#Nile only has one glove

[aurheatum]

toa anniversary mun day

under cut

Name: 

Nel, i mean it’s Sarah technically, but once you start getting multiple notes in the mail with Nel on them I think it counts. Nelfes works too. I respond to most anything tbh

Pronouns:

she/her or they/them

Birthday (no year):

Dec 6th Saint Nicholas Day : )

Where are you from? What is your time zone?

Chicago. CST [GMT-5].

Roleplay experience:

Over ten years, started on Neopets and other forums. Moved to Gaia Online and then Tumblr indie space some time in 2011.

Got any pets?

Baby boy

Favorite time of year:

Springtime or Autumn

Some interests and things you like:

I’ve always been super into mythology, all of them. I used to think that Carl Jung was onto something with the collective unconscious but then Anthropology and the reality of multilineal evolution ruined that for me (college will teach you things); but that’s alright because humans their ability to create and interpret their surroundings with equal parts love and fear is still pretty cool.

Some funfacts & trivia about you:

-Agnostic but i work in an occult library (it’s pretty quiet; the new age bookshop across the street has all the events)

-One time on Gaia Online I was kicked out of an Okami RP bc I didn’t make my posts aesthetic enough, and I thought it was just the most heart wrenching thing -I’m not sure what people stand to gain back in Ye Old Runescape luring new players out into the wild and PKing them but I was gullible enough to follow some other players at like 7 yrs old and this would have happened to me if i wasnt SUPER good at clicking my mouse and running out of there. Surviving such a harrowing experience made me think i was truly invincible.

-I was supposed to write my final paper for my Japanese Buddhism class on… surprise, Japanese Buddhism but I really wanted to talk about Kenji Miyazawa’s writings instead so I spun it through a lens of his Nichiren conversion and its impact on his poetry. My prof saw right through me but I still got an A.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play?

Tales of RPG series raised me as a person so u know. I like Persona 1-2 era SMT though I’ve played Nocturne and IV as well. What else? Okami, LOZ: Twilight Princess, farm sims and visual novels. Genshin, on and off.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon:

Psychic; wooper family (clogsire im so glad u joined us)

How did you get into Fire Emblem?

My neighbor would bring over Path of Radiance so I could play it on my gamecube with my own save back in the day

What Fire Emblem games have you played?

Tellius duology. Sacred Stones, FE 13-16; currently doing Blazing Blade. Archanea one day.

First Fire Emblem game:

POR

Favorite Fire Emblem game:

Tie between 3 Houses and Radiant Dawn

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 

It’s rhea okay. I wont lie and i wont pretend it isnt evidence of my spectacular taste either

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Tiki (first S support was olivia bc i wanted a pink haired kid)  - Fates: honestly i’d have to revisit, i know i first married niles as m!corrin - Three Houses: I married each lord on their route tho it’s much funnier if you dont i think (First route was Crimson Flower but I saved at the split so I could marry Rhea first lmao) - Engage: Saphir 🥰

Favorite Fire Emblem class:

War Cleric or Qi Adept

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class?

I’d be the mage you have to drag around and treat with baby gloves only to learn like a single good spell I think

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation?

Leicester Alliance tbh

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with?

Based purely on mechanics bc i love them all prob Soren dlc, Sigurd, Celica, and Lyn.

How did you find TOA?

End of 2020/beginning of 2021 I was really trying to get back into rp but couldn’t get into the various systems on discord. One community that I was trying was affiliates with The Officer’s Academy and an active tumblr community rly caught my interest. The rest is history!

Current TOA muses:

Rhea 3H, Micaiah Radiant Dawn, and miss Hortensia engage

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again?

This blog right here! I put her down for a bit and probably will again but. It’s not like she ever leaves, instead of brain there is Rhea u see (i bear this burden so u do not have to)

Have you had any other TOA muses?

I played Sephiran for a hot sec and Ingrid for around a yearish iirc. Both very fun

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards?

Not really? I need to be able to connect with them on some level obviously, and I tend to prefer characters who have like a clear childhood or background for why they are That Way. Micaiah was actually p difficult for this reason but being able to really shape her based on what little we know also made me ever more fond. ♥️ I love to stare at pegasusknight and serenesforest supports pages late at night tehe

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most?

I don’t particularly plan ahead but I really love when threads reflect past character development whether in a thread with the same muse or different. TOA extended universe… I’d like to do that more I think but first I have to actually make a support page huh? Since Rhea’s back she’s made more bonds though and that makes me happy.

Favorite TOA-related memory: Definitely Unlocked 2021! It was my first event after really starting to warm to the TOA community and i was an awe of the scope of the events. The mods thought this far ahead?! We can do this?! Every event since has just been even more fun but the surprise and intrigue i felt then really stayed with him

*How do you pronounce TOA?

Toe-uh. Like Dee-En-Dee. you know.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉 

I think I mentioned I muse Hubert before, and also that I can't really seeing myself maintaining a blog for him? So other than that, no. I do think Nimh could be quite a bit of fun though *laughs*

#ooc #|meme response

[melishade]

Attack on Prime Chapter 4 excerpt: The Courtroom Scene

(I’ve tried posting the full chapters of my doc on tumblr before but it was too large, so I’m just posting scenes that I enjoyed writing for certain chapters. Like the fight scene I wrote for chapter 52. I wrote this chapter a pretty long time ago, about 2013/14. But I hope you enjoy. And if you want the full story, the link to it is on my blog.)

"Armin," Mikasa began, "how do you think the other trial will go?"

"I don't know," Armin whispered, "they can't fit Optimus in the courtroom. We may have to go outside."

Armin noticed Mikasa slightly glaring at Levi. "Mikasa, Eren's going to be fine. Just be thankful he's not being handed over to the Military Police.”

Mikasa still glared at Levi.

The doors suddenly opened, causing Armin and Mikasa to look in surprise and confusion. They saw two people from the Military Police, but they also saw someone else.

It was a man in his mid-thirties with light skin. His dark hair almost covered his bright blue eyes. He also had a short beard. He wore a black shirt with a red jacket and fingerless gloves. Armin noticed that there was a symbol on the upper sleeve of the jacket that looked familiar. He also wore a pair of dark blue pants with brown boots.

The man looked over at Armin and Mikasa as he continued walking towards the center. Armin widened his eyes in shock while Mikasa looked in confusion.

'Those eyes, they're the same as,' Armin thought.

"It's Optimus." Armin whispered.

"What?" Mikasa questioned, "Armin that doesn't make any sense."

"I know it doesn't, but neither does the fact that he could change into some kind of weapon," Armin retorted, "It's him, I know it."

Optimus stood before the judge before looking at his surroundings. On his right he saw people who looked at him with worry, fear, and skepticism. He made a guess they were the conservatives.

One his left, he saw Erwin Smith and Levi. He also saw Commander Pixis, Armin, and Mikasa. He glanced back to see Eren kneeling down and chained his face bloody and battered. Eren slightly glared at him before Optimus turned away.

'I have to be careful,' Optimus thought, 'I do not know what happened, but I know that my fate isn't the only thing being decided.'

"Let us begin," the judge said, “I understand that you were first seen in the Battle of Trost. Is that correct?"

"Yes, your honor," Optimus answered.

"Do you understand why you're here?" the judged asked.

"I am aware that I will be handed over to one of the branches in your military." Optimus answered.

"You will be either handed over to either the Survey Corps or the Military Police." The judge explained before looking at each side, "Commander Nile, does your proposal remain the same?"

"Yes," the man known as Nile answered, "Dissection on the Metal Titan would prove beneficial for humanity. He is able to transform his body part, and it may help with the advancement of our weaponry."

"Commander Smith, does your proposal remain the same?" the judge asked Erwin.

"Yes, Zackley," Erwin answered, "We plan to take him to the outer wall and use him to help seal the breach in Wall Maria. That is all."

Optimus kept a blank expression, but he knew the man wasn't done. He knew Erwin was waiting for the right moment to say his other proposals depending on what happened right now.

"Do you have any issues with that?" the judge known as Zackley asked.

"None, your honor," Optimus answered.

"I'm glad you're being cooperative," Zackley said, "Now, as I've said before, you were first seen in the Battle of Trost. It has never been recorded that a kind of titan like you has ever appeared in humanity's history. Would you care to explain who you are?"

"My name is Optimus Prime. I am an autonomous robotic organism from the plant Cybertron. To make things simpler, I am a sentient being from another world." Optimus explained.

That immediately caused whispers to go out through the courtroom. Optimus could hear words of surprise and disbelief.

"Another world?" Eren questioned in shock.

"How is that even possible?" Armin asked.

Levi looked over to see even Erwin in shock.

"Oluo owes me big," Hanji smirked to herself.

Optimus mentally smacked himself in the head. Gaining the humans' trust probably flew straight out of the water for him. But he had to tell them the truth. He had no reason to lie and he also knew little about this world.

"Are you telling me that there is life outside of this world?" Zackley asked.

"Yes, your honor," Optimus answered.

"Zackley," Nile began, "How do we know if he's telling the truth? He was reported to be a Metal Titan, but he is standing before us as a human."

"My actual form is outside the building," Optimus explained, "This is merely a holographic form or a fake imagery if you will. The only reason I am using this form because I do not wish to cause chaos."

"Can you show us?" Zackley asked.

Optimus held out his arm before it began to shift. Everyone looked in shock and horror as the arm changed into a metallic arm.

'I knew it,' Armin thought.

"So cool," Hanji whispered.

"He's a demon!" a man with black robes and a golden necklace accused, "He's a demon who has tricked the divine wall, just like that monster!"

Optimus just gave the man a blank expression as his arm changed back. Judging by his attire, the man was probably part of a religion, but Optimus remembered people that were very connected to their religion. He was pretty sure Miko had a name for them. Oh yeah, religious freak.

"Pastor Nick," Zackley said before turning back to Optimus, "So your race is more advanced than our own?"

"Yes," Optimus answered, "My race has the ability to transform, create, and so on. We have even been able to travel beyond our world."

"But why are you here in our world?" Zackley asked, "If you already have a world of your own?"

"In all honesty, your honor, I did not mean to come here. I had no idea that a world like this existed," Optimus explained.

Optimus was technically telling the truth. He's seen a world full of humans, yes, but he's never heard of this kind of earth where the odds were definitely not in the human's favor.

"How do we know that you will not attack us?" Nile asked, "Or bring more of your race to our world?"

"I do not know where this planet is located, and I cannot contact my comrades. I also have no quarrel, malice, or reason to attack your kind." Optimus answered, "However, if my presence is unwelcome, or if I am handed over to the Military Police, I shall simply leave the wall in peace, and you will never have to see me again."

"And why would you say something like that?" Zackley asked.

"The Military Police want me dead out of their own fear," Optimus explained, "If I am handed over to the Survey Corps, I will aid them since their purpose is to fight for humanity. Either way, my purpose of fighting for humanity will not change."

"Why should we put our trust in you?!" Pastor Nick demanded, "You have already defiled our walls, our gods! What makes you so worthy of-,"

"Your walls are not gods." Optimus calmly retorted.

