#nearly there though! i've been figuring out a couple things but in the next day or two i should be started on the first part.

[marclef]

about to finally start work on the first part of the comic! but i made some nice-looking character sheets for them. (finally happy with how a couple of these guys look heh)

(if you have no idea who the heck eyhm is i've got a post on here here.)

#nearly there though! i've been figuring out a couple things but in the next day or two i should be started on the first part. #my art #pizza tower #pizza tower oc #still gonna be around 20 or so parts from the look of it. might've shortened it down a couple though #some of the parts might just be a bit longer than others. kinda hard figuring out how to separate a few places into neat little bits. #finally think i've got a good brick design down though. he needs to be Chonky. he's a big boy. #hopefully this should be fun though! it sounds kinda exciting to be doing this much work. #hey if i did art all of october then this shouldn't be too much harder. guess we'll see. #eyhm stuff #technically!

[steddieas-shegoes]

assistant to the dm, steve harrington

for @steddielovemonth prompt 'secretly studying nerd shit' rated t | 1,361 words | cw: mild language | tags: friends to lovers, getting together, d&d references (could be inaccurate since i don't actually play), banter that's also flirting

🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉

"I just don't understand why you needed to borrow my character sheets. You don't even know what most of this means," Dustin said as he handed over the papers.

"I just need to see something," Steve replied, taking the papers and adding it to his mess of a kitchen table. Other character sheets were strewn all over, most filled out, but some empty. A couple of books were open on random pages, recognizable images of weapons and monsters visible to anyone who walked by.

"Why does it look like you're studying for a college degree in D&D?" Dustin asked.

Steve looked up at him, eyes blank, mouth in a straight line. "Because I finally got accepted to Indiana State. Go away."

"Fine! I want those sheets back though!" Dustin said as he left Steve to his studying.

Hours must have passed, the light outside turning to dusk before Steve thought to take a break. His head hurt, his vision was blurry, and he didn't feel any closer to understanding a god damn thing.

He thunked his head against the table, letting out pained groan as his head throbbed.

"Are you looking for something or have you decided to finally play with us?" Eddie's voice said directly behind him, making him nearly fall out of his seat. "Shit, sorry. Thought you heard me come in."

Eddie's hands were on Steve's arms, squeezing, centering.

Like he knew exactly what he needed to lose the slight hint of remaining panic left in his chest.

"I was just trying to figure out if there actual dragons in this game or if that was also made up," Steve said, sitting back and putting distance between them. He couldn't breathe when Eddie was touching him, which was often. He was starting to worry about oxygen deprivation to his brain. "Disappointed to find out the dungeons part seems like it's up to the DM."

"The whole thing is pretty made up, Stevie. That's the point," Eddie smirked, but it fell away when Steve turned back to the messy table. "Are you, like, wanting to play?"

And this is why he wanted to keep it a secret. Maybe he shouldn't have had everything spread out in the open like this, but he'd assumed he was safe in his own home. With the door locked. And with Eddie supposedly playing the Hideout tonight.

He looked back at Eddie. "Why are you here?"

"Dustin said something about you not answering the phone after he left hours ago and you seemed pissed off or something," Eddie shrugged. "Just wanted to check on you."

"The phone? It didn't ring." Steve didn't think so anyway. He had admittedly tuned his surroundings out entirely once Dustin was gone. "But it's Tuesday."

"Uh huh. It is Tuesday. How long have you been sitting at this table?"

"Ha. Funny." Steve rolled his eyes. "You play the Hideout Tuesdays. Tuesdays are for Corroded Coffin, Wednesdays are for dinner with Wayne, and Thursdays are Hellfire."

Eddie blinked at him. "Yes, usually that's true. But, wait. Sorry. You have my schedule memorized?"

"I mean, some of it, yeah. The parts where I know you won't be nearby or easily reached."

Steve knew it was ridiculous, but how the hell could he make sure he was safe if he didn't even know what Eddie was doing?

Eddie looked like he wanted to say something else about it, but must have changed his mind. He pulled out the chair next to Steve, turned it towards him, and sat down.

"So you've been studying this stuff for..." Eddie leaned in, eyebrows raised in silent question.

"I dunno. A few weeks. I didn't have most of the sheets until a couple days ago though," Steve gestured towards the papers spread out. "I still don't really get it."

"You've been studying for weeks? Stevie, why didn't you just ask me or any of the kids to help explain it?" Eddie almost sounded hurt. "I've been playing for half my life! And I've been a DM for half of that!"

Truthfully, Steve was trying to learn so he could have conversations with Eddie about the stuff he liked. That was basically lesson number one on how to get someone to like you, and Steve had already tried the music thing and failed.

He just wasn't that into the echo of loud guitars and angry drums.

He couldn't exactly ask Eddie to teach him everything and then turn around and try to use what he taught him to flirt with him. That was lame and embarrassing.

"Steve?" Eddie had his hand on Steve's leg, leaning in further towards Steve. He must've been trying to get Steve's attention while he was lost in thought. "I'm kidding. I mean, I wish you'd said something sooner, but if this is how you get into it, I'm not gonna stop you."

"I just wanted to surprise you."

Steve could hear how pitiful that sounded, could hear the whine in his voice that he wasn't able to pull his plan off. As if Eddie would even care! Eddie was the most easygoing, laidback, chaotic person he'd ever met. He would just be happy to have someone else in his little club.

"Surprise me? For what?"

He was also incredibly slow when it came to feelings.

"Because I want to spend more time with you! Because I like you! Because I want you to like me!" Steve tried not to sound frustrated, but his headache was turning into a real problem, and he was tired, and sick of hiding things. Robin told him to just be honest, so he was. "I wanted to surprise you the next time Hellfire was here and have all this knowledge, but it's hard! I don't even know how you keep up with most of this, let alone all the characters? There's like...at least 800 options for how to use weapons and spells. I can't even remember half the races or classes or whatever. I don't even know if those are the same thing. And I keep getting distracted thinking about how you look when you stand at the end of the table and do one of those stupid accents."

"Are they stupid if they're this distracting?" Eddie was smirking, suddenly more confident than Steve had maybe ever seen him.

"They are stupid. That's why it's distracting. And I'm stupid for letting it get to me!" Steve leaned forward, put his head on Eddie's shoulder. The angle wasn't the best, but he didn't care. "You get to me so bad, Munson."

"You're kinda easy to get to, Harrington." Eddie's lips briefly pressed against the side of Steve's head. "Been waiting for you to catch up."

"What do you mean?" Steve pulled away. "I've been trying to get you to realize for months!"

"You came to one show at the Hideout. I think Robin's been to more shows and she's a lesbian."

"She told you?!"

"Steve, she spilled every secret she's ever had when she kept me company in the hospital. I think I know things you don't even know."

Steve let his head fall down against Eddie's shoulder again. "I should've known you were teaming up."

"I wouldn't call it that. She just wanted to look out for us," Eddie's hand cupped the back of Steve's head. "So what did you learn?"

"Probably nothing useful."

"Well, it's easier to be an active learner. I could use an assistant on Thursday if you want some hands on experience," Eddie's fingers scratched at Steve's scalp, melting his brain and making him feel like he was completely weightless. "If you just wanna watch, that can be arranged too."

"You don't let people watch," Steve mumbled against his shoulder, his weight sagging against Eddie.

"I think I can bend my own rule for my boyfriend, right?" Steve could feel Eddie's heartbeat quickening beneath his ear.

His face felt warm as he realized what Eddie was implying. "Only if your boyfriend can sit next to you."

"I think that can be arranged."

"Oh, and I'd like to trap Dustin's character."

Eddie snorted, kissed Steve's head again. "That can be arranged, too."

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddielovemonth

[tripleglitchwriting]

I saw that the request is open, so I thought. How about a first contact au with rotb optimus? I've always liked that old bot haha

Hell yeah I rewatched the movie for this. Sorry it took longer for me to actually write this than I anticipated 😅

Some Things Are More Important

CW: Unintentional fearplay, calling a person “it” (also unintentionally)

Ah, the junkyard. A beautiful array of scrap metal glinting under the sun day after day, perfect for welding and crafting. For the longest time the atmosphere of the place put you off, but your drive to create overtook your fear and replaced it with passion.

The day your life changed was no different than any other. You took your time packing your things, preparing to scavenge once again, though the evening sun was already threatening to advance further down the sky. You didn’t need much, it wasn’t a far trip and certainly not a difficult one. You left in good time, pushing down the uneasy feeling you got when you stepped outside the house.

There was a specific piece of metal you were looking for, one you saw a couple days ago but wouldn’t fit in your cart due to how full it had been. It was the perfect size and shape for what you needed, of course you had to leave behind the one thing you needed now, though it couldn’t hurt to pick up some other materials while you were at it. Masterfully navigating your way through the junk was a special talent of yours, one you were quite proud of, so it struck you as odd when a random truck showed up in the middle of the yard.

It was red and blue, one of those trucks that carried huge cargo boxes and were scary to drive next to. It was pretty beat up, though you can’t imagine why someone would leave it here of all places rather than a used car lot or something. Well, you thought, it wasn’t your problem, so you didn’t treat it as such. You simply continued your search. There were so many great pieces of metal, you ended up staying there until dusk, yet you still couldn’t find the one you were looking for.

Now that you think about it, it must’ve been where that truck was now. Maybe somebody moved it, or worse, took it. It would be a huge bummer to lose such a perfect piece to your puzzle, so you figured staying out to look near the truck wouldn’t hurt anybody.

After around ten minutes of picking through trash, you heard a sound. It wasn’t particularly loud, but it was unnerving to say the least. It sounded like metal scraping together so you brushed it off as the wind blowing on some light metal or something. Five minutes later it happened again, this time louder. Not long after it happened again, and by now you were getting pretty freaked out.

Taking metal from the scrapyard wasn’t particularly illegal, after all you’d learned how to do it properly from your law-abiding friends, however it came with a certain set of risks. Getting cut by rusty metal, stepping on a stray nail, or even getting robbed by someone who preys on scrap pickers like yourself. You didn’t want to know what the sound was and you weren’t about to find out, perfect piece be dammed. It was time to cut your losses.

You didn’t take two steps before it happened.

A strange, mechanical, alien sound rattled from behind you. You whipped your head around despite your survival instincts telling you to run immediately. Before your very eyes the red and blue truck started pulling itself part, little pieces forming a much, much larger figure. It looked nearly human really, if not for being impossibly large and also a robot truck.

A gobsmacked look etched itself on your face, not that you noticed it. You were a little preoccupied at the time, with the giant robot reaching a giant robot hand at you. Just then you realized there was a giant robot hand reaching at you, and you screamed louder than any horror movie victim ever could. The hand froze for a second, taken aback by your sudden noise, but when you remained frozen it continued its pursuit.

It was already too late by the time your body agreed to let you move. Incomprehensibly large fingers wrapped around your comparatively small form, gripping you tight enough to stop any struggles you tried to make. The thing held you up to its face, bright blue eyes shining like headlights in your vision. There were plenty of words that came from your mouth at the time, none of which were at any point comprehendible. To your utter shock, the robot seemed to notice this.

“Perhaps I have downloaded the wrong language pack… or I have found the wrong species…” It said to itself in a distinctly human voice.

“Wh- what the- what are- what are you?” Hooray! You got a sentence out. Your heart was not as excited though, as it felt more like it was going to pound out of your chest.

“So you can speak.” The voice boomed, knocking any hope you had of replying out of your throat.

“What?? What???” You rasped out, two words was better than none, you supposed.

“Did I… break you?”

“Did you- no, no you… didn’t. Please don’t.”

“I do not intend to bring you any harm, little one.“

“Then… stop squeezing… me” The grip immediately loosened. You took in a deep breath of air. “Thank you…”

“My sincerest apologies, I did not mean to hurt you.”

“That’s good to know… but, um, what exactly are you? I asked it before but… you know.” The robot nodded with you, a thoughtful motion but a generally unwelcome one because even the smallest moments it made caused you a bout nausea.

“Yes, introductions. My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots.” Optimus Prime… a strange name. Though it’s not like your current situation was any more normal.

“…I’m Whyen, nice to meet you. Could you… put me down, by any chance?” Optimus nodded, gently setting you down. He stood up again, but realized how much you had to crane your neck up to see him, so he resolved to a kneel.

“What are you.” However tough he looked on the outside, you would feel the sheer curiosity oozing off his voice.

“Uh, I’m a human.”

“Human… and you’re the dominant species on this planet?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“I see. I was lucky to find a vehicle mode with your language on it.”

“I… don’t really know what that means but ok. So, what are you?”

“I am Cybertronian, from the planet Cybertron.”

“Huh. Another planet.” You kicked by the oncoming existential crisis in hopes of more answers. “Right… so, if you’re from space, why are you here?” His face suddenly shifted from curiosity to a grim look of remembrance.

“There is a war on my planet. Me and my team have ended up here on accident, I’m afraid.”

“Oh… well, I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, I have no intention of staying here longer than we have to, doing so could endanger this entire planet.”

“Wait, what? The- all- the whole planet?”

“Yes,” He responded in a low, distant voice. “Our enemies, unlike us, would not hesitate to destroy any planet if it meant winning the war.” You started at him in shock. In an attempt to avoid further panic, you decided to take a different route on questioning.

“Who’s ‘us’?”

“The Autobots, my friends.”

“So you’re saying… you’re leading your side of the war? Like a general?”

“Yes, to put it simply.”

“Wow… this is… a lot. How are you going to find your friends?”

“I… do not know. I was attempting to contact them before I noticed you.“

“Oh…”

“Do not worry. If the Deceptions attack this planet, we will protect it with our very sparks. A young species such as yourselves do not deserve to be punished for our mistakes.” Your expression softened. As this metal titan spoke to you, in gentle, deep tones, you felt strangely at peace. You felt silly for ever being afraid of him, like you’d known this alien for ages. He didn’t even know you, yet he was willing to risk his life for your home.

“…Thank you.”

“Do not thank me now, young human, I have yet to get your people out of harms way.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you going to be okay?” Optimus’s eyes widened for just a second before his face broke into a warm smile.

“…I will be just fine.”

“Well, if it’s my planet at stake… I want to help you.”

“Help me?”

“Yeah. I know more about this planet than you do, so I can show you how things work around here. It’s the least I can do.”

