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mbakuetshurisprincess · 1 year

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Love for Duty’s Sake Part 5

AN: Hello loves! Wow when I tell y’all I was FIGHTING in the editing room with this fic because I couldn’t tell if I should split this in half or not. I ended up just keeping it as one because I felt bad for ignoring democracy (sorry lyric) and posting Anything But Love P2 before I posted this one. A couple of fun facts about this fic because I literally have nowhere else to put them lmfao. In the convo with Griot, the reason Y/N’s argument works on him is because it follows a valid rule within arguments/logic called Hypothetical Syllogism. Basically, If A leads to B and B leads to C then you can correctly assume that A should also lead to C. Google it if you’re interested! Also, in writing Shuri’s interactions (esp the “in my wife's name” parts) it's like very heavily inspired by the way Dracula talks about Lisa Tepes in the Castlevania show!!

Holy fuck don’t know how I could ever forget this. As always, any of my fake dating stuff is dedicated to the lovely @pinkwright. This is my writer bae y’all have no idea, L4DS and ABL posts are always made with them in mind.

Summary: As the only daughter of Genelia, there were things you just had to do, and marrying the Queen of Wakanda was one of those things.

Pairing: Shuri x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Cussing, violence, brief mentions of bad relationships with parents that’s it I think.

Word count: 6,213 (you see why I was thinking about splitting it up now??)

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Masterlist. Taglist.

Suggested listening: Glock Six (Bonus) - 6LACK

“No need to state the obvi', I be close to your heart I know you looking for real love I got my hand on my Glock, posted on the block I might just let off a shot, at anyone tryin' to kill her”

The feeling of your body sliding off of your wife and onto the hospital pillow below you was the first hint that something was off. You knew Shuri didn’t mean to be so rough with you, even if you hadn’t been injured. She just hopped off of the bed quicker than her mind could remember that you were laying back on her. Only when you grimaced slightly did Shuri think enough to look back at you.

“Ndicela uxolo sthandwa sam (I’m sorry my love).” She muttered to you softly, scanning your body just long enough to ensure that you weren’t really hurt before turning her attention to Aneka. “When was this posted?”

“Ten minutes ago.”

Shuri took a deep inhale, rereading the post. “How did she even know about the shooting to post?”

The question was impossible for Aneka to answer, knowing something like that wasn’t necessarily in her job description. You, however? You were used to political moves like this. “She knows because the shooting happened in her city Shuri.”

“What?” Shuri turned to face you.

“I’m just saying, if something goes down in the Golden City, you’re made aware right? The same thing goes for DC. Especially on a day like today, foreign powers come into town. I’m sure she was all over it.” As you spoke, wheels started turning in your head, the scenario surrounding the events of your shooting. Everything was almost too perfect like it had been orchestrated.

“Listen to what you just said Y/N, I’m notified when something happens in the Golden City, not you. So why would she be the one posting about this instead of the President?” Shuri’s tone was harsher than you would have liked, posing the question to you as if you were a child misunderstanding basic math.

You sat up in your bed. “Because President Carter isn’t leading the show, Mallory is.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because I know it’s true.” You folded your arms across your chest, starting to get annoyed at Shuri’s refusal to see what was clearly right in front of her. “Do you not trust me?”

The question was loaded and the Queen’s response came instinctually, “The question is not if I trust you, we are married of course I trust you. But you make it increasingly harder to trust you when you put forth ideas like that.” Shuri mimicked your position, crossing her arms over herself.

Her response stung and the look on your face made Shuri regret saying it immediately. “I did not mean-”

You cut Shuri off, not wanting to hear what she had to say. “Nope. You said it. What do I know anyway? Not like I come from a family of politicians who would make this exact same move given the chance.” You turned your attention from where Shuri and Aneka stood back to the tv, effectively disengaging from the conversation.

Warning signals were going off in Shuri’s head and she knew she fucked up. Taking one more look at the screen she made her way back over to your bed. Kneeling next to you and taking your hand in hers. “I am sorry, sthandwa sam. (my love) I didn't mean to brush off your idea like that. Your attention still faced forward but the Queen could feel the race in your heart rate when her thumb traced over the lines of your knuckles.

The silent treatment you were giving Shuri was frustrating her, if she had just slowed down as Okoye said, she would've thought about what she was saying before she said it. “I promise I will make it up to you-”

The buzz of Shuri’s kimoyo beads pulled her attention away from you and her apology.

Speak of the devil and she shall appear.

It was a message from Okoye letting her know that they had all made it back safely to Wakanda and that Liam Drockers was in the lower-level interrogation rooms. Aneka must’ve gotten a similar message from Ayo because when she made eye contact with Shuri, she gave her a knowing nod as she left the room.

“I will make this up to you… when I am free again.” The end of the sentence tumbled slowly out of Shuri’s mouth, knowing it was going to garner a reaction from you.

“What?” Instead of your voice sounding angry like the Queen had expected, it almost sounded more hurt or scared. This new tone pulled at Shuri’s heartstrings. “You’re leaving?”

While yes, you were literally just ignoring Shuri ten seconds ago, you hadn’t expected her to just up and leave like that. Especially given how physically close you two had spent the last hour, part of you had grown attached to her in a way you never imagined possible. Addicted to the safe feeling that only seemed to come when you were in her arms.

“I have some council business I have to take care of.” Her rubbing of your hands still hadn’t stopped, tracing every detail of your knuckles.

You looked at her now, teeth biting at your bottom lip. “What do you have that’s so important?”

“Just some time-sensitive stuff I need to handle. It should be quick, I don’t imagine it will be long.” Her eyes were averted, so you had no read on what possible clues they could be conveying. Something about this bothered you, normally she was so demanding of your eye contact and now she wasn’t even looking up. But you knew Shuri, whatever this was she wasn’t going to give up easily. You needed something to garner her attention first before you asked her what you needed to know.

“I think I’m gonna call home.” Shuri’s eyes instantly flashed up to yours.

“Really?”

“I think so, I don’t want my family worrying about me, you know? I don’t want them thinking I’m dead or anything. Now that Mallory has so kindly let the world know about this.”

Shuri hummed in response, debating asking the question at the forefront of her mind. “I thought- I mean, I didn’t know you had a way of contacting them.”

This made you feel a little bit guilty since you had made it seem like you’d given Genelia up for good. “It's a direct line to my father's advisor, only for emergency purposes.” Your eyes flickered around her face. “I’ve never used it, I didn’t think I’d have to.”

Shuri felt assured in hearing this, the slight worry that had slipped into her mind about you secretly planning to leave her dissipated. “Oh, okay.” She savored these last few minutes of her hand tracing yours, knowing that soon those same hands who held yours so delicately would be used in the complete opposite manner.

“Shuri?” The way you called her name was soft, the same way you had in the restaurant before all of this had happened. It made her feel warm inside, lowering her guard just as you intended.

Her response once again was just a hum, her eyes studying every detail of your face the way her hands did yours.

“You wouldn’t lie to me right?” Your question caught her off guard but her rubbing never stopped.

“Kakade hayi, sithandwa sam. (Of course, not my love)” Her eyes conveyed no sign of lying so you continued.

“So it’s really council business that's so pressing you have to take care of it right now? Not anything to do with me?” You asked the question confidently, not taking your eyes off Shuri, searching for a tell. Anyone else would have missed it but you didn’t, the brief second when Shuri’s movements faltered. When her hand stopped rubbing yours.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

She stood up now, letting go of your hand. Being at eye level with you was too much right now, it felt too connected given the fact that she was literally lying to your face. “Yes, it’s council business like I told you before. Very time sensitive.” Before you could respond she spoke again. “Aneka!”

The Dora appeared in the door frame with lightning speed, “Yes, ngangamsha (your majesty)?”

“Guard Y/N’s side of the ward while I deal with this business, make sure no harm comes to her.” Shuri’s words were confident and her arms now crossed her chest signifying her demeanor change.

“Shuri, I don't need a babysitter, I’m fine.” You protested. “Plus Aneka has yet to see Ayo, let them see each other.”

“I am fine, my Queen. Thank you for your kindness but ensuring your safety is more important.” Aneka responded quickly, earning a nod of agreement from Shuri.

Your wife looked down at her kimoyo beads. “I’ll be back in an hour, mfazi (wife).” Placing a kiss on your forehead, she looked down at you one more time before she left. “No trouble while I’m gone?”

“I’ll try my hardest.” You replied as she walked out of the room, Aneka behind her taking her spot guarding your room.

This left you alone with your thoughts and while a million things were running around your mind there were two prominent thoughts. One being, your wife was lying to you.

You couldn't be a hundred percent sure about exactly what she was lying about but you knew it had something to do with you. While you wanted to snoop around and try and figure it out, the second of the thoughts found its way to the forefront of your mind. Having to call you family.

Looking around you found your physical phone, the one that Shuri still referred to as ‘primitive technology’. Scrolling until you found the contact you didn’t think you’d ever have to press. Saying a prayer you pressed call and hoped for the best.

The line rang only one time before the person picked up. “This isn’t some sick joke, you’re really calling me?”

“Marcos, I told you I’d only call you in an emergency. I wouldn't play a joke like this.”

You could hear him recite a prayer on the other end of the line. “Everyones worried sick about you Y/N, I mean your parents think you’re…” His voice trailed off and it made your heart hurt thinking about the stress this whole situation inadvertently caused your family.

“I know, I know, that’s why I called. Can you just tell them that I’m alright? It’s nothing to worry about and I’ll be fine?”

Marcos contemplated your words, “Y/N, your father will kill me if he finds out I spoke to you without giving him the opportunity.”

The sound of movement from the other end of the line had you concerned. “Marcos wait, you know I don’t want to speak to them.” It was a useless plea and you knew it. As much as Marcos cared about you like you were his own daughter and wished to protect you as such. At the end of the day, he worked for your father.

“I’m sorry mon papillon (my butterfly)” The term of endearment did little to quell the feeling of betrayal as Marcos moved to give the phone to your father.

“Whoever it is Marcos, tell them they will need to call later, I am grieving my daughter.”

“It is about Y/N, sir.”

Your father looked between his advisor and the phone before picking it up.

“Yes?” This was the first time you had heard your father's voice in years. It had become too painful to go back and watch old home videos from before Yara’s death so part of you wondered if you’d forgotten what he sounded like. But as soon as his deep voice bellowed through the phone, you remembered.

“Dad? It’s me.” You were scared to speak the words at first, questioning how he would react.

“Y/N, is that you? Oh my god! Josiah, get your mother from the chapel, our baby is alive!” The outcry from your father made your heart hurt, had he been that concerned?

“Dad-” You tried to speak but his rambling cut you off.

“When we saw the news honey we were so worried about you, I thought you had died. But you didn’t! God brought you back!”

“Dad-”

“He’s bringing you back home to us!” He ended his rejoicing when you finally spoke up.

“Babba! What are you talking about?” Your pain medication must have been making you delirious and mishear things.

“What do you mean Y/N, this is a sign! You were almost taken from Genelia, from us. We need to come together and give thanks that you’re still with us.” Your father's words were confusing you, why was he saying that you were taken from them as if they weren't the same ones to send you away?

“I’m not coming home Dad, I was just calling to let everyone know I was okay-”

“Nonsense!” Your mother spoke now, you weren't aware when she arrived in the room. “You must come home, we miss you. This was a wake-up call, don’t you think?”

You paused now and took a deep breath. What they were asking was encroaching on a boundary you had set the day you left Genelia. To never come back. “I just, I don’t think it’s a good idea guys.”

It was now your parent's turn to pause while they thought about what they could say to change your mind. But it wasn’t them that spoke, instead it was a different voice. One that clearly held the tonal characteristics of a man but was still slightly squeaky signifying they hadn’t fully finished maturing.

“So you’re just never gonna come back? Is that it then?” If it wasn’t for your father's words earlier you wouldn’t have even been able to guess who it was. But of course, it was your little shadow who spoke up now. Josiah.

“Siah-”

“No, you don’t get to call me that anymore. My sister, who loved me and didn’t just get up and abandon her family for a fancy new life in France, called me that. I don’t know who you are.”

Josiah’s words cut through you like the sharpest blade known to man, cutting deeper than any slick comment from Shuri. Is that really what he thought happened? That you left your family behind to go chase your dreams in a foreign country?

You didn’t care about your parents, quite frankly fuck them. Any emotional ties you felt towards them had long left you, so saying no to them while it was hard; it didn’t hurt. Saying no to Josiah though? Hearing the disappointment in his voice? He didn’t deserve this. To be caught in the crosshairs of the relationship between you and your parents.

“Fine!”

“Fine?” Your mother and father's voice asked in unison.

“Fine, I will come back to Genelia to visit.”

“Tomorrow?” Josiah’s voice questioned.

“Tomorrow? Siah I just got shot.” You tried to reason with your brother, and while you didn’t feel any of the effects of the shooting at this exact moment you still didn’t know if traveling so soon would be wise. Plus you still needed to explain this all to Shuri.

“You’re married to the smartest woman in the world and live in the most technologically advanced country. I’m sure they can figure something out.” Josiah left no room for argument in his sentence.

“Fine Siah, I will come to Genelia for a few days, flying in tomorrow. Happy?” You didn’t even understand why you were agreeing to this.

“Not in the slightest, I have no idea who you are anymore. I did that for Mom and Dad.”

That hurt more than Josiah knew. You tried to tell yourself that he didn’t mean it, but something in you couldn't believe it.

“Okay well, I’ve got to go. I’ll um talk to Marcos about arrival times and everything.” You needed this phone call done, the gravity of what you had just agreed to started to weigh on you.

“Parfait! We can’t wait to see you soon Y/N. We love you!” You could hear the smile in your father's voice and felt guilt not only that you didn’t feel the same happiness but that you couldn’t reciprocate his “I love you” truthfully.

“Yeah I um, I’ll see you guys soon.” With that you ended the call, throwing your head back against the pillow.

As you sat in silence you digested what had just happened.

1. You called Marcos, just to let him know that you were alive.

2. You ended up on a phone call with your parents, speaking to them for the first time in years.

3. After declining to come to Genelia, you were guilt-tripped into returning by your little brother. Not because he wanted to see you but because he knew his parents wanted to.

All of this made your head reel and you longed for the peace and comfort that your wife provided. But she wasn’t here with you, her wife who had just been shot. Instead, she was dealing with council business.

