#the performance felt overexerted

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

秦昊 qin hao in shahai沙海/tomb of the sea (adaption of daomu biji series) 

#china #fashion #cdrama #drama fashion #qin hao #best best best best wu xie #his way of acting gives me goose bumps #no he didn't act #he was possessed by wu xie's soul lol #dmbj fans love him so much #fans of dmbj fiction generally think another actor in reunion: the sound of the providence didn't present wu xie #the performance felt overexerted #i don't know it's just doesn't feel right #it's not wu xie #qin hao is so natural #he is just naturally watchable #captivating #living very truthfully in imaginary circumstances right in front of my eyes #he is wu xie #dao mu bi ji #dmbj #the lost tomb #daomu biji

[miistymemorii]

One Day Off

pairing: josh kiszka x reader

summary: you are worried about how hard josh has been working, so you convince him to stay in bed all day.

rating: 18+ (MINORS DNI)

warnings: a little angst, snuggly/domestic fluff, p in v smut, oral (m/f recieving), slight fdom, dirty talk, face sitting, cowgirl 

a/n: I finished this at 4 am dear fucking lord

You had always known that Josh Kiszka was a stubborn man. Even when you were just friends, you had been keen to the signs that he was overexerting himself, always trying to do for others like it was his life mission. When you had gotten a cold, he insisted he come over and nurse you back to health, even though you knew he’d most likely get sick himself, which he did. He called you from the road, and you could tell when he sounded exhausted or scratchy in the voice. You would coax him into talking about his problems, which led to him ranting about how he felt like his voice was going, or how he had to perform with migraines, all because he just wanted to make people happy with his gift of music. Countless times it had taken everything in you to get him to open up about his own stresses, and every time you had been more than happy to help in any way possible. He was a giver, a lover, someone willing to give his entire being for the joy of others. You loved him for it, but sometimes you wondered whether or not it would cause him to burn out.

You had picked him up from the airport at 5 am, but he had insisted on going to the studio at 7 with the band to work. You, of course, had insisted that he needed to rest, having just come home from a strong of oversea shows. He had given you a gentle forehead kiss and promised he would be home for dinner. When it turned 7 o’clock, you started dinner, making Josh’s favorite pasta and even baking brownies for after. You waited after the food was all done, but time kept passing. When you glanced at the clock and saw it was almost 10 pm, you heart sunk. You quickly put the food away and got ready for bed, brushing your teeth and even re-showering despite having showered before going to pick Josh up, anything to pass the time and bring the man you love back to you. When you came out of the steamed bathroom, there was no sign of Josh. It was nearing 11 and you knew he’d be upset with himself if you waited up for him, so you tucked yourself into bed, clinging to the edge of his pillow and hoping sleep would come soon enough for you to wake up with Josh in your arms.

Thankfully, sleep did come quickly, and you woke up the next morning to Josh clinging to your side, his face buried against your neck. You smiled and reached over, turning to face him. He was sound asleep, his mouth slightly agape. You sighed happily and reached out to gently stroke his cheek. His nose twitched and his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he started to wake up. His eyes opened barely, his eyes heavy with exhaustion.

“G’morning mama.” He rasped. His arms reached out to envelope you, pulling you even closer to him, your legs slotting against his.

You leaned your face in a little, snuggling your nose against his. “Hi honey. Sleep good?”

He nodded slowly and took a deep breath, his eyes closing again. He started rubbing gentle circles into your back, which almost made you want to fall back asleep.

Almost.

“What time did you come home baby?” you whispered.

His eyes opened again, this time more so. “I... uh, like around 3, I think.”

You sighed and took his face into your hands. You locked eyes with him and said in a gentle, but firm tone, “I want you to rest today.”

You expected him to put up a fight. He always did, albeit a gentle one, one that made you cave in every time. Instead, he gulped, and he closed his eyes again, shifting his body downward to slow himself where his face was secured snugly into your chest. You giggled lightly, wrapping your arms a little tighter against him. After a while, you could feel him fall back asleep. You let one of your arms slowly fall away from him, reaching behind you to grab your phone, checking the time. It was only 8 am, so you decided to fall back asleep. 

When you woke up again, your arms were empty again. Your eyes shot open, and you sighed loudly, a little disappointed. That feeling went away when you heard the bathroom sink turn on. You sat up a little in bed, a smile forming on your face as you called out for Josh.

The bathroom door opened, and Josh peeked his head out. He had a smear of partially dissolved toothpaste across his bottom lip, which made your chest bloom with adoration. He gave you a goofy smile before nodding his head back towards the bathroom before disappearing into it again. You reached for the tv remote and put on an episode of a show you had started while Josh had been overseas. He emerged a few minutes later, and you were more relieved to see he was still in his pajama pants. He yawned and quickly snuggled himself back under the covers. You lifted your arm up and he secured a spot against your side, humming contently to himself as he inhaled your scent. Your hand mindlessly stroked Josh’s arm for a few more episodes, before he tugged your hand upward in an attempt to get your fingers against his scalp. Your arm wasn’t quite long enough, the awkward angle making you gently shake your wrist out of Josh’s grasp. 

You pat your lap and coo to Josh, “Come over here.”

He obliges, rolling over onto his front and nestling against your abdomen. His arms crept under your oversized night shirt, clinging to your back as you gently wrapped your own legs around his middle. Your fingers found their way into his hair, and as you began to soothingly run your fingers against his scalp, Josh let a soft sigh of relief. Your hands wandered, rubbing at his head, his shoulders, the parts of his upper back you could reach. Your heart sunk a little as you came across knots and tension in his muscles, the painful reminder of just how hard he worked. 

After an hour, you figured Josh had fallen asleep, but suddenly he popped his head up from your stomach. You grinned as you looked down into those baby-cow brown eyes of his, still hooded with exhaustion. 

Your smile turned into a smirk when his hands traveled out from your shirt, tugging at the hem slightly. “Need something?”

“Can you take your top off?” Josh said quietly.

Your hands cradled his face. “Can you ask nicely, hmm?”

Josh gulped, and you caught the slightest movement of his hips grinding down into the bed. “Please can you take your top off?” He said sweetly.

You gently helped him sit back and you removed your top. You expected him to instantly dive against your chest, but he sat back patiently. You noticed a slight slump in his shoulders, and that pang of pity struck you again. Josh’s eyes flickered from your face to your breasts then down to your legs. He began to move to the hem of your panties, but you grabbed his wrists and stopped him. You shook your head at the confused look on his face. Instead, you reached over and grabbed his shoulders, tugging him gently towards the pillows, signaling him to lie down.

Josh, ever the pleaser, followed your guidance and laid on his back, his curls laying softly against the pillow. You straddled him then leaned forward, your nose grazing his. “Let me take care of you today, hmm?”

His breath was quick and heavy against yours, but he nodded, and you gave him a small kiss before moving lower down the bed. Your hands glided over the skin of his chest, down to his tummy, where you leaned down and pressed a kiss to the area right below his belly button. he groaned softly, his hands gripping the bedsheets. You hooked your fingers past the hem of his sweatpants to the hem of his boxers, pulling them down all together. He lifted his hips to help you remove his pants, and you pressed soft kisses against his hips bone, which caused him to release more soft sounds from those beautifully sinful lips you loved so much. You took a moment to pull away from his skin to admire his cock, resting half hard against his thigh.

You noticed a twitch in his thigh. You looked up and saw Josh staring at you with pleading eyes. “Please... touch me, kiss me, let me touch you... anything.” Josh begged. 

You shook your head, shutting him up by wrapping your hand around his cock, stroking him at a painfully slow pace. “Joshy... listen to me. You work so, so hard, and I am always going to be proud of you. But today, just this once, I need you to let go. Let me work for you, hmm? Let me help you relax, even if it’s just for a few hours.”

Josh chuckled, a laugh cut off by your movements around his cock quickening ever-so-slightly, your thumb swiping against the tip. Still, he weakly joked, “A few hours? Hardly sounds like relaxing to me. Not that I mind-”

“Josh, darling?”

“Yes, honey?” he said back in a teasing tone.

“Shut up.” You said with a smirk before immediately diving down and wrapping your lips around his cock. He groaned loudly at the contact, his hands gripping the bedsheets even tighter. You suckled at his tip for a few moments, your hand still keeping a steady pace stroking at him. You and Josh knew each other’s bodies well, and you knew each other’s sexual cues. When you were ready to cum, when you needed more, when you needed less, everything. It made every sexual interaction between the two of you absolute bliss, which was another one of the countless reasons why the two of you knew you were made for each other. It was something you had never had with another partner and something the both of you knew you would never find again. You worked your mouth down his cock, though the both of you knew you could go deeper. You increased the movement of your hand, which caused Josh’s breathy moans to increase into louder groans and whines. Your name tumbled softly past his lips in contrast to the way he groaned when you finally fully took him down your throat, your hand stopping at the base of his cock and squeezing. He let out a strangled shout, his hands flying to the back of your head before quickly pulling back, unsure of his own movements. As your tongue flatted against his cock, your head bobbing up and down, you took your free hand and grabbed his, returning it to the back of your head as a sign that he could hold you there. His fingers tightened in your hair, the slight pull providing a pleasurable sting that only egged you on. You could feel the way his cock was twitching, his body thrashing restlessly from under you as you sped up your movements, your hand abandoning his cock all together to grip his thighs, digging your fingernails in just enough to return the pleasurable pain he was giving you. That’s another thing you loved about sex with Josh: the giving and receiving. It was all the same, you did for him what he did to you and vice versa. 

“Oh my... god...” He breathed out, his voice airy from his heavy breathing. He tugged on your hair once more as the tip of your tongue managed to reach his base. “Please...” He pulled his hand up slightly in an attempt to pull you off his cock, confirming further that he was nearing his orgasm. You hummed against his cock, the vibrations causing his body to thrash upwards, which forced his cock impossibly deeper down your throat. Your hands rubbed up and down his thighs, wordlessly letting you know where he was and that you weren’t going to stop. “Fuck... fuckfuckfuck-” His cries increased in volume before he cut himself off as he came. You took all of it, of course, gripping his legs to keep them from accidentally knocking you off, Josh’s body thrashing wildly at his own climax.

When you finally pulled off of him, the both of you sighed in content. You sat back on your knees, watching as he came down from his high. His chest having, his face flushed his desire, his cock softening but still throbbing. His eyes had been closed, but he finally opened them and looked at you, a smile forming on his face. He extended his hand out to you, and you restraddled him, but not for any sexual reasons. You laid on top of him and he cradled your face, tucking a loose strand of hair out behind your ear. The two of you shared a tender kiss, albeit a short one as you both tried to catch your breath.

“I want to return the favor, my love.” He whispered against your lips. You shook your head and began to protest, but he shushed you. “No... please. I want it. I need it. You... you can come up here, sit on my face all pretty like you always do, hmm? You can completely be in control, move that pretty pussy against my tongue until you make yourself cum. Please...” He kissed your lips once more before hammering the final nail in the coffin that was your horny brain, “Use me. Use me to get off... please.”

And how could you say no to that, especially with the ache between your legs becoming too hard to ignore? You gave him one last kiss before fulfilling his request, shimmying out of your shorts and panties before straddling your knees on the sides of his legs. His tongue was out, anxiously awaiting to make contact with your heat. You gave him the prospect of one last out, telling him he could still say no, that the rest of the day could be spent with the two of you cuddling and eating junk food. But he insisted, not with words, but by the way his hands gripped your thighs and pulled you down against him. You gasped at the contact before your body kicked into autopilot, grinding down against him. His tongue lapped at you slowly, his grip on your thighs loosening as he remembered how little exertion you wanted him to give. Your own hands found solace in the headboard, using it to stabilize yourself as you ground down against his tongue.

“Fuck...” You whispered, your knuckles turning white at how hard you were gripping at the headboard.  You let out a string of pathetic whimpers as Josh’s tongue suckled at your cunt. He didn’t force your movements, instead guided you by catching onto your clit, your hips squirming but holding firm as he viciously sucked on your clit. “Josh... fuck, baby...”

It was his turn to hum against the most sensitive part of you, causing your body to jolt forward. He used his hands to pull you back down against him, completely burying himself against your cunt as your body’s movements became more erratic. Josh loved when you rode his face, and he usually brought you to an orgasm by putting in the most effort, babying you with both his tongue and as many fingers he could stuff inside you from underneath. You felt yourself quickly beginning to unravel, one of your hands threading in his hair as your orgasm washed over you, Josh’s tongue prodding inside your cunt as he lapped at your juices. Your legs shook as you quite literally rode out your orgasm, your chest heaving when you finally began to come down from it. You moved back slightly, hovering over his chest so that you could catch his eye again. He smiled up at you, his tongue dipping across his lower lip to clean up the mess you had left.

“You’re... amazing, you know that?” You said breathily, finally moving off of him.

You had figured that would be the end of it, but as you moved off the bed to fetch a small towel to clean up with, Josh’s hand grabbed at you once again. He yanked you back on top of him, causing you to giggle. His hands roamed your sides as he hummed in content, his eyes raking your body. “I don’t want to be done yet.”

Your eyebrow quirked, a small grin forming on your face. “Is that so? Did you forget the part where I said I didn’t want you to over-exert yourself?”

Josh rolled his eyes playfully then shot back, “I think we both know I’m a bad listener. Besides...” He sucked at his teeth before continuing carefully, “I think... there are ways, we can do it without me over-exerting myself. If... that’s really what you want-”

You kissed him again, “Baby, don’t worry. It’s okay, silly.” You ground down against his cock, which had already begun to recover. “Are you sure you don’t me to just suck you-”

“No, no... please. I want to be inside you. God, you know how abd I fucking want it. How much I love it. I can get what I want and I won’t have to work that hard for it... just like you want.” He flashed one of famous goofy smiles, then added, “Win-win for everyone.”

