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#Hot-Chocola
naimahtaylor · 10 months
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Here’s a Fanart of My Female Cuphead OC Hot Chocola and She is Raising her Arms in The Air and The Background is Purple and I Draw This Early and i hope you all gonna enjoy the post of her
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bunbox · 10 days
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chocola and creme redesign
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imperihoe-writes · 4 months
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Without Your Mask
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Colonel Alejandro Vargas / fem!Reader
Summary:  After their steamy date in Las Almas, she ran. Scared of getting hurt by the Colonel, Schwalbe tried to keep her distance - but it’s the small things that keep reminding her of him.
Content:  sexual themes, angst + hurt, pining, flirting via text messages, poor emotional coping mechanisms, banter, sexual tension, kissing, FLUFF, food as a love language
<- must-read previous part: The Quiet Ones
Word Count:  5.5k
Notes:  The sheer amount of love and support that TQO has received still baffles me. I‘m so thankful! Dedicated to @shadofireshinobi who birthed the ideas behind both my Alejandro universes with Schwalbe, and @elegance-and-power who requested a Part 2 way back in October and I couldn‘t stop thinking about it since. I hope you like it! ✨
↳ callsign for the reader is Schwalbe (swallow, like the bird, German)
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If there is one thing you must know about Schwalbe, it is this: she is no coward. Though everything about her current situation would suggest otherwise, she‘d never shied away from an uncomfortable situation before, never backed down from a challenge. 
But the aftermath of kinda-sorta-totally hooking up with Colonel Alejandro Vargas had knocked her off-balance, tilted her perspective on who she was as a professional.
She‘d almost begged a superior to have sex with her. Had writhed in his lap like a wanton cat, had kissed him like there was no tomorrow and fucking loved his cocky grins and thick fingers stuffed into her. Had melted into his arms when he held her afterwards, hadn‘t even bothered to clean off his sticky cum that had landed all over her lower stomach before she pulled her shirt back on. 
And then he‘d driven them back to base, kissed her again over the console and she‘d almost asked then. 
Do you want to do this again some time?
It had been on the tip of her tongue, but the possible rejection had dug its claws into her, the sting of a humiliation that had not yet come to pass too great to risk it. For all she knew, Alejandro had seen this as nothing more than a one time fling. 
He‘d said that he had imagined fucking her on his backseat, had been the one to ask her out and look at her like she somehow mattered to him since that night in the kitchen - but men often said and did a lot without it meaning a damn thing. 
So instead, she‘d gritted her teeth, smiled prettily and opened the SUV door.
"Thank you for tonight," she‘d tossed over her shoulder with a wink, and Alejandro had grinned back.
"It was my pleasure, little bird."
After that, she‘d shut him out again. Literally and figuratively. 
The moment she‘d closed her bedroom door, Schwalbe had thrown herself on the bed and screamed into her pillow. She‘d hit her mattress once, twice, then screamed again for good measure - glad that her roommate still hadn’t returned from her night out. 
The wine and her book still lay on her bedside table, and looking at it now, all she could remember was the way Alejandro had tried to decipher the German, how he‘d looked sitting on her bed and waited for her to get changed.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.
Dragging herself up with a groan, Schwalbe quickly snatched up her sleeping outfit and a towel, thankful for the empty communal shower as she scrubbed herself down. 
Her chest had already started to bloom with small, mouth-shaped bruises where Alejandro had sucked into her tits and collarbones. She traced them absentmindedly as the hot water soothed her frazzled nerves, then admired them some more after wiping condensation from the mounted bathroom mirror. 
There was something primal in her that preened at the marks, at the reminder of him all over her. 
But an equally large part of her brain kept screaming how stupid she had been. Anyone could have seen them. Not just fellow soldiers and superiors, but also the many enemies all throughout Las Almas. 
She could have a target on her back and not even know it, all because she hadn‘t been able to resist deep chocolate eyes and a kind smile.
So no, Schwalbe was not a coward. 
But when their shared mission came up only a couple days later (with Ghost, Rodolfo and Alejandro leading a small team into an obscured bunker to steal highly sensitive intel), she‘d only allowed herself the tiniest exhale of relief when Alejandro‘s large body had been safely seated inside her helicopter afterwards. He‘d been the last to return of course, never one to leave a single man behind, and though they hadn‘t fired a single shot in there, her heart still galloped in her chest until they were up in the air again.
Hands steady as always, she‘d piloted them back, had sat through the debrief with her SpecGru commanding officer over a secure line and then calmly packed her bags for the first possible flight home.
Unsurprisingly, Ghost had already been ready to go when she knocked on his door.
"You sure you don‘t wanna leave tomorrow?" Ghost asked in his gruff way, but she‘d just shaken her head.
"I need to get out of here." 
He didn‘t ask. Ghost was reliable like that.
"Yeh, 'm in need of a proper English breakfast meself." 
That had prompted the first laugh out of her in days, jaw relaxing.
All of that - sitting squished against the Lieutenant in economy after getting a ride to the airport from one of the eager newbies in the middle of the night… she could blame on a professional fight or flight response. A good reputation was everything in their line of work.
But the truly cowardly thing to do? 
One: Finding a sticky note with Alejandro‘s personal number inside the physical copy of her updated, but still redacted, file.
Text me. It read.
Schwalbe didn‘t.
Two: Declining another Las Almas assignment, with a hefty paycheck attached to it, in favor of two much less prestigious jobs in Bulgaria and France.
Officially, she‘d cited wanting to be closer to home as her reason for passing it on to another Sergeant. But Schwalbe could lie to herself all she wanted, the truth remained the same. She was avoiding the Colonel. 
And truthfully, the more time passed between their date and now, the lighter she felt. Nothing had happened - apart from the fact that she now knew how Alejandro tasted of course.
Her bruises had faded, but that didn’t stop her from circling around the spots whenever she had a long shower. Or from trying to chase the feeling of being stretched wide on his fingers with her own to no avail. 
And during one of those nights, months after the last time she‘d felt that neat beard on her neck, Schwalbe caved. 
The refrigerator light glared into her camera lens, but the tidy row of chocolate pudding treats was still in focus. She stared at the picture, biting her lip before grabbing one of the desserts and closing the fridge again.
At least they are homemade this time. 
She hit send on both the text and picture before she could think better of it, his number saved into her contacts long ago. Maybe it wasn‘t even active anymore, not an uncommon occurrence for off-the-book soldiers. 
Alejandro didn‘t respond for nearly a week, and Schwalbe had swallowed the bitter pill with as much grace as she could muster. It was her own fault anyway. 
And after checking her phone pathetically often for someone that had ghosted him for months, she decided to throw herself into training again. 
Muscles aching and sweat pouring down her temples, she‘d only wanted to check her smartwatch to see how much fucking longer she had to run to hit her daily ten kilometer target, when a new message popped up. 
Her steps slowed, eyes glued to his name.
One click later, the tiny picture of a greased-through white bag came into view.
AV: Always think of you when I get these now.
Schwalbe clamped a hand over her smiling mouth, cursing herself for not taking her phone with her. The small screen made it impossible to shamelessly admire those hands like the total creep she wanted to be.
Fingers trembling a little, only from her rigorous exercise of course, she typed back. 
Sounds like a sugar addiction to me, Colonel.
His response came within moments.
AV: You‘d know all about that, wouldn‘t you?
They didn‘t speak much in the following weeks, only sporadic text messages here and there. Schwalbe gathered that the Los Vaqueros had something big going on, but never bothered to pry for information - he‘d tell her if he was allowed to. Probably. Most likely. Right?
She wasn‘t above caring or worrying of course, but Alejandro wasn’t her boyfriend. They‘d (almost) had sex once, she‘d pined for him for weeks. But this was just the ugly reality of getting involved with fellow military in any way: you never knew if their most recent message would remain the last. A perfectly good reason to never mix business with feelings and/or pleasure, whatever came first. It didn‘t stop her from checking her phone every few hours though.
To top it all off, her SpecGru Branch had been working on a difficult case recently. Nothing unusual, sure, but the idleness and off-field nature of the job meant that Schwalbe had little to do. 
Intelligence was trying hard to piece a proper trail together, to give their employer a pin to put into the proverbial map and close in on their target. 
Schwalbe had sat through countless meetings, had helped to analyze drone footage, had listened to the opinion of experts that lead nowhere. Guzmán was slippery, known worldwide for his drug enterprise and human trafficking and their employer wanted him gone gone. 
