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silverfoxstole · 3 days

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Bears, bears, bears! Bears everywhere! And Doctor Who bears at that, made specially for and presented by me to Paul McGann, Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy at Portsmouth Comic Con.

As most of you probably know, I document my bear-making activities on here and I made an Eighth Doctor bear a couple of years ago, followed by a Seventh Doctor last summer. Ace was a new one, and because of that I ended up making two, the first as a prototype that I kept for myself, working out the details of the costume, particularly the jacket, and the second for Sophie.

Back in February when I decided to make Anne Bearleyn I found that my usual type of fur was unavailable so I had to go looking for another, ending up with something that while it looked lovely was fairly hellish to sew as it shed everywhere. It was all I had when it came to making the first Ace bear, however, and so I went with that. Afterwards, having got covered in fluff again, I tried to find something similar to the fur I’d used for most of my previous bears, but when it arrived and I started putting one together decided that when compared to the bear I’d just made it looked cheap and nasty, which was definitely not what I wanted for this particular project. Consequently that fabric went on a one way trip to the bin and I ordered more of the other stuff, resulting in what I’ve termed a ‘furpocalypse’ when I decided to cut and sew three more bears in one day:

I had to vacuum both the room and myself four times, and clean out the sewing machine twice! That fluff gets everywhere, even up your nose! It was worth it in the end, though, as the result looks so nice. As the pile is quite thick I had to glue on the noses and use felt for eyebrows as thread just vanishes, but I think that actually looks better and allows for more expression.

I made a second set of Ace clothes while I was waiting for the fur to arrive; the first jacket had been a bit too small and I’d only had satin to use for the lining which disintegrates as it’s sewn, not something I wanted to give someone as a gift. It was a painstaking job to replicate the badges and decoration on the jacket with felt and embroidery thread, but I was pleased with how it turned out:

The costume is based on one from Remembrance of the Daleks, the skirt and t-shirt made from jersey and the decorations on the latter also of felt. She has a plait, rucksack and baseball bat, as well as a nitro 9 canister in her hand/paw (which I actually swapped out for a better one on Friday but didn’t take any pictures of it). The nitro is attached with velcro and can be exchanged for the bat. My only tiny niggle is that I made the jacket lining the wrong colour, only realising it should be orange when I started rewatching Sophie’s episodes last week, but that’s just my perfectionist side at work and her new owner didn’t mind.

“Aaaaaace!” You can see my original Seventh Doctor bear here; I changed a few things working on the new one, this time using blue eyes and making the jacket in cream rather than brown, mainly as a contrast with the darker fur but also so he would match season 25 Ace. I decided to use red paisley for scarf, tie, hatband and handkerchief, adding a red trim to the last two. The jumper once again took a couple of hours’ work, and as this was a present for Sylvester this time I did embroider question marks and chevrons all the way round!

For the umbrella I cut out several long triangles and stitched them together in imitation of a real brolly, using a bit of a skewer covered in felt for the pole (that’s not the word but I can’t think what to call the middle of a umbrella for the life of me!), to which I attached some jewellery wire pinched from my sister (shh!) twisted into the shape of a question mark. That was then covered in yet more felt. I’ve made a lot of things from felt lately!

And voila: one finished Seventh Doc bear:

I do hope Sylvester spots that he even has spoons in his pocket. 😁

Last but not least, we have Eighth Doctor bear, which I actually started first but I didn’t have enough fabric for his coat so he had to sit and wait while I worked on the others. My original is here; he’s gone through a few costume tweaks as I’ve tried to improve on things and this time I mainly used scraps left over from my own cosplay and made them up in the same way: shirt, scarf, waistcoat, belt and gailters are all the same as mine, and the coat is identical material but from a different source.

His shirt and waistcoat both fasten with buttons, and I made the watch chain and belt buckle from embroidery thread. It took several attempts to get the boots and gaiters right, and I went from having quite a large piece of faux leather to something about a quarter of the size, most of it ending up in the bin! Unlike my Eight bear he has a sonic screwdriver, made from - yes, you guessed it! - felt. Fortunately the TVM sonic is quite a simple design, unlike the other one I made which can be swapped with this one to go with the Dark Eyes outfit I ran up on an impulse because I had scraps left from my own jacket and put in the bag with him; hopefully Paul will find it as that DE sonic took me two attempts to get (somewhat) right!

I changed the shape of the lapels on this new coat so that they were more like the real one, and I also took some pics of him in his Dark Eyes gear:

I confess that he was the one I found it hardest to give up. Look at him:

And he matches me!

I had to keep telling myself that I couldn’t keep him, I’d made him for Paul, but it wasn’t easy!

Finally, a few pics of them together:

I was so, so pleased with the way these turned out. Along with Bush (about whom I’ll post separately), these are the best bears I’ve made so far, and I’m glad that Paul, Sophie and Sylvester were just as happy with them!

#long post #sorry #sfs’s adventures in sewing #my bears #doctor who bears #eight bear #seven bear #ace bear #doctor who #eighth doctor #8th doctor #seventh doctor #7th doctor #ace mcshane #paul mcgann #sylvester mccoy #sophie aldred #i do wish i’d been able to get some pics of them with the bears but never mind #maybe another time

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captainsophiestark · 6 days

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I Made You Breakfast

Kai Parker x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my personal fic writing challenge for 2024, Sophie's Year of Fic! Featuring a new fic being posted every Friday, all year long :)

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries

Summary: Kai's on his apology tour, and Y/N is his next stop after things didn't go too well with Damon or Bonnie

Word Count: 2,000

Category: Fluff, Humor, a little bit of Angst

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I sighed to myself as I headed downstairs in my favorite pair of sweats, mentally making a list of everything I had to do today. It was an unfortunately long list, compounded by the latest supernatural drama, which my friends insisted on dragging me into. Bonnie had finally made it home from the prison world, thankfully, but that didn't mean any of the drama in our lives had gone away. In fact, it had almost doubled, with news of Damon's mother floating around in another prison world somewhere. I got halfway through an eyeroll at the memory of everything going on lately when I stopped dead in my tracks.

I could smell bacon, eggs, and toast wafting up towards me from the kitchen. Someone was here, in my house, cooking breakfast. And with everything going on lately, I knew for a fact it wasn't one of my friends.

I glanced around, grabbing a stake off the nearest end table. No vampire should have been able to get into my house unless they were a friend I'd already let in, but I'd had enough near-death experiences despite that fact that I was constantly prepared.

I crept towards the kitchen, trying to listen for any signs of trap or trouble. All I could hear was a faint clinking of plates. If someone had seriously broken into my house, why the hell were they just hanging out in my kitchen making breakfast?

I got my answer a second later when I burst through the door, going for the element of surprise, and found none other than Kai Parker standing before me.

"Oh, hey!" he said, jumping and spinning to face me with wide eyes. "You're up!"

"...Yup. And... you're here. In my kitchen. Making breakfast."

"Yeah! I hope you like it. Here, let me get your plate. I thought I'd have a few more minutes."

With that, he turned to the stove and starting scooping scrambled eggs and toast onto a plate. I just watched him, not moving an inch.

"Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell are you doing in my house?"

He turned back around to look at me again, his eyes wide and the plate half-finished in his hand. After a moment, his expression morphed into a sheepish grin. I just blinked at him, my expression unchanging.

"Well, after I merged with Luke, I started getting all these... feelings." He said the word like somebody else might say 'zits' or 'rash'. "And one of those has been guilt, for some of the stuff I put you through. Or I guess, your friends, mostly. I tried apologizing to Bonnie earlier, and... it didn't go well."

His expression darkened, and I frowned. But a moment later, the clouds apparently cleared, and Kai fixed me with a beaming smile again.

"So I thought I'd try again with you. In the Prison World, I saw Damon making Bonnie breakfast all the time, and she seemed to really like that. So I figured you might, too."

I just stared at him for a few long moments without saying anything. I turned my options over and over in my mind, trying to get my still half-asleep brain to make a rational choice. I probably should've been incredibly freaked out that Kai was here at all, but I'd actually had a few positive interactions with him even before the whole merge thing, and had kind of started to like him. Or, at least, started to think he had some ally potential, despite other things he did. We'd even bonded over music taste and his new fascination with social media, and he'd tried to help Sheriff Forbes, although it hadn't necessarily been out of the goodness of his heart. For some reason, I just couldn't muster the fear or anger I probably should've been feeling when I looked at him in my house. Finally, I sighed, my mind made up. No reason to try to force bad feelings when they wouldn't come on their own, right?

"Thanks, Kai," I said, actually meaning it as I moved over to the dining table. "Aside from the fact that you broke into my house to do it... that's actually pretty sweet."

He beamed at me, and I found myself returning his smile. He turned back around to finish making my plate, and I shook my head. This was absolutely ridiculous, but I couldn't say I minded very much.

"Here you go!" he said, setting the plate down in front of me with a big smile. He didn't move away, just standing off to the side and watching me expectantly. I picked up my fork, but didn't take my eyes off Kai.

"...Aren't you gonna join me?"

"Oh! Right. You know, I've been practicing how I was going to do this in my head all morning, and now that I'm actually doing it it's like I completely forgot everything I was planning to do. That's weird, right?"

I shrugged. "I mean, sounds like a normal part of being nervous to me."

He nodded emphatically as he returned to the table and sat across from me with a breakfast plate of his own.

"All these new... emotions from Luke have been, like, super weird. I don't know how you all deal with these all the time."

"Eh, yeah, they can be annoying sometimes. It gets easier with practice though, and I'd say on the whole they're a positive experience."

Kai nodded thoughtfully, taking a bite of his eggs as his gaze wandered around my kitchen. I took a few bites of my own food, and I had to admit, he was a surprisingly good cook.

"So..." I started. "Was this it for the apology? It's a great breakfast, but usually an apology has a little more attached..."

"Oh!" Kai's attention snapped back to me. "No no, this isn't it. I was planning to do the other part of the apology while we ate breakfast."

"Makes sense. Go for it."

He cleared his throat and shifted around in his seat, then met my eyes before hesitating again. I tried to look encouraging as I ate my eggs, and after a moment, he nodded to himself and continued.

"I'm sorry for trying to kill your friend, and testing out my power on her. And that I couldn't save your other friend's mom, even though I really couldn't do anything about that. I still... I still feel bad. And honestly, I'm mostly sorry for everything I've done that hurt you, even if it was indirectly. I... I actually really like you, and so, uh... I don't want you to hate me. I keep getting this stabbing pain in my chest when I think about it... or when I think about that time I saw you crying over Bonnie..."

He trailed off, staring at the table instead of me, apparently lost in thought. After a moment though, he shook his head and cleared his throat, looking back up to meet my stare again. His blue eyes were wider than usual, his eyebrows pulling together, and he looked to be in actual distress for maybe the first time I'd ever seen, at least when his life wasn't being threatened.

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I promise not to do anything to hurt you again. Will you give me a second chance?"

The corner of my mouth quirked up in a smile, especially at the rare senserity in his tone. I knew my friends would have quite a few things to say about this decision, but I didn't let myself think about that. At least not right now.

I sighed. "Kai, despite the fact that you broke into my house, I'm going to believe you about this whole 'turning over new leaf' thing. I... I'd be lying if I said I didn't like you too. So, if you really mean what you're saying about not hurting me or the people I care about anymore?"

He nodded so fast I was actually a little worried about him.

"Completely serious. Cross my heart and hope to die. I'm ready to join the Mystic Falls Scooby Doo team for good."

I smiled, laughing a little and shaking my head.

"Well, okay then. I can't promise anybody else on the team will be quite as easy to convince as me, but... I forgive you, Kai. I'm happy to see you like this. And, by the way, you make some very good eggs and toast."

"Thanks. I had to get good at cooking, you know, alone in the Prison World." A shadow passed over his face again, until I reached across the table and lightly rested my hand on top of his. Then, his face lit up like the sun. "And thanks for giving me a second chance. I promise, you won't regret it."

I wasn't totally sure I believed that, but I decided not to say so. Instead, I smiled and gave his hand a little squeeze before pulling back.

After a moment of silence where I could see Kai vibrating with the desire to say whatever he was holding back, he finally blurted out the other thing he'd apparently been planning to ask me this morning.

"So... I might be a little rusty about how all this works, or if it's changed since the eighties, but... would you want to go out with me sometime? Like on a date?"

