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realmofimagines · 1 year

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Don’t Make A Habit of Dying (Simon “Ghost” Riley x Reader)

follow @cowboybxtch (my other account) for more ghost content, as i will not be posting on this blog anymore <3

Wordcount: 3241 Content: swearing, near death, graphic depictions of gore, blood, injury, ghost is in love with u, soap is oblivious, heroic ghost, pre existing relationsip, tension Request: no Note: *just wanna preface this by saying it is not proof read lol* i am absolutely unashamed to be jumping on the ghost bandwagon. i finished the campaign yesterday and honestly i sort of rushed through it bc it was a lot of fun so this is sort of based on one of the missions but it’s all from memory so if anything is wrong or out of place just ignore it and lets call it canon divergence AO3 version here

“Fox, how copy?”

You grunted, clawing at the rain-soaked concrete and grit beneath your fingers as you stretched to reach your communications device. Your head was still spinning from the impact, and your eyes blurred as if you were lying underneath a moving river staring at the wrinkled water surface above. A high-pitched whine resonates in your ears, and you are intensely aware of the urge to vomit.

With a sharp breath, you are able to level yourself onto your knees. Your hand closed around the slippery radio, and you pulled it toward your mouth whilst collapsing your back against a slick brick wall. Your free hand pressed against the sharp, pulsating pain in your abdomen.

“(Y/N), I repeat, how copy?” Ghost’s voice crackled.

You swallowed the dryness in your throat, before pressing the voice activation button on the radio. The strong rush of adrenaline burned in your chest, but it didn’t match the wash of relief upon hearing and recognising Simon’s voice. You closed your eyes and relished in the sensation for a moment.

“I read you.”

He audibly sighed. “Thought I lost you there.”

“Nearly did.”

“You injured?”

You stared down and shakily inspected the palm pressed against your wound. Your fingers came away glistening with rain and blood, and your undershirt was soaked a deep red around the site of the injury. You replace your hand on the wound, applying as much pressure as you can muster with a heavily clenched jaw. As much as you wanted to be honest, you knew that due to the personal obligations Ghost felt toward you because of your secret relationship, letting him know just how hurt you truly were could compromise his position. He would, without a doubt, make his way straight toward you.

“I’m alive.”

“That’s not what I asked, Sergeant.”

“I’ll manage.”

“Good. Are you in sight of the church?”

You blinked hard to clear your vision and glanced around your surroundings. Through a rusted, paint-chipped iron gate, you could see the distant glow of the religious building and gathered that it was about half a mile away. You weren’t sure how much steam you had left in the tank, but you sure as shit were going to use every last drop to get your ass to that church.

“Yeah, I see it.”

“We’ll RV there. Johnny’s on his way now.”

“Copy that.”

“Do you have a weapon?”

You fumbled with your gear, cursing to yourself when you found nothing but empty holsters. All that remained on your person was a singular, small combat knife hidden within your boot, and you silently thanked yourself for taking such precaution.

“A knife.”

“That’s all you need. Stay safe, Fox.”

“Sure, Ghost.”

You released the radio trigger and clipped it back onto the front of your tactical vest. With a deep breath, you managed to pull yourself to your feet with the solid support of the brick wall. Your bloodied hand mixed with the rain, dripping down your chilled fingers and spreading the blood down your arms. You looked like a damn mess. You felt like a damn mess.

You first attempted to push through the iron gate but found it chained and padlocked from the other side.

Never the easy way, you murmured to yourself.

Turning back on yourself, you stumbled through a fruit market. Bruised and trampled limes and apples rolled across the puddled floor, seemingly abandoned in a hurry rather than packed away in their crates. Upon leaning on a stall for aid, you noticed that the civilians, presumably the shopkeepers, had been shot dead in their stalls. It was bloody and gruesome and told the tale of just how relentless the military-for-hire group were.

Your wobbly vision was clouded, and your lashes were thick with rain droplets concentrated with the blood dripping from your head. Your lips and fingers were icy cold, and each breath felt like the air was taking shots at your lungs like they were punching bags. You pressed onwards, however, knowing that if you wanted a chance at living that you needed to make it out of the Shadow’s web, and you could only do so by pushing yourself forwards.

The detour through the fruit market leads you to a couple of Shadow mercs, who chatted idly amongst themselves as if they weren’t standing upon the consequences of their war crimes. Families, including children, cried and screamed in the distance. Gunshots followed, and you tried not to flinch against the sound.

The mercenaries were armed, and they were blocking the only route you had. There was no easy way around this, but you had to improvise given your lack of weaponry and physical power. Your body was betraying you, and try as you might, you’d never be able to take these men in your current situation.

You tossed a beer bottle down the alleyway, hoping to distract them enough to get the upper hand. The left merc stubbed out his cigarette with a sizzle under his boot, before trailing down in the direction of the smashed glass in pursuit of the sound. Noticing your chance, you steadily crouch-walked your way over to the lone hostile and plunged your knife into his side and then into his neck.

“Just an empty bottle. It’s nothing,” the other merc stated, then turning on his heel with a final glance at the broken glass before he whipped his head around with a double take to notice his friend in a gargling heap on the floor, and you standing above him. “What the fuck?!”

He raised his gun toward you, leaving you no choice but to slam straight into him to throw off his aim. His gun flew upwards as he pulled the trigger, spraying an arc of loud, bright bullets into the air whilst you attempted to disarm him. He retaliated with a hard shove, though not before you were able to get your hands on the pistol in his hip holster. You flew to the ground with a thud and splash, but before he had the chance to regain composure and take aim at you again, you’d blasted two rounds into his chest, and then his throat. He collapsed on top of you in a heavy heap.

Another soldier rounded the corner, but you didn’t quite have the energy to recognise the threat before it was a second too late.

You were just lucky that Soap barged through the cafe door on your left and took him down with a clean shot straight through the temple. He turned his gaze from the man on the floor after confirming his death and reached over to you on the ground. He heaved the dead mercenary off of your chest and offered you a strong hand. You grabbed onto him and groaned as he yanked you upright, a firm hand on your shoulder to steady you as you fell towards him. With a concerned eye, he straightened you with a gentle nudge.

“Christ, Fox,” Soap murmured, eyeing the wound on your side. You immediately clutched at it defensively. “You’re not lookin’ so hot.”

You wheezed a breath and mustered a smile. “I’m running on fumes, but I’ll be fine. Let’s just get to that church.”

“Aye, Sergeant. I’ll take front.”

“Be my guest.”

You trailed sloppily behind Soap, cursing yourself for your inability to be as sharp as you usually were. You hated being a burden, but you hated letting the team down more. Your carelessness in the fight that broke out with Graves had cost you a life-threatening injury in a team that refused to leave anybody behind, even if it got them killed. You only worried that if you weren’t going to make it, you wouldn’t be able to see Simon before you went and that you wouldn’t be able to tell him you were sorry.

Your heart ached at the thought.

You and Ghost had been dating, briefly. It happened slowly. First, there were inside jokes, and then there were gentle teasing pet names, and then more than friendly touches… until one night the tension seemed to break, and you slept together, which was just a week ago now before everything went to shit. You almost regretted doing so, for fear that now you’d never get to see him again, to touch him again.

You stumbled to your knees and caught yourself barely by planting your hand solidly on the gravelled floor. Soap spun around and cursed under his breath before reaching for his radio.

“Ghost, we have a situation here.”

He leaned forward and grabbed at your biceps, throwing your arm over his soldier for support.

“What situation?”

“Fox was WIA,” he grunted with a low voice, pulling your body towards cover as a squadron of Shadows passed by in pursuit of the gunshots from only a few moments prior. Any second now, they would find the bodies and be alerted of your presence.

“Don’t piss around the bush, Johnny. How bad?”

Soap studied you with an uneasy glance. “We’re gonna need backup if we’re gonna get the lass outta here.”

“What’s your location?”

“Uh—” Soap paused and checked for any noticeable landmarks. “We’re at the coffee shop just a ways from the fruit market—”

“Hang tight. I’m on my way.”

“What about the RV?”

“Stay put, Serg.”

“Yes, sir.”

The distance from the church to the market was about ten minutes, but Ghost cleared the distance in about four. His eyes were cold and steely behind his mask but became soft and expressive upon noticing your strained face and bloodied abdomen. He was gentle when he leaned for you.

“Jesus Christ, Fox,” he murmured, his tone an edge softer than usual. He leaned toward you to help stabilise you on your feet and apologised under his breath when you yelped in pain. “Who did this to you?”

You grunted and leaned against one of his large arms for support. You blinked the rainwater away from your eyes and maintained eye contact with him. Even now, at a time like this, you felt your stomach flip. You were so in love with him and that somehow made everything scarier.

“One of Graves’ boys. Not sure who. Didn’t get a good look before I killed him.” You answered.

“Atta girl,” Ghost praised. Your heart clenched.

Soap stared on with a worried look, his back tense with stress.

“Hold up,” Soap said, raising a fist before lifting his gun to level his eyes with the sights. mercenaries stormed past the windows, and there was a sudden series of heavy bangs on the cafe door that Soap had barricaded with bar stools. “We’ve got company, Ghost.”

Ghost nodded, and then turned to you with an urgent look in his eyes. “Can you walk?”

You cringed at the stabs of pain and clenched your jaw. “Simon, I’m a liability. Leave me here and I can hold them off—”

“I am not leaving you here!”

You blinked in shock at the intensity of his tone. His eyes beyond the mask seemed desperate, and he clutched your face in a gloved hand as if uttering his silent pleas through his palm. You truly believed him and his words, for there was no reason for a man like himself to lie to you at a time like this.

“I said, can you walk?”

You nodded stiffly.

“Then let’s fucking walk,” Ghost answered, tossing your arm over his shoulder to carry the most of your body weight as he essentially dragged you toward the exit point of the cafe. His other hand gripped his pistol so hard that his knuckles began to numb beneath his glove. “Cover us, Johnny!”

Soap tailed your backs with a raised gun, and Ghost was just able to tug you out of the door before the hostiles blasted through and started swarming the place with bullets. Ghost seemed to lug you along with desperation, as you were practically limping at this point.

“You stupid girl, getting me all worried like this,” he cursed, turning briefly to shoot one of the incoming adversaries before continuing onwards. “Do you know how lucky you are that I’m here?”

He was acting characteristically sharp and dry, but you knew that it was just to glaze over his worry. Ghost didn’t often lose his cool, but you were certainly shaking his faith. You couldn’t judge him for his words and simply offered a weak smile in response.

You heaved a laugh. “Let’s just say I owe you one.”

He seemed to soften. “Let me take you to dinner when this is all over. Call it even.”

“It’s a date,” you wheezed, your words accompanied by laboured breaths. The pain was intense and radiated in waves of white-hot pulses and aches that made you limp and shudder in the agony. Your feet and hands were starting to feel numb, and your head felt like it was full of TV static. You just needed a short break, and then you would be able to continue.

You began tripping over your feet, and albeit he tried to keep you upright, Ghost’s strength wasn’t enough to counter the sudden push of gravity as you slumped to the floor.

“(Y/N)!”

Your face was white, and your eyes rolled back. He was immediately at your side, grabbing your face in his hand to inspect your breathing, and then the pulse on your neck with fingers that he’d torn a glove from. He was momentarily relieved when he felt the feedback of your heart, regardless of how faint it was. It was enough to keep going, to revive the easily extinguishable flicker of hope.

Soap rounded the corner, seeming urgent as he fired shots down the alleyway.

“Ghost, they’re gaining on us!”

“Shit!” He cursed.

Without a second thought, he unsheathed his pistol and handed it over to Soap who took it without question. Simon scooped his arms under your legs and back and held you securely to his chest before nodding at his comrade.

“You keep us safe. That’s an order, Serg.”

“Sure, LT, but we need to get a move on— now.”

“Let’s go!”

You jostled in and out of consciousness. It was soft and gentle, like a slow beat of butterfly wings. You would open your eyes momentarily, but there wasn’t enough adrenaline supply in the world to keep you awake, and things would quickly return to darkness. Your grasp on reality started to slip when the blood loss became critical, and the only thing you were aware of was the bruising grip Ghost had on your flesh and the overwhelming fear that you were about to die.

You vaguely notice the sensation of cold marble on your body, and then the tightness of gauze and tape being wrapped around you.

Ghost was manic as he watched your pale, lifeless body show little to no reaction to his movements. He’d torn your battle vest off and inspected the damage beneath your vest. He’d swallowed his anxiety and wrapped you up as best he could with what little supplies himself and Soap had scrounged from the village and proceeded to perform CPR on you when he noticed your breathing had come to an abrupt stop.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

You couldn’t move.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Crack.

A blooming pain in your ribs.

A warm press of lips on your own, and the uncomfortable sensation of being filled with air.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The thrum of helicopter blades. Distant shouting. Ghost’s voice.

Ghost’s voice.

“Simon…?”

——

When you next woke, it was a slow and unpleasant sensation. White, fluorescent lights pierced through your eyelids, which felt heavy to open. The sharp sensation of the gunshot in your side felt dull, and you could tell by the swimming sensation in your head that you were drugged. You vaguely recognised the sound of a beeping monitor, and you flinched. The smell of bleach filled your nose.

“Good mornin’, sunshine.”

Your eyes fluttered open, wincing against the harsh ceiling lights. You turned your gaze to the figure hunched over in a small brown chair— a heavily-built man, adorning a balaclava with a skull painted on it. Ghost.

“Simon.”

“(Y/N).”

You attempted to lift yourself into an upright position, and immediately felt a flare of agony that had you coughing out a broken sob.

“Hey, hey, take it easy there, Fox,” Ghost murmured, immediately reaching forwards to settle you back down. You grit your teeth together and blinked away the sudden onslaught of tears that were born from the shock of the pain. He tried to sit back down, but you caught his gloved hand before he could leave and he didn’t have the heart to pull away. His stature immediately softened, and his thumb smoothed over your fingers and knuckles in an attempt to comfort you.

“They outta put more drugs in you. They sure did a number on you. Surprised you’re still with us.”

“I thought I was going to die.”

Simon huffed through his nose and tugged the chair closer so that he could sit beside you and hold your cold hands in his. “I thought you were, too, sweetheart.”

“How the Hell did you get me out of there?”

You couldn’t see it, but by the wrinkle of his eyes, you knew he was smirking. “This old dog still got his ways.”

A concern suddenly popped into your head as bits and pieces of memories began to slot together. “And Soap?”

“He’s fine, unfortunately.”

You smiled gently, feeling yourself relax a little. You turned to him and held his gaze, suddenly feeling intimidated by his sharp eyes. The heart monitor next to your bed began to beep at an increased pace, and your cheeks flushed.

Ghost seemed bemused. “Am I makin’ you nervous, darlin’?”

