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babyboiboyega · 3 years

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I can explain (Shangqi x f!reader)

Shangqi x f!reader

Prompt: “When everything’s going wrong, the mere thought of you makes it right.” + never wanting to pull away kiss

Content: a little angst, but more fluff

Word Count: 1.6k

Babyboiboyega’s Marvel Masterlist

A/N: this is my first ever time writing for Shangqi (or Shang-Chi), and I already have a lot of other ideas for this incredibly loveable character.

I hope you all enjoyed this!

A heavy sigh left Y/N’s mouth as she unceremoniously dropped onto her couch. The feeling of her limbs relaxing into the cushions almost prompted a moan of relief to follow the heavy sigh. It did, however, make her eyes flutter closed as she leaned her head back.

Y/N had been thinking of this moment the entire day. The moment when her week ended and her weekend began; a weekend of not having to deal with rude, angry-at-the-world customers who decide to yell at her because a privately owned publishing warehouse doesn’t print the book that they want. Or the customers who don’t check their emails for their tracking information and then get mad at her, for some absurd reason.

Another sigh leaves her mouth, and this time with the sigh goes her thoughts of work, entering the empty air for the weekend.

But being off on the weekend didn’t exactly mean being absolved of texts and calls from fellow coworkers, ranting about customers, or even management. So when her phone’s ringer went off, signaling a new incoming text, she simply kept her eyes closed. She certainly had enough time to read and reply...but maybe later.

The text had already migrated to the back of her mind in the span of a few seconds...and then her phone went off again. This time, two quick “dings” sounded through her apartment.

Her eyes opened before she slowly sat up, her phone coming into view. Before she could spare another though about her phone and it’s notifications, her hand quickly reached for the remote and pressed the power button.

She managed to flip through a few channels before her phone rang once more, and this time it was accompanied by a few knocks on her door.

Completely disregarding the fact that it was almost 11 at night and she hadn’t been expecting anyone, and being fueled by her now very obvious annoyance, it only took her a few strides to reach her door. In all honesty, she’d had no idea what she was going to say to whoever was on the other side of her door; but whatever had been ready to leave her lips died as soon as she opened the door.

“Shaun?”

She hadn’t been able to control the volume and surprise in her voice, and she saw his grimace in response. She couldn’t find it in herself to care if he didn’t like the volume in her voice; the very next emotions she felt surge through her body was...well, it was a cross between worry and anger.

“Y/N...hey.” He had a sheepish smile on his face; one that showed off his dimple. One that she had to restrain from returning. But then she remembered the last time she had seen that same smile and the last time she had even heard from him. Her eyebrows raised incredulously.

“‘Hey?’ ‘Hey’?? That’s all...that’s all you have to say to me after being gone for...a month? And some weeks?”

She could hear the hurt in her own voice, and it made her want to cringe at herself.

‘He could have been doing more important things than worrying about you’ is all that went through her mind.

Her arms crossed self-consciously in front of her.

“Please, let me explain. It’s… it’s actually crazier than you think.”

The hesitance on her part came from her nagging thoughts that flipped between “he was genuinely busy” and “he’s about to make up some absurd excuse for why he hasn’t spoken to you while also letting you down gently”.

“May I come in?” His eyebrows were raised as he gently asked for her permission. Y/N quickly nodded and stepped to the side before her thoughts could scare her too much.

His eyes stayed on her as he stepped past her, entering her apartment. She took a second to take a deep breath before closing the door behind him.

She briefly wondered how her face looked as she turned to face him. Did she look as hurt and worried as she felt? Could he see her feelings on her face?

“I’m sorry for disappearing for...as long as I did. And I’m sorry for not reaching out at all during that time. But I can explain why.”

His eyes followed her figure as she walked slowly around her kitchen counter. He made no effort to hide the pleading look in his eyes, and he only began talking when Y/N raised her eyebrows from across the counter.

“Okay. Just...bare with me.” Y/N’s eyes narrowed and more questions filled her mind as she watched him take a breath as if he were bracing himself.

Y/N hadn’t known what to expect when he had started talking, but she definitely wasn’t expecting a story filled with martial arts, trained assassins, ancient organizations, soul-sucking demons, and dragons.

Even after he had explained everything, his eyes watching and waiting for her reaction, she still couldn’t find the words to express herself.

Her body was frozen in its same position, and her eyes were wide and staring right at him. As the silence stretched between them, he couldn’t help grimacing slightly once again.

“Also, my name isn’t really Shaun. It’s Shangqi.”

That last piece of information seemed to finally shake Y/N out of her stupor, as she blinked quickly and let out a quick breath.

“I...I don’t know what to say.” In all honesty, all of this was kind of making her head spin, and it was evident in the way her breathing picked in just the slightest.

“W-What exactly do you say to someone who’s just saved the world? ‘Thank you’? ‘I owe you my life’- because, I guess, technically, I do owe you my life. Because of you, I still have my life- or my soul.”

At her rambling, Shangqi’s expression shifted from one of wariness to relief to a little worried. It had only just crossed his mind that he was worried that she wouldn’t believe him, and not worried about how she would receive the information.

She believed every word that had just come from his mouth, simply because she knew that he wouldn’t lie about something like this. She knew that he wouldn’t lie to her… at least she hoped he wouldn’t.

