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#since my haircut makes it obvious i like women
englishstrawbie · 10 months
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"i think you should kiss me." "really?" "yeah." + AdamsFoster please 🙏🏻
Stef fidgets, pulling at the t-shirt she wears. This is stupid, she thinks to herself. She really isn’t the kind of person who does yoga, but when Lena suggested it, she said yes immediately. Apparently it will be good for her mind as well as her body – according to Lena. Ever since she caught Stef in her car, close to tears, after dropping Brandon off at the school for a get-to-know-you session before enrolling in the fall, she has been trying to find ways to help her.
If only Lena knew that she was part of the problem. That being in her presence stirs something inside of Stef that she has kept buried for years. That the way she looks at Stef leaves her feeling torn in half and exposed. That the moment Stef laid eyes on her, she knew that her life was about to change – if only she was brave enough to let it.
She is still fighting it, in her head, at least. She tells herself that it is just because she and Mike are in a bad place that she is misinterpreting Lena’s acts of kindness – the book she gave her, because she thought Stef would like it; the recipe for meatballs with hidden vegetables in the sauce that she thought Brandon would like; and now yoga.
Stef jiggles her leg nervously, looking around at the women that walk past her and into the building. Their hands are manicured (Stef can’t remember the last time she filed her nails), their hair styled (Stef has had the same haircut for the last five years), their clothes designer (Stef found her t-shirt in the back of her closet). The feeling that she doesn’t belong here, in the company of these women – and Lena – is growing, and she is about to leave when she hears a familiar voice calling out her name.
“Stef! Hi!” Lena says. “I’m sorry I’m late, I had an emergency with a broken fence panel.”
Stef opens her mouth, but no words come out. She is too distracted by how beautiful Lena is, even when she is flustered after rushing around. Her thick dark hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, and Stef follows a small bead of sweat as it trickles down her neck and chest, into the dip between her breasts.
Stef’s face turns bright red at being so obvious and she clears her through. “Oh, it’s fine,” she says eventually.
“Shall we?” Lena says, looking towards the door.
Stef nods and follows her inside. There is little time for small talk before the class starts and Stef spends the next hour trying to figure out how to get in and out of a bow half without falling over.
“I’m sorry,” Lena says as they step back outside into the sunlight. “Maybe we should have opted for an easier class.”
Stef shakes her head, telling her not to worry. She might not have been any good at yoga, but the looks and giggles they had shared made it all worthwhile. Stef knows she would say yes to anything if it meant spending time with Lena.
“So, coffee?” Stef asks, her voice hopeful.
Lena looks at her ruefully. “I ought to get home, I kind of left the fence half falling down so that I could make it to yoga with you.”
Stef’s heart drops with disappointment, until a thought springs into her mind. “I could come and take a look at it… if you want?”
“Really? That would be great,” Lena says.
“Sure. I’m pretty good with my hands.”
Stef groans inwardly at how it sounds, but Lena doesn’t say anything, just grabs Stef’s phone to input her address. Her house is only a fifteen minute drive away and the traffic is kind to them. Lena makes iced tea, sweetening it with fresh peaches, while Stef secures the broken fence panel with rope tied to a nearby tree to stop it from falling over and doing any serious damage – it is a temporary fix until a professional can do a proper job, but Lena is grateful nonetheless.
“You have a really lovely house,” Stef says, looking around at how neat and clean it is, everything in its right place – so different from her own chaotic house.
“Thank you,” Lena says. “You know, I’m really happy that you chose Anchor Beach for Brandon.”
Stef smiles. “Me too. I think he’s really going to like it there.”
Lena leans back in her seat. “So, if yoga isn’t your thing, maybe we should find something else.”
We. The word imprints itself on Stef’s mind.
“You don’t have to do that,” she says. “I’m sure you’ve got better things to do with your time than worry about me.
“I do worry about you,” Lena says. “I don’t like seeing you upset.”
“Why?” Stef asks curiously. “I mean, you barely know me.”
Lena shrugs. “Maybe I want to know you better.”
She leans forward and wraps her hand around Stef’s. Stef watches at the way Lena runs her thumb over the sensitive part of her wrist, her breath catching in her throat as their hands move in sync, until they are palm-to-palm, their fingers interlinking. It is crazy to Stef that something as simple as a touch can ignite so many feelings in her, yet she feels her whole body react in a way that she is not used to.
“Stef…”
Lena voice is low and soft, and the part of Stef that she hides away starts to resurface. Stef’s instinct is to push it back down and she jerks her hand away suddenly.
“I should go.”
“You don’t have to leave,” Lena says.
“I do,” Stef says. “I think… I think I shouldn’t have come here.”
Stef grabs her bag and starts to walk towards the front door, Lena in pursuit after her.
“We shouldn’t do this again.” She opens the front door, but pauses, looking back over her shoulder. “I think you’re amazing, Lena, but I have a husband, a family.”
“Are you happy?”
The question takes Stef by surprise.
“What?”
“Are you happy? With your life? With Mike?”
“You can’t ask me that,” Stef says, her skin prickling.
“Why not?” Lena says. “If you tell me you’re happy, then you can walk out that door and I won’t contact you again, unless it’s about Brandon’s education. But if you can’t do that, if you can’t tell me that your life is exactly how you want it to be, then…”
“Then what?” Stef interjects. “If I tell you that being with Mike isn’t what I want, if I tell you that the thought of going home, to our bed, fills me with dread, what happens next?”
Lena steps forwards and takes Stef’s hands, encouraging her to turn towards her. It ignites the chemistry between them once more and Stef closes her eyes, trying to fight it, but Lena is making it so damn hard.
“Then… I think you should kiss me.”
Stef’s eyes fly open and she shakes her head in disbelief. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Lena says. “I think you should kiss me and let yourself feel whatever it is you’ve buried away. Because you deserve to be loved and wanted for who you are, Stef, not who you think you should be.”
Stef’s eyes fill with tears at her words. If only it was that simple.
Lena tugs at her hand, closing the gap between them a little more.
“Kiss me, Stef.”
For the first time in her life, Stef listens to her heart instead of her head and leans in, pressing her lips against Lena’s. They are soft and sweet, and when Lena kisses her back, it is the most tender, most gentle, most loving kiss she has ever experienced.
When their lips part, a sigh of relief escapes from Stef – relief from everything that she has been carrying since she was a young girl. She hasn’t let it all go yet, but it is a start. And so, she closes the door and stays.
Romantic moment prompts
Thank you for the prompt @lifesizehysteria. Did you know that apparently today is 10 years since episode 1x04 aired?
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irlkisukeurahara · 1 year
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I love when people make designs for Zanpakuto Spirit Nozarashi. It's interesting. However my problem is that many of them just seem to be "Yachiru with tits." And that's a bit weird. Of course she'd resemble Yachiru, she split off her. But Nozarashi would not look identical to Yachiru, however they would look feasibly related. Think about our other obvious example in the series of the Zanpakuto spirit splitting in 2; Katen & Kyokotsu.
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We know that Kyokotsu split off (or Katen gave birth? I'm assuming they're using 'birth' as a metaphor considering Katen isn't a person.) from Katen. Granted, the nature of Kyokotsu is different from Yachiru, but there's the same general idea; the Zanpakuto became two people. Nozarashi split herself in two; Noza herself being the Shikai, and Yachiru being the Bankai. Nozarashi made Yachiru so that Kenpachi could always have her with him, even when he wouldn't communicate with her. Katen made Kyokotsu so that she could hide Shinken Hakkyoken (as......weird as that was.)
Why bring them up?
Because they are a pretty clear blueprint for how character design would work under the concept of the Zanpakuto splitting in two.
Katen and Kyokotsu are not identical. However, just by looking at them there's obvious similarities. They have the same eye color, hair color, skin color, and have almost the exact same color pallette in their outfits. (Kyokotsu does not have pink in her outfit, but Katen does.) They even have similar decorative hair pieces. However, they have slightly different eye shapes and obviously different haircuts. They both cover their eye, but not only in very different ways, but also the opposite eye. They reflect each other. They don't look like the same woman but older, they look like sisters.
It's safe to assume that Nozarashi and Yachiru would follow similar designing conventions. Nozarashi would have Yachiru's eye color, hair color, and skin color. She'd probably have a hairpin similar to Yachiru's. The color pallette of her outfit likely doesn't apply as Yachiru is in a shihakusho, due to passing as a Shinigami.
So, when you see fanmade Nozarashi designs, often they are just Yachiru with long hair and big tits, shihakusho and all. And it's fine to design a woman that looks like Yachiru with big tits and call her Nozarashi. Nozarashi probably would have big tits, I mean most BLEACH women do! But it has the same vibe as people turning Anya Forger into a 'hot 20 year old.' It starts to kinda reek of lolicon shit.
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To me, I've always envisioned Nozarashi looking like Yachiru's punk mom. (Especially if Katen "giving birth" was literal, rather than metaphorical.) For a few reasons. It says a lot about Kenpachi as a person. He had that protective, parental instinct over Yachiru since day 1. He's her dad. Nozarashi split off Yachiru so that Kenpachi would have a piece of her with him, so she could always be there for him. She loved him dearly. Kenpachi was Nozarashi's baby, while Yachiru was Kenpachi's. An older, parental vibe from Nozarashi would make sense to me. Not just judging by Katen & Kyokotsu, but by how Kenpachi's story played out.
The point at the end of the day, yes Nozarashi would look like an older Yachiru. But Nozarashi wouldn't just look like Yachiru with slightly longer hair and a nice pair of tits. At least put her in an outfit that isn't a shihakusho. Maybe an extremely ripped up kimono that's to the point it almost seems scantily clad. With it loosely tied so that her boobs are out. Make her face less childish. Put some creativity into it. Nozarashi is more than just Yachiru! If you're going to make a design for a character that doesn't have one, what's the point of just copying an already existing one in a way that makes you look like a lolicon?
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grrside · 1 year
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Metaverse Mischief (Male to Snowman TF, Modular cock)
A police officer has to solve a mystery in the toughest crime scene he's ever been in: the metaverse.
Metaverse Mischief
-a grrside story-
CHAPTER 1
Oh god, Jack Stunning... Now THAT was a stud.
How else could he be described? He was just a rookie police officer but you can bet your ass nobody else in the station looked nearly as good on that uniform.
With muscles which looked like they’d burst out of the tight fabric that imprisoned them at any second, this 27-year-old muscle god left the older officers embarrassed of their own pudgy frames.
An internal rumor making its rounds on the police station said that a quick glance at the thick nipples protruding through his shirt was enough to make any woman have an intense orgasm on the spot, which is why Jack preferred to maintain a low profile while off-duty by ordering his groceries online. Supposedly, making women of all types lubricate their panties at the supermarket was fun at first but after a few weeks the endless moaning became quite repetitive and unpleasant.
That may or may not have been an exaggeration but there was no doubt about this man being goddamn sexy. And handsomely strong to boot. You just had to look at his masculine face. His precisely short haircut contrasted with the little rebellious stubble on his square jaw and his abundant forest of dark chest hair. His deep piercing gray eyes made him look rough. Any criminal would piss their pants if they saw his thick eyebrows get angry. Damn, Jack Stunning meant really serious business, baby!
In fact, local criminality rates had hit an all-time low since Jack Stunning started kicking ass. And it sure was noticeable in the police station.
“Isn’t it kind of boring lately?” Said Carl, one of the most veteran and therefore pudgier officers. “I mean, Jack’s a great cop and all, but since he single-handedly takes care of all the thugs in the city we are stuck here doing paperwork. We don’t even issue speeding tickets lately... It’s like we are living in the most peaceful city in the entire world!”
The rest of the officers silently agreed with Carl as they ate their donuts.
Just then a computer programmer (he wore glasses and carried a laptop below his arm so it was quite obvious what his day job was) came running into the police station. His face was full of tears, like he had been crying in despair for hours.
“Woah! What happened to you?” Asked Carl, surprised that a citizen actually needed their help.
“They... killed...” Said the computer programmer between tears.
“Holy shit! There’s a murderer loose in the city?!”
The scrawny programmer took a deep breath and finally said the rest. “They killed my penguin!”
“Oh, animal cruelty! That’s still quite horrendous!”
The programmer shook his head. “They killed my pet penguin in Frosted Lands(tm), the premier winter-themed world in the metaverse! It cost me a buttload of money in microtransactions!”
“...Oh.” Carl’s face filled with disappointment. “Sorry kiddo, we don’t avenge video game character’s deaths.”
“You don’t understand! Killing someone else goes against the Terms of Service of this massively multiplayer online world rated E for all ages! Bending the rules like this... This can only be the work of a hacker!”
“But seriously kid, we don’t solve virtual crimes...” Carl said.
“It IS our duty to protect and serve every citizen of our fine city...” Said a deep and masculine voice. “...That includes our citizen’s virtual avatars.”
Carl’s jaw dropped. “Jack?! You’ve gotta be kidding me, you already are the perfect cop in real life, there’s no need for you to be the perfect video game character!”
“Me, perfect?” Jack laughed. “I’m just doing my work.” He smiled and his teeth shone so brightly that Carl got blinded for a second.
“Oh thank you, mister!” Said the computer nerd. “You’ve gotta catch that bastard! Who knows who’ll be next!”
Actually, Jack Stunning didn’t know much about today’s online gameverses and meta-whatevers. Technology had seemed to evolve so quickly over the last few years he lost track of all the technological advancements.
According to the nerd, the days of heavy Virtual Reality headsets were about to be over. With Virtualizer cameras, you could venture into the metaverse, for real! They were still in heavy development but the most rich enthusiasts had already gotten themselves one. They looked like very expensive webcams that scanned your body image and created a 3D model that acted like a digital twin on the screen. Jack understood that part, but no matter how thoroughly the computer nerd explained, Jack couldn’t comprehend for the heck of it how a simple camera was capable of transferring his entire conscience into a computer file.
Eventually the nerd gave up on trying to explain. “Let’s just say that the Virtualizer lets you go inside the computer, even though that explanation is extremely inaccurate...”
“I’m not sure about this, Jack...” Whispered Carl. “While you explore that virtual world thingy you won’t be here to protect the real world...”
“There’s no need to worry.” Replied Jack. “I know the city will be safe with all of you.” He pointed at the group of fat cops sleeping on the job.
“But still...”
“I am ready.” Jack announced. He was standing at attention in front of the laptop with his black police uniform covering his muscles.
“Ok, here we go...” The nerd turned on the Virtualizer and pointed it at Jack. The machine looked futuristic and expensive as hell.
“Now that I think about it...” Pondered Jack. “Does the camera virtualize my clothes as well? Because-”
*FLASH!*
There was a bright light and just where Jack had been standing there was a police uniform levitating up in the air. For a few seconds it looked like there was an invisible cop in the room, but the clothes fell into a pile soon after. There was a clinking sound as the handcuffs and the walkie-talkie Jack had been carrying fell to the floor at the same time.
“Holy shit! Jack’s inside the computer!” Carl pointed to the tiny pink smudge that was now Jack on the screen.
“Okay, so all that’s left to do is to upload him into the server.” Said the nerd. “As I said, the brutal killing took place in Frosted Lands(tm), a winter-themed virtual world in the metaverse with fun minigames and where no sexual content or violence is allowed...” The nerd glanced at the tiny confused naked stud on his computer screen, more specifically at his humongous cock. “...We’ll need to edit Jack’s body a little bit before uploading him there, genitals aren’t allowed after all. The default avatar is a guy wearing ski gear, but there are plenty others.”
“What do you think?” Asked the nerd to Carl. “Should we make him similar to how he looks right now? Or should we keep him incognito? Once he’s uploaded to the server it’ll be harder to edit his appearance without spending real money on microtransactions, so I suggest you choose wisely.”
Carl nodded absent-mindedly. Then he opened his mouth in shock. “Wait, you’re asking ME?” The pudgy officer realized he was in control of the fate of the little naked man running around on the screen. He felt powerful but also very, very afraid of screwing everything up.
The fat officer’s unimpressive boner was leaking in his loins. Holy shit, Jack Stunning was there on the screen, completely buttnaked. His hands were covering his crotch and this only served to make his hairy pectorals stand out even more because his 9-inch cock was impossible to conceal.
It was the first time Carl had seen Jack Stunning this vulnerable. The tiny little man stood in the center of the screen. He seemed to be protesting but he barely could be heard. His cries sounded like those of a squeaky little mouse.
“Is the size reduction a side-effect of the Virtualizer?” Asked Carl to the nerd operating the laptop.
The scrawny guy started talking with his mouth full of chewing gum. This nerd was gross. “Uh? Nah, he’s not small. The camera’s just too far away.” The nerd rolled up the mouse wheel and suddenly a crystal clear rendition of Jack Stunning’s hairy chest filled the screen. It was impressive how every single body hair had been perfectly recreated. “But it kinda grosses me out to zoom in so much on a *guy*.”
“Oh, of course...! It’d gross me out as well to see a muscular man like him all up and personal!” Carl lied. “...Although we should spin the camera 180 degrees around. You know, to make sure he’s being faithfully rendered...”
The nerd pressed down on the mouse wheel and moved the peripheral to rotate the camera. “Yes, he’s been virtualized with 100% fidelity. By the way, he missed a spot when he wiped his butt this morning. You can see some tiny specks of shit right between these two butthairs, right below the anus. Want me to zoom in between the buttcheeks too, uh? Of course I can. Seriously, you old geezers and your fear of technology...”
Jack Stunning turned around in surprise inside the empty virtual world. He was covering his penis with one hand and his butt with the other, embarrassed at the fact that the nerd and Carl were able to see him in 360º with every single intimate detail faithfully recreated.
“So, have you decided yet? What do we turn him into?”
Carl thought for a good while. Maybe a penguin? They were cute but Jack as an online enforcer needed to look more authoritative.
“Mmm... I know!” Announced Carl. “Let’s turn him into a snowman. It’d fit the theme. But make sure he looks as *stunning* as he looks right now... You know... Like a badass police officer.”
“I think I know what you mean...Let’s give it a try. Hopefully my modeling skills didn’t get rusty.” The nerd pressed the “Edit Mesh” button and Jack was forced to adopt a T-Pose with his arms. He blushed when he looked down at his dangling cock but he couldn’t move anything other than his eyes while he was being edited, as if invisible chains were restraining him in place.
Jack tried to protest when an oversized mouse cursor appeared and started hovering all over his body as it pondered what part of the naked man to sculpt first, but his screams were muffled. He realized there was an output sound volume button on the nerd’s desktop and it was currently set at the bare minimum.
“First off, this has to go.” Said the nerd as the cursor pointed at the 9-inch piece of meat. The nerd right-clicked it, then the giant cursor tentatively hovered over various woeful-sounding options like “Resize”, “Delete”, “Flatten” until it nonchalantly decided to press “Cut”.
The moment the cursor clicked it, Jack’s cock was gone.
“Mmmppphhh!” or “You bastard, you cut off my cock!”, which was what Jack wanted to scream.
Then the cursor created a new yellow folder out of thin air, named it “Unnecessary” and pasted Jack’s cock inside it.
“Why’s he so mad? His cock will be just fine in my folder. My Solid Storage Drive still has one year of warranty left.” The nerd commented as he saw Jack Stunning’s thick eyebrows move into a no-bullshit frown.
“Maybe he feels uncomfortable with another person keeping his cock away while he’s undercover...” Carl said. He’d surely be freaked out as heck in Jack’s situation. “I’m sure he’d rather keep it close.”
“Oh...” The nerd chewed in thought. “Ah, I know!”
The nerd opened the folder and right-clicked Jack’s penis, then selected “Edit”. First he changed the cock’s color to orange and applied a carrot-like texture. Then he squished his balls and the tip of the shaft so it’d look more like a carrot.
“MMMMMF!” Cried Jack, feeling all the changes applied to his cock in real time.
The expressionless cursor then attached Jack’s cock...er...carrot to his nose. Jack could feel his cock and nose fusing as one body part that shared each other’s functions.
The cursor applied a snow texture to Jack’s body, overriding all of his body hair in the process. He now looked like a very muscular sculpture made of pure white snow.
Jack winced with pain. His nipples had been turned into little perky rocks which were masquerading as snowman's buttons. The virtual pointer next turned Jack’s eyeballs into expressionless, solid black marbles and his lips into smaller pebbles which were positioned in a cocky grin. His facial expression now possessed the same anatomical complexity as a stick figure's.
The cursor applied a wooden texture to Jack’s muscular arms. A regular snowman would have feeble sticks, but this snowhunk had strong muscle tree trunks instead. They weren't firmly affixed to his now larger muscular torso however, these wooden limbs looked like they could fall apart from his body at any second. They were sticks lazily put on a snow body after all, it's not like they were glued.
The next thing to model was his clothing. Well, just a sheriff’s hat and a police tool belt carrying handcuffs and a badge were the only garments the nerd actually bothered to model.
“Just a few final touches...” Said the nerd as the cursor applied a reflective shader all over Jack’s muscles slowly and with care. This is what a statue must feel when it’s polished, thought Jack. It felt kinda nice.
The white six pack on his torso now had a faint rough surface as if it was made of actual snow. Jack’s body was white and shaved completely clean. This, unfortunately, included his oversized glutes, his buttocks now looking like two pristine white bowling balls.
When the cursor clicked “Save changes” Jack could move once again. He reached down under his toolbelt, a shiny bulge was all that remained of this snowhunk’s manhood. Jack rubbed his blank groin between his muscular white legs and he didn’t feel anything, but then he pinched his button-nipples and got so aroused he got a runny nose...er...carrot, from the slight touch on his sensitive buttons.
“That should do it... Oh, I didn’t notice Jack was muted.” The nerd increased Jack’s voice volume.
“He seems ready for action.” Said Carl looking at Jack’s expression.
“I’m not, it’s just that my mouth’s default idle position is a grin.” Jack admitted, his 9-inch carrot pointing down all flaccid with fear. “Err... I’m actually having second thoughts about this whole plan...”
“As long as our connection to Frosted Lands’ servers is stable there should be no problem.” Said the nerdy guy. “We can retrieve your virtual avatar’s body and restore it to full health with an app I have here on my laptop.”
Jack didn’t like how the nerd had said “virtual avatar’s *body*”, as if he could end up a corpse. It was a game designed for all ages, right? What could go wrong?
“Ok, beam me down into the servers, nerd guy.” Said Jack, keeping his cool. As cool as a snowhunk with no pants could be.
“Will you guys please stop calling me ‘nerd’? My name’s Steven...”
Carl was excited. “I can’t wait to see Jack Stunning in action! Jack him up to Frosted Lands, nerd guy!”
The nerd guy sighed and opened the app portal to Frosted Lands. The snowhunk walked towards it and the moment he touched the portal Jack Stunning’s data left the safety of the nerd guy’s computer and traversed the wild, strange world that is the internet until he arrived at his destination...
...
“...Why has the screen gone black?” Asked Carl.
“We lost our connection to Jack!” Cried out the nerd in a panic. “Damn! That hacker! He must have disabled our firewalls, or...! Oh, wait. It’s just that the movie I was downloading ate up my data cap... Uh... What’s your WiFi password?”
CHAPTER 2
While panic reigned in the real-life police station, Jack’s login process into his new virtual existence had already been completed. The muscle snowman stud clad in just a police officer’s hat and badge was in awe at what he saw. “Wow, so this is what the fuss is all about. This is the metaverse...”
The mighty metaverse looked like an extremely generic winter wonderland except for the fact that every single object you could see carried a price tag. Candy canes stuck on the floor, 5$ each. An igloo hut that served as a home, 5000$. Hot cocoa, 4$. An emote to drink from a cup of hot cocoa, 66$.
“Wowzers, I feel like I could spend my entire life savings in just five minutes if I'm not careful.”
But there was no time to shop around, Jack Stunning had a criminal to catch. He better find some clues or vital witnesses. Jack first asked a man dressed up like Santa, but the conversation went nowhere as he turned out to be just a mindless NPC advertising a new cola drink.
After this embarrassing disappointment, Jack saw lots of characters performing the same robotic dance moves to non-existent music which he could only assume to be... Real players!
One of those real players, one who wore a male default avatar with ski gear, approached Jack. “Hey, are you a newbie?”
Jack’s inexpressive black marbles for eyes blinked. Was this random person talking to him? The cop is the one who should be asking questions!
The muscular snowman whispered to the other side of the screen. “Eh, Carl and nerd guy, a pedestrian is asking me if I’m a ‘newbie’. What does that term mean?” But nobody answered. The connection to the real world was still spotty. Figures. He would have to improvise.
“I’m not a newbie, I’m just new here.” Jack answered with a straight face.
“Cool, bro.” The stranger said and stood there, still and quiet, for a few long and awkward seconds. Jack wondered what expression the guy was making behind the ski balaclava. It was very strange talking to a virtual avatar which may or may not be an accurate representation of the actual player. Hell, the stranger could either be a fat greasy old guy or a hot chick using a male voice filter.
“My player name is NotAGrifter#34959.” The stranger said and performed a handshaking emote that caused him to handshake the air in front of him in an eerily, uncanny valley way. “I like your avatar, bro."
Jack looked down at his muscular bare torso made out of cold, pristine white snow. “Oh, thanks. By the way, have you seen anyone acting suspicious around here-”
The stranger took a step forward and pointed at his chiseled six pack. “So much attention to detail. Especially the muscles. Is it custom-made?”
