#i really want to like... organize something

[mrs-weasley-reid]

secret's out | a. hotchner

Aaron Hotchner x bau!liaisonreader

Summary: Aaron takes an urgent trip to your office.

Warning: pls MDNI! 18+, oral sex (f receiving)

A/N: the way i was fixated on this idea for the entire year last year (and crawling back to it)...

— ✦ — ✦ ✦ — ✦ ✦ ✦

A squeal passed your lips as your soul nearly jumped out of your body. Your boss, Aaron Hotchner, barged into your office with such urgency you thought someone had died, forcing a hiccup to bounce in your throat.

Your eyebrows drew together with your mouth slightly agape, "What's happened?" You couldn't help but hear your heartbeat loudly thumping against your chest.

Did a horrible case personally appear their way to his desk? Did someone get shot? Was there an emergency at home? Your mind quickly overheated as you attempted to figure out his sudden advent in your office.

"I need you to come on my face."

"What?!" Your face was both horror and bewilderment, a shade of red painting your cheeks.

You peeked outside your window, leaning against your desk. Thank goodness you had your own office. Had you not been a liaison, the entire bullpen would have its eyes on you.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Your voice was of panic, but you wouldn't deny the hint of excitement that echoed beneath your words.

Of course, Aaron had already thought of that. He had already calculated everything before he stepped out of his office and marched into yours.

Aaron didn't say a word.

Not even a moment to straighten the knot on his brows. He just shut the door, walked around your desk, kneeled in front of you, and started kissing your calves as if they were made of pure gold.

Heat rushed up your neck and to your face. Your breathing hitched at the touch of his trailing lips on your skin. "H-Hotch? Aaron, what—" You may have been shocked and confused, but you didn't stop his movements either.

You didn't want him to.

He slowly swiveled your seat to face your door, slipping under your desk as he continued to adore your thighs. How he managed to fit himself under there was beyond your comprehension.

"Continue working," Aaron directed between hot kisses on your inner thighs, pulling you out of your trance. He rubbed his textured palm on your skin, sparking friction in every bit of you.

His touch hits you like a freezing wind in the middle of January. Familiar and yet new. A simple graze and yet so electrifying.

Your eyes widened.

Did he just tell you to continue working while he was under your desk teasing you?

"Are you kidding—"

The door swung open.

Your head shot up to find one of the agents from the bullpen.

He stood by the door in silence.

You shoved Aaron's face away from your now needy cunt.

For fuck's sake.

At any given time, you would've waited for the agent to speak, but you weren't exactly in the right situation to have your door wide open for everyone outside to see or hear you.

So you spoke first, "Do you—" You swallowed—hard, casually organizing case files as Aaron bunched up your skirt. You couldn't bear to look at the agent in the eye. "Do you need something?"

"I wanted to ask if, uhm, you were," He placed a hand behind his neck, laughing awkwardly, and his face began to turn red.

You were too occupied to notice.

Aaron just started circling your clit with just the right pressure while he covered your inner thighs with stinging marks, fluttering the pit of your stomach—and the center of your cunt.

You bit the inner of your cheek, keeping any moans from slipping out. Is it really torture to feel so good while under someone's—besides the one pleasuring you—gaze? It seemed like one, but felt otherwise.

If Aaron wasn't exposing yourself under your desk, you would've realized that the agent in front of you was the same agent that has been eyeing you for a while.

JJ made sure you knew.

Emily, never let you forget.

And Penelope wanted you to give him a chance.

After a few moments—just enough time for you to release a silent gasp—the agent looked up.

His eyes were filled with courage as if he were about to fight a dragon and you were a damsel in distress.

You're anything but distressed right now, though.

He held his breath, holding his fists tight, "I wanted to ask if you'd like to go out with me for dinner? Or lunch? Or breakfast? Or just coffee? Or anything, really."

Without warning, Aaron lapped on your cunt.

It was different than usual. He pulled a little of the skin above your clit and exposed you more than you already were, directly flicking his tongue on the mass of nerves that sat on your clit.

The pleasure was straightforward and intense. Your toes curled in your heels. You gripped the file in front of you and gritted your teeth as you deeply sighed.

You weren't a profiler, but right then, you suddenly realized why the stoic SSA Aaron Hotchner was devouring you under your desk in the middle of the day.

"I'm sorry," You said gently through a soft sigh. A cover for the moan you badly wanted to breathe out. You looked at the agent with an apologetic smile, "I haven't told anyone, but I'm seeing someone." You lightly smacked the top of Aaron's head as you felt him smirk against your heat.

The agent grew redder, nodding vigorously. "It's okay. No worries. Sorry if I bothered you. Uhm... See you around." He stammered, backing away and out of your office.

When you were sure no one would barge into your office—again—you glanced down at Aaron. You carded your fingers through his dark hair, "That was mean, Aaron," You softly pointed out despite the jolt of your hips onto his face.

Aaron merely shrugged and sent you up to your peak. He was clearly unphased by the effects of his stubbornness. In fact, he made it evident that it was on purpose.

A small part of you wanted to lecture him, even briefly. To assert the little dominance you had over him at the moment. But boy, was he so good at distracting you.

You threw your head back, letting go of the file in your hand as you finally indulged in the pleasure. Your body was on fire, controlled moans desperately drooling off your lips. Whatever trick he was using, you definitely want him to keep at it.

And just as your core felt tight, entering a euphoric daze, Penelope knocked and entered your office with an innocent smile.

You willed your body not to shiver in frustration. You willed your mind not to think about Aaron kneeling under your desk and feasting on you and how your favorite tech analyst just unknowingly edged you.

"Hiyya!" She greeted, "Have you seen Hotch? I need him to sign this." She cheerily waved a manila folder. "I saw him pass by while absorbing some juicy gossip in the bullpen. Thought I'd find him here, but I guess not..." Penelope trailed off as her eyes roamed around your office.

When she finally accepted the seeming fact that Aaron was nowhere to be found, she turned to you with a wide grin. "Anyways, I'll find him one way or another. The goss was too good! Let me tell you about it!" She gushed, reaching for the seat in front of you.

Penelope was about two feet away from the seat when you shouted, "No!"

Shock emerged on her face. You gulped the pornographic sound in the center of your tongue down to the depths of your throat, reaching a handout in a bad attempt to look casual.

"I mean, n-no, I haven't seen him. But I can sign it for you." You smiled slyly, collecting yourself back together again. "My signatures are as good as Hotch's. He doesn't want the team to know because everyone will go straight to me." You felt Aaron's eye roll under the desk, nibbling on your skin.

Penelope grinned, "You don't say..." She excitedly clapped and handed you the folder. "Going back to the delicious goss. Apparently, someone caught an agent getting a visit to town in her office, if you get what I mean." A flicker sparked in her eyes. The thought made her grin wider and wiggle her brows.

Of course, you knew what she meant. You were getting one yourself. But you couldn't possibly say that to Penelope.

So, you purposely raised your eyebrows, "Really? The guy must've been hungry." You giggled, feeling Aaron squeeze your thighs.

"Right?!" She mischievously laughed. "I can't imagine someone keeping their mouth closed when someone is giving them the cunnilingus of their life in their office—" Her voice faded out of your earshot.

The bliss was too much that your hand flew back to Aaron's hair and pushed him closer to your wet cunt, forgetting that there was literally a person in front of you.

Penelope stopped in her tracks, brows furrowing as she noticed the thin layer of sweat on your forehead, "Are you okay?" The genuinity of her tone snapped you back to reality, and guilt began to knock some sense into you.

You laughed weakly, unable to control the contortion of your face. "Just cra-ahh—" You covered your mouth tightly, eyes blown wide as you stared at Penelope. "Just cramps. My... I think my period is coming." You reasoned, hoping she would buy it.

Good news and bad news.

Good news, Penelope was not a profiler. You can lie your way out of this as best as you can, and there's a huge possibility that she will buy it.

Bad news, Penelope has the most talkative mouth you have ever seen in your entire life. She would immediately pass the information that your unit chief was eating you out like a high-end buffet at noon on a sunny Tuesday, and that was how everyone would find out you were dating him.

Talk about a good bureau workplace headline.

"Oh, no," Penelope frowned. "They do go bad for you, huh? I've known of someone who couldn't even walk because the pain was too much." She paused, thinking. "Why don't I grab you some of my happy squishes from my cave? Maybe that'll help? And also cookies and coffee?"

You nodded vigorously, unable to form a word in fear that it would be a horrifying moan.

Penelope nodded as well, grabbing the folder. She told you she would be back in a flash with the best things in the world.

Luckily, she had the decency to close your door, and as soon as it shut, you let a strangled silent moan escape you as you rode your bliss.

You collapsed on your seat—breathless—like a worn-out soldier.

Aaron emerged from under your desk, licking his fingers as if he'd just had the best meal in his entire lifetime. A smirk curled one end of his lips. His chest was burning with pride.

"You're evil," You muttered breathlessly, still shivering from the ecstatic high.

A bright laugh echoed in your office and you wished it could play on a loop.

Aaron gently cleaned the mess he made, "Are you telling me you didn't like it?" He raised a brow at you.

You rolled your eyes.

"No," You admitted, playfully swatting his hands away. "Which is exactly why you're evil. You're very tempting. The apple to my Eve."

"Checks out," Aaron nodded proudly, to which you responded with a laugh mixed with disbelief.

He leaned down to leave a wet kiss on your lips, tattooing his whipped smile on your face.

His loving eyes made your chest erratic as if it was the first time he'd ever kissed you. As if he hadn't just fucked you with his mouth.

Aaron squinted, "And my signature definitely trumps yours."

"But I don't need yours to make a decision." You bounced your brows, looking at him like he was a fool.

You loved it when Aaron rolled his eyes. It was rare and solely for you to indulge in.

"I'll see you later," He rasped in such cunt-throbbing low voice.

What a tease.

You chased his lips to leave a small peck from your own, "See you later, troublemaker." You winked, scooting closer to your desk like it wasn't steaming with your sex under it.

Aaron chuckled, "I like that," He raised his brows with humor, nodding approvingly, "I'll be your troublemaker."

"'Course you are. Always been—well... hmm," You hummed, "You're tied with Jack. He and his magic tricks that he 'magically' learn whenever you two visit." You point an accusatory finger at him.

"Neither confirm nor deny," He laughed, fixing his tie before giving you one last look of adoration.

Aaron left your office high on your cum, lingering on his tongue. A one-day duration good mood. If only the team knew the trick of removing the knot on his eyebrows was as simple—and dirty—as a trip to your office.

Unbeknownst to him, a certain tech analyst was on her way back to your office with a handful of childish toys and a box of cookies and witnessed him emerge out of your door like a buzzed addict.

"Oh my god—" Penelope mouthed with wide eyes.

Secret's out.

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x you #hotch x reader #ssa aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner smut #hotch smut

[mellowinfluencermiracle]

heyyy, I’m loving the baby Sainz content with my whole heart! I’d loooove to see the grid acting and planning something for baby sainz birthday! maybe them freaking out wanting to make something special for her as she’ll be spending it with them during race weekend?? THANK U AND LOVE UUUU

AND I LOVE YOU! I really loved writing this request and I hope you all will enjoy this. My requests are always open. I also focused a bit more on Kelly and Max. Enjoy!

-XoXo

@willowpains

¡Feliz cumpleaños!

Today was finally the day. Amira Sainz turned 21! She couldn’t believe it. Even though she was so young, she had already accomplished things that most people could only ever dream of. She knew that this birthday was going to be something special. Not only was she now legally allowed to drink in the US, but she would also celebrate her birthday at the race track. So, like any normal birthday girl, she slept in.

While Amira was lost in her pretty pink dream world, the drivers and their significant others (wags) were already at the race track, meticulously planning the perfect party for their beloved princess. They had been organizing this grand celebration for the past three months, leaving no detail untouched.

George and Carmen took charge of the cake, ensuring it would be a delicious centerpiece for the festivities. Alex, Charles, Carlos and Rebecca worked tirelessly to decorate the entire Ferrari garage, transforming it into a vibrant and festive space with the help of the staff. Lily 1, Lily 2, Alexander and Oscar were given the delightful task of adorning the gift table, making sure each present was beautifully presented. Pierre and Kika handled the catering, ensuring that everyone would enjoy scrumptious food and drinks throughout the celebration. Lewis took it upon himself to select a fabulous outfit for Amira, making sure she would shine on her special day. Meanwhile, Lando , Daniel and Fernando collaborated to set up the DJ booth, ready to keep the party going with an electrifying playlist.

