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#am just finishing coloring the second one 😉
jedimandalorian ¡ 5 months
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This is an excerpt from my songfic WIP “I’ll Be Home for Life Day.” I’m writing this for the @sabezra-life-day-celebration which you shippers should follow for updates. 😉
*****
I'll be home for Life Day
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents by the tree.
Ezra Bridger stood there just staring with his eyes wide and lips parted, momentarily distracted from his work and fascinated by the sight of Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus slow dancing to the familiar tune of “I’ll Be Home for Life Day” in the main hold of the Ghost. Ezra couldn’t stop himself from grinning at this very rare display of public affection between the two of them. Kanan was softly crooning the song’s lyrics right next to Hera’s ear-cones and was looking quite pleased that he brought such a rosy flush to her ordinarily cool green complexion.
Ezra was supposed to be helping Sabine decorate the holiday tree with glow spheres and colorful hand painted ornaments, but the sight of such a tender moment between his captain and his master reminded him of how his parents had danced to that very same song when he was a little boy. The end result was always the same: Ephraim Bridger always steered his wife Mira over to the doorway where the mistletoe was hung so he could steal a kiss from her. From the time little Ezra was old enough to toddle over to them, his father would lift him into his arms and hold him under the mistletoe so that his mother could kiss his cheek and they could both tell him how much he was loved. His mother and father did that every year until he was six.
Ezra closed his eyes and shook his head as if to ward off the painful memories of what happened on his seventh birthday. After that terrible day he had spent every Life Day on his own. There were no more Life Day trees, no more mistletoe kisses, no more presents…
…that is, until last year. Hera’s gift was the first present he had opened. She had bought him a new pair of red pajamas printed with drawings of silly, playful brown Loth-cats. Some fifteen year-old boys would have been embarrassed to wear such childish-looking sleepwear, but Ezra, who had recognized the drawings as Sabine’s own doodles, realized that Hera had them custom made for him. Ezra, who for years had only worn second-hand clothing that he had nicked or salvaged from recycling bins, had new pajamas that had been made just for him. He had launched himself into Hera’s arms, hugging her with a muffled “thanks” as he hid his face in her shoulder so that the others would not see that his eyes were watering.
“Ezra?” Sabine’s voice brought him back into the present moment. “You okay?”
Ezra hastily wiped his eyes. “Yeah. I’m fine. Is this one the last of the glow spheres? I thought we had more of them last year.”
“Here comes Chopper with the rest of them now,” Sabine said as the droid rolled over to them with another big tray of glow globes.
“Come on, we have to finish up before lunchtime. You’re getting your Life Day present early this year.”
“Early?” Ezra asked. Zeb had ambled over to them with the life-star, which he had the honor of placing on the top of the tree, since he was the only one tall enough to reach the top. “Why am I getting my present early?”
“We all chipped in to get you a gift card,” Zeb explained.
“Yep,” Sabine added. “And I’m in charge of your makeover.”
“Sabine’s taking you to the Spiral City Mall this afternoon to help you pick out some new clothes,” Zeb added.
“But—“ Ezra began, as if to protest.
“Make the kid pick out some new basics too,” Zeb said with a grimace. “I don’t think he owns any socks or underwear that aren’t torn or full of holes.”
Chopper’s electronic giggle made Sabine bite her lip, as if she was desperately trying not to laugh.
“Zeb!” Ezra exclaimed angrily. “That’s not true!” His face was red with embarrassment. “And I don’t need Sabine’s help to pick out under—“
“O Holey Drawers!” Zeb sang in synch with the next Life Day carol on the music-player. “Your bum is nearly showing!”
Sabine and Chopper collapsed in a fit of giggles, and Ezra found himself wishing for an air vent so he could crawl into it and not come out until New Year’s Day.
As if sensing how much Ezra wanted them to change the subject, Sabine came to his rescue. “Oh, they are so sweet,” she commented. Ezra, Chopper, and Zeb turned to look in the direction that Sabine had indicated. They all saw that Kanan was stealing a kiss from Hera under the mistletoe.
Ezra watched them with interest. Smooth, he thought. In a quiet moment he had with Kanan several weeks before, he had confessed his crush on Sabine and then asked Kanan how he managed to get Hera to return his feelings.
Kanan had looked thoughtful for a moment, then replied, “Kid, I might be with Hera, but that doesn’t mean I know how I did it.” Ezra shared a good laugh with his master over that. Kanan opened his mouth as if to say more, then stopped himself. Visions of a future that Ezra could not see clouded Kanan’s blind eyes.
After a long silence, Kanan finally said, “If it is the will of the Force, it will happen. And if it’s going to happen it will be when you’re both more mature and ready for it. For now, you should enjoy your friendship with Sabine, and value how close the two of you have become. Just take things slowly with her. Always be a gentleman, and trust the Force.”
Ezra snapped out of his reverie when Zeb punched his arm. “Are you studying his snogging technique for future reference, Lover Boy?” Chopper guffawed at this. Ezra was glad that Sabine was busy putting away the ornament boxes at that moment. He hoped she was out of earshot.
Zeb leaned down and stage-whispered to Ezra, “Let Sabine have her fun with you at the mall. You know how females are about shopping.”
Ezra nodded.
“Who knows? If you play your cards right, she might even let you hold her hand.” Zeb winked.
Chopper burbled something Zeb couldn’t understand.
“What did he say?”
Ezra was reluctant to translate what Chopper said. It was something like, “Ezra had better play his cards right with Sabine or the only hand he’ll be holding is an Idiot’s Array.”
Of course, Chopper probably intended to call Ezra an idiot by saying that, but he didn’t mind. An Idiot’s Array was still a winning hand in sabaac.
*****
So who wants Sabine and Ezra to go on a “mall date”? What sort of shenanigans should they get into?
What do you think of this story so far?
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l00na24 ¡ 3 months
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I Got Your Six - Chapter 5
Warnings: Death, some things won't be 100% accurate to reality and are written that way for the sake of the story
Word Count: 9k
A/N: Hello 🤗 First of all I wish everyone a happy new year even if it's a bit late but I hope all of you are doing well and had a great start into the new year! 🥰 I am so sorry it took me sooo long to finally get this chapter finished (after changing it about a million of times because I wasn't happy with it lol), which I had wanted to get out before Christmas but unfortunately I got sick for a few weeks and then real life stuff came up right after 😓 But now it's here and I hope you enjoy reading it with things turning up a notch 😋 And don't worry, the next one won't take that long because I'm already on it! 😉
Also a little part of this chapter was inspired by the original Triple Frontier Script which I totally recommend you to read if you haven't already!
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7 days later, 4 PM, Brazil, Jungle (at Lorea’s house)
It was a humid warm and cloudy day when I crept through the various green plants that surrounded me. The typical climate you would expect in a jungle.
Exotic birds occasionally flying high above the treetops and filling the wild and untamed nature with their chirping or insects buzzing around between leaves big enough to cover my body entirely, some smaller ones with the similarity of palms that fit perfectly in the spaces between together with other, more colorful plants or bushes on the ground. Meter long lianas hanging from above that were winding themselves along the branches of some big trees like snakes.
If I wouldn’t be here for a mission, I would take my time admiring every little detail and the peaceful, quiet and yet a tad mysterious atmosphere with the slight fog floating around.
The calm before the storm.
How the ridges of the Andes, completely covered in green nature and shrouded in banks of clouds, ominously greeted us at our arrival. Like they would be announcing a bad omen that was in the air.
Normally I wouldn’t be faced much by anything when it came to a mission besides the flying part but this time I’d been restless as soon as we were on our way to the destination Santiago had given me when I called him a few days ago.
My gut was screaming at me to not do it, to turn as fast as we could and fly back instead but it was too late and I wouldn’t leave them alone in this. I never backed down from a mission. No matter what. And I’d never forgive myself if I did now.
It had been the first warning.
My team and me nearly got caught in the crossfire of some criminals and the local police on our way to the friendship bridge, the signature element of the Triple Frontier, that connected Paraguay to Brazil over the Parana River.
