#you have a full water dispenser sir

[tomboy014]

He's mad I won't give him a drink

#cats #orion #you have a full water dispenser sir #go drink there

[focsle]

Medicine Aboard A Whaler

I answered an ask about this some years back that was...a few paragraphs long and was before I learned that some people have the stamina and desire to read 3k+ word whaling essays from me. So if ye count yourself among them, here you go!

---

On August 21st, 1870 aboard the whaleship Sunbeam, two-time whaler Silliman Ives found himself ill with a condition “very akin to mumps, with the exception of the swelling”. It prevented him from opening his mouth, and he dreamed of the days when such an action was possible.

“I never really appreciated the luxury of a good gape before. When a fellow cannot open his mouth to any greater extent than the width of a lead pencil, gaping is not a success to say the least. And then anything in the way of a sneeze is entirely out of the question, unless you are prepared to part company with the top of your head at very short notice. A ship is a hard place to be unwell in. So long as one is in good health you can get along nicely. But if you are sick the only place where you can find sympathy is in the dictionary. And then too the remedies at hand are limited in number and obsolete in use. Your medicine chest is filled with medicines in use a hundred years ago, but which modern pharmacy has dispensed with to a very great extent. Calomel and castor oil and such like delectable doses. There is no question about it. A whale ship ought to have a surgeon, and the law should oblige such vessels to carry them. When I get into Congress I shall introduce a “Bill” to that effect.”

As Mr. Ives noted, American whaleships went without doctors aboard even when the work was rife with injury and illness, and often quite far from access to any kind of care ashore. On British whalers it was required by law for a surgeon to be signed on for the voyage—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one on a voyage bound for the Arctic and apparently fell in the water so many times that the crew called him the 'Great Northern Diver'. However on American whalers—which dominated the industry—a doctor was seen by the agents as an unnecessary expense. There was the captain, the carpenter, and folks who could mend sails. Together, that makes one whole doctor! Right?

Read on, to see how they fared.

1845 whaleship medicine chest from the collection of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Joan Druett, in her book Rough Medicine highlighted some really fascinating things that came as a result of this, ranging from men who had scars that healed in a herringbone pattern because they were mended like canvas, to this wild tale about an amputation performed between a captain and mate at gunpoint:

“Another stirring tale told is of a Captain Coffin, who was hurt so badly in a whaling accident that it was obvious his leg would have to go. Being the master, the medic, and the patient all at once, he knew the situation was complicated, but he was more than equal to the task. He sent for his pistol and a knife, saying to his mate, “Now, sir, you gotta lop off this here leg, and if you flinch—well, sir, you get shot in the head.” Then he sat as steady as a rock while the mate went at it with the knife, holding the pistol unwaveringly until the operation was completed. No sooner was the stump wrapped up and the leg cast overboard than both men fainted.”

It was the captain's responsibility to provide medical treatment. Often without training himself, he was simply given a medicine chest full of numbered tinctures for various treatments. Those tinctures were a mix of chemical and herbal compounds, some which are still used holistically today and some that you.....absolutely want nowhere near your body. Epsom salts as a laxative, laudanum for painkiller, St John's wort for bruises and burns, mercury for syphilis, rosemary as an antiseptic, lead acetate as an anti-inflammatory, arrowroot for dysentery, henbane for insomnia, and on it goes from the innocuous to the dangerous.

John B King was a rare doctor aboard a whaleship, sailing on the Aurora out of Nantucket in 1837. He wasn’t hired as a doctor though; for reasons unknown he initially obscured his identity and joined simply as a foremasthand until his skills were revealed and he became the ship’s doctor. On that voyage he kept a book of the medicines he used.

John King’s medicine list, from the collections of the Nantucket Historical Association.

In addition to dosing medicine, the captain would also be responsible for setting broken bones, stitching wounds, and amputations. Benjamin Boodry, who had been whaling since the age of 13 and by 1856 was captain of the Fanny described instances in which he had to tend to his crew.

“At 2 o clock a cask of watter rooled away in the Bluber room and one John Haggerty tryed to stop it and got his leg broke just above the Nee there was another chance to show my surgical skill set it splinted it and bandaged it.” “McKee fel from the Main Topsail yard on deck bled him in both arms he came to some broke his arm and leg and badly bruised”.

Fortunately for McKee, his accident happened off the coast of Faial. The captain sent for a doctor ashore to examine him. He was advised to leave McKee in the Azores where he could receive more proper rest and treatment. But if land was a long way off, people had to make do the best they could.

Some captains had a better bedside manner than others. Where Silliman Ives felt terribly neglected in his illness, William Abbe of the Atkins Adams, 1859, had quite a different experience. He turned to the captain for help with a painful swelling on his hand that eventually grew so bad he was unable to use it.

“The captain was extremely tender in his treatment of my hand, pouring on laudanum to relieve the pain, lancing with caution and as tenderly as could he and using every means in his power to make me comfortable—washing my hand thrice a day with warm water and cutting away dead skin, pressing out matter in a manner that gained my affection + respect. Mrs. Wilson sent me preserved meats, pickled oysters, cake, buttered bread and seconded her husband in all his care. I felt a great deal of respect for both these kind people + shall repay it when I can […] The Cap treated us all with a care + skill that surprised me — I supposed that we should be left to take care of ourselves—the case in many ships, but we were not only cared for but allowed to stay below until we thought fit to return to duty.”

Mrs. Wilson--the captain’s wife--stepping up to help was not so unusual. Often whaling wives also found themselves taking on the role of doctor. All throughout July 1846, Mary Brewster was busy tending to the ailments of the crew aboard the Tiger.

“The last part of the day I have spent in making doses for the sick, in dressing some hands and feet, 5 sick and I am sent to for all the medicin. I am willing to do what can be done for any one particularly if sick for in whaling season a whaleship is a hard place for comfort for well ones and much more sick men.”

She reported that all her patients recovered, with the exception of a young man with a liver complaint beyond her immediate treatment.

Other times, other members of the crew served as de facto doctors as well. One such man was veteran whaler John Martin aboard the Lucy Ann 1842. In addition to being a skilled watercolorist, he also had a knack for bloodletting and tooth pulling. Often he made note of his ministrations in his journal:

“Blistered Frank on the side for his pleurisy & the steward on the neck for the sore throat” “Cupped the steward on the back of his neck with wine glasses and lanced with razor for want of proper instruments, which gave him almost instant relief” “Pulled a large jaw tooth for one of the crew. I lanced the gum with a penknife & set him spouting thick blood, & at the second wrench of the iron turned it up.” [Very cheeky language he’s using here, the same sort of talk one uses when hunting whales] “The loose whale struck Mr. Dean on the lower jaw & broke it, & knocked out 2 of his lower teeth, & he was taken on board [...] Sat up with Mr. Dean last night [...] Bled Mr. Dean [...] Drew 3 teeth from Mr. Deans broken jaw.” “Bled Antone. Since the death of Manuel, Antone has been on the sick list with swelled testicles and pain in his back. Poor fellow, he is very much frightened & thinks he is going to follow Manuel. He occupies the same bunk. When I bled him, he was so frightened that the perspiration stood on him in large drops, & groaned like a person dying.” “Blistered and glystered [clystered, i.e. gave an enema] Antone.”

One of John Martin’s watercolors from his journal. NBWM.

Blistering, bleeding, and emetics were among the most common treatments for all that ailed a man aboard. John King included his recipe for creating a blistering plaster and its uses:

“Blisters are serviceable in affections of the chest attended with much pain and difficulty of breathing. Bleeding or purging is proper previous to the application. Severe and long-continued headaches are relieved by a blister to the back of the neck. In all cases before applying a blister, the part should be washed with warm vinegar and wiped dry. The plaster should be spread as thick as a wafer on soft leather. When laid aside it soon becomes mouldy in the dampness of a ship, but if rubbed over with a knife the same one will draw two or three times. When very old it loses its strength. From eight to twelve hours is the time usually required for drawing a blister. Then remove it and dress with basilicon or simple ointment”

—

Other ailments were met with more specific treatments. It was not uncommon to see logbooks noting several men laid low on account of ‘the venereal’. William Chappell, a cooper and boatsteerer aboard the Saratoga in the early 1850s commented on the frequency the mate found himself off duty following liberty ashore. 

“Our mate is off duty again with that disgracefull disease and as near as I can find out it threatens destruction to a small but very usefull member of the body  I am sorry for him but he is old enough to know better than to play with every body that looks pretty and bewitching”

“Flaxseed tea is very serviceable in clap”, wrote John King in his journal, as well as white vitriol “sometimes used as an injection in protracted cases of clap.” For syphilis, the common treatments were more severe. King writes,

“No 25. Mercurial Ointment This is frequently used in venereal cases for bringing the system under the influence of mercury. The bulk of a small nutmeg is rubbed on the inside of the thighs morning and evening until the gums are slightly sore. It is a good application to chancres when mixed with twice the quantity of lard, and renewed twice a day.”

Mercury compounds could also be injected into the urethra. There were doctors who spoke out about the use of mercury in treating syphilis contemporary to when use was at its height. One 1853 advertisement in the New Bedford newspaper the Whaleman’s Shipping List reads,

“Important to the Afflicted CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT in Medicine and Surgery may be had of Dr. TOMPKINS at his office in rear of the Apothecary’s Shop, No 58 Middle, corner of North Second St  Dr. TOMPKINS gives particular attention to the treatment and cure of private diseases. All those who have been taking medicines of their own prescribing, or from certain inexperienced or self-styled physicians, for a long time without benefit, are respectfully invited to call on Dr Tompkins, who is a regularly educated Physician of twenty years experience, and is competent to treat diseases of all kinds, and in every stage and form. Dr. T. warns the public against the abuse of mercurials; he is convinced by long experience, that most of the chronic affections, generally supposed to be the relics of diseases, are merely the effects of a long continued course of mercury. Recent affections cured in a very short time, without a grain of mercury”

Even with such objections, mercury compounds still were the standard and did more to sicken their patients than cure them. While whalers were often listed as being off duty due to venereal disease, there was less comment about whether or not they were given anything to attempt to alleviate it compared to other conditions.

“Our mate limping about again—had another furious attact of the venereal He is a used up man I fear,” Mr. Chappell wrote. Ultimately the mate was in a poor enough condition that he left the voyage at the next provision stop they made.

—

Scurvy was another common affliction. Given that whaleships spent extended time at sea and were loathe to waste too much time with anchoring somewhere, fresh food ran low quite often. When whaling in the Atlantic and South Pacific whalers usually fared okay, as there were a fair number of provision stops in locations that had fresh fruits and vegetables readily available for trade. It was on said provision stops that whalers could also, as said by Samuel Wood of the Bowditch, 1849, take a walk to 'knock the scurvey from their bones’. In seasons that took place up north however, in the North Pacific, Sea of Okhotsk (Kamchatka Sea), Bering Strait, and eventually up into the Arctic, scurvy was extremely prevalent. The fresh food depleted, the ice was always a threat, and unlike other regions there weren't many accessible places to resupply with large amounts of foods that could ward off scurvy. It's in reading journals during these periods that I find the most complaints of scurvy. And sometimes, the more successful the voyage was, the sicker the men would get because they'd spend more time up there rather than giving up and returning south. The US Consul in Hawaii complained of this in the 1840s, saying:

"Whaleships were much more successful in taking oil on the North West during the last summer and fall than for three or four seasons previous and most of the vessels remained on the fishing grounds much longer than usual, the consequence of which was that many of the crews were severely afflicted with scurvy, some died after reaching port and before they could be landed, while others were carried to the hospital on litters, being too feeble to walk."

There were endless attempts to ward it off. John Martin wrote of men "In the evening, dancing cotillions and jumping the rope to keep off the scurvey". It didn't seem to do much. Within two weeks:

"One man on the sick list, supposed to be caused by his being so long at sea. All hands are complaining of soreness throughout their bodies. If we do not get on shore soon, we may expect to have half the crew down with the scurvey at least. We have no vegetables on board, and are going into King Georges Sound, New Holland [southwest tip of Australia], a place where we can scarcely get anything to recruit with."

His captain allowed the crew unlimited vinegar and free access to the potato pen. The vinegar, a mistaken remedy due to its acidity, wouldn't have helped much. Potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, more so when they're raw, but they were rather intolerable to eat in such a way.

William Chappell spoke of a similar struggle with potatoes, and the grim humor the lads maintained to choke them down:

“Three of our men are off duty with the scurvy which makes its appearance in the knees and feet All hands are called aft every morning to get 2 or 3 potatoes apies which they are required to eat raw in the preasance of the officers for fear they may throw them overboard as many require presing invitation to partake of the dainties They have however a considerable sport over them Call them Kodiak Peaches”\

Aside from the crunch of Kodiak Peaches, Dr. King had his own remedy for scurvy as well:

“13. Salts of Lemon This is good in scurvy when fresh fruit and vegetables can not be obtained. A teaspoonful dissolved in half a pint of water will form an acid nearly the strength of lime juice. It may be mixed with water and taken freely, sweetened or not. [it makes a good substitute for lemonade, in fever, to allay thirst in fever] Water made slightly acidic with it is a good substitute for lemonade to allay thirst in fever."

The Sailor’s Hospital in Lahaina, Maui, constructed in the early 1830s.

For all the varying attempts to hold off sickness, it took root among crews nearly every voyage. J.E. Haviland of the Baltic, in the early 1850s spent the last few dozen pages of his journal in a state of declining health and low spirits.

“My side and breast pain me nearly all times I have not been on deck since I came below. The Captain and Mr Stivers are both very kind and come down to see me as often as once a day and sometimes two or 3 times. I am taking medicine but it does not seem to do much good but I think I am better than I was at first. Dear mother how I do wish I could see you once more. I get so homesick and I know I am peevish and cross. Some days I cannot get out of my bunk at all. I blame the captain (wrongfully I know) thinking he does not give me the right medicine but it is a very bad place to be sick at sea.”

He suspected it was due to the harsh conditions of whaling up North, but also held a fear within him that it might be something more serious that couldn’t be remedied simply by warmer climes.

“Dear mother, I shall be obliged to leave the ship when we arive at the Sanwich Islands for I do not think I could live doing another season in the cold Norwest. My cough seems to increase and the pain in my side gets no better I am getting weaker each day and am getting very thin in flesh. I have said nothing as yet to the old man about my leaving at the island as I do not know as he will be willing that I should; but I intend going to a doctor and in all probability will tell the old man I am not fit to go North in the ship […] I would like very much to be in the states now for I am afraid this will turn out to be the Consumption that I have. I think if I could have good medical advice I might get rid of it before it got seated upon my lungs. I am afraid it will be a long before I shall see my native land again.”

Ultimately Haviland is discharged from the ship because of his sickness and is left at the Sailor’s Hospital in Lahaina. His stay seems to do him well. His last entry reads:

“I have been here now going on two months and am entirely free from my cough and think I feel as well as ever again. It is intensely hot and I am heartily sick of the place and sincerely wish I could get away but I do not expect any chance before next fall.”

Unfortunately from here he completely drops off the record, so it’s unknown if he ever made it back home. Like so many of these men, he slips through the cracks of documented history. It’s only through their journals, preserved by chance, that their voices and challenges and feelings are known. Often a whaling voyage marked at least one death due to disease or injury. But many also recovered, sometimes rather miraculously given the circumstances and extent of their ailments. In the face of the conditions of a whaler and the limitations of care both in terms of resources and medical understandings at the time, I’m always surprised that there wasn’t more death. People did what they could, with the knowledge they had.

But as so many people expressed while laid up in their bunks: it’s a hard time to be sick at sea.

#some of these things are repurposed from other asks #im still so surprised more people didn't die... #awhalin #haviland makes me sooo sad...and I didn't even include the bits that made me saddest...

[literaryobsession]

lost || mirio x fem!reader

summary: you saw Mirio Togata’s journey from entering UA to the Shie Hassakai mission

warning: mentions of fighting and death

word count: 2155

chapters: i , ii , iii, iv , v , vii , viii,

CHAPTER VI - SHIE HASSAKAI

Sir Nighteye called for a meeting early the next day. He is assigning Mirio and Midoriya to go on patrol with him and Bubble Girl, he will leave me in charge of the agency while he's gone.

Since I know most of his contacts and the Pro Heroes do know me as the one to reach for Sir Nighteye, I can understand why I was being left behind. Of course, it stung that I could not help unless I had a lead on the actual group, but I had to understand the situation.

After all, everyone needs to play a role. Not everyone can be in the forefront of the battlefield, somebody had to play the support role.

"Be safe, star." Mirio adjusted his helmet, walking over to my table as soon as he finished putting his costume on. "I'll be back soon." It was always I'll be back. Never we'll be back.

I liked it. Somehow I felt it was important to him that I knew he was coming back for me.

I nodded, "Keep yourself out of trouble, alright, Lemillion? Remember Sir Nighteye's instructions."

Since we were all on the lookout for the Shie Hassaikai, the patrol must be as inconspicuous as possible. If they ran across a member, he and Midoriya would not engage. They will simply act like students, stay out of trouble, and report back immediately. We were still gathering data, and if the group noticed we were on them, it could ruin everything.

"Run the ship while I'm gone, North Star." Sir Nighteye stepped out of his office, finding Mirio and me.

"She'll be amazing at it, Sir! I've always thought she'd have an agency of her own!" Mirio told the older man, making me flush at the idea.

Sir Nighteye smiled, "Is that right?"

Mirio nodded happily, "I'm still asking her to reconsider me as one of her heroes! So far, she's not letting me!"

This made Sir laugh. He always laughs easily with Mirio. That was his charm. "I can vouch for him, North Star. Lemillion is hard-working. He can include me in his character reference for good measure."

I pursed my lips, holding back a chuckle at Sir Nighteye's attempt to humor Mirio, but we all knew we would come back and work for the agency after graduation.

"It isn't that he's not hard-working, Sir. The problem with Mirio is he's always so clingy!" I faked a frown on my face, making Mirio pout like a dejected puppy. "Who can work in an agency like that?"

Sir Nighteye laughed again, "I'm sure you can find a way through it. Lemillion is very fond of you." Then he fixed his tie, signaling that the conversation was done. He means business, "Ready to go, Lemillion?"

"Yes, Sir." He nodded, straightening up.

"Guide Midoriya. Make sure that everything is flawless." He reminded Mirio again before they left with Bubble Girl and Midoriya.

I focused on the various calls and reports coming in throughout the day. Only a few of them were leads on places where the Shie Hassaikai is located, and we already knew most of them. I took note of them nonetheless.

I lost track of time, only glancing up from my work when Mirio and Midoriya walked in, bringing an aura of sadness with them. My eyebrows met in confusion. Patrolling perks Mirio up since he gets to meet people, which is usually the highlight of his day.

"Miri? Midoriya?" I stood up from my seat to meet them. Midoriya disappeared in the bathroom, and Mirio plopped himself down on the sofa. He leaned back. His signature smile lost on his face. "Do you want water, Mirio? Did the patrol tire you out?"

Yes. He might be tired.

Turning to our water dispenser, I shuffled back when I heard Mirio say, "We met Kai Chisaki." I dropped the cup of half-full water when I realized who he was talking about.

Did they meet the leader?

"You met... Chisaki?" I asked and faced him, wondering if my ears were betraying me.

He nodded grimly before letting out a groan. Mirio threw his head back and squeezed his eyes shut. To help ease the situation, I got him another cup of water and hurried back to him.

"Miri, your..."

When I stood before him, Mirio moved his body towards me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned his head against my stomach.

"Mirio?" I said softly.

"Let me stay here, star. I need you." He mumbled, pulling me closer. I consented and laid a hand on his hair. This is when he finally relaxed and I continued moving my fingers through his blond locks. "I feel like Midoriya is disappointed with me."

"I'm sure that isn't true. Whatever you did, I'm sure it was for the best." I reassured him, glancing at the bathroom door where Midoriya was. "What happened, Mirio?"

"Just that. We met Chisaki, and I let him get away."

But I knew there was something more bothering him. I knocked on Mirio's dorm room door, unable to shake the feeling that he was hiding something from me. I can tell he was bothered, more than he let on, by the patrolling session that he and Midoriya went to.

