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chocominnie · 3 years

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One Last Time 02 — Pjm. (M)

⇢ pairing: Jimin X Reader

⇢ Genre: Idol!Jimin, Exbf!Jimin, model!reader, sad au, fluff, tons of smut, angst

⇢ Synopsis: Your idol ex boyfriend Jimin cheated on you. You two have been broken up for a while now and the media has been keeping track of you and him. You’re trying to get over him, but the things that happen inbetween makes you re-think the entire breakup, and so does Jimin…

⇢ Song : xxxxx

⇢ Previous : 00 01

⇢ Word Count :

⇢ Warnings: dominant jimin, makeout sessions, this is honestly a sad angsty au, cheating, pregnancy, unprotected and protected sex, a bunch of sex, no really a LOT of sexual themes too, I know I’m forgetting some but sorry in advance!

⇢ Copyright: please do NOT repost, translate, or modify my works in any way, shape or form, on any platform. If found doing so , it is considered as plagiarism and appropriate LEGAL action will be taken

⇢ Authors note: This is my mini series for the summer! Get your tissues, things to take your anger out on, and sit back and watch the drama unfold. Shall we begin?

Your eyes shoot open, chest heaving heavily as you let out a blood curdling scream. Not this again. The same dream over and over again each night. It leaves you sleepless. The time on the clock on your nightstand reads 3:04 am. Just only four hours ago is when you fell asleep. But a full night’s sleep hasn’t happened for a year so why would it matter anyways.

Once you catch your breath you unplug your phone from the charger and read some of the notifications. From your window, the night-time critters sing their songs along with the persistant owl that’s somewhere around the apartment complex. You’d only noticed him, the owl, just a few months ago when your cat started meowing with his hoots.

A missed call from your uncle.

Immediately you unlock your phone and dial the number. Bringing your index finger to your mouth you gently nip on it waiting for it to answer, The rings are agonizing to you. If something has happened you only wish and pray it wasn’t as bad as you think. He’s the only parental figure left in your life.

‘‘ Princess! Hello I was just calling to speak to you earlier. But I realized you are five hours ahead of me and you had probably went to sleep.’‘

His soothing voice calms your emotions making you let out a tiny breath of air. Thank god.

‘’Hey Charlie.” You sigh. Looking towards your left, you spot Clara purring quietly next to you. You can’t help but to smile while bringing a hand over to rub her head with your thumb. She’s so small under the shining moonlight from your window.

Her white coat shines brightly amongst her, making you remember the first night you had brought her home. All she did was sleep, and it worried you because you had no prior expierence caring for anything, let alone a small animal. Clara only drank kitten milk and slept back then. Occasionally being awake enough to nip at your fingers whenever you pet or touched her.

Now she’s a bit bigger and walks around the apartment like she owns the place. Quite the little attitude she has, but its too damn cute for you to scold her whenever she does something wrong.

“ Yes I did fall asleep from after a gathering at someone’s house.’’ You continue on, bringing your knees to your chest after opening the curtain of your window fully.

The moons brightness illuminates the entire room, but not so bright for you to complain though. ‘’ Oh- was it Jimin’s? Tell him I said hell-’’

You bite your lip hard at his name. He doesn’t know and you wont even dare to let him know. Knowing him, your uncle would have a fit and oppose to come back to Seoul to ‘set the record straight.’ to Jimin. That’s the last thing you want to do, cause trouble.

‘‘ It was his brother’s house warming party.” You say, lowering your tone in your voice. You look at the nightstand for a couple of seconds just before opening the top drawer of the wooden, polished piece. Your hands shakily pull out a picture of you two together.

It was taken at Marne-la-Vallée, France right infront of Cinderella’s castle. That was the day that you and Jimin had to went to Disneyland in Paris, France. You cant help but to think, with the picture in hand, that it was one of the best nights ever. It was also the same night your virginity was taken.

‘‘ Oh.. I know that tone. Are you two arguing at the moment.”

You shrug, “ I mean you could say that.’’

No you cant.

‘‘ Alright alright I won’t talk more of him. Let’s change the subject.” He chuckles deeply into the phone.

‘‘ How’s Europe? Anything new happening on base?”

‘‘ Same old Same old. It’s been what? 2 years since I’ve left Seoul? The food is different over here. They don’t have kimchi pancakes sadly.”

You can only imagine the frowny face he makes at you whenever he doesn’t approve or like something. It always turns out to be funny.

You giggle into the phone shaking your head slightly, “ Of course. You are in Europe Charlie. Where are you getting food from anyway if you are on base?’’

‘‘ I can go off base to a certain mileage when I am off duty. I just have to report back in time. But you do know that you can always come live on base with me...’ He trails off.

Oh boy. Here he goes. He’s always talking about moving you on base with him. Hell, he’s been talking about it since before he had to go to be based in Europe. By then you were twenty years old and old enough to live by yourself. Growing up in Daegu, Korea since you were six, you felt as if Korea was home to you and you definately weren’t ready to leave yet.

Especially, after losing your parents here. Around eight years old, your aunt and mother were on the way to pick up your father from the airport. With your mom and dad also being military and based in Korea with your dad’s bestfriend, your uncle Charlie, your father had been called to take military leave to go and be based in Korea for the National Guard.

On the way back from the airport, a drunk driver had struck the car knocking them off the road and colliding head first into the railing of the bridge. All bodies were reported dead upon collision, including your aunt. Charlie didn’t take the news well at all, and so did you. Only eight years old and still a bit new to a foreign country. It was devistating for you and Charlie. Charlie did what was right and stepped up to be your legal guardian while taking some time off from the military. Till this day, he treats you like his sacred little daughter and you can’t ask for anyone better than him.

“You are old enough to live on your own and housing is avail-”

You jump at his voice on the line again, being too spaced out from the tragic memory. Before he can go on any longer you cut him off. ‘‘ Im fine with the apartment you left me. Im paying the bills on time and taking good care of it.”

‘‘ Alright fine. But that option is always available you hear me? I will always be ready for you to come with me.’’

‘‘ Okay Charlie” You groan.

‘‘ Alright.. sweetie it’s getting late on this side and it’s already 3 am on your side. Get some sleep okay? Don’t you have a model shoot thingy or something? You have those a lot.’‘

‘‘ Yes i actually do in a couple of hours. It’s been a while since I’ve did a shoot. Please eat and sleep well. Don’t injure yourself.’‘

‘‘ I promise. You promise to do the same right?’‘ He says, rustling movements are in the background.

‘‘ Yes I promise. Good night sleep tight..’‘ You smile as you wait for him to finish the rest.

He chuckles one last time on the other end, ‘‘I’ll always love you, goodnight‘’

Beep Beep Beep

You in a racy light pink lingerie with white duvets and sheets is the concept of your comeback. It’s supposed to symbolize the “Night After’’. Camera’s click and directors yell and praise you in your subtle yet damaging moves and facial expressions. You want.. no need for this comeback to be successful. Not only did your manager schedule this, but she is making sure that they release this same very day.

Nobody in this company’s industry has ever did this before. But you, you are sort of the special one. The special foreigner as they say. It’s not like you don’t like it but you don’t like that they label you as that. Stylists, employee’s hell even anybody who works there treat you as a princess. It’s not bad, but it’s just weird.

‘‘ One last one. Give me a sexy yet innocent look mama.’‘ Elliot, the director says, smiling wide at you.

You slip a finger into your mouth and do a little pout with your lips.

Elliot busts out into a roar of happiness with his hands clapping furiously. ‘‘That’s it mama yes! That’s just what we needed!’‘

Adjusting his microphone earpiece, he turns around to greet and thank everyone, ‘‘ Alright everybody this concludes our shooting! You all worked so hard today. Make it home safe, eat well.’‘

Finally. You sigh out in relief and close your eyes. It’s been a long day. Almost 6 hours of shooting. Three Videos, and five swap outfits for each session of shooting for the ‘’ Night After’’. As everyone heads out and starts cleaning up you bow your head slightly and thank them.

A stylist brings you a satin robe to cover yourself in. You thank her and put it on just before getting up from the bed and walking towards wardrobe. Once you are done putting on your clothes, your manager leads you straight out the exit. Outside awaits the car that drives you everywhere. Literally everywhere.

‘‘ Tomorrow somebody has put in a special request for you to appear as the main lead girl in their music video. It’s short notice and I told them I would have to bump some things around and notify you. But they are paying us and you good money to be in it.’‘

Money? Sounds like a plan.

‘‘ It’s fine. Who am I shooting for?’‘ You say, fluffing your hair just a little while inspecting yourself in the rear view mirror.

Your makeup is still intact with no ruins and the contacts they had given you suited you very well. A hazel with a slight bit of teal. Suddenly the car moves off into the busy streets of Seoul. You can’t help but to notice every couple that walks along the sidewalks. They seem so happy, glad to be around each other.

On the floor of the car lies your little mini backpack filled with all of your items and belongings. Picking it up, you begin to dig through it looking for some hand lotion to soothe your semi-dry hands. Once you find it you gently start to squeeze the tube.

‘‘ Kim Namjoon.’‘

You freeze. Namjoon? The same Namjoon from the group? Joonie? It’s been well… a year since you’ve seen him in person. Hell since you’ve seen all of Bangtan Sonyeondan together. Except for lastnight when Hoseok and.. that guy showed up.

You sigh already knowing the answer from the question you are about to ask.

‘‘ From…?’‘ You ask then put the lotion back in your bag. Slowly you rub your hands together to moisturize.

Your manager quickly flips through the daily planner, ‘‘ Bangtan Sonyeodan but this is for one of his mixtape songs.’‘

Thank goodness.

‘‘ That’s fine. What time will the car be arriving tomorrow?’‘

‘‘ 8 am on the dot. You need to be there by 8:30. I’ll be tending to one of my other models tomorrow so you will be alone. I can send som-’‘

‘‘ No no it’s truly okay. I know how to manage things myself. Besides, I learn from you.’‘ You reassure her with one of your winning smiles, laying your head on her shoulder.

‘‘ Aigoo what am I going to do with you?’‘

The day ends very well. The movies you’ve been watching have kept you occupied. But not occupied enough for you to keep crying at all the sad parts in the chick flicks. Breakups, someone had died, someone had even just spilled something onto the floor and that was enough to send you into tears.Only because when the main lead boy rushed to help clean it up, it reminded you of Jimin last-night helping Isabel.

‘’What is going on with myself.’’ You blow your nose into a tissue for what seemed like the thousandth time today. Clara lets out one of her meows beside you then goes back to grooming herself.

You place her onto your lap and begin to run your fingers through her fur over and over again. Such a soothing effect to you as you stare into space sulking in your thoughts.

Why is it that you weren’t enough for him? Why is it that every single little thing reminds you of him? You gave him your all and he gave you his but what happened? Where did you go wrong? Cooked, cleaned, satisfied his needs. You guys had even started to plan out what you wanted out of a family. When you wanted a baby and what you would name it. It was fun. The whole relationship was fun. Right until that scandal.

Ding.. Ding.. Ding.. DI-

You unlock your phone immediately to stop that annoying dinging noise. Not surprisingly it’s a text from Jeon Jungkook.

Kookie : Im coming over I’ll be there in exactly 3 minutes.

Kookie: Don’t think about leaving either.

Kookie: Im bringing someone with me.

Kookie: We need to have a serious talk babycheeks.

You roll your eyes at the nickname he’s given you. No matter how many times you tell him you want him to change it, he declines. There’s no point in asking anymore.

Why would he want to talk anyways and who is the person he’s bringing. Eh.. it might just be Ryan they seem to do everything together as a team.

As soon as you step foot out of your bed the sound the door clicking makes your head shoot up. How in the living hell does he know the password to your house? Rage takes over you. That’s something that you hate. When people invade your personal space. In this case, personal home.

‘‘ Jeon fucking Jungkook!’‘ You scream, abruptly stomping your feet all the way to and out your bedroom door. Suddenly you stop at the sight of the two faces staring back at you.

Jungkook’s expression holds a concerned yet upset face while the other just stands there calm and cool. But you on the other hand are way besides that level.

Your eyes must be filled with rage and the expression on your face is no good. How dare he disrespect you like that? Bringing him into your home, knowing the bad blood between you two. Oh, they both have something coming towards them. You begin to walk to them again making each step make the floor shake.

‘‘ Get out. Both of you. One you invade my personal private home..’‘

You grab both boys by their collars, making sure to grip the one on the right’s harder than usual. ‘‘ Two, you fucking invite him over here.’‘ You drag each of them towards the exit. Which is going good until Jungkook rips your hands away from his shirt and takes you over his shoulder.

You’ve had enough of him and his invasive ways. Pounding on his back with your fists, you make sure to scream into his ear. “ Put me the fuck down Jeon Jungko-”

You hiss at the stinging sensation on your ass. Did he just? Jimin stands there awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. You make sure to make eye contact with him and roll your eyes. Something that always had and will piss him off.

‘‘ Hush. I told you all of us needed to have a deep talk about you.’‘

Jungkook plops your frail body onto one side of the couch in which he sits next to you. He motions for Jimin to come sit across from the both of you but you aren’t having it.

‘‘ Don’t you do it.” You glare at him. Jungkook sighs harshly only to pluck your forehead two times. You whine and rub it with your index and middle finger.

Jungkook shakes his head in disapproval, ‘‘ When are you ever going to learn? Jimin sit down now.”

‘‘ Truthfully.. I feel as though I shouldn’t be here so-”

“ Good. Get out you are unwanted.” You snap back causing him to give you one of his long stares with no facial expression at all.

Jungkook glares at you just before getting up to throw his hands in the air full of disappointment. “ Enough! “

Yelling. Something else you don’t like to hear being done at yourself. You finally sit still and quite avoiding any eye contact with the both of them.

He sits back down and clears his throat. Jungkook gives Jimin a look before continuing on.

‘‘ I gathered us here to talk about you..”

‘‘ Why. Im fine. How many times do I have to say it. Im fine im fine im fine im fucking fine!’‘ You exclaim, getting more mad by the second. When will people accept this?

‘‘ Baby.. ’‘

Your eyes shoot up to him and his soft voice. You didn’t want to but you did because his voice to you is like candy that melts into your mouth.

‘‘ Don’t call me that. You have a girlfriend at-least be loyal to her rather than what you did to me.’‘

‘‘ Fuck is anybody going to just sit here and listen? Can we at-least get to the source of the problem? Huh?’‘ Jungkook leans back into the couch clearly pissed by your attitude.

Jimin’s the first to speak and holds a firm eye contact with you, almost daring you to break away from it.

‘‘ Fine. Im just going to cut straight to it then. Why are you so jealous? You aren’t okay at all. I seen the way you looked at us yesterday. You wanted to break down so bad but you didn’t. It looks like you’ve been dropping weight day by day why aren’t you eating well?’’

You’re taken a-back by his jealous comment. Although you are you just cannot admit it. You are jealous. You do want him back. You cant bear to see him with another girl but you. But the fact that Jimin is concerned makes you really hope. Just hope that there is something left of you still in his heart.

‘‘ Jealous? Jealous tuh.” You scoff, leaning into Jungkook’s arms where you rest his head on your chest. You only do this just to see Jimin’s reaction and by the look on his face he doesn’t enjoy that move one bit.

‘‘ Yes jealous. I mean why else would you put almond extra-

‘‘ Woah. No need to go there. We established that it was a so called accident lastnight.” Jungkook does finger quotes into the air and looks down at you.

You lift your head up and furrow your eyebrows in annoyance, “ So called? So you really believe that I did it on purpose. Wow Jungkook. Escort yourself out.’’

He sighs, wrapping his arms around you securly in hopes of you settling down a little, “ Honestly it’s not like that. I wasn’t there to see you bake them nor was I watching her eat it. Im just saying that you knew Jimin was coming and obviously his girlfriend was going to come too. It’s a little sketchy is all.”

There’s no fixing what he said. Him adding onto his explanation just made things sound worse than what he’s trying to say. You don’t have time to be ganged up on, nor like it at all. It’s best if they both just leave, to not turn nothing into something.

‘‘ Get out. Now. Before I call and tell Ryan what you said and then she’ll definitely deal with you.’‘ You say, removing yourself from off of him and onto the other side of the couch with your legs crossed.

Mad isn’t even the word to describe yourself right now. You’re just a mixture of all emotions.

