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roseofdarknessblog · 6 months

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Night Changes (Postwar!Levi Ackerman x Reader)

Word count: 3 506

Disclaimer: english is not my first language, I apologize in advance for any mistakes

A/N: The song Nigh Changes by One Direction popped into my head while I was thinking about the title of this story. So I put it on after a pretty long time and realized that the lyrics kind of match the vibe I was trying to go for. Mainly the lines:

"But there's nothing to be afraid of

Even when the night changes

It will never change me and you"

Summary: The Rumbling happened more than half a year ago. Yet you and Levi are still adjusting to the new reality and the chance to live in peace despite all the hardships you're facing daily.

This story can be read on its own or as a part of my little post-war series: Learn to live again

Night Changes

Another day was slowly coming to an end. Thankfully. It was a long and stressful one, just like every single time you and Levi had to be reminded of your past. Of the war, the Rumbling, and everything that came with it. Half a year had already passed and so many things in your personal lives had changed.

„Here, your tea, my love,“ you said and closed the bedroom door, making your way to the bed where Levi was resting. After a few days, he was finally back home from the hospital after another knee surgery. „Do you need anything else?“

He shook his head and took the cup, barely looking at you in the process. You didn’t think anything about it, because you knew Levi. And most importantly, you knew how he was after every hospital stay – anxious, uncomfortable, and stressed out.

„I closed the kitchen and living room windows for the night. It looks like a storm is closing in, I saw lightning from the direction of the ocean.“ You walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down, resting your back against the headrest. It wasn’t too late but you were already pretty tired. „Hope it won’t be as bad as the last one.“

Levi didn’t utter a word, he kept drinking his tea in silence. You felt great relief about him being back home. All of this... was still brand new and scary. Life in the outside world was much different than the one you were used to on Paradis. And not even the trips you took to Marley before the Rumbling could prepare you for it. Or at least not for everything, that became essential for your new everyday life.

Medical care, for example.

While you didn’t suffer any long-term injuries during the last battle against Eren, Levi took many hits for both of you. Since then he had to spend every single day in pain. And the worst part was, that you couldn’t do much to help him. You were no doctor or nurse, only a former member of the Survey Corps and Levi’s now fiancée. All you could do were the most basic and everyday things.

Just like today, after you brought him home from the hospital once again, after his third knee surgery in only six months. The doctors tried to reassure you, that if everything goes well, this could be the last surgery for a very long time, maybe even forever. At least when it came to his knee. His right eye was a completely different story, sadly.

„Do you... want to talk? Maybe?“ you asked after a short while, hugging one of the pillows to your chest.

The apartment where you lived now was... still unfamiliar and didn’t feel like home at all. The only positive thing was, that it was situated on the ground floor so Levi didn’t have troubles with his wheelchair, which he still needed to use. Nobody was able to tell you for how long it will stay that way or if he will ever get rid of it. He was able to walk using a cane, but it was causing him too much unnecessary pain. So getting around with a bit of additional help was much better and even safer for him.

And that was totally okay, you kept reassuring him, that it’s nothing catastrophic. Even though... even though it was. Horrible and so unnatural for the both of you. Still so new and hard to get used to.

You hoped it would get easier. Seeing him like this – weaker and more vulnerable than probably ever before. But it wasn’t getting even a tiny bit easier. There were still moments you had to hide somewhere and cry your eyes out without Levi noticing, because you felt horrible about his health and because you were so worried about what the future held in stock for you and the man you loved so dearly since the days both of you were still living in the Underground on Paradis.

„This isn’t the life I hoped we would have after all the shit we went through,“ Levi said quietly after he finished his tea and put the cup on the nightstand. It seemed that you finally mastered the art of making the perfect cup of his favorite drink. Not to say that you were trying to get to this level since you were a teenager and started living under the same roof with Levi.

„Yeah, this doesn’t look like the life we fought so hard for. But...“ you shrugged and moved closer to him, gently grabbing his left hand and interlocking your fingers, „we still have each other, that matters the most, right? At least something is the way we always wanted.“

„You always wanted to take care of me?“ Levi teased you with an annoyed tone.

„I did, yes. Maybe not exactly in the way I do it now, but I do it with love,“ you assured him and squeezed his hand, running your thumb over his knuckles.

Your life was far from easy or perfect, but you tried to have hope that everything would get better soon. Both of you were making slow but steady progress. Learning along the way with the help of one another, or the people closest to you.

„I hate all of this with burning passion, every single thing.“

„What exactly do you mean?“ you asked, resting your head on his shoulder.

„This...“ he hissed and gestured to his left knee, which was bandaged after the surgery and propped with a pillow underneath it to help the pain and swelling.

„Nobody said it’s forever. They have a much more advanced medical system here than we have on Paradis. We just... have to trust them.“

And that was the hardest part. For both of you. Every single doctor visit and hospital stay was nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing for you and for Levi even more. It was hard to trust the world that was so different from everything you knew your whole life. And it was even harder to trust all the new people you kept meeting. Just a few months back, they saw your kind as their enemy.

And now...

Well, even if almost nobody knew, who you and Levi were, it felt strange walking down the streets of the little town you were living in. Anxiety kept telling you, that everyone was watching and judging your every move. For a few weeks, you could barely walk outside at all, because you were sure everyone was after you and wanted you dead. Onyankopon was the one, who helped you overcome this irrational fear and get used to so many new things.

„We’re making progress, even if it hurts,“ you said quietly, turning your head and pressing your lips to Levi’s neck lovingly.

When you looked down at your left ring finger, you could see a simple but beautiful engagement ring. You dreamed about it for years and it seemed like a miracle that you even lived long enough to soon become Mrs. Ackerman. There was no rush to get married now. Finally, after so many years, you had all the time in the world. Time to think it through and get everything as perfect as possible.

The storm came within the next hour. Both of you were still awake – while Levi was resting with his eyes closed, you were reading a book out loud. It was a silly adventure story about a group of friends who decided to explore a magical kingdom. Gabi was the one, who gifted you this book a few weeks ago, saying it was one of her favorites. So you decided to give it a try.

„Guess I’m starting to understand why Gabi loves this story,“ Levi said after a little while.

„Yeah, me too. I’ve never read anything similar. It’s very nice to get lost in such a magical world.“ The characters were nice and the magical kingdom sounded like the perfect place to get lost for a while and go exploring.

„We should ask for more book recommendations.“ You smiled at his words, brushing strands of hair from his forehead. He finally looked relaxed and that always put a smile on your face.

Anxiety from seeing doctors sometimes got the best of him. He didn’t trust them fully and hated to admit, that he needed their help. Somebody, who was known as Humanity's strongest soldier hated to appear weak or dependent on anyone or anything. The only person, to whom he was willing to show his suffering, was you.

But he was getting better at it. Better at seeking help and better at adjusting to all the new circumstances. Better at understanding, that his life changed very drastically. Better at living in peace with the new reality.

„We will, she and Falco are coming over to see us on Friday. And Onyankopon wants to stop by during the weekend as well.“

„Tch, so many noisy people coming and going, asking stupid questions.“

You smirked and leaned down to kiss his lips gently. „Shut up, you like them. Mainly Falco, when you get to kick his ass in chess.“

„The little brat has a lot to learn if he wants to win against me one day.“

„But he’s a fast learner, he’ll beat you in a couple of months,“ you teased him and closed the book. Loud thunder was heard from outside, while the rain was drumming against the windows. „We should go for a little walk tomorrow, to get some fresh air. What do you say?“

„Hope it will rain the whole day,“ he mumbled and looked at you, reaching his hand out to stroke your cheek.

„In that case, we’ll just take our umbrellas,“ you joked, keeping his hand on your cheek for a little longer. With a loving look, you bent down for another kiss, keeping your lips pressed together for a little longer. Just when you wanted to pull away, Levi moved his hand on the back of your head, keeping you close for a moment longer. His mouth made contact with yours once again and when your lips slightly parted, his tongue found its way inside, meeting yours.

„I hate your snarky little answers,“ he whispered into your lips, kissing you again before pulling you down next to him. With a satisfied grin, you made yourself comfortable and rested your head on Levi’s chest. „I would be so lost without you.“

„You would do just fine, Levi. But I’m glad I got to survive it all alongside you.“ Through the years you had a few close calls, but you always made it out in one piece. Thankfully. „Years back, we were just two teenagers in the Underground and today... we’re living in a world outside Paradis. It’s still so unbelievable to me.“

„We don’t even seem like those people anymore.“

„But deep down we’re still those two, just a little older and wiser. And happier.“

„Happier,“ he said almost too quietly, his lips pressing against your forehead.

Soon, you turned off the lights and tried going to sleep. The storm outside slowly died down and even the rain stopped. You and Levi were resting in each other’s arms, talking quietly and enjoying a peaceful night. Sleeping alone while he was in the hospital was always horrible. The bed felt too empty and cold when he wasn’t right there next to you.

After an hour, Levi started getting restless once again. His leg was hurting and staying in bed seemed like the worst possible thing to do. Some nights used to be like that – and Levi hated that more than anything. He hated keeping you up and not letting you rest. But you never said even a single bad word. Every time, you took care of him with love and patience, just like when he had nightmares and used to wake up screaming or sometimes even crying.

Not that... not that things like that never happened to you. Quite the opposite. Shortly after the Rumbling, it was you, who needed Levi’s help with managing your mental health. Your anxiety was through the roof almost 24/7 and most nights you simply weren’t able to fall asleep. You were scared of having another nightmare full of terror and blood. On top of everything that was happening around you, your mind simply decided to push you as far as possible, trying to break you for good.