Something about sending a political message against drugs or something like that, nothing personal of course. Schwalbe suspected that it was all bullshit. She was honest enough with herself to know that her unit was not always on the right side of the law, and often threaded in deeply murky waters. 
Military and special op training had conditioned her to not ask too many questions unless prompted, but she did wonder sometimes. How it would be like to work for an entirely good, selfless cause. If there even was such a thing anymore.
Lost in that thought, she hardly noticed the door of the meeting room open and close, assuming that it was Lieutenant Schmidt returning with their latest CCTV pictures from the London Underground yesterday. They were certain his right hand man had been there and-
"Ah, good of you to join us, Colonel. I trust your journey has been pleasant?" Her superior officer boomed out in his deep bellow of a voice, striding over to shake hands with the newcomer. 
Schwalbe almost choked on her own spit when Alejandro grabbed his meaty hand in brief acknowledgement, then stood ramrod straight next to the massive table, whose entire surface was split into many different screens - showcasing different aspects of their operation.
She stood at attention out of reflex, and his eyes met hers for a brief second. He looked good, with the dark stubble of his beard casting shadows over his face, eyes lit up from the moving black and white images.
There was no sign of recognition on his handsome features, nothing that would have given any indication that he knew who she was. It was a professional, cold assessment - and then he moved on towards the other people in the room, completely unbothered. It should have pleased her, but… it also kind of hurt. He‘d smiled at her back in Las Almas all the time, and that had been before.
You‘ve made your own bed, Schwalbe could hear her mother’s voice in the back of her mind. Now you must lie in it.
"I don‘t have much time," Alejandro said, and then clicked around on the iPad handed to him from an eager Intelligence intern. 
"Of course," her superior officer waved his hand, then turned towards the team. "Colonel Vargas is a specialist in Counter Terrorism, and has dealt with our target before. I deemed it wise to ask him for assistance, seeing as our time frame is rather… compact."
A nice way of saying that their employer would drop them like a hot potato if Guzmán wasn‘t eliminated soon.
And what do you get in return? Schwalbe wanted to ask Alejandro, but stayed silent behind her black and blue mask. 
"Definitely him," Alejandro nodded, then zoomed in on a few of the pictures and the table screens mirrored what he was doing. "Not evidence C and H as far as I am aware, might be a new player or one of his henchmen putting their own twist on things. Everything else, definite yes. We traced his favorite mistress to the Grand Hyatt in Berlin. She‘s been staying there with a fake passport and two girlfriends since Monday."
"Not a long journey between London and Berlin," one of the IT guys mused. "Should we take her in for questioning?"
"Might bring the rat out of hiding at last," her superior officer grumbled, but Alejandro had already moved on to bringing up different addresses and names of associates all over London, Berlin and Prague and the web that their Intelligence team had been spinning only grew more complex with each minute he spent pouring over their case.
She watched him work, until she couldn’t bare Alejandro‘s cold indifference anymore.
Excusing herself from the room, Schwalbe slipped out into the bright corridor and then aimlessly wandered around the pre-war mental asylum turned SpecGru undercover base for a few minutes. 
Alejandro’s presence had been so all encompassing, her eyes unable to leave him for long. He‘d been in full on work-mode, and she‘d hated it. Because she had fantasized about meeting him again, how he‘d give her a lopsided smile and say that he was happy to see her. 
Schwalbe wondered if he was still working on the job she had turned down, if she‘d be visiting this meeting with him. If they would have become more than co-workers by now, instead of two strangers on different sides of a table.
Her smartwatch vibrated once, and she glanced down.
AV: Have you flown off, little bird?
Before she had time to reply, another message popped up.
AV: I‘ll be here in a couple of days for check-up again. I‘d like to see you. 
Schwalbe bit her lip, annoyed at the stupid hopeful butterflies that had no business being this active in her stomach.
Will you act like you don‘t know me then, too?
Perhaps it was a petty and childish thing to say, but Schwalbe felt hurt. Actually, truly hurt by the way he hadn’t given any hint of affection.
AV: I had my reasons today. It won‘t be like that.
And then, after a brief pause, another message.
AV: I‘m sorry. 
She groaned out loud, head in her neck for a moment. Damn, why the hell was she acting like a scorned girlfriend? There was no reason to apologize, and it made her feel like a complete asshole that the Colonel had felt the need to.
A ‚couple of days’ turned out to be precisely four. She‘d just finished loading up another clip into the standard issue M17 they‘d handed her for practice, when Alejandro came striding across the tidy lawn with long strides, an officer she didn’t recognize idling along further behind him.
He looked out of place here, with his black compression top and cargo pants tucked into perfectly laced boots. Most of her superiors wore suits and medals instead of armor while they were here, but Alejandro looked ready for battle wherever he went. Really hot, in short.
"Colonel Vargas," she greeted him, and he stopped just a couple feet away, gazing down into her eyes. His attention roved over what little face was left exposed behind her mask and earmuffs.
"Sergeant Major Schwalbe," he smirked, pronounciation still adorably wobbly. "Don‘t let me disturb you."
Too late now.
"I‘m almost done for today," she answered, then turned back towards her targets and continued to shoot until that clip had run out as well. He watched her, her aim, her stance, how well or poorly she‘d hit the marks. 
She could tell that he wanted nothing more than to comment on her technique, and with a fond eye roll, Schwalbe disassembled the set-up and got it ready for the next person.
"Out with it then, Alejandro."
Alejandro looked even more smug. 
"You are wasted here, you know that?"
That was not what she had expected at all.
"I-" she started.
"But," Alejandro cut across her. "Your right shoulder is too tense, so you take too much of the recoil. You‘d be able to aim faster if you didn’t. Good foot work."
Ah, there it was. Now it was her turn to grin at him, and his smirk widened. She brushed aside his compliment, then turned away from the shooting range in unison with him. 
Alejandro slowed his steps to match hers as they approached the large victorian building, both with their hands clasped behind their backs.
"Did you get the information you needed?" She asked, feeling a bit awkward now that he was so close to her again. Schwalbe had wanted nothing more than to see Alejandro again in the last few days, weeks, months even. 
But now that he was within reach, she felt the distance between them, the invisible eyes that always seemed omnipresent here. 
Alejandro hummed in confirmation.
They continued walking until the man he‘d come with was right beside them, and the men exchanged a few rapid words in Spanish. The young guy looked pleasantly surprised for a moment, dark skin and white teeth contrasting in a cheeky grin before he tipped his hat and jogged off.
Schwalbe threw Alejandro a questioning look.
"Gave him the afternoon off,“ he shrugged, then vaguely gestured towards their surroundings. "What are your plans for today?"
Schwalbe fiddled with the frayed edges of her long sleeves.
"Not much. I need to get groceries, but beyond that there is only the sofa and Netflix calling my name."
He chuckled, then rolled his head from one shoulder to the other, clearly holding something back. 
Alejandro was so stupidly handsome, walking beside her towards this posh building with the equally posh and often insufferable people inside. He didn‘t have to try, when even the way he took deliberate steps instead of strolling was attractive somehow. Decisive. She could be like that, too.
"If you don‘t have anything else to do, you could join me," Schwalbe offered in a quiet voice, still nervous to be in his proximity. "I‘m off-duty in two hours."
Alejandro‘s shoulders dropped almost imperceptibly, and his smile widened.
"Bonjour," Schwalbe said, then quickly dragged the Colonel behind the first shelf full of farm eggs and bread loafs. 
The elderly lady running their local countryside convenience shop greeted Schwalbe with little more than a huff. She‘d come to recognize that as the woman‘s equivalent to a heartfelt hug and warm welcome. It was even more pronounced now that Alejandro received the bombastic side-eye Schwalbe had gotten the first two weeks or so as well.
The Madame did not like strangers. 
But going grocery shopping with Alejandro was  turning out to be an experience. He liked to touch things, turn tomatoes from left to right, smell the bunches of parsley. He also insisted on carrying her basket, which… was oddly wholesome. It made her treacherous stomach do somersaults to have him so close, to feel his arm brush against hers whenever they stood and contemplated.
Alejandro almost had a heart attack when Schwalbe reached for the ready-made frozen lasagna. 
"Do you know," he grumbled, while firmly sliding the glass door of the freezer shut again. "How many preservatives they put into these?"
"I don‘t really care," Schwalbe shrugged, but rolled her eyes with fondness nonetheless. "How on earth have you survived in the military so far? Did you read the back of all of the emergency ration packs as well?"