We were slowly driving through the outskirts of Ciudad del Este, the second largest city of Paraguay and a literal hotspot for any crime imaginable thanks to the Triple Frontier connection, the biggest part being the smuggling of a lot of dangerous things. You could practically see on every corner you turned, that the criminals were ruling this place. My trained eyes spotting them from miles away out of the car window next to me or the guns some people were carrying with them, hidden beneath their clothes in hopes nobody would notice, even if they were way too obvious. Drug dealers selling their stuff openly on the street without a care as if it would be an everyday business. The poorest of the poor together with other citizens weaving through the thick traffic between cars.
You should think we would actually change something with our work but looking at this, I understood what Santiago had meant. Nobody was giving a shit about government or authority here, they had their own laws and the police were only bystanders, not able to do anything and probably not even bothering anymore or corrupt to the core.
Just as we were crossing an intersection, suddenly loud sirens started to blare in the distance and only seconds after a sports car nearly crashed with us when it flew by in high speed, the police following close behind.
“Alex! Watch out!” I shouted from the right backseat when I saw it speeding directly at us.
“Oh fuck!” As fast as he could, Alex hit the brakes. The force of it jolting us forward in our seats as we came to an abrupt stop just enough that the car only lightly grazed our front and didn’t crash into us.
In the middle of the chaos that broke out with people screaming and madly running around and vehicles on the street trying to get out of the way, I saw the windows of the sports car rolling down and persons with assault rifles leaning out of them to shoot at the police car.
“Get down! Put your heads down!” I raised my voice even louder before I heard the first shot being fired and made myself as small as I could.
The bullets were flying everywhere, one piercing through our windshield and almost hitting my shoulder if I hadn’t ducked to the side in my seat.
“Is everyone okay?” Luc asked from the passenger seat in the front and immediately looked over to Alex and then behind to me and Mick in the backseats.
“Yes.”
“Yeah.”
The boys breathed out after everything seemed to be back to normal like nothing happened and people resumed their ways. The bullet hole the only reminder of what had just transpired.
“What the fuck is wrong with these people?!” I let out with irritation.
“I think they had a slight disagreement with each other.” Mick commented from the left.
That had been the second warning we ignored.
Stalking like a panther through the thick foliage of the jungle, I moved forward to the spot I was supposed to be and grabbed my TAC-50 that was slung around me as I came closer.
When I looked through my scope, a set of two big, black eyes ogled me and I looked up confused, spotting a little black and white patterned gecko sitting in front of its lens on my sniper.
What the heck?
“Hey there, little guy. You should be careful, you could get yourself hurt.” I said and inspected him curiously.
He held eye contact when his tongue darted out and ran along his mouth before he carefully moved across the upside of my gun, over the scope to its long rear where he laid himself flat on his stomach, his tiny feet spread wide from his body and blinked a few times at me and slightly tilted his head.
“You better get down there.” I told him and slowly moved my hand that wasn’t holding the gun to him.
Without moving he still sat there, not letting me out of sight. After another moment of studying me with his big, round button eyes he got up and came toward my hand. Stopping for a moment right in front to look, before carefully climbing with his sticky, nub-like toes onto it.
He was running all over it, in my palm and between my fingers, stopping at some point and dragging his little pink tongue along my skin.
“Did you… just lick me?” I asked him surprised, staring at the little reptile who didn’t seem bothered by me.
He only looked back innocently before he started to advance up my arm to my shoulder.
“Oh, no, no, little guy! You can’t go there!” I slightly panicked, not wanting him to touch or come close to the part of my body that was forbidden to everyone.
Thankfully he stopped as if he understood what I was saying and changed his direction. Moving over to my other shoulder along my front and looking from there at me once he had reached it.
“Let’s get you somewhere more comfortable, hm?” I asked and held my hand at him again, so I could put him on one of the plants around me, waiting till he was back in my palm.
I let him climb on one of the lianas hanging down in front of me.
“Watch your six, little guy.”
Following his movements along it until he turned upside down and looked back at me before I turned around and continued onward. At least a nice surprise for a change.
Brushing past some large ferns, I made my path through the wilderness with a watchful eye on the ground to not fall over tree roots or for any other kind of danger and made sure to take slow steps to not cause any unnatural movement that potentially could be spotted.
As I reached my spot, I got in position hidden behind a wall of leaves and cocked my sniper to inspect the rest of the area around the house after I had done a full circle of observation.
“I don’t like this.” I spoke into the com I had placed on my in dark and light grey tones camouflaged gear.
“What’s your concern?” Alex’ voice crackled through my earpiece.
“Looks too easy.”
“Did you expect a heavily fortified fortress out here in the middle of a jungle?” Mick asked chuckling.
“Considering the millions of dollars he’s supposed to have and that he’s one of the top tier pieces of shit here, yes, that would be my first expectation if I’m honest.” I retorted while letting my sight wander around through the scope, not spotting much besides some guards hanging around in a few corners with submachine guns strapped to them.
“You aren’t wrong. I estimated with more defense measures too, looking at his profile. But let’s check what we’ve gathered so far.” Luc suggested, wanting to hear what we had detected during our surveillance so he could start thinking about possible tactics at how we would approach this.
“Guards on all sides of the house in groups of two to max three, no protection and armed with SMG’s. Three right, left and rear side, two front, potentially more inside. Lots of spots all around the house where we could easily slip in without a problem except the front. There’s a long, unprotected driveway, ending with a couple of concrete jersey barriers on the sides and a steal gate. Could be breakable with a car I would guess, if you manage to destroy the barrier that comes out of the ground when the gate closes but that would alert everyone, which rules it out as possible option. The only real “danger”, if you wanna call it that, is the machine gun in a sort of tower behind it. 50 caliber, that would shred you before you come even close. I would need help from one of you to take both guards out undetected if we do this the ‘silent way’.” I explained my observation.
“I could give you a hand. There’s a small waterway from my position leading in your direction, would be a matter of seconds to get to you.” Alex confirmed.
“Perfect.” I answered before continuing. “I’ve also seen some surveillance cameras around. We will have to either destroy them when we approach, or we have to look inside the house for a security room to deal with it. They didn’t seem to give a shit about aiming them at the crucial spots, but I would like to take care of them, so we don’t have to worry about it later.”
“They are not looking like the newest ones there are. Don’t wanna know where he got them from, but it will be enough if we take care of the hard drives.” Mick brought in his opinion. His expertise as the best engineer we had in Delta gave us a huge advantage with any tech or gadgets we had to deal with in our missions or other unconventionalities.
“Also, we have high fences extending around the house in a radius of probably twenty to thirty meters. We won’t be able to climb over, but we could cut through them. I’m actually surprised they aren’t charged with electricity.”
“If I were him, I wouldn’t want my kids getting roasted, that’s probably the reason.” He had a point. I had seen them playing outside and some toys laying around but I doubted that it was why.
“The less time we need the better.” Luc pointed out, reminding us that we would have a time window we had to keep in mind once we were in.
“Look what we have here... Someone’s got some little toys.” Mick’s amused voice came through the com again.
“What is it?” The tone he used set off alarm bells in my head. Something was wrong.
“Ground sensors.”
Well, shit.
“The lethal kind?” I inquired with a hint of worry and scoped the area more wary a second time and focused on every detail I could find but spotting none of the mentioned sensors. They must be hidden underneath the plants.
“Hard to say but I don’t wanna find that out.” He answered thoughtfully when he inspected the object on the ground more closely with his trained eyes.
“Any way we can deactivate them?”
“Negative. Not without setting them off.”
“Copy that. Eyes up and on the ground then. Be careful where you’re going.” I spoke sternly, not wanting my team to have an unpleasant encounter that could end potentially deadly and risk the mission before it even started.
The theory with his kids was off the table with that but now we had an explanation why he wasn’t using electricity. Lorea probably thought it would be enough to rely on the sensors and I guessed, he hadn’t even wasted a thought about the possibility of some highly trained and lethal delta force soldiers attacking him or figuring out his location in the first place. Very bad mistake.
But it didn’t make our situation any better, knowing we practically walked around in a minefield. I had to hope the other guys would spot the objects in time and not run into one by accident, not having the possibility to communicate to them what they were about to walk into without revealing myself. They didn’t know we were here and I wanted to keep it this way till we were done with the recce.
“We’ve got company now, boys and girls.” I heard Luc shortly after through my earpiece upon spotting the arrival of the five ex-delta soldiers we had been waiting for. Their timing was just great… note the sarcasm.