If it wasn’t for Levi’s love and patience, you would never make it out of those dark places. While he was physically and mentally suffering himself, he always made sure you were doing as well as possible. If anything, you two always had each other to lean on. When one of you fell down, the other helped them up and made sure both of you could continue walking forward. Hand in hand, trusting and loving each other more and more every day.

„Should we get some fresh air? The storm’s gone and there are no people in the streets in the middle of the night,“ you suggested, coming back to the bedroom with another cup of tea for Levi. After he took it, you knelt down before him as he was sitting on the edge of the bed. You smiled at him with all the love you felt in your heart and put your hand on his healthy knee, squeezing it reassuringly.

„You can just open the windows,“ he said without an ounce of interest in his voice.

„Nah, that’s not the same.“ It was more than obvious, that none of you would get any sleep in the coming hours. And staying here wasn’t the best idea. During similar nights the small bedroom simply felt too suffocating. „We don’t have to be long, just a couple of minutes. It will help.“

You could see the pain in his features, in the way he was gripping the edge of the bed with his free hand, or in the way he was trying to avoid eye contact. You could hear it in his voice, in the way he was breathing. And it was killing you, even after six months of living like this. It hurt more than anything that ever happened to you directly.

„Okay, come on. We’re going out!“ you commanded after taking a couple of deep breaths and stood up, making your way to the closet to get some clothes for the both of you.

Levi tried protesting, but it was you, who won in the end. A change of scenery was very much needed and Levi started to agree with you as soon as you got out and into the fresh night air – him sitting in his wheelchair with you pushing him. It only took a couple of short minutes until you felt a strong wave of calmness filling your entire being.

„Okay, this wasn’t your worst idea,“ Levi said eventually, finally relaxing and resting his back once the painkillers started to kick in. You could clearly see how his entire posture changed, his shoulder muscles releasing all the tension. He even stopped clutching his hurting knee, hoping it would help him ease the pain.

„See, you should listen to me more often,“ you laughed and kissed the top of his head. There wasn’t a place you wanted to get to, just careless wandering around the night streets of your new home was what your soul craved.

The two of you ended up taking the route straight to the docks and to the beach next to it. The fresh salty breeze felt more than nice after another storm. Even the sky above your head became clear once again, shining with millions of tiny little stars. Surprisingly, the sky looked even clearer than on Paradis, when you used to stargaze on top of the Walls.

„Stop there by the bench,“ Levi said, as you were making your way along the sidewalk next to the beach. You did as he said, sitting down on the wooded bench and taking his hand in your once more.

„What are we going to do here?“ you asked, looking at him in the light from the nearby street lamp.

His face changed so much, but he was just as handsome as before. You loved every little detail about his face, even the new scars and his blind eye. After all, they were a reminder of how hard he fought for humanity. How he gave his all for the world, that did nothing but hurt him since he was just a little kid.

Levi Ackerman has always been the only man you truly wanted. The only man you’ve ever shown interest in. You met him when you were only fifteen and since then, you couldn’t imagine living your life with anyone else.

„We’re going to sit here, watch the ocean, and listen to the waves,“ Levi answered and pulled your hand to his lips, kissing your left ring finger just under your ring.

„Maybe we should come here more often. Even if just during the night when no one’s around. We should go out more and explore, see as much as we can. Live like we said we would... you know, back at Fort Salta, the first night after the Rumbling.“

„We’ll get there, I promise,“ he tried reassuring you, just like many times before.

„I know we will. Sooner or later, in a month or maybe in a year.“

„When I’m a bit more put together,“ he chuckled quietly and looked at you, a tiny smirk on his lips. Despite the pain and trauma, he started smiling a little more often in your company. And you used to tease him, that it took you almost two decades, to achieve this. „Thank you for being so patient with me. For doing all the things you do for me and for us.“

So many different emotions were running through your mind and heart. You felt more than grateful for the life you had, despite everything. After all, this was all you ever dreamed of – a quiet and simple life with the man you loved more than anything or anyone. You wanted a warm and cozy home, a family of your own. You wanted what most ordinary people your age had.

„Do you think...“ you asked, feeling a lump forming in your throat. „Do you think they’re watching us right now? And maybe... maybe smiling because we’re doing good?“ Not a day went by without thinking of your late friends and comrades. You still missed them dearly and felt thankful for all their effort, that helped you get here.

„Let’s hope so,“ Levi said quietly and squeezed your hand lovingly. Talking about Hange, Erwin and the others was still very challenging, but you both wanted to remember them for the rest of your lives. So it was important to talk about them, to remember the nice memories you had with them. „Did I tell you before the surgery? The brats are coming to see us next month, Connie sent a letter.“

You smiled happily upon hearing his words. „Really? Oh, I’m so happy, I miss them all every day. I know they have their own lives and responsibilities, but I wish they could come visit us more often.“

You truly missed them – the kids, as you used to call them since your very first meeting all those years ago. Not having them around daily felt unnatural, but it made their every visit even more special.

„Do they know we’re engaged?“

„No, I haven’t mentioned it in any of the letters.“

„Me neither,“ you shook your head with a smile.

Writing letters... that and similar things were a challenge on their own. Levi was still getting used to doing activities like that with his non-dominant hand. Missing two fingers made a lot of mundane tasks unnecessarily difficult. But Levi was resilient. A man, who was able to use ODM gear, fire thunder spears and fight Titans with missing fingers, a blind eye, an injured knee, and pain unimaginable to you, would not give up over stupid little things. All he needed, was time and a little help from you, to show him how to do things differently.

„I think they’ll be happy about it,“ Levi said quietly, his voice almost too quiet compared to the relaxing sound of the waves.

„I think so too,“ you agreed and reached out your free hand. Gently, you grabbed Levi’s chin and turned his head in your direction. „You have no idea how crazy in love I am with you. More and more after each day we spend together. You truly are all that I want and need, Levi.“

He was the first to erase all the space between you, when he leaned in for a kiss, pressing his lips hard against yours. In Levi’s case, actions always spoke louder than words, mostly during such intimate moments, which showed just how much he valued, cherished, and loved you.

#levi ackerman #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman x you #levi ackerman x female reader #aot x reader #aot x you #attack on titan #snk #shingeki no kyojin

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harmonysanreads · 9 months

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[Side-eyes the Yan!Neuvillette posts] I'm already down bad for most of the people you've written for - Vampire!Alhaitham, Yandere!Kaveh, and The Sumeru Hexagon, etc. If you end up writing Yandere!Neuvillette, I think I'm going to go absolutely feral (with excitement), because he's caught my eye too.

That being said, we are speculating on crumbs, so how about a fun pre-Fontaine release imagine, with a Yan!Neuvillette and a lawyer!Darling?

----

With Neuvillette in the highest echelons of the Fontaine justice system, trying cases in front of him never seemed to go any easier.

Even as a budding lawyer, you never thought the petty cases you handled would ever be seen by him. But yet, here you were once again. For the fifth time this month. You let out a small young. Adjusting your suit and blouse, you force your eyes to read over the case brief in front of you for what seemed like the thousandth time.

You don't know what it was about Neuvillette. Perhaps it was his position, or perhaps it was the fact that he managed to be your judge overseeing all the cases you've ever presented on so far. But you ended up tongue tied in front of him, though you've tried to keep it to a minimum.

The last time you were in front of him though, you messed up on some of Fontaine's legal procdures and evidence rules, and he took it upon himself to personally drill you and oversee your studies instead of sanctioning you.

You were thankful for that. As a budding lawyer, getting a sanction this early on in your career was a death sentence. You knew nobody would ever want to work with you if you got sanctioned.

The trade-off, however, was that his personal brand of tutoring left you alone under his watchful eyes in the large library of Fontaine, surrounded by encyclopedias and legal codices after you were done with your case work. You couldn't leave his side until you finished all the work he assigned you, which, at the rate you were going, was likely going to take a long while. Staying up for nights and days in the library doing his work took a toll on you.

You did debate on arguing against him for your freedom, a couple of weeks after this arrangement, but decided against it. The threat of a sanction above your head loomed large. Plus, as the highest judge in the land, he could easily out argue you, a greenhorn.

Your focus started to blur, and your head fell forward and into your padfolio, tired from trying to finish the mountain of work Neuvillette assigned you this week. Your hands clung tightly to the case notes you were feverishly studying.

Even in your dreams, you hoped and prayed that Neuvillette wasn't nearby. He would likely give you even more work if he saw the state you were in.

For once, maybe in the land of dreams, you could get away from him.

Awww Alhaitham turned out to be my most-written for genshin character (at present) and seeing as how things are going with Neuvillette, I fear for my sleep schedule 😂 Fontaine characters have so much yandere potential so unless I get absolutely burnt out from studies I hope to give them the same love :> That being said, I'll try to envision Neuvillette's pov here! [note : written before fontaine release so all imagination.]

Neuvillette has pondered about the nature of corruption for a while.

It's not that abnormal a musing given his position, though it is unusual that he's felt a certain discomfort at the clearing of his thoughts — the judge's exposure to such philosophies are as regular as sunlight, so expanding on his understanding should only serve to benefit him. And yet, he finds himself more unsettled than not at the prospect. He wouldn't be, if he still had confidence in his restraint ; that being the graver issue, if the Chief Justice of Fontaine himself would fall prey to temptation, what would become of the rest of the court?

Neuvillette is far from ignorant, he's known that both the general criminal and the one responsible for bringing them justice are susceptible to the same vice and only through restraint can they be differentiated. He's remained pure from its claws following this simple principle ; no amount of mora, land, promise of power, indulgence has succeeded in altering a verdict thus far.

