to, almost losing her footing. It’s been a long day already, and she still has two hours before she can go home, shower, and put her feet up for a little while before karaoke at the Brass Monkey starts up.

Maybe I can even fit in a nap, she thinks excitedly. But first, gotta wake up and make it through the rest of my shift.

Of course, if she hadn’t been tossing and turning all night from a crazy dream, she wouldn’t be as tired as she is now, but that’s neither here nor there. And it doesn’t help that she can’t even remember the stupid dream. It was really long, though, and there was blood and books and…someone...

“Can I get a refill over here?”

One hour, forty-seven minutes, and twenty-two seconds to go. She can do this.

The minutes crawl, though, and it’s all she can do to stay on her feet and focus. The lunch crowd has long since thinned, and she’s about to ask if she can maybe take off a little early when the door chimes, and she catches the tail end of the entering customers’ conversation.

“Could you at least consider putting something green on your plate? Like, ever? Broccoli won’t kill you.”

“I’ve already told you, I’m getting breakfast since you didn’t wake me up early enough to eat a decent one this morning. Pancakes, bacon, and coffee, which, I might add, grows on a tree, so it counts as a plant. That’s balanced enough for me. You like broccoli; knock yourself out, Jolly Green.”

“Sam isn’t green, Dean. Is your vision faulty? Perhaps we should get your eyes examined. Or you could try carrots along with the broccoli. Carrots are supposed to improve vision.”

No. No, no, no, she thinks, her mind whirling frantically. It was a dream, they can’t be here. This is...this is how it started, and...

She turns, and there they are, Sam and Dean dolled up in their clean, pressed feds suits and Cas looking just as rumpled and bewildered as she suddenly remembers. They seat themselves at an empty table in her section, but any thoughts of leaving early evaporated the second she heard their voices.

Every moment of the dream, every minute of those four weeks comes screaming back, cramming each terror-laden, tension-ridden second into her mind so fast she actually does stumble and has to grab the back of a nearby booth to keep from hitting the worn-out linoleum.

“It...hasn’t happened yet.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something? Hey, hey, hold on there. Are you okay?”

Then Sam’s hand is supporting her elbow, helping her straighten up, and she looks up into his concerned eyes, unable to express how glad she is just to see him breathing. Behind him, Dean and Cas are arguing about something trivial, wonderfully animated and alive and completely unaware of her.

“I’m sorry, hun, it’s just been a long shift. Gimme a minute to grab some waters and menus, and I’ll be right over.” Sam accepts her flimsy excuse at face value, and why wouldn’t he? He hasn’t lived with her for the better part of a month, hasn’t saved her life once, hasn’t tried to save the world with her. He doesn’t know her at all.

Why should he question a strange waitress in a strange diner who says she’s had a long day? He’s met hundreds of women just like her, maybe thousands, and he’s got no reason to question a completely legitimate statement.

She rushes into the back to find the coldest water possible to splash on her face. Her reflection gapes back at her from the staff bathroom mirror as the enormity of her situation begins to dawn on her.

Why? Why is this happening? Either she actually lived through those weeks and is somehow getting a do-over, or she dreamed the whole thing and is getting a shot to fix things from this end. But why? And how?

How in the hell?

Think, Andrea, think. It was real. It will be real. It hasn’t happened yet. You haven’t screwed everything up yet. You have to fix this. But how? How can I fix it when I screwed everything up so very badly last time?

Just...think. Think. Start small. Try to stop it before it happens. But...the cult. Crowley said they were real. They found me before, they’ll find me again. I could talk to Sam and Dean and Cas about what's going to happen. They’ve been through enough insanity in their lives that I actually have a pretty good shot at convincing them.

She stares into the mirror, racking her brain for every helpful detail she learned during her time with the Winchesters.

They're already investigating all the break-ins hereabouts; those were the cultists looking for me in the first place. Then they find me, take me, bleed me, and start the apocalypse. The boys could stop the ritual before it even happens.

Her reflection in the mirror frowns, unconvinced the solution could possibly be that easy.

But the literature, the books, it’s all still out there. Someone else could find it, could come after me. My blood is the problem. I’m the key. As long as I’m around, someone could still use me to end everything. Crowley can still use me to get to them. Think. You’ve got to actually stop everything and save them this time.

Her eyes widen as realization dawns. The world can’t make it without the Winchesters. There’s only one way out of this.

Fifteen minutes later, she sets a fresh green salad in front of Sam before dropping a towering stack of steaming pancakes in front of Dean.

“Fresh pot of coffee coming off in two, be right back with your refills. Need any more butter or syrup, hun? How ‘bout a couple of extra pieces of bacon on the house?”

“Don’t encourage him, please,” Sam groans. Dean slaps his brother on the back of the head, sending Sam’s coiffed hair into a tizzy of disarray. Sam swipes back at his brother, who waves off Sam’s attempts at retaliation like he’s swatting a fly.

“You shut your pie hole. She said free bacon. That makes her a queen.” He turns his most charming smile on her, glancing down at her name tag then back up to meet her gaze squarely. The crinkles around his eyes deepen with his grin. “Andrea, is it?”

“Andy,” she corrects automatically, and she can’t help her answering smile. He throws her a wink that clearly says he knows he’s cheesy but it's all part of his irresistible charm.

She doesn’t disagree.

“You are a goddess, Andy. I love you, and you need to know that.”

“You don’t,” she says, only just managing to keep her voice and smile level, “but you could.” His answering laugh sends a twinge through her chest, and if she clenches her jaw a little around her smile, she figures she’s entitled.

When the men finally finish eating, she offers a slip of paper to Dean, while Sam pretends he isn’t rolling his eyes.

“There’s a karaoke competition at the Brass Monkey tonight. Winner gets tab on the house for a week. Interested in maybe meeting up there around ten or so? We could have a drink, sing a song, and see where the rest of the night takes us.”

He grins and takes the slip from her with sure fingers. She’s certain he has her number memorized before the paper even retains his prints, but he makes a special show of tucking it safely into his pocket.

“Dean, do you think it wise to allow yourself to be so distracted when we’re in the middle of an investigation?”

And without even realizing it, Cas gives her the perfect opening.

“Oh, you boys investigating all the break-ins hereabouts? Were they too much for our local boys to handle? Listen, hun, my friend was one of the ladies whose house got broken into. If you want to stick around for a few minutes, I can fill you in on what I know and send you her way. Would that help?”

Castiel’s eyebrows lift in surprise, and he is clearly pleased with his first-rate investigating skills. “That would help immensely, Miss Andrea. Thank you.”

She can’t believe her luck at such a perfect lead-in, and she runs with it.

“Now that I think about it, the shop next door mentioned something about their alarm getting tripped a few nights in a row. Maybe I could talk to your friend while you two check it out? And I’ll see you tonight, Dean? Ten o’clock?”

Dean’s grin softens, and she can see the faintest tinge of red along his cheeks. She didn’t notice it the first time around, and now she wishes she’d paid more attention. Then the brothers leave, and she’s alone with the angel. ...

Chapter 6

#spn #spn fic #spn fanfic #spn fanfiction #supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural fanfic #supernatural fic #dean winchester #sam winchester #andy #original female character #original character #castiel #major character death #more major character death (sorta) #higher than show level violence #blood #demons #apocalypse #light smutting #inferred suicide #cult activity #i love bacon #i apologize for everything that comes after this

[stina-is-a-punk-rocker]

'birds of prey': a cinematic masterpiece

It's been a little over a year since Birds of Prey came out, a couple of months since I watched in on a whim, and I'm still not over this film.