He avoided me during the train ride home. His eyes glued on the floor as if he found it interesting, studying the machine that holds everything together. Midoriya was quiet, too, his hands clenched on his lap.

I knocked again, unfazed by his lack of an answer. This is what he used to do to me, to us. Whenever we get sad, upset, or sick, Mirio will surely be at our door, knocking away until we let him in, allowing him to take care of us.

"Mirio Togata, open up." I finally called out to him, ignoring the guys walking behind me.

And then I heard his voice, "It's open, star." It was a voice that did not carry his energy. It wasn't the bright sunrise he brought to the room he entered. It wasn't Mirio.

I opened his door, and Mirio was hunched over his homework. He acknowledged me with a big smile. It wasn't real, but big nonetheless. "What brings you to my side of the woods, North Star?" He pushed his chair back and stood up to greet me.

"Don't give me that." I closed the door behind me. If Mirio does not allow himself to come out before anyone else, I must ensure he feels safe and honest with me. "I can see how the patrol assignment affected you. Is there more to the story than you meeting the group's boss?"

"What do you mean? I told you everything!" He chuckled, but even that could not hide the truth in his eyes. He was such a bad liar.

I frowned at him, "No, you didn't. Mirio, I know you. Don't insult me by telling me that I have nothing to worry about because I-"

"We met his daughter." He murmured so quietly that I wondered how I managed to catch it.

"He has a...daughter?" I could feel my irritation dying down.

"I...I am not sure if that is his daughter, but...gawd," He looked away from me, his body shaking. "If only you could see the fear in her eyes. I couldn't even save her. She didn't want to return to her dad, so I let her go. I couldn't disobey Sir Nighteye. He said we shouldn't engage. We shouldn't raise any eyebrows. This is a secret mission, but... she was so scared."

His voice was full of despair, nothing I expected from Mirio. Seeing him so helpless and torn between obeying instructions and saving people broke my heart.  That was who he was. He is Lemillion, the hero that saves at least a million people.

Before I knew it, I took steps toward him, wrapping him in an embrace. No words can help him now because what can I say would help?

That’s okay?

You did your best?

She'll be fine?

So in silence, I let my actions speak for me. I'm here for you.

Mirio tightly wrapped his arms around me, clinging to me for dear life. This was the first time he had ever experienced the inability to help those who needed him. He could not save someone, and he was breaking.

I could feel his tears seeping through my shirt, so I embraced him even tighter, wondering how I could save him from drowning on earth.

He was trembling. From what? From fear? Regret? Rage? I wasn't sure. I only wanted to hold him until he felt strong enough to be the happy Mirio Togata again.

We stood there until Mirio stopped crying. He was quiet, unable to bear if anyone heard his broken sobs. He wanted to maintain his unbreakable image even at this time, even when he was breaking inside.

This is the beauty of Mirio Togata. The unbreakable smile. The unwavering determination. The shining beacon of hope.

He has always smiled even through failure. Even when people laughed at him, he simply laughed along with them. Mirio ignored the discouragement. No, no one will be able to hinder him from the path to being a Pro Hero. He will master his quirk.

And he did, didn't he? After so many naked accidents, and his failure to completely pass through walls, he finally did it. He went above and beyond what everyone expected.

"Thank you." Mirio sniffed, breaking our silence. "I don't know what I would do without you, star." He pulled back but still had his arms around me. "I'm sorry I lied to you."

I shook my head, "No, I understand you didn't want to break down in front of Midoriya. He looks like he was about to cry, too so I didn't press the subject."

"Midoriya did want to run after Eri." Mirio sighed, resigning himself to the fact that it happened, and there was nothing he can do to change the past.

"Eri?"

"Oh, sorry. That's her name. Eri."

I nodded in understanding before Mirio pulled me back into a hug again.

"Star? I wasn't completely honest with another thing, too," Mirio whispered. "Since I'm being honest, I think right now is the perfect time to tell you."

I was quiet, allowing him to go on. My heart was pacing so quickly, wondering if he was about to con-

"I love you."

"I know that already."

"No. I love you." He repeated, emphasizing the three words as if I didn't understand what he was trying to say. But I know. He loved me as a friend. What was new about...

When it dawned on me, I pulled back from our embrace. "What do you mean, Mirio?" I didn't want to assume. I did not want to assume, so I had to ask.

His face, normally full of confidence, was filled with uncertainty.

"I said...I love you, star. I have for a long time." Mirio's eyes bravely met mine. "And today, I just didn't want to keep anything else from-"

Pressing my lips against his, I broke him off. He was unmoving for the first few seconds but he responded, molding his lips with mine and learning pretty quickly. It felt like the sweet memory of seeing his bright glow for the first time, it was warm and comforting - almost like coming home after a long day of Hero work.

We stared at each other after the kiss before Mirio finally gave me a genuine smile, "You know I am all for actions but I am going to need verbal confirmation right now."

"I love you too, sunny." I buried my face in the crook of his neck.

No, no, this is better than coming home after Hero work.

This is coming home to Mirio.

#boku no hero academia #bnha #mha #my hero academia #mirio togata #mirio x reader #mirio x y/n

[mahayanapilgrim]

The story of king Kosala's minister

King Kosala had a minister named Santati and he returned from diffusing a quarrel on King Koala's frontier, and the king was so pleased that he turned over his kingdom to him for seven days and gave him an actress who danced and sang. For seven days Santati steeped himself in liquor, and on the seventh day, he got on the state elephant and set out for the river. As he passed out of the gateway, he saw the Buddha entering the city for alms. Remaining seated on the back of the elephant, he nodded his head by way of salute to the Buddha and passed on.

The Buddha smiled and said to venerable Ananda, "Ananda, just look at the king's minister Santati! This very day, adorned as he is with all adornments, he will come into my presence, and at the conclusion of a stanza consisting of four lines he will attain arahantship. He will then assume a sitting posture at a height of seven palm-trees above the earth and will then and there pass into parinibbana (passing away of someone who is an arahant).

The crowd heard the words that passed between the Buddha and Ananda. Some said to others, "Look at the way the monk Gotama acts! Whatever comes into his head he speaks! This very day, so he says, that drunken sot, adorned with jewelry, will come into his presence and listen to the Dhamma and pass into Nibbana! But that is precisely what will not happen; this very day we shall catch him in a lie." On the other hand Buddhists said, "The Buddhas are of great might! Today we shall get the chance to see both the grace of the Buddha and the gracefulnessvof Santati the king's minister."

Santati spent half of the day at the river and then started drinking. The actress came down to the center of the stage and began dancing and singing. As it was her last day, the actress thought to dance with more vigor to impress the minister to earn more. But as she performedvrestlessly for seven days she faced a severe heart attack. Immediately she passed away much to the shock of the minister. When Santati realized that the actress is dead, he felt sadness like never before. Santati was heartbroken to know that the actress died right in front of him and and in an instant the liquor he had drunk during the preceding week vanished away. He then remembered seeing the Buddha on his way to the river and felt an immediate urge to visit the Buddha and to talk to him. "The only person who knows how to make me feel better is the Enlightened one" so he visited the Buddha, accompanied by his fellow men and explained how sad he is because of the death of the nautch girl. The Buddha said, "You have indeed come to someone who can extinguish your sorrow. On the numberless occasions of births, when this woman has died in this very manner and you have wept over her, you have shed tears more than all the water contained in the four great oceans." So saying, he pronounced the following stanza:

Whatever in the past was produced by excellence

Let there be for you no ownership afterwards,

And if in the present you will not grasp at all

You will fare on to the perfect peace.

At the conclusion of the stanza, Santati the king's minister attained arahantship. Thereupon he surveyed his own aggregate of life, and perceiving that he had but a little while to live, he said to the Teacher, "Reverend sir, permit me to attain (final) Nibbana." The Buddha, said, "Before passing away, you may explain to the gathering about the meritorious deeds you've done in the past to attain Nibbana just by listening to a stanza. Doing so will increase in esteem for works of merit." Arahant Santati surveyed his past and proclaimed about the merits he conducted. "Ninety one eons ago, in the dispensation of the Vipassi Buddha, I was born in a house in a city named Bandhumati. I motivated others to perform works of merit, and I performed works of merit myself. On full moon days I took upon the Uposatha precepts; I gave alms; I listened to the Dhamma. And I went about proclaiming, 'There are no jewels comparable to the Three Jewels named the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Order; therefore do honor to the Three Jewels.

The king Bandhumati, father of the Buddha got to know that I'm inciting the populace to perform works of merit and spreading the word of Dhamma, he first gave me a horse, then a chariot and finally a royal elephant to ease my work of spreading the Dhamma among people. For many years I taught Dhamma and went from town to town, proclaiming that a Buddha has been risen in the world. Because of my deed, thousands of people practiced Dhamma and got to know about the Buddha. That's the merit that helped me attain this noble stage with such ease.

This proclamation caused the gathering to rejoice in awe and all the bystanders decided perform more meritorious deeds to ease their samsaric journey. The glory of the Buddha and Arahant Santati was well respected among the citizens. The monks started up a discussion in the Hall of Dhamma in the evening, "Santati the king's minister attained arahantship at the conclusion of the stanza, and though adorned and dressed in state, sitting cross-legged in the air, he attained Nibbana. Should he be referred to as a monk or as a brahman?" At that moment the Buddha said, "Monks, it is proper to speak of my son as a monk, and it is equally proper to speak of him as a brahman." So saying he preached the Dhamma by pronouncing the following stanza:

Though he be adorned, if he lives at peace,

Calm, tamed, restrained, and pure,

Having laid down the rod towards all beings:

He is a brahman, an ascetic, a monk. (Fin)

#buddha #buddhist #buddhism #dharma #sangha #mahayana #zen #milarepa #tibetan buddhism #thich nhat hanh #dhammapada #karma #mindfulness #dakini #four noble truths #pure land #equanimity #avalokitesvara #enlightenedconsciousness #manjushri #amitaba buddha #tsongkhapa #enlightenment spiritualawakening reincarnation tibetan siddhi yoga naga buddha #right view #padmasambhava #heart sutra #shantideva #bodhisattva #meditation #medicine buddha

[myfictionaldreams]

Better than any sweets // dbf!lee bodecker x reader

Summary: You watched as the police car pulled up to the front of your house and the sheriff stepped out. It was 2 am ​and there was only one thing he could want at this time and that was to fulfill his craving.

Tags: 18+ readers only, smut, vaginal fingering, squirting, dad’s best friend, age difference, reader is of age, innocent!reader, sir kink, praise kink, dom/sub undertones, finger sucking, mentions of masterbuation (m), dirty talk, lee has a sweet addicition

Word: 2.7k

my masterlist 📚 AO3 Link 

Lifting the glass of water to your lips you lost your train of thought staring out of the kitchen window, looking out into the black abyss of your front lawn, no life in sight except the occasional firefly that danced along the hedges. That was until a lone car started driving down the streets, lights turned off as usual, but you hadn’t been expecting him today. The car cruised to a stop in your driveway, the engine turning off as you stopped outside the bedroom next to the kitchen, leaning in to hear the soft snoring of the man behind the door. Sighing you walked towards the front door, opening it as the man from the car stepped up to your porch, the cool breeze of the autumn night whisping past your exposed knees, your yellow nightdress falling to the ends of your thighs.

“Is he asleep?” the man asked as he reached the top of the steps, you had to tilt your head as he stood before you, his Sheriff's hat shadowing his face.

“Yes but only for the last half an hour so we should be careful, maybe it’ll be better in your car?” you suggested as you briefly looked behind him to check that none of your neighbors’ lights were on.

Lee shook his head, moving to step around you, “I won’t be here long, just need to get my fix and I'll be gone.” Your core clenched at his words, thighs instinctively rubbing together to relieve some tension as you stood out of his way, letting him into the house before quickly closing the door behind him as quietly as you could.

Turning you watched the Sheriff make his way to the kitchen, opening the cabinet that usually stored what he was looking for but it was empty, “shit, sorry”. He watched as you rushed over, a displeased look on his face as you opened the cabinet opposite him, pulling out the tin of candy that he was looking for, handing it to him as he placed his hat on the kitchen countertop, revealing his piercing blue eyes that stared at the tin with hunger, “dad moved them, he’s noticed that they’re going missing.” Lee scoffed at your hushed words, pulling out a wrapper and dispensing the strawberry flavoured sweet in between his full lips, ones that you couldn’t help but stare at, your cunt clenching around nothing as you thought of what he had done with those lips last time you had seen him.

Lee's eyes traveled up and down your body, as you leaned against the counter opposite, “You know, you should probably wear more clothes before answering the door, sweet. You don’t know who will be on the other side of that door.” You looked down at your nightdress, thinking it was suitable as the length covered most of you but then you saw what his eyes were now boring a hole into, the darkened colour of your areolas were peaking through, giving him the perfect view of your perky nipples. Biting your lip you looked up at him through hooded eyes, watching as he slowly peeled his leather jacket from his shoulders, leaving him in his usual off-white shirt and black tie, his gun in the holster on his hips.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone tonight otherwise I would have worn more appropriate clothes, sir” you answered, watching your father's friend step towards you, lifting your chin up until you stood to your full height, only reaching his shoulders as your hands gripped behind you.

“I’d hope so, I don’t want anyone looking at what’s mine” his breath fluttered over your face, smelling of the candy that he had just eaten. Your eyes flicked between his, before dropping to stare at his lips once more, watching as his tongue swiped over his bottom lip leaving a gleam of moisture behind. His thumb drifted from your chin to pull your lip from between your teeth as you both stood, thick tension drifting between the two of you. You weren’t sure when this arrangement had started, you’d known Lee your entire life, he and your dad had trained to be cops together but your father had retired now due to an injury but Lee would still visit constantly, watching football or even to help you pack for college. You’d have to be honest and say you always had a crush on him but you never would act on that crush, he was your dad's best friend and a lot older than you so you stuck to watching him from afar. That was until you returned from college and after a family bbq, and far too many whiskeys, Lee had kissed you. From there, every time he was inebriated he would end up at your house, kissing you, touching you, until the drinks became less and he turned up sober, just wanting to touch you and you were happy to accept. Before Lee, you had never even been kissed before, never having been comfortable in the presence of another man, and you knew it was forbidden to be with him but you couldn’t help it, your heart racing every time you were together.

A loud snore from the closed bedroom brought you back to reality, both of your heads snapping to look at the door, hearts pounding hard as you listened for any sign of your father being awake but, the soft snoring noises continued, your shoulders dropped with relief. Lee’s head turned back to you, a smirk drifting over his lips. “Are you going to stay extra quiet for me tonight, sweet?” You nodded, not breaking eye contact as you expected him to lead you to your bedroom but he moved quickly, hands gripping the back of your thighs to lift you onto the counter and you had to grip his shoulders harshly as to not topple over, lips sealing shut as to not release the squeal that was on the edge of your tongue.

“Lee, what are you doing?!” you asked in a soft voice, anxiety rolling off your words as his hands held your hips in place as you tried to get down.

“I said I needed to be quick, so stay still and let me have what I want.” His words sent a rush through you, your thighs clenching harder around his hips as for a second you nearly forgot where you were but as you looked over your shoulder and out of the kitchen window, where anyone could see, the urgency to move to your room returned.

“But what about the window? Anyone walking past could see us, let alone Dad if he came out here for a drink.” Your hands pushed on his chest, trying to wriggle down from the kitchen top. His hands released your hips, one grabbed both of your wrists, not tightly but enough that you couldn’t pull free and the other gripped your jaw so you were looking at him.

“Stop. No one will see us, it's 2 in the morning so please, be my good girl and relax.” You stopped trying to pull your hands free, there was no way you would have been able to get out of his grip. His hands left yours when he saw that you weren’t fighting him anymore and he reached down, tugging on the end of your nightdress that had moved up to mid-thigh, the material rubbed on your delicate skin as it was easily moved under your arse and up to your waist, your bare arse now on the cool countertop, your centre exposed to him. His hands trailed up the outside of your thighs, as he stared down at your cunt, his eyes full of lust as he bit his lip. “There she is, I’ve missed her.” The sheriff’s eyes flicked up to yours as you practically drooled at the way he was looking at you.

His mouth collided with yours, moving with desperation and hunger as he devoured you, his lips moving against yours quickly, head tilting to try and kiss you deeper, tongue swirling with yours, the taste of strawberries hitting your senses as you held back a moan, trying to be as quiet as you could as you arms wrapped around his shoulders desperately, holding him close, hands scraping the back of his head. Both breathless, he moved away first, leaning his forehead on yours as you tried to catch your breath, shifting forward to bump your chest to his and your cunt leaned onto the surface beneath you, your juices spreading over it.

The large hands on your hips released you and each grabbed one of the calves that hung down the cabinets and lifted them at the same time, spreading them until both of your feet rested on the side, leaving you open and exposed, positioned so that if your dad's bedroom door opened, he would be looking directly at you. Heat flushed through your body as nerves and excitement pounded in your heart. Lee had always pushed the limits of being caught, the adrenaline only adding to the thrill of doing something he wasn’t supposed to be.

His fingertips trailed along the insides of your legs but skipped over where you truly wanted him to touch and pulled on your hips, the position stretching your thighs to the limit, causing them to burn slightly. Lifting two fingers, he swiped them across your bottom lip that was slightly puffy from the kiss, and you knew what he was asking for. Keeping eye contact with him, you licked the tip of his fingers like a lollipop, his eyes darkening as he watched you, your tongue traveling the length of his fingers before pulling them both into your mouth, sucking them slowly, making sure they were fully coated with your saliva. Lee’s free hand brushed over your stomach, moving lower over your mound as his thumb started to brush over your clit softly, rubbing circles that caused your hips to thrust forward, needing more. He continued his teasing, driving you insane as you held back the moan, small breaths leaving you instead as your eyes never left Lee’s, knowing he liked to keep eye contact during your intimate moments. He pulled the fingers from your mouth and they moved south, and pressed down your slit, your juices already being enough to lube you up as he wiped the spit over you.

“Please, Sheriff” you pleaded, keeping the noise low as you begged for him to give you the satisfaction you craved. The thumb on your bundle of nerves pressed harder as the two fingers that were teasing you pushed into you, stretching you, the burn and stimulation making your knees shake, eyes rolling back briefly before looking at him again, mouth dropping open as he moved in and out of you slowly. As the burn subsided, he started to curl his fingers inside of you as he pulled out, tugging perfectly on the spot that would drive you crazy.

You couldn’t stop the roll of your hips if you wanted to, as you met the thrust of his fingers, your eyes dropping to look at the tent that had formed, reaching forward to palm him through his trousers but he shook his head at you. “Not tonight, I just need to see this, you, here all exposed and ready for me, taking my fingers like the good girl that you are, I’ll sort myself out later with this memory in mind, the smell of you on my fingers will be enough for me to cum in a second.” God, his words drove you crazy, his near-obsession with giving you orgasms was one you wouldn’t ever complain about but it only made you crave him more. Your hands gripped onto his shoulders, pulling you upright from your slouched position, and pulled him in for a kiss, his fingers quickening inside of you, the swipes on your clit only helping to build the tension that was boiling in your stomach.

He once again was the first to pull back from your mouth, his breathing harsh to match you as his arm muscle flexed in his shirt as he moved in and out of you until he slowed down all of his movements, making you huff as you were so close. Both of you looked down as he joined another finger, watching the three enter you slowly, the burn from the stretch returning to you as he filled you up, the thumb on your clit slowing down to help you relax. “That’s it, sweet, take my fingers, you’re doing so well”, he praised, his voice low and gravely as he watched your eyelids flutter close from all the sensations, your hand on his wrists to direct the pace as you became accustomed to the feeling of his thick fingers inside of you before you returned to gripping his shoulders, showing him you were ready.

His pace was slow at first as he pumped in and out of you, your hips returning to rolling to meet his fingers as the fullness drove you crazy, knowing he felt every inch of your soft walls within. Lee leaned in and kissed your neck, your hands holding him there as he tried his hardest not to bite on the skin, knowing that your dad would notice them in the morning, instead he left open mouth kisses as his speed increased, his fingers starting to curl again. “Please sir, don’t stop. Oh my- just like that, please don’t stop” you moaned into his ear, struggling now to keep your voice down as he pumped into you.