"I have, and so should you. A well maintained diet will fuel your-"
But Schwalbe had already left Alejandro standing there, moving on to the ice cream section. He snorted, then caught up with her.
"So rude. I am worrying about your health here."
"Well," she grinned back, then picked a flavor. "I am touched by your concern. But you should live a little."
Alejandro‘s eyes dropped down to her mouth for a moment, exposed as it was since she‘d taken off her mask before coming into the supermarket. Almost having the local police called on her by the shop owner for 'looking like a hooligan' once was enough. 
It felt like they were both treading on thin ice, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She wondered if she‘d be the first to dare break through the surface of all the things left unsaid between them.
Schwalbe reflexively ducked her head in embarrassment, the intensity of his gaze almost too much to handle. He cleared his throat.
"Your life would turn out to be a lot longer if you‘d just allow me to-" Alejandro started, but then swallowed back the rest of his sentence, shaking his head. 
She sighed, trying not to complete that thought for him. Wherever he‘d been going was probably not what Schwalbe was silently yearning for anyway.
"You may cook for me tonight then," she finally said with the best posh English accent available in her very limited arsenal. "And I shall judge wether or not you can do it again."
Alejandro laughed. 
"You‘ll beg me to, I can promise you that."
Schwalbe had wanted to call Alejandro arrogant and a little full of himself over the whole ‚healthy dinner’ thing. 
But seeing him standing in her tiny rental almost two hours later, kitchen utensils scattered around every available surface and wiping his hands on the old towel hanging over the handle of her oven, she wanted. Wanted to see him like this more often, wanted him to complain about her habits every night if it meant that he‘d stay.
The smells were heavenly: a mix of sizzling meat and vegetables - Alejandro had even found a rice cooker in one of her cupboards it seemed. 
He turned towards her when he sensed her leaning against the frame of the kitchen door, but hesitated at the sight of her still-damp hair soaking the t-shirt around her shoulders and back. He‘d only taken off his combat boots himself, and Schwalbe was oddly charmed by the jungle-themed socks covering his toes.
"Smells promising."
Alejandro had an almost pained expression, looking anywhere but her exposed legs as she came closer, curious to check in on his progress. Schwalbe had rushed through her shower, but he looked mere minutes away from serving them.
"It‘s nice to see you without your mask. And it‘s nice to see you," he said softly, and her eyes flickered up to his. The compact kitchenette almost appeared stifling then, their bodies close but never touching. 
When she didn‘t reply, Alejandro continued. His voice was a little hoarse and strained this time. 
"Why didn‘t you take the job?"
Schwalbe had hoped, foolishly perhaps, that they could just skirt around that awkward-as-hell topic. Ignore the elephant in the room until it turned into a mouse and scuttled off through the cracks. And, truthfully, hearing him ask so out of the blue was the last thing she expected in that moment. 
"I‘m not sure I can follow," she lied back through her teeth, and the annoyed exhale Alejandro let out meant that he didn‘t buy it one bit.
"Was it because of this?" He gestured between them, his hand waving between their chests. "And if you try and tell me that you don‘t know what I mean I‘ll have to start questioning myself."
"Ale-" she started, voice soft and apologetic. It made him turn abruptly and turn off the stove, before glancing back at her over his shoulder, gripping the countertop.
"I thought you were fond of me," he said, and though his tone remained deceptively neutral, his eyes spoke of hurt. 
"I am!" Schwalbe protested, aghast at the possibility of him thinking otherwise. "You wouldn‘t be standing here otherwise, would you?“ 
She grabbed his elbow and turned Alejandro towards herself again, uncomfortable with the distance that had built up as rapidly as a heavy door closing between them. What on Earth had triggered him into starting this conversation now? 
"I don‘t know, you tell me. I thought we had a good time, but then I have to learn from Ghost of all people that you‘re leaving straight after a mission."
Ghost?
Alejandro‘s mouth turned down into a frown even further. 
"Who do you think put my number into your file?"
"I-," Schwalbe began to stutter and stepped away from him, but Alejandro followed her at the hesitant movement. He didn‘t corner her per se, but his entire demeanor was so domineering that she still felt trapped in his presence. 
"I don‘t know!"
"You don‘t know." It wasn‘t a question.
Schwalbe threw her hands up, exasperated.
"I just… panicked, okay? I have never done anything like that with someone I work with. I thought you would view me differently, that it would change things."
He was glowering, eyebrows drawn together over his expressive dark eyes.
"So you regretted it, is that it?"
She squirmed, unsure how to answer without hurting his feelings. Her silence seemed to do a good enough job.
Alejandro swore in Spanish, withdrawing from her completely. Schwalbe mourned their lost proximity as soon as he was gone.
"You didn’t feel pressured, did you?" He ground out, eyes wild.
"What?" She squeaked, and then everything fell into place. God, she was slow sometimes. "No, of course not! I had wanted to get closer to you for ages, and I was really happy when you said you‘d take me into town. It almost felt like a date and-"
"It was meant as a date," Alejandro interrupted her, exasperated. 
"Okay then," she amended, wringing her hands but not daring to touch him when Alejandro looked ready to bolt, even if it meant leaping off her small balcony. "So we went on a date, but I never felt pressured into doing anything with you that night. If anything, you tried to be a gentleman."
Schwalbe had been the one that wanted to kiss him again and again, that had insisted on going back to his SUV instead of continuing their night out. The memory of his mouth on her skin and his hands as they explored her body made her flush, and there was no way in hell she could hide it.
She‘d been doing her best to not stare at his long fingers the entire way home, where they had wrapped around the steering wheel of her car as Schwalbe directed him to her flat.
"So why?" Alejandro asked again, tone sad and desperate as his eyes darted between her and the food and the rapidly darkening night sky beyond the window. "I can take a rejection, you know. We could have talked about it, and just stayed friends if that’s what you want. Get to know each other better. But running away, only to text me again months later? Really, Schwalbe?"
His expressive hands clenched and unclenched, like he wanted to grab hold and shake some sense into her stubborn head. 
Tears started to prickle in the corner of her eyes. She felt blindsided by his sudden outburst, his angry passion not unfamiliar - but Schwalbe had never felt it directed towards herself. Never would have thought that he had been this affected by her leaving.
"Fine," she spat, angrily wiping at her eyes before crossing her arms defensively over her chest. "I messed up, I admit it. I thought it would compromise my work, and the career I‘ve been building for the last fifteen years. Do you know what had been running through my head for the entire duration of our last mission?"
Alejandro loomed over her once more, like a moth drawn to a flame. He seemed angry and exasperated and hurt but so was she. Why did he have to come at her so hard over this? Why not just… ask gently again? Her nerve endings felt exposed, and she hated crying in front of the man that had somehow wormed his way into her heart.
"What did you think about?" He asked, eyes drilling into hers. 
"Instead of focusing on the fucking plan, all I could think was please let him be okay. Please let him come out alive-"
His hands were on her cheeks and jaw in a heartbeat, tangling in the wet strands at the base of her head. Alejandro‘s mouth cut off the pitiful whine that escaped her, disrupted the way her voice had cracked over her confession. 
He kissed her with so much force that they stumbled backwards a little, but then Schwalbe hastily clung onto his waist and biceps as he drew her close. His thick thigh pressed between her legs, and Alejandro crushed their bodies together almost desperately.
The kiss wasn‘t full of seduction or finesse, just raw need and pent-up longing. He parted from her for only a second, but Schwalbe surged up again, unable to stop herself now that he was finally close. 
Compromised. Yes, she sure as hell was. Running away hadn‘t changed a damn thing about that. 
As though he had read her mind, Alejandro swiped his tongue over her lover lip, but didn‘t engage in anything deeper than that when Schwalbe eagerly opened her mouth. Instead, he pulled back again, and kept her head firmly in place between his hands as he looked down at her.
"Tell me," his voice was little more than a grating over gravel, his accent so much more pronounced. "Tell me you‘re happy in Europe. That you made the right choice."
"Ale," she whimpered, and felt his large thumb brush away a stray tear running down her cheek. She clung to his waist, wanting nothing more than to kiss him again and forget about everything, but he would never let her hide again.
"Say it," he said, barely a whisper. Their faces were so close, she could count the freckles on his nose, see the tiny patches of grey hair that interspersed his beard. 
"No, I didn‘t."
"And if I put in a request for you to transfer, will you at least consider it?"
Her face contorted, phantom angst and pain for him already clawing at her chest. 
