I am SO sick of summer supremacists. We need to twist the narrative around and stop treating people who prefer the colder months like weirdos... If anything, summer enjoyers are the real weirdos here lol. Like ok time to enjoy Sweat... Bugs... Debilitating humidity... Not being able to survive without AC... Devastating wildfires... Having to dress like a boring minimalistic bitch because it's too hot to year layers... Heatwaves... Not cooking any nice hot meals for months on end... Being unable to escape the heat if you live somewhere with poor isolation... i could go on but idk ig its all worth it for a few barbecues. Beach for those priviledged enough to go. And like, having drinks in the late evening because you have to wait until the sun is less deadly to stay outside safely?? All in all a mystery to me. If you need me i'll be staying warm with some nice blankets wrapped around me for extra cosiness. Drinking hot beverages. Enjoying coming home after the rain... Thinking about how the forests are safe for a little while and all. And most importantly: NOT sweating my ass off

@fallenlondonficswap @thedeafprophet a little gift for Prophet as part of the group gift exchange! Alex's Insomnia. Alex/Fires, general rating, 758 words, insomnia and fluff

As Alex stepped into his apartment, the reflective silver of his mirror rippled, then settled once more into solid glass. His tail was left behind in reflection, his ears returned to human shape, and the almost-warmth of the Cosmogone Sun faded behind him. The persistent sense of bone-deep exhaustion, forcibly held back by a stubborn awakeness, did not. It had, in fact, been tormenting him for days. Nights. An unpleasant period of time.The irony of one who guided and guarded dreamers being unable to sleep was not lost on him.

Maybe it would be easier if it weren't so bloody cold, he thought. Alex sighed, and removed his spectacles, moving through the door and into his bedroom.It was so much harder to fall asleep when it was cold, and winter in the Neath had a special way of leeching the heat from one's bones. Lacre had only begun to appear just last week, and the temperature plummeted with it.

When he entered, it seemed as though his bedroom was somehow multiple degrees colder than the rest of his apartment. Maybe it was the outside walls? Maybe it was the thin pane windows? Or maybe it was the lack of… ugh, no. He was not going to think of that. Instead, he'd light the Firesplace.

Between nightmares, wounds, and the cold, sleep had become a rare luxury. The closest thing he could usually get nowadays was a trip into Parabola to help others get a restful night. In the Is though, he would normally attempt to exhaust himself by planning out further heists, but all of those plans had been finished a night ago. Besides, he had neither mind nor energy to spend on that tonight. So to a different, warmer solution it was.

Alex set his glasses on his nightstand. Searched around for his matches. Searched around for tinder. Found an unanswered invitation to a long-past party (a whole 1899 ago) and figured it would do. He rubbed at an eye idly. His head felt like it was full of wool.

He didn't remember lighting the fire, nor laying down on his rug, but when his attention snapped back to the present, there he was. Sideways, curled up under his cloak, and staring at the fire for long it had burned afterimages onto his retinas.

But what had gotten his attention?

"Alexander, what are you doing?"

Huh, he really was tired if he had managed to miss the enormous Master of coal shoving itself into his room. That was actually rather concerning. Maybe he should set up-

"I repeat, what are you doing?" It leaned down to tower over him, gaze alone radiating more heat than his pitiful fireplace would.

Alex was conscious enough to suppress a whimper, but not conscious enough to not have needed to in the first place. Surely his exhaustion showed? "I'm trying-" He paused to shift upwards on an arm, "to get to sleep. It was nearly working before you broke into my home."

Impressively, he managed to miss exactly what happened next. He could have sworn Fires had scooped him up in a tangled cocoon of cloaks, compared him to a cat, and carried him over to his bed, but he wasn't certain. Regardless, Fire's greatest annoyance found himself laying on top of it. Furthermore, it had apparently unbuttoned its cloak, revealing a bright orange ruff, and the softest chest fur he had ever felt. Alex was immediately enamored, and stuffed his hands as far deep into that fur as was physically possible.

Oh, and it was incredibly warm, and the fur kept him so pleasantly insulated. It reminded him of a freshly baked pastry. Heat soaked into his every muscle and joint, soothing and relaxing him. Fires laughed a quiet chuckle when Alex began to knead its ruff. He was too close to be self conscious. It was incredibly hard to resist when he was melting into sleep.

"Get some rest, little Lyon."

And finally, surrounded by softness and heat, the Silverer managed his first night of sleep that week.

Fires would not stay until morning. It would leave an hour before the workday would begin, and several hours before Alex would awaken, finding himself wrapped in blankets. But it would stay until well past him entering deep sleep, original intentions for its visit long discarded.

They could argue another day.

i know one piece geography is a lot of silly made up nonsense where basically anything goes, but i've just been thinking about the way you characterize the south blue and the north blue by temperature in we set our wishes, and it's just had me thinking about what that implies about the geography of them. like, the north blue would probably have pretty large landmasses so that the overall climate could be colder. i think that makes a lot of sense though, since it's a place that we see as being full of war and conquest, because historically imperial conquest is much easier to do by land than by sea (yeah, yeah, germa's naval whatever, but listen), and wars over territory are harder to justify when you're all just living on your own little islands. that also means that they're probably one of the only seas outside of the grand line's insane geography that have landmasses big enough for deserts of kind (polar or arid), which i think works really well with how isolated the north blue seems to be from people, or how she could be forgotten about for other religions because there's just so much less of her for people to be around. on the other hand, the south blue would have much smaller landmasses and islands, and just way more ocean. that would mean that overall temperatures would be a lot milder, because the temperature of the ocean doesn't change as easily, but they'd have way more intense storms in the tropical regions. since in your au, the south blue is much more active than the other seas, i like to think there's a lot of tectonic plate activity, so lots of volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, which would also make sense geographically if it tended to be mostly smaller islands. anyway, all of this is basically me just saying your world building lives in my head rent free, like i'm just always thinking about it, and these are just some of those thoughts. keep up the good work, you write some of the coolest au/worldbuilding fics in the fandom!!!

Oh, I love thinking about the worldbuilding of geography!

There are definitely volcanoes in the South Blue--I think I mention underwater ones in the first fic in the series, even--and while it's got the South Pole, which would also be cold (a la the famous Buggy and Shanks argument about which was colder, North Pole or South Pole) it's definitely a warmer sea overall.

Perhaps, as in the real world, there are currents that carry warmer water, like the Gulf Stream, that help maintain an overall warmer temperature. In which case, if the Red Line is an artificial creation, it's fun to think of what that could have done to the four Blues. Is the North colder now because of its isolation? Did the South get warmer? It's fun to think about.

How to Choose The Best Flooring for Living Room

The room in my house where I spend the most time is the living room and I expect this to be the same for most households. It’s called a living room for a reason as we do most of our living in it! These rooms are where we relax after work, sit in the morning with a coffee, and spend precious family time together. Because of the importance of the living room, you want to make sure that every aspect of yours is perfect, including the flooring. Below, I take a look at how to choose the best flooring for living room areas including common factors like comfort and style, and give you some popular options to think about. Comfort and Texture Most evenings I relax in my living room so I want the flooring to be comfortable and warm and I bet that most families feel the same way. If you do value comfort above everything else, carpets and rugs are the best options. These have the best soundproofing, offer the best cushioning for walking on, and make your living room warmer. Rigid core LVT options and laminate flooring are also comfortable but slightly colder, and hardwood flooring and tiles can often make living rooms cold and are much harder to walk on. Style and Aesthetics While comfort is important, you can’t overlook the style and aesthetics of your living room flooring. As it’s a room you use so often and a room where you will entertain guests, you want your living room to look fantastic! Consider the decor and colours you have in your living room including the furniture and walls. How would different flooring styles match with this decor? Would a particular color fit well? If so, which flooring types is it available in? Remember that some flooring types like hardwood floors and engineered wood floors have a limited selection of colours and patterns compared to LVT flooring and carpet which are much more versatile. Withstanding Daily Wear and Tear I can’t count the number of times I walk through my living room daily! Aside from my stairs, it’s easily the floor that sees the most traffic and I am sure most people are the same. This means that you have to choose a flooring type that is durable and can withstand daily wear and tear. The wear and tear is only compounded if you have children and pets. LVT, laminate, and hardwood floors all have excellent durability and can withstand high traffic easily. Carpet is relatively robust too, but with constant wear, the pile can become thinner and it can lose its padding over time. Ease of Cleaning and Maintenance Many people eat their meals in the living room and have drinks while watching TV. Combine this with the increase foot traffic and living room flooring can easily become dirty and need repairs. Out of the floor types, carpet is not the best flooring for living room areas as it is the most difficult to clean stains and dirt from. In contrast, if you have a particularly messy household, you could benefit from flooring like LVT, laminate, or engineered hardwood that is much easier to clean. Popular Living Room Flooring Options Some flooring options are better than others for living rooms and I have listed my top picks below. Vinyl Flooring LVT flooring offers more comfort and warmth and better soundproofing compared to hardwood floors and tiles, but it is still colder than carpet. You can get vinyl floors in a range of styles that emulate traditional floors like wood, stone, and concrete. Carpet Carpet is the favoured option for many in the living room as it’s the most comfortable and warm choice with the best soundproofing. Available in a myriad of colours and patterns, the only drawback is the maintenance and cleaning. Hardwood Flooring Hardwood floors made from woods like oak and maple look amazing and they are a great choice if you want to make a statement with your flooring. However, they can be cold and are one of the most expensive options. Area Rugs You can complement a hard floor like LVT, laminate, tiles, or hardwood with an area rug. This negates some of the coldness and adds an extra layer of padding and comfort. Tile Flooring Tiles are uncommon in living rooms and they are typically more favored in kitchens, but they can make your living room flooring stand out and could be a great choice if you have messy children and pets! Find the Right Flooring for Your Living Room Today Because of the importance of the living room in most households, I urge you to think about the flooring options carefully. Oftentimes this is the room where we spend the most time so you want it to look great, fit with your decor, but also be comfortable and make the room pleasant to relax in. Hopefully, the considerations I have listed above should help you find the best flooring for living room areas in your home! Read the full article

HI. TEXANS. PEOPLE WITHOUT POWER. HERES A BUNCH OF THINGS THAT MIGHT HELP

Via a bunch of people ( @marelicina @paperback-rainbows @chaosofbattle and myself who know some stuff about cold temps)

Have a bunch of water stocked up in big bottles (ONLY USE WHEN POWER IS OUT)

Layers, layers, layers!! It’s been said before but they MATTER. Warm hats, socks and gloves! Multiple layers of everything makes it awkward to walk but It Doesn’t Matter because it’ll keep you warm

Wear scarves, hats, winter coats, and even shoes indoors

Old clothes that are too big are good for later layers

You should sleep in the layers you wear during the day, but you can take off a few layers, as you might get too hot

Minimize the amount of time you’re naked/wearing less clothes

Silky stuff doesn’t hold heat well, it gets cold easy

Being cold with protection and cold without protection is VERY different

If you don’t have neck warmers/bandanas, masks keep your face warm

You lose the most heat from your head, feet, and chest

Minimize surface area by curling into a ball or laying facedown

Sleeping does help preserve warmth, but too much can cause more harm than help

Face, fingers, toes, hands, feet, ears tend to get coldest fastest. Arms and legs take a bit more work to get cold (when covered)

Keep your chest, head, feet, and hands warm (cold hands lose functionality fast)

Please please please keep your hands warm. You do everything with them.

If your fingers/toes go from being freezing to not having any feeling that is FROSTBITE SETTING IN. Warm them up FAST.

Again; fingers, nose and toes get cold fast

Layer your chest as much as possible

Wet hair/skin is BAD. Avoid as much as possible. It makes you 100x colder

Shower less because if you lose power it’ll be BAD

If you get wet: take off the wet clothes IMMEDIATELY. Dry off and put something else on ASAP

Snowy clothes are wet clothes, even if it doesn’t feel like it

If the power is out long-term. Do not shower/bathe. Wipe yourself down really fast with a damp cloth and leave it at that.

Sanitary wipes are much better than showers/baths

Wood flooring is better than tile and stone but not by much

Carpets/having blankets on the ground are/is better than bare flooring

Sitting/laying on the floor is Not Helpful. The floor gets colder faster

Bringing mattresses and cushions into one small room to sit on helps

Heat goes to the top of the room, so having your feet/hands up/off the floor is better

Again: get everyone in the same room. Pets, plants, EVERYONE. The smaller the room, the better. Large rooms are harder to keep heated.

Enclosed/small spaces are warmer

Close your windows. Close the shades and curtains. Heat escapes through windows

Get all the blankets possible in the room you’re all staying in

Clothes too. It’ll make a mess but all else fails, you can use them in a way similar to blankets, or as more layers

HUDDLE TOGETHER FOR WARMTH. You don’t have to be touching (if you’re touch averse) but the closer you are to people, the more heat you share

Keep younger children, the elderly, and pets near the middle of the huddle. They get cold faster

Conserve your energy as much as possible. Cold saps your energy FAST

BUT do move around every once in a while to keep circulation going. The cold will fuck it up.

If you go numb that is BAD. VERY VERY BAD. Move around if you start to go numb. Take care of your circulation

Candles give off a bit of both heat and light, but use them carefully

Battery and solar powered things will help a LOT. Keep them charged

If you get power back for even a short bit, charge portable chargers to use later

Your phone will die so much faster if it gets cold

If you can, turn off bluetooth on your phone, and close all unneeded apps. If you’re not going to be online, turn off your wifi and put it on airplane mode. It’ll conserve battery

If you get power back, make hot drinks and keep them in thermoses

Drinks made in hot dairy will probably give you more energy and warmth rather than just hot water

Holding said thermos will also help keep your hands a bit warmer

The food coolers you’d fill with ice and take to the beach can keep food hot, so you can put food in there to keep it warmer longer.

Peanut butter and bread provides some nutrients and energy and doesn’t require energy to make

Hard to prepare food is Bad. Any food should be easy to make

Having pre-prepared food that you don’t need to heat up is important

Eat the unhealthy boxed meals with a shit ton of calories. Whatever diet you’re on doesn’t matter, you need food. (Allergies don’t count obvs)

If you can make bread, do it. Download a recipe and make sure you have it. It usually requires power, but bread is a good base thing to eat.

