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winterarmyy · 10 months

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Welcome home... Soldat? | Part I

That time when Bucky accidentally relapsed into the Winter Soldier.

Summary: Y/N had make a habit of greeting Bucky a warm 'welcome home' everytime he came back from his missions, but there was one particular day when she unknowingly greeted someone else.

Navigation: Part I || Part II* || Part III (end) || Extra

Words: 2.9k++

Pairing: winter soldier!bucky x female!reader

Warnings: implied 18+ content, implied smut, dubious con on groping reader's body, dark(?) possessive behaviour, google translated russian, our soldat is kinda cute(?) in his own twisted way, and well, basically fluffy times with the soldat.

P/S: Guys, I never planned this at all. I mean, who am I kidding? All of my fics are not planned and I clearly write things out of impulse. Therefore, this one don't have much of a story building/plot because it was born out of one scene that flashed in my head and has been replayed way to many times that I need to let it out. Anyway, I still hope you enjoy it, somehow.

Read my other works here: Masterlist

Y/N didn't know when exactly she started this habit but she swore to herself to never grow out of it.

It's been nearly 2 years since the fall of Hydra and the avenger has accepted the winter soldier under their wing. Begrudgingly by Tony, but the rest of them seemed like they're not against it.

Y/N used to be an agent from SHIELD but since the fall, she had been recruited under the avenger's programme and had been living in the tower since.

She remembered the day when Bucky first came in, he was quiet and weary all the time. Like an abandoned cat, picked up by a stranger to come to their home. And it took the whole team months before he slowly adapted.

Who knew he would morphed into a sassy, grumpy little shit, right?

Since the first day, Y/N had been making an effort to make him feel welcomed. Helped him to adjust to modern times. Though it was not regular but she's glad he came to her from time to time to ask about things.

Y/N only meant it to be casual when she greeted him back from his missions. Usually, it'll be something like,

"Oh you're back?"

"How's the team?"

"Good to see you well put together from such horrendous mission."

"God, you look like you fell from 5 flight of stairs."

"Are you even trying to fight back, Bucky?"

But one time, Bucky came back in the morning around breakfast, she wasn't feeling sassy or clever. So, instead of greeting him with playful remarks, in the glory of her messy bed hair and iron man pyjamas, she greeted him with a sleepy smile, "Welcome home, Bucky."

And that surely made the 6 foot, bulky hunk of a soldier paralysed in his spot. His ocean blues slightly widen, and his cheeks deepen in blush.

For a moment, he wondered if this is how he would feel if he had a wife waiting for him to come back from war back in the 40's. But, then again nothing can be compared to the sight he was seeing as he is now.

And Y/N didn't want to ever lose that memory of him.

Cute and flustered Bucky is a very rare sight to see. Perhaps, this was the only time she could witness it and she want to cherish it for the rest of her life.

Though Bucky never replied to Y/N's greeting, it didn't stop them from starting a whole new routine.

Y/N always knew that she had a thing for the sargent, but about 2 months from that moment, Y/N realized she was in love.

And she waited for him, every single chance she had for arrival of the team to come back. Just like she is now, at 03:45 in the morning, while scavenging for something sweet she can eat as she waits for Bucky's return.

When, she turned around she was not expecting to have her face into clashed into something, "Oww!" Y/N shuts her eyes close as she rubbed her aching nose to ease the sharp strike of pain.

For a moment there, she seriously thought she might have just bumped into some kind of a solid air that appeared out of nowhere, but when she opened her eyes, it was just Bucky who was standing rather ominously still.

"My god, you scared the shit out of me. I know you used to be an assassin but, you gotta announce yourself sometimes, man." She joked. Although she did find it impressive that he managed to silently sneak up on her with those thick, heavy combat boots he was wearing.

"Woah, someone's been having a field day kicking your ass, huh?" Y/N's eyes lingered a little longer on the wounds at the side of his temple that she didn't notice the void in his eyes.

"Anyway..." she continued as she shook of the thoughts of caressing the cut on the corner of Bucky's lip, before greeting him with a gentle smile, "Welcome home."

Bucky's unresponsiveness was nothing new to her. With the amount of silent glares and gruff eye-rolls that he had shot at her these past few months, she's used to it by now.

But, when she finally had the guts to look him in the eye, only then she noticed the underlying shift. Albeit, his signature frown was still as present as ever but, those eyes had made her questioned of the slight difference from what she recognized.

Bucky wordlessly step forward and cornered her until her back meets the side of the kitchen isle. He took his time assessing her, almost admiring the way her iris wavered in confusion.

Something is wrong.

Her guts were screaming at her to notice it but her body wasn't reacting accordingly. That's when the voice of the AI, Jarvis echoed through the walls.

"Emergency alert: Code Winter. Initiated by Captain Steve Rogers. All agent is advised..." The announcement went on based on protocol while the cogs in Y/N's brain finally moved, "Code Winter? That means..."

"...to be cautious of Sargent James Barnes; reprimand on sight however try not to engage alone. Agents is..." Jarvis voice in the background interwoven with Y/N's internal deduction, "...This is not Bucky?"

As she tried to put her own mind into perspective, trying to make herself believe that this man in front of her is not Bucky Barnes who she had been adoring over for these past few months, the soldat's hands reached the side of her neck, squeezing the softness of her flesh while his thumbs grazed the shape of her jawline.

His heavy gaze remained on hers, willing her to stay as still possible.

"Bucky...?" She called his name in hopes of triggering something, anything for within his controlled mind.

At end of the corridor leading towards the kitchen, Steve could see how the soldat had already gotten his hands on Y/N and panic strike him like lightning, he sprinted towards her as he despretely shouted, "Y/N! Stay away from--"

But Y/N was not able to render anything she heard from Steve, especially after a long silence, the soldat finally spoke, "Yes, I'm home..."

He carefully pulled her face closer to his as his lips planted on her soft cheek, "...мое cолнышко (my sunshine)" he lifted for a second just to kiss her again on her temple as he whispered lowly, "...мое Родная (my darling)"

Y/N's heart was beating madly for several different reasons. Parts of her was terrified that the soldat might break her neck within an instance, but it gradually changes into something much more confusing, a conflicted joy, when he keep on trailing his lips all over her face.

What is happening?

Both her and Steve was practically frozen in pure confusion.

Steve's mouth hanged open as words failed to form, while Y/N was unable to comprehend any sort of thoughts, let alone counter movements; when the soldat continue to whisper Russian endearments against her skin, littering sweet kisses on every part of her face, except for her lips as if he wanted to tease her.

His hands slowly travel down her back and stopped on the side of her waist, pulling her body closer until there was no space in between them anymore, before he wrapped his arms around her.

The drag of his stubble on her skin burned but it felt so good when he kissed it after.

Seconds later, Sam managed to catch up with Steve and his cautious approach fell as he witnessed the soldat's rather domestic actions towards Y/N.

Sam foolishly let his guard down as he approached with a question directed to Steve, "Is the tin man back?" That was when a bullet barely grazed the tip of his ear that then buried through the wall behind him.

Both Steve and Sam forced to stop any sort of movement as the soldat's aim was still locked towards their direction; his cold blue eyes pierced with a menacing warning, all the while posessively holding Y/N in his arms as his kisses trailed the side of her neck.

"Nope, not yet." Sam answered his own question as he waited for Steve's order.

Y/N felt like she have to do something to de-escalate the situation. After a quick deduction, and based on the soldat attitude towards her, she took the risk of believing that he would not do anything to hurt her, so she decided to play along.

Will it work though?

Well, she got to have to try for it work.

She gulped nervously before softly calls for him, "Soldat?" she looked up towards him.

When the soldat gave her his attention, she watched the loose strand of his hair fall down to his face. Her hand went up and reached for it, "How about we go back to your room and let me tend these wounds, hmm?" She cooed while tucking his behind his ear and briefly caressing his cheek with the back of her fingers.

The soldat didn't reply but instead silently process her proposition.

However, the hesitation only worried her more, so she continued to persuade, as she cautiously slide her hand, following his arm that was holding her teammates at gun point, "It'll be just the two of us. How's that sound?" She smiled warmly at him as she managed to lower it enough to grab the gun away from his grasp.

There was a glint of indecipherable emotion in his eyes when she mentioned that, which then he nodded in agreement.

"Okay then, let's go." She put the gun on the kitchen isle behind her and replaced her hand in his, pulling him towards his bedroom. The soldat did not protest to her lead, in fact her followed her obediently.

But before Y/N makes an exit, she looked back towards Steve and mouthed a reassuring message, "I got this."

The captain had all the rights to be weary but at this point, he just had to believe in Y/N's action plan. He nodded and replied, "Be safe. We'll be outside."

Along the walk towards Bucky's room, all she could think was that she can handle it and she got this under control.

But, does she?

Well, Y/N did have it under control, in terms of keeping the soldat from going on a berserk rampage but what she didn't think through was how the fuck she should handle his behaviour towards her.

After they arrived to Bucky's room, she had instructed him to strip off his tactical suit and leave him sitting at the edge of the bed, only in his short to avoid him reaching for any hidden weapons he had, all the while she went to grab the first aid from his bathroom.

Now that she almost done tending the small injuries on his face, it finally dawned to her that the soldat had her immobilized in between his legs as his hands rubbed the back of her thighs, occasionally squeezing the softness of her body in his tender grip.

His intent gaze waited patiently for her to finish and as soon as she did, he pulled her on his lap, making her to straddle on top him as he smushed his face on her chest, "Oh, Родная (darling)... I have missed you."

Her hands found her balance on his shoulders while the soldat roaming hands held her body still by the back of her waist.

It will be a lie if she said her heart didn't skipped when he confessed; even if it was still the soldat's thoughts and words but it was Bucky's voice.

The soldat pulled his other hand to play with the buttons of her pyjamas shirt, specifically around her chest area.

Part of him wanted to just rip her clothes off from her body but another part of him didn't want to. He didn't want scare her; and his precious little darling deserved to be pampered.

