#somehow more threatening than just saying 'this machine will fucking kill you'

[aeolianasio]

reads like warning text in cultist simulator/book of hours that i would simply ignore

#somehow more threatening than just saying 'this machine will fucking kill you' #anyway #joy is the correct emotion for when your silly little guy is irreparably altered by the horrors i think #i am staring directly at that one CS ending where you turn yourself into a giant bug specifically #book of hours #cultist simulator #book of hours game #also i haven't found anything like this in book of hours *yet* #but i know it's there somewhere

[avatar-of-the-dark]

Imagine you're the Courier. You took a job because it pays enough caps for you not to have to worry about work for a while, and that's nice. It doesn't seem like a particularly hard job either - just delivering some little trinket to a major city in the Mojave wastes.

Everywhere you've ever gone in this literally-blasted land has been the same. People dismiss you because all they see is a woman. A blonde, at that. Some old world attitudes survived the bombs, it seems. Misogyny thrives like a radroach, you guess. You don't expect Vegas to be any different.

Except some fuck in a checkered suit ambushes you. Your entire life has been unfair up til this point - this isn't exactly a surprise. You try to beg for your life. You cry. He seems like he might hesitate for a second, then shoots you in the head and dumps you in a hole.

You wake up and you're not dead. You have a job to do, and frankly, you want to murder the shit out of the guy who tried to murder you. You track him across the desert, getting sidetracked by goddamn shit left and right, and getting angrier and more determined the entire time. There's a robot that seems to be following you, and telling you what to do. You've always hated people telling you what to do.

You track him to where you were supposed to make your delivery. What a surprise. The robot tells you to go talk to a man, the boss of New Vegas. He treats you like a pawn, or worse like you belong to him by virtue of having signed up for a job. He talks to you like you're an idiot for asking questions. He's a man. You're used to this. You say the right things. You play your part. He offers to pay you four times your contract to get the chip back from the man who tried to kill you.

You gladly agree.

Men are easy. “Womanhood” has never really fit for you. In fact, most of the time it feels like a fucking curse. But it's taught you how to deal with men.

It takes everything in your power not to burst into laughter when you walk up to him in his casino. The look on his face and his reaction are priceless. And it's all too easy to talk your way into his suite.

He's not good looking but he's not terrible either. You were disarmed when you entered the casino so you had to get creative. You've slept with men to get what you want before - this is no different. So you give him a good night. Then, when he passes out, you slip out of bed. You go through his clothes and find the same pistol he tried to kill you with. You press it to his temple. You end him. Then you put a round in his heart, too, just to make sure he doesn't somehow come back like you did.

You take the chip. You go back to House for your payment, ready to be done with this entire place. You take your money and he tells you there's more work to be done. Still talking like he owns you. You grit your teeth and agree.

And then something truly strange happens.

Caesar's legion treats women with utter disdain, rather than casual dismissal. They degrade you from the moment you walk up to their gates to be brought before Caesar. He summoned you, after all.

You see something in the way he looks at you. Something cold and calculating, yes, but he's actually looking at you. Considering you. He says he appreciates the way you get things done. Says you could be valuable.

Caesar gives you a task. It is the exact opposite of what House told you to do. House is promising you riches and comfort, but he still treats you as a pawn. Caesar gives you an order, like a commander. You respect that. It's… different.

You enter the bunker. You make a choice. You return to Caesar, and he praises you for making the correct choice. He tells you to go kill House.

You gladly agree.

The old man begs and threatens as you make your way into the depths of his life sustaining machines. You hold the power. It feels good.

You don't kill him - you have a worse idea. You cut him off from all his systems and his control of Vegas, locking him forever in his little tomb. You wonder if he'll ever come to regret how he treated you. You hope he does.

You return to Caesar. He wants to talk to you. He dismisses his praetorians to outside the tent.

“I see something in you,” he says. “Strength and intelligence and tenacity, yes. But something else as well. Something I'd guess no one else ever has.” He says you have “masculus anima”. You've never had a term for how you felt different. Your heart sings to finally have a concept for what has weighed on you your entire life.

He tells you no one in his legion will treat you as a woman again, as long as you avow your loyalty to him. You do. How could you not?

#fallout #fallout new vegas #past life stuff #Alyx stuff #I don't normally post my writing and especially not to big tags...

[movedtodykedvonte]

Thoughts on Sammy’s Prophethood

Fandom treats Sammy like some fanatical weirdo like every other word was Bendy’s name. As funny as that interpretation is, like there is a reason Sammy lasted so long and had all those lost ones under his control.

I get the ideas that he could easily be a deranged cult leader that killed anyone who crossed him but you gotta remember he’s way out numbered by the lost ones and searchers. Sammy doesn’t seem manipulative in his preachings and would most likely do what he does whether they followed him or not. So it’s my understanding that they are willingly at his side. Allison directly states that Sammy keeps them tamed, meaning that before the whole cult thing they may have been feral or at least way more hostile than simply idly crying or moping about. Sammy is the prophet, their prophet and that makes Sammy a powerful entity when everyone but like 4 people are on his side and follow his every word. (Even the butcher gang attack Henry during the chapter 5 village battle) No one fucks with Sammy cause he’s both unhinged as fuck and he has like an army of a devoted congregation ready to swing on you the moment they feel you threaten them or him. Say what you will but I would not mess with him if I was aware of this like everyone down there already is. Of course, Malice still attacks him in BATDS cause he’s on her terf and she has the advantages of her machines and weapons and a gun.

I also feel like people get the type of prophet he is wrong, (even he does) which enforces the idea he gets no respect or has any leeway in the studio.

A prophet by definition speaks or conveys a message for a divine being, Sammy believing that Bendy is his divinity. We know this is not true by the way Bendy treats him, but if you have read DCTL, you know that the ink in general speaks to him and only him this way. No other character describes the ink with such adoration as Sammy does when infected by it; Malice hates it, Allison describes it as a nothingness before something and everyone else actively avoids touching it. This implies the ink chose him and the ink itself is his divine entity… that he rejected. Sammy is a prophet, but has been following the wrong denomination essentially. so he’s a heretic but that’s a whole other can of worms. Of course, he can’t appease someone he was never meant to serve! Sammy is meant to be a seer but acts as a servant. The ink in the book wants him to sacrifice, to spread itself and it’s influence to as many “non-believers” as possible. Sammy in game disregards it, instead honoring one of its machinations, like a golden calf situation read the Bible to get this reference kids.

Even if he is wrong, the ink still chose him and a lot of the ink creatures know not to mess with things the demon or the ink favors. This kinda gets into headcanon and interpretation territory but it’s heavily implied Bendy doesn’t directly control the ink. He can pass through it and is more resistant than it but he again is something born of it. He is a separate being at this point, somehow shambling about with out a soul despite the ink that is full of them. The demon scares everyone cause it can send you back, not because it has any real influences or power over anything down there. It just acts like it does. If this is the case, it makes sense that the ink still influences and controls some of the discretion of its followers. If it really did choose Sammy, and still believes that he can give it what it wants, than whose to say it doesn’t influence the others to follow its prophet? Sammy is devote to his cause, loyal and literally the only protector and being down their that treats them with a twinge of humanity and respect. Mix that with the ink telling you he is a seer than you get people who would follow whatever inane bullshit he spouts.

The other characters are locked into areas or have few allies. Malice stays hidden in heavenly toys, not even waking her own hall due to the threats. Tom Boris and Allison make camps and avoid all other ink creatures. The only ones that seem to travel around willingly are the searchers, butcher gang, lost ones and Sammy. You can call him stupid for it but I see it more as he knows he doesn’t have to worry about much else attack him… disregarding his lord and a few or the more feral butcher gang.

I just think too many people play up the groveling part of Sammy’s devotion when you have to remember how much he has control of down in the ink. That his focus was appeasing Bendy and helping his flock survive. He’s not a god nor invulnerable (Tom Boris made us very aware of that) but I do remember Joey saying he can presented as such over the domain he oversees.

Just like the music department, his congregation is his domain and it benefits him greatly that it is so scattered.

#Sammy isn’t as pathetic as people make him out to be #like do not forget he was ready to kill Joey near the end of DCTL and wanted to FIGHT GOD in chapter 5 #he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder in game about it cause he probs sees it as a responsibility position and a task from his savior #also he just seems less abrasive as an ink person #hell even Tom wanting Henry to be quiet mean he did not want to alert the lost ones #If not for that one look out Allison and Tom would’ve been like WE NEED TO GO NOW WE KILLED THEIR CULT DAD #but alas the look out sent out kill bill sirens #like he’s being deceived by Joey and Bendy the ink fucks with him in like a good way #his homie I bet if he worshiped it directly he’d be a lot more terrifying #batim dctl #the illusion of living #batim #bendy and the dark revival #batdr #bendy and the ink machine #boris and the dark survival #batds #sammy lawerence #batim analysis #batim headcanons #Hepher coming out with the wildly different interpretations of canon from the fanon #Sammy’s cool and people fear him in universe was not the take you were expecting huh #he’d be dead otherwise realistically

[albatris]

hi lets say I am speaking in the perspective of Hypno and he is currently stressing over how to kill a god that has more power than he ever will, how would you go about that? this god also has three heads and too many hands. Hypno doesn't like that

(ive got no specific oc I want an answer from!)

thank you for the ask!! :D sorry for the. length. of this reply. whoops. resident god-killer Nat Rentalcar had a lot to share and was VERY excited to do so gfhjhf

"Oh! Holy shit, yeah! I got this one! I know this one! Certified vampire-hivemind-god-killer Nat Finch at your service. I've got some hot tips for you, Hypno, okay, and trust me, these are going to make all the difference. Or, like, some of the difference. At least a little bit of the difference. Probably. I think. Stop laughing at me, Quinn, I'm the closest thing to an expert anyone's gonna get 'round here, okay?

Uh... first up is... Jesus Christ, don't do it alone if you can avoid it. Get yourself some friends. Get yourself some angry, riled-up friends. Not a team of hyper-logical specially-trained-to-kill-gods strangers you barely know, no matter how competent they might be. Friends! People you trust! People you like! People you can bounce off of! It's about the vibes, yeah? Vibes are powerful business.

That being said, I thoroughly recommend getting yourself acquainted with a Zeke Cunningham-Warwick-Lâm, though. That will make your job much easier. But, uh, you can't borrow our one because she already had to participate in killing a god once and she's very tired about it so you'll just have to go find another one. There are probably other people with that name who are just as cool.

What was I talking about?

Oh, if there's any chance at all for you to bribe or threaten or trick or goad the god into playing fair, or abiding by a specific set of rules that work in your favour... TAKE IT. Then you yourself... play dirty as fuck. No rules. No honour. Set the god up then screw 'em over. This thing is more powerful than you? You're not gonna win by playing nice. Lie through your teeth if you gotta. Manipulate them. Trap them. Gaslight, gatorade, girlboss or whatever it is. Be tricky and sneaky. Then if push comes to shove, fight like a cornered feral animal.

Is... it possible for you to somehow steal a little tiny bit of the god to eat beforehand? Just a nibble. That worked pretty good for me. Though someone else did the stealing. And I was unconscious for the eating. And, I mean, it was only helpful for me because it made me, like, some cool special weird kind of vampire who can absorb stuff through his skin and explode into a gory monster on command. But I think either way eating some god can't hurt. Eat some god for luck. Eat some god for placebo effect. Eat some god to get a taste for it. Remind your gods they're edible. Do it just 'cause it's hardcore and metal as hell. Do it. Do it.

Also, you should play some of that old roguelike Quantumfish! For practice! You know, that one only like six people have actually ever beat? My friend Yvonne swears by it. Says, um - well, if you can beat the washing machine warehouse stage in Quantumfish, that's a pretty good approximation of how hard it is to beat at least the outer layers of a god. But just to be safe, make sure you can regularly get past the drive-in cinema boss fight and make sure you're REALLY good at the cyberspace dragon mini-game.

Lastly, uh... don't burn yourself out before you even get to the fight! Some folks are always going on about training, training, training, blah, blah, blah, "Why are you launching chocolate chips at Alex through a straw while it works on the computer instead of focusing on fighting the Garble, Nat?" and "How dare you take a nap when you should be strategising, Nat?" and like... sure, I get it. And maybe it's just because we all assumed we were about to die regardless and our enthusiasm for training and strategising was, like, ocean floor low. But remember to look after yourself! Self-care, baby! Eat a nice meal! Go to the beach with your friends! Murder some rich bastards for fun! Loosen up, relax, treat yourself well. My point is, if you work too hard, you're just gonna make yourself easier to kill.

Okay, that's it, go, have fun, good luck! I believe in you!"

#''gaslight gatorade girlboss'' - nat finch 2k22 #a rental car takes a left down rake street and disappears

[misiwrites]

4KINGDOMS RE-READ ADVENTURE part 6

it's been a while. i got back in hopes of finding motivation to keep editing the next chapter to post

Chapter 23: rei being dramatic about max part 154349605 (is there any other content in this entire fic, well yes when it's takao and kai instead)

rei just sounds like he's massively in love with max. already. the story has barely started

wheezed at giancarlo attempting to explain to rei what an answering machine is and rei is just I DONT CARE

this part where giancarlo finds max collapsed and all wet sounds familiar. tfw it's supposed to be rare or "impossible" for max to soak himself and he's already done it twice in this story. i want to think i wrote this in as a prelude to the latter because

He had multiple types of magic to become untouchable by water, too. Unless he really was being threatened by something, there was no way he’d become incapable of using any all of a sudden.

yes indeed! isn't it so!

Chapter 24: heterosexuality takes max to his bed

this one just casually starts off with max describing himself as "a lump of raw meat on a butcher's bench" i-- yes that's your life in my fics. nice that you noticed

so this is where max sees rei with mao and realises oh shit that hurts. oh shit i think i like him. and then he's like "Please, Goddess, if it’s like this, I don’t want it" HAHA brutal. i like it. this chapter had several okay-sounding lines? looks like the curse of the previous batch that i read has been lifted because these aren't as bad. i did some minor editing for more dramatic effect tho lol

Chapter 25: takao finds out that kai, who doesn't know what friends are, has made a friend

i keep repeating takao talking about "cotton candy clouds" and i think it's not intentional but it makes it sound like he's constantly thinking about candy. let's say it's the kind of deal where if you repeat something enough (by accident) it becomes a motif

so takao has a dream about seiryuu that feels like it's trying to tell him something… hmm now what could that be. seiryuu is just a big ass snek floating on the sky in the dream.

gramps casually announces that takao and kai will do a fencing match together next week. it's pretty funny really how ryuunosuke in this story is somehow a mentor figure to both rei and kai. in very different ways but still

i feel like this sums up takao and kai's relationship:

I wanted to imagine that we’d spent a fairly good first week together, even if I hadn't exactly had a single decent conversation with Kai yet.

there's a bit about ralf finding out that takao's been talking to souichirou and takao is like yeah sorry! i won't lie to you again. [proceeds to constantly lie to him throughout the story] so clearly that didn't work out

Chapter 26: max lies in bed. that's it that's the chapter

it's the gay reimax stuff. again. i'll just say i like this passage:

I closed my eyes and lowered my head to place a cheek against my arm, listening to him talk without actually listening to a single word. His voice was like a brook, a delicate spring that I could have listened softly trickle down to my ear for hours on end. And then I thought of all the words said in his voice that would never be meant for me.

the max introspection really ramps up. his thoughts flow really well here, he's so aware of being a jealous little shit when really he's supposed to be happy that rei's got mao.

then judy comes over to his bed like i know you're sick and all but get a grip son. you're cringe

Chapter 27: did i already mention this fic is heavier on the reimax than i maybe realised?

i can't believe the chapter numbers are briefly almost even here. then max chapters just POOF! stop being a thing and he falls behind

anyway so rei is to olivier like. man i'm so fucking bored here that i may kill myself if you don't let me watch movies or whatever. and olivier says: no

actually. this just made me laugh out loud:

Olivier’s response was a nonchalant “no” and that I should either hone my calligraphy skills or learn to paint if I was so bored[…]

"hmm, no! but have you considered: art✨"

AS DID THIS:

I now felt so sick from worry that the green tea I’d had earlier was making its way back up my throat. I could only place my hopes on Giancarlo to stop Max from doing anything stupid.

Giancarlo did not stop Max from doing something stupid.

sooo max is a stupid gay idiot and comes to rei's place sick just to give him a DVD player. cute little detail also that rei charges all the devices with his magic (without realising it)

ah my favourite. when max realises that brushes in the west are human-sized

mao mentions the idea that she'd want to host a ball! ball mentioned! the BALL HAS BEEN DROPPED

max is embarrassed about feeling disgusted by having seen rei and mao together. rei is embarrassed about feeling disgusted by mao hinting at their wedding. they are a delightful disaster! there was exactly one takao chapter in here i'm sorry. for any readers out there. because someone evidently has read this? why

#i read my own fic and die while at it #4kingdoms stuff

[yaomomvs]

TAKE OUR HAND

seijoh x manager!reader

in which aoba johsai vbc just wants you to take their hand, just as the many times they have reached for yours when they needed it

pls i’m sorry i just wrote this for comfort, in having a terrible week and so, i just really need my seijoh boys to comfort me even if it’s just in my head and just so you know, and as i’ve been trying to convince myself, things always get better

tuesday, [15:56 pm]

“nice kill yahaba senpai!” kindaichi congratulates his upperclassman.

his voice makes you react, it scared you. still holding your pen and the notebook you always carry around even on normal practice days, your hand threatens you in the most scary way possible.

fuck no, just... breathe.

you are quick to leave aside the notes, and so, you look around to the boys, who just after the coach’s whistle sounds they are quick to approach your spot.

you take the water bottles as quickly as you can.

