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feanorianethicsdepartment · 3 years

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time travel aus, amirite? since we’ve all decided to start talking about our ideas, i thought i’d throw my hat into the ring. i’ve actually had this idea for a while, i just wasn’t sure what to do with it because i barely have the patience for one-shots, let alone the continuous plotted longfic this would need

it’s not my idea, of course, i’m incapable of original thought. it’s based off this can-i-really-call-it-a-genre-if-it’s-two-fics-with-the-same-premise where some combination of maedhros, maglor, elros, and elrond land in the blessed realm before - even the unchaining, in my take, when the ambarussa are still children and the world is blissful. it’s more specifically my take on this fic, which takes elrond and elros from very early in their captivity and maedhros from just before the silmaril theft and maglor from several centuries into the second age. i just plugged my own characterisations into it, and, uh. the specific setup this not-genre uses is that maitimo and makalaurë *~mysteriously disappear,~* throwing their extended family into chaos, blah blah blah, and then a few decades later -

well. with my characterisations, we have a nightmare hellbeast who’s burned up everything he used to be in singular pursuit of an unreachable goal and has carved his very self into a weapon, a completely drained beaten-up husk barely cognisant of reality past the screaming in his mind who’s so utterly broken it’s debatable if he even counts as an elda, and two extremely young extremely traumatised children in a completely unfamiliar land- and skyscape whose only adult they can maybe-kind-of trust is currently bleeding from the eyes and shrieking wordless notes of utter despair

yeah, this au’s Fun. elrond and elros have maybe eight words of quenya between them, most of which are obscene, maedhros will act completely normal until he suddenly stabs himself in the arm because can’t this stupid hallucination end already, he has a character arc to tank, and maglor seems completely unaware he’s not still on the beach having the same cyclic arguments with the ghosts of the people he failed. the elves of valinor aren’t completely unprepared to deal with this, at least not the ones who remember cuiviénen, but it’s still a massive shock to see two of the children they came to the land of the gods to protect twisted and scarred like the worst victims of the dark. especially since noone can figure out why

so yeah. i have trouble finishing oneshot collections, so i doubt i’ll ever write this out in full, but i do have a lot of Scenes. fëanáro staring in utter horror at the oath, whispering ‘i made this.’ elros and elrond’s somewhat hole-filled explanation of their backstory devolving into a sindarin argument, and when the family asks tyelkormo what they’re talking about he freezes before saying ‘they’re arguing about whether maitimo killed their mother.’ the moment maglor finally managed to get through what happened after they got the silmarils to maedhros, who immediately switches from off-the-cuff self-harm to well-planned suicide attempts. the five-minute period the family hellspawn’s working theory was ‘they’re maitimo and makalaurë from an alternate universe where we’re evil’ (‘is there an evil version of me??? does he eat kids???????’ - tyelko) finwë going full bulldoze taniquetil in the background. fun times, might write some snippets in the future

but i like to think through the mechanics of this kind of time travel story too much, so i started wondering where maitimo and makalaurë, yanno, went. i quickly came to the conclusion that they probably swapped places with their evil future selves, giving me three time travel aus for the price of one! technically four but (a) i’m not sure if or with who the twins would swap and (b) if they did their alternate selves are probably having a really bad time and i don’t particularly want to think about it. the stories maitimo and makalaurë are in... they’re not necessarily any happier, but they are a lot more wtftastic

maitimo falls asleep under the light of the trees, on a relaxing retreat from the demands of court life and family-induced disasters. he wakes up in a world that’s almost completely dark, surrounded by plants he’s never seen before and wearing clothing designed for a much warmer climate, the scent of death in the air. now permanently separated from all his old problems, maitimo rapidly acquires several exciting new ones, including but not limited to:

everyone he ever loved being dead or worse

the lone possible exception, his last surviving little brother, being an almost unrecognisable blood-drenched kinslayer who hates everything in the universe especially himself

said blood-drenched kinslayer almost immediately imprinting on him like a grouchy murderous duckling

his future self having apparently wanted to kill even more people, why

getting dogpiled by like thirty dudes in full armour the instant they showed up at the army of the west’s camp to surrender

getting soul-scanned by eönw two minutes later. not fun

arafinwë pulling him into an enormous hug and then bursting into tears

the subsequent explanation as to just what happened to him and his brothers, which somehow got worse after he’d already thought they’d hit rock bottom like four separate times

proceeding to lose a staring contest with findaráto

the way everyone in camp looks at him like he’s an incredibly dangerous wild animal that might bite at any time

how if half of what arafinwë said is true he can’t even blame them, fuck, fuck

the twin half-elven(?????????????) princes he and his brother apparently kidnapped and held hostage for years, inflicting unimaginable cruelties as far as anyone knows

his first meeting with the kids happening when elrond broke into where they were holding maglor to scream at him in very loud very fast very angry sindarin for like half an hour

maglor just staring at him, eyes wide, ears pinned back, the whole time, and then trying to maul the first guard who mocked him for it

getting saddled with kinslayer containment duties in the aftermath of that whole incident

elrond punching him in the collarbone when he tried to apologise, shouting ‘you weren’t there, don’t you dare try to tell me what it was like’

elros’ visible half second of pure terror after the blow hit home

elros then using recognisable techniques from maitimo’s debate team circuit during a speech to the edain

like, clearly some shit did happen, but it’s obviously not what the local leadership’s afraid of

this sour-faced scar-covered warrior slipping out of the shadows in an unpopulated part of camp, kneeling before him, intoning ‘the swords of the host remain at your disposal my lord’ and then immediately vanishing

he didn’t recognise them until after they’d left but they were definitely one of his philosophy club friends, what even

just generally having woken up in a future a thousand times worse than his darkest nightmares

his natural instinct is to try and fix things, but how?? what’s even left to fix????

maglor sometimes goes into these unhinged desperate spiralling rambles directed at the older brother who exists in his head rather than the one in front of his eyes. whatever’s left of maitimo’s biggest little brother is clearly in so much pain

all the things he’s trying extremely hard not to think about because if he slows down enough to he’s pretty sure he’ll collapse

all the people he’s never met who hate him for pretty understandable reasons and whose social structure he now has to learn to have any hope of making it out of All This

the edain’s collective insistence on calling him pasthros

curufinwë isn’t even a hundred how does he have a kid

makalaurë, on the other hand, wakes up on a beach beneath a giant glowing orb. finding himself in a land so much barer than what he knows, among people whose souls don’t even work like his, his initial working theory is he’s been abducted by aliens

#silmarillion #my terrible fic #maedhros #maglor #elrond #elros #house of feanor #suicide ///#self harm ///#or in other words #late stage feanorians #other mental images include:#nelyo getting stupidly drunk with a bunch of edain enablers #random human fisherman: better not go out to the shore by night. there's a wandering spirit that sings of death and devours souls #kano: wow. you got a lot of those around here or #nelyo and kano glowing like beacons (they were just in the treelight after all) and constantly being surrounded by curious humans #nelyo talking the elro twins into talking to earendil while they still have a chance #galadriel: how dare you show your face around here kinslayer!!!#kano: ... wait are you artanis #he subsequently meets elrond and then serves as a sounding board for elrond's maglor issues #elrond: you know you act a lot like he did when he was blatantly faking being happy #kano: ... WELP #honestly i do feel like nelyo hangs out more with the edain than the other elves #for fun at least. he is bodily dragging mags into lorien he's never going to see these people again ever #as for the political situation... bless him he's trying #idk how all these aus interact i suspect there's divergent timelines involved #one last image:#seeing as how if he continues how he is everyone and everything he's ever loved will burn and die #feanaro steels himself up for the impossible #making up with nolofinwe

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calpops · 4 years

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honeymoon | c.h.

Your honeymoon with Calum is two weeks of bliss, snow, and going home.

1k words

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Calum’s hand takes yours and you feel the coolness of his wedding band, it sends shivers up your spine and contentment through your heart. His grip is loose and he swings your arms back and forth as you walk through the airport with luggage toted behind you. You’re not sure how he had managed to keep your honeymoon destination a secret until landing but he did it and surprise hits you when snow whirls outside the windows. The location and its climate explains the long pants and sweaters he had packed in your suitcase but not the bathing suit, shorts and sun hats. You ask about them but all he does is shrug and smirk and tell you to wait and see. Calum has everything arranged—the ride from the airport to a small cabin situated in the mountains, the cabin warm and spread with your favorite flowers. Your luggage gets abandoned as Calum decides scooping you up and carrying you over the threshold is more important.

He sets you down in the small living area where a fireplace stacked with logs greets you. Though the cabin is warm a chill runs through from the open door and you shiver, but it doesn’t last long as Calum wraps his arms around you, dips down to kiss your cheek and brush hair from your face.

“We’re married,” he says, the two words becoming much like a mantra as disbelief still sits with you both. You sway in his arms and blush as you look up at him.

“Everything is perfect,” you praise, hoping he knows you mean everything from the wedding to the cabin you stand in now. To him. “But we should probably shut the door.”

Calum laughs as a blow of chilly air comes in through the open door. Your luggage still sits on the small front porch. You both go out to bring it in and shut the door so the warmth can stay with you and the cold can stay outside. Large snowflakes fall from the sky and add to the blanket of white claiming the ground. You’ve travelled with Calum before, usually going to warmer places with beaches and sunsets. The contrast is stark and white and the sights of the mountain and snow that dazzles from sunlight are beautiful. You’d go anywhere in the world with Calum. He starts a fire and turns back to look at you as flames flicker to life. He glows golden from the light and you pat the couch cushion beside the one you’ve settled on.

The night previous was long and filled with excited bliss and lovemaking. You’d talked of starting a family, not wanting to wait any longer, and then set out to try and achieve it. You stayed up until the sun claimed the sky and then raced to the airport to make it to snowy hills. Exhaustion hangs thick and weary in the air, content sighs follow as Calum settles next to you and doesn’t hesitate to pull you into his arms.

“You like it?” Calum asks, eyes darting around the charming cabin.

You nod as a realization strikes you. “It’s very private.”

All you could ever want for a honeymoon is time with Calum. Uninterrupted. Just you and him and the warmth of being with each other.

“Good, we have an entire week here,” he says.

“I thought we had two weeks?” You ask, knowing he had said two weeks for the honeymoon.

“One week here,” he responds and noses at your cheek before giving you a kiss. “Next week is another surprise.”

You smile and find yourself spending the week between soft sheets, keeping each other warm, in the hot tub on the back deck, out on the mountain with cold noses that rub together and trying to start a family, all while dreaming of your hopes. Most nights bring candlelight and soft music. After days of roaming the mountain and spending time in the snow you’re both content to head for the bedroom where a king sized mattress bids you well. You pull him into bed, his lips roaming your skin, whispered words of want slipping from his lips, your body reacting to the desires between you both. He mumbles words of praise and compliments that make you shiver. You respond in kind, his name a song on from your lips as you sigh. You know each other and all of the things that drive the other wild. His hands roam and wander and his lips leave marks where you like them best. Highs are reached and come down into soft holds and small kisses peppering each other’s faces. More desires are traded as nights drag along. Talk of a family claims your discussions.

Time slips by in bliss and one week seems too short. Your goodbyes to the mountain are filled with sorrow. You don’t think that anywhere could ever get better but you’re willing to find out so long as it’s with Calum. He makes you close your eyes through the airport, his hand leading you and headphones claiming your ears so announcements won’t spoil the surprise. You’re not sure where you are when you land, nothing about the airport is of note, nothing about the view gives anything away but when Calum tells you there’s another flight in store you have an inkling of where you’re headed, the time and preparation for the sun clueing you in.

Another flight slips past though it’s long, you sleep against Calum and wake to his grin and a summer sky greeting you. He’s brought you home to Australia where summer is warm and those shorts and sun hats in your suitcase will be put to good use. You end up in a hotel near the beach, spend your time under the sun, trading kisses and bliss in the sand, in the hotel bed and shower and seemingly never take your hands off of each other. You both find new habits of twisting your wedding rings, holding each other’s hands and staring at the bands in wonder and awe as you dream about the family you want. It’s a subject that comes up when you go to visit Calum’s parents during a day you’re able to drag yourselves away from the beach and the bed and each other; somewhat, he still holds your hand and kisses your cheeks and keeps you close. They broach the topic and where Calum would have hesitated before, uncertain eyes flickering to you and then away, he answers right away, a sureness capturing his voice.

“We want at least two kids,” he tells his mum one afternoon you’ve taken her to lunch. “Sooner rather than later.”

You watch as his mom lights up and coos about grandbabies. When lunch is over and you find yourselves alone again, laid on the beach with the sun in your eyes and the crash of waves on the shore you turn to Calum.

“I love your family,” you say, starry eyed at the prospect of being parents like his—loving and caring and always there.

“They’re your family too,” Calum says softly and brushes your cheek with his thumb.

You smile and nod, knowing that’s true.

“Maybe we’ll have a start to ours when we get home,” Calum says with longing in his voice and softness in his eyes. “I can’t wait to be a parent with you.”

You can’t either. You’re not sure what will happen when you get home. If his words will come to life or if more time will be needed but you know you’ll be together through it all.

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#Calum hood blurbs #Calum hood imagines #5sos blurbs #5sos imagines #Calum hood smut #Calum hood fluff #5sos smut #5sos fluff #Calum hood x you #Calum hood x reader #5sos x you #5sos xreader #cal!dates

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obeymeshallwedate-latinplayer · 3 years

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Traditional costumes (Part 1) (GN!MC)

Hello there my darlings How´s it going? First of all, I must say the following:

OMG YASS! YASS I CAN DO IT!!! There are so many that It´s sad I can only put 11 of them but YES YES I´LL DO IT. I´m actually really excited about this, that we will have to parts of it!

Second: Thank you!!! Today we are 308 followers!!!! For me having this number of followers it´s still a dream, and I really loved so much the idea of the typical costume, that it will be a 308 followers special divided in 2 parts, welcome to the first part. Thank you for following! I will keep doing my very best!!

Lucifer (Jarocho Veracruz)

Lucifer was walking by, when he saw you taking care of a big white dress, the first thing he thought “A brides dress?” He wasn´t enterally wrong, but he wasn´t right.

He asked you nicely what were you doing and why did you have a bride’s dress. The only thing you could do was laugh, Lucifer might be the all mighty one above the seven brothers, but sometimes he was too naïve. Or maybe that was just your imagination.

He saw the embroidery in the apron that was over the skirt, and he wondered: How many hours it took to do that embroidery? Even the skirt was way to thick, and sometimes he forgot that humans had many ways to dress up. He touched the fabric, even that red fabric was so beautiful How was it called? Rebozo?

He looked so intrigued that you decided to tell the story about the dress.

“In the colony time, Veracruz were one of the most important ports around the world. Spanish women stayed in Papaloma´s river basin, the wore big old dresses, with thick fabric, but in Veracruz that doesn´t take place, not back then not even now, it´s beach and it has a humid climate. The Spanish and creoles used to dress a colorful skirt and an apron with embroidery flowers, also a shawl with lace, and silk ribbons, even a hand fan, by the other hand, indigenous and mestizas women used to use flowery skirts and blanket blouses with a rebozo and their hair were braided. But the dress of the Spanish and the creoles didn´t work out, the weather was so hot that they simply decided to use cotton and organdy. But I guess, this “new” dress was used for the creoles wedding dress. Now a days is typical to be use in folkloric dances.”

For someone like Lucifer, he didn´t waste a second, and he dreamt, maybe in some years you could use that dress on your wedding day.

Mammon. (Charro Jalisco)

He was sneaking into your room, for sure he was searching something to steal and then sell it, maybe the great Mammom would buy something for you, something nice. His human must use something nice, maybe a necklace. He knew that you kept your precious little something in the closet, so he check it, and oh surprise, that ain´t little.

That was a heavy suit for a human your size, and are those silver buttons? He was actually impressed, he looked to every single detail in the costume, that hat is actually so beautiful that he needed to use it, no matter what, he needed to put that in his head.

That´s why you discover him, he was in front of your mirror, you took a mentally note, he needed a charro suit to, maybe you will teach him the folklore dance. When he heard you laugh he started to blush, saying that he wasn´t doing nothing at all.

“Mammon. Would you like to hear the story of this suit?” His eyes had that childish sparkle, and he immediately sat in your bed, waiting for the story.

“The charro suit started from decades away, in the colonial time, must say in the XVI century, with a very fine work, with gold and silver buttons, embroidery of golden thread. But, you know, only the wealthy ones could use the accessories, the intelligent ones, would make their owns, with maybe some paint, and creating the best suit of them all, just like the saying says. “El charro de cuero se viste, por ser lo que más resiste”. Now a days mariachis and dancers use it, and also some horse riders for exhibitions. “

Mammon was as happy as a child, he needed that suit from old centuries, maybe Lucifer had one.

Leviathan (Azteca Tenochtitlán (This city does not longer exist, it´s not even a state) )

Levi was sitting in the living room, when he heard something, were does bells? No way that noise wasn´t a bell one, it was more like a bone sound, so he followed the sound, and there you where, in the garden, with your full costume, dancing for the gods and for practice, you didn´t want to forget the dance your ancestors made so many centuries away.

When you felt the presence of him you turned around and smiled at him. “Levi, do you like my Hueseras? My grandpa made them for me! Aren´t them cute? Oh maybe you prefer the penacho? It´s so hard to find the Quetzal feathers.” He just stopped breathing, you looked just like that final boss of the game: “Trying to avoid to be a sacrifice for the Gods and keeping my heart on my chest.”

He just nodded, after that a big silence started between the two of you. So you decided to keep dancing, and he was just there watching you, with stars in his eyes, and you decided to tell him the story about the clothing,

“Before the conquest, my ancestors used to use beautiful clothing, with animal skin and feathers of birds, they made each outfit for each person in the social pyramid, the Tlatoani used the Penachos, also some bishops did it too, and head military ones, usually the military were decorated with gold and seashells, and a difficult headpieces, women if they weren´t in the high society used to use Huipiles and Quexquémitl, with skirts and natural pigments.”

Levi was amazed, just like in his game, but this time he needed a translator to understand those words you said, he wanted to use one of them too.

“Now, how about I teach you how to dance.”

Satan. (Traje elegante Nuevo León)

Satan had been invited to an opening from a new restaurant in Devildom, sometimes he would ask himself if it was fine for him to go alone for this type of events. Today he wanted to take you out for a nice dinner. Formal clothing, or that´s what it says in the invitation, well you had the fanciest clothing in the whole world just in your closet, so you took it out, you prepared yourself and you were ready to go. The avatar of wrath didn´t mention a thing, although you clothing of tonight was stunning and tons of looks were on you that night, after few drinks, and you telling every demon, that the mezcal of your country was ten times better than the drink in the Devildom, some of those demons actually asked. “Why are you in a custom?” Oh dear, not even Satan could make something when you picked the microphone. “Demons, this ain´t a costume, now, sit and listen to the story of this magnificent outfit. It all started in the colonial age in Mexico, Nuevo León did not had that extraordinary change from the conquest, actually the indigenous were nomads and we don´t have much of their cultural information. Women and men needed to have a hard character. In 1960 the dress maker Ramón Validosera made this beautiful suit for all of us, in 1970 it was one of the most important yet one of the greatest folkloric costumes in Mexico. This suit was made for the ones that will work hard enough in the fields, even though the women one is more complex than the male one.” After the explanation they stopped watching you with smirks in their faces, they actually asked if you could take a photo with them. When the party was over, Satan took your hand and escort you back to the house. “You didn´t mention that the suit was made for a beer festival”. He told you, and you laugh. “It wasn’t necessary. And it will be our secrete.”

Asmo ( China poblana Puebla)

Asmo had this epiphany, he had seen a folkloric dance of Mexico so long ago, and he just remembered it, he was sitting in one of the library armchairs, watching an old photo album, wondering if you were in the house, he started to seek you. When he heard you in Levi´s room he took you away.

“Mc! You are from Puebla, right?” You made a silent nod. “So, do you own one of the folkloric dress?” The question leaves you thinking. “I guess, but is in the human realm.” With those words Asmo actually begged Lucifer for authorization to go into the human realm.

When you arrived into your house, Asmo asked you nicely if you could tell him all about the dress. “Well, the story starts in the Colonial age, the legend says, that a chines woman was sold as a slave, but ended up in the hands of the richest. Actually she wasn´t chines nor from Puebla, she was a princes from Mongolia, but they were in a war so she was captured and sold as a slave, from hand to hand was sold, just like Malinche, anyway she found a good person that protected her, and then she married a merchant in Puebla, after that she lived until her 70´s. Her clothing was so beautiful and weird for the age, in one part beautiful Indigenous colors and in the other Spanish silk, with big ornaments in her hair. After some years they improve the dress, It consists of a white short-sleeved shirt, low on the chest, made of fine cotton embroidered with various colorful motifs. The skirt is a long skirt of thick fabric in dark red, with embroidery on the front that reproduce the national symbols: the eagle devouring the serpent perched on a cactus, or the Aztec calendar. The outfit is completed by a fine silk shawl in the tones of the colors of our national flag; and the one that requires the bun braided with tricolor bows, several necklaces of paper beads and large gold earrings.”