Lee shifted back, his forehead connecting with yours as his eyes bore into your own, the blue in his eyes nearly gone by his blown-out pupils. “Yeah, like that?” he breathed out, loving your response to his touch but he had another idea, “or what about like that?”, as he suddenly started plowing his fingers inside of you, curling them harshly against that beautiful spot within and you couldn’t stop the moan that left you, fingers digging into his shoulders as his other hand shot from your clit to you mouth, covering you so your moans couldn’t be heard. The coil of pleasure became tighter in your abdomen as he didn’t falter in his speed, the sound of gushing coming from you as small specks of liquid started squirting out and down his sleeve as finally, you rocked hard against him as everything came crashing down around you. You kept eye contact with him as your legs shook and tried to clench together, your walls holding him harshly within as you felt your whole body relax in pleasure.

After a few moments of trying to catch your breath, Lee removed his hand from inside of you, bringing it to his lips and sucking every last drop from his dripping fingers, the splashes down his shirt an obvious contrast to the off-white as he savoured in your taste. “Better than any sweet” he whispered, taking his hand off of your face, hands under your hips he lifted you, placing you back onto the floor, it took you a few seconds to stop your knees from buckling as you held onto him. The sheriff smiled down as he watched you try and stand unassisted, kissing your hairline softly before moving around you, pulling on his leather coat and hat as you brushed down your nightdress, trying not to flush at the cool liquid that was still dripping down your thighs.

You walked him to the front door, lifting your hand to open it for him but his handheld it closed as he leaned down to kiss you softly, causing you to sigh and relax into the delicate touch. Stepping back he readjusted himself as you finally opened the door, he moved to walk down the stairs before turning back to you, “Be ready at the same time tomorrow”. You instantly rubbed your thighs together, happy that he was planning to come back so soon, which didn’t go unnoticed by him as he smirked, tilted his hat, and moved to sit in the car.

He watched through your kitchen window as he reversed out of your drive, as you wiped down the surface of the mess he had caused and his cock became even harder in his pants unzipping them, not being able to wait until he was home as he wrapped his fist around himself and started pleasuring himself to the thoughts of you.

#lee bodecker x reader #lee bodecker smut #lee bodecker #the devil all the time #lee bodecker fanfic #sebastian stan smut #seb stan smut #mine*

[lostinthewiind]

Piss Off Your Parents - Part 8

Ukai Keishin - Haikyuu

Synopsis: freshly turned 18, you want to prove to your parents that you aren’t a child for them to push around anymore. First, get a job at the local corner store. Second, use the store owner’s 26-year-old son with piercings and a cigarette addiction to piss your parents off. Third, accidentally fall in love.

Rating: PG13

Warnings: none

Song → 18 by Anarbor

Previous → Part 7

Next → Part 9

Feeling a body shift beside you, you slowly began to wake from your deep, dreamless sleep. With thin rays of sunlight shining through the crack between the curtains, you let a content, sleepy smile toy at the corners of your lips as you rolled over in Keishin's arms and came face to face with his sleeping form.

It had been over a week since you had started staying with Keishin and even though waking up beside someone every morning definitely took some getting used to, you were a little surprised by just how quickly it was beginning to feel normal. Not only that, but you never slept better than you did in Keishin's bed with his warm, calming presence beside you and strong, protective arm draped over your waist.

Eyes closed and lips slightly parted, Keishin was fast asleep. His chest rose and fell rhythmically and at some point during the night, just like every other night, his hair—which wasn't tamed by the headband while he slept—had gotten all messed up and a few strands had fallen into his face.

Whenever you woke up before him, you would always take the chance to just look at him. While he slept, he seemed completely and utterly at peace—no longer burdened by the stress of coaching volleyball, working at the store, and no doubt whatever extra problems you had brought into his life. You thought back to the time you had watched him sleeping on the couch in the back room and sighed happily; the thought of how much things had changed in such a short period of time truly putting things into perspective.

Unable to keep your hands to yourself any longer, you reached out slowly and brushed the loose strands of hair out of his face and tucked them behind his ear—the same way you had done when you two had first had sex and the same way you had done countless times since.

Keishin could sleep through a thunderstorm or the sound of you calling out his name, but as soon as he felt your fingertips graze against his cheek, his eyes fluttered open. Upon noticing he was awake, you made your touch more prominent and caressed his face.

"Good morning," you whispered, unwilling to raise your voice any more than that and ruin the soft ambiance of the early morning.

Keishin leaned into your touch and smiled softly. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," you answered as you ran your thumb along his bottom lip, internally debating if you should ambush him with kisses now or wait until he had woken up a little more first. Chuckling to yourself over your own thoughts, you caught yourself staring at his lips and directed your gaze back to his eyes. "I'm just looking at you."

Keishin scoffed as he pressed a gentle kiss to your thumb. "Why?"

"Because you look so beautiful when you're asleep," you told him matter-of-factly. "Not that you don't always look beautiful," you added quickly before he could make some sort of sarcastic comment.

Keishin rolled his eyes before pulling you flush against his chest and kissing you. "You're such a sap, you know that?"

You laughed. "First, I'm dramatic. Now I'm a sap. What's next?"

"I have no idea." Keishin shrugged the best he could while lying down. "What I do know, however," he glanced at the clock, "is that we need to get up and get ready."

Following Keishin's gaze to the time, you huffed sadly when you noticed there were only five minutes left until your alarm would go off, forcing you to get ready to open the store. "Can't we just stay in bed all day?" you asked, hoping you could convince him to stay under the covers with you.

"Not unless we want to go broke and end up living under a bridge together."

You chuckled as Keishin crawled out of bed, the temptation of slapping his ass gently when he stood up almost too much but you managed to control yourself. "Together?" You grinned. "You'd stay with me even if we were both dirt poor?"

Keishin rolled his eyes playfully at your takeaway from his statement. "Of course." He collected his clothes before making his way around to your side of the bed and pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. "But I think I like plumbing and heating too much to give them up, so let's shower and get ready."

Sitting up in bed, you cocked an eyebrow. "You want to shower together?"

Keishin flashed a devilish smirk as he headed for the bathroom. "Purely for the purpose of saving water." He disappeared into the bathroom and seconds later his boxers flew out and landed on the floor, indicating he was completely nude. "But if you hate the planet, then I guess that's on you."

Your cheeks flushed red but nevertheless, you swung your legs over the side of the bed and began removing your clothes as you approached the bathroom. "Sure," you laughed as you closed the bathroom door behind yourself and let your eyes wander over Keishin's wet, naked body as he stood under the steaming water. "If it's for the planet, how could I possibly say no?"

20 minutes of passionate kissing and soapy hands exploring every inch of each other's body later, the two of you towelled off and finished getting ready before sitting down for a quick breakfast together.

"So the volleyball team has a game today, right?" you asked Keishin as you poured milk into your bowl of cereal. Keishin nodded. "What time do you think you will be home?"

Keishin thought for a moment before answering. "Probably around six or seven tonight. The game is right after school so it shouldn't run too late."

"Okay." You sat down across from him at the table. "Should we get dinner after I close up the shop?"

Keishin nodded again. "Sounds like a plan."

With a few more bites of his breakfast, Keishin was setting his dishes in the sink, pressing a quick kiss to the top of your head, and rushing down the stairs and out of the building to start his day.

As you listened to his footsteps stomp down the stairs, followed by the sound of the back door opening and closing to indicate that he had left, you sighed to yourself and sat back in your chair. It was then that you took a minute to think about everything; your job, your boyfriend, your living arrangements, your tattered relationship with your parents. In the span of a few months, your life had completely turned upside down, but that wasn't the part that freaked you out the most.

What really got you thinking was the fact that, even though your life had done a complete 180, you had never been happier; which led to the constant internal questioning about if you had ever really been happy before you had met Keishin at all, or if this was just a different kind of happy—a happy that only a stable, supportive significant other could provide.

Before you had the chance to get lost in your thoughts, you snapped out of it, finished your breakfast, and headed downstairs to open the shop and begin your day.

As usual, you dealt with the typical morning rush of people stopping in to grab a coffee or other various food items on their way to work or school. Once the mid-morning slump hit and the customer traffic went way down, you took the time to do some routine cleaning and inventory. By now, you were like a well-oiled machine when it came to the daily task of running the store.

Around noon, as you were finishing up stocking some shelves, the front door opened and a very well-dressed man strolled into the store. "Hello," you greeted him, standing from where you were kneeling in front of the shelves and dusting off your pants.

The man gave you a once over, eyeing you from head to toe. Without so much as an acknowledging nod, he brushed past you and toward the full-length fridges at the back.

Assuming the man just wasn't in a chatty mood, you took the empty boxes to the storage room. When you exited, the man was already standing at the front counter, impatiently tapping his foot while he held two bottles of water in his hands.

"Sorry for the wait," you apologized. "Just the waters today?"

The man just nodded and let out a grunt.

Trying not to take his dismissive attitude too seriously, you rang up his purchases and gave him the total. Instead of pulling out his wallet, however, he just gave you a dirty look.

"That's a little expensive for two bottles of water, don't you think?" he retorted.

You didn't know what to say to that, so you shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't make the prices, sir," you told him. "I just work here."

Huffing loudly, the man fished his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out some bills before tossing them haphazardly onto the counter. "Fine. Don't forget my change."

Before you could open the cash register, the front doors opened again and a woman dressed in a beautiful dress with her hair done up elegantly walked in and stopped beside the man before you. "Have you paid yet?" she asked the man, who was either her boyfriend or husband based on the way she was hanging off of his arm. "I just realized I'm out of cigarettes."

"I'm just paying now," he told her, his face softer than you had seen it yet before he turned back to you and asked for the brand of cigarettes that his partner smoked.

Spinning around, you felt your stomach twist at the sight of the empty dispenser of cigarettes, meaning that you were out of the brand he had requested. Of course, the delivery for that day hadn't come in yet, making your job even harder right now.

Plastering the warmest smile on your face that you could muster, you turned back to the couple. "I apologize, but we are all out of that brand. Can I get you something else?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "No, everything else tastes like garbage."

"I see." You stepped back up to the cash register. "So just the waters then?"

The man nodded. "I guess so if your shitty little store doesn't even stock up on popular brands of cigarettes." He watched you intently as you opened the register and counted his change. "I knew we should have stopped somewhere other than this hole in the wall."

As much as you so desperately wanted to rip this man and his spoiled girlfriend a new one, you bit your tongue instead and grinned as you handed him back his change. "Here you are." You dropped the coins into his outstretched hand. "Have a wonderful day."

Neither one of them said anything in response as they turned on their heels and marched out of the store, noses turned up at everything around them. As you watched them get into their fancy car and speed away, you wondered if they treated everyone like that or just lowly corner store workers like yourself.

Trying to let the incident slide off of you like water off of a duck's back, you returned to the remaining tasks on your to-do list and tried to forget all about being treated like a second-class citizen.

As the day turned to late afternoon and the after-school and after-work rush hit, you had found your way back into your groove again.

An hour or so before closing time, and roughly around the time Keishin would be returning, you heard a pair of heels clacking against the tile floor and stood up front behind the counter only to come face-to-face with your mother. Dressed in a pencil skirt and blouse, it was obvious she had just come from work, but your attention was more focused on the envelope she was holding out to you.

"This came for you the other day." She didn't even bother with a simple greeting even though it had been weeks since you had seen or spoken to her or your father.

"Oh, okay." You reached out and took the envelope from her. Turning it over, you felt your heart jump into your throat when you read that it was from the University of Tokyo.

You looked up at your mother expectantly but she waved you off. "Don't ask me what it says, I didn't open it," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "Why didn't you tell your father and me that you applied to the University of Tokyo? It's a very good school."

"Because I didn't do it for you," you said as you tucked the envelope into your back pocket. "And I certainly didn't do it to go to law school or anything you guys would approve of."

Your mother narrowed her eyes at you. "Then why did you do it?"

"To play soccer," you answered, your mind immediately going to the conversation you had had with Keishin while taking inventory together. "And because I told someone I would."

Your mother eyed you for a minute more, waiting to see if you would reach for the envelope again to open it. When you made no indication of sharing your application results with her, she hummed softly. "Well, whatever that letter says, you should take some time to seriously consider what your next step is going to be." She turned to leave but stopped halfway to the door and looked at you over her shoulder. "It's not too late to make the right choice. Think carefully before you throw your life away."

With that, your mother exited the store, leaving you with a mixed slurry of emotions and no clue how to deal with any of them.

Pulling the envelope out of your back pocket, you set it down on the counter in front of you and stared at it. Whatever was printed on the single piece of paper inside would set a course for your future . . . although you were unsure if you even still wanted the future that this piece of paper could give you.

All you wanted was to be happy, and all you knew was that Keishin gave you that.

Anything more felt like asking for too much.

Anything more felt like a gamble that wasn't worth the risk.

#piss off your parents #part 8 #haikyuu #haikyuu!!! #sexy time #haikyuu smut #lostinthewiind #reader insert #reader imagine #x reader #ukai keishin #ukai #ukai x reader

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

This is relevant now

Dream: Spencer’s like dispenser, clay’s like clay, what else can I say?

Tommy: [reads it out loud] “He just wrote a poem for you, Wilbur.”

Wilbur: “Is that the level of comedy we’re achieving on the Dream server today? I’ve got one, I’ve got one, I’ve got one...”

Wilbur: “Can you tell Dream something for me, Tommy?”

You whisper to Tubbo_: Are you uncomfortable

Dream: Wilbur the king of comedy that’s what he goes by

Tubbo_ whispers to you: VERY

...

Wilbur: “Can you tell him that I have a mural in one of my rooms about him. It’s not very big, it’s quite small...basically what I do is I roll in green makeup paint and I draw on my upper torso this face, like a little smile, and I paint it in white...I always keep in this shrine a bunch of pearls...they look like Ender Pearls...and I also have a bunch of buckets full of water, and one day when the time is right, I will make the jump.”

Tubbo: “The jump to where?”

Wilbur: “Hopefully a better place.”

Tommy: “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...so how does this mob farm work?”

...

Tommy: “Wilbur, are you alright?”

Wilbur: “Tommy, can you tell Dream something for me?”

Tommy: “Yes sir, yes sir.”

Wilbur: “Can you ask him what his favorite food is please?”

Tubbo_ whispers to you: this is deffo flerting

Tubbo_ whispers to you: this is deffo flerting

Tubbo_ whispers to you: this is deffo flerting

Tubbo_ whispers to you: this is deffo flerting

Tubbo_ whispers to you: this is deffo flerting

TommyInnit: Dream whats your favorite food

Dream: Probably pizza

Dream: Basic

Wilbur: “Can you ask Dream a question for me please, Tommy?”

Tommy: “Yeah...”

Wilbur: “Can you ask him if he’s free this weekend?”

TommyInnit: Wilbur asks if you’re free this weekend

Dream: This weekend or next weekend?

Wilbur: “This weekend, this weekend.”

Dream: [Tommy reading aloud] next week I’m beating him (in MCC)

Tubbo: “That’s inappropriate.”

Tommy: “That’s what he said -- in MCC.”

Tubbo: “OH, oh, okay.”

Dream: whether I’m busy or not depends why

Wilbur: “Can you ask him if he wants to come get pizza with me?”

...

Wilbur: “Just me.”

Tommy: “Why would you not wanna invite me? I’m fun...”

TommyInnit: Not me sorry, just you and Wilbur

Dream: Where?

Wilbur: “P-p-pi-Pizza Hut.”

Dream: That’s the best choice

Wilbur: “Please ask him if that’s a yes. Is that a yes?”

Dream: Isn’t he from antarctica or something

Wilbur: “Oh my god, please just give me a yes or a no Dream.”

...

Tommy: “Do you know who Georgenotfound is?”

Wilbur: “No clue. Has he answered?”

Tommy: “...He said sure.”

Wilbur: “YES...YES...Oh, thank you Tommy, it’s been a pleasure being on the Dream Team SMP server today. OHHHH I’m over the moon! I’ve had a great time! Dream, I’ll see you tomorrow - Pizza Hut, Brighton, 8pm...Pog! Bring a face mask, ohhh...thank you Tommy, thank you so much--” [He hangs up]

Tubbo: “Well that was gay.”

Tubbo: “...I feel like I just sat through a Wattpad.”

#for those who weren't here at the time #to experience it #dream smp #wilbur soot #dreamwastaken

[ary-se]

Mankai with a dog

i was staring at my dog earlier, aggressively barking at a plastic bag. that's all. the rest is history

• at some point taichi just mentioned something along the lines of, "hey, wouldn't it be more fun here if... WE GET A DOG!?"

• whenever an idea spreads around the dorm, whether it's a good idea or an utterly ridiculous one, it's always either taichi or kazunari.

• IT'S ALWAYS EITHER TAICHI OR KAZUNARI (2).

• sakuya is excited about it! he never knew what it feels like to live with a dog, let alone actually grow up with one. this pure bean just wants to experience it, c'mon man...

• muku also agrees!! 100% yes!!! wouldn't it be cute when you get home everyday from school with a dog greeting you? it's like that one shoujo manga...

• tsumugi likes the idea! he also grew up with a dog (gosh dachshunds are so cute... zabi ily with my whole heart) so it wouldn't be too bad to have a dog in the dorm! apparently dogs can help you out a lot when it comes to emotional problems :)

• the moment these three angels literally agreed with the idea, everyone is ABOARD. it would be like taking care of a child except it's 100x times more fun

• actually no scratch that, not everyone is aboard...

• cause there's SAKYO.

• "WHAT'RE YOU GUYS GONNA DO ABOUT THE DOG?? DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF IT??? IT'LL ALSO TAKE MONEY TO BUY FOOD DISPENSER, DOG FOOD, YADDA YADDA YADDA"

• see it's all about money in the end, but sakyo. we know you want it too. god just pls say yes.

• a LOT of pleading - either the boys shoot sakyo puppy eyes whenever they see him, or some of them (by some i only mean taichi and kazu) waits outside sakyo's room and bleed his ears off with saying PLEASE repetitively the moment sakyo goes out of his room

• sakyo murdered everyone who barged into his room but they always, ALWAYS do it anyways. they don't learn their lesson!!

• SAKYO GOT FED UP. begrudgingly, after this has been going on for a month, he says yes

• EVERYONE CHEERS, FREAKING FINALLY!!!

• taichi and kazu, the mankai boys already aborted their plan of holding a funeral for the both of you... before sakyo agreed on getting a dog, he always has this look of wanting to strangle them to death

• after a lot of debating, they decided to settle on a dog that has a friendly disposition. anyways they get a light brown labrador!!!

• the day the dog got in the dorm, everyone got so excited

• everyone is literally ALL OVER THE DOG. THE DOG LIKES THE ATTENTION BUT GIVE IT A BREAK!! JUST PLEASE

• they name the dog koro! it's simple enough

• (i just searched for popular dog names in japan... don't @ me pls sobs)

• that night the dog kept wagging his tail from being so excited with everyone's presence he deadass sprained his tail

• it recovered after a week

• everyone takes turns filling koro's food bowl and water bowl. the duty of walking the dog is also distributed based on when the boys are free. they literally have a calendar dedicated for koro

• tsumugi makes a list of what the dog can and can't eat! it's most likely that everyone will feed koro, so they better not kill him off early...

• everyone follows the list except juza, it seems like he forgot the existence of the list

• one time juza was eating chocolate cupcakes, and koro was giving him puppy eyes

• how could he resist that face!! his inner resolve crumbled so fast, he was literally about to give it to koro

• tsuzuru to the rescue! the moment he saw juza and koro, he yelled "JUZA NO DON'T PLEASE STOP DOGS CAN'T EAT CHOCOLATE"

• juza just looks at tsuzuru, shocked. what do you mean dogs can't eat chocolate?? how do they even live their lives without the goodness of chocolates?? WHAT?

