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Destiny & Deliverance: Chapter 20

Destiny & Deliverance Masterlist ||| Dieter Bravo X OFC Smut & Language- Minors DNI New as of 9/11/2023

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Series Rating: Explicit (18+)

Series Summary: Natalia Cohen is experiencing major life changes, beginning with leaving an emotionally abusive husband. She is learning how to navigate life on her own while dealing with high functioning anxiety, depression, and mild PTSD. Everything is looking up for her. She is a highly respected consultant for a major LA firm, has her best friend, Lauren, by her side, and is on her path to healing. Everything changes when she meets a handsome and broken stranger on a work trip. He turns out to be a well-known actor, with a heart-breaking past. They quickly develop a connection that will forever alter their lives.

Warnings: Themes dealing with mental health, emotional trauma, alcohol use, and discussions about suicide. There will be fluff, tears, spicy language, and smut. This will be a slow burn type of story. Read at your own risk.

Chapter Quote: "I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy."

My entire morning was dragging after finding out about the TMZ article and Instagram post. I could feel the staff's eyes on me and hear the whispers. Everyone knew about it. Once I had a minute to myself, I sent Dieter a text about everything. That was two hours ago, and he still hadn’t answered. I had a feeling he was dealing with a shit storm of epic proportions. The longer I went without hearing from him, the more anxious I felt.

As my final meeting was coming to an end, I saw a notification pop up on my phone. Normally I wouldn’t check my phone during a meeting, but I needed to hear from him.

DIETER: Sorry it took me so long to respond. This morning has been crazy. You want to come over to my house when you leave work? I’m meeting with my manager and publicist.

ME: Yeah, I’ll come straight there.

DIETER: Just a head’s up... TMZ is about to post an update. They have info on you. They are refusing to keep it under wraps. We tried everything. I’m sorry.

I sighed heavily and let out a quiet “fuck” under my breath. Everyone sitting near me looked in my direction. Aubrey had heard it too, but she continued speaking as she gave me a concerned look. I opened the browser on my phone and hit refresh on the article. There were multiple updates posted since earlier this morning. Several ‘sources’ had indicated that Dieter was under the influence of some unknown substance during the confrontation, which they said was related to concerns over his current relationship. They had also added a screen shot of this morning's Instagram post. Another ‘source’ raised concerns about his current mental health status due to his unusual behavior the last few months.

I squeezed the bridge of my nose where a deep throb was forming. This was so ridiculous and blown out of proportion. Who were they even talking with to get this information? I hit refresh again. Sure enough, there was a new update. They had my picture from the company website along with all sorts of details about me, including where I worked. I exhaled slowly as I leaned back in my seat. Aubrey was just wrapping up the meeting. While everyone filed out of the conference room, she and Kerrie walked over noticing that I was upset. When they asked what was going on, I didn’t say anything. I unlocked my phone and handed it to Aubrey.

Aubrey’s eyes grew wide as she handed the phone to Kerrie.

“Wow. That didn’t take long, huh?”

“Where are they getting this information? It’s not even accurate.”

“There is no telling,” Kerrie said as she returned my phone.

“I should probably go before the paparazzi show up here.”

I quickly walked back to my office to gather my things, then headed out the back door toward my car. I noticed there were already a couple of people across the street milling around with cameras. I kept my head down, walking in the opposite direction toward where I parked. I managed to make it out of there without being noticed.

I arrived at Dieter’s a short time later, without incident. When I keyed into the front door, I could hear voices coming from the kitchen. I paused to take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves.

“This is fucking ridiculous. Where are they getting their information? Someone that was there with Anna has to be feeding it to them.”

A woman’s voice spoke up, “D., you were yelling. I’m sure anyone seated around you could have figured out what it was about.”

“Yeah, but what about these sources? It’s all total bullshit. I swear, it sounds like Ann...”

I sat my bags down on the couch before walking into the kitchen as Dieter was speaking. He was leaning against the counter, until he caught sight of me. He stopped mid sentence, walking over to hug me tightly and immediately started apologizing.

“Stop apologizing. It’s fine. I’m ok.”

He pulled away as he moved his hand to cup my face. He gave me a questioning look, trying to decide if I was being honest or not. He seemed satisfied with what he saw before leaning in to give me a quick kiss on the lips. He reached down to grab my hand and led me further into the kitchen to where the man and woman were sitting at the kitchen table. He then introduced me to his publicist, Elaine, and his manager, Ty.

Elaine was probably in her late forties. She had blonde hair swept up into a neat bun. She was dressed business casual, but there was something elegant and genial about her. Ty seemed to be around the same age. He had dark hair with a hipster vibe about him. His face was very smug and judgy. Something about him was already rubbing me the wrong way.

As Dieter introduced us, Elaine gave me a warm smile and shook my hand. Ty on the other hand, looked me up and down before saying, “I would love to say I’ve heard a lot about you, but he has told us absolutely nothing before today.” He followed that statement with a tight smile before turning his gaze to Dieter in an admonishing way.

“That’s not accurate. I told you about her a long time ago. I just didn’t share intimate details because my personal life is my business.”

“Yeah, until it’s not,” Ty shot back at him.

Elaine jumped in, “Ok guys, let’s not argue. Let’s just figure out how we’re going to deal with this, please.”

“D., I’ve got to ask… you swear you're not using again? Be honest. We can’t help if we don’t know.”

Ty glanced over at me as he spoke. Almost like he wanted to see my reaction.

“I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have asked that in front of your lady,” he added.

My eyes were focused on Ty. I could feel the intense look forming on my face. I knitted my brows together and tilted my head slightly as I tried to read his body language. That was exactly his intention. Was he testing us or just trying to be an ass?

“It’s fine, Ty. She already knows everything,” Dieter said as he grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. He could sense that I was on edge with this guy. He gave me a comforting smile before turning back to Ty.

“I can’t believe you’re really asking me that. I’m completely clean. I didn’t even have any alcohol to drink last night. Neither of us did.”

“You’ve been so secretive lately and haven’t really been in touch with us unless you have to be. I’m just making sure. We don’t know what you’ve been up to,” Ty replied.

“I’ve been on a fucking break. Here. Staying out of trouble like you told me to do.”

I was starting to get annoyed with Ty’s line of questioning. He was being very negative. I felt the need to say something.

“For what it’s worth, I can vouch for him. He’s been working really hard at getting his shit together and he’s been doing great. Truly. We’re together the majority of the time, so I would know if he was doing something like that.”

“I’m sorry, what was your name again?” Ty asked. I narrowed my eyes at him in response. He waved his hands and shook his head in a way that said ‘never mind’ before continuing, “Look, I don’t know you. No offense, but for all I know you could be feeding him lines of coke off those pert tits of yours all the while telling us everything is hunky-dory.”

I had to bite my tongue. I nodded my head as I gave him a tight smile and exhaled loudly. Dieter braced for my response, but I didn’t give one. I wasn’t really sure how to handle this situation.

Elaine interjected, “Ok, that’s enough Ty. Stop being a dick.” Ty gave her a sarcastic smile before leaning back into his seat and crossing his arms.

“Look D., I can tell by looking at you that you’re clean. Don’t listen to him,” she added.

I turned to go grab my laptop and phone off of the couch, then walked toward the back door. Dieter gave me a questioning look. I couldn’t stay in here with this guy for another minute.

“I’m gonna go sit out here and work until you're done.”

“You don’t have to do that. You’re in my life now. I don’t mind if you're involved in these discussions.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” I raised my brows at him. He knew what I was saying. I was going to lose it on this guy if I stayed. He gave me a tight nod in understanding.

I exited to the back yard and walked over to sit under the canopy of the rounded daybed to avoid the afternoon sun. I propped myself up on several outdoor pillows and stretched my legs out before getting back to work on my laptop. It was hard to focus given the day’s events. My thoughts were wandering as were my eyes. I couldn’t help glancing toward the glass doors. I could make out Dieter’s dark figure pacing around the kitchen, gesturing with his arms as he talked. Based on his mannerisms, he seemed frustrated. I felt that too.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed before the back door opened. Dieter came out carrying a takeout container and two bottles of water. He sat everything on a nearby table before crawling up the daybed toward my right side. I slid my laptop off to the left, giving him space to hover above the right side of my body as he leaned in for a lingering kiss. He pulled back slightly as his eyes roamed over my face.

“Lunch is here. Gotta make sure you don’t get hangry.” I chuckled.

“Thank you. How is it going in there?” He sighed as he sank down to lay his head on my chest. His right arm reached around and hugged me tightly.

“It’s going. I think we’ve settled on releasing a statement. Elaine is drafting it now. I’m not cool with people thinking I was under the influence. That’s the part that bothers me the most, aside from them posting all the details about you, obviously.”

“Can I ask you about that Instagram post?” He groaned.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve talked to you before I did that. I was hell-bent on making a point.”

He raised his head to look at me. He had a fierce look in his eyes, “I meant it though. I don’t need anyone but you. You’re kinda it for me and I don’t care who knows. They can all fuck off if they have a problem with it. I hope you’re not mad about it.”

“I’m not mad, but a heads up would’ve been helpful. I had to find all this stuff out from my assistant and boss as soon as I walked into the office this morning. Under normal circumstances, I probably would’ve found it to be a turn on, actually. But, the whole public side of everything just adds a weird layer to it, you know what I mean?”

“Shit, mi vida, I’m sorry. I really didn’t think that through. It was impulsive. I shouldn’t have done it.”

He scooted to sit upright, then pulled me into a hug. I nuzzled into the crook of his neck while he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. He began to run his fingers through the back of my hair.

“I’ve never been in an actual relationship, so I’m probably gonna fuck up… a lot. I’m asking for a little grace in advance because I’m not really sure how to navigate all this. But... I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

I pulled away, reaching to cup his cheek as our eyes met.

“We’ll figure it out together. You just need to make sure you’re communicating your thoughts and feelings with me, ok?”

He shook his head in agreement before reaching to grab my hand that was resting on his cheek. He held it as he turned to kiss the palm. Then he leaned forward to kiss me on the lips. His tongue quickly found its way into my mouth for a moment. He pulled away, giving me a deep gaze. His eyes were now hooded with desire.

“I better get back in here before Ty comes looking for me.”

“I don’t think Ty is a fan of me.”

“Ty is a dick. He’s also friends with Anna, so there’s no telling what’s going on in his head.”

“Oh, is that gonna be a problem?”

“Possibly. We’ll see.”

I gave him a concerned look. He responded with a tight small and raised eyebrows before moving to get up and walk back toward the house. As I watched him, my eyes were drawn to the two silhouettes in the kitchen window. Elaine and Ty had been watching us.

I suddenly felt like our private moment had been violated. Then again, I should probably get used to that. The quiet world we had been living in was quickly crumbling around us. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that we were about to be tested. My only hope was that we could handle it.

I moved over to the table with my laptop so that I could eat as I continued to work. However, that was soon interrupted by my cell phone ringing. It was Lauren calling. She must have finally gotten wind of what was going on. As soon as I answered, she was in full interrogation mode.

“What the actual fuck is going on? What is all this stuff on TMZ? And that Instagram post? What the hell happened in Sonoma?”

I quickly filled her in on all the details as I nibbled at my lunch. I could feel my chest tightening as I relayed the events from the previous night.

“Well, I’m happy you both finally stood up to Anna. She is such a bitch. I can’t believe she said that shit. It’s so fucked up. It’s almost like she was trying to get that kind of reaction out of him.”

“Oh, I’m fairly certain that was the exact reaction she was shooting for. She knows how to push his buttons, unfortunately.”

“Should we be concerned about his reaction? He’s never been like that before, right?”

“Not that I’ve seen. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t concern me a little. He wasn’t responding to me initially, but I think he was just trying to focus on staying calm.”

“Yeah, hopefully that’s all it was.”

Lauren and I ended our conversation after that with promises for the two of us to get together soon. It felt like we hadn’t spent any quality friend time together in ages, and I hated that. She had seemed less engaged lately, blaming it on being short staffed at the shop. I briefly found myself wondering if she had something going on that she wasn’t sharing. It would be unusual for her to keep something from me though. I wasn’t sure if I had the mental capacity to think about that too much at the moment, so I dismissed the thought.

Soon after hanging up with Lauren, Aubrey called to check in and see how I was doing. She told me to take the following day off to try and relax after the madness of today. She also told me to work from home for the next little bit until things calmed down, noting that guys with cameras were hanging around the building. All I could do was apologize. I felt awful that my place of employment was having to deal with this mess too, but she was having none of it.

“Talia, after what I saw in here with you two yesterday, I can’t bring myself to care. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that happy or content. It is what it is. We’ll handle it.”

I could feel myself getting a little emotional. Tears started to form in the corners of my eyes. She was always more supportive of me than she needed to be. I had to take a moment to steady my voice before responding.