You buried your face in your hands and only dared to peek through your fingers when you heard him start to laugh.

“Don’t hide from me just yet. You still owe me a date.”

You threw your hands down to your sides and smiled. “Look who’s gone all soft. I wonder what the boys would think of you right now.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t make me regret saving you.”

“Don’t kid yourself, LT, you loved playing hero,” you retorted, a glimmer of mischief sparkling through your grin. You suddenly felt the atmosphere become slightly tense and heavy with the weight and reality of the situation. You could’ve and likely should’ve died back there. You weren’t aware enough of your surroundings to remember just what Ghost and Soap went through to get you out, but you could only imagine.

“Thank you, Simon.” You said, more serious this time.

He glanced away as if embarrassed. “It’s nothing.”

You reached closer and grabbed his masked face. In private, he would remove his balaclava just for you. You felt the selfish desire that he would do so just now so that you could kiss him but swallowed your urges for you knew he couldn’t compromise himself in the med-bay. Too many prying eyes.

He grabbed your hand from his face and kissed it, the warmth and pressure of his lips still present even through the fabric on his face. You were butter in his touch, practically melting through his fingers.

“Just don’t make a habit of nearly dying, you hear me? Nearly gave me a bastard heart attack.”

You smiled, staring at him dazedly. “Yes, sir.”

#simon ghost riley #ghost x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley x reader #cod #x reader #angst #injury #pining #ghost is in love #soap mactavish #john mactavish

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imagineimagineimagine · 7 months

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Of Six People, Three Must Pay A Price (Jingliu x reader)

"There used to be a statue of you here..." Jingliu noted silently as she gracefully walked through the bustling market street.

Even while wearing a heavy blindfold, Jingliu moved with complete confidence and grace; never once stumbling or colliding with another person.

Returning to The Xianzhou Luofu after all this time was bring back many forgotten memories for the old forgotten Sword Champion. While many were just mere flashes to days gone by, a small handful were memories so clear, (so precious), that for a moment she could almost forgot where she was; and what she had done.

No matter which type of memories they were however, all the of them included you.

'The Shield Of The Alliance'

Many centuries ago, everyone in the Alliance knew about the (man/woman) who held that title. But to her, you would always simply be (Your/Name); the childhood friend she had grown up, and the (man/woman) she had fallen in love with.

Once when you were both still children, Jingliu wondered why you decided against learning how to wield a weapon like she and the other trainees were doing. And even while wrestling with madness that Mara-sickness brought, Jingliu could still remember the answer that you gave her that day.

"Honestly? It's cause I think there more than enough people on this ship who are learning how to fight. But to really give people hope again, what everyone really needs right now is a protector. A...shield that will keep them safe."

Naturally there were people who mocked you for that. Afterall, how where you supposed to fight the abominations of Plague Author with just a shield?

But no matter what they said you always stood tall. While the others were busy fighting, you were the one who made sure that they would all get back home alive.

And no one dared to mock you again after you had managed to singlehandedly holdoff an attack from the Reignbow Arbiter.

Most people if they heard that story would have called you a liar. But thousands of ships had born witness to that awe-inspiring moment, and thousands more were saved because of your actions.

You and Jingliu fought side by side for hundreds of lifetimes. And the things the two of you did became the stuff of legend.

But now, her beloved was forgotten by the world. Hidden away from everyone as though they were some shameful secret from Luofu's past. (And all because of your connection to her.)

Your place among the honored dead was another thing that she had robbed you of.

When the Mara inside her body became too much for her to bear, Jingliu went on a rampage. She massacred the Cloud Knights under her command and everyone else in sight. There was a reason why she was known as the Sword Champion. Her skills with the blade were unparalleled, and anyone sent to stop her would've died a fool's death.

And so, the task was left to the only people who did stand a chance; (Your/Name) and Jing Yuan.

For hours the three of you fought, and you and Jing Yuan did everything you could to take Jingliu down without killing her. But when (Your/Name) hesitated for just a single moment, it was more than enough time for Jingliu to strike.

With expert precision, her blade tore through your chest and came out your back. And it was only the spray of your blood landing on her face that gave Jingliu a moment of clarity; as she awoke to the horror of what she had done.

As she stood frozen, you used the last of your strength to wrap your arms around Jingliu, and then she heard you tell to Jing Yuan to finish it.

Look over your shoulder, she saw the pained expression on her student's face before it was replaced with grim determination. And with the Thunder Lord having been summoned, the world became a sea of thunder.

Jingliu closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around you as the end approached. She knew she didn't deserve forgiveness for all the lives she had taken, nor did she deserve the comfort of your embrace.

But when you tightened your hold on her, and said one last "I love you", Jingliu closed her eyes and whispered it back.

That day should have been the end for the two of you, but purely by accident, you saved her one last time.

A life time of being a protector had engrained it into your body to protect others first. Entirely unconsciously, you shifted slightly so that your back was turned towards the on-coming attack. You bore the full brunt of the attack's power, while Jingliu, (though battered and broken), survived.

For centuries there on, Jingliu journeyed from planet to planet; attacking everything and everyone in sight. She became adrift in the galaxy, and now without you there to ground her, she was now entirely consumed by the Mara-sickness.

For centuries Jingliu spiralled out of control; spending whole decades as something no better than a rabid beast. The Mara-sickness was all consuming, and it made it impossible for her to think or remember who she truly was. It was only the flashes of your time together that gave her any peace.

But slowly she found a way. Somehow over the years she managed to regain just a tiny bit of control over her fractured mind. She knew it wouldn't last long however, so before she lost herself to the madness once again she returned to the Loufu.

Of six people, three still needed to pay a price.

And Jingliu was one of them...

Once her business was taken care, she would pay the price for everything she had done to you.

She only hoped that you could forgive her...

#honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail #honkai: star rail #honkai x reader #honkai impact #jingliu x reader #jingliu hsr #hsr jingliu x reader #jingliu #jing yuan #hsr jingliu #star rail #hsr x gender neutral reader #hsr x reader #hsr angst

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nerdieforpedro · 2 months

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He told me his name

The Mandalorian/ Din Djarin x plus size female reader

My entire blog is 18+ MDNI

Word Count: approx. 1.3k

Summary: It's not clear if you enter The Mandalorian's orbit or you enter his, but slowly the two of you are growing closer.

Warnings: vague mentions of mechanic work, HANDS (It's my thing about Din okay?!), fluff, some violence, blood, injuries and first aid

Notes: I've wanted to write another Din fic for a while and didn't have any sparks. Then I read @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin 's Din fic (Sorgan girls Are Easy) she put out yesterday which is excellent. I had my spark. ⚡️ Though the fic I wrote isn't similar to hers at all. Not even in the same category. 🤣 My fic is very moody. I might write a follow-up one shot to this. Not another series!

Dividers are by the wonderful @saradika-graphics

Main Masterlist / Din Djarin Masterlist /Our Journey Across the Star Ocean

Lingering near your workstation had you curious, but you chalked it up to just being curious about how you worked. You’re aware that your organization, separation and tinkering can be slower than other mechanics but it also means you don’t need to double check your work as often.

The Mandalorian was intimidating and never rude or even commanding. In fact he was polite and let Peli speak to him pretty casually. You only said hello and goodbye.

That’s why it struck you with surprise when Peli asked during one evening card game with the droids if you’d consider riding with the “walking tin can” as she put it. You blinked and asked why you, shouldn’t he be asking her to come with him. She told you that she had a business to run and she’s not gallivanting around with a trigger happy bounty hunter who has to keep track of an adorable but absurdly strong baby.

“You need some excitement anyway. You’ll just waste away here without any good memories or fun stories to tell. It will just be a life of regrets of paths not taken.”

Her words rang in your head as the small green child sat in your lap. The Mandalorian was at the controls, silently charting their course. Was this a good decision?

He allowed you to come with him when he got his tracking fobs and when he turned in his bounties. The first touch was between your shoulder blade to your back, guiding you and the child through the market back to the Razor Crest.

The second was when his gloved hands touched yours while trying to improve your aim using a blaster. His voice was more gentle than his normal flat one. Closer to what he used with Grogu but still not as much warmth. It was enough to have you believe him to be kind.

The third happened after he brought a bounty back to the ship and he saw Grogu patting your cheeks as you spoke to him. Explaining about what different bolts did, it looked like you were organizing your tools again. His gloved hand was placed on your shoulder which had you peer up at his t-visor. He gave you a nod and went to inventory his weapons. Maybe it wasn’t just kindness. Maybe he believes you to be useful, a smile creeps along your face.

Such small gestures continued until you took Grogu out for a walk.

It was a fairly green planet and Din said it was safe, you didn’t wander far from the ship as it was still in view. The first crawling plant you saw and shot it through and through with your blaster. The second, nipped your leg but you were able to knock it off and shot it twice. On the way back to the ship you were clear, but one jumped the gangway and a tentacle sliced across your back before you were able to turn and shoot it. You limped back into the Razor Crest and were able to clean and dress your leg but not your back. Grogu wouldn’t stop screaming and you kept moving him away from you to not get blood on the poor child.

The bounty hunter saw you, quickly put his bounty on carbonate and grabbed the bacta spray. He spoke to his son and was able to calm him slightly as he ripped your shirt and bra to try and access the wound on your back but the blood and secretions in your wound from the tentacle made it increasingly difficult as you bled.

“I apologize for this. I’ll need to cut off the rest of the back of your shirt to clean and apply the spray and…” He paused. The Mandalorian you know never paused, he was always measured in his speech, even with Grogu. “It may be easier for me to do if I remove my gloves. They’ve become too slick with your blood. Is that alright?” You found it puzzling that he was asking permission considering it’s one of the main tenets of his religion. You didn’t care either way as long as the bleeding and pain stopped.

“It’s fine Mando. Do what you need to do. Grogu’s okay right? I didn’t get any blood on him, I think.”

You closed your eyes and heard the Mandalorian give a few curses as he removed his gloves, warm calloused fingers were dabbing your back and applying pressure. After holding it a few minutes, you felt the cool spray of the bacta and some patches being applied with more pressure. There seemed to be less pain and your back didn’t feel like a dripping pool so you counted your lucky stars and thanked the Maker that the bounty hunter had come back earlier than later. You felt something soft spread over your body and you were lifted off the floor of the ship and brought to your cot. How did he lift you so easily? Did beskar help with that? You didn’t think so, but you know next to nothing about the stuff. It was there that you drifted off to sleep.

When you awoke later, Grogu had tucked himself on your pillow with a small green hand on your cheek. It made you feel happy to see the little green one next to you, but you felt something in your hand. It was what had been on your back. Mando had one of his gloves off and was holding your hand with his bare one. His other hand was touching Grogu’s back but his glove was on. You turned away for a moment to let a tear fall. He cares about you, you’re more than useful, maybe.

Grogu remained asleep but Mando awoke, squeezing your hand in his. “You’re awake? Has the pain subsided? I should check-” You turned back to shush him and carefully sat up, the blanket falling off your partially and he released your hand to pull it around you. The back of your shirt was open and had fallen forward some when you got up, but not expose anything thankfully. “You should keep warm. We’re on our way back to turn in the bounty. I-I am sorry.”

“There’s no reason to be sorry. They came out of nowhere. I was able to not get killed because of the blaster shots you had me practice and Grogu’s safe so-” Since you’re not holding Mando’s hand any longer, you grasp the blanket, to have something in your hand.

“You were not safe. You were hurt badly. Do…I would not blame you if you wanted to leave.” His register is low, not threatening, but there’s sadness in it. He was sitting at your bedside mere moments ago. You wished to hop back in time and keep still so you wouldn't wake him. Just to have stayed in that moment a bit longer…

“I refuse to go. I will not. You’ll have to toss me off. I’ve seen so many things and places and I want to see that much more. You’re stuck with me Mando.” The blanket drops as you release it and you grab his bare hand with both of yours. “I’m not going to but. I just don’t want to go.” Speaking as you lock your eyes on his t-visor, a deep hum is heard from the hunter, but you remain firm.

“I am called Din. Please do so while it’s just the three of us.” His thumb ran across your palm and tickled your skin making you chuckle. “You will remain and hopefully I will hear more of your laugh.” Your smile only grows with his answer. “Please rest for now. Our journey isn’t over.”

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#A Nerdie fic #pedro pascal characters #fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #din djarin #the mandalorian #star wars #din djarin x plus size reader #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin x reader #din djarin x you

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the-witch-of-one-piece · 6 months

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Secrets Kept From Him 18+ Chapter 6: Keep It To Yourself Ran x F!reader x Draken WC:6.9k Resident: @enchantedforest-network Synopsis: The aftermath of Draken confessing his true feelings to you, leads to you both being in your bed. Ran appearing late with a surprise you d/n and you the following day. The surprise would end in a tense discussion and bringing out a side of Ran you had never seen before. Draken facing his own challenges regarding his ex-wife. Ms. Yamaguchi doing her own little research into Ran's life. Ran and Rindou preparing for a risky move with a powerful family that ended on bad terms years back. Tw: drinking, smoking, oral sex, vaginal penetration, masturbation, pet names (good girl), reverse cowgirls position, creampie, orgasm, clit stimulation, making out, possessive behavior, suggestive theme, argument, divorce Draken, mention of death, weapons, criminal affairs, bribery, (unedited) MINORS DNI

You looked at Draken. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt.. right? He is single and I’m single and what we did last night. You could honestly tell he was serious about the question he asked you just moments ago. He wanted a fair shot to show you how he cared for you. giving him a soft nod you agreed to the date “I will go on a date with you Draken.”

You could see Draken's shoulders relax a bit, the small smile on his lips. The more you both looked at each other your lips gravitated towards one another. Something about his kisses was intoxicating; it drew you more with each passing second.

Your arms draped around his neck, and he pulled you closer to him. The soft moans escaped from your lips His hand reaching for your back side as he gave it a squeeze. He was tempted to place you on the counter and give you another taste of last night. The intimacy was something you definitely missed. Getting lost in this moment it was becoming hard to control the urge to be fucked right there and now.

The moment you heard footsteps upstairs you both separated not before he stole a quick kiss. You tried to compose yourself quickly. Your D/n greeted you both “Good morning Mommy and Kenny.”

“Good morning sweetie.” You smiled

“Morning kiddo.”

“Kenny you're here early,” she wasn’t used to seeing him this early.

You looked over at Draken waiting for him to respond. “I want to have breakfast with you both, sooo I came over. ”

You walked to your room and grabbed your phone. You hadn’t looked at your phone since you put d/n to bed. You had a voicemail from Ran. You finally managed to listen to the voicemail. Sitting on the edge of the bed you could hear the bothersome tone in his voice. He seemed to really mean his words as he left the voicemail...A deep sigh came from your lips. Coming from downstairs you could hear d/n laughing. Going downstairs once again you began to prepare breakfast with Draken helping you out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ran was on his way home, he hadn’t heard from you. He was contemplating calling you again but knowing you may not answer again. Rin was going through his email on his phone. An email that he didn’t expect to receive at all, after a bad business deal a few years back “Interesting… The Nishimura family wants to set up a meeting.”

