#hopefully it’s only a few. like my nose is just kinda itchy.

[waterfallofspace]

The Stray Saga

The one in which R/ei tries to adopt some cats, and K/azuki deals with the fallout of these choices. Set pre-M/iri, inspired heavily by the fact that we canonically know R/ei liked to take home strays, and well, snzbrain said ‘what if there was another reason he can’t keep them’. Absolutely not canon, or canon based, but hopefully that’s forgivable for the sake of –the plot– hahaha~ (does contain references to drinking/being drunk, as well as swearing and mentions of violence, so please be cautious if you dislike those things~) I do not claim to be good at this, first attempt trying b/uddy d/addies, so please excuse the lack of experience hahaha~ I am not confident in my ability to get their voices down, but I gave it an attempt! Also the ending is not my favourite, but I kinda didn’t know where to take it, soooo hopefully it’s acceptable~ Posting before I lose the nerve! Characters: R/ei (sneezy boi in this one), K/azuki, & a few cute kitties

Word Count: 4.5k 

“The First”

The first thought Kazuki had as he let himself stumble through the doorway was ‘I probably shouldn’t have had that last drink’. As the pounding headache he knew would emerge tomorrow morning started to push against his temples, the second thought he had was ‘I wish Rei would stop smoking in the apartment’. The third was ‘meow’. “Wait… what?” Even drunk, Kazuki couldn’t say he’d ever made animal noises in his head before… Maybe he was going insane. It would figure, living with a maniac that should have been committed years ago, and he was the one that goes ins-

“Mrreow” Another suspiciously cat-sounding noise cuts through his internal dialogue, this time definitely not coming from inside his head. Stumbling down the hallway, and leaning himself against the counter, Kazuki nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight in front of him. Rei hadn’t moved an inch from when he’d left for the club, and yet, somehow, instead of a controller, there was a kitten sitting in his lap. The smoke lazily rising from an ashtray sitting on the table was almost enough to hide the unmistakable smell of tuna radiating from an open can tha- yep, that sat right next to his hand on the counter. 

“Is that a cat?” He got nothing but a lazy snff in return, as Rei’s eyes never left the tv screen, where some video game related video was playing, volume muted, but captions on. Weird, he normally only watched like that when his head was bothering him. “I hate that I know that” Oh whoops, he said that out loud. Being drunk was certainly blurring the lines between internal and external dialogue. One of the unfortunate side effects that Rei seems immune from, typical for Mr. No-Weakness himself. ‘No Weakness’ except the utter lack of ability to care for himself.

His spiraling thoughts were cut off by an unusual noise coming from the direction of the pair lounging on the couch. At first Kazuki wasn’t sure if it came from Rei or the cat, till he watched a hint of desperation flash over Rei’s normally lazily annoyed featured, before he crashed into his hand with another light “hH’gxDT!uhh”. He was impressively still for it, careful not to disturb the ball of fur curled up in his lap, despite the itchy sigh he let out after signaling that this subdued explosion did nothing to relieve the tickle behind it. “Bless yo-” “heh’kTSHH! Ihh… hIH’kZZSHUE!” “Christ Rei, bless you, are you… alr… are you alright?” The desperation of them suggested the earlier stifle had definitely not been the first, and upon closer inspection, Kazuki could see the red tint around his nose, and the water threatening to release itself from his eyes. To his credit, despite releasing some of the most itchy sounding sneezes Kazuki had ever heard, Rei managed to not move his lap or disturb his guest sleeping in it. “You’re home late.” He grumbled, voice hoarse enough to make Kazuki wince, even after just a handful of words. 

“Lost track of time, had- had a good night atttt the casino, maybe had a few… few too… few too many drinks. You didn’t ans- answer my…. my question.” This earned him a low groan, quickly followed by a desperate gasp as Rei leaned into his shoulder to try and contain a harsh “hh’KSCHHue! Hehh! hh’ZZSHH’UE!uhhh… haHH’GNXXT’huhhh” only succeeding in gaining enough control to half stifle the last one, seemingly much to his annoyance, as he coughed roughly with a deep snfff. 

“That’s still not an ans… answer.” “You sound drunk.” “I am drunk, what’s yo- your… what’s your… excuse.” 

Man he was way more out of it than he thought, and he could feel himself fading into the sweet release of sleep, each blink seeming to take forever, eyes hesitating to open again.

