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#missing vital sections
onlydigressing · 1 year
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tiktoks and instagram reals are great and also the bane of my existence. they take the BEST PART of a song and put it into a VERY SHORT and digestible format so that my brain CRAVES hearing that SPECIFIC PART OF THE SONG OVER AND OVER
and listening to the actual song doesn’t satisfy that itch because it’s not that EXACT PIECE
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workwort · 17 days
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each and every plant that blooms is like a single note in the great orchestra of the season
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15ktherapy · 1 year
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it is so amazing how sometimes you can just look at peoples pfps and or usernames and know exactly what their bios/intros are going to say
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mockerycrow · 11 months
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Emergency Contact (1/2) (Ghost x GN!Reader)
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>> emergency contact concept here << PART TWO HERE!!
Summary: Simon is your roommate, and you haven’t seen each other in months, considering Simon’s job. An unfamiliar number pops up on Simon’s phone, and answering it makes his world turn upside down.
A/N: How you two moved in together is very vaguely inspired this ghost fic right here. please give it a read! If you finish the song above, I highly recommend listening to the entire album while reading. i’m not the happiest with this, but i’m happy enough to post!
[WARNINGS: Blood and injury, traumatic events/trauma brought up, gore, little comfort, medical inaccuracies, tbh ooc simon but it’s ok.]
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Eight months, thirteen days, and nine hours. That’s how long it’s been since he’s been home, since he’s seen you. That’s how long he’s been stuck on base, or thrown into a foreign country to complete some mission, or to gather some intel, or to kill someone, just somewhere, anywhere but with you.
Eight months, thirteen days, and nine hours. That’s how long it’s been since you softly asked him to stay as safe as he can, and to come back alive, and to come back with at least eight fingers. It was a running joke between you two, a way to relieve the terrifying reality of his job; as long as Simon came home alive and with majority of his fingers, he could consider it a job well done. You didn’t know much of his job, of course—only that he’s military, and he’s gone a lot. You already guessed it was a lot of classified stuff, probably down top secret government type of things. That did make you scared, though. You didn’t want the day to come, the day where people in fancy uniforms show up at your doorstep like you’re some widow. The thought of someone informing you of Simon’s death makes your stomach twist.
Eight months is admittedly a long time. Simon.. he missed you, but he’s rather die that verbally admit it, but he sure as hell felt it. He missed the way he could hear you walk through the house, the weight of the floorboards creaking up your feet. Simon missed walking by the bathroom and the air vaguely smelled your shampoo and body wash, a clear indicator you had just taken a shower. Simon missed the way you carelessly have your shoes next to the shoe rack, not even on it, and despite his annoyance of your laziness? He misses it every single time he’s away. He never really realizes the difference of living on base versus being home with you, and he’s comfortable in both environments for completely different reasons. Simon is comfortable with you because you’re safe, you aren’t associated with anyone he has to deal with on a near daily basis. You don’t scan the kitchen to see which household items could be potential bombs in the vicinity like he does. On base, Simon finds comfort in the familiarity of being constantly on alert, the need for a gun to be against his hip—it’s not the best, considering he’s in fight mode majority of the time, but it’s comforting. It’s familiar. It’s.. home, in a way.
You and Simon call at least once every three weeks—it’s not more because you’re both busy, you have your life to tend to while he has to do something like protecting an American Embassy, or sneaking into a compound to retrieve some vital information. You two talk about all kinds of things; you complain about the neighbors for the nth time, or you talk about your job, just something that he hasn’t heard about in a while. Simon.. he’s limited on what he can talk about—what he wants to talk about. It’s a bit difficult, keeping details of his job hidden away from you. He also keeps you hidden away from them; his team. Price vaguely is aware of your existence, but all he knows is your name and your phone number—someone to alert when he eventually would pass away.
It surprised Price when he requested access to his own file to make a change. Simon went for years without anyone in that section, leaving it blank—and then suddenly ‘[Name] [Last Name]’ is written down, along with your phone number. Simon doesn’t want to die somewhere and then you sit at home, dreading the fact that you haven’t received a call from him for over six months. Other than that, no one is aware of your existence and he wants to keep it that way. It keeps you safe, and he doesn’t want the one thing he has going in his life to be taken away from him—not like everything else has been.
No, you and Simon aren’t together. You just are the one constant he cannot allow to die. How you and Simon became close was rather funny, really—before you were roommates, you bumped into each other at the local stores, the bank, even several public spaces like parks and such. You didn’t see him too often and you weren’t aware on why, but you didn’t really wonder why either. By this point, you knew each other for a couple of months. He introduced himself as SR—not Ghost or Simon, but as SR. You didn’t bother to question it because this tall, bulky man seemed like he was trying keep himself as anonymous as possible. Without fail, you always saw him wear dark colored clothing that hid any identifiable markings—tattoos and scars, that kind of thing. He usually has his hood up with a black face mask covering his nose down, but you do know one thing—he has to have bright blonde hair. Why else would his beautiful eyelashes and eyebrows be that bright? It would catch your eye every time you’d see them. Sometimes you would see him with a beanie on and the mask, with his hood down. This wasn’t too often, as it exposed some scarring he has on the back of his neck, as well as his forehead. This also silently lead you to believe he has a tough past of some sort, which is confirmed when you run into him somewhere you never expected to—your therapist’s building. You bumped into him right outside, and you apologized profusely before looking and going silent as you made eye contact.
A silent agreement was made between you two that day, one that you could never put into words. Something in that moment that dragged you two closer together. You had been through some shit in your life, shit that had permanent effect on you, shit that you wanted to work through. It was horribly tiring, but you knew you needed to work through it—so you could live a life you felt was worth living. Simon, was on the other side of the spectrum. He didn’t want this. He never wanted to tell anyone about anything, but Price, Price fucking made him. Simon spends his days and nights plagued with nightmares and memories—he’s woken up in the middle of the night enough times to know that he needs help, but he was so adamant about not talking to anyone about it. But seeing you there? Someone who he hasn’t known for long, someone who had always greeted him with a smile on your face, laughter spilling from your beautiful vocal cords, and someone who doesn’t touch him without permission? It made him so angry and hopeless about this world. Not even you, a stranger who he sees as the best human being he’s known in a while—despite not knowing you for long—could escape from the cruel and sharp jaws of the world. You found out you two accidentally scheduled the same days, so it became an unspoken agreement to wait for the other outside of the building so you can both go in. Even when you weren’t sure when his next appointment would be, you’d be right outside of that building, waiting for him. You would always be right there, and that’s something he quickly learned.
You lost your house to a fire, everything went with the burning embers that raged inside of the 4 walls of your previous home, the structure collapsing in on itself. You had gotten out in time, and you numbly watched the fire roar, the crackling burning it’s memory in your ears. The piercing sound of different sirens were approaching, but all you could do is stand there with your phone in your hand, watching the home you worked so hard for burn to the foundation built years ago. You felt a hand on your shoulder, but you didn’t bother to turn to see who it was. Everything was going so slow, almost like a movie scene in the worst way possible. Your nostrils burned from the smell of burning wood, drywall, and installation. The hand squeezed your shoulder and you slowly looked at who it was—and was him. Simon. His eyebrows were furrowed, eyes ever so slightly panicked and it was obvious he was asking you something, but you didn’t hear him. All you could focus on was that he was here. You blinked rapidly as your eyes began to burn from the smoke and from that choked feeling going from your chest to your throat. “I..” You croak ever so slightly. You couldn’t hold it back—you quickly grabbed onto Simon desperately, letting out a heart-wrenching sob because you just lost everything you owned, every memory, every piece of furniture, everything.. but he was here. He was the only thing was wasn’t crumbling away from your grasp, the only constant. Once you clung to him, Simon’s senses were flooded with you. Fuck, your touch burned, just like everyone’s else’s but he liked—no, loved how it felt. Despite the image of a burning house in his wake making dread bubble in his gut, your sobs and touch were the only thing he could focus on. Simon hesitates for only a second before pulling you into his personal space, his arms wrapping around you and weighing heavily on your body. Neither of you spoke, he just let you scream into his chest and sob, your fists gently banging against his chest—the anger, the sadness, everything was too much. Simon knew exactly how you were feeling, so he didn’t mind the twinges of pain your hands produced. Simon was the one who helped you while you chatted with the paramedics and the police. He was the one who helped you find your words when you had none left to share, the smell of the smoke imprinted on your clothes.
Without question, Simon took you to his house. He did not have another bed set up, so he had you sleep in his room while he slept on his couch. He hated the hollow look your eyes held, the way you were delayed with your answers, the ways your hands shook. Your everlasting smile had dissipated into a wobbly frown and he.. Simon couldn’t handle it. He grabbed you some of his clothes and helped you into his bathroom, quietly telling you to take a shower. He’ll take care of your clothes. Simon left you alone, and you showered for a long time. He didn’t count, but it was over an hour and a half. Simon didn’t say anything about you possibly racking up his bill, how could he when you had just lost everything? He wanted to.. to help you, and he wasn’t sure why. Even when he found himself scrubbing your smoke and tar covered clothes in his kitchen sink, he couldn’t find an exact reason why he wanted to help you. Maybe it’s because you made him feel human when he needed to be, maybe you were the one thing that kept him coming back to this town, the one thing that kept him from completely pulling away from the civilian world. You had found him in a corner like a dog, lips curled back and snarling—sharp teeth clashing together, and without a word, you gave him reasons to trust you. Although they may not be.. normal reasons to the regular eye, but they were enough for Simon.
You’re enough for Simon. He scrubbed your clothes until his arms burned, and then some.
That’s when he found out that you too, were also someone who could not stay asleep for long. When Simon awoke with his adrenaline pumping from the muffled sound of vomiting, he had to calm himself down because he’s safe, and you’re safe, most of all. Simon isn’t sure when he began to think that way, but it’s one of the many things he’s decided to not question—which also new for him. Simon is man who demands answers, yet with you? it’s like everything naturally falls into place, which is why he doesn’t complain when your stay at his house—which you swore would only be until you gathered enough money for an apartment—turned from a two week stay, to Simon carrying in an IKEA bed frame to put and assemble in one of his empty rooms. Many sleepless nights came and went, and each and every one you spent them with each other, sitting by a windowsill together, other times spending it in the backyard and looking at the sky. Sometimes you would wake up first, sometimes it would be him. You somehow always knew when he had woken up from a nightmare, his heart pounding in his ears—until your hands grab his and squeeze, to ground him. You burn him, and he welcomes the tickle of your ever-glowing flame. A year into this arrangement, Simon finally shows you his face and he appreciates that you don’t look at him any different. He usually hates the searching eyes, trying to memorize every inch of his face—but he’s greedy when you do it. When your eyes roam over every scar and acne scar, when you point out his messily cut hair and half-assed shaven stubble, he doesnt get angry. Simon doesn’t feel suffocated by your glances. He doesn’t wear his mask at home anymore, not when you’re there.
Then Simon gets the notice about his three month leave ending soon; and he knows that you need to know about his job. Or at least, the bare minimum you need to know. In reality, it’s how much he wants you to know, but he doesn’t want to admit that. He sits you down one morning, a cup of tea in his hand and he had a mug of your favorite morning drink on the other side of the table he had bought a few weeks you started staying here. Simon explains that he has a job in the military, that he can’t tell you much, but it means he’s going to be gone for weeks, even months at a time. You’re at a loss at first, because who is going to have an extremely positive reaction to “by the way, I work an extremely dangerous job and I can’t tell you anything and I’ll be gone for a while.. Oh yeah, you likely won’t know if I die!”? Despite your initial reaction, you grow to be okay with this situation. Or, we’ll, as okay as you can be with it. You also find out that he was here for way longer than he originally is, due to his boss demanding him to take a break—AKA, “go to therapy you dafty”.
For a little over two years, you two fell into a good rhythm. A call every three weeks, him coming home and you becoming the safest space he’s ever had in his life.
Which is why when his personal cell phone begins to vibrate in his pocket during some fuck-all meeting, his eyebrows furrow. The number is unfamiliar, but the area code is not. Simon quietly excuses himself from the extended round table, taking his call outside of the meeting room. Price’s eyes follow his figure as he exits, noticing it’s his personal cell phone in his hand. Simon answers the call and presses his phone against his masked ear, muttering a low, “Hello?”
A high-pitched, soft yet serious voice filters through the speaker, a woman. “Hi, is this Mr. Riley?”
Simon pauses, and so does his heart. “Who’s asking?”
He honestly regrets asking that in the moment—one part of him genuinely wishes he never answered this call, and the other part of him is glad he did. “I’m a nurse from Northern Manchester Community Hospital, you’re written down as [Name]’s emergency contact. They’ve been a victim of a hit and run situation, sir. They’re alive, but they’re in the ICU.” The nausea that suddenly bubbles inside of his guys, the stomach acid mixed with whatever he had eaten previously, threatening to travel up his esophagus, burn every inch and then exit with a horrific sound. Simon’s head began to spin—he’s your emergency contact? A hit and run, you were fucking hit?? By what, a car? A pick-up? A semi? God, Simon has seen the most horrible, gruesome, fucked up shit you would ever see in his entire life, yet he isn’t sure if he can handle the image of you spread out in a hospital bed, with one too many tubes circulating around you. His mind plagues him with intrusive images, ones he never wants to actually see played out. Fuck, his head hurts. It feels like someone is physically shoving a knife into his chest and twisting it, like God is laughing at him and playing with Simon’s pain for his own gain. How could he not think that, especially with everything that has happened to him? His friends, his family? His old CO? The fucking abuse he endured??
It’s like Simon lost his hearing for a moment, because he cannot bare fucking losing you, too. There’s a vague ringing in his ears, almost like there was an explosion and he stood too close. And then suddenly every sound comes rushing back to his eardrums, and everything suddenly everything is so fucking overwhelming. “Mr. Riley?” The nurse calls over the phone, her tone laced with worry. He clears his throat and when he speaks, he sounds wrecked, which he fucking hates. “I.. I’ll come as soon as I can.” Simon hangs up, not giving the nurse a moment to speak. He drops his phone and if he doesn’t sit down, he’s going to fall over like a tree that’s been cut down. Simon lets out a shaky breath, trying to ignore the way his stomach is screaming and twisting as he puts a hand on the wall, and he crouches down. It’s the first time he doesn’t look around to see if anyone is watching his sudden display of emotion. When he’s suddenly rocked with the feeling of home at work, especially with the news that you’re fucking injured—he’s overwhelmed and twisted all over the place. Simon finds himself stumbling back to his barracks.
Price finds his way to him after Simon never returns to the meeting. He knocks on the door, but his knuckles pause before they can knock against the door for the third time as he discovers the door is open—which is very, very, odd. He slowly opens the door while calling for Ghost, and is met with the sight of Simon shoving some of his clothes and belongings into a duffle bag, as well as his military travel documents. “Ghost?” Price questions, who stopped in his doorway to watch Simon lose his mind while packing. Simon doesn’t respond as he practically rips his phone charger out of the wall and stuffs it into the bag, zipping it up. He slings it over his shoulder and he turns around, pausing when he sees Price. Simon’s eyes tell everything he’s feeling—that something’s happened, something bad, and he needs to leave. Price bites his lip and quietly exhales, his fingers rubbing at his chin. “I’ll approve your leave. Just shoot me a text of how long it needs to be, yeah?”
Simon makes sure to note to send Price a thank you of some sort, because within the next two hours, Simon is boarding a plane, heading for Manchester, wearing some black clothing, a jacket, a black face mask, gloves, and his beanie. The entire time, he could not stop thinking about you—and how you could possibly die before he got there to send off his final goodbyes. Is that something he would actually want to do, though? See you in the hospital, knowing it’ll be the last place you’d ever be alive in? Go home, see how you left the house exactly as you left it? A house, but without his home in it? Simon stares out the airplane window blankly, his hands curled into fists, and his nails would be digging into his palms if he didn’t have gloves on.
He couldn’t lose you. Not like this.
The next part for Simon, it’s a blur again. Got off the plane, got his luggage, provided documentation, blah blah blah—he didn’t give a fuck about any of it. His focus was you. He didn’t bother to stop home to drop his stuff off, he took an Uber straight to the hospital from the airport. It was a fairly expensive Uber too, but he could worry about the costs of everything later. It took another half hour to get there.