He had her buttons popped off; one by one, slow and almost sensual while Y/N was still in a heated debate with herself on what she should to next. She wanted the soldat to stop but god the temptation of wanting more was beyond her will power.

This is not Bucky.

She knew that. But, she had been bewitched by the look in those familiar blue eyes. So enthralled and so keen to unwrap her.

Y/N let out a low yet sharp gasp as her chest was finally revealed, "Soldat, what..." The soldat take a quick glance into her eyes, "...are you doing?" before trailing back down to the curve of her breasts, cupped so beautifully with a simple black bra.

His hands went back to grabbed her thighs as he replied, "Just wanna hold you." He leaned closer and left a lingering kiss in between her breasts, mumbling deep, " Wanna feel you, мое Родная (my darling)"

Fuck, it feels so good.

"Wanna feel you..." Y/N's grip on his bare shoulder tightened as he lips warmed the top of her right breast, "...here." An unexpected moan slipped out of her lips as the soldat latched his wet mouth on her skin, bruising it with his mark.

He groaned to the taste of her, so sweet and soft, he wanted to pull the bra off her and suckle on her nipple. He bet that they're perky and so sensitive. Bet he could make her cum just by playing with them.

He wanted to leave his bite mark around them, make them look much more prettier. But, he needed to be patient.

He brought his left hand up to hold the other side of her chest; pulling another pretty noise as the cold metal of his thumb gently stroked the exposed skin of her breast.

"Wanna feel you..." His flesh hand made its way lower and cupped her clothed sex, unexpectedly making her grind down to his hold, "...here."

She couldn't help to find shelter in the crook of his neck when he began to stroke her sensually.

This is getting out of hand.

Y/N doesn't mind to entertain him if the soldat only asked for him to hold her but it was clear that he wanted so much more than just innocent touches. Especially when he languidly rubbed his middle finger in between the slit of her pussy.

She hates how easy it was for Bucky's touch turned her on, his hands and his lips; regardless if his actions was someone else's.

This is wrong.

This has to stop.

"No... soldat." She whimpered in his ears as his finger drew slow circles on her clit, his mouth latched on her shoulder.

"I can't touch you here?" He murmured softly as he pressed harder. Even with the barrier of the cotton panties, she was so sensitive to his touch; he loves that about her.

"N-no. You can't." She choked back a moan as she replied.

God, what if he doesn't care?

What if he'll get mad and force it on her?

She can't imagine the guilt Bucky had to experience if the soldat take her right now. And all because her stupid little brain cannot comprehend a plan to stop him, all because she let the soldat touch her as freely, as willingly.

Salty tears started to blur her vision when she sniffled them back.

Much to his deperateness, the soldat pulled her away and watched as her tears spilled out, "Oh darling, don't cry." He leaned in and kiss the corners of her eyes, murmuring his words of comfort, "I hate to see you cry, мое cолнышко (my sunshine)." His metal hand slithered to her back and his palm stroked her lovingly.

"Okay, okay. I won't touch your sweet princess part, okay?" He patted her pussy one last time before reaching to swipe her tears away. "I promise." He whispered.

As much as he wanted to fuck her stupid, fill her hole full with his load; however the soldat does hold her very dear to his heart and hates to see her sad.

"Just let me hold you close, darling?" He cooed as he kissed the edge of her lips.

Y/N didn't know why but she trusted his words. Maybe it was because he was so gentle with her, that she was tricked into believing him.

She watched the soldat waited patiently for her response and when she nodded softly, he swiftly lifted her in his arms and lay her down on the bed.

He tucked himself in under the sheets with her and naturally rested his face on her chest. His fleshed arms wrapped securely around her waist and his metal one around her thighs, as he pulled her closer; almost suffocating himself in between her warm breasts.

It was like an instinct for Y/N to encircle her arms around his neck while her hands run through the thick of his hair, absentmindedly playing with the softness of it.

She almost giggle when the soldat let out a deep-throated sound of relieved sighs as she continued to massage his scalp.

As the soldat started to sail deeper into dreamland, Y/N thought that maybe this will be the only and the last time she had the chance to hold Bucky like this and she knew it was wrong to feel grateful to the soldat because had done nothing but terrible, despicable things in the past.

But when she thought about it, none of those sins was his choice to make. He was created to kill and nothing else.

But what if he had something to hold on to?

A hope to look forward to?

A person to protect?

Or a home to go back to?

Would he still be the same monster he had been before?

She have not a slightest clue.

But, what she does know that this soldat who's clinging in her arms, deserves something kind.

And she hoped that she managed to give him a sense of peace for once in his life.

Y/N nuzzled to the side of his tired-looking face and placed a sweet kiss on his temple as she whispered ever-so-softly, "Welcome home, soldat."

Part II >>

Read my other works here: Masterlist

A/N: This is possibly part 1? I'm not sure either. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! And reblogs is much appreciated!

#winterarmyyfics #welcome home soldat au #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #winter soldier × reader #winter soldier x you #winter soldier!bucky #bucky fluff

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flwrkisses · 6 months

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for the birthday boy — sim jaeyun.

happy jake day! this might be a little late but hey better belated than nothing at all! hope you guys enjoy :)

genre: fluff, established relationship au.

word count: 1.3k (english)

warning: a teeny bit suggestive.

ever since you and jake had started dating, you always made birthdays a big deal. regardless of the age being turned or who it was, you always emphasized the importance of celebrating birthdays and making sure those close to you got their one day a year to feel special.

jake had gotten used to waiting until midnight for your long and cheesy love filled text wishing him a happy birthday and boasting about how you were the first person to say it to him on the day of his birthday. regardless of the time zone he was in, you somehow always got it right, even if you had to stay up for it. it made him feel special, warm inside knowing how much joy it brought you to do such things. they were so simple and yet it meant the world to him. so when this year came around, 11:59 pm the day before, he was sat in his plane seat finally on his way back home to you, waiting for the text pop up on his screen exactly at 12 am.

however this time, 12:01 passes... then 12:05, and nothing from you. it was strange, you couldn't have forgotten his birthday. jake knew you always marked your calendar with his name surrounded in hearts on the 15th of november. so where was his long heart filled message he always excitedly waited for?

well, on your phone, in your hand.. half written. yes, thats right. for the first time in the 3 years of your relationship, you had fallen asleep mid birthday text. however, jake truly had no way of knowing that.

your sweet birthday boy of a boyfriend panicked, what if there was something wrong? what if you had been kidnapped? what if you didn't love him anymore? of course these were insane exaggerations of the truth but jake was dramatic in situations like these. his plane was going to take off soon and still no birthday text from the one person who means the most to him? he would be anxious all flight.

"ayy, stop freaking out- i'm sure they just forgot." said sunghoon whom had been sitting next to him and watching him freak out in his seat. of course sunghoon didn't see the big deal, he didn't know you like jake did. he didn't know the little texting habits jake had picked up about you. so when he waved it off as forgetfulness jake couldn't take it as a solid answer. it just wasn't like you. "or maybe they fell asleep, either way it'll be okay just relax." his best friend commented once more before laying his head back and getting comfortable in his seat. and with a sigh, jake decided to try and calm down and sleep a little on his flight. even with his mind jumping to the most terrible conclusions he forced himself to think about finally being able to see you after being gone for the past week. it helped... kinda.

...

6 anxious hours later, jake had gotten out of the company car and hurried into your apartment building. the sky was still dark and the street was still for once. checking his phone, his digital clock read 2:47 in the morning. surely at this time you'd be in your apartment tucked away and sleeping. so when jake quietly entered into your shared apartment, he couldn't help but dart directly into your bedroom to see you. however, the bed was empty, perfectly neatly made the way you had always left it in the morning. his heart sank, where the hell could you have gone at this hour? and why hadn't you been in bed? why hadn't you texted him? that was when he turned around and frantically looked for a his phone which he had place on the kitchen counter.

just as he entered the kitchen something told him to look on the sofa, and there you were. curled up on the sofa with your phone in your hand and your mouth hanging open in exhaustion. he felt slightly embarrassed, considering he had walked past the furniture twice without noticing you on it. all he wanted to do was engulf you into his arms and hold you close after such a long flight of wondering if you were okay. he just didn't have the heart to wake you.

looking around, he noticed the birthday decorations hung up throughout the living room. streamers, tinsel, balloons and banners hung up just for him. he couldn't help but smile like a child when he saw all the work you had put in to celebrate his birthday for him. you most definitely did not forget.

jake looked at the time, 3 am. before it had gotten any later he figured moving you over to your bed to be much more comfortable. gently, he pulled you into his arms and walked you into your shared bedroom. just before he placed you down on your side of the plush bed, you mumbled. "happy birthday jake-" your boyfriend couldn't help but smile wide and lay you down, hoping you'd go back to sleep at his lack of response. however when you looked up at him with sleepy eyes, he knew he had awoken you from your slumber. "ah... i didn't want to wake you." he admitted sheepishly, while moving your legs over a little bit so he could sit next to you.

"i wanted to be awake when you came home." you pouted slightly and reached for him. to which he just laughed softly and moved closer. jake grabbed your hand and held it gently as he looked into your sleep ridden eyes. "your sleep is more important than staying up for me." he reassured you with his warm box like smile.

"but it's your birthday and i had things planned! but i got out of work late and i spent hours decorating and when i finally sat down to text you-" the explanation you attempted to give your boyfriend was cut short by his lips meeting yours. he couldn't help but steal a soft, passionate kiss from your lips as you spoke. you looked so genuinely sad, he couldn't hold it in him. "i promise you, we'll do everything you wanted to do in the morning... or when the suns finally out." he chuckled sweetly. using his hand to caress your side lovingly as he spoke. "being with you right now is the best birthday gift i could ask for right now." he admitted.

he didn't just say that to make your heart melt, he truly meant it. he honestly thought his schedules would cause him to once again be apart from you for his birthday. luckily, he was home, with you, in your arms. "fine, but special birthday breakfast was not included in my original plans." you point out making your puppy like boyfriend laugh before gently throwing his body over yours. "i thought you were my special birthday breakfast~" he said in a playfully flirty tone which made you blush as you hit his chest lightly. "jake!" you warned making him laugh between sweet apologies and kisses.