“That is very kind of you, you have my thanks.”

“Well, first I have to get home and sleep- my house isn’t too far from here, and I live alone so you don’t have to worry about anyone else freaking out. Not many people live around here.”

“That is good. I… apologies if I am too bold, is it okay if I carry you back to your home? It would be in our best interest to get to your home as fast as possible.”

“Ah, true. Well, I guess so.” He laid out his hand. It took you a second to climb on a stabilize yourself, nodding when you were ready for him to move. And he did, and you guided him all the way home. You hardly even noticed the junkyard and forgotten scrap metal you’d spent the night collecting.

Some things are more important.

#transformers #transformers g/t #tripleglitchwrites #g/t #transformers first contact #gn human reader #human reader #gn reader #optimus prime #first contact au #tripleglitch request #I pumped this out in one night #I wasn’t expecting to finish this so soon #but i’m not complaining #anyway hope everyone enjoys it! #writing Optimus is a challenge

[ravenrune]

A little Luis x F!reader thing I've been working on for the past few days. I enjoy writing the reader meeting a character for the first time, so here is one for Luis. I went for she/her pronouns this time. I'm sorry I didn't go for gender-neutral. I will again next time! <3

No warnings. Fanfic. Not beta-read. Around 900 words.

The first step

Under any other circumstances, Luis loved to attend parties. The wedding he was at right now, however, had killed his joy very early on. Luis barely knew the couple and didn’t understand why they’d invited him. Politeness, he figured. He used to work with the man, and they had kept in touch after he’d left Umbrella, but to call them friends would be a massive overstatement. Vague acquaintances seemed much more fitting.

Except for this time, anyway.

Initially, Luis had looked forward to the wedding. Not because he cared much about the wedding couple, but because he always wanted to meet new people. This wedding, however, was boring with a capital B. It seemed as if everyone present was in a relationship and didn’t feel like interacting with strangers.

Luis himself had come alone. He’d tried to get a friend to join him, but nobody had been interested. Luis didn’t have any women in his life that he was romantically involved with, so he hadn’t been able to score a date, either. Didn’t matter much, though, because normally, he was pretty good at keeping himself, and strangers, entertained.

Bored and annoyed, he got up from the table, seemingly invisible to the people around him. He’d go out for a smoke, have another drink, and maybe then it would finally feel appropriate to leave. He didn’t think he’d ever be home before eleven after a party, but he really wasn’t feeling it this time.

“Ai, ai, ai,” he muttered, stepping out into the rain. He was pretty sure the weather forecast had promised clear skies, but apparently they’d been wrong again. “How hard can it be to predict the weather?”

“Surprisingly difficult, actually,” came a female voice from behind him. “Want to stay under my umbrella?”

Luis turned around and saw a woman standing there. Relatively young. Nice dress. It was too dark to see the colour of her eyes or hair. She was holding a big umbrella and gestured to him to come over.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Luis flashed her a big smile and stood next to her. “You mind if I light one up?” He held up his pack of cigarettes.

She shrugged. “Nah, go ahead.”

Luis lit his cigarette and placed the pack and the lighter back in his pocket. “Why are you outside? It’s a bit cold, no?”

“Cold doesn’t bother me much,” she replied. “It’s a bit too… crowded inside.”

Luis glanced at her. She had nice features, but he still couldn’t tell what colour her eyes or her hair were. “Is it too crowded, or is it just too boring?” He asked, only half joking.

She laughed and looked around to ensure nobody was close enough to hear her. “It really is very boring,” she groaned. “I kinda regret coming here. I could’ve stayed home and watched a movie. Would’ve cost me less money, too.”

“Yeah… I don’t even know why I was invited,” Luis muttered. “They don’t seem that interested in their guests.”

“Money, probably. They just want gifts. Isn’t that why people get married in the first place?”

Luis nearly choked on some smoke. “People get married for money? Where’s the romance in that, amiga?”

“Romance is dead,” she stated matter-of-factly, “everything is just a financial transaction nowadays.”

Wow. Luis wasn’t sure about what to say. How could someone think that way? He wondered if perhaps something had happened in her past, that someone had hurt her badly enough to turn her away from romantic interactions.

It was hard to imagine, and the thought made him feel a bit sad. His first instinct was to see this as a challenge. A challenge to try and conquer her heart. Then again, he also knew very well that that could end badly. He may consider himself quite the ladies’ man, but he wasn’t in it to hurt people. He didn’t hop from woman to man to woman just to satisfy his needs and move on. Not anymore, anyway. Not like when he was younger.

Luis had gotten so lost in thought, his cigarette started to burn his finger. “Agh!” He threw the thing on the ground and stomped it out. “That hurt!”

“Not the smartest thing I’ve ever seen,” she joked. “Do you need a plaster?”

Luis smiled. “Nah,” he muttered. “I just gotta pay attention.”

He liked hearing her laugh, he thought to himself. He wouldn’t mind hearing it more often.

“You eh… you got a name, amiga?” He asked.

“Y/N,” she replied.

“Good name. I’m Luis Serra.” He extended his hand, which she shook. “Encantado.”

“Same… I think?” She smirked. “How about we go back inside and get something to drink? I’m sick of the rain.”

Going inside for a drink. That seemed like a very nice first step for Luis. “Yeah, why not. I’ll buy you one.”

“Eh?” She frowned at him. “Drinks are free tonight.”

“Oh yes, of course.” Luis laughed. “Well, I’m sure that after tonight you’ll want nothing more than for me to take you out and buy you one elsewhere!”

“I doubt it,” she muttered while folding her umbrella. “But hey… surprise me, I guess.”

Now that was definitely a challenge, and Luis wasn’t the type to say no to one.

#luis sera #luis serra #luis sera x reader #luis serra x reader #resident evil #ravenrune writes

[dollsonmain]

I know folks are probably getting tired of this by now so you get a tag AND a cut.

But I feel like discussing this sort of thing might help people sometimes? since it's a first person account instead of listicles online.

What they did and didn't tell me about having stents.

They told me why: Facilitates drainage which takes strain (pressure) off of the kidneys and helps the antibiotics work by helping prevent pockets of infected urine reforming (that's what was making me sick, stuck urine that had built up lots of bacteria).

They told me how-ish: They go up with various catheters and things and install the stents, the stents stay in place until they are removed. Some stents have lines that exit the body to facilitate removal. Mine do not. The doc didn't want me accidentally pulling them out since the area they're in is heavily infected. They'll be removed at my first stone removal surgery in about two weeks from installation which was a couple days ago.

They did not tell me how-completely: The stents are hooked into my body meat like little fish hooks. They also didn't tell me they'd be taking urine for testing from my bladder and each kidney or that they would also be draining both kidneys during the procedure, so I did get a fluid-pressure reset.

They did not tell me basically anything about what the next two weeks will be like.

I'm on flowmax to soften my bladder so it's easier to empty. I don't think I needed that, I was peeing fine, but stents do change things.

I was worried that I might push them out while pooping but that's not likely to the point of nearly impossible. Not 100%, but nearly.

These things feel like a bad UTI and I have two of them. I got the ows, the zaps, the GOTTA GOs every few minutes. At least now I know that ALL of those pains are UTI pains, you know? I'd get some random pain sometimes and be like "what was that......" and now I know. It was UTI and pressure in my kidneys and the pain signals were traveling around the whole renal system. Because they do that.

I'm in a lot more pain now than I was with just the kidney stones. It is very, VERY atypical but my kidney stones and the pressure behind them don't hurt. Those nerves may have died off.

There's varying amounts of blood in my urine, sometimes very little, sometimes a lot. Sometimes there are clots. That's all normal but I had to ask as things were happening.

I get up every couple hours in the night and some times I don't make it to the toilet (I did all last night, so that is improving).

They also didn't warn me that just having the surgery itself might make me wet myself because the muscles hadn't all regained strength/how long it would take for the anesthesia to fully wear off.

I called the doctor's office and asked about that, too.

I'm glad I thought to have That Guy bring Depends but that's also something you'd think someone would like, mention. You know?

So that's what having stents has been like so far.

Feels like a bad UTI, though for some people they feel nothing. Need adult diapers for accidents. Need to be near a toilet at all times, and not going to get a hell of a lot of continuous sleep for a while.

-

I also think it's worth noting that I've had two male doctors blow me off about this and I think the only thing that went differently at the ER was that it was a female doctor.

The first male doctor said it was an anxiety attack.

The second male doctor said it was a viral stomach bug.

The female doctor listened to my symptoms and ordered a bunch of tests.

So, more personal blather about the whole situation.

While I was in the first ER I heard a man yelling and starting trouble in the waiting room. That Guy and Son got up and left as soon as the man was distracted by a security guy. I'd had told them to go home as soon as they dropped me off and I would text if I needed picked up. I knew I wasn't going home, though.

-

My neighbor was an elderly lady and they kept trying to figure out when she'd last pooped but she couldn't remember. Finally she called them in and was like I need to poop so they wrestled her up on a bed pan (she cried, she was in a lot of pain) and then left her alone with her curtain closed to poop. Right then the floor doctor walked in and was like HI MISS GERALDINE and whipped her curtain open to start talking to her.

...

I chewed him out. That's very atypical of me. Like, I laid into him for not asking if she was wanting to talk in that exact moment. And then I felt really bad until I realized he's probably had people a lot more angry at him than me considering a lot of the patients I could hear were elderly and some were confused, and I didn't feel bad anymore.

-

Since it's a university-run hospital there were sometimes pairs of nurses, and at one point a trainee came in to give me a dose of antibiotics through the IV but she hooked it into the wrong plug which depressurized the system and blood starting backing up the tube. As soon as she saw that she ran to get her trainer and they spent some time doing a full reset of the IV set up.

I wasn't worried or anything. It was my own blood and it could only go so far/only so much could be lost. At the most a cup since the saline bag was fresh and mostly full, still. So I was totally calm the whole time, which I'm sure helped.

I think the nurse in training was surprised when her trainer stepped out and I encouraged her instead of yelling at her. I praised her for not being too proud to get help when she noticed an issue, and for observing how to rectify the situation.

-

That Guy was like "Yesterday's nurses did NOT like me..." and I was like yeah I kind of told on you, but not out loud. He got put on the shit list FAST by staff. So for that I have a note in my account that I'm experiencing financial abuse and he exhibits controlling behavior. If there ever is a point where Son and I have to leave, I have the name of where to call. There's a facility in Next Town Over where the hospital is that will come and get us, and that would be the last time we see him.

I feel guilty for saying anything because he has paid for my existence for decades but he has also been abusive, just not physically.

They asked me if Son is safe at home alone with That Guy and I said "Safe, yes. Happy, no."

They also asked like how is Son and I said he seems to understand that his father's behavior isn't his fault but he still has had to endure it.

I also in the process learned how much money he makes (I didn't know before) and wow we should all certainly have insurance (he and Son might through his work but I have nothing and don't qualify for assistance while he claims me on his taxes as a dependent) and have had medical care all this time and there's no reason at all to be doing the whole -pointedly look at the food receipt every grocery trip, look up at the sky angrily, shake his head, shove it in his pocked, huff, and walk away- thing. Also explains why his work friends keep suggesting burger joints that end up costing like $80 for the whole family....

#tiffygotsick

[whatstruthgottodowithit]

Here You Come Again [Part Thirteen]

Fandom: Elvis Presley, RPF, American Actor

Pairing: Elvis Presley x Original Female Character

Characters: Elvis Presley, Addison Goodwin, Original Female Characters, Priscilla Presley, Colonel Tom Parker, Vernon Presley, Gladys Presley, Minnie Mae Presley, Marci Cunningham, Jerry Schilling, Red West, Sonny West, Marty Lacker, Joe Esposito, Charlie Hodge, Lamar Fike, Alan Fortas, George Klein, Memphis Mafia

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 4792

Summary: When Addison Goodwin was seventeen years old her life was turned inside out after a chance encounter with her past. Now, fifteen years later her life is the best it’s ever been. She has a home, a good job and a daughter she loves more than anything in the world but will all that remain when an old familiar face rolls into town.

Tags: Angst, Fluff, Graceland, Las Vegas, The International Hotel, Elvis In Vegas, 1970s, 1970s Elvis, Friends To Lovers, Rekindled Romance, Parenting, Time Line is Sketchy, Guilt, Betrayal, Teenage Pregnancy, Hawaii, Hidden Pregnancy, Jealousy, Sex, Absence of Parent, Single Motherhood, Trauma, Oral Sex, Tension

Notes: Only a short one because I had planned this and the next chapter as one and it got far too long. So I've split them where it seems apt.

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The first couple weeks back in her old world were odd for Jess and it wasn’t just because she had gotten used to spending her days wandering the halls of Graceland but because people actually seemed to notice her now. They didn’t say anything of course [though she figured that was because the last time they had seen her they’d watched Jerry nearly knock someone’s head off for talking to her] but there were definitely more stares. And as a girl who’d kept to herself the majority of her school career that feeling felt odd.

Her only saving grace seemed to be that her friends, though few, remained as normal as they had been. Naturally they understood what a big deal it was and though they were a little hurt about being lied to overall they supported her. She supposed it helped that Elvis’ popularity amongst the youth had dwindled a little because if it hadn’t she didn’t know how she would’ve fared. Going back to her old life was one thing, going back and having everyone treat you differently was another.

And going back to her old life had been hard in itself.

It hadn’t been as bad with Jerry around but once he’d gone home it felt more as though she was in the life she had been living last year, the one where he didn’t know she existed. He had been trying so hard though. They had spoken almost every day on the phone, sometimes even practicing the guitar together though they were miles apart. Still, it was hard. Especially when she could hear how much he was missing her.

She had heard it in his voice this evening when he’d called. He had been hoping they’d manage to catch a weekend together but it was proving difficult to line up. With midterms coming up there was no way she would be able to wangle a weekend out of state and given that the Colonel had already had a tour lined up for him there was going to be no time for him to fly in to see her. So he’d informed her that it would probably better if they settled for dates during spring break as planned. She’d been sad but she’d agreed though that hadn’t stopped her moping around the house for the last hour.

‘Jess?’ she heard her mother call from the front door.