“I’m going to sleep now, we’ll t- ta- talk about thhhhe cat in-the mornin’.” He barely managed to get out, before slinking up the stairs, with more difficulty than he’d care to admit, before finally collapsing in his bed for a well earned nights sleep. 

~~~~~~~

Kazuki was definitely more of a morning person than Rei, but that did not mean he was eager to get up before the sun did. And yet, for some reason, his room was still dark, yet he was wide awake. The pounding in his head he had anticipated was actually quite manageable compared to some past ones, and he chalked it up to the frankly atrocious amount of coffee and water he had consumed before coming home from the bar. “hehh’nggXT!uhhh. nngxxt! Hh’ihhzzshhue!” The reason for his early awakening quickly revealed itself, and Kazuki pulled himself out of bed, opening his door, to find the alarming sight of Rei sitting on the stairs, sniffling pathetically against his wrist. “Morning?” A low grumble was all he got in response, though it wasn’t out of rudeness, more desperation, as Rei gasped again, letting another rough “iihh’zsshhue!” go against his shoulder. They sounded less harsh then last night, but by no means less itchy.  “Bless you. Alright, are you getting sick or something? Because I really do not want whatever this is that’s got you sitting outside my door at whatever-the-shit-o’clock.”  “Snfff- I’m not sick. And it’s nearly 10am. I woke up and there was no breakfast.” Kazuki frantically turned towards the window to see that- yep, there was definitely sunlight coming in. Apparently his drunken self had decided he didn’t want to be woken up, and blocked any form of sunlight from entering his room. ‘Mental note, remind me to thank myself for the lovely experience of seeing Rei sitting outside waiting for food like a stray ca-  “There was a cat.” “There is a cat.” Kazuki pinches the bridge of his nose as he tries to take stalk of everything he knows through the haze of a hungover morning. There was a cat. There was cat food, and Rei was holding the cat. There was also no breakfast because he had just woken up. So, in conclusion, Rei had found another creature for him to have to care for. “Come down and I’ll make french toast. We’re not keeping the cat.” Rei said nothing, but let out a low grumble and stared daggers towards the wall after the last part, still standing up to follow Kazuki down to the kitchen. The mess waiting for him wasn’t unexpected, however the dozen cans of tuna sitting open and untouched on the counter wasn’t exactly Rei’s normal kind of mess.  As he started cleaning them up, Kazuki felt a soft brush against his leg, followed by a deep stinging pain. “Wha-?” He squeaked, eyes turning down to the cat currently attempting to use him as a personal scratching pole. “Hey! Quit it.” He was gentle, but firm, as he pried the claws out of his leg, letting out a low whine as the cat seemed to decide this refusal meant he was offering cuddles instead, electing to hop onto the counter and plant itself right on top of his food. Rei, for his part, was letting out a deeply stifled laugh, the only noises escaping his shaking frame seeming oddly strangled, almost as if the air was attempting to enter his lungs, but refused. “Oh, this is funny to you? First you wake me by sneezing outside my door, then demand breakfast- a meal I know you won’t even thank me for, then proceed to laugh at the stray you brought into this house ruining my food?” Rei seemed like he was considering responding, but the choice was very quickly taken from him, as he instead ducked into his hands with a rapid- “hh’zschhue-ihhzschh’ue-hahh’gnxxt!”  “Bless you. Wash your hands, like I said, I don’t want whatever this is. And we’re not keeping the cat, Rei. I’ll bring her somewhere after breakfast. I know a few girls at the casino who would love to have her as a pet.” Rei looked up over his cupped hands with a look that, on anyone else, Kazuki would probably call dismayed. Oh hell, or even ‘sad’. But this wasn’t anyone else, this was Rei. And in their line of work, tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. They both knew that.  Besides, it was enough that he looked after Rei. He didn’t need to add a cat to that equation. Especially hungover with a sick Rei. Like promised, once breakfast was finished, he took the cat to the girls, who for their part, were overjoyed. Weirdly, by the time he got home, all the cat food had disappeared, and Rei was planted back on the couch with his game, not a single sign of cold left. Kazuki decided not to question it, whether he had taken meds, suddenly shaken it, or just never had one to begin with, it wasn’t his problem. He had a job to prepare for and christ knows Rei wasn’t planning on helping. ~~~~~~~ “The Second” The job hadn’t gone as planned, ‘like it ever does’ Kazuki thought, as they drove back in utter silence. He had a plan, he always had a plan, but of course he hadn’t known about the big bosses' deep fear of lizards ‘lizards, of all things, really?’.   And you see, because some higher deity somewhere had decided screwing with him was a great way to pass the time, a lizard just happened to crawl its way into the boss's office. Right as Kazuki was trying to get into position outside the door. Thus, sending the boss running and screaming right into him, alerting every guard in the place.  Thankfully for him, Rei was already in position, so after shooting the boss, and ducking behind a doorway to avoid fire from the henchmen outside, he beelined for Rei’s line of sight. This quickly rid him of his chasers, and he grabbed Rei’s arm and bolted for the car, mission practically accomplished. However, the most shocking part of the whole mission, and also why they were sat merely inches apart without a single word, was sitting in Rei’s lap, purring. How this man managed to find a stray kitten while attempting an assassination was beyond Kazuki, but despite protests, the kitten had been brought with them. Not an emotion showed on his face, and yet somehow Kazuki knew that should he attempt to rid them of the kitten, Rei was prepared to do whatever it took to get it back. So, they rode in silence. Actually, silence was the wrong word. It wasn’t a lack of sound, it was a lack of words. But sounds, there were plenty of those. The kitten purring, the car’s engine humming, and Rei’s nearly constant sniffles. After the first few, Kazuki had asked if he was alright, earning him an eye roll and a sigh.  “Hihh’nngt!huhh. ihH! Ih’ngxxt!uhhh”  And then there was that. He didn’t understand the point of suppressing them like that. Sitting right next to him, it’s not as if he couldn’t still hear them, and the laboured exhales suggested they were taking more effort then he let on. Kazuki supposed it had to do with not jarring the kitten, though considering how Rei gets when he’s sick, he wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with control. He didn’t know a lot about Rei’s upbringing, but what he did know didn’t seem all that nurturing.  “Bless you. Are you alright?” It was met with another eyeroll, this time accompanied by an itchy sounding sigh. That seemed to be a mistake, the flow of air triggering another set of sneezes. “hehh’nKXTT!uhhh… hhh… hehh’gNNT!shhh”  “Bless you. You don’t sound good, are you coming down with something?” “No.” One word is still better than nothing, however shallow the answer may feel. It doesn’t help that it’s followed by a desperate sniffle and rough clearing of his throat. “You sure? It’s okay if you are, but I’d prefer to know so I can stock up on meds and supplies, plus I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for fair warning if I’m about to be down for the count.” “I’m not sick.” Would’ve been more convincing if it didn’t end up sounding like ‘I’b dot sick’.  “hAH’ZZSCHHUE! Hehh! hH’RSSHHUE! EHH’ZZSCHH’UEE!”  The outburst nearly causes Kazuki to swerve into oncoming traffic. His wide eyed glance at Rei seems to paint a slight pink tint on the other’s face, as he slowly comes up from where he’d barely managed to catch the sneezes in his hand. The kitten mews in protest at the movement, but quickly settles back down with a soft scratch behind the ears. “Jesus christ Rei, you gotta warn me, I nearly killed us! Bless you by the way.” “Sorry. I didn’t feel them coming.” “Alright, but you do realize this is going on the column of points towards ‘sickness’ not ‘health’, yeah?” “I’m not sick.” This time it was Kazuki who rolled his eyes, pulling the car over to the side of the road so he could turn and give Rei his full attention. “Okay, then explain the mess that is you right now, because I’m not buying it.” Rei seemed to find the road beside them suddenly fascinating, the slightly pink tint darkening just a tad. Unnoticeable to the untrained eye, however Kazuki’s was anything but. He reached out a hand to Rei’s forehead, surprised to feel no unusual warmth. At the sensation, Rei’s eyes met his, eyebrows slightly raised. Kazuki sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, removing his hand. “Just testing, you really don’t sound good, but no fever. A cold maybe?” “I’m n- hH’KTCH’shiew!” The high pitched nature of the ending seemed to catch them both by surprise, with Rei offering a slight eye roll, seemingly aimed at himself, before ducking into his shoulder, away from Kazuki. “ehhtzzzshhuee! hAH’kngxxt!uhhh”  “Bless you again. You shouldn’t do that, ya know.” “It’s not like I’m exactly making the choice to sneeze.” Kazuki barely contains the urge to hit him, settling instead for an eye roll. “Not sneeze, I mean, suppress them like that. It’s gotta hurt, I mean shit, it hurts me to listen to you do it.” “It’s a habit. Hard to break.” Kazuki is taken aback a bit by the honesty, borderline vulnerability in the admittance. He goes to start a sentence, but isn’t quite sure how to respond to that. It feels a bit like taming a wild animal. Answer wrong and he might retreat even further behind his walls. Thankfully for him, he doesn’t need to ponder a response for long, as the silence is soon filled with a deep inhale, followed by-   “hehHH! Hahh…. Ihh…. hDT-” Aaaand nothing. Rei sniffles harshly, bringing up a hand to rub his nose, a tear escaping his watery eyes as they crush shut with a harsh “hH’ETSCHH’ieww!”  “Bless you, again. Come on, level with me, you say you’re not sick, alright, I believe you. Then do you know what’s causing this? Something’s up, and I’m prepared to drive you straight to the doctor if you don’t fess up.” Rei’s once again avoiding his glances, but this time his focus drifts down to the ball of fur still, somehow, peacefully purring in his lap. Kazuki takes a beat to think, staring back up at Rei’s watery eyes, twitching nose, pink tinted cheeks, and then back down at the sleeping kitten. A light but itchy cough breaks the silence as Rei once more seems to gear up for another fit, just as the pieces fall into place in Kazuki’s mind. “Oh you’ve gotta be shitting me!” “ehh’ZSSCHHue! hh’eTSHHH’ieww! Hehh…. hahH’SCHH’iew!” “You’re allergic to the cat? And you kept it in the car? And in your lap?”  “It’s a stray, it needs a home.” “And you need to be able to breathe! And I need to be able to drive us home without crashing! Look, okay, we’re on a nice street, it’s a good neighbourhood, someone will find it and give it a good home. That someone just can’t be you.” Rei still won’t meet his eyes, but the slight wheeze in his breath is enough to decide the matter for Kazuki. He gently scoops the kitten out of Rei’s lap, not met with much resistance, though the protest is shown through an attempt to sigh at him. Instead of a sigh, his lungs just let out a low wheeze and his breath catches once more. “hihh’ETTCHH’uhhh!” Kazuki opens his car door and walks to the first house on the block, gently placing the kitten on the doorstep, and ringing the bell, before quickly making his escape back to the car. ‘It’ll be well cared for’ he tells himself. He follows it up with a mental note to pick up allergy medication on their way home as he watches Rei duck violently into his hands four times as he walks back to the car. “Bless you. I’m sorry you couldn’t keep the cat, Rei.” No answer comes, aside from a light whistling noise when he breathes out a light sigh. The tension eases a bit after Kazuki brings him some allergy meds, a bottle of water, and a candy bar as an apology. Once they’re back at home, and not trapped in the dander infested car, the whistling in Rei’s lungs dies away as he sits back into his spot on the couch, picking up his controller, and diving back into his game. Kazuki decides to have the car cleaned before their next mission, claiming in his head that it’s to keep Rei from being compromised, though if he’s honest with himself, the wheezing near the end was still haunting his mind. It’s not like they tell each other everything, but something like a cat allergy this severe should have at least been mentioned, right..? ~~~~~~~~~~ “The Last”  So far the day had seemed like any other. Kazuki woke up, cooked breakfast, got no thank you (as usual), and went to work on the documents for their next job. The only difference was something most people would consider small, but to Kazuki, it felt like the end of the world as he knew it. Rei was not sitting on the couch. He had come down for food, eaten, and returned to his bedroom, locking the door behind him. Kazuki had heard some muffled sounds, but nothing specific enough to pinpoint, and honestly? It was starting to really set him on edge. There were some days where Rei would leave the house to go somewhere, usually just to the store to pick up a new game, or get some food he wanted. There were days when he would go to his room or the office for a while and clean his guns. But there had never, in the history of Kazuki living here, been a day where he stayed in his room the whole time without coming down to play games even once.  Finally, after Rei skipping the lunch he made, despite calling him down to eat, Kazuki decided enough was enough. Not being on the couch was off putting. Not playing games was enough to make him twitch. But skipping a meal? That was enough to shake him to his core.  Making his way to Rei’s room, he paused outside the door, suddenly very aware that he had absolutely no idea what he was about to walk in on. He reached up to knock, and let his hand hang in the air as he heard a noise from inside. “mMPFFSHH!uhh… hehh’MMFFSHHuee! haH’NGGXXT!uhhh”  “Hey, Rei? You in there?” Kazuki called, letting his knuckles hit the solid wood a few times to punctuate the question. A rough snfff is his reply, as well as a few itchy sounding coughs, before a hoarse voice calls back, “It’s open.” Gently pushing the door open, Kazuki half expects to see Rei laying on the floor bleeding out. What instead greets him is Rei, sitting on the floor, cross-legged, one wrist under his nose, the other hand not-so-subtly pulling the blanket from his bed down a bit further. “You didn’t come eat, I was a bit worried someone had finally got the drop on you. What… uh…. what are you doing..?” “I’m juuhhhst hehH-” He trails off, hand loosely held in front of his face, hazily staring at the ceiling, until after what feels like forever, “hH’KSSCHH’iew!” “Bless you.” With a harsh sniff and a clearing of his throat, Rei continues, ignoring the blessing. “Just working on some plans for a job.” Kazuki’s eyes follow Rei’s over to a stack of papers next to him. Sure enough, it looks like plans to a building Kyu had told them about the other day. However, this didn’t satisfy Kazuki’s curiosity, if anything, this was more worrying than bleeding out on the floor. “So you’re just… sitting up here alone… working on plans… that I didn’t ask you to…?”  “Yes.” “And you decided to do this, out of your own free will, just to be helpful?” “Yes.” “And because you were so wrapped up in working, you forgot to come eat lunch?” “Yehehh… hH’MMPFFSHH’ieww!”  Rei cuts himself off with a sneeze rapidly muffled in his arm. “Bless you. Yeah, I’m not buying it. You never do this kind of work without being practically begged, unless you have an ulterior motive. So what’s going on? Did you do something unforgivable, and this is how you’re hoping to get out of it?” Rei almost looks guilty, eyes darting to the space below his bed that his blanket was pulled down to cover. “What’s under your bed, Rei.” It’s a question, but it’s not phrased as one. More of a demand. “Nothing.” “Then lift up the blanket.” The silence in the room is palpable. The tension in the air making it feel as if it was vibrating, which apparently was all the motivation Rei’s twitching nose needed to rebel once more. “hH’TCHHuue! hEH’SHHH’ieww! ETSCHH-heh’TSHH-hH’RSHHoo!” “Bless you.” Slipped out before Kazuki could even think about it, a deeply ingrained habit. Technically Rei broke the silence first, but still, speaking the first words felt like admitting defeat. But he wouldn’t be broken that easily, he was an assassin after all. “Okay Rei, either you can lift up the blanket and show me, or I can do it myself, though that’ll be a bit awkward for both of us, so maybe do me a favour and do it yourself?” Rei’s watery eyes met his, guilt still visible beneath the surface. Wait a minute, watery eyes, weird behaviour, and of course the- “hihh’ZSCHHoo!”  “Rei. Are you hiding a cat in here?” There’s no answer, but at the moment, Rei isn’t exactly in a position to provide one, his eyes still closed, nose twitching wildly, wrist hovering in front of his face, breath hitching with no restraint. “A- are you alright..?” “Cahhh- can’t sneeze… wohhhn’t hihH- won’t come ouhhht… hDT-” Another itchy exhale follows, his nose practically vibrating at this point. Without stopping to think about it, Kazuki reaches out his hand, and gently runs his finger down the bridge of Rei’s nose, prompting a harsh gasp. “hEH! HH’ZZSHHHOO! hh’ETSCHHHOO! KTSSHHOO! Hihh… hehh! heHH’GTSHHOO!” “Bless you. Sorry about that, just looked like you needed it.” Kazuki said with a slight blush, refusing to meet Rei’s eyes as they risked a glance towards him. “It’s okay. Thanks, I guess.” “Yeah, let's not talk about it.” “Okay.” Kazuki didn’t miss the glance Rei threw back to his bed, sighing as it basically confirmed the earlier question Rei had avoided. “There’s a cat in here isn’t there.” “....Yes.” “You know you can’t keep it, right?” Rei just sighed, reaching under his bed and guiding a fluffy calico out. It purred sweetly, rubbing against Kazuki’s leg. Where Rei kept finding these friendly strays was lost on him, though he guessed there was a lot about this man that he still didn’t know.  “You’re allergic. Badly allergic. Why do you keep taking them in, knowing you can’t keep them?” There’s no answer to this one either, but something about the vulnerability in the look Rei takes on tugs on Kazuki’s heartstrings. “I’m too tired to go out tonight. It can stay for one more night, but I’m bringing it back to where you found it tomorrow. And you have to take meds, I’m honestly surprised you haven’t taken them already.” “I forgot.” His words are stuffy, and his sentence is short, but there’s a light in his eyes that Kazuki can’t deny is worth it. “Figures. Well, as I said, you can’t keep it. Just one more night, then it’s going back. In our line of work, we aren’t promised a tomorrow. We have to think about more than just ourselves. If we didn’t make it home, who would look after the cat? People who get hurt, it won’t just be us. You gotta think about that before you bring someone into your world.” There’s more meaning to the words than just a cat, and they both know it. But they also both know enough to not mention it. And there’s more to Rei wanting a cat then just wanting to take in strays. They both know that too. But again, the unspoken pact of silence remains. ~~~~~~~~~~ True to his word, Kazuki makes Rei take some meds, but lets him keep the cat for the night. When he wakes up in the morning and finds Rei asleep with the cat on the couch snuggled up to his chest, he almost breaks. But he can’t shake that voice in his head, the one that always likes to remind him that everyone they choose to love is in danger of losing them, or worse. Instead of waking Rei and making him go through a goodbye, Katsuki slips the cat into his arms, careful to close the door quietly. By the time he makes it back home, Rei is awake and gaming, no sign in his demeanour that there was ever something amiss. Kazuki thinks about telling him that he brought the cat back, but there’s no point. Rei knows that, and it’s not like telling him would change anything. “No more cats, okay?” There’s silence, but the slight sigh Rei releases gives him his answer. No more cats. Turns out, in a mere matter of weeks, it won’t matter to Rei anymore that they don’t have a cat. They get something much better, something that can give them both everything they’re missing. Fill a hole they didn’t even know they had~

#waterfallwrites #still so nervous to post but gonna do it anyways #5am writing vibes so it might be awful haha #b/d #r/ei and k/azuki #my beloveds~~ #snz #snzkink #snzfic #b/uddy d/addies

[camscendants]

I have now successfully pet a cat without sneezing like crazy

#I’m kinda allergic to cats #which is ironic #since yknow I love catra and my friend is always like ‘you are Literally a cat’ #I have a lot of cat like behaviors. and love cat characters #yet real cats make me sneeze #but yeah my brothers girlfriend has a cat and she brought her over and I got the cat to come to me #I meowed at it a lot. but yeah she’s a really nice cat I let her a lot and she was purring #*pet #I haven’t sneezed once since I did it #so yeah SUCSESS #my cousin has a cat. I always sneeze with that one #and also very ironic like every time I come into contact with a cat it’s always because of that brother. who is Also allergic to cats #like worse than me #so lol #wait shit I’m sneeeezing #hopefully it’s only a few. like my nose is just kinda itchy. #like yeah I think I’m done #cats #cat #cat allergy #catra

[gywin97]

Do you think you could write something for sabriel? It’s my favorite ship in spn but i just can’t find any good fics. I saw a comment from you about writing so just curious

“…this is new.”

Gabriel glanced over his shoulder at the younger hunter, standing in the doorway to his bedroom with a cup of coffee and his laptop. The archangel was sitting cross-legged on Sam’s bed, wearing Cookie-Monster pajama pants but completely shirtless. Usually that would be what grabbed Sam’s attention, but right now the six golden wings were stealing the show. Sure, Sam had technically seen them before as shadows when Gabriel was in a smiting mood, or maybe felt a gust of wind when the angel popped in for a surprise visit. But he’d never seen them like this, big and beautiful and sleek and getting feathers absolutely fuckin everywhere. It looked like Big Bird had blown up in his bedroom.

“Hey Sammy,” Gabriel said in his usually cheerful tone, although Sam noticed it sounded a little flat today. “Oooh, is that coffee? Can I have some?”

“Not on your life, not after the Redbull incident,” Sam warned, placing the coffee on the nightstand and well out of reach of the ADHD angel. “What’s going on?”

“Uh…” Gabriel shifted awkwardly, his eyes darting downwards and his hands curling in the bedsheets. “If I say it’s nothing, would you believe me?”

“No.”

“Figured,” he sighed, Gabriel’s face shifting into what could only be described as a pout, and Sam had to remind himself this was a godly being who would smite him without breaking a sweat. “Ok, so our feathers kinda turn from winter to summer feathers, and uh, the winter feathers have to go somewhere-”

“Are you saying you molting!?” Sam squeaked, then realized something else. “In my bed?! Gabriel!!”

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just – it’s really, reallyitchy, ok?” Gabriel almost whined the words, feathers ruffling along his wings in agitation. “Actually, that’s kinda why I’m here, I need a favor.”

Oh Chuck above. “A favour?”

“Nothing hard! Not even any murder involved!” Gabriel insisted quickly, holding up his hands to stop any oncoming complaints. “It’s just a vessel issue, that’s all. See, human body equals human joints. I uh, can’t reach my back side of my wings, especially close to my spine. I was hoping…”

“You want my help?” Sam couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice, the angel avoiding his eyes again. “Can’t you just, I don’t know, poof them away?”

“Poof them away – no, Sam, that’s not how it works,” Gabriel gave him a dirty look. “We can’t ‘magic’ our own wings. Dad’s little joke, to force all the angels to get along at least twice a year. Course, that was before we started stabbing our way through our family reunions, so now…”

“So this happens to everyone? To Cas, too?” The scientist in Sam got excited, hands itching to write all this down. “How does he deal with it?”

To his surprise, Gabriel looked at his toes. One hand scratched his shoulder, the celestial being fidgeting nervously as he though through his answer. “Well, since our brother’s have started doing the dirty deed-”

“-Dear god Gabriel-”

“He’s had Dean-o to help him out,” Gabriel explained, still not meeting Sam’s eyes. “Our grace can get a little wonkey, so we get an instinct to go find somewhere…”

“Somewhere?”

“…somewhere safe,” Gabriel said, his usually bright voice almost a whisper. “Or someone safe.”

Oh. Oh.

Sam wanted to smack himself when he realized what the annoying angel was trying to say. Gabriel’s instinct was to find somewhere safe, somewhere he felt he could let his guard down completely. To find someone who he trusted enough to show his vulnerability to.

And he’d come to Sam.

Gabriel must have seen the realization in his eyes, because he straightened his back and gave his usual cocky grin. “Hey, probably should have asked before I turned your room into a chicken coop. I-”

“How can I help?”

Gabriel stiffened, and Sam wished he could take a picture of his face. The angel looked almost cute like this, all big eyes with a little smile and small feathers mingled in his hair. The image gave the hunter a warm feeling in his chest, one he decidedly did not want to look to closely at. “Just…brush out the areas I can’t reach with your fingers, like you would with your hair. Oh, and some feathers will fall out when you do, so don’t freak out.”

“Alright,” Sam took a shaky breath and rearranged himself on the queen-sized bed, sitting directly behind the shorter man. He lifted one hand and tentatively touched the upper right wing, half expecting his hand to fall through like it was one of Gabriel’s illusions. Instead his hand landed on soft feathers, feeling hard bone and lean muscle just underneath. He gently pulled his hand downwards, sinking his fingers deeper into the fluff as he went along. Gabriel let out an audible sigh, as he did, a content little smile on his face.

“Mhmm…you’re a natural, Sam…” Gabriel wiggled slightly, directing his hand to a particularly itchy spot. “There, like that. Little left – Yeeeeeahhhh, like that.”

Sam grinned, enjoying the effect he had on the cocky angel. This being had seen and created galaxies, and yet here he was, almost purring as Sam moved his hands up and down the wings. A small pile of golden feathers compiled on the ground next to the bed, the pile growing bigger as Gabriel grew limper. By the time Sam had finished one side, he was basically holding the angel upright, his face completely at peace. The last time he’d seen someone with that blissed-out expression, Dean ate the wrong brownies and spent an evening gushing about how pretty Castiel’s eyes were.

Getting an idea, Sam finished the feather’s closest to the angel’s back, clearing out the last few loose feathers. Then he rested his right hand on Gabriel’s shoulder, gently pulling him towards his chest. Gabriel didn’t resist at all, easily falling backwards and laying limp against Sam. Honestly, Sam wasn’t even sure if the angel had noticed the change in position, but the action made a warm bubble appear in Sam’s chest. He wound one arm around the angel’s chubby waist, cautiously holding the angel even closer.

Gabriel made a happy little chirp, shifting a little so that his face was tucked into Sam’s collar bone. He wiggled a bit to get comfy, half on Sam’s lap at this point and showing no sign of moving. “Mhmm…hey, Sammy?”

Sam froze like Dean had caught him stealing the last piece of pie. Oh shit. “Uh, yeah?”

“I’m uh, really glad I came here,” the angel mumbled, not opening his eyes as he spoke. “Even if I messed up your bedroom.”

Sam gave a breathy laugh, tilting his head down and burying his nose in the golden-brown curls. His other arm snaked under the wings, pulling the pint-sized angel flush against his larger chest. “Good, because I’d be pissed if you went to Dean for this next time.”

“Cassie would smite me, possessive little chickadee,” Gabriel replied, and Sam could feel his body shake as he laughed. “Scout’s honor, I’ll only come to you for all my feathery needs from now on. Um, on one condition?”

“What is it?”

One hazel eye peeked open, looking up hopefully at the hunter. “Can you finish the other wings now? Please? Still itchy.”

Sam broke out in a laugh, unable to stop it. He hadn’t felt this happy in a long time, Gabriel pulling out a lightness that he’d almost forgotten. “Yeah Gabe, anything you want.”

Gabriel smirked, hazel eyes fully of mischief. “That’s a dangerous sentence to tell me, Sambo. Sure you wanna stand by that?”

Sam grinned, leaning down at kissing Gabriel’s shoulder, slowly moving up along his neck. The angel let out another happy little chirp, curling up against Sam like a kitten curling up in a sunbeam. Sam smile against his skin, the happy bubble in his chest growing bigger.

“Yeah, I’ll risk it.”

#Sabriel #Sam winchester #Gabriel #supernatural #fanfic #this is really quick and really rough i'm sorry

[yaya-does-things]

Can I get a Drabble of Raihan taking care of sick reader?

lol this idea was really cute! Thanks for sending in the request! It was kinda hard for me to think of an idea, but I kinda liked how it turned out! Also, nicknames like Babydoll and Babygirl are like my weaknesses??? Like of bae ever calls me that I’m sure I would like die on the spot.... ANYWAYYYYY enjoyyyyyy.