“Make sure none of them notices the slightest trace of you and get your comms ready.” I ordered in the serious tone as their captain, wanting to avoid getting detected by any of the boys at all costs.
“Copy.” The three men of my team answered in unison.
I lowered my weapon and slung it back around me with its strap, reaching into a pocket on the backside of my vest and pulling out the com I had requested for me and my team from Santiago, so we could listen their conversation, putting it in my other free ear. They couldn’t hear us unless we used the manual trigger of the mic, which me or my teammates wouldn’t dare to touch and continued to use our own to communicate with each other.
Hearing their line crackling to life, I left my position and disappeared back into the thick foliage.
“So what's this guy got against banks? At least a safe.” Will’s deep voice reached my ears and sent a shudder down my spine that halted my movement for a moment. It felt weird to hear their voices after so long. I needed to get used to them again.
“The house is the safe.” Santiago answered cryptical. What was that supposed to mean?
“Got any idea what he’s talking about?” Alex questioned through our com and spoke out what I was asking myself.
“No clue.”
“Feels like he didn’t tell you everything.” Mick threw in skeptically, emphasizing the most important word in his sentence. Everything. Santiago better didn’t withhold any important information we should have known about before.
Carefully ducking underneath some low hanging branches, the quiet rustling of plants caught my attention and I looked alarmed around. It didn’t come from me but who- or whatever it was that made them was close.
The only thing I saw was a backwards cap in green camouflage moving through the greenery of the jungle and I knew who it was. I stopped dead in my tracks and didn’t dare to breathe or even blink. Ben had no clue I stood directly behind him when he moved by, not more than a thin wall of leaves separating us. His sudden closeness speeding up the beat of my heart in an instant that was pounding loudly in my ears and I prayed he couldn’t hear it. Keep your god damn composure, Y/N! Don’t panic.
Fuck. Did he have a compass which seemed to always lead him to me?
His hand was not a mere inch away and nearly brushed my belly. I’d be so, so fucked if he was able to sense me. Please don’t let him notice. Only this time.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
After a few beats of him deciding it was a good idea to stop and stand right there in front of me and I thought I’d die from my heart jumping out of my chest, he finally started to walk away and gave me an actual chance to get some desperately needed air into my lungs again. I swear, this man was the death of me, in more ways than one.
This was waaay too close.
My eyes had grown at least double their size as I followed his path till he was out of sight, not making any kind of motion or noise yet for fear he could pick up on it and discover who was here with them.
“I'm at the gate.” I let out a sigh of relief when I heard his still well too familiar rough voice speak through their com that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. If someone would have told me, I’d ever be relieved not having to be near him… Nothing could have been more wrong…
“This looks like everything was done about 82% right. They got all the toys out here, but these cameras aren't even aimed at the weakest breach point.” Ben continued and repeated in his own words what I had observed before, showing clearly why both of us were the experts at reconnaissance.
“Someone’s got some knowledge there too, huh?” Mick indicated, somewhat surprised there was someone else ‘as good as me’ as he would put it, in this field.
We had been the perfect team… And now we were standing on opposite sides.
Deciding to stay silent, I put more distance between us when I was sure he would be far enough away and went with fast but still calculated steps in the other direction. I didn’t want to have another close encounter with him.
“Your girlfriend's making her normal money drop?” Tom’s voice joined in and halted my steps a few meters after once again. What were they talking about now?
“Yeah.” Santiago answered him directly like they were talking about the weather, despite knowing that we could hear their conversation. “She's prepared to record the inside of the house.”
Girlfriend?... Wait a minute…- His so called ‘informant’ was his girlfriend?! And he had the nerve to not tell me before all of this?! He just had dug his own grave.
I was sure my teammates didn’t take this new information any different. I could already imagine how their brows would knit together and their jaws would clench at the revelation.
Santiago had unknowingly managed to turn our team against him before they even had the chance to meet with his move. The fact that none of them felt like speaking up about it told basically everything already. Good luck for him to get out of this.
“Pope...” The person using his callsign was Frankie but it sounded a bit off. Was that concern I heard? What was worrying him? Everything should be fine, I made sure of that before they arrived. Besides… My thoughts went back to the discovery we had made not long ago. Damn it. He didn’t accidentally set off one of the sensors, did he?
“Pope, I have kids over here. Does he have kids living in here with him? 'Cause that's gonna make things a whole lot more complicated and is not what I signed up for.” He shared his discovery over the com and thankfully not confirmed my suspicion but reminded me of what would be another part on my personal task list which I hadn’t wanted to think about yet. If Fish had known what he signed up for… maybe he would’ve had considered his options better.
I continued my way with quick strides through the jungle while I listened, passing by the gate in the distance with enough space to not get noticed and reaching the spot on the left side of the house where I had originally begun my observation round.
“The family's not the problem. They're the answer.” The addressed man replied without the slightest concern. What was it with Santiago and his cryptic sentences?
“Why?” Frankie wasn’t the only person who liked to know.
“Church.” Santiago simply answered. “Lorea's very devout. Every Sunday morning, he sends three guards to the 6 AM service. When they get back, he sends the rest of the team, along with his family, into town to mass. That leaves him and three guards in that house, and that's our window.” He elaborated and I could only shake my head at what I heard. I wouldn’t give them a chance to escape and not finish the mission properly, he could totally forget that. I didn’t care how many guards Lorea had in his house, ten, twenty, it didn’t matter. We would have the army with us too, which would be way enough to wipe them out for good. Not that my team and I could handle it on our own. I didn’t understand why he was making such a fuss about the damn family. There was definitely some business we had to discuss later.
“Why would he do that?” Will inquired, which wasn’t really surprising. He always was someone for details. Too bad he didn’t pay attention to them when he actually should have.
“Worried about someone taking his kids. And he never leaves his money.” These would be the least of his problems very soon…
“Also, I don't think he believes anyone actually has the balls to come out here and rob him.” Santiago added bluntly. That was another way to put it, except ‘rob’ was the wrong word for what we’d be doing. Let me correct, what they’d be doing. My team wouldn’t get involved with the money the guys would confiscate together with the army after we were done. So was the plan. But I didn’t like how he said it and the feeling it caused in my gut.
“It's probably cause it's a stupid idea.” At least Will had some common sense. Yes, it absolutely was. It was the stupidest idea on earth to be exact.
The sound of a car approaching had me drawing my sniper in a flash, holding it steady with both hands and looking out at the driveway through some trees and bushes from my higher position. A black van came into view that slowly approached the barrier at the gate where it stopped. The guard not standing behind the machine gun walked up to the passenger side.
“Pope, I got your girlfriend coming up right now.” Ben announced at the same time.
“Y/N, do you have the safety of your gun on?” Mick joked into the com right after, who had been uncharacteristically silent, already knowing what my reaction would be and wanting to check up on me.
“Maybe I accidentally switched it off.” My voice dropped lower, with an underlying threat behind it my boys were familiar with, while aiming through the scope of my TAC-50 at the woman’s head. It would only take a little pull on the trigger…
I inspected her nearer and got slapped in the face with the bitter truth that I couldn’t compare to her, and it was obvious why Santiago seemed to have a liking in this woman. She looked attractive with her tanned skin, the dark brown, shoulder long, wavy hair and dark eyes. And I bet the rest of her body looked just as good. Something I wouldn’t ever come close to…
“Holy shit. She is beautiful, man.” My blood ran cold at Benny’s next words and something broke inside me. He should have kept his damn mouth shut. The grip on my weapon tightened with my fingers wrapping themselves like snakes around it that were about to choke their victim to death.
Don’t let it get to you. Just ignore all the shit they’re talking. He’s not worth it! None of them are worth it!
“He doesn’t know that the most beautiful woman is already here.” Alex threw in quickly, trying to lessen the damage but he had no clue that what Ben said had fueled my wrath already to a dangerous level. He only tried to lift the situation and make me feel better, knowing about my insecurities that got much worse after what I had been through, but this was something even he couldn’t fix. Only one person could have done that and he wasn’t here anymore… because of me.
Fuck him. Fuck all of them. I wouldn’t give them even the slightest chance to hurt me.
