#this took about a day to finish and i had a LOOOOOT of fun working on it. oh btw this is a redraw of my favorite medic render [smile]

[angelicfangz]

meet the medic coming out during pride month was NOT a coincidence

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #my art #medic tf2 #tf2 medic #I FINISHED THIS RIGHT ON TIME...its 9 pm over here so i didnt miss the date. HAH. happy 11th to meet the medic ^_^ #this took about a day to finish and i had a LOOOOOT of fun working on it. oh btw this is a redraw of my favorite medic render [smile] #i was gonna draw birds flying around him (like in the render) but i...cannot draw birds. there was an attempt. it did not work out.

[xxdearlybeloved]

Like You Do

Modern!Ragnar x Reader

Summary: You have an interview at Lothbrok Holdings that leads to an opportunity you didn’t see coming.

A/N: This is a self-indulgent 5.7k word fic about falling in love with Ragnar that I had too much fun writing. There is smut, but it’s a LOOOOOT of fluff and sweetness and the tiniest sprinkle of angst. As usual, fuck canon and just join me for the ride!!! Also tagging @kvitravn​ for feeding my Ragnar thirst, I hope this makes you happy!!!!

You didn’t believe the job posting was real and grew even more skeptical when you were phoned for an interview. Everyone wanted to work for the Lothbrok’s, but you had to have the right connections to even hear about the openings. The posting was vague, administrative, but you would do anything to get a foot in the door.

You looked around you, taking in the people as you made your way to reception. The lobby was filled with other anxious interviewees and your heart sank, surely they were more qualified than you were. As you all followed the stern looking woman into a bleak meeting room, she gave you more details about the job. You would be one of the admins for Ragnar Lothbrok. This had to be a joke.

One by one, you were called in to interview. You knew you were overqualified for an admin job, but you hoped your sincerity for the opportunity to learn from one of the greatest minds of your generation would come across. So as your name was called, you swallowed your nerves and confidently strode into the room.

There, sitting next to the stern woman you had been prepared to impress was Ragnar. His eyes connected with yours and you were grateful your feet still carried you to the table. You sat, focusing on the woman who was asking you questions as you felt Ragnar’s eyes on you. You could tell that the woman was unimpressed by the lack of actual administrative work you had done, but you emphasized how you were eager to learn and knew a great opportunity when you saw one.

“Thank you, but I’m afraid we’re looking for someone with different qualifications.” You nodded, standing to leave.

“Thank you for the consideration,” you said before turning to Ragnar. “It was an honor to meet you, truly.” You left and tried to keep the tears inside until you were at least a block away.

That same night, you rallied your friends for a consolatory night out. You had been friends since college, and it was nice that you all still lived in the same city. None of them could believe your story as you downed another whiskey at the club, questioning what the hard work was for if you couldn’t get the opportunities you wanted. “Maybe I should have just been a bottle girl,” you said, watching one go past you to a table further down.

“Is that… is that Ragnar there?” You followed your best friend Macy’s gaze to the table she was mentioning, your eyes immediately connecting with his. You quickly turned around, what joke was the universe playing on you?

“Holy shit, he’s coming over.” You suddenly regretted all the alcohol you’d had, hoping he wouldn’t stop by and that you wouldn’t sound like an idiot if he did. You hoped you still looked as good as you did when you left your house, rarely making it out with your friends anymore as you all had such busy lives.

You watched your friends faces with anticipation and then horror as their eyes settled on something right behind you. No fucking way.

You turned and towering over you was Ragnar Lothbrok, once again in the flesh. You thought you saw a smile in his eyes but that could have just been the flashing lights.

“Nice to see you again,” he said, remembering your name. He probably remembered everyone’s names. You gave him your most dazzling smile before introducing your friends. “You ladies are all very beautiful,” he said, looking over all of them but then resting his eyes on you. You blushed.

“We heard she bombed her interview,” one of your friends yelled over the music. You turned in shock, laughing along with the rest of them as you waited for his reaction. You moved over as he slid in next to you, casually resting a hand around your waist as he leaned in to talk with your friends. What was going on?

“She would have been so bored in that job,” he said, turning to look at you and nearly melting you in the couch you sat on. “It’s just scheduling and rescheduling meetings, she seemed way too smart for that.”

“Oh she is,” another of your friends said. You couldn’t concentrate on the conversation, feeling the heat from his arm through the thin fabric around your waist, trying not to jump every time he shifted around you.

“Well, it was great to meet you all. The drinks are on me tonight,” he said, standing to go. You immediately felt a shiver as the cool air rushed to the space vacated by his arm. You turned to tell him thanks, but he was already gone.

You went about your life, but Ragnar seemed to be everywhere. Not literally, but he was in the news or his name was on an ad for Lothbrok Holdings. The sky reminded you of his eyes and he found his way into your mind as you lay in bed.

The odds were almost impossible that you would see him again. Even slimmer that you would savor his touch. It truly was a gift that you wished you could hold on to forever, but slowly it began to fade like all memories do. After awhile, you could barely distinguish the memory from the dreams.

Then, one day, you felt again like the universe was playing a joke on you yet again. You were eating breakfast, checking your emails for the day when you got one from Ragnar’s admin. You wondered if it was the same one who had recently gotten the job.

It was just as vague as the job description had been, “Please be at this address at 11:45.” You weren’t clear if it was for another interview, but what else could it be? You had less than 36 hours to prepare.

The day went by too fast, but when the night came you were begging for sleep to come. It ignored you. You took off the entire day, catching a couple of hours of sleep before climbing out of bed and getting yourself together.

You opted for a more feminine look, deviating from your usual suit interview look. You’d hoped it wasn’t a mistake, but you remembered the way Ragnar looked at you last time and decided it wasn’t. You’d risk the job if it meant he would look at you like that again.

You arrived at 11:30 and waited, and waited, and waited. You were hungry, having been too anxious to eat earlier. The anxiety had worn off and now you were hoping your stomach wouldn’t rumble through the interview.

At 1:30, you were pissed. You stood to leave, not even bothering to check with the receptionist who hadn’t come to check on you once over the past two hours. You heard her calling after you but you were already out of the door. You were around the block when your phone rang. You didn’t recognize the number, but something told you to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Ragnar,” he said. You could hear people talking at him through the phone. “Please come back, I’ll be done soon”

“Where are you going?” You stopped walking, holding the phone close to your ear like that would make the voice more real.

“Who is this?” You knew who it was.

“It’s been two hours,” you said, more harshly than you meant. You were very hungry.

“Where are you going?” he asked again, hushing the people around him.

“To get food, Mr. Lothbrok. Maybe we can reschedule? You seem occupied.”

“Tell Clarice where you’re going and I’ll meet you there,” he said, transferring you before you had a chance to respond.

You were done with your food before he showed up, spotting you in the crowd and ignoring the ogles along the way. It seemed like he only had eyes for you.

He was breathless as he sat down. You had the urge to reach out and calm him, but you resisted.

“I’m sorry,” he began, calling over the waiter who was there immediately. He ordered and then turned the full force of his eyes on you. “My meeting ran long. We had some… unexpected events”

“It’s fine,” you said, taking a sip of water. You were suddenly very thirsty. “We can reschedule the interview”

“Interview,” he said, confused. “What interview?”

Now it was your turn to be confused. “At 11:45?”

“Did she say it was an interview?” he said, shaking his head. “I had asked her to schedule lunch with you.” As if they’d heard his words, the food appeared in front of them.

“Lunch? Why?”

“I wanted to see you again,” he said, his eyes fully focused on you again. You swore you would crumble under the weight of them.

You watched as he arranged his plate and began eating, finally catching your breath without the weight of his eyes on you.

“So this isn’t about a job?” you said, just to be clear.

“Do you need one?” he asked, smirking at you. “I’m sure we have something available, this lunch is on me so don’t worry about that”

You couldn’t help but smile, your brain still processing having lunch with Earl Ragnar. Well. Watching him eat his lunch.

It felt like catching up with an old friend. He finished his meal while he told you about the places he had traveled, a few of which you’d had in common. Ragnar was definitely the king of his own world, but you felt like he still longed for others.

The minutes turned into hours. You felt the place empty and you were sure they’d closed for lunch to prep for dinner, but no one came to kick you out. They just politely cleared the table and refilled your drinks.

Ragnar would listen intently when you talked, his whole focus on you. You felt like his eyes could see into your deepest thoughts. Where normally you felt like you had to put up walls, only showing people what you wanted them to see, Ragnar completely annihilated any defense you had.

When he spoke, you were hypnotized. The air felt rarefied and more than once you were tempted to reach out and touch him, just to make sure he was real.

Sooner than you wanted, people returned for an early dinner. You absentmindedly checked your phone when Ragnar excused himself to take a call and were surprised at how much time had passed. One of your friends had texted you an SOS for drink plans, and you were already going to be late since it was across town.

When he returned to the table, you gave him an apologetic smile. Was that sadness in his eyes or had you just imagined it?

You stood to go, watching Ragnar put more money than was needed on the table that you were sure covered 20 more meals. He led you outside, guiding you by the waist as people’s eyes followed you out of the door.

You lingered a little outside, Ragnar’s hand falling from your waist too quickly for you.