The Nishimura family was known for the connections of illegal weapons along with connections to the black market. The Haitani brothers were one of their transporters. Even running them in the club preparing them for the black market auctions. When they weren’t getting their fair cut of profits, it became a conflict. The bitterness of back and forth for the past few years, even them keeping a hidden stash of weapons from a truck that went missing. It became suspicious of the sudden meeting, when deals go south with the Nishimura the people would end up dead. It was odd that I wanted this meeting.

Ran wasn’t convinced that it was a business they wanted to talk about. But he was rather curious about what they wanted. “No meeting in person. Set it up online….I get the feeling that it's just more than wanting to make a deal.” Ran responded with his eyes on the road.

“I was thinking the same thing.” He responded. “Still are you going to be alright with doing this if they mean business.”

“Of course if they don’t fuck us over like the last time…by all means.I bet they were having issues with there other transporters.” Ran responded.

“That’s not what I’m asking…What if they find out about ______ and D/n. You didn’t have to worry about it back then now that they are both here.” He didn't answer right away “If it comes to that point where they threaten them… I will for sure put a bullet in each head.” Rin responded to the email and now just waiting for them to respond.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“I will pick you up tomorrow around 7.” Draken was getting ready to leave.

“Yeah that sounds great.” You responded with a small smile walking him to the door. “D/n come say bye,” you called out.

D/n came over to the front door, Draken kneeled down. “Bye Kenny! Thank you for yesterday.”

He gave her a hug “anytime. We can do something else soon, okay?” He rubbed the top of her hair. “Be good for your mom okay?” she nodded as she ran back to the living room.

Draken looked at you, his finger going under your chin. Both of you leaned for your lips touching. “I will see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” you smiled.

As soon as he left, you decided to get dressed. Checking in on d/n before you went upstairs. Getting undressed, as you were walking to your dresser you noticed the marks on your chest they turned purple. You remembered Draken's words from last night lingered in your thoughts. You couldn’t get over the way he touched your body. Snapping out of your thoughts you need something to cover your chest. Grabbing a crew neck fitted shirt that covered the indecent marks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draken was pulling up to his home when he saw a familiar car parked in his driveway already. Letting out a sigh. He was already dreading the encounter with his ex-wife. Parking his car he proceeded into his home. Opening the door he saw Emma sitting at the dining room table. She instantly turned her gaze towards her ex-husband. “Emma, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Do you not know how to answer your phone?” Emma looked over at her ex husband.

“We haven’t spoken since the divorce you expect me to answer right away? I was busy.” he crossed his arms across his chest wondering how she got in. “How did you even get in here?” “I had a spare key, remember I used to live here?” she answered. “So where were you?”

Raising his brow “Don’t worry about it… You don’t need to know where I’m going anymore.”

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “You were with ________ weren’t you..” Draken stood quietly “I heard she was back in town... she even came by the shop and then you left with her...”

“And if I was? Is that a problem of yours?” Draken was becoming bothered. “It's really none of your business what I do.” he sighed

She was hurt by his response. “So now that she isn't with Ran anymore you're trying to date her now or what?”

“Emma, you need to leave.” He wasn't going to answer the question. “I need the key.”

“Just answer the questions, Draken. It’s obvious you still have something for her…Even when we were together, I never really had your full love or we wouldn’t be divorced now…”

“We are divorced because we couldn’t see eye to eye on stuff even the littlest things would blow up into an argument... I don't wanna argue anymore Emma.” Draken now seeing why she came over. He knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Even when they were all younger he saw how Emma would act around you. Even if you were blinded by her action at this time it was clear to some of the mutual friends.

When you first disappeared Emma witnessed the altercation with Draken and Ran. She could see once he found out you were gone he was trying to avoid his feelings about it. Shortly after getting engaged to Emma, they were married. It was great the first year then it started to take a turn. The disagreements would escalate and Draken would spend more time at the shop to avoid going home.

“Of course, you're done…. Some things never change… I hope you enjoy playing daddy to her daughter.” Draken ignored the comment. Emma goes into her bag pulls the key out placing it on the table. “You know if that is Ran’s daughter he is not going to enjoy you trying to take his role...If you're doing it to please her…. I don’t know what to say but good luck.”

She walked to the front door. He heard her car start and take off. The home was quiet as he walked to his couch laying down. Draken knew the issues that would arise if he were to start going out with you. In the end, all that mattered was him making you and d/n happy, that's all that mattered to him. Just because you had a baby with Ran didn’t mean he wasn’t gonna treat your daughter any differently. He took it as a sign things were going downhill with his marriage with Emma and now you're here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I could have come another day…” Rin sighed trying to balance all the items in his hands. “Why the hell am I carrying the most?”

“I think it would be nice for you to see your niece since we missed her birthday yesterday…” Ran fixing his shirt “ I’m gonna knock on the door, hands can't be full.” The comment Ran spoke made Rin roll his eyes.

They were both walking up to your home. He needed to make it up to d/n and to you. You didn’t return his call. He decided to show up but not empty-handed. Ran rang the doorbell waiting to see you answer. Opening the door you saw both Haitani brothers on your front porch. “Hey beautiful” Rin looked over at his Ran smiled at you then at your serious expression. Just your stare alone at Ran. ‘I know that look,’ he thought to himself. “Hey ______ can you let us in this stuff is heavy.”

Opening the door for them as they both enter the home. Rin made his way towards the living room. While Ran stood in front of you, he placed the items in his hand on the side table. “______ can we talk.” You didn’t want to hear anything about what you heard on the phone.“Ran… go see d/n… I don’t wanna discuss it.” you placed your hand on your hips. You were avoiding eye contact with him. “Please go see her.”

He let out a low sigh, picking up the items on the table he walked towards the living room. The moment he saw d/n a smile appeared on his face. “Happy belated birthday princess.” He caught her attention. Bringing the rest of the presents to where Rin placed them. He scooped her up in his arms giving her a big hug. She hugged him back tightly. Still holding her “I’m sorry I missed your birthday.”

“It’s okay!” She looked at all the presents. “Are all those for me?” she asked. “Of course.” he went all out for his little one. Rin had to calm his brother down at the store because he would have bought everything there. Walking to the living room you saw him holding her “But there is one for your mommy.” he spoke as he looked at you.

“Ran.” you looked at him. The gift comes from guilt and a form of apology. He knew you wouldn’t refuse it as your daughter was in the same room even if you were mad at him.

He placed down the d/n and grabbed the large box. ”This is for you.”

“Mommy opened it!” she excitedly said.

Feeling pressure to do so you removed the lavender ribbon from the white box. Removing the top of the lid. You saw the neatly black dress. Pulling it out of the box, it was a beautiful dress. “Oh my...”

“D/n do you think it is okay if I could take your mom to dinner so we could talk later on? Rin wants to hang out with you.” He looked over at your d/n ‘Dammit Ran.’ you squinted at him. Rin was just as surprised as you were, his brother didn’t talk about this to him at all. Just threw him in the mix. Another reason why he brought Rin along with him. You would have turned him down if you didn’t have a babysitter. “Oh yeah! Mommy you're gonna look so pretty!” d/n smiled You placed the dress back in the box. You notice the cut of the dress was deep in the front. “Shit….” you were going to have to try and cover up the dark hickeys on your breast.

Ran returned his attention d/n “Alright let's open up your presents.” A few hours would pass, and you started to get ready. Trying to cover love marks was going to be a challenge. Ran being infamous for leaving his mark on you whenever you had to attend something you would have to cover it up. Adding the color corrector to the marks you began trying to conceal with your foundation to match your skin tone.

Ran and Rin were with D/n as she was playing with the new items she gotten. Ran noticed a new stuffed animal addition that was on the couch. As he reached for it “D/n I’ve seen this one before.” “Kenny won it for me!” she smiled

Ran looked at the stuffed animal “He did now? Was it from yesterday?” “Yeah me, mommy and Kenny went to the Carnival yesterday.” Ran wouldn’t express it right now but it would be a bit bothersome hearing about Draken taking d/n and you to the carnival yesterday. Wondering if this was going to cause any problems with him trying to rebuild his life with you. ‘Isn’t he married?’ Ran thought to himself. He never paid attention to his love life. Because you were already Rans nothing else matters. He was curious if anything else happened while at the carnival. “I’m glad you had fun.” He put a smile on. He was going to end up asking you later on tonight. “Hey princess, why don’t you check on your mommy and see if she is finished getting ready.”

D/n nodded and Ran to the stairs to check on you. “Isn’t Draken married?” He looked over at Rin.

“He and what’s her name got divorced a few months back, that's what I heard from Izana.” Rindou responded. “You think he is going to try and make a move?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. If he knows ______ and I are not together I wouldn’t put it past him…I will see what's going on for sure.” Ran said with the thought of Draken even touching you was boiling him on the inside.

The moment they both heard the sounds of heels, caught both of the Haitani brothers' attention. It’s been a moment you fully were put together having your hair and make up done. Anything he was thinking disappeared at that moment. He stood up still, eyes on you. “Mommy looks so pretty!”

“Thank you sweetheart.” You smiled at you.

“She does.” Ran looked at you up and down. “We should head out for the chat.”

“Right…” you said. Bending down slightly, you held onto your daughter's hands “mommy will be back soon okay?”

“Okay mommy.” D/n smiled

“Rin, are you sure you can watch her?” You asked. Other than school and the one time your aunt watched her you hadn’t been apart from her let alone anyone watching her…

“Yeah it’s fine…” Rin said. “I will get an understanding on why she likes watching weird things on tv…” looking at the program she was watching.

Ran and you got into his car and began driving to the destination. It was a quiet part of the ride when he stopped at a red light. “You still take my breath away.”

“Ran flattery is not going to work this time.” You looked at him and then out the window. He was up to something you weren’t sure what it was. Your patience for him was not this short before.

“I’m just stating a fact.” he knew you were still bothered by him missing her birthday. He felt your demeanor change a bit from normal. The charming flatters seem to go over your head. The more serious look on your face planted there.

He was hoping the place he was taking you to would ease some of the anger towards him. A place where it held special memories for you both. Following him to the familiar restaurant. You looked around ‘it still looks the same.’ A place where you celebrate your anniversary every year. Taking a seat Ran began or the same wine you always had.

You felt your phone vibrate in your lap. Looking down you saw it was a notification from Draken, confirming if your aunt was gonna care for d/n while you both went out tomorrow. Trying to keep a poker face as much as possible. Ran saw your eyes looking down as he asked. “Who texted you?” He asked, wondering if it was Draken.

“It’s nothing.” You responded back before locking your phone .

“That little friend of yours I presume.” Ran spoke and didn't want to beat the bush around it. “D/n told me the three of you went to the carnival yesterday for her birthday.”

“We did. Our plans originally got canceled, remember .” Adjusting your posture.

“It’s interesting she picked up the nickname Kenny for him too… how often does he come over?”

You could see where this was going by his comments. “She calls him Kenny because he didn’t like Mr. Ken, so he told her to call him Kenny .”

“Answer the question how often is he coming over?”

“Why do you want to know?” Asking him

“Dammit ________, answer the question. It’s rather annoying I have to repeat myself a third time.,” he spoke in a low discreet tone.

“He comes over every now and then. Are you happy?” You narrowed your eyes at him. “I honestly shouldn’t be answering that. Whoever I allow in my house is not a concern to you. I mean have I questioned you about who you bring to your home?” “I want to make sure and see who you're bringing around my daughter.”

“Wow okay.” You spoke in a low sardonic tone reaching for the glass of wine “I think I’m a good judge of character,”

“Sure you are.”

“Your sounding pretty jealous right now,”

“Well when someone tries to interfere with things I’m working on it becomes a problem to me”

“Oh really now?” Placing the glass of wine down “Ran darling.. don’t keep me waiting too long…want to explain that?” Mimicking the voice of the woman you heard on the phone. “Was that a problem that needed to be handled, Ran darling?”

He let out an annoyed sigh “it was a business meeting I had to attend too..” After that call the amount of anger he had built inside of him. Staining one of his most expensive suits. After that phone call with you.

“Right right business meeting you tend to mix it with pleasure.”

“You don’t know what happened, it was just business nothing more…”

“You're right I don’t know but hearing another woman on the other side paints a different picture.” you crossed your legs along with your arm “Whether it was business or not, you could have put it off if you wanted to. You told me how important her birthday was to you and wanted to be there to spend it with us.”

“It was important to me… you don’t understand ________ ,but Draken was there to save the day.” he responded. “Always seemingly there.” you ignored the comment he made about him. “Did anything else happen?”

You weren’t going to mention you and Draken sleeping together, even the confession, or the date that was tomorrow it would send Ran into this unpleasant mood along with actions he may do. “Other than enjoying d/n birthday” you wanted this conversation to be over with. You found yourself frustrated as the conversation continued on. “Ran, I don’t wanna discuss this anymore, it's done and over with. At the end of the day, our main priority is d/n. Not the issues between you and me…Whoever you see is your business, not mine because we are not together.”

He let out a sarcastic low chuckle and he slightly shook his head. “I’m assuming you think that will apply to me as well…________ even if we are not together right now, we have a daughter. I'd be damned if I hear my daughter call someone else dad or see you with someone else.” His tone was more possessive than his normal calmer tone. He felt like Draken would try something with you. How his gut feeling would be spot on. Unknowingly the boundaries were more different between you and Draken. “I would love to see someone try and steal you away.” Ran locked eyes with you.

It was evident it was becoming much more than you can handle. Scooting your chair back “I’m done.. I… I can’t do this with you right now…” Leaving the table as you made your way towards the front of the restaurant.

‘Son of a bitch...’ He thought to himself, flexing his jaw, the conversation did go overboard. Out of jealousy, he felt he could have made things worse between you both. Getting up from his chair he followed you. “_______..” he called out to you but you didn't turn around as you made your way to the entrance. He grabbed your hand. “Ran let go”

“Look, things got a bit carried away….” the low sigh coming from him. “I’m sorry I don’t wanna fight with you, it wasn't the intention I had for tonight.” As Ran was trying to smooth things over with you. Rin caved into his niece, the counter had every condiment for a sundae out. Bags opened, jar lids opened, ice cream cartons open. He swirled the can whipped cream on the pile of ice cream. Just looking at it was giving him a toothache. When he placed the can down “is this enough?” he asked

“More please.” she pointed to a can of whip cream. “Okay then tell me when to stop okay?” He shook the can.

He proceeded to add more. It was a while before she “stop!” The majority of the ice cream was covered in whip cream. He brought it to the dining room table. She ran to the kitchen drawer pulling two spoons out. “Here!” she handed him one.