“oh y/n-san, i know we are irresistible but you can’t just slack off admiring us!” makki teases you laughing.

“if our dear manager is admiring someone is obviously me” oikawa says, before taking a sip of his bottle, slightly making you blush even more.

“i don’t think she likes idiots who still watch youtube conspiracy videos at 3am”

“iwa!”

“weren’t you the one with a secret obsession for romance manga, iwaizumi?” it’s mattsun time to expose his friend. iwai mi doesn’t hesitate and he runs directly to matsukawa, while kunimi brings out his phone to start recording the chaos in the gym.

you don’t listen.

your head hurts, and then, you once again feel this weird thing in you stomach. you have been feeling like this for the past week, and you try to ignore it . but sometimes, you just want the world to stop.

you can’-

“y/n senpai?” watari calls your name, and you notice his furrowed brows looking at you, worried. you blink and correct your posture. you had just zooned out. “is everything ok?”

“ah yes watari kun!” you force your self to sound relaxed because you feel the sudden gaze of the entire team “i was just thinking in a smart way to insult oikawa, but i’m worried he won’t understand tho”

“hey! you said i was your favorite”

you fake laugh once again assuring everyone that you were just fine. the day goes on, and somehow is becomes more difficult to just stay down not worrying about anything.

and they notice.

you don’t walk home with the guys today. instead you run to the bus not before excusing yourself with an ‘urgent family thing’

“just please don’t let makki eat so much ramen today!” you giggle as you run to the bus “i’m not in the mood to dealing with diarrea!”

“that was a secret between us darling!” the pink haired guy screams cheeks blushing.

and maybe you were just too distracted, but before you face them away some of them notice how quick your smile fades.

“you know guys” yahaba is quick to say “call me crazy but, why did she lie?”

—

wednesday, [10:22 am]

when was the last time you actually enjoyed school? not practice, but school itself. seeing numbers everyday in the board that you don’t understand is frustrating. your throat hurts, there’s has been a not there since the begging of the day.

swallow it, y/n, dammit

you decided to take this class, don’t blame the world, blame yourself. isn’t it supposed to be simple? why isn’t it being simple? is that... 

"Square root of 57 is equal to Xo, miss" 

"alright!" 

it is not like it’s a race, you want to say. why was the teacher obsessed with speed?, it’s unfair. your time is not the same as that of others. 

you drop the pencil and you recline in your chair, why couldn’t you do operations and analysis as fast as they could? you take a look around and the eyes of others look frightening. you see ambition, you see security, you see admiration.

the bell rings and you just want to run, and well in a way you end up doing it. leaving your homeroom, you tell your friends that for today you want to be alone, the halls of aoba johsai are big, for your fortune or misfortune. you go to the vending machine and when your drink falls, the minimum noise makes you startle, lately it’s like that, small noises or actions affect you way too much.

and iwaizumi notices it.

you don’t make a single move, it’s just the cold drink resting on your hands. and before iwaizumi could stop mattsun, he was already putting his hand on your shoulder.

“y/n!”

the orange juice spills and once again fear takes hold of you.

you see them both, you’re not stupid and you know hajime stares at you weirdly, and now mattsun, you hide your fear it a bit worse than yesterday, but you do anyways.

"someday, Matsukawa-san, YOU’RE GOING TO KILL ME! and what will you do without me?" you try to say cheerful, wanting to take away the suspicion, for a moment it works.

"flunk history, that leads me to..." 

"no, sweeheart, i won’t give you my homework" 

you walk and both guys follow you, one faster than another, very naive of the situation. "I begin to believe you hate me," says Mattsun, as the three sit on a bench near the school cafeteria casually encountering kunimi who quickly joins you, patting the folds of your skirt as you sit down, you rest on the table and admire his needy expression and as the tantrum of mattsun grows.

minutes go by, your chest pain grows, but somehow you know how to let it go.

 with your hands supporting your face, lunch passes between you and kunimi, you try to talk, you really try. 

but still, your eyes just glow, and kunimi notices how it’s not the glow you always have.

—

thursday [12:03]

your head is spinning, you can feel the cold sweat. will this be the time? why do you feel so small? why can’t you say it?

it’s familiar, you recognize this feeling, an ocean, you’re floating, you know you can swim, but, you’re in the middle of nowhere, you look down. Out of nowhere the intimidating depth of the ocean is beneath you. And then, you sink. You feel like you’re drowning, you feel like you’re fighting the tide, but you just can’t do it.

i just need...

no, it’s not time yet, it’s still training. the boys... you’re the one who should take care of them, you’re the one who has to be be fine. they had no time to lose, they had a goal and for the moment that was the most important thing.

On that bench, your gaze is absent, you know it is so.

and through the window that overlooks your classroom, oikawa notices it too

“y/n...” he mumbled.

of course he’d noticed. at first it was not so clear, but now he remembers.

when kindaichi pinned your dark circles to him, while admiring you by fitting volleyballs in a way not of your own.

makki watches oikawa from your side, you don’t even know the pink-haired guy is there, unaware that he’s sitting next to you. but he notices. he’s been noticing for days that your eyes are threatening to close in the middle of class.

hanamaki catches your attention and instantly that mask you’ve been wearing for weeks appears again.

"hanamaki, i’m fine"

it doesn’t convince them. they both look out the window and nod.

oikawa notices, and god, he wished he had no reason to.

—

friday [14:00 pm]

breathe.

please just... breathe.

you’re fed up. the feeling of guilt and discomfort is still there, can’t you be calm? people don’t need to know, but why do you want to shout it?

the dressing room is alone, the girls from the soccer team are out and it’s your only chance.

the team needs you, hold on a little.

your footsteps are heard in the hallway once again, a symphony you’re tired of listening to.

your chest hurts, your heart is aching, but you just need a little more. hands are shaking, the cold in your body, you need to stop.

you have to make them stop.

but when you walk into the gym, even with your eyes down, all you feel is warm. and it’s because, the boys were standing, aligned begging for you.

no, they beg for your sake.

and everything stops.

one hand from him on your neck, and one hand around your shoulders.

because oikawa, without warning, now has you in his arms.

and then, only then, you break.

tears don’t take long to come out, along with desperate sobs. your legs fail and out of nowhere, you and oikawa are on your knees.

with an alarmed look, the whole club runs towards both, surrounding you as sensibly as possible.

"i’m sorry, i’m sorry I’M SORRY" is heard from you, between hiccups.

“love, listen...” iwaizumi approaches you,somehow he managed to catch up with you, somehow he managed to hold your hand.

"i promise i didn’t want to, but i can’t, i can’t anymore, why can’t i? i try and i try and i keep trying but it’s never enough! IM TIRED OF SEEING SOMETHING AND NOT BEING ABLE TO PROCESS IT LIKE THE OTHERS. I’M TIREDD OF NEVER FULFILLING WHAT I SHOULD”

yahaba’s heart aches, and just as most of the team, is shocked.

your hands, oh your adorable hands, those hands that bandage his in the middle of an important game, he sees them shaking horribly between iwaizumi’s.

“AND I’M SCARED, WHAT IF I LOSE YOU BECAUSE OF THAT BECAUSE OF ME? BECAUSE OF HOW I AM I-“

watari is quick to place your hair gently behind your ear, a kunimi covers you with his jacket.

“I LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND I DONT RECOGNIZE MYSELF” you lower your voice, its cracked now “oikawa I don’t recognize myself, I want to be me again" you whisper, and a knot appears in the captain’s throat, and he puts a hand on your cheek "please... just let me be me again" your throat burns, your eyes get redder.

the gym goes silent, your words still echoing in everyone’s head.

“why didn’t you-“

“i just couldn’t” you blame yourself cutting oikawa off “look at us! we are waisting time on me when we should be- i’m the one who has to- im you support not-“

“hey hey, love...” iwaizumi whispers his voice is filled with sweetness, letting you sit correctly and softly rubbing his thumb in your hands “how many times have you been there for us? y/n your hand is always there”

“that’s true” kyotani says, finally saying something, emotions overwhelmed him a lot, but he genuinely wanted to help you.

“there’s something about you, there’s light” kindaichi follows up.

“no matter where, or how bad we are, somehow you always are helping us stand up” mattsun also tries to carefully approach you, he wants nothing more for you to feel safe.

and oikawa’s arms were still around you. he never stopped.

“we have reached your hand so many times, so now it’s time for you to please take ours” oikawa holds you face, and you see the sincerity and kindness behind his brown eyes, it feels like home.

mattsun does a sign asking the coach for a day off, both of them smile tenderly at you and give the green flag. iwa and makki are next to hold you carefully helping you stand up. they help you stop shaking but it’s mad dog the one who wipes your tears away with a tissue watari handled him. still not knowing if he did it the right way. you still feel kunimi’s scent. you still see kindaichi holding your school bag making sure nothing is missing. yahaba is the one bringing you water. and oikawa still refuses to let you go.

all of them feel like home.

“thank you”

and that’s how you know everything is going to feel fine.

because this club was yours and you were theirs.

this was home.

#haikyuu x reader #oikawa x reader #iwaizumi x reader #seijoh manager #kunimi x reader #kindaichi #watari #matsukawa x hanamaki #matsukawa x reader #hanamaki x reader #hq x reader #oikawa headcanons #oikawa fluff #bokuto x reader #kuroo x reader #kenma x reader #aobai josahi #iwaoi #kagehina #sugawara x reader #iwaizumi hcs #seijoh scenarios #iwaizumi smut #oikawa x you #iwaizumi x oikawa #kageyama x reader #atsumu x reader #osamu x reader #oikawa imagine #haikyuu hcs

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

as threatened, here’s a deleted scene from the fëanorian tauriel bullet point ramble monster i just finished. i wanted to work this one in somehow, but it didn’t really gel with the main flow of the narrative, such as it was. it’s more an expansion of a concept i briefly touched near the end of that, namely:

the hellfamily break into dwarf valhalla

the inciting incident for this whole caper is tauriel wanting to talk to kíli again, yes, but it quickly gains the additional motivations of ‘it sounds impossible so obviously we have to try’ and ‘it would piss off the valar.’ they make plans. they build devices. they... hit a few snags

it’s way easier to break into a place when you actually know where it is. or if it even exists on your plane of reality: is it a physical location, an aspect of aulë (or whoever?) what kind of place is it? what happens there? is there even a dwarf afterlife, the scanty information they do have implies dwarves at least sometimes get reincarnated, how does that work??? suffice to say, they have a lot more questions than answers

this would all go much easier if we had a guy on the inside, someone (probably amras) eventually says. they could get us intel, maybe help open the gates or blast through the wall from the other side. metaphorically, like

someone else (probably amrod) points out that they’d still need to get the guy inside, meaning they have to know where it is in the first place, meaning they’re back at square one. then everyone actually thinks through the implications of that, and then -

legolas: are you seriously asking if you can murder my partner

caranthir: temporarily, it’s in the contract that we’ll use the data they collect and transmit to release them as fast as is practical

caranthir: it’s exceedingly unlikely we’ll do the murder ourselves, for the record. the valar watch us too closely, it would endanger the whole operation. and anyway i wasn’t talking to you

legolas: great, cause i’m gonna need the time to call the fucking police -

gimli: wait

(here’s the thing about gimli: they no longer give the slightest hint of a fuck. they’re supposed to be dead now, buried under the mountain and flown away to the halls of their ancestors, another cog in the great dwarven machine. instead they’re living it up in the land of the gods, seeing all kinds of impossible shit on a daily basis, existing in a place they were never meant to be. the world keeps turning, they have very little to lose, and there’s always something new and crazy to witness)

(or assist in, as the case may be. tauriel’s mad scientist family’s latest shenanigans sound like too much of a legendary disaster not to help along. there’s still one thing they’re concerned about though)

gimli: do you expect me to come back to a body that’s already been killed? i don’t fancy going around with a slit throat, dripping blood all over my beard

caranthir: naturally we will perform the necessary repairs. failing that, we could provide a mechanical alternative-

gimli: i’ll do it

legolas: what

gimli: i wanna be a robot

#silmarillion #house of feanor #feanorians #legolas #gimli #caranthir #the feanorian tauriel saga #my terrible fic #the eventual contract includes a khuzdul phrase best translated as 'kickass robot body' #it gets brought up in the trial because of course they all get arrested #i'm not sure where this plot thread goes from here just that it gets even more shitpost

[mariinara]

1) FERRUM ARDERE (Karl Heisenberg x Fem! Reader Series)

A/N: YEAH. Here we go, guys. This one sets everything in motion. Let's go!

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, Smut, Body Horror, Gore.

Fandom: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)

Additional notes: These events take place pre-game. Reader was also dating Chris Redfield for a long time before disappearing.

Story summary: You thought that being a BSAA operative was as tough as your life could get, yet going rogue with your squad against direct orders to prove a point somehow stirred you towards more trouble. A trained soldier, a skilled combatant, and once a brilliant biochemist, your power proves futile in the village of horrors you've stranded yourself in.

And when it comes to Karl Heisenberg, your abilities made you nothing but a fine addition to his "metal army". Brainwashed of nearly every pleasant memory from your past life, you're forced to comply with Heisenberg's wishes to build you into a merciless killing machine-- His finest creation.

With his plans of taking down Miranda appealing to you, playing his game was no problem, but when your perception of each other changes, it only makes your mission to reach the finish line even more challenging..

Word Count: ~3.5K

INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER ONE, CHAPTER TWO

(REMEMBER TO CHECK THIS OUT ON AO3 MORE THAN YOU DO ON TUMBLR; I MAINLY UPDATE THIS ON THERE!!!)

A few weeks earlier, BSAA, Europe HQ:

The BSAA was by no means understaffed.

Professional, heavily trained military personnel were swarming the place, each with their own unique – sometimes bizarre – resumes.

A dangerous mix of biomedicine experts and an arsenal of merciless men and women made this very corporation near unstoppable– formidable.

As small as it started, it was soon pronounced the government's official lover. One that the world can lean on and trust with everything that involves B.O.W.s or certain epidemics that threaten to be pandemics. Something that wouldn't use the people and betray them the very same way Umbrella managed to.

Certain individuals in the BSAA, however, were so high up in rank that – alone – they were a force to be reckoned with. Just seeing them walk by would set everyone on 'alert' mode.

Fucking up in front of them wasn't an option and, to put it mildly, they weren't the kinds to take negligence or incompetence lightly.

And those people were what cadets would call "Star Soldiers". Essentially, an "S.S." represents everything a corporation stood for– they were its core foundations. The pillar that held everything up. Made sure everyone was set. The rules and regulations weren't somehow twisted or broken so long as they're on full alert, which was almost always.

Betrayal or 'going rogue' was the least thing people would worry about when looking at an "S.S.".

And as far as they were concerned, Chris Redfield kept all S.S's on alert, at all times, being the first ever S.S. to walk the sacred grounds of the BSAA.

He did the dirty work for them, made sure he cleaned up after himself, suffered the loss of friends and comrades and was still somewhat optimistic with the very same fire in his belly, all things considered.

But one was prone to grow tired.

And Chris was nothing more than a human, only fortified by his virtue, reckless heroism, and a mean right swing.

The years haven't been kind to him, and everybody has heard and seen the atrocities he'd go through with every outbreak or disaster that befell the world.

Europe gave him some sort of new hope. A new glimmer, as some people would say. He got a little color back and, as a result, it made him stay and held him down for a long, long while.

But people in the European HQ knew that there were other reasons for him to be so ardently waking up in the morning to take on the day, and then entirely focusing his efforts there.

It was a certain cheerie, yet not-to-be-fucked-with biochemist (turned soldier) who kept him on his toes for years when no one has been able to achieve such a thing.

Despite this being a very serious establishment, gossiping was an essential cornerstone of surviving the boredom of hanging about a mission or observing on the training grounds from afar.

Even scientists, accountants, mechanics.. They all found a common topic of interest.

Your relationship with Captain Chris Redfield.

While you had a ranking just as high as his and had your very own little squadron, you weren't as unapproachable as he has grown to be.

Talking with you about work unrelated matters was much easier and you managed to have a more obvious empathetic span than Chris did. That's not to say he wasn't empathetic.

He just didn't talk as much as you did anymore and it wasn't a very warm trait about him. Maybe it was a self-defense tactic that he'd developed to avoid some more heartache, but, somehow, that mechanism couldn't bring him to push you away.

Not yet, anyway.

But you understood how everybody viewed you: You were generally deeply liked and well-respected; Chris was feared and well-respected.

He was closest with his squad, who were old friends of his, and you.

It was a different kind of 'close', though.

For one, Chris wasn't fucking his squad and his squad didn't cook him breakfast while wearing his shirts during early mornings before work. And he hasn't smiled or laughed wholeheartedly with anyone in a long time as much as he had done with you.

He never felt like his world had revolved around a single person before until he'd met you. And your smile and clever quips, jokes, and unyielding fire and grit were of the few things that made him tick in the best of ways.

And it ate at him most when you were working your ass off enough to not be able to see him or spend time with him properly.

Some mornings, you'd be out of bed before he was and he'd have the breakfast you'd prepare for him alone, his eyes glazing over your offensive, albeit adorable 'Good Morning' note. It helped ground him for the rest of the day.

For five, full months you've been swarmed with work, especially that Chris has signed Ethan Winters under your supervision, meaning that you had the pleasure of training the now-new father, and over the past months, you've grown astonishingly closer to him.