When you finished the story Asmo was tearing, a poor young woman who was sold by a men, but she found true love, was just, too beautiful.

After that he made you use the dress and well, the rest is story.

Let´s learn some Spanish and more than that:

Malinche: Indigenous women that helped Hernán Cortés for the conquest in Mexico. And it´s also a volcanos name, so be careful when you talk about her, you might be talking about the volcano.

Huaseras: Bells that are included in the aztec dance, also known as: Ayoyotl.

Penacho: Set of raised feathers that certain birds have on top of their heads

Quetzal: Bird from Mexico, in Nahuatl the name means long tail of bright feathers.

Tlatoani: Head of the Aztec society, something like a president.

El charro de cuero se viste, por ser lo que más resiste” : The leather charro dresses, for being the thing that resists the most

Rebozo: Shawl or cloak of cotton, wool or silk of various colors, used by some village women to cover their heads, shoulders, chest and back as a coat; It is also used to wrap and carry a child.

#obeyme #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me headcanons #obey me asmodeus #Obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke

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intubatedangel · 3 years

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Cold Snap: Chapter 1

I’m back, again, hopefully a bit more consistently. This time returning to the world of Anna Swift with a story that’s been an idea for almost 2 years but couldn’t quite come together. No resus in this part, just setting up the scene, but I hope you enjoy.

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Shona dragged her large suitcase up the ramp and onto the lower deck of the old water taxi. It had become almost like an old friend to her over the last few years, the point of seperation between home and college. She turned and waved to her parents, who stood back on the quay, watching thier daughter leave for the last semester of her college life. In truth she wasn't going all that far. Only a dozen or so miles as the crow flies, and within the limits of the same greater city area. But while the city had grown and expanded to absorb her old home town as a mere suburb, the city's transport links had not kept pace. While the rail network ran along each side of the river, it didn't cross at this end of the city. There were plans for new bridges, but they never materialised. And so, instead of taking a 3 hour trip on the city metro, Shona would take the trusty water taxi that had been crossing the river back and forth for as long as her mother remembered, and be at her dorm within 40 minutes.

A good idea really, she thought, pulling on the suitcase behind her, trying to get it rolling again. She cursed internally at her professors for giving them so much work over the spring break, the suitcase weighed down with what felt like half a library. A gust of cold wind blasted her face, and she thought of another curse, this one at the northern climate. To many, spring break was about running around on beaches nearly naked having parties and getting tanned. To say it would not be advisable here was an understatement. This far north, winter was still clinging on, to the point where snow lay on the ground just a few weeks ago.

Shona pulled her scarf up a little further as she dragged the suitcase toward the door at the rear of the cabin, where luggage could be stowed out of the way. She pushed it open then spun to grip the suitcase handle with both hands and haul it over the small threshold, staggering back a little as the wheels finally rocked over. A gust of wind sucked the door closed with a loud bang and shone flinched, glancing around to see if anyone noticed. Like public transport in most cities, no one so much as glanced at her.

She ducked into the luggage area, and her heart sank. All the lower shelves were full. She walked over, wondering just how she was going to stow the case. She vaguely heard the door behind her, then the sound of rolling wheels that approached and stopped beside her.

"Erm, would you like a hand?" A male voice said. Shone turned to him. He was young, maybe a similar age to herself, with black hair in that intentionally messy style. He raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Not infering anything about the strength of your gender...You just looked... and I need to..." He glanced at his own case, similar sized to hers.

Shona shook her head "Sorry, yes that would be great." She smiled. "We can each lift half." She commented, prompting a grin from the young man. Together they lifted her bag. Well, Shona steadied it at least.

"Student?" The young man asked, with a slight pant from the effort. Shona nodded, and opened her mouth to reply. "Wait, let me try and guess. Your on this taxi, so you must be studying at Central. That amount of books, over spring break no less, narrows it down. Medical students are already back, my roomate's doing Chem and says all the natural sciences work is based on their own labs now. And, I haven't seen you in any of my classes or on my floor of the library, so by process of elimination I'm going to say... History."

"Impressive." Shona told him with a grin. "You must be studying literature." She grinned at his shocked face. "My roommate is in that course. She can almost quote the entire works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at this point, and she told me that almost everyone goes through a Sherlock phase in that course."

He chuckles. "Well played. I must know the name of the lady who bested me." He said, with a mock bow.

Shona couldn't help but chuckle too, though it was drowned out by the horn of the water taxi, as it gave it's last call. Shona felt the familiar rumble as the engine got into gear and began to ramp up in power. "Shona. Shona Smith-Carlson. Yes it's double barrelled. Ardent Feminist of a mother refused to give up her maiden name."

"Well theres nothing wrong with that. Though by the look on your face you aren't too happy it."

"It's not that," Shona shrugs. "She just never shuts up about it. Still loves dad though." She trails off, the silence starting to become awkward. "What about you?" She re-directs. "I'm guessing your name isn't actually Sherlock."

He smiles. "Jack Davidson. Not literally, My dad's actually called Mark."

"You must have practiced that line." Shona said, trying not to laugh at the perfect delivery.

"Maybe once or twice, but it's a good ice breaker, don't you think?" He replied with another dazzling smile.

It was a nice smile. The boat jerked slightly as it left the quay and started its journey across the river. Shona rocked a little, Jacks arm moved, lifting a little, not quite reaching out, but ready to steady her if she had stumbled, and Shona suddenly realised he was flirting. Why did this always happen? She fought to not roll her eyes. Her girlfriend was going to rib her again. She would have to let him down gently. She took off her scarf, wrapping it and putting it into one pocket, and then unzipped her coat. She caught his eyes flick down as all men’s do, then slightly to one side, catching sight of the rainbow badge.

He blew out a breath, then nodded with a wry grin. "That's a good move. I am out played once again. Though I suppose we aren't quite playing the same game are we."

Shona shrugged. "Sorry." She mumbled.

Jack waved his hand. "Don't be. Not like you can change who you are. How about we get my bag stowed and then we grab a coffee on the upper deck?" Shona looked at him, puzzled. "Your roommate. From what you were saying she's a year ahead of me. A bit of early information is always good."

Shona considered it for a moment. He wasn't being pushy or angry like one of those guys. And she was planning on getting a coffee. So she shrugged. "Why not, company is always nice."

Together they lifted Jack's case, a little lighter than her own, and placed it in the rack. But as he was checking it was secure, Shona felt a rumble. A different rumble, one that she had never felt before on over two dozen journeys. If she'd been outside, she would have seen a plume of black smoke rise out the tall exhaust stack. If she'd been in the cabin that qualified as the bridge of the boat, she'd have heard voices filled with panic as alarms squarked.

Shona and Jack started up the stairs in front of the luggage compartment, when there was another rumble, and a strange noise filled the passenger cabin as the whole ship vibrated. Shona stopped halfway up the stairs, looking behind her. Jack turned to her, three steps higher up.

"What is it?" He asked

Shona shook her head "The boat. Somethings wr..."

Her voice was totally drowned out by the noise of the engine exploding.

**********

Officer Matt Jones sat on the small river patrol boat, bobbing slightly against it's mooring. He glanced at his watch. Just another 7 hours and 50 minutes of his 8 hour shift. He sighed, feeling that boiling anger as he rembered getting busted down to river patrol. Not even standard beat cop, river patrol. In March, in this city, where even the foolish wouldn't think of getting in the river. Only the desperate. But this section of the river didn't even have any bridges, ruling that out too.

"So..." The old timer, Winston, who was now his partner muttered. "Who did you piss off to land yourself here?"

Jones breathed out slowly, sending the anger with it. "You know Dean Campbell?"

"The head of HR Dean Campbell?" Jones nodded, Winston whistled. "What did you do?"

"I may have pointed out that he was... inadequate for the position. In somewhat more forceful terms. To his face..."

Winston spat into the river. "That would do it. Not that you are wrong of course, that little weasel has done nothing but damage to the department, but, not exactly the wisest decision.

Jones nodded. "What about you?"

"I asked to be here." Winston replied, prompting a look from Jones. "Coming up on retirement. The last thing I wanted was to be that stereotype. Always liked fishing, figured I'd get some boat time and avoid anything likely to finish me off before my service is done."

"That's fair enough I guess." Jones told him, sipping at the coffee, watching the old water taxi make it's way across the river. He noticed the black smoke, but thought nothing of it. "Does anything interesting happen here?"

"Wouldn't have picked this spot if it did." Winston replied. "Occasionally that floating wreck needs a hand when it breaks, but that's about it." He says turning to look. "Speking of which, that exhaust don't look too healthy." He said a moment before the radio squarked, lighting up an indicator on the emergency channel.

"This is the Beetle, may-day, may-day, our engine is...." The radio cut off as a gout of thick black smoke burst from the exhaust tube, and the distant boat seemed to lurch. A split second later the sound wave of the explosion reached them.

"Get us moving!" Jones shouted to Winston, as he grabbed at his own radio. "This is officer Jones, Badge number 4582. We have a major incident in progress on the river between....between..."

"Between North Inglebank and Trippers point!" Winston shouted.

"Between North Inglebank and Trippers point. Explosion on a water taxi, we are en-route, unknown casualties, unknown situation, requesting additional backup for evacuation and medical assistance!"

"Acknowledged Officer Jones. Relaying now."

Winston had gotten the speed boat unmoored, tossing a high-vis life jacket to Jones, before he gunned the motor and they began to cut through the waves, heading for the vessel that was now smoking from more than just the exhaust.

(Edit: Fixed some errors and details. A little out of practice.)

#medical drama #cpr #defib #resus writing #Anna Swift

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magic-and-moonlit-wings · 3 years

Text

Chapter 55: Movie Night

Lots of quotes from the movie Lilo & Stitch ahead! Fewer quotes, but some, from Trolls and Frozen.

Bold italics are trollish, ~tildes~ indicate goblin.

Content warnings for this chapter: Swearing. Here we reach the story's first F-bomb.

Also, there is some talk between characters about the harshness of life in the Darklands, how Changelings are treated by the Gumm-Gumms, and mentions of cannibalism.

This was supposed to be a light-happy chapter that got feels-y at the end, but then it went and got all dark on me.

Oh, also-also, (Not) Enrique finds out Claire flirted with Jim a while ago and misinterprets what exactly happened between them, but that gets cleared up fast.

Becoming The Mask

Once again, Javier and Ophelia Nuñez were out for the evening, leaving Claire in charge of Enrique. Claire had gotten permission to invite "some friends" over to watch movies. Jim and Toby arrived to find Mary and Darci already there – Jim suspected, like the time he'd 'babysat', that Claire had purposefully asked him to arrive after she knew her parents would be gone.

They set up piles of cushions and blankets on the floor between the couch and the TV. Jim propped the Amulet up on the coffee table they'd pushed to one side. Maybe some of the ghost Trollhunters would be interested in human movies.

"Finally get your fill of the touchy-feelies?" Enrique teased Jim, seeing how they were all seated separately. Jim snorted.

"Not hardly." He pulled the smaller Changeling in for a hug. "Humans just have different rules about casual touching, is all. Freezing to death's not really a concern in this climate."

"Wait, what?" said Toby, dropping the pillow he'd been holding. Jim looked up to see all the humans staring at him.

"Darklands thing," said Enrique easily. "Gets cold there."

"We'd sleep in piles," Jim explained. "I had a bit of a reputation for being … clingy."

"If you weren't good at finding food and soft stuff, we'd never've put up with ya." Enrique proved himself a liar by climbing onto Jim's shoulders instead of jumping back to the floor. He fluffed the hair on Jim's scalp. "Jimmy-boy got his first nickname for that."

"Shut up," said Jim playfully. "Anyway, humans get weird about touching around puberty. I can still hug Mom whenever I want, but Toby gets embarrassed if I hug him around other people, and Claire, Mary, and Darci haven't given me permission to touch them casually yet."

"… Did you … want permission?" asked Claire. "You, kinda, said you were uncomfortable with that, I thought."

"No, it was more wondering if you were flirting with me that felt weird," Jim assured her. "After that conversation I felt like it'd be awkward to bring up that I was open to hugging and such."

Jim thought he felt Enrique growl, to quietly to properly hear. His hand, still in Jim's hair, changed position so the tips of Enrique's claws were on Jim's scalp.

"When exactly did this happen?" Enrique asked.

"Claire kissed Jim on the cheek on his birthday and then Jim said he wasn't interested in dating her," said Mary.

"Also that I realized she might not have meant it in a flirty way and if I was misinterpreting things she could ignore what I was saying," Jim added. The claws retreated.

Claire looked away. "So what movie did we want to start with?"

"Lilo & Stitch!" exclaimed Darci, looking through the shelves. "I haven't watched this in forever!"

"That's a good one." Jim tilted his head to get Enrique back in his peripheral vision. "Enrique, have you seen it yet?"

"… Yeah."

"Isn't that the one that always makes you cry?" asked Toby.

"It's beautiful. Of course I cry."

Stitch was a constructed 'abomination', who shapeshifted to blend in, and his adopted family found out what he truly was and still wanted him. How could Jim be expected to keep his composure in the face of that?

"So, quick question," said Jim. "Is talking during the movie a crime, or is commentary what makes it a group activity?"

"Commentary," said all three girls together.

"Okay, good." Jim and Toby usually talked during movies, unless one or both of them were seeing it for the first time. Sometimes even then.

+=+

"Not guilty! My experiments are only theoretical, and completely within legal boundaries."

"We believe you actually created something."

"Created something? Ha! But that would be irresponsible, and, unethical. I would never, ever – make more than one."

"What is that monstrosity?"

"Monstrosity?! What you see before you is the first of a new species!"

"You have to wonder if she and Merlin ever had a talk like this," Enrique muttered in Jim's ear. Jim snickered.

"And as for that abomination … it is the flawed product of a deranged mind. It has no place among us."

Jim stopped laughing and cringed. He loved this movie a lot, but some of it stung.

+=+

"A quiet capture would require an understanding of 626 that we do not possess! Who, then, Mr Pleakley, would you send for his extraction?"

"… Does he have a brother? Close grandmother, perhaps?"

"Fun fact," said Darci, "in early drafts Stitch was a career criminal and Jumba was an old accomplice."

"Friendly cousin? Neighbour with a beard?"

+=+

"Surely the teacher won't notice I was late if he doesn't see me come in!" Claire narrated sarcastically.

+=+

"I'm sorry, Scrump!" Mary wailed, as Lilo ran back to retrieve the doll she'd angrily thrown aside.

+=+

"Let me illuminate to you the precarious situation in which you have found yourself. I am the one they call when things go wrong. And things have indeed gone wrong."

"As a cook, that kitchen horrifies me," said Jim.

+=+

"If you promise not to fight anymore, I promise not to yell at you – except on special occasions."

"Tuesdays and bank holidays would be good."

The entire group cracked up.

"How does kid Lilo's age even know what a bank holiday is?" said Claire. "I don't even know what a bank holiday is!"

"Maybe she saw it printed on a calendar?" said Toby.

+=+

A raindrop fell on Stitch's head. He fired his ray gun into the sky. It started raining, hard.

"Oh, no, I broke the sky!" Darci cried.

+=+

"Does it have to be this dog?"

"He survived getting hit by a truck, how much more sturdy and not-gonna-die do you want?" asked Jim.

"Yes. He's good. I can tell."

+=+

"I'm sorry I bit you. And pulled your hair. And punched you in the face."

Mary nudged Claire. "Remind you of anyone?"

Like sunflowers, everyone else popped up and turned towards them.

Claire blushed. "We got into a fight in first grade and for like two days we decided we didn't want to be friends anymore, then our moms made us say sorry."

"He will be irresistibly drawn to large cities, where he will back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everyone's left shoe."

"It's weird they get in trouble for everything but this," commented Enrique. "Human grown ups might not believe a dog stole a trike, but wouldn't they think Lilo did it? She's fought the other kid before."

"It's nice to live on an island with no large cities."

+=+

"It's not an angel, Lilo, I don't even think it's a dog!"

"Isn't that the rolling thing Draal can do?" said Toby.

"Yeah, more or less," said Jim. "I mean, I don't think Draal bites his feet – but maybe that's the trick."

"At least with those stick legs you've got," said Enrique. He curled into a ball and rolled in a circle around the group. "Face it, you're out of proportion for this move."

+=+

"626 was designed to be a monster. But now, there is nothing to destroy. You see, I never gave him a greater purpose. What must it be like, to have nothing? Not even memories to visit, in the middle of the night?"

"Now, this next bit I don't care for," said Jim. "The Ugly Duckling is a messed-up story."

"What've you got against The Ugly Duckling?" asked Mary.

"The blatant segregationist propaganda? 'A swan will never fit in with ducks and everyone is better off sticking with their own kind'. You don't even have to read it as a race metaphor. Between that and The Little Mermaid, I thought for while that Hans Christian Anderson was a Changeling writing cautionary tales about why we shouldn't get attached to humans."

"… Was he?" asked Claire.

"Probably not. I couldn't find any real evidence and the rest of his work doesn't match the pattern."

"Counterpoint," said Darci. "The Ugly Duckling is pro-integration. Everyone thought he was an ugly duckling because they didn't know what swans look like. If he'd grown up with ducks and swans around, they could've judged him for what he was instead of what he couldn't measure up to, and he might've had a happy childhood instead of only finding a community that accepted him as an adult."

Jim considered this, and nodded. "I guess I can see that, too."

+=+

"Heard you lost your job."

"Well, uh, actually, I just quit. That job. Because, you know, the hours are just not conducive to the challenges of raising a child –"

"Nani, no!" Jim begged. "I know almost nothing about Social Services but I'm pretty sure choosing to leave your only source of income looks worse to them than just losing it!"

"Thus far you have been adrift in the sheltered harbour of my patience; but I cannot ignore you being jobless. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly."

"And next time I see this dog, I expect it to be a model citizen. Capiche?"

"Uh … yes?"

"New job. Model citizen. Good day."

+=+

"So, we saw Cobra on the beach after all the tourists got scared off … D'you think he was just standing there watching them the whole time?" Mary wondered out loud after the surfing sequence.

+=+

"Until we meet again …"

Lilo was about to tell Stitch about her parents. Without thinking, Jim grabbed the remote – on the coffee table, next to the amulet – to fast forward.

"What are you doing?" Darci cried. "This is one of the big emotional turning points of the film!"

Jim paused it. "Sorry. Uh … Tobes and I usually skip this scene."

"I think I can handle it," Toby assured Jim. To the girls and Enrique, he explained, "My parents died in a storm when I was two. A cruise ship, not a car accident. I got kind of upset the first time we watched this as kids, and, we got in the habit fast forwarding this part. I think I'm okay with it now."

"You're sure?" asked Jim.

"I'm sure."

"Okay …" He rewound to the point where he'd started fast forwarding.

"That's us before. It was rainy, and they went for a drive. What happened to yours?"

Jim watched Toby more than the movie for the next few minutes.

"I'll remember you, though. I remember everyone that leaves."

"Do you remember them?" Claire asked quietly.

"Only the stuff Nana tells me." Toby shrugged, and readjusted the cushions he'd propped up his arms on. "I've seen lots of pictures. A couple home movies."

+=+

"Don't run. Don't make me shoot you. You were expensive. Yes, yes, that's it, come quietly."

"I'm … waiting."

"For what?"

"Family."

"Ah. You don't have one. I made you."

"Maybe … I could –"

"You were built to destroy. You can never belong."

Jim blinked fast to keep the tears back. He sniffed, and pulled the blankets more tightly around him.

+=+

"Okay, talk! I know you had something to do with this, now where's Lilo? Talk! I know you can."

"Claire?" said Mary. "You okay?"

Jim looked over. Claire's jaw was clenched, and her hands were tight on the blanket, and her eyes were huge and fixed on the screen, and she was shaking.

"Ah … maybe the little sib getting snatched by otherworldly forces wasn't the best movie choice," Enrique said. He reached out like he was about to go to Claire, then pulled back his hand and hunkered down where he was.

"LILO! She's a little girl this big, she has black hair and brown eyes, and she hangs around with that THING!"

"I'm. Fine," Claire insisted.

"You're sure?"

"We can just fast forward."

"I said I'm fine!"

"Okay …"

Mary and Darci each scooted their blanket and cushion piles closer to Claire's, bracketing her on either side. Jim tactfully retreated to the Nuñezes kitchen to microwave a few more bags of popcorn. Enrique went with him. They could still hear the TV.

"What? After all you put me through, you expect me to help you just like that? Just like that?!"

"Ih."

"Fine."

"Fine? You're doing what he says?"

"Ah, he is very persuasive."

"Is it normal to feel bad for her?" Enrique asked.

"I think so? It's an awkward situation for both of you." Jim selected the white cheddar flavour. "But it's not like there's an alternative. You're not a polymorph. And really, the only reason she's upset is because she found out."

The Nuñezes had the same microwave as the Lakes. Jim didn't find the popcorn setting especially useful for this brand of popcorn – it tended to burn a third of the kernels– so he used the timer instead.

