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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years

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'Loki' takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.

"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."

After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"

Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.

Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.

"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."

His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."

Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.

There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.

"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."

Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."

Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."

Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

Credit: Charlie Gray for EW

When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.

"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."

As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."

Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.

The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."

To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."

Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.

"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"

Owen Wilson as Mobius and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in 'Loki.'| Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."

As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.

"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.

Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."

While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."

#Tom Hiddleston #Loki #Disney+#interview

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dr3amofagame · 3 years

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i love all your super angsty stuff, but sometimes i want to see dream go apesht and be powerful and confident and frightening again, y'know? maybe a little unhinged still but making everyone realize that THEY made this monster by putting him in the vault O_O

OH YEAH ,, unhinged c!dream my beloved (/lh)

c!dream when he’s a hot mess, ever so slightly (or not slightly) off the rails is SO much fun to write and read ,, he’s so messed up to himself and others and makes me go like >:D the entire time

im not sure if this is what you wanted, exactly, but boy was it fun to write. c!sam,, is not having a good day lmao

tw: blood, violence, implied torture, offscreen murder, death threats, mental instability, emotional distress, dark content, prison arc/pandora’s vault, c!sam critical (not really? But I digress)

Ranboo is in the wrong place in the wrong time.

He thinks, halfheartedly, that that could be the name of his autobiography. What To Do If The Universe Hates You, an Advice Book By Ranboo T. Beloved doesn’t sound too shabby, all things considered - it’s applicable, at the very least. It’d been true with George’s house, true for the Butcher Army, true when he’d been the one that Techno found in search for his armor back, true now, with sirens blaring from the prison that he’s coincidentally probably the closest to out of everyone on the server. Part of him wants to just ditch the place for Snowchester, as he was originally planning to do; unfortunately, caring about pretty much everyone means caring about what’s going on with their greatest enemy, especially now that Wilbur’s been revived.

Ranboo hurries towards the prison, dunking water by his feet to activate his trident. It only takes him a few Riptides (what can he say - he did say he was close to the prison) for the beach in front of the giant, dark-walled structure to come into sight, two figures stood in front of the smaller box containing the Nether Portal. One of them, standing tall and wearing glinting purple netherite, is clearly, unmistakably Sam, which means he other stranger- well, not stranger, exactly, must be Dream.

Ranboo skids to a stop on the hillside, not wanting to jump into the fray until he knows exactly what’s happening; Techno’s voice rings in his head (the element of surprise is one of your greatest weapons in battle) then Phil’s (what he means is don’t be an idiot, mate) and he settles, silent, to observe with an enderpearl readied in his hand.

It’s no wonder he didn’t recognize Dream, at first - he looks nothing like the man that Ranboo remembers, almost doesn’t look like a person at all. His hair is long and tangled, hanging in clumps around his face. Even from the distance, he looks like a wreck, all sharp edges and skinny, shaking limbs, a heavy netherite axe hefted in one hand. Ranboo shudders at the sight of the blood already on the blade, at the various injuries painting the orange of his prison uniform more red than orange, and looks to make sure his sword is close at hand.

“Prisoner,” Sam’s voice is gravelly, tight with stress. He sounds the same way he did that one time he confronted Ranboo about the prison books he didn’t remember signing, the pages filled with strange runes that he somehow could understand- “Stand down.”

“Sam-” Dream laughs, high-pitched and grating, and Ranboo’s tail lashes anxiously. Dream’s hand raises to his face, his shoulders shaking as the other hand tightens over the handle of his axe, “Awesam. Sammy- I told you, didn’t I? I fucking told you what would happen.”

“Dream-”

“Unless you want to end up like Quackity, I suggest you stop talking, Warden.”

It’s quite a sight to see someone in fully armored netherite cower from someone completely unarmored, looking more dead than alive, but well - it is Dream, and Ranboo finds himself cringing back at the words even though he’s not even in the area. He steals a look at his communicator; the rest of the server has noticed the sirens, it seems, but nobody seems to understand what exactly is going on, much less be ready for a potential fight, and a nervous shiver runs down his spine.

“Sammy,” Dream stalks forward, his axe braced in front of him, “Look at you. You’re so goddamn pathetic-” He spits the words like venom, back hunched, center of gravity pulled close to the ground - he looks more mob than human, watches Sam with the same wild-eyed desperation that Ranboo’s seen in a starving wolf chasing down prey, “Such a fucking coward that you couldn’t do shit yourself. Well- good for Quackity, isn’t it? It sure ended up well for him.”

Ranboo shivers, looking at the blood staining the netherite blade with ice rising in his chest. No- he didn’t-

“You know how good it felt to plunge this axe into his neck?” Dream laughs, the sound raspy and unsettling, making Ranboo shrink back in his hiding spot, “You know how many times he threatened to do the same to me? You know how many times he’s used this exact fucking axe to cave my ribs in?” He hurls the blade down and Ranboo reaches out with a wordless shout, watching as the axe strikes the earth in a spray of sand, “HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES, SAM?”

“Dream-”

“Don’t- You don’t get to call me that,” Dream pulls the axe back, looks up with another round of breathless laughter. “You- don’t you fucking dare.”

Sam draws back- Ranboo can’t place the expression that flashes over his face, something a little like fear, something a little like guilt. He doesn’t seem to try and say anything, a sword appearing in his hand.

“So you want to try this too,” Dream’s voice pitches low, becoming something hysterical, almost amused, “Sure! We’ll play. Try to last a little longer than Quackity, will you?”

He flashes forward, much much faster than he should with the amount of injuries that claw over his arms and legs, brings the axe down in a heavy clang that is only barely met by Sam’s sword. Ranboo looks left and right, tries to find others coming to the Warden’s aid, finds none. Dream’s pace is ruthless, bringing down the axe again and again, hardly reacting when Sam catches him by the arm on his blade. Sam hisses in alarm as the axe handle is swung into the inside of his arm, loses his grip on the sword as the back end of the axe catches it at the base. Dream heaves in shuddering breaths, axe clanging against Sam’s armor and sending the creeper hybrid toppling to the ground with a sharp exhale of breath, presses the bloody blade beneath his chin.

“You know-” He smiles, pressing the axe forward further, making Sam lift his head as he falls back against the sand, “You were kind of useful, you know? You and Quackity, I mean.” Dream hisses angrily, words pitching lower, “Do you know what’s the easiest way to make someone hurt? Do you know where to hit someone for it to cause the most pain? Do you know how it feels to break every bone in your fucking body? Quackity said he’d make every fucking day of my life a living hell.” He raises his axe, foot ground down on Sam’s arm, “How about I return the favor?”

Ranboo throws his enderpearl.

He raises his sword, braces against the vibrations running up his arms as the axe crashes down on it with a grimace as he readies himself to fight. Dream draws back for a second- “‘Boo?’

“Ranboo, run,” Sam shouts behind him, pulling his arm to his chest as he moves to stand, “Get out of here-”

“No, no, I think he can stay,” Dream’s eyes flash, harden. “Figures that he’d play the traitor once again, doesn’t it Ranboo?”

“I was never your ally-”

“You and the rest of this damned server, ‘Boo,” He laughs dangerously, draws back as Sam gets to his feet. Ranboo watches as he kicks up Sam’s sword, catching it in his left hand. “Oh well. As much as I would’ve liked to take another life-”

A flash of blue-green, and there’s someone else standing there, a crossbow loosely held in one hand, smiling lazily through his hair.

“-it looks like my ride out is here.”

“You’ve made quite the mess,” Wilbur drawls, rolling his eyes at the man beside him, “I have to say- I’m a little impressed.”

“Wil,” Dream breathes, shoulders visibly falling, looking at the other man with a sort of soft-edged reverence that makes Ranboo shift uncomfortably at the sight. It feels off, wrong, to see him go from a raging, frothing thing to someone docile, expression filled with a mockery of adoration.

“We’ll be off then, gentlemen,” Wilbur salutes with one hand, lips quirking up. “No hard feelings, Ranboo, Sam,” he nods at each of them with their names and tosses an enderpearl into the horizon, Dream doing so at the same time, “We’ll see you around.”

Ranboo watches, lungs heaving, as they disappear.

“...you know, Sam, I think we might be in a little bit of trouble.”

#tw blood #tw violence #tw torture #tw death threats #tw mental instability #tw murder #tw emotional distress #tw dark content #tw threats #long post #prison arc #pandora's vault #warden sam critical #c!sam critical #my writing :D #my asks !!

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kindofwriter · 3 years

Text

RQG is almost over - have some recs!

Usually I’d make several brief recommendations, but instead I’m just going to make two really earnest ones.

Skyjacks

Beloved sky-pirate show I am already re-listening to.

Things it has in common with RQG:

Exceptionally detailed and historical world building. Whilst Spéir is a fictional world an awful lot of thoughts has been put into its history, cultures, and mechanisms. There is so much lore.

A very specific system of magic that includes The Luminaries, which work as a sort of equivalent of Greek gods in RQG.

A PC having something akin to a crisis of faith.

A young PC just starting to learn about his abilities.

If you take RQG Wilde and give him Grizzop’s bite, Sasha’s tragedy, and Hamid’s ability to look like a funky little half-dragon you’ve basically got Travis Matagot.

You know the way Ben and Lydia play their characters? How just a tiny bit of their developing irl friendship goes into every relationship their characters form and it’s really sweet and it makes for great game play? Well, have I got great news for you about Johnny and Liz!

British people, both in the way you’d think and in funky new ways!

Arcs are tied to places more so than battles etc. A storyline will start and end in a place (though always with leads to a new story).

It doesn’t quite have a great, overarching plot in quite the same way RQG does, but each character has a storyline they follow continuously throughout the show, and there are important plot details introduced in the prologue that are still being followed now.

Dearly beloved NPCs.

The point below is simultaneously a massive spoiler and also something you kind of know from the prologue. It’s complicated, but if you’re interested already and don’t want any spoilers just skip to the text titled section.

BLANK SPACE TO ALLOW FOR TIME TO SKIP.

Canon qpr, not in the way that those exact words are said, but in the way that that kind of relationship is described, and also allowed to play out in game. If you like Zoscar but feel disappointed by the lack of development this relationship featuring no historical figures is for you!

Fun added bonuses!

Nonbinary player character from the get-go!

The cultures are so much more carefully and sensitively researched and presented. Mistakes and missteps don’t slip by unnoticed and are always publicly corrected, often with the help of professionals. Even minor story details are dissected and adapted to ensure they’re not portraying anyone’s culture in a bad light.

There’s a lot more time for talking, therefore a lot more time for character and relationship growth.

Grief. A lot of time is allowed for it, and it always comes up again.

It’ll be way easier to catch up on than RQG was if you only started recently!

Almost every episode has fun bonus content at the end. Especially good if the episode you’ve just listened to is particularly harrowing!

If you liked RQG for its character development, world building, and long running campaign then this is for you! If you liked it for the game mechanics alone then probably not, lol.

TAZ: Amnesty

I know a lot of people who are into podcast rpgs started out with taz, but I also know a lot of RQG fans started out with tma as their first ever podcast. Hence this ol’ classic.

Things it has in common with RQG:

Real-world setting! Amnesty takes place in West Virginia, by the Monongahela National Park! Though Kepler is fictional town it’s made to fit seamlessly into WV.

A young spell-slinger learning about their powers!

A beloved rogue!

I don’t wanna spoil it, because the in-game reveal is stellar, but something Bertie-adjacent (in possibly the only good way something can be Bertie-adjacent).

Weird, other-worldly portal magic.

Arcs very much centred around boss-battles.

NPCs to the same level of importance, I’d say, as RQG. They’re interesting, complex, and given time to bond with PCs, but they’re not always there. The focus is still very much on the PCs and their adventures.

*takes regular thing and makes it fantasy*

Queer characters introduced immediately! And they’re a whole heck of a lot nicer than Bertie, so honestly pro for Amnesty here.

Backstories are revealed slowly throughout the course of the narrative in a way that really helps you understand - and makes you love! - the PCs.

Fun added bonuses!

I know this isn’t for everyone, but a lot more goofs allowed in-game. RQG is largely ‘funny bts, serious game play’ but TAZ really mixes this up and honestly I’m not complaining!

If you like it then there’s a ton more similar content in the form of other campaigns!

Since this is the second campaign it starts out top quality. I know a lot of people struggled with the sound-scaping in early RQG; you won’t get that issue here.

If you didn’t enjoy the extreme detail of the mechanics in RQG but still want to learn about an rpg system this is a great balance between Skyjacks and RQG. They’re playing Monster of the Week, which is much simpler than Pathfinder, and you can easily pick up the rules without them overstating them.

Flashbacks, both a la Roman Rogues side quest and in a really sad way.

#rqg #the rusty quill gaming podcast #skyjacks #taz amnesty #The Adventure Zone #tabletop rpgs #author’s note

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sapphire-innit · 3 years

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Ranboo my Beloved please help this Kid please

VOD: TommyInnit Is Actually Depressed in Exile

(rp) Well that title can only mean Good and Wholesome things right??? Everything's going to be fine and dandy RIGHT?????????