You shook your head with a chuckle, taking his cock in your hand and pumping him a few times before lifting your hips and sliding down onto him. You both groaned at the contact, your sounds melting together as you both took a moment to relish in the feeling. It hit you had long it had been since the two of you had been able to be like this, and it made you appreciate it even more. You were sure he felt the same, but he was the first to make a move, his thumb rubbing a gentle pattern into your hip as a soft signal to move. You obliged, obviously, and slowly began to ride him. His eyes were squeezed shut; his bottom lip trapped between his teeth as you moved. Your own eyes drifted closed as you focused on the slow, steady rhythm you had set, but they quickly flew open when you felt Josh’s hand make contact with your ass cheek, the smack cutting through the soft sounds the both of you had been making. 

You looked down at him with a quirked eyebrow, stopping your movements which caused him to whine. He gave you an apologetic smile, his cheeks reddening as he considered his action. “Mama, please... I don’t want soft and slow. Exhaust me, wear me out... you know I won’t break. This is what I want... please give it to me.”

Fuck.

The begging always got you, and you fulfilled his wishes, moving your hips quicker against him. He hissed but smiled, His head thrown back. You planted your hands down on his chest as you rode him, the feeling of his cock hitting the most sensitive parts of you quickly overwhelming you. He called out to you with every groan, moan, whine, and cry, which you returned with your own sounds. The symphony of proof of your shared pleasure was also met with the lewd sounds of your sexes moving against each other. It was beautiful, and for a brief moment you allowed your mind to wander, thinking back to all those times Josh had cuddled you, playing with your hair as he went on and on about the beauty of the sexual pleasure the two of you had shared. He was always going on and on with his poetic ramblings about every aspect of the love you had grown together, and you had always appreciated it, but in this moment, you understood what he meant. 

“Oh, fuck, baby... I’m almost there...” Josh groaned. His hands clung to your hips, assisting in your movements. He was restless, though, and he moved his hands to your shoulders, pulling your torso down against him to where your bare chests were touching. 

Your lips sought out his, whining against his mouth as your climaxes neared. Josh was rambling now, a slew of obscenities leaving his lips as he licked at your mouth, desperate for the most affection you could give him. He mumbled something against your lips, to which you gently prompted him to say what he was thinking. He finally managed to slur out, clearly too far pussy-drunk to form full sentences, “Inside.... please?”

You nodded and hummed, diving in for another kiss as the two of you reached your climaxes together. When you started to slow to a stop, a whine left Josh’s mouth, getting caught up against your lips, his hips desperately bucking up into you as he drained himself inside you. You let him stay inside, even after you had stopped moving and the two of you had caught your breaths. 

Josh’s hands went to cradle your face. “My sweet, special girl...” He whispered, making your heart ache a little. He still sounded exhausted, and for a moment your mind went back to why you had insisted on resting today in the first place. He caught onto your worry, of course, and was quick to comfort you. “Thank you, baby, so, so much. You are so fucking amazing, that was so fucking amazing.”

You smiled down at him, tilting your face to kiss the inside of his palm. “Thank you, Joshy, you were too.”

“Pssht, I barely did anything-”

“Untrue, you dork. I just... wanted you to relax. And yeah, the sex was amazing, but I want today just to be a day of peace. You deserve a day of rest, a day free from stress-”

He shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing slightly in worry. “Oh, honey... my sweet girl. Always looking out for me. I promise I won’t leave this bed today. And neither will you. I know...” He let out a deep sigh, “I know I’ve been working a lot. And you know I hate being away from you, and I’m not trying to guilt you...” His eyes searched your face as his mind searched for the right words. 

You didn’t let him answer, because you understood that he understood. You hadn’t exactly had the intentions of getting him to say that he was overworking himself, you had just wanted a day off to rest. It was what he deserved and the both of you knew it, even if his hard-working spirit had made him push any feelings of self-soothing down. After a while you moved off of him, returning to your earlier position where he cuddled up to your side. You spent the day listening to music, watching Josh’s favorite movies, and, of course, making love to each other with as little effort as possible. At the end of the night the two of you laid tangled in each other’s arms, noses touching. 

“Thank you for today, darling.” Josh whispered to you. “I promise I’ll try and take it easier, okay? I could definitely use more days like these.

You nodded, rubbing your nose against his. You gave him one last kiss before whispering back, “Anytime, Josh.”

#josh x reader #josh kiszka #josh gvf #josh kiszka x reader #josh kiszka smut #josh kiszka fanfiction #josh kiszka fic #GVF #gvf x reader #gvf smut #gvf fanfiction

[joesalw]

Oh man... that dancing is truly something. Good for the choreographer and the dancers though, the check is fat and they didn't have to overexert themselves. I think that Mandy made the choreo so Taylor can keep up without seemingly struggling and look like the ecocidal billionaire princess she is. I personally don't think that she has any interest in dance. She only does it so the show doesn't look as boring. She doesn't have Adele's natural charisma to pull off a stadium show without dancing. And doesn't have the moves to do so without having pipes. This woman's just mediocre no matter who you compare her with. Olivia Rodrigo is a good lyricist too especially if we're comparing Taylor's work at Olivia's age to 'SOUR' and 'GUTS'. She's certainly a better vocalist than TS, has enough acting chops to act out a performance and is far more confident when she dances (I hadn't seen much though). She's sort of Alanis' regen. No wonder TS felt threatened when Olivia blew up. I'm curious to see if she'll turn on that Sabrina girl if she ever blows up.

I also wonder what kind of tantrum she'll throw when she loses that AOTY Grammy. Especially if she loses to Olivia. There's no shot she's winning it with THAT. I mean, even Beyonce constantly gets snubbed in that category with far better and diverse material that actually sounds like an album and not a bunch of singles thrown together. Mariah Carey doesn't have one either and Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' also didn't get it. I also think that '1989' Grammy wasn't deserved. Kendrick should've won. Period. And Beyonce's Renaissance lost because Grammy voters thought that 'she has too many already'. I mean, maybe I'm biased because I'm a Beyhive but the transitions that album has, the cultural impact it has, the history of the genre. I mean, who in their right mind would make a house music album in the year of 2022? Also the genre is built on using the samples. And she did it so marvellously where you couldn't really tell that it was sampled at all without REALLY listening to the original. House is also pretty much the gay music. She brought the ballroom culture back to the forefront and made it and the queer community the centre of the tour. Add the top notch vocal production that she did HERSELF on top of that and she still lost simply because the voters we're like 'nah, she's won one too many already'.

Meanwhile not one of Swift's album had made quite an impact as 'Back to Black', 'Lemonade', 'To Pimp a Butterfly', 'Renaissance', MJ's 'Bad' all of which hadn't won and Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of The Moon' which wasn't even nominated. All of Taylor's albums were tailored to the most popular aesthetic at the time. She didn't make shit popular, she just adapted. Especially when she made the transition into pop music. The hipster thing in 2012, the tumblr and polaroid aesthetic in 2014, cottagecore in 2020. Girl, please. The only original thing about her is her birth certificate information. Even her southern accent in her country days was fake.

I was a casual fan until this year when she chose to publicly parade and profess love to her nazi boo.

Excuse me for the long ass rant and thank you for your service x

#anti taylor swift #adele #beyonce #olivia rodrigo

[maximwtf]

izzy hands x reader where the reader also served in the navy with izzy. reader has chronic pain and izzy helps them through a particularly painful flare up after overexerting their energy.

Izzy x Reader

words: 1600

google docs pages: 3

warnings: Slight s2 spoilers (I think :”D), smoking, back pain, platonic relationship, hurt/comfort

opening: Blackbeard was back as he used to be, but so was the fierce work no one truly missed. You could endure it, but at some point it became too much, causing a flare up. 

AN// Reader can be any gender! I wasn’t sure what kind of chronic pain you meant, so I went with what I was most familiar with myself. Thank you for the request, I had fun writing this! I hope you like it ^^ (Also take this as a peace offering for the angst I’m going to write next) Requests for him are still very much open!

 “Peace of mind”

Izzy had worked alongside you for as long as you could remember. You had both joined Blackbeard’s crew around the same time; and during the time there so far you had seen Izzy get the position as first mate, seen crew members die and watched Blackbeard change. Stede had come along at some point, and as much as you were used to ignoring people coming on the ship and leaving alive or dead, this one didn’t seem to budge. He stayed and even your stubborn mind could see that he had brought change along his arrival. Blackbeard wasn’t acting the same as before. Sometimes he’d dress differently, behave and talk differently and most of all, it felt like the ship had two captains from time to time which didn’t fit in the ideology of a pirate ship that you had in mind. This didn’t anger you though, not in the way that it seemed to irritate Izzy. He’d often come to you and complain for hours after he’d gotten nowhere with trying to convince Blackbeard to get rid of this man who called himself the gentleman pirate. 

Just as you had kept telling Izzy that Stede would eventually leave, he did. But what came back as Blackbeard was someone else other than the man you’d known him as before. Soon after his return Izzy had gotten his foot injured and refused to tell you what had happened, making you only assume how Edward was now acting. You tried to help him, but he’d become a little more distant as time went on. Which hurt you, but there was no time to think about that. Blackbeard was attacking so many ships and taking in so much treasure from those ships that the crew barely had time to rest. At that point it wasn’t just izzy who looked more than a little disheveled, it was the whole crew. Everyone was exhausted and at this point some even felt bad for the acts they had performed under Blackbeard's command. And you were no different from them.

No different, up until this point. Blackbeard had started to command for the crew to start throwing some of the treasure overboard, since he needed to make more space for new treasure to fit in. It had already been a strain on your back to carry the items in, but to carry them back out at a rather fast phase sounded like it wouldn’t end well for you. The back pain had started off as light, small stings of pain whenever you worked. And you’d ignored it, shrugged it off as something that would pass even if you internally knew what was coming if you kept this up. The feeling was all too familiar, and the part of you that was aware of this also knew that one day you’d wake up and the pain would be much more intense. But you pretended not to know this, because you didn’t want to imagine what would happen if you stopped working for a while and Blackbeard caught you slacking off. Izzy was also aware of your condition, most of the time a little more aware than you had ever been about it. You hadn’t even wanted to admit to yourself when Izzy had suggested that maybe the back pain was chronic, even if he’d been correct. You didn’t want to be known as that injured person in your unit. And that conversation happened long before this moment. 

Yet another night was setting in, and the sea seemed empty, thankfully. No ships meant no fighting and that gave the crew time to rest. And so most of the people took advantage of that and were sleeping wherever they could, giving you time to be alone on the main deck. Your back hurt, and moving made it so much more worse so you had given up and leaned your whole body weight on a mast pole. The heavy boxes of treasure you’d carried today and the days before were the last straw, and this was the flare up that followed. Crouching down at this point was not even an option, and so you leaned your head against the mast and took a drag from the cigarette you held between your fingers, blowing the smoke into the cool sea air. The pain was bringing your mood down, further down than it had already been buried with the work and atmospehere on the ship. 

As another shaky breath of smoke left you, the sound of someone arriving on the main deck rang in the silence of the night. The person made their way to the mast, stopping behind you. “You’re spending the time to rest well.” He said, the voice revealing who the person was. Of course Izzy had come to see where you were. “I was about to come down soon.” You took another drag from the cigarette, turning to give the rest to Izzy but the movement made you groan before Izzy’s hand made contact with yours, taking the cigarette. You didn’t want to look at him again, leaning back against the pole. That had been enough to alert him of the flare up, and you knew he wasn’t going to leave you alone after that. “You moron, I told you to fucking leave the heavy work to someone else.” He said, voice stern but you knew he was worried, which you hated. He looked half dead most of the time when he came back from a visit with Blackbeard, yet he found it in him to worry for you. Maybe that was the small part that was left of his past self, still trying desperately to care for you. “I can do things just fine.” Your jaw tightened, not out of anger for his worry but out of frustration for yourself. You felt useless, even if you had done the work this was always the result. Even the standing hurt, as simple of a task as that was. 

Izzy took one last drag from the cigarette, putting it out by pushing it against the mast, leaving a black mark on it. “Come on, I’ll cover for you as long as you need me to.” He turned around, your gaze followed him. He was expecting you to follow him, but you didn’t just yet. He was limping, worse than before. The feeling of worry over him eased out the scowl from your face, following him all the way to his quarters. He took breaks while walking, turning to check on you but not saying anything. 

You entered his quarters first, looking at the bed before drawing in a breath and sitting down with a groan. It hurt, and it felt like it wasn’t even getting better than this. No matter how much time you thought had passed, this always happened after a certain amount of work. And recently it had started to feel like the amount of work you could endure had begun to be smaller and smaller. And if now Izzy got himself in trouble for covering your work, that would be your fault too. An overwhelmed sob escaped, and soon another. You’d feel embarrassed if this was the first time you’d broken down in front of him, but it wasn’t. This was just another flare up to the collection of many that he’d been there for. “Come on now, look here.” He said, voice a little further away as he tried to grab something from under his bed. “Fuck off.” You groaned, keeping your eyes closed, but it didn’t block the tears from making their way down your cheeks. “I know ye think this is again it, but you’ve made it this far…” He said, the sentence sounding like he had drifted off while looking for the item and forgotten to say the rest. “So how about we talk?” He finished, voice a little more awkward. Had he picked that up from Stede? You grinned slightly, opening your eyes as the tears kept making their way down. “As a crew?” You joked. Talking things out as a crew had become somewhat of a joke for the two of you, after listening to Izzy rant about how much he despised the change Stede had brought. “Sure.” He shrugged, more amused by your attitude now and willing to keep it up. “Rum?” The first mate asked, turning to you with the bottle he had found. He reached out with his free hand and wiped away the tears racing down, but before he was able to pull away you took a hold of his wrist. “Please.” Came out as more of a whisper, his thumb caressed the top of your hand a couple of times. Izzy corked the bottle, handing it to you. “There you are.” The first mate said, almost silent enough for you to miss it. There weren’t many things on the ship anymore that brought you back to the surface, but Izzy had stuck around for reasons you could not name. But it made you feel better. Things could be worse, and the pain would pass. It was okay for now. 