Max and Kelly certainly had the most entertaining roles in Amira’s birthday celebration Max, with a mischievous grin, took on the role of the silent observer. He sat in the background, sipping his coffee, and relishing the unfolding drama in the group chat. The messages flew back and forth, filled with excitement, anticipation, and perhaps a hint of playful teasing. Max knew that this was going to be a memorable day, and he was content just soaking in the chaos. Kelly, on the other hand, was the ultimate distraction artist. She tiptoed into Amira’s room, carrying a tray laden with a scrumptious breakfast. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee and warm croissants filled the air. Gently, she woke Amira, who blinked in surprise at the unexpected treat. Breakfast in bed. After breakfast, Kelly whisked Amira away to the hotel’s spa section. Soft music played, and the scent of lavender hung in the air. Amira sank into a plush robe, her worries melting away as skilled hands worked magic on her tired muscles. Kelly chatted with her, distracting her from any thoughts of the impending birthday surprises. Kelly’s next mission was to enhance Amira’s natural beauty. She sat Amira down in front of a well-lit mirror, brushes and palettes at the ready. With gentle strokes, she highlighted Amira’s eyes, adding a touch of glamour. The makeup artist in Kelly emerged, and she reveled in the transformation. Amira’s reflection now radiated confidence and excitement. And last but not least, the pièce de résistance—the outfit. Lewis, with his impeccable taste, had chosen an ensemble for Amira. Kelly helped her slip into the dress, its fabric soft against her skin. Amira admired herself in the mirror, unaware that Lewis had played a part in her birthday attire. Kelly beamed, knowing that Amira would turn heads at the race track .And so, while the rest of the crew buzzed around, setting up decorations, preparing food, and ensuring everything was perfect, Kelly (and Max) worked their magic behind the scenes.

However, the people in the paddock started panicking. Apparently, Pierre and Kika chose the wrong dishes. The cake was not big enough, and the DJ booth didn’t connect to the sound boxes. Max was reading the quite amusing message from Carmen when all of a sudden, the girls stepped out from the bedroom. He quickly abandoned his phone to get a better look at his two pretty girls.

“Schat and Schatje, the two of you look perfect.” And truly, Kelly and Amira were stunningly beautiful in their dresses. Kelly passed Amira her bag and asked, “Ready to go to the track?” Amira nodded, and the three of them went on their way. Max absentmindedly sent a message in the chat that they were coming, being too starstruck by the two girls who walked with linked arms towards the elevator. While Kelly and Max were enjoying their last minutes with Amira, chaos broke out in the paddock.

Carlos and Charles were quickly decorating the walls, while Alex and Rebecca did the rest. Oscar and Lilly put the final touches on the gift table. Couples were heard arguing, Fernando calling the modern technology every name under the sun, and George and Carmen were desperately searching for a way to make the cake appear bigger. In the middle of the room sat Roscoe, who just chilled and watched the adults turn into demons.

Before war erupted, Lando arrived breathless and shared the news of spotting Max, Kelly, and their birthday girl at the entrance. Faster than a Red Bull pit stop, the drivers and their significant others (wags) scrambled to hide. When Amira finally arrived, they all burst out, singing “Happy Birthday.” She was delightfully surprised and took the time to thank each person individually, a process that lasted over three hours because no one wanted to release her from their well-wishes.

As the fans looked on, they witnessed the joy on Amira Sainz’s face as she celebrated her birthday surrounded by her favorite people

#formula 1 #baby!sainz!sister #carlos sainz x sister!reader #charles leclerc x alexandra saint mleux x reader #charles leclerc x reader #max verstappen x kelly piquet x reader #max verstappen x reader #lando norris x reader #oscar piastri x lily zneimer x reader #oscar piastri x reader #daniel riccardo x reader #lewis hamilton x reader #george russel x carmen mundt x reader #george russell x reader #alex albon x lily minu he x reader #alex albon x reader #fernando alonso x reader #pierre gasly x kika gomez x reader #pierre gasly x reader #formula 1 x reader

[pomefioredove]

same anon who requested the other familial hcs (sorry for requesting sm, your writing is just super good), but could you do hcs for the housewardens with a teen reader (still 13-14 ish) whos birthday is coming up soon? like how would they celebrate it with them. still platonic!! thank you so much <33 >_<

of course, gladly! and thank you so much!!

summary: birthday preparations type of post: headcanons characters: riddle, leona, azul, kalim, vil, idia, malleus additional info: platonic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu

𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

you've already celebrated enough unbirthdays together, so this should be easy enough for him, yes?

well... not exactly

Riddle is as high-strung as ever, running from place to place making sure everything is up to par for the event

he's not sure why he let Cater convince him to make it a surprise

but here he is, reluctantly trusting Ace and Deuce to retrieve you after your last class and bring you back to the dorm in time for the festivities to begin

"This is silly," he mumbles for the umpteenth time, awkwardly crouching behind an armchair. "Must we really hide?"

Cater shushes him, recording the front door as the clock turns the hour... and...

...nothing

Ace and Deuce eventually return with everything they'd been asked to pick up... except the guest of honor

"Oh, shoot! I knew we were forgetting something!" Deuce says, although it's already too late.

Riddle ends up retrieving you himself, and the rest of the party goes as planned

...nix Ace and Deuce, who are both collared and sulking in a corner

𝐋𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫

Leona isn't so secretive about it

he basically just asks you what you want him to get you. nothing more, nothing less

loud, messy parties aren't really his thing, especially these days- he'd much rather have Ruggie order something nice for you, wish you a good day, and then reward himself with a long nap

but the more he thinks about it, the more it bugs him

for one- you have no family in this world

...which, to him, is both a blessing and a curse

but it also means you'll be alone on your special day. and for... whatever reason, that idea just won't stop bothering him

alright, fine! so, he wants you to have a good birthday. so what? that doesn't make him a sap or anything. if he was in your place, he'd expect a whole damn feast!

eventually- and with some prodding from Ruggie and Jack- he allows a quiet get-together in Savanaclaw

if only because Ruggie made a comment that Leona "wouldn't know how to host, anyway"

he is royalty, after all

𝐀𝐳𝐮𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨

you figured something was up when you "accidentally" bump into the tweels for the umpteenth time that week

you assumed Azul was planning something, though you weren't quite sure why he had to send the two to scope out more information on you

after all, he could just ask

and it definitely doesn't help that both Floyd and Jade keep dropping comments about this "huge, extravagant party" that Azul is supposedly throwing in your honor

on the day itself, the two are waiting for you right after class

both grinning widely as they escort you back to the lounge for this so-called "rager"

when you walk in, however, it's... empty

except for Azul

...and one table set with four places, each plate loaded with a dish you recognize as an Ashengrotto family recipe

"You can't blame me for wanting to throw you off," he says, lighting a few candles. "You should stay sharp, after all."

the rest of the evening is filled with chatter, a few bad jokes, and Floyd trying to pick off of everyone else's plates while they're not looking

𝐊𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐥-𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐦

three words: big, ridiculous party

Kalim can't imagine having to spend such an important day without your family or friends by your side... luckily, you have both here!

(well... close enough, anyway)

and he definitely doesn't disappoint when it comes to celebrations

with a little help from some more organized voices on the matter (AKA Jamil) he's got it all ready in advance

he really wants everything to go well, after all

like, really, really well! he'd never forgive himself if you had a bad time on your special day

he spends weeks planning everything, down to the very last detail... which some my find odd for him, but Kalim is nothing if not dedicated when it comes to matters of the heart

and so, it all comes together: your favorite food, things, people... all under one roof!

...complete with dessert, tea, and board games for the two of you after everyone's left

he couldn't spend your birthday sharing your time with everyone else, after all!

𝐕𝐢𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐭

although he certainly has the means, the taste, and the resources to do something grand, he certainly isn't planning on it

...honestly, that just sounds dreadful to him

besides his tight schedule and low tolerance for shenanigans, organizing a massive event is just completely out of the question for him right now

too much, too soon, and far too tiring

but that doesn't mean he isn't going to do anything

you can expect a quiet evening full of pampering, a few movies of your own choice, and he'll even let you indulge in some less-than-healthy foods, if you so wish

he might even join you

it is a special occasion, after all

𝐈𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝

party? get-together? no, thank you

hey, he'll be glad to throw something together, just don't get your hopes too up

whatever it is will be totally lame, he swears it

(Idia, ever the understater...)

what ends up coming together is a full on all-night gaming session and anime marathon, complete with all the snacks he can fit in his room

basically the ultimate sleepover

...just without the sleep

Ortho joins in as well, teaming up with you whenever you need to kick Idia's butt in whatever you're playing

not familiar with their games of choice? no prob, Idia could spend the whole night explaining the ins and outs of all of his favorites

by the time the sun is up, you remember cheat codes and shortcuts more clearly than your own name

𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐮𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚

Malleus knows that human birthdays are very important, considering their short lifespans

and so, when he asks about your plans for the day, he's quite surprised to hear you say you have nothing special in mind

perhaps he was wrong... perhaps your birthday isn't an important occasion for you?

he doesn't think it's his place to ask, especially since you probably miss home more than usual around this time of year...

ultimately, he plans something simple

if not a little spontaneous

far past evening curfew, he shows up at Ramshackle door with nothing but himself, and asks you to accompany him on a short walk

you might expect him to whisk you through the woods, or show you ruins on the very edges of campus

...rather, he just brings you around the school, pointing out his favorite places until you get tired

"I may not be able to give you all that you've lost, but while you're here, you might as well feel at home,"

#twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #queued #riddle rosehearts x reader #leona kingscholar x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #kalim al asim x reader #vil schoenheit x reader #idia shroud x reader #malleus draconia x reader

[thekeeperof-thefandoms]

Hello, oh my, damn... so english isn't my first language and i wasn't sure how to phrase it better so don't worry, i totally understand being uncomfortable and I'm sorry 😅

I did enjoy your version very much and i also think that you should definitely go for a crow reader cause that is such a cute idea!

- accidentally proposing anon

No problem! And since you're interested here's some very quick ideas I had about crow reader before I go to work today!

Alastor

Nothing phases this man anymore. Niffty literally gifted him a crown of dead roaches. So when you flutter excitedly and present him with a string of shiny can tabs, you've been collecting he accepts it graciously.

"You're quite right dear, these are incredibly colorful. Yes, very shiny are you sure you don't want to keep this? Oh! You made it for me? Well, aren't you just precious."

He makes it into a necklace or even something to decorate his horns.

Vox

Valentino likes light, you like shiny things, both of you tend to like being around screens and bright colors.

Except you don't just like screens, it's anything colorful or shiny. Actually sometimes it's not even that, its just random odds and ends that caught your attention for some reason. He gets it sometimes, textures, patterns, things like that.

But you have everything from soda can tabs to random buttons to rocks of various shapes, sizes, and colors. You have different sticks and pieces of wood you found that for some reason you then had to have. Pieces of mismatched jewelry. It's cute but it also clutters up space and he eventually designates one room for your stuff and tells you to keep it condensed. You do, and swear it's organized, but it's all just a jumbled mess to him.

He's in his lair, observing all the many different cameras, looking for some wannabe actress who owed him money, when you bounce in, barely stifling excited squaking. He sighs fondly and turns to you, knowing he's not going to be able to concentrate until he sees what you want to show him.

It's a collection of your molted feathers, the best ones, sleek and iridescent, bound together with some colorful twine you found and attached to it is a miniature glass jar filled with colorful, shiny bits of plastic, metal, and rock, and corked shut and sealed with hot glue.

It makes a nice rattle sound when he shakes it and the feathers are nice to pet and run his fingers over and..."Did you make me a fidget toy? From....random stuff you found? That's, that's actually really cute, thanks Doll."

He downplays how much he uses it, but it's literally on his key ring, so you know it goes everywhere with him and if during long meetings his staff are subjected to the consistent background noise of little shiny bits rattling around in a jar, then that's their problem.

Lucifer

As you may have noticed Lucifer also tends to collect things he has no need for. But he might need it one day! Between the two of you it does get to be a bit of a problem, so you both agree to sort through and condense your piles.

It takes days cuz you guys keep stopping to show each other cool stuff you guys have. Then, several more days just to get through his numerous rubber ducks. Eventually it's down to a single room where your collections have merged. Each item carefully chosen and presented to one another like expensive jewelry or other such luxurious things. But it's a cool rock you found, a giant bronze spring, a box full of candy wrappers with clever sayings, and a scrapbook with various brightly colored pieces of cardboard from snacks, toys, shoes, literally anything, that caught your eye.

It's anyone's guess on who adds what, but you do both have to agree on it before it's added so you don't hoard things again.

That's the end, but maybe I'll go back and add Adam and some of the other characters later. I just wanted to get my initial ideas down before work.

#hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin hotel lucifer #vox x reader #lucifer x reader #alastor x reader

[we-stan-cale]

I wanted to talk about the side stories

Because @ladyteldra and I got some thoughts I'm incorporating in a fic. We might have thrown some of them out before?

Anyways

His Company (with a capital 'C', it's so well known it's just called The Company) does this

a third organization separate from guilds and the government, the company mediated any issues between the two other organizations in addition to taking care of monster invasions, guild inspections, and government audits among many other things.

His team seriously thought assassins might kidnap him

“…Do you think one of the illegal guilds attacked the team leader-nim’s house?” Agent Jung So Hoon’s voice was slightly shaking from anxiety. “Or maybe an assassin dispatched from overseas abducted the team leader-nim. Ah, I have a bad feeling about this. Doesn’t the team leader-nim live in the outskirts of the city? I’m sure the security there isn’t good either. Should I contact the Team 2 leader?” “Calm down. We will decide after going to the team leader-nim’s house.”

He's low key famous

Kim Rok Soo was quite famous not just in the company, but also throughout the industry and with the government and guilds. Although he had not known the name because this person doesn’t show himself in the media, he was the leader of Team 1, the greatest force in the company, as well as implicitly the leader of the company’s battle agents in the ‘Body.’ Furthermore, even the people in charge of the ‘Head’ were said to be unable to hold in their admiration at Kim Rok Soo’s abilities.

He had 0 mortality, always had a thorough plan, and really helped develop his people's talents

Team 1’s mortality rate was 0% since Kim Rok Soo became team leader. They had also not failed any of the missions they were assigned. Kim Rok Soo was said to come up with a thorough plan and complete the mission under any and all circumstances, even if he was lacking the resources to do so. Furthermore, many people’s abilities developed even further when they were in his team.

His team constantly worried about him

“Now I won’t need to worry about him dying!” His seniors showed their agreement at Agent Cha’s comments and smiles appeared on their faces.

Again a comment on the low casualty rate under his leadership, but also (from someone early after he took over as team leader)

There had been no deaths nor serious injuries on Team 1 since Kim Rok Soo became team leader. Although there were people who received minor injuries, nobody ever had to be hospitalized for longer than a few days because of a serious injury. Instead, the number of scars on Kim Rok Soo’s body continued to increase.

He probably got Instant around then? And was probably overdoing it already.

Choi Han, after getting Choi Jung Soo's memories, said he was able to realize Cale was Kim Rok Soo partly because he acted exactly the same.

So basically, we can picture Cale's time as team leader as, probably, him being exactly the same. Taking risks, overdoing it... But mostly in fighting monsters, doing government audits, and dealing with illegal guilds.

Also, again, he's famous.

And foreign governments may want to kidnap him.

We also know he studied monsters extensively, aided by Record no doubt, so I posit that he's probably the expert on monsters.

Which might be why they want to kidnap him? Not kill...kidnap. He's probably considered, like, a strategic resource or something

#tcf #lcf #trash of the count's family #cale henituse #lout of the count’s family

[tardismyrp]

Thoughts for conspiracy board:

I still don’t have my thoughts all organized yet, but I have some things rattling around in my brain that I just need to get out. Maybe someone can help and I can get my mind on track.

1. Next episode we get Ally making Brennan wanting to quit. That’s either going to be a nat 20 ribbon flight/pullup bar or K2 is going to do something insane.

2. Porter has a fake name so is it really end of the world if Kipperfuck wins?

3. If the Rat Grinders aren’t taking the honey, then what was Ruben’s dream about?

4. Fabian if you had just cleaned or hired a maid service then you might not be flying through the sky right now.

5. Fig is the champion of Ankarna, but who would have been if it hadn’t been Fig? Would it have been Buddy multiclass? Or would Porter have trucked sweet Bucky into it?

6. I know the Rat Grinders were taken advantage of by the adults, but god I hate them. I want to forgive them, but I just can’t.

7. Where the fuck are these kids parents? Like Ruben’s parents? Hello the kids are plotting to kill a god in your own home after going through a significant change!

8. I mean could everyone really be at that party? It doesn’t matter how popular you are, everyone is not going to show up to a party. And you’re telling me none of the people who wouldn’t go would vote for Kristen? Like Bucky is right there. I think that’s a bit unfair to them.

That’s all my current thoughts, but I know there will be more.

#dimension 20 #fantasy high junior year #fantasy high #kristen applebees #riz gukgak #adaine abernant #gorgug thistlespring #fabian seacaster #fig faeth #the bad kids #fabian aramais seacaster #figeroth faeth #lucy frostblade #ivy embra #kipperlilly copperkettle #oisin hakinvar #ruben hopclap #mary ann skuttle #buddy dawn #porter cliffbreaker #jace stardiamond #ankarna #cassandra fantasy high #kalina fantasy high

[sapphicmsmarvel]

Modern!Azriel: "too much"

lol i’m projecting in this one. this is how my extended family has always made me feel so 🤷🏻‍♀️

tw: not eating due to anxiety.

-You kept Azriel hidden from your extended family for three years. 

-You truly did not have much association with them. They were kind but not loving towards you. 

-Your parents knew of him as well as the two cousins you were closest with that actually loved you. 

-About a year in, you and Azriel had the talk about your extended family. 

At first, Azriel was kind of hurt by it. He brought you around his family. His chosen and blood when he had to. 

-Your first major argument was about you keeping him away from your family. 

“Are you embarrassed by me?” His voice cracked. 

“What? No! This isn’t about you, Azriel.” You sighed. 

“Then what is it? Are you freaking out about commitment to something?” 

“I just don’t want to bring you around them!” You cried. 

“Why?” 

“It doesn’t matter.” You crossed your arms. 

“Yes it does! Clearly something is bothering you. I cannot rest until I know what it is, Y/N.” He sighed. “I feel like I’m back in high school and my girlfriend is embarrassed to be seen with me.” 

That’s when your tears broke. You didn’t cry often. It took a while before you felt safe enough to do so in front of him. 

“I just…” You wiped your eyes and sniffed. “I’m really scared to bring you around them because I don’t want one of the few good things in my life to be tainted by them.” 

His silence spurred you on. “I don’t want you to be chased away.” 

“Baby,” He sighed. He walked to where you were in the dining room and leaned against the table in front of you. His legs spread, he put his hands on that plush waist he loves so much, and pulled you towards him. “I don’t want to push you, I’m sorry my insecurity got the better of me. But, you do see where I'm coming from, yes?” 

You sniffed and nodded, “I’d feel the same. I’m sorry I didn’t communicate properly.” 

“You were scared.” He justified it for you. 

“So were you a few minutes ago.” You nudged his shoulder. “If you’re going to validate me, I'm going to validate you.” 

“Two people pleasers in a relationship huh?” He chuckled. 

“That’s why we’re working on communication.” You brought your hands up to his broad shoulders. “Can we talk about this tonight? I just need to organize my thoughts a bit before….” You struggled to find the right words. “Ugh let me start over.” You sighed. 

He couldn’t help his smile, his girl was trying so hard. “I want to be able to eloquently tell you what's going on. It’s not you, it’s not even me, well kind of since I’m not letting you around them. But, they are a big issue.” 

“Okay, I’ll order our favorite takeout and we can talk about it when we’re eating. Is 20 minutes enough to help you get your thoughts together?” 

“Yeah.” You smiled, he wasn’t judging you. He was accepting you. Your neurodivergency and the way your mind worked. He kissed your forehead and went off to order the food. He knew your order by heart. 

-So when you guys got your food, you began to tell the story. How you were never “one of them” despite growing up with them. You were always left out and kids were mean. Then you came out as queer, which didn’t help being left out. Everyone looked at you weird. 

He knew better than anyone how it felt to be left out and hurt by your blood relatives. Granted, completely different situations however both are valid situations. 

He assured you he wasn’t upset at you, he was upset for you. He then told you how he would wait patiently. A couple of times, you almost got enough courage to do it. But then chickened out and just stayed home with him. You never went to those gatherings without someone. To be frank, you preferred Azriel’s company. 

-So when you finally took the plunge it was terrifying. 

-It was your aunt's birthday, a week before thanksgiving. You told them about him, they were all shocked to say the least that you had a partner and had had one for three years. 

-Then you got the normal guilt trip of “why didn’t you say something sooner?” or  “why didn’t you bring him” 

-Not “what’d i do to make you feel unsafe telling me this?” But that’s besides the point. 

-So the next week, you brought him to thanksgiving. 

-Your family was shocked to say the least. 

-That the loudest, vulgar, weird person in their family got the quietest, kindest man. 

-Azriel knew how you felt about this part of the family. You had always felt left out, like you weren’t good enough. You were ostracized as a child from them because you were different. 

-You were the only cousin that wasn’t baptized. Which made you different enough. But you’d rather think for yourself and your parents raised you without religion so you could choose your own path. 

-You cussed, you had tattoos, piercings. You wore clothes you were comfortable in which meant yeah, sometimes you wore a tank top that showed a bit of boobs. You wore all black as well. Also you were the plus size family member and you were queer. So that didn’t help the “fitting in” aspect. 

-He wore a nice black henley and black jeans. As well as his boots. He wanted to make a nice impression even though you told him that he could show up naked and you wouldn’t care. 

-He would. He wasn’t modest but he’d rather not have his future in-laws seeing his ‘monster cock’ as you called it. 

-God, he genuinely loved your vulgarity. 

-He knew how nervous you were, he knew you’d barely eat anything just because of sheer anxiety. His goal was to make sure you ate some appetizers or something.  

-When you walked in, you could tell your family was just floored by him. He greeted everyone with the proper “Mr.” and “Mrs/Ms/Miss.” He shook everyone's hands, smiled at your baby cousins who knew nothing of the strange man but were comfortable enough to wave at him. 

The entire time, he had a hand on your waist. Showing he’s on your side. 

-You warned him that your family was going to eventually get him alone to talk to him about you to which he responded with “let them.” 

They weren’t pissing him off too much. He didn’t like the way some of them were around you. Like you were someone to avoid. When he knew that you were the safest person in the room to any stranger, let alone him. 

”I’m sure sometimes she can be overwhelming.” Your aunt said as if it was a fun little tidbit. But he knew it was a jab. 

If smiles could kill, Azriel’s could’ve maimed her. “Actually she’s perfect.” He let his guard down enough to look at you across the room with your cousins, a lovestruck look on his face. “If she’d let me, I’d marry her tomorrow.” 

Your family was clearly surprised. You had never brought anyone around and now you bring this guy for the first time and he’s ready to marry you? 

-Throughout the day, he kept trying to get you to come out of your shell a bit. 

-When he made you snort in laughter, he let out his first real smile all day. Let these assholes see how happy you make him. 

-Then he noticed your elderly family member glaring at your tattoos. She was caught by Azriel and had the decency to have a look on her face like “can you blame me?” To which he smiled and rolled up his sleeves to show off his ink. 

She had the decency to look embarrassed. 

-Your family quickly began to see a real side of you. One that’s comfortable in her space enough to lean on someone. That someone was Azriel.

-Shortly after the meal, you two left. Claiming you had to go to Azriel’s mothers. They didn’t need to know that you had thanksgiving with her and the whole chosen family the day before. 

-You were finally able to relax when the door shut to the car. You two began the drive back home to the city. 

-You snuggled into him over the center console. Your arm wrapped around his bicep as he drove. You sighed, completely content and he kissed your temple while keeping his eyes on the road. 

“Thank you.” You whispered. 

“What for?” 

“Just…loving me as I am.” 

“You should not feel the need to thank me for that.” He said. 

“Well I am. So deal with it.” You huffed, but you kissed his arm through his shirt. “You’re never embarrassed of me, you take me in stride and love me as if I’m…” You trailed off. “Irreplaceable.” 

“You are.” He said so earnestly that you almost weeped. You squeezed him tighter. “You make me feel so happy, so….loved. I’ve never felt so loved. Those people are fools for not seeing how incredible you are.” 

You felt your eyes getting misty. “You’re so getting head tonight.” You whispered. 

He let out a loud, sharp laugh of surprise. Yeah, he was in it forever. 

#acotar x reader #azriel shadowsinger #azriel x reader #azriel acotar #azriel x you #azriel spymaster #azriel x reader fluff

[i-m-art-ix]

Ninjago headcanons just FSM family

(Sorry for my English but it is not my native language)

1#

Lloyd discovered one day that if he just calls Wu uncle he can get out of any trouble (because Wu adores his nephew), which he often uses to his advantage, for example, when he was still a child, he would often approach Wu and ask for various things, and if Wu did not agree, he would simply say "Okay, Uncle Wu" in the saddest voice he could, which made Wu immediately change his mind and agree. As Lloyd got older he stopped using it as much but still does it sometimes. Best of all, everyone is aware of this except Wu himself, so if the ninja want to do something and know that Wu won't agree, they send Lloyd to "convince" Wu.