"but what if that's what i want for breakfast?!"

"starve jaeyun!"

"starve?! ... on my birthday?" he responded, enjoying the playful banter you both had going on. his over dramatic nature took over his body as he laid in bed, closing his eyes and sticking his tongue out like a cartoon character that had just been knocked out. "you're such a drama queen." you laugh and shake him slightly. he continued his act until you pulled your shared blanket over your body and turned your back to him to get comfortable. "i'm going back to sleep, the birthday boy should too... yknow... if he wants his super special birthday breakfast." you teased him, feeling his arms wrap around you and his face nuzzle into the crook of your neck.

"ayyye~" he pleated softly, slightly admitting his defeat. "good night baby~" he mumbled as he left soft quick kisses to your neck.

"night birthday boy~"

©flwrkisses ; please do not copy, translate, repost and/or reuse my work without my permission. (2023)

masterlist. — requests are open!

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ask-the-royal-absol · 4 months

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(It has been one year since I joined the pokeask community with my silly absol. One whole year. How did I get here? Like, damn. It’s just been such a lovely community and I’ve met some truly wonderful people.

I’m sorry I couldn’t get more of you on here. I wish I had the time to draw each and every one of you. This is why I needed the head shot so thank you to everyone who sent it over. Thank you to everyone in this community for being my inspirations, my joy and my friends. I cannot thank you enough. If I could make you all something more to say thank you, I would. (Also forgive me if the image quality is garbage. Tumblr does that sometimes. If you click on it, it'll be clearer.)

I suppose I’ll just go on and say I’ve always admired the community from afar. So many stories I was following. So many inspirational people. The events. The characters. They are all so wonderful. And I followed these blogs for years.

Getting hooked into everything about the ask blog community. At first, I was going to making an ask blog about a royal Goodra/Vespiquen fusion who goes to other places to make political connections for their hive. I drew up a couple of concepts but I didn’t go ahead with it.

I kept following the community, constantly being inspired and amazed by everyone inside of it. I’d wanted to join a community for a while. At first, I joined the Pokémon fusion community. It was fun. I met some great people. But, after a few years, it didn’t fill me with joy. I did fusions on multiple platforms, even making some fusions for the infinite fusions game (they’re still in there). I had a go with commissions. It just became a bit of a chore.

I tried making my own region. It only lasted a month. It left a gap which I didn’t know how to fill. I also did dnd with friends which mostly satisfied this but we didn’t do it consistently enough. I definitely miss doing it. I probably did fusions for 6 years. The blogs are still up. There was nothing I wanted to draw consistently.

Near the end of last year, I had a really tough time. My mental health took a really big dip and I was struggling. It was an incredibly dark time. I didn’t have much going on. Maybe we were doing dnd. I don’t remember though. I started drawing Pokémon because I wasn’t in the mood to draw dnd art.

I don’t know why but I started to draw an absol. I think it may have been inspired by my current dnd character. As I was drawing this absol, ideas started to form in my mind about who this absol was and the world they were from. Ideas kept flowing and flowing.

Once the absol was finished, I drew another character, and another and another. And I just kept drawing. Soon, I started drawing maps and a prophecy for this absol and their world. The name Destino came from the word Destiny. It brought me so much joy. I worked on it for a few days and put it to the side.

Then came around the 27th December 2022. I looked back on my planning for this world and thought perhaps I could turn it into an ask blog. At first, I was so nervous. I didn’t want to go through with it. My partner convinced me to make the blog. That’s when I began to draw the first post. And on December 29th 2022, I created the blog and made a reference post for Destino.

Soon, the first post was posted and I got asks. Exciting stuff! And it was so much fun deciding how Destino would respond. More asks kept coming and I eventually started sending asks to others. The most exciting part would have to be seeing people follow me who I was a huge fan of. Gonna be honest, I’m still so incredibly excited when talking to these people and when they like my stuff.

My love for this blog grew and I’ve spent a lot of my time working on it. I have loved each and every moment of it. It was fun having this smug, egotistical absol interacting with many characters who I am a huge fan of and entertaining to see their reactions. Destino was becoming a bit of a thing. Memes were made of Destino. Destino was insulting every legendary they could come across. For me, it was hilarious. And it seemed others were enjoying their antics too.

I am incredibly thankful each day with every interaction, every like, every follow, every reblog, etc. I’ve had. I’m grateful for this entire community. Every one of you has been so friendly and I love talking to you. This community has filled a void which I wasn’t sure would be filled. And I hope I can continue loving being in this community for a while. Destino is going to stick around for a while. I’ve got big plans for them and I hope to enjoy this journey with you all.

Thank you everyone. I hope I can continue to work with you all and have fun! Let’s get ready for another year of Destino.)

#pokemon ask blog #pokemon #pokemon askblog #pokemon oc #ask blog #ask the royal absol #destino the absol #pokeask #ask #askblog community #pokeask community #mod goomy #long post #fanart Friday

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the-bad-batch-baroness · 4 months

Note

Hi ! Congrats on 300 followers !

Can I request :

Crosshair

Romantic

Fem!reader

sfw

300

Prompt #6 : "I'm here. I've got you. You're safe now."

optional : said by reader to Crosshair after he was rescued from Mount Tantiss (maybe after a nightmare)

Thank you so much and congratulations again ! <3 (And you don't have to do it if you don't want to, it's totally fine)

I Won't Leave You

Crosshair x Fem!Reader

Pairing: Crosshair x Fem!Reader

Tags & Warnings: nightmare, angst, hurt/comfort

Word Count: 300

Author's Note: CORA, I AM SO SORRY. I got so carried away trying to complete the bingo fics that I let the last three event requests sit idle in my inbox. However, as promised in my New Years post, I have finally completed it!!! Thank you so much for your patience and putting up with me. I hope you still like it 💚

Crosshair shoots up in his bed, screaming at the top of his lungs as sweat pours down his face. He heaves in his breaths and claws at the duvet to try and find reality, but the images from his nightmare refuse to dissipate from his mind. As he continues to search for safety, he feels a hand grab his arm and he begins to flail wildly, desperately trying to escape his nightmare.

"Easy," you say.

Crosshair tries to remember who the voice belongs to, but the room is dark and his mind is still groggy, so he continues to fight your grip as if you're an attacker.

You turn on the lamp on the bedside table and as his eyes adjust to the brightness, he finally sees who the hand belongs to. It's yours. You're holding his wrist and looking at him with concern in his eyes.

His body trembles as he settles and works to get his breathing under control.

"I'm here," you soothe. "I've got you. You're safe now."

Crosshair swallows hard. "I… I don't know what happened."

"A nightmare?" you ask.

"Yeah," he pants. "A bad one. From my time on Mount Tantiss. They did… things to me."

You suck in a breath. "That place is gone now. They can't hurt you anymore."

"But the memories–"

"Are just memories," you whisper.

"I can't…" he breathes while holding the side of his head. "I can't get rid of them."

"It'll take time," you reassure.

"Time," he says. "The one thing I don't have."

You pull Crosshair into your chest and scoot back against the headboard, wrapping your arms around him.

"You can try to go back to sleep when you're ready," you say. "I won't leave you."

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Thank you."

Event Masterlist

Masterlist

A03

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eugenoid · 6 months

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After some hesitation, I decided to post a piece of a fic draft I've been working on (the very start of it, really). Aziracrow, post season 2, and if I manage to see it to completion, it'll be a hurt/comfort, fix-it fanfic (because of course it is).

People frequenting Whickber Street have noticed a peculiar weather phenomena: for a good couple of weeks now, dark storm clouds wouldn't leave the small area surrounding the "A. Z. Fell & Co" bookshop, and every day a heavy rain would fall, lasting precisely 66 minutes and 6 seconds at a time. What they haven't noticed, however — an amusing coincidence, really — is that it all started on the day the owner of said bookshop disappeared, and would end the day he came back.

"Why are you not inside?"

Crowley's demon heart starts racing from hearing a familiar voice, but he makes an effort to not move an inch from his spot, and not even acknowledge the angel's presence. Crowley is sitting on the cold roof of the bookshop, drenched in water; damp, gross clothes and hair sticking to the skin. He hears a poof and there's a big, blindingly white wing over his head now. He stays silent. Instead of getting an answer, Aziraphale is met with the rain getting worse, almost turning into a hailstorm. It starts hurting his wing, but the angel is determined to stay right where he is until he gets a response.

"Haven't showered in a while. Figured, why not," Crowley finally says flatly after several minutes of silence with a shrug. He refuses to look at Aziraphale, instead observing people rushing down the street.

"You are being silly," Aziraphale responds without fondness.

"Can't you see I'm rain… uh, bathing? Move- move your stupid wing out of the way," Crowley stutters in a rush, feeling nervous all of a sudden. And stupid. And small.

"I am just trying to protect you."

"From my rain," the demon says, getting irritated now.

"No, from everything. Well, including your rain, I suppose.” Aziraphale wishes he was better with words.

Crowley shuts his eyes and squeezes a damp roof tile with the force of a python choking its prey to death. It crumbles into scorching hot, dry dust on some poor bastard's head. The demon still doesn't turn to face Aziraphale.

"You are not protecting me from shit," he hisses through gritted teeth.

"Alright, this is getting ridiculous," Aziraphale sighs and with a wave of hand makes the rain stop. Clouds finally part, sun rays hitting the ground below for the first time in a while. He begins to put his wing away.

Crowley's response is to wildly flail his hands in the air which brings both the clouds and the rain back. Aziraphale groans in annoyance and raises his wing over the demon again.

"This is a bit melodramatic, even for me," the angel says under his breath and waves the rain away, again. Crowley brings it back with a snap of his fingers.

"I can do this all day," Crowley responds without even a smirk Aziraphale would expect from him at a moment like this. Angel realizes he longs to see it again. He wants to say something about it, but decides against it.

