#or if she just knows the cut was there. and what it (inadvertently) led to

[lesbianspeedy]

thoughts on the brain thoughts on the mind

#looks you directly in the eyes. so do you think mia is terrified to let anyone near her when she gets hurt on patrol. #do you. #bc there’s a direct allusion to it in TT and i think about it genuinely daily #need to specify this is about the spread of hiv via cross wound contamination #like i think about it so much #to be wounded and isolated #on a lighter note. when ollie or connor is like are like we don’t have open wounds let us help u #do u think she makes them do a spin to check #twirl. bitch. #anyway this started bc i was thinking about how likely it is that mia has a scar #where connor shot her #and then that led to me thinking about whether any scar was left from the glass cut #or if she just knows the cut was there. and what it (inadvertently) led to

[tongue-like-a-razor]

hangman request incoming ‼️‼️

so the reader is best friends w rooster and whenever she’s around hangman he’s always quite rude to her, only bc he’s harbouring huge feelings for her which he isn’t very used to. then maybe he goes too far and rooster needs to talk some sense into him (reader could be a pilot or just a close friend of rooster’s)

SORRY i’m not great and giving requests but i hope there’s something in there that you like !

Ahhhh I LOVE this request!! And I really loved writing this piece, which may or may not turn into a series.. oops I couldn't resist haha

Less Talk | Part I

Jake Seresin x F!Reader

Summary: Jake can't stand Bradley's best friend. What's more, he's probably in love with her, which really pisses him off.

CW: mild angst, Hangman being a dick aka Hangman being himself, unresolved sexual tension, swearing, drinking

Masterlist

“Do you ever not have an opinion?” Jake watches you irritably before taking a long swig of his drink. He needs the alcohol to calm his nerves so that he doesn’t inadvertently push you off your chair.

You glare at him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? A nice, safe space for Seresin to dominate the conversation without opposition.”

Jake lets out a steady breath. No one riles him quite like you do. “We’re talking about food, Y/N. It doesn’t exactly have global ramifications.”

“Actually, it does,” you respond matter-of-factly. “And are you saying I shouldn’t have an opinion unless it is ground-breaking in nature? Maybe I should just sit here quietly and look pretty.”

“Ha!” Jake cackles. “I would love to see you try.”

“Hangman!” Bradley, who’s sitting to your right, gives him a disapproving look.

You make a grimace. “I will never give you that kind of satisfaction.”

Jake meets your gaze with a hostile look. The thought of you satisfying him in any way sort of disorients him. He makes a face at you because he can’t deny that if you were to just sit there in silence, you would be exceptionally pleasant to look at. Pretty, even… maybe. Instead, he says, “How the fuck does eating avocado toast for lunch have global implications? I would love to know.”

“The recent surge in consumption of avocados - thanks to health nuts such as yourself - has led to an unprecedented increase in price to the point where those people whose culinary staple for generations has been the avocado cannot afford to keep it their diet.” You fold your arms over your chest to drive your point home while Jake just stares at you, speechless. No other woman in the world has ever rendered him that. He glances over at Bradley who is looking back at him with a slight grin. Just when Jake thinks you might be all talked out, you add, “And don’t even get me started on the environmental burden of growing enough avocados to sustain the whole of North America’s health culture.”

Jake blinks at you. “Trust me, I wasn’t planning on it.”

“The avocado trade is contributing to local violence and extortion” – you continue, but Jake cuts you off.

“Okay, okay!” he says. “I’ll never eat an avocado again.”

“Just quit spreading your avocado propaganda!”

“It’s not propaganda! They’re actually good for you!”

“How wonderful it must be living in a world where your needs come before everybody else’s,” you say bitterly.

“Can we please talk about something other than avocados?” he says tiredly, his eyes sliding to Bradley in a plea for assistance.

“If you’re looking for a topic on which I do not have an opinion” – you say, but Jake interrupts you again.

“Does such a topic exist?” he asks flatly.

You roll your eyes at him. “Did you ever think that maybe you’re the one who should talk less?”

Jake nods. “Certainly. I should talk less to you. Because you’re driving me crazy, lady.” He stands up after having downed the rest of his drink. “I’m getting another beer and, when I return, I’m going to have a conversation with my good friend here, Rooster.”

Bradley shakes his head and looks over at you. “Don’t mind him, he’s just a bitter, bitter man.”

“A bitter man who needs to be schooled on occasion,” you mutter.

Jake turns to look at you with wide eyes. He slides back into his seat. “I heard that,” he says dangerously, inclining into the table.

“Good,” you respond, leaning forward so that your noses are nearly touching. “You were meant to.”

“You are so fucking annoying,” he whispers, his eyes slipping momentarily to your mouth as you lick your lips.

“Hangman, come on, don’t be a dick,” Bradley says, also putting his weight into the table in an attempt to intervene.

Jake’s eyes are still scanning your face as you glare at him without moving away. The truth is, he could probably listen to you talk about the problematic export of Mexican avocados for hours just to watch your mouth move and to hear the passion in your voice. But he’s tired of the tunnel vision he experiences every time your boyfriend ditches you and you end up going out with your best friend, Bradley Bradshaw. This is the fifth time this month that you’ve accompanied Rooster to ‘guys’ night out’ and it’s becoming more and more difficult for Jake to shake you after each successive evening of relentless verbal sparring.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jake can see Bradley slowly inching off the table, having realized that he may be a third wheel. But Jake doesn’t need him to be some sort of wingman in this bizarre scenario where he may or may not be completely in love with an unavailable woman who happens to be an expert at pushing all his goddamn buttons. Normally, he would remedy this kind of matter with a good old romp in the hay but, considering the fact that you are in a relationship, this option is, unfortunately, off the table. Besides, he’s not entirely sure it wouldn’t have the opposite effect on him, anyway.

But, despite all the reasons for avoiding your pull, Jake can’t look away, not even for a second; not even to get another beer. He moves his face a millimeter closer to yours, just to see what would happen; not because your breath smells like Peach Schnapps and not because your eyes are absolutely destabilizing him. His nose is about a split second away from brushing yours when your phone buzzes on the table. You flinch, withdrawing immediately, leaving Jake to watch you try to frantically pick it up. You shoot him one last intimidating look before rising from the table.

“Hey, babe,” he hears you say as you walk away.

“What’s your deal, man?” Bradley says as Jake watches you step outside.

Jake shakes his head solemnly. “Doesn’t she have other friends to play with?” he asks. “Why’re you always babysitting her?”

Bradley fixes Jake with a knowing look. “Hangman,” he says with a suggestive squint to his eye. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

Jake stares at Bradley. “Yeah,” he says. “I want to tell you that your bestie is a pain in the ass, Rooster.”

Bradley’s jaw hardens. “You’re way out of line.”

“Come on, I can’t be the only one who finds her absolutely infuriating. The girl never shuts up!”

Bradley narrows his eyes. “And you don’t, at all, find that sort of thing attractive?” he says sarcastically.

“Attractive? I find it immensely aggravating, actually.”

“So aggravating that you argue right back every time,” Bradley points out with a smirk. “Movies, books, social constructs. Last week, I heard you guys bickering about space waste. What do you even know about space?”

“What does she know about space?” Jake responds angrily, pointing toward the door with his entire arm.

Bradley leans back in his seat with a sigh. “I know that you don’t actually hate her, Jake,” he says. “You can stop pretending.”

“Who’s pretending?” Jake looks up at him aggressively.

Bradley purses his lips. “What if I told you that her boyfriend is a shithead?”

Jake’s jaw tightens but he continues to stare at Bradley coldly. “Why the fuck would I care?” he says.

Bradley returns his callous expression before looking away. “Been trying to get her out of that relationship for months.”

Jake lets out a sigh. “She’s a grown-ass woman, she can decide for herself if she wants to end it.”

Bradley nods. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Jake rises from his seat, his eyes unintentionally drifting up to check if you’re still outside. He sees you pacing back and forth through the big window of the bar. You look like you’re arguing. Big surprise. “Want another beer?” he asks Bradley.

“Please,” Bradley says.

Jake nods at the cocktail you’ve been drinking. “She going to have another one?”

Bradley shrugs. “Probably, unless you’ve pissed her off enough that she decides to leave early.”

Jake scoffs. “She’d be doing me a favor.”

Bradley shakes his head with a laugh. “I don’t even know what she’s drinking, man.”

Jake shifts his jaw. “I do.”

Bradley gives him another piercing look. “Shocking,” he says with a smirk.

“Shut the fuck up, Bradshaw,” Jake says under his breath as he walks away. He glances back at the window behind which you’re now waving your arm around aggressively and yelling into the phone. He tears his gaze away from you, frustrated with himself for even giving a damn.

For some reason, he feels a painful pang in his chest, like he’s jealous of whomever it is you’re tearing into. You’ve never gone off on him quite like that and he can’t help the resentment this fosters. He tries to suppress the impulse to go out after you and rip your stupid phone right out of your hand. That would surely reclaim at least a fraction of your attention. Then maybe he could do something unexpected; something that might persuade you to channel your passion in a more constructive way.

He orders three drinks and walks back to the table with the beers before going back for your cocktail. When he returns, he exhales sharply, giving Bradley a humorless look. “Why’s her boyfriend a shithead?” he says, feeling his hands forming into fists before Bradley even has a chance to respond.

But, right when Bradley’s about to speak, you walk back into the bar.

Read Part 2

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this piece! It's my first Hangman story, so let me know what you think!

General Top Gun Tag List:

Feel free to let me know if you no longer wish to be on this list!

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@karleetakeenan

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#jake seresin #hangman #top gun #glen powell #jake seresin x reader #hangman top gun #hangman angst #hangman x you #jake hangman seresin #hangman seresin #top gun hangman #jake seresin imagine #jake seresin x y/n #hangman seresin x reader #hangman x reader #jake seresin fic #hangman imagine #jake seresin fanfiction #top gun x reader #top gun fic

[rollingsins]

three's a crowd, part ten (epilogue)

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | part seven | part eight | part nine | part ten (epilogue)

summary: you hadn’t expected this. to fall in love. with not one girl, but two. you hadn’t expected to ruin their friendship. love triangle au. 

pairing: jenna ortega x reader, emma myers x reader

word count: 920 words.

a/n: last part so it's bittersweet. thanks to all who read and came along for the journey :)))

The weekend feels like a blur.

You spend most of it in Jenna’s bed.

You call it making up for lost time. Jenna calls it making you cum so many times you lose count.

And then on Monday morning, when you walk onto set, your hand entwined with hers, everyone stares. 

Georgie smiles so hard you’re a little worried his jaw might lock. Joy gives you a look like she’s been waiting for it this entire time. Hunter is a mix of judgment and approval, you’re not sure what wins out. 

But Emma’s reaction is the one you’re most concerned about.

She’s talking with Johnna when you walk in, and if she sees the kiss you give Jenna before you part, she doesn’t react. 

Your scenes are with her today. Sunday night had been a mix of anxiety, and Jenna, and some more anxiety. The last thing you want to do is upset Emma. 

Even if she’d inadvertently given you her blessing.

But she doesn’t acknowledge it. 

You run through your scenes, fine. Pretend you’re in love with her. Give her the doe eyes you now reserve for Jenna. 

And when the director calls cut, you’re left biting your lips and staring at your hands, all confidence lost. 

Jenna’s by the craft services table, talking to Hunter. 

Emma drops down into her chair, checks her phone briefly, and then looks up at you.

“You left early on Friday.” 

Weighted. Like she knows exactly where you were. Your cheeks flush red. 

“Yeah…” You trail off, “I…. we….”

“It’s okay.” Says Emma, peering up at you, “We all know where you were. I mean, you made it pretty obvious.”

You swallow. 

“I-”

“You don’t have to explain,” Continues Emma, “I’m happy for you.” 

At this, you raise an eyebrow. 

“Seriously.” Emma says, and she looks like she means it, “I’m not being underhanded or whatever. I’m happy for you.”

“Okay,” You say, not really sure what else to say, “Thanks.”

She pauses. And then looks up at you.

“I’m not jealous.” She says after a long moment. 

At this you pause. 

“Okay?”

She bites her lip. Puts her phone down. 

“I thought I would be, but I’m not.” She continues. There’s something behind her eyes. Maybe relief. Maybe freedom. 

You swallow. Lean in a little closer, so the crew can’t hear. 

“I should apologize to you.” You say, but she cuts you off. 

“You already did-”

“But I didn’t.” You insist, “Not really.” 

Jenna’s watching, you can feel her gaze from a mile off. But right now, for a moment, your concern isn’t for her. 

“I hid behind confusion because it was easy,” You confess. Your hands are a little sweaty. You don’t do well with this - with home truths. But she needs to hear it. You care about her still, “And it was wrong. I shouldn’t have led you on. And I’m sorry.” 

Emma leans back in her seat. 

“Everything that went down between us - whoever was right and wrong, it doesn’t matter,” You continue, “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. You should just know that I’m sorry.”

She’s staring at you, gaze open. Like she doesn’t hold a grudge. 

“It’s fine,” She says, “I’m happy. We’re both happy. You and I- I thought we would have been happy together, but I was wrong. You would always pine for someone else, and I would always pine for wanting to be first choice.”

You don’t know what to say to that, so you say nothing. Drop your shoulders in a silent shrug. 

Emma’s eyes glint. 

“I would offer for us to go on a double date,” She says, voice light, “But it might be a tad awkward.” 

And that’s the end of it. 

It’s easier than you expected. 

You don’t know what you expected. 

Things to be thrown. Hearts to be broken. 

You don’t expect the acceptance. But you’ll take it, regardless. 

Emma and Johnna head off, hands linked as you stare. You feel a pair of hands on your shoulders, grip too tight to be Jenna’s. And then you turn around to see Georgie. 

“Nice.” Is all he says, a sly smile on his face, “Nice.”

“Shut up.” You murmur, but you’re too happy to be annoyed with him. Jenna’s smiling at you, across the room. 

She’s beautiful. Everything you dreamed. Everything you ever wanted. 

And she’s yours. 

“Don’t mean to brag,” Georgie continues, as Jenna walks over, “But I was team-soulmate from the beginning.” 

“Shut up.” You murmur, before she can hear. 

She touches your arm. The look on her face suggests she wants more than a touch. But there’s company. 

“Everything okay?” She asks, eyes questioning. You reassure her fears with a smile. 

“Everything’s okay.” 

She pauses. Bites her lip. 

“Emma wants to grab coffee, tomorrow,” She says, and her voice betrays her excitement, “She says she wants to be friends again.” 

“That’s great, baby.” You say, voice soft, and you mean it. It means you haven’t ruined everything. 

It means they’re still friends, despite everything. 

Before you can tell her so, Hunter is walking over, looking far more sober than you’ve ever seen him. He appraises your trio with eagle eyes. At first, you think he might say something. Might pull out his needle and pop your love bubble. 

But then he smiles. 

“Drinks, Friday night.” He says, peering over at you and Jenna, “PDA non-optional, please.” 

Jenna laughs, and then looks your way. 

“No promises,” She says, voice coy. 

And then she kisses you.

Masterlist

#three's a crowd #love triange fic #mine #fanfic #jenna ortega #emma myers #jenna ortega x reader #jenna ortega x yn #jenna ortega x you #emma myers x yn #emma myers x you #emma myers x reader

[exeggcute]

in a similar vein to the stuff I was talking about recently with google (unknowingly?) selling invalid ad placements, here's an interesting post I saw on linkedin the other day about advertisers who think they're buying ad space on one domain but are really buying ad space on another:

so, for context: the woman behind this post was one of the creators of the sleeping giants campaign, which was a (pretty successful!) attempt to choke out right-wing "news" websites and other peddlers of misinformation by drying up their advertising revenue. she went on to found the check my ads institute, which does a lot of the same stuff and more; one of the recurring themes of check my ads' messaging is that advertisers often aren't aware that they're running ads on unsavory websites (and are therefore inadvertently funding those websites via their ad budgets, even though they genuinely want to avoid doing so)... in part because advertisers frequently aren't aware of where their ads are running, period.

in this post specifically, she's not talking about individual advertisers but about one of the companies that exists to connect advertisers (brands who want to buy ad space) and publishers (websites who sell ad space)—in this case, an ad platform called unruly, although they recently got absorbed into a bigger company called nexxen.

nexxen is an all-in-one ad platform that's both a DSP (demand-side platform, which helps advertisers buy ad placements) and an SSP (supply-side platform, which helps websites sell ad placements). they make money by taking a cut of each transaction.

what's happening here is that unruly/nexxen worked with a publisher called yorogon.com who was selling inventory (i.e., ad space) through nexxen's platform. so if you're an advertiser who wants to run ads somewhere, you can go to nexxen and buy inventory from their available sellers; in other words, ad space offered by yorogon.com is one of the "products" for sale on nexxen's markplace. (most of these transactions happen in split-second auctions, though... it's not like shopping on ebay.)

the problem is that this seller who nexxen authorized as "yorogon" wasn't actually running ads on yogoron.com or any of yorogon's nonexistent clients' websites... they were running those ads on fucking breitbart lol. basically the equivalent of a supermarket agreeing to sell some new cereal on behalf of the manufacturer, but the boxes are actually full of thumbtacks.

we can pretty safely assume that breitbart did this on purpose because they know that a lot of the big advertisers with fat wallets shy away from publishers like them—for a number of reasons—which means that they have to sell their inventory to smaller, shittier advertisers with less money to spend. otoh there's no reason to believe that nexxen was deliberately taking part in the charade; for one, the information that led to this discovery is public, so anyone who gave half a shit could've figured it out (including nexxen or any of their advertisers lol). not exactly some vast conspiracy when your extremely public records give away the mismatch. and for two, the whole "promising to run an ad in a certain location but actually running it in a different location" is a massive fucking no-no even if the "different location" isn't andew breitbart's personal wank cave. from that last link I just shared, scroll down a bit and you can find this:

note that the warning code isn't "you're buying ads on a shitty website that sucks," the warning is "you're buying ads on a website that isn't what it says it is." but there is a dedicated warning code! because back to the cereal metaphor from earlier, this is like—okay, even if the cereal box is full of actual cereal instead of thumbtacks, it's still a problem if you thought you were getting honey nut cheerios and then opened the box and it was full of apple jacks instead. (and god knows I would never willingly buy apple jacks.)

whatever you're selling, it has to be accurate: if you offer ad space on golflovers.com but you actually run the ad on golfenthusiasts.com, that's still a major issue and the advertisers you work with will rightfully jump on your ass about it... assuming they ever find out, lol.

what's really interesting to me, though, isn't so much that an ad platform was selling misrepresented ad inventory—because as far as I can tell, that happens all the time—but more that we only know about this particular instance because it involves breitbart. check my ads is specifically hellbent on throttling breitbart's ad revenue, which is why someone was even poking around in these seller lists in the first place. anyone else could have; the advertisers who unknowingly bought ad space on breitbart theoretically could have, and nexxen certainly should have.

but for all the ad quality and transparency standards in place, any parties involved in the advertising supply chain still have to take action and check their records to make sure they're following said standards. if they get complacent, bad actors absolutely can and will try to slip through their defenses. and what's especially embarrassing in this case is how many safety partners unruly/nexxen was working with who claim to mitigate this exact scenario... although one of them was doubleverify and they kinda suck lol

#adtech

[reesiereads]

Isaiah and the Camera (Goosebumps 2023 Analysis 1/5)

So I was rambling to my friends on Discord about my thoughts on the new Goosebumps show (it’s amazing by the way, highly recommend watching it so long as you aren’t super squeamish about bugs or broken bones) and as I was talking I discovered something…

The show’s symbolism is fucking remarkable.