Too many men people get pressed whenever you say you like this movie. "It's objectively bad," they say. "It's campy. It's too divergent from the canon. It's SJW propaganda."

Who gives a fuck, Richard? Who gives a single flying fuck?

I'll preface this by saying, my knowledge of the DCU is flimsy, at best. I've watched a couple of movies. My mum used to watch Smallville. I watched the pilot episode of Gotham. And I know enough about it to get the few references sprinkled in other media. But I draw a complete blank when it comes to the comics. So the canon of the comics had no effect on my enjoyment of the movie. Which I did. A lot.

I walked in blind when I watched Birds of Prey for the first time. I was unaware of the controversy surrounding it, and the only reason I even gave it the time of day was because I was bored.

I watched Suicide Squad circa 2016, and positively abhorred it- the only good thing about it was the soundtrack (the best songs are always wasted on the worst movies. Case in point: Twilight). And the not-so-casual misogyny was just... Yikes.

And then, we got Birds of Prey.

Since watching the film, I did a bit of research (see: Googling 'birds of prey movie reviews' and clicking on the first few results that popped up). The response was mixed- which honestly came as a surprise, since I thought it was great, and mine is the only opinion that holds weight.

I've read and watched a lot of those reviews. I watched the CinemaSins video. I watched the CinemaWins video, because CinemaSins has taken a major nosedive since I first started watching them.

Were all the negative reviews not-so-subtly indicative of the (predominantly male) critics' misogyny? I dunno; how did they talk about similar male-centered action films? I don't think it's fair to scream, "SEXIST!" just because someone didn't like the movie. Critics hated Venom (which was admittedly pretty meh. I still enjoyed it, though), but it was still pretty well-received by viewers.

I saw one review say that Birds of Prey was 'for the birds'... I'll let you unpack that yourself.

And yet, though I try to keep an open mind, I find it unfathomable how anyone can dislike Birds of Prey.

One of my favorite parts about the movie was the female gaze present throughout its entirety. I've seen people bring up the obvious change in Harley's costume- which I'm a bit iffy about, to be honest. Don't get me wrong- I love her choppy bangs and fun pigtails and the whole fluffy top thing she's got going on, but a whole lot of the critique towards her getup in Suicide Squad comes off a tad too slut-shamey (that isn't a word? Well, it is now).

Her outfit wasn't the issue. It's how she was framed.

In Suicide Squad, we get loads of shots of men leering at Harley, and a little too much emphasis on her breasts and arse in almost every scene she's in. As opposed to Birds of Prey, where Harley's still sexy (I'm seriously concerned for the straight men who found Harley unattractive in this film... You good, Pete?), but we focus on her face instead.

That part where Harley gives Canary a hair tie in the middle of a fight scene? Brilliant.

The characters have depth (a lot of reviews disagree with me. Well, what do I know? I am but a lowly STEM student). One of my favorites was Canary (and not just because I found her insanely attractive)- I love, love, love her arc in the film.

I've seen people complain that the villain didn't really get all villainy until towards the end of the film; which, if Sionis had to put on the mask for you to finally see him as the bad guy, then you've clearly missed most of the film. He's literally introduced while he's peeling the skin off of someone's face. Not to mention that one particular scene at the club- I won't go into too much detail, because it could be triggering to a lot of people- but it chilled me to the bone.

Following up with the villains: "All the men are bad guys," they say. "The whole film is feminist propaganda," they say.

And me posting this on International Women's Day is a bit on-the-nose, I'll admit, but this particular critique bothers me. Because those men aren't unrealistic. They aren't caricatures of men in the real world. We all know men just like them. A lot of them hit a little too close to home for me.

I've seen people complain that women touting the film as feminist turned them off from it- which, I dunno about you, but seems problematic to me on so many levels. Sure, not everything has to have a political agenda, but it's hardly like Harley & Co. scream, "GIRL POWER!" every three minutes.

(Also: it's funny how way more people get mad about poorly executed feminism than actual issues a lot of women in the world face, but that's a topic for another day.)

The diversity was just- wow. Getting not only one but FOUR Asian characters with lines? Hollywood, am I dreaming? The LGBTQ+ representation (not going into Sionis and Zsasz being queer coded)? Holy shit, yes! Maybe I'm getting too excited about this- Hollywood's a lot kinder to us minorities as of late- but it still fills me with joy whenever I see people like me onscreen.

Another complaint that springs up with regards to Birds of Prey is the skewed order in which Harley narrates the events. Which is kind of one of her defining traits- she's an unreliable narrator. And she makes it pretty obvious (this video explains it better than I can). The cartooned beginning was engaging, as corny as some of it was (loved the style, too).

The fight scenes were thrilling to watch. Not a single minute passed by where I was bored (my eyes usually glaze over during prolonged action scenes in films, which did not happen in this case). The comedy was well-timed and bold; the cartoonishness added to its charm.

And this is probably not even significant, but I adored the color scheme. I loved the bright, shocking colors; the emphasis on the pinks, reds and blacks.

And, finally, how could I go without mentioning the soundtrack? It was divine- I listen to the Birds of Prey album on Spotify almost every day; Lonely Gun and Experiment On Me are among my most-played songs, and the rest of the music is just as delightful.

In conclusion: go watch Birds of Prey if you haven't already. It's the closest thing to a spiritual experience I had last year.

#birds of prey #harley quinn #suicide squad #movie #movie review #dc comics #dcu #feminism #international womens day #women #action #margot robbie #joker #canary #huntress #feminist

[skdubbs]

Let Love Find You

Chapter 1: An Awkward Introduction

Summary: Love has a funny way of finding you when you’re not looking for it. Commander Fox discovered this the hard way when a box arrived on base and pique his interest. 

Here it is. I can’t believe I'm finally doing this. A huge huge HUGE shoutout and thank you to @detroitbydark​ for all of the encouragement, feedback, and listening to my ramblings about this story. You’re the best. 

This story will be the first in a collection of three interconnected stories taking place at the same time. I hope you all enjoy! 

It all started with a box.

Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard stared at the parcel currently sitting on his desk amidst piles of carefully cataloged holopads. The contents of said package laid innocently next to the box. He’d had part of it scanned and tested, twice. Absolutely nothing alarming to be found. And yet Fox was still unsettled.

In the year since taking up his post, he’d never been rendered speechless. Well, today the boys could mark it down in the books. Truly, the commander didn’t know what to say. Or think. Or do. The mental conundrum Fox found himself in was beyond exasperating. Sighing, Fox shook his head, then glanced at the flimsi note he held. Once more, he read the delicately written script.

To: Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard

Dear Sir,

I’m sure this package and its contents might cause alarm and confusion. Please don’t allow it to do either. This is simply a token to express my thanks to the troopers involved with the skirmish in the market district on Level 3 nearly four rotations ago. Their actions saved my life and that of my daughter. When we expressed our gratitude, my daughter felt the shock trooper didn’t think we were sincere. Hence, this small gift. I ask that you please see to it that the troopers involved receive this token and understand how grateful we were for their timely arrival. For there are citizens on this planet who are aware of the services the Guard provides to ensure our continued safety and peace. Thank you for your help in this matter.