His heart began to hammer in his chest as the sight of the hospital’s signs began to pop up on the road, the anxiety taking hold in his stomach and his head begins to hurt again. Simon quietly thanks the driver, tips them, and exits the car with a swiftness once they pull up. Simon walks through the main entrance’s sliding doors, going up to the desk. A woman behind the counter hangs up the phone, murmuring a goodbye, and then she looks at Simon with her pretty blue eyes. “How can I help you, sir?” She murmurs sweetly, noting how anxious he is. She can see the sweat on his brow line. Simon clears his throat, his voice rumbling in his chest when he speaks. It takes everything in him to not yell at this innocent woman and get thrown out. “My.. My name is Mr. Riley, I was called ‘cause my friend is here,” Simon manages to push out. “[Name] [Last Name].” The woman turns to her computer and clicks the couple of buttons and types a couple of words and holy fuck, Simon just wants to go to your wing already—“Ah, yes, I see you’re listed as their emergency contact,” The woman grabs a sticky note and writes with a pink pen your room number and elevator floor, handing it to Simon. He barely gets a “thank you” out before he nearly jogs to the nearby elevator. Fourth floor, room 283. Fourth floor, room 283. Fourth floor, room 283—it’s the longest minute long elevator ride in his entire fucking life.
Simon changes face masks whilst facing the wall, and then he finds your room number—and his heart is beating out of his chest. There’s cops standing outside of your room who stop him from entering. Simon’s anger flares up so quickly, he nearly makes a scene until a doctor exits your room. She’s wearing her usual blue scrubs, her coat, and she’s dawning a N95 and some sterile gloves. She’s holding a clipboard. “Mr. Riley?” She questions, holding the clipboard close to her chest. Simon nods without hesitation, and she responds, “I’m sorry, but due to the nature of this case, you’ll have to provide some identification for me and these officers.”
Usually, Simon would hesitate—he gives anyone outside of his team the bare minimum, hell, he only introduced himself as SR until he knew you for a while. This time, he takes out his military ID and shows it to the officers. He ignores their looks of surprise, and ignores the murmurs that come from them. Simon puts his ID away and he holds back the urge to shove them out of the way as he glares down at the doctor on accident. “Come in,” The doctor opens the sliding door and steps into the hospital ICU room with him. Simon follows behind her and he immediately smells the sickening smell only the ICU gives off. There’s a small wall blocking his view from you that he hasn’t past, and he can already hear the machines working. A heart monitor, a ventilator, combined with other machines he doesn’t know too well. The doctor flips through the papers pinned to her clipboard. “They were hit by a vehicle of some sort, the scene suggested they were walking home from the local corner store. [Name] has multiple broken bones and fractures, a punctured lung, a fractured jaw and internal bleeding. They lost a lot of blood at the scene.” Simon doesn’t respond as he slowly walks forward, and he finally lays his eyes on you. It’s.. traumatizing, to say the least. You were never supposed to be in a hospital bed like this, hooked up to machines he can’t even name. He slowly walks over to you, dropping his duffel bag somewhere on the floor. He doesn’t care to look where. Simon barely pays attention to what the doctor is saying—his hands tremble as he stands by your side, his heart thumping harshly in his chest. Fuck.
He drags over one of the chairs next to your bed. Simon takes off one of his gloves slowly, and then he tears the other one off in a frenzy. He feels so unlike himself, so.. different.. human. He reaches over to your hand and his fingers grab your wrist, so gentle as if you’re glass. Simon presses his fingers against your pulse point, counting your heartbeats despite the monitor. The thumping under your skin makes it more.. real. Feeling you, your heartbeat, your warmth and your skin—it’s comforting. Simon clears his throat and fights the urge to vomit once a gain, watching your chest rise and fall, produced by the ventilator.
He moves his hand to intertwine with your fingers and he uses his other hand to feel your pulse. Simon closes his eyes, muttering the beats per minute under his breath.
At least you’re alive—you’re here, you’re alive, and you’re with him. And that’s all he asks for.
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tags;; @alwaystired--neversleeping @handsomeunderwear-art @indefenseofkara @kaysav608 @1-is-loneliest-number @rosee-sensuelle @kitty-satan1 @k4marina @rahmown @royalty-purple @bowtruckleninja — if you are not tagged, it’s not allowing me :-)
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jimvasta · 1 year
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Humans are symbiotes
When we met humans we were naïve enough to assume they were like us. We thought each of them was a single entity until our ships systems completed their routine scans.
Of course we offered to rid them of the parasites they carried, it was politeness or so we thought. It took some careful explaining, we expected they would be horrified by the realisation there were microscopic creatures living within them. Instead they were horrified at the thought of losing them.
Humans are each a chorum. Do not be fooled by their use of the singular, the body you see is a vehicle carrying a population of billions.
All the bacteria and viruses we worked so hard to eradicate, humans instead invited in and made a part of them. The relationship is so profound they will deliberately cultivate and ingest the species they prefer to have inside them, and their digestion of food (another horror with their definition of food including a lengthy list of poisons) relies on of having the right population mix.
They create and alter viruses at whim to do many chores, and easily tolerate micro-organisms deadly to us.
They are each a walking army, deadly in the most terrifying way imaginable.
How do I know this?
We thought our systems isolated everything, we thought we were safe and their protective suits were sterilised. Somehow, we missed it. One of the suits had clinging to it a tiny virus colony.
When the Captain realised what was happening they closed every airlock and isolated each section to halt the spread. I got stuck on the lower storage deck for almost two cycles.
The humans did all they could to reassure me from a distance, sharing their knowledge to cleanse the ship for the rescue party. They knew they could not come in, but they would speak to me, make sure I knew what was happening and that they had called for rescue on my behalf, and how long it would be until I could be released.
They were mortified by the actions of one of the feral viruses they consider little more than an irritating pest.
I think they were sad to realise they can never safely interact with us or fully join our union. They can watch from a distance, but never walk on our worlds or share our ships. For a symbiotic ensemble that isolation must be painful even knowing it is vital for life.
I am one of the only members of the union to have met humans in person.
I alone survived the plague the humans later identified as 'the common cold'.
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stop flirting with the nurse, it’s embarrassing.
it’s hard to act cool if james’ beautiful, hot nurse can hear his heart rate.
tags: james potter x gn!reader,, modern au,, hospitals,, nurse!reader,, remus pov,, melodramatic sirius and peter,, fluffy,, crack(?),, short around 1.3k wc,, no mentions of y/n
a/n: contrary to the title, there are no flirting just james being awkward lol,, i have no idea about the process of how vital checking goes sorry,, finding photos for this probably took longer than writing the fic itself rip.
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it is to be noted that remus, resignedly, accepted it was only a matter of time before james got hospitalized for his recklessness.
now, with sirius and peter on either side of him, they wait for james to gain consciousness from his surgical procedure. it was a minor one, hardly one that needed 24/7 surveillance that sirius begged him to be a part of nor is the blubbering phone call from peter about james dying. the doctors even said he could be discharged the same day, if he woke up within the hour or so.
but remus is nothing but a people-pleaser. so, he stayed to watch over james as sirius requested and comforted peter that their loud, obnoxious (/fond) friend will wake up soon.
the room ridiculously quiet, a word rarely used as an adjective if they were involved, but it was. the only sound in the room, is the constant slow stream of the heart monitor and james’ soft breathing. remus can attribute this peace that the unnecessarily frantic and ballistic duo has now gone to sleep on the hospital’s stiff couch.
your head poked in first through the curtain before offering the gentlest smile and a silent request for you to come closer. you had been nothing but kind and attentive, to the point you were somewhat spoiling his overdramatic friends and their bemoaning about death and pain.
acknowledging their concerns with facts, reassurances, and empathic smiles. though he couldn’t miss the twitch of your lips as you try and stop, what remus imagines is a bellowing laughter at their dramatic reactions over james’ “demise.” not that remus blames you if you did let out a little laugh, it was getting theatric for a simple, small, and successful surgery. but he understands that professionalism comes first, such reactions might not be appropriate.
“well, everything seems fine here. your friend should be waking up anytime soon, if he does, don’t hesitate to ring us over so we can have him checked and he can be discharged. but before i leave the room, do you want me to do anything for you, any questions or concerns?” you say, voice gentle and firm
“no, we’re good, thank you.”
you nodded and gave a pretty smile, “okay then.”
you adjusted the curtain to close it fully, giving a stirring james and the sleeping visitors some privacy.
it wasn’t long before james woke up, groaning and stretching as if he had just been napping. albeit, a little delirious still, from the anesthesia no doubt.
he had opened his eyes now, unnaturally drooping and hazed, remus reached over and thwacked sirius and peter on their heads, “james’ awake.” he hums, giving nothing but an innocent looking smile as they glare for their rude awakening.
any sort of complaints from the smack quickly died out when they saw james, crowding over him and hugging him as if he’s been gone for 3 years and not 3 hours.
peter grabs james’ hands and recounts his experience of how he heard the news (from a text). at the same time with sirius exclaiming,
“oh, i’m so relieved you’re alright!” sirius cries, cradling james’ head to his chest, nuzzling through the knotted mass of curls to which remus only rolls his eyes at the theatrics of it all.
leaving remus no choice but to call you back into their section and have him checked for the last time.
“i’m fine,” james rasps, giving a sleepy smile and sluggishly patting both of the melodramatic thespians as comfort.
he looked fine, his hair no doubt knotted, his lips cracked dry but still rosy-cheeked.
when you arrived, sirius and peter have behaved themselves to sit down on the chair beside james’ bed. you slid the curtains fully, letting the light into their area. the fluorescent lights behind your head creating a soft halo as you kindly smile at james.
he looked to be stuck in a dazed trance. eyes still drooping but wider than when he first woke up, mouth slightly open, and body seemed to be frozen in place.
at first, remus thought of this due to the lingering effects of anesthetics but heard james’ heart rate steadily increase in speed.
the beeping machine seemingly louder now than before.
“hello, james. how are you feeling?” you hum, walking to go near him to do your routine check up.
the beeping seem to have picked up in speed as you neared his bed.
remus looked to the others to see if they noticed. the three of them, doing their best to cover their mouths to muffle their laughter.
“..’m fine..” james mumbled, starry-eyed gaze stuck to your face as you check his file and vitals.
“no pain? or headaches? any discomfort?” you ask, jotting down notes.
“jus’ perfect. ” he said, sounding a bit breathless.
the beeping was just going incrementally faster, the nearer you go to him.
you look at the monitor, face looking confused and worried all the same. “is it okay if i touch you? i’m just going to check on something really quick.”
the beeping stops for 2 whole seconds before continuing its raging beats. by now the three boys are having a field day, face red from the silent laughter and disbelief.
his heart literally skipped a beat, what even is this guy really? remus amusedly thinks to himself.
james couldn’t seem to say anything but give a measly nod. you grab your stethoscope, and listened to his raging heartbeat to see if anything was wrong. but james’ heart rate just seemed to have gained more momentum as you gently place your hand on his shoulder.
you move away, and slowly the heart rate slowed down, but still fast enough that you looked at him in slight concern.
“your heart rates a bit fast,” you noted, looking straight at him.
james’, oh sweet james, cheeks bloomed a glowing red and bashfully looked down.
you wrapped the stethoscope around your neck again and gave him a sweet, reassuring smile, “but other than that, everything looks to be in order. i’ll bring over the papers you have to sign and then you guys are free to go.”
when you finally walked away, james heart rate seemed to slow down to the normal speed once more. lolling his head to the side, as he groans in utter embarrassment and self-loathing.
“what is wrong with me?” he groans, cheeks still aflame.
sirius smirks, “your usual weakness to utter babes, that’s what.”
“your heart was going so fast i thought it was going to pop.” peter gushed laughing.
james playing with his starchy blanket, muttering lowly, “you think the pretty nurse heard that?”
the boys snorts out a laugh,
“i think the whole bloody hospital heard it mate,” remus cackled.
you came into view again, attending to another patient checking their vitals. offering the same kind of glowwy smile you gave them not a minute ago.
and because james just loves torturing himself, his gaze lands on you again. the same dazed look, body frozen but his eyes actively following your every move. the boys heard his heart rate—the beeping sounds picking up again.
this time sirius couldn’t stop his bark of laughter, causing you to look over them, curious.
your gaze connecting with james for a solid second.
they heard the monitor give another long pause before resuming its fast beeps. remus shook his head laughing, telling you not to worry.
you give remus a small nod, before looking over at his flustered friend, giving james a smaller, but somehow the sweetest smile you showed all day and abashedly looking away.
and james looking undeniably enamoured by your brief exchange. letting his tongue wet his dry lips as a giddy, rather boyish smile erupts from his face.
hopefully, this doesn’t give james more reason to be reckless and get himself admitted to the hospital more often. but if he does, at least it’ll be a funny story.
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wolven91 · 2 months
Text
It's Cold Outside
Space isn't as cold as one expects.
Oh sure, in the shadow of something; it's freezing, but exposed to a star and no way to naturally dissipate the heat? It gets hot quickly. Having a robust method of cooling one's ship is vital, otherwise the crew would cook within hours. One's ability to cool one's systems is the deciding factor of how much a ship can do in most situations. Problem arise though when that system goes on the fritz and doesn't stop cooling.
On its own, Neil wouldn't have really had an issue. Maybe put on an extra jacket or hoodie? Sure, it was cool, but it wasn't cold. Unfortunately, Yil'ro was a ssypno and cold blooded.
She wasn't cruel, evil, or mean. She was not cold blooded in that sense, but more literally; she made very little of her own heat and without enough heat, she would slow down, become sluggish and eventually fall into a coma. The ship wasn't huge, it was enough for a grand total of eleven crew members. Yil'ro was missed when she didn't appear at breakfast.
When the human had gone to check on her in her, comparatively to her size, tiny quarters, he'd keyed the door open to find her trying desperately to warm up. Blankets covered her and several instant hot food snacks resting against her gently steaming into the air-conditioned room.
"It's... Not... not enough..." She explained haltingly. Coiling herself into a tight knot, causing the hot-pots to wobble. 
Neils, unafraid of the blue Titanoboa, stepped up and placed a hand on the nearest loop of her tail in a show of care and solidarity.
"Is there anything I can do? I can bring more blankets?" The man suggested, genuinely concerned for his friend of the last three months. However, she reacted to his touch, pushing into his palm.
"By the storm snake's blessing, your hands are like a fire..." She murmured, seemingly not hearing him.
Emboldened, the man rubbed his palms together quickly and placed both back onto the coil, which surged up again and into his hands. Neil had always delighted in the deep blue scales of Yil'ro, they were so dark that without light they looked almost black. Currently they shimmered and moulded under his touch. 
"Is this helping?"
"Yes!"
"Should I get everyone else?"
"It doesn't work like this with t-them. Too much fur. Feels cold."
The skin. Humans were alone in the universe with regards to how little they had to cover them. A bit of hair, here and there, but nothing even close to the full head to tail covering of pelt that most of the other races had. Skin on scale transferred heat with such efficiency, that it had been reported that humans who touched the draconians, geckins or the ssypno; felt heavenly.
Neils frowned as he tried to think of a solution, before his mind offered him one.
There was a second of debate, but all it took was to see Yil'ro's miserable face, pulled tight against her coils to make the decision for him.
The man put his weight onto the coil in front of him and vaulted it, swinging a leg up and over it. The size of a ssypno can not be understated. They regularly reached forty to forty-five feet in length with the potential to get much, much bigger. Even with his leg thrown over one of her smaller coils, his toes barely touched the floor.
"Ooh.. What-? Neil?!" Yil'ro started, apparently opening her eyes to see what had just briefly provided two legs' worth of heat across one section of her tail. "What are you... you doing?" She asked, flinching as she shivered with the cold.
"It's an old human trick, sharing body heat."
"But-"
"In life and death situations, skin on skin contact can save your life. I'm not offering, I'm instructing you-" Neil removed his top, the frigid air making his skin pebble. "-To coil me. Shut up! Just do it." Neil ordered with a firm tone, silencing Yil'ro before she could say another word.
Despite her cooled state, the speed at which a ssypno could move shocked the human as her torso appeared from the depths of her coils and embraced him with all four arms. Then, thick, muscular coils wrapped and coiled around the pair of them, sandwiching them together before the outside world was lost and all the remained was the sound of the ssypno and the human's breathing.
She was cool to the touch and Neils could feel the heat sap from him, before the air in the confined space began to warm notably.