"You are attracting quite the crowd," he notices instead.

At this point most of the people on the street pulled out their phones to record the rapidly changing sky. Crowley wiggles his fingers, and suddenly everyone remembers they have urgent business to attend to, leaving no time to be standing outside videotaping the weather or (especially) the two figures on the roof.

"Crowley, please,” Aziraphale says with the hint of desperation in his voice that doesn’t go unnoticed by Crowley. “We need to talk."

Crowley lets his head fall. Puffs his cheeks and lets out a sigh. Taps fingers on his knee. Frowns. Clenches and unclenches his jaw. Frowns again. Finally, he looks at Aziraphale over the shoulder as the sky gradually clears and the last rain drop falls on his face, and begrudgingly manages:

"Fine. Let's talk."

OKAY this was my first attempt at writing in about... 8 years, and my first ever time writing in English, a kind feedback would be appreciated!

#aziracrow #ineffable husbands #ineffable spouses #good omens #good omens fanfiction #aziraphale x crowley #azicrow #fanfic draft #and no they are not going to make up on that same day despite what the first paragraph suggests

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copperbadge · 7 months

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[ID: A photograph taken in the dark of the edge of my bed and nightstand; mostly what is visible is the illumination from my little personal cooler fan, which shows Polk the tabby, in shadow, sitting in front of it at the edge of the bed. ]

I have to say, I bought the little Evapolar Chill unit because I found it on an open-box sale and I was willing to risk $60 to see if it would help me keep my bedroom cool while the AC is out. It's a great little unit -- it takes less than ten watts an hour and runs on a USB, so you can run it from a normal electrical outlet with a USB adaptor, from a laptop, or from a sufficiently powerful backup battery. It's light enough to carry around, and each tank of water gets through roughly 4-10 hours depending on how high you've got the fan going.

It does not cool down the room. I think that's a losing proposition. But it does have four intensity settings and on the highest it'll cool about a ten-foot space very well, and on the lowest setting it's still powerful enough to cool a person lying in front of it (me) on the bed, without feeling like it's blowing air in my face. The cold just kind of trickles out, and you can see even Polkadot was enjoying the cool last night. I am sleeping MUCH better since running it on my bedside table, pointed down the bed. (The blue LED is a nice nightlight but also can be turned off.)

It comes with a biodegradable cartridge that needs replacing every 3-6 months of continuous use to the tune of $30, but feels worth it, especially since once my AC comes back in two weeks I'll probably use it mainly for summer stuff -- it'd be great to have at a beach party or a cookout. Or even just for use to cool down while sleeping if I want to keep the AC bill down occasionally.

Anyway it's a great little tool for what it is so do recommend.

#cooling

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lovinqmils · 1 year

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ꜰᴀʀ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ʜᴏᴍᴇ┊ avatar x human!reader

Warnings: follows avatar twow plot (aka spoils the whole thing) , sfw (don't even try me w anything weird) , some ooc, use of y/n, female reader

can also be found on wattpad: @lovinqmils

THIS IS A STORY (NOT A ONESHOT) SO IT'LL HAVE MULTIPLE PARTS

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍...

you manage to get lost on your way home, you unintentionally get yourself caught in a sketchy science experiment...yikes. you wake up in a foreign land (or shall I say planet) that filled with 8-10ft tall blue...creatures?

read along to find out how this interesting adventure unfolds !

according to google the oldest of the sully kids was 15, so the reader is 14-15yrs. please pretend the reader could get to pandora in a couple months, js for story purposes :))

TW: KIDNAPPING

PART 1: ❝ PANIC ❞ 1.7k words

"this doesn't look familiar..." you muttered, frantically wiping your phone screen dry from the pouring rain, trying to find out where in the world you were. but no matter how hard you swiped and tapped your phone was frozen still , completely ruined from the rain. still in denial , you continued trying to get your phone to cooperate with you , failing to notice the white van pulling up towards you.

after feeling a light splash of the cold rain splash onto your legs, you look up making direct eye contact with a blonde-haired man wearing a white lab coat with the letters 'RDA' sewn onto the left side.

"oh my ! sorry to bother you, but do you know the fastest way to get to xxx station?" you ask, a bit loudly as he still hasn't rolled down the window.

the back door of the van slides open, a fairly muscly man dressed in a black tank top and matching cargo pants steps outside. strolling over towards you, "what'd you need , darling?"

feeling slightly intimidated, you take a step back realising just how dangerous this situation is, "oh, uhm...don't worry about it..thank you for your help though"

"now now, where do you think you're off to?" the muscly man chuckles, roughly grabbing your arm. he leaned in so close you could smell all the smoke and alcohol he consumed.

"let go of me !" you attempt to pull yourself away , but unfortunately his grip only tightened.

panicking, you started to scream and kick anywhere you could , but he managed to wrap one of his arms around you and drag you into the van. you took a last glimpse of the dimly lit street, your phone laying on the wet concrete , broken. the doors to the van slammed shut and sped off to an unknown location. you felt a damp cloth being stuffed into your mouth and in no time everything went black.

༻✧༺ ༻✧༻༻✧༺ ༻✧༻༻✧༻

TW: operation?, syringes

your eyelids still too heavy to open , you felt restraints tied around your hands and legs forcing you to lie as stiff as a pencil. your senses seemed to be dulled but you managed to make out a conversation between 2 people who stood on either side of you

"boss..you got fired from the RDA years ago...do you even think she's gonna make it through the transportation?"

"quiet! just because we don't have all the fancy equipment does not mean this project is impossible! now pass me the scalpel."

'...scalpel? are they operating on me!?'

your body immediately tensed, your tried to force your eyes open but they wouldn't budge. so you resulted to jerking your body in any direction possible.

"SHE'S MOVING! HURRY AND PASS ME THE SYRINGE!"

you felt a tiny prick in your arm and once again, everything faded into complete darkness.

༻✧༺ ༻✧༻༻✧༺ ༻✧༻༻✧༻

your eyes shot open, you sat up looking around you. you were in a forest, filled to the brim with exotic colourful plants. the trees towered over you , the trunk was at least 50ft tall.

"where am i...?" you muttered. as beautiful as this place was it definitely was not home. you brushed your hair out of your face and stood up, you've got to find a way out of here. after some scavenging, you managed to create a makeshift spear, consisting of a sharp stone that was tied to a sturdy stick with a couple of hair ties.

"anyone!? hello..!! can somebody please help me!?" you started to walk mindlessly deeper into the forest shouting for what you hoped, would be help.

"is anyone there!? pleas-" you were cut off by an extremely tall blue creature landing in front of you, aiming a dagger that would definitely do more damage than your spear directly to your throat.

"w-wait..what are you..." you stumbled back unable to finish your sentence gripping onto your spear for dear life.

you heard the blue creature make some sort of screaming sound, alerting 6 other 8ft tall blue creatures to land on all sides of you. you were surrounded.

hyperventilating, you swung your makeshift spear around, trying to create an opening however they only moved closer. a slim blue fist collided with your left cheek, the force throwing you to the ground. the pain you felt was unbearable , and the stinging sensation in your cheek caused tears to roll down your face. you were picked up by the front of your shirt, and one of the creatures held its dagger against your neck. at this point you were frozen still, were you gonna die..?

unexpectedly, you heard a loud whistle which must've startled whoever whatever was holding you as it let go of your shirt, dropping you to the floor.

as soon as you made contact with the floor, you scrambled over to your 'spear' and held it protectively. the 7 blue creatures that had ambushed you earlier stood in a line listening to a taller blue creature. this 'taller one' looked more mature, and was probably the leader of whatever these things were.

when all 8 of the 8ft+ creatures turned in your direction, you started swinging your spear at the air screaming with every movement you made.

"don't! ugh..come! any! closer!!"

as the tallest one started to approach you, the adrenaline vanished along with any other courage you had. so you threw the spear and took off into a sprint.

it certainly wasn't easy running in a forest where you're the size of an ant so you only made it about 15 meters before you tripped.

you looked up to see all 8 of those creatures directly in front of you, the 7 you saw before looking especially angry.

"w-wait! I'm sorry, p-please...don't kill me!" hot, salty tears raced down your face, as you desperately tried to crawl away.

"stop." the tallest one was now crouched in front of you, "what's your name ,and who sent you?" he asked, his amber eyes staring into your soul.

"...you speak english?" you breathed out, feeling relieved that you weren't as alone as you thought

"answer the question" he repeated, the 7 other creatures reaching for their weapons

"okay..okay ! just don't kill me" you took a deep breath,

"m..my name is, y/n l/n and I wasn't sent by anybody...I was ki..kidnapped by some crazy people and ended up here.." you tried your hardest to speak clearly, but you couldn't help but hiccup every now and then.

"do you know where you are?"

"no..I don't even know... what in the world you are..!" your eyes welled up with tears as you finally grasped your reality. you were stranded, in a foreign land, with people who want to kill you.

"get up. if you won't tell me the truth, I'll force it out of you." the leader stood up, pulling your arm to force you onto your feet.

༻✧༺ ༻✧༻༻✧༺ ༻✧༻༻✧༻

awkwardly you sat on a lab table, surrounded by scientists that would not stop taking tests or examining you.

you sighed, "how many times do I have to tell you! my name is y/n l/n, I turn 15 this year and I have NO IDEA how I got here."

"I know this must be stressful, but if you're a human you shouldn't be able to breathe the air here," a female scientist, Florence, explained, rubbing her temples hoping to ease the stress.

you heard a knock at the door, immediately knowing who it was you slipped off the table and hid behind a wall, "DO. NOT. LET. HIM. IN!"

"y/n dear, you cannot keep avoiding Jake, you've been here for a good 3 days now!" Florence groaned, walking over to the door.

"you cannot tell me I'm on PANDORA, the planet that humankind tried to destroy, and expect me not to fear for my life!" you retorted. despite your fear, Florence still unlocked the door and let the visitors inside,

"y/n! come say hi, Jake and his sons have come to check on you!" Florence sweetly called, yet the only thing you heard from the message was that the two people who had previously threatened to kill you, were in the building. Florence chuckled as she heard your footsteps quickly scurry off into your bedroom followed by the loud slam and locking of the door.