If doesn’t have to be loaf bread either!! There are flatbreads that are easier and faster to make

If things have an expiration date, try and eat those first, but make sure you have enough food to last for a while

Canned stuff is good too, especially if you don’t have to heat it up

Please don’t start fires to cook things if you’re indoors. If you have a to-code fire pit in your living room, you might be able to use that, but please, please be safe

Eating snow is a HORRIBLE idea. It’s dirty as shit and it’ll make you so much colder.

You can boil it in an emergency, but it’s not reccomended at all

DRIVING ON ICE/SNOW USES A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SKILLSET.

Don’t drive in snow, especially blowing snow. Don’t.

If you absolutely have to drive, at least double the distance between you and cars in front of you.

Be super careful. Don’t get distracted by falling snow. If you can’t see through the snow, PULL OVER. Keep near the shoulder of the road so you can get traction if needed.

Start slowing down before you get near stop signs/traffic lights. Ice tends to build up around them.

Ice can and will fuck your shit up. Google tips on how to survive ice, ESPECIALLY black ice.

Make sure your car doesn’t freeze over. It can really fuck with the internal mechanisms. They do not react well with cold temperatures.

Keep a blanket and flashlight in the back seat of your car, even if you don’t think you’ll need it. You might, and it’s better safe than sorry.

If you are going to drive, do not dress for the car. I do not care how hot you will get in the car, dress for the outside temperatures, because if your car breaks down, you are FUCKED.

If it looks like your power might go out, tell someone, but make sure they don’t come to check on you. Nobody should be leaving their houses.

Direct wind is BAD. Windchill makes everything worse, and can cut through all of your layers.

Morale is important. I know this sucks, and it’s hard to stay positive, but the more down everyone in the house is, the harder it gets to keep staying safe and to have the energy to stay safe

METAL IS BAD. VERY BAD. It gets cold very fast, and your skin can (and will) stick to it.

WET METAL IS EVEN WORSE. That is a guarantee that you’ll get stuck to it.

If you do get stuck to metal, WARM water poured over the area of contact should help you get free.

Putting salt in front of your house will help keep snow/ice off.

If you’re going down/up an icy/steep place, going sideways is good. Always keep one foot on a steady spot.

In general, when moving on ice, move slowly, keep your body low, shuffle or take small steps, and if you have to crawl, fucking crawl.

If you are crawling, DO NOT put your bare hands in the snow. Don’t put bare ANYTHING in the snow.

There is no time for pride to get in the way. If it helps you stay alive and safe, it helps you stay alive and safe.

Snow in shoes is BAD. Always look for the path with the least snow.

Wrapping cloth around your shoes can help you walk on ice/slick surfaces. If you don’t have any winter shoes, this will help.

If you do the above, don’t use things you want to wear. It’ll take forever for it to dry.

That’s all for now, Texan friends please stay safe and take care, we’re all here for you <3

IF I SEE ANYONE IN THE NOTES BEING A CLOWN TOWARDS TEXANS ITS AN INSTANT BLOCK. CARE ABOUT OTHERS. DONT BE A DICK.

Editing to add: check through the notes! A bunch of other people have added some other really helpful advice!!

If You Don’t I Will

Word count: 3.3k

JJ Maybank x Reader : showing jj subtle ways of how you care for him and John B is tired of him not seeing it

A/N: I wrote another JJ thing bc im a simp and I love him and this was also another idea thats been floating around. Fluff is you squint but you dont need to squint hard, next will def be angst bc I live for it Xx

 masterlist

*not my gif full credit to owner*

“Hey” you let out as you carry 2 bags of groceries into the cheateu seeing the boys lounging on the couch gathered around John B’s phone you hear a chorus of “hey’s” as you move towards the kitchen. John B looks up and hands his phone to JJ making his way out the front door sending you a wink. Rolling your eyes you follow John B outside to your car. 

“You didn’t have to,” John B says smiling at you grabbing a grocery bag from your trunk shooting you a look 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about” you smile innocently to him and make your way over to grab the last grocery bag. You reach past John B until you feel his arm wrap over your shoulder, putting his grocery bag down he wraps his other arm around your shoulder engulfing you in a full hug laying his cheek at the top of your head. You wrap your arms around his torso and give him a squeeze 

“Thank you really” he lets out into your hair. You just give him a hug, you haven’t known them for long but John B automatically became like your brother and JJ was definitely your confidant. When you heard about Big John and Uncle T leaving John B by himself, your heart broke. John B had to support himself and apparently JJ was a constant resident in the chateau and it got harder to support themselves even if they both pitched in. When you found out always being smart with your money you set some aside to help supply the chateau so the boys wouldn’t starve.

JJ broke down one night during a late night smoke sesh you two had to get away from everything. He ended up telling you about his dad and mom in its entirety. After that you guys were kind of inseparable.You told him about why you had to move to OBX and he told you where his bruises and split knuckles came from. You never would’ve guessed one of the most caring people you knew would have to go through that. After that you subtly did more little things that hopefully made it easier on him. 

When you joined the Pogues you fell for his blue eyes and wild personality instantly his careless but protective nature made you fall hard but there was the rule. No Pogue on Pogue macking. Still fairly new to obx barely being here for a year you didn’t know how real the rule was. Being extra nice to JJ consisted of bringing extra of his favorite beer or asking him to buy you joints even though you didn’t smoke often, you would let him keep them, noticing his favorite snacks and bringing them on boat trips. Kie gladly gave up the title of caretaker and let you take over the snacks and picnics for day trips. After JJ told you his secret he made it clear that he didn’t take pity or handouts, you didn’t pity JJ you loved him and just wanted to make sure he knew it. 

So you helped JJ whenever you could making it seem like you were doing it by pure coincidence, knowing that he lived with John B you helped out the house, in general, to make it less obvious. Claiming you all spent so much time there any way it wasn’t fair to not help stock the necessities. 

Breaking away from your thoughts “I’m here for you guys always” you squeeze John B once more after you feel him loosening his grip “Let’s go I got ice cream” as John B fist bumps you snort “Oh I also got a better first aid kit” handing John B the second bag you move to the passenger side of the car. Hearing John B go back into the house you grab the first aid kit and hear footsteps as you open the back seat door to grab blankets. 

“What are the blankets for,” JJ asks questionably moving over to you to help grab some and you see him eye the first aid kit before you tuck it into a blanket

“For movie night. You can’t have a horror movie night without tons of blankets JJ it’s like against the rules” You quickly come up with the excuse. In all honesty it was starting to get colder and knowing the Chateau has minimal heating capacity you were going to accidentally leave them in the house and let the boys use them. The last time you were here late you asked JJ to borrow a sweater or a blanket and he gave you the one he was wearing and soon realized it was probably the only one you’ve seen him wear ever. Noticing Kie always brought her own blanket you assumed they were more supplied for the warmer days. John B was a big boy he would ask for help when he needed it JJ, on the other hand, was stubborn as hell and would rather freeze then ask for anything to help. 

“Okay” JJ says questionably not believing you entirely but not questioning it further “Are you staying tonight?” He asks you can see a glimmer of hope in his ocean eyes as he leans against the car door

“Yeah I think so” you smile and nod at him closing the car up “Are you?”

“No I’m just asking you so you can share my bed with Kie” he deadpans and your cheeks flush 

“Sorry” you squint up at him and you see him smile his “sharky smile” “Are Pope and Kie staying too?” 

“I think so” he nods at you biting his lip and you know he wants to add something but doesn’t

“Can I share a bed with you?” You ask assuming that’s what he wanted to ask “if I have to share a room with both Pope and Kie I might jump off the end of the dock, plus I got those joints still and extra snacks” you chuckle out trying to bribe him like you even have to. You see relief and a cute smile grace his features and you know that’s what he was trying to ask without even asking 

“Yeah you can crash with me, I like you the most anyways” he winks at you and nods towards the house “Have you eaten yet?” He asks you softly as you walk up the driveway “Pope and John B went to help Heyward earlier while I went to work and apparently they ate already” JJ trails off and you frown knowing there hasn’t been food at the chateau in a couple of days and John B has been incognito

“I can make us food,” you say and he perks up “I haven’t eaten yet” you continue which is a lie but he doesn’t need to know that “I bought stuff to make that shrimp thing you were talking about the other day” and you see his face light up as you walk into the house you smile at him and you can see pink dust his cheeks at the fact you remembered that small detail. He puts the blankets down taking the ones in your hands as well and wraps you in a hug carrying you to the kitchen leaving you in a fit of laughter. You see Pope peek his head out over the freezer with raised eyebrows 

“What are you doing,” he asks confused as to why you’re wrapped in JJs arms 

“Get out Pope y/n is making our food” he throws a look at Pope as he sets you down making Pope return a hurt one 

“You guys suck” he huffs out going back into the living room 

JJ sits on the counter as you start to pull out ingredients to make his food, John B put the groceries away thankfully and you hum to a random tune 

“Thank you” JJ lets out in almost a whisper and you look up at him and see he’s playing with the rings on his fingers a nervous habit he has while looking at his lap not making eye contact 

“For what” you feign innocence even though his small thank you made your heart flutter knowing your efforts and little signs of affection didn’t go unnoticed by the blonde boy. Moving to the stove to heat it up JJ finally looks at you and he shrugs his shoulders softly before twiddling his thumbs in his lap

“For taking the time to care about me” he shrugs again like he’s not worth the effort, you go to say something and he cuts you off looking at you with his ocean eyes making you forget how to breathe for a second, sincerity is swimming through them and you can’t help the butterflies in your stomach “I know you had dinner with Kie already. She told me you guys were gonna eat at The Wreck during her break if I wanted to pass by before you went to run errands which I’m assuming was getting food for here” your face flushes at being caught lying about dinner “I also saw the first aid kit you bought, and Its a nice one. I almost stole one just like it from the pharmacy a while back and I know John B doesn’t need one that good” he goes back to looking at his thumbs “And I know the blankets aren’t just for the movie night” He shoots you a knowing look causing you to blush and smile at him, taking a moment in the comforting silence you assume the boys are outside messing around 

Humming you smile giddily not confirming or denying “Okay I’m gonna make you food now go away” you joke shooing him out of the kitchen 

He gasps in shock “You wound me” he clutches his chest with both his hands and falls back against the cabinets “Treating me how I treat Pope now that’s cold” He gets off of the counter still clutching his chest moving closer towards you 

“Leave” you squeal at him as he traps you in between his arms and the sink, he leans in and you think he’s going to finally kiss you, heart beating so fast you think he could hear it if he got any closer. His eyes flicker to your lips and back to your eyes as he licks his lips your breath hitches in your throat, he leans down to place a kiss on your cheek leaving the kitchen and going outside. Watching him retreat you finally let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in. “Jesus Christ” you huff and go back to making his food with a big smile on your face 

____

“Holy shit” JJ practically moans at the smell coming in from the kitchen “I can’t even think of the last home cooked meal I’ve had what about you John B” You hear JJ ask as him as they walk back into the Chateau,

“Uh I think-” John B starts but is cut off by JJ 

“That was rhetorical bro shut up” you hear them walk into the living room and see them come into the kitchen “we know you have a secret kook family chill” JJ lets out referring to the fact that John B disappears some nights and during the day and no one knows why. Causing a laugh to come from you and a scoff from John B

“That smells delicious y/n” John B lets out which earns a mean look from JJ 

“You can’t have any” JJ says defensively “she made it for me and her you guys are all traitors eating without us” JJ winks at you “what happened to Pogues together for life” JJ adds pointing a finger at John B as you try to stifle a laugh grabbing plates 

John B looks at JJ with the most unamused look you’ve ever seen which causes a burst of laughter from you. Catching John B’s attention he gives you a look as if asking if JJ is serious, you shrug your shoulders as John B scoffs “I welcome you into my home JJ and this is how you repay me” He tsks opening a beer for you and placing it on the counter by your plates, he gives you a side hug and places a kiss on your forehead before retreating outside to help Pope and Kie with a projector she found in her garage. As he walks through the living room you hear “Eat your food dumbass, and if you don’t marry her I will” John B shouts out and you immediately turn to look at John B who has his beer raised in the air “Salud” and he walks out of the Cheateu. 

Turning to JJ his face is beat red and you let out a small laugh as JJ groans mumbling something about murdering John B “Here eat tough guy I’m gonna grab blankets for outside” you say as you place a plate in front of JJ. You’re about to walk into John B’s room when you feel JJ grab your hand 

“Stay please” he lets out a smile while tugging on your wrist gently patting the spot next to him, you can tell he wants to say something again but you can’t tell what its gonna be because he’s looking down at his plate of food. Your foot starts tapping the floor a nervous tick you have when you can’t tell how something is gonna play out. His head snaps to your knee placing his hand there gently to stop it and he looks up at you “Don’t do that, not around me” he lets out looking at you 

“wha-”

“You do that when your nervous or unsure of a situation” he squeezes your knee in a comforting motion giving you a small smile at your confused expression, “You think you’re the only one who notices things around here” he shoots you a look and his eyes go wide trying to cover up his confession with a chuckle 

“Do you JJ Maybank have feelings for little old me” you shoot him an amused look with a gasp. He opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out and he looks at you sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck while pink tints his cheeks 

“Hey, Lovebirds we got the movie set up come on” you hear John B yell from outside. You move to get up and JJ stops you looking up at you with a look of concentration before he exhales

“I like you y/n a lot actually and it’s scaring me. I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m not used to this or feeling wanted, hell even wanting to be around one person constantly is new for me. You are this incredible person who came out of fucking nowhere and the first thing you did was make sure everyone is taken care of. I didn’t even notice what you would do for me at first because I was so angry at everything. John B pointed it out to me when we found more of my favorite snacks in the cupboard than his” he let out a chuckle and you did too “He told me to stop being stupid and I realized then all the small things you would do for me like when I wouldn’t eat with you guys you brought food, or extra snacks on boat trips when you knew I was going home after, you and Kie would go shopping and you literally got me a hoodie because you told me it reminded you of me. No one has cared about me in the way you have and I’m so sorry for not realizing it sooner” you squeeze his hand gently reassuring him noticing his voice waiver “you’re so strong and stubborn but god if it didn’t make me fall for you harder, and I wasn’t gonna say anything because there is no way in hell that I’m good enough for you, I mean seriously I don’t know what you see-” cutting him off you place a kiss to his lips to shut him up, he places his hand on the side of your neck holding your jaw melting into the kiss. This is what heaven feels like you think. This blonde haired blue eyed prince. JJ breaks apart and rests his forehead against yours smiling like an idiot 

“I like you a lot actually too, if you couldn’t tell” you whisper out causing him to let out a laugh placing a chaste kiss to your lips, pulling you into his lap, your back to his chest as he nuzzles into the crook of your neck before you move to face him “Oh” you let out and he looks confused, you shoot him a look and he smirks. Hitting his chest playfully “get your head out of the gutter” 

“I know exactly where I would like my head to be” he smirks placing a kiss to your pulse. Rolling your eyes at him you start off “If I hear you talk bad about yourself I will fight you Maybank do you hear me” you look at him knowingly and he raised his eyebrows as if telling you to proceed “That is a fight you will lose every time. I can promise you,” you look at him softly “you deserve the world and all the love that comes with it, you care so much about your friends you’re willing to do anything to protect them literally anything” emphasizing the literally he lets out a chuckle “You are so kind, generous always giving even when you don’t have much yourself that’s what I love about you. There is more good than what you define yourself as and if you have doubts I will be more than glad to fight them with you” you let out rubbing your thumb on his cheek which he nuzzles into until he crashes his lips into yours again. 