AN// I'm sorry if there are any spelling errors, even though I did proof read this. I'm too hyped to write for this man to hold back anything I write to double check everything XD

#Izzy Hands #Izzy Hands x Reader #israel hands #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd x reader #our flag means death x reader #x reader #fanfic #izzy hands beloved #yar har I love pirates #fanfiction #end of s2 was fucked up and I'm distraught from it #keep the requests coming #I want to write more for him

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

Managed to crank out a new chapter.

Only took...literal eons.

Okay maybe not that long but it fckin felt like it 😵

Anywho.

OPLA!Mihawk x OC

Previous Chapter Link

Chapter 1 Link

Chapter 7: Intrigue and Intimidation

Word Count: 4.8k

Tags: Slow-burn, Enemies to Lovers, eventually NSFW, uh, if I think of more I'll add them or something

After having her sloop sunk by the Buggy Pirates and losing most of her worldly possessions in the process, the normally solitary mercenary Karimi Lionne finds herself teaming up with the rag-tag little crew that is the Strawhat Pirates to defeat them. She bonds with them far more quickly than she bargained for, and that quickly turns into a problem for the Kiku Kiku no Mi devil fruit user when she learns of Nami's plans to leave them high and dry, and Zoro issues a challenge at Baratie that he very likely won't live long enough to regret.

At least two more hours passed, as the sparring bordered on legitimate physical torture; there was no way the swordsman couldn’t tell Karimi was bordering on losing consciousness by the end of it, able to do no more than stumble forward and make a half-hearted swipe with one of her daggers. She halfway wondered if this wouldn’t end until she did pass out from overexertion.

“Enough.”

The second he swiped her dagger away with his knife, the second that word left his mouth, she collapsed to her knees and fell backward onto the grass. Mihawk watched her for a moment as he sheathed his own knife and fixed the cord back around his neck again, giving a small scoff at the pitiful sight of her—hair darkened and dampened with sweat, face reddened under her freckles, shoving her daggers back into their sheaths and pulling her hat down over her face as she expelled a heavy sigh.

Nevertheless, she had performed decently—perhaps better than he had expected her to.

“You did well,” he said after a moment. “I’ve seen worse, at any rate.” His eyes passed up and down her briefly, her chest still rising and falling heavily as she lay limp on the grass. “Though your stamina could use work.”

“I’m hung over. And I haven’t eaten in almost twenty-four hours,” she said tersely, still catching her breath. She swallowed. “I…I’m just gonna…gonna stay here.”

“No, you won’t.” She gave a growl of annoyance—and then lifted her arm, extended her middle finger briefly, and let the limp fall back to the ground heavily. Mihawk rolled his eyes skyward—she might be of some use as an associate, but if her attitude didn’t adjust soon he might simply end up pushing her over the side of his boat and watching her sink. “Your dear friend made mention that dinner will be at five o’clock. That gives you perhaps an hour to get yourself cleaned up.”

“Why don’t you go off and play a nice game of hide and go fuck yours—” Her own cry of alarm cut her words off when Mihawk, having heard quite enough, stooped down and pulled her roughly to her feet by her wrist. Her hand flew immediately to that wretched old hat, fixing it back in place atop her head. “What are—excuse me—”

But Mihawk was already lifting her up over his shoulder. “If you insist on acting like a child, you will be treated like one.”

“I’m not a sack of potatoes,” she complained—but there didn’t seem to be enough strength left in her to put up a fight over it with anything more than words.

“Roughly as useful as one,” he said under his breath.

“Potatoes are plenty useful. All the ways they can be prepared, makes for a decent projectile weapon in a pinch—”

“Would you be quiet?”

“If you’re going to treat me like I child I’m going to act like one,” she said, and even had the nerve to make a cruel mockery of his tone. He could practically hear the girl smirking, and for more than a brief moment he considered simply dropping her.

“Or I could end your life right now,” he suggested.

“Just make it quick and painless, if you don’t mind.”

She truly seemed to have an answer for everything—an answer, a taunt, an insult, as if she truly had no reservations at all that he truly could end her life with ease, without an ounce of hesitation. As if she simply didn’t care. Irritating though she was, that had briefly piqued his interest from their first meeting. She had said the same words there on the docks like a joke, to make it quick and painless, but had shown legitimate fear only minutes later when he seized her by her neck.

“Do you not fear death at all?” he asked, almost incredulously, after a long pause.

Karimi leaned back against the front door of the mansion when he set her back upon her feet near the entrance, and gave a slight shrug.

“I’m already living on borrowed time, anyway.”

And, as if that were a perfectly reasonable response, she simply turned and pulled the door open, heading inside without another word on the subject. It took another long moment for Mihawk to process her statement, frowning at the open doorframe as she disappeared into a room off to the left of the sprawling foyer. There was every chance she was doing this on purpose—that she thought he would be less likely to kick her to the curb if he had some interest in her.

There was every chance she was listening to his thoughts to decide exactly how to manipulate him toward that interest. It was impossible to discretely tell whether her haki was active or not at any given time, with her dark green curls covering the black pinpricks just behind her ears that signified it was in use. This was an issue he would have to find a way to deal with—and quickly.

Karimi heard the front door shut several seconds after she had entered herself, reasonably pleased that she had evidently blindsided the warlord. She might not have been able to best him in physical combat, but she had no issue wielding words against him—and the true beauty of it was didn’t even need to use her devil fruit powers to do so.

She found Kaya in the parlor off to the left of the foyer, sitting in an armchair with her feet curled under her and a book open in her lap. Karimi knocked lightly at the doorframe as she spoke up. “We’re done. Finally. Same room as last time?”

“Yes, that’s fine with—oh, heavens,” said Kaya when she looked up and caught sight of Karimi—drenched in sweat, still catching her breath a bit, drying blood caked on her cheek and grass stains on her white shirt and tan shorts. “Are…are you…?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” she said dismissively. “Just exhausted. Wanted to get in a bath before dinner, for…” She looked down at herself pointedly, grimacing a bit at the sight of the stains on her shirt and shorts. She didn’t own many clothes anymore, only what she had managed to salvage from her ship before it sank, and she was fairly certain at least this shirt was ruined now. That was just wonderful. She gave a sigh. “For obvious reasons.”

“Y…yes, of course,” said Kaya, a bit weakly, still staring at her with wide, astonished eyes. “W—were you sparring this entire time?” Karimi gave a nod. “It’s been nearly four hours, how are you still standing?”

“Stubbornness and sheer force of will?” she offered—her legs honestly felt like they were made of jelly at this point, so it wasn’t too far from the truth. She laughed a little. “So anyway…” She nodded toward the stairs. “Bath. I’ll show our local lord the guest quarters. Best you have limited contact with him. He has all the tact of a ill-mannered housecat.”

Kaya’s eyes grew a bit wider at that. Darted, for a fleeting moment, to just over Karimi’s shoulder, before returning to her eyes.

On glancing over her own shoulder Karimi noted that the warlord was standing just behind her, arms crossed, his impatient countenance indicating that he had definitely heard her description of him. She sighed to herself, looking back at Kaya, and gave a quick smile. “Excuse me a moment.” She turned then to face Mihawk, crossed her own arms and leaned her shoulder into the doorframe, quickly glancing up and down him. “You have all the tact of a ill-mannered housecat.”

The warlord blinked at her slowly for a moment, his expression unchanged. Then he rolled his eyes toward the high ceiling for a moment. “And you possess the decorum equivalent of a poorly trained circus ape.” His eyes returned to hers as she raised her eyebrows, pursing her lips. “The guest rooms, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, your lordship,” she said tersely. She turned, gave Kaya a pleasant smile and a wave. The smile that Kaya returned appeared more than a little strained. Karimi was sure the girl was beginning to regret inviting them to stay, even if only for the night. Karimi started toward the stairs, adding, “Right this way for the grand tour, your eminency—”

“Oh for the love of…” She smirked herself as she heard him grumble behind her in irritation. “Why exactly do you insist upon being such an insolent brat?”

“Largely because I resent the entire idea of this arrangement and I would like to be able to go back in time and retract my offer,” she said coldly, gripping the railing tightly as she ascended the grand staircase to assist in pushing her weakened muscles forward. If she could just make it as far as her room and get a bath drawn to soak in for a while, she would be fine. She was sure of it. “But also because it’s entertaining.”

Mihawk didn’t bother speaking to her any further as she led the way through the sprawling mansion. She indicated the door to the dressing room when they passed it, indicated the hall of guest bedrooms, and slipped away into her own room without another word or taunt. The very first thing she did was fall into the queen-sized bed at the center of the room, groaning quietly and setting her hat aside to pull a pillow over her face.

That was where she spent the next several minutes, both unwilling and nearly unable to move, idly hoping that perhaps if she remained lying atop the fluffy comforter she might sink completely into it and simply vanish in a puff of abysmal luck. The exhaustion was far more than only physical. An entire year serving that jackass meant an entire year that she couldn’t focus on her own goal, her only goal, and it would slip that much further away from her. Not that she was remotely close to it, anyway—the longer she searched, the more uncertain everything seemed.

It took every ounce of her will to pull herself back to her feet, trudge into the adjoining bathroom, and begin running a bath.

She was nearly late making it downstairs to dinner, tugging at the low neckline of the shimmering dark green dress she had changed into—off shoulder, but with long sleeves to cover the scars across her arm, a conversation point that she didn’t particularly enjoy taking part in. Kaya at least hadn’t come downstairs yet, so she couldn’t have been too late.

No, the only people in the foyer were a couple of the staff passing through toward the kitchen and dining room, and the new bane of her existence. Leaning one elbow against the banister of the stairs and holding a glass of wine by its stem, the warlord had changed into a white shirt with a ruffled collar, half unbuttoned and tucked into a pair of black pants, a dark red cape draped over his shoulders, though his plumed hat and heavy boots remained unchanged.

Kaya’s whisper from earlier, when she had first introduced the girl to him, rand in her head for a moment—Well, he is quite handsome, isn’t he?—before she shoved it away, rolling her eyes as she passed him and made for the table holding a few bottles of wine and crystal glasses. She set down her tricorne and leather satchel on the table, the latter containing a change of clothes so she could get out of the dress as soon as dinner was done with; and then she uncorked the already opened bottle of Pinot Blanc and set to pouring a glass about halfway full.

“You look like a houseplant.”

Karimi gritted her teeth at the sound of his voice and tipped the wine bottle again, filling the glass nearly to its rim. She glanced at Mihawk as she shoved the cork back into the bottle, as the warlord’s gaze passed pointedly from curly green hair hanging over one of her shoulders to her short green dress—and briefly down the length of her legs, just long enough for her face to heat up in irritation. Irritation, and absolutely nothing else. Karimi mimed the action, her own eyes remaining on the definition of his muscles visible between the open lapels of his shirt for a moment, before meeting his gaze.

“You look like an arrogant prick,” she said, and took a sip from her glass. “But what else is new.”

Quite handsome, isn’t he?

She turned away from him, leaning back against the table and rolling her eyes away from his piercing tallow gaze. No, He was an infuriating jerk, and nothing more.

“Oh, dear, am I—?” Karimi looked over as Kaya hurried into the foyer from the dining room, hurriedly untying an apron from around her waist and glancing at the clock. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting, I thought I’d try to help in the kitchen.”

“I would have helped, too,” said Karimi, frowning. She wasn’t necessarily the best cook, but she had learned more than enough to get by in the past six years on her own, in addition to the basics she had learned from her grandmother.

“Oh, no,” said Kaya, shaking her head as she hung her apron on the coat rack near the door. “You’re a guest here. Besides,” she went on as she pulled her platinum hair down from the ponytail it had been tied back into, “you were half-dead on your feet an hour ago. I’m surprised you even made it downstairs.”

“Ah, few glasses of water and a nice long soak in the tub and I’m right as rain,” said Karimi, waving a hand dismissively. It wasn’t entire true—she was sore all over, and the heels on her borrowed black pumps weren’t doing any favors for the ache and tightness of her calf muscles—but she had definitely endured much worse in far less favorable settings. She glanced behind her and picked up the open bottle of Pinot Blanc, giving it a light shake. “Wine?”

Kaya bit her lip a moment, hesitating. “Well, I…haven’t ever really…”

“Oh, then you have to,” said Karimi, setting her own glass down and pulling the cork from the bottle. She picked up an empty glass, “How else can we toast your newfound freedom from oppression?”

She chuckled a little at that. “Oh…fine, then. But not too much?” She glanced at Karimi’s overfull glass, lifting her eyebrows pointedly.

“Just a drop,” agreed Karimi, filling the glass just short of half-full before passing it over to Kaya.

“You shouldn’t overdo it, either,” said the younger girl, taking the glass with a small, concerned frown. “As much as you overexerted yourself earlier. I would hate to see you sick all night.”

“Oh, no,” Karimi laughed as she shoved the cork back into the bottle once more. ”If I managed to get sick after one glass of wine my grandmother would rise from her grave just to laugh in my face.”

Mihawk glanced over at that, as she and Kaya clinked their glasses together in their toast. This wasn’t the first time she had mentioned her grandmother—she had said in passing that the woman had perhaps trained her in haki, or at the very least used it herself to dampen Karimi’s devil fruit power.

Kaya saved him the trouble of pressing the subject himself after taking a small sip of wine. “Your grandmother sounds like quite an interesting woman,” she said, smiling. “You said she raised you?”

“Mmhmm,” hummed Karimi, through the swing of wine she had just taken the moment her grandmother was mentioned. Mihawk kept his eyes trained onto her face as she swallowed; onto her eyes, as she turned them downward for a moment.” Taught me everything she knew. She was a tough old broad. Wouldn’t be here without her.” She leaned back against the table, lifting her gaze again. “So what are we doing for dinner? I recall you mentioning you hadn’t been able to eat fish since your so-called illness,”

And just like that, as though it had never even been mentioned, the subject was a moot point. The way the girl evaded subjects she didn’t wish to discuss was practically artful, revealing just enough to allow her a chance to deter the asker in another direction. Regardless of how long she had spent on the sea, it was clear she had spent some great deal of time burying her past.