I smiled, then buried my face in my hands. My friends would kill me if I said yes to this, but despite myself, I really, really wanted to.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked. I shook my head and looked up at him again.

"Nothing, Kai, I just... ugh, my friends are really not going to like this."

He smiled. "Does that mean you're saying yes?"

I took a deep breath and let it out, then shrugged and matched his smile with one of my own.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think it does. What the hell, right?"

"That's great! I was thinking we could go do karaoke? I've always loved karaoke. I got good at it when I was passing time in the Prison World."

"I have to warn you, I am very much not good at karaoke. But I'll still sing my heart out with you anyway, if you want to go!"

"Perfect! We can go tonight." I laughed, and Kai's expression immediately dropped. "Is that okay? Do you not want to go tonight?"

"No, Kai, I do. It's a little fast, honestly, but I don't mind. Why wait?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking. So... should I pick you up? Around seven? We could get dinner first, and then go."

"I think that sounds like a great plan, Kai," I smiled at him, which he immediately returned. A moment later, though, his hand shot up to clutch at his chest.

"Ugh, what is... what is happening to me? Why does my heart feel like it's about to explode?"

"That's probably excitement, Kai, or butterflies, which are like positive nerves. I'm feeling them too. It's because we're looking forward to going out together tonight."

Kai made a face. "This is what people were talking about when they said they got butterflies? This is terrible." I hid a laugh behind my hand, and Kai's eyes snapped up to mine. "Wait. You said you were feeling it too?"

I nodded, and Kai's expression immediately changed to a wide grin.

"So you're excited, too?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

He nodded, the smile staying on his face as he dug in to his eggs again, glancing at me between almost every bite. I just shook my head, a smile on my own face all the same. This was going to be an adventure, going on a date with Kai Parker, and I knew my friends were going to want to murder me for it. But I couldn't totally bring myself to care.

Despite some pretty rocky history, I had a weirdly good feeling about Kai, from the moment he'd started his apology speech this morning. And so far, I'd never been wrong when I trusted my gut for stuff like this, even when it led me into karaoke. I had a good feeling it was going to be right about Kai Parker, too.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

TVD/TO Taglist: @elenavampire21

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luvzxr · 9 months

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Innocence

nsfw (18+) mdni please. I think I'd actually cry.

Not 100% sure where this fic is gonna be taken as I'm the type of go with the flow writer. This may contain heavy subjects such as; depression, alcohol and alcohol abuse, slight age gap? (by a few years in my head. Not much.) possible smut. Possible mentions of gore but I probably won't go heavy on that. If I do I'll put a bigger warning in the future on the chapters that are heavy with them!

Hello! I figured I'd start on a series because I personally love longer series and the anticipation of waiting for wonderful writers to bring out new parts just hits different. I will personally be using an OC that goes by the name Sophie Hayes but going along with this fic it will be Sophie Redfield :). You are more than welcome to use your own name or a personal oc name however! I prefer to use names rather y/n or you/your! I've loved the name Sophie after reading a fanfic years ago on Wattpad and I fell in love instantly with the name so we'll be using my Sophie girl as the main character but like I said, you are more than welcome to use your own name or a personal oc name to fill that in for yourself!

ahem. Anywayss.

Description: The youngest and most innocent member of the redfield siblings finds herself falling for a the broken and not so innocent blonde agent whose been a well known long term friend with her two older siblings.

Word count: 2,294

Bang, bang, bang.

The entirety of my body jolting at every kickback that was shot from the firearms my current older brother, Chris, was using for his daily target practice. I couldn't help the wincing and jolts; I shouldn't be here.

I couldn't express to you how many times I tried to tug on the man's sleeve, shirt or even gentle taps to his shoulder to ask him when we were leaving but I barely got a direct answer from the him at all.

"Chris," I tugged on the shoulder strap of his bullet proof vest. I was beginning to feel more agitated by every passing second we stayed inside the echoing room that smelled nothing of gun powder. "My ears are starting to hurt from the noise. When can we go?"

"Throw these on Soph. They should help with the noise," he placed a pair of noise reduction headphones over my ears and the gave a few pats to my head before his attention was directed back to his previous target practice shenanigans.

But even with headphones my ears felt like they were throbbing against the muffled fabric, the thudding of my own heartbeat was getting overwhelming and even a teensy bit aggravating.

Stepping back to my previous seating with a sigh, knowing we'd probably be here for another hour or two, hell even three before he decides to even take it upon himself to rest and I felt like I was only losing a consistent battle with him.

The thing about Chris is he was the most stubborn sibling out of Him, Claire and I. He didn't budge half the time and even went on to say 'it wouldn't hurt for me to teach you a few things yknow.' And he wasn't entirely wrong but I hated everything that had to do with weaponry and violence, it made me feel queasy and left an unsettling feeling at the pit of my stomach just having my frail hands wrapped around the grip of a singular handgun.

The thing about me, however is if I push his buttons hard enough— guilt him. He might actually budge just a little bit and it grew to be a personal trick up the sleeve that both Claire and I used against him when we wanted something and he wasn't caving. Often times it worked more with me than with her so she always had me do the dirty work in that aspect.

However, I chose not to this time around. I chose to leave the heap of stubborn known as my brother alone because I knew in his eyes this was some sort of stress relief. It was serotonin regardless of how violent and unnerving I found it myself because to him this was what heaven looked like, served to him on a silver platter.

Here, he didn't have to worry about his life being on the line or other lives grasped in the palm of his hands. He didn't have to look the poor individuals in the eye as the light faded from them and leave yet another feeling of emptiness in his heart.

I winced at the mere thought itself.

I didn't have it in me to take that away from him. Not now.

Instead I sat like the good little sister I was and chose to endure the consistent bang after bang, each shot hitting somewhere between the head and shoulders of the practice dummies out in the range.

Running a hand through my hair, I sit with my arms folded over my chest, bouncing my left leg in anticipation and eagerness just to get out of this situation. I needed something to do besides stare off into the abyss because I couldn't even manage that, the sound of the reload and kick back of the trigger was the only thing my mind could focus on.

I allowed my cheeks to puff out. I should of stayed at home. I could be curled up in my comfy two set of pink Bugs Bunny sleep attire with some stupid film set on the television right now with some stupid microwaveable meal set perfectly on my lap. Hell, even popcorn would do. Anything was better than this. Doesn't sound like an appealing activity to spend your Friday Night, but anything was better than where I currently was.

You'd think that any 29 year old man would be at a bar checking out some girls that wore too little of clothing or just enough to hide what any man would be drowning in their own set of lust just thinking about it. That's an average thought for a man, right? That was fun to them especially if they were single. Instead, Chris was found here almost every day at the butt crack of dawn with no other excuse other than 'I need to practice my aim.' Though even I could read right through that lie.

I guess I shouldn't be judging the guy, it might come back to bite me in the ass because every morning for myself was the same thing just like him.

Wake up, quickly brush through my set of pearly whites and then rush down to the living room TV where my two other siblings would find me sitting until noon on most days watching the old cartoon channel where Bugs and the little annoying RoadRunner bird were to be found.

I realize I am 25 years old and that was probably a child like way to spend my mornings but I didn't necessarily care. It has been my morning routine since I was a little kid and it wasn't about to change just because people looked to me as if I was too old to be doing that.

I snapped out of my momentary thoughts of the night I could be having if I didn't allow Chris to drag me from my spot on the couch. The singular door to the range slide open, snapping my head to catch a glimpse of the figure emerging, he was hard not to notice.

"Chris,"

My brother took notice immediately, slipping his own set of headphone off to rest around his neck. His pistol being set to safety before resting it on the small counter in front of him, "Leon."

Leon had been a old friend of both Claire and Chris over the years, Claire being the first to of met the blonde years back in Raccoon City when all hell broke lose. He picked her up at a gas station that was swarmed with nothing but the undead, helped her through the mess even while separated and then the rest was history. In more ways than one I was thankful for him.

We weren't close like he was with my siblings. I knew little to nothing about his personal life and I suppose that was reciprocated when it came to him— he knew nothing about me other than I was the youngest out of the Redfield siblings.

I'd see him around the house every once in a while and usually the only interactions we ever made were small head nods or a wave of some kind but it was never a conversation. Maybe, if I was lucky— I'd get a 'Hey Soph.' But that even was a bit rare to hear from him. We kept to our own and I suppose that had something to do with the age difference and how I didn't work under D.S.O or even in the line of work that Claire took on. I worked at a little Café on the corner not far from where Claire, Chris and I all lived. A nine to five average job.

I was hardly ever in the loop with the three of them unless Absolutely necessary. Sometimes it irritated me and other times I was thankful for it.

"I'm gonna be heading out for the night but," I watched as the duffle bag that was hanging from his left shoulder was slightly moved to the front of him, rummaging through and pulled out what seemed to be a case file, "Director Winston wanted you to take a look at this. Our next case I suppose."

Chris had taken the flimsy case file into his grasp, giving Leon an appreciative head nod, "Sure. I'll take a look when I head home."

Yeah right. Like we would be leaving anytime soon.

I wrapped my arms over the top of the chair, my upper torso turned to face in their direction and I rested my chin down on my forearm all while my eyes fluttered shut. Sleep had really started to take a toll on my mind and body as of recently and as of now, I suppose it was showing quite a bit now.

I was still currently in College and as much as I loved my current job because of the customers and the environment in general was always something I looked forward to, It wasn't something I planned to do for the rest of my life. I somewhat had a plan for my future-- Something both Claire and Chris pounded into my head until it eventually stuck. They'd constantly lecture me on how I just needed to find something I loved to do, something I'd enjoy and wouldn't look at it like a job but rather a hobby but It wasn't like I needed much convincing from either of them.

I watched both of my siblings fight off all the bioterrorists and B.O.W.'s for years. I watched each of them fall apart and be forced to pick those pieces up on their own, one by one. I was a first hand witness to see how the innocence and light they once held in their eyes had faded away until it was nothing more than an old shell of who they use to be, drowning in the darkest parts of them would then you find maybe a small glimpse of their happy nature they once held.

In some sort of way, I understood their need for me to go to college, to have at least one of us find normalcy because deep down I suppose they knew I'd fall into that same work unless they drilled into my head where I needed to be.

It wasn't so bad, the only complaint I ever had was the bags under my eyes that I could only imagine were big enough to carry groceries if I wanted them to. And not the flimsy, small bags of dairy or maybe those small boxes of chex mix you'd snag from the shelves. No, I'm talking about the gallon of milk they'd have to double bag. The twenty four pack of soda you'd struggle to haul in through the front door. Hell, even the cases of water. I could carry all of it under the honey pools of my face.

I must of found my way into a short slumber because the last thing I remembered was faintly hearing both Leon and Chris murmuring amongst themselves over that file. Now, here I was with a few taps to my shoulder and both men looking down at me with what seemed to be amusement in both of their eyes.

"Cmon Sophie. Leon offered to take you home."

Oh thank god.

It was like heaven hitting my ears in nothing but pure bliss with the mere though of my aching back hitting the plush of that mattress waiting for me at home. I was practically jumping for joy on the inside, bouncing off every wall inside my head.

I rubbed the tired from my eyes with my palms, groggily speaking, "oh okay," a soft yawn escaping through all while I pushed and forced myself up from rather uncomfortable hunk of mental I had been sitting in for the past six hours now.

Hearing a chuckle from both men at me turning my gaze towards them but I couldn't find it in me to give a gentle glare or even a playful scowl because I was far too tired to do such a thing.

Both Leon and I begun heading out towards the door, my legs having a mind of their own to drag me around for the short period they needed to. I heard Chris call out to us which earned him a rather irritable groan from me that I though was only amongst myself but ended up being a little louder than intended.

"Make sure she gets through the door," he was in the process of placing those god awful set of headphones back over his ears.

"Will do," I heard Leon call back, giving a lazy thumbs up. He was trying to leave as soon as possible and I knew that. Chris however, was not and I could tell he was treating it like I was being babysat inside of just a drop off to the house.

"Key is in the small flower pot to the left of the door,"

"Got it,”

"Oh! also Soph, don't stay up too late. You got classes tomorrow. I better not see you up late or I-"

I finally had enough, finishing his sentence for him, "Kick my ass. Yes, I know. Can we go now?" I huffed, motioning towards the door with almost a whiney tone to my voice but I couldn't care less right now.