"Oooh..." the chest Neil was pressed to rumbled. "Oh my..." Yil'ro murmured.
"I had always wondered... what it was like to hold you- I mean a human..." She corrected hastily. Neil just grinned.
"Enjoy what you like, I just want y-" Neil's words were cut off as he squeaked. One of the broad hands that were clasped down his back had twitched sidesways and given his rump a hard squeeze having him jerk forwards into her.
"You said 'enjoy'..." Yil'ro giggled, already seeming much closer to her old self. "Can we... do this every morning? It would definitely help me get moving..."
[r/WolvensStories]
[Ko-Fi]
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TWST Cast Mid-Effort Snacks They Make
Listen I'm no wizard in the kitchen but I think I can make some half decent snacks. That being said, this post is long, does not have accurate measurements for half of it, bc why the hell would I actually write stuff down I Totally Don't Forget Things All The Time.
Also like. mid-effort snacks. You know, you're not just Opening a bag of chips but you are going to need. At least a microwave. (also, using minimal dishes possible nobody wants to clean up). This is all stuff I've made or at least eaten, myself, lmk if you try it or if I missed a vital detail LMAO
ANYWAYS if this post is popular enough I'll share some like. Actual recipes as well, the Culinary Crucible thingy finally came in and I feel INSPIRED, some of these have little uhh like 'justification' or story behind them some don't bc I feel like it's obvious. GTAT refers to the section at the end, I got tired of writing it out over and over again sldkjhklsjdf ---------------------------------------------------
Heartslaybul
Riddle - (Dark) Chocolate Strawberry Bark
Materials and Ingredients: - Parchment paper - Cutting board/cookie tray - Microwave-safe bowl - Knife - Strawberries (it's okay if they're overripe, as long as you can still cut them safely) - (Dark) Chocolate chips or Nutella, your choice - Peanut butter - Sweetened condensed milk (scm) - Plastic container - Freezer
Instructions:
Cut your parchment paper to about the size of a cookie sheet, but really it depends on how many strawberries you're using (I do not remember how many I used, I think it was like 8, you do not need many, especially if you cut them really thin) and put on top of cutting board/cookie sheet. A flexible cutting board is best, but it's whatever fits in your freezer.
Destem your strawberries and slice them thinly while they're standing upright. Like the part you destemmed is against the parchment paper. (or cutting board but y'know. Why Dirty It). Place them laying down on the parchment paper as close to each other as possible. I found like. Fitting the triangle shapes together like teeth was the easiest way but something else might work better for you. Dice one or two strawberries and set aside.
In a bowl, measure out about a cup of chocolate. If it seems like too much, you can just. eat it ig or dip leftover strawberries into it like I did. If it's not enough, babe just add more it's okay lmao. If you're using chocolate chips, add some sort of fat before you microwave (any oil, lard/Crisco, butter, margarine, etc.) in fifteen second intervals. (if you don't have a microwave, there are instructions under 'General tips and tricks' to hopefully help!). If you're using Nutella, just pop that bad boy in there for fifteen second intervals. In both cases, mix in between intervals until it's kind of runny.
Pour chocolate evenly over the strawberries, at least enough to cover them completely from the top/fill any gaps that are present. Wash the bowl, and repeat the process with peanut butter.
This is optional I really like chocolate and think it's more aesthetically pleasing than peanut butter, but peanut butter doesn't harden as well as chocolate does to bind the strawberry layer together so I couldn't put it first. I did another layer of chocolate on top, but it was thinner than the original one.
Sprinkle diced strawberries on top, and drizzle SCM to your hearts content. (Any leftover SCM needs to be put into a separate container and can stay in your fridge for up to 3 weeks).
Freeze it. It's just faster this way and helps the peanut butter out. I left mine in there for a day, but I think it's okay after like an hour, idk, you decide.
Snap/cut your bark into smaller pieces, use the parchment paper to help line whatever container you're going to use and store your treat in there. I enjoyed these treats best frozen or on top of vanilla ice cream, but they do need to be kept at least refrigerated. Fair warning, if you're a slow eater, these will get messy if you wait too long slkdjfhlkjsdfsdf recommend you eat with a fork.
THE REST ARE UNDER THE CUT WOOT WOOT (Riddle's is easily one of the higher effort ones, so do not be dismayed! There are some on this list with only 2 ingredients, I just talk a lot LMAO)
Trey - Tanghulu No baking required, still satisfies his sweet tooth.
Materials and Ingredients: - Stove (someone said you can use a microwave, IIIIII don't Like That for this, but I'm sure you can) - Fruit (doesn't really matter what kind. I used kiwis, strawberries, and grapefruit.) - White sugar - Water - Bowl of ice water - Fork (skewers are better but I didn't have any, and toothpicks...don't fw toothpicks for this okay??) - Parchment paper\Plate (you just need to make sure it's hardened BEFORE you put the fruit on it kdfjhsfjkd)
Instructions:
Ensure your fruit is washed/dried, peeled or otherwise "ready to eat" before starting
Use a 2:1 sugar to water ratio and put it in a pot. (So 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water, or a more likely amount you'll actually use up is 1 cup of sugar to 1/2 cup of water)
Heat on medium and watch closely, it's not suggested you mix it, I did, just by swirling the pot to make sure all the sugar was in the water, but then I left it alone. You'll see it starting to change colour to yellow-y rather than clear. Use a spoon/fork to dip into the sugar mixture and then immediately into the bowl of ice water. If it appears stringy or is still soft and sticky to touch, it's not ready yet. Keep boiling until your test drop solidifies on contact/within seconds of being in the ice water.
Turn the heat down slightly and use your fork or skewer to poke your fruit, and dip carefully into sugar mixture. Immediately, (but carefully) place your sugar covered fruit into the ice bowl. Once you take it out, it should only take a moment to harden before you place it on a plate/parchment paper.
Intended to be eaten immediately, does not store very well. Check 'general tips and tricks' for how to clean the pot/fork
Cater - Spicy Garlic Cheese Bread
Materials and Ingredients: - French Bread (works the best, but you can use whatever bread you have on hand) or premade garlic bread - Butter/Margarine - Salad herbs (like the premade mix or whatever, other seasonings optional) - (Shredded) Cheese - Jalapenos - Other toppings + hot sauce (optional) - Bowl - Spoon - Microwave - Oven
Instructions:
If using premade garlic bread, skip to step 3. Otherwise, get your bowl and chunk of butter (if using french bread, I would say about a half cup) and pop it in the microwave just long enough to get it soft, but not melted. Measure salad herbs with your heart and mix with a spoon.
Cut your bread in half and slather that son of a bitch in butter, having worked in a bakery I know that premade garlic bread literally gets a Handful of "butter" (it's margarine) that just gets. Slathered onto half of a day-old French bread loaf. (Safeway. Looking at you.) If you want to try putting on some BBQ sauce or tomato sauce now would be your time to add it. If you are adding sauce, a little less butter is recommended otherwise it will get Soggy
Put on as much cheese as you want. Whatever cheese you want. I'm not the boss of you.
Throw on jalapenos and any other toppings you want. (red onions, bell peppers, make it a meal with some chicken or something idk)
Broil on high until It Looks Right, as in the cheese is melted and golden brown in some areas (assuming it's marble cheese), or wrap in aluminum foil (risky with The Cheese) and bake at 350 F for like 10 minutes (I still recommend baking over broiling but it's your choice bestie)
Drizzle with hot sauce if you want/any other condiments.
French bread is pretty big, so cut into smaller pieces and share with friends/family/your neighbour/ whatever or full send it or you can try to store it, I think once it's cooled, a plastic bag would be the best bet for storage, and only for a day or two before your bread gets Sad.
Deuce - Ants on a Log He used to love it when his mom would send him to school with these.
Materials and Ingredients: - Cutting board (unless you would like to be a heathen like me) - Knife - Celery - Peanut butter - Raisins/Chocolate chips/Cereal/whatever you want
Instructions:
Decide if you even want to bother cutting your celery, you can leave it whole if you really want.
If you want to cut your celery, cut it according to taste or break that motherfucker with your bare hands just to hear it snap and get that little bit of Emotion and satisfaction out of it. Not recommended if you want bite sized pieces. Generally only cut in a way that keeps the 'sides' of the celery in tact, like you should have a little 'dip' to put peanut butter in, but its ok if its not comfortable to eat it that way and you need to cut it vertically as well, nbd, BUT DON'T CUT IT THAT WAY YET it's so much harder to get the peanut butter on.
Use a butter knife to add peanut butter to your celery. It should fill the little valley in between the sides of the stalk. **Now would be the time to cut again if you want Planks if you know what I mean
Add your toppings, be it raisins, chocolate chips, etc. along the peanut butter to represent the ants slkdjhflksjdf
Ace - Oreo Mug Cake His brother showed him once and he didn't stop since.
Materials and Ingredients: - Oreos - Milk - Fork - Microwave safe mug - Microwave - Whipped Cream (optional)
Instructions:
Get your mug.
Throw 4-6 Oreos in. (4 for an 8 ounce mug, more for a bigger one) and soak in 1 less tablespoon of milk than the amount of cookies you put in. (so 3 tbs for an 8 ounce mug)
The longer you soak them, the easier it is to crush them and break them up, it should become kind of cakey texture already
Pop that bad boy in the microwave for a minute, and in 20 second intervals after that as necessary. Its not like it matters if it's 'raw' though.
Let it cool until you can handle the mug comfortably, add whipped cream or other toppings and enjoy!
Savanaclaw
Leona - Bacon Wrapped Sausages
Materials and Ingredients: - Baking dish (should have some depth to it) - Parchment paper - Cocktail sausages - Bacon - Scissors/Knife - Toothpicks - Brown sugar (optional) - Oven
Instructions:
Cut your bacon in half
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Roll up cocktail sausage in half a rasher of bacon and secure in place with a toothpick.
Place parchment paper in/on baking dish and place the rolls inside
Once you've prepared as many as you'd like, you can sprinkle brown sugar on top.
Bake for about an hour
Ruggie - Elote Loco (Mexican street corn/ 'crazy corn')
Materials and Ingredients: - Canned corn - Mayo - Lemon/Lime - Salt - Pepper - Cayenne - Bowl
Instructions:
Drain your corn can, then add corn to your bowl
Literally. Add everything else according to taste. Heat if you want to, or put in the fridge to eat cold. (I like it cold).
Jack - Fruit Leather (this is a higher-effort, more time-consuming recipe)
Materials and Ingredients - Cutting board (not optional this time :/) - Knife/Corer (if applicable) - Stove - Large saucepan - Water - Blender/Potato Masher - Lemon/Sugar/Cinnamon/Nutmeg, Etc. (optional, but recommended) - Parchment paper - Baking tray - Oven - Pizza cutter (makes things easier, not necessary)
Instructions:
Prepare your fruit. (Wash, peel, destem, core them, remove pits, etc.)
Chop into chunks, and simmer in 1/2 cup of water for every 4 cups of fruit while covered for 10-20 minutes, or until fruit is cooked. You can mash by hand or just go ahead and transfer everything to a blender, but you will have to transfer back into the pot after.
Taste, and add sugar/lemon/spices according to your preference.
Simmer and stir until everything is mixed in completely and the puree has thickened. (5-10 minutes)
Preheat oven to 140 F (check GTAT at the end for troubleshooting). Puree thoroughly in a blender/food processor.
Line baking tray and pour puree evenly onto it, it should be about 1/4 inch thick. Bake for 8-12 hours.
Use pizza cutter to cut into smaller pieces. You can cut the parchment paper underneath and roll the pieces accordingly to store.
This is a more labour intensive snack, BUT it keeps for sooo long. It can keep at room temp in ziploc bag for a month. In the fridge for 6 months. In the freezer for a year. Also a really good way to use overripe fruit.
Octavinelle
Azul - Funnel Cakes >:D (I had to look up a recipe to base the measurements off of, I did not memorize this, but I changed a few things when I Actually Made them)
Materials and Ingredients: - Stove - Large pan - Oil (Vegetable oil, but I think coconut or sunflower oil should work too if you have certain restrictions) - 1/4 cup Milk - 1 Egg - 1 tbsp Water - Splash of Vanilla extract (splash is generally between a 1/4 tsp and 1 tsp To Me) - White sugar (to taste) - 3/4 tsp Baking powder - Pinch of Salt - 1/2 cup Flour - Powdered sugar (to taste) - Cinnamon (to taste) - Plate - Paper towel - Large measuring cup - Fork or tongs - Other toppings (optional)
Instructions:
Throw all the Wet ingredients into the large measuring cup and whisk
Add sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder, whisk until combined
Add oil to pan and start heating on medium, it should be about an inch deep to deep fry. Add flour to measuring cup and whisk until smooth.
(Refer to GTAT at the end to know when oil is hot enough). Use the measuring cup to drizzle the batter in a line around the pan and overlap as desired. Honestly, the thicker the lines the better imo. Cook for 2 minutes until golden brown, then flip and repeat.
Once cooked, move carefully to plate with paper towel to soak up the oil, and add powdered sugar on top. Add other toppings as desired.
Jade - Roasted Chickpeas Easy protein to bring on a hike
Materials and Ingredients: - Can of chickpeas - Baking tray - Parchment paper - Olive oil - Seasoning as you wish (Personal recommendation: garlic powder, salt, paprika, pepper and a little cayenne) - Oven
Instructions:
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 400 F.
Drain your can of chickpeas, rinse, then drain again. Try and dry them out a bit before you season them, either leaving them in a colinder or letting them sit out on paper towels or a cloth...or on the tray if you've got time to kill. **If you don't like the feeling of oil on your hands, you might have an extra dish to wash but thats okay. Add your chickpeas to a glass bowl before the next step.
Transfer chickpeas to the tray (if you're not using the bowl) and coat with a generous amount of oil. Add seasonings as you wish, then mix with your hands (or a spoon if you're using the bowl, then transfer to the tray.)
Bake for 20-30 minutes, shaking the pan gently about every 10 minutes to help rotate the chickpeas. Once they're golden brown and crunchy, they're done.
Best eaten straight away, but you can keep them in container for a few days.
Floyd - Trail Mix (AKA the ADHD snack Ever imo)
Materials and Ingredients - Anything you got in your pantry that already kinda qualifies as a snack food - Something to put it in (bag or bowl/container with a lid is preferable) - My favourite mix to make is granola, cranberries, raisins, and chocolate chips
Instructions
Grab your materials
If you're using something that should probably cut up, (like fruit by the foot or something idk) just rip it and throw it in the Container.
Mix everything in a bowl or bag. Use more of your Favourite Ingredient than everything else, then close your storage thing.
Shake that motherfucker
Put everything back (or do this As You Add it so you're left with nothing to clean up at the end)
Scarabia
Kalim - The Forbidden (I made this when I was like 6 for a week straight after school, I DO NOT recommend) He came up with this as a midnight snack and didn't want to bother Jamil.
Materials and Ingredients - Microwave - Microwave safe bowl - Chocolate chips - Mini marshmallows - Fork - A very high tolerance for Texture and Sweetness
Instructions:
Put chocolate chips and marshmallows in the bowl
Microwave for 15 second intervals, mixing with your fork in between.
When it becomes a sticky amalgamation from hell and looks like a dung beetle would be proud of it, it's done.
Jamil - Fattoush He saves the leftovers of the dishes he makes for Kalim throughout the day in order to make some version of Fattoush
Materials and Ingredients: - Cutting board - Knife + Pizza cutter (not necessary, but fun) - Lettuce - Tomato - Cucumber - Radishes - Pita bread - Pan - Stove - Olive oil - Salt + pepper - Bowl x 2 - Glass measuring cup - Lemon juice - Garlic powder, dried mint, and sumac (you don't have to use these) - (I like adding Granny smith apples and goat or feta cheese, but it's not traditional)
Instructions:
Cut up your veggies like you would for any salad and throw em in a bowl
Use the pizza cutter to slice pita bread into smaller, bite sized pieces.
Fry the pieces with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, then set aside in a different bowl so they stay Crunchy
In the glass measuring cup use about 2 tbsp of lemon juice, add some garlic powder, dried mint, salt, pepper, sumac, and whisk.