Thank god the van drove past the gate a moment later before I couldn’t resist the temptation to shoot her and the driver anymore. My index finger hovering dangerously close over the small part of the gun that could decide between life and death in a moment’s notice if I wanted.
“I got an execution about to go down over here.” As if sensing my mood for satisfying the craving I felt, Will spoke through their line, adding greatly to the need for shedding blood. Did I hear execution?
“Are you at the tennis courts?” Santiago wanted to know and I looked around if I could see the mentioned place from my position to follow what was happening there but to my disappointment it was out of my sight.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, that's his spot.” He confirmed. Of course Lorea would kill others for his sake, people like him were all the same. He wasn’t the first and surely wouldn’t be the last.
“Anyone have sight on it?” I spoke into the mic, in hopes one of my boys would be close by and could give more detailed information about the situation.
“Positive, I do.” Alex answered while watching Lorea with a guard next to him getting ready to kill the unfortunate souls that were kneeling on the ground with bags over their heads. He had also found the blonde person lurking behind the small brick wall not far from him who must be one of the ex-delta soldiers, watching through the free spaces in between what was about to unfold.
“How many?” I inquired after his response, meaning the number of people the drug lord was about to kill.
“Four.” Too many. I would make sure to pay it equally back to him. He wouldn’t hurt someone ever again after we would be finished with him.
“Man, this guy really takes his business way too serious.” Mick commented with a snort when multiple shots of a gun filled the atmosphere. It wasn’t meant as disrespect toward Lorea’s victims but more his own way to cope with what we had to experience in our job and to not let it get to him. The complete opposite of me.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
“One more reason to get rid of him.” The grip on my sniper hardened even more at the thought of how many people had died because of him. How many lives he had taken for all the blood money. This guy was practically begging to be killed. A shame I couldn’t do it right now.
“Why is she doing this?” Frankie wondered as he saw the dark-haired woman and a few men getting out of the van and entering Lorea’s house with some bags, bringing their line back to life after it went silent for the time of the execution, everyone probably listening the sound of bullets delivering death and leaving nothing but corpses behind.
“She hopes I can get her little brother out of jail.” As if it hadn’t been enough to hear that she was his ‘girlfriend’ but to also find out she was doing this for Santiago to get her brother back on top of it… This was the culmination of it all. How did he even wanted to do that? If her brother was involved with Lorea, there was no way he could get him out legally. Or was he simply playing her so she agreed to help him? Like he tried with me also with leaving out what I heard since they arrived? He had chosen the wrong person.
“Tell me he isn’t fucking serious?!” Our engineer let out in vexation, being careful to not speak too loud and give himself away to the person with a cap he had in sight while he looked over the entrance area of the house where the van had stopped not a minute ago.
“I guess he ‘forgot’ to mention those little details, right?” Alex was just as pissed off, the kind where he questioned himself if he should shoot first and ask questions later or the other way round.
“He should pray I won’t find him right now.” Mick threatened afterwards, directly voicing out what his Spanish brother had hidden behind his words.
“You should give him a chance to explain himself and not make any assumptions already.” Luc spoke up, surprising us with his calmness and how he wasn’t on the side of his brothers. Sitting still on his spot on the other side of the house and following the guards’ movements while also keeping a careful eye on two of the ex-delta soldiers laying on top the massive concrete wall underneath some plants.
“What the fuck, man?! How can you defend him?! There is no god damn room for assumptions because everything is fucking clear! We need to have a talk after this!” His friend shot back with a growl.
It would be an exhausting drive back… Releasing some air and not wanting to take part in their conversation to fuel the tension that already had manifested itself with my own emotions, I focused back on the other boys.
“Did you put him in jail?” I heard Ben asking the most obvious question, silencing and distracting my three men from their heated discussion. I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if Santiago did.
“Not really.” There we go. So he had something to do with it. He might be able to fool the others but not me.
“I'm guessing that's putting her at some risk.” Tom pointed out and a sarcastic chuckle left me. It was putting her at the risk of vanishing from the face of this earth as soon as I got my hands on her.
“Man, I almost forgot why I got out of this business. Shit gets so dark so quick.” Frankie shared his thoughts, not knowing how true his words actually were and hitting the nail on the head. Explaining why I was as I was and bringing back painful memories. Nothing would come close to what I had to experience.
My knuckles turned white from the force I was gripping my weapon with now, teeth grinding hard against each other and shutting my eyes to force the unwelcomed thoughts away before they had a chance to get through.
Keep breathing slowly. You’re not going back to that place. You’re over it.
“Oh, shit, we got ground sensors here, boys.” Benny suddenly announced alarmed over their com when he found himself near the dangerous little object that blocked his way.
“Did you hit one?” As soon as Santiago had asked his question, my focus completely relied on them, tensely waiting for an answer and cursing under my breath that of course it had to be him out of the five to get himself into this situation.
“I don't know, I'm not sure.” With concern heavy in his voice and face Ben answered, uncertain if he had activated it or not and quickly taking a look around to check if he had been detected but everything seemed normal until Fish’s warning hit his ears.
“Benny, I got two guys on motorbikes coming your way.” He informed the younger Miller when he watched them speeding down the driveway in the direction of the gate where Ben was crouching deeper into the bushes covering him.
The urge to eliminate the enemy grew with every passing second and I considered starting the mission early. They wouldn’t get anywhere near him. I wouldn’t allow it. They’d be dead before they knew it.
With him already in my sight from my place across, I switched off the safety of my sniper once again. Making sure he was unharmed and nobody would come too close to him and discover where he was hiding.
Will left his position right after, following back the way he came through the small waterway around the area toward his little brother.
“Hold tight, Benny. I'm trying to get out there to cover you.” He told him, the protectiveness as his big brother coming to the surface. Moving as fast as he could till he got in position behind a small tree on the opposite side of the gate and aiming his pistol underneath its branches toward the newly arrived guards.
I shifted my view to the gate when I heard the sound of motorbikes approaching, noticing Will at the edge of my scope. Shutting out everything to not get distracted from the threat at hand and taking in controlled breaths to keep the heavy weapon steady while looking at the guys getting off their bikes, ready to shoot at any wrong movement or getting closer to Ben’s position.
“A stock boy job at Walmart's starting to look pretty good right now, boys.” It wouldn’t be Ben if he didn’t make one of his comments in his current situation, holding his pistol low but ready to use if needed. He was unaware that me and his brother had him covered from both sides of the gate and nobody would have an actual chance to harm or get to him without being killed. It kind of was like a déjà vu.
For a long moment they stood there, talking to the other guards. Thankfully not showing any signs that they were alarmed or actively searching for Ben. With a wave of a hand from one of them they got on their motorbikes again and drove back where they came from.
“I'm clear. They're coming back to you.” Ben confirmed to Frankie and watched them retreating, putting the gun back in the waistband of his jeans and relieving all of us with his words.
“Let's get the fuck outta here.” Will ordered into their com, keeping his hand weapon aimed on the men until they were out of sight. He had seen enough and didn’t want to push their luck any further, it had already been a close call with his brother and there was no reason to risk another encounter. The intel they had gathered should be enough to make a plan.
“Two retreating on my position.” I informed my team, watching both Miller brothers leave and disappearing into the jungle. Lowering my sniper and allowing my muscles to loosen up after I made sure my surroundings were safe.
“Positive, two as well here.” Luc responded first.
“Affirmative. One on me.” His friend Mick validating the same after.
“That’s all of ‘em. Alex, you clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Copy. If y’all are, I’ll meet you at the car. Be careful out there, boys.” I instructed before heading to where we had parked and took the earpieces out. Not looking forward to what awaited me…
35 Minutes later, 6:18 PM, Brazil
A bump in the road we were driving along woke me rudely from my nap when my front made contact with the car door to my right side I had leant to in my sleep. Startling me awake with the force of the impact.
A very faint “Sorry!” rang through the car.
“Can’t you drive more careful? If you continue like this, you gonna wake her up!” Alex complained annoyed from the left backseat, taking a look beside him in the dark of the car to ensure their girl was getting some much-needed sleep.
“I’m very obviously trying my best here. It’s not my fault this road is absolute shit. How is someone supposed to drive safe here anyway?” Mick complained back and shot his friend a glare through the rearview mirror before looking back at the road and giving Luc a glance on the way in the passenger seat.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere, you won’t find any better ways out here. I’m afraid this is the best we can get, gentlemen.” Luc declared with a chuckle.