So the show has a pretty basic premise right? Our five main characters enter the Biddle home and interact with one of Biddle’s now-haunted objects leading to haunted shenanigans. It seems pretty simple on the surface, right?

Well it’s a lot more deliberate then it first seems, and I’m absolutely certain Biddle led each kid to their specific object on purpose. Because each object perfectly represents their specific kid’s issues and struggles in a way that is personal.

So I’ve decided to make five posts analyzing each kid and their relationship with their specific object, starting with Isaiah.

(Spoilers below the cut, don’t proceed until you’ve seen the show. I promise it’s worth watching first)

Isaiah is our first point of view, having found Biddle’s old camera in the basement at the party. Throughout the show it’s laid out blatantly by multiple characters that Isaiah is selfish and he has a hard time looking outside of himself. At first I was sort of confused on why they were hammering on this point so harshly, surely it would be better for Isaiah’s actions to speak for themself? But what I’ve since realized is that the other characters’ perspectives on Isaiah are deliberately unreliable, the story is trying to make the viewer see Isaiah through a more negative light on purpose.

It’s not that Isaiah isn’t self-centered, because he is. It’s very clear that all of his actions are put through the viewpoint (get it?) of how they’ll affect him. However, what the other characters don’t get is that despite this self-centered viewpoint Isaiah does pay attention to those around him and he is always doing his best to be there when it counts. The story makes a point of subtlety showing throughout the show that Isaiah is reliable and the type of person to carry his burdens completely on his own. Think an Atlas-type.

Throughout Say Cheese and Die! Isaiah is shown to be massively popular. He’s the Football teams star player and the entire school adores him and relies on him to rally their morale. He’s got a pretty, popular girlfriend in Allison and just about everyone knows him. Hell, people like him so much that he has a full blown bakery after he gets hurt from how many people came to check on him. It sounds like the dream, right? From other characters perspectives it certainly looks like it, but we as the viewer know better.

Isaiah is under a massive amount of pressure pretty much on all sides. The school is relying on him for the football game but so are his parents, who Isaiah walks in on screaming at one another over the issue of his scholarships, as it’s implied that if he doesn’t get a football scholarship Isaiah won’t be able to go to college. Based on how nonchalant Margot and Isaiah act over the fight as well it’s implied this is not the first time his parents have argued around him about the issue. Already, there is a precedent that Isaiah must succeed. His school is counting on it. His family is counting on it. His future is counting on it.

He doesn’t want to let anyone down, so he pushes himself to his absolute limits and in trying to be there for everyone inadvertently causes riffs and issues in his own relationships. Isaiah has to play in the game to get a scholarship to gain his Dad’s approval so he has to cheat off Margot, even if it harms his relationship with her. Allison’s party location is leaked and she’s upset and he’s supposed to be a good boyfriend so he has to find a new location for her, even if it’s by abusing his Dad’s job. He has to get that scholarship for his family so he has to play in the game even if the stupid fucking camera predicts him getting majorly hurt in it.

Essentially, Isaiah is constantly trying to hold the whole world on his shoulders and he never confides in anyone about it. The pressure is left to eat him alive and everyone else is left believing he’s whining about small issues because his life is perfect, when really he’s so overwhelmed by everything going on and his own expectations for himself that he legitimately doesn’t have enough room left in his own head to worry about others.

Now, with that all being said, let’s talk about the camera:

The Biddle camera roughly works like this: take a picture of somebody and that picture will show that person gravely injured or dead. These situations will inevitably happen but can be stopped before they actually lead to death. Isaiah, as the one who found and is linked to the camera, is the only one who can see the pictures and the image disappears as soon as he tries to show anyone else.

Now there are three pictures taken in Say Cheese and Die! Two by Isaiah, who takes one of Allison and one of Margot the night of the party. Then one by James’ clone, which is of Isaiah. Allison and Margot are both depicted dead in their photos, however Isaiah managed to save both of them from their own doom. He takes on the responsibility of saving them and manages to do so, because Isaiah is reliable and comes through for those he cares about.

Isaiah’s fate is different. See, Isaiah tries to warn both James and Margot about the camera and moreover what he’s dealing with. Due to the photos disappearing though James (or, his clone, but that’s not really the point) doesn’t believe Isaiah and essentially belittles his seemingly stupid complaints, snapping Isaiah’s picture and making the issue worse. Then, when Isaiah goes to Margot she also does not believe him and tells him he is selfish and never worries about anyone but himself, unaware Isaiah had put together her picture and came rushing to save her.

Isaiah is stuck dealing with the camera issue on his own, similar to how he’s constantly stuck dealing with his struggles with pressure and expectation on his own because he never truly confides in anyone. Isaiah then succumbs to his own pressure and enters the game where he ends up brutally hurt, ironically dashing his chances at a scholarship.

The message is pretty clear: If you bottle up and try to deal with everything on your own and try to take on the responsibility of the whole world you are going to eventually cave and snap beneath the pressure, which will just end up hurting you more in the long run.

#goosebumps 2023 #goosebumps #Isaiah Howard #character analysis #goosebumps analysis #reesie rambles

[bayofwolves]

The Return — King (rewritten)

you guys know about path of the heroes. (probably. it's the name of an original fourth spirit animals arc i'm writing.) but what you might not know is that another part of the project is to take the existing three arcs and rewrite them. not entirely, but tweaking and modifying for continuity's sake. there are some Pretty Big canonical divergences in path of the heroes (shane is alive, for one), and since my writing starts after canon has ended, i have some explaining to do. not to mention there being some plot points in canon that i am simply not a fan of.

this may take ages, and the new arc takes priority, but that's okay. since the original course of events stays mostly the same, i can easily just do rewrites of pivotal chapters for now.

such as this one.

i completed this a while back in the summer. i guess i just never posted it, despite being so proud! this is the last chapter of the return, where we get the long-awaited reveal of who the mysterious redcloak is. personally, i wish that the author had given this chapter to abeke instead of rollan. i needed to see what was going on in her head! that was really what motivated me to redo this one.

this sets things up for the next development of abeke and shane's relationship. in the brief timeskip between the return and the burning tide, the two inadvertently end up in the same vicinity, leading to some talks and growth in their relationship. they're healing. abeke hasn't forgiven him yet, but she's noticing more and more how he's changed for the better. i noticed that abeke's attitude towards shane changes between those two books -- she seems to think better of him in the burning tide. something had to have happened. so i took it upon myself to find out what :)

but that's getting ahead of myself. for now, here's the rewritten final chapter of the return!

content warning for themes of suicidal ideation and dissociation.

quick notes:

the title of this chapter has been changed from 'redcloaks' to 'king'.

anda is with abeke, rollan and tasha! he has been given a much bigger role in this arc. he and tellun, who has not been infected for the time being, were left at greenhaven while abeke and rollan journeyed to stetriol. however, zerif's conquest of the castle forced anda to flee. he narrowly escaped and tellun led him to the evertree, where they found lenori. she believed they would be safest with his old friends, as there were no more greencloaks to protect them; thus, the boy and elk started out for nilo and were reunited with abeke, rollan and their new charge, tasha. anda and tellun were therefore present throughout the events of the return and the burning tide.

tasha calls shane cousin. why? they are indeed paternal cousins! king irwyn had another brother and tasha is said brother's only child. thus, with drina deceased, shane mia and gar leaving no children, tasha is effectively lined up for shane's throne. (abeke and rollan can add kidnapping a royal person to their list of accomplishments.) there's a lot more to this but i'll go into it some other time.

this will go through some more edits before being fully published as part of path of the heroes' lore! i have some more cleanup to do.

okay enough preamble. read it under the cut!

Spirit Animals: Fall of the Beasts

Book 3: The Return

Chapter X — King

.𖥔 ݁ ˖☾𖤓☽.𖥔 ݁ ˖

The chill wind that rose from the sea seeped into Abeke's bones. She shivered and pulled her cloak more tightly around her shoulders, but made no move to leave her spot at the ship's rail. Her gaze, fixated on the fading shape of Zourtzi in the distance, remained unbroken.

She felt hollow. She had no desire to move, to speak, even to think. She doubted she'd be able to if she tried. It took all that remained of her willpower to draw in shallow breath after shallow breath. All the life had been drained out of her, the very moment Zerif's black spiral had begun to pulse on Uraza's brow. So there she stood, watching the conquered fortress grow smaller.

Perhaps the tears would come later. So far, she didn't have it in her to cry.

The absence of Uraza was like a wound, the ugliest wound she'd ever been dealt, throbbing with every dismal beat of her heart.

She was so lost.

So alone.

Abeke brought shaking hands up to her eyes and pushed until she saw stars. She willed her heart to simply stop. What life was worth living without her spirit animal?

Soft footsteps sounded behind her. Abeke didn't need to swivel around to tell that it was Rollan. She knew his footfalls, his voice, his face, better than she knew her own.

She didn't turn as her friend walked over to her, his steps measured and unsure. It was unlike him to move so carefully around her, Abeke thought. She could feel the pity radiating from him without even seeing his face. It all made Abeke want to jump over the side of the ship.

Rollan made no sound when he reached her side, only wrapped an arm around her shoulder. At the contact, a little warmth bloomed through Abeke's body. It almost brought tears to her eyes.

"How are you doing?" Rollan spoke. Concern was etched into the familiar curves of his face. Abeke wanted to lose herself there, in the steadying weight of his brown eyes, but she couldn't hold his gaze. She glanced away.

"Empty." The sun-tipped waves of the sea rolled below them. Abeke found strange solace in their neverending flow. "Lost. Alone." Her voice didn't sound like her own. It was as if someone else was commanding her body, as the real Abeke hovered above and watched everything play out. Like a ghost.

Rollan was silent for a moment, before he spun her towards him and pulled her into a tight hug. Abeke let herself be pulled and positioned in his arms, like a doll. But as the hug stretched out, she felt the cold sheet that covered her heart begin to melt away. 

"You're not alone," Rollan mumbled into her neck. Abeke dropped her head to his shoulder and hugged him back with all the strength she had left.

When they finally pulled back, Rollan's eyes were wet. Abeke's own throat had started to close, so much so that she didn't trust herself with words. She returned to leaning over the rail, but this time, her arm brushed Rollan's.

"She was there, and then in the space of a heartbeat, she was gone," Abeke recounted. She lifted her eyes to the smoke rising from Zourtzi – the last place she had seen Uraza. "She looked at me like I was a stranger. It was as if our bond had never existed." Abeke forced herself to keep her eyes on the horizon. She knew that as soon as she closed them, she'd see nothing but the moment Uraza leaped for her throat, replaying over and over.

"We'll get her back," Rollan said fiercely. "I promise."

Turning her head, Abeke regarded her friend through a film of tears. The love and worry in his expression was almost overwhelming.

Abeke sniffed and swiped at her face before the tears could fall. She didn't know how to respond – couldn't – but Rollan seemed to understand, like he always did. They stood side by side in the silence Abeke needed.

Awkward footfalls met her ears not long after, and Abeke felt Rollan turn through their connected arms. "Hey," came Tasha's voice. Her pale hair and green cloak came into Abeke's peripheral vision as the smaller girl stopped at her other side.

"How's Kirat?" Rollan asked softly over Abeke's head.

"Fine," Tasha murmured back. "Anda's tending to him." The exchange fizzled out, and Abeke soon felt the weight of both her friends' gazes.

Abeke blinked down at Tasha's hand, covering her own on the rail. When had that gotten there? "Abeke," the Stetriolan girl was saying. Unlike Rollan, who was always in sharp focus, her voice seemed to come from a long way off. "We're here for you."

Abeke pulled her head to the side. It was all too much.

A third set of footfalls sounded on the deck behind the three. Two short steps, strong and curt.

Curiosity compelled Abeke to look. As one, the three Greencloaks turned to take in the newcomer.

It was the Redcloak.

Abeke's eyes flicked over his sweeping scarlet cloak, his black leathers, the smooth wood of his mask. She had seen plenty of Redcloaks, even on this ship, but only one wore a mask so strange. Only one of them had no face.

Some of the fog that had settled over her body since Uraza was taken seemed to lift. Who really was this mysterious warrior that had saved them time and time again?

Something deep in her heart told her she already knew.

"Is everyone in your party all right?" the Redcloak asked. His voice was deep and raspy, almost reptilian in quality. Abeke tried to compare it to the voice she remembered from her past, the voice that still sometimes spoke in her dreams, but recognized nothing.

She realized after a moment that his gaze hadn't strayed from her.

"We'll survive," Rollan said for all of them. Abeke glanced to either side of her, noticing the wariness in Rollan's face and the way Tasha nervously clung to her wrist. "Now, how about explaining what's going on here? I think it's about time for some answers."

The Redcloak tipped his head to one side as he considered Rollan, his oddly pale eyes glinting under his mask. "Soon," he said simply. "Be patient. We're taking you somewhere safe."

"Yeah, and where is that?" Rollan countered, bitterness lacing his words. "If you haven't noticed, nowhere is safe anymore. Zerif can get to us anywhere. In Zourtzi, in Stetriol and even at Greenhaven."

Tasha drooped beside her. A distant part of Abeke wanted to comfort her, but what comfort could she give?

Strangely, the Redcloak seemed to droop as well. "So the rumours are true," he said with a sigh. "Greenhaven has fallen as well."

There was something so intrinsically familiar about his stance, his speech, his whole bearing. Abeke had mulled this over for many nights, but now, with him standing a mere ten feet away, she felt everything in her threaten to spill out. Her heart ached, and she had the strangest urge to reach for him. Could it really be him? After so long?

The masked figure stared out to sea for a brief moment. "You should rest. There are more battles to come."

Then he turned and made to stride away. With her heart in her throat, Abeke pushed away from her friends and staggered forward. "Wait," she called hoarsely. "At least tell us your name."

The Redcloak turned around and fixed Abeke with his uncanny eyes.

"You've saved our lives again and again." The pounding of her heart was deafening. She could barely hear herself over it. She stepped forward again, then gripped onto Rollan's shoulder for support; he had hurried to her side. "Tell us who you are," she repeated, "so that we might thank you properly."

The Redcloak hesitated. "I'm called King," he said at last. Was it her imagination, or had his posture softened a touch? "I am the leader of the Redcloaks."

King. A hush fell over Abeke's mind. King.

As he watched her with wide eyes, Abeke heard Tasha speak from behind her. "Thank you," she said quietly. "We are forever in your debt."

King only spared a glance to acknowledge her. He tilted his chin again, then moved to walk away once more.

Abeke watched as he stopped still, his back to them. She watched him slowly turn back around. And with her heart thundering in her ears, she watched him fix his eyes on her.

His next words came soft, low. "I used to be known by another name."

Not of her own volition, Abeke found herself shaking her head from side to side. No. No.

The Redcloak drew back his hood, revealing light blond hair. Then he reached behind his head and unfastened his mask. "You knew me as Shane."

The mask fell away.

Abeke couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. She didn't react to Rollan's gasp of shock and Tasha's startled cry of "Cousin?" Her surroundings melted into waxy darkness. All she saw before her was Shane.

Though it was unmistakably him, the boy she used to know was barely recognizable. His normally tanned skin was pale, like he hadn't seen the sun in months. Knobbly green ridges had replaced his eyebrows, giving him a fearsome, monstrous look. Worst of all were his eyes. Gone was the keen blue stare that Abeke remembered so well. Instead, she was met with glowing, reptilian yellow-green. They were twice as large as they should have been, and bordered by pebbled scales. Slitted pupils stood out at their centres, holding her captive. A shudder of revulsion rolled over her.

"What happened to you?" Rollan's voice came in a horrified whisper.

Abeke hardly registered the words. Her breathing was coming in ragged gasps, and she felt the prickle of sweat all over her body. Her hands were already slick with it. She clenched them into tight fists, ignoring the way they trembled.

Of course.

It was him all along.

He and his Redcloaks had fought for them in their every hour of need – but now they were at their mercy. They were still in the dark about their motives, and now they were surrounded by them. Abeke's heart seized with panic. Her thoughts flew to Tasha, Shane's rival for the throne, and Anda and Kirat, belowdecks with the rest of the Redcloaks. Would they be safe with Shane? What if his only reason for helping them was a twisted desire to collect the newly reborn Great Beasts for himself?