Slowly stream in about 3 tbsp of olive oil and whisk continuously until it combines. (this might take a while to emulsify, yes you can use a hand mixer on low if you want)
Drizzle dressing over your salad portion, and add pita chips as you wish
Pomefiore
Vil - Parfait He let the French man into his life, also this is bougie parfait, you don't have to follow this exactly lmao, this is just how I used to make it for my mom
Materials and Ingredients - Cutting board + knife - Grapes, red and green if possible - Granola - Blueberries (they can be frozen) - Cherries, cored/halved except one (can also be frozen) - Yogurt (I prefer vanilla for this stuff, Vil probably uses plain Greek yogurt and some honey for sweetness) - A wine glass, otherwise just a clear glass makes it look best, but it doesnt really matter - Spoon
Instructions:
Dice those grapes as small or large as you like, mine are generally the size of like. The eraser end of a pencil. Set aside.
Get your glass and gently spoon yogurt into the bottom, up by about 2 inches. If you have the patience, gently arrange the blueberries into a 1 berry layer. If not, just grab less than a handful of blueberries and put them on top of the yogurt.
Add another inch of yogurt to completely cover the berry layer, and add a thin layer of granola. Cover completely with yogurt again, using another inch-2 inches to do so
Again, if you have the patience, you can arrange your cherry halves into a nice circle to completely cover the yogurt layer. If not, do the same thing as the blueberries.
Cover with another inch-two inches of yogurt. Add a thicker band of granola this time, and top with yogurt once more, to nearly the top of the glass.
Add your whole cherry to the middle of the parfait, and add the mix of diced grapes around it. ** if you used frozen fruit, let it thaw for a couple minutes so you can see the colour bleed into the yogurt a bit bc it looks cool. I'm the boss of you for this one rule because I'm right about it sdlkjfhsldjkf
Rook - Maakouda A guilty pleasure of his. He remembers them fondly from home. Works best with leftover mashed potatoes.
Materials and Ingredients: - Mashed potatoes (if you don't have left overs, just boil chunked potatoes in lightly salted water. Once they're soft, drain them, use a handmixer to mix, add some butter/whipping cream, season as you wish (garlic powder, salad herbs, salt, pepper), add shredded cheese if you want idc. Once everything is mixed you got yourself. Mashies.) - Egg - Garlic, Parsley, Cumin, Tumeric, Salt, Pepper - Flour in a bowl - Oil - Pan - Stove** - you can use an air-fryer for this if you want - Slotted spoon/tongs/fork - Plate w/ paper towel
Instructions:
For every 2 cups of mashed potatoes, you will add one egg, but don't do it yet. Add seasoning to your mashed potatoes first so you can taste and adjust the flavour as necessary, THEN add your egg(s).
Start heating oil, (about 2 inches) in a pan at medium heat. While you wait for it to get to temperature, (Look at GTAT to know when the oil is hot enough) roll your potato mixture into small balls and roll in flour
Fry until golden. Remove from oil using your utensil of choice and let it drain on the paper towel
Repeat until all the "batter" is used up
Epel - Dulce de Leche + Apple Slices Ruggie showed it to him
Materials and Ingredients - Sweetened Condensed Milk (if you don't just have dulce de leche on hand) - Apples (Granny Smith recommended) - Two glass baking pans, one larger than the other - Water - Oven
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 F
Pour SCM into smaller glass pan, cover with foil
Place smaller glass pan into larger glass pan. Fill the larger glass pan with as much water as necessary to cover the level of SCM in the smaller pan
Throw it in the oven for like 2 hours and monitor periodically to refill with water if necessary. Keep cooking until it's the colour golden brown you want
Once it's to colour, remove from oven carefully, remove foil, and remove from larger glass pan carefully.
Once cool enough, store in glass jar if possible, or wait longer and store it in a plastic container.
Cut up apple and whatever is left in the pan, scrape it out with the apple and eat it lmaooo unless you have a silicone spatula ain't no way you getting all that caramel out of the pan. Serve yourself more as necessary lmao
Ignihyde
Idia - Worms and Dirt Baybeeeeeeee The far less healthy version of a parfait
Materials and Ingredients: - Crushed Oreos (Oreos + double bagged ziploc bags and you Gamer Rage sldfhlskdjfhlsj) - Whipped Cream - (If making from scratch, you'll need whipping cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar + hand mixer. Just throw ingredients in to taste and mix) - Chocolate pudding - Gummy worms - Rolling pin (optional) - Mixing bowl (glass or metal preferable) - Spatula - (Clear) Glass
Instructions:
Crush the Oreo's by any means necessary. Obliterate them.
Pack the Oreo remains into the bottom of your cup
Mix your whipped cream with the chocolate pudding using the spatula to fold it into each other until it Tastes Right. That is subjective, so if you Like it and it's Brown you Did It.
Spoon/plap how much of your chocolate mousse you'd like into your cup. Throw in a couple gummy worms, add more oreo corpse if you want then fill to the top with chocolate mousse.
Top with more oreo ashes and more gummy worms
Leftover mousse is pretty versatile if you have it with fruit or make more worms and dirt, but it only keeps for a day or two in the fridge
Ortho - :(
Diasomnia
Malleus - "Snow Cone"
Materials and Ingredients: - Rage - Double or triple ziploc bags - Ice - Hot water - Grenadine, Maple syrup, Lime and salt, something else (Choose ONE per serving or embrace Lilia's energy and regret it) - A bowl + spoon
Instructions:
Double/triple bag ice
Run bags under hot water for a few minutes to help melt the ice a little bit (assuming you don't have already very small pieces of ice)
Crush the ice via brute force (its a good work out) OR I GUESS you could use a BLENDER but where's the fun in that
Get rid of any extra water and serve very finely crushed ice in a bowl
Top with your desired flavouring to taste
Lilia -
REDACTED
Silver - Refried Beans Another Ruggie special lmao I love him so much
Materials and Ingredients: - Canned black beans - Salsa (optional) - Chicken bouillon - Oil - Pan/Stove - Wooden spoon/potato masher - Chips or some sort of bread
Instructions:
Drain a little more than half of the Bean Juice
Over medium heat, add a little bit of oil to the pan, (enough to cover the bottom), and add the Beans
As it heats up and the remaining Bean Juice starts to bubble, add chicken bouillon and salsa to taste.
Mash the beans while they cook to mix in flavouring and to get beans to the right consistency. They'll be done when there's no liquid left sloshing around, but you can decide how Dry you want your beans
Add beans on top of tortilla chips, sprinkle cheese on top and call it done, throw some in a burrito or on top of salad, lightly toast some bread, put some mayo on it and add the beans, do what you want <3
Sebek - Salmon Croquettes
Materials and Ingredients: - Canned salmon - Diced bell peppers (choose your favourite colours)**go to GTAT for other substitutions and notes - Diced red onion - Egg (if you don't have any just add more mayo) - Worcestershire sauce - Mayo - Garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, other seasonings (your choice) -Bowl - Flour - Panko (optional, or substitute bread crumbs) - Oil - Stove/Pan - Tongs (you can try to use a fork but it won't always work lol) - Plate w/paper towel
Instructions:
Prepare your veggies, and drain salmon
Mix in with canned salmon, and add mayo, Worcestershire, and seasonings to taste. Add just a tiny bit more than you think you should in regards to spices because when you throw the flour in, it'll 'dilute' the flavour a bit
Lightly beat 1 egg for every 5 ounces of salmon (should be on the can) and add to mixture, using hands or wooden spoon to mix.
Add just enough flour and breadcrumbs to the mixture that it doesn't stick to your hands.
Set up your pan with oil, (just enough to cover the bottom), over medium heat and make little 'patties' out of your mix.
Fry your patties until golden brown (2-3 minutes) on both sides.
Remove from heat and place on plate to drain.
Staff
Crowley - Fuckit Fudge (AKA Rocky Road Fudge)
Materials and Ingredients: - Parchment paper - Cake pan - 2 cups Chocolate chips - SCM (14 oz = 1 3/4 cups, should be on the can) - 1/4 cup Butter - Vanilla - Marshmallows - Almonds - Anything else you want (just be aware you'll have to add more chocolate and you'll likely have to cut down on the other fillings as well) - Glass bowl - Spatula - Microwave/Double boiler (GTAT tells you how to make one) - Patience
Instructions:
Melt chocolate chips, SCM, and butter (about 90 seconds in the microwave)
While it's melting, set up your cake pan with parchment paper
Add a splash of vanilla extract and mix with spatula until smooth
Stir add-ins into mixture, and pour into cake pan carefully
Make sure mixture is spread evenly, and refrigerate until it solidifies (depends on how deep you made the fudge)
Cut into chunks and serve. Stores well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Trein - Raspberry Cordial Not a 'snack' but like if the Shaftlands are known for ruby berries I feel like this is close enough. It's from Anne of Green Gables, shhh its soooo good
Materials and Ingredients - Raspberries (GASP can you believe it) - Lemon/lemon juice - White sugar - Water - Sparkling water/Ginger Ale works too. Sprite is a stretch. - Pot/Stove - Fine mesh strainer - Pitcher - Ladle - Glass measuring cup
Instructions:
We're making a raspberry syrup, so you can use fresh, overripe or frozen raspberries. For every cup of raspberries, use just under a half cup of sugar, (3 cups of raspberries = 1 1/4 cups of sugar), and put both into a pot/saucepan.
Cook on medium/high heat and mash with like. the bottom of a ladle or something. It'll take like 20 minutes to have it cooked down to a liquid.
Strain into the measuring cup. If there are still seeds or pulp, strain again. Squeeze lemon into it in small amounts and taste as you go until you get the flavour You Want. This is your syrup. At this point, if you want to save some to use for other recipes or something, set some aside.
Boil the water (Use one cup more of water than you did of raspberries) and add it to the pitcher with your raspberry syrup. Mix, then let it chill in the fridge. ** if you would like to use sparkling water/lemonade or ginger ale instead, you'll just have to mix for longer is all, don't heat those
Serve and garnish with lemon or mint.
Crewel - Carrot Salad idk man I'm running out of steam and ideas lmaoooo
Materials and Ingredients: - Carrots, peeled - Grater - Bowl - Lemon, salt, cayenne - Fork
Instructions:
Grate your carrots into the bowl you're gonna eat out of
Squeeze your shredded carrots to get rid of the extra Juice (look at GTAT)
Add lemon/lime, salt and cayenne according to taste, and mix with fork
Tastes best chilled, eat immediately
Vargas - Deviled Eggs
Materials and Ingredients: - Saucepan/pot + Stove - Water - Eggs - Mayo - Salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne - Bowl + fork - Lime juice (optional) - Knife and cutting board - Bowl with ice water
Instructions:
Choose how many eggs you're gonna want to make, idk, maybe 6? Put them in the pot and gently fill with just enough water to cover them. Add salt and lemon juice (GTAT) to the water and heat on medium
Prepare your bowl with ice water. Let your eggs boil for about 8 minutes before draining the water and running them under cold water until they're cool enough to handle for a few seconds to put in the ice bath
Wait until your eggs are cold enough to handle for you to crack the egg shells off. I love using my hands but if it's easier to put it in a container with a lid and shake it gently, go ahead, just shake it enough to break the shell in a way you can remove it.
Once all your eggs are shelled, cut them in half the long way, (be careful they are Slippery)
Remove the yolks gently without ripping the egg white. Generally, you can just use your fingers or turn the egg upside down orrr very gently push the yolk out from behind into the bowl.
Add mayo and seasonings at your discretion. (if it feels like it's missing something, you can try adding diced pickles/pickle juice, bacon bits, dill, or mustard.) Mash together with the fork until smooth, or if you're using a lot of eggs you can use a hand mixer. Mixture should be creamy.
Gently spoon the mixture back into the egg whites. Any leftover mixture will be great on sandwiches!
Sam - Sausage Bites
Materials and Ingredients: - 1 Pillsbury OG Crescent Roll dough - Sausage of your choice, cut into 1 inch pieces (unless it's cocktail sausages, leave them as is) - 1 Egg + 1tbsp for an egg wash - Baking sheet + parchment paper (oven) - Flour - Pizza cutter (more fun than a knife) - Plate w/ paper towel - Sauce: 1/2 cup Mayo, 1 tbsp mustard, 1 tbsp ketchup + Cajun seasoning to your hearts content or a simple chipotle mayo works too
Instructions:
Make your sauce, throw it in the fridge to cool, set your oven to 350 F.
Lightly flour your counter and spread out the Pillsbury dough. Cut each triangle into 3 smaller triangles. Place sausage on wide end of the triangle and wrap it to make kind of like. A donut around it.
Place on baking sheet and add egg wash. I don't have a basting brush so I kinda wing it with whatever bright idea strikes me first. Usually I just end up using my fingers lol
Bake for 15 minutes, until pastry is golden brown
Once done, place on plate and allow to cool. Add toothpicks if you'd like, and serve with your dip.
Others (BONUS, come on guys I'm pretending like this is something people actually want to read LMAO)
Jack T. - Vanilla Latte Bars
Materials and Ingredients: - Coffee beans - Vanilla - Pitted dates - Rolled oats - Food processor - Cake pan + parchment paper
Instructions:
For every cup of oats, match with pitted dates + 1/2 a cup. (2 cups oats = 2 1/2 cups of dates). For every cup of oats, add a 1/8 cup of coffee beans. (2 cups oats = 1/4 cup coffee beans). Add vanilla with your heart. Everything goes in the food processor and gets blended.
Pinch the 'dough' between your fingers. If it doesn't crumble, it's ready. If it does, add a splash of warm water, blend again, and repeat until the dough holds it's shape.
Press mixture into cake pan evenly and refrigerate
Cut and serve once hardened
Che'nya - Cheez-whiz, pickle and mini-marshmallow sandwich Oh, context? Yeah my dad said this was his childhood snack and I wanted to be like him when I was like 5. Do not recommend. But I also don't like processed cheese.
Materials and Ingredients - White bread, Wonder bread is ideal - Cheez-whiz - Sweet pickles, sliced - Multi coloured mini marshmallows - A psych assessment
Instructions:
You don't get help with this. You know what you're doing.
Falena - Chicharrones (Like. Pork bites.)
Materials and Ingredients: - Cutting board + knife - Pork cutlet (I only need to feed myself, so a huge cut of meat isn't necessary - Salt - Baking tray + parchment paper (oven)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cut your pork cut into ~1 inch cubes, or smaller. Place on baking sheet and use a generous amount of salt to season. Mix with your hands.
Cook until you can easily pull the pork apart
I like to use a little lemon, a little homemade tortilla and some crema to eat them, but just lemon or using them to top nachos works too
Cheka - Poor Man's Horchata He just likes it more because he can set it up mostly by himself, and he can share it without worrying about nut allergies.
Materials and Ingredients - Pitcher - Water - White sugar - Oats - Vanilla - Cinnamon - Ice - Wooden spoon
Instructions:
For every cup of oats, add half a cup of sugar into pitcher (or cup for a personal serving)
Bring 3/4 full with water and add ice to bring it as high as you are comfortable stirring.
Add remaining ingredients to taste, and add sugar/water/oats as necessary
Najma - Mango with Tajin
Materials and Ingredients - Cutting board and knife - Mango - Tajin - Bowl
Instructions:
Cut your mango however you like. I typically cube my Haden mangoes, but Ataulfo I do the grid thing and pop it up
Add Tajin to your preference. If you don't have Tajin, use lime, salt and cayenne.
Neige (and the dwarves) - Tarte Soleil (higher effort snack) It's easy to share and 'sun tart' feels fitting
Materials and Ingredients: - 2 puff pastries, cut into equal size circles - Egg for wash, like Sam's - Black and white sesame seeds, (Optional) - Garlic butter (softened butter w/ garlic powder, salt, lemon and parsley to taste) - Baking sheet + parchment paper (oven) - Water - Cup/Glass - Knife
Instructions:
Cut your puff pastry so it's just small enough to fit on your baking sheet. Leave one on the sheet and put the other in the fridge for now. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Spread the garlic butter on the circle, leaving about a half inch untouched all the way around the circle. Place in the fridge for 5 minutes to set.
Dab the edges of the crust with water and set the other puff pastry on top, gently pressing the edges together (not squishing)
Put the glass smack dab in the middle, or at least best you can, and upside down. (Do not Press.) Use your knife to cut away from the glass and make a bunch of 'rays' (easiest way is to quarter the dough, then cut each quarter into sixths.)