"I don‘t know if that‘s a good idea. I‘d just be worried for you all the time, and that‘s not fair towards the rest of the team-"
"I think," he interrupted her, pressing one hard kiss to her mouth. "That I‘d feel a lot better if I could see you around every day, instead of worrying what might be happening to you here."
When she didn‘t reply, Alejandro sighed and leaned his forehead against hers.
"For weeks I kept looking at the table that you and our fantasma always sat at. Hoping that you‘d be there, eating his dessert, laughing at his unfunny jokes-"
"Simon is very funny," she protested, smiling for the first time. "He‘s an acquired taste."
Alejandro snorted, then pressed his cheek against hers, speaking directly into her ear now. His low voice sent shivers down her spine as he muttered her actual, real name.
"Will you at least consider it?"
She held him harder, and fought against the giddy smile bubbling up.
"Only if your cooking is as good as you promised."
He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, then pulled her in for a hug, arms wrapped firmly around her as Alejandro rested his chin on her hair. Schwalbe slid her hands up and down his back, breathing him in. Free of dust and leather and sweat, he just smelled expensive and delicious. 
But before she could act on the familiar burn of desire that had slowly built with each kiss and touch from him, Alejandro released her again. He had the audacity to wink at her pouting face, then turned her around and marched her to the miniature kitchen table that was crammed in the corner.
"I shall start convincing you now," he explained, then took the vegetables out of the oven. 
"It‘s going to be much harder without dessert," she warned in a mock-serious voice, and was rewarded with his wonderful smile.
Several weeks later, Schwalbe sat through yet another mind-numbingly boring meeting, where her superior officer and the Head of Intelligence kept singing each other’s praises as though they had been the ones to pull the trigger. Completely ignoring the fact that several good men had lost their lives in the confrontation with Guzmán, that an entire block of civilian houses had to be evacuated in one of the poorest and most dangerous districts of Berlin for a whole day.
It had been going on and on for the last few hours, with lots of handshaking and the promise of another hefty bonus from one of the SpecGru shadow company accounts. 
And just as Schwalbe considered taking her leave to get away from the sucking up, her smartwatch vibrated.
Alejandro’s name popped up, with an image attached to it. 
AV: Looks way too empty without you there, amor.
She squinted down at the dark picture, then had to stifle a laugh. It was the backseat of his SUV.
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Phew, when I say that Schwalbe has grown super dear to my heart I mean it. I love her, with all her emotional hurdles and questionable employer choices. I wanted to leave it up to you guys wether or not you think they hooked up again or took it slow, and I think there might be room for more of this story in the future. I headcanon Alejandro to be very emotionally aware and confrontational, our baby boy was hurt for real - but he couldn’t show it in a room full of people he doesn’t trust. Thank you again for everybody that has waited so patiently. I am still writing from my phone and life has really been testing me recently. So your reblogs and comments, hearts and messages mean a lot! ✨
Until next time, my sweet chocolate puddings! - A 💖
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My general COD writing masterlist with all my stories including this one, a COD headcanons masterlist + the COD Halloween Monster Special. It‘s all linked separately in my pinned blog post for easy navigation as well!
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tagging you because I thought you might be interested in Part 2! 🤭: @marmie-noir @alwaysshallow @valacircareads @astraluminaaa @wren-solos @domaniquessidehoe2
Orange and rainbow dividers by: @cafekitsune ✨
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withacapitalp · 2 months
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Reasons
I wrote this for the STWG daily prompt today which was "Joyce" and uhhhhh I'm sorry haha thank you for @stevethehairington and @hairstevington for beta and encouragement and generally being the best of the best!
Read it on ao3 here
The thing Steve had always loved most about the Byers home was the clutter. 
There wasn’t a single surface that was bare. The tv stand was filled to the bursting with scratched up VHS tapes, the bookshelves crammed with dimestore paperbacks. There were always dishes on the kitchen table, magnets holding up dozens of drawings on the fridge, even the hallway was littered with picture frames. It was a complete contrast to the house he had grown up in, with bare cream colored walls and perfectly immaculate rooms. 
It was a mess, and none of the things in the Byers home were worth much, but every item in the home was treasured, important, valued. Everything in their home mattered. 
Now there was nothing left in the house. Nothing but boxes and empty air. 
Boxes.
And Steve. 
And Joyce.
“Where’d Jonathan and the kids go?” Steve asked when the silence had finally grown to be too much, looking around the barren space that used to be the living room. 
Joyce had always apologized for how uncomfortable the couch was. Every single time he had ended up on her doorstep late at night, after every midnight mug of hot cocoa, every midnight conversation where Steve finally finally let some of his anxieties slip out, she had led him over to that couch and wrapped him in a hand me down quilt that smelled old and worn and loved and apologized to him about how lumpy the couch was. 
Steve had never known what she was talking about. He had never slept anywhere that felt more comfortable. 
But the couch was gone now. Probably tucked away in the big box truck outside, or sold at the garage sale they had held last week. Or maybe Joyce had just thrown away like the trash it had always been, finally getting rid of the dead weight of a couch she didn’t really like all that much. 
She probably wanted a new couch for their new house. Something better.  
“They’re all at the Wheelers. Jonathan snuck out around three in the morning to go stay with Nancy tonight, and all of the kids slept over in the basement,” Joyce explained, a wry little smile falling on her lips as she fondly rolled her eyes at her children’s antics, “One last campaign before we hit the road.” 
Steve hummed, acting like this was fresh news to him when he already knew. He was the one that had driven Dustin, Lucas, and Max there. Hell, he had stayed to watch part of the campaign, and to give El and Will one last hug when it was just him and them. 
He wasn’t exactly sure why he was playing along, why he was continuing to pretend, but it was easier than just staring at the place where the couch used to live in complete silence. Better than Joyce knowing exactly how little she knew about Steve’s life these days. 
“I’ve missed seeing you around,” She tried, creeping just a little bit closer to where he was standing, “We haven’t really talked much since…”
Joyce trailed off but they both knew what she was talking about. 
Since the realtor's sign had appeared at the end of the Byers driveway. 
Since Joyce had finally had to admit that she was taking Jonathan, Will, and El away. 
Since their big fight. 
“I’ve been busy,” Steve said shortly, turning away from the living room and towards the kitchen, hoping that would take the spike out of his heart.
No, now the pain was worse, because the kitchen table was gone too, whisked away like it had never existed in the first place. Like Joyce had never sat him down there and patched him up after Billy’s fight, both of their eyes drooping with exhaustion but her fingers still sure and steady. Like Steve had never leaned against it, trying to understand his homework while Joyce did her best to explain why the color of curtains in a story mattered. Like there had never been breakfasts, or dinners, or midnight cups of hot chocolate that were only ever for the two of them. 
Like Steve had never had a place here at all. 
“What do you need from me? You said you needed something,” Steve asked in a rush, turning away from the kitchen as nausea began to bubble over in his stomach. He wanted to run, to break free, to escape Joyce and the house and all of the feelings that came along with it. He just wanted to give her whatever last thing she wanted to take and get away before too much of him broke. 
“I did. I mean is there something else you’re doing today?” Joyce asked, startled by Steve’s sudden shift, “I thought you might want to be here when-”
“Robin and I are going to an interview,” Steve said, interrupting her in a flash. He definitely did not want to be here when they left, and he did not want to be here to say goodbye. He had already done that. He had already said his piece to Jonathan and Will and El. 
Steve had nothing left to give to Joyce.
So why was he here? What could she want from him? 
“It’s a big interview for a job for both of us.” He continued, laying it on thick when they both knew how thin the excuse really was. He and Robin could have done this any day, at any time. Now that the mall was gone, they had their pick of the litter for shitty jobs in town. 
But Steve had purposefully asked Robin to plan the interview for today. He had done it the second Jonathan had told him their moving date. And Robin, saint that she was, had done it without asking why. 
He made his bed, just like Joyce had made hers, and now they both had to lie in it. 
“That’s…that’s great,” Joyce said, crossing her arms over her chest, her fingers twitching like she wanted to go for a cigarette. 
“Besides it doesn’t look like you need me,” Steve said, unable to help himself. He looked around, a bitter smile on his lips, “You’ve got it pretty well handled.” 
“Steve, honey…”
“Don’t,” He said immediately, stepping back when she tried to come forward to console him. That wasn’t her job anymore, it had never been her job in the first place, and Steve wasn’t going to fall for it again. 
He was stupid, but he learned. Eventually, he learned. 