"I never apologized to you for that, did I?" Jim asked.

"It wasn't all your fault."

"Still, I'm sorry for my part in getting you caught."

The Changelings got back to the living room in time to see the unfortunate tourist lose his ice cream for the third time.

+=+

"Does Stitch have to go in the ship?"

"Yes."

"Can Stitch say goodbye?"

"… Yes."

Like he always did during this scene, Jim cried. He let himself do it this time.

+=+

"Wait, how is Little Mermaid a cautionary tale?" asked Enrique during the credits. The camera panned over a photo of Stitch reading to a flock of ducklings. "For getting attached, I mean. I thought the moral of that one was to control yer temper and be careful who you made deals with?"

"Sure, the Disney version," said Jim. "They adapted it to make a more dramatic, less depressing story. And give the characters names. In the older version, the sea witch is actually a neutral character. The terms of the mermaid's transformation are that she's traded her tongue for legs, but walking on land hurts, and she'll become fully human if the prince marries her, but if he marries anybody else, she'll die."

"That doesn't sound neutral."

"Wait for it. The prince gets engaged to a human princess, so the mermaid's older sisters trade their hair to the sea witch for a magic knife and a loophole; if the little mermaid kills the prince before the wedding, she can turn back into a mermaid and survive."

"Kay, I see it now."

"Except she doesn't go through with the kill, so she dies, and because she wasn't really human, she doesn't have a proper soul, so her spirit's not allowed to go to Heaven."

"… Whoa."

"I know, right?"

"I mean," Mary commented, "not murdering somebody is kind of a low bar for moral decency. It's not as if the prince owed her anything just because she was attracted to him."

"No, no, whether the prince deserved to die or not is irrelevant," said Jim. "The point is that the mermaid had a chance to, objectively, trade one life for another, and because she was attached to the particular person she'd have to kill, she didn't prioritize her own survival, and therefore suffered."

"Wouldn't the guilt of murder have caused suffering anyway?" Toby pointed out.

"Not if she wasn't attached," Jim insisted. How were they not getting this? "If she could've just cut the throat of any random human, she'd've been fine. The moral of the story is that caring about people causes pain. That's what makes it depressing."

"Do you like any fairy tales?" asked Darci.

"Sure. Just not most of Anderson's work."

"What should we watch next?" said Claire hospitably. "If we're on a 'sister movies' theme, I've got Frozen."

"Isn't that one also based on an Anderson fairy tale?" said Mary.

"Not really," said Jim. "The Snow Queen was more 'inspiration' than 'source material'. Elsa never kidnaps anyone, and they left out the broken enchanted mirror. Plus it's fun to see all the different ways humans think trolls are like."

"We also have the Trolls movie," said Claire. "I haven't watched it yet. My dad got it for Mom's birthday because she used to collect the dolls."

"I haven't seen that one yet, either," Darci commented.

"Should we?" said Mary. "Any other votes?"

"I'm game for whatever," said Toby. "This one's a musical, right? Those are always fun."

Jim squirmed.

He hadn't watched this movie despite his curiosity, after an online clip of the opening had explained the premise. Getting eaten alive was his greatest fear. Did he want to watch a movie about trolls narrowly avoiding being eaten? Did he want to explain why he didn't want to watch it?

While he debated, the movie got put in.

"Once upon a time, in a happy forest, in the happiest tree, lived the happiest creatures the world has ever known: the trolls. They loved nothing more than to sing, and dance, and hug, and dance and hug and sing and dance and sing and hug –"

Enrique started laughing.

Oh, shit, Jim hadn't warned him.

"Uh, Enrique –"

"Ssh! This is ridiculous. I mean, the huggy bit's kind of like you, but the rest of it – ha!"

"But then one day, the trolls were discovered by – a Bergen!"

"The trolls are gonna –"

"Ji-im! Spoilers!" Toby hissed.

"They were the most miserable creatures in all the land."

Jim grabbed Enrique and covered his eyes. The smaller Changeling yelped and squirmed. Jim switched forms so his fingers wouldn't bleed from the clawing.

Enrique got his eyes uncovered just in time to see the Bergen flick a troll into its mouth.

The onscreen troll's exclamation of "Oh my god!" was drowned out by Enrique's much more lurid cursing.

"What the –?" The girls and Toby all turned to stare. Claire pointed at Enrique accusingly. "I knew that didn't mean 'I'm sorry'!"

"The hell kinda movie is this?! Why would you watch this?!" He twisted to look at Jim, who let go of him rather than risk yanking his scruff by accident. "You knew?!"

"I saw a bit of it on the internet when it first came out. That's why I froze up when Claire suggested it."

That … that was the wrong thing to say. Enrique rounded on Claire. A techno-rock cover of In The Hall Of The Mountain King boomed from the movie soundtrack.

"Why in FUCK'S NAME would you think we'd WANT to watch trolls get EATEN? Is this some kind of threat?"

"How the fuck would it be a threat?" Claire shot back, stealing some cushions from Mary to prop herself up taller without getting out of her blanket cocoon.

"Most Changelings –" Jim started to say.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I'VE ALMOST BEEN EATEN?" Enrique roared. "I DON'T! CAUSE IT'S A LOT!"

"We've all had close calls," Jim finished. "Nyarlagroths, Hellheetis, goblins if you catch them in the wrong mood, Gruesomes if you're already hurt, Stalklings, and it's a … popular threat from Gumm-Gumms."

"You forgot the sloorbeasts," said Enrique bitterly.

"Nobody's gotten lichen patches that bad." At least, they hadn't when Jim got out. "Have they?"

"Still counts."

"Uh, excuse me." Toby raised his hand. "I think I speak for us all when I say, what?"

"The Darklands are a hostile environment with predators and scavengers," explained Jim. "That's the other reason we slept in groups."

"Bigger targets, but we could have lookouts."

"Okay, that's its own kind of horrifying, but I was more reacting to the cannibalism?"

"Changelings don't count as real trolls," Enrique said sarcastically. "We're Impure."

He left out the part where they'd eaten their own dead. Jim didn't add it.

(It wasn't like they'd hunted each other for food. Sometimes a Changeling just died, somehow, in a way that didn't get them eaten by something else, and … well, food was scarce in the Darklands. They couldn't afford to be picky.

It also paid to keep watch over the sentry posts. Gunmar occasionally used the Decimaar Blade to post a sentry and then forgot to order them to rest and eat. Once they died, the average adult Gumm-Gumm was a meal for twenty Changelings, easily, if they could get to the body before the Gruesomes did.)

"Okay, we're switching to Frozen." Mary made the executive decision. "Wait," she said, while exchanging the disks. "If Changelings aren't trolls, how does Jim's adoption work?"

Because of course this was the perfect moment to tell Enrique about that, right in the middle of a squabble with his adopted sister.

"For one thing, most of Trollmarket still thinks I'm human." Jim switched back to human shape to illustrate the point.

"You got adopted?"

"AAARRRGGHH and Blinky thought I should have legal standing in Trollmarket outside of my job."

Enrique stared at him. Green diamond-shaped ears were pinned back. Buggy, slit-pupil eyes were wide and hurt.

"You get everything," he grumbled. "Two nicknames, and the goblins liked you, and you could always find food, and here you're the boss's favourite even when you're a traitor, and your human family still likes you, and now you get a troll family too? S'not fair."

"Hey, the goblins liked you, too." Jim was fully aware that wasn't much comfort compared to all the rest of it. "They gave you your nickname, remember?"

"They gave you one, too."

"Yeah, but you got yours first."

They probably weren't supposed to hear Darci when she muttered, "I feel like we're missing a lot of context."

"Shit," Claire muttered back. "Not Enrique told me a bit of the name part. They don't remember their names from before they were Changelings, and they don't get real names until they have Familiars, so they use nicknames instead. From each other or from goblins, he said."

"They don't get names?" Darci's voice went squeaky at the end of that.

"We're trying to come up with something other than 'Enrique' for him."

"You're trying," Enrique corrected. Darci squeaked again.

"Can we maybe circle back to the cannibalism thing?" said Toby. "That feels like the kind of trauma that should get unpacked at some point."

"I would rather leave it packed," said Jim.

"The way you blurted it out like that feels like you need to talk about it."

"Not all psychology is Freudian, Tobes."

"Do your parents still have baby name books from when they were picking Enrique's name?" Mary asked Claire. "Real Enrique, I mean."

"They didn't use one. He was named after our abuelo."

"Okay, so what about your other grandfather? What was his name?"

"Jose María." Defensively, "It's gender neutral in Spanish."

On the television screen, the movie menu finished another loop and started again.

"I tried spelling my name like it sounds, en are ee kay, but Claire said it spelled 'Nrek'. You get why I couldn't use that."

Jim laughed.

"What's funny?" asked Toby. "Is that an insult or something?"

"No, it's goblin, in English it means 'bottle'," Jim translated. "Or possibly 'container of food'." The only bottles he's seen them use held formula for the Familiars, and the word hadn't come up on the surface, so the distinction was unclear. "It's either a silly name or a really morbid one."

"Aaand we're back to the cannibalism."

"No we are not!"

"Na na na heyana, Hahiyaha naha …"

Either somebody had decided to start the movie, or the DVD had that feature where it automatically began playing if nothing was selected after a few loops of the menu.

The conversation went in circles a couple more times, then faded out.

+=+

"And who's the funky-looking donkey over there?"

"That's Sven."

"Uh-huh; and who's the reindeer?"

"… Sven."

"Oh, they're – ? Oh! Okay! Makes things easier for me."

"~Riot~," said Enrique.

"Huh?"

"My nickname. Before. It meant 'riot'."

What are you doing? Jim wanted to demand. Was Enrique just – just giving up on a real name?

"You can call me that for now. Till we work out a for-real one. Better than 'Not Enrique'."

Jim stuffed some burnt popcorn kernels into his mouth to keep from protesting. He couldn't undermine Enrique's – Riot's – chosen name, right in front of a bunch of humans, when he'd been arguing with them about how rude that was for weeks now.

"Oh. Okay." Claire half-smiled. "Riot."

Jim shut his eyes to hide the flaring glow.

+=+

Previous Chapter (Angor Rot gets treated much better, and more sensibly, than in canon, and is correspondingly less vengeful)

Table of Contents

Next Chapter (Featuring either Otto or Gatto)

A quick thank you to Taycin on AO3 for providing some name-gender context when this chapter first went up.

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drprettyboyspence · 4 years

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A Perfect Date

Dr. Spencer Reid/reader

Summary: Part 2 to Beach Day. Spencer and Y/n go on their first date and it could not go any better. Spencer doesn’t believe in relationships working out, except maybe with Y/n...

words: 2.2k

warnings: sooo much fluff, they kiss? (i don’t think that needs a warning but it’s there just in case!), no others to my knowledge!

a/n: I wanted to write a part 2 to beach day because I felt the relationship in it was super cute and their first date deserved to be written! Hope you enjoy! :)

Spencer Reid finds himself staring into his bedroom mirror, straightening his crooked tie for what seems like the fifth time in the last few minutes. He’s dressed in basically his work clothes, a dark blue shirt with a purple tie and dress pants. He can’t remember the last time he’s been on a date, especially on a date with a girl he cares so much about, a girl he might be falling in love with. Finally having straightened his tie to the highest level of perfection possible, he moves on to his hair, oh god, his unruly hair. He knows he could spend hours like this, nitpicking his appearance until he feels himself going crazy. Miraculously, the email account JJ had forced him to create alerts him to the time. Seeing the 6:04 blinking back at him from his phone sends a surge of panic through an already anxious Spencer, suddenly scared he will be late to dinner with the most special girl in the world. It’s been over a month since this date had been first brought up, the team having been called away on multiple cases. Spencer grabs a light coat from his closet, the cool September air unpredictable at this time of night. He grabs his signature book bag and hurries out the door of his apartment building, waving quickly to his elderly neighbor before briskly descending the stairs. He prays the subway isn’t late and for once in his life the gods of transportation grant his wish, he walks into the restaurant at 6:28, hopefully before his guest.

“Table for two, last name Reid” Spencer says to the hostess.

“Okay Mr. Reid, you’re the first to arrive, would you like to be seated?” Spencer nods and follows the hostess to a rather private table towards the back of the restaurant. “Is this okay?” The hostess asks.

“It’s perfect, thank you so much.” Spencer says before the hostess walks away, leaving Spencer alone with his anxious excitement once again. Spencer has barely sat down and started looking at the menu when he hears,

“Spence, hi! Sorry I’m a little bit late, the subway wasn’t on my side tonight.” Y/n’s soft voice says.

“Oh no worries, Y/n, you look amazing.” Spencer says, looking at Y/n but trying hard not to stare at the strapless dress she is wearing tonight. He’s never seen her dressed like this before, she looks gorgeous. He pulls Y/n into a hug to greet her, honestly not sure what the appropriate first date greeting is, despite having read dozens of dating books. He then pulls out the chair opposite to his own and allows Y/n to sit down, noticing the blush already on her cheeks.

“Thanks Spence, you’re such a gentleman.” Y/n says sweetly, moving her chair closer to the table as Spencer returns to his own seat. “So have you been here before?” Y/n asks, having never been to this restaurant that happens to be closer to Spencer’s apartment.

“Um no I haven’t, JJ actually recommended it to me, she and Will come here for their date nights often, so I figured we could try it out.” Y/n is about to reply when they are interrupted by their middle-aged waitress.

“Hello, my name is Susan and I’ll be your waitress this evening. Can I get you two some drinks or do you need a few minutes.”

“Uh, what wine do you recommend this evening?” Spencer asks.

“The pinot noir we have is quite a lovely red, not too pricey either if that’s something you’re thinking about.” Spencer glances at Y/n and she nods her head, assuring him that she’s fine with that choice.

“Alright we’ll take two glasses of the pinot noir, thank you very much.”

“Good choice, I’ll be back soon to take your orders after you have a chance to look at the menu.”

“Wow Spence, I didn’t know you were such a wine connoisseur!” Y/n says teasingly, she actually doesn't think she’s seen Spencer drink on more than two occasions.

“Is that sarcasm I hear in your voice my dear Y/n?” Spencer teases back, “for the record though, pasta night at Rossi’s is to thank for my very limited knowledge of wine. What are you in the mood for tonight?”

“Besides you, you mean?”

“Uh- uh I m-meant for dinner, but um-”

“Spence, I’m just teasing you, I’ve been looking at the menu and I must say this pasta dish is calling my name, the one with basil and vodka sauce? Looks delicious.” Spencer tries to calmly take deep breaths and tone down the flaming of his cheeks from Y/n’s blatant teasing, calm down Spence, this is Y/n.

“Oh yes that does look delicious, I’m thinking about getting steak with mashed potatoes and green beans.” Soon the waitress returns with the wine and they place their orders. Spencer and Y/n lift their wine glasses.

“To us Y/n, and to the future, whatever it will bring.” Spence says as a cheers before they clink their glasses and drink.

“Why am I not surprised Rossi knows what good wine is” Y/n jokes, the wine being delicious, even for someone like her and Spencer who don’t drink often.

“Well, he’s Italian, and Italian wine has been produced for over 4,000 years, Italy being considered the perfect climate for viticulture.” Spencer replies back, making Y/n giggle. A light conversation grows between the two of them as they wait for their food to arrive. “Have you read any good books recently Spence?” Y/n asks, always enjoying discussing reading with Spencer, his whole face lights up when he begins to talk about books.

“Actually yes! I’ve been reading this book about the fundamentals of calculus, it’s so fascinating, did you know that the word calculus comes from latin meaning small stone, because it represents understanding a topic by looking at small pieces, as differential calculus cuts things into small pieces while integral calc- I’m sorry Y/n you probably don’t care very much about this, I tend to ramble.” Y/n’s face falls as she hears Spencer doubting himself, she reaches out to lightly grab his hand from across the table.

“Spencer, don’t ever feel like that, I love hearing you talk about your passions, even if I can’t say I understand all the intricacies of calculus. Besides, I think your “rambling” is rather adorable, don’t ever change that about yourself Spencer, don’t change anything.” Y/n notices the way the rest of the team playfully teases Spencer about his tendencies to ramble, and she knows it’s all good-natured and loving, but she can’t help but see the negative effects sometimes, she wants him to embrace the more quirky sides of his personality. Spencer feels himself tearing up just the slightest bit, his heart warming at the words of the girl in front of him, the girl who sees him more clearly than almost anyone he knows.

“Y/n, that is so sweet, thank you so much, please feel the same way when you’re with me, never censor yourself, you’re perfect Y/n.” They look at each other sweetly for no longer than 30 seconds, but it honestly could have been hours, both of them in almost a trance together, feeling as if they are the only two people in the room.

“Here are your meals, enjoy and let me know if you need anything!” Susan arrives with their food and interrupts their romantic moment. Spencer secretly feels grateful as he was about to start crying or blurt out the three letter phrase that it is most definitely too early to say to Y/n, despite how true it may be.

Their food is delicious, this restaurant having been a very good recommendation from JJ after all. They talk throughout dinner and it’s so effortless. Usually in situations like this when Spencer finds himself far away from work, he feels anxious to check his phone for new messages, new cases from Hotch, but tonight, all he wants to do is shut his phone off and live in the moment with Y/n, possibly forever. Sadly, that is not a luxury two FBI agents get, so Spencer prays they can enjoy one perfect evening without interruption. They don’t just talk about Spencer, they talk about Y/n, her past and her family, where she grew up, they talk about their favorite books and tv shows, and some of their plans for the future. When the last bites have been taken, Susan comes back to retrieve their plates.

“Well it looks like you two enjoyed your meals, can I get dessert for you tonight?”

“Um, I don’t know, probably no-”

“We’ll have two orders of ice cream tonight, thank you.” Spencer says. He knows it isn’t appropriate to order for his date, but he wants to remind Y/n of their day at the beach, and honestly he just wants to eat some ice cream.

“Thank you Spence, I didn’t want to be rude by ordering dessert.” Y/n replies, Spencer relieved he had made the correct decision by ordering the ice cream for both of them. The ice cream is delicious, Spencer must admit it’s not as good as that ice cream at the beach, but maybe nothing will ever be as good as that in Spencer’s mind, the moment he realized he was falling in love with Y/n. “I gotta say Spencer, as good as this ice cream is, it’s no match for the ice cream from that tiny stand at the beach that night.”

“I couldn’t agree more Y/n” Spencer says, Y/n having just read his mind. As it happened at the beach, the ice cream is gone too soon and Susan brings the check, Spencer quickly grabbing it before Y/n tries to grab it as well.

“I’m paying tonight Y/n, you can pay next time if you want to, but I want to treat you.” Spencer reassures Y/n, seeing her blush when he implies that there will be a second date. Of course there will be a second date Spencer thinks, this had been the most perfect date of his entire life. They stand up and walk out together, Spencer linking his arm with Y/n’s. The subway station is a few blocks away and Y/n shivers in the chilly night air. “Are you cold Y/n?” Spencer asks, shrugging his jacket off before slipping it over Y/n’s shoulders, ignoring her words of defiance. “Nonsense sweetheart, I’m wearing a long sleeve dress shirt, you’re wearing a strapless dress, you can wear my jacket.” Y/n gives in and they walk the few blocks to the station, taking in the beautiful evening together. When they come to the steps down to the station, they are going opposite ways towards each of their respective homes, so they must say goodbye, to both of their dismay.

“I had an amazing time tonight Spencer, thank you so much. I hope to do this again very soon.” Y/n starts, gazing up at Spencer.

“I had a perfect night with you Y/n, if you would allow me the honor of taking you out on another date, it would be my absolute pleasure. Now, may I kiss you Y/n?” Spencer seems to hold his breath as he sees Y/n slightly taken aback by his question. She nods though and smiles at him.

“I would love that Spencer…” She says quietly, prompting Spencer to lightly grab her chin and tilt her lips up to his own, connecting them softly. The feeling of Y/n’s lips on his own might be the most perfect feeling that Spencer has ever experienced in his 30+ years of life. The kiss ends too soon and they both giggle at the blushes covering each other’s cheeks.

“Goodnight Y/n, please text me when you get home.” Spencer says before tearing himself away from her, feeling as if he’ll never let go if he doesn’t leave now.

“Wait Spencer! Your jacket!” Y/n calls after him, moving to take the jacket off her shoulders.

“You can give it back to me the next time I see you, it looks better on you anyway.” Spencer says sweetly before watching Y/n walk down the stairs to the subway. Spencer is in a trance on his journey home, not believing his life could be this good, no way Y/n allowed him to kiss her, he kissed Y/n! Spencer doesn't know how to dance and has never danced in his entire life, but he feels he could dance in the middle of the street right now. He’s getting out of the shower when he gets the text he had been anticipating from Y/n, assuring him that she’d made it home safely. Spencer feels this is the start of something amazing. He’s often terrified by constant statistics of relationship failure in the United States but despite every thing he knows, Spencer Reid opts to choose real life over statistics. He believes him and Y/n aren’t just another statistic, and besides, now that he’s got Y/n, he can’t imagine ever letting her go.