“You could say so. But-”
The stranger took another step forward. “Who made it? Where did you buy it from?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly buy it, because-”
The stranger got extremely uncomfortably close to Jack. “How much would you sell it for? What payment methods do you accept? Would you trade it for this limited edition scarf?”
Jack didn’t know how he could explain to this stranger that the snowman avatar was all he had and that it had been modeled using his own real-world body as a literal material using state-of-the-art Virtualizer technology. “It’s... it’s not for sale...”
“Ok. What about the accessories? The handcuffs? The police badge? How much for the buttons?” The random stranger reached for Jack's hard pecs and squeezed the button that used to be Jack’s left nipple. Jack couldn’t help yelping in a shriek of unexpected pleasure. It may have looked like a round pebble masquerading as a button but to the snowman it felt like an extremely sensitive part of his own body. Jack's nipples had always acted like remote controls for his arousement level, and they were literally hard as a rock right now. The hunky snowman’s cock twitched and hardened in such an abrupt and exaggerated way it was cartoon-grade comical.
“Oh my *beep*ing god!” The stranger was so excited that he had triggered Frosted Lands(tm)’s patented censor beep. “The carrot has animations included?! How much do you want for that carrot?”
Jack blushed. He had almost forgotten his cock was now a carrot ‘nose’ visible to everyone. He instinctively tried to use his wooden muscular arms to hide his orange nine-incher from view, but his short wooden twigs did a very poor job at covering up the gargantuan erection that hung on his face.
NotAGrifter *NEEDED* that carrot. Wearables with animations were worth much more than regular accessories. He was sure it would fetch a lot in the black market of limited edition items were Jack to be unfortunate or gullible enough to lose it. He wondered if it included any other emotes...
Jack shrieked when the stranger suddenly and with no warning flicked the tip of his erect nose. The phallic carrot swayed up and down and hardened even more. Jack's poorly-made caricature of a human face blushed. “Please, don’t!”
“It even has mucus fluid simulation, so much attention to detail!” NotAGrifter said, completely unaware he had just touched Jack’s penis and that the dripping mucus was actually his precum. He reached for all nine inches of it and squeezed hard.
A giant user interface window appeared in front of Jack's eyes. “NotAGrifter#34959 has sent you a trade request for your currently-worn item, ‘Snowman’s Carrot (Nine inches-long)’, accept or decline?”
The big sign obscured the muscular snowman's line of sight. "Woah! How do I get rid of this thing?!" Jack panicked as he struggled to press the floating 'Decline' button blindly with those fragile and unnecessarily-complex-to-articulate twigs of his.
"Trade request accepted. You gave the following item(s) away: 'Snowman's Carrot (Nine inches-long)'. You received the following item(s) in return: 'Nothing'." The floating user interface window cemented the deal.
Jack was dismayed. "NO! That's not what I wanted to do!"
The system message vanished as fast as it had appeared. NotAGrifter grinned with satisfaction under his balaclava when Jack's cock ultimately detached from the snowman's face with a comical 'plop' sound effect.
"You bast*beep*ard! Give it back!" Jack tried to grab his former cock and balls but his upper limbs made up of tree branches passed through the obscenely large vegetable as if they were intangible. "What the?!"
"NotAGrifter#34959 is not accepting trade requests at this time." A small warning informed the snowman.
The metaverse didn't follow the same rules as real life. Players couldn't just take another player's items by force, no matter their difference in physical strength. It was meant to give players a sense of ownership over their virtual belongings as they wore the latest fashion cosmetics they bought with real currency, furnished their virtual homes with all the expensive furniture they had gathered in their adventures, or even speculate with them in the marketplace which functioned just like an auction house. Unwanted property that didn't fetch a good price could also be permanently deleted from existence so it wouldn't waste valuable inventory space on the server.
And Jack's genitals were now legitimately NotAGrifter's property, which meant that the shady player could do with them any of the above as he pleased.
"Impressive, bro. The texture work is incredibly detailed." NotAGrifter traced a finger on its surface. "It's slightly redder on the tip and there are veiny-like things along the shaft that give it a healthy and mature look. It's a damn fine vegetable, bro. I have seen a lot of snowmen's carrots but none as long and thick as yours, bro."
"That is... Uh... Nice of you to say, I suppose..." Jack blushed. "...But yeah, you've had your fun examining it, how about giving it back?"
The masked man was engrossed by Jack's thingy. "Oh, wow, it has a lot of animations, bro. When I squeeze it right below the tip it grows thicker! But how do I make it release all the sticky goo it has stored inside? It looks like it really needs to burst, bro!" The guy shook the huge thing around, squeezed it and tickled it.
All of this would be much easier on the undercover policeman if he didn't feel every single touch and prod on his cock with the same intensity as if it was still physically connected to him.
The poor carrot was so desperate for release that it twitched on the ski man's hands. It was a very sensitive, long and hard organ and all the constant teasing was making it go through a living hell.
"I want to see it blow a huge load!" The ski man said as he lashed all nine inches of it as if it were a whip. "C'mon! How do I make it sneeze?"
It was too difficult for Jack to keep his cool while being this turned on. "Please, ahhh, can you give me my carrot back already, ohhhh..." He began thrusting his muscular snow-white hips forward as his arousement was too much. But no matter how much the big policeman hilariously humped the ground and scratched away at his blank crotch, his erect genitals were still at NotAGrifter's mercy. Release was so close, yet so far!
"This carrot is so rare..." NotAGrifter was in love with the valuable item and seeing how desperate Jack was to recover it, the shady character knew exactly what he had to do.
...
"Thanks for showing me your carrot, bro. I'll work hard to earn one that looks as impressive someday. You can have it back." The ski man said against all odds.
"Phew, I thought for sure you were a grifter scheming to scam me." Jack said. "So gimme, gimme! And with haste, please!" Jack extended his arms, eagerly awaiting the orange dildo of a carrot.
"What? No, bro. I'm not a grifter. That's the reason I chose this username. See? I'm not a grifter, therefore NotAGrifter fits me like a glove, bro."
"Ok, ok, just give me my co- I mean, my carrot back!" Just a few seconds more and he would jizz all over the ski man's hands.
"Sure thing bro. Woah, bro, your face is so red right now. You got a fever? I don't think it's a good idea for a snowman to be so hot." The ski man adjusted his ski glasses with concern.
"We can discuss that *after* you give me my thingy back!" Jack danced with desperation. He was so close. The slightest tease could make him cum now...
"But snowmen melt if they get too hot, bro." NotAGrifter said as he casually squeezed Jack's hard dick.
"Man, I can tell you're strong and fit with your thick pristine white muscles telling everyone who's boss the moment you enter the room but behind that whole cold blooded facade what you really crave is the ice cold touch of a fellow male snowman that puts you in your place." He waved the hard cock around as he explained.
"Hot snowmen need to keep their temperatures low by embracing other snowmen. It's in their DNA, that's why you find so many wild snowmen wrestling against each other around here. I have seen them, bro." He squeezed harder and more passionately...
"Those snowmen bear hugging each other, the hot sweat on their muscles evaporating the moment they touch each other. You crave that, don't you? Snowmen who get too hot end up as white goop on the ground." ...And harder and harder...
"Yes, their snow bodies are so hot they melt into their own bodily juices. You don't want that happening, right? To feel so hot that you melt into your own white stuff because of craving too much the touch of hunky men all over you? Because that's what you are, a mindless muscle-craving snowstud...
Oh, you 'sneezed' all over. You ok, bro? You left quite a big mess."
Jack's detached cock had jizzed like a huge fountain. His muscles were losing definition as the snow that gave form to his body melted with pleasure. He needed a quick breather for his overloaded brain to 'unmelt' itself from the orgasm. "Ohhhh, man..."
"Oh right, I had to give this back to ya."
Jack saw another trade window. NotAGrifter had offered his cock back. The snowman didn't feel himself in a hurry to have his genitals back post-nut, but he groggily accepted and the carrot appeared right in front of him, floating and spinning mid-air.
"See ya, bro!"
"Yes... 'Bro'... Phew, that was intense..." The snowman could barely pull himself together. He couldn't believe he had gotten so hot and bothered by some anonymous rando's online nonsense!
Jack felt groggy, as if had drunk a lot of alcohol, his brain cells melting into hot water. Fortunately, it didn't take long for his body to revert to his hunky self of solid muscle.
"Oh, by the way, how do I equip my carrot?" Jack realized it wasn't as simple as just sticking it in. The damn thing didn't want to get attached back to his face. He probably had to use the equipment menu, but Jack was clumsy as heck with computers and user interfaces. He would need help, but NotAGrifter had already bolted off to stalk another new player.
"Well, let's try this. It can't possibly be too hard, could it?"
CHAPTER 3
Meanwhile in the real world, Carl was very scared. "What if the hacker has attacked Jack?" Carl pondered out loud. "Damn it! We should never have sent our best man on such a dangerous mission!"
"This should do the trick." Said the nerdy computer programmer as he restored the police station's connection to the virtual world and Carl practically jumped with joy, as he couldn't live a second more without seeing his hero.
However the screen greeted them with a very grotesque image instead.
The nerd was visibly disappointed. "What the fuck, Jack? We go away for less than ten minutes and you're already messing up the avatar I so meticulously designed?"
"Oh... Er... Hi guys..." Jack was very embarrassed. "Look, I can explain... I messed up dealing with the equipment menu and well..." He said with his mouth full.
The equipment menu had looked simple enough. But Jack still thought of his carrot nose as his cock so instead of equipping it into his face he mistakenly attached it to his groin. He tried correcting his mistake by selecting his face and his crotch and then pressing the "attach" button. The very next thing he knew his meaty snowhunk lips were sucking his own monstrous cock, still full of sticky goop after his recent nut.
"Dude! You're fucking self-sucking yourself in public! You look too obscene! What if the censor bots see you?!" The nerd furiously said.
"Sorry..." Jack apologized, his torso still stuck bended at 180 degrees, his anus wide open for everyone to see.
"Censor bots? What are those?" Carl asked the nerd, the fat man unable to shift his eyes away from the naughty snow hunk performing autofellatio.
"They're artificial intelligences that moderate the metaverse. If they catch you violating the Terms of Service they can ban you from the game forever... Or even worse still, reset your battle pass progress in order to make you play more."
"Woah, they're monsters! That's too cruel."
The nerd opened the equipment menu and in a flash unglued Jack's face from his crotch and restored his cock carrot back to a innocent-looking nose. But it was all in vain, because a big robot with a shiny black metal surface and a forbidden sign for a face had already made its act of appearance in front of Jack.
"YOU VIOLATED THE TERMS OF SERVICE. THEREFORE YOU ARE PERMANENTLY BANNED FROM ALL SERVERS AND YOUR CUSTOM ASSETS WILL BE CONFISCATED BY OUR GLORIOUS COMPANY." The robot said in a deep monotone voice.
"That doesn't sound good..." Jack said.
Carl was in full panic mode but the nerd was even more worried. "Custom assets? But Jack, *you* are those custom assets... Uh, oh..."
"Does that mean they're confiscating Jack?!" Carl yelped.
"Yeah, Jack will be turned into a file that belongs to the metaverse's president. Then most probably they'll churn out infinite copies of him that will be handed out as a battle pass reward next season. If they turn him into a pet he'll retain some degree of autonomy but if they turn him into a skin he'll just be an empty husk of himself for people to wear."
"What?! I don't want to be a prize for people to claim!" Jack protested.
"They can't do that to him! He's a human being, not some asset that can be copied and passed around!" Carl was pissed.
"Of course they can do that. It's all written down in the Terms of Service nobody reads but we all agree when we play." The computer programmer said.
Carl was sweating like a pig. "What can we do then?"
The arm of the robot turned into a big cannon, locked and loaded, pointing at Jack. "PREPARING TO TAKE OVER THE OWNERSHIP OF THE NAUGHTY ASSET..."
Jack prepared for the worst. He kept the inexpressive black marbles he had for eyes closed. "So this is my end. My consciousness will be erased and then the rich CEO who owns the metaverse company will profit out of my own corpse of a body forever and ever... I hope I become an uncommon battle pass reward, at least..."
An explosion erupted...
And then Jack opened his eyes. The censor bot had been demolished, only a pair of smoking robot legs remaining. "What? But how, who...?!"
There was a person. An individual enveloped in blue, standing like a sentient blue flame of bright burning fire. He was holding the censor bot's head in his hands. The celestial figure crushed the barely functioning thing with his bare hands like it was made of paper.
Jack was speechless. Whoever this thing was, it was his savior. "T-thank you...!"
The blue man turned around. He was completely devoid of hair and clothing. His body consisted of blue flames that shone brightly in the darkest of places. "I simply did what I must." His voice sounded distorted, like he was using some sort of filter or voice modulator. Talking about distortion, there was what looked like an aura of garbled graphic artifacts surrounding him.
"Jack, be careful! That graphical distortion and that overpowered strength... He must have modified his own code!" The nerd said on the other end. "That must mean he's..."
"That's right, you could say I'm a hacker." The figure said.
"Yikes! He can hear us!" Carl said with surprise and fear.
"But he doesn't strike me as a bad guy." Jack said. "He just saved me from becoming a simple game asset."
"That may be true, but..." The nerd said. "My pet penguin was killed by a hacker! What if this guy is the killer?!"
"I'd never use my hacking prowess to harm other players. I wouldn't want my living space to be filled with violence. However, I may know who killed your pet."
"Uh?!" The nerd pressed his face into the screen.
"The company who claims to own the metaverse is running a disprestige campaign against hackers. I wouldn't be surprised if they are blaming us for the bugs on their own software." The hacker put his hands on his sides, seemingly disgusted. "Not only are they shifting the blame to us, but it makes people more accepting of their censor bots blasting people around. It's a double win for them."
"So you're telling me... My pet penguin died because of them..." The nerd's face filled with tears. "Dammit! I was so invested in the metaverse, but in the end it was all just a lot of money thrown down the drain!"
Jack was thinking hard about the whole thing. They had solved the mystery of the killer of the nerd's virtual pet. But the killer was a much bigger enemy than he initially thought. It wasn't some random person, it was the richest company on Earth.
"That's it, I'm quitting the metaverse forever. It was all a big bunch of lies from the start." The nerd sobbed.
Carl looked at Jack. "Well, that's another case closed for Jack Stunning. Should we log you off now?"
"I'm going to stay a little bit longer... There's something that bothers me. Nerd?"
"Yeah, the nerd is annoying as hell for me, too." Carl retorted.
"That isn't what I meant." Jack tried to look directly at where he thought the nerd was. "I just wanted to say that I don't think the metaverse is all bad.
I've found weird people for sure, and the terms of service are dubious at best, but I've also found people that look like complete grifters at first yet don't turn out to be grifters but great roleplayers instead and I've also meet people with differing views to mine that are willing to help complete strangers, like this hacker.
What I mean to say is that maybe, just maybe, if we let the metaverse grow with the help of what matters most, that is, the people, it could turn out not to be a total load of bull*beep*shit."
"And that's the true meaning of the metaverse!" Carl added.
The nerd stopped sobbing. "...So what you're trying to say is that there's hope for this place?"
The snowman stuck his white chest out with pride and confidence and made a thumbs up with his tree branches. "That's right!"
"Of course there is." The hacker joined in. "I love the metaverse. As I mentioned, it's where I live." The hacker was being literal. He explained he had wasted all of his life savings to buy a Virtualizer and now lived as a permanent resident of the metaverse, his old real life self be damned. "And now, reborn as FlameBlue, I'll fight to the bitter end for a free and open metaverse... Or at the very least one that allows nudism."
"What a noble cause." Jack admitted. "If you ever need any help in your fight let me know, Flame. I have to return the favor after all!" He smiled warmly and shook the hacker's hand. He casually noticed that the nudist man's flames tickled but didn't hurt.
And that's how Jack Stunning's first case in the metaverse ended. However, Jack's fight for justice in this new world had just begun. It would be a long and hazardous journey, that was for sure, but the star policeman felt pumped and ready for action.
"By the way, Flame." The snowman eventually asked FlameBlue. "If you're a nudist, why didn't you choose a bigger willy for your avatar? Looks very embarrassing to be flopping that tiny thing around!"
"Err... It's based on my offline penis..." The nudist hacker responded, his blue face tinting red with shame. "I didn't modify it one bit..."
"Oh."
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meera000 · 4 months
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comme des filles
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(sandy liang)
on a very cold day last month i got dinner with one of my closest friends. when we were bundling up to go back outside, she laughed and said i looked “very covered.” ngl it took me aback a little! modest fashion does not cross my mind at all— no part of my lifestyle would call for it, nor do i really consider it when getting dressed. for me it’s more like What shapes can i make today? what can i Do with my body? and most importantly how can i Function?
so like maybe my pants are too baggy and my skirts too long. but also that’s just my style. i’ve been doing the baggy/loose bottoms since i started understanding how to dress myself. in tenth grade one of the theater kids in skinny jeans told me my green fatigues were “ridiculous” (no clue where they are now or what they’re doing, but at the time they looked like they had never given any thought to how they dressed). and in freshman year of college i received a text from one of the madewell-wearing girls— i wish i still had a screenshot but it went along the lines of this:
heyyy remember when you started wearing those edgy baggy pants sophomore year and we all judged you for it?* well now i’m scrolling through urban outfitters .com and there are so many baggy mom jeans. you were ahead of the times #fashionicon
*if there is one part i can remember verbatim it’s this question. i did not remember her in particular judging me to my face so that was kind of cray
last month i watched laini ozark’s “things that make you instantly stylish” video and she mentions baggy/unflattering outfits. Hooray i’m stylish!. in all seriousness tho everything she talks about makes sense because the wearer is choosing to wear that thing. it’s all intention. an edgy haircut, a red lip, a pop of color bag, intention. i lean towards baggy clothing out of habit and a pure enjoyment of it. i started doing it to hide my body but i’m not as insecure about my body anymore, and yet it’s stuck. i think it’s fun to look a little cartoonish. i like when people can’t tell what my body looks like because they don’t need to know everything.
BUT then there’s the whole femininity thing. i don’t know how to be a Girl or what that could mean. i’ve felt it FORever. i hang out with groups of girls and i feel odd. and most of that oddness lies in how i dress. it’s not even like i dress outlandish or all that unique at all! i’m basic! but my pants take up more space and that paired with the loudness of my voice makes me want to tear myself to shreds. i saw someone on tiktok ask “where did the women who are beautiful and quiet learn how to do that?” and i’m always wondering the same thing. and it always comes back to desirability. such bullshit but i’m not going to pretend like i don’t feel it. 
at this point in time it feels like girlhood is reduced down to things. not necessarily all the time, but people like to find it in curtain bangs and all those little bows that go on everything (it reminds me of how in cartoons the female characters have eyelashes to indicate that they’re Girls. adding bows to your christmas tree is like adding eyelashes on the female cat from garfield). Girlhood as the internet has decided in 2023 doesn’t come from Feeling but rather from what you have. You need your dyson airwrap and sol de janeiro, among god knows what else.
there’s such a specific way that these cool Girls dress now. i can’t fully describe it but it’s what’s on pinterest and i see these cool girls come into my work all the time. they all know something!!! and they look so cool and they’re not “too covered” or “ridiculous.” I want to be one of them because of course i want to feel like a part of something. but also that’s just not my style. and at the end of the day what this “something” values is reducing themselves down to things to appear more Dainty and Childlike, which is harmful in the long run for obvious reasons. growing up is a privilege. you can’t prevent aging and you shouldn’t prevent growing into the person you are.
that sandy liang ring tht says I’m going to be my own kind of princess— exactly that
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(I had a nasty evening so I decided to treat myself/y’all with some more swashbuckling/pirate au stuff)
Jaskier was three days into his ‘captivity’ aboard the Kaer Morhen when he decided he’d like to flirt with the Captain. They hadn’t captured another ship since they’d taken everything off the one he was traveling on, even though they’d passed a few bountiful-looking galleons.
It appeared that they were on their way to another country entirely. Probably somewhere they could sell off the stolen cargo. The crew would likely spend a few nights in town wasting their shares on drinks, tattoos, and women before heading back out to sea.
He wondered if they were going to send a ransom note back to Lettenhove Estate and force him to stay ashore until his Father arrived. He shuddered at the thought. “Cold?” that now-familiar gravelly voice questioned. Geralt stood in the doorway to the galley, arms crossed over his chest and cutlass dangling from his hip. Jaskier tried not to tear up at the sight of him looking so cocksure and relaxed. He’s so fucking gorgeous. Is this a curse or a blessing?
“Not cold, just had a nasty thought.”
“What could possibly be worrying your pretty little head?”
Pointedly ignoring the fact that Captain Geralt had called him pretty, Jaskier sent the man a wan smile. “Not looking forward to going home.”
“Hmm.”
____________________________
Geralt could not find his dark red kerchief anywhere. It had been a favorite accessory of his since he’d picked it off a silk-trading ship last year and it did a damn good job of keeping his long white hair out of his eyes. He had others that he could wear but the red one was special and being a superstitious sailor, he’d prefer to have it back in his possession.
But it was missing! On a ship! It had to be in his cabin somewhere, because where else could it possibly be? After a solid ten minutes of searching, the Captain gave up. He grabbed a strip of purple fabric from the chest at the end of his bed and used that to tie his hair back instead. 
I hope that damned thing turns up so-
Oh, there it was. It was swinging through the rigging on Jaskier’s head. The aggravating young noble had clearly spent time arranging his hair to make it stand out; there was no other way to make the kerchief so painfully obvious. The sun was practically glaring off the shiny material as he moved around the top of the ship’s mainmast like a seasoned professional. 
“Jaskier!”
“Aye, Captain?”
He’d taken to using more nautical language lately and Geralt wasn’t sure if he enjoyed it or if it grated on his nerves. Perhaps a bit of both. Does the lad think he’s staying forever? “Get down here.”
With a short series of death-defying and heart-stopping maneuvers, Jaskier dropped gracefully to the deck in front of his Captain. He hooked his hands together behind his back and smiled sweetly up at Geralt. “Aye, sir?”
“Give it back.”
“I don’t know what you mean, sir.”
“Give. It. Back.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but you’re going to have to be more specific than that.”
The twinkling of those siren’s eyes and the quirking of his mouth suggested that Jaskier knew exactly what Geralt was asking for and was still playing the fool. The Captain rolled his eyes and reached out to take the strip of fabric out of the idiot noble’s hair but suddenly Jaskier was gone. He’d scurried back up into the rigging and disappeared against the blue of the sky. “Give my kerchief back, Jaskier!”
“Why? Is your hair so lustrous and thick that you need two ties to hold it back? Perhaps it’s time for a haircut, Captain.”
“I’m coming up there and then you’ll be sorry.”
Geralt had quite forgotten that they had an audience in his crew. Eskel and Lambert were close to tears from holding back their laughter and a few of the others were hiding grins as well. 
The White Wolf reached out to take hold of a rope and found it suddenly loose and useless in his hands. Jaskier had pulled it straight out of the rigging. Geralt growled and took hold of the rope ladder that connected the deck to the mizzenmast. His prey still danced and jigged atop the yardarm of the mainmast, the Captain’s red silk tie flickering in the wind as he did. 
At last the pirate reached the top and yanked Jaskier down to meet him. “I’m going to throw you headfirst into the sea.”
“Ah, but Captain,” the young noble smiled, leaning only slightly back into the empty air. Geralt’s arm went around his waist immediately to prevent him from falling to his death on the deck below. Jaskier grinned like the cat that caught the mouse, “I think you’d miss me if you threw me overboard.”
Geralt’s mouth went dry as the blue-eyed sea nymph leaned ever closer. 
“I think you would miss me rather a lot, hmm?”
“I don-”
Jaskier pressed his lips to the Captain’s. Once. Briefly. A touch that began and ceased so quickly that it left Geralt’s head spinning. His arm was still holding the noble close, pressing their chests together against the blue of the sky. His other hand was still holding fast to the rope ladder for support. “You can have your kerchief back, Captain,” Jaskier relented, trading the red cloth in his hair for the purple in Geralt’s. “But not your heart.”
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blackmissfrizzle · 4 years
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The Barbershop (EZ Edition)
Angel’s Edition
Miguel’s Edition
Pairing: EZ Reyes x black!reader
Summary: The reader gets EZ ready for his patch party.
Warnings: Use of the n-word & smut
A/N: Thank you to @ly--canthrope​ for the EZ fluff prompts!  
A/N (2): I highly suggest listening to El Clavo while listening. Also, I think Nestor and Coco might be getting some attention from me, so be on the look out for that.
Prompts: 
“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice” 
Person scrunching their nose & other kisses them
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When you got your first pair of clippers in high school, EZ was your first customer and ever since you’ve been cutting his hair. Even when he went off to college, EZ came back to Santo Padre to get his hari cut by his best friend. The only time you didn’t cut his hair was when he was in prison for those 8 years, but since he’s been back, he hasn’t missed an appointment.
Now here he was at your house with his hair longer than usual because he was busy with club shit. Luckily, he came by with enough time for you to do his hair before his patch party. “Ezekiel, please come to me before your hair gets this long again.”
He pinched your side as you moved around him. “Hey, you do Angel’s hair all the time and his hair is a shit ton longer than mines.”
“I’m used to Angel’s long locks! You’re supposed to be the clean-cut brother.” You stopped cutting his hair and moved the clippers in front of his face. “Oh, and if you pinch me again while I’m doing your hair, I’ll purposefully fuck up your hairline. Let’s see how many of those hang arounds will want your dick then.”