The memory of the mysterious red-cloaked figure coming to her defense in Amaya sprang into her mind. He had saved her life from Arax. In Zourtzi, too, he had protected her from Zerif. Was it possible he still cared for her?

Abeke swiftly banished those thoughts from her mind. Shane was the enemy. He would always be the enemy. And this reveal was proof he would never stop lying.

I'm called King. Abeke shook with barely repressed tension as she remembered his words. An image of Shane with the Devourer's crown atop his head and a wicked smile on his face flashed through her memory. I am the leader of the Redcloaks. She saw him at the head of the Conqueror army at Muttering Rock, almost obscured by their black masses, seated astride his giant crocodile. How did she not see it before? How could she be so foolish?

She knew who the Redcloaks were.

They were enemies.

Shane's eerie eyes bored into her. Abeke recognized them now as crocodilian. How could she believe, even for a moment, that he might have wanted to change for the better? The symbol of his betrayal was branded over his once-handsome face.

But Shane wasn't the only one who was different now.

Abeke was done taking chances.

And she had nothing more to lose.

Whipping the bow off her back in one swift motion, Abeke brought an arrow to the string and pointed it straight at her former friend's heart.

The world came back into startling clarity the moment she did so. She heard a scream from Tasha, heard Rollan grab the girl’s wrist to hold her at bay. Abeke kept her eyes locked with Shane's. Was it the rocking of the ship that was causing her aim to waver?

"I had hoped it wasn't you," she rasped. "I had hoped you weren't tricking me again."

Shane was silent, slowly bringing his clawed hands up.

"Abeke, he just saved our lives," Tasha said urgently. "Maybe we should –"

Abeke stared at her in blind fury. "Do you know the last time Shane saved my life?" she snapped. "He used it as a way to sneak into Greenhaven and betray us. He used me. I was nothing but a tool to him." Tasha flinched in the face of her anger and shrank a step back. Guilt flickered through Abeke, but she had no time to apologize. Resolutely, she turned her attention back to Shane and tightened her hand around her bow. "It'll be no different now."

"That's not true," Shane protested, with such force behind his words that it surprised her. "You were never a tool to me." His raised hands lowered and spread in a pleading gesture. "Much has changed since we last spoke openly… as I'm sure is obvious. Everything I've done with this mask, this cloak, this name, was not to deceive you, but to start anew and atone for my mistakes."

Abeke tilted her head to the side, steeling herself. She wouldn't let Shane's honeyed words ensnare her again. She was past this. She was stronger than this.

Her sweaty hands were making it hard to keep a firm grip on her bow. Could she shoot him, here and now? Did she have it in her?

With every passing second, she was less and less sure.

Behind her, she heard the worried voices of Rollan and Tasha. They were calling her name, trying to summon her out of her trance. It reminded her painfully of the last time she'd confronted Shane – the duel they'd fought in front of Kovo's empty prison. That time, too, she hadn't been able to finish him off. Something almost like instinct wouldn't allow her to.

She felt it now, some deep force within her, causing her arrowhead to tremble as she looked into the haunting face of her former friend. She let out a short scream, hoping to dispel some of her rage and pain. Sudden tears obscured her vision. "Give me one good reason why I should trust you," she challenged. Her voice came out raw and broken.

Shane stared at her for a long moment, and though it was impossible to read any emotion in those slitted eyes, Abeke thought she sensed immense sadness from him. "Let me speak plainly. The end is near."

Abeke gave a wry, husky laugh. Indeed, Erdas must be in her final days for the two of them to reforge an alliance.

"I know this is difficult, but I need you to trust me. To trust us," the boy said gravely. "There's something you need to see. It may be the key to saving Erdas, and perhaps the key to saving Uraza as well."

Abeke's eyes widened in shock. Hesitantly, she lowered her bow a few inches.

Shane wanted to help Uraza?

His slitted yellow-green eyes tracked her movement, unreadable, before they returned to hers. Something almost like hope lit his face. "Give me this chance, and I promise you, I won't let you down."

Abeke considered him for a long moment. Once, Shane had been a friend to her, a steady comfort even across opposite sides of the war. He had traded that all away for victory, using her as a pawn in his schemes before tossing her aside. He had made promises, and he had broken them. But now he stood before her, after saving her and her friends so many times, with a vow to save her spirit animal as well. Abeke looked at his changed appearance and felt horror. But now, she wondered if a better change was brimming below the surface.

Her bow fell to her side as the fight suddenly went out of her. She stared blankly at it for a moment, then took the arrow from the string and slipped it back into her quiver. She had thought about shooting it across the waves to release some of her tension, but decided against it. No need to waste an arrow. After all, she thought, turning dark eyes up at Shane, there are more battles to come.

She would place her trust in him for now. But for the sake of her friends, for Rollan, for the children they were tasked with protecting, she would be on her guard.

Slinging her bow over one shoulder, Abeke glanced over to Rollan and Tasha. Rollan, who knew her so well, must have read something in her hollow gaze that she herself was oblivious to. He was at her side in a heartbeat, touching her hand with his. Tasha followed in his wake, fitting herself against Abeke's other side with more uncertainty. Abeke slipped her arm around the other girl, surrendering the worst of her pain and anger to the ocean wind. Surrounded by the best things she had left in her life, she could breathe.

Abeke looked down at her friends, giving a weighty nod. Tasha returned it, then Rollan. They were with her. They would face this together. The thought renewed her strength.

With a deep breath, Abeke locked determined eyes with Shane. "Where to?" she asked.

Shane took a step forward and looked out across the water. "We sail for the Place of Desolation."

#hope you enjoyed :) #text #long post #spirit animals #spirit animals books #spirit animals series #spirit animals rewrite #path of the heroes #abeke #shane #rollan #tasha #shaneke

[fortheloveofwonderland]

Ralvez Masterlist

Spencer x Reader Oneshots

Spencer x Reader Series

Luke x Reader

Fluff & Angst (SFW)

The Reid Effect - Spencer Reid doesn't like dogs, not even his boyfriend Luke's dog Roxy. Maybe some late night cuddles can change that. Part of the 12 Days of Shipmas and S13 Square for CM Bingo. Requested by Anon. F

Baby it’s Cold Outside (But it’s Hot in Here) - Luke is out and proud and has his sights set on Spencer. Spencer didn’t realise he could like men until he starts getting confusing feelings for his coworker. And then they get snowed in with no where to turn. A / F

Capture My Heart - Spencer Reid isn't a big drinker. A night at Rossi's and one bed makes him realise drinking isn't all bad if it means he ends up in Luke's arms. One Bed Challenge. F

In the Event of My Demise - months after his release from prison, Spencer Reid still hasn’t allowed himself to deal with the residual trauma of what happened to him. When a local case triggers his inevitable breakdown, Luke Alvez must pull Spencer back from the brink or risk losing him to his demons forever. Comfort Challenge. A / F

A Chuisle Mo Chroi (Pulse of My Heart) - Spencer chronicles his unrequited love for his best friend in the form of letters to his mom. But when she meets the person Spencer has detailed to her, what happens when she inadvertently confesses her son's feelings for him? Requested by Anon. F

NSFW (minors DNI)

Neither Fish Nor Fowl - Luke tries and fails to figure out Spencer's type. Spencer makes it clear with the help of ducks. Part of the 12 Days of Shipmas. Requested by @andiebeaword F / S NSFW 18+

A Cell Divides - Luke Alvez has prison all figured out. Until he’s introduced to his new cellmate, and he knows his heart will forever be imprisoned by the messy haired angel, Doctor Spencer Reid. Roommate Challenge. A / F / S NSFW 18+

Everyday Angel - in the midst of his drug addiction Spencer bumps into a handsome jogger who helps Spencer in more ways than he’ll ever know. Ten years later when he’s introduced to new agent Luke Alvez, there is something so hauntingly familiar about him… A / F / NSFW Themes 18+

Out of Reach - Spencer and Luke are both unhappily married to different people. But when they meet each other at a swingers party, anything can happen. Requested by @/andiebeaword A / F / S (minors DNI)

The Theory of Attraction - Spencer has been standoffish towards Luke since the moment he started at the BAU. Even once they start sleeping together, outside of the bedroom Spencer still treats him with disdain. And Luke is fed up of being just a booty call. For @reidsbookclub 1 Year Celebration. A / F / S (minors DNI)

The Kids Aren’t Alright - Break Away Unity Summer Camp was once the summer destination for the youth of Virginia, but after falling on hard times it was now struggling to stay afloat. And when a young boy goes missing, Erin Strauss knows it could be the nail in the coffin for her camp if anyone were to find out. So instead of reporting it, she enlists her ragtag team of young counsellors to help piece together the events that led to the kids disappearance.

But with her staff more concerned with getting laid, getting high and a myriad of other personal problems, getting to the bottom of what happened to one of her campers seems an impossible feat. Can they put their issues aside and work together to find the truth? Or will the mystery of Riley Jenkins disappearance be swept away with the campfire embers? Either way, it’s sure to be a summer they will never forget. A / F / S (minors DNI)

ON PERMANENT HIATUS

Chapter Navigation Under the Cut

Chapter 1 - The Kids Aren’t Alright

Chapter 2 - Unwritten

Chapter 3 - Dreaming With a Broken Heart

Chapter 4 - Check Yes or No

Chapter 5 - Don’t Let Me Get Me

Chapter 6 - You Might Have Noticed

Chapter 7 - In Between

Chapter 8 - Mr Nice Guy

Chapter 9 - Happy Unhappy

Chapter 10 - Only Young

Chapter 11 - Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year

#spencer reid #luke alvez #ralvez #ralvez fanfiction #ralvez fanfic #spencer reid x luke alvez #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction

[taizi]

soft ground, claiming moon

it came from the trees

@natsumeweek 2023 day 2; keepsakes/new meetings read on ao3

(previous) (next) 

x

In a way, this situation reminds Takashi of when he was new to town—when he inadvertently led a mean ghoul straight to his bright, affable classmate and got him possessed.

Nishimura is never quick to anger when he’s in his own mind. He never snaps, never gives in to anger. He has a temper, because he’s too lively and feels too much about everything not to, but even when he’s on a long rant about the guy who cut in front of Mana at the convenience store—or waxing poetic about burning down Takashi’s old junior high school because Takashi unthinkingly mentioned the time the upperclassmen locked him in a closet there—it’s not really anger.  It’s just another shape his caring takes. 

The Nishimura in front of Takashi now is equal parts miserable and prickly. He’s wrapped in Tanuma’s jacket, a size too big, and his eyes are red-rimmed, face more and more pale, as if he’s very sick. He’s irritable as if he’s sick, too, energy sapping a little more with every step they take up the mountain toward the temple. 

When Taki bumps past him to push a low branch out of the way, Nishimura’s lips pull back briefly, like his mouth wants to snarl at her. She levels him with a flat stare. Kitamoto rattles him by the shoulder, worry warring with slightly hysterical humor. It’s enough together to snap Nishimura out of the fugue state that has seemed to be right under his skin for the last twenty-four hours. 

“Your teeth aren’t sharp enough yet to scare me, kiddo,” says Taki, who is less than one full month older than Nishimura. “Save it for moonrise.”

“Or don’t,” Kitamoto adds. 

Beneath sweaty fringe, Nishimura’s eyes are fever-bright. He looks back at Takashi, as frightened as he was in the hospital room. Maybe more so now. 

“This is a bad idea,” he says for the millionth time. 

“It’ll be fine,” Takashi tells him with a certainty he doesn’t really feel. “You’ll be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise.”

Nishimura stops walking abruptly and blurts, “You can’t!” 

He must be able to feel it. The sky is a deep, vivid blue, the sun a pale yellow orb, half-hidden in the misty mountain haze. Night is creeping in, shadows stretching beneath the trees. Change is coming. 

Tanuma meets Takashi’s eyes over the top of Nishimura’s head, transparently concerned. Kitamoto is still holding Nishimura’s hand, but he looks like he’d like to pick his friend all the rest of the way up and carry him someplace safe from all of this. Taki’s grip on the strap of her bag turns white-knuckled.

“Hey,” Takashi says. “I can. I do.”

“How?” Nishimura’s voice warbles. “How could you possibly know what’s gonna happen? What if something goes wrong? What if I hurt one of you?”

He’s quick to cry on a good day, but normally over silly, harmless things, like animal videos on Youtube, or the romance dramas he’s not ashamed of watching. 

Absolutely none of his friends are prepared for it when it happens for real. Tanuma is outright hovering now, hands half-raised, expression openly devastated. 

Not for the first time in his life, but certainly for the first time since coming to Hitoyoshi, Takashi wished he could go back in time. He wished there was a yokai like the Days Eater who could make the whole world younger—just by a month. One month. 

Then he could keep everyone out of the forest that day. He could keep Nishimura safe. 

Takashi had encountered okami before, silent, watchful messengers of the mountain gods. Even their physical forms are ghost-like. The thing that hurt his friend was something else, all twisted out of shape and mangled, horror incarnate. 

Sensei pinned it to the earth in one giant foot, but the damage had been done. Nishimura’s howls of pain were indistinguishable from the wolf’s and so much blood had poured out over his hands. It was like a nightmare. 

Taki summoned her own familiars, two trilling foxes that sprang to her side at a whistle. They weren’t particularly friendly, but they were loyal, and their hackles went up at the sight of the misshapen creature writhing beneath the cage of sensei’s claws. The second the foxes had it contained, sensei flew like water to Takashi’s side. His snow-white fur was stained obscenely by the time Kitamoto and Takashi had maneuvered Nishimura onto his back. 

When sensei was only a speck in the sky, Takashi was finally able to tear his eyes away. He made his way slowly back to Taki and Tanuma’s side, the three of them breathing heavily, hearts racing, staring at the mindless animal thrashing and swiping against the kitsune’s binding. 

They didn’t speak. After a long moment, Tanuma wound his prayer beads around his shaking hands. Taki ground a piece of colorful chalk, her favorite medium, down to dust in her restless fingers. 

It was cursed, she had said, face tight with rage and sadness, watching Tanuma release the poor thing into its next life. Her face was tacky with drying tears. Someone’s bright idea of an extermination spell gone wrong. Those stupid exorcists don’t know the damage they do. 

It was worth her anger. When the wolf was gone, and Natsume’s friends among the yokai were on alert for more creatures like it, and Taki’s finicky familiars were delivering word to the local god, she, Tanuma and Takashi were running full-pelt into town. They crashed into the hospital covered in dirt and sweat and, in Natsume’s case, dried blood. Nishimura’s parents were absent, but his brother was there, and so was Kitamoto’s entire family. 

Kitamoto was sitting in a chair, hands tucked between his knees, terror in his eyes. Someone had gotten him a fresh shirt to wear, at least. His hands had been scrubbed raw. Sensei was squished stubbornly against his side. 

It felt disloyal to think it, but they were lucky. If it had been a real wolf that mauled him, Nishimura probably would have bled out before sensei could deliver him to the hospital. If it had been an actual wraith or monster, the poison it left in him would have done nothing but destroy. 

Even cursed, the wolf was still a messenger of the mountain god, inherently divine in nature. Even the evil forced into its spirit could do good. Once Nishimura’s fever broke, he improved in leaps and bounds. Taki had to sketch a quick circle on the back of Nishimura’s hospital bed to lightly confound the medical staff who otherwise might have been confused at the unnatural rate of healing. 

When they weren’t glued to Nishimura’s side, they were pouring themselves into research.  It didn’t take them long to figure out the nature of the beast. Especially when Tanuma overheard one of the nurses asking Nishimura’s brother if Nishimura had any allergies. 

Eggs when he was little, Kiyoshi replied, nonplussed. But he outgrew that. 

He’s having a bit of a reaction to something, the nurse said. It might be the dressings. They contain silver. It’s a rare allergy, but not unheard of. I’ll change these and we’ll go from there. 

Oh, god, Tanuma had said out loud, and then fled the room when Kiyoshi and the nurse looked at him weird. 

Since then, they’ve poured every second of their time and energy into preparing for the full moon. The Yatsuhara spirits are active and vigilant, hundreds of secret little guards, and Takashi can feel himself thrumming with the excess energy. Ogata and Shibata are meeting at the station in Yatsushiro and according to their LINE messages, they’ll be in Hitoyoshi within the hour. 

They’ve got this. Whatever happens, they’ll handle it together. Takashi gazes at Nishimura, wishing he knew how to tell him that Nishimura is the one who taught him how to do that in the first place. How to put his faith into his friend’s hands and let them hold onto it. 

That noisy, clingy boy from his homeroom who attached himself to Takashi on day one, who adamantly refused to let Takashi wander off alone. Takashi is determined to return the favor.

“You won’t hurt anybody,” Takashi tells him now. “You’ll still be you.”

Nishimura’s eyes drip with tears. His fear is visceral. There’s nothing he can do to stop the sun from going down. There’s nothing any of them can do to stop the change from coming. 

But Takashi can, at the very least, make his friend less afraid.

“We have the best witch in Kyushu here to help,” he says lightly. It makes Taki smile at him, and then at Nishimura when he glances her way. “And our favorite monk-in-training, and sensei. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay? We won’t let it.”

While Tanuma’s brain buffers, surprised and pleased to be anyone’s favorite anything, Nyanko-sensei jumps down from his shoulder and lands with a muffled thump in the damp leaf-litter. 

“That’s right, brat,” sensei says. “A puny wolf is no match for me. Now hurry up and get walking before the strawberry cake in Kitamoto’s bag goes bad.”

“That was supposed to be a surprise, you rat!” Kitamoto shouts. 

Nishimura laughs. It’s wet and shaky, and he looks surprised to have done it, but it leaves a tiny smile on his face. He crouches when sensei paws imperiously at his leg and scoops the fat cat up into the crook of his arm. 