“Dinner next time?,” he asked, reaching gently, almost absentmindedly for your hand. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.

You nodded, licking your lips, suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to kiss his.

Time seemed to stop as his hand pulled you closer while the other guided your face to his for a gentle kiss that lasted forever but was over too quickly. Before you could catch your breath, he was around the corner on the way back from where he came.

Traffic had made you 30 minutes late for your friend. You spotted her quickly, her drink half gone and yours with the ice mostly melted. You slid into the booth, already apologizing before you noticed the look on her face.

She was elated.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” she loud whispered, clearly very excited. How could she know already? “It’s on his fan page, ‘Ragnar and mysterious girl have lunch’”

You stared in disbelief at her phone, not aware that anyone had taken pictures. Luckily they were blurry and with your back to them, so you could stay mysterious. You’d hoped no one had taken pictures of them outside.

Ragnar’s romantic history was not a secret. He had a very public divorce with Lagertha and it was an accepted fact that he and Aslaug were divorced in all but name. He had remained relatively under the radar since then, at least romantically, but you couldn’t believe what your eyes were seeing now.

“No one reads these pages,” you said, hoping that would make it less real.

“Well someone does, because I do,” she said, taking her phone back and doing a general Google search. It was already on some major news outlets.

You buried your face in your hands. “It was only lunch, I swear,” you blushed.

She listened as you told her everything. “Do you think you’ll see him again?”

You shrugged. You knew how you felt, but you didn’t know how he did, especially with this very public review of your innocent lunch-that-wasn’t-an-interview. Honestly, who knew?

Dinner was your next date. You had a few days’ notice, which was a blessing and a curse. It allowed you to prepare for it physically, but exhausted you mentally. Your mind went over and over his words. The call had been brief, but still made you smile to think about it.

“Where are we going?” you’d asked, hoping your voice didn’t betray your excitement as you mentally scanned your closet.

He paused and you pictured him scratching his chin as he thought over his response. You wondered if the hair would tickle if he kissed you.

“Some place special,” he replied, and you knew that’s all you were going to get.

“Well then where should I meet you?” you asked playfully incredulous.

“I’ll find you. Be ready at 6.”

“Will you be on time?” you heard yourself ask, immediately regretting your words.

His silence seemed to stretch on forever. “My night belongs to you.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“So am I.”

You were going to run out of vacation if you kept having to take time off to prepare for these dates. You used the afternoon to make sure everything was ready since you couldn’t tell from his words where the night would lead.

When you were done, with the last hour going more quickly than you’d needed, you knew the extra time had been worth it. You felt every bit the seductress he made you feel.

At 5:59 your doorbell rang. You laughed to yourself as you went to open the door.

“Ma’am,” a driver said to you. You were a little disappointed.

“I’ll grab my bag,” you said, going to turn off your lights and taking another quick shot of whiskey to calm your nerves.

Ragnar watched as you followed the driver to the car, looking very much the confident goddess he couldn’t stop thinking about. The driver opened the door and you slid in, your smile brightening as you laid eyes on him.

“Hi,” you said, falling hypnotized in his eyes.

He didn’t say anything, he just reached over, brining his body closer to yours. He moved some of your hair behind your ear, pulling away but still closer than he was before. His proximity set all of your nerves on fire and you just wanted him to touch you again.

He was casually dressed, jeans and a shirt that was simple but not cheap. You couldn’t tell if you were overdressed.

“You look very beautiful,” Ragnar whispered, his eyes fully focused on yours again. You felt yourself leaning into him, letting your fingers trace his beard, then his lips, before your eyes went back to find his watching you.

He moved closer, brining his lips to yours just as softly as he did the first time. Your hand found it’s way to his hair, hoping that would keep him from pulling away too quickly. You felt his mouth open against yours and you let out a shaky breath as your mouths explored each other.

Ragnar broke away to kiss your neck, leaving you to close your eyes and give him greater access. Were your going to make it to dinner?

The car began to slow and you whined as he pulled away, trying to catch your breath before you felt the door open for you.

You were in an alley downtown, which wasn’t exactly what you pictured. Ragnar came around the car and took your hand, waiting patiently as you took in your surroundings. He went to a door and opened it before pulling you inside. It was dimly lit with crates piled high and you wondered if it was one of his warehouses. You walked towards a wall before seeing an elevator.

“Where are we going?” you asked. You knew he was dangerous but surely he wouldn’t bring you through all of this just to kill you.

He didn’t say anything as he smiled, calling and stepping into the elevator. It was one of those industrial elevators, loud and shaky, and you pressed yourself into him for comfort and stability, closing your eyes as you climbed. You went all the way to the top floor, stepping out onto a roof top.

It was completely decorated, a skyrise private bar with an amazing view of Kattegat. You could see the darkness of the water and the lights of the city. You jaw dropped at the gorgeousness of it all. There was staff waiting with drinks. A few other people were there but none of them looked twice at the two of you.

Ragnar took two drinks, handing one to you before taking your hand and leading you to a table. He smiled as you looked around in awe.

“This place is amazing,” you said, taking a seat and smiling as he opted to sit next to you instead of across from you. The lighting was dim and the chairs felt like sitting on a cloud.

“It’s one of my favorite places in the city,” he said. You could easily see why.

The food came while you talked. He explained how he found this place and used it for whenever he wanted to get out but didn’t want to be bothered. Only a few people knew about it, and you felt honored to be one of them.

“Are you trying to hide me?” you joked, desperately wanting him to address what you both had yet to talk about.

He looked at you, not answering your question. It made your heart race. Was he trying to hide you? You could understand, you barely knew each other. But what wasn’t he saying?

Your heart began to fall a little as you realized that he wasn’t going to answer your question. You closed your eyes, putting your head back and listening to the music. You felt Ragnar’s hand on your waist, his lips on your jaw and then on your lips. You kissed him back, but you needed something else right now.

You stood, reaching for his hand. He smiled, taking it and standing to meet you. You guided his hands to your waist again, bringing your arms around his neck. Slowly you danced, holding each other. You didn’t know how long you would get with Ragnar, and you just wanted a moment to take it all in.

Too soon, someone came to interrupt you. He spoke with them briefly before coming back to you, apologetic. There was an emergency and he had to go.

“Should I wait?” you asked, not sure from his silence earlier if you would see him again.

“I’ll see you again,” he said, kissing your forehead before taking your hand and leading you back to the elevator. One of his men took you down and you found yourself standing in the other corner from him, already missing Ragnar’s touch. You couldn’t explain the tears as you got back in the car, driving to your home alone.

Ragnar kept his promise. The next few months were filled with other very intimate, sweet dates. There were of course the normal lunches and dinners, often in private rooms after the amount of attention you two had started to get whenever you were out together. There were also the private museum tours, the art galleries and a couple of Sundays on a secluded beach by the sea.

You often had a hard time reconciling the man who handled you so gently, so sweetly with the man who you knew he was. Nothing about him could be mistaken for weak, but you rarely felt unsafe around him.

He would call you randomly in the middle of the night, just to know you were there while he worked out something. The first time it happened, you thought you had to give him a brilliant answer, but you honestly didn’t even understand what he was talking about. There was too much context you simply didn’t know.

Sometimes, you would offer up your thoughts and he would pause for a long time while he chewed it over. You loved these conversations, him bringing you into his world, into how his mind worked. He truly was a visionary, and it left you in awe.

Your relationship had become so vulnerable. You felt yourself confessing things to him that you didn’t even realize were true until you said them out loud. In some ways, he knew you better than anyone else even though you’d only known him for a little while.

Of course, those late nights also made you think about being with him in a physically intimate way as well. After all of these months, the most you’d ever done was kiss. But that’s not to say it wasn’t enough. His kisses lit a fire in you that the coldest of showers had a hard time putting out. You ached for him.

In your showers, you imagined him pressing his body against yours. In your bed, you imagined it was his hands and not yours roaming and teasing your body. No matter how good it felt, it did not feel like enough.

Ragnar could sense this, but he didn’t want you to feel like he was pushing you towards anything. He didn’t know how much he could promise you, and a part of him was afraid to let you down. He’d definitely done that before.

He had to go away for a few weeks, and they somehow felt like the longest of your life. He was too busy to call you as often as he usually would, which already didn’t feel often enough. Those few minutes would last you days.

“Oh my God, you’re in love,” Macy said as the rest of your friends squealed with glee. It had been awhile since you’d seen them, but they could not believe how much had changed the past couple of months with Ragnar. He went from a stranger to having your heart in his hands. Of course you were in love. But you didn’t want to be.

As you spent time separated, you couldn’t help but slowly come back to reality. How could you know that Ragnar was serious about you? You hadn’t really talked about it since that night on the rooftop, but you didn’t know how to bring it up to him again. You didn’t even know what you wanted him to say.

You hadn’t vocalized this with your friends yet, knowing they would tell you what you wanted to hear. It was very possible that Ragnar was just a very exciting chapter in your life and even though that idea pained you, you just wanted to enjoy the present.

 When he finally returned, you were overjoyed to get the call from Clarice saying that he would pick you up that night. The call took you by surprise since you had no idea when he would be back, so you left work as soon as you could to get ready.