2#

FSM was a teenage parent, I'm mean in season 15 it was said that when he came to ninjago he was still a child and as we know hybrids age differently so I'm sure when he created Wu and Garmadon (I don't give a damn that this man had a woman, I just don't see it) he was still a teenager and mentally he could have been about 18-20 years old.

3#

I'm sure FSM tried to be a good parent but didn't know what to do, apart from the fact that he was still a teenager at the time, this man never had any idea what a healthy family should look like, he literally was a child soldier and had to choose between dragons and Oni and I suspect that neither the dragons or the Oni were not very nice to him and they probably didn't have much affection for him. And unfortunately it was visible, but he loved his sons (and he certainly loves his grandson).

4#

So screw the canon, Wu never loved Misako, he didn't like her at first (because he claimed she was stealing his brother because Garmadon only talked about her), later he started liking her and then they became good friends.

5#

So when I said that Wu doesn't love Misako, I mean that Wu is gay, no really look at the teenage version of him, he can't be straight.

6#

I am sure that Wu was the creator of many fashion trends, considering that back then there was not much fashion and Wu had the power to create, he had to create many clothes that no one had ever seen before. Many of these clothes were very sexy and revealed a lot of things.

7#

Due to the way Wu dressed, many men stared at him and flirted with him, which of course neither Garmadon or their father not liked, that's why they never sent Wu to the city alone, someone always went with him and whenever a man tried to hit on him he got a death glare from Garmadon or FSM (which must have been terrifying, as if God himself wants to kill you because you thought in a erotic way about his son and also Garmadon who is the essence of destruction and intends to rip out your organs for looking at his younger brother).

8#

FSM loves his grandson, the guy literally gave him his golden power without a second thought and even let him choose between life and death, he must adore Lloyd.

9#

Before the events of Season 1, when Lloyd was expelled from school and wandered the streets, FSM was his guardian angel. He made sure Lloyd didn't hurt himself, and when he did something to himself, he simply accelerated his regeneration with his divine powers, when Lloyd had nothing to eat, he directed him to places where food could be easily obtained. In episode 1 of season 1, when Lloyd gets to the tomb, he falls over perfectly to avoid being hypnotized and the leader of the snakes hypnotized himself, it not way that this kid failed perfectly, I'm actually sure that his grandfather helped him

#ninjago headcanons #lord garmadon #sensei wu #ninjago garmadon #ninjago first spinjitzu master #ninjago #ninjago fsm #ninjago lloyd

[creative-heart]

I've heard you want requests? 😏

You know how to make me happy 🥹

I still l o v e the newest pictures... could be something you can work with? Quiet and peaceful vacation with Enzo, away from all the trouble of life🙏🏻

I definitely could need it... ❤️

Lucia's notes: Thank you my lovely @lastflowrr for this request, it was so cute to write this little Drabble/One Shot based on these pictures, I really hope I make justice to what you had in mind 🤗🤗🥰🥰.

"Hidden haven"| Enzo Vogrincic

Content Warning: Just a little slight reference to sex, but in general, just a fluffy little piece.

Word Count: 1k

You know  Enzo has been so stressed and tired with all the press tour and award season for his last movie, in almost two months you’ve rarely seen each other all three consecutive days, being a last year neurosurgery resident you can’t go away for long. Luckily enough, the universe, the gods or whatever you want to blame it on have aligned for once to your favor and your yearly holidays are coming up just as your raven haired boyfriend finishes with all this madness; so to celebrate and without telling him, you’ve organized a little roadtrip to a cabin in the mountains, just a week or so just for the two of you and you couldn’t wait to surprise him with it. 

As soon as the tan skinned man walked inside your shared home you run to hug him as if it is the last thing you’ll do in your life and you need it to stay alive “I missed you so much Zo” you mumble in the crook of his neck holding yourself up to try and match his height. He holds you up as he peppers your face with featherlike kisses “I missed you too chiquitita mía” he spaces each word with a kiss ending up on your lips with a soft, loving kiss. 

“I’ve got a surprise for you…I know you’ve been traveling so much, but…I’ve planned a roadtrip getaway for us, we’re going to Bariloche for a week, just us two, no phones answered, nothing” you smile looking at him “We’re leaving tomorrow, I’m driving so you’re relaxing and in charge of the aux chord”

Early the next morning you two set your course out for the sweet and long awaited retreat from the world. You glance over in your boyfriend’s direction to see him laid back on the passenger seat, coffee mug in hand, sunglasses on. Enzo sighs relaxed and glances at you “I love you so much for this, I really needed this, thank you so much bebé”. You smile and the drive goes by smoothly while singing oldschool songs in the most out of tune way possible, snacking on your favourite chocolates and fries and just enjoying the time being just you two with no one from the outside world to derange you.

You arrive at the little cabin in the woods just before the sun starts setting behind the beautiful mountains, and you know it’s been snowing not long ago, the white carpet fresh on the ground. While you go and set your things down in the master bedroom upstairs, Enzo starts trying to work the fireplace and get it started, it’s an old school one with actual logs. After everything is settled, you longue on the couch in your pj’s cuddled up to your boyfriend’s chest playing with his fingers absentmindedly as he hummed eyes closed enjoying being this close to you “You know, I love the fact that getting more well known allows me to work and keep making a living out of this, but….getting recognized everywhere and people staring or asking for pictures is something I definitely do not love” you smile softly keeping your eyes closed as you hear Enzo’s deep soothing voice behind you and you give his forearm a soft squeeze, you knew he didn’t like people looking at him, and you definitely didn’t enjoy not being able to do as many things as you once did together because of that, but on the other hand, you also knew how much he loves acting and that this is what helped him keep doing it.

“I know darling, but I just think you are so good at what you do, that people just get too taken with you and your characters, take Numa for example, you touched so many people with him it was unbelievable”. You feel him humming against the skin on your neck as he trails soft kisses up and down, and you know exactly what he’s doing, it’s his tactic every time he wants to shift the conversation from himself, and in all honesty, it always works. “Zo…” you whisper in what wants to be a warning tone but ends up being more a pleading tone and the little sucker smriks against your warm skin “you can’t blame now, can you princess?” and all you can do is hum when you hear him call you that, he knows just what to say and what to do to make all your stress melt away and your brains turn into mush.

The next few days go by in a haze of late lazy mornings in bed looking out the window, limbs all tangled up together after having some coffee, once you both can master up the will to get out from under the bed covers, usually after some lazy love making as well, you sit down to work on a puzzle Enzo insisted on bringing over, it has like a thousand pieces and you most definitely do not have the patience to do it, but if that’s what the love of your life wants to spend his hours doing, then you’ll sit next to him mostly pretending to help before getting bored and taking his camera walking around snapping silly candid pictures of him working on his project the surrounding mountains, you even go out on little walks around the place to capture some nature through the lens.

Time definitely goes by differently here because when you’re feeling at home and Enzo and you have fallen into a sweet rhythm of slowed down life, you need to go back into the real world and as you pack up your clothes back into the suitcase you sigh, you have definitely enjoyed this time you’ve had here being just the two of you, no prying eyes and screaming girls asking for pictures with your boyfriend feeling left aside. You try to push those intrusive thoughts away as Enzo has made it his life work to reassure you that there’s no one more important in his life than you, well…maybe Ada, but you’re a close second to the cat you share custody of and you know that’s absolutely true, for wherever you may be, his eyes always find your own, and you feel as if you were right here, in a secluded spot just the two of you know.

P.S: This hasn't been proofread, so if you see any mistakes, please do let me know, I appreacite it. Also, my girlies, keep the reqs coming, don't be shy, fluff, smut, angst whatever you have for me, for Enzo, Kuku, Simón and Santi 💖💖💖💖

Taglist:

@madame-fear  @cyliarys-starlight @castawaycherry @luceracastro @espinasrubi @koiibiito @candycanes19 @nperoconelcositoarriba @lxdyred @deepinsideyourbeing

#enzo vogrincic one shot #enzo vogrincic drabble #enzo vogrincic x reader #enzo vogrincic fluff #lsdln cast x reader #lsdln cast fluff #lsdln cast fanfic #lsdln cast fic #enzo #enzo vogrincic #fanfiction #fanfic #drabble #oneshot

[silverskye13]

could I ask how far into building you are when it comes to the uhhh

court of remembrance? was it court? church? order! the order of remembrance lol

how far have you build out how they work, like their common routines/rituals/etc.

I was considering making my hels!oc part of em cause the hermit-adjacent/"original" player version of my sona is really big on documenting things as they have poor memory, and I want that to be something that ties the two together? if that makes sense?

I'm so sorry this got so long. I. Have a lot of fun world building.

My notes on the Order of Remembrance, as cohesively as I can jot them down, below:

Sooo, when I was figuring out hels stuff, the Order of Remembrance [OR for short] kinda turned up as the equivalent of a culture developing an afterlife, in a world where "afterlife" demonstrably doesn't exist. What would you replace with the idea of an eternal spirit/soul, in a world where superstition and religion still exist? What do you cope with? How do you comfort? Who fills the gaps and holes in the community that people slip through, and why? What informs purpose and meaning?

Memory, the importance of remembrance, the idea that you owe it to the people around you to remember they existed, and that existence affected your life. The idea that you, as an individual, can make someone's life matter by celebrating them, mourning them, even hating them. The universe is indifferent. The greatest sin a helsmet can commit is being indifferent as well.

This started the Remembrance Walls, which gave them importance as landmarks and places of spirituality. And any place with importance deserves protection, preservation, and accessibility.

OR probably started as a small neighborhood collective dedicated to preserving the Remembrance Walls. Which turned into being the people who also supplied the bricks made for those walls, and helping people carve them. Which turned into people who would check in with folks in the neighborhood that hadn't been seen in awhile, making sure they were safe, and taking their names down if they were gone. Eventually a collective turns into an organization, and the ritual of that collective turns into a religion. Now there are helsmets who dedicate their lives, or large sums of money and material goods, to the church. In turn, the church gives back to the community in any way they can, because the more people are involved with each other, the more memories they make, the more that can be preserved.

This is also why OR is so big. Successful people in hels want a legacy that's remembered, so you put your name on every landmark in town -- the OR cathedral is a massive landmark. Memory is important [even the most self centered and heinous need purpose and fulfillment] so a lot of people associate themselves with the church in some way or another. Being remembered is a goal for everyone, not just the community minded. The OR will be important until memory stops being important.

The Staff:

Members directly serving the OR in an official capacity are: Priests/clerics [with one presiding Head/High Priest], scribes, clerks, historians, brickmakers, knights [and squires], and one or two paladins. Various members of the official congregation [they consider all of hels their congregation, given everyone deserves to be remembered, but the official congregation are those who actually attend the church services and functions] will also work for the church if they can donate relevant skills -- this is a part of the church's community building. They will seek needs and fill them with skilled individuals within the church or, if they don't have a recommendation, will contact other churches for members of their congregation. If you need a stone mason for a project, a jeweler for a custom piece, or someone to provide wheat for your new bakery, and don't know where to find one, asking at the OR cathedral is a good place to start.

Priests: Deal with the more spiritual and communal aspects of memory and remembrance. The church has divided the city into districts, and every district has at least one priest who regularly attends it, though the church's goal is to have 3 per district. Every district has at least one remembrance wall, and it's the priest's job to know all the names on that wall, as well as to know as many people as they can in their district, so they can do regular check ins on their well-being. They hold services to add new names to their walls, host and organize community events for their districts [plays, cookouts, parties, gatherings, etc]. They don't pray in the traditional sense -- Memory is more of an idea than a true deity -- but their prayers involve memorizing names, events, dates. A lot of priests will write songs and ballads to aid in this, which they will perform for each other or sing at organized events.

Scribes/clerks/historians: Exactly what it says on the tin. Stationed at the church, these guys get down to the brass tacks of putting ink to paper and codifying memory. They keep accurate records of everything from city economics to books written to personal anecdotes, and they guard their work jealously. Transcribing is a job of great importance, and accurate scribes are revered by the church. The OR has been known to pay a small fortune to individuals who can write quickly, accurately and legibly. Most of the statues decorating their cathedral are scribes revered for their dedication to their craft. Historians meanwhile function as both researchers and, to an extent, unintentional journalists, following developments in hels so they can document them as they happen. While the OR doesn't own news or run a newspaper, the handful of newspapers in town are all run by people who either used to work for the OR, or have friends on the OR historical staff.