He let out a husky laugh, although I didn't find it very funny he was taking up more of my time I could be using to get a decent eight hours of sleep. But with a wave of his hand I was practically pushing Leon with my palms to get moving before he started talking all over again like he was a babysitter of some sort and giving Leon a run down on how to handle me as if I needed yet another person worrying about me in my corner.

#leon kennedy fanfic #leon kennedy #resident evil #leon s. kennedy #resident evil leon #leon scott kennedy #Leon Scott kennedy x oc #x oc #leon x oc #leon kennedy x oc #resident evil x oc #leon s. kennedy x oc

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security-chief-odo · 7 months

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The Gala Job

Eliot Spencer x Reader

*NSFW in chapter 3

Description: You are sent to charm the team's target on the final leg of the current job. You get in a sticky situation that Eliot has to get you out of. After the job your feelings for Eliot become undeniable, but surely he doesn't feel the same, right?

Smut in the 3rd chapter, a fade to black ending at the end of the 2nd if that's not your thing.

• • •

Your job this time wasn’t to fit in though, you were here to stand out, and that you did. You wore a velvet dress that hugged your figure tightly before flowing out at your legs. Adorned with matching jewelry, you certainly weren’t comfortable, but you definitely stood out among the crowd.

Usually it fell to Sophie to charm her way through a case, but she had already had a run in with Mr. Whitehall and you couldn’t risk him catching on this late in the game. All you had to do was get his flash drive, have Parker make a copy, and escape. It had all of the evidence you would need to bring both Edgar Whitehall and Apex Systems Limited to justice.

The room is buzzing with idle gossip and far too much champagne. You try to subtly keep an eye on the whole room spotting Parker in the server’s uniform to your left, Nate in the opposite corner of the room from you, nursing a drink he probably wishes was whiskey, and Eliot in a simple, flattering suit by the door, acting as a security guard, surrounded by several older women who were almost as enamored by his southern charm as you were.

Spotting your target at the bar, you gracefully head that way. You hear Sophie in your earpiece “Now slowly approach and place your hand between his shoulder blades. Pretend not to notice until after you order your drink.”

You did as she said and gently placed your hand on his upper back as you flagged down the bartender. “I’ll have a vodka soda, please.”

You remove your hand from Whitehall and turn towards him, now having sufficiently caught his attention, “I am so sorry about that, Mr.” you trailed off waiting for him to supply you with his last name.

“Whitehall, Edgar Whitehall. Please just call me Edgar.” He pauses for a second placing a hand on your arm. “Now, what may I call you my dear?”

The touch sent a shiver down your spine and not in a butterflies kind of way, but still, you kept up the act. “Y/N.” The bartender places your drink in front of you, you pick it up with a nod and place a tip down on the bar.

“Well, Y/N, would you join me at my table? I am starved of pleasant conversation at these events and starved even further of pleasant company.” He holds out his arm for you to loop yours around, and reluctantly you do. You let him lead the way, using the distraction to reach into his pocket and grab the USB.

As you sit down next to him, you sneak the flash drive into your purse and hear Hardison chime in through your earpiece, “Great job. Now hang on tight and keep him talking.” That one may be easier said than done.

You tried to make pleasant conversation with him, asking about his work, telling him lies about yours, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. Soon Parker approached, offering complimentary wine to the people around you.

As she approached you and Edgar, she pretended to trip, spilling pinot noir all over his suit. You felt bad for Parker as he started to berate her, but were able to cut him off while keeping up the act. “Edgar, I believe there is a bathroom just down the hall, why don’t we go get you cleaned up?”

He looked frustrated but turned it off in a way that seemed disturbingly calculated. “I certainly can’t turn down the opportunity to have you alone Y/N”

You could hear the others discussing the drive in your earpiece as you slid his jacket off and started to try to get the stains out of his shirt first. If you could drag this out long enough, you should be in the clear. Until then, you dabbed the wine out of the shirt with a wet washcloth. There was no shot in hell of this stain coming out, but there was nothing else to do until the team was ready for you.

Once you got the green light from the team, you started wrapping things up with Whitehall. “I’m sorry Edgar, but I think we may have to just get you a new shirt altogether. I really should get back out there” You slid his jacket over your arm to carry back to your seat, hoping to slide the flash drive sneakily back into his pocket once you got back to your chairs.

Much to your chagrin, he took the jacket and slid it back on. As you head back to your chairs, he starts to panic “Where is it? I know I had it with me tonight.”

“What’s wrong Edgar?”

“I had a thumb drive in this pocket and now it's gone. I lost it.”

You calm your breathing. You can handle this. “I’m sure it’s around here somewhere. Let’s just notify security and get back to our seats. I’m sure someone will find it”

“No, that’s not good enough.” He started to spiral. “ Maybe it’s in the bathroom or on the floor. Maybe someone stole it.” He froze, and turned on his heel to face you. Getting in your face and backing you into the wall he accused “You took it didn’t you? My father always said you couldn’t trust the pretty ones”

You tried to plead with him, “I didn’t take anything. It probably got lost in the commotion. I’m sure everything is fine.”

He spoke over you “Don’t try to tell me everything is fine.” You saw him raise his hand to hit you, but before you had a chance to process it, he was laying on the floor, out cold. You glance up to see Eliot smiling at you, only his hair out of place.

“Ma’am” he offers his hand to you in an obnoxiously chivalrous move to guide you over Whitehall’s sleeping body.

“I could have handled him myself” you huff as you head back to grab your purse. You sneak the flash drive back into his jacket pocket and hope he doesn’t remember a damn thing about this night.

Eliot and you both exit the gala. "I didn’t need you to save me, Spencer. I can handle myself.” You storm off ahead of him.

“He was going to hit you Y/N. I’m sure you can handle yourself, but you were cornered”

“I was handling things Eliot” you spat with a venom you didn’t really mean, but it was frustrating to not be trusted to take care of things. “Why were you even following so closely after us anyways?”

“I was just looking after you darling, besides –”

“I am not your darling”

You don’t quite hear Eliot whisper “Not yet”

Suddenly you hear Nate’s voice in your ear “Guys!”

“Sorry” you and Eliot say in unison as you walk up to Lucille. Getting in, you see everyone already seated and ready to head out.

You were grabbing drinks to celebrate another job well done, but you were far over dressed. As Hardison parked out front, the others piled out of the van, leaving you and Eliot to change into outfits more fitting of an Irish pub.

You both turned your backs as you grabbed your spare clothes to change “Sorry for snapping at you El. I know you were just trying to help.”

“Nah. I’m sorry Y/N. I should have trusted you to handle things. I know you are more than capable of handling a single man in a fight.”

“Thanks,” you said softly as you struggled with the zipper on your dress. “Um, Eliot, would you mind?” you asked, glancing behind you to see him shirtless and in jeans. That is a sight you could get used to.

“Of course darlin’” he said, stepping behind you softly. You don’t object to the term of endearment this time, smiling softly to yourself at hearing it.

Eliot undoes the zipper, certainly slower than was necessary, doing everything in his power to avoid staring at you. God did he just want to stare at you for hours, but he peeled his eyes away. Tur ning back to his own clothes.

“That dress looked great on you by the way” he said as he buttoned up his shirt.

You can almost feel your walls go back up as you say “I’m not quite that easy Spencer.” You wished you believed he meant it, but he often just flirted for flirting's sake, though you could hardly judge in that regard.

“I mean it. No one in that room could take their eyes off of you.”

You brush it off with a scoff as you both exit Lucille and head into the pub.

• • •

Let me know if you want to be on the taglist for this pairing, or my general taglist! Thanks for reading!

Chapter 2

#leverage #leverage fanfic #leverage fic #eliot spencer x reader #Eliot Spencer fanfic #eliot Spencer/reader #reader insert #female reader #nate ford #parker leverage #alec hardison #sophie devereaux #nate ford x sophie deveraux

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canirove · 11 months

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The Princess & the Football Player | Chapter 14

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

"Welcome to Villa Farfalla" Roberta says when we get out of the car.

"Farfalla vendetta?" Mason chuckles.

"Everyone does that joke, you aren't being original" she replies, rolling her eyes. "It is called farfalla because that's the nickname my great-grandfather had for my great-grandmother. He built this place for her!"

"That's cute" Declan says.

"Should we start with the tour?" Roberta asks.

"After you" Mason says, taking her hand on his and kissing it, making her giggle.

"Are you ready for two weeks or hearing her giggle?" I ask Declan. Once we arrived home after the World Cup, we all decided to spend part of the summer holidays in Italy like Roberta had suggested, though only David and Sophie know that we are together. My parents think it is just Roberta and I, and the media believes that Mason and Declan are in Mykonos or Dubai like most of their teammates.

"I'm afraid we are gonna hear her do more than just giggle" Declan sighs.

"Well, at least it is a big house" I laugh, linking my arm with his and following Roberta and Mason.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Morning."

"Good morning. Coffee?" Declan asks, his eyes slowly scanning my body.

"Yes, please" I say, trying to play it cool and leaning against the kitchen's countertop where he is making himself some breakfast, doing my best to ignore the fact that my temperature has gone a few degrees up just by the way he was looking at me.

"They also woke you up, didn't they?" he chuckles, his eyes still fixed on my body. Thank you for buying me these pyjamas, Sophie.

"I didn't get to sleep until they finished."

"I had never heard him be so loud."

"Same with Roberta. It was as if they had the door and all the windows open."

"Maybe they did."

"Then thank God they closed at least the door when I walked past their room now. They were back at it."

"Really?" he laughs.

"Yep. They are like rabbits or something” I laugh. “Anyway, what are you eating?"

"Just a toast with some peach marmalade I found" he says. "Do you want a bite?"

"Are you sure it isn't out of date? Roberta said most things on the cupboards were from last summer."

"I didn't check" he shrugs, giving his toast a big bite.

"Declan!"

"Whot?"

"First of all, manners. You do not speak with your mouth full of food. And second, what if you get sick? I came here to relax and have a good time, not to be your nurse."

"You probably are a great nurse" he smirks.

"I'm the least helpful person in the world if you are puking or bleeding, so I don't think so."

"Shame. Guess it'll have to be just roleplaying" he says, giving the toast another bite.

"Are you into that?" I ask, arching a brow.

"Never tried it. You?"

"Nope."

"Do you want to?"

"What are you suggesting, Mr. Rice?" I ask with a mischievous smile.

"Well..." he says, putting his toast down and licking his fingers very slowly, definitely knowing what he is doing. "I thought we could... You know. Become rabbits too."

"Declan!" I laugh.

"Don't you want to?" he asks, grabbing me by the waist and pushing me against the kitchen's countertop.

"Become a rabbit? Nope."

"And what about doing what rabbits do?"

"Maybe..."

"Just maybe?" he says, trying to sound offended.

"I guess you'll have to convince me."

"Ok" he chuckles. "May I kiss you?"

"You don't have to ask every time you want to do it, you know?" I laugh.

"Yeah... But I still fear MI6 may show up out of nowhere."

"The bodyguards here are all Italian, you are safe."

"Oh, great. Now the mafia is involved."

"Declan!"

"I was just teasing" he smiles.

"Roberta is tired of hearing people make that bad joke when she tells them she is Italian, so now when someone mentions it, she says that everyone in Italy has an uncle that works for the mafia and that should watch out."

"I'll have to ask Gianlu if that's true, then."

"Scamacca? He's hot."

"Excuse me?"

"I have eyes" I shrug. "And if you didn't exist, he could be my prince."

"Imagine him with a crown and his neck tattoos" Declan laughs.

"My mum would faint the moment she sees me with him. She hates tattoos."

"I don't have any."

"You don't?"

"Want to check for yourself?" he smirks.

"I thought you wanted to kiss me" I reply with a similar smile.

"We can do both things. First I can kiss you," Declan says, brushing his lips against mine. "And then we can check each other to see if we have tattoos."

"I don't have tattoos."

"That's what you say. May I kiss you?"

"Urgh, stop asking and just do it" I say, pulling him closer to me and kissing him, that electricity I've always felt when we touch or kiss going through my whole body once again. It is something I can't get enough of. I can't get enough of him. I need him. I want him. And he seems to feel the same, his kisses getting more intense, his hands moving all over my body, getting under my clothes.

"Fuck" I gasp when his thumb brushes over my nipple.

