#songbird&ezra

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Please note that a character currently needs at least 3 submissions to make it into the poll

That said:

Has 3 Submissions or more:

Aang - Avatar: The Last Airbender

Anakin Skywalker - Star Wars

Batman - DC

Bella Swan - Twilight

Bloom Peters - Fate: The Winx Saga

Bojack Horseman - Bojack Horseman

Brambleclaw - Warrior Cats

Clary Fray/Fairchild - Shadowhunters

Coriolanus Snow - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Elsa - Frozen

Evan Hansen - Dear Evan Hansen

Frank Reagan - Blue Bloods

Gregory - FNaF Security Breach

Harry Dresden - The Dresden Files

Harry DuBois - Disco Elysium

Heywood Floyd - Space Odyssey

Holden Caulfield - The Catcher in the Rye

Kazuya Kinoshita - Rent-a-Girlfriend

Kiris - On the Emperor's Lap

Mal - Descendants

Peter Pan - Peter Pan

Rand al'Thor - Wheel of Time

Rintaro Okabe - Steins;Gate

Scott McCall - Teen Wolf

Stolas - Helluva Boss

Ted Mosby - How I Met Your Mother

Tim Jackson Drake - DC

Tony Stark - MCU

Walter White - Breaking Bad

Wanda Maximoff - MCU

Xander Harris - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Zoey Redbird - The House of Night

Has 2 Submissions:

Ash Ketchum - Pokemon

Bloom Peters - Winx Club

Claire - Ship It

Dawson Leery - Dawson’s Creek

Duck Dodgers - Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 century

Dr Gregory House - House MD

Elizabeth - Bioshock Burial at Sea

Ezra Bridger - Star Wars Rebels

Ferris Bueller - Ferris Bueller's Day off

Feyre Archeron - A Court of Thorns and Roses

Harry Potter - Harry Potter

James Bond - James Bond

Jaune Arc - RWBY

Kyouya Sata - Ookami shoujo to kuro ouji

Netsa Archeron - A Court of Thorns and Roses

Odysseus - The Odyssey

Owen Grady - Jurassic World

Piper - Orange is the new Black

Pucca - Pucca

Quentin Coldwater - The Magicians (books)

Rey - Star Wars

Richard Rahl - Seeker of Truth/Legend of the Seeker

Riley Matthews - Girl Meets World

Robin - Teen Titans Go

Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) - Scum Villain’s Self Saving System

Tom Paris - Star Trek: vVyager

Velma - Velma

Wade Watts - Ready Player One

Has 1 Submission

Achilles - The Iliad

Akiyama Shun - Ryu Ga Gotoku/Yakuza

Alexander Hamilton - Hamilton

Animal Crossing New Horizons' Player Character - Animal Crossing New Horizons

Aquamarin Hoshino - Oshi No Ko

Aragorn - Lord of the Rings

Arek - So This Is Ever After

Artemis Fowl - Artemis Fowl

Arthur Pendragon - BBC Merlin

Ataru Moroboshi - Urusei Yatsura

August Landry - One Last Stop

Ayin - Lobotomy Corporation

Bakugou Katsuki - My Hero Academia

Betty Cooper - Riverdale

Billy Buddy/Dr. Horrible - Dr. Horrible's Sing Along

Blake - Pokemon Adventures Black 2 and White 2

Blitzo - Helluva Boss

Bubsy - Bubsy 3D

Charley Pollard - Doctor Who

Charlie Morningstar - Hazbin Hotel

Choromatsu Matsuno - Osomatsu-san

Colin Bridgerton - Bridgerton

Corrin - Fire Emblem Fates

Cory Matthews - Boy Meets World

Dal - Star Trek Prodigy

Damian Wayne - DC

Daphne Bridgerton - Bridgerton

Data - Star Trek The Next Generation

Dr. Hanna Heath - People of the Book

Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way - My Immortal

Ellison Oswalt - Sinister

Elric of Melniborne - The Elric Saga

Emma Nelson - Degrassi: The Next Generation

Equality 7-2521 - Anthem

Eren Jaegar - Shingeki no Kyojin

Faust - Goethes Faust

Frasier Crane - Frasier

Galadriel Higgins - The Scholomance Trilogy

Geralt of Rivia - The Last Wish, The Witcher books

Go Siwon - A Guy Like You

Gray Wing - Warrior Cats

Haruyuki Arita - Accel World

Homer Simpson - The Simpson

Howard Roark - The Fountainhead

Jaypaw - Warrior Cats

Jean-Luc Picard - Star Trek The Next Generation

Jeff Winger - Community

Jim Hopper - Stranger Things

JJ - Cocomelon

Joaquin Monegro - Abel Sánchez

John Proctor - The Crucible

Jughead Jones - Riverdale

Kai - The Witch King

Kang Jinha - A Guy Like You

Katara - Avatar the Last Airbender

Katnis - Hunger Games

Khai - Theory of Love - Thai BL Show

King Arthur - King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

Korra - Avatar: Legend of Korra

Koyomi Araragi - The Monogatari series

Kun-chan - Mirai

Kvothe - The Kingkiller Chronicles

Lelouch Lamperouge - Code Geass

Leroy Jethro Gibbs - NCIS

Lionblaze - Warriors (Power of Three and Omen of the Stars)

Luna - Retro

Luffy - One Piece

Lyn - Fire Emblem

Makoto Naegi - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Mal - Firefly

Manaow - Love Senior

Mark Watney - The Martian

Mary Poppins - Walt Disney's Mary Poppins

Meliodas - Seven Deadly Sins

Merlin - BBC Merlin

Mia - La La Land

Mike Wheeler - Stranger Things

Miyo Sasaki - A Whisker Away

Mordecai - Regular Show

Nick Carraway - The Great Gatsby

Nightheart - Warrior Cats

North Italy - Hetalia

Okajima ""Rock"" Rokuro - Black Lagoon (Anime)

Oscar - Shark Tale

Otis Milburn - Sex Education

Patrick Bateman - American Psycho

Peppa Pig - Peppa Pig

Piper McLean - Heroes of Olympus

Pippa Fitz-Amobi - A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Rebecca Bunch - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV show)

Robert Langdon - The Da Vinci Code

Rodion Raskolnikov - Crime and Punishment

Rorschach - Watchmen

Ruby - Max & Ruby

Ryo Saeba - City Hunter

Sabrina Spellman - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Satou Kazuma - Konosuba

Shiori - Six Crimson Cranes

Shiro Emiya - Fate/Stay Night

Shrek - Shrek

Skullduggery Pleasant - Skullduggery Pleasant

Snow Villiers - Final Fantasy 13

Star Butterfly - Star vs The Forces of Evil

Stiles Stilinski - Teen Wolf

Sydney Atherton - The Beetle

Tai Kamiya - Digimon Adventure

Takao - Garden of Words

Tara Webster - Dance Academy

Tarl Cabot - The Gor Chronicles

Violetta - Disney's Violetta

William Afton - FNaF Ultimate Custom Night

Yu/Ai - Final Fantasy Unlimited

Yuri Zhivago - Doctor Zhivago

Yuusaku Godai - Maison Ikkoku

Zack Morris - Saved by the Bell

Available for Resubmission (needs at least 1 resubmission to participate)

Atsuko Kagiri/Akko - Little Witch Academia

Beca Mitchell - Pitch Perfect

Elena Gilbert - Vampire Diaries

Izuku (Deku) Midoriya - Boku no Hero Academia

Katarina Claes - My Next Life as a Villainess

Scott Pilgrim - Scott Pilgrim

Sophie Foster - Keeper of the Lost Cities

The Tenth Doctor - Doctor Who

Wei (Ying) Wuxian - Mo Dao Zu Shi

Currently unavailable for a new Round:

Aelin Ashryver Galathynius/Celaena Sardothien - Throne of Glass

Alex Eagleston - YIIK

Caillou - Caillou

Dean Winchester - Supernatural

Eragon - Eragon/Inheritance Cycle

Erika Shinohara - Ookami shoujo to kuro ouji

Kirito - Sword Art Online

Light Yagami - Death Note

Marinette Dupain-Cheng - Miraculous Ladybug

Naofumi Iwatani - The Rising of the Shield Hero

Peter Griffin - Family guy

Rachel Berry - Glee

Ross Geller - Friends

Tori Vega - Victorious

Victor Frankenstein - Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Y/N - Fanfiction

#insufferable protagonist tournament #insufferable protagonist poll

[saradika-graphics]

Masterlist Headers + Matching Divider Sets

AESTHETICS

— Ace (Moon/Stars)

— Alchemy

— Bakery

— Blush Romantic

— Burgundy & Gold

— Constellations (Blue/Green)

— Cottagecore / Dark Academia

— Fire

— Forest-themed

— Halloween

— Hyacinth

— Maroon/Purple Witch

— Misty Forests

— Neon

— Orange-themed

— Purple/Blue Space

— Seasonal Aesthetic

— Skulls & Lace / Skeletons

— Sun

— Taupe and Teal

— Winter/Christmas

— Yellow-themed

FANDOMS

Star Wars

— Andor (The Eye)

— Bi-Pride Colors

— Dark Blue (& R2D2)

— Din Djarin

— Din Djarin & Boba-themed (Star Wars)

— Endor (Forest)

— Golden-themed

— Pastel Colors

— Pink/Mauve (Star Wars)

— Poe Dameron

— Red & Orange-themed

Marvel/DC

— The Batman

— Blue Beetle

— Bucky Barnes

— DC

— Marvel Inspired

— Loki Inspired

— Miguel O’Hara

Games/Series

— Astarion (BG3)

— Lae’zel (BG3)

— Call Of Duty

— House of the Dragon

— The Last Of Us

— The Witcher

Movies/Books:

— Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

— Ezra/Prospect

— Lord of the Rings & matching Navigation

— One Piece (Zoro) — Scream / Ghostface | Ethan Landry

✨(Everything was made in and using Canva - so check that app out if you’re looking to make your own! Credit is not required but a reblog would be great if you use! 💕) ✨

#masterlist #type: headers #type: headers/dividers

[iamskyereads]

Initiation

Part Five of Compulsion

EZRA (PROSPECT) X OFC BEATRICE

18+ (MDNI) warnings for the whole series. See more info and story summaries and warnings here.