“You don’t have to say anything. I...I just needed you to know why I was gone. The thought of letting you go one more second thinking I just...left you was driving me crazy.”

A humorless laugh forced its way through Y/N’s lips.

“Yeah, thinking I had driven you away was driving me crazy too.”

Before she could even regret her words, her eyes were drawn to Shangqi, whose head was shaking quickly. In a few steps, he had walked around the counter, coming to a stop a few feet from her.

“That was never the case, I swear. You could never drive me away, not even if you tried.”

At the minuscule smile that appeared on her face, he risked taking another step forward.

From where he stood, he could smell faint traces of her favorite perfume that had slowly worn off during her day. Her favorite perfume had quickly become his favorite scent, simply because it reminded him of her.

From where she stood, she could easily see the faint signs of exhaustion on his face. No doubt from the strains of the last month and a half. It made her want to reach out to him.

“Every second, from the moment we left, all I could think about was coming back to you. Even while staring into the face of a-”

“A mega soul-sucking demon?”

The quiet laugh that left his mouth seemed to weigh on her body, but not with pressure. Instead, all she felt was warmth, and it coursed through her veins with the power of 11 suns.

“Yes,” there was laughter in his voice as he responded, “even while staring into the face of a mega soul-sucking demon.”

As he spoke, he had gradually moved forward until taking a deep breath would easily have their chests brushing against each other.

Y/N couldn’t keep the tremor out of her voice as she spoke, her eyes flickering between Shangqi’s.

“You...you really thought of me when you were saving the world?”

Her eyes fluttered closed as his hand raised and gently cupped her cheek. Soon after, she felt pressure from his forehead connecting with hers. Without hesitation, her own hands lifted, coming to grasp at his sides, desperate to pull him closer.

His breath fanned across her face as he spoke, and it made her hands tighten.

“When everything’s going wrong, the mere thought of you always makes it right.”

His words were quickly swallowed by Y/N’s lips pressing against his with fervor. The hand that was on her cheek gently titled her head back as he kissed her back with just as much passion, while his other hand wound around her waist. They both pulled at the other, as if they couldn’t get close enough.

The warmth that had been coursing through her veins quickly turned into leg-numbing electricity the longer their lips were connected. Her eyes were closed, and so were his, but they could both see the other’s face behind their lids, surrounded by the stars their presence created.

The only thing that could pull them apart was the need for air, and even then, as their foreheads connected and their lips stayed hovering over each other’s, they breathed the same air.

Shangqi’s words were shaky as he spoke, his thumb rubbing circles into her skin.

“You make everything right.”

**********

Once again, I hope you all enjoyed this! I would take requests for this character, but I still have a ton of requests for LOK....

But maybe sometime in the near future!

In the meantime, I would appreciate it if y’all would interact in any way with this! Comments, criticism, questions, etc would be amazing, as would reblogs, but even just liking this helps!

Stay safe, y’all!

#shangqi #shangqi x reader #shang chi x reader #shang chi #shang-chi imagines #shang-chi fanfic #shang-chi drabble #shang-chi oneshot #shangqi imagine #shangqi oneshot #shangqi drabble

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justforsmiles · 5 years

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I’m quitting Tumblr

I’m making the decision to leave Tumblr. @staff @support

Having been on Tumblr since 2010, I never really thought about when this day would come, but now more than ever, I don’t see why not.

It has been a great journey, I won’t forget that. From writing little poems to writing more about my personal experiences to reblogging Cyanide and Happiness comics, to memes, dogs, motivational quotes, inspirational images and building a positive community of my own, it felt so empowering and gave me something to look forward to during my high school and my college years.

It was addictive. It felt rewarding when I was featured on Tumblr’s “radar”- hand-picked showcase of creative, interesting, and awesome posts. It was my go-to mood booster. I read up on news, learned new terms, saved a ton of hilarious, fun gifs (back when Tumblr did not have a button to easily look up gifs and what not), became heavily invested in social justice issues, posted my ideas, learnings, what I stand for, and have people thank me and my blog for existing.

I connected with other people from all over the world. I met up with two of my Tumblr friends in person. I could share my thoughts, genuine interests, and have it liked and reblogged by thousands? It felt like a platform I was never ever going to see myself exit from.

Until the start of this year. I don’t feel safe on Tumblr.

On December 17, 2018, Tumblr’s ban on adult content went into effect (after the fact that Tumblr’s official app was removed from Apple’s App Store over the discovery of child pornography on the site). That meant that all pictures, GIFs, and videos that feature erotic content will be removed from the site.

A reblogged photo from back in 2011 of a newborn’s feet was flagged but when a porn blog (blacksinasian) decides to share my (fully clothed) self portraits and write crude things on it, impersonate me in writing those things to lead people to my Tumblr and social media- that is not okay.

I had to find out through Instagram DMs when some people let me know that they saw me on Tumblr, asked if I had Tumblr and if I knew that my pictures were being circulated on Tumblr.

This is screwed up on so many levels. I never agreed to allow my content to be used in this way. The blog decided to repeatedly take my content and twist it in their own nasty words.