Remove the glass and gently press where your 'ray' meets the circle the glass made to prevent it from ripping as you twist it. Repeat for every 'ray'
Egg wash, (just like Sam's), sprinkle sesame seeds and bake until golden brown (30-35 minutes)
Let it cool, transfer to serving plate, and rip off the rays to eat.
---------------------------------------------
GENERAL TIPS AND TRICKS
If you need to melt chocolate and don't have a microwave (been there love, I know), you can use a small pot with water in it, I would say about a third of the pot is good, and a glass bowl big enough to sit on top of it. Boil that motherfucker and melt chocolate in the glass bowl, this is basically a poor man's double boiler
To clean melted sugar from the pot, there's a couple ways to go about it. I can't relax when I know there are dishes still waiting for me, so I used my kettle to boil more water, poured it into the pot, mixed it around with the fork I used, and most of it dissolved. I poured it down the sink, then used a sponge, soap and brute force to get the rest of it out. The other option is similar, where you just add fresh water to what's left of the sugar mixture, let it sit overnight, boil it again, and then dump it. (don't use cold water it will harden against the pot and be even more difficult to clean)
Some oven's don't go that low, I think the other common lowest temp is 170 F. That's okay! You can use a pair of metal tongs to keep your oven slightly ajar, just check in on it every once in a while. I use the same trick when I make meringue cookies and it works perfectly. Makes it wonderful during winter, but in summer make sure you don't overheat love <3.
You'll know the oil is hot enough to deep fry if you 1. put the back end of a wooden spoon in the oil and bubbles form around it, or 2. drop a small bit of the batter/flour in and it starts bubbling.
If you don't like bell peppers, you can shred carrots or zucchini, just make sure you squeeze and drain out the water first. You can do this with a cheese cloth or just your hands and pouring the water/juice out of the bowl over the sink. The dryer you can get it the better.
Adding lemon juice to the water helps separate the shell from the egg
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I did this shit in like 8 hours gooooooooooooooooooooooooood I hope it doesn't flop. But if it does, I hope whoever it does reach, enjoys it, I had fun making it.
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theblueseassoul · 4 months
Text
“Exauhsted.”
It’s been a long day.
I might make a part two.
Song listened to while writing: “What the water gave me - Florence + The Machine”
Zayne x Reader
Love and deep space fan fiction
Talk of mental health.
No use of Y/n. Gender neutral reader. Read in the second person. Established relationship.
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This past week has been hell. And the most annoying part is that you have absolutely no idea why. This happened once in a while, but it hadn’t happened in so long so you thought you’d be able to escape it for a while longer. Instead, here you sat curled up in your work chair, arms around your legs and gazing out of the window nearby once more. At least it had a nice view of the city, you thought, as you watched time pass. You sighed softly, closing your eyes for a moment. Not even a few moments later, you heard someone call out your name. You winced, hoping if you hid your head in your arms they wouldn’t see you, but you knew that isn’t how it worked. They called your name again.
When you looked up, you found Alexander. Alexander was your co-worker, and often took your kindness for granted. You worked hard, everyone knew that, you even took on missions that you weren’t even required to do. You loved your job. This was something you’d dreamed of for… you don’t know how long. So of course you put everything you had into it, you were protecting people by doing your job. It was worth it. However, Alexander made you hate it just for a moment. a brief moment but a moment nonetheless. He grinned, brown hair annoyingly messy as was his uniform. “Are you done with that assignment I asked you to help me with?” He asked, leaning against your desk.
You raised a brow slightly but offered your politest smile. You could have done better on a better day, however this was not one of them, so that was the best he would get. “I did. I saw you had a lot of errors though. You missed a lot of dangerous-“ as you pulled it up to show him what had gone wrong, he waved his hand and cut you off.
“It’s whatever. No one actually reads them.” Alexander’s tone was dismissive, not even glancing at the highlighted sections. You looked at the title of the document and resisted the urge to roll your eyes. It was a complete overview of one of the sectors of the city getting more wanderers by the day, and metaflux’s. You knew people read them because you were people. These were given out to hunters for assignments to know what to expect. They were updated frequently and needed to be as accurate as possible for both hunter and civilian safety. You looked back at him.
“Yes, we do.” You stated, losing the patience you had to smile. “It’s actually vital for us hunters and the civilians who might come across these areas. You know that right? That lives depend on these reports?”
He scoffed, mumbling dismissive none sense and waving his hand in the air once more before saying “thanks for finishing it anyways. See you tomorrow yeah?” As he turned his back, you rolled your eyes and put your head face in your hands, mocking him under your breath.
“See you tomorrow! Whatever.” You murmured and once you knew he was out of the room, groaned in annoyance as you leaned back into your chair. “No one reads it anyways.” You mocked again, shaking your head. “Come on. It’s like you forgot the…” you went on into a nonsensical ramble and continued, until you noticed your phone buzzing next to your mouse. You sat up, picking up your phone and reading the caller ID. It read ‘snowy seal.’ It was Zayne, your doctor, and your boyfriend who didn’t call out of the blue often. You raised a brow and picked up, and he spoke almost immediately.
“There you are.” He hummed into the speaker, and as you started to question him, he continued “I texted you when my shift ended. Usually you’re done by now, are you working over time? You know you shouldn’t.” He warned you. You smiled softly. You knew he was lecturing you again, but it made you feel all warm inside knowing he cared so much. He was stern about it, but he was always that way. It was part of his charm.
“No, I was just..” you sighed, blowing a raspberry as you stood up. You turned off your computer with one hand while you held the phone up to your ear with the other “A co worker wanted to speak with me. Did you need something?” You asked, putting your jacket on your fore arm and picking up your back. He paused for a moment, the sound of a car rushing by before he started talking again.
“I’m waiting outside. Hurry, let’s go home.” Zayne said, and you swore you could hear the soft grin through the phone. Once you had everything and said goodbye to everyone, you left, and it only took a few steps before you heard your boyfriend’s cool voice calling your name. You smiled in almost relief, and wrapped your arms around him immediately. He hugged you back, one arm firmly around your waist and the other against your back holding you close to him.
At home, after you’d gotten changed and showered, you decided to do the dishes. They were piling up anyways. So you rolled your sleeves up, and started to empty the dishwasher. Usually, this task came easily to you. Of course you had your moments when motivation wasn’t at its peak, but if you forced yourself to do it, you would find yourself more content by the end of it. It was the same with a lot of house hold chores. You didn’t mind doing them, it was your house, of course you should take care of it. But it was just.. hard sometimes. You felt like a child because of it, how emotional you got over small things. Bouts of depression, Zayne called it. When it was hard to do anything at all. You forced your way through it though, with the help of your trusty doctor.
While you put the dishes away, you had dropped a plastic cup. You clicked your tongue softly in annoyance, “god..” you murmured and picked it up, rolling your eyes at yourself before putting it in its cabinet. Then, after a while, you dropped a spatula after letting go too early. This too made your patience wane. You felt the pricking feeling in the back of your eyes when you got frustrated, and got even more frustrated. You sighed and placed the spatula in its drawer, muttering “stay.” Before closing it. The last straw was when you were putting away pans, when they all fell out of the cabinet because they wouldn’t fit. At this point you weren’t sure if you wanted to scream or cry. The clashing and clanging was more than enough to wince, and you had to step back for a moment and try not to absolutely break down then and there. You flexed your hands, taking a deep breath. “This is ridiculous to get upset about.” You told yourself. You headed to the fridge for a drink, and on the way.. you ended up ramming your side into the island corner.
Zayne had walked into the kitchen then. Just as you simply gave up, sliding against the island and to the floor, covering your face. He heard you muttering to yourself about something stupid, being annoyed, and such. He knew how you got. You must’ve had a hard day, he thought. Or week. Or month. And so he carefully knelt down beside you, hand on your arm. “Honey.” He called, softly, in a tone he only ever used with you to calm you. Usually you felt special. Right now you were just filled with conflicting emotions you didn’t really know what to do or how to respond.
“Not even something to get upset about. Just dishes.” You groaned to yourself as you pulled your head up from your hands. Zayne carefully pulled you up to your feet, and walked you into your bedroom, rubbing your shoulder the whole time. He listened to your nonesense words, talking about how “I don’t even know why they all fell out.” Or “I’m so clumsy today. What is wrong with me.” Sometimes it wasn’t words, just noises sort of mushed together. He understood anyways.
Zayne sat you down on the bed, and crawled in beside you. He pulled the comforter over the both of you and opened an arm towards you, offering a hug if you wanted it. You leaned into him almost immediately, and his arm wrapped around you tightly, to keep you firmly against his side. He was silent for a while. He usually waited for you to start talking about what bothered you, because he didn’t want you to talk about it if you didn’t feel up to it. You did this time, but you didn’t even know what the issue was. That was what made it so frustrating. He rubbed his thumb against your arm, and asked softly “rough day?”
You sniffed. “I don’t know.” You shook your head, and he nodded slightly, to let you know he was listening. You continued, “I did what I usually do. I fought wanderers. Did reports. Alexander, he handed me an unfinished report and asked if I could do it because he had so much to do and I said yes.”
“The man who never finishes on time?”
“Yeah.” You nodded to Zayne’s question. “So I did. I found some stuff wrong so I corrected them and told him about it and he said..” you rolled your eyes, your lips pulling into a frown “no one ever reads them so why doesn’t it matter.” You threw a hand up slightly. “Like he doesn’t know that it’s actually crucial. Like what it a civilian wandered there and got hurt because we didn’t keep them from it because the report said there wasn’t any danger but there was. Someone could die. It’s our job to protect these people, you know?” You dropped your hand helplessly and shuffled closer to Zayne. “But that isn’t even what made me upset. It was dropping dishes.” You scoffed.
He hummed softly as he listened to you, leaning his head against yours as you curled into him further. When you stopped your ramble, he pressed a soft kiss to the top of your head before he spoke “it sounds like you’re just overwhelmed. It happens, it’s alright.” Zayne said, rocking you back and forth slightly with him. His words were always carefully chosen, you could tell by the slow way he spoke and the pauses between his sentences. It was a nice grounder though. “You’ve been working very hard lately. I’m proud of you, you know.” This was just above a whisper, just for your ears. He rested his chin against your head again.
“You should take a day off.” Zayne suddenly suggested. You looked up at him, puzzled. He glanced at you and chuckled softly and continued to explain “you deserve it. You haven’t taken a day off in.. ages. If you do, I’ll stay here and take care of you. You can come into the office with me as well, if you want.” He said, squeezing your shoulders gently. You debated it, tilting your head into him and looking down at your hands laying in your lap.
“Mm.” You hummed softly in thought. You debated it, wondering if it was a good idea. You have been working hard lately, it wouldn’t hurt to have a day off. Just one. With Zayne, no less. He was usually drowning with work, it would be nice to have a just the two of you day. You nodded “I’d like that.” You finally said, looking up at him.
He smiled softly, a smile he only gave you. Warm, and filled with so much love it made your heart melt every time you saw it. “Good.” He kissed your forehead, and then your nose bridge, the tip of your nose, and then two firm ones against your cheeks, kissing away the trails the tears from before had left. “Let’s get you to bed early then. I’ll make dinner, after you’ll take your medicine, and tomorrow we will have lots of staying home to do.” He said, happily. You nodded, a warm smile spreading over your lips to match his.
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sourwolf-sterek32 · 2 months
Text
Idiotic Hero
Summary: Nikki Sixx chooses a random fan from the crowd to come on stage and it happens to be you. But what happens when a person with a knife pushes through security and runs straight towards you both?
Pairings: Nikki Sixx x Reader, Mötley Crüe & Reader
Word Count: 6k
Warnings- language, blood, serious injury, mentions of past drug & alcohol abuse
Part 1
Part 2
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You awoke to the pungent smell of hospital disinfectant. Slowly you opened your eyes, squinting in attempt to sharpen the blurred images before you.
Pain.
That was the first thing you really registered when you started to wake up. Sharp pain coming from your lower abdomen.
There was a faint beeping in the background, and it wasn't hard to figure out that you were in a hospital. But why? How long have you been here?
You closed your eyes trying to remember what happened before it suddenly hit you.
The concert. The knife. Nikki Sixx. Holy shit.
Your eyes snapped open as you looked down to find yourself lying in a hospital bed. Your Mötley Crüe shirt and black jeans now replaced with a faded hospital gown.
The ceiling above you was illuminated with a white, fluorescent light that had no right to be as bright as it was. The rest of the room was empty. You were literally in your own private hospital room and there was no way you could afford this.
The pain in your stomach was starting to get worse as you looked around to find an IV drop in your arm. You reached down gently brushing your hand over your lower abdomen feeling a thick bandage wrapped around your mid-section hidden by the gown.
Suddenly, the door across the room opened and you had to do a double take when Nikki Sixx stepped inside.
Nikki closed the door quietly behind himself not wanting to wake you. He took a sip of the shitty hospital coffee cup in his hand before he turned and then quite literally dropped the coffee when he saw you staring right back at him.
The brown takeaway cup fell to the ground. The plastic lid popping off on impact spilling the dark liquid over the floor. The bassist didn't seem to notice nor care as he limped across the room towards you.
Am I dead? You wondered as you stared at the rockstar by your bedside who you grew up idolizing. You were definitely dead. Was this heaven? Should you start looking around for Freddie Mercury and Bon Scott?
Nikki chuckled softly, "you're not dead, sweetheart."
Oh, you had said all of that aloud.
"Where-where am I?" You asked, your voice coming out rougher than you've ever heard it.
"Hospital. Your heart stopped twice in the ambulance on the way here. You're lucky to be alive." Nikki answered.
You nodded slowly trying to process that because, shit. That was bad.
If you were being honest, you were surprised that you were actually alive and breathing. Your memories after getting stabbed were fuzzy, but you remembered how much blood there had been.
There was so much blood. Nikki's hands were covered with it. Vince's scarf was soaked within seconds. How were you alive?
You must have zoned out for a few minutes because there was now a nurse standing at the foot of your bed writing something down on the clipboard in her hand.
"So, is she going to be okay?" Nikki asked eyeing the nurse almost worriedly.
"She will be. The knife missed any vital organs, but she did lose a lot of blood. She will be weak for a while and in a significant amount of pain, but the stitches are holding nicely. She should be able to be discharged tomorrow morning." The nurse answered before she looked over at you. "Do you have any questions, dear?"
You shook your head, and she gave you a gentle smile before walking out the room leaving you and Nikki alone. The bassist stared at you for a moment before he limped over to the chair by your bedside and sat down with a wince.
He was injured. Nikki was hurt because of you.
"I'm sorry." Your voice was barely above a whisper and if it was any softer, Nikki would have missed it. "I'm so sorry for pushing you off the stage. That's all my fault."
You chewed at your lower lip, eyes welling up with tears as you stared down at his bandaged ankle. That was your fault. Nikki Sixx was injured because of you.
"This wasn't your fault." Nikki hurriedly reassured seeming unsure how to deal with your sudden emotions. "You saved my life, Y/N. If it wasn't for you, I would have been stabbed and probably wouldn’t be here right now."
"I still hurt you though."
"A sprained ankle is nothing. If you had hurt my bass hand, we would be having a very different conversation." He joked causing you to crack a small smile.
You wiped the tears from your eyes and tried to sit up on the bed which turned out to be a bad idea because even the slight movement sent sharp pain shooting through your midsection. You let out a pained hiss as you dropped your head back down on the pillow and rested your hand over your stomach.
"Easy. Just take it easy. Is there anyone I can call for you? Friends? Family?" He asked already pulling his phone out, but you shook your head and his brows furrowed, "I can call someone for you. Let them know what's happened or-"
"I have no one." You whispered.
Nikkis confusion turned to almost sadness as he stared at you before simply nodding as he tucked his phone back into the front pocket of his jeans. It was clear the bassist wanted to ask more questions but didn't get the chance before the door suddenly opened and a familiar rockstar walked inside.
Vince Neil.
The singer sidestepped around the spilt coffee on the floor before making his way towards the two of you.
"Hey, you're awake. How are you feeling, kid?" Vince asked surprised that you were now conscious.
"Uh, okay." You answered hesitantly trying to process the fact that both Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil were in your hospital room.
"Any luck with the manager?" Nikki asked looking over at his bandmate.
Vince shook his head, "he called back and said they were still trying to figure out how that guy got inside the stadium with a knife. He's been arrested though, and the police are looking into it."
You were curious to know how long the man would get behind bars for stabbing someone but didn't get a chance to ask before the door to your room opened once again.