"don't mind her, she is still a bit panicky due to the current circumstances." Florence sighed, moving out of the way to let Jake and Neteyam Sully (two familiar faces), followed by Jake's younger son; Lo'ak.

"I understand. have you learned anything about her?..why she's able to breathe without a mask?" Jake asked, putting on a recom breather as he walked further into the lab.

"we managed to get an x-ray of her lungs," Florence said, picking up a remote and turning on a projected image of your lungs. " it looks like a filter of some sort has been placed in the middle of her trachea. as of now we can only guess what it may do , as trying to look at it surgically would put her life in danger."

the room fell into an awkward silence, Florence rested her hand on her chin trying to think of a way to get you to socialise with the Na'vi. "ah!" she exclaimed, "Jake, I don't think we're gonna be getting y/n home any time soon, and your sons are around her age so why don't they teach her the language? it'll help her loosen up around you !"

Jake sighed, "I mean I don't see why not." he turned to his two sons, "I want the two of you here tomorrow 3 hours after dawn. remember to be patient, learning a new language isn't easy"

"yes sir." they both answered, now wishing they never came to the lab in the first place.

"right it's settled! I'll see you two tomorrow!"

* . • ☆ . ° .• °: . *₊ ° . ☆ .* . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆. * . • ₊ °

A/N: thank you so much for reading! please comment and lmk who you want to be the main love interest! (as the reader is a child, the love interest will not be any adults.) <333

#avatar #avatar the way of water #avatar x reader #neteyam #lo'ak #tuk #tsireya #avatar 2 #sully family #avatar x y/n #atwow #x reader #fanfic #lovinqmils #pandora #na'vi #omatikaya #metkayina #human reader

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stellanix · 12 days

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it was unfortunately a nearly-full moon tonight, but it was beautifully clear and i did just get my coma corrector, so i decided to go out and get a picture of M44 (the beehive cluster) :3

unfortunately i found out after processing it that i used the coma corrector wrong (apparently you're supposed to remove the extension tube when using it with a DSLR... whoopsies ^^'). so that's why the star shapes are Like That

this was also the first time i took flats and it definitely makes a difference, the vignetting is greatly reduced (tho still kinda there? i guess it'll take some experimentation to figure out the best process for taking flats + processing)

anyway this night has definitely been a helpful learning experience and oh god i have work at 7:30 am tomorrow and it's almost 1 am why did i do this

taken with an apertura 6 inch F/4 imaging newtonian with a (wrongly used >w<) coma corrector, an HEQ5 mount, and a canon EOS rebel T5

123 x 30 sec lights at ISO 1600 (1 hour 1 minute 30 seconds integration time), 20 dark frames, 50 bias frames, 40 flat frames

#space #astronomy #astrophotography #stars #star cluster

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allieebobo · 1 year

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CT:OS Update #6 is fully available for early-release folks!

Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 of the update (Early Release) are out for ko-fi supporters (link)

Thank you so much for supporting the game and playing :) I am so excited to share this with you guys!

Summary

Pt. 1 (released a week ago)

Attend your first photography club meeting and potentially… have a moment with G in the dark room [smooching may be involved!😘] (achievement up for grabs)

Hang out with D and G at a café, ☕️ and have a run-in with Felix! [it can be as tame as you want, or a little hostile.]

Play an additional (mini) challenge match—against Deepal, Jacks, Max, or Akimi.

Find out if you’re officially in the Top 6 🥇(meaning you’ll play in the singles matches during the season)!

Short Sam POV scene, after they move into college!

Pt. 2 (released 17 Apr 2023)

Chat with Max and Blake about who you want your partner to be.

Play two doubles matches—One with Tobin as your partner, against Rayyan and Jacks [Yes, you can beat Rayyan, at last!] 🎾 and another one with Rayyan as your partner against Tobin and Jacks!

Find out who your doubles partner for the season is! Rayyan, Tobin, and Emerson are all possibilities, and they will all have their cliff-hanger-y reactions to the news. No points for guessing who is… not happy 👀. [This could involve a confrontation with Rayyan, or a quiet walk with Tobin.]

Public release dates (Pt. 1 will be out 22 Apr, and Pt. 2 will be out 29 Apr—to give me some time to edit!)

Extras

Chapter banners are up! (Let me know what you think—whether you love it or hate it, as I'm still toying around with the design!)

In-game cheats have finally been coded (Do let me know if you have trouble with either of these.)

Skip matches (with a password once you’ve played the match once)

Beast mode (where every choice you make will be automatically successful!)

Earlier chapters have also been edited based on beta tester comments, and to streamline the content a little. [E.g. the mini weekend ‘dates’ with Tobin and Rayyan (to the library & on a run) have been shifted—but it’s simply a rearrangement of content so that it works better.]

Future patches

I am still working through beta-tester feedback and other edits, but wanted to get the update out to supporters first, as promised! You will see improvements to the chapter over the next week / two weeks or so.

For e.g., password functionality will be edited such that you can skip matches and pick if you won/lost (rather than have two separate passwords).

As always, feedback, messages, bug catches etc. are greatly greatly appreciated. You can send 'em here, to my Tumblr, or to the COG forum thread :) This chapter (because it's early release) is not yet beta-tested, so I will be going in to edit it further :) It'll only get better!

P.S. So sorry for the delay, I had a last-minute change of heart with some of the final scenes, but I did add some content I hadn't intended to (for this update), so I hope that makes up for it!

Love you guys!! <3

- Allie

#CT:OS #college tennis: origin story #interactive fiction #if #asks #ct:os #early-release #update #update available #announcement

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empressofmankind · 4 months

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BEGGARS SHAN'T BE CHOOSERS - Part I

[Crocodile x F!OC]

SFW

(A/N) Better known as the 'Impel Down' fic, I kept mentioning the past two weeks. This is Part One. Of five? Of ten? I've given up. The total draft was > 12k. So, I split it in 3x 4k. And then, I noticed today the 'first part' had grown to >7k. So, I've split it again. I have a clear end in mind, but how long it'll take me to get there...

Originally, this fic was meant to focus around Buggy, but then a 2.53m unit of absolute bullshit got in the way. Shivs and her world class plans, good gods. Post-Alabaste, the mens are stuck in Impel Down. Shivs is dead set on springing the clown from prison. However, she'll first need to figure out where they're keeping him. On account of his devil fruit powers, she suspects level 6. And she has an excellent alibi to demand visitation to level 6. For once, the legal quagmire of technically still being married to Crocodile is going to work for her. Right? RIGHT??

In this first part, we'll join Shivs and Benji (and Mani!) as they get ready to, and make their way for, Impel Down. That's it, that's all that happens, and it took me near 4k. I am so long-winded. It's a terminal condition, I know.

Tag(s): Considering this is the entré, there isn't actually much to tag for? There's fluff and humour. There's a 10-year-old running around saying the absolute funniest shit as things go straight over her head. We got Mani the scaly golden retriever Bananawani along? Oh, and one (1) good marine.

🐊 🐊 🐊

Beggars Shan't Be Choosers - Part I

“They're stupid clothes,” Benji said, her brow wrinkling with petulant annoyance. She was wearing a crispy white dress shirt, a green-on-ochre striped vest and grey slacks. She'd refused a dress of any sort. Her flame orange hair was neatly brushed and her small face wasn't covered in grease paint for once.

“I think you look handsome,” Shivs said as she pinned her own red hair up with a two-pronged kanzashi fashioned with golden lotuses whose inlaid blue diamonds had not seen the light of day in years.

“I look stupid.”

“Look. I am not comfortable in my clothes either,” Shivs said and indicated the mid-thigh sheath dress of black lace on dark grey broadcloth she wore. She'd decided on sheer stockings to go with it, but no gloves.

“You look pretty in them.”

Shivs turned back to the mirror to finish pinning her hair and adjusting her bangs to fall neatly from under the strings of her eyepatch. “That is the idea, yes.”

Benji put her hands in her pockets, kicking her foot, making squeaky noises against the deck boards. “What am I supposed to look like? I don't want to be pretty.”

“You are supposed to look like the most capable and well-behaved child to ever grace the Blue.” Shivs pinched her cheek, gilt bangles jangling. “And you do when you don't stand with your hands wearing out your pockets like that.”

Benji took her hands out of her pockets. They idled a moment, undecided, but then she clasped them behind her back. “Your neck looks naked.”

Shivs laughed at that because the bateau neckline of the dress could certainly use something. “Yours too.”

She plucked one of Buggy's patterned neck scarves from a drawer and tied it around her daughter's neck, tucking the ends into the vest. “There.”

“You should wear a pretty necklace,” Benji said, though her eyes were on the scarf. She seemed to like that, at least.

Shivs didn't have all that many necklaces conventionally considered ‘nice’. Going through the few she had in her thoughts, she picked up her modest jewellery box. Then paused as her gaze lingered on the bottom drawer of her vanity. Maybe she should… She pulled the drawer open and reached among clothes she rarely wore, patting around until she found the old music box.

Its silver had blackened with age and negligence, but even so, its delicate engravings of waves and tall ships were fine. If she polished it now, the oxidation remaining in the fine creases would help pick out its details better than ever before. She didn’t, of course. And she didn’t open the lid either. She couldn’t remember if it was wound up, and didn’t want to hear its melody if it was.

Instead, she held it with both hands and turned its engraved body as if removing a lid from a jar. With a click, the top section came off. Within the tiny compartment revealed lay a small, gold hoop with a bent hinge. She’d long since let the earlobe puncture it used to occupy close. Taking a thin string from her jewellery box, she suspended it from that instead.

“Like so?” Shivs asked, drawing Benji’s attention as she fastened it around her neck.

“Don’t you have anything sparklier, like your hair thing?”

