Be sure to tag each post with #teamamber and #prompt # (ex: #prompt 1)

Do NOT tag these posts with #shernanigans

Prompt Three: Resorting to Drastic Measures
By: lillianabigailsturm [Team Sextras]

I’m sorry I couldn’t finish the second part in time ;_; But I wanted to share it anyways, because reasons, and it builds on my last bit while continuing with the same theme, and…yes.

TW: Sexism, Rape [Mentions of]

His Da came home for the funeral of course, and he didn’t say anything about Seb’s e-mail - though he supposed his Da had other things on his mind. Everyone there came up to them, telling them how sorry they were for their loss, and how awful it must be for ‘poor Seb’ knowing that he’d mistaken his Mother for a deer. He nodded along, head hung, and let Cordelia usher him inside.

Sitting him down in the library with a mug of tea she sat opposite, leaving their baby sister on the floor with her puzzle and staring at him as he blew the steam away from his face. “You’ve never missed a shot in your life, Seb,”  She looked up through her fringe, seeing through him the way only an older sibling could.

“No need to remind me Delia, I already feel bad enough,” He sneered.

“No you don’t.”

Looking up, he blinked, surprised to see her smiling at him, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course not. …I had a plan to leave in…well, three years. But…thank you. ‘Cause I’m not sure I’d have made it that long.”

“Well…if I knew what you were talking about, I’d say ‘you’re welcome’.”

Staring at each other, the pair suddenly burst out laughing, “God, we sound like one of those bad American mobster families on the telly.”

Life…well, it didn’t go back to normal after that, obviously, but it was nice. Their Father hired a housekeeper/nanny to look after them, and things went well. Cordelia went to art college at eighteen, and Seb joined the army - following in his Uncle’s footsteps - two years later, when he was eighteen.

The Army did well for him, combining his twin passions: order and guns, and he flourished there. The easy camaraderie ill-fitting but, over time, he learned to fake it; learned to not flick off a hand that settled on his shoulder, to laugh as if some idiotic joke was funny, and to make up stories of some of his ‘conquests’. So, when he was forced out of service due to some minor mishap - some knucklehead had stolen the latest picture his baby sister had sent and started going on about how fit she was [what did that even mean?], how fuckable she looked, and Seb snapped, beating the other man’s face in until three guys managed to pull him off the brat - saying that the only reason he was getting off so easily was because of his ‘excellent service’, Seb felt numb.

Six months after he returned he was running low on food, had no job prospects, and his future looked rather bleak, when little Amelia turned up at his door, tears leaking out of her eyes and pressing one hand to her mouth. “Ams? Jesus. What’s wrong?”

“George. H-h-he - oh God,” She broke down, collapsing into Seb’s arms and letting him hold her as she sobbed. And, for the first time in a very long while, as he held his sister in the doorway of his dingy little bedsit, Seb felt lost.

The next day He had showed up - like an Angel, or…well - and spouted off all the things he knew about Seb’s family and life - all while Seb stood there shaking with anger - before offering him work.

Seb was ready to turn Him down when he remembered that he needed to help Amy prosecute her rapist and that he had no money with which to do so. And, as if to add it’s own two cents, his stomach suddenly growled long and low.

So, he tilted his head and drawled, “When do I start, Boss?”

What do they usually say? 

Sherlock looked out of the window of his dingy flat and across the broken, rundown area of Munich in which he now lived. No more 221B Baker Street. No Mrs.Hudson. No John.

Once again, the image of John’s face flashes through his mind. The hurt in his eyes as he watched Sherlock jump. The catch in his throat during their phone call when he begs Sherlock not to jump. Sherlock likes to pretend that he’s detached, distant, but his heart hurts when he thinks of John and how much he misses him.

He turns over the small leather case in his hands. He knows he shouldn’t fall back into his old ways. Dismantling Moriarty’s web is important, but he doesn’t think he can go on much longer without a little relief from the stomach churning guilt he feels.

So he unzips the case and takes out the disposable needles and the small vial of drugs. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Sherlock is temporarily desperate to forget about John and all of the hurt that Sherlock has caused him. What burns deeper than the guilt is his fear that John won’t forgive him when Sherlock returns. That John will never tell him he’s brilliant or extraordinary again. That John will tell him to piss off.