Summary: Splinters appear in Beatrice's association with Ezra and something is happening beneath Hephaestus' surface.

chapter warnings: coarse language, mild bloody nose, Ezra being a warning enemies to idiots to lovers, slow burn is heating up, intense kissing/making out, female nudity, references to dream sex, one reference to needles/medical tech, mild angst, death of background character, and an earthquake

word count: ~6.8k with the lovely @ezrasbirdie as the beta 👑

MASTERLIST // AO3

// Previous. //

When she dreamed, she dreamed of hitching a bag to her shoulder and wandering into a field of thistles, wildflowers, and serenity, and finding a home of her own.

She dreamed of a cottage in a meadow with the windows wide open to let in the spring air and a kettle that whistled at teatime. When she set the bowl upon the windowsill at the same hour, a black cat would appear shortly there on, and with a shy glance it’d lap at the offerings.

The wind always rustled the dried lavender hanging from the ceiling and its sweet smell would permeate every room. There was a spider making its web in a sheltered corner that she never had the heart to sweep away while she dusted.

This time, a song began to play in those meadows. It came through the open windows and blended with the hush of the grasses and the rustling of leaves in the wind. It was a pleasant note that was sung in the air. A low hum that rose to a crescendo and then that dropped to a near hush. She abandoned the tea kettle and dusting and even the cat to follow the song out to the garden.

It made the forsythia dance, and it pleased the songbirds who warbled back.

She sought her song among the thistles and the sunflowers, the wildflowers and the serenity.

Beatrice, it sang out. Beatrice.

It comforted her, warmed her. Sung to an overwhelming, unsatiated desire to burrow underneath it, as the prairie dogs in the fields, or her neighborly cat on a patch of sunlight.

Beatrice.

It rang out silkily, and she longed for it to return when it finished. It rang to the tune of her favorite song, a best kept secret, or a hello from a dear friend. With an aching sigh, she searched for it.

Beatrice.

Beatrice.

“Beatrice, as cozy as this is, and as much as I have no desire to disturb you, I do have to piss like a racehorse,” said that voice.

The dream folded, the cottage and the forsythia cleared away upon the horizon and she felt light creep under her eyelids, as heavy as they were.

The voice continued with a flicker of amusement in it. “And you’re sleeping on my arm.”

Beatrice came face to face to face to a sloping nose, hovering not far from the tip of her own. Beneath this nose was a set of lips, soft as silk, cradled between the shadow of a mustache and the fine hairs of an uneven beard. Olive-toned skin, which showed signs of aging, weathered with crinkles around the eyes, and yet employed youthful exuberance with the grace of a dimple asymmetrically placed upon one smiling cheek. Finally, a pair of warm coffee-colored brown eyes—eyes that had seen her in an infinite number of ways.

Ezra!

“My arm, Beatrice,” he said, a touch amused.

She bolted upright, belatedly realizing she’d been using the fleshy part of his upper arm as a pillow. Under the darkness of sleep, she had crept closer to him and had folded herself all along his side next to him on that colorful circular rug.

“You’re awake!” All kinds of embarrassment flooded heat upon her cheeks.

“It would seem,” he said, fully alert. “Why Beatrice, you are hurt.”

“I’m not.” But something sticky fell from her nostril and dripped down towards her lips.

Ezra reached for her. Yet, it was with his dominant hand, which was no more than a stump, so it went nowhere. Cursing the while, he realized his mistake and had to switch. With his left hand, he wiped across the dips of her philtrum. The callused pad of his thumb touched close to her lips and came away stained red with blood.

It was like being naked before him, as she’d been in his dream. There was no sense in trying to cover herself up, explain, nor confess anything, for she searched his eyes, and they told her he knew everything.

“I’m fine, it’s nothing,” she insisted, trying to brush him off.

“You’re bleeding all over yourself!”

He was exaggerating—the nosebleed was no more than a few droplets. She’d had worse, but she was compelled to remain still while he lifted the bottom hem of his already dirty tank to clean the stray bits of blood off her face.

“I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about,” she said, while he fussed over her like a mother hen. Satisfied that her face was cleared of blood, he dropped the hem back down to his belly. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“A moment please, I am fit to burst,” he said.

Beatrice freed him from the IV and bandaged his arm. He made but a few pained winces as he got to his feet.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” she asked, vigilant as always.

“A bit stiff,” he replied. “It is no hassle. I feel as if I’ve been lying down too long.” He stretched his spine, did a small twisting of it one way then the other, then went off for the bathroom.

Cee had not returned from her mission. So at the radio, Beatrice sent along a message of Ezra’s development, using the codename Cee supplied. All she received was static, a sign of interference, so she would have to try again in a bit.

Ezra was in the bathroom for a while. With water rationing effectively in place from the beginning of the strike, there was not enough for a full bath, but she heard all the same the telltale sounds of a shower running. He hummed loudly while in there, occasionally belting out a vocalization or two. The water soon shut off and she heard Ezra move to his bedroom.

Beatrice busied herself in the kitchen, saddled with too many unanswered questions. Though she had slept through the rest of the morning, and it was now nearly midday, she made the strongest pot of coffee from their supplies.

By the time the coffee pot was done, Ezra returned to the main room in high spirits. He had changed his clothes, now wearing loose fitting black pants and was pulling a teal-blue tee shirt over his head as he entered, his pale belly was on display for the briefest of seconds before his head appeared through the neck hole and he smiled broadly at Beatrice.

She was still in her exercise clothes from earlier that morning, a sports bra and high-waisted leggings.

“Do you feel okay?”

“You have already asked me that,” he said. His hair was wet, and as he passed close to her to retrieve a mug from the cabinet behind her shoulder, she smelled pine scented soap on him.

“Do you really not know?”

“Know what?”

“Ezra,” she said harshly, “you’ve been asleep for eighteen hours!”

“Is that why I feel so rested!” He teased her over the rim of the mug as he slurped a small bit of the hot liquid. “I am quite chipper,” he remarked, once swallowing down the coffee. “Where is Cee?”

“She went out hours ago with Georgie, I’m attempting to get her on the radio. But first, I’d like to run a cognitive exam,” Beatrice said definitively. “Would you sit?”

He did so, upon one of the unremarkable dining chairs while he slurped more of his hot coffee. Perfectly at ease. In fact, his lack of concern about it all only further proved to disturb Beatrice.

No, he was not nauseous, nor did he have a headache. There were no problems with balance. His only complaint was a little ache in his back, but the more he moved and stretched the better it felt. No double vision either.

“I am hungry. Is food part of your interrogation, Drifter?” His grin was too mischievous as he tapped his fingers upon the mug, the titanium alloy fingers providing a musical beat to each one.

“We couldn’t wake you. Ezra, you were—” She exhaled with a dispirited groan. “It was like you were in a coma. Cee was so worried. You were in limbo, and with your synapses overworked, you might never have returned to us.”

“And I’ve told you already, I am fine.”

Beatrice glared sharply, bedeviled by his attitude. “Will you follow my finger?”

She held up her pointer about half a meter from his face, directly in the midline of his vision. Slowly, she drew a straight line to the right, returned to center, then went left. She tracked the proficiency of his eyes movements.

“Going to tell me how you did it?” He asked while she worked, careful not to move his head and only follow her finger with his eyes. “How you walked into my dream?” With that, Ezra’s focus rolled off her finger and pinned resolutely upon her. “Well then?”

“I didn’t do anything,” she huffed. “Keep following my finger.” She lifted it skyward this time.

Ezra laughed in a way that could only be described as an uproarious guffaw. “Are you really going to deny this, Drifter?”

“There’s nothing to deny.”

“Drifter magic—it’s real.”

Beatrice doubled down. “I didn’t. Do. Anything. Now, follow my finger,” she said tightly.

“I will bite your finger,” yapped Ezra, all patience abandoned. “Girlie, tell me how you did it? I heard you. I saw you. Beatrice, you were in my head! How did you do it?”

“It was a dream,” she said weakly. “Follow my—”

“And you woke me up!” He grabbed her floating wrist with his metal hand. Not enough to pain her, though she gasped all the same. “How?’