“Still was a mistake to let him drive.” Alex grumbled lowly, not agreeing with the choice they had made earlier because he had enough experience with his recklessness at times. Especially with driving.
“If you think you can do it better, go ahead, pen-, pem-? Whatever you call asshole in Spanish.” Mick challenged him, struggling to find the word he was looking for because his knowledge of his friends’ second language was very limited or rather nonexistent and slowing their vehicle.
“It’s called pen-de-jo, dumbass. And we all know I’m a better driver than you.”
“Who almost caused an accident when we came here? Hm?”
“Seriously?! It wasn’t my fault some crazy people were having a fucking chase with the police!”
“Whatever you say, bud.”
“If you keep going like this and not lower your volume, it won’t be the movement of the car who’ll wake her up.” Luc clarified, sending a look their ways that didn’t require any further words.
With a slight groan I came to and opened my eyes slowly, noticing the lack of daylight.
“Great job, Mick. Look what you’ve done! You woke her up!”
“It certainly wasn’t me!”
With an eyeroll Alex shifted his head in my direction and gave me a smile.
“Hey, sleepyhead.” He greeted me softly, his hand searching mine and giving me a light squeeze while caressing the back of it with his thumb. A ritual my boys always did when we were out on a mission, to assure me I was safe and in the present while I was waking up out of my half sleep.
“Hey. What’s… happening?” I answered groggily and looked at him with barely opened eyes, giving a squeeze back.
“Nothing you have to worry about. You okay?” He asked, letting me take my time to get more conscious and inspecting me.
“Mhm. As best as I can be.” I saw it in his eyes when I nodded at him that it wasn’t the answer he’d been waiting for, even if he did an excellent job at not showing any changes in his facial expression and maintaining the smile on his lips for my sake. Giving me a final caress with a bit more pressure before retreating his hand.
“Welcome back.” Mick’s cheerful voice broke our moment and my sight went to the front of the car. Realizing night had settled in with the headlights illuminating the earthy path ahead and the instruments inside being our only light source, now that I was more awake.
“How was your little nap?” Luc turned around in his seat to face me.
“You know how it was.” I told him right away, every person in the car aware of the fact that my sleep was screwed for good with permanently fearing to have another nightmare yet again when I allowed myself to rest. But of course it didn’t keep them from asking anyway.
“Sorry by the way if we woke you.” Came it from the driver’s seat, a brief side eye meeting mine while Mick took one hand off the steering wheel and rubbed the back of his head in a guilty manner.
“You didn’t.” I assured, not wanting him to feel responsible for something he wasn’t the reason of.
“And for earlier… I didn’t mean to be an ass.” He added more quietly, exchanging another look with me, the memory of our “chat” before the drive in his mind that hadn’t gone like probably all of us had intended it to. But on the other hand, they had gotten a chance to release some steam and cool off which mattered the most for me, not blaming them at all about their complaints and voicing them out loud. Taking in every last word and feeding the side of me that lived from it, that didn’t know anything else and used what I bottled up within me as its catalyst to cause the fatal havoc it was meant to do. To make the world burn for what had been done.
“There’s nothing you’d have to apologize for, Mick. And aren’t you an ass all the time? At least to Alex?” I tried to lighten the mood and draw the attention away from me.
“Whoa! Now that’s just cruel, Y/N! You can’t say something like that when I just apologized!” Our driver let out in his usual overdramatic way, going along with it. Making his friends laugh heartfully, mostly about his reaction but also my words. The joyful sound wrapping around us like a comfortable, warm blanket in the winter. Only that its warmth wasn’t enough to reach my cold, dead soul. It would never be enough to bring it back to life ever again.
Another precious moment between us I should enjoy but couldn’t, with the inability to feel the same happiness as them - or any at all. Faking a small smile to not ruin the entire situation because I didn’t want them to have to deal with me more than they already had to, like the constant loneliness I felt even if they were always around me.
“Totally deserved.” The Spanish man next to me nodded in agreement and fixated his brother in front of him with a wide smirk.
“Keep going and I throw you out of this car myself, then you can see for yourself how you get there.” A finger pointed in his direction as a warning sign before Mick had to focus on driving again and put his hand back on the steering wheel.
“Why do I have the feeling I missed something important?” I asked in confusion, suspecting there was more to their talk than I knew and switching my sight between the boys.
“Oh trust me, you didn’t miss anything, Y/N.” Luc laughed to himself, the other two starting to snicker along him.
“Okay…?” Coming across my lips in more a question than a normal pronunciation. Despite my curiosity I decided to not dig further and leave it at that. It was probably just another banter of theirs like usual. Looking a last time between them before I shifted my view out the window into the night and silence falling over us with only the faint tune from the radio playing in the background.
A few miles later when I couldn’t stand the quietness anymore, I leaned forward in my seat over the center console as far as my seatbelt allowed it and grabbed the inner edges of the front seats with my hands.
“How long till we’re there?” My nervosity getting the best of me because the previous silence grew too loud for my head and I couldn’t keep the thoughts in it no longer from running wild, threatening to overwhelm me.
“We still have a bit to go. You can take another nap if you want.” Luc answered and looked over to me from the side.
“I’m not tired.” I quickly refused his suggestion, as everyone expected, because it had become a common thing over the last 2 years and they were used to it by now.
“Y/N… Then at least try to get a bit more rest, please. You know-” He tried to reason like a parent with their child who was too stubborn to follow their instruction, but I interrupted him before he could finish what I had to hear too many times already: “You know he wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger.”. Who the fuck cares?
“I don’t wanna hear it.” A well-meant advice to drop what he was going to say.
I had decided to walk this path with no looking back till the end, whenever that would be. There was nothing waiting for me anyway. It was like I had been stuck somewhere along the way and got lost in search for something I had known once but wouldn’t find again, left alone in the shadows with nothing more than misery, sadness and deafening silence as my companions, the only remains of a life before that had stopped existing.
With a heavy sigh I sat back in my seat and busied myself with the sight out the windshield, not wanting to continue the conversation we’d had so many times before like the words he wanted to use.
“Can we not-” I instantly stopped midsentence when I saw a hooded figure appear out of nowhere in the shine of the headlights that stood on the side of the road, directly facing us.
I wasn’t sure what it was but the feeling hitting me in this very moment I couldn’t place - something both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time - had me sitting up straight immediately.
“Mick, stop the car! Stop the car!! Now!” I yelled when we drove past it, my eyes glued to where the figure had disappeared behind us in the night and hands pressed hard against the glass. Startling the boys with my sudden change and the urgency in my voice.
“What? Why? Did I hit an animal or somethin’?” He asked as confused as his brothers, all looking at me now with big question marks in their faces.
“Just stop it already!” I urged impatiently, not caring to elaborate and wanting to get out as fast as possible.
“I’m on it! What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
Before they got an answer, I was out as soon as we came to a stop in the middle of the road with only the person I saw in mind and ran back through the dark to where I had seen it. Shouts of my name erupting from behind me when the three quickly followed and ran after me.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” My raised voice filled the night, loud enough to be heard for a few meters distance but I got no answer or any sign that somebody was there.
“I know you are! Come out and show yourself! I won’t hurt you, I promise!” After nothing happened and I didn’t want to wait any longer I spoke up again, opting for a different way to get the person to reveal itself but it turned out the same as my first attempt. Looking in every possible direction in hopes of finding what I was searching for.
Multiple cones of flashlights lighting up my surroundings more and more from behind announced my team’s approach very soon after but I was too focused to pay them any mind for now.
With hands crossed over each other, raised pistol in one and a flashlight in the other held next to it, how they had been trained to, so they could shoot at any possible threat lurking out there while still being able to see, they closed the distance between us with fast steps and in their tactical formation with Alex on the left side, Luc in the middle and Mick on the right to cover as much ground as possible.
“Can you tell me what the hell this is all about?” Taking in a defensive stance, Mick came to a stand next to me and let his eyes roam around to make sure no danger was in sight before they landed on me, displaying his obvious discontentment about my careless action.
“They were here.” I answered without looking away from the spot I had been staring at, still clinging on to the false hope of the person showing up.