"What?" Pastor Nick demanded.

Levi quirked an eyebrow in curiosity.

"A God is a being more power than a human or even myself," Optimus explained, "A God is a living being who suppose to be compassionate, kind, and loving his creation. What have your walls, your 'gods', done for you besides keep a barrier between you and those creatures, you call titans? Also, when I first arrived here, I saw a breach in your wall caused by the so-called Colossal and Armored Titan. And I'm going to make a guess that this has probably happened before. Your walls are not invincible, neither are they gods. It is simply a fortress created by your kind. So tell me, Pastor Nick, do you really think your walls are gods?”

Pastor Nick gritted his teeth as he glared at Optimus.

"The guts with this guy," Riko muttered.

Optimus still looked at Pastor Nick. He knew very well what a God was. He was practically chosen by the God of his world to carry the Matrix. He even fought the god of destruction and chaos. And the humans created these walls, so why would they consider them gods? He was going to have to find a way to look into this if he ever got the chance.

Zackley raised an eyebrow as he saw a symbol on Optimus' sleeve.

"What does the symbol on your sleeve represent?" Zackley asked.

Optimus looked to see the Autobot symbol on his sleeve. "It is the symbol of my faction during the war for my home world."

Mutters began to go across the room once again.

"He's a soldier?" Mikasa asked herself.

"It makes sense," Armin told her, remembering how Optimus killed the titans when they first met.

"You are a soldier?" Zackley asked.

"Yes, your honor," Optimus answered, "I was the leader of a group called the Autobots."

"Hm, is Armin Arlert here?" Zackley asked.

"Yes, that's me," Armin answered.

"You were the first soldier to see Optimus during Trost," Zackley began, "Did he ever show odd behavior?"

"No," Armin answered, "Optimus is very intelligent. He managed to stop Eren from hurting Mikasa. Also, his fighting skills are far stronger than any elite soldier I've seen. He's even saved me from getting eaten twice."

"Is that so?" Zackley asked before looking back at Optimus, "Would you care to show us your fighting skills then?"

"I have no problem with that," Optimus answered.

"Wait," Nile began, "Do you really think it's safe to let him do this?"

"I don't see an issue with this," Levi spoke, "It was reported that he killed over a hundred titans, and possibly more. I want to see him in action."

'A hundred?' Eren thought.

"Nile, send three soldiers to fight him," Zackley instructed.

Nile was hesitant, but had to agree. Three soldiers from the Military Police walked towards Optimus and surrounded him while aiming their rifles.

Optimus just narrowed his eyes as he began to analyze them. There were two in front of him and one behind him. They all had eyes full of fear. Their stances were poor. He could even tell that one of the soldier's legs was shaking. They didn't even notice the slightest scuffle of his foot or the movement of his hands.

They were all fueled by their own fear. They were all bark and no bite, but if he showed all of his fighting skill it may cause more fear than necessary. He made a decision: he had to disarm them and knock them off of their feet.

"What's he doing?" Riko asked, "He's just standing there."

"He's analyzing them," Armin realized, "He's trying to find out who to attack first."

The world seemed to go in slow motion as Optimus began to move. Armin widened his eyes as Optimus kicked the rifle out of the hands of the soldier behind him. One of the soldiers in the front was prepared to fire, but Optimus ducked and kicked the soldier off of his feet. Optimus grabbed the rifle out of the soldier's hands before he hit the ground. Optimus then used the hilt of the rifle to knock the weapon from the last soldier. He caught the rifle before aiming both of them at the two soldiers that were still standing.

The whole courtroom was stunned at the sight before them.

"Whoa," Hanji breathed.

Eren looked in pure horror. This titan had more power and more skill than he ever did. He was probably even more skilled than Annie.

"Optimus wasn't even trying," Armin spoke, causing Mikasa to look at him in confusion.

"I could tell," Armin began, "Optimus was holding back by a lot. Also, if Optimus really was trying or not he could've killed Eren without any problem whatsoever.”

However, the next action confused everyone. Optimus just lowered his arms before handing the rifles back to the two soldiers. Optimus then walked over to the soldier on the ground and held out his hand towards him.

The man reached his shaking hand out after what seemed to be an eternity. Optimus took his hand and pulled him up to his feet. He then picked up the rifle that was on the ground and gave it to the soldier.

"Like I have said before, I have no reason to attack your kind," Optimus stated, "however if the human race is being threatened, I will not hesitate to pull the trigger."

"Sir, I have a proposal," Erwin said as he raised his hand, "Since Optimus' origins or capabilities are rather a mystery and that he is also willing to cooperate, he may be willing to tell us about himself and his race.”

"Are you willing to do that Optimus?" Zackley asked.

"I have no problem with sharing any information about my race," Optimus answered, "And depending on the resources here, I may be able to help you create new weapons to fight the titans without dissecting my body, if you are even capable of doing so,"

"Also," Erwin continued, "It was mentioned before that Optimus was able to restrain Eren in his titan form. If Eren was to lose control, Optimus may be able to stop Eren rampaging without killing him."

Eren immediately stiffened at that. That titan was going to watch him? Were they crazy?

"Before I make my decision, why do you want to help the human race so badly?" Zackley asked.

There was silence before Optimus spoke up, "Freedom is the right for all sentient beings."

Everyone widened their eyes in shock.

"I will help the humans win their war against the titans, even if it shall cost me my life. This I vow," Optimus said as he did their salute, "with all my spark."

Zackley was silent for a moment. "I've made my decision."

#attack on prime #tfp #transformers prime #attack on titan #snk #shingeki no kyojin #aot #ao3 #crossover #tfp optimus #fanfic #optimus prime #eren jaeger #hanji zoe #armin arlert #mikasa ackerman #erwin smith #pastor nick #Levi Ackerman #captain levi #snk Zackley #nile dok #courtroom #courtroom scene #maccadam #macadam

[youssefguedira]

more fencing au for you all bc i thought about it too long

Joe returns to fencing six months after his injury.

Andy asks him if he's sure, but doesn't push when he says he is; Nile is delighted, updating him on everything that's happened while he's been gone; Booker and Lykon welcome him back without mentioning the competition he'd gotten injured during; Quynh smiles at him as he enters; Nicky, who Joe hasn't seen in six months, because they don't really know each other outside of fencing, seems happy, if a little surprised, to see him. When they're all getting ready, Nicky reaches for a sabre instead of his foil, and Joe smiles to himself. So that's how it's going to be.

Andy acts as referee. They claim one of the scoring boxes the second they're both ready, without really talking about it. The first point goes to Nicky, the next two to Joe once he's gotten used to it again after so long away. By the fifth, he's grinning under his mask, breathless with both the exertion and the joy of getting to fence again.

On the sixth point, after a particularly forceful lunge, his ankle twinges. He grits his teeth against the ache and keeps going.

By the eighth, his legs are beginning to ache with the strain of staying in guard position so long, something he hasn't had an issue with in years. On the ninth, when he lunges again, his ankle lands wrong - almost similarly to how he'd injured it in the first place - and he can't hide his wince at the pain that lances up his right leg. It takes him too long to recover from that lunge after Andy calls halt, and when he stands up properly, he has to lean heavily on his left leg.

"Joe?" Andy asks. "Everything okay?"

Joe wants to tell her yes, he just needs a moment, but then he takes a step forward and it's agonising. He hisses in pain. Andy and Nicky exchange a look.

"Maybe you should take a moment, Joe," Nicky suggests. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to say. It only serves to make Joe even more frustrated with himself.

He takes off his mask and disconnects himself from the scoring box without another word. The white light goes off and beeps repeatedly, but he ignores it, taking off his glove and unplugging his sword as he walks over to the corner where he'd left his bag. He leaves his sword, glove and helmet in a small pile and walks out of the gym, aware he's limping as he does. Someone turns off the scoring box.

The night air is cool against his skin. He unzips his jacket halfway and closes his eyes, fighting frustrated tears.

This shouldn't be so difficult. And he shouldn't be reacting this way. He'd known there was a risk of aggravating his ankle before it had fully healed, had known that six months was a little too early, but he had largely ignored it, because he'd missed fencing like a lost limb. And now, even after fencing for as long as he has, he can't even hold guard position for a full bout anymore. His ankle twinges. He shifts his weight to lean more heavily on his left.

The door swings open with a metallic squeal. Joe doesn't turn to look, worried that if he says anything he'll break down completely, and he doesn't need any of the others seeing him like this.

"Joe. Are you okay?" Nicky asks, and that's almost worse, because Joe has known Nicky for a while and likes him just fine but they're not really friends, not outside of fencing at least. Joe knows he's a foilist, that he trained in Italy for a long time before moving to the UK, and that he doesn't like talking about Italy for reasons he's never explained and Joe has never asked about. He doesn't even know what Nicky's job is. They just don't really talk about that kind of thing, and yet now here he is.

Joe rubs his eyes. "Yeah," he says, sounding entirely unconvincing.

"You know," Nicky says carefully. "It's not the end of the world, Joe. It just takes time."

"It's been six months, Nicky. I can't even hold guard position anymore."

"You have to work up to it," Nicky says.

"I know," Joe snaps. "I just - I don't know what I was thinking, okay? I just wanted to be able to fence again." I hadn't realised how much I missed it until I couldn't do it anymore, he doesn't say. He turns to look at Nicky instead, who's still in all his kit, collar half open, his hair tied back loosely. He's grown it out since Joe's been gone. He's looking at Joe like he's going to break down at any minute.

"What do you want to do?" Nicky asks, instead of trying to offer any more advice. Which. Joe hadn't really expected that.

"I don't know." Joe looks up at the sky and blinks a few times. All he knows is that he doesn't really want to go back inside. "Home, maybe, but I usually get a lift with Book, and…" He trails off.

"I can drive you," Nicky says. "If that's what you want."

Joe stares at him, surprised. "You - really? We've barely even gotten started, you'd be leaving so early."

Nicky shrugs. "Don't worry about me. Do you want to go home?"

Joe doesn't reply for a moment, but then sighs. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"Okay," Nicky says. "Wait out here, I'll get your stuff. If that's okay."

It is, so Joe nods, and Nicky disappears back inside the gym. A few moments later, he reappears with Joe's bag slung over one shoulder and his car keys in hand. "Let's go," he says.

The drive back to Joe's apartment is largely silent, apart from Joe's occasional directions. When Nicky pulls up outside Joe's building, Joe doesn't get out of the car straight away. Doesn't even really realise that they've stopped until Nicky says, gently, "Joe. We're here."

"Hm?" Joe says, turning to look at him. "Oh. Right." He doesn't move.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nicky asks.

Joe thinks if he talks about it he'll break down. "No."

"Are you going to be okay, then? On your own? Because it's okay if not-"

"I'll be okay, Nicky," Joe says, even if he's not entirely sure about that. "You can go back to the others if you want." He reaches to undo his seatbelt. "Thank you for the lift, though. I mean it."