‘Up here,’ she called pushing herself back on the bed until she was resting against the wall waiting for her mom to come in as she could hear her coming up the stairs. After a moment or so she pushed the door open looking at Jess with a smile, ‘hi sweetie, are you okay with pizza? I’m exhausted from work and don’t feel like cooking.’

‘Pizza’s fine,’ Jess said with a smile though it seemed weak, making Addison frown.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked moving into the room though she rested on the door handle.

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ Jess said.

‘But?’ Addison asked wondering what was bothering her. 

‘Nothing…I spoke to dad earlier,’ Jess explained making a knot form in Addison’s stomach, ‘he said he won’t be able to see us until spring break. Some tour or something.’

‘Oh,’ Addison said that knot lessening though she tried to mask her own disappointment as she said, ‘well that’s not all that far away, is it?’

‘I suppose,’ Jess shrugged.

‘And you two have been calling every day,’ she reasoned though she wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure. Jess seemed to think about and then nodded, offering her mom a small smile. Addison didn’t feel much more reassured, but she smiled anyway and said, ‘how about some pizza huh?’

‘Sure,’ Jess said, ‘barbecue?’

‘Sure thing,’ Addison smiled before she closed the door and headed downstairs. 

Yet as she descended her staircase she found her mind was on Elvis as it had been most of the time they had been home. She missed him, a lot, and the only thing that had been getting her through was the prospect it wouldn’t be too long until they could see each other again. She didn’t know why she was so desperate to see him. She was still firm in her decision that they couldn’t be together, and he had lived up to his promise of not forgetting about them the second they were out the door. In fact she probably spoke to him more than when they were living in his house. He called Jess nearly every day and it somehow ended with the pair of them on the phone together. Then it had started happening when she was sure he knew Jess wouldn’t be home or ridiculously late when she was in bed. She should’ve said something but she couldn’t bring herself to. That was why this prolonged gap scared her - they were doing so well.  

When she got downstairs she tried to put it out of her mind. He’d no doubt call at some point and they could discuss it properly and she should’ve felt grateful he was being open and honest with Jess instead of putting her off with excuses or asking Addison to be the bearer of bad news. Yet as she picked up the phone to dial the pizza place she found her finger twitching to put in that familiar set of digits and she had to force herself not to. As the phone rang out for the pizza place she stripped out of her uniform, donning a pair of pyjamas that had been sitting on top of her neglected pile of clean laundry for over a week but just as she went to throw her shirt on the line clicked on and she was forced to give her order in just her bra, holding back laughter as she pictured Tony on the other end of the line completely unaware of the scene, Elvis’ teasing in her mind. Though as the order finished up and the line went dead she found herself dialling again, throwing her shirt on as it rang out until it eventually clicked on. 

‘Hello?’ Elvis’ voice rang out clear but soft in her ear. 

‘Hey…it’s me,’ she said. She didn’t know why she called him and now she was on the phone she found it was evident she had no reason to, her words not coming as she stood there. On the other end she could hear Elvis shift, waiting for her to say something but when she didn’t he answered for her, ‘uh everything alright?’

‘Fine, fine,’ she said twirling the phone cord around in her fingers nervously,

‘You know you’re a horrible liar,’ Elvis chuckled making her flush, ‘what’s the matter?’

‘Nothings the matter,’ she protested hopping up on the countertop so she could speak, ‘I’ve just come home to a very forlorn teenager you wouldn’t know anything about that now, would you?’

‘Oh that,’ Elvis sighed.

‘She said you’re going on tour?’ Addison asked.

‘Yeah, it’s been booked for a while I just kinda forgot… what with everything going on,’ Elvis said sheepishly. 

‘That’s understandable,’ Addison said as amenably as she could. She knew it wasn’t his fault but the fact the Colonel’s doings would push them apart once again did sting.

‘Which isn’t ideal I know especially since I was hoping I’d be able to swing by sometime soon,’ Elvis explained.

‘Swing by? Oh sure just pop on over it’s only what fifteen hundred miles?’ Addison giggled.

‘Well it’s not ideal but it’s doable,’ Elvis said soaking in her laugh as it travelled through the line, ‘just not right now, I guess. Looks like spring break is gonna be the next time we can meet.’

‘Well we knew that might be our only option,’ Addison said.

‘Yeah, I suppose,’ Elvis said sounding just as upset as Jess had. It was a tone that made her chest feel tighter. Elvis didn’t seem to notice she had paused and asked, ‘Jess isn’t too upset right? I tried to explain-’

‘She’s fine just a little bummed out,’ Addison said hoping her words made him feel better.

‘Me too,’ he admitted, ‘but hey maybe one day it’ll slow down and then you guys will be sick of seeing me around your place.’

‘Does your life ever slow down?’ Addison countered. It was joke though its only purpose was to deflect that funny feeling inside her when he mentioned them seeing each other all the time.

‘Yeah, I guess you’re right,’ he sighed making her worry she had over corrected.

‘But there’s always spring break,’ she said trying to reel him back.

‘Yeah true,’ he agreed with a smile and then without any prompting she found the words tumbling out of her mouth before she gave them permission to.

‘I’m looking forward to it. I miss you,’ she said. He paused for a beat making her wince as she heard how desperate she sounded though that desperation didn’t seem all that bad as he said, ‘I miss you too.’

Fortunately her little slip of vulnerability seemed to be forgotten and Elvis remained true to his word about staying in contact. Though life got busier he managed to find time for them even if the calls were now every other day. And as time went on Addison couldn’t help but feel excited about going back to Graceland, he may not have brought up her mentioning how much she missed him but that didn’t mean she had stopped. In fact it only seemed to get worse, no more so than when they were pulling into the gates of Graceland. He was mere meters away instead of miles and it was taking all she had not to run into the house like a mad woman so she was disappointed when they came in through the front door and found him nowhere to be seen.

She didn’t know what she had expected and though Dodger and Vernon’s warm welcome from where they had been waiting for them in the living room was nice it wasn’t the same. Still, she smiled through it all, making casual conversation about their trip even though her feet were itching to run and find him. Fortunately there was no need to just as Vernon was talking about their plans for dinner she heard the dining room door open and looked up to find Elvis coming through it.

‘Has anyone seen Nancy?’ he said stopping in his tracks as he noted the pair of them standing in the living room entry way, ‘what are you guys doing here? I-I mean so soon I thought you weren’t due till four?’

‘Our flight got in a little early and Jer was already there,’ Addison said feeling a little better that he hadn’t just forgotten.

‘I wish I’d have known,’ he said. He’d been hanging around all day, anxious for them to arrive and now he had missed it, though he seemed to pull out of his disappointment as he noticed Jess was standing there, ‘hey Jessie.’

‘Hi Dad,’ she smiled going over to hug him. He hugged her close, revelling in what he had been missing for the past couple of months.

‘Have ya got taller?’ he smiled, ‘feels like ya got another inch on ya.’

‘Don’t think so,’ Jess smiled, ‘maybe you’ve shrunk.’

‘Maybe,’ he chuckled, looking up at Addison who was watching him closely. As Jess pulled back he moved towards her opening his arms for her to step into which she did, cherishing every second of the feel of him against her. The best she had felt in months. When she pulled back she lingered in his arms for a minute, the pair of them smiling at one another, unwilling to let go.

‘What about me?’ she said.

‘Huh?’ Elvis asked trying to ignore the way his heart was thudding in his chest.

‘Have I got taller?’ she teased making him smirk.

‘Nope, still the same lil shorty you’ve always been,’ he ribbed making her roll her eyes though as she did she noticed there was something on his face and moved her finger to brush it off.

‘Is that flour?’ she asked as his hand flew to his cheek as he brushed at himself, removing himself from her grip as he checked himself in the mirror close by, much to her disappointment.

‘Oh uh yeah,’ he said, ‘I’m baking a cake.’

‘You’re baking a cake?’ Addison said raising an eyebrow.

‘Well me and Lisa are with Nancy’s supervision that’s what I was comin’ out to find her for,’ Elvis said feeling a touch shy as the girls shared a smug look.

‘Why are you baking a cake?’ Jess asked intrigued but just as she did Lisa appeared at Elvis’ side.

‘Elvis you’re taking too long,’ she whined pulling on his shirt impatiently.

‘I’m just talking baby. I’ll be in in a minute, okay?’ he said making her nod as she opened her arms in expectation for him to pick her up. He did so and only once she was securely on his hip did she seem to notice they weren’t alone and her gaze shifted past him, finally noticing Jess and Addison standing there.

‘Hey Lisa,’ Jess said first making the younger girl smile.

‘Hi Jessie,’ she beamed before looking at Addison and saying, ‘hi Miss Addison.’  

‘Hi sweetheart,’ Addison said, ‘I hear you and your daddy are baking a cake.’

‘We are,’ Lisa said her eyes lighting up as she responded, her annoyance at Elvis’ lack of haste all but forgotten, ‘it’s for you and Jess!’

‘It is?’ Jess said with a smile.

‘Yep!’ she said beaming back at her.

‘You didn’t need to do all that,’ Addison said leaning in towards her with a smile.

‘We’re celebrating,’ Lisa said seriously.

‘Oh yeah what are we celebrating?’ Addison smiled.

‘Jessie is my sister! So I asked Elvis if we could make a cake,’ she smiled making Addison pull back.

‘Yeah, uh Cilla thought it was better she knew,’ he said looking at Jess who smiled, ‘Jess why don’t you two go and see if it’s ready?’

‘Okay,’ she said offering her hand out as he slipped Lisa off his hip. Lisa took it immediately, looking up at her sister as she started telling her every single detail about the cake she could remember. As they disappeared into the kitchen he turned back, finding Addison watching him with a smile.

‘You okay with her knowing?’ he asked.

‘Everyone else does,’ she said, ‘not exactly fair to keep her in the dark.’

‘Yeah, Cilla figured she was better telling her than someone else,’ he said. It felt weird to mention her in front of Addison. For the past couple of months he had done nothing but think of her, long for her, and to mention another woman, even his ex-wife, in front of her felt wrong. He loved Priscilla of course, he always would, but right now he just wanted to revel in the fact she was back in front of him, for at least another few weeks.

‘Yeah she’s right. And if it means we get cake I’m in,’ she smirked, ‘you made chocolate cake right?’

‘Like I’d be stupid enough to pick anything else,’ he smirked throwing his arm around her shoulders in a manner that made her stomach flip flop as they walked towards the kitchen, ‘but uh I’m not promisin’ it’ll be edible.’

‘Cakes cake,’ Addison smiled.  

✵✵✵

Over the next couple of days Addison was surprised just how quickly she fell into the groove that was Graceland. As a kid she’d become part of the furniture in months, as a teen just weeks, but now as an adult she found she was back feeling just as comfortable as ever in days if not hours. Which was why she was filled with trepidation as she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Now if she was at home the day would be like any other. A day at home with maybe a dinner out with Jess, the perfect way to spend her thirty third birthday. But being familiar with the aura the house brought meant she doubted today would that simple. Which is why she was confused when she walked into the kitchen to find Elvis, Jess, Lisa and Dodger sitting at the kitchen table like they had for the past couple of days. No frills. No outright celebration. It made her suspicious. At her presence by the stairs Jess looked up from her breakfast and smiled.

‘Happy Birthday Mom,’ Jess said as Addison moved to pour herself a cup of coffee whilst Dodger got up to make her a plate.

‘Thanks sweetheart,’ Addison said as Dodger set her plate down and said, ‘happy birthday.’

‘Thanks,’ she smiled slipping into the seat beside Elvis who was watching her.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Am I allowed to say happy birthday?’ he asked. 

‘Of course you are why?’ Addison said confused.

‘Well I asked Jess if we could put up some banners and she said no. So I suggested we go out for breakfast and she said no,’ Elvis teased making her roll her eyes, ‘so I just wondered what I could do.’

‘Pass the syrup,’ Addison retorted. Elvis smirked but grabbed the syrup bottle by him all the same, handing it to her as he said, ‘happy birthday.’

‘Thank you,’ Addison smiled.

‘Happy birthday Miss Addie,’ Lisa said with a mouthful of pancake.

‘Why thank you Miss Lisa,’ Addison smiled.

‘Hang on I left your present upstairs,’ Jess said moving to get up from her seat but her mother waved her off.

‘It’ll keep,’ Addison said.

‘Mom,’ Jess protested.

‘Honestly it’s fine,’ Addison said, ‘eat your breakfast. I can go another hour or so without cards and presents.’

‘I made you a card too,’ Lisa beamed.

‘Well thank you sweetie that’s very kind of ya,’ Addison smiled glancing at Elvis who smirked as he picked up his coffee cup.

‘Well don’t be expecting anything off me,’ Elvis chuckled as he sipped his drink, ‘I know better.’

‘Are you saying you’ve finally listened?’ Addison teased. 

‘I just figure you’ll be as stubborn at thirty-three as you were at three,’ Elvis smirked before he added, ‘though I hear old age is supposed to mellow folks out.’

‘Hey you’ve still got five years on me bub,’ she quipped. 

‘Oh so I’m old now?’ Elvis mused. She was smiling at him, her hazel eyes sparkling as she teased him, and he found it odd how their age difference didn’t feel like the chasm it once had. Back when they’d been dating he’d been so aware of it even though she was never the seventeen-year-old she should’ve been thanks to the stressors in her life. Yet now he felt as though they were equal. 

‘By God if you two are old what does that make me?’ Dodger laughed making the girls giggle. As Addison looked towards her Elvis continued watching her for just a second feeling his heart flutter as he took her in though he was forced to shift his gaze to his grandmother as he felt Jess watching him.

‘You’re probably more of a spring chicken than any of us,’ Addison said.

‘Have to be to keep up with you young ‘uns,’ Dodger chuckled, ‘anyway what are you doing to celebrate?’

‘Oh nothing much,’ Addison shrugged.

‘Oh come on Addie,’ Elvis moaned. He had been lenient. He knew if he went overboard it wouldn’t go down well and though Jess had supported his ideas she had reigned him a little. He had listened, well mostly, but if he was going to have a chance at doing what he had planned for later he needed her to be at least halfway on board, not flat out refusing.

‘What?’ she asked, ‘I’m good.’

‘Come on mom we gotta do something,’ Jess said.

‘I’m doing what I want. I’m hanging out with you guys,’ Addison said.

‘Aw you big softy,’ Elvis teased earning a playful glare.

‘Oh shut up,’ she said.