“Who?” He questioned confused, not understanding what I meant and being more concerned about my safety since I wasn’t wearing a bulletproof vest or a weapon.
“The Person. They were right here.” Repeating my words, assuming he would catch on, I tore my gaze away and toward him. Noticing Luc and Alex next to us and the handguns they carried with them. “And put your guns down.”
“Well, I don’t see anyone. Are you sure?” Taking another attentive glance around at my words, he followed my instruction and lowered his pistol slowly after he spotted nothing but grass.
“What Person?” Alex asked from the other side while doing the same as his brothers and loosened his stiff posture.
“That stood on the side of the road looking at us.” I elaborated a last time with slight agitation, not getting why they asked all these unnecessary questions when they must have seen the person too.
Luc, Mick and Alex exchanged a troubled look with each other.
“There wasn’t anyone.” Luc said after a short pause.
“But…- No…- They were standing right here…! I swear!” Denying his words and pointing at where the person had stood, I took a few steps forward, letting my sight wander through the dark once more and staring at the earthy ground in front of me in total disbelieve after I still found no evidence that someone had been here only minutes ago. This couldn’t be true… I knew what I saw… I wasn’t making it up…
“Hey, we believe you, okay? If you say you saw someone, you did.” Alex assured, stepping before me and searching my eyes. The other two not wasting time and appearing at my sides, forming a half circle.
“How did they look like?” Luc changed the direction of our conversation, deeming it a good choice to distract me from the thoughts he practically could see swarming my head and make sense of what I was saying.
“Their… clothes were all black… with a hood over the head. And… the lower half of the face… was covered with a black mask.” I stuttered out. “I know how this sounds but I swear to you I didn’t imagine it!” Seeking the boys’ eyes for reassurance that I wasn’t going mad and my mind didn’t make up things that weren’t there when I just had literally described what we normally wore on our missions.
But it was hard to miss the doubt in them which hurt me more than I wanted to admit to myself when I realized my mistake, not allowing my expression to show I had noticed and quickly cutting off our line of sight to avoid getting more upset and revealing my emotions. I shouldn’t have told them.
“Did you notice anything else? Or were you able to identify the person?” A vertical shake of my head was all I gave Luc, feeling a surge of rage rush up that I didn’t pay closer attention to the person’s face, so I would have known who it was and if they were real but everything had happened too fast and caught me right off guard.
“What’s the plan here then? Are we going for a search?” Mick wanted to know, switching from expectantly looking between us four and checking our surroundings from time to time.
“I don’t see any footprints but if somebody was here they couldn’t have gone too far.” Our Spanish man moved his light around, emphasizing he wasn’t completely dismissing it. His way of telling me he didn’t think I was crazy.
“We surely would have noticed anyone by now - and I’m not saying I don’t believe you,” Coming up with the fact none of us could dismiss, Luc stepped into his role amongst our team and I could feel his observing gaze that hadn’t left me since his arrival. He noticeably changed the pitch of his voice while adding his own assurance into the sentence - a smart move, to ensure I would be listening. “But we won’t find much in this high grass with only our flashlights at this time of day. Also don’t forget we still have a good few miles to go and I doubt we wanna be too late.”
“As much as I agree with you, but I’m not comfortable leaving without knowing if we’re being followed-”
“Luc’s right. It doesn’t make sense to try and find someone in the middle of the night, Alex. And I said we’d be there.” I countered him with a defeated sigh, not having the nerves to argue with my boys about the actual existence of the person but wanting to ease at least his worry that was an ever constant of the trio below the surface since certain things had happened all of them never fully recovered from and wouldn’t. Another thing I was the reason of.
“I mean it won’t do any harm if we take a quick look, right? I’d feel better if we do. And let’s be honest here, none of us gives a damn about being late.” Mick suggested, not passing the opportunity to add one of his blunt comments.
“It’s just a waste of time, forget it. Let’s go and get this over with as fast as possible.” To make this decision wasn’t easy for me but it was the most rational in the current moment. Swallowing down my increasing anger. If things continued like this, I would need an outlet soon because I could only hold it in for so long until I had to release it.
Casting my view for a moment toward the sky in hopes of finding some relief, my mood dropped further when I saw nothing but clouds plunging the stars in their darkness to snuff out their light, like they were foreshadowing what was to come. Not deeming me worthy of the only thing bringing me some little kind of comfort for what I was about to do.
Averting my eyes, I turned around and started to walk back to the car.
“Wait! Y/N!” Alex tried to stop me and was hot on my heels.
“I already told you we’re not searching!” I let out angrily and sped up my steps.
“I swear to god, this woman…” Mick huffed out quietly before he and Luc got moving too, earning an amused snort paired with a smirk from his brother next to him.
“That’s why we love her.” He patted him a few times on the shoulder. “And you wouldn’t want it any differently.” Luc added after a short distance without looking back, following their captain and Alex who was making some gestures with his hands and arms on her side only to be ignored.
“I hate when he’s right…” The last member of the team started to catch up in a sprint.
From afar a hooded figure in black was watching them…
If I had at least understood my third and final warning.
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A/N: I want to thank every single one of you who gave this story a chance in the last year and supported it so far, no matter if it was through a like, a lovely comment or a reblog! Each one means the world to me and is greatly appreciated and a huge motivator, regardless how small it is! And I hope I can continue to bring you more enjoyment in the future with it! ❤️
You can definitely look forward to the ultimate clash that's bound to happen which we are approaching with careful steps! Maybe in the next chapter already? 😱
If you enjoyed feel free to reblog, like and comment! 🥰
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creedslove ¡ 1 year
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TRAS DE MÍ - TEASER
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Pedro Pascal x f!reader
Hey guys, this is just a teaser for my next Pedro angst piece!!! It will be a multi-chapter story composed by two parts (two very long ones!)
It all starts when reader goes to Colombia after getting a scholarship and meets Pedro while he is shooting Narcos.
So we are going to start with Narcos era Pedro (around 2015) and tell their story until well.. things happen
Then the second part we'll have a time skip where reader will run into Pedro again this time while shooting The Last of Us
I still don't know when I'll post first part because I haven't finished writing it yet, but I am loving how this chapter is coming along. So I figured I'd give you just a taste of it.
I hope you guys enjoy it 😉
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You told that handsome stranger it was fine, seeing him closer for the first time. He only got one mustache in his well shaved face and he looked good. 
"I'm Pedro, by the way. I always see you around but I don't know who you are" 
He extended his hand. 
You told him your name and what you were doing in Colombia. 
Pedro also told you what he did for a living though he was aware you already knew about it. 
He saw your date coming towards your table and took your hand in his gently, taking some seconds to analyze your nails "that color suits you, it looks pretty good" he said as a light shade of pink spread across his cheeks at the immediate thought of your hands holding his cock in those pretty colors popped up in his mind. 
"I can see your guy is coming back, but you don't have to get too excited about him, you'll see one day you'll be mine and you'll forget he even existed" he winked and left your table just as abruptly as he got there. 
You were speechless at his behavior but his words brought butterflies in your stomach and for a moment you actually believed in them. You just didn't know yet how deep in it you would be. 
_____
A/N: don't get fooled by it, it will be an angsty story!
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97 notes ¡ View notes
ageless-aislynn ¡ 10 months
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Yay, I’ve finished my second Mass Effect: Andromeda playthrough, this time romancing Peebee! I was just going to do the - ahem - Zero-G no strings option and quit there but it turned out that the save point I jumped in at was literally right at that part so I decided to keep on playing, just to do more of the flirting etc. Then I got to the scene where we - AHEM - locked in the romance and that was so near to the end of the game by that point that I decided to finish it so I could get to the movie night, because that was something I loved in my initial playthrough with Jaal!