• he fails to understand, but he doesn't give it to koro. the dog whimpers and just goes away,, juza felt so bad and silently apologized to koro, but now he learned his lesson

• omi spoils koro!! every time he has free time, he whips something up for koro. he makes it as balanced as possible, of course.

• everyone to omi: "please don't make the dog fat."

• omi: "haha i won't"

• cue next day koro kinda looks chubbier

• OMI. PLEASE WE KNOW THE DOG IS CUTE BUT PLS CONTROL IT

• no joke, tenma was excited at first but now every time he sees the dog barking he gets scared shitless.

• JUST BECAUSE THE DOG BARKS AT YOU THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE DOG IS MAD AT YOU. IT JUST WANNA BE FRIENDS YOU FREAKING DOLT

• when he got comfortable with koro, he hid from everyone and patted the dog for the first time, and ran away immediately from embarrassment

• that night everybody was questioning why tenma gets beet red every time koro gets near him. but nobody mentioned it.

• on a whim, itaru let koro pull for a limited banner, making his paw tap the button. who knows if this dog is kinda lucky, right? there's no way of knowi-

• HE GETS ALL THE LIMITED CARDS IN ONE 10X PULL

• itaru just gapes at the dog for five minutes. "koro, you are a godsend..."

• itaru hid the dog's insane luck from banri, but somehow banri caught on

• "THAT'S UNFAIR! WHY WERE YOU HIDING IT FROM ME"

• from that point forward whenever itaru and banri play together, expect koro to be with them. it occurs a lot of times, but koro doesn't seem to mind as long as he gets belly rubs.

• congratulations masumi!! you now have a new alarm clock, but a million times MORE annoying!!

• they trained koro so every time masumi doesn't wake up, koro will just pounce and literally jump on him while barking right on his ear

• masumi hates to admit it, but the dog is goddamn annoying and it's effective at the same time

• hooray to masumi for not being late ever again!

• tasuku just stares at koro dead in the eye while the dog looks at his meal. what if i also train him to..?

• one day during winter troupe's rehearsals, hisoka was actually super duper early and that NEVER HAPPENED.

• "HISOKA WHY ARE YOU SO EARLY?? IS SOMETHING WRONG??"

• turns out TASUKU TRAINED KORO FOR A SOLID MONTH TO FIND HISOKA.

• once tasuku says "koro, where's hisoka?" the dog nyooms to WHERE HISOKA ACTUALLY IS. is he on the tree? in the washing machine? in the long-lost, ever changing storage room? you name it sir

• the days of painfully looking for hisoka are over! tasuku can finally catch a break! this is a big win for winter troupe!!!

• homare just blabs his poems to the poor dog. always.

• it's been going on for five hours and koro is so tired of his shit he just settles on trying to bury his ears on the ground just to not hear him. i am so sorry for your loss.

• homare pets him after he is done with his long ass session so guess that's worth it!

• tsuzuru didn't necessarily train koro to do it, but somehow whenever tsuzuru is in a writing spree the dog just grabs a can of red bull from itaru and brings it to his room.

• tsuzuru doesn't even realize it's the goddamn dog. HE DEADASS JUST TAKES THE CAN AND SAY THANK YOU AND CONTINUE WRITING THE SCRIPT

• everyone just assumed tsuzuru trained koro to actually do that. PLEASE LET THE DOG LEARN NORMAL DOG TRICKS HE ISN'T YOUR MAID

• "I DIDN'T TRAIN KORO!!!"

• Whenever it's misumi's turn to walk the dog, koro joins him in his triangle hunting! koro picked up misumi's habits, so koro picks up triangular objects from time to time and gives it to misumi. d'awwww!

• misumi please don't expect the dog to join you running on walls. please don't. everyone's gonna hunt you down once something happens :)

• citron is super affectionate to the dog! koro is so attached to him and koro listens to citron babbling even tho he understands jackshit

• "back in my country, i am known as the glorious legendary master of dog b-"

• "yes citron. we get it."

• CITRON MAKES A KORO JR. MY HEART MY SOUL I OFFER TO YOU

• it's the dog's fave toy!!! he sleeps with it.

• yuki enjoys making anything for the dog. a dog bed? clothes? accesories? toys? HECK YEAH BRING IT ON SIR

• yuki isn't touchy feely with the dog but that's how he shows his love for koro!! it's okay, the dog understands!!

• koro is literally drowning in all those handmade stuff, spoiled by the only yuki

• whenever it's yuki's turn to walk the dog, he wears matching outfits with the dog as he buys more fabric for the next play (and for the dog but we don't mention that)

• THEYRE KINGS! literally a head turner. everyone just looks at them in awe. yuki wanna show off

• like citron, sakuya is super affectionate to the dog!

• he always gives bear hugs to the dog, especially when he is feeling anxious about something! koro's presence calms sakuya down big time

• please protect these small beans

• muku also loves the dog to death!! every time they arrive at home from school koro just jumps to them and he enjoys it so much

• at times when muku wants company when reading his shoujo manga, or just wants something to hug, koro does the job

• affectionate babies. please protect (2)

• koro is super affectionate when it comes to azuma.

• every after koro gets really excited about something, he gets dead tired so he goes straight to azuma's room.

• do you want to know what azuma does to koro? hmmmm? :---)

• they sleep together! duh

• taichi ALWAYS plays with the dog. it's like two dogs bonding smh

• taichi gets confused whenever they play catch?? whenever koro finally gets the ball, he runs back to taichi but doesn't give him the ball

• "umm, koro? we wouldn't be able to continue playing if you don't give the ball?"

• koro: NO GET ONLY THROW

• kazunari has a lot of aesthetic pics of koro! they're so wholesome, there was a point when his instablam is just full of koro

• ok he does have a lot of funny videos too, that's unavoidable

• best one so far was muku tossing the ball for koro to catch it, but he threw it too far and it hit sakyo's head at the back

• RUN FOR YOUR LIFE MUKU OH MY GOD

• sakyo was about to lose his shit but once he saw muku apologizing and rambling he felt bad.

• should it be mentioned that cleaning sessions are more of a pain than before?

• the dog sheds a LOT MORE than they expected. the fur is literally fucking everywhere

• how does one dog have this much hair??

• those ppl with big sisters (cough itaru and banri) SWEARS this dog's shedding is a hundred times worse than their sisters' hairfall

• speaking of shedding everywhere, everyone's clothes have fur ALL OVER their clothes

• most especially sakyo because he wears all black. poor old dude

• after a month of deliberation from sakyo, they decided to buy more lint rollers and all that stuff that are supposedly effective

• every time the students are late to school, the dorms get chaotic

• unfortunately for everyone the dog joins in adding more noise pollution

• THE DOG DRAMATICALLY BARKS WHENEVER EVERYONE IS PANICKING. IT FEELS LIKE WAR

• cue sakyo's very angry "KORO, SHUT UP!"

• koro didn't bark for a solid week... just pure whimpering. everyone was looking at sakyo like, "you better apologize, he doesn't deserve it..."

• when it was sakyo's turn to walk him, koro looks like he was about to shit. everyone was pretty concerned, but they wanted to see how it went

• the moment they came home, koro was all over him and sakyo is hiding a smile

• SOMETHING DEFINITELY HAPPENED.

• but what happened? nobody knew a thing. and it will stay that way.

• EVERYONE IS SOFT FOR HIM. not taking no for an answer

#a3! #a3! actor training game #a3! act! addict! actors! #act! addict! actors! #sakuya sakuma #masumi usui #citron #itaru chigasaki #tsuzuru minagi #tenma sumeragi #yuki rurikawa #muku sakisaka #misumi ikaruga #kazunari miyoshi #banri settsu #juza hyodo #omi fushimi #sakyo furuichi #taichi nanao #tsumugi tsukioka #tasuku takato #azuma yukishiro #homare arisugawa #hisoka mikage

[yetanotherfanficblog]

Elation, Trepidation, Dejection, Destruction

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Characters: Captain Jifuya, Male Xaela Aura Dark Knight Warrior of Light, Yotsuyu goe Brutus (mentioned)

Rating/Warnings: Mature (Mentions of past Sexual Abuse, Child Abuse, and Slavery, Slight Gore, Minor Character Death)

Summary: Hien refuses to judge Jifuya, and the Warrior of Light decides to take matters into his own hands. It is not the first time the Dark Knights have had to punish crimes that weak little lordlings would not, and it will not be the last.

Also on Ao3

It was with slowly dawning horror that Enkhjargal heard Jifuya unfold his story - of buying Yotsuyu from her abusive parents, of using her as a doll for his lecherous customers, of his eagerness, even, to specifically exploit her trauma, a story he told not with regret, but simply with fear that he might finally face consequences. Enkhjargal cast a look at Gosetsu. It was Gosetsu's choice, first, but surely, he'd understand this man could be no part of-

"...I see," Said Gosetsu, as Jifuya still cringed before him, "Then I shall recommend that you be assigned to a new post."

Enkhjargal took a step backward, a look of shock at Gosetsu that he quickly stifled. The practice of taking prisoners in war or camp raids was one thing, but this type of slavery, buying and selling of a person? He had seen Gosetsu's code in action, respected it. Did the code truly stop here? With allowing this buyer and seller of unwilling young women to continue as if his sin had been nothing?

Perhaps he only meant to leave the judgement to his lord. Yes. That must be it. Certainly, Hien would have the wisdom to deal with this properly. It was... not the best way to deal with it, frankly, in Enkhjargal's mind, but perhaps allowing Hien to serve justice would make Doma stronger in the long run, even it delayed the justice Jifuya so clearly deserved by a few hours.

---

"I would not presume to defend the life Jifuya led before he joined the Front," Said Hien, "Nor will I condemn it. Frankly, it is not my place to judge. I will only say this: the Jifuya I know has ever been a man of courage. That he should feel driven to flee bespeaks the depth of his terror. Even now, Yotsuyu casts a shadow over the realm..."

Enkhjargal narrowed his eyes. Had Hien just suggested that he would not condemn or judge bloody slavery-

No. Not here. Not like this. Confronting Hien right now is unlikely to change his mind.

But we must do something.

It won't be the first time we must dispense justice because some pampered noble lordling either couldn't or wouldn't.

And it certainly won't be the last.

He will be alone at some point. We only need to find out when, and where, and be there when he is.

Bide your time until then.

---

Enkhjargal kept his body language as casual as possible as walked out of the House of the Fierce - to get some fresh air, he had told his comrades. It wasn't even completely a lie, although mostly he meant to put as much space between him and Hien as possible, before he said something he might regret.

But before he did, he spoke to the sentry at the entrance of house of the Fierce, where it lead out to the fields of Doma once again.

"Have you seen Jifuya since he got back?"

"Oh! He stepped out again. Don't worry though, sir, he ensured me he was coming back this time. He's only off duty for a bit, at Lady Yugiri's suggestion."

"Hm. Do you know where'd go at times like this?"

"Well. I know he sometimes likes to head out past Monzen, to gaze at the Castle. Even though it's in ruins, it's still a grand view."

Enkjarghal nodded, "Very well. Carry on, Sentry."

The Sentry bowed as Enkhjargal strode past him, out of the House of the Fierce.

When he rounded the bend, he pulled out his whistle and blew a short blast. A few moments later, his Yol swept down the sky. Enkhjargal leapt upon her, and pointed her west.

---

Not his place to judge? By the twelve, it is EXACTLY his place to judge! What is the bloody point of having lords and kings if they will not judge the sins of the common folk and ensure their kingdoms protect the weak and prevent the strong from abusing their power? What in the Seven Hells is Hien thinking? Why are we freeing Doma if it will only perpetuate the sins of the Empire against the poor and orphaned and destitute? Will he create a hundred, a thousand new Yotsuyus, poor young folk, orphans and destitute, driven to hatred and desperation by their treatment of the hand of rich old lechers and greedy landlords and cocky soldiers, because he refuses to do his bloody duty?

The voice screamed at the back of Enkhjargal's mind as he flew his Yol toward the river, and Enkhjargal let it. It was right, as usual. Whether Imperial or not, Eorzean or Hingan or Xaela or otherwise, too many of these nobles and monarchs and generals were such selfish, shortsighted fools, interested in the path of least resistance, or their own comfort, and as always, it fell to the bloody warrior of light to fix it.

And fix it he would, one way or another.

His black-scaled tail twitched restlessly, angrily behind him as he flew on. ---

A few moments more, and he landed his Yol, patting it gratefully on the neck before taking a bit of Dzo jerky from his pack, holding it out letting the Yol nibble it from his hand.

"Wait here, my friend," he murmured, "I shall not be long."

He walked toward the river bank, and soon spotted Jifuya, staring out toward the ruins of the castle as the lookout had suggested. The man did not notice him. Enkhjargal's hand went to the spare dagger at his waist. He could end it now, with a well-aimed throw, or a shove of the dagger at just the right point on his spinal column-

No. Jifuya should KNOW. He should see it coming. He should face the weight of his sins, as we have. As all should.

So Enkhjargal walked closer, drawing his sword, ensuring the sound of scraping metal was just loud enough to be heard.

Jifuya leapt with a start and turned around.

"Oh!" He said, breathing a sigh of relief, "Hello, Lord Enkhjargal. I didn't expect to see you out here. I come here sometimes. Staring at the castle helps center me when I'm feeling a bit out of sorts."

"I know. I heard one of your comrades mentioning it. I had hoped to find you here."

"You... You hoped?" Jifuya said, his face confused.

"Yes. You and I have something to discuss."

"Oh! Of course! Anything for the hero of Doma," Jifuya said, smiling graciously, simperingly, "B... But what could you have to discuss with me?"

"Your Profession."

"My-"

"Before you joined the resistance. Was Yotsuyu your only victim? Did you kidnap your other girls? Buy some of them from slave markets? Seduce a few of them off streets, convincing them their only option to avoid homelessness was to work in your dens? Or did you simply buy them all from lecherous, greedy old monsters eager to pawn a daughter or a wife to pay off gambling debts, or just to move on to their next pretty plaything?"

"Wha- What?"

"ANSWER ME," Enkhjargal said, his voice rising in volume just a bit, infused with the dark anger of his other half, as he stepped closer, now towering over Jifuya.

"I-I- I was a legitimate businessman, I had the full sanction of the Em- I mean- I... I got my girls from a variety of places! But I- It was Imperial times! We all had to survive, one way or another-"

Jifuya stopped, cringed, looked up at Enkhjargal. Enkhjargal stared back.

"S-Some of them were there by choice..." Jifuya continued, whimpering.

"SOME of them," Enkhjargal repeated his words, stone-faced, monotone, putting just enough emphasis on the first to remind Jifuya of what it implied, that even more were there against their will.

If the man means to dig his own grave, who are we stop him?

"I. I know what I did to Yotsuyu was... not my best moment," Jifuya said, "But- But- I have heard what you've done! You fought her! Rumors say you can even stare into the past of your enemies! You've seen her sins firsthand! You KNOW she's a monster!"

"I am not here to judge her, Jifuya. I am here to judge you. But how, I wonder, did she become a monster? I have seen enough of her past to know she was not born that way."

He took yet another step closer to the Doman. Jifuya tried to step backward, but his foot nearly slipped off the enbankment. He looked back at the water, and Enkhjargal wondered for a moment if he was planning to try his luck in the swift current. Yet still, he turned back to look up at Enkhjargal, cringing.

"No, she was made a monster," Enkhjargal continued, "By neglectful, hateful parents. By a cruel, callous slavemaster who saw her pain and saw in it a way to put more gil in his pocket."

"I...I already said I felt shame-" Jifuya began to stammer.

"No you didn't," Enkhjargal said, his voice a low hiss, simmering with rising fury, "You said you were afraid of your past, not sorry for it."

"I-I- I'm saying it now! I'm sorry! I swear!"

"Remorse given at the last possible second out of fear is no remorse at all."

"P-Please! Hien already passed judgement! HE forgave me, sh-shouldn't you?"

"He is not my lord," Enkhjargal said, "And thus I have no reason to be bound by his judgement."

"It's a shame, really," Enkhjargal continued, "Maybe if he had done what a king should and put you on trial for your crimes, you could have gotten something softer, something that still served some sort of justice. Maybe exile, or a prison cell, or hard labor. Or restitution paid to Tsuyu and any other of your living victims. Some sort of thing to ensure that craven, beastly men like you will not be tolerated in his new kingdom. But instead, he'll let you go free."

"B... But he DID let me go, right? I'm free. He said so..." Jifuya's voice barely sounded as if it came from a human now, broken and whining as it was.

"Yes. He did. But Doma wouldn't be the first nation I've travelled in where the upper class are either too cowardly or too complicit to reign in the wicked and corrupt. And you know what I've done in those countries?"

"W-What's that?"

"This."

Enkhjargal raised his weapon, and as he did, dark crackles and swirls of aether played around every inch of his body, around his massive sword, as his inner flame finally unleashed, fueled by the anger and rage he'd being feeling every since he found out Jifuya's crime, ever since Hien refused to judge him.

"Oh Kami!" Jifuya cringed back, "Warrior! Please! Show Mercy!"

"The same mercy you showed Yotsuyu? Your other victims?" Enkhjargal answered, coldly, as he swung his sword downward.

Jifuya opened his mouth to scream, but Enkhjargal gave him no chance to sound the alarm.

The pieces of the former slaver's body fell silently into the River, the swift current carrying them out of sight in an instant.

---

"They might find out, you know," His Dark Double, Sometimes called Fray, sometimes Esteem, murmured at his shoulder, as Enkhjargal stood at the edge of the riverbank, still staring into its churning waters.

"No," Enkhjargal said, his mouth set in a grim line, "They'll never suspect me, I'm a hero, a bloody icon. Surely I would never harm as innocent a soul as the brave Jifuya, decorated Captain of the Great and Noble Doman Godsdamned Resistance. Besides. He already tried to run once, who says he didn't do it again? He must have slipped off into the night, too afraid of Yotsuyu - or feeling too guilty at a reminder of the weight of his sins."

"You have a point," Esteem said, with a dark chuckle.

"Besides, if they do find any part of his body," Enkhjargal continued, "They'll likely assume it was someone who died in the assault on Doma Castle. Even if the fish don't eat it first, the water should wear down the meat enough that no-one could tell for sure that it was him - or that he died quite some time after the end of that bloody battle."

"So that's one problem taken care of. But there's one left. How do we deal with Hien?"

"We watch, and we wait, like we always do," Enkhjargal answered, "I thought he had the strength to lead, but if he was too cowardly to judge Jifuya properly, perhaps I erred. So we watch. And if need be, we take action."

"Yugiri will not be happy, if it comes to that," Esteem noted.

"She won't," Enkhjargal said with a nod, "But I have hopes she won't let her love for her lord blind her should he continue to allow such gross oppression, and for all her loyalty, Yugiri's always been a friend of the oppressed. A Lord can only rule as long as they have the consent of their people."

"Hmph. We both know people consent to some messed up things. In exchange for a peaceful life, many would simply ignore the corruption which festers beneath the surface. Cast aside that which is dirty and broken. Speak not of things which would disrupt their dreary little lives."

"Many. But not all."

Enkhjargal could feel Esteem's smile at his shoulder, bemused, slightly bitter, but warm and genuine all the same.

"That we still have that optimism after all this time," Esteem said with a note of wonder, before switching thoughts, "Very well. As always, I shall follow your lead. But if the truth of the matter comes out as I suspect it will, and if you need help..."

"I shall clutch my crystal to my breast, and remember,” Enkhjargal said, fiercely, every word the truth. 

"Good."

And with that, he felt Esteem simmering no longer. He turned from the riverbank, and strode back toward his waiting Yol.

---

NOTE: Text in italics is meant to be the words of Esteem in Enkhjargal’s mind, ala Dark Knight job quest text in-game.

#final fantasy XIV #ffxiv #yotsuyu #jifuya #dark knight #esteem #fray myste #fanfic #fanfiction #enkhjargal qalli #au ra #xaela

[simp-for-spencer-reid]

Sugar with a Side of Coffee Ch.2- The First Encounter

A/N: feel free to message me how you like it! I’ve never written anything before. If you have any suggestions or requests of plots, let me know! :) 

Chapter Two: The First Encounter

Cate stretched as she woke up for another early day working The Empty Mug’s coffee cart. Her little orange cat, Shrimp, stood by her side, watching her intently with his green eyes.