"Joe, wait," Nicky says. When Joe does, he pulls a scrap of paper and a pen from the glovebox and scribbles something down, leaning against the dashboard. He holds it out to Joe, who takes it. "If you do want to. Talk about it, that is."

Joe looks down at the paper in his hand. It's a phone number - Nicky's. He tucks it into the back pocket of his breeches. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, again." He closes the door and walks towards his building door, looking back over his shoulder only once to see Nicky, still parked on the sidewalk, looking back at him. He smiles softly when Joe meets his eyes.

Joe looks away, his head down, and walks inside.

#neon writes #the old guard #kaysanova #fencing au #relationship development time. #this is after the point where joe gets fairly badly injured during their first competition as a team + takes a while off #before he and nicky get anywhere #that comes later. this is the beginning of it #anyway enjoy <3

[everysongineverykey]

well, i didn't think much of death on the nile 2022. what's with this trend in recent adaptations of old works trying to make the work "progressive" with some of the most halfhearted stuff i've ever seen? making white characters poc and in the process doing things like recharacterizing a formerly white, now brown financial trustee character into "a slippery snake, no one but [his cousin] trusts him" when the character's crook behavior was not at all apparent to anyone for most of the book and was only revealed towards the end, inventing queer relationships where there were none and handling all their oppressed characters with kid gloves!

this movie features hercule poirot deducing that two women are a couple out loud in front of them while they look on, terrified that he's found out their secret and might destroy them- but of course, since poirot is the main character, he can't be bigoted (never mind any old-fashioned ideals he may have possessed in the books), so all he does is use this as an opportunity to rather pointlessly wax poetic about "people killing for love" even though no one watching with half a brain ever really suspected either of them as being the killer. the problem, though, is that he says all this in front of a stranger. there's a friend of his, who the women don't know, in the room with them, listening to all this. death on the nile has their main character out a closeted queer couple to someone they don't know and don't trust in 1937. the character doesn't use it against them, of course- he's supposed to be a good guy too- but my god, imagine if you were in their shoes! you could potentially make a case for poirot knowing the man wasn't homophobic since they were friends, but that's doubtful, and it's still a really shitty thing to do. and we're just supposed to accept it as a display of how nice, how woke poirot is! i doubt this movie had a single queer person in the writers' room. death on the nile tries really really hard to make you believe it's got thought-provoking stuff in there, but ultimately it's just a shallow cash grab dressed in period clothing masquerading as the brilliant source material.

#hey guys. guys. guess what. having two of your characters of colour briefly mention racism they face/have faced #and then never showing any actual racism or making any full storylines out of said racism #is not equivalent to being really cool and progressive and tackling racism head-on in a movie. #you can't give andrew katchadourian one line about how 'if they saw a dark man with a gun they'd shoot me before i ever saw a noose' #while in his FIRST SCENE immediately setting him up as an obviously shifty and untrustworthy crook #while in the book the (white) version of him is outwardly very respected and respectABLE until the last several pages.

[teneguine]

[Costume]

"Alright, very funny, Odin." For the record, he'd said it was a stupid idea to begin with. But this is just ridiculous. When Odin said costume change, Laslow assumed something like a cape or perhaps a hat. Fatal mistake, as Odin goes all out no matter what.

"How do you keep stealing Gerome's masks!? Did Niles turn you into a thief after all?" Laslow adjusts the stupid thing obscuring the top half of his face. It rests uncomfortably atop his nose and Naga freaking dragon, there are ears on it.

"...I don't even want to look at the rest of the outfit." He'd been banned from peeking in a mirror until the final touches were added, but now, he's fine not knowing.

//via midsommar pt.1; still accepting!

"Hey, cut it out! I told you, my name isn't Odin!"

No sir, not in this outfit. Black leather and a steel vest hug his torso--a collar as big as Lord Leo's extending from his shoulders. Around his waist, several more belts than any man of his size could need, and gray slacks to lead into beat-up combat boots. A splash of color is added to the outfit with yellow gloves and a red scarf, but perhaps the most striking part of this look is that which resides on Dark's face: a steel skull mask.

It's meant to match with Laslow, and technically belongs to a set of similarly flashy costumes. For Midsommar, they are dressed as a pair of heroic thieves, dashing into darkness to steal the hearts of the unjust.

"Tonight, I am Skull, from Rebirth of the Goddess: Personage V!" Or in other words, a complete dork. It's a light novel series from Hoshido--something Odin managed to pick up during his travels. The costumes were all painstakingly made while he was first delving into the series, and the masks... Are of dubious origin. Better that Laslow not bring up this night to Gerome. "And you are Fox, the enigmatic swordsman with an unwavering resolve and love for art! You're supposed to be cool and mysterious, so stop whining!"

Skull lets his companion's complaints bounce off his skin, resolving to hype himself up instead of letting the other's objections get in the way of his fun. His fell hand, like an arrow in flight, suddenly outstretches at the other, twitching and flicking as though controlling a supernatural force. "Now on your guard, Fox! There are evildoers afoot, and fate itself has deemed us the only ones brave enough to foil their dastardly plans!"

He nearly dashes off then and there--managing to make it a few paces in sprint--before turning to the back of Fox's costume. "Oh yeah, make sure your tail is clipped on tight. We don't want it falling off when you channel your ice powers!"

#IC #ASKBOX #LASLOW #toamidsommar2022 #//THANKS SAM FOR THE IDEA #//did niles turn you into a thief? #//kinda #EVENT THREAD (I AM THOU THOU ART I)

[rantsintechnicolor]

the haunted mummy of perdeaux manor, episode 7

After a moment of walking, they both started talking at the same time to fill the silence. They apologized over each other and laughed about it before he invited her to speak first. 

“Mr. Mayweather. You are not like my brother’s other school friends,” she prompted him.

He raised his eyebrows and then chuckled. “We aren’t exactly school friends, though we are both at Oxford. I only just finished my first year and John is a year ahead of me. We met on a Nile barge. Our fathers were both collecting antiquities for their studies.”

Rebecca nodded and politely looked ahead when he stopped talking. They walked in silence for a moment.

“Miss. Perdeaux. Those flowers you have. Are they for anybody?” he asked. 

She glanced up at his apprehensive expression. “The flowers,” and remembering she still clutched them in her hand. “Oh. No.” She explained where they had come from.

“Ah. Good. No one important to you has died then.” His voice hitched around the word “died”.

If they were for anyone, they would be for Eva who’s absence she grieved. “No.” The word came out effused with sadness, and as though another sentence would follow to explain it, but she didn’t feel like telling him about Eva. He didn’t seem to notice. He seemed to be wrestling with his own sad emotions, his face twisted a little in a grimace. 

“Good,” he said in a way that made her wonder if someone important to him had died. A tense silence settled between them. He seemed occupied by a troubling thought, and she hesitated to disturb him. She looked down at the dead flowers, now damp with the light rain. She opened her hand and let them be scattered by the wind. 

Their reveries were interrupted by shouts and cart wheels in gravel. They had crossed the rolling green sheep pasture in sight of the house and its tree-lined approach. On the graveled drive, they could see a flurry of movement between tree trunks as tarpaulins were pulled off crates that were being unloaded. The cart nearest to them had a young porter struggling to handle a crate on his own. 

“Miss Perdeaux, will you pardon me to help that man?” She was struck again by a kindness she had seen in so few men of his class. 

“Yes, of course.” He took the hand on his arm in his gloved hand and brought it to his lips. Their eyes met as his lips brushed her bare knuckles and she froze. She noticed his green eyes seemed to glow inside the dark ring of his iris. He looked just as surprised as she felt. She blinked and he was gone before she felt the color rise to her cheeks.

#awkward conversation #historical fiction #writing #victorian fiction

[starsbbl]

Melbourne Stars BBL13 Season Preview

The 13th edition of the KFC Big Bash League is now just only one month away. 12 seasons have gone by and the competitions 'glamour' side the Melbourne Stars have been one of the dominant home and away teams across the first decade yet have failed to win any silverware thus far. After two bottom placed finishes over the last two seasons, the Stars are ready to bounce back and launch themselves back into the top half of the ladder.

The stars kick off their BBL 13 campaign on 7th December against the Brisbane Heat at the Gabba. There has been months of hard work behind the scenes and the squad is coming along nicely. Captain Glenn Maxwell missed the entire season last year with a broken leg and he's leadership and explosive batting will be a massive boost to the side this season. Marcus Stoinis had an interrupted campaign last season also and he's all round batting and bowling will again be sure to trouble opposition sides. The rest of the squad is looking really well balanced and are ready to take big strides. Sam Harper has returned to green after a stint with cross town rivals the Renegades. He will take the gloves and form a young opening partnership with the newly re-signed Tom Rogers. Maxwell, Stoinis and the big hitting Hilton Cartwright will be a formidable force in the middle order and the trio will be well supported by a younger brigade of up and coming stars.

One of the big issues over the last couple of seasons has been the bowling performances and there has been some significant changes. The clubs all time leading wicket taker Adam Zampa has moved on to cross town rivals the Renegades, however, the fast bowling stocks have received a big boost with Aussie hero Scott Boland returning, Joel Paris and Mark Steketee coming across and experienced veteran Nathan Coulter Nile signing on again. The overseas player draft was completed and with pick 1 the club took explosive Englishmen Harry Brook who will join what already is an exciting middle order of batsmen, rapid fast Bowler and fan favourite Haris Rauf from Pakistan will be returning and young leg spinner Usama Mir also from Pakistan will be pulling on the green. The squad has had some significant changes over the last 12 months and Stars fans should be excited about what is to come this season.

Predictions: Finish - 4th, leading run scorer - Glenn Maxwell, leading wicket taker - Haris Rauf.

#TEAMGREEN

[fddarchive]

About Lilly and Cairamon

From the About Lilly and About Cairamon pages in the About Us section of Lilly and Cairamonʻs Island (Ver 1.5)

“About Lilly

First Name - Lilly

Middle Name - Serenity

Last Name - Nena

Age - 13

Crest - Sunlight

Crest Explanation - Sunlight is the perfect crest for Lilly,because they both have two sides to them.On one hand sunlight can be warm and gentle just like Lilly can be cheery and funny.Sunlight can also be harsh and blinding just like Lilly can be sullen and moody.

Digimon - Cairamon

D-3 color - pale yellow

Birthday - July 18,1988

Parents - Molly and Dave Nena

Siblings - (twins)Maggie and Dakota Nena

Grade - 8

Hair Color - Brown but the front locks are red

Eye Color - Emerald Green

Personality - Lilly is a strange person.On the outside she is cheery and funny.But back home Lilly is moody,and a bigtime loner.Her mom's obsession over her has created a gap between them.Throughout Digimon Chrystal Lilly starts to change and the other digidestined discover what she's really like.

Hobbies - Lilly has many things that she does including singing,gymnastics,dance,flute lessons,piano lessons,swimming,and charity work.Lilly is pushed into most of them by her mother but mostly enjoys gymnastics,singing,and flute lessons.Charity work she doesn't do as much but still likes helping other people.