“I thought you were eating, you haven’t even started are you kidding? YOU GUYS ARE MACKING we’ve been waiting for like 10 minutes” John B lets out from the doorway of the house raising his arms in a what the fuck motion, causing you both to laugh “J I’m proud of you for finally telling her, but Jesus come on guys the foods all cold, we don’t even have snacks because you’re distracting y/n, we’re dying out here” he fake whines 

“Sorry John B” you let out a smile knowing you usually prepare the snacks for movie nights but got distracted

“My girlfriend is not your Slave John B get your own snacks” JJ jokes holding onto you tighter

“Says the guy she made dinner for but hasn’t even touched it yet!” John B says dramatically “honestly the disrespect happening in this house, everything is all out of wack,” John B says going to the fridge and grabbing a case of beer and candy making his way back outside before he turns around heading back to you and JJ “Actually,” he says out loud before taking JJ’s plate with food taking a bite and moaning at the taste John B continues “I’m serious y/n if he doesn’t marry you I will” he gets out with a mouth full of food, moving slightly to avoid JJ arms that are trying to swat him for taking his food. John B walks out of the house leaving you two alone again 

“I’ll get you another plate, grab the blankets?” you ask chuckling as you move to get JJ another plate of food but he stops you. 

Taking his pinky ring off his finger he places it on your fingers trying to find the best fit, finally, it fits on your middle finger, a little loose but not by much, he chuckles “maybe I’ll get you a chain for it” he states chuckling he kisses your knuckles when he’s done “Not an engagement ring but a temporary promise ring until we get you a real one so John B can stop trying to steal you from me.”

“I think its perfect” He smiles bright placing a kiss on your lips and you know that this is exactly where you’re supposed to be

________

A/N: so I wrote another jj thing bc who is not a whore for jj especially soft jj. Roughly edited but not really, this has been floating in my head for a while so feedback and commentary is again always welcome my inbox is always open I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did Xx 

Demon Comfort (1/3)

DECEMBER DRABBLES DAY 10 Sanders Sides: Logan, Virgil  Blurb: Lurking under a Human’s bed should be downright dull for a Demon of Logan’s rank. And yet...he can’t help but be intrigued by his human charge. Fic Type: Demon!AU, Demon!Logan  Overall Fic Warnings: Near Death Experiences, Freezing, Burning, Hazing Talk, Manipulation  Taglist in reblog. 

It wasn’t the most glorious of jobs. Logan wouldn’t be the first demon to admit it. Lurking under a human’s bed was mundane at best and outright mind numbing at worst. 

They were so distracted with their technology these days, so overloaded with sensory input from a variety of sources that most humans would barely twitch if their demon companion made themselves known. 

No. Beyond using this as an exercise in learning how to terrorize the youngest of human offspring, ones whose minds were much more easy to scare because of their simplistic fears, the only other time a demon was ever assigned to this task was...well as punishment.  

And unfortunately for Logan, who had had a good three millennia of experience under his wings...this was definitely a punishment. To be forced back into lurking under a human’s bed like an overgrown dust bunny.

He knew this sentence was meant to break him. To drive him crazy from how extremely dull it would get as soon as the child grew old enough to stop fearing the monster under their bed.

Except it wasn’t. Logan allowed a small smile to play upon his lips, tail swishing back and forth. Because apparently his superiors could make mistakes. After all, he’d been told he would be condemned to lurking underneath a child’s bed.

Instead, he’d found himself underneath a near-adult’s. One who would soon be leaving his childhood home to pursue an education elsewhere and learn to navigate the world of being an adult on his own. 

It had turned out to be a far more interesting punishment than Logan had expected. The near-adults were known to his kind to often be in a stage of tumultuous growth, easy to influence when their heads were filled to the brim with a variety of doubts and fears that hovered like a dark storm cloud above them. A tangle of ever shifting and writhing threads that Logan had learned to love, in the past half year on earth he’d been here, to tease apart and influence so he could better understand what spurred this near-adult through life.

Virgil, the charge he’d been assigned to, truly was a diamond in the rough compared to the other near-adults he’d glimpsed while stuck here. The storm cloud over his head so tangled, that Logan could easily play with the threads for hours, teasing through them, seeing how each dark thought influenced the human as he tossed and turned on the thin mattress over his head each night.

Only Virgil wasn’t currently tossing and turning over his head. 

Logan silently exhaled, his breath misting in front of him as his leathery wings twitched in irritation. He ran his fingers over his horns, trying and failing to focus on the Alice in Wonderland book that his charge had left on the floor this morning as he listened to the human shiver on the couch in the living room on the other side of the wall. 

He hadn’t often had the opportunity to study humans when their planet frosted over since his particular type of demon preferred the warmer climates of Earth that were similar to his native inner ring of Hell. Had had very little interest in ever doing so.

But Logan’s current human had chosen to move away from the heat and the shining sun when he ‘left the nest’ as his fellow demons termed it. 

Further north than Logan would have preferred. But despite hours upon hours of tugging and twisting at the quivering thoughts in Virgil’s mind... this had been one decision he hadn’t managed to turn to his favor. 

No, Virgil had wanted a new start far away from his previous life, far far away from everyone he knew, and he’d decided that heading to a colder climate was the best course of action.

Now Logan was definitely regretting not fighting with those slippery thoughts harder. But how could he, or the human, have known that a freak cold snap would leave the state frozen in near arctic conditions? 

It was cold enough outside of the four walls of the first floor apartment that humans were dying if they ventured out for longer than a few minutes.

Inside? It was nearly as bad because the apartment had been without power and therefore without its ability to heat the place for the past seventy-two hours. 

His charge, his stubbornly stubborn, but very poor charge had to be the only human left in the entire complex. The last of the other residents having left over forty-eight hours ago to safer and warmer options once it became clear that the power couldn’t be fixed until the weather warmed.

If it ever warmed. 

Logan shut the book, having not read a single word on the page for the past hour. He rested his head on the cover, wings trembling as he fought to keep his body temperature lower so that no steam would come off his body and alert his charge to his presence.

This would have been much easier if he could just come out from under the bed and take Virgil somewhere warmer. He had wings did he not? He could fly them anywhere--but no.

Logan grimaced, running his tongue over his fangs. Demons and Humans weren’t supposed to mingle unless a Human summoned them. 

And until that unlikely event happened. 

Virgil couldn’t know he was there. 

Which was a pity. Even if he hadn’t had his wings to fly them away, his physical manifestation would have done much in his favor in convincing his charge to leave this frozen wasteland.

Instead, Logan had fought for hours with the tangles in Virgil’s mind, pulling at all the proper strings to get him to leave---and yet again had irritatingly lost to his charge.

There was a reason why he hadn’t minded being stuck with Virgil for the foreseeable future and it was because his, dare he say it? Smart and brilliant human could bring up excellent, if befuddling at times, points to his silent arguments that Logan couldn’t easily manipulate in his favor. 

His charge’s finances were borderline nonexistent. Which meant he couldn’t afford to fly back home. And Virgil didn’t own a car so he couldn’t drive anywhere. The buses weren’t running either because of the cold. Nor could he afford to stay in a hotel. 

And most unfortunately, moving away from everyone he knew and Virgil’s naturally reclusive nature meant that his charge had no friends or even acquaintances to go live with within a thousand miles while his obnoxiously loud, rude, and inconsiderate roommates had vanished without so much as checking in with him to make sure he had a place to go to. 

No. Logan growled under his breath, tail tapping against the floor. For all intents and purposes. Virgil was on his own to survive this cold snap--

He jerked his head up, glancing to the wall with a frown at the sudden silence coming from the other room.

That wasn’t right.

Automatically Logan reached out for the sluggish tangle of thoughts that Virgil always had twisting about his head.

Nothing. 

Logan blinked. That definitely wasn’t right. He pushed up onto his elbows, barely remembering to duck his head to avoid piercing the mattress above with his horns.

Virgil couldn’t have left. Not in this weather. He was too cautious for that. Logan would have heard the door slam at least which meant that Virgil was still here and if he was still here he should be able to reach those tangled thoughts even while his charge slept unless Virgil had--had----

“No.” Logan rolled out from under the bed, chest throbbing uncomfortably as he sprang to his feet and burst through the bedroom door into the living room. His wings spread wide as he grabbed the motionless figure from his cocoon of blankets on the couch, wincing at the frozen chill that burned his skin as he cradled the nearly blue human in his arms. His wings snapped shut around the near-adult to insulate him from the cold, his wings taking on a red glow as allowed his inner fire to burn hotter to get heat into his charge’s frozen body. 

He should have tried harder to get him to leave! Especially when the power had gone out. He shouldn’t have let--“Virgil.” Logan shook his charge, using the back of his hand to brush the purple bangs from out of the human’s eyes. “VIRGIL.”  

The human suddenly gasped, twitching in Logan’s arms as his glazed eyes fluttered open, meeting Logan’s own slitted ones for a heart stopping second before they closed. The human twisted, pressing his frozen face into Logan’s side, violently trembling. “C-c-co-o-ld.” He mumbled.

Alive. The tightness in his chest eased as Logan shoved to his feet, holding Virgil close like a mother cradling her demon spawn as he moved back to his charge’s bedroom where he would be able to use his hellfire in the smaller space more effectively to ensure the young human would survive. “Not for long, I promise you that.” 

It wasn’t proper, he shouldn’t have come out and revealed himself like this in the first place without taking on a human disguise. He shouldn’t have cared if Virgil perished. He should have just gone back to Hell to say that his sentence had ended with the death of his charge instead of trying to save him--but propriety could go screw itself. 

Virgil was far too interesting of a human to lose to something as stupid as freezing to death. 

“Wh-who--y-y-y-you?” Virgil managed to ask through chattering teeth as Logan entered his--well he supposed it was technically their room since Logan lived there too. 

“A--” Well he wasn’t really a friend now was he? Demons and Humans couldn’t be friends. And Logan’s actions in toying with the human’s mind would hardly be deemed acceptable in most human social circles he was sure. “A Guardian.” He said, settling on that particular term with a twitch of his tail as he climbed onto the bed, adjusting his wings to ensure that the heat radiating off of him remained focused on keeping Virgil warm. 

 Technically he was looking out for Virgil’s well-being, even if he hadn’t taken such direct action in doing so before this moment.  

The human sighed, eyes fluttering again as his arms shifted, pressing frozen fingers into Logan’s side. “An--An-Angel?” Logan snorted, shaking his head as he carefully ran his clawed fingers through the human’s hair. “Hardly, You may call me…” He took a breath, it was another rule he shouldn’t break, but he’d already broken at least a dozen already. Why not add a lucky thirteenth to the list? “Logan.”

Odds were the human wasn’t mentally cognizant enough for it to do any harm. If luck was on his side, Virgil would think this whole thing a dream once he really woke up.  

“Lo.” Virgil breathed, his trembling form relaxing as the blue tinge to his skin faded. “Th-th-thanks.” 

Logan swallowed, his hearts stuttering in his chest at the unexpected nickname. Mentally he shook his head, settling them into a more comfortable position where he would be able to leave the human as soon as his body temperature returned to a satisfactory level. 

It was nothing. Nothing. The human probably just couldn’t say his whole name without stuttering. That was it. He’d be back under the bed before Virgil woke and the human would think the whole thing a dream. So this...this was nothing. Everything would return to normal on the morrow where Logan would lurk under the bed and the near-adult would remain unaware of just exactly how his room was managing to stay warmer than the rest of the apartment. 

And yet. 

“You’re welcome.” He whispered, unable to stop running his claws through Virgil’s hair as his shuddering breaths evened out into the steady rhythm of sleep; for once not thinking about picking at the tangle of thoughts faintly twisting above the human’s head. 

To Be Continued Part 2  Part 3

Pt.1

💜- the day had just barely begun, you went out to get something from the store, just some supplies for a soup want wanted to make for dinner. It was a special weekend, both Eijiro and katsuki would have the weekend off from work, and you were so excited.

Coming home, you were holding two grocery bags filled with ingredients for the soup. It wasn’t that cold out too, it was winter but it wasn’t too bad out, so you decided to walk home.

You are almost home when a cold gust of wind and a voice say from behind you,” well it sure is my luck day. It’s not every day I get to finally meet the wife of the number 2 and number 6 hero. “

Turning around you see a woman, pale as snow and icy blue eyes. You recognize her from the recent string of attacks, it’s mostly been on civilians. Her quirk isn’t deadly, just painful. The victims would slowly have their body temperature drop, so much so that if the victim doesn’t get warm they will get hypothermia.