“I—I don’t know. I’ve…” She rolled her shoulders back, tried to release herself. Only after a brief struggle, Ezra unclasped her wrist.

“You cannot deny that you and I experienced one and the same dream, and the strangeness of your presence there,” he eyed her, leeringly. “Why don’t you tell me what you saw?”

“Enough already.” She was growing hot all over.

“Besides.” His eyebrows waggled humorously. “You were the one intruding upon my sanctuary. Are the contents of my own wanton desires no longer sacrosanct?”

“I was not intruding!”

Too late. Ezra’s grin grew bigger than his ego, unperturbed by her rising temper.

“There are two things, Beatrice, that can never be bodily faked. One—” He held up one bionic finger to illustrate “—is an erection, the second—” another finger raised “—is a blush. Both of which are a direct consequence of the movement of blood in their vessels, brought on by a singular emotional stimulus—the sole reason in the case of the former, but not necessarily the case for the latter.”

“Oh Kevva, take me out of this,” Beatrice prayed, half seriously to herself.

Ezra was not deterred. “That singular emotional stimulus being deeply erotic in nature. And you, dear Drifter, are purported by my eyes to be turning a mighty pretty hue of crimson. One I do not get to witness often enough on this side of the galaxy. And—ho! That tells me you not only know what it is you saw in my dream, but you are admitting to the very presumption you insist on denying.”

“You’re insufferable,” Beatrice fumed. She abandoned further discussion of this topic by going to raise Cee on the radio once more.

“Count yourself flattered. I rather enjoyed our time together,” Ezra called after her, smarmy as ever. “Now, one might be embarrassed by what you saw, but I am not the kind of man to be embarrassed by things, least of all the contents of my dreams. I find shame to be a trifling thing; why waste time on it? I am a hot-blooded male with needs after all.”

Beatrice was successful this time on the radio and told the little birdie to make it on home for a surprise. She held her tongue though in adding that their patient was in such good spirits she might knock his head clean off.

The patient in question was staring at her across the way. More galvanized than ever.

“You’ve done it before?” He was too smart for his own good.

“No,” she berated, far too strained to convince him. “Stop it.”

“Can the others do it? Or just you?” He knocked his knuckles but once upon the table.

“Enough, I am begging you! It was an accident the first time. It’s better if we go on thinking that nothing hap—”

The coffee in her mug began to rattle. In fact, the whole room seemed to shake. Slowly at first, and then with increased intensity. The walls shook with violence and the floor grumbled and groaned.

“Is this more of your Drifter magic?” Ezra asked.

“No, this isn’t me! I swear!” Beatrice had to shout to be heard over the din of the growing noise. “What’s happening?!

“An earthquake!”

“There are no earthquakes on Hephaestus!”

The cabinets flew open, glasses and plates fell from their shelves, crashing to the floors.

“Move!” Ezra yelled, grabbing Beatrice around the hips.

The two of them dove for the cover of the table as the quaking continued. Ezra’s home rattled and roared around them, the whole place upended. Dust fell from the far corners of the room. The few books and other small items toppled from their shelves and the lights flickered. Ezra’s coffee mug was the first victim to tumble off the table, shattering and spilling its contents into a dark puddle.

The earthquake went on for several spell–binding seconds. The overhead lamp fell from its place in the ceiling next and crashed upon the tabletop, and its bulbs exploded on the instant of contact, spraying bits of glass everywhere.

Under the table, Ezra’s arms remained wrapped around Beatrice. Meditation mantras sprang forth from her lips, and she repeated the sage words she had learned in therapy to ground herself.

Just as quickly as it came on, the shuddering slowed down and eventually ceased. The ground, the house, and all its items, came to a perfect stillness.

The only survivor was the lone bulb hanging from a cable over the oven, it swung in an arc over the counters.

“Are you all right?” Ezra peppered Beatrice with question after question, even patting along her sides to check for injuries she may have sustained, equally amazed that they had come away unscathed. “Are you unharmed? Did you bang your head?”

“I’m fine,” breathed Beatrice, though she was so squarely perturbed by what had occurred she barely registered her speaking. “You?”

He cupped her chin gently, each puff of his breath wafting over her. The sense of their mortal peril and their imminent danger refused to lift. Their passion synchronized, adrenaline heightened, and they were both seized in that moment with a renewed sense of life.

They met in the middle, their lips connecting in a volatile kiss.

They molded further together, caught up in the heat of the moment. It was a brief, entangled fight for dominance. Noses glanced, lips brushed, and the first sweep of Ezra’s tongue into her mouth Beatrice made a soft yearning noise she’d never heard pass her lips before. She would have been embarrassed by it, but it drew an equal sigh of longing from him.

She clutched him as if she relied on him to keep her secure. The smooth grasp of metal banded across the back of her waist, gently coaxing her to lean further into his broad frame. All the while, their lips moved upon each other, breaking apart, then meeting again, grasping, coveting.

The strands of his hair were damp still when she formed a fist through them, and he groaned again, sweeping his tongue across the plush center of her lower lip. His warm hand, so broad upon the base of her neck, seemingly encompassed her, and the even warmer inferno in her belly that delighted in his solid, safe embrace under the table.

It was a sublime mix of textures and sensations she was aware of—silky lips, humid breath, coarse facial hair upon her chin. Pine and cedar smells sat under her nostrils, the taste of the bitter coffee and some freshness laced his breath. The soft cotton quality of the teal-blue shirt, and the strength and virility of his body.

They elongated each kiss, turning them into something else, something animal. Starved.

When they finally did break apart, both were at a loss for words, eyes drinking in each other, and simply dying for air.

“It didn’t—I don’t,” Beatrice started.

“Beatrice.” Her cheek fit perfectly into the cup of his palm.

“It didn’t mean anything,” she snarled, feeling as if she were forcing down bile.

A flash of real sentiment passed over his features. All sincerity diminished, and the barest shiver made his eyebrows fall, a large crease appeared in the center of his attractive brow. Sheer disappointment, even pain. Sullen, he did not respond.

Belatedly, she regretted the harsh sting of her tone. For once, her words—her rejection— actually hurt him.

With that, the door banged upon the wall with a loud thud, but they didn’t break apart until the stomping of clunky heavy-steel toed boots a size too large for their owner could be heard nearby.

“Ezra?” Cee’s shrill shout filled the room.

“Here.” Ezra went crawling out from under the table first, cautious around the broken shards of glass and the puddle of coffee. He swiped his kiss-swollen lips with the back of his hand and approached Cee gingerly. “Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did the earthquake scare you?”

Cee bounded across the untidy space, nearly knocking Ezra over with the force of her collision, and a small oof passed his lips. Her face sagged with palpable relief as she gave him an enormous bear hug around his middle.

“I’m okay, Cee, I’m all right,” Ezra said, stunned into gentle laughter. He returned the embrace, resorting to patting fondly upon the back of her shoulders. “No reason to go egregiously ill with worry, I’ve recovered. You have our dear Drifter to thank for that, and she will find I am fit for duty. There is no sense in being worried, banish it from your very thoughts.”

Cee did not release him, nuzzling her cheek into his broad chest.

“Going sentimental on me, are you?” Ezra teased and placed his scarred cheek upon the crown of Cee’s head, chuckling lightly all the same.

“Shut up,” Cee bellyached, though there was clearly no grudge anymore between them.

Beatrice watched this reunion of the teenager and her guardian—a no sweeter example of father and daughter—take place. Though, she was shaken at what had occurred between her and Ezra, and she was more so discomfited with the sense of being an intruder upon this private, domestic moment between Ezra and Cee amid such a state of chaos. As a church mouse, she set about the task of neatening the stray items that had been displaced in the earthquake, if only to give her hands something to occupy her mind.

Though, she was sensitive to being watched and rotated to find Ezra regarding her over Cee’s blond head with those formidable brown eyes.

A gigantic crack in the earth had appeared, splitting open the main road that connected the campus to Adonis Square.

Baylor’s Biome wondered at this marvel. They called it an omen. Strange tidings were upon them. The rioter’s rage had distilled down into the very earth, they said, and the earth was taking its revenge.

Stranger still was the discovery of the Mycena somniantes growing above the surface, not in those gold-spotted mushroom caps as was normal, but entire mycelial strands. These were no garden delights, but massive monstrous branches spurred from the center of the earth. One such strand was as thick as the trunk of an ancient tree. It traveled all the way down the road towards Adonis Square and had, according to word on the street, shattered the Botanical Gardens, splitting the old glass domed building in two as if it were made of paper.

Mycelial this thick wasn’t likely to grow so close to the surface, which meant it had come from deep within.

As of its own free will? Or had something brought it here?

A larger concern among those still living with the geodesic dome was the structural integrity of their home, and the artificially created environment that allowed the workers to live in Hephaestus' otherwise inhospitable surface. So far it escaped a scratch, and the shelter proved a wonder of stable engineering, yet the worry persisted.

What if another earthquake returned with no warning, just as before? Only with far worse reaching consequences?

Luckily, no further deaths were recorded, but there were many injuries. Police, of course, had appeared in droves, ordering people back into their homes and not to congregate, as it was illegal to do so under the newly minted marshal laws.