#dr spencer reid #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x y/n #fluff #imagine #reader insert #first date #cute

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #3: Taking Care of BUSINESS!

November, 1984

This is a sad day for the fledgling West Coast Avengers. It’s a cool cover for the fledgling West Coast Avengers but a sad day.

Not only are they falling before Graviton but they’re falling perpetually.

Anyway, last time in West Coast Avengers: Hawkeye and Mockingbird were sent by the Vision to create a west coast branch of the Avengers. Since Wonder Man, Tigra, and Rhodey Iron Man were California based, they got the nod to be the West Coast Avengers, despite reluctance from Tigra and Iron Man.

Their first case was mistaking as a supervillain and beating up a friend of Tigra who had followed her to the Avengers Compound to make sure she wasn’t in trouble. So. That’s not great. Next, the West Coast Avengers tried to chase down a bank robber named the Blank. This is really overkill for a guy whose only power is wearing a slippery anonymizing force field but he manages to get away anyway. The charger for his force field also dunks Graviton back into the world.

And as you can see on the cover, this isn’t ideal for our West Coast Avengers.

But before that, there was an event that sort of happened between issues. In Avengers #249, Vision tried to contact the West Coast Avengers but only got their answering machine. And that’s because they were dealing with the local worldwide unseasonable winter.

If Avenging and stunt work doesn’t work out for Wonder Man, he should consider becoming the new Mr. Plow.

Anyway, the forever winter is over, thanks to the Casket of Eternal Winters being reassembled and shut over in the Thor book as part of a multi-pronged plan to take down Surtur.

The West Coast Avengers are still dealing with the remaining snow because its not like snow just evaporates! Without turning into water first! Look, it would take too much time, people have places to drive, or something.

The combination of snow everywhere but normal warm South California weather leads to some people taking advantage by going swimsuit skiing, mostly so Rhodey can wryly think that weird is a way of life for Californians as an excuse to not worry about why Wonder Man has been acting weird lately.

Uh, good rationalizing, Rhodey?

Some people who don’t care for skiing decide to instead rob Radio Shack because NOBODY WILL EVER KNOW!

But Mockingbird shows up and starts beating them up when they make the mistake of believing that they outnumber her. They are mathematically right and wrong in every other way.

Hawkeye also shows up to pin some others to the wall with arrows so one of the Radio Shack robbers runs to the getaway car and tries to get the getaway driver to help him getaway.

But cat’s got their car.

It sort of makes sense why Tigra has decided on this for her winter outfit and yet I’m still baffled.

If it had just been the boots, that’d be one thing.

She’s also the only one who has made a winter weather change to her outfit.

Bafflement.

The blond robber doesn’t even try running, saying “What’s the use? Just take me away. I wanna serve my time and forget this ever happened!”

Bad day when some electronics theft gets an entire superhero team on you.

By midday, the West Coast Avengers meet by the Hollywood sign (so that the audience knows that this is set in LA). At this point all of the snow is gone, as if it’s been whisked away. So I guess I was wrong. Earlier the casket hadn’t been repaired but now it has been.

Hawkeye: “Well, whatever happened to [the snow], you can all be proud of the job you did over the past week! You put in a lot of long hours and saved thousands of lives! I’d say we’ve all earned a little time to unwind! That’s why I propose we hold the first annual Avengers barbeque... commencing tonight at sunset, back at the compound!”

Oh ho, I see that Hawkeye is going to be the fun Avengers chairman. Don’t see Vision organizing a barbeque.

The rest of the team is pretty excited about this... except for Wonder Man, who is distracted, answers without any real enthusiasm, and then takes off.

Hawkeye wonders if he’s still upset about the Blank getting away but c’mon that was weeks ago! Surely no superhero ever obsesses over anything!

When the Avengers disperse, Tigra lies that Iron Man promised her a lift as an excuse to talk to him in private about Wonder Man.

Tigra: “Something’s bothering him, and I thought maybe you could get him to talk about it! After all, you’ve known him longer than the rest of us!”

Iron Man: “Uh... not really, Tigra! I hardly know the man!”

Tigra: “What are you talking about, Tony? You fought alongside him dozens of times!”

Iron Man: “Tony -- ?! Ohhh... you think I’m Tony Stark!”

Womp womp.

This is one of the exact things Rhodey was worried would happen if he joined a team with a bunch of people who knew Tony/Iron Man!

Rhodey isn’t about to just reveal his name to her over a case of mistaken identity but he does prove to a doubtful Tigra that he’s not Tony by showing Tigra the skin on his hand.

Iron Rhodey also suggests that Tigra talk to him for reasons of it’s always flattering when a pretty cat girl pays attention to you?

I mean, sure. Yeah. True.

Tigra is also the only person on the team who actually realized Wonder Man was bummed who didn’t immediately dismiss the idea.

I guess its up to you, Tigra.

Meanwhile, in the Santa Monica Mountains, our coverboy Graviton.

He didn’t sit idle during the big snow, oh no! He took over an estate. And then sat idle!

Dammit, it was cold out!

Graviton: I prefer starting my empire in a warmer climate!

With the snow cleared up though, he can get down to business........ of recapping his recent travails.

So, Graviton.

He comes from Canada because Marvel Canada is just like that. He was a researcher in Research City, working on a teleport beam, and accidentally gave himself gravity powers by increasing the power to see what would happen. People at the lab didn’t like him because he kept throwing stuff at them so he took over.

Then he fought the Avengers. He kicked their asses. But the woman he was trying to force to date him threw herself off his floating city rather than date him (its cool, Jarvis saved her) so Graviton accidentally compressed his floating city into a super dense sphere with him as the nougaty center.

He managed to get out of that sphere, but with AMENSIA, and tried to kidnap that female scientist again but was stopped by the Thing and Black Bolt. So Graviton imploded.

He showed up AGAIN and tried to kidnap an entire Bloomingdale’s and was stopped by Thor, who dunked him into an interdimensional void.

Now here’s where it gets slightly weird.

The Beyonder’s construct passing through the void on its way to Secret Wars woke Graviton up and let him find his way back to Earth by homing in on the energy field of the force field the Blank uses.

I don’t know why that specific energy field. We may never know. The scientist who made it walked into the street without looking both ways and got run over.

Graviton is actually fairly pleased about winding up in “this most hedonistic of world cities!” He’s decided he’s all about creature comforts now.

The Blank returns from delivering message for Graviton.

Graviton gets annoyed that the guy is nervous despite having a cool dude who never fails like Graviton as a new boss and takes REAL exception when the Blank points out that the Avengers have beaten him before.

As well he should! Because technically its not true. If you’ll recall my recap, the Avengers didn’t beat him. He imploded. And then when he reappeared to fight the Thing and Black Bolt and imploded again. Now Thor, solo, managed to beat him where Thor, plus Avengers, couldn’t. Don’t ask why. That’s just a rule of comics. Daredevil beat Ultron once.

Among other ways he shows the Blank what’s what, Graviton demonstrates his force field belt ain’t so slick by switching it off through the field. Which, yes, technically gravity could work that way?

Meanwhile, over on ye private Avengers beach because if you’re going to have a sprawling compound, why not get a beach while you’re at it? Tigra interrupts Wonder Man pacing on the private Avengers beach and offers to tell her DEEP DARK SECRETS if he shares his.

Wonder Man: “There’s not much to tell... mostly, I’ve been wondering if I did the right thing in joining Hawkeye’s New Avengers team. I sometimes wonder if I ever did anything right, where the Avengers are concerned.”

He recaps his ENTIRE LIFE STORY to her, as is the style. Got powers from some Avengers enemies, turned against them, died. Came back to life, uneasy as a superhero, quit to become an actor.

He leaves out the part where he embezzled from his own company and was arrested, the part where he was a competitor to Tony Stark, and retcons in that he’s always loved acting. Rather than seeing one (1) movie and deciding he wants to be an actor now.

Apparently, Hercules’ offer to set Wonder Man up with some sweet Hollywood contacts didn’t pan out.

Then Simon worked as hired muscle for some scientific research groups but decides not to go into that.

There’s no ‘see such and such issue of book’ so I can’t tell whether this is a thing that was published or is a noodle incident.

Then a former agent got Simon that gig on the David Letterman show. Remember that one? David Letterman knocked out the villain with a big door knob? It probably made more sense at the time?

Anyway, although the show got pre-empted for a news report in New York, it did air in Cali-for-ni-a and a director reached out to Simon with stuntman work.

And its not the acting he wanted to do but it is acting and being good at it has done wonders, man, for his confidence. Which is why he jumped at Hawkeye’s offer to join the west coast team.

But then he let the Blank escape and now he’s back to feeling out of place on a cool superhero team.

So now that he shared his not so deep, not so dark, secrets, Tigra shares hers.

She knows what he means when he says he feels like a blunderer. Her stint on the New York Avengers team was a disaster (although she managed to get Molecule Man to go to therapy! By calling him a big loser! That’s something!). And she feels like most of her life is just things happening at her without her ever really feeling in control.

She also demonstrates that she can use that little tiger amulet (a gift from the cat people that turned her into Tigra) to look like her old self but she’s more comfortable as Tigra.

Hm.

That’s two whole characters who can technically transform but prefer to stay ‘powered up’ at all times. Tigra and She-Hulk.

It’s almost a pattern.

Anyway, Wonder Man and Tigra both try to be the insecure one on the team complimenting each other and deprecating themselves but Tigra decides fine. Wonder Man is hung up on losing the Blank? They’re going to track down a goddamn the Blank.

SHE MOONLIT AS A PRIVATE DETECTIVE SHE HAS A TRENCHCOAT SHE CAN DO THIS!

Tigra: “All right, Mr. Wonderful, come on!”

Wonder Man: “Where are we going?”

Tigra: “To see a man about filling in the Blank!”

Damn, good turn of phrase. You really do have this private eye patter down, huh?

She takes Simon to the Cat’s Jazz Club, Shroud’s hangout, to see if he has a lead on the Blank but they find the joint has been busted up.

The club employees are reluctant to talk at first but the Shroud shows up and tells them its cool, the Avengers are his friends. Also: he would like to know himself.

Club employee Mouse says that the Galeno Gang hit the club but they had a message that they were under new managment and that anyone that wanted to do crime business in town had to do it with said management.

So they hit the Cat’s Jazz Club because Shroud is pretending to be a crimelord to infiltrate all the crime.

So far, its working out really well for you, huh?

Anyway, Shroud says it’ll be easy to track down the Galeno Gang and find out who the new boss is but Wonder Man insists that he tag along to help. Call it payback for cracking Shroud’s ribs in issue #1.

Shroud doesn’t want all the crime to think he associates with the Avengers but Wonder Man has a STUPENDOUS IDEA!

So at the former home of Lucky Max Galeno, where some people are getting down and maybe even boogieing, the Shroud’s black fog fills the room and out strolls Shroud and Definitely Not Simon Williams.

He used his extensive acting experience to put on a wig and a jacket, that wily Wonder Man!

(Also Tigra is hanging upside down outside the window so its a good thing that Shroud and NotSimon are drawing all the attention)

Simon hoists one of the Galeno Boys and tells him they want to see the boss so the Blank comes out from the back room.

Its a testament to Simon’s INCREDIBLE ACTING TALENT that “he doesn’t look any more surprised than the rest of the crowd” according to Tigra.

The Blank justifies having the Shroud’s people beaten by saying that he had to establish credentials to consolidate all of the West Coast mobs so Shroud tells Simon to rough him up.

I like Simon’s like BOING here.

‘Sick ‘im!’ BOING, hah.

Also, the Blank has been smoking on and off throughout this whole issue but like. How does the force field work if he can just stick things into it? I mean, obviously, its permeable to air since he can breathe and... oh I think I just explained it. Dammit.

The boing stalls out midair leaving Simon hanging there.

Obviously its Graviton. No surprise to the audience. But very alarming to the characters who must think the Blank suddenly has more powers.

Off-panel Graviton hits Shroud with Wonder Man, knocking off the wig which wasn’t even secured in place. Dammit Simon, I thought you were an actor!

The Blank recognizes him as Wonder Man so the cat out of the bag, Tigra jumps through the window and onto the Blank’s back.

Graviton finally shows himself, exasperated with how much hand-holding the Blank needs to do basic things like fight several surprise superheroes.

Wonder Man: “Tigra! Get back! That’s Graviton! He’s one of the most dangerous men the Avengers ever fought!”

Graviton: “Nice of you to acknowledge that, Wonder Man!”

See, all he wanted was some acknowledgement. And to crush Wonder Man under a localized gravity field.

The Shroud tries to obscure the room under the idea that Graviton can’t fight what he can’t see. But the guy just grabs everything in the room and spins it around.

Then he pins Tigra, Shroud, and the Blank to the wall. The Blank because he managed to get captured off-panel.

Wonder Man KRUNKs up from the floor and tries to grab Graviton, alarming him that Wonder Man is fighting through the effects of so much gravity, having to block him with a “column of gravitic energy.”

The Blank complains about being stuck to the wall when he’s supposed to be Graviton’s partner.

Graviton: “Wrong, Blank! Very wrong! At beast, you were a go-between, a figurehead in my plans to organize California’s criminal element!”

The Blank: “D-did you say... ‘were?’"

And then he yeets Blank, Tigra, and Shroud out the window and into the ocean.

That certainly is a way to deal with some party crashers.

Meanwhile, the barbecue is going on without Tigra and Wonder Man.

Imagine being dunked into the ocean instead of eating Hawkeye’s steaks.

Hmm. I like that apron but I can’t help but feel that a modern comic would have a hilarious apron extremely specific to Hawkeye. Something in the genre of Quentin Quire’s shirts.

I also like Rhodey realizing that he’s not going to be able to eat any of this barbecue through his mask and deliberating revealing his identity to his teammates SPECIFICALLY to eat a steak.

Priorities.

Mockingbird points out that Tigra and Wonder Man are late and she can’t reach them on the radio but Hawkeye dismisses her concerns since they’re both so capable.

Meanwhile, Graviton dunks Wonder Man into the pool and holds him underwater so he can watch him slowly drown.

He’s also acquired some sexy swimsuit ladies from somewhere. This is LA so I guess they just spontaneously generated.

How will our heroes get out of their various water-based predicaments??

I assume swimming will be involved.

Next issue is last issue of the limited series and for the West Coast Avengers for a while.

And since the West Coast Avengers show up in Avengers #250 with the limited series wrapped up, expect me to schedule posting the posts in that way too.

Follow @essential-avengers because I know the recipe to Hawkeye’s secret steak recipe and I’ll tell you if you follow. Here’s a hint: take meat, set it on fire for a while. Also like and reblog and I’ll tell you how many potatoes Captain America’s potato salad contains.

#Avengers #West Coast Avengers #Graviton #the Blank #Hawkeye #Mockingbird #Iron Man #James Rhodes #Wonder Man #Tigra #various water based predicaments #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging

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baby-grayson · 4 years

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Kind Stranger|Part 4|GBD

Read Part 1 Here Read Part 2 Here Read Part 3 Here Word Count: 3k Tags: @evergreendolan @someonetogray @vintagedolan @prettyboydolan @dolansficsandpics @graysavant @baby-turtles Image Credit to @graysonsbailey (her edits are THE BEST)

Ethan heard the front door close behind Grayson, but he was surprised by his brother’s embrace soon after. Ethan wrapped his arms around Grayson, somewhat confused while asking, “Whats up bro?” Grayson spoke from within the crook between Ethan��s shoulder and his back. “I love you bro” Ethan, still holding onto Grayson but, getting more confused by the moment replied, “I love you too bro”

Grayson pulled back to look at his brother, “I know you want the best for me and I’m sorry about what I said last weekend. I’m sorry for springing the news about Kate on you like that. But you should know that she makes me happy.” Ethan pulled back slightly at the mention of her name, a part of him had forgotten about her. But he released a small smile when he saw the kind, puppy dog eyes his brother gave him. A part of Ethan recognized these eyes as the look Grayson wore many times when they were teenagers: Grayson declared he met his soulmate no less than seven times. Grayson took the upturn of Ethan’s lips as a sign to continue, “I’m going out with her tomorrow.” Ethan tried to maintain a happy look for Grayson’s sake but inside he was skeptical. “I’m happy for you,” he started, “just be careful.” Ethan was the older brother afterall, even though Grayson was bigger in every way. But it was often Grayson’s’ big heart that needed Ethan’s protection the most. As if on cue, Grayson’s phone sounded with a ping. He dropped his arms from Ethan as the twins stepped apart. Ethan saw Grayson’s entire face turn upward when he looked down, “Is that her?” Grayson nodded, looking up to meet his brother’s eyes. Ethan felt like a third wheel and decided to leave the room. Grayson did not notice his brother step out of the room, too involved with the virtual version of Kate in his hands. He read her text a few times over: I hope living with your brother isn’t getting too unbearable. Grayson pressed his tongue between his front teeth as he smiled and typed: We’re pretty good at making up. Suddenly, he regretted the way that sounded. Does that sound too touchy feely? She’s going to think they fight all the time…well they DO fight all the time. He followed with: We never picked a time for tomorrow.

He swayed in his seat when she replied: I’m free all day, so whatever works for you works for me :)

Grayson sat in thought, trying to figure out the optimal time to visit an aquarium on a Tuesday. He knew he would wake up at 7AM and want to eat breakfast. Vainly, he questioned whether he should work out before going out with her. He knew his muscles would appear plumper and more impressive if he did. The idea of working out triggered the thought of showering and doing his hair. He tried to add everything together in his before writing: I can pick you up at 9:15 :) ****

A low, slung towel draped around Grayson’s waist while he picked out his outfit. He mixed and matched a variety of pieces, while cursing at himself for not bringing more options to the rental he was sharing with Ethan. He tried on a button-down shirt and some dark jeans before deciding that he looked way too formal for an aquarium on a Tuesday morning. He traded the button down for plain white shirt and looked in the mirror. He gulped down hard and stripped down to his underwear. He threw his clothes on the floor. He decided on a comfortable blue sweatshirt and shorts. Peering in the mirror, he wondered if he looked seasonally challenged with his long sleeves and exposed legs.

Grayson swiped the keys to the van from the top of his dresser. The keys to his shiny Porche were collecting dust in a jacket pocket Grayson hadn’t worn in months. The sports car was left to waste in the driveway while Grayson pulled out the van and set his phone to navigate for Kate’s apartment. Despite his usual confident demeanor, Grayson’s thoughts betrayed his self-esteem. Was he wearing enough cologne? Was he wearing too much cologne? Should he be earlier? Was he too early, should he be fashionably late?

He pulled onto her street, regretting his sweatshirt as he sweated like a sinner in a church. He almost didn’t recognize this part of LA. Graffiti lined some of the shopfronts; trash lined the street drains; people walked with their eyes pointed down. Grayson didn’t frequent this side of the city often. He pulled up to her apartment, beaming when he saw her sitting on the front steps of a large, white apartment building. Grayson stepped out of the van as Kate picked her purse off the stairs. “You ready?” her voice was sweet. When Grayson nodded, she added “Thank you again for offering to show me around.” “Not a Problem,” Not a problem at all.. Grayson opened the passenger side door of the van for the Kate, but immediately noticed her small stature. Kate tentatively raised her bad leg up to the edge of the van, intending to swing up to the van seat. She took in a sharp breath when Grayson’s large hands found firmly held her waist and lifted her up. Kate’s face converted to a blush tone while she muttered a few words of thanks, while Grayson grinned ear to ear and closed the door behind her.

******

“Tropical fish are actually migrating away from the tropics,” Kate remarked, and she and Grayson watched the insides of a large tank. They walked slowly, taking in more of each other than the aquatic life around them. “It’s because climate change altered the warm currents coming from the South Pacific.” Grayson nodded and took in a slow breath. How does he say this without sounding like an ass? “Why do you know so much?” Okay, maybe that was a little asinine. “You have all the facts, even back at the beach.”

The top of Kate’s cheeks turned a shade of pink, making Grayson regret asking anything. “I’m a Ph.D student at UCLA.” Grayson stopped walking. “I’m trying to be a doctor of Environmental Engineering; I do research in the effects of climate change.” Grayson’s mouth hung open slightly. He struggled to find the words to describe what he was thinking. He struggled to find the thoughts he was thinking. “That’s so cool,” his voice unsteady with awe. “I love the planet” Didn’t everyone? “I’m a vegan.” Kate started laughing, seeing through Grayson’s astonished exterior. “I’m not, guess I’m a bad environmentalist.” Grayson grinned and bit his lip, looking down at her. Her aura was infectious, her presence asked him to be the best version of Grayson.

“I miss Philly though. Home is home, you can’t beat that.” Kate almost looked wistful. “What’s it like?” “It’s a city of neighborhoods, there are so many different personalities in a really small area. In one day, you can visit Beverly Hills, San Francisco, and Nashville all at once. And the food is so good!” Kate gushed, more missing her home than telling Grayson about it. Her eyes went somewhere else for a second before meeting his gaze as he spoke.