"Fucking hell, that's a tripping hazard." Tommy's voice suddenly said as you looked past Vince to find Tommy Lee tiptoeing around the coffee on the floor like it was a biohazard. "What happened, Sixx? Did you spill- oh, shit, you're awake!"
Tommy's face lit up when he realised your eyes were open, and he jogged the remaining distance until he was standing beside Vince.
"See, I told you that she would be okay!" Tommy exclaimed pointing at you with a bright smile. "She's a tough chick."
Nikki sighed from his seat beside your bed, "can you guys give me a minute with her?"
Vince nodded patting Tommys shoulder and leading the drummer back towards the door, "John has the car downstairs. We'll be waiting. We're glad you're okay, Y/N."
"Thanks, Vince." You smiled softly watching the two of them walk out the room before you glanced back at Nikki whose green eyes were already looking at you.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked gently. "I... I'm not comfortable with leaving you here alone."
"I'm fine on my own." You answered sadly but honestly. "I'm used to it. You don't need to worry."
Your words didn't seem to comfort the bassist though. He stared at you as a million different emotions washed over his face, but they were gone before you could decipher any of them.
You looked away from him not knowing what else to say as you glanced around the room and suddenly came to a very horrible realisation and that fear must have shown on your face because Nikki sat up on alert.
"What's wrong?"
"What time is it? I was meant to check out of my hotel at nine and my flight was due to board at midday." I said looking over at him in sudden panic.
"Yeah, that ain't happening. Sorry." Nikki answered.
Fuck.
"I-I can't afford this. A private room? An ambulance ride? These stitches..." You began to say motioning towards the stitches hidden beneath your gown. "I could barely afford concert tickets for this trip. Now I need to buy a new plane ticket and-"
"Don't worry about it." Nikki said cutting you off.
"That's easy coming from someone with lots of money." You snapped but instantly regretted it. "Sorry."
He smiled softly, "I remember what it was like not having money. Hell, we used to live off $20 a week back when we started the band."
"I know. I read the book... well I've read all of your books. Tommy and Vince's too. I hope that's not creepy."
Nikki chuckled, "it's not."
You nodded biting your lip as you glanced around the private hospital room anxiously. You could only just afford the plane tickets and hotel room for this trip. You couldn't pay for hospital fees or a new plane ticket.
This concert was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Mötley Crüe was your favourite band, and you didn't know if they'd ever tour again, so you pooled all your money and savings together to pay for it. You had the budget down to the last dollar and it would've been fine, but you did not see this incident coming.
"I've already paid for your hospital bills. I'll organise for someone to collect your luggage from whatever hotel you were staying at." Nikki began to say like he could somehow read your mind.
You shook your head before his words actually registered in your brain. "Wait, you paid my hospital bill?"
"Yeah, and while you were busy freaking out just now, I've texted my manager to book you into the hotel we're staying at. You don't need to worry about money while you're here. I promise."
"Why-why would you do that?"
"It's the least I could do for what happened. You saved my life, Y/N."
"I just did what anyone would have done."
He shook his head, "not many people would've done that."
You opened your mouth to argue but knew a losing fight when you saw one, so you simply closed your mouth again and nodded in response.
"I'll let you get some rest. Someone will be by tomorrow morning when you get discharged, okay?" He explained gingerly getting to his feet before he began walking towards the door.
"Nikki?" You called out.
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, "yeah?"
"Thank you."
"I should be thanking you." He smiled. "Get some rest, sweetheart."
Not long after Nikki left, a couple Police Officers showed up needing to take your statement about the events that took place during the concert. It didn't take long to tell your side of the story and they reassured you that the man would be behind bars for a long time. That was a silent relief, not that you were worried for your own safety but for Nikki's. That crazy man had been aiming for Nikki. Why he wanted to hurt the bassist was a question that kept you up at night, but it didn’t matter anymore. Nikki was safe and the man couldn’t hurt anyone else.
-
When you woke up the following morning it wasn’t to the sound of machines beeping, it was to the sound of a guitar.
You blinked your eyes open in confusion to find John 5 sitting beside your bed with an acoustic guitar in his lap. He was strumming away on the guitar softly while a familiar looking woman sat in the other chair beside him scrolling on her phone.
A small smile spread across your face at the sight of John 5 and his wife, Rita, before you heard something move across the room and you quickly turned your head and your eyes widened when you saw Brittany Furlan Lee looking out the window of your room.
You sat there silently for a few minutes looking between the three of them as your head swarmed with a million questions. The biggest question you had was why were they all here? Why would they care about you?
You were no one. You were a nobody to them. Just a strange girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the right place at the right time... depends how you looked at it. But still, you were nobody, so why would they all be here?
"You might not realise it, but more people care about you than you think, Y/N." John 5's voice suddenly said.
You quickly turned towards him to find the guitarist looking at you with a gentle smile.
"But... why?" You asked in utter confusion. "I'm no one."
John chuckled softly and leant his guitar up against the wall before turning in his seat to face you.
"You saved Nikki. Which means you saved Mötley Crüe. You aren't no one."
"He's right." Rita spoke up, putting her phone down as she leant forward and smiled kindly at you. "My name is-."
"Rita Lowery. I know who you are." You replied causing the woman’s smile to brighten.
"How are you feeling, babe?"
You glanced to the side to find Brittany no longer looking out the window as she walked over to your bedside looking down to where your hand was pressed against your stomach with a concerned look in her eye.
"Like I've been stabbed." You answered bluntly without thinking but before you could say anything else Brittany started to laugh.
"Probably should have guessed that, huh?" She replied with a smile. "I'm Tommy's wife by the way. Brittany-"
"Furlan Lee, I know. You're awesome."
She was one of your favourite comedians and her podcast This Is The Worst had you crying from laughter during each episode. Brittany was so chaotic and had such a beautiful energy about her. Tommy was just as energetic and hyper too. They matched each other's vibes so well. They were perfect for each other.
"I like this girl." Brittany announced glancing over at John and Rita who both chuckled.
"I'll go see if the nurse is ready with those discharge papers." John said, picking up his guitar before walking out the room leaving you alone with quite possibly two of the most gorgeous women in America.
Lita pulled out a familiar looking bag from beside her chair and your eyes widened realising that it was your duffle bag from the hotel. How the heck did they get that?
"Nikki collected this from your hotel." She explained like she knew what you were thinking. "We figured you would probably want something clean to wear instead of those scrubs or your bloodied Mötley shirt."
That was really thoughtful. You hadn't even thought about that. You hadn't really thought about a lot since waking up in the hospital other than the fact that you had been stabbed on stage in front of thousands of people.
"Thank you so much." You said sincerely as you sat up and swung your legs over the side of the bed grimacing at the pull of the stitches before you stood up but nearly fell right back down onto the bed again.
"Whoa, whoa, easy. Are you okay?" Brittany asked, grabbing your shoulder to steady you as you rested your hand over the bandage under your scrubs with a pained hiss. "Do you want to sit back down?"
You shook your head. Rita was on her feet hovering by your side like she was worried you'd fall over which, yeah, okay, that was highly likely because black dots were dancing across your vision as you blinked your eyes trying to clear them.
"I'm good. I'm good." You reassured but the two women clearly didn't believe you as they gave you a doubtful look.
Brittany and Rita assisted you changing out of the hospital scrubs despite your embarrassment of not being able to do it yourself, but the women didn't make you feel bad or ashamed for it. They simply helped you and gave you gentle encouraging words when you saw how big the stab wound actually was and how long the scar was going to be.
John drove the three of you back to the hotel across the city and the girls helped you get settled ensuring you were comfortable and exchanging phone numbers for you to contact them if you needed anything. Brittany and Tommy had the room a few doors down while John and Rita were on the floor below. They weren't sure where Nikki or Vince were but knew they had rooms in this hotel somewhere.
Mötley Crüe were set to fly out tomorrow for their next concert but apparently Nikki had postponed it a few days to allow his ankle enough time to recover. Less than a week definitely wasn't enough time for a sprained ankle to heal especially since he would be on his feet for hours on stage at a time, but Nikki was a workaholic and never missed a show.
Everyone left you alone for the rest of the day. Brittany and Rita kept texting you though making sure you were okay and taking your pain meds every few hours. John even messaged you, no doubt getting your number from his wife and offered to drop off some food. He was a vegan and wanted Subway, but said he was happy to buy anything with meat if you felt like it, but you kindly declined.
You slept like a rock that night but awoke the following morning to a muffled voice coming from outside your hotel room door.
"Her heart stopped in the fucking ambulance, man!"
That was Nikki's voice. And he was talking about you.
"I know, I know. But... fuck, T-Bone, that would've been me if she hadn't pushed me out the way. And-" Nikki stopped talking abruptly but you couldn’t hear what Tommy was saying in response.
You slowly sat up in bed and took a couple of the pain meds with a mouthful of water. Brittany had sent you a text but before you could open it, Nikki continued talking.
"How do I not feel guilty? It should have been me! She's just a kid."
Nikki felt guilty for what happened. Why would he feel guilty? He wasn't the one who stabbed you. It wasn't his fault in the slightest.
Putting your phone down, you stood up gingerly and walked over to your front door and pulled it open. The bassist was pacing up and down the long corridor of the hotel with his phone to his ear listening to whatever his best friend was saying through the line.
"I'm not a kid." You spoke up announcing your presence as you leant against the doorframe.
Nikki spun around so quickly you feared he may have given himself whiplash as he stared at you in surprise.
"Tommy, I'll call you back." Nikki said not waiting for a reply before he lowered the phone from his ear. "You shouldn't be up."
"I got sick of laying down."
Nikki shook his head, rubbing his beard along his jaw. He looked angry. It wasn't a good look on him and it made you feel uneasy.
"Are you angry with me?" You asked your voice coming out a mere whisper as you bit your lip hating how fragile you felt right now as tears burned in the back of your eyes.
The thought of Nikki Sixx possibly hating you made you want to cry. You had loved and idolised him for so long, you couldn’t bear the thought of him hating you.
Nikki turned back towards you. The anger in his features vanished instantly when he saw the tears that were no doubt showing in your eyes. You ducked your head and quickly wiped them not wanting Nikki to see but it was too late. The bassist was across the corridor and in front of you in an instant.
"No. No. I'm not angry at you." He hurriedly reassured. "It's just... you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have put yourself in harm’s way."
"I'm okay though. The doctors said I'll be fine-"
"No. No. You could have been killed. And there would have been nothing I could do to stop it. I watched you bleed out in my arms, Y/N." His voice broke and Nikki looked away. "That guy was after me, but it was you that got hurt. You could have died!"
His voice was heavy with shame, the same way his guilt weighed down upon his shoulders.
"Better me than you." You simply replied.
Nikki looked back over at you in disbelief, "how can you say that?"
"I'm nobody. I... I have no one. I literally have nothing to live for if I'm being brutally honest-" You began to ramble before he tried to cut you off.
"Y/N-"
"And you're Nikki fucking Sixx." You continued to say ignoring him. "The whole world would be heartbroken if you died. The band would be destroyed. Your fans, your family, your kids. Me! You have so much more to live for."
Nikki sighed lowering his head, but he didn't say anything for a moment as you remained silent leaning in the doorway unsure of what to do or say next. It was all true though. You had nobody. You had nothing to lose but Nikki had everything to lose.
"I'm not going to apologise for saving your life, Nikki."
The bassist lifted his head. His guilty green eyes meeting yours.
"You're an idiot for saving me, sweetheart." He whispered shaking his head.
"Maybe. But I'd do it again." You answered and you meant it. "It's not your fault. I made my own choice and I'd do it again. Well, I might not pull the knife out next time though."
The side of Nikki's mouth twitched up in a slight smile at your words.
"That's like the number one rule of getting stabbed. You don't pull it out."
"I panicked. It's not like I've been stabbed before!" You said defensively causing Nikki to chuckle softly which you were going to call a small victory.
-
Somehow you ended up at the airport following the band out onto the tarmac towards their private jet-black plane. Nikki had somehow convinced the pilot to detour to your hometown on their way to the next gig. It was going to cost a lot in fuel which you felt guilty for, but Nikki had insisted that it wasn't a big deal.
Brittany and Rita were walking either side of you while the guys all strolled ahead towards the plane. The two women had taken you under their wing over the past few days without hesitation. They were both so kind and down to earth. They made you feel welcome in Mötley Crüe's little group despite the fact you were a stranger to them all. They were both walking slower alongside of you on purpose, not wanting you to strain yourself or tear any stitches which you silently appreciated.
Nikki stood to the side allowing his bandmates to walk up the stairs into the plane first before he held his hand out towards you. It wasn't that you couldn't climb up stairs yourself. Your body had gotten significantly stronger since departing the hospital, but you still accepted his assistance because although you weren't as weak, the stab wound was still painful.
Nikki's hand squeezed yours gently as he helped you up the stairs before you walked into their private plane, but you came to a sudden halt when you saw the interior of it. Private planes were meant to be fancy with leather reclining seats and tables, you knew that, but were still shocked by how nice it was on the inside.
As your eyes raked over the expensive plane you spotted a group of men seated further down and your jaw literally dropped when you realised who they were.
Def Leppard.
Nobody had told you that Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard shared a private plane for this tour.
The band all glanced in your direction hearing Mötley finally board the plane. They all waved in greeting before the tall man with shoulder length silver white hair stood up and began walking down the aisle towards you.
"Holy shit, you're Joe Elliot." You mumbled under your breath but clearly you had said it a bit too loudly because Nikki snickered softly from beside you, his hand still holding yours.
Joe smiled, "that I am, love. And you're the girl who got the concert cancelled before Def Leppard could even get on stage."
Guilt washed over you, "I'm so sorry-"
"No, no, I'm taking the piss. I'm joking. You saved Nikki's life." Joe hurriedly explained nodding towards the bassist while looking at you with a kind smile. "I'm glad you're okay."
"You are okay though, right? Brittany said you were in pain and-" Tommy's voice suddenly said as he appeared beside you.
You smiled at the drummer's kindness, "I'm okay."
Relief flashed across the taller man's face before Brittany patted your shoulder gently.
"She's tough this one." Brittany said smiling at you. "I have to get you on my podcast. This Is The Worst. Something tells me you have a worst concert story to share."
The guys all laughed, and you grinned.
"Honestly? I still enjoyed the concert." You admitted causing both Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard to stare at you like you were crazy. "What? I'm an 80s rock fan. That concert was like a dream come true... until the whole stabbing thing."
"Jesus." Nikki swore softly under his breath, his hand squeezing yours. "You're something else, Y/N."
Everyone took their respective seats on the plane, and it wasn't long before you were soaring through the sky. The hostesses came around with trays of food and assortment of drinks. Nikki accepted a water not even tempted by the alcohol which you were silently proud of, and you did the same since antibiotics and champagne probably wouldn't be a good mix.
It was nice sitting beside the bassist while listening to Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard talk and laugh together throughout the plane. Their banter was quite entertaining, and it was nice to know that these two bands got along and enjoyed each other's company.
Nikki had his bad ankle resting on top of the coffee table trying to keep it elevated as per doctor's orders. It was no longer bandaged but even hidden beneath a sock, it was still visibly swollen. Nikki must have seen you staring at it because he suddenly reached over and grabbed your arm.
"It's not bad." He whispered ignoring the others all talking and laughing throughout the plane and instead focused on you. "Hey, look at me."
Reluctantly you shifted your gaze from his ankle before meeting those beautiful green eyes.
"My ankle is fine. It's you I'm worried about."
You tilted your head a little in confusion, "why? I'm fine."
Nikki gave you a pointed look that said he saw straight through your lie, and you averted your gaze fiddling with a loose thread on your jeans.
Soon you would be back home, and this would be over. You'd be alone in your shitty apartment and going back to your dead-end job. Life would go back to normal, but you didn't want it to. You didn't want to leave Mötley Crüe. You didn't want this moment to end because right now, you were on a plane surrounded by men and women who genuinely cared about you and back home, there was no one. Nikki seemed to know that too as his green eyes watched you sadly.
Sooner than what you would have liked, the plane was touching down in your hometown. The Def Leppard guys all hugged you goodbye wishing you the best before you followed Nikki off the plane surprised to find Vince, Tommy, John, Brittany and Rita all following too.