One tiny needle prick and then blissful ignorance of the world around him for a few hours. Freedom from his own mind, even if it is only a temporary reprieve.

Prompt Three: Resorting to Drastic Measures
By: lillianabigailsturm [Team Sextras]

Okay, this was supposed to be longer, but I don’t think I’ll finish in time, so I’m submitting the first bit and if I finish the second then I’ll submit the second.

TW: Child-abuse, bullying, and murder

He would be the first to tell you that he wasn’t a very ‘moral’ man. That he couldn’t give a toss about most people. And that bothered some, when they found out. ‘How can you not care about how x, y, z are treated?’ They asked, ‘Howcome you’re not upset that so-and-so died?’ And he’d just shrug and let loose a dopey smile, to which they’d either scoff or laugh, depending on how drunk they were.

It wasn’t that he was a bad person, not really. Just that he’d learned early, from pheasant hunts with his Da, that all things died, and he didn’t see the point in getting all worked up about it. Not to mention, he only had room in his head for so many people. Namely, his sisters. He just couldn’t be bothered to factor anyone else into his decisions, which is what caring boiled down to for him. He tried to do things they’d approve of.

He’d also learned that people you cared about could do bad things. He learned that when he walked in on his Mother beating his older sister silly.

After his Mom stomped out of the room, huffing and holding her head high, he went to his sister’s room and sat on her bed, putting one hand on her back as she sobbed. “I-I didn’t,” She shuddered, “D-didn’t d-do anyth-thing.”

“What happened Cordelia?”

“I g-got invited to Mandy Penner’s b-birthday party, and M-Mom had a bad d-day at w-work, s-so when she f-found out I don’t want t-to go…”

“But hasn’t Mandy picked on you for years?”

Cordelia nodded, grabbing a tissue and scrubbing at her nose, “But Mom s-said I had to go b-because then at l-least I’m not hanging around ‘those freaks’.”

“Your friends are awesome though!”

Sniffing, she raised her head, “Thanks Seb.”

Thinking the issue resolved, he smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek and then trotting off to his own room.

When she came home early from the party next week with a broken finger and tears slipping down her cheeks their Mom charged up out of her chair and dragged Cordelia to the car by her hair, he realized nothing had changed. So, he fired off a quick e-mail to his Da, who responded saying he’d ‘look into it’ when he came home. Knowing that could be months off the boy decided to take matters into his own hands.

The next day, after Cordelia had walked back home and then barricaded herself in her room, he convinced his Mom to walk with him as he hunted for deer, telling her she didn’t need a vest as they were on their own property.

She was in a good mood, smiling at her son and telling him stories about when she used to go hunting with his Dad, and so thought nothing of it when he asked her to go into the brush a bit because he thought he saw a deer and that she could scare it out.

Bringing up his rifle, Sebastian took aim, and fired.

AU where Sherlock get himself in a cursed by a which to have a kiss from John, because that was the only way to have a kiss from his friend.

comments?

Another… yeah…

based on astudyinfangirl’s Drastic Measure: Joining a Smuggling Ring. Signing off now guys. Good night and good luck!

Sherlock made his decision, but he wasn’t happy about it.

I’m not happy with this, Photoshop was being an arse and not letting me do things. *sigh*

But yeah…

I draw dumb things

Drastic Measure: Joining a Smuggling Ring 

 Soo Lin Yao’s backstory. 

The streets were dirty in that part of the city. Trash blew around everywhere. It was, in all, disgusting, but there was nowhere else to go. Food could be scavenged from the overflowing bins, and the pair was badly in need of food. Their parents were long gone, and they were fighting to stay alive. A brother and sister, all alone. The girl picked through a pile of trash outside a shabby restaurant. Flies buzzed around her face, and her hands were smeared with gook, but she didn’t want to starve.

The boy complained, loudly. “I want more,” he told her. “My stomach’s never full!” The girl found a rotting piece of meat and handed it to him. Her stomach growled, and he’d gotten the best food from the last bin. But she didn’t argue.

The back door of the restaurant banged open. The two kids froze. The girl dropped her meagre pickings and ran. She could hear angry words behind her. Had her brother run too? Looking back, she could see he hadn’t. He could be so foolish! The girl turned back and yelled at him. “Run!” The shopkeepers could be vicious, even though the orphans took nothing but trash.