“Griot.”

“Ah your majesty, I am glad you are in good health again. What can I do for you?”

You paused wondering if Griot was even able to give you this information. “Where is Shuri right now?”

“Shuri has programmed me to not disclose her location to anyone unless it is an emergency, I am sorry your majesty.”

Of course Shuri had done so, always wanting to keep tabs on everyone but not thinking anyone else needed to keep them on her. You wanted to give up before an idea popped into your head. “Griot, Shuri programmed me into your system as a Queen, correct?”

“Yes your majesty, she has programmed you with the same clearance as she has.”

Jackpot.

“And Shuri has access to her location status I would assume?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Great, so she has access to her location status, and I have the same clearance level as her/ You can give me her location.” Your reasoning was solid, creating a logical path that the AI could follow.

“Yes, your majesty, that does appear to be correct. One moment please.”Success. “Queen Shuri is in the basement, interrogation room one.”

“Interrogation room one?” You asked Griot again, you didn’t even know the palace had a single interrogation room, let alone multiple.

“Yes, the Queen has been in that room since she left you in the hospital wing.”

So she had been lying to you.

“Thank you, Griot, that will be all.”

There was no doubt in your mind that this had something to do with your shooting and that Shuri thought she was doing good by you by keeping you away from all of it. Trying to shield you from more pain. But that wasn’t what you asked for, it was what she decided you needed.

You touched your abdomen, trying to gauge your pain level. As Josiah had said, you were in the most technologically advanced country so truly your recovery wouldn’t take more than a few days. Right now, you felt good enough to hobble out of bed and make it out of your room.

Shuri wanted to lie to you? Fine. But you were going to go down to the basement to figure out exactly what she was up to.

You made it no more than five feet out of your room before a body in front of you haltered your progress.

“What are you doing out of bed ngangamsha (your majesty)? You should be resting.” Aneka’s concerned look surprised you. While you knew it was her job to protect you, you saw a twinge of genuine concern in her eyes.

“She lied to me Aneka.” You took a step to the side and then forward so she was no longer in your path. The dull twinge of pain let you know that this might be more difficult than your first few steps had made it appear, nonetheless you were going to make the journey.

“Intoni? (What?)”

“Shuri lied to me. She told me she had council business to take care of, but she didn’t. She’s downstairs in the basement right now. So I’m going down there to see what could be so important that she felt the need to lie to me.” You continued your walk towards the elevator pleasantly surprised that Aneka didn’t appear to try and stop you.

You took a few more steps before suddenly something pressed against the back of both of your knees, causing you to lose your balance. Falling back right into… a chair? Aneka stood above you, her hands on the handle of the wheelchair that she had just gently gotten you into. “I am not condoning you doing this, however, I know I can not stop you.”

You nodded, grateful to hear that.

“But,” Of course there was something. “I will not let you rip your stitches hobbling down there.”

A smile passed across your face and a similar one came to Ankea’s.

“Plus, I can talk to you while we make our way down there. I should fill you in, it is for the best.” Aneka pushed you forward as she began to explain just who was awaiting you in the basement.

While you two made your way down, Shuri, Ayo, Okoye, and your assailant were deep into their interrogation session.

To Shuri’s credit, she tried to be diplomatic about the whole situation. When she first walked into the room and saw Liam Drockers sitting down with Ayo and Okoye on either side of him, she imagined what her brother would say to her.

“Patience sisi.” He would say. “Regardless of what he has done, he is deserving of a fair questioning, the same as you and me.”

And she tried to take T’Challa’s advice, asking Liam simple questions at first.

“Are you an employee of Judas’s Ice Cream shop?”

No response.

“Are you working for the United States government?”

No response.

“Were you aware the person you shot was the Queen of Wakanda, Y/N Y/L/N Udaku?”

A small smile creeped up on Liam’s face after she finished speaking, but still, he said nothing. This infuriated her and she was about ready to cast this whole morally right thing to the side and get the information she needed through more direct means.

But then her mother's voice came into her head. “Do not let him remove you from yourself intomba (daughter).”

The Queen calmed herself, “I asked you a question. Were you aware the person you shot was Y/N Y/L/N Udaku, the Queen of Wakanda?”

While Liam's eyes had largely remained on the floor he pulled them up to her now, showing off the bored look they held. “I didn’t miss, did I?”

Shuri’s heartbeat increased, so he knew what he was doing. This was a planned attack on her wife? He knew who she was and still chose to take the shot?

“You still thinkin’ bout showin this fool mercy?” No. That was the one voice she didn’t want to listen to.

Okoye saw the look and Shuri’s eyes and when their gaze finally met, a wave of concern washed over her. She was losing Shuri to this.

Okoye’s suggestion for a break is what brought them outside, Shuri pacing up and down the hallway trying to decide how to move forward.

“Is it really that hard of a decision little cuz?”

“Shut up.” She spoke out loud. Ayo looked over to Okoye wondering if they should step in but Okoye shook her head, hoping that whoever Shuri was speaking to would provide the young girl some clarity.

“I’m just saying what you’re really thinking here. I mean he shot ya wife, you really cool with letting that slide?”

“I am not ‘letting it slide’, I’m going about it the diplomatic way N’Jadaka. Something I know you know nothing about.”

Erik laughed at that “Aww shit little panther got some bite to her huh? But you’re right I don’t know shit about the diplomatic way, what I do know however is how to get results, quickly. It’s cool though, give this mother fucker the time and respect he didn’t give to your wife. I’m sure that’s smart.”

His last comment drew Shuri over the edge. Done with the conversation and confident in her decision, she made her way back over to the door where Ayo and Okoye awaited her. She knew the decision she had come to was harsh but the only thing on her mind was ensuring your safety and getting to the bottom of this.

“If you do not want to stay for the next part of the interrogation, I am not ordering either of you too. This is the time now to back out of this, without any blood on your hands.” She thought for a moment about how literal her figure of speech was about to become. “Ngokunzulu (Seriously).”

Okoye looked Shuri up and down. It was in moments like these that she no longer saw the young girl she had watched grow up over the past ten years. The youthful glow had faded over and now left Shuri with a hard exterior that seemed to be ever-present. “Are you sure this is what you want to do ikumkani wam (my queen)?” Okoye offered this out to Shuri now, one shot to think clearly about her decision.

“A hundred percent.” Was Shuri’s simple reply.

That’s how they ended up here, Ayo holding Liam’s cuffed arms behind his back while Shuri issued blow after blow to his abdomen, turning him effectively into a human punching bag.

“You done with the games now Liam?” A punch landed on his stomach. “Are you ready to say something and give me the information I need to know?”

The whole ordeal hurt Okoye to watch but she understood why Shuri had shifted to such drastic means, it was only out of necessity.

Liam gathered his breath as Shuri removed the jacket she’d been wearing, leaving her in a compression shirt. “No words Liam, really?” She cracked her knuckles and delivered two more blows, one after the other. “That’s okay I’m sure soon enough you will.”

He shifted in Ayo’s arms for a few seconds for spitting the blood that had pooled in his mouth down at Shuris feet, giving her a defiant stare.

A smirk rose to Shuri’s face as she looked at the few drops of blood that had gotten on her sneakers. “You know Liam, I had been holding back in the name of my wife. I’ll tell you a secret since, quite frankly, the likelihood of you making it out of Wakanda to repeat this is slim to none. I don’t know much about my wife, we do not have the most conventional marriage so the real things I can say I know about her are few and far in between. But what I do know about my lovely Y/N, she hates violence and views it as the very last play in the book. Convinced me not to kill a spider once just because she said it wasn’t necessary.”

Shuri smiled at the silly memory of you cussing her out at home when she tried to kill a spider instead of releasing it outside.

“So, in her name, I haven't been using any of my enhanced strength. This,” She points to the purple bruises that had started to form on the skin of his stomach. “It's all me. But, since you want to be disrespectful and spit blood on my shoes, we’re giving all that up.” Quicker than anyone in the room could have seen, Shuri put her hands up and delivered a devastatingly strong blow to his stomach. Providing enough force that even Ayo had to take a step back to steady herself and absorb some of the shock of the blow.

You watched in horror from the other side of the glass in the interrogation room as Liam doubled over in pain, gasping for air. Aneka and yourself had been in the room just long enough to watch him spit blood on your wife's shoes.

“Now, we’re going to try this again.” Shuri started with the same line of questions from before. “Are you working for the United States government?”

Once Liam pulled himself together, he gave the Queen no answer, just continuing his stare of contempt.

Shuri chuckled, “Again then? Okay.” She let out another punch, Ayo being more prepared this time held Liam’s body tight.

“She’s gonna kill him Aneka.” You spoke quietly from the wheelchair as you watched the whole ordeal take place. “We can’t let her kill him, that’s not her.”

Aneka nodded, “But there is nothing we can do right now my Queen. Ayo and Okoye are in there with her, they will not let it go too far.”

“I need to get in there.” Shuri wasn’t going to listen to Ayo or Okoye, you didn’t even know if she was going to listen to you. But as far as you were concerned this had already gone far enough. You started moving your wheelchair towards the door but Aneka stopped you.

“Your majesty I cannot let you in there, bringing you down here was a breach of protocol enough. To have you in there would just be a blatant disregard for the Queen’s wishes.” Aneka declared.

Both of your attention was brought back to Shuri and Liam when she hit him in the same spot again, leading him to cough up more blood.

“You go in there and bring my wife out to me or I go in there and bring her out myself. Two choices, you pick.” You folded your arms like a child, waiting for Aneka’s response.

She looked into the interrogation room and back to you. “Bast you two are perfect for each other. Stubborn just alike.”

With that she left you, walking out and knocking before entering the other room.

“ikumkani wam,” She interjected, pulling Shuri’s attention from the man and onto the Dora.

“What is it Aneka, I am busy.” Shuri looked at her impatiently.

“uY/n ulapha kwaye angathanda ukuthetha nawe (Y/N is here and would like to talk to you).” Aneka switched to their mother tongue so Liam couldn’t understand what they were saying.

Shuri’s face faltered for a second. You were here? How long had you been watching? How much had you seen? “I am in the middle of an inter-”

The sound of you banging on the wall to indicate you didn’t care what she was doing cut Shuri off. She looked at Liam before speaking to Ayo and Okoye. “Put him down, I will be back shortly.” In a second Shuri was out of the room and opening the door to the other side of the interrogation room, meeting your icy gaze.

“What are you doing out of bed sithandwa sam (my love)?” Shuri’s concern was real, raking her eyes over your body.

“You lied to me.” You weren't wasting time tip-toeing around the subject,

“I was protecting you.” Shuri’s justification came quickly, as she took a step closer to you. The light illuminated her face better now and you were able to see the small spots of blood that had splattered on her face.

Against your better judgment, you called her closer to you “Come here.” She obliged kneeling so you two were at eye level, mimicking the position you two had been in this morning. You reached to hold her face in your hand, wiping the small dots of blood away with your thumb. “You lied to me,” You said again looking into her eyes.

“I was trying to-” Shuri tried again to explain this to you but you cut her off with a gentle tap to her lips with your free hand.

“I know you were trying to protect me Shuri, but I am your wife. You can’t lie to me.” The look in your eyes conveyed the seriousness of your comments.

The excuses started to form in Shuri’s mouth but she stopped them. “I- I know and I’m sorry. I should have told you what I was doing.” She let her head rest in your hand and averted her eyes down, fiddling with the material from your hospital gown.

“Yes, you should have.” While your words were harsh, the tone and way you caressed her face let her know you weren't really mad with her.

“Let me make this right umfazi (wife).” Shuri declared sitting up so she looked you in the eyes once again. “The man, his name is Liam Drockers he-”

“I already know Shuri.” You smiled at your wife who looked at you cluelessly. “Aneka filled me in on our way down here, I know everything. I want to speak with him.”

Shuri pulled out of your grasp now, appalled you would even ask something like that. “Absolutely not Y/N, there is no logical reason to risk your life by putting you in there with him.”

“First there is no risk to my life, not only is he handcuffed but Ayo and Okoye will be in there with us. Second Shuri, you owe me. This has everything to do with me and you tried to keep it from me, I deserve at least one chance to speak with him. Alone.” You were confident in your rebuttal, Shuri tried to find a counterargument for every point you made but she couldn't.

“Five minutes with Okoye, Ayo, and Aneka inside with you.” Shuri brought her demands to the table and you thought about it for a second. Was she seriously that worried for your safety that she thought you needed three Dora’s in there with you and a restrained and beaten man?

“Deal.”

With that Shuri wheeled you out of the viewing area and to the interrogation room. Aneka held the door open and your wife pushed you through the entryway, stopping at the frame per your request.

“Oh yeah and pack a bag, we’re going to Genelia tomorrow.” You shut the door leaving your very confused wife on the other side. You two were going where?

In front of you sat a very bruised Liam Drockers, Ayo, and Okoye on his sides You always found it so funny how no matter how big or bad someone seemed, at the end of the day they were made of flesh and bones just like you.

Wheeling up to the table you sat and stared at your attacker for a moment. Trying to search for something you were never going to find, a reason or justification.

“Alright, Liam I’m going to make this very easy for you.” You interlaced your fingers and let them sit on the table, this is where you shined. “In the other room, my wife is waiting with bated breath for me to tell her it's okay to come in here and continue to beat the living shit out of you. Now me personally, as you heard before, I’m not a fan of violence. I think it's an unnecessary evil of the world, something we really can function without.” You paused letting out a chuckle. “Not that I think that you believe the same,” You gestured down to your stomach. “You clearly favor my wife when it comes to that way of thinking.”

Liam's eyes moved all over you, attempting to size you up as a threat.

“So, now that you know that much about me, let me tell you how this is going to work. Either A. we can make this super simple, you answer every question I have and agree to the plan we have in place. Or, I call my wife back in here and she beats you to a pulp.”

A wheezing breath came from your attacker and you couldn’t help but notice how weak he looked now, the beating from Shuri having done a good chunk of damage. “I’m not sayin shit, I know my rights.”

You smiled at this, leaning closer to him. “Your rights? You think your rights will protect you here?” The look on Liam’s face changed for a split second, his facade slipping. “You’re in the basement interrogation room of the most technologically advanced country in the world because you shot one of their Queens. You were flown in on a top-secret jet, there's no record of you ever even being in Wakanda. Nobody knows you’re here.”