~~~~~

The weather in Galar was always patchy, with different cities experiencing different climates and temperatures. Stow-on-Side was always unbearably warm, while Circhester was always emanating the crispness of a cold, snowy season. However, city climates were bearable due to the fact that they stayed the same mostly year round. With this in mind, there’s also the fact that the biggest area in Galar consisted of the Wild Area, which contained the most random of weather patterns. So of course, when (name) found herself exploring the Wild Area for a few days to research pokemon and how they live, she experienced the many different temperatures. Going from immeasurably hot to storms of ice cold was never a good thing, and it also was never of help when random spots of rain came about. Sure, she found the rain a lovely feature, and was always happy to get drenched in it, but wasn’t very keen on the idea that perhaps staying out for too long would lead to an unpleasant surprise. It had been the second to last day when she started having an itchy feeling in the back of her throat, but paid no mind to it. She assumed it was due to lack of water and just continued to drink on. It wasn’t until the day that she arrived back home when a full blown cold had entered her system. 

The keys to her shared home jangled in the lock, and with a swift swing, the door was opened. She walked inside, her Togedemaru quickly scurrying between her legs to jump into his little bed he missed oh-so-much. She herself walked in with hopes of just lying down on her own bed, but only made it to the couch in the brightly lit living room. With a flop onto the couch, she rested her head against a pillow, while a hand was placed on her head as she closed her eyes. She was almost off to sleep when she heard footsteps enter the living room.

“Babe!? Is that you? Where are you?”

A sigh came out of her mouth as she sat up, turning to her boyfriend who towered over her behind the couch. 

“I’m here,” she said, rubbing her eyes to wake them as best she could.

“Hey!” he said, a bright smile on his face as he went around to sit himself next to her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close as he placed a kiss to her temple. “How’s my girl doin’? Did you have a good trip? Catch any pokemon?”

She lazily shook her head from the crook of his neck. Her hands were only slightly grasping him as he hugged her, his shirt being crumpled by the way she held on. 

“Babe? Are you good?” His tone was now filled with a tinge of worry due to her lack of a response. He slid both hands up to either side of her shoulders as he lifted her off of him. He looked into her eyes, seeing the droopiness of them, sensing her exhaustion. Then he noticed her nose, red and running. He shook his head, and placed her to lie on his lap. He tenderly stroked her hair.

“I shouldn’t have let you go out at all if I had known you would get sick.”

She sighed, but chuckled, then let out a fit of coughs that she tried her best to cover with her arm.

“Well, how would I know I would get sick? Plus I’m fiiiiine,” she said, pushing his hands away from her head. She turned her body to face away from him, closing her eyes as she tried again to sleep. He shook his head, looking down at the stubborn girl lying on him. 

“Babydoll, you’re definitely not fine. Why don’t I go get you some medicine and make you some soup hmm?”

She shook her head with her eyes still closed. The rays of light that entered the room hit her face quite perfectly, but wasn’t very welcomed. She furrowed her brows in annoyance due to the brightness and warmth, and decided her attempt at resting was all for none. She raised her head from Raihan’s lap and slowly opened her eyes. Then she let out a soft sneeze, which earned a chuckle from the man beside her.

“Why’re you so cute?” he said, reaching out to run a hand through her tangled hair. 

“I’m not. I’m actually really gross right now,” she retorted. Without any tissues to help relieve her nose, and to emphasize her “grossness,” she used her sleeve to wipe the residue escaping her nostrils.

“Ew. Babe, don’t do that. If you need tissues I’ll go get you some,” Raihan said, his own nose scrunching up in disgust. 

A snicker was her response.

“You know what. How about I put on a bath for you. Maybe that’ll help you out,” he offers. He stands up, and looks at his disheveled girlfriend. She does look rather miserable, and all he would like is to help her, regardless of her stubbornness. He offers a hand out to her, but she refuses. “(Nickname), if you don’t come with me now, I’m going to have to use force on you.”

This earns a glare from her. 

“No, I don’t need your help Rai.”

“You’re being really difficult right now.”

“I know I am.”

“Baby, I’m just trying to help you out.”

“I don’t want your help.”

“Ugh! (name)!”

And now, the soft boi has become upset. 

With a roll of his eyes, he has no trouble wrapping an arm around her waist and lifting her to be swung over his shoulder. Perhaps it's not the nicest way, but he has reached the peak of not caring. Of course, it also doesn’t help that his girlfriend has started to scream and wiggle in detest, angrily wishing to get down. With a turn, Raihan walks to the direction of the bathroom, giving (name) a perfect glance at her Togedemaru lying on his bed. 

“Toga! Help me! Use thunder shock!” (Name) yells from her upside down position.

“You’re really gonna use Toga on me (nickname)!?”

Even if she did want to use her pokemon on her boyfriend, nothing would have moved the small ball of electricity from his spot on his bed. He was just far too comfortable to give a care about his partner’s protests at being carried away. 

It wasn’t hard to get to the bathroom and turn on the water for a bath. Raihan found it extremely easy when he placed his girlfriend on the bed, due to the fact that she was upset and wanted to express her anger through her body language. Her arms were crossed and she glared at him, but it was an empty threat. 

He knew she still loved him. 

Hopefully.

That’s why he hoped a bath would help her crankiness, because whenever she got sick, she was a mess. 

“Are you gonna undress yourself, or am I gonna have to do that too?” he asked with a chuckle and a tilt of his head. She gave no response, just a move of her head to the side. “Fine. Guess I’ll do it then.”

He had only walked a few steps before she reached out her hands in a stop motion.

“No! I’ll do it,” she said, with an annoyed pout. 

“Damn…. But I kinda wanted to….”

A giggle exitted the mouth of both parties.

“Well…. Maybe you can later…. But…. right now I guess I could do okay with a bath….”

He smiled. He ruffled her hair, then leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

“That’s my girl. While you do that, I’ll make you some soup, hmm? How does that sound?”

She nodded with a smile.

“Okay.”

With her positive answer, he deemed his job done and turned to exit the room, but was soon stopped by her voice.

“I’ve missed you so much Rai.”

He looked back, seeing a warm smile on her face.

“I’ve missed you too babydoll.”

“Thanks for taking care of me.”

“I’ll always be here for you. Now hurry up and do your thing, I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”

Her smile widens, and she nods, watching her wonderfully caring boyfriend exit the room with a swift close of the door. 

And yes, of course they would be spending tons of time with each other, because within the next two days, Raihan would also start getting the signs of a cold.

“Dammit (nickname).”

The only response she could give was a loud giggle as she was smothered by the man she loved so much.

#raihan #raihan x reader #raihan pokemon #pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon imagines #x reader

[wrongwiredmind]

Before I start saying anything I'd like to warn that the content of this post is both gore and contains suicidal thoughts, if any of that triggers you, please do not read, I care about whoever is reading but I can't hold any responsibility for anything that might follow, stay safe, and remember that no matter what, what comes next in your life will be better, one way or another.

This post is rather long, but that's kinda the point of this page, here we go, then.

So, I had almost my weirdest dream to date, right now, and then I thought, to heck with it!! Let's share something!

So first of all, I need to set some points straight before writing so it might explain a few things, hopefully, without giving a lot away about my personality:

(I have no idea how to put them on order, so they're pretty much a mumbo jumbo. Ah~ My favourite type of writing~. Kidding, of course, I actually prefer reading well written stories and articles)

Anyhow:. 1- I have a really deep unexplainable fear of the vast beast called an ocean (or a sea, or really anytype of deep water), I still go to the beach and pools and whatever, but there's always some sort of an icy grip tightening around my non-existent heart.

2- I love IronMan! So so much, and I kinda adopted Tony Stark!! (no one tell him, please!).

3- my adoration of a certain supernatural series made me love batman! (well, not entirely true, I always loved him, but kinda from afar, you get me?)

4- want me to get hooked on something? Give me a fanfic of it!! (of course like a series or a book, not a substance, you bad bad people!!), that's how I loved Bilbo!! (imagine me saying it in my adorable voice, the one I use when I try to sound cute 😉)

5- I binge read a certain fanfic about those two amazing superheroes saving the world, and themselves!! (I refuse to give up the name since if you think this is me oversharing? You've got another thing coming, honey!) that had a cruise and another prototype of the IronMan suit (don't ask which mark it is but it's so fast it broke the sound barrier!!)

6- I'm a little bit under the weather, (not corona, folks!) and my throat is kinda itchy, to the point that I lost all my vocal prowess for a little more than 24 hours a few days ago, still kinda annoying, and my stomach rebelled so much yesterday (before and during sleeping) that I thought she should take the rebellion symbol from Mr. Che Jivara!! (with all due respect to him, I'm only joking, so please no one takes it seriously).

7- I'm a little bit of a spacetoon (and all that's good and beautiful in our childhood) encyclopedia, want a name of a cartoon or a song you can't remember? I'm usually your best bet, after the second mother, google, of course!!

8- this week is so dead that if you want to see zombies come to our lectures any time in it, seriously we're so under a lot of exams, thank God and the doctors for postponing our tasks and assignments' due-date.

9- if I was a little more of an extrovert I might not have had to write most of these strange snippets about me in a freaking post!!!

And finally, on with the dream! (another thing you probably know by now, that I kinda take you around and under and left and right before I say what I want to say).

So, it was an assignment to some sort of subject (don't ask me which, since as far as I know, not a single thing in our curriculum will make me do what I'm about to do here, or at least, I hope so!!!), we made some type of fall-body suit that needed analysing (who am I kidding, it was the IronMan suit!!), and guess who was picked as a pilot? That's right! Yours truly!!

Anyway, good thing to bad, we had to make the prototype test in the middle of the (as I said above) the vast beast! Mr. Oceanus (I know that that is a Mr. Titan, but who am I, the lowly mortal, to deny his decision to appear in my paragraphs? And no, he didn't show up in the dream, thank God! [ours, not any of the others]),

So, I was put in the cruise, in the middle of the ocean, with the IronMan suit, and a seriously sick stomach, can you guess where we're going with this? (I'm actually kinda enjoying writing this since it reminds me of a certain mad superhero/not superhero who finally joined the XMen!, of course he joined a few years ago but I only watch the second movie circa a month ago) no? let me tell you, a bit of dizziness, seasickness, and an already rebellious stomach? Not a good combination, and remember that I really, really fear the ocean (just remembering the dream and the images in my head is traumatising, let alone living it vividly for a few hours), so, I fell, and strangely enough, I was a good swimmer (ah~ I really count my blessings here since no matter who or when someone taught me to swim, I still can't manage), I was able to stay close to the ship, but couldn't really pull myself up, so all I could do was keep a good hold on a rope tied around the ship and keep my legs in a calculated, slow what feels like a walking-in-place exercise,, (I can still feel the water around me, and the gentle waves of the ocean, it was both a calming feeling and a horrible one) and then...

Something touched the soles of my feet, and it kinda hurt, and it continued to move under me till something hit my toes, it was a shark fin, that's right, a shark choose me as his next meal, how honoured I was!!! Kidding i was kinda terrified, but all that YouTube survival videos came to mind, I left the rope of the ship and kinda dipped under water (triple scare, here, yikes!) and I... pushed.. his muzzle?

Yeah, so not really what they taught you in the videos, my polite nature rears its ugly head again (politeness is not as good as it seems, people! actually once a stray dog entered our home and jumped on the couch, and I was asking nicely and politely if "Mr. Dog would pretty please leave us be", and no, I wasn't scared but mom told me not to touch it, and it kinda was a cute, if a mangy mutt)

I didn't really want to punch the shark, even if my life kinda depended on it here, for a few reasons and actually at least one of them was pretty reasonable, which is, my punch is pretty weak, guys!!

Anyway, of course since its skin kinda scratched my feet there was blood, so it didn't leave me alone, two things I concluded here, first, Mr. Shark was either a lazy guy since he was coming to me slowly as if he either was a giant cat coming for pets no matter how many times you push her, or he was playing with his food, aka, me.

The second thing I discovered was that I was really sick in real life since my imagination couldn't conjure another family member of my guest here (again with the small mercies, can you imagine being alone around all these carnivores? And I bet not all of them will be moving so leisurely!!)

So, I finally decided to be the champ of my cruise and punch the thing in the face, so I pulled up all the power I can in my fist and punched him in his snout!!!

And let me tell you, it's not as easy is they make it sound, first, his nose is actually pretty hard, not the sensitive area they led us to believe, second, my hand really hurt and his skin scratched my knuckles, and I believe it kinda broke a bone in my hand, third, and worse, it actually enraged the mister so much that it left me, J-squared again and this time, flew! in my direction and I swear I still feel his teeth sinking in the shin of my right leg, but before he tore it apart, I actually did the right thing to defend myself, I (and I apologise, Mr. Dream shark, but you really hurt both my leg and my feelings!!) poked his eyes, which made for a very awkward stretch to my body, but finally, I was left alone!! With a mangled leg, of course, but hey!! It's not real life, so let's be glad.

The saltwater stinging my feet, still sick, and more dizzy from blood loss, you have no idea how glad was I that I was still near the ship, a little bit more than a meter but still floating, and then, the bad became worse, I actually goT SWALLOWED WHOLE BY A WHALE!!!!!!!!, YUP!! THE WHALE IN THE PICTURE!!!

And then god with his mercies again, it swallowed the ship but opened his mouth for me to leave, neat, ain't it?

But let me tell you what happened in a little more details, I felt a ripple in the water beneath and around me, and the ship started to sway, and a faint sound of something between a roar and strange song-like-sound, feeling the rumble under me was what made me look, and lo and behold!! The mighty animal wanted the meal that the shark didn't get, bye bye world!! Bye bye the suit that I still didn't to get to wear! And bye bye the report I needed to write for this freaking assignment that because of it I might fail and my friends will rail me when they see me!!

The ship and I couldn't help but enter the mouth of the humongous fish, the sounds of the wood, metal, glass and whatever is the cruise was made of was deafening, so loud and cruel, and I got a more than a few bruises and abrasions, and the feel of his teeth behind my back, sharp and huge and bigger than my own size, was something I don't know how to describe, and suddenly between all the breaking and suffocating water and absolute darkness, something caught my eyes, the slits in the helmet of the suit were lit, I'm sure it was a malfunction because of all the destruction on Mark, but it took all my fear, as if sucking it from my own eyes, and as sudden as it glowed, it vanished, but the calm remained, I closed my eyes, since it didn't matter, and just stopped everything, even trying to hold my breath, but not breathing as well, as if all body functions just... Stopped.