“Let me guess,” Cate pet Shrimp’s head, “Your bowl is empty.” Shrimp mewed up at her, and jumped off the bed and scurried to his food in the kitchen. Cate followed her little cat to the kitchen. “What would I do without my personal, fuzzy alarm?” Shrimp impatiently rubbed his head against Cate’s ankles. Cate grabbed his cat food from her cabinet, and put three scoops into his bowl. 

Cate let Shrimp crunch away as she walked back to her bedroom. She pulled out her usual uniform, which consisted of a white button up, her choice of black or tan pants, and the signature yellow apron. Taking this pile of clothes into the bathroom, Cate ran the hot water to the shower and brushed her teeth. 

After a refreshing shower and changing into her uniform, Cate grabbed her purse and put her shoes on in the makeshift mudroom bench in the hallway of her apartment. Making a quick run to her kitchen to grab an apple from her fruit bowl, she snatched her keys from the counter and was out the door. 

Typically, Cate would take the stairs from her third floor apartment, but decided to take the elevator today. There was something in the air today that made Cate feel unusually on edge. The walk to The Empty Mug went by faster than normal, most likely due to Cate’s quick pace. Upon her entry to the shop, Marta gave Cate her usual smile. 

“Ready for your second day?” Marta said cheerily. No customers had entered the store yet, so Cate and Marta could take their time bringing the cart from the back of the shop. 

“I’ve had a weird feeling this morning.” Cate confessed. “I can’t shake it.” She pushed the cart through the door. 

“Oh,” Marta furrowed her brows. “Want to switch? I’ll take the cart and you can have the shop?” 

“No, no. That’s okay.” Cate sighed. “I got it.” She forced a smile. Suddenly, she remembered, “Shit, I need to refill the sugar before I go out!” Cate ran behind the counter and grabbed an unopened canister to refill the jar once at the location. 

“Alright, well, text me if you need me.” Marta shrugged. The girls successfully got the cart and umbrella out of the front door before any customers managed to come by. 

“Yes, captain!” Cate laughed and made her way down the street to the spot designated for the cart. She set up the umbrella, positioned her chalk menu- not before jotting a coffee pun on it- and knelt to refill her sugar behind the cart.

People jostled by and before she knew it, Cate was in the middle of the morning rush just as she was the day before. As she was behind the countertop of the cart, she heard a man’s voice.

“Are you open yet?” he sounded in a rush. When Cate peeked up from behind the cart, the man was looking at his phone, fingers typing away on some text or email, she guessed. 

“Yes sir,” Cate brushed her hands on the sides of her apron. “What can I get for you?” She smiled, even though the man hadn’t bothered to look up from his phone.

“A large regular, and a danish” he spoke, nose still in his phone. 

“You got it!” Cate said in the most unnaturally cheery voice. She prepped his coffee, and pulled his danish from under a glass cover. “Comes up to 4.18” Cate pushed buttons on her register. The man shoved a five at her and walked away without his change. Cate put it into her tip jar, hoping the rest of her day would be filled with better customers.

Today’s shift was getting better and better. Brooke stopped by earlier with the same promise of stopping by later on her break. Customers had overall been tipping well, Cate’s jar was getting fuller and fuller. The line of customers would deplete as Cate took their orders, but as soon as it dwindled, more people lined up. On the lower end of a swell of customers, Cate had a few new faces. Next up, was a kid in his late teens. His fingers jittered along the counter top as he rested his hands on the cart.

“I’ll have a medium cold brew with an almond swirl. Can I also get a slice of banana bread?” Cate smiled and nodded. When Cate turned her back to make the coffee, the teen made a grab for the tip jar and began running off.

“He’s got your tip jar!” the next woman in line yelled. Cate didn’t know what to do, this had never happened before. Her hands began to shake and she felt tears of frustration build in her eyes. You’ve got to be kidding me, she thought.

There was another man behind the woman who leapt into action and started chasing the thief. Cate watched as they ran through the opposite direction of the current of people on the street. The man in pursuit shouted.

“FBI, stop running!” The thief’s gait faltered. This gave the agent just enough of a stride to grab the thief by the collar of his jacket. “Drop the jar, and I’ll pretend I never saw anything.” the agent ordered. The thief shoved the jar into the agent’s hand and took off running.

Cate swiped her teary eyes with the back of her hand before the agent could approach her cart. She was shaken up and didn’t know what to do or say. 

“I believe this is yours.” the agent handed Cate her glass jar filled with money. He was tall, with long hair. Cate gently took the jar and placed it behind her counter. No amount of money was worth risking that again. 

“Uh, thanks” Cate said shakily. “You really saved my ass, there.” Cate tried to joke. The agent pursed his lips together and went back to his spot in line. The woman before him thankfully had a short and sweet order, allowing Cate to relax her racing heart and thoughts. The agent stepped up next in line.

“What can I get for you? It’s on the house.” Cate smiled at him. 

“Can I, uh, get a medium hot black but can you put it in a large sized cup so I can put my own sugar in it?” He looked nervous for requesting such an odd order. 

“Of course, not a problem” Cate got to work filling a large hot cup about three quarters full. She handed the agent his coffee and also the sugar dispenser. In the same exchange, he passed her a ten dollar bill.

“For the wasted order, and a tip.” He smiled nervously at her. Cate placed the ten in her register, and watched as he poured about half of the sugar into his coffee. 

“I remember your order.” Cate spoke before she realized she thought out loud.

“Pardon?” he looked quizzically at Cate.

“Sorry, yesterday someone came by and ordered a large hot with an insane amount of sugar, I just refilled today and you’ve already gone through half of it. You might as well just order a cup of sugar with a side of coffee.” Cate rambled. 

“Um,” he paused, lost for words. “Sorry.” he came up with.

“It’s fine. It’s meant to be used, right?” Cate felt herself blush. So that’s S.R. she thought to herself.

#spencer reid #spencer reid x oc #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #derek morgan #aaron hotchner #sugar with a side of coffee fanfic

[unabashegirl]

Enticing (1)

Author’s Note: This is the first chapter of the NEW SERIES based on the imagine of CEO! I have rewritten this first chapter a thousand times by now. I just wanted it to be perfect and for everyone to get a glimpse of the kind of man that David is in this series. 

I also didn’t want to title it just CEO because it’s so cliche. I wanted it to be alluring for all of you!  I hope you all enjoy the first chapter. 

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GET TAGGED!

masterlist 

--- 

Powerful is the first word that comes to mind when asked about him. It is later followed by meticulous, driven, calculating, or even impatient.  At twenty-six, he has acquired everything that he has ever wished for and even more.  

“Mr. Dobrik” he is greeted as he steps out of his car. He keeps his eyes glued to his phone, he is still trying to respond to an obnoxious email. He picks up the pace and types vigorously before entering the building. Someone was already at the door holding it open for him. 

“Thank you, Patrick” David acknowledges him after he finally puts his phone away and walks through the doors. The sound of the heel of his shoes clicking echoes through the lobby alerting everyone of his arrival. He runs a tight ship on his company, but it was for their best interest. 

“Good morning, Mr. Dobrik,” Andrea one of the receptionist says, she flashes him a big smile. 

“Andrea” he nods her way as he walks up to the elevators. She smiles to herself and sits back down. She has a huge crush on him but has never gotten anything out of him. He was always on his phone or in a rush. She didn’t blame him after all he was an important man with a tight schedule.  

David walks into his top floor and without a word walks into his office. A fresh glass of water with ice already rests on his desk. The recognizable pile of contracts and documents still lay on the right side of his desk, desperately calling out for his attention. 

“Mr. Dobrik” Andrew Rider was David’s personal assistant for almost four years. He is David’s most trusted worker. Andrew even had a copy of David’s penthouse keys. He sometimes dropped off to deliver his tailored suits and documents. 

“Good morning” He momentarily looks up from his screen and nods his direction. “Before anything Andrew please ask Daniel to bring me a coffee and something to eat from that coffee place I like” 

“Yes sir” Andrew quickly types Daniel a quick text before turning his attention to the list of appointments and meetings that David had scheduled. “Should we start now?” David nods as he continues looking through the emails in his inbox. Andrew always debriefs David about all the stats about the company before letting him know about his meetings and messages. As soon as Andrew finishes reading all the reports of every single branch he looks up at David and waits for a reaction. Andrew holds his IPad close to his body just in case things go south and he has to bolt out of the room just like he’s done many times before. 

“Thanks, fine. Proceed” This time it wasn’t the case. He was content with how things were going. 

“Your mother called yesterday and so did Ms. McCoy” David purses his lips at the mention of the woman that has been desperately trying to become his wife.  She is the daughter of one of his business partners. They had both invested in various companies together. Mr. McCoy respects David as a businessman and considers him an exceptional man. 

“What did my mother say?” He asks already knowing the reason behind her call. 

“She asked when you were planning on visiting with Henry” Last time David had gone to see his family things had ended badly. His father and he had gotten into a dispute about his younger sister's fiance. David’s father didn’t approve of him and when asked David told his honest opinion about the young man. She met him in college and they had just recently graduated. He didn’t have his life fully figured out like his father wanted him to have before asking for his daughter ‘s hand, but it didn’t matter. David could see how they loved one another. He didn’t see the problem after all they had just graduated and were still trying to figure out the ropes of adulthood. 

“Please let her know I’ll be visiting this weekend and I’ll bring him too. As of Ms. McCoy let her know if she calls back that I’ll reach out to her later during the week” Andrew rolls his eyes at the mention of his girlfriend. She is incredibly rude and arrogant. Everyone in the office hated her. They despised when she surprisingly runs by the office just to see the boss. David also hates it because it messes up his whole schedule. 

“Also the agency found a new nanny and sent her profile. Would you like me to read it to you?” David closes his laptop and leans back. This is at the top of his priorities for the day which meant it deserved his full attention. “Her name is Y/N Y/L/N, she is twenty-four and has been working for the agency for three years. Her previous family says she is sweet, attentive, caring and always puts the kids first. The family let her go since they were relocating to Los Angeles” 

“Did they not send any more profiles? Someone older perhaps?” He had nothing against the girl, but he felt more comfortable with someone older. 

“There aren’t more available and they send their apology” He can't leave Henry without a nanny much longer. He needs someone to be around him twenty-four seven especially when he is working. 

“Fine. Let her know that I’ll be waiting for her first thing tomorrow at the apartment” Andrew nods back before leaving the office to go fetch David’s coffee.  He felt instant relief after finding him a nanny. It wasn’t because David was incapable of taking care of his own son because he has done so the last week since their nanny quit. His tight schedule prevents him from staying home and tend all his needs. 

David’s life revolved around Henry. He rathers spends a weekend at home with him than taking a jet off to an exotic location. Henry has him wrapped around his little finger since he was born only three months ago. They only have one another and David has come to terms with it. 

Henry’s biological mother had exchanged him for money. David had met Ashley at a bar after one of his business deals had gone wrong. He had gone to the bar to release some stress and steam from the long week. After a few Scotch on the rocks, he noticed the presence of the pretty girl beside him. They talked for a few hours about superficial things like their favorite countries and anecdotes from college. A few minutes later, David found himself calling for Daniel to pick both of them up and drive them home. 

The whole night was a big blur for him. The only thing he remembers is the morning after and the hammering headache that came along with it. Ashley vanished as soon as the sun rose over Manhattan. David woke up to an empty room without any trace of her beside the messy bedsheets.

He didn’t hear from her until a few weeks later when an article of him was written by Forbes magazine. He was listed as one of the youngest billionaires. She found the magazine on a stand while making her way to work and called the company. After trying to reach him for a few days Andrew was finally alerted. 

Ashley met up with him that same afternoon and told him that she was pregnant and that she was going to terminate the pregnancy. David had never considered having kids up until that point. He thought they were all very cute, but never imagined himself with one. He didn’t say anything. He just told her that it was her body and her decision. David couldn’t sleep that night. He kept rolling around and he felt like something was terribly wrong. Something had woken up inside of him and even though he had decided to no intervene with her decision, he still did. 

He begged her to get an abortion and offered to take full responsibility when he was born. That still wasn’t enough with Ashley. She wanted more and it wasn’t until a few days later when David finally figured it all out. She wanted money for the baby. Ashley wanted him to pay her for the baby that she was carrying and once again after much thinking, he did. He paid Ashley and an incredible amount of money for him. David didn’t care how much money it was. Money was dispensable and he could always make more. He couldn’t make another Henry. He was one of a kind. At the end of the day, David was going to be able to raise Henry and watch him grow up. 

The day that Henry was born was the last time he heard or saw Ashley. Within hours she had signed off all of her parental rights and had given David full custody. She had also cashed in all the money. Since then they have been together. Everything absolutely everything came after Henry now. All the long hours in the office and the traveling was all for him. David wanted to give him the world. 

Andrew sets his coffee down before leaving him on his own. He sits back and starts working until he is interrupted by the head of international relations. The company has been having trouble with the branch in Canada and David still couldn’t under why. They were always above the budge and below the income requirement. He knows he has to drop by soon, but he first wants to gather all the correct information before flying in and firing a few people. 

“The situation with Canada can’t continue like this. If it does I am going to forced to fire him” Jacob Wilson is the appointed CEO of the Canadian branch in Ontario.  David rarely speaks to him because he has trusted him since the beginning, but things have been slightly off lately. 

“I think it’s for our best interest to find out what’s going on over there. It’s a sinking boat and with the expansion happening soon we can’t risk ourselves for the other investors to pull out” Alexander points out before taking a sip out of his coffee. 

Before David can say anything else the door burst open and in walks Valentina McCoy with all her might. If there is one thing that David can’t tolerate is being interrupted in one of his meetings especially so abruptly. 

“Why haven’t you been answering my calls?” Her voice is loud and stern, but it doesn’t faze him. David turns to look at Alexander, whose eyes look like they are about to pop out of his body. He can defiantly sense the awkwardness of the entire situation. 

“I am sorry Alexander. I’ll keep me posted if anything else emerges” They both rise to their feet and shake each other’s hands before Alexander slips out of his office before the mayhem commences.  

“Answer me!” She stumps her foot on the ground. Her body is leaned forward and her yaw is clenched. David remains silent only making her angrier. He unbuttons the first two buttons of his shirt, trying his best to put his thoughts together. “David! Why the fuck have you answered me?” She hisses. 

“Who do you think you are?” His back is facing her as he looks at the skyline. 

“Why can’t you fucking look at me?!” Her voice is louder and by now everyone on the top floor knows that she has arrived. David quickly turns around and chuckles. 

“I asked you a question. Who the fuck do you think you are?!” She jumps a bit at his loud, demanding voice. He was sick and tired of her childish actions. “You can’t just barge in here like you own the fucking place and yell at me in front of my employees” 

“I sure can! especially when you aren’t answering my texts” Her voice is lower and she has stepped back. She felt intimidated by his current state. David’s eyebrows are knitted and his hands are on his wooden desk. 

“You are fucking nobody. You are just a daddy’s girl, who thinks that she can buy her way out of everything. You think your fucking beauty and your bank account grants you the right to do whatever the fuck you want, but that’s not how things work. You have no fucking right to burst through that door without knocking or without letting me know. This isn’t your fucking house where people come in and out whenever they please. This is my goddam company, Valentina”  His weight is all distributed on his hands as he leans forward and demands respects. She is speechless and on the verge of tears. 

He is so fucking done with her. He enjoyed her company until it lasted. This was the last straw. No one messed around with him, especially in his workplace. 

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GET TAGGED!

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[barinacraft]

Hot Toddy Drink - Far East Of Scotland Long Before The Cocktail

The Toddy Was Hot Before The Cocktail Became Old Fashioned

Or cold maybe. Point is, the Toddy, hot or cold, was old-fashioned before the Old Fashioned was ever even fashioned.

Although many, including ourselves, associate the Toddy with whisk(e)y, honey, lemon juice, hot water and maybe some nutmeg, cloves or cinnamon, technically its just whisky, sugar and H2O. Add some bitters and you have an Old Fashioned which, ingredient-wise, is the very definition of a cocktail.*

History Of The Toddy

A British Chaplain Travels With The East India Trading Company

The earliest reference to the word Toddy may have been when it was included in the notes observed by Edward Terry, then Chaplain to the Right Honorable Sir Thomas Row, Knight, Lord Ambassador to the Great Mogul, in 1615-1619 during his Voyage To East India.†  These records later became published as a book of the same name in 1655.

Liquor From The Toddy Tree

“And here I cannot choose but take notice of a very pleasant and clear liquor, called Toddy, issuing from a spongy tree, that grows straight and tall without boughs to the top, and there spreads out in tender branches, very like unto those that grow from the roots of our rank and rich artichokes, but much bigger and longer. This toddy-tree is not so big, but that it may be very easily embraced, and the nimble people of that country will climb up as fast to the top thereof (the stem of the tree being rough and crusty) as if they had the advantage of ladders to help them up. In the top tender branches of those trees they make incisions which they open and stop again as they please, under which they bang pots made of large and light gourds, to preserve the influence which issues out of them in a large quantity in the night season, they stopping up those vents in the heat of the day.

“That which thus distills forth in the night, if it be taken very early in the morning, is as pleasing to the taste as any new white wine, and much clearer than it. It is a very piercing, medicinal, and inoffensive drink, if taken sooner in the day, only it is a little windy; but if it be kept later until the heat of the day, the sun alters it so as if it made it another kind of liquor, for it becomes then very heady, not so well relished, and unwholesome; and when it is so, not a few of our drunken seamen choose to drink it; and I think they so do, because it will then presently turn their brains; for there are too many of the common sort of those men who use the sea, who love those brutish distempers too much, which turn a man out of himself, and leave a beast in the skin of a man.

“But for that drink, if it be taken in its best, and most proper season, I conceive it to be of itself very wholesome, because it provokes urine exceedingly; the further benefit whereof some there have found by happy experience, being thereby eased from their torture inflicted by that shame of physicians, and tyrant of all maladies, the kidney stone. And so cheap too is this most pleasing wine, that a man may there have more than enough for a very little money.” ~ Reverend Edward Terry

Hot Tadi Turns To Hooch

So, if left to ferment in the heat of the day, this “Hot Toddy” becomes an intoxicating liquor and by all accounts also turns sour and bitter like vinegar. Combine this with the age old practice of adding sugars to wine, cider and other beverages to sweeten the taste along with a specific mention in the Accounts of India and China as far back as AD 890 which says of Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka); “Their drink is made of Palm honey boiled and prepared with the Tari (pronounced Tadi), the juice which runs from the tree” and all you need is a little water to complete the recipe.

One theory has Scotsman returning from the Far East embracing the term Toddy as a nickname for an alcoholic drink with those generic ingredients. Just substitute Scotch whisky for fermented tadi, sugar for palm honey and add water.

Scotch Springs Eternal From Tod's Well

A second, more widely accepted theory on the origins of the Hot Toddy (in western culture as opposed to the Far East where it is still alive and well in its historical version there) centers around one of Edinburgh, Scotland's city water sources, Tod's well, affectionately known as Toddy and some early poets' prose. First some history on the Todian spring and then a pair of Scots will wax poetic.

In 1681, Peter Brauss brought water into Edinburgh, Scotland from Tod spring in Comiston through a system engineered by George Sinclair where gravity fed the supply via a series of 3 inch diameter lead pipes built by Robert Mylne.‡, 1 - 2  Comiston springs at Tod's well was located on the Pentland Hills about 3 miles to the south of Edinburgh and the aqua duct originally channeled its flow into five stone wells along High Street, part of the Royal Mile in between the Edinburgh Castle in the heart of the city and Holyrood Palace near Arthur's Seat Volcano, home to a pair of another of the city's spring fed water sources, St. Margaret's and St. Anthony's wells.

The cisterns were located at multiple heights in the Old Town and women 'caddies' would gather to draw water from the wells for their homes. The system was a significant public works project benefiting everyone's health and was later improved in 1720 by increasing the main water pipe from Comiston into the city to a 4 1/2 inch diameter which more than doubled its capacity.