“Thanks.” taking a seat he watched her dig into the ice cream.

D/n began to remember some of the small stories Ran would tell her about him and you dating. “Mr. Rin, Mr. Ran said he knows my dad. Have you met him?” she asked.

He had the spoon in his mouth a bit thrown off in the question. “Oh uhhh yeah I know him.”

“You do?!” “Yeah he is a pain in the ass but I know him…”

“He is?!” her eyes widened. “Does he have a lot of pain in his butt?” she blinked in her eyes assuming her father suffered from butt pain.

‘Shit’ he said to himself “no not really it's just a saying…I should say your dad doesn’t like to listen to anyone. Once his mind is made up he sticks to it until he reaches his goal.”

“Oh…Did he stop when he met mommy?”

“When he met your mom it was unexpected.” he began to think back to the day both her parents met “They met at a party, your mom is known to not pay attention when walking and would bump into people. That night she bumped into your dad, and your dad ironically didn’t want to go to the party but I dragged him there. They spent the entire time at the party talking. When it was time to go, he drove her home and eventually asked her out on a date. He told me a few years back it was the best thing that happened to him.” Rindou leaned against the table with his arms folded. “One thing about your dad, when he met your mom I never saw him truly care for anyone else the way he did with her.” He could see the smile on her face. She had a smile that resembled a Haitani. ‘You definitely are your father's daughter, that's for sure the same smile as his.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After agreeing to sit back down with him, the dinner was mainly quiet. Knowing tonight was just a mess for you both. Emotions were running a bit high on both ends of the table. You put your phone on silent not wanting to pick it up to have to question you more. Ran began to think about how to fix this because a part of him never wanted to show you how possessive he could be.

Getting to your home both of you entered your home. It was quiet and the living room tv was still on but no Rin or D/n. Walking up the stairs you find Rin on the floor using some of her stuffed animals as pillows. D/n was fast asleep. “She wore him out…” you quietly said.

“That’s my girl,” he smirked. Ran walked to the other side of her bed picking up the white stuffed rabbit that fell on the floor. He placed it next to her, covering her a bit more, kissing her forehead “Sweet dreams princess.” He walked over to the other side of the bed, slightly kicking his brother's foot, walking him up.

Both Ran and Rin walk down the stairs to the exit. “Rin thanks for watching her”

“It's fine even if it was without my consent… But she is a good kid” Rin spoke, when he noticed there was some tension between you both. “I'm gonna wait in the car.”

Both you and Ran stood there in silence. The silence was finally broken from Ran. “I’m sorry for tonight again ____.”

“It’s fine…” you didn’t want to leave on a bad note with him. It would just make things awkward when he comes over “Thank you for tonight I forgot how beautiful it was to be in there.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it to a certain extent.” “Message me tomorrow and we will set up another day for you to come over.”

He nodded that maybe a day or two apart would be the best for you both. “Of course… get some rest.”

“You too..” giving him a half smile.

Ran had his back towards you before he took a step, he turned back around facing you. “I almost forgot something.”

“What?” raising your brow at him. With three fingers slightly grasping your chin he brought you slightly forward. In a quick motion you felt his lips press against yours. The sudden connection of your lips connecting to one another felt like time stopped for a moment. The brief kiss only lasted a few seconds. Ran pulling back seeing the hues of pink on your cheeks he slightly smirked, “Sweet dreams to you are beautiful.”

Closing the door quickly your back pressed against the door. Your heart was fluttering. It was like kissing him for the first time all over again. Taking off your heels you walked to turn off the tv when you noticed your kitchen light on. You realize the mess in the kitchen.

Ran walking to the car, a small grin on his lips as he hopped into the car. Rin was on his phone “We got a response.” Starting the car as he began to back up “What do they wanna do?” “Meeting online tomorrow…”

He nodded, “we will see what happens.” still on his mind was the kiss just moments ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following day, you were at your aunt's house still thinking about the recent events with Draken and now Ran. You made your head spin slightly, you felt happy yet nervous going out with Draken today but also guilty because you were thinking about Ran. “You know if you keep making that worried face you will start aging quicker than you need.” your aunt took a seat next to you.

“Hmmm? Oh right…” it was hard not to think about it. “You think it's a good idea for me to go out with Draken?” you asked her.

“_____ that is not my call to tell you if it’s a good idea or not. If you have any doubt then you shouldn't. If not then you should.” she knew Draken since you both were younger. “Draken from what I remember he was a good kid even with the whole tattoo on the side of his head at his age. I myself don’t see any issue with going on the date.” You nodded “No harm in trying...Maybe I should try... I mean maybe I’m nervous I haven’t been on a date in years…” This felt like a whole new thing to you dating as a single mom. It makes it more interesting when you're going out on a date with an old friend that you were being fucked by a few days ago. Then you started to think about the discussion with Ran last night that made you feel like he would do something to Draken if he found out about the date. “It could be. Look I’m not too familiar with d/n father now but I know Draken. For him to take d/n out and you for her birthday was something he didn’t have to do but he chose to. If d/n likes him then I say enjoy the date.” Giving a relieved smile. d/n did enjoy hanging out with Ken too. “What time did you want me to pick up d/n?” “Let her stay the night with me, it would be like watching you all over again as a little girl.” your aunt smiled. “Enjoy your life while you are still young to do so. You never know, what if Draken was meant to be with you. You will never know unless you try.”

Your aunt's words encouraged you throughout the day as you began to get ready for the date. Your car was being serviced at the garage earlier today and it wouldn’t be ready till tomorrow. With the doorbell ringing you felt your heart racing like you just ran a mile. Opening the door Draken was stunned by your look. Both of you getting one another he helped you into the car opening the door and closing it. During the car drive, he felt his hand rest on your inner thigh, his thumb swiping your thigh. The date consisted of places you both enjoyed growing up from your favorite place to eat to going to the beach. It was hitting you both with so much nostalgia as you both reminisced about the good old days. You found yourself holding onto his arm. It was becoming late as you agreed to go back to his home for a drink. ~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Yamaguchi was doing her own little digging into Ran’s personal life even having some connections in the past. With the right amount of money, someone's lips (kokonoi) would spill your full name to her.“ Excuse me, Miss. Yamaguchi, we got the information on the woman you inquired about.”

“Thank you.” She received the paperwork from her assistant. As she was flipping through the paperwork her eyes widened. “What?!?!?” seeing a copy of a birth certificate. “A child?” but remembered she heard the child's name before when he was on the phone. Things were starting to come to light pieces were clicking together. “Interesting now, well it's starting to make sense.” Ms. Yamaguchi looked down at the photo of you and d/n. She began to compare herself to you, seemingly trying to find every flaw in the photo. She questioned what Ran saw in you? If she couldn’t see it then what did he actually see? “We can confirm it's his actual daughter. It looks like they just moved here a few weeks ago… She may look like him but Ran does have a brother now they both look similar as well...” “We are just going off the birth certificate.” her assistant responded “I see… Well, she will know who I am very soon.” She smirked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entering his home he flicked the lights on. This was the first time you were in his home. your heart was beating so rapidly. “You don’t have to stand by the doorway, come on in.” he was walking to the kitchen. You walked into his home more seeing his decor. It did change slightly from the last time you saw his room in the brothel where he used to live. You saw a photo of him and Mikey on the wall from when they were younger. ‘How young they were..’ you smiled

Draken appeared from the kitchen in his hands were two beers walking towards you. “Here.”

“Oh, thanks. I was just looking and seeing how young you and Mikey were in this photo. How is Mikey doing?” handing a beer to you.

“He is okay, living his life. He is at the shop every other day.”

You nodded “Even after the divorce with Emma you both are friends?” asking him

“We are, I think he knew when things weren't working out but he didn’t say anything. Mikey caught onto a lot of things.”

Both of you sat down on the couch. You leaned on his shoulder “Hey Ken…”

“Yea?” he asked.

“You know we hung out everyday even had moments of being alone together when we were younger. Why didn’t you tell me?” asking him.

“It wasn’t that easy ya know. After being friends for so long, I didn’t want to mess anything up between us back then. I was close a few times…. If I could be perfectly honest with you this time?.”

“Sure.” tilting your head up and looking at him. “I didn’t expect you to date Ran for so long. I knew Ran's reputation with the women back then and I did worry about what it might do to you if he broke your heart. I would be there to pick up the pieces. Time kept going till that day you just disappeared…” Draken stood quiet for a moment.

“I remember hearing the stories about the girls he was with… It wasn’t always easy to digest some of the things I heard or mentioned I was just a number like the rest…He would tell me to ignore them but it was hard not to listen to them and their experiences with him. Even when he wasn’t around, in the beginning, I was referred to as his new little toy... I honestly was waiting for him to tell me early in the relationship it wasn’t working out…” you looked down at your beer. “Since we were being honest with one another back then when Emma told me she was in love with you I kinda stepped aside maybe because it was Mikey’s little sister and I didn’t want issues to happen since you and Mikey were close… the feelings were mutual back then not just one side… I just thought whenever Emma was around you seemed happier. You just saw me as a friend or like a sister. I thought she really made you happy.”

“Funny how life works doesn’t it? Just being with you makes my day.”

You chuckled at his comment, leaning off his shoulder you gave him a light push on his arm. He reached for your hand before you could return it back to you. He brought you closer to him and he placed his beer down. In the instant when we locked eyes, you could see the mischievous look in his eyes. His hand traveling to your hip pulling you closer he began to lean back bringing you on top of him.

“Do you have to pick up d/n soon?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“My aunt wanted to keep her tonight. She said, " I have to learn to socialize with other adults better, that’s what she told me...”

“So you're available then?” flashing a small grin on his lips. “A whole night to yourself? I wonder what you will do?” the slight taunting as his hand slides underneath the back of your shirt slightly.

Softly chuckling as you leaned in, pressing your lips against his lightly “I think we can figure something.”

Letting out a content sigh. It would be evident you would be staying the night at his home. It started to get hot and heavy. The clothing trail that leads to the bedroom. Draken sitting on the edge of the bed. His cock was already stiff, he was trying to hold his composure in but having your lips wrapped around his cock drove him wild. “Hnnghnngg~.. Fuckk~.. Ahhhh~" Behind your long thick lashes you look up at him. “You're sucking me off so good.” grunting as he continued to watch you. No one ever sucked his cock this good before, his mind becoming hazy. He never knew hunger until he got a taste of you the first time. “_________.” You slowed down your lips still around his cock. “I’m not gonna last much longer the way you keep sucking me off.” As your lips unwrapped around his cock “Lay back Ken.” He didn’t argue laying on the middle of the bed, his hand reaching for his cock stroking it until you straddled on top of him. You were in the reverse cowgirl position. Deciding to tease him slightly you began to grind against his cock. His cock goes between your folds as you slide back and forth. You teasing him this way was also giving you pleasure. You slightly moaned, your hands were behind you against his abs. “I'm gonna cum just by doing this~~~~~.” biting your lower lip. You heard a groan coming from Draken, his cock is coated with your saliva and juices, lifting yourself up slightly with your hand wrapped around his cock you slowly slid yourself inside of you just like the first time you had to adjust to his tumescent size cock in your tight cunt. Both of your feet were on the outer side of Draken's thighs You began to move up and down slightly doing a circular motion, tossing your head back slightly.

“Haah... Uugh.. Aaah~~” Draken was muttering, as you continued to ride his cock. You felt your orgasm coming in as you began to grind against him, stimulating your clit against him. Your painting was becoming more known to him. “Cum for me ______. I want you to cum all over my cock like a good girl. You're a good girl aren’t you?”

“Y-yes I’m a good girl Draken~~” you whimper. His hands reaching around his fingers coated with his saliva as he began to play with your clit more. “I’m coming.” you squeezed your eyes shut. “Draken, I’m coming~~~!” And with that sudden exclamation, your body tensed up, he could feel your clenching around his cock, your back arching from your sudden release, and your body felt light then grew heavy.

Draken brings your bare back against his chest, the back of your knees draped over his. His cock began to thrust upwards into your cunt as you were still coming down from your high. He could feel your juices seeping from your cunt as his larger fingers still toying with your sensitive clit. Your head leaned against his shoulder you could hear his groan mixture of curse words spilling from his mouth. “You are so fucking wet ______. You feel so good clenching on my cock.” His free hand turns your head towards him. His lips latched onto yours before his lips met with your neck leaving a little gift behind.

