#the double-breasted trench coat he's actually so cool...

[philhoffman]

New photos!! Phil arriving at the afterparty following The Big Lebowski's NYC premiere—at the Chelsea Piers bowling alley, of course—on February 24, 1998.

#NEW PSH FIT JUST DROPPED #as jess said. the coat is so big we are obsessed!!!! #the big lebowski #philip seymour hoffman #psh #* #the double-breasted trench coat he's actually so cool...

[castle-dominion]

c3x20 a slice of death

I love this episode already. I've worked in family owned diners with rivalries, I love stories about italian new yorkers & I've definitely seen goncharov (tho that also had russian mafia).

Poor alexis, that is humiliating! This is so sad! Who has a live band playing? She's 17 cool. She was 15 in s1e1 & she's 17 near the end of s3. Cool

I love all the nicks & their names this is the life. It reminds me of that steven universe episode with the fry shop & pizza shop.

Not super funny, either of you. Nick Jr. Uh, authentic, not terrific. I love the new york pizza scene & how everyone knows who is whom but it's so confusing & I loved this episode so much when I first watched it

Oh but I kept her number! I don't think there's going to be a second date. So new york. So italian. This Is The Best Episode Ever. Exactly! Who wrote this episode??? It is amazing!

Maybe they did get it from a medical school, you don't know beckett!

They used the same audio already. I mean it's not a big deal.

Costumes: Rick: brown coat (gasp browncoat?) & violet/blue shirt Ryan: tbh he looks like he did in s1 a bit. idk why. So what looks like an aviator jacket, nice dark brown, leather looking, has the fuzz in the hood/collar, no lapels, dark brown tie, actually a good brown, & a plaid-type dress shirt (purple, maybe another shade of purple idk, probs black & white in there too, maybe grey & blue & pink... idk I'm not good with this... I think it's brown actually) Espt: Leather jacket & normal collared shirt underneath. It's like, safari style almost. Collared so it is fancy enough for work, but the put-together of the blocks is odd. Beckett: Detective coat. (double breasted light grey trench coat looking thing)

Castle: We should talk to the other Nicks. Ryan: He's right. Pizza is serious business in this town. (Remember that mafia family who used the pizza shop as a front but then became legitimate bc the pizza was so good?) Beckett: Ok you can talk to them. Ryan: wait; Me? no; why? (why is he upset at this...? I'm also rly sad castle didn't go with him)

Pottery kiln? Like Joy from the The Cat Who series! She made red ceramics & when I say she MADE red ceramics...

RM: I heard you found a body in the oven at terrific nick's KB: Authentic nick's RM: OH THANK GOD, the wife loves terrific nick's lmao full bodied flavour (btw yes I do indeed love his jacket)

Castle that's a heck of a leap & the audio reflecting the mood XD Gordon BURNS??? b'y the pic would have also been melted.

Oh. Poor man. Hugs to him. Oh not the pizza wars XD.

Terrific, authentic, & otherwise.

Sounds like u'r talking from experience espt. Did you survive firefights with gangbangers & then got killed doing a speeding ticket? & then came back to life to join homicide so u could investigat ur own death?

Nice handkerchief, murdoch vibes. KB: U ok? RC: Yeah no yeah... I wonder if he ever did that with alexis, had her colouring while he was signing books. Espt had that much information thrown at him in that short amount of time he was gone? Poor ryan, exiled to work talking to all the other nicks, & then exiled again to work computer stuff Wrong nick bro XD I thought he meant nick jr.

Hold the extra cheese wasn't funny.

Oh def steal the oven. Ah yes italian new york mobster money laundering in a pizza place? So the captions are willing to put nada in the captions here but put "speaking spanish" last episode when esposito said it? Seriously? Seriously?? You couldn't write "nada"? Like at this point it's a loanword & everyone knows what it means, but even so you should still write down everything that is said. Not translated, not "speaking [language]" but the actual words.

Like how he says "luds" for L.U.D.s I love his fake little accent he does "i'll kill ye"

True. You can't threaten to kill someone, it is not covered in free speech. It's the fat isn't it.

You can find out where things are from a phone call on a cell? That's sus af.

Tips the concierge even tho u'r not really here. Love it. Rick speedreading moments. Who would write nicely like that & then spend an entire page of notebook on two lines of writing? RC: *sees a cool new app* KB: no RC: Fine but you don't get to play my angry birds! Ok that was the funny one, the only funny one. I wonder if they had pizza!

Still do! (he's literally an author)

So WHEN were u in a relationship? fate <3 (except he withheld the information abt the story he was working on for a reason, if you've seen it before like me u can see why.)

Ryan with the financials! How big are new york blocks?

Woah a nice transition! Cool!

Nice heck yeah party crasher!

Woah language but martha is right. She's totally allowed to swear in this situation. It's like the kitchen. No swears at my catholic school unless you were working an event with the culinary program & physically in the kitchen. RC: Bitch! *realizes what he said & covers mouth*

Aw cyberbullying...

RC: Where's beckett? KR: Uh, Hall of Records. Tracking down what Burns was looking for. (Pink shirt : ) & also a vest, he looks pretty) RC: Great. *hands Beckett's coffee to Ryan* (we know time that ryan & esposito stole castle & beckett's coffee & then switched after one sip that ryan like beckett flavoured coffee & espt likes castle flavoured coffee) RC: Listen, if I gave you a website, could you have your friends at Tech hack into it and take some pictures down? (bribing ryan & not his friends at tech?) KR, taking the paper from castle with a little smile: Did someone find naked pictures of you again? (HOLD ON WHAT? & HAS RICK ASKED RYAN TO DO THIS BEFORE?) KR: *unfolds paper with a lighthearted little smile at castle's antics* RC: No. Not me. It's Alexis. KR: *stops* KR: *thinking someone posted castle's daughter's nudes & now castle is asking him to take them down* KR: *looks up at him with fear in his eyes* (also bc she is 17 her pics would technically be CP & this would be a bigger issue so maybe that's what ryan was thinking. He was thinking they needed to take this to Vice or smth.) RC: This is for Alexis KR: *eyes searching* KR: Uh, this just got awkward. What's this about? (his voice suddenly got hella squeaky) RC: Okay. Mean girl at school kiss ambushed Alexis's boyfriend (ryan nods & makes faces in sympathetic outrage) then posted the photographic proof on her website. Alexis is very upset. KR: Mmm. I-- I could have my friend Tony take care of it. You know, off the record. (Love a good "tony") RC: Thanks. And, uh, no need to mention this to Beckett. You know how she gets with these things (Castle and Ryan smile & start to laugh & go to sip their coffees. Beckett appears and grabs her cup from Ryan.) KB: Things like abusing police resources for your own personal agenda? RC: Whaat? That's ridi-- No, you don-- No. That's-- that's--- (Castle gives Ryan the OK sign as he follows Beckett to her desk. Ryan slips the slip of paper into his vest meaning he's still willing to help out rick & his daughter even w/o the coffee bribery) Yes yes yes castle yes ryan this is an abuse of power but that is so valid & I think it's funny & great & I love it Ryan, trying to act casual after this little thing: Yep?

Espt has a denim-looking dress shirt on what & then beckett has a nice green scarf & longsleeve

Yo the guy's alive??

Ooh I love a good noire film but why say noowahr instead of nwar. RC: I haven't heard the story... Oh... that sucks.. he couldn't even crawl over to hold her. That's got to be traumatic.

Neat, learning abt history. Cool. So Ryan was in narcotics back in '03, he went into homicide in '06 maybe, & then three years later (I might be mixing this up with Ike Thornton's (fake) death tho) as mentioned in I think that very episode, castle shows up: '09. 03 narco, 09 castle shows up & there is a mention of "three years ago" so, 06 ike dies ryan goes into homicide. idk I'm just trying to get a timeline. Anyway, I always love it when they bring back character's pasts before we knew them. & during this Ryan is also fidgeting with his file, point for the adhd ryan headcanon.

Castle never specified HOW to flip it so he could follow the movements. Glad he said to slow it down tho. Is the man left handed?

Alexis got into a fight? Good for her. Oh no castle & ryan & tony got alexis in trouble : ( but also XD Heck yeah girl! Tho yeah rick you're right violence is not the answer "& then one of you ends up dead in a pizza oven" & then he quotes beckett & hugs her. RC: Did u kick her ass? AC: I kind of did RC: Good girl. Good. Even when he tells her retaliation is not the way, he still lets her know.

Bro teenagers ARE criminal masterminds. High school bullies are NOT some dumb-as-bricks doorknob who beats you & but can't chew gum & walk at the same time, they really can be evil geniuses.

Costumes: Castle & beckett are normal, tho I don't like beckett's shirt. Esposito is wearing a boring not-fancy long-sleeve with jeans & ryan is wearing a typical dark blue dress shirt & dress pants, no tie this time, nice grey coat. Really fancy coat too. I like it.

How can you tell someone dialed the numbers for a call but never hit send...? Unless it was already on the phone & they didn't get erased for some reason. Mine closes every time I switch apps.

Esposito, breakin down the doors! Music is great rn! The boys just run out the window

Oh so she IS in with the drug dealers.

She's good. She's really good. I'm speaking from the perspective of having seen this before. It's obvious that he CANNOT be cavallo pretending to be his own right-hand-one. Poor R+E, out of breath from the chase So she DID know those names when castle asked her the first time!

OH MY GOODNESS HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT OF FIGHTING & POOR RYAN IN THE MIDDLE TRYING TO GET THEM TO STOP

Castle u really just went back on what u & beckett put ur money on? Whose tab? Whose tab did they put it on? What? Winner winner pizza dinner & wow that's a lot of smack.

He's a pizza man! He would never disrespect his oven like that! It is SO not his speed castle! Oh so you wanted to burn down authentic nick's? Girl if you can call him then that's helping!

See like this is what got my eyes on ryan in the first place, his movements are so weird, like he's walking too big for his body. Oh & again unassuming middleman is dumb

Is she limping? why is she in homicide? I thought she was in narco. also I can't use my question mark button on tumblr anymore for some reason & so it reloaded the page & got rid of a mini fanfictioin I wrote & I am fucking upset. I had added some notes to my liveblog. What the hell tumblr^/ why won't you let me use a proper question mark^/ at least my french é&É still work. Ηοwever, my greek keyboard does not.

Ok sweetheart, just Don't Use Easy-to-Catch Names Calls ryan & esposito the best detectives. Ooh une femme fatale

Love the music & oh no please don't be nick's pizza Oh thank goodness it's stephano's So mature of Alexis OH THAT IS A GOOD LOOKING PIZZA

& it seems like all the bonus features are deleted scenes which I have seen. Yuck tho I don't need to see this.

#castle 3x20 #castle 3x20 spoilers #castle 3x20 quote #the pizza episode

[thisisthehardestthing]

Claudia, I am so fucking proud of you. I always knew you'd reach 1k followers and beyond, you're amazingly talented, kind, and an overall beautiful badass that I am so lucky to have in my life! How about Scorpio (das me) and "Touch yourself for me" with Ushijima? 💋 you can pick your favorite kink to add!

HI BEAUTIFUL! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am sorry this took so long to write, but I wanted to have the perfect inspiration for you.

I hope this makes you tingle and twitch, I tried to.. uhhhh... drive it into your kinks and to make it relevant to you.. at this moment.

PROFESSOR USHIJIMA X READER

18+, “Touch yourself for me.”

warnings: teacher/student relations, the word daddy.

You lean against the classroom door frame, trench coat tightly tied around your waist, water droplets dripping to the floor from the heavy rain outside. You can see it splattering against the windowpane, illuminated golden against black from the lamp on Ushijima’s rather large desk. You knock, three consecutive taps to pull him from his intense focus.

“Working late, professor?” you call, a sly smile curling on your upper lip when he looks up to see you standing there.

“Exam papers,” he grunts, then his eyes rake over your body in a cool sweep. “You’re dripping all over the floor. Take off your coat.”

“Yes, Sir,” you push off, closing the door behind you as you step into the room.

In the dark, the beige of the trenchcoat is soft, glittering as you untie the belt and let it drop to your feet. Ushijima drags a deep breath through his teeth.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asks, eyes peering over the top of his slim frame glasses, marking pen frozen, bleeding a red blotch into the paper.

“Is my exam in there? Have you marked it yet?” you ask innocently, playing with the very end of your high school uniform tie. You hop up to sit on a desk, crossing your legs so that the grey pleated skirt flashes a hint of thong before it disappears and your legs clad in knee-high white socks cover his view. Ushijima shakes his head, lifting the pen with a mumbled curse before he aligns the papers beneath it and puts it in his ‘finished’ pile.

“You failed,” he says, keeping his mouth neutral, but his eyes flash with the tell-tale sign of desire. You pout.

“Oh no! I can’t believe it. I studied so hard,” you exaggerate, pulling your voice into a moaning plea. “What can I do to fix it, professor?”

You loosen the tie so it lays open around your shoulders. Slowly, your fingers begin to unbutton the top of the crisp white shirt, ironed to perfection.

“I’ll do anything.”

Ushijima raises an eyebrow, folding his glasses away as you unveil the edges of a black lace bra to him, holding up your bountiful breasts. You keep your back taut and upright, the skirt cinching at your waist.

“My daddy will be so mad if I fail,” you unfold your legs, opening them so that they bend over the edge of the table. Your toes tingle with the naughtiness of it all. You want to giggle and bite your lip, almost like an actual school girl. Electricity shocks through you at Ushijima’s groan, at how in the dim light his eyes drink in your soul, reflecting you in their whiskey tone. You’re getting drunk from his gaze.

“I think we can work something out.” Ushijima remarks, folding his broad arms over his chest, the navy fabric pulling tight over his biceps. He stands, the pleats in his grey slacks falling beautifully down, coming around to lean against the edge of his desk. A fire blazes through your core, unconsciously clenching as you hold your breath in.