The pilot was already pulling your bag out from the cargo hold before Vince grabbed it from him. The pilot warned that they'd be taking off in 20 minutes after a quick refuel before he climbed back up into the plane leaving the group of you standing on the tarmac.
"It was so lovely to meet you, Y/N." Rita said, holding her arms out before pulling you into a hug.
"Take care of yourself, okay?" John suddenly said, joining the hug as he wrapped his arms around the two of you.
You smiled hugging them both back before pulling away just as Brittany threw her arms around your neck and hugged you tightly.
"Thank you for everything." You whispered hugging the other woman back.
Brittany chuckled softly before grabbing your shoulders and holding you in front of her. "No, thank you! And I'm serious about you guest starring on my podcast by the way. If you want to that is?"
Your eyes lit up, "I would be honoured."
Tommy strolled over throwing his arm around his wife’s shoulder as Brittany leant into his side, the two of them smiling at you.
"How does it feel to be Mötley Crüe's hero?" The drummer asked.
Mötley Crüe's hero? Yeah, right. Mötley Crüe were your hero. It wasn’t the other way around. Mötley Crüe had saved your life. You were simply returning the favour.
"Mötley Crüe were my hero first." You answered causing the smile on Tommys face to widen before he lowered his arm from Brittany and threw it around your shoulder instead as he pulled you into a side hug.
Tommy was surprisingly gentle for his big lanky frame as you wrapped your arm around him and hugged him back.
"Thank you for saving that assholes life." Vince suddenly said nodding in Nikkis direction causing the bassist to roll his eyes. "Look after yourself, kid."
You fought the urge to tell him that you weren't a kid but decided against it. You simply nodded in response slipping free from Tommys arm before Vince stepped forward and hugged you as well.
"Thank you for what you did on stage. I'm sorry for ruining your scarf." You replied hugging the singer.
Vince let out a small huff as he smiled, "scarfs can be replaced. You can't. Thanks for not dying."
The two of you pulled apart as Nikki grabbed your duffle bag from where Vince had placed it on the ground.
"I'll walk you out." The bassist suddenly said.
You opened your mouth to argue not wanting him to walk too much on his bad ankle but knew that arguing with the bassist was a waste of time. So, you simply nodded before turning back to the others.
"Thank you guys for everything." You said feeling tears beginning to rise in your eyes, but you forced them back.
There was no way you were going to cry in front of them. No way.
You gave them all a friendly wave before glancing up at the plane to find the Def Leppard guys all waving through the windows of the plane causing you to chuckle as you waved at them too before Nikki took your hand and began to lead you across the tarmac.
Nikki didn't say anything as the two of you walked towards the pickup/drop off area of the airport. His hand held yours tightly while he threw your duffle bag over his shoulder with the other. He wasn't limping as badly anymore, but his ankle was still clearly giving him pain, although he didn’t comment on it.
The bassist hollered a taxi waiting for the yellow vehicle to pull up before he placed your bag in the trunk and then turned to face you and spoke for the first time since leaving the plane.
"What's your phone number?"
Your eyes widened, "what?"
He snorted, "relax, I'm not gonna ask you out. I'm married. Although if I wasn't..." He trailed off with a gentle smile as he lifted his hand and cupped the side of your face. "You're beautiful and no one has ever done something as heroic or as stupid for me. So, thank you, Y/N."
His words had you utterly speechless as you stared at the man you had idolised since you were a kid. The same man you had on posters stuck on your bedroom wall. The same man who had saved your life and helped you at your lowest without even knowing it.
"Put your number in here." He instructed passing you his phone.
He had named your contact 'Y/N aka my idiotic hero' you smiled at the name before typing in your number and handing it back to him.
"Mötley are going to be touring again in 2025. We got a few small shows at festivals next year but 2025 will be big. I'm going to make sure we play a gig here in your hometown and I want you to come... only if you want to though. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to go after what just happened-"
"I wouldn't miss it." You answered cutting him off.
Nikki smiled, "well it's settled. I'll get you a backstage pass and everything to make up for only seeing half a concert."
The cab driver suddenly honked the horn, "you getting in or what?!"
Nikki sighed before reaching forward and wrapping his arms around your body pulling you into his chest as he hugged you. Tears started to burn in the back of your eyes once again at the realisation that this was it. But you were quick to hug him back just as tightly, the stitches on your stomach be damned.
"Thank you for saving my life. I still think you're an idiot for doing it though." Nikki said before placing a gentle kiss to your forehead as he pulled away.
You smiled, "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
Nikki snorted, "please don't."
"Can't make any promises." You teased causing Nikki to laugh before you glanced at the annoyed looking taxi driver. "I should probably go. Thank you for everything, Nikki."
"Here." The bassist slipped you $200 in cash. "Pay for the taxi with this."
You looked down at the money in your hand in shock, "Nikki, this is way too much."
"Buy yourself something pretty with the change then." He winked causing you to roll your eyes before he opened the car door for you. "Get home safe, sweetheart."
You nodded forcing your tears at bay hating having to say goodbye to him. You climbed into the back of the taxi and Nikki gently closed the door behind you. He gave you a small reassuring smile and you mustered up the courage to smile back despite wanting nothing more than to cry as you waved goodbye just as the taxi began to drive off.
Once the taxi got a few hundred metres down the road and the bassist was no longer in eyeshot, the tears began to spill down your cheeks like a waterfall. This time, you didn't try to stop them as you covered your face with your hands and silently cried.
A few minutes later your phone vibrated in your pocket. You pulled it out and found a text message from a random number.
'Forgot to send this earlier. You have my number now, so please don't hesitate to call or text me. Oh and it's Nikki Sixx by the way. Thank you again for everything xx'
You let out a wet chuckle, tears still trickling down your face as you smiled at Nikki's message.
-
*6 months later*
You sat behind your desk at work eyeing the time at the bottom corner of the screen wishing it would tick by faster when suddenly your phone buzzed.
'1 New Message from: Nikki Sixx'
You smiled at the notification that had become quite common since you parted ways. Nikki was the first to message you because there was no way in hell you were going to text him first. You didn't want to annoy him and figured he probably wouldn't want to talk to you. But he had asked how you were, and you asked about his ankle. From there the messaging became frequent and ranged from simple day to day chitchat to random photos of his dog. It was nice though and dare you say it, you were friends.
It had taken a while for you to get used to that. Nikki had been your idol for so long and he was now someone you considered a friend. Hell, even the rest of the guys from Mötley Crüe had your number too and would text you from time to time.
You opened Nikki's latest message, and all it said were two words; 'Check Twitter'
Frowning in confusion you opened up the app before searching Nikki's profile to find that he just posted something two minutes ago.
Tumblr media
You dropped your phone on your desk staring at the excel spreadsheet on the computer screen in front of you as you covered your mouth with your hands trying to contain your excitement.
Holy shit. He wrote a song about you.
-
Part 3
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theglamorousferal · 4 months
Text
So if you’re new to the Danny Phantom fandom whether that be because you have joined us via a crossover, the new graphic novel coming out or just somehow got hooked into this fandom there are a few things you should know.
90% of content you will see is purely fanon lore.
I’m gonna divide this into two different sections, going over what is canon and then the most common things from fanon.
So if you go by the show, we have at least three different kinds of ghosts. We have ones like the Fright Knight who is a spirit formed from the feelings and beliefs of people surrounding the thoughts of Halloween and we have ones who were once humans like Sidney Poindexter and Desiree. There are also some who are the product of two different ghosts like Box Lunch. We technically also have the Ancients, but we don’t know anything about them except that they existed many years ago and then they enclosed Pariah Dark in the Sarcophagus of Forever sleep.
We know that a high concentration of ectoplasm introduced very quickly can causes human to turn into a half ghost. This happened with Danny at least 3 times, and the accident Vlad had (as well as Jack in an alternate timeline). Danny was changed twice by the portal and then once by being blasted by a bunch of ectoplasm.
In canon, the Fenton parents are very loving parents with just a bit of absent mindedness to them that leads to them missing the obvious signs that something is up with Danny. Every time in the show that he is exposed to them, he is accepted by them entirely. Even when in an alternate timeline where his parents never got together, he is accepted by them.
In canon, Jazz started out not knowing how to help Danny, Tucker and Sam, but it is shown in the show that she trains to be better later on. She still calls the ghosts by things she designated them as though, not how they would like to be called.
In canon, Vlad is awful. He regularly tries to Hamlet the main character. He tried to ruin/kill Jack to get with Maddie and make their kids his kids many, many times. He cloned a child, gaslit the clones into thinking he cared for them and then planned to melt them down to have his “perfect son”. In canon of the show, Vlad is not redeemable. (This sorta changes a bit in the graphic novel, but it’s a toss up whether that is actually considered active canon or if it’s its own canon now.)
In canon, Tucker is a genius after he was forced to sit through 12 hours of study programming. In canon, he is the reincarnation of a Pharaoh. He can speak a made-up language, Esperanto, and can hack into nearly every piece of tech he comes across.
In canon, Sam is obsessed with all things goth and so has tomes about magical beings and artifacts. She is athletic and is always ready to throw down. She only has plant powers in the episode “Urban Jungle”.
Now onto the Fanon, at least the most popular headcanons that I have come across.
The most common thing among the fandom is that Danny is half-dead. Some have him a ghost possessing his own corpse. Some have him be Schrodinger’s boy. Some have him have lower vitals or just no vital signs altogether. He is said to have died and not come back all the way or right. Common things have him be cold to the touch, a lower heart rate, and him forgetting to breathe entirely.
Probably the second most common headcanon is that Danny is the Ghost King after having fought and defeated Pariah Dark in single combat. Ways he takes the throne are varied, everything from him being forcibly put onto the throne and unable to go to the human world, to having to name Jazz or Maddie as regent until he reaches either human or ghostly majority, to him taking the throne but it being more of a figurehead thing. Most stories will have him have a plethora of titles and names he goes by. Along with this he now has a lair inside the Zone, most have him taking over Pariah’s Keep and some do have him have his own new lair.
Another popular headcanon is Ancient of Space or the Balance Danny (going with AGIT, the balance actually is now canon). These lead to things like Danny having an eldritch form. Something that is obviously “other” and hurts to perceive.
Both of these result in an OP Danny and probably around half of them will have him stuck at 14 and/or functionally immortal.
Another very common DP headcanon is Bad Fenton Parents and that their research caused the GIW’s formation. Alongside that come the most common type of fic you will come across which is where Danny has been captured by either the GIW or his parents and then is vivisected. Majority of them will have him vivisected by his own parents. Many of them will have them be varying levels of neglectful, from just not noticing things about their kids to straight up forgetting they were there and Jazz having to take care of them both.
In most fanon, the GIW are actively trying to genocide an entire species. This is closest to a canon thing considering that they did try to nuke the GZ, which would have resulted in their universe also collapsing. The things that some people write/draw for the atrocities the GIW and Bad!Fentons are things that I bring up to my therapist frequently. Be prepared for descriptive gore.
There are a few characters that have spawned in fanon that are widely accepted as canon characters now. The main one is Wes Weston along with his brother Kyle. Wes Weston was a background character that we see for about 3 frames in one episode, but he looked similar to Danny and had green eyes and the fandom latched onto that. It started out with someone claiming the A-listers would think that Wes is Phantom because he’s athletic, had the same build and green eyes. From there, the fandom has decided that he also is the only person to figure out that Danny was Phantom and tries frequently to expose him. Kyle Weston is Wes’ older brother, in the same class as Jazz and he doesn’t believe that ghosts are real and is played for gags a lot.
Another major piece of fanon lore is ghost cores. This stems from a remark Frostbite said talking about Danny’s core temperature and the fans took it and ran with it. In fanon there’s all kinds of different types of ghost cores, usually an element or an aspect of existence. Many have Danny possess an ice core, in some he has a space core. Others take his “death” into consideration and believe him to have an electric core. Commonly people have Vlad have a fire core. Usually cores are an orb that a ghost can retreat into to heal. If the core is shattered, the ghost is ended and no longer exists in any capacity.
Similar to cores is obsessions. These are essentially the purpose of the ghost, their drive and purpose. Skulker’s is hunting, Ember’s is recognition etc. Most give Danny a protection obsession, but will sometimes give him a space obsession.
Something that has gained traction in the last few years (to my knowledge mostly since the pandemic) is liminality. Liminality is where people are contaminated with ectoplasm due to overexposure or ingestion of it and it gives them ghostly abilities. Different people have liminality give people different abilities. Some have glowing eyes, lengthened canines and pointed ears. Some have enhanced senses, strength and speed as well as extra durability. Some have eyes that reflect like a cats and night vision. Some even go so far as give them at least one of the major ghostly abilities.
How someone becomes liminal differ depending on if the writer wishes to have it just be main characters or if it’s the entire town. If it’s just main characters then usually their frequent exposure to ghostly things as well as close proximity to it makes them liminal. For the whole town people will usually have the portal give off essentially radiation or when the town was pulled into the GZ be the cause.
Frequently Sam, Tucker and to a lesser extent Jazz are given extra abilities. Sam usually has residual powers from her time possessed by Undergrowth, Tucker usually has some form of techno Nancy and Jazz usually has some sort of empathetic ability, if not that she get’s the basic extra strength, speed, durability and senses.
There are some lesser known ones that should at least be mentioned in case you come across them. One of those being ghost hunger. This is where ghosts or liminals thirst for ectoplasm similar to how vampires thirst for blood. Another common thing is that ghosts socialize by fighting. That most of the fights are ghosts greeting the baby ghost. The last thing is that the main characters are known as Team Phantom.
I’m probably going to think of more later and I’ll post when I do, but this is the basics that I could remember on the fly. I hope this helps people!!
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in1-nutshell · 3 months
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Hey me again maybe a few more interactions with team bee and old Predacon buddy maybe a bit more hijinks and stuff and maybe seeing prime again Predacon buddy will most likely berate Optimus and then hugging him because of them missing their Orion pax basically just overall acting like a mother hen and just overall fretting over team bee
I went with a little reunion with Buddy and Optimus... then I had a little fun with it.
Hope you enjoy!
Bot Buddy the Old Predacon reunites with Optimus Prime
SFW, Platonic, Slight angst, mentions of injury but nothing too graphic, Familial, Cybertronain reader
RiD 2015
Buddy was with the rest of the team fighting this ‘Megatronus’ character.
They were not impressed by the name.
Buddy and Grimlock took over most of the heavy hits and hitting, but even Buddy was struggling against the mysterious mech.
They blamed it on the age and years of damage to their frame.
Oh, they would have given for some years shaven off right about now.
Megatronus was going to get the jump on Bumblebee when Buddy tackled him.
The mech easily got them off and slammed them to the ground.
Buddy was very familiar with wounds after years of being in the arena and war. They know what a stab wound feels like, especially one near a vital area.
Buddy looking up at the mech with hatred in their optics.
Megatronus has both of his servos together raised above his helm.
“I think its about time to finally get rid of you Predacon scum from the face of this world.”--Megatronus
Buddy hears some of the bots scream for them.
All they can focus in was the sneering pain in their gut and the slow-motion servos coming straight for their helm.
This was it…
At least they would see Prime again.
A blur of red and blue tackled Megatronus down.
Out of the corner of Buddy’s optics they see him.
“Optimus…Orion…”—Buddy
Buddy’s vision gets darker and darker.
They could feel their frame get colder by the minute.
The older Predacon knew that it was a bad idea to close their optics.
But they were so tired…
They forgot to take their nap today and the ground below…
A little nap wouldn’t hurt right?
Buddy heard some pede steps heading their direction, but they had already closed their optics as the fading sound of yelling disappeared.
Buddy woke up with the sight of the last rays of sunlight hitting their face.
They groaned propping their elbows up a bit, flinching at the pain in their gut. Where the giant sword used to be was now replaced by some expert wielding. It’d take a bit of buffing out and coloring to get rid of that thing.
Buddy looked around and noticed they were in the scrapyard. Specifically in the section where they had most of their medical supplies.
It was quiet.
Too quiet…
Buddy swings their pedes to the side of the berth and tries to sit up.
That was an immediate regret.
“Primus… this is going to hurt like the Pits…”--Buddy
Buddy pushes themselves off the berth and stumbles to the wall next to them.
They slowly prop themselves up thanks to the wall.
“Now… where are the others…?”--Buddy
Buddy hears multiple pede steps coming their way.
They grabbed the closets object near them, which was a crowbar and held it tightly in their servos.
