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lune-hime · 3 years

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Daddy (Chocobros x Reader)

Who knew a single word could have such an effect.

↞Noctis↠

One forceful kick to Noctis’ calf and a squirming body in his arms was just enough to awaken the prince from his deep sleep. Opening heavy eyelids, he lazily blinked to adjust to the blurry limbo between dreamland and the world of the living. Another swift kick to his thigh, dangerously close to the royal jewels, snatched him out of his purgatory and had him puffing for air. Feeling more tossing he hazily regarded your disheveled form. He groaned in sleep-deprived annoyance and attempted to calm your writhing body by tightening his hold on you. It worked for a few moments, but just as Noctis had started to drift back off to sleep you commenced your movements again. This time, however, they were softer and more distracting. Instead of thrashing about you were now gently grinding against him, brow knitted into a firm line and soft heated gasps emerging from your slightly parted lips.

“Mmm, Noct just like that.” You mumbled huskily, moving your body lightly against his. The enticing lull of sleep he had felt a few moments ago was entirely washed away and now the prince was fully awake in more ways than one. He propped himself on one elbow to get a better view of your facial expressions. He smiled when the slight loss of contact made you whimper.

Your subconscious sinful ministrations had him planning ways he would punish you for disturbing his sleep.

“Daddy...please don't-” You whined, grinding harder and increasing the friction between your two bodies. Noctis’ wandering thoughts immediately ceased and his features contorted in confusion. He gingerly shook your arm.

“Y/N, wake up.” He called gently, tone still coated in sleep. When your eyes fluttered open the only thing you could see were brilliant sapphire orbs against the bleak grayscale of the room.

“Noct?” You yawned and looked up at him, eyes bleary and still adjusting to the light.

“Are you okay? You were talking in your sleep.” Noctis inquired, his stare unwavering.

“O-h really?” You gulped. Oh shit. You knew exactly what you had just been dreaming about.

He hummed in affirmation and with his free hand moved a couple sweaty strands of stray hair from your forehead.

“At first I thought you were having a, you know, dream about me, but then you started talking about your father.” He almost sounded disappointed at the last point.

“I was having a, you know, dream about you Noct...” You drifted off, moving so you were once again flush against his chest and started to trail your hand up and down his waist. Your prince had awoken you before you had the chance to get to the best part of your dream, thus leaving you a bit needy for touch. You looked up at him through your lashes expectantly.

He blinked a couple times as the two of you laid in silence, the air growing thicker by the second.

“So your dad was in your wet dream? That’s nasty, Y/N.” Noctis grimaced, seemingly out of the mood now, and buried his face in your neck before instantly falling asleep again. You laid there in utter shock, mouth agape and now very much wide awake, staring at the ceiling and wondering how you were engaged to this man.

↞Prompto↠

“Sweety, run your hand through your hair-Yes just like that!” Prompto chirped as he excitedly brought his camera to his face. The rapid clicking of the shutter drowned out the peaceful sounds of the towering pine forest. Ignis had thought it was a good idea to take a small break in the midst of your day long drive to Cleigne. Prompto, ever the enthusiastic photographer, pressured their driver to pull over when he began seeing signs on the side of the road for a scenic outlook. So here you were, back to the dramatic landscape and hair being ravaged by the wind.

“Prom--are you--sure--this is a g--ood spot?” You shouted as a strong gust of wind threw a chunk of hair awkwardly in front of your eyes. The shutter to his camera went off as you attempted to spit it out. The hair you removed from your visage revealed a sour look that made Prompto giggle.

“It’s perfect! You can see all the way to the Rock of Ravatogh from here. Plus the wind gives the photo dimension.” He winked playfully. It was difficult to be annoyed with Prompto for more than a few seconds. Anyone who was capable of that surely had ice in their chest instead of a heart. That toothy smile was like a stab of warmth into your body.

After a few more wind ridden, hair flying poses an idea popped into your head. Feeling in a rather playful mood, and wanting to get back at him for taking that awful photo of you, you decided to set your idea into action. And you hopped on any opportunity you could to tease your sunshine.

“Alright! Now lean back against the railing.” He instructed, motioning for you to back up with his hand. It made your heart flutter seeing how in his element he was. You almost didn’t feel like ruining the moment. Almost. Taking a few steps back, you felt the slight burn of the sun warmed metal on your arms as you rested them upon the railing.

“Okay, say cheese!” He chimed, climbing on a nearby rock. He crouched down to get a different angle and placed his camera to his face once again.

Here we go.

“Cheese, Daddy!” You sang, smiling brightly. The wind had graciously decided not to obstruct your vision so you didn’t miss Prompto experiencing the shock of his life. The boy suddenly lost his footing and haphazardly tumbled down the rock. The fall happened within a split second and it took you a moment to process what your suggestive remark had done.

“Oh my god Prom!” You screeched, immediately pushing yourself off the railing and racing towards him. The only part of him that was visible behind the boulder was his right arm sticking straight up, camera in hand, having protected it from being crushed as he fell. The scene was so comical you didn’t believe it was real until you rounded the corner of the rock to see his crumpled form in the dirt.

“Are you alright?” You called, your voice reaching a higher octave in worry. Prompto groaned in affirmation and hissed in pain as he tried to roll to a sitting position. Getting to your knees, you grabbed his camera and placed the worn strap around your neck before supporting his back as he slowly inched himself up.

Once he was sitting you let your eyes and hands alike to roam his body; turning him in various directions in search of any blood or scratches. The only abnormality you found, however, was the blush that was so intense it almost covered his freckles.

“Uh-yeah, I’m fine.” He coughed, brushing the gravel off his jeans. He waited a few moments before speaking up.

“D-did I hear you correctly?” He asked, stumbling over his words as his blush intensified tenfold.

“What do you mean, daddy?” You asked innocently, cocking your head to the side and blinking.

Prompto felt faint, and without your steady hand holding him up he would have surely tumbled down again. The implications of your solely playful word, though, had triggered a feeling of desire within him.

Reaching out to grasp the leather around your neck, Prompto carefully maneuvered the camera strop off your neck and placed it safely to the side. His fingertips sent tingles up the back of your scalp and with his trademark swiftness, he had you pinned down on the ground underneath him. The motion was so fluid it didn’t give you a chance to react.

“Let’s see how many times I can get you to call me that before we have to rejoin the others.” He smirked, a determined glint in his eye. Oh how the tables had turned.

↞Ignis↠

It wasn't uncommon that you found yourself not being able to take your eyes off of Ignis. The man was an earthly embodiment of an astral. Every movement he made, from his calculated evasions on the battlefield to the way he flicked the spatula as he prepared scrambled eggs in the morning. Everything he did was laced with an ethereal grace. Tonight, however, your gaze was particularly glued to his suit. More specifically the way the tailored fabric hugged every curve of his body. It accentuated his muscular arms and clung to his toned thighs as he glided about the ballroom, greeting and engaging with the foreign and domestic elite. In his usual attire, one would look at his above average height and assume his slenderness but this suit was throwing those assumptions directly out the window.

Since the royal gala had commenced, in between the idle chatting and socializing your eyes were always locked on his form from afar. The view of his endowed backside you got when he suddenly turned to face away from you to talk with a new group of politicians had you drooling into your cocktail.

“He looks like such a daddy in that suit.” You sighed dreamily. It was impossible for your mind not to wander straight into the gutter when that outfit left nothing to the imagination.

“Wow, Y/N I didn’t know you were that kinky.” A deep voice barked into your ear, subsequently snapping you out of your daze. You jumped, the contents of your drink sloshing dangerously close to the rim of your glass. Of all the guests in the ballroom who could have heard you it had to have been him. And he was never going to let you live this down.

“Shit, Gladio don’t scare me like that. You know I startle easily.” You scolded your friend. Your voice was a bit breathy and the embarrassment of your comment was starting to physically take form as a deep rouge on your cheeks. The man next to you looked like he was having too much of a good time seeing you squirm and regarded you with a playful smirk. He motioned his index finger for you to lean in closer. Gladiolus met your scowl with a light chuckle as you cautiously stepped closer to him.

“You gonna let him fasten you to the bed with his tie later and call him that?” Gladio prodded in a low voice, just above a whisper. His tone was teasing as he wiggled his eyebrows at your mortified form. You were sure your skin had turned a bright shade of fuchsia, constrasing with the deep Lucian obsidian of your ballgown.

“Shh! Someone is going to hear you.” You hissed, taking advantage of Gladiolus’ bent form and jabbing him in the gut with your elbow. He huffed and faltered slightly, but recovered quickly with a loud burst of laughter.

Unbeknownst to you, a certain someone had in fact overheard the whole discord. Your words were loud enough to reach Ignis’ ears and potent enough to turn the tips of them a flushed scarlet. You were never one to use such forward language and hearing such a shameless word applied to him put an uncomfortable strain on his already tight trousers. The riveting points by the government officials next to him about altering Insomnia’s current trade agreement to one of a bilateral nature was now falling on deaf ears as Ignis’ began ringing with desire. Less than appropriate images of you screaming that word while he pounded into you on the kitchen counter, brunch simmering on the stovetop and the early afternoon sunlight casting a radiant hue on your frame were not suitable for the occasion and he began having to mask his increasing distraction with feigned interest. He cleared his throat once there was a pause in the conversation and politely excused himself, weaving seamlessly past the fews guests that stood between your two parties.

The moment Gladiolus saw Ignis making his way through the sea of bodies, he whispered a quick don’t do anything I wouldn’t do...which is nothing as long as it’s consensual and patted you on the back lightly before whisking himself away to save Noctis. The poor boy was being chatted up by an older woman who was dropping subtle flirtatious hints. You sputtered a mixture of curses and words of embarrassment as you fanned yourself in attempt to calm your already riled body.

Ignis had done a far better job at collecting himself than you, strolling up to your flustered form with seemingly nothing amiss.

“Hello, darling.” He approached you with a warm smile and placed a loving hand on your shoulder. The contact felt like a hot iron to your skin. Your skin prickled with sensation under his palm and you weren’t able to mask the pleasant shiver that racked through your body.

“Hi, Iggy. Any exciting conversations?” Your asked, grinning cheerfully to mask your growing desire. Little did you know the man next to was struggling with the same problem.

“As exciting as tariffs and taxes go.” He sighed as his hand nimbly traveled from your shoulder down your arm, leaving a ghost of touches that set your nerves off like fireworks. It made its way down until it reached its destination at the small of your back. Ignis casually stepped closer and closed the lingering space between the two of you. His grin radiated a sweet innocence but his touch was anything but.

“Sounds interesting.” You gulped. Unable to make eye contact for fear of being burned alive by his heated gaze, you suddenly found the half empty contents of your cocktail to be the most intriguing thing in the world.

“Quite riveting I can assure you.” Ignis let out an airy chuckle. He then leaned in even closer so the only thing keeping the two of you from being flush against one another was your drink.

“But my dear, I’m much more interested in how you think of my outfit. Or more so, me in this outfit.” His sultry tone sounded like liquid velvet against the edge of your ear. The hand on the small of your back started drawing lazy circles along the fabric of your dress.

You were mortified. There was no way he could have heard you, right? When you didn’t respond he tilted your chin up so you were forced to look at him. His emerald eyes were practically shining.

“You underestimate my hearing.” Ignis purred. You didn’t have the proper chance to react before he began putting pressure on the small of your back, silently asking you for permission to lead you away.

“I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing, love. Let’s excuse ourselves for a bathroom break, shall we?” Ignis’ request was laced with silk as his hand trailed even lower to snake around your lower hip and pull you to his side. You nodded excitedly, promptly placing your drink on a passing waiter's tray as you trotted as fast as your heels could carry you to the nearest unoccupied room.

The following day, Gladiolus rounded the corner to Ignis’ office. He knocked on the grand double doors twice with his knuckles before letting himself in. The man seated behind the desk looked how he usually did; white dress shirt neatly tucked into freshly ironed black pants and suspenders straightened on his shoulders. He was hunched over a pile of documents, glasses falling down the bridge of his nose as he intently studied the papers. Gladiolus smiled devilishly and cleared his throat.

“Hey, daddy wanna go grab some lunch before we spar?” He asked, finishing off his request with a wink. Ignis jolted with so much force that the documents went flying and he fell sideways off his desk chair. Not a moment later, Gladiolus quickly ducked out the door just as a dagger went flying towards his head, his thick laughter booming off the walls of the Citadel’s high ceilings.

↞Gladiolus↠

You had been scrubbing your plate for a solid three minutes, the residue from your meal having been washed away long ago. The chocobo dish towel in your hand methodically moved in circular motions against the plastic dish while your mind wandered in a similar pattern. A nap in the regalia earlier had led to a certain unholy dream, the contents of which had been preoccupying your thoughts all afternoon. The antics of the dream had you awoken to a light sweat and a flushed face. Gladiolus was quick to pick up on your condition since you had been sleeping curled up to his chest. When he questioned you about it you had brushed it off as a bad dream, to which he didn’t push you further. But the more you tried to get the stupid thing out of your mind the more intrusive it became.

Gladiolus’ firm hands were on your hips, digging into the plush flesh as he thrusted deeper into you. Your hands were threaded through his hair, tugging lightly and scratching at his scalp. The electrifying sensation his bite marks left on your neck combined with his rhythmic thrusts caused your toes to curl and soon you felt the coil inside your stomach beginning to relea-

“Gross, Gladdy!” Iris grimaced, her high pitched screech snapping you out of your fantasies. You whipped your head in the direction of the fire. Gladiolus had dropped his fully loaded hot dog, chilly cheese and all, onto his sweatpants in a frenzy of winning a particularly grueling round of Kings Knight against Noctis. In the excitement a few stray pieces had made their was towards an unhappy Iris.

“You don’t know the meaning of gross since you didn’t have to deal with yourself as a baby.” Gladiolus retorted, earning a snort from his sister.

“Babe, could you grab us some napkins on your way back.” He called towards you, a cheesy smile on his face when you made eye contact. You returned the gesture and heaved yourself up from your crouched position at the water bucket. Shaking your plate a couple times to scatter the remaining water droplets, you placed it on the drying rack near the grill and plucked a few napkins from their plastic casing before walking towards the group. You handed Iris her’s on your way to Gladiolus’ chair.

“Here, daddy.” You held out the napkin, immediately seizing up when you came to the realization of what you said. His eyes widened for a split second before his pupils dilated, the amber now masked by deep cobalt. The electricity from his gaze sent shockwaves up your spine, leaving a heated trail of blush along your exposed skin. Fully snapped out of your previous daze, you realized you both were still holding onto the napkin. Letting go suddenly, you coughed and readjusted the hem of your sweatshirt.

“What, Gladdy?” You inquired innocently, squirming slightly in place as his gaze intensified. The way Gladiolus was regarding you from under his long eyelashes gave you goosebumps. The sinful thoughts were practically radiating off of him.

“Nuh-uh. That's not what you said.” His smirk expanded and he licked his lips, the spilled condiments on his thigh completely forgotten.

“You obviously heard wrong.” You countered playfully, biting your lip and finally holding his gaze.

“Why so shy, baby girl?” He cooed lowly enough so the others wouldn’t hear.

“You should start calling me that more often.” His tone had gotten so deep that it sounded like it was rumbling from his chest. His excitement over the word had given you a newfound confidence. Leaning closer, you placed a hand on his clean thigh and squeezed. “Better finish cleaning off your hot dog then, daddy , so I can start tonight.” You whispered seductively. Pushing off his thigh you skipped away to sit next to Iris on the ground, leaving a stunned Gladiolus to vigorously wipe the remnants of his meal away.

#ffxv #ffxv noctis #ffxv gladiolus #ffxv prompto #ffxv ignis #chocobros #chocobros x reader #Noctis Lucis Caelum #noctis x reader #prompto argentum #prompto x reader #gladiolus amicitia #gladiolus x reader #ignis x reader #ignis scientia #ffxv x reader #ffxv imagines

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feelingofcontent · 2 years

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DNP Rewatch: The Top Dan Memes of 2016

Date video was published: 01/14/2017 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 332

Dan’s first video of 2017 and the second of his “top memes” videos. It follows the same format as his first one from the year before. He asked for suggestions on Twitter and then promoed it on Instagram once it was posted too.

0:08 - yes, accurate description, yikes

0:36 - “2016 can fuck off” sounds about right

0:44 - wow the 2015 memes video really did get a lot of views

1:08 - he says “obtained” which makes me wonder if he didn’t pay for it but got sent it or something. I actually don’t hate it that much

1:21 - he did wear it in his first not-memes video of 2016...okay it does look a bit like a potato sack

1:44 - he did spend a ton of time traveling and filming for that. (I have never actually watched the full documentary.)

2:04 - poor Dan; he tried to tell them...and he was right

2:47 - okay these made me laugh 😂

3:07 - and there it is. honestly their joke craft videos are some of my favorite content

3:19 - part of these not dying is their own fault...still

3:25 - DNP also constantly use “protip” in videos after that

3:42 - that wasn’t exactly untrue that some other YouTube/internet people thought DNP’s fanbase was annoying...I think we’re better now

3:51 - just glossing over the whole TATINOF thing

4:08 - the ironic smile as he does another one, lol

4:30 - yeah I’m gonna go with disturbing

4:50 - I do feel this. I also have no idea how to pose in photos and I would hate to have to take that many all the time. He had posted some other peace-sign vs. sad outtakes on Instagram as well

5:32 - the picture he chose for “whitest” ...yep

5:41 - okay this is hilarious 😂 poor DNP

5:57 - of course they were too awkward to ask, haha

6:16 - “let’s just not talk about Phil” ...Dan looks so dead behind the eyes in this clip and Phil looks so proud of himself 😂

6:32 - the annotations here kill me...he’s right though those do not look like weed leaves at all

7:09 - there are a couple pictures of the bowl method in DAPGO.

7:24 - this art is great actually

7:58 - this is hysterical...his dramatic reading and facial expressions are great. and here’s that Instagram selfie...where a ton of comments are just “disappointed, janice” ahahaha

8:32 - “well shit Janice, I have been told” is a line that runs through my head at random points

8:47 - getting hairspray in your eye accidentally is the worst

9:39 - clip from the TATINOF documentary...Phil is trying so hard

10:17 - “remixes...kind of” 😂

10:38 - this was at the DAPGOOSE thing in London that Dan had uploaded to his channel

11:10 - “sometimes I don’t upload videos for a few week” ...understatement of ever?