“Complete opposite of New Jersey, “Grayson nearly laughed. “My brother and I used to ride our bikes and these four wheelers all the time. When we weren’t in school, we were usually covered in mud. This one time my brother and I were riding our bikes up this hill, and when we made it to the top—I shit you not—we saw a giant grizzly bear.” Kate’s eyes went wide, “No Way!” Grayson nodded vigorously, “We ran like hell. But then we got to the crest of the hill—this is where I am the hero in the story—I remembered from TV that you’re supposed to stay super still to avoid bears. And that’s how I saved my brother’s life when we were like seven.” Grayson wore a triumphant look, eliciting a giggle out of Kate. “So you know, come to me if you ever need rescuing from a bear.” “Hopefully I won’t ever need to,” the erupted in laughs together. Kate threw her head back and Grayson felt his face go warm when he realized how melodic she sounded.

“I do need to ask you a favor though,” Grayson’s eared perked up as Kate started, “Could you take a few touristy pictures of me to send to my mom back in Philly?” Grayson smiled brightly and nodded, “Of course I can. What about in front of the dolphin wall?” The thought of Kate sending cute pictures was endearing to Grayson, it reminded him to send pictures to his own mother. Grayson stood back and framed the picture in his phone while Kate sat on a ledge in front of a tiled wall. Her wide smile warmed Grayson’s heart. He was really so happy to take that picture, to create a memory of how beautiful and happy she was in that moment. Kate bounced off the ledge and over to Grayson to inspect the pictures he took before “Do you want any?” Grayson nodded and handed her the phone. He went to sit in front of the wall while Kate started taking pictures. Grayson smiled wide, saying “cheeeeeese” and garnering a warm laugh from Kate. Grayson pulled up the hood on his baby blue sweatshirt, hearing more giggles from Kate.

An older woman with two kids by her side gently tapped Kate on the shoulder and offered to take a picture of her and Grayson together. She sat beside Grayson, while he wrapped a muscular arm around her petite frame. She leaned her head in toward him, letting him drink in her sweet scent. ****

Grayson parked the van in front of Kate’s apartment. He turned toward her; his stomach became a ballroom for butterflies. Grayson tried to muster up words but found them lodged in this throat. Kate smiled at him, her eyes turning up, “I had a great time today. Thanks for bringing me out. It’s hard since I don’t really know anyone in the city.”

Grayson took in a large breath, he reached for her hand. He interlocked their fingers and noted how her dainty, soft hand felt against his large, rough one. He felt his face turn warm and his eyes go slightly glossy when he caught her looking down at their hands. “I had a great time too,” Grayson’s entire being felt light and airy despite his size. They took a minute to look at each other, letting the silence fill the cabin of the van. Grayson broke the silence and the stare to look at her apartment, “Do you live alone?” Kate nodded and pointed to a window on the left side of the building, “Yeah, it’s not much but it’s what I can do on a grad student’s salary. You know the life.” Kate chuckled and looked at Grayson, expecting a knowing look of understanding. Instead, she was confused by the slightly blank look in his usually warm brown eyes. Grayson looked at the floor of the van and muttered, “Yeah LA life is hard.” He remembered that he was holding hands with a beautiful girl and that now was not the time to be awkward. He gave her tiny hand an affectionate squeeze and followed with, “I’m glad I can make it easier for you.” Cheesy. Cheesy. Cheesy. He could do better.

Kate smiled at him, kindly. Grayson’s anxious inner monologue paused to make way for an affectionate, puppy dog smile. Kate ran her thumb gently over his from where they interlocked. Grayson felt a warm, happy feeling bubble up in his stomach. He squeezed Kate’s hand again, appreciating how familiar the feeling of her tiny hand was starting to feel. Grayson bit at his bottom lip. I should say something. I should say something. I should do something. He was looked down and didn’t notice Kate’s gaze to melt into a similar version of Grayson’s puppy dog stare. Her eyes wore pointed down slightly and her pupils widened, fixated on the enigmatic, hypnotizing, Adonis of a man sitting next to her. “Hey Gray,” her voice was just above a whisper, gentle, and kind. Grayson removed his eyed from the floor, escaping the trap of his thoughts while he looked back at her, “Yes?” Kate crashed her lips onto Grayson’s. Her lips wrapped onto his top lip while he ran a hand through her long dark hard, resting it on the back of her head as he pulled her in closer. Kate laid a hand against his chest, feeling his firm pec underneath her fingers. Grayson leaned into her, kissing her back and taking in her bottom lip: nearly intoxicated from her scent. At that moment, every love song Grayson had ever heard played in his head. I have loved you for a thousand years, I’ll love you for a thousand more…..And All of Me Loves All of You, love all your curves and all your edges…When I see your face, there’s not a thing that I would change

*****

Grayson bounced through his front door, whistling a happy tune and rocking on his heels as he stopped in the kitchen. Ethan looked up from where he sat at the island, “You’re happy.” Grayson nodded and pulled up a seat next to Ethan. “I had my date. It was perfect dude,” Ethan recognized the wide-eyed look on Grayson’s face. “She’s amazing, like actually the coolest person I’ve ever met.”

“I’m happy for you dude. Did you talk to her about..everything?” Ethan didn’t feel like referring to the episode of Grayson yelling in a New Jersey diner parking lot.

“No. But wait until you hear this, she’s like a scientist who is trying to save the planet” Grayson beamed, very proud of his not-girlfriend. His beam dimmed when he saw the solemn look on Ethan’s face. “You should tell her Gray,” Ethan didn’t try to disguise the pragmatism in his voice. Grayson the romantic often forgot the hectic life of Grayson the business man; Ethan was the only thing keeping Icarus from flying into the sun.

“We just had our first date, I’m not about to show her everything I’ve been up to for the past five years” Grayson’s defensive tone did not match his relaxed demeanor.

“Look, Gray, if this is going to get serious. She deserves to know. You’d be doing yourself and her a favor by having this conversation sooner rather than later.”

***

Grayson’s wet hair soaked his pillowcase that night. The towel he wore out of the shower laid strewn on the floor. A thin white sheet rested over his waistline. He grabbed his phone from his nightstand. His intentions were to call Kate. He thought back to what Ethan said, about inviting her over to purposefully talk about what he did for a living. The idea of the conversation he didn’t want to have sat uncomfortably in his mind: not because he thought she would react badly but because he refused to accept that what his life was special enough to warrant a dedicated conversation. He was not looking forward to it. However, he was looking forward to kissing her again.

Her lips were plush and soft. Her tiny hands framed his face to well when she pulled him in earlier. Her sweet, citrusy scent only got better with proximity; her entire essence was completely decadent to him. She was like a guilty pleasure; there was something so invigorating about the escape she offered him. She intoxicated him: demanding the attention of every single one of his senses when they were together in an indulgent and dizzying way. She ignited his most innocent and romantic fantasies: he dreamt of sleepy Sunday mornings in a plush bed, dancing barefoot in the kitchen in the refrigerator light, and sharing the stars under the night sky from the safety of a shared sleeping bag. In a deeper place, Grayson’s other nighttime daydreams took hold: took enough hold to cause the thin sheet of fabric over his waist to start to bulge. Before his bodily functions got the better of him, the wet, naked, smitten man picked up the phone to call his not-girlfriend.

“Hey there,” her voice was sweet and song-like. Grayson felt a smile grow on his lips. “Miss me already?”

Grayson’s mouth went slightly dry when he thought of how to respond. Instinctively, he wanted to say miss you all the time. But he decided that was too much for after their first date. “I wanted to hear your voice,” oh shit, that was creepy. He quickly followed up with his next comment, hoping the first part wouldn’t sit on Kate’s ears for too long “I wanted to invite you over tomorrow.” He took a breath, thinking that he sounded like a second grader inviting their friend over for a game of soccer.

“That sounds good! You mean over like to hang out at your apartment?” Kate asked which elicited a blush from Grayson, maybe he did imply a non-truth earlier today. “Yes, kind of, I share a house with my brother not an apartment.” Grayson sounded formal; he knew he sounded format.

“Oh,” Grayson noted the hint of surprise in Kate’s voice, “Is your brother going to be there?” “He should be but I’m not entirely sure.” From the other side of the phone, Kate’s thoughts stopped for a minute. Was the genuine, sweet guy who could barely muster up the courage to kiss her really asking her to hang out at his house when no one else was home? “I would ask you on another real date, but it’s hard since everything is closed” Grayson felt bad for giving her a half-truth. He also felt thankful that his thin white sheet was soaking up the sweat from one of his hands. From the other side of LA, Kate nodded but then realized he couldn’t see her. “Text me the address and I’ll be there. Same time tomorrow morning?” “Great!” Grayson grinned, his smile beaming at the ceiling above him. His toes wiggled underneath his sheet, dancing in celebration for his romantic victory. Riding the high of today he felt the courage in his stomach build until it bursted out of his lips as “I had the best time today.” “I did too,” Grayson heard Kate’s smile through the phone. “And Grayson..” she started cautiously, “you’re a good kisser.” Grayson’s blush overtook his face. His stomach bubbled with a mixture of confidence, victory, nervousness, joy, romance, and surprise. “You are too,” and with that he felt his happiness bulge under his sheets once more and instantly knew he should gently end their call before his excitement turned his white sheet into a tent. A/N: Hello! This chapter was really hard for me to write, any feedback is valuable! I tried to make this progress the story, give the correct amount of information, but also be kind of fluffy. Let me know what you thought~

#fluff #grayson #grayson dolan #dolan #dolan twin #dolantwins #youtuber #fanfic #fanfictions #fanfiction #ethan #ethandolan #graysonXoc

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dweetwise · 4 years

Text

day 6: myths

prompt from: cocktober pairing: felix x ace notes: the merman au nobody asked for warnings: suggestive language, drowning mention, teeth mention word count: 1400

Ace is walking back to his hotel in the small hours of the morning, stumbling a little bit from having had one too many drinks over the course of the night. His pockets feel much emptier than before he hit the casino, but he tries not to let it bother him too much; surely, his luck will turn back around for this evening.

The sun is already starting to rise but the beach remains empty, the sun worshippers either safely tucked in their hotel beds or out partying in the nightlife that never seems to quiet down.

A glimmer in the corner of his eye catches Ace's attention, and he sees a man emerging from the stillness of the ocean.

The sun peeking over the horizon casts a golden glow to the man's smooth skin, and Ace watches, enraptured, as he runs a hand through his equally golden hair to smooth the wet locks out of his face.

And holy shit, what a face that is.

Ace engages in a split-second internal fight in what he thinks is his rational side trying once again to curb his impulsiveness.

Fuck it, he's going for a swim.

He approaches the man who doesn't seem to notice him, opting instead to observe the sunrise.

“Out for a morning swim, huh?” Ace asks when he's within earshot, the man flinching in surprise and turning around to face him.

God, that jawline is to die for, and his body—

“Mind if I join you?” he adds, quickly snapping his eyes back to the man’s face.

The handsome stranger regards him silently, and Ace tries not to fidget under the scrutiny.

“Be my guest,” the man says, and holy shit, even his voice is perfect, like silk caressing Ace's ears.

For some reason, despite the liquid courage still buzzing through his veins, Ace feels nervous when he starts removing his clothes. So he resorts to what he does best; run his mouth until something sticks.

“How's the water today?” he asks while shrugging out of his shirt, pretending like he swims even somewhat regularly.

“It's pleasant,” the man hums. “Not too warm, even on the surface.”

Ace thinks that's kind of a weird way to describe the temperature, not knowing anyone who would consider ocean water too warm under any circumstances. But he shoves the thought back, not wanting to be rude.

“Not sure you picked the right place to vacation, if oppressing heat isn’t your thing,” he jokes as he slides his pants down, idly wondering why anyone would visit the sunny beach destination if not to enjoy the climate.

“My family lives here,” the man says, and Ace didn’t expect an explanation but he’s happy the hottie seems content to go along with his small talk nonetheless.

“Ah, the age old answer to why we obediently keep doing shit we hate,” Ace jokes, and it might be too far, maybe the man is one of the few lucky souls who actually has a good relationship with his relatives.

Fortunately he doesn’t seem phased, giving a small one-shoulder shrug and letting Ace focus back on undressing himself.

And then he immediately runs into a problem; his boxers. On one hand, he's far from self-conscious and would rather go skinny dipping than soak the clothing and make the walk back to his hotel uncomfortable. But on the other, he doesn't want to freak out his companion, even though he thinks his intentions are pretty obvious at this point.

He leaves the garment on and takes the first step into the ocean.

And promptly hisses from the sting of cold shooting up his foot. Damn, “not warm” was an understatement!

If it wasn't for the gorgeous man watching him with a challenging little smirk, Ace would nope out of the water real quick and go back to his room to warm up with some whiskey from the mini bar.

But alas, dick prevails over brain, even as said dick isn't a fan of the shift in temperature and starts shriveling up as soon as the water comes up to his knees. In retrospect, the boxers were a great idea.

“How is the water?” the man echoes his earlier question, gauging his reaction and probably seeing right through him.

“It's v-very… refreshing!” Ace manages without his teeth clattering too much, his breath hitching when the water laps at his belly.

Goddamnit, the things he will do to get laid.

When he's finally, finally neck-deep and does a few experimental swim strokes, trying to see if he's going to die from hypothermia or not, his companion smiles in approval.

“Stubborn,” the man offers, and Ace can't help but bark out a laugh.

“You don't know the half of it.”

They swim in silence for a little while as Ace tries to get his body temperature up and his thoughts in order.

“Any particular reason for the swim?” Ace finally manages.

“Hmm,” the man hums in thought, and the simple sound is almost a melody of its own. “Just trying to clear my head.”

There are so many things that are clearly off with this dude, but Ace doesn't care. Besides, isn't he the weird one, seeing a random guy swimming in the middle of the night and deciding to join him?

…Not to mention flirt with him.

“I assume from questions like ‘am I too beautiful for this world’?” he says, and it's definitely not one of his best lines, but it makes his companion perk up in surprise. "By the way, the answer to that is ‘yes’,” he adds, because why the hell not?

And then the beautiful man gives him a beautiful little smile.

“What's your name?” the man asks and Ace almost fails to mask the surprise on his face. That line actually worked?

“Ace,” he says, already prepared to make the familiar speech of how his mother always knew he'd be destined for the cards.

But the man is swimming closer, and Ace suddenly can’t remember any of his well-rehearsed story when the stunning stranger gets right up in his personal space.

“Ace,” he's saying his name in that voice, and he looks even better up close, high cheekbones and shimmering blue eyes— “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” Ace says lamely instead of coming up with a witty one-liner, too focused on the man clasping his hands in his own, and they're weirdly cold but incredibly soft and wow, there's really no question of where this is going anymore. He's probably going to ask to take him home—

“Do you know what a siren is?”

The question takes Ace completely off guard, snapping his gaze up from their intertwined hands to look at the man's face.

Just in time to see the cute blue eyes and small smile morph into slit pupils and a toothy smirk showing off fangs that are definitely not human.

He yelps as something wraps around his legs, slimy and scaly and holy fucking shit it's the man's tail, a fish tail, he's heard the legends but he never believed them, but he sure as hell does now, but it’s too late and he's going to drown—

Except he's not sinking. The siren has his legs and arms immobilized, but he's keeping them both afloat, even though he could just dive underwater with Ace and he'd be helpless to stop it.

And despite the weird pupils and sharp teeth, he's looking at Ace almost curiously, as if to gauge his reaction again.

So Ace does what he does second best; defuse with humor.

“At least take me out to dinner before you tie me up.”

Yup, that will definitely either get him killed or thrown back on the beach in disgust.

But the creature merely blinks in confusion, seeming to process the words, and then he huffs out a laugh.

“You're lucky you're cute," the man simply offers, and then he leans in and Ace idly wonders if he's going to eat him. But instead there's a quick, chilly peck on his cheek, followed by a splash of water as the creature releases him and dives back underwater.

And Ace just floats there, staring stupidly at the small ripples formed by the splash, slowly bringing his hand up to his cheek to where the cold lips were just a moment ago.

“Same time tomorrow?” he calls out across the water, a grin spreading over his face when he hears a melodious laugh echoing from somewhere between the waves.

#riconti #cocktober #ace visconti #felix richter #dweetwrites #dbd #dead by daylight #dbd fanfic #prompt #drowning tw #teeth tw #felix x ace

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funkymeihem-fiction · 4 years

Text

Honeydew Cha

(A 5k commission done for https://pandaioh.tumblr.com/ Thank you so much for your support!)

“Can’t believe this. Can’t even bloody believe this. Thought I was dating the smartest girl in the world, and here I come t’find out she doesn’t even know what ‘vacation’ means.” Junkrat wrinkled his nose, already smeared in sunscreen and dented by his oversized sunglasses. “Well here’s what it means, love. It means fucking off! We’ve fucked off from Overwatch and finally got time all to us here in Oz. It means we got weeks of leave for our very own pleasure, and we’re supposed to spend it drinking, rooting, or at the beach. It’s supposed to be those four things!”

“That’s three things,” Mei’s voice said from behind the changing screen.

“And here I am, ready for bonding at Bondi and this is how you do me! I’ve already got all our things- towels, blankets, umbrella, esky. Even got my trunks and hat and thong on—”

“Your what on?”

“My shoe, Mei! You know, pluggers, flip-flop shoes. I mean, with the peg I only have the one. Did you think I meant the other kind of thong? Because ‘strewth, I’ll go put one of those on too, if it’ll get you to come to the beach with me!”

“Please do not!” She made no move to come out from the screen and seemed unmoved by his fits. “Besides, I told you I wanted to do other things than just lounge at the beach all day. I got the idea when we were out walking the other night and I think this might be really good for me. And I think you’ll change your tune when I tell you the rest of my plans.”

“What’s to tell? You snuck out and got a bloody job while we’re on vacation at the shore! Got this nice vacay cabin all to ourselves, just steps away from the surf and sand, and you’re not gonna appreciate it. My very fave girl is on holiday with me, and she wants to spend it working?! And they say I’m the mad one?”

Her voice gained a sing-song quality, lilting in tone. “I still think you’re going to liiiiike it! Just give me one more moment and you’ll see.”

“Unless you’re coming out of there with surprise lacies on, I doubt I’m gonna—”

The screen shuffled aside and Junkrat squinted, suddenly unsure about things. Mei definitely was not wearing a brand new set of lingerie all for him, but what she was wearing was certainly enough to give him pause. He recognized it almost at once too: the green sweater vest and matching visor, the little ruffled yellow apron, the polka dot socks, the cheerful winking mascot…and those jean shorts that rode up so high on those nice wide thighs were certainly nothing to be ignored, he especially appreciated that particular part of her uniform. Her new job’s uniform.

“Honeydew Cha? You’re working at Honeydew Cha?” He lingered forward, rubbing at his chin and inspecting her. “Arright, love, you got me interested.”

“I told you!” She flashed him a little smirk. “And I know you might think it’s a little crazy to get a job while I’m on vacation, but… I think it might be good for me? I like spending time at the beach with you and Mr. Roadhog, I really do, but I want to do more than just linger around on the sand all day. I think I want to meet people and talk to everyone and learn new things and…” She suddenly faltered, gaze downcast. “And I used to be a tea waitress back while I was still studying. I remember it being really fun? And then I graduated and went away…and then I was…gone…nine years…”

Junkrat was already upon her, long arms wrapping about her new uniform and rumpling her nice green sweater as he nuzzled at her hair and snorted air into her ear with his pointed nose. She yelped aloud and pushed at him, but it had served to distract her. He plucked at her apron with his mechanical hand curiously. “Getting a job at all though? Is it because of money? I got cash to spare! Tell me what it is you need and I’ll get it! Whatever you want, darl!”

“It’s really not about money, honest. I just want to do something normal. I woke up and everything was so strange, and Overwatch was different and the world was different and the climate is getting worse and my friends are all in trouble and maybe it would be okay if I just did this for a little while and forgot about it all? I could serve tea and chat with customers and not worry about everything, and maybe I could feel like I used to, before everything happened. It’s just simple and nice. Like it could just be tapioca pearls and fruit poppers and people being happy drinking their tea and just being…normal. Does that make sense?”

“Nah,” he blurted out, before noticing her crestfallen expression. He frowned, chin jutting as he tilted his head to rest atop her visor. “I mean! Uh, I guess I dunno what all that’s like. But if that’s what ya wanna do? ‘Course I’m not gonna stop you from working. Just don’t understand why you wanna spend your vacation at work.”

“I like working. I think this will be fun. And this is just a little seasonal part-time sort of thing, just to help the shop for the big holiday vacationer rush. I saw the Help Wanted ad and the owner seemed really grateful for the extra hand. Plus…” She rolled onto the balls of her feet, folding her arms behind her and staring upward coyly. “I mean, if you don’t want me using the Honeydew Cha employee discount…?”

Rat gave her an affronted look before snickering aloud. “You trying to bribe me with free boba, you little tart?”

“Milk tea, half sweet, extra pearls! Just how you like it?”

“Huh. Tempting, tempting. Can I bring in my own container and fill ‘er up? Swear it, I’ll drink it straight out of a bucket. I mean, it would definitely not be the first time I’ve drank some stuff I found straight out of a bucket—”

“Ew, Jamie.”