The intruding bot turns the corner and Buddy, out of pure instinct, whacks them on the helm.
“OW!”--Bumblebee
“Bee! Sorry about—Oof!”--Buddy
Bumblebee gets over the whack and hugs Buddy tightly, yet mindful of their injuries.
Buddy could feel him quiver a bit.
They patted his back a bit before he turned to them.
“You shouldn’t be out walking.”--Bumblebee
“I know, but it got too quiet and I needed to see for—”--Buddy
“I made sure they stayed quiet.”—Ratchet
Ratchet stood behind Bumblebee with his arms crossed with a tired smile.
Buddy’s optics widen in surprise.
“Ratchet?! Ratchet!”--Buddy
Buddy tries to walk over to Ratchet but the medic walks to them instead.
Both Bee and Ratchet try and drag Buddy back to the berth.
“You know what I’m going to say...”--Ratchet
Buddy does a mocking salute.
“Got it Dr. of Doom.”--Buddy
“Don’t call me that. Anymore moving and you’re going to mess up my wielding job.”--Ratchet
Buddy sits back down on the berth trying to hide the pain that flared up when they did.
“How did you get here anyways. Not that its bad or anything.”--Buddy
“I followed his signal.”--Ratchet
“Who’s—"--Buddy
“Mine.”--Optimus
Buddy’s optics widen when they see Optimus standing by the corner.
He slowly approaches Buddy’s side.
Buddy just stared at him in disbelief.
“I know this may be a lot of information to say all at once Buddy… but I am—”--Optimus
“Prime.”--Buddy
Optimus quiets down and looks at Buddy’s optics that had started to spring leaks.
“Just…just come over here…”--Buddy
Buddy opens their arms and Optimus goes in for the hug.
Buddy tries their hardest not to cry when Bee and Ratchet join in.
They really do try.
“I swear to the Primes above, if ANY of you wise bots decide to pull a stunt like that… Great I can’t even threaten you guys now, thanks a lot. There goes my reputation…”--Buddy
The four of them ended up catching up a bit before the rest of the team came back from patrol.
Finally, Prime was home.
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hi Elanor! I'm going to be Wales for the first time (and am wildly excited), do you have any recommendations for things that really shouldn't be missed in the Cardiff area? (please feel free to disregard if you don't feel like being a virtual tour guide, I've just been seeing your abundant enthusiasm for Wales on my dash for years and can't wait to visit myself)
:D :D :D
I'm doing so much for the Welsh Tourist Board today! They should pay me.
Okay, let's think... A lot of it will depend what you're into. Do you like history and heritage stuff? Wales is extremely rich in castles, so there's a whole load around there - Cardiff Castle, obviously, but also Caerphilly Castle is the second largest in Europe and has a fun leaning tower, while Castell Coch is just west of Cardiff and was built by a lunatic who wanted his castle to Look Right, and so features the sorts of parapets, towers and moats that a cursed Disney princess would be happy with. Said lunatic also built the Animal Wall around Bute Park, which is a lovely park just left of Cardiff Castle in the city centre.
Also St Ffagans Museum, that's in west Cardiff - that's one of those living heritage museums, so they've taken historic buildings from around Wales and very carefully, brick by brick, moved them into St Ffagans to preserve them. They've made it into a little village though, it's so cool (honestly I could write an entire post about St Ffagans alone). Aim to get there for mid-morning so you can buy fresh bread from the popty in the village square, they've usually run out by about 1.30. The sweet shop does GREAT lemon sherbets. There's a lot to see (including a couple of Eisteddfod Chairs :D), so wear comfortable shoes for walking. They also have a high ropes course, and various specific events.
And, Caerleon Roman Museum, north Newport. The Romans built a lot of forts in the UK which became towns, but only three fortresses, and only where vitally needed because of Extremely Restive Locals. Caerleon is the biggest of the three, and in the Mabinogion, that's where King Arthur's fortress is - Caerllion. Whole sections of it are remarkably well preserved, including the little amphitheatre, but they built an actual museum over the top of a chunk of it; it's pretty cool.
OH ALSO do you want to go down a coal mine? Big Pit in Blaenavon will take you down an actual literal coal mine. You do not know darkness until you have been down a coal mine. There's also the Rhondda Heritage Centre, which doesn't take you down but has built a coal mine set above ground and last time I went featured one of those rollercoaster simulators.
Leisure stuff: four different escape rooms, if that takes your fancy; technically six but avoid City Mazes and Play At Pins. Cardiff Bay is swanky as fuck (albeit the most expensive part of Wales, which is... still less expensive than London) and includes things like the Millennium Centre, which will have various shows on. Also the Millennium Centre's cabaret area is currently liberally coated with photos of my husband. Oddly oppressive presence. Unsettling.
Cardiff International White Water does white water rafting/tubing, kayaking, that sort of thing - super fun if you aren't terrified of water. Cardiff International Pool and Gym has some fun slides. Techniquest is a big science centre.
Oh, and as ever, if you want to do one of those guided tours there are a billion to choose from in Cardiff. Including a Doctor Who one, if that floats your boat.
Anyway I hope there is something useful in there!
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omorimodreverie · 3 months
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Reverie Dev Log - 2024 January + February
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Overview
January and February saw ups and downs in activity, but overall significant progress was made. The start of the year was initially slow due to breaks, but activity picked up slowly. You may have noticed that there were less promotional posts or updates in general during this time, as we were focused on development. Thanks to these efforts, though, we’re fairly optimistic that this will be the final dev log for Chapter 3.
As for me (Stahl) personally, I have not been able to do much this time round as I have been busy (hence lack of public updates), but this time round invaluable progress was made by others in the team.
Quick rundown:
First round of playtesting has been done - This was a very rudimentary one aimed at finding basic bugs
NPCs are now mostly finished, and our writers are now working on flavor text and side writings
Portraits are all done and implemented
Battles have been planned out in more detail
Various organizational changes
Extra writers and RPGMV members have been recruited
Updates
The first round of playtesting is complete! This one was rather rudimentary, containing only basic story points. The aim was to test progression and to fix major bugs, both of which we’ve now finished. There are still some major aspects missing, like flavor texts and quests but vital components to main progression like cutscenes and maps are completed and being tested. Hopefully, this round of playtesting should wrap up soon, and more will follow. 
Minor and Side contents
There’s still a lot of design decisions to make, mostly regarding seemingly minor aspects of the game that actually take large amounts of resources. A lot of thought must be put into whether these features, like flavor text and shops, are worth the amount of time needed to make them, and if so how much. 
Due to this chapter being a real world section and story centric, the remaining gameplay would be left to mostly side quests. This is an interesting challenge, as unlike base Omori, Sunny is not familiar with the city like back in Faraway town, meaning it’s more challenging to find opportunities to give him quests. 
As for Reverie specific side content, battles won’t completely be abandoned in the real world. They’ll be taking forms in various challenge battles found throughout the city. For a rough idea, think of the Jackson poster found in Hobbeez from the base game.
Miscellaneous Changes
Another thing yet to be done are tweaks to previous chapter content. They will mostly affect quality of life, but some will also be major gameplay changes. Here’s some examples of planned changes (not exhaustive):
Picnic allows the player to change difficulty mid game (Trust me, later dream world chapters will feature major difficulty spikes and players may get stuck)
Hit Rates on equipment changed, mostly heavily nerfed. This makes evasion buffs actually relevant (and also, 300% hit rate is just silly).
Some skills entirely changed (e.g. Spaceboy Preserve will change into another Attack skill instead).
In game info to indicate that emotion influences Enemy AI very strongly in reverie compared to base game.
Conclusion
Overall, development on chapter 3 is reaching its later stages, reaching the first round of playtesting. This should hopefully be the last dev log in relation to Chapter 3 development.
As thanks for reading this far, here is a remade portrait of real world Sunny! It’s a bit more softer than the previous one, and the proportion has been improved as well.
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rileyslibrary · 2 years
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Living With Ghosts: 2. Lemons
Under normal conditions, it would've been challenging to locate anyone on such a vast property. But a tall, burly man wearing a balaclava and picking lemons? He stood out like a fly in milk.
Relationship: Simon “Ghost” Riley x F!Reader
Word Count: 1,021
Notes:
Fluff
Entire work on AO3
Table of Contents
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P-143, check. P-92, check. P-56, check. P-333, ch-
Wait. That’s not right.
You take a closer look at the glass canister.
No, no, no, no.
P-333 is half empty.
What — why? How did you miss this?
You instinctively look out the kitchen window, scanning the acres of land for his tall figure. You notice movement. There he is.
Under normal conditions, it would’ve been challenging to locate anyone on such a vast property. But a tall, burly man wearing a balaclava and picking lemons? He stood out like a fly in milk.
It was his turn to help with the harvest. You’ve already done your part by picking as many as you could. The rest, unfortunately, are too high for you to reach. Fortunately, he is 6'4" tall.
You dash outdoors, your right hand in a fist, your left hand holding a jar, its contents rattling in sync with your gait.
Your movement is intense, your strides powerful as you flounce through the fields - a little too powerful for the distance you’re about to travel. You didn’t think this through, did you?
The safe house is encircled by orchards of lemon trees. Acres extend across the land as far as the eye can see, glistening under the hot, Tuscan sun.
To the naked eye, the plot serves no purpose other than cultivating lemons. In reality, it is used as a hideaway for conducting covert operations and acquiring vital information for regional cases.
Agents like yourself are expected to keep constant watch while maintaining a controlled and protective environment. How do you do that? Well, by keeping a low profile and impersonating a lemon-harvesting farmer, for starters.
You’re breathless by the time you get to him. Physically exhausted and drenched in sweat, you try to act as intimidating as possible. You poor thing. Who do you think you are? Do you even understand whose arm you’re attempting to twist?
“Di...you...ea...stachios?” you mutter between breaths.
“Speak English,” he orders without even looking at you. What an ass. What a beautiful a-FOCUS! That is not the time. Not right now.
Instead of reacting to his snide remark, you shake the jar.
“Did you eat the pistachios?”
“Pistachios?”
“Yes, the pistachios. Did you eat them?”
“We have pistachios?” he asks, unmoved.
“Had. We had pistachios. A whole jar, to be exact. And we needed them.”
“We needed the pistachios,” he repeats caustically.
He continues to ignore your presence. It seems like lemon-picking is far more important than your little predicament. You poor, poor thing.
You carefully observe him as he collects the fruits from the tree. He is meticulous, even when doing something as mundane as this. Efficient too. Mentally breaking the tree into sections and clearing each area before moving on to the next. His moves are repetitive yet purposeful. Tactical; getting the job done.
Under normal circumstances, you would brush this off. But this wasn’t a normal circumstance. You had to be informed as per procedure, and Ghost was aware of this.
You close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths.
“Do not patronize me,” you plead, throwing your hands up, one of them still holding the jar. “Next time, please let me know if you crave something. I have to log everything.”
He comes to a halt and slowly turns his head toward you. His eyes are cold, yet they burn right through you.
“You mean to tell me that you need to register every pistachio that comes out of that jar?” he asks, pointing at the glass container.
You freeze. Well? Do you? Answer him!
“Everything gets counted and documented,” you reply. “I have to report everything that is either consumed or processed. Shipments to the safe house should be kept as little as possible to maintain a low profile. These are the orders I have from the base.” you add, shrugging.
He keeps staring at you with those dreadful interrogative eyes. You divert your gaze away from his. Looking into his eyes for too long makes you feel exposed, vulnerable. Naked.
The procedure wasn’t as rigid as you made it out to be. Nothing would have happened if you overlooked a jar of pistachios. In essence, this wasn’t a formality issue at all. It was you—your need to regain control over something, terrified of dealing with reality. Consequently, you resorted to micromanaging the pantry. Everything—milk, wheat, eggs, the fucking pistachios—was an excuse. You were diverting attention away from the actual problem: the loss of control over your greatest asset—yourself. He could see that. He could see right through you with those eyes.
You bring the jar in front of your chest, attempting to instinctively block him out. You turn around and begin to walk back to the safe house, defeated.
“’ Twas for the birds.” You hear him mumble.
You turn your head around; the expression he had earlier is now embossed on your face.
“Pardon?”
“The pistachios. I fed ’em to the birds.”
What. The. Fuck.
“Birds? What birds?”
“Do I look like a fuckin’ ornithologist to you, love?” he barks. Best to end this conversation as soon as possible.
But you can’t. You, instead, want to crack a smile. Heck, you want to burst out laughing. Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley feeds birds in his free time. What’s next? Baking pies and making lemonade out of lemons?
“Huh. I thought you said you didn’t have any.” you recount.
“I said I didn’t eat any. Listen, I should’ve informed you as per the procedure. Apologies for that.”
Instead of continuing your lecture, you accept his apology and close the matter once and for all.
It was no surprise that there was vulnerability behind the Lieutenant’s tough facade and emotional armour. Today, you could see in between the cracks of his hard shell. He allowed you in.
However, drilling a Special Forces Operator about pistachios was a bold move, let alone Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley himself. Don’t push your luck.
“I appreciate your honesty,” you respond and continue back to the safe house, this time with a smile on your face, walking a little lighter than before.
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Next ->
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International
Women‘s Day 2024
— To my favorite girls in rock —
This international women’s day is for these two incredible ladies. Immensely talented, candidly beautiful, tremendously underrated. They were trailblazers in their profession. At a time where the rock & pop music scene was dominated by male only bands, such as The Beach Boys or The Beatles, and crowds were bowing to rock-gods such as, Jimmy Page or Roger Daltrey, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks were right up there with them. Women, as anything else than pretty faces and background singers were scarce in 1970s leading bands. Among Grace Slick, Joan Jett, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart and of course ABBA‘s leading gals Agnetha and Frida, they were in good company but still leading ladies in rock bands were a rare breed.
Christine Anne Perfect had been in a band called Chicken Shack over in the old country when she married the bassist of Fleetwood Mac and finally joined his band in 1970. After their founding member and frontman had left the band (and in some ways also this universe), the rest of them, consisting of a rhythm section and two guitar players found themselves somewhat lost and in need of a fresh spark. The spark came in the shape of Christine (now McVie) a very talented keyboard player with a soulful, mellow voice who conveniently, had already been living with them, having spattered her talent all over the last album they’d made as an all male blues band. After a while the music scene in Great Britain had developed in a different direction as the Mac, so they decided to try their luck in the land of dreams — the United States. After initially being promised to be back home by christmas, Christine would stay with the band — abroad — for the next 28 years. She would be a driving force and function as the fierce and headstrong but at the same time caring and peacekeeping den mother of the group, captivating countless souls with her love drunken songs.
In 1975 the somewhat unlucky band that was Fleetwood Mac found themselves in need of personell once again. After all of their lead guitarists had either gone insane, joined a cult, were fired for infidelity or left to do their own thing, in particularly that order, the band anew, was missing a crucial part of their lineup leaving them with an uncertain future. Their luck seemed to have turned as a new guitarist was quickly found, only to discover that he came as a package — with a girl.
Stephanie Lynn Nicks was the grand daughter of an understated country singer who took little Stevie on stage when she was only five years old. Having grown up around music, writing songs since she was a teenager, she was trying to make it big with her boyfriend in the city of angels. Her dreamy lyrics and hoarse, rusty voice was a welcome contrast to Christine‘s neat and upbeat love songs and it was soon clear she would fit right in. Even after splitting with the very boyfriend that brought her into the band, she would stay on as the main focalizer and diligent contributor for decades to come.
Both of those women were in their own way unique and oh so contraire but still stuck together, having each others backs. Neither jealousy nor competition seemed to be able to break them apart. They were co-existing in the sometimes toxic but oh so vital eco-system that was Fleetwood Mac forming a symbioses, as friends, keeping each other sane and most importantly alive and kicking — kicking in the glass ceiling that was the male dominated scene of 70s music and thus paving the way for so many talented young girl-singers, songwriters and musicians to come.
Christine once casually stated in an interview upon being asked if she ever felt the got enough credit, that nobody ever really said, ‘thanks for groundbreaking‘, so here it is: Thank you, ladies. Thank you, Christine McVie, queen of the keys and Stevie Nicks, goddess of the stage, for groundbreaking, for being role models in many more ways than just your talent in music. Thanks for sticking up for each other, for lifting each other up instead of taking each other down, for showing us what true and honest sisterhood is all about. Thank you from the bottom of the heart of just another girl out there trying to make it.
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