“Touch yourself for me.”

Your hands instantly fly to your knee caps, stroking up as you keep eye contact. Your black loafers already dangle off your toes, and as you widen your legs, one falls to the floor with a soft thud. Your heart beats in your throat, you touch the hem of your skirt, dragging it up so that it rolls under your fingertips until it hits the fold of your hips. Ushijima glances down at your black, silk thong, the way the material almost glitters from how you’ve begun to soak through.

“Naughty girl,” he muses, never looking away as your fingers squeeze the soft skin of your inner thighs. “So wet and you haven’t even done anything.”

You keep your eyes on his face, watching him as he watches your hands dance over the fabric, pulling the edges so that it folds neatly between your lips. He licks his.

“You should tutor me more, Professor,” your voice comes out in a breathless whisper. “Show me how.”

“Go slow.”

You toy with your outer lips, stroking the soft skin under his watchful eye. He gives an approving hum, shifting so that he’s more comfortable to watch you. You see the strain of his erection in his pants, and you almost double over when the intense need to be impaled on it overcomes you. Your fingers find your clit.

Electricity hums through your body as you rub tantalising circles over the slick fabric. You bite your lip, eyes drifting to his large, veined hands, picturing them around your throat, on your thighs.

“‘Toshi,” you mumble, every circle winding you up, your eyes fluttering as you struggle to keep them open.

“Don’t you dare look away from me. What would your daddy say if you fail at this too?”

You snap, a hand planting itself behind you with a bang as you lean into it, fingers circling faster and faster, keeping your gaze on his stern eyes. They intoxicate you, and right when you’re about to burst, he moves away from the desk to grab your wrist, effectively halting your movements. You gasp, feeling utterly dwarfed by him. He pulls your hand away, bringing it up to his face as he inhales the musky scent of you.

“Why’d you stop me?” you almost cry, panting as you feel his cock press against the bone of your groin.

“I want to give you a more... private tutoring,” he murmurs into your hand, kissing your fingers. “Tell your daddy you’re not coming home tonight.”

He pulls you into a fortifying kiss, making you thankful that you’re sitting down otherwise you would have collapsed. He would’ve caught you.

“I can’t believe this uniform still fits,” he mumbles against your lips with a small smile. You grin back, arms slinging around his broad shoulders as you pull yourself off the desk and against him until your toes touch the ground, loafers slipping back on. He steps back as you fumble with the other shoe, walking to slip your coat back on with a teasing bend forward. He growls, making you giggle.

“Come on, Daddy. Let’s go home so you can teach me a lesson.”

#1kevent #pleasantanathema #claudia writes #ushijima #ushiwaka #ushijima x reader #mine #haikyuu

[heartofsnark]

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Five): Just To Want It All

Notes: As stated in last chapter notes, i have a decent chunk of chapters done so these are coming out pretty rapid fire. Otherwise, I don’t have much to say other than massive thanks to my friend who reads these over for me and has been cool with me dropping 80+ pages of fic on them in a week. because yeah...I finished another chapter of this. 

Word Count:  7885

Chapter Warnings: mentions of alcohol and cursing, if that counts as a warning in cyberpunk 2077.  

If you haven’t yet, you can read the previous chapter here!~

Lizzie’s Bar stands out brilliantly in the city; out of all the gangs, she thinks she likes The Moxes aesthetic the best. Vivid pink and bright teal. Their colors splashed across the overpass, along with a neon pink skull sign with hair and a bow. At the side of the building is a towering neon skull girl sign, full bodied with an animated kicking leg and axe held above her head, the same hot pink color.

She parks and gets out of her car, doing a quick scan of the area, searching for more Militech drones. None that she sees, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The credchip burns in her pocket, remembering some of the stuff T-Bug has taught her. How to crack an encrypted shard and see what’s on it, how to transfer its contents. V rifles through her bag, remembering she had a blank credchip somewhere. If Militech did anything dirty, V should be able to transfer the eddies onto a clean chip.

V makes a beeline to the front door, cement blockers and walls covered in graffiti.  More neon signs, the bars name over the door in glowing turquoise letters. Lizzie Jizzie scrawled across an outside wall; two screens on each side of the double stores, all covered in Nicola ads requesting V ‘taste the love’.  Groups of people loiter in the open outside the bar. V’s eyes are drawn to the two bouncers outside the doors.

Two women, one leans against the outside wall as she puff away on a cigarette. Short slicked back hair that starts blue and then fades to green, eyes hidden behind sunglasses and a gold septum piercing in her nose. The other one stands in front of the doors, a yellow spiked bat held over her shoulders. Long hair pulled up into space buns, purple roots and pink ends. Both of her arms are metal; black with pink and teal accents as well as spikes along the forearms.  Both women are skimpily dressed, no shame in that. The one wielding the bat has a white top with cleavage going beyond her breasts,  showing her almost plastic looking skin and the Moxes tattoo across her chest. The other shorter haired bouncer is wearing neon pink pasties beneath a teal bomber jacket.  V’s been here before, has maybe seen them in passing, both really attractive. She’s not sure there’s a Mox member who isn’t.

“Hey there, dollface!~” The bat wielder greets her with a grin, as if she could actually see V’s face.

“Interest you in a preem BD?” The smoker offers.

“What you got?” V asks to be polite, she doesn’t honestly even like brain dances. But the girls are cute, so… no harm in a little small talk.

“What don't we got? Women and men of your dreams, synaptic acting A-listers. No washed-up virtuporn boytoys or blow-up dolls here.”

“Auteur stuff - It'll grip your heart and blow your nerves right outta your body. Pure bit-based ecstasy - that’s why people come here.”

“Sure know how to sell it, don’t you?” V signs, trying not to laugh as the bouncers give her the spiel.

“Not a sales pitch, it's a warning. I'll give you one word - bespoke. Not for everyone's synapses.”

“Think you can handle it?”

“Think I can manage it,” she tells them, knowing damn well she has no intent to get any sort of virtus.

“Mmhm. Couple of things you need to know first,” she affectionately rubs her bat, “Ahem. Severe penalties for any unauthorized recording… “

“No drugs, no groping. Someone catch your eye, you do not grab 'em. You find 'em in the catalog, ask for a BD and get yourself a box.”

“No worries, not even my first time here.”

“Door's open. Have fun, Doll.”

“Welcome to Lizzie’s.”

The double doors open and V walks through a blue beaded curtain. There’s a front room, a stand where a woman with a bright pink mohawk is selling clothes, under another Nicola ad and neon letters saying ‘Fuck To Death’ behind her.

“My what a sweet face you have,” she says, her tone honeyed but its clear she hasn’t looked up from the counter, not even noticing as the masked merc walks past through another beaded curtain and double doors to the main club.

“Here in Night City~”

Music thrums as she steps in; the room is lit with strobing pink and teal lights. Couches with neon glowing lights on the underneath, some people with BD wreaths and others playing on their phones. People dancing  to the club music and  bar tucked away in the corner.  She doubts the client will be right at the start of opening, so V finds an empty stretch of couch, sitting down on black leather with a pink neon light at her feet.  V slides the Militech cred chip into her mask, it takes a moment, but she manages to crack it and get a look at the inside.

Ten thousand eddies and malware; it was meant to send all of Maelstrom’s data to another server and then fry the systems. Meaning, if V handed it over Maelstrom would get their systems fried, with her and Jackie dealing with the aftermath. V slides the blank cred chip into another slot in her mask’s edge, transfering the clean money over to it. Fucking around with tech and daemons isn’t her strong suit, but if she recalls Bug telling her that fairly simple malware like this could be reworked pretty easily. She works through the coding with her thoughts, the data and interface all on her mask. If she can get the coding right, she might be able to have it send something other than data back to the Militech servers…  Shifting and twisting what she thinks will work… if she’s done it right, instead of sending data back to Militech’s server, it should inject the same malware back into their system. If used, it would spike both Maelstrom and Militech.

She’ll call up T-Bug before they hit Maelstrom, double check she did the steps right. If Maelstrom play nice, they can pay and be done, if not...she can fuck over the gangoons, Militech, and walk away with an extra ten thousand in her pocket.  She puts the credchips in her pockets, spiked one in her left and clean one in the right.

Time to have a look around for the client. V making a beeline for the bar, bartenders always have all the info. Lizzie’s Bar in neon over the drink station, a brightly blue lit corner where a man works at making drinks, shelves of booze behind him.  She climbs onto a blue vinyl bar stool, feet no longer on the ground and unable to resist swinging them a bit. The bartender comes to her; a man with slicked back dark hair,  glowing white cybernetic eyes, and silver embellishments run across his cheeks and jaw. His shirt bright blue with a tropical design and if not for a single button above his pants, it’d be completely open. Beaded necklaces bringing even more attention to his exposed chest and stomach.

“Get you something?”

“Looking for Evelyn Parker,” she speaks the woman’s name, not wanting to waste time fingerspelling it even if the sound feels tight in her throat.

“And you are?”

“V, me and her were supposed to meet here.”

“Well, V,  it’s a pleasure. I’m Mateo.”

“Nice to meet you… any idea where she’s hanging around?”

“Club's big. Gonna have to look around. Can't do it for you-”

“It's all right, Mateo,” a feminine voice calls out and V’s eyes are drawn to a woman at the bar, “I was waiting for this one.”

There’s something about her, distinctly Mox and also not. Her hair is a short vivid blue bob with bangs cut straight across her forehead. Heavy makeup, a tight silver sequin dress with a dipping neckline, red thigh high vinyl boots, a black trench coat that pools around her knees with a pink and white feathered collar.  She holds two fingers up to the bartender and moves to the bar stool closer. There’s a clang and tink of glass; Mateo getting out a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses.  

“That won’t be necessary,” V signs before he can fill the second glass, “I don’t drink on the job.”

“Aww, what a good girl,” Evelyn coos, a smile pulling at her painted lips, “Evelyn Parker. I knew it was you as soon as you walked in.”

“And you decided to let me wander around instead of introducing yourself?”

“I wanted to get a good look at you first.”

“And?” V watches as Evelyn takes a swig of her tequila.

“Rest assured, if I didn’t like what I see, you’d know,” she takes another drink, “C'mon. Know a place we can talk where ears won't prick up to listen. We'll be in the lounge, Mateo. Anyone asks we're not here.”

Evelyn takes her black clutch purse and leaves the bar, V puts some money down for Mateo; if nothing else to compensate for his time. V hops down from the stool and follows after Evelyn, through a pair of double doors that goes into a hallway tinted red and pink, booth doors lining the way. The blue haired woman opens up a door, standing to the side as V walks in.

The booth is small, circular with a red vinyl couch around it’s curve, a table in the middle projects a hologram of a stripper who twists and dances. V sinks into the cushions, watching Evelyn stride in and light a cigarette as the door closes behind her. Everyone in the city a smoker it seems.  As Evelyn puffs on a cigarette, V is somehow just noticing the gold nail like finger caps she wears.

“Dex had a load to say about you. Called you professional, effective. And trustworthy. I hope he wasn't overselling…“

“You don’t give a shit what he says,” V retorts, not missing the tinge of disdain Evelyn’s voice. V doesn’t need anyone to blow wind up her ass.

“You have trouble accepting compliments?”

“Flattery’s beneath you.”

“Maybe Dex is beneath you,” Evelyn moves around the table, grabbing an ashtray from the table, then sitting down next to V, crossing her legs, “Have you known each other long?”

“First time working with him.”

“Hmmm, I've heard there are two kinds of fixers. Those with stable crews on long contracts and short leashes. Loyalty and predictability they value above all else. Then there's the other kind- Dex's kind.”

“Meaning?”

“Headhunters. They lay their trust elsewhere, not in people but in a thing- their intuition. They bet on potential. And if they lose that bet…It's the last mistake they ever make. I’m hoping Dex’s intuition served him well in this case.”

“Let's get to the point, why am I here, what’s this about?”

“Your target - I trust you know what it is.”

“Arasaka biochip.”

“Mmmhmm, their Relic, secure your soul technology. Arasaka's poured billions into personality transfer technology. But me - I just want the data on this one. The chip is tucked away inside Konpeki Plaza, the hotel. You ever been?”

“Fancy corp hotels? Yeah, no, way out of my price range.”

“The decor's to die for. As you'll see for yourself.’

So, V and Jackie have to bust into some fancy hotel to get the chip people are arguing about on tv. Understood, so far. But, theres a lot of risks involved in a heist of this scale. Its one thing to rip off a dropped piece of cargo or a convoy from a corp; but this kind of top notch tech?

“You know where the chip is, exactly?”

“In a suite on the top floor. The room's occupied by Yorinobu Arasaka.”

V swallows the lump in her throat, the son of Saburo Arasaka, heir to the entire fucking corp. She’s once again finding herself wondering why Dex thinks her and Jackie can handle a job of this caliber, the Arasaka’s seem downright un-fucking-touchable to a merc like her.

“He’s in NC?”

“Don't you read the screamsheets?”

“Not particularly, no.”

“Well, the media couldn't get enough of Yori coming to Night City, it was all over the headlines. He's heir apparent to the Arasaka empire - Saburo Arasaka's only surviving son.”

“So, he trying to take over while he’s in town?” V asks, trying to understand what exactly is going on.

“Only a handful of people in Night City know what the Arasakas' real plans are.”

“And you included in that?”

A smirk stretches across her face, green eyes devious; “Yorinobu is a puppet. He lost all his cards years ago when he failed to do daddy's bidding. Saburo's had Yori's balls in a vise for years. He might just turn the screw and crush them outright if he learns his son's up to no good again.”

“Someone like him is bound to have an army surrounding him, that hotel is probably a fortress by now.”