This is unwanted harassment and violation of community guidelines, but Tumblr decides to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

I sent in a support request January 21, 2019. I received NO reply whatsoever and followed up on February 5, 2019 to which I receive a reply to on February 11, 2019 with the following:

Hello,

Thank you for writing in. It sounds like you may be reporting a violation of our Community Guidelines instead of a technical issue on the site. In order to more quickly and efficiently handle this, we ask that you use our online Abuse forms located here:

https://www.tumblr.com/abuse

To report a post in the mobile apps, just click the share icon (that paper airplane) and choose "Report." That'll open the form and you can tell us what you're reporting from there. To report an entire blog, tap the blog's username to view their blog, then tap the little human icon, and then tap "Report."

Please select the form that most closely corresponds to the violation you’re reporting, which will help us correctly route your complaint.

We appreciate you taking the time to write in.

Jay,

Tumblr Community Support

That was a slap in the face. It was a response that was like, oh, seems like you sent in your request to the wrong department, here, try again, I won’t bother reading your request and helping you to route it to the right place and resolve it ASAP. That was terrible customer service for someone who has been a loyal user since 2010. Thanks a lot, Justin. Or as you called yourself in the email, Jay.

After reporting abuse and writing the description of the abuse AGAIN, I received an automatic message from Tumblr Trust & Safety with the below message:

Hello,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We're checking out the content and will determine an action appropriate to our policies and procedures.

In the meantime, we do strongly suggest you block this user. If you need help doing so, have a look at the docs (

https://www.tumblr.com/docs/en/social#blockactions

). Blocked users can't follow you, can’t see your posts on their dashboard, reblog your posts, like your posts, or do anything else with your posts. You also won't get Asks or Fan Mail from users you've blocked, and you won’t appear in their search results.

Keep in mind that we don’t notify bloggers that you’ve blocked them—although they may realize it if they try to reblog one of your posts, say, and are prevented from doing so.

Tumblr Trust & Safety

Tumblr.com/abuse

Gee, thank you so darn much. Can you tell me something actually valuable in less words? The fact that Tumblr could not give less of a crap about this shows just how hopeless Tumblr is. Take a hard look at your own Community Guidelines and tell me that you’ve done everything you can to uphold all of that. Theblacksinasian blog clearly violated some of these guidelines and they’re still out there, posting away. No suspended account, no consequences. And I’m left here spending countless amount of time and effort in writing something that Tumblr will most likely ignore for the umpteenth time.

Yeah sure, thank you for being the platform from which I got to experience laughs, meaningful conversations, humor, and encouragement. That can be found elsewhere. This just isn’t worth it.

Goodbye.

To all my wonderful mutuals and friends old or new on here, you can find me on Instagram.

#Tumblr #I quit #thoughts #utterly disappointed and disgusted

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nachoscheesy · 3 years

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Automattic, Tumblr, and the future of the site

Hi, my name is Nacho, I am currently a mechanical engineering student in Kansas and I have an idea that could benefit Tumblr and their new owners Automattic.

A little about me, I have been on Tumblr since around 2010 and have seen this site change in a variety of ways. On top of being a current student in mechanical engineering I also have worked in industrial settings doing NDI requiring that I have a very high attention to detail. As well as a sense for process improvement and error reduction.

I tell you this about myself because I want to gain the trust of the Tumblr community, and show that I care about the state of this site as well as its users. I honestly believe if Tumblr mobilizes itself as it has in the past, we could be a force for good and positive change on the (hell) site. As well as stopping the steady decline of the site by people that seem to not want to listen to the community.

I am NOT associated with Tumblr or Automattic in anyway other than being a Tumblr user, I am hoping to gain enough momentum and attention that I would be able to get the attention of @photomatt to work together and develop Tumblr into what it should have always been. I am asking the community to please let me know what all you think are the major issues on this site and app. I have tried to compile to the best of my ability a short list of what I believe are the foundational issues that, if addressed, would allow tumblr to flourish and be a major player on the web.

As someone who has been on the internet for a very long time, I have seen the same trends over and over kill sites like Tumblr. While Tumblr has transformed in a variety of ways the core of the site is still the same. I say all this to prove that I do care about the future of this site and what happens to it, and I fear that Automattic will eventually end up using Tumblr to test out a variety of feature sets for other sites and apps eventually dumping it off again on the highest bidder.

Yahoo and Verizon had issues in marketing to this sites users, as well as its own internal strife with the actual @staff at tumblr offices. I think that is because the changing hands and people in power that have influence over this site are either dethatched from the way Tumblr works as a whole, or have not been listening closely to the inhabitants of the site, possibly both.

First, I wanted to ask the question, what Tumblr isn’t, I do not think that Tumblr is a social media platform in the traditional sense like the big players (Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.)

I think this might be obvious to some but not all, but Tumblr is a midpoint between social media, content creation, and brand development. With its ability to customize different aspects of a blog to meet hyper specific goals of the brand or user. Tumblr can be a site that makes it possible to cater to the niche or eclectic styles of individual users. As well as the potential for reaching large swaths of audiences with its spiderweb like user interactions.

Tumblr, in essence, is a sort of cross roads on the internet that lends itself to a wide variety of facets of what people want from the internet. Tumblr is also the breeding ground for a lot of creativity and internet culture that gets constantly reposted all over the web. I think this sets Tumblr to be a prime piece of online real estate, in the sense that the site and its users can quickly and effectively propagate a single piece of media with a high content value.