They climb the rest of the way to the temple in better spirits. Daylight is barely clinging to the sky with pale fingers. Tanuma’s father left the lights on for him before he left. It would ordinarily be the kind of warmly-lit beacon that takes all the stress out of your shoulders, a comfortable, familiar, safe sight at the end of the road. 

But today the sight is marred by Natori, standing on the path way with his arms folded and a bag at his feet. Something glints in his hand. His familiars drift warily behind him like sharks. 

“Looks like I’m fashionably early,” the exorcist says with a gleaming grin. “Introduce me to your friends, Natsume.”

#natsumeweek #natsume yuujinchou #natsuyuu #natsume takashi #nishimura satoru #kitamoto atsushi #tanuma kaname #taki tooru #nyanko sensei #my writing #natsuyuu fic #im so far behind on natsume week and its still early lmao #soft ground claiming moon

[dragonfirerogue-writes]

Kindred Spirits pt. 3

Jade West x Reader

What happened?

Things have been good for you since moving to LA. You made new friends, let your creative side thrive, and settled well with your mom. Best yet, you met Jade. The beautiful goth was everything you never thought you wanted in a person. And you two had quickly gotten along, much to the surprise of your other friends. But now? Things changed.

And you didn't know why.

Jade had been getting increasingly distant from you. Constant texts turned into once a day. Hangouts became nonexistent. Lingering touches were only memories now. You confronted her about it, but it led to an argument. Harsh words were spoken and it put an end to whatever relationship you had with her.

Standing at your locker, you let out a sigh as you relived the fight you had with her two months prior.

The school hallway was quiet for once and Jade was alone. You were taking this chance. Taking hurried steps, you made it to the goth just as she closed her locker.

"Jade, can we talk?"

"Nope."

"Jade."

"No!"

You moved to block Jade's path, knowing that if she left now, you wouldn't be able to catch her again. The other girl glared at you, but it did nothing but bolster your actions.

"Jade, why have you been avoiding me? What did I do? Just tell me. We're friends, aren't we?"

The goth huffed before crossing her arms, creating a barrier between you two.

"We're not friends. I hung out with you cuz you were new and I needed a reason to let people's guards down so I can terrify them again."

You just let out a scoff. "So what? Hanging out with me and watching horror movies together NO WHERE IN VIEW OF OTHERS was part of that plan?"

She just shrugged. "Had to make it believable."

"That's bullshit and you know it." Your frustration started to bubble over. "Just tell me the truth."

"That is the truth!" The yelling had started. Your gut was telling you that things weren't going to end well, but you persisted.

"No, it's not! You can't stand there and say we weren't friends after all this time!"

You suddenly had a pair of scissors pointed at your face. "I can, and I will. And if you keep pestering me about it, I won't hesitate to cut you."

With that threat, Jade pushed past you. You tried to stop her only to feel a sharp stinging on your cheek. Touching the wound, you could feel a bit of blood dripping down. Jade had whirled around to push you back, but had cut you as a result. You stood there in shock, baffled at the fact that your supposed best friend actually came through with her threat.

"I-I told you." Jade hid her shock better. It wasn't intentional, but if it made you go away, she'd take it.

"Yeah, fine. You win." Your heart crumbled as you walked away, feeling foolish for committing to a nonexistent relationship.

Your thoughts were interrupted by someone calling your name. Looking up, you saw Tori walking towards you with a smile. Since Jade still hung around with the others, you had inadvertently stopped hanging around them while avoiding Jade.

"Hey, Y/N." Tori pulled you into a hug, which you reciprocated in earnest. "We missed seeing you outside of class."

"I miss you guys too. It's just... Awkward, ya know?" The rest of the gang figured out the situation fairly quickly. "Sorry for not being around more."

"Oh, I understand. Don't worry about it." She gave your arms a few soothing rubs. "Take your time. We'll be here when you need us." A grateful, albeit sad, smile graced your face. Even though Jade was your best friend, Tori was your first. Being distant wasn't going to drive the Latina away.

"I do have a question for you though..." You raised a questioning eyebrow and gestured her to continue.

"I know you don't sing in public, but Andre and I were planning this song and I think your voice would be perfect for it."

You were self conscious about your singing voice. Others always seemed better than you and it was a bad habit of yours to compare. Tori happened upon you singing once and you made her promise not to let anyone know. But every once in a while, she would insist on letting others hear your voice.

After thinking about it, you actually relented and agreed to sing with your friend. It was a great excuse to hang out with Tori and Andre at the very least.

-----+++++-----

Jade was sitting with the rest of her so-called friends at their usual table at the Asphalt Cafe. They were all chattering about while she picked at her food. It wasn't until your name was mentioned that she started paying attention.

"You're gonna go see Y/N!?" Cat exclaimed excitedly. "Tell them I said hi and that I miss them!"

Andre chuckled as he shoved the remnants of his food in his mouth. Tori hefted her backpack onto her shoulder and nodded. "We will. And we'll ask if they wanna see you during rehearsals some time."

"Rehearsal for what?" Jade asked, suddenly curious.

"For the concert next week." Tori answered. "Y/N and I are gonna sing while Andre plays the piano."

"Y/N doesn't sing." The goth was confused. "I've asked before. They insisted they didn't sing."

"Well, I asked them to sing with me and they agreed. And they're actually pretty good." Tori just shrugged and walked off with Andre, leaving Jade confused and a little hurt. The pain in her heart jolted her emotions, making her realize that it may be harder than she thought to bury her feelings and shove them away.

-----+++++------

The night of the concert approached far too quickly for your liking. While you usually had general show anxieties, tonight seemed worse because this was essentially your singing debut at Hollywood Arts. Dancing is something you knew you were good at. You were actually very confident in it. Singing on the other hand? You always had insecurities about. And now the entire school was going to hear your voice.

And you were terrified.

You were hunched over a table, gripping the edges to help stave off the tremble in your hold body. Tori was trying to help by rubbing your back. Andre was trying to hype you up. It helped a little, but it felt like it wasn't enough.

The rest of your friends show up, excited at first but then concerned when they all see you.

"You ok, Y/N?" Beck asked. "You don't look too good."

"Pre-show anxieties. They get it all the time," Jade answers. "Though... Never this bad."

She moves closer to you to place a soothing hand on your shoulder, much to everyone's surprise. Except for Beck who had first row seats to Jade's emotional war. You flinch slightly at the unexpected touch. Turning your head, you look at her only to have your heart clench at the sight of worried eyes. You take a few steps away to clear your head.

"I'm fine, I'm fine... Ok, I'm not but I will be." You inhaled a deep breath and hoped it'll help you calm down. "... Maybe. Ugh..."

Your body slumps in defeat as you wonder whether it was too late to drop out or not. As if reading your mind, Tori comes up to you and pulls you into a crushing hug.

"Don't even think about it. Andre and I need you for this show to be great." Her deceptively strong hold keeps you steady. Your arms cling onto the thinner girl as she offers encouraging words. "We'll be right there with you. It'll be like any other rehearsal."

Jade could feel the burning of jealousy in her core. She wanted to lash out, to tear you always from Tori and into her own arms. Or to just tear Tori's arms off. Oh, she knew now that it was futile to resist her feelings. She just hoped that it wasn't too late.

At that moment, the stage manager appeared to let them know that there were five minutes left until the show started. The gang leaves to find their spots in the audience. Jade lingers behind, hoping to catch a moment alone with you. She gently takes your hand before you walk away, but as soon as you look at her, her throat closes up.

"What?" You let out an exhausted sigh. There was already so much energy burnt from your anxiety that you didn't want to deal with anything else. You just wanted to perform, go home and exist in a blanket cocoon for the rest of the weekend.

"I..." Jade flounders at her words, mouth gaping like a fish. She was trying, but seeing your tired look made her falter. The words wouldn't come out. She desperately needed them to come out.

She couldn't lose you like this.

Thankfully for her, you could read Jade like a book. You could see that there was an attempt being made. Feeling her hand grip yours like a lifeline, you decide to take the jump.

"Jade, we'll talk later, ok. After the show."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

-----+++++-----

Tori and Andre glance at each other then at you, signalling their readiness. You nod and close your eyes, taking a deep breath. The song started with you, so it was now or never. The opening notes of the piano rang out and you start your count before opening your mouth.

The lights dim as you, Tori and Andre walk to the stage. The set up was outside and the previous act just finished. They give the three of you a thumbs up as they retreat to the wings and you respond with a nervous smile. You grip the microphone tightly and scan the crowd for your friends. Your nerves lessened when you stepped onto the stage, but the nausea was still there. Hopefully, seeing your friends would help you focus.

You keep me holding on

Bated breath, it's always something

Baby you like to play your games

Messing with my brain like it's nothing

Tori's voice joins you, harmonizing with every other beat.

When you call, I come running right over the edge and I'm falling.

Got me chasing these eight letters, three words, just say it

I'm all in.

Your eyes open on that line and zero in on Jade in the audience. These lyrics were specifically for her and you had to make it known. Your cards were on the table now.

Don't you know, baby I would give you the world

Would you take it from me?

Don't you see I would do everything for you?

I'd steal you the moon and the sun and the stars, every one

If you would just say I'm your girl

I'd give you the world, I'd give you the world.

As Tori's verse begins, you move your focus onto her. If you stared at Jade for too long, you would've missed your cues and you weren't about to make a fool of yourself in public. Mirroring what she did with your part, you piped in again, harmonizing with Tori on every other beat. The eyes of the audience affected you less now that you were getting into the performance. Your body started to sway with the music during the next chorus and your emotions started to flow through your voice just as the bridge began.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm giving you all of my love.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, boy it's been long enough

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

At the height of the song, right at the beginning of the final chorus, both you and Tori take the microphones off of their stands. You sing towards each other before approaching the edge of the stage and belting to the crowd. As soon as the final note was sung, the audience erupts in applause. You and your two friends take your bows and scurry off the stage.

-----+++++-----

Jade stands frozen as cheers surround her. She was letting the full effect of the performance envelope her like a blanket. While her body was still, her heart was hammering in her chest. Beck was the one who shook her out of her reverie to announce that they were going to congratulate the trio on their performance. With a nod, the goth follows her ex, eager to give her response.

When the group arrives backstage, echoes of congratulations rumble through everyone. Jade was the only one who was quiet, until she met your eyes. Everyone backs up in silence as she approaches you. Once you're face to face, you open your mouth to say something only to be interrupted by a surging hug. Your crush had pulled you into her arms. It was so sudden that you only hugged back out of instinct. She buried her face into your neck and murmured something only you could hear. Your friends could see a relieved smile on your face as you clung tighter onto Jade.

"I'm all in."

Prev

#jade west x reader #victorious imagines #a dragon tries to write #i need to maintain my tenses....

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Marco Polo

Synopsis

Arriving in Central Asia in 1289, the Doctor and his companions join the caravan of the famous Venetian explorer Marco Polo as it makes its way from the snowy heights of the Pamir Plateau, across the treacherous Gobi Desert and through the heart of imperial Cathay.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Galaxy 4

Synopsis

The Doctor, Vicki and Steven arrive on an arid planet where they meet the beautiful Drahvins and the hideous Rills. Each has crash-landed after a confrontation in space. The Rills are friendly, compassionate explorers. The Drahvins are dull-witted, cloned soldiers, terrorised by the intelligent, warlike matriarch Maaga.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Myth Makers

Synopsis

When the TARDIS arrives on the plains of Asia Minor not far from the besieged city of Troy, the Doctor is hailed by Achilles as the mighty god Zeus and taken to the Greek camp. He meets Agamemnon and Odysseus. Forced to admit he is a mere mortal — albeit a traveller in space and time — he is given two days to devise a scheme to capture Troy.

Steven and Vicki, meanwhile, have been taken prisoner by the Trojans. Vicki, believed to possess supernatural powers, is given two days to banish the Greeks to prove she is not a spy.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Ark

Synopsis

The Doctor and his companions Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet arrive some ten million years into the future, on board a generation starship which is carrying the last of humanity away from an Earth that is about to fall into the Sun. However, the cold that Dodo has could prove devastating to these future humans and their servants, the Monoids.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Gunfighters

Synopsis

When the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in the town of Tombstone in 1881, the Doctor's only aim is to find a dentist. Adamant that they should only stay a night in Tombstone, the Doctor finds their stay prolonged when he inadvertently becomes involved with a group of gunmen out to kill Doc Holliday.

Propaganda

I know the song is bad, but is it really? When I watched this for the first time it was slightly annoying, occasionally very funny (like when we linger on Charlie's body for what must have been a full minute while the lyrics of the song talked about how he just died, an iconic moment in doctor who for me). But then a few months ago I watched it with a bunch of other people and it was so fun, specifically because of the song. Its great, the Gunfighters is extremely underrated and I love it dearly, its one of my favourite first doctor stories, and the last chance saloon is a regular ear worm of mine (anonymous)

The Smugglers

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives on the coast of seventeenth-century Cornwall — much to the astonishment of Polly and Ben. Pirates led by Captain Samuel Pike and his henchman Cherub are searching for a hidden treasure, while a smuggling ring masterminded by the local squire is trying to off-load contraband.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

#round 1 #the gunfighters shouldn't be here #fighting for survival #she should be with the top stories that automatically advanced to round 2 #but here we are #she better make it into the next round

[ravendas-xiv]

A Flame Kindled

(Sanji's first kiss and my first published FFXIV ficlet. Please be gentle!)

“Are you cold, Sanji?”

The red-haired woman’s query was cast over her shoulder on a puff of icy breath as she leaned against the railing that surrounded the compound of the place the Garleans called “Victor’s Spoils”. The foreboding building overlooked the icy plains of Cerulea Ingens in one direction and the looming tower dominating the city of Garlemald in the other. Hyperia kir Quinntus, however, seemed quite unbothered by the frigid temperatures and the snow flurries that swirled upon gusts of wind that seemed to constantly blow across the icy landscape, her form clad in an Imperial-issued coat, thick pants, snug fur-lined gloves and boots.

Of course, she wouldn't be cold, Sanji Oronir thought with no small amount of jealousy as the Xaela huddled upon one of the worn metal chairs set up upon the raised deck overlooking the icy wastes, the frigid winds ruffling his shoulder-length black hair. She was born and raised here. This is probably a mild spring day to her.

As Sanji curled even further upon himself, almost as though to burrow within the heavy coat he’d been issued, he fought to keep his teeth from chattering as he managed to mumble out petulantly, “Of course I am. It’s freezing out here.”

Hyperia turned to furrow her brows at his snappish tone. Sanji had always been one to try and keep up a cheery demeanor, no matter the hardship. For such obvious irritation to slip through in his tone, he must have been truly suffering. Offering a sympathetic smile, she gestured to the faint path worn in the snow that led back to the Ilsabard contingent’s home camp, the border gateway town that had been had deemed “Camp Broken Glass”, but that she knew as Laterum.

“You could’ve gone back with the others, you know.”

Sanji’s gaze followed her gesture to fix briefly on the faint welcoming glow of the distant aetheryte…and the reminder of the warm cots and hot food that awaited them there.

“I didn’t want to leave you alone here”, he murmured quietly, regretting the words even as he uttered them. He knew how much she hated feeling “coddled”, but instead of offering a brusque retort, Hyperia pushed from the railing to settle in next to him on the bench, leaning her back against his arm.

It took every ounce of willpower for Sanji not to slide an arm around her, wanting to avail himself of the added warmth she offered, instead choosing to rub his hands together briskly, silently appreciating the thickness of the fur-lined gloves they had been issued.

For several long moments they remained this way, together just watching the faint hazy glow of the sun as it began to settle behind the rugged peaks of the Magna Glacies, until Hyperia’s voice quietly broke the calm, “What’s wrong? Aside from the cold, that is.”

Another long stretch of silence drew out between them as Sanji mulled over the answer. Ever since they had departed Ala Mhigo and headed into the icy wastes of Garlemald, they had been forced into close quarters, nearly everyone huddled together for warmth, during the first few days here before Hyperia and the other technicians could get the heaters working again. Not that he was complaining, but he knew there was a part of her that still mourned her failed relationship with her former betrothed. A relationship that he’d had a hand…though inadvertently…in ending. Though he was astute enough to realize at the time that her former lover had written her off long before Sanji had ever entered the picture, the younger Xaela's presence had apparently offered him the perfect excuse to finally cut her off for good. It mattered not that Sanji had saved her from a fiery death and had done everything in his power to deliver her safe and whole back into the man's arms...only to have him accuse her of running away to have some illicit secret affair with him. He had watched her heart shatter at the rejection and the accusation...and felt his own twist in sympathy even as she had thanked him before sending him away. Though he would not admit it to himself at the time, he had come to admire her deeply…her strength, her stubbornness, and her intelligence. She didn’t deserve to have all of that crushed and tossed aside by someone who had found those qualities to be a threat to his ego. And so, when they had found themselves unexpectedly reunited for this expedition into her homeland, Sanji had vowed to do whatever he could to support and help her nurture those qualities again. But how could he tell her that what had once just been “friendly support” had begun to bloom into more? He knew she’d always thought of him as more of a “little brother” than anything else. Did she still feel that way? He really didn’t know.

“Sanji?”

Her gentle query stirred him from his thoughts, and he turned to see her eyeing him with a mix of concern and faint amusement. Even in the bitter cold, Sanji could feel his cheeks warming under her scrutiny. “I…I’m um…sorry”, was all he could manage to stammer out as he flicked his gaze away from hers, feeling the weight of that golden-hued stare upon him.

“For what?”

“For everything”, Sanjit muttered as he began picking at a stray thread that had begun to unravel from the forefinger of his left glove. “It’s all a mess and it’s my fault. You should be back home, planning a wedding, not here in the freezing cold, dealing with all of this.” As he felt her tense against him, then abruptly pull away, Sanji couldn’t help but wonder if she’d sensed the lie in his words…that he was glad she was away from all that and here with him. But was it where she wanted to be?