The police worked all day to close off the streets where the chasm had appeared and cordoned off the streets where the thick golden colored mycelial root was making its new home upon the surface. Neighbors glared distrustfully at the troops parading upon the streets outside their homes. Their anger only increasing.

Cee had been delayed all morning in the queue for the markets, waiting to receive food for the day. She received Beatrice’s radio call and had been returning when the earthquake struck.

They were among the messy remains of the living room, the smashed crockery upon the floors, and stained rags covering the spilled coffee. Beatrice was sweeping the shattered pieces of the glassware into a pile for disposal while Ezra learned all that had transpired while he’d been in the Drifter’s Sleep.

He was devastated to learn the news of the horrific means of Freddie’s death. It struck him as senseless.

Donning a pair of wire framed spectacles, he read directly from Cee’s journal the eulogy she had written and distributed, A Manifesto On The Death of Our Brother.

Cee was over his shoulder while he read, observing closely every hum he made, dissecting it as either approval or ambiguity, or starting expectantly at every pass of his hand over his jaw to scratch his beard, as if it might broker some insight into his reaction.

Ezra gave his final appraisal—he removed his glasses and with a rare, fond smile and agreeable nodding as if to say, you outdid yourself, kid.

Cee nearly burned the meal she was cooking for them, so distracted she was.

When the pot of rice boiled over, Ezra used his metal appendage to snatch the hot plate off the stovetop, and thus had to take over the kitchen duties after that. The two of them made circles around each other as they prepared the meal, joking that it was almost reduced to burnt casings on the bottom of the pan.

The leftovers—“whatever edible ones,” Ezra jested with Cee—of which they decided would be shared with their neighbors.

Something painful clenched in Beatrice’s chest at the domesticity she witnessed. The tenderness and attention they exhibited with one another—Ezra’s soft estimations on Cee’s writings; Cee’s astute observations about the strike, which had been irrevocably altered in the wake of Freddie’s death; Ezra’s pride in the retellings of her and Georgie tiptoeing into Medical to steal the supplies, and Cee’s glee in sharing all the suspenseful details.

The more Beatrice watched them the more she found, though they were no relation, they were deeply alike. She both hated and longed for what they had—the messy, complicated love and companionship of this peculiar duo.

All too aware that she herself was the grotesque third adjunct on which the whole operation balanced. An outsider; the misfit.

Yet, the key to the entire undertaking. 

It only amplified her wish for getting this whole business over and done with as speedily as possible and she reminded Ezra of this when Cee slipped out of the room for a moment.

“It’s best we don’t share the details of your miraculous recovery to Cee,” she reminded him. He was re-reading Cee’s writings, the glasses perched on his hawkish nose. With a well-placed tap, they slid down the wide bridge, and those dark eyes of his peered, perceptively, at her over the rims of his spectacles.

“It’s not my place to share,” replied Ezra, just a hint of sagacity. “Yet if Cee’s curiosity and cleverness get the best of her, I will not outright lie to my ward. Until such a moment, I will keep your secret.”

“After,” said Beatrice conclusively. “We will share it after. You can tell her whatever you want.”

“This is expressly your wish?”

“It is.”

“Beatrice!” It was Cee, returning to the main space. “Hungry?”

She admitted she was.

They were a few hours more from curfew. The afternoon was dragging on, the hours passing as water droplets falling from a leaky sink. Ezra and Cee spent the while largely trying to find some semblance of normalcy in simply sharing a meal all together for what would be their final time. They ate on plates that could be salvaged, and were not damaged by the earthquake.

While Cee remained friendly with Beatrice—inviting her opinion on such things as if earthquakes were a phenomenon on Hephaestus (they were not), and thus pegged her with more questions about it all (she had limited knowledge of Hephaestus geology, but yes she found it strange), or whether she thought it was great that Ezra was awake again (she meagerly confessed it was better than him being stuck in limbo)—Ezra persisted in being aloof and professional towards Beatrice. Only deigning to speak to her in short phrases (if at all) or commenting in shortened grunting, preferring rather to be completely engrossed rather with eating as much as he could, having been denied his last few meals.

Enough that Cee began to notice.

At the conclusion of the meal, Ezra spoke to the group. “We go tomorrow. We go down to the mines,” he said.

“Police will be occupied with the crowds for Freddie’s funeral,” he continued, in the tone of an officer commanding troops. “They will have all their focus here on the campus, so we shall pass untested. In the tunnels, there are pockets of breathable atmosphere. We can do our Drifts from there, long ones, in order to successfully locate the pearls. Cee—you, with Georgie, will drive the lorry with the digging equipment and make a headstart into the tunnels, and once we have a final location, I will meet you there. Check also that Georgie’s contact still has that transport ready to meet us at the shuttle bay upon the appointed hour. Tell them no later than the hour before curfew starts tomorrow eve.”

“Someone needs to watch over you,” Cee asserted. “And should you really be Drifting after what happened?”

“Do we really have a choice?” Ezra retorted with the first real lace of fire in his voice. “Is this all acceptable to the Drifter?”

He sought her across the square table, sitting in direct opposition to him. Beatrice only gave the slightest downward stroke of her chin in affirmation.

“Very well,” replied Ezra. “Afterwards, you are free to do as you please, you and I—” The rest became stuck in his throat. He swallowed back something heavy before proceeding. “You and I, Drifter,” he managed, staring with some intensity at the corner of her chair, rather than to face the steeliness in her blue and yellow eyes. “We shall part ways per our agreement. After all, I’m sure she has plenty more pressing, more meaningful things to attend to.”

It stung her.

“Hold on,” Cee interjected loftily. “I can talk to Georgie, I’m sure there’s an extra seat on our transport off-planet. Beatrice, you could leave with us. We could have you—”

Ezra vociferously objected. “That is a very noble endeavor, Cee, but it was Beatrice’s wish that we depart from Hephaestus with no further contact at the termination of her services. I doubt she desires to annul those terms,” he said. While he remained composed, it was his eyes that bled naked vulnerability, glancing briefly onto Beatrice, then flitting away and back to severity at Cee.

“Would you like a ride off this planet?” Cee asked Beatrice, point blank. “You could come with us for a bit, or we could arrange to drop you off somewhere.”

Again, it was Ezra who interrupted her. “I must object on behalf of the Drifter.”

“I’m sitting right here,” grouched Beatrice, while before her very eyes the entire gentle camaraderie between Cee and her guardian began to deteriorate.

“Floating around with us is not in her express interest.”

“I’m asking Beatrice,” Cee whined talking over him. “Stop being so fucking weird.”

“Kid, the swearing,” Beatrice urged, though it was drowned out by Ezra.

“You are lucky, young lady, that I have such a distaste for punishment, particularly when it does not fit the crime,” he said, brushing closely upon anger, to Cee. “However, I do not appreciate that tone with me. The terms have already been wholly agreed upon, of which you were a witness. Now stop this nonsense or I shall threaten to ground you and take away your privileges.”

“What! You can’t do that,” Cee lashed out.

“I can and I shall.”

“Beatrice is our friend now. This is so stupid, you can’t! You’re being unreasonable and rude—”

“Go to your room, you are being very unpleasant,” barked Ezra.

Cee banged her fist forcefully upon the table, sending the silverware and plates to clack loudly. Facing a second exile to her room in the span of two days made her livid. “Why?” She retorted peevishly, her cheeks beginning to glow reddish. “So you two can make out again? Like?! You think I haven’t noticed?!”

Beatrice finally felt the need to intervene, choosing the path of gentleness. “Okay. Cee, that’s—”

Ezra on the other hand, beat her to it, upon the opposite path. “Enough of this! I tire of your childish behavior. Consider yourself grounded and all radio privileges rescinded.”

Cee rose to her feet, and, with the last scraps of her dignity, she stalked off to her bedroom. The slam of the door reverberated around the small abode and rock music began to play loudly from her speakers from inside her bedroom.

“That was unnecessary,” said a caustic Beatrice to the troubled Ezra after a few beats in which he was scowling at the table.

“She was such a forlorn, quiet little thing when I found her,” he said with a hint of wistfulness that was quickly souring. “Smart, don’t get me wrong. Always smart, but now everything with her is turbulent.”

“It’s called being a moody teenager.” Beatrice started stacking up the empty plates upon the table. “Few friends, few outlets. Hopping from one planet to the next until she’s of age. She wrote that eulogy for you. She already lost her father, and she came pretty close to thinking she was about to lose another one.”

Ezra saw through to reason but remained prickly all the same. He sucked in air through his teeth. “Then it goes without saying, I was too harsh with her.”

“Yes, you were. You’re clearly pissed at me, so be mad at me.”

“Don’t think so highly of yourself, Drifter, you’ve barely made a passing mark on my mood.” There was real fire behind his eyes as he said this, none of his smirking, playful spirit.

“You are so full of shit,” she stormed over to the sink. Ezra followed shortly after, his footsteps, heavy with purpose.

“If you had not been so testy with me after that kiss, we would not be in this mess. I could have explained myself,” he said.

She spun to face him. “Explain what?”

They were close enough to be sharing the same air. His gaze dropped to her lips. Thoughtlessly, he swiped his tongue over his own, as if recreating the taste of her lingering there.