Shivs brushed the kanzashi. Though the era of having such things aplenty was long behind her, she was loath to detract from the last one that remained to her with lesser gems. Besides, he’d notice.

“Sadly, no.”

“Oh?” Benji gave her the thumbs up. “Gold is pretty too, I guess!”

Part of the reason she’d picked it was that it was 24-carat gold. Just like the kanzashi.

“Can I do your makeup?”

“Only if you do not turn me into a clown,” Shivs said as she sat down at her vanity so the girl could reach her face. Benji grinned and set to work.

When Benji declared she was done, Shivs turned to the mirror and had to admit the little girl was now officially better at this than her. She’d gone for a dark burgundy smokey eye with a flawlessly thin line of gold right at the root of her eyelashes and a touch of white on the waterline. It made the hazel of her good eye pop like nobody’s business. She was pretty sure the dark red lipstick was Buggy’s favourite to use himself.

“I like it,” Shivs said and Benji beamed. “Now, I just need shoes.”

“I'll fetch some!”

Benji was up and running out of the cabin before Shivs could protest. It was only a few minutes before the girl returned, clutching shoes in her arms. And not just any shoes, either. She held up gold-tinted, faux leather gladiator sandals with six-inch stiletto heels that would be a trick and a half to walk on. Where had she even found those?

“These will look awesome with your hair thing and necklace!”

She didn’t disagree as she put them on, but hoped the floors of Impel Down would be neatly packed concrete and nothing else. She hadn’t walked on heels like these in half a decade. Throwing a long bridge coat the rosy beige of dunes about her shoulders, she turned to the floor-length mirror.

Benji looked her up and down with the pinched expression of a critical, pint-sized costume designer grading their latest creation. “You look very pretty.”

Benji wasn’t wrong. She did look nice. Her mood sank, settling like an anchor in the pit of her stomach. She looked like his wife.

“Why is it OK to lie today?”

“It's not a lie.” Shivs shook the morose feeling and picked up her small black bag, its gilded chain rattling as she double checked its content. “More like, hm.”

“Make believe?”

“Yes. Yes, I suppose it is,” Shivs said as she snapped the bag closed and hung it from her shoulder. “It will be easier to convince them to let us visit if we look the way they’d expect.”

“Why would they let us visit uncle Crocodile? Aren’t those visits for, like, if you’re his mom or sister or baby or something?” Benji’s small face was filled with healthy scepticism, hands in her pockets once again. “We should pretend he’s my dad.”

Shivs flinched and struggled to keep her smile from faltering. “Well, only if we have to.”

“They’d have to be pretty bad people to stop a kid from visiting their father.” Benji took her hand. “I hope uncle Crocodile knows where dad is.”

“I am sure he knows.” Shivs gave Benji’s hand a squeeze. She’d no idea how she’d find out where Buggy was if Crocodile didn’t know. She couldn’t exactly demand that information on legal grounds like she had done with him. “Is Mani ready, too?”

“Yes! I scrubbed her squeaky clean and even picked her teeth and scales. She’s eaten and done a big poop.” Shivs tried to let the girl’s bubbly chatter lift her spirits. “I borrowed one of Richie’s sparkly collars and she looks flashy in it!”

“Sparkly? That sounds amazing.”

“It is! She likes sparkly things.”

“Let’s fetch her then and go before we are too late.”

Benji glanced up at her as they left the cabin. “How can we be late for an appointment we didn’t make?”

“We can be late for the only ship going there today.”

🐊 🐊 🐊

Benji had wanted to stand upon the prow as the government ship approached the Gate of Justice out of Enbies Lobby, because the skipper had said the Tarai current that would see them to Impel Down was chock full of sea kings. Shivs sat on a deck chair with a glass of wine, watching the girl run back and forth with binoculars she’d weedled from a matelot. On account of the seastone laminated hull, she doubted they would see any. However, there was no need to dunk on her chipper mood.

They were not the only visitors, more had trickled aboard to form a modest but motley company on the deck. She’d caught snippets of conversations as they walked by: a mother visiting her son; a brother, his sister. And she had a good guess what some of them were whispering about as they stole glances her way. She’d neglected to list any details regarding who they’d be visiting, but, in hindsight, she supposed the pony-sized bananawani lounging beside her gave it away.

She’d tied Mani’s rhinestone-infested lilac leash to her chair leg, to discourage the reptile from wandering or - worse - deciding to take a swim. Not that she had any illusion as to its ability to pull the chair straight from under her if it wanted to go. But Mani was a creature of habit and minimal effort. A minor inconvenience such as this would be enough to keep her snoozing on the deck.

“Spotted any big ones?” Shivs said when Benji came towards her for a sip of lychee ramune.

“Not yet.” Benji plopped down beside Mani, putting her skinny arm around her scaly neck as she slurped lemonade. “Did you know bananawani hunt sea kings?”

“Really?”

Shivs remembered the way the casino halls would darken as they swam by, their shadows passing beyond the glass as they glided towards the feeding platform. The unwitting sea king never stood a chance.

“They are their only known predator and totally hunt them,” Benji babbled happily while enjoying her drink. Mani’s eyes were still closed, but she’d shifted to lean into the little girl’s petting. “Do you think sea king tastes good?”

The water would run red but only for a short while, only until the currents whisked it away. Theoretically, the creature could make it out for the Rainbase oasis connected to the Sandora river.

“I bet Mani would prefer sea king chow,” Shivs said.

“I don't think they sell that at the pet stores.” Benji pouted as she hugged Mani. “She won’t be able to have a sea king snack until she’s big enough to hunt them herself.”

Hopefully, that would take a while yet. Bananawani could grow to colossal sizes, dwarfing mid-class tall ships. Shivs had no idea what they were supposed to do with a fully grown one. Or how to afford feeding the beast if there was no prey for her to hunt on her own. Rain Dinners’ bananawani never hunted alone.

Benji emptied her bottle with a big, noisy slurp, waking Mani. “Maybe we should have brought something?”

“A deck would have been nice,” Shivs said as she watched them. “We could have played slapjack.”

“No, I mean, for uncle Crocodile?”

Shivs flinched.

“You always say that it is nice to bring something when you visit someone. Especially if you want something from them in turn?” Benji scrunched up her face, rubbing Mani’s thick scaly neck. “I have, like, half a bag of marshmallows, but I didn’t think to bring them.”

“I have something for him, don’t worry about it.”

🐊 🐊 🐊

Impel Down was a fortress as ugly as it was unimaginative. It spilled onto the rapidly approaching horizon as a grey stain overtaking the limitless freedom of the open sea. And as they drew near on the Tarai current, its squat towers and crenellated battlements came into ever sharper focus until they dominated their entire surroundings. Curiously, there were no cannon embrasures, machicolations or any such defences one might expect from a proper bastion.

A fleet of warships rested at anchor along the approach to the underwater prison. The modest passenger ship they were on was dwarfed by the marine dreadnoughts they passed as the current pulled them inexorably towards the prison’s colossal gatehouse.

Benji had returned to the prow for the approach, and Shivs joined her there.

“It’s so huge!” Benji stared wide-eyed at the thick walls as they sailed under the barbican and into the secured harbour proper beyond. Mani sat beside her, holding her own leash.

“The vast majority of the complex is actually underwater.” Shivs counted the cannons peeking down at them through the embrasures, out of habit more than anything. She wondered if they had a standing firing crew to man them.

“Are we going underwater?” Benji hopped from one leg unto the other. “The Calm Belts are supposed to be full of Sea Kings! Maybe there will be a window, and I can see one? Maybe there will be wild Bananawani too!”

“It is a prison, so I don’t think there will be windows,” Shivs said in an attempt to calm the girl’s excitement and avoid utter disappointment if that turned out to be true. “It does reach quite a ways below the water surface. A few kilometres, perhaps? Yes, I think so.”

“Wow.” Turning to Mani, Benji added: “Let's find a window, I bet there will be wild Bananawani! You can say ‘hi’!”

Shivs took her by the shoulder when she saw the other visitors disembark. “Come, let’s not be late.”

Benji glanced up at her as they walked to the gangplank. “For the visit we didn-?”

“Don’t say that,” Shivs interrupted her with a quelling look.

“Right.” Benji smiled again and took Mani’s leash. “Come on Mani. Can’t be late!”

They were funnelled through the gatehouse and into a courtyard patrolled by marine sentries. Here, too, cannons peered through embrasures on all sides. Evidently, the prison was more concerned about threats to its security rising from within than without.

“Visitors for level 1 and 2 inmates, that way,” a young marine officer said as he gestured to a colleague. “Level 3 and up, with me.” The few people that joined them as they went to the marine officer gave the juvenile Bananawani plodding beside them a wide breadth.

The officer led them up steps and into an wholly uninviting lobby. With its worn plaster walls and dirty grey linoleum floor it did its very best to make you want to leave as soon as possible. No seats, no plants, no windows, no nothing.

“Registration check.” The marine officer motioned them towards the looming concrete counter on the other side of the unpleasant space. “In an orderly manner, gentlefolk.”

Benji put her arm around Mani, leaning into the large reptile and putting her nose against its scales as she eyed their casually hostile surroundings.

“What’s his name?” The marine officer’s tone was amiable, conversational.

“Hers!” Benji said, holding on tighter to the Bananawani.

He tried to catch her gaze with a smile. “Big girls, both of you.”

“Her name is Mani.”

“Ah, ‘she who averts harm’,” he said, and Shivs appreciated his attempts to make Benji feel comfortable. “A wise choice for such a hardy animal.”

“She’s very sweet and tough,” Benji agreed as she snuggled Mani. “I love her.”

“I am sure she loves you very much too.”

“What is your name?” Benji asked. “Mine is Benji!”

“Nice to meet you, Benji,” the young marine said. “Mine is Toby.”

By then it was their turn, and Shivs approached the desk. It was higher than such things normally were, for she was not a particularly short woman and yet she need not bend down to meet the registrar’s gaze.

“State your name and purpose?” the woman said, hands poised to take down the information.