He held up his hands in surrender and mumbled his apologies, but not really meaning it. As long as you’ve been his best friend his favorite pastime was to rile you up. He loved how flustered you got when you couldn’t come up with a clever comeback. He loved how your hand slapped him across his body even if it was a little painful. He loved how your eyes widened in shock and he couldn’t help but wonder if that’s how you’ll look when he finally gets the chance to slip inside you.
Everyone was aware of his crush on you, except you. The only reason EZ didn’t tell you was because with the pair of you, timing was awful. When he realized he was in love with you, you had a boyfriend and when you broke up with that boyfriend EZ was with Emily. Then, he went off to prison and when he came back, he didn’t want to involve you with his mess, so he kept his distance. But he couldn’t wait anymore, he had to let you know.
“Hey, Y/N/N,” he grabbed your attention by lightly grazing your hip. “Yes, Ezekiel?” He let out a soft groan. He loved when you used his full name. It didn’t matter if you were yelling it excitement, teasing him, or scolding him, he just loved to hear it.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t say anything else because your phone started to ring. It was your sorta boyfriend, Rick. EZ couldn’t stand him. He was a douchebag that gave you more headaches than anything. And it was obvious to EZ that you didn’t love him. It was evident in the way you talked about him like an annoying chore. For the life of him, EZ didn’t understand why you kept him around.
“Oh, so now you’re coming? Well, just meet me there because EZ’s riding with me.” EZ couldn’t help to smile a bit at you putting Rick in his place. He tried to listen to Rick’s response, but he could only make out his tone and from that he could tell he was pissed. “Why? Nigga, I don’t have to give you a reason why my best friend is riding in my car.” Even though you were busy with your little argument your hand never faltered, cutting hair was second nature to you. “Ugh, if you must know its his party and I’m planning to get him plastered, so he needs a DD. That’s good with you? Oh, wait I don’t care,” You hung up the phone soon after that.
“Rick coming?” EZ managed to keep the disdain for him out of his voice. “Who knows? Probably be better if he stays but forget about him.” You turned off the clippers and brushed his hair, then gave EZ the mirror to inspect himself. After he gave his haircut a serious inspection, he started biting his lip and doing his signature pretty boy poses.
“Okay, Lothario if you’re done making out with yourself in the mirror, imma go take a shower to start getting ready.” As you turned to walk away, EZ grabbed your wrist and pulled you to him. “Thank you, querida.” He kissed your wrist and gave you those adorable puppy dog eyes. “No problem, EZ,” you gave him a kiss on the cheek, then went to your bathroom to get ready and ignored your heart swelling up from EZ’s touch.
An hour later you were still getting ready and EZ was taking a shower. While you were applying on makeup, EZ walked into your room wet, fresh out the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. You knew EZ was ripped, but see it up close, my god there are no words.
EZ caught your staring in the mirror. “Like what you see?” He asked, flexing his pecs. “Ew, no!” You falsely claimed and scrunched up your nose in faux disgust.  EZ came up to you and kissed your nose before snatching your lotion off the dresser.  “You know what, you’re right. You love it.” EZ was so damn close to you that you could feel the heat of the shower radiating off of him.
“Yeah, I love it,” you deadpanned before pushing him away. “Now get ready. I don’t want you to be late to your own party.”
--
While EZ was having the time of his life, you were having the opposite. Rick ended up coming, but he was in a funky mood thus bringing your mood down. When his first words were something about how your dress wasn’t flattering, you made plans to break up with him. Using him as a distraction from EZ was draining your soul and you didn’t need that kind of energy in your life.
He made the breakup easier for you when you caught him in the restroom with one of Vicky’s girls with his dick in her mouth. You couldn’t even muster up any anger, instead you gave the girl and extra $100 for her troubles.
Although, getting cheated on sucked, what pissed you off the most was the girls all fawning over EZ. They were all over him like bitches in heat, rubbing on his chest, arms, and head, commenting on his haircut…your haircut. “Damn chica, just go claim your man.” Coco observed how you were sending death glares at the women.
“He’s not my man! He’s grown and can do whatever he wants.” You sputtered, surprised at being caught. “Exactly! If you weren’t too chicken, then he’d be your man.” Angel commented, taking a sip of his beer.
You ignored Coco’s and Angel’s somewhat encouraging words to look back at EZ. Your face instantly brightened when you saw how at ease he was. It wasn’t too often EZ could let go like this.
EZ felt a pair of eyes on him and when he found out it was you his eyes gleamed, he cracked that boyish smile and raised his beer to you. Excusing himself EZ made his way to you and gave you a hug. “Ezekiel, what’s with the hug?”
“I miss you.”
“You rode with me here, EZ.”
“Its Ezekiel and I barely talked to you since we’ve been here. Is it so bad that I want to party with my best friend?” You scrunched up your face. “I guess not.”
EZ hummed his appeasement and kissed your nose.  “Come dance with me.” He didn’t give you time to reject him. Tightly he tugged your hand and pulled you into the middle of the scrapyard.
Prince Royce and Maluma’s El Clavo began to play. EZ knew how much you loved this song, but since you didn’t know Spanish you didn’t understand the song. It was ironic to him that this song was playing tonight. Earlier, he saw how Angel escorted Rick out and the relief wash over you when you saw him leave. He knew Rick must’ve done something stupid. If it wasn’t for your need to avoid conflict, EZ would’ve beat his ass right then and there.
“What are you doing?” You questioned EZ as he placed his leg between yours and wrapped your arms around his neck. “Dancing obviously,” he chuckled near your ear sending vibrations throughout your body.
You decided not to fight him and followed his lead. There’s been plenty of times you’ve dance with EZ, but it was always playful and fun, but this…this was different, this was sensual. A passionate dance only meant to be shared between lovers.
“Eyes,” he ordered assertively. It was his command to you when he wanted you to feel what he was saying.
Si esta noche tu novio te bota (If tonight your boyfriend throws you out) Dile que tú no estás sola (Tell him that you are not alone) Que tú estás conmigo, que yo sí te cuido (That you are with me, that I do take care of you) No como ese idiota (no como ese idiota) (Not like that idiot (not like that idiot) Si esta noche tu novio te bota (If tonight your boyfriend throws you out) Dile que tú no andas sola (que no 'tás sola) (Tell him that you are not alone (that you are not alone) Que yo soy el clavo que saca ese clavo (That I am the nail that pulls that nail)
Y dile que se joda (And tell him to fuck) Maluma, baby
Your breath hitched as EZ began translating the lyrics to English. He had to be able to feel how fast your heart was beating. “There it is.” He pointed out. “There what is?”
“That look.” He tugged your bottom lip that you had tucked underneath your teeth. “What look?” Your breath brushed against his thumb and it took all his control not to pounce on you.
“Eyes blown out, chest heaving. See,” EZ gripped your chin to keep your eyes leveled with his. “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice. It’s the same look I have when I look at you.”
“Stop playing with me, Ezekiel.” Your heart couldn’t take it if this was some sort of joke. “I’m not.” His voice did not waver.
“What about Emily? Or Gabby?”
“Distractions. Distractions that kept me from the real thing for too long.” You sucked your teeth in disbelief. EZ decided to translate the song for you some more. If you weren’t going to believe his words, then maybe you’ll believe another’s.
Yo llevo la cuenta, esta es la quinta vez  (I keep track, this is the fifth time) Pero yo no entiendo por qué no lo ves   (But I don't understand why you don't see him) Tú estás demasiado buena para estar con él (mamacita) (You're too hot to be with him (mamacita)) Tremenda mujer para estar con él  (Tremendous woman to be with him) Y si te busca a las 4:20 porque te llama borracho  (And if he looks for you at 4:20 because he calls you drunk) Ahora te quiere pero mañana vuelve a hacerte daño (Now he loves you but tomorrow he will hurt you again) Por ese bobo no llores  (For that fool, don’t cry) Deja que yo te enamore (deja que yo te enamore)  (Let me make you fall in love (let me make you fall in love)
Now that you knew EZ’s feelings, the lyrics became much more intense for you. Instinctively, you rested your forehead on his. His lips hovered over yours so much that you could taste the beer on his breath. Your acrylic nails caressed the back of his head caused him to stop his translation and purr against your neck. “You like that, Ezekiel?” You teased, giggling against his neck.
“I don’t know,” EZ pressed up against you tighter so you could feel his hardon. “You tell me if it feels like I like it.”
Now or never, you thought. You brought your lips closer to EZ’s. The both of you fighting for dominance, but ultimately EZ won, claiming you in front of the club. It wasn’t until you heard the cheers of his brothers that he’d stop kissing you.
Instantly, EZ started pulling you in the direction of your car, but you stopped him. “I can’t wait, Ezekiel. I need you now.” EZ’s normally bright eyes darkened and he led you towards the clubhouse. On your way to the dorm room, both you and EZ ignored Angel when he told you, “Don’t be surprised when EZ starts crying.”
As the pair of you made it through the hallway, each of your touches got heavier, more daring. So daring that when you finally got to his dorm your dress was halfway off. The rest of the clothes fly off like a whirlwind except EZ’s jeans. In his rush he tripped over his jeans. “Oh, that’s funny?” He asked when he caught you giggling.
“Just a little.” EZ rushed to you, tackled you to the bed and quickly turned your giggles into soft moans as he kissed you.
Despite your best efforts to keep him close, EZ pulled away. He leaned back on his haunches and admired your body. “I can’t believe I finally have you.” He lifted your leg threw it over his shoulder and started kissing you from your ankle up to your inner thighs. “You know one night when I slept over at your place. I caught you touching yourself. Your hands flew to your face to cover up the embarrassment. “Oh god,” you mumbled.
EZ’s deep chuckle made you peek through your hands. “What are you embarrassed for? For that little 10 seconds, it was the sexiest thing I’ve seen, but it was so damn torturous in the most beautiful way. Do you know how hard it is to have that vividly replaying in my head and not have you?”
The whole time EZ was talking he was getting closer to your core, but you were hyper focused on his words that his mouth on your clit took you by surprise. “Shit,” you squealed underneath his tongue. With your hand you covered your mouth to keep your screams down. EZ lifted his head at your muffled screams. “No, let me hear you. Let me know how good I make you feel.”
Following his instructions, you removed your hand and that earned you an approving smile from EZ. “Good girl.” Before he returned to his meal, EZ grabbed you by the back of your neck, forcing you to keep your eyes on him.
This time he added his fingers as he ate you out. The hold he had on you allowed no room for you to run, you had to stay there and take everything he was giving you. Add pussy eating to the long list of things that Ezekiel Reyes is great at.
Your hands shot out to EZ’s head. Scratching it was your best alternative since you had nothing to tug at. EZ raised his head, his mouth glistening from your cunt. “I bet you wish my hair was longer now.” He teased before diving right back in.
“EZ, I’m gonna cum.” You continued scratching the back of his head as he moved his tongue and fingers faster. “Cum all over my mouth, preciosa.” He murmured above your pussy.
An explosion. That was the only way you could describe your orgasm. It busted through your body, leaving you and EZ soaked. The evidence shone on his forearm, highlighting his veins, leaving you in a trance.
EZ noticed your staring at his arm. “Ride my forearm.” He demanded, excited that he’ll be able to get you off this way.
At first you were hesitant, but with EZ’s urging you hopped on it. You were experiencing immense pleasure and wanted EZ to experience the same. Tonight, was a celebration for him and this entire time his focus was on you. Completely selfless as usual. Reaching between your bodies, you began stroking him, smearing his precum all over his engorged head. “What are you doing?” He gasped, flexing his arm a bit more. “Tonight’s about you. I want to make you feel good.”
EZ nibbled at your chin. “I want you to cum all over my forearm, that’ll make me feel good.” You continued jerking him off while you rode him.
Who would’ve thought the rough ridges of his protruding veins and his constant flexing had you cumming a second time for the night? “Fuck we got to do that again!” You tried to nuzzle your face in EZ’s neck, but he wouldn’t let you because he was too busy kissing you all over your face. “EZ, I just came on your fucking arm.”
“Yeah and it was hot! I bet that douchebag couldn’t do that with his measly dick.” Slowly, he began to lay you down. “Now you’re about to cum all over my dick while screaming my name.”
Your now boyfriend made good on his promise. Opposed to Rick’s useless jackhammering, EZ made slow, powerful strokes, ensuring you were well taken care of.
He was tending to your body so well your eyes kept rolling to the back of your head. “Eyes!” He commanded harsher than ever before. When your eyes met his, you could see the struggle in his eyes. EZ wanted to be soft, gentle, and romantic, but deep down he wanted to fuck you hard, show you who you belong to.
“Make me yours, Ezekiel. Fuck me like you mean it.” It took him some time to process the words, but when he did his widened in realization that he got permission to let go. “Fuck, I love you.” He captured your lips in a searing kiss, hoping to communicate how much he loved you. “I love you too.” You told him as he had a bruising hold on your hips.
Gone was sweet soft Ezekiel. He was replaced by EZ, the harsh lover that’s gonna push you over the edge, then bring you back just to do it all over again.
Yours and EZ’s moans accompanied by the sound of bodies slapping together made a symphony that you would never get tired of. This was what you were missing for all those years apart.
“Make me proud. Cum all over this dick, querida.” EZ suckled your neck, branding you with his marks. “Ezekiel!” You cried out as your body combusted, almost feeling every molecule in your body. The newly patched Mayan silenced your cries with his mouth as he came soon after you.
EZ tried to lay in the bed with you but you refused. I t was his party and you were adamant that he enjoys it some more. You two can have your alone time later.
Just as you were sliding up your panties, EZ stuffed his fingers up your cum filled pussy. “Don’t want this leaking out.” He whispered, giving you a cheeky grin as you moaned at his ministrations.
“Okay, that’s enough you nasty ass kids. Playtime is over! Time to get fucked up, baby bro. I’m sure Y/N wants to forget the last 30 seconds.” Angel banged on the door.
“That was nice while it lasted.” You slipped your dress over your head and fixed your hair. EZ hummed his agreeance and led you out the door and ignored the childish jeering from his brothers. They could tease all they want, because as long as he has you, he doesn’t give a damn.
Taglist: @starrynite7114​ @sadeyesgf​ @ly--canthrope​ @woahitslucyylu​ @marvelmaree​ @angrythingstarlight​ @teakturn​ @thickemadame​ @ifoundmyhappythought​ @strawberrywritings​ @dearsamcrobae​ @chaneajoyyy​ @spookys-girl​ @bigsisbria​
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popculturebuffet · 3 years
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Ducktales Comics: Spies Like Us and Dime after Dime or Weblena: The Preschool Days (Lena Retrospective) (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)
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Hello all you happy people and welcome back to Shadow Into Light, My Lena Retrospective, which fittingly has now come to Women’s History Month! I sadly do not have anything besides this arc prepared for the month. This month is pretty packed for me with two shows a week to cover, as while there’s only two weeks of Ducktales left final space starts up right after to take it’s spot, two arcs to cover, and two time specific movie reviews: animal crossing the movie and the 1990 TMNT film. I will try to get more than the currently planned top 12 superheroines list out there... but this month is very tight as is, so if I do not I deeply apologize.
Now that’s out of the way, it’s appropriate we start Women’s history month on some likely lesser known parts of Lena’s history, with some comics stories focusing on our faviorite emo lesbian duck and her 87 counterpart. Before I get started on that though Kev my patreon pointed out something intresting a few weeks back i’ve been forgetting to get to and since we’re looking into Minima, I felt this was the perfect time to do so: Lena’s Concept art. 
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There’s quite a few things to gleam from this. For starters as pointed out in the reddit thread I got the image as a whole from this was made in 2015, meaning Lena was one of the first new characters designed for the series and was part of it from the VERY early stages, as evidenced by the fact that despite clearly having their new personalities established, Beakly and Webby still had the old designs. 
The other notable change is that her first design was way more like both Magica nad Minima, a bit more modern, but clearly far more obvious who she was related to. She also had all black feathers making the shadow twist a bit more obvious and was likely done away with both to avoid giving that twist away, the same reason for the fake lestrange name, and to avoid accidently black coding her, as while Lena being black would’ve been intersting, it also would’ve invited a firestorm of controversy given that their one black character in season 1.. woul’dve started off as a homeless, manipulative antagonist, and none of that would play well nor was it something the progressive crew of this show couldn’t spot from a mile away.  And even this early on they have an almost final design ready, simply changing the shirt to fit her personality more, and her hair to be pink because it honestly looked better She also had green eyes throughout, but for whatever reason they phased them out. That part I don’t quite get as they look nice but probably they were hard to translate to the reboot style once they settled on their own. Her purple eyeshadow and haircut though have stuck since and were good calls. 
One last VERY obvious note.. Webby was gay for Lena from minute one. While Dana helped it is now VERY obvious they gay coded this relationship from the design phase, and the crew was entirely aware the whole time and I gave them less credit than I should have. They clearly had this in mind, and it’s very likely ONLY subtext because Disney, while making more and more progress, is very reluctant to have queer characters as Owl House was a struggle and since they have a tighter leash on properites based on the sensational 6, that means Frank knew they had the same odds of making Webby or Della queer in anything but subtext that a pig has of suviving in a slaughterhouse. I bring this up because I fear the series getting accused of queerbaiting somewhere down the road instead of doing what they could with a bad hand and hoping they could make the show as gay as they could. Penny is as out as they posisbly could get her, and Violet and Lena’s dad’s got a full apperance, if no speaking role that made it obvious beyond a shadow of a doubt their gay and did it in a plot important episode. So they did their best and I want them to get credit for that. 
But while this is all intresting stuff, join me under the cut for the meat of today’s review as I dig into Lena’s only apperance in the tie-in comic that was never punished here, and the only apperance of her protoype Minima.
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Spies Like Us:  As I mentioned this comic was never published here which is doubly weird to me because of how I knew this story existed. Since I follow comics weekly and buy trades reguarly, I read the solicits companies put out eveyr month to see what new series are coming, what the ones i’m currently reading are doing, and what trades are coming out. That sort of thing, and it’s something I love. I know their basically adds.. but their well put together adds that really pull you into the books you like. The big two and the indies are all very good at it and sometimes i’ts the only way to know a comic is coming if the company dosen’t make a press release for it ahead of time. 
So naturally given there are several comics I follow at idw, paticuarlly the TMNT comics, I read those solicits and found they were going to do an issue with Webby and Lena becoming spies, and was excited about it. I ended up forgetting about it and never really followed the Ducktales comic as it came out, and upon reading an issue or two recently, one for another comission by kev as one story, happy happy valley, was particularly terrible. For those who haven’t read the story or my review, it involved the family getting stranded on an island where their forced to partake in activites and smile..that somehow turned into an aseop about Louie wanting to be rich. It ended with this
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Yes.. really. That actually happened. But even with this, I fully planned to cover the issue when I covered Lena, and brought it up to Kev when he commissioned the retrospective. He gave me the discord equilvent of a blank stare and had never heard of it. I soon found out why: the story was replaced as, and fair play to disney, it spoiled Beakly’s past from the agent 23 episode which wasn’t going to air in time.  What dosen’t work is they never reprinted the story in The US.. didn’t put it in a future issue and just swap it’s place didn’t put it in the nothing. And the story was fully complete as we’ll see, with a cover and everything so they had no excuse whatsoever to NEVER use it, even with what happened to Lena in the season finale, this clearly took place before that and it was weird to just shelve it because of that. But thankfully when a bunch of the stories were reprinted overseas, this and another one, also webby centric got published overseas. But not in english.
Lucky for me, I was able to find an english translation of an english story which you can read RIGHT HERE. It was translated by @neopuff and I thank them for it as without them this review would not be possible and want to give them all the credit. So was it worth all their hard work translating it? Well let’s take a look. 
We begin at the Manor where Lena is skulking around suspiciously.. though it turns out she and Webby are just playing hide and seek. Though Lena accuses cheating. The dialouge here is pretty flat though that’s not Neopuff’s fault at all. As I can attest from reading other stories a lot of the early IDW comics are just this flat in dialoguge no matter the writer as they were likely given character descriptions and basic info about the show they likely had written up for merchandising and Frank and Co were given no involvement and likely weren’t made avaliable to consult on the comics to help them be a bit more fleshed out. It’s very obvious to me Disney just tried to get these pumped out so they’d have a series in stores to tie in without carring about qualities and given Scrooge debuted in comics, their lack of care toward that side of things in general, but especially in the first american published original duck comics in a while, bothers me a lot. It’s inexcusable. 
That being said the story isn’t half bad nor is the setup as the two hear a beeping and find it’s Beakly’s phone going off with a mysterious message from Q, Webby thinks she’s been reactivated, and is encouraged by Lena to go look after her while she stays along. While Webby says in response
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It just feels grossly out of character for both. Lena is far more subtle about manipulation as shown five minutes ago and Webby blindly trusts her. Because she has a massive crush on her and is naïve about how the world works. It just seems very odd of her to get suspicious as she never does on screen, and again it comes off as Disney having barely given the writers any materials on them when i’m sure Frank or Matt would’ve been happy to write up a thing for them to help outside of the usual press materials they were given. 
Though hte last line isn’t all that out of character and has an obvious answer as within a jumpcut Launchpad’s taking them to London and is told to blend in.. which he does with an australian flag and accent.. good gag. 
So our heroines do some heroic breaking and entering and look for the package, but soon find while hiding it’s already in transit.. and had obvious bows on int. Whoops. Our heroes trie the old follow tha tcar bit and refreshingly, it dosen’t pan out as the guy stops and tells them to get out. A nice twist. Unable to follow, our heroes instead find launchpad lost, as his map is upside down
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So Lena dares him if he can follow that plane, a nice bit of character for both. I will give Joe credit. While the dialouge’s a bit flat and there was that out of character moment.. for the most part he does nail the actual character down and does use it decently enough. He’s just not given enough page room or actual details to work  with is all. 
So while our heroes follow they end up having to crash as they run out of fuel.. lucky their with the expert but end up near home where the package is delivered to. Turns out this wasn’t a spy thing, this was just a thing with her aunt. That’s fine and a nice gag.. it’s just ruined by just sorta.. ending. Lena leaves disapointed and Beakly scolds webby for “playing spy” and she’s sad. That’s it that’s how it ends. Which dosen’t fit the characters, as while Beakly would defintely scold her, it just dosen’t FIT that she’d be that tearse or not appricate the effort or give her an actual lecture and it feels like Joe had no idea how to end this after the gag and just.. ended it. 
Final Thoughts for Spies Likes Us: This was okay.  It is a bit of a disappointment as for the only story not available.. i’ts just okay and not really above an average Ducktales comics story, with some nice character bits but feeling a bit weak overall, as do at least the first half of the idw comics. I haven’t read the later stuff to see if it got better. It’s worth a read if you like Webby and Lena as characters and it’s not BAD, it’s just not anything impressive and is a simple hyjinks filled misunderstanding story. 
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Dime After Dime:
So now  we go back a bit to the original. I didn’t do these in chronological order because frankly, Dime after Dime is the better story of the two and the bigger one at that, so I have more to work with here. But the original also had comics and honestly from the few i’ve read much BETTER comics. I chalk this up to two things: The Ducktales 87 comics seem to have come out AFTER the series was already a hit, and since Ducktales is pretty close to the original uncle scrooge comics minus it’s own tweaks here and there, it’s easy enough to just write the stories like you would a regular uncle scrooge story, just with Webby and Launchpad added, whereas the idw writers were staffed with writing for all new versions of the characters with noticable differences without much to go on.  It’s why to me with tie in comics you have two options: Wait long enough so you can put your story inbtween the episodes like the Steven Universe and Regular Show comics did or just make your own continuity entirely like the Adventure Time Comics and the Archie TMNT Adventures series did. The ONLY time i’ve seen a comic work like this is the Bravest Warriors comic, which had a talented writer and fit well enough in the margins until it sadly ended.. and honestly is BETTER in some cases than the series. I might get to it someday. The point is this comic shows why you need to have a deft hand adapting something instead of just falling your arms about and hoping it’ll work. 
So today’s comic was part of some Disney Series called cartoon tales, which clearly repackaged comic stories from wherever, and put them together. I don’t know much about it and the only other issue avaliable collects the disney adventures adaptation of “Just Us Justice Ducks”, which I might cover at some point. This book does have two other stories which i’d be happy to do on comission or on my own at some point, one involving gladstone the other gizmoduck, but for now, i’m just sticking to the title story and the reason you all came here. 
So we open with Magica gazing into her crystal ball from her Mt. Vesuvies base saying that Scrooge will never know what hit him I know exactly what and who wiil hit him thank you very much. 
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Scrooge is seeing Webby off to her first day of day camp, getting all teary eyed which is touching. Beakly apparently goes with her as the story never SAYS Sshe does but she’s not also not around when the story moves on, as Launchpad says it looks like rain. Scrooge dismisses him, though Launchpad turns out to be right. Scrooge had good reason for once though, instead of just being a dick good on you comic for making me not want to punch him in the face, trust me that is a high bar to clear with the scrooge comics, as the weather was fine just a minute ago. Naturally it was Magica All Along! Nothing scrooge can do now that eveyrthing has gone wrong! Her entrance though is sadly not a catchy earwormy tune, but .. this confusing line
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I think your thinking of Gladstone. And he’s still single so.. have at that but no Scrooge is the one who values hard work over anything else and brags about THAT or being rich. I .. I don’t get this line and frankly I don’t want to. Even in stories where the dime is supernaturally lucky and the source of his wealth he dosen’t boast about it because he’s not stupid and dosen’t want everyone knowing how to bankrupt him instantly. This line will baffle me until I die, presumably, given my life’s tragetctory, after reviewing an episode of mighty ducks and slipping on some a jerky wrapper. 