“Sanji…”, he turned as she spoke his name once more, an unexpected tenderness underlying the firm tone that forced his gaze back to hers, to find she’d shifted to face him, a gentle smile upon her lips as she lifted a gloved hand to lay upon his cheek. “That is not something for you to be sorry for. Is it your ‘fault’ that I escaped a relationship that was falling further into ruin by the day? Is it your ‘fault’ that I am finally able to return to my homeland and offer what aid I can to them? Is it your ‘fault’ that, despite everything, I’m happier than I’ve ever been in many moons? If so, then accept the blame…and my thanks. Because you are honestly the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Sanji felt a numbness take over his body…and not from the cold, his tongue thick as he tried to form a reply only to have the words stick in his throat. For a long moment all he could do was stare incredulously at the woman who had unexpectedly taken over his life and heart, as he tried to reconcile the affection he saw reflected in her eyes. “Truly?”, he finally managed to utter, the word a faint whisper, “You mean that?”

“Every word”, she replied in a tone that was somehow both tender and fierce before she closed the distance between them, her lips claiming his.

At the unexpected kiss, Sanji froze, his mind awhirl. She was kissing him…and not the chaste kiss of a friend or “big sister”, but something passionate and almost desperate. Though kisses were not a normal part of Xaelic affections, he had witnessed enough of them between the other races to understand this. However, never having been kissed...or having initiatied one himself…Sanji had no idea what he was supposed to do. There was a puckering of lips, he knew this, but Hyperia’s seemed to cling and move softly against his in a manner his mind raced to understand the subtleties of.

But as soon as he’d finally mustered the courage to try and replicate it, he felt her pulling back, leaving a sort of void that he ached to fill. Blinking as he fought to catch his breath, he noted the flush that colored her cheeks and the defeated look that flickered across her face before she turned away.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”, Hyperia murmured, now her own hand dropping from his face to clasp with the other upon her lap, her demeanor seeming to crumple beneath the weight of her…disappointment? Embarrassment?

“Oh Nhaama, does she think because I didn’t return it, that I don’t feel the same?”, Sanji’s mind raced in panic. She’d been hurt so much…faced so much heartache and disappointment. To see her starting to sink back into that again, he just couldn’t…

“Hyperia…”, this time he did slide an arm around her, drawing her back to him, though the tension in her body was still there, no doubt interpreting the gesture as merely a friendly one to comfort her. “Hey…”, gently he cupped her cheek in his palm, turning her to face him once more”, “Maybe you shouldn’t have, but…I’m very glad that you did.

He saw her eyes go wide in surprise for a split second before he closed his mouth upon hers, hoping to imitate the passion and need that she had conveyed through her kiss. Though most of his concentration was focused on the softness of her lips against his and the electric sensations that seemed to shiver up his spine at the way they clung to his, he thrilled at how her body seemed to meld against his, and the quiet moan that vibrated from her. As his hand dropped from her cheek to entwine around her waist and pull her even closer, Sanji felt the tip of her tongue gently probing at his lips. Almost as through pure instinct, his lips parted to allow her in, his own tongue lightly dancing with hers, a soft, contented rumble echoing in his chest.

He had no idea how long they remained like this…it seemed both a blessed eternity and an all-too-fleeting instant before they eventually parted, their breath misting in the cold and mingling together before dissipating into the chill air. As Sanji’s eyes finally opened and found her face once more, a surge of relief and joy overtook him to see that the defeat that had clouded her features before had since fled, replaced with eyes shining with affection and unshed tears.

Considering Hyperia’s aversion to showing any form of weakness, Sanji never ceased to be amazed at how many times he had seen the seemingly-indomitable woman cry. Though initially it was mainly from frustration, rage, and despair, she had slowly started to allow herself to open up a bit more in his presence and Sanji couldn’t help but be honored by her trust. While the rest of the world saw her as a stubborn, callous, often-abrasive woman, he had begun to see the vulnerabilities that laid beneath the mask she had forced herself to don to protect her wounded heart, mind, and body.

As a single tear slipped free, he caught it on his thumb, tracing it gently over the line of her cheekbone. When Hyperia leaned into the touch with a quiet sigh of contentment, Sanji pulled her closer, resting his forehead to hers. “Are you…was it okay?”, he murmured hesitantly.

Hyperia brows shot up, mirroring the amused, yet surprised expression she wore at his query. Taking his hand in hers, she chuckled quietly, “Was that…the first time you’d ever kissed someone?”

Sanji’s face went bright scarlet, his eyes flicking to their conjoined hands, “Was it that obvious?”

“No…well, maybe a little. I just…when you didn’t return it, I thought maybe I’d…overstepped.” As she spoke, her thumb slid lightly over his knuckles, her lips pursed.

Lifting her hand to his lips to press a light kiss upon her fingers, Sanji sighed, “I’m sorry. It just…it took me by surprise. I never realized you felt this way. I always thought I was just a friend…a ‘little brother' to you’”

Hyperia let out a quiet snort of laughter before nestling against him, her head coming to rest upon his shoulder, “That’s what I told myself…told everyone. You were…are a friend, probably the first and only true friend I’ve ever had. But after that day…when you saved my life”, she sighed, eyes closing at the memory, “you just…it’s like you opened my eyes to what friendship, caring and love was supposed to be. Not what I’d been settling for all that time. But after everything that had happened before, I...I was scared to open my heart again. So I thought I could convince myself that what I felt was just a...platonic affection and nothing more.”

With a sigh, Sanji settled his chin atop her head, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, “I’m sorry. I hate that my presence made things difficult for you.”

There was a sudden tug on his horn as Hyperia fixed him with a stern glare, “Stop it. Your presence is the very reason I'm here, alive and breathing. I was a stupid, lovesick fool back then, but still not so much of one that I would've rather died than go through all of that. Besides, all of that just served to show me what his true colors really were.” As Sanji’s expression fell with contrition, her own demeanor softened, “And how many times have you told me to stop dwelling on the past? So maybe…take your own advice, eh?”

“Yes ma’am!” Grinning, Sanji pressed a kiss to the crown of her head before turning at the sound of footsteps crunching on the icy ground. Both tensed, attempting to untangle themselves from each other as the familiar figure of Maxima quo Priscus and a pair of soldiers from the contingent, all bundled against the cold and looking about the area warily, climbed the stairs onto the deck.

“Ah, there you are…”, the Garlean Populares breathed in obvious relief, “When you didn’t return with the others, we began to worry. But…”, Maxima smiled, his lavender eyes twinkling with knowing amusement at the pairs flustered state, “I see we needn’t have done so. However, night is falling, as are the temperatures, so you’ll want to start heading back sooner rather than later.”

Sanji blinked, turning his attention the horizon where the sun had finally sunk beyond the mountains, “Oh Azim…I was supposed to help with the dinner this evening! Esugen is going to have my hide!”

Laughter echoed through the gathered group as Hyperia offered Sanji a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll understand, Love.”

A little thrill raced down Sanji’s spine at the endearment, his arm sliding over her shoulders to guide her towards the trio awaiting them, “We received a shipment of rolanberries in from over the border and I was going to make pie. I suppose I still have time if we hurry.”

“And if not, that’s all the more for you, right?”, Hyperia winked as the younger Xaela let out an indignant huff, swatting her lightly in the rear with his tail. “I wouldn’t be that selfish…maybe.”

Once more, laughter ran out across the icy plains as the group made their way back towards the relative warmth and shelter of the camp, whilst Hyperia and Sanji basked in the warmth their newfound relationship had kindled….

#ffxiv oc #ffxiv fic #hyperia x sanji #PosesByRaven #ffxiv gpose #ffxiv screenies #yes I suck at coming up with titles #oc x oc

[theitgirlnetwork]

Me and You

*Note: I don't own any of the images: If you want the full effect of the story go to view the aesthetic board for Angel. Please enjoy and give it a try! More chapters to come.

*Summary: Just a love story done in a very JJ Maybank fashion.

Ch. 1: It was Enchanting to Meet You

“You coming back out soon?”

Sarah lowers the large sunglasses on her face, squinting as her vision adjusts to the sun, making out the outline of her husband’s figure. She was sprawled across the large sofa bed installed in the lower part of JJ’s boat. The bed was mostly reserved for nights when the gang ventured too far out into the unknown to return to their respective homes or find a hotel on land.

But today…today Sarah was using it as an excuse to hide from her friends.

It’s not like she doesn’t want to be with them. She loves them. But they were doing it again. That thing where they inadvertently remind her that their longstanding friendships once did not include her. Sitting around, cackling about inside jokes, half telling stories, making references she could never hope to understand. She knows it’s not on purpose, but despite how long she’s been a member of their group, she still somehow feels like she’s on the outside. They don’t even have the divide of kooks vs. pogues anymore.

Sarah is sure Cleo must feel that way sometimes too. But the girl definitely had a thicker skin than Sarah and could rest in knowing that she had good reason to be an outcast. Sarah’s only reason was that she was from the other side of the same island.

John B and Kiara did the most work trying to include her. The latter informs her that the story about Pope’s first time getting high led to them digging a man-sized hole in the sand for him to climb in so that he could feel grounded at 4am wasn’t actually that interesting. The former attempted to force stories that she was there for into the conversation, only for it to lead to another, more interesting tale that even if she was there, she was a background character for.

Sarah wasn’t angry though. She really wasn’t. Jealous. Jealous maybe. Not of the relationship they had, she had her own relationship with John B, Kiara, Pope, JJ, and Cleo. No. She was jealous that they were constantly with the people they’d grown up being around and loving. Sure, she got to see Wheezie once in a while, and despite all of the horrible things that happened between them, even she and Rafe send each other an appreciative nod when they pass each other. Topper…Topper was a big no. But those things were different. What she was missing was a kind of lifelong companionship that she’d only ever gotten from two people.

She’d have to bring up to John B that she might go on a trip soon.

“Um,” she sighs out a breath rolling onto her stomach, pushing up to stand, and taking John B’s extended hand, letting him pull her to him. “Yeah, I’m coming, sorry.”

He stares down at her, brows furrowing for a moment before he hooks an arm behind her shoulders, hand rubbing along the smooth skin on her arm. “You okay?”

The last thing she wants to do is make him feel guilty for having a good time with their shared friends. So, she sends him a bright smile, and apparently, it’s all the reassurance that he needs. Returning her grin he leads her back up the stairs to rejoin their friends.

“Shut up, JJ!” Kie chuckles, knocking the blond boy with her foot, his beer sloshing around in the bottle at the jolt. Brown eyes roll when he winces dramatically, letting out a sarcastic ‘ow’.

“JB, you were there, tell her I didn’t cheat!”

The boy sends one more concerned glance to his wife, who was now in the small kitchen on the deck cutting up fruit, before rejoining his friends, “At cards, dude, you’ll cheat at Go Fish.”

“Fuck you, play me right now.”

Great. A whole new can of worms. Sarah thought, popping a piece of pineapple into her mouth as she watched Pope produce a deck of cards and begin dealing them out, sending a slight wave to decline joining the game.

Just as she’s about to grab another she feels her phone vibrate in the pocket of her jean shorts.

My Sun:

Sarah Cameron.

I miss youuu.

Bitch.

Sarah can’t help the smile that forces itself onto her lips, a light giggle under her breath as the very person she’d been thinking of pops up on her screen. She’s quick to respond, affirming she’d felt the same way, that she’d just been thinking of them. She finally just decides to flick through her call list, immediately finding the name she’s looking for, hitting the facetime option and thanking the stars that they were on JJ’s boat and it didn’t belong to Pope’s cheap ass who assured them all that wifi on a boat is an unnecessary expense.

My Sun:  

Damn, I’m sorry I can’t facetime, but I just wanted to see what you’re up to.

The blonde lets out another annoyed sigh, responding that she was out on her friend’s boat with John B and the others.

The conversation carried on from there, Sarah only pausing when Kiara and Cleo called her over to confirm that the boys weren’t cheating them. (Spoiler alert, JJ and John B were, Pope wasn’t).

Even though she still thought she’d need a trip to visit her favorite person in the world aside from her husband, the texts that came to her phone made her feel a little lighter.

It was hours later at the Boneyard. A kegger like any other, the young adults of the island gathering to indulge in mindless, drunken conversation, some hoping to find an emotionless hookup to stumble off and roll around in the sand with.

JJ always loved keggers. They served as a sweet release from the break-neck work he did on the daily. Even when he was dirt broke, they were fun. But fuck, was it even more fun now that he was rich.

Unlimited booze, unlimited weed, and the ability to tell anyone who looked down on him in the past to get the fuck out of his party. They were always his, but now, he has the money to back it up.

He strolls through the hordes of people like the party god that he is. His stance was relaxed, the neck of his beer bottle dangled loosely between his fingers. The blond cocks his head back, grimacing in disapproval as he views his friend sitting next to the girl he’d kissed over a month ago, reading a fuckin’ book. “Hey, Pope, buddy, hey. ‘Scuse me, Cleo.” He grunts as he squeezes between the two of them on the log they were seated on.

“Dude-“ Pope frowns.

“Yeah, don’t ‘dude’ me, right now.” JJ leans closer to his friend, throwing his arm around his shoulders bringing him closer. “What the hell are you doing, man, like what’s in your hand right now?”

“A book. It’s this thing with pages that people who know how to read often enjoy.”

“Haha, you’re funny,” JJ snorts sarcastically, “You’re at a party, with a girl. That you like.”

“We were hired for a job that we’ve made little to no progress on. This book is about lore on Blackbeard.”

“Yeah but, Cleo” his volume increases as he pushes off the log, “wants to dance.” The blonde tilts his bottle in the girl’s direction. “Don’t you?”

Pope’s eyes shoot to the girl in question before darting back over to his friend. “JJ-”

“Doesn’t sound too bad.” The girl smiles. “Pope?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” JJ watches, satisfied as his friends stand up, hand in hand. He plucks the book from Pope’s other hand, snapping it closed. “I want my book unharmed when I get back. Same condition, JJ.”

“Definitely, buddy, definitely.” He grins before tossing the book haphazardly into the sand.

As he lets Cleo pull him toward the crowd of people who are passing random gyrating and tossing of limbs as dancing, Pope lightly grabs his friend’s arm, murmuring, “You know you’re gonna have to deal with your own shit sometime.”

JJ scoffs, taking a large swig of his beer as he watches them wander off, refusing to turn his head in the direction of the ‘shit’ in question, having a long, meaningful conversation about something she’d read somewhere about The Great Barrier Reef. “Yeah, that won’t be today.”

“Damn, again.” John B. huffs, tossing his cup into the sand.

“’M’just a winner man.” JJ chuckles.

“It’s okay.” Sarah consoles, rubbing her husband’s back, smiling as he leans into her touch, moving to press their lips together in a soft kiss.

Caught up in their own moment, they fail to see JJ’s bright blue eyes follow and soften at their actions. How they calmed each other. Those eyes trail across the beach to Kie, who was now in another conversation, this time with Cleo and Pope. Their eyes catch and they exchange a lighthearted wave before she turns back to her conversation. JJ places his hand on the left side of his chest, waiting for a moment before setting his jaw in disappointment. Still no.

“Sarah!” a voice they all knew too well cuts through the overall peace of the party, only truly grabbing the attention of the group, aside from small, curious glances from bystanders.

John B. tightens his hold on the girl, tugging her closer to his side, JJ immediately straightens, already preparing for an altercation, while the others start making their way over. “What do you want, Rafe?”

“Pretty sure I was talking to my sister, Routledge.” Rafe sniffs, crossing his arms. “You don’t answer your phone now?”

Sarah’s lips part but JJ beats her to the punch, already annoyed. “Gotta be fuckin’ kidding me. Maybe she doesn’t wanna talk to you, think of that buddy?”

“You should keep your pets on a leash, Sarah.”

“Look, just tell me what you want. I didn’t hear my phone. And even if I did-”

Rafe shushes her, causing the whole group to exchange confused looks. He glances back over a small hill in the direction he came from. “I figured you didn’t. I have a surprise for you.”

“We don’t fuckin’ want it.” JJ hisses.

“Not you. Sarah,” Rafe continues, “Consider this part of this truce we’ve got going on right now. I brought her to you as a show of good faith. So, if I need something anytime soon, you should remember you owe me.”

“Owe you?!” Kie exclaims. “For what?”

“For her.”

“That was a really weird way to tell her you picked me up from the airport so I could surprise her. Guess you guys really haven’t been getting along lately.” Sarah’s eyes widen at the voice, she takes John B.’s arm off of her waist, pushing forward, making her way between her friends. Knocking her smug brother out of the way. “Hi, Sarah Bear.”

“Angel!” Sarah shoots forward, barely giving her friend a moment before tackling her in a hug, making her fall back into the sand. The two girls laugh and squeal as they clutch each other.

John B. steps forward too, eyes squinting a little before an easy smile breaks out onto his face. He reaches down, extending a hand to each girl before pulling Angel into a small hug. “Hey, kid, what’re you doing here?”

“Angel, like, Sarah’s best friend from Maine?” Kiara questions, getting closer to get a better look at the girl.

Pope shrugs, exchanging a confused look with Cleo. “Didn’t know she had a best friend from Maine. Did you, JJ? JJ?” Pope turns to see his own best friend, staring wide-eyed at the girl.

JJ couldn’t look away. He just couldn’t stop looking. Her beautiful skin shined in the moonlight, her silky long hair tied into a high ponytail curled at the base, small dark swirls made on her forehead. Beautiful, big, shiny, rose petal lips. Her bathing suit top and denim mini skirt show off her shapely figure. She’s got a bright smile, dimples. And that laugh. It was ringing in his ear. He needed her to keep laughing.

It was like he couldn’t move. He couldn’t tell if he was truly frozen, or if he was scared to move to like, disrupt this moment. Scared to do anything to make her stop making that sound.