11:15 - ah, Dan’s diss track

11:32 - “way too real” yep, I have vague memories of the reaction to that video dropping and it was a lot

11:58 - ahahaha, wow. he had tweeted some about that when it happened too

12:18 - the amount of times he is saying “joke” and you can hear the quotes in his voice...and the clip from Louise’s video where she looks shocked and Phil is just nodding 👀

12:48 - how do you even get into those “various situations”...I feel like this one is on him

13:09 - this compilation is too much

13:23 - it’s so hard to tell with Dan sometimes but it would make sense for him to choose that to joke about if that’s true

13:30 - “exposing Phil” alrighty then

13:48 - he is so happy about this...and that photo set is absolutely fantastic

14:06 - aww the cute koala pictures again...and then not so cute, hahaha

14:39 - this was from ISG 8...he had to know what was going to happen; he can’t just throw a hashtag out there

15:06 - he talked about the horror of teen magazines in the last memes video too

15:18 - these are horrific 😨

15:35 - wtf

16:00 - I can’t deal with BONCAs talk

16:16 - I low-key love the sparkly suit jacket 🤐

16:40 - this is not quite as bad as the missing eyebrow one I don’t think. the memes for this one made me giggle

17:06 - I love that this is his favorite

17:30 - time for very dramatic Dan

18:16 - this story is great

18:28 - that must have been such a surreal experience for Dan

18:43 - “me and Phil”

18:56 - that tweet especially with the icon he had at the time 😂

19:07 - that is so horrifyingly creative and really does sound like something Dan might tweet. I love Phil so much

19:31 - the dramatic conclusion

19:57 - that goes way to well with the previous tweet...definitely more disturbing

20:22 - ah, shittywatercolour!

20:57 - the starter pack ones are pretty good

21:14 - cannot deal with hello internet

22:09 - “you will never be able to escape your mistakes” too true

22:30 - he was excited about the new year, and then...

22:56 - Dan’s 2017 live shows are all still public on his side channel

The meme videos aren’t my top favorites, and I still think I like the 2015 one better, but this one is funny too! I think I care less about the meme bits and more about just hearing Dan talking about different moments from the year. Dan felt the need to clarify in the comments that he’s not actually upset in the comments because some people were worried about him, whoops.

#dan and phil #dnp #dnpRewatch #daniel howell #danisnotonfire #dan howell #daniel howell videos #The Top Dan Memes of 2016

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thefanficmonster · 3 years

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will you do an oompaville x reader.? like maybe one where you’re at a wedding with him and he asks you to dance.?

Omg an oompaville request!!! I'm so grateful dear! Thank you so much for your lovely request, please enjoy the one-shot 🥰

Perfect Sync

Pairing: Oompaville (Caleb) x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: None

Genre: FLUFF, RPF (Real Person Fic)

There are certain pros and cons to being so distanced from your extended family. And I mean DISTANCED, in all capitals. I actually live in a completely different state on the completely opposite side of the US and yet I still somehow got an invitation to my cousin's wedding. To be fair, it's not that surprising, seeing as how she's the only cousin I have comprehendible memories with from my childhood. She's a really sweet girl - no, woman - and it kinda sucks that we haven't had the chance to catch up in so long.

Among the many other cons is the fact that I don't know a single person at this wedding. Not. A. Single. Person. Sure, there have been several elderly and middle aged couples who've approached me, claiming they know me and given me a huge hug, asking me how my parents were doing. Speaking of my parents, they are a pair of sneaks who avoided coming to the wedding themselves saying they were stuck with a stomach virus while they're actually vacationing in Canada. How wonderful of them, don't you think?

They are chilling in Canada and I'm over here boiling and sweating over my third, possibly forth glass of champagne of the evening, not to mention the wedding hasn't even properly started yet. Count on me switching to whiskey when it does.

Sitting at the table I was pointed to upon arrival, I let my gaze skim over the immense garden decorated with beautiful flowers, fairy lights and handmade décor pieces. Each table and bar is under a white tent, just like the one I’m currently sitting under. It’s a beautiful sight and I can only imagine it’s only gonna get even prettier when the sun finally sets completely and all these fairy lights come on. That’s one of the few good things about my attendance at this event today. The ‘good’ things have been so little in number I can probably count them on the fingers of one hand: 1.I briefly saw and chatted with my cousin who was practically trembling out of excitement, anxiety and happiness. Good for her; 2. I’ve downed so many drinks that would probably cost me a fortune at a club or bar and I’m decently buzzed. Very cool; 3. I made friends with one of the bridesmaids because I had time to kill - turns out she wanted to be at this wedding as much as me: not at all; 4. I caught a whiff of the dinner which was still being cooked and damn am I excited about it; 5. The garden is absolutely breathtaking and it’s a sight worth sticking around for. See, as I said, few enough good things to be able to count them on the fingers of one hand.

And what about that cute guy from earlier?, my subconsciousness nudges me teasingly, causing me to almost evidently roll my eyes.

The hot guy being referred to right now is the one I damn near ran over when I was pulling up to this fancy estate. In my defense, I’m still getting used to the rental car I got when I landed in Texas two days ago, and plus he came out of literally nowhere. Luckily, he wasn’t mean or upset about it, took it quite lightly which was relieving and surprising.

Not gonna lie though, he was really cute.

I see the people all over the garden hurriedly take a seat when it gets announced that the newly weds are about to have their first dance. I cross my legs, finishing the champagne in one go before I can focus my attention on the lovely couple that’s just stepped out of the mansion-like house and onto the soft grass of the lawn, slowly making their way towards the center where they’re supposed to have the dance - aka where everyone will be dancing afterwards too.

Everyone but me, I’ll be busy chilling by the bar, hopefully in the company of that bridesmaid who I can crack jokes with without feeling guilty.

The two dance in perfect sync, their movements almost mesmerizing to the human eye. I’m no professional dancer but I don’t have two left feet either, yet I’m still amazed by this perfection before me. I bet all the cash I took with me from New York - which is a lot, I expected to spend a lot - that they’ve practiced this more than once. Or at least I hope they have as to make me feel better about my own skills - or the lack thereof.

“I take it you’re a lot less dangerous when you’re not behind the wheel.“ A quiet comment emerges next to my ear, loud enough for me to hear but hushed as to not disturb the couple nor the mob of people watching them in awe.

My eyebrows shoot up. I’ve maybe heard that voice only once before but that teasing tone made me blush like mad earlier and that’s hard to forget. I have a hard time forgetting embarrassment.

Biting my lip, I slowly turn to face him, “I can’t guarantee, there are plenty of sharp objects around after all.“

There’s that same wide smile I saw earlier when my entire life flashed before my eyes. His probably did too but unlike me, he didn’t show it. “Some luck I have sitting next to you then.“ He chuckles, handing me a glass of whiskey. I take it hesitantly, giving him a suspiciously raised eyebrow. “You look like you could use one.“ He shrugs, taking a sip of his own. When my expression doesn’t change and I don’t make a move to ingest the beverage, he rolls his eyes, “Yeah I’m someone you’re seeing for the second time in your life, and yeah you might think I could want revenge for my nearly damaged health, but I don’t. And if you don’t want the whiskey...” he reaches to take it back but I quickly put it up to my lips and take a long sip, causing him to smile. “There you go!”

Oh boy does the taste of whiskey hit different after sipping on champagne for hours. I nod to him in gratitude. “Thanks, I strongly appreciate this.”

He nods back, his smile now a smaller one but still preserving the same amount of joy as when it was a full-blown grin, “I’m Caleb, by the way.”

“Y/N, nice to meet you.“ I reply, feeling the tension in my shoulders easing and the embarrassed blush fading. This guy just has such a chill aura, it’s nice being in his company. Hell, I’ll even go as far as to say if I simply had to almost hit someone with my car today, I’m glad it was him.

As more and more people emerge from their seats, heading hand in hand to the dancefloor to join the newlyweds, I finish my whiskey and am contemplating on going to get myself another but before I can decide, Caleb arises from his seat as well. He takes a stand in front of me, offering me his hand, “Well, there’s very little damage you can do you me out on the dancefloor, right?” He chuckles when he sees he’s made me blush again - third time today, damn it - but then he assumes a more serious facial expression, his smile never faltering though, “Care to accompany me for a dance, Y/N?”

I pretend to think the offer over, weighing my options and its pros and cons when in reality I dam near accepted the same second he asked. “Hmm, ok...“ I say finally, resting my hand in his, “That is, if you promise not to step on my feet. These are some expensive shoes I’m wearing.“

He lets out a genuine laugh as he leads us to the dancefloor, one that I’ll admit is hella contagious, “Says the person who almost ran my ass over earlier. Am I not expensive, huh?”

I give him a confused look, hiding fits of laughter, “I don’t know, Caleb. Are you?”

He shakes his head, “Nah, best offer you’d get for me on Craigslist is like, a dollar? Two if you’re lucky.”

And that’s all it takes to break the dam holding back my laughter, sending me in fits of giggles as we start dancing. My laughter ends just as quickly as it starts though when I realize how in-sync our dancing is. Perfectly synchronized.

Huh, wonder why, that annoying voice pokes at my peace again. But I don’t let it get to me. Not now at least. I’m just gonna enjoy this moment, dancing with a practical stranger, gazing into his warm and welcoming eyes.

Suddenly I need another hand to count the good things about this wedding since I have to add three new points: 6. Almost hitting Caleb with my car; 7. Officially meeting Caleb; 8. Dancing with him.

Dancing with him in perfect sync

Oh, shut it, I don’t wanna start blushing again.

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lxstfulbeans · 3 years

Note

*Busts in with a plastic bag of crack* You want some crack, kids? I’ll give it to ya! 🥸 So Y/N forgot where she placed her phone at and her crush decides to call her phone to help hear the ringtone so she can find it better. However, Y/N forgot that she uses funny ass ringtones for said crush and even has funny contact pics/names for them in her phone. Said songs are “Something about you girl” by Ice JJ Fish, “Wap” but with Carl Wheezer’s voice, “Interior Crocodile Alligator”, and the NFL theme song. I would love to see head cannons of this for Hawks, Dabi, Aizawa and Bakugo.

“Something about you girl” - Hawks. He’s saved as “KFC” and his contact pic is of him making the light skin face that sent y/n to orbit (he thought she deleted it cuz it’s cringy)

“Wap” - Dabi. He’s saved as “Patchy the Pirate” and his pic is a blurred image of him chasing Y/N.

“Interior crocodile alligator” - Aizawa. He’s saved as “Dad of 20” and his pic is of him laying face first in his sleeping bag

“NFL Theme song” - Bakugo. He’s “Boom Boom Pomeranian” and his pic is of a Pomeranian with his hair photoshopped on it.

I know they’ll give some funny reactions! They’ll look at sis confused and she’ll just go “See about that...” and book it when she takes her phone. This idea had me busting my pancreas 💀💀💀

Bruh I- 💀 I’m literally hearin these damn audios as I’m reading this ask, I’m rolling. This is the best 😂

— 3. 2. 1. ACTION!! —

HEADCANON: Y/N loses her phone and forgets that she saved crack-fuelled pictures and ringtones assigned to her crush.

KEIGO TAKAMI [HAWKS]:

You were losing your fucking mind at this point.

Where the fuck could you have misplaced your cellphone?? You had to meet your homegirls at the club for girls night, PRONTO!!

Keigo raised a brow as he walked in on you basically tearing apart your living room for your phone, almost crying from frustration. “Whoa, kid. Ya lose something?” He had the nerve to ask when it was clearly the case.

Sure, there was a whole lotta things to love about this bird-man, but that smartass attitude was gonna get slapped outta him.

“dId yOu lOsE sOmeThInG- YES FOOL MY DAYUM PHONE!!” You huff, throwing another couch cushion on the floor before you fell to the floor in exhaustion. “I got to meet the girls for girls night in twenty minutes, and I can’t find my phone!” You briefly explain.

You heard him chuckle, pulling out his own phone. “Okay, okay, calm down, kid. It ain’t the end of the world, y’know. I’ll just call it and we’ll listen out for the ringtone.” He says, scrolling for a bit before finding your contact, pressing the call button and..

That’s when y’all heard it.

“THERE’S SOMETHIN’ ABOUTCHA GURLL! THAT JUST MAKES MY HEAD WANNA TWIRL!!”

Your ringtone went off under the couch, making Keigo look at you with the most confused face ever, his wings puffing up as he looked at you, yet you couldn’t stop laughing as he used one of his feathers to drag the phone from under the couch.

“What the hell, kid?? I though you deleted this cringey ass selfie!” He whined, looking at the contact photo of him making that dumbass lightskin face that had you howling the other day. “And what the hell is this ringtone?? AND YOU SAVED ME AS KFC??”

“BRUH I CAN’T BREATHE SHUT UPP—“ You screech as you curl up, tears pricking your eyes as you roll on the floor. Keigo couldn’t help but snicker, rolling his eyes at you as he got you off the floor, “Okay, you got some explaining to do.”

“Well, you see, what had happened was-“ You begin, trying to hold back your laughter before snatching your phone and purse, running out of the door. “I’ll see you later, KFC!! I’m running late!”

DABI:

“Aw, damn! Where in the entire hell did I put my phone??” You groaned.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time you lost your phone and you swore it would’ve been the last. But, you were so caught up on multitasking with so much shit you wanted to get out of the way, you completely forgot about your phone.

You sighed as you now have to tear apart the lounge that you JUST straightened up, making this much worse than it had to be.

“Hey, little mouse. What’s with all the whining and hollering for?”

“I can’t find my phone, I’ve been all up in y’all raggedy-ass lair lookin’ for my shit so I can bounce!” You say with an eye roll as you placed your hands on your hips, clearly not in the mood for the bullshit right now.

“Okay, calm down. It’s just a phone, I can just call it and you can listen out for the ringtone.” He said with a sigh as he brought out his phone, dialing your number and waiting for the tone to play. The two of you went from room to room, getting more anxious everytime the phone went to voicemail. You were visibly going to cry, there was no way that you could’ve left your phone anywhere that WASN’T in the LOV Lair.

“I swear, if you start crying, I won’t let you live it down.” You hear Dabi mumble to you as you both entered the last room, dialing your number one last time until...

“NYEOW FROM THE TOP, MAKE IT DROP, THAT’S A WHAP. BRING A BUCKET AND A MOP, THAT’S WHAP”

Your phone was jamming out on a chair, Dabi looking at you like you just committed a grave sin while the ringtone played. The longer he stared at you, wanting an explanation, you can’t help but burst into laughter as you crawl to your phone, and let the tone finish.

You just hoped that your crush was still going to hang out with you after this crackhead mishap.

“MACARONI IN A POT, THAT’S A WHAP. JIMMYY”

Dabi was literally at a loss for words, (lookin’ a lil like confused bakugou rn 👀) as you wheezed in laughter. “[Y/N]... what in the fuck was that?” He asked, you can tell he was serious from how low and menacing your name was said. You were either about to run for your life or die laughing.

“And why the fuck is my name, “Patchy The Pirate”? And what the hell is this photo?” He asked again. Man, was it getting hot in there or was it just you?

“Well, you see here, uh- MOINK!” You shout, howling in laughter as you were chased around the building. Kurogiri shaking his head in disappointment.

SHŌTA AIZAWA (DADDY. ERASERHEAD):

“Oh no.”

“Oh, no...”

“Oh, no no no no no..”

This cannot be happening, this CANNOT be happening right now. Lord have mercy, please let today not be the day.

“Goddamn it, where’s my phone?!”

Yep, your phone. Your new phone that Shōta got for your birthday, who you also had a huge crush on but would never tell that to ANYONE. You promised yourself that you wouldn’t lose this phone, it was definitely the most precious thing ever.

“Fuuuuck!” You whined, already on the verge of panicking while your tore apart your room for that birthday gift. “Hey, what’s all this racket for? I’m trying to sleep.” said your friend, roommate, and crush, Shōta.

“I-I’m just lookin’ for somethin’, Shō! Sorry for all this noise..” you mumbled an apology as you continued your search, swinging your arm around underneath the bed.

“You lost your phone, didn’t you, [Y/N]?”

DAMN, he catches on quick for somebody who sleeps 25/8. Maybe it’s because you don’t really have trouble looking for stuff unless it’s something really important to you.

You sighed, the embarrassment and disappointment washing over you as you laid in defeat on the floor. “Yeah.. I can’t find it..” you mumbled.

The older man sighed, cracking his neck as he got out his phone. “Okay, just calm down. I’ll call it and we’ll just listen out for your ringtone, okay? If we can’t hear it, we’ll track it.”

God, why was he so hot when he took responsibility? You couldn’t help but sit up and nod at his words as he scrolled through his contacts until he found your name, confirming the call until..

“INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR. I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER.”

Your phone blasted the same line over and over, as hard as you tried to contain it, you couldn’t help but screech in laughter when you looked up to see Shōta’s disturbed, confused, and concerned face as he picked up your phone from underneath your dresser.

“”Dad of 20”?? What the hell type of name is that?” He asked, the iconic sleeping bag worm as his contact photo. The joke behind it was the fact that he was a whole teacher at U.A. You always thought it was cute that he was basically a father figure to those future heroes.

Plus, you wouldn’t stop joking about them being his, “lil chilrens”.

“Aight, aight. I wanna thank you for finding my phone, I promise not to lose it again!” You quickly say, trying to creep out of the room until you were confined with his capture weapon.

“I’m not done with you yet.”

Fuck..

KATSUKI BAKUGOU:

“Hey, dumbass! Hurry up, or we’ll miss the movie!”

Damn, damn, damn!! You can’t believe you just lost your phone right now, you could’ve sworn you left it on your bed before you started fixing your hair in the bathroom.

“Shit, shit! Bakugou, can you help me find my phone real quick? Pretty please?” You call out to him, really anxious because you were really looking forward to this movie and you could not miss a second of it!

“Ugh, are you serious?? What did I tell you about keeping up with your shit!” He groaned, getting out his phone as he dialed your number and listened to the trill.

“I know, I know! I promise I’ll be more careful!” You say as you listened out for it, only to pull aside your blankets to see your vibrating phone with the ringtone on blast.