Finally, the girl’s brother joined her. He panted, “Soo Lin, why do you give up so easily?”

“I’m not interested in dying, Liang,” she told him. She knew the shopkeeper wouldn’t have killed them, but what good things could he have had in store? Soo Lin and her brother walked down the dirty, dishevelled streets. They looked down every alleyway, trying to find another trash bin. It had been so long since they’d had a square meal, Soo Lin could barely remember what it felt like to have a full belly.

That night, as Soo Lin and her brother, sheltered in an abandoned shop, tried to sleep, her stomach wouldn’t stop rumbling. A fierce ache had set in, eating at her insides. Was this what it felt like to starve? Liang slept peacefully next to her, head cradled by his arms. He felt so confident they would survive, he barely put any effort in. Soo Lin curled up in a ball. She remembered the good old days, when she was younger. Her grandmother had shown her how to make tea in the ancient pots. Soo Lin had listened to stories of long-ago China. She heard tales of the teapots, too, and the many family members who had used them.

That was all gone now, Soo Lin was harshly aware. She would most likely starve on the streets. She would never be a grandmother herself. The weight of the thought was crushing. As a child, Soo Lin had always dreamed of travelling, meeting new people and trying things. She dreamed of the family she would someday have, like so many other little girls. They would all see their dreams come true – and she would die on the streets with an empty stomach!

Soo Lin turned to watch the stars. The shop’s old roof had plenty of holes. The stars glittered brightly. Soo Lin thought of her mother, who had once told her the stars would watch over her wherever she was. I wish I were anywhere but here, Soo Lin thought, drifting to sleep.

~O~

Another day was spent scavenging. Soo Lin felt like a pig, slathered in mud. “Liang,” she protested, “can’t we rest for a bit?” Liang refused her, sternly facing forwards. He had become so serious since they’d become orphans. The new Liang was nothing like the sweet, smiling boy Soo Lin had grown up with. He was angrier, as if it were the shopkeeper’s faults he and his sister were starving.

By midday, Soo Lin’s hunger had made her nearly dizzy. She stumbled along the roads, looking desperately for a scrap of food. She’d steal outright by now – all she wanted was food. When Liang noticed her uneasy gait, he forced her to sit on the side of the road. “Wait here,” he commanded. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

The minute seemed like an eternity. Was Soo Lin dying? It certainly felt like it. Maybe it would be better to die. She wouldn’t have to worry about food anymore, and she wouldn’t have to sleep in dusty old buildings. Yes, maybe it would be better to die…

A noise caught Soo Lin’s attention. She watched a group of men with interest. They were unloading items from their bags – things Soo Lin had never seen before. They looked expensive. In return, they were handed something else – Soo Lin couldn’t see what it was, but it looked shiny, like a jewel. One of the men turned to look at her. “What are you looking at?” he shouted. Soo Lin got the feeling they were up to no good. She moved to run away.

The men must have thought she meant to tell someone what they were up to. They gave chase after the terrified girl. She ran as fast as she could, but the men were faster. Soo Lin felt her body plummet to the ground, held down by the men. She screamed and kicked to no avail. “Pretty little thing, isn’t she?” one of them hissed. Soo Lin snarled at him. Liang rounded the corner.

Soo Lin’s eyes begged with him for help. The men were holding her arms down, sitting on her legs. They felt ready to snap. “Liang!” she shouted.

Bad move. One of the men jumped up and made a grab for her brother. Liang was an able fighter, throwing punches and dogding blows, but he was no match for the tall, strong man. In a matter of seconds, he, too was captive.

Soo Lin didn’t remember much after that. Her memory went foggy and she floated. She still had not eaten, but fear set aside her hunger for the moment. Liang was next to her, that she knew, and there were men on either side.

The next thing Soo Lin remembered was the face of an Asian woman. Her voice filled Soo Lin’s ears. “I am Shan.” Liang shook his head, as if to clear it.

“What are you doing to us?”

“Welcome to the Black Lotus.”

~O~

In under a month, Soo Lin had become a smuggler. She had a tattoo on the bottom of her foot now. Her stomach was always full, and it was a somewhat better life. Whether or not it was a drastic measure to take, Soo Lin wanted to live. But Soo Lin resented the control of the Black Lotus. She never stopped hoping one day she’d break free.

Only you never really leave.