It was all he could manage to follow her movement with his eyes and she patted Rafe on the back, thanking him for the ride. The smile they exchange makes JJ’s upper lip curl.  

“Any time. I’ve got some stuff to do, so just text me when you want me to pick you up alright?”

“Wait,” Sarah sidles up next to her friend, tugging her away from her brother, wrapping an arm around her. “Pick her up for what? Your dad’s not here? You guys aren’t staying at your summer house?”

Angel pauses for a moment before smiling easily at her friend. “No, um, Dad had some stuff he had to take care of at home, and I figured I’d come and see my second family. And he sold our summer house here so that we could get one somewhere else. I always end up staying with you guys anyway.” She bumps Sarah’s hip with her own. “Figured I’d stay at your old house, I don’t wanna intrude on you and John B.-”

“No!” Sarah cuts in. She checks herself when she catches Rafe’s smirk, speaking calmer the second go round. “No, um, you wouldn’t be intruding, we don’t mind. And, we share a house with JJ, we’re used to not being alone.”

“I dunno Sarah Bear-”

Sarah sends a sharp elbow into John B’s side jolting him to attention, “Yeah, no, Angel, it’s not a problem. If anything it’ll just save Sarah the trouble of bugging me to drive her to see you everyday. We’ve got plenty of room. Right, JJ?”

Hearing his name pulls JJ from his trance as he drags his eyes away from the beauty in front of him to focus on his best friend. “Yeah,” he says a little breathlessly. His brows furrow at the soft sound of his own voice before he clears his throat, stepping forward a bit. “Mi casa es su casa, Princess.” JJ holds his hand out to the girl expectantly, letting a smirk spread onto his face when she places her smaller, softer into his larger, rougher ones. He leans down, pressing his lips to the smooth skin of the back of her hand, taking in the smell of vanilla and cinnamon as he glances up at her through his lashes.

Another giggle escapes the girl’s lips and causes another squeeze in JJ’s chest, a wave of pride washes over him at the knowledge that he caused the beautiful sound ringing in his ears.

A clap cuts through the air, slicing through the brief moment of bliss the exchange created for JJ. Sarah grins, nudging her way in between the two of them, facing toward Angel. “Great, so, um, John B will go help you get your bags from Rafe’s car so we can take them back to the house after the party, all right? John B?”

“Sure,” he affirms with a nod before tossing an arm over Angel, steering her closer to himself and away from a scowling Rafe. “Let’s go, kid.” 

Blue eyes trail over the girl’s form as she’s led away, focus breaking as he feels a sharp elbow dig its way into his side. “What the fuck Sarah?” JJ grunts. He looks around to see that the rest of their friends had scattered, mixing their way back into the party, and suddenly JJ felt very aware of the fact that he’d been staring. No matter the circumstances he never felt embarrassed getting caught checking out a girl. It was a given that if there was something or someone to look at, JJ was gonna give them an appreciative glance. He wasn’t a complete asshole, like, if he saw a cute girl, and trailing behind her was her boyfriend…he’d keep his…observation short…er. If he was cool with the guy. 

Of course Cleo and Sarah were off limits, he had some kind of code and fully respected them, JB and Pope. Kie was…different. But ultimately when it came to them, he nine times out of ten kept his hands to himself, and his eyes in all of the pre-established friend-safe zones. 

But hey, JJ’s a hot-blooded young man, and he’s got eyes. And the great island of Outer Banks has often offered him beautiful ladies just waiting to be admired. But this one. All JJ could think is how he would get on his knees tonight and thank whoever was listening for basically plopping her into his lap. 

Widening his big blue eyes, forming his lips into a pout he turns toward a frowning Sarah, resting a hand on her crossed arms. “Sarah-”

“No, JJ.” he deepens his pout, whining a little. “No!” 

JJ huffs loudly, tossing his hands up in exasperation. “Why not?!”

“Because I said no! Listen, Maybank,” the blonde growls, pointing a finger at his face. “I’ve worked very hard to keep her out of our shit. You’re not gonna fuck that up, JJ. I don’t want her knowing anything, I don’t want her involved in anything, she is gonna have a nice, normal visit, understand?” 

He cocks his head back, “I mean if you don’t want people to look you shouldn’t have such a fine best friend-”

“JJ, I’m serious.” Sarah shoves him out of the way, pushing past him to the keg, filling two cups.

JJ trails behind her, pushing the tap and refilling his own. “I’m not. You know I don’t want anything serious right now. Just a little fun. I could show your friend a good time.” 

“All the weed you smoke must have finally killed all of your brain cells if you think that’s going to convince me. Stay away.” Sarah whirls on her heel, making her way over to the girl in question who met her with a bright smile, tossing her arms around Sarah again.

JJ just scoffs, taking another swig of his drink, pausing briefly when he makes more brief, awkward eye contact with Kiara, before turning back to the table to pour himself something stronger.

“Jack.” someone slurs.

JJ whips around at the voice that cuts through the low thrum of music. He’d wandered a little ways away from the party to smoke and let the water run over his feet. It’s a common practice he does when he felt like the party was starting to hit a lull and he was about ready to sober up (or get as sober as he gets) when it was time to head home for the night. He’s almost annoyed at the way his heart speeds a little when he sees that it's her. 

He takes in her appearance again. Her hair is a little disheveled now, pieces falling from the ponytail, hanging loosely on her neck, or framing her face. The gloss is mostly gone from her plump lips and her eyelids rested lower. “Hi.” she chirps, stumbling a little as she makes her way closer. 

Reflex kicks in as his arms shoot out, catching her by the waist, chuckling as he steadies her. “Alright there?” 

“Yes, sir.” she nods, hair bobbing, as she pats him on the chest, leaning into him even more.

Damn, he thinks as her hand slides down his torso before falling away completely.. He lifts his gaze to the sky briefly, why are you testing me? I’m not one of your stronger soldiers. 

“Did I guess right?” 

“What?” He takes a pull from the joint and flicks some of the ash away.

“Your name. Is it short for Jack?”

“Not at all.” he snorts, holding the j out to her, watching as she puts it between her lips, “Lemme help you out there, sweetheart.” JJ reaches into his back pocket for his lighter, bringing it to the joint and lighting it, cupping his hand around it to keep the wind from blowing it out. 

He watches as she inhales deeply before blowing the smoke between her lips, a blissful smile spreading across her face as she passes it back and starts walking along the shore. JJ can’t help but fall into step with her, partly because he wanted to continue to be in her presence, and partly because she was clearly a little lit, and Sarah would kill him if her friend drowned. “So what is it? Your name?”

“It’s JJ.” he shrugs. 

“Your parents, like, sat together, absolutely fucking high on life, just had a newborn baby boy, looked at those big blue eyes and said, damnit that’s a JJ? That’s what you’re telling me?” she rolls her eyes. “Okay.”

JJ laughs easily, glancing over at her. “Well they were fucking assholes, maybe they didn’t put much thought into it.” He watches her raise her eyebrows in disbelief. “Okay, it’s short for something but it's a stupid name, so it’s JJ, has been since I was a kid.” 

“Mm,” she hums. They walk a couple paces quietly and JJ thinks the conversation is over. His lips part as he goes to start a new one, only for her to cut in, “counteroffer, I’ll trade you my stupid name for yours.”

“Damn, how drunk are you? Your name is Angel. We all know that.”  

“Nope,” she grins victoriously, “Angel is not the name on my birth certificate.” 

“No?” he smirks, nudging her arm, keeping a hand at the ready in case she stumbles too much. JJ turns his body to face her completely, placing his free hand behind his back. “Alright, we’ll say them at the same time. Ready? One-” 

“Yeah, bullshit, I know a con artist when I see one.” she laughs, peeking around his back, where he had his fingers crossed, Angel grabs his wrist, trying to uncross them, giggling as JJ feigns confusion.

“Huh? I dunno what you’re talkin’ about,” he twists his wrist in her grip, wrapping his own hand loosely around her instead, tucking the now unlit joint behind his ear as he holds her arms away from himself, laughing while she tries to kick at him. “‘M’nothin but honest-”

“Yeah, okay..country ass accent, name’s probably Judas-”

“Country?! You callin’ me country?”

“You callin’ me country?” she drawls mockingly, laughing even harder as she stumbles a little, one leg going down into the sand before JJ catches her, dragging her back to her feet again.

“See that’s what you get, the mean ones are always pretty.”

That comment causes a shift in the air. JJ can feel it happen, and from the looks of it Angel could too. The laughter between the two of them dies down, the only noise now is the sound of the waves and the party in the distance. Now that they’d settled down the two of them realized just how close they were standing together. Blue eyes peer down into brown, her chest just barely apart from his. “M’not mean.” she basically whispers. 

JJ wets his lips, feeling irrationally thrilled when he watches her eyes drop down to them before dragging back up to his own, he rocks on his foot a little closer, making the space between them even smaller. “You’re pretty.”

“You’re pretty too.” she mumbles. And now, ladies and gentlemen if you know JJ (real name redacted) Maybank, you’d know this is the part where he’d normally grab the girl by the waist, tugging her to him for an intense makeout before taking her back to (his house, his boat, some rocks further up the beach, you choose) to fuck. But he looked down into those eyes, those big beautiful brown eyes staring up at him and suddenly didn’t know what he was doing. He was moving so slow. It was like a fucking out of body experience, watching his thumb sweep over her soft bottom lip, his heart racing. He doesn’t even know what this feeling is, it’s making his stomach hurt. Who the fuck am I? John B? God, Pope? 

“Angel, I mean-”

“Hey,” The two of them jolt apart immediately, JJ’s hands go up like he’s a kid who got caught with his hands in the candy jar. He squints to see John B standing in the distance, hands cupped around his mouth, “shit’s starting to die down, Sarah’s ready to go and sent me to come get you.”

Angel nods, sweeping some of the sand off of her leg before turning to JJ, “See ya later.” 

JJ nods, following slowly behind, his gaze not leaving her until she’s completely out of sight. 

“Come on, man.” John B huffs, following his best friend’s gaze.

“No, you come on, look, JB.”

“She’s Sarah’s best friend, man, she said no.” 

JJ takes his cap off to run his hand through his hair, sending John B a concerned look. “I mean, I’m only a man, dude, shit.”

The next morning JJ woke up at 6 am. He’d always been an early riser for some reason or another. The combination of his nearly endless energy combined with his obsession with the morning waves got him up now. He loved for the empty beach, cool ocean air and rising sun to be the start of his day. It was a good reason to be up, rather than trying to be out of the house before his drunk fuck of a father rose to wreak havoc on him or rushing out to one of his fifty billion jobs. 

He’s usually the first one up too. John B would likely make his way out of bed at like 7, and meet him down at the beach around 8. Pope would make his way with Cleo around 9:30 and Sarah and Kie, the late risers would be there around 11. So he usually tip-toed around their house as he got his morning started, grabbing a piece of toast in his mouth before grabbing his keys, board, and shades before dipping out. 

This morning, there was noise in the house, laughter, and a smell that made his stomach growl. JJ followed the scent down the steps and to the kitchen, the sound of music on the speaker filled the entire lower level. Beautiful Liar by Beyonce and Shakira, mixed with laughter and the clanking of utensils. 

There in the kitchen stood Angel and Sarah. The former wearing a cropped, fitted white t-shirt, clearly with no bra seeing that JJ now knows her nipples are pierced, and tan shorts that her ass was absolutely swallowing. 

Sarah and Angel are dancing and laughing, absolutely oblivious to JJ standing in the doorway. There are pancakes piled up on one plate, cut up fruit on another. Sarah stood at the blender making some kind of pink concoction and Angel stood at their barely used stove, scrambling eggs as they sang to each other, hips swaying to the music. JJ literally had to bite down on his fist to stifle his groan.

“Hang in there, buddy.” John B. laughs, clapping a hand onto JJ’s back, sliding past him to pull Sarah into a quick kiss. “Good morning, you’re up early.” 

“Yeah, Angel woke up really early and wanted to make us breakfast to say thanks for having her. I wanted to help.” 

Angel smiles brightly at the group as she dumps the eggs onto their own plate. “Seriously, I’m really grateful. It’s nice to get a break, and to see my favorite girl. Even if she is cheating on me with some beach-y white boy.” she finishes dramatically.

“Those are the best kind.” JJ interjects, finally coming the rest of the way into the kitchen. “Not your type, princess?” he jokes.

Angel raises her chin leaning back against the counter. “Depends.”

“Yeah? On what?” he asks, moving closer.

“On…on a lot of things.” 

“Mm.” He smirks down at her, cheek dimpling as he reaches past her to grab a cup. “You’ll have to fill me in,” his eyes trail down her figure, “later.” 

“Oh-kay!” Sarah cuts in. “So, Angel, um, when is your dad coming? I’d love to like, have a dinner for him or something. It’d be nice to see him.”

“Um, yeah he’s” Angel takes a bite of bacon before starting to gather empty plates. “Just, busy, he’ll come eventually. Are your other friends coming soon?” 

Sarah’s brows furrow but she allows the swift change in topic, opting to text Cleo to see if she’s awake yet. John B steps out of the door onto the deck to call Pope to see if they’d want him to pick him up. 

JJ lets a beat of silence pass before clearing his throat to draw the girl’s attention from her task of distributing food onto the plates. “So, what’s the deal with your dad? He dump you off here or what?” he asks, going to pluck a piece of bacon from the serving plate only for Angel to slap his hand away before shoving a fully stocked plate into his hands.

“No, he’s just busy with work stuff. And I was bored being home alone, figured I’d come see the Camerons. I never got the chance to say goodbye to Ward. He and Papà were close friends before he died in his accident. He was always kind to me growing up.” 

JJ nods quietly, taking a swig of the weird smoothie situation Sarah made, nose wrinkling at the taste as he dumps it into the sink. Right. Accident. I guess Sarah had to tell her that he’d died but changed some details about how Ward actually bit it. If we were all supposed to keep up with this story, Sarah would have to tell us what she’d actually fucking said happened. “That’s cool.” he nods again. Drumming his fingers on the counter, taking a couple bites of bacon, glancing in every direction other than hers trying to distract himself from blurting out the two questions that’d been burning in his head since she’d arrived at the beach the night before. One he especially wanted to ask, despite knowing he had no right to even wonder about it. But the fucking awkward silence was not helping. Fuck it, he’ll work on impulse control another time.

“So…are you fucking Rafe?” 

He waited for a slap. Or at least something in that family. He expected her to yell or something. But instead all he gets is a small pause in her own sip of the smoothie Sarah made her, her nose wrinkling as she forces herself to swallow the chunky drink.

“At this moment, no.” she shrugs, licking the remnants off of her lips.

JJ rolls his eyes dramatically, glancing in the direction Sarah wandered off in before making his way over to where Angel stands. “More like, generally, so maybe the question is do you fuck Rafe.” 

“Is that your business?” Angel asks, head tilting up to better meet his gaze as he gets closer, placing his hand next to hers on the counter and effectively caging her in.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. What do you think, princess? Should I make you my business?”

“If that’s your goal,” she starts, reaching up, toying with the shark tooth necklace around his neck. “You’re asking the wrong questions.”

JJ’s lips part but before he can respond Sarah is calling for Angel from the other room. He bites his bottom lip instead, cheeks dimpling as he lets out a low chuckle, stepping out of her way, shaking his head to himself as she scoots past him, her scent lingering in the air as she goes by.

“So are you excited to get to the beach?” Sarah asks her friend as she holds her hair out of the way so she can tie a bow in the back of her swimsuit top. 

“Girl, hell yeah, everyone knows the beaches in Maine are trash. I haven’t gotten to swim in forever.” 

The group was going to meet at the beach to hang out for the day. Breakfast turned out to be just Sarah, Angel, JJ and John B. because they’d cooked it so early, and Kie had promised to eat with her parents. Which made the meal mad awkward with the flirting going on with JJ and Angel and Sarah’s attempts to kill JJ with her eyes.

But now that the boys were out packing the car up for the beach and the girls were in Sarah and John B.’s room getting ready, things were much less tense. “So how’s Nonna?”

“Oh, still an old bitch. Making little girls miserable, one coming out party at a time.” Angel snorts, adjusting her bikini strap in the mirror. 

“She’s still doing that finishing school thing? How’re people still signing their kids up for that? It’s fucking traumatizing.”

“Literally. Twelve weeks of her torture to maybe get a nod of acknowledgement and go on to squeeze your ass in itchy dresses and smear petroleum jelly on your teeth so you can smile long enough to win a tiara ten years later.”

“Yeah,” Sarah laughs, dipping into a curtsey, “coming from Miss Maine.” 

“Still don’t know how the fuck that happened.”

“It was your beauty and grace-”

“It was fucking Nonna breathing down my neck.” Angel laughs, shoving her friend lightly. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here, so she can’t drive me crazy the whole time I’m titled. And the other is, of course, because I missed my best girl” 

“Of course. I’m pretty wonderful.”

“And,” Angel grins, making her way over to the window, peeking out of the blinds. “There’s tons of stuff to do in Outer Banks, surfing…parties…” she trails, pulling the blinds down more to get a better view of the blond, pulling his shirt from his body revealing tan muscles, swiping the sweat from his brow before lifting another cooler into the truck. “Your friend JJ.” she mumbles. 

“Angel!”

“Sarah!” 

“Pick someone else.”

“I don’t know anyone else” Angel whines.

“Angel, you know everyone I used to hang out with. You met plenty of people at the party last night.”

“Fine, amendment, I don’t know anyone else who looks like that. Sarah, are you fucking looking?!”

“No! He’s John B.’s best friend!”

Angel rolls her eyes, crossing her arms. “Sarah, please, you’re married, not blind. You’ve looked.”

“No.”

“Glanced.”

“No.”

“Peeked.”

“...in passing.”

“Ha! Fuck you, I knew it.”

“Okay I can admit that JJ is objectively attractive. That has nothing to do with the fact that I know that you two would be a terrible idea. Like, horrible.” the blonde huffs, crossing her arms. 