“Thank you. I appreciate it. Hopefully it will blow over quickly.”

After hanging up with Aubrey, I sat staring at my laptop, completely disassociating for a time, feeling like my mind needed a break. I was soon brought back to reality by the sound of footsteps. When I glanced up, I was greeted by Elaine’s approaching smile.

“Do you mind if I join you for a few minutes? Dieter and Ty are on a conference call with the studio. I don’t want to be in on that one if I can help it.”

“Uhh, yeah, sure. Have a seat,” I motioned to the seat next to me as I moved the empty food container out of the way.

She sat down beside me, still smiling before she continued, “You work for Aubrey, right?”

My head snapped back toward her, eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah…how did you…”

“We have friends in common, so we’ve spent a lot of time together. I didn’t realize who you were until I read that article. I’ve heard her say a lot of really good things about you.”

“Oh well, small world.” I gave a timid laugh. I wasn’t sure where this was going.

“You know, I was with Dieter during a few meetings in New York. He seemed different, even then. I’m pretty sure he was enamored with you the moment you met.”

I couldn’t help the look of disbelief that came across my face, “I doubt that.”

“I’m serious. I mean, he’d been trying to straighten his life out for some time, but something changed after that trip. He seemed a lot more focused and determined. I think that had a lot to do with you.”

I couldn’t help the half smile that crept across my face. If I was honest, I think I was probably enamored with him before we even said a word to each other that first night at the bar.

“I’ve been working with Dieter since the beginning, and I’ve never seen him like this with anyone. I can see that he’s in love with you. I think you’re good for him. So, ignore anything Ty says. He’s blind and also a dick. If you need to throw some of that sass at him that I’ve heard so much about, do it. He needs to be put in his place every once in a while.”

I chuckled. Of course, Aubrey had mentioned that. It was the thing she loved most about me. I could always say what she couldn’t. As far as Elaine was concerned, she was definitely earning some points in my book. I felt like she was being sincere and meant what she was saying. I was happy to find that Dieter had at least one decent person on his side.

“Thank you. I probably needed to hear that. I’m happy he has you. Everyone else I’ve met so far, aside from his family… I’ve just not been impressed. I can understand why he feels like he doesn't have enough support.”

“It’s not the easiest industry to work in. Especially when you have things going on like he does. I’m happy he found someone from the outside that he can trust.”

We were interrupted by Dieter sticking his head out the back door to announce they were off the call. I decided to give up on work for the day since I couldn’t concentrate and had made zero progress. I gathered up all of my things and followed Elaine inside. Elaine and Ty didn’t stay much longer after that, thankfully.

Dieter made a point to set his phone to ‘do not disturb’ after they left. He was over it all and looked exhausted. He flopped down on the couch. I followed, squeezing in between him and the back of it, cuddling into his side. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my head. Both of us sat in silence for some time before he spoke up.

“I’ve been asked to go see my therapist tomorrow. I’m a little pissed that Ty has no confidence in me.”

“How involved is he with that stuff?”

“Not really that involved. He just likes to make sure I’m going regularly. He doesn’t know the details of anything.”

“Well, maybe it's not a bad idea. This week has been a lot for you. It couldn’t hurt. I can take you if you want. Aubrey told me to take tomorrow off. I can pop in to visit Lauren at the shop while you’re there.”

“Yeah, sure. I think I’d like that.”

We spent the rest of the evening on the couch together catching up on some of our shows and enjoying each other’s company. It was a nice end to the day given how it had started. It was exactly what we needed to recover from the drama.

When the alarm went off at 7AM the next morning, Dieter was not there. I sighed when my fingers met with the cold sheets on his side of the bed. As I lay wondering how long he had been awake, he came walking into the room wearing nothing but gym shorts and carrying a cup of coffee. He handed it over to me as I sat up.

“Despierta, bella durmiente.”

I squinted at him in confusion, “What?”

“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” he repeated in English with a smirk.

“I don’t know about beauty. I’m pretty sure I look like a hot mess.”

I could tell my hair was sticking up in every direction after having Dieter’s hands tangled in it for an extended time the previous night. Even though we were both worn out, we still had the need to partake in some stress relieving activities before sleep took us. It was becoming part of our nightly routine at this point.

He rolled his eyes at me, “Whatever you say, mi amor.”

I smiled at his response. I understood that pet name.

“I happen to like the wild sex hair look, it’s a good reminder of our late night activities,” he added with a playful smile and a wink before walking into his closet.

“I probably need to run to my house to grab some clothes.”

“I should just give you space in my closet so you have some things here for days like this.”

He walked out and threw one of his band t-shirts at me to wear. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Is that right? Are we those people now?” I huffed out a laugh.

“Just trying to make your life a little easier babe,” he replied with a flirty grin.

“I guess this means I shouldn’t make you live out of a gym bag at my place anymore then.”

I gave him a teasing look as I took another sip of my coffee.

“I mean, it would save me from all the wrinkles and it’s the polite thing to do.”

He shrugged as he sat down on the bed beside me with a toothy smile on his face. I reached up to slide my hand around to the back of his neck, pulling him in for a deep kiss. He briefly paused to take the coffee mug out of my other hand and sat it on the nightstand. Then, he lifted the comforter and crawled underneath it, hovering above my naked body to settle in between my thighs.

As he kissed down the crook of my neck, he reached down to my folds, rubbing gently. He groaned when he felt how wet I already was for him. He inserted two fingers painfully slow as his thumb found the bundle of nerves at my center. His touch caused a sudden jolt of heat to radiate through me. I arched up toward his mouth, which had found its way to my breast. My hands twisted in his curls as he kissed and sucked every inch of me that he had access to, causing me to climax quickly. It was amazing how well he could work my body into a frenzy. I didn’t understand it, but I welcomed it without hesitation every time.

He continued to shower me with soft caresses and kisses until I came down from my high. My immediate response was to reach for his shorts and shove them down his hips far enough to release the hardness I could feel pressing against me. As soon as he was free, I lined him up with my entrance. He responded by slowly sinking into me for the first few thrusts. He abruptly switched to hard thrusts in, all the way to the hilt, but pulled out ever so slowly. With each thrust in, I could feel my muscles quiver slightly. Ready to be taken over the edge again. A small whimper escaped my mouth every time he slammed into me. This pace was maddening, and he knew it.

“Fuck, I’m so close. Stop teasing me. Please,” I managed to cry out between moans.

“What do you need, mi amor. Tell me.”

I could feel his warm breath against my ear as he spoke in a low, sensual tone.

“Faster… please.”

He acquiesced by gradually increasing speed, but still thrusting just as hard. It didn’t take long after that. I quickly came undone around him. He followed soon after, burying his face into my neck. Muffling the low grunts that were escaping his lips.

He hovered above me with his head leaning down toward my chest for several minutes, trying to catch his breath. When he raised it to look at me, I reached for his face and ran my thumb down his plump bottom lip as we looked into each other's eyes. Taking in the shared emotions of the moment. Our time together only seemed to be getting more passionate. It was a miracle to me that we could handle it. I took that as a testament to how much we had both evolved emotionally.

“We really should get in the shower, or else I’m gonna be late.”

I nodded in agreement before giving him one last kiss. He pulled himself out of me with a small grunt, moving to get up. He discarded his shorts on the floor before he walked toward the bathroom. I followed behind to join him. Showering together was becoming pretty routine at this point too. Any chance we got for bonding time, we took full advantage of.

We both had to rush to get ready so that he wasn’t late for his appointment. I didn’t have time to stop and get fresh clothes, so I ended up wearing my skinny jeans from the day before with his t-shirt. Luckily, I had a spare pair of comfy sneakers stowed away in my car.

He was quiet on the way to his appointment, seeming somewhat anxious. He had his right arm propped on the passenger side door with his hand fisted under his chin as he looked out the window. His left hand sat on his thigh while his thumb rubbed back and forth against the other four digits non-stop. I reached over to grab his left hand, entwining our fingers together, hoping it would help calm him. I wasn’t sure that it did.

I pulled up to the front door of his therapist office to drop him off. He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss before exiting the vehicle. I really hoped his session went ok. I wasn’t sure how much more he could handle this week.

After dropping him off, I made my way over to Lauren’s shop. I needed to pick up some supplies, but also wanted to visit with her if she wasn’t too busy. However, when I got there, I was informed that she was taking the day off because she wasn’t feeling well. I found that to be odd. I tried calling her as I wandered down the painting supply aisles. She didn’t answer. I sent her a quick text.

ME: Hey, stopped by to see you and they said you’re out sick. You ok? Need anything?

I didn’t get an immediate response back. Maybe she was asleep? Weird.

I continued browsing for another twenty minutes or so. Finally, my phone pinged.

LAUREN: No, I’m good. Just sleeping it off.

That’s it. Nothing else. Typically, she tended to overshare the gory details. Something had to be going on with her. I felt like I needed to talk to her about it.

I gathered up the remaining items that I needed, then headed toward the checkout counter. I still had some time to kill before going to pick Dieter up, so I decided to run by his favorite smoothie place to pick something up for us. When I got there, it was fairly empty. However, I could feel eyes on me as I stood in line. I glanced around and noticed a couple of girls sitting in a booth looking my way like they recognized me. Geez. I felt like I needed to resort to wearing a hat and sunglasses like Dieter often did. I made a point to turn away from them so they couldn’t see my face. Luckily, I got our order fairly quickly after that and hightailed it back to my car.

I made my way back toward Dieter’s therapist office. I managed to find a parking spot nearby to wait. He still had about ten minutes left. To kill some time, I pulled out my phone to scroll through social media. As soon as I opened the app, I checked the one message alert that popped up. It was from Kerrie. She shared a picture of me at the smoothie shop that had just been posted by a fan account. There was a second picture of Dieter wearing the same t-shirt at some point in time. So they take inventory of his clothing too? And I had literally just left the place.

“Fucking hell. This is so ridiculous.”

I shook my head, closing the app without reading any of the comments. I didn’t want to know what they had to say. Just as I threw my phone down on the middle console, I saw Dieter walking out of the building, briefly stopping to pull out his phone. I assumed to check in on where I was. I quickly pulled out of the parking spot to meet him.

He had an irritated scowl on his face as he got into the car and shut the door a little harder than necessary. I stuck his smoothie in front of his face, and he softened some as he took it from me. He turned, giving me a small smile before sticking the straw in his mouth. I took a minute to pull out onto the main road before I spoke, “I’m almost afraid to ask, but did everything go ok?”

He was quiet for a time as he continued to work on his smoothie. I could tell he was thinking about how to respond.

“He wants to make some adjustments to my medication. The med provider agreed, so I’ve gotta go pick up some prescriptions.”

“Why does he want to do that?”

“Because I’m still having trouble sleeping and the anxiety is getting worse. They’re trying a different sleeping pill and different dosage amounts on the other stuff. I know it’s just because I’m leaving to film soon. It’s got me a little amped up. I really don’t wanna be dealing with medication changes on top of that. It tends to mess with me until I adjust.”

I didn’t really know what to say. I reached over to grab his hand in comfort. He spoke up again, directing me to one of the local pharmacies so he could pick up his prescriptions. I parked and started to grab my purse, but he told me I could wait in the car. Before he got out, he grabbed his hat, sunglasses, and earbuds. His ultimate “don’t talk to me” look. He reached in for his drink before shutting the door. I watched him walk toward the main entrance with his head down. He looked defeated and I hated it for him. He still had a long road ahead of him.

It took a while before his prescription was ready since they had just called it in. He finally came shuffling out the doors forty-five minutes after he went in. He was immediately approached by someone shoving a camera in his face. I could tell he was annoyed, but still smiled and chatted with the guy as he walked. I assumed it was paparazzi since they were clearly recording the entire interaction. When Dieter got to the car and opened the door, I could hear the guy yelling my name and asking how I was today. I mustered a small smile and wave as Dieter shut the door.

“I guess our quiet little bubble has burst, huh?”

“Yep. Welcome to my world.”

He gave me an annoyed look as he put his seatbelt on. I backed out as the guy continued to film. We were both beyond ready to go home.

During our remaining two weeks together, we spent as much time at home as we could. Dieter enlisted his assistant, Rylee, to pick things up for us as needed. She was a sweet girl and seemed like a genuinely good person, which I was thankful for. She had a lot of spunk and a fun personality, with brightly colored hair to match. He was going to need that while he was away. He was going to need all the help and positivity he could get.

As his departure date neared, he was clearly getting more anxious. He tried to keep himself busy preparing for the role during the hours that I worked. Our free time was spent wrapped up with each other, locking the rest of the world out. It was the only time he seemed to relax in the slightest.

Since his change in medication, there were some days he felt terrible. He started having intense headaches and nausea almost immediately. The doctor insisted that was normal the first few weeks, which was frustrating for him. He was worried it wouldn’t stop before filming began, adding an extra layer to his anxiety. It did seem to be happening less as the days went on, but that did little to ease his fears. It also didn’t seem to be doing much to remedy the issues for which he was taking them, further frustrating him.