Sincerely,

Arissa Blunt

Fox knew without looking it up what skirmish Ms. Blunt referred to, as well as the troopers involved. Reach’s report had made mention of the two citizens he’d pulled away from the fire fight, a young woman and child. Interestingly enough, Fox had also heard through the guard barrack’s grapevine that Reach spent most of that night crowing about a civvie thanking him and how pretty she’d been. According to Reach, her body was a man’s wet dream.

At the time Fox had scoffed and pushed the matter out of his mind. He had far more important matters to contend with than one of his trooper’s infatuations. All of the men would have one at some point or other. It was a natural result with overexposure to civilians after a lifetime of social isolation. Fox was one of the few he knew to never fall to such an affliction. That didn’t mean he hadn’t dabbled and explored his options. The commander had simply never experienced the magic of someone capturing his attention for more than a moment of a little physical pleasure. Until now.

Commander Fox was intrigued, all because of a box of homemade ginger spice cookies, a short note, and an infatuated trooper’s embellished description. Again, Fox sighed. Maker, he needed a drink. And it wasn’t even 1200 yet.

He commed Captain Stone, the squad leader there on the day in question.

“This is Stone,” came the greeting.

“Captain, round up the troopers involved in the skirmish on Level 3, I’m sure you remember the one,” Fox instructed. “They’ve got a gift waiting for them in my office. Apparently Reach’s story wasn’t completely fabricated.”

There was a beat of stunned silence. It was brief, but Fox knew it for what it was. Shock. “Right away, sir,” Stone replied.

Fox disconnected, then turned to inspect the baked goods still sitting on his desk. Ginger spice cookies. Homemade, no less. Damn, they smelled good.

Fox smirked. What the men didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. He plucked one cookie from the pile, taking a small bite to test the flavor. A groan of delight broke past his lips. This was one of the best frekkin’ things he’d ever had the pleasure of eating, and that's saying something. After all, the position of Commander of the Coruscant Guard afforded certain luxuries and privileges that few other clones were allowed.

The commander took another bite, savoring the taste. What he wouldn’t give to have something this good to eat every day. His eyes found the note again, sitting on his desk in stark contrast to everything else. Arissa Blunt. One has to wonder what kind of woman she was. Fox had every intention of finding out.

-----

After giving the boys their gift (the looks of shock and delight on their faces had caused a grin on his), Fox decided to investigate. It took little effort to find the information he needed. Another perk to his position.

Arissa Blunt, single human female aged 22 standard years. Currently a member of the Republic military’s research and development division located here on base. His brows had raised at that. He merely needed to leave his office and walk across the facility in order to find her. Her focus was prototype military-grade weapons. So, she worked on creating better ways for his brothers on the front to do their job. While he didn’t know her, Fox felt a swell of appreciation for this woman.

He was shocked and intrigued to find she held her position with no formal training. Instead, Ms. Blunt came into the program through the recommendation of a member of the board. It was highly irregular. Perhaps some nepotism was involved? But that made no sense either. According to her file, Ms. Blunt had no living relatives, only a young daughter named Gemma. Cute name, he’d thought.

Out of curiosity, Fox looked her up too. Gemma Blunt, single human female aged 5 standard years. Currently enrolled on scholarship at a school for gifted young children located noooo in a more well-to-do area of the upper levels. So, the kid was smart.

A part of Fox was impressed. And even more intrigued, especially as he gazed at Ms. Blunt’s photo. Reach hadn’t exaggerated, she was quite pretty. Not in the glamour model sort of way. But you could see the potential lying underneath her cute veneer should she ever try to be one. And those eyes….well, they’d surprised him too. Most humans didn’t have violet colored eyes, at least not naturally. But on her they were stunning. They drew you in and spoke volumes. As if the secrets they held were more than just her own. She could know yours without you evening realizing. A fanciful thought perhaps, but there all the same.

And that is why Commander Fox found himself making the long trek to the R&D division on base a few hours later. Amazingly, he had an hour free. Plenty of time to pay Ms. Blunt a visit. He could convey the men’s appreciation and slake his curiosity.

He’d found a technician by the name of A’tron Rogers when he arrived. The man had the audacity to scoff at him when he stated who he was looking for. Fox wisely kept his helmet on, knowing full well what kind of person he was dealing with. It was rather obvious what Mr. Rogers thought of clones and about doing anything for them. One had to wonder why he was in a position that required him to help create weapons that helped said clones.

“Yeah, she’s back here,” he’d snapped. “Follow me.”

Resisting the urge to call the man on his insubordination, Fox followed. They made their way further back into the lab and came to a stop at what looked to be some kind of long range canon. However, the weapon wasn’t what caught Fox’s attention.

Fox froze, his brain gone blank. Before his eyes, bent over at just the right angle, was perhaps the most perfectly shaped ass he’d ever seen. His mouth watered while his blood rushed south. Mentally, he cursed. This was not a good way to start an introduction.

“Blunt!” Rogers practically screeched, trying to get the technician's attention. It certainly did the trick, albeit in a painful way. Arissa’s head shot up, caught by surprise, only to have it collide with the paneling of the prototype she’d been working on. A string of low muttered curses followed the loud clang. Fox winced in sympathy.

After a moment or two, Arissa straightened, seemed to take a steadying breath, then turned to face them. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second when they landed on him. However, she recovered quickly, her face becoming unreadable as she turned to her coworker.

Fox wished he could say the same. That beautiful shebs he’d been staring at not long ago should have warned him at what else he’d see. Because, by the maker, Reach hadn’t exaggerated. Not one bit. Arissa Blunt truly was a man’s wet dream. Her hair was up and covered, but he didn’t need to see the dark brown wavy locks again to know how it finished the masterpiece that stood before him. Even wearing coveralls covered in grease splotches couldn’t detract from that hourglass figure or the small waist. And her breasts. By Fett, they were a handful and more. So much more. Again, Fox was grateful he’d chosen to keep his bucket on. He’d have looked like a gaping fool otherwise.

Arissa addressed Rogers, her voice even and devoid of emotion. “Did you need something, Rogers?”

The shorter man huffed, obviously put out by her lack of response to him. Fox made a mental note of that. Maybe it wasn’t just clones the man had a problem with. “You’ve got a visitor. Commander Fox here needs to speak with you.”

The technician’s gaze swung over to him, that violet gaze holding him captive. Again, he noticed a moment of trepidation, as if she feared his presence. Fox scowled, annoyance flaring. Her reaction was classic for a citizen. They either looked at him and his brothers with fear or disdain. He wasn’t sure which pissed him off more.

“I see,” she replied. “Well, I’m due a fifteen anyway. If you need me, we’ll be in the conference room.”

Rogers snorted, then left. Yup, that chakaaryc really didn’t like Arissa Blunt. Fox focused his attention on the woman before him. As he looked closer, her nerves became more obvious. What did she have to be nervous about?

“Ms. Blunt,” he greeted, his voice stiff and formal.

“Commander Fox,” she greeted in return. Grabbing a rag, she wiped her hands off, then motioned for him to follow her. “Whatever you need to tell me, it’d be best said in the conference room. Otherwise, everyone else in the department will know about it before the end of the day. You wouldn’t think it, but the lot here are as bad as a bunch of gossiping housewives.”

Nodding, he followed. As they left the lab and made their way down the hallway, Fox couldn’t help his eyes from looking. The sway of those hips were going to haunt him. Another curse ran through his mind.

Soon enough they reached their destination, Arissa gesturing him inside. He took up a position further in, standing at attention while he waited for her to shut the door.