Second, I wanted to look at all the most common issues that plague the site and that have continued to persist over the years. Some of these issues being things like, stability, updates changing entire blog formatting, general quality of life issues like organization and linking to outside accounts, advertisements on the site, and overall clarity in some fundamental ways.

The core issues of what is causing this site to be slowly killed off at the root is multifaceted and can be seen by anyone who has been here long enough, however I think that there is still a chance to make significant improvements to Tumblr as a whole and build the site and app back up from the base itself. I believe if we were able to reestablish a lot of the base expectations that we have come to know from other apps, along with the uniqueness of Tumblr as a whole we would see a steady increase in users again. As well as a fundamental change in the way the Tumblr experience is felt.

I have summarized what I think are the core issues on both the app and the site its self below. This is not an exhaustive list of issues my goal was to understand what makes Tumblr fundamentally work and in what ways we could build a better foundation to highlight the sites strengths, while mitigating its weaknesses.

First – The App

Tumblrs app has been awful for a very long time, with a ton of stability issues and general functionality problems. Personally I almost exclusively use Tumblr through the app and had always wanted to see more quality of life changes done in the way of how other apps function. The Tumblr app feels more like it just works and gets the job done, but not always.

A few other things being what I think are compression issues with the app, and how things posted on desktop don’t look as good on the app. As well as the tagging system not working as intended all the time, with the tags disappearing for each reblog.

Second – Search Feature

The search function on Tumblr is lacking a lot of functionality that I think is pretty standard on other sites, as well as being able to search on a blog for specific posts or even just filtering by liked posts. I think this is one of the main points of contention with Tumblr on both the app and the site, having a search function that can’t return specific results with the ability to modify or filter them is a very baseline thing to have on any site or app.

Third – Bots

This is probably one of the worst issues on Tumblr that does in fact effect everybody, while I personally do not know much about bots and how they work all the way through. However, I do think that if Tumblr were to enable a sort of system that allows users to report bots and suspicious activity would help in mitigating this widespread issue. Bot spam and phishing, is a widespread issue that affects every site on the internet. However, I think if they allowed the site to be self-reporting with a system in place that rewards users who give accurate reports of bots and phishing by moving their reports to the top, while penalizing users who maliciously report users. I know that this might not be a perfect system, but I think allowing a site and its users to self-report and rewarding reporting in good faith would take a large portion of the weight off of Tumblr staff as a whole.

Fourth – Interconnectivity

Here what I mean by interconnectivity, is that Tumblr does not seem to want to play well with other apps or even its own internal links. One of the key things to bringing up the appeal of Tumblr would be to allow for users to be able to link multiple accounts on Tumblr and have their content be posted to all other media platforms as well. The ability to post from a single platform onto several other platforms at once would be a key in continuing the idea of Tumblr being a cross roads as well as an attractive feature for content creators across the internet.

This is a difficult thing to implement given that companies want you to use their app over someone else’s, but if Tumblr did push for a sort of “cross play” I believe it could be standardized for everyone across the web.

So, if youve read this far I greatly appreciate it. What I am asking for right now is for you to follow me, and reblog so I can build up momentum and hopefully bring some long needed TLC to tumblr that it has been missing.

Please PM me with other things you think the site and app are missing on need fixed in the meantime. Or things you think I missed, or should be considered more important, the goal is to bring the tumblr community together to improve the site.

Follow my blog as I continue to try and make a way for tumblr to keep its unique brand of weird. I will be adding a survey to my blog soon that will allow me to compile all the most common issues that the community feels are effecting them. This is just the first step in what I am sure will be a long and winding road to a better tumblr, so thank you in advance.

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emmaswanchoosesyou · 7 years

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CSBB: Part of the Narrative (8/17)

Emma Swan just wants to write the follow-up to her bestselling debut novel, that’s all. But when she gets off to a rough start with her new editor, Killian Jones, she knows it’s not going according to plan. Then, an unexpected figure from Emma’s past reappears and life begins to mirror the crime thriller she’s penning. Suspicion and secrets abound–but love might too. A writer/editor AU with a thriller twist.

Rated E. Story warnings: sexual content, kidnapping, some gore, violence, and minor character death–not to mention salty language! On Ao3 here.

Chapter warnings: Profanity, discussions of past relationships and canon pregnancy-related issues, and some snogging.

I hope you all know that your comments and likes and kudos and reblogs have been cherished and squealed over. Thank you to all the wonderful peeps at @captainswanbigbang for all you’ve done to make this possible, and all the support you’ve given. Sophie @shady-swan-jones made the delightful banner and another photoset that I adore. Kayla @bleebug did some incredible art for the first and sixth chapters, which you can check out here and here. And all the love and thanks to Kris @sambethe for beta-ing this and making it a ton better.

[Ch. 1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Chapter 8

Emma comes clean to Killian about her past, and they bond during their second date.

Killian

Killian stared through the small window at the front of his oven, hoping the conversion to Fahrenheit hadn’t utterly destroyed his mother’s recipe for Lancashire hotpot. He stepped back and glanced out the window above the sink. Even through the dark, the grey of the clouds promised snow, and it was already colder than he’d like. So this would be perfect, provided it cooked properly.

In the meantime, this cooking adventure was distracting him from his nerves about the night’s plans with Emma. He knew they needed to talk--they truly did--but just the thought of seeing her filled his stomach with butterflies, in the best way. In a manly way, as he’d told Robin.