The Morning-Interview. An Heroi-Comical Poem by Allan Ramsay (MDCCXIX)

This 1719 mock heroic ode to courtship which parodies the struggles of a beau hoping to overcome his foe is often cited as a key piece of literature which some say proves the etymological history of the toddy is based in Scotland and not the Far East. In the lead up to the poem's ending shown below, the epic romantic passion is emphasized with great comedic effect.

The ninth stanza both highlights and summarizes the poem's main storyline when Celia awakens to answer the door to her apartment dressed only in the loose attire of her morning gown. Expecting that her cousin Frankalia had come to take her morning tea, her initial pale surprise to see Damon standing there instead turns into a blushing red exchange. Here's the last 3 of the 16 verse stanzas:

A sumptuous Treat does crown the ended War,

And all rich Requisites are brought from far.

The Table boasts its being from Japan,

The ingenious Work of some great Artisan.

China, where Potters coarsest Mold refine,

That Light through the transparent Jar does shine,

The costly Plates and Dishes are from thence,

And Amazonia must her Sweets dispense;

To her warm Banks, our Vessels cut the Main,

For the sweet Product of her luscious Cane;

Here Scotia does no costly Tribute bring,

Only some Kettles full of Todian Spring.3

Where Indus and the Double Ganges flow,

On odoriferous Plains the Leaves do grow;

Chief of the Treat, a Plant the Boast of Fame,

Sometimes called Green, BOHEA's its greater Name.

O happiest of Herbs! Who would not be

Pythagorized into the Form of Thee,

And with high Transports act the Part of TEA?

Kisses on thee the haughty Belles bestow,

While in thy Steams their coral Lips do glow;

The Virtues and thy Flavor they commend;

While Men, even Beaux, with parched Lips attend.

Teetotalling Tod

Much ado has been made about the inclusion of the Todian Spring and how the author specifically calls out in the footnotes that it is in reference to Tod's Well. This has been interpreted as meaning kettles full of Toddy which by association then translates to whisky since the word whisky is derived from water and it was a common custom of the day for whisky to be invoiced as aqua in Scotland.4

But, maybe it actually means just what it says and this is much ado about nothing.

After all, all the other objects mentioned directly relate to those items needed for a tea party. You have a table from Japan, the place setting from China as well as the tea (Bohea is a type of black oolong tea), and sugar from the Amazon river banks in South America. All you need is H2O, so why would the inclusion of actual water from the Todian spring be construed to mean Toddy, therefore meaning whisky?

In fact tea was becoming such a common drink in Scotland that in 1742 Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden, the President of the Court of Session is quoted as saying, “the meanest families, even of laboring people, particularly in burroughs, make their morning's meal of it, and thereby wholly disuse the ale which heretofore was their accustomed drink; and the same drug supplies all the labouring women with their afternoons' entertainments, to the exclusion of the Twopenny.” 5  The last refers to a Scotch pint of pale ale, the equivalent of two quarts, which sold for two pence each a.k.a twopenny ale.

Another implication of tracing Toddy back to here is that it also suggests waking to whisky was wanton. Was it?

Holy Mother Of Toddy

And finally in 1785, from the garbled Gaelic of Robert Burns, a Scotty speaks of Toddy. In "The Holy Fair," the National Poet of Scotland satirically describes what had become a common phrase in the west of Scotland for the biennial gathering to celebrate the sacramental occasion of communion.6

This was no prim and proper formal ritual either. It was a party, and the often unruly crowds of strangers would sometimes toss decency out the window in exchange for questionable behavior. Wonder if you had to bring your own Toddy or was the bar stocked?

The Holy Fair by Robert Burns

Heres a partial passage from the poem pertaining to the potation:

Leeze me on drink! it gies us mair

Than either school or college;

It kindles wit, it waukens lear,

It pangs us fou o' knowledge:

Be't whisky-gill or penny wheep,

Or ony stronger potion,

It never fails, or drinkin deep,

To kittle up our notion,

By night or day.

The lads an' lasses, blythely bent

To mind baith saul an' body,

Sit round the table, weel content,

An' steer about the toddy:

The Toddy reference here is pretty clear. However, this opens up another question. In the Eucharist or Holy Communion, isn't the blood of Christ supposed to be wine and not whisky? Let's not go there.

Meanwhile, Back In The States

All this talk of Toddy's Scottish heritage is all the more confusing when you consider that the U.S. appears to have beaten them to the (publishing) punch some 35 years earlier. Toddy was the talk of the town in “the July 1750 issue of the Boston Weekly Post Boy, and the ‘fashionable’ Toddy, as the Newport, Rhode Island, Mercury dubbed it in 1764 was a fixture of American tippling for a century or more.” 7

It looks like, at least for now, America lays claim to the first known recipe for the Toddy as well. The American Herbal, or Materia Medica by Samuel Sterns was printed in Walpole, New Hampshire (1801).

Toddy (New Nation punch formula in the Age of Jefferson):

24 oz  water

8 oz  rum or brandy

a little sugar

a little nutmeg

Add the rum or brandy and the sugar to the water, and after stirring, the nutmeg. Author notes that “It is called a salutary liquor, and especially in the summer season, if it is drank with moderation.”

The Toddy Is Well Represented In The First Ever Cocktail Book

There's tons of Toddies in How To Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant's Companion by Jerry Thomas (1862). The Brandy, Gin and Whiskey Toddy, no Rum is included, are all pretty much the same recipe.

[ Insert Name Of Preferred Spirit Here ] Toddy Drink:

2 oz  Brandy, Gin or Whiskey (chosen names the recipe i.e. Gin Toddy)

1 oz  water

1 tsp  sugar

1 small lump of ice

Use a small bar glass and stir with a spoon. The only Hot Toddy specifically called out among these three liquors is for Brandy where you omit the ice and use boiling water instead.

A side note elsewhere in this book under a description of punch has Jerry instructing Hot Toddy / Hot Punch makers that they must put in the spirits before the water. This was moved to the Hints and Rules For Bartenders section, like these home bar how-tos, and was changed to a rapid rinse of hot water first to aid in the prevention of heat cracking the glass in his 1886 Bartender's Guide.

By the time you add in the recipes for Sangarees, Slings & Skins (detailed more below), there are a slew of similar sips with a single standout, the Apple Toddy. Sort of a Hot Apple Pie Cocktail with real fruit filling.

Apple Toddy Drink Recipe:

2 oz  cider brandy or applejack

1 tbs  fine white sugar

½  baked apple

Roast the apples; cored, peeled and cut in half with some sugar and nutmeg; in the oven in a baking pan with boiling water until soft. About 30 minutes at 375 degrees Farenheit. Add the baked apple, sugar and brandy to a small bar glass. Fill ⅔ full of hot water and garnish by grating some nutmeg on top.

Mr. Thomas does give an honorable mention to the Indian intoxicate stating that Arrack, mainly used to flavor punch here in America, improves with age and is used in parts of that country where it is distilled from Toddy, the juice of their native coconut trees.

What's Your Opinion?

So, do you think the alcoholic drink Toddy from Western culture is derived from Tadi, Tod's Well or something Todally different?

A Cure For What Ails You - Depending On What Ails You

Regardless of its origins, a Hot Toddy (or totty) is a classic hot drink for cold days and nights which happens to coincide with the Christmas holidays up north. Its a basic cocktail that's popular in many variations. Perhaps none more so than when adding in the combination of honey and lemon to the drink.

Besides being tasty, the lemon-honey pairing is often recommended as a cure for what ails you, from sore throats to weight loss to colds & flu. Probably better make it a mocktail if you're actually sick though, as burning the bug out with alcohol may do more harm than good according to many in modern medicine. Sort of ironic that the initial Toddy recipe appears for now to have made its debut in a medical journal.

Behind The Bar - How To Mix A Hot Toddy At Home

If you're not sick though, Hot Toddies are a great way to warm up throughout the winter holidays and gives you another excuse to use your seasonal barware. Other than a few other Christmas cocktails and holiday themed drinks, what else are you going to use those fancy glasses decorated with boughs of holly for anyway?

Hot Toddy Recipe:

1 oz  bourbon, rye or scotch whisk(e)y

1 tbp  honey

2 tsp  lemon juice

1 cup  boiling hot water

Preparation - spoon or squeeze the honey into the bottom of your mug. Add the bourbon and juice from about a quarter of a lemon. Fill with hot water well short of rim for easier handling and safe sipping. Garnish with lemon wedge, optionally studded with cloves, cinnamon (sticks or ground), nutmeg, etc. An almost infinite combination of possibilities are available as almost any liquor works well and many substitute hot tea or cider for the boiling water along with different spices. See 5 tips for hot toddies for additional ideas.

BTW - January 11th is National Hot Toddy Day!

What better way to embody the spirit?

Drink Variations and Similar Cocktails

Toddy's Tipple Twins:

Bumbo - a brown sugar, rum Sling that sings Pirate's praises.

Grog - a nautically rooted drink where a sailor's portion of rum was watered down.

Highball - Scotch whisky & carbonated water along with other spirit and soda combos like the Cuba Libre, Gin & tonic, Moscow Mule and the Seven & Seven.

Sangarees - Toddies topped off with a little port wine.

Slings - liquor, water, sugar and nutmeg.

Skins - a Toddy with a twist or piece of lemon peel added.

More Hot Drinks For Home Bar Hosts:

Eggnog - a frothy holiday favorite.

Glogg - hot mulled Christmas wine.

Hot Buttered Rum - toddy's cocktail cousin?

Wassail - hot apple ale blesses the crop for the coming new year.

References

* - Minus the typical orange and cherry fruit salad many modern old-fashioned recipes [sic] like to muddle into the drink.

† - The original passage was written using the long 's' which looks like the letter f. Those old-fashioned ligatures along with some older word spellings were converted to reflect modern writing so they would be easier to read. As an example of both instances, choose was written as chufe in seventeenth century English.

‡ - The History of Edinburgh by William Maitland (1753) via The Statistical Account of Scotland Drawn Up From The Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes by Sir John Sinclair (1791).

1 - Castlehill Cistern. Civil Engineering Heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders by Roland Paxton and Jim Shipway (2007) via the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

2 - The Architect Robert Mylne. Electric Scotland. Saint Cecilia's Hall in the Niddry Wynd.

3 - Tods-Well which supplies the City with Water. (original footnote, verbatim from the poem).

4 - Origin Of The Word Toddy. The New York Times (1871).

5 - Chambers' Edinburgh Journal conducted by William and Robert Chambers, Number 285, Saturday, July 15, 1837.

6 - The Official Robert Burns Site. All verses to The Holy Fair poem complete.

7 – Imbibe! by David Wondrich (2007). From Absinthe Cocktail To Whiskey Smash. A Salute In Stories And Drinks To ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas. Pioneer Of The American Bar.

#Cocktails #Drinks #Hot #Holiday #Christmas #Bourbon #Lemon #Honey #scotch #sugar #water

[fatandnerdy30]

Land of the Avengers chapter 2

"This is the flight simulator," Dr. Storm showed the boy's the dome shaped room in the middle of the floor. "The main reason why there's so many generators in here because of this. It takes a lot of energy to run the simulator. Probably enough to run the entire city for three years."The boy's were stunned. It took that much energy to run the simulation machine?