In an effort to keep his spirits up, we started planning our trips to see each other. The first trip would be three weeks after filming started. I would be spending a week with him while he worked. He had a scheduled three-day break four weeks after that. Which meant he would fly back home during that time. By then they would be getting into filming out in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to play it by ear at that point because of my work schedule. I had hoped that having those planned visits would give him something to look forward to. A positive distraction to focus on rather than the negative thoughts he said often plagued him.

The morning that he was set to leave, he was a scattered mess. His thoughts were all over the place. He was jumping from one topic to another as he rushed around to make sure he had everything he needed. I felt like he was doing everything he could to not focus on the fact that he was leaving, which was probably a good thing. Both of us seemed to be avoiding that topic directly.

Rylee was traveling with Dieter, so she showed up around an hour before their car arrived to take them to the airport. They went through several checklists to make sure he was all set. I was thankful for that because I had no idea what all he needed. It also helped to keep him distracted.

Before we knew it, their car was out front waiting as they hauled their luggage out. We kept our goodbye brief with a tight embrace and passionate kiss, all while avoiding direct eye contact and not saying a word. We both knew if we lingered too long, one of us would break down. I didn’t want to stress him further, so I knew we needed to avoid that at all costs.

As soon as his car was out of sight, I lost all composure. I couldn’t help it. I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and it was making me nauseous. I was worried about how he was going to handle this. As I sat on the couch trying to pull myself together, my phone pinged.

DIETER: Love you, mi estrella. I miss you already.

ME: Love you too. I’ll be with you again soon enough. Call me if you need me, please.

DIETER: I promise I will. I’ll text you when we land.

After I calmed down, I turned off everything and locked his house up. I decided to go back to my place for now. I needed to distract myself. When I got home, I went straight to my craft room and started a new project, a painting for Dieter. He had mentioned multiple times that he wanted me to paint one for his house. I felt like this would be the perfect distraction.

I had an image in my mind that I wanted to recreate for him. A reminder of our most intimate experience, but also a reminder of a happier time from his past. I started by covering the canvas with the brilliant colors of the rising sun, before moving on to the more symbolic images that would serve as the focal point of the piece. The images were slowly beginning to take shape as I blended the dark wood colors with gold, green, and white. I got lost in the project, my emotions finally going numb and thoughts going blank as I had intended.

A/N: Hopefully this chapter wasn’t too much of a mess. My concentration has been all over the place this week for whatever reason and it was a struggle.

Anyway, so there we have it. The fallout from the very public argument with Anna. How we feeling about that? Do you think it will create any problems for our lovely couple? Did your feelings change about the Instagram post after their talk? What are your thoughts on the new characters? Do we think something is going on with Lauren, or is Talia overthinking it?

Dieter has officially left to film, which is what everyone has been dreading. How do we think everything that he is currently dealing with is going to affect him? Any predictions on how this is about to go?

What about Talia’s painting? Any predictions on what it might be?

So many things to ponder in this chapter!

I am issuing a warning now. Things are going to start getting a lot rougher going forward. There is going to be some extreme drama and angst building until it finally hits a breaking point due to a major event that’s going to be pretty heart wrenching for everyone. So, be prepared for the crazy journey ahead.

Mood board for this chapter is included below in case you missed the teaser. 😉

Next Chapter

Tag List: @rhoorl @bitchwitch1981 @readingiskeepingmegoing @runningmom94 @for-a-longlongtime @hisandsnakes @chaoticfestninja @survivingandenduring @partyofone3413 @cakipy-blog @pedrostories @titlee78 @poodlebae @guelyury

Let me know in the comments below if you would like to be added to the tag list.

#dieter bravo #pedro pascal #dieter x ofc #dieter bravo fic #Destiny & Deliverance Series #pedro pascal characters #dieter bravo x ofc #pedro pascal character fanfic #pedro pascal fanfiction #Pedro Pascal Fanfic #dieter bravo x oc #dieter bravo fluff #dieter bravo fanfiction #pedro pascal smut #the bubble #pedrostories

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shakemyassfortomriddle · 3 years

Text

spotify masterlist!!!

requests

UPDATED 11/28 here’s all my spotify playlists that apply to super specific scenarios, organized by folders with basic descriptions:

1. what it feels like to date:

john mulaney: what i think it would be like to be in a somewhat healthy relationship with him while he battles sobriety; soft, chill songs with some angst

bill hader: what i think it would be like to be dating him with a frowned-upon age gap; angsty, yet bad-bitch inducing songs

pete davidson: what i think it would be like to be in a toxic relationship with the king of staten island; angst, angst, and more angst

draco malfoy: what i think it would be like to be in a toxic relationship with our slytherin king; angst, angst, and more angst

andy samberg: what i think it would be like to date nice guy/soft boy samberg; super soft lovey songs mixed with the lonely island ofc

any man over 40: what i think it would be like to date one of the many members of the hot men over 40 club in general; little bit angsty but in a good way

steve harrington: stranger things vibes, pov you’re nancy wheeler

IN PROGRESS edward cullen: what i think it would be like to date a vampire bad boy that hates everyone except you

2. movies/shows:

the perks of being a wallflower plot in songs: if perks had a soundtrack it’d be this; suggestion: listen to this playlist NOT on shuffle

charlie’s mixtape: the mixtape he makes for his friends straight from the book

that 70′s show: POV you’re in the front seat of the vista cruiser (just about all the songs featured in that 70′s show handpicked by yours truly)

IN PROGRESS kinda 10 things I hate about you: kat stratford’s morning commute

IN PROGRESS the good place: what i think eleanor shellstrop was listening to in the series finale of the good place

3. mild angst:

laying in a lawn chair on the moon: songs i listen to when i miss the person i used to be

POV you’re the angsty main character: picture the soundtrack playing on a loop in rue’s head from euphoria

spiraling while driving: songs I blast in my car at 12 am with the windows down when I have a perfect view of the NYC skyline while spiraling

living in a dark academia novel: POV you’re running through a castle at dusk in a dress while searching for your lover

4. very specific hyperfixations

freaking out: based around freaks by surf curse. all have similar guitar/rock-ish vibes

TPWK: based around harry styles songs and the feeling i got when listening to golden for the first time. good enough lyrics to jam to and good enough music to have as background songs :)

5. don’t think

sing me to sleep: idk how to explain this one but i feel like it’s what’s playing on a loop in charlie’s head from perks

walking on mars: variation of my chill playlist featuring bob dylan, arctic monkeys, etc

march 21st: songs that remind me of the first day of spring

stuck in the elevator for an hour: songs you don’t have to pay attention to to know they’re good

the music in the background feels like winning the lottery: songs i listen to with my eyes closed

5. chill:

3am in an empty airport: listening to your airpods as you’re walking through an empty airport late at night thinking everyone you make eye contact with is in love with you

chaotic neutral: similar to laying in a lawn chair on the moon except now you’re on earth

chill: very basic chill songs

6. misc:

dancing in the kitchen: throwbacks, musicals and jams for dancing in the kitchen in an oversized T-shirt with a mug of wine

driving around in a very specific order: you literally need a map to navigate this. mellow indie - punk pop - 5sos/1d - pitbull - 2000s r&b - throwbacks - disney - musicals - queen - corpse - bo burnham - arctic monkeys - harry styles - doja cat - euphoria soundtrack - zayn - taylor swift

songs my air band would play: dare i say pretty self explanatory

IN PROGRESS grab me a beer from the garage: songs on a dads playlist

throwback

kid cudi to one direction pipeline: no matter what i WILL turn everything back to one direction

no THIS is the wallow: better than spotify themselves baby

👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻👴🏻

-follow my spotify for more

-drop your Spotify users if you want to be mutuals!

-let me know if y’all have any requests I’m always down to make some more playlists

P.S. if you think the playlists aren’t long it’s just because i was trying to get a lot out, i will be adding to them semi-consistently

tagging people without their consent based on their response to my last post ;) @levenin-dupapillon @xoxogxmbino @epicemneat @fangirling-throughlife @imcryingbuckets @tiredlegoispansexual (did andy samberg just 4 u) @nesthadevils @hermosawellbeokay @tickety-boo-houseplant @ultimateswag4ever @awkwardprotagonist

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toutallyahoe · 4 years

Text

Green-Eyed Monster ~ Semi Eita (Haikyuu!!)

Requested By: --

A/N: me: *wails about why Aone Takanobu is not getting love*

also me: *proceeds to write for Semi Eita*

anyways-- i decided to check out haikyuu!! and whoops! into this new hellhole i go! asgsjdjsjdnsjdnjsdb was honestly trying to write the third chapter of FLIRT but like, a certain bean wrote a thing for Koganegawa Kanji (here it is, please check it out) and i got inspired to write for haikyuu!!

i want to write for Aone and his thicc thighs but like, apparently the gremlins in my mind is still crying over having my internet stopped while i was about to watch the last episode of Shiratorizawa vs Karasuno match avshjdjsjdnsjdndnndbf

so yea, here's a pretty setter though because agshjsjdnsbfnsbfjsjdbdjbfb

─────────────────

Eita narrowed his eyes as the usual scowl on his face seemed to deepen. The ash blond male with dark tips gritted his teeth in seething anger as he watched Kenjirō casually talked to [Name]. Granted, the [Hair color] haired male was the team's manager with past experience of playing volleyball back in his middle school, and that Kenjirō definitely has the right to talk to him, but Eita just didn't like it. He didn't liked it one bit.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Eita tried not to look at the two males who were chatting on the edge of the court and tried his best to nail another serve. Just because he wasn't the setter now doesn't mean he can slack off with his sets and serves. But as Eita practices, he would occasionally spare glances at the two males who seemed to be lost in their own little world and it brought a surge of bright seething anger into Eita's veins.

The ash blond didn't know why but it honestly pisses him off to see Kenjirō can just casually talk to the [Hair color] haired third year with blatant disrespect. [Name] didn't seemed to mind Kenjirō's actions though. But Eita? No, no he can not. The ash blond already harbors a very strong dislike at the second year setter for taking his place as the setter of Shiratorizawa's official line up. And now this copper haired second year is taking their manager's valuable time on assisting the other players to himself?

"Shit!" Eita angrily cursed as he has hit a serve to powerful that it went out of bounds from the sideline of the court. Clicking his tongue in annoyance again, Eita grabbed another ball from the ball casket and immediately went back to serving. The memory of [Name]'s smiling at Kenjirō who shrugged and seemed to snarkily reply at whatever the [Hair color] haired male was saying seemed to flash into Eita's mind and the surging anger in his veins returned. Throwing the ball high, the ash blond jumped and then smacking it hard with his dominant hand. The ball was out of bounds again and the ash blond male let a huff of anger.

"Oh? Is Semisemi having trouble?" The sing sang voice of Satori made Eita turned to glare at the middle blocker.

"Shut up," Eita growled at the red head who mockingly raised his hands in a mock surrender but that stupid grin on his lips was there. It honestly pisses Eita off because he knew the male wasn't going to relent on targetting him with his non-stop teasing now.

"Awe, is Semisemi having an off day?" Satori mockingly asked with a very obvious false worry in his tone. Putting his hands down, Satori looked at Eita then the direction where the ash blond was sparing glances whenever he served. The red haired male's lips twitched into a more larger grin as he saw a certain [Hair color] haired manager and a copper haired setter talking. "Oh?"

Eita did not liked that shift of Satori's tone. He did not like it one bit.

Satori turned to look at Eita who was glaring daggers at him then back to [Name] and Kenjirō's direction, then back to Eita again then shift to [Name]'s. It went for a couple more until Satori picked up the rest of the puzzle pieces and had put the pieces together. "Oh."

A cackle was bubbling inside the red head's chest as he connected the dots on why Eita seemed to give more powerful serves and getting them out of bounds or how the red haired middle blocker noticed earlier that Eita seemed to be looking at a certain direction and have a more prominent scowl on his face.

"Is Semisemi jealous that Manager-kun isn't paying attention to him?" Satori mockingly asked as he cackled at Eita's expression. The ash blond's expression twisted into one with horror then with deep anger, just directed to him. Ah, Satori enjoys messing with the ash blond so much. Semi Eita was so easy to read.

"Shut up! I am not!" Eita hissed as he angrily grabbed another ball and was about to continue his serve when he saw Satori seemed to be unbothered by his answer. Instead, the red haired male seemed to be conspiring something against him. Eita knew it and it is causing a bad feeling inside the ash blond male's stomach.

Satori saw the look of dread that Eita had, and Satori enjoyed it. Giving the ash blond a mischievous smile, Satori immediately turned away from Eita. The red haired did not mind the calls that the ash blond was giving to him as he happily skipped towards the direction of the [Hair color] haired manager who was happily talking to Kenjirō. Eita's blood ran cold when he realized what Satori was doing.