Aye, manly butterflies.

It had only been a few days since he had seen her, but he missed her. They had texted over the last few days, which had been pleasant--excellent, in fact--but it wasn’t the same as being in the same room as her, holding her in his arms or seeing the light in her eyes while she talked about the things she was passionate about.

He was just so…excited to see her again, to have dinner with her, to talk, to… snuggle. Or, perhaps more than snuggle. Either way, it would be good.

Obviously, they had a fairly heavy conversation ahead of them, but he was optimistic. In the days since their date, he hadn't heard from August. Nothing. Not a word. And, frankly, Killian was relieved. He was in no rush to hear from his current boss and former conspirator. He had actually emailed him the other day with an update from the next chapter Emma was working on. It was the exact sort of thing he should be talking to August about. The exact thing a publisher needed to hear in the earlier stages of developing a novel, and not what he had asked Killian to do.

And what a chapter it was! The story was starting to unfold, and Killian was hooked. They had finally met the protagonists, a social worker and the child she was trying to help get out of the foster care system.

He couldn't help but see the parallels to Emma's own life, and to Henry. And he was thrilled. Not only was Emma clearly drawing from her own experiences, but she was painting them vividly. It left Killian feeling he knew her a little better for it and knew it would draw others into the story.

A knock at the door interrupted Killian's musings, and he gave a sigh of relief. Not that he wasn't enjoying contemplating Emma and her story, but maybe the butterflies could actually settle down now that she was here.

"Just a minute," he called out, pulling the dish out of the oven. He straightened his vest over his shirt, ran a hand through his hair, and went to the door.

He opened it to find Emma's beautiful face, her small, crooked smile betraying how glad she was to see him too. She was carrying a bottle of wine and shifting her weight as she stood up on the tips of her toes, her nervous energy soothing him and putting him at ease even as his heart skipped a beat. At least he wasn't alone in this.

"Good evening, Swan. You look delightful," he said, brushing a quick kiss across her cheek and taking the wine from her.

Emma blushed, but eyed him hungrily. "You look good too." Then, her eyes drifted away from him as she sniffed at the air. "Okay, that smells fantastic."

He held the door open and motioned for her to come through. "Well, then come in and let's get us fed."

He watched her as she moved past him, her cream-colored sweater and figure-hugging pants making her look delectable. The style made her seem soft, approachable, while also unaccountably badass when coupled with her knee-high boots, and he couldn't wait to continue what they had started on Friday.

Killian shook his head and idly thumbed at his mouth, hoping he hadn't been drooling. He let his prosthetic hand drop to the small of her back, guiding her into his flat. "Would you like the tour, or would you like to eat first?"

She turned and offered him a smile. "Tell me what that delicious smell is, and then I want a tour. I know your tour of my place was interrupted, but I'm curious."

He smirked at her as she peered over his shoulder back into the kitchen. "Then all in good time, love. Our dinner will be a Lancashire hotpot. My mother's recipe."

Emma softened. "That's great--what's in it?" Stepping back and turning to stand beside him, she kept her eyes on him.

"Traditionally, it's made with lamb and local vegetables, but I used beef, as lamb… well, it takes a fair hand to cook, and I’ve only got the one. I also didn't imagine slaving in the kitchen for hours would fall under the terms of 'casual' we agreed upon for tonight."

"Well, regardless, I can't wait to try it. Now show me your lair," she said, grinning at him.

He raised an eyebrow and set the wine down on the counter. "Lair? Do you see me as the sort that would have lair?"

She waved his question aside airily. "Lair, berth, dwelling...whatever."

"For starters, my 'lair' has this kitchen, and a cozy living room," Killian said, gesturing to the room in question.

Emma smiled, eyeing his well-worn and well-loved chair, the one he had brought across the ocean in spite of--no, because of--its odd appearance.

"At some point I'll tell you about my chair, that is if you tell me about yours," she said, turning away from the chair to face him.

"Deal."

"Shall we continue?" she asked, starting down the short hallway.

"Aye, we shall. As you can see, this is the hallway, and the bathroom. And through here is my bedroom."

She followed him into the room in question, running her eyes over the grey and navy striped coverlet, the sea chest in the corner, and the anchor and ship painting on the wall, the room’s feel neat and organized. Emma looked around almost wistfully. "It's very… nautical. And grown-up."

"What were you expecting? A single bed with posters from popular films?" His gentle tone belied the biting words a little.

"No, I just… well, my place stays fairly orderly too, but that's because I don't keep much there. And I totally drop my clothes on the floor."

Killian laughed. "Normally that might be the case here, but there's this lovely writer who promised to come over for dinner, so I may have put things in order."

She smirked at him. "Hmm, feeling hopeful, were you?"

"Always," he said seriously, meeting her eyes.

She didn't look away.

&&&

After they finished their meal, Killian poured them each another glass of the wine Emma had brought.

She smiled up at him and took a slow sip. "That was delicious. Your mom's recipe totally holds up."

"Doesn't it? I'm glad it worked out over here, even with the adjustments to American ovens and measuring systems," he said happily.

"Maybe sometime you'll show me how to make it?"