“As if you didn’t know. As if you haven’t seen it yourself. Very crafty, Drifter—playing coy with me. All you had to do was ask, I could hardly have refused you. Not when you make such a desirable offer. Because if it is steam you are looking to blow off, allow me to assist,” he husked.

She harrumphed, double-checked his sincerity.

“I would have volunteered, yes,” he went on. “Now I am not so sure, it seems I do not hold a candle to the expectation of your desires.”

“What do you know of my desires?” She shot back.

“I know you've thought about it—considered it even. Ever since you saw it.”

Her eyes widened at the starkness of his proposal. Come see the mess I’m making of you.

“Just because you have a sex dream about me, doesn’t mean I believe you actually want to have sex with me,” she said.

“Nonsense! We make a good team; you know it already.”

“Oh, you would have fucked me, like some charity case. I feel so honored,” she crowed sarcastically bitterly.

“Not charity! For the betterment of the partnership!”

“Yes, yes, the desire of unity.” She quoted his own enigmatic words back to him from their first meeting, only with a sardonically demure flutter of her lashes at him and then added a dramatically fake gag. “I remember.”

His teeth gleamed, sharp and vicious, as his grin widened. “Unity, precisely. Took the words straight from my mouth, Drifter,” he said fondly. “Starting to sound like me.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” muttered a straight-faced Beatrice, trying not to think about the way his mouth had moved against hers.

She shifted her weight to the other leg and popped her hip into the counter. She drew her fingers across the skin of her lips, seeing how enraptured Ezra was with this simple movement, for his eyes traced the path her fingers made, then returned, greeting her own and sparking with palpable heat.

“You can attest to the level of my skills yourself. I heard no complaints when you kissed me.”

“You mean, when you kissed me.” She dug her index finger into his pectoral muscle and was greeted with a firm reminder of his broadness.

He flirtatiously bumped his knuckles to the underside of her chin, lightly propping her chin up so they could maintain eye contact. “We’ll agree to disagree on that matter. Perhaps you can enter my thoughts once more and see for yourself exactly what else I happen to excel at.”

“Tempting.”

“Is it now?”

Beatrice hummed through pursed lips. “But, as we’ve established, I cannot control it.”

“Allow me to recommend a method of relaxation,” he purred, puffing his chest up.

“Having your way with me in a dream is one thing,” she simpered. “But out here, I don’t think you could handle me, scoundrel.”

Ezra’s brows shot up, thoroughly piqued by her challenge. “Girlie, you are about to be sorely mistaken.”

The rejoinder was no sooner out of his crafty pink lips, when an effusively loud sound came from the other end of the room. It was a cross between a groan and a gag that met both their ears. Stunned, Ezra dropped his hand from Beatrice’s face.

Cee was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, a mildly disgusted expression on her young face. “Ew, I knew you were being gross,” she stated, emphatically. “But now Georgie owes me fifty credits.”

The music in her bedroom had stopped, and neither Ezra nor Beatrice had the guile to notice. Being too busy engrossed with whatever game they were playing.

Cee went to the sink to fill up her water bottle, causing Ezra and Beatrice to separate.

“Have you been talking to them on the radio?” Ezra asked, outraged. “It is a precise condition of your punishment that your radio privileges are revoked until further notice.”

Cee poked curiously through the pantry shelves for more food, finally grabbing a Bits Bar, one of those artificial chocolate ones, out of the cabinet.

“How about this instead,” she proffered. “Why don’t you ground me after the successful conclusion of our plans? When we have fled with our cache of pearls, and you still feel I deserve—” she even added air quotes “—a punishment for my behavior, I will take it without complaint.”

Beatrice and Ezra exchanged glances. It was a reasonable enough offer. There were bigger things to worry about than effectively punishing a teenager.

“Your way it is,” said an amenable Ezra. Succinct, for once.

Satisfied, Cee returned to her bedroom, with her Bits Bar and a full water bottle, muttering something under her breath that suspiciously sounded like a complaint about being the only grown up in the room.

After Cee’s door had been shut again, the two adults found themself standing a few paces apart, unsure how to proceed. They stood on the brink of a knife’s edge. Taut and tensile.

“I’m taking a shower,” stated Beatrice, if only to escape any more of Ezra’s insanity.

There was no borrowing Cee’s ensuite, given the return of music on the other sound of the door that shifted from rock to something resembling very shrill vocals. The door was resolutely shut once again, and she would likely stay there until sunup.

“Very well, you may use mine then,” Ezra recommended, though he was tense.

It was heaven standing under a spray of water. The Residence Hall had been strapped for water for weeks now and she’d had to suffice with sponge baths, and though Ezra’s shower was intermittently unpredictable in its temperature, dipping from hot to freezing in a span of seconds, it was better than nothing.

Overall, she clocked in at around seven minutes, doing all her washing up speedily, borrowing Ezra’s soaps. She only brought a few supplies of her own, to keep her skin moisturized, a comb, a spare pair of underwear, and fresh socks. It felt indulgent to be wearing leggings so often, these ones a touch thinner than her exercise pair, and the only top she had was a black tank with a built-in bra. Her sweatshirt served as a good enough extra layer.

It would have to do for now. She hadn’t put any effort into thinking towards the ‘After’.

As in—after Ezra and Cee left. After this was all over.

Stepping out of the ensuite bathroom, she found the bedroom door was open. Slinking over, naked except for the towel cinched tightly to her form, she went to shut it for further privacy in order to change her clothes.

Ezra was in the living room, exactly where she had left him, and he looked up as she appeared in the doorway. He had a wrench in his left hand and was using it to tighten a loose screw on the inner panel of the prosthetic arm. He was wearing those ridiculous wiry spectacles, the ones that made him appear more austere, erudite. 

A green light burst forth from within its inner machine, bathing his face in a soft, surreal glow, he gaped at her over the thin wiry frames.

The towel barely covered her ass as is and skimmed closely the tops of her thighs. It was secured rather tightly over her naked breasts, and her skin glistened with a post-shower glow. The long tresses of her hair, usually worn up and out of her face (the color of some quotidian brown that was already sporting a sparse miscellany of gray among it), cascaded over her shoulders, uncombed, and dripping fat water droplets.

She remained motionless, with one hand upon the doorframe, poised to shut it, but returned Ezra’s ogling stare. Finding no sense of shame at this junction, no inner battle ensuing in her head, not even an inkling of perversion. She unknotted the towel and let it fall gently, as a caress.

Removing the spectacles, Ezra drank in the vision of her naked body, his mouth falling open, slackened with surprise. But more so, with want—

And she wanted to feel wanted. Kevva, how it irked her.

He did not disappoint. Absorbed every ounce of her curves, the soft swells of her breasts, the pebbled skin of her nipples, even the droplets of water falling from her hair onto her shoulders, and the plump swell of her belly under her navel. Where her hourglass waist went, his eyes followed, salivating, to the path of her curvy hips and shapely legs, and towards the small patch of hair on her mound meeting at the apex of her thighs.

Satisfied she had given him enough, and would thus leave him wanting, she swung the door inward, until it closed with a soft, muted click.

NEXT >>>

tagging:

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@littlemisspascal @athalien @amb11 @bbyanarchist @astradjarin @amywritesthings @steeevienicks @in-for-a-pennyx @sabbs118 @shirks-all-responsibilities​ @pedrostories​ @purple-elm​ @prolix-yuy​ @lowlights​ @ezrasbirdie​ @haylzcyon​ @mothandpidgeon​ @mvtthewmurdvck​ @jedifarmerr​ @pazizz

#compulsion series #ezra x ofc #ezra x original female character #ezra/ofc #ezra (prospect) #ezra (prospect)/ofc #ezra (prospect) x ofc #prospect fanfiction #pedro pascal character fanfiction #pedro pascal character #pedro pascal character fanfic #horror #alien horror #science fiction #traumatic brain injuries #tw blood

[trulybetty]

Sunday Week In Review on a Monday

How is everyone doing? Did we make it through the last week? Those who got a long weekend I hope it was a good one! Yesterday was a clusterfuck and I had the mother of all naps - the type where you wake up and don't know where you are let alone what day of the week it is lol.

So here is Sunday's Week in Review, on a Monday edition! 💕

Truly Betty Updates This Week…

Strings IV

Sequins

First Sentence Game

Fics I Enjoyed This Week…

A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore (Ezra) by @oonajaeadira

While I’m still undecided if I truly enjoy Prospect, I absolutely do love a good Ezra fanfic and this one doesn’t disappoint. It started as a late-night read last Sunday when I was the only one awake and once I started I couldn’t stop. It also seems to have popped up for a lot of other readers as I’ve seen it all over my dash since. @oonajaeadira master list is a joy to go through on Sundays at the moment. 

Until Now, Until You | Chapter 1 (Javier Peña) by @wildemaven

This was all the right levels of sexy and spicy and leaving you wanting more and I can’t wait to see how this plays out when the two run into one another again!

Leave off Your Wanderings (Joel Miller) by @oonajaeadira

This series is a total balm to my TLOU2 feels - this is the ending Joel deserved (and in my mind the official sequel to TLOU) and in the third instalment the autumn vibes are warm and cozy, and the build-up between Joel and Songbird is soft in all the right places. This whole series is a warm gentle hug and the writing is so good - definitely check this one out.