"Yoohoo," Satori sang as he skipped towards [Name]. "Oh Manager-kun!"

The said male stopped talking to the copper haired male beside him to turn to look at the one who had called to him. A look of confusion plastered on [Name]'s face as he saw the red haired middle blocker come towards him.

"Uh, yes Tendō-kun?" [Name] had asked as he smiled at Satori who had reached him and had gave a pout at the choice of calling him by his last name but then brightened up. "Is there something you need?"

"Oh, yes there is Manager-kun!" Satori purred with mischief laced in his tone. The copper haired male who was talking to [Name] awhile ago about doing serves turned to look at Satori and raised a brow at the red haired middle blocker. Kenjirō knew something was up but it was not in his place to say something. Besides, he doesn't have the energy to entertain this weird third year of his anyways.

"What can I help you with?" [Name] had asked with a smile. Satori seemed to brightened his grin at the [Hair color] haired male's response. Oh [Name]. Sweet, innocent [Name]... Satori sometimes wonders how the team came across with this [Hair color] haired male who, despite how large his height and stature are, was a huge softie with a heart of gold.

"Did you know?" Satori had asked as he took a quick glance behind him to see Eita stood frozen like a deer caught in the headlights. Eyes widen in horror as he watches the red haired middle blocker gave him a teasing grin. Satori took pleasure at the horror palstered in Eita's face. The ash blond's body was shaking it what seemed to be anger and Eita was desperately holding the volleyball in his hand hard. It was hilarious!

Looking back at [Name], the grin never left Satori's lips. The red haired male wasn't one to come into people's lives to destroy them... that often. But he was bored and that both of the coaches weren't here to yell at them for slacking off or anything since they were in a meeting, so, Satori had to find something to mess with.

So why not the ash blond male who was so very obvious of his displeasure at watching [Name] and Kenjirō talk? It was bringing him enjoyment to mess with Eita and also, who knows, maybe Eita and [Name] can actually hook up or something. After all, Satori was sure that Eita wasn't the only one sparing 'secret' glances at the other. So, it's like killing two birds in one stone!

With a being happy with his thoughts, Satori continued. "Did you know that a certain someone likes y-- ACK!"

"EH?!? SATORI ARE YOU OKAY?!?"

"Oh fuck, is Tendō-senpai dead?"

The red haired middle blocker did not get to finish his sentence as he was hit by a volleyball straight onto the back of his head. Hard. The middle blocker fell down to the floor in pain as both [Name] and Kenjirō looked at the culprit who threw that ball, only to see that it was Eita who was still in the position in the aftermath of a serve as his right hand outstretch to their directio and was looking like he wanted to murder the red haired middle blocker who was moaning how his head hurt on the floor.

"What was that about?" [Name] asked, his tone willed with amusement as he turned to the ash blond male who had a blank look on his face. The [Hair color] haired male raised a brow at Eita who had his face turned into a scowl when he remembered earlier ago on what happened to Satori.

The ash blond had no choice really. He immediately just did a very strong serve straight into the red haired middle blocker's head because Satori pissed him off. And it was also to save him from furthur embarrassment from the [Hair color] haired male. But besides that, Satori was about to out him and Eita does not need that right now.

Of course, the ash blond was not let of off the hook by what he did and that when the coaches had arrived, coach Washijō (aka demon coach) had made him do a hundred serves as punishment. 'It was worth it though.' Eita had thought as he gripped the strap of his bag tightly. God, he hated Satori some times... most of the times...

Eita let out an angry huff as a taint of pink flush was on his cheeks as he turned to try and not let the [Hair color] haired male look at him. The two were walking side by side each other, having to be neighbors to their dorms and all. Eita took a quick glance at [Name] and saw that the male was still looking at him. Waiting for him to answer his question.

"It was nothing..." Eita has said as he turned to look in front of him. The ash blond tried to fight back the heat that was creeping in his cheeks when he heard [Name]'s laughter.

"Hitting Satori-kun in the back of his head with the intent to murder him was... nothing?" The [Hair color] haired male asked as his [Eye color] eyes filled with amusement. Eita only huffed at him and tried to look away. [Name] smiled at the ash blond's actions.

With a smile, [Name] took one of Eita's hands and intertwined their fingers together. The [Hair color] haired male sent a soft smile at Eita when the ash blond turned to look at him in surprise by his actions. Squeezing Eita's hand, the [Hair color] haired male turned to look in front of them.

"So, did Satori finally figured us out?" [Name] had asked as Eita rolled his eyes but let a hum leaving his lips. Ah, right. The two had been dating for already a month now. And so far, no one has known a out it since the two had decided to keep it a secret. Well, Eita wanted to keep his relationship with their manager in a down low for a bit because who knows what and how will the team react and how he will be teasesabout it. Especially from Satori. But it seems like the red haired middle blocker was seemingly close to be on to them. Or at least, Eita liking [Name].

"Probably," Eita said. "That guy's a monster anyways," the ash blond muttered in annoyance as [Name] heard his words and let out a chuckle.

"Well, he isn't the only monster here," the [Hair color] haired male has said which caught Eita's attention. Looking at [Name] and sending the [Hair color] haired manager a confused look, the ash blond only got a cheeky smile in return from [Name] as the male stopped walking which made Eita stopped aswell.

"Didn't think I didn't see you got visited by the green-eyed monster, did you Eita-kun?" [Name] had said as that cheeky smile still never left his lips. Eita's face flushed bright red at the [Hair color] haired male's words.

"I did not!" Eita weakly defended himself as [Name] only laughed at him. The [Hair color] haired male then came close to Eita and placed a soft kiss on the ash blond's forehead. His actions only made Eita more flustered and was yelling at him.

"Sure you do, Eita-kun."

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lokbobpop · 3 years

Text

Direction

late 14c., direccioun, "action of directing or guiding," from Latin directionem (nominative directio) "a making straight, a straight line, a directing (toward something)," noun of action from past-participle stem of dirigere "to set straight, arrange; give a particular direction to," from dis- "apart"

1 : the path along which something moves, lies, or points I'm coming from the opposite direction. 2 : an order or instruction to be followed Read the directions first. 3 : instructions on how to get somewhere

Direction direct tion dir ection dire ction direc it on

Writing the word direction

Im heading in the right direction if my mind knows this i dont know i don’t know its it feels its losing its grip on my as it is a part of me i dont know but within me deep down i know its working i know what im doin his right i know i will eventually walk myself out of my mind there no truing back there haven’t been for a long time now but the more i move within this the more i see i could nt give up on this now I’ve got my foot in the door and its opening i just need to keep pushing me being ness to come up to be with me to be hole as one togetherness

Reading the word direction

Ive been lost but now im found

Thoughts of dreams where ive come to an obvious path and its been difficult on the path the direction ive decide is hard up hill i have to climb stuff i have to navigate my way over stuff the path gets smaller and smaller until theres no path and i have to climb up it all becomes to difficult im stressed out and scared of whats going on how am i going to cope what should i do to change the situation im in and so on.

Asking for directions its funny how when you drive you just dont want to ask well i dont and chris doesnt when he’s driving but you hav to or you’ll never find it.

I like to give people who are lost directions id i know it but i always think after i could of made that much more simple i mad it far to complicated fro them they will have ot ask again i9m sure or when you ask someone and they haven’t a clue how to tell you what to do.

How we are all lost we have no direction we dont know what we are doing how as a race of people we have lost our compass so many eons of time ago we dont know what to do how to find ourselves anymore i just dont know.

How i have felt lost all my life until now how i have found my cause who and what im suppose to be in this life and all other life from this point on

How i have fear that my daughters wont see this and miss what the direction they are meant to be in and end up living in the hell of the mind and not seeing there way out of it.

Saying direction out loud

One direction a group the girls used to like when they were younger.

Getting and giving directions

Taking directions how i fear getting directed in what i should do at a place of work how i fear what they are saying as i wont get it or understand what’s going on what they say how it will sound confusing to me and will become all nervous scared and think stop say no more i can only cope with small amounts of info.

I hope to one day help give direction to other who have lost there way.

Does this definition support me no it has fear of not taking directions from another fear my children wont find there direction within life and the polarity of being very happy with my own direction in life where im going what im doing.

Direction direct shine

Direction

To know your direction to stay in the right direction to give and receive direction

I will live this word with keeping myself on my directional path so i can help others on there directional path to freedom of the mind.

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pixels-poptarts-and-pluto · 6 years

Note

Hiii can I request #2 for Nobunaga please? THX ^_^

You sure can! I hoped to get this done a little earlier, sorry about that! ^^

#2: You love me as if I deserve to be loved

I watched thesoldiers as they trickled in from the battlefield, desperatelysearching for the one I most wished to see. I didn’t spot himanywhere – but I did spot the next best thing.

“Hideyoshi!” Icalled out to him.

“Hey there!” Hegave me an exhausted, but easy smile that helped ease some of myworries. “We’re all alright, but Lord Nobunaga said he had someother business to attend to before returning to camp.”

Other business?“Oh…could you tell me where he went?”

“Well, I don’texactly know…but he headed in that directio –“ He was cut offwhen I promptly turned and took off in the direction he had pointed - His concerned voice following me into the cover of trees “Hey!Don’t go too far now! Come back quickly if you don’t find him!”

But I had to findhim. He had promised to come straight to me after the battle and ifNobunaga Oda had broken a promise he made….well…let’s just saythat’s not a good sign. I finally spottedhim in a moonlit clearing seemingly just standing there lost inthought.

I called his namein a gentle voice. “Nobunaga?”

He turned, his eyeswidening for a fraction of a second before he recovered his usualstoic expression. “You followed me…”

“Of course. Ineeded to see you.” I answered as I approached him.

“Even if I’m likethis?” He gestured down to his body, the moon’s glow reflecting offbloody armor.

“Especially whenyou’re like this. I thought we promised that you would always comefind me after a battle no matter what. All I want is to help easeyour burdens in any way I can.” I took one of his hands and held itagainst my chest – over my heart.

“I apologize forbreaking my vow.” He cast his eyes to the ground and I could seethat he really meant it.

“I forgive you.Just remember next time, ok?” I offered him a bright smile.

“I’ll never knowhow you do it. After the things I’ve done….you love me as if Ideserve to be loved.”

“Because you dodeserve it!” It hurt my heart to hear that he still thought this way and my voice came out thick with emotion. “You’re incredible –the way you’re so determined to see your goals through no matter whatand how you always find a way to push forward. How could I not loveyou?”

A tender look flashed in his eyes as he drew me closer, pulling me into his arms.Blood stained my kimono but I didn’t care. I wrapped my own armstightly around him, trying desperately to fill him with as much of mywarmth as possible.

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikesen nobunaga #nobunaga oda #my writing #requests

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suulphr · 4 years

Text

3:44AM APRIL 20th 2020

GONE THROUGH THE EAR BY ACCIDENT, HOUR BY SIX PASSING HOURS

PLAYING SURREALIST TAPES OVER STATIONS LIKE ALWAYS MOVING TRAINS,

UNIVERSAL UV HAM RADIO MARKING TIME WITH REVELATION VERSES WHILE WE SIT WINDING SIGHT

THROUGH THE RISING STEAM OF THE WATER, ALKALINE HOT SPRING WELLS AND FOLDS IN THE ROCK CHIPS LINING STARS IN THE SIDEWALK LIKE

MILLIONS OF LIGHT YEARS OF BROKEN REFLECTIONS THAT CHAR AND WARP MODERNIZED PARALLEL PERSPECTIVE LINES.

WHITE RABBITS FOOT OF TARNISHABLE LUCK LIKE STAINS

ON A NICE RUG DECAPITATING THE THUD OF THE SOUND CRAWLING OUT LOUD

AND LOUDER DOWN THE HALLWAY, WE TURN THE VOLUME UP ALL THE WAY, A JOY TO THE WORLD ON A SATURDAY. FRUIT SOAKING IN ALCOHOL ON OLD TABLES TRYING TO KEEP YOUR WORDS FROM MELTING WHILE EXPLAINING

FAR SPACES OVER LOUD HUMMING LIGHTS THAT CANOPY THE DESERTED STREETS AND TURN WHISPERS INTO LIGHTNING LAUGHTER AND BRING BRIGHT SHARPNESS TO YOUR TEETH. THE SOUND IS CLEAN. I DON’T WORRY BUT I COUNT MY FINGERS AND LIMBS, LOOKING AT THE SKY FOR MACHINES, CIRCLING THE BARS AND WOOD-WORN POSTS THAT ONLY KNOW MISSING SIGNS

OR TONES, HUSHED TRIPPED QUICK OR JUST BORED, NEON GLOW LARGE SQUARE FRONT DESERT SLOT SOUNDS LAYING WARM AND THEN COLD

OVER A HUNDRED SILENCES THAT ARE GROUNDED-DOWN QUIET UNTIL THEY BURN LOUD.