He paused, seeing the hopeful look on her face. His heart beat faster, the idea of working side-by-side with Emma in his small kitchen--in either of their kitchens, really--the very opposite of vexing. "Certainly, if that's something you wish to do."

"I...I really do," she said, reaching across the table and taking his prosthetic in her hand. He patted her hand with his and let her continue. "I...so, yeah, I really enjoy spending time with you. I also realized that I want to get to know my son, and it seems like a lot all at once."

"I would hope you wouldn't consider me a burden, love," he said, trying to keep his features schooled, not wanting to place any sort of expectations on her even as he felt a twinge of disappointment.

She looked surprised for a moment, then rushed to reassure him. "No--Killian, not at all. But I think there are things you should know before we make any decisions." Her brow was furrowed in concern.

“I’d be happy to listen to whatever you want to tell me.”

“I know you were upset that I hadn’t told you. I could tell the other night, and I--just, well--I don’t owe you my story just because you told me yours,” Emma said, her voice low and intense.

Ouch. He knew her words were harsh, but also fair. He considered his own before nodding, acknowledging his silent display of frustration from the other night. He lifted his hands at her in supplication. “You’re right. You don’t owe me anything, but know that I would like to get to know you, and your story. So when you are ready to share, know that I’m all ears.”

She smiled at him, accepting his unspoken apology. “I was sixteen. I’d been in the foster care system my entire life, and I’d just run away from my last home. The Dixons...well, Mr. Dixon was interested in me in ways he shouldn’t have been, and Mrs. Dixon didn’t believe me. So I ran.”

“Christ, Emma, that’s awful,” he said, reaching for her hand again.

She didn’t pull away, instead she threaded her fingers through his and took a deep breath before continuing. “I went to Portland. The one in Oregon, that is. It seemed as far away as I could get. And, well, I was a sixteen-year-old with no skills, so I stole. Usually just small stuff, but I won’t lie, I was stealing more and bigger things as time went on.”

Killian rubbed his thumb over her wrist and nodded at her, encouraging her to go on.

“So I saw a car. A yellow VW Bug...”

“The one you have now? You still have a car that you stole?!” His voice was incredulous but tinged with amusement, and his eyebrows skyrocketed up toward his hairline.

“I’ll get to that, Jones, but yes,” she said, the exasperation in her tone lightened by the smile she gave him. “Anyway, the car was old enough that I knew it wouldn’t have anything too fancy to deal with in terms of alarms or locking mechanisms. So I got in and got the car going.”

“Next time I need to hotwire a car, I know who to turn to,” he teased.

Emma smacked his hand in mock reproof. “Nope, you’d pick something new and shiny. It’d be awful, and we’d so get caught.”

“I’ll have you know that I was a very good thief as a twelve-year-old,” he said, smirking at her.

She shook her head in response before taking a deep breath and continuing. “Well, I got in the car, and then I got the shock of my life when some guy popped up from the backseat.”

“Ah,” he said, the pieces coming together for him, “Henry’s father?”

“Yeah. His name was Neal, and as it turned out he had just stolen the car.” A melancholy look crossed her face, but she pushed it away. “He was older and had that irresponsible, easygoing vibe that screamed bad boy. So, naturally, my sixteen-year-old self fell for him immediately.”

He nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“We decided to team up. There were a lot of cons that were easier with the two of us, and we made our way from Portland to Arizona. We were together by then, and I was crazy about him. He said he was crazy about me. We had even started talking about going straight together, doing the right thing somewhere with a nice view of the beach. We were thinking Florida,” she said, her lips turning downward with a wry twist at her youthful naivete. “We settled on Tallahassee, not realizing it doesn’t have access to the beach.”

“What went wrong, love?”

“Neal had some watches he’d lifted a while ago stored in a locker in Phoenix. We were going to grab them, sell them and use the money to start our new life. But when we got there we found a bunch of wanted posters with Neal’s face on them. So I volunteered to go get them.” She paused and he squeezed her hand. “We were going to meet up afterward and head out of town.”

Killian winced, imagining all the ways that could have backfired. He wondered which way it had.

Emma didn’t let him stew in his curiosity for long. “I picked them up without a problem and went to meet Neal. Only he didn’t show, a cop did. Said they’d gotten an ‘anonymous tip’ someone would be making a grab and running with them.”

“Bloody hell, an ‘anonymous tip’? He--” Killian cut himself off, heat blooming in his cheeks as fury bubbled in his chest at the man who had so betrayed Emma. He was so appalled that he pulled back, disentangling their hands.

“Yeah. I think even the judge felt bad for me. My sentence wasn’t as heavy as it could have been, and they made sure I got resources so that I wouldn’t turn back to theft when I got out,” she said, fiddling with her napkin and not meeting his eyes.

He reached for her again and squeezed her hand, overwhelmed at what she had gone through.

She looked up at him, smiling sadly, a bitter twist to her mouth. “Two months into my year-long sentence I found out I was pregnant. I had just barely turned seventeen, I was in jail, and I--well, I couldn’t even fathom being a mother. Even if it meant I had to do the one thing I’d sworn I’d never do to my own child, I knew he deserved better.”

“And so did you,” he whispered, his heart breaking for her.

“Does that make me selfish? It’s just that what was best for him was also best for me, or so I thought at the time.”

“Of course not. Or rather, if it is...it’s the most understandable thing I can think of in your situation.” He lifted her hand to brush a kiss across her knuckles, then furrowed his brow. “Did Henry say something?”