Likes - drawing,singing,dancing

Dislikes - her mom,copycats,bullies,suck ups,school

Fave food - ice cream Fave song-Ain't It Funny by J'lo DigiWorld

Clothes - pink,red,and white tank top and blue jeans. Most common real world clothes-yellow,purple,green,and orange T-shirt.blue skirt,and pink boots with red straps.“

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“About Cairamon

Personality - Cairamon is a happy go lucky kind of digimon.She is always joking around.Cairamon is always there for Lilly and never gives up on her.Because Lilly has such a low self esteem Cairamon is always encouraging her to think better of herself.Cairamon is also a fierce fighter and unlike her sister Gatomon she is only a rookie level digimon.

STAGES

Baby - Fuzzmon

Attacks - Unknown

Description - A ball of white fuzz with eyes

In-Training - Kittenmon

Attacks - Tail Jet,and Kitty Bounce

Description - About the size of Nyaoramon,but white with a long tail and 4 tufts of fur at the tip.Her ears have 2 pink tufts at the tips.

Rookie - Cairamon

Attacks - Claw Beam,and Feline Agility

Description - Exactly like Gatomon but with pink ear and tail tips,green eyes,mangenta gloves with no stripes,and brighter purple tail stripes.Her tail ring is also blue crystal

Champion - Cleocatramon

Attacks - Eygptian SandStorm,and Nile River Power

Description - Also due to her relation to Gatomon,Cairamon's evoloution looks like Nefertimon.She has a pink tail tip,pale yellow hair thingie.Pink ears,bright purple x's on the tail,and large mangenta gloves.Her chestplates are light blue,and pale yellow.Also her eyes are catlike(duh)and emerald green.

Armour - Starwomon

Attacks - Razor Star,and Star Beam

Description - A woman slightly smaller than Angewomon.She has a black silky dress with silver stars on it.Her silver helmet has pale yellow star spikes on it.The hem of her dress has star spikes also.She also has star spike wings.She has a blue band around her ankle and black boots with silver stars on them.

Ultimate - Solaramon

Attacks - Unknown

Description - Unknown

Mega - Unknown”

#Lilly and Cairamon #Lilly and Cairamonʻs Island #Lilly #Cairamon #profile #character profile #profiles #bio #bios #Solaramon #Starwomon #Cleocatramon #Kittenmon #Fuzzmon

[hauntedfalcon]

living in midnight

for day four of Nile Freeman Week: "Nile & Struggle" plus a fantasy AU in which superheroes exist, Nile isn't one of them, and she doesn't let that stop her. 1700 words, rated M for swearing. content warning for wounds and needles because it's Nile's turn for sapphic patching up, as a treat

the title is from Lianne La Havas’s “Midnight”. many thanks to @flightsofwonder for beta reading <3

read on AO3 or below

Nile opens her eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling. There is an unfamiliar pillow under her head, and she is recumbent on an unfamiliar sofa. Above it is a window, where streetlights reflect in the sinuous trails of raindrops.

Rain. Knives. Three attackers. She fought like hell, might have broken someone’s arm, but they landed one good hit. They left her for dead in an alley. She watched her own blood run into a puddle.

She bolts upright--and hisses when a wave of agony breaks over her, starting in her abdomen and shooting everywhere.

“Please don’t move,” says a softly accented voice. “You’re safe here. I haven’t seen your face.”

Nile collapses back down to the pillow and touches her face, just to be sure. Her mask is still in place. She drops her hand and forces one eye open, blurry with pained tears, to get a look at whoever dragged her in from the alley.

A white woman. Dark shoulder-length hair. Youngish, maybe Nile’s age. Dressed all in black, much like her--not for stealth but for soft goth vibes. Cute, if she’s honest, but this isn’t the fucking singles bar, get it together Freeman.

“I staunched the bleeding,” her rescuer says, “but I was waiting until you were conscious to do the stitches.”

“Do we have to?” Nile groans before she can stop herself.

A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it smile. “I’m afraid so. Would you like some fortitude?” The amateur surgeon holds out a bottle of Everclear.

Ugh. Nile takes the cap off and drinks deep, leaving enough in the bottle to sterilize whatever needs to be sterilized. It tastes like ass and lingers at the back of her throat.

Before the alcohol can set in and obliterate her senses, she says, “Can I borrow your phone?”

The woman hesitates. Very wise of her.

“Listen,” Nile says. “We had two leads come in at the same time. Al-Tayyib took one and I took the other, and mine was a decoy, which means...” She can’t, won’t, say it aloud. She hates how feeble she sounds. “I just have to check in with him. Please.”

The woman hands her a smartphone, unlocked. Nile hits the keycode to make the call anonymous, then dials Joe’s shitty flip phone from memory. He keeps it on silent when he’s on the rounds, and he’ll only answer if he’s safe.

Pick up, she wills him, because if she has to hear his stupid cheerful voicemail greeting now of all times, she’s going to scream right in front of this poor woman who didn’t ask for any of this drama in her life. Pick up, pick up, pick--

“Pronto.”

Nile’s gut tightens (painfully, but that’s not what matters right now) at the sound of another unfamiliar voice. The assassin. Joe walked into a trap.

“Where is he?” she demands, trying to sound hard and not like she’s lying on a stranger’s couch with an open wound.

A gust in the speaker. Is he laughing at her? She strains to hear anything that would give away their location: traffic, a clock tower, machinery, anything. There’s nothing else. No hint of Joe yelling in the background, either.

“I will return him to you presently,” says the asshole. Very formal.

“What, after you shank him like your goons did to me?”

“They were instructed not to kill you,” he says in a voice that wouldn’t fog a window in January. “Did you die?”

White-hot rage flares out of her with no place to go. “Where is he, you son of a--” But he has already hung up on her.

Nile resists the urge to growl. If this was her phone she would throw it against the wall. Instead she quickly deletes the record of the outgoing call, and hands the phone back to the woman, who pockets it. “Thank you,” she says tightly.

“I’m sorry to say so,” says the woman as she holds the tip of a curved needle in a candle flame, “but you are in no condition to save anyone right now.”

She blows out a sigh in answer. When she pulls the hem of her shirt up and peels away the medical tape and bandage pad, she discovers that the woman is absolutely right. This isn’t the worst Nile has been hurt and still fought, but it is pretty bad.

And it’s one thing to trash a gang of traffickers while she’s actively bleeding. It’s something totally different to track down a guy who has been three steps ahead of them this whole time, and seems to have removed his sense of morals with an ice cream scoop.

There’s only one thing left to do: say a silent prayer. The way she learned to pray feels insufficiently casual for the circumstances; she wishes she knew more about the format of the rakat. All she remembers is, “God hears the one who praises him,” so she starts on the Lord’s Prayer because praise comes before petition.

In place of, “Give us this day our daily bread,” she substitutes, “Get Joe out of this with his head,” and then she has to hold back a giggle at the rhyme. She must have lost a lot of blood.

The woman wipes the needle down with Everclear. “You know, I met the old Guardian too.”

Nile eyes her carefully. She won’t say Andy’s name in this woman’s presence. She won’t say Joe’s name either, much less her own. She won’t slip no matter how much blood she’s lost or how strong the alcohol is or how fundamentally good and trustworthy this woman seems or how much this is going to hurt. “Not under the same conditions,” she presumes.

“Very similar,” the woman says with another fleeting smile. “I hope she’s well?”

“She’s good,” Nile hastens to reassure her. “She retired.” And she left Nile her nom de guerre and all the weight that went with it.

“I’m glad she made it that long.”

“Probably thanks to you,” Nile says, and she gets a longer smile for it.

Then the needle bites into her skin and Nile whimpers softly and throws an arm over her eyes. She’s hard. She’s tough. This is what she does.

The woman’s gloved hand pinches the wound closed as she stitches. She works quickly, professionally. “I’m really glad you found me,” Nile manages. “I can’t exactly go to a hospital.”

“I think you would be surprised,” the woman says. “You are well loved in this city. People would protect your identity.”

That’s not it. Nile can’t go to hospital because there’s a chance her mom would be on shift, and the only thing worse than keeping her alter ego secret from her mom is the idea that she would find out because Nile came in on a gurney. She can’t do that to her.

A tug, as she ties the thread off, and then a snip of the shears. Nile lifts her head and looks down at a slightly puckered, neatly stitched, no longer bleeding knife wound.

Her laugh sounds brittle, just this side of hysterical. The woman glances at her. “I have work tomorrow,” Nile says weakly.

The woman tapes a fresh bandage over the wound. “Me too.”

No rest for the righteous. “The struggle is real, huh? Sorry for keeping you up late.”

“I will call in if you do,” the woman offers.

But going into the office in the morning might be the soonest opportunity to make sure Joe is okay. Nile pulls her shirt down and zips her bomber jacket over it. “I should go.”

The woman sets one hand on Nile’s arm. “Please stay. You shouldn’t be out alone tonight.”

“They might have been watching when you brought me inside,” Nile warns.

“Then I will need your protection, won’t I?” the woman says without blinking, as if she’s not the one that just saved Nile’s whole life.

Nile cracks an incredulous smile but the woman just gazes at her solemnly.

“Okay,” she says at last. “Okay, I’ll stay. Thank you. And I’m sorry for bleeding on your couch.”

It’s not enough, but the woman just sets about cleaning up her supplies. Nile settles back against the pillow and wills her muscles to unclench.

“May I ask,” the woman asks as she washes her hands, “why you do this? You don’t have superpowers.”

No, and none of the people who do have taken this city under their protection. Flippant, lazy answers parade through Nile’s mind, because she’s not in a charitable mood. Anger issues. No one else is gonna do it. I’m a giant masochist, actually.

But when she opens her mouth, the first thing that comes out is Andy’s answer, from when Nile asked her years ago. “Because there are people worth fighting for.”

Then Joe’s answer: “People who won’t get justice any other way.”

And, finally, one that’s all hers. “I have a responsibility. This is my city”

She’s going to pass out any minute, but beneath her fatigue there’s still a live coal of the feelings that made her put this mask on in the first place. This is her damn city. She spends so much time in the guts of its shitty justice system, and the rest of the time punching assholes, that she sometimes forgets her city is full of ordinary, decent people. Good people. People who will bring someone in from the rain. People like…

“What’s your name?” Nile asks, and then catches herself. “I can’t--give you mine. Sorry. It might be safer if I don’t know yours.”

“Celeste,” says the woman.

Good people like Celeste. How comforting that is.

Her pain is down to an ache instead of a burn, and her eyes drift closed. In the morning, she’ll be out of Celeste’s hair. She’ll shower at her apartment, carefully, and she’ll go into Legal Aid, and Joe will be there, a little banged up but alive. He’ll hug her, quick and tight, and they’ll loiter by the coffee maker and speak in low voices and sort out their next play. And when the work day is over, they’ll go with Andy and Quỳnh down to Booker’s for drinks and darts, and Nile will order a bouquet of flowers sent to Celeste’s apartment in thanks. Everything, for given quantities of everything, will be fine.