"So hard" he whispers, his eyes focused on mine while he touches me again.

"Look who is talking" I smirk.

"Your room or mine?"

"Yours is too close to Mason's."

"Then yours it is" he says, taking a step back and picking me up.

"Declan!" I laugh again. "What are you doing?"

"I'm carrying you upstairs" he says as he starts walking.

"Why?"

"Because if we walk together, we won't make it. We'll probably start kissing and end up fucking in the middle of the corridor, and that's something I don't enjoy when we aren't alone."

"Does that mean that you've done it before?"

"There are too many stairs at my place" he shrugs.

"Ok" I laugh.

The moment we walk into my room, we are kissing again, hands all over each other, clothes flying everywhere until we are completely naked.

"Is the door closed?" I ask between kisses.

"It is" Declan says, moving me towards the bed and slowly pulling me down until we both are laying on it, kissing again.

But we are not rushing it. We are enjoying every kiss, every touch, laughing, smiling at each other. It feels...

"Perfect" I say, hugging Declan. "That was perfect."

"It was, wasn't it?" he says, kissing my head.

"I can't remember the last time I made love with someone."

"We... Made love?" he chuckles.

"Yes, we did" I say, turning my head to look at him and resting my chin on his chest. "Didn't you feel it? It wasn't just sex. There was something more, it was... Special."

"It did feel special" he says, putting a lock of hair behind my ear. "The perfect first time."

"The perfect first time" I repeat with a big smile.

"And I'm glad it went like this, you know?" Declan says, now caressing my cheek. "I didn't want our first time together to be just sex. I wanted it to be special because you are special to me. You aren't like any of the other girls I've been with, and not just because of who you are" he smiles.

"Aren't you cute?" I giggle.

"I am. I am very cute, and I also am very hungry. Should we go downstairs and grab something to eat? You didn't let me finish my toast, and it probably is lunch time already."

"Can't we cuddle for a bit longer? Just five minutes before we go back to the real world" I pout, hugging him again with both my arm and my leg.

"You mean before going back to those two rabbits we have for best friends."

"Exactly" I laugh. "Let it be just you and I in our perfect bubble for a bit longer."

"Ok. Just the two of us" he replies, hugging me tighter.

#declan rice #declan rice fanfic #declan rice imagine #football fanfic #football imagine

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doggernaut · 10 months

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OMGCP Fic Rec BINGO - Day 3

(Previous BINGOs here and here)

it's canon to you • rocky shore by wit (@parvuls)

One of the things I like best about Check, Please! is that by focusing on big moments on the page, Ngozi leaves so much room for us to imagine all the things that might have happened in between those big moments. This fic by @parvuls covers the first part of Year 3, as Bitty and Jack navigate their new relationship and all its complexities, including Bitty's anxieties about sex and the secrets they're keeping. It includes all of those missing moments we didn't see in the comic, but we know must have happened in order to get them to that solid place they're at by the time they come out to their friends. (And remains canon-compliant in the process!)

subverted trope • You and Me, We're a Miracle by PorcupineGirl (@porcupine-girl)

I love a good soulmate fic, but sometimes I have a hard time suspending my disbelief when two would-be soulmates discover their connection and are suddenly in love. This soulmate fic subverts the trope by establishing early on that Jack doesn't have a name on his wrist, and is okay with it. He still manages to fall in love. @porcupine-girl's world building is always top-notch, even in a short fic like this, and her headcanon for deeply in love, smitten Jack is so close to my own that I know I'll finish reading any fic she's written with a goofy smile on my face.

free spot • Nature by foryouandbits (@foryouandbits)

When I want to get lost in a fic, I choose something by @foryouandbits. This AU, in which the members of SMH are performers in a Cirque du Soliel-like troupe, is probably my favorite of theirs. It recreates the Zimbits story we know and love in the terms of this specific AU. All the plot beats are there: a traumatic backstory for Bitty, a Zimmermann family legacy, SMH found family, and Bitty and Jack working together to overcome Bitty's fears. It also has one of the most romantic scenes of any Zimbits fic I've ever read.

short fic (under 1K) • Poems for Jack by YourPalYourBuddy (@ivecarvedawoodenheart)

This is exactly what it says on the tin. Two years of Bitty and Jack’s developing relationship, remixed into poems from Bitty’s POV. His humor, frustration, and growing feelings for Jack are all there. The fact that the author was able to pull this off in only 445 words yet still hit all the important canon plot beats is nothing short of remarkable.

you weren't sure you'd enjoy it but REALLY did • [podfic] Hockeyed Up by read_by_Sophie (Sophie)

This pick might be cheating a little because this is one of the first fics I read in the fandom and I immediately loved it; this author’s characterization of Jack just felt so right to me and continues to be a fic I return to when I need to get into Jack's head for my own writing. The fic I chose for this spot, though, is the podfic version of Hockeyed Up. I only started listening to podfic a few years ago; I had never been able to get into audiobooks and I wan’t sure I’d like podfic any better. However, needing something to listen to during a long run and not enjoying any of the books I’d downloaded on Libby, I decided to try listening to a podfic of a familiar fic. This one was about as long as my run, so I chose it. And I loved it. And now I listen to podfic on the regular. But this is the one that started it all, and it’s a favorite so I re-listen to it at least once a year. Bonus: the author/reader of this fic has a French-Canadian accent, which really adds to Jack’s characterization since it’s from his point of view. (This is also my commercial for podfic: this fandom has so many wonderful podficcers; if you haven't tried listening to podfic yet, you absolutely should!)

#omgcp #omgcp fic recs #omgcp podfic #omgcp fic rec bingo

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incorrecttowerofgodquotes · 1 year

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Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Episode 12 Review

- On this episode of Gundam, we have pain and suffering!

- Already getting real fucking tired of Sophie. I mean I love psycho lesbians, but she’s seriously fucked up. Also it seems the Dawn of Fold girls are either genetically modified like El4n, or less stress is out in their body due to the absence of GUND Bits. However, the fact that they’re affected by Permet once again makes me question what the fuck is up with Aerial. Also Dawn of Fold has truly gone from resistance group to actual terrorists. Their job was to kill Delling, but they destroyed the base and murdered the people working there

- Prospera is the stinkiest fucking bitch in this series. She doesn’t even refer to Suletta as her daughter, just as “that girl.” And the brainwashing she’s doing to Suletta, telling her it’s perfectly fine to murder and not feel guilty is fucked up. The fact that her voice never changed tone in her entire convo with Suletta shows how fake she is. If she really cared about her daughter, she would comfort her and tell her that murder is wrong but sometimes a person has no choice, but they should always choose to prioritize lives and only kill when absolutely needed.

- The Earth Houses almost got caught up in the cross fire, but luckily Nika came to the rescue. Though now Martin saw her and knows she’s up to shady shit. It’s sweet that he knew she was missing and went back to her but he ended up seeing something he shouldn’t have. There are three ways this can play out:

1) Martin immediately tells the other guys and Nika gets excommunicated

2) Nika explains herself and Martine keeps it a secret

3) Nika’s terrorist upbringing kicks in and she kills him

- Shaddiq’s plans got foiled once again, but he doesn’t seem too shaken up. He wanted Delling’s head but he caused a big shakeup when in the Benerit Group still. But he’ll have to watch his back carefully. Because when one man learns he was behind this… he’s dead. Speaking of that man-

- Guel…just my boy Guel…

- I don’t think words can fully articulate how broken I am from that moment. But that’s not even a fragment of what Guel is feeling

- If this were any other anime, Guel would have came in just in time to help out, but instead he ended up murdering his dad. He tried to play the hero but he ruined his entire life. His thoughts of wanting to see Suletta again and not wanting to die really resound because he’s still just a child. He has so many things ahead of him, but now he’ll be stuck in a prison of self-torment due to his accidental patricide.

- Where will he go from this? Well they’re are a lot of ways, and none of them good. He could finally join the squad and either bond with Suletta (over both having killed a guy) or Miorine (over watching someone get killed brutally). Or he could go back to Jeturk and meet up with Lauda who’ll probably say he didn’t anything wrong, but that’s not at all what Guel wants to hear. Or he’ll go one a one man army to kill Shaddiq, either sneakily or just straight up fighting him and the harem. All I know is that my son is horribly traumatized and the show will probably go in for yet another punch in April

- Miorine and Delling’s moment really fucking hurt. Her dad wasn’t good to her, but he still wanted to protect her as decided by himself and her mother. Miorine, with all these conflicting feelings, wants her dad to lives cause even though she hates him, she still hopes that one day they could be a family. She’s doing her best to take care of protect her dad, even shielding him like he did to her when facing the end of a gun. And just when it looks like she’s saved by Suletta, everything crashes back down. The person she trusted more than anyone else and hoped to live the rest of life with committed a terrible atrocity in front of her and didn’t even care. I doubt she’ll be able to look at Suletta any longer, and any attempt to laugh it off will just hurt Miorine.

- Those tomato’s growing in the greenhouse… Miorine took such good care of them. She hoped to make them blossom and become their best selves. But Suletta squashed it. Now there’s nothing remaining but the icky guts of a once pure love.

- And now Suletta. frankly:

WHAT THE FUCK

- The way Suletta went from terrified of people being killed to happily squashing a man, making a joke about slipping in his innards, and then attempting to touch Miorine with those filthy hands is way too jarring. While some might say we’re carrying on from the Eri’s actions in the prologue, there’s a clear difference between the two. Eri had no idea what was happening. She just thought they were playing a little game on her birthday. She didn’t understand the concept of death. But Suletta fully knows well how precious life is and she squashed it under hand, making no mention of it. The problem is t that she killed a man, it’s that she disregarded him completely after he was dead. She continued on with her happy life, unburdened by the man who’s life was cut short. She had a choice. She could have put her hand in between them or pick him up and yeeted him, but she didn’t. She didn’t assess the situation and choose the option with no fatalities, she just jumped straight in with no regard for life and murdered a man.

- “If you run away you gain one, but if you move forward you gain two” This has been a message that permeates throughout the entire anime. At first, it’s very inspirational, but here we see the true colors of such a saying. Sometimes, it’s best to run away. Sometimes, it’s best to not use force. Because if you move forward, you have the capability of losing more than you gain. Guel attempted to move forward and killed his dad, Suletta attempted to move forward and lost her innocence as well as became a demon in Miorine’s eyes. Only Prospera, a revengeful woman still mad over having to leave in order to save Eri and her life would create such a saying. It’s a saying rooted in nothing but regret and burning hatred. Suletta’s blind faith in her mother has distorted the way she sees the world. Either she’ll be deprogrammed, or will be used as a weapon by her “loving” mother. However, only Suletta can do this. No one can save her but herself.

- With the second cour coming in April, we have a long ways to wait. Our three main characters, Suletta, Miorine, and Guel have all seen or committed an atrocity, one they will never fully heal from. Whether or not they can move forward in the good way, the bad way, or just run away is to be seen.

#shout out to the fact that out of all the characters only El0n and El5n made it out safely this cour #we stan these two complete dickheads #also guel comics will be feeding me for the break #delicious delicious angst please #gundam witch from mercury #gundam #g witch #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #guel jeturk

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paper--moons · 1 year

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Regressor!Howl Headcanons

(with cg!Sophie)

Now, Howl couldn't exactly say when it was that he started regressing—his headspace has always been very fluid, and it's not exactly like he felt the need to mark the date or note the event that triggered his regression for the first time. Because like with much of his life, it sort of just happened upon him, simultaneously ordinary and yet utterly remarkable as a great many things are. But what he can (and will!) say is that he is a big kid! Most of the time he averages about six or seven years old when he is regressed, but he will slide on down to a precocious four should certain conditions be met and the stars align just so—if you count things like missing lunch because he was too busy playing and getting hangry as a result as the stars aligning, that is. Though this tendency to slip to a lower four is something that he is in a bit of denial about, and if asked how old he is he will answer that he's seven regardless of whether or not that is strictly true at the moment. And he is seven!...sometimes, at least. So it isn't technically a lie, is it? What matters to Howl is that he can maintain his lifestyle of remaining free and unhindered; he's a big boy who can take care of himself, so he doesn't need anyone telling him what to do.