“You already know what I think, and I don’t want to argue.” He said woodenly, the words coming out short and full of static. 
He didn’t want to argue again. Not like last time. 
Steve and Joyce had at least waited until Jonathan and Nancy had ushered all of the kids out of the house before exploding, but once it was just the two of them, it had been a supernova. Steve could barely remember what they had said, but he knew it was bad. That he had claimed she never cared about him at all, and she had told him that he wasn’t her responsibility. 
Steve knew she had called him an entitled brat at some point. 
Steve knew that he had called her a selfish bitch too. 
And he had no way of knowing if Joyce actually thought he was an entitled brat, but he didn’t want to hear it. Not again. It had been hard enough to forget the way it made him feel the first time. 
“It’s not an argument.” Joyce said softly, her voice as fragile as glass as she slowly lowered her hand down from where it had been reaching out to bring him into a familiar, warm, hug, “I just need you to know that it’s over now. I don’t want you looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life, trying to find monsters that aren’t there.” 
“Do you really believe that?” Steve asked, finally looking Joyce in the eye, “Really?”
“Yes,” She said immediately. Steve could see it in her eyes, in her voice, in the way she held herself. 
She did believe it. Joyce really thought it was over. Or, at the very least, she had made herself believe that she believed it.
“Then stay,” Steve whispered, loathing himself for saying it. He had promised himself he would never again beg for someone not to leave, but now he had done it twice in just a month. Twice. Because the first time apparently hadn’t been humiliating enough. 
But Steve’s hope had always been more powerful than his shame, and he couldn’t help but pray that she would listen this time. Joyce would see what leaving was doing to all of them and change her mind. It didn’t matter that the house had already been sold and the truck was already stuffed to the bursting with their belongings, it could all be undone. 
Steve would carry it all back in himself, even. The couch, the kitchen table, the hand me down quilt, everything that had made this house the first place he had actually felt at home. 
She could undo it all. She could put their lives back together, back to the way they had been before, and Steve wouldn’t have to think about it ever again. He wouldn’t have to agonize over how Will and El would adjust to high school without the rest of their friends, or worry about Jonathan being alone in his senior year. He wouldn’t have to think about his own empty house and the bare cream walls that hated him just for existing. 
He wouldn’t have to wonder why he wasn’t enough to care about. Why everyone eventually always left him. 
“If it’s gone, then there’s no reason to leave,” Steve muttered, his eyes burning as he turned them downward to the floor between them, feeling like he was eight instead of eighteen. A child instead of the adult they both knew him to be. 
An adult. Soon to be the last adult left in Hawkins that knew about the Upside Down. The last adult the rest of them had to rely on. 
“There’s a thousand reasons,” Joyce sighed, pulling out her most beloved weapon, “And I have to protect my kids,”
Her kids. Her kids. Not her boys anymore, now her kids, because of El. 
But what about Steve’s kids? What about Max and Dustin and Lucas and Mike and Erica? How was he alone supposed to protect them when the monsters came? 
What about Nancy? What about Robin? They were older, but they were still kids, weren’t they? They still needed someone to be the adult. 
And a quiet, almost silent part of him, couldn’t help asking
What about me?
“From what? If it’s really over, then what are you protecting them from?” Steve asked, a question he had already pressed her to answer in their last argument. 
Joyce didn’t have an answer, because they both knew the truth. This wasn’t about the kids. Not Jonathan. Not Will. Not El. 
It was about Joyce. What she wanted, what she felt like she had to protect herself from. 
And the worst part was Steve understood. He got why she had to leave, why she couldn’t bear to stay here any longer than she had to, but what he couldn’t understand, what he would never understand, was the need to hide behind a shadow. 
“You don’t have to say the truth, but, please, don’t tell me a lie,” Steve said quietly, Joyce sucking in a sharp breath as he carefully threw her own words back in her face. 
She had said it to him dozens of times over the last year, and dozens of times he had caved and told her the truth. 
But Joyce was not Steve. 
“Steve, it's too late to go back on this.” Joyce said firmly, as if her tone would be enough to spontaneously change Steve’s mind. He scoffed, shaking his head and turning away from her to stare out the front window. He welded his lips together, planning to keep his mouth shut and ice her out until Joyce finally got annoyed enough to cut him loose. 
It wouldn’t take long. 
It had only taken her six weeks to pack up their whole lives and completely tear apart Steve’s. 
“I want you to come with us.”
“What?” Steve said, the shock of Joyce’s words enough to make him speak without meaning to. 
“That’s why I wanted you to come here before everyone else,” Joyce said, trying to walk towards Steve again. This time he was too startled to stop her and she entered into his space, a soft smile on her face. The same smile she used to give him when she would push his hair away from his face at night, and tell him that he didn’t need to stay awake. 
That she would be there, and nothing was going to get between her and her boys. 
She had always said it, and they had always both known that she meant more than just Jonathan and Will. 
“I wanted to ask you to come with us,” Joyce repeated, laying a soft hand on his arm. 
“I don’t understand,” Steve said helplessly, his heart starting to race, the bare walls beginning to close in. 
“The house we bought has a little condo next to it that’s free, and I’m sure that Doctor Owens would be able to get it put in your name the way he got mine,” Joyce explained, a plan laid out neatly, too neatly, “There’s lots of jobs out in Lenora, or you could even go to the community college there. Take some classes while you figure out what you want to do?”
This was not a spur of the moment offer. Joyce had to have thought about it before this morning. More than once. 
“You want me to move to Lenora with you guys?” Steve heard himself ask, a spring blossom blooming in his chest without his permission. A little seed of hope that had no reason to exist at all. 
Joyce nodded, her smile growing, and for a second Steve let himself think about it. Truly and honestly think about it. 
He let himself imagine a world where he didn’t go to his interview with Robin this afternoon, and instead stayed here. Packed up the rest of the boxes, hopped in the van with Joyce, and went out to California. Where there was never any snow to shovel, no Mother and Father to disappoint, no dead end job to hate. 
No monsters waiting to jump out of the shadows. 
A life that was only about what he wanted, what Steve thought would be best for him. A life that came with a family that wanted him. 
“It’s over and done and nothing is holding you here anymore,” Joyce pressed, looking around the empty house, “There’s no reason for you to stay.”
And the dream was gone. 
Crushed into bits, shattered like a plate against a skull. 
Steve had reasons, seven of them. Seven people. Seven people who had gone through hell three times for a town that didn’t care and didn’t notice. Seven people who  
Seven people who deserved someone to protect them. Someone who would put them first. 
Steve had never been enough of a reason for anyone to stay, never been enough to put first. Not enough for his parents, not enough for Nancy, and now not enough for Joyce. 
But he would never let his kids think the same about themselves. 
“No, there’s no reason for you to stay,” Steve spat out, hating how bitter he sounded, but hating even more that he had let himself fall for the same trap again. Somewhere along the way he had let those walls down, let another person in, and let her put herself where she didn’t belong. 
That was the truth wasn’t it? They both knew Joyce didn’t fit where they had put her. She was never going to be his mother, and Steve had never fit into her life, but he had played pretend anyway. Ignored all the signs, ignored all the little whispers in his head that told him he was getting too close, trusting too much. He had let her brush his hair, and help him with his homework, and say the words her boys like she meant to include him. 
And now Joyce was just reminding him exactly how much he meant in the grand scheme of things. 
And, really, Steve only had himself to blame for the way his heart was starting to break into tiny impossible to put back together pieces. His mistake. His stupidity. 
He just never fucking learned. 
“At least there no reason to stay that actually ever mattered to you,” He added with a laugh that did not sound at all funny, walking out the door before he could hear another one of her lies. 
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kazhyze · 4 days
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hello, may I req some platonic headcanons for aventurine with a teen!teader?
︵︵ PLATONIC HCS , AVENTURINE WITH TEEN!TEADER ˛ ☆
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⤷ warning: Slight mention of they/them on teen!teader. ⤷ a/n: First time writing headcanons, hope they are good enough. Taglist (open) :: @cyrv-s
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01. Aventurine and the teen reader met each other while they were both wandering individually at the chaotic market in town. You both caught each other's eye, then you both started to talk to each other.
02. Aventurine takes the role of being a caregiver or a brother for the teen reader; you both share each other's thoughts, advice, and have fun together.
03. Aventurine and the teen reader explore various places, with and without taking risks and both help each other face any enemy or fear along the way.
04. The teen reader find themselves drawn to Aventurine, as they find being with him is a way to cope from stress, anxiety, responsibilities; and, that they feel that Aventurine brings them back to life.