“Would you rather sit, Commander?”

“No thank you, miss. But please don’t stand on my account. Have a seat.”

He patiently waited while Arissa got comfortable. Once she seemed settled, he dove right in. “I assume you know why I’m here?”

That flash of trepidation was back. It was gone immediately, but still, he saw it.

“I think so,” she quietly answered. Her tongue came out to wet her lips. Despite himself, Fox felt a knee jerk reaction to the tiny movement. Maker, this needed to stop. Now.  

“Then explain yourself,” he ordered.

That got her attention. Arissa straightened, her brows furrowed in confusion. “Explain myself? I thought the note I left was pretty self-explanatory.”

“Perhaps,” he hedged. “However, your reaction to my appearance here would say otherwise. I thought you appreciated what the guard does for the citizens of Coruscant. Someone who is appreciative doesn’t respond with fear in their eyes.”

Arissa’s eyes widened, first in shock, then in anger. However, when she next spoke, her voice remained even. “From my point of view, your sudden appearance here is rather suspect. Troopers, let alone commanders, don’t make random visits to this part of the base. Any fear you saw was my worry that I’d done something wrong.”

That made Fox pause, considering. Her words in the note had sounded sincere. And someone who feared or hated clones wouldn't have sent something in the first place, not without it having some sort of repercussion. Perhaps she had a point. Finally, Fox relaxed his stance.

“I suppose your reaction would make sense then,” he conceded. “I apologize for alarming you, Ms. Blunt.”

She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, you couldn’t have known. I’m sorry I gave you the impression I was like all those ungrateful idiots out there.”

Fox stared at her. Well, that was certainly one way of putting it. Apparently Ms.Blunt lived up to her name. He cleared his throat. “Now that that’s settled, would you mind explaining to me why you felt the need to do such a thing?”

Arissa started fiddling with a loose thread of her coveralls. A nervous tick. “I already told you in the note I sent with the package. My daughter thought the trooper who helped us didn’t believe we meant what we said. I was helping to make him see otherwise.”

A scoff escaped him. “Forgive my own cynicism then. I’m used to people having ulterior motives. It’s my job to find them.” He shrugged. “So, it’s a little hard to believe there wasn’t something else behind your actions, appreciated as they are.”

While he knew he was being something of a di’kut, Fox needed to know. He wasn’t lying. Any civilian he’d ever met had some sort of ulterior motive, most often to the detriment of his men.

She didn’t speak for a while, sitting there in quiet contemplation. Then, those violet orbs caught the gaze of his visor and held it. She wanted to get this right, he realized. She wanted him to believe her. “Maybe because men who didn’t have a choice in choosing this life deserve something good once in a while.”

Speechless, that’s what he was. She said it so plainly and without artifice. Fox knew she meant it, every word.

“I see,” he replied, voice quiet and low. “Well, allow me to express my gratitude and that of my men. It may not seem like much, but those sweets were the first gift any of those men have ever received. It might be the only one.”

“You’re very welcome, Commander Fox.” Her voice was quiet too, her eyes soft and understanding. How Fox wished he could get lost in them for more than just a few minutes. It was time to go. Now.

“You’ll excuse me then, Ms. Blunt, for taking up your time. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I’ll see myself out.” Fox made to do just that, not leaving her a chance to say anything in return. He was almost to the door when-----

“Commander, could I ask a favor?”

Fox stopped, then looked over his shoulder. Here it comes. “What is it?”

Arissa gulped, her nerves showing once more. Fox smirked. Already in such a short amount of time, Fox knew he’d enjoy setting her on edge on a regular basis. It was a shame their paths likely wouldn’t cross again.

“I know this may seem silly, but would you be willing to write a short note to my daughter? I know it’d mean the world to her to hear how much the troopers that helped us enjoyed the cookies.”

“Can’t you just tell her?”

“I could,” she allowed. “But she might think I’m lying. Sometimes she has a hard time believing things if she doesn’t have evidence. Finding out you came to tell me yourself just how much the gift was appreciated will be suspect without some kind of proof.”

“Is your daughter really that cynical?”

Arissa laughed, shaking her head. Fox had to admit she had a lovely laugh. Fett, he was going soft. “No, not cynical, commander. Just a child who needs encouragement that something is real when she’s had so many other disappointments.”

While Fox was curious as to what she meant by that statement, he didn’t ask. Honestly, what was the harm in writing the kid something? There was none. Besides, he was more than happy to do it.

“Well, I’d hate to disappoint.”

The smile she gave him made an answering one pull at his lips. Thankfully, his helmet hid the sight. Yeah, this was definitely not good.

------

“Mommy! You’re home!” Gemma squealed in happiness as Arissa stepped through the door. Arissa was barely inside before her five-year-old daughter wrapped her tiny arms around her torso and squeezed.

Arissa paused, soaking the moment in. A smile pulled at her lips while the hint of tears teased her eyes. This right here made everything worth it. The ridiculously long days. The demeaning remarks and catty behavior from her coworkers. This was her why, the reason she kept putting up with everything.

She wrapped her arms around Gemma and squeezed back. “Hello to you too, Gemma. Did you miss me?”

“Yes!” Gemma pulled back, her strawberry blonde curls bouncing in her excitement. “Did you miss me?”

Arissa chuckled, ruffling her daughter’s hair. “Yes, sweetie.”

“Welcome home, Arissa. Long day?”

Arissa glanced up, making eye contact with the teenager lounging on the lumpy pale green couch in the apartment space that served as a living room. She barely withheld a grimace, thinking back over her day. “Just the usual, Trix.”

Although it really hadn’t been. Not when a certain unsettling clone commander decided to pop in and pay an unexpected visit. Gods, she’d thought for a moment there she’d done something wrong, that somehow the gift Gemma had practically begged her to make was illegal. Panic had filled Arissa, assuming the worst. But then he’d thanked her. Thanked her. Like a box of ginger spice cookies was the best gift his men had ever received. That wasn’t really too far off the mark, though, was it? And that black visor. When he’d held her gaze, Arissa had felt as if she were naked. She couldn’t remember anyone ever making her fell that way. Definitely not something one wants to feel upon meeting a commanding officer of the GAR. 

Shaking her head, Arissa focused back in on the present. “Did the two of you eat yet?”

Trix suddenly appeared uncomfortable, a look of guilt flashing in her eyes. “Yeah, we did. I, um, thought it’d be nice to treat Gemma to something. We went to Dex’s Diner and had the works. Saved some for you, too.”

While she knew why Trix might feel guilty, Arissa couldn’t fault the teenager for spending the money instead of eating the leftovers in the fridge. A year of being homeless and dodging traffickers and drug dealers had done a number on Trix. The kid’s useless father had abandoned her just days after her mother passed away. And the lower levels of Coruscant were not kind to the young and innocent. Arissa knew this fact quite well. Trix was finally getting back on her feet, working at a local bakery to make some money while attending school at night to finish her primary education. She lived in the third bedroom and watched Gemma when Arissa had to work late. And Trix positively adored her. So if Trix wanted to spoil Gemma with a night of burgers and shakes, Arissa wasn’t going to complain. She was far too grateful for the help to even think of chastising the teenager for splurging.

“That sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for thinking of me,” She smiled at Trix, hoping the teenager understood she wasn’t mad. “I can’t remember the last time I had Dex’s. Is it as good as I remember?”