The car came when she said it would, but there was no Ragnar. You got in, saying hello to the driver but not saying much else. He took you away from the beach, up the mountains to where Ragnar had mentioned he lived. When you went off a hidden driveway, you were pretty certain where you were going.

The driver parked in front of the house and got out to open the door for you. It was colder up in the mountains, but you were also sure you felt a chill from the beauty of Ragnar’s house. It was a mix of modern and rustic, wood beams and glass. It was lit on the inside so it made the whole place have an ethereal glow. It was beautiful.

You watched the car drive away before building up the courage to walk to the door. You rang the doorbell once and waited until you were bathed in light and the smell of food as the door opened. You looked up at Ragnar, his eyes tired but happy and almost launched into his arms. You breathed in his scent as you held each other before he laughed and suggested you go inside.

He took your hand, giving you a brief tour of the house until you got to the kitchen. It looked like most of the food was done already, so he told you to have a seat as he plated the food for both of you. You stole some of his wine as he smirked at you. He got another glass and poured some wine in both so you could have your own.

This was perfect. You had your shoes left by the bar with your plates, drinking wine in front of the fire as you and Ragnar just took in each other’s presence. Your legs were intertwined as you told him about your life, watching his eyes start to close as you figured he must be exhausted.

You got up to take his glass to the kitchen, tidying up what you could without knowing where everything was or where it all went. His home definitely had that cold bachelor feel, but it was beautiful and you couldn’t help imagining yourself in it.

Ragnar was fully asleep and you couldn’t help watching him as you climbed back onto the couch. You decided to cuddle into him this time, feeling whole and warm from the fire and his body heat. You barely woke up when you felt him carry you to his room.

When you woke up the next morning, you were disoriented. The room was flooded with light as the glass wall looked out into the trees on the east. You took a minute to reflect as you thought about the night before. You didn’t have to turn around to know you were alone.

You got out of bed and found the bathroom along with a note telling you that he would be back later. No details, as was his way, but you thought the note itself was cute. You saw a robe and decided to take a shower, loving how the soaps smelled like him. Like everything else about him, the shower felt complicated to figure out, but when you finally did it was exactly what you needed.

Clean and dry, you made your way back to the kitchen, making yourself a simple breakfast of eggs and toast that seemed to taste better than any you had had before.

You had no idea when he would be back, so you decided to explore. The daylight showed you the grounds, and they were post card perfect. You found his study and started reading one of his books, lying on the soft rug that felt too soft not to be a blanket.

When you made it back to his room, you fell onto his bed, fully appreciating how soft and cozy it was. You stretched, feeling your nakedness in his robe with his scent all around you. It was enough to make your head weak.

You let your hands travel down your body slowly, first teasing your breasts before lightly tracing your fingers down your stomach to your core. It didn’t take long until you were soaking, your fingers expertly chasing that high that felt all the more intense as you were in a strange place, feeling deliciously exposed in Ragnar’s bedroom.

You didn’t try to hide your moans, with no neighbors there to over hear you, you let your mind imagine Ragnar’s hands expertly stroking you to your climax. Your hips moved as you cried out desperately, feeling release but still missing the feel of someone else’s hands on you.

But then you did feel someone else’s hands on you. You opened your eyes in instant fear only to find Ragnar’s eyes in front of yours. You only saw them for a second, full of lust, before his mouth was on your neck tracing down to your chest and hungrily sucking on your breasts.

You whined, overwhelmed by the feeling of his beard tickling your sensitive areas and his weight on you, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

“Were you thinking about me?” he asked before flicking your nipple with his tongue and moving to kiss down your stomach. You were mute as you arched your back as he continued to place soft, wet kisses in a neat trail to your center, surprising you with an occasional drag of his tongue.

You moved your legs wider to let him comfortably sit between them, your heart racing as you locked eyes with him. He was silent as he moved to kiss your inner thighs, laughing as your squirmed beneath him.

“Please,” you said hoarsely, trying to move closer to him. But he was no closer, maintaining complete control.

“Please, what?” he said, taking his thumb and rubbing your juices around your clit once. You let out a guttural moan.

“I need you, please” you begged again, your hands restless as he was just out of reach.

He gave you a devilish grin as he repeated the action with his thumb before replacing it with his tongue. He was not shy, his strong arms holding your legs open while his tongue did what your hands could not. Your cries turned to whimpers as you felt yourself on the edge again, trying hard to close your legs but Ragnar’s grip was like iron, keeping you spread before him.

Only when he felt your legs shaking in his hands did he slow his pace, coaxing you down as he eased his grip. You felt him close your legs before coming up to hold you, praising you while he stroked your hair and placed gentle kisses on your head.

You let your heart beat slow and your breathing return to normal. Taking a deep breath to steel your nerves for what you were about to do, you turned to face him, bringing your lips to his.

“Ragnar,” you said as you pulled away. He looked at you, so deliciously spent in his arms, your body falling out of his robe. “I need you to fuck me.”

You saw his eyes change from concern to primal, for the first time feeling a little afraid of what this man was capable of. He sensed that, but that did not stop him from pulling your head back gently so he could kiss your neck again.

“Are you sure?” You knew you were being greedy, but you needed him inside you. You nodded as you turned your body to face him, running your palm until you found exactly what you’d expected. He was more than ready for you.

You brought your lips to his as you undid his pants, stroking him as you felt him hold his breath against your lips. He exhaled, bringing his forehead to yours as he asked you again if you were sure.

‘I’ve never been more sure of anything,” you said, feeling the truth in your confession once again.

He growled, pulling himself from your hand and standing, turning your body to your stomach and bringing your legs to him. He would make love to you one day, but this was not the time. He had watched you play with yourself and moan his name, had felt you come around his tongue, and now you were still begging for him.

He was only a man.

Wasting no time, he entered you, pausing only after he was fully sheathed as both of you adjusted to the feel of him inside you. You felt full, positioning yourself to take him better. You nodded as he asked you if you were all right, gripping the comforter when he began to pound into you.

He started off slow, his rhythm intentional and strong, holding your hip with one hand and he ran the other up your back, praising and soothing you for taking him so well. You were so wet and he felt your walls pulling at him, saw your eyes shut tight as you moaned with your face pressed into his bed.

You cried out as you came around him, but he didn’t stop, feeling you milk him as his name came out of your mouth in a guttural moan. He kept fucking you after you’d come, through the whimpers and whispered pleas, not stopping until you had gone silent and he emptied himself inside you.

He didn’t pull out of you immediately, coming to join you as he whispered praises in your ear, gently rubbing your arm and your back, kissing every part of you he could as you reached for his hand.

You had never felt like this before. It was overwhelming and you were surprised by the tears in your eyes. And he didn’t leave. He’d held you the entire time after you gave everything to him. You ached but he soothed you. You couldn’t deny how you felt anymore.

When he was soft, he slowly pulled out and turned you around, needing to look into your eyes as you still hadn’t made a sound. He saw tears in your closed eyes. Concern filled his as he wiped them away until you opened your eyes kissed him, pulling him closer to you.

If you are interested in another chapter, I have an idea just let me know!!!!

He lay there, on your naked body, listening to your heart beat slow with your arms wrapped around each other. You couldn’t say anything if you wanted to. It wasn’t long before you fell asleep and your lover tucked you back into his bed, taking off his clothes as he slid in behind you so he could be there when you woke up.

#ragnar #vikings fan fiction #vikings imagine #ragnar lothbrok #ragnar lothbrok fanfic

[doctordiscord123]

B, F cus i love hearing what u love, K!! love me angst, L cus i never do, N?, Q?, R im curious, U too cus im! curious!!, aaaaaaaand W! (i got exactly 3 letters so here have a bunch for your own!!!!)

B - Any storied inspired by personal experience?

Yeah, ‘Desperation’ was. And sort of ‘A Magician Never Tells’ because I know that feel. Tbh, most of my fluffy stories are what I wish would happen to me because I’m a hopeless romantic with an overactive imagination, but not a lot are actually based on irl

F - Already answered that!

K - Already answered that!

L - How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting it?

If I’m typing it straight in ao3, not at all, all the revision comes after I post it which causes a lot of frustration on my part but oh well. For main series stories, five hundred million times. Because I get bored and get in the mood to not write and instead reread things. The Wedding I read every day for like four months combing through it and making it as perfect as possible.

N - Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

Not really? I’m too stubborn. My main problem is not finding enough time to write all the things I want, and not working fast enough to write what I want.

Q - How do you feel about collabs?

No. No offence to any of you guys, but just...no. Before I was on ao3, I was on Wattpad, and I had a looooot of trouble with people stealing my work. One person actually took the entire plot of my most popular story, added their OC, and just rewrote it worse. As such, I tend to be hesitant about collabs, or really anoyone touching anything I’ve written. So yeah, nah, not for me. 

R - Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider and influence?

You Dad!!! You’re a big one!!! Also Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1) on ao3, I love their stuff. And maybe Rick Riordan. Just a bit. And Brendon Mull. Yeah.

U - Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much

You, because you’re beautiful and ily and you are a brilliant writer and I look forward to when you post something!