“You're gonna make me cum again~~,” you whined as the climax was already brewing inside of you once. Your legs began to close on his hands which were still stimulating your clit. Panting a bit hard the tension of your body was taking over. “I want you to cum for me again,” he spoke in a husky voice looking at you as he was picking up the pack and how slippery your cunt was only sending him over the edge. “Cum for me ______.” he groaned. A set of moans escapes your lips as you're close to an orgasm. Squirming, your cunt clenches as your hips and thighs shake, you struggle to keep my eyes open. Just the sight of you sent Draken into a frenzy thrusting motion. The sudden release inside your pussy sent you both into an orgasmic bliss.

~~~~~~~~

Ran drove to your home at about 11:30 pm. He couldn’t stop thinking about you. Just the kiss he stole yesterday was on his mind all day. He wanted you and he needed to show you how much he missed you. When getting to your home he didn’t see your car. “Where is she?” he said out loud.

Staying in his car, he called your phone. No pick up….Ran began to wonder where you left and where you took his daughter. As it went to your voicemail “Hey doll, I just pulled up to the house and you're not home? Where are you and D/n at? Give me a call when you get this.” he hung up the phone. He waited for about 30 mins thinking you were going to come home anytime with a sleeping d/n in the back seat but your car didn’t appear. Ran was already starting to get something off now. Ran drove back to the club; his demeanor was more serious. When Rin saw him he wasn’t good. Thinking that he and you may have had an argument. His brother is going into the office. A few seconds later, Ran lit a cigarette walking to the small bar they had in their office. Pouring a drink Rin saw a cloud of smoke then his brother spoke “He is a dead man…I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch.”

To be continued.....

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#ran haitani #ran x reader #draken x reader #ken ryuguji #draken #ran x reader x draken #Tr telenovela #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers smut #dramatic music playing in the background #val's writing #the witch of one piece

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beenbaanbuun · 24 days

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I have no idea whether I'm asking about your canon or the unhinged madness in our DMs, but what would you say addams! Matz does for money? Like we've established that they're RICH rich but is it old money? Do they have coffers so overstuffed they probably won't have to worry about it the next few centuries? Black market trade? A law firm? I'm actually so curious about this LMAO

~lyra

oh they are RICH rich, not that they ever like to brag about it. they might have money but they’re actually very humble people underneath it all. if we overlook the huge victorian mansion, their humongous closet filled with clothes and their massive collection of antiquities and oddities, they’re just your average run of the mill family with a few (very successful) family businesses under their belt.

the first one is a antiques business. it’s no secret that rich people love owning one of a kind things, and it just so happens that through a family connection, hongjoong is able to get his hands on a lot of them. ancient treasures from athens and rome, stunning jewellery from historic kind and queens, even a few weapons that were used in famous wars and executions; hongjoong sells them all. of course, seonghwa and his dove get first pick. anything that either of you want is yours, no matter how much profit he’s sure it would bring at auction.

the second business is one of seonghwa’s own creation. the growing and selling of rare species of plant. he loves roses, first and foremost; they remind him of you, so delicate and sweet smelling. in fact, over recent months he’s found himself wanting to grow and sell more and more pink variants, as a pose to the red and black he usually goes for. he’s even bred a new variant which he so fondly named ‘lamb’. he doesn’t sell those ones though, choosing instead to decorate the house with the pastel flowers. they don’t quite match the decor, but he finds they look quite beautiful.

the third and final business is a jewellery business. hongjoong designs them and seonghwa models them; they’re a match made in heaven. most pieces have ruby or jet inclusions, but their most recent creation was a silver choker with a pink sapphire flower encrusted in the front. it sits in a display case in their wardrobe, the pair having yet to put it up for sale. it just doesn’t look right with seonghwa modelling it; perhaps hongjoong would have to request your assistance instead.

#ateez x reader #opposites attract universe #matz x reader #seonghwa x reader #hongjoong x reader #ateez fluff #ateez fic

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dailyadventureprompts · 1 month

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Mystery: Oh, How the Iron Coffin Hungers!

There's been a rash of graverobberies across the kingdom that have the authorities suspecting necromancy. For their part, the necromancer's guild has nothing to do with these crimes and is willing to hire your party to help clear their name. The investigation will lead you to through tombs, black markets, and haunted crossroads of the realm, as it becomes clear the culprits are seeking far more than coin or corpses at the bottom of those defiled graves.

Clues & Complications:

A missing body is usually a dead giveaway that a necromancer has been involved in a grave robbery, as most criminals only care about grabbing what valuables they can and wouldn't result to bodysnatching unless someone was going to pay them for it. How unusual then when a few of the bodies begin turning up days after they were exhumed, one in an abandoned cellar, one on the side of the road, and one in a completely different town, which may give a hint as to the culprit's movements.

Working for necromancers has its benefits, the guild is aware of the habits of the corpse trade (only in a theoretical sense, you understand, yes?) and can use their magic to extract information from the cadavers. Strangely enough it appears all the corpses bear the marks of previous magical questioning, hinting that it might be information the robbers were after, not flesh or treasure.

The bodies all belong to minor gentry or well-to-do merchants, the ideal targets for graverobbers who don't mind breaking into a tomb or fussing with a trap (both of which the party might have to do during their investigation) if it means access to better plunder. If the party press deeper however they'll notice a recurring symbol, on a ring or a tattoo or etched into the gravemarker, resembling the crudest sketch of a jawbone.

Just like it seems the party is getting answers, the corpses they've been trailing sit up and lunge for the nearest individual's throat, transformed by dark power into a rampaging ghoul. Chaos ensues as this awakening occurs not just with those corpses that have already been found, but also with those that were previously undiscovered as well as a half dozen or more random bodies scattered across the countryside. Though they seem too possessed with hunger to be capable of speech, if the party manage to restrain one of the ghouls and sate its unholy hunger, they may just get the last few clues they're looking for.

Background: In life all of the bodies belonged to a secret society known as the jawbone club, a bad pun on one of the first mystical objects they'd obtained; a crude weapon made from the skull fragment of some great beast, unearthed on one of their founder's estates by some adventurers clearing a nest of monsters.

Their association started a few generations before as a mostly innocent affair, a nameless but exclusive social lodge where those in the know could smoke and gamble and make the sort of back room deals that occupy much of the energy of the idly wealthy. Those who took an interest in the jawbone realized that whoever held it had greater luck in their personal affairs, in no small part because of the unlucky and sometimes disastrous circumstances that would befall their rivals. They became secretive, an inner circle within the lodge that took on more authority as their powers grew, understanding emerging that if they fed their blood to the jawbone it would grant them power.

Power does not spring from nowhere however, as the weapon was infact an artifact dedicated to the ghoul-saint Doresain, the avatar of a hungry and terrible demon god who was in turn feeding on the hungry ambitions of the inner circle. Unconscious impulses became whispers became visions, as the tithe of blood raised to sacrifices of flesh and fingers, because what was letting the razor teeth of some dead beast scar your body if it meant your hateful old uncle suddenly took ill just after rewriting his will to leave you his fortune.

Things came to a head with Catiro Wayte, the youngest and least favored son of a large noble family. The Wayte clan owned land and mills aplenty and were no strangers to ambition, Catrio and his siblings were practically weaned on it. So when the opportunity came to take hold of his fortune at the price of only a little pain Catrio was only too happy to pay it, and keep on paying so long as he had blood to let and skin to scar. After they'd come to understand what it could do the Jawbone Club had made rules about how often its members could make use of the artifact, fearing not only discovery but one of their number growing in power above the others. Catrio begged, bartered, and blackmailed to jump the line every time he could, hacking away a little more of himself each time, not giving his wounds time to heal up between sacrifices.

One night, when the itch of pride and avarice overwhelmed the pain in his infected flesh Catrio broke into the jawbone's sanctum. It was too late when the others found him in the morning , he'd carved open his belly looking for more of himself to cut away and had died with the artifact buried in his guts. Such heedless sacrifice opened a door for the ravenous hunger of the gnawing god, transforming Catrio's corpse into its mouthpiece, hungry and cruel. For all their resources the Jawbone club were unable to slay their former friend, instead sealing him in the lodge's basement and later an iron coffin they had constructed. They had a select number of their most trusted find a place to entomb Catrio's body (along with the bone it still clutched) in some unknown location and swore all the rest to secrecy, dissolving the jawbone club and swearing never to speak of it for the rest of their days.

The Culprit & The Consequences:

Catrio left much behind on that night he met his end, including a commonborn mistress and a daughter named Heliana only a few years old. One could theoretically source his ambition to his desire to make a place for them in the world, but that would be making things far too simple. Unrecognized by her father’s family and cut off from Catrio’s support Heliana and her mother ended up scraping to get by, with her ending up in the gravemaking trade out of one part practicality, one part wistful desire to perhaps one day find where her father was buried.

after nearly four decades after she and her mother were forced out on the street, Heliana’s crime spree began when by chance she found the first of the Jawbone marked graves. Remembering the stories her mother had told her about the club and its excesses, It took only a little convincing to have her fellow undertakers help her unearth the body, and a few charms learned from a travelling death priest to get the cadaver talking. After that it was just a matter of asking which corpse knew what, tracing her way through the postmortem ranks of the Jawbone club until she found out what had happened to her father and where his body lay.

Originally, all Heliana had wanted to do was give her father a proper burial alongside her some years dead mother, as she was told was always his wish. Plans changed when her father began to speak to her within the iron coffin after she’d unearthed it from its secret hiding space. Through the magic of the ghoul-saint he knew her, knew of her hungry years, and of the long dormant pride and ambition he’d handed down to her along with his blood: a desire to be recognized no matter the cost. He whispered a plan into her mind, a way for him to return to life and use the artifact he still carried to make everything as it should be. Naturally when they caught her agreeing with the corpse, most of Heliana’s muscle deserted her, and might give your party a much needed lead in their tall tales.

The animation of the other jawbone club members as ghouls was only a warning sign, a byproduct of Heliana breaking through the outermost layer of the iron coffin’s wards in preparation of something far more calamitous. Her father’s plan (or rather, the thing wearing her father like a mask) is to have Heliana burn the iron coffin along with her mother's bones in a ritual pyre at the heart of the Wayte estate. Catrio’s spirit will be free, devour the grounds (and his unwelcoming family) and use the power of the jawbone artifact to remake them all as they should be, with him as lord of the manor, united with his lover and child. While she’s more than willing to even the score with the people who denied her birth and threw her mother out on the street, why Heliana doesn't suspect is the horde of flesh eating undead and other malign spirits that will be unleashed should the ritual be allowed to finish.

Art 1 Art 2

#mystery #undead #necromancer #mid level #town encounter #cultist #yeenoghu #dnd #d&d

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the-blind-assassin-12 · 4 months

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Change of Plans

A/N: Although I am SEVERAL days late at this point, this is a gift for @something-tofightfor - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RACHAEL! I hope your day was all that you wanted it to be, and that this year is the best fucking one yet. I so badly wanted this to be done in time, but you know me. Anywho, I love your guts and I hope you enjoy this chaotic little cake I whipped up with the help of one of your favorite cowboys.

Word count: 4k

Warnings: listen, don't do what Reader does here. Other than that... just some language. It's very tame. But don't do it.

Summary: Jack is there on business. You're there for pleasure.

He noticed you right away.

Sitting in the waiting area near gate A-7, right leg crossed over your left and an open book in one hand, you caught his eye -

Well hello, gorgeous.

- and he had to repeatedly free his focus from your direction, reminding himself why he was at the airport in the first place.

Damn it, Agent, you’ve got a job to do.

You turned the page of the book you were reading, letting out a sigh and stretching your neck, and Jack adjusted his position on the barstool he occupied so that he was forced to change his line of sight. He cleared his throat, lifting his glass to his lips and taking a sip. The bold, smoky flavor of the deep amber whiskey coated his tongue, and by the time he swallowed he was back on his task.

He’d been sent to locate and detain a known associate of a crime boss that Statesman was attempting to bring down. Intel gathered from Agents assigned to the case suggested that the associate - a mid level player who occasionally dealt in black market weapons - would be traveling through Louisville on his way to meet with the mysterious and nefarious man they knew only as The Gatekeeper. The current theory was that The Gatekeeper was operating out of San Francisco - or more specifically, out of a secret underwater lair that was built into one of the foundational structures of the Golden Gate Bridge, hence his nickname. But Statesman had been unable to confirm that yet. Catching up with the Gatekeeper’s gun runner was their best bet when it came to pinning down his location for sure, and since he had the most experience with facial recognition and planting trackers, the assignment had gone to Agent Whiskey.

So let’s find this shit kicker and get on with it so I can get on with… He resisted the urge to turn back in your direction.

Setting his glass down on the cork coaster it was served to him on, he brought his newly emptied hand up to tap the arm of his gold wire glasses. At the touch of his fingertip, the stealth lens screens activated, and he used them to scan the faces of the people moving through the terminal. So far none had hit as a match for the Gatekeeper’s associate, but since the man was clever enough to book himself tickets on multiple flights that day to make it harder for anyone who might be looking to follow him, Jack had to keep checking until he either found his target or the last of those flights had taken off.

I’ll find him. Soon as he shows up I’ll-

But Jack didn’t even need to finish the thought, because his lenses detected the person he’d been waiting for before he could. Just as he was about to get up from his seat and position himself to intercept his target, though, he saw something else flash across his lenses.

Mission directive has changed. Do not detain. Intel from Kingsman suggests associate may also be working with Golden Circle remnants in Canada. New directive is only to place the tracker and not to pursue until we know for sure who he is meeting. Agents in Vancouver and San Francisco have been put on alert and will be activated as needed.

Jack blinked twice to acknowledge Ginger’s message, then used the movement of his eyes to send a question in response.

Received. Return to HQ?

He had his jet on standby there at the airport in the event that he needed to abscond with The Gatekeeper’s man, and he assumed that since that was no longer necessary, Champ and Ginger would want him to come back and await further information. Keeping one eye on his target, he used the other to read the new message that flashed across his lens, finding it to be a surprise.

Negative. Don’t want to risk the chance of counter tracking. Take the Pony somewhere for a few days first. Vegas or Denver are preferable but Mexico City is also available.

Well, shoot. Looks like I’m takin’ a vacation. My favorite kind of mission.