05. The teen reader slowly develops a deep sense of trust in Aventurine, knowing that he will always support them, be with them, guide them, and always have their back, no matter what it is. 06. The teen reader and Aventurine, every week, have a tea party as you both love drinking tea— he bakes muffins, cakes, cookies, and makes you hot chocola as your just so special to him.
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spinoskingdom875 · 8 months
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The Emerald Coast is a beautiful place to be during the summer. Located next to the Station Square Hotel, with the outskirts of the city not far, the coast is an archipelago of small islands, with beautiful clear water, wonderful sky, palm trees, everything to have a fun and relaxing day at the beach. It was hot at the coast, and everyone enjoyed their drinks, Ice Cream, and some shades.
Tails applied sunscreen on himself, and puts on sunglasses. Tails: Ah, how I missed this place. Sonic: You said it, pal. Beside him was Sonic, lounging on a chair under an umbrella. He sips his drink. Sonic: I really love this place. All the times I ran through here, including the time I found you when you crashed that one time. Tails: Yeah. I wonder if they discarded that heap of junk. Not far, Big sits down with his rod, and begins fishing. Froggy hops off. Big: Don't go too far, little pal. I don't wanna lose you again. Froggy hops and sees Amy and Blaze walk by. Blaze has a drink, while Amy enjoys her Ice Cream. Amy: I knew you would love this place. Blaze: Yeah, it's as beautiful as the new city in Soleanna. She looks down to see Froggy. Blaze: Oh, hello, Froggy. Is Big nearby? Froggy nodded. She sees Big fishing. Amy: Be sure not to wander off on your own, okay? Froggy: Ribbit! Amy: Oh look. They see Cream, Cheese, and Trikey building a Sandcastle. They saw Blaze and Amy and waved. The Pink Hedgehog and Lavender Cat wave back. Blaze: So cute. Amy: Yes, always.
Wave: Okay, time to catch some Waves! She heads for the water after waxing her surfboard. Above Big was a palm tree, with Knuckles hanging on. He observes the beach, as everyone enjoys their time. Down below. Cream: It's almost finished! Trikey: This is so much fun! I never knew sand can be so fun to use! Cream: Before we met you, Cheese and I would come here every summer to swim in the water, and build sandcastles. Trikey: This place sure is amazing. She looks at the first loop. Trikey: What's that? Cream: That's a loop. Mr. Sonic would run through here all the time. One time, He saved Tails when he crashed a plane here. Trikey: Oh dear, I hope Tails wasn't hurt, that sounded scary. Cream: He was alright. He wasn't really hurt after that nasty crash.
Trikey: Can we visit the rest of Station Square later? Cream: Sure, we can do that. It's not really far from here. A big wave rises from the water. Wave rides through it, water splashing on Big. He stared, then shook himself dry. Wave: Heh, sorry about that, Big! Big looks on, then continues to fish. Trikey: I hope she doesn't get our castle wet, it'll be ruined. Cream: I hope so, too. She'll probably surf further out. She grabs her bucket and notices Froggy inside. Cream: Oh. Hi Froggy, what are you doing in my bucket? He looks at the castle made of sand. Cream: Do you like it, we made it together Froggy: Ribbit ribbit! Trikey: What did he say? Cream: he said, "Yes, it's a nice castle."  Trikey: Aw, thank you. You wanna watch us build it, Froggy? Froggy: Ribbit. Trikey: Um, okay, I'll take that as a yes! Charmy: Cool, you're making sandcastles? Trikey: Hey, Charmy. Yeah, do you like it? Charmy: Yeah, nice job. Cream: We're gonna make it really big! Charmy licks his frozen treat. Charmy: Sounds hard, but maybe I can help? Cream: Sure. The more, the merrier. Trikey: And the bigger it'll be!
?: My my, what a wonderful sandcastle. They look up to see Rouge. Cream: Oh, hello, Ms. Rouge. Do you like what we made? Rouge: Why, yes, it looks really nice. Trikey: Thank you, Ms. Rouge. The Bat smiles. Chocola came by with lemonade. Rouge looks at his drink. Rouge: Ooh, Lemonade. This heat is making me thirsty. I should go get a drink. Charmy's Ice Cream drips as he licks. Trikey gasps. Trikey: Careful, Charmy, we don't want our castle to get messy. Charmy: Oops, sorry. Cream: Oh, that reminds me. I'm getting hot from all this building. We should go get something to cool off, too. Trikey: Yeah. Cream calls for Rouge. Cream: Ms. Rouge?! Rouge: Yes? Cream: Can we go with you to get some Ice Cream, please? Rouge ponders. Rouge: Well, I am heading over to the bar now. Alright, darlings. I'll treat you to some Ice Cream.
Cream: Yippie! Let's go, guys! Trikey: Oh boy, Ice Cream! Rouge: Follow me, sweetums! They follow Rouge to the bar. From the tree, Knuckles chuckled and smiles as he scans the entire beach. Knuckles: This place sure did change for the better ever since Perfect Chaos wrecked havoc. I'm glad everything is at peace here once again. It really is nice to relax once in a while. Another wave crashes down, nearly missing the red Echidna. Wave surfs by. Wave: Sorry, again! Couldn't help it! Knuckles sighs, then smiles. Everyone continues to enjoy the rest of their afternoon at the Emerald Coast.
NOTE: Don't re-upload my Pictures anywhere without my permission, please. Thank you. (Credits: 
Sonic the Hedgehog and Friends: (C) Sega & Sonic Team. Logo made by: ShadowNinjaMaster.
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runwiththerain · 7 days
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god i love autumn. the changes from shorts to pants. the nice kind of wind blowing through your hair. stepping on crunchy leaves. working hard at school cause your assessments are coming up. romanticising your life. grandpa sweaters and hot chocolaate. i love it all.
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neometalmadness · 1 year
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[[ bunch of random Neo headcanons & some other random stuff for him that i’ve been sitting on for a while. these are under a r/m just bcuz I’m gonna be rambling a bit... i got Neo Metal Sonic on Da Brain
There are absolutely tells to his ‘disguises’ whenever he’s transformed himself into someone else (usually for deceptive purposes); whilst Neo can copy lifeform data, this does not extend to their personalities & memories, meaning often times, his mannerisms will be different to the person he’s shapeshifted into, & he might not be able to answer anywhere near as many questions as the ‘original’ will.
In addition to the last point, another pretty easy way to tell if you can get close enough is... Try lifting him up. Yeah, its stupid, and easily foiled (he doesn’t like being touched), but obviously, Neo is a robot, & a heavily armed one at that. Whilst he has the abilities to be very quick & nimble, as per his abilities... He’s NOT light, whatsoever. Just drop him into a body of water and he’ll sink. (...Don’t do that because when he inevitably climbs out he will certainly kill you)
Neo does not have to be in direct contact with someone to trace/copy their lifeform data (as per Sonic Heroes). There is a sort of perimetre/limit to how far he can copy someone from, though. Copied lifeform data entails; ability to copy someone’s appearance via shapeshifting (like he does with both Sonic & Eggman) & the ability to copy more or less all of their abilities (to reference Heroes again, he’s able to use Chaos Control multiple times during the Overlord fight which is something exclusive to Shadow in the games iirc? I’m gonna assume he can do it in Neo form as well, though I’m pretty sure it does require an emerald which. right now he doesn’t have, lol).
All of the expressions he makes on his visor are entirely conscious decisions. If he doesn’t like you, chances are, he’s going to keep that dead stare & will very rarely emote at all. But if he does, he will make an effort to ‘express’ more in his face (or, well, just the eyes), specifically around organic companions. He understands that emotional tells are more important to organics than to other machines.
Speaking of machines! Neo is far more likely to get off on the right foot with other robots. He’s far, far more conversational with other robots- even enemy ones. He also talks to robots that can’t respond verbally to him (i.e they don’t have a voice chip, or something else)- but that may just be because he likes the sound of his own voice. He does just tend to be more friendly immediately.
He’s currently trying to get one of the Metal Sonic’s that were left behind at the Mystic Ruin’s Eggbase (Final Egg; Neo’s current active location) to become functional again. The other Metal Sonic model is missing, & its pod is smashed; its assumed it was probably stolen before he had arrived there, or may have regained power itself and broke out. Neo doesn’t know, and hasn’t bothered tracking it down. (The Metal Sonic in question; it appears to be part of the Silver Sonic line or maybe a prototype...? idk I haven’t played SA1 in literal years but I am tempted to do something with this)
Also. Neo wants a chao. Neo wants a chao because I want him to have one. No, but for real, he wants one to study. They’re decendants of Chaos after all! Although he stole Chocola & Froggy, one being a descendant of Chaos, and the other having direct contact with them, he thinks there may be more information to gather from them... So. He wants one!