.....

yeah ok I'm ready to have my heart torn out again lets fucking do this

he's drowning again :(

"its ok though because its Dream. And hes great. H-hes cool" I have never heard Tommy sound more defeated :'(

[irt the Tubbo statue] Welp this isn't going to go over well

OH WOW THAT SKIN SHIT. he looks real fucked up ohnoooo. His eyes are greyer and hes got Visible Bags under them D: also his hair is messed up too :(

"we didn't do this out of pity" have lost their magic words huh oof

"if Tubbo wanted to be here he could, and he's chosen not to" :( :( :( this WHOLE SPEECH is painful and raw

Tommy is so angry and I wish he was ABLE to direct it at dream but man, I get it. Hard to watch him tear down the Tubbo statue though

.....also side note did BBH and Puffy build this while eggified that's wild lol

:( Fundy and Ranboo came to say hi. So did Philza. ahhhhhh, fucking hell :(

"Its been weeks" canonizing the longer timeline

Ghostbur ... that hits different now ;-; ;-; ;-;

I miss him already fuck

Tommy still not eating.. :(

adsfdfsf the fuckign... girlfriend bit what even is this

RANBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He's so sneaky and clever ahhh he hid the book!! fuck Dream took the last book and then he hid it too well lol

well that got depressing quick ;-;

Tommy really is so communicative he tries so so much I hate that no one seems to listen

"and he never would have gotten [exiled]" Tommy it wasn't your faaaullt

and they're trying too but he doesn't know how much Dream is intimidating them to stay away :(

shit he STILL hasn't eaten. Hes not putting on his armor either :(

I do NOT like the vibes on this "screaming station" .... seems fucked up

"the sun reminds me of a happier time, the sunset reminds me of my bench" THE SUN IS HOPE :(

and hes turning down primes

whoever suggested making a chair a "one person bench" omg adwsfdf

still hasn't e a t e n

lol always time to make fun of bbh and skeppy lol

.... a screaming station in the nether seems like an even worse idea than one over the ocean

Jack Manifold! I hear you fucking hate Tommy later!! and I have no idea why!! IS THIS IT

Fucking hell HOW IS THIS CANON

.........wow this sure is the WORST time Jack could have visited. FUCK

...he was even going to throw him a fire res Fuck

I still can't believe that was canonically Jack's last life what the fuck I can't believe that was the start of the Team Rocket arc

...he DID apologize, fuck fuck fuck

Jack and Tommy really talking past each other, this SUCKS so much like he could not have had WORSE TIMING and I wish it hadn't ended in a fucking, DEATH because I don't think Tommy ever meant to go that far at all, like, fuck man

(I know people are pretty sympathetic to Jack and all, and sure that sucked but also I'M HERE FOR MY BOY TOMMY RIGHT NOW OK)

....half a heart and still not fucking E a t i n g

running around the nether with half a heart. Building out over lava. Mans committed to the bit

................I knew it had bad vibes

FINALLY EATING!! Jesus that ghast lol

"why would he spawn there???" TOMMY THAT'S HOW MINECRAFT WORKS TOMMY adswfsdfsd

"I'm just a fucking tourist hub now" Exiles really done a number on him in a Multitude of ways

I knew that party was gonna do a number on him but man is it hard to see.

....I'm glad Ranboo's efforts have been appreciated a little bit. Its good to have SOMEONE other than Dream that Tommy's not cutting off

GOD the zoom in on the lava. Rough.

Hes tearing down the path too. He's physically and mentally isolating himself, which is ... harshly true to life

"Happy place / Theyre all happy / Its not quiet / Its just happy" Tommy writes the most Devastating Shit. Like first it was the Ranboo mail and now the sign, fuck. Its like any chance he gets to type, it just all comes spilling out, he can't help it

"Have I ever been the villain? ...(small depressed smirk)...probably" :( :( :( this is absolutely Dream's victim blaming working and everyone who dog-piled him about the walls and shit and fucking hell man, no

...the little interaction with Ranboo was a breath of fresh air, my beloved...

Wait what happened to the fake gf???

I do feel like its actually really good that Tommy managed to let ONE person through a little bit, and not brush him off out of pity. Its not enough rn but I feel like any outside connection is good for him right now.

It also does feel like it is because Ranboo kept trying even when he ran into difficulty. Its ALSO because of luck no doubt, and he managed to hit just the right vibes to not be 'pitying' because others DID try multiple times, but it couldn't have happened at all if he hadn't been so persistent with his mail either

I also noticed Ranboo questioned the "Dream and you are my only friends" line, which I appreciate

THE CHEST ROOM. FUCK. Well I know how THIS ends D:

"I owe everything to Dream, he comes and sees me and he gives me armor sometimes, and he makes me happier and he gives me a trident" . . . we're in the thick of it now huh

I LOVE THAT RANBOO SPEAKS SOME SENSE HERE THANK YOU. like Tommy's not in a place to hear it Right NOW, but I still appreciate it. He's very good at that (though he still has the backbone of a chocolate eclair lmao. Though maybe that's also why he didn't set off Tommy either)

He almost told him about the armor destruction and my heart hurts

"I'm gonna make it out of Cobblestone, because its my favorite block, it was. It is I think" :(

Ranboo really planning to run for president and help this kid get the FUCK out of exile

ALSO He's trying to clear up the compass thing, hes trying so hard. Tommy's not really in a place to hear it, but I'm glad it was said

......JACK. Hes coming in for a BIT and its just. He's bouncing off of Tommy so hard adfdf I can see how he becomes Team Rocket but also I hate that this friendship turned into hatred

asdfssfd don't ask Ranboo to STRIPE omg

why ARE there so many portals??

...."he takes shit from me" he told him :( I'm so glad he told him but fuck I wish Ranboo could help in some way. Too often you can't and you just gotta work with what you can do but at least he told him :(

"anyone can die Ranboo even me" there's that suicidal idealization! :(

"Its because they don't care Ranboo. Everyone who you think cares, probably doesn't"

GODDD cc!Tommy is a good actor though shit, the YELLING about the party I'M

Tommy is so communicative even now, hes trying to tell Ranboo and talk about it and I wish it made a difference

...he was triggered when Ranboo fought the mobs for him :( he sighed and it hurt :(

...he was testing him for pity with the pickaxe wasn't he, fuck

afdsfdsffs the MCC TOURNEMENT SDSFDSF

oh no tommy hes part enderman don't put him in water afdsfdf

..........................

AFDSFDSF THE LAVA OH NO ADFDSF HOW DOES HE KEEP DYING THIS WAY

......

........

back in serious mode I see.

Ranboo talking him off the literal edge, fuck

"Its never gonna end" oh Tommy... :(

#dream smp #dream smp liveblog #dsmp exile arc #tommyinnit #ranboo #jack manifold #abuse tw #suicide tw #depression tw

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polar534 · 3 years

Text

Hockey AU: Parenting Pt. 1

Well after a week of posting I finally finished the first part in the next arc that we'll see of Hockey AU. This one is big. I don't think I'll need to explain much further so instead enjoy. (Just a reminder that not all of the parts for this arc are done so it may be a week or two between updates or longer).

***

Amity was breathing heavily as she collided into the group pile with her teammates. Another game won. Cheers rang out through the stadium, almost deafening the thundering of her heartbeat in her chest.

"FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 9 YEARS, THE OTTERS ARE IN THE SEMI-FINALS!"

Another cheer erupted from inside the pile. They had worked so hard for this. Emotions were high and Amity let the energy buzz through her. This was it! Just 2 more games and they could be in the finals. They could be champs!

Someone collided into her going top speed and soon the entire team had her swept up in a group hug. Lotke was behind her in an instant, hoisting their star player on their towering shoulders as the team skated around their victory lap. From the vantage, Amity had only eyes for one person. Talking with the coach in the players box, their eyes met across the rink and the roar of the crowd and her teammates quieted instantly.

Luz smiled back at her, a huge grin that threatened to split her face in two. Her eyes were sparkling with pride and love.

She slipped away from the small huddle of officials. Her eyes widening, Amity tugged on Lokte's jersey, pointing frantically at Luz and unable to speak over the roar of the stadium. Thankfully, they understood immediately. Gathering the team together, the Otter's skated towards the players box as one. Lokte let Amity slip off of their shoulder and the witch caught her girlfriend just as Luz hit the ice. Within the huddle of their teammates they were in a bubble. No noise, no judgement, just them. Luz flung her arms over Amity's shoulders and kissed her roughly on her cheek, eliciting a giggle out of the both of them. A call rang out for the teams to line up and shake hands and the world tunred into a blur of events and emotions, the high of their victory only wearing off in the locker rooms after.

***

"Don't forget everyone pizza after the game at Mangia's tonight! Oh, and don't forget to let your parents know about Celebration Night."

Amity looked up from taking her skates off. Lokte was waving at a couple of their teammates as they made their way out of the locker room, gear in hand.

"What's Celebration Night?" Luz asked the question that was at the forefront of Amity's mind.

Lokte's eyes widened as they turned towards the only other two people in the little locker alcove they had positioned in to change.

"Oh, it's a big event night for all the teams that made it to the Semi-Finals. There's one for each of the first games, kinda like a way to recognize the team members and their accomplishments. I just wanted to remind everyone so they don't forget to tell their parents or anyone else they want to stand up with them." Lokte explained as they bent down to take off their skates.

"Oh..." Luz said quietly.

Snap

The string of her skate ripped as Amity went to yank it undone. Her hands were shaking.

A pair of footsteps walked by her as she slowly unraveled the broken string. Amity looked up as they seemed to stop in front of her. Mae, the normally timid and shy goalie smiled down at her.

"Hey… Amity. I just wanted to thank you. You've done so much for this team. I think you've pretty much helped every single person be better. You and Luz of course."

Amity glanced back up to where Luz was and saw her straighten with pride. Smiling, Amity turned back to Mae.

"Oh… it's nothing, really. I'm just really glad to be a part of a team. You all mean a lot to the both of us." Amity admitted shyly, unable to meet the goalie's eyes. She picked up her stick and stood up, ready to start packing her bag.

Mae stepped back to allow her some space and her smile grew.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting your parents on Celebration Night. They really must be something to raise someone as incredible as you." Mae said kindly before turning to rush out of the locker room after her friends.

Amity's stick fell to the ground as she stood there frozen. The sound of it clattering echoed in the now nearly empty locker room. The words the goalie spoke bounced around in her head in a haunting echo.

'They really must be something.'

There was a beat of silence before Amity winced with the sharp sound of a fist banging against a locker.

"Luz? Is everything ok?!" She heard Lokte exclaim behind her.

Slowly, Amity leaned down and picked up the stick she had dropped. Her hands found the smooth grooves her gloves had worn into it and her fingers trailed the chipped parts where the puck had bounced off it at just the right angle. She kept herself steady with the familiarity of it, taking a deep breath before turning around to face her girlfriend and teammate.

Luz had her fist pressed firmly into a locker and Lokte was caught between them both, looking worriedly from one girl to the next. As soon as Amity turned around, Luz's fist dropped and her anger melted into worry.

"Amity?"

"I uh… I don't think I'm going to be able to go to pizza with the team tonight Lokte… I'm sorry." Amity spoke after a pause, struggling to keep her voice steady.

"Luz?" She asked quietly, the walls she had been trying to keep up rapidly failing.

Luz immediately darted to the witch's side, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. The warmth was just enough to steady her.

"Right here." Luz said softly, her head leaning into Amity's. The witch closed her eyes and leaned right back into Luz, the girl being the one thing managing to keep her standing. To keep her together.

"Let's go home…"

***

"Are you sure your up for this?" Luz asked Amity gently as they hung back outside of the cabin.

Amity shot her a weak smile, one that only barely made it to her eyes.

"It's fine. Everyone is looking forward to it. Plus we can't just tell everyone to go home, it's a long walk out of the castle after all."

"Of course you did. Come on, or your mom's going to get worried."

"Not anymore it's not! I convinced Eda to add slides from some of the upper floors." Luz grinned mischievously. "Me and King have had the honor of being their test-runners."

Amity laughed, rolling her eyes she grabbed ahold of Luz's arm and hooked it through her own.

Walking through the doorway they had yet to fix up, Camila turned and relief showed in her eyes. In front of her was the patched portal door, held open by the one and only Edalyn Clawthorne, Co-Empress of the Isles.

"There you two slackers are, will you please help me convince Camila, again, that it's ok to have a little fun for once in her life?!" The wild witch groaned as she hung halfway between worlds.

Camila rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I said and you know it. Girls are you sure everything is alright? You were both awfully quiet after your game, if you need to me to stay-"

"Go." Amity said simply, cutting her off with a warm laugh. "We'll be fine. And we both know Eda won't be if she gets too many rounds deep with Perry and you aren't there to keep the peace."

Luz snickered as Eda's eyes widened. The older witch gasped in insult and the hand holding the door retracted to her chest. The portal closed as she stood there looking wounded. In a blinding flash of light and magic the door disappeared into nothingness.

Left in the dark, unlit, cabin the small family all looked at each other. Luz was the first to laugh, followed by her mother and her girlfriend. Reaching into her shirt she pulled out the key that she kept around her neck and clicked the eye-shaped button twice. In an instant the door was back. Standing solely on it's own, the yellow eye in the center glowing softly. Camila firmly grasped the handle and flung it open only to be greeted with a rush of kids flying through it.

"Friends!" Luz cheered as Willow and Gus tackled both her and Amity in a tight hug.

"We heard about the win tonight, congrats! That's incredible!" Willow beamed at Amity who merely nodded in return, a small smile showing on her face.

Gus pulled Luz aside and stepped away from their friends for a moment.

"We need to start planning signs and banners stat. We are cheer con 4 and this is no longer a drill. We are in the red zone Luz. The red zone." He uttered quietly to the human who grew immediately serious.

"Wow. I never thought we'd reach that stage. What do we do? What can we do?!" She whispered back, completely panicked as she realized they were not prepared in the slightest to bring their A game of support.

"I suggest perhaps taking one of those human spell casters on the wall of rink to aid in our presentation."

Luz straightened immediately, a mischievous and wonderful twinkle in her eye.

The flamethrowers sounded like an excellent idea. She went to say as much to Gus before she felt her hoodie being pulled back. She lost her balance and fell, right into Amity's waiting arms. The witch was looking down at her disapprovingly.

"Not so fast Chaos. We won't need any big banners or flags and we most certainly aren't going to steal any flamethrowers."

"We weren't going to steal them... just...borrow them." Gus grumbled unhappily as he crossed his arms and joined Luz in pouting.

Camila sighed, crossing her arms in front of the doorway.

"I heard the words stealing and flamethrower. Am I going to have stay here tonight to watch you kids?" Camila asked plainly, looking more and more tired by the second.

Before anyone could respond, a pale hand flew through the portal attached at the bone by a string of rope.

"Oh no, you're not getting out of parents night that easily Cam." Eda's voice chuckled as the line pulled tight and Camila was dragged through too suddenly to protest.

The door closed seconds after Luz's mother disappeared and all 4 kids were left in the silence and dark.