Throughout the dinner, and throughout the wine shared in the parlor after, Mihawk remained mostly silent. He spoke when spoken to, made niceties where necessary with their young host, but for the better part of it all he stayed at the desk in the parlor, quietly drafting out the contract and observing his new associate from the corner of his vision; gauging her interactions, observing how she spoke with and behaved around someone she considered herself friendly with.

Listening for discrepancies in her stories and claims.

It wasn’t long at all before Kaya turned in—though she was no longer actively being poisoned, her constitution was still far less than average, and she said she didn’t dare risk more than a small glass or two of wine. That left himself and Karimi alone in the parlor, left with Kaya’s insistence that they were welcome to enjoy the wine themselves.

“Oh, yeah, such enjoyable company…” Mihawk wasn’t surprised to hear his subordinate mutter under her breath once Kaya was out of the room. He sighed to himself and rolled his eyes toward the high ceiling, definitely not for the first time today.

“Have you always been such an insufferable brat?” he said irately, glaring over his shoulder at her. She scoffed in response, leaning back a bit further into the plush sofa and propping her boots up on the coffee table in front of her, looking more than a bit ridiculous with that tattered tricorne of hers contrasting so hideously with her off-shoulder green dress that he found himself resisting the urge to rip it from her head and toss it out the nearest window.

“Takes one to know one,” she said loftily.

He didn’t need to see her face to know the girl was smirking. It only irritated the warlord more that he found her remotely interesting—he could, and likely would, have killed her well before the day had drawn this near its end.

And yet, this did present the perfect opportunity to question her. “Do tell me.” He set his pen down lightly and pushed his chair away from the desk, standing slowly. “Six or eight?”

“Excuse me?” she said amid a sigh, swilling her wine glass around a little before taking a slow sip of the deep burgundy liquid.

“Eight,” he said, slowly approaching the back of the sofa, “or six? I recall you mentioned having six years’ experience on the sea…” He stopped just behind the sofa, crossing his arms as he looked down at her, her face concealed by that ridiculous hat, “and then saying it was eight a few hours earlier.”

“I said I have six years’ experience as a mercenary,” she corrected. “And eight at sea in total.”

“Then you didn’t jump straight into a life of murder for hire?” She gave another small sigh, this one of clear irritation. She swiped her hat off of her head and pinched at the bridge of her nose as she set it on the end table beside the arm of the couch, tilting her head back to look up at him.

“No,” she said firmly, “I didn’t.”

Her answers were as short as her small stature, as usual. She scowled a little when he lifted an eyebrow, lowering her head and her gaze from his once more as he spoke again. “And what were you doing those first two years?”

“I was with a crew.” She crossed her arms, and while she still lounged back in the couch, there was a small degree of tension in her voice, in the slight squaring of her shoulders. “We parted on decent enough terms, but I had my own plans and they had theirs. I haven’t been in contact with them since.”

“What crew?”

“No one important.”

Mihawk stared down at the girl for a long moment, his eyebrow still quirked. The way she deflected questions, his questions, without a flicker of discernible fear, still astounded him. He turned just enough to grab his wine glass from the desk behind him, giving a small scoff, a small shake of his head. “You either have nerves of steel or the intelligence of a thumbtack, little one,” he commented, and downed the last sip of his wine. He circled slowly around the sofa, to were the open bottle of cabernet sat upon the coffee table where her feet were propped up, slipped out of her black shoes and covered by dark nylon stockings.

Her eyes turned to him briefly in a glare, before she finished off her glass and tilted her head back, pointedly looking away from him.

His eyes remained on her, however.

The short, form-fitting dress accentuated her figure far better than her usual loose-fitting shirts and shorts, a figure was certainly easy on the eyes. His gaze drifted up the length of her slender legs covered in sheer dark nylon as he filled his glass; over the curve of her hip, the swell of her breasts and the slope of her bare shoulders as he set the bottle back down lightly. Perhaps part of it stemmed from the few glasses of wine he had consumed since dinner, but the thought passed through his mind that he wouldn’t object to having such a pretty little thing warming his bed that night.

He picked the wine bottle back up, his sharp eyes lingering on her neck as he rounded the side of the sofa again—more particularly, on the grizzly scar spanning across the pale skin, from her throat to perhaps an inch short of a major artery. He hadn’t noticed it before now, hadn’t really paid the mercenary’s appearance much mind, and the scar would have normally been shadowed by her thick hair and her chin.

Perhaps an inch further, and whatever blade had inflicted that scar may have also taken her life.

Interesting.

Karimi jumped slightly, glancing over sharply, when Mihawk tilted the bottle over the edge of her own glass where she had it resting at the arm of the sofa and refilled it himself. He set the bottle down on the end table by her hat, leaning against the sofa with an elbow draped over the back, the stem of his wine glass resting between his middle and index fingers, his eyes still glued to her neck.

She tensed when he reached out and brushed his knuckles across the soft skin, growing stiff as a statue and pulling in a sharp breath as they grazed lightly over the scar. “And what precisely,” he said, his voice low, almost intimate, “is the story behind this, little bird?”

“First and only time a Marine got a hold of me,” she said stiffly, gritting her teeth against the words.

And more interesting by the second—perhaps an explanation for why she so despised Marines, why she had grown more and more obviously uncomfortable the closer they drew to Garp’s ship earlier in the day.

“And where is this Marine now?” he inquired, his tone tinged with the slightest amusement at how some of her tension lifted the moment his touch moved away from her scar, a slow sigh parting her dark red lips. She closed her eyes as he brushed a few locks of her dark green hair behind her ear before lowering his hand back to his side.

She swallowed, and said, just as curtly, “Dead.”

“Your doing?”

“His own actions resulted in his death.”

“Hmm.” It wasn’t a real answer—of course it wasn’t. She might have killed him, or she might not have, and it seemed she had no intention of clarifying. That was fine for now, he decided, watching as she straightened her posture and took a long drink from her glass.

A little more wine and her tongue might begin to loosen.

She set her glass down on the end table, and his eyes followed the movement…and landed on that tattered old leather tricorne.

“And what of this eyesore?” He lifted the hat, turning it over in his hand, briefly taking in the patch on the front brim, two more on the back. “Looks as though it could use replacing—”

And in one quick and frankly graceful motion, Karimi was on her feet, one of her daggers drawn from her belt laying on the coffee table, the point of the blade poised just under his chin.

“Hands. Off,” she growled, snatching the hat away with her free hand, her emerald green eyes boring a deadly glare into his own gaze. For a long moment, he could only stare at the girl, utterly taken aback at her audacity as she shoved the hat back down onto the end table. Maybe the wine was already showing its effect on her, if she was stupid enough to physically threaten him.

He scoffed as his initial astonishment broke, shaking his head at her and setting his wine glass down lightly.

And then he grabbed hold of her wrist, twisting it aside with enough force that she winced in pain and dropped her dagger, where it landed with a muffled thud a few inches to the right of her foot.

Just as quickly as she had drawn her blade, Karimi was shoved down to the sofa—one of his knees held down both of her legs, one hand pinned both of her delicate wrists over her head and against the armrest. His other gripped the hilt of kogatana, pressing the flat of the blade against her neck, aligned with the scar already spanning across it. She swallowed, glancing down at the blade, before returning her gaze to his eyes—and while her stare remained defiant and her jaw set, there was the smallest flicker of fear evident in how her breathing quickened just a little.

Once more she swallowed as he leaned in closer, close enough that he could feel the warmth of her trembling sigh brush across his own lips, smell the wine on her breath, the wide brim of his hat casting a shadow over her face.

“You might find it in your best interest to never threaten me again, little bird.”

Despite his low and threatening tone, and despite the growing anxiousness in her emerald eyes, she kept up her act of defiance.

“Then don’t touch it,” she said through her teeth.

“Oh?” She drew in a slow quivering breath as he pressed the flat side of the blade a bit more firmly to the delicate skin of her neck. “In case you have forgotten already,” he said slowly, “for the next year you belong to me.” He lifted kogatana from her neck, turning the knife in his hand. She openly flinched as he brought it down toward her face, turning her head away slightly and finally breaking her gaze away from his. He smirked, and simply brushed a few strands of her hair away from her forehead with the edge of the blade. “You are in no position to be giving me orders.”

“Fine.” Though she still spoke through gritted teeth, her voice shook the slightest bit, and the rosy flush growing beneath her freckles seemed to be from more than just the alcohol she had consumed. “Then please don’t touch my hat, sir.”

Sarcastic, of course—Mihawk had more than expected that. It seemed to be her go-to defense mechanism, even in situations where it could get her into more trouble than it could pull her out of it. It was her obvious unease that was the true reward here. He gave a brief nod, pulling his blade back.

“Better.”

And with that he released her hands, standing from the sofa and straightening his hat as he strolled back over to the end table and lifted his wine glass again, taking a sip as he watched her draw in a deep breath and let it out as a slow sigh, her eyes closing for a moment. She swallowed, and stood abruptly herself.

Picked up her wine glass, downed it in a few gulps, and refilled it.

Retrieved her belt and satchel from the coffee table, her hat from the end table, her dagger from the floor, and glared straight into his eyes, her pale complexion still tinged with an almost scarlet flush.

“Good night,” she snapped.

And she stormed out of the parlor without another word or glance toward the warlord.

#mihawk #mihawk opla #opla #one piece #mihawk one piece #opla fan fiction #one piece fan fiction #mihawk x OC #fan fiction #dracule mihawk

[aspiring-writer-hidden-voice]

BOTW Link X F!Reader ~ Pt. 3

You blinked as the doctor checked you over for the seemingly hundredth time despite your assurances. A grunt sounded from the far corner, where a blonde stood with his back all that was visible, a sign that you should simply let the examination continue without complaint. If it was the last one then fine. With a sigh, you forced your body to relax while keeping a close eye upon the medical practitioner’s hands when they drifted across your being. A warning glare was sent as the wrinkled hands made to go for your chest once more and earned an eye roll.

“Come now, I have conducted plenty of exams upon your figure during the recent illness. You have nothing to be shy about, my dear, especially when your beauty could make the goddess envious.”

It had taken nearly a whole four days for you to fight off the fever, unknowingly meaning Link had been torn between caring for you and searching for Epona. Waking to find him at your bedside brought you more relief than the medication when finding the swordsman to be wiping away salty beads of sweat with a cloth. What you didn’t know was how he had refused to sleep so as to better care for your needs the entire time resulting in the developing shadows beneath his eyes. Palm fruit though, thanks to the local women, had worked wonders in making them disappear without him having to sacrifice leaving your side for rest. Which had felt necessary since this particular doctor seemed to have wandering hands.

“By the goddess—explain yourself!” The elderly man suddenly snapped, making you jump and Link to nearly turn around when you exclaimed due to wrinkled fingers roughly removing the bandages upon your fingers. Azure eyes briefly shone with warning when they locked upon the doctor’s gaze which had moved to fixate upon him. “Are you responsible for these?! How dare you force such a fine young woman as she to such difficult manual labor! Delicate flowers such as her should be treasured and gifted the finest of clothes, jewels so bright even the Gorons may want to taste them. I’ll even venture a guess that you somehow convinced her to travel with you by false promises! Or possible blackmail!” Horror filled his weathered features. “And here we are supposed to believe that you are—!”

“Apologize.”

Those blue eyes widened when you quickly withdrew your hands and fixed the loosely opened blouse back into place while standing. A strange shadow had fallen over your eyes at the man’s tone while addressing him. It didn’t bother the blonde one bit that the doctor had jumped to conclusions, for it was true that he was to blame and had been resolved to take whatever consequences would come along with the rigorous training. He had warned you at the beginning that it would not be easy yet he’d still allowed you to overexert yourself under his watch.

“Right now.”

Both of his brows furrowed at the cold tone dripping with anger that came from between your lips. His arms uncrossed when your upper lip twitched, concern filling him when your gaze suddenly resembled twin embers worthy of the Dinraal’s wrath. Never has he seen you this upset as you glared down at the elder. More often than not, like himself, you were silent and expressive in your own special way with your body language the biggest giveaway; relaxed muscles and clear eyes meant you were content, that bright star fragment rivaling shine meant you were in awe of something, gentle swaying of your body while humming or performing a task meant absolute focus was occurring, then there was when your gaze met his that earned a small smile sometimes accompanied by a playful wink if the situation called for it. This right here was completely new territory for the Champion. However it left him filled with interest intermingling with anticipation and unpredictability.

“I most certainly will not! Your fingers may very well have no prints left upon their pads!”

Fire was boiling within your veins as the doctor turned his full attention upon Link. You didn’t physically touch the elder but it was your Great Fireblade worthy gaze which caused his spectacled face to swivel back in your direction to reveal beads of sweat forming upon his brow. Repeating yourself wasn’t a habit of yours and it wasn’t about to become one as he slowly cowered underneath your glare. “Not that its any of your business, but I’m with him by choice. So don’t insult him anymore than you already have.” Seconds ticked by as he stumbled for words until, after nearly ten minutes, an apology finally wormed its way between his wrinkled lips.

All tension within the room magnified when you wordlessly gathered your things then departed after placing some rupees upon the examination table that you’d vacated. The swordsman noticed there was more than the doctor’s fee but chose to not address it as he followed your steps. He found you sitting upon a cliff overlooking Lurelin Village, the faintest traces of moisture clinging to your lashes. It hadn’t rained so that left only one conclusion. A soft sigh slipped from between his lips as he settled to your left, leaving a few inches of space between where his knee was and yours, most of his weight upon the palms of both hands extended backwards while legs were tucked beneath him. Against your shoulder came the briefest of brushes courtesy of his shoulder, Are you alright?

Humiliation threatened to bubble within your chest, filling you with the want to hide.