So close that you made your way into his home, befriended Mia, and only months ago had held their new baby Rose in your arms and heard her giggle at your blubbering for the first time.

And it was the most human you've felt, really.

Looking at that baby, who was at ease with you, instantly stopping her whimpering only to look with big, curious, blue eyes up at you.

You thought that maybe– just maybe – you weren't as bad as you believed yourself to be. Maybe you weren't losing your warmth after all.

As things eased up with Ethan and training other newbies, matters got tangled up with the scientific research team and the BSAA's board of directors, and the lord knew that you've had it up till there.

You couldn't stand looking at a big, red, 'REJECTED' stamp on the research files that you've offered. A fucking breakthrough. The BSAA was willing to turn down a breakthrough and for what?

To sweep the Louisiana incident under the rug as much as possible.

So you thought that, perhaps, you really couldn't do this one on your own.

That's what carried you through the office area's hallways, passing by accounting, then management, waving at a few colleagues and acquaintances absentmindedly, your eyes fixed ahead.

You hadn't even changed when your ex lab partner delivered your rejected files to you in the training room. You were still sweaty, in a tank top and a comfortable pair of sweatpants as you practically floated towards your destination.

When you got there, you stopped, taking a deep breath and letting it all go, clutching the file to your chest and knocking on the mahogany door in front of you, in a special pattern that the person behind it knew who to expect.

In a blink, the door was opened and you were yanked inside, which pulled a yelp of surprise out of you as you stumbled on your feet for a couple of seconds before bumping against a strong chest,

"Oh, my G–"

"Easy."

He chuckled, pulling your stare up to look at him intently, your eyes thinning in annoyance as he gently placed the hand he held on his shoulder,

You laughed lightly, almost in relief as your fingers curled against his black t-shirt, "Chris, I—"

His low, gruff voice interrupted your attempt of pulling away, "I missed you, doll," One of his arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you closer against him in one swift motion, causing you to breathe in sharply, your senses buzzing at the smell of cologne and cigarettes that only he could pull off, "Haven't seen you in ages.."

The tilt of your head amused him somewhat, "Been five months, love," You reminded him, smirking up at him.

"Five months too long." He quickly retorted, returning your smirk, "You're lucky I like myself a badass, hard-working lady,"

You resisted rolling your eyes, but couldn't help the smile on your face, "Uh-huh," You let your chest fully press against his, "Because you'd dump me otherwise?" You teased, assuming the role of the annoying significant other who couldn't take a joke, but Chris knew you better than to fall for that.

You could feel his breath fanning your lips and the tip of his nose brushing yours, "Wouldn't dream of it,"

It would be a bold-faced lie if you said that the way he handled you didn't make the butterflies in your stomach go on a rampage, and it would be blasphemy to ever pull away from a man like him.

The kiss he planted against your lips was sweet– spoke of how much he missed you. How much he'd been waiting to have you all to himself and not being able to. It was urgent and passionate and all but breathtaking. And you, in turn, expressed your greed by cupping his cheek in your much smaller hand to pull him deeper into the kiss, nearly losing your mind when his hands cupped your entire face as he practically devoured you.

The sound that the swift and coy sweep of your tongue against his elicited from the bellows of his chest made you nearly drop your file, knees buckling in excitement.

But you were better than that at disciplining yourself when need be.

Against your body's screaming desires, you broke the kiss as gently as possible, "Wait–" A thick gulp then followed, and then a sigh, "I came here for a purpose." You quickly spoke, pulling yourself away enough to pull the file up to your face, causing his head to flinch back slightly, "Got this back from the board."

Your feet were flat on the floor again when he stepped away from you, giving your aching toes a break. And, good God, your lips were swollen. Fuck.

Chris looked at you with an unreadable look, but you knew he was slightly annoyed, yet still completely enamored with you, so he couldn't help but crack a small smile at your behavior, plucking the file from your hand and immediately opening it to read over it, struggling a little due to the huge red stamp that covered some of your findings.

"What's new this time?" He asked, quickly walking to circumvent his desk to sit there, and you being you, you couldn't help but stare at how great his ass looked in the black cargo pants he sported, getting a tad disappointed when he sat down on his chair and scooted closer to his desk.

You quickly scrambled to his side and bent down to start explaining, but he patted his thigh and you sat down with the file wide open in front of you,

"I tried to pass it as more of an emergency vaccine than an antidote for body toxins." You told him, eyes fixated on the pictures in front of you.

You heard the familiar click of his lighter, and saw the smoke he puffed out from your peripheral vision. Smelt it too.

He leaned closer to look at the files, "Don't an antidote and a vaccine have completely different building blocks?" He asked, brows furrowed in thought.

"That's right. Until very recently, I treated the mold as a neurotoxin and less like a.. y'know.." You gestured vaguely with your hands, "Fungus."

"And?"

"That's the thing! Certain kinds of mold can cause neurotoxicity. I think it's safe to say that the Bakers weren't exactly playing with a full deck, which means that the mold had completely taken over their nervous system and just.. nestled there. It attacks your nervous system."

Chris hummed and nodded, his eyes studying the attached photos of mold samples in petri dishes, followed by MRIs of a mouse's brain that's been infected with the mold, along with notes about behavioral changes and physical changes over time as well, "So.." He paused, "It's a fungus that acts like a virus–?"

You snapped your fingers, "I've noticed some prion-like activity as well. Some proteins just fold incorrectly, in which case the host can die."

“So it’s a.. worthy host kind’a thing?” He asked.

“It always is. That’s how invasive organisms work. But, no, death isn’t what you think it is.” You pointed out. Chris couldn’t help but cock a brow at you, a bemused smirk across his face, like seeing you rant about this was the most fun he’s had in years.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yes! See?” You pointed at a photo of a mouse’s brain, “This EEG suggests that the brain is typically.. Well.. dead.”

“Okay..?”

“But look here!” You pointed to the picture pinned right below it, “ECG suggests the mouse is--”

“Still alive, right?”

“Right!” You scrambled through the file and Chris sat back, his hand on your shoulder, thumb gently massaging your tense muscles as he took a drag out of his cigarette. He didn’t think you were this deep with research and development. When you left that job to become an active operative, it was because the most lies were told by the science department and you couldn’t fucking take it. So he wasn’t really sure why you’ve suddenly become so obsessed with conjuring a vaccine or a cure, really, for the exact kind of mold that was found in Louisiana.

You were so adamant that the multiple rejections from the board to go on with the operation never stopped you nor did it slow you down.

“And.. I did a thing..” You finally interrupted the silence, pulling Chris’s attention back on you. When he realized what you’d said and studied the way you twisted at the waist and the sheepish look on your face, his brows furrowed and he slowly leaned forward again, pulling the cigarette from his lips and putting it off in his ashtray.

“Should I be concerned?” He asked, matching your low tone of voice, his eyes staring into yours the way they usually did when he was trying to force you to come clean with something, but he attempted to be misleading by giving you a gentle smile.

Your eyes drifted away from his and you tilted your head from side to side, biting down on your lip as you hummed, “No..? I mean..” You pulled out some stapled, freshly printed out documents and held them up for him to see, “I already got away with it.”

Chris’s smile quickly fell when he saw the ‘Umbrella’ sigil at the top right corner of the front page, his brow twitching in annoyance, “How’d you get your hands on this?” He frantically asked, snatching the papers from your hands.

You were too excited to note his bizarre reaction, getting straight to the point, “Y’know how a vaccine needs a source of dead contaminant tissue to work--”

Chris uttered your name firmly and warningly, “How’d you get your hands on this?” He repeated, eyes staring into yours very seriously. No hidden bemusement. Just dead solemness.

Your shoulders dropped at his tone, “I’m getting to that if you’d just listen.” You calmly responded, watching his eyes bounce between the document and your face before he hesitantly snapped his mouth shut and exhaled slowly, relaxing a little, waiting for you to continue.

“Jesse helped me hack into Umbrella’s old files--”

“Jesse?”

“Jesse Ginkgo.”

Chris’s eyes narrowed and he shook his head.

“My squad’s elite IT guy?” You reminded him, sighing in exasperation when his expression remained the same, “Doesn’t matter-- but he helped me get into them and I found this letter that you’re..” You trailed off, watching how his fingers gripped the paper with a raised brow, “..currently crumpling in your hand..” He realized what he was doing and stopped, his grip loosening a little, “It’s written by Oswell Spencer.”

Chris’s eyes narrowed and his eyes went over the document, reading its contents.

“Look at the address it’s sent to.” You instructed him.

He paused for a while, “Biertan.. Romania.”

“It also addresses a woman called Miranda..” You paused to study your boyfriend’s reaction, “If he was inspired by her old research--”

“Then that means she had somethin’ to do with the T-virus..”

“If not everything.” You continued,taking a deep breath, “I’d say she’s dead by now but.. He said somethin’ about her being immortal and, honestly? With all the crazy shit we’ve seen?” You laugh lightly, “I don’t think he’s bullshitting..”

Chris slowly nods as he flips through your printed document, reading over the letter, “Okay..” He sighed, “But what’re you tellin’ me this for?”

You blinked in surprise, “Well, naturally because I’ve no one else to tell this to.”

He raised an eyebrow, giving you his usual you’re-full-of-shit look, his right leg bouncing up and down as he awaited a truthful response.

You rolled your eyes and pulled yourself up from his lap, “Look, if I assemble a good team to go to that village and pinpoint the source of the mold and take it down, we’re--”

“No.”

Despite him shaking his head all throughout your logical reasoning, you continued, “It’s my job, Chris, and the BSAA won’t do it.”

“Won’t do what?” He laughed incredulously, “Send you on a fucking suicide mission?”

Your hands dropped to your sides, “How do you even know that it’s all that dangerous?” You narrowed your eyes at him when he averted his gaze from yours, his head dropping and his hands intertwining on the desk, “Do you know something I don’t?”

More silence followed, and with every passing second, your heart sank.

“Chris, answer me!” You demanded, eyes ablaze with both anger and a tinge of betrayal, almost begging him to tell you that he didn’t know any of that and that he was entirely fucking with you.

“Why the sudden interest in this stuff anyway?!” His tone of voice matched yours-- louder but much more defensive than yours.

“Because it’s my fucking job!”

“No, it isn’t. Your job was to follow orders and keep an eye on Ethan Winters.”

“I did! But, Chris.. Ethan, he..” You paused, shaking your head and huffing out a shaky breath, picking at your nails to somehow make yourself forget about how much you wanted to burst in tears just then, “He’s now got such a beautiful family.. A beautiful baby girl, too..” You shook your head and looked up at him, “They’re all he ever talks about, Chris, but that fucking incident..” You whispered, swallowing a lump in your throat afterwards, vision blurred from the hot, rising tears, “It’s tearing them inside out and--”

“So, what? You’re a family counselor now?”

Your mouth dropped slightly in utter shock, tears finally streaming down your face.

“Fuck you, Chris..” You breathed out, a bitter laugh escaping you through your tears.

“He didn’t ask for your fucking help so why do you feel the need to do that for him?!” He stood up from his seat, fists propped against the desk, curled up and ready to go through a cement wall the moment you step out of his office.

“Fuck. You, Chris. You don’t know them like I fucking do.” You pointed an accusatory finger at him, “Maybe you could see the logic in what I’m trying to say if you’d grow the balls to think for yourself for once.”

He wasn’t happy at your insinuation. You were on thin fucking ice. You knew that. It wasn’t stopping you, though. And if the set of Chris’s jaw told you anything, it was that he was holding himself back from another hurtful comment. You were smarter than him and would outwit him, anyways, however. He knew that. Always one step ahead. Seven steps even when you really put your mind into it. Additionally, you had enough nerve to push his every button.

He wasn’t going to break under your thumb, though.

And you knew he was too stubborn to give it a second thought, too, so you quickly approached the desk, opened the file, hands slipping and fumbling a few times until you pulled out different papers, setting them on his desk and taking your research files back, “Here’s your monthly update on Winters..” You muttered, hands flying up quickly to wipe your tears away before you turned and left his office, slamming the door behind you.

You inhaled deeply, eyes closed and palms sweaty, then you pulled out your phone, dialing the first number on speed dial, collecting yourself before he’d pick up.

And then he did.

“Ginkgo. Get the squad ready. We’re headin’ out tonight.” You said, speeding down the hallway, file clasped in your sweaty hand.

“I take it Chris approved of providing extra hands?”

“No.” You quickly responded, “We’re gonna go at it alone. Just listen to me. Pass by the lab to pick up the unfinished vaccine samples. Get all the maps and leads you know of. I’ll take care of the copter and the firearms.”

“You got it, boss.”

And the line went blank.

_____________________

#Chris Redfield x Reader #Karl Heisenberg x Reader #chris redfield #karl heisenberg x reader #resident evil village #re8 #ethan winters #mia winters #donna beneviento #alcina dimitrescu #mother miranda #salvatore moreau

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 11 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Absurdity) 

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Message from the Lan Clan

After dinner the Yunmeng bros go to talk to Jiang Fengmian in his study. They're quiet and respectful here, with no shoulder-shoving or arguing. This scene has such Brady Bunch energy, where Dad's Study is the Man Place where boys come to talk about Serious Things.

The boys tell Dad Jiang about the Yin Iron and he says yeah, I know. This is probably why he let them run off on their road trip without punishing them, but he could have, like, shared data with them so they might have actually achieved something related to the Yin Iron, rather than just wandering around the countryside bonding with Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang.

He shows them a letter from the Lans that basically says the Lan Clan is in the shit, and he tells them they've got to go to the Wen indoctrination because otherwise they will also be in the shit. 

He gives the boys a warning about the Yin Iron, which is that 

1. it can be refined and 

2. if you refine it carefully, it will not control you. 

Awesome tip, will definitely use, thanks pop.

(more behind the cut)

Jiang Cheng wants to argue about going to the Wen party, but Wei Wuxian vocally gets on board, not leaving any opportunity for whining. 

Wei Wuxian is only sucking up a little bit in this scene. He obviously has a lot of affection for Jiang Fengmian, but WWX doesn't play up to his favoritism nearly as much as he could. Compare, for example, how he leans into Yanli's preferential treatment of him.  

Fight Outside the Cold Cave

Over on the Gusu side of the country province township, the disciples have gathered outside the cold cave that previously none of them knew about, and Su She is freaking out. 

Most of the acting in The Untamed is naturalistic, but then there are occasional characters who are portrayed with a much more theatrical, broad style. Su She's villainy is not given a lot of layers; he's playing a type, more than a person.

Many of the villains in The Untamed are played this way, but not all. Wen Zhuliu, for example, is a genuinely horrifying bad guy while also conveying depth and ambivalence--despite having hardly any lines. And JGY is a masterpiece of a performance. For Su She, the directors or the actor have opted for "sniveling backstabber" as a type, which is unfortunate, because it robs his final scenes of emotional impact.

Lan Qiren tells the disciples to get to safety. He rushes forward, gamely getting his ass kicked by human cuisinart Wen Xu.  He's not as effective a warrior as either of his nephews but he's a brave S.O.B.

Hanguang Jun to the Rescue

Before things can go completely pear-shaped, Lan Wangji sails in with his guqin.

The Blue Steel technique of the Lan Clan

Like many gifted learners, Lan Wangji's musical abilities are more advanced than his social skills. Here he musically makes the ground literally explode, almost as if it had been specially rigged with incendiary charges.  

Lan Wangji is very pretty when he's worried, and his affection and concern for his uncle is touching. He's 100% not interested, as we will see, in Lan Qiren's whole "lets all die for the future of the Lan Clan while my nephews hide" agenda. He's on his own agenda of smiting the wicked and protecting the weak.

Notice how Su She is standing right next to Lan Qiren here, even holding his arm? The next thing that Lan Qiren says is to tell all the disciples to keep up as they run into the cave. Somehow Su She totally does not keep up, and he gets caught outside along with a bunch of other disciples.

Giving Up

Wen Xu and his men kill most of the other caught disciples, and then threaten Su She, asking him how to get into the cave. In fear for his life, he tells them. Not cool, Su She, but possibly forgivable. Although when you voluntarily join a, you know, battle cult, physical courage is kind of an important qualifier.

But this shit here...

They didn't fucking ask about the books, douchebag.  

Su She was there in Lan Qiren's house when the two heads of his clan knelt to each other, each claiming the right to be the one to stay behind and die. And he heard Lan Qiren say that the ancient books are the foundation of the clan and that only if LXC and the books survive, will the clan continue. By giving up both men, and pointing out the book situation, Su She has totally earned his expulsion. 

Lan Wangji Takes a Stand

Lan Wangji decides, for the first but not last time, to openly defy his uncle...and it's got nothing to do with Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji is a hero, who follows the dictates of his conscience. His conscience is extremely filial and extremely orthodox, but he’s got a growing open-minded streak.  This is going to cause a whole lot of conflicts for him over the next few years.

This time, however, he manages to skate out from under the whole disobedient, unfilial thing by citing Lan Yi's directive, which means Lan Qiren has to accept it because she's his predecessor and elder relative (She is probably not a literal ancestor, since she spent her life in a cave putting fucking headbands on fucking rabbits which probably didn’t leave time for having babies).

This is a pretty extraordinary moment for Lan Wangji and for Lan Qiren, because Lan Wangji just asserted his own form of authority to do the exact opposite of what Lan Qiren wanted, and Lan Qiren just sucked it up and let him.

It's also very different from western stories involving a holy McGuffin such as the Yin Iron. Lan Wangji's solution of "fuck it, just let the bad guys have it, it's not worth so many people dying for" is refreshing and surprising to me, a westerner raised on The One Ring, the Grail, the Death Star Plans, etc.