Luz clapped her hands together, jolting everyone to attention. A smile spread across her face.

"So... I'm thinking maybe a heist movie tonight. Anyone else?"

***

"What happened at the rink today Luz?"

Luz melted onto the counter as she deflated. There was a part of her body that still tensed in anger but as the night went on, all she found she could do was worry. By the time Willow dragged her into the kitchen to 'restock' Luz had been wound so tightly in concern that her body now physically ached.

Amity was an expert at hiding her emotions, but not from her friends. Not from her girlfriend. The tight grip Amity kept on the pillow she clutched in her arms. The way Luz could feel the witch's body winding up and tensing as each new thought entered her mind, even during times of lull in the movie. Amity was even quieter then normal, unable to find the heart to point out the obvious plot holes in the various cheesy movies they watched.

Luz knew her girlfriend was not normally one to remain silent when she could see right through the twist of the movie.

Luz lifted her head and blinked. The light in the kitchen was bright and warm compared to the dark nest of blankets and pillows the kids had set up. Although dim, it helped Luz relax a little more. In the silence left behind by the question, Willow unwrapped the package for the next round of popcorn before she set the timer. The human knew Willow would wait all night if she had too.

"There's apparently this thing called Celebration Night. It's a way for the team and their family to celebrate their accomplishments before the finals." Luz sighed as she finally explained.

Willow's mouth thinned into a straight line.

It wasn't a question.

"I… I already was pretty tense and I know Amity was too. It came out of nowhere but how were we supposed to know, you know?! Lokte already kinda knows our weird little family situation as it is so they didn't think to mention it."

"They don't know is what you're saying." Willow explained curtly, her mouth twisting into a frown. "Why Amity is living with you."

"Which is fine. That's something only Amity can share and only when she wants to, IF she wants to. But that also means that nobody else on the team knows either."

Willow stared at her friend as Luz propped herself up onto her elbows, her hands clenching into tight fists.

They must really be something to raise someone like you.

Luz felt sick. Odalia and Alador Blight had never done anything for Amity. They weren't the reason she became so incredible. That was the furthest thing from the truth. They were despicable. Awful. Manipulative, selfish…

Abusive.

Luz slammed her fist onto the counter.

"It's just that… ugh!" Luz groaned as her fist hit the counter once again. "Why can't they just leave her alone?! Why do they have to exist, out there… still making her suffer?" The defeat in Luz's voice choked her anger into what was merely a whisper.

"Hey. Here I thought parental angst was supposed to be my thing." Amity's voice drifted softly through the room following Luz's outburst.

Immediately both girls turned to greet Amity, lounging in the door way. Her amber eyes were tired and there was a small smile showing on her face. Luz straightened.

"Amity-" Luz started before her girlfriend gently waved her hand to interrupt her.

"It's ok Luz. I think…"

Taking a deep breath, Amity bit her lip. Her breath rattled in her chest as she went to speak next, her eyes locking onto a specific spot on the ground in front of her.

"I think I want to reach out to them."

***

Pssssst. Like this? Actually gave it one of those read-a-roos? Maybe you have questions like, Polar, my friend, my amigo, my internet stranger, the fuck is a Hockey AU? Well dear reader I don't know either! But here is a Master Post of all things I've figured out so far.

#toh #the owl house #lumity #the owl house au #Hockey AU #toh au #amity blight #luz noceda #camila noceda #toh eda #willow park #gus porter #this arc is going to feature a lot of pain and a lot of healing #but ooooohhh boy its gonna be good #probably not a smart idea to post this on an episode day tho

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meeko-mar · 3 years

Text

Can I just compare Bakudeku to Korrasami for just a moment

Not as in, their relationship, but in terms of fandom experience, perception and how it became Canon.

So, some years ago, LOK was on it's 4th and final season. So of course, shipping discourse was high. Who would Korra end up with? Would she end up single, be back with Mako?

Or....there was a big calling for the couple Korrasami, that is, Korra and her female friend Asami, to get together.

Now, up until the point of the finale, (and grant that I haven't watched in a while so I'm speaking in an overall sense and recalling my experience) Asami and Korra had been teaming up more and more. Korra had been really, badly, injured in the last season, leading to her isolating herself in the SWT for about 2 or 3 years to heal with Katara, and upon heading back to Empire City, she takes an abrupt turn to spend more time isolated and on a sort of spirit journey in the wild because she didn't feel ready to face her destiny and her friends and was suffering from PTSD. She later returns to EC, and to Asami, and they are close together for the season.

This all caught the attention of the Korrasami shippers who had, at the time, kind of only been casually shipping them because, hey, wouldn't it be nice? and they were slowly and steadily getting more crumbs, and the ship gathered momentum as the seasons progressed.

But lo and behold, everyone else was saying such things as:

"they're a female/female ship, it will never happen, even if you want it to" (even shippers of Korrasami were resigned to this because the precedent in youth animation in western cartoons at the time, was of course, not inclusive of same sex couplings).

We SAW the subtle development between the two and DARED to hope and dream that it might one day become canon, even though we thought it unlikely because of the trend towards heteronormativity. We saw their interactions and toiled over if they were trying to hint at something more between them.

"They're just friends. You're reading into it"

Because the "just friends" behavior of Korrasami in later seasons were:

-Asami being deeply supportive of Korra when she was injured (and for a time, disabled) Like, literally, getting on a knee, putting her hand into Korra's and saying "I'm here for you, for ANYTHING you need" kind of supportive, even offering to COME to the SWT with her. (Korra sacrificed her desire to have Asami close because she didn't want Asami to drop her duties as basically a CEO to tend to her)

-Korra receiving letters from all of her friends during her healing period, but ONLY responding, in a very beautiful letter, to Asami's.

-Korra honestly apologizing for being gone so long without writing more than one letter or sharing more of what was going on or where she went

-Asami complimenting Korra's new hair and Korra BLUSHING and looking SO charmed(and returning the compliment of how amazing Asami always looks) --there is no hetero explanation for this.

-being battle partners and constantly having each other's backs

-Asami protecting Korra from pursuing enemies while she's in the Spirit World(leaving her physical body vulnerable)

-other characters in their circles being literally like "What's going on with you two??"

-Culminating in the final episode after the final battle with Asami breaking down, confessing that she wouldn't know what she had done if she had lost Korra in that final battle(she'd even lost her father the same day) AND THEN Korra comforting her and suggesting that they, the two of them, alone, take a trip together, to get away from it all for a bit.

-It ends, when They literally walk into the spirit world portal holding hands and staring lovingly into each other's eyes as the camera pans from them into the spirit portal

Which, LET ME TELL YOU, watching this when it first premiered, for the first time, WAS AN ALMOST TRANSCENDENT EXPERIENCE. It was a soft scene, emotional, beautifully animated, and the MUSIC just hit you right in the heart. Like, they didn't even kiss to really hammer it in that THEY ARE IN LOVE, however, it was an EMOTIONAL PAYOFF and there was NO arguing that they were not a couple. Creators soon after confirmed, yes, they are both bisexual women, and they are in love.

And so, you could definitely say that Korrasami could have been interpreted as just "Very Good Friends" behavior, of "Gals being Pals", and many people DID argue that, and would later claim that there wasn't "enough build-up to the relationship". And part of the atmosphere in media back then(esp. Nickelodeon at the time) they really couldn't be blatant about it up until that ending. It was even a thing that Nickelodeon had been kind of shooting them in the foot for a while with switching around air times, and eventually taking it off air and putting it only available to view ON THEIR WEBSITE. There was a lot of fuckery with the studio at the time, and It wouldn't have been far off to think that they had issue with the idea of this series ending with two girls together romantically.

It just kind of makes me think of people telling BKDK, not only "They're m/m, it'll never happen in shonen manga" but ALSO anything from "they hate eachother" to "They are toxic because Bakugou bullied him(blatant disregard for any current development of Bakugou's character) and so it can never ever happen" to "Ok sure they're becoming friends again, but that doesn't mean they love each other or will by the end of the story"

When arguably, Korrasami was basically given the same dismissal.

And my dudes, it's only gonna get more intense from here.

Like, Bakugou and Izuku are friends now(again). There's no denying that. They would literally die for one another. Their relationship, and the emotions between the two of them in the coming arcs will only be compounded, with how the last arc left off and how Izuku SUDDENLY left and how Bakugou has so many unresolved feelings, and how, like Korra being the Avatar and having to save the world multiple times over(and the PTSD she got from it), Izuku is carrying a heavy burden that Bakugou is determine to help him see it through to the end without LOSING Izuku in the process. Their stories are so closely tied together and they are SET to return to each other, and it CANNOT end WITHOUT them being together, in some capacity, even if it is just platonic.

So...I wouldn't write BKDK off just yet. We're at the same spot right now that Korrasami shippers were when they were starting to seriously think that there was something canon about Korrasami.

So, Am I saying that I for sure, 100% believe that BKDK will become romantically canon? Not really; the hurdle of it being a Shonen-oriented manga being actively marketed for boys, is admittedly a huge hurdle to overcome, and I, as an American, cannot begin to understand all of the cultural barriers, or implications breaking any of those barriers would have to a Japanese audience or for Horikoshi/his career as a manga-ka.

I still don't know what Horikoshi is thinking when it comes to BKDK, he's obviously very private and all we can do is speculate on what he feels about it; there's still a possibility, however small, that he may actually be the biggest BKDK of us all, and "telling the story he wants to tell" may yet include BKDK becoming canon(that quote may also have nothing whatsoever to do with any romance, but we don't know)...But, much like I was at the point in the Korrasami tale, I'm still painfully aware of the precedent that remains in the way.

Like the Korrasami tale, though, I suppose there is that possibility that we will see something completely amazing and groundbreaking, and I will once again have that transcendent experience where an unlikely ship suddenly becomes reality. At this state in the Korrasami tale, I had NO IDEA that we were shipping the real, canon deal, and it honestly surprised me, being that I usually attach myself to something that never becomes canon, lol(*cough*Zutara).

We're in the thick of it now, we just gotta wait it out and see.

#Korrasami #Bakudeku #antis dni #bkdk #a small essay #bit of a ramble #hope this makes sense #Korrasami crawled so she-ra could run and so voltron could fall face first lmao #all speculative #like do u understand #we had NO IDEA #We had no idea that it would actually become canon we were just like HEY THIS IS ADORABLE AND THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER #and they're battle gfs #there was the added spiciness that these girls were BOTH on opposite sides of a love triangle with mako #so it started out as a J O K E like Korra forget mako and date asami shes so much better #YOU BOTH DESERVE BETTER THAN MAKO #and they DID

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cyncity2000 · 2 years

Text

heartbreakordeath's (unnecessarily long) Bastille Fic Masterlist

Hello! I decided to make a comprehensive (probably too comprehensive lol) list of all the bas fic I’ve posted to my ao3. I figured because some of them lack context due to inside jokes, etc, that it might be a fun way to waste some time and yell about my writing some more 🤪

Long post so everything is below the cut :)

Dan/Kyle

Series: wwcomms, soundtracked by hdyfn?

note: It’s hard to explain unless you’re familiar with the AU, so feel free to dm me for extra info if you’d like to get into it but are confused by the concept :)

1. every word i'm screaming is another going unreceived

The first in my WWCOMMS series! Inspired by “Bad Dreams” by Joywave. Introduces the universe of WWCOMMS and most of the characters involved.

Words: 3590, Oneshot, Status: Complete

Rating: T for swears & dark themes

Warnings: N/A

2. next to somebody new (don't wanna ever wake up)

The second installment in my WWCOMMS series, inspired by “Somebody New” by Joywave. Picks up right where the first left off, focusing less on the worldbuilding and more on Kyle’s Retuning and his complicated relationship with Dan.

Words: 3427, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: T for swears & dark themes

Warnings: N/A

3. now that the deed is done

Third installment in my WWCOMMS series, inspired by “Now” by Joywave. Bit of a time skip from the last fic, with a bit more of the canon-typical action & violence i’ve seen in most fics in this ‘verse! This one’s a bit more complicated so hopefully it’s easy enough to follow. Apologies for the cliffhanger 🤪 I promise I know where it’s going but not sure when I’ll be able to write it.

Words: 4214, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: T for swears, dark themes, and non-graphic violence

Warnings: TW: Blood

~~~

‘cause the devil’s got my arms

My attempt at a Bastille fic heavily inspired by Supernatural (aka Bastillenatural), which unfortunately has had me in a death grip for the past…4 years maybe? It’s based on the concept of the “demon deal” from spn, where a character trades their soul in exchange for whatever they desire. They have 10 years to live after they make the deal, and then the demon comes to kill them and drag their soul to hell <3 nice light stuff here. Inspired by the random thought I had: what if Bastille got so popular so quickly because they made a deal? It is a Very Strange mix of crack and angst. Gift for @goodlesson <3

Words: 3784, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: T for swears & dark themes

Warnings: very minor non-con moment in the 2nd section, also just like. demonic possession, dan facing his death, etc. i promise it isn’t as horrible as it sounds???

one more slide (and then we're back to real life)

the iconic (jkjk) magic tour bus fic! the summary has a link to the Distraction Tactics episode this was inspired by, but long story short, it’s a multi-chaptered fic based very loosely on Howl’s Moving Castle. Basically, the door to their tour bus is a magic portal. Dan finds out about this. Kyle also finds out about this. chaos ensues. Set vaguely in Wild World era. Unlike bastillenatural, it sounds like crack, but actually has a whole serious plot arc bc i do love some Drama every once in a while !

Words: 16274 (my doc is currently sitting at just above 30k words- roughly halfway done with this monster), Chaptered (posted: 13/?, written: 18/?), In Progress

Rating: T, this thing is pretty wholesome tbh

Warnings: N/A

Dan/Charlie

Series: like the world is watching

1. Like The World is Watching

My first ever bastille fic! This was written near the beginning of lockdown and took me less than a week to finish, which is the first and probably only time that has Ever happened to me with a fic. It’s the first Big fic I’ve ever finished, really?? which is Crazy to think about. Anyways, it’s a canon-compliant story about Charlie joining the band, complete with lots of drama as he navigates his role as a touring member and tries to figure out what the fuck is going on between him and Dan. Spans the time between the Wild World and Doom Days eras.

Words: 13215, Chaptered (16/16), Complete

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

2. fall into the night with you

Timestamp #1 for LTWIW. Takes place in 2017 after the events of the fic, written & posted literally a Day after I finished the og fic lol. Just some Very Soft fluff & minor drama related to Dan’s inability to work social media <3

Words: 440, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

3. 'cause even there in a room full of faces (all I saw was you and I)

Timestamp #2 for LTWIW. Also takes place in 2017 after the events of LTWIW, either before or after the first timestamp, idfk. Just more shameless fluff bc WHY NOT. Charlie has a solo gig. Dan tags along :)

Words: 1291, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

4. back into the easy days

Another timestamp written ages ago that I decided to finally stick on AO3. Just fills in a bit of the ending more since it felt a bit rushed when I wrote the original fic :)

Words: 1018, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

~~~

Inescapable You

The first of MANY uni AUs!! In which Charlie is a uni student, and obsessed with that one random mysterious guy he sees everywhere on campus. Just a (hopefully) fun, humorous & cute lil story featuring Charlie & Dan as Complete Disasters (but what else is new!). Don’t think I specified a time in this one, but I imagined them how they both looked circa 2011ish.