“Okay. Okay. I’ll try not t’let my feelings be hurt when I’m all by my lonesome at the beach. But I got conditions. One— you abuse the hell out of the free boba thing whenever we want. I’m talking Super Gulp American Size! Two— I get to fuck you in full honeydew uniform. With the pony and polka dot socks still on and everything.”

“That’s strange, but okay,” she said, pulling herself to the tips of her toes to kiss his chin. “But not right now, because I’m going in for my first shift! I’ll see you this evening, okay? And I’ll bring you a boba tea every night I work.”

“You better! You got a deal, darl!”

***

Serving boba tea and customer service was a lot different than how she remembered it. Maybe it was just being in Australia? Or had boba tea changed since then? Or had she just gotten older and everything really was just that different from however she remembered this job, from so many years ago. The customers seemed a little grumpier, the machines weren’t the ones she had learned to work, her co-workers were no longer the same age as her, and everything just seemed a little harder than what she’d thought.

She’d been at this little job at Honeydew Cha for a few weeks now, much to Junkrat’s irritation, but it was only for a few hours a day. He tended to lighten up a little when she placated him with a steady stream of all sorts of different tea flavors and treats every time he stopped by…and Roadhog hadn’t cared one way or the other, but she brought him entire bags of leftover pastries after the day was done and he always thanked her anyway. Even then, before each and every shift, Junkrat bothered her to drop everything and go to the beach with him.

But now their vacation time was dwindling and her side job was coming to a close anyway. At least she’d been able to help out the Honeydew Cha during its busiest season. There had been a steady stream of customers all afternoon as the temperature soared and overheated beach-goers ducked inside for air conditioning and cold drinks. Most of them had been quite pleasant, the Australian boardwalk crowd being so infamous for their laid-back attitudes and surf culture.

But there were always the outliers…

It was a group of six: five boys and a single girl, all in their teens or early twenties. None of them bore the mechanical limbs or robotic enhancements of the Outback’s junker clans, but something about their countenance made Mei just as wary of them. Their leader seemed to be the largest of them and was almost as tall as Junkrat himself, though built wider, with spiked black hair and a jacket despite the hot weather. The scraggly lone girl clung to him and giggled in his ear, whispering as he pulled out his wallet and counted out money for her tea. When Mei smiled at them and offered to take their order, the girl glared at her and pulled him closer.

They made their orders with no trouble and they paid, but Mei kept an eye on them all the same, as they loitered in one of the booths and talked and laughed too loudly. She could ignore them at first, but their conversation quickly turned crude and sexual in no time at all. Mei could do little but keep one ear out as she leaned down to check the syrup pumps and count their cups. As the group drained their boba and popped pearls between their teeth, things took a turn for the disgusting.

“Anyhow, that’s why I had to leave that party real fast. Turns out she had a boyfriend.”

“What, the scrag you went upstairs with? That was a fockin’ thing to walk in on. You going at it, with the fat one with the pockmarked arse?”

“Oi. Barely fatter than the ricer they got working the counter here, mate.”

Mei’s heart dropped, freezing mid-stack and staying very still for a moment. Her throat suddenly felt very tight, but she swallowed the feeling down and forced herself to move again, continuing to unpack the cups. So what if that group were being jerks over at that table. Jerks were temporary, and they’d be leaving soon. Those jerks. She just had to let it pass, and breathe, and ignore them…

The voices continued, and even though she knew she shouldn’t, Mei listened.

“She ain’t that bad for one. I’d fuck her. Nice big tits. Bigger tits than yours.”

“What the hell! Fuck you.”

“Ay, you’d fuck anything, mate. Even an omnic. Fuckin’ root rat.”

“Fuck off.”

“She’s prettier than the one at the slope shop on your road. Heh. Go ask her out on a date? Give her a tip and then give her the tip, ay! You can have kids that look like this.”

When Mei dared to peek through the little slit between the top and bottom counter, she already knew what she would see. Sure enough, the group were pulling their eyelids shut, pinching them upwards and making grotesque parodies of their faces. She felt her chest lurch again in a potent mixture of anger, sorrow, and even a tinge of pity. But how dare they! How dare they! She should march right over there and tell them off for being such bullies, for being so—

But could she risk it? The owner of the shop might get angry at her for antagonizing the customers, even the rude ones. And she had been having a nice time before that, just serving boba and treats like in the old days. She couldn’t let it get to her, no matter how awful they were being. Best to just wait them out until they left.

Unfortunately for her, they seemed to have no intention of leaving. They carried on, discussing loudly what sexual positions that they had planned for her and wondered as to her cup size. Mei did her best to stay out of sight, and wished she’d had Snowball and her endothermic blaster with her. That would shut them up, all right. Maybe if she built a new blaster very quickly out of the boba chiller in the back…?

“What about the other girl? The skinny ginger with the sunburn?” One of the boys wondered aloud.

Mei felt her temper flare anew, head jerking up to where said ‘sunburnt ginger’ was working unawares in front of a fruit slicing machine. That girl was one of her younger co-workers, still in her teens, a softspoken local who had admitted to Mei that she had hoped this job would help her get over her shyness. And now that group of boys was targeting her too.

“Wot, that one? Yeah, I seen her here before. No tits or arse on that one, though.”

“Wonder if she’s sunburnt all over? Heh.”

“You know what they say about gingers, mate? They say down th—”

CLACK.

She could ignore it when they targeted her, but she wasn’t about to let it happen to that girl or anyone else in her charge. Mei slammed the empty stack of cups onto the counter with a clatter, swinging open the little door as she went marching straight towards them as all heads turned her way. No matter her cheerfully goofy outfit with the frills and ruffles and polka dots, she descended on the group like a thunderstorm, her jaw set and her eyes narrowed.

“Tíng xiàlái! Excuse me but you need to stop this instant! These awful things you’re saying, you need to stop.” She tried to loom over them as best she could despite her height, little white gloves clenching into fists. “In fact, I think you need to leave! Right now!”

For a moment, silence reigned in the Honeydew Cha as every patient turned to watch the tiny woman in the bubble tea waitress uniform confront an entire pack of Aussie goons. Even the group seemed startled at first, though it rapidly changed to confusion, annoyance, and anger. The girl was the first to react, shooting her a sneering grin and urging the boys on as she wrapped her arms around the largest boy’s arm and shook him to action.

“Leave off, we haven’t done anything wrong! We don’t have to go anywhere!” she said.

The boy snorted and took another swig of his drink. “Dunno why you’re so worked up about what we said, none of it was that bad.”

“No! You need to leave the premises at once!” Mei said, pointing to the door. “If you have a problem, you can call our Honeydew Cha headquarters, I’m sure they’d love to hear from you. But you are not staying here after that. Leave!”

There was an answering array of snickers and insults, but when Mei narrowed her gaze and stared them down, they finally stirred and began to drag themselves upright. Muttering insults and shooting her nasty looks, they finally began to head to the door. Passing by the counter at the front, they headed for the exit…only for the girl to suddenly launch to the side, seizing the jar that had been set by the register. The jar had been decorated with post-it notes and drawings that Mei had made herself, with little cartoons of her yeti doodle thanking them for the tips.

With that day having been busier than ever, it was brimming with tips. Coins and bills filled it nearly to the brim where they simply hadn’t had the chance to empty it. Some of the coins went bouncing away as the girl slung it under one arm, laughed and gave her the finger, and then broke into a run as all the boys followed after her. In a sudden stampede, they nearly broke the door open as they fled.

“Hey!” Mei flung herself after them, but it was too late. She stumbled to a stop at the open door, yelling after them. “That’s our tip jar!”

Hoots and jeers answered her.

“What, you wanted us to leave!”

“Thanks for the tea, you chunky-arse cunt!”

“I got a tip for you right here!”

One of the boys made a very offensive gesture at her with both hands.

“Hey! Hey! You get back here this instant! You can’t—!” Mei lingered there in the open doorway, unable to continue. She wasn’t about to leave her younger cohorts alone in the shop, and without Snowball or her weapons to back her up, there was no way she could take on an entire group like them if things went south. She could only watch as her team’s hard-earned tips got further away in the hands of those goons, their laughter fading as they slowed to a walk, when they saw her unable to chase them. She bit her lip and sniffled, and had just started to close the door in abject defeat when a shadow fell across her.

“Oi! S’wrong, love? What’s going on?”

She whirled about, to where Junkrat suddenly stood above her. “Oh, Jamie! Those awful people just robbed us!! They made a mess and caused trouble and took the jar and they were…” Her expression fell. “They were saying very awful things…About us. About me.”

His face darkened, glancing up to where the group was laughing and walking away, the stolen jar still under one arm. Even if it wasn’t the jar that really concerned him. “You? Saying things ‘bout you? What kinda things?”

His suspicions were confirmed when Mei looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. “It was bad…I don’t want to repeat…”

“Oh yeah?” He asked, voice suddenly too airy. “Well, my tea can wait. Lemme just go see about that jar…and see if maybe I can’t get ‘em to rethink talking to you like that.” He started off, peg leg clacking, and made a strange gesture to Roadhog. The larger man only nodded and peeled off into the crowd, heading in the opposite direction.

Mei watched him go, leaning further and further out the door, still unable to follow. “Jamie, wait! Wait, don’t blow anyone up! Please! I-I’m fine, see! No matter what they said, I’m fine! We can make more tips! Jamie!”

But he was already gone.

***

The gang of goons turned a corner, still celebrating their victory as the girl passed the stolen tip jar to her boyfriend to start counting out. Wasn’t a bad take, especially since it had irked that Chinese lady so much. Heading down an alleyway, littered with dumpsters and bins from the nearby shops and restaurants, they began to talk over their plans for dinner. The tip jar would more than pay for all of them, after all.

Over the sound of their chattering, the clicking and clacking of a peg-legged gait sounded behind them. Junkrat, smiling maniacally as ever, had found and followed them. At a leisurely pace, he started tailing after them, giggling the entire way before finally hooting aloud for their attentions.

“Hey mates! How ya goin!”

The others were none too keen on his appearance, their leader lingering behind to scoff at him.

“The fuck’s a junker doing out here? Lost your way home to the landfill? Oi, need directions to the nearest bin?”

The entire group laughed, and Junkrat abruptly began shrilling his wild laugh along with them. Cackling like a hyena, he bent over and slapped at both his knees with a thud and a clank, before his head jerked upright, yellow eyes alight and lips stretching open in his mad grin. “Ahahaha! Good one, mates! Haha! A trash bin! Ya sure got me! Imagine! Hahaha! A junker and his bins!”

His laughter only rose in pitch and ferocity. They scowled at that, and their leader snorted and flicked a cigarette in his direction, turning to lead his lackeys off along the other length of alleyway. “Fockin’ junkers, ay, radiation-rotted in the brains. Dunno what this city’s comin’ to. C’mon, let’s go—”

“Now hold on, mates! Hold on!” Rat hobbled after them with his uneven limp. “C’mon, I appreciate a good sense of humor much as anyone. Heh, junkers belonging in the bin! Absolute classic. And…say, you know any other real good ones?”

“The fuck you w—”

“Ya know. Maybe about nice ladies working in boba shops, with a ponytail and glasses, Chinese accent? That sweet girl in the green uniform what you’ve had some real choice remarks about. That girl. My girl.” His grin tightened, teeth scraping so hard that they nearly sparked. “How about it! Ya had any real rippers about my girl? Ya wanna tell them to me right now?”

There was a long pause from the other group, glancing to one another before the leader finally snorted and went skulking down the alley more. “Ah, fuck off.”

“C’mon now, let’s all be mates! I just wanna know what you said to my Mei!” Rat said, still following them. “Just tell me what you said to her. And normally I got no qualms at all about taking money that’s just laying out there in perfectly good jars, but… Well y’see, that’s my girl’s money, right there. So you gotta give it back too.”

That made the whole group turn upon him, and several of the larger ones began to advance to back up their leader, standing until they were shoulder to shoulder. Junkrat found himself faced with an entire little crowd of bogans that were nearly as large as he was, and significantly more aggressive. Several of them were already reaching for the batons and knives he knew they were carrying. But still he didn’t back down, and his grin didn’t even waver as he faced them head-on.

“Now this is normally something that I don’t do, but because my girl’s involved and she’s a real sweet sort, I’m gonna give you a choice between easy way or hard way. Now the easy way is, you fucks are gonna go apologize to my girl first of all, and give back what you took from her. Easy squeezy! Or you can choose the hard w—”

The lead man moved, his hand launching out from his belt and holding a glint of metal. The knife slashed through the air, narrowly missing the junker’s lanky frame.

There was a blur of movement, followed by the sickening hollow crack of bone against bone. The top of Junkrat’s thick skull slammed full force into the man’s forehead, splitting skin and crunching cartilage as part of his nose dented inward, and took part of a socket with it. He staggered backward as the knife went spinning out of his grasp, stunned, eyes rolling in several directions before he collapsed against a nearby wall and clutched at his face with a shout. His mates surged forward to aid him, holding him up before he could fall any further.

“Hard way it is!” Rat reared up to his full height, blood trickling a sticky trail down along his grinning features, outlining his wild smile where every tooth was bared, yellow eyes alight. “You’re choosin’ to scrap with a junker?! Good choice, mates! Oi, Roadie! They chose the hard way!”

The other group had just begun to rally, their leader balling his fists and starting to square up with the lanky junker across from him, when there was a low rumble from the shadows at the other end of the alleyway. Amongst the piles of garbage and dumpsters, an immense shape turned its head and began to lift out of the background. The pig-masked behemoth loomed above them, one tree-trunk-thick arm uncurling with a viciously curved metal hook in his hand. Slowly advancing towards the scene, he let the sharpened tip drag along the wall, screeching and spitting sparks as it went.

Junkrat cackled from the other end of the chokepoint. With a metallic clatter, he slammed a fistful of grenades into the weapon he suddenly sported in one hand, aimed right at them. The group of hooligans found themselves penned in between the two junkers, one armed with explosives and the other…a veritable monster that was headed their way.

“Oi!” Still grinning and with his face covered in blood, Rat whistled jovially to catch their attention. “You still don’t wanna apologize to my girl? Then how ‘bout you make it up to her.”

“We didn’t mean nothing by it, ay!”

“Swear, it was nothing!”

“How we gonna—”

“SHUT!” Rat shrilled, lifting his grenade launcher as they shrank back. “You’re gonna drop your money and everything what you got…and if you don’t feel like droppin’ em, then my mate would be happy to uh, give you a sort of pat-down? And I gotta warn you, he’s got a reputation for playin’ a bit rough. Ain’t that right, Roadie?”

Roadhog rumbled dangerously, and the group shrunk into an ever-smaller circle. The girl was the first to crack, audibly starting to cry even as she upended her purse and began tossing her belongings onto the filthy ground. Among them was the crumpled bills from the shop’s tip jar. Following her lead, wallets and jewelry and credits and other bits and pieces began to shower down onto the pavement, and even their foul-tempered leader soon tossed his wallet and cards onto the ground before Hog’s spiked boots.

“That’s all of it, mate, swear.”

“We’re gonna go, we’re gonna go.”

“No harm, ay? We’ll fuck off.”

Junkrat’s gaze darted downward before he snorted aloud, nodding sharply to Roadhog before his blood-smeared grin eased and he cheerfully stepped to the side, waving them forward with his gun. “See! Glad we got all that sorted out. And if me and Roadie see you cunts lurking anywhere within boba’s reach of that shop, well… Let’s just say that Roadie’s got a real temper on him and I dunno if I’d be able to stop the big lug. In fact…seems he might be in a bit of a mood right now. Go on, then, start runnin’.”

They took their chance, bolting forward just as Roadhog’s gargantuan form suddenly broke into a run. Scraping his hook against the brick, he hurled the wicked metal thing forward in a rattle of chains, blurring forward just as the group scattered at the alley’s mouth and dispersed into all directions, their screams trailing after them. Silence soon returned to the little alleyway, and Hog took up his place guarding the entry while his younger partner began picking through the offerings left behind.

***

“Order number 342! Passionfruit Sunset, oolong milk tea, berry matcha!”

Mei didn’t have time to worry about that pack of hoodlums. It was just before closing now, with only a lingering handful of people waiting for the last orders and she had been so distracted by trying to keep up that she’d nearly been able to forget that group of awful people… Almost. She just had to focus on this last stretch before closing. The kitchen was splattered with syrups and flavorings, loose pearls rolled about the ground or burst under her feet, and she was starting to forget which flavors went with which colors.

“Taro milk tea and a lychee with peach poppers!” She started the blenders for the hundredth time that day, only pausing to try and slide the visor back up her sweaty forehead and adjust her crooked glasses. Her feet were staring to ache and her smile was starting to fade, but her crew was counting on her to see them through and she wasn’t about to let everyone down. Maybe she could try to refill the tip jar with her own money today, too? She couldn’t let them down…

No matter how tired she was, she immediately stood to attention when a familiar voice joined the throng of customer conversation. It was just one Australian accent among many, but the screeching tone of it, followed by the sudden movement of everyone away from the door heralded Rat’s entrance. He limped in with the telltale k-thud k-thud of his peg, and immediately sashayed right to the front of the (suddenly dispersed) line and threw down his bag and leaned on the top of the counter in his most roguish pose.

“Hey, babe! Gimme your biggest bucket of half-sweet, and then you can give me a full sweet, right here!” He tapped his cheek and leaned down as if for a kiss. “And then, you can give me a—”

“J-Jamison! Hi!” She interrupted just as he was about to make a lewd gesture, waving both hands before lowering her voice. ”Oh no, is that blood on your forehead? Please tell me you didn’t hurt anybody over a silly tip jar?”

He quickly wiped away the trickles of red that he’d missed earlier. “What do you take me for! Not to worry. Barely even a scratch, maybe a bruise or two. They’re lucky Roadie and I didn’t hook ‘em and cook ‘em. Nah, gave them a spook was all. Swear it.”

“Just so long as nobody got hurt, please?” She sighed, pushing her sweaty hair back once more. “Well, I guess scaring them is okay…they were being pretty awful. And the things they said! And stealing the tips from my team! Just awful, they were being total…Um.”

“Cunts?”

“No, no, I’m not saying that. What’s Australian, something kind of mean but nicer than that?”

“Galahs. Dipsticks. Drongos.”

“Yes! They were being real drongos!” she said with a little smile, before passing him his milk tea, half sweet, just how he liked.

“Thanks, darl. Well isn’t that fine service. Oi, ladies and gents, isn’t that just the finest boba service you ever did see?!” He turned upon the little crowd in the waiting area, and received a few hesitant agreements and nervous laughter. Nodding to himself, he ripped open his pack and reached both arms into it, rummaging about. “Best Honeydew Cha I been to all day, and I think that deserves a tip!”

He produced her stolen smiley-faced jar from the bag and began digging out entire handfuls of cash, credits, and random little jewels and metal bits, stuffing them inside. When that was filled past the brim, he began snatching at cups and cramming them full as well, pushing them across the counter to the stunned boba shop staff. Tucking the last few dollars into a sample cup while they tried to handle the sudden deluge of tip money, he placed both hands on his hips and watched the chaos in an extremely self-satisfied way.

“Oh. And they also send you their apologies for the things what they said to you, by the by. Hope this’ll cover it.”

“W-where did you even get—” Mei sputtered, then turned upon him with that uniquely accusatory smile. “You know something, I’m not even mad that you probably beat up those bullies. Maybe they’ll learn to be nicer. I’m giving you a pass this time. And you’ve really made my team happy so…” She lifted her voice again. “Okay, Honeydew Crew, thank you to Mr. Fawkes for feeling so generous today. And you all did such a great job today that I’m giving you all my share as a bonus…in exchange for you taking care of tonight’s clean-up.”

There was a chorus of agreement as she swung open the little door behind the counter, untying her apron as she looped her arm around his and passed him his favorite half-sweet tea. He grinned at her before giving her a squeeze, letting her guide him of the shop and down the boardwalk where Roadhog was waiting. For a moment, they walked together in silence as he busied himself with his tea…before he nearly spit it out all over the top of her head when he heard her sigh and grumble aloud.

“...I really wish I had gotten to punch them.”

“Ay?!”

“I know! I know it’s mean but…They were mean first,” she huffed, before giggling at his expression. “But, thank you for taking care of those no-good bullies. And for stealing everything back.”

“That’s cold! Oh, I like that from you! Uh, why don’t we leave Roadie to his lonesome and head back to the bungalow, maybe work out some of that aggression you got?” His arm wrapped about her, gripping at her side. “Whaddaya say?”

“I…think that’s a good idea, actually,” she said with a little smile. “But maybe in a little while. It’s still a nice night for a walk. Why don’t you and I go to the beach?”

#meihem #junkmei #meirat #junkrat #jamison fawkes #mei #mei-ling zhou #Honeydew Mei #boba mei #boba #bubble tea #writing #fiction #fanfiction #overwatch

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desiree-harding-fic · 5 years

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Second Date (Part 2)

Apparently y’all liked the blurb so I guess this is a Thing now.