Lan Wangji steps out of the cave and uses a sword blast to save Su She, the ungrateful bastard, from getting stabbed by Wen Xu. Then he surrenders, and they break his leg to slow him down. This does not actually incapacitate him, because he is Lan Fucking Wangji, already a BAMF at like 17 years old. When they whack his leg, his chunk of Yin Iron falls out onto the ground.

That thing was in a magic bag of holding before. So...it just falls out when you whack him? If they whack him again will his guqin fall on the ground? What about candy?

Archery Practice at Lotus Pier

Meanwhile, back at Lotus Pier, the brothers are enjoying some quality time together before they head to the hostage-taking indoctrination.

Wei Wuxian is such a great cultivator that he can hit a distant target even when he jerks his bow upwards as he releases the arrow.

Jiang Cheng seems fairly pleased, and proud of his brother. He's competitive and fundamentally grumpy but not, at least here, a sore loser.

Club Ruohan

We go over to Da Club, where Wen Ruohan is yelling at Wen Qing for letting Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian go. He names them both, so they're becoming more and more known to their enemies. Which is not a good thing.

He menaces her with the zombie mosh crew, having them kill a dude in front of her and then saying her baby brother will be next in the circle of zombies if she tries any more stunts. Neither of them can imagine how much zombie ass her baby brother is going to kick, later in his (un)life.

Side note: What is up with WRH’s hair? Why bother pulling your hair up over your ears if you're going to leave an enormous curtain of it over your face? It's because he knows there's a wind machine next to his throne, isn’t it?

Leaving Lotus Pier

Jiang Cheng: when I ran off earlier in the year on my road trip you didn't pack a goddamn thing.

Wen Indoctrination

Is it even possible to stand next to this much active volcanic shit and not, uh, die? I live in the tornado part of the US so I don't know much about lava (yet. 2020 still has 2 months to go). But it seems like it would be hard to breathe the air. Also they appear to build houses on lava piles, which seems imprudent.  I say that even as someone who plays The Elder Scrolls Online, which is full of lava towns and nonsense like “ash farming.”

Nie Huaisang is adorable at all times, but particularly here, when he's so happy to see his friend who *didn't* fuck his gege and then abandon him without an explanation. 

Nie Huaisang: I'm so glad I can count on Wei-Xiong to be consistent and not vanish for months, or become a traumatized shell of his former self, or, like, horribly die.

Jin Zixuan isn't quite as happy to see Wei Wuxian.

Wen Chao enjoys the sound of his own voice way too much, and is malevolent and boring. On the plus side, he likes to stand with his hand stuck out in the air, which is fun for your resident photoshopper.

Nie Huaisang is so miserable every time he's holding a sword, or blade, or whichever we're supposed to call this. He's got his fan tucked into his belt, which is sweet. He is happy to give up his sword but don't you dare try to take his fan.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian is worried about Lan Wangji, and Jiang Cheng isn't.

Lan Wangji shows up under guard, and takes his position at the front of the line, but without any extra disciples. The Wens let him change into snowy white robes after breaking his leg which will go well with arterial blood spray. He's focused and is determined not to interact with Wei Wuxian in this public context.

When I was little, I would sit near my best friend at church on Sunday, but not be allowed to talk to her until church was over, and it was exactly like this. She was good at churching and I was hyper and hated church. We are still best friends and these things are still true.

This interaction is like a thumbnail for the whole dynamic of these three boys: Lan Wangji outwardly ignoring Wei Wuxian while having many interior feelings about him; Wei Wuxian demanding attention and creating a bit of a scene, due to his very genuine caring; Jiang Cheng telling him to leave that boy alone for fuck's sake.

Lan Wangji: Stop trying to talk to me Wei Ying, I’m busy composing a song in my head about the two of us and our love for each other. 

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #the untamed meta #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #lan qiren #su she #jiang fengmian #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs #the untamed spoilers

[another-fantasy-world]

Strings Pt. 2

Pairing: Rosalie Hale x Fem!OC

Summary: in which the true queen of vampires found love when she least expected.

Warnings: ...Light Angst? Slowburn and mentions of death,trauma and depression

Timeline: Breaking Dawn - Post-Twilight

Word count: 4, 200 words

!Extra long chapter!

GIF isn’t mine

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧    ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧    ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧  

The witch couple somehow got Rosalie to agree to their terms, much to her distaste. She still doesn’t know what it is that irks her about the couple, she does not trust them, at all but, she trusts Carlisle. Plus, right now, they have more important matters to attend to.

Various thoughts run through Rosalie’s head, as she stands in the vast snow covered field. She may not show it, but she worries for her adoptive sister as Alice strides through the field handing Aro her hand for him to go through her thoughts and visions.

“Now you know. That’s your future, unless you decide on another course.” Alice states when Aro dropped her hand in shock

Rosalie stands rigid, observing silently as she glares and snarls at their “Royalty”, eyes pitch black. She knows in herself that she would do everything for her family, even if it costs her, her life. She stands there, watching as another hybrid walks into the field, she watches as they question him, She watches as Bella sags slightly in relief knowing that Renesmee is immortal and finally, she smiles knowing that they’ve won as the red-coated vampires blurs into the distance.

Joyous screams of victory rips through the air as she joins her family as they rejoice, happy that they did not have to fight the Volturi today. Together, they walk back to their house where their witnesses say their farewells and leaving.

“We won!” Maggie squeals are she rushed into Rosalie’s arms with Emmett trailing behind her

“Yeah, Yeah. Now I have to suffer an immortal life with the smell of wet dog wafting through the air.” Rosalie smirks

“Hey! I heard that!” Jacob complains

“Tsk. You were supposed to.” She retorts as she walks to Carlisle who was holding Esme in his arms.

But as she was walking, she was suddenly thrown into a void, cold, dark, and starry? She was confused as she looks around, panicking when she couldn’t move.

“What the fuck is going on?!” She tries to move her body but she couldn't, she then feels her body get thrown around like a rag doll.

“This is worse than being forced to ride that death machine. What was is called? Rollie? Roller coaster?” She grumbles in her head as she wills herself to not puke. She didn't even think vampires could still be nauseous.

That went on for what seemed to be hours before she was finally dropped into the ground. Opening her golden eyes, her orbs seemed to hyper focus on the gigantic trees and the creatures that live in it. Her ears then pick up the sound of groaning, turning her head, she sees the rest of her family sprawled all over the forest floor.

“Oh my God! Amore! You didn't have to paralyze them that hard!” Veronica thumps Amore in the head.

“I sincerely apologize for what she has done. We needed to take you far away from Forks, The Volturi Coven changed their minds and decided to ambush you and your witnesses. Fear not, your witnesses have been teleported to their homes safe and sound.” Veronica explains while still glaring at the pouting Amore.

“What was that anyways?” Edward groans as he sits up'

“Teleportation. I needed to paralyze you, that lowers the chance of you losing a limb.” Amore explains while Veronica cast a cloud of blue upon them, seemingly healing their “injuries”

“Cooooool. Can we do it again?” Emmett brightens like a child getting a puppy for the first time.

“No.” They all deadpanned at him making Veronica and Amore chuckle.

“Well, I suggest we get going now, even with our speed, it's still a long way to run.” Veronica dusts herself off as she and Amore help the family up and the still dazed shifters.

“Long way to run where?” Jacob asks, utterly confused.

“To the palace of course.” Veronica smiles

“It's high time you guys meet the Queen.” Amore smirks and winks as she speeds off, followed by Veronica then the Cullens and then the Black Pack.

Anastasia pinched her temples in pure stress, the Cullens were coming to visit and everything was in utter chaos. Mud was smeared all over the walls, broken dishes and glass cluttered the floor as little children run past her, screaming her ears off.

“Lance, darling. Clean this up before I rip someone's head off. Make sure this place is spotless before the guests arrive. Get the pups back to their mothers, the children back to the village and contact Maxine, there's a few shifters accompanying the Cullens. I'll be in my lab.” She orders her personal butler who scrambles around trying to get people to help him.

Anastasia ventures down, down until she reaches her own personal laboratory where she herself develops her own type of blood. She's repulsed by the thought of drinking from a clueless human no matter how annoying they are and disgusted at the thought of killing an innocent animal just so she could satiate her desire of drinking blood. And because of this artificial blood, her eyes slowly turn into the rich dark violet that it is now.

As she works, combining different substances and powders that vary colors, her mind drifts to a certain blonde girl. Anastasia for the life of her, cannot even think of what she would do where she faces the blonde beauty, not when her heart if filled with guilt.

1932 Rochester, New York

Anastasia roamed the streets as she keeps her eyes trained on the single glowing golden string attached to her, amongst the other colors. She was born this way, even when she was just a little human, she could always see strings. Of course her feeble mind at that time didn't understand what it was, but now she could. As a vampire, she practiced and willed her strings to be more color coded, since the mere chaos of tangled strings give her a headache. The strings connected each creature in this world, once you make an acquaintance, a blue string connects the two of you and that soon escalates into different colors, However, one color lets her see soulmates, and that's green, which is why she's now following this glowing gold string to wherever it may go. She was tempted to just yank the string as hard as she could and let the creature on the other side find her but somehow, something was holding her back.

As she walked the streets of New York, head held high, she also ignored the stares that she got while walking. She knew why of course, her Italian clothing much different from the posh American clothing everyone around her has, not to mention she was wearing clothes meant for “men” but she never was the one to abide to gender constructs. She also couldn't, for the life of her, think about what she would do when she meets the creature on the other end of the string. Should she kill it? Should she keep it? Should she protect it? Should she-

Her thoughts were then interrupted when her eyes suddenly tunnel visioned. There 'it' was, the 'creature' on the other end of her string, 'it' was actually a woman. An insanely attractive human, being fawned over by boys as she walks by and she was smiling at the small group girls crowding her. Anastasia could suddenly feel the emotions of the said woman: Happiness, Pride, and a little twinge of loneliness and sadness. Anastasia's heart (despite being half-dead) tightened in her chest, she wanted to do everything and anything to make the woman happy. She didn't even care that she just saw her mere minutes ago, she wanted her and only her. And that's when she realized, this woman, no, this angel was meant to be hers. But then again, Anastasia knew that the woman was too good for her, she doesn't deserve this life of pain and eternal suffering, seeing the people you once loved grow old and eventually die, yet she also knew that she cannot live without her, so she settled with being her protector.

“Mr. Lombardi? Did I pronounce that right?” Mr. Hale questioned her, she had managed to manipulate her looks to make her look like a man.

“Yes sir.” Anastasia answered, she named herself Gioele for the sake of her facade.

“And why should I let you protect my daughter?” Mr. Hale raised his eyebrows, staring at the 'guy' infront of him.

“With The Great Depression still happening, I believe your daughter might be in danger. You and your success may make you a target for those who are below you, poor unfortunate...” She trailed off, her moral compass preventing her from saying derogatory words but she knew she had to play by his personality and rules

“We do not talk about them.” Mr. Hale deadpanned

“Yes sir.” 'Gioele' agreed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

“Very well then. You have piqued my interest. One wrong move and you'll find yourself hanging on a rope by your neck.” He threatened just as someone entered.

“Father? Mother requested your presence.” Anastasia's eyes widen when she hears the soft, melodic voice right behind her.

“Rosalie! Perfect timing. This is Gioele Lombardi, he will be protecting you from those awful lowlifes scattered around the streets.” Mr. Hale introduces Anastasia to Rosalie who in turn looked at her.

“Rosalie. Rosalie Hale.” She introduces her self while Anastasia promply goes down on one knee and kisses her hand.

“My Pleasure.” She smiled, seeing the faint blush on Rosalie's cheeks.  

Anastasia stood up, offering her arm to Rosalie who accepted and they both followed Mr. Hale outside, Anastasia holding up an umbrella to shield Rosalie and herself from the sun. She didn't sparkle as much as other vampires do but it would have been really suspicious when people see her faint sparkle as her marble like skin hits the rays of the sun.

And in that afternoon alone, Rosalie Hale became more popular, people talked about the attractive guard and of course Rosalie's beauty. Anastasia was annoyed at how people spoke about her and her mate, while they were walking around the city. Rosalie noticed and distracted her by asking her questions and answering questions directed to her as well.

Anastasia just felt herself fall even more as days pass by, She would sit by Rosalie's side while she reads her books, She would accompany her on walks and would help her pick flowers as well. She knew all about Rosalie but Rosalie only knew things Anastasia want her to, that doesn't include the fact that she's a woman and not a man and also the fact that she's an actual vampire. And that proved to be in her disadvantage later on.

A year pass by quickly with Anastasia enjoying every single second she spends with her soulmate, she could feel Rosalie radiating happiness whenever she's around, but of course, Rosalie was getting suspicious as well. It may be because of that one time where they were caught in the rain and their umbrella was much too small for 2 persons so Anastasia insist on Rosalie using it, leaving her wet, making her clothes stick to her body, and even under the dim light, Rosalie could make out a feminine body, toned but still feminine and that left her thinking if she truly knew her guard as well as she thought she did.

One day, Rosalie was sent on an errand to deliver her father's 'forgotten' lunch, and Anastasia knew it was a bunch of shit. She heard the couple discussing their plans to hopefully attract the attention of  Royce King II and they succeeded, she had to watch as Rosalie and Royce flirt with each other, with her silently seething, forgotten. She had to hide her growls and snarls whenever flowers would be delivered at the Hale Household, but she couldn't do anything, Rosalie deserved someone who could grow old with her, and not a half-ling  abomination like her. So she accepted the fate she wished upon herself and made the hardest decision of her life.

The day Rosalie was engaged, she packed her bags and set to leave but unfortunately, Rosalie caught her. And what she did that day, she still regrets up until now.

“Gioele? You are leaving.” Rosalie states, stunned.

“Don't. Don't stop me Ms. Hale. Or should I say Mrs. King?” Anastasia spat out, and she internally flinched when she saw the pain in Rosalie's eyes.

“Where did this come from Gio?” Gio, Rosalie's nickname for her alter ego. She couldn't handle it anymore and looked around before gently dragging Rosalie into an empty room in their house.

“Look, my name's not Gioele.” Anastasia removes the glamour she placed on herself and watched as Rosalie stare at her in shock.

“It's Anastasia. And yes. I am leaving. You are to be married to Royce King II and I cannot get in between that.” She stares at Rosalie's eyes, hoping to relay her feelings, but Rosalie was still much too hurt from her best friend lying to her.

“You lied. You broke two of your promises Lombardi. Is that even your real surname? It is not, is it? God. Why must I be so stupid! Go! Leave! Find some other woman to lie to!” Rosalie walks away from her

“Rosalie! Wait!” She tried to chase after her but Rosalie just turned around and slapped her, she was shocked, not only because the love of her life slapped her, it's also because Rosalie managed to crack the base of her neck. She lifted her hand to cover the cracks that were covering the base of her marble like neck.

“Rose...” She stared at Rosalie.

“Leave.” Rosalie glared, and Anastasia knew that this was her chance... to let go of her soulmate... in the most painful way possible.

“Fine...” She growled out “...I never liked you anyways, You self-centered, smug woman who only lives to please her father and the people around you. I hope you and your cold heart enjoy your loveless marriage!” She grabs her bags and walks away, not bothering to turn back, knowing that if she sees Rosalie's face and the raw emotions in her eyes, she'll just turn back and beg for forgiveness.

But of course, she couldn't stay away, no matter how hard she tried, she just can't so she lingered, hiding herself in the shadows, watching as Rosalie walked the paths they used to walk on, with Royce accompanying her, his arm hooked on hers as they chatted happily. It took everything in Anastasia to not rip off Royce's head whenever she knew he was making Rosalie uncomfortable and It took everything in her to not steal Rosalie away from him.

She was lingering around Vera's house, Rosalie was in there, cradling the baby boy in her arms as she cooed at him. Anastasia smiled as she saw her mate being all cute, she longed to have that with her, but alas she couldn't.

She was just enjoying herself when suddenly a body slammed into her, they fought for the upper hand as they kept tumbling around. Anastasia would straddle the man and he would flip her as well, she knew he was a vampire and didn't bother to pull her punches, cracking his marble like skin while he, in turn would also punch her face. The only difference they had was, Anastasia is actually bleeding. After what went on like hours, something snapped, Anastasia knew something was wrong with her mate so her eyes glowed a bright red, she threw the man off her and tied him with her strings. She growled at him before speeding off, following the slowly fading golden string. She ran as fast as she could, but she was too late.

“Rose?” she stared in horror as the body of her beloved, sprawled on the sidewalk, bleeding out.

“Stasia?” She turned her head and saw Carlisle standing behind her.

“Carlisle! I beg of you, Please save her. Turn her Carlisle please!” Anastasia begged Carlisle

“What happened? I smelt the blood.” Carlisle knelt beside the barely alive Rosalie.

“Turn her first then I'll explain.” Anastasia choked out as she closed her eyes just in time for Carlisle's teeth sinking into Rosalie's skin

She shook with anger and decided that she'll chase after whoever did this to her, her ears hyper focused, trying to find whoever did it. And that's when she heard it: Royce King II.

“I need to find a new fiancee now.” He laughed as his friends expressed their joy in letting them-

Anastasia let out a loud guttural growl as she prepared to speed away but Carlisle held her back.

“Don't. She needs you first.” Carlisle motioned to Rosalie who's writhing in pain. She immediately scooped her mate into her arms and followed Carlisle's mate string, which led her to a two floor house, she barged in with Carlisle hot on her heels.

“Lay her here.” He instructed the distressed Queen.