Ginger had listed cities where Statesman owned properties that were reserved for off duty use - for when Agents had to lay low for a while, or for when they needed a safe place to recover from injuries sustained in the line of duty. There were several more located around the world, but judging by the selection that was presented to him, they wanted him to stay close enough to either have him back in Kentucky in a matter of hours, or send him to California or British Columbia in a pinch when the intel on who the associate was meeting with came back.

Received. Target inbound. Contact when directive complete.

With that, he lifted his finger up to tap the arm of his glasses once more, the screens deactivating so that he could remove them, folding them for safe storage in the inner pocket of his jacket. In a turn of luck, his mark headed straight for the bar he was seated at and sat down two stools over. He showed no signs of having made Jack for a secret operative, not even bothering to look in his direction as he ordered a drink from the bartender.

Perfect.

Jack’s grin was imperceptible as he used his thumb and pointer finger to pull one of the small “buttons” from the cuff of his jacket sleeve. Flattening it with a tight pinch, he dropped the bio-tracker into his own beverage and watched as it dissolved into the liquid. It finished just as the bartender placed a rocks glass of whiskey on a coaster in front of Jack’s target. He waited for the other man to take a sip, and then he closed the distance, scooting over one stool so that he was right next to him, and then he greeted the man with a jovial tone.

“Did my ears deceive me just now, or did I hear you order the Statesman 12 year, my friend?” Jack pointed to the other man’s glass while holding his own.

The other man turned to face Jack, a semi-scowl on his face, his annoyance over being addressed by a seemingly drunken stranger as a “friend” clearly written in gray-green eyes. “What?” He glanced down at Jack’s glass and then at his own. “Oh.” He grunted and gave Jack a nod before taking another sip of his drink. “Yeah. You drinking the same, I take it?” He arched one eyebrow and turned back to face the television screen behind the bar without waiting for the answer to the question he’d just asked.

“Smoothest bourbon there is.” Jack held up his glass, inspecting the contents. To anyone else’s eye - even the man beside him - it would appear as though he were simply appreciating the way the overhead lights streaked through the rich amber liquid. In truth, he was making sure that the button-turned-tracker had been completely infused into the drink. Seeing that it was, he glanced over and caught his mark with his own glass midway to his lips once more.

Slow down there, son, leave some for our toast.

Reaching for the man’s elbow, he stopped him from draining the last of his beverage. “How about we both raise our glasses to good taste and safe travels?”

The other man jerked his arm away as though he’d been burned, the motion accompanied by a deeply frustrated sigh. Checking his watch, he rolled his eyes and shook his head at Jack. “Sure Fine. Just make it quick, I have a flight to catch.”

As he presented his glass for the toast, Jack aggressively clinked the rim of his against it - with just enough force so that some of his drink had sloshed into the other man’s glass without him noticing. “Quick it is. Safe travels.”

“Uh huh.” The sketch of a scowl was back as the man nodded again, knocking back the remainder of his drink, including the tracker. “Same to you.” With that, he slapped a fifty on the bar and left his empty glass, on his way to whatever gate would take him to whatever scumbag was waiting for him.

The Gatekeeper or the Golden Circle… or whoever the fuck else. We’ll know soon enough.

Taking his glasses back out of his pocket, Jack unfolded them and put them back on his face. With a tap of his finger the one-way screens hidden in the lenses activated again, and through a series of blinks and subtle eye movements, he sent confirmation of his mission back to Ginger Ale.

Tracker planted. Target in motion.

Before he got a response, though, he was distracted by a voice coming from over his shoulder. “Excuse me? Is anyone sitting there?”

He turned towards the speaker and his eyes widened, lips lifting into a slight grin when he saw that it was you.

Hot damn, she’s even prettier up close.

His grin grew at your sudden, small intake of breath when your eyes met. “All yours.” Using one hand, he pulled the stool out for you as Ginger’s message started to scroll across his field of vision.

You muttered a thank you as you chewed your lower lip. “You didn’t have to-”

Well done Agent Whiskey. The tracker is live and we are following its movement. Which location did you select?

“Now darlin’, what kind of gentleman would I be if I only did what I had to do?” He smiled, covertly answering Ginger’s question.

Not sure yet. Stay tuned.

You let out a sound that was almost a laugh, shrugging. “You’d be like most gentlemen I’ve known, I guess.”

Agent, we need to know-

Jack brought his hand up and tapped the side of his glasses, closing the communication screen and letting Ginger’s message go unfinished. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it and it wouldn’t be the last. He always eventually got back to her and never made her wait too long. But his focus had been drawn to you all afternoon, and now that you were sitting directly beside him, he wasn’t going to rush the interaction he’d been putting off for hours.

“Then allow me to introduce to you a different kind.” He reached up and swept his hat from his head, laying it on the bartop, and extended his free hand to you. “Jack Daniels.”

– – –

15 Minutes Earlier…

You checked your watch with a sigh, noting that you still had a little under an hour before you’d be called for boarding.

It’s fine. That means I can start another chapter now. You rolled your eyes. I’ll need a new book for the flight home at this rate, though.

It was one of those flights that didn’t make sense - with a 4 hour layover in a city that was completely out of the way of your destination. But that was why you’d been able to find tickets for only $48 each way, less than three days out. Things at work had been hectic, and you weren’t sure if you were going to be able to get the time off until the very last minute. So even though it certainly wouldn’t have been your first choice if you’d been able to book it months ago when the trip was first brought up, you were perfectly content to take the unnecessary stopover in Louisville on your way to Las Vegas.

Doesn’t hurt when the people watching prospects are this interesting, either.

You glanced over at the nearby bar and the astoundingly attractive man seated there who’d snagged your attention as soon as he arrived. He, like a handful of others in the terminal, wore a dark felted Stetson But unlike most, it suited him. As did his perfectly tailored suit and-

Oh, fuck, he’s wearing glasses now. And they look damn good on him, too.

You cleared your throat and forced your thoughts back to your trip and your reason for taking the less than desirable layover. Even though it meant spending hours alone in an airport, you were excited, because it also meant being able to see several of your friends who lived far away, and being able to celebrate your birthday with them. Well, not just your birthday. The trip was meant to be a group celebration to make up for the fact that you hadn’t all been able to get together for a birthday in years. Since there happened to be two of you who had birthdays in January, that was the month that was chosen. But the dates that were settled on had included your actual birthday smack dab in the middle of them, and you were looking forward to having something fun to do with people you missed.

Which was why you groaned as you read the notification that popped up on your phone regarding the flight status.

Delayed - Mechanical Issues

“Fuck.” You muttered under your breath, closing the airline app and tapping your phone screen to open the group chat so you could fill the others in on your situation. Before you finished typing though, your phone vibrated in your hand and a picture popped up of two of your friends - Jess and Maddy - both wearing ear to ear smiles at Harry Reid International, the text from Jess simply reading two words followed by several exclamation marks: We’re here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kayla chimed in next, responding with an emphatic YAY! and sending a screenshot of her GPS, showing that she was just under 2 hours out. Be there so soon!

Nat still had her phone on airplane mode since she’d only taken off from LAX about an hour earlier, so you didn’t bother waiting for an update from her before you finished typing your own.

Bad news, my flight out of Louisville is delayed. :( Mechanical issues… No idea when I’ll be there now, but I’ll keep you all posted.

You sent the message and tucked your phone into the outer pocket of your bag as disappointment set in. As it was, the rest of your friends were already supposed to arrive half a day before you. But now, it was looking like you were going to miss out on the entire first day of the trip.

Or more.

Frowning at the thought, you tried not to let yourself get too upset until you had a better idea of your situation. You told yourself that it could be something quick and easy to remedy - maybe you’d only have to wait one more hour. Maybe less. Either way, you decided that since half of the group was already there, it meant that the vacation had unofficially started, and it was time you treated yourself to a drink.

And if I know Jess and Maddy, they’re doing the same right now.

You picked up your bag, slinging the strap over your shoulder, and headed towards the bar. It was moderately crowded, only a few stools left vacant scattered here and between other travelers. But as you got closer you noticed that the man you’d caught yourself spending more time watching than any of the others was still seated there - and that the seat beside him had just become empty.

Perfect timing.

That confidence lasted only until the man spun at the sound of your voice, and seeing him up close had nearly knocked the breath from your lungs.

Oh, shit. He’s-

By the time he’d given you his name along with his hand to shake, you’d noticed things about him that you hadn’t from across the room. Like the flecks of tan and gold that lightened his dark brown eyes, the distinct bow of his upper lip beneath his mustache and how it rested against the plush pillow of the lower one, the way you couldn’t see a stitch of leather on him aside from his boots, but the smell of it - along with bergamot - clung to him and made him even more appealing.

You swallowed, his warm hand wrapping around yours and squeezing as you managed to tell him your name. “It’s nice to meet you, Jack.”

Without letting go of your hand or releasing your eyes from the lock his own had on them, he repeated your name back to you, the sound of it making your face grow warm. “Pleasure’s all mine, I promise you.”

When he winked as he withdrew his hand, you knew you were screwed. You ordered yourself a drink - something local, a bourbon you’d not seen before called Statesman - and Jack, though approving of your choice, simply asked for a glass of water. As you brought the glass to your lips, another thought popped into your head.

But am I really screwed, though? Because… he seems just as interested as I am.

Over the next half hour, you and Jack made small talk and subtly flirted in smirks and glances. You asked him what brought him to the airport that day, to which he’d answered:

“Had some business here earlier. But that’s done, so the rest of my evening is completely free.”

You shook your head at that, taking another sip of your drink. Damn that’s good. “Don’t you have a flight to catch?”

At that, he grinned and spread his large hands wide. “Ah, well, that is one of the perks of being my own pilot.” He raised one eyebrow and leaned towards you. “I can leave whenever I choose.”

Okay, I wasn’t expecting that. That definitely makes him even more attractive somehow, though.

You mouthed the word wow and let out a stunted laugh as you reached into your bag to retrieve your phone. Some time had passed and you were hoping that there would be another notification about the status of your delayed flight. “That must be nice.” You groaned as you saw that there was nothing new from the airline, and several texts from your friends expressing their dismay over your travel woes. Shaking the phone in your hand, you sighed. “I’m here on a layover that got delayed and the rest of my friends are already in Vegas.” Looking over at him, you wet your lips with your tongue. “I’d love to be able to just… hop in and take off whenever I wanted to.”

– – –

Well, shit. Did she just say Vegas?

Clearing his throat, Jack reached up to tap the arm of his glasses. Several missed messages came through at once, all from Ginger, but he blinked them away as he spoke. “Well, I know we’ve only just met, and I’m not trying to make any suggestions-” Though I could. “- But I happen to be going to Sin City myself tonight.” He had to contain his grin at the flash in your eyes as he used the nickname for the gambling town. “I’d be more than happy to take you with me.”

Destination selected. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

You sucked in a breath at his proposition, and though he knew you were likely considering saying no, he hoped you’d say yes. “I… Jack, I couldn’t ask you to-”

“You’re not. I’m askin’. I’ll show you my license and everything to prove that I’m legit, but darlin’, I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want to.” He tilted his head towards the window. “No tellin’ how long they’ll need to fix that bird, and if your friends are already there…” He trailed off and shrugged, returning his gaze to you. “My jet is fully fueled and ready to go. I could get you there so you don’t have to miss out too much. More than you already have, I mean.”

He could practically hear Ginger’s reply when it came through, but he fought the urge to let out a snort as he read it.

IT’S ABOUT TIME, AGENT. Make sure your friend buckles up. We’ll contact you when you can return to HQ.

You bit your lower lip again, and he couldn’t help but watch the way your teeth dug into your flesh. “I…” He saw the rest of your protest dissolve the same way the tracker had earlier, your eyes shifting from skeptical to excited until that’s all he saw in them. You laughed, then, lifting your hand and holding up one finger. “Alright. I’ll… yes. I’ll take you up on it. But on one condition.”

Received. Will await contact. Over.

Jack reached up to tap his glasses before removing them and stowing them in his pocket. He leaned in closer to you, concentrating on the quirk of your lips and the mixture of impulse and instinct in your eyes. “Let’s hear it.”

“You let me buy you a drink once we get there.” You said it over the rim of your glass as you finished the last of it, eyes on him as you swallowed.

An excuse to go out with a beautiful woman? That’s the condition?

Jack flashed you a smile. “I think those terms are more than agreeable, ma’am.”

– – –

What the fuck am I doing?

You half laughed at yourself, but at the same time there was something about Jack that made you feel like you could trust him. You were aware that that could be a danger in and of itself, but your gut told you he was a good man, and you had always felt that you were a good and accurate judge of character.

How’s it any different from meeting a guy and getting in his car with him? It’s not, really.

It was, and you knew it was, but you hadn’t been wrong yet. And as much as you wanted to get to Vegas to see your friends, you also found yourself wanting more time to get to know Jack. He was offering you the chance to do both of those things, and even though you were looking for one, you couldn’t find a downside.

Pulling out your phone, you opened the group chat and sent one text before switching it to airplane mode.

Change of plans. Met a (really good looking) pilot who was on his way to Vegas and offered me a ride. Sending a screenshot of his license number in case I go missing hahaha. Just kidding. I’ll be fine. See you soon!

You knew what they’d say when they saw your message.

Jess would likely just send a thumbs up - or possibly a photo of herself giving a thumbs up.

Maddy would emphasize your message and respond with something like Okay but don’t die!

Kayla’s message would be a more whimsical reaction like Jesus take the wheel! (Wait do planes have wheels?) or Life is short, take rides from hot pilots when you can with the peace sign emoji.

And Nat would send advice from several documentaries and podcasts she’d seen or listened to, about what to do if you were being abducted.

You laughed to yourself again at the entire situation.

“Alright, Jack.” You hopped down from your stool and picked up your bag. “I’m ready when you are.”

He stood, taking his hat from the bartop and placing it on his head. “No time like the present.” Running his hands over his clothes, he smoothed out his suit jacket. “Follow me, darlin’. And give me that.” He pointed his chin towards your bag. “I’m a gentleman, remember? Where would my manners be if I let a lady carry her own bags?”

You shook your head with a smile and handed over your carry-on, leaving you with only your purse. “I don’t know. You’re teaching me about gentlemen, remember?”

You knew when you saw his eyes darken that you’d made the right call.

“Oh, sugar. I remember. Few hours to Vegas. Plenty of time for me to teach you things.” With that he started walking and you were left to follow, slightly stunned at the implications in his tone and in his words.

This is definitely going to be a trip to remember, that’s for sure.

Thank you for reading! If you would like to be added to or removed from the taglist, please feel free to let me know by sending a message or filling out the form on my masterlist! :)

tags: @something-tofightfor @dihra-vesa @littlemisspascal @mishasminion360 @nyctophiliiiiaaa @practicalghost @tanzthompson @harriedandharassed @woodlandmouth @trickstersp8 @imtryingmybeskar @wildmoonflower @mswarriorbabe80 @theredwritingwitch @silverstarsandsuns @competentpotato @pedro-pedrito-pascalito @jedi-in-crocs @hannahkatharine @novemberrain221 @chiyo13 @myloveistoolittle @Noisynightmarepoetry

#HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHAEL!#pretend this was on time #jack daniels x reader #jack whiskey daniels x female reader #jack daniels x female reader #pedrostories #jack whiskey daniels fic #kingsman the golden circle #jack daniels x you #agent whiskey x female reader #pedro pascal character #agent whiskey fic #jack daniels fic #it's cowboy times

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blackmoonlightexpress · 10 months

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About the mixed response in China & why I think TTEOTM will prevail in the end 💪

Saw the "Badly Received in China?" post earlier and thought to share a longer take on the situation in China, why are there so many antis, and my own predictions on its future.

First, a clarification, TTEOTM has been an massive hit in China. The data speaks for itself in every way you can measure commercial success: viewership, platform membership, app downloads, social media heat index, advertisements, merchandise sales, unintended tourism GDP contribution. The drama has shattered records and outperformed all the recent xianxias, which you'd never dare to expect for a drama with no dingliu (顶流) that airs exclusively in the dead April slot on a platform that's 3rd (sometimes 4th) amongst online streamers. (Some day I'll create a master post just on the stats.)

The only area it falls short on is critical response. It's not just the low Douban rating (opened at 6.x and now dropped to 5.6). The three Bs - Douban, Weibo, and Bilibili (which you can think of as China's IMDB, Twitter, and Youtube) were full of attacks against the show. This included trending topics on how the actors looked (LYX too thin, BL looking old/big/overshadowed by CDL, CDL 照骗 not looking as good as in photo) as well as allegations of plagiarism and drama behind the scenes between cast & crew members. A lot of people watched video edits that twisted the facts and had a poor impression of the drama and even left 1/2-star reviews on Douban without ever watching an episode. (This type of brainwashing is more effective than you'd think. I've been reading a lot of negative posts about the Little Mermaid movie and almost caught myself writing something negative about it without ever watching.)

As all of this unfolded, I kept asking myself, why all the smearing? Who is behind it? And why TTEOTM in particular?

A lot of what appears to be normal user activity is driven by water armies, marketing accounts, and "black" hot search ranking, all paid. This is all backed up by photo evidence captured by netizens. It comes down to commercial interests of rival platforms, productions, actors. This actually happens to every drama that is threatening in some way (almost a proof of success), but TTEOTM attracted more anti $$$. Why? For one, it's seen as the secret weapon that could elevate Youku's status as a 3rd/4th player to a close 2nd to rival and even at times overshadow Tencent. It's no coincidence that, Bilibili, which is owned by Tencent and has way more daily active users than Youku, has promoted hate videos and limited the traffic of fan videos - at some point not even recognizing the drama's Chinese title in search results. (Bilibili used to be a haven for LYX fans and a platform LYX has partnered with extensively. This flipped 180 degrees since he no longer has any unaired dramas with Tencent.)

TTEOTM is also a target for rival productions. It's got big name stars with solid acting reputation, one of the hottest IPs, and high anticipation from all the promotional materials - they've been super loud in letting everyone know that they have better costumes, special effects etc Meanwhile, there's a massive pipeline of unaired xianxia dramas that stick to the old formula and will likely feel dated after people have watched TTEOTM. People even started questioning how some productions with bigger rumored budgets ended up with cheaper-looking promotional materials, costumes, CGI (read: embezzling). So if you've invested in xianxia 101, you'd really want to discredit TTEOTM and stop people from watching it.

But there's also rival fandom jealousy, which is almost worse. Someone asked which fandom is behind it, I would say everyone. There are only so many "resources" to go around in the "entertainment winter" and it's a zero sum game. LYX and BL are both already big stars but still not at the top yet. They are big enough to threaten the dinglius, but not big enough to be accepted as having "made it" by other rising stars. E.g. Yang Mi, Yang Zi, Xiao Zhan receive a lot of hate too, but it's less realistic as a prospect to bring them down. In contrast, the smearing of Bai Lu actually kind of worked. (And I'm really talking about the fans. The actors probably leave it to their agencies/companies.)

Other fandoms are especially bitter in this case because TTEOTM really upset the status quo and commonly accepted truths in a way that kind of discredits everyone else. A lot of the below have been used by fans of dinglius as excuses for when a drama doesn't perform:

Youku is a rubbish platform and Youku exclusive web dramas will never have high viewership

It’s impossible for an actor to break out twice within the same genre

An actor can only develop a big dedicated fan base with CP marketing

Breakout hits are always unanticipated dramas that come out of nowhere

Autumn/Spring is a dead slot. Hits can only come out of the summer and winter holidays.

IMHO A lot of the intense hatred comes from long held beliefs being proven wrong. LYX has always been thought of someone who’s borderline A list and B list, yet the opening viewership of TTEOTM is like double that of dramas led by bigger stars. It would have been less threatening if it started low and slowly gained traction because the drama proved to be good. But the initial hype speaks to the market power of a LYX xianxia, so a lot of people wanted to see it fail and looked for faults everywhere.

Moreover, because TTEOTM had an explosive opening, it did not have enough time for word of mouth to develop before people started bashing it. If you look at Douban ratings, shows that fewer people watched tend to have better reviews because only fans bother to rate it. Starry Love and Back from the Brink, both harshly dismissed as flops by the industry, both have >7.0 on Douban. Meanwhile, people love to hate on a show that is receiving a lot of hype - suddenly they are held to completely different standards even if the budget is similar. Why are people more accepting of the rise of Dylan Wang and Esther Yu in LBFAD? In the end because the expectations were pretty low. They were able to build up a fan base while no one was watching.

Finally, TTEOTM does have lots of production problems, some of their own doing and others not their fault. Either way this left the drama less defensible in the face of scrutiny or tucao (吐槽) culture. The production is very ambitious and took risks, but did not deliver everywhere. It's got parts that look like a blockbuster film and parts that look like a B grade TV show. I personally did not like some of the editing, lighting, cinematography, color grading, special effects, makeup. AND this is precisely the type of production details Chinese viewers LOVE to fixate on. Meanwhile, compared to western viewers, they are more forgiving about things like mediocre acting, dubbing, slow pacing, repetitive tropes or storylines, uninteresting characters. (I think this has something to do with cultural differences around rewarding perfect execution over innovation/risk-taking, sum of the parts over parts that carry the sum.)

And then, there are creative choices that are daring and controversial. These are not problems per se - for every viewer that hates it, someone loves it because it's different. But this perhaps explain why its score has dropped further, even in non-Chinese platforms like MDL, even amongst fans of the show. For example... (spoilers ahead)

Opting for a bad/open ending, knowing that it'll upset some fans, but sticking to it because they feel that it protects the overall integrity of the story (no deus ex machina). Of course, most viewers prefer a happy ending. It would have been easy to just give people what they want. The screenwriter doesn't even have to come up with a new ending for god's sake! However, almost every xianxia that has come before has resurrected the lead character after the big climax. Viewers have been making fun of the cop out: What's the significance of life and death if everyone just reincarnates?

Packing lots of details in a fast-paced, highly complicated, non-linear plot, trusting viewers to be engaged enough to use their brain, rewatch, and discuss outside the show (a bit like Christopher Nolan films). The downside of this is that it's hard to edit out a scene. There's also high risk of viewers getting confused and complaining that the plot makes no sense. Even though most things do if you go several layers down, some rightly point out that they just want to be entertained and the drama should stand on its own.

Making this a male lead centric (大男主) drama, which is rare in the xianxia genre that more recently has targeted young women exclusively. The story shifts from focusing on LSS's mission to TTJ overcoming his fate, perhaps at the expense of the romance (a criticism I see a lot from viewers looking for a pure love story). However, for context, viewers in China (including CCTV itself) have been complaining that the xianxia genre has lost the "xia” (heroism). It's gone from Chinese Paladin, which is about ordinary people overcoming odds to become heroes, to stories that are just about pretty people, who happen to be gods, falling in love since the success of Eternal Love and Journey of the Flower. TTEOTM brings the focus back to "zero to hero" character development, so this is also a change that many welcome.

Allocating a crazy portion of budget and screentime to superhero fight sequences. I agree with all the critics who say these scenes don't add much to the story, the B roll looks better without CGI, and they could have kept other scenes instead. BUT guess which scenes I find myself rewatching and showing off to friends the most? Episodes 14, 15, 32. Because it is thrilling and glorious. Plus after enduring so many Marvel films over the years, I'm pleased to see a version that's genuinely Chinese (not some pan-Asian BS), rooted in our philosophy and martial arts tradition, featuring Chinese faces that have real kungfu training.

Going over the top on aesthetics - colorful costumes, hair accessories, and heavy makeup. A violent reaction against the simple pastel aesthetics that have dominated xianxias over the years. Of course, lots of people hated on the eyeliner and found the extravagant visuals distracting.

However, even with all its flaws, I'm glad it aired and did not wait for perfection. (A lot of May dramas did not go live last minute due to "technical problems" i.e. government censorship. These days, airing = success.) In addition, I predict that over time people will come to appreciate TTEOTM more. Here's why:

1) A lot of dramas now widely lauded as classics started out with poor ratings. Over time, the noise will die down and make way for what really matters - compelling acting and story. Empresses in the Palace (2011) opened with a Douban rating of 2.7 out of 10 (yes, this bad). Viewers didn't like the casting choice. They thought the actors looked bad. There were also issues with the costumes. Over time, its rating increased to 9.4. It's now a show rewatched so loyally that data analysts use its viewership to track market size. Similarly, a lot of the issues people have with TTEOTM are superficial. The things that matter most like acting are good, and even if you dislike the story and editing choices, it did manage to keep 70M people watching and engaged till the end, incl. people who don't watch a lot of TV or like this genre.

2) Moreover, when people look back or rewatch, they tend to focus on just the highlights, and TTEOTM is full of memorable scenes. There are also so many standout memes/gags (出圈梗) that will live in our cultural fabric forever. Fans on Douban were surveyed on who they would have chosen as the director instead and still overwhelming "rehired" Kuk Kok Leung. Biases aside, I think people realize that you could have a better executed drama overall - higher production value, greater consistency, more attention to detail, BUT you might also lose a lot of the things we loved. I don't know if another director would have allowed TTJ go full creepy/evil/weak in the first few episodes or filmed all the steamy love scenes without a modesty backlight. TTEOTM feels so different because it breaks ALL the rules (see above) that I'm not sure if dramas in the future will try to replicate. If they do, TTEOTM would have started a trend. If they don't, TTEOTM will remain the only option.

3) Only dramas that inspire passion will stand the test of time. There are plenty of dramas that score well but don't inspire passion - they will fade away over time. The TTEOTM fan community is intense - there's so much discussion and engagement everywhere. Its Douban group is the #3 most active ever (measured by # of comments). Its MDL page has 68K comments, highest of all aired CDrama. Its Douyin topic has close to 29B views, highest of all costume drama. (Interesting to note that TTEOTM has an excellent reputation on Douyin, the platform with the most active users and least amount of toxic fan activity.) Fans have spent >25M RMB on merchandise, an unprecedented amount - 3M RMB on a character that appears for <10 mins (OG Devil God). It's got to have done something right because this is way more buying power than the fans of LYX and BL combined. And in my N=1, I've not been this excited about a franchise since Game of Thrones and then Harry Potter.

Bottom line, you might have liked it, liked it with regrets, hated it... but if you're spending the time to read this post, all the way till the end, you've become a luna-tic (or 烬神病人)!

#till the end of the moon #black moonlight holds the be script #luo yunxi #bai lu #tantai jin #ye xiwu #chang yue jin ming #chinese drama #cdrama

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revasserium · 9 months

Text

we carve up the world all the time

dazai; 795 words; domestic fluff, g!n reader but implied that they wear heels, tw for normal dazai things but i promise it's mostly played for comedic effect

a list of things that could be used as weapons around an average household, but neither you nor dazai want to talk about it:

the knife in the kitchen that neither of you ever use, the handle made of good, solid wood, the blade sharpened to a gleaming, moon-bright edge; occasionally, your hand will skim over it’s stained ironwood and pause, something thrumming like possibility beneath your skin. but then dazai wraps his arm around your middle, hooks his chin over your shoulder and asks when dinner will be ready; your hand skims over the handle and it settles on another knife, a smaller knife, a duller knife. you smile and tell him soon.

the memory foam pillows dazai had brought home one evening, hollering about the 50% off sale at the market across the street, even though you’d told him that morning that you guys didn’t need anything else, but he pouts and whines and sighs and throws himself onto the vintage chaise lounge (snagged at a yard sale, you know), all drama and sensitivity till you’d conceded that they were really nice pillows and your neck had been hurting a bit more than usual

the curtains — they’ve got such nice, long, tassels.

the curtains — they’ve got such nice, thick, blackout backs that coincidentally make them impossible to breathe through.

the pair of antique book ends that kunikida had gifted the pair of you the week you’d moved in, made of solid bronze, and carved into owls with their huge, dessert-plate eyes and their tiny, hooked beaks. dazai had alternated between loving them and hating them, but finally, he’d settled on saying that at least, if nothing else, they’d function as a good, matched pair of weights for a drowning attempt

the belt to dazai’s coat

the bottle of bleach sitting under the kitchen sink

your favorite pair of stiletto heels, with points sharp enough to pierce through a man’s heart; though dazai insists that you’d never need a pair of heels to pierces his — it was already yours to begin with

the handguns in the bedside table

the handguns hidden under the sofa

the handguns in the cupboards

the handguns in the bookshelf’s secret compartments

your favorite set of beige linen sheets, the material just soft enough to be breathable, but strong enough to last — they’d regrettably not been on sale, but even dazai had to agree that it was a worthy way to spend some cash. once, with the curtains thrown open and the moonlight spilling in great silver reams across the bedroom floors, dazai had pressed a hand to your cheek and told you that you’d make a beautiful corpse, to which you’d rolled your eyes and curled in closer and told him that if he got blood on the sheets, you’d make sure his own death was slow and most certainly painful

the whiskey rocks in the freezer, which, if thrown hard enough and fast enough, would be so much more deadly than bullets, but why waste perfectly good whiskey rocks when there’s still half a bottle of whiskey left?

your hands, with their soft, soft palms and their long, thin fingers; dazai spends too long thinking about your hands and the variety of different ways you might use them, and use them, and use them

his hands, with their neatly trimmed nails and bandaged wrists and the endless trail of blood that had long-since seeped it’s way beneath his skin, staining him till he’d believed salvation was a mere, distant fantasy. but then he’d met you and somehow, through some impossible, divine, dark magic, you’d made it all just a bit more worthwhile — still, he can’t deny the weapons that are his hands, his touch that negates so much else, but seems to only draw out the best in you. once, he’d dreamt that all your love had been nothing but an ability, and that as soon as he touched you, the spell might shatter, and you’d leave him, just like so many people had left him before, and as he had left so many other people. but then he woke up to find you sleeping next to him, your breath measured as the ticking metronome of the earth, as the certain passing of days and years, certain as the sunlight threatening to pour through the sliver of open curtain — and he dared to reach out and touch you, to trail a finger along your cheek, to watch your eyelids flutter open like a pair of moth wings to his hidden fire. and, you smiled, leaned in, and kissed him instead.