“Yeah? Gimme one reason.” Angel mimics her stance mockingly, a smile on her face. 

“Because…b-because JJ’s a lot!” 

“I can’t sleep with him because he’s a lot?” Angel scoffs, “Sarah-”

“He actually is. I told you he pointed a gun at Topper.”

Angel shrugs, tilting her head playfully, “Eh, I never really liked him, he probably deserved it.” 

Sarah immediately thinks back to being choked up in her own damn house by the aforementioned ‘victim’ of JJ’s aggression and quietly acknowledges that he’s not the best example. “Angel he just has a lot going on and I don’t want you getting mixed up in some shit. JJ’s a good kid, and he’s a good friend to John B. and me but,” she reaches forward, tugging her friend into a hug. “You’re my best friend. I just don’t wanna see you hurt.”

Angel returns the hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her blonde friend. “Aww, thank you Mama Bear, but you don’t have to worry. I’m a big girl. And besides, I wanna hook up with the guy, not marry him. Some of us have self control.”

“Oh, screw you”

Angel had thought their chat in the room had mellowed Sarah a little. She’d noticed that the blonde was on high alert since she’d met JJ the day before. It was only a matter of time before she got a ‘I’m just looking out for you’ speech from Sarah. Usually, once it was out of her system, she was all good, but apparently this time was different, as evidenced by the way she shoved JJ toward the front seat before hopping in the back with Angel. 

But even she couldn’t stop their eyes from catching in the rear view mirror. The first time was purely coincidental, just brown meeting blue. The next time Angel looked up their eyes met again, and after a beat he playfully wiggled his eyebrows. Then when his eyes returned, she quickly crossed her own eyes, causing him to snort, grabbing John B.’s attention, making him glance between the two of them before shaking his head. A couple more minutes pass before she allows her eyes to wander back to the mirror where JJ was using his middle finger to push up imaginary glasses. Angel rolls her own eyes, lightly kicking the back of his seat and JJ yelps dramatically, demanding Sarah keep a better eye on her friend.

By the time they get to the beach and meet up with everyone, you could say the two of them were in a silly mood. “Jeremy.”

“Jesus, what am I? Angela?” 

“Nope. Pass it.” she takes a deep inhale from the blunt flicking the ash into an empty cup. “Jacob.”

“Ahh, sorry sweetheart.” he cheeses, plucking the joint away from her again, bringing it back to his own lips.

“Is it like a two first name situation or a first name and middle name?” 

“Mmh,” JJ blows out the smoke into the shape of rings, the cloudy circles drift above their heads and Angel’s eyes widen, mystified.

“Teach me that!” she yells, smacking his arm and sitting up fully. 

“Alright, princess c’mere.” JJ turns his body to face hers, both of them sitting criss-cross. Leaning closer, he holds the blunt up to her lips waiting for her to take a pull. “Good, now,” he pushes up on his knees, cupping her jaw before sliding his fingers along her jaw, pushing on the indents on her cheeks. “Make your mouth into an ‘o’, then blow. Ready?”

All Angel could do was look up at him. He already looked good, and lord knows he knows it. But with the sun shining down on him as he towered over her, his blond hair looking golden, blue eyes looking like pools, she felt mesmerized. 

And the way he was looking down at her was not helping. With his own bottom lip caught between his teeth, he brought his thumb across hers, causing her to simply release the smoke. JJ’s brows are furrowed as if he’s trying to figure out some kind of puzzle as he continues to search her face, still cupping her chin, almost leading her upward. When she finally gets the hint and pushes up onto her knees he guides her forward just slightly, slowly closing the distance between them. 

“Jayj!” a familiar voice cuts in, sending JJ vaulting backward and onto his feet. Kiara stands soaked from the water. “Waves are great today, you’re missing it.” 

Angel watches the blond turn bright red, refusing to make eye contact with either woman, shifting uncomfortably under their gazes. “Yeah, imma surf. Th-that’s yeah, I’ll catch y’all.” 

The two women look on in confusion as he frantically gather’s his board before darting off in the opposite direction. 

“Weirdo. Anyway, you surf? We brought an extra board.” 

Angel shrugs, standing with a smile, “Haven’t tried in a long time. Wanna help me out?”

“If that ain’t a living dream and nightmare rolled up in one.” JJ sighs, resting on his board as he stares at the sight before him. 

A little closer to shore he has a front row seat to Kie and Angel on a board together, the former adjusting the latter’s waist, hand on her smooth stomach.

“Jealous or horny?” Pope calls over from his board.

“Haven’t decided yet.”

After another couple of hours everyone decides to call it on a beach, returning to their respective homes to shower before meeting back up for a game night. The bass of John B. 's speaker vibrates JJ’s boat, other patrons look on in annoyance as the friends become increasingly louder throughout the night.

“Uno bitch! I win~” Angel sings, over the groans of everyone else. “Damn we should be playing for money.”

“Uno? You’re starting to sound more like Lu everyday.” Sarah huffs.

“Thank you.” 

“She’s starting to sound like a cheater, that’s what she sounds like.” JJ accuses standing indignantly. “You’re cheating!” 

Angel starts restacking the deck, rolling her eyes, “Yeah okay, you just don’t know how to play stacks cause you’re country, white boy.”

“Yeah, JJ you can’t even cheat at Uno.��� Kie laughs.

“Can fucking too, she’s hiding cards, where the fuck are you gettin’ all those plus twos, huh? Back me up JB.”

“I mean you do keep winning.”

“Sarah!” 

“Leave my friend alone, you guys are like, known for cheating.” 

“Amen!” Cleo raises her drink, cheersing with Pope.

“Oh, y’all don’t believe me?” JJ asks loudly, getting an aggressive ‘hush’ from someone on the neighboring boat, to which he responds with a middle finger and getting louder. “Is this a mutiny on my own boat?” When everyone just blinks in response he shakes his head. “Fuck y’all ‘m’getting a beer. And don’t ask me for shit, ‘cept you JB!” he calls from the steps, as he headed below deck. “You can have whatever you want, baby boy!”

JJ heads to the cooler to grab more beer to take upstairs, cursing to himself when he realizes it’s empty. “Fuckin’,  JB’s turn to restock.” he goes to slam the cooler shut and his hand slips, sliding against the broken part of the hand, effectively cutting it. “Fuck, man.” he grits his teeth before sucking on the wound on his finger. 

“Hey, JJ, I know you said don’t ask you for shit, but I-oh shit your finger.” Angel pauses at the bottom of the steps.

“Yeah,” he says around the digit, “shit fucking stings…fuck fuck fuck-”

“Well first of all, take it out of your mouth,” she walks over, wrapping her smaller hand around his wrist to pull his finger free. “First aid?”

“Top shelf.” 

“Mmkay.” she gets to the shelves in the dark corner of the room, pushing up onto her tip toes trying to at least climb up on the counter for leverage, struggling. After a few seconds she hears a laugh, but before she could ask ‘what the fuck is so funny, you’re gonna get tetanus and lose your hand’ she feels herself being lifted from the ground. She briefly looks down before sending her eyes back up to the ceiling to say a prayer for herself because, lord help her this boy lifted her with one arm.

“You can reach now?” JJ asks smugly. 

“Um, yeah.” 

When he brings Angel down they’re so close their chests brush against each other. JJ wets his bottom lip as he stares at hers. 

Angel silently opens the kit, ignoring the heat that his hand still on her waist was creating and focusing on cleaning the cut on the free one. After she places a large bandaid on it, making a quiet comment under her breath about the fact that the bandaid has Bugs Bunny on it. Once Angel finishes, she looks at her work proudly, still holding his hand with both of hers. She surprises them both when she leans down, pressing a soft kiss to his palm murmuring an “All better.”

JJ didn’t know what came over him. He’s usually smooth. This is the one area of his life he’s always been in control, fully deciding what happened next. But it’s like his body moved before he could even think. She was just so…he just had to. 

Usually when JJ kisses people he stops thinking. He shuts his mind off and focuses on the sensation. 

This kiss with Angel filled his mind with thoughts. 

As he brought one hand up to cup her jaw.

What’s she like in Maine? How long will she be here?

As he slips his tongue into her mouth.

What’s her real name? Her favorite color?

Uses his other hand to grab her ass, lifting her onto the table and stepping between her legs. She sucks his bottom lip into her mouth, grazing it lightly with her teeth and he tightens his grip on her jaw. “Fuck, Angel,”

“Pope!” 

“Fucking excuse me?” JJ asks, pulling back to look at the girl before following her gaze over to the steps. “Pope, man-”

Pope stood there, seemingly suspended in space, one foot on the last step, one on the floor. Silently, his mouth opens and then closes before he simply turns and goes back up the steps.

“Well,” JJ laughs, “it was nice meeting you, princess,” he brings her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss there. “But now I gotta get the fuck off this boat before your best friend tries to kill me.”

#jj maybank #jj maybank imagine #outer banks #jj maybank x oc #jj maybank x kook #love #romance #friendship #sarah cameron #john b. #oc

[sequinsmile-x]

Penance

The worst part, she thinks, is that he believes he deserves it.

-x-

It's time for sad boi hours, besties.

-x-

Words: 2k

Warnings: None

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

He’d been in a bad mood all day. 

If she was honest with herself he’d been in a bad mood for a couple of days. Frustration thrumming under his skin, simmering just below the surface. He was short tempered with the team, snapping at them over minor errors in paperwork that he would usually let slide, or simply just mention in passing. His usual comment to be more careful next time a reprimand, one incident leading to Penelope hiding out in her office all day. 

It was different with her and Jack. It was as if he was putting all of his energy into keeping it together when they were at home. A thinly veiled attempt to never be anything close to what he would consider his father’s behaviour.

Aaron had rebuffed all of her attempts to figure out what was wrong. He repeatedly told her he was fine, his irritation increasing each time, even though it clearly wasn’t true. 

Each member of the team had approached her, asking if something had happened at home, an implication that she didn’t like that she was the problem. That she had done something to piss him off, inadvertently making the rest of their lives more difficult. 

She knew that wasn’t it. Not only because most of the insecurities she had entered their relationship with were long gone, left behind in those early days when she was sure he’d realise she wasn’t up to being his partner, but because she knew him. Despite insisting he was fine, he had been seeking her out, always making sure she was close by. He’d even pulled her on top of him in the middle of the night, holding her tightly to his chest as if she was the only thing that kept him grounded, his port in whatever secret storm he found himself in. 

It was making her weary, which is what led her to volunteer to go pick Jack up from school. Jessica was sick, and Aaron had more meetings than she cared to count. So she’d left him at work with a quick squeeze of his hand and a kiss on his cheek, hoping that when he joined her and Jack at home he’d finally be ready to talk. 

“Emily!” 

She turns and beams at the young boy running towards her, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist as he hugs her. 

“Hi honey,” she replies, hugging him back before she pulls back, running her hand through his hair, “did you have a good day at school?”

He nods enthusiastically as he disentangles himself from her, walking along next to her as they walk back to the car. 

“We learnt about space! I told the teacher some of the things Uncle Spence taught me.”

Emily chuckles at that as she opens the car door for Jack, imagining the shell-shocked look on his teacher's face as he rattled off facts he’d retained from his conversations with Spencer. 

“You’ll have to tell him next time you see him,” she says as she checks his seatbelt, a habit she couldn’t get out of even now he was that little bit older. She climbs into the front of the car and starts it, driving off, “Your dad is going to be at work for a while, so I thought we could have some dinner, then watch a movie?”

“Ok,” he replies flashing her a smile when she looks at him in the rearview mirror. 

“Are you excited to go see your grandpa this weekend?” She asks, genuinely curious. Jack spent a fair amount of time with Roy, mostly with Jessica also there too, and despite the strain in Aaron’s relationship with the older man, he did his best to make it work for Jack. Roy was his only grandparent, one of the few connections he had left to his mother. 

“I don’t know,” Jack says, an uncertainty in his voice that makes her frown. She looks in the mirror again and sees how sad he suddenly looks, setting off alarm bells in her head. 

“What’s going on Jack? You usually love to see him.” 

“He was mean to Daddy,” Jack says, frowning, his lower lip stuck out in a pout, “and it’s never ok to be mean no matter who you are.” 

Usually, his almost word-for-word repetition of what she and Aaron had told him recently, an argument with one of his school friends leading to them being called to the school, would make her smile. 

“What do you mean, honey?” She asks carefully. 

“He said it’s Daddy’s fault Mommy went to heaven,” Jack says, and it makes her clench the steering wheel tighter, her jaw firmly set as she bites back what she wants to say, “But it was George’s fault, not Daddy’s.” 

Emily sighs, “You’re right sweetheart, it wasn’t Daddy’s fault at all,” she swallows thickly, “when did this happen?”

He frowns, the furrowing of his brows that she catches in the mirror so much like Aaron it makes her fall impossibly more in love with the boy. 

“When Daddy got me from Aunt Jessies.” 

She sighs as it clicks into place in her head. That was two days ago. 

She’d solved the mystery, and she almost wishes she hadn’t. ___

By the time Aaron makes it home, Jack is in bed. Emily sees the disappointment on his face when he joins her in the living room, his suit still on minus his tie, bags under his eyes that made her want to find his ex-father-in-law and tell him exactly what she thought of him. 

“Did you eat?” She asks as he joins her on the couch. She reaches for the tv remote and turns it off, she hadn’t been paying attention anyway, her concern for the man she loved ruining her ability to focus.

“I got something on the way home,” he answers leaning back on the couch, his hand on her thigh, “thanks for getting him.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Aaron,” she replies, leaning into his side, letting him take whatever comfort he needs, “I am your wife, and his stepmother,” she smiles up at him, “it kind of comes with the territory.”

Aaron hums in response, shifting so his arm was around her shoulder, holding her closer to him. To anyone else, he would seem ok, but she knows him. She knows how it feels when he’s relaxed. Happy and content as they are tangled together, or the joy that radiated off him on the days they got to spend as a family. 

This wasn’t her Aaron. He was tense, his body so tightly wound up she thought he might snap in two if it carried on for too long. She wouldn’t usually push him, would wait him out until he came to her, explained what had clearly been eating away at him, but she can’t let this carry on. Can’t let him blame himself for something he was not responsible for, not when they had spent so long pulling each other back together. 

“I know what Roy said to you, Aaron,” she says carefully, and he somehow tenses even more next to her. She pulls away to look up at him, his jaw obviously clenched tight as he looks at her, his brow creasing. “Jack told me.” 

Aaron closes his eyes, sighing deeply. “I didn’t realise he’d heard.”

Emily reaches out and touches his cheek, encouraging him to look at her, a smile that she hopes is encouraging on her face. 

“He immediately said he knew it wasn’t your fault, that he knew it was Foyet’s,” she hates how relieved he looks, how he almost deflates in front of her. “Aaron-”

“I know what you’re going to say, Em.” 

It was something they’d argued about more than once. The first time Roy had been openly rude to Aaron in front of her was at Jack’s birthday party. She was freshly back from Paris, and she and Aaron weren’t together yet, but they were close to something. The line between their friendship and what they now had blurring. She’d been horrified, unsure how such a bitter man had raised Jessica and Haley. Aaron had stopped her from saying anything, all but forcing her into the backyard so she could calm down. 

As their relationship grew, from friends to partners. From fiancee to husband and wife, they had continued to argue about it. Emily didn’t think he should allow Roy to talk to him like that, to let the older man pick at the poorly healed wounds on his heart, to lay seeds on the blame he already had for himself taking root in his brain. 

Aaron seemed to think it was some kind of penance, like it was something he deserved. If it helped Roy, if it meant Jack had a relationship with his grandfather, he would take it. 

Emily lived for the day she’d be able to say something, to protect the man who she loved, who had spent so much of his life protecting others. 

“You know how I feel about this,” she says, careful to keep her voice even, to keep her own feelings caged in her chest, “But it is one thing to say it to you, it is another thing entirely to say it when Jack is around.” 

Aaron sighs, leaning forward so his elbows were on his knees, his head in his hands. “I know,” he breathes out, “I know.” 

The amount of defeat in his voice makes her heart ache. She reaches out to him and pulls him so she's hugging his head against her chest. He follows easily, seeking her out gratefully. She kisses the top of his head and holds him to her, her fingers playing with his hair. 

“We have to say something, sweetheart,” she says, kissing his head again, “I know you don’t want to rock the boat, but Jack deserves better. You deserve better.” He hums against her, and it sounds too close to disagreement for her liking, so she guides him away from her, makes him look at her, “None of this is on you, and I won’t let you think otherwise.” 

Aaron smiles sadly at her, “How did I get lucky enough to have you?”

Emily smiles at him, leaning forward to quickly stamp a kiss against his lips. “You give great hugs,” she quips, her smile widening slightly as he chuckles, “you also just happen to be the best man I know,” he scoffs at that, and she frowns, cupping his cheek to make him look at her again, “I wish you could see you how I do.” 

He doesn’t say anything to that, simply sighing before he speaks. “I’ll talk to him.” 

“We’ll talk to him.”

“Em-”

“I’ll behave,” she says, and he raises an eyebrow at her, making her roll her eyes, “Fine, I won’t yell at him, but I will make it clear what will happen if he does something like this again.”

“Sweetheart are you…going to kill Roy?” He asks, a mix of concern and amusement spreading across his face

“No you idiot,” she replies, narrowing her eyes at him, “but I will make sure he’d only see Jack when supervised by us or Jess,” she smiles at him when he looks at her, something close to awe in his eyes, “no one messes with my Hotchner boys.” 

Aaron reaches out for her, pulling her into a hug that makes her sit in his lap, curled up in his arms. 

“I love you,” he says against her temple, and she tilts her head to look up at him, pressing her lips to his. 

“I love you too,” she strokes at the skin at his jaw, his stubble just starting to peek through, “next time just tell me what’s upset you, ok?” 