“That’s- that’s not true.” Liam stammered out. “There are people out there who know who I am, who are looking for me.”

This got the heartiest laugh from you yet. “Mallory? Really? You think she’d save you?” The idea he was pushing was almost comical. “You were a gun for hire, you served your purpose and now there's nothing left for you to do, you were disposable from the beginning. Do you seriously believe she’d risk a national incident to save one measly hit man?”

The truthfulness of your words hit Liam like a ton of bricks, there was no getting out of this.

“So,” You began. “I’ll ask the question my wife has been trying to ask. What the fuck was your mission and who do you report to.”

Liam shifted in his chair, looking around the room as he assessed his situation. “It all started with Mallory.”

Taglist: @shuriszn @sokkasbae25 @verachii @cuddl3s4shur1 @takeyaki @jinnie10101 @letitias-fav @sweetalittleselfish-honey @beautybyfire @6-noir @mocha-aya @yvxmpire @mysticalmarss @ziayamikaelson @youralphawolf72 @n7cje @inmyheadimobsessed @shurisjournal @shurisbigtoe @saintwrld @pinkwright @chatitajens @playhousedistee @motheroffae @injeolmiee @tchhairbandhere @._mrqs @msudaku @lppriceisright @bratydoll @blackqueengold @iheartsolo @cafehyunji @abenomeiiii @naomis-daydream @ilroachsworld @locoforshuri @nrc-06

#Shuri x you #shuri black panther #shuri udaku x reader #shuri of wakanda #shuri x reader #shuri fanfiction #shuri x y/n #shuri udaku #black panther #black panther fic #black panther imagine #black panther fanfiction #WLW #wlw ship #wlW love #wlw blog #wlw fanfic

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colormetheworld · 2 months

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omg i was just rereading keys and i realized that when garret tries to get maura the last time, jane doesn't leave her side. like she knows she left graces side and grace died so now shes not taking her eyes off maura im screaming

wow. oh my god wow. thank you. for noticing this, and then for coming to tell me.

here. have this as a present for being inside my head.

......

he hasn't ever seen her like this.

The police come by her house that morning to tell her that if she attends the funeral she will be in violation of a trespassing order or a restraining order or some shit, and he's not really listening because when they tell her she can't go her face does that dissolve thing it's been doing almost every day since Grace died.

She's sitting next to him on the couch, and neither of her parents is home, and he can't stop thinking that he shouldn't have let those two cops in. That he could have stopped this from happening some how, if his mind hadn't gone black-boy-in-front-of-two-police-officers blank at the sight of the guns at their waists.

"You understand, Ms. Rizzoli?" the bigger one says. He takes a step towards her, and she leans back into the couch and that's enough for Barry to find his courage and step forward and say in as tough a voice as he can,

"Yeah. she heard you, man. Back off."

They do, miraculously, leaving without any further comment, and he goes back to sit with Jane on the couch. She doesn't say anything for a long, long time, and he doesn't break the silence either. Mostly because he doesn't know what the fuck to say.

I'm sorry you lost your girlfriend. I could love you, if you would just show me how.

He opens his mouth, unsure what is going to come out, but then Jane is standing. She gestures that he should stand too.

"Help me pack." she says.

He doesn't dream of arguing.

....

So he finds a way to get her to the funeral. Of course he does. If she's going to run away, and he's never going to see her again, this feels like the last, true thing he can do.

When they crest the little hill and Jane realizes where they are, her eyes go wide and brim with tears, but her face doesn't collapse in on itself the way it does when her parents fight.

It doesn't dissolve into no man's land like it did the night her father called her a dyke.

They sit down on the hillside, out of the Fairfields' line of sight, and they watch as people start to gather.

"I let her go," Jane says suddenly.

A bag pipe has begun to play, and Barry only met Grace once, at a pool hall downtown, but he knows that she would have hated to have bagpipes anywhere near her funeral.

"This isn't on you," he says. "You loved her. All you did was love her, Jay."

But Jane shakes her head. "I had her, in my arms. And I went after him. I let her go. I should never have let her go."

He doesn't know what to say to that. He doesn't really understand what she means. Only now that he is looking at her looking down at her girlfriend's grave does he realize that he hasn't truly understood anything at all.

"I let her go," she says.

She drops her head to his shoulder.

He doesn't put his arm around her. And they stay like that for a long, long time.

#Keys #R&I #fanfic #writing #dont drown #frost

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aranarumei · 8 months

Text

how much does sasaki talk about hirano?

hey everyone. I’m coming to you live with an INVESTIGATIVE REPORT about the one and only sasaki shuumei. the question above pretty much summarizes what I'm trying to find out. so I’ll expand on this under the cut. apologies in advance for any typos

—

there’s a scene that’s always made me confused ever since I first read it (which wow. I’ve been reading this manga as it updates since partly through volume 3… crazy how far its come!) and that is this sequence of two pages in the extras of Vol 7 (39.5), below:

hirano’s like “well, it’s fine to talk about me to miyano as long as you didn’t say any weird stuff about me” and sasaki goes. Silent. Now I at the time assumed like. ah sasaki’s talking about the hirano and kagiura relationshipisms. or the whole uke thing. right?

…right?

see, the thing is: when sasaki visits campus in ch 46, he asks the basketball team about a kagi-kun, and then when miyano questions him about what he was doing, he’s like “oh I just remembered hirano’s old roommate was on the basketball team,” and then refuses to even tell miyano his name. so it’s like… did sasaki EVER talk about hirano’s roommate to Miyano? like of his own initiative? did he offer any information? so I decided that instead of just bringing that question up, I’d reread all of sasaki to miyano and get my answer.

disclaimer that this deals with exclusively the manga: I have this hidden fear that I’m going to post this and get a reply like “oh this is 50% of the entire novel content” but! the scene in question comes up in the manga! I think it ought to then refer to an event in the manga! but seriously if stuff like that does come up in the novel feel free to chime in. also bc I was rereading the whole manga I have Other Thoughts Too but. those can hopefully marinate their way into other posts.

ch 2:

miyano: But I saw you! I saw you laughing as you chatted with a first-year boy from class 1A in the basketball club with a lovely smile!

this does not count. miyano brings this up to hirano himself. in fact a lot of miyano putting hirano into bl contexts happens In Front Of Hirano’s Face. not really a conversation starter for sasaki. it does make ch 46 way more interesting bc it means like. sasaki has remembered that kagiura’s on the basketball team to the point that he wants to check in on him? whereas miyano like Knows this info yet never really pursues it. suppose it’d be awkward to just go up and try to find him without knowing his name, though.

ch 4:

sasaki says “but hirano can handle alcohol fine” which is perfectly on topic since they were just discussing how sasaki can’t handle it. it’s miyano that spins into bl fantasies afterwards. also hirano is right there in this situation. does not count.

ch 5:

sasaki: Hirano’s playing Oiwa-san for the haunted house. Want to see? He’s crossdressing and wearing a wig.

this does count. sasaki is bringing up hirano and telling miyano something that miyano would totally get excited about. it is, I would say, not brought up out of nowhere, since they discuss crossdressing right before. unrelated to this I would love to see the image of sasaki as hanako-san of the toilet.

ch 6:

sasaki asks about miyano’s love life and when miyano says that he’s not romantically interested in anyone around here, and sasaki asks “what about hirano?” miyano says he ships him with his roommate and the conversation ends there. I would say this also does not count—yeah, he’s perhaps bringing up hirano as a romantic prospect, but I think this is more sasaki like. being jealous more than it is using him as a reason to talk to miyano. he’s like. a pretty jealous guy.

ch 8:

sasaki tells miyano that his grades suck and hirano’s been tutoring him. this does not count.

ch 11:

sasaki says “don’t you prefer black-haired ukes?” and “ah, you mean like hirano?” when miyano says he prefers manly ukes. this does count. while it’s in the topic of conversation, there’s not a real reason he has to bring hirano up. plus, he even continues it with “hirano’s pretty tall. can he still not be a seme?” so it’s using hirano to keep a conversation going with miyano, but I will note it’s not what starts the conversation.

ch 13:

sasaki talks about hirano getting banned from doing the ball toss. this does not count.

ch 24.5:

“ooh, if it was hirano, it would be taiko” says sasaki when miyano brings up all the girl names that he and his classmates would have. this does not count. it’s a natural extension of the various female names they’ve been talking about, sasaki included, and hirano’s their mutual friend.

ch 33:

sasaki brings up hirano’s dedication to studying and how he says that getting accepted to university isn’t the finish line. says hirano’s pretty cool for that mindset. this does not count.

ch 41:

sasaki says "haha, yikes! hirano was a terrible influence!" when miyano tells him about kuresawa getting a piercing. this does not count. it’s also after graduation, where the scene happened.

ch 42.5:

sasaki is like wow I can't believe hirano's roommate does THAT in the mornings to miyano, regarding vol 2 of sasaki to miyano. however this kind of thing isn't quite canonical since they know there are books being published about them so. this does not count.

halloween 2018 extra:

miyano asks if sasaki's friends got their items confiscated, and sasaki replies by saying that hirano's in charge of confiscation for their class, so their class had the idea to overwhelm him. this does not count.

dvd extra 4:

sasaki tells miyano about how they ripped the wallpaper on accident, and once he said it kind of gave it a badboy feel, they started doing it on purpose. hirano participated in it too. this does not count.

I’ve probably missed some, but we can see that out of all of these situations, only TWO are actually what I’d qualify as “weird” by hirano’s metrics. unless sasaki talking about the wild stuff Hirano gets up to includes his ball toss strategy and him ripping up wallpaper. then it’s four. my point is that sasaki says it’s “a lot” when it’s not. so… why is that?

I’ve been mulling over a couple of ideas regarding this, but I kind of don’t want to offer up my own interpretations first? plus when I tried writing my answer I spun off into a really bad tangent, so… post ends here. hope we all learned something here!

#kiri.txt #sasaki to miyano #sasaki shuumei #hirano taiga #i do not think it comes off that way at all but sasakis actually my fav character lol. guy doesnt even know how pretty he is... coughs.#thats unrelated. i should write actual sasamiya fic sometime tho that would be funny #anyways it could be that i missed something real obvious here #whoops if so #mostly i was embarrassed that theres an extra that literally spells out that hanzawas grades are better than hiranos and i got it wrong...#in this essay I will #harusono #sasahira

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cosmerelists · 1 year

Text

If Warbreaker and Stormlight characters met each other...

[Spoilers for Warbreaker & for Stormlight!]

Stormlight characters have previously encountered Mistborn characters from both Era 1 and Era 2. But in honor of my finally rereading Warbreaker, let’s see what that matchup might be like!

1. Adolin & Siri

Adolin: THREE new elaborate dresses? Every morning?!

Siri: Yes!! And they always had some more in the back too, just in case!

Adolin: And they just...destroyed the ones you didn’t wear?

Siri: I think so! They NEVER repeated options and I know they burned the ones I did wear!

Adolin: Who was designing & crafting half a dozen royal gowns every single day??

Siri: I don’t know! But they must have been AMAZING at their jobs--and very okay with their beautiful work being destroyed.

Adolin: It’s both a fashion triumph and a fashion crime at the same time!

Siri: I know!!

2. Elhokar & Vivenna

Vivenna: And I hired these mercenary bodyguards to help me stop the war but it turned out they were working against me and tried to kill me!

Elhokar: Omg that’s my worst nightmare!

Elhokar: It happened to me too! One of my own guards tried to assassinate me!

Vivenna: That’s horrible! How come?

Elhokar: Oh some mix-up where I threw his innocent grandparents in jail & left them there until they died.

Vivenna: ...

Vivenna: And you’re the good guy in this story?

Elhokar: Hey!

Vivenna: J-Just asking!

3. Lopen & Susebron

Susebron: For fifty years, I had no tongue. They cut it out.

Susebron: Until one day, a god gave his life to heal me.

Lopen: That’s an amazing story, gon!

Lopen: I was a one-armed Herdazian for a while.

Lopen: Then I grew my own arm back. And nobody died!

Susebron: ...

Lopen: Hey, so basically, I’m stronger than a God King!

Lopen: Can I stick you to a wall?

4. Sadeas & Denth

Denth: Funny thing about being a mercenary.

Denth: You literally tell people that you’re just in it for the money. That you’re not a good person.

Denth: And they’re still shocked when you betray them for the money!

Sadeas: I know what you mean.

Sadeas: I told Dalinar that his honor would get him killed.

Sadeas: And then when I took advantage of his honor and left him to die, he was like...surprised Pikachu face.

Denth: [tsks] No one values honesty anymore.

5. Weatherlove & Bridge Four

[Author’s note: Weatherlove is just a random Returned that Lightsong hangs out with once.]

Drehy: Wow! Look at this small but muscular man!

Weatherlove: Small?? I-I’ll have you know that we gods TOWER over the common man!

Teft: I mean, you’re only a little taller than Kaladin and Moash.

Rock: And shorter than me, ha!

Sigzil: The Fused are quite a bit taller than you.

Skar: You do look strong, though! I bet you could carry a bridge--with practice.

Weatherlove: ...I hate this place.

6. Shallan & Lightsong

Lightsong: I hear that you are one of the wittiest characters in your book.

Shallan: I’ve been known to turn a phrase or two. You as well?

Lightsong: Written to be someone who could thrive in an Oscar Wilde play!

Shallan: Why do you suppose we’re talking about wittiness rather than actually saying anything witty?

Lightsong: I have to imagine the blogger doesn’t have any idea how to write dialogue between characters like us!

Shallan: Tragic, really.

Lightsong: A true loss for all.

7. Jasnah & Blushweaver

Jasnah: As a Veristitalian, I’ll admit I’m interested to talk with another planet’s Goddess of Honesty.

Blushweaver: Yes, and with the two of us together, one truth has already been made plain.

Jasnah: Oh? What is that?

Blushweaver: Looking at us, it’s clear that honesty must be stored in the boobs.

Jasnah: ...

Blushweaver: They don’t call you a VerisTITalian for nothing!

Jasnah: Why do I bother?

8. Kaladin, Adolin, Renarin & Vasher

Kaladin: It’s YOU!

Vasher: Yes, yes. It’s me.

Adolin: Stormfather! It’s YOU!

Vasher: So we’ve established.

Renarin: It’s YOU!!!

Vasher: Yes, yes. Everyone is so observant today.

Hoid: Hey!