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I really think they should’ve let Lexi (the blue Asari lady on the right for those who don’t know 😉) sit next to Drack (the big Krogan fella on the left). Nobody’s ever going to convince me that she’s not at least a little bit sweet on him, d’aww. 😉
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Sadly, you don’t get your honey with you during movie night when you romance Reyes but I guess that much sexy sitting on a sofa would’ve caused a spontaneous combustion! 😇😉
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D’aww, and here’s Sara and Peebee! And Vetra behind them on the left who seems to be napping, like Cora is on the right, lol! Well, the crew of the Tempest had a hard day, after all. They don’t need a nap, they need a full-on good night’s sleep! 😴😇😉
Now, for my next trick... I want to do a playthrough with Sara and Vetra before I switch over to Scott. I haven’t gotten into modding so all of my Sara’s looks are basically just changing the color and style of her outfit, though I did think to give her a different hairstyle with Peebee. I honestly love her look with Reyes, I think the outfit and red and black coloring really suit her! 💖 (My Sara x Reyes vid ‘cause I really love them a lot, your honor 😉)
I’m not sure if I’ll keep her hair red (I really do like the red hair, though, so I’ll probably just try for a different style) and then may do a different color variation on the red and black outfit. I want her to be all spiffy for our best Turian girl, after all! 😇😇😇
For Scott, I actually like the default look for him, so am not planning on changing his face like I did with Sara. The Sara default face is one of those that can look nice from one angle, then a little weird from another, so I went with preset 5 or 6, can’t remember which at the moment, (edit: I went back and looked and that is NOT preset 5 or 6, I’m not actually sure which preset she is, oops) and made some minor makeup changes between all 3 romances.
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Scott and Sara’s default looks. Annnnnd now I feel bad for dissing her default look. Okay, new plan: I’ll do a playthrough in her default look once I’m done with my Vetra romance. I wanted at least one more playthrough to romance Suvi, so... here’s my chance! *pats default!Sara*
Anyway, Scott is definitely going to romance Cora first for his full playthrough, then we’ll back up and switch to Gil because holy moly, I really ended up caring about Gil and I’d love to see how it’s going to work out with Gil having a baby with his friend Jill once he’s in a relationship with Scott! 🤔 Scott also needs to romance Avela because, as I love to remind y’all...
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I know it’s just a tiny little quasi-romance but it’s KATE KENNEDY and if I can romance Kate frickin’ Kennedy in a video game, then, by Jove, step back and watch me get my romance on, yeahhhhhhh mannnnnnn!
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(I feel like Vannak is representing every single person reading this right now... 😮😂😂😂)
This playthrough took me about 60 hours instead of 120 like the first one because I dropped several of the side quests this time. I also knew to place the forward stations right away so you can fast travel and such. I honestly think I can cut the time in a half again just because I have a better idea of which quests you need to do and which you don’t. I’m still really loving the game, even more as I get more comfortable with everything.
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Ahhh yeah, look at how comfortable Sara is with her Pathfinder duties now! 😂😂😂
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janfraiser ¡ 1 year
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hi! A prompt for will x mac, if you're writing for them?
“ hey, go rest yourself, alright? let me handle the chores; you can’t be lifting these boxes in your condition! “
absolutely!! i have so much newsroom brainrot rn so thank you for this prompt 💖 (from this list if anyone else has requests for any of my fandoms/ships 😉)
"Alright, Billy, since we can finally agree that the paint is dry enough for me to set foot in the nursery, it's officially time to set everything up," MacKenzie says, bracing a box of board and picture books against her hip. The grip is awkward, but the third trimester of pregnancy means she can't carry anything in front of her unless it's small enough to balance on her bump.
"Woah, woah," Will interrupts, coming around the corner hefting the box that contains the currently-disassembled crib, "go sit down, Mac, alright? Let me handle carrying the stuff, you can't be lifting all these boxes in your condition."
She raises both eyebrows skeptically. "Will, with your back, you're hardly more suited to carrying the heavy bits than I am. How about we just take this one step at a time and hope no one gets hurt?"
Her husband huffs in protest but agrees with a grudging nod. "Alright. In that case, what's the first step?"
"The crib and the dresser will definitely be the biggest elements," Mac says slowly, pursing her lips, "but the crib is more exciting. So, finish dragging that in, and I'll start putting these books on the shelves you put up while you get out all the crib pieces."
"IKEA is amazingly useful and so angering all at the same time," Will grumbles. "Looks so good all set up in the store... but actually figuring out how to set it up is hell on earth."
"Don't be so dramatic," MacKenzie laughs, looking over her shoulder with a teasing smile. "It's a bonding experience."
"Just me proving that I would do anything for the two of you," Will agrees, his smile giving away the lack of true irritation in the room. He pulls a box cutter from the back pocket of his jeans, and Mac hides her pleased laughter by refocusing on the bookshelves.
An hour later, the crib is... slightly more assembled, but even Mac's enthusiasm has dampened. She scowls at the wrinkled paper of instructions, looking back and forth from it to their messy pile of crib pieces. "Why the fuck would they not give us all the correct screws for putting the bars together?"
"I'm pretty sure they did, Mac," Will replies, his voice tired and a wrinkle in his own brow. "I counted all the little bits when I opened it all up... the screw's gotta be here somewhere."
"Damnit," she swears. "Fucking soft carpet that you were sweet enough and stubborn enough to put in all by yourself that's practically the same color as the fucking screws..."
"Hey." Will lays a hand on her shoulder. "Forget the screws, I already have a headache from all this fine print. Why don't we take a lunch break?"
Ordinarily, MacKenzie would want to see the task through to the end, now that she's started it, but she's so damn hungry all the time now that the promise of food could distract her from most anything. "Hm. That does sound nice."
"What are you craving this week?" Her husband asks, beginning a slow massage on her hunched shoulders."You liked it when we made pesto together last week..."
"Mhm," she agrees, closing her eyes. "What's that diner, on the other side of Manhattan... it has all those amazing sandwiches... that chicken panini with the mozzarella and pesto sauce... they make it hot, it's so good."
"I remember that place," Will says, grunting as he stands. Even Mac can hear his knee pop, but he offers her a hand anyway. "Alright. Well, put on a sweater, it's cold as balls out there."
"You're going to be good at this," MacKenzie says, giggling as she presses a kiss to her cheek. "Worrying is already second nature for you."
"Only 'cause I love you so much," Will mutters, pulling her into him and pressing a kiss behind her ear. She smiles, turning to look back at him.
"Well, good. Because I love you, too."
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27emailsicantsend ¡ 2 years
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opinions on the trailer? I'm surprised and not in a good way they haven't broken up yet
Ahh this trailer was a lot. I will answer this question in two parts, because I think it needs it.
Part One: I think the trailer was meant to be sparse. I also felt like it was a bit lackluster (except for me rewinding the last four seconds approximately 100 times of course), but I understand why. We know that when the trailer is LACKING something, it usually means there is something BIG coming. And from what reviewers have said, this is a big episode. Some have said it’s their favorite with 5 this season. I wouldn’t worry too much that we haven’t seen much yet. I think the show is trying REALLY hard to keep us from having things spoiled, which is why they have been so withholding of information. It would also explain why we really didn’t get a sneak peek. Every Monday we get a sneak peek that Disney+ releases for the episode, but they didn’t. The sneak peek we got was from a news interview I believe with Dara? So it wasn’t even an intentional sneak peek? And it was only a few seconds long. The last ones I saw for other episodes were nearly 30 seconds or more. That hasn’t happened the rest of the season which tells me the showrunners are really trying to keep tight lipped about these next two episodes. I would say just hold tight. I think we’re going to get A LOT more than we expect (which stands true for the whole season. Every episode I think we got way more rina than any of us expected. Even color wars I was not looking forward too because I thought it was going to be this filler episode with only like, one little rina scene and then it ended up being rina at every freaking corner). “The best is yet to come” :)
I did want to comment on a few things I noticed. First, I am really excited for Maddox’s storyline and I think it will play a big part in Ashlyn’s. I think she is going to see Maddox dancing with Madison (Jojo… they’re shown holding hands in the trailer so I feel like I can make that conclusion that she is Madison and that was Ricky’s big plan was to get them together to help Jet) and feel a desire to have that too. Some important conversations around that will most likely occur. I am SO excited to see cute Sebby. I really hope they parallel him showing up late to the homecoming dance and telling Carlos he was busy milking or something and that’s why he showed up late 🥲 I am curious what the ice bucket thing is? I wonder if it’s some tradition for the director or camp prom king or something to get iced? What would be even more wild is if p*w wins king and queen, breaks up, and that is the reason only EJ is getting iced lmaooo. Someone pointed out that the scene where Gina comes up to EJ to ask him to dance, Kourt has a shocked look on her face and she is looking at ricky. I’ve seen it hypothesized (and I buy it) that Ricky finally called EJ out on his BS. Like ej said he told gina no so ricky finally just lets him HAVE IT and then kourt gives him a “look”. Then what I believe happens next is gina asks him to dance but he’s so mad at ricky that he just says something like, “I’m not feeling like it” and walks off. Gina follows him and just let’s into him as well. Tells him she’s done with how he’s been treating her and they break up. She storms over to the coat check to leave and that’s when we get the rina coat check scene. Ricky needs to finish his bucket list… do something that scares him? I think we might see that at the coat check. I’m crossing my fingers that it is finally a confession from him to her. Not as an act of selfishness while she is down. But maybe she will say something like, “am I really that impossible to love? Why hasn’t the right guy shown up and stuck around with me?” Then ricky will go, “no you’re perfect. I know there is someone out there who loves you the way you deserve. Someone who has stuck around”. Then she will go, “how do you know?” And he will say, “because it’s me” or something like that. 😉 we’re hypothesizing here lol. Lastly, I want to add something I’ve seen hypothesized a lot: that Ashlyn will take kourt’s part. I GENUINELY think that’s a misdirect. It’s kourtney’s anxiety that is stressing her out from performing. That she doesn’t think she will be good enough as the lead. So I think what will happen is she tries to get out of it with Ashlyn and Ashlyn tells her how rewarding it was to be Belle. How it changed how she viewed herself as a person and gave her more confidence or something and that will directly impact Kourtney’s ability to perform. She will use Ashlyn’s advice to help her conquer her fear of performing as the lead.