And then my eyes flew open again, not because I woke up, but because of an almost crushing change in the water pressure, it just pushed me forward more inside the huge mouth, and when I thought that this is it, I found the whale mouth moving further away from me, taking the ship and Mark with it, and leaving me alone, in the middle of the ocean that I wanted to say "c'mon!! If you ate me it'll be a win-win situation!!!!" but the second I opened my mouth water rushed inside that I tried swimming up to breath (even though not knowing which way is up was problematic, since something similar happened in real life before I wasn't worried, but that's a story for another time), breaking the surface was a godsend, I tell you! But my misery wasn't in any way over, I was so thirsty I actually wanted to drink salt water a again (and then death, oh wow, how smart?), and once the adrenaline deserted me, my leg returned to trying to kill me, and I don't know if it was a real thing if it happened in real life but it actually stopped bleeding, which was both fantastic, since it means that I won't die of bloodloss, and horrifying since I'm not going to die because of bloodloss, at least then I would have been able to calculate an approximate time for my death, but no, I have to wait and see what kills me next, I almost wished that I just had my previous stomachache and be done with.

Anyway, moving was not really an option, and staying was not either, and the breeze was making me so cold my teeth almost broke from all the shattering they were doing, I wasn't really sure when the others might decide to check on me, and I'm not really sure if I was still in the place they left me at, and I really didn't know what to do, I was so helpless, and cold, and thirsty, in so much pain and so so tired.

I cursed the whale again for not ending my misery, and cursed the shark for being a coward and not finishing what he started and cursing the assignment for being so impossible yet important, and most of all cursing myself, though I don't know why, but my self-loathing decided that now is the time to remember how horrible I am.

As physics does, the water raised me till I was floating on my back, which made me feel even more cold but I didn't have any energy to do anything about it, and strangely, I fell into some sort of doze, not asleep yet not really awake and aware, my whole body half above half into the water, though my right, injured leg, was bend in the knee into the water, which made my pained scream when something took hold of it in its mouth the more agonizing since it made my upper body enter the water, and the thing holding my leg left it alone, and I was able to right myself and look around me for the next threat, the fear was immense that I thought I might get a heartattack, which, admittedly would be better than the pain going to be inflicted upon me any second now, looking around finally led me to what attacked me, and for a moment, with my blurry, and fear filled eyes looked like Mr. Shark has indeed returned to finish what he started, he even returned to his play-with-my-food attitude, but when my eyes finally focused they detected differences, from the lighter shade of colors, to the more smooth curves of the fin and snout, and the gentle, warm (even if it looked sleepy) strange brown tone of the mammels eyes,

The dolphin was about two meters away, and looking at me with intense, twinkling eyes (if they were blue and he wore glasses, or at least marking that looks like it, I would have thought that the dolphin was Dumbledore' animagus and I really wouldn't have hesitated this time to punch his already crocked nose.. err.. snout [which it isn't, the dolphin's snout was perfect] with my broken hand!!) and moved slowly towards me, he pushed me gently with his nose in my abdomen, swam back a few inches, then entered the water and moved towards my leg, not touching it, but he was close enough to feel with my already almost destroyed sensitive nerves, he did all of that while I'm standing/floating, stupefied, hardly even breathing, and then he left, and pushed me again with his snout on my back, this time with more pressure that my body couldn't help but move to the dolphin's right side to let him pass, with my hand just above his back, when my hand touched his prominent back fin, he pushed my hip gently, as if telling me something, and pushed his fin into my hand again, it felt like rubber, and I couldn't help but ask "you want me to hold you?" he made a strange clicking noise then kinda slapped the water with his side fin in the other side of me, and bizarrely, his actions made me feel as if he was saying "are you stupid? Why else would I offer you my magnificent dorsal?!!" I stared, flummoxed, at the creature and couldn't help but throw my head back and laugh, I'm certain that it was the tension, fear and hysteria that made me do it, but for me, the whole situation was so hilarious that it seemed like it made Mr. Dolphin look at me and think "alright, the pathetic, hurt, star-shaped blemish is, indeed, stupid and needs help from my majesty" and then, using his right fin, slapped me non-too-gently on the side of my left hip, squeaking something as well and pushed his dorsal in my left hand again, but when he noticed my wince, he actually kinda rubbed his slippery appendage on my thigh while honest-to-god cooed at me that I couldn't help but smile at him, "it's okay, big guy, and thanks; you know, you kinda remind me of flipper!" and then I petted him a couple of times (which he purred at, I think I need a cat! 🤔🤔) then grabbed his fin in a tight but non constricting grip, my right hand was swollen by now so my only hope was to keep holding using my left hand, after shaking his body a little as if to check my hold, he dove with me into the water!! I almost screamed in fright but then he broke the surface and jumped about three meters high into the air!!!

Hello, there, adrenaline, didn't see you since a few!!

He dove again into the water and this time gradually moved towards the surface, with the water flowing into my hair and pushing me from my saviour, my left leg moved on its own violation and moved around the body as if I was riding a horse,

"WOOHOO!!", I shouted once we were in the air again, it was exhilarating; cold, but thrilling, though the warm body beneath me was perfect, he took me in a straight if slightly curvy line, and when I noticed that, I also noticed that his right fin was not moving as his left, I even thought he was injured for a second, but then a sharp sting in my leg and a slight jerk from him made me understand, my injured leg was beneath his wing-like appendage, and he was being considerate, as a solution, I flattened myself on his back, kept my left leg dangling as if in the horse saddle, my right one, as gently as possible, bend on the knee above the dolphin's back, my left hand gripping the top fin with it touching my shoulder, and my broken right hand above Mr. Flipper's cousin head, and then I came into a a sudden realization!! "does that mean I'm Lopaka????" I asked Flipper the second, and he made a sound suspiciously almost like a snort, but my change of position made him move in a much more pronounced straight line; the speed decreased as I started to doze again, as if he was worried about dislodging me, though the annoying feeling of the salt crusting on my skin woke me up, no idea how much time had past, except that the sun was on either the verge of descending or rising, and finally, finally, I saw land and buildings and what not from afar, and I certainly moved to another continent all together, let alone another country, after reaching the area where I could stand comfortably on the ground beneath the water, people started to come to see what was happening, I ignored them for the sake of my silent companion, suddenly he actually stood on his tail fin, and kinda sort of awkwardly leaned on me without trying to put too much pressure, I didn't understand what was happening though it seemed sorta like a hug?

Anyway, I pat his back again, (and again with the weird purring noise), when he released me I felt buzzing in the back pocket of my jeans, I actually still have my phone!!!

Pulling it out and snorting that after everything that happened my phone was still working!! all I could say is "well, it seems like the time of a picture, Mr. Flipper, sir!" and after an awkward kneeling so I could put my injured arm around him and trying to stretch my bloody leg (both meanings are accurate here, tbh) so it wouldn't interfere with the selfie, I positioned my left hand.

And the last thing I remember is the picture of my (Lopaka the second 😂) wide mouth grin and an equally wonderful grin from Mr. Flipper the second!!!

The End.

It really was a dream I had, with all these details, the only thing that's not entirely true about this post, is saying that this is the weirdest dream I had.

[photochoco]

New Recruit

The story of how Wisteria became a Cadet. 

Pinprick and Bianca had been the closest to the disturbance. Patrolling had its perks, one of them being that you never knew when you might conveniently stumble upon magical mayhem. Well, they didn’t stumble upon it so much as they heard a banshee-like screech split through the air as they walked along. As the pair raced towards the sound, a figure flew up into the air and took off. A witch.

“Pinprick, go after them! They might’ve hurt someone, I’ll see if I can find anyone!”

Despite being a giant, Pinprick was very fast. He gave a single nod and leapt up onto the rooftops, hopping from building to building in pursuit. Bianca rushed down an alley, towards where the scream had rang out. She was met with a huge mural on a wall, still unfinished. The work seemed a bit familiar. 

And laying on the ground in front of it, a girl. She wasn’t moving. Bianca swore under her breath as she skidded to a halt next to the girl, grabbing her shoulder and rolling her over. Whatever had happened with the witch, it seemed like she’d put up a fight, dried blood was smeared on her shirt and the corners of her mouth. 

“Damn girl...I’m sorry…” Bianca muttered as she noticed the streams of multicolor flowing in rivulets from the girl’s closed eyes. It coated her hands as well; it was no doubt caused by a curse. At least she was breathing. Bianca considered calling for backup before Pinprick leapt down in front of her. “The witch got away,” he scowled. “Well, we can at least count it as a win that this girl here they attacked wasn’t killed. It looks like she might’ve been cursed, though. We’ll need to get her to Tracy. Can you carry her?” Pinprick knelt down and scooped the unconscious person into his arms. She didn’t stir, but she let out a small mumble. A good sign, even if a small one.

“Poor thing,” he murmured as he carefully cradled her against himself. “Let’s get back to BC. Hopefully she can give us a better description of the witch when she wakes up.” --- --- Consciousness came slow, discouraged by soft, warm blankets. Yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrible had happened…She scrunched her face up. “Oh shit, she moved!” “She’s waking up!” “Oooooh do you think she’ll wanna become a Cadet?” “Whaddaya think happened?”

A myriad of voices reached her ears, but she couldn’t really understand what anyone was saying through her exhaustion. She wanted to go back to sleep.

“Ok everyone, that’s enough, off you go! There will be plenty of time for meet and greet later!”

She didn’t move for another moment. Then everything that had happened came rushing back in one great wave. She sat up so suddenly, a few people who hadn’t yet left squealed in surprise. Her hands flew to her face, her eyes. Her eyes. Please let it have been a dream. Please don’t let it be real. It wasn’t real, it wasn’t real…

“Welcome back, dear. You gave us a bit of a scare, being out for so long. Could you do me a favor and open your eyes?”

Slowly, reluctantly, she opened them. Everything was grey. Greys and whites and blacks, like she was looking at a black and white photograph. Monochrome. The color was gone. Her hands started to shake, her head whirled, and an icy cold dread washed over her.

No. No. No. No way. This couldn’t be happening. 

“Hm hm!” A small plump woman popped into her view, a troll? She leaned in close, examining her eyes.

“What’s your name, dear?” the troll asked. She could barely squeeze it out of her tightened throat. “...W-Wisteria. Wisteria Inkwell. Or...Wisty...”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Tracy Pan, resident nurse of the Black Cauldron. Tell me, do you have any recollection of what happened before you woke up here?” Wisty brought her knees up and pressed her face into them. “...I’ve been cursed, haven’t I.” “I’m afraid so, dear. It would seem it’s a curse on your eyesight, no? Or is it perhaps a different version of soul loss…? Your eyes are voided out like another one of our Cadets, but his are white, yours are black. What do you see?” Wisty fought off tears. “There’s no color. I can’t see color, I--she-- she took color from me...she--”

She would not cry, not in front of other people, let alone a stranger. Emotions she couldn’t place were whirling about inside her so fast. But her face was blank as she willed the tears back. She felt very dizzy.

“Interesting, interesting…and how else do you feel?” Tracy continued.

The room was spinning. “I...uh…kin...kinda...dizzy...” Wisty mumbled. “I think ‘m gonna b’ sick…”

 “Hmm, you might be in shock. How about we… …” 

The rest of the nurse’s words were lost to the static roar that started in Wisty’s ears. Everything sounded very far away all of a sudden, she herself felt like she was floating. She could see things, hear things, but she couldn’t make sense of any of it. She tried to breathe in steadily, but her chest was burning. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Where was the color?

---

Wisty opened her eyes blearily, staring at the ceiling. Jeez...what happened? She sat up, rubbing her face. She was back in the bed, or had she never left it...? 

The world was still in grayscale, and the sickening feeling swelled inside her all over again. She looked around and listened. She was alone. Good.

She buried her face into her knees and sobbed. She sobbed until she felt like she was going to be sick. Her throat was tight and her head pounded, she cried until she had no tears left. The colorful world she’d loved so much was gone. And it wasn’t going to come back. Small wails mixed in with her sobs, thankfully muffled by the blankets.

Finally, she calmed herself down with a series of long sighs that shook her frame. She wiped her eyes and looked around, sniffling. Urgh, now she’d given herself a nasty headache and she couldn’t breathe through her nose. She slipped out of bed to find the bathroom. She could use some cold water on her face. 

Wisty approached the door and went to open it, only to have it swing forward on its own, causing her to yelp in response. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t--excuse me--” 

The pair of legs in the doorway bent down, and an incredibly tall ghoul ducked through the threshold. “Ahem.” He straightened himself up to his full height, easily over nine feet. “Apologies cupcake, I didn’t see you there. Actually, should you even be out of bed? You haven’t been taking the curse very well.”

Wisty squirmed and hastily wiped at her eyes. “I, um, I actually feel fine now. I just wanted some water.” He leaned down, putting his face too close to hers, and gently pressed a long pointed finger onto her cheek. She resisted the urge to shrink away. What if he noticed--

“Now, why the waterfalls?”

Crap. “I. Um.” The ghoul studied her expression and grinned widely with a chuckle, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth. Wisty averted her gaze. What colors was he? Frustrated tears bubbled up again. The ghoul cocked his head and continued to grin. “I-I...jeezus, stupid tears,” she muttered as she wiped her eyes. “I’m fine, I’m just a little upset about my...about being cursed. I’ll be fine.”

“Yo Pin, quit hoggin’ the doorframe!” 

A girl with long gelatinous-looking hair squeezed past the ghoul, her eyebrows hopping up when she saw Wisty.

Oh, you’re awake! ‘S about time too, you were startin’ to freak us all out!”

She stuck her hand out, and Wisty took it in her own. The girl’s hand was very warm.

“I’m Bianca Frost, and this is my partner Pinprick! We make up Team B of the Black Cauldron. We found you in an alley.” “Oh--oh my god, you guys saved me? Thank you!!” Bianca shrugged and rubbed the back of her head, looking away. “Eh, it was nothin’. I’m just sorry we didn’t find you sooner. Uh, how are ya feelin’ now?” “I’m...better. It’s still kinda a big shock,” Wisty rubbed at her eyes again. “Do you have a bathroom in here? I wanted to get some water.”

At her insistence that she felt fine enough to do it herself, Bianca pointed Wisty in the direction of the restrooms. They were easy to find, tucked around the corner from a cafe area. There were several people sitting at tables, and they all swiveled their heads to stare at her as she walked by. With a weird flip in her stomach, Wisty hurriedly shut the door behind her as whispers began. 

Purposefully avoiding the mirror, she splashed her face with water, sighing as it soothed her itchy, swollen eyes. She could deal with this. It would be fine. She’d be fine. She’d find a way to keep making art, this was fine. She cupped her hands under the stream and took several thirsty gulps. This was manageable. People got cursed all the time. (As unfortunate as that was.) 