She didn’t even give you a chance to run, before you knew it, a sharp pain hits your shoulder. It’s freezing cold where you were hit but the pain stops after a minute. You’re able to resume walking home, but you keep getter colder.

By the time you open the door you’re shaking. It’s the type of jaw chattering cold that almost hurts.

By the time both kirishima and Bakugou get home you’re violently shaking underneath the blankets in your bed, too cold to even move.

Eijiro and katsuki walk in to see the groceries on the counter, and no sign of you. Bakugou begins to put away the groceries saying,”she can be so air headed sometimes, is she in the bedroom?”

“I’ll go check,” kirishima says with a huge smile, ready for a relaxing weekend with the two people he loves the most.

“Pebble? Are you in here?” He asks opening the bedroom door, seeing you shake underneath the covers. Walking over to you he asks,”baby, are you okay? Are you sick?” He goes to check your forehead, only to feel that you’re cold as ice.

“KATSUKI! HURRY! SHE- I DONT KNOW WHATS WRONG!” He yells.

“Come on baby, what happened?” He asks pulling off his shirt and gong under the covers with you. Your body is somehow even colder than he thought, pressing you against his naked chest he yells,”BAKUGOU! HURRY! BRING ALL THE BLANKETS YOU CAN FIND!”

You curl up against his warm chest as you hear heavy footsteps running towards the bedroom.

“villain hit me,” you say weakly, voice barely above a whisper. Kirishima tightens his grip around you.

“The one you are looking for,” you manage to get out. The realization that some villains know who you are hit kirishima. He knew that there was always dangers with dating pros, but it doesn’t make it any easier when one of the people you love the most gets hurt cause of it.

Bakugou run in, blankets filling his arms as he looks at your shaking form curled up on kirishima’s chest.

“What the fuck happened?” Bakugou asks but is interrupted by kiri.

“ just put the blankets on her, then strip and get under . She was hit by that ice villain we were chasing.” Kirishima tell him. Bakugou’s heart drop, not wasting a second he piles the blanket ontop of you, and strips to his underwear. Sliding into bed you shiver more but once Bakugou presses up against you, you sigh in relief.

Bakugou grabs the bottom of your shirt, knowing you’ll get warmer with skin to skin contact,”baby, I’m just gonna take this off, it will be warmer,” he gives kirishima a look to do the same with your pants.

“No-please,” you plead not wanting to loose a layer of warmth.

“I know baby, but I promise you will be much more warm,” Eijiro says as him and katsuki remove those clothing items. You shiver more until Bakugou moves closer, sandwiching your cold body between his and Eijiro’s. They’re thankful for always being warm.

Katsuki wraps his arms around you and kirishima as kirishima takes both your hands in his, trying to warm them up.

“I- i tr-“ you try saying but you can’t make out a sentence, your brain is foggy.

“Sshh, shh. Don’t try to speak yet baby, save your strength.

“And don’t you dare try to apologize. This is not your fault. No arguing on that. “Katsuki says nuzzling his face in your neck.

“Bu-“ you try to say but you’re stopped my Eijiro kissing you.

“No arguments with this. Just let us help you.”

“Yeah, I agree with shitty hair. This is payback for all the times you nursed us back to health after a battle,” katsuki says, smiling at the memories of all the times you’ve taken care of them when they were injured.

“You only take right now is trying to relax and let us help you get warm.” Kirishima says kissing your forehead.

yo yo but one of their biggest fears is you getting hurt because of the fact that they’re heroes :(

even if you had a quirk they would quite literally tear themselves up on the inside if anything ever happened to you, fear and scaredness spiking up and pumping its way through their veins :( they don’t wanna lose their baby because of the work that they love—they also love you more !! if you did get hurt, i don’t think bakugou nor kirishima would give up their hero work and you wouldn’t let them either, they’d do better and train harder to protect you and anyone else. so that they can be faster.

as for the cuddles !!! katsuki is naturally warmer because of his quirk so i think he’d be like a little sauna to make you feel better n eijirou would most definitely take you for a check up the next day before they both beat the hell out of the villain that touched you :(

So I started this in the last week of 2020, and I'm ready to post it 😊 I've still got a couple other wips I'd started before this one but I haven't been bothered to finish those lol so I'm putting this one out first. Anyway, this'll be 6 parts long; I'll prob put up the next part in three or four days.

I'll put word counts so you can gauge how long each part is and if you wanna read it 😅 Also lemme know if you'd like to be tagged

Word count: 2.2K

AO3

Ashes from the Deep

Part I

__

The shadows were colder than usual tonight. On better days, their chill wrapped Azriel's bones in an icy embrace, a comforting freeze numbing any semblance of feeling in his wasted heart.

But this miserable night, they were searing cold, the kind of cold piercing the highest of mountain peaks; the kind of cold that penetrated the brain itself. He shivered as he travelled through those shadows, dark mists and wisps coiling like vines about his head.

Maybe he was deliberately searching for the coldest areas. Maybe he wanted a complete absence of feeling: physical, emotional, spiritual. It would certainly be easier to feel nothing than trying to quell the frigid rage inside. How could an avalanche be stopped once it started?

Further and further he moved through his shadows, dawn chasing him from a few hours away. Mountains and villages surged past through those charcoal mists, making way to depthless forests and ravines. He clenched his jaw tight against the cold, memory guiding him home.

But the fresh blood he'd seen earlier, and the mutilated remains of that little girl, one wing torn off and lying bent at the edge of the dirt path ... Her unseeing eyes were glazed, that shine as bright and true on his mind as the glint of moonlight on the blade of Death. And her scream. Cauldron, it curdled his own blood.

He'd been but a minute late. A matter of seconds were all that stood between him and the sadistic bastard who'd brutalised that child. Barely a heartbeat in his lifetime.

He blinked once to rid himself of her stare. Twice.

The image remained, muddying with his path home. His hands clenched and unclenched, nails biting into his skin, but the girl's hazel eyes and her ashen skin and the fingers outstretched for that severed wing remained an imprint on his vision.

Why was this affecting him so much? It wasn't the first time he'd seen horrors like this. But if Azriel wanted to be honest with himself, some days were harder than others simply because they were. Some days, the despair rattled his core and tossed him far out - because he was a person and emotions, feelings, these things were too abstract to be boxed in.

Everything had a limit. Had Azriel ever truly reached his?

Sometimes Azriel himself didn't understand how he kept it all in. How he didn't react or display any sign of having seen or heard the things he did. Sometimes he was repulsed by himself because of it. At least Cassian and his rare vomiting showed some of the humanity inside.

Azriel gave away nothing. Was there even humanity in himself? Everyone but his family looked at him like he was an unhinged monster imprisoned by his Illyrian skin. Like he was moments from escape and they would be his first victims.

Or - not just his family. Her. Elain. Did he consider he family? Perhaps it was too early, or even too inappropriate to do so.

Either way, how could he stain the sudden image of her with himself, with the horrors he'd just seen, had always had the displeasure of seeing? She was lovely and warm and beautiful and he was dark and cold and hideous.

Elain. Something inexplicable stirred in him at the thought of her.

He tried to calm it, this heat, this single star in his midnight sky. But it remained. And it grew.

And he was disgusted. Ashamed. He was not worthy of her.

And it ached. Another unrequited love.

That word snapped something in him. Mocked him.

Love.

A choking sound ripped from his throat and he welcomed it, let it mount into a scream, let it tear through his body and soul. Like that monster was finally breaking free. It was invigorating yet scorching. It burned him from the inside out but the cold of those shadows permeated his mind so heavily, he forgot the essence of corporeality and only his soul seemed to drift.

His ragged breathing sounded, throat parched. Where was he? Through the shadows, all around him, there seemed only darkness. Was he flying? No, the shadows sang their usual baritone thrum as opposed to the high harmony of the wind.

Above, no stars glistened. His eyes strained but nothing peeked through. It wasn't often that his shadows became this thick; usually thin and wispy, they now shrouded his being, coalescing over, in him. He became the cold, a shadow, darkness itself, floating through the ether, higher and higher like ashes on the wind.

But even ashes settled down at some point.

Unless his soul truly were ascending, unless this truly were death. It almost seemed too easy. All the battles, those two great wars, the poison that shot through his veins and stole his breath as per Hybern's whim. Poison that sometimes woke him up in cold sweats, a phantom memory of its iciness picking through his body as though he were being cut up by the sharpest blade ...

Sometimes it even felt like his own blade.

No, this couldn't be death. A mere scream, the image of lives lost, a bloody fight - he hated to admit that these were commonplace among his memories, his life. But in doing so, he knew death was too easy an aftermath for what had happened tonight.

Death, an ascent. But he was sure when his time came, his stained soul would descend like the demon he was.

So he grounded, drifting down weightlessly until the solidity of rock steadied him. He would not go to that darkest of places yet. But he was still exhausted. So damn tired of everything. He feared that if he dropped into a slumber right now, he'd not get up for a lifetime. As it was, his legs almost gave out, but he forced some remaining strength back into them. All he had to do was get home now.

He stepped out of his shadows; Devlon's camp was quiet around him. A fire to his far right sputtered in the harsh winds and Azriel swept himself back into his shadows.

This time he travelled faster, composing himself, locking his muscles and bones up, clenching his jaw. He let that familiar cool comfort drain his rage, cleaning it through his veins before it settled in the frozen lake of his heart where the rest of his darkness lay, inescapable through the impenetrable foot of icy wrath and sorrow. He savoured his shadows, a confidant in their own right, thanked them for their understanding and the escape he found within them.

But they were growing warmer now. Azriel squinted through them as they shifted him across land and water - the scape of Velaris and its brilliant lights greeted him. Closer to home now, he could breathe with a looser chest but this was still unusual; his shadows shouldn't be warmer, they should be cool and refreshing, like the autumn night breeze beyond.

His wings rustled, body reacting to his shadows' autonomy before his thawing mind caught up. 'Where are you taking me?' he murmured.

Mist swirled about him and the shadows deposited him at the far edge of the dimly lit back garden at his High Lord and Lady's riverfront estate. Why would they bring him here? Rhysand and Feyre were at the mountain cabin, Cassian and Nesta were together in Illyria and Mor was at the Winter Court. As far as he knew, Amren was at her own apartment so the only person left was -

'Azriel!' came Elain's voice. It was distant in a way it shouldn't be.

Azriel leaned against a tree, pretending to fiddle with the Siphon atop his left hand. Breathing was difficult but he swallowed and exhaled in a shudder.

He needed to fully compose himself before anyone saw him like this. If only his damn shadows hadn't taken control for those last few moments, he'd be in his own home and lying in that swirling darkness in peace. Though, he supposed, it was his own fatigue that had yielded that control.

'Azriel!' Elain cried, stopping in front of him. Her face was caught between a frown and a wince and her arm was raised slightly. 'You don't look okay.'

As always, he was momentarily stunned by how unafraid this small female was of him. Here he was in his full armour, every bit the monstrous warrior that sent his people scurrying into their homes and locking their doors, and yet Elain stood strong before him. Like she saw not a killing machine but a person.

She never even commented on how his shadows made to disappear around her. Perhaps she hadn't noticed.

He swallowed before he let out what he thought was a light laugh. 'I'm fine, don't worry.' But he could hear the hoarseness of his voice, now facing the consequences of that scathing scream. And his limbs felt even heavier than before, like someone had injected liquid lead into them.

'You don't have to pretend with me, Azriel,' she whispered, lowering both her gaze and arm.

He paused, trying to catch her gaze. The constant light in her eyes whenever she looked at him was a balm to his soul. He could use some of that right now.

He reached out an arm, so impossibly leaden right now - if he could just get to sit down -

'Can I wash your hair, please?'

He started. 'You want to wash my hair?'

Elain's eyes flicked back up to skirt over his, up to his hair, where they stayed pinned. 'I'm positive that's mud and you shouldn't sleep with that in your hair. It'll only take a few minutes.'

Shit. He hadn't even thought of his appearance after that bloody fight earlier. How that had slipped his mind? He ran a hand through his hair, and surely enough, crumbs of dirt rained down.

Although, he really hadn't expected to turn up here of all places. In the privacy of his own home, he wouldn't have cared if he were missing a whole damn limb, if only it meant he could sleep like the dead.

Not to mention that sleeping with a little mud was the least an Illyrian warrior's problems. But Elain's care was something of a punch to his gut. When was the last time someone had truly tended to him for reasons that weren't battle or holiday related?

'You've managed to get some on your face, too,' she said, brow furrowed as she stared at his cheek.

Her eyes were so deep and focused, he wished they would just meet his once. But of course, that level of scrutiny he'd come to learn from Elain meant shyness. Just shyness. She was so endearing, he could've laughed with such fondness if he weren't so damn tired. He wished this whole damn night would be over already.

His leg faltered slightly and he stumbled forward.

'I'm washing your hair. It'll help relax you into falling asleep.'

He raised his brows at her, but she simply took his arm and began leading him towards the house. She looked so small before him but didn't slow despite dragging his bulk behind her.

Halfway across the garden, he pulled her to him with his free arm, his shadows saving the both of them the energy of walking through that mansion of a home.

'My bathroom,' she murmured. Elain didn't balk through the five seconds of that darkness, didn't even look surprised. She showed no sign of hearing the spike in his pulse either. Thank the Mother.

He set them in her bathroom, and she didn't look at him once as she flitted around the chamber, pulling a chair from her bedroom to the sink and grabbing a towel, soap and a jug from the cupboard. Standing there, his breathing began to smooth out.

The window was open, a chill breeze sweeping in. The faelights were dim and their placid light sent a dusky illumination over Elain's features. Some bottles of oils and herbs sat on the edge of the bathtub. Azriel had heard of people using oils for bathing, but herbs? Perhaps they were like flower petals, used for their scent.

Towel in hand, Elain waited at the sink, placing the soap and jug down. 'I think you'll have to collapse your armour for this.'

Azriel nodded, tapping his Siphon. Within seconds, that second skin of cold scales and gleaming wrath was safely stored away. Just his plain black trousers and tunic were left.

Elain's eyes caught every moment of the transformation. 'It's beautiful, all of it.'