‘Seriously though we have to do something today,’ Elvis said.

‘Yeah, I agree,’ Jess said.

‘Me too,’ Lisa agreed making Addison sigh as she looked at the three of them watching her with the same big blue puppy dog eyes. Dodger chuckled and shifted out of her seat, taking Jess and Lisa’s empty plate from in front of them as she looked at Addison and said, ‘ain’t no use fighting ‘em.’

‘No I know,’ Addison sighed, ‘okay fine but what?’

‘Anything, the world’s your lobster,’ Elvis said as she agreed.

‘Nothing too over the top though,’ Addison warned, if anything she was at a loss of what she actually wanted to do. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said spending time with them was enough and so she looked to the girls for help, ‘what do you girls want to do?’

‘Ooh how about we go horseback riding? Dad said he was going to show me some of the trails off the grounds,’ Jess said.

‘Yeah!’ Lisa cheered.

‘Well that would be good if I could actually ride a horse,’ Addison said. 

‘You could ride with me,’ Elvis said making her look at him though as he felt a heat pool in his lower belly he backtracked figuring maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have her tucked in front of him for the whole afternoon, ‘or Jess she’s a real strong rider.’

‘Yeah, I promise we won’t race,’ Jess giggled. Addison hesitated; it wouldn’t have been her first choice but seeing how excited they both were she couldn’t help but smile.

‘Horse riding it is,’ she said. 

✵✵✵

Despite her uncertainty Addison found her birthday actually going pretty well. After their late breakfast stroke lunch they’d headed out to the stables where Elvis had introduced her to the horses. She’d met some of them on their first visit but seeing how much Jess and Elvis enjoyed riding together she’d chosen to stay away so they could enjoy something just the pair of them. Lisa had told her all about her horse though as they headed out she had opted to ride with Elvis on Rising Sun whilst Jess and Addison shared Priscilla’s horse Lady. They’d wandered through the grounds at a slow pace, talking about anything and everything though there were times when the four of them were content to just watch the laziness of the springtime pass through the Graceland grounds. Eventually they made their way out onto the back streets, most of which Addison was sure Elvis owned as they remained deserted and unbothered well until they looped back onto the main stretch of road out front of the mansion and people started noticing them. 

As they headed back up to the gates Elvis remained calm, waving at folks as he passed them though she noticed how he directed Jess to steer in closer to him. It wasn’t busy but as they pulled up by the gate they were stopped. Whilst Elvis slipped gracefully off his horse he kept Lisa on gesturing for the guard to walk her through as he nodded for Jess to trot on in. They lingered by the open gate, waiting for him as he interacted with the couple of fans waiting - taking pictures and signing autographs. And as Addison sat watching him from a distance she was struck by how normal it all felt. That even though he was talking to fans outside a literal mansion it felt as though they could be anyone. Just the four of them. A family. 

And for a moment she let herself believe just that. She’d been protesting it all so much her head was a spin but she couldn’t deny how much she liked that idea. How she liked that as they came into the gates he’d taken charge just in case. She liked how Jess had become so acclimatised to what she had once feared she didn’t even bat an eye as people started staring at them. She liked that Lisa seemed to like having her around. And so she was going to enjoy it even if just for the day, as a birthday present to herself.

After the ride the girls had insisted they spend the rest of the day by the pool and given that it was a comfortably warm 75 degrees Addison and Elvis agreed. Whilst Addison read her book by the side of it, chatting to Mary when she came out with a tray full of drinks and snacks, Elvis and the girls made the most of the water.  She tried to focus on her book but from time to time she couldn’t help but watch them play. She loved how laid back he was with them, how his head fell back with such radiant laughter as they played. She loved how the girls shrieked when he lifted them into the sky, launching them into the pool with an almighty splash. She loved how he pretended not to notice the girls plotting to dunk him under the water though the fervent giggling gave them away almost instantaneously.  

After a while they climbed out, Jess barely having time to grab a towel before Lisa was pulling her by the hand towards her outside play area. Addison watched them go, using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun though she was distracted as Elvis shook off like a dog beside her causing water to spatter up her bronzing skin. Since they’d gone outside she hadn’t really seen much of him. He and the girls had been so excited they’d practically ran down the stairs and allowed her to take her time. Now he was standing beside her looking at her with a cock sure grin as he towelled water droplets off his toned tanned torso. It made a fire burn in her lower belly, one she had to force herself to stomp out. She was already living in enough fantasy for today.

‘You alright over here on your own?’ Elvis said as he dropped down onto the sun lounger beside her, running the towel over his legs as he tried to get dry.

‘Perfectly fine,’ she said popping her bookmark in the crevice of her book and placing it on her lap, ‘you guys looked like you were enjoying yourselves.’

‘Yeah, it’s been a good day,’ he beamed flopping onto his back as he placed his legs up onto the lounger.

‘Yeah it has,’ she smiled. She could hear the girls from far away, laughing and giggling, and the rustle of the breeze through the tall trees on the grounds which caught her attention as she watched their leaves flutter for a moment. When she looked back towards him he was watching her.

‘Have you had a good day?’ he asked hopefully.

‘Yeah, I really have,’ she smiled though it dimmed as he shifted, pulling the wet material of his swim trunks off the skin on his thigh that they had been sticking to. He looked hesitant for a moment but then he seemed to think about whatever he was going to say and decide it was a good idea.

‘You know I’ve been thinkin’,’ he said quietly.

‘What about?’ she asked wondering what on earth might be going on in that head of his. If her little fantasy for the day had been so overtly obvious that he had noticed.

‘Today,’ he admitted, ‘and I know you said low-key, but I’d like to take you out to dinner…you should celebrate.’

‘I am,’ Addison said though it wasn’t an attempt to be abrasive. Sitting in the sun surrounded by her favourite people had been more than she could have asked for.

‘I mean properly,’ he said quietly.

‘I am,’ she said, ‘besides it’s not like it’s a big birthday or anything.’

‘No but…I’ve missed your big birthdays,’ he said glancing at her before he dropped his gaze, ‘eighteen, twenty-one, thirty…so I’d like to do something nice for ya. Nothing extravagant just a dinner nothing more, just us, the kids, Daddy and them.’

‘Okay,’ she said smiling at him as he braved looking at her though as she did an idea flicked through her brain making her sit up quickly as did Elvis now panicked, ‘oh god what am I gonna wear?’

‘Jesus Ads you almost gave me a heart attack,’ Elvis said sinking back as she flushed, embarrassed at her theatrics.

‘Sorry I just haven’t brought anything…fancy,’ she said.

‘You think McDonalds is fancy?’ Elvis asked raising an eyebrow though he smirked as he saw her frown, ‘I’m just kiddin’.’

‘Har har,’ she said, ‘still wherever we go I don’t think I’ve got anything…’

‘Well if you want you could go shopping with the girls this afternoon, take my card, buy something new. Don’t look at me like that,’ he said as she glared at him, ‘you can spend as much as little as you want. Besides I ain’t bought ya anything so you can count it as your present.’

‘You really haven’t bought me anything?’ she said in a tone that made Elvis suppress a smile. She was disappointed he could tell though she was pretending she wasn’t. It was true he hadn’t technically bought her anything but that didn’t mean he hadn’t arranged her a present. And having them all out of the house would definitely help him set it up.

‘Nope,’ he said.

‘Smart move,’ she said putting her eyes on the page of her book she had reopened. 

‘Can’t promise Dodger hasn’t though,’ he said.

‘She shouldn’t spend her money on me,’ Addison tutted making him laugh heartily which confused her, ‘what?’

‘Nuthin’,’ Elvis chuckled, ‘I just think it’s sweet you think it’s her money.’

‘Looks like you bought me something after all then huh?’ Addison said.

‘Looks like,’ he smiled. 

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[faejilly]

jilly's week in review?

I guess or something. Idek y'all, I was gonna try and do reviews but then I just rambled about what I did instead, so this is clearly gonna need a format revamp next week

anyway

READING

Finished Daughter of Witches

and also St. Peter's Fair, which I had started AGES ago and sort of lost track of, but I'm doing the January Challenge on TheStoryGraph and couldn't decide what to read next but needed to get my pages in, so I went digging for random shit and I have read it before and watched all the Cadfael mysteries so it's not like it was hard to get into to finish it so I could save my streak.😅

Read A House with Good Bones (on purpose from start to finish in one day!) because T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon is absofuckinglutely one of my favorites. (There's a thought here about my occasional forays into the horror genre, and how some horror is almost kind of cozy because it's about protecting what we love from what we fear, and that is very much a Kingfisher kind of thing, but that might need a new post and a more functional brain to figure out where I'm going with that.)

Listened to a little bit more of IT while doing housework; I'm not great at audio books except when I'm driving, but sometimes I can manage a little (and I didn't want to distract myself from dishes by picking up a new book instead). Stephen Weber is an excellent narrator btw, for anyone who's curious.

WATCHING

The husband was sick last week, and I was only sort of doing shit either, so he kind of just put the TV on and let it go and I definitely will not manage a nice list with links like I did with books. There was some M*A*S*H, (oh, I did finally watch the special that recently came out on Hulu), and RoboCop (largely because Thing 1 gave the husband the new game for Christmas) and several different Predator movies of various quality, and a bunch of other stuff I am not thinking of at the moment. I know I picked a couple and watched them myself but with everything else I can't remember what?

Also some Mythbusters when Thing 2 picked something to watch for awhile, which is pretty much always entertaining even when we're like: your sample size is nonexistent and just because you can't do it doesn't mean someone who knows what they're doing couldn't have done it so are you SURE you should have busted that? 😅

PLAYING

I got Garden Story for Christmas and got through the quest-lines and realized I was quite far away from all the upgrades, so I've been periodically poking at it and trying to get my villages/tools better before trying the Final Boss. I have had a good time with Concord though, it's fun, I'm just not sure the leveling functions, such as they are, are paced/balanced quite right? 😅 (Or perhaps I'm just Bad At Fighting In Cozy Games? This does seem to be a bit of a trend tbqh, probably why I liked Wylde Flowers' lack of combat so much.) I also have found VERY FEW of the memories/weird achievements so that's a thing I'm probably going to have to look up hints for soon-ish...

(I did finish Potion Permit last year, which is great, I recommend it whole-heartedly: the potion building mechanic is usually pretty solid, it has good characters, a nice aesthetic, I did actually mostly have fun rolling around and fighting things/gathering stuff, but I did reach the end of the main quest and then go... huh, is that it? just because it, yk, kept going after the finale but there didn't seem to be anything there beyond like, a couple personal quests that needed materials I couldn't unlock until the end.)

MORE ENTERTAININGLY I THINK, we did also play some board games

Paint The Roses is QUITE HARD with only two people even if you stick to the medium level whims; or maybe I'm just not that smart?!? We did in fact survive without getting our heads' chopped off by the Queen of Hearts, but we legit guessed the last two puzzles so. Dumb Luck™️ is not nearly as reliable as actually figuring out how to plot your plants better.

We did Escape the Dark Sector (with more people this time, tbf) on our first try though! That was pretty delightful. It is atmospheric and potentially almost deadly without feeling too awful at any point! Also I got to punch a tentacle monster!

Mice & Mystics can go dramatically bad if your dice aren't on your side and you do like, one stupid thing to compound that, and then if you're invested enough to start over you can suddenly realize you've been moving tiny plastic mice and bugs around the table for like four hours and still only got through the first chapter... but not regret it at all because you like your mice and are very proud of them for finally making it!

Can you tell we like co-op games? 🤣🤣🤣

(I did also do some rearranging so the game room was comfier, so like, win/win I adulted and played!)

THERE WAS NO WRITING OR CROSS-STITCHING OR PAINTING OR ANYTHING ELSE THIS WEEK, so uh. Clearly my balance of activities is bonkers and I should maybe get off the couch/game chair(s) a bit more often.

#jilly spam #jilly reads #jilly has a gaming problem #favorite shows #I guess for the brief MASH mention? #I can definitely recommend #a house with good bones #for feels and family dysfunction and weird/terrible magic shit and a Vulture and terrifying roses! #plus some interesting tangents on how batshit people can get #including historical examples! #(not that historical) #that makes no sense sorry I'll stop now #tag spam #week in review #will probably need a better tag for that too #but that is a problem #for tomorrow!jilly

[hush-writes-preg]

I just had a little scenario in my head: imagine you're working as a cashier or sth at a store, you see hundreds of faces every day, but there's this one pretty guy in your age who always smiles at you politely as he pays for his stuff. He becomes one of the regular customers and comes by like once every week.

After a while of working there, you notice sth about him has kinda... changed. He used to be super thin and flat, most of his body still is, except for his tummy. It used to be flat too, but today you notice a slight, barely visible curve beneath his slim-fitted shirt. You shrug in your head, maybe he just gained some weight from eating or sth. But when he comes back next week, and the weeks after, you realize that with every visit, his belly seems to have slightly grown more. Does he look embarrassed and tries to hide it? Is he completely oblivious to this change? Or does he seem proud and confident, arching his back a little extra to underline his new curve?

I've been working at the same grocery store since high school, so suffice it to say I've gotten to know the clientele over the years.  Some were a lot more memorable than others.  There was the Hypochondriac who pushed her cart of rubbing alcohol through the store every week with chapped, badly cracked hands; the Church Lady who loved to tell me about all the reasons I'd go to hell as I tried to process a hundred of her dumb coupons; the sweet Technophobe who always showed up in my line because he needed a gentle hand figuring out those newfangled credit card machines every time he shopped… yeah, it wasn't a boring job by a long shot. 

Of course, there were a lot more of the mundane sorts of customers, too.  Customers whose faces I grew accustomed to and whose looks and habits grew nearly as familiar as my own. 

I remember one guy in particular.  He was around my age and pretty average in terms of looks, but he never caused problems and always seemed to wear a smile.  He usually showed up on Thursday nights to do his weekly shopping, though I'd see him stop by to grab a couple of things on other days, too.  I figured he had a bit of a sweet tooth, because he rarely checked out without at least something chocolate-flavored in his order, but you probably wouldn't have guessed that at a glance since he was such a skinny dude. 

Well, at least he used to be.