Gemma giggled. “Even better! Oh, and we got to meet Dex. Did you know he’s a besalisk? I’ve never seen one before. He answered all my questions, too. Didn’t act like I was a bother or anything.”

“Of course he wouldn’t. Because he realized right away what a bright and inquisitive mind you have, sweetie.” Arissa’s heart warmed at the kindness the diner owner had unknowingly extended her daughter. Gemma truly was inquisitive, wanting to know anything and everything. And amazingly she remembered it all. However, there were some people who found the girl’s nearly constant questions an annoyance and something to discourage. It was why she’d done so poorly in school until transferring into a private academy. Thank the maker for that scholarship. She bent over and lifted Gemma up, holding the young girl as she made her way to their small kitchen table. “Now spill. How was your day?”

Asking Gemma that question was all the kiddo needed to start regaling her mother with the events of the day. Arissa listened attentively as she went about putting her dinner together. She laughed when Gemma explained how a boy in her class had water come out of his nose during lunch and praised her when told how she’d received perfect marks on yesterday’s exam. Trix stayed with them for a while, interjecting comments here and there before retreating to her room to start on her school work. They wished the sixteen-year-old good night as mother and daughter both knew they likely wouldn’t see the teenager again until morning. Arissa was done with her dinner and working on a mostly thawed nerf milkshake by the time Gemma asked how her day went.

Arissa had thought long and hard how she wanted to present her surprise. She pulled the note from her back pocket and slid it across the table’s surface. “I had an unexpected visitor today. He asked me to give you this.”

Curious, Gemma carefully unfolded the note. Even at such a young age she handled everything with a great deal of care. Violet eyes scanned the note, then widened in shock. When Gemma finally looked back up she was smiling from ear to ear. “He wrote a note. He really wrote a thank you note!”

The smile breaking across Arissa’s face almost hurt. Seeing her daughter’s happiness at something so small was beyond precious. Mentally, she filed the image away to remember when the moody teenager years hit. “I was told not to read it. That it was top secret until your eyes saw what was inside. Think you could read it to me?”

Gemma nodded enthusiastically.

“It says: Dear Miss Gemma. Thank you for the lovely gift of ginger spiced cookies. I have shared your present with the troopers involved in the skirmish four rotations ago in the market. They were very surprised and grateful for your thoughtfulness. They rarely get a thank you for their work. Your mother tells me you are a bright student and love to learn new things. Did you know that members of the guard love uj cake? I highly recommend trying it. Please continue to do your part as a good and loyal citizen of the Republic.

Sincerely,

Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard.”

The excitement radiating off of Gemma was contagious. She truly was happy from Commander Fox’s words. Arissa sent a silent thank you to the commander for taking the time to fulfil her request. Maybe she could find a way to let him know how much his note meant. But he must be very busy. Why would he care about any of this?

If he didn’t care, why would he bother in the first place? He could have said no.

“Do you think I could write a reply, mommy?” Gemma asked. “Maybe we could make them some uj cake since they like it so much and leave a note with it like before.”

That made Arissa pause. “Perhaps. But don’t you think the rest of the guard might get jealous when only a few of them get to have some?”

Gemma’s brow furrowed as she contemplated that possibility. “I guess you’re right. I know I wouldn’t like it if only a few of my classmates kept getting something and I didn’t.” Then her face brightened. “Maybe we could make some for everyone! That way no one felt left out. Oh but,” Gemma frowned as she realized something. “That wouldn’t work either. There’s so many of them, aren't there?”

Arissa hmmed, feeling her heart squeeze with regret as her daughter’s face fell. For someone so young, she truly had a compassionate and giving nature. She wanted everyone to be happy. “I’m not sure how many there are, but yes, there are a lot of men in the guard. Far too many for us to make enough for everyone. I’m sorry sweetie.”

The evening wore on, the hours passing as the world outside transitioned from day to night. Despite her disappointment, Gemma managed to recover. They played a few games, took care of Gemma’s bath, and cuddled on the couch to watch a silly holomovie before Arissa announced it was time for bed. Arissa read a story of her daughter’s choosing, sang her a song, and kissed her good night. Once Arissa left the room, she’d make a cup of tea and curl up on the couch with a book, losing herself in the passionate romance of her current novel before heading to bed as well. It was like so many other night’s, this ritual their evenings had become. But tonight would be different.

“Mommy?”

Arissa paused, turning back to face her daughter. Only the top of her head and her eyes were visible above the fuzzy purple comforter she’d cocooned into. “What is it, sweetie?”

“Will you please tell Commander Fox thank you for writing me that note? I really did like it. And I think he’d like to know that, too.”

The breath whooshed out of Arissa’s lungs. She hadn’t expected this. But how could she refuse? “Of course, Gemma. I’ll tell him tomorrow. Now, get some sleep. You have a big day at school in the morning.”

“Can you make rainbow berry pancakes for breakfast?”

Arissa couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped, Gemma’s tone was just too hopeful. “I think I can manage that. Now, sleep little one.”

Gemma giggled, happy at her mother’s answer. “Okay, okay. Good night, Mommy. I love you.”

“I love you too, Gemma.”

Arissa closed the door and made her way to the kitchen. She tinkered around the small space, getting things ready for the morning while her tea water boiled, then steeped. Once finished, she grabbed the old and worn romance novel off her caf table, the flimsi pages yellowed with age. She happily made herself comfortable on the couch as she dove into the world of high passion…..

Five minutes later, Arissa was back in the kitchen, a notepad open to a clean page while her holopad came to life. She scrubbed a hand over her face, sighing. “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.” As soon as the piece of technology was up and running, she began bringing up Republic military records, trying to get an accurate head count of how many men filled the ranks of the Coruscant Guard.

------

Now, while Arissa was toiling away at the kitchen table trying to work out a plan to fulfill her daughter’s wish, said daughter was busy working on another matter instead of sleeping.

Gemma waited for her holopad to boot up, reading the note from Commander Fox almost obsessively. She’d never thought in a million years her mother would come home with any kind of news about the gift she’d begged her to make. Instead, she’d brought home a note. A note! Gemma very quietly giggled, pressing her face into her pillow to better muffle the noise. She was in the next star system from how happy that little piece of flimsi had made her. The five-year-old sent a desperate plea to the gods, asking them for the chance to meet this Commander Fox. Yes, she’d asked her mom to thank him, but she wanted the chance to tell him herself how much his note meant to her. And she wanted to show him just how much she could learn when she set her mind to it.  

Finally the holopad came on and Gemma brought up a search engine. Adults were always so surprised when they saw how well she could navigate tech at her age. For whatever reason, it was astonishing. Gemma didn’t pretend to understand why. Carefully, she typed in uj cake, then hit search. She skimmed over a promising article. It did sound rather yummy. Perhaps she could convince her mom to help her make some after school tomorrow and she could share it with the class. The kids would probably like that. Maybe it’d help her make a few friends.

The article said the recipe came from Mandalore. Intrigued, Gemma decided to search the planet, not knowing what she was getting herself into. What she read fascinated her. Hours went by and Gemma refused to sleep, far too invested in learning more about this old creed of warriors. She had only nodded off when her mother came to wake her, far earlier than usual.

Gemma’s groggy eyes met her mother’s. “What is it, mommy? Is something wrong?”

Arissa shook her head, a hint of mischief lighting her eyes. “No, sweetie. I just needed your help with something. How would you like to help me make some uj cake this morning? I think a certain clone commander would appreciate it.”