“Will she be okay Carlisle?” She asked the doctor as he kissed his mate in her forehead.

“Yes. Give it a couple of days, Your Highness.” Carlisle reassured her as she swallowed back her sobs.

“Very well. Uh. My apologies, I barged in without your permission. My name is Anastasia. You must be Carlisle's lover?” She offered her hand to the older woman who in turn just gave her a hug.

“It's fine. Really. You are welcome here. Carlisle told me all about you.” Esme smiled and Anastasia just smirked at Carlisle.

“Still thinking about me Cullen?” Anastasia teased, taking Rosalie's hand into hers and gripping it, calming her nerves.

“He talks about you everyday.” Esme smiled at her.

Anastasia was about to reply when the doors opened and in came...

“You.” Anastasia growled and lunged at the man. He dodged but she caught his arm and used her momentum to flip him over, throwing him through the wall and into the backyard, making him land flat on his back. The man coughed as Anastasia straddled him, planting her foot to the ground, her strings glowing a bright red as they wrap around him as she slowly ripped his head off.

“Anastasia! He's my son!” Carlisle cried out as Anastasia snapped at him, eyes widening in surprise.

“He's yours?” Anastasia's eyes glowed a bright red and Carlisle felt his entire body shiver.

“Y-Yes.” Carlisle stuttered, the murderous aura surrounding Anastasia triggering his fight or flight.

“He is the reason why I didn't get to my mate fast enough. He lunged at me for no reason, leaving my mate in a vulnerable position AND LOOK WHERE SHE IS RIGHT NOW! SHE'S FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE CARLISLE!” Anastasia's body shook in anger

Carlisle could see the cracks growing on Edward's skin, and he slowly approached the furious queen. He managed to calm Anastasia down by sending calming waves into his strings, decades of working alongside the queen was proven to be useful in this moment. The ropes that were once wrapped around Edward slowly loosened until they retreated  back into her body.  

Edward wheezed as he moved away from her while Anastasia composed herself.

“Teach your son better manner s, Carlisle or the next time we meet, you'll see his decapitated head decorating the Volturi Walls.” Anastasia threatened as she walks calmly back into the house through the wall that she made and sat beside her unconscious mate. She noticed the golden string slowly go back to it's natural glow, which made her sigh in relief.

A couple of hours pass by and Anastasia was feeling hungry, she asked for Carlisle's help in looking for food in the forest and he told her where the majority of the animals lived and she set off. While she was hunting, she couldn't help but feel like she failed Rosalie. She let her become something that she protected her from. A Vampire.

Once she had her fill, she slowly walked back to where Carlisle lives, delaying her arrival as much as possible, dreading the fact that she knew Rosalie was awake. She could feel it. She took a deep breath and opened the door, making everyone's head snap towards her. Her eyes caught Rosalie's and instantly, they connected, more so than before, which means that Anastasia feels what Rosalie feels 100 times more than before. Pain, Sadness, Longing and Hatred. And that's when she knew, she knew that Rosalie hated her. Her soulmate hated her. The thought weighed on top of her, slowly crushing her heart, she physically gasped for breath as she could feel Rosalie's anger increased tenfold.

“Rose. Let me-”

“Don't Anastasia. Do what you do best, leave.” Rosalie answered her, putting emphasis on her real name. She tried to move closer but Rosalie only moved and sped out of the house, with Carlisle trailing after the newborn.

She was about to follow as well when Edward stopped her.

“I apologize for my actions earlier, I truly believed that you were preying on them, that's why I attacked you, but you should really trust me when I say that you shouldn't follow her. She's angry.” Edward quickly explained

“And how do you know that?” She asked.

“I can read minds.” Edward simply states, nodding at her.

Anastasia nodded, defeated and sat on a chair with Esme right beside her.

“Give her some time.” Esme advises, rubbing the girl's back.

She gritted her teeth when she felt Rosalie's pain. Not physical, emotional. And she has the power to take it away. But with a great price. A price she was willing to take.

When the Cullen family was complete, with Rosalie, Anastasia quickly worked her gift. Wrapping her strings around them and re-writing their memories, without her in it. Except for Carlisle's, she left some memories of him working alongside her while in the Volturi. Once she finished, she quickly speeds away and forces herself to leave the memories and pain she just took into the back of her mind as she wiped her bleeding nose, her body collapsing under a big tree due to the exhaustion.

She was pulled back into reality when the beaker she was holding in her hand exploded, drenching her in artificial blood. She gritted her teeth, there were two things that could've happened. One, she mixed the wrong chemicals while day dreaming or two, Amore decided to switch the labels again.

She checked everything, and then found out the second one was the truth, she stormed out of her lab, blood dripping from every inch of her body. Her annoyance clouded her brain, forgetting that she sent Amore to pick up the Cullens and if she was here, then so were The Cullens.

She spotted Amore from afar and sped towards her, slamming her against the brick walls of her “castle” . She hated that term.

“What did I tell you about switching my labels Lewis?! Look at me! Blood is in every crevice in my body! There's blood in parts that I didn't even knew were exposed!” She growled out

“Well, to be f-fair, You aren't wearing your usual lab attire so that's partially your fault.” Amore choked out. Anastasia just growls in response.

“Stasia, calm yourself. First impressions are important.” Veronica waves her hand and Anastasia's clothes were back to normal, dry and there was no trace of blood anywhere.

First Impressions? Anastasia then mentally facepalmed herself. She had forgotten the Cullen Family. She releases Amore, then turned to the family, recalling her speech, she started to talk.

“Hello. Sorry you had to see that, but you should really get used to it. My name is Anastasia...” She drifted off as her violet orbs met golden ones. In her brief moment of surprise, she unknowingly let down her guard, causing her previously cast spell break. She knew that her mate would be there and she mentally prepared herself but turns out, she wasn’t prepared at all.  When she recovered from her shock, she could feel that her spell had been broken. The entire coven looked at her with various emotions: Happiness, Confusion, Longing and Familiarity. She may or may not have met all the members before and also wiped their memories.

“Gio...” Rosalie whispered.

“Shit...” Anastasia cursed, she somehow knew this would happen, just not this soon.

“Rose...” She stared at her mate for what seemed like years before Rosalie glared at her with so much anger she didn't know it was possible, and stormed off. Again.

'She always does that.' Anastasia sighs.

“Well, that secret's out. I'll escort you to you ro-”

“We'll do it. Chase after her.” Veronica pats her back before escorting the Family to their respective chambers, but Carlisle stayed behind.

“That... was messed up Anastasiarine.” Carlisle expressed his disappointment before pulling the girl in a brief hug.

“I missed you too Cullen.” She whispered before letting go to chase after her mate.

“I'm sorry. Please forgive me.” She sent that thought to the Cullen Family, including Rosalie and went back to what she did 75 years ago.

She was once again, chasing the glowing gold string.  

#rosalie hale #rosalie hale x oc #jasper hale x alice cullen #edward cullen x bella swan #carlisle x esme #olympic coven #cullen clan #the cullens #cullen family #the volturi #rosalie cullen #rosalie hale x fem oc #platonic carlisle x oc #The Cullens x OC #The Volturi x OC #rosalie twilight #rosalie #rosalie hale x reader #rosalie lillian hale

[angst-fairygodmother]

Light Fingers (The Umbrella Academy)

Diego’s vigilantism brings him repeatedly across the path of a young cat burglar. But as he finds himself developing feelings for the thief, he begins to wonder if there’s more to her than meets the eye, and whether they’re really on opposite sides. And as their relationship deepens, it brings with it a plot involving his estranged adopted father, and threatens to destroy all of them.

EPILOGUE: A HOUSE DIVIDED

Word Count: 1451 Pairing: Diego Hargreeves x Reader Rating: T Content Warnings: swearing, references to violence (canon-typical), heavy angst  Cross-posted to AO3: here

Previous Chapter: Darkness Falls || Masterlist

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has stuck by me, read, reblogged, commented, messaged. I don’t know where I’d be without all of you (probably still back at chapter 3). While this is the end of Light Fingers, it is not the end of the story. I just need to take a little time and approach canon with care.

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A week of radio silence followed that night. As the days went by, you tried your best to return to your normal, to waiting tables and bantering with kitchen staff and trying to pretend you weren’t holding yourself together by a thread. 

Something immediately felt off as you entered the apartment one night after a double shift and dropped your keys by the door. Conjuring enough light to see and no more, you began creeping through the room. It didn't take long to see that all of Diego's things were gone - except Duncan, the dog snoozing blissfully on the couch. You weren’t surprised. After all, if he’d wanted to put things back together, or thought you could, he would have reached out before now. So instead he had quickly and quietly removed his presence from your apartment, and very likely walked out of your life without a word. The thought stung, that for all you had intertwined your lives, he was still able to remove himself in a day. 

The light on your answering machine was blinking, and numbly you hit the button and listened to Patch’s message. 

~

“Thank you for finally returning my call,” Eudora said exasperatedly, as she took a seat across from you in the little cafe the following Sunday.

“Sorry Dora,” you offered her a sheepish and regretful half-smile. “I haven’t really felt like seeing anyone lately. Besides, I didn’t want to put you in an awkward place. I know you and Diego were, are…”

“Close? The three of us all were. Why do you think I’ve been trying to reach you?”

You looked down, tracing the wood grains of the tabletop. “There’s no fixing this one, Dora. We’re...too far gone.”

“How? You two were good for each other. A blind man could see it.”

“Irreconcilable differences.”

“We both know that’s bullshit, Y/N.”

“I...made a choice. One Diego couldn’t agree with. We fought about it. And when he decided to walk out, I not only let him, I practically packed his bags. And in the end it turned out to be pointless anyway.”

Yesterday’s paper had contained an article about how the investigation into Reginald had been dropped for lack of foundation, and he’d been able to collect a substantial insurance payout for the warehouse, and the feds had offered an official statement of apology on top of everything else. You had scared a local alley cat with the tantrum that had followed reading that. Because of course, trying to take him down had cost you everything and he’d still won in the end. How else could it have gone?

“Why do I bother,” Eudora sighed with a frustrated gesture. “I should have known you’d be just as cryptic as he was.”

“It’s complicated, Dora, so it’s easier than trying to explain and sounding completely nuts. I wish I could tell you. But the details don’t really matter, just that I fucked up, big time, and I can’t undo it.”

She reached across the table to take one of your fidgeting hands in her own. “Y/N. Listen to me. I know you and I know Diego. It’s not too late for the two of you. I can tell how much you both still care.”

“It’s not about that,” you struggled to keep back your tears. “We just weren’t meant to be. Forcing it will only break things worse.”

You winced, the words sounding harsh and a little bit fake. But they were true, or at least that’s what you wanted to convince yourself of so that you could move on. 

“Besides, he came by when I was at work and took all his stuff. Doesn’t that pretty much scream final?”

“I’ve talked to him, Y/N. I’ve seen him. He’s really messed up. And I don't think he's eating much or sleeping at all if I'm being honest.”

“Why are you telling me this?” your voice trembled, heart breaking with every word. 

“You could find him, probably at the Lion,” she fixed you with a look and tilted her head to one side. “You could talk to him.”

You shook your head. “There's nothing left to say.” 

“You're really giving up that easily?”

You wanted to scream, or to somehow explain that it was anything but easy. But that it was the right thing to do. For Diego’s sake. He, and she, would understand someday, you had to believe that.

“Eudora, please.”

“Fine. If neither of you is going to fight for this, I guess I should just deliver you his message.”

Despite yourself, your heart leapt at the idea Diego actually had something left to say. And then it plummeted a moment later when you realized that whatever it was, he couldn’t say himself, he had to ask your mutual best friend to do it for him. 

“I’m sorry, that you’re stuck in the middle. You don’t...have to be our carrier pigeon. If you don’t want to,” you said sheepishly, shrugging slightly. 

“If I don’t, you wouldn’t communicate at all.”

“That might--”

“If you say it’s for the best, I will walk out,” Eudora snapped, making you reel back in shock. “I hate the cryptic non-answers, but at least it’s not full-on lying to me. So don’t start.” 

You swallowed down whatever you were going to say and sighed. “You said you had a message from Diego?”

“He asked me to give you these,” she laid a set of keys on the table. “Said the apartment was your home and he’d never dream of trying to take it in whatever divorce papers you end up filing. And that he picked up his things, which I know you saw. Anything he left behind, he said, is not important.”

You looked down at the keys, letting some of the tears you’d fought so hard against fall. 

‘He left me behind,’ you wanted to say. ‘He left us.’ But that wouldn’t be fair, or help anything, so you bit your tongue. 

“Y/N,” she sounded apologetic but you could tell she no more knew the words to say than you did. Instead after a moment, she carried on. “He also said that a gym is no place for a boxer, which I think was him trying to make a joke, and that at least if you keep Duncan, he’ll know there’s someone watching your back and making sure you come home.”

You couldn’t help your snort of disbelief or the bitter tone of your response. “As if I’m the one to worry about there, not him with his stupid vigilante crime-fighting bullshit. I only ever got involved in that because of him, for him.” Somehow, that was the thing that opened the floodgates and you began to cry in earnest. “Fuck, Dora. He’s going to get himself killed someday.”

She reached over to take your hand again, giving it a comforting squeeze. Silence reigned over you for a few minutes, while she let you cry it out and offered you quiet support. 

“He won’t,” she said, eventually. “We both know he’s careful, and insanely lucky. And…” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “I’m not going to leave him completely on his own. I’m in line for an early promotion, and then I’ll be able to have people looking out for him.”

You offered her a watery smile, almost laughing. “I don’t know what I’d do, or either of us would, without you.”

She shrugged. “Good thing you won’t ever find out.”

The rest of the conversation flowed naturally, as it always did, or nearly so. After a few stinted failures to start, you carried on as if it was any other coffee date. As you were paying your bills, the light caught the silver band still on your finger. You bit your lip, slowly sliding it off, its weight heavy in your palm despite how slim, how small it was.

“Eudora, can I ask one more favor?” you asked hesitantly.

“Of course, Y/N. What are friends for?” she said, offering you a smile.

You held the ring out to her. “Can you give this to Diego for me? And tell him that I’m sorry. And I still love him. No, actually, don’t tell him that. Just...that he should have this back, and I hope that maybe someday, I can be the person he saw who deserved it. Or something like that. I don’t know. It sounds stupid, doesn’t it?” You shook your head, swiping at more tears that were threatening to spill. 

She flashed you a sympathetic half-smile. “I’ll give him your message.” 

Your fingers shook as you passed the ring over to her, a heavy weight of true finality settling over you.

#The End #for added angst listen to 'Erased' by Vixy and Tony #seriously though #I know this ends on a sad note but it's only...season 0 and we'll get to 1 and 2. #not that things will be totally rosy there either #Light Fingers #Diego Hargreeves x reader #The Umbrella Academy fic

[ssigmas]

crime and punishment

so.................. i watched the mandalorian............

boba fett/reader smut, 18+

tags: afab reader, thigh riding, hair pulling, slight pain kink, face fucking, thighs as an object to be admired, boba fett is mean but u like it also on ao3

It was supposed to be simple.

An easy in-and-out job, grab the cargo and get the fuck out of dodge. You were quicker than most, deft and nimble in the ways it counted, which is why your contact hired you in the first place. Stealing from Boba Fett himself was easily the riskiest job you’d ever been offered, but the pay would be handsome -- enough that you wouldn’t have to take another one for months to come.

You wouldn’t call yourself a pro by any means, just a survivalist, but years living alone on the lawless land of Tatooine has made you one of the best at sneaking and stealing. No amount of skill would be enough to pull this off, however; you were nothing without your plans. And this one? Perfect. Every detail was accounted for down to the exact time you would enter and leave. You had contingencies upon contingencies just in case any one of your meticulous steps went wrong. In theory, it was the perfect heist.

In theory.

Instead, you find yourself bruised and beaten, stumbling after some underling who leads you to who-knows-where. Your wrists are cuffed in front of you, leaving you with no choice but to clasp them together as if in prayer.

All your careful and diligent planning….gone, just because you forgot one crucial thing: Boba Fett’s underworld crime ring wasn’t a well oiled machine like the Empire. It was filled with lugs and lowlifes from every sector in the galaxy, beings prone to disobeying rules and disrupting patterns. You couldn’t plan for the unexpected.

The underling leads you to the top of a flight of stairs. Descending them seems a daunting task -- your earlier, utterly futile attempt at escaping has left you exhausted with jelly for legs, and your fear has you running on fumes. Each step is slow, measured -- until the underling behind you prods your back with the butt of his gun. The simple action is enough to make you lose your footing and you stumble on the stairs, barely able to stabilize yourself.

“Move it,” they bark. Your heart is racing from the near-tumble. You take a few moments to center yourself in an attempt to regain your composure, but the underling is having none of it.

“I said move it.” Mercilessly, they push you down the last few steps, sending you tumbling for real. You land painfully on your knees, aggravating an earlier injury, and you yelp as sharp pain shoots through you. You only barely manage to keep from smashing your face into the ground by bracing yourself on your bound hands. 

Dizzy with pain, you can’t do anything more than stay pitifully on your hands and knees, waiting for the dark spots in your vision to subside. As soon as you convince yourself not to pass out, you raise up slowly --

-- and your heart stops.

In front of you is Boba Fett. That Boba Fett, the renowned bounty hunter, the man who fell into a sarlacc pit and survived.

He lounges comfortably in the stone throne, his legs spread wide, one arm carelessly draped over a thigh. He’s a picture-perfect example of a man unburdened with worries -- he’s powerful. Unconquerable. You pose no threat to him.

It’ll be a miracle if you make it out of here alive.