Calm azure eyes briefly flashed amusement when you groaned lowly while leaning until the ground met your back, turning his head so as to keep you within sight. Here was yet another new facial expression and exhibition of emotion from you. Shyness was not one of your frontal personality traits so seeing the attempt to hide a clearly burning blush was oddly entertaining, and fascinating, to him. That was when he noticed what had earned the doctor’s reaction.

Your fingers were scared heavily from swinging swords much too heavy and notching feathered arrows on strings with too much tension within the wood. Smooth skin was now heavily calloused, almost more than his own, splits within the pads that looked incredibly painful. It was a wonder that you’d been able to use them at all.

So distracted had he been that the Hylian failed to notice you’d shifted onto your side facing him fully, tilting your head when his gaze darkened slightly. This time it was your hand that reached out to tap his bicep. I’m okay, the lingering touch portrayed, but it looks like you’ve got something on your mind.

The touch, though gentler than a crane’s feather against his skin, earned an expression that left you nearly breathless as his hand cupped your own. It raised your hand until the tips of your fingers were eye level. Too much, he directed your gaze to them then pointedly bore into your eyes with his azure, don’t push yourself like this again. Though his gaze was stern it also held genuine concern for your wellbeing, as did the gentle hold he had upon your hand. Sun dried leather alternately teased your skin when it wasn’t brushed by his own as each finger was individually showcased until every digit was aligned with one of Link’s own. The span of your palms met fully as his much more calloused fingers spread yours as far as they could.

Who did that racing pulse belong to which could be felt: you or him?

Every second that the two of you remained like this it felt as though something was taking hold in a warming grasp, impulsing you to sit up and him to fully face you.

What appeared to be shards of sapphire subtly reflected the sunlight as gravity seemed to pull at you both, coming closer until slivers of aquamarine and flecks of nightshade could be made out as duo rings around each pupil. They were more breathtaking than the ocean itself, as endless as the sky above, far more mysterious that the fabled Satori. Never had you seen such eyes that spoke in such a way. Words could never hope to be near as expressive than those eyes but it didn’t mean they weren’t necessary. “I’m relieved that you’re better.” He slowly, softly, said, as if whispering any louder would disturb the spell-like atmosphere that had fallen, his free hand rising to tuck a cluster of tresses behind your ear. If not his gaze than that voice of his was enough to bewitch Wizzrobes. Like the finest cloth, it wrapped around you in an invisible embrace promising protection from all possible evil.

An apology made to rise up your throat but was prevented from becoming voiced as his hand once more cupped yours and brought it to his lips. They were much softer than expected, let alone thought possible, the hairs across your body rising slowly the longer his lips remained against your skin. Electricity sparked down your spine when they traveled downwards until every fingertip had met the junction of his mouth. All moisture was wicked from your throat as he continued onwards to the other hand, continuing to be gentle in bestowing near Summerwing butterfly gentle kisses to each finger.

Like your hooded gaze, the lids of his eyes had gradually fallen ever so slightly with each brush of your flesh against his lips. Deep within his bones rose a warmth that made every drop of blood vibrate. And that was before he caught sight of your once flabbergasted expression now turned into something borderline intimate appreciation interwoven with affection and something he didn’t recognize. Did he dare call it akin to desire? No, it was much more special than that. A slight tug on your hand brought you even closer, this time close enough that your breaths intermixed to waft the other’s face, initial fascination and curiosity giving way to a completely unfamiliar emotion as your gaze, just for a second, dropped to his mouth.

Both of you parted in unison, moment interrupted, when the sound of laughter came from nearby. A figure dressed in red with a white mask raised a sickle that promised to fatally wound whoever met its blade. “You will pay for what you’ve done to Master Koga!”

A Yiga! The several stories of unfortunates who had encountered such formidable enemies rang loudly within your ears as they readied to attack. You made to stand and accept the challenge when Link took a protective stance, the same hand that had been in contact with yours briefly rising to tap his eye’s corner while glancing over his shoulder to meet your gaze.

Watch and learn, those azure eyes of his conveyed as the smallest confident smirk raised his lips, even you can beat these guys if you know their weaknesses.

…

Night had fallen, leaving the two of you to find shelter within the village once more at his insistence. However the current predicament made even the swordsman’s ear tips tint pink as you nervously stepped through the single entrance of the room. Most of the rupees within either of your possessions had been used to replenish supplies or replace clothing ruined by the ocean’s salt.

Meaning that there was enough leftover which could be used for a room where the two of you were required to share.

He remained focused upon organizing of inventory as you went about preparing for bed. Of course there was only one bed, meaning that he assumed you would lay claim to it and was fine sleeping beside the window in case of intruders. Very rarely did he ever sleep soundly within an inn anyway. Or sleep at all for that matter. Traveling alone had practically robbed him of any possible rest because he was so on edge about attacks and such. Azure eyes widened in surprise when instead of settling within the bed your arms appeared from over his shoulders to lay flat against the span of his chest. The heat of your breath tickled his ear as you eased him backwards until the chair’s back met his, both arms that had been busy falling still upon the table.

Interesting choice of action on your part.

This position was bizarre to Link. He’d seen several of Zelda’s personal servants or closest friends do similar with the fair Princess of Hyrule. Is that what the two of you had become? Were you two more than simple traveling companions?

It was when he prepared to remain in this position that he felt it, a warm droplet, splatter across the bare skin of his collarbone.

“What happened never should have,” he said in that soft voice which made your chest warm, “and I apologize for putting you in danger once more.”

Anger flared within your being at his words. Before you’d even realized it, your arms retracted and the air rang with a loud smack that was your palm meeting the back of his head. The Champion was flabbergasted at your exhibition of strength when turning him, and the chair, around so that he faced you. What he had thought to be a tear was actually leftover moisture which had trickled down from your hair if those blazing embers that were your eyes were anything to go by. “Tell those inner personas of yours that this is your lifetime, not theirs, and they should back off before I find some priest or hooodou person to force them out!”

He could only blink up at you in utter shock as you continued to rant. This was a different kind of anger than earlier. You weren’t necessarily angry at him but for him. This whole scenario took a humorous turn when you grabbed hold of his shoulders while practically yelling in his ear as if those said past phantoms of heroes could hear you. “(Y/n), stop, you’ll wake—”

“I don’t care if I wake the Poes or undead monsters!”

A smile made to lift his lips when your determined eyes bore into his own.

“They have to respect that you’re the current hero, not them! It’s your life, Link, and they need to let you experience it to the fullest! That means you get to stub your toe on the table leg, run into a tree when you’re focused upon something else, take the time to enjoy a field of flowers!”

Blonde brows furrowed. “What about jumping off a cliff in a hurricane?”

Your hands shook him. “Yes! Exactly! Do what you want to do!” You paused, stilling when his words echoed within the room. “Wait, no, maybe not that.”

Laughter filled the air as you paused to take a breath. All smoke and steam that had been bubbling within you during the quick bath evaporated when seeing that it sourced from none other than Link himself. Tears were gathering within the corners of his closed eyes but there was no mistaking that the laughter was coming from deep within his being as he attempted to regain control. All of the hard lines within his face were disappearing the longer he struggled, as if each laugh was erasing one, until it was as if you were looking upon a Link who never knew the weight of worldly responsibility. This aura that threatened to blind you with how brilliant it shone was purely his.

There were no traces of those other personas.

Silence fell after nearly a minute, laughter leaving him breathless, the tears remaining as he didn’t fight when your arms returned around his neck in an embrace. His arms rose and wrapped tightly around your smaller frame until you were nearly seated within his lap. Every passing heartbeat shared between the two of you resulted in his hold increasing little by little.

Scarred fingers belonging to you found their ways up into his messy hair where they gently combed the wheat hued locks after removing the band, wordlessly accepting your fate when hearing broken apologies. “I’m sorry for yelling,” you whispered with sincerity, “and please don’t beat yourself up about what happened. They weren’t your fault, Link. You came back, remember?”

His breath hitched at your words.

It was as good an indicator than anything for you to continue. “I knew you were there, I could see you attempting to regain control, but it’s not easy fighting inward battles when facing such formidable adversaries. Wisdom comes from learning of the past and forging your own experiences. Only looking forward can we truly grow as individuals. However…” your fingers brushing against the nape of his neck encouraged him to raise his head of your chest so that your gazes met, “…no one said it had to be done alone. You’ve fought for survival all this time by yourself that maybe the goddess herself wanted to reward you for the accomplishments. I have no one either. Would it be wrong to seek comfort within each other?”

Those wide azure eyes glistened within the minimal candlelight dancing with the pale moon visible through the window. Each word that came from your mouth rang with truth that reverberated deep within his bones, as if all of the personas he’d come to know were feeling their affect, leaving him nearly tingling. Such a profound display of strength was admirable.

A forced exhale blew out the candle as you gave a slight wiggle, silent permission to be freed from his hold that was granted, and stood with a blush beginning to bloom within your cheeks. He too stood courtesy of your hand giving his a tug. Not a single protest, spoken or physical, came from the blue eyed Hylian as you led him towards the bed where you coaxed him to lay beneath the covers then climbed in beside him.

Your backs were touching, meaning neither could see the other’s face, however that didn’t stop either of you from realizing something: his head had been resting directly upon your breast.

For you there was a damp spot within the night wear you wore which had soaked up his tears.

For him there was the lingering scent of you within his nose that eventually carried him off to the realm of dreams.

Both of you slept heavily that night, only waking once the sun’s dawning light kissed your faces.

That was how you found yourself being cradled upon your side within his hold; one arm within the crook of your neck and pillow, the other around your waist that kept you near. Though a blanket had been draped over your beings it had somehow fallen to the floor; not that you needed it with how much heat had accumulated between the two of you. Both of your legs had managed to become trapped between his own while your arms were neatly tucked beneath your chin. The tunic he’d worn last night had come lose, meaning its neckline was now low enough to reveal lean muscles that spoke of rigorous training and filled your mind with the hazy memory of being carried along the shoreline to the village. Every slow breath he took caused his chest to rise then fall, his breath tickling the top of your head. Your senses were filled with the scents of musk and leather but now it seemed as though there was something else attempting to lure you closer.

As they say “curiosity killed the Chuchu”.

The sensitive skin of his neck met your nose with a slight shift of your being. Was that mahogany? Cedarwood maybe? No, both were too earthy. Perhaps…whetstone? Alarm filled you when a low grunt sounded just a split second before his larger frame completely rolled atop of yours.

Unbeknownst to you, Link was biting back a smirk as you attempted to shove him off for several seconds until giving up and laying limp beneath him. A yawn clearly for show stretched his jaw as he for a moment snuggled into your much softer being, feeling every curve of your body mold to accommodate his much leaner frame, until the faint beating of your heart could be felt. The gentle wafts of your breath against his sensitive ears threatened to send tingles down his spine if not for the slight quivering of your lips that brushed against his jaw. Your breathing was shallow thanks to his added weight, meaning it was faster too, but that wouldn’t explain why it hitched when one of his legs that had somehow found its way between your own shifted. He rose up onto his elbows while donning an expression of amusement when finding you on the verge of pouting. Forgive me?, his raised eyebrow asked.

Arms crossing, your eyes rolled dramatically. As if there’s anything to forgive, your gaze answered while a foot wiggled from where it was pinned by his leg, but I will kick you in the shin if you don’t get off me. No movement or motion suggested he was going anywhere after a few seconds. Your own brows rose when his wiggled threateningly with mischief while bending at the elbows as if about to cave. “I have a new recipe to try out but you gotta let me up first.”

No sooner had the words left your mouth that he vanished to reappear beside the bed with wide eyes full of hunger and practically bouncing on his heels with anticipation.

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

Pt 1: Blood Moon Encounter

Pt 2: Distant Howls

Pt 3: Identities Unknown

Pt 4: Rupee Troubles

#loz #botw link #link x you #link x f!reader #link x reader #link x y/n #the legend of zelda #botw!link #breath of the wild

[whumpshaped]

Happy New Year!

A New Year tradition in my area is the Mummers parade, which is...awesome to watch, just as a side note.

I don't know how much you know about Mummers, Mummery, whatever, but it's got me thinking.

Part of the performances, especially for the String Bands and Fancy Brigades, are these HUGE costumes covered in feathers and sparkles. And once a year, today, the entire day is dedicated to performing and competing.

So, a character, who's already not feeling the greatest, still shoving themself into the performance, into this big, heavy costume. Perhaps they're even a Captain, and their costume is the biggest and most elaborate of all (though not just the captains get the big outfits).

They get out to perform, they're on top of a tall prop, and they just.

They pass out.

They fall.

They're direly ill, overheating, too weak to hold the weight of their costume, it's the most important day of the year and they suffer and fall in front of hundreds of people.

How will they deal with that? How will the people who care about them deal with that? While this prompt doesn't have to strictly lead to something Mummers related, most Mummers brigades are largely family and friends based, where members are often brothers and fathers and grandfathers, three, four generations of family out there.

Sorry, rambly. But it's new years, who isn't?

~𐂂

hey check out this cool thing the mummers parade reminded me of

tw sickfic, self-blame

This was the most important event of the year. Whumpee had practised tirelessly for the past months, in costume, out of costume, with the rest of the team, and without. This was the first ever year that the team decided they were fit to lead the choreography, and they couldn’t afford to betray that trust. Especially not in front of the baroness.

Except the overexertion was starting to take a toll on their body. As the date of the performance approached, Whumpee’s anxiety was becoming quite extreme. They were foregoing meals, sleep, any rest at all, and when the weather turned bad, they refused to stay inside instead of practising. With two days left until the parade, Whumpee fell ill.

It was miserable. They used all their leftover strength to pretend they were okay, going through the motions of the choreography in a dizzy haze. They had to do it. They had to go out there and show up for the team. They had to be perfect.

The day before, Whumpee couldn’t get out of bed. They told everyone they were preparing mentally, and the excuse seemed to work. Nobody even questioned them. Everyone was preoccupied with their own worries, they didn’t have time to get suspicious and investigate. And what would it have achieved, even if they had? No, it was much better this way. Whumpee knew they would feel better the next day.