It took a moment for Gemma’s sleepy brain to understand exactly what her mother was saying. When she did, she shot out of bed so fast she almost knocked her mother over. Excitement took care of the exhaustion she’d felt just moments ago.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, then dashed out the door to the kitchen, her mother’s laughter following after her.

What neither realized then was how their actions that morning would come to shape the rest of their lives.....and those throughout the galaxy.

#commander fox #commander fox x original character #original female character #clone x ofc #I am so freaking excited this is finally up and going

[hearteyes-for-killmonger]

3. Italian Leather

"Take those shorts off..," he mutters. I can hear him breathing and when I look back, he's taking the button up completely off and unbuckling his black leather belt. "Hurry up.. take it off."

Standing, I turn to face him and unbutton the solo button on my high waisted black shorts as I watch his face change. His eyes are lower. His mouth hangs slightly open and his tongue rolls over the insides of his teeth.

This is a dominant.

"How long have you been a dominant," I stare slowly shimmying my shorts down over my hips as he watches. I let them fall to expose my black sheer lace boyshort panties.

"Longer than you.. Resume the position.. over the desk."

My knee turns inward to overlap my other leg in a classic demure pose.

"Oh no," I pout. "So you can spank me some more big boy?" The tip of my index comes to rest just under my glossy bottom lip.

"Real cute." He steps forward until he's right up to me, his body tall against my body.

My eyes level at his chest, I can't help but lust. I barely touch the raised skin of his bicep when he grasps my wrist and elbow, spinning me in a flash, shoving me over the desk.

He's got my arm pinned behind me like he's making an arrest.

"Well damn, Stevens."

"I'm a show yo lil ass one thing that's cuter than that lil smile you got going on.. feel this."

His leather belt drapes in front of my face as he drops it to the desk. The buckle thuds and I use my free hand to touch the cool metal, feeling the smooth surface of the black leather with its tiny imperfections.

This is real leather.

I can also tell by its smell. I absolutely love the smell of real leather.

Meanwhile he smacks my left asscheek, giving the sore one a break. Building the strength in every hit, he goes until my legs begin to squirm from the sting. Since, the hits are more gradual, he gets way more in. Kindly, he waits a few seconds, taking care to rub the sore patch through the lace of my panties. Then he makes one strong swat effectively bringing my blocking hand back to action.

"Didn't I say move your hand? I'll pin that one too, keep it up."

"It stings!"

"Hand me that belt."

"You're a sadist."

"Damn right." He picks it up from the desk with his free hand, the spanking hand. I wonder if his hand hurts. Is that why he's switching to a tool?

"I'm going to spank you now with this belt because it gets my dick hard," he announces, answering the question.

The declaration has me even wetter. He nudges my ankles further apart with his loafers and I can feel my peach drip.

I hesitate briefly. On a pain scale from 0-10, I know from experience that the belt has the potential to reach a 6 whereas the worst a palm can do is a 2. Right now, I'm fine but if he brings in that belt..

"Yes, sir," I say quietly.

His fingers slide flattened between my thighs over the outside of my panties and for the first time in four days she gets touched, given it's through a layer of fabric.

"What's that? Speak up, Ms. Miller."

He strokes it gently, cupping it in his hand that I know can feel my floral essence coming through the material.

"I said yes, sir," I repeat a little louder and he takes his hand away. I feel and hear the brief impact of the belt right over both cheeks, it's an amplified sting and my peach feels all the vibration, none of the pain.

"You like that," he blurts rubbing through my wet panties again. I do, I really do. I want more of his hand touching me, touching her. "Thank me."

"Thank you, sir."

He moves the flimsy lace to the side and the pads of his fingers slide back and forth up and down my outer lips. Even pinned down, I end up rocking my hips to grind against his flattened fingers, sitting my whole pussy in his hand before he takes it away again to bring the loud snap of the belt.

"Uh!"

"Every time I swing this belt you better thank me."

"Your just as hot as I am from this, you should thank me- UHSSSS!"

That swing stung twice as hard as the first two and I'm not faking it now, it really stings though my peach is singing praises.

"Shh." He rubs the spot where he hit and briefly to my puss again. "I only need to hear one thing."

He swings the belt again with that same strength on the right and then the left as I bite my lip feeling the vibrations run through me.

"Thank you sir."

Again he swings and I slap the desk as he hits the same spots to the right and the left. I keep my mouth clamped shut so not to yell.

"I can't hear you," he mutters, hitting the same spots.

"Thank you, sir," I gasp shutting my eyes.

I reach back to block and he pauses to move my hand before resuming with the right and then the left.

"Stop moving."

"I can't!"

I'm forgetting to breathe because I'm on edge anticipating when he'll next swing that belt, I need a second to calm myself.

Reading my body language, he takes a minute.

Dropping the belt on the desk, he massages the affected areas, gently rubbing to soothe the stinging itch of the burn that won't fade. Sliding his hand up in a circle over my lower back, he follows that pattern a few times and I relax as he smooths out all tension. The ache on my ass won't leave, but he continues his massage a bit longer on my lower back before rubbing lower and over each stinging round cheek.

Putting even more weight on the arm that's clamped down behind my back, it sends me back into defense mode and I tense.

He swings again across both cheeks.

"Uh-oww.. fuck," I gasp. It's a 5.5 in pain.

He swings and we listen to the snap of the belt again.. and again as it tears my ass up. I'm now at a 6.

My legs fly up trying to free my body by bringing my weight down away from the professor's hand.

"Where you think you going?"

He doubles down and swings the belt again. My knees buckle trying to free me to the floor, but with his grasp on me keeping me pinned flat against his desk, I can't fall. He swings again and that's it, a tear falls from each eye as I try to block the next swing, panting.

"Fuck off me or I'll go harder. This ain't nothing."

He swings again and I whine, making crying sounds without actually crying though there are real tears in my eyes.

Instantly he releases my arm.

"This right here," he grips my chin bringing me face to face with him as he looks down into my eyes. With his thumb, he wipes a tear from my cheek. "This what I meant.. This is adorable," he whispers.

I grab his dick through his black pants and squeeze feeling the bulge and he reflexively smacks my hand away again.

"I need to get fucked. Now, not later. I can't wait anymore."

I slip my hand into the lace of my panties and he taps the side of my face with his palm.

"Stop that, take it out," he chides and I don't listen, I keep rubbing her because she's telling me to.

He taps my cheek harder, his hand sliding to grip my neck.

"I said stop," he whispers putting mild pressure on my carotid arteries. I've done this a million times to subs and I've had it done to me a million more times. I can feel my nipples getting hard as my air's reduced and I slide my middle finger up and down the side of my clit before fingering myself.

"You cant stop touching it," he smirks gently adding more pressure to my neck. "My little fuckin slut."

"Yes, sir," I smile keeping his eye.

"Say it.. Show me you know who you are."

"I'm your lil fuckin slut," I nod. "...'Til the end of exams."

"Good girl. Get on your knees and put your hands in your lap. You touch me, I'll keep you here all night."

"Ooh, don't tell me that," I tease wiggling my fingers as I kneel looking around for something that could cushion my knees. There's a small neck pillow but that's it.

"Quicker you suck this dick and make me buss, quicker you can go."

"Stop, I'm not trying to leave."

I just need a cushion. Fuck that party. Besides my ass is probably bright red and it's still on fire.

"I need a cushion for my knees. I don't want them to get dark from the traction."