Neuvillette's expanding paranoia might not have been so rampant if the temptations were this materialistic, no no, he would've even thanked his fickle heart if that was the case. If it had hoped for something shinier, something pricier — those are common desires for corrupt men, and yet, he found his heart depraved of the normalcy and instead yearned for something far sinister, forbidden.

Innocence is devastatingly charming, the judge muses. It's more of a weakness than a strength, especially if the bearer remains blissfully ignorant. There is no mercy for that in the court, even if one retains scraps of the virtue by stubbornness, the court will make sure it is forever lost in its whimsical prance. Simply because, there is no real virtue to be found in the Court of Fontaine, only masquerades of its idealisms.

And so, even the most resilient soul is bound to lose way in this charade, or at least, that's what Neuvillette has concluded.

#anon writing #neuvillette brainrot #yandere #yandere genshin impact #yandere neuvillette #yandere neuvillette x reader #neuvillette x reader #yandere genshin x reader #yandere genshin impact x reader #genshin impact x reader #neuvillette x you #fontaine #who can blame darling honestly i would NEVER want to speak up in front of that man

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udretlnea · 1 year

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An Idealized Image

Prompt: You die after getting hit by a truck and inspect your suddenly ideal appearance in the new world. Inspired by this post by @mists-reading-nook

A/N: Man, starting a story with disconnected parts is fun and difficult. First time using this literary device so be patient with me.

Words: 755

You hadn’t expected getting hit by a truck to hurt so damn much. But you’d gladly do it again if it meant you’d protect a child from getting run over.

Although you were dying, you still could feel the barest sensations around you; vaguely there was muffled shouting and crying. Good, the kid was safe and the driver was getting yelled at. Not that that mattered to you anymore.

Oh well, at least it’s over now.

The first world has been chosen. Initiating upload link.

You thought you heard someone, but that’s crazy. You were dead. The dead don’t hear voices. Maybe this was one of those post-death auditory hallucinations. Do…do the dead even have those? Actually, I guess nobody would know…except the dying. Ugh. What a morbid thought. I expected myself to have prettier final thoughts.

Link established. Uploading soul to the Samsara system now. Beginning samsara cycle #1…godspeed.

There it was again. You started thinking that maybe you weren’t dead, when suddenly you felt your soul being pulled down…down…down into the darkness. Rather than become panicked you felt a sense of peace. You allowed yourself to be carried until you felt a shift in the pressure around you.

Before you could realize what was happening, you blacked out.

////

He’s not waking up…should I do it manually?

Hang on, what are those kitsunes doing?

You feel something tap-tap-tapping against your side. Your eyes flutter open, barely registering the fact that there’s green all around you. Turning your head, you see several orange foxes nudging your body. The sleep leaves you immediately. You surge to your feet and back away from them

They didn’t make any moves toward you. The littlest one stared at you with its big eyes; after a moment it seemed to be satisfied. It turned to the others and made a sound. It wasn’t long before they ran away, leaving you by yourself. Come to think of it, where were you?

Everywhere around, you can see plants, trees, and just general things you’d find in a forest-wait, forest!?

Oh no, where the hell did I end up? Is this some kind of spiritual afterlife? You run, not really going anywhere, just someplace to get your bearings. You find a small stream. Thinking quickly, you examine your reflection, fearful that you looked like a ghost. However, what greets you instead is your pristine face without any blemishes.

Huh? Is that…me? No, no it can’t be. I’m not that…I’m not this immaculate! This is a dream, this has to be a dream! You do anything you can to wake up; you smack, slap, and pinch yourself all in that order, but it’s no use. It seems you weren’t dreaming.

Defeated, you decide to examine yourself. Amazingly, your skin was smooth, but you don’t recall it being like that. Furthermore, your eyes were completely different. Since when were your pupils a yellow pinprick, or your irises a brilliant shade of silver? Most concerning of all was your hair. It was white as snow. You pull at it, looking closely at the roots to check if it wasn’t dyed. You looked rather beautiful. Additionally, you finally noticed that your clothes were different.

When you died, you were wearing a hoodie and regular pants and shoes. Now, you were wearing a simple white kimono; a closer inspection revealed that it looked like genuine silk. Confused yet satisfied with your examination, you looked at your surroundings. Everything was slightly dark as if it were nighttime.

Weird, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is figuring out where the heck I am. You push yourself off the ground, shaking the dirt off of your clothes. You look around you, wondering which direction to walk towards when something catches your eye. Squinting, you could make out the silhouette of a city in the distance. It almost looked like Japan, but at the same time, it wasn’t. Well, there’s the path to civilization right there. Now all I need to do is get over there without trouble.

You notice a well-worn path. You take it, pleased that you took the first step in your journey. Hopefully, you’d find what you needed to know.

////

Elsewhere, a solitary figure was meditating alone in a different plane of existence. Here in this space, she would achieve eternity and resist erosion.

And then she felt it. A sudden wave of divine energy sent tingles throughout her incorporeal body. This was unprecedented…what could have caused it? She needed to know. She had to know.

#sagau #self aware genshin #genshin self aware #genshin imagines #it’s short but they can’t all be long. Or winners.#I’m satisfied I managed to include a somewhat cohesive story with hints of a plot #perhaps making a story with disconnected events will be easier than I thought.#genshin impact sagau #genshin fanfic #what if we started in Inazuma instead of Mondstadt btw?#I imagine Ei would be curious with you #oh we'll see where the plot goes

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xreaderbooks · 1 year

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The Shadows of Our Love

Chapter 1 | In the Shadows of Return

Sebastian Sallow x Slytherin! reader

Summary: Y/n L/n is back at Hogwarts for her fifth year, left with an insurmountable amount of guilt, trauma, and ancient magic that she has lost control of over the summer; she must learn how to overcome her internal battle while also fighting a new one this year. With talk of a high society group called Death Eaters; Y/n must once again find the strength to fight for the wizarding world and confront her love for Sebastian Sallow.

Warnings: language, mentions of death, and trauma

Word Count: 2.2k

Also available on Wattpad and AO3

a/n: If anyone would like to be tagged send me a message or leave a comment, I'd also love to read your thoughts so any messages or comments are welcome

Series Masterlist - Navigation - Chapter 2

Taking the train to Hogwarts was a surreal experience for you considering how you got there in your fifth year. You were able to take in the view that all your friends raved about- the mountains, the lakes, the trees. You sat with Garreth Weasley and his group of Gryffindor friends which earned you odd stares from Imelda Smelding and her friends.

You spent your entire summer with Garreth and his family, his aunt, Professor Weasley was kind enough to take you in for the summer and your friendship with Garreth had grown in the time you spent with him. You weren’t about to ditch him because of the silly house rivalries between Slytherin and Gryffindor when he asked if you wanted to sit with him on the train. He was goofy and immature yet he could be sweet and caring in the most uncommon of ways that you didn’t mind his company.

In fact, his spirit helped lift up yours on the days when the exhaustion of sleepless nights due to nightmares and insomnia would get to you. You were the Hero of Hogwarts and it came at a cost. Post-traumatic stress had gotten to you more often than not and you had no one to share it with. Your mentor who had been there from the beginning, Professor Fig, is dead.

His death haunted you still, nobody would understand the price of your ancient magic, you felt it burn within you now. Your emotions being a trigger for a blast of your power, throughout the summer you learned to control it, Garreth had even concocted a potion (that to your surprise worked successfully) to dull your power.

“You would have loved the boat ride to Hogwarts, Y/n/n,” Garreth brought you out of your thoughts.

“So I keep hearing,” You gave him a small smile.

“Only because it’s literally the most magical experience you’ll have at Hogwarts.”

You lifted a brow at him, “One would think the most magical experience I'd have at Hogwarts would be the actual magic.”

His laugh echoed through his friends who didn’t seem to mind your presence in their compartment. Leander Prewitt, who flirted shamelessly with you despite the fact that you bested him at whatever task he challenges you to.

Nellie Ogspire who is actually a mutual friend, dueled against you in crossed wands and informed you of the Daedalian Keys that fly around school opening cabinets that contained tokens that opened your house chest.

“You know what else is a magical experience-” Leander spoke.

Nellie stopped him before he could continue to say something atrocious, “Absolutely not. Nobody wants to know, we have plenty of better magical experiences, Prewitt.”

Leander crossed his arm and slumped into his seat, “Whatever.”

You smiled to yourself as you gazed out the window, recognizing all the places you’ve traveled and longing for all the ones you haven’t yet. You’ve been all across this side of the wizarding world, visiting hamlets, helping the helpless, saving defenseless animals, and raiding camps of loyalists and Ashwinders. Some on your own and others with your friends who you couldn’t wait to see.

Natsai- Nattys mom insisted they travel to Hogwarts together, their own way, she told you in the last letter she wrote to you right before summer ended.

You couldn’t find Poppy at the platform, You and Imelda were more respectful competitive housemates/acquaintances than friends who would sit in the same compartment, and you weren’t sure if Ominis would want to sit with you.

As far as you knew, you left off as friends, he sent you cordial letters over the summer, twice maybe three times a month just filling each other in so that you’re not complete strangers. It was a safer bet to stick with Garreth.

One person you secretly hoped you would see at the train station was Sebastian.

Sebastian Sallow.

The boy who was never up to any good, who taught you forbidden spells, who would go to the ends of the earth to save the people he loves. The boy who made your heart race faster than the fluttering wings of a fairy. Your year at Hogwarts was adventurous with all that you were up to on your own, but doing it with him- you felt like you could be with him for the rest of your life and never get bored.

He sent you one singular letter at the beginning of the summer, and that was only because you had sent him one first.

Dear Y/n,

Hope all is well, I was glad to receive word from you after your final battle with Ranrok. You are a hero as I always knew you were. I’m pleased to have contributed in whatever small part I might have played to your success.