[It's important to note the historians and clerks aren't detectives or police. They find information and write it down, they do not solve crimes or prosecute criminals. However, their thoroughness and impartiality means they're often called on as witnesses and informants to crimes. They have been attacked before for either sticking their noses in business someone didn't want remembered, or for providing information someone wanted ignored/erased. Their documents hold a lot of weight.]

This division is also in charge of the OR's extensive library. There is one main library in the cathedral, where every collected written work the library can get its hands on exists. They collect everything from journals, to poetry, to fiction writing, to recipe books. Anything written that can be remembered. They also keep transcripts of hymns and songs written by priests and knights, and up to date registries of the names on the remembrance walls. There is a second, public library that is free for hels to access, which contains every copy the scribes have gotten around to making from the main library. They encourage people to make their own copies of the library works they borrow, and can be paid to make specialty copies of popular works.

[Given how hard it is to grow large amounts of paper in hels, most books in the OR collection are written on vellum (hog skin). Almost every off-world smuggler in hels has a regular customer with the OR if they collect paper/sugar cane on their travels. OR has a current project trying to put every book they own on paper (The Nice Copy TM) and every 2nd or 3rd copy of a book on vellum. Only their best scribes are allowed to write paper copies.]

Knights: Knights are a relatively new addition to the OR staff, in that they weren't really needed when hels was small. As hels got bigger, however, and things like vandalism and crime became big and unruly, knights eventually made their way onto the scene, starting as priests with particularly good PVP skills, and eventually graduating to in-house trained fighters. You can still see their priestly roots in their practices. They too are assigned to districts. They too memorize the names on their associated walls and try to make themselves known in the neighborhoods they patrol. Instead of organizing events and focusing on the social aspects, however, they focus on making a safe place for people to live. They aren't police. Unless the crime is strictly related to memory [for example, destruction of stones on the remembrance walls] they don't track people down and drag them off to jail. They do help the community though. They will stop active crimes, they will stay with people who feel unsafe, they break up street fights, they escort their priests in rougher parts of town, they volunteer to clear out mobs that wander into the city, and have even been known to simply help with building projects for people who need a few extra hands around. Because of their generally neutral disposition towards events in hels [they protect individuals and their church, instead of business or gang interests] they are sometimes asked to be conflict mediators for battling factions in the city who are trying to reach a negotiation point. As a whole, the knights can always be found walking in groups of 2-5 on their routes. They're very rarely seen alone.

The Cathedral:

Paladins: Paladins are an enigmatic rarity for OR. Generally speaking, a paladin is a knight or priest of a given order embued with supernatural power by a deity. OR, as a godless religion, shouldn't be able to get them -- and yet sometimes they do manage to pop up. Some people think they're evidence of a Universe that actually does care about hels, sending someone who can literally fight for the rights of people to be remembered. Only a handful of paladins have ever been called, and they seem to coincidentally pop up whenever someone has done great harm to memory: massive destruction of remembrance walls, burning books, intentionally trying to erase someone from history, fraud. Generally they are compelled, like a very angry sleepwalker, to track down whoever was responsible and stop them. Sometimes this entails violence, but more often than not it involves the perpetrator being imprisoned for a very long time by what amounts to a preternaturally knowledgeable lawyer. It is probably from the OR paladins that the rumors first started that, if you angered the OR, they would have you forgotten [who else could strike someone from the memory of the world, than a guardian of memory itself?]. When they're not actively pursuing holy justice, the paladins look and act pretty normal, though their memory skills are uncanny, near perfect, and they have the habit of just Knowing Things they shouldn't be able to -- speaking and reading languages they've never learned, prophetic visions, etc. When they're being compelled to justice, they describe it as being "dreamlike". In the same way in a dream you Know you can fly despite it being untrue in reality, a compelled OR paladin Knows a destruction of memory has happened, and is unable to stop pursuing that destruction until it's been righted. In the moment, paladins describe the feeling as intensely peaceful: the ability to Know and be Sure. The only frustration is when forces actively try to hinder their task. Because of the intensity of their compulsion, they often have to fight to keep up with basic needs, and it's not uncommon for paladins to lose weight, fall into sleep deprived psychosis, and collapse from exhaustion. Paladins released from their compulsion often have to be nursed back to health again, though none yet have expressed regrets about the rough treatments of their bodies. The way they see it, whatever force compelling them has never been human, and therefore doesn't understand the toll it takes on a living body.

As with all paladins in hels, while they're recovering or in between compulsions, they tie a peace knot around their weapon to symbolize their dormancy.

Squires and apprentices: alongside their regular training with their chosen staff and/or clergy, squires and apprentice clerics/scribes/historians work as the general help staff of the cathedral. If errands need running, someone needs contacted, a mantle needs dusted, an odd job needs filled, they're the ones who catch the chores. They also have the very important responsibility of brick making -- or helping with brick making. The cathedral does employ master brick makers, but those brick makers often need extra hands, so every day the squires and apprentices set aside time to make bricks. This is a time of concentration and meditation, and the apprentices are encouraged not to talk during the process. When each batch has finished baking, the master brickmaker working with the group will call an end to the silence. When this ritual started, the ending was a lot more reverent. Over the years though, the brickmakers have taken more joy in their work than solemnity. It's not uncommon for the brickmakers to break the silence with increasingly bad jokes, rewarding the apprentices that laugh first.

The Head/High Priest: The high priest differs from the other priests and clerics by taking on mostly administrative work. They do not work alone. They have a board of 10 priests, clerks and scribes that help keep things balanced. Balance is the high priest's main objective. The OR excels because it stays as neutral as possible in all of hels's affairs. It does its best to owe nothing to anyone, repays all its debts, and doesn't work with one or two of the various hels factions exclusively. Its goal is to remain as uncorrupt as possible in a system rampant with political and financial corruption. Hels is a place full of evil halves and dark mirrors, a lot of very selfish and manipulative people end up in power, so it's a hard line to walk.

The First Church of Hels, also known as the Cathedral of Remembrance, was the first dedicated church erected in hels. It started out much smaller, a netherbrick building with a brickworks in the back for providing stones. As they grew in importance, so too did the building, until eventually the large cathedral was erected. It was a massive effort from many different hels denizens, and almost every room in the cathedral has a place to display the names of contributors to the project, from the people who laid the mosaic tiles to the folks who soldered the stained glass. The original bricks of the first iteration of the church are enshrined as a pathway that leads through the back garden of the building to their new, much more impressive brickworks. These foundational bricks remain empty, and are blanket dedicated to any helsmet who managed to slip through the cracks in society, whose names were forgotten, never known, or never noted.

The cathedral has one main sanctuary where worship and prayer are performed. They have one holy day a week where all their various members, and any congregation who wants to join, gather to sing songs and hymns, poetry and lists. There are meditations done on works written by bygone individuals, studies and philosophies discussed. While the topics of the main service change from week to week, the basic formula of singing/recital, meditation/discussion, singing/recital happens every time. They open and end every service with the list of names added to the walls that week.

During the week, the cathedral plays host to any number of meetings and events. They have many rooms dedicated as spaces for community gatherings, from small clubs for youths to workshops to food drives. People are constantly coming and going from the place.

Because of the church's center as a place of refuge, history and memory -- and by extension, power -- it has no small amount of detractors and enemies. HumanCleo doesn't allow the OR's knights on her turf, in part because of fear of retaliation: if her gangs attack any of the Order, she risks a paladin ripping down her criminal empire brick by brick. The Demon is one of OR's paper suppliers, and has been known to try to corner and intimidate scribes sent to document his shipments. Many of the historians cannot walk the city without an escort. Even their clerks have been scouted by influential merchants who want an expert in numbers looking over their books. Scribes with a particularly steady hand have been harassed and attempted coerced about forging documents and reproducing copies of cursed books. Thieves and vandals have attempted break-ins of their treasury. They have also had to deal with gang fights and general violence at their larger events. This is where their connections with other churches come in handy. Organizations like the Church of Blood and Steel, with knight and paladins who specialize in fighting, are often contacted to help when the OR needs a little more muscle. In return, the OR will loan them use of their scribes, arrange for their monuments to be built at a discount, etc.

The OR has a few loose ties to the Colosseum. All the statues of past champions that line the corridors are designed, drafted and prototyped by OR affiliated builders. Their epitaphs are drafted by their scribes. They have a team of knights whose main job is to attend Colosseum events and study and transcribe fighting styles of the various fighters, so their martial memory isn't lost when they return to the universe. They also record the Colosseum matches, and send a copy of their notes to the showrunners for the use in writing future fighting arcs.

[Also this is just me, but I think there's a writer in hels somewhere that spends all day making serialized literature out of the Colosseum matches, and submits them to the newspaper for people to read after a match. They probably also are very grateful for the OR's Colosseum notes lol].

I think! That's! Everything! I can think of! Though I'm sure I'll remember something else in an hour! Oh well!

#rns asks #order of remembrance #the order of remembrance #hels worldbuilding #hels world building #hhhhhhh oh my gosh #sorry this feels like it might be too much info #i tried to keep it organized

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I think invictius is just pissed off it’s not as healthy of an organization as it was when under the royal umbrella. They clearly relied very heavily on the royal family to excute things which is probably why they re-signed Harry to an ambassador role when he left. Only it became very obvious, that Harry’s priorities changed in the after math of the split and that didn’t bode well for invictius. They’ve spent basically 4 years bleeding themselves dry to support Harry and now Meghan and it’s gotten them no further along.

I agree that I think things have been simmering for a while now. And I think they’re are two fractions inside invictius games. There is the IG team themselves and then Harry and Meghan. Harry and Meghan want Birmingham to force the half in half out narrative. ( though I really don’t think this is going to work at all, no one is coming to this mini event next week and William and Charles have been rather clear in recent weeks about that)

The IG team wants Birmingham because they want to phase out Harry and bring in Mike. It’s UK soil and he’s a huge athlete advocate, it also brings in fresh blood with a sprinkle of actual royalty. (Do I think this will happen-no) but I believe this is why they haven’t kicked harry to the curb. There was a pretty massive turn over pre Vancouver, which alluded to issues with funding and securing the next location. I don’t think those have been solved and we haven’t seen harry attend any charity functions to drum up support. Hell he’s thrown a pretty massive tantrum about security for this small (ish) event, they’re chomping at the bit to see him gone.

What I do think will happen is that Birmingham will win it but the gov will completely swap this next election cycle and the funding will disappear. I think IG as we know it will brake away to host smaller country focused events and eventually link up with the warrior games in the us.

Harry and Meghan by extension are stressed about this, they need something- hence Washington DC coming out of left field. If trump wins, I doubt this is held in the way Harry would want.

Yeah, the Washington DC was really out of the blue. It doesn't make sense to bring Invictus Games to the US when we have the Warrior Games here. So to that end, I can see Invictus folding into Warrior Games, like you think. We've also got Germany hosting their own national set of games later this year, which is also pretty significant in the future of these international games.

And it isn't just the Warrior Games here in the US. I don't know what other countries do, but the US Olympics Committee has a huge program supporting military veterans, able-bodied and not, for the Olympics and Paralympics. So the market here is kinda really oversaturated for veterans-based athletic competition and the only way there's space for a US offshoot of Invictus Games is if they merge with and rebrand as Warrior Games.

And maybe that's part of the goal behind Harry cozing up to the US Department of Defense; he wants the US military and Warrior Games to bail Invictus out.

And y'all, I'm warning you now. I'll be watching the comments on this one. If it starts going off on politics because anon mentioned Trump, I'm turning the comments off and deleting them. I get enough crap of politics with work. I do not want it here.

#brf #invictus games

[peachpixiebby]

The reactions of some men to the hypothetical man or bear question just further illustrates how many men literally hate women. How this 👆is their first thought. Fantasizing about women scared and in pain. This is why we choose the bear. Bc many men take pleasure in witnessing violence against women. It has me thinking about the p0rn industry and how it largely fetishizes this very thing. The faces & noises women make in p0rn. Like it hurts and they don’t want it. And men literally reach climax over the idea.

This hatred towards women begins in the messaging that little boys receive. A lot of learning how to be a man comes from how to avoid feminine things. You’re mocked if you “throw like a girl” “run like a girl” “sit like a girl” get told “boys don’t cry” “those toys are for girls”. The message gets received that being like a girl = bad. Men will avoid human things like basic hygiene, showing emotions, drinking out of straws ??? for fear of being perceived as feminine which this messaging has equated to being weak.

The other day, my coworker tells, what he thinks, a “hilarious” story of how his parents once punished him by having him hold a sign advertising his sister selling Girl Scout cookies. Even holding a sign that says the word “girls” was meant to be shameful?? I tell him that encouraged toxic masculinity to shame him by associating him with something feminine. He snickers and says it was a different time. NO. Challenge these ideas. He has kids. I wonder if the cycle will continue (by his reaction I fear it will).