“Well, what do we have here?” The angle of his helmet implies disinterest, but you know he’s scrutinizing you behind that darkened visor. “I didn’t think our problem would be a runt.” And oh, it’s not meant kindly at all, but it’s the way he says it -- voice dropping to an almost-growl, the hard emphasis on the t, the slight mockery in his tone -- it makes some corrupted part of you squirm in delight.

You know who this man is. You know the legends, the whispered rumors of what he’s done. Before meeting him, you would joke that you could take Boba in a fight, that you could outwit and outrun the great Boba Fett. It would be hard, sure, but there would be bragging rights involved in besting this man.

But now? Now, kneeling before him, suffocating in his presence -- you wouldn’t even dare to fantasize about it. The man radiates an unquestionable authority that makes you want to submit, to give this man of insurmountable power all control over you.

Damn it all. This job was supposed to be easy.

“Come.”

You blink dumbly at him, your brain unable to understand why you haven’t been killed yet. Boba tilts his head downward and you get the impression he’s challenging you to disobey. “Come,” he repeats. “Don’t make me say it again.”

Unwilling to find out what disobedience entails, you raise yourself on unsteady legs, but pain surges up through your knees and threatens to crumple you yet again. The underling from earlier misinterprets your inability to move as reluctance instead and gives you another hard shove on your back.  You trip forward and fall yet again to your knees, unable to suppress a cry of pain as your reflexes fail you and you smash face-first into the floor.

In front of your nose is one scuffed black boot. Your eyes travel up, up, up -- until you’re gazing at Boba’s dispassionate helmet. He’s literally staring down at you, and a disgusting part of yourself tries to convince you that this is right. That this is proper, that you belong here, crumpled on the ground before him, as if he’s some sort of god to be worshipped --

The toe of his boot tucks itself underneath your chin as you stare, wide-eyed, and forces you to tilt your head upward. “Up,” he commands. “Or do I have to do it myself?”

It’s a threat, you know it, but images flash in your mind unbidden; of Boba tangling his hand in your hair and yanking you to your feet, of him leaning in close to growl orders in your ear… it’s almost enough to make you tempt fate. Almost.

Fortunately, you still have a braincell left that overrides the arousal pooling in your gut.

You stand as quickly as you can, burdened with shackled wrists and an aching body. You don’t even have a moment to ponder what Boba wants from you, because almost instantly he roughly manhandles you onto his lap. You’re arranged in such a way that one of his broad thighs sits wedged between yours, your bound hands just inches from touching the cool steel of his armor.

He’s terrifying up close.  The helmet dehumanizes him, makes him seem otherworldly, beyond your comprehension. You can’t even see past the black of his visor; you’re allowed no glimpses of his face, of what emotion he’s feeling. The hands that hold your hips have a strength in them you could never hope to fight, and any and all remaining thoughts of somehow overpowering Boba and making your escape immediately flee your mind.

You don’t breathe. You can’t breathe. This is weird and unplanned; you don’t have a contingency situation for this. What does he want? Was he planning on shooting you up close? Choking you to death? Did he just want to see how confused he could make you? What cruel and unusual punishment did he have lined up?

Boba abruptly grabs your chin and you gasp, your brain short-circuiting as it attempts to rationalize the situation. You can’t look away; he tilts his helmet ever-so-slightly as he turns your head this way and that, as if he were inspecting you. One gloved thumb pulls at your lower lip, exposing your bottom row of teeth, and for the first time you wonder if your rapid heartbeat isn’t just from fear. Unconsciously, you squeeze your legs around his thigh, your gaze trained on his helmet.

“I thought you might be fun,” he murmurs appraisingly. He doesn’t have to force his thumb between your lips -- you open your mouth willingly, lave your tongue over the soft leather of his glove. It’s like your brain is shut off except for your most basic of instincts, and somehow this is one of them. Your lips close around his thumb, eyes falling half-lidded as you swallow around it.

“Yes,” he almost purrs. “We could have fun, little one.”

You’re a survivalist. If this is how Boba wants you to make amends for your petty crime, you’re all too happy to oblige 

You suppose you should be grateful that he isn’t killing you (at least, not yet), but any gratitude you feel is mitigated by the sudden shifting of his thigh. It’s thick and wide, slotted perfectly between yours, and his flesh has the right amount of give to it that it makes the slow grind stupidly pleasurable. 

Boba pulls his thumb from your mouth and you whine, unable to help the way your mouth lolls open, as if you’re tempting him to fill it again. “Easy now,” he chides. “Or have you forgotten we’re not alone?”

You still, your eyes widening. The underling from earlier hadn’t left, and there you were, acting so debauched on Boba’s thigh? If you were any better of a person, you might’ve felt enough to be ashamed of yourself.

Boba’s helmet turns to look at something just past your shoulder. “Leave.” He pauses, head turning back toward you. “Unless,” he begins, “you want to be watched?” You must make some sort of face that he interprets as a stern no, because he makes a shooing motion with his hand. You hear the sound of footsteps retreating into the distance, and a part of you relaxes knowing that you’re truly alone with Boba Fett.

....How messed up.

His hand returns, thumb barely grazing over your mouth, before he decides differently and instead pushes his first two fingers past your lips. You accept them eagerly just as he begins to shift his thigh against your heated middle. The action encourages a moan from deep in your throat as your tongue parts his fingers, coating the leather in a generous amount of your saliva.

“That’s it,” Boba grunts. It sounds almost affectionate, almost like praise, but you know better than to interpret it as such.

Instead, you chase fulfillment in a different way, rocking your hips in small, desperate motions as Boba fills your mouth. You brace yourself on the metal of his chestplate as well as you can, palms open and pressed against the metal. You could sit here for hours, you think, grinding yourself to completion on his thigh while lazily mouthing at his fingers. This is far from what you had envisioned as a punishment from the legendary Boba Fett. You think it’s more like a pleasure-ment.

That is, until you feel his broad hand settle on your thigh. He grips you tight, the power in his hand meant to make you still, but somehow he’s managed to find the biggest bruise under your thin pants. You cry out as pain flares up from the sudden pressure; Boba takes the opportunity to shove his fingers deep in your throat, making you gag.

Tears well up in your eyes, both at the pain and the sudden intrusion. If you weren’t so helplessly bound you might’ve been able to stop him, but as it is you’re completely at his mercy. Boba grasps your face in his hand, the leather of his fingers wet with your spit, and squeezes your cheeks so hard that it forces your mouth to pucker.

He chuckles, mean and sharp. “Aww, poor thing,” he cooes. “Am I hurting you?” You nod, the tears that cloud your vision already threatening to spill onto your cheeks. “Good.” His fingertips press harder into the ugly bruise on your thigh and you hiss in pain, arching like you can get away from his grip.

But you can’t. Of course you can’t. You were stupid enough to come crawling into the wolf’s den and now you’re his next meal.

“Did you really think I’d let a runt like you steal from me?” The hand around your face slackens, moving down to hold your jaw tight. When you don’t respond, he digs his fingers deeper into your thigh. “I asked you a question.”

You gasp out a sob. “N-no!” you squeak, the first words you’d spoken since attempting this dumb heist. “No, sir.” The title comes automatically, like it was sitting in your mouth, just waiting for you to speak.

“Good.” He sounds pleased at your meager attempt of communicating, and it makes your dumb foolish heart do weird things in your chest. He’s giving you crumbs that can be misconstrued as praise and you’re licking them up off the floor.

“Get on your knees,” he orders. You blink up at him, stray tears falling down to your cheeks. Really? After all that effort to get you up here in the first place?

“Wh….why --”

“Your real punishment,” he says simply. When you fail to move, he takes it upon himself to displace you from his lap, lifting you up and off him as easily as he would a sack of potatoes. You crumple disgracefully to your knees, head barely inches away from where you sat just a moment ago.

Your gaze settles on the prominent bulge in his soft trousers, evidence that he was enjoying himself, and then drifts to his thigh; to your utter embarrassment, there’s a sizable wet patch discoloring the fabric. Were you really worked up enough for it to leak through your clothes and onto his?

“You left a mess,” he notes. “Clean it up.”

His helmet stares down at you, intense and unforgiving, and you feel heat rise to your face. Just… lick it up? His pants? You squirm.

“Well? Don’t keep me waiting.”

You glance from his helmet down to his thigh, then carefully lean in. You have to balance your bound hands against the edge of the throne between his legs to keep from tipping over. Tentatively, you stick your tongue out and just barely swipe the tip across the wet spot; you look up at Boba and find him with his helmet cocked against his fist, feigning disinterest. “Go on,” he prompts.

It’s like his fingers, you tell yourself, even though it isn’t remotely true, and you lick a broad stripe across his thigh. You can vaguely taste yourself, but it also just tastes like pant. It isn’t...bad, just weird. 

It’s easier if you pretend it’s his bare thigh. You repeat your action, tongue against fabric, again and again until the spot is slick with your saliva and you no longer taste any remnant of yourself. You take it a step further and actually suck, lips against his thigh, and Boba yanks you back, hand fisted in your hair.

“Enough.” He holds you in place so tight that your scalp burns, sending fresh tears pricking at your eyes. “You want to use your filthy little mouth so bad? Fine.” Through blurred vision you watch as he tugs himself free from his trousers. The moment he frees his cock, you whine like some bitch in heat, instinctively pressing your thighs tighter together. 

You can’t help it. You’ve never wanted to suck a cock so bad.

“Please,” you gasp, prevented from lurching forward by the hand in your hair. He’s just as wound up as you are, his cock hard and leaking precum. You’re desperate to taste him. “Please, Mr. Fett, sir, please, let me suck you off --”

“A runt and a whore.” You interpret his tone as almost impressed. “I don’t think so.”

You want to retort something, anything to convince him to let you drool on his cock, but suddenly he drags you forward by the roots of your hair and forces himself down your throat.

You gag as tears anew begin rolling down your cheeks. He isn’t fucking you so much as using you like a toy, bobbing your head back and forth by a strong grip on your hair, and it’s all you can do to sit there and take it. You realize now what he meant: he wasn’t going to give you the satisfaction of getting him off. He was going to use you to meet his own end.

And, somehow, you still like it.

You whimper around his cock, gasping breaths when you can. Boba, to your chagrin, remains mostly quiet, so the room is filled with the lewd sounds of your gagging and sputtering.

Your whole body aches. Your scalp hurts. Your throat hurts. Your lungs are burning from lack of oxygen, you’re still on edge, and yet.

And yet, easily, this is the most turned on you’ve ever been in your life.

You have no time to contemplate what that means for you morally as Boba guides your head to the base of his cock, easing you down all the way until your nose is buried in curls of hair. Reflexively, you swallow around him, and Boba curses in a language you aren’t familiar with.

“I’m gonna come down that pretty throat of yours,” he rasps, holding you in place by a strong hand at the back of your head. “You want that, hm?”

You want to nod, you want to praise him in words, but all you can do is whine desperately and hope he takes the hint.

He cants his hips shallowly against your mouth once, twice; and you swear you feel his cock pulse in your mouth before he spills down your throat. “Swallow it,” he growls, all rough edges and intimidation, but it’s too much.

Thankfully, he releases you before you begin to choke. You swallowed what you could, but some trickled down the corners of your mouth. Boba reaches down and thumbs away some of his cum, presenting you a leathered thumb to lick clean.

It’s like you’ve been fucked dumb. You stare up at him with lidded eyes blown wide with lust as you lap at his thumb. Again, he swipes away his mess, letting you repeatedly clean his thumb until every last bit is gone.

Boba tucks himself back into his trousers like nothing had happened, but the large wet spot still remains on his thigh. Distracted, you stare intently at it. You wish he’d let you back up there. You want a chance to finish what he started.

His boot presses into your chest, applying just enough force to unbalance you and send you careening onto your back. The sudden action forces your hazy mind to clear, your heart pumping once again with adrenaline.

 He regards you coolly. “You get a day’s head start.”

You have to crane your neck to look at him, feeling like a turtle on its shell.“Wh-what?”

“Like I said, we could have fun. I suggest you find a ship. If you stay planetside, I’ll find you in no time.”

Realization hits you: he intends to hunt you. You’re his prey.

You scramble to your feet, a job made more onerous by the shackles around your wrists, and you wince as pain settles in your legs again. 

He was generous, giving you a day. He wouldn’t need it to find you, but you’re certain he wishes to prolong the hunt. And, well… Who are you to deny the great Boba Fett anything?

As you make your escape, you hear his voice drift up to you.

“Go on, little one. I’ll see you again soon enough.”

#.txt #the mandalorian #boba fett #boba fett x reader #writing #what tags does this fandom use lmao #if u saw incorrect lore no you didnt <3 #also ive only known boba for like A Week so forgive me if he seems off #im working on it but the man only has like 10 minutes of screentime #and half of that is like #him being silent and murdering people #which is still hot dont get me wrong but i kinda need him to idk talk

[champagne-bucky]

Debt to Be Paid: I

Summary: Earth fears intergalactic war with another planet. The Avengers are called to work out negotiations on Zevitar, the planet of peace. What happens when they are reunited with their long lost team member?

Warnings: dark!Bucky x reader, mentions of non/dub-con, age gap (reader is of age) 

Notes: SHE’S HEREEEEEEE!!! Welcome to the first chapter of DTBP, the sequel to IOU!! If you’re new to this story make sure you check out IOU before you read this!! To all those who have read IOU... buckle up... Anyways enjoy!! Let me know what ya think! Please make sure to like, comment, reblog, inbox, and follow me for more! Enjoy :) 

Throughout his lifetime Steve Rogers was exposed to many types of pain. Whether it was physical, mental, or emotional, Steve could handle just about anything life could throw at him. That was until he lost you. In all his years of fighting alongside the Avengers, having been responsible for the demise of half the world’s population, and the tons of toxic chemicals pumped into his body could never prepare him for the pain of losing a child. While there is no biological relation, Steve couldn’t help but mourn for the loss of his daughter.

When Sam and Tony had come to the island to end his vacation they were trying to keep quiet about the situation that occurred back home. It wasn’t until three hours into the flight back home that Tony finally cracked and told Steve what was up. Steve was in shock, his daughter fought and nearly killed his best friend? Impossible.

Needless to say, Steve Rogers was an emotional wreck once he got back to the compound. He saw the state of Bucky’s room, he saw where they kept you locked up, he saw the damage that had been done to Stephen and Wanda when you escaped. He saw parts of you that he never knew you held. How dark had you become since he left, he wondered on those late sleepless nights.

Steve didn’t speak for days. Instead, he spent them walking around the taped off ruins of his beloved compound. What was once a home for him and his family felt more like a cold, steel, jail cell. He was truly in hell without you.

The nights were filled with him lying awake in bed, eyes opened wide and darting to every corner of the room, praying that you would somehow walk out of the shadows and back to him. Instead of taking sleeping pills that Tony suggested to him, he would get up out of bed and start researching, questioning, and theorizing where it is that you could be.

After a few weeks and two overworked coffee machines later, Steve had created three possible theories about what could have happened to you:

Being an Avenger came with a handful of enemies.  

Almost everyone on the team had their own enemies. From empty threats to stalker incidences, no one on the team was really safe. Any form of social media was constantly monitored, every time they were in a car there was security two cars behind, the second an Avenger leaves the tower they have surveillance on them 99.9% of the time.

Still, that .1% haunts Steve. He knows that people have their ways when it comes to the innovation of technology. Perhaps there was someone out there that was too good with computers. They hacked you, stalked you, and threatened you not to tell anyone. Maybe it got so out of hand to the point where you ran away for the protection of yourself and for the others. Maybe you attacked Bucky to keep the secret hidden or you got so scared that attacking him was an accident.

    2.   Everyone has their demons… maybe you had kept yours hidden too well.

As days grew longer, so did Steve’s suspicions. He never thought bad things about you. In fact, Steve knew there wasn’t a bad bone in your body. So why did he keep thinking you were secretly an evil person?

He theorized that there could’ve been another side to who you were. The nice and sweet you was all an act and you were waiting for an opportunity to show your true self. Between him not being around anymore and you now having full access to technology and weapons only Avengers have access to, you took advantage of your new found status and got carried away. Bucky found out and tried to put a stop to you and that’s how he ended up getting attacked. You broke out before you could face any consequences.

Steve shook his head at this theory. He knew you like he knew the layout of his old 40’s apartment. You’re not a bad person and never once have you said you hated someone. You never said you even hated Bucky, just upset that he didn’t seem to like you as much as the others did.

  3.  Being apart from Steve sent you towards a downwards spiral… basically it was all Steve’s fault that you’re gone.

This theory made a whole lot of sense, and none of it at the same time. Yes, everyone could confirm that you really missed Steve. You missed training with him and hanging out with him. You missed his presence around the compound as well. Something about Steve just made your days way better than when he wasn’t at the compound at all.

What didn’t make sense to anybody was why would you attack someone over this? Sure, you missed Steve, but nobody thought you missed him so much to the point of nearly killing someone. Bucky did give you a hard time, but as far as the Avengers knew it was just some name calling you didn’t appreciate.

Everyone recounted their last few days with you at the compound. You seemed okay, nothing out of the usual for you. However, Peter did speak up saying you seemed a bit jumpier and a little bit down and out than usual. Again, it chalked up to you missing Steve really bad. Then there was the matter of Stephen and Wanda.

They were your last victims before you escaped. The pair had gone through extensive questioning. However, they both had the same story. Wanda and Strange had tried to calm you down, but things got out of hand and you ended up lashing out at them.