“Yorinobu keeps exactly no muscle around. Not one guard. Got rid of them a long time ago.”

“Why?”

“Surely you know what they say about Arasaka intel? Sneeze in Night City and a blossom drops from a cherry tree in Tokyo. Yorinobu was convinced his Arasaka security detail reported directly to his father.”

“If you got a spare ache up your sleeve, I’d love to see it.”

“ Now, this should make your tits perk up,” she says, putting the ashtray aside and leans forward.

“My tits are quite comfortable where they are, I assure you.”

“Cute, but more importantly, Yorinobu recently swiped the chip from an Arasaka laboratory. He's made a deal with NetWatch, aims to sell it to them. Have you spotted my ace yet or do I need to spell things out?”

“Okay, no muscle because he has daddy issues and no security on the device because he stole it from said daddy. Any idea where he’s hiding the thing?”

“Likely in a specialized container, one that mimics an organic neural environment. On the outside, it looks like an ordinary briefcase.”

“Which would be where?”

“You'll see for yourself soon enough,” she stamps out her cigarette and stands up, walking to the door, “Provided we're done gossiping about the Arasakas.”

“You know anything else about him?” V asks, wanting to see if she can mine any more useful information about the heir that could help.

“Quite a bit, actually. He studied finance and biotech in Tokyo. Hm, probably didn't have a choice in the matter, come to think of it. Saburo was grooming him to be his successor. But then Yorinobu vanished to chase his own dreams, cut himself off from the corp for years. Long story short, though the black sheep returned, the bitter taste remained. But that's only one side of him. There's another - an intelligent man who has always walked his own path and so has his own designs on the corp.”

There’s no doubt in V’s mind now that Evelyn knows Yorinobu personally, the way she talks and speaks is clearly colored by experience. Some prodigal son who ran away from his father and then came back with his tail between his legs when he couldn’t cut it alone. An odd lump in V’s throat at the thought; running away from shitty dads, being a black sheep…

“Sounds like any other corpo dick to me,” V signs, not liking the parallels her brain is starting to draw.

“Hm. Ever tried to imagine what life might be like for an emperor's son? You have everything, yet you are no one, nothing. At least as long as you remain in Saburo Arasaka's shadow. I…” she scratches almost sheepishly at her neck, her wannabe femme fatale attitude slipping for just a moment, “...sympathize. It's a vulnerability I understand well.”

V is still finding herself finding uncomfortable similarities between herself and fucking Yorinobu Arasaka. Its stupid, she doesn’t know the man and he has the wealth to destroy her for pretending she does. But, a power hungry leader for a father, leaving home, terrified of being under his thumb. Only difference, well many, but most pressing is she’s managed to make it on her own...so far… at least. Not that she hasn’t had her doubts or worries.

“So, what’s next?” V asks, practically shaking her head to dispel the weirdness swimming in her brain. Black sheep or not; Yorinobu Arasaka has a silver spoon in his mouth. She’s a nomad turned Night City edgerunner; their lives couldn’t be more far removed.

“Now comes the best part,” Evelyn opens the door and turns to leave, “Follow me. Got somethin' for you. Should help you plan. Braindance from Konpeki Plaza.”

V follows Evelyn out into the hallway, “ how’s a braindance going to help?”

“Think BDs are only good for fondling virtual tits, jackin' off to in those boxes?”

“Thought that was the main selling point, yeah,” V teases back as they turn a corner in the hallway, headed towards a door.

“No. They can be a very useful tool. Good for analyzing details human perception, even boosted, doesn't grasp. Exactly what you need,” Evelyn teases as they enters a dressing room, a few Mox at the tables painting their faces with makeup and styling their hair.

“What's on the tape?” Through another door and neon lights fade to harsher, darker lighting.

“Yorinobu's suite. The glorious interior,” the walk down a short metal flight of stairs, “You'll need to locate the Relic yourself. Hope I grabbed enough detail to make that possible.”

The stop at the end of the steps, Evelyn turning to look at V with a hand on her hips. Not that V really had any more doubt about it, but she’s been given more evidence that Evelyn and Yorinobu know each other.

“You recorded it?”

“Mhm. BD rec implant. Why, you object?”

“Not particularly, who you know and what you do with them is none of my business, lets see the braindance.”

“Judy'll help. She's a Mox, too,” down another short flight of stairs, deeper into the basement, “Besides, we go back… years.”

Evelyn stops them again outside a pair of double doors, Lizzie’s is starting to feel like a little maze at this point. But more importantly, Evelyn’s paused again, stumbled over her words and showed something under her facade. V felt something was off, a Mox but somehow not, and she’s starting to think Evelyn is purposely trying to put up a front. That she’s trying, a little too hard, to come across like femme fatale or corpo. Evelyn clears her throat.

“V, this is important. Judy's always been there for me. Always helped out. I trust her. But she's a Mox, not the latest member of your crew. Try not to forget. So you'll be a good girl, tread lightly and keep that tongue on a leash.

“Oh, but it's not my tongue you need to worry about.”

“Hmm, can feel you smirking under that mask, keep it up and I’ll tie those hands down, too,” Evelyn says with a wink as they pass through the double doors into another hallway, then through one more door.

Evelyn leads her through the basement doors, a dark little room with servers, netrunning chairs and screens. In an office chair slouching with one leg on a desk is a woman; late twenties or so with olive skin. One side of her hair is shaved, the other shaggy and down to nearly her shoulder, a deep green color with bright pink ends. The woman is heavily tattooed, bright red roses nestled above her collar bones, a spider web on her right shoulder, a cartoon ghost sitting in a shell, and a large number 13 on her bicep are among the standouts. But V could spend hours describing each artwork.

“Ahem.”

“Hey, there you are…” Judy greets Evelyn, a playful almost flirty tone to her voice.

“This is V. She's here for that BD roll. And V, this is Judy - best braindance editor I know.”

“Enough already, gonna make me barf.” There’s a slight accent to Judy’s voice, not unlike Jackie’s.

“Impressive set up,” V signs, at least, she assumes it’s impressive. Tech is already a bit of a blind spot for her, especially when it comes to brain dances.

“Mhm, Analyzers, sensory sig amps, acoustic and emotive wave monitors, facial expression translators.”

“Ahem, Judy,” Evelyn stops the inked editor before she can tell V more.

“All right, all right… Compiled your BD, Ev.”

“What do you think? Will it do?”

“Still pretty raw… but yeah, oughta do.”

“Mhm. V needs to get deep inside, that's most important.”

“So, let's calibrate, tune it to her,” Judy stands up from the table and moves to the desk closer to the door, sitting down below a neon pink light, “Believe me, I've dealt with worse. Should see the dig-Jig Street porn we gotta contend with sometimes.”

Evelyn has followed behind Judy, standing behind the editor’s chair, “So we drop V inside? Let her look, let her rummage around, right?”

“How 'bout it, V? Raw braindance - ever taken a dip before?” Judy leans forward on the desk, looking at V.

“No, not at all, but I’m a quick learner,” that feels like a lie as soon as she says it, “ and need to know what I’m dealing with. So.”

“Siddown, settle in, and we'll get you goin'.”

V turns around to the chairs, either netrunning or ripperdoc chairs, she’s not sure. But, she climbs into one, settling down into it as Judy comes back out around the desk. Judy is nearby, fiddling with a brain dance wreath.

“Be easier to fit without the mask.”

“Mask has optic tech, linked to my neuroport and biomon, should work just like it does with any set of cybereyes.”

“‘Fraid of ruining the mystery?” Evelyn asks, teasing again.

“Mask is for business, lot harder to track a merc if you got no clue what they look like. You that curious, feel free to try and track me down during my off time.”

“Fine, fine,”  Judy affixes the BD wreath around V’s head, lining it up properly on the merc before walking back to the desk,  “Gotta create your sensory profile first.”

“Go for it.”

“Now, sit still, look at me. Gonna run the analysis soft should feel a slight tingling…”

V’s breath catches as it prickles across her skin, a crackling and warm sensation crawling across every nerve. From the base of her skull, down her spine, across her arms to her fingers, running down her legs to her toes. A vague pulse, a current of something.

“OK now let's set the optics and other sensory sigs. Look smack into these two screens, pretend it's an eye exam.”

The two wreath panels flash and strobe white light, building in urgency and frequency.

“Gimme two more minutes. One more sec, need to get the pain receptor limiters in… OK. All set. Need to test your profile first. Tossing in a sam-”

“We can just use my recording, there’s no point in wasting time,” Evelyn interrupts Judy.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’m fine with just jumping to her BD,” V interjects her opinion, “better to get right to it.”

Judy sighs and rolls her eyes; “Fine, fine, what do I know.”

“Great, I’ll just need to patch Bug in.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Who?” Judy jumps up from her desk, crossing her arms and looks at V like she just asked to summon Satan.

“Runner from my crew, security specialist. She'll tell me what to look for while we analyze. No problem, I assume?”

“Actually, it is a problem! You’re already asking me to cut fucking corners and now you want to bring someone else in?! Not what we agreed, Ev!”

“It’s not a big deal,” V signs, not sure what Judy’s sudden problem is.

“No big deal! You don't quite grasp the risks I took by lettin' you in here! What I'm risking pokin' around with this stuff!”

Judy continues to yell and V rolls her eyes, she’s a BD editor, not part of the actual crew, the client, or the fixer. If Arasaka goes after anyone it sure as shit won’t be Judy, so why is she throwing a fit.

“And you don’t seem to grasp the risk I’d be taking if me and my partner went stumbling into that hotel with no fucking clue as to what we or our runner are up against. I miss one hidden turret and I get pumped full of lead, either my runner links in or I’m gone.”

V makes a point to twist her head and look at Evelyn at the last part; Bug is the most highly trained member of their crew and Dex’s go to runner. Without her involvement and eyes on it, the job won’t be going anywhere.

“Bye then!” Judy yells out, “good riddance and don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

“Judy, please…”

“Ev, she wants to bring a 'runner in. What part of that don't you understand?! How do I know she'll only perch in this footage, observe, not fuck with anything?!”

“Because Bug is literally involved with the heist, has a dog in this fight, and wants it to go well too,” V signs, hoping the AI voice is getting her annoyance across, Judy does level a glare at her over Evelyn’s shoulder.

“Me,” Evelyn steals Judy’s attention, “I'm your guarantee.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Help me, this one last time. I promise everything'll work out,  just like we planned.”

And it hits V, between the flirting and the soft drop in Evelyn’s voice here. The reason Judy is so worked up about this; her and Evelyn have something. Friends teetering the line into something else, girlfriends already, or maybe even more than that. V’s not sure. But there’s something distinctly not platonic to the way they interact. Maybe that’s the play on Evelyn’s. Scam Yorinobu Arasaka then run away with her porn editor girlfriend.

“Fine,” Judy shakes her head and sits back down, the anger gone, “call Bug and we’ll dive in.”

That issue taken care of V rings up T-Bug, the netrunner answering after a ring or two.

“What’s up, V?”

“Bug, listen. I got some useful footage from Konpeki Plaza. It's a braindance.”

“Konpeki? Ohhh, thought as much…” Judy looks up at Evelyn.

“Someone there with you?”

“Client and her...friend...is what I’ll settle on; that’s not what matters right now, its going to give us a layout of the room, a chance to find where the chip is, and some idea of security.”

“All right, see if I can walk you through it. Jackin’ into your tech now,” notifications alert across her mask’s interface, “Mh, you've gotta give me access. Opening port 1779… Secure protocol? Good, I'm goin' in. Should be getting my request… …now.”

“Got it. You ready?”

“Millisec. OK, connection confirmed, now some quick temp ICE and… we're clear. Ready to dance.”

“Let’s do this.”

And with that the wreath panels begin to flash and strobe in front of V’s eyes, quicker and quicker until the world goes out in white. And in the next snap of a moment, one reality becomes another. Her body is no longer her own, she’s placed in Evelyn’s mind standing outside an elevator. What feels like her body, moves to adjust a purse strap, gold capped nails.

“All right, V - eyes open. Gotta find out where Yorinobu is keepin’ the Relic. Everything is controlled by thought and intention; you can step into editor mode, access everything her cyberware picked up a signal of, can scan, rewind, fast forward. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The doors open, exposing the hotel room, and a horror show of a man walking towards her. V can feel the spike in fear, whether from Evelyn in the moment or V’s own instinctual reaction; she isn’t sure. He’s around eight feet tall, complete metal and cyberware from his feet to his upper lip; more machine than human. Wire, hydraulics, steel; all branded with Arasaka. The flesh section of his head is sickly ashen protrusive veins, glowing red where eyes should be. As he draws closer there’s a whirr of machinery, hydraulics pistoning to give him movement. How is he alive? How is he functional?

“You look like a cut of fuckable meat. Are you?” He asks as he walks past, voice edged with something inhuman.

Evelyn reigns her fear back in, the past version of her walking deeper into the room, where a dark haired man sits at a table in front of a large screen where another blonde haired man speaks back to him.

“I said no,” the dark haired man speaks out, his voice colored by a Japanese accent and V knows it’s Yorinobu. Evelyn continues to walk closer, her heels clicking against the floor.

“They'll have my head for this…”

“Then you shall perish for a good cause.”

“But I-”

“Make yourself comfortable. I need a minute to finish,” Yorinobu tells Evelyn, sparing just a glance over his shoulder.

“Listen in on that conversation, V! Could be something important.”

She wants to watch through first, do an initial watch to look for things and then go more in depth. Two watches at least should mean she’s covered everything. Yorinobu switches the conversation to his holophone, pacing around the room. Evelyn meanwhile puts her purse down on the chair, then walks behind him, trying to keep him in range

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble! You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

Yorinobu continues to talk as Evelyn pours herself a glass full of champagne and takes a drink, the tech allowing V to taste the sweet bubbles as if they were on her own tongue. Glass in hand she takes a slow look around the room and walks back to the center of it, sitting at the table, the plush of the cushion letting her sink into it.