As such, being the the independent big kid that he believed himself to be, he didn't really seek out a caregiver. That is until Sophie came along. She inserted herself seamlessly into his life, and so the fact that she started minding after him more than she probably would otherwise went unnoticed at first. She was making sure he ate regularly, cleaning up his messes that spanned the entire castle, and checking on him even when nobody had asked her. Mostly because something told her he needed someone to mind after him; it isn't until later when she catches him playing with Markl that she makes the connection that perhaps she feels that way because it's something that Howl needs. She watches to be certain, noting how they play together more like peers than like a master entertaining his young apprentice—or maybe not quite peers, as it appears Markl redirects a fussy Howl without even noticing, reminding him that he has to play fair when it seems the boy tries to make up new rules on the spot to suit his needs—and decides to test the waters a little by treating them more similarly for the rest of the afternoon. Much to Sophie's surprise he responds well to the subtle changes in her doting on him. But none are as surprised as Howl himself, because he finds that he actually likes having someone take care of him.

Howl has a tendency to tell tall-tales when he's small, exaggerating every small detail until he's left with something truly fantastical. It isn't necessarily harmful per se—after all, it does show a certain degree of creativity, and he isn't exactly lying about anything that could result in someone getting hurt. But it is a habit that Sophie would like to redirect in some way, given that a large part of this appears to stem from how he perceives himself battling with the way he wishes to be perceived by others. And while his recounting of his many escapades fall victim to this, it's a rather small lie that truly worries Sophie. One that she catches him in early on in fact when she asks him about his regression to try and find out if he's comfortable with her helping him while he's feeling small. A defensively huffed all wizards regress is the near-immediate answer, the way insistence of the "fact" bleeds into a desperation as if begging her to believe him definitely creates a spike of concern in her chest. While not outright correcting him (as it would only cause him a lot of distress), Sophie makes sure that she works with him so that he learns that not everybody regresses, and that it is okay that he does—it doesn't make him any less Howl, if anything it makes him more Howl.

Whether or not small Howl picks up on Sophie's desire to help him is unclear, but what is clear is that small Howl wants to be Sophie's little helper. Wants to help her so so badly, all in an effort to impress her. Sophie does everything! She's amazing and he loves her so much! Surely he can help. Though as it turns out it would be more apt to call him her little troublemaker, given that he often winds up underfoot and accidentally makes extra work for her instead. It isn't as if Howl means to of course, he is just a very involved kid that gets into everything he possibly can. But she doesn't really mind it much, knowing he means well; she often will come up with little tasks specifically for Howl to both keep him occupied and make her job as his cg run a bit more smoothly. Moreover, Sophie often feels that it is the opposite way around and that she is a toddler's assistant—running behind him and picking up his messes, telling him when it's time for a nap, fixing him his lunch (and making sure he actually eats it), helping him manage those big emotions.

On the topic of big emotions, Howl can be a little bit fussy at times. He's very particular about things being a certain way and can get haughty as a result. Things should go his way, they are always better if they go his way! Or so he believes. The little huff-puffs he gives are the first warning sign of a tantrum being imminent, followed either by frustrated tears or an utter shutdown as his emotions overtake him. Both options are a bit not good, though the former sees him remaining verbal and not completely despondent. Before meeting her, he would just have to let the meltdowns run their course and ride it out on his own. With Sophie entering his life however, she seemingly knows exactly how to diffuse the situation and begin to bring him back down to a calmer state. It's during this time that he hits that lower end of his age range, and so Howl only whines a little about how he can take care of himself as she gets him a quick bath and then settled in bed with his stuffies, too tired and worn out from his emotional outburst to keep up his usual high energy. It's easier to let Sophie guide him down and into dreamland than to let his upset keep its vice grip on him, her guidance a reprieve from how unsure his emotions can make him feel.

Although Sophie tends to be more lenient (extremely lenient, some Calcifer might say), there are definitely times where she takes a firmer approach with him, usually out of concern for his own safety. This typically occurs when, ever convinced of his maturity and confident in his abilities, Howl decides to use his magic while he's small. Most of the time it's only small spells, things only meant to entertain himself and Markl, like changing the colors or sizes of things. But there are others times as well, times when he attempts to use forms of magic that really should be reserved for his big self only. It is a dangerous thing when a seven-year-old gets a wild hair and decides to move the entire castle on a whim and make it to where one of the doorways open up next to an ice-cream shop. There's a lot of chaos when this happens, everything shaking as a child's unrefined magic makes the necessary spatial transition coupled with the gleeful laughter from a far too pleased Howl as it works. But before he can run out the door and acquire the coveted ice-cream cone that he pulled this little stunt for, Sophie has grabbed him by his collar and is giving him a good scolding. He could have gotten himself hurt, could have gotten them all hurt, why didn't he wait or get help if he really wanted to move the castle that badly? However Howl genuinely doesn't understand why doing magic when he's regressed isn't necessarily a good idea, and so the scolding earns her a hiccupy little guy that promises he won't do it again. (He immediately forgets this promise and will do it again, but it's the thought that counts!)

Even with Sophie picking up after him, the castle can, at best, be described as cluttercore. This kid has collections, collections upon collections even with everything arranged just so, believe it or not. The cluttercore nature of the castle however lends rather well to a certain game: hide-and-seek. According to Howl this is the best game to play, and Markl seems to agree—games of hide-and-seek can last for hours if they play in the castle, but especially if they include the areas outside the castle as well. Though Sophie has asked that they stop hiding in the towns where they have their storefronts set up, this perhaps leads to her inclusion in their game; with her being a something of a worrier, she tends to act as their seeker most days. It allows her to keep an eye on Howl (with a little help from Calcifer, of course, who is more than willing to help point her in the right direction when he can if it means keeping Howl in check). Plus, it allows Howl to be a hider! While he is a strong proponent of the game being The Best EverTM, Howl only wants to play if he can hide! It isn't fun having to be the seeker for him since he gets so easily frustrated. He gets so stompy if he has to be the seeker and whines that his talents as a hider are being wasted.

#sfw agere #ghibli #ghibli agere #howl jenkins pendragon #agere howl jenkins pendragon #sophie hatter #agere sophie hatter #moons hcs

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alj4890 · 1 year

Text

The Apology

(Ethan Ramsey x OC*Sophie Triano) on a Choices Open Heart drabble

Thirty Kisses in Thirty Days Challenge with the prompt: kissing the tears that roll down your lover's cheeks

@hopelessromantic1352 @twinkleallnight @tessa-liam @choicesficwriterscreations @choices-readerandlover @annfg8 @jerzwriter @trappedinfanfiction @coffeeheartaddict2

Rating: G for angsty fluff

Thanks for the request @annfg8 😊 Here's some angst that turns sweet.

Masterlist

They weren't certain over what triggered it, but whatever it was shocked Ethan and Sophie. Perhaps it was their recent schedules. Maybe it was because Ethan had lost a patient before he could figure out what was wrong with her. It could have been the fact that Sophie had to work an extra sixteen hours on an eight tier wedding cake because one of her assistants dropped it.

Who knew why they ended up having a fight? It simply happened and there had been no stopping it.

The harsh words, the snide remarks, the yelling; it was colossal. Neither was known to go that far when angry, yet something about the moment made them each the perfect target to unload all their frustrations.

When Sophie slammed her door in Ethan's face, the seriousness of it all struck him. Unable to get her to open the door again, he stormed the few floors up to his own apartment.

Throwing his keys across the room, he poured himself a needed drink and settled in his recliner. He narrowed his eyes at the night sky, contemplating the fact that relationships could be a huge pain in his ass.

No wonder he remained single for so long. The drama was exhausting. It was a waste of energy that he could use towards something productive. Anything would be more productive than what he'd just gone through.

He took a big gulp of his scotch, dropping his head back against the leather cushion.

Perhaps it was all for the best that Sophie had kicked him out. They'd probably end up making the situation worse if they'd tried to talk it over.

His frown deepened as he thought of the possibility of ending things with her. In the heat of the moment, he thought it might be best. He almost suggested it. After all, they'd been so busy lately that they were often playing catch up rather than simply being together.

He then thought about how she normally made him feel. He actually liked the relaxed version of himself she seemed to bring out. Maybe that was why this fight hit harder than those in his past. Sophie made him pause to think about whether or not their relationship was what he originally thought it was.

Ethan knew it wasn't unusual for couples to fight. He'd even witnessed Tobias and Chris tie up a time or two. He'd gone through his own arguments when with Chris, Harper, and other women of his past. This wasn't really anything new.

He got up and poured himself another drink. Something though about this particular fight hit him where it hurt. That had to be why he struck back with his words so quickly. So easily. So hurtful.

Her face...

Ethan downed his second glass in three quick gulps as the image of Sophie's face came to mind. Though furious with him, there was no disguising the pain she felt with each lash of his tongue. The very mouth he used to bring Sophie pleasure, compliment her, softly soothe her was used as a weapon against her.

He was ashamed that a man his age had allowed things to go that far. He could blame it on being tired and upset over work, but he knew from the beginning of the fight what he was doing. Instead, he didn't bother to hold back.

And now look at me, he thought. I made the person I truly care about cry.

He knew it was more than simply caring for her. Sophie was becoming the most important person in his life. The thought of losing her was unacceptable.

He bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't know what to do. He knew he should apologize, but should he go now or let her sleep it off?

******************

Sophie was furious. The fact that Ethan had left without apologizing made her want to follow him upstairs to his apartment and scream at him some more. How dare he even think he could talk to her like that and simply leave as if he had the right?

She went about her kitchen, slamming drawers and cabinets to try to rid herself of this residual anger. She jerked her refrigerator open to search for a bottle of vodka she'd put in there and stilled at the sight of the containers of dinner he'd made her.

Her bottom lip began to tremble as tears filled her eyes. How could she have talked to him like that? He was a good man. She knew this about Ethan. Why had she insulted him? Called him names? Why had she purposely tried to make him even more angry?

She shut the fridge door and pressed her forehead against it. Her shoulders shook as she began to cry. The thought of losing him was breaking her heart.

She missed him. She hated that their schedules had been so difficult to work around. But even the rare few hours together was worth it. He made her happy, happier than she'd been in a long time.

Then why did she act like some crazy banshee, screeching at him over the stupidest things? She couldn't even remember what set her off or even what the fight was about. It wasn't his fault she was exhausted from work or completely frazzled with keeping up with all her new orders.

She missed having Veronica to depend on. Anytime Sophie needed a break, she knew she could take it without worry because her cousin would easily pick up the slack and keep their business booming. Now that she was on her own, she allowed the pressure to nearly consume her.

And what had she done next? Took it out on the one man she was falling so hard for.

She should have never invited him over tonight. She knew she wasn't in the best mood to begin with. And yet, she hoped that maybe she'd get in a better one simply by being near him.

That backfired horribly, she thought as she stumbled into her bedroom. She collapsed face down on her bed and continued to cry into her pillows.

Are we going to break up?

She'd been tempted to. In the heat of the moment she was ready to tell him to screw off and never darken her door again. But she held back. Even now, the thought of never seeing Ethan Ramsey again hurt worse than their fight did.

She knew she was falling in love with him. Everything about their relationship seemed so easy. This fight coming out of nowhere had actually made her doubt whether or not they should even try and work things out.

And honestly, that scared her and made her more determined than ever to make things right.

Should I call him or wait until he reaches out to me? Maybe I should let things cool off for a while before trying to talk to him.

Clutching one of her bed pillows to her chest, Sophie cried herself to sleep.

********************

Ethan called in and took a personal day off of work. After the restless night thinking about Sophie, he knew he wouldn't be of use to any patient that walked through Edenbrook's door.

He was determined, after much soul searching, to do all he could to keep her in his life.

He dressed with care, picking the color blue she usually complimented him wearing. He then called her bakery and asked to speak to her.

"She's not coming in today." Terry told him. "She called this morning and said she needed the day to herself."

Ethan knew their fight must be the cause of her not going into work. He wondered if she was at home.

Nervous about talking to her on the phone, he sent a quick text asking if he could come over later or if she would be willing to come to his apartment.

He watched the ellipsis bounce as he anxiously waited to read her response.

He realized he was holding his breath when her message appeared, agreeing to come over to his place around noon.

***************

Sophie went through numerous outfit changes. She didn't know what to wear, only that she wanted Ethan to think she looked pretty. She settled on a black outfit since it matched the current mood she was in, or at least the mood she knew she could wind up in if things did not work out.