Confident in her safety, secure in her purpose, Nile rests.

#The Old Guard #Nile Freeman #nileweek2021

[mask131]

Cruella’s fashion 6: The live-action movie (A)

So, we covered the novel, the animated movies, the television series... Time to begin the big one. The live-action movie of the 101 Dalmatians, the one that redefined the fashion of Cruella (and visibly had a big influence on the 2021 movie). Released in 1996 with Glenn Close playing the titular Cruella, all of the villainess' outfits were designed by the famous Anthony Powell, the British costume designer famous for his work on movies such as "Travels with my Aunt" (1972), "Death on the Nile" (1978), "Tess" (1979), "Pirates" (1986), "Hook" (1991) and even two of the Indiana Jones movies ("and the Temple of Doom" + "and the Last Crusade").

As a result, each of the costumes he gave Cruella was well-thought and carefully designed. This one is the first "business outfit" of Cruella (since she is now the head of a fashion house, and the first outfit we see Cruella in. Of course, fur is present, here black and white, to match the typical Cruella colors - the fur is also stripped, a nod to the fact that when the movie opens Cruella and her fashion house are obsessed with stripes. The fur here is a clever mix of three different fashion accessories: it begins as a fur muff, which is linked with a thick fur stole - said fur stole passes over her shoulder and then falls on the ground in a long cape-like piece of fur behind her back, dragging onto the ground. (Muff, stole, cape, these were all the fur accessories the original Cruella wore in the children novel). Note that the stole/cape ends up with several black furry tails attached to it, as a nod to the decorative tails on Cruella's iconic fur coat.

Once the fur is removed, alongside the hat (you probably noticed in the previous picture the black hat with a small veil, an elegant, old-fashioned but also slightly funeral look), we can better appreciate the outfit itself. Typical female busines suit, with a skirt and a jacket, once again following the white and black color scheme. If you look close, you will notice that the pattern here is a set of pinstripes made out of sequin - this is the "girly" side of Cruella, who still enjoys everything that shines and glitters (and thus, a lot of sequin). Cruella wears high heels of course - it was part of the "molding" of the silhouette. To fit with the tall and thin body of Cruella, Glenn Close not only had to wear high heels all the time but also a tight corset to slim down her waist. Cruella also wears gloves, just like the animated character - except here the gloves keep changing to match the outfit. All of Cruella's gloves however share one characteristic: they have fake nails on top of the fingers. This was an idea of Anthony Powell, which of course made Cruella's hands look more like claws and as a result gave her a more witchy/demonic look. Glenn Close explained herself that the fact Cruella always wears gloves, covering clothes and shows rarely much of her skin gives her outfits the feeling of an "armor". It strengthens her natural toughness and coldness, because if she exposed too much of her skin or limbs it would make her seem vulnerable. Note that in this particular outfit, Cruella has pockets made out of what seems to be big animal fangs - nothing goes to waste!

This is the second business outfit we see Cruella in, when she contacts Mr. Skinner from her office to tell him to kill the puppies, since the police is getting on their tracks. Here we have a full dress, again in the black and white color palette - though here the pattern is rather "fang-like". We can also admire Cruella's love for jewelry: be it the fang/claw-like brooch, her earrings or the high necklace of black and white perls. Cruella is rich and vain, and thus has a wide array of jewels - but jewels designe to look quite "vicious" (more about that later). You might have noticed that the two business suits have a common point: the pointy shoulder pads. Not only do they give Cruella a more impressive silhouette, and thus reinforce the "armor" feeling of her business outfits, but they were also specifically designed to look like horns - again, reinforcing the devil imagery of Cruella. As for the fur, we have yet again a fascinating mix of fashion accessories, since this is a fur cape/cloak acting and worn as a fur stole (or you could say that it is one very extravagant and big fur stole - Cruella loves things larger than life). Note that the inside of the piece is bright red, a nod to the bright red inside of Cruella's original coat. The concept art of the costume explains that the fur of the stole isn't actually regular leopard, but snow leopard, and adds that the long black fur on the borders is actually monkey fur. In the movie, Cruella was more than just a fur-obsessed woman: they turned her into a true "ecological terrorist" by having her wear (and search) for the fur of endangered species and rare animals. In terms of analysis, it is also quite fascinating to note that she is wearing spots again. In the beginning of the movie, Cruella is entirely obsessed with stripes - and thus her first outfits are mostly respecting this pattern. However, as she becomes and more obsessed with spots she changes this - for example here returning to leopard spots. (She even mentionned in the beginning of the movie that she did "leopard spots" in the 1980s).

After the business outfits of Cruella, we dig into her home outfits, the ones she wears inside Hell Hall (her personal mansion). This is the first of the two we see, a morning and inside dress she wears the day she discovers Anita is getting married. It is also the outfit she wears when Horace and Jasper bring her the pelt of the albino tiger - definitively setting Cruella as more than an exigent, brutal, excentric and sinister boss, but as a legitimate threat, the head of a small criminal group delving into illegal activities to satisfy her mad obsession for fur. As you can see, we have no fur here - though the sheets of her bed are indeed fur, in a nod to the original children book where Cruella sleeps in mink sheets. The dress is rather made of black leather, with the floor-long sleeves, the bottom of the dress and the wide collar being an ensemble of white and black feathers. As we mentionned before, the movie wanted to push Cruella beyond her obsession for fur, by making her a threat to all animal life on Earth - thus here, we see she also has usual clothes made of leather and feathers. I'll take a moment to comment on the hairdos of Cruella - not only were they created to bring in mind the "Gorgon" look Cruella had in the animated Disney movie, but they also tried to shape it like an "artistic storm", a deconstructed but carefully made hairdo, again mixing the chaos and order, black and white, representing the inner dangerosity of this ferocious and violent being shaped in the elegant and beautiful shape of a rich fashion woman.

This is the second "inside outfit" of Cruella, an evening gown she wore as she was receiving Mr. Skinner the day they kidnapped - well dognapped - the last puppies.   We see again here a good amount of feathers, forming the collar and the base of the dress, however the dress itself is not made of leather but rather of scales, more precisely snake and alligator scales. Thus we conclude the full palette of animal materials. The snake theme continues in her jewelery - not only is her necklace shaped like a serpent, but also her long bracelet - that continues on her hand and ends in a ring, is also shape like a snake. Maybe you can see it, but the end of the snake-bracelet, the "head" of the jewelled beast, on her finger, is actually a fang. Of course, the snake symbolic is very obvious. A poisonous predator, beautiful but deadly, associated once more with witches and the devil. (And of course the hairdos of Cruella also evoke the Gorgon myth, yet another snake theme)

#cruella #cruella's fashion #glenn close #101 dalmatians #live action movie #movie #fashion #outfit #villain

[mightshad0w]

POV:

Victorian era.

You are married to Lord Erwin Smith, Earl of Lancashire.

A marriage that was extremely expected by your family, which was of the nobility but unfortunately penniless.

But you do not especially carry in your heart.

During an evening with very close friends, during the social season, you take advantage of all this world to escape from its grip.

However...

Levi:

You had taken advantage that your husband is a dance with one of your cousins, this last one had not refused because finding her a little more docile than you. In fact, Erwin is a true viper's tongue and does not hesitate to make fun of you openly.

The Gallery of the Paintings seemed quite silent, while usually some young aristocrats comment happily on the brushstroke of your genius husband.

"It is not fitting for a lady like you to be alone, especially in the company of a man who is neither your husband nor your brother, let alone your father.

The voice comes from behind you, a man neither young nor old. His hair is so straight and black that it looks like the wings of a raven. Even his black suit with gold embroidery reinforced his peculiarity.

"Levi Ackerman, Earl Delay's brand manager. I am partly responsible for the fact that black tea has conquered all of our beautiful England."

You didn't drink tea, or your husband for that matter. Erwin is far too attached to his morning coffee, which he used to take in silence while reading his newspaper.

"Do you like my husband's paintings? He takes a lot of time to make them but the work is worth it, especially the details" you say, not wanting to look like an uneducated person with the tea.

"They are certainly beautiful but far too artificial, landscapes without clouds, flowering gardens without weeds,... Isn't it too beautiful to be real?"

- His hand slipped over yours to then take your shoulder, you had the impression of being on the arm of an ice statue. And with the little light there was, you were still looking for the shadow of a smile.

"Let's go inside quietly, it wouldn't be right to find us both here, especially since you've only been married a short time."

Hansi:

Fireworks was one of your husband's great passions, which he described as a subtle mix between leisure and science.

Yet he had ordered you to stay inside. He had caught some of the servants and valets stealing some food from the buffets when his back was turned.

Here you are again, abandoned to your fate, watching over thieving servants.

"What is our host doing alone, while her husband is feasting quietly."

Hansi Zoe, old friend of Erwin Smith. His youth seemed to be eternal, and it was his style of dress that reinforced this youth. He often wore a deep red frock coat with a collar richly embroidered with golden flowers, which he adorned with an ecru scarf.

His gaze was on the servant who was behind you, caught in flagrante delicto. In just a few seconds, Hansi had changed his personality. You didn't even notice the riding crop he wore on one side of his waist.

No wonder, Hansi is the manager of a workhouse. He expected a certain rigor and righteousness from the household staff, being also the one who had advised Erwin in the choice of these servants.

It was unbearable to see, the blood was dripping down the poor servant's shirt, writhing with each blow of the whip. You were left with only one solution suitable for a woman of your rank: fainting

You didn't even have time to touch the ground before you were already in Hansi's arms. The servant had been quietly evacuated, while others cleaned the floor.

It was just him and you, those big eyes sublimated by a pair of glasses resting on your deceptively weakened body.

"I'm going to warn Erwin right now, I'd hate for him to think I'm courting you or even much worse."

Mike:

One last dance, there was only one spot left in your notebook and two people were arguing over who would give it to you. Mike Zacharias, a wealthy bourgeois who made his fortune in silk and Nile Dok, a distant member of English royalty.

Mike isn't much of a dancer, from what he claims. Yet, each of these large limbs moves with a certain grace.

His face is impassive, he observes each person who could be around him. It must be said that it is not invisible, either by its size or by its status. He is a great bourgeois, in the middle of the high English nobility.

However, women come and go towards him, he has a great sense of aesthetics and takes care to discuss with each of these future customers.

But there, there is only him and you. Those big silk-gloved hands slip around your hips as he hums along to the music.

"Are you enjoying your new life with Lord Erwin? I've heard nothing but praise for him and your marriage," he asked, while casting a tender glance at you.

He is so far from reality, Erwin is cruel and deceitful. For him, the world is a vast chess board. And your role was still far too blurred, but you were not the queen or at least not yet.

"Yes, very much so! We are planning to go to France for our honeymoon. He always has good ideas to please us!" you replied, knowing it was all a lie.

The «us» implied your pregnancy. Just married, he had knocked you up. One more anxiety to manage, while you live under the same roof as him and especially far from your parents.

"Would you tell me if Erwin were to change? You know, men are so unpredictable. Will you promise me?" he asked in a whisper, before leaving to freshen up.