“Noted,” Yorinobu says into the phone as he starts to walk back to Evelyn, there’s something in his eyes, “enough.”

He hands up, putting the phone down on the table. Evelyn looks up at him and V through her eyes gets her first good look at the Arasaka heir. Dark hair with the sides shaved down close to the scalp, glasses perched on his nose. His cyberware is surprisingly minimal for a man of his wealth, two streaks of silver going up his neck to his jawline.

“Sorry, to make you wait,” he touches Evelyn’s shoulder and the woman rises, “business can be stupid.”

They’re close and V can feel his hands on her, Evelyn’s, hips. Evelyn’s hand on his shoulder.

“Mmh, it wasn't long,” Evelyn hums and it feels wholy unnatural to feel like she’s speaking with someone else's voice, “Not even long enough for me to grow bored.”

His hands start to creep and Evelyn goes to pull away, movements playful, when Yorinobu pulls her back in. Then he starts to dip his mouth.

“Fuck no!” V yells out as she pushes the thought to enter editor mode, separating her senses from Evelyn’s before she has to feel Yorinobu’s lips on Evelyn’s neck. She looks down and sees herself, though slightly digital, her bright blue nail polish and not gold jewelry. The scene around her has paused and a digital filter over them.

“Something wrong?” T-Bug asks with a slight laugh.

“Nearly had corpo droolon me,” V signs, happy to find the tech allows her translator to work in editor mode, “was going do a watch through, then a second go in editor mode, figured two look throughs would be best...then”

“Then you nearly had to lock lips with Yorinobu Arasaka.”

“Gag, rewinding back to scan the call fully.” With a thought she watches as Evelyn and Yorinobu move in reverse, getting back to win the heir was starting the call. Once she gets where she needs to be she scans his phone and restarts it from editor mode, thankful for the sensory disconnect. She hears the man on the other end of Yorinobu’s call speak.

“Please speak with your father. He's taken a particular interest in this project, he can certainly explain the risks invol--”

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble!”

“I should not even be listening to such things.”

“You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

“Read the documentation carefully. The Relic requires specific storage conditions. You MUST provide them.”

“Noted,” Yorinobu hangs up again and V pauses the BD.

“Heard that? Relic docs gotta be around here somewhere. Look for them,” Bug confirms.

“Once we find where the chip is stored we’ll do a clean sweep of the security, okay Bug.”

“Smart thinking.”

V watches half-heartedly as Yorinobu and Evelyn interact; her range of vision and senses limited to Evelyn. She fast forwards through the two canoodling, only mildly catching Evelyn mentioning something about ‘candy’ though V assumes it’s of the nose variety. Evelyn separates away from Yorinobu for a moment and walks to a control panel, offering to lend music to the scene.

But V’s interest is piqued when she catches Evelyn rifling through Yorinobu’s messages, a few spam and scam emails. Then she pulls up an email from Clouds, a dollhouse in the city. Evelyn deletes it, V rewinds back and pauses. The email thanks Yorinobu for his patronage; hmm, heir has a taste for doll prostitutes. Something, Evelyn doesn’t want that email to be there… Its all beginning to make more sense and V’s not sure she likes it.

The merc fast forwards further through the BD, moving through to Evelyn playing awful music and going to meet Yorinobu in his bed. Where he sits with a tablet, the second the screen is clear. She pauses and scans it, bingo.

“Manual details a special temp controlled container. Relic needs to be kept real cool,” T-Bug explains through the technobabble.

“Chip’s got to be in a freezer.”

“Yep. Could damage it otherwise. OK, switch on thermal layer detection in the editor. Should be easier to spot where Yorinobu's keeping the chip.”

V switches with a thought, the world turning into temperature signatures as she searches for unnatural cold places and spots. An air conditioner pumps out cold air, but that would be a stupid place to put billion dollar tech. One malfunction and you lost it all.  She rewinds back to get more of a view, a ice bucket for champagne, a fridge?

“That’s just a regular fancy fridge, not cold enough,” Bug tells her when she spends t0o long contemplating it.

V rewinds further and an amass of blue ice cold air from behind a pillar catches her eye, It seems to come up through the floor, unlike the AC, ice bucket, or fridge she has no clear idea where this one is coming from. A secret container in the floor? Seems like a much craftier place to hide expensive stolen tech, V scans it.

“Right, grabbed the heat sig. Matches the spec in the docs,” T-Bug tells her.

“Chip has to be here, we got it.”

“Mmhmm, time to scan security.”

V switches back to the regular mode, looking for what she needs to scan. The camera system first.

“Shit, cameras packed with newtech motion sensors, heat sig activators. IFF.”

“Can you kill it?”

“With access to their subnet, but we need the Flathead bot for that.”

They continue on, with Bug commenting on each security measure they scan. Alarm with fresh firmware, Automated turrets connected to the hotels server. Yorinobu’s pistol, loaded with the safety on. V rewinds and fast forward, searching anything else that might be an issue but comes up empty handed.

“Seems like we got everything. Looks like all their security systems are linked to the hotel subnet. We need the Flathead. No other way to shut down these systems,” T-Bug sumises.

“No way around it ourselves?”

“Nope. Least I'm fresh out of ideas. Think we got everything we need.”

“Okay, but hang on the line with me after we get out of the BD, need you to look over something for me, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem.”

V exists out of the brain dance, a flash of white and the world returns. Judy and Evelyn looking at her from across a desk, T-Bug still in the call panel of her mask. Her eyes hurt, her throat feels dry, and she can feel a migraine pushing at her temples. She fucking hates brain dances.

“Get everything you need?” Judy asks, a dark raised eyebrow.

“From the BD, yeah, got to clear something with Bug while I got her on the horn,” V gets the chip she fucked with out of her pocket and slides it into the proxy reader of her mask, “got a chip I fucked around with; decrypted and tried to rewrite the virus on it, so it will spike the people who gave it to me. But I want to make sure, I didn’t fuck up.”

“Need me to grade your work, V?”

“Kind of…”

“Oh, shit, V. You fucking over Militech?” T-Bug exclaims, a little pride in her voice as she reads over the code, thankfully her voice is only audible to V through her hearing aids.

“Mmhmm.”

“And you don’t want to sign and have your translator read it, because you don’t want to risk the client knowing you’re fucking over Militech while prepping to fuck over Arasaka.”

“Mmhmm, will it work?”

“It will fry the servers of any tech it’s plugged in proper and fry the servers it’s linked to, a Militech van from the looks of it. Won’t be a dent in their bottom line, but will surely piss off some reps. That what you meant for it to do?”

“That was the plan.”

“Preem work then, but I do want to make some...edits,” T-Bug edits the chips code in front of V’s eyes, “there we go.”

“Something wrong with it?” Nerves creep up V’s throat, if she fucked up, she’d rather learn her lesson now.

“Nah, I added a bit of a personal touch for you, nothing wrong with a little style added to your hacking.”

“Appreciate the help.”

“You know I won’t always be here to check your work.”

“I know, I know, but it doesn't mean I won’t take advantage while I can. Thanks again, talk soon.”

“Later, V.” With that V hangs up the call and slots the spiked credchip back into its respective pocket. Judgement, suspicion, and resentment are radiating off of Judy.

“I'll wipe the cache and your data. You were never here.”

Judy stands up from the desk and V tries to decipher a few of the tattoos she sees, noticing more sea themed ones, like a dolphin and sharks. V flinches behind her mask as Judy removes the BD wreath, glad to be free of the contraption, but she could have taken it off herself.

“Thanks…” V signs, despite this, just trying to be polite despite their spat.

“Keep it,” Judy hands her the wreath, V getting a good look at the octopus tattooed on the woman’s hand,  “I'll put it on Ev's tab. Portable device for handling BDs. I already uploaded your calibration settings. Not as sophisticated as what we got here, but should do the trick.”

“And it keeps you outta harm's way. Clever.”

“Speaking of harms way, know what I see looking at you,” Judy pins her hands to her hips and gives V that look again, “walking, talking corpses.”

“We needed this recording, just… relax, will you?”

“Relax! If Arasaka finds out you have it, you're dead. I'm dead! If you fuck this up and Arasaka comes knocking on my door!”

“Judy, relax, that’s… not gonna happen,” Evelyn is the one trying to soothe the editors temper again.

“Evelyn, please… no shortcuts. You go that route, city'll always win. So be careful.”

“'Course I will be. Besides, we'll talk in a bit,” Evelyn looks to V,  “lets walk.”

V stashes the new BD wreath into her bag and climbs from the chair, following Evelyn out of Judy’s basement space. It’s not like V is heartless or doesn’t know anxiety; but of everyone involved, Judy has the least skin in the game. V can’t spend her time coddling someone who doesn’t have a whole hell of a lot to worry about compared to her, Jackie, or Bug.

“Well? What do you think?” Evelyn asks and V can see that hint of nerves coming back.

“You’re not worried about this coming back on you, if they start looking through everyone he’s been dealing with?”

“They'll have a long list, then. Packed full of big names. Much bigger than mine. You tell me who they check first. Corpo hotshots and cutthroats? Or a little bedroom plaything like me?”

“Well, then... “ V tries to find her words, this all seems, too good, “intel on the heir, on the place, know roughly where the chip is, and how we should get to it… Seems like a perfect plan and job.”

“Mm. Thanks. Now the punch line, please.”

“Seems too good to be true, there’s got to be a catch…”

“Cold feet? Are you looking to get out of it?”

“I want to know you’re in control here; that there’s no secrets, no catches, no surprises that turns this heist from a cakewalk into a bloodbath.”

“V. I have zero reasons to haze you. We’re in this together. Really. Trust me that I got this.”

“Okay, if you say so, what next?”

“V….” there’s nothing good in the way Evelyn pauses, words stuck to her tongue for a moment, “Do this job for me. I mean me alone. No splitting the payout with anyone else. No middlemen. No Dex.”

Of course, of fucking course, there had to be something. Evelyn’s trying to play cutthroat corpo, fucking over a fixer because she has dollar signs in her eyes. But, she’s too damn naïve to the game to know that no merc with the lead in their gun would pull that shit. Greedy mercs who screw over their fixers end up broke on the street at best and swimming  with cement shoes at worst. And a high profile one like Dex has the means to destroy her.

“Fucking knew there was a catch, you want to fuck over our fixer.”

“Dex is a middleman. And a useless one at this point.”

“You don't fuck with fixers. That's the one rule every merc in this city knows - and actually follows!”

“But if we're smart…”

“There is no smart to this, a mistake like that will cost me my reputation and without that, a merc is fucking nothing in this city. Are you serious about this?”

“Better ask yourself that question. Do you want to spend the rest of your days blasting scavs? Or become a legend overnight? Your choice.”

“He would put me in the ground, if I pulled some gonk shit like that.”

“I could give you fifty percent, V, . Eddies enough to do whatever the hell you like, without needing Dex for anything. With cred like that, you wouldn’t want for anything, you could retire.”

“It’s not about the money.”

“I thought you were a merc. I thought it was always about the money.”

“No, its not actually. He trusts me, he’s taking a leap with me. And even if he weren’t, I’m not the only person I got to worry about. Bug vouched for me too and Jackie is my partner. I fuck over my fixer, it hurts them too. I’m not going to send them down the river for a bigger cut of the pie.”

“Fine. I never asked. But V?”

“Yeah.”

“I just hope you're as good as you are naive.”

“Pff, you think I’m the naive one, here. Cute.

“If you need me, call. I'll send you my number. Now go. I need a few words with Judy.”

“Later, then.”

And with that V heads back up the stairs, tension draws tight across her shoulders. This whole damn thing with Evelyn throwing her off. The BD and everything seems clear cut, if they get the Flathead, the job might even be easy. But, wanting to fuck over their fixer. Evelyn is not the corpo or femme fatale or whatever she seems to think she is. A doll, V’s sure of that.  Evelyn must have deleted the email from Clouds because its’s connected to her and the Mox offer protection to sex workers; must be where she and Yorinobu met. Clouds even has connections to Arasaka through the Tyger Claws. And she managed to become a powerful rich man’s plaything, so now she thinks she’s smart enough to fuck over not only him but Dex too.

She’s a messy client with good intel. V doesn’t want Evelyn to get hurt. The older woman is in over her head and doesn’t know how the merc world works. She doesn’t deserve to get hurt for that, the last thing V wants is for Dex to lose his cool and hurt the woman. But, V also owes it to him to let him know Evelyn put that deal on the table. If she doesn’t, what’s to say Evelyn won’t pull this on another fixer? Or Dex gets another job aligned with her and the next merc she offers this to isn’t so loyal? She has to tell him.

V fumbles with her holo as she walks back through the club, doing some quick research on Konpeki Plaza. Finding their policy on guns. Given the stealth nature of this mission, she can assume the only way they’re getting in is to find a way to get in like regular patrons. Which means they’d be scanned for guns as soon as they get through the door. If something goes south, she doesn’t want her and Jackie left unarmed with a hoard of Arasaka soldiers on their ass.

But they can’t confiscate cyberware.

Might be time to cash in her savings for something. Her holo buzzes in her hand as Dex calls; her stomach drops. Unsure for a moment what to say to him, if she should go ahead and tell him what Evelyn tried to pull. Would he lose his temper? Drop the entire damn heist? Would he hurt her for it? It weighs on her shoulders as she pushes through a blue beaded curtain, considering her options with a finger hovering over the phone.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #johnny silverhand #silverv #(slowburn eventual) #evelyn parker #judy alvarez #aidan becker #aidan v becker #female v

[maiden-of-wolves]

Heads in Beds - SM AU Fic - Chapter 6

This chapter’s SUPER LONG in comparison to the others. Full of drama and interesting things and gets a tad dark. Hopefully that’s okay! This is also the first chapter with a beta reader’s help. I’ve also changed things in previous chapters due to her invaluable assistance, so if you see anything you don’t remember noting before March 2018, it may be a part of those changes.