Words: 2363, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

so many frights I've known (it's hard to let them go)

A fun lil ficlet inspired by the Many photos of Dan and Charlie on amusement park rides together, and Charlie’s admission that he’s definitely held his friends’ hands on scary rides before :’)

Words: 650, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

Series: in your warmth I forget how cold it can be

1. a different chord, but the same refrain

Affectionately known (by like, Only me) as ‘hoodie fic', this is one of my personal favorites :) just some idiots getting drunk on tour, sharing clothes, and figuring out some Feelings. Decent mix of angst and Softness (and i’m not just talkin about the hoodie).

Words: 4509, Chaptered (3/3), Complete

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

2. easy to be, easy to breathe

Timestamp for “a different chord,” or an epilogue to the fic. Meant to be Soft and lighthearted, it’s a snapshot of their lives after they finally get their heads out of their asses <3

Words: 932, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

~~~

there's a fire in your eyes, it's true...

A gift fic for a friend who has since deactivated her ao3, this is a lowkey-abandoned WIP that I still hope to finish someday because I was actually a big fan of the concept :(( features Uber driver!Dan, a bit of a coffee shop and also uni AU, and a very sleepy & probably drunk Charlie who ends up in the backseat of an attractive stranger’s Uber. As usual, chaos ensues (or it would, if I ever finished this).

Words: 1882, Chaptered (1/?), In Progress

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

life in stop motion

Not gonna lie, this is another one of my favorites! I think it could’ve done with some changes, but I think it’s the fic I’m the most proud of :’) it’s an Immortal!Dan and Immortal! Ralph AU- they’re not vampires but more like…ancient gods who have, over the centuries, lost/forgotten their old power and slowly became more adjusted to life among humans. They decide in this story to spend some time at uni, making this Also a uni AU (can you tell I love those?) featuring clueless mortal uni student!Charlie.

Words: 4413, Oneshot, Complete (but always open to a sequel at some point)

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

say something (it's only a matter of time)

Another gift fic I wrote with the friend who has since deactivated- you can probably tell which parts are hers because they’re AMAZING <3333 I’d say the majority is her work, so if it seems very different from my other fics that’s why :) yet another uni AU, featuring some parts from Luna’s POV (yes, the dog,,, trust me on this okay) and the two of them being complete idiots as per usual. Sort of written backwards, if that makes sense? It begins at the end!

Words: 2229, Chaptered (1/?), In Progress/Abandoned

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

when it ends, don't wanna let you know

Another of my favorites!! just some shameless fluff inspired by Dan & Charlie’s iconic ~smiley stage shenanigans~ (very aptly coined by @goodlesson) during “Of the Night” in the Doom Days era. Pre-slash. Disclaimer: I unfortunately am not actually a Harry Styles fan, I just stole his lyrics for the gift fic bc its recipient @moonbeanm is a fan :p

Words: 1437, Oneshot, Complete

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

so i want to fall into your web

Bad news: this one’s abandoned :( it was a joint effort by me and two lovely friends, inspired by this video (because let’s be real, does the beginning not look exactly like a Youtuber’s video intro??)

Good news: we basically manifested Youtuber!Charlie, because with his Patreon updates he’s basically a vlogger now and i’m SO here for it <333 we made this a uni au (shocker!) that takes place in 2009, where Charlie is attempting to make it as a Youtuber and happens to attract the attention of a certain fan: a fellow uni student named (gasp) Dan Smith.

Words: 4236, Chaptered (3/?), In Progress/Abandoned

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

i said maybe...

a gift fic for written_you_down that was meant to be for last year! i got inspired again after mtv unplugged and decided to come back to this! it's kind of a 5+1 format, with snapshots of moments throughout dan & charlie's lives where they wanted to give up on their dreams of making it as a musician. there's a bit of a twist at the end that i'm Very excited for 👀 and yes. i titled it after wonderwall.

Words: 8907, Chaptered (5/7), In Progress

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

all your colours start to burn

welp. what can i say about this one. basically just further proof i can't write pwp fics without making them a million words long. based loosely around the summer 2021 festivals & dan and charlie's wygd shenanigans (remember when we thought THAT was a big deal ??? we had nooo idea what the uk tour was gonna bring) and is the first E rated fic i've written fully by myself so yay?

Words: 3817, Oneshot, Completed

Rating: E

Warnings: N/A

tell me you're a book that I misread

another pwp except it's kinda dark and angsty this time and it's basically just enemies AND lovers.

Words: 3,244, Oneshot, Completed

Rating: E

Warnings: mildly dubious consent that honestly has more to do with a power imbalance than anything

wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

dan keeps disappearing, and charlie's the only one who notices. not as angsty as it sounds, more hurt/comfort & fluff and the beginnings of what could be more than friendship.

Words: 1272, Oneshot, Completed

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

feel like.

my attempt at some sort of indie tour store fic (we're ignoring the fact that it was ages ago at this point). like i said in the ao3 tags, this shit just writes itself, man.

Words: 1630, Chaptered (2/?), In Progress

Rating: G

Warnings: N/A

Misc. (gen fics & other pairings)

we’ll be good in another life

Angst-fest inspired by “Another Place”- a series of alternate timelines. Features a mix of Dan/Charlie and Dan/Kyle depending on the version; there’s 7 in total! Even though it was written way before the show came out, it’s kinda my version of the Marvel show What if…? where every section answers a different question. My questions range anywhere from what if Charlie never joined Bastille? to what if Wild World was never finished?

Words: 3603, Oneshot, Completed (though a sequel at some point is Very likely 👀)

Pairings: Dan/Charlie, Dan/Kyle

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

'til the morning breaks

The obligatory Doom Days-inspired “end of the world” fic. It’s my fictionalized interpretation of the album’s story arc, I suppose? Stuffed with all the lyrical references I could manage, of course (if it’s not clear, the bit with Dan & two people implied to be Doing Things is inspired by the album cover bc why not). Not the most original of my work, but it was really interesting to write :) prettyyyy sure it’s Not what Dan had in mind while writing the album, though, but who knows 😅

Words: 1517, Oneshot, Complete

Pairings: Dan/Original Characters

Rating: T for drug use i guess (ooo scandalous /j) and implied sexual content

Warnings: N/A

i've got you on a loop, i've got you in my head

Another gift fic for the wonderful @goodlesson ! This one was a fun venture into real rarepair territory, ever since I discovered yet Another perfectly-named ship tag of Peyt’s and decided I Had to write about them at least once. Takes place during Reorchestrated era (2018), when Kyle suddenly and unexpectedly gains the ability to hear Charlie’s thoughts. What chaos will ensue???

Words: 1516, Chaptered (1/2), In Progress (NOT abandoned, I love this fic, I’ll get back to it at some point I promise)

Pairing: Kyle/Charlie

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

falling.

Now THIS is rarepair territory, friends. This fic is one of only nine in the whole ship tag, can you believe it?? there’s SO much childhood/best-friends-to-lovers potential here, guys, c’mon. I started writing this because I adored Ralph & Dan’s platonic relationship in Who the Fuck is Keith (aka the best bastille fic Ever written, change my mind <3) and felt the urge to emulate/imitate the sort of writing style/general cozy vibe of that fic. I’m not quite sure if I’ve managed that, but in general I’m really happy with it :) I know it’s a strange pairing, but if you’re curious, give it a chance! Actual summary: Dan and Ralph are uni students (yes, again) and old friends, sharing a flat for the school year. Both of them are still recovering from an event that shattered the peace of their lives five years ago. Incredibly domestic, soft, and angsty all in one.

Words: 10305, Chaptered (15/15), Complete

Pairing: Dan/Ralph

Rating: T

Warnings: mentioned in author’s notes to avoid spoilers

you felt right to me

i'm not really sure how to describe this one?? it's my first ever E rated fic (ooo scandalous) and involves past dan/kyle, current dan/charlie, and a kyle who is Very Much not jealous of charlie for taking dan away from him :))))))))

Words: 11475, Chaptered (5/?), In Progress

Pairing: Past Dan/Kyle, Current Dan/Charlie, and (spoilers) eventual Dan/Kyle/Charlie

Rating: E

Warnings: tagged on ao3

[this will be updated whenever i remember to update it]

#my writing #my fics #writing shit #masterlist #magic tour bus adventures #a different chord but the same refrain #long post #jillian go to sleep

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nikkoliferous · 3 years

Text

Phase One: Avengers (Part Two)

Apparently I had so much to comment on this crappy book that I had to break this up into two parts (you can read part one here). No, I have nothing to say for myself. Lol

Let’s continue.

Clint Barton and Loki’s hand-picked strike team were in a stolen Quinjet with a faked S.H.I.E.L.D. call sign, 26-Bravo. That got them close enough that by the time the air-traffic officer on the Helicarrier knew something was wrong, it was already too late.

Whoa whoa whoa. I thought you said Loki didn’t care about the details. I thought you said such things were beneath him. Make up your mind.

With a last heave and twist, she freed herself from the fallen beam and ran. At that moment, the Hulk turned and saw her. She vaulted up a stairway and onto the next level. The Hulk swiped at the stairway and shredded it into scrap metal. Loki had gotten what he wanted. He must have been trying to time it so he could manipulate Bruce into becoming the Hulk right as his soldiers came to attack the Helicarrier. The Hulk would do at least as much damage from the inside as the rogue Quinjet could do from the outside.

Yes. Yes, he did. Lol

Natasha kept running, and the Hulk came right behind her. For a moment, she thought she’d lost him, but then he came at her out of the shadows, roaring. He was like walking rage, a single-minded engine of destruction. She shot a hole in the pipe over his head. Steam shot out of it into the Hulk’s eyes, stopping him for just the moment she needed to get a head start. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay away from him for long. He came after her, smashing through bulkheads and doorways like they weren’t even there and roaring the whole time.

Mood, though.

Steve got to the edge of the turbine mount about the same time as Tony. “I’m here!” he called out.

“Good,” Tony said, dropping into view and hovering in the Iron Man armor to survey the wreckage. He had the suit on, and Steve could hear his voice through the earbud microphone all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel wore. At least that channel was still intact; if they lost communications, they’d be done for.

Convenient. Clint would absolutely know this, which means either 1) he's incompetent, 2) he's not as mind-controlled as we think, or 3) Loki allowed/arranged for his own team's semi-failure.Take your pick.

“What’s it look like in there?” Tony asked.

“It seems to run on some form of electricity,” Steve said.

Tony was shoving loose huge pieces of debris that prevented the turbine blades from rotating. “Well, you’re not wrong,” he said.

Steve fumed. He wasn’t here for technical support. But that was all he could do at the moment.

Ironic for Steve to call out Tony for being useless without his suit when Steve is apparently useless at anything other than beating people up. Lol

Tony stood inside the turbine housing, looking at the blades. He’d cleared most of the debris jamming the rotors. “Even if I clear the rotors,” he said, “this thing won’t reengage without a jump. I’m going to have to get in there and push.”

“If that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded,” Steve said.

Hey hey hey now, I thought Tony wasn't the type of guy to sacrifice himself??

The Hulk stomped around the flight deck, roaring. He saw Thor and swung a fist twice the size of Thor’s head. Thor caught it in both hands, straining to hold both the Hulk’s arm and his attention. “We are not your enemies, Banner,” he grunted. “Try to think!”

Now, where have I heard that before...?

In answer, the Hulk punched him through the wall.

Jealous.

Thor got up and watched the Hulk coming after him. Now this was a fight! He held out a hand, waiting for Mjolnir to return to him. Mjolnir smashed through another wall and reached Thor’s hand just as the charging Hulk came within striking distance.

What's a little bloodlust between friends, amirite?

The Hulk caught the hammer, and a fierce grin spread over his face… then he toppled backward and Mjolnir pinned him to the floor of the hangar.

None but I can lift Mjolnir, Thor thought. Not even this giant.

Yes, yes. You're very special, Thor. We're all super impressed, promise.

“You like this?” Coulson asked, meaning the gun. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.” He powered it up, and rings along its barrel glowed bright orange. “Want to find out?”

But Loki wasn’t there in front of him. Thor saw it too late to do anything. That Loki was an illusion… and the real Loki was behind Coulson.

Lokiception.

“You lack conviction,” Coulson said. He did not move from where he sat against the wall. Blood trickled at the corner of his mouth, and the enormous gun lay uselessly across his lap.

Of all the things Coulson might have said, this was perhaps the one Loki expected least. I have moved worlds out of conviction, he thought. Made bargains with beings who snuff out planets as an afterthought. “I don’t think I…”

"bargains"

“Tasha,” he said. “How many agents did I—?”

“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.” Better than maybe anyone on the Helicarrier, Natasha Romanoff knew you couldn’t blame yourself for things you did while you were brainwashed. All you could do was try to heal and get things right the next time.

OH? DO TELL.

“Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one,” Tony said. “But let’s do a head count here. Your brother the demigod, a Super-Soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins… and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan,” Loki said with a grin.

“Not a great plan,” Tony said.

YOU'RE RIGHT, TONY. IT'S AN OBJECTIVELY TERRIBLE PLAN. NOW ASK YOURSELF WHY HE WOULD DO THAT ON PURPOSE.

“You’re missing the point!” he said, and his tone got sharper. “There’s no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us… but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be sure we’ll avenge it.”

Weeeeeell...

With those last words, he tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter, just has he had Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig. Nothing happened. The Arc Reactor in Tony’s chest countered the scepter’s effect.

Loki tried it again. “This usually works.…”

“Well,” Tony said, “best-laid plans. You know the saying.”

Uncomfortable with mild swear words and dick jokes, I see. Lol

Look at this!” Thor shouted, holding Loki and forcing him to gaze out over the destruction in the city. “You think this madness will end with your rule?”