I WAS ALMOST CONVINCED I HAD TO STAY IN ONE PLACE, I HEARD SOMETHING DANGEROUS WELLING UP THROUGH THAT ENDLESS SPACE

BETWEEN TORN UP PRINTED SCRIPT OR WATCHING BLOOD DANCE AND TEETH SHINE WITH SLOW SPEECH THINKING THAT WE STILL HAVE TIME, RED-GOLD CAMERA FLARES AND COLD WATER TURNED ETHYL-FORGETFUL OF HOW IT FEELS TO STEP OVER THAT LINE.

THE MIDDLE POINT TRYING TO WALK STRAIGHT OVER DOUBLE-YELLOW IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT,

STILL WARM FOR SOME HELL’S-HIGH REASON OR THAT THE 40 OUNCE IS SOMETIMES 42 OUNCES, THE FACELESS BOOK SAID I WAS MADE OUT OF CLAY

DESTINED TO FALL SHAPELESS BACK INTO THE GROUND ONE DAY,

I HEARD THE SKY CALL MY NAME

AND I DROWNED STAYING IN PLACE.

WALKING BY CHURCHES I COULD SEE THE STARS SPIN ENCASED BUT I WAS STARING AT THE GROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY,

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, THE PAST AND THE FUTURE ARE MADE OF THE SAME THINGS AND THE GOLD IS NOT GOLD.

IN BETWEEN AN EDGE OF THE MIDDLE OF A VALLEY OFF THE COAST,

ONE OF A MILLION LOST WORLDS THAT CRYSTALIZE LIKE HONEY AND SALT TO HOLD A CATCH IN THE SEAM OF THE SEA,

A DIVIDE GROWING WIDE LIKE A FAULT IN THE BEDROCK CARRYING A THOUSAND LEAGUES OF DREAMS.

MOMENTS IN TIME THAT WE REMEMBER IN PEICES,

ALMOST A BEATEN PATH OR IF WE CARVED A WAY OUT OF THE PIECES OF ALMOST PEACE THAT CRASH BETWEEN PEAKS,

THE GAS LINE THAT CRACKS AND THEN LEAKS AND THE CONCRETE THAT GATHERS THE WEIGHT OF THE RAIN AND THEN LEAVES AFTER FREEZING THE GAPS OF SLOW EATING GREEN REVERSED-UV PASSING PAGES OF WEATHER THAT SPEAKS AND PEOPLE THAT DRY THE HYDE TO TURN IT INTO LEATHER WHEN THE SUN HANGS ETERNALLY HIGH, HIGHLIGHTING THE FLOATING SKY, BEING MADE INTO LOCK-GRIPPED DRIVING GLOVES LEAVING BLACK MARKS ON THE ROAD, A PATH WITH NO SIDES, WE FOLLOW THE LINE BECAUSE ITS DRAWN THERE BUT ONLY IN OUR MINDS BECAUSE STAYING STILL MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN STILL HIDE.

I FILLED MY BLOOD WITH CHEMICAL AGGRAVATED LOOSE CONNECTIONS CUT WITH SUGAR AND IT MADE MY EYES ILL TO THE LIGHT.

WE STAY WHEN WE WANT TO LEAVE AND BY THE TIME WE WANT TO GO WE CANT MOVE FROM THE HEAVY SMOKE AND SOMEWHERE OVER THE CREST OF THE WILD WOOD WE SEE FIRES BURNING THE RAGE OUT OF THE BLOOD THAT NEVER SPOKE AND ITS BUBBLING UPWARD OUT OF THE DIRT AND GRAVEL AND ACORN-POISON-FOR-THE-PAST-OF-THE-OAK. ITS A FISHING NET OR A LOOSE FLOOR, ITS AN ILL- TIMED KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND HANDS SEEPING DARK CORNERS WITH NEW STORIES THAT GET SOLD AND WEEPED QUIET DECADES AFTER THE IMAGINARY END OF THE WAR.

MY LEGS SPRAWL UNDER THE MOON AND I RUN WHEN I NEED TO BUT IT FEELS LIKE QUICKSAND AFTER IT RAINS IN JUNE, I SAW AN ANGEL IN MY ROOM, HE LOOKED LIKE THE DARK TORN APART SHADOWS OF ATOM-BOMB DOOM AFTER THE DUST SETTLES EVERYWHERE NO MATTER THE DIRECTION OR THE COLOR OF THE FUMES.

I SAW THE SKY ON FIRE AND AFTER IT WENT DARK I DIDN’T KNOW THE BLUE COMES FROM THE HALOED LIGHT AND NOW THE CLOUDS LOOK RUSTED WITH FLOATING BLOOD AND THE HEAT LEAVES A MARK AND THE PHOTOGRAPH IS RUINED.

I REMEMBER DANCING AND NOT CARING IF ANYONE THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY LISTENING TO NO MUSIC PLAYING. I SMILED UNTIL IT HURT

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ragehappysecretsanta · 6 years

Text

Author: http://kingvav.tumblr.com/

Recipient: http://is-this-just-an-illusionn.tumblr.com

Summary: The world as it once was has ended, and Ray is left wandering the empty remains of Texas. He stumbles upon a tiny town surrounded by a chain link fence and is greeted by a man wearing a rusted iron crown.

Warnings: Brief violence, brief non-explicit mention of sexual assault

WordCount: 6,540

Ray has run out of batteries.

This is a conclusion he reaches with a tired sigh of resigned acceptance as he tucks his dead flashlight back into his bag and starts shuffling around the undergrowth, looking for a good spot to settle for the night.

Preferably not in the nest of a mother raccoon again. The scars up and down his arms are still pretty fresh from that one.

There’s not much moonlight to speak of, but it isn’t too cold out tonight, and Ray hasn’t been hearing anything that might concern him- no wolf howls or coyote yips or mysterious barks and/or roars- so it’ll probably be okay to just sleep on the ground. It’s not like he can climb without any light to see what he’s grabbing.

He happens upon a small clearing and settles on its edge, pulling his poncho from his bag and using it as a shitty blanket. God, he’s in desperate need of a town. First he ran out of gum, and then his jacket was destroyed in the forest fire he barely escaped, and then his fidget spinner broke, because God just hates him for some reason.

Definitely has nothing to do with when he used it as a makeshift part in a shoddy attempt at a fishing pole the other month and had to smash it against a rock a few times to get it loose from the mechanism he had constructed. Nothing like that.

He hadn’t even caught any fish.

Tomorrow, he resolves to climb as high as he dares on the tallest tree he can find and search for any sign of a road or path that could lead him to a ruin. Ray tends to stay away from them, if he can- where there’re supplies and resources, there are gangs of raiders and thugs- but he needs batteries if he’s going to make it through the next winter, and he needs ammunition if he wants to eat again anytime soon.

At the thought of food, his stomach growls dramatically. Ray tries to sate himself by nibbling on a cracker and pretending it’s a big, juicy burger. He can feel the heat on his fingers through the bun, can smell the spices and seasoning and feel the way the lettuce and onions crunch under his teeth as he takes a bite-

But it’s a shitty little saltine cracker, and no amount of imagining will convince his stomach otherwise.

Ray adds calories to the list of things to look for in the next settlement.

The chirping of crickets and rustling leaves lull him to sleep.

The game trail he’s been following for the past couple of days spits him out onto an asphalt miracle. Gravel would have been a blessing, but here he is, staring slack-jawed at an actual fucking road, with painted lines and guardrails and everything.

The relief makes him want to cry. He doesn’t, because he already loses enough hydration to sweat as it is.

He does allow himself a pack of fruit snacks as he walks to celebrate this great victory, because it’s important to acknowledge when he does a good job. At least, that’s what the parenting book he picked and read out of sheer boredom a few months back said. He pops a tiny apple shape into his mouth and pats himself on the back.

Good job, Ray. Not dead yet.

He’s so dead.

Picking which direction to go was a toss of the dice, but Ray must have rolled pretty poorly, because he’s been walking for five days, and he hasn’t seen a single private drive or break-off road. A few dilapidated signs warned him to slow down for the upcoming curve, or informed him that the speed limit is 45 mph, but he’s found no indication of where he is, or where the next town is. His chances of survival plummet every day he goes without finding another water source. Ray has been carefully rationing what’s left of his supply, but it’ll only stretch so far, especially while he’s walking like this.

God really does hate him after all.

The only good thing about this shitty road is that he’s been going downhill for most of it.

Ray sees a deer through the trees and reaches for his gun before remembering that he doesn’t have any bullets, and hasn’t had any for a month.

The night sky is so much prettier now than it was before.

There’s no more light pollution- very little pollution of any kind, he imagines- so every clear night is like a laser show up above his head. He lived in cities, so he never saw more than a handful at once, and he knows he never saw them come alive like this. Ray had never imagined that they would flicker and dance across the blackness, and he never saw that there were stars even in the blank spots, so dim that they couldn’t be seen when looked at directly.

Are there other planets up there with living things on them?

If so, Ray hopes they don’t have to have an apocalypse before they can appreciate the beauty of what’s above them.

The theoretical aliens probably don’t have light pollution. Or any kind of pollution. Ray bets those fuckers have 100% clean energy and live lives of leisure and relaxation. Those bastards.

He’s been kicking a rock along for two hours.

The sole of his left shoe finally tears at the front on a particularly enthusiastic kick, and he ends up stubbing his toe on the damn thing.

Ray swears and throws the rock as hard as he can into the trees. Fuck that rock. Fuck this road. Fuck the world, and fuck whatever deity decided it was a good idea to put Ray on it. When he finally starves to death on this damn asphalt treadmill, he’ll have some real stern words for whoever’s in charge.

Something finally changes.

It’s his first day after completely running out of water, and Ray has started accepting that he’s going to have to give up on the road to look for water, but then he turns a final bend and in the distance, he can see the trees thin out and another sign, far ahead. There are buildings beyond it. Buildings! He may not be dead after all!

Ray gives the guardrail a respectful pat and starts walking with a grin on his face that doesn’t seem to want to leave, even when his jaw starts hurting.

The first buildings are completely stripped barns. The rest of town is behind a chainlink fence with barbed wire at the top. The fencing itself is at an odd angle, like it was installed incorrectly, or has simply been punished by time- regardless, it goes straight across the road with a padlocked gate smack in the middle, and Ray sticks to the trees and observes for a couple of hours before risking approaching. He would have liked to walk the whole perimeter of this thing first, maybe scouted for a couple of days, but he’s out of water and out of options.

The lock is a bit rusted, but still sturdy. Ray pulls out the little metal piece he found on the ground a long-ass time ago and quickly jimmies it, flinching as the noise rings out through the relative quiet- but he doesn’t hear a flurry of footsteps or shouting, so he carefully puts the metal piece away and opens the gate just enough to slip through.

Hopefully, whoever lived here is long gone.

The ‘town’ is little more than a smattering of old shops, decrepit brick buildings, and a few rotting houses. Ray is able to walk from one end to another in a few minutes- the buildings outside of the fence perimeter look to have been picked clean, like the ones he saw before he came in.

Huh.

The first three shops are empty of everything useful. The convenience store has a few rotting porno mags (all women, of course) and a full stock of alcohol (hard pass), but all of the food is gone, along with the batteries and the fidget spinner display. The music store next door is full of instruments and not much else. Ray doesn’t bother doing more than sticking his head through the door of the diner- the smell of long gone food is all he really needs to know.

Next down the line is a little Mom and Pop bank. Strangely, the door is locked, and with a proper cylinder one no less. Even tiny towns like this took the security of their money safely, he guesses- too bad it’s all useless now.

But when Ray peeks in the window, he thinks he can see something like sleeping bags and boxes. Whoever lives or lived here put their shit in the bank and locked the door.

He thinks he saw paperclips in the convenience store. It wouldn’t be the first lock he’s picked since the fall of civilization.

“Hey there.”

Oh. Fuck.

Ray turns around slowly, schooling his expression to keep the fear away. Confidence is key. He can talk his way out of this.

A man stands in the road with his arms folded across his chest, having apparently been watching Ray look into the windows. His jeans look surprisingly new, but Ray is more focused on the strange metal piece on his head- What the hell is that?

“Whatcha doing?” The man asks.

“Just- Passing through,” Ray forces out, pressing his fists against his thighs to keep his hands from shaking. The dude might not have a visible weapon, but he looks about twice Ray’s size, and. He doesn’t like those odds. Not when he’s out of water and exhausted from hiking on the road for days.

The man looks Ray up and down. “Got any weapons?”

Well. Isn’t that the question.

But there’s no way he could have gotten here without any kind of protection, and this guy definitely knows that if he’s still alive, so Ray decides to make the best peace offering he can think of.

“There’s a gun in my bag,” He says, gesturing backward with his chin. “I’m out of bullets, though.”