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Even though the office was a fairly large space, when the boys all filed in it felt terribly small. It didn’t help matters that they had to crowd her and each other just to see the small screen. She’d never cursed its small size until now.

“So what’s this about?” Sam asked. “Why’re you staring at that light book?”

Thea chuckled. “It’s called a laptop,” she informed him, turning around in her chair so they could actually see the screen. She’d pulled up men’s daily fashion in a google image search. “I got a bit of an idea with Sam’s little stunt with that ‘glamor spell’,” she said. “Can you all adjust what you’re wearing with magic?”

“In a sense,” James replied. “But it will draw from our reserves, so you may want to consider suggesting this carefully—”

“Would you wear actual clothes if I got them for you, then?” Thea asked, thinking nothing of interrupting James.

The brothers didn’t answer, looking between each other for a few moments. They didn’t seem to want to answer, rather than not being able to.

“I don’t want to wear shoes,” Matthew muttered, tapping his sneaker-encased foot on the floor.

“You don’t have to inside, but outside you’d better have them on,” Thea informed him. “Or you’ll need to wash your feet every time before you come inside.”

“Can do!” he piped up.

James sighed. “Are you sure about that, Miss? You are alright with bare feet traipsing about the house?”

“As long as they’re relatively clean bare feet,” she pulled up her own legs a bit to wiggle her socked feet. “I usually have socks or bare feet inside too.”

“Alright!” Matthew exhaled happily, grinning at Thea.

The innkeeper offered a smile in return before drawing their attention back to the laptop. “I’ve pulled up images of every day wear for fashionable men. It’d be good to pull from these to make an outfit you all like to wear in public. Multiple would be good, considering people tend to have a closet full of clothes instead of just one outfit… but I understand if it’s too much energy.”

The brothers leaned in, trying to get a good look at the images.

“It’s like… paintings…” Damien murmured.

“But really detailed! And on a lit page,” Matthew marveled.

“What’s that one?” Sam asked, pointing at a particular picture.

Thea adjusted her stance enough that she could click on the picture, making it easier for him to see. “Looks like... a twill jacket with T-shirt and jeans. Nice loafers, too,” she pointed to each piece as she noted what it was.

“The shoes are stupid,” Sam said, though he shimmered and soon stood in the soft green twill jacket, grey T-shirt and his jeans remained on his legs. His feet remained in their black and white sneakers.

She tilted her head as she observed him. “That looks pretty good on you, actually,” she noted. “Nice choice.”

Sam completely avoided eye contact and said nothing, though Thea could see a light blush painting his cheeks and she grinned at him.

“Not that what you think matters,” he muttered. “It’s comfy. Not as comfy as nothin’, but you humans don’t go around naked or shirtless much.”

“Glad you remembered that,” she mused, which seemed to startle Sam back into silence again.

Thea started scrolling again and Matthew stopped her next. “Hey, wait! That one!”

She clicked to enlarge the picture. “Ah, you like a hoodie?” she asked, smile returning to her lips.

“Is that the second shirt there?”

“The jacket, yeah. Hoodies are cool. They have pockets that are actually comfortable to put and leave your hands in and, true to the name, have a hood you can flip up and down.”

“So it’s a hooded cloak?” James asked, quirking a brow.

“No,” Thea replied, shaking her head. The way they saw things was very interesting to her. Our worlds and times are so different… she couldn’t help but think to herself. “Cloaks are long, to your knees or ankles. These are just to around your butt or your waist and the hood is only enough to shield your head from rain. It takes a fair amount of stretching for it to cover your face much more than that.”

“Still, it looks interesting,” Matthew said, nodding to himself for a moment before focusing. His form shimmered just as Sam’s had, materializing a hoodie over his T-shirt and ridding him of his sneakers. He looked down at his toes and wiggle them with a grin. “Comfy!” he said, slipping his hands into his partially-zipped hoodie.

“Is there something that you enjoy seeing on males, Princess?” Erik inquired.

Thea chuckled again. “Not really,” she admitted, glancing over at him. “But, if you want to be smartly dressed…” she mused, thought trailing off as she turned her attention back to the laptop. She scrolled down further, finally finding a model with a tailored vest. “This would probably look good on you,” she told him, leaning away after she’d clicked on the image.

“Hm! That does look nice~” Erik admitted. A moment’s shimmer later and he had a brown vest overlaid on his T-shirt. “Though it doesn’t look as good with this shirt, nor in that color…” he sighed. “I will have to adjust this.”

“You have plenty of time,” she assured him, eyes making little secret of admiring how the new vest hugged his form. He really was like a model, though she supposed they all were. It was ridiculous.

“Is there anything that is considered formal?” James asked.

“Well, yeah, suits…” she started, hesitating for a moment. “But you really don’t need to be wandering around in a full suit n’ tie ensemble during regular days,” Thea answered. She turned her attention to the computer once more. “You could be all fancy, though. Erik’s vest is like that, but I’m sure you want to be different.”

She nibbled on her lower lip as she scrolled through. “Ah! Here,” she finally said, leaning back after clicking on another image. “Something like this.” The newest image had a man with a khaki trench coat, blue and black scarf wrapped loosely about his neck, double breasted grey vest and black slacks that ended in well-polished black loafers. “Of course you won’t need the coat and scarf— the second layer of clothes on his shoulders and the thing about his neck— right now. It’s summer. Too hot for that stuff.”

James hummed to himself for a moment as he looked at the image. “The...coat? Seems like a bit much anyway,” he admitted. Moments later, he closed his eyes and his form shimmered. He’d apparently taken what Erik said to heart and substituted a long sleeved shirt for his T-shirt when he put on a vest. The black slacks that appeared were perfectly tailored and the loafers were squeaky new.

Thea shook her head slowly, a smile at her lips. “Man, having magic must be nice,” she said. “To think how much time and money I’d save by being able to just think and manifest the clothes I wanted.”

“It certainly is easier than using a tailor,” Erik admitted with a light chuckle.

She quirked a brow. “Do you all wear clothes?”

“Sons and Daughters of Lilith do not, but many other demons do,” James interjected. “The clothing is typically far more for propriety or for protection than simply to accessorize.”

“Sons and Daughters of Lilith?” Thea echoed.

“Incubi and Succubi, respectively, Miss,” James answered easily. “It is another name for us, as our race was birthed by Lilith.”

“Lilith… like Adam’s first wife Lilith?” she inquired further.

“Or so the christian bible goes,” he replied, chuckling. “There are many stories of how the human Lilith appeared in the Abyssal Plains and how she gave birth to our race, but none know the truth of it.”

The innkeeper’s mind swam with the implications, but she shook her head to help clear her mind. “Back on to our original topic— the reasons for clothing are essentially the same here,” Thea informed them. “Though the rich use clothes as another way to show off their wealth and their individual tastes.”

“So some bullshit traditions are just everywhere,” Sam grumbled. “The only place you need to put your wealth is back in the kingdom. In defenses or offence… but a massive offence is better than any defense.”

The innkeeper nodded. “For once, we agree,” she admitted. The brothers looked surprised, but she held up a hand as she continued. “Though less about the massive offence part. To have anything you own be strong, anything you get from it you need to put back into it. Reinvest time and energy into your life, money into your business, love back into your pets or plants...”

“Attention back into your relationship?” Erik offered, a sly smile parting his lips.

Thea nodded. “Exactly.”

“A wise strategy, especially for someone as young as you,” James noted.

She raised a brow as she looked to him. “Young?” she echoed. “You all can’t be older than me. No way.”

“Time… moves differently between the human and demon worlds,” James began. “That being said, I had passed my 114th year before we came here.”

Thea stared at him blankly. ...wut? she thought. It was the only thing that the gears turned out before they squeaked to a stop. “You’re… 114…?” she finally managed to ask.

“Ah!” Damien gasped, actually making his brothers jump as well as Thea. “Harold gave us those hard papers,” he said. “He said those would have all our information on them.”

James relaxed. “Oh, yes. The identity papers…” he mused, fishing around in his new slacks pockets. He grasped whatever he was looking for and pulled it out. “Here.”

Thea took the ID card that James held out for her. It was a full license... for Illinois. Mr. Anderson really had pulled out all the stops. These looked entirely legit. They have all their paperwork. You’ll need to take them to the local DMV to get it updated.... K’s commentary echoed in her head. They did indeed have all they needed. Especially if they had birth records and SS numbers as well as this. If Harold could get legitimate ID’s… there’s little doubt in her mind that he could get the rest, too.

“Your last name is Anderson,” she noted, chuckling at the thought. “I suppose that would have made it easier for Harold to keep in contact with you and help you out if you needed it. He was going to pretend y’all were his sons.” Thea’s lips parted in a small smile. “He did have quite a plan…” She flicked her eyes over the rest of the info, unsurprised to see his height listed as 6’0, certainly unsurprised at his hair and eye color and even less surprised that he was marked as ‘M’. 8/30/1994 the DoB read. “You’re 23 here,” she read out. “So, in human years at least, you’re younger than me by 2 years.”

James took the card back as soon as she offered it to him. “That will take some getting used to,” he admitted, putting the ID back in his pocket. “But considering how much more you know than I, perhaps it will not be as difficult as I think.”

“Your birthday is just a few day ahead of mine,” she informed him. “I was born on September 2nd.”

All the brothers looked very confused and glanced between each other.

“You… know exactly what date you were born?” James finally spoke up, seemingly for all the brothers.

“Oh yeah, we have a celebration every year or at least acknowledge whenever that date comes around, too. I usually just drink,” Thea shrugged. “Or maybe binge on food and or TV.”

“TV?” Matthew and Damien asked, nearly simultaneously.

“I’ll have to show you all that later,” she said. “It’s… not really something I can explain without you seeing it.”

“Do we all have birthdays now, too?” Damien asked.

“If you all have those ID cards, yeah, you do,” Thea told him. “They have to be on there. It’s part of your identity here.”

Both Matthew and Damien seemed terribly excited and enamored by the idea. “What’s mine?!” Matthew all but blurted out, fishing in his new hoodie pocket for the card before sticking it in Thea’s face.

She laughed, taking the ID and looking it over. “May 1st. It’s the 5th month of the year.” Thea handed it back to him without ceremony. “That’s usually also the day a lot of people celebrate spring coming back around.”

“What about mine?” Damien asked, far quieter than Matthew had been but still all but vibrating with excitement as he held out the ID to her.

She took it and scanned the info. “October 11th,” she informed him. “Good thing it wasn’t a month before,” she added, a mirthless chuckle passed her lips at that. My humor is so dark sometimes…

“Why?” Damien asked, tilting his head after he put his card away again.

“September 11th was the day of a horrible tragedy for this country. Thousands of people died,” Thea recounted. “It was back in 2001. I was a kid. Just 9. I didn’t really understand what was happening, aside from it being a bad thing. Smoke and fire were usually a good indicator of something bad.”

“What happened?” Surprisingly, the question had come from Sam.

Thea looked to him, silent for a good few breaths as she thought over the answer. “If humans are good at one thing, Sam, it’s killing each other,” she finally told him. “It was a very effective attack. Using our own technology of flight against us.” She got the feeling that someone would have asked about how humans could fly, but they could feel her distress at the topic and decided not to delve further for the moment. “They martyred themselves in order to cause the most damage possible. And they did a very good job of that.”

The room went quiet, all the brothers apparently cowed into silence by the heaviness of the topic.

After a few moments, though, Damien spoke up. “Did you lose anyone?”

Thea shook her head. “Thankfully, no. But I have met people who did. It was particularly tough for them because it was a national tragedy and it felt like they couldn’t be alone in their grief. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been. No to mention anyone that didn’t want a war over it. The politicians used it as an excuse for more bloodshed and more lives lost in a war that’s been going on most of my life.”

“This place doesn’t look like a battlefield,” Matthew commented. “It’s peaceful. And not covered in blood…”

The innkeeper smiled, though there was no happiness behind the expression. “It’s not fought here,” she attempted to explain. “We try and keep our wars off our soil. We go where the enemies, or where the politicians claim our enemies are.”

“Sounds like a good strategy,” Sam noted. “Bring the fight to them. Protect your kingdom.”

Thea laughed again, though bitterly. “And what of the other people in the country? The ‘kingdom’ doesn’t just have soldiers. It’s just ‘good strategy’ to destroy places that service soldiers… but they also serve the people. You end up murdering innocents and creating more martyrs.”

“Have they attacked you again since?” Sam asked.

“Not as directly—”

“Then the war’s working.”

“It’s not that simple, Sam,” she snapped. “War is fought on multiple fronts here. With every innocent person we kill, we do the extremists’ jobs for them. Recruiting is easy when you don’t even have to provide propaganda to show the enemy is evil.”

“Evil?” he scoffed, crossing his arms. “You’re just defending yourself!”

“By taking over their land? Murdering their people? I think not.” Thea watched him, gaze hard. “If one can avoid war or violence, one should. The cost is too high. Both in actual lives and collateral damages.”

No one seemed brave enough to speak up at that and after a few tense moments, Thea sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I’m going to leave this search page up,” she told them. “All you need to do is tap these to enter new words to search for,” she began to explain, gesturing to the keyboard. “And then press this one labeled ‘enter’,” she added, tapping oh-so-gently on the ‘enter’ key. “That’ll bring up new results, if you all want to explore clothing a bit more.”