Steve hit a brick wall at this point. How could no one know what happened to you? He tried hacking into security cameras from that day, but he was met with a disappointing glare from Tony and a handful of security to escort him out of the room meant for their investigation.

What was there even to investigate? You were gone and as far as anybody knew, there was no trace of you in New York, the United States, and pretty much any other country that agents were sent out to look for you. Steve guessed they only continued because Bucky needed to get some sort of justice or closure, but he swears that he was attacked for no reason. Everyone knew about their slight tension, but thought it wouldn’t go as far as leaving Bucky hospitalized.

Bucky kept quiet after Steve came back. Truth be told, he feared what his friend might do to him if the truth got out. He made sure to delete any evidence he could off his computer of you. When he visited you those last days, he managed to fuck up something in the control room that cut off the audio of him talking. No one had called him in to question his meeting with you, and Bucky was relieved because he needed more time to come up with the perfect excuse.

Now all he had to do was get rid of Wanda and Stephen, or get them off his back. He knows that they must know something. Tensions around the compound have been high around the three of them. The pair had been cold towards him after the attack, only going so far as signing a ‘Get Well Soon’ card and pitching in a few dollars for a thing of flowers, but that was all.

Wanda and Strange wasted no time after their questioning was over. They got right to work trying to compile all the evidence they could to expose Bucky. Unfortunately, it was proving to be more difficult than expected.

Bucky’s room had been blocked off by agents. He had to change rooms until the investigation was cleared. Everything in the room remained untouched, but no Avengers, besides Tony, had access to the room.

Strange and Wanda even went in from another angle and enlisted Peter to help find that security footage, but so far everything was blocked off to them. It seemed like there was one dead end after another. If the pair weren’t fast in their findings, they might never get justice for you. Even if you were long gone, Bucky shouldn’t get away with what he did.

No matter what, the pair of Avengers new they needed to finish the job you attempted to start… and Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff will be damned if justice wasn’t served.

~Meanwhile~

You emptied your stomach of breakfast later in the day. Same as yesterday, the day before that, and the day before that… something’s got to be up?

Maybe it was nerves? That could explain a lot seeing as the nightmares weren’t letting up anytime soon.

Seeing images of Bucky Barnes every time you close your eyes led to a lot of sleepless nights. It led to much more than sleepless nights, but you tried your best to listen to Carol’s advice and put the past behind you. Sadly, it would take a lot more than blocking that vile man from your thoughts.

Carol saw how you were feeling sick everyday. She also tried to put the worst out of her head, but curiosity piqued. It was important for her to tell you, but it was also important that you found out now before you were back on your home planet alone and scared.

When she first suggested that you may be pregnant, you laughed in her face, then you cried, then were angry, then depressed. There was no possible way, right? You remembered to take your birth control every night, right?

Okay, now you were freaking out. There was one night you might’ve forgot to take it, and that time spent in your jail cell, and maybe one or twice while on a mission.

Now you were panicking.

You forgot some days to take birth control, you were off it for a couple of days too. Bucky was relentless. The possibilities were leading towards confirmation. Every sign of pregnancy pointed to yes.

You tried to deny it for a week, but as you looked at the remnants of today’s breakfast being flushed down the toilet again you collected yourself and came towards acceptance. Coming out of the bathroom, Carol was right there with a quirked brow. She was about to say something, but you opened your mouth first.

“FUCK!”

#dark!bucky barnes #dark!bucky x reader #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes #bucky barnes smut #dark!bucky #dark!winter soldier #winter solider #James Buchanan barnes #James Barnes #dark!marvel #dark!avengers #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #mcudarklibrary #debt to be paid #IOU

[still-a-morosexual-help]

OBEY ME! LESSON 47 DETAILED SUMMARY + THEORIES

The lesson starts with Simeon and Levi laughing over how Lucifer forgot Diavolo in the game. Belphie complains about what a pain in the ass it was cause Lucifer made Belphie and some of the others go back into the game to get Diavolo and how Belphie had to start with the party at the beginning and so was unable to straight away teleport them to the castle and how as it was the second play through everything was harder and how diavolo had been so pissed he’d given them all the silent treatment, though Belphie did end up chuckling about how much that had freaked out Lucifer. Belphie says that as an apology Lucifer had finished all of Diavolo’s paper work and given him a free day off so Diavolo would be visiting. Levi says that he’ll be shutting himself in his room then and when MC asks about it Levi says that it’s not like Diavolo is coming to see him and it’s not like he cares about seeing Diavolo either. That truthfully he doesn’t really like Diavolo all that much cause he’s too serious and scary and cause they share no interests so Diavolo won’t have any idea what Levi talks about and how he’s scared he’ll say something dumb in front of him and piss Lucifer off. He makes MC promise him to him away from Diavolo. Belphie says that you shouldn’t spend time with a person you don’t like anyway. Simeon says that maybe you should take the opportunity to get to know a person better before you decide whether you like them. MC can agree with either Simeon or Belphie. Simeon then gets a call from Lucifer asking him to send the other 3 home cause Diavolo has gone missing.

At home Belphie says maybe Diavolo actually ran away from home to freak out Lucifer as revenge for the whole game thing. Satan and Beel greet them at the door. Satan to show them something funny and Beel to get one of Simeon’s sandwiches from Belphie. Satan takes them to the living room where Lucifer is pacing and screaming down the phone at Barbatos, yelling about not  being able to find anything yet and demanding Barbatos calls him the second something turn up and if he can’t get to him then one of the others, before keeping the call and trying to figure out who else he can call and traumatise. Mammon is trying to get Lucifer to sit down and calm down and breath for fuck’s sake. Mammon gets yelled at for his efforts cause how the fuck can Lucifer calm down when Diavolo is missing. Except, yeah Diavolo might follow a stranger if they offer him candy, but y’know Diavolo’s an ancient incredibly powerful being I’m sure Lucifer can afford to calm down a little but whatever. Mammon tries to get MC to calm Lucifer down and honestly I love Mammon so much he’s such a good brother is2g. If Mc commands Lucifer to stay he um “EEKs”? and then blushes about the sound he just made (I’m not into romancing Lucifer at all but am I the only one who thinks he’s turned on by MC’s power over him despite his whole Sadistic Dom personality? It happened once or twice in the very beginning of S2 as well) According to Asmo while Diavolo had been going through the portal to the human world Barbatos, who has the flu, had sneezed and now they have no idea where in the human world Diavolo ended up. With the saddest expression Lucifer says, “Oh Diavolo, where have you gone!?” and I’m??? You want me to let MC come in between that!!? Lowkey wish OM! Did something like the Arcana where when MC picks a LI, a couple of the remaining LI get together. In every version where MC doesn’t pick Lucifer I desperately want him and Diavolo to get together and in the versions that MC picks either Lucifer or Diavolo I want there to be the option for the three of them to be in a poly relationship, pls. MC asks why they can’t just call Diavolo and Mammon says they’ve tried a bunch of times but being unable to. Levi says he knows someone who might be able to help

Levi takes them all to his room and Asmo is in tears as he tells levi it’s fine if his friend is imaginary cause asmo has a lot of imaginary friends – aka in his words first he imagines a beautiful man and then a beautiful woman and then well he imagines them all fucking and the fact that this otome game has 11 LIs and not a single one of them is straight is just…beautiful. I’m so happy wtf. Levi insits his friend exists and when MC says they believe him he says that even if he makes other friends that won’t displace MC’s role as his friend. Lucifer tells him to cut the BS. And it’s Alexa!? Levi introduces them to fucking Alexa and I’m screaming sir pls. It’s called Crowe here though and he completely dismisses MC’s “fnkfjkjdjkjkdvjkfd pls tell me you understand wtf that actually is” by saying how Crowe is always up to talk to Levi about any interest Levi brings up and the rest of the brothers are greatly impressed while MC goes through a crisis in the corner. Beel asks if there’s a little person inside it who talks and casts spells. Belphie while blushing asks if he can talk to crowe and I can’t fucking believe after 3 seasons MC’s gonna be replaced by fucking Alexa. Belphie asks crowe if it’s Levi’s friends and gets a “If you say so” which Levi gets really excited about and what it likes about levi and gets “how he’s able to turn everything into a negative thing” which levi takes as a compliment and this is really sad guys but then again I did once spend weeks trying to get Siri to agree to date me so… Belphie then asks Crowe to turn Lucifer into a rabbit, it obviously doesn’t work. Levi asks crowe where Lord diavolo is and MC becomes increasingly more annoyed at being the only sane person in the room. Crowe obviously doesn’t know how to answer that.

Asmo asks about the sensitive spots on Lucifer’s body (wtf asmo c’mon) and Satan asks for Lucifer’s weaknesses, Crowe answers with “I’m sorry. I can’t answer that” which the brothers take to mean that crowe knows but is refusing to say. Lucifer threatens him to keep quiet and Crowe says he understands, Belphie is upset that Lucifer threatened crowe and Levi says he made Crowe sad. All the while MC is losing their mind and insisting that Crowe’s just tech, while the brothers all ignore and talk over them. In what is probably a fit of jealous rage MC commands the brothers to all sit the fuck down and explains to them that crowe really is just an electronic device. Levi refuses to believe them and insists Crowe is his friend. This somehow leads to Levi giving crowe Diavolo’s phone number and Crowe tracking his phone and Lucifer remembers “oh yeah shit missing boyfriend”. They end up in a karaoke bar. The sweet relieved smile on Lucifer’s face when they find him is everything. Diavolo asks how he looks dressed as a human and MC compliments him. Mammon scolds Diavolo for worrying them and Asmo says he feels silly to have been so worried now, Lucifer tries to herd Diavolo back home but Diavolo says he can’t go cause a note on the door (in devildom script) says the room is cursed and only allows you to exit once you get a 100% score on the karaoke machine. Asmo’s pissed cause he has a spa/salon appointment, Levi has a gamin event, Beel has a buffet and Satan’s pissed cause he wanted to think up of more cat related hashtags he could try searching up and I’m- Lucifer says it’ll be easier to do the task than try to break the curse using magic and Diavolo agrees. Belphie says Diavolo looks way too happy. And look I’m just gonna say it now cause we ALL know it – Diavolo’s definitely behind this and using it as some way to hang out with the others.

Asmo’s happy about being able to sing karaoke and Levi complains but is also searching for anime songs so. Belphie and MC think the situation is strange cause doesn’t being in the human world mean this shit doesn’t happen to them anymore? Diavolo says the bar is owned by the three legged crow group (aka yatagarasu) – the Devildom’s largest holdings company and developers of the D.D.D.. Their mascot (Blackjak) is one of the chat stickers. Diavolo’s the majority shareholder of the company. They’ve been expanding to the human world as well, mostly because of demand from sorcerers and witches. They also developed crowe, with Levi having a prototype. Levi realising crowe’s not a real person starts crying (and wiping his face on Satan’s clothes) about crowe got him tickets for a band and how cause Levi thought crowe also liked them he made sure to buy two tickets for both him and crowe and I’m just this is so sad. MC takes the opportunity to sweep in and say y’know I’m your friend and hold Levi’s hand to which Levi blushes and thanks them. Crowe’s the one hosting the Karaoke and says if one person manages a 100 score everyone can leave and that to make things interesting he’ll be throwing in some surprises. Crowe: All right then, party on! Diavolo: PARTY ON!!!!! :D Lucifer: *SIGH*

Asmo goes first cause he’s the best singer they have, Levi complains about Asmo being good at everything when he has nothing and MC teases him about being the Avatar of Envy. Asmo nails the first part of the song but in the interlude as one of crowe’s surprises Asmo starts hearing his fans screaming to him (which no one else can hear) and starts the second part a bit late so his score is 88. As punishment for not scoring a 100 Crowe kills Asmo. Or rather he sends him to be tortured till someone is able to score 100 and set him free. Lucifer, as expected, is not pleased. Levi is excited about how this is suddenly a game of life or death. Lucifer is very much not pleased with that. Diavolo’s also extremely pleased. Lucifer’s going through it. Mammon (who was so busy picking out a song that he didn’t notice one of his brothers got kidnapped) volunteers to go next. Though he’s not as good as Asmo he’s apparently a very good singer and once sang lead vocals in a band at RAD. Mammon chooses a love Ballad “Even if I wind up as a demon, I’ll always love you” and oh baby… the brothers immediately realise Mammon fucked up when choosing the song, Diavolo goes ??? and MC ignores them all to do  what they always do best and that’s to be Mammon’s #1 cheerleader (still can’t get over how much MC took charge and planned everything during Mammon’s bday event and had the brothers start giving him his little presents/notes a whole week before the actual date, when in every other bday event they just took a backseat role and let the others plan and fix everything up while they distracted the bday person. Whether you ship them together or not you gotta agree Mammon’s got a real special place in MC’s heart.) Anyway MC cheers Mammon on and Mammon blushes and stutters and then refuses to sing the song cause he realises he just picked to sing a love song in front of the person he’s in love with and tries to switch his song last minute. But cause he completely missed his cue to start he gets scored 0 and sent to hell. Satan says Mammon should be fine cause he’s used to that sort of thing. Diavolo: :D WOW :D THIS :D IS :D TERRIBLE :D ! :D   Lucifer: Really, cause your face is saying something else entirely…

They all sit silently looking sad for a bit. Lucifer says Asmo & Mammon were their best chances of getting out with perfect scores, satan wonders (with a sad expression) where they are and what’s been done to them. Levi says let’s be real Asmo’s probably getting off rn. Lucifer says they need to focus on who’s here rn and getting out. Diavolo volunteers to go next and Lucifer shuts him down, Diavolo whines about it. MC asks if it’s cause Diavolo is the heir and they can’t risk losing him. Lucifer agrees. Diavolo reluctantly agrees but in exchange he wants Beel & Belphie to sing next together cause he once heard them at a RAD festival and they were amazing. Beel starts ordering everything on the menu. Lucifer says if they harmonize they might be able to get a perfect score. The twins sing perfectly together and Dia & Luci are beaming until Beel’s food order finally arrives by materializing on the table all Hogwarts style and well you can guess what happens then. Lucifer seems uncharacteristically rattled and upset by all this and I mean yeah he has to slowly watch his family disappear in front of his eyes while he’s unable to do anything about it – this is probably his worst nightmare. Plus if they don’t get out chances are he’s gonna end up stuck in a tiny room for the rest of his life so

They’re silent and sad for a bit till Satan says that Levi sings a lot of karaoke alone in his room. Levi says it’s not really karaoke and that he just puts on his headphones and sings along with the opening but also how does satan know that!? And satan says, well who doesn’t know that and Levi freaks out and turn to MC and they’re like lol yeah sorry and Levi freaks out more and wishes for death while Diavolo very happily says that Levi must be very talented and that he’d love to hear it someday and Levi starts floundering and deflecting. Satan says Levi shouldn’t be so modest cause usually when they go out to karaoke he doesn’t let any of them leave till he’s sung all his anime songs and Diavolo asks if Levi’s being shy cause he’s there. Levi blushes while Diavolo keeps complimenting him and encouraging him to sing and MC remembering their promise to Levi bails him out by basically saying he’d be too nervous around new people to get a perfect score and Diavolo lets it drop after Levi agrees with them. Satan’s need to leave and watch cat videos becomes too great and he volunteers and Lucifer happily encourages him. Diavolo gets closer to MC and says so did you do something to Lucifer again? Had one of your therapy sessions? And MC teases and says maybe. Diavolo happily says he knew o=it cause usually Lucifer isn’t willing to admit how highly he thinks of Satan and he actually calls MC a “family therapist” and I’m so glad someone finally said it, at this point MC should be getting paid is2g. Satan sings his favourite ballad and Diavolo compliments his singing while Lucifer just compliments Satan as a person in general for striving to do his best in everything and facing challenges with a cool head. Diavolo laughs about how much praise Lucifer’s giving out and Lucifer says he’s just stating the truth. Lucifer says satan should get a 100 until the tv starts showing cat videos, Lucifer yells at satan to not get distracted and satan is able to resist it until it starts showing a pile of sleepy kittens curled up together, who are starting to doze off. It’s too much for satan to stops the song to coo at them, he gets an 83 and is taken away. Levi says that even though it was fun at first he’s starting to get scared. Diavolo asks if Lucifer wants to go next.

#obey me spoilers #my posts #my theories #obey me #obey me! #swd obey me #shall we date? obey me! #obey me shall we date

[blacktofade]

Prompt: Ryan is a courier on a special delivery in the Mojave desert post apocalypse, and Shane is a cowboy robot who saves his life

This is my personal essay on why Victor should’ve been a companion in Fallout New Vegas.

*

The sun’s barely above the horizon when Ryan starts making his way towards Novac. It’s already hot — possibly hotter than the day before — and there’s sweat building up between his shoulders. The necktie he’d soaked in the drinking trough of some brahmin is almost dry, but he doubts he’ll find any unguarded water as he moves east.

“Fuck,” he mutters, hooking a finger over the brim of his hat and pulling it lower.

There’s a headwind that keeps kicking up dust, somehow always managing to get behind his aviators, and everytime he bites down, sand crunches between his teeth.

Even worse is that every gust through the yucca leaves sounds just enough like the rattling of nightstalkers that it keeps him constantly on edge. It’s probably why he’s immediately aware of the sound of a tire rolling up behind him, crunching over rocks and undergrowth.

His hand is on his hip before he even realizes, his .44 revolver out and cocked in seconds, something he’s long since had to perfect. He turns, expecting some kind of hacked securitron to have picked up on his trail, but instead, a familiar face peers back at him.

“Well, howdy,” the robot says. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Jesus, Shane,” he complains, uncocking his gun and slipping it back into his holster, adrenaline buzzing through his body with nowhere to go.