The man takes a couple of steps forward, putting the distance between them at about five yards or so. “Throw the bag over.” At Ray’s look of apprehension, he quickly adds, “I won’t steal any of your shit. Just can’t be too careful.”

Ray agrees with that sentiment, and he figures this guy would have clocked him while his back was turned if he wanted to take his stuff, so he shrugs the bag off and carefully tosses it in the man’s direction.

He catches it easily. “Front pocket,” Ray says, and the man quickly finds the pistol and checks the clip. It is, of course, empty, and Ray earns a nod of approval.

While the guy quickly checks the rest of the backpack, Ray gets a better look at his weird hat, and decides it must be a crown, based on the shape. But it’s made of iron, and rusted all to hell, like the man fished it out of a fucking river or something, and Ray can’t keep his fucking mouth shut, so he says-

“Wow, uh… Iron, huh? How’d you even get it wet enough to rust that bad? Why not, like, gilde it, or something?”

The man looks up sharply. “Oh,” he says, dropping Ray’s bag and crossing his arms. “Oh, oh, I’m sorry I don’t carry gilding materials around. Sorry I’m not prepared, like you. Where’s your crown, huh?” He gestures to Ray’s head and raises an eyebrow. “You don’t have one? I didn’t think so. Watch yourself.”

Ray blinks. “I… Okay.”

“Anyway,” The man says, nudging Ray’s backpack away with his foot. “If you’re just passing through, you can be on your way.”

...Alright. Maybe he didn’t think this through, because he still needs water if he’s going to get anywhere.

“Or, if you were lying earlier about your intentions, I have a couple more options for you.”

“Uh,” Ray intones.

“If you’re one of those raiders from San Angelo, and you bring violence to my door, I will destroy you and all of your friends. But you don’t really look like the raider type.”

He seems to be waiting for a response, so Ray shakes his head.

“If you’re a wanderer in need of supplies or somewhere to rest, we’re always willing to trade food and shelter for good work.”

“Are there more of you?”

The man snorts. “Do you think I put that fence up by myself?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Ray says, carding a hand through his hair. “You’re wearing a rusty-ass crown, man. I’m not making any assumptions.”

He considers this for a moment. Then he nods. “That’s fair.”

“Okay, well, uh… Can I have my stuff?”

“Sure.” He picks up Ray’s bag and tosses it over to him.

“Thanks, man.” Ray carefully pulls it back on, making sure the straps didn’t get fucked up. “I might take you up on some of those supplies. I ran out of water, and I could use batteries, if you happen to have any you can spare.”

“Water I can do. Batteries are gonna be a little more tricky.”

“Sure.” Ray tries to mask his disappointment.

“Tricky,” he says, “But not impossible. How about I show you what we’re looking for, and you decide if you want to stick around?”

“Sounds good.”

The man shows him a few spots where the fence is particularly bad, and explains that it needs to be repaired by holding it straight and piling up more dirt around the support poles. He takes Ray to a decently sized vegetable garden that needs to be fertilized, and shows him the barn where a few cows and chickens are hanging out. Finally, he points out the vines growing up the side of one of the brick buildings.

“Those need to be cut back,” he says. “But we don’t have a very good ladder, and the lightest person in our group is afraid of heights, so we haven’t been able to take care of that.”

Ray looks up at the vines, then over at the ladder lying on the ground nearby. It’s one of those simple rung ones that you just, kinda… Lean on stuff. And it definitely looks a bit beat up.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“No,” Ray says. “But I’m afraid of breaking my neck after a shitty ladder dumps me on my ass.”

The man laughs. “We’ll have to beef that thing up, then. There’s another job you could help with.”

“Yeah.” Ray tucks his hands in his pockets and looks around. This place… Is really nice, actually. And while they were on their little tour, he noticed the solar panels on one of the buildings as well as the water pumps near the edge; that, in combination with secure(ish) walls and healthy livestock? It’s all the makings of a paradise, right here in the middle of Nowhere, Texas.

All that’s left is to see if he meshes well enough to be tolerated.

He starts with helping the man repair the fence. It’s the least he can do, since he broke their lock- not that he’ll be sharing that detail anytime soon.

Ray finds himself holding the fencepost up while the man transfers over earth from a pile he’s already made nearby.

“So,” he says between shovelfuls. “What’s your name?”

“Ray. You?”

“Ryan.”

“Cool.”

There’s a pause while Ryan wipes the sweat from his brow. It’s not the hottest weather Ray’s dealt with, but he’s still glad Ryan’s the one shoveling dirt in direct sunlight, and not him.

“What did you like to do, before?” Ryan asks.

“Video games.” Ray instantly replies. That’s what he misses the most. More than showers, and more than burgers, he wishes he had something to fill all of the empty hours, because books are usually too bulky to justify keeping around, and he broke his fucking fidget spinner.

Ryan perks up upon hearing his answer. “What kind of games?”

“First person shooters, mostly. But I played anything that interested me.”

“Ever play Fallout?”

“Of course.”

“Three was my favorite.”

“I’m a New Vegas man myself,” Ray replies, “But Three is definitely a close second.”

“They really got a lot of details wrong about the apocalypse,” Ryan says, jamming his shovel into the ground so he can lean on it and look around. “No one’s out here starting up radio stations or making new currencies or anything like that.”

“They got the bandits right, though.” Ray suppresses the urge to touch the scar on his abdomen from his last run-in with them.

“True.”

They work in quiet for a few minutes, and while they’re moving on to the next post, Ray maybe, might have just noticed that the dude has a nice butt. Ryan is the first friendly person he’s seen in literally months, okay? He can’t be blamed for appreciating him.

“God,” Ryan says, breaking the silence. “I really don’t miss taxes.”

Ray snorts. “Where’d that come from?”

“I was just thinking about money, and monetary systems, and how organized governments are a requirement for civilization- but they rely on taxation to maintain themselves, so if you want the benefits of society, you have to pay into it. And, I mean, that’s only fair, but doing my taxes every year fucking sucked.”

“Amen to that. I always made my friend Tina do mine for me so the IRS wouldn’t come steal all my shit.”

“Not sure if that’s how it works,” Ryan says with a smile. “Pretty sure they would just put you in jail.”

“Oh, hate that. I’d end up someone’s bitch in record fucking time.”

“Maybe you could be someone’s cuddle bitch.” He stops to pack down the dirt. “Get all of the protections with none of the anal.”

“Nah. I’m all or nothing,” Ray says.

Ryan laughs, and Ray realizes two things:

He likes Ryan’s laugh. It’s kind of breathy and chuckle-y.

He probably shouldn’t have made a joke about anal sex to a strange man he just met, particularly in the south.

Unfortunate, but at least he didn’t get his teeth kicked in.

After a couple of hours of labor (or, in Ray’s case, hanging out and holding a pole), Ryan takes him to the bank building and unlocks the door with a key hanging from a chain around his neck.

“Everyone else is out foraging at the town a few miles out,” Ryan explains. “You can take my bed. I’ll use one of theirs.”

“What are they looking for?” Ray asks, taking a seat in the spot Ryan indicated. “You guys seem like you’ve got a pretty sick setup.”

“Bullets. Medicine. Toilet paper. Any new books or magazines, since we’ve all read everything here. All of the stuff that we can’t replace on our own.”

Ray nods. “Makes sense.”

“We try to be as smart as we can with what we have, but there will be emergencies or circumstances that we can’t predict; maybe a solar panel will go down, or a cow will die, or someone gets sick. If we’re prepared for that, it makes us stronger.”

None of the groups Ray has been with in the past had ever thought that far ahead. They’d have been satisfied to sit on their asses with a setup like this; aside from maybe one or two people he’s met, everyone seemed to become content with letting things rot, after the world ended. He didn’t blame them- still doesn’t- but seeing this, seeing what a settlement could be, Ray doesn’t want to go back.

He asks that night, when Ryan turns out the lamp- powered by batteries recharged with the solar panels- and the room is dark, save for the tiny amount of ambient light filtering through the windows.

“What’s up with the crown?”

In the dark, he can’t see Ryan beyond a basic silhouette, so all he has to go off of is the sound of his voice.

“It makes people think I’m crazy, which is helpful, because crazy people are unpredictable, so bandits don’t like to fight them.”

“Ah.”

“It’s also fun to think about how I could declare myself king, and there’s no one to stop me. Monarchies were never built on anything substantial to begin with. Who’s to say my name can’t be the next royal lineage?”

Ray hums, because he has no fucking clue how to respond to that.

“But mostly it’s because my nickname in college was The Mad King, and it’s nice to be reminded of happier times.”

“‘The Mad King?’” Ray repeats. “How’d you get that one?”

“We were doing democracy simulations in my government class. Things escalated.”

Ray shifts to settle more comfortably against the pillow. “Escalated how?”

“Well, the farm animals were taking up too much space, so all I did was suggest that we keep them underground.”

Ray snorts. “Like, in tunnels?”

“Like in holes.”

“Oh.”

There’s a pause.

“People weren’t being receptive to my ideas, so I wrote legislation that allowed me to annex more power until I was functionally a dictator, and then I declared myself king. And the animals in holes thing saved us millions, in my defense.”

“You’re fucking weird, man.” Ray mutters, but he’s smiling.

Ryan chuckles. “Can’t argue with that.”

The group returns three days after Ray’s arrival. In the interim, he helps Ryan repair the remainder of the fence, weed the garden, fertilize it to get ready for planting, and cut some of the growth on the lower portions of the buildings. All the while, they talk, about nothing and everything- the past, the future, their experiences with the new world, their experiences with the old one. Ryan is funny in a dry, quick-witted sort of way, and kind of terrifyingly smart. He seems to know something about everything. But he’s not an asshole about it; he offers his knowledge to contribute to a conversation, rather than to talk down to Ray, and he appreciates that.

They just… Get along. And by that third day, most of their conversation is an exchange of jokes that flow fluidly between them.

It’s normal.

But the normality is interrupted when they hear a great commotion, and Ryan’s face lights up with excitement as he splits into a grin and runs for the gate. Ray follows at a slower pace, already aware of what’s going to be waiting there and more than a little bit nervous for it. He really like Ryan. He really like living here, where there’s infinite water from the ground and a shit ton of food, both from cans and from the vegetable garden.

He never thought he’d see a familiar face in the small crowd that enters town.

Ray didn’t let himself think about his friends. It hurt too much.

But there’s Michael, looking maybe a bit more haggard and a great deal more tired, grinning as he slings an arm around the shoulders of the tanned man next to him.

Michael’s alive.

“Ray?!” He cries as he spots him meekly approaching.

All of the previous chatter comes to a grinding halt and all six of the newcomers are now staring at him.

“Holy shit,” Michael says, releasing the man beside him to rush forward- Ray takes an instinctive step back, but Michael doesn’t stop- and he barrels straight into him, wrapping him in the tightest hug he’s received in a very long time. “Holy shit!” He repeats, much louder this time. “You’re alive! You fucking asshole, I can’t believe- How the fuck did you end up here?”

Ray makes a small choken noise and Michael’s grip instantly softens, allowing Ray more room to breathe. “I- I don’t know,” he stammers. “I got lost, and I followed the road.”

Michael pulls back but keeps his arms on Ray’s shoulders. The weight makes Ray feel more certain that this is real, and that Michael won’t just disappear when he blinks.

“Jesus, I can’t believe it’s you. I’m so fucking happy to see you, man.”

“Me too,” Ray says, wistful. And he means it.

Going from being by himself to being around Ryan wasn’t too hard.

Going from being around Ryan to being around Ryan, Michael, and their five groupmates? A little more tricky.

Everyone is pretty friendly to him. Ray learns that the tan guy’s name is Gavin, and that he and Michael are… Something. He asks Ryan one day while they’re pumping water to bring back in those big five gallon jugs.

He laughs. “Geoff’s convinced it’s a really long game of Gay Chicken. Jack thinks they just need to fuck and get it over with. Jeremy and Matt think they’re just genuinely unaware of how gay their friendship is.”

“What do you think?”

Ryan smirks. “I think they know.”

“Oh?” Ray raises an eyebrow.

Ryan looks over his shoulder and leans in to Ray before whispering conspiratorially, “I walked in on them making out last week.”

“Fuck, guess that’s that.”

“Yeah. They haven’t said anything about it though, so it might not be… Formal?”

“Makes sense.” Ray accepts the full cooler from Ryan and loads it onto the Radio Flyer.

“Do you think you could ever be in a formal relationship, after everything?”

“Like, after the apocalypse?” Ray asks. Ryan doesn’t look at him, but nods. “I dunno. I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Ha. That’s a lie.

“Would you?”

“Yeah,” Ryan says. “With the right person, I think I would.”

Ryan places his hand on Ray’s shoulder. “I’m headed out.”

“Okay, man. See you later. Be safe.”

He watches Ryan head out the door. It’s been a few months, but he can still appreciate that view.