Part Two: I am surprised and not surprised p*w haven’t broken up yet. It’s been difficult to see because I think we all expected more from Gina. Gina is this headstrong girl who isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes in and wants. She doesn’t deal with people pushing her around. So it’s been weird watching her interactions with EJ because it’s almost like she is a completely different person. She is soft and submissive. She doesn’t really stand up to him until he’s pushed her too far. Not that Gina can’t be that way, but she is soft and confident Gina when she is balanced. The only person we have seen her be that way around this season has been: Ricky. She went 1.0 with Ashlyn Kourt and the girls and 2.0 with Val and EJ. The show is purposely showing us character regression with EJ and Gina just as much as it did with Ricky and Nini. And at times the show has outright stated when these characters are regressing: when they’re in relationships with the wrong people. The Gina 1.0 comments, when ricky said he was back to who he always is, when gina called out ej for being who he used to be, etc. I think Gina being around Ricky and maybe even a convo with him? Will finally push Gina back into her regular self, even around EJ. We’ll see her stand up for herself and still be gentle as she cries about how bad things got and how she feels. We’ll see her want someone who makes her feel stable, balanced, and not in constant change and chaos like she’s always know. That person, who has been there this whole time as we know, is Ricky. I would say don’t give up hope yet. The show has been very clear p*w is not lasting much longer. I think their break up will for sure happen before season 4 as a catalyst for Ricky and Gina to get together that season. Gina needed to experience the same things ricky did before they were ready to date. Once she breaks up with p*w, she will truly be her best, most balanced self and ready for Ricky again.
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morrow-dim ¡ 2 years
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I came across “Remember, I Am the One Who Took Off Your Cape” the other day and can’t stop thinking about it 😭 Thank you so much for writing it!! 🖤💛 Have you been enjoying Triple Crown so far (and are there any other BL webtoons you’re enjoying)?
Hello, Anon! I haven’t posted on Tumblr in nearly a year (11 months!). I had to reset my password. 😅 But it’s great that Tumblr’s notif system still works because I’m so keen to talk about BL webtoons! 😍
But before that . . . wow. “Remember, I Am the One Who Took Off Your Cape” will (probably) be my sole contribution to the fandom, but it’s close to my heart. I’m touched that you’re touched by it! 😭 I’m also embarrassed to say that I’m only 4 episodes in to Triple Crown. (Yikes!) I had a lot of hesitation because I have issues with Tappy Toon (I’m only on Lezhin or Tapas these days). Then I got distracted by Solo Leveling (yes, I’m about to rec the webtoon), which I devoured in roughly three weeks. Am now waiting for the side stories. Whatever hype you’ve heard about Solo Leveling is true (and I’m currently trying to finish a fic). Although it’s not BL, you don’t have to squint very hard to find those ships. 😉 But getting back to Triple Crown . . . I’ll get there eventually! Though I have to say that the ‘Prologue’ is the perfect webtoon. ❤️
So, aside from Solo Leveling, I have two BL webtoon recs for you and both can be found on Lezhin. They’re character-based stories with art styles that I enjoy. Neither are as gorgeously drawn and colored as Kingmaker, but really, how many webtoons are? What these two webtoons have going for them is brilliant storytelling.
1. “Do You Still Like Me?” Technically, this is an ABO webtoon but it features two alphas, which is the most interesting dynamic to me. The relationship between the two leads is fantastically developed and very rich. The webtoon is a slow burn that begins with a ‘fuck buddies’ trope. (It’s a contract relationship. Literally.) I’m also attracted to the inter-racial aspect of it since one of the characters is Korean and the other British. Most of the story takes place in London. I’d go so far as to say that the way this creator treats the alpha-alpha relationship has fundamentally changed how I view alpha-alpha dynamics moving forward. The structure of the webtoon is also complex, moving between multiple (contemporary) time periods and places. If some parts don’t 100% make sense the first time you read them, have a little patience. The creator always rewards you. When the pieces fall into place, I’ll go over certain episodes and think, ‘Wow. That has even more layers than I originally thought.’ Highly recommended. (This is an ongoing webtoon in its second season.)
2. “The Beast Must Die” This webtoon is my favorite webtoon of all time, BL or otherwise. It’s also one of the darker webtoon I’ve read because the central character – Kang Moo – is a true psychopath. The creator clearly researched psychopathy so that his/her depiction of it is fairly accurate and the situations created very plausible given the conditions of the webtoon. When I decided to jump into fanfic, I read the two books that are referenced in the webtoon just so I could have a basic understanding of the condition. I won’t spoil the plot for you, but I love this webtoon to pieces. It begins when the two main characters are university students and spans over a decade. Like the rec above, the dynamic between the two leads is truly unique. I have never read anything like it in the webtoon world. However, I’d warn you that the weakest part of this webtoon is the second side story (it was infuriating, tbh), but the main fic, the first side story, and the side tracks/collections are exceptional. (This is a completed webtoon.) Kang Moo is an utterly compelling character. (And gorgeous. Really gorgeous.)
That’s it from me, Anon! I bet you’re a little sorry now that you asked for webtoons I’m enjoying after reading all my rambling. 😂 There’s more! (There’s always more. 😉) But these two are a cut above the rest, as is Kingmaker. ❤️
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suga-kookiemonster ¡ 1 year
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Hey Ashly, I just finished reading Ego, and first of all, you are such a talented writer and it's by far one of my favourite fics out there 🫶 Second of all, who the hell has been gatekeeping this state of the art fic from me??! 😟 Well come to think about it perhaps the universe actually did me a favor for once and waited with putting it in my feed until I was mentally stable enough to handle it, but now here I am losing sleep over ego!jk...But well, apart from drooling over sex machine frat boy jk and later the more mature-pensive-sad boy-cuddly-boyfriendy jk, being sad about not having a ego!joon in my life, speculating about how yn and jk's relationship might develop, I also wondered where in the US it takes place? I know it's an au fic, but did you think about a specific college and state when writing? I'm from Denmark, have never been to the States, and didn't even know that faternities and sororities were a thing in the american school system, so I was kind of lost about the setting 😉
hey babe! you are so, so sweet, and i really appreciate you taking the time to read my fic. she was my passion project, so i’m so happy you enjoyed her 🥰🥰
as for where the story is set, i always tend to write my fics in imaginary settings that fit exactly what i need for the story. obviously i am american, so this tends to color my writing and all the references i make, but i never choose a real place to be the setting (like seoul, for example). greek life is inherently an american thing, so i guess it can be inferred that the story takes place in america, but i didn’t choose anywhere in particular. fraternities and sororities are pretty common across the country in larger universities!
thanks again for sending me this nice note 💜💜💜 hope you’re having a good day!
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