Jungkook now looks of sorriness written all over his face. You bite your lip and shake your head while pointing towards the door. He sighs heavily and takes one last look at you while removing himself from the couch. You watch him slip on his coat and shoes.

Jimin gets up from his spot on the couch, ‘‘ I’ll be leav-”

‘‘ Sit down we aren’t done talking.”

He looks at you with his eyebrows furrowed, sitting back down slowly.

Jungkook keeps his head down as he wraps his blue scarf around his neck. Poor baby, but he shouldn’t of said it. “Please better yourself and talk it out with each-other. Im leaving.”

‘‘ Make it home safely.. Kookie.” You sigh once the door closes behind him. Now you’re here. Face to face with Park Jimin.

The same Jimin who cheated on you. The same Jimin you haven’t seen in a while. You take a few moments to take in his appearance. He seems to have re-gained his muscles that are peaking through his black, longsleeve shirt. His thighs are still thick, just like his luscious lips. Of course he changed his hair color to black. But who knows, he might change it again.

‘‘ You’ve been doing well?’‘ You say, voice low but enough for him to hear. You drop your eyes to your lap instead of keeping intact with his.

‘‘ Yes. But you have not. Im disappointed in you. Why are you doing this to yourself? Don’t do this because of me.”

‘‘ Jimin you don’t know the feeling. You don’t know how it feels to be left wondering why you weren’t good enough for someone. Why they had cheated on you. You don’t understand at all and wont ever.’‘ Your voice cracks on the last sentence and you an feel the lump in your throat become sore.

He bites his lip unsure of what to say next. Those words had hit him good inside. ‘‘ Im sorry. I truly am. But you know the reason why we had to end it. I fucked up bad and the media was making the scandal bigger and messier day by day. It was better to just call it off.’‘

One by one your tears start to drop. You nose begins it’s running trip but you sniffle it back up.

‘‘ You could of denied it. You know you could of made a statement and denied it. But you felt something for her didn’t you? Didn’t you?’‘ You semi-yell, sobs already starting to take it’s way over.

He bites his lip once again and ruffles his fingers through his hair, “ Baby..’’

You wipe your tears with your hands making your face even more puffy from the crying. “ I am jealous. I am I admit it Jimin. But do you know i have been suffering for one year and two months? I can’t sleep at night because im so used to your touch at night. I look at every couple in Seoul and think to myself, Dang they seem so happy. What’s their secret?’’

Jimin sits up, making eye contact with you with tears welling up into his eyes. It hurt’s you more than yourself to see him crying. It always has.

‘‘ Please don’t do that. Don’t do this to yourself. Please get help from someone to try and move on. Please. I don’t like to see or hear you make yourself suffer.’ He begs, getting up from his seat and coming towards you.

Jimin sits next to you, hesitantly opening his arms up to you. Would it be wrong to embrace him? He’s being too sincere, but thats what you want right? You decide to just do it, and lean into him only for him to pull you in closer into his chest.You just lay there crying and sobbing while he runs his fingers through your hair. You shouldn’t be doing this. He has a girlfriend. But it feels so right.

‘‘ What does she have that I don’t? Why couldn’t you love me the same way you love her “ You cry into his chest, soaking his shirt with your tears.

You’d been waiting for this moment to just let it out. Let everything out.

‘’ Please don’t make this harder than what it is right now. Just try and forget me and move on. Please.” Hypocritcal. How does he expect you to get over him when he’s the one whos holding you so tight right now. Soon enough his sniffles join yours in harmony.

You raise your head up and look him deep into the eyes while you wipe away his tears, “ Don’t cry Jimin. I’m the one supposed to be crying over you. Don’t cry.’’

He takes your hand away from his face and wraps his fist ontop of yours, “Please promise me you will move on okay?’’

You shake your head no, “ I can’t make that promise.”

He doesn’t say anything. He gently cradles you in his arms and lifts you up. You don’t think to where he is going. You just close your eyes and grab onto his shirt firmly not wanting to let go.

Soon enough you feel the cold sheets over your bed. He covers you in the duvet and leans down to your forehead. A kiss. Your fist is still locked onto his shirt in which he tries to pry it away but you don’t want to let him go. He sighs and raises his arms up as he takes off the shirt revealing an extra plain white wife beater under it. Taking your other hand, he wraps your hand into another fist onto the shirt to where both of your hands are holding onto it.

‘‘ Please better yourself for me baby. Sleep and eat well. “

Is all he says before turning off the lights and walking out your bedroom door. You can hear him putting on and zipping up his heavy coat but you just don’t make a sound.

The apartment door clicks and beeps letting you know he’s already gone.

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furblrwurblr · 3 years

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Patience, love!

Hey hey hey! Guess who made another Douxie x reader soulmate fic? m e

Douxie x Reader Soulmate AU, fluff, angst. crack if you squint.

Warnings: Swearing, I was far more casual this time, more misunderstandings aha, angst if you squint but it's not that hidden

The song in question: here, viewer discretion advised. It's emo boy by Ayesha Erotica, and this fic doesn't make a whole lot of sense without it? It can but you'll have to wait for a vague clarification.

Please enjoy our boy feat. Zoe!

Part 2

For as long as you’ve lived, your soulmate’s thoughts about you wrote themselves on your body, just as they had for nearly a millennium. You could tell you’d missed yours a few times. Back in Italy, you’d often stumble out of an alley after a riveting fight with a litter of canal criblets and their mother (why did the only aggressive species of hippocampi have their kids in the canals?) with quiet compliments and passing thoughts along your limbs.

“Another wizard? I wonder where they studied,” or “That was quite a spell, great technique! Wait! Watch out for the-” (that time you’d been a teeny bit distracted by the compliment and whirled around just in time to meet a screaming criblet doing its damndest to bite your face off with its nasty little teeth and bruise you with its impish little hooves. The fuckers were sharp.) The critter left you in a blinding blast of blue. Someone dressed in near all-black ran past you, but by the time your eyes cleared, the blue light was blasting away across the canal and a couple of violent hippocampi babies prevented you from following. Since, you always kept an eye out for that telltale blue light.

༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓

Over time, soulmate laws abated, seen as inhumane towards those unfortunate enough to not have one and those who simply didn’t want one. The law changes allowed you to date around a bit, but, with each partner, you felt more and more guilty as you learned about your true soulmate. By now, you’d discovered he’s a he, he’s a wizard, and he’s a hopeless romantic. Often he’d daydream about all kinds of cheesy dates and tropes he hoped to do with you. Most painfully, he thought about how excited he was to experience everything with you for the first time. Of course, you two had already had mental conversations about it and though he always accepted it, you could tell he was a bit disappointed. You didn’t have many firsts left and said you’d save those at least, but he, sweetheart he was, said he’d just give you more firsts. First scuba dive. First romantic boat date, but in the clouds. First couple’s bake at 3 AM in your shared flat.

You stopped dating after that.

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Now, it was the start of the 21st century and you were impatient. You’d traveled everywhere, sign of that beautiful blue, and no help from your cheeky soulmate. Every time you asked if he was in a new country, he’d tell you: “That’s for me to know, and you to find out.” It made you tear your hair out, never settling down anywhere. After a while, he seemed to notice you were moving slower, motivation no longer able to breeze you through three large villages in a month. He started being super obnoxious about how much he “looooved America, Merlin’s beard, Land of the Free! Free! Dobby is free! What a wondrous place!” After a sharp word and a warm, giddy feeling from him, you were on a plane to The ‘States. What a way to start your 2000’s, huh?

Sixteen years. It had taken you sixteen years to comb the country, starting from New York and finally reaching California. You could feel your hope dwindle, but you had one last straw to go on: Benoit’s. He’d wanted to take you there a couple times within the past couple years so it must be in his area. Problem is, the entire west coast was covered in them, every city, small and large, having at least one. You’d ruled out the other states after years of searching, only California was left. With a bittersweet, determined huff, you boarded the plane.

༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓

You gave up. Where the fuck was this guy? For the first time in your life, you decided to settle. You’d looked in every nook and cranny California had to offer and didn’t find him. No magic, no man, no nothing. Seeing as you couldn’t seem to find shit, you turned to your magic. You could cast a few defensive and offensive spells, but your speciality was tracking. Ironic, isn’t it? You’d tried searching for him that way, but his aura was too warded and its memory too faded from your memory to work. However, now you were doing it for yourself. You bought a map and worked your magic, seeking stone swinging in perfect circles and settling around a small town called Arcadia. Funny, you hadn’t been there yet. What if- no. “He’s gone”, you reminded yourself. You found a flat in the area and set off.

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Douxie felt it the moment you gave up. He didn’t know exactly what you’d given up on, but he did know he hadn’t seen any more locations pop up in a couple weeks. For some ungodly known reason, he didn’t realize that all your questions of his whereabouts weren't just a passing curiosity. He was waiting for fate to bring you two together, not considering his soulmate might be so impatient and eager to meet him that they’d travel the ends of the earth.

He’d been washing dishes at Benoit’s when his coworker pointed out the little black letters on the back of his shoulder. “He’s gone.” He went back to work with a heavy heart. “So much for waiting for fate,” he thought.

You’d just moved the last box into your new flat when you saw it. So much for fate? You spent the rest of the day in bed, tears christening your rented mattress. “I guess he gave up too.”

You couldn’t live off your savings forever, you only had so much gold left from the Golden Age of Piracy to sell to museums. Within a week, you’d secured jobs at the local Speedway and HexTech. You convinced yourself you were okay, that this was better for you. You bonded with your coworkers at HexTech, but there was one you were having difficulties with. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but you really admired her. Her name was Zoe, and you couldn’t get enough of her.

One day, you worked up the nerve to strike up a conversation during your shared counter shift. She liked you when you got to talking, and said she’d help you finish unpacking your flat as soon as you told her why you didn’t generally act so free as you did in the past hour of conversation. You agreed to tell her while she helped you.

The two of you made a day of it. She brought snacks and a housewarming movie for you both to watch when you finished, and you made a smorgasbord for lunch paired with a good wine you’d been saving since the 1800’s. No time like the present, eh?

You plopped onto the stained couch that came with the place. Heaving a great, satisfied sigh, you looked over your flat with a smile. Settling felt good, like you had a place you belonged.

“It looks fantastic, Zoe, thank you for the help.”

“I’m good, aren’t I,” she said with a confident smile, sitting next to you on the couch. A few moments pass in silence. Her tone shifted. “Spill,” she demanded.

You sigh and recounted all that’s happened with your soulmate. Your passing in Italy. Your shame. His enthusiasm. The shift that seemed to occur all at once, both of you switching gears at the same time.

She looked at you sympathetically, knowing full well how it felt when things went wrong with a soulmate. Sucking in a breath, she hesitated. You could tell she was trying to find the right words. You almost told her it was alright that she didn’t have to-

“He sounds like a dumbass,” she blurted.

You shared a laugh, agreeing.

“I really do like him,” you sighed. “Some part of me still has something there, you know? This is one of the few places I haven’t looked, there’s a Benoit’s here, but I’m… I’m petrified.”

Zoe looked you over. “Give me your phone.” She held out her hand and cut off any protests. After some fiddling, she handed it back and you found 5 alarms and 2 calendar events, all with very obnoxious titles. “You. Me. Benoit’s. You’re not getting out of it, I’ll bring a grit-shaka if I have to.

You groaned and moaned about it as she put in the movie, the self-satisfied smirk never leaving her face. You quieted down as the movie started, realizing there was no way around it. You were secretly thankful for such aggressive support, but opted to shake all thoughts of soulmates from your mind as you shared this moment with your new friend.

༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓

Today was the day. You’d gotten into something comfortable to try and calm your nerves, but it wasn’t doing much. After fixing your hair for the third time, you jumped at a knock on the door. Zoe came in, grabbed your purse, and pulled you out of the building by the wrist. You started walking, the cafe only two blocks away. By the first block your hands were shaking. Zoe pulled you behind Stuart’s electronics and held up a grit-shaka.

“Mother Midril, you were serious?”

“Deadly,” she said, looping it around your neck.

Your shaking calmed instantly, your magic preventing it from getting too out-of-hand. Troll magics were tricky.

You two walked in and sat at a booth, ordering your respective coffees and breakfast items from a nice young man, he couldn’t have been older than sixteen. After a bit of a wait, the voice of Adonis himself asked you both how you were doing, handing you your coffees. He spoke with Zoe a bit and introduced himself to you as Douxie. You confidently responded in kind, but your mind could only think of one thing.

You struggled to keep your composure, even with the grit-shaka. Yes, the thing calmed your nerves, but damn did it bring back some old habits. You saw Zoe’s eyes widen at Douxie’s arm but paid it little mind. He was hot. Long hair, tight jeans… you barely responded coherently as Emo Boy by Ayesha Erotica blasted through your brain. Yes, it was embarrassing, yes, you wanted your soulmate more than anything, but gods above he was your type and you’d be damned to not appreciate it.

As soon as he left, you brought your hand behind your neck and removed the blasted thing, looking at Zoe in shock. Her expression mirrored yours but for a very different reason. Douxie was the dumbass. And you’d just technically praised his dick, insulted him, and asked him to fuck you over 10 times, and it was all written up his arms and probably around his torso. She broke out into a cackle, tears mildly smudging her mascara. You were utterly confused and looked at his retreating figure over your shoulder, noticing a thought coming up the arm you’d slung over the booth chair.

“I’m flattered, I think? You must be the little minx at table three. I knew you weren’t one for waiting, but at least buy me dinner first! I’ll be right out, just let me grab my sweater to cover this a little bit. Think of the children!”

You stopped breathing altogether. Tightening your lips, you let out a muffled scream and pulled Zoe from her seat across you. Your elbow knocked over your coffee and you nearly did the right thing of helping, but you didn’t have time. All these 800 years, all your hope and searching, and you make the worst possible first impression. Sure, it wasn’t good already, but now he had a face to put to the shame. You stumble out the door, Zoe’s laughter still following you out of the now-silent diner.

Douxies pale cheeks were blazing with color as he pulled on his sweater in the break room. Going over, ahem, such blunt words, no matter the context, wasn't good for his health. His shirt raised and he saw the hurried words appear near his hip, chuckling as he started to read. He’d seen the grit-shaka; they must have taken it off.

“Shit, it’s you? I knew going was a bad idea, I’m so sorry, I’ve probably made you so uncomfortable, I’ll be going now.”

Wait… going? Douxie slammed the door open, hearing the wall plaster crunch inside. Table three was empty and covered in coffee, your purse was still there, and the diner was completely silent. Your coat swished out the door and he tripped over himself, stumbling between tables to get to the door. He ran out into the empty street, looking for something, anything. His boss called him back in to help, and he sulked into the diner. Bending down to pick up the cup so he could mop up the mess, he lit up. Your purse. It sat on the seat, the various charms and keychains glistening with the glow of one of Mordrax’s miracles.

༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓

You and Zoe made it back to your flat, out of breath. Zoe was still giggling as she reactivated the wards on the door. You plopped on the couch again, this time in shock. Zoe shook you out of it, eyes sincere.

“You have to go back.”

“I one hundred percent do not, there’s absolutely nothing holding me to that.”

“There’s me, dipshit, and there's something else. You’re too empathetic to put him through any more.”

You looked at her, surprised. “What do you mean?” you asked, voice small.

She explained how much it hurt him that you’d dated others even though he knew it was entirely your decision. How much of a hole it made in his heart when you gave up. How he dropped his regular temperament for a sullen, depressed shell of the man he was, going through the motions and not much more.

“I understand if you want to wait a while, but-”

“But I have to go back,” you said, drawing your knees to your chest. She scooted closer to you, wiped your gathering tears, and planted a light kiss on your forehead. She snorted when you brought your hand to the spot she’d just kissed, checking for residue from her jet black lipstick.

She gently swiped a thumb across her lip and bopped your nose. “No-transfer. I buy the good shit,” she said with a smile.

She put on a calm movie and wrapped you in a blanket, telling you how proud she was at your bravery and discussing plans for returning to Benoit’s.

༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓・༓

Three weeks later, Douxie had called you a few times. You'd left your phone at home in Zoe’s insistence and left your purse at the scene of the crime. Now, you were ready to sort out more than your missing belongings. You walked out of your flat prepared to have another go. Sort of. You had a decorative facemask on, a large dark sweatshirt (to deter being perceived in any way), and no intention to actually speak to him. You just wanted him to know you were there and not completely rejecting him. Zoe had spoken to him, so he knew you’d be there during his shift and how nervous you were. You were grateful for her, she’d told him the gist of what you couldn’t say yourself, but some things she’d said were best heard from you.