They were wrong.

They saw two of every costume as they staggered into the dressing room, staring straight ahead while one of their friends helped them get into their attire. Their ears felt like they were plugged up, like all the sounds were coming from underwater. They couldn’t focus on a single word that was spoken, and they could only hope it wasn’t information they hadn’t heard a thousand times before.

The sun was too bright, the music was too loud, the prop they had to get up on was too tall, and their head felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton. Muscle memory carried them through the entire first half of the performance, and not even the baroness’s royal presence could penetrate through the fog that enveloped their mind. They didn’t feel anxious anymore. It was almost like the calm before the storm.

Whumpee got on one leg and kicked the other to the side, then reached both their hands up towards the sky—

The world suddenly tilted. The clouds were moving way too fast for a day with not so much as a light breeze, and Whumpee was distantly aware that it wasn’t actually the clouds that were moving; it was them, having lost their balance and falling backwards with nothing to soften the impact.

They gasped in pain as their back hit the asphalt, their head colliding with it just a moment later. If there had been any air left in their lungs, they might have laughed at the absurdity of it. All that practice… all to embarrass themself and all their friends in front of the baroness and her lackeys.

The music didn’t stop, but several of the people on their team rushed to their side, yelling to them and each other simultaneously. Whumpee stared past them, up at the beautiful, winter sky.

They wondered whether they’d ever see it again, after having ruined the baroness’s entertainment.

#asks #deer anon #sickfic #self blame #overexertion #whump #whump drabble

[queenshelby]

D*I*L*F (Part Nine)

Pairing: Cillian Murphy x Reader

Words: 3,108

Warning: Pregnancy, Angst, Fluff

Notes: Obviously not based on Cillian’s Real Life or Family. It’s all just fiction!

PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

It was at around 10am on Friday morning that you arrived at the ultrasound clinic with Cillian and, walking into the facility beside him, made you rather uncomfortable and nervous.

To your surprise however, it was Cillian who was fidgeting and, while you were able to contain your nervousness, Cillian could not.

“Are you okay?” you asked after sitting down in the waiting room while looking at him with some concern.

“I’m nervous” he admitted and his admission in itself surprised you.

“Cills, there is nothing to be nervous about” you chuckled

“How can you be so relaxed about all of this Y//N? What is if something is wrong with the baby? I have read that, children conceived with men over the age of forty…” Cillian began to say more frantic as his thoughts spiralled but you were quick to interrupt him.

“Cillian! Stop it! I was told all of this at my first ultrasound appointment and I’ve taken all of the tests that were recommended to me by the doctor. The baby is fine!” you told him and you could see the tension leave his body slowly.

“Did you do the blood tests? You know, the ones you have to pay for?” Cillian wanted to know and when you nodded, he sighed with relief just as the nurse called out for you.  

“That’s us” Cillian said nervously as he stood up and pulled you to your feet.

“I know” you giggled. You were slightly amused by how nervous and caring he had become all so suddenly and, when the lady directed you to the table on which you had to lay down on, Cillian even offered to help you up and on to it.

“I am okay Cills. Just sit down and watch the screen” you told him before you climbed onto the bed and pulled your shirt up to expose your large belly.

Just as your round tummy was exposed, Cillian couldn’t help but stare at it with admiration. His child was inside of you, behind this barrier of skin and flesh and this, in itself, mesmerised him.

He was so mesmerised by your large baby bulge that he didn’t even notice the doctor sitting down in front of the ultrasound machine and introducing himself to Cillian.

“What is your relationship to the patient?” the doctor then asked bluntly, causing Cillian to snap out of his daydream.

“I am the child’s father” Cillian informed the doctor nervously who didn’t do anything more but raise his eyebrows and it was at this point that Cillian was feeling some of his nerves return as he began to overthink this situation again.

“So, we are having a healthy baby girl, right?” Cillian then asked quickly as the doctor held up the gel.

“Going by the last scan I performed on Y/N four weeks ago, yes…” the doctor began to tell him while squeezing some gel onto your tummy.  

Then, the doctor placed the camera onto your round belly and, just to reassure you. he sent you a smile.

“Your daughter is looking well…” he continued on before running the camera to the left.

“If you look here” he instructed softly while pointing at the back and white image. “You can see the head of your baby. She is growing nicely, measuring slightly ahead of schedule” he explained and, with those words, Cillian felt relieved.

But, this sense of relief was, unfortunately short lived when the doctor scrolled over the area where your placenta was located.

“Your placenta, on the other hand, seems to be loosening from the walls of your uterus, which is a concern” the doctor then outlined to you before giving you the news which you had feared for far too long.

According to the doctor, this was likely caused by physical overexertion and, since you had been working three jobs, this was really not surprising for you to hear.

“You will require some bed rest until you are ready to deliver, which I think we will need to plan for at around 37 weeks. Your baby will have fully grown by then and we can safely induce you by this point” the doctor explained but you shook your head.

“I can’t. I have to work” you panicked.

“Y/N! The baby is more important than your work!” Cillian told you immediately but you still felt like arguing with him.

“Cillian, I need to work to pay my bills. I am sure that…” you began to explain but Cillian interrupted you again.

“I will cover your bills. You need to rest! Your daughter needs you to rest!” he said angrily before asking the doctor a bunch of questions and, when the doctor explained the situation to you and Cillian, you were quick to realise that you were facing the ultimate dilemma.

You were living on your own and Robert was incapable of looking after you if you needed him to, leaving the doctor to recommend that you be admitted to the birthing clinic until your condition could be re-evaluated in a weeks’ time.  

“What is if she stays with me? That could work, right?” Cillian suggested and your eyes widened and you immediately began to shake your head.

“I don’t think so!” you chuckled but Cillian had a point.

“It’s only for a week Y/N and it is either that or you go to hospital and stay there in a room with a bunch of strangers” Cillian told you and since you didn’t have private health insurance, you knew that the latter option wasn’t desirable.

***

Eventually, following a lot of arguing between you and Cillian on the way back to your apartment, you agreed to his suggestion to stay with him for a little while but it wasn’t until Cillian brought up Robert that you thought about what you were going to tell him.

“So, what are you going to tell Robert? Does he know that I am the baby’s father?” Cillian wondered while he helped you pack a bag with clothes and toiletries.

“No, I didn’t tell him that you are the baby’s father. I told him that you are a family friend” you explained before reaching for a few of your maternity clothes from the bottom shelf of your cabinet.

“That’s fair I guess” Cillian responded with a slight disappointment while roaming through your clothes, in the process of which he found a stash of Robert’s belongings as well.

“Do you love him?” Cillian then asked and, whilst you thought that this was none of his business, the truth was that you were unsure.

You liked Robert but, perhaps, it wasn’t love.

“I don’t know” you responded and, with that, you changed the topic.

“I think I will tell Robert that I am staying with a friend” you then told Cillian before asking him a question as well. “What about Annabelle? Does she know?” you then asked Cillian after a minute of silence and his response to your question was much less light hearted than yours.

“No Y/N. She doesn’t know about any of this and I would like to keep it this way for now” Cillian told you while neatly placing your clothes into your bag.

“You said that she was staying at your house though? So, wouldn’t she get suspicious about me staying with you?” you then wondered but, of course, Cillian had already thought about this.

“She is going back to London tonight” Cillian explained and you shook your head in disbelieve.

“Cillian, this is so bad. You need to tell her” you told him, concerned about how this may play out.

“I am going to tell her Y/N, but I can’t do it right now, alright? I need to find the right time” Cillian explained and, with this, you left it alone. It was his business, not yours.

***

It was about an hour later that you arrived at Cillian’s house and, just as you walked inside, Annabelle was leaving.

“You are still here?” Cillian asked surprised after she placed a kiss on to his lips and you couldn’t help but cringe.

“My flight is delayed” she explained before asking who you were.

“This is my daughter’s friend, Y/N. She is going to stay with her for a few days and I am just about to drive her there” Cillian was quick to say, lying through his teeth, and Annabelle immediately gave you a smile.

“Oh, hey Y/N. I am Annabelle. It is so nice to meet you” she said and, of course, you already knew who she was. She didn’t need to introduce herself but you appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

“Uhm, of course. Cillian told me all about you. It is nice to meet you too” you said before you shook her hand politely and she turned to Cillian and gave him another loving kiss.

You couldn’t help but stare at them both as they were showing affection towards one another and no doubt Annabelle had noticed by now that you were assessing her. She was absolutely stunning and much more beautiful in real life than what you had anticipated. You weren’t surprised by the fact that Cillian was smitten by her and, when looking at her, you wondered why he had been with you in the past at all. Surely, he could have had her all along.

You thought that Cillian and Annabelle were a beautiful couple and you felt as though you were an intruder now, coming between their relationship by giving Cillian another child, one which he had never wanted.

It made you feel ill. But you knew that you had to look after your own interests now, simply for your daughter’s sake.

You made mistakes in the past and you acknowledged them. So now, you didn’t want to make the same mistakes again. You had to be very careful now. You had to be responsible.

***

After Annabelle had left, Cillian finally brought inside your bags and you wondered where you would be sleeping since the entire house was still filled with boxes.

“You can have my bedroom and I will take the sofa” Cillian explained and you immediately frowned your eyebrows.

“Your bed? Where you slept with your girlfriend for the pat few weeks?” you asked a little surprised and Cillian was quick to tell you that he would, of course, change the sheets before you had a lie down.

Cillian also told you that, whilst he had ordered furniture for the other rooms, they had not arrived yet and it was obvious to you that he had only recently moved into this terrace.

He lived on his own and whilst Anabelle kept some of her personal belongings at his house, it was clear to you that she was only visiting him on occasion.

According to Cillian she would stay a week or so at a time and, whilst she wanted him to move to London, he wanted to preserve his independence. He wasn’t ready to commit and this, too, didn’t surprise you either.

***

After a while of chatting about your lives, you settled down in the living room while Cillian cooked dinner for you.

You remembered his cooking from when you lived with him and his family several months ago and it had always been amazingly good.

He asked you what you wanted to eat and what you told him you wanted was exactly what he made for you. Spaghetti Bolognaise. Your favourite meal of all times and perfect to enjoy while watching Netflix.

You pretty much watched Netflix all evening while eating your way through Cillian’s bolognaise and secret stash of sweets and Cillian gave you a large blanket to snuggle up against, which was exactly what you needed to feel comfortable.

He was so unexpectedly kind and caring that, even after you went to bed and had to get up an hour later in order to satisfy your food cravings, he jumped up from the sofa to help.

“You can’t sleep, can you?” Cillian asked as you stumbled into the living room, yawning but with your eyes wide open.

“No. I’ve got difficulties sleeping ever since the beginning of the second trimester” you said before walking towards the kitchen.

As usual, you had food cravings and were grateful for the fact that Cillian’s fridge was well stocked. Clearly, either him or Annabelle had just been shopping that day and it didn’t take you long to find what you were after. Peanut Butter, bread and pickles.

“Do you need some help with that?” Cillian then asked after he followed you into the kitchen and approached you from behind while not trying to startle you.

“I think I can manage Cills” you laughed, but he took the bread knife out of your hand anyway and prepared your food.

“You really need to rest Y/N. You should just have called out for me” Cillian lectured you but he knew very well that you struggled to keep still. It wasn’t within your nature to not do anything yourself and the idea of having someone else look after you clearly bothered you.

But this was exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to look after you and, after you ate your final snack for the night, he handed you a book.

“Sleep stories for adults?” you chuckled, amused by the title.

“I promise Y/N, these stories will send you to sleep” Cillian guaranteed and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“That boring, huh?” you smiled and it was at this point that you recalled Cillian having recorded something for an app called “Calm” in the past. It was a sleep story too and the sound of his voice was known to be very calming indeed.

“Can you read one of them to me? I don’t have my glasses with me” you then asked and Cillian nodded reluctantly before following you into the bedroom.

“Lay down, but leave some space for me” he told you while looking for his own reading glasses and, when he finally found them, he laid down next to you, wearing nothing but his rather hilarious turtle pyjamas.

“Go on then” you said while staring at him and waiting for him to begin the story.

“Impatient, are we?” Cillian teased and you gave him a nod followed by a big yawn.

“No, just desperate for some sleep” you responded and so he began slowly, using exactly the perfect depth and volume of his voice.

It was relaxing and calming to listen to him and, sure enough, you soon closed your eyes and drifted away at least partially until Cillian said “the end”…

***

“Stay a little longer?” you asked, quietly, as Cillian finished the chapter and closed the book. He was ready to get up but you were only half asleep.

“Okay. Do you want me to read some more?” Cillian then asked. He knew that it wouldn’t take long for you to drift into a dream state and he also knew just how exhausted you were. You had been overworking yourself for months and it was catching up with you slowly.

“No, just stay” you said and, without making any physical contact with Cillian, you closed your eyes and sighed.

Eventually, you turned around and away from Cillian and, just when he thought that you had finally fallen asleep, you stirred.

Another sigh escaped your lips and your arm appeared from below your blanket, coming to rest on your stomach. Your baby bulge had been growing larger by the day and your daughter was most certainly becoming more active.

“Sleep now” you whispered to her in a dreamy state and Cillian immediately thought that you were speaking to him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked a little concerned and you nodded against your fluffy pillow.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Your daughter is just kicking me” you murmured before sighing again, trying hard to drift back off to sleep.

“Right. That must feel interesting…I guess” Cillian acknowledged in a stammer and you confirmed that, indeed, it was an amazing experience to feel her move around inside of you.

“Give me your hand” you told him, half asleep and half awake and Cillian very reluctantly complied with your request.

With your eyes closed, you moved up the fabric of your t-shirt slightly and reached for his warm hand which caused Cillian to shift fully onto his side and wrap his arm around you. Guided by your own, he then rested his large hand upon the bare skin of your growing belly and your daughter immediately pushed against him, showing him that she was well and truly awake inside of you.