It was probably around a year after I started noticing him that I noticed something else-- he'd started putting on a little weight around the middle.  I barely even clocked it at first, 'cause who cares, right?  People gain weight and lose weight all of the time.  But what struck me as odd was the fact that his seemed centered around his belly, and once it started growing, it just kept going. 

At first, it was nothing more than a little bulge that changed the contours of his belly under his shirt, but a few weeks later it poked out far enough to leave a visible little gap under the hem.  If he shifted the right way to grab something out of his cart, I could totally see tight, bare skin and tummy fuzz.  The guy seemed completely oblivious to the changes, though, at least for a while.

I'd started to wonder if he realized just how tight his shirts had gotten when he finally seemed to get the memo. 

He arrived for his next visit in a baggy hoodie, and any time his bulging middle bumped into anything, his face reddened and his eyes darted away.  There was a lot more chocolate on the belt during that trip, and mixed in among the assorted foodstuffs was a box of pregnancy tests. 

Well, that explained a lot. 

I felt his gaze snap to me the moment my hand made contact with it, and I know he was watching me for any sort of reaction as I slid the box over the scanner. 

He jumped when it beeped and the price came up on the display, and I had to bite back a chuckle.  "This is a good brand," I mentioned conversationally, hoping to put him at ease.  "My cousin researched these things obsessively last year when he got pregnant.  He said they were one of the most accurate ones on the market."

"Oh yeah?" he mumbled, not quite meeting my eyes, but I caught the way he pressed a hand against his growing bump. 

"Yep."  Beep.  Beep.  "Oh by the way, that candy bar you picked up is buy one get one free this week.  In case you wanna grab another one."

He didn't say anything, but the smile he shot me was filled with relief and gratitude as his fingers curled around a second piece of candy and tossed it to the belt.  I wasn't about to judge him if he'd gotten himself knocked up.  And if those tests came back the way I figured they might, the dude was gonna need the extra sugar boost.

#hush answers #mpreg #male pregnancy #ftm pregnancy #transpreg #trans pregnancy #tpreg #tmpreg #Those customers are totally based off of people I dealt with back in my cashier days #ooof #hush writes preg

[azuramarigold]

Not super proud of this one... but, eh. @narumayoweek2023

Day 2: Investigations/Caretaking

Phoenix couldn't help but look around the office and wonder what was out of place.

            Despite his "out there" nature, people tend to forget that he is quite observant. Observant to a fault actually. He could recall certain little things almost like a photographic memory, a trait that he had been compared to that of his ancestor, Ryunosuke Naruhodo.

            Well… time to investigate!

            First, Phoenix went over to the old, worn, red couches. He saw clearly that the couple of mismatched pillows were still there, the television remote was still on the coffee table next to a four-month-old issue of some sort of magazine Maya had picked up at a convenience store. This area was the same.

            Phoenix then went by where he had his desk. His pens were still in an old mason jar that he had, his legal pads were askew as always with their random doodles, and a case file here and there was piled unorganized. The desk phone had a thin layer of dust, and the old dinosaur of a desktop computer was a nest of dust bunnies as Phoenix never really knew how to work it. That was the same.

            "Damn it… something is different…" Phoenix murmured, rubbing his chin. "I just know it."

            He observed the bookshelves, seeing the layers of just on Mia's old law books still neatly where she left them. His old case files and the ones Mia had done were still organized as well. Nothing was out of place…

            Charlie was by the window as always, growing fuller by the day from the daily watering and the proper changing of the soil for nutrients. Phoenix looked at each leaf - no signs of browning or withering. Perfect - just the way Mia would've wanted her beloved plant.

            "Nick, what are you doing…?" Maya's voice giggled from behind him.

            "GAH!" Phoenix yelped as he nearly rammed his head into a nearby cabinet. "Maya! A little warning next time please? You scared me half to death!"

            The Spirit Medium smiled mischievously at him. "It looks as though you're looking for something…" she cheekily said to him.

            He narrowed his eyes at her. "What did you do…?" he lowly asked, crossing his arms.

            "Me?" she drew out the word innocently. "Absolutely nothing…"

            "There is something off about my office, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it!" the attorney declared.

            "Act a little stuffier and you'd sound just like Mr. Edgeworth!" Maya giggled, putting a hand to her mouth.

            "Can it."

            Again, Phoenix made the rounds around the office. He looked over the lounge area again - it was the same. His desk - the pens were still meticulously in their same spots. Charlie was still green. The books needed to be dusted along with the shelves, the phone, and the computer.

            Why… can't… I… FIGURE THIS OUT!?

            "Do you want a hint, Nick?" Maya coyly asked, her leaning forward slightly.

            "I've investigated dozens of murder crime scenes!" Phoenix insisted, throwing his objection finger into the air. "If I can find the most subtle of details during hard time crunches, I can do this!"

            Another lap around the office. Then another. And then another… He did three more laps, his hands gripped into his hair as he looked at each thing again and again.

            "What is OFF!?" Phoenix then shouted.

            "Your tie," Maya laughed, unable to contain it anymore.

            "… What…?"

            "You've been focusing on the items in the office that you didn't focus on the other constant in the office - you."

            "… Me!?" He was completely bewildered. He then glanced down to notice that he was wearing his blue suit like normal, but indeed he was not wearing his dark pink China tie. Instead, he glanced up at Maya, who was wearing it loosely around her own neck with a wide smile.

            "That's why you need me on investigations!" Maya cheekily said, sticking her tongue out at him.

            "Give me my tie," Phoenix grinned at her, holding out his hand.

            Maya put her hand to her cheek. "Hmm… I think you have to get it from me first!" she teased. She promptly turned her back on him and started skipping away from him with a giggle.

            "HOLD IT!"

            "Nuh uh, Old Man!" laughed Maya, hearing him crash around behind her as he began to give chase.

            The two were laughing around the office as she just barely made it out of his grasp once again. When she faltered for a moment to stick her tongue out at him, that was when he finally caught her, and she squealed with laughter.

            "Well, I think all my evidence is here," Phoenix breathlessly said. "Now, can I have my tie?"

            Maya slipped it from over her head and untied it. She then put it around Phoenix's neck and made sure it went under the collar of his white dress shirt and she delicately tied it into a near perfect Windsor's knot. Phoenix made no move to fix it - he liked it the way she did it.

            "I still feel like something is off in the office though…" Phoenix sighed almost tiredly.

            "I swapped the one sticky note on the phone with the one on the computer," Maya then finally admitted with a loud laugh, her eyes squinting slightly.

            "Then why the running around with my tie!?" Phoenix demanded, clearly exasperated. "And why touch my sticky notes…!? You know I like my sticky notes…"

            "A rouse!"

            "You're ridiculous…"

            "And you love me for it, Nick!"

            "I… have no objections to that."

            Maya then clapped her hands together. "Now that you're fully dressed and not running around half-naked-" Phoenix's face fell when she said that. "- Let's go investigate the burger joint!"

            "Why…?"

            Maya gave him a wink. "Because they have a new burger…! And I fully intend to investigate it fully with my mouth!"

            Phoenix barked out a laugh as he put a hand to his forehead. "God, that sounded so gross!" he laughed hysterically.

            Maya shrugged. "That burger is not being investigated with us standing here! Let's go!" She then proceeded to grab his hand and the two made their way out the door.

            The sticky note the Maya stuck on the computer that was switched from the phone gently fell onto the desk as it had lost it stickiness. It was personally one of Phoenix's favorite notes that he randomly kept from her as it read: "You’re the Steel Samurai to my Pink Princess <3, Love you, Nick! Love, Maya."

#ace attorney #ace attorney fandom #ace attorney fanfiction #fanfiction #a03 fanfic #naruhodō ryūichi #phoenix wright #phoenix wright ace attorney #maya fey #ayasato mayoi #narumayoweek2023 #narumayo

[vizthedatum]

peace, regulation, and relationship anarchy

Today has been an interesting day so far.

I got up before my alarm today - a couple minutes before 6 am.

I meditated, and I felt good.

I ate a really balanced breakfast, and I'm eating snacks throughout the day.

I'm hydrating.

The right side of my lip is cracking, and it's really annoying me. That hasn't happened since I was nutritionally deficient and very stressed. Although I know that it could be happening because of how the weather has been lately (I've been needing to hydrate and moisturize more the past several days). (Oh oh, it might be because I've been on antibiotics AND the cold weather - sigh)

I worked this morning and thought deeply about a lot of things.

I am so so grateful for my friendships.

And then I had a nearly 1.75 hour phone conversation with my girlfriend about date-planning and expectations (which went well, I think) AND our polyamory status as bf-gf (which was emotional).

The latter topic is going to be the topic of great thought in the next couple of blog posts because I was honest with her: I love her, I'm in love with her, I want to be her boyfriend, I want to keep dating, and I want to be more than friends, but... I don't want to be partners and can't see us being partners at this moment due to differences in life stages and goals. I'm figuring out what partnership means (even though I do have many ideas about what partnership means to me) - and we decided to figure stuff out and lessen communication (while still supporting each other) while we work towards different relationship goals.

I'm probably going to cry more. I cried a bit towards the end of the call.

I told her I wanted to be honest... because I fucking want her in my life. She's incredible, kind, and mature.

To be honest, I wish I could have done something like this with my ex-girlfriend from last year (well, we are best friends now.... and maybe we still can).

A lot to think about.

It wasn't a break-up - it was a redirection of goals while still affirming love and care for each other.

I still feel fine. I feel relieved.

#healing #i feel really centered #emotional and centered #polyamory #relationship anarchy #girlfriend #t4t #transhet t4t #partnership #relationships outside of nesting partnerships #philosophy #life goals #life stuff #neurodivergence #love #queer #self love #prose #relational love #polyamourous #polyamorous relationships

[vldkeith]

julance☀️🌊🚀 week four: birthday 🎂🎉 or blue paladin

a/n: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANCE!! i love you so much and i've only grown to love you more over the years. i hope everybody had fun with this julance and enjoyed these fics! thank you, hbd lance my love <3

🖼 companion art by @vldlance 🥺

read on ao3 (leave a kudos even if u read it on tumblr please!)

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

On one offhanded afternoon, Keith had happened to glance at the Earth calendar Lance and Hunk insisted on keeping in the shared living space as a reminder of home. He’d examined it rather apathetically, trying to figure out what the date was on Earth more out of boredom than any real need to know. By his calculations, it was July 21st—oh, so, after July 4th… Keith had thought, mind already wandering away from the task.

It wasn’t until he’d reached the door to leave that he realized July 21st was only seven days before July 28th—A.K.A., his boyfriend’s birthday.

Shit.

He had a week.

Keith allowed himself one day to panic, one day to desperately try to come up with something to get Lance without help from anyone, and emerged the next morning with a crushed spirit and nothing to show for it. He’d never been very good at gifts—the first gift he’d gotten Shiro was a gift card to Lowes, for god’s sake—and this is his and Lance’s first event together as a couple, Keith’s first opportunity to prove that he can make his boyfriend happy with a thoughtful present.

And he couldn’t think of anything.

Despairing, Keith had resolved to consult the advice of the first person he saw (other than Lance, of course) that morning after he emerged from his room. Perhaps the fact that he then almost immediately ran head-long into Coran the second he stepped out of the doorway was a sign from god.

Or the devil. It depends on how things go right now.

“Keith, my boy!” Coran exclaims, hand raising instantly to fix his mildly-tousled hair from their collision. “You nearly scared the living daylights out of me! Watch where you’re going, eh?”

The way Coran says it is good-natured, but Keith still has the teenage impulse to roll his eyes and snark back that maybe Coran should also watch where he’s going, thank you very much. He tamps that down, though, because he has learned the hard way that antagonizing someone you need something from is never the best way to get what you want. “Sorry. Hey, can I ask you something, though?”

Coran raises an eyebrow, a glint in his eye that instantly makes Keith feel like a child seeking advice from a wise uncle, or perhaps a grandfather. Keith’s not sure Coran fits either of those bills. “Of course! What can I help you with?”

“Lance’s birthday is coming up…” Keith begins hesitantly, reluctant to admit he’s having so much difficulty with this, “…and I have no idea what to get him. Any ideas?”

Instantly, Coran’s eyes are shining, and a wide smile stretches across his face, crinkling his mustache. He throws his hands up and declares, “I’ve been waiting for you to ask, my boy! Yes, yes, I have the perfect idea! Come, come!”

Bemused and a little unsettled by the enthusiastic response, Keith allows Coran to lead him to the front of the castleship, where he begins to quickly fiddle with the holographic maps.

“I had an inkling that you would need a little help, you see,” Coran says as he does this, bustling around and making noises that sound like several pots and pans banging together, “so I took it upon myself to think up a truly fantastic, show-stopping gift idea ahead of time! Oh, ever since you and Lance sealed the ol’ smackaroo, I had a premonition, of sorts, that you would seek my counsel for this ever-important matter because, and I’m sorry to say this, Red Paladin, but you are not exactly the tip of the Quindylzic when it comes to emotional intelligence!”

Keith is still trying to figure out how offended he should be by Coran’s when suddenly, with a great whooshing sound, blue stars and planets snap into being around him, twinkling and hovering idly. Coran claps his hands, satisfied.

“Perfect! Now, Keith, let’s get you over here—”

Coran grips Keith’s shoulders and steers him to the completely opposite side of the room, planting him squarely in front of the floating holographs of the universe. Keith can’t help but feel a bit in awe of the whole thing, even though he’s seen it multiple times by now, and even though Coran seems to have no trouble in manhandling him without his consent.

“There we go. Now then!” Coran clasps his hands together excitedly, taking up position to his right and gazing toward the map. “Your gift to the Blue Paladin, my bumbling Whizzmawoll, is going to be his very own star.”

There is a beat of silence in which Coran beams at Keith and Keith becomes increasingly confused and agitated.

“Um…” Keith tries to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “Well—we, uh, have something like that on Earth. I kind of feel like it’s not really…enough.”

The smile on Coran’s face wilts slightly. “Do you? I’m surprised, I—I must confess, I did not think Earth had reached far enough into space to deal in the star business.”

Keith shrugs helplessly. “I don’t know, you just contact NASA or the government or whatever, pick a star, and then get a piece of paper saying the star is yours. It’s not like you own it in any real way.”

“Ohhhhh!” Coran breathes out emphatically—and then, wide grin back on his face, continues, “I see!”