Wisty sighed again. She wondered if the curse affected how her eyes looked. Steeling herself, she looked in the mirror. Her eyes were completely black, no visible iris or sclera to be seen. “Whoooooooaaaa,” She couldn’t help the exclamation as she leaned in closer, staring at her reflection with wide eyes. “Haha, what the hell…?” She pulled her eyelid down and rolled her eyeball around; the whole thing was as solid and black as an 8 ball. A thought struck her- what would people think if they saw her eyes? Would they avoid her? Cursed people in Salem were viewed with pity, and sometimes worse, outright scorn for being damaged goods. What if--

There was a knock on the door. “Hey cupcake, are you almost done in there? John wants to talk to you.” John? Who’s that…? Wisty opened the door. Two people dressed in Ironmaiden uniforms were waiting to greet her. One was a tall, imposing-looking women with her greying hair neatly twisted into a bun. She looked severe, but her eyes looked at Wisty gently. Next to her was an equally-tall oxen hybrid, standing with his arms crossed. He looked at Wisty just as kindly, despite his intimidating appearance. “You’re Wisteria Inkwell, correct?” the woman asked. Wisty nodded. “My name is Elanor Pan, founder of the Black Cauldron. This here is John Bullock, chief of the Ironmaidens.”

“We wanted to ask you a few questions. Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble,” John said, noting Wisty’s sudden nervous expression. “We wanted to ask you about the witch that cursed you. It’s our understanding they got away after attacking you.” “Oh, no! I don’t mind at all…” Wisty replied, feeling relief wash over her.

“Good. Now, if you’ll come this way…” John ushered Wisty into another room. Before the door closed, she looked back at the entourage that was still gathered. They all stared at her.

—-

No sooner had Wisty closed the door she was ambushed by the people still waiting in the cafe area. “Hey! Did Ela talk to you about becoming a Cadet?” “What kind of curse do you have?” “Want some soda?” They were all talking over each other so loudly Wisty could hardly piece together what any one person said. She was luckily saved by Elanor, who swept out of the room behind her.

“Really now! I’d said there’d be time for introductions later, but this poor girl has had a very long day and she certainly doesn’t need to be bombarded by you all at once. I know you’re all excited about the prospect of a new Cadet, but please, be considerate. Don’t scare her off just yet!” she said, a good-humored smile curving her mouth.

Bianca ushered the bewildered Wisty into a seat, and the remaining chairs at the table were very quickly filled in. A soda was slid her way, and with a thanks, the questions began again. The first to speak was Pinprick. “So, my dear, care to share with the rest of the class? Why don’t we get those introductions out of the way.”

“Oh...I’m Wisteria. Just Wisty is fine.”

Everyone looked at her expectantly. One of the Cadets tapped near their eyes and pointed at her.

“Oh right, my curse. Well...I can’t see color anymore,” Wisty found it was easier to talk about than she had anticipated. “I can still see and all, but it’s like--you know black and white photographs? It’s like that. I can still see value, but all the hue and saturation is gone. Actually, speaking of that, are my eyes completely black? They looked like it in the mirror, but I couldn’t tell if they were just really dark, or...”

There was a wave of nods.

“Being colorblind looks pretty metal,” a boy with glowing white eyes said, blowing a cloud of smoke out through his teeth. A cigarette was clenched between his teeth.

Wisty wrinkled her nose and tried not to gag. She hated the smell of cigarette smoke. The Cadet sitting next to the boy must have noticed, because he deftly yoinked it out of his comrade’s mouth.

“Yo Harvey, what the hell man?!” the boy squawked as the person in a bunny mask crumpled the cigarette in his hand. “If you paid any attention to her face, you’d have seen your smokestack was making her sick, dumbass.” He turned to Wisty and stuck out his non-ash covered hand, which Wisty took and shook. “I’m Harvey. I make weapons for Cadets here. This idiot next to me is Dex.”

Dex gave a short wave, grinning widely. “Yep, that’s me! Dex, the resident heartthrob.” Everyone at the table rolled their eyes. Wisty blinked. “Oh, I’ve seen you before! You nearly ran me over with your bike once.” Everyone present swiveled their heads to stare at Dex. He blinked.

“...I did?” “Oh my god Dex that is NOT what you say to someone you nearly flattened with your dumb bike!” “Hey! DeeDee is NOT dumb! She--ow ow ow ow!” his words cut off with a squeal as Harvey sitting next to him grabbed him in a headlock.

“I’m sorry about him. His head is full of empty.“

Wisty couldn’t help but giggle. “Um, have you all been here long?”

“Some of us have, yeah,” Harvey said. He released his hold on Dex, who sucked in air theatrically. “Sooooo!” Dex cut in. “Are you thinking about becoming a Cadet?”

Wisty ran a finger along the rim of her soda can. “Would I even be useful? I haven’t really fought before.” “Sure! We can help teach you, if you join. And Harvey can make you a weapon!” Dex said. “And if ya want, maybe you could team up with someone, like Alphus over there, or—” “I work alone, Dex boy,” the woman leaning on the wall nearby said. Wisty shrunk in her seat. “Oh, don’t mind her cupcake, she can be a little standoffish towards everyone at first,” Pinprick said, placing a reassuring hand on Wisty’s shoulder.

“Actually, I do have a question. Just...not related to being a Cadet,” Wisty said. “Mmmm?” Wisty slapped her hands on the table. “What colors is this place? I can’t tell at all and I MUST know!”

The next half-hour was filled with back and forth questioning as Wisty grilled everyone about what they looked like, with the Cadets describing as best they could. At least she could still remember what colors looked like. By the end of it all, she felt oddly at ease, at least for the time-being. These people were very nice. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to become a Cadet. Heck, maybe she could even design recruitment posters or something, she’d at least be doing something for them. She’d have to talk to Elanor after this.

---

If this seems a bit different, it’s because Eri is now an OC called Wisteria! They’re my host-mom’s favorite flower

#erika write #fic #drabble #kinda long for a drabble but eh

[makeroomforthejolyghost]

today marks 8 months on T (and, incidentally, my 27th birthday). here is an update post, somewhat more formal than the one five months ago

voice:

finally making progress here. for months and months i just sounded like A Slightly Older Cis Woman; now it’s at least ambiguous

i can’t meow anymore, but i’m really good at mooing now

hair:

for about two seconds at the end of october i thought i was balding, but nah; my hairline got a little pointier, but has not noticeably receded

it does lie a little differently in that area though?? my hair now naturally does this thing i used to try and fake to look more masculine. not sure i can explain this well, but it’s like--you know that area right at the corner of your hairline? so like, still on the top of your head, but right where it’s about to slope down and turn into temple. when the hairs there are short, now, they naturally lie pointing forward rather than falling to the side. i didn’t realize until it happened on my own head that this is a feature of how testosterone-dominant hairlines work,* rather than just a fashion statement we associate w/ men

so far i have just enough facial hair for it to annoy me. my lips get spiny after a few days, which is insufferably itchy, and if i leave it alone for too long the underside of my chin grows a few, sparse, soft, incongruously light-colored hairs. therefore i have a lot of dreams about accidentally growing a neckbeard. (can’t believe i forgot to mention those in the post about T-inspired anxiety dreams. an unpardonable oversight)

legs are a glorious forest; everywhere else still looks hairless from any kind of distance. but at least i can tell it isn’t; even my fingers have a few tiny hairs now

oh, right. i’ve got about six chest hairs. single two-inch brown hair sticking out of boob sure is a look

general shape changes

i’m definitely fatter. it’s weird because before T i always dreaded gaining weight, even while forcing myself to celebrate it (since i was underweight for years), because... well, boobs, mostly, but even besides that. arm flab accentuates lack of muscle. upper thigh fat accentuates wide pelvis. but not anymore!! now “getting fatter” just means “tapering less at the waist,” so. why not

for the first six months every time i retook my measurements they’d all be higher than last time because Muscle Growth. now that seems to have stopped--maybe because it would anyway, maybe because quarantine, probably some of both--and my arms have actually shrunk a little in the last two months. fat redistribution i guess?? i don’t think they can have lost muscle, since the change of habits (i.e. walking less) shouldn’t have affected them much.

my neck is so fucking thick. i expected the hardest part of finding collared shirts once i started T would be getting them to fit in the shoulders without being too long? but nope. turns out, i’m not that short; mostly, i’m a thin person with a thick-ass neck. shirts that button all the way up tend to be tents on me

mood/personality

i think i’m starting to understand what other people who’ve gone on T mean when they say they don’t take as much shit? people don’t directly give me shit often enough to test that properly, but i do find i’m less good at making myself do things i don’t care about.

like: sometimes, when i’m not enjoying a book, i notice that, and stop reading it. and only sometimes feel like a failure afterwards???

there’s more empty space in my head, if that makes sense. i have fewer unwanted thoughts, and, similarly to the point above, i seem to be more capable of... not chewing. not continuing to ruminate on something i’ve chewed on for so long the taste makes me sick.

at this level that’s mostly a good thing? but n.b. i had to decrease my dose because when it was higher my mind felt blank and slippery in a way that freaked me out. it was kinda like when i tried to increase my antidepressant and just got, like... overconfident and sloppy, as though i were drunk.

even at this dose, i’m less good with words than i used to be. you may have noticed

other

haven’t had too much trouble with acne so far? my nose is preposterously greasy though.

dr. strawberry has departed to another realm. wonder how many years before i’ll quit dreaming it’s come back

*probably not a universal feature; i don’t mean to imply any shoulds here. hopefully that can just go without saying for the rest of this post?

#lovehate bein purple #dysphoria warning /// #weight cw

[whiskeyworen]

Miriya’s Pad

(Art commissioned from CheruSake) Author’s Note: This was my first attempt at a Guild Wars 2 fic, just as an experiment. I was very satisfied with the outcome, but chronologically it predates ALL the other GW2 stories I’ve put out here. In fact, if you read any of my Danae sister fics, there’s references to THIS one. If it sounds kind of clunky in terms of dialogue and descriptions, I apologize; I was still getting my feet back under me in terms of writing. It’s a bit cliche, and pretty corny, but I felt it was a cute fic. I’m actually really nervous about sharing it here, cuz I don’t know if people will like it at all. In terms of in-game chronology, this would be Pre-Scarlet by only a few months. Lion’s Arch was still the ramshackle version we all miss. That said, please enjoy. ***** "...And our final stop on our tour of Rata Sum is my personal quarters!" Miriya announced brightly, as the magitek cubes that formed the doorway slid in the cardinal directions. The internal barrier field dropped immediately once the cubes had slid into the ceiling, walls and floor. She stepped proudly inside, hands on her hips and smiled. "It's...Wow! Surprisingly spacious!" Kaleb blinked as he stepped inside. The barrier popped back up behind him and the door-cubes shifted shut once more, cutting out the natural noise of the Maguuma Jungle outside. He looked around in amazement at the personal dwelling of his teammate. "From outside it looks so...small." Miriya smirked and crossed her arms. "That's because I had it carved into the side of the mountain and disguised that way." She scuffed her sharp nails on her coat, smugly admiring them. "That and a little bit of fifth dimensional pocket-space manipulation make it nice and big." The home was open-concept in the Asuran style, a cube turned on its corner and hollowed out, easily thirty meters on a side, which gave it an amazingly high ceiling and a strangely deep and terraced floor. Looking up, Kaleb could see a Mystic Stone the size of his entire body hovering just below the top corner of the ceiling, providing a soft, diffuse blue light.  There were hard-light paths starting around the perimeter of the room, leading up to solid stone platforms held in place by mechanisms Kaleb could barely wrap his mind around. Each one had some kind of device or piece of furniture on it, though the purpose of some of them eluded him. To be honest, it looked less like a home and more like yet another Asuran laboratory. Turning his gaze from the ceiling to the floor,  he counted fourteen terrace steps down to what appeared to be a pool of water in the centre of the room, occupying the 'bottom-most' corner of the building's turned cube design.  Around the circumference of the room ran continuous Asura-design windows; high density force fields with a distortion added so those looking in or out can not see precisely what is there.