Scrooge asks what she wants... 
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No this isn’t that kind of story sadly. Her plan is to.. zap the bin with lightning and take the dime. Really just went with your first draft didn’t you magica? But as stupid as this plan is Scrooge has prepared for it. He installed a lightning rod on the bin to save on power, and to power his new super soaker traps. So all Magica did was save him money. She flies off and nothing is acomplished. 
So we get back to Webby at the Teenie Weenie Day Camp.. and just so you don’t think that was a terrible joke on my part...
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My theory for how this name got approved at all is the editor KNEW how that sounded and just wanted to see if Disney would actually print a comic with the phrase Teenie Weenie without getting what it means in slang or how hilariously inapproriate it is to namme a children’s camp after it. 
Your probably wondering who that grown woman calling Webby a dweeb is. Well story wise, she’s SUPPOSED to be another kid at the camp around Webby’s age. In practice, she looks like THIS in closeup
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So it looks and plays like a 30 year old woman snuck into the day camp and no one’s noticed she’s not actually a children. Or their just humoring her because she had a week to live. I don’t know. I do know she doesn’t get to judge on names. 
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Snippy Von Glitz, proof rich people really do hate their kids and this this comic is trying personally to give me material. Snippy is your average alpha bitch, taking a chair from Minma and being obnoxious and classist and all that jazz. Minima gets hers back by making the chair bouncy then returning it to normal so Snippy gets in trouble when she makes up things about the chair, with the lady in charge getting ready to call her Dad. You cannot convince me that her “Dad” is just what she calls her husband, this is how they both get off, and that the lady at the preschool only tolerates it because they pay her a lot and so far the kids haven’t noticed Snippy is 30. Webby likes minima finding her name pretty, proving that the ho yay is alive no matter the webby and magica relative, and Minma returns the favor by saving her from a block. 
Minma is reluctant to make an actual friend, finding they aren’t worth anything and given most of the kids here apparently pick on her and her aunt is well.. Magica, it’s understandable why she’d be so cold. But Webby presses on and says something from Scrooge about friends. Which given Ducktales scrooge has none goes weird but it gets Minma to find out she knows and lives with Scrooge, so she cons webby into taking the dime for show and tell, showing that she can manipulate them with her powers, and that he won’t notice it’s missing, getting her with “I thought you wanted to be friends” 
So let’s pause for a second and compare and contrast the two: Both are the niece, or at least sorta in Lena’s case, of Magica, both manipulate webby, and both are her first real friend: The 87 boys are little monsters and I don’t consider them friends or even brothers, while the 2017 ones are just that: brothers. Their her siblings in all but blood, not friends and have hteir own long complicated history. 
But otherwise the two are vastly different. Lena is a far more complex character as she’s been abused her whole life, is a rebel because Magica hardly gave her agency, and while she starts wooing webby out of self interest it’s clear even as far as the first episode she cares. Lena would gladly be part of the world if she could and this whole scheme is to gain that choice. 
Minma is still sympathetic but very different: She walls herself off because the other kids laugh and mock her for being herself and lashes out at them.. not unreasonably mind , but still feeling she needs no one else.. but as we’ll learn later she’s only helping Magica to finally feel accepted, to get all the fancy clothes and stuff that will make her popular instead of that grown woman masquerading as a kid for disturbing reasons. Minma is at her heart just a hurt kid desperate to fit in. And while Lena shares the desire for a place to belong.. it’s at it’s core much sadder. Lena.. wants a family. Someone to love her and to care about her and actually look after her. Minma has that she just wants to be loved. it’s similar but very diffrent and I can see why Lena evolved into what she did, as Frank and Matt ended up going in a far darker but ultimately more interesting direction. Minima is not a bad character at all though and without her I don’t think we would’ve had Lena, but at the end of the day the 87verse is just not that complicated, so the reboot needed something more and that more evolved into who we have now. 
Both kids excitedly talk about their new friends, with their respective guardians being distracted. Scrooge is distracted by the fact his car is a bit bumpy and Launchpad offers to fix it up for free with some parts from a buddy, which given the sentence “This won’t cost you anything” makes him erect, Scrooge agrees. Magica meanwhile, whose watching Minima while her mom is away which raises a LOT of questions we don’t have time for like who she is, is she’s poes wife or does Magica have other siblings... it’s a lot of questions we’re never going to get answers to. 
The next day Webby got the dime easy as Scrooge was distracted. so Minima swaps them while she’s distracted. But while swiping it was easy, which to be fair Webby is likely approved in his security so it woudln’t match her.. or the story just needed to progress. You make the call. 
Magica does the logical thing and goes and get sthe dime and the story ends there.. and i’m shitting you, she of course brags to scrooge, reveals minima as her spy, and offers to RACE him for it shortly after he realizes he has a fake.
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The only major flaw in this story is Magica’s overconfdience, which isn’t BAD persay, but here has gotten to dumbass proportions. She just can’t plan for anything and a CHILD has a better plan than her that only dosen’t work for reasons we’ll get to. And that plan is almost ruined by Magica taunting scrooge!
So a race is on but Launchpad has transformed Scrooge’s old Model T into this
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Damn that’s cool. Scrooge of course dosen’t like it, but honestly you get what you paid for. Oh that’s right you paid nothing for something you NEED to use every day for transportation. 
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At  the rickity thickity bridge, Steve Buschemi’s worst roll and her minion ask Webby to roll with them and Minima mistakes this for betrayal planning to soak them all.. only for Webby to DEFEND HER, pointing out minma’s her friend, how she dresses is fine and she loves her no matter what.. the last part’s implied. The 30-year old asshole and her minon leave Webby and Minma is genuinely touched, as no one’s done that for her before. She put up so many walls... she didn’t realize someone could ACTUALLY care about her, so obessed with thinking she had to be like that soccer mom in preschoolers clothing, she just had to be herself: kinda werid but in that fun adams family way. Webby says she knows Minma would do the same.. so while she prepares to let’s get back to the race. Magica realizes Launchpad’s roadster is actually gaining and spreads some tacks, but Scrooge counters with some money.. because of course he has a lot of money in the trunk. But Magica takes out the bridge and while scrooge awesomely JUMPS IT... he’s still too late. 
As you probably guess though, Minima had a change of heart, and gave Webby the real dime back, and Scrooge confirms it. Minima TRIES to tell Magica, and Magica is horrified her niece is a goody goody “I”ll never hear the end of it at my astral aerobics class”.. I.. I want to see that. Let’s raise those spirit ladies and kick kick that soul, doge that shadow king punch them in the soul. Yes! Now eat it eat it and absorb it’s power!
We end on a button joke as Webby apologizes for taking the dime., Scrooge accepts it and Webby tells them magica learned to carpet and they gulp for some reason. 
Final Thoughts on Dime after Dime: This story was decent. It has problems, some jokes don’t land and Magica is made horribly incompetent, but minima’s character arc is endearing, and Webby herself is precious as always and her winning Minima over feels genuine. And Scrooge is in prime adoring uncle mode with her and i’ts just so cute. And the roadster race is pretty awesome to watch honestly. It’s an exceptional and enjoyable tie in story.. and not the last ducktales 87 story we’ll be covering here. Wink wonk. 
Next Time: Things get DARK as Lena and Webby head into the depths of Scrooge’s hidden bin and Lena heads into the depths of her own soul. 
Tommorow: Woo-Ooo mofos as we go back to the very beginning of the reboot! A family restored, a lost city to explore, and a glomgold rises! Be here or be square. 
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demivampirew · 3 years
Text
Say no to this.
Henry x Reader (wife) x Reader (the other woman)
Triggers: Angst; cheating, breakup, divorce (and crying).
A/N: This was inspired by two songs from the musical Hamilton: Say No to This and Burn, and it’s told from the perspective of the characters (Henry, Reader (Wife), Reader (the other woman)
You can find more of my writings in the Masterlist 
Having the chance to portray one of his favourite characters is an honour for which Henry will forever be thankful. Yet, he must admit that having to spend time apart from his family was not an easy task. 
He sat on the bed in the dark hotel room, only enlightened by the moonlight. On his phone screen, he saw the picture you’ve sent him earlier that day of you and your daughter playing, you dressed as a princess and the six-year-old as a dragon. “Oh, your mighty witcher, come and save me, please,” read the message under the picture. Henry missed dressing up in costumes and running around the house with his little angel, who would laugh uncontrollably every time he caught and started to tickle her.
It’s been over two months since he left for work; 60 plus days without feeling the lovely touch of your hands on his face, too much time without feeling the warmness of your body against his.
He laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling for an hour, unable to sleep when his phone announced that he had a new message.
“Are you awake? I can’t sleep,” y/n wrote. She was a friend he made on the set of the show - she worked as a personal assistant for one of the recurrent directors of the show and she was staying at the same hotel that Henry. “Yes. Can’t sleep either. Come if you want,” he replied, thinking that some company would help him to feel less lonely.
Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door. Henry opened the door and invited y/n to come in. Once inside, she faced him and smiled as she showed him the content of her bag: a PS and The Witcher 3 game. “I know you’re more into pc, but l don’t have a gaming pc here, so we will have to play with this, okay,” she said grinning.
“I remember you saying that you were good at this,” y/n while rolling her eyes, teasing him. “I am, but in the pc,” Henry defended himself with a playful smile.
They played the game for two hours before she suggested that it might be time for her to leave. Henry tried to disconnect the console from the tv but she told him to keep it, for now, so he could keep practising.
“Well, good night. I hope you can have a good sleep and tomorrow enjoy your free day,” y/n told him. “Same for you,” he said goodbye, but neither of them moved. They stared at each other for a long minute in silence. Henry’s hands reached for her face bringing it closer to his, culminating in a passionate kiss, while her arms embraced him.
Her naked body, covered only by the bed-sheets rested on the mattress as she slept. Henry looked at her for a moment and then walked towards the bathroom. He washed his face on the sink and then stared at the mirror, finding it hard to recognize the person that was reflected in the mirror. “I promise you that I will be forever faithful to you, my love” he once promised you, his lovely wife, and now the words echoed inside his mind, as stabs on his heart.
How could had he broken the promise he made you? Did he not loved you any more? No, that was sure of that, he loved you more than he had ever done. You no only made him happy and supported him through tough times, but you also gave him the thing that he treasured the most in the world: his daughter. But, he had to be honest with himself, for the first time in a long time and admit that things were not as they used to be. Before the birth of the little girl, you used to be inseparable. You would go with him everywhere in the world, game and laugh and made love every second you could. Now, you were parents; your lives centred on the precious angel and work and were often too tired and since the kid would like to sleep with you, often lacked intimacy.
The worst part of all: he wished that he could say that it was a one time mistake, but it became an affair that lasted for months.
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You hated yourself. In the past, you’d constantly criticized “the other woman” for being malicious women who stole men from others. Now you had become one of them. Well, no completely. Sure, you were carrying an affair with a married man, but you weren’t a fool, you knew that you would never be able to “stole” anyone and he would never leave his wife for you; he never made such a promise and you knew him well enough to know that he loved his family more than anything in the world and he was being vulnerable due to the distance between his true woman and him. Were you a bad woman for being with a taken man knowing that he was in such a delicate emotional position? Maybe, but to be completely honest, so were you. Months before you met Henry, your fiancé cancelled the wedding because he had fallen in love with somebody else. You were feeling lonely and undesired and you had developed a crush on him before that first night. So, you didn’t find the strength to fight the desire and succumb to the temptation.
Every night you’ve spent together, with his strong arms embracing you as his lips caressed your body, felt amazing no matter how wrong it was. And, even if your heart ripped every time you remembered that he wasn’t truly yours - and you were reminded of that constantly, since there was no a single time in which he hadn’t unconsciously said his wife’s name as he reached climax, you couldn’t find it in you to put it a stop.
You knew that this would have a bad end. No matter the outcome, someone would get hurt. 
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That day, your sister offered to take care of your six-year-old so you could have some time to yourself to process things.
Desperate to get some distance and to be alone, you rented a small cabin outside the city.
The sun was coming down when you lifted a bonfire outside the place and sat in front of it with a box that you’ve carried there moments before.
Your fingers caressed every picture - of your first date, your first anniversary as girlfriend and boyfriend; vacations, birthdays and even your wedding. Every photo would get wet with your tears before you threw them into the fire. All objects that reminded of the love you once shared, ended up becoming ashes. Letters, poems, teddy bears, roses that you dried; everything. The only surviving things were the pictures you shared with your daughter, but you would make sure to send them to his mother because you didn’t want to see them any more, the pain was too great.
Finally, you took from your pocket the pictures you printed before to look at them for one last time. They were screenshots from a celebrity news website and the headline read “The Witcher star Henry Cavill is seen kissing a mystery woman”, followed by paparazzi photos of him with someone on the balcony of his hotel room. Angrily, you crashed the prints and let them burn into they became nothing.
With nothing more to do, you watched the flames, as you let your tears fall, feeling completely and utterly broken.
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The production was over. After the news crashed, Henry had to continue filming, pretending that nothing happened, while some people looked at him as if he was a monster. Could he blame them for that?
When the article about his affair was published, his brother Charlie was the one who delivered the bad news - his stepdaughter had seen it and told him about it.
He didn’t know what to do. He called his wife over and over, but she never answered. All-day long he tried to communicate with his love, but every time without luck.
 Y/N tried to call him, too, but this time he was the one who ignored the call. He had nothing against her. Henry knew that she could no be blamed for his mistake, but he couldn’t talk to her right now. His wife was his priority.
Unfortunately, the only response he got from her was from her sister, two days later, letting him know that she was going to file for a divorce and she never wanted to see him or talk to him again. That she would only allow him to contact her, through her or another family member and elusively for things related to their daughter. She was going to share custody with him, but he would have to pick up and leave the girl on her sister or parent’s house.
Now, months later, he driving to his sister-in-law’s house to pick up his daughter and to leave the divorce papers that he had to sing.
There were no words to explain how much it hurt him to lose the woman he loved deeply. The only consolation was that his family continued to show him love and support as they always did. And, his daughter, unaware of the reason why her mommy and daddy decided to go separate ways, still love him enormously and would fill him with joy every minute of every day that he had her.
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It was obvious that there was no going to be a good end to the affair - it never does. You knew someone would get hurt, but you’d never imagined that it would be all three of you.
Terrible didn’t even begin to explain how bad you felt. Of all the three of you, you were the one who got it the “best”, since luckily the pictures only showed your hair in a bun and your back, so only a few close people knew that it was you and they were polite enough to keep the secret to avoid you getting harassed. Although, just in case, you dried your hair and got a new haircut.
Henry’s wife filed for the divorce after she found out about the affair. He let you know via text when he put an end to things and told you he could no longer see you. Even if there was no chance to get back with her, he couldn’t be with you because he loved her too much and you reminded him of the mistake he made. As he suggested, you continued working for a few more weeks there to avoid people finding out that it was you, but later quit.
That was by far the worst mistake that you’ve ever made. So much people got hurt; a girl now has two parents that can’t be in the same room, two people who loved each other who can’t be together because the ghost of you would always be present to remind them of the mistake and a person who’s affection was never truly corresponded and caused the break of a family.
Therapy has been truly beneficial in helping you heal and leaving the past in the past.
Today a new article about Henry was posted online. It consisted of pictures of him and his cute girl buying a Christmas tree and he was laughing at his daughter's funny faces.
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walter-boswell428 · 3 years
Text
Mission Recover
The Tower
“Alex?” Eliza Danvers asked, “Anything?”
“We are trying, mom, I swear we are trying?” Alex answered through gritted teeth.
“Alexandra Danvers,” Eliza said quietly, “I’m not upset with you, it’s the situation.”
“I know, mom,” Alex sighed, “we are all working on it.”
“I’m headed up to National City tomorrow, is there anything I can bring?” Eliza asked?
“No, but if I think of anything, I’ll let you know,” Alex relaxed, smiling. “Love you.”
“Love you too, honey,” Eliza smiled as well, “give Kelly a hug for me.”
Alex disconnected the call, placing her phone flat on the conference table and layed her head on the cool table top.
>>>
Forty-five minutes later she felt a hand rest on her shoulder and looked up into the weary eyes of Lena Luthor. “Kelly said your mom is coming tomorrow?”
“Yeah, she--she’s really worried, and I think she wants to help,” Alex explained, her voice hoarse and heavy with sleep.
“Does she have a place to stay?” Lena asked warmly, taking a seat in Kara’s chair, “I can put her up at my condo.”
Smiling, Alex patted Lena's hand, “she is going to stay at my place, I’m not using it right now.”
“You can’t keep sleeping here,” Lena pouted, “you need to get some real sleep.”
“I believe that would be the pot calling the kettle black, Ms. Luthor,” Kelly Olsen smiled tiredly as she entered the room. “You haven’t been home since you quit Luthor Corp.”
Alex blinked, surprised, “you quit?”
Lena hung her head, “I couldn’t work with him anymore, not after--not after what he did.” Her eyes lifted when she felt Alex squeeze her hand, “I couldn’t go home. Too many bad memories.”
Alex squeezed harder, “I understand. Hey, you want to--you want the key to Kara’s place?”
Lena’s eyes bulged, and she quickly shook her head, “no, no, no…” She turned and quickly walked away, heading towards her lab.
“She still blaming herself?” Alex asked as she looked to Kelly, her tone calm and relaxed. “She’s part of the team, none of us hold her responsible for what her brother did.”
“She’s--she’s complicated, Alex,” Kelly turned and looked at the door, a small frown forming on her face, “and she’s scared that she and Kara are going to be…”
“Broken? Again?” Alex spoke quietly as she laced her fingers into Kelly’s. “We really need to find Kara, before we all fall apart. Especially her girlfriend there.”
“Don’t say that out loud to her, she’s so brittle right now, it won’t take much for her to break, and Kara is her breaking point,” Kelly squeezed Alex’s fingers. “All her fears, hopes and dreams are about Kara.”
>>>
Lena’s Lab
Lena’s fingers flew over the keyboard, checking readings and double checking everything again. “Dammit, Kara!” she swore, “where are you?” Her fist slammed down on the panel.
“Lena?” Nia asked as she opened the door. “Are you okay?”
Lena took a deep breath, and rubbed her hands together before turning to face the young hero. “Sorry Nia, I’m frustrated.”
A nervous laugh escaped the younger woman’s lips, “that could be because you are taking all of this...” The Naltorian swept her arms around, “you are blaming yourself for everything.”
“Kara is lost, because I didn’t outsmart Lex! We are working alone because I am here and the other heroes don’t want to work with me!” Tears started to stream down Lena’s cheeks, “I have never been strong enough. I am here now, because I wasn’t strong enough to save her.”
“Lena, Kara doesn’t blame you. She never did,” Nia whispered.
Lena collapsed to her knees, ‘n-n-not Kara, I failed her, I-I-I failed my mother.” She raised her head and screamed.
Nia rushed to Lena, arms outstretched, wrapping them tightly around the woman, “I’m sorry, I am so sorry. Shhh, it’s okay.” Nia crouched down, taking Lena with her. Nia leaned against the desk, still holding on as Lena cried. In a soft whisper she started to sing, a Naltorian lullaby her mother had taught her.
The exhausted woman in her arms lowered herself slowly, sliding beside Nia and resting her head on her shoulder. “I’m so tired, so tired.”
Nia smiled, slowly weaving her power into the words as she sang. It had the desired effect, and Lena’s eyes slowly started to close, and her breathing eventually evened out. Within a few minutes, she stretched and slid her head down onto Nia’s crossed legs.
A few minutes later, Kelly and Alex entered the lab and found the two women sleeping on the floor.
“I know it looks uncomfortable, but maybe?” Kelly shrugged towards the two women.
Alex nodded, surrendering, and she and Kelly made their way over to the sleeping pair, joining them and dozing off quickly.
>>>
At Luthor Corp
Lex Luthor looked out over the city from his office, smiling as he looked into the sky. His computer beeped and he turned, talking to himself, “the Girl of Steel, waking up again.” He waved his hand and a hologram of the Phantom Zone appeared in space at eye level, a red dot marking the location of Kara Zor-El.
>>>
The Phantom Zone
Kara stirred slowly, moving stiffly as she stood up. She shivered as she approached the cave entrance pulling her cape around her shoulders. It was the first time she had slept without nightmares in several days, and she couldn’t help but think that it was because her father was not around at the moment.
She watched through the hazy, half-dark skies as a figure approached. It was Zor-El and she found herself disappointed that he had once again found his way back to her. She huffed out a deep sigh and turned back into the cave.
As she took a seat against the back wall, she wondered what her friends and family were up to at the moment. ‘How long have I been gone? Have they given up? Have they moved on? Has Lena?’
“I have returned, inah,” Zor-El’s hollow voice called out from the entrance of the cave.
Kara rolled over and rested her head on her arm, pulling the cape tighter around her as she ignored the call, and fell back to sleep.
>>>
The Tower
As blue eyes slid closed, green and brown burst open at the same moment. “We need her DNA!” Lena and Alex yelled at the same time.
Kelly and Nia jumped as the two women screamed at each and stood up, running towards the bank of computers on the wall. Alex was pulling up the schematics for a scanner while Lena was entering in hypothetical information to start modeling the software. She slowed down for a moment then, staring at the screen, then turned to Alex, “where are we going to get Kara’s DNA?”
Alex turned to the whole group, a grin splitting her face, “mom.” Then she turned back to the computer and activated the program she was working on.
>>>
Alex’s Home
The next morning, Alex and Kelly met Eliza at the front door of the apartment. She peeked in and noticed a third person, and smiled brightly as she recognized the small blonde woman. After hugging Alex and Kelly, she stepped through the door and walked directly towards Cat Grant, “didn’t think I would be seeing you today.”
“Well I figured since my ‘source’ for all news involving Kara and Supergirl was going to be in National City, I should make an appearance, especially since no one in Kara’s group, other than you, Eliza, notified me that Kara would be working with me on a special story,” Cat smirked as she looked over Eliza’s shoulder at Alex and Kelly. “Now, would you two like to tell me about the secret you have been hiding all morning. I am assuming it has something to do with your mother’s arrival.”
Alex scanned Eliza’s neck, “mom, where is the necklace that Kara and I got you for mother’s day?”
Eliza looked at her daughter, confusion obvious on her face, and reached into the collar of her shirt, pulling the small gold chain and heart-shaped locket from her neck. “It’s right here, where I always wear it.” Alex’s hands came up, and she stopped as Eliza held up a single finger and unclasped the necklace with practiced ease and placed it in Alex's outstretched palm. “Want to tell me what this is all about?”
On the back, there were raised Kryptonian glyphs, and Alex smiled as she remembered Kara’s fingers fumbling with the gold as she shaped the locket with her hands. She found the small imperfection in the glyph and pressed lightly, causing the back of the heart to pop open with a resounding click. Her smile grew even larger when she saw the braid of hair, four each of hers and Kara’s hair, pulled from each other’s head just before Kara’s first Earth haircut. She reverently removed the hair and inspected the roots, noting that all four of the lighter colored hairs were all intact. “Yes, yes, yes!” she yelled as she slid the hairs back into the locket and yanked out her phone, dialing Lena. She only had to wait less than one ring, “we’ve got four complete hairs, will that work?”
The four women stared at the phone in shock at the sheer scream of joy from the other end.
>>>
Early the next morning, Lena looked at the screen, her vision blurry, and saw what she was looking for. Reaching out, she grasped Alex’s hand, “We did it! Oh my god, Alex! We--we found her!”
Bleary-eyed, Alex looked at the screen, and there they were, the lifesigns they were seeking, one Kryptonian signature. “You did it Lena, you found her, you found her,” Alex ran to the door, screaming into the hallway, “Lena did it, she found her, she found Kara!”
Rushing back into the lab, she grabbed Lena in a backbreaking hug, “you did it, we are going to get her back.”
Lena stiffened, “you are, you’re going to get her back, Alex.”
Alex stopped, and took a step back, taking Lena by the shoulders, “we--we are getting her back, Lena. All of us! Do you understand, ALL OF US!”
Alex watched as something dawned on Lena, she felt the younger woman relax, “We are, we are going to get her back, Alex. All of us--all of us together.”
“That’s the Lena Luthor I know, the woman I admire. The woman Kara lo--cares for,” Alex smiled. “We need to prepare, we need weapons, and a portal.”
“I believe I can help with the portal,” Brainy said as he entered the room, causing the two women to separate. “The top two floors of the tower are set up for interdimensional travel and flight,” Brainy smiled, “something J’onn failed to mention when we all decided to use this location as our headquarters.”
“Up until this point, we had no use for the technology, I apologize for keeping it a secret,” J’onn explained as he and Eliza joined them.
“You really found her, Alex? Lena?” Kelly called out as she and Nia ran into the room.
Alex reached over and grabbed Lena’s hand, “we did!”
Lena smiled, “yes we did.” She started to giggle, and it was suddenly contagious.
All the superfriends were laughing, when Cat Grant peeked in the door, shaking her head at the scene. “Can we go get her now?” the reporter asked, “Now?”