“Figarland Seonaid. Conjugal visit,” Then added when she saw her transcribe it as ‘Sheona’: “That is without the H, and spelled with N-A-I-D.”

The registrar gave a sign of neither interest nor recognition. “Visiting?”

“Crocodile Niall.”

The woman paused when she heard that name. And Shivs ignored the whispers she could not quite catch from those behind her in line.

“Niall. N-I-A-L-L. Not ‘Nile’.”

The registrar flipped through a thick binder, finger running down a table packed with dense handwriting. “No visitation registered.”

“Preposterous,” Shivs said, overacting an affronted tone. “A signed request for visitation has been approved weeks ago.”

“There is no record of it, ma'am.”

Benji let go of Mani to fling her arms around Shivs’ waist instead, and gave the registrar and marine officer her most watery of wobbly baby looks. “Mommy, I want to see daddy!”

Shivs rubbed her shoulder, giving the registrar the pleading look of parents the world across trying to desperately manage a child on the brink of wailing. Benji's little sob into the fabric of her dress was very convincing. Mani paced around them, uncertain but riled by the sudden change of mood.

“Can't you put in an expedited request?” Shivs suggested, trying her damndest to sound sincere. “She'd been looking forward to it, and we get so few chances.”

“No registration, no visitation,” the woman said as Benji took in a breath to start a wail.

Toby shook his head. “Let me see what I can do,” he said as he produced a small, earpiece Den Den Mushi and put the sea snail against his ear. A few transmissions later, he turned to the registrar and held up his hand. “Two visitor badges, please.”

With due reluctance the registrar handed them over to him and he turned to Benji. “There you go, kiddo,” he said as he gave her one, and then Shivs as well. “Courtesy of the vice-admiral making the curator see reason.”

“You're the best!” Benji beamed. “Look, mom, I am number 17! What is yours?”

Shivs looked at the scuffed 13 on the badge. It reminded her of a poker table she used to deal at, and the memory settled in the pit of her stomach like a fetch of cannon balls. “Not as high as yours, sweetie.”

“Come, I will see you two down to the right level,” Toby said, and led them to the elevator room beyond the lobby. There were four, two on the left and two on the right. He took them to the far right one, the doors opening as they approached.

“Awesome!” Benji said as she rushed inside, Mani hot on her heels. For the elevator was made entirely of armoured glass and provided a grand view of the ocean sprawling all the way across the horizon. The afternoon sun kissed the waves, setting sparkles to the white-capped water. And Shivs felt it beckon in her bones.

Benji gave him a hopeful look. “Are we going underwater?”

“We are,” Toby said as he put a key in the control panel and turned it.

When the doors slid closed, Shivs suppressed the sudden and overwhelming urge to get out, to leave and never look back. To stay at the surface, where they belonged. I have to, she told herself as she clenched her hands into fists around the chain of her handbag. Bugs is down there, and he hates the dark beneath the waves.

The elevator jolted to life and Shivs closed her eyes, ignoring the sound of the lapping waves against the glass as they submerged, focussing on Benji’s excited noises instead. When she opened them again, they were enveloped in blue. Sunlight still penetrated, sending curtains of light through the water. Less so with every foot they descended, as the blue grew deeper, darker.

“A Sea King!” Benji screamed, spooking Mani as she glued herself against the glass. In the far distance, blurred in the shifting hues of the blue, swam a long, serpentine creature, its body undulating as it made its way from somewhere to elsewhere.

“It could be the Prince of the Deep,” Toby said as he came to stand beside her. “It has about the right shape. Colour too, perhaps.”

Benji glanced at him, her eyes large and eager. “Prince?”

“Yes, because he is a prince among his kind. The largest Sea King in this part of the Calm Belt,” Toby said. “Ten times larger than Coral Grove, our largest dreadnought.”

“Wow.” Benji pressed her face against the glass. “Mani could snack on that for years.”

“Wouldn’t it be tough for her to hunt such a large creature?” Toby said, not without humour.

Benji rolled her eyes. “Not right now, she’s a baby. But she’ll be big and strong one day! Bananawani hunt Sea Kings, did you know?” she said and babbled the poor marine’s ears off about the large reptiles for some minutes.

As the armoured glass elevator descended to deeper water, their surroundings became steadily darker. Shivs put her gaze on the glass floor and the pitch black abyss below. It was easier to face the darkness approaching than the light receding, the sparkle of the sun on the water surface dwindling as you sank. The sea has never been friendly to man.

Beside her, Benji had put her arm around Mani as she looked up. No more sea kings down here.

“The 6th level is also called ‘The Basement’,” Toby said, making the girl glance away from the ever more distant sunlight. “Do you know why?”

Ghosts in the attic and monsters in the basement, Shivs thought as she recalled the sailors’ idiom about grief with its haunting memories and stowed feelings.

Benji eyed him, holding on to Mani still. “Because it's dark and far down?”

Because nobody goes there if they can help it. Shivs stared at the watery dark beneath their feet. The sea floor might never come and she'd not be surprised.

“Nope!” Toby said, his smile bright in the dimming light. “Because it is where all the cool people stay.”

Benji’s mood lit up. “My unc- Dad, is super cool! He's actually made out of sand, like, for real.”

“Are you made out of sand?”

Shivs gaze snapped onto him like a hawk. He was looking at Benji, fondness soft on his youthful face. He couldn't be much older than 20 or 22.

“I don't think so?” Benji let go of Mani to brush at her clothes, then glanced at him. “Do you want to pet her?”

Toby smiled. “Absolutely.”

🐊 🐊 🐊

Horny hell seat reservations - @tiredemomama @smut-goblin @ruledbyproblematique @momodwriter @littlemountainwolf @fanaticsnail @feral-artistry - except there's no horny. Croc isn't even in it either. I feel like a cheat.

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niennawept · 24 days

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20 Questions for Writers

I was tagged by @lordoftherazzles and by @thenookienostradamus! Thank you both! These are some cool questions!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Thirteen at the moment (not counting an Adar headcanon collection), but likely to be more soon.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 170,865 (not bad for a year and a quarter)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Tolkien broadly (so far it's been Rings of Power, The Silmarillion, and The Hobbit - no LotR yet, but I do have an idea for one)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Click with caution, all of these but the second one are rated E; apparently, I am mostly known for Adar smut: Scars of Silver and Gold, Because the world is ending, Mistletoe Mischief, Calendar Girl, Until the Stars Burn Out

5. Do you respond to comments? Might take me a bit, but yes, I always do. I figure that someone gave me a little of their time in writing out a comment and I can give them some of mine in return. It's especially fun when people are predicting things; I love hearing what they think will happen.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Mmmm. I think it's probably Scars? Without spoilers, my protagonist lost something very important to her and although there's a lot of good things about that ending - she's still going to have that loss to grieve in the next fic and it'll inform her next arc. I'd say it's still a bittersweet ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I don't really do purely happy endings? I write a lot of hopeful endings, but most of them have some darkness lurking under them. I guess if I have to pick one, it's into the wild because that's technically a fix-it fic with Nienor getting saved by Mablung. Although, I might continue it some day, and it would inevitably get some Nienna-the-Song-is-tinted-with-grief flavoring.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not so far.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Uh, yes. I'm not sure what "what kind" means here? I guess I've written a variety- from kind of dreamlike and romantic to fics featuring BDSM-related kinks.

10. Do you write crossovers? I have never written one. I think that I'd probably never directly write one. But I might do something like shove Elrond into the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for a bisexual awakening set sometime in the Second Age. Not sure if that's a crossover or just a retelling though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes. Into Russian, if I remember correctly. It was a long time ago and I'm not in that fandom anymore.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yeah, I'd say my THAUC piece counts as co-written in the sense that my artist partner and I talked through the main ideas and beats of the story together.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Uhhh for Tolkien, I'm afraid I don't have one (I like a lot of ships, but there's not one all-consuming one). So - I guess I pick Sesshomaru/Kagome from Inuyasha? That's the pairing I read when I don't know what else to read.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I don't start a lot of WIPs. I have a lot more ideas for fics than I have documents or text written, but I do have a Finrod piece that I'm not sure I'll ever finish. I have a lingering idea that might save it, but I think that needs more time in the oven.

16. What are your writing strengths? Mmm - I think worldbuilding, specifically for culture is one of my strengths. I also think that I have a pretty good ability to make OCs that people care about (something that was important with a mostly OC cast).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I struggle with internality a lot. I find thoughts cumbersome to write, because I process most things by talking them out or writing them down. I also think I could tighten up the cast of characters and subplots. It's something I'll definitely be careful with in novels going forward.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? It really depends on the fic. In Tolkien's world, I think so much of culture is tied up in language that it's a little hard not to include some bits and snatches of other languages. It's important to provide translations in text, I think, but otherwise, go for it if it's important to your characters and your plot.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Alas, I don't talk about that fandom anymore. The author turned out to be terrible.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Definitely Scars of Silver and Gold. It's my first completed longfic and I'm very proud of it, honestly. Are there some things I'd do differently? Yes. But I do love it. Honorable mention to peaches we devour, dusty skin and all. The YEARNING.

tagging (no pressure, just love): @runawaymun, @polutrope, @melestasflight, @fishing4stars

#niennaanswers #writing tag game #thank you both so much for tagging me!#this was very fun to do

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necros-writing-stuff · 7 months

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The Horrors of Humanity: Collabo'ween Day 6.

Gn!Journalist!Reader/Darius Radner.

Warnings: Serial Murders; Kidnapping; Obsessive thoughts; Someone gets skinned but it's only mentions of it having happened. That's right, no smut in this one. Just dread. He do be playing mind games.

Word Count: 2366.

Notes: Might continue this later through smaller prompts. It's a good au for Dare.

His closed fist tapped against the cold metal of the table he sat at. His tongue trailed at the back of his teeth as he sucked in his lips and rolled his jaw. People sat around him, laughing or simply taking in their drinks as they watched the crowd float on by the window.

You were late. Meant to be here 10 minutes ago. It's how you always met, grabbing your warm drinks before walking around the local park and discussing the case you were following like a bloodhound.