"It's um... very nice." He finally replied a bit hesitantly, stepping carefully in the room; each terrace was Asura-step scale, not human standard. If he tripped he'd no doubt fall all the way down into that pool of water in the bottom of the room. "So-o... this is where you keep your stuff? Kinda looks like another lab." "Well it IS a lab, silly." Miriya chuckled, crossing the room to a particular section of wall. A portion of the panels making up the wall and floor rotated at her approach, recombining to form a table and sink. Beside that, a cupboard slid into place from where the gaps were left by the panels, as well as a larger cube-shaped artifact half again as large as the diminutive Asura. "But it's also my home. I paid top-gold to get the constructor golem krewes to come out this far from Rata Sum and build it for me. All to my very demanding specifications." Kaleb nodded, exploring the room. He stepped up to one of the hardlight paths and experimentally tested it with an armoured toe. When it didn't give under his weight or the weight of his armour, he shook his head. Fancy Asuran gizmos. This was one of the reasons he was a soldier and not an engineer or inventor. "I see. So, why are we here now?" Miriya washed her hands in the sink, drying them in a device that clicked out of the side of the sink unit, and turned to face him. "We're here to relax and have a drink, and to be refreshed. Naturally." "Uh-huh?..." He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at her, a disbelieving look on his unshaven face. "If that's so then why's the rest of the group not here? Doesn't seem rightly fair to enjoy..luxury...without our friends." She made an exasperated sound, running her fingers back through her slicked back, molten lava-colored dreadlocks. With a flick of a wrist she sent the sink back into the wall, as well as the cupboard, but the larger artifact remained present in the room. Counting off on her little fingers, she explained. "One: Dhangalor is more interested in learning how to make his turrets and flame-thrower more efficient and effective. I wouldn't be surprised if we found him in three days, down in one of the weapons labs.  Hopefully he won't learn how to make mass-conversion generation devices; The idea that he could make a device that spawns grenades for him or unlimited turrets scares me more than your god Grenth." Tick: "Second. The moment we walked into the city, Slane disappearred. I wouldn't know where him or his...ugh.... partner... are even if I put a tracker on him. Which I don't have, incidentally." She stepped over to the large artifact, touching a blue power gem on it. The panels on the artifact slid open to either side, revealling a chilly, frosty interior, from which she drew a large, dark green bottle. "Third. Corvus is Priory. He's all about knowledge and technology. If he's not aiding Dhangalor, he's buried up to his nose -- a feat at that! -- in computer files and parchments and datapads." The little Asuran necromancer spun on her heel, presenting her treasure to the still suspicious human. The bottle looked old, and had a label that bore a very particular seal on it. The label was torn slightly near the base, and very, VERY worn... but there was enough to recognize the maker. ---SCALO- V-NERY. est. ---- "...and finally Fourth: I've been saving this bottle to drink with a human some day, and I feel it's the right time now. I trust you enough to enjoy this bottle and not squander it, nor to act inappropriately with it. I know how rare it is, and I think you know how rare it is." His jaw dropped, as did his arms. "Ascalon Vinery?! Did that come from the ruins of Ascalon??" He laughed nervously, facepalming. "Second most rare wine in all of Tyria, and it's just sitting in her...her...whatever. That cold thing..." "It's called a ReFridgerator. Prototype design." She looked at the device with a bit of concern. "Most of the time it keeps things chilled. Though there was one time I left a panel open and....well.. I had to defrost the place. Like, 'Claw of Jormag' kinda defrost." Still shaking his head, Kaleb smiled, and ran a hand through his close-cropped red-black hair. "Alright. You got my attention. Ascalonian wine, and a relaxing evening with a friend. I can do that, easily." Miriya grinned, and put the bottle on the top of the fridge before walking across the room to a green square on one of the terraces. "Do you mind if I get comfortable? This armor is nice, but compared to my own clothes, I always find it confining and itchy." She stepped on the square and a series of panels slid up around her, covering her to the neckline. She continued talking as she changed, the sound of shifting cloth coming from behind the barriers. "It's such a relief to get off the road too. Sometimes I just want to come home, relax for a while, before my next project." "I understand the sentiment completely." Kaleb nodded, turning his back to her changing; even though she was completely hidden, he was still a gentleman. Even to Asura. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the muscles and bones creak a bit with tension. "Been a while since I've been home too. Or out of this gear." He stretched and shrugged. "Ah well. What can ya do?" The panels around her sliding down, Miriya stepped out of the 'booth' and straightened her tunic. "Well, what I CAN do is offer you the use of one of my guest booths to change. I'm sure I can cobble some basic clothing together from the info-net if you give me a few minutes." "You can do that?" He blinked, raising an eyebrow. Kaleb had no idea what an info-net was, but if he could just take his armour off for a few hours... "What do I need to do?" She pointed at the green square, tapping a nearby toe-button with her toe. The green square turned blue, and resumed flashing. "Just step on the square. I just turned the dimensions to 'human', so it'll cover more of you than it would have a moment ago." Kaleb stepped onto the square and waited for a second. The panels slid up again, this time up to HIS neck. There was just enough space inside for him to flex a bit. "Hey, this is neat, but... uh... can't exactly take my gear off in a space this small." "Don't worry about that. The booth does the dressing and undressing." She replied, a hard-light display open in front of her on the front of the booth. She flicked through diagrams and designs until she found a suitable one. "Ah here we go. Aaaannnndd..... ordered. Seven seconds delivery? What is this, the stone age??" "What?" "Oh, nothing. System seems slow, that's all." She shrugged and moved a new screen up in front of her. "Just one last thing; full body scan for fit accuracy. Otherwise when it goes to remove your gear, it might...uh...remove body parts instead. Not exactly a smart system." "WHAT?!" Kaleb started to fidget, staring around at the panels in horror. "Take it easy! I only have one scar from a mis-scan! I don't want you to lose anything important!" That was enough to get him to freeze solid, staring straight ahead. His adam's apple bobbed in fear as he swallowed heavily. Inside the booth, a panel flipped open on all four walls, revealling a golem-eye. Flat green light played out from these eyes, scanning Kaleb up to his neck, and down to the soles of his boots. There was a quiet 'ding' and the eyes flipped shut. Next, a set of waldo arms rose out of the floor, sliding along a series of control crystals built into the seams of the chamber, and unfolding when they reached certain predefined points. Magitechnical fingers and drivers unfolded from these waldoes, and set about removing his armour, piece by piece, carefully drawing each piece back into the floor. "Miriya.... This is weird..." Kaleb muttered uneasily as his armour appeared to be disintegrating around him. "Am I going to get my stuff back in one piece? This...thing won't like, mash it into a scrap cube or something will it?" "Oh don't be a big baby." She replied, watching the readouts. Everything was going as planned. The monitors indicated a rapidly increasing percentage of armour removal, leaving a rather bare looking Kaleb underneath. A smile quirked her mouth, and without saying a word, she flicked a toggle switch visibly with her right hand, while her left hand hooked under the display and pressed a small red button. For....posterity. Yeah, that's it. For study. She told herself, as a flash blinded Kaleb in the booth from all sides. "What was that?!" He asked worriedly, down to his boxer shorts within the booth. "Hmm? Oh nothing. Sensor glitch." She replied almost distractedly, as she copied the scan file into another section of her database, under heaviest quantum encoding that she could get, and then proceeded to delete the original. "Nothing to worry about. It should be done now. If you reach out in front of you, you'll find some clothes on a little shelf. They were just transported from Rata Sum via micro-gate, so...uh...they might feel a little fuzzy. Residual dimensional static and all that." Kaleb indeed did find the clothing, folded neatly on a small shelf. As he picked it up, the walls of the booth slid back on all sides, extending planes as they did so to keep his privacy intact. Clearly the machine somehow intuited his need for movement space. A moment later and he had slid on the Asuran-designed human-size clothing. "Hmm...very nice material. This isn't wool, is it? I've not felt anything this soft before." "It's Jungle silk. We harvest it from the spiders and wurms. They might be dangerous monsters, but they can be quite useful for natural materials." She smiled, as the walls of the booth finally slid back into the floor. Seeing him fully dressed again, she tipped her head to the side, crossing her arms, and considered him. "Hmmm....Well, they don't look too bad on you. Perhaps I should have gotten the shorts too, so you could replace those human ones you have on." "Huh?" Kaleb was checking out his new duds in a reflection, when he realized what she'd just said. "You didn't see me in my shorts, did you?" "What? Oh no...no no!" Miriya flushed, shaking her head rapidly and holding up her hands in denial. "No no... That's not what I meant! I just meant I should have completed the set! That's all! Really!" His raised eyebrow made her flush even pinker, and she quickly turned away, running up one of the hard-light paths to her cupboard for glasses. Once she was certain he couldn't see her, she let herself exhale heavily. All that work, and she nearly flubbed it up! Returning with the glasses, she called up a table and hovering chairs out of another wall, placing the glasses on the table and pouring them a glass of wine each. "Now that you are... comfortable...Hehe, about that wine I mentioned?" **** "...And that's when I told him, I told him 'How could I have possibly have punched out your son, when he was already unconscious from the booze?'” Kaleb pointed out, and mimed an unconscious man, slumping on his chair and lolling his tongue out of his mouth. Miriya was doubled over laughing, slapping the table top in mock surrender and nearly knocking her wineglass off it. “Oh, by the Alchemy! How in Tyria did you ever get out of that situation?” She asked when she gained enough composure back, tears of laughter still streaming from her large green eyes. She continued to laugh and snicker as she tried to control it. The last two hours after they started to drink had been a blur. The lovely Ascalonian Wine had gone from a full bottle... to the dregs, which were swiftly being drained by a half-toasted Kaleb. He slammed the bottle onto the tabletop, and grinned. “Well you see, this big ol’ Norn, he thinks he’s defending his son’s honor or something, so he’s all puffed up and about to go Bear on me or somethin’... and then he looks over at his son, sees him facedown in his own drool, a shiner on his face that I claim came from the table as he fell... and he just deflates like a balloon. He shakes that big top-knotted head of his and hauls his son up by his backstraps, and just says ‘Yeah. Yeah, I can definitely see that. Boy hasn’t learned to hold his lager yet. Sorry if he bothered you.’ “ “No... No WAY.” Miriya’s jaw dropped. “You got to be kidding me.” Kaleb shook his head, sitting back and looking smug. “Nope. That’s what he said. He actually apologized for his son’s behaviour. Didn’t realize I had slugged that freakin’ twerp for his talk about how wussy--” He slurred it wuzzy “--humans are, and laid that kid out. I’m just glad it turns out he was drinkin’ age. Couldn’t use that bluff if he wasn’t.” “Cog’s gears, Kaleb, you definitely got guts. Standing up to a Norn in his hometown bar like that.” Miriya shook her head, and rubbed her eyes a bit. “I’d have had to call in my minions if that’d happened to me.” “And you woulda been squished for it.” Kaleb replied somberly, staring at her. “The moment they see your eyes and hands do that glow-thing, they would have flattened you with a damned boot. Not many like Necros these days.” “True, true...” Miriya nodded, levity completely gone. She traced the rim of her glass with a dark green-painted nail. “What about you? Do you like Necros?” He pondered for a moment. “Well, I don’t mind them... I don’t mind most anyone. But if they’re undead, I kinda mind them. Orrian and all that crap. But I don’t mind Necros that use Grenth’s gift for good.” She nodded, still circling the glass, an odd expression on her face. “That’s good, that’s good. Um,” She paused, flicking her eyes up to him for a moment to read his face before looking aside. “So....what about me? Do you like me? I mean, uh, I’m a Necromancer, after all.” He nodded, and thought about it for a second. “Well, duh, of course I like you. We’re teammates! I might not know how the Whispers operate, but if the Pact teamed us together, they must see something there, in our dossiers! And we work really well in combat together, as well as in info-gathering. Yeah, I like you. Of course I do, Miriya!” Miriya forced a smile at him, laughing along with him for a moment, before whispering off to the side, almost to herself. “That’s not what I meant...” "I hate to ask, but, do you have anything more like this wine?" Kaleb asked, tipping the dregs into his glass. He made a face, somewhere between concerned and goofy. "I mean, if we're going to keep drinking that is. I'm finally buzzed enough that I feel comfortable without my armour!" She laughed in spite of herself, in spite of the disappointment of his previous answer, but she steeled herself, hopping off her floating seat and heading for the refrigerator unit again. Looking inside she hemmed and hawed, listing things off. "Let's see, we've got that vile concoction that Colacokaia, that Hylek potionmaster forced upon me, we have indigo formula, and Sunny D....AH, here we go." With a triumphant, if a little unbalanced swing, she held the bottle up for his view. "It's... uh... says something about champagne. I forget where I got this from." He took the bottle from her, raising an eyebrow appreciatively as he considered it. "Not bad, but we can't just go chugging a bottle of champagne. That's more of a sipping kind of thing, in a relaxed situation. It's why nobles drink it at their 'parties' or whatever." He made a little, foppish, flippant gesture with his fingers and stuck out his tongue that made her grin. "You mean we should relax more? I thought we were pretty relaxed already!" Miriya laughed, hands on her short hips. "Any more relaxed and I'd probably be asleep!" Kaleb laughed and shook his head, putting the bottle on the table. "Nah, nah. I mean it wouldn't be good for sitting here at this table, trading dirty stories and reliving old fights. It's more...civilized a drink, I guess." The diminutive Asura pondered for a moment, before an idea struck her. "I got it! Come over here." She led him down the terraced interior of her home to the square shaped pool of water occupying the 'bottom' corner of the cube, and with a flourish indicated the gently lapping blue water. "Ta-da!" "What?... it's a pool of water." He replied, nonplussed. He crossed his arms and looked at her, confused. "Is there supposed to be something in it?" "Yes!" Miriya grinned, tugging at his pantleg. "Us!" She caught herself, and released his pantleg, coughing a bit. "I mean, it's not just a pool of water. I configured this corner to be either a hot spring or a cool bath, depending on what I felt like." "Really? You can do that?" He blinked, and considered the square of water. It was roughly his height on all sides, and he couldn't tell how deep it was based on the terracing and false-depth illusion of the shifting waters. "So....what, we should sit in it while we drink the champagne?" "Well, yeah?" Miriya shrugged and smiled, before running around the square to a panel on the edge of one of the stairs. After fiddling around with the controls, she pushed a red blinking square, and, much to her delight, the pool suddenly erupted into gentle bubbles. "Ah ha! There we go. Jaccuzzi." "Ja-whatzee?" "Nothing." She tested the water with a toe, smiling at the temperature, before turning and hopping up a few steps on the terrace. "Just one problem though; Our clothes. Shouldn't get them wet. Those'd get very itchy and kinda ruin my pool to boot." "So...what?" Kaleb knelt down and dipped his fingers into the water. "We'll strip down to our skivvies? This is as warm as that Norn hot spring...you know the one, in Lornar's Pass?" "You mean Wayfarer Foothills. Zelechor Hot Springs." Miriya frowned, shaking her head. "You are always so bad with locations. I'm surprised you get anywhere." "Hey, my hammer takes me wherever I need to go." He smiled, standing up. "Now, is there another booth, or where should I put this stuff?" "Oh! Anywhere!" She grinned, waving a hand at the terraces around them. "Just leave it high enough to not get wet." He nodded, and started shedding clothes, tossing them onto a higher step. Miriya stared for a moment, feeling the blood rush to her face, before she realized she WAS staring, and quickly looked aside. "Uh, I suppose I better...um...get ready too!" It took her almost no time to get rid of her simple tunic top and light pants, leaving her bathing suit-like bodysuit as the only remaining piece of clothing. It was hot pink and white; not her usual colors, and for a moment, she was horrified and embarrassed by the dichotomy between her normal dress and her bodysuit. Please don't let him say anything about the bodysuit. Please don't let him say anything about... "Nice bodysuit you got there. Didn't figure you for the color pink." He smirked, settling into the warmed water. SCRAP! Miriya swore internally, flushing almost as pink as her suit. She immediately leapt into the pool, covering herself to her neck in water while keeping her arms wrapped around herself. "I-I..er... I forgot about the color...You wear a body suit most of your life as an Asura, and you kinda forget about it!" He shrugged, taking the champagne bottle and looking around. "Uh, do you have any wine glasses or champagne glasses down here? The others we left up on your table up there." "Oh! Yeah... Um... Hang on, I'll go get them." She hopped out of the water, moving as fast as her little legs could carry her; the faster she moved, the less he'd see the pink suit. A few moments later, she slid into the water beside him, and placed the glasses on the exposed step behind them. "Here." "Thank you muchly." Kaleb smiled, and poured them each a generous portion of champagne. That done, he handed one of the champagne flutes to her, and saluted her with it. "To good friends, good drinks, and faking it like high society fops!" Miriya giggled, and tipped her glass so it dinged against his lightly, the pure crystal note a pleasant sound. "To one of the best teammates I've ever had, and possibly my best friend in all of Tyria." They both sipped. "Aw, that was sweet, Miriya." Kaleb smiled, scratching the back of his head after he finished his sip. "I knew we were friends, but I didn't know you thought of me as a best friend." "Well, I do, you big lug." She smirked and gave his arm a playful punch. She put her glass behind her, one step up on the shelf, and rubbed an ear in thought. "You never judge me based on my size, even when we first were introduced, never thought of me as weak or cowardly for being a magic user...never turned away when you learned what kind of magic I used, or what it sometimes does to me..." She shivered a bit, wrapping her arms around herself. "Using the Death Shroud is so intoxicating but... There are times I worry that I'll lose myself to it. And that I might end up no better than an Orrian." Miriya rubbed a tear away from her eye with a finger. Damn the alchohol... it was making her resolve fall away. Already she could feel the depression sinking in again. Soon she'd have to retreat to her room and spend the rest of the night getting herself under contro-- Her thoughts were interrupted by Kaleb wrapping an arm around her and drawing her up into his lap into a hug. It wasn't a comradely hug, like he might have done outside in the cities, or a brotherly hug as he'd done to her before in celebration of things. It was just a hug, but it was much more than just a hug, in a way she couldn't define. It took her a moment of stunned shock to respond, but she finally relaxed, wrapping her smaller arms as best she could around him and hiding her face in his chest. After a few moments, Kaleb spoke. "Miriya, don't ever doubt yourself. Don't ever doubt your skills; I know I don't. You mastered a fantastically powerful magic few dare to. I read the story about how you came to the attention of the Whispers: You made those Inquest pay for what they did. I think you might be one of the most powerful people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing." Miriya listened, and smiled sadly, closing her eyes as she realized he was only seeing her skills and abilities, and not her. So close...so very close... she lamented, still fighting the urge to cry. He just doesn't see... "I've never been scared of you or your skills, Miriya. Not even when you used the Death Shroud. Because I know you'd never harm anyone you cared about." He gently stroked her braids and ears with one hand, not letting her draw away with the other. "You're an amazing person, Miriya, and I think that no matter what, you'll accomplish anything you set your mind to." Miriya's eyes snapped open at that compliment. She quickly mulled it over in her head, and slowly withdrew her arms from the embrace. "Miriya?...are you okay?" Kaleb asked, concerned at her silence and her retreat from the hug. She had her head turned down, so he couldn't see the expression on her face at all. "....I can accomplish anything eh?" She whispered, half to him, half to herself, staring at her hands where they braced against his bare chest. To Kaleb's ear, he could hear the quiet wavering in those few words. "There's just one thing I can't seem...to do..." "What would that be?" He asked softly, wondering about his friend. He could see her shaking quietly, as if she were cold, though the water was quite warm. Her small digits reflexively twitched where she had them on his chest. "Is it something I can help with?" She half-laughed, half-sobbed, shoulders rocking with the effort to resist. Would she take the chance? Would it do anything, mean anything? What do I even have to lose? "Yeah....it's...something you could help me with." She whispered in a shaky voice. "What is it? You can tell me." NOW. "This." She replied, and quickly tilted her head up to catch him in a kiss. Her arms flew around his neck, half to support herself, half to keep him from snapping his head back in surprise as her lips found his. Miriya kept her eyes tightly shut to avoid looking him in the face, seeing the shocked, perhaps betrayed expression on his face as she broke through the friend-barrier to get what she wanted. At contact, she felt that electric charge that she always felt directed at him. In other situations, it had been when he'd touched her shoulder, or playfully flicked her ear with a finger. Or when he hauled her up to sit on his shoulder while they travelled. Little moments of contact, each with an electric pulse, at least to her. They were all friendly gestures, so she put off how they felt, guilty for feeling more. This moment though...the electric shock was so many magnitudes greater...but so was the accompanying guilt. I just tricked my best friend...she cried inside as she kissed him. I just tricked him, got him drunk, and now I'm stealing a kiss that wasn't mine to have...he's going to stay so far away now... her thoughts then fell apart into unrequited sorrow. Slowly, Miriya broke the kiss, letting her hands slip from his neck, and settling down into the warm water of the pool. She never looked him in the eyes; she just turned to the side and curled up on herself, arms around her knees, looking away. Looking ashamed. "I-I'm sorry." She whispered, sniffling. "I-I'm sorry I did that...I just... I wanted t-to..." "Hey. Hey Miriya." Kaleb's soft voice made her ear twitch. With her eyes clenched closed, she almost jumped when she felt his finger under her chin, turning her face up to look at him. Her green, almond-shaped eyes opened in terrified surprise, and she stared at him, pleadingly, but so badly scared of what the question might be. "...For how long, Miriya?" He asked. Her eyes searched his for any sign of anger or betrayal...or disgust. It wasn't long ago historically that humans thought they were the center of all things and that all were below them. Nothing like that was in his eyes. Only warmth and concern. "For how long have you been holding yourself back like that?" There was a moment of silence as she processed his question. Her face alternately lit up with happiness, but seemed so ready to break into full on tears at the very same moment. Her mouth almost stretched into a smile, though it was a shaky one, and a tear escaped her eye, sliding down her smooth cheek. She let out a half-chuckle, half-cry, before shaking her head. "....since...almost since the first time we met." "You entered the room, smiled, and introduced yourself...you and that big dumb iron hammer of yours. " She laughed a little, staring up at him. "I didn't know what to think. I was told there'd be a human on the team, but I expected some dour soldier...instead, you walked in and made me laugh." Miriya reached up and gently touched his hand where it cupped her cheek. "You didn't bat an eye at my Necromancy...you joked with me and made me feel welcome when we camped out on missions...I'm not sure, but I think you even snapped me out of the Death Shroud that one time, by...just being there." She turned her head in towards the palm of his hand and gave it a soft kiss. "I never thought I'd be attracted to a non-Asura. Never even entered my mind...till you. Once I realized that, I had to get your attention some how. Even if for a moment." A sigh escaped her. "When I learned we had business in Rata Sum, I contrived a way for us to be alone. I introduced Dhangalor to a weaponsmith friend, and I lent Corvus my card to the datablocks in the archives." "And Slane?" Kaleb asked. "Didn't have to do a thing. He just disappeared." She chuckled ruefully. "For all I know he's in this room and cloaked, watching my humiliation." The Asura turned her head to look him in the face. "I tricked you, to get you to come here. To get you alone... to get you drunk..." Another tear fell. "I-I'll understand if you want to leave, or if you never want to talk to me again...I just, I just..." Miriya was interrupted once again by Kaleb. This time however, he cut her off by giving her mouth something else to do. Eyes wide in surprise, it took her a moment to realize he was kissing her this time, and when that registered, she all but melted into his arms. "My poor Miriya..." Kaleb sighed after the kiss was broken. He stroked her cheek, rubbing a tear away. "I didn't see the signs...didn't know how you felt. I honestly thought you thought I was a... what's the term?" "...Bookah?" She chuckled feebly. He smiled. "A Bookah. That's it. I know, and I knew, that I could never match you mentally in damned near anything. But I didn't see all the times, all the little things you said and did...till now." "....and now?" "I'm not going to send you away, or ignore you, for starters." He smirked, raising an eyebrow. "And I'm not going to stop being your best friend either. So you don't need to worry your pretty little head about that." Miriya couldn't repress the giggle, which earned a broad grin from Kaleb. "That being said, I gotta admire your little plan. You did catch me off guard with that kiss...but...honestly it wasn't that bad." Her jaw dropped, and she stared at him as he winked. "It was actually pretty good. I had no idea you were that good a kisser." "I...I-ya...wha..." "You know, I think in the back of my head, I always wondered what it'd be like to kiss you. You had those lovely lips, and that black lipstick..." He grinned. "I never would have thought you'd have had a crush on a simple human." That earned him a smack to the shoulder. "You! I... I ARGH!..." She reached up and grabbed his cheeks so that he was looking her straight in the eyes. "Simple human?! Says the guy who goes and rips the scrappin' ARM off a Destroyer troll and beats it to death with it?! And then has the club at the end of that arm turned into a new hammer head?" She glared at him, teeth grinding, a low growl in her throat, before kissing him again. "You're just damned lucky I think you're cute, big Bookah." She purred, stroking his cheek, feeling the stubble under her nail. "Oh, now we're name-calling?" Kaleb chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Or is that supposed to be my pet name now?" "Mm, no...not a pet name." She frowned a bit, before smirking. "How about a code name for in public? Others might think I'm insulting your intelligence, but you'd know I'm not?" "Works for me...Bookah never really insulted me anyway." He shrugged. "Always made me think 'Book-reader' or something. So coming from an Asura, it doesn't actually sound like an insult." "Good...Then that's what I'll nickname you in public; Big Bookah. MY Big Bookah." She licked her lips playfully, her emerald eyes examining him so close up. "Mm... That does sound good."