Nia froze for a moment, as blue mist swirled around her. She seemed to be staring into space, but quickly recovered, “we can’t go now, in the morning, we must go in the morning. And we have to be prepared for anything. Kara is in danger from two men, one from our dimension and one is a ghost.” The young hero shuddered, as her vision cleared.
“Alex, you and Lena, need to get some rest. Brainy you too. I’ll take care of the prep work, each of you make a list of what you need, and it will be ready.”
“I’m going too,” Eliza spoke up.
There was a resounding no from the room, except for Cat, who smirked, worried for the group of Superheroes who had just told Supergirl’s mother, no.
“Oh really, and you are all experts on Kryptonian physiology and the mental aspect of what, MY DAUGHTER, is going through?” Eliza snarled, “which one of you thinks you can stop me?”
“Mom? Be reasonable,” Alex swallowed, realizing her mistake as soon as the words left her mouth.
Eliza walked up to her daughter, “Alexandra Michelle Danvers?”
Alex felt the world slowdown as her mother grasped her wrist, spun Alex around and flipped her daughter onto her back. “Oof,” escaped from Alex’s lips and as she breathlessly rolled back to her stomach, taking Kelly’s hand and standing up as everyone applauded. “I--I guess you are--are going,” she grunted out.
“Yes, I guess she is,” Cat Grant laughed, “I on the other hand will stay behind and wait for this team to recover our girl.”
The team filed out, each heading to his or her own bedroom, still laughing as Alex limped down the hallway. Lena stopped, and headed back to the lab, stopping in front of Eliza, “I haven’t had time to--I didn’t set up--we don’t have sunlamps.”
“Lena,” Eliza said, “I created the sunlamps, I will make sure they are ready by morning, okay?”
Lena nodded, afraid to speak. She swallowed, and opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come out. She closed her mouth and stared at the floor, and suddenly found herself gathered into Eliza’s arms. Soft sobbing sounds escaped Lena’s mouth, “it’s my fault, this is all my…”
“Shh, hush, Lena,” Eliza cooed, “it’s not your fault, sweetheart.” She pressed the woman into her chest, holding her gently and letting her cry. “She won’t blame you either, she believes in you Lena, she cares for you.”
“I don’t deserve her, or any of you,” Lena stuttered, settling into Eliza’s arms.
Eliza smiled, “you are absolutely just as hopeless as Kara. She loves you, Lena”
“Eliza?” Lena looked shocked.
“You are her sun, you are her everything Lena, remember that, because she is going to need us, all of us when she comes home,” Eliza said with a smile. “Go, get some sleep so we can go rescue your girl.”
>>>
The Tower
Lena stood outside the door guarding the top two floors of the tower, her hand hovering over the handle, self doubt crushing down on her shoulders. She didn’t hear the approaching steps as the rest of the Superfriends came up the hallway.
“Lena,” Alex smirked, “if you really want to go get Kara, you have to turn the handle.”
Alex watched a small smile find it’s way to Lena’s lips. Watched as Lena’s hand closed around the handle and turned, and listened as steely determination rang through Lena’s words, “let’s go.”
They all took their seats, each seemingly knowing where they should sit. At Lena’s station was a large button, obviously the one that would activate the transdimensional portal. J’onn and Eliza arrived a few minutes later taking their seats at the pilot’s station. Eliza looked over the controls, and pressed the launch button. “I wasn’t aware that you spoke Martian, Eliza?”
“I started practicing last night, I also speak French, German, Japanese and Kryptonese,” Eliza smiled. “Lena, would you be a dear, and activate the portal.”
Alex suddenly looked mortified, and Kelly felt her tense up, “what’s wrong, honey?”
“Mom speaks Kryptonese,” Alex said in a whisper, staring at the back of her mom’s head. “Kara and I used to talk to each other thinking that she and Jeremiah couldn’t understand.”
“Mother knows all, Alexandra,” Eliza said, peeking over her shoulder and winking.
Then the world broke, and the portal opened…
>>>
Luthor Corp
“Mr. Luthor,” the computer’s synthesized voice spoke through the speaker, “a portal has opened over National City. Based on your sister’s studies, the portal appears to be…”
“Shut up! Shut the hell up!” Lex growled. “Prepare my armor!”
Within minutes, Lex was suited up and launching himself towards the portal that Lena had created.
>>>
The Nightmares
Nia (A New Power Rises)
The bridge was dark, everyone was gone. Nia took a shaky breath, shivering in the cold blackness. She took another breath, then another. As her body relaxed, she tried to pull on her power. A blue glow started to emanate from her fingers, casting soft shadows throughout the dark bridge. One of the shadows came to life, walking towards her, wearing the face of her sister Maeve.
“You will fail, Nia Nal,” the shadow hissed, as it slid from shadow to shadow. “You carry the power of our mother with no knowledge of its use. You will fail your family…”
Nia tried to focus, to draw on more of her power, when out of the shadows walked Yvette's attacker, “keep trying Dreamer, you failed Yvette and it took everyone but you to find Supergirl,” the shadow’s words slid from it’s throat. “You fail, again and again…”
Nia started to raise her hands to her ears, when a final shadow appeared. “You aren’t worthy of the power Nia,” the words flowed from the mouth of the creature as its eyes opened and Nia realized she was seeing herself.
She dropped to her knees, a silent scream coming from her opened mouth. She pushed, her light slowly dimming, allowing the shadows closer and closer.
“Nia, Nia,” she heard a soft whisper in her ear, “you have always been a hero, it’s always been inside you…”. She heard the words in the voices of her family, and with each speaker her powers continued to grow, pushing against the shadows. Her eyes opened wide as Kara’s voice reached her ears, “you got this, little sister.”
With those words, a mighty roar spread through the darkness as a lioness made up of Nia’s light burst forward and destroyed the shadows.
Brainy (Form Own Destiny)
Sitting in his throne, Brainiac looked out over the destroyed planet that had once been Earth. With his enhanced powers, he could see the remains of the heroes of this petty planet, Guardian’s shield, Sentinel’s jacket, Martian Manhunter’s boots, Supergirl’s cape. Then he looked down into his hand, where he held Nia’s mask.
He sat staring at the mask for hours, running it between his fingers, relishing it weight, trying to remember the eyes that had been behind it.
“What have I become?” The words escaped his mouth in one breath.
“You have become that which you were always meant to be, offspring of Brainiac,” a shadow whispered, “you have become death, and the universe will be better for it.”
“This is not who I am?” Brainy panted, “I…”
“Ehehaha, you speak as if you can fight destiny,” the shadow laughed. “You started on this path as soon as you allied with the Earthling named Lex Luthor. He stained your soul, and now there is no turning back. You will kill them all.”
Brainy’s eyes got wide, tears started to fall, “no, I--I refuse to believe this fantasy.”
“You act as if you have a choice,” the voice whispered.
“All sentient creatures have a choice,” Brainy spoke with confidence, then felt an invisible hand take his own. “We make wrong choices. We use them to make us better, stronger…”
“IT IS YOUR DESTINY!” The voice screamed.
Gripping the hand tighter, Brainiac stood up, “logic does not dictate destiny. My friends…” the hand squeezed back, “my family forgave me, you are not by destiny.”
The lights came up, and Brainy found himself staring into the glowing eyes of Dreamer.
J’onn (Protect Your Family)
Green lidded eyes opened slowly. The Martian Manhunter shook his head, and looked around, trying to get his bearings. ‘DEO Headquarters?’ he thought to himself and attempted to move, but found himself unable to move.
Susan Vasquez and Alex walked into the room and the corner lit up showing Winn sitting at his computer. J’onn tried to speak, but no words would come. He couldn’t even move his head. Then from behind he heard booted feet approaching. He tried to turn, to fight whatever it was that had him trapped.
The first bullet struck Susan in the back of the head, the second hit Winn in the chest. The third and fourth hit Alex in the arm and then the leg, dropping her to the floor, screaming in pain and firing at her unseen enemies. The bullets passed right through him and J’onn realized it was him, he was the unseen killer.
Kara entered a moment later, shielding her sister with her body, as her heat vision fired through him over and over again.
A green round shot out, catching her in the chest, and J’onn started to breathe even harder, panic pushing him to move, but he couldn’t.
He blinked back angry tears, and felt himself starting to rise, to float away. He could see the enemy and it was Lex Luthor.
The balding man looked up at him and sneered, “running from another fight, J’onn.” Then he turned his attention back to Kara and Alex who looked up at him, fear in their eyes. Lex took a step forward, raising his arms, the noise of cycling rounds was deafening as he locked on J’onn’s earthbound daughters.
His scream gave the girls a moment but it wasn’t enough as Lex started to fire, his rounds getting closer and closer.
“It’s not real, it’s not real,” J’onn started to say to himself, “it’s not real,” He cringed in horror as the rounds got closer and closer. “IT’S NOT REAL!”
The lights came back…
Kelly (Guardian Shines)
The doors slid open and Kelly Olsen slipped in silently, moving from shadow to shadow watching and listening as an obviously controlled Lena and Eliza studied a caged phantom zone demon. As she slipped from one hiding spot, the creature spotted her and the woman froze in place.
“Kelly,” the creature hissed from the mouths of Eliza and Lena, “you should not have come here, Kelly Olsen.”
Kelly took a deep breath, getting her breathing under control, ‘this isn’t real, Nia warned us, Alex warned me, it’s all a nightmare.’
A familiar voice sounded in the woman’s ears, slurring slightly, like she had drunk one beer to many before bed time. Kelly turned towards the sound, her eyes opening wide with shock, as Alex approached, her eyes red, “Hello, Kelly.”
Stumbling back, Kelly stuttered, “what, Al--Alex?” She shifted away from the woman, holding her hands out to keep the thing that was her Alex at a distance. “Alex, this--this isn’t you, fight it, if anyone can, it’s you, honey.”
The creature began to hiss through Alex, Lena and Eliza’s mouths again, “why would we fight, we are stronger, physically and intellectually than you could ever hope to be.”
Kelly’s eyes closed tightly, ‘it’s not true, Alex would never say that.’ She opened her eyes back, and looked at the demon creature, “Alex, this isn’t something you would say. The Alex I know asked me to move in with her, she wears her fuzzy socks on a cold night in the winter. She shared her deepest secret with me and her deepest fears,” The Alex creature’s eyes flickered a moment and Kelly smiled softly, “remember the first time we met, at the hospital, how we butted heads? How we were so sure we were right and the other person was wrong? I knew then that I wanted a part of your life. All the ups and downs Alex, I can’t think of anyone else I would rather be with right now.”
Alex’s eyes closed, almost as if she was in pain, then they opened and Kelly smiled, relieved to see the brown eyes of her Alex. “Kelly, I--I didn’t mean any of that, I swear it wasn…”
Kelly smirked, “you sound just like Kara when you ramble.” Then she pressed their lips together and pulled Alex into a tight hug.
“He’s coming back, Kelly, you need to listen to Nia, let her help, trust her,” Alex said as she pulled away. “Save us, Kells. Save us…” Her eyes closed again and when they opened Kelly was once again staring into the blood red orbs of the demon.
“Nia?” Kelly gasped, backing away slowly.
“You can do this, Alex knows it and so do I,” she heard Nia’s voice whisper in her ear. “Be the Guardian your brother could never really become. Be the hero we all know you are…”
As the voice faded, Kelly saw a blue mist swirl around her, felt armor start to form on her frame. Looking down, she found herself wrapped in blue and gold, a helmet formed around her head and she watched with a smile as a gold shield appeared on her left arm.
The creature picked that moment to attack. Kelly leaped back, pressed off the wall and jumped into the air, spinning as she lifted the shield's cutting edge level with the demon’s neck. She heard it scream, landed in a crouch and turned, watching with satisfaction as it dissolved into mist.
“Good job, Guardian,” Nia said as she took Kelly’s hand and the darkness faded…
Eliza (A Mother’s Love)
Eliza stepped into the clearing, listening as Alex begged Kara to come back, to not die. Her heart clenched and she stopped. The sunlight in the plants started to move towards her adopted daughter then stopped as Snowbird swooped down from the sky and attacked Alex, driving her oldest child to the ground. The woman stopped, hovering over her girls. A growl rose in Eliza’s throat as she gathered herself up and moved out of the shadows, “get away from my girls, you bitch.”
She stopped as the creature looked up at her, red eyes, dead and uncaring staring at her. “You are weak, Eliza Danvers, not even worth my time.”
Through gritted teeth, “try me, I’ve faced nightmares worse than anything you can conjure up. Bring it on!”
The creature tilted its head away, ignoring Eliza completely and lowered itself over Alex and Kara again.
Eliza swung a tree limb at the creature's head, “I said get away from my girls!”
The creature recoiled and lost the shape it was holding, transforming into a phantom zone ghost. Eliza growled again, swinging once again at the monster’s head. She grunted as it connected with something solid and the creature howled in pain.
“Still think I’m not worth your time?” Eliza threatened.
The girls stirred and Eliza turned her head. The creature picked that moment and attacked, but Eliza was prepared and waited, raising the stick like a spear, watching in satisfaction as it impaled itself and began to dissolve into mist.
“Never doubt a mother’s love,” Eliza snarled as the light returned…
Alex (A Sister’s Bond)
Alex slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Her breath caught in her throat, as one thought came to her, ‘Kara’s apartment!’ She watched her sister’s dark shape, shooting her heat vision at the rack of clothes in the corner of the bedroom. Rushing forward, she grabbed a fire extinguisher, pulled the pin and put out the fire. Kara turned her back and strutted towards the window. “Kara?”
“Don’t even Alex,” Kara didn’t turn around, she just continued to talk, “jealousy doesn’t look good on you.”
Alex shook her head. She’d been here before. She looked around the room, at Kara’s black uniform. ‘Astra’s dead, Kara’s--she’s been exposed to--to Red Kryptonite,’ Alex’s brown eyes opened. She was reliving one of the worst nights of her life.
Kara opened the window, “how does it feel, Alex? How does it feel to be less?”
“I failed you Kara, I should have been with you, I should have protected you…” Alex cried out, interrupted.
The Kara creature turned around, now longer wearing the black, now she was beaten and bruised, “you have always failed me.”
Alex’s breath caught, it was the night Reign had beaten her. The coma, Kara’s heart stopping. “I…”
The creature stopped again, and Kara was lying in a forest clearing dying as Alex struggled to remember, to save her.
“Kara…” Alex’s breath caught, she was losing it, losing control.
Kara was trapped in the fortress, the kryptonite leaching into her system. “You always arrive too late, Alexandra Danvers.”
Now Kara was against a white wall, as kryptonite slowly killed her. She was fading away, disappearing into the phantom zone.
“NO!” Alex screamed, “I haven’t failed her, not like this. Show me the times she didn’t get hurt, show me the times I held her hand and supported her. Show me the times she held my hand and supported me. WE ARE SISTERS, we fight, we hurt each other and then we get up, wipe our hands and face the world. I will save her, she will save me, and together, WE WILL KICK YOUR ASS!” Alex shook with tears, took a deep breath and stepped forward, “you will not stop us from getting her back, so GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”
She fell to her knees as the darkness faded and Kelly wrapped her arms around her…
Lena (For Better or For Worse)
Lena could feel herself falling, plummeting through her own memories.
She was standing by the lake shore watching her mother’s hand sink beneath the surface.
She was standing in the hallway of a dark house, looking into the face of a woman who would never love her.
She sat alone in the cafeteria at the college, too young to understand why no one wanted to eat with her.
She was sitting alone in the courtroom, listening as Lex was sentenced.
She was always alone, until one bright light forced its way into her life.
“She’s Supergirl,” Lex said as she pulled the trigger.
Kara was standing before her then, her blue eyes hidden behind the red of the creature from the Phantom Zone, “she betrayed you, she doesn’t trust you, she is scared of you and you left her alone to suffer by your brother’s hand.”
Lena fell to her knees, a crushing sob rushing from her throat, “no.”
“It’s your fault Lena Luthor, all of it is your fault,” the creature said over and over again as it took the shape of all the Superfriends, Sam, Andrea, Lillian and Lex. Then it took Nia’s form and it’s red eyes shifted to purple.
“It wasn’t you Lena,” Nia spoke in a confident whisper, “she never doubted you, she never thought you failed her, she believes in you. We all do.”
Lena stood up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, “Kara?”
The creature screamed as it took the shape of Kara Zor-El. Blue eyes peeked out through the fingers on its face.
“Kara?” Lena’s voice cracked, “we are coming, we are coming to get you.”
“Lena? Lena, you found me?” Kara responded, her eyes brightening and her voice sounding strong.
“We will be there soon, darling. Just hold on a little longer. We are all coming for you,” Lena promised, her green eyes shining.
“Lex is here, Lena. Don’t trust my father,” Kara warned, her blue eyes slowly fading and returning to red. “Be safe Lena, be careful my Zhao.” And then she was gone.
“You failed her again, Lena Luthor,” the creature growled, and floated forward. “I will end you now,”
Lena stepped forward, “do your worst?” She held her hands out, palms facing the creature, but she wasn’t alone. Nia was standing beside her holding her outstretched left hand. She felt a grip in her right and Alex was standing there. Then Brainy, Kelly, J’onn and Eliza stepped forward.
The creature emitted a low growl and continued to move forward, expecting the Superfriends to retreat. When they failed to do so, it stopped and screamed. But the team held its ground, raising weapons and hands, all their considerable power came to bear as they fired away. Dreamer’s energy captured the monster, wrapping it in unbreakable bands of dream energy. The rest continued to flay the creature with whatever weapons they were carrying, watching as it dissolved into mist and disappeared.
>>>The Rescue
The phantom closed in on Kara, forcing the hero to duck and roll towards the other side of the cave. She stood quickly and bumped into Zor-El forcing both of them into the wall. The phantom turned, and was rushing towards them.
Kara pushed her father to the side, shoving him away, as the ghost slammed her into the stone wall, the force of the blow caused her head to crack against the solid surface, which brought stars to the Girl of Steel's eyes. She slid down the wall, the small cavern spinning under her feet. She felt the stone slice through her uniform, hissing as it ripped into her back.
The creature reared back, slicing its claws towards Kara’s face. She ducked, dropping to her side, but in doing so she caught her arm on a rough outcropping, tearing a huge gash in her arm, and leaving a huge smear of blood on the wall.
Lex Luthor stepped behind and grabbed her by the arms, wrenching them up behind her back. “I should have just killed you back in the fortress, but I guess this way, I get you and your friends.” He lifted Kara over his head and tossed her through the opening of the cave.
Kara landed on her back, the pain lancing throughout her body. She rolled over and tried to crawl away, rising to her hands and knees.
Lex, the phantom and her father closed in on her, moving purposely out of the entrance and spreading out.
Kara backed against a large outcropping, pushing herself to her feet. The phantom creature closed in and Kara locked eyes with it, daring it to enter her head. The creature froze, it had never had a willing victim. The pause would be it’s last thought.
Kara looked up as a strange shaped ship blasted through a tear in the void above. Her eyes followed a strange device that plummeted from the sky, landing about fifteen feet away. Lex and her father were so busy watching the ship, they failed to notice how close the device landed and were completely unprepared when it went off…
Pure sunlight washed over Kara and she smiled as she watched Alex and Lena drop from the ship followed by someone else. She felt her cuts start to heal and her muscles stopped aching for the first time in what seemed like forever. She stood tall as Alex dropped in a crouch at her side, the Hand of the Soldier shaping itself into a spear of some sort. Her smile grew even larger as Lena landed, wrapped in some sort of alien armor with her arm wrapped around, Eliza? Kara’s brow crinkled as she shook her head. “Eliza?” She asked, confused.
“I’ll explain later, Kar,” Alex said as she scanned her sister, noting the rips and tears in her uniform, and the blood stains.
The four women turned to face their enemies as Lex spoke, “how nice that you brought the whole family, little sister.”
Lena swallowed, speechless that Lex was actually here, her breathing sped up and her eyes were wide. “Shut up Lex, Lena’s with us, and there is nothing you can say that will ever change that,” Alex growled, as Kara stepped forward and took Lena’s fingers in her palm.
Lena stood up straighter, “Activate!”
Kara looked on impressed as Lena was wrapped in a blue suit of armor, stepping in front of Kara and Eliza.
Alex stepped up beside Lena and the fight was on.
>>>
Zor-El’s eyes became bright red orbs as he focused on Kara and Eliza, his feet lifting off the ground as he floated forward.
“Kara!” Alex yelled, “keep mom safe, Lena and I will handle Lex.”
Kara immediately stepped in front of Eliza, as Lena and Alex shot forward to take on Lex.
“How about we take care of each other, honey?” Eliza asked, as she pulled a collapsible staff from her belt, pressed the button and smiled wickedly as it extended.
Kara dropped into a crouch, her body preparing for the onslaught. “We can do this, he can shapeshift and get into your head.”
“They already tried. They’ve got no power left over us, and you just need to believe in yourself and your family, okay Kara?” Eliza responded, her eyes never leaving the creature, as she started to spin the staff in her hands.
On the other side of the field, Lex fired a rocket at Lena, and watched in anger as Alex brought up her arm, as the Hand formed a shield, deflecting the missile back at him. “Learned that one from my girlfriend, Lex,” as she rolled out of the way.
Lena rolled her eyes inside her helmet, allowing the computer to aim at the Phantom Zone projector on Lex’s back. As the tone sounded, she launched four shots, four different rockets that zoomed towards Lex at high speed. He ducked each one and rolled up to take a shot.
“Missed,” Lex laughed.
“Did she?” Alex said as she came up in front of him and sliced through his missile launcher, watching in satisfaction as it bounced away.
Lex looked confused, then shocked as all four rockets crashed into his back, detonating and tearing the projector to shreds, along with a portion of his armor.
Zor-El shot towards Eliza and was caught by surprise as Kara fired beam after beam of her heat vision at him, burning portions of his robes away. As the last shot struck him in the chest, he veered away from Eliza and focused his attention on Kara.
Kara shot forward to meet him, catching his clawed hands as he brought them down towards her face. “Never underestimate them,” she said as she held the claws back.
“Never underestimate?” the creature asked.
The staff, charged with Nia’s dream energy, came down on the monster’s head, slicing through it and turning it to ash.
“Never underestimate my family,” Kara smiled, then fell to her knees as her energy gave out. Eliza caught her and both women watched as Lex was surrounded by Alex and Lena.
Lex growled, swinging his fist, first at Alex and then at Lena. “I’m going to kill you all, do you understand, all of you.”
Lena placed a kick at the ankle of his suit, listening to the sound of crushed metal, as the boot shattered around Lex’s foot.
The Hand of the Shoulder continued to change in Alex’s skilled hand, removing power supplies with a knife’s edge and blasting away energy cores and other important components one after another.
Lex’s forward momentum stopped as his suit froze, and the maniac found himself trapped as Kara and Eliza joined his sister and Alex. He continued to spit insult after insult at each of the women, until Eliza took a deep breath and walked up to him, reared back and punched him in the nose.
Lex’s head lolled in his suit, his breathing sounding haggard through his broken nose.
An exhausted Kara looked up at the three women, “can--can we go home now?”
All three women smiled at the hero and shook their heads, leading her to the slowly descending ship.
>>>
Reunions
As the group entered the ship, they were approached by the rest of the team. Lena, still suffering from self doubt, broke off and headed towards her station. Eliza watched her go, her eyes full of concern.
Kara was barely holding herself up right, but at the sight of her friends, she opened her arms.
Brainy was the first to reach her, tears flowing freely down his cheeks as he wrapped his arms tightly around the Kryptonian. “I missed you, Kara.”
Smiling into his shoulder, Kara whispered, “Me too, Brainy.”
Kelly was next, gently pulling Kara forward, “I took care of her for you.”
“You took care of her for both of us, Kelly. Are you mad?” Kara asked softly.
“Mad about you being Supergirl? No. Mad that you got yourself into this, a little,” she smiled. They worked their way apart, “It’s good to have you back, Kara.” She leaned in and placed a light kiss on Kara’s forehead, “love you, Supergirl.”
J’onn came forward next, and everything he needed to say was conveyed in strong protective arms as they wrapped themselves around the woman he thought of as his own child. Tears fell from his eyes as he kissed the top of her head.
Nia stopped a step away, opening her mouth to speak, tears streaming down her cheeks. Kara stared back, smiling slightly, “come here, little sister.”
Nia crumbled into Kara’s arms, heaving sobs sounding from her throat, “it was you, you came to me.”
“You called, I came,” Kara said into the top of Nia’s head. Her lips brushed the other woman’s temple, “whenever you need me, I’ll be there for you.”
The hug could have lasted hours, when in reality it was just a few minutes. Then it was Eliza’s turn and tears flowed from both women. The older woman crushed the hero to her chest, pouring as much love into the hug as was possible in the moments they had.
Sniffling, Kara looked up into Eliza’s eyes and in that moment, she thanked Rao for the family she had found when she came to Earth.
Alex approached the two women next, wrapping her arms around them both, feeling her sister snuggle closer to her as Eliza pulled away, giving her daughters a moment of their own. The sister’s collapsed to their knees, refusing to let go of one another. Alex peppered Kara’s head with kisses, “she did it Kara. Lena found you. Everything you said about her was right.”
“I get to be right occasionally,” Kara smiled through her tears. “Thank you so much for not giving up on me, for coming after me, for being my big sister.”
“Always,” Alex smiled, her tears streaming down her cheeks as Kara gripped her harder.