You sat down, fingers twitching. God, did you want to pick at something. You settled for scratching at the table, not feeling like making a mess of lint in the same booth you’d drenched in coffee not three weeks prior.

Douxie came with your drink, already having memorized what you ordered last time. Your purse was strapped across his body, laying at his hip. He gently placed it on the table and pushed your coffee towards you after carefully slipping something under it out of your field of view. You went to check and he covered it with a chuckle.

“You really aren’t very patient, are you?”

You covered your face and laughed. Taking a deep breath, you pulled the mask under your chin and placed your hands in his. “No, I’m not. Which is why I won’t wait any longer. I’m sorry. I was so caught up in myself I never thought to properly communicate with you. I hurt us both unnecessarily, can you forgive me?”

His eyes softened, lips lifting into a gentle smile. “Of course, love. I’ve waited for you for so long, and I had my part in this misunderstanding, so of course I can. I’m still on shift, but- ah, just check under the cup, would you?” He lifted one of your hands to his lips, gently brushing over your knuckles. “I’ll see you soon, darling,” he said, getting up and back behind the counter.

You took a slow sip of your now-cooled coffee and nearly spit it out at what he’d placed under it. Two tickets to Warped Tour laughed at you from the tabletop. You eyed them warily as you picked up the accompanying note.

“Hey, love! I hope you haven’t been to Warped Tour, it can be our first first! Apologies for the strange wording. I’ll see you at 7:00 on XX/XX/20XX outside your flat, I’m taking you to dinner before we go. Plus, we can get that romantic boat ride in the clouds I promised so long ago out of the way too! I can’t wait. You must be rubbing off on me. I’ll be seeing you, love. -Hisirdoux”

Next to it was a paw print. Did he have a cat? Either way, he was an absolute cheek. You drank your coffee in silence, a new calendar event to look forward to.

#hisirdoux casperan #toa #douxie #furblewrites #douxie x reader #hisirdoux x reader #toa x reader #hisirdoux casperan x reader #hisirdoux #toa douxie #toa zoe

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silence-burns · 3 years

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Please Hate Me //part 48

Fandom: Marvel

Summary: Based on: “Imagine having a love/hate relationship with Loki.” by @thefandomimagine Who would have thought that babysitting a god could be so much fun?

Genre: slow-burn, enemies to lovers, banter, smut

Being the friendly neighborhood Spiderman always gave Peter a sense of pride and purpose, even if he could only share it openly with a few people. It was the kind of accomplishment that made all the hardships seem worth it in the end. It also made him happy in a way he couldn't really explain, but which involved a certain connection between him and the people he protected and got familiar with over the course of his superhero patrols.

But being the friendly neighborhood Spiderman was difficult in a neighborhood where no one was actually friendly in return.

Peter’s frown grew the further into the building he went. He was pretty sure it was the same one Loki and you had been renting an apartment in, and since he was a rather frequent guest, the neighbours should recognize him by now enough to at least return his greetings.

That was what logic dictated, but Peter was pretty certain the people he met in the hallway only gave him a stern, disapproving look before walking past him quickly.

Peter was still frowning when he moved up the stairs, juggling the keys in his hand. Then he stopped. The unearthly screams of the damned were muffled, but most definitely coming from apartment number 13.

Opening the door quietly, he slid into the familiar interior, now echoing with pain and suffering so loud, Peter had to cover his ears just enough to move to the root of all evil - the bathroom.

There were many inexplicable things Peter had witnessed happening in the apartment 13, and to some extent he got used to the thrill of not knowing what he'd face next time he paid a visit. Still, he hadn't expected to see various parts of a half-drowned owl sticking out of the sink filled thick with foam and bubbles. The owl must've struggled a lot, judging by the amount of water splashed on every possible surface, and the iron grip you and Loki still kept on the bird. Even if Loki was not wearing his usual features, it was still obvious who your partner in crime was.

The two of you froze. Soap and foam dripped to the floor. Loki's new form shimmered with a glamour only magic could achieve.

"Um, what are you guys doing?" Peter asked.

"Trying a new disguise?" The curtain of Loki's new long hair was luscious and utterly drenched.

"No, I meant-"

"Listen, boy, as surprising as it might be for you, I'm still me, just with a less… criminally wanted image."

"Yeah, only if 'ME' stands for mischief embodied," you laughed.

"It literally doesn't. It's smooth, but it doesn't."

"Thank you, love. Now, could you please stop drowning poor Barbara?"

Loki sighed, but relaxed his grip on the bird just enough to allow it to peak its head out from under the surface and take a deep, long breath.

Peter put his backpack down and meandered closer, dodging the growing puddles. "Why is there an owl in the sink?"

"Because I'm not allowing any fleas into my house," you firmly stated, pushing the wings back under the water. "And I don't care how many hours we'll spend here, I'm getting all the mud and dirt out."

Barbara clung to her dirt with all her might, but was overpowered and utterly misunderstood. Loki's new form was slimmer, but held the bird with his usual strength and a big dose of satisfaction. The smirk on his face was unchanged, even if the features were new.

"What do you need a disguise for anyway?" Peter asked, looking for a towel. "Can I go with you?"

"I'm afraid that as wildly chaotic and lawless as our destination is, you'd still be age-checked," Loki cooled his enthusiasm.

Barbara rushed to the towel and clung to it, loudly exclaiming what, precisely, she thought about her caretakers. Peter tried to dry her up as best as he could through her wriggling and screams.

"Are you sure all this soap is good for her? Did you use any animal-friendly shampoo?"

Loki shrugged. "I doubt she can get any more dead."

The boy looked at the owl. The owl looked at the boy. The ruffled and drenched feathers were sticking out in all directions, uncovering a deep and no doubt fatal hole in her side.

"You got a dead owl…?"

"It was not my idea," Loki groaned, casting the bird a disgusted stare in the mirror where he tried to change the shape of his eyebrows.

"You're just angry because she likes me more," you laughed while mopping the floor.

Peter did his best to become invisible and not stare too openly at the ribs poking out of the feathers. Barbara puffed them every time he moved the towel around. The boy couldn't speak owlish, but the small, crittering noises she made were definitely far from happy.

"Where will you be going?" Peter asked. The owl sat on his knees and refused to move even after he finished drying her on the couch.

"To the largest casino on the Moon."

"Wait- There are casinos up there?"

"Not for kids your age," Loki said.

Peter slumped on the couch. "That's not fair."

"We'll be back before you notice." You threw the wet rag to the sink. "Of course, as long as a certain someone FINALLY decides what to wear."

Loki ignored your pointed look, too busy with changing his hair color. No matter how many little details he changed, he still struggled with finding a form he was sure would allow him to pass through the guards unnoticed and unrecognized. It was a shame he couldn't use his own - it felt like a waste to hide a face like his.

The owl settled on Peter's shoulder, immobilizing him with the claws buried in his skin. But even from the couch, the boy could see the remnants of a hurricane that had thrown a rather alarming amount of clothes around the apartment.

"I thought these were yours," he admitted. The owl kept on looking through his hair with the utmost scrutiny and very little gentleness.

"I've settled long ago on what I'm going to wear. As for the diva himself, though…" you gestured around.

"I need it to be perfect," Loki said. "I have an important role to play, I can't just waltz in there and be recognized."

"You could go blond," Peter suggested.

"Ew, I don't want to look anything like my brother- Wait, that's actually a great idea."

Before any of you managed to protest, a full-grown Thor stood in Loki's place, watching himself from all angles in the mirror. The clothes no longer fit, so he dropped them and dove into the closet again.

"...what have I done?"

You patted Peter's free shoulder. Barbara nested in the crook of his neck. "Nothing they can prove. Hopefully."

"I am not my father's servant," not-Thor downed another beer. "And if I want to relax for just one evening, I shall!"

The tankard broke into tiny pieces as he smashed it on the ground. The loud applause and waves of laughter followed the very Thor-like outburst, making Loki relieved he was playing his role well. Even in a place like this, crowded with drunkards and gamblers from all over the universe, it was common knowledge what the god of thunder enjoyed.

Loki forced his glamoured face to remain cheerful as another tankard of beer had been brought to him, disgustingly sour and rough. He knew his brother well, and was sure he'd love it, but Loki himself would rather bite off his tongue than willingly digest any more if only he had an actual choice. He didn't, and therefore swallowed another gulp to the cheering from the crowds gathered at his table. The cards had been laid out, waiting for the victors to celebrate their success, and the rest to decide how much more money they were willing to lose to the god of thunder.

Seated in a great hall of marble and gold, Loki wished he could play the way he actually wanted to, which was the very same way that got him banned from the Moon last time he had visited. But for the sake of the mission, he stayed just above the line between bankrupting and winning money, which added to the body he was wearing, was just big enough temptation to keep his table busy.

Everyone entering the biggest casino on the Moon was inclined to try their luck, or at least take a quick look. It was a perfect, if rather boring, way of scanning everyone who entered the rich complex of buildings. The few fountains set further in the back murmured as they shot curtains of water. The air was thick and warm, making crowds of people inevitably gravitate towards them in search of any cold. With the tall, lush plants artistically winding over and between the pillars, it created little areas dotting the impossibly high hall, where the pleasant breeze gathered the people looking for just a moment of relief. You occupied a spot beneath the fountains, where most people would wind up going to at some point, and used it as a second checkpoint, just in case anyone missed Loki's, or rather his brother's table.

"Come on, does anyone else want to lose their fingers?" Loki heard you call out to the crowds.

Between their never ending sessions of losing and winning the money back just to lose them again, there were many individuals in need of a drink and a quick break from the gambling. How easy it was to grab their attention with a loud voice and a dead owl.

Loki stretched his neck and looked over to where you had sat down the bird with all kinds of currency piled between its claws and a single coin shining through the open ribcage.

"All you need is to get the coin out, what's the matter, people? Is there no one brave enough to win all this money?"

Greed has always been a major deciding factor for the living beings regardless of race and the world of origin. The queue only rose in length as everyone wanted to try their luck.

The table under Barbara grew more and more slick with blood from cut and bitten fingers. Pure malice shone in her dead eyes.

"What an awful creature," Loki muttered to himself.

He could sense the stolen pin somewhere in the vicinity, but the casino was a loud and chaotic place, with multiple areas each centered around a different type of entertainment. More than an hour had already passed, but whoever was currently holding onto the pin, had not yet ventured anywhere near.

The two of you were slowly but inevitably running out of time. Odin might've been old and naive, but his spies' eyes reached far and wide. Loki had little doubt he would be interested in his favourite son's apparent evening fun, especially if he had that particular son with him, in the palace. Thor was a good cover, but not for much longer.

And then, by chance or a generous turn of fate, the shadows stirred and whispered.

Loki cast the dice, not paying attention whether he'd won or lost. His money wasn't real anyway.

There - by the high palms stood the Hoarders, clad in the worn out rags and way too much jewelry. With their grey skin and long limbs, it was no wonder how easily they blended in with the shadows, using their skills to warp their surroundings and get in places others would consider highly secure. But their success was not measured in how many places they were capable of breaking in themselves, but rather how many individuals of all races they could easily befriend and bend to their will. Although, to be quite honest, Loki doubted the necromancer had needed much convincing.

There were only three of them, each almost an identical copy of the others, but the Hoarders were encircled by both their partners for the evening and whatever scum tried to befriend them. That made it so much harder to approach them, but Loki was already thinking of a good excuse when he rose from his seat. People parted, giving him space - much more that would be granted to Loki's original form.

The shadows whispered again. One of the ladies separated from the group, with an annoyed expression on her face.

Loki stretched, making sure to put his hands high. Once he caught your attention, he followed the lady at a leisurely pace.

"What do we do?" You asked once both of you entered the corridor and disappeared behind the corner.

"She's got the pin."

One more turn took you in front of the ladies restroom.

"Time for Plan C.” Loki began undressing quickly.

Holding a spare dress in your bottomless pocket was not the wisest choice, but it apparently paid off, even if fishing it out took you a moment. Your hands shook. Someone might have walked in on you at any time. While Loki would be doing whatever it took to get the pin back, you would be the one making sure no one interrupted him…

Like distracting the waiter that was now staring at both of you. Focused on the contents of your pocket, you hadn’t even noticed him approaching. Loki clad in only Thor's skin, blinked.

The waiter turned on his heel and disappeared.

"I can already feel the gossip stirring," Loki shifted into a more feminine body, quickly putting on the dress. "They are going to eat my brother alive."

"Do you feel bad about it?"

"Oh, my heart is breaking into a million pieces," Loki assured you with a smile far too wide for that to be true.

He kissed you quickly before disappearing into the restroom.

Life felt amazing. Loki couldn't help but imagine the amount of trouble his brother would get once the word spread about his whereabouts.

His imagination was running wild, but the one thing Loki couldn't imagine was how, merely thirty minutes later, he'd find himself in the dungeons deep beneath the surface of the Moon, half-drowned, and viciously bitten.

#please hate me #loki x reader #loki x you #Loki Laufeyson #Loki Laufeyson x Reader #loki laufeyson x you #loki mcu #loki imagine #loki #mar #mcu #loki series #loki laufeyson imagine #loki fanfic

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sadwizardgirl · 3 years

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My Campaign 2 Thoughts

Alrighty folks. We're here. We made it. I’m running on like, 3 hours of sleep and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet so bear with me if I ramble/don't make sense. I’ll take things by character I think?

Once I finally typed everything I wanted out, I decided to put a keep reading thing. Its a long one I’m so sorry haha. But yeah, click on it if you want to hear someone’s tired ramblings about how much they love the Mighty Nein. Obviously spoilers below... <3

One last thing - I want to say thank you to everyone who I have interacted on here with. I would have never, ever thought that I would live blog Critical Role when I started watching it. And because I have, it makes me happy that I’ve found lots of nice Critters like me to follow, like, reblog, laugh and cry with all at the same time. You guys are really cool, so thanks for letting me be a small part of it all <3

Molly/Kingsley -

I’m honestly not fully shocked that we didn’t get Molly back after all that. I think Tal has said that Molly is gone and will stay gone. Maybe this is how Molly was when he first woke up, but we obviously didn’t see that part, and neither did Yasha. So honestly, the only people to know would be the people down at the circus. I’m personally okay with the differences in Kingsley and Molly but I like that Kingsley wanted to call Molly his brother at least and learn about him later on. Remember when Molly said he didn't want to learn who his previous self/selves were? The pirate life for Kingsley is --- interesting haha. I’m not hating it, I can definitely see a Jack Sparrow kind of vibe. I just didn't think Tal would go for a pirate type life for him. Thats all :)

Cad -

I’m also not surprised at what Cad chose either. It was interesting to see his whole EMPATHY routine with Trent. Thats been a side of Cad no one has seen. I know I’ve seen some people say that they were sad that after all this adventuring, that Cad would just chose to live at the Blooming Grove and never leave again. But didn't Tal say that Cad would take walks out of there and explore for segments of time? Like 6 months, then a year, then a couple years. I could have sworn he said that and that he would go visit his friends in those spans too. But I could have totally imagined it/took it that way.

Veth-

This totally makes sense. I was sad to see her go before the whole Trent thing, I would have loved to see her stand by Calebs side during it but I get it, She missed her family and they would see each other again anyway. I 100% would love if the M9 had a summer camp. Like, I’m just saying. That needs to be a one shot. I don't have much else to say other than I’m glad that this is the ending for Veth and nothing else.

Yasha-

Again, I’m super happy with this one. It makes sense that she would want to go see her wife and the whole Stormlord thing???? Fucking awesome. I’m glad that Yasha has finally found peace and love with someone and is content. Thats all I want for Yasha. I’m glad that Kingsley seeks her out to find out about Molly too.

Beau -

WOW. Okay. So not only does she help take down Trent but also her dad stuff? Fucking great! I’m so glad that Beau has gotten to this point in her life. Not only has she brought down corrupt people, but also learned to love throughout everything she's been through. I’m sorry, I with my tired brain can think of more good things but I’m just super happy about this.

Fjord -

For some reason, Fjord’s ending made me cry. I don't know if its because its been awhile since we’ve gotten true Fjord lore stuff where Travis absolutely NAILS the roleplaying or what. But literally as soon as he raised his hand to say hi to Vandran, I started crying. He’s been looking for answers for so long and he finally got them. I think its very on brand that he just sailed out willy nilly knowing what happens but at least Matt was merciful haha. I think That plus his love for Jester and suggesting they find a place was so very sweet and totally them. I’m sort of glad that he left his ending so vague. Because imagine the sea one shots we can have with Fjord going to Darktow or finding Sabien once and for all etc.