He didn't even know if she was speaking of his armour or the basic clothes underneath or what, but his face warmed slightly, wings rustling.

'Please sit,' she said, gesturing to the chair. As he did, she wrapped the towel around his shoulders, fingers hovering above his forehead for a few seconds.

Those seconds felt perennial. He almost shuddered as her fingers made contact with his skin. Her hands were so gentle as they pushed his head back, and he shifted in the seat. He lowered his wings, and she stepped into the space he provided. She was still as he got comfortable, only turning the tap once he was settled. There was a slight crease between her brows, and he clenched his fists to keep from smoothing it out.

Sounding so much like his own mother that his throat tightened, she whispered, 'You can close your eyes.'

So he did.

__

Feedback is welcomed, thanks for reading 😊

Waddling in a Winter Wonderland: How Penguins, Humans, and other Animals Traverse Ice and Snow

Winter in Pennsylvania has it pros and cons. The not-so-wonderful aspects of the season, such as shoveling sidewalks and trudging through knee-deep snow drifts, can be considered character builders at best.  But then there’s the fun stuff, like ice skating and sledding.  These can more than make up for the negative things, especially if you’re a kid. As a child, I remember doing these winter activities (plus making snowmen and snow angels, too).  A lot of the activities that we see as leisure fun have actually been around for thousands of years.  Through invention and adaptation, both humans and animals have learned how to deal with their wintry landscapes and safely travel from one icy area to another.

Today, people associate ice skating with sports and recreation.  But, for a long time in human history, skates were essential for winter travel.  They date back at least 3,000 years to around the end of the Bronze Age, when the people of Eastern Europe and Russia created skates out of animals’ shin bones (most likely cow and horse).  These bone skates lied flat to the ice so the wearer could glide in all directions.  However, control and speed were somewhat lacking.

But a dramatic change happened in the 13th century when the metal blade was introduced.  Two hundred years later, better control and faster speed were achieved when sturdier bindings were added.  Rapid travel was now possible during the cold winter months.  In the 15th century Netherlands, for example, the canals that were built to power water mills and irrigate farmland in the summer would transform into frozen highways for thousands of travelers in the winter.  

Today, we no longer need to depend on nature because temperature-controlled ice rinks are at our disposal all year round.  But, whether the ice is natural or man-made, scientists are still not 100% sure how ice skating is possible.  There are multiple theories.  One is that the extreme pressure of the skate blade on the ice creates a high viscosity bead of melt water that the skate glides on.  Another theory says that the uppermost layer of ice is made up of an extremely thin (10-20 nanometers) layer of freely moving water molecules.  The skate blade glides across this quasi-liquid layer.  It’s very similar to the support provided by the surface tension of the top layer of liquid water.  Whatever the reason that makes skating possible, people just know that they really like it.  Skating is an extremely popular activity, especially as it relates to sports.

Athletes can prefer different temperatures and textures of ice.  “Slow ice” is warmer, softer, and rougher, and figure skaters prefer it for pushing off and landing complicated jumps.  In contrast, hockey players prefer “fast ice.”  It’s colder, harder, and smoother, which makes skating faster, passing easier, and puck behavior more predictable.

And if you could equate a hockey player to any creature in the animal world, it would be a penguin.  These experts of ice travel prefer “fast ice.”  This is because they use tobogganing as a primary way to get around.  The toboggan, a thin, flat, flexible piece of wood, has been used for centuries by humans as a transporter of supplies as well as for leisure fun.  But, in the case of penguins, they themselves are the toboggan!  Walking for penguins is slow-going.  They can only waddle along at about 1.5 mph.  With tobogganing, penguins can move faster with no risk of falling.  On horizontal ice, they slide around on their bellies, using their flippers and feet for propulsion, steering, and braking.  But when they find a nice downslope…stand back!  Like tiny tuxedoed torpedoes, penguins can slide down an icy hill at surprising speeds.

While penguins love to take advantage of ice’s gliding properties, polar bears have developed adaptations that keep slipping and sliding to a minimum.  The sole of a polar bear’s foot has thick, black pads that are covered with small, soft dermal bumps (also called papillae) that create friction between their foot and the ice.  Long hairs growing between the pads and toes, plus curved claws, also provide traction.  They are the only bears that walk in a plantigrade, heel-to-toe, manner. Their gait is almost human-like, with the one slight difference that their toes point inward to avoid slipping.  Their forepaws are also similar in structure to a human hand, so much so that it would be difficult for the average person to tell the difference between the bones of a polar bear paw and the bones of a human hand.  This round, flattened paw shape acts like a snowshoe that spreads out their weight as they move over the snow.

Polar bears aren’t the only animals adapted to walking on top of snow.

Thousands of years ago, large regions of the world were snowbound for much of the year, including North America. This meant animals needed to adapt to their environments; some of these animals are still around today, like the snowshoe hare, whose wide, furry, large-toed feet—larger than any other rabbit species— allowed them to move easily over deep snow.  

Like the hare, the ptarmigan, a partridge-like grouse, also lives in North America and has its own set of built-in snowshoes.  As winter approaches, its feet become more feathery and they grow longer claws.  These seasonal changes increase the weight-bearing surface of their feet by four times and reduce sinking in the snow by half.

Caribou (also known as reindeer in Russia and Scandinavia) go through a similar transformation with the coming of winter.  Their sharp-edged hooves grow longer, their foot pads get tougher, and extra fur grows between and around their toes.  These changes transform their already wide, flat feet into the ideal snowshoe for a frosty trek.  For animals such as these, developing coping strategies for cold weather transport are essential to surviving and thriving in a frozen landscape. 

So this winter, if you just happen to be strolling along admiring the Narnia-esque view around you, and you fail to notice that patch of ice at your feet, you may end up flat on your back, staring up at the sky, wondering “Why me?” but don’t despair.  Instead, take comfort in the fact that even penguins, the masters of the ice, slip and take spectacular spills from time to time. At least you’re in good company!

Shelby Wyzykowski is a Gallery Experience Presenter in CMNH’s Life Long Learning Department. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

[10:25 p.m.] 董思成

pairing: dong sicheng x reader

genre: smut

word count: 2k+

warning/s: oral (male receiving) // unprotected sex

author’s note: this is not for bts ! obviously,,, but i hope u could take the time and read,, maybe you’ll like sicheng ! we never know hehe

His room is a still. Brighter than before, but that’s because his pupils have dilated enough to suck up all light. You have your back on him, head inclined over his shoulder in indolent breaths. Your hands are appeased over his. Sicheng likes the softness of the guide of your palms, bringing his hands to idly pull your dress up. Emotion vanquishes him, but all his near six feet can do is ghost the tip of his nose across your jugular. You smell like love and a sweet cologne. His eyebrows are knit. His lip is bit. 

“Relax, angel,” your voice disappears in the grain of the night. His gut twists as he lets out a huffed breath down your neck, only now realizing he was inhaling enough for two. Your hum at his warmth is a song he could dance to, and he finds his hands snaking inside the thin article of clothing. He can taste your goosebumps on the press of his lips, feel your pulse on the surface of your skin. “Sicheng,” you beg for a kiss. 

He doesn’t give you so as much as a word, but he wields power in that. Your lips meet, and you make him swallow your whimper. He’s open-mouthed, drenched in lust as you push his blazer off his shoulders. There’s an edge to your touch—the way you feel him up from his clavicles all the way to his neck and jaw. That edge makes him kiss you harder, finding the lazy straps of your dress and bringing them down your arms. They feel like freshly pounded dough. He thinks of a languid summer day in a flowery alley. 

“Are you full?,” you ask, kissing him through his shirt. His muscle feels rich. You feel his eyes cast on you, as if burning your every move in his mind. 

“Yeah, are you?,” he doesn’t think when he smooches the top of your head, his hands burrowing in the cloth of your seamless underwear. That makes your spine shudder. Sicheng likes the tugging feeling of you undoing his belt. “I w-was wondering if you liked the food.” 

“Yeah, I loved it, don’t worry,” your fingernails against his erection tickled, but he was good at concealing ragged breaths. You feel him squeeze your skin, as if warming you up. “I’d like to eat you, though.” 

Sicheng can’t suppress this moan. He pulls your panties down, swayed by his boiling fantasies. You like the jumpstart, how his eyebrows furrow again when he flicks up your pace, kissing you harshly again when he pulls your dress off. 

A certain effort is required to keep your lips together when you take his shirt off. The fabric is light, and it’s mere milliseconds before he has your face cradled on his palms for him to devour. You feel the terrains of his body, all the pokes of hair on pale skin. You obsess over the lean of his torso, the lazy grind of his hips against your nudity, and your mouth waters at the swipe of his tongue. 

He would quake at the thought of nursing you in his arms where people could see, but like this, when you’re alone and vulnerable, he knows how to make you feel like it’s scribbled on the back of his hand. He keeps his eyes on you when you kiss down his chest again, now bare. Your lips rose around the mounds of muscle. Sicheng remains silent. 

“You smell so good,” he shifts under the praise, finds his face growing warmer. You kiss down his happy trail like it’s a soft path leading to a wonder. He’s so attractive in the way he tilts his head to catch more of you. His eyes will sting. “How do you want my mouth?” 

Caressing your cheek is another thing he doesn’t think of when he does. He distributes his weight in a slight lean against the desk behind him. “Wet,” he strokes your face. There are sheepish stars in his eyes, a very exiguous smile on his lips. “Messy, but don’t make me cum.” 

You hum to that promise. There’s a warmth that washes down your chest, and your throat involuntarily clears in your preparation for him. Pulling the rest of his clothes down is not so easy, what with his arousal hoisting the waistbands up. “Do you want to fuck my mouth?” 

He remains reticent, the soft fingers that stroked your cheek now slighting down your throat. You await his answer, kissing the soft skin where his fluids simmer. You envisaged a line between where your eyes meet, shortening and extending with every twitch of your heads but never breaking. Your lips love around him, wet and hot like you wish to melt him altogether. It’s harder for him to hold his breaths now. A lick up, soft suckling on his tip, and with weight, he curses, 

“Oh, fuck.” 

Pleasure on Sicheng’s surface is what makes his dick flinch. He loves the tease of your nails, from the back of his thighs to grasp him to your mouth and when your hand finally wraps around his length. “Sicheng,” your voice is provocative to him. He was one to find his own name sickening, but your sounds have him coiling to touch you. “I love having you.” 

That word. Like you avow yourself to his body. Thinking just about the object of it, about how you are so drugged with lust that it makes you love him, drives him near mad. 

Just how inebriated you looked, taking him in your mouth, eyes overcast but still looking at him, weighed his guts down as if he was sick to his stomach. But you’re all the good things, in all the right places. He makes a hushed sound. It’s a heavy breath that broke into a stunted whimper. Sicheng thinks about how sensitive you’re getting by the second. Every song of the wind cold on your skin, colder where you’re wet. He eyes you, and this is a good enough fuck as it is. His cock makes your cheeks hollow. The color of your fingernails subdues his base. You’re slow, calculated, and you see him scrunch his eyebrows again. He’s transfixed; he could weep. His breaths are loud. 

“Kiss me,” his voice is soft. You hear a confession in his tone, in the bargain of your mouth on where he throbs for your mouth on his. 

You stand up, losing your fingers in his hair when your faces meet, and he feels your heat wavering towards him so you could share your warmth. This time, his hands have no path. They roam, no perception of a destination. On your ass where the flesh bounces. On the hook of your hips like it’s meant for his palms to rest on. On your waist where he squeezes until his thumbs meet. On the swell of your breasts. On your scalding neck. Your nape. The back of your head. His lips are loose but breaths tight. You succumb to him. Your knees are wobbling, and there’s only so much dazed weight your feet can support that you can lean on the chisel of his body. You pull on him like you want to tower over him while you kiss. 

Your crazed momentum allows him to slowly push you to the bed. The sheets huff. There’s solace in the sound. You stay this way for a while, the line between your eye contact still there, thinking about how you will never allow yourself to be deprived of this. Sicheng acts quicker than you’d think, crashing his lips on yours again, opening your thighs the same way he scours through books. He finds home in how soaked you are. 

It’s not hard for him to keep himself upheaved like this as to see the way your face twinges when he rubs your crotches together. He takes control the only way he knows how. He loves the faces you make. Every contortion. The lax of your body. He doesn’t think of himself. Being with you humbles him. He’s so unknowing of how perfectly right he stirs things, the way on his lip, there’s the slightest hint of a bite, on his abdomen, the loud riddle of a strain. Under all the passion, he loves, loves fucking you. 

“Oh—my god,” you cry once he’s eased himself inside of you. It’s painful, but you know you will fall slave to the silky sensation of Sicheng ever so vaguely burying himself inside. 

“Am I hurting you?,” he kisses your chin. Your eyes are shut, but you know his are still hazed with wonder. 

“One minute,” you shiver, looking where your crotches meet in a soft tryst. “You’re filling me up.” 

You’ll make him falter, but he keeps himself controlled with muted kisses around your jaw. He waits that minute out until you’re lost in how he looks. It’s the face he makes when he’s singing and moving his body like he’s about to fuck his mic stand. Every second is a second more he fidgets, but he does it like he knows it’s your secret, and you fall to your knees knowing that he’s not hiding anymore. “Please,” he whines lowly. “I need you.” 

You beam. “If you’ll have me.” 

He doesn’t know how to respond. It’s incontestable that he wants you to moan over his dick inside you. He repeats, hot against your neck, finally moving, “I need you.” 

Everything is amplified. He shivers, falters to his elbows. You love his weight pressed on you, posing threat to your lungs, but the only air you crave is his breath. He scoops you, weightless as he props his arms under you. It’s reflex—how you cling yourself onto him, smacking your lips against the damp of his skin. You lose it. “Sicheng—fuck me, please,” you cry. “Fuck me.” 

He moans back, and in the way it wavers, you know he’s been resisting. “You’re breaking me,” his words are scarce. They’re a shard of glass in all the grains of sand. You know they pierce you just right. He picks up his pace, straining his neck a bit so he can look at your face. It’s hard to keep your eyes open, but being away from how he ogles you makes you hit cold turkey. 