>>>
And Then There Were Two
Kara stood up from her knees and made her way towards the striking brunette sitting at the control panel on the far side of the bridge. Unshed tears were filling Lena’s eyes as she focused on the blue eyes that were moving towards her.
Kara finally reached Lena, her breathing and heartbeat loud in her ears.
Lena stood, her hands folded in front of her, fingers twisting, her lower lip grasped tightly between her teeth.
“Hey you,” Kara whispered. “Thank you.”
Words spilled from Lena’s lips, “I’m so, so sorry. I should have known, I tried to find you, Lex is staying. I missed you so…”
Kara chuckled lightly, as tears ran down her cheeks, “Lena, I’m going to kiss you now, and if you will have me, I’m going to spend the rest of my life kissing you and saying thank you for saving me.”
Lena sucked in a breath, but once again words failed her and she simply nodded. Parched lips met hers and she snaked her arms around Kara’s neck, pulling her forward, and deepening the kiss. Kara smiled and sighed as Lena’s tongue flicked over her teeth and pushed its way deeper.
“I missed you, Kara,” Lena smiled as they broke apart.
“I missed you too, Zhao,” Kara said as she leaned in for a second kiss.
>>>
The Tower
The ship docked with the tower, and the crew disembarked, everyone heading towards the medical bay.
As Kara reached the doors, a huge grin came to her face when she noticed Cat and M’gann waiting for her to walk through...
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donutloverxo · 4 years
Text
Stevie
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Authors note- listen... I'm sorry for this but at the same time I'm not. Anyway this was inspired by an arc from the anime gintama.
the female captain america graphic does not belong to me.
Do not repost or steal my works. Reblogs are welcome
Summary- Steve has been on a space mission for a week. When he gets back he's a completely different person.
Pairings- Steve Rogers x reader, Stevie x reader
Warning- smut, sex toys, bi curious reader, gender bender(Tony nat and steve get turned into the opposite sex)
Word count- 3.3k
Masterlist
You had been monitoring Steve’s mission status for the past week. You were both used to the other being gone on missions. But a mission in space was something else. Steve, Tony and Nat were helping Carol out with a situation in space. Since the guardians were mia. In another galaxy. It was still hard to wrap your head around. Last you heard going to Mars was considered a huge accomplishment now people are travelling to another solar systems.
It was hard not to worry. So many things could go wrong. They could be sucked into a black hole or encounter a hostile species. You were one of the few Avengers who had never been to space. As you were blipped after the snap.
You had heard about it from Steve. He had a far away melancholic look in his eyes whenever he talked about it. You understood how hard those five years must’ve been for him. You weren’t sure if you could even last 5 weeks without him.
As much as you would’ve liked to go explore space you had decided someone had to stay home.
You were going about your night drinking some coffee to help with your fatigue in front of the monitor waiting for updates from Steve’s team. You had not left the room, you pretty much lived there. They were supposed to be home two days ago. With no updates from either of them you were at the end of your rope.
You were jolted awake when you felt your chair along with the whole room vibrating. You didn’t even realise you had fallen asleep. You rushed outside hoping that the team had made it back.
You looked at Carol approaching you from the ship landed on the compound lawn.
“Hey there”, she greeted giving you a nervous smile.
“Is something wrong?”, you asked looking at the ship hoping to see Steve come out of it.
“Well yes and no. Something happened. I’m going to need you to stay calm.”
“I’m always calm”, impatient you walked towards the ship.
You stopped in your tracks when you see three more people come out of it. Two women and a man. Confused you looked back at Carol who just smiled and shrugged.
“This must be weird for you”, you heard the man say, his hoarse deep voice say.
You looked back at the three of them and wished to pinch yourself or slap yourself, anything to wake up from this dream. You looked the three of them up and down. It wasn’t too obvious but they looked a lot like Steve Tony and Nat.
The redhead man had broad shoulders, a square jaw and a Bob haircut. He was shorter than the blond woman standing beside him.
You stopped breathing for a minute when you looked at her. She was tall, taller than any woman you’d ever seen probably taller than most men. She had a sharp jawline and high cheekbones. Her short blond hair was slicked back. If you didn’t know better you would be scared by her sharp features but you couldn’t help look away from her piercing blue eyes. That’s when you realized.
“Steve?”, you breathed out after what felt like forever.
“No no, she’s Stevie now”, you whipped your heard to look at the short brunette woman standing behind the redhead. Her hair was short with flicks of grey. She had wrinkles around her eyes and mouth.
“Yeah and she’s Toni now. As in Toni with an i.”, she redhead said.
“What is going on here?!”, you yelled and looked at Carol for an explanation.
“Well we were on the mission everything was going quite well. But then somebody decided to make some sexist jokes.”, she gave Toni and the red head a icy stare. “So they changed these idiots into the opposite sex. To teach them a lesson. They will go back to their old selves soon enough.”
“Ok it was just a joke! How was I supposed to know they would be so sensitive”, Toni whined.
“Wait who are ‘they’?”, you asked her
“Aliens”, she answered and walked back to the spaceship “alright I have to leave good luck”
“Oh no you don’t. How are we supposed to fix this?” Toni chased behind her asking and then begging her to stay.
You looked at the red head who would most probably be Nat and then at Stevie. Not really knowing what to say your gaze went down Stevie’s body. Your eyes widened when you looked at the curve of her breasts. You couldn’t see them properly under her tshirt but you could tell that they were big. It was no surprise, Steve did always have big assets.
“Uh... can we go inside?”, Stevie asked awkwardly rubbing her forearm with her hand.
You hadn’t uttered a single word still speechless and in shock. Was this real life? You had solved so many problems, seen so many things over the years but never in your life did you think you would be here. Looking at your boyfriend or girlfriend, you couldn’t deal with the feelings emerging inside you or how much you wanted to touch her to see if her skin was as soft as it looked.
You could only see her arms and face as she was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. She had a soft sheen of blond hair on her arms, not nearly as coarse as Steve’s arm hair used to be. Her arms were still muscular and definied but much more slimmer. And she clearly wasn’t wearing a bra. Not that you were complaining.
She was looking down at her thighs closing them and then opening them again, probably not sure how to sit. She looked up at you and smiled.
“How are you feeling?”, you asked her.
“Strange”, she said running her hand through her short hair. “Are you okay?”
“Well...”, you started not knowing how to finish. Would she be mad if she knew what was going on in your head? She was confused and in distress this is neither the time nor the place to have unsavory thoughts.
Nat came into the common room and plopped down beside Stevie. “I just used the bathroom. It was quite interesting.”, she said nodding to herself and staring off into space. She looked like she was contemplating her entire life.
You looked at Toni grumbling and making herself a drink. “She left. Said we’ll be back to normal by tomorrow”, she sat down on the sofa in front of you sipping her drink. She looked down at her breast before squeezing one.
“Toni!”, Stevie chastised him and looked away. You laughed at both of them, Nat and Toni joined you as laughter filled the hall.
“Imagine if Stark was born a woman”, Nat wondered.
“They definitely wouldn’t call you a playboy. They'd call you much worse names.”, you said before going back to admiring Stevie in all her glory while you had time.
“I’m going to head out. Good night kids. Pray to your gods that we go back to our old selves tomorrow”, Toni said putting her empty glass on the coffee table before leaving.
Nat yawned and stretched her back. “I’m going to bed as well. Long mission. Good night”
“So, what do you wanna do?”, you tentatively asked Stevie. You were suddenly nervous around her, the way someone would be around a new crush. You went back and forth between looking at her eyes, breasts and your lap.
“Let’s just go to bed. But... uh.. I could just sleep in the guest room if you like.” She scratched her neck blushing just like your Steve would. You smiled at her. There was no need to be nervous. This was the same Steve you knew and loved.
“No. We can sleep together. I’ve missed you”, you take her hand in yours. It felt the same but a bit different. Maybe because her hands were much smaller than Steve’s.
“I’m not me though”, she mused looking at your fingers linked together.
“I don’t mind. In fact I like it”, maybe you were being too bold but this might be the only chance you ever get.
“Oh?”, she looked at you her pink plump lips pouting. They looked even more kissable right now. Her nose was slimmer but still a bit crooked. The cute confused expression on her face reminded you so much of your Steve. Which was bizarre because she was still your Steve.
You couldn’t help it anymore, you leaned in putting your hand on the armrest for support and joined both your lips. She was stiff at first but then relaxed. You licked her lips and she opened her mouth kissing you deeply. She had missed your lips and your touch for the past week.
You broke apart after a few minutes. You looked into her eyes trying to catch your breathe. You decided to sit on her lap like you usually do. She put her hand around you as you nuzzled into her neck breathing her in. She smelled different, more feminine, but you could still smell hints of Steve’s soap and cologne.
“Are you sure about this?”, she asked intensely looking into your eyes.
You cradled her face in your hands. “I am as long as you’re comfortable. I’ve always wanted to do that. Be with a woman. Just never got the chance.”
“I... uh.. wouldn’t know what to do to”, she murmured looking away.
Steve, bless his heart, would never go anywhere near porn. He always found it too gratuitous. Never mind that the few sex tapes the two of you did make were plenty gratuitous.
No matter how much he liked to act like a boy Scout you knew all his kinks and perversions. But you had seen and read your fair share of erotica and you knew what you liked. You could make it work.
“You’ve always wanted to be with a woman?”, he asked and you nodded “you never told me that”
“I don’t know. I like women but don’t even feel like thinking about anyone else when I have you. Man or woman”, you shrugged. She blushed at that giving you a wide grin.
“Well... maybe Carol..”, you trailed off. You had developed a slight crush on her since the moment you met her. She was so fierce and strong. She didn’t take shit from anyone. You smiled at how she just left everyone here and went on her next mission to save the universe.
She was someone admirable. Or maybe it was just because she was a lot like Steve. Captain and everything.
Stevie hummed at that. She had seen you looking at Carol in adoration, her suspicions were just confirmed. She didn’t feel bad or jealous. She knew you were hers.
***
You had made yourself at home between Stevies leg while she laid her head on your pillow. She was apprehensive about letting you go down on her or see her. But you were adamant about giving her the experience of a female orgasm.
Maybe you had your selfish reasons as well. You couldn’t stop looking at her pretty pink pussy. It might be the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. You were tempted to whip out your phone and click a few pictures.
There were little dirty blond hair sprinkled around it. You wondered if you liked it because it was objectively pretty or because it was attached to the love of your life.
You smiled to yourself when you noticed it was glowing. She was probably getting impatient. She had been on a tasking mission, she deserves some relief. You were a bit anxious even if you knew what you had to do, you had never done it before. Your core tingled when you remembered the first time Steve ate you out. How you had to direct him and tell him exactly what to do. He was pretty much a pro at it now.
You licked a shy stripe up her lips. You gained a little bit of confidence when you felt her gasp and shiver. You licked a few more stripes before sucking on her clit. She seemed to like it when you did it faster so you increased your pace.
You pushed your tongue inside of her while licking her up. You decide to try incorporating your fingers as well. Pushing one and then two inside of her before thrusting them in and out with purpose.
She grunted and pushed your head back towards her core. “Shit”, she screamed as you began lapping her up again.
Steve never had any qualms about cursing during love making. It gave you great pleasure knowing you’re the only one that ever gets to see this wild feral side of him. Or her.
“Oh god”, she clutched your hair fisting them in her hand before coming all over your mouth. You lapped up everything you could.
You climbed up on your bed and looked down into her eyes. “How was that?”, you asked stroking her cheek.
“Pretty good”, she smiled up at you her blue eyes twinkling.
You raised your brows at her frowning. “Just pretty good?”
“It was perfect. But nothing different, I think”, she replied bringing your hand to her lips giving it a kiss. “Now it’s your turn”, she smirked.
“No”, you said firmly and got off the bed disappearing into your closet.
“No?”, she asked before sitting up trying to see what you were up to.
You return to your bed tying your favorite strap on to your hips and coating it with a generous amount of lube. You smirked when you looked at her staring at it. “What do you think?”
You already knew the answer to that question. You had used the very same toy on Steve’s ass more times than you could count. As much as you loved being dominated by him you also liked pleasing him, having him completely at your mercy.
She visibly gulped down. “How do you want to do it?”
“I’d like to look at your face.” You said holding her face in your hands stroking her cheeks. You push her down on the bed. Kneeling between her legs. You groped and stroked her body. It was unsurprisingly as soft as you imagined it would be. You held her breasts in your hands for a minute squeezing them and stroking her nipples. “they’re so soft”, you wondered out loud.
“Now you know why I like yours so much”, she said chuckling
You squeezed her pink hard nipple between your fingers before taking it in your mouth, giving it a harsh suck.
“Fuck... doll I need you”, she whined grabbing your dildo lining it up to her pussy.
You released her nipple with a pop swatting her hands away. “Be patient”, you scolded. She pouted at you but kept her hands to herself.
After sucking on her breasts for a while you lined your dildo upto her pussy. You snaked a hand under her hips to pull her up towards you, just like Steve used to do with you. You needed to be as close to her as possible.
You have her an open mouthed kiss slowly pushing into her. She moaned into your mouth. You fucked her nicely and slowly. Holding her in your hands as if she was the most precious thing to you, which she truly was.
You increased your pace when you felt her moaning and grunting loudly, knowing she was probably very close. You looked down at her face scrunched up in pleasure as she came around your cock.
You had never been able to look at Steve’s face when he came, either you were too fucked out from your own orgasms or were focusing on making him last longer.
Now looking down at her, doing something that was only pleasure able for her felt incredibly intimate. It felt better than any orgasm could’ve.
You pulled out of her, taking the strap on off before cuddling with her.
“That was something else”, she mumbled feeling high from her intense orgasm.
***
Later that night you had some how convinced Stevie to let you put make up on her. She didn’t agree at first but with some pouting she was basically putty in your hands.
You lips were set in a firm straight line in concentration as you tried not to mess up her eyeliner. Her hair was incredibly short so there wasn’t much you could do with it. You wondered if she would let you take some pictures.
“So what exactly happened? Why did they turn you into women... and man”, you asked still not sure how they were able to do it.
“It was something Tony said about never understanding women and then Natasha argued with all men are the same or something along those lines”, he said a frown on his face as if he was trying hard to remember it “I was caught in the middle of it trying to get them to stop fighting” You decided to let it go for now. Maybe she’d tell you the whole story some other day.
“One good thing about this is now you can take my name”, you smiled as you imagined Steve with your last name.
“I always thought you’d take mine. I like the thought of you as Mrs Rogers”
“Oh and why would I do that? I was one of the most renowned sheild agent and I am the best avenger”,you said puffing your chest out proudly.
“You might have some competition with that”, she teased smirking at you to which you stuck out your tongue putting some final touches on her face. “I guess our kids could just hyphenate”
You gasped at that, “kids? If you think I’m having more than one child then you’ve lost your mind. You know what it’s like to have a vagina now. Imagine pushing a child the size of a watermelon out of it”, you huffed but looking at her pretty face all your anger melted away.
“I’m sorry sweetheart. You know if I could go through it instead of you I would”, she said stroking your thighs and you knew she was sincere.
Steve would never let anything bad happen to you. Not if he could help it. After he got you back he had vowed to you that he would always protect you.
You looked at her sad face hunched down staring at the ground. She looked as if she was in another world. “Stevie what’s wrong?”
“It’s just what if the kid inherits all my illness. Or the super serum. That could be a danger to you”
You knelt down between her legs so you could look into her eyes. “Hey it’s okay”, you said softly “we don’t have to have kids. And we can always adopt. That gives us much more time”
“Are you sure?”, she asked shyly playing with a strand of your hair.
“Absolutely positive”, you beamed up at her.
***
The next morning you woke up earlier than usual. Stretching your back muscles you smiled looking at the sun shining through the window. It was a beautiful day. Perfect for a picnic. You looked to your side smiling at Steve sleeping peacefully. Wait a minute.
“Steve”, you shook him harshly.
“What?”, he rose his voice heavy and hoarse. He looked down at his body touching his pecs and abs before looking back at you. “I’m back”
“Yeah you’re back”
You both went down to the common room to find if Toni and Nat had went back to their normal selves. They were already waiting for both of you.
“Oh Rogers is back too!”, Tony said eagerly.
“Did you two have fun last night?”, Nat smirked suggestively at the two of you.
“I see neither of you learned your lesson then”, Steve shook his head at them before looking at you, catching you staring at him. “What do you miss Stevie?”
You shook your head at him. Lightly slapping his chest. “I like what’s in here. Doesn’t matter how you look”
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inthemindofcp · 2 years
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2/19 - Patience is Worth It or is it?
I had a crush on you since you came for orientation. I felt positive that we would connect on a date. This past Saturday… it happened. You approaching me after I come to pick up some OT during the whole COVID madness. Complimenting my haircut after we all during that time didn’t look our best. So… I saw you had a mutual friend on IG and took a shot to add you. Patiently waiting to shoot my shot… I follow your stories and crazy posts. I wanted to shoot it earlier, but you and the father of your kids try to give it another go. Y’all mutually decided to part ways and I still just waited for an opportunity.
Something happened where married men was flirting with you and wasn’t having it. I mentioned like well… I been trying to take you out but you ignore me. Kind of my shot was there for the taking. You were quite receptive and kind of put that whole looking for friends and nothing more at the moment, I completely understand but was waiting for you to hit me as I gave you my number. A seed was planted… but nothing to fruition yet.
It took quite some time for you to hit me up and reminded you that I gave you my cell. Finally, the day comes and the first text convo was cool, short and telling one another to stay in touch. I planned to take you to your first basketball game and when the time come, you backed out… citing anxiety issues. I was pretty bummed about it and kept it short and displayed a bit of frustration and you still left the door open for lunch. We began to plan for this day weeks ago and was stoked it was approaching.
You text me to confirm and make sure we were still on and said… don’t stand me up, an opportunity I been looking to for a few years, it wasn’t going to happen. I spoke this into existence and was ecstatic. You wanted to change up your choice, Mexican cuisine is your favorite but you felt it was too heavy at the time, so we adjust accordingly. You seem more nervous about this than I was. You called me about you couldn’t find anything to wear and telling your daughter about it and she’s pushing you to go. Feels good she was on my side even though I never met her. It must have been awhile since she been out in public or on a date. The day went quite well in my opinion actually. Switch it up to a restaurant called rock n brews. Not really a dull moment, conversation flowed pretty well. Went over to Gametime and it all felt pretty well there too.
As she had to leave soon because she wasn’t a fan of driving in the dark, we walked back to her car and hugged goodbye and agreed we should do this again soon. The feeling of taking your crush out was on a mountain high until things slap you in the face to remind you… maybe this was a mirage. I was wondering why I didn’t get a text back when she got home, messaging her because I didn’t receive one… but to realize she messaged me on instagram “hey friend, I had a great time and thanks for a fun day” to paraphrase it. She made it clear that she was looking for friends at this time… but what irks me is the post she made before messaging me on instagram like she was intentionally sending a message. The post… which she screenshot from a old post she made was “don’t confuse my good vibes as flirting… I don’t talk to the person I like…” what in the hell was that about? Like really and after you posted that… you legit messaged me on instagram making it painfully obvious what you was communicating. Message received and I decided to fall back. In short… most and I say “Most” women ain’t shit.
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yukinojou · 3 years
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I already squeed quite a bit on Twitter, but turns out my Shadow and Bone thoughts demand longform. So that was a 40+ tweet thread or using my Tumblr for an original post for once.
I was wary about the Shadow and Bone adaptation the way I'm usually wary about good books being adapted onscreen. It was amplified because my actual favourites are the Six of Crows books, and because the American-based movie complex has a bad track record of doing anything based on Eastern Europe. 8 episodes in 3 days should tell you how much I loved it - the moment I finished, I wanted more.
First, the technical praise:
Damn but the plotting is tight. It took me a while to realised it's based on heist movie bones, where every little thing (The Freaking Bullet!) is important. The story fulfills its promises and manages not to bore at the same time - it delights by the way they're fulfilled. I called out a few plot developments moments before they happened, and I was happy about it. Such a joy after so many series where "not doing what viewers expect" led to plot holes and lack of sense. It might be an upside to the streaming model after all.
From a dramatic point of view I can tell all the reasons for all the changes, especially providing additional outsider points of view on Ravka (Crows) and letting viewers see Mal for themselves the way he only comes across in later books.
Speaking of which, this is a masterclass in rewriting a story draft. SaB was Bardugo's first, and having read later books you can really see where she didn't quite dare to break the YA rules yet, especially Single POV that necessitated a tight focus on Alina's often negative feelings rather than the big picture and a triangle that felt a bit forced. The world in the series is so much bigger, the way Bardugo could finally paint it when SaB success gave her more creative freedom, and some structural choices feel familiar too. It's a combination of various choices by crew and cast, but the end result meshes together so tightly and naturally.
Visuals! Especially the war parts because Every Soviet Movie Ever, but also the clothes (I would kill for Nina's blouse in the bar), the jewelry, the interiors. The stag was so very beautiful. And a deep commitment to a coherent aesthetic for each character and setting.
Look, you can do a serious fantasy series with colours! Both skin colours and bright sets and clothing! And all scenes were well lit enough to know what's going on, even in the Fold!
Representation (aka I Am Emotion)
To start with: I was born behind the Iron Curtain, in the last years of the Cold War. The Curtain was always permeable to some extent, and we have always been aware that while we have talented artists of our own, we never had the budgets and polish of the Anglosphere Entertainment Machine. So we watched a hell of a lot of American visual storytelling especially because yeah, you can tell we don't have the budgets. 90s and 2000s especially, it's getting better now.
In American stories, the BEST case scenario for Eastern European representation is the Big Dumb Pole, the ethnic stereotype Americans don't even notice they use, where the punchline is that his English is bad or that he grew up outside Anglo culture. Other than that, it's criminals, beggars, sex trafficking victims, refugees. Sure, we may look similar (except we really really don't, not if you're raised here and see the distinct lack of all those long-jawed Anglo faces), but we are not and have never been the West, never mind America. It's probably better for younger people now, but I was raised under rationing and passport bans. Star Trek and Beverly Hills 90210 were exactly as foreign to me.
The first ever character I really identified with was Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5 (written by J. Michael Straczynski, yay behind-camera representation). This was a Russian Jewish woman very much in charge, in the way of strong women I know so well, not taking any bullshit, not repressing her feminity. I recognised her bones, she could be my cousin. The sheer relief of it. There have been few such occasions since.
The reason I picked up Shadow and Bone in the first place was recommendations from other Polish people. I've had no problems finding representation in Eastern European books because wow our scene is strong in SFF especially, but it's always a treat to find a book in English that gets it. And Leigh gets it, the bones of our culture, and I could even look past the grammar issue (dear gods and Americans, Starkova for a woman, Morozov for a guy) that really irked me because of the love for the setting and the characters, the weaving in of religion/mysticism (we never laicisized the same way as the West, natch), the understanding of how deep are the scars left in a nation at war for centuries. The books are precious to me, they and Arden's Winternight and Novik's Spinning Silver.
To sum up: Shadow and Bone the Netflix series gets it. You can tell just how much they've immersed themselves in Eastern European culture and media, it comes across so well in visuals and writing and characters. Not just the obvious bits (though the WWII propaganda posters gave me a giggle), but the palaces, the additional plotlines and characters, the costumes, the attitudes. About the only thing missing in the soldier scenes was someone singing and/or quoting poetry.
I will blame the Apparat's lack of beard on filming in a non-Orthodox country. Poland's Catholic too, but I very much imagined him as an Orthodox patriarch, possibly because I read the books shortly after a visit to Pecherska Lavra in Kiev and the labyrinthine holy catacombs there. Small quibble, not my religion, not my place to speak.
(I've seen discussion on the issues with biracial representation in the show, which is visceral and apparently based on bad experiences of one of the show writers in a way that's caused pain to other Asian and biracial people. I'm not qualified to speak on those parts, other that Eastern Europe is... yeah. Racist in subtly different ways. If anything, the treatment of the Suli as explained in Six of Crows always read so very true of the way Roma are treated, and even sanitised.)
And now for the spoiler-filled bits:
Kaz and Inej. I mean... just THEM. So many props to the actors, the writers, the bloody goat.
I adore the fact the only people who get to have sex in the show are Jesper and a very lucky stablehand.
Ben Barnes needs either an award or a kick. The man's acting choices and puppy eyes are as epic as his hair.
So Much Love for Alina initiating the kiss. Her book characterisation makes sense, she's so trapped in her own head because she has no time to process everything that's happening, but grabbing life by the lapels is a much more active choice. Still not making the relationship equal, but closer to it.
Speaking of, Kaz's constant awareness of how unequal his relationship with Inej is, and attempts to give her agency. I'm really curious how his touch issues come across to someone who doesn't know the backstory there.
Feodor and his actor. He looks exactly like the pre-war heartthrob Adolf Dymsza, a specific upper-class Polish ethnic type that's much rarer now that, well, Nazis killed millions of Polish intellectuals in their attempt to reduce us to unskilled labour only. The faces he makes are the Best.
Nina!! Nina is perfect, those cheekbones, that cheek, I was giggling myself silly half the time. I cannot wait to see Danielle Galligan take on the challenge of Nina's plotline in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, she'll kill us dead.
I already mentioned that the writers fixed Mal's absence from the first book, but Mal in general! The haircut gives him a kind of rugby charm, and Archie Renaux is outstanding at emoting without talking. Honestly, all the casting in this series is inspired, but him in particular.