She stood and the boys parted like the Red Sea for Moses. Thea paused at the door. “Remember to turn off the lights before you leave,” she told them. “Like this,” she casually flicked the switch by the doorframe down and received a soft click as the room went dark aside from the laptop. She left them in the dark for only a moment before flicking it back up.

“Woah…” Matthew exhaled, eyes wide as saucers. “So that’s what you meant! Do it again!”

Thea chuckled. “Do it yourself if you want,” she suggested.

Erik groaned as Matthew scurried over to the switch and began flipping it back and forth while staring up that the ceiling. “Must you do that so quickly?”

“It’s really fun!”

“It strains the eyes,” Erik informed him. “Stop it.”

“Is this also electricity, Miss?” James asked, clearly just as bothered by the flickering light as Erik judging by his squinted eyes was but trying to ignore it.

“Yes,” she answered, also having to squint her eyes a bit as she let Matthew get his latest excited phase over with. “It’s typically how we illuminate anything. We don’t really use torches or candles much. Sometimes we have scented candles, though. Those are nice.”

“Can you not smell others?” Damien asked. “There are scents for emotion, intensity of scents for power… why would you need more?”

Thea quirked a brow. “No. I mean, not unless they’ve stopped bathing and are dirty or something. Most people don’t have a smell or, at least, we clean ourselves enough that any smell we naturally have is washed away regularly. We can put stuff on us to change how we smell, but it doesn’t usually last long. The candles are meant to help relax.”

“Or maybe human senses are just too weak,” Sam muttered, though his attention was clearly on the curly haired brother as he gleefully continued messing with the lights. “Matthew! Stop it!” He growled at his brother, reaching out and grasping the younger incubi’s wrist and pulling it away from the switch.

“Hey!” he whined, pursing his lips as he looked at Sam. The rest of the brothers were relieved that they could finally see without their pupils constantly adjusting.

“You can be the one to turn on and off the lights,” James told him. Matthew’s eyes widened again as he looked to his eldest brother, a light blush on his cheeks from excitement. “But,” he added, Matthew’s energy barely dampening, “Miss Thea will tell you when to turn them on or off. None of this back and forth.”

Thea took notice of Jame’s use of her name for the first time, a small shiver tracing her spine. It was interesting how much more important her name sounded when it wasn’t used so often. “I’ll have to get used to telling someone else to do it,” Thea said. “But, sure.”

“Really…?” Matthew asked. When he received a nod, he all but jumped on her, wrapping his arms about her shoulders and squeezing her. “Thank you~!”

Thea yelped, heart hammering within a second and hands at her sides twitching. Too close. Too much. Too fast. Let go. Her mind chanted at him, but she was frozen.

“Matthew, let go,” Damien instructed.

“Huh?” Matthew asked, turning his head to look at his brother.

“She’s extremely uncomfortable…”

“Oh…” the second-youngest released his grip, offering Thea a sheepish smile. “S-sorry…”

Thea released a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding and it shuddered on its way out. “It’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Eventually. I just… need to get used to the fact that you’re touchy-feely.” She offered him the biggest smile she could muster, though it was small in comparison to his. “Anyway, I’m going to see if I can’t put my bags up in the master bedroom and get ready to sleep. You all have fun with the search. Hopefully you can find outfits you like.” With that said, she shuffled around Matthew and headed out of the office.

She hadn’t even gotten to the door of the innkeeper’s living area before she heard footsteps beyond her own.

“Miss—” James started.

Thea turned to find him having stopped only a few paces away. “Yeah?” she asked.

For once, the eldest brother hesitated. “...are you... alright?”

She took in his expression, concern etching across most of his face but she swore she saw a twinge of pity. That was something that always irked her, even though it came from a place of compassion. “I’ll be fine, like I said.”

“Will you?”

“Why do you all not take me at my word about this?” she huffed. Despite the minor outburst, the innkeeper averted her gaze and pulled up a hand to rub self-consciously at her opposite arm. “I have a lot of scars you can’t see,” she relented. “They’re still tender, even though I’ve made a lot of progress. I’d prefer it if you all ignored them, as I do. I’d like to think they’d go away faster that way.”

“From that past you don’t want to talk about, I take it?” James prodded.

“Yeah,” she answered crisply, her mind recalling K’s reaction to her prodding about Harold. “From that.”

She knew he was watching her, but they sat with the silence for a time. Thea lifted her gaze to the office as she heard the remaining boys arguing about something.

“A wound won’t heal without proper treatment,” James offered, his expression still of concern as Thea’s gaze finally turned to him before he continued speaking. “Just as ignoring hunger does not sate it.”

Even though it was hardly a come on, Thea’s cheeks flushed. “Oh,” she breathed. “Right… You were,” she paused, swallowing. “Needing to feed.” She had completely forgotten about that in all the chaos that his brothers had stirred up.

“I can wait, if necessary,” he offered, voice quieter than she ever recalled it being. She didn’t immediately take him up on his offer, so he continued. “But… the glamor spell adjustments drained some reserve.”

There was a tenseness between them, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Thea still didn’t answer, sensing there was something else that was itching to be said but she was unable to insist he spit it out.

“And you,” he started again, gaze expressing something Thea couldn’t quite place. “Impress me. I… would very much like to taste you.”

“Taste?” she echoed, a nervous chuckle slipping over her lips as her ears bloomed pink. The hand that had been at her arm lifted to rub at the back of her neck. “That’s quite a way to put it...”

“But not incorrect,” he reminded her, still not moving forward despite her apparent acquiescence. After they seemed stuck again, he held out a hand. “Should I help you to your room?”

A round of raucous laughter and what was apparently Sam yelling echoed into the room from the office. Thea smiled as her gaze slipped over towards the noises. They need you, she thought to herself. Relax. They’re not going to hurt you. Her gaze shifted back to James. Especially not him. Thea grasped his hand. To his apparent surprise, according to the sharp exhale she heard, she also pulled it as she headed into the living room. “I don’t really have much to put upstairs,” she told him. “But it is three levels of stairs, so your assistance would be helpful.”

“Of course,” was all she heard from him as she guided him along. He offered no resistance to her and kept up easily due to his height.

Thea was surprised to find that she was reluctant to release her grip on his hand, but forced herself to. Her now free hand wandered between two bags for a moment before slipping her arm through the loop of her duffle bags’ handle and standing up. “If you could take that one, that’d be great,” she said, tapping the handle to her cheap, world-weary khaki suitcase.

She headed towards the stairs only when she saw James nod and reach for the bag. They climbed the stairs in their comfortable silence, not finding any trouble on the way up. Thea hadn’t even been in this room yet and she was waffling between emotions as she entered. She’d never seen a spiral staircase with a door only at the top level, but she supposed her mother had been one for privacy if nothing else in her life.

The decor was pretty much as far from Thea’s taste as one could get. A beautiful powdery blue lined the walls and the furniture was all light cream or white. Even the king bed’s linens echoed the color scheme. There were small details here and there of inlaid gold and the woman even had an old-fashioned vanity with a powder blue puff of a cushion on the stool that sat in front of it. Thea could practically see her mother putting on her makeup as she stood there and tsked under her breath. “This is gonna have to change,” she muttered to herself, lazily plopping the duffle bag on her shoulder down onto the chaise at the edge of the bed.

“You don’t like your mother’s taste in decor?” James asked.

As she looked at him, she swore she saw the faintest of smirks at his lips. She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not. “No,” she answered firmly. “This is way too bright. And fancy. And, frankly, opulent...” she muttered.

He actually chuckled, holding a closed hand against his lips as if to muffle the sound. “You know, for not liking Sam much, you’re a lot like him. Just with a far larger vocabulary and better morals.”

So he was picking on me! she cried in her head. Okay, James. You wanna play? I can play. “Of all your brothers, you compare me to him?” she asked, sighing. Thea ran a hand through her hair and leaned her head back as she did so, adding a dramatic flick of her wrist as it left her locks. She wouldn’t directly insult Sam, since James clearly loved his brothers, but the suggestion was there.

“Which of us would you prefer to be compared to?” James asked in return, his hand moving away from his mouth and slipping beneath his arm as he watched her. He was no longer hiding his smile.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she countered. Start with the others. Then lead up to him. she instructed herself. “I would like to think I share Damien’s gentleness.”

“When you are not defending yourself from perceived invaders, perhaps,” he admitted. “Is that your preference? My youngest brother is… special, in many ways. There is much to see there, if he lets you in.”

“I will have to keep that in mind,” Thea mused. “I’m afraid I can’t be as smooth as Erik, but there must be more than that to him.”

“Indeed there is,” James replied. “Though he will make it difficult for you, in particular, to see anything else.”

“Why?”

“Because he— as do each of us— owes you a debt. It is only natural to want to show your best side to those that hold power over you.”

Thea actually barked out a laugh at the idea that she held any power over these brothers. They had magic, and special abilities; she did not. There was little to compare in terms of power. “Power? Really, now?” she asked. “I doubt that.”

His expression fell, and she immediately felt guilt pool in her gut. “We are… resourceful, Miss, but we would be arrogant to think that we would survive long in an entirely new world without guidance or monetary assistance.”

“And you think I’d be the type to kick you all out after letting you in just to get some kind of power trip?” Thea inquired, quirking a brow.

“No!” he said. His answer came so quickly that even she was a bit surprised. “You are magnanimous, even after we all but invaded your new home. You offered us shelter; are teaching us; providing us a living. Even though it was not what Harold originally intended, my brothers and I will never be able to pay you back.”

She was struck silent for a few moments, actually feeling like she might tear up from the sheer gratefulness in his tone. She’d never been in this kind of position before. She’d been the one needing help, but not the one that was able to give it. “Well,” she finally managed to say, offering him the largest genuine smile she had since they arrived. She took a few steps forward, raising a hand to gently grasp his shoulder. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not the type to take advantage of any power I have over others.”

James’s smile returned and his gaze caught hers, intent, like it was searching for something. “Oh, I think my brothers and I wouldn’t mind if you took charge a bit,” he mused. Thea was still not entirely certain he was joking or teasing her.

“Really?” she asked, clearly incredulous. “The eldest brother would simply turn over his reins to an all but stranger?”

“You lead from a place of knowledge and experience and aren’t harsh,” he informed her. “I have had far worse teachers than you, Miss Thea.”

There it is again… she thought. Still, even though her name was gated behind that ‘miss’, it struck her. “We’ll see how long you feel that way, James,” she chided him in reply.

They were quiet again, though it was still not awkward. Each of them seemed to be looking for something in the other, but either could not find it or were not sure they had.

“Are you still…?” she started, unable to figure out how to properly bring up the topic.

“Yes,” he replied simply. “Is that an invitation?”

Thea’s flush returned and painted the tips of her ears as well as her face. She couldn’t form the words, but managed a small nod.

James’s smile turned to a smirk, whiskey eyes easily shifting to gold and within a breath Thea felt the emotional effects of enthrallment take hold. Her pulse quickened, flush deepened and this time she noted energy zipping along from even her core and dancing along her skin. His hand reached out, fingertips tracing along the skin of her neck and gently pushing her jaw up. Their height difference made the adjustment necessary as he leaned over and placed a kiss at the edge of her lips.

Even through her enthrallment, she was confused. “Did you just... miss…?” she asked, though the question came out more like panting.

“Purposefully,” he answered her in a breath, pressing another kiss towards her cheek. Her energy tickled her skin, leaving heat not only at his touch but following as his face and hand moved along her form. Her body bade her try to follow and actually have him kiss her but he held her jaw in place. Gently, which she was grateful for, but still firmly. “Just… let me,” he murmured against her skin as he placed several more kisses along her face.

Thea didn’t have much option, even if she didn’t want him to continue. The thought made a part of her not so thoroughly entranced, panic. What if he doesn’t want to stop? Can I stop him? Would he actually listen if I said stop? The thoughts roiled in the back of her mind, but she didn’t speak of them and did her best to ignore them. The enthrallment was still working its literal magic and she was wrapped up in her body’s need. Her arms reached up to wrap around his neck, drawing him closer even as he took his time kissing down to her jaw and lightly nipping at her neck. “I thought,” she started, still having difficulty forming words through the heat the enthrallment brought her. “You said you wanted to taste me,” Thea managed to pant, threading her fingers into his hair.

“I am,” he replied easily, vibrations from his words tickling her neck. After another light kiss, he pulled back. His golden orbs stared into hers with an intensity that should have scared her, his free hand ghosting over her skin to draw the energy about as if to tease her further. “Was there something else you wanted…?”

There was a new quality to his voice, Thea noted. A deep timbre that was not just his voice. It echoed and the effect ran a chill up her spine her even through the enthrallment. They’re still not humans, she heard herself think. I have to remember that. She wasn’t certain what she was hearing, but she did know it wasn’t her imagination. “Aren’t you going to feed?” she asked, her voice suddenly small and uncertain despite her flushed face and rapid heartbeat.

Something flashed in his expression, but she couldn’t pinpoint what. After a moment, his eyes glittered and the mist expanded. “In due time,” he told her, a small smirk painting his lips as she involuntarily released a moan. Her mind’s worries were pushed away, though she could still hear them they were a distant chorus that she could no longer focus on. The heat that pooled in her core made her wriggle in place, the earlier wish for it to be wrapped up forgotten for the constant drumbeat of more, more, more.

As if he could hear her wishes like his youngest brother, James kissed just below her ear and this time she actually felt some of her energy leaving her skin. Her vision lost focus as he took up a sharp nibble at her ear and she gripped even tighter to his hair. The faint chorus grew louder again. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually say anything like ‘stop’ to him. Why was she having so many concerns with James? She’d been worried with the others, but it got easier after they started. Maybe because he was taking his time and the others had been quick?