“He wondered about why I had given him up. I told him the truth, and that I don’t exactly regret it. But I also told him that I do want to know him.”

Killian smiled at her. “And hopefully he wants to know you. If not, he’s missing out.”

She blushed but returned his smile. “Thanks. We talked last night on the phone, and we had a good chat on the way to Portland. I think… I think it’s going to work out.”

He desperately wanted to pull her into his embrace. “Thank you, Emma, for telling me about your past.”

She looked at him, something shy and earnest in her gaze. “Thanks for listening. I don’t generally talk about this stuff with, well, anyone.”

“I’m honored to have your trust,” he said honestly, even as the guilt of his work with August knifing through him even as he smiled. It was an honor, even if it was one he didn’t deserve, but he would endeavor to be worthy of it.

She didn’t seem to notice anything was off, and Killian let out a silent breath of relief. She didn’t ever have to know about his past behavior, especially since it was no longer an issue. Killian leaned back in his chair, shifting his hand to lift hers, thumbing at the top of her knuckles as he did. “Well, love, would you like me to pour us another glass of wine? We could do that and watch something, if you’d like,” he said.

Emma slumped her shoulders in relief, clearly relieved to have the more serious portion of their conversation over with too. “That sounds great.”

They settled onto the couch, Emma sitting comfortably beside him, his arm draped over her shoulder, as they watched Parks and Recreation. He wasn’t entirely sold on the American comedy, but Emma assured him it would change his life. He was willing to give it a shot, especially with such a glowing recommendation, and if it meant it was something they’d have an excuse to continue to do together outside of the office.

Honestly, though, he stopped paying attention to the show about the same time Emma’s hand started caressing his thigh. He tightened his hold on her, the chamomile and sunshine scent of her hair bewitching his senses.

She turned to look up at him, and he wasted no time capturing her lips with his. His tongue traced along them, begging entry that she granted. Their embrace grew more passionate as she turned to face him, her legs straddling his. She pressed against him, her fingers cupping his jaw as his hands slipped under her sweater. He lightly traced nonsensical patterns up her back with his hand and his prosthetic, letting them slide against the softness of her skin and moaning against her mouth as he did.

Killian’s moan seemed to startle Emma, and she pulled back. He was gratified, though, to see she seemed to have trouble catching her breath. As she paused but didn’t pull back further, he pressed open-mouthed kisses down her throat to her collarbone.

She arched into him again and sighed before finally pulling away. “Hey, Killian--can we--can we stop for a moment?”

He closed his eyes but nodded, acquiescing. Lowering his hands and removing them from under her top, he looked up at her above him, her long hair flowing over her shoulders. She looked like a goddess of sunshine, he thought, his brain still somewhat fogged, not receiving all the blood flow it normally would.

“Sorry, I just… well, a lot is going on right now, and I want to see where this goes. But I also want to slow down a little,” she said apologetically, her cheeks red--with either embarrassment or arousal. Possibly both.

He smiled, and pressed a chaste kiss to her nose. “You have nothing to apologize for, Emma. We can take this as slowly--or as fast--as you’d like. Whenever you like.”

“I just… well, you’re my editor.” She gave a small shrug and looked away a moment before returning to look directly down at him. “I want this to work, I really do. But if it doesn’t, we still have to work together.”

“I understand. Truly, lass,” he said, beseeching any god who might listen to please help it work out. He reached out and touched her chin, kissing her again, trying to keep it from becoming too desperate a thing.

#cs ff #captain swan #cs au #csbb #cs mc ff #part of the narrative #amber writes #they bond! they snog!#he cooks!#also i really want lancashire hotpot now

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ramblesandmumblesofanerd · 7 years

Text

Rambling Reviews: Sherlock Hound

Warning: Lengthy Post Which Contains Minor Spoilers

When people are reminded of the name Hayao Miyazaki, one tends to remember his career in cinematic Japanese animations. This man has quite a lengthy resume of films, including Ponyo, Porco Roso, Nausica, The Cat Returns, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and my all time favorite of his films Spirited Away. But beneath the piles of films that have made their way to the US, there is one lesser known project Miyazaki worked on that I have come to enjoy immensely. From 1984, created from the combined efforts of Hayao Miyazaki and Kyouske Mikuriya, I present to you the Italian-Japanese animated series “Sherlock Hound”.

Now, from the title alone, this sounds like a silly idea. I mean, come on, it is literally Sherlock Holmes, the iconic detective of nineteenth century London made by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a dog. It sounds like it is going to be a silly cartoon with tons of elements to appeal to kids. And to be fair, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking so, but you would be only partially right. While it is true that this series does feature a cast of anthropomorphic characters, all of whom are some breed of dog, it is surprisingly not that distracting and doesn’t take center stage. They don’t have Sherlock sniffing the ground for clues like a dog normally would, but they do utilize his heightened sense of smell whenever the story requires it. They have legitimate mysteries in each episode, but they also have goofy bad guys with gadgets. The characters use actual guns with actual bullets, but no one gets hurt. So, what I’m saying is while this show does have a child friendly concept with colorful imagery, it finds a way to balance things out by having more mature elements like thought provoking mysteries and memorable characters.