“It’s too late,” Loki said. Thor thought he was beginning to understand what he had done. “It’s too late to stop it.”

“No,” Thor said. “We can. Together.”

Loki looked him in the eye… and then betrayed Thor again, stabbing him in the side with a knife hidden in his sleeve. Thor dropped to the ground, clutching the wound. “Sentiment,” Loki said mockingly.

OH MY GOD. HE'S MOCKING HIMSELF, YOU ABSOLUTE KNUCKLEHEAD. I swear to god, this author sat down and went, "Hmm. How can I systematically erase any and all complexity this character possesses so he's as generic a villain as possible?"

CASE IN POINT:

On a bridge, Cap huddled behind a destroyed car with the Black Widow and Hawkeye. “Lots of civilians trapped up there,” Hawkeye said, indicating the nearby buildings. A flight of Chitauri went over, and Cap noticed something different about one of them.

“Loki,” he said. He was shooting at the civilians fleeing through the streets. “They’re fish in a barrel down there.”

It can be admittedly hard to tell because most shots of the Chitauri vehicles firing on people are from too far away to tell who's piloting... but I checked the clips from the Battle of NY and the only person Loki can definitively be seen firing at is Natasha. On another Chitauri whatever-you-call-them. Not even aiming for the street.

Thor was still watching the Chitauri zipping overhead. “I have unfinished business with Loki.”

“Yeah?” Hawkeye said. “Get in line.”

“Save it,” Steve said. “Loki’s going to keep this fight focused on us, and that’s what we need. Otherwise those things could run wild. We’ve got Stark up on top—”

Almost as if... according to plan...

Look, I have historically not bought into the full "Loki formed the Avengers so he could lose on purpose" theory because I feel that it contradicts the canon explanation that he was being influenced by the sceptre. But... you'd have to be an absolute moron to think he wasn't sabotaging himself, whether accidentally or on purpose. I suppose one could argue that just because it was amplifying his negative emotions, that doesn't necessarily mean it prevented him from working against his "allies". But if it wasn't affecting his actions at all, I don't know why they'd bother to confirm the theory as canon.

Also, like... according to this book, Loki is somehow targeting civilians and not targeting civilians at the same time ?? lmao

“Dr. Banner,” Steve said. “Now might be a really good time for you to get angry.”

Bruce was already walking toward the Leviathan. “That’s my secret, Captain,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m always angry.”

Same, tbh.

Thor reached the top of the Empire State Building and lifted Mjolnir. Storm clouds gathered and lightning struck down, hundreds of bolts reaching for Mjolnir. Thor turned the Empire State Building’s iconic spire into a lightning rod, gathering the force of the elements into it. Then he thrust Mjolnir in the direction of the portal. All the energy he had built up blazed out in a single forking bolt. It struck and destroyed every single Chitauri between the Empire State Building and the portal itself. Hundreds of them exploded and tumbled from the sky at once, including several of the Leviathans that tumbled down to smash into buildings below.

...so why didn't Thor just keep doing this for the rest of the battle? Too draining, or not exciting enough? Lol

Satisfied, Thor nodded and glanced over at the Hulk. Perhaps the scales were evened from their last fight against each other on the Helicarrier—

The Hulk shot out his left fist and smashed Thor all the way across the block-long gallery. Then it was his turn to look satisfied.

Jealous. Again.

Maybe that was just Loki, but Steve was starting to feel like the Chitauri were going to absorb every punch the Avengers could throw. They had to close that portal, or nothing was going to stop the invasion.

Well then. It sure is fortunate that Loki allowed Selvig to install a failsafe, huh?

Fury stood and listened to the World Security Council explain that they had decided to take the operation out of his hands. They were going to use a nuclear missile to destroy the Tesseract and close the portal—but at the cost of untold civilian lives. Fury protested as strongly as he could and one of the councilors cut him off. “Director Fury. The Council has made a decision.”

These crazy motherfuckers would have killed so many more people than Loki it's not even funny.

...and tbh, it probably wouldn't even have destroyed the Tesseract, so they would have killed them for literally no reason too.

The Hulk paused, confused.

“You are, all of you, beneath me!” Loki raged.

Not yet, sir, but I would very much like to be. 😏

She knelt next to him and said, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know what you were doing.”

Selvig digested this for a moment and then said, “Actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source.”

Of note and as alluded to previously:

1) The mind control over Barton and Selvig was not absolute either; therefore, if they are not responsible for their actions over the course of this movie, Loki is not responsible for his either.

2) If The Other could hear everything Loki was up to, it's very likely that Loki could hear everything Barton and Selvig were up to as well. Meaning that, at a minimum, he knew about the failsafe and did nothing about it.

The missile had a lot of momentum built up, and Tony’s Mark 7 suit was not operating at full capacity after the amount of energy he’d expended in the battle already. It was no easy task to get the missile angled up sharply enough to clear the tallest buildings in Midtown—especially Stark Tower. That was where the missile seemed to want to go. So, Tony thought, the World Security Council is jealous of me, too.

Look, I get that he's mostly just being witty, but seriously... this dude is out here accusing Loki of being an egomaniac? Lol

He got underneath the missile and angled it upward, straining against its stabilizers, which tried to keep it on course. But slowly he forced it up, and once he got its warhead pointed at an angle, pushing it into a steeper climb got easier. A little.

Steve Rogers’s voice broke his concentration. “Stark, you know that’s a one-way trip?”

So... you're admitting you were wrong, then? 🙃

The Avengers looked up. On the roof of Stark Tower, Natasha said, “Come on, Stark.”

They saw the explosion through the portal, brilliant as a new sun. There was no way Tony could have survived that.

I was wrong about him, Steve thought. When the time came, he did make the sacrificial play.

Thanks, Steve. That's really all I wanted.

Loki had just gotten himself put back together enough to get out of the hole in the floor. Painfully he dragged himself toward the door. Never had a mortal damaged him as much as that green monster. He would be healing for a long time.

He's literally in better shape now than when he came through the portal. And the author made zero mention of his health there.

But heal he would, and then he would have his revenge. Even though the portal had collapsed and he had lost the Tesseract. Even though his Chitauri army was destroyed. Loki would show the so-called Avengers they never should have opposed him.

Raise your hand if you watched Avengers and thought Loki was thinking about revenge right after getting Hulk-smashed. Why aren't any of you raising your hands??

Seriously, there are two emotions I felt from Loki at the end of Avengers Assemble: relief and anxiety. I have no idea why Alex Irvine is so intent on turning him into a boring, one-dimensional villain, but it made this book absolutely insufferable to read.

Anyway, that's it! I hope you all found this as entertaining and cathartic as I did. Lol

↩️ Back to Part One

#loki meta #loki #thor #tony stark #steve rogers #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #clint barton #avengers assemble #mcu #phase one: avengers

54 notes · View notes

egopocalypse · 3 years

Text

L’Manberg’s Heart

(Inspired by @dyinginlava‘s story here. Please read first for context.)

(Read on AO3)

Tommy never knows what Dream wants from him.

He tried to understand it before, back when he was first exiled. It kept him busy during the long, painful stretches of time between Dream’s check-ins where no one -- not even Ghostbur -- visited him. He thought back to the discs, to L’Manberg’s independence, to the sudden way Dream turned against them in Pogtopia; still, it made no sense to him at all.

Descending the elevator; however, finally allows him to see.

The gold platforms -- shrines, really, from what it looks like -- stand stark against the blackstone walls, drawing his gaze away from the shimmering purple portal. He gapes at the giant portraits and item frames, his prized possessions so close and yet so far from his reach.

His hands twitch. Maybe if he sprinted, he’d be fast enough-

“Don’t even think about it, Tommy.” A sharp blade scrapes across the back of his neck, a shiver rippling under his skin. “They’re not what you’re here for.”

Tommy shakes his hands, suddenly finding them clammy. “Wh- why are we down here, anyways?” he says, hating the way his voice wavers. He turns to Dream and fights the urge to fidget under the mask’s impassive stare. “Do we have to go through the portal or something?”

“You wanted answers, didn’t you?” Dream pulls the axe back, enchanted netherite gleaming against a black backdrop as he twirls it in a precise circle. “Here’s where you’ll get them.”

“Okay, okay, but what answers?” Tommy asks. “What the fuck is this place?”

“You’ll see” is his answer as the platform comes to a stop. “Follow me.” Tommy holds back as Dream steps off the platform, axe now resting on his shoulder. He flexes his hands, wishing he had some weapon, item, anything he could hold or pick at.

But Dream told him he had to leave everything behind. Dream told him to put all of his items in a chest. Dream told him to put all his armor in a hole-

“Tommy.”

His head snaps up, eyes wide and panicked. Dream stands displeased over by an open hall, tapping his foot against the ringing stone. “If you don’t want answers, I can just take you back to L’Manberg.”

He shakes his head vigorously. Remember who you’re here for, he thinks.

The struggling country, heart threatening to stop as its lifeblood drains. The people, weary and anxious, treating each moment as if it’s their last.

The President, who disappeared without a trace the day it was meant to fall.

(He sacrificed himself, Tommy argues with his own head. He didn’t leave. Not when everything he cared about was in L’Manberg. He wouldn’t.)

“Tommy,” Dream scolds. “Don’t keep me waiting.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, stumbling over. “I’ll come. I’m coming.”

He trips on his way to Dream, almost falling on his face before the other man grabs him by the back of his collar and pulls him up again. He tugs his shirt away from his neck the moment Dream lets go of him, coughing to rid himself of the uncomfortable feeling lingering on his neck.

“Come on,” Dream snaps. “There’s something I want you to see.”

Tommy nods and follows without another word, massaging his raw throat. Upon turning the corner into the next hall, he freezes.

“What the fuck?” he can’t stop himself from saying. “What the fuck is this?”

Empty item frames and posts stretch out towards the end of the hall, signs posted above denoting the missing possessions: Axe of Peace, Enderchest, Fran, Squeeks, Shulker, Mars, Beckerson. At the back, a small stable is set up, holding Friend and-

“Henry?” Tommy whispers.

His legs are leaden, bolted to the ground. He saw Henry die months ago, didn’t he? He’s sure of it. How the hell did he end up here?

“I saved him and brought him here while everyone was fighting,” Dream says. “It took a while, but it was worth it in the end.”

“I-” Tommy tries to swallow down the lump in his throat. He fails. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Dream shrugs. “It wasn’t time yet.” The axe spins again, arcing over his head as he turns. “That’s not what I brought you down here to show you, though. This is.”

Tommy steps closer, far too aware of how his feet drag against the floor. There’s a two-block-tall hole in the wall he failed to notice earlier, blending in so well with the blackstone that he wouldn’t have seen it if Dream hadn’t pointed it out to him. But as he moves away from the hall’s entrance, silver bars peek out from the hole, blocking him from reaching out and grabbing-

“Tubbo.”

Tommy sprints to the hole and squishes himself as close to the bars as possible, drinking in the sight of his best friend. The President lies curled up in the corner, back pressed firmly against the wall. His clothes are rumpled, the suit jacket he always kept ironed and stiff nowhere to be found. Patches of sweat-soaked cloth release a musty, overpowering odor, matching the dampness of his tangled, greasy hair. Scorch marks litter his pants and shirt as varied and widespread as burns scatter across his skin.

He’s not moving, and for a single, horrible moment, Tommy wonders if he’s dead.

“Tubbo.” He reaches through the bars, though he hesitates. What happens if his skin is cold? “Tubbo, it’s Tommy. Wake up.”

No answer. Tommy bites the bullet, grasps Tubbo’s hand, and yanks.

A strangled yelp wrenches out of Tubbo’s throat. His eyes open, wide and wild, as he tugs out of Tommy’s grip, and he pushes his feet against the bars, pressing into the corner.

“Tubbo!” The older boy stifles a whimper and tucks into the fetal position, ducking his face into his knees and clamping his hands over his ears. Tommy winces.

“Tubbo,” he says, softer now. “It’s me. It’s Tommy.”

Tubbo doesn’t respond. If anything, he curls up tighter, clenching his eyes shut and shaking his head. He heaves quick, shallow breaths, murmuring pleas for mercy under his breath.

When the first sob wretches from his throat, Tommy’s thoughts run ablaze. A lit match drops in a dry forest, burning through fallen leaves and fresh kindling. Faint wisps of smoke rise above the treeline as he turns, Dream’s only warning as wind stirs up and stokes the flames.

“What the fuck did you do to him,” he demands, hands curled into bloodless fists. “Tell me right this instant.”

The axe has not stopped moving. Dream spins it rhythmically, never failing to lose the tempo. “I didn’t do anything,” he says. “He did it all to himself.”

“That is such a fucking lie, let me tell you-”

“...Tommy?”

He cuts himself off, snapping his head right back towards the cage. Tubbo stares at him with wet, shining eyes, shock still and pale. He’s horrified.

Tommy, however, pretends to notice none of that. “Tubbo. Holy shit, Tubbo! You’re okay!”

“What are you doing here?” Tubbo says, hands dropping to his sides. “How are you here?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m getting you out and we’re going home,” Tommy declares. Rain comes and douses patches of flames, soothing the burnt trees and soaking into the soil. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine.

Tubbo drops a bomb on the forest in one moment.

“I can’t leave, Tommy.”

“What? Of course you can!” Tommy says, taken aback. “There’s a portal right over there. We can get out and run-”

Tubbo shakes his head. “I can’t risk L’Manberg’s safety.”

He stops short. “L’Manberg? Wh- what do you mean?” Yet even as he says it, the cogs click together in his head. “It was you, wasn’t it? You stopped them from destroying L’Manberg.”

Tubbo’s grim smile is enough of an answer. “You saw the obsidian, Tommy,” he says. “If I hadn’t done anything, there would be nothing left. I couldn’t let it blow up on my watch again.”

“Again?” Something breaks in Tommy’s voice. “Tubbo, it’s not your fault Wilbur pressed the button. You couldn’t have stopped him if you tried. I tried! And I failed!”

“Not that,” Tubbo says, holding his head up with the wall. “It blew up when I exiled you.”

For once, Tommy’s speechless. “Tubbo-”