"That's insane," Peter whispered. "But, isn't that bad for the environment? I mean, the generators make so much heat and the gasses they're known to produce have been proven to deplete the breathable air and-" Susan held up a hand with a smile. "I know all of that, but Richard actually developed these specially with that in mind. It's a new kind of energy, a renewable energy. It's something the world has never seen. Actually, you're the first people outside this building to see it." Her watch let out a beep and she turned her wrist to see the time. "And now it's getting late, so you two better get in there. You have today and tomorrow to practice before your test. I'd wish you boys luck, but I'm sure you won't need it." She opened the door latch. "Just so you know, there is a water dispenser and a bathroom. People tend to spend a long time in here and I got tired of having to clean up after they left." She sent a glare to the doors her brother went through. "So, I had Reed put in a bathroom." She gave the boys a tight smile. "Go on in. And we'll be monitoring you from out here, so we'll be the first to know if there's a problem." Peter and Harley gave a nod in unison and stepped into the chamber. As soon as the door was shut behind them, they looked at one another. "Let's do this," Harley said, holding his hand out. "And kick its ass doing it," Peter replied with a smile and they grabbed each other's hands in their secret handshake. "Did I mention that we have cameras and microphones in there, too. So no bad language," Susan's voice made the two jump and look up at the camera that had turned to look at them, feeling her admonishing look through the lens. "Sorry!" they yelled in unison and began making their way through the dome to the two seats in the middle of the room. In some odd way, they made the room seem emptier. Together they sat and buckled themselves in, looking around the white room. "Good job on buckling up, boys. You don't know how many trainees make that mistake and treat this as just a VR ride instead of a potentially dangerous experience. You two signed the wavers, right?" The boys nodded. "Good. The room will make an odd noise as the simulation starts, but soon it will fade into the noise of the flight sim. Simulation starting in three......two....one....good luck boys." They didn't get a chance to respond before the room started making a high pitched whirring noise before the room actually disappeared! In its place was the inside of a sub-orbital craft.Harley stared out the window and actually looked real, even down to the birds! "This...this is amazing!" His voice didn't even echo in the cockpit, as it was a small, full space. "The reality is so real." He reached out and touched a control, surprised to feel the yoke in his grasp. "Amazing." "I wonder how they do it? Maybe it's something to do with the brainwaves that measure your senses? That would be amazing tech to put into use in the real world! Imagine what could happen if people didn't have to leave their homes in order to work, that would mean they'd be able to spend their lives in filtered air and therefore increase their lifespan by at least ten years!" Harley gave him a look as if to say 'shut up'. "But, think of the damage the power one of these needs in order to run. Could you imagine something like that in every home? It would kill the planet indefinitely. It was a good thought, though, kid." The younger nodded and got a 'thinking' look on his face. "Worry about it after we're done, okay? Our futures ride on this simulation. We have to do good, or else those scholarships should be taken away." Peter's face turned serious in an instant and he gripped the yoke. "I'm ready. Let's get started." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twelve hours the boys stayed in the room, and the next day it was the same. It was Colonel Richards who came into the dome with a grin on his face. "Well, well. If I had known you would take it this seriously, I would have said yes to Virginia sooner. Twenty four hours in two days. You boys are probably my most determined students." He walked into the room and frowned. "Have you boys turned up the temperature in here?"The answer was obvious as Peter and Harley were drenched with sweat, their heads soaking wet as if they'd just taken a shower. "Didn't anyone tell you that you could turn on the air in here?" "Yes, sir, but we wanted this to be a challenge. We've done every simulation, but we needed a challenge." Peter wiped his forehead, grimacing as it came away wet. "Is that so? So, if I were to give you a test, you two think you would pass?" "With flying colors, Colonel," Harley said proudly. "Well, then I still hope you feel that way next week during your test. Now, get home so you can get some rest. You two still have class in the morning." The boys saluted, their actions half-hearted in their tiredness and they trudged out of the room. "What do you think, Susan?" He turned towards one of the camera's facing him. "I think Johnny is going to be upset at not being the youngest pilot anymore," the woman laughed. Reed smirked."I think you may be right." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next morning was a sluggish one for both boys. Both yawned with almost every step. With all the excitement from the simulation practice it was to be expected, though. Pepper felt bad for the young boys, especially Peter, who looked as if he hadn't gotten an sleep at all. In the morning class, she'd given her usual lesson, but had been lenient on her students and didn't give them the test she'd planned for that Monday. She would give it to them tomorrow. That would give the boys enough time to sleep. When the bell rang, the two tiredly gathered their belongings and were just out of the classroom when a coffee colored fist made impact with the wall next to Harley's head. "Hey there, fruity boys. I didn't expect to see you back in school this morning, with you being expelled and all." The older teen quirked a brow. "Expelled? What do you mean?" "Oh, everyone's talking about it. You don't get called to the Headmaster's office if you're not in trouble. So, what was it? You lost your scholarships and can't afford to pay for this school anymore?" Flash stuck his lower lip out. "Is that it? Mommy's part time job at the diner isn't enough to even cover one class here, and let's not talk about the orphan here," he jabbed his thumb at Peter, who simply looked down, his face flushed in embarrassment. Harley saw red at that movement and took a step towards Flash, his head towering over the freshman's. "Listen here, you little silver spoon lackey. We were not expelled. In fact, Colonel Richards has given us the chance to take the graduating test this weekend." He spotted the Colonel sauntering down the hallway, his face worried as he spotted the position of the trio and began making his way over to them. "Don't believe me? Ask him yourself." Peter was the first to alert Flash of the headmaster's arrival, going rod straight and saluting. "Colonel Richards, Sir!" he exclaimed, his voice breaking on the last part, causing his red face to turn redder. Harley was next, with Flash a second behind him. Richards smiled at the boy. "At ease, Cadets. Would there happen to be a problem here?" He eyed Cadet Thompson, who looked a little pale. "Actually, we were just discussing our test coming up, Colonel. Can you please tell Flash the rumors of our expulsion are false?" "Expulsion? Of the school's best two cadets? I don't know why you would be expelled. But, the flight test is true." He checked his watch. "Which means you two had better get to class." Peter and Harley saluted again, and hurried off. Flash tried to do the same, but Richards wouldn't have it. "Cadet Thompson, a word if you would." He was tired of hearing about this boy causing trouble. If he thought because his father was the mayor of New York he could get away with anything, he was about to be sorely mistaken. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two boys made it to Sergeant Barton's class just in time, as the bell rang as the youngest stepped foot into the classroom. "Heya, boys. Take your seats." Clint gave them a cheeky grin as they walked in. He had planned a video lesson because he knew the two would appreciate that after having a word with Pepper earlier. So, he lowered the lights and brought down the lights. "Remember to take notes," he reminded the class and started the videos. In seconds, both Harley and Peter were out, heads on their notebooks, slight snores coming from them. Clint wanted to wake them, but he didn't have the heart, so he made it like he didn't see them and sat back for the rest of the lesson, watching over his students. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For both boys the week went by so quick, it was almost as if some kind of magical genie had snapped their fingers and made the week rush by. Flash hadn't been bothering them since the Colonel had straightened things out, and both cadets had been getting odd stares from the others on their way to class. But, in the end, it was Saturday and Peter was packed and ready to go, his suitcase next to May's in the living room. "Come on May! My test starts in two hours!" He was pacing by the door, listening to the woman puttering around the dorm. "That's two hours, Peter! Relax and take a breath!" The woman came out smiling as she fixed the large glasses on her face. She walked over to him and pulled the boy into a hug. "Breathe, Petey-Pie. You'll be fine. And we'll leave as soon as I can find a camera." The day the boy had mentioned his test, and she had gotten clearance from her boss at the hospital, she'd been spending her time after work buying all the camera's she could in order to take enough pictures of Peter and the sights on the trip to show to her colleagues. To say they were both proud and jealous was an understatement. As soon as she was ready, the two rushed from the apartment. Or, Peter rushed May out to go pick up Harley, who was sitting on his dorm porch saying goodbye to his mother. The boy gave the woman another hug and ran towards the mono-taxi, a smile on his face. "Hey Pete!" The two boys did their handshakes as the oldest sat in front of them. "Thank you so much for picking me up, Ms. Parker." May was busy telling Mrs. Keener that her son would be in the best hands as they were pulling away. Harley waved again and sat back. "I'm so excited, worried and ready for this to be over." Peter nodded in agreement as he yawned. "That's what you get for being over anxious," May chuckled.The mono-taxi pulled up to the shuttle port, the driver staring at it with wide eyes. "You know, I ain't nevah taken anybody here, and nevah been here myself. These things are too expensive." He turned in his seat. "You goin' anywhere good?" "Actually, my nephew and his friend are about to take their pilot tests." May sounded so proud and Peter liked the tone she used. "Really? They look so young!" The man's eyes widened comically. "Pete here is the youngest cadet ever to take the test," Harvey said, ruffling the red faced boy's hair. "So if he passes, then that means you'll have had the youngest pilot in history in your taxi." "Hey, can I got your autograph, kid? It could be my feature moment here." The man produced a pen and paper from his glove box. Peter nodded and signed the blank paper, handing it to Harvey, who also signed. "Thanks, boys. Hey, good luck!" The trio got out of the cab and together they rushed to the entrance, the guards stopping them for a moment before, with shocked faces, let them pass. Once they walked in, they were greeted by a crowd of travelers, all walking fast to get to where they had be before their flights left. Peter and Harley grabbed on to May's luggage as she stepped into the crowd. They dodged and pushed past angry people, until the loudspeaker in the sub-port buzzed, gaining everyone's attention. "Cadets Keener and Parker to sub-port thirty-four, cadets Keener and Parker to sub-port post haste. I repeat, Cadets Keener and Parker to sub-port thirty-four post haste." People around them started looking around for the cadets, but Peter and Harley didn't even notice the attention they were getting, being the only ones in cadet uniforms, racing with May to the gate they needed to be at. Once they ran through the gates, the sunlight blinded them for a moment. "Cadets Keener and Parker," came the booming voice of Colonel Richards. Instantly the two young boys stood at attention, their hands coming up in a firm salute. "Colonel Richards, sir!" they shouted in unison. A second later they heard a chuckle. "At ease, boys. You have a long test ahead of you, so it will take all of your strength you don't need to be wasting saluting an old man like me." Reed patted both stunned boys on the shoulder then Ben walked up to them, his eyes alighting with interest at the sight of the older woman. "And who is this stunning young lady?" he asked, his gruff voice sounding husky as he gave the woman a once over. "H-hello, sir. I-I'm May Parker, Peter's aunt." The woman was turning red and stuttering over her words, and making Peter silently gag next to her. "Really? Well, who would have ever thought you of all people would be an aunt." Ben took the woman's hand and kissed the top of it. "I do hope you enjoy your trip, Ms. Parker. Pity I'm not going with you." "We-well, I'll be enjoying time with my nephew." She smiled, noticing the man hadn't let go of her hand as of yet, so she slid it from his grasp. "I'm going to put my bag on board, she said, but Ben suddenly grabbed her suitcase like it was nothing. "Allow me, Ms. Parker." He gave her a suave smile and walked away, his shoulders straighter than they'd ever been, making Reed chuckle. "Now boys, don't let this vacation let you think you'll be able to goof off behind the yoke. I won't have anything happening to my best pilots." He waved his hand and both Virginia and Clint came from the shadows under the plane. "I'll give you two over to your teachers. Good luck, and have fun." He smiled and walked away, going to the air control tower to watch how Peter took off. "Ready?" Clint asked, and both boys turned a certain shade of green he'd never seen before as they nodded. "Come on then! Vacation awaits!" The man walked off, having to practically push Ben out of the way to help May onto the plane, the gruff man glaring at the teacher. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter sat behind the yoke in the pilot's seat, looking over all the instruments, like he did in his simulations. But, this wasn't a simulation. This was real and he was about to fly a suborbital plane for the first time in real life. Captain Potts took the seat next to him, giving the boy a soft smile. "Nervous?" Peter nodded rapidly, eyes wide. "What if something goes wrong and I wind up crashing the plane?" The woman laughed and placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be right here. It's just like the simulation, okay? Just think of it that way and you'll do fine. Besides, after two hours, Harley can finish the test and you can go relax with your aunt." The teen nodded and shifted his vision back to the circuit board of switches. His palms were sweating so much he thought they might drip onto the control panel and fry something. It's just like the simulation, Peter. You can do this, he thought to himself. "Peter, just breathe. I'm right here, and I'll help you as much as I can." The trainee nodded and took control of the yoke. He could do this. It was only a short flight and if everything went right, he'd have his protege wings as be able to co-pilot the planes and take over on the longer flights when they pilot had to take a break. It wasn't like he was going to start flying by himself today. He still had a lot to learn and practice and his age required him to have an experienced co-pilot.. With an audible gulp, he nodded to the captain. This was it. Time to take this test and show it who's boss. He began flipping switches and watching lights blink all around him. In his rear flight camera he moved the rudders first up, then down, then left and right. They moved smoothly. He switched the view to the wings, watching as he moved them, noting they were smooth, too. "You're doing great," Captain Potts said with a smile. Peter nodded and grimaced. He made sure he was buckled in, then with a shaky hand, reached for the ignition button. The plane started so suddenly it made the boy jump, but he settled down at a chuckle from the captain, which he would not hold a grudge for.Two sets of eyes stared at the large black spot in the sky in front of them, hoping he was seeing things. But, Harley's question affirmed he wasn't. "The air space is clear for your test to begin," Colonel Richards' voice came over the communicator. "Have a safe flight, and may the light guide your way." "Thank you, Colonel. And you as well." Pepper responded and turned to Peter. "Whenever you're ready, Cadet." The boy nodded and started forward. It went slowly at first, but then the plane picked up speed until they were going at top ground speed. Peter glanced at the circuit board, noting that all the lights were green. Prime for takeoff. With steady hands, he brought the nose of the plane up, and up and up, until all wheels were off the ground and they were in the air. Peter didn't relax until he leveled the plane out, then he took a shaky breath. He'd done it. "Great job, Peter," Captain Potts said warmly, clasping his shoulder. She never called the cadets by their first names, so she must have been really proud. "Now you can sit back and look at the view. You've earned it." And that's what Peter did. With an awed look, he stared out the cockpit window. Below the hull of the plane lay the Earth and all the cities, though they were barely visible through all the smog and pollution. That made Peter sad. So, instead of looking at that, he fixed his gaze ahead of them. The transition of the black emptiness of space to the lit up horizon of the Earth, with the light bouncing off the ocean, and the clouds below them were white, looking nothing like the white balls of poof he was used to seeing from the ground. "It's beautiful," he whispered, awed. Sure, he'd seen the view in the simulator, but this was the real thing. It was amazing. "Isn't it? This is what we see every day." Pepper smiled at the look on the boy's face, sitting back to watch as Peter controlled the plane like a pro. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Susan was watching the screen for any anomalies, when suddenly something blipped. It was fast, so she didn't pay it much attention, until another blip came from that same spot, but this time it stayed and was bigger than the last time. "Reed, come in," she called over the communicator. "What is it?" her fiance's voice came from the console. "I don't know, but there seems to be something....oh no....it's in the path the cadets just took! Reed, get them to come back now!" The blip was growing and soon it was the bigger than the small plane. Big enough to swallow it whole. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pepper was pulled from her dozing state by a buzzing coming from the communicator. "I've got it, Peter. You just keep flying." She didn't want to distract the young boy from his task. Leaning forward she pressed the button that allowed the colonel's voice to break through the silence. "Pepper! Pepper, you have to return!" Reed's voice sounded panicked over the radio. "Pepper, do you copy! You have to return to base!" "Colonel, we copy. What's wrong?" "I don't-I can't explain it," this time it was Susan's voice coming over the communicator. "But there's a massive amount of gamma and radioactive energies coming straight ahead in your flight path." A beeping came out of the console and flipping a few switches, a map came up. The only problem was, they were too close. "We're too close to turn. We'll try going under that disturbance." She turned to Peter. "Do you need me to take over?" He shook his head. "No, Captain. I need to be ready for anything." Slowly the boy started to go down, but suddenly the plane started rumbling and turning around in the air. No matter what Peter did he couldn't control the plane. With wide eyes, he stared at Captain Potts. Suddenly, a big black cloud appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and started sucking the plane towards it! "What is that thing!?" The young teen was gripping the yoke tight, his fingers doing white. "I don't know, Cadet," Captain Potts said, her voice calm, but it had a wobble to it, letting them know she was nervous. "Just try and avoid its pull." "That's not an option," Peter retorted, his face going pale. "The systems are shutting down!" "What!?" Captain Potts shoved Peter out of his seat, taking it in his stead. "No, this can't be! Clint! Get your ass in here now," she called over the speaker. A second later the door slid open and in ran Clint, his eyes wide as he hung on to the doorway as the plane started rocking. "What the hell is going on? May is back there demanding to know also....and what the fuck is that!?" "That's what I need help with," Pepper cried in exasperation. "It keeps pulling us in!" "Peter, get to the passenger area," Captain Potts called, not looking back at them. "Go sit and buckle in, okay?" She finally took her gaze away from the black blob in the sky, smiling at the scared boy. "We'll be okay." Peter nodded, believing the woman, and was the first to leave the cockpit. "Peter?" May asked as soon as the boy had managed to stumble to his seat , eyes wide as she looked to the cockpit. "It's okay, Aunt May," the boy said, patting her hand after he buckled himself in. "We'll be okay." The plane shifted violently so suddenly, that were they not wearing their seat belts they would have been thrown about the cabin. Peter whimpered, his hand gripping the older woman's and Harley's. "We'll be okay!" he shouted over and over like a mantra. "OH shit!" The passenger cabin suddenly became pitch black. "Hold on!" Harley screamed. "Brace for impact!" Came the captain's voice over the loudspeaker. But, as soon as she said it, light encompassed the cabin, blinding the people inside. Instantly the plane stopped shaking. "What happened?" Peter asked, his head swiveling back and forth trying to see out the windows. It looked like a normal, sunny day, but there was something off about it. Before he could figure it out, though, the plane suddenly jerked, and fell. The passengers screamed all the time they fell, not even noticing the greenery that had encompassed the plane. The metal hull hit something hard enough to cause an explosion behind the seats. The noise had Harley and Peter jumping in their seats. In the next instant, they were hit with the powerful suction of the wind as the plane hurtled toward the ground. May was gripping the seat belt for dear life, the buckle clearly broken by the force of the explosion. Peter turned towards her, to grab his aunt, do something, when the plane was rocked violently, the sound of trees hitting the outside loud to everyone's ears. In the turbulence, May had lost her grip on the seat belt and was sucked out of the gaping hole on the side. It happened so fast, Peter didn't even have time to react. "May?" He whispered, shaking his head, staring at the seat the woman had just been sitting in. "May......MAAAAAAYYYY!!!!" "Everyone hold on!" Came Sergeant Clint's voice over the loudspeaker, but Peter couldn't react. He felt numb, like all of this couldn't be real. It just couldn't. A second later, the plane slammed into the ground, throwing Harley and Peter to the ground as their seat belts broke from the force of the impact. When Peter saw Harley go flying past him, he acted on instinct and grabbed his friend, holding tight to keep him from suffering the same fate as his only family member. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A pair of blue eyes were watching a radar-like map, studying it with an intense stare. There had been a small, moving object on the screen and-there it was again! "I've got something," the person called out. A head of red hair appeared by his side to study the screen. "What is it?" Her voice was smooth as silk as she bent down to look at the screen. "I don't know," the man replied, his eyes staring at the screen still. "But, it was small and came from the direction of the electromagnetic interference." "Really?" Suddenly the blip came again, and this time it stayed on the screen longer, but it seemed as though it was falling. The red head stood and smirked at the man. "Looks like we'll have to go check it out." "All right. I'll notify Tony and be right with you. I don't think we have to suit up for this." He stood and stretched, groaning when his back popped. Too many hours sitting can do that to you. The woman reached out and touched the holograph where the little blip had fallen. "Damn. It fell outside the compound's vicinity...this is going to take all of us to search an area that wide. I'll call the others." With that, the woman left the room. Blue eyes looked one last time at the screen before getting on the phone, walking out of the room. "Tony. We got something," was all he said before hanging up.

#g/t #g/t community #Marvelfanfic #irondad #pepperpotts #tony stark #peter parker #harley keener #clintbarton #steverogers #professor Hulk #black widow #land of the giants

[ghostxofxartemis]

WIP Thursday

This story has been kicking my ass, if only because writing combat scenes are not as easy as it seems. I have mostly all chapters drafted. Here’s a taste to come. Only posting here for time being. Another story, set prior to this, needs to be completed to get a better understand of later chapters ... Anyways...Enjoy?

Summary:  A team of scientist unearthed a prothean artifact on Eden Prime once more in 2207 and the Alliance sent a squat to watch over it and the colony.  Alexandra Shepard stands guard with her team.

rated: M (for a later chapter). 

Chapter 1: The Watch

Eden Prime, 2207 (21 years Post-Reaper War)

Alexandra Shepard stood in the guard tower with her standard Alliance issue assault rifle in hand. Holding it close against her body. It’s not her first choice as a weapon. She’s a vanguard after all. She prefers to use a shotgun, but an assault rifle is better for longer range shooting while in a tower. She lifted the scope to her eyesight and checked to see if there’s any irregular activity out in the distance. All clear.

 “We got the first shuttle of the next unit coming in! We’re going home tomorrow men!” her commanding officer’s voice came through in her earpiece. She smiled, she knows at least one of the individuals coming in that shuttle. Lieutenant Jason Argyle, her best friend and long time boyfriend.

 She knew she wouldn't have much time with him. Nonetheless, she’s happy she’ll get to see him for the night before her unit heads out to the Citadel in the morning. She hasn’t seen him for about six weeks now. She's aware he’ll be heading out to the bar after he settles in the barracks after loading off the  shuttle. That's where she’ll head over to later, after her watch, to find him.

 She heard footsteps coming up the ladder behind her but she kept her eyes focused ahead of her. “Brought you some hot chocolate. Figured you might be getting cold,” Private Davidson’s voice came from behind her. He approached her to stand next to her right. She holstered her assault rifle on her back and glanced to her right to get a peek at him. “Thanks” she muttered reaching and taking the offered mug. She cupped both hands around it to warm them up from the cold breeze. Davidson leaned his forearms on the railing and sighed. She readjusted her gaze to look straight ahead again.

 “Lost the game again, did you?” she asked as she brought the mug to her lips, eyes on him and smirking as she took a sip from the mug.

 He had been playing poker with other marines in their unit when she left the barracks to head for her post . His watch had ended earlier in the day. He gives out a low rumbled laugh. “Yeah, they cleaned me out”.

 Alex brings down the mug from her lips, and looks at him, “you ought to give up poker all together. You’re awful at it” she snorted, bringing the mug up to her lips again for another sip.

 Davidson sighs, “I know. It’s just...it just helps pass the time. This posting is boring.” 

Alex brought the mug back down from her lips and nodded. She couldn't agree more with this statement.  It was an important posting though. Eden Prime had been the Alliance’s first successful established colony. It's also the colony that most often gets attacked by enemy forces each time a prothean artifact gets discovered. Different groups trying to claim it for themselves. Every species is trying to advance themselves ahead of the other species. Initially, it had been the Geth with a rogue Spectre that had attacked the colony. Followed by Cerberus several years afterwards. It turned out the artifact was an actual live Prothean in cryogenic state. Recently another prothean artifact had been discovered.  This all happened many years ago, way before she was born. Early years of her father's military career in fact. So the Alliance decided to make sure they always had a full unit guarding the colony.

 “You deserve better than this. I mean, your family name should grant you any posting you’d want” Davidson continues.

 Alex sighed and rolled her eyes. This is something she’s heard many times before and it annoys the hell out of her! She didn’t want special postings because her father is the hero of the Skyllian Blitz, savior of the Galaxy, Hero of the Galaxy. She wanted recognition based off of her hard work and bravery. She didn't want special treatment because her father is Commander Shepard. “I don’t mind, really” she replied a little more harshly than she intended. She gritted her teeth. She didn't mean to snap at him. 

 He sighed getting the hint and pushed himself off the railing with his hands. He wanted to ask her if the rumors had been true; that her father had truly found the prothean here. In this very same colony where their current posting was. It was something he’d been meaning to ask since they arrived here but he let it go. “Well, I’m going to hit the club. Meet up with Jason and the others. See you there later?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at Alex.

 Davidson, Jason and Alex met back during high school at Grissom Academy. They've been good friends ever since. Davidson's a biotic like Alex. Jason had a talent for engineering.

 Alex nodded her head and handed him back the mug. He took it before he started walking away and he made his way down the ladder. Alex raised her right wrist to check the time on her chronometer. Just one more hour left, she thought. She reached for her assault rifle and brought it back in front of her and continued about her watch.

 She scoped the distance ahead her with her assault rifle when she heard the footsteps behind her. “I'm relieving you of your post marine. I’ll take over from here, Shepard. Go out and have some fun before we head home tomorrow,” Staff Sergeant Gomez’s voice came from behind her. She turned around and saluted him, “will do, sir.” She holstered her assault rifle back in its place on her back and climbed down the ladder. Checking her chronometer she realized he had relieved her forty-five minutes early of the end of her shift. 

 It was a short walk back to the barracks.  When she arrived, she removed the assault rifle from it’s holster and placed it on the weapons table for the next arms master to clean on their shift. She removed her armor and shoved it in her duffle bag. She didn't want to have to worry about packing it later or in the morning.  She opened her footlocker at the foot of her bunk and grabbed a cleaned towel, a washcloth, and clean fatigues.  She placed them on the bed and closed her footlocker. Then she folded the rest of her fatigues and also packed those in her duffle bag. Grabbing her towel, the wash cloth, and fatigues and headed for the women’s change room so she could take her shower. When she reached the changing room she placed her fatigues on a bench. She then hung her towel and washcloth on a hook outside one of the shower stalls and turned on the water. She stripped out of her skivvies and placed them next to her fatigues.

 She stepped in the shower letting the water hit her back. Hot steam filled the stall as she showered. She rubbed her face and leaned her head back letting the water streak her face. She reached for the band in her hair and pulled it out. Her locks fell around her brushing her shoulders as it came down from her bun reaching her middle back.  She combed her fingers through her dark brown locks letting the water wet her hair. She lets the water hit her face for a little bit longer before snatching her wash cloth from the hook. She then pumped soap from the soap dispenser onto her wash cloth and lathered herself. She rinsed herself off, turned off the water and grabbed the towel from its hook. She patted herself  dry before wrapping the towel around her body. She then stepped out of the shower and walked over to the bench where she had placed her fatigues earlier. She placed the towel on the bench and got dressed. She grabbed the towel and patted her hair with it. She threw the towel on the bench then tied her damp hair back in a bun. She then grabbed her towel and skivvies and made her way back to the barracks. She hung her damp towel on a hook on the wall by her bunk to let it dry. she shoved her skivvies in her duffle bag and headed back out to make her way to the bar.

#mass effect fanfiction #mass effect #oc character #my writing #post-reaper war mass effect

[starlightments]

Perfect Fit

written by starlightment

    In honor of today being Julance’s “Garrison Trio” day, I thought it’d be appropriate to finally post the fic I wrote for @cosmicdustzine! Featuring everyone’s favorite underdog flight crew :’) 

   Lance stares miserably into his bedroom mirror. Tilts his head to one side. Then the other. Blinks. Shuffles his feet, and wiggles his fingers. Blinks again.

   His reflection, naturally, does the same.

   It’s too small, he decides at once, and he’s right. The crisp, perfectly starched cuffs of his brand new Galaxy Garrison uniform barely reach the middle of his wrists. Lance supposes this is what he deserves for waiting up until the final deadline to place his size order. And for that unforeseen growth spurt over the summer, stretching him out at least an extra three inches.

   Great, Lance thinks again, tugging at those godforsaken sleeves. He’s too big for his uniform, and too big for this bedroom, with its rocket ship bedsheets, and mason jar full of seashells, and the sleek mahogany acoustic his dad just got him for his fourteenth birthday. It’s a young boy’s room — not a cadet’s.

   And yet, here he stands, wide-eyed and garishly orange. The program starts in a month. Textbooks have been purchased, and dorm assignments have been given out, and Lance still feels like this is some big fluke. Like a glitch in the system. Like he doesn’t fit.

   But he has to fit.

   When his grip unfurls, the fabric of his sleeves spring back up his wrists. Useless. He twitches, and pouts, and squirms, and just keeps staring until he realizes some time has passed, and he hears Rachel banging on his door, yelling at him to come down for dinner.

   His reflection, naturally, does the same.

          *      *      *      *      *      *

   On the very first day of classes, Lance gets lost on his way to Aviation 101, and wonders, darkly, if this is the Garrison’s sick, watered-down version of hazing. Weed out the weaklings who can’t even navigate these convoluted halls, let alone entire solar systems.

   He curses at himself, vehemently, schedule sheet wrinkled in his sweaty clutches, all the way to the North Wing.