She felt more nervous walking up to his apartment than she ever had before. Each step she took tempted her into turning around and going back to her apartment.

When she arrived at his door, she hesitated to knock. She could already feel her tears building. The last thing she needed right now was to fall apart before he'd even said a word.

Taking a deep breath, she softly knocked on his door.

It swung open quicker than she thought possible. Sophie kept her eyes averted from Ethan's.

"Hi." She said, clearing her throat. "You wanted to see me?"

Ethan stepped back to let her in.

"Yes, I did." He motioned for her to sit down.

She sat on the far end of his couch.

He grimaced slightly at that. From the moment they first got together, she'd always chosen to sit near him.

He sat on the opposite end and angled his body towards her. His eyes traced her profile. Gone was her warm smile she seemed to always have at the ready for him. She still had yet to look at him directly. Even now, she kept her eyes on his floor.

"Sophie?" He swallowed nervously. "I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean anything I said. I don't know what happened. All I can do is apologize."

She glanced at him. Her throat convulsed some as she tried to keep from crying.

"Oh."

She blinked a few times to try to stop her tears, yet failed miserably.

"I'm..." Her voice cracked. "I'm sorry too."

Ethan moved across the couch until he had her in his arms. His lips crashed against hers.

She clutched him close, kissing him back in relief while tears trailed down her cheeks.

Ethan pressed his lips to her cheek, softly kissing the tears away. He whispered again how sorry he was as he moved to do the same to her other cheek.

Sophie bit down on her trembling bottom lip in an attempt to calm down. Her voice was hoarse as she tried to take the blame for the fight.

"It was my fault." He told her gently cupping her face.

"It was mine too." She argued, pressing another kiss against his lips. "I've been tired and cranky and--"

He silenced her with a deep kiss.

"Next time, we need to be honest with each other." His lips continued to caress hers as he spoke. "I'll warn you when I'm in a bad mood."

"I'll try and do the same." Her eyelashes fluttered closed when his tongue slipped between her lips.

She moaned as he pulled her into his lap, never breaking their heated kiss.

Ethan realized as he began to caress her that her tears had stopped falling.

#thirty kisses in thirty days #choices open heart fan fic #ethan ramsey x oc #ethan x sophie #dr. ethan ramsey

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pbandjesse · 3 months

Text

I'm having kind of a hard time right now. I'm coughing again after not coughing all day and I'm really upset. I just want to sleep. I could barely sleep last night and it was horrible. I felt like I was choking but it wasn't just once or twice it was almost bear constant. I tried the lidocaine multiple times and it was just making me feel worse and worse. It was t even numbing anymore. I tried to have a rice krispie and a mouthful of yogurt and that seemed to help a little. But it was not a good night.

I'm actually shocked how good I felt this morning though. Even after barely sleeping I was doing really good and I would actually continue to feel good for most of the morning.

James has made me a little sandwich for breakfast and packed me a hotdog for lunch. Which didn't end up being enough food but it was fine. We would leave together and things were good.

It is going to be interesting getting used to my new commute. It's really hard different in the begining. 4 extra miles give or take. But I left 10 minutes later then I really should have and got stuck in traffic from a one car accident. Ah well. No one was waiting for me at camp and I would still beat everyone else.

I spent the first part of the hour printing my guides for my workshop tomorrow. And working on my daily drawing. Elizabeth surprised me by coming in early but she was planning on leaving early. Alexi would also leave early today. And Heather. Everyone would have plans today.

It was not a bad day. I felt great. I went up to the arts building and collected some materials for tomorrow and some other things I had been holding there that I need. Mainly jewelery tools and my wagon.

Sarah was making this origami things and asked me to bring her some paper. So I brought down a nice new pack of construction paper so she could go crazy.

I would get to work on some research for grants we could apply to. Which ended up being a lot more different then I expected. Sarah was having better luck getting more specific ones. But I would find a few as well and it was mostly just nice having something to do.

While I was having lunch Joe came in and he wanted to hear about my trip but also why I was gone the last couple days. Got to tell him about how scary being sick was. It was very kind of him to ask.

I would work on a housewarming registry for a bit. And look into some valentine's day things. And I went for a walk.

It was beautiful out but I was starting to cough again. I was still okay for another couple hours but I was starting to lose it again. And that was really upsetting.

Alexi was very concerned with my cough. But my rhumatologist called me and she said that she was worried about me when she got my email, I really appreciated her reaching out, but she mostly just reassured me that the cough would be the longest part but that it sounded like I was doing better. So I was able to reassure Alexi, but also be realistic that if I need to go it was okay.

I would stay til 330 though. After I lost motivation for looking at grants. And didn't have anything else to research. And was just looking at little stained glass ornaments on eBay and decided I could spend my time better running my errands.

So that is what I did. I said goodbye to Sarah and Elizabeth, Alexi had already left and Heather had gone to pick up Sophie. And I was off.

I went to Michael's first and got the last paints I needed. They were on sale to do that was nice. And then drove down the road to go to the Amish market but it was wildly packed. So I just got my soap and headed out. Didn't even get a pretzel the line was so long!

Honestly though I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it because my sense of taste has been weird all day. I think I had overdone it with the lidocaine last night. Everything was off and overly salty. The pretzel probably just wouldn't have been nice.

I continued down the street and went to target. Which was also to busy. Couldn't even get a basket. But I got everything in my list. Stayed pretty close to the list. Even had a coupon that made it so the two things I got that weren't on my list were basically free.

I had planning on going to the apartment to pick up some stuff but I was out of energy. I wanted to go home.

And that is what I did. The drive back was a little long but I got a good parking space. Which allowed me to meet our neighbor from down the road. She's lived here for 30+ years! She seems incredibly kind and smart. She worked in the neurology department at Johns Hopkins! She also said that this is a great block with really nice people and so far that has been my experience too.

We chatted for a bit and eventually James came out to help carry things in. They talked to our neighbor too and it was just really nice.

James wouldn't stay home long though. They would take the car to go get a few groceries we missed and get paper towels, and go and feed the aquatics and get some stuff since so could not.

While James was gone I mostly just chilled. I had a roll. I moved things in the studio from one side of the room to the other so we would have room later when we would finally put up the curtains. I would move two of the hooks in the bathroom so we have somewhere to put the towels. And I measured out where the tiles I am going to put on the wall will go. I just love seeing everything coming together.

Me and Sweetp played for a little while on the stairs. But he kept putting up like he was freaked out. And then when James got back I had to pick Sweetp up to bring him upstairs and he looked terrified when I went to him and he puffed up so bad??? I have no idea why he keeps getting upset. I know it's the move but I really would love for him to be comfortable.

James would make us dinner. I had requested the vegan fish sticks and a Caeser salad and they made themselves a little pizza. I would hang out in the living room and we just talked and did our own things but were together.

Eventually we would start figuring out the curtains. This did not go amazing. First the long black rod didn't look right in the living room. And I was frustrated.

And then we went to the studio to hang the fancy swing out curtains and those were going great until they didn't. And I am now sure they need to move over. But we don't have any more anchors so we will have to wait until James make a stop at ace tomorrow.

The other issue is I wasn't paying attention when James was measuring the second one and it's like 2 inches higher then the first and looks terrible. I was pretty upset but mostly I was just frustrated that James was being so down in themselves. Like well fix it tomorrow. It's fine. You are stressing me out.

Like at one point they were taking down the curtains that the last owners left behind and I was like hey what if we moved these brackets to the living room. And they kept saying the pole would fit. And I'm like what are you talking about we take down the other one and put these ones there? But they just kept saying that the pole wouldn't fit and I am just like why are we focusing on the other pole??? What are you talking about about?? And I got pretty frustrated with them which wasn't fair but I was mad that they weren't understanding what should have been straight forward.

They finally got me but I was really upset. I know a lot of it was the coughing has started up in earnest. I felt unsettled and couldn't get comfortable in my body. I also just felt mad that people keep saying something about how I'm going to have James building this and that when I talk about my home plans. But I am the one building things!! James is doing things because I can't reach them! I'm the handy one! I hate that people act like I'm not capable. I'm just short! And if my ladder was here I would have just done it by myself.

I would calm down. And we were able to get the curtains up in the living room from the front windows and they look great. But I was still not in a good head space.

I stayed downstairs for a while. But when I came back I was feeling worse. Coughing. Uncomfortable. Annoyed about everything.

I took a shower but the lukewarm water was not helping. I hope we can figure that out soon.

I am in bed now. I am coughing and upset about it but I am hoping I can fall asleep and feel good again tomorrow. Because I have a workshop and I'm looking forward to it even if I'm very nervous! I hope I have everything I need. But it's not until noon so I have time to double check.

I am hoping that the morning I can chill and do some more organizing here. I also just don't want to push it and make myself feel worse. And I am hoping that sleep makes it easier to have a good day.

I hope you are all sleep good. I love you all. Goodnight.

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captainsophiestark · 3 months

Text

Galentine's Day

Platonic!Natasha "Phoenix" Trace x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my personal fic writing challenge for 2024, Sophie's Year of Fic! Featuring a new fic being posted every Friday, all year long :)

Fandom: Top Gun

Summary: Natasha and her best friend are about to spend their first ever Galentine's Day apart, since Natasha's in Miramar for training. That is, unless her best friend has something to say about it.

Word Count: 2,683

Category: Fluff, Humor

A/N: Happy early Galentine's Day to everybody who celebrates!

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"I'm sorry. I tried so many times to get leave, but I just couldn't make it happen. This training's mandatory, and there's no chance I can get away until it's over."

"That's okay," I said, giving my best friend my most convincing understanding-but-sad face. "We were bound to be in different places for Galentine's Day, eventually."

Natasha huffed. "I guess. It just felt like we'd always find a way to make it work, you know?"

"I know. But at least we can say a little Happy Galentine's Day via FaceTime!"

Nat sighed. "Yeah, I guess it's better than nothing. So do you have any plans today? I'm basically going from this call to lectures with brass to flying with a bunch of guys including the Bagman, so... not an ideal Galentines Day."

I grimaced. "That sounds rough. Try not to let them get you down! And, actually, speaking of plans... I'm so sorry, but I have to go. I promised to help a friend move, since we couldn't go do any of our usual celebration today, and they're expecting me in like ten minutes."

"Oh. Oh, yeah, that's okay. I should actually probably get prepared for the start of our training for the day, but... have an amazing day, alright? You're the best."

"Noyou."

We shared a smile that quickly faded. She clearly didn't want to say goodbye, and I'd ruin the surprise if I looked like I was in a rush to get off the phone.

"Well... I'll talk to you later?" I said, trying to sound hesitant. Nat took a deep breath and smiled.

"Yeah. Text me when you're free and we'll figure it out."

I nodded, gave her a little wave, then hung up the call. I grinned. That had gone perfectly. I was confident she had no idea I was outside the Hard Deck, right now. She was going to be so surprised.

My childhood best friend, Natasha Trace, and I had a long-standing tradition of celebrating Galentine's Day together to celebrate our friendship, get together no matter where in the world we were, and do whatever the hell we wanted as long as it was together. This was the first year where we wouldn't be able to do that—at least, as far as Natasha knew.

In reality, I'd found a way to cancel my schedule conflicts and buy a flight to San Diego to surprise her. I'd managed to get in touch with Rooster, one of her closer aviator friends, to get her schedule, and after keeping the secret for a month and a half I was finally going to tell her. She would be so excited.

I took a deep breath, then crossed the remaining parking lot space to get to the Hard Deck. I pushed open the door and stepped in to find more than a few Navy pilots hanging around, which tracked with just about everything Nat had ever told me about this place. It didn't take me long to find my friend, thankfully, as she was heading for me and the door with Rooster trailing behind her.

"Phoenix, don't you want to play another round of pool? We can't let Hangman win!" he protested, clearly trying to stall her. I smiled to myself and headed in their direction.

"No, I don't, Rooster," she said. "I've got some things to take care of, I'll see you at training, alright?"

Rooster looked ready to keep arguing, but then he looked up and caught sight of me. He stopped in his tracks and smiled at me, and I gave him a little nod before turning my attention to Nat.

"I hope you can ditch those things you've gotta take care of for your best friend," I said, an absolutely shit-eating grin spreading across my own face. Nat's head snapped up at the sound of my voice, and her jaw dropped when she saw me standing just a few feet from her.

"You- You're supposed to be- But- Dude!"