To answer your question, I am as decent as I can be considering all that has passed. I have not received word from Anne since the incident, I can only hope she will reach out to me in the coming months. For now, due to your mercy, I shall pick up the remaining pieces here in Feldcroft.

Gratefully yours,

Sebastian Sallow

—

The Great Hall was bustling with students both new and returning. It was almost impossible to hear a person talking directly to you with how loud everyone's conversations were, it was a bit overstimulating, and luckily your mind was too preoccupied with searching for the familiar faces of your friends.

You withstood stares of awe and whispers as you passed, people didn’t shy away from pointing at you. It didn’t help your nerves but you had gotten accustomed to it from being the new girl going into Hogwarts fifth year.

“Natty!” You waved to your friend who was nodding along with what her mother was telling her. She made haste, when she was able to escape her mother's grasp, to where you stood by the fireplace next to the Slytherin table.

She gave you a wide smile, “Y/n, it is good to see you, my friend.”

“It is amazing to see you!” You let out a breath of relief, you felt as if you could finally relax. You held onto both of her hands as you said “Your mother is never separating us again.”

She laughed, “You speak too soon. I foresee many letters exchanged in our future.”

“Shh- don’t say that, it may come true,” You scold her playfully.

The sound of a utensil clinging against a golden chalice told you both that it was time for everyone to settle down.

“We’ll see each other in class,” You say giving her shoulder one last squeeze as you give her a hug.

You rush to the nearest empty spot, a fourth-year girl and another empty spot to your right. You settle down with your anxiety still on high, you noticed the familiar blonde hair and full grey eyes sitting across from you.

“Ominis, Hello.”

“Y/n?” His tone was confused.

“Oh, so it’s great to see you!” You mentally slapped yourself for the poor choice of words.

He speaks dryly, “I can feel your energy from here L/n, it would be best if you calm your enthusiasm, though I must admit it is nice to hear your voice.”

“My voice?” A deep resounding tune filled your ears, in the three months without him you can hear how much he’s grown. “How flattering Gaunt, I can’t say it is unexpected-”

He plants himself in the seat to your right and your heart stutters.

Your head slowly turns in his direction, and your eyes slightly widen. He glances at you once and does a double-take.

“Y/n?”

“Hello Sebastian,” You swallow your feelings at seeing him now. His features have matured, no longer baby-faced. His cheeks have defined, his jaw sharper, hazel eyes lighter, hair grown in an attractive way you didn’t know how to describe. He definitely grew taller, shoulders broadened.

You didn’t know how to react to his looks now, you had always found him attractive, from the moment you met him; his way with words, his charisma, had you in the palm of his hand. You couldn’t look at him now with that one glance, you were sure to melt.

There was no time for any other words to be exchanged as Professor Black began his introduction ceremony, sorting the first years, and beginning the feast.

The food appeared and you filled your plate, ignoring the very apparent presence next to you. He appeared to be doing the same. Ominis spoke to him and he would respond, he would converse with you, but you and Sebastian never asked each other a single question in the full-hour talk with Ominis.

“You never described how it was to live with Weasley, Y/n,” Ominis tilted his head at you.

Sebastian's fork stabbed his chicken a little too hard, it scraped the plate, making a short screech.

You side-eyed his plate and refocused on the question the girl who sat diagonal to you on Ominis’ left asked. Imelda had a quirk on her brow, and a smirk on her lips, she questioned you loud enough for the other fellow Slytherins to hear.

“Fraternizing with the enemy,” She tsked. “Didn’t take Slytherins own hero as a traitor.”

“Didn’t know the rivalry extended to after school,” You looked unbothered. “Summer with the Weasleys was fun, you should try it sometime Imelda. You know, having fun? It could loosen the broomstick up your ass.”

You took a bite of your food, and the brunette beside you coughed up a lung, even Ominis hid his chuckle behind a fist as the girl you had insulted was red-faced and sitting next to him. Imelda's friend let out their own giggles or show of amusement while Imelda glared at them.

The rest of the feast had calmed down after you had shut her down, you had survived. Sebastian wasted no time getting out of his seat, saying his ‘I’ll see you later’ to Ominis and exiting the Great Hall as it was official the feast was over.

You decided to stay behind and chat with Ominis instead of following his lead and leaving once you were finished with your food.

“Have you spoken with him?” Ominis asked you, keeping pace as he walked with you to the Slytherin common room.

“I sent him one letter at the beginning of the summer, he responded and that was that.”

“Hm, odd.”

“How odd?”

You climbed the steps in the grand pillar where all the portraits were placed.

“Just odd,” Ominis said simply. “He was very fond of you last year, It wasn’t presumed that he would discard your friendship with how much he valued you last year.”

Discard me? You thought.

“I didn’t think he discarded our friendship Ominis, I believe he just needed some space.”

“Forgive me, Y/n, I didn’t mean it like that-”

You cut him off, “No, no. I know how it seems and eventually he and I will have to discuss all that happened last year, tonight just isn’t the night.”

You and Ominis along with your other fellow Slytherins, shuffled into the common room, settling into the dorms. You opened the door to find three other girls in the room already, all of whom you were familiar with in some way.

Violet McDowell, you had her in Potions and Herbology last year, Grace Pinch-Smedley who you had helped retrieve her family’s astrolabe from the black lake, and Imelda, who huffed and continued her unpacking. It was clear she was still upset, you smiled at the other two girls.

Violet gave you a nod, she was always a quiet one and Grace greeted you with a bright smile of her own.

—

2 hours into lights out and you were still tossing and turning, your eyes would not shut no matter what you did, and you had half a mind to sneak into Professor Sharps' closet and steal a sleeping draught. You sighed and shoved the covers away, sliding on your slippers and going down the steps to the common room.

You wrapped the string to tie your robe together in case there were people still up.

Surprisingly it was empty, not a single soul in sight. The fire crackling was the only sound to be heard. Memories of the past flashed through your mind.

A year ago today was the first day at Hogwarts, already full of adventure, watching a person you just met get killed by a dragon. The thestrals appeared after being invisible the whole time and you already knew. Going into Gringotts, fighting off statues, learning you have traces of ancient magic in your blood, and surviving the attack from Ranrok by an inch.

Yet, the thought of going into the common room the morning after and facing your fellow students who had been studying at Hogwarts since they were 11, was more frightening. You had already come into the school being the first person who had been accepted into Hogwarts as a fifth year, having to catch up with people who had the knowledge you were just learning, then coming into the first-year sorting ceremony late because of the dragon incident that everyone somehow knew about.

This school year was sure to be interesting, you thought to yourself.

The first person you saw was Sebastian, pacing in front of the fireplace with a book in hand. He introduced himself kindly, his dimpled smile had your heart before you knew it.