Oh yes, the NFL Theme. What made you lose your shit was Bakugou’s flabbergasted facial expression as he looked down at your contact photo and nickname for him.

You couldn’t help but cackle as you saw a vein pop out, popping hands reaching out for you. “Hey! What the fuck is this shit?? Imma show you a pomeranian!” He shouted.

“Katsu! Katsu! Relaaaxx!! You know you’re my bestie and I love you, but we got a movie to catch so let’s do this later fam.” You snicker, trying to calm yourself down as you yoinked your phone and took off out the door with your purse.

“OH, JUST WAIT UNTIL WE GET BACK HOME!”

— END SCENE —

Sorry that Bakugou’s was kinda short! But, hope you enjoyed these!

#poc writers #bakugou x black reader #aizawa headcanons #bakugou headcanons #hawks headcanons #dabi headcanons #bnha x poc!reader #poc reader

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power-of-plot · 3 years

Text

Nightmares - AOT hcs.

To make this short, i often have nightmares but lastnight was really bad so i felt like writing some comfort. If you had a nghtmare too remember it was not real and that i’ll kick whatever you dreamed of right in the ass. Also, i’m SO lazy i’m starting to get exasperated of looking for pics so i might make some banners :b

Warnings: None. Fluff <3. Some cussing (It’s levi what were you expecting)

We start off with this pure soul. He is the kind to stay up late at night either lost in his thoughts or studying, it’s rare he doesn’t notice when you’re having a nightmare though it’d depend how drastic are your reactions while you’re still asleep how soon he does.

If you are the kind who seems like they’re just chilling until they wake up gasping and looking around he’d drop on his lecture and go lay by your side, WITh a glass of water, very important. He always brings one.

Talk to him about your sleep paralysis (if you’ve ever had one) now that you can move and there’s nothing creepy around he’d cuddle you. Suffer form Nyctophobia? (fear of the darkness), the lights are on for as long as you need it, he’d buy you a night light or put a candle next to you.

Cryig in your sleep? The moment he realizes that strange noise are actually your sobs he goes check on you and tries to calm you down first, he doesn’t want to wake you up. If you are heavy sleeper he’d turn the lights (or a candle bc in the walls they don’t have electricity-) on and gently shake you by the shoulder.

Now, if you are a noisy sleeper, the kind who ScReAmS you would give him a heart attack, see it from his perspective: you’re alone with your significant other apparently sleeping, you’re minding your bussiness and you suddenly hear them screaming.

He goes straight to waking you up, lights on and a little more rough shake on your shoulder “Hey it’s not real! It’s a dream i’m here!” He’d hold you close you the first thing you see is him.

If you wanted to he’d read for you, no it doesn’t make you a crybaby, he finds it sweet you like it. If the book has illustrations he’d keep his fingers out of the way so you can see, his voice would be incredibly soothing. I feel like he’d read Moby dick.

When cuddling he’d be the big spoon, yes you heard (actually read) right, i feel like he’d be the small spoon but in this case you need comfort and protection. He’d wrap his arms and legs around you, some kisses on your neck and the back of your head.

This dude- i currently just like his old self of s1-2. Taking in mind the recent events on the manga.

He stays up late at night as well but exclusively lost in his thoughts, he’d always notice when you’re having a bad dream since he stays there with you either until it’s dawn and he has to get ready for his daily rutine or he falls back asleep.

If you’ve ever had a sleep paralysis and you are able to feel or hear things from the real world, his warmth and the sound of his breathing would be there, holding you is relaxing and beneficial for both.

His eyes fix on you after he feels a wet spot forming on his shirt, are those those tears?- He doesn’t give a second thought to waking you up “Wake up! It’s not happening, it’s okay!!” Make emphasis into the it’s not happening, i’m sure he’s had nightmares about his mother.

I feel bad for him if you scream in your sleep, bye bye to his eardrums and double heart attack, he shakes you and talks loudly until you open your eyes, he wouldn’t say anything mean even when he’s raising his voice.

He doesn’t has any problem with staying all the night up to make you company if you can’t fall back asleep. Would push you a bit to not keep things to yourself, for your sake, he wants to comfort you.

He would have you lying over him. Both his hands resting on your back, one still and the other rubbing in a soothing way up and down, to keep your mind off the bad experience you just had he’d talk about what he used to do when he was a kid or times when Armin was mistaken for a girl. Poor Armin.

I don’t write for Levi cuz i feel like i suck at writing him, if this sucks i am very sorry u_u.

First, congratulations for gaining his trust to the point he is okay with sleeping with you, seize every damn second you can spend with him. Levi doesn’t show much emotion and he goes straight to the point, wich is results disturbing for some, specially when he’s insulting. This rule applies with affection as well, his way of loving is peculiar.

He doesn’t show a big reaction at all when he notices you’re crying, he does love you but his eyes know what hell looks like, he’d wipe your tears and either poke your face with his finger or shake you. “You’re dreaming, i’m right here, everything’s fine.”

His voice is relaxed but loud enough for you to understand clearly what he is saying, he’d hold your hand and caress it despite he’s not 100% certain you washed your hands after going to the bathroom. The sacrifices that must be done for humanity.

You screaming is the real deal, he wouldn’t have a heart attack, his soul would slip out of his body, screams just touch a nerve deep inside. If he was up doing his obsessive cleaning until he felt sleepy he would rush there even if he just mopped the floor, somehow managing not to slip.

Shakes you wih both hands, almost frenetically but careful of not breaking your neck-, this is of those rare cases when he shows another facial expression besides his usual neutral one; his eyes would widen.

He’d have your head on his chest and his chin resting on it, his arm over your shoulder and his free hand holding yours. He is not bothered in the slightest if your legs are longer than his or if your thigh alone is as big as his whole torso, expect some of his jokes about Erwin taking a shit and some anecdotes about his discovers during his cleaning.

“I was about to go into the basement and it turned out the two cadets i was looking for were there f-(censored). They were filthy.” “Literal or metaphorically?-” “...Both-”

Requests are open, i laughed writing this, hope you enjoyed it :) Thanks for reading! drink some water and get sleep or else godzi- i mean the colossal titan gonna eat u.

#aot headcanons #aot fluff #fluff headcanons #comfort headcanons #armin x reader #eren x reader #levi x reader #k i'm done #have an awesome day!

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wrctings · 3 years

Text

Steve Rogers x Tony Stark | Back home

marvel’s avengers was a gift from the universe <3

fandom: Marvel's Avengers pairing: Steve Rogers x Tony Stark summary: Basically very domestic Kamala and Stevetony interactions (soulmates alert). word count: 2.5k

“Kamala?”

Steve Rogers's calm, compassionate tone swept through the room, filling it with a sense of grave comfort that the young woman felt immersed in right away, the Captain walking toward her with an open face. Anyone who had ever been close to Captain America must have noted the softness that seemed to underlay his tranquil composure and deep voice, an empathetic word or a reassuring nod always cloaked behind the hero's nonetheless solemn reputation. When knowing Steve, the contrast between the dutiful image that was usually given of him and the actual friendliness and even fun of his character was often a striking one, the world having ostensibly forgotten that the man was actually barely in his thirties, and used to be so well-acquainted with lively afternoons of fistfights and curse words flying off his lips that his best friend had more often than not had to drag him out of dusty alleyways, holding up a Steve with scraped knees and bruised cheekbones while the blond boy was still showering his stronger opponent in curses and promises of revenge.

But being aware of Steve's history, mustering enough self-control to keep herself composed turned out to be even harder for the young woman Steve had decided to pay a visit to. Kamala, be cool, the teenager quickly whispered to herself, taking an empowering breath in as the Captain came to a halt beside her. Captain America wanted to see her!

“Yes?” Kamala turned around, trying to discern her growing excitement by acting as friendlily yet coolly as she could, remembering all too well how overly joyous she must have appeared upon finding out that Steve had come back alive with Tony.

“It's a little late, I hope I'm not disturbing, I didn't get a chance to have a word with you, so I thought I would now,” the man explained cordially, not willing to impose upon the young heroine.

“Oh, I'm not busy,” Kamala reassured him instantly, shaking her head determinedly while she was in truth ablaze with bewilderment at the realisation that Steve wanted have a chat with her.

“I remember we met at the fanfiction contest. A lot has happened ever since, hasn't it...”

A cloud of sadness momentarily flew before the greyish blue of the Captain's eyes. What happened on A-day, what happened to Kamala — that was on him. But if he hadn’t made that decision, millions would’ve died as well. And that would’ve been on him, too.

After a fortunate reunion with Bruce, it was Natasha that he had run into on his way, and the look on the young woman’s face at the sight of him had been enough to make Steve realise just how exhausting, excruciating to a low the team had never hit before, those past years must have been. He regretted most of all that he had not been able to be there for them, as well as for rthe other people who counted on the Avengers, when they needed him. To him, it still seemed as though he had last seen his friends just hours ago, as though they had been all together just the day before, Iron Man triumphantly winding onto the stage of the fanfiction contest in a metallic flash of red and golden paint under festive beacons of gleaming light, roaring applause and sparkling colourful confetti, everyone able to take a mental glimpse at the proud curve of Tony’s lips under his helmet.

He still had to remind himself how much time had passed while he had been held captive by Monica, having himself remained plunged in an unconscious sleep for most of that period, but the feeling that he had been long gone had become all the more persistently clear when he, Thor and Tony landed in the Chimera, the disordered pieces of furniture left to dereliction that bestrewed the ship’s interior summarizing well-enough the state of discord that had accompanied AIM’s reign and the dismantlement of the Avengers. It seemed like the world had an ironic tendency to keep spinning round and round without Steve.

“Yes, it has...,” Kamala agreed quietly, her cheerfulness waning as she gave in to the memory she bore from that fateful afternoon.

“Bruce told me about everything you did,” the blond man however continued more hopefully, a hint of admiration and thankfulness chasing the sorrow away from his voice in such a way that Kamala wondered whether she had suddenly been rather plunged in an oneiric slumber, one of her heroes actually thanking her. “Thank you, it must have taken a lot of courage to do what you did. And I'm sorry, Kamala. I know part of what happened on A-day was my fault. I wish there was something I could've done to prevent... All that. What happened to you, and so many others.”

“No, Captain, you did what you had to do,” the young woman animatedly contradicted Steve, offering him an honest look. “These powers, we can make something really good out of them,” she asserted with heartfelt conviction, truly believing her words. “AIM says we're sick, they're making vilains out of us. But I know, in my heart, that this can be used for good. Without these powers, I never would've been able to join the resistance, to do what you guys do. You've always inspired me to be better,” Kamala confessed, looking down timidly as she realised that she had overstepped the boundaries she had meant not to cross in order to not assail Steve with her babbling. “And now I can be just like you.”

Then an empathetic hand set upon her shoulder. The young woman lifted her head back up, meeting Steve's gaze.

“You were better than us,” the man said kindly, his head bopping in a small nod. “You reunited us. Tony told me about your speech, after he and Bruce had a fight. You're a real hero, Kamala. You never gave up, you're so young and you went through so much, but you never gave up.”

“He's right, you know.”

Another voice unexpectedly rung out in the room, the well-known silhouette of its owner appearing in Kamala and Steve's field of vision a few seconds later. Tony joined them with casualness in his step, but his statement had been sincere.

“If it weren't for you, God knows what other fantasy changes my caravan would've undergone,” he remarked humorously, giving Kamala a flippant, knowing smile.

“Caravan?” Steve frowned slightly, not having a single clue about what Tony was referring to.

“Tony kind of lived in a caravan while you were gone, that's where Bruce and I found him,” the teenager told the Captain, recounting her surprise as they had indeed witnessed a bearded and unkempt Tony Stark emerging out of his metallic temporary house with tousled hair and a spare punch in the face for Bruce.

“You? In a caravan?” A playful smile of incredulity took a hold of Steve's face, making his eyes glimmer with a twinkle of gaiety.

“You wouldn't believe it,” Tony shot back, wryly grinning back at the man. “But thanks to Kamala, now I can spend my time home-decorating 'round here.”

“That explains so much...”

The Captain teased the brunet, smiling still, as the young woman observed the two of them in absolute disbelief. Seeing Tony and Steve taunt each other in such a way felt both incredibly sweet and funny — who knew to what extent went the complicity that the two men shared went?

“Don't worry, I rolled up my sleeves and changed up your room myself,” Tony bounced off Steve's witty joke, but this time the other man's facial features twitched into a more distressed expression, the joyous lines of his face falling back into place.

“Wait, did you actually... ?”

“What?” Surprised by Steve's sudden change of tone, Tony was quick to assuage his friend's concerns. “No, of course not. I... No. It was left untouched,” Iron Man promised, the memory of Steve's death suddenly tugging at his heartstrings in a pang of wrenching recollection; he had known that Steve wasn't coming back, but he couldn't have brought himself to displace anything that had been been imprinted with Steve's touch, Steve's soul.

“Okay,” the Captain's face softened, a sigh of relief falling off his chest. “Good to know.”

“Well, it's getting late, I'm gonna go to sleep now,” Tony then announced, scratching the back of his head in a lazy motion. “You know where to find me if you need me, but please address Jarvis instead unless it's a life-or-death thing. Especially death.”

The brunet spun on his heels, taking one last glance at Steve and Kamala, and headed for his room as breezily as he had come in, leaving the Captain and the teenager together again.

“It's good to be back indeed...”, Steve smiled, shaking his head, but his heart was pulsing with a warm, tingly feeling. “Well, I better get going as well. I'm glad I could finally talk to you, Kamala.”

“Me too, thank you, Steve,” the young woman didn't shy away from calling him by his name this time, Steve's friendliness inviting for congenial conversation. “It's good to have you back.”

“It's good to be home again,” the man nodded, a tide of peacefulness washing over his face. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Kamala waved Steve goodbye, starting to process what had just happened as the Captain's footsteps echoed while he was walking back into the Chimera’s compartiments. Steve had not only shown the upmost kindness toward her, but he had also given the young woman even more confidence in her own abilities, both as an inhuman and a young superhero still trying to find the right path to follow. She had done everything she could, and something good had come out of it. And with teammates like the Avengers by her side, Kamala didn't doubt that good was what would always triumph in the end, no matter how many years it took and how many times they would have to struggle. That's what they always did — their best. And it never went to waste.

Meanwhile, Steve Rogers had set on a course of action slightly different than anyone else might have expected. Instead of taking a turn into a corridor that lead to his room, which he hadn't had the occasion to visit yet in spite of his coming back a while ago — catching up with the current situation had seemed far more of a pressing matter, especially since he had already gotten something resembling a five-year break —, the man instead followed the path that lead to another room, one that he knew almost as well as his own.

Shifting from one foot to the other with a certain shyness that he couldn't subdue, Steve brought his fist up to the door, pausing an instant before he ventured to make his knuckles connect with the cold steel door, the couple of knocks reverberating through the empty hallway and imbuing the inside of the room with a muffled echo. A few seconds later, the entrance unlocked, revealing Tony on the threshold.

“Well, look who it is,” he scoffed gently, stepping aside to let the other man come in. “I did say to only disturb me for a life-or-death matter...”

“Well, it's a life matter,” Steve smiled furtively, taking a look around — how he had missed being here. Home. “But if you really want to be left alone, I can just...”

“Oh, shut up, will you,” Tony rolled his eyes, coming closer to Steve, and carefully, almost as if he was still afraid to fully yield to the desperate yearning that he had been harbouring for the past years, lest Steve suddenly vanished into thin air once again, enfolded the man in an embrace from behind. “There, don't you dare go,” he murmured menacingly, eyebrows furrowing as he held the Captain.

“I'm not going anywhere,” Steve whispered back, eyelids fluttering shut as he was imbued with Tony's touch.

They remained like this for a quiet while before Steve took the initiative of turning around, mouth slightly parted as he brought it closer to Tony's, brushing his lips with his own, their light breaths mingling in shared intimacy, before the Captain brought the honeyed torture of suspension to an end by pushing his jaw forward and firmly pressing his lips against Tony's, kissing him with an intensity that he let suffuse his entire being.

When they pulled away at last, the deep brown of Tony's iris shone with particular softness as the two of them took a seat upon the man's bed.

“God, I thought I had lost you. I was such a wreck...,” he chuckled sadly, but his face lighted up as soon as his eyes locked in Steve's again. “But now you're back. Don't you ever pull something like this on us, alright, Rogers? This better be the last time we're rescuing your ass from a spaceship.”

“I promise,” Steve pressed kiss onto Tony's temple. “I'm sorry.”

“No, don't be. I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner.”

“But you found me in the end, that's all that matters,” the Captain assured the other man, grazing his arm with his. “If it weren't for you, my blood would still be supplying Tarleton, and maybe I would've woken up another 70 years later. But I'd rather wake up by your side tomorrow morning,” he added allusively.

“I've almost forgotten how corny you were...,” Tony laughed lovingly. “Alright, get in there.”

Uncovering his bedsheets, Tony swung his feet upon the bed — much bigger than the one installed in Steve's room — and rolled toward the farther edge of it, giving Steve space to lay down beside him.

“This is much better than cryo...,” the Captain sighed contentedly, sinking in the mellowness of Tony's cosy bed and the presence of the man he loved by his side.

“Oh yeah?” The brunet snuggled up to him, retaking his position in the midst of Steve's arms, which enveloped him with their safe clasp.

“Yeah”, Steve exhaled into Tony's hair, feeling the familiar hard surface of the man's arc reactor press against his t-shirt, right against Steve's own heart.

It was as if, all along, a golden thread had tied them together, making it impossible for fate to snip through the unbreakable link that bound their cores to one another; as if their souls had been forged in the same breath, though Tony's had had to wait much longer before seeing the light of day alongside its lover, who had known the world way before Tony was born. And yet, in spite of the walls time had erected, in spite of the frontiers that space had tried to dig between them, there they were — together again. As if their very existences grew together, entwined until, in death, they would find the seal of their forever reunion.

But until then, they would always look after one another, no matter how many attempts would be made at trying to fork their lives, no matter how many times they would have to fight destiny itself for their scrap of shared happiness. After everything, it would be the two of them, until the end of the world.