I very much appreciate your attention to the little ficlets that arise from my procrastination.

Here’s Part 1

Enjoy!

Even having seen it happen several times before, Taako still just about jumps out of skin at the fabric-tearing sound that announces Kravitz’s portal. He turns around in time to see the man himself step through, watch the portal seal up behind him seemingly of its own accord.

And then Taako has to keep himself from smiling like an idiot and staring at Kravitz.

Because he looks really good in that suit.

And isn’t it kind of funny that Taako can’t tell if he wore it as work clothes or if those are his date clothes.

Probably both. Hell, they’re probably not even real.

Don’t think about it too hard, he thinks. And it’s easy not to when Kravitz is smiling at him like that.

“Hello, Taako,” Kravitz says, a little stiff and a little formal, and somehow like the shapes of the words feel strange in his mouth. Taako even feels his smile grow as he can hear a little hint of that god-awful fake fantasy cockney in there. Kravitz seems to notice too, because he makes a displeased sort of face, and Taako laughs.

“Hey, my man,” he says, leaning on his umbrella. He’d slung it over his arm out of instinct on his way out the door, and it was only by the time he’d gotten up to the grassy quad that he’s remembered the incident on their last date where the Umbra Staff had tried to blast Kravitz to kingdom come. But by then, there hadn’t been any time to go back.

And maybe Taako has a hard time letting go of it. Sue him if he wants to be protected when he goes out. With his luck, they might even need to use it.

“You um, you look very nice,” Kravitz says, and Taako could swear this guy’s got stars in his eyes just looking at him right here. And Taako’s been stared at before by loads of people, made a living off it, except he usually doesn’t give a shit. He can feel himself giving a shit with Kravitz’s eyes on him, and he’s not even so much staring as just… enjoying the looking. He almost wants Kravitz to stop. Except he really doesn’t

Fuck he’s out of practice, isn’t he?

So he responds with “natch. Back at you,” like it means nothing in the world even though Kravitz looks really fuckin good, and he keeps leaning on the staff and says, “so you gonna get me the fuck out of here or do I need to call a cannonball?”

Kravitz looks utterly bewildered. “A cannonball?”

“Obvi, dude, that’s how we get around around here.” Kravitz is looking at him like he’s saying something very distressing.

“You travel… by cannonball.” He says, and then, “does that actually mean – I mean is that a thing?”

“Oh my gods, I’m dying. We’ll talk about it planet side, okay, now let’s go. Taako is one-hundo-percent done with this place,” Taako says, letting a little whine sneak into his voice. It’s charming, the way Kravitz gets flustered, though. And cannonball travel is quite a thing to get flustered over.

“Oh, right,” Kravitz says, visibly shaking his head to clear his thoughts before he takes his scythe and makes a long vertical swipe in the air, and bam. There’s a rift in time and space. Kravitz moves to step through, and then hesitates. He looks at Taako for a minute, seems to do some mental arithmetic, and extends his arm to Taako, noncommittal, undemanding, but open.

“Shall we?” he says, a bit nervous. And Taako, trying not to think about what it means, thinks what the hell, and links his arm through Kravitz’s.

“Lead the way, my man,” he says, and Kravitz leads him forward to where Taako can see the Ethereal plane. They step through, and the rift zips up behind them with a snap, and Kravitz cuts them another.

Taako steps through the second rift and is immediately hit with a wave of warm, humid air.

Not the kind of hot that Refuge was, and not the kind of humid that will leave Taako’s hair in a state if he doesn’t tie it up, but an absolute, definite change from the moon.

The second thing that hits him is the sound of waves sneaking up and down the sand of a shoreline, a sound that seems to hit him somewhere deep in his subconscious and strip all the tension right out of his shoulders and puts twice as much breath in his lungs.

Kravitz has brought him to the beach.

A beach town, to be specific. Because there’s not just the sound of waves, the warm golden light of the sun, a few hours from setting. There’s also the sound of shouts of children in the street, of vendors selling their wares. There’s throaty singing and string music spilling out from seaside bars and restaurants, and the air is full of the smell of saltwater and bright, sharp spices, of popping oil and wood burning.

Kravitz has brought him to the main strip of a beach town.

“Where are we?” he says, because he’s thoroughly charmed, and he can’t help but ask.

“Don’t quote me, but I think it’s called something like Ǽirenostaar” Kravitz says, and when Taako doesn’t recognize the language, and shoots Kravitz a questioning look, Kravitz just smiles at him and raises an eyebrow. “Surely you didn’t think Faerun was the only continent on the planet?”

Taako has to laugh.

“Gods damn,” he says, looking around again, and yep, now he can see it, how this place is different from where he’s used to living, in little ways. The way the buildings are made (mostly stucco and a dark, twisted wood) and the fashions (loose, colorful as a flowerbed, heavily embroidered in some cases, others closer to Faerun’s fashion) and the climate. “You always take a guy halfway around the world for dinner?”

“Well, more like a quarter,” Kravitz says, and Taako only now notices he hasn’t got his scythe anymore. “And not so much around as just more South. And besides,” Taako likes the sound of the mischievous smile in his voice, “you said you wanted a change of scenery.”

Well shit, Taako sure did say that didn’t he? He hadn’t expected Kravitz to go so far though. It’s a surprise, if not an unwelcome one. It kind of makes him feel like Kravitz is trying to impress him.

It feels nice to know somebody thinks you’re worth impressing, he thinks. It’s been too long.

“Is it too much?” Kravitz says beside him, suddenly nervous. “I’m sorry, we can go back somewhere in Faerun if you’re more comfortable.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Taako says, tightening his grip on Kravitz’s arm. “We’re fucking staying here now. Fuck the Bureau, Taako’s gonna live here.”

Kravitz laughs, and it makes a little warmth bloom in Taako’s chest. Gods. He likes Kravitz too much for having known him for maybe a collective four hours. For like half of those Kravitz was trying to kill him too. Now Taako is hanging onto his arm as they wander out of the little alley Kravitz portaled them to onto the main street.

It looks mostly like a collection of restaurants and small shops, with the occasional street vendor in a tent or stall. Like a cross between an open-air market and an outdoor shopping mall and an ancient village. It’s bright and new and different and Taako can’t keep the smile off his face. He pulls Kravitz along as he starts to wander into the crowd.

#my fic #taz balance #taz balance fanfic #taz balance ficlet #desiree: the tumblr sessions #taakitz #taakitz fic #taako taaco #taako fic #kravitz #kravitz fic #canon compliant #there'll be more #second date

103 notes · View notes

cocomaxley · 5 years

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In Sickness In Health

This is a part of a TRR A/U called Cordonians Gone Wild, a collaborative effort by @ao719 @speedyoperarascalparty @leelee10898 and yours truly. Catch up HERE.

Summary: Genevieve and Liam are home sick while Anitah and Rashad have fun in NYC. This was a prompt request from @speedyoperarascalparty: For Genevieve and whoever you want You have cold, you’re not dying.

Rating: Mature, bad language and awful decisions. And this turned out much longer than I intended.

Tag List: @fullbeaumonty @brightpinkpeppercorn @alj4890 @zaffrenotes @annekebbphotography @carabeth @moneyfordiamonds @give-me-ernest-sinclaire @3pawandme @indiacater @ooo-barff-ooo @ownworldresident @tornbetween2loves @perfectprofessorherokid @stopforamoment @editboutique @wannabemc2 @enmchoices @lauradowning29 @lodberg @smalltalk88 @gibbles82 @heatherfilliez @drakesensworld @nikkis1983 @sweetest-marbear @classylady1234 @daniv2278 @jlouise88 @jared2612 @liamxs-world @notoriouscs @blubutterflyy @captain-kingliamsqueen @lynne1993 @the-soot-sprite

Before the alarm clock went off, Genevieve woke up coughing. Rashad stirred next to her and turned. Looking at her concerned, he asked, “Are you alright, Gen?” She nodded her head still coughing. He got out of bed and brought back a glass of water. She took a sip and smiled at her husband, “Thank you, honey. I guess I caught that cold that’s going around. I feel fine other than this cough.” Rashad sighed, “Sweetheart, I really think you should go to the doctor. You’ve been tired the past week and this cough doesn’t sound good. What if you have bronchitis?”

“Baby, I’m fine...besides, I have too much work to do to be sick. Don’t worry,” she smiled at him trying to convince him that she was in fact alright. Just then, Rashad’s cell phone rang, “What’s up Liam? It’s early.” He heard a pitiful whimper on the other end of the phone, “Rashad, I'm dying!" Genevieve then started hacking again. She left the room so she wouldn’t interrupt the phone call. He heard Anitah laughing in the background before the phone was removed from Liam’s hand. “Hello, Rashad. The King is not on his deathbed, I promise. Is Gen alright? She sounds awful!”

Rashad replied, "He kinda sounds like he's dying, Anitah...Gen says she's fine and refuses to go the doctor. She said it's just a cold." Anitah tried to control her laughter as Liam continued to groan in the background like a wounded animal. She lowered her voice to a whisper, “Liam just has the man flu. Sounds like they need to switch places.” Rashad let out a heavy sigh,"Well they're both stubborn. So good luck trying to convince them. What does this mean for our trip to New York for the Climate Action Summit? Will your dying husband be able to make it?"

“No, he will not be going. Hope you don’t mind the Queen taking his place...”

"These trips are always fun when you're there. Hopefully no international disasters this time..."

“That was ONE time Rashad....but I won’t make any promises,” Anitah laughed. Rashad chuckled, "We're set to leave at 4:30. Maybe Gen should stay at the palace with Liam while we're gone. I don't want her to be by herself. My father is also traveling, and she’s not going to call the staff if she needs something. Plus, Liam probably shouldn’t be alone right now." Anitah agreed, “That will be more than fine. I will let staff know she’ll be staying.”

The two hung up the phone, and Rashad started packing a bag for his wife. He knew she would protest, so he was preparing himself mentally. He recited what he was going to say so that she would agree to go to the palace while he was out of town. He heard her phone chirp with a message, and he glanced at the screen. A smile formed on his lips after he read it.

She came back into the room freshly showered. “What are you doing, Rashad?” She motioned towards the packed bag. He took a deep breath already forgetting his prepared speech, “Before you say no, hear me out...Liam is sick, so Anitah is going to New York with me instead. Since you're sick, I thought you and Liam could keep each other company.”

She rolled her eyes, “So you're asking me to babysit Liam? I told you I feel fine. And I have to go to work, honey. I'll just check on him before and after work. Have Drake watch him during the day.” She grumbled under her breath, “He's such a baby.”

Rashad cleared his throat, trying not to laugh, “Sweetie, Pam already texted and said to stay home. Check your phone.” Sure enough, when she looked at her phone, there was a text from Pam that read, ‘Keep your sick ass at home. I don't want your cooties.’

“You guys are ridiculous!” She said loudly which caused her to have another coughing fit. He raised his brow at her. “Fine!” she stomped off to her closet to get dressed.

Meanwhile at the palace, Anitah was packing her suitcase for the trip. “Anitah!” Liam yelled. “Love, can you just stay home and take care of me? Rashad can go to the summit by himself…” Anitah tried to keep her face serious, “My King, one of us has to represent Cordonia along with Rashad, so they know we take climate issues seriously. Gen is coming to stay with you.” Liam looked relieved, “Gen’s staying with me? Ok, I feel better now. She can take care of me. And she cooks really good food.” Anitah giggled, “She's sick too, and Pam banned her from the clinic until she feels better. So you guys can take care of each other. She is in denial of being sick so she probably will cook for you. Now, can I get you anything before I leave? Orange juice? Soup? Your balls maybe?”

“Ha ha ha...you're so funny,” Liam replied. “I'd like some orange juice though.” Anitah brought Liam a glass of juice and kissed his forehead. Then she resumed packing her bag. “Good luck, Gen,” she murmured while she packed.

That afternoon, Genevieve and Rashad entered the royal quarters. Liam was laying on the couch covered with a blanket. He looked at his two friends, “Hey, guys. Sorry I didn't answer the door, my entire body hurts.” Rashad covered his mouth to hide the smile on his face, “I hope you feel better, Li. Gen will take care you of while we’re gone.”

“Thanks, Rashad. Make sure to keep an eye on my Queen. I don't want to have to clean up another international...achoo!” Liam pulled the covers up to his chin and whimpered. Rashad chuckled, “She will be fine. If not, I'll just pretend I don't know her.”

He looked at his wife who was working on her laptop at the dining room table. “Sweetheart, you need to rest. I know you're ‘fine’ but that can wait.” She turned to him and smiled, “I won't be on long. Just have to respond to some emails. Then I have to take care of...that.” She pointed to Liam who had fallen asleep on the couch with his mouth open.

Anitah tiptoed towards the door, “Alright let’s go before he wakes up and starts whining again! Gen, I know you're not sick, but I'm still not hugging you.” She giggled and waved to her friend as Brad grabbed her bag and they both left. Rashad turned to his wife, “I'll be back in a couple of days. Please try to go to the doctor while I'm gone. I'm sure Bastien wouldn't mind taking you.” She rolled her eyes at him, “Well if I'm so sick, I'm sure I won't get a goodbye kiss from my husband…” He pulled her up so she was standing in front of him. Rashad leaned down and kissed her sweetly, “I'll always kiss you, sick or not. I love you, Gen.”

“Have a good trip, honey. I love you too.”

After Rashad left, Liam woke up from his nap. “Gen…I don't feel good. I think I have a fever.” Genevieve walked up to him and put her hand against his forehead. “Liam, you don't feel warm. Have you taken your temperature?” He shook his head no. She walked into the bathroom to get the thermometer. She stuck it in his mouth and went into the kitchen, pulling out a large pot. She perused through the items in the royal couple’s fridge and pantry, grabbing the ingredients she needed to make dinner. When she heard the thermometer beep, she went back to the living room.

Genevieve removed the thermometer from Liam’s mouth, “As I suspected…” Liam looked at her with puppy dog eyes. “I told you! I'm sick.” She started laughing showing him the 98.6 temperature on the screen. This made her start coughing. “Don't make me laugh, Liam! This cough hurts. I’m going to make you some chicken noodle soup. If that doesn't make you feel better...seriously...nothing will, because you're fine.”

The royal jet landed in New York. Anitah and Rashad checked into The Surrey. “Let's meet for dinner in a half hour, Rashad. Then I think we should go for drinks at Kismet.” Rashad looked at her, “A nightclub, seriously?”

“Why not? It's the hottest club in the city. The first night I met Liam I was going to take him there, but I took him to the beach instead.” The two went their separate ways to get ready for dinner. Rashad pulled out his phone and called his wife. “Hi, sweetie. How is everything?”

“He's finally sleeping! Every little sound wakes him up, and he starts whimpering. I'm going to smother him with his pillow. Too bad Bas keeps checking on us.” Rashad chuckled, “We just checked in. We're going to have dinner and go to a club, I guess.” This made his wife start giggling and coughing. “You're going to a club? Poor Brad. He's going to earn his paycheck tonight. I love you, Rashad. Have fun.”

“I love you too. I'll see you in a couple of days,” he hung up the phone.

He met Anitah in the hotel lobby. “Gen said they're fine...but Liam might die before we get back.” After dinner, the two friends entered the nightclub. Music thumped, multicolored lights flashed all over, and the dance floor was packed with people. The pair walked straight to the bar and ordered shots. After a few drinks they started to feel the liquid courage course through their veins.

A tall, handsome man walked up next to Anitah and licked his lips as he looked her up and down. “What are ya drinking, gorgeous?” Anitah giggled while Rashad rolled his eyes and got between her and the man. “She's drinking what I'm buying. Move along.” The man held his hands up and backed away from the bar. A short while later a blonde woman sat next to Rashad. “What's a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?” Anitah pulled Rashad to side and stood real close to her, “You ever been to Brooklyn? If you haven't, you're about to see it if you don't walk away right now.” The woman’s eyes went wide, “I...I'm sorry, i didn't know he was here with his wife…” she quickly walked away. The two looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Anitah yelled over the music, “Let's get out of here! I'll take you on a tour of New York! But wait…” she pointed to Brad who was eyeing her suspiciously. “We have to ditch him.” At this point Rashad was half in the bag and agreed with the Queen. She beckoned her guard over to her, “Bradley, go get the car! We're leaving!” Once Brad left, Anitah grabbed Rashad’s hand and sprinted towards the door laughing, “Hurry, Cinnamon Roll! We have to get out of here!” The two drunken friends ran down the New York street as an unsuspecting Brad pulled up with the SUV.

A short while later, they arrived at Time Square. “You gotta see the naked cowboy!” Rashad looked at her confused, “Why...why would I want to see a naked cowboy?” She ignored him and continued to yank on his arm leading him towards the street performer. Rashad stared at him wide eyed, “wow...he's in his tighty whities...in the middle of Time Square...playing a guitar. This is the greatest thing I've ever seen!” He grinned at Anitah who was giggling uncontrollably.

Rashad continued to watch him perform, “He's like Fabio in a cowboy hat…” he reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet, pulling out a few bills, “You know what? I like you, take it all!” He dropped his entire wallet into the cowboy’s guitar case. “Rashad! Let's go get pie! I know just the place!” Anitah began to pull him down the street towards the subway.

Meanwhile at the palace, Liam’s phone rang. Genevieve jumped up to get it so it wouldn't wake him. She saw Brad’s number flashing on the screen and she stifled a laugh. She walked into a bedroom and answered the phone, “Brad! Why are you calling Liam instead of Bas?”

“Your…Your Grace, I...I...lost the queen in New York…” he sounded frantic. She could hear the New York traffic in the background. “I knew this would happen!” She started laughing hard, again breaking out into a coughing fit. “Let me find Bastien. I'll have him call you. DO NOT call Liam again. I will kill you, do you understand?” She walked out of the royal quarters and found Bastien. “Bas, Anitah and Rashad ditched Brad and he's panicking. Can you please help him before he drives himself into the Atlantic?” She saw a smirk form on Bastien’s lips, “I'm on it, Your Grace.”

Anitah and Rashad arrived at the New York subway. A drunk Rashad looked around at the dingy concrete and tile. They boarded a train and noticed different types of people that Rashad had never encountered before. They took their seats on the train and looked around at their fellow travelers. Anitah nudged Rashad’s arm and nodded towards a couple that were locked in a heated kiss. The woman was straddling the man. Rashad’s eyes went wide, “Are they...no...they can’t be…” Anitah burst out laughing, “I’m pretty sure they are, Rashad.”

“That’s kinky, even for Liam,” Rashad replied. They turned their attention to a drunk man that was having an animated conversation with one of the poles. Clearly he was having a disagreement with it and wasn’t going to be proven otherwise. Then they heard a Spanish speaking couple having a heated discussion in front of them. They had Rashad’s full attention. “Can you understand them?” Anitah asked. He nodded his head, “Yes, the man said he knows that she’s been sleeping with his best friend, Juan.” Anitah gasped, “No!”

“Now the man is questioning if the baby is his and wants a paternity test.” The woman stood up and slapped the man across the face. “Damn!” Anitah yelled. “That looked like it hurt.” Rashad continued, “She just told him that she slept with Juan because she knew that he was sleeping with him too.” Both of their mouths formed into perfect ‘o’ shapes. “Juan’s a slut…” Anitah whispered. The subway train came to a stop. “This is us, let’s go get pie!”

They walked into a mom and pop diner in the heart of Harlem. All eyes turned to the overdressed pair. Anitah didn’t notice and pulled Rashad up to the diner counter and ordered two pieces of apple pie. “Now, this is a real apple pie, Rashad!” Anitah took a big bite of her piece. Rashad looked at it unconvinced. He cut a small piece with his fork and took a bite. “This is delicious, Anitah! Who knew American apple pie was better than Cordonian apple pie…do not tell Liam I said that. I will deny it.” He quickly ate his piece and ordered another. When the waitress gave him the second helping, she dropped off their check. Rashad reached into his pocket and his heart dropped when he couldn’t find his wallet. He reached into the interior pocket of his jacket and the wallet wasn’t there either. “Anitah, I lost my wallet!” Anitah giggled, “No you didn’t. You gave it to the naked cowboy.”

“Are you telling me that you two don’t have any money?” the woman asked sternly from behind the counter. Anitah patted Rashad’s hand, “I’ll handle this…” She turned to the woman, “Excuse me, I’m the Queen of Gordon and I would like you to bill this pie to my room.” She started walking towards the door. “Oh no you don’t, Queenie! I’m calling the cops.”

Back in Cordonia, Bastien was on the phone with his friend at the NYPD. “Yes, the Queen and Duke were last seen entering the subway...Ah, I see...I will notify her guard. Thank you for your help. Please just hold them in the back of the squad car until he arrives.” Bastien chuckled as he dialed Brad’s number. “I will text you the address to the diner. They ate and didn’t pay for their food. Make sure to bring some non-disclosure agreements with you. The police are holding them so they can’t get away from you again, Brad.”