And it was gone just like that.

~~~

Chapter 2

taglist:

#sebastian sallow #sebastian sallow x reader #sebastian sallow x slytherin!reader #sebastian sallow x you #sebastian x mc #sebastian sallow imagine #sebastian sallow x mc #hogwarts legacy imagine #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy mc #ominis gaunt #garreth weasley #imelda smelding #harry potter imagine #harry potter

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chloeangelic · 4 months

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😭Why am I crying in the club rn?😭

Listed by author in alphabetical order cause I'm an organized bitch, here are the fics that made me Sit And Think™️ (or cry) in 2023, or

✨ my top 5 gut wrenching authors selection ✨

featuring @atinylittlepain @cherubispunk @macfrog @netherfeildren and @5oh5 🤍🤍🤍

Everyone knows I love angst, I love terrible gut wrenching pain and suffering and then I love it when my tears are drying on my cheeks and they fuck nasty, hell yeah 😎

So if you're like me, here are some recommendations!!

💙 @atinylittlepain

Deliver Me From Nowhere

Read the whole thing in one night and cried repeatedly during. I had it looming in the back of my mind for weeks but didn't feel like I was in the right headspace until I suddenly was, and it hit differently. I love Dolores, I love Joel, I love how he sees her, their dynamic, the exploration of her emotions and headspace, her body language. Fantastic. Want to cry just thinking about it so I'm gonna STOP.

June

Sat and stared at the wall for a long time after this one, then worked up the courage to post TMWH which I seriously don't think I would've had the guts to post had it not been for June. I love how it handles a sensitive, painful, and very real subject, I love that it doesn't paint Joel as a fixer or savior but rather a realistic, kind partner. Again, his understanding of her and how he makes space for her is something I appreciate so much in DMFN and June.

💗 @cherubispunk

Cherub

This one is an excruciating Sit And Think - I didn't cry but I sat there paralyzed for 48 hrs with a thousand yard stare, just thinking intensely about it, after my second read through. Two chapters and I'm already messed tf up over it!! I read them in the middle of the night and then during the day and I have never been this messed up over something labeled PWP before. The passion, the ominous vibes, Cherub being so soft and Joel having this strange dark vibe... I literally just thought about it constantly for two days and I still can't fully put my finger on why. It just slithered into my brain and I still think about it often and go back to read bits and pieces like a little treat.

💚 @macfrog

All Three Dogs

Max posted this on my most depressed day of 2023 so like fuck you ??? I'm sorry like this is phenomenally written and stunning but like what the fuck is wrong with u i'm not even giving u any more compliments on this one bruv sorry you made me like a DBF series and that's a mortal sin so YOU'RE DONE !!! Fucking dead mackerel eyes speak into the mic bitch chicago sunroof 1 after magna carta i am not crazy squat cobbler jesus christ marie lookin ass

Sweet Child O' Mine - particularly pt ii

This one is so cute and yet it hurts so much. It's so real, the MC is so... I don't even know what to say, she's so on her own and she seems so kind and selfless and it just hurts to think about her cause you can feel her love for her child and for Joel and ugh. She tries so hard to be the best person she can be for everyone and it's one of those situations where nobody is doing anything wrong and yet everyone either is already hurt or gonna get hurt, and I think it's that oscillation between love and hurt that really gets me. I also read this in the middle of the night and all I had to say in my RB was like "thanks for making me cry asshole" (I'm known for my profound commentary).

💜 @netherfeildren

Fear of God - particularly the epilogue

Fear of God is my all-time fav Joel series, the best Joel characterization I've come across and it generally set the tone for my taste in fic. It was the second series I started reading on here when I came back to Tumblr, and it's the first piece of writing that has ever truly moved me. His character arc is absolutely INSANE !! I made the mistake of reading the epilogue while listening to Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish, and for months I couldn't listen to it without crying. The day before my graduation, I kept listening to it on repeat in some strange form of self-torture and I had to explain to my bf why I was sobbing. Try to explain all of FoG in a coherent way through tears, I dare u ! I can't say much without spoiling but basically when I think back on getting into fanfic, FoG is what marks the beginning for me and I will never ever forget this piece of writing ever in my life. (Shoutout to when I got caught getting a nut off to one of the FoG extras - I can't really talk about the series without mentioning that)

The Cassandra Complex - particularly ch I, ch IV, and ch VIII

I didn't give much of a fuck about Din before TCC cause i saw him as like a taller hotter R2D2 and now here I am... Eating my words like a ration pack. I have to do a big girthy throbbing TCC reblog cause I have a lot to say about my fav series in the world but basically I can't read ch 4 without crying and even though this is a Star Wars fic and it makes no sense for me to relate to it the most out of anything on Vic's ML, sith girly is the most relatable MC thanks to her constantly feeling haunted by her past, feeling like she's hiding, feeling unworthy, torpedoing herself, and seeing so much beauty in others but struggling to see it in herself. I'll save the rest of my thoughts for the big RB but basically I've even cried at the fucking SMUT in this series like I'm on another planet when I read it (haha get it?? cause Star Wars??)

🧡 @5oh5

From Eden

Staring At The Wall Saturdays again - I hate how much I see my younger self in little sunflower girlie, I hate that I recognize how trapped she feels in her marriage. It's such an accurate portrayal of feeling chained to a man who doesn't deserve you, and of how guilty you feel for not even acting on feelings for someone else yet but just recognizing within yourself that you deserve better, like that pain of accepting that you're not treated right and that visceral feeling of unfairness that comes with being in the wrong relationship. The guilt you feel for even just thinking it, you know? And having to recognize how you've been treated. Ugh. Also this Joel is... His mannerisms are... I.... I'll be right back-

And now, for the most important award ever. The winner of

🏆Biggest Chloe Tear Jerker 2023🏆 is...

🎉 @netherfeildren 🎉 and this is her 24/7

#chloe recs

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beehawk4 · 10 months

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i read lu-is-not-okay's sin analysis guide and it made me think about outis some more (mainly base outis)

TL;DR for the guide: Each sin's meaning is likely different from the mainstream interpretation of them (e.g. Lust does not necessarily mean being horny), and an identity's skills represent the layers of their psyche (With s1 being the surface layer and s3 being the deepest layer of the mind)

I should note that this draws from my previous theory of Outis's story so it might be needed to check that out to clear any confusion. Also, since Outis's story isn't going to be released for a very long time, this is really just conjecture.

Anyway...

Outis has a sloth s1 (Pulled Blade), a pride s2 (Backslash), and a gloom s3 (Piercing Thrust), right?

Going by the guide, Sloth S1 represents Outis's resignation to her circumstances. She's given up on hopes of ever returning home after the Smoke War, believing it to be totally impossible.

Pride S2 likely alludes to a fatal mistake Outis made out of hubris during the Smoke War, one that could possibly even be the reason why she cannot return home. Since we don't have her story yet, this is more based off of Outis's source material.

In The Iliad, the protagonist Odysseus had been captured by a giant called Polyphemus. When he demanded his name, Odysseus told him his name was "Ουτις" (Outis), which means 'nothing' in Greek. Odysseus later blinded the giant, who screamed "Outis (nobody) is killing me!" (and thus leading the other giants to ignore his pleas) and allowed them to escape.

However, before leaving, Odysseus revealed his true name to Polyphemus in an act of hubris, taunting him. As a result, Polyphemus was able to pray to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus to “[never] reach his native land, to [never] come once more to his own house and see his friends again” and to “let him come late, in evil plight, with all his comrades dead, in someone else's ship, and find troubles in his household."

Sounds pretty familiar to Outis's predicament, right?

Afterwards, gaining a grudge against Odysseus, Poseidon began sabotaging Odysseus's journey. All of which would have been prevented had Odysseus's arrogance not gotten the best of him.

Returning to Limbus Company Outis, I feel like Pride S2 would represent her invoking catastrophe the same way as Odysseus -- in an act of arrogance, she will make a huge mistake with terrible consequences (perhaps being the reason why she cannot return home?). Could be her revealing her identity to the enemy to brag -> said enemy pulls a few strings and finds a way to prevent her from returning home, or it could be something less 1-to-1 with The Iliad. Either way, the skill would allude to her ignoring the consequences of her actions in that one moment.

Alternatively, it could refer to her participating in the Smoke War, not quite aware of the potential consequences that could result from leaving her home.

Finally, Gloom S3. This one is a bit hard to pin down with actual evidence because, again, we know very little about Outis's actual past. Additionally, nothing really suggests that Outis is "overwhelmed" with negative emotions at the time of this post. In fact, she's known for being the most rational and collected sinner, despite her obsequious attitude towards Dante. (There's probably something from The Iliad that I could connect to here, but I honestly don't know that much about the epic.)

That being said, I imagine it'd have something to do with regret. Whatever conceited mistake Outis made came back to bite her in the ass, and now she can never return home to those that wait for her. Indeed, she would definitely dwell on her unfortunate circumstances even if she is resigned to them. "If only I hadn't let my hubris get the better of me."

As for appearing rational and seeming the exact opposite of "overwhelmed with negative emotions"...

I have nothing to support this, but it's possible that Outis's implied duplicity through her sycophantic behavior towards Dante is a front. She's well aware that all of the other Sinners and Vergil think she's going to backstab them at any moment -- that's the point of it. It's a smokescreen to cover up how she actually feels, which is intense lament due to being unable to see her loved ones ever again.

That doesn't necessarily mean said treachery is "fake", since she could still backstab them (although you could argue that if she really did want to betray them, she wouldn't make it so obvious). It's just that she intentionally uses said sycophancy and hints of disloyalty, however genuine they may be, to mask her actual issues and her past.

#sorry for the scuffed iliad summary i just took it from the entry on outis on the lcb wiki. ive never actually read the iliad #also lu (if i can call u that) ur analysis is really cool and made me think :]#outis lcb #limbus company #limbus company spoilers

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eluxcastar · 1 year

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── ୨୧：guren ichinose, shinya hīragi, kureto hīragi x reader (separate)

୨୧﹑synopsis :: you try not to notice how he adores a certain woman in his life, you keep your feelings about him to yourself, quiet and never acting on them solely because you know that you could never hope to compare to her.

୨୧﹑genre :: slight angst

୨୧﹑content :: nothing to warn I don't think but I wrote this at like one a.m. and did not read a word of it 👍 lmk if there is something you want me to tag though (*￣︶￣)

୨୧﹑words :: 811

hiii I'm back again (I have a second degree burn now 💀) (I touched the oven rack while it was on max) (now I have a funny mark on my knee) this is kinda rushed because tbh I am not in the mood but I don't wanna up and dip again even though I was hit with like that curse that plagues fanfic authors and ten bad things happened in a day

this is from like March I believe??? I am so sorry to the person who sent me this in my DMs istg I was gonna do it but then I just forgot after that really long break I took 😔 I don't think I ended up sticking to it exactly because I'm not actually sure if the whole request was sent?? I also ended up cutting Crowley to put him in a standalone post 👍

─ ୨୧： guren ichinose