#steve rogers #tony stark #stevetony #stony #captain america #iron man #stevetony fanfiction #stony fanfiction #marvel's avengers #marvel's avengers fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel #writing #my writing

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aquariusshadow · 3 years

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Live!Blogging Legacies s3x16

So I ended up just watching ep 15 on my own time and decided not to liveblog it. I surprisingly enjoyed the episode a lot more than I thought since I’m not in the Star Wars fandom at all. But it was honestly probably one of my fav eps from the season minus the lethan shit.

So. Season finale here we go.

Honestly im not sure how I feel about already being a season finale? Like it feels too early

Oooooooo im vibing with the song tho

LANDON HI

I MISSED YOU

Where’s cleo?

There she is

We love a landon/cleo power duo

Daaaaaaaaaaamn landon

I do love this side of landon ngl

Hi Clarke

Yea…I did actually miss his character

Awwwww maleb superhero duo mission

“I’m starting to think traumatized is my permanent resting state” ahaha josie that hit too close to home there for a sec

Nor should you trust Clarke, josie

Hope are you really gonna steal the car…….

Yea its almost like everyone’s idealized versions of landon are just that…idealized

Hence why handon has a lot of criticisms in the first place

I love landon I really really really do

Im not critiquing his character at all—just his relationship with hope (I should probably do a separate post talking about my thoughts on handon as a whole)

OH CLARKES IN THE TRUNK

Duh

Im an idiot

Well I was right about the car stealing

Why does hope seem genuinely amused by Clarke

Idk what it is but its…..different???

Like I would think she would just be in a constant state of annoyance around him

But her facial expressions and body language convey the complete opposite

No no no

Why cant yall just let hope be single

Lizzie honey

Ik you love hope

And want to help her

But setting herself up with someone else

(that isn’t you or josie ehehe…..ignore me shhhhh)

Is not a good idea

Everytime I see ethan my methan heart breaks and the fact lizzie’s trying to set him up with hope just…hgnnnn

I do like the landon/cleo dynamic so far!

Ah there’s the annoyance I was waiting for Hope

Kaleb is literally so sweet

Just the way he talks about his feelings for cleo

Lizzie: *trying to set ethan up with hope*

Also lizzie: *telling ethan everything she loves about hope*

Also also lizzie: ah…shit I’m in love with hope

Noooooooooo ethan don’t invite lizzie to toss the ball around

That’s methan’s thing

☹

Wait is that not landon

???

Uh no

Lizzie

You and mg didn’t have a ‘will they wont they’

You just weren’t interested in him

Im sorry

The entire m*zzie trope was mg pining for a couple seasons

Then as SOON as he moves on

Everyone decides to tell lizzie that she likes him

Wtf is this ‘will they wont they’ bullshit she’s going on about

Finally a cleo/hope conversation

I’ve been waiting for this

Yea me too cleo me too

I really loved the cleo/hope dynamic this semester

So yea I guess that’s not landon???

Ethan: I’m kinda into someone else

Ethan’s forgotten memories: DAMN STRAIGHT YOU ARE AND HIS NAME IS MG

Malivor!landon?

Oh that’s disturbing

That’s really disturbing

Poor cleo she did not deserve that

Hope and Clarke are now frenemies im so down for this

That’s some really good advice Clarke

Im impressed

This finsie scene is really cute

Josie *concerned about lizzie hurting ethan*

Lizzie *probably about to date ethan cuz the writers hate us*

Josies concerns are legit

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Who asked for this

We had methan

Methan was RIGHT THERE

And while im still back and forth with hizzie

I do completely understand hizzie

So whyyyyyyyyy

Man poor kaleb

He fought so hard to try and tell cleo how he felt

Only to have his memories wiped of her

That sucks so bad

Oh good

Hope brought memories of cleo back

PANDA PROMISE

PANDA PROBABTION

I love the panda trio so much

Im vibin with this song too

Im very picky with tv show soundtracks

But this episode did good with the music (even if idk the songs lmao)

………..i understand the attraction to mali!landon now ahahah

OH MAN

“well this looks like a party” listen his voice I just—

His VOICE I JUST—

So, lots of thoughts here.

I really liked that episode! I think the Mali!Landon reveal is strong enough to be a season finale type of cliffhanger but overall, this episode didn’t seem like a season finale episode...if that makes sense.

I loved the Maleb superhero road trip! It was very nice to see them together again. Cleo and “Landon’s” own road trip was very interesting and now I’m just curious on what their dynamic would be like with real!Landon. Hope and Clarke...idk I’ve always really enjoyed their dynamic. I don’t ship them romantically but I do really like what I see with them.

I’m so happy we got a Hope and Cleo reunion and conversation. It reminded me why I shipped them in the first place when Cleo compared their own struggles with destiny and fate being unfairly forced upon them.

Now. For the biggest bunch of bullshit this episode. It’s been a while since I watched a show as it was airing where it did something like this. Something so out of nowhere. Just. Why L*than? Is this a cop out? Are the writers really so out of touch with their fanbase? Like...if you HAD to put L*than together then they should’ve built it up from earlier this season.

Talk about forced relationships.

I love the Panda Trio. That is all.

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irondad-not-ironsad · 3 years

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WandaVision Episode 1 Reaction

Spoilers below!!

I enjoy the music over the marvel logo

But also a 43 second logo feels kinda long for a 29 minute episode- is it just for the premier or is this gonna happen before each ep?

Also I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that there is a title sequence, which will probably be similar in length. Combine that with the lengthy credits people have been complaining about, it seems that the percentage of the thirty minutes that is actually the story is lower than it should be

not that I don’t love a good title sequence! But I’ll take a well fleshed out episode over fancy logos, title sequences and credits any day

now that I’ve got that of my chest, on to the actual show

I like how they have the frame shaped like that of an old timey tv, combined with the black and white it really adds to the old timey sit come vibe

I like these bells

Ok I know I complained about to much time being wasted with logos and such, but i LOVE how cheesy this theme song is and I love them showing vision and Wanda driving tp there house in wedding attire

“A regular husband and wife” 2 seconds late *vision disappears into a cloud of sparkles*.... 1 minute 8 seconds in and I love this

Even there acting is reminiscent of an old timey sit com this is amazing

feel like I should note he title sequence ends at the 1.36 mark approximately, which may not seem like a lot but again the show is less than thirty minutes so it adds up

Wanda talks with a fifties accent: I already love this show

Also I wish I had magic I could use to clean, I’m moving back into my dorm right now and Wanda’s powers would be SO helpful

Also I LOVE the laugh track

Also Wanda’s short curly hair is so cute

I love how neither of them knows what the heart means so they play it off by being like “yeah of course I know what it means, how could I forget? Do YOU remember what it means

Also Vision is literally part computer shouldn’t he have a photographic memory?

Also how old is Wanda? I could have sworn someone said she was 19 in civil war, which would make her like 21 here? I think?? Idk tho, as a 19 year old I don’t think she has ever looked 19 in the movies, even back in Ultron she looked at least in her mid twenties

The face Vision makes when he makes himself human is so funny

Also Vision blowing Wanda a kiss and her reaching back to grab it is the perfect amount of corny that makes it still cute

Also I wonder what vision’s job is

The backing music is so funny

I can already tell Agnes is going to be some great comic relief in a show that’s already hilarious

“I assure you, I’m married. To a man. A HUMAN one!” I know I’ve said before that I was never the biggest fan of Wanda or Vision but I love Wanda in this show

Obv there is something clearly off here, but I feel like I need to mention that it’s clear this is some warped reality. If I had never seen any of the MCU before, I may believe it was just witch and her robot husband living in the fifties, but the little details really make it clear to the audience (the majority of whom I am sure are familiar with the mcu) that something is off. This scene is one of those, where Wanda cannot seem to recall how long her and Vision have been together and plays it off by saying “It feels like we always have been together”

Is Agnes giving Wanda advice for the bedroom? is this really what I’m watching? Or have I wildly misinterpreted this?

Love the old timey lingo

Vision working a desk job is so funny

Love that vision doesn’t even know what they do at his job, I know it’s part of the false reality thing but also lowkey relatable

“you’re like a walking computer” “I most certainly am not! I’m a regular carbon-based employee made entirely of organic matter”

I started this like twenty minutes ago and have only gotten 7 minutes in because I keep stopping to type my reactions. I am going to try to shut up and watch, and stop screaming about every little detail for a bit 😂

Real quick though does Vision just go by Vision at work?

Ope apparently he does.

I wonder if Vision took Wanda’s last name

Or is he Vision Stark-Banner since it was Tony and Bruce who made him??

He probably isn’t called that but I think it would be funny if he was

Love that instead of writing “dinner with boss” or “Dinner w/ Harts” or even just “Harts” he drew a freaking heart like im dying

if my lack of emojis seems weird I’m typing this on a computer which I never normally do and I’m to lazy to pull up the emoji keyboard, so basically imagine there’s a cry laughing emoji after everything funny

“No skeletons in the closet?’ “I don’t have a skeleton sir.”

Yup I was right, Agnes is giving her sexy time advice

“you should stumble when you walk in a room so he can catch you. It’s romantic!” that is the only way I will be flirting from now on

Also I got to say, I'm guessing it’s a fifties thing but those pointy bras don’t look comfortable

So she answers the phone “Vision Residence” Is Vision also their last name now? Does he go by Vision Vision??

They make the best facial expressions

This phone conversation where Wanda think they’re having a date night whereas Vision is talking about his boss coming for dinner is comedy GOLD

also I love the fact that they’re giving us stereotypical sitcom drama while keeping it clear that there are bigger problems than dinner with the boss

Fake commercial break is at 9.56 (these time stamps are for myself I want to calculate how much of the episode is actually the story)

I do love the fake commercials tho! And I suppose in a way they ARE part of the show

They missed the chance to make it the toastmate three thousand and make every ironman fan cry

The beeping toaster sounds like a ticking bomb..... also the little red light is the only color we’ve seen this episode I think

Commercial ends at 10.46

Also love that it was an SI toaster, still wish they had made it 3000 instead of 2000

How did Wanda confuse Mr. Hart with her husband? Not that I’m complaining, her coming out in a robe and covering Vis’ Boss’ eyes is HILARIOUS

“This is the traditional Sokovian greeting? Didn’t I tell you my wife is from Europe?” “How exotic!” “We don’t break bread with Bolsheviks”

Visions pants are SO high waisted

“It’s our anniversary!” “Our anniversary of WHAT?” “WELL IF YOU DON”T KNOW I”M NOT GONNA TELL YOU”

Poor Vision is trying to figure out what kind of company he works for this is sooo funny

Agnes coming in clutch with a full meal

So Wanda needs the ingredients in order to magic a meal she can’t just make one appear

Vision breaking into song was amazing

How did one chicken turn into like 30 eggs

Vision is singing old McDonald with his bosses wife this is great

“Diane!” “That must be my wife summoning me!” “She calls you Diane?” “Yes... it’s her pet name for me” “I’m coming... Fred”

So many clichés in this show but it’s done in such a purposeful way that it’s still funny

Also we have only seen three rooms: the kitchen, the living room and Vision’s workplace

“Well I think tonight’s going SWIMMINGLY”

Mrs. Hart is SO NOSY

But I love that they don’t know the answers

Wanda looks SO disturbed when Mr. Hart is demanding her and visions story, you can tell her mind is fighting itself and it’s so sad

Mr. Hart is choking, is it bad that I think he deserves it?

Mrs. Hart keeps cheerily repeating stop it, and gone is the stereotypical sitcom camera angles and and the backing music is switched for something eery

This is lowkey scary, Mr. Hart Dying while his wife keeps cheerily saying Stop It and it just feels creepier the more she repeats

Wanda looks distressed and vision is just looking to her for what to do, her old timey accent is gone and she sounds nearly robotic as she tells Vision to help

Poor Wanda, she is so clearly going through it mentally right now

Laugh track is back, and just like that the Harts are leaving, despite only having one bite of food

And somehow Mr. Hart is impressed? Was Wanda rewriting reality to make them so?

I know that this is clearly some alternate reality and nothing is right, but wanda and vision deciding to choose that day as there anniversary and this little convo here is soooooo cute

Aw her making them rings and them both saying I do is soooo cute

And vision saying “and they lived happily ever after’ is so sweet but also so sad in context

What is that little remote vision is holding meant to be?

And love the hexagon closing in on them with the cute music playing to end the episode

Are the people in these credits real? Because it lists the start as Wanda Maximoff and Vision but are the rest actual people?

So there is some sketchy dude watching the maybe fake credits so there's something going on there

The actual credits start with 7.13 left and I’ve been told there's no mid or post credits scene. I’ll let them play while I finish this up anyways

8 minutes and 49 seconds of this show is the logo, title sequence and credits. Out of 29.36 total this means only 20 minutes and 47 seconds is the show, which I suppose is standard for a sitcom but I think I felt deceived by it showing as 29 minutes

Also 50 seconds of “commercial takes the show time down to 19.57 if anyone was wondering

I swear tho I’m not all that bothered by the length, just did the math in case anyone was curious like I am.

I thought I was going to really enjoy this going it, but it still really surpassed my expectations and I can’t wait for episode 2!

This is my raw reactions, but I’m sure that as I mull it over more I’ll be posting more about the show

This is somehow a perfect combo of lighthearted comedy and mild horror

I wanna let this episode stew for a while, so I prob won’t watch episode 2 for at least a day

Also what are your guys’ thoughts on this format of reaction? Did I write to much?

Also what did y’all think of this episode? Feel free to let me know what you think of my reaction, and whether you agree or disagree. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

#anna reacts to wandavision #anna reacts #wandavision #mcu #marvel #avengers #scarlet witch #vision #wanda maximoff #disney plus #wandavision spoilers #wv spoilers #mcu spoilers #marvel spoilers

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bubbyleh · 4 years

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ghostly shenanigans

Joshua Freeman is going to be seven years old forever. Sure, he’s technically older than almost every other monster in the crypt (Bubby and Coomer have him beat by a few decades, at least, and Benrey might be ageless), but his body, mind, and maturity are all never going to grow beyond how they were when he died.

But that’s not a bad thing! Being a kid forever is way more fun than being an adult. Adults only seem stressed out and anxious, which Joshua is not interested in. He only wants to play games and watch funny TV shows.

Besides, if he wasn’t a kid, then he wouldn’t have gotten his new dad! He didn’t really like his first dad, so Gordon’s already off to a head start there. But even then, though, Joshua’s pretty sure he’s knocking it out of the park. Like how the two of them will play games together for hours, or how he made sure that there was a playroom in the crypt. Seriously, best dad ever!

“Daddy! Daddy!” Joshua bounds into the kitchen and jumps into Gordon’s arms, who has to frantically drop the meat he was grabbing from the fridge in order to catch his son. While he’s a little upset about his food getting floor germs, he’s also an undead zombie forever roaming the earth, so it’s not like he can get sick or anything. And he loves Josh, so it all works out!

“Woah, hey kid,” Gordon holds his ghost son up to his face. “What’s this all about?”

“I love you!” Joshua gives his dad a quick hug. “And I wanna play!”

Gordon winces. “Josh, I was just about to eat.”

Joshua makes a disgusted face, sticking his tongue out. He hasn’t eaten in about one hundred years and he’s been fine, so why can’t Gordon be the same? And, on a more disturbing note, Gordon gets real weird when he eats. It’s just all raw meat, which is the worst kind of meal to watch someone dig into with their bare hands.

“You don’t want me eating one of our cryptmates, do you?” Gordon asks. Josh’s eyes go wide, and he shakes his head furiously. “I thought so. How about you go see if Benrey will play with you?”

Joshua sighs, wiggling out of his father’s arms. He sulks off through the kitchen door, towards everyone's bedrooms.

†††

Joshua peeks his head through Benrey’s door in a blatant show of disrespect towards their privacy. Just as he expected, the floor is absolutely covered with stray video game cases and empty cans of unidentified soda. There are no lights on, but he’s pretty sure Benrey’s in here. Where else would a haunted spirit be in the middle of the day?

“Mr. Benrey?” Joshua calls out, and for a moment, the room is still. He almost begins metaphorically racking his brain, trying to remember whether Benrey was in the den when he passed through, when suddenly, the shadows begin to shift.

They stir, twirling and twisting into a figure Joshua recognizes. The whirlwind picks up a pumpkin that had been hidden somewhere, spinning into place right at the top as Benrey takes form.

“WHO DARES DISTURBS MY SLEEP?” Benrey’s voice is loud and booming, but in no way can it be described as a yell. Benrey doesn't yell.

“Hi!” Joshua beams, cheerful.

Noticing the little ghost currently phasing through his door, they drop the theatrics. “Oh, hey Joshua. What’s up?”

“I’m bored!” Joshua whines, stomping his ghostly feet as he completely enters Benrey’s room. “And my dad won’t play with me!”

“Oh that’s… that’s a bummer.” Benrey loops their hands under Joshua’s arms, lifting him up to eye level. “Want ghost lessons from your good friend Benrey?”

Josha tilts his head. “You’re not a ghost.”

“Wh- Yes I am,” Benrey sputters. “I was alive once, dude.”

Joshua gasps, stars in his eyes. “Really? Just like me?”

“Yeah. What did you think I was?”

“Pumpkin,” Joshua states bluntly. “Why don’t you have a head?”

Benrey’s pumpkin smile turns to a pumpkin frown. “Lost it.”

Joshua frowns. “But if you’re also a ghost, does that mean when I get older I’ll be like you?”

“No!” The denial comes tumbling out of Benrey’s mouth before they can stop themself, and they quickly slip back into their laid back demeanor. “Nah, I was just an angry death, and now I gotta haunt people. You’re here for different reasons.”

“Hm,” Joshua hums to himself. “So you’re gonna teach me cool ghost things?”

“Hell yeah,” Benrey agrees. “Let’s work on your tangibility, yeah?”

†††

Gordon, Tommy, and Darnold are sitting in the den, watching a strange movie on the TV. Their facial expressions range from confused (Gordon) to horrified (Tommy) to disappointed (Darnold).

“I think the book was better,” Darnold finally confesses. He reaches forward with the remote, and, with a click, the television shuts off. Tommy breathes a sigh of relief.

“There’s a book?” Gordon asks.

“It’s always a shame when a good book is ruined by a movie adaptation,” Darnold crosses his arms, sinking back into the couch.