“Think about it,” the other boy continues. “If I hadn’t done that, Quackity and Fundy wouldn’t have made the Butcher Army, we wouldn’t have tried to execute Technoblade, Quackity wouldn’t have lost his second life, the Community House wouldn’t have blown up, and I never would’ve given up your disc!” Tubbo’s voice rises, growing hysterical. “It all ties back to that one thing. It all connects.”

“Tubbo- Tubbo, listen to me,” Tommy pleads. He clasps Tubbo’s hand through the bars. “There wasn’t anything you could do. I know that. It hurt when it happened, but I let go of it a long time ago! I forgave you!” His eyes sting with the threat of unshed tears, but he blinks them away before they fall. “Look, we’ll think of something with Dream. We’ll make a new deal, and you can come back to me with L’Manberg, and it’ll all be okay-”

“That sounds nice,” Dream says, startling both boys, who had almost forgotten he was there. “But there’s a problem with that, Tommy.”

“Oh yeah?” Tommy draws himself up and puffs out his chest. “And what might that be?”

The axe stops twirling. “You’re not going back to L’Manberg.”

Like a balloon, he deflates. “You can’t do that. Tubbo and I- we’re leaving, and we’re going home.”

“You can go to a home, sure,” Dream says. “But it won’t be L’Manberg.”

Tubbo’s face goes sheet-white, tainted by a faint shade of puce. “No,” he whispers, voice cracking. “No, please. Not there. Not the prison.”

“The prison?” Tommy clutches Tubbo’s hand tighter, shielding the other boy behind the bars. The fire inside catches a second wind. “You’ve kept him in the prison?”

Dream shifts his grip on the axe, dropping into a more relaxed stance. “I’m not an asshole, Tommy.” Even behind the mask, Tommy could sense the eye roll. “Do you think anyone could live in that tiny space he’s in for more than a day?”

“No, but I don’t fucking expect you to get that, bitch.”

“I gave you free roam during your exile,” Dream snaps out. “There were exceptions and some rules you had to follow, but other than that, you could do whatever you wanted. Even up to the point where you ran away.

“But Tubbo here” --he points the axe at Tubbo’s chest-- “Tubbo gave himself to me. He made a trade, L’Manberg’s protection for his life, and I’m keeping my end of the bargain.” He throws his arms up, the axe sweeping wide through the air. “And maybe, maybe if you hadn’t broken my trust, I would let him out in Logstead or somewhere new, but I can’t. I can’t trust that he won’t run away like you did.”

“And if we try to run now?” Tommy says, his mouth dry. “What happens then?”

Dream tilts the axe, watching the light glint off the blade. “Then I’ll kill Tubbo.”

Both boys make a noise in the back of their throats: for Tommy, a startled yelp; for Tubbo, a scared whimper.

“No way, you’re not killing him.” Tommy says, his thoughts racing. He couldn’t, right? “I won’t let you.”

“There’s nowhere for him to go.” Dream shrugs, bouncing the axe off his shoulder. “If you run, you leave him vulnerable.

“Well, then get him out of there. You’re gonna have to move him anyway.”

“I don’t think you get how this works, Tommy,” Dream says. “Tubbo was a lure, a pawn. Something to get you here: just like Henry, just like your discs.” The axe swings again, revolving at a slow, hypnotic pace. “I planned on bringing you down here for weeks, even before I made Tubbo exile you.”

Tommy slinks back, pressing his back against the bars. Tubbo’s breath hitches.

Dream never pauses, “Sure, the prison wasn’t meant for either of you, but how can I pass up that opportunity when it shows itself?”

Acid burns in Tommy’s throat. Dream has everything, doesn’t he? The discs, Henry, L’Manberg, even Tubbo, for fuck’s sake. What’s next?

“That wasn’t part of our deal,” Tommy says. “You said that if I left all my things behind, you would show me where Tubbo is.”

“And I did. We never agreed on what would happen after.”

The fire flares, though it’s muted: a burn pile surrounded by threats prepared to muffle out the flame.

““You’re a wrongun, you know that?” Tommy says, pointing at Dream’s chest. “A real dickhead. And I’m going to stop you.”

“What makes you think you have any chance?” Dream laughs. “You said it yourself, you have nothing. You’re defenseless!”

“He’s right,” Tubbo says, his voice small and devoid of hope. “We don’t have a choice.”

“Listen to Tubbo, Tommy. Even he’s telling you to give in.” Dream closes the gap between them and sheathes the axe on his back, then grabs Tommy’s shoulders in a bruising grip (ignoring the way Tommy’s breath quickens and he flinches upon contact). “Move out of the way, agree to cooperate, and maybe -- just maybe -- I’ll let the two of you stay in neighboring cells.”

Tommy ducks his head down and studies the floor as he stalls, mulling over his options. There’s no other choice. All his other cards are scattered across the table. He has no more moves, no more tricks, nothing left that can weasel their way out of this mess.

Tommy eyes the swirling Nether portal and smiles. Maybe he has one left.

“You know, Dream,” he says, “when you brought me here, you fucked up and forgot something.”

“Oh, really?” Dream said, drawing out a drawl. “And what would that be?”

“Me and Tubbo? We’re friends.” He levels his gaze at Dream, staring directly into the eyes of his mask, and his smile grows into a big, triumphant grin. “And friends never leave each other behind.”

As if on cue, the portal spits a group out one-by-one in a mass of purple particles. Quackity, Fundy, Ranboo, Sapnap, Sam, and Techno pile out of the portal, all decked out in glowing armor and weapons, and surround the entrance to the trophy hall, blocking Dream off from the exit.

And leading the charge is Wilbur, fueled by the same fire in Tommy’s eyes, gripping a compass in his barely translucent hand. “I’m only going to say this once, Dream,” he says, all traces of Ghostbur’s innocent air wiped clean from his voice. “Get the fuck away from My Tommy.”

@scarlet-mangata @miishae @skyewardlight

#Dream SMP #Dream SMP fanfiction #tommyinnit #tubbo #dreamwastaken #c!Dream #Dream SMP Season 2 Divergence #Let me know if you'd like to be tagged for part two!#Or just for my Dream SMP fics in general #River’s Writing

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thesaltofcarthage · 3 years

Text

Loki takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

from Entertainment Weekly

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

By Chancellor Agard May 20, 2021

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

Additional reporting by Jessica Derschowitz

#loki #loki series #tom hiddleston #entertainment weekly

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kimistorm · 3 years

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It's All a Little Strange || Chapter 5 (Dr. Strange x Reader)

You yawned and made your way through Kamar-Taj. You had just come from an overnight shift and even though it was just starting to get bright, you were already tired. You were on your way to your room to change out of your scrubs when you passed by a certain dark-haired man, “Strange!” you yelled at him and his head perked up at the sound of his name. You waved a hand and he noticed you, “meet you at the courtyard when you can!” he gave you a thumbs up to show he heard it and you continued on your way.

Once you were safely in your room, you changed out of your scrubs and pulled on the layers of blue and green fabric. You then changed your sneakers for the leather boots that were a part of your outfit. You tightened a belt here, straightened the shirt there and you exited your room and back out to the clearing.

“Mordo wants to spar with you later.” You explained when Strange entered the clearing in the courtyard. You didn’t wait long until he showed up. “So, I’m going to help walk you through it before you face him.” The air around you crinkled into reflective fractals as the mirror realm made itself known. “That way, you won’t be completely obliterated.” You added smugly and walked into the mirror realm.

“How’s Christine?” he asked when he entered the mirror realm.

“Really?” you asked in exasperation and placed a hand on your hip, “I’m about to teach you how to spar and you ask me how Christine is?”

“She hasn’t answered my email.” He explained.

“She’s fine.” You frowned, “she’s justified for ignoring you.” You drew out a glowing blue shield in your hand and ran straight at Strange who just barely managed to dodge out of the way. “Always be prepared.” You tsked and with a flick of your wrist the shield transformed into your weapon of choice. An icy chakram. Typically you wielded two, but you figured you’d go easy on Strange. Just for the warm up. You ran at him again with your chakram coming around to land a solid hit.

“What am I supposed to do?” he cried out in a panic and dodged your weapon.

“Conjure a weapon,” you sliced at him, “a shield,” you sliced at him again, “or, just dodge them all.” He ducked under a third slice and you dropped to the ground. You placed your free hand on the ground and swiped your legs at his legs and caused him to topple to the ground. You jumped back onto your feet and lightly placed a booted foot on his chest. “I win.” You stepped off of him and walked away as he scrambled up to his feet.

“That wasn’t fair, I didn’t have a weapon.” He protested.

“Not everything will be fair.” You chastised and dismissed your chakram. You turned back to look at him, “do you know how to summon a weapon?”

“Not something like that.” He gestured to where your chakram was and shook his head.

“I wasn’t asking if you could summon a chakram,” you turned fully to him and crossed your arms across your chest, “I was asking if you could summon a weapon.” After a moment of him looking at you dubiously you continued, “have you figured out how to use a spell? A whip? Have you been attending the classes at all?”

“Of course I have.” He retorted and pulled his hands apart while summoning strings of bright red energy in between.

“There you go.” You smiled. “Again!” you summoned your ice chakram again and ran at him again. You did the same moves as you did before but this time he blocked your slices with the strings of energy. When you went down to swipe his feet out from under him he jumped above it and onto you. You transformed the chakram into a shield and held it above you to keep Strange from getting any closer than an arms length from you. “Better.” You nodded. You brought one hand away from the shield and then shoved it at the shield. The shield burst out with a burst of air and Strange was thrown off of you as you jumped up to your feet.

“Mordo likes to use the Staff of the Living Tribunal.” You explained and drew out a glowing red staff in the air.

“The Staff of the Living Tribunal?” Strange questioned and looked at you in confusion.

“I’m sure he’ll explain it to you.” You dismissed his question, “for now. Make sure you can counter these attacks.” You ran at him again with the staff raised above your head for a downward strike. You whirled around him last moment and prodded his shoulder with the staff. The two of you continued this dance of you giving light (or not so light) jabs everywhere on Strange’s body while he valiantly tried to block the hits. One good hit to the back of his knees and he fell to the ground.

“Do you know how to make a shield?” you questioned and dismissed the staff to imply to Strange that you weren’t going to attack him again. He got back up and dismissed the strings of energy as well.

“No.” Strange shook his head.

“That’s really no surprise, shields are much harder to conjure than weapons.” You agreed.

“Why?” Strange asked.

“Summon your weapon.” You nodded to him and he complied. “Now notice this,” you got close to Strange and pointed to the strings of energy, “your weapon is very wild. Flicks of it are going here, there, everywhere. It disappears here, but reappears here.” You stepped back and made eye contact with Strange, “you don’t need to have perfect control over the other dimensions to create your weapon.”

You drew out a circle for a shield and grabbed it. When it came into contact with your hand intricate patterns of arcs and circles appeared within the circle to form a solid shield. “This requires more focus.” Strange carefully scrutinized the glowing blue shield in your hand. “Notice the lack of flickering within the shape and the lack of sparks flying off of it.”

“It’s a different material.” Strange observed the different color from the standard red.

“Yes.” You agreed, “I like this material, but it’s also a different way to form a shield. This way is one of the slower ways. However, this way proves its own advantages. It’s a little less complicated, and it’s much easier to transform from a shield,” you flicked your wrist and spikes protruded from the edge, “to this chakram. Of course, it’s a matter of personal taste.” You dismissed the chakram and it dissolved into blue and white flakes, “you can do it with the red interdimensional matter.” This time you stuck your hands out and twisted them around with a few dynamic movements and two shields appeared in your hands. “Even with it being the same material as your weapon.” You gestured to Strange, “it doesn’t shed sparks.”

“And this is all because you have better control over the matter?” Strange clarified and examined the shield in your hand.

“Yes and no.” You shrugged, “the nature of the shield is also not one where it sheds sparks. Look at the Ancient One, she has extreme control over interdimensional matter, but the portals she creates still sheds sparks. But, her control over the matter allows her to create the shield. Does that make sense?” you questioned.

Strange nodded, “because of her control, she can summon a shield.”

“Exactly,” you agreed, “look at it like a requirement. You need to possess a certain level of control to create the shield.”

“And you can form this into a chakram?” Strange questioned and backed up a bit so he wouldn’t get his head chopped off when you transformed the shield.

“Correct.” You confirmed and with a flick of your wrist the shield transformed into a chakram. “Would you like to learn how to do this?” you questioned.

“Teach me.” Strange demanded.

✯✯✯

The two of you had been practicing for quite awhile. Strange was obviously getting frustrated and you were finding it hard to be patient. “It’s my hands!” Strange cried out and held out his trembling hands, “they can’t control it.”

“It is not your hands.” You snapped, “you’ve seen Master Hamir. He can form a shield no problem. He has even more control over interdimensional matter than me.”

“Yes, but his arms are stable.” Strange retorted exasperatedly, “mine shake!”

“This isn’t a physical thing Strange.” You shook your head, “think of it as your astral projection is controlling the matter.”

“How does that even work?” he asked incredulously.

You were finding it harder and harder to deal with his frustration and endless questions, “it just does okay?” you nearly shouted at him, “try thinking about it like this. Your astral projection is unaffected by your damaged nerves in the physical realm. Therefore, you can’t chalk up your inability to do this because of your shaking hands.”

“But-”

“The Ancient One proved you wrong did she not?” you shouted, “your shaking hands had nothing to do with your inability to create a portal! I already explained to you that it’s very difficult to make a shield, it took you a long time to even figure out how to pull matter from another dimension, you can’t expect that you’ll be able to figure out how to form a shield in less time!” you took a deep breath and walked away from Strange.

“(l/n)-”

“Give me a second Strange.” You forced through your teeth. You took more deep breaths and tried to walk off your frustration and anger. You then decided to sit down and try some meditation. So that’s what you did. You sat down on the cold stone, closed your eyes, and counted your breaths. In, 2, 3. Out, 2, 3. In, 2, 3. Out, 2, 3. Your anger quickly dissolved into fatigue as the stress and exertion that you’ve been placing upon yourself for the past few days. You tried to stay awake, but your eyes were already closed and you felt yourself fall asleep.