“Really, dude?”

Ray’s attention is snapped back to the card game he’s playing with Michael. “What?”

“You still haven’t made a fucking move.”

“Shut the fuck up, you have no room to talk.”

Michael raises his eyebrows. “And how’s that?”

“Have you told Gavin you want to be more than bros yet?”

He tosses his cards down and folds his arms. “That’s different.”

“I don’t see how. Embrace the bromance, Michael. It’s the only way.”

“Hey man, I’m just saying- I get to make out with him even if I don’t actually talk about feelings and shit with him. When was the last time you got any?”

“When was the last time you did? We all sleep in the same fucking room.”

Michael smirks.

“No,” He says. “You do not fuck in here.”

“Whatever you say, man.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Michael. Really?”

“Sometimes it’s not even one of our beds that we end up on. Things get confusing, in the heat of the moment-”

“Gross,” Ray says. “Awful. Horrible. I’m burning all of my bedding.”

“Nah, I’m fucking with you.”

“I’m not taking that risk.”

“Maybe you can share with Ryan instead.”

Ray buries his face in his hands. “I fucking hate you.”

Michael laughs.

The raiders come in the middle of the night.

Jeremy is the one on watch, but he has to do his watch from the ground, because he’s afraid of heights, so he doesn’t see them sneaking up from the opposite side while he’s on his perimeter walk, and they’re inside before he spots them.

Ray has never been good at fighting. His hands shake violently as he loads the clip into his pistol, flinching with every bullet that flies over his hiding spot. He was with Gavin, but they got separated when Gavin ran off to help Michael after seeing him get punched by one of the raiders, and now Ray is alone, and he doesn’t know what to do.

He locks the clip into place, takes the safety off, and counts down from three in his head before popping up, surveying the scene, and dropping back down. Not a heartbeat later, a bullet flies right where his head was. Ray chokes on his breath and spends several seconds coughing and wheezing.

He glances around- still no sign of the others around him, but he can hear their shouts and the sounds of returning fire.

He hears a pained cry nearby that makes his blood freeze.

Before he knows what he’s doing, Ray is dashing out of cover, rounding the corner and coming into view of two of the raiders, a crumpled form between them, one aiming a gun at a head partially covered by a rusty iron crown.

The scream he lets out is primal, and Ray doesn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

When their buddy with the gun falls to the ground, the other raider turns and sprints at Ray, brandishing a knife. He shoots again, but misses by a mile because his damn hands won’t stop shaking- fuck, did he hit Ryan- and then they’re upon him, tackling him to the ground, and it’s all he can do to keep their arm away from him, to keep the knife from piercing his skin.

God, this is how he’s gonna die. Whatever. He’s seen worse.

But then the raider is thrown off of him, and Ray is splattered with blood as Ryan smashes their head in with a baseball bat they found when they went scavenging together a couple months back.

There’s a pause, while Ryan pants, and Ray tries to catch up with what just happened.

“I don’t think the autograph is valid anymore,” Ryan says grimly, and Ray breaks into wheezing hysterical laughter right there on the ground.

They manage to drive out the raiders without losing anyone, but there are injuries.

Ryan’s ribs are bruised to hell and a couple of his fingers are broken on his left hand. Jeremy took a nasty hit to the head that’s left him concussed. Most worrying is Michael, who was ‘lightly stabbed’ (his words) when a couple raiders came at him at once.

It’s a pretty sorry sight the next morning, with the injured set up on the teller counters while Jack patches them up. Ray and Gavin elected to stay and ‘help’ Jack rather than clearing out the bodies with Geoff and Matt. Neither of them have the stomach for it, so here they are, watching as bones are set and bandages are wrapped.

Ryan insists on going to help as soon as he’s wrapped up. Ray stands to go with him.

“Don’t let him lift anything heavy,” Jack warns.

“If he lifts something heavy and makes his ribs worse, I’ll break them myself.” Ray promises.

“Okay. Don’t actually do that.”

“I don’t think he even could,” Michael pipes up. “Look at those twig arms, Jack.”

“Good point.”

Geoff takes one look at Ryan’s bandaged hand and the way he hobbles over and points in the direction of the garden. “Go make sure the vegetables are okay. Don’t even think about trying to move any of these fucker’s bodies in your condition.”

Ryan rolls his eyes. “Okay, Mom.”

Geoff jabs his finger and goes back to dragging one of the corpses into the wheelbarrow.

“I think the vegetables are okay.” Ryan says. In spite of Ray’s protests, he’s down on his hands and knees, visibly flinching with every move but carefully inspecting the trampled plants. “A little fucked up, but they��ll make it.”

“How can you tell?”

Ryan sits up and brushes the dirt from his arms. “I’m a botanist. I know these things.”

“You were a theatre major.” Ray points out.

“You got me there.”

Ray extends a hand, helping Ryan up when he takes it. He lets go.

Ryan doesn’t.

“Listen, Ray…”

Ray swallows, shifting his weight from foot to foot while Ryan seems to collect his thoughts. He’s still holding on to Ray’s hand.

“I was so scared last night that I was going to lose you.” He turns his gaze to Ray, locking their eyes together. No amount of nerves would be enough to turn Ray’s attention. “You’re really important to me. What we have right now- this is important. But, uh… I mean, you’ve probably already figured it out- I’m not so great with the whole ‘subtlety’ thing. But I really like you.”

Ray’s heart skips a beat.

“If you’re- If you’d be, uh, if you would want to maybe… Like, potentially try to…” Ryan trails off, face tinted pink and looking a bit frustrated with himself. “Fuck, why can’t I say this. I-I would be- You would be…”

Ray huffs out a small laugh. Ryan’s facade of smooth confidence has completely melted away, and all that’s left is the stuttering nerd underneath.

He uses his free hand to cup Ryan’s face.

“You’re a dork,” he says. “I like you too.”

Ryan lights up like Ray just handed him an endless supply of Diet Coke. But he’s still just sitting there, looking shocked and happy, so Ray makes the move for both of them and presses up on his toes to kiss him.

Ryan reciprocates, and it’s a short, tender thing, and then Ray steps back, maintaining their hands as a point of physical connection.

“Wow,” Ryan says after a moment, looking almost in a daze. “If some measly broken fingers were all it took for you to kiss me, I would have snapped them myself ages ago.”

Ray snorts and squeezes Ryan’s fingers. “Careful. Keep talking like that and I’ll start demanding regular sacrifices.”

Ryan uses his index and middle finger on his bad hand to brush some hair back from Ray’s face, and he’s kind of relieved that he got covered in blood last night, because they don’t usually bother making trips to go bathe in the nearby creek, and he had built up a decent stink before the raiders came.

“What kinds of sacrifices are we talking here?”

“Oh, you know,” Ray replies, leaning into Ryan’s touch. “Fat stacks. Weed. All of the gum you can find.”

“You know we live in a bank, right? I could get you as much money as you want.”

“Oh, shit, you’re right. Guess you’ll have to give me your crown instead.”

Ryan laughs. “That’d have to be a pretty damn good trade. What are you offering in exchange?”

“Hey,” Geoff’s voice carries from probably around a block away. “You two better not be fucking in my garden.”

They look in the direction Geoff’s voice came from, then back at each other, and burst out laughing.

“It’ll help fertilize the crops!” Ray eventually manages to call out.

Geoff’s responding cry is a mix between anguish and disgust.

Ryan stops by the table to kiss the top of Ray’s head and drop off a bottle full of water before heading toward the door. “Be back in a bit, dear.”

“Aight,” Ray replies, reaching out to trail his fingers down Ryan’s arm as he passes. “Later, babe.”

Michael makes an exaggerated gagging noise.

Gavin stops staring at his cards in befuddlement to give Ray a similar look. “How do you guys already sound like old people?”

Ray blinks at him. “What?”

“Y’know,” Gavin gestures vaguely. “Like you’ve been married fifty years.”

“It’s because they’ve been dating for, like, two years, Gav.” Michael says, giving Ray a pointed look.

Ray sticks his tongue out.

But Gavin has a point, confusing as his wording might be; they’ve barely been together two months, but it seems like all of the ease that came with their friendship has only increased when romance is added into the equation. Now Ray doesn’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing or letting a touch linger too long, because there are no secret crushes to accidentally reveal, and no friendships to permanently ruin with unreciprocated feelings.

“I’m being serious, Michael,” Gavin protests. “It’s like you just flipped a switch!”

“Good dick will do that,” Ray sagely replies.

Gavin turns bright red and Michael makes another noise of disgust.

Ray grins and plays his card, winning himself the game and the two pieces of candy they had bet on it.

“Son of a bitch,” Michael groans. “Fuck you, Ray.”

“You wish.”

“I really don’t.”

“Your loss.” He says as he claims his candy.

The world is empty and dangerous these days, but Ray has staked out his claim of simplicity, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to defend that.

Luckily, as their family grows, the resources they find grow with them: two guys called Trevor and Alfredo, along with their dog, Teeko, lead a decent-sized herd of sheep with them as they cross Texas, searching for somewhere safe to settle. A woman named Mica comes and stays for a few days, disappears, and returns a month later with hundreds and hundreds of seeds for all sorts of edible plants. Lindsay and Meg come in the dead of winter with a horse-drawn wagon filled with canned goods that pull them comfortably through the cold. The best addition comes from Larry, who informs them that the raider tribe that had been living in the nearby town has apparently cleared out, leaving their sizeable cattle herd behind. With some careful planning and help from Teeko, the herd is relocated to the fields around their town, and the barns are refurbished to accommodate the new population.

They expand the fence perimeter and reinforce it. Trevor works with Matt to devise a way to insure their water supply stays reliable. The garden grows, and they have access to meat now that they have all of this excess cattle.

Things are looking pretty fucking good.

Ray is sitting with his feet dangling over the rooftop’s edge, Ryan sat criss cross beside him, pressing his knee against Ray’s thigh.

“Do you think things will ever go back to normal?” Ray asks.

Ryan contemplates for a moment. “I hope not.”

Ray turns to look at him. “Why?”

“Humans weren’t very good at being nice to the planet,” he explains, gaze soft as he watches the sunset. “We fucked it up pretty good. Nature took back over.”

“Nature got tired of you putting farm animals in holes,” Ray says, plucking the crown from Ryan’s head and placing it on his own.

“It was a very economical use of space,” Ryan argues, but he’s smiling. He leans in to kiss Ray, and while he’s distracted, steals his crown back.

Ray grasps his chest dramatically. “I can’t believe this,” he says. “Betrayed, by my own boyfriend.”

“Be happy I didn’t cut your hand off, you little thief.” Ryan replies, patting Ray’s knee.

“You’re so fucking weird.” Ray leans against Ryan’s chest and sighs contentedly as he automatically reaches around his shoulder to tuck him in closer.

“Yeah, but you knew what you were getting into.”

“I certainly did.”

They both pause to watch the last sliver of the sun disappear beyond the horizon. Stars are already winking into view in the darker portion of the sky; it’s shaping up to be a beautifully clear night.

They retreat to the blankets they laid out earlier and lie back, watching as a few points of light turn into hundreds, then thousands, and they have a clear view of the meteor shower playing out overhead, pressed together on the rooftop, hands clasped.

And it’s perfect.

#Ragehappy #Raywood #kingvav #isthisjustanillusionn #rhss17

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clibbornjessica · 6 years

Text

Interesting facts about Car Recovery

Just how they function

All bands need to be completely noted with proposed customer info and also a caution declaration.

When the healing lorry gradually as well as progressively uses pulling tons through the band to the immobilized one, the band because of its flexible nature, extends substantially. The power hence briefly kept in the band assists to 'spring' or 'nab' the bogged automobile out.

The power kept in them and also the tons related to the band throughout healing could make them exceptionally harmful products, specifically for onlookers. Actually, incorrect usage has actually triggered casualties.

Needed info consists of:

The brand

- recognition of the Irish manufacturer or distributor

- a set code or identification number

- guidelines for right usage

- minimal breaking toughness.

The obligatory caution declaration has to highlight the threat of making use of car add-on factors, such as tie-down eyes as well as towballs, that are not made for automobile recuperation.

It should likewise suggest that the band be matched to the Gross Lorry Mass of the lighter of both lorries associated with the healing which the minimal breaking toughness be in between 2 and also 3 times the automobile's GVM.

Healing band choice

For a seize band to function as planned it has to be matched to the GVM of the lightest automobile associated with the recuperation. If the band is as well light there is a danger of it damaging. If it's as well hefty it will not extend, and also for that reason will not give the wanted aid and also it might additionally raise the shock packing on the connecting factors causing enhanced danger of disastrous failing.