While Gordon has quite a few questions about this supposed book version of Sharknado, he’s interrupted by Joshua sticking his head through the wall and gasping. He expects to hear him shout, “Daddy! Look!” But in reality, what Gordon hears is much different.

“Mr. Tommy! Mr. Darnold!” Joshua drops down on the couch between Gordon and the other two. “Benrey taught me a trick!”

“Oh, that’s- that’s nice, Joshua!” Tommy smiles. “Do you want to show us?”

Joshua nods. A determined look spreads across his face as he wraps one arm around Gordon, and then his other around Tommy and Darnold, pulling the three of them close for a hug. It lasts only for a brief moment, as soon enough, Joshua begins to phase through the two living beings once more.

He throws his hands up in the air. “I can hug everyone now!” Joshua shouts, and with that, he runs through the wall, leaving the adults in the room with shocked expressions on their faces.

“His first reaction when he figured out how to interact with living beings was to hug us,” Darnold reasons out.

“That’s so- so sweet!” Tommy looks like he’s about to cry. “Gordon, you have such a good kid.”

Gordon blinks.

“Joshua, holy shit!” Gordon shouts, bolting out of the room after his son. “That was incredible! I’m so proud of you!”

#hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware #joshua freeman #gordos freeman #benrey #on a dark and dreary night #monster au #my writing

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janeykath318 · 3 years

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All I Want For Christmas (Shieldshock)

When are you going to finally tell him?” Jane hissed at her assistant, whose eyes were following the departing figure of one Steve Rogers with a great deal of admiration, leaning into thirst.

Darcy immediately turned her gaze back to Jane, affecting ignorance.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said primly. “Who wouldn’t admire The Star Spangled Hunk With a Plan?”

Jane snorted. “That was more than the average “admiration.” I know you better than that.”

Darcy huffed and affixed her gaze sternly on the screen she was monitoring, hoping to discourage Jane from any further conversation on the topic. It was absurd. She was just another casual fangirl. It was perfectly natural. Who didn’t have a slight crush on Captain America?

“Ohh, Janey!” She exclaimed, glad for a diversion. “I think you’re gonna like these readings! We’re getting some good data here!”

Science quickly took over and Jane completely forgot about her matchmaking interests for the ensuing thirty six hours science binge!

When it was over Darcy dragged Jane to bed, and stumbled blearily towards her own room, soon falling into blissful dreams of a blonde haired super soldier.

She woke with a gasp after a particularly vivid dream where she’d swooped her up and kissed her hard, heart fluttering wildly.

“I’m in so much trouble,” she groaned, burying her face under the pillow and willing herself to think of something—anything else!

When she and Jane had first moved into the tower, the only residents they’d met had been Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. Both were badass and very fun to hang out with. As for Steve Rogers, she’d seen him mostly from a distance when he’d been talking to Tony in a lab or working out in a gym.

The first encounter was in the spacious kitchen that most of the Avengers shared. Darcy was searching for some ingredients for her famous banana waffles when she came face to face with a very bedraggled, bruised, and battered Captain America.

“Dude!” she’d gasped out. “Are you okay? You look like Thor took his hammer to your face.”

He’d smiled weakly, then winced as if it hurt to use any facial muscles.

“I’ll be okay. S’already healing. Looking for an ice pack.”

“Lucky for you, we’ve got a fair selection. Clint and Natasha use them a LOT.” Darcy rummaged in the freezer and found one, which she offered to him. “This work?”

He’d accepted it with a grateful look and a quiet “Thank You.”

“Rough mission?” she asked, sympathetically.”

“That’s an understatement,” he’d said wearily. “I’m sorry for disturbing you, ma’am. I’m going to go sit down before I fall down. Thanks, again.”

With that he’d excused himself and limped away, leaving Darcy a touch concerned, but also, wowed.

The next time she saw him was sopping wet, stalking through the halls with a murderous expression that made Darcy scamper to stay out of his way. She’d never seen Captain America make that expression before and it was rather terrifying. Someone was about to get it.

“Hey, Cap! Who pissed in your Cheerios?” Tony yelled as the angry soldier passed them.

Steve stopped dead in his tracks. If looks could kill, Tony would have combusted on the spot.

“Are you responsible for this, Stark?” He said through gritted teeth.

“No, but I wish I was,” the reckless Tony replied cheekily.

Seeing Steve really was about to lose it, Darcy stepped in to intervene before things got out of hand. Cap wasn’t the type to get mad over a simple prank, so she guessed whatever it was had to have been very thoughtless.

Stepping back into his path, she gave what she hoped was a winning smile.

“Don’t mind him, Cap. He has no sense of self preservation or tact. If you promise to not kill him, I’ll help you track down the real perpetrator and get revenge. I am an excellent prank detective.”

For a moment, he stared at her like she had two heads, then the frown started to ease and his shoulders relaxed. He wiped at his wet face and sighed heavily.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have let it get to me. It’s…..been a…….rough day for me and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. I really don’t like ice water, especially when it’s randomly dumped on my head.”

Now it was Darcy’s turn to frown. The poor man had been frozen for seventy years and this stupid prank had probably triggered him.

“Yikes, Dude!” She said with a wince. “This calls for teaching a lesson, alright. How about you get into dry clothes and meet me in the lounge? We can start plotting. I think I may know the idiot who would have done this.”

“Sounds like a plan, Miss….”

“Lewis, Darcy Lewis,” she finished. “And You’re Steve Rogers?”

“In the flesh,” he confirmed, with a crooked little smile that was all kinds of cute.

“Well, Steve, I hope you’ll trust me when I say you’ll never have to worry about this kind of thing happening again,” she said firmly. “Just ask Tony what I did when he messed with my coffee supply.”

She gave her most evil, villainous grin, which made Tony shudder and Steve smile. .

Her dastardly plan was successful enough that Steve was left well enough alone and though he never told her what had been bothering him so much, she did a little searching and the tidbit she found made her ache for the man again. It was the anniversary of the day he’d lost his best friend.

Darcy commenced Operation Be Kind To Steve shortly after, which involved leaving funny notes in the common areas, making sure there were regular deliveries of his favorite Apple Crumble Pie, and regularly greeting him cheerily when he stopped by the lab.

After three or four months of this, she was quite smitten and wished she had the guts to ask him out, but with the fall of Shield and Steve’s search for The Winter Soldier, the timing was all wrong. So, she continued to worship from afar and expanded Operation Be Nice To Steve to include Bucky as well.

Steve, who was looking much happier these days, had been sent by Natasha to inform them their presence was required at the upcoming Avengers Karaoke night: Holiday Edition. Darcy had instantly accepted for both of them, causing Jane to sigh and try to probe Darcy about her crush.

After three more science binges and sleeping for twelve hours straight, Darcy was more than ready for some fun. She put on some very flattering dark jeans, a glittery green top, and very long gold dangle earrings which she only wore when she was on “the hunt” so to speak.

Jane grinned knowingly at her and gave her a thumbs up.

“Go for it, girl!” she encouraged.

Darcy flushed and headed to the bar to get a drink for courage while Tony crooned Blue Christmas badly. As she sipped her drink and covertly eyed Steve, a familiar redhead joined her.

“Well, is tonight the night you complete your wooing of Steve Rogers?” Nat asked with a knowing smile, looking over at Steve, who was talking with a shaggy-haired man that Darcy guessed was Bucky.

“What would give you that idea?” Darcy said coyly, crossing one leg over the other and acting like she was totally chill.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the way you’ve been doing all those nice things for him, and the way you can’t take your eyes off him. Plus, you’re wearing the earrings you only wear when you’re trying to land a man.”

“It’s really annoying to live with so many spies,” Darcy huffed, taking another sip of her drink. Nat laughed.

“If it helps, he’s been looking at you the same way,” Nat told her.

“Really?” Darcy asked, trying not to sound hopeful or excited.

“Really. I hope you have a good song picked out.” With a wink, Nat slipped away from the bar and strode onto the stage, where she proceeded to bring the house down with a killer version of Silver Bells.

Darcy was glad she didn’t have to follow that up, because, wow!

Clint ambled on stage and delivered a mocking rendition of “Last Christmas” that had everyone doubled over laughing. His ridiculous falsetto and facial expressions were priceless and Darcy forgot her nervousness in laughter.

When Clint had taken his bows, Darcy approached the mic and told JARVIS her song selection. Boldly, she locked eyes with Steve and sang right to him.

“I don’t want a lot for Christmas,

There is just one thing I need,

I don’t care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas Tree.

I just want you for my own,

More than you could ever know,

Make my wish come true,

All I want for Christmas is you!”

It was hard to see a reaction at first, but as she repeated the verses again, still looking at him, comprehension dawned, and his blue eyes grew wide, his cheeks started to flush, and a smile appeared that almost took Darcy’s breath away.

Oh, wow.

Had he just smoldered at her?

“I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

All I want for Christmas is you!”

Before she’d even finished, he was on his feet and heading toward her. She could hear the other avengers giggling and whispering, but tuned it out once he got close.

“Was that for me?” Steve asked.

Darcy’s face grew very warm under his searching gaze, and she slowly nodded.

“Yeah. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way, but I just had to get it out there,” she said, heart in her throat.

Steve looked at her and she looked back, mesmerized by his expression.

Then, he bent down and made her dream come true by kissing her very decisively in a way that made her knees weak and left her in no doubt as to whether the interest was mutual.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” She gasped teasingly when they’d pulled apart.

Steve nodded.

“I Uh…..have been wanting to say something for awhile,” he admitted. “But I kept chickening out. Bucky here will tell you I’m no good at talking to pretty gals, and you are downright gorgeous.”

Darcy’s heart fluttered at his compliment.

“You’re off to a pretty good start so far,” she told him, with a flirty eyebrow waggle. “How about we get out of here and find someplace more private?”

“I’d like that,” Steve agreed, still holding her hand.

#shieldshock #steve rogers #darcy lewis #because i'm sick of seeing Steve hate

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suitofvibraniumarmor · 4 years

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Boston Boys [Part One]

Summary: Dr. Aurelie Juneau treats someone in the emergency room she shouldn’t, and get a visit from her brother a few days later. Pairing: Chris Evans x OFC, John Krasinski x OFC Word Count: 1700 Chapter Warnings: Hospital setting and treatment, mentions of guns, implied crime. Square Filled: The entire series (bits and pieces of it) will fill my Crossover square for @marvelfluffbingo. A/N: This story contains a character who lost her hearing as she got older. I do work closely and regularly with the D/deaf community (I’m a sign language interpreter), but my own hearing problems do not involve significant hearing loss. It is not my intention to offend anyone, only to bring in a character with a quality I don’t see often in other fics. If you have questions about her, feel free to ask :)

A busy emergency room wasn’t an unusual thing, especially in Boston, but tonight the chaos was weighing down on Aurelie. She pulled the magnet piece of her cochlear implant away from her head in an effort to drown out the sound for a few peaceful seconds. She stretched her neck from side to side, then rested her head in her hands. The near-silence was a welcome reprieve from the things weighing on her mind.

A tap on her shoulder prompted her to replace the magnet against her head and turn to see who was beckoning her. A nurse handed Aurelie a chart.

“The guy in room five is refusing to let anyone examine him or anything until he sees you. Says he’s got a lac, I see blood on his shirt.”

Aurelie frowned. “He seem legit?”

The nurse shrugged. “Seems like any run of the mill guy, middle class, whatever. We called security down, they’re waiting by the room.”

“All right.” She flipped through a few pages of the chart. “I don’t recognize the name, but I’ll check him out.”

She stood from the desk where she had been charting and skimmed over the rest of the chart as she walked. The curtain to room five was pulled closed for privacy, but the sliding doors were still open. Normally such a room would have been reserved for a psych patient or a near-trauma. Aurelie suspected that the nature of this patient’s refusal to speak to anyone but her had something to do with his room placement.

The request for her services was another common occurrence in the emergency room. Though no one, including most of her patients, particularly knew why she did it, Aurelie treated any injury or sickness that came into the ER, and she did so with a discretion that, at times, was outside of the law. Her casual manner about the treatments often went unnoticed by her co-workers, or didn’t bother any of them enough for them to speak up. If you lived in Boston and got tangled up in some mess that got you hurt but you didn’t want the authorities involved, you went to MassGen and asked for Dr. Juneau. That’s just the way it was.

Pulling the curtain to the side, she kept her facial expression neutral, as she would with any patient. She surveyed the man laying on the bed; at least six-two, maybe a buck-eighty in weight. Brown hair, face pale -- from his injury, Aurelie figured. She set the chart on the metal tray and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m Dr. Juneau. You asked for me?”

The man nodded. “I’ve heard that you’ll take care of someone and not put anything sketchy on the books.”

Aurelie licked her lips, pulling her bottom lip between her front teeth. She flipped on all of the lights in the room and surveyed the man again; his face was only vaguely familiar. Regardless, she wasn’t going to put herself on radar by causing a scene. So, she stepped out through the curtain again and told security they could go.

“He’s an old family friend, scared of hospitals. I’ll talk to him about it.”

The two guards who had come down from their bubble shrugged and left. Aurelie asked the nurse to give her a few minutes before she came back into the room. She donned a pair of gloves and disappeared back behind the curtain. After hooking him up to a heart monitor and a blood pressure cuff, she checked his temperature and respirations. With all of vitals noted, she took a seat on the rolling stool and asked where his laceration was located.

The man pulled his shirt up to reveal a cut above his left hip bone, pulling around to his abdomen. Aurelie positioned herself on the side of the bed and took a closer look at the cut.

“How’d you get this?”

“Does it matter?”

“Fair enough.” She rolled to the door and asked the nurse to bring a laceration kit. While she waited, Aurelie got a clean washcloth and doused it with sterilized water. She cleaned the dried blood from the area, then sat and waited in silence. When the nurse came with the lac kit, Aurelie sent the chart with her, and got ready to stitch the man up.

“This is gonna sting, but it’s better than taking the stitches raw,” Aurelie assured, injecting lidocaine to several places in and around the cut. She waited a little longer, then poked him with the needle again. When he didn’t even flinch, she knew she could start the stitches. “Do you need a tetanus shot?”

“Don’t think so.”

Other than that, she went to work in silence, quickly and neatly stitching up the cut, making sure the scar would be straight and minimal. The cut was halfway stitched when he spoke again.

“What’s that above your ear?”

Aurelie pursed her lips, completing two more stitches before answering him. “It’s called a cochlear implant. It helps me hear, to a certain degree.”

“You’re deaf?”

“I wasn’t always. Slowly started to lose my hearing as I got older, sometime in high school, it dropped out completely from the left side. Right side is there, but not nearly a hundred percent. They still don’t know why.” She bit her bottom lip as she struggled to knot the stitch she had just completed on. “My turn?”

He frowned. “What?”

“You asked me two questions. Now I get to ask you two questions, right?”

“I guess.”

Aurelie nodded. “Are you from Boston?”

He laughed. “The accent didn’t give it away?”

She smiled. “You needed to lighten up. It was worth wasting a question. What’s your real name?”

“My real name?”

“I know it’s not Boris Schmidt, even if that’s what’s on your chart.”

The man said nothing, and Aurelie knew better than to push the issue. They fell into silence again while Aurelie finished the stitches and bandaged the area. She left for a few minutes to fill out his dismissal papers, then returned to educate him on the aftercare.

“What are you going to put in my chart?”

Aurelie shrugged. “That you came in with a lac to your lower left flank and quadrant, there was no sign of infection or organ disturbance, that I stitched you up and sent you on your way. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

Aurelie snapped her gloves into the trash can and turned back to him. “You’re welcome. Good luck.”

At the curtain, Aurelie thought she caught him say something, but had to turn back around to ask him to repeat.

“John,” he smiled. “My name is John. Krasinski.”

Aurelie’s smile faded. “Krasinski?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, “it’s a weird one, I know.”

Aurelie nodded. “Do me a favor, John. Don’t tell anyone that I treated you.”

With that, she pulled the curtain closed behind her and went back to her desk to chart and catch up with her other patients.

GIF found via Pinterest search.

Three days later, another hospital shift. Fortunately, this night was not nearly as busy as her last shift. When Aurelie’s pager went off and she saw the code 613, she finished the current orders she was working on, then made way for the parking lot just outside of the emergency room lobby.

Her brother, Chris, was leaned against his car, a classic American muscle number, smoking a cigarette.

“You know this is a hospital, they’ll fine you for smoking outside of the designated area, dumbass.”

Chris turned with a chuckle, tossing the cigarette to the ground and put it out with the toe of his boot. “Better? Here. Your ma packed lunch for you.”

“That was nice of her,” Aurelie replied, taking the brown bag from him. “What’d she pack for you?”

“A nine mil and a wish that I wasn’t so much like my father. The usual.” He opened the driver’s side door of the car and reached in for another bag. “This is from him, by the way.”

Aurelie checked that no one was watching them and shoved the bag back at Chris. “I don’t want that shit, and you know it. I didn’t earn it, neither did you, neither did he. I don’t need it.”

“Aur, listen, all right? Hey, don’t make that damn face. Yeah, we’ve been over this a million times, we’re gonna fuckin’ go over it again. You’re his kid, whether you ever wanted to be or not. Maybe he’s not the dad you were born to, but he’s the one you ended up with. He’s just trying to take care of you.”

“He’s not over what happened. He still thinks my deafness is his fault, and if he pays me off long enough, I’ll come back to the family. Can’t you see that?”

Chris pursed his lips. “Why can’t you stop putting me in the middle of this?”

Aurelie groaned and tucked the extra bag into her white coat. “Fine.”

“All right.” He pulled another cigarette from the pack and held it between his lips but didn’t light it. “You been holdin’ up all right?”

“Yeah, of course. I can hold my own. You made sure of that.” She decided to take a chance and mention her patient from the other night. “Hey, you remember that guy who went to the high school, he was a year ahead of you -- John Krasinski?”

“Fuck that guy,” was Chris’s immediate response. “He and his family could jump into the river and not come back up and I’d keep walking.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” Aurelie snorted. “So that thing with your family and his, that’s still a thing?”

Chris nodded, tossing his cigarette lighter up and down in the palm of his hand. “Hell yeah, it’s still a thing. They’ll learn one day that we run shit, though. What made you think of him?”

“I don’t know. Random thought, I guess.”