#gw2 #gw2 fanfiction #tyrias-library #My characters #Miriya Danae #Kaleb Fenoir #cute #romantic #kinda cliche? #asura female #male human #asura necromancer #human warrior

[honestsycrets]

Find Your Way: Epilogue

FYW Masterlist

A/N: Final chapter. Gif belongs to joligraphie I believe. My brain kinda hurts, so I’m just gonna post this and run away now.

It wasn’t enough that she was back. She was in this camp with the men prowling about for her, smelling the spices on her skin. The other shieldmaidens were a healthy distraction but he felt the swell of jealousy any time someone spoke to her the wrong way. He sat in his rooms sharpening his tools late at night when the door was pressed open. Ivar shot up in his seat, turning to glare at the newcomer: an old man of his that had yet to earn his place in Valhalla.

“There is an Englishman here, Ivar.” Ivar glances over his shoulder back to (Y/N). You cease braiding your hair, glancing over to Ivar before speaking.

“Who is it?” You say. The envoy scratches his itchy beard before exhaling through cracked lips. He carries news that he really didn’t want to carry.

“Messenger. Brought somethin’ for the princess.” He says with a scratchy rasp. The repetitive motion of metal shushing against metal comes to a stop when Ivar hears the words. You sigh gently, looking up to nod at your elder.

“Please let him in, Asger, and thank you.” Your head bobs in a confident manner; as if you are already Ivar’s queen despite your lack of ring. You made it a point to know the name of everyone you could. Asger excuses himself. Moments later, the door opens back up. You hurry to your feet, rolling your hands anxiously atop of one another.

“Princess (Y/N),” He pauses, jittering in place. “Prince Alfred sent me to deliver a gift to his dear friend.” The messenger speaks as confidently as he could. You didn’t need to look behind to know that Ivar’s shoulders were raised with a tense quality. The room suddenly feels asphyxiating.

“Oh. Then might you give him this?” You cross the room in a few wide steps, grasping a sword encrusted in gems. The sword you fought with. The messenger steps back away from your gift.

“He instructed me not to take anything of you, my lady.” The messenger says. You wonder how Alfred could know your behaviour so well after only a few days. You drop the sword back to its place, coming back beside Ivar while shaking your head.

“Then I am confused--why is he giving me more?” You ask and set your hand on Ivar’s tight shoulder. The messenger draws a drawstring bag open to reveal a glittering necklace of gold and precious stones. It’s precious and sweet; but your chest tightens at sight of it.

“An apology for his father’s actions. He hopes that your people would turn their eyes away from England. Allow me.” The messenger moves forward, stopped by Ivar’s axe pressed flatly against the chest of his armor.

“Do not touch her.”

Ivar’s other hand unravels into an open faced palm. You aren’t sure whether to feel relieved that Ivar took the choice out of your hands to receive the gift or embarrassed. The messenger drops the necklace into his hand.

“Get out.” Ivar throws back to the man. He skitters back to the door like a reptile to a crack in the wall. As he walks out, Ivar stands with his weight thrown onto his crutch.

“I wondered how you managed alone. I see now he released you. He wanted you.” Ivar unravels the necklace, dangling off his fingers. It’s truly a marvel. The stones are clear and glisten like pools of water. His nose scrunches in disgust for the prospect of another prince’s love, as if anyone else should think of you in such a way. Especially not a Christian who would see you corrupted to their sole god and odd ways. Ivar hands you the necklace and you immediately toss it on the table in response. You had to besmirch it.

“I don’t want him, he was just a friend.” You say in response, moving up against Ivar. Your lavender dress contrasts against the black of his clothes. It’s almost too innocent. He wondered if he had corrupted you too, but when he looks into your eyes, there's nothing but infatuation. You had to want his corruption.

“Really. Then you have been faithful to me?” Ivar asks, rounding about you in a circle.

“Of course. I’ve never given you reason to think otherwise.” You say, unwavering. Ivar considers it true. Over the years it was him and you, you and him despite the suitors he scared off. Alfred was another suitor masking around as a friend. He stops back in front of you.

“Tell me you are mine.” Ivar brings his large hand to your cheek. He searches for any sign of doubt in your features but there is none. You lean on your tippy toes, placing several tiny closed mouthed kisses to his lips.

“I’m yours, Ivar. I’ve always been.” It jerks him back to a even state of mind and he brings you back to his bed, pushing you back onto the furs. You spread out comfortably over the sheets.

“What a good little wife you would be.” Ivar says feeling the ring burning a hole in his trousers. He sits on the edge and leans over your body, caging you between his powerful arms.

“One day.” You giggle in response.

Why not today? The words were caught in his throat.

“Have you done it?”

Ivar’s fingers rattled against his crutch.

“What is it with you Hvitserk? You have nothing to do now that Ubbe is not here?” Ivar sneers. Hvitserk presses bits of meat into his mouth, his eyes forming amused crescents as he eats over dinner. (Y/N) has been stopped by a shieldmaiden and they speak over silly things. They eat silently for a while.

“You lead an army to reclaim her but you can’t ask for her hand?” He suggests. Ivar throws his food back down.

“She would want it to be special. So I will make it special.” Ivar informs. As if he cares— he would prefer to make the ceremony there and then to shake off any wolves prowling after her skirt. But she has an elaborate fairytale of what she expects of her husband. He is no dashing warrior of a prince. He couldn’t even dash; thanks to Ragnar.

“She’ll be an old maid before long.”

“Are you boys gossiping?” (Y/N) straddles his lap. Ivar lifts his ale away as to not spill it, protecting it while she mounts him like a throne.

“Only about the witch.” Hvitserk covers for him.

“Are you almost through?” Ivar leans on his crutch as you move through the rooms you shared with Ivar quickly. Your things have moved from your own rooms to his. It’s increasingly pointless not to marry you. You have everything but the title of being his wife.

“I haven’t braided my hair.” You round the bed in the middle of the room. Ivar stopped your fingers from weaving the strands.

“Then don’t. It looks better down,” Ivar turns you and slides a cool metal around your neck. You recognize the metal as being a necklace, the one that the messenger brought you. You clasp the earrings into your ear.

“Alfred’s necklace?” You ask. You don’t bother to ask why his mind changed about the thing.

“It looked better on you than off. Let’s go to this wedding, I’m growing impatient.” Ivar offers out his hand for you to take and you do, walking alongside him to the door where Hvitserk stood waiting. He spins a heavy floral crown about his fingers, grinning ear to ear.

“I see you agreed.” He says brightly.

“Agreed to what?” You ask, looking up to Ivar’s strained eyebrows. He glared down his brother for a reason unknown to you. Quickly, he swipes the crown out of his fingers, arranging it atop of your head.

“To be the bride.” And in the shock of the moment, you snap back to him after a few stuttering moments of disbelief.

“You are not marrying me off to some stranger.” You say. Whether the stranger was Alfred or some other well intentioned king, you wouldn’t have it. Ivar scoffs, knowing you would be the one to think like that, and turns out his pockets. The glittering ring he’s been sitting on for a good few weeks tumbles out.

“You stupid girl. I want you to be my wife.” Ivar offers it up to you. For a while the words are lost on you. You hold the lovely little ring in your fingers, babbling intelligibly while a crowd of warriors and shieldmaidens alike urge on Ivar. They shout rambunctiously, casting their axes high into the sky. “Marry him!” They say. You glance around to a group of your most favored shieldmaidens who opt for silence. “He hasn’t asked properly.” One shouts: and you agree.

“Ask me like your brothers would.” You set the ring into his palm. Ivar turns about, flickering his fingers to hush the crowds.  

“Fine. (Y/N), my mother’s sweet princess of Kattegat, will you marry me?” He poses the question almost cockily, but his eyes betray his words. They twinkle almost hopefully that he might say yes, breathlessly looking from your lips down to your fingers. Despite the rowdy crowd, Hvitserk’s nosiness and the chaos that Alfred brought the last few weeks, you offer your hand out to him.

“I’ll settle for being your wife instead.” Ivar leans forward to slide his ring onto your finger. Just as he leaned in for a kiss, you slammed up against him. The force of your lips against his just about knocks him off his feet. He won’t be bested easily, leaning into the kiss you gave him.

“Let us go marry then!” Ivar follows after you as you set off through the flowers first, giving a harsh smack to the back of your ass. So this was life after you found your way.

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#ivar #ivar the boneless #ivar lothbrok #ivar ragnarsson #ivar's heathen army #ivar x reader #ivar the boneless x reader #vikings #viking #vikings imagines #viking imagines #vikings ivar #find your way

[xmenimagine]

Imagine: What It’s Like To Be Alive.