Hoid: Stop stealing my bit!!!

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thyme-in-a-bubble · 1 year

Text

sunflower, chapter ten

summary: Y/n accidentally left something out on the dish rack that wasn’t kitchenwares…

warnings: references to 9x22, allusion to masturbation, sex toys, kissing, naked female clothed male, oral (fem receiving), fingering, handjob, dirty talk, praise

word count: 2651

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Your breathing was heavy like you’d just finished a marathon. Well, you could call it that. You weren’t running, but we could still call what you just did for the past 1 hour and 28 minutes a marathon. Sure. You’d made yourself cum 3 times, so sure, you’d call that a marathon.

Blinking your eyes open, you toyed with the thought of just falling asleep, taking a nap, but no, you were an adult, you had things to do, people to see.

So, you slowly rolled up to a sitting position. Swinging your legs over the edge of the bed, you picked up your robe that had been lazily tossed on the chair in the corner. Putting it on, you looked back to the mattress and spotted the two toys you’d just been playing with. A curved purple dildo and a little egg-shaped vibrator. You should properly clean them now so that you wouldn’t forget. You lived alone! No secret trips to the sink in the middle of the night were necessary!

Picking them up, you strolled out into the kitchen and turned on the water. Pouring some soap onto the purple shaft, you slowly started to clean it, working it up and down. Letting your mind wander, you couldn’t help but play along. Your breath picked up again, as you traced its realistic texture with your fingertips, remembering how good it had felt, and it took just a few more seconds before you shook the fantasy out of your head and rinsed off the item. Quickly cleaning the other, staying on task, you laid them to dry on the dishrack, right next to your favourite yellow mug.

A few loud knocks caught your attention. Sauntering over to open it, you were surprised to see Spencer standing there. Immediately jumping into his arms, you squealed, “Spencer! You’re home!” raising yourself onto your tiptoes, you gave him a sweet kiss, “when did you get back?”

“Just now,” he smiled, walking you a few steps further into the apartment and swinging the door closed behind him, “I thought I’d surprise you.”

“Well, I usually don’t care for surprises, but I happen to really like this specific one, so I think I’ll let it slide,” you grinned, “so, how was the case? Did you catch the bad guy?”

Chuckling, he pulled back, still holding onto your hands, “yeah, it was fine, we did catch the bad guy,” he then added with a nod towards the kitchen, “mind if I grab a cup of coffee?”

“Sure,” you let go of him, “you know where it is,” then as you saw him disappear around the corner, you asked, “did you read anything good?”

“I reread war and peace at breakfast one of the mornings,” he bellowed from the other room, “I hadn’t read it in the original Russian before.”

“You know Russian?”

“Yeah, I do,” he answered, significantly quieter, “I, um, yes, I do know Russian.”

Amazed, you giggled, “just how many languages do you know?”

“Fluently?” he appeared again, steamy yellow mug in hand, “I’d say it’s 24, but I can get by in about 311,” he informed, looking over you with a smirk.

Your eyebrow shot up, “3-,” breathing out a heavy breath, “okay, uh, wow.”

Running his eyes over your body, he asked, “what about you, what did you get up to while I was in Long Beach?”

“Oh, not much. My life isn’t quite as dramatic as yours.”

“Really?” he gave you a smug smile.

“Yes,” you said quietly, confused as to why he didn’t believe you, then giggled lightly, “why are you looking at me like that?”

“It just seemed like you had fun without me.”

“What do you mean?”

Licking his lips, he looked into your eyes, squinting a bit as if he was trying to decide whether or not he should tell you, “I saw.”

“You saw…?”

“-your toys,” he smirked.

Eyes widening, you stammered, “y-you, um, oh.”

He bit his lip and set down his mug.

“Can you maybe just pretend that you didn’t see that?” you asked, absolutely mortified, “just go into the bathroom and let me hide them?”

“Y/n, I have an eidetic memory, don’t think it will make much of a difference now.”

“Urgh, don’t make it worse,” you whined.

“So,” he started, “did you have fun?”

“I, um,” oh screw it, this man had fingered you in his bathroom, can’t be shy now, “yes.”

Taking a step closer to you, “can I ask you something else?”

Throwing your arms up, you exclaimed, “sure! Can’t get much worse now.”

Looking down at your lips and then up into your eyes, he asked, “do you wanna have some fun right now?”

Was he asking you to… “fun?”

“Yeah,” he breathed out, snaking his hands around your waist.

Giggling, you nodded your head, “mhmm, o-okay.”

He couldn’t help but join in and gave you a giggly kiss. Bringing your hands up around his neck, the laughter quickly died down as you felt his large hands explore your body.

In between kisses, you asked, “so just to clarify, by fun, you mean-“, letting out a tiny moan as he found your ass and gave it a squeeze, his fingertips being dangerously close to something else, “-sex? Are we gonna-“

“No,” he interrupted, “not yet.”

“Then what do you mean? Are you just gonna touch me again?”

“Yeah, I wanna touch you,” he almost growled, “but in a different way this time.”

“How?”

“I wanna play with your toys as well,” he whispered against your lips. You whimpered in response and his fingers moved up under your shirt, softly touching your back. Raising your arms up, he got the message and pulled off your top. You weren’t wearing a bra, so the reveal stunned him slightly. Cursing under his breath, he seemed hypnotized, dropping your shirt on the floor and reaching out to touch your boobs lightly.

“Jesus Christ, you’re perfect,” he exhaled, brushing his thumb over one of your hard nipples, leaned down to give your lips a quick kiss, then whispered against your lips, “take the rest off, I’ll be right back,” and went back into the kitchen.

Obeying his command, you quickly fumbled with your pants, shrugging them off. When he returned, colourful items in hand, you were still in your underwear, thumbs on either side of the elastic waistband. Halting your movements, you decided to slow it down for him, giving him a bit of a show. Keeping your eyes locked on his, you slowly let them fall to the ground.

Your nerves picked up again as he kept looking at you, his mouth slightly agape, “you’re starring.”

“Because you’re beautiful,” he murmured.

Stepping closer to you, he made you jump slightly as you felt a low vibration directly against your clit. Letting out a small gasp, you clutched onto his forearm. Looking down, you saw your little oval vibrator, so tiny in his hand, pressed up against you.

You grinded into the sensation, pulling him down to give you a passionate kiss. Whimpering as he withdrew it, he requested, “get on the bed, Y/n.”

Biting your lip, your eyes never left his as you backed up and crawled onto the mattress. Setting the vibrator down on a table, he followed after you. Tossing the dildo further onto the bed before he joined you.

Sitting beside one another, he grabbed your face with both of his hands. Getting close enough to kiss, he shared your breath, “lay down for me.”

“Okay,” you hummed, pulling him down with you. Using the motion to land yourself another kiss, he didn’t leave it at your lips. First your jaw, then quickly your neck got littered with small pecks. Soon the dance moved down to your boobs, the kisses becoming sloppier and his small sounds becoming more frequent.

Travelling further down, he kissed over your stomach but took a hard turn just before reaching dripping folds, instead moving over the top of your thigh. Turning it slightly, you help by spreading them apart more, giving him better access.

Lifting his head from between your legs, he moved his hands up your torso, caressing your sides, “Is this okay?” he asked.

Raising yourself up on an elbow, you caught one of his hands on your waist and interlocked your fingers with it, “yeah.”

The combination of feeling his hot breath against your pussy and the intense look he gave you was almost enough to make you faint. But when you finally felt more than just his breath on you, you were sure you’d faint. Head spinning, you fell back against the pillows. Your grip on his hand only tightened, clutching both of yours around it, clinging onto it for dear life, but also as a way to stay grounded and not float off to some far off dimension.

“F-fuck, Spencer!” you moaned, sliding one hand down and digging the nails into his forearm. He had started by just giving you a few slow licks, just to let you get used to him being there, touching you like that. But as soon as your hips buckled up, in search of more, he latched himself onto your clit and didn’t let go, “you-, oh my go-, your-, uhh!”

Gibberish kept flowing from your lips, not making any sense, but apparently, Spencer got your message and hummed in response, the vibration adding another layer of pleasure. Tugging his hand up closer to your face, you pressed your cheek against it. You felt his thumb move to your parted lips, brushing over them. Swirling your tongue around it, feeling him pushed it further into your mouth, you closed your lips around it. Hollowing your cheeks, you hummed around the digit.

Your legs tried to close around him, but he pressed his free hand on your thigh, keeping them parted. Dragging his tongue through your folds, his hand came up to join his mouth. As you felt them enter you, you released your lips hold on his thumb and looked down.

Hair a mess, his dilated pupils were locked on you as he sucked hard on your clit again. Pornographic sounds rolled off your tongue when his fingers curled inside of you, hitting your g-spot and making you that much closer to cumming.

When you finally felt the wave hit you, you couldn’t help but close your thighs around his head, but this time he didn’t seem to mind the contact, staying right there until your hips were buckling from the sensitivity.

Giving his hand a few lazy kisses, he came up to join you, the lower half of his face glossy from your juices. The sight of him hovering above you made your recovery quick, and soon your lips were on his again. Bringing your legs around his hips, you tried and failed to flip your bodies over, your own being way too relaxed to get the job done. But luckily, Spencer was Spencer, so he just rolled the two of you over.

Now straddling him, he sat up, taking you with him. Parting from your kiss, a string of saliva still keeping you attached, you whined, “I want more,” sliding your hand down to cup his hardness through his pants, “can I please touch you?”

His eyes fighting to stay open at the feeling of the light pressure you were applying, “I want this to be about you, Y/n, not me.”

“Please, I really really wanna make you cum,” you pleaded, attempting to work at his zipper, “let me touch you.”

“You sure?”

“Yes!” you practically moaned, definitely saying it a bit too loudly. Moving your legs so that only one of his thighs was between them.

Scooting back, he leaned against the headboard and undid his trousers. Biting your lip in excitement, it fell from between your teeth when you saw him pull his hard cock out. Pumping it a few times, you couldn’t help but grind down against his thigh. Keeping your vision locked on his slow, short movements, you whispered, “can I?”

“Yeah,” he breathed out.

Reaching out, you started by just touching your fingertips against the head, playing a bit with the drops of pre-cum. Then wrapping your fingers around it, brushing the pad of your thumb over the tip once more, before moving your fist down to meet his own, still grasping onto the base.

Flickering your eyes up to meet his, “can you… I don’t really…”

Feeling his hand cover yours, you smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. Following his move, you watched in fascination the reaction you gave him. Face flush, you could tell he was trying to keep quiet.

Rolling your hips against his leg, he let go of your hand and let you take control, groaning, “there you go, baby.” Placing his hands on either side of your hips, he lifted them, making you whine at the loss of contact. The whine did soon turn into a moan as you felt his fingers glide into you a couple of times.

“I have an idea,” he said, removing his hands from you and picking up the abandoned purple dildo laying beside you, “how about you sit on this?”

Raising up a bit more, you nodded vigorously.

Bring it down, he brushed the head against you. Moving your hips, you tried to get it closer to your entrance so you could sink down, but when you felt it in the right place he didn’t give you the chance, thrusting the tip of it up into you.

Letting out a gasp, your hand stilled, and he slowly guided the rest in, and when you were completely filled up, your legs twitched slightly from the sensation.

Stocking a hand over your forearm, he said, “you set the pace, baby.”

You didn’t fully get his meaning before you moved your hand again feeling him move the toy at the same pace. “Take your time, Y/n,” he panted, “find what feels good.”

Experimenting a bit, you found one that made your legs tremble. Keeping that up you struggled to stay upright, ending up leaning forward, burring your face in the crook of his neck. Feeling him angle it a bit more, putting the focus on that certain spot that made your toes curl, you found it difficult to keep up the attention on your hand’s movements.

“Jesus, fuck!” you moaned into his skin.

“You’re doing so good,” he cooed, “fuck, I’m close.”

All you could do was whine in agreement and increase your speed. Pumping furiously, it didn’t take long before you felt his fist return to yours, helping you along.

Letting out a low moan, you felt his load shoot all over your hand.

Never halting his movements with the toy, aware of how close you were, he thrusted it into you, keeping up a brutal pace. You just let go and crumbled into him. Repeating his name like a mantra into his shirt as you came.

Breathing heavy, face completely smooched, he slowly removed it from you, making you winch slight at how hard you were clenching down on it. Tossing it aside, he gave your head a kiss and tugged his dick back into his boxers before closing his pants again. Breathing in deeply, you sat up.

Raising your hand up to your lips, you licked a bit of the white cum off, tasting it. Looking up at him, he gave you a small smirk and breathed out slowly, “you…”

Turning your palm, you licked some up before it dripped further down, swallowing it, you asked innocently, “what?”

“You fuckin-,” inhaling sharply, “you know exactly what you’re doing.”

Your hand now clean, you moved closer to him and giggled, “does that mean I did good?”

Joining in on the giggle, “yeah, you did good, you were fucking perfect.”

“You were right,” tugging on his tie, “that was fun.”

next chapter

#sunflower #lea’s writing #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid series #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fic #spencer reid x you #spencer reid headcanon #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid smut #spencer reid x fem!reader smut

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smolwritingchick · 1 month

Text

Smol Brainstorm/drabble: I Hit That

Found another to hold ya! I want to keep this brainstorm and continue working on it when I decide to put it in the story. This would happen maybe around 2019 or later. JenKook flirting on Twitter.

---------

Scrolling through Twitter, Jen noticed a selfie that Jungkook had posted a few moments ago, looking fine as hell. After long consideration, she chose to be bold and tweet, ‘My man looking fine af today 😜😏 #IHitThat #Jen’

Her tweet caused quite the uproar as ‘I hit that’ trended with fans freaking out with her audacious statement:

‘SCREAMING!’

‘Jennie you’re drunk!’

‘JEN WTF’

‘She wildlin’

‘Chiiiiil!’

‘That how you coming!?’

‘Can we just say she got hacked LOL’

‘STOP OMG!’

‘I hope Jungkook responds!’

‘Can they start flirting on Twitter?’

'JENKOOK SHIPPERS HOW ARE WE!? AHHHHH~!'

‘I’m ready for the inspired smut one shots about this’

‘MOM!’

‘This is the energy I inspire to have.’

‘JUNGKOOK RESPOND!’

‘JENKOOK SNAPPED!’

‘The freak in Jen jumped out’

‘Get your man sis!’