The expression on her brother’s face told Aurelie he was going to be watching her carefully over the coming weeks. She thanked him for the food and went back into the hospital, careful to put the bag of money into her backpack before anyone else suspected something was amiss.

AllOfTheThings: @captain-s-rogers @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @hurricanerin @horsesandbandsforlife @im-not-an-armrest-im-short @captain-rogers-beard @shynara51 @sea040561 @anxiouskore @pinknerdpanda @xtina2191 @jackryanplz @beakami @heartsaved @fullprunerebelstatesman @blackwidowismyhomegirl

Boston Boys: @atc74 @the-murder-strut-murdered-me @becs-bunker @shield-agent78 @patzammit @crazyandanonymous4u

#chris evans #john krasinski #crossover #fanfiction #criminal!au #queue and i remember budapest very differently

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bordeauxatdusk · 4 years

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Mystique (A Detroit: Become Human Fanfic) Part 1

Read the full fic (so far) on Ao3 here!

DISCLAIMER this fic is about gay android detectives in 2038. Please know that I am a BLM supporter and that I do not write in this in support of our current shitty criminal justice system.

Forget-me-nots.

The dead woman’s eyes were the same color as the flowers in her hair.

She was poised, artfully, in an elegant position that looked almost like a sculpture. Rigor mortis held her in place. The crown of forget-me-nots was integrated with an elaborate veil of white lace that fell gracefully down her back.

The bloodstained silk wedding gown she was wrapped in extended outward, rippling over the room, which was staged like a movie set; a host of antique items and classic still-life objects had been structured to frame her. Elaborate globes mingled with vases of flowers mingled with stacks of old yellowing books, covers frayed. Warm light streamed in lazily from large arcing windows, illuminating the oakwood floors of the room.

The light glinted off the pearl dagger embedded in the woman’s chest. In front of her, a gold-leafed, leather-bound edition of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet had been left open to the infamous scene:

“O, happy dagger, this is thy sheath.”

A human would undoubtedly call the scene beautiful.

To Nines, however, it was simply another murder.

He was capable of appreciating beauty, although many would be surprised to hear it. (Some people were surprised to hear that androids were capable of any abstract thought at all.)

Nines understand the concept of aesthetic value perfectly well. What he was not capable of understanding was how humans, in their love of aesthetic value, sometimes seemed to discard logic and reason.

The concept of a beautiful murder was immaterial to him. It was still murder. Whether it was committed in a wide-open oak room or in a rotting gutter made no difference.

Nines would hunt down and eliminate the murderer either way.

He was glad that Gavin felt the same, although Nines was concerned that he seemed disproportionately unnerved by something. What exactly it was, Nines couldn’t tell.

He knew that Gavin was upset partially from the rising levels of adrenaline in his scans, partially from the fact that Gavin’s pupils were dilated and he was beginning to fidget in the way he typically expressed distress (tapping his fingers together and pacing, mostly) and partially from the fact that he was increasing his profanity from its normal rate of about every one in fifteen words to every one in ten.

Nines had spent a lot of time analyzing Gavin Reed. Perhaps an irrational amount.

It hadn’t helped much.

Nines guessed that the cause of his partner’s distress must be some deeply-held psychological trauma. Humans often experienced it, and Gavin personally had suffered a difficult childhood. Whatever the reason for his distress, it must be very serious.

“What the fuck do you mean, ‘ I don’t know ’, Tina?! ” his partner was currently yelling into his phone. “It’s a simple goddamn question! Do they have jalapeno poppers or not?!”

Fascinating.

Nines was well equipped to read Gavin, but very poorly equipped to understand him. The difference, he felt, was vast. He was... displeased by it. Androids were predictable, generally. Deviants much less so than non-deviants, of course, but they were still more logical than humans. At first Nines had been convinced that Gavin was simply uncomfortable expressing his emotions, but the android had begun to discover that Gavin himself was often unaware of them.

Perhaps there was some unpleasant memory jalapeno poppers evoked for his partner. He would have to ask later. Nines would have preferred to have Gavin leave the room and take a few minutes to calm down, but he had learned recently that it wasn’t an option. Apparently, Nines doing what he was designed to do and examining the physical evidence without Gavin’s interference meant he was “being a fucking know-it-all” and a “stuck-up asshole.”

“Look,” Gavin had said a few weeks ago, waving a hand dismissively to try and distract from the fact that he was clearly upset. “ It’s no big deal. Just don’t keep fucking asking me to leave in the middle of crime scenes, okay?”

Nines had been unable to see the point of this request. “ Gavin, you were clearly disgusted by the scope of the damage done to the victim.”

“Well, yeah,” Gavin had muttered sulkily, “but you don’t need to be all weird about it. Look, Nines, I want to do my job. Let me do it. Even if I’m not really helping, just let me feel like I am, okay?”

Nines had been even more confused. “ If you aren’t going to help, why are you so determined to be there? Humans aren’t exactly well-equipped for forensic analysis to begin with. I don’t hold it against you.”

It had escalated into a full-blown fight that left Nines more confused than ever until Gavin was finally able to articulate that he didn’t want to feel useless.

The absurdity and simplicity of the answer had caught Nines off guard. Gavin Reed, useless? They had won a medal together just six months ago for solving an incredibly dangerous case, saving the lives of ten other officers in the process (and possibly the entire DPD). Their success had almost entirely been due to Gavin. Useless?

Nines strongly disagreed.

He had told Gavin so. Nines always said what he meant.

Gavin had huffed under his breath.

“ Alright, shit, I get it,” he’d said, trying and failing not to smile. “You’re a big fucking suck-up.”

Nines knew enough about humans to understand that the insulting response had roughly meant, in Gavin-language,“Thank you, Nines. I’m flattered.”

What confused him is why Gavin didn’t just say that instead.

Humans never said what they meant. It was inconvenient.

Gavin's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

“Hey, Robocop. You find anything?”

Nines blinked. Gavin was staring at him, phone in hand, waiting.

Nine shook his head. “This crime scene is so elaborately staged, I can’t move through it without risking disrupting the evidence. Every object in this room is potentially a key to solving the case. There’s a very low probability the killer managed to set this up without leaving some traces of his presence behind-- fingerprints, hair, DNA. It would be better to wait until forensics arrives, and allow them to do their job. “

Gavin wrinkled his nose, thinking. It was a habit of his.

(One that Nines found extremely distracting, but it wasn’t the time for that.)

“Is something bothering you, Detective?” Nines asked.

Gavin huffed. “Yeah, stop calling me ‘detective.’ You know my name.”

He paused for a moment, sighed, and then gestured to the scene in front of them.

“It’s this whole thing, Nines. I hate it when they do this shit. It’s so fucked up. Trying to turn something so horrible into something pretty, or romantic, or-- I don’t know. You’ll see. These cases are always hell to investigate. We can’t let a single drop of this leak to the media, or else this poor girl is going to be on the front page of every newspaper across the country. ‘The Girl In the Wedding Dress’, or some shit like that.”

Nines didn’t understand. “I’m not sure I’m following you. You don’t want her case to be publicized?”

Gavin shook his head. “Hell no. How do I explain this? Okay. This girl, she’s not fucking Juliet, right? What's her real name? You know it already with your facial recognition?”

“Ashley Briggs.”

“Okay. She’s not Juliet. She’s Ashley. Ashley was a whole person, with a life and family and friends, and then some fucking creepy asshole murdered her and dressed her up like Juliet. The media’s problem is, they like stories with publicity. They like stuff that has a nice ring to it. Ashley Briggs, not so much. ‘The Girl in the White Dress?’ ‘The Woman in White?’ some other bullshit like that? They eat that up. A picture of a pretty girl in a wedding dress with a dagger in her chest? That’s the kind of stuff they eat for breakfast. They love it, Nines! It’s like the Black Dahlia. If any of this gets out, nobody will give two fucks about Ashley Briggs, but they’ll all love her death."

Gavin stopped for a moment to take a breath, hands gesturing wildly, eyes narrowed in anger.

"Rumors will be everywhere. Poor Ashley’s family is gonna have to deal with photos of their little girl murdered and dressed up in a fucking wedding dress all over every tabloid in the grocery store for the next eight years. And not a single one of the people obsessed with ‘Juliet’ is gonna give a shit about Ashley. Everyone’s gonna see her how the killer saw her, how he wanted us to see her, how he set her up: as pretty tragic Juliet in a wedding dress. Nobody is gonna know or remember Ashley Briggs. Don’t you see how fucked up that is? They never give a shit about the victim, even though they pretend to. It’s always about the fucking killer and his ideology.”

Nines was stunned. He had never considered that aspect of a crime before. Looking at it from that perspective, it did seem disturbing.

“They’ll romanticize her murder," he finished for Gavin, who looked almost too angry to continue.

Gavin nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. “The most fucked up part is, that’s what he wants. Her killer staged her this way because he’s trying to put on a fucking show. This is a murder with a message, we just don’t know what it is. I hate that those bastards always seem to get the attention they want. People always remember the killer, but they never remember the victim. Hell, how many people do you think could name a single victim of Ted Bundy? Or Jeffery Dahmer? Or any of the other sick bastards that decide to take their sexual fantasies out on so many innocent people that everyone forgets about?”

Nines raised an eyebrow. “We don’t know that this murder is sexual in nature.”

Gavin huffed. “Nah, but there’s a pattern when it comes to motive and method. There’s tons of examples. Um. Execution-style gunshots to the back of the head are cold, professional. Victim’s turned away, there’s a distance between them and the killer. No eye contact. Hired killers, a lot of the time.”

Gavin demonstrated with a finger gun, eyes distant, like he was remembering cases he’d seen before.

“Stranglings are personal, and a lot of the time they’re sexual. Killer’s up close, right in their face. Looking them in the eye, watching them slowly die, hands-on contact. It’s ‘intimate’ for those fucked-up pieces of shit. They’re normally sexual sadists. Hate those ones.”

Gavin’s brow wrinkled in disgust as he demonstrated.

“Stabbings are personal too, but in a different way. Bloody, aggressive, painful. Personal vendetta, lots of times. Someone close to the victim with a grudge. Betrayal maybe, ‘cause there’s anger behind it. Besides, she’s staged as fucking Juliet. Who do you think her Romeo’s supposed to be? The mailman?”

Nines hummed in response. He didn’t doubt Gavin’s theory, but any investigation should work from the external to the internal. The solid evidence should be interpreted to form theories, not theories interpreted to fit the evidence. The second an investigator began to let their personal opinions dictate the situation, they became biased.

“I still believe we should wait for the evidence to be analyzed before assuming anything.”

Gavin crossed his arms. His body language throughout this speech had been aggressive. Nines’ scans told him that Gavin was intensely angry.

“I’m not fucking assuming, I’m theorizing. If the evidence says something different then I’ll change my tune. I’m just saying, maybe the fact that she’s being staged all pretty in a fancy room in a wedding dress mirroring the suicide from goddamn ‘ Romeo and Juliet’ might have some tiny romantic undertones, Nines.”

“So perhaps we should interview her neighbors first.”

“Hell yes, we should,” Gavin said. “Starting with whoever found the body.”

He started to turn away to head out the door.

Nines stopped him. “Gavin, wait.”

He twisted back around in surprise. “What?”

Nines pressed his hands together, standing stiffly. “Are you angry with me?”

Gavin stopped in his tracks and paused for a moment in an emotion Nines was unable to read. There was a second of tension, and then Nines’ partner seemed to crumple inward as he sighed heavily, shoving his hands back into his pockets.

“No,” he said to the floor by his feet. “Sorry. It’s this case. Stuff like this- it’s fucking creepy. I get all tense. Of course I’m not mad at you, dumbass. I’m just- I’m not good at expressing shit, y’know. ”

Nines walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Is there anything I can do?”

Gavin’s entire demeanor changed, going from aggressive to something much more vulnerable instantly. It was a switch that, even though they’d been together for six months now, Nines had rarely seen.

“No,” Gavin said softly. “I just want to catch the bastard. Otherwise, cases like this, they always stick with me. I’ll- I’ll see her everywhere. Ashley, I mean. In mirrors, reflections, dreams. Asking me why I couldn’t do it. People always act like murder investigations are some cop-show badass bullshit, but they aren’t. The pressure’s gonna be hell. We’re gonna have to go through her whole life and dig up a lot of secrets. Everyone has graves that are better left buried. Take my word for it, it’s gonna suck. And even if we find the fucking bastard, he still might get off. Normally, I can distance myself from it, I guess, but when it’s something this creepy- I just- I don’t know if I can do it. There's something about this case. I have such a bad fucking feeling about this whole thing. It’s driving me crazy. ”

Nines reached out and wrapped his arms around Gavin, pulling him close. It was meant as a comforting gesture, and he noticed with satisfaction that his partner’s distress seemed to decrease.

Nines was beginning to understand how to react to Gavin’s moods, even if he didn’t always understand the reason why they were happening. They had both worked dozens of homicide cases. Nines didn’t understand how this case was any different, but it didn’t matter. He was programmed to adapt to human unpredictability.

He never knew what to make of Gavin’s hunches, though. They were objectively irrational, and they were also always right. It drove him insane. It defied reason.

Then again, nothing about Gavin was reasonable.

“We’re professionals,” Nines began, “and-”

“And you’re hugging me in the middle of a fucking murder scene,” Gavin interrupted, voice muffled from pressing his face into Nines’ shoulder, “like a true professional.”

“You needed a hug. Let me finish. We’re professionals, and there’s a lot of potential just in this room for the killer to have made a mistake. The chances of him staging all this with zero forensic evidence left behind are very low-”

“Mhmmm,” Gavin said, leaning into the hug.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Nope,” Gavin muttered.

Nines sighed.

He gently pulled Gavin away from him, brushing off his partner’s coat, which was eternally covered in cat hair.

“We need to go interview the neighbors. Listen. We work very well together. We’ve faced near-impossible odds before. Compared to our last big case, this will most likely be easy.”

“Nothing’s ever easy,” Gavin groaned. “Especially not in fucking homicide.”

“Well then, we’ll support each other, just like last time.”

Gavin smiled wryly. “Are you going to break a rib and give me a concussion again?”

“That highly depends,” Nines said, “on whether or not you plan to shoot me a second time.”

“You told me to!”

“I was paralyzed and all my communications were disabled. I couldn’t tell you to do anything."

“Your light flashed!”

“My LED,” Nines said, raising an eyebrow, “never stops flashing, unless I’m decommissioned.”

Gavin shoved him-- an adorably futile effort, considering he didn’t move even a fraction of an inch.

“Come on, smartass,” Gavin said. “We have some friendly neighbors to interrogate.”

#dbh #detroit become human #dbh fanfic #reed900 #gavin reed #rk900 #nines

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sceptilemasterr · 3 years

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Defenders of the Flame (TE Rewrite) Act 1, Scene 5 - Answers and Questions

Title: Defenders of the Flame (A CIU Screenplay)

Main Pairings: Shreya x F!MC, Beckett x F!Atlas

Other Pairings: N/A

Genre: Full Rewrite (The Elementalists, Book 1)

Rating: PG-13 for violence, blood, swearing, alcohol, and sexuality

Summary: For Fiora, finding answers only leads to more questions.

Previous Scene: The Test of Attunement

Masterlist: Link

EXT. HEALING GROVE - DAY

A soft, beautiful light shines down onto Fiora’s sleeping face as a breeze gently blows through her hair. She groans, shifting her body and then slowly opening her eyes. She takes in her surroundings with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

FIORA (dazed): Wha... what happened? Where am I? Did I pass?

The camera pulls back to reveal that Fiora is resting on a hovering bed of soft leaves and feathers, in the center of a peaceful grove of trees. Beside her, seated on a log, is Shreya, who immediately stands and rushes over to Fiora’s side and hugs her.

SHREYA: Fiora! You’re awake! I’m so happy that you’re okay, I was so incredibly frightened when you collapsed like that; I mean, of course, we all were concerned. How a creature like that could have gotten that far into Penderghast without anyone watching, especially with the wards up, is such a mystery. I’m so, so sorry I couldn’t have done more to help. I did try fighting it off, but, well... I’m not exactly trained in combat stoichi. Not a whole lot my Evaporation could do against whatever that thing was. Now, if it had been some sort of creature made out of water that--

FIORA (laughing): Shreya? Relax. I’m okay.

SHREYA: Oh, right, of course! Sorry.

Shreya lets go of Fiora and awkwardly steps back from her bed. Griffin walks in from another part of the grove, his face lighting up when he notices Fiora awake.

GRIFFIN: Glad to see you’re up, Fiora! How are you feeling?

FIORA: Hey, Griffin. I’m... uh, okay, though still plenty confused.

GRIFFIN: That’s understandable. I think a lot of us are confused at this point.

SHREYA: I promise you, the Test of Attunement isn’t usually like that. Something weird happened in your test. That creature--

FIORA: Wait, you’re saying that thing that attacked me wasn’t part of the test? It was real?!

Griffin nods.

GRIFFIN: We could see it from outside.

SHREYA: I even tried fighting it off... but it seemed to keep going straight for you. Like someone sent it there on purpose.

FIORA: I don’t know if I like this place so much anymore...

Shreya leans forward and rests a hand on Fiora’s shoulder.

SHREYA: Listen. They’ll all figure this out, okay? You don’t need to worry. The professors know what they’re doing.

GRIFFIN: She’s not wrong. If they could handle that stampede of Murphons a bunch of third-years released into the school last winter, they can take care of one little... angry bubble... thing.

Fiora smiles and looks up at them both.

FIORA: Thanks, guys. You’re right. I’ve just gotta get used to the way things are around here.

SHREYA: Good, because we’re--

She is interrupted by the arrival of a tall man with what appears to be a lot of brown facial hair, wearing what Fiora first assumes to be a strange hat atop his head. When he gets closer, however, the man is revealed to be a satyr: what she believed to be a hat was actually his horns, and the “facial hair” is in fact fur that seems to cover his entire body beneath his clothes. This is DR. KONTOS, another one of the professors at Penderghast. Fiora can’t help but stare at him as he approaches, and Griffin laughs.

GRIFFIN: Wow... it’s like you’ve never seen a satyr before.

Dr. Kontos smiles as he approaches Fiora.

DR. KONTOS: Ah, Fiora Luxen. I am happy to see that you are awake at last.

He notices her shocked expression and frowns.