She rushed forward, absolutely beaming, and wrapped me in a bone crushing hug. I laughed and hugged her right back, just as tight.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, incredulous laughter dripping from her words.

"Surprising you! Obviously!" We smiled at each other as we finally pulled apart, Natasha still shaking her head like she couldn't believe I was here. "When you said you couldn't get leave, I started problem solving to find a way to get time off work. It wasn't easy and I didn't want to get your hopes up, so I didn't tell you. Then once I got approved, I thought it would be more fun if I could surprise you! So I got Rooster to tell me your schedule and then I got on a plane!"

Nat whirled around to look at Rooster, who just grinned back at her, then turned back to me.

"That's sneaky as hell, but also incredible. Oh my god, I'm so glad you're here."

"Me too," I said, grinning as I closed the distance to wrap her in a one-armed hug. "And I have everything planned for tonight, the minute you're free of Navy stuff. We're gonna do Galentine's Day right. But I didn't plan anything for this morning, so... what do you want to do?"

She shot me a look that I knew meant trouble.

"How about beating all the other Navy pilots at pool?"

"Sounds perfect."

We ended up at the pool table in the back of the bar for the better part of an hour, before the pilots had to leave for training. Nat and I had gotten good at pool in high school, since it was fun to absolutely run the table together at parties, and we wiped the floor with the other pilots in every round we played. By the time they headed off to training, Nat had at least one game each to hold over their heads until the next time they played.

Since Nat couldn't get leave, she still had to spend most of the day doing Navy stuff. Luckily for me, we were in San Diego. It was an absolutely beautiful day, so I killed time waiting for Nat by walking along the beach and relaxing in the sand. I finally left for my hotel room with a little over an hour to spare before she would be free from training.

We met up right outside the base at Miramar, after Nat had changed out of her uniform and flight suit. She grinned as she walked out to meet me at my car, and I grinned right back.

"So where are we going?" she called. I just smiled.

"Get in the car and find out!"

She shook her head, but she didn't protest, and within a few minutes we were on our way. I had our favorite playlist, one we made our senior year of high school, playing over the speakers, and it felt for a second like we'd never left our hometown, driving around in the evening together getting up to mischief.

"So, how was training?" I asked. She hummed.

"It was fine. We're learning a lot, actually, which I really didn't expect. We're all already the best of the best. Bagman's being obnoxious as always, which is the main downside."

"You like Bob though, right? Your new WSO?"

"Yeah, he's great. He's become a pretty good friend, too, which makes some of the other idiots easier to deal with."

"Thank God for that."

"No kidding."

We rode in comfortable silence for a little further, until Nat finally clocked our destination not far ahead of us.

"No. No, no way, we are not going there."

"Yes we are! Come on, it'll be fun!"

"I am not doing karaoke."

"You've done it before! You even have a good voice! What's the problem?"

"Because it's Galentine's Day, and I can pretty much guarantee you that at least half of the guys in my training group are in there or will be soon."

I shot her a look as I pulled into a parking space.

"You think a bunch of Navy pilots with giant egos are going to be at karaoke on a Tuesday night?"

"Yes. In fact, I know they are."

I snorted. "Well then they're ridiculous and have no leg to stand on judging us. We'll just ignore them, have a blast, and then move on to the Galentine's Day finale when we're ready."

Nat sighed and shook her head, but she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door anyway.

"Fine. Just be prepared to get heckled on a level our high school classmates could only dream of."

"Oh, I feel confident we can give back just as good of heckling as we get."

The corner of her mouth quirked up at the idea, and we headed inside. I'd booked us a table, and we could order dinner and drinks here to go with the singing, which made it absolutely perfect. We just had time to place our orders, put our names in the karaoke queue, and settle in before a loud group of aviators came stumbling over each other and through the front door.

I turned to Nat with my mouth open, shaking my head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you were right. Do they seriously have nothing better to do tonight?"

She just raised an eyebrow and gave me a look, and I sighed. This didn't really change anything, luckily for us. So we'd have a little bit of an audience that Nat knew. We'd done karaoke in front of our entire high school before, and this definitely wouldn't be more nerve-wracking than that.

The other aviators didn't notice us right away, giving Nat and I time to chat and catch up and swap stories from our lives in peace. Our drinks arrived, and not too long after, we were up for our first duet of the night. We shared a smile and did the handshake we'd come up with in middle school, then headed up to the stage.

A few of the aviators whooped when they saw us, and I saw Nat trying to hide a smile. Like pool, we were good at this, and if there was one thing I knew about my best friend, it was that she loved showing off, especially when she could flex on the guys.

The music started and Nat and I fell into our familiar, ridiculous routine, dancing and singing our hearts out to a performance we'd had down for the better part of a decade. The audience faded away a little as my best friend and I hammed it up, enjoying the opportunity to be silly with each other again. By the time we finished, the crowd was cheering for us, and I could tell from the looks on the faces of the other Top Gunners that they were well and truly impressed. As they should've been.

We spent the rest of the night laughing, drinking, and occasionally singing. Some of Nat's friends wandered over to talk or try to join us, but we chased them all off after a few minutes. They seemed nice enough, but the whole point of Galentine's Day was to spend it with my best friend, with no distractions (especially from men). The one and only exception for the entire night was Rooster, who convinced us to join him for a three-person song on stage. His energy matched ours enough that we said yes, and we had the whole place rocking and cheering and singing by the time our song was over.

"That was great! Phoenix, I didn't know you were so good at karaoke!" Rooster called over the noise of the bar as we headed off the stage. It was getting late, but the energy of the bar just seemed to be ratcheting up more and more, no one showing signs of tiring.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Rooster," she said, shooting him a grin. He laughed, then turned to me.

"You should be here all the time. Do you know what I'd give to regularly see Hangman lose at pool?"

I laughed. "Nat can take him any day of the week, with or without me!"

"Yeah, but he knows that. Watching you clean his clock was even better than usual."

"Well maybe next time I need your help planning a surprise visit, it'll be to surprise Hangman with absolute destruction in a bunch of competitions."

"All you have to do is say the word, and you can count me in to help."

The three of us shared a smile, and then Rooster gestured back towards the small karaoke stage.

"Should I put us in for another song?"

Natasha and I shook our heads at the same time, which got an eyebrow raise out of Rooster.

"Sorry, but it's Galentine's Day," I said.

"Which means we're not hanging out with any of the male population of my program. You got one exception, Roos, but that's it."

"It was nice to meet you in person, though! And thanks again for the help surprising Nat!"

Rooster just stared at us like he wasn't quite sure whether we were serious. We didn't give him a chance to formulate a question before turning around, arm in arm, and heading back to our table. I heard him bark out a laugh as we went, but neither of us turned around.

"So what's the plan?" asked Nat as she slid back into her seat. "Do we need to come up with our next song, or do you have something else on our itinerary?"

"Something else! So finish your drink, because we're out of here."

She raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't ask any questions as she did as I said. She knew me well enough to know she'd never get the details of a surprise out of me, if I didn't want to give them.

A few moments later, we paid and headed out of the bar. We didn't give the other aviators a backwards glance before stepping out into the cool night air of San Diego. I smiled, taking in a deep breath and linking my arm with Nat's again.

"So where are we going?" she asked after doing the same.

"Don't you worry. Just follow me."

She shook her head, but she was grinning nonetheless as we began our short walk. Less than five minute later, we found ourselves at the edge of the beach, looking out at the night sky reflected against the dark water. I dropped my arm from Nat's to pull off my shoes, then stepped out into the sand.

"The beach feels like a good end to the holiday to me. What do you think?" I asked, turning back to look at Nat with a smile. She grinned, quickly ditching her own shoes to join me.

"I think you're right."

The two of us walked along the surf for a little while, before finding a spot we liked to sit down in the sand, shoulder to shoulder, looking out at the water while the waves gently lapped up on shore. I sighed, leaning back on my hands and staring up at the stars.

"I miss living near you," I mused. She sighed, dropping back onto her elbows, almost fully laid out on the sand.

"I miss living near you, too. But just think. When I eventually retire from the Navy, we can get houses next to each other and be ridiculous, chaos-causing women heading into our late middle age and still act like dumb twenty year-olds together."

I snorted. "Alright yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to that."

Natasha sighed, and we sat there in comfortable silence for a while, staring at the beautiful night before us. After a moment, I dropped my head onto her shoulder. We sat like that for a long time, just enjoying being in the same place again, at least for a little while.

I didn't want to leave in a few days; I wanted longer here, more time spent with my best friend in the world. But I knew, no matter how far apart we moved or how long we went without talking sometimes, she would always be there for me, and I would always be there for her. And no boyfriend, governmental agency, or other job or circumstance would ever come in the way of that.

We were forever-Galentines.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

Top Gun Taglist: @elenavampire21

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skye-huntress · 11 months

Text

The Witch from Mercury Season 2 Reaction

Episode 20: “What We Can Do Now”

I watched this a bit late, so I watched the episode all at once and only wrote down a couple notes, so things might be a bit out of order. Overall, this episode was clearly the setup to the Final Battle.

Looking at the damage, its clear that Norea and Sophie were holding back during the rumble ring. That whole thing really was nothing more than a distraction.

One positive from this tragedy is that Suletta has found her footing and seems in her element. If building schools doesn’t work out, she should consider a career in crisis response.

Also, before I forget, someone get this woman a couch before someone else dies.

Petra is still alive, barely. Who knows when she’ll wake up when Delling has remained in a coma this entire season.

Of course, Guston came to Asticassia to bring Suletta back into the plot.

Speaking of the Space Assembly League, seems Peil have jumped ship and are now “brave whistleblowers”, as if they weren’t the worst of the Benerit Group. How did they even find out about Quiet Zero?

Sarius seems willing to have Grassley take the fall for the Group. To be fair, a lot of the recent drama can be traced back to Shaddiq’s actions with the resources he gained from being Sarius’ heir.

Back to the school, all secrets are being revealed here: Quiet Zero, Ericht, the Repli-Children.

Suletta seems to have a pretty clear head about these things, Prospera will always choose Eri over everything and everyone else.

Of course, there’s another Gundam! What does Cathedra even do?

So it’s called Caliburn and is referred to as a “monster”. It really does sound like it is genuinely cursed, like it’d kill anyone who even tried to pilot it regardless of the permit score.

And now it is time to fire up the Apocalypse Machine. I guess they didn’t really need Miorine to be President. It was probably just a convenient cover, especially for Prospera to go to Earth and wreck house.

And so Aerial destroys an entire fleet with ease, and she’s only hitting her stride. Again, Number 4 said it best, the only why to beat a Gundum is with another Gundam.

After a string of failures, Number 5 is prepared to do plot things in order to get out of Asticassia and do whatever it is he feels he needs to do. Speculation time, it’s either go to Earth, or its to personally hand in his resignation to the Peil CEOs and Elan Ceres. Personally hoping for the latter, because how satisfying would that be. I might even decide I like him.

Okay, Lauda. Pinning all this on Miorine is an interesting choice. She actually has very little to do with most of your troubles. Most of the blame falls on your father and Shaddiq.

#the witch from mercury #g witch #g witch spoilers

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kathaniiisharma · 2 years

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How about #46 + Jockthany???

“Hey, have you seen the..? Oh.” + Jockthony

Okay, this is probably one of the sillier but my personal favourite pieces of Jockthony lore we came up with so I’m glad it fits with this prompt. It’s ridiculous.

——

Kate has never had much in terms of money. Her family got by well enough when her appa was alive but budgets got tighter after losing him so she learned to get by her own way. She was a regular at the thrift stores, putting together her own unique style, always ready to alter clothes to fit her better or add a special twist to an item.

It’s no different when she and Sophie move into a flat together for university. Sophie was in a similar financial situation and they often shopped together. The majority of their furniture is secondhand and fixed up by Kate herself.

Anthony, of course, is fascinated because his mother imports their furniture and makes sure it’s nothing but the best quality. He cannot believe Kate reupholstered the chairs in the dining room herself. It amazes him. He mentions getting a new desk and shows her the catalogue his mother gave him. Kate takes one look at it and tosses it aside.

"Absolutely not. Get your coat. We're going thrifting."

The desk she picks out at the charity shop meets all his requirements but he’s skeptical, it’s old and scratched up, seemingly having its best days behind it.

“Maybe we should look at the catalogue again.” He says, not yet able to see the potential Kate sees.