Liam woke up from his long nap whining and whimpering. “Gen, I need water and I think I really have a fever now…” Genevieve got him a glass of water and touched his forehead. He was slightly warm. “I’ll take your temperature again, but it’s probably elevated because you’ve been under that thick blanket for hours.” She walked into the kitchen to check on the soup that was simmering on the stove. The noodles were floating which meant the soup was done. She ladled soup into two bowls, thinking she may as well enjoy some of it.

She heard the thermometer beep and gave Liam the bowl. She took the thermometer from his mouth and checked the screen. “Liam! Your temperature is 104.9! We have to get you to the hospital.” She dialed Bastien’s number and told him to get the car ready. Genevieve helped Liam off of the couch and out of the royal chambers. Bastien met them in the hall and helped support the sick King. Enroute to the emergency room, Genevieve called Rashad. His phone went to voicemail so she left him a message, “Honey, I hope you’re out of the squad car now…” she coughed and laughed. “When you get this, let Anitah know I’m taking Liam to the ER. His temperature is really high, but I’m sure everything will be fine. I’ll call or text once I talk to the doctor.”

With Bastien’s help, the pair of friends were checked in and shown to a private room. Shortly after a nurse came in and checked his vitals. “Blood pressure looks ok, oxygen levels are normal. Your majesty, what’s bothering you? Are you breathing ok?” Liam whimpered, “My body aches and I have a fever.” The nurse took Liam’s temperature and raised her brow, “Your majesty, your temperature looks normal...How high was it before you came here?” Genevieve looked at the nurse, “Are you sure? Because when I took it at the palace it was almost 105...unless...Liam, did you put the thermometer up to the lamp?” She turned to her friend, glaring at him.

Liam’s cheeks flushed, “Maybe...I don’t feel well and no one was taking me seriously. I just want to see the doctor!” The nurse clicked her tongue, “The doctor will be with you shortly, King Liam…” Genevieve got up and smacked Liam in the arm, “What is the matter with you? There are people with real emergencies, and we got you in here ahead of them.” Liam gave her a pitiful look, “Don’t be mad, Gen. Had I known the soup was ready, I would have waited to do that. Genevieve couldn’t help but giggle, “You’re stupid, you know that right?” Liam smiled in return, “And you’re the meanest care taker ever.”

The doctor came into the room and addressed the King, “What seems to be the problem, your majesty?” He checked Liam’s eyes, ears and throat while he listened to Liam drone on about all of his ailments. Genevieve started coughing while he was listening to Liam’s heart and lungs through the stethoscope, and he looked in her direction. The doctor smiled at him, “Based on everything in your chart, it looks like you just have a virus. It should clear up in a couple of days. Plenty of fluids and rest and you should be back to normal in no time.” He turned to Genevieve, “Now, you, your grace...I’d like to listen to your lungs. That cough doesn’t sound good.”

She waved him off, “I’m fine. I’m not even checked in, Doc. We’re here to tell his majesty that he is a big fat baby.” She grinned at Liam. The doctor walked towards where she was sitting, “I’m afraid that I can’t let you leave without checking you. You sound like you might have something serious.” She rolled her eyes, “Fine..go ahead.” He listened to her lungs for a long period of time, asking her to take a deep breath every so often. The doctor removed the stethoscope from his ears and put them back around his neck. “I think you have pneumonia. I’m going to order a chest x-ray to confirm it.” Genevieve grumbled under her breath, “I am sure I don’t have pneumonia, but do what you must.” She pulled out her phone and started playing candy crush. After the x-ray, the doctor came back in, “Well it looks like you have pneumonia. I’d like to check you in and have some IV antibiotics administered.” Genevieve looked at him skeptically, but agreed to stay at the hospital.

Back in New York, Anitah and Rashad met bright and early for the first day of the summit. Both were hungover and looked like they had walked to Harlem and back. Rashad told Anitah about Genevieve’s message and said that he was waiting for an update. They took their seats in the front row of the conference center when Brad approached Anitah. “Your majesty, Bastien called and said that Genevieve’s been checked into the hospital.” Rashad’s head snapped towards him, “Is she alright? She didn’t mention that in her message earlier.” Brad motioned for them to follow him. He explained what had happened and that the jet was ready to leave the airfield once they arrived. Once they were in the air, Anitah turned to Rashad, “Ok, I’ll take care of Gen and you can take care of Liam. I mean she’s one of my best friends and he’s one of yours…”

“She’s my wife, Anitah. I will be taking care of her. I just hope she’s ok and that she’s actually listening to the medical staff.” After they arrived at the hospital, Anitah pulled Rashad to the side in the hallway, “Listen, rock paper scissors. Best two out of three. Whoever wins gets to stay with Gen. The loser deals with Liam.” Rashad rolled his eyes, “No, she’s my wife…”

“Please Rashad, I’m begging you. Please!” He let out a sigh, “Fine. one, two, three…” They pounded their fists into their palms. Anitah held out rock and Rashad held out paper. “Dammit! Again!” Anitah yelled out. “One, two, three…” Anitah held out rock again and Rashad, again, held out paper. “I’m taking care of my wife.” He started walking away before she could argue. “No you don’t, Cinnamon Roll! I’m getting to her room first and you can go to Liam’s room!” She ran after him and grabbed the back of his shirt, ripping it. She kicked him in the shin and ran down the hallway. “What the fu...Anitah!” He ran after her as the staff yelled at the two of them.

They made it to Genevieve’s hospital room and burst through the door. Liam’s head snapped up as he watched Anitah fall to the floor, and Rashad trip over her, both of them sweaty and out of breath. “My love, you came for me!” Liam smiled at his wife. “Li...Liam...I thought this was Gen’s room? Is she ok?” Anitah asked, trying to mask the shock on her face at seeing her ‘sick’ husband wearing a hospital gown and laying in a hospital bed. The curtain next to Liam got pulled to the side. “I’m right here. What is all that noise?” Genevieve asked annoyed. She had an IV in her arm and machines beeping and buzzing around her.

Rashad rushed to her side, “Sweetheart, are you ok?” Genevieve smiled at him, “I’m fine. I should be able to go home tomorrow. You didn’t need to come home early.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “When I heard you were in the hospital, I got worried. I’d rather be here with you.” The door opened and the doctor walked in, “Ah, Duke Rashad. It’s nice to see you. Your wife will need to stay tonight and then she will be discharged in the morning. We just want to make sure that she’s hydrated and that the antibiotics are working.” Liam groaned from his hospital bed and the doctor looked at him surprised, “Your majesty, we discharged you hours ago from the emergency room. Go home.” Anitah let out a loud snort and started laughing.

#man flu #cordonians gone wild #cordoniansgonewild #cgw #liam x anitah #rashad x genevieve #rashad x anitah #liam x genevieve #squad goals

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script-a-world · 5 years

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Would it be possible to have an entire planet be one biome? Like a really forest-y planet? What would need to happen to make it possible? Or, what's the fewest number of biomes a planet could have? Thanks for all ur guys's hard work!

Bina:Scientifically possible? There’s no way to know for sure! Can you do it anyways? Absolutely.

Single-biome planets are a common feature in sci-fi (Star Wars does it) so no one will bat an eye if you have single or low-number-of-biome planets. It may not be “realistic,” but there’s a precedent you can take refuge in.

To go more into detail of what’s probably possible, certain biomes are easily suited for covering the whole planet. Like desert, or ice, or ocean. Stuff that’s just kinda dead and uniform. Biomes that consist of organic life such as jungle or forest planets are harder to make calls for. I mean, just what are the conditions necessary for life to thrive and does the entire planet fit those conditions? Luckily for you, you can just make up plants/animals that can easily survive in the necessary range of temperatures, elevations, or atmospheric conditions that your planet contains as it orbits, spins, or has weather.

The worlds are your oysters!

Saphira: I think Venus qualifies? I don't know enough about Venus.

I think the fun part is taking a general biome (forest) and making different parts of the planet different varieties of that biome. Instead of making an ice area tundra, make it a winter's wood. A warm area could be a tropic instead of a sahara. Lots of stuff to play with.

Also, this will be more interesting if your different biome planets are jump-able, more fun for inhabitants who benefit from diversity. Just a thought.

At the end of the day, the world is your plaything.

Tex: My knee-jerk response would be... No TM. A lot of this depends on the size of a planet, its position relative to a star, starting elements, rotational speed, orbital path (also relative to its nearest star(s)), core activity/composition, magnetic field, and amount of water it has. As a taste of how complex planetary biospheres can get, the Amazon rainforest receives a significant amount of nutrients from the Sahara Desert (NASA).

After poking the internet some, my response is... Mostly No. Deserts, yes! Forests - ah, not so much. The whole "Can a plant survive bottled in its own ecosystem for 50 years? " idea doesn't quite scale up, because as noted in the link, many of David Latimer's plants in his terrarium actually died. There's more to a biome than amount of available water - about half the links I've put in the Further Reading section will help to further explain why.

Unfortunately, it's very rare that a single biome can canvass an entire planet, because each biome (ThoughtCo) performs an important role in the biosphere. A desert planet can be a thing because desert biomes don't rely upon the transportation of water within its system, whereas nearly every other biome does, and with the need for water comes many complications.

I can't actually say for certain the minimum amount of biomes a planet would require, especially because I don't know the goals that these requirements would need to fulfill. Is it plant life? Is it animal life? Is it the propagation of sapient life? The feasibility of these goals are also highly dependent upon their setting - Earth is different from the Moon is different from Jupiter is different from Pluto.

To use your example of forests, I will note that a forest is never just a forest. There's multiple layers to the plant life that fulfill different functions, the soil must have a profitable composition and contains its own microbiome, the fauna are adapted to both and fulfill niche roles to help keep the system functioning. You can't just plant a bunch of tall trees and toss in a few ferns and call it a day.

Plants by themselves are never just plants, and are mind-boggling. They can make complex decisions , talk to each other, display cognition, and know when they're being eaten. They're not passive reactors to their environment, and actively shape the world around them to benefit themselves for a myriad of reasons.

That said, forests need a constant supply of nutrients, and given that plants in general are... very aggressive about how they compete for resources, this makes for a very dynamic and constantly-changing environment. Mint is a good example of an invasive species that performs allelopathy, and is absolutely ruthless about competing for territory (another long-winded and theatrical example ).

The entire subject of forest pathology covers biotic and abiotic factors in forest health, a sub-field of both forestry and plant pathology that covers such subjects as fungal pathogens and the vector that is insects (you can read more about forest pathology in these two journals).

I highly recommend looking at... well, literally anything @botanyshitposts has posted because they will more than pleased to go into detail about how plants Be Like That.

Synth: Tex brought up a lot of good info about how and why a mono-biome planet is a "maybe, but probably No" thing if you want to play by real-world climate rules as we know them. Even a 100% ocean planet would not be a single biome: got your pelagic zone, abyssal zone, neritic zone, benthic zone... Of course this is your planet, like Bina said, and you can make it however you want, real-world logic be damned.

But say you want to have a single-biome planet and have the reasoning behind its existence sound at least a tiny bit plausible. How might that be done? Saphira touched on using different but similar biome types to get a single biome by appearance if not quite definition: "forest" on its own is not a biome. There are boreal forests, deciduous forests, tropical rainforests, temperate rainforests... you get the idea. From space it could pass for a one-biome planet, but down on the ground the differences become clearer. You still get a planet that is All Trees All the Time, but with a variety of vegetation and wildlife that reflects the climate of the inhabited area.

Looking at a global map of biome types, you can see that a few major influences on where a particular biome can be found are: latitude, elevation, precipitation. Are you familiar with the tree line? It's the point beyond which trees don't grow, and occurs high up on mountains at low latitudes (closer to the equator), and also low down on terrain at high latitudes (closer to the poles). You could choose a biome for your planet and then adjust the terrain to fit. Put some really tall mountains along the equator, and slope the land steadily downward as it nears the polar regions. Tweak the major air and ocean currents to bring warmer or cooler temperatures -- and more or less rain/snow/etc. -- to places that would otherwise experience the opposite. You can sort of see this on the map linked above, with how the location of "temperate broadleaf forest" roughly follows the path of the atmospheric Jet Stream carrying warm air from the midwest grasslands and prairies, and the flow of the oceanic Gulf Stream bringing warm water up from the Gulf of Mexico, keeping northern Europe much warmer in winter than it would be otherwise.Further Reading from Tex:

Previous Script-A-World answers

100% ocean planetPlanet with different amounts of gravitySnowy beachesCreating a forest biome

Others

PDF - Mechanisms of plant competition for nutrients, water and light by Joseph M. Craine and Ray DybzinskiMultiple soil nutrient competition between plants, microbes, and mineral surfaces: Model development, parameterization, and example applications in several tropical forestsby Q Zhu et al.Plant-plant competition outcomes are modulated by plant effects on the soil bacterial community by S. Hortal et al.Atmospheric circulation (effect of wind on climate, and thus biomes)Biogeochemical cycleCarbon cycleSoil Respiration Wikipedia; ScienceDirect; USDA PDFEffect of Sun angle on climateGreenhouse effectWeather and climateOutline of meteorologyMicroclimateSolar cycleEcosystem

#pylons #biomes #environment #climate #Anonymous

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randomgirltalking · 5 years

Text

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills S09E02 Review

I love when Lisa V and Kyle get together. These two ladies always have a blast, just the two of them, and the opening of episode two’s scenes are no exception. Kyle pops over to Vila Rosa and the two ladies make their way to some sort of “make me look like I’m not 50, please” clinic. I suspect that in Beverly Hills, these clinics are similar to when Starbucks came around - one keeps popping up in every corner.

After being offered laughing gas by a man who looks 30 but is probably 60, Lisa V giggles her ass off, wriggling around in the surgeon’s chair whilst Dr Ken doll periodically jabs her neck with a syringe full of filler. What I like about Kyle and Lisa V is, while I know they’re both a fan of Botox, they don’t go overboard by injecting themselves with fillers that puff their faces up to look like they had a hard night on the town. I never understood why older women like this look and I’m thankful that Courtney Cox had all of her fillers dissolved.

Lisa R, Dorit and Erika prove that they were the only three people available for filming that day as they were thrust together for a restaurant scene. Erika takes MVP in this episode for being a woman after my own heart and ordering a beer - “anything in a bottle,” she tells the waitress while Lisa R and Dorit applaud her brave choice and reminisce of the times when they were poor and had no choice but to do keg stands.

I was wondering how they were going to segue into talking about a “girls trip.” Dorit laments the stressful time she’s had lately with the robbery (even though she escaped to do an Eat, Pray, Love scenario in Utah) and the dog saga. “Why don’t we have a girls trip?” She unsurprisingly suggests. I was taken aback that a trip was mentioned when were only two episodes in, but we quickly learn that this is not the “main” girls trip, just the entreè. After throwing around Lake Tahoe (where Erika thinks she may have a house) and other various locations around the US (where Erika may or may not have a house), Dorit suddenly remembers that her sister had just gotten back from a new resort in the Bahamas. Translation: This new resort wanted to put their business out there so approached Bravo and offered an all expense paid trip if they mention the resort name a few hundred times.

So it’s settled, then. Bahamas it is and all the girls are contractedly invited by Dorit. Yes, even Teddy, PK.

Teddy and Lisa R take a hike up one of the many mountain trails in LA. Teddy confides that she, like many other young girls, had originally moved to LA to become an actress. After being disheartened by hearing from her agent that the feedback from casting directors was that she needed to lose weight, Teddy spiraled into an unhealthy eating habit and gained even more weight. This event kick started her healthy eating and exercise regime and out of it grew her accountability business. I have to say, I didn’t quite understand what she did for a living - kind of like a toss up between a personal trainer and a life coach but I am completely for it now. Sometimes you just need a stranger to kick your ass and encourage you. I didn’t much care for Teddy last season but she’s truly come into her own on season 9. This is why I think you should give the new girl a second season as you never really get their full personality until the next season in and they’re more comfortable telling the other ladies where to shove it. Of course there are exceptions to this rule *cough* Kim Fields *cough*. *cough* Peggy Sulhain *cough*.

On the opposite side of the eating disorder scale, Lisa R chats honestly with her daughter (I wanna say Amelia?) about her eating disorder. Amelia’s not Lisa R’s. I don’t really follow much of these ladies outside of the show but apparently Amelia developed anorexia which she has come out of but is still working on. Good luck, Amelia, on your journey and well done for publicly telling your story as many girls and boys go through this illness. I won’t mention the flashback of Katherine joking that Lisa R doesn’t like to eat. Okay I’ll mention it, because we were all concerned that Lisa R had food issues on previous seasons where she turned down or barely nibbled on food that was offered to her. While she denies having an eating disorder, I’m glad to see her enjoying food this season. Maybe in previous seasons she had eaten before filming?

We also did not have to wait long until we hear from actual Charlie Sheen himself, even if it is via phone call. Denise lives in Malibu on a beautiful beach house. This is my favourite house out of the RHOBH castmates as, while smaller than the others mansions, it has the beach right at their doorstep and I’m a whore for the beach. Anyway, we are introduced properly to Denise’s newish beau, Aaron. He does some sort of body alignment thing - can’t be bothered learning what he does just yet. They seem good together, I suppose. Denise has three girls, two with Charlie and one she adopted. I did actually hear the rumour Denise jokes about that her adopted daughter, Eloise, is Charlie’s child with a stripper. *Cackle* I don’t believe it, of course, but it’s one of those rumours that, if turned out to be true, you would shrug and say “meh, I kinda figured.”

Denise reminds her daughter, Lola, that she can’t date until she’s 16 which she brands unfair (I can’t wait until my daughter is a teen). Denise then keeps her promise to the producers that she can get Charlie on the show by prompting her daughter to call him to ask about the upcoming homecoming dance and whether she can go with a boy. Charlie sounded good on the phone - clean, coherent and just like a Dad kept his place as the “fun parent” and promptly passed the rule making back to Denise. Insert anti climatic sound here.

Moving on, Kyle visits Mauricio at work where she has a waahh moment thinking about her third daughter moving out and off to college. Mauricio, typical man that he is, tries to comfort her by doing good news, bad news and reminding her that she’s done this twice already with their two older girls. Thanks, Mauricio.

Continuing with the food theme, Lisa R invites the ladies over where she has a chef round to guide them on stuffing chocolate heart molds with candy. I’m waiting for one of them to bring Gordon Ramsey round while he berates them as they try to debone a chicken.

Present are Erika, Denise, Dorit and Camille who I guess is on now as a friend of the cast mates but kind of a series regular without the corny tag line.

While Erika once again claims my heart by devouring cake and matter of factly stating that these ladies should just “eat the fucking cake, who cares,” the ladies quickly discuss their sex life. Denise confides that she hooked up with Aaron fairly quickly after visiting his clinic and fucking him in his office. For some reason Erika states that this image is up there with her favourite porn. Actually, come to think of it, it does sound like a cheesy porn scene. Woman with insanely large breasts visits doctor with insanely large... muscles...

Teddy tells the group that she met her husband coming out of a nightclub and she sealed the deal with him that night. High five, girlfriend! As someone who shagged their fiancé on their first “date” sometimes when you know, you know. Or in my case, are just a horny bitch. Teddy states that she and her husband have sex about twice a week. This earns shocked gasps from some of the ladies as Denise tells us in her confessional that she and Aaron have sex everyday. Ahh the throes of early love. How exhausting. Despite the outrage, I note that it’s radio silence from Erika and Dorit.

The biggest gossip we hear, and proving my comment on my blog from episode 1 that everyone is six degrees separated from each other in Hollywood, Denise tells us that Aaron is still married yet has been separated for two years. Lisa R adds that Aaron’s ex is Nicolette Sheridan who Lisa R’s husband, Harry Hamlin, used to be married to. She spills that they broke up when Nicolette attended a Michael Bolton concert while Harry Hamlin was away in Canada. She then took up with Michael Bolton immediately after the concert, dumping poor Harry Hamlin. The ladies raise their champagne flutes, toasting the oblivious Miss Sheridan for giving Lisa R Harry Hamlin and their two kids. I sipped my own beer in a bottle. Not as a toast but in commiseration to Harry Hamlin for putting up with Lisa R for so long.

Finally the ladies are ready to head off to the Bahamas. No cattle class for these ladies - not even first class. Bravo (or the new Bahamas resort) splashed out for a private jet to escort the ladies. Lisa V continues her British dark humour by boarding the plane and telling Dorit that she had “gotten something right for once.” I know some people may consider her mean but I think she’s a riot. And I can see that most of the time she’s just taking the piss (mostly). It was kind of mean (but mostly funny) when Dorit asked Lisa V to room with her in her suite and Lisa V reacted with horror. I’m still trying to decide whether Lisa V was joking or not when she mentioned Dorit’s snoring and gas issues as the reason for not wanting to board with her. She even asked for swapsies. Okay, since Dorit (and the Bahamas tourism board) planned this trip, it was kind of mean. But still fucking hilarious.

This episode, to be honest, seemed like a filler episode (even without Lisa V’s neck lift). Not much happened but I guess it helped build up the upcoming episodes. Can’t wait to see what kind of mischief these ladies get up to on tour!

#rhobh #the real housewives of beverly hills #vanderpump #review #erika jayne #season 9

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