Security basics

Very carefully evaluate the circumstance, consisting of the very best instructions for automobile recuperation (onward or turn around) as well as various other feasible threats

Clear mud or sand far from the stuck automobile's wheels as well as under-body, keeping in mind instructions of the pull

Setting the tow car according to the stuck cars and truck (no greater than 10 ° from straight) with the range in between them regarding 2 meters much less compared to the un-stretched band size

Lay the band out in between the autos, eliminating spins and also twists. Affix to the automobile supplier's advised (get in touch with proprietor manual) or various other appropriately synthesized recuperation factors. DON'T utilize tiedown eyes, towballs/towbars, bullbars, suspension elements-- they typically aren't created for healing lots. Lorry damages, as well as deadly injuries, have actually arisen from failings!

Kind an S-shape loophole in the 'extra' 2 meters near the band's center. Location a recuperation damper bag (affordable) or hefty covering throughout the band near its mid-point to serve as a recoil damper.

If irons are needed for lorry link, usage just top quality lots ranked irons (workload limitation, minimum of 3.5 tonnes). Hand tighten up the pin and also withdraw 1/4 count on assist stay clear of pin seizure

Prevent signing up with bands where functional. If needed, because of terrain and so on, just utilize appropriate signing up with strategies. NEVER usage steel items consisting of irons - they could come to be harmful rockets if anything stops working

To sign up with 2 bands, take completion of band A up via the eye on band B. Get to down via the eye of band An as well as order band B behind the eye as well as raise it up with the eye of band A. Continue drawing band B's whole size with. Draw the resulting joint limited with a rolled up publication put throughout the joint in between both bands. See picture. This will certainly permit the bands to be divided after usage.

Towing security

Sightseers must not remain in front, in between or behind the automobiles and also have to go to the very least 1.5 times the band size sideways.

Select which motorist is to guide the procedure and also settle on appropriate signals.

Car Recovery

Constantly adhere to directions provided with tools

Just make use of the best tools that remains in great problem and also appropriately ranked for the automobile masses and also tons entailed

Do not make use of bands that are reduced, severely chaffed or otherwise harmed.

Maintain them in the great problem by cleaning them in tidy water to get rid of mud, sand, and so on, after that completely dry as well as save them in a canvas bag.

Do not utilize them as raising slings or for traditional towing obligation.

Do not create them with pen pens.

Establishing for the healing

Selecting the best equipment to make use of for both cars will certainly require some reasoning, however as a beginning factor usage 1st equipment for the recuperation cars and truck and also (depending upon instructions of healing) 1st or turn around for the bogged lorry. Automobiles with a transfer situation need to make use of 1st or Second reduced variety.

The recuperation lorry after that gradually increases onward at regarding 10-- 12km/h-- a huge 'run and also jerk' isn't really essential or preferable. Consistent energy and also the flexibility of the band gets the job done.

As the slack in the band simply uses up, the harmed car's chauffeur additionally tries to clear out of the bog.

Be smooth, prevent wheel spin and also do not make use of extreme rate or continuous jerking.

If the lorry cannot be removed in 3 efforts various other approaches such as winching could be required.

via All about Business and Home http://allbusinessandhome.blogspot.com/2017/11/interesting-facts-about-car-recovery.html

from Supreme Driveways - Blog http://supremedriveways.weebly.com/blog/interesting-facts-about-car-recovery

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seraphladyvenom · 6 years

Text

We Are Family. [Fairy Tail FanFic]

Chapter 1: Onward to Fairy Tail!!!

"Sera." "Sera wake up!"

The voice was quiet at first but it began to grow after each one. "Sera! You need to wake up now!" You squinted your eyes but never opened them. You could feel the warm sun on your exposed cheek and it felt nice. The warmth was always a nice welcome, but the nagging voice was never a good one especially when it was trying to wake you from a much needed nap.

"Sera, you need to wake up, you promised we would go visit Fairy Tail today!" She pouted.

As much as you would love to continue to sleep she had a point, Fairy Tail had been at the top of their priority list for a while now but something always seemed to come up. Whether it was odd unofficial jobs, or checking out new places that were just to exciting to pass up.

"Alright alright. I'm up." You said as you rolled to your back lifting your arm and drapping it over your shut eyes.

"..."

A few moments passed before she broke the silence this time her voice was louder and more frantic. "Sera! You promised! So wake up already! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" She flailed her arms. "Alright! I'm up!" You sighed and sat up, long black locks falling over your porcelain toned face. A huge yawn, and you fluttered your eyes open and revealed sea green eyes that stared sleepily out into the flowing stream in front of you.

"Well it's about time Sera! I've been waiting forever ya know!"

"Don't be such a drama queen Lira it isn't even that late and I was only asleep for a couple of hours." You replied noncholantly.

"Well it was forever for me okay?" She pouted. "I know I know." You chuckled as you pulled your long flowing black hair up into a ponytail.

You stood up and stretched out cracking a few bones. That stretch felt as if you'd been stuck in the same position for many a millenia and you just freed yourself for the very first time.

Walking up to the flowing stream you washed your face, crouched down as your elbows rested on your knees. Your face dripped water droplets as you stared blankly at the green scenery around you. For a moment it felt as if time had stood still. No sound, no movement, just completely lost in your thoughts.

"Fairy tail..." your dazed state almost felt like seconds but Lira's soft but shrieky voice broke you free from your trance. "Sera Sera! Are you alright?!" You blinked a bit confused as you looked down at your little friend.

"What do you mean Lira?"

Lira's face was full of concern as she looked up at you with her big, watery brown eyes. "It's just...you spaced out again. You looked rather troubled and I kept calling you for 5 minutes now. I was scared you might be ill or something."

You felt guilt as you stared down into the troubled face of your companion. You hadn't realized just how long you were spaced out. "Oh, I'm really sorry Li...I didn't realize I was doing it." You half cracked a smile. "That's the problem Sera...you didn't know you were doing it and you do it a lot. I'm just afraid something's wrong and you aren't telling me..." Her voice began to crack as she sniffled beneath her paws. You raised your hand and rested it on her head and rustled her fur. "I'm fine, I promise. I just haven't been sleeping well lately that's all! So please, don't worry." You smiled your brightest smile.

"Did you have bad dreams again?" You nodded. "They seem to occur more frequently now a days, huh?"

You nodded again. "Yes, but it's fine, nothing I can't handle."

"Maybe you should talk to someone about them?" Her look was so innocent that if it were on any other occasion you'd agree. "You know very well why I can't do that." Lira looked down sadly and her voice almost sank with her frown. "I know..."

You stared for another moment before you slapped your knees and stood back up taking another long stretch before going up and grabbing your bags. "Well enough stalling, it's time Lira." Your voice was almost bouncy as you smiled and turned to your furry little friend. "Let's go meet our idols!!"

Lira's face immediately beamed up and of there were ever a trace of sadness and concern on it, you would not have known because her saddened eyes were replaced with that of pure joy and excitement. "Okay! Let's gooo~! She jumped before running off after you. "Hey wait for me Sera!" You laughed as she began to disappear between the trees. "Hurry up then slow poke!"

~*~*~*~

"..."

"Whoa!" Y'all spoke in unison as y'all stared up at the Fairy Tail guild which towered over the both of you. Just looking up to the top sent the butterflies in y'alls bellies into a frenzy and y'alls heads began to spin giving you the feeling as if you're about to fall from a really high place.

"This is it..."

"Fairy tail..."

You looked at Lira who was staring at the guild with almost tears in her eyes. "Sera..."

"Yeah?" "...in there are some of Fiore's strongest wizards." "Yes" "...and our idols are just behind these wooden doors." "Most likely." Lira began to tremble and Your smile faltered a bit. "Are you okay Li?" "Mhm. I'm just really excited. I'm ready to go in now." You nodded and smiled at her before turning your attention to the guild once more. For a moment your face was very serious.

"Fairy tail at last...in here, past these doors, is a hidden adventure that will clearly change not just mine and Lira's lives, but everyone in the guild...but there is no turning back now, the time has come, no matter what, the events that are meant to be will unfold with or without us...it's just..." at that moment a flash of memory came forward, one of a man whose face was not seen, but merely the wicked smirk he portrayed in that instant, and it was gone in a flash, left as fast as it came. You gripped the handle of your backpack tightly.

"Our destinies are not ours to change. We cannot change what's meant to come in our futures no matter how much we want to...but just this once..." Another flash memory popped into your mind but this time an obscured face of a man that had a huge, goofy, almost childish and lighthearted grin.

"It's what I want..." You whispered to yourself and raised your hand and rested it on the huge, heavy wooden door and began to push. "Wait Sera!"

You paused just as you shifted your weight a bit to push it open and looked at your friend a bit confused. "What is it Lira? Is everything alright?"

"I'm just nervous, what if they don't like us? What if they kick us out before we can meet our idols? What if they decide to turn on us? What's going to happen to us if they decide they don't like us?" Her eyes began to water. "I don't think I can go through that again..." She sniffles as a tear rolled down her cheek.

You pushed away from the door and knelt down beside her wrapping your arms around her tightly. "Don't over think it Rosalira. I won't let anyone hurt you okay. No matter what happens, I will never turn my back on you." You assured comfortingly.

Lira nodded and hugged back for a bit before pushing back slightly. "I know that, thank you." she smiled.

You smiled back. "Besides this is Fairy Tail, they are the nicest guild in ALL Fiore, they help tons of people and never hurt anyone! You've heard the stories. I mean come on!" You chuckled and stood back up resting your hand back on the door.

"I bet we will be greeted with friendly smiles and welcoming faces! How bad could it be?!"

Lira smiled and nodded. "Oi!"

You laughed and slowly began to push open the door to Fairy Tail's guild with a huge smile on your face as you anxiously awaited what would come next.

"..."

You opened the door to the Fairy Tail guild with one strong push and immediately as the doors began to split open a gush of air blew right through you bringing with it a sense of excitement. You could have sworn you heard a loud humming noise and a flash of black zip past you as it did but you were way to excited and anxious to really give it much attention.

Plastered on your face was the biggest and brightest smile you had and your eyes were shut from the giant grin alone that you hadn't realized what was heading your way. As your eyes open slightly you noticed a dark object heading towards you, getting bigger by the second and before you could even comprehend the situation it made contact.

Bam! Right straight dab in the middle of your noggin. The sheer force of the impact sent your head hurdling backwards. On instinct your leg propped up and your arms reached up as your body leaned back and it was a mystery even to you as to how you managed to not fall straight onto the ground.

Lira's eyes popped out of her head as she jumped up with a startled shriek. "Ah! Sera! Are you okay?!" You slowly stood up straight once again rubbing the red bump that had just formed on your forehead and tried to wrap your mind around what just happened. "Yeah...I think so...what hit me?" You asked dazed.

Lira turned and saw a book lying open pages down just a few feet away and she walked towards it and picked it up. "I think it was this book." She inquired as she turned it over to read the cover. "Fateful Encounter. What a strange title don't you think?" You turned around as Lira scurried back to you handing you the book as she did.

"Where did this come from do you suppose?" She asked you inquisitively. You had no clue but you were curious to find out and as you turned your body back towards the entrance and opened your mouth to reply your eyes widened when you caught a glimpse of a flying man heading right for you.

Before your body had a chance to react he had collided with you.

The moment of impact was almost surreal, as time literally stopped as his back connected to your abdomen. It was slow motion from then on as the force of the impact started to lift you off your feet. Your arms started to out stretch before you and the book you once held came free from your grasp as your feet began to lift off the ground. Your confused face began to twist as your eyes bulged out of your head and your tongue slipped out. Your hair flew foward over your face as your body went the opposite direction.

Pretty soon you were in the shape of a U as you slow motionly flew back with the man still connected to you. Lira was no better than you as all she could do was place her paws on her cheeks and stare up at you with wide, teary, worried eyes as her head slowly followed your body as it went from standing, to a flying letter of the alphabet, to colliding onto the hard pavement just a few feet away.

The collision onto the ground didn't faze you much seeing as the wind had quite literally been knocked out of you way before that. You let out a garish squeal the moment you landed and lay sprawled on the ground with the man lying on his back across your abdomen. The man of course wasn't fazed at all as he sat up and rubbed his head then jumped to his feet. "Damnit Natsu!" He growled. "I'm going to pound that ugly mug of yours into next century!" He threatened with a clenched fist. "Oh Yeah?! Bring it on streaker!" The one called Natsu retaliated.

Lira ran up to you as she screamed. "Ahh~! Sera! Sera! Are you alright?!" Her voice frantic as she kneeled next to you. You were somewhat conscious but your eyes were whirls as the world around you was going in circles. "Why is the sky spinning so fast? Please make it stop..." you splurted incoherently. You were barely able to make out the woman's voice scolding the 2 fighting or the loud slapping noises and ouches that followed right after. You had no idea what hit you, or how to make the sky stop spinning, but you clearly understood that your first encounter was NOT smiling, welcoming faces.

#fairy tail #fan fic writing #fan fiction #fanfic #fandom #my ocs #oc #ocs

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