He smiles at her, the closest one to his real smile all evening. “What? So you can beat up the bullies for me?” 

She rolls her eyes at him playfully before settling back against his side. 

“Like you wouldn’t do the same for me.” 

-x-

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#hotchniss #hotchniss fanfic #hotchniss fanfiction #aaron hotchner fanfiction #emily prentiss fanfiction #emily prentiss #hotchniss fan fic #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #aaron hotchner

[the-badger-mole]

Down the Road and Back Again: Final Chapter

The sun was beginning to descend by the time Katara began to gather her family and their belongings. They were nearly packed when Zuko found them.

“You’re late,” he chided playfully, stepping forward to take the blanket from Katara’s hands. “Toph’s dinner is in an hour, you know. She’ll be ticked off if you’re late the first time she throws a dinner party.”

“Turnabout’s fair play,” Katara said. She paused for a quick kiss. “Toph is always late for my events.”

“We were having too much fun,” Bumi told Zuko. “This is a great place you’ve got. I’d forgotten all about this lagoon.”

“When were you ever here?” Tenzin asked.

“Years ago,” Kya answered. “We came for my tenth or eleventh birthday.” Katara paused and thought for a moment.

“I remember that trip,” Katara said. “That was the last time we were here together. And you turned 12 that year. I remember because that was the same year you mastered the water octopus.” She laughed and turned to Bumi. “And that was the year you and Sokka singed your eyebrows off trying to set off fireworks.” Bumi, Kya and Zuko laughed at that.

“Guess I missed that trip,” Tenzin chuckled awkwardly. Then Katara remembered what had led to that birthday trip for Kya.

“You and Dad were touring the Air Temples,” Bumi explained apologetically. But he had nothing to apologize for. Katara had argued with Aang about taking Tenzin on a trip so close to Kya’s birthday. Taking Kya and Bumi to Ember Island had been an impulsive decision on Katara’s part, and it was just good fortune that brought them at the same time Sokka and Suki had brought their kids to visit Zuko’s summer home. Katara had just wanted to distract from Aang missing Kya’s birthday again. Once again, Katara cursed her ex-husband for spoiling what was otherwise a lovely memory.

“Sokka’s left brow never grew back in quite right after the fireworks thing,” Zuko said, pulling the subject back into a happier place. “It was always a little patchy near the end. He got so angry whenever I pointed it out.”

“Well you know how vain Sokka could be,” Katara laughed just a touch too loud. “Remember the time he tried to cut his hair?”

“ Do I?” Zuko grinned. He turned to the kids and explained. “It was right before he and Suki got married. Sokka wanted to postpone the wedding because he was worried he’d look weird. Meanwhile all he did was cut one side slightly higher than the other. It was barely noticeable until he pointed it out.” Katara’s children laughed, feeling just as relieved for the change of subject. The danger of the happy memories of that day being spoiled by inadvertent reminders of unhappy times had passed. Katara slipped her arm through Zuko’s and held him tight as he told them all embarrassing stories of his earliest trips to Ember Island. The man who had once leapt in front of a lightning bolt for her had never been so much her hero as he was just then.

Read the rest of the Down the Road and Back Again finale here

#atla #zutara #down the road and back again #the final chapter #so we've come to the end of the road #thanks for all the support!

[a-flickering-soul]

i've been getting into spg for the last few months now, and i'm noticing there's really not much about these characters on the internet. (the spg wiki is Very Short.) you mind unpacking some lore about the bots?

(this is also an invitation to infodump. believe me when i say i Want to hear about these funky little automatons)

Sorry about the two lengthy SPG asks in one day! I'm putting this one below the cut because it is LITERALLY 2.4k man I did NOT come to play with this one! For what it's worth, you may find this ask interesting, as I've linked some good lore sources I frequent a lot :)

Rabbit: The first to be built! She named herself Rabbit after one of the animals in the lab she was built in, which I think is very endearing of her. She's Victorian clockwork/steampunk-inspired, and out of all the automatons is the one to maintain the most of her original vintage workings, which means she's also the one to malfunction the most <3 girl things fr. Rabbit is a wonderful character because she is Bunny Bennett's special special OC and gets to have so so many problems because of it. I am serious when I say most things usually happen to Rabbit. She is the Special Girl of SPG lore. This is NOT my own bias showing up, I PROMISE.

Rabbit has everything bad happen to her. Red Core, which is THEE Rabbit comic and something I read on a semi-regular basis to experience shrimp emotions through, goes through her backstory being trans (this robot is trans) and it peels me every time. I won't recap it but I think everyone who likes trans robots should read it even though it is as of yet incomplete. Lore-wise, it's interesting because it establishes that she was originally meant to look like Delilah Morreo (certainly a choice, Peter Walter I), and was sent to war in an incomplete, half-broken body which I certainly have a lot of thoughts about (it's the lack of AGENCY it's the way she spent the war VOICELESS it's the way she was denied the chance to be finished for a CENTURY it's--). Following that, about half a century later it was her core specifically that was stolen by the Beciles in 1950 in an attempt to replicate her Blue Matter power source. This tinkering inadvertently sent a beam of pure energy ripping through time and space, causing an explosion that claimed the lives of Peter Walter II and Guy Hottie (real name), and injuring Peter Walter III, Ignatius Becile, and Norman Becile. Rabbit, to this day, still blames herself for this because god forbid women have one good day. This also was the point in time that split the events of the Vice Quadrant into Timelines A and B, due to the generative power of Blue Matter, and also maybe created Cosmica? Which begs the question if Rabbit is sort of like Cosmica's mom in a weird way, but that's beside the point. In 2014, her original blueprints were discovered after a series of worsening malfunctions led Peter Walter VI to search for a way to repair or upgrade her, resulting in the confirmation of what Rabbit had known all along--that she was in an unfinished and slipshod chassis, that she was a girl, and she deserved to be recognized as such. Which is cool :') and a really neat way to work in her creator's IRL transition :') and for sure doesn't make me feel things.

Some cool facts I've just gleaned about Rabbit over the past eight-odd months are that she has memory problems, fell in love with a toaster, knows what BDSM is (SWEAR to god this is true), likes feeding ducks, and has a laser cannon in one eye, hence the heterochromia. There also is this cool series of drawings showing Rabbit's evolution drawn by Bunny here, which is really interesting to look at! In case it's not obvious, she's my favorite and I love her and I think about her too much <3

The Spine: The Spine is a special, special old man. With a retro-futuristic aesthetic, he was built with a titanium alloy spine (that's his Back Story), and before he got upgrades in 1955, was fashioned with a high amount of steam vents running up and down his vertebrae that kind of looked like old-fashioned train smokestacks, which is very endearing. In 1955, as I mentioned earlier, he got a ton of upgrades funding exclusively by the US government improving his weaponry, as well as an upgrade to his AI and programming making him much more humanistic, more personable and more able to mimic how humans moved in order to make it easier, once they were inevitably drafted again, for him to take up dangerous military operations without risking human lives. It's to my knowledge unclear if he was built like this or if this was part of that 1955 upgrade, but he is also able to detach his head and spine from his torso and limbs and actually slither around like a snake, which some people think is weird but I think is very endearing and fun! He hangs out a lot in the Hall of Wires since he's one of the few inhabitants of Walter Manor that can actually climb up towards the ceiling and presumably debug or repair the AIs, and also because it's the only room in the entire Manor with a door.

I love the Spine because I think the evolution of his role in the band is incredibly funny. If you watch the earlier Balboa and Zoo-era performances, he plays the straight man of the band in a stoic, but also kind of dumb way. He doesn't really know what's a bit and what's serious, but it's okay because he's really trying his best. Now, as the straight man of the group, he's so so old and tired. He really just wants to go back home and power off and who can blame him? By dint of the current lineup being a Black robot, a trans gay robot, and a white guy robot, he is now the butt by default of most jokes which is delightful to Me and boy, does he shoulder that weight with begrudging grace. My special, special old man. Watching him get made fun of onstage is kind of like watching someone give a very old and tired dog a pill, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible.

Cool facts about the Spine include the fact that he's really into cowboys and the Wild West, he has actually never really been in love, he secretly thinks Saturdays are Just Okay, and he actually swears the most out of all of the members of the band (at least as of now).

The Jon: The Jon is an interesting little guy. He has a cool Art Deco style and is known for being a little more whimsical, young, and off-the-cuff as opposed to the others. What's interesting about his backstory is that while Peter Walter I was mucking around with his power core trying to bring him to life, some switch flipped or some level was triggered and a minor explosion occurred. By the time the smoke cleared, the Jon was alive and sentient and there was a void in his chest instead of a power source. Unlike his siblings, he didn't run on clockwork, or hydraulics, or anything of the sort. He appeared to sustain himself on the void sealed in his chassis, which contained only a koi fish and a hot dog floating in space. He tends to have a certain effect on people blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, and odd coincidences seem to follow him like a well-trained dog.

In 1992, the Jon went through his own upgrade--Walter Robotics, always looking for ways to boost their quarterly revenue, signed an ad deal with PepsiCo advertising Crystal Pepsi. The Jon was modified to run solely on Crystal Pepsi, which. . . as you can see by the popularity of Crystal Pepsi right now (sarcasm), it obviously didn't go well. The Jon's efficiency is tied to an out-of-production soda and his machinery refused to be retroactively fitted to water again. To prevent the inevitable from happening, he left around 2012 through one of those Blue Matter portals through to a sister dimension (in fact, the same one Peter Walter I discovered back in 1896) known as Kazooland, where we are assured he now serves as the Mayor of Biscuittown (presumably, it is up to us to determine how much of this is true and how much of it is the Jon trying to sound cool).

Cool facts about the Jon include the fact that he and Zer0 are besties, animals love him, and that the very first show that Steam Powered Giraffe did all the way back in 2009 was about them going back in time to get him more Crystal Pepsi.

Upgrade: I used to be neutral about Upgrade but then I watched all the busking videos and also the 10 year anniversary show and now I love her. She was the Girl Of The Group (TM) all the way back in their busking era in 2009-2010 and her ongoing bit was that she was in love with the Spine and also knew exactly how adorable she was. However, she can be stubborn when she wants to be, and her AI is permanently frozen in the QWERTY 1996 OS because she really just liked the 90s I guess.

I for one am completely fascinated by Upgrade's lore because it's noted that during the Weekend War and WWI, she served in the military presumably doing the same sort of things the other bots were doing, then as a medical nurse in WWII, indicating that the governmental military contract really played fast and loose with whether or not they could enlist woman-coded robots in the war effort. What's notable to me, though, is that during the Vietnam War, Upgrade specifically went on to protest the war with the hippy movement while the others served in the war. How did that happen? Were they just allowed to opt out whenever they wanted? Are these robots really willing Vietnam War vets? Did Upgrade out of all of them just have enough guts to run away? Anyways, she was brought back into the fold about four years after the war ended, just in time to a few decades later get Sharpied with facial hair while the robots trial-ran a boy band concept. She ultimately left to go be a princess and become actual royalty. I swear to god I read somewhere that Upgrade killed Princess Diana but for the life of me I cannot find it. Know that it haunts me.

Upgrade facts include the fact that she is an actual princess, her makeup out of all of them is most inspired by classic vaudeville, and it was her and Rabbit's roles during their busking era to banter with the audience while the Spine and the Jon tuned their guitars.

Hatchworth: Hatchworth was built in the frantic few months before Peter Walter I had to face Thaddeus Becile in battle and presumably the poor man was turning anything metal into a robot. Hence, Hatchworth's design--he was initially constructed out of an old-fashioned bronze wood stove. Walter chose this robot to experiment with his Blue Matter levels, and with one tiny change in concentration he accidentally created a Blue Portal into another dimension in his hatch. This was incredibly useful in battle, as almost any weapon could be summoned through the hatch--after the war, it was used to summon sandwiches for the growing Walter family. All was well and good, until an as-of-yet unnoticed hairline fracture in his core began making the portal act unstable, coming to a peak in 1938. After accidentally summoning a pack (herd? flock?) of badgers into the middle of a tea party he was serving, he was determined too damaged to fix for now by anyone other than an ailing Peter Walter I, and locked in a lead vault deep below the manor while Peter Walters II and III tried to find a fix. Decades later, he was found hallucinating and lonely by our boy Peter Walter VI, who was stricken with his own Blue Matter mishap and had an inkling of how to fix the old robot. One thing led to another, and now thankfully we are all 99.9% Hatchworth acclimated!

Hatchworth facts….he left the band to go Gold Fishing (with some degree of success), he has incredibly fancy shoes that are also inexplicably tiny sometimes, he has a Hello Kitty cell phone, he does know how to cross himself, and Zer0 tried to microwave his head once.

Zer0: Myyyyyy sweetest and most special boy Zer0. Zer0 was actually technicallyyyyy the first one built, since he originated from three separate rudimentary prototypes Peter Walter I fused together after testing out various weapon designs. As a result, he's incredibly robust, very powerful, and has a cobbled-together patchwork appearance. Unfortunately, as he didn't have much by way of singing at the time, he fell to the wayside after the Weekend War and was forgotten down in the basements and testing labs sealed miles below Walter Manor. In 1992, the AI Beebop found him while archiving documents and turned him on. Zer0, enamored with the evolution of music over the past century, taught himself how to sing exclusively from the old Motown records in the basement with him. Peter Walter V, upon hearing his voice, was so awestruck that he immediately repaired him and Zer0 became the face of the band (#Zer0OurShiningStar). Zer0 then absolutely skyrocketed in popularity, signed with a TV show, and subsequently became so famous Walter Robotics had to erase all content of him from their market because they lost the rights to his appearance and voice. Sadly, our sweet boy invested all his money in "the abstract concept of love", lost all his money, sold one single copy of a bad autobiography, and came back home to Walter Manor with naught but a yacht to his name. He very graciously returned to performing in Steam Powered Giraffe, where his lovely vocals can be heard to this day.

Zer0 facts include the fact that he got a brand deal to sell his own kind of overly sugary cereal, he fell in love with a "large-chested lamppost" once, he likes possums, he would collect worms on strings if he could, and his defining characteristic is joy <3

I hope this was somewhat readable and comprehensive! I think…..I covered everyone out of the automatons, unless there is another member about to crawl out of the woodwork somewhere. Best of luck in your lore-hunting! I hope this helped :)

#spg #steam powered giraffe #answered #accountofnoparticularinterest #WHEW this was a chunky one i am SO #man i genuinely am having a blast answering these asks i really am these made my past few days #i'm very flattered to be somewhat considered an spg lore trailhead #man i hope this is readable y'all let me know lmao #a lot of this is basically regurgitated from their site just compiled in one place sorry there's not a ton of hugely obscure stuff :( #also some of this may be wrong? but like. a solid 86% of it should be right lol #sorry i have no idea how the readmore possibly moved?? sorry for everyone's dash

[wonderlandleighleigh]

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“Can I talk to you?”

“No,” Rory says quickly as she sidesteps Dean on her way to the diner the next morning.

Her mother had to head to work early, still sorting through insurance paperwork and displacements caused by the fire. So Rory is heading to the diner for coffee and breakfast and Jess by herself.

When she’d gotten home the night before, they’d had a very frank discussion about what had transpired in New York, how Rory felt about it, and where to go from here.

Did Rory enjoy sex? (Yes)

Was Rory planning on having sex regularly? (Probably)

Which ad led to a conversation about going on the pill - something she’d fought against a few years ago, because she wasn’t having sex. Now that she is, it just seems practical. So when she woke up this morning, she’d made an appointment with her doctor, and that’s this afternoon.

But right now, she’s trying to avoid an unpleasant conversation with her ex-boyfriend.

“Rory, come on,” he wheedles. “I’m trying to apologize.”

She rounds on him, anger bubbling up from a place deep within that she’s been trying not to think about in the last few weeks. “I don’t want to hear it,” she snaps. “And you think I’m only mad about the fact that you punched me, and I’m not.”

He frowns. “You’re not?”

“No! You used me,” she accuses. “You told me you wanted to be my friend, but that wasn’t even true. You used me, and our supposed friendship to get to Jess. You just wanted to mess with him, and if that meant he and I broke up and maybe you and I got back together, that suited you fine, and that hurts. That really, really, hurts.”

Dean looks concerned. “I don’t know what he told you-”

“That you threatened him,” Rory cuts him off. “Multiple times. Did you?”

Dean frets. “Well, I-”

“That’s not a no,” Rory points out as she starts walking again.

“Rory-”

“I’m just a piece of meat to you,” she states. “Something to have instead of someone to be with.”

“That’s not true!”

Rory shakes her head. “And then punching me while trying to hit Jess? Because you thought something happened between us?”

“I was trying to protect you!”

“Nothing happened!” Rory cries. She crosses her arms. “Not that night anyways.” 

Dean freezes staring at her. “Not...that night?” 

Rory huffs and whirls back around to keep walking. “There isn’t enough coffee in the world for this conversation.” She stomps her way to the diner, and swings the door open, slumping down at the counter just as a cup of coffee settles in front of her. 

“Rough morning?” Jess inquires curiously. 

She huffs and sips her coffee. “Dean.” 

Jess frowns deeply. “Dean.” 

“He wanted to apologize,” Rory explains. “And I...inadvertently told him that you and I...” 

“Huh.” 

“I didn’t mean to. I just-” she sighs. “I don’t like that I wanted to hurt him, but- but I wanted to hurt him.” 

“He did punch you,” Jess points out. “Getting a little of your own back isn’t so uncalled for.” 

“Are you on break anytime soon?” Rory asks. 

“I can be,” he shrugs, leaning over the counter. “Luke! Rory needs to talk, I’m goin on break.” 

“Five feet apart at all times! Middle of the apartment!” Luke calls back.

Jess rolls his eyes and nods for Rory to follow him up the stairs. 

#fic #au #Gilmore Girls #Jess x Rory #Literati #Jess Mariano #Rory Gilmore