Again, Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1) on ao3, they’re the first person who’s ego stuff I read, and they’re the reason I kinda wanted to start my own series. Plus they’re great.

And then AHeartForStories on ao3, they’re a HTTYD fanfic writer, and since HTTYD is probably my favorite franchise ever, I loooooove their work

W - Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

I don’t have a preference! I like either, of course I can have more fun with general ones, but more specific helps me focus more! Of course there’s downsides to both, but I don’t care!

#ask discord #ask game #w o w that was a lot #thank you Dad!!!

[deltastorm101]

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst - A (critical) love letter.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of “a review I thought I could never write because I’m way too emotionally attached to this game which I know insanely, almost creepily well”, mixed with a healthy dose of “I should do everything but write this review because I want to finish school at some point but I have to use the surge of inspiration while it lasts”!

Today we will be talking about Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, which was released 2016 as a prequel-ly reboot (saying it like this because for the longest time I’ve thought it to be a prequel but turns out it’s a lot more like a reboot... my bad) to the first Mirror’s Edge from 2008 (which, by the way, still looks fantastic today considering its release year). I will occasionally throw in references and aspects from the first game as well, but this will primarily be about Catalyst.

Time for game 👏 review 👏!

And as always - warning: spoilers. I’ll try to keep the really huge ones out of this or at least mark them well, but going off and playing for yourself first is recommended.

To start this off, I want to say that I initially loved the first Mirror’s Edge - however, only after playing Catalyst, I realized how bad the controls and bugs in it actually were, which is another way of saying Catalyst is a miracle when it comes to naturally flowing controls and crisp and polished looking environments. The city it takes place in, “Glass”, is breathtakingly gorgeous, period. Shiny, clean, it is just on point and one of the biggest reasons I consider it to be my favourite game from the day I first played it, hands down. Not even one of the new Tomb Raider games or one of my childhood-reminiscent games were able to top it and that means something.

The game takes place in an open world map complex under a totalitarian government, drawing parallels to George Orwell’s “1984” – big brother is watching you, all that. A dystopian world if I’ve ever seen one. The open world aspect is one of the best decisions the developers could have made; I have no words to describe how beautiful the different city districts are, and being able to run in freeroam through the city of Glass like parkour runners are meant to feels so much better than being trapped in closed-off levels like it was the case in the first game.

When I first wrote down some key aspects for this review while I was playing it once more, I noted that apparently, you only truly understand the game’s backstory and the protagonists’ origins if you’ve bought and read the comic, Mirror’s Edge Exordium, and that I think it’s not that important because you can well understand what’s going on at the beginning without it – the game starts with Faith, the main protagonist, getting out of jail/a sort of juvenile detention, making her way back into her old circle of friends and family and, of course, old unresolved and new unconsidered problems and conflicts. The comic basically explains what has been messed up by who to make her end up in juvie in the first place and, as I said, it’s not really necessary to know. But, after having bought it now after literal years of consideration, I can say that it’s definitely very nice to know, and totally worth it. There are a lot of elements from the game carefully and lovingly worked into the comic and vice versa (I don’t know what was written first, comic or game, but they fit together very nicely), and just having more reasons, more answers, a larger overview and even partly some explanations for the first game feels... right.

The voice acting is good overall – not strikingly awesome but definitely up there, especially during emotional cutscenes. Sometimes the controls are a bit wonky and Faith might not immediately do what your fingers tell her to but that could definitely be on me - in games where fast reaction is important, quick time events can go wrong occasionally, nothing new. There are some passages you could consider a QTE but they’re being displayed early enough for you to be able to mentally prepare for them as far as I see it. And in my book, that’s a massive improvement from the first game, where you were able to press a button perfectly in time even while having reaction time (= a temporary slow mode) activated, and still watch Faith gracefully fall down the side of the building while flailing her arms in fear because she didn’t grab onto that perfectly grabbable practical white ledge. Why, you ask? I don’t know, ask Faith. Oh, you can’t, obviously made clear by the nasty sound of her hitting the road and her neck being snapped apart. Seriously, I cringed to the moon and back when I first heard that ugly sound. Which is another thing they improved in Catalyst; now all you hear is her quick, raspy, fear-filled breaths and a blissful silence paired with a white death screen after you’ve hit a death barrier. Not the ground, a death barrier. There’s a shitload of them. Which is a pity regarding the fact that a whole lot more out-of-bounds areas would be reachable and playable if there weren’t. Honestly, I find it kind of disappointing that there’s this many invisible walls, fall-through grounds and death barriers. I can see why, conserving computing resources to avoid loading screens, blah blah, but still... let me go off the map, dammit. The game is about a group of people living “off the grid”, why can’t the player actually do that? Hm? Hmmm?

Another aspect tying into this is the social playing mechanic(s), which I found interesting but indeed totally unnecessary. We all know leaderboards of races and stuff, which were incorporated here as setting the best time in short, timed courses (“dashes”), which naturally have been hacked and cheated into ridiculousness. No, RunnerMaster69, I do not believe you ran that dash in three seconds and 420 nanoseconds, I just don’t. Upon completing a dash, you leave an ‘echo’, so basically a ghost other players can compare themselves to, and for you to see which route another player took. Nothing too groundbreaking on that front. There’s a way of tagging locations you’ve been to: so-called Beat Link Emitters (Beat L.E.s) are like little chips shining red in the world you can put down wherever you’re able to stand safely and have them appear in other people’s games to touch, which is a nice way of incorporating a way of saying “Hey, look where I was able to climb!” (And yes, I have abused this system; there’s a glitch making it possible for Faith to float down high buildings onto lower ones, which aren’t death-barriered but not reachable on a normal way. You bet I was a floating gurl putting down Beat L.E.s whereeeeever I could. So much fun. Sorry.)

The same goes for hackable billboards, which can also appear in your friends’ games, but they could have been designed a lot more interestingly. If you hack a billboard, your runner tag appears on it, which consists of a visual symbol, a frame around it, and a background. You can customize the tag in a companion app, which again I didn’t really find necessary. But it is pretty self-explanatory and a nice gimmick if you’re into that kinda stuff.

Maybe an irrelevant aspect: Faith is wearing the same outfit (almost) throughout the whole game. Only at the beginning while getting to the runners’ lair she’s wearing something different and I see missed potential there: let the player run in these clothes, or in the prison clothes, or in the clothes from Mirror’s Edge 1, or in some of the fancy clothes Glass’ high society is wearing, or generally different runner’s attire which still stays true to the style, or Black November garb... endless opportunities, missed. Not at all crucial, but in my opinion maybe better than some different-looking billboard...

Coming back to the (back-)story aspect once more; as with all of today’s big triple-A games, there’s a looooot of documents and recordings to find, to give the player a loooot of backstory, which I found terribly overdone. It always felt like there was too much to collect and too few actual story told; not to mention some story bits not being in either of the games or their collectables, but in a separately sold comic, well done EA, well done.

Additionally, a lot of the documents were about literal history of the state called Cascadia and the ‘conglomerate’ and Omnistat and the November Riots (don’t worry if you have no idea what these words mean, I don’t either...) and regarding the fact that I finished taking history in school with a D ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)... you can imagine I wasn’t that interested in the actual history elements. Give me story anytime, but get the hi- prefix outta here please.

Another thing that I just very recently discovered: Some of the performed parkour movements are inaccurate. Thanks to my new interest of binging parkour tutorial videos I’ve seen actual mistakes in movement (in both games), which I can understand sometimes because some of them have been implemented on purpose and for a reason. For example: A parkour safety roll is performed sideways, with one of your shoulders hitting the floor first and the impact being absorbed and reduced by your whole back rolling over the ground in a diagonal line, ending in one of your feet carrying over the fall’s momentum for you to be able to stand up and run right along, probably even faster than before the drop. In the first game, this was handled straight up terribly; not only did Faith not roll diagonally but straight on her spine, which fuckin hurts if you perform it after you took a fall and is dangerous as all hell, but all her momentum got lost as well - it didn’t make any difference if you took a hard fall, the screen flashed red and you had to build new momentum, or if it was a soft fall with a nice (hurting and dangerous) roll, her stopping dead in her tracks like “Oh wow, did you see that, I made a roll” and then continuing to build new momentum because it all got lost. BUT since this is about Catalyst: Faith is still performing a straight spine-hurting-dangerous-as-all-hell-roll, but at least she keeps her momentum when she does it. Regarding to what I said at the beginning of this semi-rant-paragraph because I’ve “studied” (emphasis on the quotation marks) parkour theory so much at this point, yet am not able to actually perform any moves because I don’t have the strength, stamina or willpower to- Uh, where was I...? Ah, yeah, the reason for the incorrectly performed roll. It’s obvious when you think about it: motion sickness, a gamer’s best friend when it comes to first-person perspective. If Faith was performing a correct roll, it would turn and shake the camera around too much, which could potentially make the player motion sick over time. Period. Look up some first-person safety roll footage on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean. So, there’s a reason, and we should be thankful the roll is a straight gymnastics roll. Sorry Faith, looks like your spine and neck have to suffer a little longer. However, I can and will not understand why they have Celeste, a character from the first game, climb up ledges with her knees and elbows. No. NO. Feet first. If you can’t do feet first, then do one foot first and then pull up the rest. If you can’t do that, train more and don’t call yourself a runner yet, doing this for a living on top of I-dunno-how-high-rooftops.