The face on the securitron screen flickers like some kind of emotion. “You expecting someone else?”

Ryan lets out a full-bodied sigh, turning and continuing to walk in the direction he’d been heading, knowing he can’t lose valuable daylight to stand and talk to the robot that’s inexplicably in his life now.

“It’s the Mojave,” Ryan tells them. “I assume that anyone who finds me wants to kill me.”

The groan of metal behind hints that Shane has decided to follow after him.

“Well, not me!” Shane says in a chipper voice that Ryan might think was sarcastic if Shane weren’t a computer.

“Thanks,” Ryan deadpans. “Instead, I have to deal with you stalking me.”

“Stalking?” Shane asks incredulously. “No, sir, I was just taking a stroll.”

Ryan hums, disbelieving. “Don’t you live in Goodsprings?”

“Partner, I don’t think I live anywhere in particular.”

Ryan glances over at them, but Shane’s face is the same as it always is, never giving anything away.

“So where are you heading if you’re not stalking me?”

“Hmm,” Shane says. “Nowhere specific, but I hear you’re going to Novac.”

“And you’re just oh-so conveniently rolling in the same direction.”

“Fancy that,” Shane says, screen flickering again, almost like they’re laughing.

Ryan’s tired enough that he lets it slide. He’s not looking to spend the rest of the day arguing with a machine. The silence stretches between them, though it’s not truly silent. There’s distant gunfire from the West — most likely NCR training grounds — and what sounds like the clicking of radscorpions somewhere underground. There’s also Shane’s squeaky wheel.

Every time Shane passes over a bump in the dirt, their shocks squeak, clearly in need of grease that Ryan doesn’t have.

“You never did explain why you saved me that night,” Ryan says after another long moment, though he doesn’t expect an answer. He’s had two, maybe three conversations with Shane, but already knows to expect a vague, roundabout response.

“I didn’t save you,” Shane tells him. “The good doctor did.”

“You dug me up after I got shot.”

“I thought you might be alive still. And you were.”

“You make a habit of digging people up?”

Shane lets out a buzz of white noise that takes Ryan by surprise. “I don’t want to make assumptions about you, Ryan, but if you think I have ulterior motives, I’m just a machine.”

Ryan glances over at them. “Yeah and you were programmed by someone human.”

Shane goes silent for a moment as they roll along. “You might have me there,” they admit. “So, if it’ll make you feel better, I can leave you for dead next time.”

Ryan lets out a breath of amusement. “Thanks. That makes me feel better.”

“You’re welcome. Would you like me to start now, or would you like assistance with that radscorpion?”

Ryan has barely a second to process the information before the ground rumbles a few feet ahead of them, a giant radscorpion emerging from the cracked dirt.

“Fuck,” Ryan mutters, reaching for the rifle slung over his back, needing something more than his .44.

Beside him, Shane whirrs quietly, and Ryan wonders if it’s the sound of them gearing up to flee. He spares a glance over, but instead of leaving as they’d threatened, they raise their arm, aiming at the radscorpion. Ryan’s long since grown use to the sound of gunfire — though sometimes the tinnitus keeps him up at night — but the quickfire rounds that leave Shane’s built-in assault rifle startle him enough that his first shot misses, the bullet kicking up dust a few feet to the left of the beast.

“Nice shot,” Shane says, so chipper and sarcastic that Ryan’s next shot misses too, a laugh startled out of him.

“Shut the fuck up,” he fires back, lining up his third shot, which cracks through the radscorpion’s shoulder, exactly as intended.

“Would you like me to end this fight, or would you like the opportunity to participate more?”

“End it,” Ryan grunts, firing off another round that hits somewhere near the tail. He has the sneaking suspicion that Shane could’ve ended it before Ryan even realized it had begun.

As the radscorpion edges closer, Shane aims a handful of shots towards the creature’s head and with a final rumble, it slumps to the ground, one claw breaking off with an uncomfortable snap.

The dust settles around them and Shane raises their gun arm and lets out a noise as though pretending to blow the smoke away from the barrel.

“What do you think?” Shane asks. “Would you still like me to leave?”

Ryan doesn’t answer. Instead, he reloads his gun, ensures the safety’s on, and tucks it back over his shoulder for the next time he inevitably needs it.

“I don’t need you,” he points out, carefully stepping forward to pick at the remains of the radscorpion for the poison gland he knows it must have and which he can use for antivenom at the next campfire he finds.

“Never said you did, partner,” Shane replies smoothly. “I just thought you might appreciate the company.”

Ryan glances out across the desert, taking a steadying breath because he already knows the answer. It’s lonely business being a courier, and even lonelier being a courier with no memories.

He adjusts the straps of his backpack. “You can stay until Novac,” he compromises. “But no promises after that.”

“Sure!” Shane agrees brightly. “We’ll stick together, just for now.”

Ryan watches them a moment longer until the familiar squeak of Shane’s wheel starts again as they roll forward, around the carcass, heading once more in the direction they’d been going before the attack.

“Are you coming, Ryan?”

Ryan blows out a breath and slowly begins to follow.

“Sure,” he says. “I’m coming.”

#thing wot i wrote #fic #shyan #prompts 2021 #fnv #ebonybow

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1977

The X-Men, those starjammin' mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 103 - 108) - written by Chris Claremont and art by Dave Cockrum, Bob Brown and John Byrne

The fabled M’Kraan Crystal, a.k.a. Everything’s a butt plug if you’re brave enough. (X-Men 107)

When we last left our X-Men, they were being pummelled into a paste by Black Tom and the Juggernaut at the ancestral Cassidy Keep. Only Nightcrawler was out of their clutches, because he was saved by elves. (All Irish keeps have elves, plz don’t question it.) Apparently, Juggernaut and Black Tom have been holding the inhabitants of the castle hostage under the orders of Eric the Red. Black Tom plans to mindrape the X-Men to lure Charles to Ireland to kill him, which… er… Wouldn’t it be easier to go back to the USA now that Charles is mostly unprotected? Most of the the X-Men are in Oire right now!

Nightcrawler incidentally discovers he turns invisible in the shadows, and it makes total sense that he only realizes this now, because they have no shadows in Germany. Eh, nobody remembers he has this power these days anyway, so! Moving briskly on!

Kurt surprises the gay villainous duo by pretending to be a surprisingly spry Xavier. (Image inducer ftw.) While trying to turn Nightcrawler into a smear of blue fuzz, Juggernaut punches through a wall, exposing Storm to the sky and releasing her from the tight grip of her claustrophobia.

Very few things fill me with more delight than seeing Storm doing loop-de-loops. (X-Men 103)

Storm frees the rest of the X-Men. In the final battle, Banshee tussles with Tom, tossing him off the ramparts and straight into the choppy ocean. Even though tossing a villain into the water is an absolutely sure-fire way to guarantee they'll survive, Juggernaut jumps in after him, desperate to save his boyfriend. Friend. Whatever.

Hilariously, the people at marvel.fandom hate this issue and plotline, saying it’s more riddled with plot holes than Swiss cheese. For example, the elves reveal Wolverine’s real name - Logan - which… “This issue implies that the leprechauns have some prior knowledge of, and even a connection to Wolverine. This plot point, however, was completely dropped and never referenced again (which is probably for the best, considering how goofy it is.)”

I mean, they’re not wrong.

So. Hey. You ready for things to get weird?

Moira has received a VAGUE BUT DISTRESSING call for help from Muir Isle. Off-screen she got upgraded to being an associate at Edinburgh University who owns a lab in Scotland. She left some dude named Jamie Madrox in charge, which - Moira, you have a Phd, you should be able to tell that Madrox is an absolute (entertaining) mess of a person.

Also super surprised that Jamie Madrox was conceived in the seventies, but whatever.

In order to check out the lab, the X-Men rent a hovercraft, which explodes just off the shore of Muir Isle.

Get a bucket and a mop for this wet-ass fuzzy. (X-Men 104)

They are beset on all sides, before being pulled into the laboratory by… MAGNETO?

Magneto accusing anybody other than Dr. Doom or Namor of all-consuming arrogance shows us that self-awareness can’t be taught. (X-Men 104)

Cyclops arrives by airplane, reuniting with the team, while also talking to Moira and Madrox. Absolutely bonkers revelations are made in the space of three pages:

Moira’s lab is a secret Mutant Research Centre. (uh…)

In the Defenders-comic, Magneto was de-aged into a baby. (...what?!)

‘Research Centre’ is a Scottish synonym for a penal colony for all kinds of dangerous mutants, like baby Magneto, Dragonfly, Unus and the mysterious Mutant-X. (...what?!)

Moira quite cavalierly experiments on prisoners and babies. She also has a machine that can manipulate age. Xavier knows and is fine with all of this. (wtf!?!?)

This is such a bonkers, messy way to rewrite both Moira and Magneto. Like, I can’t.

Eric the Red freed Magneto and then used the aging machine to turn Magneto back into an adult man at the peak of his powers. This Magneto is understandably upset at having been turned into a science lab experiment/baby and he mops the floor with the X-Men.

Cyclops makes the executive decision to flee Muir Isle, because they have no chance against Magneto and he now realizes Professor X is unprotected and probably at the mercy of Eric the Red. Wolverine calls him a big fat sissy to his face.

I kind of dig that the X-Men don't win a lot of their fights yet. They’re still treated as relatively unseasoned, especially as a team, and they don’t automatically win at the end of every story. It also gives Magneto more oomph as a villain.

Anyway, when the X-Men arrive at the mansion, they’re defeated by Firelord, Galactus’ former herald. He’s been duped into attacking them by Eric the Red. Firelord is convinced the X-Men are the villains, because Eric went with the Wounded Gazelle Gambit: he even knocked out Havok and Polaris to pretend he was attacked by our merry mutants. (Next time we see them, they’re back to their normal, non-brainwashed selves.)

In her new apartment, Jean is introducing her parents and Professor X to her new girlfriend roommate Misty Knight when princess Neramani (of, uh, space) teleports into the room. And then Firelord attacks Charles! Jean has absolutely zero chill for all of this.

I know very little about Misty Knight, but every time she appears, she responds to anything remotely surprising by drawing her gun. I assume she shoots her paper boy every morning. (X-Men 105)

The entire point of this issue is to show how big a threat Phoenix is. Claremont originally wanted to use a big name like Thor or the Silver Surfer, but editorial nixed that: they feared that it would be emasculating for a popular character to be beaten by a girl. Once again, this proves how badly the Phoenix storyline was needed. Did Jean single-handedly introduce feminism to superhero comics? I’mma say yes.

With Jean distracted and Charles teaching Lilandra English telepathically so he can woo the pretty space-lady and/or get an explanation as to why the universe is ending, Eric the Red strikes, revealing himself to be: SHAKARI.

Yeah, no, I don’t recognize the name either, but the dude’s been working on this reveal for a while, so just let him have it.

He absconds with Lilandra through the Stargate and switches it off, just as the X-Men arrive. Jean casually turns it back on and because the Professor is all, “we’ve got to save her! I mean the universe!”, the X-Men jump through the gate.

Jean’s parents are all out of wtfs to give.

We take a break from Shi´Ar shenanigans with an inconsequential filler issue, where we flashback to Xavier while he was being driven crazy by his Space Trek dreams. It’s established that Moira and Xavier are ex-lovers and that Xavier’s melodramatic subconscious wants to kill the new X-Men. (Probably not for real, but who knows.) Next!

Still a better villain than Onslaught. (X-Men 106)

Anyway, the X-Men find themselves surrounded by aliens in front of the ginormous M’Kraan Crystal. The Shi’Ar are all: ‘dafuq you’re doing here’, Cyclops is all: ‘We’re here for Lilandra’, and the Shi’Ar are all: ‘You mean our prisoner and rogue princess?’ Scott decides that gathering more information is for losers and starts blasting, triggering a fight with the Imperial Guard.

Lilandra, meanwhile, is in the hands of Shakari and her big brother, Emperor D’Ken. He releases some nebulously defined monster - a Soul Drinker - to kill Lilandra. Nightcrawler saves her from its murderous clutches by teleporting two people for the very first time. Lilandra doesn’t barf up her insides, which is apparently a test of character, and proceeds to explain what’s what.

First, she tells the X-Men that she felt Professor Xavier when he was doing the telepathic care bear attack against the Z’Nox way back in the sixties and that she felt instantly drawn to him. She also explains that she’s D’Ken’s younger sister and leading a rebellion against her mad, power hungry brother. Why is he mad? Well...

The X-Men vs. Astrology! Riveting. (Still a better villain than Onslaught.) Although, “I’m a Pisces” sounds a lot lamer than “I was born under the Nine Death Stars. (X-Men 107)

The guy in the mohawk is Gladiator, he is consistently the worst. Even when Lilandra reveals that opening that gate triggers the End of All That Is, he’s still all: “Juuust following orders.”

The Imperial Guard goes in for a smackdown, but the X-Men are fortunately saved by the Starjammers. (Space pirates, not an 80’s rock group.) They are:

Corsair, a debonair dude with one golden earring. Pretty obviously a human.

Raza, cyborg with a temper and somehow bald whilst rocking a ponytail.

Ch’od, lizard creature. Has a white fluffy spider monkey-thing that I don’t recognize and but is apparently called Waldo Ch'ee. (I pray it just got lost in Marvel history and that it doesn’t get squashed at some point. It’s adorable.)

Hepzibah, cute cat girl with a gun. Involved with Corsair, except he can’t pronounce her name so he just gave her the completely unrelated nickname Hepzibah? Dude!

Jean, having learned psychic etiquette from Charles Xavier, immediately violates their privacy and scans their minds, figuring out that Corsair is Scott’s dad. Superficial telepathic read, my ass.

Meanwhile, power builds up in the M’Kraan Crystal and the universe briefly blinks out of existence, threatening to tear open the fabric of the universe if this keeps up. To emphasize that this is a Big Honking Deal, we cut to Earth where the Avengers, Fantastic Four and Peter Corbeau (rumored to have an IQ over 200) are all: oy, did the universe just stop existing?

That’s Hank McCoy for “we’re fucked’”. Hi Jimmy Carter! (X-Men 108)

Apparently, this is the year the X-Men can’t catch a break, because after being beaten by the Juggernaut, Magneto and the Imperial Guard, they are soundly trashed by Jahf, the Guardian of the Crystal. That is, until Phoenix drops a small meteor on him. In a story beat that I really like, Jahf isn’t fazed at all: the Phoenix, despite her immeasurable power, isn’t omnipotent. Sometimes, you need a scalpel instead of a sledge hammer: it’s Banshee whose sonic scream can scramble the guardian’s circuitry.

Unfortunately, defeating the first guardian only awakens a second, stronger one, so…

Raza decides he’s had enough of this nonsense and, displaying admirable proactive problem solving skills, simply tosses D’Ken into the M’Kraan crystal. Presumably, the Crystal is annoyed at being attacked by someone who also has an unnecessary apostrophe in their name, and it lashes out, trapping everyone involved in their own personal hell. For Jean, this is apparently death, but she’s all: “Um, I was recently deceased, no big deal,” and snaps out of it.

The Phoenix reaches out the crystal, which is slowly cracking under the weight of the universe. (Same.) If it shatters, it will destroy the universe, devouring all . Think of it as a cosmic reset button. The Phoenix is its opposite, a bringer of energy and life, so it might be able to fix the crystal. Problem is, Jean has trouble remaining anchored in this reality, because she’s being absorbed by the crystal.

OKAY. SO MANY THINGS TO LOVE. Even when allied with a cosmic force, Storm proves she’s our queen. Furthermore, other than Jean/Scott, Ororo/Jean might the most fleshed out relationship among these new X-Men at this point. Their friendship is consistently a highlight.

Also, rough, rough day for Corsair. (X-Men 108)

Phoenix mends the crystal with a lot of mystical space mumbo jumbo and… er, that’s it. Cosmic balance restored, she poofs the X-Men home.

Lilandra tags along with them, explaining that D’Ken’s tinkering with the Crystal left him catatonic and unfit to rule. As his sister, she’s the rightful heir, but since she also led a rebellion, she kind of cancelled by her empire. She announces she will stay on Earth with Charles while the Shi´Ar iron out the details of the succession. So, instead of consolidating her power base and claim to the throne, she peaces out to explore her feelings for the hairless pink alien who can peek into her brain. Solid.

And with that final bit of space opera, we say goodbye to Dave Cockrum and welcome artist John Byrne. The Claremont/Byrne-run is widely seen as the definitive X-Men run, so hold onto your butts and let’s see where the Phoenix takes us, shall we?

Didn’t you take Art History? I stand by my space mumbo jumbo comment from earlier, but check out these Byrne-pages:

Chef’s kiss. (X-Men 108)

Ugliest Costume: I have a fierce hatred for the Shi'ar's weird wispy triangular hair/feather/thingies, but those are technically not costumes. So: Lilandra, why is your boob window a bug?

Best new character: I’m not much of a fan of space operas or the Shi’Ar and their extended court, but I do have a soft spot for the Starjammers, Hepzibah in particular. I fondly remember her being a part of the X-Men at some point in the future, although I don't think her actual unpronounceable name ever gets revealed.

Most audacious retcon: Moira the housekeeper is actually an evil morally complicated mad scientist.

What to read: Issue 105, 107 and 108, for all your Phoenix Saga needs.

#x-men #x-men abridged #abridged x-men #professor x #cyclops #phoenix #nightcrawler #colossus #storm #wolverine #banshee #chris claremont #dave cockrum #john byrne #juggernaut #black tom #shi'ar #moira mactaggert #magneto #starjammers