Jester -

I’m --- I’m torn with Jester. I’m glad that Jester wants to travel more and see the world still and thats what she's doing with Fjord. I think I’m more of torn just because I’m so used to Jester being SO over the top with everything she does (in a good way) but then I guess that means she's maturing and growing up. I’m glad that she left her ending vague as well for the same reasons as Fjord. SIDENOTE: It’ll be interesting to see if any of this leads into the VM vs M9 show off and if there's going to be canon involved or what.

Caleb -

I left Caleb for last. Not only because he's been my favorite character all campaign long. But because most of the buzz is coming from his ending. I’ll preface this first --- I’ve never been an outright Essek/Caleb shipper. I’ve loved their moments together and am not against them in any shape or form. I’m just not one of the die hards shippers. Same with Caleb/Astrid/Wulf.

BUT - With that being said, I’m very happy with Calebs ending. I’ve seen some people that are mad that he didn't do what he set out to do - which was take down the corruption. But Liam said that he sees that aspect of his life as a life long endeavor. So just because he takes up the teaching gig - which I’m so happy with btw; more on that in a bit- doesn't mean he stopped. You can root out the corruption from within and I think Caleb started to realize that was going to be the best way. I’m glad he didn't take the place of Trent. I think things could have gone horribly wrong even if he was at the top. Am I thrilled that Astrid is there? Not particularly no but its better than Trent. Caleb being a teacher makes so much sense. At the beginning of the campaign, Nott was always telling people that Caleb was the one teaching her the magic she had, plus the trading notes with Yussa and Essek over the years. It all leads to him teaching. Finally being the teacher --- the right teacher for the future generations of wizards. He was never going to accomplish that in Trents place.

Now --- the elephant in the room, Essek. I’m 100% okay with this part of Caleb’s story. I’m glad that he did go back to Aeor and learn what he could. I think its what Essek said. That he wouldn't change his past because it led him to that moment with Caleb, but then still offered to help Caleb if thats what he wanted to do for himself. I’m happy that Caleb finally let go of the part of his past that kept his guilt so present. He’ll always remember his parents and what he did, but he's allowing himself to walk through that door and to start finally healing. Let me tell you how much I ugly cried when we finally heard what his plan had been all these years AND what that second book was that he never told us about. Liam O’Brien you poetic son of a bitch I love you so much. But damn did I ugly cry literally during that whole time. Okay sorry, now Essek. I think them realizing the age differences, being in the relationship for however long they were but then remained friends is so very much like both of them. They are both logical people. To me this makes so much sense. I think I’m in the minority here but it does. Essek will outlive the rest of the M9 so of course they realized eventually there was going to be this elephant in the room when Caleb grew old. I’d like to think Caleb wouldn't want the extra heartbreak on Essek when Caleb eventually dies, then the rest of Essek’s friends die on top of that. Liam said that this campaign, romance in any shape or form was not a priority and I think also that had a part to do with it. I’m glad Caleb just didn’t be alone for the rest of his life and only teaching. I’m glad he reached out to Essek and did that stuff, and then taught Luc. It’s far from the sad wizard boy who was ready to leave the M9 at a moments notice to be alone.

Sorry for the rambling and VERY LONG post. oh my god I’m so sorry but it just kept coming. haha I’m very sad to see the Mighty Nein go. This campaign was the reason I got into D&D and where I fell in love with it. I fell in love with these nerdy ass voice actors and their characters. BUT it makes me excited for campaign 3 and the future of Critical Role.

SIDENOTE: WHAT THOUGHTS DO YOU GUYS HAVE ON THE PROJECT THEYRE GOING TO ANNOUNCE NEXT WEEK HUH? I’m glad they mentioned that they aren't ready for Campaign 3 just yet, but Marisha made it at least seem that its on the horizon. I’m sure they want to take the break they deserve and have time to transition from their M9 characters to their new ones. so yeah anyway

Thank you, Mighty Nein. Long may you all reign.

#critical role spoilers #critical role #critrole spoilers #cr spoilers

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kariachi · 3 years

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This is it y’all, a day literal months in the coming- here and now I shall liveblog Dragon’s Kin, by Anne and Todd McCaffrey. By which I mean I will read Dragon’s Kin and take note of anything interesting, valuable, or just that comes to my mind. I have never read this book, it’s still in the plastic packaging it came in, I have never read a Todd book.

We’ll see if I survive.

Before I even open the damn thing, I am looking at the image of the McCaffreys on the back and let me say they look like they should be villains in a comedy western.

A Pass brings with it increased earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic activity, due to the whole ‘other celestial body coming in hot’ thing. Which actually makes a lot of sense, certainly more than anything else relating to Threadfall. (“charred bone” is this a fungus or a wildfire)

“Under the leadership of the Lord Holders and Weyrleaders-” *screams into aether*

It took until 16 years prior to the 3rd Pass for the Northern Continent to run out of surface coal and have to start actually digging for the shit

Everybody: Whers? Bah, not much to them, not good for much. Journeyman Miner Natalon: But consider, they might be awesome MasterMiner Britell: Hmmm, I’m keeping an eye on this one...

Chapter 1: “In early morning light I see: A distant dragon come to me”

We meet our main character, Kindan. His sister is getting married, good for her. Shame about the plot that’s going to happen later.

Having a watchwher gets you private housing. Also aw, the wher took their name from Kindan’s father that’s so sweet.

This just in, two boys can’t hang with dragons, settle instead for the simple pleasure of watchwher washing

Zenor: Dragons look like they’re soft, not like watchwhers Kindan: Bitch-

So our biggest asshole so far is a Tarik and honestly I’d be sending him back to the Hall with a nice long report of exactly how much of a fuckwit he is. And I’ve only known him a few pages.

And we meet the other major character- Nuella- who is apparently Somebody though who we have no idea

Oh gods Kindan’s mother is dead, his sister is marrying and leaving, and his father and Dask’s fates are in the fucking summary. Boy is about to have a time.

He has brothers! Well thank fuck.

Whers have external ears

Also I have only known Dask for two paragraphs but I love him

“Then Dask gave a little happy chirp, flapped his wings once, and vanished.” Whers can between, alone and from the ground. Apparently Dask does it all the time go he can avoid the lights from the camp.

Dask is brown, I was figuring but nice to know

Kindan, assuming dragons are harder to wash because they’re fucking massive and need oiling and shit (whers, the dragonkin for the common working fucker)

Chapter 2: “It’s skin is bronze, it’s eyes are green; It’s the loveliest dragon I’ve ever seen”

Damn Kindan’s family is a mess, his brothers are all dicks, his sisters are supposeldy dicks but we haven’t seen them, and the only decent fuckers are leaving or dying

Kindan’s Sister: Kaylek, my brother who loves to sing but couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, you shall sing at my wedding Master Harper: Over my dead body he will!

Kindan’s siblings may be shit, but he’ll be damned if he allows them to talked bad about by some non-relative and he’s stubborn as a wher himself about it

Am I reading a fucking fairytale film? The new Harper is a dick until he realises ‘oh wait, this kid isn’t complete shit, I shouldn’t have said the seriously horrible things I did’

(Seriously “to think your mother died giving birth to you”, I want Dask to eat him too)

Well it’s nice to see that the ‘whers fly at night because the air is thicker’ thing is only speculation by people with no fucking teachings with regard to that shit. At least so far.

Kindan really just went on a paragraph long internal monologue about the value of miners to the function and survival of Pern and for all he doesn’t in his heart want to be one I kinda want to see him grow into it now. Stories of stepping away from what’s expected of you and forging your own path are great (I’ve been writing some) but stories of falling in love with what before looked like something to be avoided can also be nice.

And now we get a two paragraph internal monologue about how awesome whers are. Best miners ever.

“Traditionally, the marriage ceremony was performed in the morning, timed so that as the couple completed their marriage vows, the sun would rise, signifying the warmth of the new relationship and how it would lighten not only the bride and groom but also all those associated with them.” Awwww!!!!

“However, such a ceremony would mean Dask could not attend. So Jofri had come up with the idea of performing the ceremony with the setting sun, instead, and lighting a bonfire as the final vows were made.” Awwwwwww!!!!!!!

For all the shit you hear and see relating to whers in earlier and later periods (that they’re ugly, and disliked, and kept chained up) it’s so nice to see Dask truly be part of the family, so much so that they changed the fucking wedding to accommodate him. I want this to be the tradition of handler families now. And then we have to remember that one of the other handlers for the camp straight up fucking left because Tarik was being a dick to his wher and he wasn’t having it. Yes, give me wher love.

Oh my gods Dask flying about with a glow in his claws to act as a spotlight as his handler’s daughter walks down the aisle this is so sweet!

And he’s singing along to the music!

He’s doing the groom too! Dask is a gift!

“For now that these two are one, we are all more,“ Master Zist intoned. He placed Silstra’s hand in Terregar’s and kissed each lightly on the cheek. “To Terregar and Silstra!”

The crowd stood up and roared back: “To Terregar and Silstra!”

“Long life and happiness!” Master Zist intoned.

“Long life and happiness!” the crowd roared back.

Kindan and Nuella officially meet.

Nuella, taking advantage of Kindan not wanting to get given chores on this the night of his sister’s wedding and her own presumed misbehavior to get him to keep her well away from any authority.

Nuella is sheltered as fuck, she hasn’t even seen a mashed potato before

Ah, she’s the twin of the big boss’s son. Don’t know why she’s being so fucking hidden I mean good fuck, but, at least we know who she is.

Aw, Zenor is her bestfriend. Not that she has many options but still

Seven fucking brothers! And an unknown number of sisters! No wonder their mother died having the last one, she birthed at least nine surviving children! Do you know how many she’d have had to have to get those numbers? Was she born pregnant, wtf?

Chapter 3: “Watch-wher, whatch-wher in the night; Guard our Hold, keep it right; When the morning sun does come; Watch-wher, then you job is done”

Aw, Kindan’s relationship with the his brothers is healing

Also Zist is a fucking taskmaster. He gets results but damn, man, chill.

The big boss’s son is apparently a sickly child

Dask has been in A Mood which is a never a good sign when you’re talking about your security critter

Miners’ children all just ‘it’s too quiet, something is wrong’ like they’re fucking birds. Not that they’re wrong, mind, but still

Welp, bad air was released and sparked before Dask could warn the miners (I assume a pocket got opened as somebody else struck some stone) and now we’ve got a cave-in. Dask got out and is now killing himself trying to rescue the miners.

Damn his father and his brothers in one day. And Dask fucking dying in his arms after managing to save the survivors despite bleeding out with his handler dead (which, even if whers can outlive their handlers he had to have felt, he’s dragonkin he’d have noticed the bond breaking, he was doing this despite knowing that he wouldn’t find Danil alive on the other side. Was he this dedicated to his work, was he hoping to save Danil’s boys, we’ll never know).

Pour one out for Danil, who did his damnedest to take care of his children, and for Dask, who was too damn good for us.

Zenor survived, but his father is also dead. He and Kaylek saved the poor boy’s life in exchange for their own. Gods the last thoughts that must’ve been going through that man’s head, as he realized that the mine was collapsing and he had brought his son in with him despite him not being near old enough...

Seriously y’all I’m crying

Chapter 4: “I am too big to cry; And my voice is too shy; To sing my sad, sad song; Or say the words I long; To say to you- good-bye, good-bye.”

The book says Kindan is the youngest of nine. It also says he has seven brothers and plural sisters. And the sisters at least lasted long enough to give him shit growing up. The book lies to me.

Okay so, Kindan’s got two siblings remaining- Jakris and Tofir- one of whom has been fostered to I think a sister of theirs? Kindan doesn’t note who ‘Terra and her husband’ are otherwise so I assume it’s another older sister and another of which has been fostered to Crom Hold where he’ll be learning art and maybe someday mapmaking. Kindan is still in the camp.

Zenor wants to take over his dad’s role of miner like boy you are ten stop

Ah, Kindan wants to stay.

If somebody would light Tarik on fire please? Especially given that he’s sitting here claiming the mining will be better without them when it’s already been stated that the shift with a wher gets more ore out of the ground per shift than the the others because the wher itself is a fantastic digger.

Zist: We need someone to raise Kindan Natalon: So good of you to volunteer Zist: o.o

Nobody likes Tarik, good, send the man back to Crom, let them deal with his ass.

And more confirmation that Kindan has sisters, I really need this book to make up it’s mind

Nuella is upset she’ll have to avoid the Harper’s cottage with Kindan living in it

Zist: If I’m going to raise this child then damnit I’m making him a harper

We’re getting much character stuff but not much actually interesting

Chimney got clogged at the big boss’s house, Kindan managed to save the lot by coming by and noticing, the existence of Nuella is now known to him.

Kindan can keep a secret, he is taking to harpering well

Mine’s having a lot of minor accidents

And now big boss’s wife’s baby is coming early, these fuckers just cannot catch a break

Nuella and her brother switching places back and forth so she can be involved in shit. Also she has some mind for healing

Zist had a daughter at one point- Carissa. Nice name

Also the baby is fine, a month early but fine. She doesn’t have a name yet, I will keep y’all updated

Chapter 5: “A baby’s cry, a mother’s sigh; Sweet things make a day go by”

Zist, having Kindan run around the camp telling adults what they need to do: It’ll be an interesting challenge for you Kindan, Telling the big boss that Zist offered to do his administrative work: He said it would be an interesting challenge for him

Oh shit Nuella is blind! Honestly, fucking slow clap for not making a big deal of it so far

The Traders have women of rank. I know this is a second Interval story but still, worth noting. Shit hasn’t gone completely to shit for the women yet

Nuella is having a crisis because she has no information including on things like ‘women don’t have to bake or be mothers, there are in fact options’. All of this is not helped by her mother stressing out about whether little Larissa is going to go blind like her sister did. Apparently shit went downhill when she was three and now her life is stress and isolation.

Okay, so Natalon’s mother was blind, and now his daughter is blind, and he’s trying to hide it from everybody for fear people are going to think there’s something wrong with him and will stop working with them and that nobody will want to marry his son. He’s given up on Nuella marrying. I want to smack him and adopt his children out to good homes.

Kindan, age 11, starting to realize girls can in fact be cute

Also they’re disguising her so she can play at the ‘yay there’s finally some new company for a few days’ Gather

Even Tarik’s fucking cronies don’t like him!

Nuella’s parents and brother are aware she’s there. No scene will be made.

Nuella getting to dance while Zist chides Kindan about not setting up his also 11-yo friends. “They’re too young to match, and you’re too young to be a matchmaker.”

Ooo, the mysterious missing 8th apprentice was a wherhandler and decided fuck that noise. Can’t blame him, I wouldn’t want ot deal with Tarik either

The assumption is he’d rather face his master’s wrath than work there, which peeps nothign that they’d all rather die than face their own masters’ wraths, and the noting that he may well have been worried about losing his wher to all this shit. Which makes sense with how hostile Tarik has made the place for them

Chapter 6: “Cromcoal, Cromcoal, burning bright; Warm the cold of winter’s night; Cromcoal Cromcoal, underground; Where the best of all coal’s found”

They are calling a dragon to take them to someone called Aleesa for, presumably, a wher egg. We are nearly halfway through this book, by the way, which is a little fucking late to finally be bringing in the wher egg but sure, fine.

Aleesa is the handle or a gold wher. Apparently the title for that is Master. So you get Weyrwomen and Whermasters. That’s pretty cool.

Kindan sees a dragon take note of the ‘we need a dragon’ flag and “Zist listened appreciatively and guided him to crafting a better tale, so that by the end of a sevenday, Kindan’s story took a full fifteen minutes to tell and left all eyes peering up to the sky, hoping for a glimpse of their own.”

Zist has Timed It before. Apparently he accidentally spooked a dragon hatchling when he was younger and they Impressed his friend and at some point he timed it to go back and help himself fix the damage the panicked bronze did. A bronze whose rider is now a Weyrleader, by the by. He’s figuring if it seems like they’ll miss their meeting to get the egg then hopefully they can Time It to get there on time.

Telgar Weyrleader D’gan shows up a week late, bitches about it not being an emergency, talks shit about everybody and everything, is lucky to leave with his life (I’d have killed him). Zist is, I assume, about to call Benden to actually get shit done.