Neo’s base form (which is just normal Metal Sonic) is often only activated upon low charge. Although Neo can go weeks without requiring to recharge, this can also be forcefully activated if he’s sustained significant amounts of damage. It’s a sort of safety killswitch to protect himself and give him enough power to escape a dangerous situation.
Neo, in his current state, is also nowhere near as powerful as his peak. He does talk hot shit, for real. He’s certainly stronger than regular Metal Sonic, but is very much more defeatable than ever & it is something he is keenly aware of. Without direct contact to the Doctor, its a struggle to repair himself. He takes advantage of his stature & reputation to intimidate others out of trying to fight him, and often times he’ll only strike as a warning shot... That is not to say he should be fucked with. He’s very much capable of winning a fight. But he doesn’t go out of his way to do so.
...... Also just found out via Neo’s Sonic wiki page that he also has lightning powers??? Which I initially assumed he didn’t have/had to get it from some kind of source. So. I guess he’s an electrokinesis user too? Idk? Will think about this one a bit more bcuz it kinda took me out of left field HFDJKH
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beevean · 9 months
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I never played Heroes but afaik you did, so I'm curious what you think of this unpopular opinion: Cream's character and personality suffer a lot under the fact they're traits also possessed by Amy (being optimistic and cheerful, The Heart, determined to help others etc.), and thus she makes Amy look bad in comparison because in the 2000s Amy's personality shifted more towards her negative traits: pushiness and rudeness, the whole marriage thing she had with both Heroes and Rush around Sonic, incredibly hot-tempered in Sonic X and so on.
(This is just me personally, but without Amy's personality traits, I truly cannot think of any defining characteristic for Cream except the fact she is polite and more sensitive because of her age. I liked her best in Rush because I am most accustomed to her there... which is also the game that had Amy literally catch on fire because there was a potential female rival for Sonic's love. Yeahhhhh.)
strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree
You make a good point that she was the most relevant in the 2000s, when Amy was... not in a good place lmao
But when I think of Cream, I don't really think of Amy 2.0, nor I believe Amy was purposefully flanderized to make her stand out. Cream is not the supportive heart of the group in the same way Amy is, in fact she needs Amy's comfort in Heroes when she gets worried about Chocola. Aside from her politeness, Cream is softer and more naive, more of a pacifist, and she lacks Amy's energy: she's basically meant to be her Tails. Although of course this doesn't mean she isn't one of the hardest asskickers of the series :P
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shadowiie · 1 year
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For the ask game, Cream the rabbit? (^-^)
One aspect of Cream that I enjoy is how unique she is as a playable character. I just finished watching the Advance 2 cutscenes for this as I realize I didn't know enough about her to talk about her, and one thing that always stood out to me was how different she was from the main cast.
She chooses to fight against capital E Eggman in order to save her mother (a parent - something most characters don't have, especially one thats alive and actually a good parental figure). She's polite and well mannered, a stark contrast to most characters' rude attitude. Furthermore, she never fights head-on, Cheese is the one fighting for her. That's very different!
As a little baby man, Cream was my go-to character when playing Ultimate Flash Sonic. She was cute and she wasn't all pink and girly like Amy and she was easier to play with while not being boring ol Tails (and Shadow had to be unlocked to play. Otherwise baby me knew what's up).
It's interesting how much she stands out amongst the rest of the cast. She has her own little niche to her, which I appreciate.
One thing i wish more people understood about her.... Hm. Maybe it's because i don't know her as well as some of the other cast, but Cream isn't really a character that's easily misinterpreted. If I had to pick one thing, I'd say her bravery.
Whether it's for her mother or Chocola, Cream has always been willing to step into harms way to get them back. She's quite the ass-kicker, too - while Cheese does most of the work it's Cream herself who gives the orders.
She can seem like she's your standard "little girl" character, but like with most Sonic characters once you take the time to look at them you notice their character is much more complex than at first glance.
As for a headcanon..... I headcanon that like she does for most chao, she gets along well with Chaos :)
Whenever she's allowed up on Angel Island, she plays hide-and-seek and makes flower crowns for them, as well as with all the other little chao. Knuckles appreciates it, though he'd never admit it.
One relationship that I really appreciate is Cream and Sonic. Cream tends to bring out Sonic's kinder side, as he'll go out of his way to do things for her in his own Sonic-ey way. God help you if you make Cream cry, as Sonic will zip into action to make things right. In Sonic Advance 2, when Vanilla is kidnapped during final story and Cream starts to cry, the very next action Sonic takes is to use the 7 chaos emeralds and become Super Sonic to chase after Eggman and rescue Vanilla once and for all.
It's very cute how Sonic acts like an older brother to her.
I also really like Cream's relationship with Vanilla and Amy.
One relationship I wish I could see is Cream and Knuckles. Knuckles is stubbornly kind when it comes to other people, but his inexperience and hot headedness leads him prone to misinterpretation and awkwardness.
I think it'd be cute to see Knuckles awkwardly trying to babysit Cream. Bonus points if he's a terrible babysitter, and Sonic gets to tease him when he accidentally makes Cream cry with his poor skills. Even still, he won't hesitate to smash anything that tries to hurt or tease her, including especially Sonic.
As for a headcanon with one other person, I think Amy often brings Cream along for "girl talks." Cream tends to just go along with whatever Amy's doing, and so I could totally see Amy, needing another girl to talk to about love who isn't Rouge or Blaze (Blaze lives in the Sol Dimension, and Rouge just gets on Amy's nerves), would drag Cream over to her house and then vent/gush about her love for Sonic. Cream doesn't really get it but she's too polite to refuse.
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naimahtaylor · 11 months
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Here’s a Fanart of My Female Anthropomorphic Cuphead OC Hot Chocola and The Background is Purple and I Draw This Earlier and i hope you gonna enjoy the post of her
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@tricksteroffate asked// There's a Demi! The incredibly dazed-looking Demiurge-Akira with a steamy mug of Something in his hands. It takes him a moment, but he eventually offers it to the Other Him.
"I... don't know if you like hot chocolate, but it - it always makes me feel better. It's got a bit of mint in it~ My favorite recipe to drink when I feel bad, not sure if it'll help with... with cramps. But still."
--
"Oh thank you, I love hot chocola--" Ren paused as he registered who exactly was offering him the warm drink.
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"Did I take the wrong medication? Like, am I hallucinating right now or is there another me standing in front of me right now?"
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durotoswrites · 2 years
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Can you do a character breakdown for any of the GB2 characters?
Thank you so much for your patience on this ask!  It’s been ages since I’ve played this game, and the things that stuck out most when I reminisced playing it are the interesting mechanics that were added after the SNES edition of Harvest Moon.  It gave me those same nostalgic vibes that I loved from the original, and the addition of Sara as a playable character was so awesome.
Because marriage wasn’t a part of this game, there are no heart events, and I feel like the cast in general could have used a lot more development.  That’s not to say that I didn’t have my favorite villagers.  Visiting the shops and buildings in town gave us more detailed artwork of the characters, and I quickly found my eyes drawn toward Daisy, the keeper of the seed shop.
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How I feel about this character:
I always thought that Daisy was really attractive - not overly feminine, but rather sporting an edgier/sporty look (by early Harvest Moon standards).  She seemed to have a very cool, laid-back personality that I enjoyed, yet she still managed to be very playful.  Visiting her shop, I always felt that she would be the type to read magazines behind the counter when no one was there.
Her casual demeanor and appearance both remind me a lot of Nami.  And since A Wonderful Life wouldn’t be released for another couple of years, I can’t help but wonder if Daisy’s design inspired Nami’s.
Daisy is more outgoing than Nami, enlisting you to join a snowball fight complete with heckling, and inviting you to the hot springs to hang out.  Her body language is also a lot warmer.  She leans on the counter toward you when speaking, and I think it’s really cute. <3
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All the people I ship romantically with this character
Daisy x Farmer - I was always a little miffed (but also conflicted?) that we couldn’t marry the townsfolk in the game.  Daisy would’ve been a top choice for me.  I feel that her knowledge of growing things would mesh well with living on the farm and helping the farmer live a happy, cozy life there.