   The lecture has already begun by the time Lance finally stumbles through the door, breathless and mortified beyond belief. He slips into the back row all by himself because it’s not like he has any friends he can cozy up to just yet. So far, the only person Lance has had the so-called pleasure of meeting is his roommate — a smug-looking kid named James, who actually had the audacity to laugh when he caught Lance pinning posters of star constellations and the Cuban flag over his bed — and it’s not like Lance would’ve wanted to sit by that guy, anyway.

   “McClain,” his instructor — a gruff and notorious hard-ass by the name of Iverson — shouts from the front of the room.

   Desks creak and chairs squeak as every single head swivels around to gawk in Lance’s direction. He slithers down in his seat, pretends not to notice how their eyes burn straight through his skin.

   “Y-Yes, sir,” he whimpers.  

   “McClain,” Iverson says again, narrowing his beady eyes. “As in Veronica. Correct?”

   Lance swallows around something thick and bitter inside his throat, and manages to get out another feeble, “Yes, sir.”

   “She was in my class for her first year, too. One of our brightest minds,” the man goes on. “Hardworking. Responsible. Diligent.”

   “Yes, sir,” repeats Lance, just a pathetic shiver of sound.

   “It’s a shame that not all good traits run in the family.”

   From somewhere near the front row, someone snorts out loud, and Lance feels every muscle, every bone inside his body shrivel up into nothing. He bites down on his lip until he tastes blood, balls up his fists until his nails dig into skin, and holds his breath until he can’t feel the sting of emotion pricking the corners of his eyes anymore.

   Then the class resumes, just like that, and Lance feels left behind, tugging roughly at his sleeves.  

         *      *      *      *      *      *

   Stupid, Lance’s mind chants in a rabid frenzy as he bursts into the second-floor men’s restroom. Stupid, stupid, stupid —

   With his big, clunky, perfectly-regulation boots squelching against the tiled floor, he all but throws himself into one of the empty stalls, slamming the door shut so that it rattles on its flimsy hinges. He sits down on the toilet lid, face buried into his trembling hands, and he thinks, resoundingly — god, this is low. This is the lowest of the low. Pathetic. Disgraceful. And so, so stupid.

   Stupid for the knot in his throat, and the tears streaking hot trails down his cheeks. Stupid for the ache in his chest that throbs like the swollen tides of home. Stupid for thinking he could find his place here, amongst a school of brilliant minds and skilled prodigies, who look at Lance as if they can smell the inferiority on him like a billow of smoke. Stupid for hiding behind a uniform that isn’t made for him. Stupid for wanting to call his mother, and tell her he’s sorry because he needs to come home, and he needs to keep his dreams out of the stars, and he’s scared that he’ll never, ever make her proud.  

   A sob writhes its way past Lance’s lips, quivering and quiet, but he clamps down on it, hard, knowing that if he starts he might not be able to stop. So, sniffling, his fingers grapple at the toilet paper dispenser, pulling at nothing but a bare cardboard roll because — of course. Naturally. He’s seconds away from resorting to his sleeve as a tissue when he feels something soft and timid nudging at his ankle.    

   Lance resists the embarrassing urge to jump or gasp in surprise, and, instead, glances down to find —  

   A hand.

   All plump, brown skin with fingernails that look like they’ve maybe been nibbled on. It’s reaching out from the next stall over, offering a wad of crumpled up toilet paper.

   Lance stares at it, dumbfounded.

   “Not to be an eavesdropper here, but, uh… just in case you need some —”

   “Um, thanks,” says Lance, snatching the handful of toilet paper, and — damn, could he sound more wrecked right now? It has to be painfully obvious that he’s locked himself away in here to bawl his eyes out, like a loser. And this guy is just too polite to point it out. Part of Lance is grateful for it, but most of him is just downright humiliated.

   The hand disappears, and Lance dabs silently at his eyes and nose before clearing his throat, and trying again: “Sorry, man. I didn’t think — I thought I was alone in here.”

   “Oh, don’t worry about it,” the guy tells him a bit breezily. “I wasn’t even gonna say anything — just kinda let you, y’know, do your thing. But I would’ve felt pretty bad leaving you hanging, so.”

   “Thanks,” Lance repeats.

   “Sure, dude. Anytime.”

   Silence. Lance counts his breaths until they start coming out even, and his neighbor must be able to hear it, all ragged and strangled, because suddenly he’s piping up again.

   “So, uh — bad day?” he wonders tentatively.

   Lance hiccups around some sad excuse for a scoff. “The worst. Iverson basically ripped me a new one in front of the whole class.”

   “I accidentally hit my engineering partner in the head with a wrench, and then puked all over my instructor’s shoes.”

   “Wow,” Lance croaks. “You win.”

   They both chuckle weakly, and Lance feels something loosen slightly in his chest.

   “Yeah, could’ve just been first day jitters,” the guy goes on, “or it could’ve been that mystery meat casserole from the cafeteria. Man, I would kill for some of my mom’s home-cooking.”

   “Aw, man, don’t even remind me,” groans Lance. “Now all I can think about are garlic knots.”

   “Ooh, or burritos.”

   “Mac and cheese —”

   “—And pizza!” they end up exclaiming at the same time, which promptly spurs them into a bout of unbridled laughter. Lance’s cheeks rise and brighten beneath the tear stains.

   “My name’s Hunk, by the way,” the guy says eventually.

   “Lance,” he replies with a wet, happy sniffle. “Y’know, we should just order a pizza sometime. It definitely won’t beat the stuff from home, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

   Hunk sighs longingly. “I’m down for anything that’s not grey and swimming in lumpy gravy.”

   And Lance can’t quite explain it, but he feels something settle — in the air, in his mind. And he feels, for the first time all day, like maybe things won’t be so awful, after all.    

         *      *      *      *      *      *

   The next time Iverson screams in his face, Lance takes it like a champ.  

   Well. Kind of.

   “I hope I don’t need to remind you,” the man sneers, nostrils flared, jaw clenched, “that the only reason you’re here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out.”

   Lance shivers down to the bone, hairline dappling with sweat, legs going numb beneath him, but he does not break — and, right now, he considers that a win. He remembers all the times he could’ve — and did — and then allows himself a fleeting swell of pride at how far he’s come. He stands here now, slightly older, taller, newly steeled. Still clawing and searching for something to hold fast to. Something that fits.  

   The next squadron of cadets file into the simulator, and Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are shuffled to the back of the line again. Their pace is heavy and slow with shame. And, in Pidge’s case, rage. Every muscle inside her tiny body seizes up, standing on edge like an electric jolt. Lance, perhaps unwisely, reaches for her elbow.

   “So that was pretty wack, huh —”

   She jerks away, sharply and at once. “What’s pretty wack is that they actually let an idiot like you sit in the pilot’s chair.”

   “Hey, look, we’re supposed to be a team here,” Lance argues. “If we go down, we go down together, got it? So don’t shove all the blame on me just ‘cause you couldn’t handle my skills!”

   “Well, those supposed skills of yours are the reason why we crashed!”

   “Guys, guys, c’mon,” Hunk pleads, stepping between them. “Can’t we just agree it was kind of a group effort fail? I mean, this is exactly what Iverson is talking about. If we can’t learn to work together, then there’s no hope for us.”

   Arms crossed, and lips pouting, Lance heaves a weighty sigh, and admits, “Hunk’s right. This calls for some emergency bonding time. I’m talkin’ drinks, ladies, a night out on the town — the works. How about we —”

   “Whatever you’re planning, count me out.”

   Pidge turns, and starts stomping toward the exit with Lance on the pursuit.

   “Dude, get a grip,” he calls out to her. “After a day like today? What you need is some fun. A night to loosen up with your pals —”

   “I’m not here to make friends!” is what she flings out, whirling around to pin him with a glare that pierces like a bullet. And Lance feels it, stopping dead in his tracks, stunned from the stinging whiplash of it all. Then, her voice lowers, slipping past her gritted teeth: “Especially not with some arrogant prick like you.”  

   She storms off, and Lance — older, taller, newly steeled — still does not break.

   But, damn, if it doesn’t hurt.

         *      *      *      *      *      *

   The stars look different out here.

   But, then again, drifting out into the endless abyss of deep space is a very far cry from standing on Cuba’s silken shores, with the dark sky hanging overhead, spreading its glitter over the ocean’s rolling surface. There were some nights, Lance recalls, when the sky was so clear, he swore he could reach out and touch those shivering bits of starlight until he could feel them burning his fingertips. Every twinkling light, so close and intimate.

   Now, he sits in the center of the Castle’s control room, with his legs outstretched and his neck craned back, staring at the swirling cosmos just beyond the glass barrier that surrounds him. Here, he’s never been closer to the stars. Or farther from home.

   Behind him, the door whooshes open. His eyes drift lazily over his shoulder, then back again. Pidge lingers in the doorway. “Hey,” says Lance.

   “Shouldn’t you be resting?” she asks.

   “Couldn’t sleep,” he shrugs, eyes tracing foreign patterns across the sky, “so I thought I’d do some stargazing — but none of these constellations are making any sense to me. Guess we really are in the middle of nowhere.”  

   “Yeah, guess so.”

   A pause. Just the quiet hum of the crystal that gleams down from the ceiling, and then:

   “Shouldn’t you be resting, too?”

   Pidge straightens, looking a bit caught. “Oh, I’m just — couldn’t sleep either. But I didn’t think I’d run into anyone else at this hour,” and there’s a smirk in her voice — just a subtle one — as she adds, “Least of all the guy who never stops complaining about needing beauty sleep. Whatever that means.”

   “Yeah, well, wouldn’t expect you to understand what it’s like to be as beautiful as me,” sniffs Lance, and maybe it would’ve been a more effective retort if he weren’t donning his robe and blue lion slippers at present. But still — he stands by his quip.

   Chuckling, the sound of Pidge’s footsteps pad closer and closer until she’s lowering herself next to Lance, knees tucked into her chest.

   “Man, it never ends, does it?” It’s just a whisper, just a breathless afterthought that he mutters into the pause of their words, as if he weren’t speaking to anyone in particular but himself. “It’s kinda freaky, right? Like, putting everything in perspective. The galaxy’s this big honkin’ thing… and we’re supposed to defend it? Couple weeks ago my biggest responsibility was getting my homework done in time, and now it’s like —”

   “Everything’s changed?” guesses Pidge, the corner of her mouth twitching upward, almost ruefully. “But just think about it. I mean, you’re way more help out here than you are back home doing homework and stuff.”

   A haunting cavern of his mind wonders: but am I, really?

   And, oh, Lance hates how quickly these unsolicited negativities gather inside his head, smothering his thoughts like a dense fog. If he could shake himself free of them, he would, but there’s something about sitting here — beneath a vast skyscape of planets and moons and sparkling nebula — that makes him feel exponentially smaller than he ever thought possible. Just a flicker of life, tragically outshined by every star in the galaxy. For the briefest of moments, he idly wonders if Pidge ever feels the same way, but — no. Of course not. Not someone with an invaluable brain like hers.

   So Lance swallows it all down, through the dryness of his throat, and mumbles a faint, “Sometimes I think they picked the wrong guy, y’know?”              

   “They didn’t.” Her response is immediate, and takes Lance by surprise. He tears his gaze away from the sky, and stares at Pidge in the half-light, eyes blown wide. “And you proved that the other day when you helped take down Sendak, when you saved Coran —”

   Her words spark flames along his skin — tiny pricks of memory that converge and bloom around his shoulder blades, where a starburst scar now mars his flesh. The brand of a newly fledged soldier. Something even hours in a healing pod couldn’t take away from him.

   “You put your life on the line for us, Lance,” she tells him firmly. “You could’ve died. You could’ve —”

   All at once, she turns away, pressing her face into her knees.

   Lance blinks, speaks soft. “Pidge?”

   “Just —” she grumbles, sounding muffled and choked up. And when she eventually glances up again, it’s to furrow her brow, and shove at Lance’s shoulder until he nearly topples over. “—just be more careful next time, you big dummy, okay?”

   Lance takes one look at her glossy-eyed gaze, and laughs, deep from his stomach. His arm flops around her tiny frame, pulling her into his side, and she goes willingly, clinging to the soft fabric of his robe, nestling against him.

   “Aw, squirt,” he coos, while the universe glows above their heads, “you do care.”

         *      *      *      *      *      *

   Somehow, he finds himself on a beach.

   Which instantly strikes him as odd because, last he remembers, they were all lifting that crazy robeast straight into the stratosphere, and then nosediving right back down to Earth, bracing for impact, but — okay. Beach. Lance can roll with that.

   Below him, the sand is rich and butter-soft between his toes. Behind him, waves lick the edge of the shoreline in a gentle, rolling rhythm. And all around him, thick summer heat clings to his skin, swarming him all at once.

   And there, right before him, is home.

   His home.

   That small, idyllic cottage by the water hasn’t aged a single day, it seems. The same wispy white curtains frame every window. His abuela’s antique rocking chair still sits out on the wooden deck. His mother’s laundry still hangs out to dry on the clothes line, fluttering in the crisp ocean breeze. He can still hear the giggles of his nieces and nephews, and see the same tree branch he fell out of and broke his wrist when he was eight. It’s like he never even left. It’s like —

   Lance takes a slow stride forward, and then the entire house goes up in flames.

   Burning. Raging. Destroying.

   “No,” Lance tries to say, but no sound comes out. He watches in sheer, debilitating panic as the roof collapses, crumbles, caves in on everything he’s ever known. The smell of smog fills his lungs, chokes him until his throat is raw and there’s blood on his tongue. Another silent scream rips out of his chest as he starts to run, but the sand is suddenly sinking below him, swallowing him whole, dragging him under, under, under —  

   Then Lance wakes up.

   He sits up with a gasp on his lips, and a shudder in his heart. The stark white bedsheets are wrinkled in his iron grasp, the thin fabric of his hospital attire sticking to his spine, slightly damp with perspiration. Eyes darting back and forth in the darkness, Lance can feel his breath returning to him at last. He’s still here. They really did it. Earth is safe. Everyone is safe. It was only a nightmare.

   It takes his mind a delayed second to catch up to reality, and, in that time, the lights flicker on. Lance squints, startled, as something small, fast, and wiggly scurries onto his bed, and then starts panting in his face, licking his cheeks.

   “Bae Bae!” Lance laughs, squirming and writhing happily against the bull terrier’s show of affection.

   “Well, look who’s finally awake!”

   That’s when something else small, fast, and wiggly leaps onto Lance’s bed, but this something is decidedly Pidge-shaped. As Bae Bae scampers around by his feet, Pidge throws her arms around Lance, and he responds with a quiet ‘oof’.

   “Jeez, give a guy some warning before you koala attack him outta nowhere,” grunts Lance.

   Pidge only squeezes harder. “Nope.”

   “See, Pidge? Told you the smell of pizza would wake him up.”

   Then, from the doorway, Hunk comes marching through with a grin on his face, and about three pizza boxes stacked in his arms. Bae Bae rushes to greet him first, jumping and yipping around his legs.

   “Hunk, my hero,” cries Lance, pressing his palms together, and throwing his gaze to the ceiling. “My savior! The greatest paladin of them all!”

   “The pineapple one’s all yours, buddy,” says Hunk.

   “Gross,” snorts Pidge.

   It takes them no time at all to devour all three of those pizzas, even sparing a few slices of pepperoni for Bae Bae to enjoy. It’s with Hunk on the edge of his bed, and Pidge curled up to his right, and melted cheese on his fingertips that Lance finally feels at peace. It’s with a brimming heart, and a satisfying warmth in his gut, and a smile splitting his face in two that Lance thinks — this.

   This, he thinks again with profound momentousness.

   This fits.    

#star writes #lance mcclain #pidge gunderson #hunk garrett #garrison trio

[whumpishstuff]

  *Alaric and Beau part 3*

  *part 2*

    “Wha-?” Beau wakes, blinking to clear the fog from his eyes.

  “It’s 6 am. Which is when you’ll be waking up from now on.” Alaric gives Beau’s shoulder one more rough shake before letting go.

  Beau jolts up, suddenly remembering his situation. Alaric strolls to the water dispenser, filling a fresh cup, and hands it to Beau.

  “Today you’ll be starting your new routine. I expect you to comply without complaint.”

  Beau knows that he has to play along until he figures out how to sneak out, or take the stronger man down.

  “It’s not like I have a choice.” Beau grits out.

  Alaric smiles down at him and ruffles his hair.

  “Good boy. It seems that you’ve thought your situation over.”

  He leans down, hand tightening in Beau’s hair.

  “Which is exactly why I know that you’re planning on escape. I’m sure I’ll have to squash a few little escape plans before you actually accept your situation.” He let’s go of Beau’s hair, and gently smooths it down.

  “Now, first thing’s first, breakfast.” He motions to a small table and chair in the corner. “I expect you to eat everything that I put in front of you.”

  Beau creeps to the table, giving Alaric a wide berth. 

  On the table is a bowl of oatmeal with nuts and fruit, and a cup of tea.

  Alaric strides over and pushes Beau into the chair by his shoulder.

  “You have fifteen minutes, I’ll collect the dishes when the time’s up.”

  Beau nods, not making eye contact, and Alaric leaves the room. The sound of the lock turning filling the air once again.

  Beau grits his teeth, staring down at the food.

  “Like hell I’m gonna eat this shit.” 

  He instead inspects the room, noticing the blinking light that marks the security camera for the first time. He purposefully glares into the lens, wanting Alaric to sense his anger.

  He takes inventory of everything inside the room: a bed, a water dispenser, a table, and a chair. Everything is sturdy and expensive looking. None of it can be used as a weapon. Even the dishes on the table are metal, so they can’t be broken and used as weapons.

   One thing that isn’t in the room is a clock, so he can’t tell how much time is left.

  There are two doors, the door that Alaric comes and goes through, and one that turns out to open into a bathroom. Even the bathroom is impossible to use for anything other than it’s intended purpose. No mirror, so no glass shards. Just a toilet and sink. Metal and unbreakable.

  The bathroom door is suddenly opened.

  “I see you’ve found the bathroom. I expect you to only stay in here as long as necessary.” 

  Alaric grabs Beau’s arm, manhandling him back over to the table.

  “Your fifteen minutes are up, and you haven’t touched your breakfast. I’m disappointed, but honestly not surprised.” He shoves Beau back into the chair.

  “Eat. Now.”

  Beau’s gaze is full of venom. He refuses to so much as face the food.

  “I see. You’re only hurting yourself, darling.”

  Alaric grabs him by the shoulder, and throws him to the ground. He pins his arms down with his knees and slaps him across the face.

  “Agh, ah, s-stop,” Beau writhes, trying to dislodge himself. “I’m sorry!”

  “Ah, yes. That brings us to another important lesson.” Alaric smirks down at him, unaffected by his struggles

  “You are to address me as ‘Sir’ and only as ‘Sir’. So what should you be saying right now?” 

  “Ah- I’m...” Beau scowls up at him. “I’m sorry Sir.” Despite to pain he’s in, his voice drips with sarcasm.

  Alaric is obviously amused by his attempt at defiance. He sighs, although the grin stays plastered to his face.

  “I guess it’s punishment time then.” 

  He carefully pinches Beau’s nose shut with one hand, and places the other over his mouth. Beau’s eyes shoot open wide, and his struggles become violent. He kicks his legs and scratches at Alaric’s pant legs with his finger nails.

  Alaric just chuckles pleasantly, amused by Beau’s desperation.

  “Ten seconds.”

  Beau glowers up at him, trying to stay calm.

  “Hmm, that’s about thirty seconds.”

  Tears slide down Beau’s cheeks, creating small puddles on the concrete below him. His struggles slow.

  “Forty-five seconds.”

  Beau’s head swims. Eye’s slipping shut.

  Alaric let’s go. Beau gasps for breath, lungs burning painfully.

  “Are you ready to behave now, darling?”

  “F-fuck you, you goddamn-”

  Alaric places his hands back over Beau’s nose and mouth.

  “I guess we’ll be at this awhile then.” 

  Beau’s head swims.

#whump #captivity #training #suffocation #drabble #my writing #beau #alaric