Strange noticed you sway a bit before you fell forwards as you drifted out of consciousness. He rushed forward and caught you before your face collided with the rough stone. He fixed his hold on you and then picked you up bridal style while your head lolled about. You were completely out of it. He gazed down at your sleeping face. Your (e/c) eyes were unseeing to the world around you and your (h/c) hair splayed out neatly in his arms.

He didn’t know where your room was; you never showed him. So he decided to bring you to his room. He attempted to hold his hand out while the other made a circle to the portal and surprisingly enough, it worked. The portal opened up directly into his room. He entered through the flickering circle out of the mirror dimension and into his room where he laid you on his bed. You curled up on yourself like you were cold and he pulled the blankets over you.

“What have you been doing?” he murmured to himself and sat in a chair and opened one of the new books Wong had given him, “sure hope you didn’t do that at the hospital.”

Masterlist

#dr strange #doctor strange #dr strange x reader #mcu #mcu x reader #marvel #my work #kimi's writing

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redmaneroster · 3 years

Text

Our Home Away From Home, Away From Home

[1] [2] [3] [4-5] [6] [x] [8-9] [10]

PART 7 – Crustacean

They've been awake for at least an hour now, staring at the ceiling. It's dark all over, breached by apertures on the steel portal door of their room but the slits of light only cut into a broken ceiling fan and Yang's fingernail next to Jaune's ear.

Penny's voice comes muffled through the thick ceiling. Ruby's high-pitched cheers like distant whispers next to the megaphone voice of their android friend. They're all on a boat house for the sea and it's clear the girls are having a blast trying to steer the thing.

"They're having fun," Jaune says. He means nothing by it. Just an observation. Pointless conversation through the sleepy haze of a rocking ship. Jaune would have gotten sick were he not on a stable bed. He has pills for the motion sickness but they won't last him the entire trip. Sleep is the only way he can ration them.

Yang shifts over his arm and raises her hand, letting the light catch her nail again. It glistens like a solitary star off a cosmic trail. She giggles because the haze has caught onto her too and she's half-awake as it is. "He he, we could have fun too, y'know?"

He seizes, sitting up. "Y-Yang…?"

Yang does the same, huddling into a ball, clutching the comforter like it might shield her. "I-I meant by joining them! I didn't… I mean, I don't think I meant it that way…" Most of her is certain she didn't mean it like that but halfway through speaking, she wanted to take it back. She thinks she's ready, prepared to not freak out at the idea of exposing herself and seeing all of him. Her every uncertainty is truth, as honest as her apprehension to let him touch her.

She can barely see his face but his features soften in the dark, clearer when he gets closer. And for a moment it scares her to think he's taking that initiative. Her chest thumps like earthly tremors, cracking against her skin as it splinters like desert ground. Lips just as dry.

But he doesn't get any closer. He crouches next to her, facing away, but one of his hands reaches out for hers to close the rest of the distance. Her hands twitch when the warmth of his rolls over the back of her palm and hovers over her knuckles.

His hand stops and, instead, takes her fingers between two of his and a thumb. It's a gentle and quiet contact. He doesn't want to scare her. "I know you're having second thoughts," he says slowly, deliberately. As if knowing. Just like Saphron. "But how about we agree to do this when we're both one-hundred percent on it? Like when we have no doubt that this is how we take things going forward."

"Yeah… I think I'd like that." She clutches his hand fully now. Even shuffling closer. A warm breath tickles the hairs on his extended arm. "Look, I want it clear that it isn't you I'm apprehensive about. It's everything that comes after."

She can feel the heat of his blush from his hands alone.

"Uh… Yang, I hope I haven't somehow gotten you thinking I was going to do anything wild."

"No, no," she laughs, "nothing like that." She squeezes his hand and shuffles till her arm is flush against his. "I… I want kids."

"Um!" He tenses but doesn't let go of her as a sign of resolve.

"I don't mean now! Or anytime soon, I swear!" She lets him take a breath and unwind his rigid bones. "Really jumpstarted his heart, didn't I?" she thinks. Another squeeze from her, asking for courage he pours out of his sweaty palm.

"I'm afraid," she says finally, "of what comes after. If I don't try to stopgap how quickly things are going, sooner or later I'll have a kid of my own and I'll stare them in the face and… I'm worried that I'll be afraid. That, somehow, Mom running away would make sense."

He stares at her, eyes wide. "You called her mom."

An uncomfortable shiver runs down her neck and scrapes against her ribs. She shudders as she buries her head between her curled-up knees. "It's not about her. At least, I don't think so. I've caught myself calling her mom in my head when I think about it. Like I'm hoping I can still call myself a mother."

"That's a lot of thinking ahead, Yang. Who knows how long it'll even be till then."

She shrugs with a laugh that doesn't reach her eyes. "I've always been wired that way. I got a full life to live but I had to spend a lot of time prepping Ruby's future. If I don't prepare for the inevitable, I'll waste time trying to figure it out when it actually arrives."

"It doesn't sound like you're waiting to know if you'll be ready. Only that you worry if you'll ever be ready at all."

She nods, a touch of shame welling in her chest. "Is that bad?"

"I think it's human."

"That just tells me I could screw up like everyone else…"

"I like to think it means we're afraid of the same things."

Yang pulls her head out of her knees and blinks at him. Their hands are sweating and her nerves are mirrored on him too. She can see it on his face but it almost doesn't make sense. "Why?" she asks. "You'll make a great dad, Jaune. Hell, you'd make a great mom too!" She almost doesn't notice the little smile on her cheeks.

"Could say the same to you," he says, smiling again but there's a quiver in his hands. It's uncomfortably weak. "But it doesn't really matter that we think the world of each other. We'll probably mess up anyway. I may not share your fear of becoming like your mom but I'm every bit as afraid of not turning up like mine. My parents are storied huntsmen who raised eight proper kids. My grandparents before them were hard won veterans who were their children's heroes. That's a lot of legacy to live up to. And…" He makes a series of faces. All of them uncertain.

Her hand slides up his arm and the other knits between his fingers. Their heads lean onto each other before he speaks.

"Sometimes it feels like everything I'll ever do will be dwarfed by them. Short of saving the world and raising a dozen huntsmen–" Yang resists visibly wincing at the thought of raising twelve kids "–I'll never live up to them. And even if I do? I'm still not sure how to stop my kids from sharing the same fears…" He laughs. Not bitterly. There's a genuine hearty sound puffing out of his chest. "I think I know why Dad wanted me to be a doctor."

"Hm… Sounds like he was afraid of the same thing we are," she muses.

"I think so, too."

The sliver of light through the door passes them and, for a moment, the light is gone. The warmth and sweat of their hands are the only tangible things in the dark. And they cling to each other, summoning courage as fears drip away like melting ice.

"Jaune?" she asks.

"Yeah?"

"We should talk to your parents. I think there's a lot of easy-to-reach wisdom we aren't taking advantage of here." He's silent for a long second and Yang nearly calls him out until she notices the sheen of his scroll. "What are you doing?"

His Cheshire grin is mortifying under the pale glow. "Calling my folks."

"No! Stop!" she screeches, scrambling on top of him like a wild monkey. "I'm not ready! My hair's a mess!"

He pulls his hand away. "C'mon! They'll love you!"

"Can it, Arc! Sweet talking won't stop me!"

They wrestle for a while and Yang is so focused on getting his scroll that she forgets what she taught Jaune. They've wrestled in the past for training and something he's very broadly taken from those lessons has been going on the offensive. Tucking away his scroll, he manages to slink around her and grapple her arms.

"What? Hey!"

Trapping the length of her arms above her with his arm, he reaches around her with the other to grab his scroll. He pulls it up. It goes to call and the preview camera puts them both in view (strangely, like two floating heads from the dark).

With enough struggling, Yang knows she can break out even at a disadvantageous position, but the call answers quickly and she freezes up. Her awkward smile is automatic. Her panicked heart is full-auto.

"Hey, Mom, Dad! This is Yang, my girlfrie–" His mouth hangs open when their eyes meet in what can only be described as abject terror.

They hadn't exactly agreed on a label.

There's click from the scroll. "…And saved!" Jaune's mom sings. "Aren't you two cute."

-0-

They don't get a lot of answers. Jaune's parents, Apolian and Helia (she insists on Aunt Hess), tell them that this is the kind of discussion you have over dinner. Yang is promptly invited to see them over the Summer.

They do end up sharing stories, and by the end of it Yang feels confident that she's left a good first impression. Yet, by the time they walk into the morning light and find an empty spot together at the front deck, their nerves worm their way back in but for different reasons this time.

"So… labels. Yay," Yang cheers weakly against the railing.

"Yeah," Jaune drawls. "Fifteen percent off. This side up. Expires yesterday. Labels!" he cheers sarcastically, awkwardly. "Totally love 'em."

It's very easily something they can agree to discuss another time but it doesn't feel right doing so. Like it's not so big a deal that they can't hold off but not small enough to ignore for too long. Besides, people are going to ask questions (not that they haven't already) and just agreeing on something would work for a few more miles.

"Y'know, it's funny," Yang says, "I was fully prepared to just be boyfriend and girlfriend when this all started. Now that I've got clarity, I'm starting to wonder if we're even pacing ourselves right as friends."

Jaune hums agreeably. "But maybe we've worried so much about the pace that we've forgotten if it even matters… I mean, so what if things are going too fast? What should matter is if we want it or not."

"Do you want it?" she asks.

He shrugs. "I guess I don't mind telling everyone we're dating. And exclusive. But what are we if not that by definition? What's the difference with that and being an item?"

She sighs, pivoting around to lean her back against the railing instead. "What if the label's pointless to begin with? It just sums up what we are for other people. Like you said, it should only really matter to us."

"Maybe that's just it. The label isn't important to us and so it's only for them. If all they're asking is to sum up what we are, then we should just pick a label that answers enough questions and any nuance we need we can keep to ourselves."

"Yeah, we don't have change to fit it, even. We'll just be the way we are."

But the uncomfortable question of what they even are lingers between them. Not a label, per se. Perhaps a name truly is pointless, but what does it mean to be what they are?

When their hands meet in the middle, there's an air of comfort, a touch of romance. A quiet laugh and a knowing smile. They balk at the smell of salty sea air, laugh at the antics of an excitable Penny, gossip at some friends huddled a little too close. It's all friendly, familiar. Uncomplicated.

They decide that quantifying it is either too hard or actually impossible. And a quiet ambivalence washes over them – stinging and uncertain – and figuring it out will take a lot of testing.

-0-

It was supposed to be a little solitary date but Sun knows a guy with a boat house and Pyrrha has a sponsorship with an outdoor grill you can take to the beach (the sponsor feels that a photoshoot on the deck of a ship is an inspired take). The fact that there's a small, unfamiliar crew onboard is a little concerning but they're largely invisible and stay out of the way. Though Sun and Pyrrha have made it a game to hide away from them.

Yang has started wearing a red wig to throw them off and, stood next to Jaune who is a muscular blonde, from behind he can pull off looking like Sun at a glance. Most of the crew is understanding and they have a few good laughs.

Yang muses that she might look good as a redhead and posits to Jaune that she might dye her hair down the line.

"And here I thought those locks were sacred."

"Yeah, I don't think they can stop being immaculate," she says as she twirls in front of a mirror, trying to get a good look of it down her back. "Red's sufficiently bright. Maybe…"

"Well, bright colors will match your eyes," Jaune says sat across from her in a half-zipped wetsuit, "but I don't see you having many options with hair that long. You gotta get a hairdresser to cover all that thickness. You're gonna mess up trying to do it yourself."

Yang chews the thought like she does her lip. "I guess I could just cut it."

Jaune blinks at her. "I'm not the most religious man but even that sounds blasphemous."

"Heh. I might've thought the same thing last year."

"What changed?"

She bundles her hair in her hands, draping it over her shoulder. "I inherited my hair from my mom, but it's something I took and made my own. I took pride in that, but nowadays that just feels… petty. I mean, I still take pride in taking care of it, but I've started to come around to the idea that I could just like however I look as long as that choice is my own. Even if I end up looking ridiculous for a semester."

He comes up behind her, eying himself in the mirror. "Okay, but only if you let me do the same."

"Dye your hair?"

"Yeah, to match yours. Maybe I'll even grow mine out. Always wanted to try a wolf-tail." He turns his head and bunches up a few of his locks. It's not enough for a full tail since much of the length is lost in his fist, but Yang can kind of see it working.

But red?

"I can't put you through that."

"But you won't be," he says matter-of-factly, "I'll be putting myself through that. So, if I choose to stand behind you by experimenting with my hair the same way, that'll be my choice."

She sighs and backs up into his chest. "Why do you keep cheating? You know I can't argue with that kind of logic. And you'll just end up looking ridiculous by the end."

"At least I'll look like the bigger fool."

"Jaune…"

"I'm used to it," he maintains evenly, sternly. "I'm glad people don't look down on me anymore but being with me means you have to live with the fact that I'm still every bit that little spaz who threw up on your boots. Which I'm glad you forgave me for, by the way. Real quick on that too."

"Heh, well, my temper's never been about my style. An unfortunate dork just gets pity, and even a mild jerk might just get a glare. It's mostly about my pride. I worked hard on my hair back in freshmen year and… I hated losing. I mean, god damn does Yatsu hit hard. I guarantee that I'll start seeing red again if I get a repeat of last year's Vytal."

"You're competing again this year?"

She gives him gigawatt grin. "JNPR didn't need to compete but you all did anyway. If Jaune Arc can stand on international television despite obvious odds and harbor an unnecessary need to feel like he's somehow a burden, what's Yang Xiao Long to do but follow his example and beat her own demons to death?"

His cheeks are a touch red and she gives him the small mercy of not pointing it out. "I guess I can't argue with that either," he says.