“So, Kindan, what did you think of your first look at a dragon?” “Oh, they’re pretty enough, but you’d never fit one in a mine.”

Benden Weyrleader M’tal, being a proper fucking dragonrider who understands what his fucking duties are, is going to get shit done

People out here respecting whers and their importance, you love to see it.

Chapter 7: “Watch-wher, watch-wher in the mine; Help save life, yours and mine; Guide us in the darkest night; With your keen unfailing sight”

Gaminth reassuring Kindan as they travel Between.

“-to keep the hatchling warm until it’s second, tougher coat came in” Do, do whers shed their skin like birds molt baby fluff? Start with soft wherlet skin and then shed that for tough wher skin? I am amazed and also that’s adorable.

So, you’ve gotta convince the gold to let you pick one of her eggs to take with you. I presume if she says no and you press the matter she eats you.

Oh gods wherhandlers blood their children to their whers! Oh my gods that’s adorable! Make the babies pack! Gods how strong is that did Dask now how many of them were dead dear gods now I’m sad again-

Talking to the queen wher, being polite, sending her mental images, Kindan is a Good Boy

Wher eggs glow! Dimly but they glow! Also good boy Kindan, compliment those eggs!

Also they are half the size of dragon eggs and have wrinkles. (I assume wher eggs are more like snake eggs at first...)

“Eeny, meeny, tipsy, teeny, ah vu bumberosha, nineteen hundred and two, I pick you.” And he gets one with a ring around it in wrinkle.

Aleesa is a fucking Queen, sending Kindan, Zist, a Weyrleader, and the big boss away with a simple “You bore me.” She does make sure to compliment Kindan on a job well done and to reinforce that she expects her payment (which she’d have gotten either way, by the way, wher eggs are pricey and you’re paying for a shot at being allowed to have one)

On the topic of feeding wherlets:

“We’ve been experimenting, actually, on the best post-hatching meal. Watch-whers are not as insatiable as dragons, but they will gulp down meat and sometimes choke, as you know.” She pinned Kindan with a fiery glare, and he nodded as if he knew exactly what she meant. “D’you have oats?”

Kindan nodded, glancing over at Natalon to be sure he was also listening to Aleesa.

“Then arrange to get fresh blood from whoever butchers at the camp. Make porridge of the oats, using water, and add the blood as the oats thicken in the pot. I’d say a half-pail a day should be sufficient. If you keep the blood cool, a pailful should last over a day or two, no trouble. Most camps or Holds slaughter every other day. Feed it was often as it wants, and some of the liver and lungs that might go to waste otherwise. Don’t start meat hunks until three months, when it has enough back teeth to chew with. You can continue with porridge feeds in the morning until the hatchling starts to coats out.”

So the fuckers don’t start with all their teeth on top of everything.

Chapter 8: “Watch-wher, watch-wher in the egg; Grant to me the boon I beg”

This delight of a child is making porridge constantly so that it’ll be ready when the bab hatches. And then when it starts hatching he immediately darts for the porridge.

Bab eats like a fucking garbage disposal

She is also currently assumed to be green and apparently whers have notable enough bits to tell sex even if you can’t be sure of color

Kindan do not call the bab ugly, she is doing her best

“Did it give you a name?” “I didn’t ask.” “It is enough like a dragon to know it’s own name?” “I don’t know.”

“She’s not as big as I thought she would be.“

“Big enough to have the appetite of nine dragons,“ Kindan, almost proudly.

This girl is adorable

The Harper followed him out to the shed and greeted Zenor, who hadn’t moved from the spot in which Kindan had left him. The hatchling had been trying to crawl up his legs, her hungry bleek more insistent.

She has been blooded but not named. Kindan is moving in with her.

Nuella you’re a doll but if you can not assume that a baby can eat whatever an adult can eat, especially when Kindan is working off the knowledge of someone who actually, ya know, has experience with this shit? It’d be great.

The bab is now named Kisk and it’s pretty apparent she named her own damn self, for all that she didn’t use words.

Kindan, in a very 11-yo moment, wonders whether the WherMaster actually knows anything about raising whers since weaning his early worked out fine

Wherlet playing, I repeat, wherlet playing, far too adorable

Kisk is going to be a good little guard, already rooting out people who are where they shouldn’t be

Tarik’s wife likes whers! And is teaching her children to like whers! As all good people should!

Cristov, son of Tarik the Dick, is trying to make up his own mind about whers and-

Kisk darted her tongue out and licked Cristov’s outstretched hand before he could pull it bac,k. She made a sad, don’t-you-like-me noise at Cristov

Tarik: *talks shit like he’s got anything going for him* His Wife: *is gonna fucking smack him if he doesn’t start with some basic decency*

Kisk keeping Kindan up all damn night

Chapter 9: “Walk, baby, walk, come to me; Soon, baby, soon, you’ll walk away from me”

And now they’re trying to say Zenor and Nuella were born and raised in the camp despite saying earlier in the book that they’d been there less than a year two years ago.

Also at 3 months Kisk is 12 hands high at the shoulder and 40 from nose to tail. Which is about 4 ft by 13 ft, and still growing.

Kindan, hit with the sudden realization that oh, yeah, being a wherhandler is going to mean not being a harper

Nuella if anything the fact Kindan can’t see in the dark and doesn’t know where he’s going is all the more reason it’d be better training for Kisk to lead him than you, who knows this tunnel like the back of her hand, blind or no

Ooo, Tarik the Dick had a camp the failed, so now he’s all sour because his nephew’s doing better than him.

M’tal is here, Telgar is still bitches (what is it with Telgar being assholes?) and whers apparently don’t have the same problems with oiling and shit dragons do despite growing far faster which makes no damn sense but sure

Whers and dragons can chat amongst themselves, to the surprise of noone, or at least not me.

Nuella’s sweet on Zenor and honestly, go for it kiddo

Kisk is starting to learn.

Chapter 10: Hot air rises, cold air falls; These are thermodynamic laws

(Fuckers expect me to believe the Pernese couldn’t keep the word ‘year’ but ‘thermodynamic’ survived)

Nuella theorizing that whers see heat because she can feel it. I want to say it’s because she’s twelve and, as kids do, thinks she knows everything, but the more I read the more I’m fairly sure it’s just that the McCaffrey’s want her to be Amazing and The Best (which, ugh) and so are just, doing this. It doesn’t work.

Dragonriders here looking for a potential goldrider (very clearly Nuella from the conversation) and lamenting that based on the dragon’s description she might be blind and therefor ‘unable to Impress’ and just- Shit that makes you wanna throw things

Ya know they did so good before they revealed Nuella is blind. She was just another kid then, it was nice, but now... I love her but my hackles are raising

Also can I just say that whers seeing heat is the stupidest thing I’ve heard yet, given everything we know about their anatomy leads to them seeing in the darkness like everything else with massive fucking eyes and a nocturnal disposition.

Operation: Teach Whers to Bespeak Dragons During Emergencies is a go

Nuella claiming that whers can’t be taught to Between because nobody can see heat like they (apparently) can and we’re to take this as gospel despite the like, second thing Dask ever did on-page being to Between on his lonesome. Did these people not have editors? It didn’t seem so bad at first but as time goes on and we get more shit that contradicts other shit (we got contradicting information within pages of each other for fuck’s sake) I am slowly losing my mind

Tarik continues to be a dick and refuses to shore up his tunnels correctly. And he wonders why he lost his fucking camp.

Kindan saw through Kisk’s eyes during hide-and-seek

Chapter 11: “Watch-wher, watch-wher, guard us all; With your dragon-summoning call”

Turns out wherhandlers don’t take well to some dragonrider coming by and trying to teach them about their whers.

Nuella is being offered the chance to go teach whers to chat with dragons.

Everyone is supportive even while she has a quick little existential breakdown that’s probably been building for a while

We skip forward to Nuella going via dragon to Lemos to start her work. Dragons like her and she takes well to Between

Wherhandlers really can’t do well learning from dragonriders because their critters are so different

Nuella is good at what she does.

There’s far too much of old men going ‘*gasp* this child suddenly reminds me of [blank] they are amazing’ though

Whers and their handlers are learning

Turns out, surprise surprise, whers are awesome

Chapter 12: “Harper, harper, sing me a song; Give me a tune that lasts all day long”

Feels like it’s trying too hard...

Tarik the Dick has caused a cave-in and now is refusing to do anything about it because he is, well, see above

There is a now a team of rescuers, mostly kids, out to save the day via secret passage and wher

Nuella: Lolanth, I need your rider to send word to the MasterMiner and also get the pumps pulling air out the mines Lolanth: I have told my rider, and called Gaminth, he and his are coming, and I’ve called Ista, they’re coming, and I’ve told the miners-

Lolanth is a Good Dragon who apparently does not go halfsies

Lolanth got everyone and their grandmother to this camp within thirty seconds

On the one hand, blind characters getting to be awesome, one the other, this is really leaning towards Magically Disabled. Nobody can hear things like Nuella can, nobody can work with whers like Nuella can, nobody is as smart as Nuella is, she’s 12 and better than the majority of the adults around her, just, if they could fucking chill for five minutes.

Also people are alive on the other side of the cave-in

Finally Kindan remembers that Dask could Between, and I promise you it’s going to turn out that he was a miracle and only Nuella (who has no idea what’s on the other side of the cave-in) can show Kisk where she needs to go

Wow, it’s like I’m magic

Chapter 13: “Watch-wher, watch-wher, do you know; All the places you can go?”

I’m glad everybody who survived the cave-in is saved but we just got a fucking paragraph “But it is I who have been blind” speech from Nuella’s father and just. Kill me, please.

And Kisk has decided to swap handlers and be Nuelsk now.

And Kindan is going off to become a Harper.

Okay, not the worst book I’ve read. There were places that needed editing, there was a lot of shit that contradicted each other (Kindan’s everchanging number of siblings just being one example), it had plenty of the McCaffrey’s trademark Totally Accurate Science, and the longer I spent reading it the more it felt like one of those ‘see, disabled people can also do things and be capable’ stories complete with a fucking “But it is I who have been blind” (literal quote, kill me now). And this shit is from 2003. On the plus side though, there’s plenty of quality wher content and the kids are fun when the writers aren’t on their little Not A Soapbox.

Overall, a 6/10, if someone wrote an anosmiac character this way I’d want their head on a stick no matter how badass they were.

#achi liveblogs #dragonriders of pern #whers #long as fuck

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kmomof4 · 5 years

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State of Emergency Part 2

And here’s the rest of it! Thank you all so much for all your likes, reblogs, and kudos on ao3. Again, many thanks and all the love to @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 and @shireness-says�� for listening to me whine, encouraging me, and beta duties. I hope this conclusion is worth the wait!

ao3 link

After dropping off the sensors, the ride to MacArthur Park was silent, each lost in their own thoughts.

He was frightened. Frightened for me? She glanced at her companion. A muscle in his jaw jumped and his knuckles were nearly white on the steering wheel. Yes. That much was clear in his eyes. He was fine going down there himself, or with Graham. But it wasn’t until I insisted on going that I saw the fear in his eyes. But, he has to understand. It’s part of the job. It’s part of MY job, not just his. WE have a job to do, and we’re going to do it. I promised Henry. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

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Why in the world did she insist on coming down with me? Killian’s thoughts raced round and round in his head. Doesn’t she understand how dangerous this is? What if there really is a volcano under MacArthur Park? What if something happens down there? What if there is another earthquake and another flare while we are down there? I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to her. I have to keep her safe. I’ll do anything to keep her safe. Not just for me, but Henry too. Did she even think about Henry? What am I thinking? He shook his head. Of course she thought of him. He’s probably the reason she insisted on coming. We both made him a promise. A promise to find out what’s happening and stop it. This is part of that. But I don’t have to like it.

Killian came to a stop at MacArthur Park right where she and Ruby parked that morning. Before climbing down from the truck, he opened his mouth to speak, before Emma cut him off holding her hand up. “I know, I know. I remember what you said. And I agreed. You are the boss. You are the expert and I will do what you say,” Emma finished.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say,” Killian replied, smirking at her. He quickly sobered however, clearing his throat before continuing. “I wanted to apologize for getting in your face that way earlier,” he said, looking down and scratching behind his ear. “It wasn’t good form. And if there’s something that I always try to have, it’s good form,” he added, looking up again. “You are a grown woman who is very capable of taking care of herself, if what I’ve seen so far is any indication. I know that you’ll listen to what I have to say and do it, because it’s in both our best interest to get out of there alive. And my expertise is the best way to insure that. The way I berated you earlier, as one would a wayward child, was nothing short of shameful.” He looked down again, shamefaced. “I hope you can forgive me.”

Emma reached out and grasped his hand with hers until he looked back up to her face. Green eyes clashed with blue as they each read what the other was too unsure to say out loud. Relaying to one another that they had each other’s back and would get out of there safely. “Yes, I forgive you, Killian. Now let’s get down there.”

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Killian reached the bottom of the ladder with Emma making her way down right behind him. The heat was incredible, but they had to keep going to find where the heat was coming from.

“This is Ruby Lucas.” The voice came through in his ear. “Ruby Lucas to ground control. Do you read me?”

“Loud and clear, Ruby,” Killian replied. “I don’t know what the temperature is down here-”

“468° and rising with high levels of water vapor and carbon dioxide also present,” interrupted Graham. “There’s also significant levels of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.” He paused before continuing. “Killian, you know what this means.”

“Yeah,” Killian replied. “There’s a volcano down here. But we need to see where the fissure is exactly and how close to the surface the magma is. That last earthquake might have brought it even closer to the surface.”

“You’re serious,” Emma stated. It wasn’t a question. “There’s seriously a volcano underneath Los Angeles. How? How have we not known about this? Where did this come from?” she asked, incredulous.

Killian continued making his way forward toward where Emma and Ruby found the fissure that morning. “Well,” he answered, “magma is found all over the earth in the upper mantle. Volcanoes form when that magma makes it way to the surface through seams and cracks in the crust. That’s a rather simplistic way of putting it, but it works. And we do live on a quite well known fault line.”

At this point, they could clearly see the fissure ahead of them with waves of heat coming toward them. The magma they saw that morning was not in evidence now, but what was left behind was disturbing enough.

“Rats!” Emma exclaimed, “Look at those rats! They’ve been cooked!”

“They died from the gasses, most likely,” Killian speculated. “But the magma,” he continued, “is probably responsible for the crispy critters. Gah! What’s the temperature now guys?”

He made his way forward toward the fissure and leaned over it, trying to see his way down through the steam coming from it. “Killian,” Graham’s voice was shouting in his ear, “get out of there! It’s over 800 degrees! We have everything we need. These gas levels are off the charts and the magma is about 80 feet below you. We need to evacuate. Now.”

“Do it, Ruby,” Emma shouted, running back for the ladder, as fast as her equipment would allow with Killian right on her heels.

“Already on it, boss,” her friend answered. They could hear Ruby typing away on the computer over their earpieces. “A controlled evacuation of all of downtown will take, at best, six to eight hours. But if we announce there’s an active volcano under the tar pits, it’s going to cause panic.”

Reaching the top of the ladder, and collapsing onto the grass both trying to catch their breath after the heat and sprint, Emma took a moment to respond. “Have the governor do it. Apprise him of the situation and have him declare a State of Emergency, mobilize the National Guard, and order the immediate evacuation of all of downtown. Hopefully the evacuation will go smoothly. Then we’ll find a way to shut it down and people can return to their homes quickly.”

Ruby’s grumble was so low as to almost go unnoticed by the pair. “‘Hopefully the evacuation will go smoothly,’ huh… what fantasy world are you living in?”

“Well, we can always hope,” Emma replied. “Damn, I’m starting to sound like M’s,” she said, shaking her head.

Killian crawled over to where Emma was laying, reaching for her hand as he removed his helmet. “There’s no way to shut down an active volcano, love. We have to let it run its course. The best we can hope for is that we get everyone out of the area before it blows. That will keep casualties to a minimum. But given how everything has escalated in just the last eighteen hours, I expect we’ll be dealing with the eruption sometime in the next two days.”

“Oh, God,” Emma breathed.

“Exactly,” Killian replied. “We need to get back to the control room, so you can oversee the evacuation and direct city resources, and so I can see if we can come to any more conclusions from the data we gathered.”