"I got you." He goes into his large desk drawer to pull a folded grey blanket and hands it to me for me to kneel on.

Instantly, I grip his thighs and unzip his pants, pulling them down followed by his navy briefs. Choirs sing.

"You have one of the prettiest dicks I've ever seen."

"And I hear it tastes even better."

#original #erik killmonger #killmonger #erik killmonger smut #killmonger smut #erik killmonger x oc #erik x oc #tales of a masochist

[scriptstructure]

My stories are majorly plot-driven, which often leads to my characters seeming flat or even making out-of-character decisions. I've asked a friend about it, and she told me real development and personality shows in interactions with other characters, but I'm not sure how to put that advice into practice. How do I have multiple 3-dimensional characters in a plot driven novel, and what are some strategies I can use to show their individual personalities scene-by-scene?

Well, I think this is a bit of a backwards approach to constructing a narrative, if you don’t mind me saying. All stories are plot-driven. Plots, in turn, are character driven. You can’t really have a plot that isn’t propelled by the characters personalities, choices, failings, etc. I feel like this is a fairly common misconception that is made by a lot of inexperienced writers.

A plot isn’t just a series of things that happen. Sometimes it’s easy to think of a cool storyline, or series of events that we’d like to see happen in our story, but getting that idea developed into a story that will work on a deeper level involves working back to incorporate the other vital elements of the narrative into it.

The plot is the outcome of the situation that the story begins with, combined with the choices that the characters make. I think something that is very important to understand with this is the concept of character agency which means that the characters must be taking an active role in shaping the events that they experience. This isn’t to say that the characters just decide what they’re going to do and are never wrong, but that there are actual things that happen due to the choices that they make.

A book that is a fairly easy one to showcase character agency is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Throughout the book, the protagonist Katniss has multiple opportunities to make choices about the way that she will act and react when presented with events in the world around her. Katniss is a fairly proactive character, so she often chooses to take action, and while this sometimes has positive effects, it often also has negative consequences. 

Sometimes Katniss’s selfish or mean actions have positive outcomes, and sometimes her altruistic actions have negative outcomes, but we never feel like we’re just watching her go through the motions of ‘choosing to do this thing because it is the most convenient thing to do to get the next plot point to happen.’

I feel like this is where a lot of peoples attempts at meshing character agency and that big cool Plot Idea that they have falls down, because rather than tweaking the plot to fit the character they have developed, people will tend to try and just wheedle around it by taking the easy way out. This comes in a lot of different forms, and while I won’t recommend TVtropes as a bastion of literary analysis, this section from their page on the ‘Idiot Ball’ trope sums up this concept pretty well:

Frequently, the person carrying the idiot ball is acting out of character, misunderstanding something that could be cleared up by asking a single reasonable question or not performing a simple action that would solve everything. It's almost as if the character holding the ball is being willfully stupid or obtuse far beyond what has been established as "natural" for them. Frequently, it's only because the story (and by extension, the writers) need them to act this way, or else the chosen plot/conflict for the episode won't happen.

When you have a character just do something because it is convenient to making the plot progress in the way you want it to, and that action is not congruent with the way that that character has so far been established as feeling and behaving, it breaks the immersion in the story, as the characters, our link to the world of the story, begin to feel flimsy and undeveloped, more like cardboard puppets than developed people whose lives we are interested and invested in.

Now, as to the second part of your question, this is sort of ... extremely broad and basic, it’s really difficult to answer because it is kind of the basic building block of story. Character agency is the factor that determines whether a story is ‘just a series of things happening’ or a cohesive narrative. Developing robust characters that can act with agency within the narrative is foundational to creating an engaging story.

I’ll link you to my ‘characterisation’ tag [HERE] and you can have a look through some of the questions folks have been asking, and the answers I’ve given them. Essentially, character informs every other element of the story, and every page and line of the story is going to illuminate some part of the characters that appear there.

This post is getting long, and I’m not sure if I’ve explained things in a helpful way here, so do send in any clarifying questions you’ve got here.

#writing #characterisation #narrative elements #Anonymous

[ponacopuck]

003: "I'm here for my daily fix of hugs and kisses." Rawley!

Hehe, I actually wrote this exact prompt for you a few months ago with Rawley and Dorian :0) So I decided to go with some friendly fluff this time instead. This is my first time writing anything from Sera’s POV, so just know I tried. Her friendship with Rawley is important to him so I figured I needed to delve a bit more into it. Thanks for the ask! Hope you like it 

A Melancholy Beauty

Sera overheard Vivienne say the EmeraldGraves held a certain melancholy beauty. The requisition officer nodded inagreement, even though Sera was sure the young man couldn’t tell the mage whatmelancholy meant if his life depended on it. She was also sure, judging by theawe-struck, slack-jawed look on his face he’d agree to anything the older womansaid without hesitation. Sera wasn’t so sure about the beauty bit. If youthought trees and dirt were beautiful then there was plenty to be going onwith. Melancholy though, that was spot on. It flittered in the sparkling breaksof sunshine through a dense canopy of trees and hung heavy in the mournfulbirdsong that never seemed to lilt towards happiness. Something horriblehappened here. Something dark and clawing and even with the green and rollingforest floors it could never be called beautiful in Sera’s eyes.

She’d be glad to see the back end ofthis place when they finally moved on to another campaign. The quiet sadness ofthe day was a damn picnic compared to the nighttime. Sera hated how dark it gotin the forest. Away from the soft, orange glow of the city the trees reachedout with gnarled fingers to hide even darker things in their shadows. TheInquisition soldiers huddled around fire-pits and peered out into the inkyblank from behind the flimsy comfort of canvas tents. Even the inquisitor, aman who Sera thought incapable of not finding the positive in even the harshestof landscapes, seemed subdued.

He sat beside the fire, an untouchedplate of food beside him, staring blankly into the flames. It was unsettling tosee someone without their mask on, so far removed from the careful veneer shownto strangers. He was usually up for anything. A willing partner in pranks or anight of drinks, even though he could barely keep up with either. It neverstopped him from trying. Even the most mundane of activities could bring asmile to his face; everything was fresh and new to someone who had spent themajority of his life locked away in some mage tower. Seeing the same man whoonce fought off a bear to save a family of nugs now sitting alone and sulkingwould not do.

“Hey, scooch over, Grumpy” she said,plopping down beside him, before leveling his shoulder with a punch.

He blinked and moved over dutifully. “Sorry,”he murmured, even though there was nothing to apologize for.

Sera scrunched up her face into a frownand shoved the plate of food into his hands. “Eat your supper. I know you didn’teat lunch and Dorian will burn me to cinders if I let you starve to death.”

She caught sight of the tiniest flinchat the other mage’s name. He tried to hide it with a nod and a quick bite ofcold, mushy peas. That was it then. He missed his Vint. She would have rolledher eyes and teased him mercilessly if he didn’t look so damn pitiful. Adramatic sigh tumbled over her lips and she scooted closer for a better angleto wrap her arms around him. She felt him go still, his fork held mid-bite.

“What are you doing?” he asked, soundingmore than a little suspicious. She couldn’t blame him. This would be anexcellent time for a prank.

“I’m getting my daily fix of hugs,” shereplied, holding him tighter for emphasis. “Figured you wouldn’t mind.”