Yang pushes off him and raises one hand while pressing the other against her chest before she announces before him, "I swear mercy upon my hair, that you might see fit to show mercy on yours."

"Even if things go horribly wrong and I decide that the only way to one-up you is to grow a mullet?"

She snorts. "I will shave you bald in your sleep, and don't think for a second that I won't do that."

They're laughing and he rolls his eyes but he's certain she'll make good on if it comes to that. "C'mon, we've spent enough time not getting ready. They're probably already in the water."

She helps him with his zipper. "Blake's probably already caught one," she says. There's an excited tingle that runs through her spine. "Now I've got an itch. Wanna see if we can catch more than she can?"

"Both of us against her?"

"She used to dive for clams with her dad. No gear either. Two against one is only fair."

They still lose to her, and they're not even in second place. Sun has been diving for seafood since he was kid.

They manage over two dozen lobsters and a handful of crabs, and unanimously agree not to boil the poor things alive. Still, they mess up a few times cause no one actually knows how to cook lobster even with Penny's encyclopedic knowledge but they manage a lovely dinner eventually with a few failed attempts.

Neptune and Weiss disappear at some point only to be stumbled upon below deck. They'd been drinking. Everyone respects their privacy and don't ask why.

-0-

Nora interjects on a Tuesday team meeting that – now that it's public that Jaune and Yang are basically a couple – people both see it and don't see it.

Jaune is confused for long enough to just outright ask what she's talking about.

Sometimes people will catch them getting a little close in the halls (they're starting to notice the stares), but they're not always together and you wouldn't have noticed that something was up if you didn't already know. They sit next to each other all the time but are frequently talking to the rest of their teams (there was rumor that Jaune was secretly dating Ruby after they laughed out loud during class a few times). Witnesses spot them boarding bullheads to Vale around the weekends but are as frequently found shopping for groceries, ammo, inspecting ingots, and once even at a car dealership (and they're surprised how most of the things they do together could only be classified as dates if you squint hard enough and pretend they're doing anything else).

They're never caught holding hands. The one kiss was even on the cheek and some people still believe they were seeing things altogether. It almost feels like fiction or outlandish gossip. Not because it's them, but because no one saw it coming and people are still refusing to trust their eyes.

Yang thinks it's hilarious. Jaune thinks they need to clarify things before they get awkward. Yang was already propositioned after she lied about there being nothing between them. Lies are only going to complicate things.

So, in that moment they decide, "We're a couple."

Sure. Fine. Give them a label when they ask but they aren't changing anything else. They'd already agreed on it anyway. Still, the societal pressure to look the part just didn't vibe with them and they hope the label is the last thing they ever give into outside of themselves.

-0-

They find out two things on the last week before the semestral break, the one they'll mostly spend in Patch with Yang's parents.

One, that lobster needs to be preserved damp and freezing with salt water. Fresh water off the tap ruins their last reserve crustacean. Shame. Guess they'll have to plan another boat trip.

And two, that – at least according to the crusty boatman – lobsters don't stop growing. They get bigger and bigger until they've outgrown their own shells. So, they shed it and grow a new one. Then, eventually, they outgrow that shell, too, and start the process over and over again until we find them, crack them open, and feast on their delicious insides…

The boatman forgets his own metaphor in the reverie of polishing off the last of his meal, plucking his lips over the last delicate morsels.

He tells them all, then, that the price of growth is to constantly find that what was once familiar will inevitably feel alien. That everything about you and around you will change, and adaptation is not only what makes it survivable, but it also keeps you sane.

When they think he's done, he coughs, wheezes, then speaks again.

You should always look out for the in-between, he says with a serious look in his eye. Thing is, after shedding their shell, lobsters have to spend their meantime being vulnerable. Squishy, ugly little things, he emphasizes with gusto.

Transitions in your life will be like that, often terrifying and tumultuous, and the scary part is that your worries doesn't stop there. You have to be careful about who you become when you come out the other end. That it's not only hard to make the transition, that your choices in that change will determine who you are moving forward.

A lobster will come out wrong if something unexpected happens in the middle of molting. Might grow another claw or bulge out somewhere uncomfortably. But the boatman, rather optimistically, says a lobster has the option to cut off an offending part of them and regrow it. It'll take a while though. Years even, but correcting your character is never as easily solved with an apology or an act of will.

Because you'll never undo your mistakes. You can only make things right. And sometimes you can only do that little by little.

For a moment, Yang thinks of Raven.

-0-

It's when they're out by the pier to try an egg sandwich that Yang is thinking about lobsters and metaphors. "So, what happens after the apartment?" she asks. "After Beacon?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "I haven't thought that far ahead." Except he has, but it's all substitutions. He used to think of a future with Terra, but now Yang has replaced all those naïve, boyish dreams with a series of blonde heads bouncing on a couch. Still, these are fragmentary thoughts, and he doesn't think Yang would like it if he tried for the civilian life. No, right now – and for the past week – he's been trying to see where that future is now with Yang instead. "We should pair off, by the way."

"Uh, haven't we already?"

"I mean when we go hunting. I know you're only supposed to pair off with your own team but I don't see JNPR and RWBY splitting up… ever. I think we should get a head start."

"Okay, future proofing. Sounds like your next report for Leadership." It is, and Yang helps him figure out his bullet points while they chew thoughtfully on their egg sandwiches (it's really eighty-percent meat and cheese but it's got an egg inside and on top so it gets the name).

They talk about the car they're looking for. Jaune's racetrack savvy sister, Sable, it still swearing up and down about the Highway Aries being an ideal match. Yang still insists on a bike.

When they're packing up and driving home, Yang talks about her "cousin" Vernal and her estranged bedmate Shay. Jaune adds that he has cousins he doesn't remember because seven sisters are enough, he doesn't need to add another eight. (Yang reels at the idea of so many blondes at a single family gathering and those are just the grandkids).

When they're home they talk about another trip out to sea and inevitably segway back into lobsters.

Sitting on the couch, she's thinking about her future. Jaune plops next to her and laughs about something Ruby sends him on his scroll.

Yang's ignoring her messages from Nora – she's staring at her scroll on the coffee table and it buzzes but she can't register what's happening – and suddenly she blurts, "Hey, I know this is a ways off and I probably shouldn't be something you talk about it at eighteen in the middle of academy training but… if we get a girl, can we name her Summer?" There's no embarrassment blooming off her cheeks. Her face is completely neutral, and her eyes are searching for a response in his wide, vacant stare.

His typing hasn't stopped, only slowed. "…"

"Jaune?"

He sighs, and it's long and beaten like he's preparing himself for self-destruction. "Only if we agree to name our son…" he swallows uncomfortably. "…uh, Qrow?"

She's aghast, mouth opening and closing. "Did… did you lose a bet or something?"

He kisses her – his way of saying yes – but it's not cute this time. It's sad and piteous and his eyes scream an apology his lungs are strangling him not to say for fear of combusting in what is already volcanic embarrassment.

"Win the bet," she says sternly.

"What? But I already lost!"

"Then double or nothing! Short of him kicking the ever living fuck out of the bucket, I am not naming my son after my uncle." After his furious nodding, she summons a tiny strength in her lungs to speak, but not enough to look him in the eye. "So, you, uh, didn't answer my question."

The clatter of his flask on the coffee table almost scares her, but she can see that he isn't drinking at the thought of Terra. This time it's just about Qrow. It makes her feel less afraid. When he answers, there is no burden in his tone caused he'd downed his nerves in quarter-parts whiskey. "I'll agree to Summer if you let me name our next daughter Agrippa."

"Oh? Why?"

"Was set on it when I was kid. This was before Pyrrha, before Terra, even. I just remember crying at home during a storm. My bedroom door was stuck cause of a leak – y'know, cause water inflates wood – and no one could hear me call out to them under all the rain drumming the roof. I was soaking wet cause the leak got onto my sheets. Stupid thing was, I wasn't even afraid of getting sick or if my small boy body would get hypothermia. I just had a sleepover at a friend's place the morning after and I didn't want to miss it. Then, out of nowhere and probably from a fevered haze, I see a guardian angel or – as my sisters called it – an imaginary friend."

He pauses to look at her, to check if she thinks he's crazy. She doesn't. Yang doesn't judge. She listens.

"It was a girl just a head taller than mine," he continues. "The dark made her hair look brown or a dull red, so I can't recall that for sure but I remember her eyes. They were blue, like mine, only brighter. She said her name was Gri, short for Agrippa. She saw that I was cold and she knelt to my level and hugged me. Her body felt warm, but too warm like the way your hands might after holding freshly brewed coffee. I didn't notice I was dry until I was laid in an equally dry bed and already falling asleep."

She doesn't ask if he thought it a dream. "You weren't afraid?" she asks instead.

He shakes his head. "I just assumed she was someone from the neighborhood I neglected to meet. My hometown, Clove, is a community of retired huntsmen surrounded by their farmlands, and everyone outside of it knew not to mess with huntsman families. If anything, we kept giving passersby the spooks. Cause of that, I was taught to be friendly, not wary of strangers."

"Hm," she sounds thoughtfully. "That explains a few things, actually."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well, just one thing. Ruby told me how you two met. You told her that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet. Thought you might've even been a little sketchy until I saw you myself. Seemed like the kind of guy who'd meet her in the middle. Vomit and all."

"Heh, I'm glad we hit it off. Ruby's a good friend."

"She makes a better sister," she says, winking.

"I suppose I'll find that out eventually, huh?" He gives her a suggestive grin.

"Eh?"

His grin drops. "Y'know, cause she'll be my sister-in-law if we…" He rolls his hands.

"Uh… Oh. Oh! You were flirting! Damn it, I missed my chance!'

He laughs because she seems genuinely upset. She decides that pouting is for suckers and proceeds to bite his neck. This time he bites back.

-0-

They wake up with the hickeys still on their necks and they opt to leave it there for all to see. The reactions from their peers at Beacon are interesting, and they take it as sufficient proof enough for everyone that they're an item. No one bothers asking about them after that.

When the week comes to an end, Pyrrha promises that they can pay her back for covering for the car's down payment and that – by the time they get back from Patch – that it'll be in the apartment's designated parking spot. Only slightly used cause, of course, she's going to cruise in it with Sun when he flies back to the city tomorrow.

They're surprised when Jaune and not Yang is the one that makes them vow to clean the stains. Yang is very proud of him.

On the pier, they hug their friends goodbye and Ruby promises to catch up once she's done meeting someone important from Mistral as per the headmaster's instruction. She says she can't tell them why she's nervous. They don't pry and tell her they'll listen when she's ready.

Jaune, also, promises not to look at her baby pictures (until she's there, he doesn't say).

Once they're in transit on the ferry, he tries to straighten out a crease in Yang's leather jacket. The shard of fire dust in a cup of water is his attempt to steam it straight. He spends the time talking about his mom's home remedies and his dad's jury rigging. She answers with talk of Summer's garden that her dad and uncle tend to. He scoffs at the idea of Qrow gardening but admits that it makes sense.

With Jaune busying himself, Yang wonders if things will stay this way. If all they have to worry about is down payments, creases, spoiled lobsters, and baby names. That all the big problems, like her mother's abandonment and his actual, biological son, might rear themselves instead and come back to haunt them in devastating ways. But just before any doubt sinks in, he holds her hand from his perch on the floor. He kisses her knee and eyes her from over her lap.

"Whatever it is," he says, squinting. Thinking of what else to add but settles with, "It doesn't matter whatever it is…"

She is prepared to eat up anything he offers. That he'll be there for her, that they'll work it out somehow, that he'll banish any ill thought or doubt, but he says none of those things. Instead, he leans up and kisses her – tender and brief – on the lips.

She blinks. "What are you saying yes to this time?" She's so bewildered that she doesn't even know why she asks such a thing.

"You," he answers anyway. "All of you. I can't fix everything and I can't right every wrong, but I'll take you as you are, or whatever you'll become. Even if you're in pieces. Even if you stop loving me. I don't have be your boyfriend to be with you every step of the way."

It's clear, then, that Jaune's been dealing with doubts of his own. Yang swallows as things bubble to the surface before she blinks a few times and…

"I love you," she says, and she realizes that it's the first time she has said it.

-0-

Down the line, she remembers this moment most vividly of her trip to Patch that one Autumn afternoon. The uncomfortable smell of sea water and steam off a heated cup, the rock of the ferry that forces Jaune to swallow a pill and drops a dozen more just to stop from hurling, and the way her shorts nearly catch fire from the dust shard spilling onto her lap.

Cause then he's stable and she's got a change of clothes (the small fire charred the color in an uncomfortable spot), and they try for the overpriced food court a floor above to mask the smell of all the water in almost lousy, reheated pizza.

The boatman told them that change is tumultuous, and that screwing up in the middle of growing their new shell is almost inevitable. Maybe they won't fit quite so well in their new shell, and maybe they'll take a few cuts and scrapes before they settle comfortably in their own skin, and maybe an old wound might not quite go away and leave them vulnerable there forever…

…but even if so, they decide – after a toast with pizza that tastes like the box it came in – that they'll always have these beautiful little imperfections, and that they can be ugly, squishy lobsters together.

#jaune x yang #yang x jaune #Jaune Arc #yang xiao long #rwby dragonslayer

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