The thoughts were forced away again as he sucked on her earlobe and she whimpered. Energy shot from her core through her neck, flaring pleasure and heat before it slipped away and into James. As his lips’ travel along the shell of her ear was rewarded with needy pants, he chuckled. His lips brushed against her ear and the sound echoed in her mind. It held that new timbre, the ethereal echo that she hadn’t seen in any other brother. “I see why Erik had such a hard time with you earlier,” he murmured, assailing her ear one last time with a sharp nip. Another round of energy shot through her and was pulled away. “You’re fit to burst…” James leaned back to look at her, that impossible to pin down expression crossing his face once more. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but instead he finally leaned into her and laid claim to her lips. The kiss was simple, entirely lip lock, but radiated need even more than Damien’s had. His hand slipped from her jaw along her neck and held the back of her head tightly as he kissed her. Once, twice, thrice, each claiming their fair share of her energy as it raced along her skin. Her head felt light, then her body and she clung to him for support.

All at once, the enthrallment ended and the flaring heat subsided. Her thoughts came screaming at her again, worries raging in her head. Comparisons to Keith, though not deserved, were amongst the raucous chorus. James held her tightly as she shook, unable to decide if she should try and pull away or just break down in tears.

“M-miss?” he asked, gently running a hand through her hair. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

She slowly shook her head, but buried it firmly against his chest. Tears had spilled from her eyes as she tried to manage her thoughts. It was to little avail.

James kept hold of her and part of her screeching thoughts wanted him to release her immediately, the rest suggested she’d likely then fall over. There was so much conflicting in her head and in her heart. She jerked in his grip as a series of hard knocks came to the door.

“Thea?” She already knew it was Damien, even with the voice muffled through the door. Her thoughts had been loud enough for him to hear and come running.

“The door’s unlocked,” Thea said, finally turning her head so that he could hopefully hear her despite her voice being barely above a whisper.

The redhead peeked out from around the corner of the door frame, apparently concerned about actually interfering. James’s expression was unreadable as Thea looked up to him. He reached up and brushed at the corners of her eyes to pull the tears that had begun to form from her eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have increased the enthrallment. Something was wrong…”

As much as she wanted to, Thea couldn’t tell him it was okay. Something was wrong.

“She said stop in her head, but she didn’t know if she really wanted it to,” Damien offered. “I came because it got very, very loud and I couldn’t ignore it.”

James sighed heavily, almost dramatically, and turned his gaze fully on Thea. “Next time, tell me— or any of us— to stop,” he insisted. “It will not hurt us. Or insult us. You are being gracious in offering us your energy in the first place.”

“Okay,” Thea agreed. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it…” she added after a moment’s pause.

The eldest offered a smile, but it was tinged with sadness or perhaps even guilt. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he assured her, releasing his grip on her.

Thea followed suit, but had to focus on steadying herself.

“Woah, hey!” Damien cried, scrambling over to her. James had reached out, but hesitated, so his brother had taken the initiative instead. “Let me help you to bed…”

Thea simply nodded and let him guide her to the bed. All of the sudden she didn’t have the fucks left to care what color the room or the bed was. She sank down into the plush bedding the moment Damien allowed her to, eyes closing.

“Rest well, Miss,” James said. A few moments later, the door opened and clicked shut.

#fic #fanfic #fanfiction #Seduce Me the Otome #SeduceMeOtome #AU #seduce me otome AU #Seduce Me the Otome AU #james #james anderson #james incubus #oc #Thea #Thea Kilgore #Erik #Erik Anderson #Erik incubus #Sam #Sam Anderson #Sam incubus #Matthew #Matthew Anderson #Matthew incubus #Damien #Damien Anderson #Damien incubus #B&B #bed and breakfast #The Fox's Hideaway #The Fox's Hideaway Inn

[reapers-carino]

Uncertainty

Being pursued by an Alpha was positively flattering and absolutely nerve-wracking at the exact same time. You were an omega. When an Alpha of caliber began to take interest in you, your pheromones yanked you one way while your ever logical mind pulled you in the opposite. You were analytical, calculating, smart; your wits often trumping your instinct when it came to these mating dances that Alphas liked to start.

To most Alpha’s, getting an Omega was a game, a notch in their bed post, a tally mark on their roster. Laying with one they hadn’t marked as theirs was enthralling, exhilarating but ultimately a simple ends to a means. Omegas, however, had a susceptibility to forming emotional attachments to those they laid with during moments of high hormonal exchanges. While it was by no means definite in every encounter, there was a chance and you didn’t want that. Of course, you knew, Alphas and Omegas were individuals. While base biology laid out a framework, personalities, genetic makeup,  culture, individual hormone levels, sexualities, any number of factors could change one's true selves and how their secondary sex affected them. But still you couldn’t risk it.

Except you wanted to. God you wanted to. For him at least.

Reaper wasn’t like other Alpha’s. You had chastised yourself so many times for thinking that cliched chick flick line. But it was really how you felt. Talon was not lacking in agents that fell along the entire secondary sexual spectrum; Alphas, Betas, Omegas and even the occasional Gamma. Reaper was a Prime Alpha, the top of the top, whose simple aura demanded assent from fellow Alphas and subservience from Betas and Omegas. He had the ability to bed whomever he liked and any who ended up there would thank him for the opportunity. And yet, the man had never flaunted his status. Hell, you had barely seen this man take an interest in anyone around him other than Sombra and Widowmaker, which seem strictly professional if somewhat familial, or the occasional agent who incurred his wrath. Until you. You had initially taken his attention for trouble, assuming you had drawn the ire of the organization’s top mercenary by running your mouth.

You were a field agent, albeit one who didn’t get to see as much high-intensity action as he did. You usually were one of the first in; assessing the area, analyzing weak points, pointing out pitfalls, setting up exit routes and traps before getting out and allowing shock troopers to pour in. It wasn’t uncommon for you to stay on comms to instruct agents on where to go. You had learned very early to grow a thick skin as an omega, more often than not Alphas on the field didn’t want to listen to you. They openly bucked up against your instructions, questioning your decisions and mocking your suggestions. ‘Your life is in my hands and if you want to fucking live you will listen’ had become your motto.

You had said that statement so many times it fell from your lips automatically, so when you had spat it at Reaper you immediately paled. It had been instinctual, Reaper was being cornered by that Soldier: 76 vigilante and he seemed hell bent on pursuing him further into the factory despite the fact the building was being stormed by recalled Overwatch agents. So you yelled your line, let him know that there was a air duct he could mist through several halls back and that if he wanted to make it he would take it. Then silence had hung heavy and terrifying in the comms until Sombra’s entertained laughter crackled through the line. Reaper growled, and the noise had sent every single Omega instinct inside of your reeling, demanding that you apologize while your pride refused to let you. Watching your holo-pad you watched him double back, fingers dancing over the screen as security feed turned into thermal and Reaper made his way back to where the rest of his small team was. Before signing out of your device, ‘RIP’ in bold neon purple lettering popped up across your screen.

Since then, the Reaper had made it a point to seek you out. You were shocked the first time you heard him say your name, a shiver rushing down your spine when the deep timbre of his voice reached your ears. You had frozen, waiting for him to yell at you for bucking out of your position, but it never came. Instead, without saying the exact words, it felt like he gave you a begrudging thank you. He had made it a point to seek you out, a few words the first few days morphing into near daily conversations whenever you both were on the base together. You found yourself seeking him out despite your mind telling your mind telling you to be cautious, your pheromones overwhelming them and building a small bit of hope against the barriers you had set up to protect you from situations just like this.

He made you feel surprisingly comfortable, his biting sarcasm and wit making you laugh and giggle(fucking giggle), and you could feel something building inside of you every time you were around him. He didn’t question your intelligence, he enjoyed listening to you speak about your interests and you in turn the same for him. The both of you were strategical and a mutual respect formed when speaking about battle plans. After missions, he’d come to your quarters with absolutely no false pretenses, he’d just listen to you explain how things had gone on the field and occasionally he’d share how things went on his missions. For someone as guarded as you, allowing an Alpha into your quarters was a huge step, and he recognized that. He granted you his name and you had felt honored, this gift better than any bullshit jewelry or piece of clothing or food some other Alpha had tried to woo you with before. Woo...that’s not what this was supposed to be, although you were doing a poor job of convincing yourself of that.

You raked your fingers through your sweat-soaked hair, releasing a slow, shuddering breath as your tried to center yourself. Reap--no Gabriel, was due to stop by this evening; he was returning from a week-long mission in Egypt and you knew he would be by here soon enough. You tried to calm the excitement that was growing in your stomach, but you truly didn’t know if you wanted to. Your heat had swept in hard and fast, your mind was a confused jumble as you tried to find reason in what you were feeling. You liked him, or at least you thought you did. You piqued your interest, he didn’t question your intelligence, he made you feel wanted. And he wanted you too...right? Or was that your heat-riddled mind reading further into this than what it was.

Shaking your head, you huffed and shook your hands hard as if that would help to shake away those feeling of uncertainty before going back to building your nest. You had already spread all the softest blankets and cushions onto your bedroom floor, your normal nest gear, but now you were hovering in your living room. Comfortable living had always been something you focused on, soft pillows and blanket laid across your small couch. The scent of Gabriel had soaked into them and your heat heightened senses drew you to them like a magnet. But every time you went to pick up one of the pillows or the thin blanket, to drink in his scent, you hesitated. Could you trust these feelings?

Ambivalence hung heavy in your breast as your fingers grazed over the blanket, your hand tightening into the fabric and shivering as his heady scent filled your nostrils. Your fist tightened around the soft fabric, your movements still timid as you pulled the blanket into your arms, hugging the fabric to you. An unconscious keen rose from your throat, a lazy smile tugging across your lips. Smoke and sandalwood and musk intertwined with the normal lighter, sweeter scent of you.

“You look much happier when you give in cariño.”

“Holy fucking shit!”

You practically jumped out of your skin, actually jumping two feet into the air and away from the part man-part wraith, twisting around to see his smirking form. Another perk of getting close to the Alpha was he allowed you to see his unmasked face. Another shred of evidence perhaps? Shaking your head you tried to calm your drumming heart, knowing that your shouldn’t have been too surprised. You and Gabriel had a system involving the decorative magnets on your door; if the cute round barn owl was up, the man could wraith in, if it was down, he had to message you before he entered. You had left it up, unconsciously wanting him to immediately come to you. You couldn’t hide your delight that he had.

The man stood before you, sans his normal trench coat, gauntlet and body armor. Just those impossibly tight black cargo pants, his black combat boots and a black t-shirt that you swore had to be painted on over the succulent muscles of his chest shoulders and arms. His dark skin had that impossibly cool gray undertone, your fingers itching to drag over the scars and keloided wounds, to learn the stories behind them. You wondered how his thick black curls would feel between your hands, clenched between your fists as you pulled him to you and begged--oh god you were tumbling down that rabbit hole hard.

You gulped hard, trying to temper your body’s volatile reaction to him. Pleasure instantly began to pool in between your legs, your thighs squeezing tight together, your face flushing in desire as you tried to form words. No, this wasn’t right. You couldn’t do this. But god did you want this, wanted him. Your eyes were big as you stared at him, gaze frantic as you looked at the man, trying to calm the sea of emotion that churned in your mind. Gabriel took a half step forward, his hand reaching out to rest on your cheek confidently. His touch was cooler than you imagined, small tendrils of black smoke curling off of his dark skin, your body unconsciously melting into his contact. His thumb brushed right under you eyes, your gaze jumping up to meet his sanguine orbs; the calmness he exuded beginning to penetrate your frenzied mind.

“Why are you resisting your nature?”

Your tongue felt heavy in your mouth, your mouth open and closing several times before you were able to form anything comprehensible.

“I-I want…n-no need… I… fuck… I-I’m confused”, you stuttered, before your words melted into a soft purr as he awarded you with an affectionate stroke of the cheek for sharing. You couldn’t see, but your pupils were already dilated, more black than iris in your gaze, a tell-tale sign you were beginning to tiptoe further into your heat.  “I-I th-think I want you….I-I re-really do b-but I can’t! I-I can’t...”

“Why can’t you querida”, he asked, turning your face in his hand, no judgement behind his eyes. He simply wanted your answer. “Resisting your nature is only going to make it worst. I can smell it on you. You want this, you want me to make you mine. Hell, I want it too, Y/N. So what are you fighting for?��

“What if it’s just the heat”, you exclaimed, your hands pushing the blanket tighter against your chest. You took a half step back, immediately missing his touch as you left his range. He allowed you to move away but you could see that he was not going to leave, not that you would ask him to. You fidgeted with the blanket, wanting to tear your eyes away but you couldn't. Your body was practically swaying, the sudden rush of body heat making you dizzy. But you were determined to get your point across. You didn't want to blow this with him, you didn't want to possibly lose him. “I feel like I want you but I don't want...don't want to second guess it. Can't… Can't you fuck me without claiming me? Please?”

You fidgeted, trying to force down the keen that was in your throat as you looked at him, unconsciously pouring charm in waves towards the Alpha. Gabriel gave you a small half-nod, your eyes growing round in surprised excitement, the excited noise that left your throat making the Alpha chuckle.

“We can take this as slow or fast as you’d like cariño”, he answered, opening his arms up for you to move into. He was allowing for it to be your call, no pressure, no intimidation. Your eyes dropped to his chest then back up to his face before you surged forward, the blanket still held tight to you.

The self control that the Prime Alpha had been exerting was lost when you threw yourself at him, one of your arms looping around his neck as you pressed your lips hard to his. He growled ravenously against your lips, his arms looping around your waist, crushing your body hard against his. You shuddered, your body on fire as his hands finally had their chance to explore, running up and down your spine and sides, drawing desperate mewls from your mouth. His tongue swept at your bottom lip demanding entrance, your lips parting to oblige, moaning desperately as you tasted him for the first time. He tasted like smoke and spice and just--right.