‘Somebody get her please CTFU!’

‘LMAOOOO out of pocket!’

‘MOOD’

‘We’ve been waiting for this day to come!’

‘Get it boo!’

‘Let them know sis!’

A few hours later, she went back on Twitter to see that Jungkook had replied, ‘Can’t get enough of me, huh? I can tell. The day before you left spoke volumes baby girl. 😏 #JK’

She chuckled as she reread his tweet. He wasn't wrong but did he really just tweet that? Two can play that game.

‘EXCUSE ME!?’

‘WHAT!?’

‘How can I be Jennie?’

‘AHHHH HE REPLIED!'

‘What happened before she left!?’

‘Jungkook PLEASE!’

‘DEAD!’

‘OMG!’

‘THE REPLY!’

‘UM!’

‘WAYMENT!’

‘Hide these tweets from Jin!’

‘I refuse to accept this!’

‘Jungkook is just a baby boy!’

After thinking about what to say, she tweeted, ‘I don’t recall. 🤔 You’re going to have to refresh my memory. #Jen’

‘OHMAHGAWDD KSSKSKSH’

‘Oh so she wants him wants him!’

‘Jen I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into lol!’

‘We would like to see it!’

‘WHAT IS HAPPENING!?’

‘She knows exactly what she’s doing.’

‘Ooh reverse psychology 101. This is smart.’

‘Sis ready!’

‘I can’t even be mad at this.’

‘Now you know the Golden Maknae doesn’t back down from a challenge!’

‘Accept the challenge and refresh her memory Jungkook!’

Later that day while out with Angelina, she and Jen took photos of each other going out for the evening and Jen so happened to wear a short dress to show off her legs. After posting a photo of herself with the dress, Jungkook was quick to reply as her heart flipped with anticipation.

‘Wow~ so beautiful. And those legs. 😏 Just wait until you get back to Seoul #Mine #JK’

‘OH?!’

‘What’s going to happen in Seoul!?’

‘AHHHHHH’

‘Calm tf down Jungkook!’

‘*grabs popcorn*’

‘JenKook shippers we have been blessed!'

‘Jin is about to kill them when he sees this ctfu’

#bts 8th member #jungkook x oc #jungkook x black oc #smol brainstorm #smol oneshot #smol drabble #jungkook fluff #jungkook imagine #bts imagine #bts eighth member #bts black oc

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fandomfluffandfuck · 9 months

Note

I’m in a very medical kink mood so I reread your post about Steve medical kink (blow me over with a feather 🥵) and now I’m very curious how you would see post-TWS Bucky engaging with medical kink. He has a lot of trauma around medical procedures, obviously, and maybe he wouldn’t like being strapped down, but maybe…

One day Bucky makes his own eggs instead of waiting for Steve to get back from his run and do it, and Steve throws out a line like, “Wow, you’re growing into a real big boy, Buck,” and Bucky just… freezes. A memory comes back of little, late blooming Steve being jealous and fascinated when Bucky went through puberty before him, and how they’d stay up late at night with Steve asking Bucky about his check-ups. Why’d he feel your chest, did he really touch your private parts, did he say when you’re gonna get all hairy? Bucky didn’t understand the shivers that went through him then at 12, but now -

He pictures Steve asking similar things, but as his doctor. Have you been getting erections at night? Yes, Bucky, an erection IS when your penis gets bigger, you’re so smart… Oh, not just at night? When your teacher leans over your desk you become aroused? I see. That’s perfectly normal for a growing boy, and I see you growing so well. Must be eating your vegetables to get such thick hair under your arms and around your genitals. Lie back for me, please, Bucky, I need to make sure you’re developing properly. You’ve been such a good little boy but it will be time to be a big boy soon…

……….. So. If you want to expand on that.

this medical kink drabble

Mmm. I like the way you think.

I would definitely, definitely see Bucky having problems with anything involving doctors and people he doesn't know touching him post-HYDRA, like, even barber shops and hair salons are out of the picture because of the chair you have to sit in, the sharp objects, the sudden movements, the sudden movements behind you, and... yeah. I can understand why it would be triggering for Bucky for the rest of his life. No matter how many times he tries it. It might be easier, but it'll probably never be the way it was before.

However--

If there's anything to override those triggers (as is canon), it's Steve.

Steve stirs up old memories all the time, but since Bucky feels those shivers, as they shoot up his spine and spread over his arms and neck, he just can't stop thinking about it. What was that? Why? What about it?

And I know that you mentioned puberty check-ups, which I fucking love that, the new, exciting changes, the uncertainty, the on-edge of flaring hormones, the awkwardness and humiliation that can be confused with the heat of arousal... that all makes for a delicious mess.

But you know what I can't stop thinking about since you sent this in?

Follow me for a minute--

With all of Steve's ailments pre-serum, it's semi-common in the fandom to have pre-serum Steve, especially when he's in an alternative, modern univere, need glasses. And if Steve has glasses...

Can you imagine Bucky's curiosity about what happens when Steve goes to the optometrist?

Bucky's never had problems with his eyes. In fact, whenever they check his vision in school, they always tell him his eyes are better than average. So, he's got no fucking clue what it's like to go to a doctor that specializes in eyes. He has no idea what they do to Steve to send him home with pupils so wide that they swallow all of his blue irises. He feels...

He feels kind of jealous, if he's dead honest.

According to Steve, the nurses that see him before the eye doctor always coo at him and call him "darling" or "precious" and spend more time than necessary staring into his eyes. Steve grumbles about it. It feels like pity to him. Like they're making fun of him. Treating him like a child.

Meanwhile, at the description, Bucky's teeth sink into his lower lip. First, he's thinking of is the attention and the way it would make the hairs on his arms stand on edge. Then, as he continues to get lost in his head, he thinks about looking directly into Steve's eyes. The hypnotic blue color of them. He thinks about cupping Steve's chin and caressing his cheekbones and eyebrows and that handsome bump on his nose. He thinks about how hot and shivery he feels when Steve has him sit still and pose for a drawing, all of Steve's attention on him... would it be like that? If he were in Steve's shoes. All of their attention on him, face-to-face, telling him his chin is sweet, his jaw is handsome, and--

There's something so alluring about this place Steve goes that Bucky doesn't. It's a different world.

He's so curious about it.

The optometrist remains alluring and mysterious all the way until Bucky's early adulthood when suddenly, after a concussion from boxing, he goes to the eye doctor because he can't focus his eyes so well. It's what his general doctor recommends.

Eventually, the problem with his eyes turns out to be nothing--resolving itself--but... the day it happens, he's seeing double. The nurse that sees him before the doctor is his age and she's got blonde hair, it's pinned back, making it look short, she also has blue eyes with hints of green, pink, full lips, and she, just, looks like Steve. That nurse kisses him in the exam room when they're alone after quiet, intense, face-to-face compliments. Just like Steve described.

The experience leaves an impression on Bucky.

He's still scrambled from his concussion, and he's half-convinced the nurse kissing him is Steve--who he wants the most, who he's wanted since before he knew what wanting was. In the dim, warm exam room, he feels safe. A little dizzy and buzzing with soft heat, his skin prickling pleasantly, Bucky feels good. It feels better than any kiss he had had before.

Now, post mission check-ups and Steve pull that memory out of Bucky and... he yearns. At first, he's sure it was Steve who was in the exam room with him, no matter how little sense it makes. Why would Steve have come to that appointment with him?

Eventually, Bucky sorts it, and he... he manages to pull the words out of himself. Asking Steve if they can try that. Whatever it is.

Roleplay?

Medical kink?

ASMR?

Meditation?

Whatever it is, Steve orders a bunch of props for them to play with. If Bucky wants something, Steve will go through hell and high water to get it for him. He deserves it. They end up with a snellen chart, an ophthalmoscope, a retinoscope, a pin light, a handheld eye occluder, colored pens, and, of course, Steve has his hands to perform other tests that fancy instruments aren't used for. Following his fingers, testing peripheral vision, holding fingers up, wiggling his fingers at the edges of his vision, and other things that Steve may or may not come up with on the fly.

When the whole haul arrives, they can play.

Steve dims the lights, he puts Bucky on their bed, his back against the headboard, arms limp by his sides, and he eases him into it. Starting slow, allowing the atmosphere and tension to build. Steve places his hands on Bucky's face, caressing him gently, like he's made of porcelain. He touches him. His collarbones, his throat, his jaw, his lips, his cheekbones, his nose, his eye sockets, his eyebrows, his scalp, and his ears. Checking him over in an extremely intimate way; they're practically pressed together and there's no distraction of anything needing to happen, this isn't leading anywhere more. Steve's just touching him. Making sure he's okay.

Examining in a loving, affectionate way that's masked by a mock-professional setting.

Bucky feels him heart speed in his chest at the same time that he sinks into relaxation. This is Steve. He can trust Steve. Inherently. He's not even thinking about trusting him. He doesn't feel unsafe, he feels... excited.

The pent-up breath in Bucky's chest leaves in a big rush as he closes his eyes to have Steve sweep his thumbs over the back of his eyelids. It's nothing but good.

It's thrilling and relaxing.

It's making him vibrate in place, but not because he's restless. He doesn't totally know what he is, but somehow, he doesn't mind.

Steve praises him along the way, touching, touching, touching, "good boy," he murmurs, feeling his quickening pulse. Then, "good job, that's it, just like that," when he looks in the directions Steve tells him to, straight up, up to the left, up to the right, straight down, down to the left, down to the right, left side, right side. "Perfect. You're doing so well." He tucks a strand of Bucky's hair behind his ear, drawing his nail gently over his eyebrows, feeling his skill, "mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, everything looks great. Just like it should." His breath is warm as it brushes across Bucky's face. The reminder that he's so close has Bucky's hands reaching up to grasp his arms. Yet, Bucky only hovers--he drops his hands on second thought. He wants to sink into this.

"Good."

Bucky's eyelids feel heavy, almost having a difficult time opening his eyes when instructed next. Follow the light, back and forth, back and forth. He does it, though. Just managing.

Steve starts to speak but apparently thinks better of it and adjusts his head with two fingers under his chin instead of directing Bucky to do it himself. Tipping his head back and up. Every time Steve touches him, Bucky feels sparks tremble through him. He wants to follow these orders. So badly. He wants to do as he says. He wants to be rewarded with sweet words and more touches.

Steve's thumb strays, pressing into the dimple in his chin. Under his breath, he breaks the scene, swearing, "fuck, you're pretty, baby." Then, as if he can't stop himself, he reaches out and squeezes the back of his neck.

All the weight on Bucky's shoulders disappears. He feels like he must suddenly be sitting up straighter from the relief of mass yet at the same time like he's slouched down even farther down.

When they come to the chart, Steve lays it on even thicker, "that's it, perfect answer again, you're a sharp one, aren't you?"

Bucky lets go of a soft mewl, his tummy all tight and squirmy. The praise is working its way under his skin. Collecting and wrapping tight, wrapping him up in a blanket, leaving him hot. Blushing.

Steve pretends he didn't hear and instead points to the next line. Bucky can still read it. Steve shakes his head in a disbelieving way, "those eyes of yours really aren't just for show, such a pretty color and shape, they're just perfect. Best sight I've tested."

As it continues, dragging out, stretching time like warm taffy between sugary fingertips on a contagious laughter filled summer afternoon, Bucky starts to feel drunk. What he remembers drunk feeling like--slow and lazy and underwater, if water were glittering, bubbly champagne.

It's sweet and easy, the answers to anything Steve asks him just fall out of his lips. Bucky isn't sure he even hears the questions; he isn't sure his words make any sense or if he's slurring, drunk; he doesn't know anything but the moment. He's here. Steve's here. Steve's practically hand-feeding him soft touches and praise and is so close without giving him any of the touch or words he's craving to hear.

It's relaxing and it's maddening.

It's almost like he's been hypnotized.

Guh.

With all those intoxicating feelings inside, Bucky doesn't notice how throbbing hard he is between his legs until Steve pushes their foreheads together. They must be nearing the end, the scene falling apart at the edges. The illusion unraveling.

Bucky gasps. Shocked. Still swimming in thick, warm syrup.

Steve is grabbing his jaw tightly all of a sudden. It's not clinical. It's intimate. Possessive. Like he can no longer resist. Not remaining as far away as he can while still doing a proper examination but fully pressing tight to Bucky now. His chest against Bucky is hard and hot. Overwhelming. The sudden lapful of Steve is perfect.

The erotic, addictive feeling of being desirable and irresistible floods into Bucky. Steve can't keep himself away anymore.

A moan simply escapes him.

Steve rasps, "that's it," he shakes his chin, teasing, "you did so good, baby--"

Bucky whimpers, soft but so needy.

"--You deserve a reward, but I don't want you to look away from me," Steve tells him while keeping one hand on Bucky's face while his other wraps around Bucky's cock. Stroking him dangerously slow. Uuuuuuuuup and dooooooown, uuuuuuuuup and dooooooown, uuuuuuuuup and dooooooown.

Bucky shakes. His eyes slide shut in pleasure. He wants to crawl out of his oversensitive skin, after just strictly "professional" touching, even the slow, frustratingly gentle and slow sexual touch is impossibly good.

"No. Look at me." Steve demands.

Bucky whines and forces his eyes open when Steve's fingers threaten to bite into his chin. His eyelids are so heavy! His vision is so unfocused. Steve's so close to him.

So close.

"Mmm-hmm, yeah, keep looking, and I'll keep going, just like this," he rambles, it washes over Bucky.

They breathe each other in.

Steve is hardly reacting while Bucky's chest is heaving, and with the effort of keeping his eyes open and on Steve, they're tearing. Vision blurring even more. Oh. Oh. It feels good. It feels so good. Steve's hand on him. Stroking him. Steve's eyes on him. Intense and hot. Steve's words caressing him. Sweet, praising words. Pleasure slow but consistent. It's, it's--

It's working so good for Bucky.

Better than it should.

God.

All he's doing is touching him lightly, it shouldn't have Bucky on the edge already!

Fuck.

It does, though. Bucky wants--

He wants--

Fuck.

He wants to cum.

Steve, staring into his eyes, knows. He knows everything. He is staring into Bucky's soul. His flesh and bone, body, mind, and soul. Bucky has never been more naked.

"Now." Steve orders.

Bucky doesn’t even register his obedience. His body has done this too many times for it to need to ask his conscious mind's permission. His body is simple. It does.