My feelings are kind of ambivalent on the no-guns mechanics - all you can defend yourself with is your fists (and legs and momentum, of course), while in the first game, you could snatch people’s guns and start some weaponized combat. I liked both of these strategies, not really caring when they announced Faith not being able to do shootieshootie-pewpew this time around.

One thing I liked a lot considering the open world aspect is that if you die, you respawn exactly where you last stood on safe ground before dying (except in missions, of course). It makes freeroaming very comfortable because you don’t have to worry about respawn- and checkpoints; you can just try again when you messed up a jump.

They also changed the beacon- and navigation system (“runner’s vision”) a bit too, which was also definitely necessary for the open world (which they’ve praised as a lot less linear, but honestly? It isn’t really. I knew my way around in Glass pretty well after a mere month of playing), but they did include options for how much you want the game to help you. There’s normal runner’s vision, with a red streak appearing every few seconds, showing you exactly where to run; there’s classic runner’s vision, made to be like in the first game, with environmental beacons and indicators being coloured in red when coming close to them and without the red streak; and of course, you can switch it off completely, which I occasionally like to do to test how well I really know my way around in Glass.

The soundtrack is outstanding. Straight up phenomenal. It can empower and hype you up, but can also be relaxing during a relaxing sightseeing trip through Glass. And it’s also great to leave on as background music while studying (I’m making use of that when preparing for graduation exams), or driving.

There is dynamic day- and night time - I liked that a lot, it’s a good way of showing off the lighting at all sorts of times. Only problem I had: a night sky is supposed to be black, not royal blue.

Note: almost all the “problems” I’ve listed here have been made mods for (e.g. more exciting looking billboards, more outfits, a changeable day-night cycle and a black night sky). If I had enough experience with (and patience for) modding, I’d definitely try it myself but the ‘flaws’ aren’t grave enough for me to feel a desire to manipulate and tweak some game files.

Okay, time for a spoiler. Not a bad one, but one that could give you ideas if you know how Mirror’s Edge rolls, or if you’ve played the first game... which is basically a spoiler in itself too. Ahem, anyway.

Towards the end of the game, when I was profoundly convinced of it being one of my all-time favourites, I was like “Yes, finally a game that improves and learns from past mistakes and listens to their players and what they want”... and then came Noah. I bawled my eyes out and I will be forever angry at the devs for doing this. That’s all I’m saying.

That ultimately didn’t stop me from loving the game though. From an objective standpoint I’d say it’s an overall good prequel/reboot/requel/preboot. Faith’s universe became a bit more mainstream but also a lot more polished and they definitely listened to their fans to some degree. From the very subjective standpoint I have written this review from, I’m saying that Mirror’s Edge Catalyst holds a very special place in my heart and I am truly glad it saw the light of day, after everyone waiting 8 years for it to be released after the first game. (I didn’t wait quite that long; I got Mirror’s Edge 1 in January 2016 and was completely and utterly hooked and hyped for Catalyst in May 2016.)

And that concludes it. If you’ve read this far – thank you. I’m aware that this is a bit different from my other reviews tone-wise - I have put every ounce of sass I possess into this because I... felt like it :D I hope it was fun to read!

#and now please scream at me to study xD #mirror's edge #mirror's edge catalyst #faith #games #stefs game review

[fanfic-inator795]

WoY After Verse Drabbles: Rigel’s Welcome

Just some quick drabbles taking place in the WoY After Verse all about the new Skeleton Dance fanbaby OC that @prismasandpie and I have created, Rigel. Enjoy! ^v^

1. Birth

News of their Lord Wander possibly going into labor started to spread across the Skullship as early as 3 AM. By 5 AM, every Watchdog on the ship was awake, and most of them were standing outside sick bay, eagerly awaiting their new prince or princess.

“Come on, Orion!” Lily said, occasionally mumbling an apology as she carefully stepped to the front of the crowd, “We don’t want to miss the announcement!” The eightteen year old had been so excited that she hadn’t even bothered braiding her hair. She just wanted to meet her new sibling already!

Right behind her, Orion was just barely keeping up, looking tired (and maybe just a bit cautious). “I’m comin’ I’m comin’, grop... Pa probably hasn’t even-”

“Ooh ooh, there they are!” Before he could even realize who was talking, Orion ended up getting a camera shoved in his face. “Prince Orion,” Andy started to ask while Bean zoomed in, “How do you feel about being an older brother?”

“Um, well...” He rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s going to be... different, I guess.”

“And we can’t wait!” Lily added, looking over her shoulder at them.

“Yeah, sure...” Truth be told, Orion hadn’t been nearly as thrilled as his sister had been when their parents first told them the big news. Now, that wasn’t to say that he was angry or upset about a new baby. Just... worried, maybe. It had been the four of them (seven if you counted Aunt Syl, Uncle Peepers and Captain Tim) for so long. Wouldn’t it be weird having a new person around? A new person that would almost always be crying, and would have diapers that would need changing, and-

Suddenly, the crowd around them shushed, with all eyes turning towards the opening double doors. The doctor stepped out... and smiled. “It’s a boy!” The Watchdogs errupted in cheers (though a few groaned as they handed other soldiers small amounts of cash. Clearly they had assumed the baby would be a girl.) as Andy continued his special newscast. “You heard it here folks, we’ve got a brand new Prince of the Hater Empire!” 

“I can’t believe it!” Lily grinned, already blinking back tears of joy. She grabbed her twin’s wrist and pulled him forward. “Come on, let’s go see!” Of course, the doctor happily let them in, and after a few minutes of waiting, they were allowed to go see their parents in Wander’s private sick bay room. 

Thankfully, the small room was much more quiet. Wander was laying in bed resting his eyes, a tired smile on his face. Meanwhile, Hater was cradling a small bundle wrapped in a red blanket, smiling and trying not to cry TOO much. “Oh wow...” Lily whispered, clasping her hands together as she tried to get a closer look. 

Orion on the other hand stayed near the door. “...You gonna be okay, Pa?”

“Oh yeah,” Wander nodded, opening his eyes just a little, “I’ll be fine. I’ve done this before, after all... And besides-” He glanced over towards the new baby, now being held by Lily “All the hard work is worth it...” 

“I guess...” Feeling his curiousity start to get the better of him, Orion took a small step forward. From the bundle, he could see a small puff of orange fur that was maybe just a shade or two darker than his pa’s. “Huh...”

“...You wanna hold him?” Lily asked, holding the bundle out.

“Er, well, I- I don’t-” Before he could finish, the bundle was placed in his arms - and it was then he realized that the bundle actually had a face. Squinty eyes with teal irises, and a tiny mouth that occasionally let out a small whimper. He already had long, poofy bangs, and just barely poking out of the sides of his head were two small, yellow nubs. Baby lightning bolt horns. 

“...He’s... so small...” 

Hater chuckled. “Yeah, tell me about it... You two were that small once, you know. But trust me, your brother will be all grown up before you know it...”

The baby started to squirm, whimpering a bit more. “H-Hey, hey it’s okay,” Orion told him. He looked up at Wander, but the nomad just gave his son a small smile. You can do this. “...” Taking a deep breath, Orion adjusted his hold on the baby, holding him closer. After a moment, his brother began to calm down. He nuzzled up to his chest, and began to fall asleep. “Heh... W-Wow,” Orion smiled, barely noticing the tears in his eyes as he continued to look down at the baby. 

Not wanting to miss out on the moment, Lily moved over to him and started to gently pet their brother’s head. “So cute,” she cooed. And of course, all Wander and Hater could do was smile at the sight. Truly, there was nothing better than seeing your family get along.

“His name is Rigel, by the way,” Hater told them, with Wander adding in a confirming nod, “Rigel Threat Skulldrion.”

“Heh, sounds like a good name to me,” Orion commented. Though, after a moment, he frowned. “Wait, ‘Threat’?”

“Jeff’s been such a good friend to us, and a big part of our lives,” Wander began to explain, “And it’s actually pretty common to make part of someone’s name a tribute to someone else - like how your full middle name is ‘Hater Jr’, Orion.”

“Yeah, but ‘Threat’ is a way cooler middle name than just ‘Jeff’,” Hater added, “So we went with ‘Threat’.”

“...” The twins gave a small giggle. “Like I said,” Orion grinned, “Sounds like a good name to me.”

2. First Night

Despite all the excitement of the day, the Skullship had grown completely silent. There weren’t any incoming ships or asteroids to avoid, no landings to make - it was all smooth sailing. Really, it was the perfect first night for anyone. ...And yet, Hater couldn’t bear to leave his new son all alone, despite the fact that he was already fast asleep.  

Giving a small sigh, Hater reached down into the crib to gently brush some fur away from Rigel’s eyes. “...Glad I’m finally able to meet you,” he said softly, “See you... Hold you... Let you know that I’ll always be here, to protect you and to make sure you have a good life...”