The sensation sears for you to arch your back. This makes it easier for him to reach what’s deeper inside of you. He thinks about your heart, its pulse off beat with the sounds he conjures off you. It feels like its boiling, tightening. You barge your eyes open again so you don’t miss the flush of his chest, pores perky against the air. “Baby,” you coo. “You’re too good to me.” He can’t keep his mouth not agape. He has to groan, no matter how quiet, or he’ll explode. 

He’s swooning over the moment. The sun sets in your eyes, and he is so unaware of how it sets the same in his. He curses, but you don’t catch it well under your whimpers. It’s a closed sound, something of his dialect, and that’s how you know how you make him tick. 

You don’t think when you moan, “I love you.” 

But that’s all it takes for him to cry against your body. His face compresses more as he takes your legs and folds them against your frame. His hips basically work like waves against you, and he’s playing your confession again and again in his head as he fucks. He’s so deep; he has your head in a death flick and tears blurring your peripheral vision. 

And that only makes you weep again, “I love you.” He groans. Hearing it one more time will spoil him, but that’s exactly what you want. “I love you.” 

He whines your name, drags the vowels out with his eyes closed. He can taste the sex on his tongue. By now, his scalp is blistering, soaking. In fact, all of his skin is scalding. Your walls, contracting around him like it begs for him to fill you up, burns. Now, he fucks you like he tries to extinguish it. “I’ll cum.” 

It’s too soon to touch your bundle of nerves, because then your body already starts convulsing. “Fill me with it,” you’re gasping. “Make me feel it.” 

“I a-am gonna—,” he strains. You’re near blind, but with the one hand you aren’t using, you cup his face. He shudders. “Sh-Shit—gonna cum—“ 

You feel too much. You’re crying too much. “Hnggggh—“ 

He doesn’t think when he strings together his sounds, light whimpers, cracks, love in the creases of his voice. He pumps himself with you until it’s sickening for the pair of you. “H-ah—hah—“ 

You know it. When he keeps himself tucked in your warmth, thinking about bloating you with himself, wet, pink lips on your neck, that in his hard sniff, and in the fast-coming drift of slumber, he’s telling you he loves you more.

Ice Princess - Krioff

“Anonymous said: For kriof, he notice that mc would carry around a box with markings. It turns out that she used to be a princess that has ice powers, which cause her parents to be afraid of her except for maid. One day she and the maid decided to have a sleepover together as way to help mc feel better; she was so happy her powers got unlock which led to accidental maid die. After her death, mc found a way to lock her powers which was the box. Afterward he and mc became close and end up falling in love. I hope it help”

Y/N and Krioff weren’t always close as they are now, they use ignore each other presence when one of them passes by. But for Krioff to ignore someone while he walks down the hall is normal, it’s nothing new. Y/N on the other hand was used to greeting everyone she met, that is until the incident happen. Ever since then, she wasn’t the same Y/N anymore. 

Krioff noticed the small box with markings that Y/N would always carry whenever there’s a lot of people around her. No one’s really suspicious about it because it looks like something she’d hold to carry her things such as her reading book, pencil and paper because she tends to sketch sometimes. 

One day Y/N came out to the backyard and she sat at her most memorable spot with her maid. Krioff can only watch and observe her from afar but he did notice the box beside her again. It made him curious what was inside the box that she carries around and wanted to confront her about it. 

He walked towards Y/N, “May I sit here?” He asked. 

“That’s fine, as long as you don’t bother me.” She stated. 

It was now or never, he was going to ask her about the box no matter what. Curiousity killed the cat they say, but curiousity is killing him softly and wanted to get over with it. “Just one thing though... Y/N what’s in that box? And why do you carry that around?” 

Y/N stopped what she was doing and drop her pen. She looked at Krioff and he was determined to know what was in the box. She sighed, “Well if you must know... You might as well listen. But let me tell you this I am not repeating it okay?” She looked at him before starting her story. 

”First of all you should know by now that I tend to push people away because she’s afraid that she’ll hurt them, even her own parent feared me. Why? You might ask, its because of the power that I possess” 

Flashback

Her parents were afraid of the power she posses and could possible harm them or the kingdom that they rule. They didn’t see Y/N as their daughter but they saw her as a threat, this meant that they did everything to keep Y/N away from the public and the eyes of their people. No one knew what the Princess Y/N looked like unless they’re inside working in the castle. 

Although she has ice powers, she feels like the love from her parents are colder compared to it. She never understood why her parents were very distant to her, but whenever she saw a maid’s love to their child, she felt envious. Sometimes she’d wonder if her parents regretted having her at all or that they wished she was never born. 

One day her parents appointed a maid to take care of Y/N. She was around her age and didn’t have any family, the maid was taken in and they’d train her in order to have a place to sleep in. Y/N didn’t know the importance of a friend or feeling love and wanted because she was never given that kind of affection from her parents. But everything changed when the maid came into her life. 

Y/N was happier and would smile a lot. But because she was quite young, she didn’t know how to control her powers just yet. That was easily solved due to the young maids observation. “Your Majesty, I think the Princess’ mood can either cause greatness to our kingdom or the opposite of it.” Both the King and Queen looked at the young girl thinking that she’s crazy. “What do you mean by that exactly?” The King asked. 

“I have noticed that whenever the Princess is happy or in a good mood it’s always warmer around her or the weather outside in general even though it’s the peak of our winter season. But if she’s in a foul mood the temperature drops therefore there are time during our winter season comes early. However this is just an observation Your Majesty, it is just a theory.” 

The King and Queen thought about those times where their winter came sooner that they’d expect that’s why the people in their kingdom would start harvesting or travelling to neighbouring kingdoms to trade their crops. They wanted to test this theory and maybe they’ve been doing everything wrong. Maybe it was time to stop getting scared of their own daughter and maybe start showing her some love. 

It was hard for the King and Queen to show their affections at first and it took Y/N by a surprised by the sudden turn of tides that her parents have been acting, not that she hates it or anything but she loved the attention. She was finally getting the attention she wanted from them from the longest time and that was because of a young maid’s observation. “Thank you, it seems like you know our daughter well more that we do.” The Queen thanked the maid. “I don’t have a family anymore but I know how much they loved me and when I saw the Princess, I wanted to help her. There is nothing you should be thanking me for Your Majesty.” 

Years have passed and the Kingdom was doing well. There were no more unpredictable winters and Y/N was finally happy. As they grew older their friendship grew stronger. They weren’t a Princess or a Maid, they were bestfriends, sisters even. No one could separate the two and she was the one who showed Y/N the feeling of being loved. And because the Maid made Y/N happy, the King and Queen did not object Y/N’s wish that the maid will sleep in her room with her rather than the maid quarters. It was the least they can do for helping them how to control Y/N powers. 

One night on a full moon Y/N invited the maid over to her room. Y/N wanted to know what the world was like out there. “Your Highness the temperature is dropping but the surroundings were still as beautiful as ever.” 

“Man, I wish I could go out there someday.” Y/N sighed, she was jealous. She really wants to see the outside world and experience it herself rather than hearing stories. Just then Y/N stomach growled loudly and caused the her and the maid to laugh. 

The two of them ventured out to the kitchen trying to make minimal noise because they didn’t want to wake up the people in the castle but the two could stop giggling. Y/N was very happy that day that her powers slowly started to show. The maid knew her powers and she thought that it was very cool that Y/N has powers like that. 

“Are you going to make your special shaved ice again Your Highness?” The maid beamed with happiness. 

“You’re never going to get tired of eating the shaved ice I make huh.” 

“Never!” She replied causing Y/N to chuckle. 

Even though they tried to be quiet, the Queen walked down. “Mother!” Y/N yelped in surprise as she hid her hand behind her back and hoped that nothing happen. Regardless of how much she wanted to stop her powers then, most of it hit the maid square on the chest and Y/N only noticed when her bestfriend fell down to the ground. 

“No, no, no. This can’t be happening. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!” It was starting to get harder for the other girl to breath because her chest was struck with Y/N’s ice powers. The Queen stood there in shock, she didn’t know that she would witness this, she knew that it was an accident as well but that didn’t erase the feeling that she might be Y/N’s next victim. “Your Highness please don’t cry. I know it wasn’t your fault. It was an accident so please don’t cry. You don’t want me to remember your crying face now do we? And I must say this is the only time I can say that you have an ugly cry.” Y/N knew that she was trying to make her feel better and she also knew that she’s trying to take tension away. 

“Come on now Your Highness, please smile for me. And promise me that you’ll always be happy no matter what, at least for the both of us.” Y/N could only nod as she cried holding her best friend in her arms. “Can you please smile one last time for me Your Highness? Seeing your smile always made everything better for me.” Y/N wiped all her tears and showed her a smile. “I’ll always remember you Your Highness. I hope you’ll always remember me.... Farewell, my friend.” Her hand went limp and Y/N cried. The Queen woke up the King and told her the news. They needed to think something fast. 

The King and Queen new that your powers could either benefit them, or be their worst nightmare, either or, they weren’t going let this happen again. They already neglected her before and that made things worst, now all they could do is guide her and seek help on how to control her powers. 

The King thought of an excuse why Y/N needed a new maid and everyone believed them. It was also easier because that maid didn’t have any family therefore no one will look for her even she’s gone. 

Ever since the death of her best friend she would try to distance herself from others even her parents. She was afraid that she’d accidentally hurt them just like how she did to her only friend. The King and Queen assured her that it wasn’t going to happen, they will do everything to help Y/N control her powers even if it takes years. 

Each day that Y/N mourns for the death of her dearest friend she promised herself not to leave the room anymore unless it’s an important matter. She took out on of the gifts that the maid gave her three years ago when she went to town and shopped around. That was the only thing she had in remembrance of her and she would think about the happy moments they had as she held them. The maid already helped her once when she noticed that Y/N’s mood affects a cold and early winter or warm winter at its peak. And now her gift is acting as an absorber of her powers to lessen it or possibly helping her control it without Y/N even realizing it. 

End of Flashback

“And that’s the end of the story. I keep this box around me to keep me from hurting other especially the ones that I love.” Y/N stated. 

Krioff can only look at her with admiration. He didn’t know that she went through a lot. Plus he couldn’t believe that her own parents even hated her for in the beginning. They didn’t even bother loving her first and showering her with the love she needs but he was glad someone what there to show her what love was and he wouldn’t mind if he’s going to be the reason why she opens up to people once again. 

He knows that its still too early to tell but he wanted to get to know her more and make her happy. He just wanted to be there for her because she doesn’t have anyone else. He wants to fill that void in her heart and although it’ll be a challenge he will take that challenge head on and conquer in no matter how long it takes. 

Paper summary: Harrell et al.,  (2016). Endothermic mosasaurs? Possible thermoregulation of Late Cretaceous mosasaurs (Reptilia, Squamata) indicated by stable oxygen isotopes in fossil bioapatite in comparison with coeval marine fish and pelagic seabirds.

[This paper is freely available, by the way!]

Hi all! This is the first in a new weekly series I’m going to be doing, in which I will be doing a short paper review each Thursday. We’re starting off big this week, with a delve into the world of stable isotopes. 

But Hayley, you say, what in the world are stable isotopes? 

Okay, time for some backstory!

The part with the backstory

Isotopes, as you may be aware, are atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons, and therefore different atomic weights. If you think back to chemistry class, or forward to chemistry class if you haven’t taken it, in which case this might help you get a leg up, you’ll remember or just be learning that each element is defined by the number of (positively charged) protons in its nucleus. So each atom of carbon has 6 protons, and if it has more or less, then that’s a problem, because then it’s not carbon. But within the same element they can vary in numbers of (neutral) neutrons. Neutrons are important for holding together an atom’s nucleus, because if you get a bunch of positive charges together in a nucleus they start to repel, just like if you get a bunch of elementary school-aged children together. Different isotopes act basically the same, and I can guarantee you that right now some of the carbon atoms you are using in your body have six neutrons, some have seven, and some have eight. These are referred to as carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14, respectively, and that number refers to the number of (protons+neutrons) in the nucleus. [Sometimes some isotopes are unstable and undergo radioactive decay. Carbon-14 does this. But that’s not really relevant to what we’re doing today.]

(Image: This is a carbon-12 atom. The yellow and red bits in the middle are the protons and neutrons. Not remotely to scale.)

Different isotopes of the same element act mostly the same (besides sometimes being radioactive and going berserk), so animals can take them up and use them. But they don’t act entirely the same, and that information can be used by palaeontologists to learn really cool stuff about past life. 

A big thing that isotopes can do differently is something called mass-dependent fractionation. That’s fancy-people-speak for “it’s easier to move things that are less heavy”, and it means that it’s easier to move things that are less heavy. 

One useful aspect of this deals with oxygen isotope fractionation. You are breathing oxygen as you read this, and if you are not then you will not likely be reading this for very much longer. Oxygen is also present in water, though, and water covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and makes up 70% of your body. It’s kind of a big deal, if you’ve never heard of it, and for our purposes it comes in two main flavours - water with oxygen-18, and water with oxygen-16. 

Oxygen-16 makes up 99.76% of all oxygen on earth, and oxygen-18 makes up 0.2% (the rest is oxygen-17, which no one cares about). This means that about 0.2% of water is heavier than the rest of water. This water is harder to move, because it’s heavier, and when evapouration occurs, oxygen-16 is more likely to evapourate because it takes less energy to move it.

But wait! Putting in more energy makes it easier to move heavy things, and this is exactly what happens. If temperatures are warmer, more oxygen-18 gets evaporated than does at colder temperatures. 

We need something to compare this to, because otherwise we’d just be measuring samples and it’d be hard to know what different numbers are referring to. For oxygen, we use the standard of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water, or V-SMOW. It’s not super important to know what that is. 

What is important is delta notation: δ18O (delta-eighteen-O) refers to how different the ratio of oxygen-18/oxygen-16 is from the standard. We use the symbol ‰, “per mil”, which is fancy people talk for 0.1%, for this, because the differences are really little. +1‰ means that there’s 0.1% more oxygen-18 in the sample than normal - that is, it’s 0.1% “heavier” than normal water. 