He throws an arm around Keith and winks. “Well, Emo Paladin of Fire,” he proclaims, voice infused with triumph, “I can safely assure you that, with my method, he will receive much more than a paltry piece of paper.”

--

Keith stares at the glass of his helmet, lit up to tell him that he’s arrived at the place he needs to be in order to purchase a star. Coran had spent a good 45 minutes detailing the grandness of owning a star, the status it confers upon the owner, the rich history of privatization and battles through which the industry finally emerged. It had been more than a little overwhelming, and Keith had wondered briefly if he’d even be allowed to step foot into such an extravagant place, convinced that star dealings must happen in opulent casinos and hotels meant for the superrich, plated in gold or Quintessence or whatever stood for value out in space like this.

The place Keith is standing in front of, though…God. There’s no way around it.

It looks like the fucking DMV.

A bland brown box-shaped building looms unimpressively in front of Keith, it’s double-doors thrown open enough so that Keith can get a view of the inside, which is lined with chairs facing toward a large desk counter where five aliens sit, conversing with customers. As Keith stands, frozen, trying to figure out if he’s made a wrong turn somewhere, an amplified voice calls out a series of garbled words Keith cannot understand, and an alien rises from the chair and makes its way slowly to the front.

Keith can already feel the itchy restlessness crawling up his skin. He hates the DMV. He hates anything that operates like the DMV. This…is his own personal form of hell.

After triple- and quadruple-checking that he’s got the right place (he does, and the thought makes him want to kill himself), Keith trudges morosely into the building, leaving Red outside and feeling massively stupid in his full Paladin getup.

He approaches the counter. The alien—a small gecko-like creature with pink scales and bulbous eyes—says something to him in a foreign language.

“Sorry—what?” Keith says helplessly. The alien sighs, rolls its eyes, and switches to English.

“What can I help you with today?” Its tone is monotonous and bland, as it’s liable to be after presumably hours dealing with the same mundane tasks. Keith hopes these employees are paid well.

“Um, I’d like to buy a…star? If I can?”

“Hmmm.” It looks him up and down, apparently unconvinced. “You’ll need proof of residence and identity. Can you provide that?”

Panic shoots through Keith. “I don’t—Well, no, because I don’t live anywhere,” he says, blinking.

The alien blinks back at him. “You don’t live anywhere,” it repeats, voice flat. “Well, then I’m afraid I can’t—”

“W-Wait!” Keith scrambles closer, leaning in nervously. He has to make this work. “I—I don’t live anywhere permanent, I live on—on a ship that, like, travels around the universe a lot. I can show you a picture of the ship? If you want?”

“A picture is not proper documentation, sir.”

He’s losing the alien, and fast—he needs to change tactic. “Look,” Keith lowers his voice anxiously, eyes darting around him, “I don’t live anywhere because I’m a Paladin of Voltron. You’ve heard of Voltron, right? Defender of the universe or whatever? That’s me. Or, partly me. Me and four other people. A-Anyway, we travel around and go where we’re needed, that’s why I don’t have an address. Or an identity. Okay?” Keith’s voice is a high-pitched whisper by the end of his explanation, and he knows he looks frantic and crazy. He can only hope that that makes him a little bit more believable.

The alien levels him with a critical, deadpan stare. “You expect me to believe a Paladin of Voltron just walked in here wanting to buy a star? Really?” Its voice is so convinced of Keith’s foolishness that Keith almost opens his mouth to apologize, before realizing that yes, that’s actually exactly what’s happening!

“…Yes?”

The two look at each other for a moment more, sizing each other up, before the alien sighs and, reaching to tear off a slip of paper from the machine next to it, mutters, “Frankly, I’m not paid enough for this. Here you go.”

Nearly sagging with relief, Keith receives the paper with gratitude. “Thank you,” he says earnestly, and escapes quickly to a seat before the alien can change its mind.

--

Keith spends nearly two hours that day in that stuffy, crowded, beige monstrosity of a building, but by the time he emerges—worn down and dragging his feet like he’s battled fifteen Galra soldiers at once—he’s armed with coordinates to a star and an elongated box clutched under his arm. He’s exhausted from the bureaucracy of it all, but he can’t deny the sense of glowing accomplishment he feels at having secured such a magical gift for Lance’s birthday.

That is, if this whole thing isn’t a scam. He’ll have to wait a few more days to find that out.

--

Nervousness buzzes through Keith’s body as he sits in Red’s cockpit waiting for Lance to arrive. It’s the day—July 28th, Lance’s birthday. So far, Keith’s felt pretty good about how it’s been celebrated; Hunk managed to get his hands on some Earth ingredients and was able to make, with minimal substitutions, a pretty skilled replica of Lance’s mom’s garlic knots. Well, Keith assumes it was a good replica, anyway; Lance nearly started crying when he bit into one, and had to leave the room for five minutes to collect himself.

Pidge and Allura teamed up to make Lance a small, stuffed Blue Lion, using Allura’s sewing skills and Pidge’s penchant for precision to make a damn-near perfect replica of the robot cat that somehow still retained the plushness associated with stuffed animals. Lance has insisted on carrying her around with him wherever he goes, like a child given a new toy on Christmas. It’s adorable. She’ll probably be coming with them on this trip, too.

Finally, Shiro presented Lance with a set of blue-topaz earrings that made Keith a little weak at the knees when Lance tried them on—something that Shiro had not missed, if his mischievous smirk was anything to go by. Lance had been overjoyed to receive them, rambling on about how nobody ever got him earrings and of course becoming besties with another gay man would be the perfect way to remedy that situation. He’d then put them carefully back into the box, claiming he wanted a whole day to enjoy them, that half a day didn’t fully appreciate their majesty the way he wanted to. The whole scene had had Keith smiling uncontrollably, because it had felt like his boyfriend and his dad were getting along, even though Shiro was more than that to both Keith and Lance. Still, it had warmed his heart.

Throughout the day, though, Lance had been making comments about Keith’s lack of a gift for him, betraying his impatience by turning to Keith expectantly after opening and cooing over every other gift. Keith had kept his mouth shut with playful feigned ignorance, and had told Lance simply to meet him in Red after dinner that night.

That time is now. And, on cue, Keith hears Lance’s footsteps approaching.

“Alright, Keith, you’ve made me wait long enough,” Lance declares before he’s even fully inside of Red. Keith turns to greet him as he steps into the cockpit, holding plushie Blue in his hands. “What’s my present? Tell me!”

Keith presses the button to close Red’s entrance. “I’m going to show you, actually. Just a little bit longer.” Keith reaches for the oblong box he’d gotten earlier that week, whisking it carefully off of Red’s controls. “But first…”

He hands it bashfully to Lance, keeping his eyes trained on his own hands as he does. Lance blinks, gazing at it with bemusement. Without much preamble, though, he pulls the lid off gently, revealing a glimmering necklace with a blue cord attached to a small, pink-and-gold glowing orb encasing a bright bundle of blue waviness made of fire and gasses. It blazes and rotates, a living piece of jewelry, reminding Keith of the sun in shape and planet Neptune in color.

Lance gazes at it with awe. “Woah. Keith, this is—” He turns his intense stare on Keith, instead. “This is beautiful. Thank you. I…” He coughs a little, and then laughs at himself. “I don’t know what to say.”

Keith’s heart swells with pride. “That’s not even the best part!” he replies eagerly, now twice as excited to get to the real thing. He turns around, then, not wanting to waist another moment—and pauses. “You should put it on,” he adds quickly, giving Lance a slight smile over his shoulder.

Lance, who had been staring reverently at the necklace still in its box, blinks as if coming out of a stupor. “Right!” Quickly, he slips the necklace over his head and allows it to settle across his throat. It looks enchanting on him.

Satisfied, Keith starts Red up and flies them into the vastness of space, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. He’d plugged the coordinates into Red’s system in advance, so the most he really has to do is keep them gliding along that path.

As they near their destination, Keith notices, Lance’s necklace lifts off of his body, floating into the air like a magical object aware that it is approaching its creator, unencumbered by something so trivial as gravity. Lance ooohsand ahhs at this, experimenting with it by trying to push it back down, and reveling in his failure to do so.

By the time Keith puts Red into standby mode, the necklace is hovering at the height of Lance’s mouth, though Keith has instructed Lance to turn away from all windows, lest the surprise be spoiled. Once he’s sure Red is stationary—he doesn’t need to confirm that they’re in the right place; he can see it, right in front of him, in all of its glory—he takes Lance’s hand and leads him to the pilot’s chair.

“Sit down.”

Lance obliges, and Keith makes himself comfy on Lance’s lap, an action that has Lance chuckling and sliding his arm around Keith’s waist, pulling him closer. “Can I open my eyes yet, pretty boy?” he asks suggestively, alerting Keith to the fact that maybe Lance thinks his present is of a bit of a different nature than it is.

Despite his blush, Keith snorts. “Yeah, go ahead.”

Lance opens his eyes and witnesses his star.

It is the blue ball of light, fire, and gas housed in his necklace, but thousands of times larger, taking up nearly the entire visage of the cockpit window with its magnificence. They’re far enough that it isn’t technically dangerous, but it still feels like being in the presence of a god, of something with far greater power than any human—even Paladins of Voltron—can ever hold. Blue fire spews from the constantly-moving ball of light, and it swirls amongst itself, radiating a luminescence so brilliant that Keith briefly considers shielding his eyes, but decides not to.

They both revel at the star, at the proximity of it, and Keith keeps an eye on Lance, waiting for him to put the pieces together. It is only when Lance notices his necklace floating pleasantly closer to the star, however, that he gets it.

“Wait a minute—” Lance begins, turning a wide-eyed gaze to Keith, “Is this—?”

“Yeah.” Keith nods, his smile lopsided and emotional. “All yours.”

Lance is silent for a moment, staring up at the star. It is reflected in his eyes, making their blue color all the more transfixing and bright.

“You got me a star?”

Keith is not entirely prepared for the genuine emotion in Lance’s voice, or the way he can see tears begin to prick at his eyes. He’s about to double back, ask if Lance is okay, when Lance suddenly buries his face in Keith’s neck, shaking with musical laughter.

“How am I going to outdo you for your birthday, Kogane? Holy crow,” he says after a moment, lifting his head and giving Keith a binding smile. “Screw you!”

“Please,” Keith scoffs, though he’s absolutely radiating pride and happiness. “I’d be happy if you let me suck your—”

“Oh my god!” Lance shoves his hand over Keith’s mouth, collapsing into more laughter. “Shut up! You’re so annoying!”

Keith’s chuckling joins Lance’s as he pries Lance’s hand away from his mouth. “Well, it’s true!”

Lance doesn’t deign that with a response, instead simply shaking his head and turning his attention back to the star in front of him, his star. “So,” he says after a moment, gesturing vaguely to his necklace, “this proves the star is mine, right? I basically have this…mini-star with me all the time?”

“Pretty much. It’ll float more the closer you are to the star. It’s kind of like a little piece of it that’s yours forever.”

“Wow.” Lance lets out a low whistle. “That’s way better than the pieces of paper they give you back on Earth.”

“Right?!” Keith nods emphatically. “Plus, like, we can actually see it out here, not just have a random blurry picture!”

Lance shakes his head, still smiling. “Earth is way behind the times, what’s new?”

They are quiet for a moment, lost in their respective thoughts as they gaze up at the star. When Lance breaks it, he’s quiet.

“Hey,” he murmurs, nuzzling against Keith’s throat, giving him goosebumps, “thank you. Seriously. This is—It’s maybe the best present I’ve ever gotten. Don’t tell anyone that, though.”

Keith laughs a little. “I won’t. Happy birthday, though. You deserve it, Lance.” He makes sure to look away when he adds, “You deserve it and more.”

“Keeeeeith,” Lance whines loudly, making Keith jump where he sits on top of him, “don’t make me cry again, I’ve already embarrassed myself once today!”

Keith rolls his eyes and swings a leg across Lance’s middle, resituating himself to be facing Lance instead of the large window. “Alright, alright, enough of being sentimental. I have another part of your gift, too.”

Lance raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Whatever could it be?” he asks playfully, hands settling on Keith’s hips.

“I’ll show you.”

The space between them closes, and the last thought Keith allows himself before giving in to the sensation of kissing Lance McClain, is Thank god, I finally got it right this time.

He’ll have to thank Coran with some Nunvil, later.

☕️ko-fi - please consider buying me a coffee if you enjoyed my work this month! thank you!

#klance #klance fanfiction #julance2022 #lance mcclain #voltron #voltron fanfiction #renfic

[loverrrgirl]

KISMET- Austin Butler x reader - PART 12

Warnings: minors leave now. Nothing happens in this chapter but things are happening SO soon. And honestly this chapter is cute to me so let me know that you think happens next!

Here’s the masterlist

Luv u

Once we were in the car, I suddenly felt very excited. I had no idea where he was taking me. I hate surprises, typically. But somehow I just knew I could trust him.

I knew how it sounded. Don't be so naive so Stella. But there really was something about him. His energy, his presence, his sincerity in everything he said and everything he felt. He was different. And he was good. Through and through.

I caught him a couple of times. Peeking over at me while he was driving. And I was certainly peeking back.

"I love this dress by the way. Thank you so much." I smiled at him. It was very me. And it was special that even though he hadn't known me long, he seemed to capture my essence. In dress form anyways

"Yeah, yeah you're welcome. It looks amazing on you." He gave me a side smile and but his bottom just a little bit. Just enough to make me melt into a literal puddle.

I bit the inside of my lip nervously. Hopefully he didn't pick up on that. I hated that I did it, but old habits die hard, or whatever the saying is.

"Thanks. Where are you taking me anyways?" I raised an eyebrow at him. It could have been a corn field in the middle of nowhere and a picnic. It could have been to Chili's. Somehow I knew I'd follow this man anywhere and everywhere he wanted to take me. I was cornfield ready.

"It's called Moonshadows. It's in Malibu. I've actually never been but I've heard it's great. I figured we might as well try it if we're going out." He said as he looked over at me. His eyes were dancing. I could tell he was excited. He liked to try new things.

So do I.

"Mmmm. Can't wait to try it." I said quietly. We were at a stop light now. And I couldn't stop thinking about what to do if anyone recognized him.

Just follow his lead Stella.