“N-nest pl-please”, you begged, pulling away from his lips as you tried to pull air into your lungs. Your mind was beginning to go, you were turning into nothing more than a bundle of nerve and instincts and you needed to be in your nest with him. You barely heard his growled ‘where’ as your kiss swollen lips found his again, stuttering softly against his own. “B-b-bedroom!”

You gasped in surprise as Gabe hoisted you up by your thighs, your legs wrapping around his waist as he walked through your small apartment. Your nails dug into his shoulders, his head dipping into your neck and nipping and suckling at the sensitive skin at the crux of your shoulder. Your legs tightened around his waist, pressing you more firmly against his covered length, your head leaning against his when he finally made it into your room. He was ridiculously careful when he put you into the bundle of blankets, a shiver rolling down your spine as he hovered over you. He licked his lips, a slow smirk crawling onto his features, a predatory gaze taking over his features. Still he waited for a tick, his eyes drifting up and down your body, his hands hovering but not exactly touching yet. Testing, making sure.

“Please”, you begged, back arching up and off of the soft cushions, your eyes growing misty. He was not your Alpha, but in this moment there was nothing, no one else but you two. “I’m burning up, please Gabriel…”

“Shh”, he ordered, straddling your waist, his cool hands moving under your shirt and pushing the fabric up and off. The tears in your eyes rolled down your cheeks, your body arching towards his touch. “Quiet now, I’ll take care of you.”

Gabriel’s hands made quick work at removing the rest of your clothes, a soft sigh falling from your lips in absolute relief as the cooler air of the room caressed your skin. He sat back, admiring your body, a low rumble of appreciation in his chest. Your entire body was flushed, a light sheen of sweat covering you from head to toe. Your thighs and nethers were covered in slick, your nipples hard, your lips parted and your eyes half shaded as you stared up at him, hair fanned like a halo around your face. You were the perfect image of desire and he wasn’t going to hold back anymore.

His shirt came off and his shoes had been toed off before he entered your nest, his lips finding your nipples and pulling them into your mouth. He groaned around the hard bud, your hands tightening into his hair. His tongue flicked and circled the hard bud, sucking hard until your back arched off of the nest once more. His hand dove between your legs, a scream torn from your lips as soon as his finger touched your heated sex. He wasted no time, slipping between your sopping lips and finding your clitoris, an orgasm tearing through your body. Your thighs clamped around his hand and trapped it, or at least they tried. He was stronger than you on a regular day. When you were in heat, pushing your thighs back open was effortless, his fingers circling around your hypersensitive bud.

“No no amorcita”, he practically purred to you, pulling away from your breast with a pop. Your face burned even brighter now, your body on fire with the need to feel him, to have him inside of you. “You’re burning up right? You need it right? I’m not small, querida. You gotta be nice and relaxed…”

You nodded at each of his questions, whining desperately, taking his lack of immediate action as a no.

“P-p-please”, you begged, your hand dragging down from his hair and to the side of his neck. Your fingertip traced over the sensitive areas that a mating mark would go, an extremely erogenous zone as you begged. You could see the shudder roll through him, the bare chested man releasing a low, warning growl as he looked down at you. “Please please….I need….please?”

He pulled back, tears actually flowing from your eyes as he sat completely back on his feet, a petulant sob leaving your lips. He shook his head at you, a chastising look at trying to coerce him into fucking him before you were ready. Gabriel kept his fingers on your soaked cunt, his other hand moving to rest gently on your hips to keep you in place and prevent you from sitting up. His fingers dragged down from your swollen clit before two of his thick digits were pressed inside of you, your hips rocking to try and gain more traction. Your walls were molten hot, Gabriel biting his bottom lip at how tightly you were squeezing his fingers. Gabriel moved slow, scissoring his fingers inside of your carefully as he stretched you out. It wasn’t enough, your hips trying to rock and twist to take more of him inside of you. A third joined the first two, more slick spilling over his fingers and hands, a choked keen of need rising from your chest. Still, the Alpha kept up his work, winding your body up and stretching you until he made an approving sound in the back of his throat.

When Gabriel pulled away from you completely, you felt as if you might fall completely apart, reaching out for him. He unbuttoned his pants with one hand, the other smoothing over your forehead, quietly shushing you, comforting you as he pushed his pants away and down. You drank in his touch, turning your face and nuzzling desperately against him, keening your need to him wordlessly. His cooler body temperature was heaven against your burning skin, and the physical contact calmed the raving need in your mind.

His other hand came to your face, making you focus in on him as his forehead came to touch yours. Your eyes were round and watery, his gaze heated and primal, his thumbs stroking either side of your face as he pressed several gentle kisses to your pleasure swollen lips. Soft, happy mewls met each his, your hands moving to gently hold his wrists in place, not wanting to lose his touch as he stabilized himself on his elbows.

“Spread your legs a little more”, he orders between tender kisses, your body obliging the Alpha as you tried to keep up with him. “Now relax cariño…”

His kisses got longer, deeper, hungrier as you felt him began to push himself forward, his lips capturing your moan as his head pressed against your entrance. Your breath caught in your throat, gaze finally tearing from his as he pushed inside of you, eyes shutting tight. Your own kisses stuttered against his as he pushed himself in half way before pulling out, a wanting sob wrested at the emptiness you felt. Gabriel stole the whine away, his lips crashing into yours as his thickness pressed into you again, your hips arching to meet him needily. He pulled back though, sending a clear message that he was in control and in charge of your pleasure, his hips rolling to push further into you and graze against the bundle of nerves inside of you. You sobbed and writhed beneath him, your body overwhelmed by every single sensation you were feeling.

Your lips and tongue were his, nips and kisses making them even more sensitive.  Your hands could only claw at his forearms and shoulders and neck and back, completely lost at what to do with your hands, unable to ground yourself as you floated in pleasure. Every single stroke he drove inside of you sent slick dribbling, your thighs and calves and lower stomach twitching in pleasure. You were enraptured, you could die like this if it meant experiencing pleasure like this for your final moments. With him. God, this was all you could ask for, wasn't it?

“Ahn!”

One of Gabe’s hand dragged away from your face, forcing itself between your bodies and finding your clit. No, this is how you would die. You jerked against him but his thrusts and touch were firm, his thumb circling your clit in tandem with a thrust against your g-spot. Every muscle in your body went stiff before you began to quake as your first true orgasm of your heat slammed through you, white taking over your vision as you arched into him. He didn't let up, his thumb remaining dimly pressed against your clit as he continued to fill you up, your cries melting away into mewling, surprised breaths, another orgasm burning through you. Your vision went pleasantly fuzzy, your head lolling to the side as you were overcome with yet another orgasm. Gabriel’s dropped his face into the crux of your neck, kissing and nipping but pulling back just short of biting or claiming you, your body shivering as his brutal pace slowed, his cock still inside of you.

“Don't worry”, he said, marking his words with a gentle kiss. “I've got you as long as you'll have me.”

#Overwatch #Overwatch headcanon #Overwatch headcanons #Overwatch drabble #Reaper #Gabriel Reyes #ReaperxReader #Overwatch request #reapers-carino #a/b/o dynamic #Alpha!Reaper

[your-sohini-blog]

20 Gifts For The Traveller In Your Life

Explore my gift guide for all the world travellers in your life! Covering everything from essentials to tech, clothing, footwear, inspiration & more.

Shake it like a polaroid picture! An Instax instant camera makes the perfect gift, printing out cute little polaroids instantly & making memorable keepsakes for life. In a world of digital images and phone photography, its a good feeling to be able to hold an actual photo in your hands. Get it here. Available in a few different colours.

2. This is kind of a no brainer, but a journal & an inky black pen is a gift that's always appreciated. It's a great way to pass time on long flights or while relaxing on the beach, and of course perfect to keep track of everything you get up to while in exotic lands. Write about all the places you visit everyday, doodle little images that have stuck in your brain, note down funny or cool stories you've heard from locals. It'll become a precious trip down memory lane when you're older.

Available on Fancy

Available on PropShop24

Available on PropShop24

3. Classic black sneakers will save your day almost every single day. Packing light is essential to an enjoyable holiday, and nothing is as versatile as a dark black shoe (that's comfy AF). Matches everything. Keeps your feet happy during the insane amounts of walking you will inevitably do on any vacation. Remember to always buy half a size bigger than your usual size when it comes to sneaks or closed shoes that are worn for long durations.

For Her

For Him

4. Also a total no brainer. Probably the most useful small object that can be packed on any trip. I bought one for my dad 8 years ago (he goes into the mountains to hike at least 3-4 times a year) and he takes it on every trip he goes on without fail. Get the original Victorinox version for guaranteed quality & flawless design.

5. Good sleep = happy travels. Get this set from Chumbak.

6. Music is essential for long journeys, long layovers and even longer sleepless jet-lagged nights. These headphones from Sony are tried & tested, have a clean, classic design and solid, dependable, clear sound without breaking the bank. Available in a variety of colours too. Available on Amazon.

7. Make your passport look oh so pretty, and safe from bending, scratches & other damages. Shop the beachy one here & the coordinated Mr&Mrs set here. Both from PropShop24.

8. Imagine getting to a far-off destination after months of planning and realising you can't charge any of your stuff. Prevent a nightmare with this international travel adaptor, available here.

9. I recently got into adult colouring books and found that it calms me down and passes time blissfully like very few other things. I have this Lost Ocean book and just can't get enough. The images are large, the pages are thick and creamy, and the designs are intricate and truly stunning. Apt for a rainy day or for inspiration in between travels. Add a set of Staedtler Water Colour pencils (the best ever), which are perfectly smooth colour pencils that transform to water colour when you run a wet brush over the paper. They allow for shading, blending, and shadowing, and don't seep through to the other side. Get the book here and the pencils here.

10. A sleek & durable carry-on roller makes for effortless travel. I prefer hard cases over soft because they also make a great footrest at airports, and because your delicate stuff (like make-up & electronics) stays safe & secure. A gunmetal grey or similar neutral tone looks best. Get this one here.

11. Trust me when I say you don't want to take an expensive watch on holiday (or any expensive jewellery for that matter). Watches tend to get stolen, lost, damaged or even broken quite easily. My partner had his watch stolen right off his hand in Barcelona without even realising it was gone for a good 20 minutes. These inexpensive yet cute watches will help you keep track of the local time no matter where you are, without the stress of potentially losing something very valuable.

For Her

For Him

12. An icy bed is nothing to look forward to, so all the cold weather travellers rejoice! This plug in heating pad is the ideal way to warm up your bed before tucking yourself in and can be a real life saver in extreme climates. You can even leave it on next to you or near your feet and go to sleep for guaranteed toasty-ness. Being snug as a bug just took on a whole new meaning. Shop here.

13. A classic beige double breasted trench coat is an extremely versatile closet staple that everyone needs. It makes a great gift because it's lightweight and easy to pack, thin enough for a slight nip in the air but can be worn with layers for added warmth, it's a piece that will never ever go out of style, and of course it just looks so cute when worn with just about anything from jeans and a t-shirt to a formal dress and heels. This glorious one is available on Asos.

14. Ever try to climb some rocks barefoot to jump into the sea? Or tried to go snorkelling barefoot and stepped on all sorts of pokey, spiky things while entering the water? I have and yeah, it's not fun. Shoes that can be worn into the water and while swimming are a lifesaver, they will protect your feet from cuts, scratches, bruises and even sharp objects & creatures on the sea floor (such as sea urchins). They're also ideal for light hiking & trekking through rivers, streams, lakes, puddles and along the sea shore. The low rise slip-ons are better for less intense activity such as snorkelling or swimming in rocky oceans, whereas the lace-up versions will take you through a forest walk and through a rivulet with ease.

Pink & grey from Speedo, available here.

The mesh openings on the soles of the shoe let all the water out, keeping your feet ultra comfy.

Shop here.

For the boys. Blue & black slip-ons available here.

A great water shoe by Adidas that users swear by. Shop here.

15. A solar powered battery pack to charge all your gear on the go, shop now.

16. For the ocean lover in your life who just can't get enough of the big blue sea. Shop from Fancy.

17. A set of refillable plastic bottles for all your shower needs that meet international carry-on regulations. A clear plastic pouch helps you get through security checks with ease. Buy here.

18. With an anti-glare screen and a travel friendly hand-held size, a Kindle is the best company. Store thousands of books & magazines, and read them anywhere from the beach, to a boat or a plane or the back of a bike. For the book worm traveller who never leaves home without something to read. Shop here.

19. Thin, luxurious, ultra absorbent & quick-drying towels made of 100% cotton. No more packing bulky towels that take up half your bag and take ages to dry. Not to forget that they're allergen free (since they're pure cotton) and won't irritate even the most sensitive skin. Get them here.

20. Amazon Prime Video is a great way to watch all the latest movies, tv shows and entertainment on a variety of different devices. They can be saved to offline mode so you can watch on the go and never miss any of your favourites. Plus watching a movie in bed is such a lovely way to spend a jet-lagged or tired evening when you just need to unwind from the hecticness of travel. For this you will need to purchase an Amazon Gift Card worth a minimum of Rs.500 and then tell the receiver of the gift card to redeem it on getting a Prime membership (which also includes free 1-2 day shipping on applicable items, apart from a whole world of movies & shows).

I hope my gift guide inspired you to get something fabulous for the jet-setter in your life. All these gifts are not only unique, but also useful, with direct links to shop each piece. This is a completely unsponsored post and I do not make any commission on pieces that are sold through any of these sites. This is simply my list of gifts any traveller would love to get! I'll be back soon with more content, just for you! xx

For more interesting blogs :- Jasleen Gill- Style, Travel & Beauty Blog

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