Wrecked, Bucky cries out, tears spill over his eyes, rolling down his hot cheeks, and his mouth drops open wide, drooling a little. Also, with the force of the pleasure, Bucky curls forward and drops his forehead into the crook of Steve's neck. Trembling all over, hanging onto Steve for dear life.

Oh. Oh. Oh.

Steve pets his hair, rumbling, "good boy, gooood boy," with the praise, Bucky jolts again and again, cumming again, or maybe more. He doesn't know. It doesn't matter. It just feels so fucking good.

God.

So this is, uh, optometrist hypnosis? 🤷🏻‍♂️ I hope you like it!

Also, I hope you don't mind me taking your prompt and writing something else with it! Because I fucking love, love, LOVE your idea, but I couldn't get this out of my mind, so it had to happen.

#asks #sail not drift #bucky barnes #steve rogers #stucky #hypnosis #sub bucky #dom steve #fandomfluffandfuck #anon provided writing

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cutelittleriot · 3 months

Text

Return to origin holiday special part 2 finale

It's been about 3 days since the holiday party and Barb had eaten the origin fruit and everything was going fine in Pop village.

Poppy was busy getting ready to help Bridget with her wedding and Branch was off helping King Gristle at the moment with preparations.

She was off to go get some recipes to use for the party when Debbie showed up and flew up to her holding a letter. "Oh it's already that time? Man it sure does pass quickly I swore it was like it was only yesterday" Poppy jokes as she pets Debbie's fur.

Debbie feeling tired from the flight rests beside Poppy for the moment and she happily beging to pet the little bat as she opens up the letter.

'Yo Poppy

It's Barb I decided I'm gonna write as the days progress so right now it's the day after I ate that glitter bomb of a fruit and right now I'm so ITCHY! WOW HOW DID YOU TWO DEAL WITH THAT?!

Also along with this stupid itchiness my back has been hurting nothing too bad but it's very annoying. Thanks to these 2 annoyances I can't even rock out properly. I decided I'm gonna use my rage room for now until this stupid phase ends.

Apparently next are the fangs I can't wait to get them! Well wish me luck tomorrow but for you it's the next part of this letter.'

Poppy raised a eyebrow in confusion,what did she mean her back was hurting? That never happened to her or Branch. It might be a rock troll thing hopefully,she just hopes Barb is alright.

Day 2

Yo so uhm I got my fangs they are cool and all but why did some of my other teeth also get sharp? Like all of my front teeth are now sharp,they aren't as long as my fangs but still.

I don't hate them though far from it I love them to death they make me look so cool! Bet it's a rock troll thing but I'm doing what your little loverboy said and I'm writing this down even if I hate doing this ugh

But yeah I bit into some meat and there were my old teeth I'm so keeping them btw after that my other teeth were hurting for the entire day that wasn't fun but still

Oh also back is still hurting btw I checked it out I have these 2 bumps on them I should probably be concerned but I really don't care it's not like they have prevented me from doing anything so I don't care

Anyways time to Wait for tomorrow ugh I really don't want those pads they make me look so....cutesy ugh'

Poppy is now beginning to get worried for her friend. There's bumps on her back now?! And her other teeth are sharpened?! She quickly tries to calm herself down again it is probably just a rock troll thing.

Day 3

Alright so I'm getting pawpads but the weird thing is I'm only getting them on the palm of my hands for some reason?

Well I'm not complaining that's for sure they are tolerable that's all I'm saying for now

Well that's all that's going on for now but before I go I noticed my pupils are becoming more slitted that's cool and those bumps on ky back are bigger now and for some reason i can sort of move them? Anyways later Poppy gonna go rock out for a while

Poppy reread that part again,pupils become slitted?! And what does she mean she can move those bumps now?!

She definately needs to tell Branch about this later. Debbie who is now better after resting for a bit gets up and nuzzles her before flying off and Poppy waves off the little bat.

She really hopes Barb is doing alright though.

It's been 4 days since the last letter arrived and Poppy has been anxious she knows how it went for her and Branch she could only imagine what pain Barb went through.

Her tail twitching in anxiousness she waits for the sound of Debbie's wings flapping or even her scent to ease her worries. She has been getting used to her heightened senses it has taken some getting used to though,but now she can mostly handle it.

Soon enough her ears twitch and she can hear the familiar sound and she smiles in anticipation but also in worry.

She quickly takes the letter from the bat who decides to lay in her hair to rest. She uses her claws to tear open the letter and begins to read it.

Day 4

'Alright so I know somethings up cause from that encyclopedia your boyfriend gave me I think somethings different is happening to me right now.

Cause my fingertips are bright red and they feel weird, they don't really hurt they actually feel more numb than anything and they feel more.....hard than anything else. They look like claws they are pointed but unlike yours they sure don't retract or anything like that.

I dig em tho they look cool and I bet I could perform some even more sick rifts with these things!

Well that's all oh and I checked the mirror and yeah my pupils are definately slits now and those bumps are continuing to grow ugh its starting to become hard to wear shirts anymore

Anyways that's all later

Poppy tilts her head "Hmmm?" So looks like rock troll claws are different compared to pop troll claws very good information to know. She begins to read day 5's entry

Day 5

So I now have full on claws on my hands so that's cool. Oh also it seems I don't really have paws compared to you two they are more hand like than paw like.

Anywho got those pads growing on my feet now again I don't have any on my toes just the bottom of my feet feels weird ngl

But that's all for now I have to cut holes in my shirts for those bumps tho my dad knows what they are but he won't tell me he just says I will like how they will turn out whatever that means

Laterz

Poppy is now more curious as to what Barb will look like but now she is dreading the next days entry that's when it's at its worst. Bracing herself she continues on.

Day 6

That's it

She blinks once twice and rereads it. "Ow? Just ow?" She asks outloud. THAT DOESNT GIBE ANY CONTEXT AS TO WHAT HAPPENED WHAT DOES SHE MEAN OW?!

Her ears lower as she tries to figure out just what Barb meant by 'ow'. That one word alone could mean so many things. Did she get didigrade legs like her and Branch? Did something else happen?

She is left with those thoughts as Debbie flies off back home. She takes the letter and heads back to her pod. She just hopes Barb is alright, she knew what she was signing up for when she ate that fruit but still. She goes to sleep hoping everything will be alright.

It's the next day and Poppy was still busy preparing stuff for Bridget's wedding when her ears perk up and she hears the sound of a angler bus approaching. Looking up she sees it descend and it opens up revealing....Barb and her new self and wow she looks so cool.

Branch who heard the angler bus too heads over to where Poppy is and gapes at Barb. She grins showing off her sharp teeth and jumps down from the angler bus.

"Whats up guys ya like my new look?" She grins as the two take in her appearance. Her fur wasn't as long as theirs for sure but still there. The ends of her fingers have turned into bright red claws and a dark red pawpad was on the palm of her hand.

The same thing goes for her toes as they too have been turned into claws along with her new digigrade legs. Her tail sways behind her,it was the same color as her fur with a bright red line of fur going from the base to near the end of the tip of her tail which is now shaped like a arrow. Her slit pupils look over the two as she gazes their reactions.

"Oh my gosh Barb you look so cool!"Poppy gushes as she looks her over. "If you think this is cool check these out!" She says and turns around showing off "Are those wings?!" Branch exclaims as he looks at the two wings that were folded against Barbs back. They were the same color as her fur with the inside being a bright red.

"Yep our ancestors had wings and such,don't know why we don't know cause these are so cool!" She tells them as her tail wags and the wings give a little flap.

"I honestly can't imagine having wings having a tail is weird enough but even more limbs and appendages? Yeah no" Branch says shuddering at the thought of having wings.

"Can you fly with them?" Poppy asks curiously. "Yep sure can but only for a very short time before I'm exhausted,trust me it's not as easy as you think it took me hours to try and just get off the ground" Barb complains.

"But yeah I'm liking the new look don't regret eating that thing. So you guys want to go hang and do some crazy stuff?" Barb asks with a feral grin. "Uh yeah!" Poppy agree with her tail wagging in excitement. "Uh Poppy maybe we shouldnt?" Branch says a bit apprehensive. "Alright then chicken we will leave you out of this" Barb says intentionally annoying Branch who grumbles before joining the two as they go out and have some fun in their new bodies and to help Barb get used to her new self.

For rock trolls it goes

Stage 1 fur

Stage 2 fangs and teeth

Stage 3 pawpads

Stage 4 claws

Stage 5 pawpads on feet

Stage 6 toes turn into claws and legs become digigrade

Stage 7 tail grows

And throughout this entire process wings are slowly growing out of the trolls back they allow the troll to fly but only for very short periods and then the troll will have to rest for a bit

Here she is (I tried guys I really did)

#trolls #trolls 2 #trolls 3 #branch #poppy #broppy #return to origin #barb #queen barb

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ingravinoveritas · 11 months

Note

Hello! I hope you are doing fine! I am *definitely* going to add to you overflowing askbox, so I apologise in advance.... (I didn't know where to post this, and I seriously don't know how to feel about this post)

Hi there! I...wow. Okay, I clearly turned off my Anons just in time, or at the worst possible time (I'm not sure which). But this was a hell of a thing to see first thing this morning, and after seeing the notes on that post, I think this person was right to send this question via a throwaway account, because they knew they would get flamed for it.

First of all, whether or not this person should have even asked Neil this question is entirely up for debate. GO season 2 is done, it's in the can and about to be released, so it's not as if there is anything Neil can do about Peter and Ty being in it. I can also understand Neil likening this person's concern about the casting to people saying prior to GO season 1 that it was a huge mistake to cast Michael and David. I could see him equating the two, in his mind, and feeling like this is déjà vu all over again and thusly responding from that vantage.

However...I'm really at a loss as to his opening sentence, in which he describes the person's question as "creepy." I've read and reread the person's question multiple times, and for my part, I did not think there was anything creepy about this question. The person seemed to take great care in asking it--especially with English not being their first language--and did not make any threats toward anyone, nor say anything inappropriate (again, as far as I could tell). This leads me to think that Neil very deliberately used that word, setting the stage for and tacitly encouraging what he alluded to but did not say aloud--that this person is silly and stupid for asking a seemingly harmless question and deserves to be treated accordingly.

There was one part of the person's question that Neil homed in on (and that seems to be a common refrain in the notes and on Twitter), which was that this person cannot separate the characters from the actors, nor tell fiction from reality. Yet I also did not get this feeling from their question, and was taken aback by Neil seemingly twisting around what the person was actually trying to say. The specific focus on this part of the question also seemed to serve the purpose of steering discussion away from the heart of the person's question, which was about nepotism. And it's here, at this particular point, that Neil's response does not really seem to stand up to scrutiny.

First of all, the comment about "a season that hasn't even been commissioned in parts that haven't been written" is disingenuous at best, as not even a week ago, it was Neil himself who said that Georgia was offered a part in season 2. So this is not really a hypothetical concern, as Georgia actually was offered a part. I also thought it was interesting that Neil conveniently did not mention the bonus episode of Sandman, in which both Georgia and Anna had voice roles in scenes with their respective partners. So again, not a hypothetical, but something that actually previously happened. And in both these cases, it does not seem that an audition was required, but rather that the roles were offered to Georgia and AL because they happened to be there/it simplified things since Sandman was recorded during Covid times.

Another thing that has been overlooked was David himself at the Basingstoke Comic Con this past weekend being asked about his favorite scene in GO 2. After mentioning that his son is in the scene, David also says his father-in-law (Peter) is in the show. The interviewer then asks, "And your wife and your neighbor?" to which David's response is "They are not in it, but it’s a sore point, so don’t dwell on it." I thought that was an interesting choice of words, because if everything involving offering Georgia a part did go exactly the way Neil described, why would it be a sore point? If Georgia researched the role and had absolutely no compunction about turning it down, why would she be annoyed or upset? It seems like something small, I know, but it just makes me question some of the things we're being told.

In terms of Peter and Ty's roles, I do understand that Peter is a fixture on the acting landscape in the UK, so I fully get Neil offering him a part, but I find his answer regarding Ty to be extremely dubious, at best. Neil and David have been friends since 2017--so, six years now--and is he truly expecting us to believe that he has no idea what David's son looks like? Even if they haven't had occasion to meet in person, does it really make sense that David would have never shown him a picture? Especially given how he beams with pride when talking about Ty and his accomplishments. Also, I realize the days of traditional audition tapes are long gone, but does it seem at all plausible that Neil wouldn't have seen Ty's name on the clip he watched, or that if he'd seen the name "Ty Tennant," it wouldn't have rung a bell?

But rather than address any of this, Neil--for reasons I can only begin to guess--decided to respond to this person as condescendingly and dismissively as possible. The bit about "shattered the fragile illusion and revealed to people that the David Tennant and Michael Sheen who play Crowley and Aziraphale are actors" was beyond insulting (as if we don't know that Michael and David are actors?), but what really grates my cheese is the fact that it opened the door to people in the notes accusing people who have had concerns about these issues of being "in an echo chamber." I would argue that the people who are somehow not aware of these concerns are the ones actually living in an echo chamber, because there has been a LOT of talk about this ever since Neil shared that cropped photo two months ago. (Also, I am aware that a combined 146 votes is by no mean a representative sample of an entire fandom, but if the results of the two polls I recently posted are any indication, a lot of people seem ambivalent (in the case of Ty and Peter) or outright against (in the case of Georgia and AL) these casting choices.)

Overall, I would say that I am deeply disappointed in this type of response from someone I've always thought was a brilliant writer and a really cool guy. I fully acknowledge that Neil can say whatever he wants, of course, but it's really strange to me that someone who has been so tight-lipped and "wait and see" about everything GO 2 up until now is suddenly delving into details. For months, Neil gave no answers regarding a trailer or character names or even a crumb of plot, so I'm just downright confused as to why these particular questions merited an answer. Neil could've even simply said, "Your concern is noted and appreciated, but everything is fine", or not answered this question at all (which I think probably would've been the better route), but instead, he went the way he did, and here we are.

So those are pretty much my thoughts on this whole thing. I am still looking forward to GO season 2, but this has definitely colored my perceptions to a degree. I guess we'll see what happens...