"So, Stella. You didn't do much on your birthday. Understandably. But if you could have any birthday dessert, what would it be? And why?" He inquired.

"Hmmmmm. That's a hard one. I guess it would have to be a carrot cake cupcake. Which probably isn't the average choice. But when carrot cake is done right, it's superior to any other kind and you can't change my mind." I said playfully.

He looked at me. He seemed intrigued. "Noted. How many candles do I have to fit on to one cupcake?"

"Twenty four now I guess. I'm old. I'm ancient. I'm withering away as we speak." I laughed. Getting older is weird. He laughed, and his cheeks lit up.

"Then I'm really ancient." He said, with a few chuckles left in his breath.

"Oh, I found that receipt you left me today. In my suit case. Would you believe me if I told you that I hadn't opened my suit case at all until today?" I asked quietly, feeling bad. I hoped he wasn't waiting around for me to call him. I would have if I found the note sooner.

"I did start to worry you just didn't want to see me again. But I considered that maybe you just hadn't seen it yet." He said, he ran his thumb across his bottom lip again.

Jesus it's so sexy when he does that. I wonder if he knows how sexy it is.

"Oh god. No. Not at all. I'd have called you days ago. At least to get my sweater back." I side eyed him. I wasn't sure yet what his humor threshold was but I couldn't wait to find out.

"Mm. Mhmmm." He replied. With a smirk. He wasn't insulted that I said it. His smirk told me he didn't mind it at all. But I couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking. But I'd do nearly anything to hear him respond that way to me again.

The rest of the drive, we just caught up about our last few days. He told me about visiting Ashley and how he even told her about how I left the sweater in his car. She thought I might have done it on purpose. I laughed at that one. A super clever tactic, and one I never would have thought of. But I'll keep it in the back of my mind in case it's useful in the future.

We finally arrived after nearly an hour and a half. But I only knew because I checked the time before putting my phone in my purse. It felt like maybe 20 minutes had passed. He was so easy to talk with.

Austin's Point of View

I parked the car and got out to open Stella's door. I held out my hand and as she grabbed it, she moved one leg out of the car and then the other. My breath hitched.

She isn't wearing any panties. Naughty girl.

I had to try to figure out how to keep my composure for the rest of the night knowing that golden little bit of information. I pulled her around to the other side of the car door so I could close the door and adjust myself a little bit behind the door. Thankfully she was looking out at the beach view and didn't notice my discomfort.

"Ready?" I asked, wishing I didn't have to interrupt the way she was lost in thought, gazing out at the beach. I wondered what she was thinking.

"Ready." She replied, turning her head towards me. She slipped her arm into the curve of mine, holding on delicately as we walked inside.

As we entered, the hostess greeted us. I leaned in to her ear and asked if we could have the most private table she had open that was outside. She blushed a little at my closeness and then nodded. We followed her up the stairs and on to the outdoor terrace. We were the only ones up here. Just the way I liked it.

I pulled Stella's chair out for her and as she sat, I pushed it slightly in. And it was cute, the way she looked up at me afterwards. Like she'd never had a man do that for her before.

I took my seat on the other end of the small table. I smiled, chuckled even, at the view I had. I couldn't imagine sitting across from anything or anyone more beautiful than she was right now. The way the last of the sunlight in the sky made her skin glow. The way the fire of the sun was dancing between her bright green eyes. The way she bit the inside of her lip when she was nervous about something. The way she wasn't wearing any panties underneath the dress I got her for dinner.

"What's your drink of choice?" I asked her. Curious on her answer. A drink of choice said a lot about a person. She took a second to look over the cocktails menu.

"The Phoenix rising drink looks stellar" she said, slightly looking up at me from the menu. "What about you?"  She asked me. She was trying to read me too.

A tequila girl. Fantastic.

"I'm a whiskey guy myself. I'm going to get the Black Manhattan." I said, wondering if she had an opinion on whiskey.

"Mmmm. It's been a long time since I've had one of those." She said, seemingly thinking back to the time she tried it. "It was alright." She said to me, direct eye contact and a smirk.

"Mmm. Alright huh?" I replied.

Just then our waitress came by to ask for our drink order. "I'll take a Black Manhattan. And she'll have a Phoenix Rising. Thank you, Anna." I replied to her, reading her name tag so I could address her by name for the rest of night. I smiled and nodded as she walked away.

I looked back at Stella to read her expression since I'd ordered her drink for her. It was a habit of mine. One I quite enjoyed. She had a slight smirk on her face as she was looking over the dinner menu.

"Do you know what you're eating?" She asked me.

A good question. I supposed I'd better look at the menu some instead of at her. I already knew what I'd probably get but figured I'd double check that nothing sounded better.

"The filet mignon probably. You can never go wrong with a well cooked steak." I finally said after checking through the menu. "What are you thinking?"

"The salmon sounds delicious." She said "but so does the pear salad."

She was doing that thing girls do sometimes. Make it seem like they would almost rather eat just a salad instead of a well rounded meal. Or she was nervous of the cost. Salmon it is then. She probably hadn't eaten much all day.

Our waitress came back with our drinks and asked if we were ready to order. "Yes actually. We'll do the filet mignon, cooked medium rare. And the Scottish salmon. Thank you" I smiled again at Anna. She nodded and went to put our orders in.

"Thank you" Stella said. "I wish it were summer. Then it would still be light enough to walk to the beach after this."

"I hope you don't mind. I actually booked us a hotel room with a beach view. Two beds of course. And if you'd like your own room we can do that instead. Just in case we get too tired to drive back tonight. Or if we wanted to check out the view in the morning." I told her. I hoped she wouldn't think it was presumptuous of me. I wasn't expecting or planning anything other than a nice romantic evening of getting to know each other more and spend time together.

I even packed her an over night bag in case she agreed. Sweatpants and a t shirt of mine. Essential toiletries. During my shopping outing yesterday, I saw this little sundress that I thought would look nice on her. I packed that away in the bag I packed for her too.

"That sounds really nice. Beach sunrises happen to be my favorite kind." She smiled. She was also biting the inside of her lip. She was nervous. Hopefully not for long.

As we ate our dinner, we talked, and joked, and laughed. We told each other some favorite childhood memories. Some of our embarrassing stories.

Once we finished, I gave Anna my card. Stella offered to pay. Cute. I wondered how many dates in it would take her to stop offering.

I stood up to offer Stella my hand as she stood from her seat. I checked the time on my watch. 9:15. Dammit. The patisseries were all closed around here.

"I have somewhere very special to take you" I told Stella in a joking, mysterious voice. I knew where I was talking her. And I hoped she would find the simple humor in it.

#austin butler #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler fluff #austin butler smut #austin butler x reader #austin butler elvis #angst with a happy ending

[junipersramblings]

An Aroace Perspective on the Problem of Playing "Hard To Get" (Vent post)

So, for those of you that don't know already, I'm an aroace cis female, and I'm a high schooler. Apparently, I'm also fairly good looking, but I don't really have any opinions on that and frankly don't give a shit about dressing to look nice unless it's because I want to.

As you can imagine, this is a great combination of traits /s

I'm putting the actual vent under the cut so if you don't want to read this you don't have to.

I've always thought the concept of playing "hard to get" was strange, even before I figured out that I'm Not Straight. My thoughts were always "why would you want someone who keeps asking you out after you say no? Wouldn't you want to date someone who just leaves you alone if you reject them?" and that remains my perspective today, knowing what I do about myself now.

As for why I'm making this post today? Well, I highly doubt he'll ever see this, as he doesn't know I have a tumblr, let alone my url, but if he ever does? Well, this one's for you (derogatory)

This all started near the end of Year 8 (I'm Year 10 now). We're in the same homegroup, and so we're stuck with each other for two hours a week, every week, until we graduate. We had an assembly and we were sitting in homegroup rows, the same way we always do. By pure chance, I ended up sitting next to him, and happened to overhear him talking with a couple of his friends about a girl he liked, until one of them saw me and said "dude she's right next to you".

His response to this was to ask me out to dinner. (Bear in mind, we're both barely fourteen at this point).

I said no, and he turned back to his friends, disappointed. One of them told him he "hadn't asked me out correctly". Nearly two whole years later, and I still don't know what that means. So he turned back, and he asked me out again. I don't even think he changed how he said it.

Shockingly, I said no.

After that, he asked me what my type was, and I said "uhhhh I dunno. Not you?", since I was still figuring out my sexuality at the time, and quite frankly had no fucking clue what my type was. He seemed disappointed again, but let it go, and that was it for a whole year.

Then at the end of Year 9, we were given the schedule for activities week, which was the final week of the year, and a way for everyone to relax. Everyone in Years 7, 8 and 9 would be split up into four roughly equal groups, and rotate through activities for the entire week. It was actually pretty fun tbh. We went to a water park and a swimming pool, and I ended up really enjoying myself.

But when we were given the schedules, I had the bad luck to be sitting next to the guy that this whole post is about. He asked me what my favourite colour out of the four options (red, blue, yellow and green, the usuals) was, and I said green, so he started talking about how we should both be in the green group, and it'd be like a date. At this point in time, we didn't even know if we could choose our groups (spoiler: no we could not). I completely ignored him, as by this point in time, I was pretty certain of my sexuality, and even if I was proved wrong, it wouldn't have been by him.

Once again, things were pretty chill for a while. A month or two ago, I overheard him talking to his friends about me again, and realised "oh great, he still likes me". Fun times.

Today was when everything went properly wrong though.

Him and his friends have developed this annoying habit of beating pretty much everyone, including the teacher, into homegroup, and locking the door once they're in, so I have to cut through the neighbouring room, which happens to be three of my closest friends' homegroup. (This isn't really necessary for the explanation, but two of these friends happen to be the ones mentioned in a minute)

So I walk in and unlock the door, my usual routine these days. In fact, I unlock, test if the mechanism that keeps it open is working, and prop the door open with the bin when it becomes clear that the mechanism is broken. While this is happening, the boy (who from now on will be referred to as Rat Man, since he kinda looks like one (but like the rats you see in new york sewers in animated films), and it's clearer than just referring to him as "the boy") and his friends are pretty much heckling me from the back of the class, telling me to be a rebel and lock the door, and then Rat Man calls out "DO IT FOR [FRIEND'S NAME]!" I stop and look at them, already pretty sure where this is going, and ask him what my friend has to do with any of this. He's not even in our homegroup for fuck's sake!

Our conversation goes pretty much like this:

Rat Man: You know, because there's a thing between you two, isn't there?

Me: What do you mean?

Rat Man: You're more than friends aren't you?

Me (to myself): Oh for fuck's sake.

Me (louder): There's nothing between us. [FRIEND] and I are just friends.

Rat Man and Co.: Sureeeeee

Me: We are!

Rat Man Sidekick 1: Oh he's just jealous.

Me: I can see that.

Sidekicks: OHHHHHHH

Sidekick 2: Wait, dude, if she's just friends with [FRIEND], then you have a chance!

Me (not missing a beat): No he doesn't.

Sidekicks: OHHHHHHHHHHH

And from there, they start suggesting anyone else I would go out with, starting with one of the other friends from the homegroup I cut through (who isn't even a boy, she's just not out to anyone except our friend group yet), then both of the sidekicks.

To absolutely nobody who has read this far's surprise, I said no to all of them, although I would happily be in a QPR with both of my friends that were mentioned.

The teacher's arrived now, and I get my name checked off on the role so I can go to the assembly about the snow trip that's coming up in a few months (big deal in Australia unsurprisingly).

After that finishes, there's about ten minutes of homegroup left, which I spend, in true Juniper style, writing a fic. (The Malevolent one!)

Afterwards, I confront Rat Man as we're walking to our next classes, none of which we share, thankfully, and tell him we need to talk. His friends respond to this by cheering and slapping him on the back because he's talking to me. They're mostly fairly stereotypical jocks, with the exception of Rat Man himself, who is one of the few people in our homegroup shorter than me (I'm 5'2) and wiry. Hence the rat comparison.

I don't even know how the conversation derailed so quickly, but in about a second, I'm being asked which of the three is the hottest, to which I respond with "None of you?" They insist I have to choose one, and I just shut up. They have to go a different direction to me, so I tell Rat Man we'll talk at lunch. I'm pretty sure I heard him shout "Love you!" as I was walking away, but I'm refusing to unpack that.

Lunch comes, and I eventually track him down, and ask him if he knows what aromantic and asexual mean. (Fuck you tumblr, aromantic is not spelt wrong)

I was prepared for a lot of different directions this could go, and so I'd made sure we were near a teacher if I needed the backup. What I wasn't expecting him to do was burst out laughing and nearly choke on his sandwich.

About thirty seconds later, once he's stopped almost fucking dying, and his friends have asked him what the fuck is wrong with him more than once, he manages to ask "Asexual? Isn't that what chickens are? You know, because they lay eggs?"

I'm starting to think he only passed Health and PE last year because he's good at sports and they count as one combined subject.

I explain what it actually means, and he goes "Oh, so you're rejecting me?"

Me: Yeah, for what, the second time today? Fifth time total?

One of his friends comes and pulls him away, and I'm already late for flute ensemble, so I go to where my friends are, we all have a mutual moment of "what the FUCK?" over what Rat Man thought being ace was, I eat my lunch, and go to flute ensemble.

Once that's over, I have Fashion Design, so I go to class and kind of just stare at the work I'm meant to do for half an hour, before the teacher asks me if I'm okay.

I ask if I can go to the wellbeing office, because I'm having a bad day.

I'd spent the entire lesson up to that point gradually feeling shittier and shittier about what had happened with Rat Man at lunch, since I REALLY hadn't wanted to come out to him, but it seemed like the only way I could maybe get him to leave me alone.

I don't even know if it worked.

I spoke to a teacher, they were really nice about it, and I'm feeling better now, but it still really fucked me up.

The thing about playing "hard to get" is it means that sometimes, some people just can't take a hint. They're so used to the idea of girls that mess around to find someone who will be loyal to them that they assume that's what everyone is doing, and then shit like this happens.

So yeah, fuck the whole idea of playing "hard to get". It's bullshit.

#junipers ramblings #vent #long post #tw aphobia #tw arophobia #tw vent

[thebookworm0001]

5 or 13 for codex prompts!

Thank you nonny!

Have a letter to Ellana from her younger sister, Isera.