DR. KONTOS: Apologies, I have just realized we have not yet been introduced. I am Dr. Kontos, a professor here at Penderghast and the Wood-Attuned advisor. As the school’s most prominent Wood-Attuned member, I naturally am capable of a great deal of healing-based stoicheal techniques. Thus, my secondary position as head of the Healing Grove.

As though to emphasize this point, he rests a hand on Fiora’s shoulder and concentrates. A moment later, soft green light begins to pulse back and forth between his hand and Fiora’s skin.

DR. KONTOS: It seems you are nearly fully recovered. Excellent!

Shreya and Griffin watch him work as Fiora struggles with something internally. As Dr. Kontos removes his hand from Fiora’s shoulder and turns to leave once again, Fiora works up the courage to ask him a question:

FIORA: Wait! Dr... Kontos? What happened in that test? I know I wasn’t supposed to use, uh, stoichi, but I didn’t fail, did I? I’m not gonna be expelled?

DR. KONTOS: Fear not, Ms. Luxen. You will not be expelled from Penderghast for that, especially given the circumstances.

GRIFFIN: Excuse me, Dr. Kontos, but what “circumstances?”

DR. KONTOS: That is not for me to say, Mr. Langley. I believe another will be along shortly to... ah, yes, there she is now! With that, I must depart. Farewell!

Before anyone can say anything more, Dr. Kontos walks further into the trees around them and vanishes. In his place steps Dr. Swan, who looks over at Griffin and Shreya with a perplexed curiosity.

DR. SWAN: I’m... you are...?

GRIFFIN: Griffin Langley, ma’am. Dr. Swan. Can I assist you with anything?

SHREYA: I’m Shreya Mistry. I’m sure you’ve heard of me--

DR. SWAN (dismissively): Out, out. You are not the ones I wish to speak to.

Shreya and Griffin stare in confusion at Dr. Swan.

SHREYA: I’m sorry, what?

DR. SWAN: Out! Now! I would like to speak with Ms. Luxen alone.

Shreya’s eyes widen in surprise, and she exchanges a quick glance with Griffin before they both stand and start walking toward the entrance.

SHREYA: Right, of course, Dr. Swan. Sorry to disturb you. We’ll be on our way!

GRIFFIN (simultaneously): We’ll be right out! Don’t you worry about a thing, Dr. Swan. We’re so sorry!

FIORA: Wait! Hang on, what--

But Shreya and Griffin quickly leave the Healing Grove, leaving Fiora alone with Dr. Swan. The two look at one another curiously, neither saying anything for several seconds. Then, finally:

FIORA: I... I have so many questions.

DR. SWAN (reassuringly): Of course you do, Ms. Luxen.

She takes a seat beside Fiora’s bed.

DR. SWAN: There is something I need to tell you first and foremost. You were already aware of your Fire Attunement... but you did something else in that test.

Fiora looks away, embarrassed.

FIORA (apologetically): That light beam thing. I’m sorry, I swear I had no idea what happened, I didn’t mean to break the test or whatever I did--

DR. SWAN: “Break the test?” Ms. Luxen, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You do not know what that was? What you are?

FIORA: ...No?

Dr. Swan smiles proudly.

DR. SWAN: You are something very rare. Something that most Fire Attuneds can only achieve after years of intense training and study. You, Fiora Luxen, are a natural-born Light Attuned.

Fiora stares in stunned silence.

FIORA: Light Attuned? So... I’m not Fire? But I thought--

DR. SWAN (quizzically): You... have heard of the Primal Stoicheal Forces, haven’t you? Surely your General Scholastics regimen must have covered it--

As Fiora struggles to come up with an excuse, Dr. Swan suddenly seems to remember something and waves her own objections aside.

DR. SWAN: Ah... ah. Right, of course. You will learn plenty more in your time here at Penderghast, but for now, understand that Light is the Primal Force from which Fire Stoichi is drawn. Any Fire Attuned can eventually learn to master Light, but you were born already Attuned to it.

FIORA: Wow. That seems... I mean, I’m just...

She hesitates, not wanting to admit that she came from outside the Stoicheal Realm.

DR. SWAN: I tell you this now because it is very important that you keep this a secret from your fellow students, save only those you know you can trust. An Attunement like yours could be very valuable to the wrong people.

FIORA (shudders): “Wrong people...” like, wherever that creature came from? What was that thing, anyway?

DR. SWAN: That was a Lesser Umbric. They are not unknown to us, though how one managed to get so far into the school, especially while the wards are still up...

She stares off into space, lost in thought.

FIORA: Uh, Dr. Swan?

DR. SWAN (startled): Oh! Right, Ms. Luxen, you’re still here. As I was saying, please do keep your Light Attunement a secret for the time being. As for the Umbric, myself and the other professors will be investigating. I will let you know when we discover more. In the meantime, as soon as you are cleared, you ought to begin preparing for classes.

Dr. Swan stands up, preparing to leave the Healing Grove.

FIORA: Wait! I have a lot more to ask you--

DR. SWAN: And I have much to do. Fear not, we will be seeing a lot of each other this year. I am the Fire-Attuned advisor, after all.

FIORA: But--hang on--back when we met before the test, it seemed like you knew me...

She trails off when she realizes Dr. Swan has already vanished into the trees around her. Simultaneously excited, confused, and exhausted, she flops back down into the hovering bed, gazing up at the canopy of leaves above her. A moment later, she sits up at the sound of someone approaching.

FIORA: Uh... who’s there? Dr. Swan?

The footsteps draw closer... and a small, slim girl about Fiora’s age steps into the clearing. Fiora startles when she notices the girl’s skin: a shocking shade of green, her hair a darker green color to match. This is ASTER D’YEW, a wood nymph and a trainee studying under Dr. Kontos.

FIORA: Whoa! Uh, hi!

ASTER (startled): Oh! You’re awake! I heard all this commotion earlier, and... Right, I should probably introduce myself first. We’ve met earlier, but you weren’t awake yet.

She extends a hand, and Fiora shakes it.

ASTER: I’m Aster D’Yew. I’m a wood nymph... well, that was probably obvious. Silly me.

FIORA: Are... are you a student here?

ASTER: Kind of? I mean, not officially, but Dr. Kontos takes a few nymphs and satyrs every year to study healing with him. Not a whole lot of human Wood-Atts, of course, so he likes having us around instead.

She moves all around Fiora’s bed, examining her from various angles.

FIORA: So, hold on. You’re... a Wood-Att? Wood is an element?

ASTER (giggles): You’re so funny! Of course I am; all wood nymphs are.

She rests both her palms on Fiora’s forehead and concentrates. A pulse of green energy flows into Fiora’s head and spreads across her body before vanishing. Fiora sits up.

FIORA: Whoa! That felt amazing, what was that?

ASTER (embarrassed): Just a basic Restoration. I’m just glad I was able to pull it off that time.

FIORA: Well, whatever you did, thanks! It was--

Dr. Kontos strides into the clearing, with Shreya close behind him.

DR. KONTOS: Ah, I see you’ve met Aster, one of my trainees! How are you feeling, Ms. Luxen?

FIORA: Oh, uh... I feel great! Aster really helped with-- whatever she did.

Aster shyly looks down at her feet. Dr. Kontos gives her an approving nod before looking Fiora over.

DR. KONTOS: Hmm. Ms. D’Yew, what do you think?

ASTER (hesitantly): Oh? Um, me? ...She seems mostly recovered? If it were up to me, I’d say... uh, she can go?

DR. KONTOS: Are you asking, or stating? If you are to be a full Healer someday, you need confidence!

ASTER (nods): Right! Excuse me, Dr. Kontos. (more confidently) Ms. Luxen seems mostly recovered. She should be okay to leave the Grove.

DR. KONTOS: Much better. I agree. Ms. Luxen, you may return to the rest of campus whenever you feel ready. Ms. Mistry here has offered to escort you back. Come now, Ms. D’Yew; let us give our patient some privacy.

He and Aster leave, with Aster giving Fiora a quick wave before disappearing. Fiora carefully stands up from her bed, and Shreya moves to hold her up by the arm.

FIORA: Shreya. It’s okay. I’ve got this!

SHREYA: If you’re sure...

She steps away, looking back at Fiora.

SHREYA: So, what did Dr. Swan have to say to you? I don’t know her that well, but she seems kind of eccentric from what I’ve seen. The rumors about her are all over the place, too. I suppose we’ll be learning plenty about her seeing as she’s the Fire-Att advisor; oh, that’s right, I forgot to tell you! I have the best surprise for you!

Shreya pauses, waiting expectantly.

FIORA: What?

SHREYA (excitedly): I’m a Fire-Att too! This is great! We can practice together and everything, and when we start our elemental cohorts next year, we’ll still share the same classes!

FIORA: Wait, really? (sighs in relief) That’s great! So glad I’ll have you around. I don’t know what I’d do if I hadn’t--

Then she remembers something.

FIORA: So, Shreya... I’ve got a surprise for you, too. Apparently it’s super rare, but Dr. Swan told me that I’ve got a Light Attu--

Shreya shrieks in excitement before Fiora can even finish getting her words out.

SHREYA (ecstatically): WHAT?! Oh my- wow- that’s- I can’t believe- hasn’t been seen in-

She stops and takes a deep breath to compose herself.

SHREYA: Sorry. But this is so incredibly amazing! For you, of all people, to be a... oh wow. Wow. This could be the biggest event in Penderghast history! We’ve got to tell absolutely everyone right away--

FIORA: Wait, Shreya! Dr. Swan made me swear not to tell anybody except people I can trust. She thought people might be after me... that it might have to do with that “Umbridge” thing that attacked in the test.

Shreya’s excitement starts to fade a little as she puts the pieces together.

SHREYA: Oh. Oh, right, right, that’s a good point, actually. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. But you can’t exactly blame me; after all, this is such an exciting--

Fiora gives her a look. Shreya catches herself and pauses before continuing.

SHREYA: Well, even if we can’t talk about your new... result, I do still owe you a shopping trip, don’t I? Do you think you feel up for it?

Fiora grins, and the two of them start walking out toward the trees surrounding the grove.

FIORA: After the day I’ve had? I think a shopping trip sounds like just the thing.

SHREYA: Beautiful! Oh, I can’t wait! This is going to be so much fun!

They exit the grove, headed back out to the main campus.

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Scene Notes: A few more changes, a bit more worldbuilding... and more of Shreya nervous-babbling around her crush. She’s so much fun to write! Can’t believe I haven’t written any Shreya fics before now... Anyway, worldbuilding time!

The Healing Grove: it was mentioned before, but this is our first real introduction to it. I set it up as a way to give Aster a bit more involvement in the story and to give Penderghast a little bit more uniqueness.

Dr. Kontos and Aster’s Attunements: Another change; while in canon nymph and satyr magick is its own thing, here I decided to give them both Wood Attunements. It’s easy to miss, but Aster does mention that human Wood-Atts are pretty rare, meaning the nymphs and satyrs are still fairly unique in their abilities.

Primal Stoicheal Forces: That’s right, here Light-Attunement is not its own separate thing, but rather a rare and special form of Fire-Attunement. There’s a good reason for this that will be revealed later; and yes, each of the other six “main” elements has its own Primal Force. Not spoiling those here though! (Hint: part of the change has to do with certain plot points from TE Book 2!)

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Next: Zephyr Hernandez and the Avalanche of Pants (yes, really...)

CIU Tag List: @brightpinkpeppercorn @endlesshero1122 @bbaba-yagaa @acidsugar0 @shaylan211 @griselda1121 @acanthisorbis @marmolady

DotF/Elementalists Tag List:

#defenders of the flame #the elementalists rewrite #choices the elementalists #choices stories you play #csyp #fanfic #ciu project #choices interconnected universe #fiora luxen #shreya mistry #griffin langley #professor swan #professor kontos #aster d'yew #shreya x mc #wlw #about time aster showed up!#there she is!#:D

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neshatriumphs · 4 years

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III. A Blood Oath

Grace was adorned in many plants and flowers. They were covering her body, covering her hair. Only her face was to be seen as she walked through the woods, grounding her energy with the earth beneath her toes. Lucy was there, armed and alert for any type of disturbance. This was the last day of Grace’s recovery process and this was her last ritual. She would bathe in the lagoon and let the flowers and herbs complete her healing. Lucy was to keep watch. Grace danced around in the water, practiced a little floral related magic and some water, twirling her fingers to make a water dome over her head, then collapse it onto herself with a huge splash.

Lucy collected her, covering her in the flowing purple dress that she had brought along for after the bath. Grace swirled the winds around her to dry herself then reached for her bag from Lucy. Before she could reapply her mark, they heard something.

Grace collected Lucy in one arm and levitated them above the trees, until she saw the source of the noise. It was a man… She lowered them a little ways away, behind some bushes, and studied him. She didn’t recognize him, so he either was not from here, wandering through, or worse… He was from the Conductor.

The blond had what appeared to be either red dirt or an inexplicable amount of blood in his long hair and when he reached the lagoon, he began to drink with both of his hands cupped. He splashed his face, sputtered and wiped off the flowers she left behind. He picked up one in the palm of his hand and suddenly looked around him, suspiciously. Lucy ducked, but Grace knew that she had them both cloaked, so she didn’t move. He sighed, and flung the flower into the dirt, where he then proceeded to toss his equipment and clothes. Grace gasped. Lucy covered her eye that wasn’t in an eye patch. “We should go,” she suggested. “This boy is just taking a bath, like you were.”

“That’s no boy, Lucy,” Grace said in a stern voice, but she practically whimpered, “It’s a man!”

Lucy uncovered her eye just to look at Grace with disgust. “Careful Princess, you’ll rust your chastity belt.”

“Lucy!” Grace hissed. They both paused and looked back at the man, Lucy reflexively covered her face again and Grace softly said, “I don’t know him, so we’ll have to figure out who he is. If he’s a wanderer, he should have proof of safe passage from one of the Witches of the One. If he’s new, he should have a coven to account for him. If not… He might be…” He stepped beneath the waterfall and as the dirt began to clear from his pale skin, they saw the runes.

“A conductor,” they both said. Lucy readied her weapon. “He’s unsuspecting. Now is the time to attack.”

“If it isn’t a trap. We don’t know his level of magic, Lucy. I can’t get a reading of him with all of those runes. I need longer to assess him. Go back to the fortress and alert the coven.”

“I can’t leave you here with this heretic!”

“It’s an order, Lucy! I’m fully recovered. I’ll be fine. Don’t take too long.”

Lucy groaned, but made a few movements to help herself summon a flock of birds to fly her to the fortress. Grace watched the man, suspiciously now, but… she wasn’t blind. He was very well put together. He exercised or did some type of body maintaining fake magic. He had one of those interesting little “V”s that she had seen on the pelvis of some of the shirtless warriors as they practiced in the courtyard - not frequently, but at least a couple of them had one. He also had a patch of blond hair on his sleek abdomen. One of her witches had called that a “happy trail,” then they all laughed when Grace asked why it was called that. She guessed that was because of where it led to. She tried to make sure she DIDN’T look at that. She was here for surveillance, not… salaciousness!

She shifted a little, then leaned down to grab her sneakers from her bag, since she probably had time, while he was showering. The pink and purple shoes were tied and she clicked on her bag to her body and stood, only to be face to face with a naked stranger. She ALMOST yelped, but fortunately, her reflexes were quick and she’d covered her mouth instead. He was peering and reached out a hand, almost about to touch her face, but she did a back bend to avoid his notice. He summoned underwear, thank goodness, but still looked very leery as he stared there, knowing someone or something was present, even though she couldn’t be seen at the moment. When he was dressed, he held his palms in front of himself and his runes and eyes began to glow green. Grace stepped back, ready to try to levitate, when he said, “There you are!” Reached out and grabbed what he could only see as a sparkling green woman with bouncy locs of hair.

She laughed, “You got me. Unhand, please.” She shook him off of her gloved arms and groaned, “How are you seeing me? My cloaking technique is the purest and most sophisticated in this realm. I should literally look like part of the ecosystem right now.”

“You hid in the least magic portion of this place. Nothing right here is magic, except for you.”

She tilted her head and looked around her, then back at him, “You… can see magic.”

He traced a rune on his neck and said, “A gift from the Conductor.” Now, she frowned and he smirked, “I know that you realized I am one of theirs, just like I realize the one you belong to.” His facial expression went cold and his glowing stopped. She made herself visible and she noticed that he blushed whenever he saw her face. “Oh!” He said, then frowned.

“What?”

“You were hiding yourself, so I just presumed that you’d be ugly. I guess you were hiding yourself because you’re too pretty?”

She gushed, trying not to smile too big, but flattery was her love language and he was very attractive. VERY. ATTRACTIVE. So, she failed and her smile spread like butter. “You’re very pretty, too!”

He glared. “I’m not pretty! I’m a man. A rugged, handsome, male person. Not pretty. Powerful.”

Now, her smile faded into a smirk and her brown eyes were challenging. “Well, I’m pretty AND powerful.”

“There is only one witch in your entire camp that could potentially face off with my skill level, and that’s your little princess,” he said. “The Conductor has told me about your people.”

“My people rarely bother to talk about your kind, but I do hear mumbling whenever I’m among the commoners. They care.” she shrugged her shoulders and began to walk away.

He narrowed his eyes and followed her, “You think it’s safe to turn your back to a proclaimed practitioner of the Conductor’s magic?”

“Yep!” She answered, making the P sound loud when she did. He was infuriated by the sheer audacity of this One witch! But the purple dress swished in the wind, almost like there were fairies dancing with her and holding on to it and she smelled like flowers and fruit and looked like a religious vision, so his words of protest caught in his throat. But, he had made contact with his target, so, he at least had that going for him. Amelia never mentioned that she might be in a gown with splits up to her thighs… powerful, graceful thighs that looked both incredibly strong and unbelievably soft.

“You’ve got some kind of enchantment on me,” he said. She stopped and looked at him. “You’re making me attracted to you with magic to keep yourself safe!”

“I don’t know whether to be insulted that you think that I would NEED to do that, or honored that you think I’m so attractive it can’t be your real feelings. I’m right there in the middle at this moment, but leaning towards being insulted.” He grabbed her wrist and turned her around, but whenever she turned, a wave of power rang out and knocked him onto his back, several feet away. She gasped and covered her mouth, “Oh my One! Are you okay?” She asked. “That’s my mother’s magic. I’ve got a barrier that sends out a bit of a magic shock wave when someone intends to harm me.” She leaned over him and smiled, “So, don’t try me again, okay?” She held out her gloved hand to help him up and he begrudgingly allowed her to.