#yami-no-kokoro #reply post #good omens 2 #neil gaiman #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #georgia tennant #peter davison #ty tennant #trying to provide a balanced perspective #i know there could be some tone or connotation with the person's question that i am missing that makes it 'creepy'#so please feel free to let me know if that is the case #though i am doubtful #also a response like this seems like a really good way to alienate fans/viewers #not a good look #fandom woes #discourse

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supernovafics · 1 year

Text

✧∘ଂ ࿐ ཾ 𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑽𝑬'𝑺 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑷𝑶𝑵𝑺𝑬. ✭・.・✫・゜・

pairing: ex-bestfriend!steve x fem!reader

word count: 1.1k words

warnings: explicit language

series masterlist | last part — next part

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕. 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊’𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕. ❞

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Dear Y/N,

I can’t believe

I don’t know

This is

Wow, this is hard. I don’t know how you did this.

It’s crazy difficult to express in actual words how surprised I was when I saw these letters. I swear I’ve reread them all at least three times now before I started writing this.

With the way everything abruptly ended between us, a part of me just never expected to hear from you ever again. Although I definitely always wanted to.

First, I wanna say that I don’t hate you and I could never hate you. Even though you pushed me away and I was upset with you for a while, I still never hated you.

Instead, I’ve found myself missing you a lot too, and I also always think about you in the most random of moments, but I could never muster up the courage to actually call or reach out either. Mainly because of everything that’s been happening here.

I always think about you when something fucked up happens, and a part of me feels glad that you left because I know you’re safe and doing well in California. (I’ve also asked my mom about you a lot too)

And since I know that you’re okay, I thought that if I ever did reach out to you it would just pull you into everything that’s happening here, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I let that happen.

But then, at the same time, I’m so fucking glad that you sent these.

I haven’t moved past everything that happened, and although I tried to, especially after that party for my dad, which now almost feels like a different lifetime, I could never fully move on or forget about you and what we had.

You’re right, our friendship really was different from other ones. Back in middle school and then high school, you were the only person that I felt like I could talk to about absolutely anything, no matter how stupid it was. And although we haven’t talked in forever, you still are one of the most important people to me.

And as much as you wanna solely blame yourself for everything that happened, I think a lot of it is also my fault too.

Because yes, you pushed me away, but I kinda let you do it.

I could’ve tried harder. I could’ve tried harder to get you to talk to me. Especially that night of the Christmas party. I really regret not waiting outside the bathroom door until you were ready to talk about it all, instead of just leaving and kind of letting you go.

And, in a way, it’s kinda refreshing to now know that you were scared and that’s why you pushed me and our friendship away because I was scared too. It never once crossed my mind that you had feelings for me, and when you kissed me and then told me that you did that was so surprising. Mainly because I didn’t think you’d ever wanna end up with someone like me. In my head, I was almost certain that you’d go off to college, somewhere much cooler than Indiana, and meet and end up with a smarter, slightly older guy that actually knew what he wanted to do with his life; pretty much the complete opposite of me.

That first time I tried to talk to you a few days after everything happened, I think I was gonna tell you exactly that. That you didn’t really like me, and that there was no way that you could, because you could easily do so much better than me. And maybe that’s even still true now, I don’t know, I’m not sure, probably.

Those few weeks before you left were some of the most confusing weeks of my entire life. I constantly replayed our last conversation in my head, and how I wished it could’ve ended differently. I also wished that I could look inside your mind and know exactly what you were thinking and feeling about everything.

And it wasn’t really until the weeks after you left that it all kind of finally fell into place for me. I missed you a lot, so much more than a best friend would, and I always thought about you, and the fact that your old house and that small-ass playground were empty made me so fucking sad. Whenever I was with Nancy, I wanted to be with you, and it was probably insanely obvious how much I was pining for you.

I regretted not saying goodbye to you and I felt so shitty about not doing so. There were so many moments during those first few months that you were gone that I almost said fuck it and bought a plane ticket to California because I wanted to tell you what I was feeling and then kiss you again and it not get interrupted by either of us getting scared or nervous.

Of course, none of that happened because, at the same time, I didn’t know what was going on with you, and there were so many times when I almost called you to find out but didn’t. So, more weeks passed and then months, and then my dad’s stupid party came around and you were there.

Even though so much time had passed and we hadn’t talked in what felt like forever, I still wanted to tell you everything I had been feeling for the past year. But, then I didn’t, because you seemed so happy when talking about what was going on with you in California and your boyfriend.

And you’re completely right, all of the awkwardness and unfamiliar small talk between us that night did make it feel like our friendship was truly over, and that we couldn’t go back to how it was.

But even after that, there was still a part of me that wanted us to somehow fix everything we had and go back to that friendship. I thought you didn’t want to, though, because you seemed so happy with your life in California and so far past us and our friendship.

It’s kinda funny and also sad now knowing that wasn’t the case. So, of course, I wanna talk to you again, and hopefully, we can go back to something. Anything, really.

And as much I really love the letters and I would not hate it if we kept doing this, please call me. I really wanna hear your voice.

Love,

Steve

p.s. it’s not at all surprising to hear that you’re a film major, you’re meant for that. i’ve actually been working at a video store here. and yes, my movie taste is still shit but i was still able to get the job.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

next part

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington smut #steve harrington angst #steve harrington fic #steve harrington series #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #stranger things fluff #stranger things fic #stranger things smut #stranger things imagine

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butterflydm · 1 year

Text

wot reread: towers of midnight (chapter 8-13)

spoilers for towers of midnight

1. Hmm, we open this Mat chapter with him pondering over the (still-sealed) letter that Verin left him and admiring the beauty of the female tavernkeeper (quickly slapping a “but I’m married” bandaid over his admiration). Strike two.

2. I genuinely am very curious about what notes might have been left behind about Mat (and Mat’s marriage) because... from Sanderson’s other writing, this doesn’t feel like an idea he would have necessarily come up with on his own? He admits that he’s a bit of a prude and his main go-to ‘romance’ route in his own books is “wow this arranged marriage is working out surprisingly well!”. So I’m really curious if post-marriage horndog!Mat was noted somewhere in the stuff Jordan left behind. And I’m keeping track of the moments because I want to see how much of a pattern it ends up being over the course of the ~post-marriage~ books.

I am also going to keep track of whether or not Mat notes any specific qualities about ~absent wifey~ that he likes and, if he does, if those qualities are things that we’ve witnessed her actually showing at any point.

3. Also, just to note: while Mat is trying to remind himself that he’s married, his ~wife~ is engaging in hostile combat actions against his friends, and will be enslaving forty Aes Sedai and killing an additional unknown number of Aes Sedai, Warders, and people who live and work in Tar Valon. But, you know, it’s her empire that’s his enemy, not her.

(that line really is... the sad thing is that line is actually great out of context but, wow, it makes absolutely ZERO sense in terms of Mat’s actual relationship with ~Fortuona~. It’s such a bonkers delusional line for Mat to have said at any point during their relationship as it exists in the books. It really does feel like Jordan thought up that line first and then never got around to actually writing a relationship that could live up to its sentiment but jammed it in anyway because he couldn’t let it go even though it didn’t fit with the relationship as-written. But leaving it in really makes Mat come across as extremely reality-denying in terms of his relationship. And, hey, maybe that was what Jordan was going for, idk)

4. Verin is betting here that Mat’s curiosity is stronger than his desire to stay away from Aes Sedai plans, but she doesn’t know that the narrative has spent the last few books beating his curiosity and critical thinking out of him and turning his irrational dislike of Aes Sedai up to bizarrely high levels so that he’s willing to make out with a slaver. Verin should have just ALSO shared the info in the letter with Egwene when she was with her, but it was Verin’s turn to hold the Idiot Ball of Making The Plot Happen, so she did not (honestly, either Mat reading the letter or Verin telling Egwene the contents of the letter would also have saved us a bunch of time in the story).

5. More of weird fey creature Mat here, who acts like he is bound by his Oaths in a bizarre metaphysical way, instead of him just reluctantly keeping his word because he’s a good man. Like... you haven’t sworn on the Oath Rod, Mat. If whatever Verin is telling you to do actually goes against your morals just... break your word. You were willing to do it when it came to the Seanchan Oaths, because an oath under duress is not binding, and you seemed to be aware of that back during WH. The whole “you must follow your oaths to the letter even if they lead you into immoral acts” belief is NOT honorable. But this ties back into the way that Jordan had Mat acting with Tuon in CoT & KoD -- the logic of going “because she’s ~my wife~ (by Seanchan law), I am ~legally/morally obligated~ to support and protect her, no matter what evil deeds she may choose to commit and no matter how much she might be hurting other people”.

So now keeping his promises is about Mat operating by Fey Rules of Literally Obeying His Word, rather than keeping his promises because he’s a good person despite his protests. Because a good man wouldn’t support and protect a slaver, so Jordan had to throw away the part of Mat that was a good man in order for Mat x Tuon to ‘work’. But then (this ties back to horndog!Mat), it also leads to it feeling like Mat doesn’t cheat on Tuon right now only because it might break his Mystical Fey Creature Oaths rather than him actually feeling any personal inclination towards being a faithful husband.

6. At the start of this chapter, Mat thought to himself that he wouldn’t give Melli his ~best smile~ on account of him being a married man and... well, guess what he does only two pages later? Yep, gives her his best smile that he personally believes melts women’s hearts. Two pages! Also, he thinks that he’s Not Allowed to stare at her lips (because he’s married) even as he’s calculating the precise fullness of said lips that he’s Definitely Not staring at, lol.

7. Mat notices a pretty serving girl and tips her a coin for her smile. For, um. For Thom’s sake. lol. Strike three. Technically, Mat is already out, but I will continue to count strikes.

8. lol, the bouncer at the tavern, Berg, is as dubious about Mat’s future faithfulness to ~his slaver wife~ as I am. Berg gives Mat a suspicious look despite that fact that Mat. This is hilarious. Mat SAT HIM DOWN and talked to him about how he wouldn’t be wooing away the woman that Berg is in a relationship with because Mat is MARRIED NOW. lol, no wonder the man is so suspicious of him! That just sends so many alarm bells ringing. Portrait of a Man In Denial over how unhappy he is about being married.

9. Strike four, Mat notices the golden hair, nice eyes, and full bosom of one of the women he’s gambling with at the next tavern, and tries to convince himself that he doesn’t actually find full breasts incredibly attractive anymore (he noticed Melli’s “ample bosom” only a handful of pages ago so... um, yeah, that’s a boldfaced lie to himself. Sanderson might mention breasts less often than Jordan does but when he does mention them, it’s been in Mat PoV so far). We’re several pages into Mat’s PoV at this point and we’ve mostly focused on him doing his best to pretend he feels no regret over being married and Not Being Allowed to notice all the women that he’s noticing for, um, Talmanes and Thom. He also tries to give his fellow gambler one of his heart-fluttering smiles (that he said at the start of the chapter he wouldn’t give out anymore on account of being ~a married man~) and tries to pretend that he isn’t disappointed when she doesn’t react.

10. Anyway, the plot important thing that happens here is that Mat finds out that the gholam is in Caemlyn (people found with their throats ripped out). That finally draws him out of his depressed-over-being-married funk.

11. We learn that he’s sent a letter to Elayne and gotten no reply and he’s actually QUITE worked up over it, and over the fact that Elayne has never so much as kissed him on the cheek to thank him for saving her life. And it’s an interesting change that his internal objection here doesn’t end up being “but of course I wouldn’t want Elayne to kiss me because I’m a married man” but is instead “I don’t want royalty to kiss me” which sends him down a spiral of thinking about how he’s trapped into the Seanchan nobility now. Hmm. Interesting. Anyway, that’s strike five.

12. Mat does bring up three positive qualities of Tuon here (that aren’t related to whether or not he’s capable of being attracted to her: as we’ve just been witnessing, Mat is capable of being attracted to the majority of female characters in the books, so physical attraction is fairly irrelevant here):

a. good at stones: verified true

b. keen of wit: no textual evidence that this is true

c. ‘good for talking to’: negative textual evidence that this is true; most of Mat’s conversations with her in CoT & KoD seemed to end up in frustration or unpleasantness (he even mentions here that she’s frustrating ‘most of the time’), with him thinking on at least one occasion late in KoD about how he hates that she treats him like he’s her property

So... we’re at 33% Verified True on Mat’s accuracy scale of Tuon’s Good Qualities, 33% Just Lying To Himself, and 33% is a question mark.

(though I would argue Tuon’s lack of insight or critical thinking in her own PoV chapters argues against her being ~keen of wit~, unless Mat just means she’s good at puns or something, which is also not in evidence. I suspect this is more of an Informed Attribute, where the author(s) hope that just repeating over and over that Tuon has a keen wit will make people believe she does even if she never does anything to prove it).

13. Mat feels guilt over leaving Tylin tied up for the gholam to kill back in Ebou Dar. Tylin’s relationship to Mat really does feel like it’s married so tightly to Tuon’s relationship with Mat, a transfer of ~ownership~ in a horrible gross way. Tylin’s abuse of Mat is what kept him in the situation he was in when he met Tuon, and Tylin’s abuse of Mat really does feel like it foreshadows the way that Tuon treats Mat as well, which is definitely a Bad Omen for his future.

14. Awww, for all that Mat was negatively thinking about royalty earlier, he thinks here about how the right Queen is now on the throne of Andor (with the emphasis Mat’s!).

15. Strike six. Mat sees a stately older woman in the inn where Thom is performing and thinks about how he’ll keep her in mind for later. Hastily adding ~for his men~ onto his thoughts. He tells Thom about the gholam and they leave for Mat’s camp.

16. Mat thinks with frustration about how Bayle Doman and Leilwin née Egeanin no longer have any affection for him (it’s because you’re married to a slaver and they have rejected the empire; hope this helps). We also get a reminder about the holes in his memory (foggy patches from when he picked up the dagger in Shadar Logoth until when he was healed of it in TDR).

17. Mat comes across as pretty desperate for validation & affection here (specifically from people that he already knows and respects). That’s really standing out to me -- he thought about it a lot in the last book too, about how much he wanted Joline, Teslyn, & Edesina to be grateful to him for saving their lives. He thinks the same here about Elayne, and about Doman and Leilwin née Egeanin. And he doesn’t want to think about how his own actions (being abrasive towards Elayne & co; picking the slavers over the slaves) might have made people turn away from him or think less of him. Save someone once, and it shouldn’t matter how you behave in the future, right? (wrong) It’s also interesting how the clear loyalty of his soldiers doesn’t scratch that itch for him at all. Maybe because he attributes that to the memories in his head and his luck rather than himself as a person?