Hungry Hearts | Atlantic City (Joel Miller) by @atinylittlepain

I’m sad that this series is nearing its end, but that means I get to go back and read it again. Between flashbacks of young Joel with baby Sarah we’ve got Cherry and Joel reconciling in present day and never knew mini-vans could be so sexy, so check it out!

The Layover | Epilogue (Frankie Morales) by @goodwithcheese

This finale was bittersweet - it has been such a pleasure to follow this story, so much so that it was a highlight of my week. The story wraps up in a way that is perfect for reader x Frankie with them both on pace with one another. It’s done so perfectly that I read it more than once. I will be revisiting this story for sure.

Late Night Texts | Epilogue (Javier Peña) by @mvtthewmurdvck

Another fantastic story that came to a close this week *sigh*, this was just  the perfect ending. This story is a delicious rom com romp and I know will hold up to multiple reads. I don’t want to give anything away if you’ve not read it, but it’s a delight.

The Window (Dave York) by @wildemaven

This was a delight to read and Heidi crafts a great story of longing from a distance that has a soft ending that is all enveloping and lends itself to multiple reads. 

Bush Pilot (Frankie Morales) by @legendary-pink-dot

Oh boy, this one *fans self* this one was something else. Frankie taking you to see the sunrise but makes you see stars instead in the back of his truck. Oomph, all kinds of good spicy smut here that lends itself to a second read… or three ;) 

sam and diane, eat your heart out (Marcus Pike) by @chronically-ghosted

I could easily be biased as this was written based on the prompts I sent Taylor - however, Taylor blew it out of the park with our boy Marcus! This was spicy in all the right places and honestly, I would love to see more of these two. This is a take on Marcus Pike x Reader that I haven’t seen before and it will be on my perma reread list that is for sure! Also, peep the Cheers reference, *squee*

IRL | Part 2 (Javi Gutierrez)  by @grogusmum

I’ve had a hard time finding some good Javi G. fanfics, but this one here is so good in its characterization. The story of Javi meeting Reader for the first time since meeting online, is incredibly sweet and I had been waiting in anticipation for this second chapter since I finished the first. It’s also one of the few plus sized reader fanfics that nails it without going over the top and making the character a stereotype. I have this bookmarked to go back and re-read this week, because that ending has been living rent free in my head all week.

Private Dick (Tim Rockford) by @wardenparker

Speaking of plus size reader interpretations - this was one of the few that really resonated with me. I haven’t come across many Tim Rockford fanfics (if you have any others, please send them my way) - but this felt like a perfect interpretation - great at reading situations, until they’re too close to him, but he’s in a process of redeeming himself through his relationship with Reader.

Fics I’m Looking Forward to Reading…

My TBR List is still a work in progress, will share it when it’s done 💕

Light Me Up (Benny Miller) by @musings-of-a-rose

Thanks to Jess and Heidi I seem to be straying into Benny territory this week and have been recommended this story to dip my toe further in. I mean the opening premise alone is enough to have me excited to get stuck in!

Double Dealings (Javier Peña & Ezra) by @julesonrecord & @stardustandskycrystals

1920’s, New Orleans and the potential of two Pedro characters? I cannot wait to get stuck into this one this week over my morning coffee this week!

Posts I Enjoyed This Week…

@shirks-all-responsibilities reminding me of my grumpy Joel (Pedro) header for the mobile layout of my blog. Now has me thinking about making a seasonal one now! September is Halloween Eve of course! 🎃

@wildemaven’s early morning thot post that just took on a life of it’s own 🥵

@rhool’s live blog of the pilot of the Pedro show that never was ‘The Sixth Gun’ entertained me while I had a tame evening watching something Mr. Truly wanted to watch while sipping on a non-alcoholic beer lol.

Things I’ve Enjoyed This Week…

The long weekend - didn’t do anything, no one slept through the night, but there’s something satisfying waking up on a Monday and knowing you don’t have to work.

Saturday’s interactions and posts were a delight to go through and helped my Saturday working go by so much quicker and made for a more enjoyable day.

This Week’s Song…

This recommendation came from @gnpwdrnwhiskey who told me it was Dieter x Bryony coded and it totally is. I’ve listened to this on repeat and I’m dying to revisit these two again, and have something up my sleeve 🎃

Hope everyone has a great week this week and Monday is treating you well! 💕 xx

#betty's sunday in review #Spotify

[nerdieforpedro]

Weekend Update 04/14/2024

Nerdie, you’re kinda late tonight.

Yeah, it was all taxes this weekend. 😭 Ugh. But it’s done. Let’s not talk about it anymore.

OK…So what’s new?

Back to work after time off. Adjusting and writing. I did watch the Ryan Gosling SNL episode. I laughed so hard.

I did get a manicure and pedicure - 💜 purple hehe!

I did read some fics this week:

1. Something Old by @fhatbhabie (Javi G x plus size female)

2. Sexting by @reallyrallyauthor (Steven Grant x Marc Spector x Jake Lockley x You)

3. Enchanted to Meet You by @beskarandblasters (Din Djarin x f reader)

4. Fires at Midnight by @inept-the-magnificent (Lucian Flores x f reader)

5. A Midnight Plea by @soft-persephone (Marc Spector x fem reader)

6. A Galaxy Far Far Away part 6: Halloween at Juniper Cottage - Pick your own pumpkin by @grogusmum (Din Djarin x earthling f reader)

7. I’ll Give You The Moon by @soft-persephone (Marc Spector x fem reader)

8. Mi Santa by @fhatbhabie (Frankie Morales x reader)

I did write some this week 👀 I’m sorry I’m advance. Things ended up dark. 😭 Those are marked with the red.

Back & Nose, Hair and Hat - (Only Parts of you Mr. Morales Series)

Her smile was worth it - for the iamasaddie writing challenge 2.0 (Pero Tovar modern AU DARK FIC)

Interlude Two - Tell me about her and Part Seven Merging the Star Clusters - (The Lake between us Series)

Scarlet Stains and their Echoes (DARK FIC) - Post Apocalyptic Fluff and Stuff

Chapter 3: Can we talk for a minute? - This is the Neighborhood Din Series.

This week there were a few things, like the writing challenge 2.0 @iamasaddie put together. We sent in asks, pick a color (I did it to myself, I asked for mob enforcer- where else was the fic to go but dark?) Despite being kinda freaked out at what I wrote (I’ll need to process that later) I like it. I usually don’t do dark fics but given recent themes in my writing it’s there. 👀 So I’ll write it if it pops up in the brain.

And this past weekend (I totally missed but sweethearts @perotovar and @honeyedmiller tagged me in) was the @swiftiscruff friendship exchange. From what I saw, people are writing fics for each other, making gif and moodboards and proving much needed friendship and fun. 😎

I’m sure there are other things. But I dunno what they are. 🤣 I hope everyone enjoys what they’re working on. And if you need to rest, drink some water, dance around, nap, all the things.

This week there will another chapter of Din’s neighborhood, I FINALLY have more Din fluff. Well in the neighborhood and Star Ocean Series. I should have another chapter of Benny and actual fluff post apocalypse. It escaped last week. So we’re bringing it back.

No more Ezra and his gumbo or tanktop 🥺 Part 8 will be up next Sunday. His prose will be no more for now. 🙃

My Frankie miniseries will be almost done. This Friday and the next Friday of my math is right. lol

Special thanks:

@mysterious-moonstruck-musings for finding an excellent pic of Frankie’s back and giving me notes on smut that I chose not to use for now

@connectioneverywhere for letting me talk their thumbs off and putting them to sleep. 🤣

@soft-persephone I see you 👀 Two words: Dem noses. 👃 You know. 😄

@megamindsecretlair You need to write about some curls! Telling me and Softie to write about them. You know which curls. 🤭

@soft-girl-musings Songbird, Cabbie and loud ass Marcello on drums. Why did I half expect him to be playing drums on SNL? 😂 He was wearing a very loud shirt so half credit.

@tinytinymenace it’s always fun seeing your namesake laying and just relaxing. 😎 With a dope poof.

@604to647 I really appreciated your ask and messages this week. 💜

Have a great week everyone! 🥰

Love Nerdie ❤️❤️❤️

#weekend update #Nerdie’s update #just under the wire #pedro pascal characters #oscar issac characters #fanfiction #fanfic rec #lovely friends #and just some fun

[gasolinerainbowpuddles]

𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕜𝕥𝕠𝕓𝕖𝕣 🎃💦 ∘₊✧ 𝔻𝕒𝕪 𝟙𝟛 ✧₊∘

|| ︶꒦꒷𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕜𝕥𝕠𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥꒷꒦︶ | main masterlist ||

@absurdthirst's Kinktober 2023 Prompts

Day 13: Wrist/Arm Restraints, Triple Penetration, Pet Play

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐲

| PAIRING(s): Ezra x established relationship reader | RATING: explicit material | 18+ | WORD COUNT: 529 (YAY!) | CONTENT: suspension restraints, teasing, impact play | SYNOPSIS: Ezra lets his Little Bird fly.

Ezra walked around you, slowly circling like a lazy buzzard who was in no rush to claim their carrion. Already incapacitated. Already trapped. Flesh already displayed and paraded for the vulture’s gorging. No limit to the feast when the flesh is so readily supplied.