So, to get that all neatly said: Higher temperatures = More heavy water evapourates = the water that is left behind is lighter.

The part with the actual paper

Oh yeah, the paper! That’s why we were here. Okay, so mosasaurs were a group of big marine lizards (not dinosaurs) in the Cretaceous period. I wrote a little about them here. They looked kinda like this, and could get up to 17m/55ft long.

(Image: A mosasaur, a streamlined marine reptile with a large head, flippers, and a vertical tail fin. Image by Dimitry Bogdanov.)

Being lizards, mosasaurs have been traditionally thought to be cold-blooded - perhaps a reasonable assumption, as all living lizards are cold-blooded. However, it has been suggested various times in the literature as well as informally that mosasaurs may have been warm-blooded, owing to their assumed ecology as fast-moving pursuit predators and the fact that other marine reptiles have been demonstrated to be warm-blooded. 

In order to quantitatively test this, teeth from three species of mosasaur from the Mooreville Chalk in Alabama were collected and analysed to find the isotopic composition of oxygen. We need a control sample, though, to ensure that some geological process or change in atmospheric oxygen won’t mess up our data by adding or removing some heavy oxygen. In order to do this, the authors also tested samples from fish, turtles, and aquatic toothed birds that lived at the same time and place. That way they could place the mosasaur fossils in a reliable context. 

And the results they found are really interesting!

(Image: a graph showing δ18O values of different fossils from the Mooreville Chalk. I’ll do my best to explain what’s going on in the following paragraphs.)

Okay, so first things first. The fish and turtles tested have very similar δ18O values to each other. They both fall around the +21.2 to +22.0‰ range, or 2.12% to 2.2% heavier than “normal” water (because the “lighter” water has evapourated and left). This corresponds to a temperature of about 26-29°C (79-84°F). This is consistent with estimates of the temperature of the formation. This is what we expect from cold-blooded animals. Good! The method works!

Okay, next step. We can pretty safely assume that these birds were warm-blooded, and thus had a higher body temperature than their environment. Those tested had a δ18O value of about +18.5 to +19.5‰. That’s still heavier than normal water, but it’s less heavy than the cold-blooded animals (because the higher body temperatures led to more of the “heavy” water evapourating and leaving the body). This corresponds to body temperatures in the range of 36-39°C (97-102°F). This is right in the range of modern warm-blooded animals, and it’s another verification that the method works.

Okay, so what do the data say about mosasaurs? Well, it’s kind of a broad scatter. The δ18O values of the samples fall in the range of +19 to +21‰, which corresponds to a range 30-38.5°C (86-101°F). In other words, we’re getting body temperatures that are consistently warmer than the environment or cold-blooded animals, and in some cases are as warm as birds from the same environment!

What can we conclude from this? We can conclude that mosasaurs were probably warm-blooded, or, from the fact that some fall between the two, maybe “lukewarm-blooded” (which I wrote a bit about here). Either way, don’t think you’re safe just because it’s cold.

Kinktober 2019 Day 31!!

Any combination of previous prompts! (Temperature Play | Size Difference | Biting | Begging)

WinterIron, E, 2.6k, Monster sex..? |  AO3

This one is for @paranormalmoonlight5 and @gallifreyanz, who requested a follow up to day 22! If you haven’t read that one yet... uh... Bucky is cursed into a half-yeti monster. He’s cold and he has a giant dick. That’s it that’s the plot.

Holy shit y’all, I fuckin’ did it!! 31 days, 31 prompts!! Thank you so much to anyone who read and enjoyed these, you’ve kept me motivated like you wouldn’t even know and I just- my heart is so full, you guys. Thank you.

-

They both stare at Bucky’s clawed hand for a long couple of seconds. If they weren't both already naked and ready to go, Tony would probably laugh at the obvious pout an Bucky’s face, because the fangs and giant horns really kind of run the effect.

"Yeah, I'm thinking maybe I do this part myself,” Tony says, and does not hand over the bottle of lube. He shifts his weight, thighs already burning a little as he straddles Bucky’s hips and oh, he is going to ache in all the best ways when this is over.

Bucky makes a disappointed grumbling sound and shifts to press his huge hand to Tony’s chest instead, fingers spread wide. Tony gasps a little as those wicked claws come to rest so gently against his skin, Bucky’s cool fingers brushing over his nipples and making them perk up. The hot flush of arousal that shoots through Tony is an amazing contrast to Bucky's chilled skin against his chest and between his thighs, and it leaves Tony a little breathless.

Bucky’s other hand stays clenches in the sheets, because while most of Bucky is just a little colder than normal, the metal arm is ice cold. Bucky insists it doesn’t bother him, in that grumbly, single-syllable way, so mostly Tony has just counted it as part of the curse and tried not to worry about it. But he has plans for the night which will be kind of ruined if his dick shrivels up from the cold, so Bucky is just going to have to keep his extra freezing bits to himself as long as possible.

“Okay,” Tony says, hand only shaking a little as he squints some lube onto his fingers. When he reaches around behind himself his hand brushes against Bucky’s cock, cool to the touch but already fully hard and twitching at even that fleeting contact. Tony’s stomach swoops, because he’s going to have that, he is, god he wants it so badly. Impatient, Tony shoves two fingers into himself, letting out a soft groan as he immediately starts working himself open and the fire in his veins burns hotter.

Bucky makes a sound of his own as his hand slides around Tony’s side to spread huge across his lower back, equal parts hungry and concerned. “Slow,” he growls out even as his glowing eyes drag down from Tony’s face, over his flushed chest and past his full, heavy cock to where Tony’s fingers are disappearing into his own body.

“Forget slow,” Tony says breathlessly, gasping and bracing his free hand against Bucky’s chest as he shoves his fingers in hard. "Fuck- I have been thinking about this for days, okay, and if this dumb curse wears off before- god- before I get to split myself open on your massive cock, then I am going to be pissed.”

Bucky growls again, fingers pressing a little harder into Tony’s skin as he arches up. Tony moans when the motion shoves his fingers in deeper, Bucky’s cock pressing against his wrist again. “Tony,” he rumbles, voice extra low and growly, though Tony’s not sure if Bucky is trying to argue or egg him on.

Tony just grins, choosing to believe it’s the second option, and slides in a third finger. “So- fuck, so much more fun with you do this part,” Tony says with a soft laugh, rolling his hips back against his hand a little as he starts working up a rhythm again.

Bucky whines softly in agreement, his one hand moving restlessly over Tony’s back, to his hip, to his thigh, while the other clenches tightly in the blankets. His gaze is nearly heavy enough to feel, constantly shifting like he’s determined to catch every single one of Tony’s reactions, like he's filing them all away.

Once Tony is easily thrusting three fingers in and out of himself, moaning and grinding his cock agains the cool, firm muscle of Bucky’s stomach, he gasps out “okay, okay that’s- plenty. That’s good.” He moves to withdraw his fingers but is stopped by Bucky’s hand tightening on his hip and pulling him down, trapping Tonys hand between them and thrusting Tony’s fingers back in hard.

“No,” Bucky growls, eyes glowing brighter for a moment, “more.” He rolls his hips up again and Tony groans helplessly as the head of Bucky’s cock nudges against his back, huge and terrifying and mouthwatering.

“Yep,” Tony gasps, can’t stop himself from rocking back again, chasing even that little bit of contact, his head spinning as the heated knot in his stomach twists tighter. “Yeah, more, that’s- probably a good idea. Holy shit you’re fucking huge.”

Tony whines as he works in a fourth finger, his back arching sharply. Once he’s got all for fingers in up to the knuckle Tony is a little surprised to find that he’s collapsed down against Bucky’s chest, Bucky skin a cool relief against his own as Tony whimpers, alternating between arching up onto his own fingers and grinding down against Bucky’s stomach.

“Tony,” Bucky groans back, big clawed hand dragging down Tony’s back and coming to stop on his ass with a rough squeeze, holding him open and making it easier for Tony to fuck himself open with his fingers . “Tony,” he says again, caught somewhere between a demand and a plea.

“Yeah,” Tony says with a weak moan. The ache is a little harder to ignore now, and he's shaking as he starts twisting his fingers as much as he can, desperately trying to loosen himself up. His cock is leaking freely across Bucky's stomach at this point and if the don't hurry up they're not even going to make it to Tony's plans, he's going to come just like this, writhing on his own fingers and panting raggedly against Bucky's chest.

When he feels his orgasm start creeping up Tony forces himself to stop, stops grinding against Bucky's stomach and finally withdraws his fingers with a soft whine. "Okay, okay thats enough," Tony says like he can make it true through force of will, because if he doesn't get Bucky’s cock in him soon he might actually die.

He pushes himself upright and promptly loses his breath all over again at the openly hungry look on Bucky's face, like he's about thirty seconds away from eating Tony alive in the best possible way. Tony's hands are definitely shaking now as he reaches for the lube again, pouring a more then generous amount into his palm and then reaching back.

"Holy shit," Tony says again as he wraps his hand around Bucky's cock and he's once again reminded just how massive it is, his own cock throbbing as his stomach clenches in some crazy combination of fear and lust. "Fuck, I'm gonna feel you for the rest of my life," Tony mutters and he can barely hear himself over the sound of his pulse racing in his ears.

Apparently Bucky hears him just fine through, because he lets out a loud growl and his hips jerk up so hard that Tony has to clamp his thighs around Bucky’s sides to stay seated. With another impatient growl Bucky's clawed hand comes up to bat Tony's own of the way, taking over slicking himself up at what he apparently deems a much more appropriate speed. Which is probably fair, Bucky had only been able to watch as Tony worked himself open, grinding shamelessly against him the entire time, and Bucky is probably desperate for some relief.

With that in mind Tony doesn't waste any more time lifting himself up and within seconds Bucky is pressing the head of his cock to Tony's hole, huge and leaking icy cold pecome and Tony can't contain a shaking moon. Instantly he's rocking his hips down and back to meet the pressure, and even as loose as he is Bucky’s cock just slides and teases against him, making them both shake and moan. Bucky whines, high and desperate and pleading, and Tony gasps out "I'm trying, fuck, I'm-you're so- oh, ohh fuck."

Tony’s entire body jolts when the head of Bucky’s cock finally presses inside him, spreads him open, and for a second he can’t breathe. It's so much, it's right on the edge of being too much and yeah, it hurts more than just a little, but its not too bad, and Tony is having a hard time focusing on anything but Bucky’s face. His eyes have gone wide, glowing bright enough to rival the reactor in Tony's chest and his mouth is hanging open on a silent cry.

As Tony watches, Bucky’s eyes squeeze closed and his metal hand snaps up to slap at his forehead before closing into a fist, tugging his own hair. His eyes squint open again as his other hand paws desperately at Tony's side and he groans out “warm.” His hips jerk a little, and Tony gasps as Bucky’s cock slips a little deeper before he catches himself, his entire body shaking beneath Tony. "Warm," he gasps out again.

And isn't that an interesting thought. Tony had only been considering how much colder Buck is now, hadn't even thought of how much warmer he must feel to Bucky. "Good?" Tony asks, because he can't actually tell from Bucky’s face, and it might be too much.

Bucky's jaw is clenched like he's in pain, fangs flashing even in the low light, but he nods fervently. His metal fingers are still tangled in his hair near the base of one horn, eyes closed and chest heaving and the most gorgeous goddamn thing Tony has ever seen.

Despite all of that Tony has to take a couple deep breaths before he can convince his body to start moving, sliding down Bucky’s cock one amazing, agonizing inch at a time. By the time his ass is firmly settled down on Bucky’s hips again Tony's arms are shaking where they're braced against Bucky’s chest and he can't ever properly appreciate the chill of Bucky’s skin, too busy feeling like if he makes one wrong move he'll split open at every seam. He's not even aware his eyes are closed until they snap open again at the feeling of Bucky’s cool thumb brushing over his cheek.

“Tony," Bucky says, voice so rough it's barely a word anymore, and his expression is more concerned than anything at this point, even if he is still shaking with the effort of holding himself still. "Good?"

“I'm good," Tony promises, “I just need a second, I just-oh god I can feel every inch of you." The more he adjusts to feeling so god damn full, the more aware he becomes of the chill of Bucky’s skin, and the contrast means Tony can easily feel everywhere they’re pressed together, every individual nerve ending that Bucky’s cock presses against as it holds him open. “Fuck, can you feel that too, honey? Feel how fucking deep you are?”

"Please," Bucky whines, hand sliding down Tony's chest to his hip again, dragging in huge, ragged breaths that rock Tony in his lap, “please.”

Tony can’t turn down a request like that, so he locks his elbows, uses his still shaking arms to push himself up a couple inches before dropping back down with a loud groan. Bucky full on snarls, deep and vicious and that probably shouldn’t make Tony’s pulse jump, shouldn’t make his cock twitch, but it does, just like Bucky’s hand tightening on his hip until his claws press against Tony’s skin shouldn’t make him moan again. It does tough, Tony is moaning and shaking in Bucky’s grip and before he knows it he’s working himself desperately on Bucky’s cock, nearly screaming every time he slams back down and the head of Bucky’s cock drags over his prostate again.

“Bucky, I- fuck I can feel you leaking inside me,” Tony whimpers, switches to just rolling his hips down against Bucky’s when his arms and legs threaten to give out on him, just shifting and grinding Bucky’s fat cock inside him, too focused on the fact that he can feel every icy spurt of precome. “Oh- god, fuck I want to feel you come, want to feel all of it, please-“

Bucky surges upright and his arm slides around Tony’s waist tightly, holding him secure as Bucky shifts to get his knees under him and then using just that grip to start fucking Tony up and down on his cock in long, smooth strokes that have the head of his cock teasing at Tony’s stretched rim with every slide up. He swallows all of Tony’s moans and shrieks in a sloppy, toothy kiss that steals what little brain power Tony had left, leaves him scrabbling uselessly at Bucky’s shoulders and tugging at his hair. “Close,” Bucky growls when he pulls away from the kiss, moving to place a line of sharp bites down Tony’s throat.