18. When Mat claims to Thom that he’s a good judge of character, he gets a very doubtful raised eyebrow back. Thom’s relationship with Mat in the last few books has been... honestly, somewhat weird. I almost wonder... we haven’t gotten any Thom PoV for quite a long time, I don’t think, so I wonder if Thom is just masking his actual feelings about Mat because he knows that he needs Mat in order to rescue Moiraine. Because, for the most part, Thom has just avoided Having Opinions about the mess that is Mat’s life and choices, despite the fact that Thom is (supposedly) fond enough of an Aes Sedai that he’s desperate to rescue her from captivity, and also deeply fond of Elayne and friends with Juilin. Is Thom playing Mat the way that Mat was playing the Tairen nobles at the start of TSR? Letting himself appear to be a non-critical buddy because there’s something that he wants out of Mat? I will have to keep an eye out to see if Thom shows any affection towards/inclination to hang out with Mat AFTER Moiraine gets rescued and he doesn’t need Mat anymore. Thom is, after all, one of the best players of Daes Dae’mar in the series, we are told.

19. Mat talks to Teslyn here, internally noting that she has lost most of the “nervous skittishness” that she’d picked up when she was enslaved as damane. He likes Teslyn, he thinks, but he does not trust her. Despite Teslyn never doing a single thing to breach his trust, unlike SOME people that I could name. Ah! There are rumors in Caemlyn about the Seanchan assult on the White Tower but (just like he dismissed Tuon’s threats back in CoT/KoD), Mat has dismissed those rumors as just “stories of raken drifting up from the south” (I wonder if I should be keeping track of all of the “Mat Forces Himself Into Willful Denial Over Tuon/the Seanchan’s Evil Choices” moments). Teslyn and the others are planning to leave now to go join the reunited White Tower (which is what most of the rumors talk about).

20. Hmm, Teslyn thanks Mat here for helping her escape the Seanchan but then she talks with him about the importance of maintaining “illusions with yourself”. I actually did wonder, when I was doing my reread of CoT & KoD, if Teslyn’s patience with Mat, even when he was being a complete asshole, was due to her seeing how much he was lying to himself to try to make himself accept his fate. I think I may have been right on that. And she gives him an escape route, if he looks for it in the future -- that if he ever decides to seek out the White Tower, he has a friend there willing to help him. Considering that she knows that he’s married to a slaver (one who actively tried to re-enslave her personally), that is a HUGE offer. A way out of his trap with the Seanchan -- protection at the White Tower. And Mat, who has been desperate for validation since the start of TGS is now “feeling as unsettled as if someone had kicked his legs out from under him”. Teslyn has also, in this one conversation, shown him more kindness than Tuon has shown in their entire relationship. So... Mat has at least one place to run to now, if he runs away from ~Fortuona~ post-canon. Teslyn has seen the worst of him and extends him this offer anyway, so he knows that she won’t turn him away if he comes to her for help. This conversation is SO good. Mat is thrown so off-balance by Teslyn’s kindness and genuine care for him.

21. *sigh* I really wish that Mat were caring more about Nalesean and the Redarms being murdered by the gholam than about Tylin’s murder. I do understand why -- because Mat feels responsible for her death in a way that he doesn’t for Nalesean’s -- but... ugh, kinda sucks that his guilt over Tylin’s death is now the biggest part of how he feels about Tylin, given how much misery and pain she caused Mat when she was alive. Not necessarily... incorrect, in terms of how people’s brains can work in this sort of situation, but it does suck. Anyway, Mat is now the prime object of the gholam’s attention, having been sent to personally murder him (likely by Moridin, I would assume?). Teslyn saves his life during this fight btw, using the Power to pull him back before the gholam can kill him (she can do this because he took his medallion off to fight it). Five people were successfully killed by the gholam in this attack before it runs away (it has been ordered to try to avoid too much attention).

23. Oddly, Tuon is one of the people that the gholam threatens to kill. Honestly, I feel like it would have been smarter for the Shadow to court the Seanchan/Tuon instead of going against them, since ~Fortuona~ is already so hostile to Aes Sedai. But the Shadow cannot always make smart moves, I guess. The gholam doesn’t threaten to kill Olver but does threaten Tuon, Thom, and Noal. Given that it apparently got its information from a Redarm that it killed a few days ago or from observing Mat’s camp, you’d think that Olver would be on the list either way (and it really makes no sense that Tuon would be on the list? She hasn’t been traveling with Mat for at least a month at this point).

I suspect that the general reader is supposed to care that Tuon is under risk of assassination? But it’s baffling to me as to WHY I should care when she literally JUST had her people assault the White Tower, kidnapping and enslaving forty women and most likely also killing more people than that in total. The narrative has never given me a good reason why I should care about whether or not Tuon gets assassinated besides “vague marriage prophecy bs”. The narrative has never shown that Tuon is actually a better candidate for empress for the Westlands Seanchan than some other random High Blood would be, as long as they aren’t a Darkfriend like Suroth; it just wants us to assume that she is. Her behavior has been just as horrible as any other High Blood’s. Why should I believe she’s a better choice as empress than the next High Blood down in rank? We have never been given a reason.

Now, if Tuon had had even a single ounce of positive character development during the circus storyline, then this would be an entirely different ballgame! But she not only didn’t, she has actively doubled-down on her fear and hatred of ‘marath’damane’.

So, yeah... why on earth should I be invested in Mat wanting to save her life? The narrative never gives me a reason to believe she’s capable of becoming a worthy leader of people. She’s petty, arrogant, and cruel. Basically, a younger version of Elaida with even more power and less self-awareness than Elaida ever had.

24. Note that I do not consider Mat acknowledging Joline as pretty to be a strike against his marriage because it’s not him noticing with any kind of intent that he then tries to pretend doesn’t exist -- he genuinely does not find her an appealing temptation at this point, due to their personal history (though said negative history is pretty much entirely Mat’s fault #JolineDeservedBetter).

25. Ah, Perrin and the others have arrived by the statue that Rand told Nynaeve about back in TGS, so I’m guessing that Tam will be leaving soon to go get nearly killed by his son. Anyway, Perrin and Galad meet here face to face and agree to have their armies fight each other. So... that’s going... well?

26. ELAYNE! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

27. Trying to figure out a way to get the Andoran nobles to actually unite before the Last Battle rather than squabbling for power, Elayne decides that it’s time to claim the Sun Throne. Hmm, I do feel like Sanderson’s more casual style of narration is more pronounced here with Elayne than it’s been with the other characters. All off a sudden, it just feels like the narration is in a hurry, almost more like an outline than prose.

28. Ah, we learn that the reason that Elayne never responded to Mat’s first letter is that she never received it. Her secretary, Master Norry, dismissed Mat as just another leader of a mercenary band, which is why he was granted a space outside the city but no audience with Elayne. He does give her Mat’s second letter, telling her that the captain of this mercenary band is being particularly persistent. Elayne is keeping all these mercenary bands around because they will likely be needed for the Last Battle because, unlike Perrin, SHE isn’t a FOOL.

29. Reading the letter (which does have a lot of misspellings, etc in it, but Mat also mentions that he was planning on rewriting it to be pretty if Thom would have stopped laughing at him) gives Elayne ALL the emotions as she realizes that Mat and Thom (and maybe Olver) are alive and have escaped from Ebou Dar. Mat mentions here that he thinks Elayne’s ass is pretty but also that he barely looked because he knows that she would have kicked his ass and also he’s married w/e, which I feel like should count as strike seven even though it’s Elayne again, because Mat has an emotional attachment to Elayne that he doesn’t have to the more random women that he’s Noticing all over the place, but I’ll only count it as an additional tenth of the point and say he’s at strike six-point-one. Birgitte, upon reading the letter, mentions that Mat also has a nice ass, so I guess she was Looking in Ebou Dar.

Confirmed nice butts:

Elayne & Mat (here in ToM)

Aviendha & Rand (in TFoH)

Probably Min too, I guess

Mat being so worked up over Elayne not responding to his first letter actually makes me wonder if he deliberately put in things into this second letter to try to make her react, if only to fuss at him or tell him off -- telling her she has a nice ass, telling her that he’s married. Because he assumes that she did read his first letter and actively chose not to meet with him.

30. Elayne tells Norry to arrange a meeting with Mat immediately and to tell him to make sure to bring Thom as well. She also begins to think about how Mat and the Band could potentially be useful for bringing Cairhien to her. We get some more insight into her reasoning here as well -- after Rand dies, Andor is one of the biggest potential targets for the Seanchan empire to the south, and they cannot afford for it to merely be part of ~the Dragon’s Empire~ that will potentially fall into chaos after his death. She needs to do strong nation-building NOW, before the Last Battle, to try to make sure it will survive after the Last Battle. “The woman in her cringed to think of planning for Rand’s death, but the Queen could not be so squeamish.” She notes that, as far away from Rand as she currently is, all she ever feels from him these days is a cold anger. Don’t worry, Elayne. Min was literally right there with him and that’s all she ever seemed to be able to sense too.

But this is actually very similar to how Rand wanted to make sure that Arad Doman chose its own king to avoid falling into chaos after his death in the Last Battle, so Elayne and Rand manage to be on the same wavelength even if they are still cruelly separated by the narrative. This is one of the things that @markantonys and I strongly agree on: that a big part of the reason Elayne and Rand are separated for so long is because Elayne is the one person who could have helped Rand with his rulership struggles as an trained leader who understands the issues and understands that you NEED to be ruthless sometimes (but also understands when not to be ruthless).

31. With Elayne, we were still pre-epiphany but when we jump to Min’s PoV, it is decidedly post, as she can feel warmth in the bond and not just Rand’s cold anger.

32. “Alanna didn’t often reveal her intimate connection to the Dragon Reborn.” lol, except for all the Wise Ones, in order to wiggle out of punishments. And all the Aes Sedai, to try to establish precedence. Except for that. Anyway, she’s disappeared from her rooms in the Stone of Tear.

33. When Cadsuane and Min point out that Cadsuane cares that Alanna is missing because she’s a ~tool~ to use on Rand, Nynaeve says that Alanna is “no more helpful” to Cadsuane than Min. So... she tells Cadsuane everything and obeys her frequently? Why is the narrative trying to pretend that Min isn’t constantly helping out Cadsuane? It literally just happened again at the end of TGS! She’s been obediently telling all her viewings to Cadsuane for her to dissect! Nynaeve was IN THE ROOM when this was happening! Or is this meant to reflect Nynaeve’s own distorted view of Min?

34. oh, lol, when Min reacts to Rand arriving in the bond, her Maiden ‘guards’ promptly abandon her and race off to find Rand. So, I guess the Min-Maiden relationship is still... not great, lol.

35. Rand shows up and I really dislike that all of this new!Rand is filtered through outside PoVs. It makes it hard for me to emotionally relate with zen!Rand because I can’t see his interior world. This is also a place where the timeline fuzziness kinda hits the worst, because we’re going right from cold!Rand in Elayne’s bond to warm!Rand in Min’s bond. Moving Rand’s epiphany further back in this set of books would help with that. Min actually panics for a moment, upon seeing Rand, because his eyes look older and he doesn’t seem familiar. “Had the Rand she loved been stolen away, replaced by some ancient force of a man she could never know or understand?” Hmm.

And then he smiles and she does recognize him -- responding to her panic in the bond, maybe?

36. I will, uh, note that Rand did not go directly to Min when he arrived in Tear. Just gonna quietly note that down. He waited for her to find him.

37. He talks to Rhuarc (and the assembled Aiel, including the Maidens) and tells them that he knows that he has toh to them and that he is prepared to meet it. And Rand finally seems to have his relationship with the Maidens back (with Min still baffled at the interactions between Rand and the Aiel).

38. It actually seems clear here (even filtered through Min) that Rand is still somewhat of a boiling pot, though the wound has been lanced. But now he really FEELS the pain over Lan heading towards Tarwin’s Gap, when before he was able to numb most of his emotions through the general ice-cold/molten-hot anger that he was constantly repressing with the flame & void. Now he’s feeling again and that can be... difficult. But he’s still rush-rush-rush and talking about potentially dying soon. So it’s clear that there’s complicated stuff going on in his head and we are TRAPPED in Min’s PoV and only get hints of it second-hand through the bond! But he does promise Nynaeve that he will send Lan help.

39. Rand gives Min the mission to find out why Callandor is key to the prophecies. lol, sure, whatever. I guess we have to give Min ~something important~ to do because she doesn’t actually have a plot purpose and hasn’t had one in quite a long while. Hey, if it means she’s actually doing something and not just surgically-attaching herself to Rand at all times, then I guess it’s worth it.

40. Anyway, Rand tells Cadsuane that she succeeded by failing, lol.

41. Min bashing on the nobles for not having a purpose when she only has a job because her boyfriend gave her one, lol.

42. Anyway, Rand lines up the nobles and susses out that Weiramon and Anaiyella are Darkfriends. If I recall correctly, I’d guessed on Weiramon back during my initial read of TPoD (way back when it was first published) so it was very vindicating for me when he was finally called out as a DF lol. I remember feeling vindicated, anyway, lol. Anaiyella was one I could have gone either way on, but it makes sense for Weiramon to have an accomplice. I... don’t mind Rand’s Darkfriend-vision because, yeah, let’s move the plot along, lol. I just, again, wish that it had been pushed towards the end of this book instead. But the talent itself kinda goes along with the other stuff Rand has been saying about how he’s a bright beacon for the Shadow now and cannot avoid TDO’s eyes.

Instead of killing Weiramon and Anaiyella, he sends them off to bring a message to the Shadow that they will no longer be able to hide among his allies.

43. There’s a great moment with Rand and his dad, though I kinda roll my eyes at Min needing a ~very special~ formal introduction to Tam (who she already knows at this point because he’s been hanging around Tear for three days).

Ah, well. If I do my best to ignore Min, lol, I really liked that scene.

I really do wish that we’d had even a tiny bit of Rand PoV, though. It’s very frustrating only seeing him through other people’s eyes.

I feel like this has gotten long enough (I spent... a lot of time talking about Mat, as I’d suspected that I might, lol) so I will end this post here.

#wot reread #towers of midnight #wot #wheel of time #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #mat cauthon #little bit of elayne and rand and perrin

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caroll-in · 1 year

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