Extra bonus: Howard Charles and Luke Pasqualino playing so very much against the type of the swaggering Musketeers I saw them play last. Arken dropping the mask at the end... Howard Charles is love.
I can't believe not only was Milo's bullet a plot point, but the fact Alina was wearing a particularly sparkly hair ornament in a long series of beautiful hair ornaments was a plot point.
In conclusion: so much love, and next three season NOW please. Okay, give me a week to reread the books, and an extra day because new Murderbot drops tomorrow...
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fictionadventurer · 3 years
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I’m going to talk about my Holy Week. Because a lot of stuff happened that gave me a lot of thoughts.
Palm Sunday was a lot more meaningful because I happened to be reading through King David’s story in the Old Testament just beforehand. “The king comes in triumph to David’s city” just feels a lot more real and concrete when you have recently been reminded of just what that kingdom was and what that king was like.
King David has become one of my favorite Old Testament characters. He’s the warrior king and the poet! The different facets of him are so intriguing.
I was wondering just why David gets so much credit for being a model of virtue and a guy that we emphasize as one of Christ’s ancestors, since he did some pretty despicable things. Then I realized that, for all the terrible things David did, he was one of the few kings in Israel’s history who never turned to idolatry. When he screwed up, he always knew who to turn to. I can respect that.
I also reread through most of The Man Born to Be King during Holy Week, and that also was extremely helpful in making the events of Holy Week feel grounded and relatable. Sayers goes a little bit too far in making up background subplots to tie things together (mostly surrounding Judas), but there are so many little human moments and little character observations that I just love. Jesus makes jokes with his disciples! Matthew the former tax collector is the one who starts to notice there’s something funny with the way Judas keeps the money bag. Peter, James and John freak out about the Transfiguration among themselves like, “Did you see the same things I did?” It just does such a good job of reminding you that these are people and Jesus was a person, and we can care about this tragedy and triumph on a human level as well as a spiritual one.
I was gifted a little book that arranged the Psalms according to the old Liturgy of the Hours format. I started a habit of reading some of the morning ones immediately after waking up and reading Compline before bed. It’s only been a week, but it’s already an immensely helpful habit, giving me something to reach for in the morning that’s not my phone. And the structure of it helped me to enter into a more disciplined structure of prayer rather than just putting things off indefinitely.
I also started a Consecration to St. Joseph. It’s only been a few days, but I love the book so far. This format (longer readings and structured prayers) works a lot better for me than the Marian consecration book (short readings and personal meditation) I did last year. And St. Joseph’s life fits in very well with that grounded-Gospel focus I was getting from Sayers’ plays and from my new fascination with King David.
I learned about the transforming power of a good haircut. Since lockdown started, my hair has looked terrible. At first, I thought it was just that I couldn’t get a haircut for several months. Then when I did get haircuts, it didn’t help. This week, I finally told the hairdresser to try shortening up my layers again, and I couldn’t believe the difference it made. My hair has volume again! It actually looks good, rather than barely decent. You wouldn’t believe how much this had helped my mood.
I spent my Holy Thursday helping kids make rosaries at the Catholic elementary school. It went surprisingly well. The kids were so creative, and I heard several kids exclaim in surprise, “Hey, this is actually fun.”
On Good Friday, I went to my first ever Tenebrae service. All I knew beforehand was that it ended with the lights going out and a loud noise/drumming on the pews to symbolize the earthquake at Christ’s death. NO ONE TOLD ME IT WAS MULTIPLE-GROWN-WOMEN-WEEPING LEVELS OF TERRIFYING. “Loud noise” does not BEGIN to describe the nightmarish cacophony. I faced my mortality in that moment. My neighbor’s kids have probably been scarred for life. (But I am very impressed by that choir’s skill. And it did make “Christ Our Light” infinitely more meaningful during the Vigil Mass the next day.)
I finally learned how to make tie-dye colored eggs. It was fun, if disappointingly difficult to control.
The renewal of baptismal promises hit very differently this year. On some subconscious level, I suppose I’d always thought of it as a requirement. Like I’m saying to God, “Look Father, I’m still being good. I believe all the things that I’m supposed to.” This year, it hit me that this is a cry of defiance against the world. Announcing to the people around us that, “These are all the things I believe. In a world where none of these things are obvious, I am choosing to believe all these truths and center my worldview on them.” It made my responses much more enthusiastic.
I am still physically incapable of not crying at precise points during my church choir’s Easter Vigil Communion song.
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jedimasterkelly · 3 years
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Shrill is Real Life
I can’t believe this is it for Shrill, the most relevant show on TV right now. That show was a look into my 20s+30s. Being a fat woman, I fell into every trap Annie did. Being Pan-ACE, I tried to be sexually normal (het). Every man I was with, liked, or cared about did a great job of trying to destroy me. 
Let me compare myself with Annie over the last 3 seasons of Shrill.
* Unreciprocated love/crushes? check
* Men ashamed to be seen with me? check
* Men throwing obvious vibes, and then friend-zoning me the second I consent to something more? check
* Men using me for sex? check
* Being overlooked by literally everyone because of my weight? check
* Being body shamed by doctors? check
* Poster girl for fat women everywhere? check
* Gaslighted by just damn near everyone? check
I had more “omg yes” moments during this series than I would like. I had a few empowering moments, especially when Annie got sick of everyone and started yelling, “Fuck you!!” I did that a few times, lost friends and lost jobs as a result. I guess there’s a time and place, but when you’re fat, and it’s constantly held against you, sometimes, a generously loud “OMG FUCK YOU” just slips right out. 
I got so sick of it. I am still so fucking sick of it.
Spoilers ahead:
Let’s break down some of Annie’s relationships:
Ryan: Wow, what a mess. This unwashed, unkempt man-baby was ashamed of Annie because she was fat. He liked her enough to put his dirty unwashed penis in her body, but was so ashamed of her weight, he made her climb a fence so his friends (just as equally gross and unwashed) wouldn’t see he was banging a fat chick. And the fact Annie kept going back pissed me off. Not at her, she felt she couldn’t do any better. That screams in my head, and it pisses me off so fucking bad.
***FAT WOMEN CAN’T DO ANY BETTER THAN A BEER BELLIED UNWASHED UNKEMPT NEANDERTHAL MAN-BABY***
Not only was he ashamed of her (in the beginning at least), he manipulated her, used her, humiliated her, and pretty much forced her to carry the burden of the entire relationship on her shoulders. The whole camping thing was literally the first time Ryan stepped up, and the last time too. He was so embarrassing. Yet Annie stuck it out because she felt she couldn’t do any better. That’s where she and I differ. I never hooked up with men like Ryan. While I tried to be normal sexually, I didn’t attach myself to beer-bellied leeches in a bad need of a haircut. 
Nick: OMG FUCK YOU NICK!! How many of us fat women could relate to THAT fiasco? Nick totally gave off vibes. The way he looked at her. The way he texted her. The way he asked her out all the time. And then he was like, “I don’t like you like that” when she made a move. I was so fucking mad. I was so fucking triggered. I almost threw my Apple remote at the TV, but I didn’t want to have to get off the couch and pick it back up. Fuck that. And fuck Nick. For real.
Will: If anyone swoons over how sweet Will is, I will vomit for reals. Yes, he’s sweet, but gdi he wouldn’t have sex with her forever because he was afraid it’d hurt his ex-wife? Fuck her! And fuck you too, Will. At first I thought Annie was dumb for going to the bakery, but now I see why she did it. This woman, whom her boyfriend hadn’t spoken to in 4 months, was the reason Will wasn’t getting closer to Annie. He was afraid of hurting someone he was no longer obligated to. Of course Annie had to see this woman, see what she was about, and why she had so much power over Will.  When Will got pissed at her, I was thinking he could take a long walk off a short pier, and take those fucked up cut off shorts with him. Fuck you, Will. Annie deserves better. 
Gynecologist: WOW what a bitch! I fired a gyno after a decade because I have PCOS and thyroid disease. He kept throwing birth control pills at it, probably making it worse, who knows? All I know is I am huge fucking huge now, and I battle my bulge constantly. I am constantly on a diet, or researching what I can and cannot eat with my hormones so god awful fucked up. And I’ll be 50 next month and facing menopause and I just can’t fucking deal with it anymore. But he aggressively started to body shame me about 7yrs into my seeing him, because I was yo-yoing between 360 and 380. Not only did he want me to have surgery, he wanted me to go on The Biggest Loser. That was it for me. I stopped seeing him after that. Got a different gyno, who fucked me over with a cancer scare because of my weight. That’s a long story I may or may not share later. Have someone totally new. I told him no more progesterone. I’m sick. I’m done with fake hormones and birth control. He supports me. He tried to slip in a progestin Rx. Seriously? I’m not stupid. OK fine, go get a mammogram, he says. Fine, I’ll make an appt on Monday. He cares enough to have called me 2 times since my first visit 2 months ago. I have a pap and stuff in July. We’ll see how it goes. The oncologist I saw because of other gyno’s fatphobia got me in with a very much in-demand Endocrinologist. I see her next Thursday. Cross fingers she can help me. 
On a happy note, can we talk about how fucking hot Emily is??? WOW! That smile!!! Emily, I’m available if Fran keeps fucking that up, because gotdamn...that smile slays me. Emily can slide into my DMs. The men listed above can fuck right off.
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lockefanfic · 4 years
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Business Trip: Pt 17 - Interrogation
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The fact that there was an actual interrogation going on in the next-door interrogation room was probably the hottest thing about the whole situation.
You notice that the police officer in the cold, sterile room is questioning a heavily tattooed, scary looking dude, but that’s pretty much all the attention you give the scene, given that Park Jihyo was doing her best to distract you.
She distracted you partially with her cute, pretty face, her large, round eyes that seemed like they were always shining with some inner light, making the room brighter just with their presence. Then there was her cute button nose, her wide, blinding smile, and her short haircut that only added to the alluring cute sexiness that she exuded with every movement.
But she mostly distracted you with her breasts.
“Bae Irene is still on the loose, and finding her is our top priority.”
Your statement draws looks and nods of agreement from the women in the room, each of them determined in their own way to finding the mastermind behind the recent attacks on your company. The fact that two of Red Velvet’s members were now currently behind bars did little to dull their desire to bring its leader to justice, especially now that they had escalated things beyond mere corporate espionage and into the realm of physical assault.
Three days have passed since your successful plan to capture Wendy and Joy. You are joined in the large boardroom of JYP’s Seoul office by Momo, Choa, Seolhyun,and Jeongyeon; on a video conference monitor on the wall is Mina, joining into the meeting from back home. Her legal expertise was likely to be important in the days to come.
“Jeongyeon,” you continue, addressing the young IT specialist who had played a key role in trapping Wendy and Joy, “were you able to find anything in Red Velvet’s data that might lead us to her?”
“No,” she replies with a disturbed look on her small face, “it’s kind of crazy - there’s nothing on Red Velvet’s servers that is related to her at all. There are obvious gaps of missing data, especially in data that has a chronological sequence… but some entire files are missing.”
“What do you mean, missing? Is her data on a separate server?” Seolhyun asks. She was the head of JYP’s Seoul office now, following the retirement of her superior; she was just as determined as anyone to find Irene given Red Velvet was operating literally in her own backyard.
“I don’t know where it is. My theory is that when we established the connection to Red Velvet’s servers, it automatically triggered a program or subroutine that deleted everything related to Irene. She must have been prepared for something like this to happen and she had contingency plans in place in case her underlings got caught.”
“That bitch didn’t even give a damn about deleting her other members’ data,” Momo points out with a sneer, “some leader she is.”
“Keep digging, Jeongyeon,” you say as you give her an encouraging look, “maybe you’ll find something in one of the other members’ files that can help us out.”
Jeongyeon manages a smile, and you are surprised for a split second by how cute her determined look was; you rarely saw or had a chance to work with her, buried deep in JYP HQ’s IT floor as she usually was. But now that you had a chance to really spend some time with her, you found yourself attracted to her geeky, tomboy appeal.
“We should interrogate Wendy and Joy,” Momo says, eager as any of you for any chance to strike back at Red Velvet, “if we tell them their boss didn’t do anything to save their asses they might be more willing to sell her out.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Mina adds through the video conference feed, “not legally possible, anyway. We’re not law enforcement officers, and now that they’re under the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s custody, we can’t touch them. Any interrogation of those two will have to come from the SMPA. Considering the number of crimes Red Velvet has been involved in, it’s likely we’ll be waiting awhile before any interrogation relating to JYP even begins.”
Momo seems disappointed at Mina’s answer - she was really chomping at the bit to get at those two, and a small part of you takes comfort in the fact that perhaps it was because they had hurt you.
“I’ll speak to Detective Park at the SMPA today. Maybe she can give us a few minutes with them if we’re lucky,” you suggest. You were eager to meet with Park Jihyo again, if for no other reason than to thank her for her part in rescuing you three days ago.
“Then what about Sana and Tzuyu?” Momo says, “they received their orders directly from Irene when they pulled their little Taiwan stunt. Maybe they might know something that can help us.”
Momo’s tone is neutral, although you knew that she still harboured some resentment towards Tzuyu and especially towards Sana for what they did in Taiwan with Seolhyun’s company data. As much as you appreciated her eagerness in finding Irene and making her pay for what she did to you, you knew anyone that questioned Sana and Tzuyu would need a clear head. Her history with Sana would clearly compromise any questioning she did to the other Japanese girl.
“I’ll take care of that,” Mina offers, saving you from having to tell Momo that she couldn’t question the two ex-SM employees, “They’re still back here at home anyway. I’ll get some questions ready and question them in the next day or two.”
“Good, do that and report back when you’ve spoken to them,” you say, “maybe they’ll still have some contact information or something like that… A phone number, an email address, anything. Momo, you, Seolhyun, and Choa can help Jeongyeon comb through all the Red Velvet data and try to find anything that might lead to Irene. I’m sure Jeongyeon can use the help.”
“There’s terabytes of stuff to go through,” Jeongyeon adds with a sigh, “those girls were busy. There are records of at least a few dozen instances of extortion and blackmail, each with hours of recordings and video.”
“Great, let’s get to work. Let’s meet up back here tonight at 10 and we can get some drinks. It’s been a rough few days. Maybe it’ll help us cool off.”
Your team nods, and each of you head off with determined looks on your faces.
---
The other women have left to start their respective tasks, and Momo is the last to leave the room. As she steps out of the boardroom you grab her lightly by her arm.
“Momo, I was hoping we could talk.”
She had stayed by your hospital bedside for every single minute you were there, refusing to go home or even eat until Choa reminded her to do so. Thankfully whatever drug Joy had knocked you out with had no permanent effects, and you were discharged after three days of observation by hospital staff.
The whole time the two of you didn’t really speak about your relationship; she was too busy taking care of you despite your insistence that you were fine, helping you eat, fluffing your pillows or finding magazines or books for you to pass the time with. Every moment she spent with you only increased your affection for her, and your desire to talk to her about what had happened with Sana.
The two of you hadn’t slept together since the ordeal, not for lack of effort on your part. Momo refused your advances, however, as difficult as it was for her to not give in. She said it was so that you could concentrate on recovering, although you knew it was partially because she was teasing you, and partially because she wanted to punish you.
Momo responds to your request to talk with a sigh, although you could tell it wasn’t because she was dreading the prospect.
“Can we… wait until all this is over? I want to talk to you too, but I can’t relax until that bitch is behind bars,” she responds, her voice soft.
You nod slowly, happy to give her the time and space she needed.
“I… I’m happy you’re here, Momo,” you tell her, eager to tell her something, anything, that conveyed how you felt about her, “...And I’m happy you’re in my life,” you add, not quite knowing where the words were coming from - they were out of your mouth before you knew it. It was your heart speaking, you guessed.
Momo smiles softly, her large, round eyes boring into your very soul, rendering you speechless as they so often did.
“After drinks with the girls tonight I want to fuck so hard we have to call in sick tomorrow,” she says with a smile, eliciting giggles from the both of you, “I bet you’re really backed up, what with an entire three days without sex.”
Classic Momo, interrupting an emotional moment with the topic of sex. You reach for her hand and are thankful for her presence in your life. Your fingers intertwine with hers.
You spend a long minute there in silence, the two of your sharing soft smiles with each other, happy for a moment of quiet following the recent storm that the two of you had weathered together. Eventually Momo steps close and gives you a peck on the lips before turning and rejoining the rest of your team.
You watch her leave, the smile still on your lips.
---
You had expected the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Cybercrime Division to be hidden away in some corner of the large central Seoul precinct, but you were surprised by what you found when Detective Park led you through the glass sliding doors into her department; a hyper modern, super advanced open concept office that seemed to have more screens and monitors in once place than you had ever seen in your entire life.
“Korea is one of the most connected countries in the world,” Jihyo states as she leads you through the busy department, “and as such cybercrime is a huge deal for us, especially here in the capital.”
All around you officers are glued to monitors or busy typing away on their phones. Everywhere tablets, smartphones, and laptops have taken the place of charts, notebooks and notepads. Truly this was the police department of the future.
“Please,” Jihyo says as she invites you into her office that is tucked into a corner of the floor. She closes the door behind you as you step in, and she motions for you to sit in the seat in front of her desk with an exaggerated servant’s flourish. The young detective had a cheerful, bright charisma about her that made her easy to get along with.
“I wanted to thank you personally, detective,” you start, “for your role in what happened earlier this week. We weren’t expecting them to drug me, so it was good that you and your men have such impeccable timing.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” Jihyo responds, “as you know Red Velvet has been a thorn in our sides for years. I’m glad they’ve finally been put to justice.”
“Most of them, anyway.”
“Most of them, anyway,” Jihyo echoes, catching on to what you are saying.
“My team is hard at work combing through what we’ve found on their servers. We’re hoping we’ll be able to find some trace of data that might lead us to Irene.”
Jihyo gives you a small, sly smile.
“You do realize,” she begins, “that Red Velvet’s data is official evidence. You’re not supposed to have any of it.”
“It would have been foolish of us to not make a copy before we handed it over to you,” you answer truthfully.
Jihyo gives you an exaggerated sigh as though she was disappointed in you, but you could tell she was being sarcastic.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just tell me that,” she says, her bright smile still on her round, cute face. When you first met her you were still technically drugged, but now that you had the chance to have a conversation under less stressful circumstances you were surprised to see how attractive she really was. She had a bright, cheerful aura about her that was somewhat at odds with the gravity of her position.
“Anyway, i was hoping you could help us with something.”
“What might that be?”
“We’d like to question Wendy and Joy. We believe if we tell them that Irene cut her losses and left them behind, they’d be willing to co-operate with us and perhaps provide us with information regarding her whereabouts.”
Jihyo’s smile widens, surprised that you had the audacity to ask for such a thing.
“That’s kind of illegal,” she answers, “they’re suspects for a crime that is being actively investigated. Their interrogation is under SMPA jurisdiction. My jurisdiction.”
“Then maybe we don’t have to question them. Maybe you’ll just happen to accidentally leave them in a room after hours and with any recording devices turned off…”
“...a room where you and your staff might be waiting?”
“You can’t stop what you don’t know is happening, Detective Park,” you finish.
Jihyo leans forward on her desk, bringing her hands together beneath her chin and interlacing her fingers.
“I understand your eagerness to find Irene,” she says, “but you know I can’t leave you alone with Wendy and Joy after what they did to you. I’m sure you’re a fine gentleman that wouldn’t hurt a woman, but I wish I could say the same for your girlfriend. She looked like she wanted to tear Wendy’s head off.”
“Momo is… passionate,” you admit.
“Dammit,” Jihyo hisses under her breath, her volume obviously loud enough for you to hear.
“Excuse me?”
“So she is your girlfriend. I was kinda hoping she was just a friend or especially concerned co-worker or something.”
You smile as you realize what Jihyo was implying. You decide to tease her a little, saying, “Detective Park, are you attracted to me? Are you disappointed that I have a girlfriend?”
“Noooo,” Jihyo answers, leaning back into her chair. Her cheeks turn a deep shade of pink. You smile smugly, liking where this was going.
“Well, I’ll have you know that Momo and I have… a relaxed relationship. Especially when it comes to other women.”
“I’ll have you know I’m not some easy girl that’s going to sleep with you just because your girlfriend lets you bang other women.”
“Who said anything about sleeping? There must be an interrogation room around here somewhere we can use…”
Jihyo grabs a pencil off her desk and throws it at you with a laugh, and you are happy to find that she has taken your joke for what it was. She maintains eye contact with you after you successfully deflect the projectile, a sly, alluring look on her features.
“Can you shoot?” she asks, out of the blue.
“Shoot… like, a gun?”
“No, shoot a damn basketball. We’re in a police station. Of course I mean guns.”
“Um, I can’t say ever shot a gun, although I’m pretty good with Widowmaker’s sniper rifle, if that’s the kind of gun you mean…”
Jihyo giggles before rising from her desk and tapping you on the shoulder on her way out of the office.
“Follow me,” she says, and you follow her eagerly.
---
Park Jihyo, it appeared, was quite the shot.
The pistol - a Daewoo K5, as Jihyo informed you - bucked violently in her hands that seemed so tiny by comparison, but she did an admirable job of handling the recoil of the weapon. More than admirable, it appeared, as she proudly showed you the close up shot of the target that was displayed on the tablet embedded into the wall of the firing range. Her smile was even brighter, it seemed, than it was earlier in her office.
“Cops rarely carry their sidearms on duty here in Korea,” she says as she makes her weapon safe, “and when we have to go on a raid in the field it’s usually only the SWAT guys that are carrying. But every now and then I like to sneak down here and let off a few mags to blow off steam.”
“You’ve clearly had a lot of practice. I dunno if I stand a chance here.”
“C’mon, give it a shot. All that Overwatch experience must mean something.”
You smile at her jab as you approach the firing booth and pick up the pistol, your first time handling any sort of firearm.
“Now take the long rectangular thing with the bullets in it - that’s called the magazine - and then put it in-”
You smile as you grasp the magazine and load the pistol, racking the slide back with your free hand as the pistol chambers a round.
“I’ve watched enough movies and fired enough virtual guns, thanks,” you retort, and Jihyo snorts in reply. She approaches you and you feel your senses tingle as she brings her arms around your torso. You are even more aroused by the feel of her chest pressing ever so slightly against your back. Her hands lift your forearms into the correct position.
“Shooting a real gun isn’t like clicking your mouse button,” she says matter-of-factly, “just breathe and pull the trigger back softly. You should feel a wall in the trigger. After that, the trigger will break and the gun will go off. Line up the rear and front sight, breathe out, pull the trigger…”
The pistol barks, and you both glance at the tablet that is relaying a live shot of the target downrange, looking for a bullet hole… that is totally absent.
“Did you… did you just miss the entire target? Damn, you suuuuuuck,” Jihyo teases.
“Just you wait,” you retort, “I just need some practice.”
The next fourteen rounds do little to back up your claim, but at least three of them manage to hit the paper, even if only one of those three actually lands in one of the target circles; the furthest one, at that.
“Apparently shooting a real gun isn’t like clicking my mouse button,” you say, echoing Jihyo’s earlier words and being rewarded with a throaty laugh from the detective. She steps into the booth with you to begin to fill another empty magazine with more rounds, and you tense suddenly at her close proximity.
“Maybe you just need motivation,” Jihyo says with a suddenly sultry tone.
“Maybe I do,” you agree.
“Maybe if you hit the three point circle with this next magazine, we find an interrogation room around here somewhere we can use.”
New motivation fills your veins, and you grasp the pistol in both hands as you load the newly filled magazine. Jihyo steps out of the booth, you line up your shot, and pull the trigger fifteen times.
You miss with every shot. Five miss the target altogether, eight hit the paper outside of the target circles. Two hit the five point circle, although you’re sure they were mostly fluky shots.
You eject the magazine and lay down the still smoking pistol. Jihyo retrieves it, the remaining ammunition, and your eye and ear protection and returns the equipment to the weapons storage room, replacing the lock and shutting down the range, a sly smile on her features all the while.
“Good thing there are consolation prizes,” she says with a tempting, alluring tone, taking you by the wrist and leading you out of the firing range.
---
The fact that there was an actual interrogation going on in the next-door interrogation room was probably the hottest thing about the whole situation.
You notice that the police officer in the cold, sterile room is questioning a heavily tattooed, scary looking dude, but that’s pretty much all the attention you give the scene, given that Park Jihyo was doing her best to distract you.
She distracted you partially with her cute, pretty face, her large, round eyes that seemed like they were always shining with some inner light, making the room brighter just with their presence. Then there was her cute button nose, her wide, blinding smile, and her short haircut that only added to the alluring cute sexiness that she exuded with every movement.
But she mostly distracted you with her breasts.
She was well endowed, it went without saying, easily the largest of the women you’d slept recently. And you were practically drooling with anticipation, as at the moment they were still annoyingly encased in her strapless, white cotton bra, her blue and red checkered cardigan teasingly opened up to reveal her assets to your eager eyes.
Your lips are pressed to her neck, planting soft kisses on her smooth skin that elicit soft gasps from the young detective, and you find yourself happy, not for the first time, that the listening room was completely soundproof to the interrogation room. You move lower with your kisses, bending somewhat awkwardly at the waist now to bring your mouth closer and closer to the prize. You bring your hands up her sides, treasuring the feel of her warm skin beneath your palms as you eventually bring them to her chest and cup her bra-clad breasts.