It’s just crazy how deeply rooted the hatred of women is in our society. The Supreme Court just had a session debating just how many organs must a woman lose before DR’s are allowed to preform a life saving abortion. Even when the pregnancy is no longer viable.

The deceased have more bodily autonomy than women. A person must have consented to being an organ donor during their life for it to be legal to use their body parts to sustain another life.

I really really fear for our future as it’s clear the government looks at women as baby incubators instead of autonomous humans. And the fact it’s masqueraded as a religious motive when really it’s about making more future workers and consumers. Also like what happened separation of church and state? 🤔 why are we making laws in respect to religion? Christian nationalist want everyone living under their rules when the United States was founded on the basis of freedom of religion. This, among MANY MANY additional dumpster fires, makes my heart and soul ache. It makes me angry and bitter. I’ve lost so much trust and hope in our leaders and society. There’s still good out there but man is it hard to focus on sometimes

#journal #bear or man #feminism #girlblogging #fascisim #usa politics #captialism #toxic masculinity

[nightmare-foundation]

I haaaate stupid takes on the Academies

Where, exactly, does the show or even the books say that students REGULARLY die in the Academies? And why are we assuming that the Academies are immune to legal repercussions??

Students don't die regularly, at least not with nearly enough regularity to be notable. Shit happens, yeah, Gretchen died, but it's never stated that this is a regular thing that happens. Iirc, it's treated like it's UNUSUAL. A tragic accident that never should've happened.

Also the Academies I really doubt are immune to legal repercussions. The 'propaganda' I don't think is anywhere NEAR bad enough to keep people from suing the Academies (a good example of such a thing is the pro hero industry in BNHA).

It's explicitly stated that there are no legal waivers that students or their parents have to sign. This says that the Academies are safe enough to NOT HAVE a legal prevention to be kept from being sued into the ground. If they were regularly being sued or something similar, it would've long been stated in the show or books.

The only other possibility is that the Academies have some other kind of protection against legal action. Unfortunately this goes directly against Oz's character, because there's NO way he'd refuse to take responsibility for the death of a student, even when it isn't even his fault. If there is, it's very likely it was implemented AFTER Oz's death, in which case it's STILL not his fault.

However I highly doubt that's the case. If the Academies had a way to keep people from taking legal action against them, it would've been stated. It's not even implied that's the case.

If anything, the Academies, or at least Beacon, takes steps to ensure that things DON'T go wrong, whether that's initiation or training missions. There's cameras in the Emerald Forest and Ozpin and Glynda are right there watching them. Training missions are accompanied by a real Huntsman. Most training and teaching are done inside of the Academies themselves.

Naturally though, shit WILL go wrong. Unpredictable things will happen, lives will be lost, it's impossible to safeguard against every little thing, especially in a place like Remnant where literally everything wants you dead. These students are consistently given an out, an option to leave if they can't handle it. Not only that, but a lot of these students come from all KINDS of different backgrounds. A lot of them know the risks and possibilities of shit going wrong, whether that's because they experienced it themselves (Blake, Nora, Ren) or they grew up like that (also Blake, Fox). There's also the people who have lost family members to the Grimm (Ruby, Yang).

In a place like Remnant, you Cannot keep everyone safe. It's literally impossible. You can do your best, absolutely, to keep people safe, and to prepare them for what's to come, but you can't guarantee they'll live. The Academies, although pretty deeply flawed, are there to do that.

Really the biggest issue with the Huntsman system are the combat schools. Its definitely not a hugely good idea to train children to fight. Unfortunately combat schools have been around far longer than the Huntsman system (iirc).

Ultimately I'm of the opinion that the Academies are a strictly neutral force. They can be corrupted like any other organization, but they can also be very good.

#felix (host) #rwby #rwby rambles #ozpin #james ironwood #headmaster theodore #leonardo lionheart #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #nora valkyrie #lie ren #fox alistair #rwby analysis #its stupid to think the academies are 100% bad #rwby doesn't do black and white #they have their flaws yes that's undeniable #but they do lots of good too #hazel rainart

[king-bumis-armpit]

Separation Anxiety

Written for Maiko Week 2024 - Separation

Summary: Mai takes Izumi to her family’s reunion, and Zuko stays home. It's a horrible time for both of them.

Author’s Note: I really thought I was going to stick to the prompt this time, but then the first part sort of got away from me. And I really had to hold back because my inner Kataang was about to unleash. I was about to write a whole mini-fic about them inside of this one, but I exercised restraint. I did not however exercise restraint on my thoughts about Mai’s upbringing. As a result, this is way longer than I intended. Oh well… I hope you enjoy! :)

TW: Anxiety about being parents and misogyny from Mai’s family members. I made Michi kind of awful. But there’s a happy ending, I promise!

WC: 4,276

Zuko took a deep breath and stared at his large empty bed. It had been a long while since he had to sleep alone. He sat down slowly, as if the bed might vanish at the last second before he made contact. He leaned back and tried to get comfortable, but he ended up tossing and turning until his memories overtook him.

— — 

When he and Mai were newlyweds, they agreed never to spend more than a week apart at a time. Sometimes the obligations of royalty made this vow difficult to keep, but they had managed. In fact, Zuko had been in Yu Dao when Mai found out that she was pregnant. They had been trying for some time, so Mai was ecstatic when she told him. 

Her excitement was contagious, but anxiety quickly infected him as well. He couldn’t stop thinking about what could have happened to her while he was away. What if she had fallen ill? Or what if an Ozai loyalist cell re-emerged and attacked her? Thankfully, most of the organized movements had died down after Azula had willingly turned herself in. But that was another consideration, what if Azula tried to get revenge on Mai while he was gone? He knew that Mai was more than capable of protecting herself, and normally that was enough to allay his fears, but the new worry for their child fractured his restraint. 

Zuko doubled Mai’s guard and silently promised himself to stay by her side for the rest of her pregnancy. He knew that his actions would probably annoy his wife, but surprisingly she was not the first to complain.

“Zuko, she’s pregnant, not helpless,” his mother chided him. She had cornered him in one of the hallways about a week after his return from Yu Dao. “There are always going to be circumstances beyond your control, but Mai is fully competent to go about her daily life without a small army. You need to give her space to breathe. Give your baby space to grow.”

Zuko relented and recalled the extra guards he had assigned, but then he added a pair of covert guards to keep watch without being stifling. For her part, Mai found the incident somewhat amusing. 

As they ate dinner together, she commented on the change: “Yesterday, I had a whole coterie. Today all I get are a few extra shadows.”

Zuko sighed. “Mom told me I was being overbearing. But I’m worried about you. What if something happens? You’re my whole world Mai.”

Mai turned red. “I’m impressed that anything you say can still make me blush after you impregnated me, but here we are.” Zuko chuckled, and Mai continued, “Normally I wouldn’t be cool with extra guards out of nowhere. I’m your wife and your equal, so I would like to be included in the conversation the next time you think about changing up my security detail.” 

She gave him a pointed look, and Zuko took her hand. “I’m sorry. I should have asked you first. We can ditch the elite guards if you want.

Mai’s eyes softened and she brought his hand to her cheek. “No, it’s okay. I’m not angry this time, I just want you to talk to me about things like this in the future.” She kissed his palm and set their hands on the table.

Zuko smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I didn’t want to upset you. I’ve never seen you so happy. And I’m happy too! I’m just…”

“Zuko, I’m scared too. I really want this baby to come out healthy. I’ve been carrying this list of foods I can’t have anymore, and I read it at least five times before I eat anything,” she admitted sheepishly. Mai produced said scroll from one of her dart holsters of all places. Zuko felt himself fall even more in love. The whole thing was just so Mai.

After that conversation, the pair discussed their concerns much more openly. In the worst moments, they both feared that they would take on the worst qualities of their parents. Zuko started to feel phantom pains in his scar that hadn’t plagued him since he was a teenager. They made pact after pact to hold each other accountable and to love the baby no matter what and to keep them safe. 

But even talking about their fears in the open helped to lift the burden. The anxiety didn’t dissipate, but it became easier to bear. Zuko loved talking to Mai’s bump when she began to show. Mai teased him for being silly, but he knew she secretly loved it. They redecorated the palace nursery to be less austere and more inviting. And Aang and Katara often visited with their son Bumi. 

When Mai went into labor, Katara helped her through the whole process until Princess Izumi had safely arrived. Aang was on babysitting duty. Not for Bumi, who Aang considered to be his full time sidekick, but for Zuko, who could only watch his wife’s agony for so long until he needed a dad to dad pep talk. 

Thankfully, Zuko managed to collect himself in time to meet his baby girl in her first moments. Mai had suggested the name Izumi, and Zuko immediately knew that it was right when he saw her tiny red face. She captivated his heart from her first breath and– after a brief embrace from Mai– Zuko was the first person to truly hold her. When the nurses took her for her health check, Zuko almost refused. Looking at her perfect little face, he realized that he could never become his father. He swore to himself on that day to always be by her side when she needed him.

— — 

Zuko gave up on trying to sleep and began to pace in his room. Without Mai, his bed was too cold and too big. Michi, his mother in-law, had insisted that she and Izumi attend her family reunion. Zuko had been invited, but his advisors had already scheduled the large annual conference of the provincial governors for the same weekend. He didn’t want to sabotage Mai’s opportunity to see her family, but he had desperately wanted her to stay.

And little Izumi was only four. Would she be sad when he wasn’t there to wake up with her at sunrise as he had been for the past four years? Since his job and his nature as fire-bender necessitated early mornings, when Izzy was a baby they decided that Mai would be in charge of bed time and night-time feedings and Zuko would take over in the wee hours of the morning. This arrangement worked surprisingly well, and continued long after Izzy started eating solid food. Zuko loved that he always had a few hours with his daughter. In the early days, he had a crib installed in his office so he could get a start on the his work after she fell back asleep. Now she was big enough to run through his forms with him. Zuko didn’t want to put any pressure on her to be bender or not, so he would alternate between Firebending forms and other martial arts. Would she practice them without him? She didn’t have any of them committed to memory but she would often try to show off to Mai with gusto. He smiled at the thought.

But he quickly frowned again, knowing he wouldn’t be there to see. “Ugh!” he grabbed his hair and berated himself: “Don’t be such a coward! You’ve slept on the road with nothing but a stolen ostrich horse. You can handle two nights with them.”

He walked over to Mai’s vanity and sat. He picked up a book that she recently finished reading and thumbed through the pages. Then, he picked up her jar of perfume and sprayed it experimentally. He inhaled her signature scent and sighed. 

Truthfully, he was worried about her well-being away from him too. He wasn’t arrogant enough to assume that she couldn’t go-on without his presence for a few measly days, but he knew how her mother and grandparents could be. Even when she was little, he recalled how Michi would nitpick at her posture or her expression or her word choice. He was ashamed that it took him so long to realize just how conditional her parental affection was. 

In retrospect, it made sense why she loved her uncle just as much as he loved his. When he first met the Warden of the Boiling Rock, he didn’t quite see the appeal. The man was terrifying and brutish and he had a nasty power-complex. But it all fit into place when he saw them together at the wedding. Michi had been chiding Mai for getting her wedding slippers dusty during their first dance, and Zuko was about to ask her to leave. He couldn’t believe that she chose that moment to undercut her daughter, but the Warden stepped in. “Oh knock it off! This is her palace, not a prison yard. How about you go get a drink while I dance with my niece.” And just like that, Mai’s super traditional and stuck-up uncle led her in the camelephant strut. They were both a bit clumsy, especially Mai since her robes were constantly in the way, but their rare and radiant smiles made the moment perfect.

Aunt Mura was another advocate for Mai, but her support was more quiet and diplomatic. A hand on the shoulder here, and words of encouragement there. Mura was so much more gentle and less acerbic than Michi, that it was easy to forget that she had been raised with the same unfair expectations. She approached her sister with more empathy than Zuko was willing to extend.

Zuko hoped that the pair of them would keep Michi in line. Unfortunately, from his limited contact he knew that Mai’s grandparents might also pose a problem. He had a sudden and unpleasant vision of Mai’s grandmother and Michi making comments about Izumi’s behavior. He gritted his teeth. He knew Mai wouldn’t stand for it, but it set him on edge. 

Mai had really come into her own as a Fire Lady. She was always very calm in a crisis, but she spoke passionately about the issues that moved her. She would let her excitement show when her projects came to fruition. She learned how to be vulnerable in order to build trust with their citizens.