Requested by Anon. Includes: Warren Worthington III x Reader. Request: * DUDE LIKE, YOUR FICS ARE THE BEST IVE SEEN!! I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOUR WARREN WORTHINGTON AND WONDERED IF YOU COULD DO MORE WITH HIM?! HAVE A LOVELY DAY! ❤️❤️

Note: Getting back into writing again, so, hopefully, I’ll be able to make a few imagines for both my accounts. Fingers crossed. Also, I didn’t specify the mutation that you have. Kinda a mess tho??

    Warren had that stupid smirk on his face that was just asking to be swiped off. It wasn't unusual for him to turn up to your room, while you were trying to get at least some of your homework done before he talked you out of it and got you to follow him to whoever it was that he wanted to go to that night. He sat on your desk chair while you sat on your bed, papers spaced out in front of you while highlighters, that barely worked, littered your bed and half of your floor. Obviously, he couldn't sit on the chair like you could, his wings got in the way, so he sat with the back of the chair against his chest, his arms resting on the top of it as his head was laying on his arms. With the shake of your head, you tried to ignore his presence and finish off one of the many pieces you had.

    "That's not even due till next week, take a break, babe," Warren hoped that reminding you would get you to take a break.

    After glancing up at him, barely lifting your head, only looking through your lashes, with a blank expression, you looked back down, highlighting one of the sentences before picking up your pen to write an answer. Warren groaned, resting his forehead on his arms, closing his eyes as he heard the pen move across the page.

    "Babe, you and I both know that ignoring me only lasts about three minutes before the sound of my voice constantly nagging at you gets you to leave this room with me."

    "Not tonight, Warren."

    "Are you angry at me for writing on your book earlier?"

    "Which one? The one that now says; 'ITchy sewer daddy' instead of 'IT' or the one that says; 'Warren Peace' instead of 'War and Peace'?"

    "Okay, but you have to admit, if they made a Stephen King movie remake of IT called 'Itchy sewer daddy', you would go and watch it."

    "Warren…" You pinched the bridge of your nose, sighing loudly. "Why don't you go ask Kurt to hang out?"

    "Because I don't want to make out with Kurt?"

    You raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't have thought that after you two got pretty close the other day."

    "What? You mean when I was trash talking him before training?"

    "If that's your idea of trash talking—"

    "Don't finish that sentence, babe."

    A light smile tugged at your lips. "Go away, Warren."

    "I'm breaking you, just give me another minute—" He pointed at you. "No. Wait. Thirty seconds. Just give me another thirty seconds to prove that I am, in fact, irresistible to you."

    "How about I just jam this pen into my neck?"

    "That's not one of my options." Warren raised an eyebrow. "Don't talk back to me with that sarcastic tone, babe, you know it gets me going."

    With a groan, you laid back on your bed. "Leave!" You yelled.

    "I still have twenty seconds." He shrugged.

    "Great, so you're going to waste twenty seconds of my life?"

    "As opposed to?"

    "I can feel my youth slipping away from me. The grey hairs are already dominating the rest of my head. My skin is wrinkling and sagging as we speak."

    "Stop using up the rest of my ten seconds being dramatic." He laughed.

    "Times almost up. When it is, you leave."

    "No. I'll just get closer."

    You screamed, picking up the pillow from behind your head to cover your face. Warren's laughter still managed to echo through the pillow as he got closer, removing it from your head with a grin as his shaggy, blond curls fell in front of his face. It wouldn't be long before he forced you to give him another haircut.

    "Save the screaming until later, babe, and stop trying to suffocate yourself before we've had some fun."

    "Fun? Warren, your idea of fun is making me go into some abandoned building just so you can pretend to 'save' me and reward yourself with kisses."

    "It works every time." He grinned.

    "How about we just stay here tonight? Or, better yet, you leave and I stay here to finish my work."

    Warren stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. "Boring," he chimed.

    "Times up."

   "Oh, c'mon, babe." He groaned, getting on your bed as you sat up to finish your work.

    "No."

    "Please?" He whined.

    "Let me think about it."

    "Great!"

    "No."

    Warren groaned. "Baby, please!" He whined again, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind.

    "Warren, I'm working."

    You could hear him huff, resting his chin on your shoulder. "Fine. But I'm not moving."

    You tried to shrug, but it was difficult with his head resting on the right one. "Whatever."

    "Are you done yet?"

    "How about I jam this pen into your neck instead."

    "Oh, and then what?"

    Warren laughed when you screamed again, throwing your pen down on your bed. His arms tightened around you as he pulled you back, just enough so you were leaning on him. You covered your face with your hands.

    "I love you." He chuckled, leaning his head against yours.

    "I know."

    "Okay, Han, can we go do something now?"

    "Fine." He cheered to himself. "Only because you finally got the reference."

    "It only took ten months of making me watch the same movie over and over again for me to finally get it."

    "It would have taken Kurt one." You smirked, standing up once you felt his arms loosen around your waist.

    "Baby," he said quietly, his hands gripping your waist once more, stopping you from moving. "Don't say that."

    "Why? It's true." You laughed, obviously joking—which he was as well.

    "That's only because he would have been watching the movie, not staring at you like I do."

    Turning around, rather awkwardly, you cupped his face in your hands. "I know."

    "So, we go out now?"

    "Yeah," you told him, sighing, hating that you caved in. "Just no scaring me."

    "How else do I get you to kiss me?"

    "By kissing me first? Or asking?" You laughed, putting your jacket and shoes on as he stood up from the bed.

    "That works?"

    "Asking if you can kiss me is way more attractive than scaring me into kissing you."

    "Really?"

    You hummed. "Let's just say it gets me going." Turning away from him, you turned the light off and walked out of your room.

    "Wait! Seriously?" He yelled, running after you.

    "Sure."

    "I'll keep that in mind."

    "I hope you do." You smiled, feeling his hand slip into yours as you walked down the corridor to the stairs to leave.

-

    It had been a task to try and stop Warren from going down one of the children's slides at the park. It was unknown to you how you even managed to end up there, but Warren seemed to have persuaded you, like always. His metal wings barely allowed him to swing on the swings, obviously stopping the air from getting passed him for him to be able to swing. At the very least, he was able to mess around on the monkey bars and the climbing frame—he wasn't pleased that he couldn't use the seesaw because of how heavy his wings were.

    "I'm the king of the world!" Warren yelled from the top of the climbing frame.

    "You look like the Angel on top of a Christmas tree." You laughed, barely able to pull yourself up to climb as you were laughing so hard at him.

    "That's not very nice, babe. I'm royalty."

    "Yeah, a royal pain in the ass." You laughed again, having to hold on tightly to the ropes as even the smallest glimpse of him standing at the very top with his hand resting on his hips set you off into fits of laughter.

    "Well, you're not joining me up here," he called down to you.

    "I can't even breathe," you barely managed to reply through the laughter.

    "Yeah, yeah." He waved you off.

    Deciding it was better to not fall and break something, you climbed back down. "I can't even look at you!"

    "Why? Because you're blinded by my beauty?"

    "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I'm not beholding you, Warren."

    "Rude," you managed to hear him say a lot quieter. "I'm staying up here." He crossed his arms over his chest. "You can't make me come down!"

    "I'm not going to, I'm going to go use the slide."

    "Hey! If I can't then you can't!"

    "Okay, then that rule applies to your castle."

    Warren groaned, jumping off the top, slowly making his way down. You could hear the metal of his wings stop as he landed. "Fine, then you're coming with me."

    "What?" You turned around to face him just before he grabbed your waist, making his way back up to the top, holding onto you tightly. "Warren!" You held onto him tightly, surprised at how high up it actually was.

    "Shh, just turn around."

    "No." You shook your head.

    "I won't let you fall. I'm right here." He nodded to you, slowly turning you around himself as his arms wrapped around your waist tightly, keeping your body flush against his.

    "Whoa." The park had been built on top of a hill, so it was easy to see the lights across the city from the very top of the climbing frame.

    "Scared?" He asked quietly, hearing your breathing speed up.

    "I'm not exactly a fan of heights, not like this anyway, nowhere for me to hold in case I fall."

    "This is what it's like to be alive, though, babe."

    "Not helping."

    "I won't let you fall, I told you that."

    "You lie a lot, Warren."

    "Yeah, I know. But I'm not lying now." He rested his head against the side of yours. "So, are you scared?"

    "No. Why?"

    "Can I kiss you?"

    You smiled, turning your head to look at him. "Yeah, you can." You nodded, slowly turning around, wrapping your arms around his neck.

     "You said you didn't want me to scare you into kissing me, so, I guessed, considering that you're not scared, that it was alright for me to ask."

    "It is," you told him. Warren grinned, leaning down to press his lips to yours, his arms wrapped tightly around your waist.

#Warren Worthington III #angel #archangel #x men #warren worthington iii imagine #angel imagine #archangel imagine #x men imagine #imagine

[raspberrybitters]

I Spent Like 3 Days Writing About Food

Killing time waiting for my roommate to get out of the fucking bathroom, and thought I’d make a list of friendly foods that have gotten me through some shitty times, because these past few days have been rough and I haven’t wanted to eat anything. Granted, I’m a chubby little pig right now, but for my entire adult life thus far I was able to remain vaguely sane and underweight on these foods without having to give in to anorexia and bulimia craziness.

The categories within are: 

General philosophies about food that kept me alive and sane during my thin days + which will hopefully return me to those days shortly

Dishes for eating with others 

Food to make up my daily intake otherwise 

Things to put on other food that won’t add much intake but will make it more nutritious, if I do have to eat something I don’t really like/feel safe about

Emergency “I’m gonna faint please help me” food.

General Food Philosophies That Have Helped Me

Eat more fish. 

Experiment with different fish-based dishes. Even dehyrdated fish made into a stock/broth is helpful and more nutritious than a dang bullion cube. Plus, dried fish are very easy to weigh out and portion, so you know exactly what you’re eating. (I do recommend lightly cooking them first with just a little bit of oil, to make the broth more even/less sour tasting.)

Basically, I’m saying that if you don’t like fish now, there is a way to find fish prepared in a way you do like. It has saved my ass so many times.

Be proactive about allergies. 

I’m allergic to a lot of uncooked produce (Google “oral allergy syndrome”), but I used to just eat it anyway because it was healthy. Stop doing that if you do! You’ll feel like shit and everyone will associate you with weird allergies, henceforth making you the “weird food issues friend.”

Further, when I didn’t pay attention to my allergies, I became afraid of any food that I might be allergic to. I was definitely unable to eat cherries, so I was cautious around fruit, and then any kind of sweet plant-based food. I ended up limiting myself to bland starches and just not eating because I didn’t want to eat large amounts of those, either.

Pay attention to what you don’t like. There are foods around you that you only eat because they’ve always been a part of your life and everyone around you seems to like them. 

When I realized it was usually just the least offensive combination of bread and cheese (North American problems, right?) that I was eating and perhaps I just didn’t like the vegetables and etc. that came with this type of diet because of the seasonings and styles of preparing food common in my area and culture, I realized I could eat all sorts of planets pickled. That made things MUCH easier because I had one extra safe food, rather than just not eating at all.

Dishes

This isn’t exactly what I eat when left to my own devices, but oftentimes I will have people over and I’ll want to be a good host and feed them. It’s a bit weird to cook for people but not eat with them… plus, one of the best things about food is that they have a social component, and I personally try to maintain a social appreciation of food as much as possible, despite having a fucked up relationship with it. 

I’m not suggesting any building a dinner party around this list, but they are good for feeding your friends and talking over a nice plate. Plus, if you ever bring a friend home and they’re extremely drunk/sick, you will 100% need to feed them. (This happens to me a lot…)

Bugeoguk

Dehydrated pollack and garlic stir fried in a little toasted sesame oil; 7 cups of boiling water + half a sliced up Korean radish, daikon, black radish, or similar fleshy-kinda radish with white insides; keep on boil for 20-30 minutes. Add some sort of salty liquid (fish sauce, soy sauce with extra salt to take out the sweetness… or something else, idk), then add egg and wait for it to cook. Then add green onion. You win!

This soup helps everyone. I add lots of hot pepper flakes and gochujang (hot pepper paste) to the broth because I like to make my nose run. My nose has bled as a result of my love for spice before.

With the amount of gochujang I add, I can usually get four bowls out of it for about 200 calories a bowl, and giving your guest rice with it makes it more filling.

Egg whites in/over bell pepper, plus hella green onions and whatever kind of hot pepper paste you have

GIANT FUCKING SALADS. 

For some reason they seem fancy and make people happy. They’re not fancy. I get the nice canned pink salmon (like the spendy kind, bc I can’t be fucked to cook it myself), bean sprouts, greens, sesame seeds or sunflower seeds, and something kind of sweet (maybe walnuts, maybe Mandarin orange slices, etc.). 

Squirting some lemon juice and water into a kind of slurry worked fine for a dressing for me because I’m not really into dressing and I don’t think my friends have ever cared either. I’m 99% sure salad dressing is a myth. Anyway, people are always like, “ooh, what a nice salad!”

If you bring someone home drunk, make them ramen, add two eggs while it’s cooking (broken or unbroken doesn’t matter. It’ll just mean you may have to feel and crush up a slightly boiled egg), put in hella green onion and nutmeg, and serve. 

If they want you to eat with them, you can drink some of the broth with just one of the eggs and seem extremely normal.

Beef (or very savory substitute, but I am 100% opposed to putting chicken in here for some reason), pepper paste, rice wrapped in lettuce.

People love shit you have to wrap before you eat. You participate by just not using as much ingredients within the lettuce.

Day-to-day Food

Here you can see how much fucking sodium I must ingest every day.

Hardboiled eggs, whites only

Give yolk to nearest animal if possible. Always made my family dog’s coat really shiny. (Of course, don’t give them too much, or they’ll get fat and have heart problems or… whatever it is that too many eggs do to you. I can’t remember. But it’s something.)

Berries

But I must be careful! I’m allergic to some fruits and it isn’t fun. I used to be able to eat kiwis and now they make my mouth super itchy… so perhaps someday this list item will be no more. My body seems to hate fruit. :(

Pickled ginger

Pickled radish (all kinds, including the very cute pickled watermelon radish)

Any vegetable that I’m not allergic to + gochujang

Straight lettuce or bean sprouts, rinsed well

Add To Any Food

Add to any dish if you need to make it healthier or bulkier without adding too much to your daily intake.

Bean sprouts

Example: if everyone at the office is eating some sort of sub sandwich and it would be strange not to, just cut the bad ingredients in half and ask for a ton of bean sprouts

Egg whites

Kelp and/or dried (not roasted) seaweed, while cooking

Emergency

When you feel very unwell or know you will only get one chance to eat that day and would like to keep your metabolism up.

Rice topped with toasted sesame oil

Rice with bell peppers (chopped), egg whites (beaten first if necessary, then scrambled with peppers), and green onions

Steak

Hear me out, pals. I know steak is what clogs arteries and ugh, the idea of eating cows, etc., etc., but there is a Chipotle every two feet in my city. (I’m only exaggerating a teeny bit.) If I’m out and about with friends and get extremely lightheaded or something, there is a good chance they’ll be all like ~*~Chipotle, let’s go, why not, it’s lunch, it’s predictable, it’s never bad!~*~ and you can get steak alone. It’ll fix you.

Further, I feel like I could just buy the cubed steak from them and eat it as I’m walking around and my friends would just think it was a quirk.

#hazel lives