He sat still for a moment longer. Theplate clattered to the ground as he turned and returned the embrace. Sera wasn’ta hugger, not traditionally, but she had to admit Rawley Trevelyan gave goodhugs. They were warm and sincere, like most things he did. They were the hugsof someone who spent far too long with no one to share them with. She leanedinto the growing warmth that always seemed to surround him like a blanket,staying silent until a tiny sigh made his shoulders lift and fall.

“Better?” she asked, pulling backslightly.

He nodded, his ears bright red from embarrassment.“Yeah…thanks, Sera,” he said, offering a sheepish smile.

“No worries,” she replied, picking uphis plate to shove it back in his hands. “I know you miss your boy,” shesnagged a piece of bread from his supper. “But don’t expect me to do otherstuff. Even I have limits for what I’ll do for a friend,” she added, with alewd shake of her hand that made the blush on his ears spread across the restof his face.

“Noted,” he mumbled around a snicker,quickly shoveling another bite of food into his mouth.

“Good. I know I’m irresistible, but tryto contain yourself,” she said, stretching out her feet towards the fire.

She laughed when he snaked an arm aroundher waist and pulled her flush against his side, kissing the top of her head. “Imake no promises,” he teased, holding up his plate. “Want the other biscuit?”

A tiny smile curled the corners of hismouth and Sera felt a small twinge of pride at having put it there. “Fine, butyou eat the rest. Can’t have a scrawny Inquisitor,” she said, snagging the biscuit.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, laughing at thepunch to the ribs the honorific earned him.

Sera withheld another punch when he heldup his hands in defeat and instead went into bloody, if not entirely accuratedetail about what happened to the last person who called her ma’am. Hislaughter rang out through the camp, creeping like sunshine over the horizon.Keeping the melancholy at bay.

#servantofclio #dragon age inquisition #sera #Rawley Trevelyan #fanfiction #writing prompt #i don't think i got her voice exactly right but i tried #they are brother sister punching each other bad influence bffs

[getoffthesoapbox]

And to continue off from that last ask, Hino has been trying to compare Yume and Zeki and clearly is showing Zeki as the "better" relationship here by having Zero not repeat the same mistakes that Kaname did (guilt trip, abuse, so on so forth). This likely means Zero will continue to just accept the possible fact that Yuuki loves not only him but also Kaname, all of this to show that Kaname's been doing it all wrong! I hope that makes sense. Sorry for the rant. I'm just disappointed with VKM.

Hey, there, again, my friend! Thank you for sharing your thoughts; I always enjoy a good rant. =) I think you hit the nail on the head with where Hino’s going with the comparisons between Zero/Yuuki and Kaname/Yuuki. The problem is that Zero’s falling into a different form of relationship dysfunction–he’s an enabler who is codependent. Basically Zero’s headed straight for “abused wife” territory, which I don’t think would send the message Hino (I hope) wishes to send.

I do have a tiny bit of faith in Hino that she isn’t going to leave Zero like this, though. My reasons for this belief are pretty flimsy, I acknowledge, but I’ll offer them to you anyway: 

Zero did question Yuuki in VKM 9 and he did admit to holding on “just because” of Yuuki holding his hand. This implies that he’s looking for “excuses” not to face the facts about their relationship.

In VKM 10, Zero actually snarks at Yuuki several times during their conversation in his apartment. He hasn’t legitimately snarked at her since the original series. 

Zero does actually try to get her to clarify what she means by “restarting.” This implies that he’s looking for something in particular and testing the waters to see if he’s going to get it. This is a good sign for him beginning to set boundaries.

Zero does actually brush off Yuuki’s attempts to keep their relationship platonic. He’s gentle about it, and he does offer to continue doing those things for her (they would have anyway), but he’s not taking those as the answer.

Zero isn’t jumping up and down for joy in any of the scenes with Yuuki post-restart. He’s assessing the relationship. This implies that if he doesn’t like what he sees at the end of his assessment, he may actually take steps to extricate himself from the relationship.

Zero’s phrasing before the bite implies he hasn’t been drinking his fill and that if he does go through with the bite, he wants to “drink his fill” in order to find her feelings for him in her blood. If he doesn’t find them? Who knows what he’ll do.

I think part of the problem is that Zero is codependent on Yuuki right now. I’ve honestly been concerned about it since his confession in VKM 6 to the hunters that he absolutely doesn’t want to go back to the days when he couldn’t have the blood of the person he loves. So basically, this is what I believe is Zero’s mindset right now. He has two options:

Option A: Leave Yuuki and Ai and whatever lukewarm comfort he can take from them and go be miserable and suffer terrible bloodlust that drives him insane. Alternatively he can have Yuuki or Isaya erase his memories again, which also will drive him insane (he was really bothered by his memory loss for the brief time he had it). 

Option B: Stay with Yuuki and Ai and get fed at least satisfactorily while suffering through not being able to have a real relationship while holding out hope that one day Yuuki will return his feelings properly. Suffer loneliness while Yuuki seemingly pines over Kaname. 

Zero’s a practical guy, so if he does a cost/benefit analysis of these two options, he’s going to stick with Option B for as long as humanly possible until he absolutely has to leave. A little “loneliness with your beloved” is way better than going insane. This doesn’t even give him much of a choice and renders him completely dependent on Yuuki. This creates a power imbalance between them because Zero has no other options than to stick as close to Yuuki as possible or suffer horribly, which means Yuuki has complete control over the relationship (honestly this is never good for a couple).  

I think it’s easy for people to forget that Zero has literally no other option than Yuuki. He has no choice but to put up with her whims if he wants to have even a slightly decent quality of life. This codependency is a problem, and it means that to him being “lonely with Yuuki” is better than “going insane without Yuuki.” (Though I suspect he begins to reevaluate that after she makes him wait 40+ years.) To me, however, neither of these are good choices and I don’t think they’re appropriate.

Given all of the above, I do think what eventually has to happen is that Option B has to become so intolerable that Option A looks preferable in comparison. And I think we’re at that point. This “restart” is to Zero his “last chance” to be with Yuuki. If he likes what he sees, he’ll stick around. If he doesn’t, he’ll likely try to do what he can to fix it, but once that fails, Option A will look tolerable to him and he’ll take it. 

Zero’s selling himself short on Option A; he’s a different man now than he was during the original time skip between arc 1 and arc 2 of VK. He’s lived a full life now, and there are tastier tablets now (the Yuuki tablets) that he can take, plus he can help Aidou with the cure and take it himself once it’s ready. He does have options now that don’t require drinking from Level Es. So I do believe that if Yuuki really can’t open up and give him a real relationship, he’ll revisit Option A and perhaps take that route. 

This is just how I feel currently based on where I see this going. =) Who knows if I’m right or not. I hope I am, because I don’t want Perfect Doormat Zero, who I like to call pod!Zero. I want the real deal back, and I haven’t seen him since he got lobotomized in Night 88. Like a faithful dog, I keep sitting here waiting to see the real Zero again. He doesn’t need to be angry anymore, but having a little spine, pride, and backbone would be appreciated. 

Anyway, sorry for hijacking your mini-rant with my major-rant, but thank you so much for this ask and I truly hope Zero and Yuuki both get their heads on straight and that Hino doesn’t trample over them by trying to make a point about Kaname. I think everyone can see that Kaname was unhealthy for Yuuki if she just lets Zeki be their natural selves, lol. She doesn’t need to beat the dead horse constantly.

Thanks for dropping by, my friend! =)

#vampire knight #vampire knight memories #kiryuu zero #zeki criticism #vk #vkm