Your toes press against the small wooden stool Ezra provided. They ache with the constant readjustments, but you don’t have the option of repositioning your arms from where they’re suspended into the ceiling hook. You’d asked Ezra why on earth he could possibly need to install such a large piece of hardware in the center of the room. His fiendish smile should’ve been all you needed to know to understand what exactly your partner had in mind.

The rough edge of the makeshift crop Ezra made from tall, wild grasses presses against your thigh. He gently prods it until it pushes a dip into the fatty tissue. He presses the tip of it into you now and gives the smallest twist, the sort that calls back to how he asks for you to burn cigarette ends into his back. The sharp bite of the dried material nips and pinches. You keep your feet steady.

“Unmoved by my provocations,” he observes in a drawl. “Perhaps a deviation in approach is required.” He pulls the crop out from the reddened pock he’d created and drags it feather light up to your belly.

“Don’t you dare, Ezra,” you warn him.

His lip curls in victory at stirring you up. “A sensitivity that is all too tempting.”

“If you tickle me, Ezra, I am going to be beyond angry,” you hiss. Your balance teeters for a moment during your broken concentration. This only seems to egg him on.

“Careful there,” he chuckles.

“Yeah, I bet you’d love it if I fell off this stupid thing,” you huff. You were still annoyed with him over the dirty dishes in the sink earlier. You only agreed to this little exercise in patience and submission at the promise of a very good fucking.

Ezra eyes the suspension and flashes a toothy grin. “I very well may like to see my caged bird fly.”

Your eyes widen and your mouth drops open to protest the realization, but Ezra is too quick. He swats your ass hard and kicks the stool from underneath your foot all in one motion.

“Soar now,” he mocks as you swing back and forth.

The thrill of it makes your breath come short. You have no orientating foothold and are at the mercy of Ezra to maneuver the sway of your bound form. The spin of sound filters through in turning waves. You catch the scrunch and pull of clothing being discarded. Ezra jerks your back flush to his chest. His breath is ragged and hot on your neck.

“Clipped your wings, Little Bird,” he groans as he presses his stiff length against the globe of your bare ass. You gasp when he hoists you forward and higher before lowering you onto his cock.

“Now sing for me, Little Bird,” he grunts. You float as he drives himself into you hard and fast. You cry out. His songbird now.

#kinktober #ezra x reader #ezra prospect #pedro pascal characters

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

2023 characters wrapped

Thanks @fayesdiana for the tag!!!

1st row: Anakin Skywalker (Ahsoka series), Daisy Johnson (Agents of SHIELD), Phil Coulson (Agents of SHIELD), Cee (Prospect)

2nd row: Dick Grayson (Titans), Joel Miller (The Last of Us), Ellie Williams (The Last of Us), Ezra (Prospect)

3rd row: Rachel Roth (Titans), Katniss Everdeen (The Hungers Games), Haymitch Abernathy (The Hunger Games), Lucy Gray Baird (The Hunger Games: The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes)

No pressure tags @undertheknightwing @ambeauty @skoulsons @dilf-din @orangechickenpillow @ellies-little-gun @sotvtaughtmehowtofeel

#tag game

[pinkfey]

NINE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER ♡

— sweet ezra @devilbrakers and kendall @astarien tagged me to do these kinda similar questionnaires so i’m combining them !! thank u my darlings 😚💕💕

— tagging @bg3 @mrdekarios @arcanetower @nocticulas @flymmcargo @onewingedangels @ansburg @alistairs @dameaylin and you!!!!!!!

favorite color. blush pink !! in case it wasn’t obvious 🩰🩰🩰

last song. i want to live bg3 soundtrack…… no one look at me 😔

last movie. shrek the third,,,,,,,,, listen. my partner and i have been having a shrek moment. whatever 😔 lea me alone,, 🚶🏻‍♀️

currently watching. the clone wars !! ahsoka episode five compelled me to continue my rewatch :3 so far i’ve chronologically hit season three <3

currently reading. a ballad of snakes and songbirds 🐍🕊️ maia @malefiicarum and i are doing a bookclub 💃

current obsession. bg3. does anypony even need 2 ask.

sweet, savory, or spicy? all three babes i’m a madman

currently working on. two character studies for ilya and ursula !!

#tysm for the tags !! this is always fun <33 #tag game

[livi-the-writer]

Cool names for your OCs!

Masculine names:

Amos - carried by God

Ezra - help, aid, protect

Ezekiel - God will strengthen

Tobias - goodness of the lord

Orpheus - darkness of the night, also a character in Greek mythology

Everett - brave as a wild boar

Killian - bright-haired

Kovan - grief

Matthias - God's gift

Feminine names:

Cerelia - spring

Nia - purpose

Rowena - fame and happiness

Zuri - beautiful

Leonora - compassion

Alaya - sublime

Astoria - hawk

Mavise - songbird

Mira - admirable, peace

Gender neutral/unisex names:

Faden - spring

Cecil - blind, sixth

Rory - red king

Jaylen - healer, tranquil

Briar - thorny patch

Amari - eternal

Jaden - God has heard

Amari - eternal

Eden - delight or paradise

Vesper - evening star

Kieran - little dark one

Bailey - law enforcer

Lucian - bringer of light

Quinn - fifth

Carmen - song

#oc names #writerblr #will add more later

[writeforfandoms]

WIP List

Aka my attempt at accountability

So SOMEONE *coughAdiracough* nudged me in DMs to make this happen. Because my list is... long. Really long. So long I sometimes forget what all is on here.

So! Proceed at your own risk, yada yada. Feel free to come ask me about any of these.

Active WIPs

These are things I am actively writing within the past two weeks.

Listening In (Soap and Ghost)

Ghost shifter fic

Waking Lions (Price)

Until The Levee (dark!poly!141 x f!reader)

harpy eagle shifter

fennec fox shifter

Ghost x baker

poly 141 soulmate adventure

Vicious (Graves)

Welcome to New York (Miguel O’Hara)

Warrior Song (John-117/Master Chief)

Conversations in the Dark (ChiefPilot)

Price Holiday fake dating

Konig x medic

Monster rescue 141

Long Way Home (Gaz)

Battlefield (Gaz x Price x reader)

Fall Into Me

Hypa Hypa (Soap)

Less active but still there WIPs

How Did You Love ch 9 (Ezra, Thief, Frankie, Dave, Marcus P, and Jack)

Wild Mountain Thyme (Ezra)

Dragon Rancher Jack (last chapter)

Octopus’s Garden (Oberyn)

Marcus M fae fic

Shatter Me

Until the World Goes Cold (Frankie)

Songbird ch 3 (Fennec Shand)

Far Across The Land (Ezra and Frankie)

Soft Place to Land (Din)

Ice age clan leader (Din, Ezra, Jack)

In Dreams (Oberyn)

#writing #my writing #all thr things #so many wips #nobody look at me

[galaxysgal]

𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬

^ indicates request

𝐃𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐣𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧

☆ Hold Me Close || din x gn!reader

☆ Reassurance || din x gn!reader

☆ Under the Mistletoe || din x gn!reader

☆ Space Lullaby || din x gn!reader

☆ The Calm and the Storm || din x gn!reader

☆ long awaited kisses || din x gn!reader ^

☆ “god you’re adorable” din x gn!reader ^

☆ “you were so good and now you’re gone” + “take me back to the good old days || haunted!din x gn!reader ^

𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫

☆ get some rest darlin’ || joel x gn!reader

𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬

☆ No Hard Feelings, Right? || frankie x gn!reader

☆ Simple Gifts || frankie x gn!reader

☆ Songbird || frankie x gn!reader (series, incomplete)

𝐉𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐚

☆ neck kisses + forehead/temple kisses || javi x f!reader ^

☆ kisses to help them concentrate || javi x gn!reader ^

☆ "god i love you” kisses || javi x gn!reader ^

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

☆ Yellow || marcus x f!reader

☆ My Sweet Sunshine || max phillips × gn!reader

☆ Life by Lamplight || ezra x gn!reader

☆ More Than Anything Else || max lord x f!reader

#masterlist. #mags writes

[oonajaeadira]

Is it strange that I feel safe with you even though we’ve never met? I’m alone. And it’s pride in my city. I would love any comfort fics you’d recco. But also any advice you’d recommend to a fat, old, queer gal. ♥️

It's not strange! It's a compliment! Safe space! Safe space!!!

First of all, happy pride. Second of all, I'm sorry that you're feeling alone.

I'm not sure what character you're looking for, but here are some of my favorite comfort fics plus some of my own. Happy reading, friend!

EZRA

Not an Act by @radiowallet Love Letters by @yespolkadotkitty untitled soulmates fic by @ohheyitsokay Read to Me by @mandocrasis Night Prose by @honestly-shite Ocean by @honestly-shite The Way I'm Holding You by @fromthedeskoftheraven Seven Tears by @grogusmum my A Girl Walks Into A Bookshop series

.

JAVI G

The Fox, The Mage, and The Cupboard series by @littlemisspascal Anything from the Bodyguard-verse by @songsformonkeys but specifically Never Let Go and Colds and Birthday Celebrations my Sweets Series

.