“Well, it looks like I won’t be going home for a while,” Emma said. “I need to call David and let him know.” Emma made her way to her feet and started jogging toward WOLF where she left her cell phone. Reaching the truck and pulling off her equipment, she picked up her phone and dialed her brother.

“Hey, Ems,” David answered. “Tell me what’s happening.”

“First tell me how you and the boys are,” Emma replied, “Was there any damage from the earthquakes?”

“I wouldn’t know. We haven’t left the hospital,” David replied, “That last one hit right after I got here, so M’s and I decided we’d be safer staying here in a fortified building rather than trying to make our way home when another one could hit at any time. And she was needed to help with triage and the wounded.”

“Good plan,” Emma agreed. “Killian says there’s a volcano under the tar pits. And given the speed with which we saw the escalation of activity, he’s expecting an eruption in the next forty-eight hours. The governor will be declaring a State of Emergency and ordering the evacuation of downtown. I won’t be able to come home until all this is settled. Let me talk to Henry.”

“A volcano?” David very nearly shrieked. “Are you kidding me?” he continued in more of a subdued, but still very intense voice.

“Yes… I mean, no David. I’m not kidding you. We have to do everything we can to protect the citizenry. Now let me talk to Henry,” she repeated.

“Sure, sis.” David moved away from his phone, as he presumably held it out to Henry to take. She could hear him as he spoke to his nephew, “Your mom’s on the phone Henry. Come talk to her.” A grin overtook Emma’s face at the enthusiasm she heard in his rushing to grab the phone.

“A volcano?” Henry shouted at his mother in lieu of a greeting, “Is Killian okay? What’s going on?” His rapid, machine gun fired questions clued Emma in to the fact that her assurances to him earlier, really hadn’t helped that much. But then again, neither had David’s reaction.

“Hi, kid.” Emma scrubbed her hand down her face. “I’m fine, thanks for asking. Killian’s fine. But I’m not gonna be coming home for at least a couple of days.”

“A couple of days,” Henry whined in her ear, “What do you mean ‘a couple of days’?!”

“Exactly what I said, kid. A couple of days. At least.” A tightness settled in her chest as she realized that she was gonna have to tell him exactly what was going on. “There’s a volcano underneath the tar pits. It’s very close to erupting. Killian, Ruby, and I, along with Killian’s assistant Graham will be working very hard to make sure no one else gets hurt. But I’m gonna have to stay here until it stops. Uncle David will stay with you until then, okay?” Emma closed her eyes and prayed to God that the evacuation would go well and that there’d be minimum casualties once the eruption happened. Everything had to go smoothly to make going home to her son possible.

“Okay, Mom,” he answered. “And don’t worry, I’ll behave and obey Uncle David, and take care of Roland, too.”

“That’s my boy.” Emma smiled and could feel her chest expanding with pride as her eyes filled with tears. “I’ll talk to you again soon, kid. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom,” Henry replied before hanging up.

“Everything’s gonna be okay, Swan,” Killian said, looking over at her as he drove WOLF back to the OEM. “We’ll deal with the evacuation and eruption and get you home to your lad in no time.”

“Thanks, Killian,” she replied. She appreciated the fact that he was trying to lift her spirits when everything seemed so very bad.

Arriving at the OEM, Graham and Ruby met them with news. “The sensors you dropped off at the pits before heading underground are working great. But the news isn’t good. The temperature is continuing to rise quickly. We’re also registering smaller earthquakes. Plural. In the two to three range. The magma is pushing to the surface more quickly than we anticipated. I’m afraid it’ll erupt tonight,” Graham reported.

“Here,” Ruby said, pushing a sandwich toward Emma. “You haven’t eaten all day, and we had this sandwich tray delivered since we knew we’d be here awhile. You can’t help the citizens of this city when you’re running on fumes.”

“Thanks, Rubes.” She accepted the sandwich gratefully. “The National Guard needs to mobilize at the tar pits and we need to get down there to prepare for it. How’s the evacuation going?”

“Not bad really,” she replied, “There are no major traffic tie ups, and the schools outside of downtown are opening up as shelters, and they’re starting to fill up.”

“Good. Let’s hope it stays that way,” Emma said around her sandwich. “Here Killian, you need one, too.” Emma handed him a sandwich off the tray.

“Thanks Swan,” he said, taking it from her and biting into it.

“Local National Guard units are managing the evacuation,” Ruby continued. “Twenty more are on their way from San Diego. They should be here in the next hour.”

“That’s great, Ruby. Thanks,” Emma exclaimed. “Have them mobilize at the tar pits and report to me.”

“Give me some credit, boss,” Ruby threw back at her totally deadpan. “I know what I’m doing.”

Emma rolled her eyes at her best friend. “Fine,” she replied, finishing off her second sandwich. “We’ll head down there to meet the National Guard and prepare for the eruption. Hopefully the civilian population will be mostly evacuated before then.”

“Sounds good,” Graham interjected. “Now, the eruption can happen at any time. There’s no way to know which way the lava will flow. There will need to be National Guard units here, here, here, and here.” He pointed at the map in front of him. “The sensors at the tar pits are telling us that the eruption will happen there. You both have to be a minimum of fifty yards away from them. During the initial eruption, lava is actually the least of your worries.”

“Aye, mate,” Killian answered. “Fireballs, molten rock, will be ejected into the air with incredible force and can land anywhere. We want to make sure we are well out of range of them. Plus, we’ll have to deal with the ash. Does WOLF have masks?” he asked, turning to Emma. “Like, surgical masks?”

“Yes,” she replied. “We should have plenty. Enough for ourselves, first responders, and the National Guardsmen.”

“Great,” he continued. “Once the initial eruption is done, then we’ll have to deal with the lava. Whichever direction the lava flows, we’ll need fire units on all of them. They’ll have to do the best they can to save the museums and other businesses in the area, and we’ll have to figure out a way to contain the lava to protect homes further down the way. Let’s get out of here. We’re about out of daylight. In other words, ‘tick tock.’” He and Emma looked at their respective assistants and with a nod of understanding between the men and a fierce hug between the ladies, made their way out of the control center.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Darkness had fallen by the time Emma and Killian arrived at the tar pits. A National Guardsman approached them as soon as they arrived. “Colonel Nick Ducich, commander of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.” The man shook Emma’s hand as he spoke.

“Good evening, Colonel,” she replied. “Thank you for your service and for getting here so quickly. We’re expecting the volcano to erupt in the next few hours and our job is going to be containment of the lava flow.”

Killian jumped in, “The firehouses are being mobilized now and stationed at the four corners surrounding the tar pits to hopefully limit the destruction of the surrounding buildings. Deploy your unit in kind Colonel to act as support personnel. Whatever they need to limit business losses. Whichever direction the lava flows, we want to be ready to prevent loss of life and property as best we can.” Killian turned away then to make his way to the back of WOLF to get the masks to begin handing out. “Pass these out to all the personnel. Your people as well as first responders. They will help with breathing once the volcano erupts,” he said, handing one to Emma, then putting his on.

“We already have them, but we’ll get them to the first responders,” the man rejoined before heading back to his unit barking orders.

Emma was just getting her mask in place when Killian turned back to her. The determination he saw in her eyes made him fall just that little bit more in love with her. She’s a tough lass. And the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And the most stubborn. Don’t think she’d be the one for me otherwise. I’m gonna make sure we all get out of this, if only to explore this... whatever this is I have with her. I don’t know what I’d do without her. He reached his hand out to her with a gentle smile and determination in his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taking his outstretched hand in hers, Emma was sure that the look in Killian’s eyes matched her own. But there was more swirling in the cerulean depths. More that she was a little nervous about exploring. At least, at the current moment. The passion that he had for his work and by the way he had conducted himself with her and Henry told her that this was a man who loved fiercely, but was also very controlled and methodical. She knew he was attracted to her and, she couldn’t lie, she was very attracted to him as well, but before anything could be done about that, they had a very serious crisis that needed managing. Everything else would have to wait.

Just at that moment, the earth beneath them began to quake violently. The radio in WOLF crackled to life as they could hear Graham’s voice over the frequency. “Earthquake! It’s a big one Killian! This is it! Take cover!”

Killian pulled Emma into his arms and tried to cover her body with his own as the earthquake continued.

“This is Joshua Nash reporting for KNBC. I’m in a helicopter above the La Brea tar pits in downtown Los Angeles and I can hardly believe what my eyes are seeing. There is obviously an earthquake going on with National Guardsmen and first responders taking cover as best they can in the streets around the tar pits. But it’s the tar pits themselves that I’m having trouble with. The volcano is coming up out of them and is causing them to boil. As in a rolling boil. It is spitting out molten rock and getting larger by the minute. When I started my report, the cone was approximately six feet above the surface of the pits. It is now at least fifteen feet. The earthquake is continuing as well. The earthquake seems to be the impetus for the volcano rising from the tar pits. The eruption is also ongoing, as I’m speaking to you. The ash cloud is fully sixty feet above the volcano with more molten rock coming out of it. I can see a firetruck that was hit by one of the fireballs fully engulfed in flames. I hope there’s no one still in it. I can’t tell from where I am. The earthquake appears to be subsiding now over a full minute and a half from when it started. For reference, earthquakes rarely last over thirty seconds.”

As the earthquake was finally starting to subside, Killian released Emma as they both looked around. The volcano was lit up by the magma being ejected into the night sky, while the lava was just beginning to crest the top of the cone and flow down toward them. They were still a safe distance from it, but it wouldn’t be long before it would reach the street and begin to carve a path of destruction down Wilshire Boulevard. Emma grabbed the radio inside WOLF. “Ruby, are you there?” she asked desperately. “Come in, Ruby!” Silence from the other end. “Ruby, it’s Emma. Come in, Ruby!” Emma could feel her panic rising as the radio finally squawked to life with Ruby on the other end.

“Yes, yes, I’m here, Emma.” She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the voice of her friend. “It took a few moments for the generators to get the power back up. That quake was a 6.2. We’re looking at major damage all over the city,” Ruby continued.

“Okay, Ruby, is everyone all right there?” Emma asked.

“Nothing major. A few cuts and bruises. Graham and I are fine.” She could hear Killian let out a sigh of relief at that news.

“Mobilize the National Guard at Curson and Sixth, and Sixth and Ogden to go wherever in the city they’re needed,” Emma shouted over the radio to make sure Ruby could hear exactly what she was saying. “The lava is headed toward us at Wilshire and Spaulding. We need the units at Wilshire and Curson to join us to try and contain the lava flow.” She turned to Killian. “Okay, what now? That lava is going to consume everything in its path.” Emma pulled on his shirt until he followed her around the front of WOLF while pointing at the lava that was now spilling into the street. As she was speaking another lava bomb burst from the cone. They stood dumbfounded and watched as the massive, burning rock landed on WOLF, effectively trapping them between the oncoming lava, the burning remains of their vehicle, and the fire trucks that were desperately trying to make some headway against the burning grass and buildings that the lava had already touched. As they tried to figure a way out with the lava only about ten yards away now, they could just make out a ladder standing tall against the night and smoke.

“Hey!” Killian shouted at the operator of the ladder on the other truck. “Hey! Bring that ladder down here!” The ladder operator startled when he saw the two people trapped.

“What are you doing?” Emma shouted.

“Trying to get us out of here!” he shouted back.

Moving as quickly as he could, the fireman lowered the ladder perpendicular to them until Emma and Killian could jump up and grab the end of it. He lifted them off the ground just as the lava reached them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“From up above the La Brea tar pits, this is Joshua Nash reporting. The lava has completely melted the fence separating the museum grounds from Wilshire Boulevard and is now spreading north and south along the street. The buildings are at least somewhat containing the lava, for the time being. Although they are burning and will not be effective for much longer. I can see a… OH MY GOD! Sorry about that folks, my pilot had to do some fancy maneuvering to avoid what can only be called a lava bomb that nearly hit us on its way to landing on a supply truck of some sort. The vehicle is completely destroyed, a mass of flames, and it has trapped two people between it and the lava flow. Oh God, let them get out of there. I can see the man waving at a firefighter and the firefighter is now lowering his ladder to the trapped people. Oh hurry! The lava is almost on them! They made it on the ladder! They had to jump, but they made it just as the lava reached them. The firefighter is swinging the ladder out over the lava. The woman is swinging her legs wildly…”

“Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God,” Emma chanted. “My feet are burning through my shoes,” she shouted, feet thrashing.

“You have to stop moving,” the fireman shouted. “The ladder can’t take it!” Killian could barely hear him and the ladder was starting to come apart under the strain.

“Hold on,” he shouted. He could see the joints of the ladder starting to come apart with the excess weight hanging off the end. He looked down and saw that they were now squarely over the lava flow and if the ladder were to give now, he and Emma were dead. “Hold still! Hold on! We’re almost there!”

“I can’t,” Emma screamed back at him, “Ahhhhhhhhhh,” just as the ladder gave out crashing to the street amid the ash, just outside the fire line that moments before had them trapped. Firefighters rushed to help them get on their feet and further away from the lava.

“Emma?” Killian shouted, making his way over to where Emma was standing apparently trying to come to grips with what had just happened. He grabbed her arms, drawing her attention to him. Her eyes were wild, having trouble focussing on him until he gave her a light shake. “Emma! Eyes on me! Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said, shaking her head, “I’m okay. Never better.” She finally focused on him. “What do we do? That lava is going to destroy everything in its path!”

“We’re gonna need trucks,” he answered. “Fire Trucks, several of them. And a barricade. We need a six foot high wall. With the trucks behind it. Air tankers. Can we get air tankers? We’re gonna need to drop a shit ton of water on this. Can we get all that? Will that work?” Looking at the level of destruction around him, he was reminded of his own mortality in the face of nature that was beyond man’s control. Looking at the woman in front of him, he committed himself anew to making sure she stayed safe.

“Yes, yes, we can get all that,” she replied. “And yes, I think it will work.” She turned around and sprinted for the fire truck. “Give me the radio,” she shouted to the man in the cab. Grabbing it from him, she turned the frequency to the emergency channel and started trying to contact Ruby and Graham at the control center. “Ruby, we need k-rails down here at Wilshire and…” she trailed away, “Fairfax. We’ll build the barricade at Wilshire and Fairfax. We’ll need ladder companies to backup the barricade. And air tankers. We need air tankers. We’ve got the lava going down side streets that we need to get stopped.”

“They’re on their way now boss,” Ruby replied. “Should be there in about twenty minutes.”

“Okay, until then, we have city workers bulldozing the streets and sidewalks trying to slow it down,” Emma shouted into the radio. “Fire companies are doing the best they can, but we’re going to have to tap the reservoir before long. There’s no way they’re gonna be able to keep up with this. It is devouring everything it touches.” Emma put the radio down and turned back to Killian.

“What are k-rails, love?” he asked.

“Construction barricades,” she answered, “you know, on highways and roads.”

“Ah, yes. Those should work. How many will we have?”

“I won’t know until they get here. Let’s get over to the fire chief, see how things are going.” She slid out of the cab of the fire truck and ran over to where the fire chief and someone else were arguing.

“We need more water pressure. We need to tap the reservoir if we’re going to have any hope of stopping this!” the fire chief shouted.

The other man was shouting just as loudly, “That reservoir is exclusively for watering crops. Only the Governor has the authority to redirect that in a state of emergency situation.”

Whoever that is just gave the wrong answer, Killian thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emma couldn’t believe what her ears were hearing. She increased the pace toward the men, preparing to rip this idiot a new one. She came upon the men, eyes blazing with fury. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she shouted. “Are you seriously arguing about using the reservoir to help stop THE LAVA FLOW? Hello? What in the hell do you think this is? A picnic in the park? The governor has already declared a state of emergency! Look around you! There won’t be any crops to water if we don’t get this stopped!” The man actually cowered before her wrath. “Now listen up, all of you.” City workers were gathering around to see what to do next. “We have k-rails and more fire companies on their way. They should be here any minute. How long before the lava makes it to Fairfax?” she addressed the fire chief with her question.

“At the rate it’s going now, with the obstacles we currently have in place and the men fighting it, we’re probably looking at about fifteen minutes. Twenty max.” He wiped his face with his hand visibly worried about how limited their time was.

Just at that moment, the wail of sirens and the rumble of heavy trucks was heard. “That’s them. They are stationing themselves at Fairfax. Let’s go everybody. We’re on a time clock.” Everyone dispersed and headed to a vehicle to get to Fairfax as soon as possible. Pulling up to the line of fire and flatbed trucks carrying the k-rails, Emma jumped out to meet the driver of the first flatbed. “How many do we have?” she asked.