Even though you weren’t together, Cillian was delighted in the remembrance that his child grew inches below his fingers. It was a wonderful sensation for him to feel her kicks and being so close to her and, just as he closed his own eyes as well, a chilly breeze swept through the room, causing the curtains to flutter.

“Are you cold?” Cillian whispered as he quickly shivered himself into consciousness, realising how awkward and inappropriate all of this was. But all you did was nod lazily and pull him closer towards you.

His body was warm and comforting right next to yours and, whilst he thought about pulling away from you, you enjoyed his embrace to the fullest extent possible.

“I should get up Y/N” Cillian told you with a tired voice and you heaved out a relaxed “hmm” before pulling the blanket tighter against you as well.

You were too far gone, too tired and too exhausted to move and Cillian eventually decided to stay. He was cold himself and knew very well that his sofa wasn’t comfortable. It was much more comfortable here, with you, in his bed.

With that in mind, Cillian nestled himself back into the mattress, sighing contently. A rare moment of philosophical thinking adorned him. His life flashed before his eyes in a series of millisecond flashbacks. When he got married to Janette, for example. It seemed so long ago, back when he didn’t have flecks of grey hair, and it was at this point when his own mother told him that he didn’t need to do what society demanded from him. Instead, he needed to find happiness and, strangely enough, right now, he felt happy. It was a strange and unexpected kind of happiness but he could feel it. It was defiantly there.

Tag List:

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#cillian murphy #cillian murphy fanfic #cillian murphy fanfiction #cillian murphy imagine #cillian murphy x reader #cillian murphy x you #cillian murphy x y/n #cillian murphy x y

[rosietrace]

Melodic Misconceptions 🎹

Track 08: Yuuta accidentally unalives Mayuu also idol x actor????

Synopsis: Victoria Shard was a former member of the popular idol group [ Poisoner ] from NRC corporations. After discourse with her group leader, Victoria decided it was best for her to leave and pursue her solo career in a record label run by her parents.

It had been half a year since her separation from her old group, and Victoria had never been more successful. But now she has a new problem. She must return to NRC corporations in order to mentor the seven idol groups.

Ellis Clawthorne is a member of [ (Co)-connect ] the most recent group under NRC'S belt. With no experience as an idol, Ellis must persevere in order to succeed and pursue her dreams.

Will both girls be able to adapt to their current situations?

✐ ✎_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_✐ ✎

Author's note: Don't question the release of this track, there's bound to be three or more tracks in one day in the future XD

And no, I am not overexerting myself to make these, I started making 08 while finishing up 07

Hope you guys like this track as well! Also there's some foreshadowing for a certain.... Idol x Actor😏

──ㅇ─────↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺───ㅇ────

When Chizuko and Carol were called over by Zen to watch Yuuta and Miren's performance, they didn't expect to see their manager on the ground looking like a corpse with the most traumatized expression on her face.

Which wasn't all that surprising due to the song Yuuta and Miren were dancing to. The continuous moaning at the start of the song was most likely when Mayuu felt her soul exit her body.

Carol cringed a little."I'll admit, Yuuta's pulling it off, but…." She seethed a little, deciding that it was better to just calm Mayuu down a little, even promising that she can scold Yuuta right after.

"We're going to get more recognition…. But at what cost.." Carol fought back a snort, as Mayuu sounded like she was a jaded old woman.

Chizuko watched Miren and Yuuta dance, and felt intrigued."I'm rather impressed by the choreography. The song on its own is still suggestive, but the choreography looks good." She commented as the song reached the chorus and became even more stunning.

Zen giggled."I'm pretty sure Yuuta came up with the choreography himself!" He quickly spoke before dancing the choreography backstage, almost equally as impressive as Yuuta and Miren's dancing.

Impressive, it seems that Yuuta had come up with the choreography on his own…. Victoria smiled a bit, understanding why Yuuta and Miren spent so much time in the dance studio. Because they were rehearsing genuinely difficult, but incredible choreography Yuuta had come up with.

Ellis huffed."I guess all those times he was blasting thirst trap music in his room was worth it, look at the man go." Juvia felt a drop of sweat fall down her face while smiling awkwardly at Ellis.

"You did well."

Ellis and Victoria flinched, recognizing the deep voice almost immediately. Malleus.

While Victoria appeared bitter, Ellis grinned and happily greeted Malleus who began a pleasant conversation with each other.

Until Victoria decided to interrupt. But, not for the reasons, fans would assume.

She put her arm around Ellis's shoulders."I request that this conversation be put to an end. Once the current performance is over, we'll be leaving as soon as possible." Malleus was irked at Victoria, and Ellis felt awkward yet flustered by being in the middle of such tension.

Sighing, Malleus sent her an exasperated look."Fine… But, I suppose you did… Good as well." He extended his hand, waiting for Victoria to swat it away.

But instead, she shook it. Malleus was stunned, for sure, but what made the situation awkward was that neither of them was letting go.

Eventually, Victoria had no choice but to slap his arm to make him let go before she and Ellis walked away.

When the performance was over, Yuuta laughed and blew a kiss to the crowd before grabbing Miren and walking out of the stage.

──ㅇ─────↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺───ㅇ────

Naturally, because of the performance of 'Nxde' alongside Yuuta and Miren's performance, [ (Co)-connect ] received a lot more recognition.

Which was thanks to Freyah, for the most part.

On the other hand, Yuuta felt his pride leave him for dead when Mayuu was scolding him for performing the song, and Carol was scolding him and Miren for stressing out Mayuu.

But in the end, everything was smooth sailing.

To shift topics, Juvia smiled sheepishly, which aroused suspicion from Ellis and Zen.

"What're you lookin' at?" Ellis questioned, appearing rather silly with her haughty but conspicuous expression on her face. Zen joined in on the fun and did the same thing, making Juvia laugh a little more.

"It's nothing, I just kinda think this one actor looks cute…" Juvia scratched the back of her neck, her smile remaining sheepish.

Ellis didn't believe it at first, and essentially snatched Juvia's phone from her grasp."There's no way they're actually- HOLY CRAP, THEY'RE HOT!!" Ellis exclaimed, causing Zen to gasp dramatically.

"AIN'T NO WAY-"

"NO, THEY LOOK HOT-"

"Not gonna lie here, but they do look compatible for Tori…"

"I think you might be onto something-"

"Uhh… Can I have my phone back?"

Realizing that she was still holding Juvia's phone, Ellis awkwardly gave it back to her with an equally awkward grin. That was until she continued the rest of her conversation with Zen about the actor and their compatibility with Victoria.

And Victoria happened to be listening to their conversation while conversing with Miren and Chizuko.

Miren covered his face in embarrassment."I feel weird after that performance…." He muttered.

Chizuko hummed softly."It's mostly because you aren't used to performing like that. You're much more used to being a guitarist than a dancer." She quickly replied.

"You think so?"

"I know so. Compared to Yuuta, your performance was sloppy, much slower, your expressions never changed throughout the performance, you didn't-" Miren groaned at the realization of it all.

Victoria awkwardly pats his back before sending Chizuko a 'You didn't have to tell him that' expression. To which Chizuko responded with a simple shrug and continued reading with Carol.

Mayuu entered, drinking another batch of coffee due to working overtime after the concert. And she couldn't help but laugh a little when she heard a sample of Ellis and Zen's matchmaking scheme with Victoria and an actor.

She approached Victoria, with her mug in hand."It seems like they're keen on matchmaking you with a certain actor." Mayuu jokes, gesturing to Ellis and Zen scheming together.

Victoria scrunched her nose and sighed."I don't think that's necessary…" was all she had to say on the matter.

Mayuu merely shrugged, and sat next to her."To shift topics, I was a little surprised that you would be our mentor alongside Zen." Mayuu stated, piquing a bit of Victoria's interest.

"You were?"

"Yeah… Since you two are influential, I pretty much begged the others to not make a fool of themselves in front of you two." She sipped a swig of her coffee, "At least they're trying to do that."

A smile appeared on Victoria's face."I see… At the very least, mentoring you and the others isn't that difficult. You're all talented and fast learners, making it easier for me to teach you." She commented, turning off her phone.

Mayuu exhaled deeply."I'm just grateful that you and Zen are our mentors… We'll finally have a chance to beat [ Poisoner ]."

The smile on Victoria's face faltered at the mention of her former group, but it remained on her face despite it.

"I'll be sure to give you the victory you all deserve."

──ㅇ─────↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺───ㅇ────

Tagging:

@starry-night-rose @nem0-nee @fumikomiyasaki @authoruio @windbornearchon @sakuramidnight15 @geminiiviolets @knights-escort @twsted-princess

#twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twst ocs #twisted wonderland ocs #twst yuusona #twst yuu #twst au #twst idol au #idol au #smau #twst smau #melodic misconceptions 🎹 #victoria shard #sumeragi yuuta #yuuta sumeragi #zenith devi #night raven college oc #nrc oc #night raven college #twst nrc #nrc #mutuals au #twst mc #yuusona

[that-gay-jedi]

I know they already can't even meet the bar of understanding usable hours but I wish the healthcare system, my work, insurance, and the government understood that even my usable hours aren't quite as usable as a nondisabled person's tbh.

Like if we set a benchmark of a healthy person at their physical and mental best performing a task as 100, with 110 being slightly too much effort, 125 being dangerously overexerting yourself and 150 being Icarus just felt the wax re-melt, then me performing the same task at my best is never above like 90-95 bc there's a portion of my focus is that is distracted for as long as I'm in pain (which barring a miracle is gonna be the rest of my life) and a portion of my patience and endurance my brain will always have to spend on coping, and a portion of physical energy my body will always have to spend on surviving the adverse conditions chronic illness creates, and there's literally no amount of motivation, treatment, good work habits nor anything else on this earth that's ever going to change that because I'm not holding anything back, I'm giving everything I have and everything I have is 90% of what that guy over at the next desk has.

And like, from the way the people who are my contacts from these systems talk to me I know the immediate response is "So overdo it slightly and get that 100 from where a healthy person would get 110" but that only works for a day. If I try to give the equivalent of 110 daily then the 90 I can offer at my best goes down to like 65 by day 3 and it's only downhill from there. Even if I put my work before literally everything to the point that I'd be proud to be found dead in my office chair if it meant taking one more call, you'd only be able to get at maximum maybe 2-3 weeks out of me before I had truly and absolutely nothing left to give anyone, including myself, ever again.

In effect, my employer simply cannot extract the same amount of value-for-labour out of me as from other people because my laundry list of medical problems already extracted some. In perpetuity. No stick, no carrot, no gun to my head, no amount of biopsychosocial clear cutting or strip mining is ever going to change that. Can't take what isn't there.

I've long since accepted what I can and cannot do (what other choice do I have? I can't hate myself into being magically cured, and frankly I wouldn't if I could. I refuse to hate myself for anyone or anything ever again), but the work mindset the people I have to interact with from these systems subscribe to is incapable of accepting anything gracefully. What do you mean you're not going to get better? Sounds like you're just not doing everything you possibly can (surely there has to be some rabbit you can pull out of a hat if we just make you desperate enough). What do you mean you can't give 110% every day? What do you mean there are consequences?

To try to get everything out of me when I don't even have all of it is a form of magical thinking, it's blood from a stone, and yet these motherfuckers are so completely convinced. If capitalism is a church, they're the preacher who tells you the reason you still need your mobility aid(s) is that you're not praying hard enough. Reality isn't real to them, greed and toxic positivity are all they understand.

And I don't fucking know how to get through to these people who unfortunately, through an interconnected series of bureaucracies and policies, hold my future in their hands. I don't know how to make them understand it when they're so determined not to.

[mycolalia]

me: haha the last chapter drew on some pretty personal stuff. but i'm okay. edited it down, start on the next.

the next:

"There were numerous ways they could probably make this easier on themselves.

That would be the practical thing to do. It would speed their recovery, enable them to do more before inevitably collapsing. 

But a dread, and dreadful rebellious streak that had been dormant since their early youth had been conjured back into existence after all they had been through recently.

They felt like they had something to prove. 

Limits that they had been fully at peace with when their life did not involve having to regularly run for it were now much less acceptable.

Foul experience had taught them, all those years ago, that this behaviour was borrowing time from themselves down the line. They would have their moment of overexertion. And their body would remember. 

And one day, when they really needed it to be performing like a well oiled construct, it would falter.

They would wind up right back here, or worse. Maybe next time it would be a bolt to the eye, or teeth latched across their throat. 

They had these thoughts, and continued cheerfully, with much distaste, peeling potatoes in a rigid sit that only physical violence could stir them from."

#mosslark tag #earnest eyes tag #whisper words [writing tag]

[jontheredrc]

venting below

I tried! I really did! and I kept at it for years! but the longer I’ve done so, the worse I’ve felt! and at this point, my symptoms are so disruptive that I’m not sure I can ever hold a full-time job!

what set off this post is that I haven’t been able to keep food or water down lately...every single meal ends up coming back up, at least partly, and water gets rejected within a minute!

I’m upset at it now because I just tried to have dinner, but it was a huge, huge problem at work...only one person ever stopped me to ask if I was okay, which is weird because I was always disoriented and confused and my eyes were frequently glazed over and my breath was haggard

I know I complained a lot about my job and my health here, but...lately it’s gotten so bad that I’ve simply had to leave that job--it was already starting to affect my performance, but if I can’t even retain water, that makes working in the summer downright dangerous, y’know?

which brings me back to my original point, of being upset...because my overall health has affected my home life, too, and it still does (and perhaps it always will--I’m so scared that I’ve managed to permanently damage myself somehow from the overexertion of that job)

I’ve mentioned that a few times here too, being so low on energy that I have to ration it out and stagger chores across several days--or even some stretches where work literally took every ounce of strength I could muster! and now I’m afraid that every job will be too strenuous for me, that I am destined for perpetual failure, that this exit was already too late and my health will continue to spiral...