#aot #aot erwin #attack on titan erwin #erwin smith #erwin x levi #mike zacharias #attaque des titans #snk erwin #hanji zoe #levi ackerman #Victorian Era #mike zacharius #miche zacharius #snk hansi

[shitty-old-guard-deaths]

May 12th, 2125, North Carolina

It’s an early, misty morning. The gang is holed up in North Carolina for reasons we don’t have time to get into. Nile is shaken awake by a grim-faced Joe. 

“It’s time,” he says.

Nile immediately bolts out of bed and gets dressed.

Nicky, Andy, Booker and Quỳnh are already waiting in the car

(The full gang requires a soccer-mom van to get around. See Appendix A for seating arrangements)

The field is empty. The growing heat from the morning sun conjures a wispy layer of fog at their feet. Andy and Nicky unload the trunk, passing out the gear

They know their teams already, they only have to get in position.

Joe checks over his glove carefully, then jogs into centrefield

Andy is up at bat. 

Quỳnh steps up onto the pitcher’s mound and lets loose with one of these bad boys:

[ID: gif of Alice from Twilight dishing up the most unhinged first pitch in cinematic history. She raises one perfectly straight leg to an improbable height, her face impassive, then throws the ball in slow motion. END ID]

The count is 2 and 0. Quỳnh doesn’t have a hair out of place, but Andy knows she’s rattled.

The next pitch clips Andy’s elbow

“MotherFUCKER” she says as she walks to first base. “You did that on purpose!”

And that’s how the quarter-centennial all-immortal baseball championship devolves into a grisly game of beanball

Andy throws a high heater at 95 mph and she’s not above “missing” inside

Booker hates catching when Joe is at bat cause he always “accidentally” over-swings, clipping Booker in the mask

Nile gets into the spirit of it and pulls off a gorgeous flying tackle on Nicky to ‘tag’ him out at home plate.

There’s a reason they only play every 25 years.

(appendices under the cut [she wrote, as if that’s a normal thing to put in a tumblr post])

Appendix A: 

[ID: Schematic of the seating arrangements in an SUV. The driver’s seat is labeled ‘Andy’, Quỳnh is in the passenger seat. Booker is behind Quỳnh, while Nile is behind Andy. The back row has three seats, with Joe against the passenger-side window and Nicky on top of beside him, in the middle, while the driver-side window seat is labeled ‘literally nobody’. END ID]

Appendix B: Joe confronting Nicky about his vicious slide into 2nd

[ID: gif of Emmett from Twilight, wearing the world’s worst sideways baseball cap and holding his arms out to his sides. Caption reads ‘Babe, come on! It’s just a game! END ID]

#the old guard #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #nile freeman #andromache the scythian #sebastien le livre #quynh #i've absolutely lost the plot over here #idk what's going on i'm just vibing #sogd

[youssefguedira]

surprise! more zelda au but this time less sad and in the og not-100-years-later timeline

Yusuf fastens the buttons on his tunic one by one, runs his fingers over the delicate silver embroidery on the sleeves, pulls on the white gloves with their swirling golden patterns on the back of his left hand. It’s the afternoon of his birthday, and he hasn’t spoken to another person in hours. 

Not since the guard had arrived this morning, with a folded piece of paper in his hand and the message that Nicolò would not be on duty today, but that he’d left a message for Yusuf. When he’d opened it, three dried flowers, almost perfectly preserved, had fallen onto his lap. The note had read, I don’t know if these have any kind of scientific value, but I thought you’d like them. Happy birthday, Yusuf. I’ll see you later.

Nicolò’s absence shouldn’t have unsettled as much as it has, but Yusuf has been feeling off-centre all day. A year ago, he wouldn’t have blinked at being by himself for this long - ever since his mother died, he has trained alone, eaten alone, worked alone. But he’s gotten too used to having Nicolò around, and now he doesn’t know what to do without him.

He can't stop thinking, either, about what he'd overheard Nicolò saying to Andromache less than two weeks ago, after Yusuf had spent hours in the freezing water of the Spring of Courage with absolutely no results, to the point where he’d barely eaten all day and almost passed out from exhaustion. I don’t know what to do, Andy. I care about him too much to watch him keep hurting himself like this. 

He glances over to his desk, where the flowers are resting now, placed carefully on top of a blank page in his sketchbook, then back to himself in the mirror. Wonders if he looks as unsettled as he feels. It’s less than an hour until the ball starts - Andromache, Quynh, Nile and Sebastien have been here for a week. Tomorrow, everything changes, but tonight, he’s been instructed by his father to act as if everything’s fine.

When it’s time, he’s led from his room by one of his father’s aides and a guard to a small antechamber attached to the main ballroom. The man barely looks at him, just tells him to wait. Behind the door to the ballroom, he can already hear people talking. He tries, and fails, not to fidget too much with his gloves.

The door he’d entered through swings open again, and Nicolò walks through, lighting up when he sees Yusuf. Something in Yusuf’s chest finally settles.

Nicolò’s in his blue and red ceremonial guard’s uniform, sword strapped to his back in a more decorated sheath than the plain one he favors, his hair tied neatly back. His brown gloves are embroidered with the same pattern as Yusuf’s, but on his right hand instead. He smiles, looking Yusuf up and down. “You look good.”

“So do you,” Yusuf says.

“Did you get my note?” Nicolò asks, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind him. “I asked Taloh-”

“I did,” Yusuf responds. “The flowers were beautiful. Thank you.” 

Nicolò’s smile widens at that. Yusuf’s heart skips a beat, and he doesn’t know why. “I missed you today,” he says before he can stop himself. 

“I missed you too,” Nicolò says, and the look he gives Yusuf is painfully soft. Yusuf doesn’t know what he’s doing, only that he has to do something. But before he can, his father’s aide returns. 

"It’s time,” he says, before leaving again.

Nicolò offers his hand. “Ready?” he asks. Yusuf isn’t, but he takes it anyway.

--------------------

Most of the ball is a blur. Nicolò is with him for almost all of it, save the odd moment, and when he isn’t, Andromache or Nile or Quynh or Sebastien are. But even though he’s not by himself, there’s only so many people he can talk to and smile at before he needs a break.

He slips out of a side door when he’s certain the attention is somewhere else. Outside the ballroom, it’s near silent, and it’s late enough that the hallway is lit only by moonlight. He finds a small alcove that’ll hide him from anyone passing by, leans back against the wall, and just breathes for a moment. He doesn’t mind people, but he knows they’re all expecting more of him than he can give, and he’s tired.

It’s not long before he hears footsteps, and sighs. He should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to stay away long.

But it’s not one of his father’s men - it’s Nicolò. “Yusuf, you-”

“I know,” Yusuf interrupts. It’s not fair, maybe, but he’s tired of having his every move monitored.  “I shouldn’t be out here by myself. But the castle is well guarded, so if that’s why you’re out here, you should go back inside.”

“That’s not why I’m here.” Nicolò looks almost hurt. “I’m here because you left, and I was worried. And because I am your friend, Yusuf, and I care about you.”

I care about him too much to watch him keep hurting himself like this. Yusuf hasn’t asked about it, but now he can’t stop himself. “I was awake, when we were visiting Andromache the last time.”

Nicolò blinks. “What?”

“I’d spent too long in the Spring the day before, and then I slipped away from you to go visit the Divine Beast. You found me hours later at the camp with Andromache. You thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t.” Yusuf can see the exact moment Nicolò realises what he means, but he keeps going. “You told Andromache you cared about me too much-”

“To watch you keep hurting yourself,” Nicolò finishes quietly. He’s silent for a moment, then- “What do you want me to say, Yusuf?”

“Did you mean it?” Yusuf asks, because - he’s not sure, really, only that this feels like something new and fragile and he has to know. 

Nicolò doesn’t look at him for a long time, long enough that Yusuf worries he’s said the wrong thing. Maybe he never should have brought it up. 

“Of course I did,” Nicolò says finally, quiet enough that it’s barely even a whisper.

Yusuf moves closer without really thinking about it. “You sent me flowers.” He sees it all in a different light now - the flowers and Nicolò’s perpetual habit of finding him things he thought might interest him, the times Nicolò would sit with him while he worked and remind him to eat before he even realised he was hungry, the way Nicolò would always be there when Yusuf needed him. He almost can’t believe he didn’t see it before. 

Nicolò finally looks at him. “I did,” he says, and steps forward so there’s barely an inch of space left between them, and Yusuf can’t really remember how to breathe anymore. Nicolò cups his jaw in both hands, his thumb just brushing Yusuf’s cheekbone, pauses for just a second. Yusuf could step away if he wanted to, should really go back to the ball because surely someone else must have noticed his absence. He doesn’t move. Closes his eyes instead, and Nicolò kisses him, achingly gentle. Yusuf’s hands settle on Nicolò’s hips, keeping him close. 

Even when they separate, Nicolò stays there, resting his forehead against Yusuf’s. This is dangerous, they both know it. Yusuf doesn’t know what will happen if his father discovers this, only that it will not be good. 

“You’re thinking too much,” Nicolò says softly. Yusuf can hear him smiling, and opens his eyes. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Yusuf says. He doesn’t want to think about any of that now. It can wait. 

“Are you sure?” Nicolò asks. He knows Yusuf far too well, but Yusuf nods anyway.

Nicolò smiles, and kisses him again.

#this one i think is comprehensible to non zelda people #because i left out the Major Lore sections so this is a very stripped down version of this scene #and after there's a whole wider thing that references yusufs semi prophetic dreams but i need to leave some things for the actual longfic #i want to write someday. not yet but Someday #but yeah. have a lot of feelings about nicolo acts of service di genova in this au. bringing yusuf food when hes working. making sure he #rests even when hes training. bringing him things he might find interesting just to make him smile #something something yusuf is viewed as either a divine figure or a means to an end and nicolo is one of the few people to care for him just #as a person rather than a legend or in terms of what he expects of yusuf. yeah #2 ficlets in one day. who am i #i have a third which is heavily self indulgent lore stuff but the concept is very everything to me #neon writes #the zelda au which lives only in my head #the old guard #kaysanova #this was posted purely bc of shini's tags on the one i posted earlier! thank you im glad you enjoy this au! <3

[sixth-light]

AU-of-an-AU marriage of (in)convenience related ficlet, inspired by @xwingace pointing out in beta that Nicky’s parents probably knew, and people in the comments asking what would have happened if [fic events] hadn’t happened as they did. No, it is not turning into a longer story (I will snippet from the other long thing I’m writing soon), but it was long enough to be worth sharing.

Joe’s two weeks in Genoa went almost exactly the way he’d predicted: lots of time in windowless rooms, lots of late nights writing up his notes before he forgot things, no revelations about Nicky’s family or whatever it was Nicky didn’t want him to know. The weather stayed good, not that it mattered much.

Nicky apologised again, on Joe’s second-to-last night, for the way he’d reacted to the news that Joe was going to Genoa for work.