His biggest fear was that she would return, and, after their separation, some of that precious progress would be undone. And that Izumi’s light would shine a little dimmer in turn.

He stood from the vanity and shook his head, as if he could dislodge the poisonous thoughts. Normally when something caused him to worry, he would talk about it with his wife. Now he was at a loss. Maybe a nice walk in the cool night air would clear his mind. He could visit Druk in the stables. He muttered to himself as he made his way, “She’s an adult. She doesn’t need you breathing down her neck.” 

— — 

Mai was on the verge of tears. She needed Zuko desperately. 

They had left early that morning in an airship for the Southern region of the Fire Nation where her grandparents lived, and Mai was cautiously optimistic. Since she woke up so early, Izzy slept for the two hours of travel time to the house. It was a lovely opportunity to talk to Tom-Tom, who– at the age of 17– was often busy with school these days.

But everything changed when they landed. Her grandparents greeted her formally, but more warmly than they ever had. And she soon discovered why: this was her first visit to their hometown as the Fire Lady. When she entered their home, she was dismayed to find a throne and a receiving line! Thankfully, Tom-Tom offered to watch Izumi and get her some food, while Mai was forced to meet the Mayor and all of her grandparents' friends. After an hour of accepting well-wishes, backhanded compliments, and personal requests, he uncle arrived. He walked up to her confidently and insisted that she and Izumi take tea with him and Mura. Apparently being the Warden of the Boiling Rock gave him the authority to terminate her indentured servitude.

Tea was a brief affair. However she re-entered the gaggle of distant relatives and vaguely important people with her uncle on her arm, and Tom-Tom again stepped in to watch Izumi as she played with the other children. Mai loved her little brother to bits, but this experience made her appreciate him all the more. She was thirteen when he was born, so she felt fiercely protective of him when he was little. And he was thirteen when Izzy was born, and she could see him return all of that love and shower it on her. The thought made her emotional. 

Dinner came late, well past Izumi’s normal bedtime, but it was a blessedly private affair. Her grandparents; her mother, aunt, and uncle; and herself, Tom-Tom, and Izumi. Oh, and the Mayor, but he spent a significant portion of the night wooing Aunt Mura so he was easy enough to tune out. Uncle showed Izzy magic tricks with his napkin, and Mai smiled. She had nearly forgotten how he used to do the same for her. He would have been a good father if he hadn’t chosen such a demanding profession. She regretted that she had only seen him a handful of times since her wedding.

Mai’s grandparents kept her in conversation. To her surprise, they praised Zuko and his reforms highly. At first she was pleased, but then her mood began to sour. 

“I don’t know how you pulled a match like that. You were always so sullen as a girl,” her grandfather remarked.

Mai felt her mother’s keen stare and tried to laugh it off. “Well… he always said he liked how I hated the world.”

Her grandfather frowned and she worried she misspoke, but her grandmother interjected, “Oh happiness is overrated. True contentment comes with status. You did well to act in a manner pleasing to him.”

Mai felt her stomach turn. She never acted differently for Zuko. He challenged her preconceived notions sometimes and helped her see different points of view, but she didn’t blindly follow him like an animal. Was that how she appeared? Izumi wasn’t hearing this was she? She looked at her daughter, but, no, Uncle was telling her a story about a prison riot. Somehow, that was probably a healthier message for her impressionable child.

Michi joined the conversation, “Oh mother, it’s all thanks to you! I took your advice and got her into the palace early. Her friendship with Princess Azula was most beneficial. She was the natural choice to be Zuko’s consort.”

Mai felt suddenly nauseous. Her friendship with Azula was strained in a lot of ways, but it was built on a genuine foundation. They had both loved sparring as girls, along with Ty Lee of course. They would sneak from the stuffy functions her mother dragged her to. Michi couldn’t take credit for any of that, and she certainly couldn't take credit for her love with Zuko.

Mai gripped the edge of the table, prepared to tell her off. “Actually!” she began confidently, and all of the eyes in the room turned toward her. Apparently her Uncle had finished his story and Mura had politely rebuffed the Mayor. But it was the full and undivided attention of her grandparents that got to her. She remembered why silence and falsity were her friends. Mai quickly thought of an excuse for her outburst. “Zuko wanted me to tell you how sorry he is that he couldn’t make it. He sends his love.” 

“Darling, told us that before.” her grandmother replied. “He is the Fire Lord, you should not expect him to attend your family affairs.”

Mai wilted. “Of course, grandmother. But he asked me to tell you, so I wanted to relay his words.”

Her grandfather smiled, “Yes, a good wife echoes her husband.” 

Mai snuck another look at Izumi, praying that she was not listening. Luck seemed to be on her side, as the little princess was absorbed and– covered in– the noodles on her plate. 

Mai got them out of there as quickly as she deemed socially acceptable  and washed the noodles off of her little girl.. She cursed herself for her cowardice. She was the Fire Lady! She could have left whenever she damn well pleased, but she turned into a child the second she entered that house. 

To make matters worse, as soon as she and Izumi entered their chambers the little girl began having a meltdown.

It started innocently enough: “Where’s dada?”

Mai pursed her lips. She had tried explaining to Izumi before they left that daddy couldn’t come with them this time, but the thought was unimaginable to her. They had always traveled as a family, and she had never had to sleep without a goodnight kiss from daddy before Mai began the bedtime routine.

Mai tried again to explain, “I’m sorry turtleduck, but he’s not here right now. He had to stay at the palace and run the country. We’ll see him in two more sleeps.”

Izumi teared up. “Not here?”

Mai held her, “No. He’s not here, but he’s safe and so are we. You’ll see him soon.”

Then the wailing began in earnest and it did not stop for what felt like hours but was probably minutes. Mai tried to be soothing, but firm. For better or worse, she couldn’t capitulate to her daughter’s request this time. No airships or secure transports were running at this hour. And Zuko would probably spontaneously combust if she rented an animal and attempted the overnight journey alone. 

Mai felt the tears prick in her eyes too. Since her parents were so strict, she had no gauge for how to react to this situation. Was she being too indulgent by letting her daughter cry? How could she stop it? What could she say to make her happy again? All at once, the floodgates of self-loathing had opened. She was the co-ruler of a country, why did she let her grandparents walk all over her in front of her daughter? And how could she foist Izumi on to her baby brother all day? It was his family reunion too. 

She needed Zuko. He would calm Izzy down. Spirits, he would calm her down. 

There was a knock at the door. Shit! Their rooms were in the farthest part of the manor to give the Fire Lady privacy, but someone had obviously overheard and complained. There would be rumors all over the town about how bad of a parent she was. Or it was her guards checking in. The poor guys probably wanted to make sure she was okay. She tucked Izumi behind her, and palmed a knife– just to be safe– and opened the door.

For a second, she thought her brain was deceiving her into seeing what she wanted to see.

“DADA!” Izumi screamed happily.

She ran around Mai and jumped into his arms. “Hello turtleduck.” He laughed and kissed her head as he made his way into the room. “I hope I’m not intruding on girl time.” He smiled at Mai.

She took a deep breath to try to compose herself and smiled back at her husband. “Of course, not. Our princess was just demanding your presence.” 

“Oh!” Zuko seemed genuinely surprised. “Well then, I’m glad I arrived just in time.” He tucked Izumi into her bed, across the room from Mai’s– and now Zuko’s– larger one. She must have been exhausted from her early travels, because, as soon as she knew that both of her parents were in the room, she fell asleep. Mai marveled at her instant calm.

Zuko stroked her hair a few times and then turned his attention to his wife. He walked over to her and delicately pulled her into an embrace. “I’m such a loser,” he whispered, face buried in her neck, and it felt so out-of-the-blue that she nearly snorted.

“What on earth are you talking about? I need more information to know if I disagree,” she retorted.

“Hey!” he protested quietly, and pinched her arm, but she could feel his smile on her skin. His breath tickled as he spoke: “I couldn’t handle one night away from you both. Let alone two.”

Mai caressed his cheek, and guided his face so they were looking into each other's eyes. “Then I must be a loser too because I was about to cry before you got here. Izumi was sobbing because she missed you so much and my family–” she stopped abruptly.

Zuko took hold of her hands and she could feel the fire in his eyes. “What did they say?”

Mai slumped her shoulders and allowed herself to lean against him. “It’s not important.” That dreaded touch of apathy colored her voice, but then, but a glimmer of broke through. “It’s really not important because you’re here now.”

Zuko wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. He finally pulled away, “At least give me a list of names.”

Mai chuckled quietly, she didn’t want to wake their daughter. “The usual suspects.”

That told Zuko all he needed to know. The pair went about their nightly routines, before climbing into bed. Zuko longed to kiss her more, and fill her with reassurance, but he was prevented by the presence of their daughter. He settled for wrapping his arms tightly around Mai and burying his face in her hair.

But suddenly she broke away and sat up. Zuko pouted up at her.

“Wait! Wait a minute! How did you get here?” she looked at him in awe. 

He smiled cheekily. “You know I’ve been practicing flying with Druk.”

Mai crossed her arms. “You did not fly him all the way here from the Caldera! His previous flights were twenty minutes at most. My poor baby is probably exhausted.”

Zuko laughed. Druk may have been bonded to him by the sacred fire, but the dragon was bonded to Mai by something else. The two were so protective of each other that it was almost comical. 

“Oh don’t worry,” Zuko reassured her, and pulled her back into his arms. “Your big old baby loved it, and your family’s servants gave him the best room in their stables.”

Mai huffed. “Okay, but if he’s sore tomorrow, then I’m using you as a pin cushion.”

“It would be my greatest honor.”

Mai rolled her eyes, but she snuggled in closer.

— — 

The next day, Mai checked on Druk first thing. To her own surprise, she was the first member of her immediate family awake. She left Zuko a note. (Her notes always began, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m leaving,” even if she was just taking the five-minute trip to her favorite fire flakes stand. It had become an inside joke between them.) 

Druk truly was in a great mood. Mai’s family ordered the finest cuts from the butcher as a special treat. If there was one thing she could count on her grandparents to do, it was suck up to royalty.

She stopped by the kitchens and put in a special request, and then she made her way to the airship service. By the time she arrived back at the house, breakfast had begun. She slowly took her seat, allowing her mother's glare to linger.

“Young lady,” he grandfather began. “It is bad form to arrive late to a meal. “Especially when royalty is present.”

Mai pretended to be chastened. “Oh, I’m so sorry grandfather. But I wanted to put on a surprise for my dearest husband.” She strongly emphasized the word. “As you and Grandmother were saying, such a visitation to my family is quite beneath him actually.” Zuko whipped his head to his in-laws. Mai could tell he was seething, but this was her moment to reclaim power. She knew he would follow her lead, and so she continued, “As such, I thought it would be a lovely surprise if we all took a trip to the nearby southern beaches.”

Mai’s grandmother scoffed. “Those aren’t nearby. You’d have to take an airship to get there.”

Mai nodded, “Yes and I chartered one. Unfortunately, it’s quite small. They only had ten open seats.”

Mai’s mother tried to cut the tension. “Oh well… That’s still enough for all of us, and we can even bring the Mayor. Perhaps the day can be salvaged, but you really should have asked your grandparents before doing this.” 

Michi didn’t want to look bad in front of her parents, and Mai almost regretted what she was about to do. She replied: “You’re not taking into account the guards. We’ll need four to be safe I would say. I’m so very sorry. I assumed that grandfather and grandmother would be too weary to travel so far, so I didn’t list them on the tickets. And Uncle and Auntie have so few opportunities to see Izumi. I hope you understand, Mother.”

Michi flushed red, but she wouldn’t dare have a dramatic and drawn out argument with Mai so publicly. The Warden chuckled to himself, “Now this is an escape plan I can get behind.”

Zuko looked at his wife with a newfound admiration. He knew there would come a time when they were separated again, but he did not want to dwell on it. In this moment, they were together. And they were stronger because of it.

#maikoweek2024 #maiko week 2024 #atla maiko #atla mai #atla zuko #maiko #mai #zuko #atla #avatar the last airbender #mai x zuko #zuko x mai #Michi #Tom-Tom #Aunt Mura #Mai's family #Mai is a good mom #Zuko is a good dad

[ratsypatsy]

Hello Tumblr! This is me posting on why is Mikaela a better option of protagonist than Sam.

I know the reason why Sam is the way it is, it's because they wanted people to feel identified by a character that's an average and simple person, I guess that's an interesting idea, however, Sam wasn't a very good example of this, they want to show a guy who is nice and find himself being brave at some point. But when I see the movie, I just see a horny teenager who did what he did just because he was involved in it, and to impress a gal, cause there wasn't an option, you can put make up on it by adding those scenes of him saying badass stuff... But that's not enough for me, the character itself seems as a lazy example of what they wanted to show, there's no flavor in it.