DAI OC Codex Prompts

5. a note/letter found in your OC’s pocket Written in a rough hand on worn parchment. There is water damage in several spots, and the signature at the bottom has been nearly rubbed away. 

El, 

When you left for the conclave. I wrote a list of things I expected you to do by the next time I saw you. Make some big discovery of our people’s history. Help a couple da’lens make it to their new clan. Get a rash from chewing on the wrong bark. Have a whirlwind romance with another traveling Keeper fit for legend. And yes I do stand by that last one no matter what you say. 

But running an army for a group of Chantry humans? Not on there. I even sent you the list so you could see it for yourself. No humans or Andraste anywhere on it. 

I’m happy you’re safe, though. When we heard the human’s temple exploded [there are several scratched out sentences] well, none of us thought that was a good thing. Keep an ear out though. Pretty sure the humans burned the last person they said was gonna save them all. 

Mamae and Papae are gonna send some things to your inquisition. Mostly just food and blankets, but we figure if you’re collecting strays, you’ll need them. For the refugees too. 

May The Dread Wolf never hear your steps, 

Isa

P.s. That not-a-city-elf elf you're traveling with? I’m giving you one month before you’re writing to me about how amazing he is. Mamae gives you two. I've got two weeks of Halla chores hanging on this. Don’t let me down.

#dragon age #my writing #then she put pen to paper #ellana lavellan #hello is it good idk but it is done

[inkofamethyst]

September 3, 2023

Okay okay alright now for a bit more positivity because I didn't actually spend the last several days in a slump, I promise (not that I'm trying to minimize my feelings or anything of course).

Had a virtual lab meeting on Monday but had to leave partway through to go to the airport. Somehow managed to eat something in the car. Worked on my braids in the airport, on the plane, in the uber to the hotel. Disinfected my hotel room, ate dinner at a diner next to my hotel which was entirely empty except for me and a geriatric couple (the food was just okay and I think the waiter might've been flirting with me but I was too drained to engage and the food wasn't nearly good enough for me to want to go back). Went back to the hotel and worked on my hair for another several hours. Spoilers, even though I finished them that night I wasn't able to find boiling water to set them the whole week. Gonna do that first thing tomorrow.

Tuesday was the major event day. Started with a 9-am departmental information session followed by lunch with most of my cohort (a new guy was added to my cohort (he was also affiliated with the department prior to applying (I think this is important to note not necessarily because I think this was unfair but because.. I dunno I just find it interesting and can't really articulate why (don't get me wrong he's got a crazy amazing CV)))) followed by the snoozefest that was convocation (it was kind of nice but the theater was dark and I just zoned out a bunch) followed by a resource fair (where I scored some free stuff). I took a break and recovered in my hotel before heading back out to a social hour where I met some chem people who were really nice. Then I slept.

I should note that immediately after lunch one of my cohortmates and I went to get our student IDs in the student center. The thing about the student center is that you need a student ID to traverse the student center. So. We waited for a passerby to swipe us into the elevator area because you need an ID to get to the elevators. We got into an elevator with no clue where we were supposed to go and were stuck in there because you need an ID to use the elevator. Someone called it up and we got off on some random floor. We googled the floor we were supposed to go to and figured we'd use the stairwell to get there instead. We enter the stairwell and reach the correct door but couldn't enter the floor because you need an ID to exit the stairwell. We called the ID office and they were happy to help haha.

Wednesday morning was super rainy. I had a conversation and a walk with my advisor which was very nice and reassuring. Got some keys, found my office, met some people. Walked back to the hotel and rested for most of the day. Walked to a Chinese restaurant and got stuffed steamed buns which were amazing even if I couldn't tell whether I was supposed to eat them with my hands or with chopsticks (the table next to me used chopsticks so uh I'll try that next time).

Thursday was beautiful. I got brunch at a little waffle spot and it was delicious. I sat on campus in the shade for an hour or two, just watching the people stroll by. I explored the grad student center (not the one that caused me trouble lol) and it was really nice. My parents arrived and we checked into a hotel closer to my apartment then got Thai (had the best pad see ew I've ever had) and rested for the evening.

Friday was move-in day. Got even more keys. Transferred everything up, went to buy some things, and worked on construction (I built a set of ikea shelves!) until late that night. Set up wifi all by myself. We popped over to a latin american joint that was still open and I had the most amazing rice bowl with black beans and plantains and some incredible green sauce.

More errands Saturday morning until we had to return the rental car. Tried a vegetarian place and it was pretty good, though not a favorite. We took public transport back to campus and walked from there to my apartment. Unpacked bins and organized clothes until late evening. Several hugs later it was just me again (plus my roommate). Slept.

Today I'm thankful for the discord call with my photo- and cello- friends (with a brief cameo by my puzzle-friend). It felt really nice to laugh and carry on with people I know. I stayed on much longer than I should have. Very sleepy.

Lots to do tomorrow (meal prep, tidy, talk with roommate, set alarms).

[cannibalcoyote]

Jack Celliers: Sadie

Imagine your husband(Jack) finds you in the POW camp:

I've been here for so long that the beatings don't seem to hurt anymore. It's like I'm not quite in my body anymore, instead I'm watching it, almost as though I'm just an onlooker.

I don't know how I managed to get here, all I know is that I tricked my military into thinking I was a man, and next thing you know I'm out here fighting a war, only to be caught. My trial was short, I was nearly sentenced to death, but by a stroke of luck I was detained as a prisoner of war. That's not to say that I feel lucky, most definitely not, you have no idea how hard it is to hide being a female when you are a prisoner.

I've lost so much weight that I no longer have my period, so that is a big help, but I also know that this quick weight loss is incredibly unhealthy. Now the only issues I have include hiding the fact that I wrap my chest, as well as making sure that I consistently lower my tone.

I don't socialize too much with the other soldiers, I barely even talk to Lawrence, and the only reason I do is because he goes out of his way to initiate conversations with me. I think he has assumptions about my true identity, he does have quite the analytical mind, and I would have to be an award winning actress to pull the wool over his eyes; but as of yet he has made no mention of this towards me, my only evidence being the cautious glances as well as a sudden protective nature.

_______

I can't say for sure how long I've been here, but I know it's been at least a couple of months now. I've gotten closer with Lawrence, no longer minding our occasional chats. I seem to be the preferred punching bag for the guards, so I told Lawrence early on, that should anything ever happen to me, I want only him to treat me; I don't care how bad my injuries are, only he is allowed to treat me.

This is the third time this week I've ended up in our makeshift hospital, no one but Lawrence will even come near me in fear that my bad luck might rub off on them. I'm more than sure Lawrence knows I'm a woman, but he still hasn't said a thing about it to me.

All I know is that I can trust him... I hope.

_______

Lawrence's POV:

Bailey Stevens... quite a good soldier from what I remember, but I barely know him really, or should I say 'her'; because I obviously know that this soldier is a woman, and I suspect that she knows of my assumptions.

She's extremely reserved, which is expected from everything she's been put through; the guards here seem to love beating on her. I'm not sure whether it's due to her being physically smaller than everyone, or because she has an intrinsic need to act; probably both.

I can't help but feel a need to protect her, she's like the rebellious sister I never had. I can't allow the Japanese - or anyone for that matter - to figure out that she is a woman. Who knows what they would do to her.

_______

She's been unconscious for a couple of days now, only having brief periods of consciousness where she might drink some water, or says 'hello' before going back under. I don't know what to do anymore, I've told our doctor everything, and I've done everything he's told me to do, but she still sleeps the days away.

To add on, I've got another friend here now, Maj. Jack Celliers, another determined soldier who was born to act. I know I'll have my hands full with these two when they both get back on their feet.

__

It's late into the night when her form begins to stir, I quickly sit up, wondering if today will be the day her strength returns. I must admit that I've missed her rebellious spirit, though I also fear how she will react to having possibly lost sight in her right eye.

Her eye flutters open, wandering around the rundown building before focusing on me. She tugs the covers tightly against her chest, and I can see the underlying fear emanating from within her gaze, I can only offer her a soft smile to try and calm her down.

"I know Bailey... I know. No need to worry, your secret is safe with me." My tone is gentle and friendly, and I can see her body losing the tension that had been building. Releasing a quiet sigh before bringing a hand up to her face, gently running her fingers over the gauze covering her right eye. I feel my body slightly go rigid as she looks to me for an explanation.

"Bailey, during your last beating... you were struck quite a few times to the head... It caught you right in the eye. We're not sure whether you'll have sight in it when it's healed...I'm sorry."

_______

Bailey Stevens' POV:

My chest tightens at the explanation, knowing you might lose sight in one of your eyes is an incredibly scary thing to be told. Especially in a place like this where surviving is already hard. I raise my gaze to Lawrence and see the sadness in his eyes, he looks ashamed of telling me about my injuries, almost as if feeling at fault.

I reach out my left hand, softly resting it atop his.

"It's alright, it's not your fault." I offer him a gentle smile as he gives me his own. Our moment is interrupted by the groaning of another person, I look to him in question as to who it is. He responds with another smile before shaking his head.

"That's another troublemaker quite like yourself, Bailey." His voice contains a sad humor in it, one that makes me want to laugh and frown at the same time.

"What's his name?" My voice is a whisper, but I have switched to my normal tone, it feels refreshing not having to hide who I am.

"That would be Jack Celliers. He quite reminds me of you actually, almost ironically." His tone once again holds that same gloomy humor. I however feel my eyes widen in shock as I hear his name, my heart rate increasing at the thought of it being my Jack Celliers.

"Jack Celliers?" My voice holds confusion as well as surprise, I never thought I would see him again until the war ended, that or in heaven. When he left for the war, I knew he might never return, so I put on my disguise and rolled the dice. It's been so long that I thought I might never see him again, but here we both are, stuck in the same POW camp.

"Yes.... Do you know him?" Lawrence looks confused at first, but upon seeing the worry on my face, he quickly contorts into a knowing gaze; a small smirk grazing his features at my lack of response.

"Ahh, so you do know him." His voice raises above a whisper slightly, and I quickly shush him, not wanting anyone to wake up and hear our conversation.

"Yes... Yes, I do know him. Is he alright? What's happened to him? Is he going to be oka-"

"Slow down there Bailey... When he arrived his condition was just as bad as yours, but the doctors say he's recovering quite well and will be good as new soon." My whole body relaxes at hearing he's getting better and will be alright. As I lean back, a strong sense of sleepiness rushes over me, that and the pain of my beatings; but I've never fought harder in my life to keep my eyes open, I know Lawrence can tell I'm struggling.

"Is there anything you might want me to tell him should he wake up before you?" He speaks quickly, wanting to give me enough time to respond before I lose consciousness.

"Tell him.. tell him Sadie says 'hi'." You can practically hear my smile as I tell him to use my real name. He also gives me a smile, and that's the last thing I see before darkness consumes my vision once more.

_______

Lawrence's POV:

Sadie, what an oddly fitting name for the girl who acts to survive.

I quietly walk over to Jack's bed to see if he's is awake. I'm not sure this is the best time to tell him, but at the same time, who am I to withhold this information.

As I reach his secluded sleeping arrangement, I watch as he turns slightly, his eyes fluttering open. Recognition flows through them as we look at each other.

"Hello Jack."

"Lawrence." His voice is gravely, and I can tell his body is exhausted. I slowly sit on the bed beside his own, rubbing my hands together in thought. He looks at me as he awaits what I am clearly contemplating saying.

"Jack... Is there the possibility that you know someone named Sadie?" My voice is hesitant as I speak, but the look of recognition over hearing her name immediately tells me everything I need to know. He carefully nods his head, his eyes now fixed on me with a new sense of focus.

"I only ask because another soldier recognized your name and asked me to tell you 'hello'." I can see the confusion swirl in his mind as to how another soldier knew your name, or why they would ask me to say 'hello'.

"Jack... That soldier is a woman, who goes by the name of Sadie, and claims to know you. Is there something I should know?" When he hears that the said soldier is a woman, his body jolts forward, not only in shock, but concern as well. I don't know their past, but the way they react to hearing about each other tells me they are much more than friends.

"I have to see her." Jack gasps, hurriedly stumbling to get out of his bed. I immediately rush forward, providing support for him as he attempts to stand.

"Are you sure about doing this right now? How about in the morni-"

"No, I need to see her. NOW." He doesn't raise his voice at all throughout his sentence, but the way he speaks is with such conviction, such certainty and determination that I know there will be no talking him out of this. I hesitantly nod my head, helping him walk over to her own secluded sleeping area, carefully setting him down on the bed beside hers.

He just sits there, staring longingly at her unconscious form. He looks sad, depressed even, at the sight of her. His hand slowly reaches out, softly gliding his fingers over the rough gauze that covers the right half of her face.

"How... What happened?" His tone exudes concern, but his face remains stoic.

"She tried to stop the guards from harming another soldier, I suppose you could say she got their attention." My sentence is formatted in a humorous way, but my tone remains serious. She nearly died from this, I don't find anything about that to be funny.

Jack sat there for a few more moments, just silently thinking to himself as his fingers continuously drift along the gauze.

"Will she be alright?" His tone is slightly higher, like what happens when your throat tightens up in the early stages of despair. I can tell that seeing Sadie like this brings him immense pain, maybe even guilt, but I know that he probably doesn't want me to bring it up.

"She's quite the fighter, just like you. The doctor says she should be fine, but we have no conclusive evidence on what will happen to her eye. Odds are 50/50." I try not to sugarcoat anything, but I also try to be respectful of what I say. This is the woman he loves, the last thing he needs to hear is that she might not make it.

Jack solemnly nods his head. I move forward to help move him back to his bed when he suddenly looks up to me.

"Can I stay here? In this bed?" His eyes are pleading for me to say yes, and I know that if the woman I loved were here, I too would want to stay right next to her.

"... Alright, you can stay here. But there are some things you should know first. No one else but us two know that she is a woman, alright? And she goes by the name Bailey Stevens, so when she does come around, and others are awake, just call her Bailey, alright?" Jack's eyes burn with curiosity at hearing her chosen name, but he nods his head in understanding.

I say goodnight to him, before turning and walking off a little bit. Slightly intrigued, I turn and watch from afar as Jack gently kisses one of her hands before laying down in his own bed, not once facing away from her. My mind only has one thought running through it the entire time:

"This could either be really good, or really bad."

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