That being said, I do think it’s neat that we get to attend a wedding between two NPCs instead.  It’s kind of refreshing. But…
Daisy x Chet - I feel like Chet would be a really good match for Daisy.  I get the impression that Chet is very serious about his work, but he still likes to have fun.  I feel like Daisy’s more relaxed, playful attitude would be a good balance for them.  That, combined with their passions for different aspects of farming would make them a cute couple.  To be honest, I kinda shipped them and was really surprised when Chet ended up marrying Rosie instead.
My non-romantic OTP for this character
I love the little random events like the snowball fight.  I can definitely see this tight-knit village all being friends with one another.  I do like to imagine that Daisy is closer to Chocola, Chet, and the twins, Bill and Will.
My unpopular opinion about this character
Are there any unpopular opinions on this character?  She’s a little obscure.  I guess it would be unpopular with the developers of the game, but I thought it would be cool to marry her.  At the same time, I think it’s neat that the game doesn’t focus as much on marriage.  
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
I would’ve liked more events with all of the characters in general.  The dialogue is limited at best, but I do still have a soft spot for this cast.  I really feel like they set up the foundation of what the series was going to become.  They interacted more with each other than the villagers in Rosebud Village in HM SNES, and I really liked that.  We later see the townspeople have their own friendships with others, and even characters that don’t get along as well.  
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But, in all, I’d just have to say I wished there was more content and dialogue and ways to interact with the characters in HM GBC 2.  It is a really fun and under-appreciated game, though.
Thank you so much for the ask!  I’m tempted to pull out my 3DS and start playing my copy of the game now. :)  I hope you have a great day!
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phantomruby · 2 years
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Chances Chapter 3
The reality of the situation hits Rouge. Sonic thinks on his decisions.
Tw: panic attack, injury, body horror, swearing, mind control kinda
This Infection shit hadn't exactly been a cakewalk to deal with ever since it had latched itself to his skin. 
The pain was one thing. An agony seeping through his bones. His blood ran hot with liquid metal, veins on fire every second he was awake.
And he was awake a LOT. Not like he had much of a choice after all. His reliefs from the waking world were brief. They had to be. Sleep too long, and risk the virus completely overtaking him. Not that the pain let him rest long anyway. He was pulled from his most recent slumber by his own spluttering, liquid metal drowning his lungs.
He was exhausted, drained. Dark bags forming below his dull green eyes. Shoulders sagging as his arms hung heavy. He was nowhere near as agile now, his usually measured steps faltering. Hadn't been the first time a recovery run ended with his face in the dirt.
He was more moody now than usual. Snapping and raising his voice in times which didn't call for it, at people who didn't deserve it. Nobody could blame him, but the guilt was just another thing crushing on his chest.
But the worst thing; more than the exhaustion or the pain. Was the betrayal of his own mind.
He could feel it, every fucking second, seething in the recesses of his head. White hot and screaming.
Search. Spread. Infect. Legion.
Base instincts, clutching and pulling at rational thought. 
It would be so easy, all it takes is one touch to spread. Seek out others, share your gift. Give into it, become legion.
It begged him, cried for him to stop fighting it. But Sonic kept pushing, kept forcing instinct back down to the corners of his mind.
His mind had been invaded by foreign force before. Dark Gaia twisted his thoughts when his body transformed on the star-speckled nights of the Broken World crisis.
He clung to his own thoughts then, still very much himself inside the hulking navy beast. He would do it again now.
But his friends hadn't been so lucky.
The hedgehog's mad dash came screeching to a halt, pulse racing and sweat dripping onto his muzzle. He paused on a ledge, overlooking the burning city below.
Guilt pulled at his heart, twisting in his stomach.
Charmy, Cheese, Chocola…Who knows how many others around the world…
None of this would have happened if I'd had just let Shadow-
No.
Just because some bozo did the wrong thing  doesn't mean I didn't do the right thing. Mr Tinker deserved his second chance.
Sonic sucked in a breath. His infection had recessed to a manageable degree for now, he had left the others to defend the truck long enough. The sooner he got back, the sooner he could protect them.
He was not going to lose another friend today.
A blue streak tore its way through the city. Or whatever was left of it. Sonic weaved and danced through the Zombots littering the streets, blasting through an occasional crowd. 
He came to the clearing, coughing against the smoke invading his lungs. The were barriers still intact, just barely. Obviously the Zombots had made their best attempt at getting through. But noticeably, no truck.
It wouldn't take the blue hedgehog long to discover its whereabouts. His ear flicked, the undeniable sound of Omega's gunfire ringing a distance away.
They couldn't have gotten far.
Two hands gripped the steering wheel. Knuckles turning white, claws pricking into her palm.
Each breath was quick as they ripped from her lungs, chest feeling as if it was going to crush in on itself. Heart lodged in the bat's throat.
Tears glossed her vision, spilling onto her muzzle. Eyes smeared black with her destroyed mascara. She pawed at her eyes, soaking her glove. She could barely see the road ahead.
He'd done it again.
Fuck! He'd done it again! He had to go and play the hero, didn't he? He just HAD to save her from that damn Zombot. Just HAD to sacrifice himself to protect the survivors. And where had that got him? The big bad Ultimate Lifeform, another mindless slave in the Doctor's Army.
Shadow the Hedgehog and his fucking promise. Giving the world a chance to be happy.
But where was his chance? Why was he not allowed to be happy?
…Why did he sacrifice himself again.
A tap against the window. Rouge is hurtled from her thoughts. 
In her panic, she expects glowing eyes to be staring through the glass. She glances to the passenger side. A brief sigh of relief passing her lips when her gaze meets with green instead.
The blue hedgehog grinned, gesturing for her to wind the window down as he clung to the side of the speeding truck. 
With a flick of a button the window winds down. Sonic leans inward, on hand one-liner clearly about to spill.
But then he catches her gaze, sees the glass in her eyes and her damp muzzle. Her full body trembling.
His grin disappears. 
"Rouge…what happened?"
A sob tore through her, a lump forming in her throat.
"...Rouge?"
She said nothing. She didn't need to. Her watery gaze dropped to the passenger seat. Sonic followed her solemn look.
There, glinting in the evening light, two rings of shimmering gold.
And Sonic's mind is cast back, to endless space and a world on the precipice. The soft acceptance in his rival's face as the brilliant light faded from his body, leaving black and red fur in its wake. An outstretched hand batted away.
A body falling to Earth.
Golden rings, entrusted to a friend.
He looks to Rouge now. The knowledge that they've been here before goes unspoken.
"...What happened?"
"The idiot got infected!" She spat, slamming her hands to the wheel. "Saving me! I told him to run. But he wouldn't listen!"
Sonic was, for once, without words. His heart dropped.
"...He stayed behind. Tried to buy us some time to escape."
The hedgehog grimaced, guilt smacking him in the chest.
He knew damn well that Starline was to blame for this; restoring Tinker's memories and returning Eggman to the villain he truly is inside.
But Shadow was right, none of this would have happened if they hadn't left Tinker to roam free. Or if Metal Sonic hadn't been set free and weaponized again.
Sonic had gave them both a chance, an opportunity to finally do the right thing. To stop the destruction, the madness, the violence. And in giving them both free reign, the world and everyone on it is in danger.
He'd given them the chance to choose, and they chose wrong.
Now, Sonic and everyone on the planet was paying for it.
Shadow was paying for it.
He'd lost another friend. And it was his fault.
And Shadow couldn't be an ordinary Zombot. Raw chaos flowed through the Ultimate Lifeform's veins, power unmatched. Shadow the Hedgehog was a weapon with a conscience. Now? He was just a weapon. An emotionless, remorseless weapon. 
And that made him more dangerous than ever.
Sonic chanced a glance at Rouge, her eyes transfixed to the road ahead despite her tears.
"Rouge. Where is he now?"
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ajantafoodproductseo · 4 months
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Hot chocolate, a beloved beverage, can be prepared in various ways to cater to different tastes and preferences. Combining drinking chocolate online from Ajanta Food Products and cocoa powder from Ajanta Food Products results in a rich and indulgent cup of cocoa that's sure to warm your heart and soul.
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ajantafoodproduct · 6 months
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This hot chocolate recipe with cocoa powder not only warms your heart but also your taste buds, thanks to the rich flavor of cocoa powder. Ajanta Food Products' YouTube channel is a valuable resource for more culinary inspiration, offering a wide range of recipes and tips to elevate your cooking skills.
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