“It’s just very…” he sighed. “I will explain when you get back. I promise.”

“It’s okay,” Joe said, lying on his back on the hotel bed, holding his phone over his face. “I’m holding you to that, but you apologised already. We’re good.”

Nicky smiled a little crookedly. “We’ll…see what you say.”

“If you feel the need to make it up to me…” Joe drew the moment out. “Any good restaurant recommendations? Nile and I have both reverted to room service but we want to do better on our last night here.”

“Uh.” Nicky blinked at him, clearly caught off-guard. “Not – you know, for the last few years I was studying in – nothing is coming to mind.”

Joe bit the inside of his cheek, not smiling too hard; he bet that Nicky’s problem was that everywhere he could think of was too fancy. In Malta four years ago, and over the last six months in Amsterdam, Nicky had taken a weird glee in eating street food or in hole-in-the-wall places that shouted, louder than words, that he hadn’t got to do that in whatever his younger life had been. Sometimes Joe considered the possibility that Nicky had just been locked in a closet or something, but he was way too well-adjusted and good with people for that. So it had to be the other option.

“Never mind,” he said.

“I’m sure I can think of another way,” Nicky said, with a matter-of-fact confidence that shouldn’t objectively be sexy but, because it was Nicky, very much was.

So Joe went to sleep that night in a much better mood, and retained it all the way up until next afternoon. He and Nile were stripping off their gloves and stretching out their cramped backs, more or less done, when a palace staffer he didn’t recognise appeared in the doorway and said “Come this way, please; the Princess would like to speak with you.”

“Uh, wow,” Nile said, eyes wide. “Right now?”

“Not you,” the woman said. It was almost polite except around the eyes. Joe and Nile both bristled. “Just Mr al-Kaysani.”

“Nile’s done just as much of the work,” Joe said at once. “In fact, if the Princess wants to talk about –”

“It’s not about the paintings,” said the staffer. Joe decided he didn’t like her. “It’s a family matter.”

Nile turned to Joe, her eyes, if anything, even wider. “Joe, you know what’s going on?”

“Nope,” Joe said, shrugging, although he had had a sudden wild idea involving Nicky being some sort of illegitimate royal offspring, which was romance-novel-level silly. Part of him thought he should say no, and give Nicky the chance to tell him whatever it was that he was probably going to learn. The other half was too curious. “Come and rescue me if I don’t text you in an hour or two?”

“You got it!” Nile said brightly, after a narrow-eyed beat. The staffer rolled her eyes, which told Joe that she didn’t know about Nile’s stint in the military; oh well, that was her problem.

Joe followed her upstairs and into what was clearly a personal part of the palace. It was very surreal. His job put him on the borders of this sort of thing quite often, but never directly into it like this. As he was shown into a room, he had a sudden flash of regret – maybe this was a bad idea – but it was too late.

The Princess was a white woman older than fifty but younger than seventy, indeterminate in the way the very wealthy usually were. Her pale hair wasn’t all grey, but it was getting there. Joe waited to follow her lead on how to greet her, painfully conscious that he hadn’t been given any pointers on etiquette, and she hesitated visibly before nodding to him. He decided not to read anything into that. Yet.

“Your highness,” he said. “I…was told you wanted to speak with me?”

“Please sit down, Mr al-Kaysani,” she said, gesturing to one of the couches, and Joe sat down and drank coffee with a princess, which was going to amuse his sisters, at least.

She asked him about the work he and Nile had been doing, and his job in general, and for a little while he entertained the idea that he was just an hour’s distraction for a woman who probably didn’t talk to anybody with a real job for more than a minute at a time, most days. Except that the staffer – who was still in the room, just lurking politely by the far window – had definitely said the word family.

“You grew up in the Netherlands, is that right?” the Princess said. “And your mother was in your Parliament, for a while.”

“That’s right,” Joe agreed. “I wasn’t born there, but all my sisters were. My mother was in Parliament while I was a teenager, but she’d had enough by the time I was at university.”

She nodded. “Being in the public eye has its toll.”

“Your highness,” Joe said, tired of circling things, “I don’t mean to be rude, but could you just…tell me what this is actually about?”

She paused, and put down her cup. “Your marriage, of course.”

“Yeah, uh, the thing is,” Joe said, feeling very guilty now because Nicky had promised – but also Nicky had had six months to tell him whatever it was. “I know Nicky –”

“Nicky?” she said, a little incredulously.

“My husband, Nicky. Nicolò. I know he’s from Genoa and I know there’s something he’s not telling me about his family, because he hasn’t told me anything about his family except that his brother lives in New York, but whatever it is, I think you know and I don’t. So – if you want to talk about it, you’re going to have to tell me.”

The Princess put her face in her hands and for a solid fifteen seconds Joe thought he’d made her cry, which had not been what he’d intended. He glanced at the staffer but she was looking determinedly out the window; Joe was on his own. He’d already opened his mouth when he realised the Princess was, in fact, laughing.

“This is,” she said finally, lowering her hands and sitting upright again, “not the conversation I was expecting to have.”

“Well, me either,” Joe said, having nothing else left.

“Let’s start again.” She smiled a quiet little smile that hit Joe between the eyebrows like a freight train, because he knew that smile very well. “Yusuf. Do you go by Yusuf?”

“Joe, mostly,” Joe said, his mouth dry. He picked up his cup, for something to do with his hands that wasn’t obviously a nervous reaction.

“Joe,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet my newest son-in-law.”

“Son-in – are you kidding,” Joe said, his fingers losing their grip, and promptly spilled coffee all over a very expensive carpet.

*

Joe held it together through the rest of that highly surreal conversation, and all the way back to the hotel, where he told Nile he just wasn’t feeling like going out to eat, and even all the way back to Amsterdam. He could precisely identify the point where he lost it. It was the point where he walked in the door and put down his bag, and went into the kitchen, and Nicky looked up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table reading – it smelled like food was in the oven – and smiled at him, wide and warm and unabashedly pleased to see him.

“Joe! You’re back.” He closed the book.

“So,” Joe said, levelly, folding his arms. “Prince Nicolò.”

Nicky put his head in his hands in a way that was so exactly like his mother it made Joe’s eye twitch. “Oh no.”

“Oh, yes,” Joe said, leaning against the door. “I had a very informative conversation with your mother.”

“With my mother?” Nicky said, looking up in sheer panic. For Nicky, anyway. He wasn’t much of a panicker.

“Princess Maria,” Joe said. “Lives in this palace, in Genoa, with her husband, who I haven’t yet had the privilege of meeting, if that makes you feel better –”

“I was going to explain,” Nicky said, very quickly.

Joe wanted to yell, and he wanted to turn around and walk out of the room, and he wanted to kiss his husband who he hadn’t seen for two weeks, and most of all he wanted to know how it was possible to be this mad at someone and still love them. Maybe it was only possible to be this mad at someone if you loved them. He was starting to suspect that was the case.

“Alright.” He unfolded his arms to gesture, one arm wide. “Go on, then. I’m listening.”

“Okay. So. So,” Nicky said. “The first thing is – wait, why were you even talking to my mother?”

“Because they’ve known you were married to me since it happened!”

Nicky winced. “Oh, shit.”

Joe sighed, and sat down at the table, leaning on his elbows. “I’m still listening.”

Nicky took his hand immediately. Joe narrowed his eyes. “That’s not going to help.”

“I haven’t seen you for two weeks,” said Nicky, and, fine, Joe was defenseless against that statement. “Alright. Where to begin?”

#my fanfic #the marriage of (in)convenience fic #joe x nicky

[senor-cummies]

Currently stuck between 'Link has one of those ASMR captions on cooking channels like bore.d or Alvin Zhou' and 'Link's YouTube channel is a mixture of all the chaos of nile blue and the weird ass, refined, intelligence of nile red.'

like which is better?

He walks into frame, it's just the bottom of his shirt and his hands and he waves to the camera. Text on the screen says 'today I'm going to be making fruit cake!' he slides a bowl of various fruits onto the counter. As he prepares the fruit, text across the screen reads 'one of my close friends moved away for university and she's coming home for the holidays. This is her favorite cake and I wanted to make it for her :)' and it walks through how to make the cake. In the end he cuts his friend a slice and sits it down in front of her with a cup of tea. You can still only see their waists, up to his friends chest because she's sitting down, but you can tell that their hugging.

The next video is him making salmon meuniere for his roommate

Or!

He walks into frame, slams down a beaker of liquid with no gloves on, most of it splashes on the counter and he pouts and goes 'Awe, I made that sulfuric acid in Zelda's garage...' it cuts to a clean counter and a pile of various metals and he says 'zelda confiscated my acid so today we are going to blow shit up' and then he proceeds to melt the metals and pour them, with just enough protection to not die, into glass jars full of water. The glass jar explodes and he claps at the camera. You can see him signing to someone 'did you remember to turn on slow mo?'

The next video is of him making condoms into hot sauce and then putting it on a taco and consuming it.

#mandy rambles #link botw #youtuber au

[firefliesintheskyline]

(Me, prompting myself under the shower : What if we take the popular “person A is drunk and asks person B to be their partner, person B laughs and answers by saying they are married already (without saying they are actually married to person A) and person A pouts” and add “what person B doesn’t know is that person A sees them interact with person C and thinks they are the significant other”)

So, I guess… enjoy???

(Now on AO3 !)

INTOXICATED (Nicky x Joe + the Immortal Family)

Their last mission in France had been extremely successful, so Andy wasn't entirely surprised to find 2 cases of champagne in front of their safe house. She had to admit that, while at first she had been very reluctant to give Copley the address, taking the risk to share the information had paid off nicely more than once. He also really didn’t need to know that this was only one of the half dozen properties they had in Paris and its surroundings.

“Well, I guess we are in for a big celebration tonight!” Quynh was enthusiastically emptying the first box and passing the bottles over to Booker, while Nile and Joe were already heading to the kitchen to get some glasses.

“Don’t start moping, Nicky,” Andy gave him her signature half smile, “you don’t have to drink, if you don’t want to.”

Nicky looked almost offended by her suggestion.

“Just because I have a very low tolerance, it doesn’t mean I have to refrain from alcohol entirely, Andromache.”

She shrugged, completely unbothered.

“If you say so.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

From her spot on the sofa, Andy let out a self-satisfied smirk when she noticed that Nicky was curled up into the armchair, looking comfortable and completely gone.

“Hush, love,” Quynh pinched her very lightly on the arm, “stop making fun of him. After all, you where the one who instigated the drinking.”

Andy gave her a pointed look. “I merely told him that he didn’t have to, if he didn’t want to.”

“Because you knew exactly what his reaction would be,” Quynh retorted, looking back at Nicky with fondness in her eyes, “I still don’t get how he could be the fiercest warrior in the room and yet be totally unaware of the tricks you play on him.”

“I didn’t play any trick,” Andy shook her head, “and you know it. He knows it. Nicky has been too tense lately, and I need him to loosen up a little.” She got up, heading for the kitchen to refill her empty glass. “And you can call him the 'fiercest warrior in the room’ only once I’m gone from this world.”