your feelings for the Ichinose boy run deep, a little part of you crushing on just his looks when he first arrived at this school, only growing on you since then. His personality when he really got comfortable was charming, and he always had that goofy look on his face when students pulled mean tricks on him like he didn't care. A pretty face. He never lets others bother him it seems, even when he talks all lesson to the boy beside him and tries to ignore him. You could look past the Ichinose Clan part, that was the least of your worries. After all, even Mahiru Hīragi could look past that.

you see her around him a lot, and they seem to know each other and get along well. She's always smiling around him, and while he doesn't exactly look like he's having the best day of his life he looks happier to hear from her than most other students. You suppose he would be with a smart and pretty girl paying attention to him, let alone one quite so impossibly beautiful as her. A once in a century genius. How could you ever hope to compete with a person like that?

it was a nigh impossible task, so you give up, and you watch. You know that he is only yours in your little daydreams, and the moment you blink them away and return to reality he goes right back to being Mahiru's as he always was.

─ ୨୧： shinya hīragi

since you joined the army you had at least a bit of a liking toward him, though it was quite minor at first, nothing too big. You just liked how nice he was to you, even helping you out at times when he noticed you were struggling a bit with your weapon. With his help you got closer to him at least in your eyes, the confidence he oozed enough to make you feel safe and in good hands. You trusted he knew what he was doing and it kept paying off to trust his advice.

it kept you asking for more of his help, knowing that slowly the help was becoming less of your focus and it was slowly shifting to the man himself. Something about him is so handsome, yet also quite cute.

then you heard he had once had a fiancée, and you realised that if that was everything he wanted in a partner that you would be stepping way out of your league. She was a Goddess put on earth in the form of a high school girl, perfect if not for her one fatal flaw in which she was dead after committing acts that disgraced her family. That explained why nobody spoke of her until you heard it from the girl's own sister.

slowly you were inching your way further into his life, and slowly you will inch your way back out. Even as a dead woman, You know that to that standard, you are still just a bumbling and confused little child.

─ ୨୧： kureto hīragi

a bad little habit you have with Aoi is the gossip once work is over, going to shower and change in the showers together one stall apart just to talk about various tidbits you'd picked up throughout the days. You'd learned many…interesting things that way. Most notably however was in the midst of washing your hair, letting the water wash out the product when she so happened to mention that she might just have deeper feelings for Kureto than she usually lets on. It's more than just respect, at least as she put it. You almost got shampoo in your eyes.

of course you couldn't blame her, her feelings are something you can quite easily understand in fact, it's just… How are you supposed to be pitted against someone like Aoi who is loyal to a fault at her job? Thinking about it really…she is quite beautiful, and her family is in higher standing, she does anything that he asks of her, most importantly she is strong. You think if anything Kureto would value power, wouldn't he? He probably wouldn't be fond of protecting his lover all the time out of necessity, he'd prefer someone capable of doing that themselves, and while you certainly could, Aoi could do it better.

you can hear her as she knocks her hand against the wall of the shower stall, "Did you drown in there?" her voice brings you back again, and you give a quick no in response. You're out of the shower soon enough. It'd be easier to forget the conversation if not for the fact you both pass him again on your way back to the dorms and finally notice how she looks at him.

even without the threat of her own skill over yours, you're not sure you can take that away from her.

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wowowwild · 6 months

Note

I asked for 20 but I also want to ask about 21! I love fic recs.

21. Did you ever read fanfictions? Which one is your personal recommendation?

Sorry it took so long! It took me a while to get everything in order, but here it is.

So fun fact: Whenever I read a fic I love I book mark it with the note j'adore so I can read it again later. Some of them get this note preemptively. I also tend to go through a tag on ao3 in date posted ascending order so I start with the oldest and work my way forward so I don't potentially miss anything, but I haven't made it all the way through some tags that I would like to. If there's a fic you think I would like that's not on here, I probably just haven't gotten to it yet! (Most of the newer ones on here I found through Tumblr.)

Also! I'm pretty sure any of the ones that involve smut I have marked as such, but please check the tags on the actual fic before reading! I am not responsible for what content you choose to consume!

That being said, here is Ace's All Time Best Fic Rec List (AATBFRL for short):

Nobody Can Just Say What They Mean (Series)- The first fic is Narumitsu and the second is Klapollo and I think about them allllll the time, especially Things Are As They Are altered me on a microscopic level. Rocks are just rocks, you know? (Narumitsu, Klapollo)

undeniable you (the currents pulling me onward)- Idk what to say. Kristoph Gavin dies in prison and Klavier is suspect #1. Apollo flies back to defend him and yaoi happens. I'm a sucker for Klav getting all scrungled up.

fame vs infamy (the price of writing fanfic out of spite)- It's a crack fic. It's funny. 10/10 would recommend. (Klapollo)

The Definition Of Home- And there was only one bed?!?!?!?!?! What?!?!?!?! And there was a little angst in the bed?!?!?!?!?! Unbelievable. Actually the angst was on the couch, the bed made it better. (Klapollo)

13 Hours- This fic keeps popping up in my fever dreams. I'm not even kidding. I didn't have it bookmarked the first time around but when I found it again, I was like 'oh, I know this one! It haunts my dreams!' and immediately slapped a j'adore on it. Airport Klapollo getting together.

Dig Enough Graves- This one is still being put out, it's a Klapollo roleswap and I love it. I get so excited when I see it's updated. So many things are happening and we have clues and I'm gonna figure it out, ok? *boston accent* I'm sleuthin 'ere! (rated M for violence and sex reasons)

stop the presses (series)- V funny. Apollo works as a columnist and writes thirst essays about KlavGav and gets a date out of it. I am very impressed with the coding used to make this look the way it does.

And if my wishes could all come true- I have reread this one a couple times. I think about it a lot. It is genuinely so funny and makes me feel all sorts of things. I love pre-relationship klapollo divorce complete with alimony while they were not not dating but actually not dating, Apollo you can't just assume that.

Nothing Like This Feeling- Apollo top suregery fic with a dash of Klapollo!

Turnabout Dishwasher- For when you get the hankering for a 422.6k work of art. It's like three fics in one that happen concurrently, which doesn't sound like a description that makes sense unless you read it. There are so many characters here, and shipping is part of it but it's also a whole lot of everything else. These characters are actually living and you get to take a look see. (klapollo, blackmadhi, wrightworth, look just read the tags on the fic there's so much going on)

Such Terrible Tales- A gorgeous magic filled AU with a focus on the casts of aa5 and aa6 and fun cameos from Investigations (so far). This fic is still on going and I would def recommend reading it as it comes out! I love trying to figure out the lore and what will happen next! This fic kind of pulls me off my hinges lol. (blackmadhi)

You Wear Stripes, Too?- Apollo and Klav come out to each other as trans and nb respectively.

Things Best Shared- Klav teaches Apollo guitar.

For A Bad Time Call Simon Blackquill- Iconic blackmadhi fic. I think about it all the time. V funny fake dating au with bits of angst.

Last Resort- And they were roommates! Blackmadhi roommates with lots of healing and shenanigans.

Dating for a Turnabout- Narumitsu fake dating for a case. Larry is there doing Larry things. Franziska did it to them bc she is very smart and cool.

Vacation All I Ever Wanted- I think about this sooooooo much. Tagline: One condo. Six lawyers. Seven secret plans. What could possibly go wrong? (klapollo, narumitsu, athena blackquill and trucy are there)

Alternative Dispute Resolution- Apollo makes Klavier talk to Mr. Wright before they can start dating. It's awkward (and funny) and Trucy is a delight.

Turn(about) my words- The fic where I realized I instinctively start laughing when someone gets shot. He's fine. uhhh narumitsu, phoenix got shot of course bc why wouldn't he and found family stuff.

You're Alive (And that's the only thing that truly matters.)- Klavier gets poisoned and Edgeworth tells the nurses Apollo is his partner so he can get in to see him. Turns out I don't laugh at poisonings, only shootings.

Dog Days- Apollo and Trucy go to another Gavinners concert and Polly misinterprets everything all the time.

Reckless Endangerment- One of the funniest klapollo get togethers. Pollo insults him real good while he's standing behind him, klav thinks about going abroad to study, phoenix has prosecutor going abroad ptsd, apollo might actually be into the gavinners, or at least the titular member.

Good Advice- Klavier Gavin makes categorically bad decisions in the face of love. (klapollo)

Hot For Justice- klavgav gets a muse, guess who?

Rules for Dating a Rockstar Prosecutor- klapollo first date that literally everyone is more invested in than Apollo (until he actually goes).

The Things We Do For Gym Access- Fake dating so Apollo can use the gym at Klav's place until the one he normally goes to gets fixed. Except they're actually really into each other and it's killing me everyday it's killing me I'm dead I'm dying they're so dense and in love and can't figure out why they haven't been caught and it's bc they actually feel like that and on top of pretend dating are pretending to date each other to themselves just kiss istg. Rated Explicit for sexual reasons.

The Walk to Tomorrow- Narumitsu doing Narumitsu things.

Legal Partners- Oooooooo this one! I also think about this one a lot. Narumitsu and klapollo and everyone is idiots they're all idiots. Klav and Edgeworth make a stupid, stupid bet about who has the more meaningful connection with their preferred defense attorney. I love this type of fic.

Turnabout Rubesville- Edgeworth gets accused of murder in a small town bc he's a grump. Phoenix sorts it out.

You Ever Been In Love?- Everyone gets way too involved in making Wrightworth happen, and it goes horribly until it goes right.

Gravity- Rated Explicit for sex reasons. Tbh I really like the oc. She's real cool. def read the tags for trigger warnings. (klapollo)

The soul truth (and nothing but the truth)- Franmaya! There's some spirit medium shenanigans and Lang is a bro.

Exorcism- Klapollo AU aa4 rewrite Kitty is a doll I love her these boys are unhinged look they have a conspiracy closet ok? Rated E for sex reasons.

Play Your Cards Right- Narumitsu agree to go on a date and shake hands about it. Rated E for sex reasons.

Hostile Environments (Series)- Justquill Shenanigans

satisfaction brought him back- Justquill Simon gets turned into a cat. I love fics where someone gets turned into a cat. There aren't a lot but it is a trope I enjoy. I've def read this one a couple times.

Stripped- Klapollo impending. Apollo is also secretly a stripper. Idk if this fic will ever get finished but I liked everything in it.

Curiosity Created the Cat- Klapollo impending. Also not finished and maybe never will be and only 3 chapters but in this one Klav gets turned into a cat. I'm sorry.

if it's really me you seek- Klapollo. I'm just going to post the official summary bc I j'ador'ed it but I don't remember exactly which one this is: Or, when Apollo comes home from Khura'in only to learn that Prosecutor Gavin is avoiding him, the last thing he expected was for Gavin to offer to let Apollo stay at his house while he looks for a new apartment.

As of right now this is everything in my bookmarks that I've read, I think you can figure out my favorite ship lol.

#narumitsu #wrightworth #klapollo #justquill #franmaya #ace attorney #ace's ask #blackmadhi #i'm not tagging individual characters you couldn't pay me #aatbfrl

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mairablue · 3 months

Text

Scm - Department of Wishes

Tauxolouve ♐- Heavenly Light

For fluffbruary event ( @fluffbruary )

A/N: My first ever fluffbruary post! 😭🤧 I hope you enjoy reading this! 💜💙

Prompts: camera | lush | beau

4th February, 2024