“How did your mother make something so potent to guard you?”

“It’s natural magic, so it’s just potent on it's own. We don’t need to enhance with runes or talismans. We use the magic that’s already present and we attach it to what we have inside. My mother weaved this protective spell with her love for me and it takes the natural emotion of my aggressor and translates that to an attack, to bounce back on them.”

“What.”

“My mom didn’t make the attack potent. Your negativity did. You’re a very angry person, Fake Witch. Your aura feels disturbing.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I was gonna call you Happy Trail, but that seemed inappropriate,” she giggled.

“Simon.”

“Simon What?”

“Simon... Says,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Simon Sais,” she thought she repeated. “Never heard that name before. Are you one of the orphans the Conductor collects for her fake magic school?”

“She!” He fumed, then took a deep breath. “She saved my life and gave me a chance when the Witches of the One would have let me die an infant in my mother’s arms.”

“That doesn’t sound like us,” Grace said. “I’ll bet I’m the first Witch of the One that you’ve ever even met!” He was frustrated, but she was right. It didn’t matter. Amelia had told him about how his mother’s only wish was that he never trust the witches that refused to help her baby boy grow into a man. She died shortly after he was given to Amelia to be rescued.

“I’ve studied them my entire life,” he said. That much was true. He learned about how they hide, who they ally with, their familiars and wanderers, and the spaces that were conduits for their magic - places where they became more powerful. He spent every waking moment of his life taking out as many of them as he could, and this one would be a challenge, but Amelia wouldn’t have sent him if she didn’t fully believe that he was ready.

“So… someone broke MY spell? How is that possible? You’re the only person in the world with more runes than me!”

“I’ve told you before, the One witches don’t use runes, they use surroundings and internal magic. Did you leave anything behind that she could have used?”

“No! I know what I’m doing, Amelia! I’ve never made a mistake before!”

Samantha walked up, “I believe, that perhaps… it was my doing, Simon.” The cat lowered her face and admitted, “I left a small print, as a dedication in a moment of weakness and sentiment. I’m sorry..”

Amelia rushed towards her, ready to kill her, but Simon stepped in front of the woman. “What are you doing? She said that she was sorry.”

“She IS sorry. Worthless. A useless old remnant of a dead bloodline!”

“My loyalty is to Simon. My apology was for him,” Samantha said.

Simon collected her and cradled her to his chest. “She made a simple mistake. The first one ever in years. You can’t be mad at her for that.”

“I can and I am. Thanks to her, our power has been challenged, Simon. That princess is going to think that she can counter every attack that we send her way and what if she’s right? What if your fondness for this trifle of a creature makes you weak?”

“Amelia, you’re upset. Samantha and I will give you some space.” Samantha smiled at Amelia as Simon walked away, holding her protectively. “You really put me in a bad place, Samantha.”

“In a way, I put you in a good place.”

“In what way?” he asked, extremely annoyed.

“Amelia is livid. She won’t send for you for days. You can work on your little figures.” She padded her feet onto his chest and he sighed.

“This isn’t funny, Samantha. My record is in jeopardy. Amelia is doubting me now!” He put the cat down and shook his head, “Retire to my chambers. I’m going to figure out what I can do to make this right.” Samantha sighed and reluctantly followed her master’s instructions.

Amelia was looking into an orb, her eyes and runes glowing green and her hair blowing in the wind. He was going to step back out, but her demonic voice called, “Stay. You have work to do.”

Simon came to her and kneeled, “I am your soldier, Conductor. What work do you give me?”

“I entrust you to kill the one that they hail as the Heiress, the Princess who has been ordained to destroy you.” His head snapped upwards at the green smoke, forming a girl, with a mask on that was white, with a black line around it and two circular gems.

“Destroy me?”

“Your destinies are intertwined. If you don’t kill her, she will be the cause of your downfall.”

He stood up and looked at the smoke image. “I will kill her, then!”

“She’s no typical witch. She’s one of their most powerful, and she has magic that is specific to you.”

“How is that possible?”

“You must get her to trust you, to weaken her, and kill her when she has let her guard down.”

“I have to… to get to know her? Conductor…”

��Or you will be destroyed.” He sighed and nodded. The smoke poofed away, the glowing stopped and Amelia leaned onto the basin the orb was in, catching her breath. Her voice was back to normal, as she was no longer channeling the Conductor’s magic. “Simon… She will use anything that she can to make YOU the weak one. You must get close to her, but don’t let her get close to you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Simon… if you’re found out, it could endanger this institute, and everything we’ve built. That girl is a poison, a rot. You can’t let her near us.”

“I won’t let her destroy what we’ve built.”

“I need you to take a blood oath.”

“You really think that she’s that powerful? That she’ll be able to woo me so deeply that you need to swear on my life that I’ll take hers?”

“I need you to know how important this mission is.”

He nodded and raised his fist into the air, “On the duty and honor of my own blood, I will spill the blood of my enemy and take her life.” Amelia reached for her wand and drew a rune beneath his armpit to signify the oath that he was making.

“Bathe yourself in the blood of our enemies, and cleanse it off in their own waters.” He nodded.

Presently, next to the untrustworthy princess with her mother’s love repellent and her… hips swaying like a dancer as she walked, he wouldn’t forget what Amelia told him, and he couldn’t fail. Not only did the future of all of the Conductor’s followers depend on it, but he had sworn on his life to kill her. Maybe that spell was why he needed to get her to trust him? Sometimes, Amelia didn’t seem to get the full grasp of her visions… He froze.

There was a creature here. He could sense it. The witch had continued marching straight ahead, cheerfully and carefree, but he knew they weren’t alone. Simon moved to activate his sight, but before he could something large and black slapped him to the ground and hovered over him. A. GOHM.

The story was that if you met one, you would know it, even though nobody seemed to be able to tell you what they looked like. His? It looked like a hideous roach with tentacles in it’s mouth on a dog’s body and it was doing what they were known to do, draining the magic right out of wizards… He heard something that sounded like a loud screeching noise before a blinding light shined and the gohm cowered and rushed away.

Simon could hardly breath and checked his runes and his body. He was alive. He was safe. He saw the princess, reaching out to help him up again. “Wow! Cannot leave you by yourself for two seconds!”

He stared at her hand, confused. “You… you saved me.”

She placed her hands on her hips and laughed, “What? Do you fake magic folk let visitors die on your soil when your most dangerous beasts come to attack?”

He pulled himself up from the ground and said, “If our most dangerous beasts attack, there’s nothing that we could do to help.”

She shook her head, “that’s why i don’t trust fake magic. That little guy was about to drain you dry and turn you to dust. You’re so rich with magic, he’d probably explode from gorging himself. With natural magic, all you gotta do is show him that you’ve got too much to handle and they run… Now… if you didn’t have enough, that’d be a different story.”

“How did you show him your magic? How can anybody tell your levels without seeing your runes?”

“You know how you can see magic with your little fake trick or whatever?”

“It’s real. I can actually USE the magic!”

“Okay. That was an opinion. The point is that I can move it. And I don’t have to see it. I just gather everything around me to myself and HE can sense it.

“How did you glow all white?”

She laughed and asked, “What?”

“You were glowing white…”

“Maybe you were seeing things because you were getting ghom sucked. Come on… We’ll get you taken care of at my place. Lucy’s got the coven on standby already.”

#AU Infinity Train #Infinity Train #Nesha Fanfiction #Infinity Train Fanfiction #fics #Intertwined by Nesha

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the-overgrowth · 4 years

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Retrospective: “Faybane” #1

This is where it all started, on July 8th, 2016. Although probably a bit earlier than that, but this is the earliest thing I can find that’s actually written down, so that’s what counts. And back in the day I didn’t let ideas marinate the way I do now, I just started writing pretty much as soon as I got the idea.

Anyway, the document was created at this point in time according to Google Docs, and was last modified in October 3rd, 2016. It’s only 3 chapters long, plus one incomplete fourth chapter, and the whole thing is about 17k words.

Which is a lot for 3 chapters. I would say something about how I’m less wordy now, but the latest draft is like 107k words long, so, like, I will always struggle with shutting the fuck up, methinks.

Also, the reason this is called “Faybane” is because that was the working title I used, and the name of this document. I thought it’d be the proper title but like. It’s bad lmao.

Anywhomst, let’s get into it!

Some background info for those who are new or need a refresher: this WIP became a thing after I read and was disappointed by A Court of Thorns and Roses by SJM, as well as The Iron King by Julie Kagawa and some book by Holly Black, was it Tithe?

ACOTAR was the biggest culprit. I feel that this is important to keep in mind as we go through this mess.

We open on Sidra in the forest with a bunch of men she calls a hunting party. It’s clear she doesn’t want to be there, but since she’s the only decent hunter among them and it’s her sister’s wedding today, she has to make the kill to feed the people attending said wedding.

This is, as the kids say, big stupid, and seems like a very ill-prepared celebration? I guess it makes some sense for them to want fresh meat, but this fresh? What if they didn’t find anything? What if they didn’t manage to kill anything? Is the whole thing cancelled? Stupid.

We find out they’ve been hunting a boar and that this dude named Liam, our Gaston replacement, previously wounded the animal but didn’t kill it, causing it to flee and force the hunting party to follow. It’s up to Sidra to make the killing blow, which she does with an arrow straight into its head. This was back when Sidra was still YA Heroine Extraordinaire and the time period was Vaguely Medieval, I guess.

They begin taking their quarry back home and Sidra thinks about how she normally doesn’t hunt this close to the “Faewilds” because animals closer to the border are said to be bigger and more violent. There isn’t an actual border, people just had to rely on intuition and not wander too far into the forest.

She also mentions a girl named Wilda, who disappeared fairly recently and everyone suspects it was the fae. This isn’t relevant now, but Wilda will return in later drafts, I think.

Everybody, especially my family, knew that I was one of the best archers in town, whether I used a bow or a crossbow.

Shut up, Not!Feyre. Nobody likes you.

I should mention that at this point I didn’t bother googling how big wild boars get and just assumed they were the size of like, a thick medium dog. Which is, if you know how big boars are, very incorrect. Four men pulling the animal seems realistic enough, but then Liam just lifts it up on his own? Not buying it.

Sidra laments how much she hates Liam and we find out that he apparently tried to assault her and she stabbed him? And apparently she’s not happy about his marriage to Sinéad but can’t do anything about it because “Father’s word is law” and Sinéad herself laughed it off when Sidra tried to warn her?

Yeah, gonna call bullshit on that one. No idea why this was here or what purpose it serves, the reason Liam doesn’t exist in the latest draft is because I never figured out what his purpose was so I axed him entirely.

Current!Sidra would just kill him the moment he showed an interest in Sinéad, and Current!Sinéad would 100% believe her sister about something like that.

Some bloke named Connor strikes up a conversation with Sidra, seemingly worried about being this far away from human civilization. Liam teases him about it and calls the fae “knife-ears”, because I still had brainrot back then and liked Dragon Age and had zero original ideas in my head.

The men make jokes about having sex with fae women and Sidra seems so disturbed by this that she nocks an arrow. This isn’t the first time she makes references to feeling unsafe around these men, I have no idea why I wrote it this way aside from being edgy, I guess.

My village was mostly populated by men, and even though I wasn’t one of the pretty girls there, I knew these men weren’t picky, even with all their talk about beautiful fae women. I’d heard that fae women would kill their men after sleeping with them. I had no way of know it was true, but a part of me hoped it was and that Liam would some day soon get “lucky” and encounter a female fae, so she could end his misery.

Edgy, dude.

They eventually arrive and Sidra goes inside her house, which is a simple cottage with three rooms. I think her family are all farmers? It’s kind of confusing. She goes into her and Sinéad’s bedroom, where Sinéad is preparing for her wedding. Also, she’s blonde.

“Sid! There you are!” she said cheerily. “Killed a boar, huh? Good on Liam for taking all the credit.”

If you know your man is trash, why are you marrying him?

Apparently Liam seduced Sinéad with sweets and baked goods. I mean ... fair enough. Considering how Sidra complains about being hungry and skinny and going without food if she doesn’t kill the boar because this year’s harvest was minimal, I’m assuming y’all are starving.

We find out Sinéad’s mother doesn’t let her do anything around the house or farm, to preserve her “soft and white” hands and pale complexion so she could be married off easily. This makes zero sense, you’d think these medieval men wouldn’t have the same beauty standards as Victorian England, plus having a mouth to feed that doesn’t even help feeding itself is just nuts.

But remember, this isn’t Sidra, this is Not!Feyre. She needs to be sad and put-upon and a victim. She explains how she was never pretty to begin with and thus nobody considered her to be worthy of marrying off, which then meant she was put to work and became even less attractive because now she was so cool and badass that all the men were intimidated by her.

Yeah, in a village that already doesn’t have a lot of young women? I’m not buying this, lmao. But go off, Not!Feyre.

I’d been the one helping around, instead. Hunting, mostly. Sometimes I’d chop wood or work the farm. Marrying out of the house seemed impossible. Marrying up was practically a dream you forgot upon waking. Had I been pretty from the start there would’ve been a foundation to work from, but I was a lost cause even before my skin became tan and my hands grew veined and calloused. I had freckles which people mistook for mud and dull brown eyes, a long nose that had been broken one time too many and a mouth that made it look like I constantly felt a bad smell no matter what facial expression I made. I’d always been of rather short stature and had brown hair and thick eyebrows, which in combination with everything else made my parents call me their “little goblin”. The scar on my face didn’t help me either: men didn’t like it when their women were more battle-hardened than they were.

Oh god please, don’t go off! We don’t care! Stop going off!

Also what fucking parents call their poor kid a goblin? Yikes.

Sinéad convinces Sidra to get prettied up and Sidra is all “oh I bet all the men will just fall over themselves for my favor now huh” which is just the most annoying fucking thing, prompting Sinéad to respond:

“Well, winter is coming and game is scarce. If they want to survive, marrying the best hunter in the village might be a good bet.”

Yeah! This is correct! I refuse to believe people wouldn’t be into Sidra! Not only does everyone apparently know she’s the best hunter in town, but Sidra herself confirmed the men here outnumber the women and aren’t very picky.

This is fucking stupid. I’m glad I axed it. In my defense, I was very much trying to emulate the YA shit I’d read so far.

Sidra’s grandmother enters the stage. She’s very old in this draft, but otherwise unchanged.

She was a short and wrinkled old lady with extremely bad vision and an even worse grasp on reality. Or maybe an extremely acute grasp on reality, depending on whether you believed her stories or not.

Sidra changes out of the dress again to go out and help her father prepare the boar, all while sulking.

I didn’t envy Sinead, nor any other bride. Despite what most people thought of me, I wasn’t some poor ugly girl longing for the love of a man and the security of marriage. Did I enjoy the idea of having somebody care for me? Sure. But it wasn’t on my list of priorities. I was still trying to figure out what actually was on that list. Not that it mattered. The prospects for a poor village girl were very finite.

Womp womp.

We get some confusing and barely related stuff about Sidra possibly becoming a royal hunter for the king and also about where the village is located in relation to the Faewilds. She speculates that maybe the fae aren’t real, but the way she and everyone else talks about them makes it pretty obvious that they are? This was supposed to build mystery, I guess.

We skip forward to the wedding and Sidra is moping again.

“How are you feeling?” Father asked and squeezed my shoulder.

I wasn’t sure why he was doing that. I assumed it had something to do with the wedding and the fact that despite there being fewer women than men here, I was still not asked to dance. Though this didn’t really bother me, so I just shrugged.

“It doesn’t bother me. Anyway I will continue to mope and feel bitter about this thing that doesn’t bother me.” Hunny ...

At least Current!Sidra has the self-awareness to admit she’s sad and lonely.

[Father’s] marriage to Sinead’s mother was never out of love, more out of necessity. It was easier when you had a big family.

Except for when this “big family” is 3 people who work and 2 people who are just being fed, right? See, I knew back then that having a big family helps when you have a farm, but I also needed to make Sidra Special so Sinéad had to sit on her ass to highlight how pretty and feminine she was or whatnot.

Bleh.

They talk a bit about Sidra’s mother, who passed away five years ago, and Sidra reminisces about how she used to tell amazing stories. It’s all very ... whatever, and serves only to make this point for the hundredth time:

I wasn’t like Mother. I wasn’t full of life and spirit like her. I wasn’t loved and respected by the entire village like her. I was just her disappointing child whose existence they’d rather forget except when they wanted something killed.

Right after this there’s a really abrupt scene transition. Nothing about the wedding coming to an end, nothing about her going to bed, it’s just ... some while later?

Sidra’s father comes back home from ??? and tells Sidra he saw a stag somewhere, but it was hours ago so she better get a move on.

I’m not sure what either of them thinks this will accomplish? Like ... what is she gonna do with it when she kills it ... Carry it home? On her little boney ass? Hmm? I guess I didn’t think of that because I had meta knowledge that she wouldn’t get it home either way, so who cares about logic, right?

Sidra kills two rabbits while stalking the deer, and despite telling us earlier that she doesn’t venture far away from human civilization and the boar hunting being the farthest she’d been and that she wouldn’t go this far alone, she has no issue dwelling very deep into the forest this time.

Like. Henlo? Can we have one logic please and thanks you? Granted, she keeps stopping every now and then to Feel Things Out, but this really goes against how careful she was before and at no point do we get an explanation to her sudden boldness. Plot reasons, I guess.

She nearly stumbles into fae territories and finally decides to head back, except when she starts returning, she sees the stag she’s been tracking. It’s abnormally huge and has a “dark brown” coat that she finds odd, but of course she’s too stupid to connect the dots.

She sneaks up on it and honestly? This chapter ending still slaps.

A scream of pain left the creature and I saw it topple. But though my arrow hit a deer, a man fell to the ground.

DUN DUN DUN.

And yeah, the ACOTAR roots rear their ugly heads again. I liked the idea of the protagonist shooting a fae disguised as an animal, but I decided to cut out the middleman and just have her obliterate Val right in chapter one. Don’t worry, he doesn’t die.

#retrospective #my writing

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