Jihyo accommodates you by pressing her back up against the soundproof glass. The audacity of the action surprised you - there you were, devouring a young woman just a few feet away from a scary looking interrogation, the occupants of that room completely in the dark as to what was happening in the very next room.
Her back pressed against the glass, you are free to bend your neck further. Jihyo finally lets you have your consolation prize, if indeed this is what it was - she reaches behind her and undoes the latch to her strapless bra, letting the garment fall to the ground, her round, full breasts falling free as they finally escape their cotton prison.
You want to dive in, so to speak, but Jihyo pushes you back by your shoulders until you fall into the chair in the listening room. She straddles you quickly, and wasting no time, brings her chest to your face.
“Taste me,” she says, the words almost a hiss as they escape her lips.
You do just that, burying yourself quite literally in her breasts, taking her left breast first in your mouth, your tongue swirling over her already hardened nipple. Your left hand captures her right breast in its palm, squeezing the soft flesh gleefully, delighting in the feel of the large mound, happy to experience such a well endowed woman after months of smaller (but no less appealing) chests.
Jihyo leans her head back and lets out a long, low moan that gradually increases in volume as you explore more of her chest and as you deepen the sucking on her nipples. You switch after awhile, your mouth descending on her other breast, leaving her other saliva soaked nipple to be squeezed and fondled by your palm.
Momo was probably the next well endowed woman you’d been with, her breasts round and in perfect scale with the rest of her fit, slim body - but Jihyo was in another league entirely, her breasts large without being comically so, her nipples absolutely delicious, your tongue delighting in their pebbly hardness with each suck and stroke against the sensitive buds. You wanted to bury your face in her warm flesh, and you do just that, tearing your mouth from her nipple to press your face in her cleavage, delighting in the feel of her warm flesh on either cheek.
“You like my tits?” Jihyo says, although you both knew the answer.
“Fuck yes,” you answer, your voice muffled, rather pleasantly, by warm breasts.
“I’ll make you love them,” she answers, and you tingle with anticipation as Jihyo takes control, lifting herself from her straddling position until she is kneeling between your knees. Even as she looks up at you with those large, innocent looking eyes of hers, she is unbuckling your belt and hooking her fingers into your waistband, pulling your jeans and the boxers you are wearing underneath them down your hips, until they are down past your knees.
She immediately takes you into her mouth; without warning, without teasing. Other girls relished that few minutes of teasing, taking things slowly, working you with their hands and the tips of their tongues, making you squirm, making you wait, painfully, for them to take you into their mouth.
But Jihyo is not one of those girls, and as she continues to take you in and out of her wet, warm mouth, you thank god that she wasn’t, because you don’t think you could have waited a moment longer for her to begin. She is not as skilled as Seolhyun or Momo, but she makes up for it with sheer enthusiasm, swirling her tongue around your sensitive head and pumping your shaft with her closed fist.
You lean your head back in pleasure. In the interrogation room, things are getting heated, the cop appearing angered by something the gangster has said; little knowing one of his colleagues was in the listening room giving you a blowjob. You would have laughed, if you weren’t sighing out of pleasure.
Jihyo slowly winds down from her blowjob, and as it had only been a minute or so since she began you find yourself disappointed, especially since the pleasure was just beginning to build. But when she straightens her back, you realize why her blowjob was so short.
You know what she is about to do, but it does little to dim the anticipation of what is about to happen, nor does it lessen the pleasure when Jihyo leans forward and, taking each of her breasts in her hands, traps your erect shaft between her large mounds. Slowly, she grinds her chest against your pelvis, your slick shaft pumping in and out between her breasts, the saliva from her blowjob providing the perfect amount of lubrication, the head and upper half appearing and disappearing from between mounds of soft, warm flesh.
You are awestruck by the pleasure this brings, if for no other reason than because of the novelty of it - you’d never been with a woman endowed enough to even try this, and while you’d emptied yourself on plenty of womens’ chests after fucking, you’d yet to experience a titjob.
Jihyo tries, mostly in vain, to lick your head as it appears from between her breasts, only succeeding a little bit of the time, but each time her tongue makes contact with your head it sends shocks of pleasure shooting up and down your spine. The novelty, the pleasure, the fact that you were getting a titjob from a beautiful young detective while an interrogation was happening just a few feet away from you, it was a lot to take in, and it quickly became too much.
For long, pleasureable minutes, Jihyo continues to push your rock hard shaft in and out between her warm, slick breasts, her hands squeezing her flesh tightly around your cock, her fingers interlacing at her front to keep your cock from escaping the lovely embrace of her tits. She continues to try to lick the head of your cock sometimes, sometimes letting her head fall back and making eye contact with you through half-lidded, heavy, seductive eyes. It was all too much to handle.
“Fuck, Jihyo, that feels amazing.”
“Mmmmm?” she manages to reply, so absorbed she is in trying to lick your shaft as it appears between her breasts.
“Fuck… you’re gonna make me cum.”
“Then fucking cum,” Jihyo replies, returning her full attention to your pleasure, increasing her pace, squeezing her breasts even tighter around your thrusting shaft as it sinks and reappears from between her soft flesh mounds. She pumps her chest up and down faster, grinding her chest against you fast and faster, until you quickly see that edge, that edge from which there is no return.
“Fuck… Jihyo… I’m cumming!”
“Do it! Give me all your cum… give it to me… cum on my face… Cum on me! Cum all over me!”
Your orgasm strikes with the force of a thunderbolt, and you feel every single burst of semen as it erupts from your shaft, the first shot happening while your head was still covered by Jihyo’s breasts, sending hot, warm cum into her cleavage and further lubricating each subsequent thrust. You wonder if she is going to open her mouth to take the rest of your cum, but Jihyo instead leans her face back, letting the rest of your semen splash against her chin and face, the thick liquid spraying all over her cute, innocent features.
You weren’t usually one for giving girls facials, but there was something radically different about Jihyo. Maybe it was the environment, the fact that Jihyo was a law enforcement officer; maybe it was the gravity of the week’s earlier events; maybe it was the novelty, it being your first time receiving a titjob.
Whatever it was, you found yourself staring, awestruck, at Jihyo’s cum stained face as you finish sending your last few small streams of semen onto her chin and her upper chest, her grinding gradually slowing as your orgasm finally subsides.
Jihyo finally lets your shaft escape from her warm, wet cleavage, and she bends low to run her tongue along your shaft from its base to its tip, drawing shivers of sheer pleasure from your post-orgasm cock. She straightens her back, allowing you a perfect view of the semen splayed all over her large breasts, the smooth, perfect skin of her upper chest, and finally, the beautiful, innocent features of her cute face.
Jihyo brings her hands to her wet chest and begins rubbing the cum into her skin, lending it a shiny, slick appearance in the dim light of the listening room.
“It’s a shame you didn’t do better on the range,” she says with a sexiness you didn’t think the innocent young detective capable of.
“Oh yeah?” you manage to ask, “and what would’ve happen if I had done better?”
Jihyo smiles slyly as she captures a stream of dripping semen from her cheek and brings it to her mouth, tasting it as if it were some expensive delicacy at a five star restaurant.
“...All this cum would be in my pussy.”
---
You smile as you watch Jihyo join the other girls in the busy, swanky looking Seoul bar. Choa greets her with a warm hug, the two having worked closely together as they planned the capture of Wendy and Joy. With a warm smile the older girl introduces her to Seolhyun and Jeongyeon, who welcome the young detective warmly with smiles and a tall glass of beer.
A poke on your arm alerts you to Momo’s presence, two drinks in her hands as she offers one to you with a warm smile. You accept, and with a toast of your glasses together, you share your first sip of the evening, relishing the cold, crisp alcohol as it slides down your throats.
“Rough week,” you say, eliciting a smile from Momo.
“I’ll say,” she agrees, “Sooo… did you hit that?”
“Jihyo? No… just boob stuff.”
Momo blushes and almost chokes on her next sip of beer as she gives you a playful punch on the shoulder.
“That’s no fair, I can’t do boob stuff. She’s got an unfair advantage. Was it… a natural advantage?”
“Oh yes, I think so.”
“Dammit. I wish I could do boob stuff,” she says with an exaggerated sad face as she looks down at her own chest.
You smile widely as you wrap your arm around her and kiss her forehead.
“She’s got nothing on you,” you reassure her, leaning down to give her a small peck on the lips. Momo returns your kiss, and the kiss deepens slightly, before Momo breaks it off.
“I’m still, like, super fucking mad at you,” she says, her playful, sarcastic tone betraying the weight of her words, “and one day soon I’m gonna tear you a new one.”
“The Future Me can handle that.”
Momo lets out a snort before composing herself for what she is about to tell you.
“Before things get all drunk and alcohol-y tonight, you should know what the girls and I found while we were sifting through Red Velvet’s data.”
“What’s that?” you ask, taking another sip as you prepare yourself for what Momo is about to tell you.
“We pieced together communication between Wendy and Joy, and apparently their entire plan to trap you and get access to the JYP servers through your login was solely Wendy’s idea, and Irene had no idea it was happening. I guess she wanted to impress Irene with it.”
“So Wendy was a damn snake,” you quip, “no surprise there.”
“That’s not all. We found a message that was sent to Irene minutes before we caught Wendy and Joy. The message must have been what warned Irene in time to manually activate the program that deleted all her data from the server.”
“So it wasn’t automatically triggered when we gained access, like Jeongyeon said?”
“No. Irene actively deleted her data when she got the warning. Someone knew it was happening, and someone let her escape before we caught Wendy.”
“Fuck,” you hiss as you weigh the complications of this revelation, “who could it have been? Did you find out where the message came from?”
“No. Jeongyeon says it could have come from anyone.”
“Even one of us?”
“Even one of us,” Momo echoes, taking a deep sip of her beer in an attempt, perhaps in vain, to ease the implications of what she was saying.
“No. We’ve already been betrayed once. I refuse to believe we have another traitor in our ranks.”
“I don’t want to believe it either. And to be fair, it could be anyone who knew what was happening, not even necessarily one of us. For all we know, it could be someone we aren’t even aware of, someone we don’t even know.”
“That’s scarier,” you admit, and Momo nods in agreement.
You sigh - you had hoped this evening would lend you a small reprieve from the gravity of the past few days, but now you found another weight being added to your worries.
“Hey,” Momo says as she catches on to what you were feeling, “let’s worry about this tomorrow. Future Us can find whoever did this to us, and we’ll catch them just like we caught Wendy and Joy. Then Irene after that.”
You smile, and you find some solace in Momo’s bright smile, finding yourself thankful once more that this wonderful woman was in your life.
“Cheers to that,” you say, sharing a toast with Momo as you both rejoin your colleagues at their table, eager to forget about your worries if even for a single evening.
---
In a dark, mostly empty cafe in downtown Seoul, Bae Irene is meeting with two females.
“Wendy and Joy fucked up and got themselves caught. It’s time for you two to step up.”
The first female lets out a haughty laugh.
“Don’t talk to us like we’re your fucking employees. We’re done with that life,” one of the women answers, “we’ve had our fun. We’ve retired.”
“You’ll come back to it once you realize how much I’ll pay you.”
“What’s wrong with your other members? Seulgi and… what was the other’s name? Yubin? Yerin? Yeri?” says the second female.
“I don’t need them,” Irene hisses, “they’re dead to me now, after what they did to me.”
“This will cost you,” the first woman says.
“SM has deep pockets,” Irene answers.
“What do you want us to do?”
“I want to break JYP,” Irene answers, every syllable cold as steel, “I want to break him.”
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lesbianlotties · 3 years
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the only touchstone of truth - I Care A Lot (2021) - Fran/Marla
Chapters: 4/? Fandom: I Care A Lot (2020) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fran/Marla Grayson Characters: Marla Grayson, Fran (I Care A Lot) Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Origin Story, Canon Backstory, First Meetings, First Kiss, First Dates, Getting Together, Morally Ambiguous Character, Illegal Activities, Eventual Smut, Flirting, Partners in Crime, crime wives
Chapter 4:
Ever since that first day, when Fran caught her destroying her own shop in order to incriminate the enemy, she always found Marla to be a completely breathtaking woman. But this was a whole different level. When the big day finally arrived, Marla showed up to court ready to kill. She was wearing what Fran would’ve bet was a brand new suit that, much like the restaurant she visited, Marla probably could only afford out of sheer confidence in the fact that she knew she deserved luxury. Her striking blue eyes looked as brilliant as ever, mischievous when she met the other woman’s gaze, but ready to turn innocent and falsely vulnerable in front of the judge. However, this time Fran couldn’t tear her attention away from one very specific thing about Marla: her new haircut. Gone were the soft waves that fell lovingly over her shoulders. The short bob haircut was all about sharp edges, not a single blonde hair out of place, and it perfectly complemented Marla. Fran thought the new style was so on point that soon enough it would be difficult to even remember the way Marla looked before. And, like maybe things about Marla, Fran thought it was like an extremely sophisticated and gorgeous piece of armor that no anybody could completely decipher.
“Marla,” she greeted her outside of court with a grin on her lips to disguise the way her mouth suddenly felt dry at the sight of the blonde woman, “you look good.”
Not one for fake humility, Marla returned the smile, “Right?” she shook her blonde hair off her face, “Dress for winning, it’s a thing.”
“I already feel like a winner,” Fran couldn’t hold back her smile as she followed Marla inside the building.
“Will you behave ,” Marla retorted, looking at her over her shoulder with a teasing look, “at least until the trial is over?”
“I can’t make such promises,” the brunette laughed, walking just a little too close to Marla, just for the pleasure of hearing Marla’s chuckle in response and, yes, maybe also for the pleasure of standing so close to her. If Fran was being honest, she was more than a little excited to witness the trial. It was Marla’s first time in court but she could already tell it would be, not only a great success, but incredibly entertaining, exciting, even fascinating, considering Fran would be aware of Marla’s lies, tricks, manipulation of the facts, and frighteningly good acting.
They were ready for the show.
---
The thing is, judging by the way Marla walked away from the court that day, hardly anybody would have guessed that she just lost her case. Marla lost. She lost the case against the massive company that put her lawful little shop out of business in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t even for honest reasons, like discovering that she incriminated them, no. She lost because there was money in between, hanging from a thread in front of the judge’s head like a carrot taunting him to go for the best bidder. She lost, not because she played dirty, but because the game was already rigged, and there were better, or worse depending on where you stand, players ahead of her. Not for long , she bitterly told herself, walking the long hallways with her head held high, jaw clenched, demeanor perfectly controlled, blond hair swaying only slightly.
“Marla.”
And then there was the voice that made her feel perfectly uncontrolled by simply calling out her name.
“Not now, Fran,” she whispered, aware that she could only keep her strong and unaffected facade for so long.
“ Marla ,” Fran repeated her name, somehow managing to sound firm and gentle at the same time. This time she caught up with her, and added a tentative touch to the other woman’s elbow.
Marla gritted her teeth. She couldn’t afford to lose her cool in public. She highly doubted she’d cry for this misstep. She didn’t think she’d lose her temper either, not exactly. But a breakdown was just waiting to happen. All she needed was an escape and, luckily, she knew the right spot for it. She couldn’t believe that there, out of all places, she could think of a safe place to land. Though, then again, maybe it wasn’t about the secluded hallway where she’d first kissed Fran. Maybe it was all about Fran’s company. Either way, silently, the two women made their way to that secret spot once more, even if this time their spirits were the entire opposite to those of the previous occasion.
This time Marla was the one to lean her back against the wall. She didn’t look completely defeated, not even when there was Fran in front of her, with worried eyes staring at her. But she did look exhausted. It was a look that didn’t exactly fit with the image Fran had of Marla Grayson in her mind.
“Are you okay?” Fran asked first. As an answer, she received a particular look from the blonde that she wasn’t all capable of deciphering just yet, but at least she understood two things. One, she wouldn’t get much more of an answer. Two, she desperately wanted to get to that place where she would be beyond capable of reading Marla’s silents looks effortlessly. “I’m sorry,” she blurted out next, “I should have… I should have warned you, I guess. This happens all the time, it’s never fair, really. Justice is bullshit, Marla, really. I just thought, I really thought-”
“I’m sorry about your money, Fran,” Marla stopped the younger woman in her tracks with her words and the movement of her hand toward Fran’s cheek. It was obvious that neither of them would get any money out of this failed plan.
“Don’t worry about that,” Fran’s frown deepened and she shook her head just lightly but still Marla dropped her hand and she instantly missed the contact. There was a heavy silence between them. No money. No celebration. No case to prepare for. This couldn’t be an ending for them, could it? “What are you going to do now?” Fran asked carefully. Marla had been clear on the fact that she’d have to close her shop either way.
“Now?” Marla took a deep breath and straightened in place. Wearing her high heels she was just slightly taller than Fran, so she could lean down and leave a heart-stoppingly intimate kiss on the corner of the other woman’s lips. “I need to leave,” she whispered, finally a hint of pain cracked its way to the tone of her voice, and she immediately started taking the steps that would take her away from there, alone.
“Wait,” Fran said, turning around quickly and reaching out to hold Marla’s hand. She had to think, and quickly.
The two of them were almost complete opposites in some ways, but they also shared a great deal of things in common. Neither of them was sure if this was a blessing or a curse, if it made their interaction perfect or impossible. Fran knew that for nobody else she would have offered her hand this way, so soon, so easily. But in this situation, one of them had to.
“I still care about you, okay?” Fran confessed, squeezed Marla’s hand once, then let her go.
---
There was a lot of driving. That’s how Fran would describe the couple of days immediately after the failure at the court. She had quite a few errands to run and things to take care of, but she also simply enjoyed the driving around. When she drove her bike it was easier to quiet down her racing thoughts. Half of her mind on the road, and half of it on one issue at a time. There were plenty of issues though. Most of them had the indelible mark of one Marla Grayson. That might have been the reason that on so many of those long bike rides to clear her thoughts, the only thing Fran really achieved was failing to fool herself into thinking it was an accident how often she drove past Marla’s shop.
Three days later, she finally had a reason to stop by.
They were clearly emptying the store. It was mostly just Marla and Curtis with a truck waiting outside. By the time Fran parked, Marla noticed, and stood still outside the shop, observing the process, the death of her American dream. At first sight, Fran thought Marla still was the most beautiful woman she’d ever met. She was wearing comfortable clothes, her short hair held back in a little ponytail, and she’d clearly been working for a while. Fran wouldn’t say Marla looked like she was back to herself, back to the person she was before the fiasco at the court. That wouldn’t have been truthful. There was a significant change in Marla Grayson, Fran just had to figure it out. However, she did look strong and brilliant as ever, so she took that as a good sign as she approached her.
“Moving out?” Fran blurted out. She slowly walked closer, tilted her head, and squinted her eyes, the sun was unforgiving that day.
“I couldn’t have run a vape shop my whole life I guess,” Marla gave a half-hearted shrug in response. This wasn’t their best way to greet each other, they weren’t at their best, and the uneasiness around them was suffocating.
“Some you win, some you lose,” the brunette mumbled. It was nothing, a mindless repetitive phrase, but she should have seen the answer coming. Either way, she was glad to hear it.
“I don’t lose, Fran,” the other woman turned to look at her. “I won’t lose,” Marla added, looking back at the front of her dead store.
Fran nodded, holding back a smile, “Alright.”
This moment wasn’t entirely different from that first day. Attraction, chemistry, magnetism, something had pulled them to each other. Something had told them that if they could have easily gone to bed together that first night, maybe all could have ended the next morning. Something had clicked in their minds on that first conversation that convinced them that the other one was worth more than that. So they held back, and held on to each other, but how much longer could they wait before either giving up or crossing a line. Because their desire was obvious, but at this point, the risks were just as unavoidable. There was too much on the line, they were each getting too close to hearts that had chosen not to let anyone else in. One peek past the curtains they each held over the parts of themselves that weren’t carefully crafted weapons to face the world on that personal battle they each had picked, and it could all come crumbling down. How could they dare to try vulnerability? What if they liked it? How could they let each other in? How could they trust, and care? What if it worked? Going after something that could be perfect was too much of a risk. It would be easier to let go.
The problem, or rather salvation, was the fact that every time the idea of giving up popped in her mind, Marla was fiercely reminded of the fact that she simply doesn’t give up. She doesn’t lose. She’s determined to be successful. She’s confident in her ability to go for what she wants, but this one situation is way beyond that, isn’t it? Can she keep something, someone , and care for her as fiercely as she knows she could if only she wanted to? Could Fran be the one success she wants and needs more than she even realizes? Would Fran even want that?
This time it was Marla who reached out and caught Fran’s hand in hers and turned to look at her with unusual sincerity lighting up her blue eyes. “Thank you for everything, Fran,” she said.
The smile that Fran sent her way then was enough to make every risk worth it. “Don’t need to thank me,” Fran squeezed her hand once and started to pull away, seemingly satisfied with this interaction. It looked like both of them had reached a new understanding of what they wanted. “I’ll let you get back to work,” Fran added, not overjoyed to let go of the other woman’s hand.
“Oh, you’re not staying to help?” Marla called after her, a smile appearing on her lips.
Fran sent a playful grimace in the way of the shop. “Maybe next time,” she replied. They both laughed. Assuming Marla would have another business go bankrupt or not, either way, Fran would consider herself lucky to return and help her. “Call me,” she added, just a little more seriously, even if they were both still wearing matching smiles, “ when you’ll get in trouble again.” No need to pretend this was an “if”  kind of situation.
---
The clothes were convenient. Marla just happened to have black pants and a black sweatshirt. The plan though, the plan was perfect, she knew that from the start. Of course, she hadn’t played fair from the beginning, but no one could know just how far she would go to come out as a winner. However, the fire behind her might be a good sign.
Marla simply couldn’t hold back her grin as she sneaked away from the big building. It had been surprisingly easy to set fire to the company that had ruined her business, now it was just a matter of finding out just how flammable vaping products were. She’d crafted a perfect plan, so she could pull it off only with Curtis’ help. The only trick was walking away separately, in opposite directions.
The fire, smoke, and the alarms behind her were a perfect backdrop and Marla had almost made it out and away from the crime scene when on the last alleyway she was thrown down to the ground.
“Fuck,” Marla cursed, ignoring the questions that the man, likely a security guard that was way too late to do his job, was trying to ask her. The fall wasn’t too bad, but he was raising his fist, and if he started to punch or kick her there on the ground, it couldn’t end well.
That’s when they were both blinded by sudden bright lights. There was an instant of panic in Marla’s heart, fearing she’d been too slow, she’d failed, the police had arrived first. Did they catch Curtis too? Was this her end?
“Hey, step away from her!” Fran yelled as she pushed the man away from Marla.
The man stumbled, but now that he was provoked he decided it was an excuse enough to hit two women. But he had no idea of the darkest tricks that Fran carried on her sleeve though. She was agile, clever, stronger than she looked like, and knowledgeable in exactly the right ways to leave a man unconscious in a matter of seconds without causing much damage.
There was a bit of silence after the stranger’s body hit the ground. Then Marla exclaimed, “Fran!” She sounded delighted, a little out of breath, completely marveled.
Marla was still on the ground, she’d observed the struggle with wide eyes, a glowing smile and, at first, a pang of fear for the other woman’s safety that later she would realize was a sign of how deep in trouble she truly was.
“Did you call for a ride?” Fran said to her, offering a hand to help her get up, “Couldn’t get you a getaway car, I hope my bike will be enough.”
She barely had time to finish her sentence. As soon as Marla was on her feet and eye to eye with the brunette she pulled her in into a long-overdue kiss. Her lips latched onto Fran’s eagerly, mindless of trying to mask how badly she wanted this. It was incredible the way relief and excitement sparked up like fireworks when their lips touched, again and again.
“Thank you,” Marla sighed, pulling back for a moment to stare in awe at the woman in her arms, gently brushing Fran’s wild hair off her face.
Fran tilted her head, held Marla closer, and said, “Arson, huh? Didn’t think that was your style.”
“I’m full of surprises.”
“I see,” Fran mumbled, their lips already meeting again. She couldn’t get enough of Marla, her lips moved instinctively, without holding back at all. Almost at the same time, they started to hear police sirens in the distance. “ Someone ,” Fran stole another kiss and pulled away, “should arrest you right now.”
Marla demanded another kiss, and when she slowly pulled away, her teeth teasingly pulled on Fran’s bottom lip. “You,” Marla whispered. She got somewhat distracted by moving to kiss down Fran’s jaw, then focusing on her neck, losing her mind over the sigh that escaped the woman’s lips, which in Marla’s mind sounded perfect coupled with the police sirens in the background. “Did you forget your handcuffs, officer?” Marla added in a playful tone, her hands desperately pulling Fran closer to her.
“I quit the police, Marla,” Fran announced with a breathy laugh prompted by a particular bite on her neck.
The news forced Marla to pull away, and this time she looked at Fran without even the slightest effort at disguising her desire. “Take me home right now,” Marla said very slowly, the sirens were getting closer.
Fran leaned in again and kissed her, much slower, not any less passionately. Her hand rested on Marla’s cheek, her nails grazed her gently. When she pulled back she was wearing that perfect smirk that drove the blonde crazy. She held Marla’s hand and pulled her toward the bike waiting behind them.
“It’s a better alibi for you if we go to my house instead,” Fran winked.
They drove away just as the police pulled over on the other street, completely oblivious to the couple of women that would get away that night with one of many little crimes they would commit together in their lifetime.
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