Speaking of, let’s get acquainted with those characters, shall we? We first have the titular Sherlock Hound, voiced by Larry Moss (the Elder from “Happy Feet”). Unlike his human counterpart from BBC’s Sherlock, Hound is a bit more warm and caring in spite of his eccentricities. He enjoys the company of his friends and colleagues, such as the headstrong Doctor Watson (voiced by the late Lewis Arquette) and the sweet Mrs. Marie Hudson (voiced by Patricia Paris, aka Kanga from Winnie the Pooh), and can even tolerate children, playing along with most of their games. Also, you won’t find him in his a depressed demeanor, unlike his namesake, nor will you find him partaking in drugs unless you count the tobacco pipe constantly in his mouth. However, in spite of these changes, he remains the ever dedicated detective capable of solving any mystery that comes his way either by the request of the bumbling Detective Inspector Lestrade (voiced again by Lewis Arquette) or by sheer chance.

But every Sherlock cannot function for long without their personal Moriarty, the criminal who discovered personal freedom by rejecting societal norms. But how does Sherlock Hound handle the iconic villain? Well, I will say that if you are looking for a Victorian criminal mastermind, you will not find him here, sadly. What you will find, however, is an amusing if not cheesy display made by the late Hamilton Camp, a veteran voice actor/songwriter/composer. Clad in an all white get up consisting of a three piece suit, cape, top hat, cane and monocle, he is the epitome of campy bad guys, proclaiming his genius at the beginning of every episode only to be defeated in a variety of embarrassing ways. With the questionable help of his bumbling henchmen Smiley and Todd (voiced by Larry Moss and Lewis Arquette again), he plans to steal whatever riches he can get his gloved hands on through the power of gadgets and trickery. I do have to admit, this is an amusing interpretation of the character, in spite of him being a polar opposite of his original counterpart. He is always so sure of himself, and, to be fair, he is quite brilliant in his brand of villainy as he does get away with a lot of crimes right from under the nose of the inept Scotland Yard until Sherlock Hound inevitably corners him.

Which reminds me, there is one aspect of the show that might seem formulaic at first glance. Most of the episodes seem to follow a similar flow of events: Moriarty commits a crime, Scotland Yard is too incompetent to catch him, Sherlock follows the clues to the inevitable encounter between him and the villain, and a defeated Moriarty runs away with Scotland Yard at his tail. While this may seem a tad repetitive, the real content comes from the mystery and build-up to it’s conclusion. Each mystery is different, with some not even having Moriarty as the main villain (though these episodes are admittedly somewhat rare). My two favorite episodes which break the conventional mold are “Mrs. Hudson is Taken Hostage”, which features Moriarty obviously taking Sherlock’s housekeeper as leverage, and “The Bell of Big Ben”, a Moriarty focused episode featuring the Professor trying to prove to all of London that he has indeed stolen the bell straight from the iconic clock-tower. Sure some pieces of the formula are still present, but the occasional divergence certainly livens up the show from time to time.

But a cartoon is nothing without cohesive, proper animation, and Sherlock Hound is no exception. I must say that the animation done by Tokyo Movie Shinsha is pretty well done for the time Sherlock Hound was released. The characters are colorful, yet the palette is not so bright that the audience is blinded. The animation feels solid and less rubbery than most modern day cartoons. The backgrounds range from lush and warm to dark and terrifying whenever the story demands it. The only nitpicky complaint I would have to make would be the sometimes dodgy lip-syncing seen in the English Dub. Sometimes random noises will come out of character’s mouth when there was undoubtedly dialogue in the original Japanese Dub, but I’m willing to overlook this due to the time when this anime was dubbed.

Speaking of which, how is the dub? Well...it’s hit and miss to me personally. While I do enjoy the voice acting of the main characters, a lot of the background characters sound a tad awkward, and I believe I know the reason why. Sadly, it seems that the studio only had a few voice actors, and thus numerous background characters will have the same voice actor as Sherlock or Moriarty. While this is not too much of a problem for characters like Todd and Smiley (again voiced by Sherlock and Watson’s voice actors), other minor characters have voices that are too similar to the main cast to ignore. However, I feel that the sheer campiness of the dialogue, especially from Moriarty, makes up for this admittedly minuscule complaint. There is also the fact that the equipment used to record all of the voice acting at the time pales in comparison to modern day technology, but this doesn’t bother me too much personally either.

All in all, as a fan of Sherlock Holmes and anime, I cannot recommend this show enough. While some features may feel a tad dated in comparison to modern day cartoons, the antiquity actually helps in making this show feel like a genuinely unique viewing experience. The basic premise of Sherlock Holmes as a dog goes from being a silly idea to a well executed concept within the first episode. The characters are fun to watch, the villain is riot, the mysteries (while not complex) are amusing, the animation is spot on for the time period, and the voice acting is, for the most part, passably enjoyable. If you want to watch Sherlock Hound, you can watch it for free at the TMS Entertainment YouTube channel (though, for some reason, the episodes are out of order, as you can see on the official Wikipedia page).

But in the meantime, never stop rambling, TM

Thanks to @sherlysthougths, a massive fan of Sherlock Holmes, for introducing me to this show.

Reblogs are always appreciated. YouTube version: Yet to be made.

#Sherlock Holmes #sherlock hound #review #anime #hayo miyazaki

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