~~~

Small droplets of water dripped down the glass window. Cold morning breeze brushed against the leaves of the trees. The fire continued to burn brightly in the fireplace, keeping the surroundings warm.

Tauxolouve walked in the living room, carrying a tray. Two ceramic cups and some cookies were placed on a plate.

"(Name)?"

You look up from the book. Quickly putting a bookmark, you placed it on your lap.

"Thank you", you said as a peaceful sigh escaped from your lips, "delicious as always."

He smiled at your words and took a sip from his cup. You looked at the window and then at the wall clock, which showed 3.35 AM.

" Sweetheart." His honeyed voice brought you back from your thoughts. You couldn't help but voice your concerns, "I can barely see anything outside. Are you sure the weather is appropriate...", you paused before adding "for taking pictures?"

For a slight fraction of second there was some uneasiness in his eyes but he quickly brushed away those thoughts and replied, " If we reach there by 4 AM; i will surely be able to capture some beautiful photos."

You nodded your head in agreement.

Thick fog covered the narrow road, which made driving nearly impossible.

Tauxolouve opened the car's door. We were a bit surprised to see that nobody had yet arrived at the top of the hill. We walked forward; our fingers intertwined with each other's. Some cars were slowly climbing up.

With each passing minute, the fog was becoming denser, swallowing the mountain. The trees started disappearing to the point, where the lower part of the enormous mountain seems to be covered by a thick greenish blanket.

Looking down at the road, you saw the cars standing still, lining up one after another. Few people got out of the cars and started walking towards the top of the hill.

Tauxolouve looked at his wrist watch.

You placed your hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at you, and for a brief moment the determination in his eyes seemed to falter. His eyes losing some of the warmth in them.

Most people who arrived at the spot seemed disappointed. Some of them decided to wait.

Minutes turned into an hour.

"Such a waste of time", a girl said to her mother, " i can't believe you woke me up for this so early in the morning."

Another 15 minutes had passed. The weather showed no signs of improvement.

Now there was only one family standing there with you and Tauxolouve. Most cars were gone, aside from a few who were determined to get a glimpse of the heavenly light.

Beads of sweat started to appear on his forehead as he once again looked at the watch. Time was running out from his fingers like sand.

Was he going to lose another golden opportunity? Perhaps he should have gone elsewhere; he pondered. It was too late to think about these things.

" Mom, dad how long do we have to wait?" the boy asked his parents.

" (Name), we should leave." Tauxolouve wishpered. " I am sorry for bringing you here in this weather. "

His voice, so lifeless that it made your heart shatter. Still his bright smile did not leave his face. He was trying his best to not look disappointed.

As you two were about to walk back to the car, the boy shouted, "Mom look", pointing at the sky , "the Sun".

True to his words, the clouds were slowly making the way for the Sun. Soon rays from heaven fell on Earth. The golden light being reflected from the snowy mountain peak, making it shine like a diamond.

Tauxolouve wasted no time and quickly captured the breathtaking sight in his camera. The sight so divine that it filled your heart with bliss.

Tauxolouve hugged you tightly before picking you up in his arms and kissing you deeply. " I love you. " he wishpered. " I love you too. " you said as you placed a tender kiss on his forehead.

The heartfelt moment passed away and Tauxolouve was back to his usual self.

" Let's celebrate, my sweet lady. " the teasing tone in his honeyed voice was too hard to ignore. Taking his hand in yours, you two walk back to the car.

#star crossed myth #scm #scm tauxolouve #scm tauxolouve x reader #scm karno #scm scorpio #scm huedhaut #scm aigonorus #scm leon #scm zyglavis #scm ichthys #scm partheno #scm krioff #scm teorus #scm dui #fluffbruary 2024

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dovahkinniez · 2 years

Note

Vilkas and Farkas nsfw headcannons, please🥰❤

18+ only! sexual content awaits your very eyes, my kind soul. ps, i will try and stay gender neutral as much as possible but there is a tiny mention of a female bodied reader, so either don’t read if that’d make you feel uncomfortable! or skim/ignore that part. :]

since this is a dual one it won’t be as long as the others, but, let’s talk about our favourite wolf twins ;) (maybe i’ll do a follow up post for them both separately)

Remember to not be a silent reader, like and share your thoughts! I love hearing everyone's feedback. <3

SKYRIM X (GN) READER.

— nsfw headcanons

[ FARKAS + VILKAS ]

#FARKAS

he is so manly. obviously! but he is so manly.

let me just get this right out there, he’s big. he is thick. he is delicious - calm it down, love.

big strong arms that cage you and huge hands that have a grip of steel. once you’re in his grasp good luck trying to escape. no way out now.

he’s a biter. bites your thighs and neck and chest and stomach, your nipples and the tips of your fingers and gods man! you aren’t food! (you’re most definitely his meal)

long and deep kisses where you pull back breathless but yet you want more. lots and lots of kisses as he pounds into you. deep and heavy.

fucks you from behind his hand around your throat, leaning your neck back to watch the moans slip from your mouth and if he’s feeling it enough - he probably is - he’ll slip fingers into your mouth and you’ll suck.

he’ll watch and remember moments before when his cock was between your lips and his hips will snap against you harder than before at the visualisation of it.

he’s no sex god and he doesn’t claim to be one but when he’s on top of you and grunting out with your name whispered breathlessly, his body is hot and doing all the right things and you might just believe he is a sex god.

i view him as less experienced that his twin. but he is a fast learner, guide him and tell him what you like. he learns what he likes fast and always remembers to ask if you’re comfortable.

definitely the type to ask if he’s hurting you. he’s a passionate lover but he is also too strong for his own good. any sign of pain and he’s off you checking to see where he hurt you.

maybe once he mistook your pleasure for pain which kind of annoyed you but he got right back to it, you’ll be moaning again in no time.

he enjoys physical contact, if your skin doesn’t melt together as he fucks you he isn’t fully satisfied. he wants to feel every part of your body, greedy hands will roam and grab and he just loves how your body feels against his.

you want to ride him? cool. he loves it. watching you drives him crazy but he’s a man of action. so it isn’t long until he leans up closer to you.

he’d he leaning back, an arm behind his head as he watches (fucking hell, imagine that..), his other hand toys with your body as you do your thing. but seeing you have your way causes him to move around wanting to grab you.

so he’ll lean up and grab your ass with both hands, biting and licking at your chest and neck as he drags you up and down on his cock.

depending what you like he’d either be rough with harsh slaps of your skin as he leaves finger marks in the fat of your ass and thighs.

or he’d be slow and you’d feel every part of him inside you until it drives you crazy. each time you move back up your legs shake and his hands knead at your body.

he’s naturally sexy and he doesn’t even realise it. he doesn’t even have to do anything and you’re weak in the knees - i mean have you seen him? i don’t blame you.

#VILKAS

ah, our man here is strict. he likes what he likes with more experience than his twin. he importantly also knows what others like too.

but he is strict. he sees sex as something to lose yourself in when the time is right and for complete intimacy at its finest … with you anyway. nobody else. once it’s you, it’s only you.

gentle touches and definitely teases you. foreplay is everything and actual sex comes secondary.

you can’t exercise if you haven’t warmed up, that’s what i’m trying to get at.

wants to work you up so you’re pretty much ready to orgasm before he’s even put his dick inside and most times you will have already orgasmed.

gives your body complete attention to the point his cock pulsates with a hunger to even have your fingertips brushed against on. but he wants you prepared and your body undone.

definition of a body worshipper and the moment you switch the roles he watches you with dark eyes.

your lips on his body, fingers weaving between the scars that litter his skin and once your tongue makes contact with his stiff cock he is clenching his jaw and his hips lock up because after neglecting it so long - man he needs this.

gets lost in the feeling and pushes his hips up and down, hands on your head as he pushes your head further down, “you can take it.” his voice shaky and thick with lust.

by the end you’re eyes will be water-stained and hungry for more and that drives him crazy.

that’s when he pins you underneath him, leg perched on his shoulder as he slams his hips against your skin as his dick rocks back in and out of you.

presses a large hand onto your stomach, the added pressure makes you squirm as he feels everything. leaning his cheek against your leg with his eyes rolling back as your body sucks him in, literally milking him.

doesn’t make too much noise other than breathless sounds and heavy breathing. muttering things out and he likes to call your name as holds eye contact with you. especially as you both cum.

pull onto his hair and give him love marks along his neck as he fucks you and watch him fuck you harder than before.

he has sensitive skin and even a simple kiss on the neck makes him stiff. which can be annoying for him at times.

sit on his lap and grind yourself against him, naked or not he feels everything and grips onto the sides of whatever he’s sat on warning you not to fuck around with him between gritted teeth.

soon enough you’re rubbing his rock hard dick against you with a rhythm as his pre-cum soaks his lower stomach.

he watches, you rubbing yourself against him wetting his dick as you feel every curve in his veins against you until you’re ready to take it and slowly sink yourself down.

teasingly slow until he’s grabbing your hips and sucking his stomach in because he’s holding back from snapping. but he doesn’t, he lets you as he watches you, your body and face and your reaction as you take him. “you’re doing so well, take all of me, darling.” moans tbh

#☆ — mama dovie writes…#elder scrolls #elder scrolls skyrim #elder scrolls x reader #skyrim #skyrim headcanon #skyrim scenarios #skyrim x dovahkiin #skyrim x reader #farkas #farkas x reader #skyrim farkas x reader #skyrim farkas #skyrim vilkas x reader #vilkas x dragonborn #vilkas x reader #vilkas skyrim #skyrim vilkas #vilkas

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marimayscarlett · 5 months

Note

This is a FREE pass to deep dive into ANY of your favorite thing(s) about Mr. Zee Kay!!! I wanna hear EVERYTHING about your favorite thing, I love seeing your deep dives and essays on the most important subject to exist ❤️

❗ CAUTION. LONG-ISH POST AHEAD. ❗

Hi! First of all:

Kissies for you for sending me this ask, thank you so much! This has been sitting in my inbox for a while now since it took me ages to decide what this post should be about. I didn't want to make yet another fashion/stage outfit/etc post, so I decided to do something different with it.