“...I know the exact same feeling, Honeybadger.” Glancing over his shoulder, Hater spotted his husband in the doorway, smiling back at him while Hater’s old pink blanket hung over his shoulder. “It’s kinda nice, you know?” he continued as he walked into the room, “Havin’ a baby on the ship again.”

“Hmph, yeah,” Hater nodded, wrapping an arm around the nomad once he got close enough. “And, it seems like he’s okay. Doctors said he was healthy, and he’s sleeping just fine. But...”

“...You wanna sleep in here tonight just in case?” Wander asked, already taking a seat on the floor next to the crib.”

“...Yes please.”

3. Siblings 

“I think he’s getting ready to crawl!” “Heh, I think he’s still a bit too young for that.” “Hey, you never know, sis! Maybe he’s special or, I don’t know, maybe being half skeleton gives him stronger bones or something!”

Lily giggled. “Yeah, maybe! But for now, let’s just let him go at his own pace.” Looking back down at their little brother, she gave him a light poke on his cheek, making the baby let out a small squeal of laughter. “Grop... He is just the sweetest baby ever!” Her smile softened. “...Makes me wonder what it’s gonna be like when I - er, when Sam and I - have a baby.”

Orion raised an eyebrow. “Lily, you guys aren’t even married!”

“I know! But... I don’t know, I’m just thinking!”

“...Yeah, I get that.” Glancing away for a sec, he grabbed his old cobra-bear plushie. He shook it in front of Rigel’s face, letting out a low growl. But the baby just laughed again, taking a swipe at the plushie. “I thought I was overthinking things before Rigel came around, but now... I keep wondering what he’s gonna be like when he’s older, if he’s gonna deal with the same stuff we did as kids-”

“Technically we are still kids, Orion,” Lily pointed out, giving a small smirk. It was still a month or two until they turned nineteen - and even then, a good portion of the galaxy wouldn’t consider them adults until they turned twenty-one.

But Orion just smirked. “Whatever. I was just thinking... You found your music when you were little, but I didn’t find cooking until after- ...Well, I just hope he finds what he loves to do sooner than later.” As he continued watching the baby play with the plushie, Orion’s horns began to fold down slightly. “...Do you think he’s gonna grow up to have powers like me and Dad?”

“...” Crawling over to him, Lily gave him a hug. “If he does, then he’s gonna have TWO great teachers instead of just one.” Orion smiled back at her, quickly returning the hug. He would never let his brother feel as frustrated or hopeless as he had at one point, and he knew that both he and Lily would protect him as much as they could, just like they protected each other. After all, what are siblings for?

“Ah!” The twins blinked. Glancing down, they saw Rigel looking up at them - still laying on his belly, but trying his best to stretch his arms towards them. Almost instantly, he was scooped up and placed right in the middle of their hug.

“There we go!” Lily told him, giving the baby a quick kiss on the hug, “Don’t worry, Rigel, we wouldn’t forget you!”

“Heh, and trust us, squirt,” Orion added, grinning, “In this family, you’re gonna get plenty of hugs!” And at this, Rigel smiled back at them, clearly not minding.

4. The Bath

Hater growled. Where had that kid gotten off to now? ...And how did he know EXACTLY when to start running? (or rather, crawling and hiding.) “Come on, Rigel! It’s just a bath! Just a, uh-” He paused, wondering what his husband would say to try and coax their son out of hiding. “Just a... fun, happy, water-filled time. So yeah, looooots of fun, right?”

While Rigel still didn’t come out, Hater did hear someone blow a raspberry. 

“Ughhh!” Okay okay, he could do this! Now, if he was a one and a half year old, where would he hide...? Quietly as he could, Hater continued walking down the long dark hall, keeping his eyes out for anything that would maybe give him a clue. An abandoned toy, or a footstep, maybe a certain smell or noise or-

The skeletal overlord stopped, giving a smirk. Or, a tuff of dark orange fur poking out from behind a recycling bin near one of their meeting rooms. 

Sensing that he had been caught, Rigel quickly moved out from behind the bin and flopped down onto his stomach. Getting onto his hands and knees, he tried to crawl away as fast as he could. Unfortunately- “Oh no you don’t!” Before he knew it, the baby was lifted up into the air, surrounded by a green aura. “Heh, nice try, Rigel.”

Rigel pouted at his father, giving a small growl of his own as he was pulled towards him. “Yeah yeah, I know you don’t like baths,” Hater told him, “Though I don’t know why...” His siblings never had this problem. Maybe because Rigel had longer fur, which meant it took longer to dry? Or maybe the kid just didn’t like water. Whatever the reason, it couldn’t stop the inevitable. “I promise it won’t take long, and you can play with bath toys and bubbles and-”

Hater stopped. His son’s pout had turned into full-blown space puppy-dog eyes. “...No. Nonono, Rigel, don’t you give me those eyes!”

The baby began to sniffle, lip quivering a bit. 

“It’s been three days since you last had a bath! Don’t you want to be clean?”

Rigel’s eyes got bigger, quickly filling with tears.

“Y-You... I-It’s just a bath! A bath that you HAVE to take, got it Mister?! There is no way - NO WAY - that I’m going to let you skip it again. Understa-?”

His son let out a sob, a single tear rolling down his furry cheek.

“.........” Within a second, the electric green aura was gone, allowing Rigel to land softly on the floor. “Eh, one more day without a bath couldn’t hurt, right?” Hater asked him.

Rigel simply gave him a big, toothless grin.

5. The Art

“...Wander.” “Hm? Yes, Hatey?” “He’s doing it again.”

Wander glanced over at their son - who currently had more food splattered all over his tray and on his boney hands (and even a little on his “Babe’s Great, Best Toddler” bib) than in his mouth. But the nomad just giggled. “Babies play with their food, Hater.”

“Yeah but, shouldn’t he actually be eating it?” Hater countered, “He’s gonna be hun-” Before the skeletal overlord could even finish, Wander scooted over closer to the baby and offered him a spoonful of mashed carrots. Spotting the spoon, Rigel opened his mouth, allowing his papa to feed him without any trouble at all. “...Oh. Hmph, well, at least he’s eating.”

So, the meal continued, with Rigel only eating what was given to him on a spoon and playing with the rest of the goopy food in front of him. And, with the boy now eating his lunch, neither one of his dads really minded. Wander was more than happy to let his baby have a little fun at the dinner table, and Hater could care less about wasting food.

Eventually though, it did have to end. “Alright, Rigel! Time to get cleaned up! And then maybe we can read ya a story befor- Oh!” As soon as Wander started to pick him up, Rigel gave a cry of protest. And, once he had shaken the nomad’s hands off him, he leaned forward towards his tray, focusing on moving his food around once more. 

“Geez,” Hater commented while Wander could only watch, “He really likes playing with his food.”

“Hmmm...” Suddenly - DING! - Wander had an idea. And, thankfully it was an easy enough one that he would be able to put it into action right after naptime... 

It took a bit of work finally pulling the little skele-nomad away from his tray, but once he was cleaned up and settled in, he quickly fell asleep - and that was when his papa went to work! The Hat provided the materials, naturally, but Wander was the one in charge of setting them up.

So, with an excited grin on his face, Wander set down several paper plates around one of the playrooms the Skullship had. Once that was done, he began squirting paint into each plate - one color per plate, though he did make sure to mix a couple so that his son could have all the colors of the rainbow. Finally, with all the paint-filled plates surrounding it, Wander placed a big piece of paper (practically a tarp!) in the middle of the room. “There! Perfect!” 

“Wan?” he heard a voice from the hall, “Are you done in there yet?”

“Yep!” Wander answered, “Bring ‘im in, honeybadger!” Hater nodded, doing as he was told, stepping carefully into the room so he could avoid stepping in any paint. A slightly sleepy but still curious Rigel was in his arms, and the boy became even more curious once his father placed him in the middle of the giant piece of paper. “Go on, sweetie,” he heard his papa say.

Rigel babbled looking around at all the colors. Slowly, he began crawling towards the red - a color he knew very well simply because of where he lived. He touched it, and yelped slightly in surprise. Cold! But... not bad. He touched it again, letting it squish in-between his boney fingers. Giggling now, Rigel pressed his hand to the paper, rubbing it and moving it around as he created... something. He didn’t know what it would be and neither would his parents, but it was still something!

And, as he continued to giggle and play with the paints, his dads could only smile. “Well,” Wander started to say, leaning into his husband as he wrapped his arms around him, “Looks like we’ve got a little artist in the family.”

6. First Word

Sometimes, Hater wondered how he could be so lucky. A little over two decades ago, he was a warlord. A villain determined to take over the galaxy, all while chasing down a wandering weirdo and hoping to destroy him.

And now he was married to said weirdo! He worked with planets, forming fair treaties with them instead of conquering. And, in-between meetings and checking in on his planets, he spent his days sitting on the couch, watching his kids play or spending time with friends or simply taking it easy.. And honestly? It was a much better future than Hater ever could have imagined.

Hearing some babbling at his feet, Hater reached down and picked up his youngest, placing him on his lap as he continued watching the twins play their video game. “Remind me to teach you how to play sometime,” he told Rigel, “You’re going to love Super Zamboni Bros.” 