Quynh laughed quietly and scooped closer to Nile, who was lazily trying to engage Booker into an art debate. The frenchman was mostly content to listen, while resisting the urge to drift off to sleep.

Joe, who was sitting right next to him, was about to pitch in as well, when suddenly Nicky decided to get up from the armchair and drop himself unceremoniously into his partner’s lap.

“Hi.”

The room went quiet for about half a minute, before Nile tactfully started talking again, soon followed by both Booker and Quynh. However, it didn’t stop them from taking turns to glance back at the couple every once in a while.

“Well, hi to you.” Joe wasn’t used to Nicky being openly affectionate in front of their family, and wasn’t sure if he should indulge in this. He didn’t want Nicky to feel mortified the next morning. Still, he put his hands very lightly on each side of Nicky’s waist. “Do you want to go to bed?”

Nicky tilted his head on the side a little, looking at him with lust. “Would you care to join me?”

Joe was a little flushed by the situation, but couldn’t help the soft smile that escaped his lips. “I have to say, your proposition sounds extremely appealing, but if you think you can get my pants off of me that easily…” he trailed off, winking.

Now it was Nicky’s turn to feel embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “You are very handsome. And I want you. Very much. And I think your body wants me too. So, if you accept to be my lover, I can bed you and make sweet love to you. Or rough love. Both. I think I would enjoy both very much.”

It took Joe a whole minute to register all the words that came out of Nicky’s mouth. His Nicky, who was always shy with words (but never with gestures), who took months to actually voice his love for Joe at the beginning of their shared journey, but was now apparently propositioning him in the middle of a room full of people.

The same Nicky who, in the meantime, was getting worried by the lack of response. “Please be assured that this wouldn’t be a one time occurrence, I wouldn’t dare deflower your body without promptly making an honest man out of you…"

At which point Joe couldn’t help it and burst into laughter. “Well, that is very noble of you,” he said, and then, just because he wanted to see how far he could push it, “but unfortunately I’m already united in wedlock.”

The color drained entirely from Nicky’s face, making it very clear that this was not the answer he was expecting. Joe immediately regretted his words, and was about to add more concerning the obvious piece of information that Nicky was missing, when he got distracted by Booker, who was laughing hard at one of Nile’s joke, squeezing Joe’s arm with both of his hands in the process and putting his forehead on his shoulder. “Did you hear it? Man, that was hilarious.”

Joe faintly registered that Nicky was moving from his lap and slopingly getting up, but didn’t want to be rude to the rest of his family. “I’m sorry, I was not listening, would you mind repeating it?”

While Booker was making himself more comfortable into his side, Joe vaguely noticed Nicky leaving the room, but decided to stay and listen to Nile before following him and explain the misunderstanding. Or at least that was the intention, spoiled completely by Nicky who came back in the room almost in a rush and vehemently slapped Booker with a glove.

For the second time of the night, the room went very, very quiet.

“I demand satisfaction!,” Nicky exclaimed in a loud voice, slurring only slightly and making sure that the attention of everyone was on him, “this man has been distracted in frivolous conversation for the entire night, and when I decided to make a move on his beloved, only then he reminded himself of his duty as a husband! But tonight, we will end this,” he said, his fierce eyes on Booker, “I challenge you to a duel.”

Nile was, surprisingly, the first one to break the silence. “Is this a regular thing?” she said, uncertain on how she should feel about the whole situation.

“No, it is not.” The mischievous light in Andy’s eyes was unmistakable. “Ladies, let’s go get the popcorns, we can’t miss this for anything in the world.”

“Boss, you can’t be serious,” Booker called after her, but was clearly ignored. He straightened himself up. “Nicky, come on, I’m n—“

“Not. Another. Word.” Nicky looked at him pointedly in the eyes, before dropping on one knee and taking Joe’s hands in his. “You have to forgive me, I have acted out of pride, without even asking in which direction your heart was pointing…"

“You. It was pointing at you. Tonight, tomorrow, always. I would always choose you,” Joe didn’t hesitate for a single moment, and was rewarded by Nicky’s beautiful smile.

“Well, let the challenge begin!” Nicky pointed at his sword and at Joe’s scimitar, set on the wall on a corner of the room. “We have the weapons, now we just need some… space.”

“I’m glad our backyard is huge,” Quynh took the blades and started walking outside, “chop chop guys, we don’t have all night! Some of us want to use the early morning hours for better activities.” She winked at Andy, while Nile was rolling her eyes, clearly over their not-so-subtle flirting.

They were followed by Nicky and Joe, while Booker was contemplating the idea of making a run for it and loose himself in the Parisian night. He shook the thought out of his head and joined the rest of them outside, aware of the fact that sometimes his family could be too goddamn much.

“It’s going to be a duel to first blood! Since, well, death wouldn’t stick anyway…” Quynh clapped her hands, excitedly, “good luck to the contenders!” she yelled, before going to sit next to Andy and starting to eat the popcorns with way too much enthusiasm.

Nicky was about to reach for the sword, but Joe pushed the scimitar in his hands instead. “A token of love,” he whispered tenderly, before giving Nicky a light kiss on the cheek.

Booker took the sword and sent a clearly exasperated look in their direction, but couldn’t help the little smile on his lips. He really did admire the lengths these two would go to keep their love alive, he just wished they didn’t need to involve the entire family on a regular basis.

Andy gave the signal, and soon enough they started to fight. In a normal situation, Nicky would have had the upper hand, but he was still heavily inebriated, and only his consummated skills as a warrior made it seem like he was doing perfectly fine. He shielded himself from a couple of blows and was about to strike, but he got distracted by Joe’s anxious stare and tight grip on Nile. That was all Booker needed to make a cut on his forearm.

Cheers erupted from both Quynh and Andy, who run to Booker and started clapping on his shoulders, while Joe rushed on Nicky’s side. “My love, are you alright? I should have not given you the scimitar, not after you had so much alcohol…”

Nicky put a hand on Joe's cheek, stroking him softly. “Don’t you worry for me, vita mia. The only thing that makes me sad is to be parted from you.”

“No one will ever part us, hayati. I belong by your side.”

“Even if I lost to him?” At Joe’s strong nod, Nicky pushed the issue further. “You would leave your husband for me?”

“In a heartbeat.”

Nicky looked triumphant, and pulled Joe in a fierce kiss, before taking his hand and walking back into the house, leaving the others behind.

“I say one week.”

Nile, who had been distracted by Nicky and Joe’s epic act of love, turned her head at the other three people left there, looking utterly confused.

“What are you guys talking about?”

They completely ignored her.

“Very optimistic of you, Booker. A month,” Andy smirked, looking entirely confident.

“Oh please, Andy! It’s wasn’t that bad,” Quynh was shaking her head, clearly unimpressed, “I’m not even sure it’s going to last more than 24 hours.”

Andy started laughing very loudly. “None of you has known Nicky for as long as I did. He has a serious problem with holding grudges.”

“Guys,” Nile tried again, “what are you betting on?”

Booker took pity on her. “How long before we’ll have to leave them alone in the house to avoid the noises of celebratory sex."

“I’m pretty sure they are doing... ‘that’ right as we speak?” Nile loved her new family, she really did, but she still wasn’t comfortable with the amount of intimate information that were often shared as an off-hand comment.

“Definitely not,” Andy was looking straight at her, “Joe would never take advantage of a drunk Nicky. Even if I honestly doubt Nicky would have any objection.”

Nile shrugged, “Well, then tomorrow morning.”

“That’s when Nicky is going to wake up and remember.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe was awakened by the morning sun, and he stirred lazily while keeping his eyes shut. He didn’t remember the last time he had been in such a good mood right at the beginning of the day. After the duel, he and Nicky had sat on the bed for a long time, making out like a couple of teenagers, until Nicky had wanted to push it a little further and Joe had gently stopped him, pressing him to lay down on the bed. They had lazily curled into each other and had been fast asleep only moments later.

But now they were both sober, and Joe was very well intentioned to take his sweet time and make love to the perfect, gorgeous man who was laying by his side.

Except Nicky was not by his side, and suddenly Joe realized that his arms were empty. He moved his hand up and down the other side of the bed, until his fingers brushed along other fingers. He tried to reach for them, but after a gentle squeeze, the other hand left his. He opened his eyes.

His Nicky was looking at him with something that looked like… disappointment.

“Nicolò, come back to bed.”

There was no answer. No reaction.

“Light of my eyes, moon of my life, can you tell me what is wrong?”

Nicky kept glaring at him, much to Joe’s dismay.

“Tell me again how you would leave your husband… in a heartbeat?” Nicky’s statement was followed by a heavy sigh, and a shake of the head. “I didn’t think you such a cruel man, Yusuf.”

Joe’s eyes widened, in alarm. “Nicky, I was talking about… him! Not you! And even by intending you as my husband, which was by the way absolutely not what was happening, I would have still left you… for you!” Joe knew he was making absolutely no sense, but he had just woken up. And he and mornings didn’t necessarily get along.

Nicky shook his head again, clearly dismissive. “I’m deeply hurt, my heart. Someone bats their eyes at you and suddenly you forget all about your husband.”

“You were batting your eyes at me, not just… someone!” Joe was slightly starting to panic. “I wouldn’t notice anyone else if they tried to bat their eyes at me!”

“If you say so.” Nicky got up from the bed, and only then Joe noticed that he was already dressed up. “I’m taking a walk with Nile. Let’s see if when I come back, you’re going to be here, or if you have just decided to run away and leave your husband in a heartbeat.”

Nicky exited the room without another word, content to just leave a loudly groaning Joe on the bed. He made it to the kitchen, where Andy was drinking her coffee.

“How long?”

“A month.”

“Never going to happen,” Nicky was fighting the urge to smile, “I am merely trying to make a point. My instincts are already screaming in protest."

Andy rolled her eyes.

“Fine. But at least wait more than a week, I don’t want to lose to /Booker/.”

“I said this morning,” Nile approached Nicky and touched him lightly on the arm, “and by the look of it, it feels like that’s what you want to go for.”

“My dear, dear Nile,” Nicky covered her hand with his own, “let’s go quickly buy you something with the money that our brothers and sisters are going to owe you.”

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(originally written for @percivlgraves birthday

(Notes:

1) this is my first fanfiction in almost seven years, hopefully it’s not too bad;

2) this is my first fanfiction in english E V E R, please don’t be too harsh, I swear I’ll try to improve!!)

#the old guard #tog #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #yusuf x nicolo #nicolo x yusuf #nicky x joe #joe x nicky #nile freeman #sebastien le livre #booker #andromache the scythian #quynh #andromache x quynh #quynh x andy #immortal family #kaysanova #I hope you guys like it #i'm open to suggestion and comments #also in case some of you were wondering about the possibility of Nicky really getting drunk and forgetting to be married to Joe #let me put it in a new perspective for you #if you were Nicky #wouldn't you want to forget to be married to he most gorgeous human being on Earth #just to marry him again and again for the first time?? #immortal husbands