“Eighty,” the man replied.

“Eighty trucks coming?” she asked, seeking clarification.

“No!” he exclaimed, “Eighty k-rails. There’s more coming, but they’re stuck on the I-10.”

“Then we’ll have to build the barricade without them. Okay, gather around everybody.” She pulled out a city map and turned it over. “Here’s Wilshire,” she said, drawing the street in broad strokes. “Here’s Fairfax.” She drew perpendicular to Wilshire. “We take these eighty k-rails and stack them, double decker style in a cul-de-sac.” She drew a half circle where Wilshire ran into Fairfax. “We line up the tankers behind the barricade as support and for the water.”

“This is when we’ll need the helicopters and air tankers too,” Killian added. “We turn all that on at once, all that water, on the pooled lava, hopefully it makes a crust and dams itself up. That’s what they did during a similar event in Iceland.”

“Yes,” Emma answered looking at him. “We have twenty of each coming. They’ll be here in minutes. Let’s move it everyone. We’re down to maximum of ten minutes before the lava gets here.” Everyone dispersed to get the barricade built in the limited amount of time they had. Wilshire Boulevard in front of them was consumed in flames as far as the eye could see. Firefighters between the lava and the barricade were giving ground and scrambling over it to get to safety. In the distance they could see the lights of the oncoming helicopters and air tankers. They all worked feverishly and were lifting the last two k-rails into place as the lava met the wall. Every breath was held as they all watched the lava start to rise along the concrete barrier. When the helicopters and air tankers were directly above them, Killian gave the signal.

“Open hoses,” he shouted, waving his arms at the aircraft.

“Open hoses,” the fire chief repeated shouting. The trucks behind him turned on their hoses while the air tankers and helicopters released their loads simultaneously.

“Joshua Nash, reporting from the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and South Fairfax Avenue. A concrete barricade has been erected in the middle of South Fairfax Avenue trying to contain the lava flow. Dr. Killian Jones from the US Geological Survey has just given the word for the fire trucks behind him and the helicopters and air tankers above him to release their water on the quickly pooling lava. The barricade is approximately six feet high, with the lava almost halfway up it. All this water hitting the lava at the same time seems to be having an effect. The pooling is slowing down significantly. The steam that is being produced appears to be making a crust on the surface of the lava. The personnel that worked so hard and so quickly to build this barricade are in high spirits as it appears that they have stopped the lava flow. The air tankers and helicopters are dumping their loads all along Wilshire Boulevard and the side streets. The crust is now spreading toward the tar pits. Whoever came up with this idea is a true hero. So far there has been devastating losses in Museum Row, but if not stopped, the lava would have next been heading for homes. People. Thankfully, the evacuation order put in place this afternoon was heeded and there appears to be a minimum number of casualties associated with this disaster. Stay tuned for continuous coverage. Back to you in the studio Ashley.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cheers arose on all sides of them as Killian and Emma walked away from the barricade. The grin on their faces couldn’t be wiped off as they cheered and high-fived right along with the first responders and city workers. Emma climbed up into the cab of a fire truck and got on the emergency band to contact Ruby and Graham still in the Control Center. “Ruby? Are you there? Come in, Ruby,” she shouted into the radio.

“I’m here, Emma,” she replied. “The lava is in the red line. It overtook a train at West Third just west of Fairfax. Completely destroyed it. There’s no way to know how many people were on there. The source is continuing to feed up to the surface. With man made tunnels for it to travel down, there’s no telling where it’ll come up next!”

“That’s heading toward Cedars…” Emma trailed away realizing that her entire family was right in the lava’s path. “It’ll come up at the next station, not even a block away from the hospital!” Emma turned panicked eyes upon Killian who stood at the door of the truck. “How much time…?”

“Not enough,” he replied. “Lets go. Where are the rest of those k-rails? We need to protect the hospital!”

“Hear that, Ruby?” Emma asked, “Where are the rest of the k-rails? We only got 80. The rest were stuck on the I-10.”

“They’re still there. It’s completely shut down. They won’t be moving any time soon,” her friend replied.

“Damn,” exclaimed Emma. “We need something that will protect the hospital. There are too many people inside. And we have to get there.” An idea started to blossom in Emma’s mind. “The apartments. The Ocean View apartments,” she repeated excitedly, turning wide eyes on Killian. “David’s apartments. They’re not finished yet and right across the street from the hospital. Is there a way to destroy the building that will keep the lava away from the hospital?”

“The canal to the Pacific is right there as well,” Killian added. “Yes, we can do a controlled demolition of the building so that it falls in front of the hospital and will direct the lava flow into the canal. We’ll need David’s approval though. It is his building after all.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” Emma stated, waving aside his concern. “We just have to get there.” Looking up, she saw the KNBC helicopter still hovering over the scene. Waving wildly to get the pilot’s attention, they were able to communicate enough to get him to land. “Can you take us to Cedars?” Emma asked.

“Sure,” he replied, “hop in.”

As Emma and Killian climbed in, the young reporter saw his chance for an exclusive interview. “Emma Swan, director of the Office of Emergency Management and Killian Jones, head geologist with the US Geological Survey have joined us in the KNBC helicopter this morning. They’ve requested a lift to Cedars.” He chuckled a little at his own joke. “Where’s the fire, guys?”

“The fire?” Killian shouted, the muscle in his jaw jumping, “Are you kidding me? You’ve been up here for hours watching and reporting, I assume, on the devastation that the lava flow has wrought? Not to mention the earthquake that precipitated the disaster? And you have the gall to ask ‘where’s the fire?’” Killian’s rant came to end as he wiped his hand over face while grumbling to himself, “Where’s the fire, indeed.”

Emma placed her hand on Killian’s arm as she shot an icy glare at the reporter that itself could almost bring the lava to a halt. “Our family. We’re trying to get to our family, got it?” she asked, through clenched teeth.

“Got it,” he murmured, looking everywhere except at the exhausted couple, thoroughly chastened.

The rest of the ride was silent as Killian placed his arm around Emma’s shoulder and pulled her into his side. Murmuring quietly in her ear, he said, “It’ll be alright, Swan. We’ll get there. They’re safe. We’ll make sure they stay that way.” Emma turned tired eyes up to him and smiled gratefully. Now that they were able to sit for a moment, out of immediate danger, the adrenaline rush was wearing off and she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

“And we’re here,” the pilot said. “There’s triage going on in the street. I’ll have to land over here.”

“That’s fine, thank you so much,” she replied. Looking down, she saw Mary Margaret working amidst the chaos. “There’s M’s,” she said to Killian pointing. “I’ll go to her and find out where David and the boys are, you get on the horn with Ruby and Graham and get a demolition team out here.”

“Alright,” he said, turning and looking into her veridian gaze. “Be careful.” He raised her hand to his lips pressing them against her knuckles.

“I will,” she answered. “You, too,” she added in a whisper almost too soft to hear.

Killian’s face broke into a lopsided grin. “Don’t worry about me, Swan,” he said. “If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s-”

“Surviving. Yeah, I remember.” Emma rolled her eyes and smirked as Killian climbed out of the helicopter. “All right, I’ll see you in front of the apartments as soon as I get David.”

“See you soon, love,” he replied, placing his hands on her waist and lifting her down to the street. The gentle smile he sent her was returned as she turned and made her way toward her sister-in-law.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“M’s! Where’s David? I need to talk to him now!” Emma pushed her way through the sea of people seeking and dispensing medical expertise. “Where is he?” She said coming to a stop in front of the frazzled woman.

“Uh… I don’t know,” she replied, looking around. “The boys were exhausted, so I put them all in the doctors lounge, but that was hours ago. I would assume they’d still be there, hopefully getting some sleep, but I have no idea if they are. I’ve been a little busy here.”

Emma made her way in the direction that Mary Margaret pointed toward the ER entrance. Finally making it inside, she turned toward where she knew the doctors lounge was. Opening the door to the darkened room, she saw David snoring heavily in the recliner with the two boys on the hospital gurney sound asleep. “David!” She whisper shouted.

“Wha-?” David startled and looked around bewildered at where he found himself, before he focused on Emma waving him toward the doorway and bright artificial light. “Emma? Is everything all right? What do you need?”

“We got the lava stopped at Wilshire and Fairfax, but the source isn’t contained. The lava is essentially using the red line as a lava tube and is heading this way. It will be coming out at the station soon. We need to direct the flow away from the hospital into the canal so that the lava will empty into the Pacific. The best way to do that is to do a controlled demolition of the apartment building.”

All the color drained out of his face as he realized the stakes of what was being proposed. “Of course, whatever you need. There are too many lives at stake in this hospital, not to mention my wife and nephew.” David looked over his shoulder back into the darkened room where Henry slept peacefully wrapped around Roland. “They can stay here. I don’t expect them to wake up for several more hours at least. They were pretty worn out.”

“Thank you, David. Come with me. Killian is outside working out logistics.” Emma turned down the hallway with her brother right on her heels.

Emma and David arrived where Killian had blueprints of the building and city maps of the area spread out in front of him. “Placing explosives here, here, and here will bring down the support beams for the tower. Explosives here in the parking garage will direct the fall to the southeast effectively blocking the lava flow and directing it toward the channel,” he pointed, “here. It’s connected to the hospital, but having the explosives in this section of the garage will not compromise the hospital itself.” He looked over his shoulder at the crew around him and saw David and Emma listening intently. “Anything else you can think of, Dave?”

“No, that covers it. Bringing down those supports will bring down the whole building.”

“Okay then people, you heard the man. Let’s move it!” The crowd around him began to disperse as he turned to Emma and David. “I’m sorry Dave, this is the only way,” Killian said, placing his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“No worries. People are more important than programs. Or in this case, apartment buildings.” Turning to Emma, David grabbed her in a tight hug. “Emma, you have to get over to the hospital. I want you behind the building where it’s safe. This is now a demolition zone and it’s no place for civilians.”

Emma pulled herself away from her brother, sputtering, “I’m the director of the Office of Emergency Management, David! This is exactly where I need to be!”

Killian grabbed hold of her arm gently spinning her toward him. “Swan, don’t argue with him, please. Yes, we know what you do and what you are, but you are also the woman we…” Killian stuttered, releasing her and looking down, tops of his ears turning bright red as he scratched behind it, “ah… a woman we both really care about. We just want to see you safe.” Killian looked back up into her eyes, all the things he wanted to say but couldn’t yet written all over his face.

Emma deflated in the face of what she read there. While her natural female independence warred within her against his and David’s clear wishes, she also didn’t want to distract him… uh, them… while they were trying to implement her plan that would save hundreds of lives, possibly thousands that were in the path of the lava flow. “Okay,” she whispered, “I’ll go.” She reached up and stroked his cheek as he leaned into the small gesture. “Be careful.”

“Aye, Swan, we will.” Turning to go, she looked back over her shoulder at the man who had come to mean so much to her over such a short amount of time standing just in front of her brother.

Leaning forward as they both stared at Emma as she made her way toward the hospital, David said, “Looks like when this is all over you and I are gonna need to have a talk about your intentions with my sister.”

A grin the size of the San Andres split across Killian’s face as he turned and answered “Aye, mate, that we will.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pillow beneath him was shaking.

Startling awake, Roland looked down and saw that his pillow was merely Henry’s chest, and he was snoring. Loudly. The little boy rubbed his eyes as he tried to talk himself down from the fright that woke him up. He shrugged, and made his way down off the gurney he and Henry were sleeping on. David had been in the recliner next to them when they’d fallen asleep, but he wasn’t there now. Pushing open the door to the bright light of the hallway beyond, his sleep addled brain compelled him to try and find the man. The noise level and bright lights had him rubbing his eyes and yawning as he headed toward the nurses station at the end of the corridor.

“Kid? Hey kid! Where are you going? Where’s your mom? KIIIIIID!” An older man on a gurney hollered at the little boy as he continued, oblivious, down the hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Henry drifted toward consciousness he realized he was awake and cold. Looking around he found he was alone in the darkened room. “Roland? Uncle David? Where is everyone?” Sliding off the gurney he was on, Henry made his way toward the door and pushed it open into the busy hallway. Looking both ways he saw no sign of Roland or his aunt or uncle. He started walking toward the main entrance of the ER. “Excuse me, have you seen…?” Henry asked a harried looking man who just brushed by him without even acknowledging his presence.

“Hey kid! You looking for someone?” The short, stout, grumpy looking man on the gurney next to him startled Henry.

“Yeah, Roland. Little boy. Six. Brown, curly hair. Have you seen him?” Henry got himself together enough to give the man a brief description of his charge.

“Yeah.” The man grinned. “About fifteen minutes ago. He was half asleep and didn’t hear me when I called him. I was wondering where his mom was.”

“Which way did he go? I have to find him!” Henry’s panic at losing his buddy was starting to make its way to the surface.

“That way.” The man pointed. “Like I said, it was about fifteen minutes ago, so who knows where he is now. Sorry, kid. I hope you find him.” Henry could see the man’s chagrin at not being more help as he started to walk away.

“Thanks! I appreciate your help!” Henry tossed over his shoulder as he pushed his way through the people crowding the hall.

Henry continued on his way, stopping every few minutes to ask someone if they had seen a little boy. It’s like Hansel and Gretel following the trail of breadcrumbs. At least I’m heading in the right direction. Suddenly, Henry found himself in an empty parking garage. At the far end, he could see the sky outside lightening as the sun rose and a small black shadow heading directly into it. “Roland!” Henry shouted at the top of his lungs before getting his legs underneath him to run towards the little boy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay,” David shouted into the walkie talkie in his hand. “Everyone clear of the building?” Killian was already away from the demolition site, across from both the apartment building and hospital, where he would have a clear view of where the building fell and the subsequent channeling of the lava flow.

“All units check in. Alpha?”

“Alpha unit, clear.”

“Beta?”

“Beta unit, clear.”

“Delta?”

“Delta unit, clear.”

“Right. On my count…”

10… BOOM The sound was deafening as the detonator was activated for the first set of explosives.

9… BOOM From the entrance to the ER, Emma saw a little brown haired boy emerge from the entrance of the parking garage.

“STOP,” Emma screamed as loud as she could. “Roland!” Turning toward where she had seen Killian take up his post before the explosives started going off, Emma kept yelling, “That’s Roland! STOP!”

8… BOOM An older boy made his way out as the next explosive went off. He looked confused and scared at the noise and debris that was starting to fall around him. He saw the little boy and ran to him shouting, “Roland!”

7… BOOM “HENRY! STOP! THAT’S MY KID! HENRY!”

6… BOOM Emma continued screaming her son’s name as she jumped up from behind the barricade and sprinted toward the boys.

5… BOOM From the other side of the street Killian could see as Emma was running headlong toward the collapsing building.

4… BOOM “Mom?!” Henry watched his mother running as fast as she could toward him, waving her arms and shouting. The terror in his eyes and voice was amplified by Roland’s screams and the cacophony of the apartment building falling around them.

3… BOOM “Swan! What are you doing?” Killian’s terror spiked when he saw who she was running towards. “Henry! NOOOOO!” David could also see her from where the demolition crew was. He and Killian watched, incredulous and horrified as his sister reached his nephew and pulled him and the little boy he was holding into her arms and under her as they disappeared from sight underneath tons of concrete and steel.

2… BOOM “Emmaaaaa!”

“Swaaaaaaan!”

1… BOOM The rest of the structure came to rest amid the smoke, ash, and dust of the eruption and demolition. Before he could even begin to think, Killian vaulted over the boundary wall and ran toward where he had last seen Emma and the boys. His fear threatened to choke him as he started to scramble up the litter of the decimated apartment building. Please, he begged God above, please… he couldn’t give thought to the rest of his dread.

As the haze and ash started to clear, Killian picked his way over the rubble. “SWAAAAAANNN!” He wouldn’t let the tears he could feel gathering at the corner of his eyes fall. He had to find her. She couldn’t leave him like this. “SWAAAAAANNNNN!” Please…

Just ahead he could see a gap in between the destroyed concrete and steel. As he looked, a small white face appeared. “Henry!” Killian dashed up the debris as fast as he could trying to reach the boy.

“Killian!” Henry shouted, reaching for him.

“Here, lad, I’m here! Where’s your mum?”