I know the job I had was genuinely physically demanding, and I was already kind of expecting some of my symptoms to hit me hard for awhile, now that I’m no longer trying to ignore them and push through them to do that demanding work...but some of these symptoms weren’t there until this year, like the vomiting! so I don’t know how long they’ll persist! and while these symptoms are here, it’s still a struggle to take a shower, much less find and work a new job!

I’ve been struggling my entire life! I’m sick of it!!

#the gist is that my health has gotten too dire for my job so i've had to leave #(hence the lack of workday sendoffs the past few days)

[nice213]

Joint Eternal Supplements-Health

Experience Boundless Vitality with Joint Eternal Supplements-Health: A Honest Review

I used the Joint Eternal Supplements-Health product for a significant period, and I must say, it's been an absolute game-changer for my overall well-being. This review aims to shed light on the remarkable benefits I've experienced, encapsulating the profound impact it has had on my health journey.

Enhanced Joint Health: One of the most noticeable improvements since incorporating Joint Eternal Supplements-Health into my daily routine has been the significant enhancement in joint health. As someone who leads an active lifestyle, maintaining strong and flexible joints is paramount. With this product, I've experienced reduced discomfort and stiffness, allowing me to pursue my favorite activities with renewed vigor. Whether it's hiking through rugged terrain or engaging in intense workouts, my joints feel more resilient and supported than ever before.

Sustained Energy Levels: One of the standout features of Joint Eternal Supplements-Health is its ability to sustain energy levels throughout the day. Gone are the days of mid-afternoon slumps and feeling drained by evening. Since incorporating this supplement into my morning routine, I've noticed a consistent and steady flow of energy that keeps me alert and focused. Whether tackling work deadlines or enjoying leisure activities, I feel empowered by the sustained vitality that this product provides.

Improved Mobility and Flexibility: Mobility and flexibility are essential aspects of overall health, especially as we age. With Joint Eternal Supplements-Health, I've experienced a noticeable improvement in both areas. Tasks that once felt challenging due to restricted movement now feel more effortless and fluid. Whether it's bending down to tie my shoelaces or reaching for items on high shelves, I feel a newfound sense of freedom in my movements. This enhanced flexibility has also translated to my fitness routine, allowing me to achieve greater range of motion and performance gains.

Support for Active Lifestyles: As someone who leads an active lifestyle, finding a supplement that complements my fitness goals has always been a priority. Joint Eternal Supplements-Health has proven to be the perfect ally in this regard. Its potent blend of ingredients not only supports joint health but also aids in muscle recovery post-workout. I've noticed reduced muscle soreness and faster recovery times, allowing me to maintain a consistent exercise regimen without fear of overexertion or injury. Whether it's hitting the gym or embarking on outdoor adventures, this product has become an indispensable part of my fitness arsenal.

Holistic Wellness Support: Beyond its specific benefits for joint health and energy levels, Joint Eternal Supplements-Health embodies a holistic approach to wellness. Its carefully curated ingredients work synergistically to support overall health and vitality. From boosting immune function to promoting cognitive clarity, this supplement addresses multiple facets of well-being, ensuring that I feel rejuvenated from the inside out. Incorporating it into my daily routine has not only improved my physical health but also enhanced my overall sense of well-being and resilience.

Conclusion: In conclusion, I cannot recommend Joint Eternal Supplements-Health highly enough. Its powerful formula, backed by science and quality ingredients, has truly transformed my health journey for the better. From enhanced joint health to sustained energy levels and improved mobility, this product delivers on its promises and then some. Whether you're an athlete looking to optimize performance or simply seeking to improve your quality of life, Joint Eternal Supplements-Health is a must-have addition to your daily regimen. Embrace boundless vitality and experience the difference for yourself.

#joint eternal #joint health #natural cell supplements #joint relief medicine #joint pain killer #joint mobility #joint care #joint recovery #joint pain #healthy joint #healthy muscle

[human-product]

Aizen Power Supplements: A Game Changer for My Fitness Journey

Having always been active, I recently decided to take my fitness goals to the next level. While I prioritize a healthy diet and consistent exercise, I felt I could benefit from a natural supplement to support my training. After some research, I came across Aizen Power Supplements, a product specifically designed for male enhancement in terms of fitness performance.

Boosting Endurance and Stamina

One of the most noticeable changes I've experienced since using Aizen Power Supplements is a significant improvement in my endurance and stamina. Those longer runs and intense gym sessions that used to leave me feeling drained are now much more manageable. I can push myself further during workouts, allowing me to achieve better results in a shorter amount of time. This newfound stamina has also spilled over into my daily activities, leaving me feeling more energized throughout the day.

Improved Recovery Time

Anyone who works out regularly knows the importance of proper recovery. Before using Aizen Power Supplements, I often found myself feeling sore and sluggish for days after a particularly challenging workout. Since incorporating this supplement into my routine, I've noticed a significant reduction in post-workout soreness and a much faster recovery time. This allows me to train more consistently without the fear of overexertion or injury.

Natural and Safe Ingredients

One of the things that initially drew me to Aizen Power Supplements was its focus on natural ingredients. The supplement is formulated with a blend of herbs, vitamins, and minerals that are all known to support overall health and well-being. I appreciate that the company prioritizes using safe and natural ingredients, giving me peace of mind while I experience the benefits.

Overall Experience: A Positive Impact on My Fitness Journey

Overall, I've been incredibly impressed with the positive impact Aizen Power Supplements has had on my fitness journey. The increased endurance, improved recovery time, and focus on natural ingredients have all contributed to a more rewarding workout experience. If you're looking for a natural supplement to support your own fitness goals, I highly recommend giving Aizen Power Supplements a try. Just remember, as with any supplement, it's important to consult with your doctor before starting a new regimen.

#Aizen Power Supplements #helth care #helthylife #margot robbie #wally darling #artists on tumblr #welcome home #helth tips #helter skelter #helth and fitness #across the spiderverse

[the-voidkin-playground]

vent post, tw for possible? ptsd (just some potential symptoms), eating/food issues, anxiety, etc. etc.

been thinking about band we dropped out during band camp, before freshman year we were in there for about a month? i believe?

it was nonstop suffering it was the worst we had been since we were 12 years old

we could hardly eat, we felt sick all the time, like we were about to vomit and/or pass out we were always in pain, we couldn't stand without hurting so much

we were under so much stress, we couldn't keep up, we were never good enough to keep up with everyone else we had always been behind in band, even in middle school, because they made us redo our first year of band since we missed the last few months because of the pandemic causing school to get canceled

we tried to watch a video of a performance, from our school band, the other day the one that they were making us practice to do, learning the songs, the choreography, all that stuff

we couldn't get past the second song just hearing the music and seeing the choreography that we were forced to play and march to, over and over again it made us feel sick and like we were about to cry

we can't think about it without panicking, the guilt and shame from leaving the band eat away at us, while the pain and distress haunt us we never want to go back to the band, but we wonder if it was a mistake to leave, maybe it would've gotten better, maybe we would've been okay i think the fact that we can't listen to the band's music without extreme distress says otherwise though

every time we hear or think about those songs, we want to cry, we can feel the pressure and memories digging their claws into us and trying to drag us back in we're never going back

we have no idea if it's ptsd or even trauma, since we think it shouldn't have warranted that extreme of a reaction, but it's affected us severely i think that one month of band camp was probably one of the unhealthiest points of our entire life getting too little sleep, not eating enough, always feeling sick, being anxious all the time, being in pain constantly, feeling so hopeless and trapped it was a nightmare

i think it caused some bad habits in the opposite direction as well we ended up overeating, when we stopped feeling so sick after a few weeks of being out of band camp we gained a lot of weight from it we became inactive, because any activity felt terrible after being forced to overexert and overwork ourselves five days every week for a month

we ended up becoming very avoidant of the band, and anything to do with playing music, for a while we had given up on it, so why bother? we didn't play anything for months afterwards, and we still hardly play, despite how much we used to enjoy it we still don't go to games or band performances i think we'd have a breakdown if we tried

maybe someday, we can stop associating being in a band with pain and suffering, and we can enjoy playing instruments again maybe we could join a small, non-school band, that won't force us to play and march for hours and hours every single week maybe we could find that community we so desperately longed for and felt like we had lost when we quit

i don't know someday, we'll feel better about it, and won't panic and feel trapped from the first few notes of a song, or the marching choreography of the band

anyway, we mightt have more ptsd symptoms than we thought thought it was just from other things, this may also be contributing though partner sys told us that it was a traumatic experience, because of being forced to do things we didn't want to, and the amount of pain and distress we felt from it

but anyway haha if you read this far, just like, don't mention this, i don't want to think about it any more than i need to and if you know me irl, i am dealing with it, i'm trying to cope, i am alright i'm just a little quirky, yknow? anyway, i'm going to try to sleep now, and hopefully stop thinking about this

#vent #aaaa #sorry about thisss #will go back to regular posting and reblogging after this #just been thinking about this #sorry for how long this is #don't bother reading it #i just needed somewhere to talk about it #i am okay i swear !! #i am attempting to cope !!! #i'm doing the healthy things and working through it !!

[bansalhospital]

How Can Muscle Strain Be Prevented? Let’s Find Out!

How Can Muscle Strain Be Prevented? Let’s Find Out!

Have you ever felt discomfort in your muscles while performing everyday tasks? Almost everyone experiences this, and it can cause severe muscular damage. Muscle strain is a general term for damage that occurs frequently during routine tasks or activities, impairing our range of motion and limiting our capacity to operate freely. 

Recognising the causes of muscular strain and taking preventative steps can significantly reduce the likelihood of suffering this kind of harm. We shall learn about the causes of muscle stress right here. Additionally, we will discover the causes, signs, and remedies for muscle strain. 

How Do Muscle Strains Happen?

When muscle fibres are stretched or ripped due to excessive pressure or overexertion, it is called a muscular strain or pulled muscle. It frequently occurs while engaging in sudden movements-based physical activity, carrying large objects, or going about daily responsibilities.

Injuries to the knee ligaments, rhomboid muscle soreness, high ankle sprain, stiffness, and restricted mobility in the affected area can all be caused by strained muscles. Mild muscle strain, in which the power is only stretched, can progress to extreme muscle strain, in which the muscle fibres are wholly or partially torn.

How Does A Muscle Strain Happen?

The possible causes for muscle strain are:

Overexertion

Poor technique 

Inadequate warm-up

Fatigue 

Muscular imbalances

Sudden movements or impacts

Lack of flexibility

Previous injuries

Cold muscles

Age-related variables are some significant causes of muscle strain.

Poor posture

Improper hydration or dehydration

What Are The Symptoms Of Muscle Strain?

The significant symptoms of a muscle strain are:

The typical signs of a muscle or back strain are

Stiffness, 

Swelling, 

Soreness, 

Sudden pain, 

Muscle spasms, 

Weakness, 

Discolouration

Restricted movement.

Muscle Strain Prevention Tips 

Some muscle strain prevention tips are:

Avoid falling while jogging, walking, or running.

Aim to get up and move around every half-hour to an hour

Avoid sitting still for a more extended time.

Strive to maintain a healthy weight because carrying too much weight might strain your muscles.

Ensure that you stand and sit correctly.

Always begin any strenuous workout with some warm-up activities. A post-workout cool-down should also be performed.

When working out, always wear athletic sneakers.

 Handle heavy objects with caution.

Types Of Muscle Strain

The types of muscle strain are:

1. Grade 1

The grade 1 muscular strain does not affect your strength and has little effect on daily activities.

2. Grade 2

The grade 2 muscle strain requires two to three months of recovery since it is more severe than the grade 1 strain and impairs motion and strength.

3. Grade 3

Surgery is necessary because a grade 3 strain entirely tears out the muscle.

How Can Muscle Strain Be Prevented At Home?

Use the first-aid advice below to avoid muscle strain at home:

Ice: Apply ice or an ice pack after the accident to minimise swelling and ease pain.

Rest: To ease the pain, limit your movement since adequate rest speeds up muscle repair.

Elevation: To minimise swelling and pain and improve blood circulation, elevate the wounded area of the body above the level of your heart.

Compression: To reduce swelling, the injury is sometimes wrapped; nevertheless, occasionally, this wrapping can stop the blood flow to that area.

Vitamins That Can Help Avoid Muscle Strain 

Incorporating these vitamins into a balanced diet will help you build stronger muscles and improve your flexibility. Several vitamins aid in the recovery of muscle injury.

1.Vitamin C and Vitamin E

These vitamins are thought to be beneficial for healing torn muscles. In this case, vitamin E aids in nourishing the harmed muscle. Collagen formation is boosted by vitamin C, which aids in muscle healing.

2. B Complex Vitamins 

As new muscles require more proteins to repair, the B complex vitamins, which include B9, B6, and biotin, aid in the digestion of protein and amino acids. Vitamin B6 acts as a source of energy for muscle regeneration.

3. D-Calcium

Vitamin D supports the growth of new muscle tissue while promoting muscle strength.

When Should I See A Doctor?

For minor to moderate strains, home treatment should be adequate. It is advised to seek medical care if any of the following symptoms appear:

The affected area seems numb 

The pain lasts over a week

The wound is leaking blood

Your arms and legs are immobile, and you cannot walk

The Final Say

These days, muscle strain is a common yet dangerous problem. Once this issue arises, recovery is a lengthy process. To better grasp the point, we have offered advice on avoiding certain muscle strains and details on their causes and symptoms.

You can contact the orthopaedic division at Bansal Hospital Bhopal if you require efficient medical care. The professionals there are well-equipped to give you first-rate care and direction.

About Bansal Hospital

Bansal Hospital is a multispeciality hospital and is one of the leading, reputable and reliable healthcare providers trusted by patients and their families across the region. It has all the major departments, including cardiology, neurology, oncology, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, urology, liver transplant, bone marrow transplantation, nephrology, gynaecology and more. The hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and technology. It has a team of highly qualified and experienced doctors and medical staff who provide round-the-clock care to the patient.

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