'I'm starting to feel your absence in my heart when you aren't here,' he wrote in his journal. 'It feels leaden heavy, yet beats quicker than ever from the anxious thought that you'll never come back. How did you worm your way into my heart so fast? Was it because I wasn't looking at you when I should have had my guard up? Was that how you found the missing link in the fence that let you crawl through?'

It was true, he never meant to find your company so magnetic. People weren't his forte; a low social battery and a grumpy disposition can only handle so much before the man had to retreat back to his home to recuperate. Yet, when you left after your evening walks together, he couldn't help but yearn for more. When you were around he found himself smiling, snapping less when bumped into, hell, he even paid for that lady's baby food the other week.

'Your infectious kindness makes me feel like a new man. It was a newness I rejected at first, but I think I might like to try and be good. If it'll make you see me and not your work, I want to be good. But I still find myself playing the devil to keep you in my grasp.'

The Devil always got the contracts signed and the souls as his own in the end, didn't he?

"Hi, Dare!" You plop yourself into the seat across from him, a whoosh of air escaping your lungs as you sank into the frame. "Fucking traffic. Sorry for being so late."

You sip your drink, he closes his journal and hides it away before your instincts kick in and you try to pry it from him. Everything. You had a thirst for knowing everything. And most of the time you found it, but Darius kept you at an arm's length. He had to. To keep you safe.

" 's all good. You look knackered, love."

Dark circles under your eyes crease as you give a half-hearted smile. Your hair looks like you had your hands bothering it all day. "I haven't been sleeping the best - too busy looking over everything."

His eyes roll, already seeing that you're wasting no time on small talk today. You want straight into your little hyperfixation. Something must have really worked you up.

"Come here," you lean forward, chest touching the table top as you whisper. Darius follows with a deep sigh, his eyes shifting around the room and he feels like a toddler playing spies.

"Would be nice for you to ask me how I am, y'know?" It's bad manners for you to forget.

"Right- how are you?" Your eyes are so pretty. Your lips deserve his on them.

"Just fab, not considering skinning my employee for blunting all of my chisels."

Your face falls for a split second. Just a little bit before your eyebrows shoot up and that smile is back. "Funny you should mention skinning - that's what our friend's done."

A one track mind, truly. "Oh? Do tell me more."

It's like pulling the cord on a chainsaw. Four simple words, but he'll hear the buzz of you talking for hours now. He likes hearing you talk. He could sit and listen to you instead of being at home, watching the same old shows as he got drunk enough to pass out. Or out in the woods, in his workshop, listening to birds screech and bucks bugle.

Your excitement should be strange. It should put him off. It never has.

"Well I was talking with that constable again, you know, the tall lady? Yeah, well, there's been another body found. They don't think it's his because it's different from the others, but I know it just has to be."

What a rat. Darius never would have let shit leak like that back when he was on the force. He'd kept a tight grip on his underlings. At least this one leaks things to you; for that he could forgive her.

"How do you know?" Another sip of his coffee as you just keep fiddling with the lid of your drink.

"There's signs that he's been escalating, Dare. More violent and slow as he's killing, but an increased number of deaths. He's getting bored, so he's trying new things to bring back the magic of the first time."

The greying man considers it for a moment, his head tilting. "You should be careful, love. All this attention you give him might have him chasing you. You're well known enough that you'd end up in the news more so than the others - especially with how pretty you are. You know how the media likes a sleeping beauty sob story."

A scoff escapes your lips as you finally have a drink. "He's not dumb enough for that. Look at his targets. They're all people society ignores. He knows shit about how people work, he knows to be careful on who he picks. Since eyes would be on me, he'll stay away."

"Surprised you want him to stay away."

Oh, you don't appreciate that. A pitiful frown peers at him from across the table, your sweet face falling.

"I'm not like that, Dare. I've told you before." It's barely audible. He'd bet that your cheeks are feeling burned right about now.

A crack can be heard as he leans back and stretches his spine, his large hands combing through his hair and getting it out of his face. He's due a haircut.

"I know, love. Just teasing."

You arch a brow at him, a look that says you believe him as far as you could throw his giant frame. "Come on then. Give me your theory, what's he up to."

Ah, yes. The part of these meetings that caused them in the first place. Darius had seen your first article on your news site, your pretty little picture right there on the page. When he'd found you typing your next in this very café, he'd had to give his own two-cents. You'd been astonished and thankful that anyone was ready to hear you out (outside of degenerate threads on the internet full of strange people in love with the killer).

Bless your heart. You'd tried telling the police all of your theories, but they just wouldn't listen. Insisted they had a handle on things.

"He's lonely." A simple conclusion. A truth - not what the killings had started as. But very much what they'd turned into.

You know nothing. You never have. You know far more than anyone else but there's half of the picture you haven't filled in. And couldn't yet. That informant told you scraps of the details, but not everything about the bodies. About the messages left on them.

But you had guessed right on a few other things. Like his age range, his education or professional background - the fact that it was nine bodies so far, not six like the police believed. The fact that he is indeed a he.

"I doubt it. He shows all of the signs of a highly functioning person. He's probably well liked by people around him, probably-"

"But do any of the people around him understand him? Quite common now, no? Mental health pandemic and all that."

Your voice stutters as you find your response. "So he's… killing to feel connections? But he doesn't keep trophies. Not that we know of, anyway."

"Who says it's the victims he's vying for the love of?" Dare tips his nearly empty coffee at you.

Adorable, really. Watching the cogs in your brain turn as you recall everything you know. Watching how your tongue flicks out and wets your lips. You're a smart one. Surely you'll see what he's planting.

"He's killing to get the attention of someone else. They didn't start out like that, though. He's changed."

Darius nods along, proud. "How do you know he's changed?"

"Because of how slow and methodical he's getting. He used to just brutalise his victims, but now he's taking his time. Like he's… crafting messages?"

Bingo. You don't see the messages he makes for you, but you hear about them. And they bring you to him. The only time he gets to see you is right after he kills, when you can't wait to meet up and talk about your latest findings. But you're getting too close there.

"Or you were right the first time and he really is getting bored."

Now you're growling, rubbing your tired eyes. "Yeah… yeah… goddamn it."

Once again, you deflate. It's too easy, playing with your hopes and dreams like this. You want to catch him so bad, to know him inside and out. To know what makes him tick. But so long as you don't know, you'll come back to Dare to bounce your theories around.

Taking a final drink, Darius picks up his coat and heads to the bin to toss away the empty cardboard cup. Time for your evening walk together around the park. The cool air helped you both think.

Following suit, you chug what remains of your beverage while checking your phone. and thank him as he holds the door open even though you're enamoured by whatever is on the screen. You used to pay more attention to Darius himself, but his actions keeping your focus is close enough.

Your hand finds his, tugging him along as you rush to the park. A giddy laugh pulls from your chest. He's never touched you before. He can't think of words to say as he feels your skin against his own.

The first two killings had been out of curiosity. A need to know if they'd alleviate Darius' boredom. To know if it would shock some excitement within him. They hadn't been exciting at all until he'd found your article. You do such strange things to his head, love. All of those extra lives gone just because he needed to see you.

"Our friend managed to get some pictures for me! They're sending it over now, but they're messing around with emails to make sure it can't get back to them."

"Good news, that. You'll have more to think about." Ah. He wasn't exactly expecting this to happen so soon. Your room wasn't fully finished. "Are you sure you want to look, though? It'll be a real body. Not some movie prop. A real, skinned body."

"For better or worse, I'm very desensitised to blood and gore. I'll be fine. Are you sure you aren't the one scared to see it?" Your eyebrows waggle as you release his hand, having made it across the road and in through the gates of the park.

"I've seen this shit before. Ex-homicide department, remember?"

"Mmmm, but that was years ago, and we can go soft in our old age."

If you were anyone else he'd slap you upside your head. Despite himself, Darius laughs. "Not that old, love. I'm still in my prime."

There's a lot of trees in the park. And very little people at this time. He'd always think ahead and parked his car in a lot that just backed off into the foliage, in a blind spot from cameras, just in case. You walked to the café since it wasn't far from the office.

Your phone buzzes, your smile ceasing as you take in a deep breath and look over the photo. Your fingers pinch and you zoom in to examine every detail you can. A paleness crosses your skin.

"Fucking hell…"

Yeah, that's about right. Dare went the extra mile with this one.

"He really did take his time with this. It's. God, its smooth work. He knows how to butcher." The disgust is evident in your tone and the way your lip curls. What did he just tell you? You're biting off more than you can chew.

Darius' fingers snake their way into the deep pockets of his coat. They trace the rope he has hidden away. The capped needle he prepares before every meeting.

"He's-"

The gulp is audible as you scroll to the next photograph. Almost gag like as you zoom in as far as you can - your eyes blowing up as your expression blanks. You found it. His little note. A name, sewn onto the sole of the foot delicately. A nickname you barely tell anyone about because it embarrasses you. But you'd told Dare.

He can't hear anything over the sound of his blood rushing through his veins in his ears. Time seems to slow as your terrified gaze meets his own. The twitch of your muscles comes too late as you realise he's already moving - that he has something in his hand. Your scream dies as a gargle when Darius' free palm meets your throat, squeezing tightly as the needle goes in.

Oh, his poor little investigator. It was time to go home.

To Darius, you weigh little. Trussing you up is simple work, as is getting you in the boot of his car. There's a pillow in there for your head. Memory foam. He'd bring it inside to your new bed along with you, even if the room wasn't quite ready. He could make it work. Keep you bound, chained.

Driving past the café on the way home raises his curiosity. You wouldn't talk to him like you had in there. Not anymore. You'd be scared; feeling confused. Betrayed, maybe. He'd explain it all for you, though. His journal would tell you everything you ever wanted to know. Everything about how you became his muse.

The police wouldn't be hearing from him again. He had what he wanted.

#darius radner #collaboween #necro's fics #gn reader #cw death #cw abduction #cw horror #not dol

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