“I’m here, Killian! We’re all safe!” Emma’s head emerged from behind Henry just as Killian reached them. “Get Roland and Henry first,” Emma said, lifting the little boy toward him. Killian grabbed him under the arms and handed him over to David on the other side just as he arrived. Henry scrambled up then, none the worse for wear, and flung himself at Killian. His uncle joined them in a group hug to end all group hugs. Emma’s voice behind him drew his attention again. “Killian!”

Turning back toward Emma, Killian reached out for her and hauled her on top of the obliterated building. Crushing her in his arms, he whispered, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again. I thought I’d lost you!” Pulling back slightly, he raised his hands to her shoulders, checking her over for any sign of injury.

“I know, I’m sorry. I had to get to Henry.” She looked around Killian’s shoulder to see David holding Roland, with Henry’s arms wrapped around his waist making their way down the backside of the ruins toward the hospital.

“He’s safe, Swan. He’s safe. They’re all safe. The plan worked.” From where they were, they could see the lava flow being turned from the street to the canal. Turning back to her again, Killian raised his hands to her face and slowly lowered his lips to hers. Applying gentle pressure, his tongue flicked out seeking entrance as she melted in his embrace. She released his wrists to twine her fingers in his hair when he pulled her closer until every part of her was aligned with him. He knew that this probably wasn’t the time for this, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, as he lost himself in the flavor of her lips and the strength of her embrace.

“This is Ellie Carmichael with TMZ reporting live from the Office of Emergency Management. The desperate strategy that necessitated the destruction of the Ocean View apartment building seems to have worked. The building is laying on its side and is effectively channeling the lava flow down the canal toward the Pacific. There is a spirit of celebration here in the control center, and in the streets of Los Angeles. People laughing, hugging, high-fiving, and engaging in… she trailed off as a camera rested on Emma and Killian on the top of the rubble… other forms of celebration as the canal seems to be holding up under the onslaught.”

“This is Shepard Smith, reporting for A Current Affair. Good news everyone. Satellite images show the volcano is shutting down. The lava is subsiding.”

Long moments later, when air became necessary, Killian released her lips and touched his forehead to hers as they fought to catch their breath. Safe. She was safe. Henry and Roland were safe. And he was never gonna let her go again. They clung to each other at the summit of the decimated structure before turning toward the street and the rest of their family. Finally making their way down behind David, Emma could see Ruby tucked into Graham’s side with his arm around her shoulders on the street below.

“Emma! The mayor is on the line for you!” she shouted.

“Tell him I’m not available,” she replied, grinning widely at the couple. “My vacation begins now! I’ve more than met my quota!”

Killian’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline. “Vacation, huh? May I join you, love, on this holiday of yours?” he asked.

Emma looked up at him. “Well, that depends,” she joked. “What did you have in mind?”

“I have a boat I’d love to take you out on,” he replied as his eyebrows danced. “How does that sound?”

“I think that sounds good… Captain,” she said smiling just before he pecked her on the lips steering them back toward the hospital.

“But… what about the mayor?” Ruby sputtered after them.

“Handle it Ruby! I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!” Emma and Killian made their way down the mountain of debris and into the rising sun.

Fin

#krystal wrote a thing #krystal wrote another thing #state of emergency #pt2

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aftermidnightmarauder · 5 years

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The Great Adventures of Slick Rick is over 30 years old at this point. Which means I was listening to this cassette on my auto reverse walkman when I was 12 years old.

Holy cow.

Great Adventures is most definitely one of the most important Hip Hop LPs ever recorded. While it’s not the most pc record ever released, it most definitely is mad real. Rick was always 100 percent honest, lyrical and true to the culture.

For those that may have forgot, Rick is the OG voice on Doug E Fresh’s influential classics “The Show,”

and of course “La Di Da Di,”

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later covered by West Coast icon and game show host Snoop Doggy Dogg on his cheekily named debut LP “Doggystyle,”

and also lampooned by the Hip Hop doppelganger to Weird Al Yankovic: Bobby Jimmy...

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I love Bobby Jimmy and the Critters.

The songs on Great Adventures range from uplifting to frightening. “Hey Young World” is my favorite Hip Hop song ever,

while the ending of “The Moment I Feared” traumatized me as a child. Mad real son, maaaaaad real.

The centerpiece of the LP is of course “Children’s Story.”

A major influence on almost every story telling MC after its release, perhaps the longest single Hip-Hop verse recorded at that time and of course... There would be no Montell Jordan without MC Ricky D and DJ Vance Wright. If you’ve ever wondered, or hell, even noticed that Montell adopts a fake British accent near the end of “This Is How We Do It,”

it’s because he’s paying homage to Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story,” and he also bit the whole damn beat.

I recently stumbled upon the 30th anniversary issue of this iconic LP and I must say, the 4 unreleased demo versions at the end of the release are kind of blowing my mind.

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Hey young world, the world is yours, those words still hold a plate of weight, oh my my my...

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Hey young world... the world is yours Hey young world... the world is yours Young world young world... the world is yours Young wo-ah-huh-huh-huh-urld

This rap here... it may cause concern it's broad and deep... why don't you listen and learn Love mean happiness... that once was strong But due to society... even that's turned wrong Times have changed... and it's cool to look bummy and be a dumb dummy and disrespect your mummy Have you forgotten... who put you on this Earth? Who brought you up right... and who loved you since your birth? Reward is a brainwash kid goin wild Young little girls already have a child Bad company... hey, now you've been framed Your parents are hurting... hurting and ashamed You're ruining yourself... and your mommy can't cope Hey, little kids don't follow these dopes Here's a rule for the non cool... your life, don't drool Don't be a fool like those that don't go to school Get ahead... and accomplish things You'll see the wonder and the joy life brings Don't admire thieves... hey they don't admire you Their time's limited, hardrocks too So listen, be strong, scream whoopee-doo Go for yours, cause dreams come true And you'll make your mommy proud... so proud of you too And this is a message... that the Ruler Rick threw And it's true

"You know, you know what, you know what, you know what? We like to party, like to party" (repeat 3X)Hey young world, the world is yours Hey young world"Yo peep this"

Hey Mr. Bigshot... hey, don't you look fly? But you don't have a nickel... ohhhh, my my my You've been fightin again and, you forgot why Hey kid, walk straight, master your high Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.... because you make your family cry And all jokes aside, are you in good health? Hey little boy... now have you really checked yourself? You're a disgust, you know someone that I can't trust, you'd steal mom's welfare... and you'd run and buy some dust, and plus, I must say... bigshot you're not Your friends are talkin and I'm hearin that your girls are what? You didn't know? Go steal and rob And while you're at it... go get a suit for a j-awhh-ob You see you're actin like this urge is demandin c'mon, wake up... have some understandin Society's a weak excuse for a man It's time for the brothers... rap is trying to take the stand Believe it or not, the Lord still shines on you deep Guides you... and he watched you as you grew, plus past the age of... a little child, that's true But folks your age don't act like you do, so so be mature... and put the point to a halt And if you're over eighteen... I wish you'd act like an adult Don't live in a world... of hate hate hate Pull yourself together... and get yourself straight Men don't steal... hey, most don't borrow And if you smoke crack... your kids'll smoke crack tomorrow So be more mature... and kids do your chores Make your own money... hey, be proud that's yours You know why, cause that's a man... that's brains no spite Stayin out of trouble... when it comes in sight And a man never loses a fight... in God's sight Cause righteous laws are overdue And this is a message that the Ruler Rick threw And it's true

#slick rick #def jam #children's story #80s #90s #classic #hip hop #golden era #drum machine rap #dj vance wright #montell jordan #snoop dogg #east coast #mona lisa

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rosegoldcross18 · 6 years

Text

BatBoys Headcanons #2

You Get Closer:

Dick Grayson:

Ever since what you both called the “gym incident” a few months ago, you and Richard Grayson have started dating a bit. It was a weird dynamic, as it wasn’t as serious as it normally would be. You’d take turns taking each other out to the most random places, ranging from lunch dates to across-the-street-dates. You loved how honest he was with you and how special he made you feel. He had the most beautiful people falling at his feet, but whenever you two were together, you had all his attention. Whatever you had to say he honored and you, likewise.

It was no secret that you were falling for Richard; even road kill would be able to see. You constantly find yourself unable to stop giggling around him, always wanting to look your best, and generally happier. You had it bad for him, but you didn’t want to scare him away by being too forward. Besides, you were pretty sure it all spoke for itself anyway, but Richard had a tendency of being quite the airhead sometimes, you noticed, so it probably flew over him. That’s never stopped you from thinking that maybe, just maybe he might feel the same way, but at the same time you always stopped yourself from expecting too much.

On a certain Wednesday afternoon though, something sort of changed in your little arrangement. Your shift had just finished and you were about to clock out of work, when a commotion in the lobby caught your attention. You shuffled over to the crowd and saw Richard sitting by the lounge, looking as hot as ever. He dressed simply, a black shirt slightly unbuttoned at the collar and black jeans. “Richard?” you call out to him. “What are you doing here?”

Immediately his gaze went to you, going from uncomfortable to elated in half a second. All eyes went to you, varying shades of green in each of the women present. “Hey beautiful.” He greets, slinging one of his arms around your shoulders. Another thing that swept you off your feet all the time: you’re the only one he calls beautiful. “I was thinking a steak dinner tonight. You up for it?”

“If I start gaining weight because of you, I swear Grayson, you’re gonna die.” You point an accusatory look at him and he returns it with a sheepish one.

“It doesn’t really matter to me. You’ll always be stunning no matter what.” There was something about the way he said it that told you he wasn’t just fooling around. It wasn’t as lighthearted like all those times before. No, this felt like it had meaning.

And as he walked you to the steakhouse with his hand sliding down to hold yours, your hope for the two of you never felt stronger.

Jason Todd:

Water rushed over your hands as you lathered the soap. You had just finished off your last ink job for the day, another very satisfied customer walking out your door. Now all that’s left was to close up shop and you’d be on your way home. Gathering your things and fixing yourself up a bit, you shut the lights and lock the doors before leaving. As your boots clacked along the moonlit curb, your eyes darted all around, vigilant. Your apartment was a good twenty minute walk from here, but the streets were darker than they should be, and you weren’t exactly in the safest place in Gotham, so it was always quite the nervous trek.

As you made your way past the first two alleyways, a bunch of guys stuck their hungry eyes at you. You heard them before you saw them; they began whistling and crowing as you walked by. Obviously they were teenagers, with no sense of fashion too, you noted. They were dressed like stereotypical gangsters, the ones you see on a corny cop movie, but they were far from intimidating. They were bold, though, you’d give them that. Especially since one decided you were harmless enough to approach.

“Hello there, little lady. Whatchu doin’ walking out here by yourself? It’s dangerous.” One drawled close to your heavily pierced ear.

You smiled sarcastically “Oh yeah, definitely. Smell the breath on you, oh lord, I am fearing for my life right now.” You waved your hand back and forth under your nose. It pissed him off instantly.

“What did you just say to me?!”

“Oh, did I hurt wittle Jimmy boy’s feelings? Look, why don’t you go back to your little cronies and show your dick to them instead because I have bad eyes. Can’t see small stuff.”

“Why you-” He raised his hand in the air, ready to smack you, when a howl of laughter came from behind you. A very familiar-and sexy-laugh.

“Man that was a comeback worth writing down.” Jason swaggered his way to you, lazy grin on his face but a little fire in his eyes. “Alright, playtime’s over kid. You go run along now.”

“W-Who the fuck are you?!” He stuttered, still trying to keep the tough face on despite clearly being unsettled by Jason’s sheer size. You couldn’t blame him though; Jason was built like a fucking god.

“Ah, nobody really. Just saw you were giving the lady trouble and thought to stop it. You know, ‘cause it’s disrespectful. Plus I did you a favor, dude. Wouldn’t want your gang to see you get your face beat in, would you?” His face was smug, almost gloating, but you could still tell his threat was dead serious. Apparently Mr. Gang signs did too, since he just left with a scowl. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I guess. I didn’t really need help though, if I’m gonna be honest.”

“Oh believe me I know. I just wanted him to fuck off faster.” He chuckled as you both continued walking.

“How’d you know I was here?”

“I live relatively close by, and I just got back from Irene’s house. Helped her with some things.”

“I should go visit Mrs. Mabel, too.”

“Wanna go tomorrow?” Jason suddenly asks. “We could have lunch there.” You raised an amused eyebrow at his proposal.

“Jason Peter Todd, are you asking me out?”

“Yeah, I am. Is there a problem with that?” You both stop at the door of your apartment building.

“Nope. Absolutely nothing.” You hum, kissing him on the cheek before going inside.

Tim Drake:

Turns out you and Tim shared the same school. Thankfully, your schedules weren’t totally mismatched, so you both had time to hang out in between periods. You had become rather good friends in a short amount of time, as you often helped with his self-destructive sleeping habits. Honestly, you were shocked he was still so smart—sleeping nearly thirty minutes a day would have killed your entire brain in less than a week. You brought him scented candles, helped him pick out pillows and made him tea that’d help him drowse. You were mothering him in a way, and it was quite obvious he liked it.

Third period had just started and you were waiting for your ever-so-punctual professor to show up. Cheek squished on your knuckle, you blew a raspberry in boredom. Then your phone vibrated in your pocket, signaling a text. You saw that it was from Tim, and it read:

“Vacant time. Teach didn’t even bother to show up today, and no sub.

Bored as heck.”

You shook your head and texted back with a smile. “Sorry, can’t help you there. I’m in class. Why don’t you take a nap?”

“I don’t feel like it. Can’t you skip?” You looked out the window and saw him looking down on his phone under one of the trees.

“You are not influencing me into truancy, sir, no matter how cute you are.” You saw his teeth peek out in a smile.

“Come on, just this once? :( I’m very lonely.”

“Boo-hoo for you. I’m not sacrificing my mom’s hard earned money just to snooze under a tree.”

“Touché. Fine, you win. I’ll wait…

…but I’ll be thinking of you.”

Okay, pause. Hold the damn phone. Timothy Drake did not just say that to you. Your cheeks lit on fire as you attempted to keep your face relaxed. You looked up at him again, and saw that he too, was red in the face. He started punching the side of his head, seemingly regretting what he just sent.

“Forget that last bit.”

Oh but you won’t. Not a chance in cold hell.

Damian Wayne:

Damian had been frequenting your shelter since he first came here a month ago, claiming that he had to make sure the animals were in “optimal living conditions”, and that his father’s money wasn’t going to waste. You didn’t see him very often because you had school and you only get to help on the weekends, but every time you did he was with a Dalmatian you liked to call “Oreo”. He was still kinda young, and Damian obviously liked him the most out of all the critters here. In all honesty, you wanted to talk to him and be friends, but you got very shy.

Currently, you were feeding the dogs while your dad bought some supplies from the vet across the street. There were twelve dogs total in the shelter, not counting the ten puppies in the nursery room. This chore in particular was your favorite, being that you adored dogs more than any other animal. All the doggos happily trotted around the feeding room as you prepared their feasts. “Okay, gang. Here’s the grub.” You holler, bringing out a dozen feeding bowls. “Now, you don’t eat until I say so, okay?” They all stood to attention, tails wagging back and forth like furry windshield wipers. You set the bowls in a line, evenly filling them with dog food and a little bit of raw meat. You backed away and twenty four beady black eyes stared at you in anticipation. “Okay…go!” Then they all simultaneously devour their meals, chomping and licking sounds filling the air. You giggle and put the food away, readying their vitamin-infused water for after they eat.

Amongst the cacophony of eating doges, you heard a set of footsteps from the doorway. You turn and see Damian, looking as stiff as ever. His eyes focused on the dogs and gained an approving look in them. You smiled, happy that you met his expectation. “What do they eat daily?”

“Oh, just a combination of dog food and some raw chicken. The vitamins I put in their water, since they don’t eat the supplements I mix in with the solid food.” Another nod.

“Sounds appropriate.” Then an awkward silence ensues. You gulp, feeling yourself shy away again. “Would you allow me to take Oreo for a walk? Your father mentioned that you walk the dogs on the afternoons.”

You tuck a stray hair behind your ear as you poured the water into the now-emptied bowls. “Oh sure! Actually, the backyard’s completely fenced and it’s a big place. Why not just set them all free there, let them run and play around?”

He paused a bit, his expression softening the tiniest bit. Barely noticeable, but it was something. “Alright.”

#batboys #batfamily #batfam imagine #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #imagine #preferences #dc comics #comics #boyfriend scenarios #fluff

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