Tony’s not sure if that was meant as a question or a statement, but he gasps out “yes, yes- fuck- ohh harder, harder please I- Ah!” He cuts off in a full on scream as Bucky gives him harder, thrusts up into him hard enough that it punches a soft hurt noise out of Tony’s chest, bites down on his shoulder hard enough that it has to draw blood, and then just keeps doing it as Tony starts clenching down around him, entire body shaking.

Bucky lets out a low, rumbling sound that might have been intended as a word, and then all Tony can do is toss his head back and gasp as Bucky comes inside him. Tony was right, it’s so much different like this, he can feel the icy chill of Bucky’s come spreading inside him, filling him up until there’s no more space, all he can feel is Bucky. Tony comes silently, to breathless and overwhelmed to even make a sound, writhing against Bucky as everything in his body clenches up hard, making Bucky feels that much more huge inside him.

Tony finally lets out a quiet groan as Bucky lowers him carefully to the bed, pressing soft kisses to his sluggishly bleeding shoulder. Bucky pulling out of him is an all new experience, drags a moan out of Tony as each wonderful inch slides out of him and leaves freezing cold come leaking down his crack to no doubt make a mess of the bed.

“Wow,” Tony chokes out, “that was- wow.” Slowly, he becomes aware that he’s moved from ‘shaking’ to ‘shivering’, and when Bucky finally leans back Tony can see that his chest is heaving like he’s just run a marathon. Or in Bucky’s case, maybe ten marathons.

“Wow,” Bucky repeats with a small grin, and Tony’s stomach flips again at the blood between his teeth. He carefully pushes Tony’s hair off his forehead, smile dimming a little as he says “cold.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you fuck a yeti,” Tony says, and laughs when Bucky rolls his eyes with a huff. “You’re looking a little flushed yourself there, big guy. Which, I have no idea, but I can’t imagine is good for a yeti- man.”

Bucky mouths something like looks like ‘yeti-man’ with another mocking roll of his eyes and Tony laughs again. It’s possible he’s a little slap happy, now that the adrenaline is wearing off. He’s also shivering a lot harder, and Bucky is startling to look concerned again.

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Tony says, then has to stop and clear his throat because wow his voice is rough, “we take a lukewarm bath. Neither of us will enjoy it, but it should get both of us closer to our normal temperatures.” Bucky gives him a skeptical look and Tony shrugs, pointing out “it’s that or separate baths.”

Bucky considers that for a moment, then huffs angrily and scoops Tony up easily in one arm, making for the bathroom while Tony laughs again.

Allies Ch6

The journey up north was longer and colder than expected on both sides. The Knights could have taken a boat which would be much faster than horseback, but it ran the risk of them being ambushed on water which they could hardly defend themselves on. Kai couldn’t swim, Zane has yet to have a buoyancy update so he would sink like a rock and while Jay and Cole could swim, Jay didn’t have much stamina and Cole’s strength is negated in water. Speaking of, the Earth Knight was still sore about their loss over the Golden Scythe. Figuratively and literally.

“When I find out who’s the dirty rat selling secrets to Garmadon, I’m gonna wring them until they pop.” Cole grouched, rubbing the back of his head that still throbbed with pain before placing the chunk of ice wrapped in a piece of cloth Zane gave him back there.

“We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we’re leaving the Taiga area and entering a thin strip of Tundra before we reach the Arctic zone.” Zane told them as he looked ahead.

“Jee. It’s almost like I couldn’t tell.” Jay huffed, able to see his breath as he rubbed his shoulders.

“Isn’t that a good thing? It means we’re getting closer to our next destination.” Kai pointed out.

“Yes. But it is a good and bad thing.” Zane told them, gesturing to the vast plains ahead. “From here on out, we won’t have any cover against Garmadon’s Generals nor the harsh cold of being this far up north. Should there be a blizzard, we may end up in trouble. While our horses can handle the cold for some time, a blizzard would be pushing it.” He warned them.

“Well we can’t stop here. We have to keep going and pray for the best.” Kai says, as he pulled the hood of his snow coat up.

“Luckily…” A voice says and they all jolted, whipping around with powers charged ready to attack. “The best is here.” Nya says as she walked out of the Taiga forest and they deflated.

“Nya” Kai says with a smile, walking over to hug his sister. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to stay with Emperor Wu?” He asked her, confused.

“Yeah- until we figured out Garmadon knew about the plan with the weapons. I was sent to warn you but I saw you already realised that.” She told them as Zane slid off his jacket he didn’t need to give her once she rubbed her arms. “He sent Ultra Violet to stop me and if it hadn’t been for an out cold dragon in the ground, I don’t think I would have made it here untouched.” She admits and Kai looked horrified.

“It would be best to keep this conversation going while we travel.” Cole spoke up and they nodded, Nya slipping on the hood.

Up high in the trees some distance away, Emperor Garmadon’s team watched them as they went.

“It will be significantly harder to stay out of sight while tracking them across the Tundra and Arctic biomes ahead.” Cryptor says as they all hovered mid air on their Floating Cougars.

“Indeed. But we must follow them nonetheless.” Kozu huffed as Lloyd pondered the situation.

“We’ll be able to keep our distance.” He told all three Generals. “There’s snow collected on the ground and the sky is clear for now. We will use their footsteps in the snow to track them.” He told them and they nodded, lowering to the ground and allowing their cougars to walk along the path they took.

"That will be a task easier said than done. I'm cold blooded. I wasn't made for cold temperatures." Pythor says with narrowed eyes at the cold that had his tail curling under itself to keep the tip somewhat warm. "Had I known we would be coming to a place like this, I would have packed warmer." He huffed.

"You're the only one to fail at doing so." Cryptor huffed as Lloyd pulled a thick coat from the carry on satchel the cougar had attached to its saddle.

“Take it.” Lloyd says, tossing it at Pythor and they looked at him surprised. “I’m not fully cold blooded like you are. You’ll need it more than me. It has dark crystals inside so it should keep you warm.” He says as he focused his eye on the empty horizon.

“This isn’t a point to be considerate. Pythor can-”

“We’re still taking a risk being out in the open like this. The Knights are ahead of us still. They have a greater number than we do now. It would do us poorly for us to have our numbers lower now. If the Knights plan on ambushing us with Pythor down then we’d be in serious trouble and they might be able to take back the scythe.” Lloyd says, cutting Kozu off, glancing back at them. “So if I have to get a little cold to ensure our success, so be it.” He says focusing ahead again and the three Generals were quiet- that is, until Kozu cuffed Pythor over the head.

“Ow!- em...” The serpentine was quick to cut off his protests at both Kozu and Cryptor’s pointed glares. “Thank you for your kindness, my Prince.” He spoke with a bow, not surprised when Lloyd hadn’t acknowledged him any further.

He lowered his head so he could rub the back of it, grumbling under his breath about Stone Generals and the toughness of his hand.

_______

“Is that it?” Jay asked as they stopped at the edge of a large glacier covered in snow, looking at the large conical structure of ice down below.

“Yes. Let us make haste. No doubt Garmadon’s Generals are close by.” Zane says then turned his shaking horse away from the edge of the cliff so they could travel down the easier slope.

“Will this place have a dragon too?” Kai asked Zane, riding up next to him.

“Well, Emperor Wu did say each location would be protected by a guardian and since a dragon was at the last, I’d say yeah. Only, this dragon will no doubt freeze us if we aren’t careful.” Cole says, scanning the area for signs of their enemy.

“Alright. Then Kai and I will head for the Shurikens while you, Jay and Nya will keep an eye out.” Zane instructed.

“Sounds solid to me.” Jay says, his face barely visible from the white fur lining the inside of the hood of his jacket, the sight pulling a small smile out of Cole.

He really was an adorable little gremlin.

“You’ll need to set up somewhere for the horses though. Much more of this cold and they’ll give out on us.” Nya says from her space behind Kai.

“Right.” Zane nodded as they moved in.

“The Shurikens of Ice must be there… And so will its guardian dragon.” Lloyd murmured to himself as they watched them move towards the structure.

“More reason for us to keep our distance.” Cryptor says irritably, the weight of his mechanical body sinking him pretty deep into the snow, despite his position lying on his stomach.

The same was also true for Kozu, the larger General sunken so deep into the soft snow that only his eyes were visible. It made for good camouflage however. They were adorned in black, a very striking colour in an endless wasteland of white. A gust of wind blew by then and Lloyd shivered despite him trying not to. His fingers and toes had long gone numb with the cold and despite the mask over his nose and mouth he wore, he was sure both were tinging blue by now. But none of that mattered. They had a mission and-

“Head back with Pythor and the animals to keep warm. We’ll keep watch.” Kozu says with a tone of dismissal though his voice was slightly muffled by the snow.

“This isn’t for consideration either.” Cryptor says, cutting off any protest Lloyd was about to voice. “How do you expect us to succeed if you go around succumbing to hypothermia and frostbite? You need fingers to hold the Golden Weapons and toes for balance if you've forgotten.” He reminded and Lloyd frowned, not pleased with that but knowing they were right.

Without a word, he shuffled his way down the small hill of snow before he got to his feet, walking over to the base of a blue glacier where they had used dark fire to carefully melt a cave in, the Cougars and Pythor close around the purple and black flames inside. Pythor wisely didn’t comment when Lloyd sat closer to the fire than all of them. He knew when to keep his mouth shut sometimes after all. Lloyd stared at the dark, dancing flame that bore the colours of his father. He wonders how he fairs…

___

“Emperor Garmadon. Emperor Wu is fortifying the Golden Peaks in preparation for the arrival of the golden weapons. He has arranged for a very powerful elemental master to guard the area until they return.” Shade reported to Emperor Garmadon from his throne as an Umbrian servant handed him his prepared helmet that sustained significant damage from the first battle with his brother in decades.

He however, left with mere scratches. Wu was the one who walked away with the most damage. But he had always been a fast healer. He has no doubt recovered by now.

“Which brings me to even more news.” Shade spoke in a lighter tone and Garmadon narrowed his eyes as he slid his helmet on.

“Well? Spit it out.” Garmadon says impatiently and Shade smirked, meeting the Emperor’s glowing red eyes.

“Emperor Wu has a son.” He says and Garmadon huffed through his nose, darkness escaping them as he did.

“That I’ve found out on my own. What else?” He asked Shade, dismissing that piece of information.

“He’s a wielder of wind, a Prince kept secret from even the middle walls of his palace and he is the one to guard the Golden Peaks. He is very powerful. Perhaps even more so than the Knights of Fulgor themselves.” Shade was quick to continue and Garmadon frowned, leaning back into his throne, thinking tactically.

Any child of Wu’s would hold great power. It was good Wu hadn’t sent him after the weapons, otherwise there would be a chance that Lloyd and his Generals would fail. But if he was guarding the Golden Peak he needed access to once he had the Golden Weapons, then he might have some trouble. Forging the Golden Weapons into the Megaweapon will take time. He smirked however. He too had an advantage. His Stone Army was impervious to wind. They were too heavy to be moved by even the strongest of windstorms. Garmadon chuckled to himself, clasping the fingers of his upper arms under his chin while folding his lower ones. As long as his son brings him the Golden Weapons, his victory was certain. 

“He’s also obsessed with the title of Green Knight since Wu suspects it will be him.” Shade continued and Garmadon rose a brow at that.

A weakness. Excellent.

“Tell me Shade, what is his name?” Garmadon asked him.

“His name… Is Morro.”

______

“Father, I don’t understand. Why send Nya? Why not send for me instead?” Morro asked his father as they walked through the inner walls of the palace.

“Because you are needed elsewhere.” Wu told him, glancing at the frustrated expression his son wore, the green cape attached to his dark green stained armor billowing behind him.

“Elsewhere?” Morro asked, bewildered. “Where else is so important that I should go there instead of on the quest to find the Golden Weapons that will decide the tides of this war?” He asked Wu, unable to comprehend anyplace more important.

“The Golden Peaks.” Wu says quietly and Morro stood firmer at that. “Should the Knights bring back the weapons, we will need uninterrupted access to the peak to craft the most powerful weapon of all and end this war once and for all. Should they fail… We need for Garmadon to not have any access to it.” He told Morro, turning to his son.

“I know you are impatient, that you wish to fulfil the Destiny of the Green Knight, but you must understand Morro. We do not have the weapons to confirm nor deny that you are. You must brace yourself for either great triumph… Or great disappointment.” Wu told him, walking over to place a hand on his shoulder. “One thing is certain. We will find out the true identity of the Green Knight soon, whether we’re prepared or not.” He says and Morro sighed through his nose then nodded, both of them continuing on their path to the stables where the rest of the Elemental Masters had gathered.

“You will lead them to the Golden Peaks and protect it until the Knights and I arrive.” Wu says to Morro and he nodded, taking his jet black steed the palace servants brought to him.

He then mounted it, grasping the reins tightly.

“I don’t see my horse anywhere.” Skylor spoke up, looking around to see everyone else with their horses.

“That is because you aren’t going with the others.” Wu says then nodded at them, signaling them to take off.

“What? Why? I-”

“I need you for something more urgent.” Wu says instead, cutting her off and Skylor frowned. “I need your help flushing out a pest…” He began and she looked intrigued.

______________

(Next chapter gets... Deep isn't the right word. Just know that we're getting into the story of how Lloyd lost his eye and it is not pretty. No gore is involved but they sure as heck mistreat the poor kid. Thanks for reading!) _____________ Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5

Why do fire type Pokémon always try and stay near active heat sources a friend told me because it’s to recharge themselves is this true?

Well, it can be. It’s easier to keep a fire going if its hot, I suppose is a good way to think about it, but... That’s not entirely accurate.

Often, its less about recharging, and more so about low effort. In a cold environment, your body has to work much harder to keep your temperature up! And in fact, it often will start shutting down blood flow to other parts of your body, like your hands and such, in order to keep your vital organs warm.

In a warmer climate, your body doesn’t have to work nearly as hard!

Fire types tend to have higher body temperatures, and often are similarly built to us; That is, they also can get frostbite, and aren’t immune to the cold. There are certain exceptions, such as Fire type Pokemon like Flareon, who’s thick coat helps insulate from both overheating and colder environments, but generally the rule of thumb is Fire types need to stay warm!