“I will have a new desk for you by Monday, just trust me.”

He shows up early the next day with coffee and pastries, ready to help though, in the end, he mostly feeds her and hands her things. “It’s so much work for a desk, babe.”

“Yes, but when it’s done no one else is going to have a desk like yours.” She explains pointing to a little shelf with different paint and tells him to pick one. He picks a deep blue.

Daphne comes over to visit two weeks later and is surprised to see his new desk. A pop of colour in his usually stark-looking flat.

“Was this in the catalogue mom sent? I don’t remember it.” She asks, remembering how Anthony asked for her opinion.

"Daph! Did you know that you can buy used furniture and fix it and decorate it however you want?"

”Yes Anthony, we give all of our old furniture to charity shops. Is that where you got this?”

“Kate did it, isn’t it incredible?”

Daphne is genuinely impressed and asks Kate if she’d help her redecorate her bedroom this summer.

“Oh, Anthony actually helped me with the desk but I’d love to,” Kate explains, never one to take all the credit herself.

“I handed her all the tools she needed. It was a joint effort.” Anthony explains as he hugs Kate from behind.

Meanwhile, the reality of it is that Kate tried desperately to stop Anthony from hurting himself. “Anthony if you stand there all the dust is going to get directly on you. Babe, you’ll cut your hand with that. Don’t sniff that!”

"I feel lightheaded."

"Yes! It's paint thinner!"

Once they both graduate, they buy a house together in London. Well, Anthony buys the house but Kate is determined to contribute as they make the house their own.

Unfortunately for Anthony, the home has very high ceilings that Kate has plans for. She refuses to live in a cold, boring house. He is panicked when Kate goes on a ladder to do some detail work on the walls.

“Hey, babe? Have you seen the… oh. No, no, no. Sweetie, that's pretty high up."

"Yup."

"Should maybe we get a harness or some mattresses on the ground?"

"Nope."

"Please."

"Anthony, the ladder is sturdy. Stop worrying."

"I don't think that's possible." He says as hovers beneath her the entire time she's up there, making her promise to not do anything that needs the big ladder unless he's home.

After it’s clear that Kate has no intention of giving up being parched on ladders, he steals one of her sketchbooks to come up with ideas to keep her from injuring herself, growing more desperate with each attempt at a solution. Kate is unaware of his attempts until a couple of weeks later as she sits down to sketch. Her personal favourite idea is a bubble wrap suit he designed but had seemingly given up. Kate frames it and keeps it on her desk. He’d even labelled each part of it.

‘Love of my life’

‘Ladder’

‘Bubble Wrap’

‘Me (very worried)’

Anthony barely remembers doing it until he sees it in her office one day and feels mildly embarrassed by it.

“Are you kidding me? That’s the sweetest thing anyone's ever attempted to do for me.” Kate insists as she settles on his lap.

“Yeah?”

“Yes and I think it’s cute you tried to put muscles on the stick figure of yourself.”

“Drawing curly hair is hard. I didn’t do you justice.” He rests his chin on her shoulder as they admire his work.

“My boobs look good though.”

“I redid that three times, wanted to depict you as accurately as possible.”

“Babe, that’s not accurate. They’re massive but I’ll take it.”

“They look like that all the time.” Insists Anthony.

“In a push-up bra maybe.”

Anthony reaches his arms around his wife and cups her boobs to compare them to his drawing. “No, I’m pretty sure I got them right.”

They continue their conversation with him holding her boobs. “You’d have to halve the boobs on that drawing for it to be accurate.”

“You can’t criticize art, Kate. Isn’t that what you always say?”

#*meme #jockthony #*fic #kanthony

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mamthew · 8 months

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I replayed Tales of Graces F. The main game took 53 hours and the post-game Lineages and Legacies story took another 13.

Graces is a weird beast. It first released on the wii in 2009, but we didn't get it stateside until Graces F, the PS3 remaster with a bonus post-game story, 3 years later in 2012. There's broadly two main Tales dev teams with fairly different styles and design philosophies, Team Symphonia and Team Destiny, and this was the first of Team Destiny's games to actually make it stateside since their first game, Tales of Destiny, in 1997. This means that when I first played this game, I was pretty taken aback both by how much better the combat flowed and how much worse the story and characters were than in other Tales games I'd played. Though it took a while for me to realize that the combat flowed better, as the game starts with a 5-hour intro section where the combat is stripped down to almost nothing as an excuse for a tutorial.

The game's story is somehow both meandering and too-focused. When protagonist Asbel was ten, he met two children who changed his life. One was Sophie, a mysterious girl with amnesia and magic powers, and the other was Richard, the prince of the neighboring kingdom. During this meeting, Sophie died horribly, Asbel's brother Hubert was sold to the lord of a faraway nation, and Asbel ultimately ran away to join the knights. Seven years later, Sophie mysteriously returns from the dead, Hubert comes home and exiles Asbel from their hometown, and Asbel aligns himself with Prince Richard, who quickly turns out to be evil. As Asbel, Sophie, and other party members wander from country to country, they keep seeing more proof that Richard is not only evil but will soon destroy the planet if left unchecked, but Asbel is so convinced that their brief friendship from when they were both children was so real that he can't bring himself to oppose him. Rinse and repeat for hours of Asbel and Sophie lamenting "but Richard's our friend!" while Richard demolishes countries and finally tries to drain the planet itself of all life.

It's pretty bad, and made worse by how one-note the characters are and, most frustratingly, the fact that Asbel is proven right in the end. The game isn't well-written generally. It has a bad habit of giving characters thought bubbles with internal dialogue that make already telegraphed emotions way too plain, as though the writers didn't trust the audience to understand that a character bowing his head with tears in his eyes is probably sad. Despite all that, though, the skits are still mostly fun. The characters may all be pretty flat, but they bounce well off each other, and their performances are mostly good, sometimes great. Jamison Price as Malik, Cassandra Lee Morris as Sophie, and Laura Bailey as Cheria are clearly the best, though everyone besides Asbel and Richard do well, and for those two I think it has a lot more to do with voice direction than the actors themselves.

Ideologically, Graces is kind of a mess. All the politics of the game are really just different venues for Asbel to be sad about Richard in, rather than actual political systems, but it's still distressing that Richard is objectively the right choice to be king of his country, even after he tried to destroy all life on earth. The game also goes to great lengths to convince us that Asbel and Hubert's physically abusive father who sold one of his sons to an emotionally abusive father on the other side of the world was a paragon of virtue, trying to do the right thing by children who simply weren't mature enough to understand, yet. Malik's story is that of an exiled revolutionary returning to his homeland still ruled by a fascist dictator and realizing he should have stayed and become a reformist in the fascist government, then doing just that, working with the dictator to bring central heating to the impoverished masses and at one point sentencing another revolutionary to exile for refusing to work within the system. It's generally all pretty yikes, but feels mostly incidental, less like the writers are actually saying anything about their worldview and more like they were scrambling to find ways to add flavor to their story about some kids who really don't want to fight their shitty friend.

Despite all the agonizing over not getting a Tales release at the time, I'm glad we got Graces F and not the original wii release. While it looks kinda rough for a PS3 game, the HD does help the visuals a lot. Also, the Lineages and Legacies story does a lot to make the characters more likable and interesting than in the main game. It feels like the writers were excited to do things with the characters again, and made them all more fun and playful while also giving them added depth. Asbel makes his only interesting decision of the main story about five minutes before the end of the game, so it's genuinely engaging to see him and his friends grappling with the fallout from that decision. It makes all of them much more rounded than they ever were in the main story and I'm kinda sad that it's only about 15% of the experience.

Where Graces shines, though, is its combat. It is still, over a decade later, the best combat system in the entire series, fast-paced and rewarding split-second decision-making while always making the player feel strong with flashy standard moves and rapid-fire super moves. I used Hubert when I played the game twice back in 2012, and every time I picked him up this playthrough, it was like I hadn't skipped a beat. I immediately remembered his full moveset and what to use in what situations, is how much the combat sets into your bones. This time, I used Asbel, and while I think Hubert is more fun, Asbel's more balanced style was definitely useful in a lot more situations.

Team Destiny's games don't use TP for their moves like Team Symphonia's do, making their system feel more like fighting game combos rather than a game of resource management. There's downsides to this style, of course. If using moves doesn't really have long-term drawbacks then move choices can feel more arbitrary. But in the moment it feels like flying. Add to that a dodge mechanic that's more user-friendly, immediate, and rewarding than dodging in any other Tales game, and a system that lets you pull off huge mystic artes just from racking up enough combo, and the bad story really doesn't hinder the moment-to-moment enjoyment of the game all that much. Hubert's one of my favorite Tales characters and it's not because he's complex or has a rewarding story arc. It's because he has a double-bladed sword that can fold into a bow or break into two swords, each of which folds into a handgun, and sometimes he makes it rain arrows, building up 50 combo before he shoots lasers out of his hands. Sometimes that's enough.

#tales of series #tales of graces #tales of graces f

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wormholxtreme · 6 months

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@soullesstrouble said: ' i just think you formed a bad relationship. ' // from magus when we are here simping and all 🤣

That was the understatement of the century. But how could things with Adam be bad when everything felt right with him every time they were together. Yeah, there was something profoundly depressing that her love life now was subjected to the whims of one Adam Warlock but at least she knew where she stood with him. All the guesswork of what he was planning, plotting, of his true feelings for her never entered her mind. When he was home he was hers and hers alone and when he wasn't she had a slew of other people in her life to keep her content. It may not have been the romantic storybook ending one read as a little girl, but most of the world's thoughts on love were unattainable to begin with. This system worked for her and Adam. It could keep working until the end of time.

That is until Adam sat across from her now. The plush setting area in his space craft was homey, no doubt to help Kaylee feel at ease. He’d set the drinks on the table in front of them, watching her every move as she sat, one leg bent under her comfortably. She probably should have felt nervous, knowing how dangerous he was, knowing that she had made the deal to accompany him for the safety of the other and all of Earth. She couldn’t help but feel at ease in his presence though, he was Adam. No, not Adam. Adam…adjacent? Though Kaylee had a feeling if she said that Magus would not have appreciated it. It was a struggle to keep all of his words straight in her head. The problem with a Warlock was time was not linear, and neither was his other half's storytelling.

“So you are Adam but from the future come back to stop me from doing something heroically stupid?” Kay was trying to put the pieces together, it didn't all make the most sense to her yet. But the moment the sperm donor's name for her child left Magus's mouth Kaylee nodded in agreement. “I would burn that mother fucker down to ash if I could.” She said darkly. The years removed from the incident at least eased some of her pain but her bitterness remained intact much like the scars across her abdomen. She felt the surge of power rush through her veins, the lightning marks flashing on her skin in a faint glow. The mere mention of him sent a dark purple hue in her eyes. She shook her head, that glow fading from her skin, her eyes clearing out to a sky blue after a storm. It’d been eight years. Eight years of waiting for the Titan to dare to make a move. Eight years of living her life between Adam’s visits. Eight years of feeling like the storm of losing Sophie would drown her. Eight years of healing.

Kaylee's head tilted curiously. “I don’t think it’s bad. We have a system.” she tried to explain as matter-of-factly as possible. The truth was, as much as their system worked, it was only an appeasement. Kaylee had all but given up on her life being anything more than it was. She was a mother, a hero, a friend, a daughter, a sister. All of these labels and they each brought with them a certain joy and contentment but that storybook love? The kind that people watched movies and read poetry for? Kaylee learned long ago the closest thing she would get to that were the small moments of reprieve with Adam when he graced her with his presence. Even then she had to keep herself in check. It was far too easy to give herself over to him fully, to give him every ounce of her love and soul. She didn’t know how to love any other way. So she chose to love him in whatever capacity he could accept. And it worked. She knew there was no one in the universe that would care for her heart the way Adam would. If she was going to be blemished by love regardless, at least this way, she knew the only person that might get hurt in the process was herself. And Adam…Adam was worth the pain.

She sighed, propping her elbow up on the back of the couch, resting her chin in her hand. “You know, as cordial as we’re being now, I’m not going to help you with universal domination right? Been there. Done that. It’s not my cup of tea.”

#soullesstrouble #[character thread; kaylee danvers stark]#((XD Kaylee just casually talking it up with Magus is such a funny image in my head okay and I love it))

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