Rigel simply babbled, grabbing his father’s finger and laughing a bit. “...Huh.” Hater said suddenly, frowning slightly. “...Rigel? Can you say ‘Daddy’? Come on, daaaaa-deeee.” But Rigel refused. He mumbled and grurgled, but no words. “Hmph...” 

Glancing back at them, Orion smiled. “Hey squirt, I bet you can say ‘bro’, can’t you? ‘Big brother’ or maybe just ‘Orion’?”

“Or how about ‘Lily’?” Lily added, pausing the game, “Or maybe ‘sissy’? Come on, Rigey, I know you love your big sissy!” But again, the toddler refused to say any actual words. Instead he simply concentrated on sucking on his father’s finger like it was a pacifier. 

Despite his disappointment, Orion shrugged. “Guess not.” And with that, their game continued. ...But Hater’s smile didn’t returned.

Orion and Lily didn’t take this long to talk... And Rigel was almost two! “Should we be worried?” he asked himself, “Maybe we should take him to sick bay, or-” He stopped, hearing a curious gurgle. Rigel was looking up at him, curious but still smiling and enjoying his father’s company. 

“...” Hater smiled back at him, taking a moment to ruffle the boy’s hair. Words or not, Rigel was still the greatest toddler in the galaxy!

“Hey everyone!” a very familiar voice greeted from the hall. Now THAT definitely made Hater smile - Wander returning from a trip, no matter how short or long it was, always made the skeletal overlord smile. 

And of course, it made his kids smile too. Turning off the game system, the twins raced to the couch. “Hey Papa!” “How was Auntie Syl?” “Did you guys see anything cool?” 

“Oh we saw lots!” Wander answered excitedly, “And I’ve got plenty of pictures too~! So-!” A small cry interrupted him. “Huh?”

All eyes were now on Rigel, who had gone from happy to pouting, fussing as he squirmed in his father’s lap. “Aww,” Wander coo’d, holding out his arms, “I’m sorry, did you miss Papa, sweetie?”

But Rigel refused, not even bothering to crawl into his papa’s lap. He just continued to fuss and whimper. “If he doesn’t want to be held by you, then what does he want?” Hater asked, furrowing his brows.

“Maybe he’s hungry?” Orion offered.

“But we just had lunch. So. maybe just a clean diaper?” Lily suggested.

“But he doesn’t smell!” Hater told them, “So, what-?”

“BA!” Rigel shouted, throwing his little fists up in the air and waving them around. Eyes wide and breaths being held, his family leaned in. “Rigel...?” Wander asked, voice hushed.

“B-Ba...” The toddler’s pout deepened, and he reached out, trying to grab his papa’s hat. “Ban’jo!” 

“.........” While the rest of his family’s jaws dropped (in Hater’s case, almost literally), Wander just smiled. “Ohhh, so THAT’s it! Heh, yeah, I guess it has been a while since you’ve gotten to hear one of my songs, and I know how much you kids like ‘em! So let me just-” And that was when it finally hit him. “...You, you said banjo. GAAAAASP! YOU SAID BANJO!!!”

Unable to help himself, Wander scooped his youngest son up and hugged him tightly. “Oh Rigel, I am SO proud of you! Oooh, your first word! I’m so-!”

“Wehhhhhh...” The toddler pushed against his papa, still pouting up a storm. “Ban’jo, ban’joooo!”

“Heh, alright alright,” Wander told him, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead before passing him off to his sister - who, at this point, was smiling just as much as her papa, as was her brother. “How about I sing a special song just for you?” he asked, taking off his hat and pulling out his trusty instrument. Rigel smiled, clapping his hands and giving a cheer. “I’ll take that as a yes!”

“...Wait,” Hater said, finally finding his voice, “His first word... was BANJO? SERIOUSLY?!” But the rest of his family just laughed. 

THE END

Heh, hope you all enjoyed reading this ^v^ I’ve got a few other Rigel related ideas so, hopefully this isn’t the last time I write about him. Thanks again for reading!

#wander over yonder #woy after verse #fanbabies #skeleton dance #prismasandpie #oneshot #fanfiction #my writing

[nothesc]

We met in a kindergarten. A Yousana AU.

Part I here

Part II here

Part III

“So, what are your plans for tomorrow?” Sana asked as she sat on the couch next to her sister-in-law and her brother.

They were at Jamilla and Abdu’s place. Elias was playing outside with the Nadia and the rest of them were just chilling in the living room.

“Plans?” Jamilla asked frowning “I have to work and so does Abdu”

“Well yeah but I mean, which time do you start and finish and so on…”

“I work from 7am to 3pm as always Sana” Abdu explained

“Oh…and Nadia starts school at 8 right?” Sana wondered

“Yes…but I start my shift at 8:30 so I can take her, as always” Jamilla said starting to know where this conversation was leading

“Yeah, but I mean…You know the library? It’s a few blocks away from Nadia’s kindergarten. I was thinking about going there to study tomorrow about 8 so…I mean I can take her if you want. So you don’t have to drive around and so on…” Sana said trying to sound casual

“Wait…” Abdu said looking between his wife and his sister “Is this about that boy from the kindergarten? So it’s true you like him”

Sana squinted at Jamilla, that girl had told the whole family apparently.

“I don’t like anyone, I’m just trying to be a good aunt”

“Sure, Sana” Jamilla said smiling “You’re just such a good aunt. Don’t care about the fact that Nadia’s teacher is the cutest boy on Earth”

“Hey! I’m right here!” Abdu told Jamilla acting offended

“Oh you know you’re my number one, but I mean, Yousef is kind of cute…for Sana I mean” Jamilla said kissing Abdu’s cheek

He put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and kissed the top of her head

“Anyway, do you want me to take Nadia to school or not?” Sana said standing up

“Yes, of course. I could use the time” Jamilla said nodding

“Great” Sana said a little bit too enthusiastic.

Both Abdu and Jamilla raised their eyebrows at her while smirking

“I mean, cool, yeah whatever…I’ll come to pick her up at 7:30”

 -x-

“I like when you take me to school aunt Sana”

“I like taking you little girl”

Sana and Nadia were walking down the street, just a few blocks away from the kindergarten.

“So tell me, do you like school?” Sana asked her niece

“Yes, I like it” Nadia said smiling

“And do you like your teachers?”

“Yes, except when they want me to eat the green stuff”

“But you know you have to eat vegetables to be strong” Sana said chuckling

“But I don’t like them” Nadia pouted

“So, who’s your favorite teacher?” Sana asked

She knew that trying to get information from a little kid was lame but it wasn’t like she had any other option

“I love Miss Emmelie” Nadia said making Sana feel a little disappointed. “But Yousef is my favorite”

“Is he?” Sana asked smiling “Is he nice to you?”

“Yes, he’s very nice to me. Once I fell in the playground and my knee hurt. Teacher Yousef came and took me inside. I was crying and I didn’t want the kids to make fun of me. He told me that crying was okay and that I was brave because not everyone cried in front of other people. Then he let me choose between a princess sticker or a spiderman one. But I didn’t know which to choose so he gave me both. All the kids were jealous of me. And another time one boy was making fun of me because I was singing and teacher Yousef came and started to sing and dance with me. And then all the kids joined and we all sang together”

Sana’s heart melted as she listened to her niece’s stories. She had a feeling that Yousef was a good guy but actually hearing that kind of stuff made her heart feel warm. Her cheeks hurt from smiling as they reached the kindergarten.

Sana peaked inside and saw Yousef standing in the hallway. He wasn’t alone though, he was talking to another teacher who had a kid by her side. She was a little disappointed because she wanted to talk to him but she didn’t want to interrupt his conversation so she just stepped inside the place and said goodbye to Nadia. The girl hugged her aunt and kissed her in the cheek before starting to run towards her class. Sana stood there for a few moments as she watched Nadia walking by Yousef.

 -x-

“Good morning teacher Yousef” he heard Nadia said as she walked past him.

He followed her with his eyes and then he looked up to the door hoping he’d find the person he was thinking about. It was his lucky day because, indeed, Sana was standing by the door looking back at him. His lips instantly curved into a smile, a smile she returned shyly.

“So what do you think, Yousef?” he heard Lotte, the teacher he was supposed to be having a conversation with, saying.

Yousef looked at her startled, the truth was that as soon as he had seen Sana he had stopped listening to her.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat it?” he asked with a smile

“Yes, what I was saying was that…”

His eyes wandered again to the door only to find that Sana wasn’t there anymore.

 -x-

“Hey Nadia, having fun?” Yousef asked as he sat next to her and her friends in the playground

“Yes” She said smiling widely at him

“So I’ve seen that your aunt Sana brought you today, right?”

“Yes, aunt Sana is the best”

“Is she?” he said smiling

“Yes, she taught me how to play basketball. She’s the best at basketball. Better than uncle Elias. Oh and she lets me use her lipsticks. She has a looooot of lipstick. And she buys me ice-cream when I’m sad. And she always says that I can be a princess and a warrior at the same time. And that all my dreams will come true”

Yousef grinned widely while listening to his student. He had a feeling that even though Sana was strong and tough she had also a big heart, and having it being confirmed by Nadia made him so happy.