And then they made Mikaela as his romantic interest and it's crazy how she's better constructed than he is.

Her past is very interesting, let's start with that. She was considered a criminal at some point, but she had her reason. Then all the school looked as her just as a "sexy and privileged girl who is the gf of the popular guy", they saw her just as their "hot classmate", and not by what she actually is, and this is probably because she didn't wanted them to know the truth, because it's dangerous for her future.

Now, they could've used this to make the kind of character that did something wrong, but then risks it all to save the world, find her place and gain the forgiveness from her crimes.

She is a mechanic, what made her really interesting as a TF human protagonist, similar as Charlie, this ability of her is very useful for her alien comrades.

She is also brave, mature, and responsible.

She had her doubts at the beginning when she first saw Bumblebee, Sam convinced her in that part, but as he did it so easily, I think, without Sam there, a little chat with Bee would've been enough to make her change her mind. Even after that, she didn't questioned to keep helping the Autobots every time she could during the movie, not because she just had to be there, but because she actually wanted to help, she saw Bumblebee more as an individual than as an object, feeling bad for him when he got hurt (Sam kept calling him "my car" as if he was some pet or something that he own, he kept this behavior the next movies)

The reason why we couldn't see more of her interacting with the bots is because she wasn't the protagonist, even in the next movie, her role was mostly secondary, and all her relevance there was to add some drama to the relationship... The rest is just Sam doing his stuff (zzzz) they just throw most of the character to the trash, her only purpose was to be the badie of the movie, what's a shame, since it could've been more interesting.

Her character in the first movie felt more real than her boyfriend, more organic, she had problems, she wasn't perfect, and she had more feelings than being horny and trying to make the other character fell in love with her.

She was witty when she had to take actions.

I mean, is sad how they just putted her in the hot girl place, while giving her an interesting personality and background, jut to throw that, because they were more interested in taking shoots of the actress being sexy, and all of what surrounds her is just the fetish of someone who wanted a "bad girl", that's also smart and brave to fell in love with him, it's unfair. Meanwhile they gave us sam who is less interesting and irritating... Like, do you have a brain that works? The movie is very interesting, I think, it could've worked better for me with a better human protagonist.

#transformers #maccadams #maccadam #robots #mecha #decepticons #autobots #transformers 2007 #bayformers #sam witwicky #mikaela banes #bumblebee #optimus prime #bayverse bumblebee #transformers bayverse

[wordy-little-witch]

Random thoughts here, gonna add stuff for trigger warnings

Tw being trans pregnancy, I guess could he considered mpreg? Buggy identifies more masc but is AFAB. Nothing necessarily explicit

I just. Mm. Babies. Baby fever, lowkey. Can't have kids of my own, but I can day dream about my blorbos.

Buggy is trans, he's on T, but surgeries are wonky at best, uninteresting and frankly a liability. He'd be down for a good deal of time, something he isn't all too crazy about. When the dysphoria gets bad, he just chop-chops his chest and uses a packer ((his packer being, of course, a drawstring back of muggy balls, and opportunities for Many Jokes)).

Due to an event in his youth, pre Devil Fruit, he was told he's likely infertile ((Got stabbed a few times and a good chunk of his reproductive system is more scar tissue than actual organ tissue)). Between that, the difficulty for conception when a parent has a Devil Fruit, and his testosterone, he's decently certain it's not an option.

Of course, Buggy D Clown, the genius jester and Flashy Fool of the Seas, is a living embodiment of doing the impossible.

It starts with a sudden nausea when he smells his usual drink of choice. Alcohol was once something he adored, maybe in a little excess, but he was a pirate and pirates party. It's a given. Shanks' alcoholism was born from their shared past, and Buggy wasn't all too different on that front.

But suddenly, during lunch, when he went to take a sip of his rum, he caught a whiff of it and had to lean back and force down a gag. He exchanged it for a water, something not TOO unusual, as sometimes he'd have things he wanted to work on with a clear head, like in his workshop. Nobody really batted an eye.

Then he declined it at dinner. Then the next day. Then he was eying Crocodile's plate and his extra tomatoes, something he NEVER does, given his general dislike of the fruit. But now...? Mm.... it looks.. really good...........

Crocodile, thinking this is an opportunity to tease the other, offers a bite, expecting a dramatic recoil and complaint. But Buggy just absolutely beams at him, takes the bite, and damn near swoons. The logia user glances over to the swordsman, both uncertain but willing to roll with it. Not too big of a deal.

Then suddenly Buggy is more emotional than usual, something nobody was expecting. He's usually pretty expressive, all of his emotional responses keyed up to at least eleven. It's only noticed as off because he's crying a lot more, and hiding it far less. He happy cries, sad cries, angry cries. And it's like a switch is flipped. Something will happen and the clown is suddenly bawling. The first few times it happens with the crew, they all panic, but it's happy tears, infectious ones at that and so the men wind up crying too, offering embraces and spinning hugs of emotional care.

Crocodile and Mihawk share Looks.

Then Buggy is getting sick. Like. Throwing up almost every meal time, sick. The only things he can keep down are water, orange juice, and toast with honey or applesauce.

The two dark haired men finally put their foot down and demand the other go to a doctor. They expect a fight, expect tears or anger or yelling or something, but Buggy just nods, blinking slowly from his place curled into Mihawk's side, in one of Crocodile's shirts. He seems exhausted, shadows under his eyes from the newly worsened insomnia.

His easy acquiescence alarms them the most.

The next day, Buggy is seen, and there's a few tests and observations done, culminating into the doctor pursing her lips and ordering a urine sample.

Buggy, pale, head on Croc's chest while Mihawk toys absently with his hair, dozes off in the office while they wait on the results. An hour, and a nap, later, she returns with papers and a tentative air.

"Well... it's not a virus," she begins with. "Your hormone levels are elevated, specifically your progesterone and your chondrionic gonadotropin levels..."

Buggy stiffens, eyes wide. "I'm...?"

She sighs, smiling softly. "Congratulations, Chairman. You're in your first trimester of pregnancy, by the levels we can see here."

Buggy gapes. Crocodile is still as a statue. Mihawk had a thousand yard stare.

There is a soft sound, and suddenly Crocodile has vanished, now but a pile of sand on the floor and partially on Buggy. Mihawk looks faint himself. Buggy just glances between them numbly. "Oh."

"Mm. Quite."

Then, the world's greatest swordsman joins his logia partner in a tangle of limbs on the floor. Buggy stares for a moment. The doctor stares for a moment. Buggy flushes an angry red.

"Those motherfuckers couldn't even stay conscious long enough to get me back?!"

The doc tries to hide her laughter. "In their defense," she choked out, "they were quite worried about you and suddenly received such news. That said, I do have some smelling salts. Here..."

Buggy does not let either of them live it down, for obvious reasons, and they do have to announce it to the Guild because Buggy is now not allowed to have alcohol, can't do his typical tricks, and will need to cut back on a lot of the physical activities he does daily, let alone the topic of fighting. He's nervous about it, because it will involve both announcing a pregnancy as well as coming out. He's made damned sure his crew is inclusive for all sorts of people, regardless of love, color, age or body. But welcoming your fellow man (non gendered), is not necessarily the same as answering to a person like himself.

The reception is largely warm, though. The crew is over the moon, they don't even follow up with a "how does that happen, you're a man", they just immediately are screaming their congratulations and vows to step up and help as they can. Buggy winds up crying again, and Mihawk just wordlessly hands him a water bottle. Hydration is important, especially with all the tears.

His pregnancy is fairly typical, and the morning sickness passes fairly quickly, though the cravings get absolutely hog wild, and EVERYONE is suffering. Buggy tries not to be too needy but he can't control the responses and everyone else is hurting for him when he's so upset. He ends up absolutely obsessed with lemon-lavender ice cream, and the Guild keeps it on hand by the buckets full in the freezer.

When Buggy starts showing, Mihawk finds he has a new favorite place to nuzzle, finding the tiny little whirls of Haki within the clown's abdomen to be mesmerizing. He often finds himself cuddling in, Listening and Sensing, even talking softly to the little life growing within his lover, singing lullabies.

Crocodile near constantly has a hand or hook pressed over the growing swell. If Buggy is within arms reach, his touch is there, protective and mildly stunned. The paternity of the baby is unknown, but none of them particularly care. The baby will be theirs collectively regardless. That baby will be Crocodile's as much as it is Mihawks, as it is Buggy's. That baby is his, too. And he will protect this one ((the way he couldn't protect another, so long ago)).

Alvida, Galdino, Mohji and Cabaji are very hands on with everything. Al never wanted kids, but she is absolutely delighted to be the cool aunt, and the fella are excited to be uncles. It's Daz's quiet excitement that throws everyone for a loop. He's second only to Crocodile and Mihawk when it comes to pampering or spoiling Buggy. He still carries himself as a stoic stone faced man, but he is the one who brings the snacks, who offers a hand when Buggy gets to a size where standing is mildly more difficult, when it's time to convince the blue haired man to take it easy or rest. When asked, he will cite that he is merely doing his duties, but everyone could see when Buggy took Daz's hand and placed it on his bump when the baby was big enough to kick and haveit be felt by others. They saw the way the blade man's eyes widened, the shimmer there, the microexpression of wonder, of care, of brewing love. That baby would be safer than anyone else in the entirety of the grandline, of that nobody had a single doubt.

Shanks could not visit, but he made frequent calls and sent countless gifts, all of which made Buggy blubber like a child or rage like a harpy. Nothing was discarded, though, and in the nursery they set up is a small little bear with a red heart embroidered on the chest.

Rayleigh showing up unannounced was not anticipated. Nor was how Buggy remained blank faced despite the tears on his cheeks. The older man just smiled sadly, wiping away the tears, and handed over a small box. "Shakky and I worked together on this. It only felt right to pass this on. To new generations."

Inside is a stuffed cat, the fabric soft, yellow and worn. It was sun-bleached in some areas, little nose embroidered with red and eyes in blue. Buggy takes one look at the cat and crushes it to his chest, nearly doubled over as he let's out a heart broken keen, falling to his knees. Crocodile and Mihawk are quick to rush to his sides, but Rayleigh is closer and faster, falling down, wrapping around the other, queezing him tightly, softly, teary eyed himself.

"I know," he chokes, hugging his boy tighter, "I know, Blue, I miss him too, baby boy...."

Buggy clings to Rayleigh, holding the cat toy tenderly as he wails.

Ray stays for a few days before Buggy just tells him to pick a damned tent and hang out, damn it, his kid should get to meet at least one grandparent.

Ray doesn't cry but it is a close thing.

The pregnancy is an ordeal all across the board, from reopening wounds to general, typical difficulties, it's a wild ride start to finish and beyond.

There's more than one night of pure domesticity. One where Buggy and Mihawk are shooting baby names back and forth in the kitchen while Crocodile writes them down in the Yes, No or Maybe column. One where Croc and Mihawk are pouring over research for the baby. One where Buggy is in an oversized shirt, feet up on the tummy of a particularly big and spoiled 'wani, singing sea shanties softly as he tinkers with some harmless little trinkets, using his tummy as a table. One where Crocodile, pressed into Buggy's back, confesses to his past and breaks to pieces under dimmed lights in the clown's calloused hands to no judgement, only understanding, only compassion. Nights where Mihawk is wired so tightly by his own past that he sits upright in their bed, a sentinel of protection because he refuses to lose them the way he lost everything before.

You have to drain the infection, the bacteria, for a wound to truly heal.

It's difficult. It's painful. It's worth it.

The 9 months, the 26 hours of labor and the little bundle of life at the end was absolutely worth it.

Especially when newly named Bronwyn D. Crown ((their little Winnie)), with her midnight blue hair and pink little nose, her strawberry marks on fair skin, the curls of her locks and the shade of her lashes around sapphire eyes, is born into the world screaming her displeasure and only settles once clean, once swaddled, once brought back to her parents. She is small, smaller than expected, but every ounce of her body is the foundations of a fighter - she got her baba's temper, that much is certain.

Winnie is the apple of everyone's eye. Cute and small and bold and boasting a nose so much like Buggy's, almost everyone is taken with her. Rayleigh especially is wrapped around her finger within less than thirty minutes together. Shanks is absolutely in love even without seeing her first hand - he meets her the first time when she is two, and he cries because she threw an elephant toy at his head and cackled.

It's not easy. But by the Seas and Skies, it's absolutely worth it.

#buggy the clown #sir crocodile #dracule mihawk #cross guild polycule #trans buggy #trans crocodile #fluff #i needed some dopamine so i'm just AAAAAAAA #give blorbos babies