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truly-sincerely · 22 days

Text

Even More Comprehensive BG3 Timeline

(Now with citations!) Years in (paren) are confirmed, all other lines are approximations. For my own sanity this timeline is based on available in-game information and not the Forgotten Realms at large.

1450s

Enver Flymm born

Gale Dekarios born (1457)

Enver Flymm sold to Raphael by his parents, renamed Gortash

Gortash learns about Crown of Karsus while a prisoner of Raphael

1460s

Karlach Cliffgate born

Gortash escapes the House of Hope

Gale Dekarios summons Tara the Tressym (1467)

Wyll Ravengard born (1468)

1470s

Lae’zel of K’liir born (1470)

Gortash in his Heapside Reavers period

Gortash rebrands as a black market arms dealer

Orin the Red born to Helena and Sarevok Anchev

Durge begins their serial killing spree in Baldur’s Gate (1477)

The Emperor dominates Duke Belynne Stelmane (1479)

1480s

Elminster resurrects Mystra (1480)

Gortash trades Karlach to Zariel for infernal machines & iron (1482)

Baldur’s Gate’s Beloved Ranger statue goes missing (1482)

Duke Abdel Adrian murdered during Returning Day speech (1482) - Bhaal resurrected - Ulder Ravengard replaces Adrian as Grand Duke

Orin kills her mother Helena in self-defense

Gortash recruits Franc Peartree to distribute infernal iron weapons

Gortash establishes a cult of Bane in Baldur’s Gate

Gortash approaches Durge about an alliance

Gortash moves against the Zhentarim & Knights of the Shield

Wyll Ravengard pact with Mizora, leaves Baldur’s Gate (1485)

Dead Three made aware of the Crown of Karsus (most likely informed by Gortash)* - Gortash becomes Bane’s Chosen - Durge becomes Bhaal’s chosen - Gortash & Durge are instructed to recruit Ketheric

Gortash tells Durge about Crown of Karsus (via correspondence)

Hall of Wonders test mission* - Durge gets Bhaalist memorabilia - Gortash gets a bunch of Gondian designs - Durge & Gortash get companionship

1490s

The Chosen visit Ketheric at Moonrise, learn about Illithid colony

Gortash & Durge visit the House of Hope (for intel on Mephistar?)

Gortash & Durge raid Mephistar - They get the Crown of Karsus - They get the book on the accelerated grand design

Gortash captures the Emperor

Gortash & Durge return to Moonrise - Their identities are kept secret from Ketheric’s people - Durge impresses the Moonrise Gnolls, but not Steelclaw - Ketheric yells at Durge in the throne room for an unknown reason

Durge proposes their plan to the Elder Brain who accepts

Raid on the illithid colony (1491) - Durge puts the Crown on the Elder Brain - Orin gets Durge alone during the raid & stabs them in the head - Orin tadpoles Durge, making them the first True Soul - Orin leave Durge in a pod - Orin declares herself the Chosen of Bhaal

1492

Durge breaks out of the pod & is found by Kressa Bonedaughter

Minsc captured by Absolutists at a recruitment rally in the Undercity

Gortash gets weird and intense with unethical experiments - Some futzing to get the tadpoles to consistently remain in stasis - This is when the name ‘True Souls’ gets coined - Extremely questionable fun with brains - Getting the Absolute’s voice sorted out - Tadpoling his parents - Poorly conceived experiments on children & their parents

Gortash has Iron Throne converted to hold hostages

Gortash presents prototype Steel Watcher to the city council

Jaheira tracks cult to shadow-cursed land, meets Isobel

Minthara Baenre is recruited by Orin and Ketheric

The Descent, Elturel falls into Avernus happens

Guild Bursar Uktar launders money for Gortash’s Campaign funds

Isobel is resurrected by the Dead Three

The Elder Brain sends the Chosen dreams about the Astral Prism

Gortash researches the Prism, finds out that Vlaakith has it

Gortash tasks Ketheric with sending a team to get the Astral Prism - They send a nautiloid piloted by the Emperor and other illithid - The Elder Brain lets the Emperor slip its leash - Magthew Budj arranges for Durge to be on the nautiloid as well

Gortash deploys Steel Watch in Lower/Outer City

At this point Elturel is no longer in Avernus

First Druid Halsin captured by goblins

Nautiloid picks up Shadowheart & the Prism from Astral Plane

Nautiloid picks up Lae’zel

Nautiloid goes to Baldur’s Gate, picks up Gale & Astarion

Nautiloid goes to Avernus, picks up Karlach & Wyll

Nautiloid crashes, (20 Eleasis, 1492)

Some helpful links:

A page from Sarevok’s book: Sarevok - (Murder tribunal)

Accelerated Grand Design: Gortash -

An Offer: Gortash - (Peartree basement)

Aquatic Labor: Gortash - (Flymm’s Cargo Basement)

Baldur’s Gate Temple of Bhaal: Yanthus - (Gortash’s Office)

Balthazar’s Notes: Balthazar - (Necrotic laboratory)

Clasped Book: Balthazar - (Balthazar’s chambers)

Devil’s Fee Observer’s Report**: Himberloo - (Nine-Fingers’ office)

Elder Brain Domination: Ketheric/Yanthus - (Ketheric’s Room)

Enhanced Weapons - Sales Ledger: Peartree - (Peartree basement)

Experiment on Cruor: Orin - (Temple of Bhaal)

How To Build a Watcher: deceased Gondian - (Steel Watch foundry)

Journal of Enver Gortash: Gortash - (Gortash’s Office)

Magical Histories: Volume 2: The Spellplague: unknown - (Sorcerous Sundries)

Memoir Notes with Recent Addenda: Gortash - (Gortash’s office)

Missive from Gortash: Gortash - (Ketheric’s room)

Missive from Ketheric: Ketheric - (Moonrise, 2nd floor)

Mistress of Souls’ Research Log: Kressa - (Mind flayer barracks)

My Gratitude: Gortash - To Peartree (Peartree basement)

Next Steps: Gortash - (Gortash’s office)

Prayer for Forgiveness: Durge - (Necrotic laboratory)

Scrapbook of Letters: Gortash/Durge - (Flymm’s Cobblers)

Special Operations - Infernal Arms: Uktar -

Studies of the Elder Brains: Gortash/Yanthus - (Gortash’s Office)

Suspended Ceremorphosis: Gortash/Yanthus - (Tadpoling center)

Test Mission with Gortash: Durge - (Temple of Bhaal)

The Astral Prism Heist: Gortash - (Gortash’s office)

The Dukes of Baldur’s Gate: unknown - (Baldur’s Mouth/Peartree’s house)

The Grand Design: Gortash/Yanthus - (Mind flayer colony)

The True Life of ‘Lord’ Gortash: a skeleton - (Wyrm’s Rock Prison)

The Ultimate State: Gortash - (Gortash’s office/Flymm’s Cobblers)

*an in-game contradiction between Gortash and Durge. See: ‘Test Mission with Gortash’ and ‘Memoir Notes with Recent Addenda’. I’ve placed it after, but there’s also a legitimate argument to be made that Gortash and Durge met and became allies much earlier, possibly around the same time as Gortash’s betrayal of Karlach

**no link cuz the bg3.wiki doesn’t have it??

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nonbayanary · 3 months

Text

Honestly as someone who makes ads at work to make humanity suffer in few-minute-doses, I can truly applaud Hiruma's creativity in marketing the Devilbats even before the boom of social media.

He makes use of everything: flyers, the school PA system, banners (on the famed statue of ANOTHER FUCKING COUNTRY), skywriting, news on the television, and even fax machines!!!

Do you UNDERSTAND how even more of a hell-raiser he would be if he had fucking BLUETOOTH and AIRDROP??? If he had his claws on Adobe and Canva and Google Ads??? BRO WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE!!!

Everyone in all of Japan would get texts that say, "JOIN THE DEVILBATS!!! YA-HA!!!" every single fucking day. Coffee shops and public areas with wifi are common hunting grounds for Hiruma, practically open season for him and his accursed advertising. People looking for wifi are his quarry, and he is the predator attacking with Devilbat recruitment advertisements that CANNOT BE SKIPPED.

He would tamper with products from around the globe. You wanted an engraved Apple product? Instead of whatever phrase or word you wanted engraved, it says, "DEIMON DEVILBATS: RECRUITING NOW!!! YA-HA!!!" Every few posts you scroll over in Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you'll always, always, ALWAYS see an ad on the Deimon Devilbats.

And of course, Hiruma's secret weapon: TIK-TOK THIRST TRAPS. He forces his team at gunpoint to record themselves dressed in tight-fitting clothing. He posts close-ups of cool plays in matches (no one knows how he records these plays in different angles, with highass quality). He makes edits of his teammates, and plays up their sex appeal or their ability in front of the camera.

No one is safe from Hiruma Youichi, commander of marketing and advertising.

#eyeshield 21 #eyeshield21 #es21 #yoichi hiruma #hiruma yoichi #hiruma #hiruma youichi #youichi hiruma

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kookie-doughs · 3 months

Text

Evermore

Dracule Mihawk X Reader

-Your evermore with Mihawk is a story to be told

Chapter 1: I Was The One Who Had It All, I Was The Master Of My Fate

The island was bathed in the soft hues of sunset, a tranquil paradise now stained by the recent clash of pirates. The aftermath of the Red-Haired Pirates' intervention painted a scene of contrasting emotions on the once troubled island. The air carried a sense of relief, mingling with the residual tension that still lingered like a fading echo.

Strewn across the sandy shores were remnants of the tumultuous battle—broken weapons, discarded pirate flags, and the occasional charred mark on the earth—all testaments to the chaos that had been averted. The island's residents moved with a renewed purpose, repairing the damage inflicted upon their homes while grateful smiles and whispers of gratitude flitted through the air like a shared secret.

The village, once shrouded in the shadows of despair, now basked in the soft radiance of newfound hope. The wooden structures, adorned with vibrant tapestries and flowers, stood as beacons of resilience against the adversity that had threatened to consume them. Laughter, hesitant at first, began to resonate from the now-reopened market stalls as merchants and buyers alike engaged in the timeless dance of commerce.

Citizens bustled about, picking up the pieces of their shattered lives. Among them, you moved like a ghost, haunted by memories of the invaders who had ravaged your home. Sold into slavery, you were a mere shadow of your former self, shrouded in trauma.

Amidst the chaos, a solitary figure stood out. Dracule Mihawk, the enigmatic Warlord of the Sea, had graced this island with his presence. Red-Haired Shanks and his crew welcomed him warmly, celebrating their recent victory. As the festivities ensued, Mihawk's keen gaze fell upon you, a lone figure on the fringes of the crowd. Your eyes met his, and a shiver ran down your spine.

Shanks, ever perceptive, noticed Mihawk's interest and nudged him playfully. "Seems like someone's caught your eye, Hawk-Eye."

You tensed, ready to flee, but before you could act, Mihawk stepped between you and Shanks. "Akagami, stop frightening her."

Mihawk's words held a strange comfort, and you hesitated, your eyes darting between the two formidable figures. Shanks smiled kindly at you, but his presence still felt overwhelming. As you turned to leave, Shanks made a move to reach out, but Mihawk's hand halted him with a gentle but firm touch.

"Akagami, give her time. Leave her alone."

The night settled over the island, and the festivities dwindled. Mihawk, shrouded in his dark aura, left the crowd and followed the path you had taken. Through winding alleys and dimly lit corners, he found you huddled in the darkest and most secluded part of the village. Mihawk's presence was unsettling, but your fear had been replaced by curiosity.

He approached silently, his boots making no sound against the worn cobblestone. You looked up at him, your eyes wide with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. Mihawk said nothing, respecting the silence that enveloped you. Just as he was about to leave, you summoned the courage to grab the edge of his coat, your fingers trembling.

His gaze met yours, and you pointed to the sword strapped to his back The legendary blade, Yoru, gleamed faintly in the moonlight. With practiced ease, Mihawk drew the sword and placed it before you. Your heart raced as you hesitantly reached out, your fingertips grazing the blade's surface. A mixture of awe and fear filled your eyes as you studied the intricate craftsmanship.

Seeing your desire to touch the sword, Mihawk's lips curved into a rare smile. "You may touch it."

Hesitantly, you extended a trembling finger and brushed it against the blade's edge. A rush of emotions surged through you, and a genuine smile tugged at the corners of your lips. Mihawk's own smile deepened, as a silent connection formed between you and the sword.

Just as the moment seemed to linger, Shanks appeared, his jovial laughter cutting through the silence. Your guard snapped back into place, and you retreated, your heart pounding. Mihawk swiftly moved between you and Shanks, his grip on Yoru tightening subtly.

Shanks laughed heartily. "Hawk-Eye, I didn't expect to find you here."

Mihawk's gaze remained fixed on you, and he simply nodded in response. With a playful wink at you, Shanks allowed himself to be dragged back to the crowd by Mihawk, their shadows fading into the night.

The following day, as the sun began to rise, Mihawk returned to the secluded area he had found you. There you were, sitting, your gaze fixed on the sword that had captured your heart. A silent understanding passed between you and Mihawk as he picked up the sword, the weight of its history evident in his grasp.

You looked up at him, your eyes bright with anticipation and curiosity. He extended Yoru toward you, a silent invitation. The sword practically hummed with energy, and you couldn't resist. With a hesitant smile, you reached out and took hold of the hilt, the cool metal sending a thrill through your fingertips.

Mihawk settled onto the ground beside you, his presence both comforting and enigmatic. As you inspected the blade, your excitement spilled over into a monologue about its history, its legends, and its unparalleled craftsmanship. Mihawk listened intently, his usual stoicism softened by genuine interest.

As your words flowed, Mihawk's curiosity grew. "You seem quite knowledgeable about swords."

You looked up at him, a mixture of emotions in your eyes. "I was swordswoman."

Mihawk's eyebrows lifted slightly, surprised by your admission. "And do you possess a blade of your own?"

A wistful smile tugged at your lips. "I did, once. A legendary sword, passed down through generations. But it was taken from me."

Mihawk's gaze turned contemplative, as if he were piecing together the puzzle of your past. After a moment of silence, he spoke again, his tone measured. "Would you like to come with me?"

Without hesitation, you nodded, a spark of excitement igniting within you. "Yes."

Mihawk's lips quirked into a faint smile. "May I ask why? Why would you agree without hesitation?"

You met his gaze, your eyes holding a mixture of gratitude and determination. "Because your sword is the only thing that can bring me back to who I was before... before everything happened."

Mihawk nodded, his gaze softening. He shared stories of his own home, his castle perched atop a desolate cliff, where the sound of crashing waves was a constant companion. Your heart raced at the thought, and the idea of a new beginning filled you with hope.

Mihawk's boat glided smoothly into the calm waters surrounding his remote island sanctuary. The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm golden hue over the tranquil scene. As the anchor found purchase and the gangway was lowered, Dracule Mihawk stepped ashore with his characteristic grace.

His arrival, however, was met with a sight that drew a rare quirk of his eyebrow. There, standing near the shore with her arms folded and a pout on her lips, was the ever-quirky Perona. Her vibrant pink hair stood out against the backdrop of the island's lush greenery, a vivid contrast to her annoyed expression.

"Finally! You took forever to come back, you know," Perona huffed, her tone a blend of frustration and relief.

Mihawk turns regarded the brash yet endearing ghost princess. "I apologize for any inconvenience, Perona."

Perona's annoyance seemed to dissipate as she caught sight of the turning away. "Hmph. Well, it's about time. Leaving me here with that marimo was a nightmare."

Mihawk arched an eyebrow. "Marimo?"

Perona rolled her eyes, her exasperation evident. "Yes, that swordsman you're so fond of, that green-haired, three-sword-wielding Roronoa Zoro. He's insufferable, you know. All he does is train, act all serious, and get into fights. And the way he talks back to me! I can't take it!"

Mihawk's stoic façade held firm. "Ah, I see. Zoro has a knack for invoking strong reactions."

Perona's arms crossed once more as she launched into a full-blown tirade. "Strong reactions? That's an understatement! He doesn't appreciate my powers, always giving me that scowl. And he's utterly dense when it comes to my Negative Hollows. I tried to have a conversation, you know, something civilized, and all he wanted to do was spar!"

"It appears you had quite the eventful time."

Perona huffed, her annoyance still palpable. "Eventful? More like excruciating! I'm just glad you're back so I can have some semblance of sanity."

"I am tired, may I retire back home? You can regale me with your adventures in dealing with our dear marimo whilst we walk."

Perona's scowl softened into a begrudging grin, and she floated closer to him. "Fine. But you owe me. Big time."

Masterlist | Next

Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @nykie-love-anime @khaleesihavilliard

#x reader #fanfiction #y/n l/n #dracule mihawk #hawkeye mihawk #op mihawk #one piece mihawk #mihawk x reader #dracule mihawk x reader #one piece x reader #one piecr dracule mihawk #one piece mihawk x reader #mihawk

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