“And she listens to my stories. This morning we were talking about you and…”

“You were talking about me?” Yousef asked raising his eyebrows

“Yes, she asked me who my favorite teacher is. And it’s you.”

“Really? Wow thank you so much Nadia.” He leaned closer to her ear to whisper to her “Do you want to know a little secret?”

Nadia nodded excited

“You’re my favorite student” he whispered

He then leaned back and brought his index finger to his lip to do a “shh” sign. Nadia giggle and imitated his sign.

“So, is your aunt Sana coming to pick you up later?”

“Yes, she is”

 -x-

Yousef looked at his watch, the classes would end in 10 minutes. If he knew something about Sana, the girl he had met only twice, she would be entering the place in a few minutes. She seemed like the kind of person that preferred to arrive sooner rather than later. Since he didn’t have class he had been waiting for her in the hall, trying to keep himself busy. What was it about that girl that wouldn’t let him stop thinking about her? He didn’t even know her. He had only seen her twice and heard about her from her niece. But still, the way she had smiled to him the last time, when he had brought her coffee, the feeling of her hand brushing against his as he had handed her the paper cup, that was something he hadn’t felt before.

He heard the front door being opened and looked up to see Sana entering the place. She looked around and as soon as her eyes landed on him she smiled widely making Yousef’s heart skip a beat.

He walked over to her, a smile on his face.

“Hey” he greeted her

“Hi” she said back “I guess you know why I’m here”

“Yeah, Nadia told me you were coming so…” he took a few steps backwards to grab something from a table near by “I thought you’d like this”

He was holding two paper cups of coffee, one for him and one for her

“Thank you” she said as she took the cup from him “This is very nice of you”

“It’s okay, like I said no one should ever be left without coffee” he said taking a sip of his cup “If you can call that coffee of course”

She raised her eyebrows at him

“How do you take your coffee then, tough guy?” she teased him

“Black, extra cream” he said shrugging

She tilted her head and glared at him

“You do realize that a latte with no cream and a black coffee with extra cream is kind of the same thing, right?” she said

“Kind of, but not the same” he said winking at her

She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee

“I heard you’ve been talking about me” he told her

Sana choked on her coffee and started to cough

“What?”

“Nadia told me you talked about me this morning” he said amused by her reaction

“I’m a responsible aunt, I care about my niece’s school life” Sana said matter-of-factly “And how do you even know that? Were you talking about me with Nadia?”

His smiled faded and he felt his cheeks blush.

“I’m a responsible teacher, I care about my students’ family life” he said in the same tone Sana had used

She pressed her lips together trying to contain the smile but eventually she failed and started to laugh. Yousef soon joined her laugh, which was interrupted by several parents entering the kindergarten at the same time the kids got out of their classrooms.

“Wow, so many people” Sana said looking around trying to see Nadia

“Not everyone is as punctual as you Sana”

She looked at him and smiled, Yousef saying her name was her favorite sound in the world, as cheesy as that seemed.

“Oh, there she is!” Sana said as she saw Nadia walking to her “Hey girl, ready to go?”

“Yes, are you buying me ice-cream?”

“Maaaaaybe, but don’t tell your mom” Sana said winking at her

“Promise”

“Well, I guess we should go…I’ll see you Yousef” Sana said as she took Nadia’s hand and started to walk backwards

“Yeah, I’ll see you. It’s been nice talking to you”

“Same”

Then she turned around and started her way to the door

“We should this again sometime, with real coffee from a coffee shop” she heard him saying

She turned around to look at him and nodded while smiling, too flustered to even talk. Then, finally, she left the kindergarten.

Yousef watched them as they left and sighed.

He didn’t know what Sana Bakkoush had to make him feel that way but he knew one thing, he didn’t want it to stop.

---------x-------

Hope you’ve liked this part!!

Thank you @stressedoutteenager for the ideas for this chapter!!♥♥♥

Thank you all for reading!!♥

#skam #yousana #nothesc au

[rainbowsockbrian]

A Little Help (a Queen fanfiction)

prologue

disclaimers: a looooot of angst and mental health issues. also some swearing I guess

Number of words: 1157

A/N: This is a little introduction into the OC of this story (since it’s going to be several chapters long, it seemed fitting to choose to design an OC). I hope you guys like it and I hope you guys have patience with me as I try to write towards the more fun and Queen inhabited parts of th story! xx

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I existed in 1973, in South London, in an apartment that looked upon an old factory. They used to weave cotton in there, you know. Lower class laborers would go every day to their badly paid jobs, just so they could afford their small mold-infested houses where they slept with seven people in one room. They worked 12 hours or more a day in an environment that was just a hotspot for contagious, deadly diseases, just so they could feed their children. Children that had to work themselves instead of getting the education they needed otherwise they would die of hunger before they could even die of tuberculosis.  

But that was a hundred years ago. Now I existed in 1973. Not that it was much better, you know. Every day I looked upon that factory and thought of all the people that uselessly laid down their lives, all in the name of making lots of money for the big bosses. Why wouldn’t I just move if this view made me so unhappy? Well, because it was useless. Everywhere I went there was pain and suffering and I wouldn’t have to travel to the previous century to see it. Scattered along the London streets you could find strays living under the dark colored English skies. In the cold winters they would freeze and when the temperature was actually decent, they would beg people for understanding, for a means to survive. But no one even saw them. They were treated as if they were not human beings, as if they were just annoyances on the way to the office. Like mosquito’s zooming around your head.

It was sad enough that there were actually a lot of people like me. People that just couldn’t find the light in every day things. I tried so hard to make them see that happiness, but I was starting to realize they might just have been right. The world really is a ridiculously awful place.

I curled up in my bed grabbing the nearest pillow and pushing it against my body for dear life. The tightening, pushing feeling in my chest didn’t care about my attempts to stop it, to get myself to calm down. I knew this wasn’t real. This dark cloud over my mind was just my brain not producing certain hormones. Hormones that would make you see through a more positive pair of glasses.

I felt my heart beat in my chest and the vibration went through my entire body. My muscles were stiff as stone, all I could do was shake. I couldn’t even lift the glass of water that was beside my bed and spilled cold drops of water all over my sheets and soaking the case files that I had laid down next to me.

I looked upon the smudged letters on the paper and tried to wipe away some of the droplets that had fallen on her name. ‘Eliza’ it read, but I could only read it because I knew it was there. Other people would just see the black stains left by my trembling hands.

My eyes instantly filled with tears as I looked upon the smudged file. I couldn’t help her before and now all hope had disappeared that I could ever possibly help her in the future. But I had to. It was my responsibility. I couldn’t just let her feel how she felt now.  It would turn her into the London street homeless or the nineteenth century factory laborers: alone and forgotten. What if she hurt herself? What if she would feel like the whole world was against her? What if she…

I couldn’t finish that thought before I gasped for air and started crying to the beat of my aggressively fast breath. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t do anything right. My entire live was this heap of chaos, this huge uncontrollable mess. There wasn’t a thing I looked forward to anymore, not a thing that I could do right anyway. I had this big responsibility of looking after people, of making them feel at peace with themselves. But they would always end up worse. They told me it wasn’t about me, but that wasn’t the point. I needed to help them and I couldn’t. They were better off without me.

I threw Eliza’s case file through the room, but I couldn’t quite see where it ended up. Everything was blurry from the tears. My hands found their way up my soaked face trying to keep myself from screaming, from falling completely apart. But the knot in my chest just kept getting tighter and tighter. It felt like a heart attack, but I knew it wasn’t. I couldn’t even keep up trying to count the times I had felt like this. I should be used to it by know, but it wasn’t like that. Every time it got worse, every time it took longer to get away and by now it felt like it never really went away at all.

I couldn’t take this anymore. I needed to get away, to a place where this wouldn’t follow me anymore. I needed it gone. Now. Maybe I should just…

I gasped for air and immediately stopped crying through shock of my own thoughts. How could I have let it get this far? My trembling fingers graced over the last tear that was rolling over my cheek. What in good God’s name was I doing? This couldn’t get any further than this. My grip on the pillow loosened and it fell out of my arms on the pile of case files.

With a huge pull of my legs I forced myself to swing them to the edge of the bed. I took up the horn on the phone and turned at the wheel until I had dialed the phone number. After a few agonizing rings someone answered the phone: ‘Hello, Gallagher household.’ The grumpy low voice felt like a little light at the end of the tunnel and the tears started to silently roll over my face again.

‘Dad…’ I said, my voice felt painful and unused. ‘I-I-I’ was all that left my mouth in soft whisper tones.

The tone in his voice spun around. There was now something of concern detectable in it. ‘What’s the matter, love? You can tell us anything, you know.’ By referring not only to him, but also to my mother, I figured she was listening in on us. I could almost picture her pushing her face against my dads to catch what I was saying. Which wasn’t a whole lot.

I really didn’t want to do this. But it had gone too far now. I had made a promise to myself and I wasn’t about to break it like I had broken all of my promises. I just needed…I needed a little… ‘Help’ I cried out followed by a few sobs. ‘Please help me, dad. I need help.’

#queen #queen band #a little help story #rainbow sock brian speaks #freddie mercury #brian may #roger taylor #john deacon #bohemian rhapsody #fanfiction #queen fanfiction