DIETER

Love Triangles by @littlemisspascal Dieter Meets Skipper by @grogusmum

.

JACK

She Moves Through The Fair by @writeforfandoms Next Time by @brandyllyn

.

PERO

Cups of Tea by @jessie-writes-things Fiercely Gentle by @absurdthirst Little Red's Shadow by @littlemisspascal my Dulces Sueños and Where He Is Compelled To Stay

.

FRANKIE

Those Hands by @just-here-for-the-moment

.

JAVIER P

Mailroom Crush by @littlemisspascal

.

FENNEC SHAND

Songbird by @writeforfandoms

.

DIN

A Galaxy Far, Far Away series by @grogusmum Eyes Closed, Comm Open Din/Dance A Rare Treat

[chairete-kyrioi]

Thanks @probabbly for the tag!

Here’s the first 10 songs from my ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle:

Colors - Black Pumas

Songbird - Fleetwood Mac

I Would Die 4 U - Prince

Love You So Bad - Ezra Furman

Dance Macabre - Ghost

Wild Horses II - First Aid Kit

I Like That - Janelle Monae

6’s to 9’s - Big Wild ft. Rationale

Germfree Adolescence - X-Ray Spex

You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac

Tagging - anyone who sees this and wants to do it!! I really enjoy seeing what people are listening to 🎶

#music #tag game

[finn-shitposts]

Tagged by: @theydoctor :3 thank you!!

Favourite time of year: Summer! Used to be autumn for years cos of the pretty colours and just the overall cosy vibes, but after living in england for so long I just crave the warmth and joy of summer year round lol

Comfort food: POTATOES! BOIL EM MASH EM STICK EM IN A STEW. (no but really growing up w coeliac my most staple carb is potatoes so theres just comfort to it. Though ill say pörkölt is up there too)

Do you collect something: so many random things. Rocks, shells, broken bits of ceramics and pottery, feathers, eggshells (like songbirds not chickens lol), dead insects if i happen to find any intact etc etc

Favourite drink: WATER! all i ever drink is water istg sksksk, but if i had to pick a non water beverage then hot chocolate or apple juice

Favourite song: this is evil so evil you cant make me pick just one T.T "barcelona" by george ezra or "sitting on the dock of the bay" by otis redding are definitely up there tho

Current favourite song: "March of the resistance" by john williams or "hajolj bele a hajamba" by péterfy bori & love band

Favourite fic: also evil, i cant pick just one so ill inflict like 30 upon you >:3 (i did try to slim it down, but theres still so many and i cant bring myself to write a description for each one, youre gonna have to do fic roulette w this)

(edit: ill be slowly editinf through this to make all the links actually clickable cos for some reason tumblr decided to just paste them as plain text)

Spn fics -

The Most Important Thing by northernsparrow

Under the Midnight Sun by northernsparrow

Flight by northernsparrow

A Winter's Tale by northernsparrow

Ye be warned by orphan account

Into the Fire by northernsparrow

One Step At a Time by tricia_16

Marvel -

despite the threatening sky and shuddering earth (they remained) by praximeter (Zimario)

Rivers and Roads by AustinB

War, Children by Nonymos

We’re all playing the same game, laying down alone. by FlawedM

Total Institution by thelittlestpurplecat

Dragging Me Down by cleo4u2, cobaltmoony, xantissa

Star wars -

step out into the sun by plutos

Superluminal Motion by nekosmuse

Doubt Thou the Stars Are Fire by linatrinch

Actualization by diversionary_tactician

The Tides of Mustafar by buckstiel

The strangeness of us by Tarasque

The Soulmark by LightningStriking

On My Wing by Nerdinablender

Racing By by rebelforce

You Will Fly Again by mybuckystar

Jessika Pava: Best Wingman in the Resistance! by ScarlettStorm

you promise me, my life by beautifullights

The Wanderer and the Seer by aiden_ng

Doctor Who -

Those We Love the Best by Yamx

Bliss by DameRuth

The Mardi Gras series by diannelamerc, lizbetann

Major Arcana by Canaan

Universal Lost and Found by OneOfThoseThings

The Contingency Plan by gingerteaandsympathy

The Choice by lastincurableromantic

Witcher -

With a Conquering Air by inexplicifics   

it’s a long way forward (so trust in me) by suzukiblu

If I Must Starve (Let it be in Your Arms) by Igneum807

Xmen -

Directive by Kalimyre

The stars incline us, they do not bind us by ikeracity, Pangea    

An Ideal Grace by afrocurl, nekosmuse

Alrighr alright im done now xD

Tagging:

@englishbunnyrocks @saecookie @cerberulix @everybodygotawaterbuffalo @k9ok and anyone that feels like it!

Also i know this isnt part of the tag challenge but if anyone has good fic recs in the fandoms i posted up there pls send them me ����👈🥺

#tagged in #tag game #theydoctor #treasured mutual <3 #:) #literally it was so hard to narrow it down #and some of these fics i havent read in years #i did filter it tho so its only complete fics. i wont subject you to waiting w me for fics that havent updated in years #fave #finn.txt #fic rec

[misconceivedcapricorn]

Ride the Cyclone Humans Are Space Orcs AU (Will reblog with sketches if I do make them)

Noel- Some kind of bird alien I think. Think of a songbird of a lyrebird maybe as a vague idea on what his design would be. Ties in with a desire to fit in maybe, but also lyrebirds are just cool asf

Mischa- May sound weird but like, a lion-y sort of thing, mixed with a sheep or something,like that Lion Lamb thing that is supposed to refer to the month of March but I’m Aussie so I’m just using it to exemplify the dual nature of Mischa. I know the dual nature refers to Ricky but he’s a sexy cat man from Zolar so

Ricky- The space age bachelor alien that is from Zolar and he is the only one where his species actually has a name because thank god for Richard Pott’s SABM story otherwise I would be lost

Ocean- I’d like to imagine that because of her name she has a sort of ocean/mermaid themed alien species. Maybe a concept similar to the Avatar 2 water tribes or something, where they have legs and shit but they’re adapted to a water based environment

Constance: Maybe some type of fairy of elf inspired alien. Species might be hospitable tricksters who like causing problems but are great hosts. Would cold be very grounded idk

Tammy Edwards: Biblical Angel inspired alien. Probably has a christian based religious beliefs too. IDK. Lots of eyes and wheels but she probably can shapeshift to look like whatever she wants

Penny & Ezra: Human. Abducted maybe.

#ride the cyclone #rtc #penny lamb #ocean oconnell rosenberg #ezra lamb #mischa bachinski #tammy edwards #ricky potts #richard potts #noel gruber #ride the cyclone au #legoland

[gasolinerainbowpuddles]

new WIP teaser

collection teaser + a few snippets below the cut

and a special thanks to @swiftispunk for indulging my back to back ramblings over this WIP and being my hypewoman for whatever smuttiest smut I can create & to @morallyinept for being super encouraging and helpful to anyone looking to write Ezra (esp for the first time)

🅣 🅔 🅐 🅢 🅔 🅡

Many songbirds put all their eggs in one basket in that they build only one nest each year. But catbirds are not like most other songbirds. They will attempt two or more nests in a season.

🅢 🅝 🅘 🅟 🅟 🅔 🅣 🅢

He brushed it off initially – the lingering glances, the unnecessary brushes of your bodies, the rapt attention to his words – but when it persisted, even when Ezra was present and aware, Joel knew it wasn’t just hopeful wishing. Whatever spark he felt between you, you felt it, too. It’s what made tonight’s invitation all the more charged. He wasn’t sure what tonight held in the stars, but for once he didn’t feel so damn anxious over the unknown. As much as he hated to admit it, there was a certainty the two of you carried – about yourselves and everything else – that Joel had never quite settled into enough himself to call it second nature.

His eyes keep wandering the dips and curves of your silky green dress. The color and fabric matches the cuffs and pocket square of Ezra’s evening wear suit. A shimmer of light reflecting through your dangling gemstones draws his eye back up, only to find you softly smiling as though you’d been waiting for him to finish absorbing you. A flash of heat tingles his cheekbones. He clears his throat. “Woulda worn somethin’ nicer if I’d–” “You look very handsome,” you interrupt. Joel’s cheeks darken at your simple compliment. You grip his arm a little tighter and gently knock into the side of him. A playful thing.  You’re relieved you don’t have to hold back as much now that you’re finally at the point where you’ll make the deal you’ve been planning with Ezra for months. “Much prefer you to come as you are,” Ezra adds. Joel thinks he catches a hint of a mischievous grin.

“Your mouth is writin’ checks your throat can’t fuckin’ cash,” he taunts as Ezra chokes. He heaves his entire length into Ezra’s mouth even as he tries to pull back for reprieve. Joel grips the back of his head, caging Ezra’s spasming throat around his cock until every drop is milked out. You rub encouraging passes on Ezra’s thigh with one hand and watch with a watered mouth as drips of his precome dribble onto the floor. You can see him struggling to not wretch at the force of Joel in his esophagus. If it was anything like how Joel had taken your cunt, you feel sure you would’ve already relented the contents of your stomach involuntarily.

catch ya later, ♥Puddles♥

#a word from puddles