I decided this will be a long ass post about Richard's outspokenness and honesty in interviews and some of my favourite quotes/topics he spoke about in the past. This man has A LOT to say and sometimes is brutally honest with his answers. You ask him how he's doing or what he thinks about XYZ? Prepare for a lengthy and detailed reply. You ask him something silly or boring? Be prepared he quite actually reacts quite directly on it.

This list will be sorted by three topics: 1. Quotes regarding work with Rammstein, Emigrate and in general, 2. Quotes about his personal life and finally, 3. Unhinged shit Richard says since this man sometimes has no filter.

All interviews will be linked, german quotes are translated into english. Prepare yourself, this will be long and self-indulgend and I'm probably the only person who's really interested in this stuff but i don't CARE, I love reading about and listening to this man and I'll use this post to my liking thanks to this lovely, lovely anon 💞 Let's get started 👀🤍

Richard on working with Rammstein and Emigrate and music in general

In this interview, Richard talks about being put into the right wing corner by the german media and how hard it is for him and the band: "You want to shout it out loud and convince people otherwise, only to find that nobody listens because nobody wants to know. They want you in this corner. That was very disillusioning."

Here he gives an example for his immeasurable perfectionism and how he tries to protect himself from it: "I spent a lot of time recording guitars over and over again. I ended up giving my guitar engineer the key to the locker where my guitar cabinets are and told him “Do not give me this key back”, otherwise I would have still been in there recording guitars right now.

In the same interview, he also gives an example how the whole Mutter problem came into play: "So if I’d come up with 45 ideas, then others in the band may feel they’d have to come up with 45 ideas as well. There was lot of pressure going on within Rammstein because of that."

Here Richard talks about how he, back in the GDR days, wandered from peer group to peer group to find his style: "I've always been bored of sticking with just one group of people. The metalheads got drunk too often. So I moved on - and I found that refreshing - to the punks …" Interviewer: … who didn't drink any less. "No, exactly. And they were also dirtier (laughs). Then I was with the bluesmen, and they always went to these blues fairs. And because they also drank a lot, they could sleep well, whereas I, who didn't drink, always woke up at three in the morning because I was so cold - we only had these thin cotton sleeping bags."

Richard on the amount of hours which go in one song of his [interview]: "At some point, I calculated that it takes me about 1000 hours on average for a song to reach the listener. But I don't want to think too much about the time involved. That would just be frustrating."

On his relationship with Flake and that he would be the one member of the band Richard would play an Emigrate album as a test run to [interview]: "Although someone like Flake would probably be very open to that. We have a lot of respect for each other and are in a lively exchange. For example, I regularly listen to his radio show - and call him afterwards to ask him what weird stuff he's been saying. (laughs)"

2. Richard on his personal life

In my alltime favourite podcast with Richard, he admist to seemingly being a quite difficult person to live with (apparently, only his daughter is able to and is relaxed enough to bring him inner peace). He hates talking in the morning, needs time for himself with no talking and reflect on things and sometimes is afraid/annoyed that he has to explain himself to others (since other people tend to take offense because of this). This is one of the reasons why he definitely can't imagine living together with a girlfriend again.

Here he talks about the evolution of friendship with Till: Intervier: How has your friendship changed over more than 30 years? Richard: "Well, as it goes in life: Unfortunately, there's never a happy ending. You should only meet friends once or twice a month. It's unnatural for men to be extremely close for decades. At some point you want to be left alone." Interviewer: You two are more like colleagues these days? Richard: "Sounds stupid, but that's kind of how it is. But I still have a basic trust: If anything happens, I know I can call Till and he'll be there, just like the others."

Here Richard admits to his immense moodiness at times: "I am a very moody person, my mood sometimes changes by the hour."

Why he likes western movies so much [interview]: "It might sound strange, but I have really early childhood memories of my father watching these cowboy movies and falling asleep… that ended up being part of my upbringing somehow."

And his fond memory of the wild times with Till after the wall came down [interview]: "Because at that time, in every house there was a techno or rave party, and we would go there, and 7 in the morning, he would bring his daughter to school, and then come back and we would stay there into the daytime, and dance to these electric beats — I mean, can you imagine us dancing like that?"

How he answers to a fan question in which movie/show he'd like to be a part of (musically or in general) [article]: "I would have loved to have been in Game of Thrones. I really love fantasy worlds, you know? Also Westworld."

3. Welcome to the unhinged RZK corner aka "Shit RZK says":

In this interview, he describes his relationship with music like this: "I believe the music itself must be the king, but I want to be the queen." Alrighty then 👀

Just overall this conversation with him thinking about filming himself having sex [interview]:

The Gauntlet: Do you always have that funny smile during sex? [regarding the Pussy MV]

Richard: "I actually never watched myself but you have a point. I really should watch myself or videotape it. I never really...I can do it. I did that a long time ago but every girl is different. Do I really smile? Sometimes I guess, I will have to check that out. You really have me thinking on that one."

This man seemingly tried every therapy under the sun, which is good, but this one left me a bit speechless [interview]: "I always had the feeling that I was a king without a nation. That was always in my head and I once did reincarnation therapy and experienced this life. It was really interesting and this song came out of that [song: Born on my own].

Here he admits to throwing a guitar at Lemmy Kilmister: "It was the third time a roadie had given me an out-of-tune guitar. So I threw it at him. Unfortunately, Lemmy was standing there watching the show from the side of the stage. But I didn't know that, I just saw Lemmy disappear. That was very embarrassing for me."

Or he throws his credits cards at sales women (how about some anger management my guy): "The last time I was there [New York], I wanted to pay for a coffee in a café with a hundred dollar bill. But not because I wanted to be a big shot, but because I just had this one bill in my pocket. The sales woman hissed at me and threw the bill back over the counter. I just thought: She's out of her mind. I then threw my credit card at her. I was really angry."

If you made it to the end of this post, I really applaud you and apologize for my rambling yet again 🙏 I could go on and on (I didn't even started with quoting the video interviews), but I think since I'm the only one who's into this, I stop right here 😅 Have some smiley Richard as a reward 🍀

#rammstein #richard kruspe #ask #i'm so sorry dear anon that this took so long #but well #i am delusional and way over the top about this man and I admit to it #thank you for this ask!!!

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alpaca-clouds · 26 days

Text

Solarpunk-Review: Soylent Green is People! by Carlos Orsi

Preface: I asked a couple of months ago, whether people would be interested to read reviews of different Solarpunk shortstories, given that I have collected quite a few Solarpunk anthologies. And several people said, they were. (Shoutout to @solarpunkpresentspodcast!) Hence I am going to start posting a review once or twice a week now. I will start by reviewing the stories from Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable world, given that this anthology is very much part of the beginning of Solarpunk as a genre. Though this means too, that certain ideas of Solarpunk might not be quite as thought through yet.

Summary

The nameless protagonist is a private detective. When a well-known and rich engineer dies by suicide and his mother disappears, several people want to either see the mother found or the death confirmed. After all, there is a considerable heritage to speak about. A heritage that both the engineer's girlfriend, and the mother's church want to lay claim to.

General Review

As it is so often with detective stories that hinge on a big mystery, it is quite hard to review this story, without going too far into spoiler territory. And given this story relies on the central mystery to keep you going (especially as it is fairly long for a short story), I will not spoil it.

It was kinda funny how this story very much did feel like a noir story, though I might note that I really could have done without the attractiveness of female characters being a topic that somehow had to be brought up against and again throughout this story. And while the female characters were not exactly sexualized, with each of them (even the missing 90yo mother) attractiveness was a thing that was brought out.

The mystery itself worked really good though. I was invested in it and the final twist was a good one, that I quite enjoyed. Now, I could point out one major plothole in there - but it is not one that I can talk about without spoiling the story. So just know: Something about the end of the story leaves open a big plothole that to me was not properly answered.

The Solarpunk Factor

Let me talk about the aspect, that I want to bring up in all of these reviews: How Solarpunk is this story?

And honestly, to me the point where it lost me in this regard is the very beginning, where the story brings up that the missing mother was disabled, and it goes: "Could you believe that? She totally chose to be disabled!!!" Because we quickly learn, that basically in this world nobody really is disabled, given that with cybertech and genetech most disabilities have been healed. And while the story at times feels at least somewhat critical of this societal pressure to get yourself cured - and also have your looks changed through genetech - it was this fact that really did not make this story feel Solarpunk to me.

Honestly, in general I got to say that for several reasons (some of which again are very essential to the reveal, hence I will not spoil them) this story felt as if it was set more in a very eco-friendly biopunk world, rather than anything I would consider actually Solarpunk. Partly, too, because we also quickly learn that this world is definitely one of capitalism still.

#solarpunk #solarpunk review #short stories #short story review #anthology #science fiction #biopunk #cyberpunk

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birthdaycakeplate · 1 year

Text

It’s only a year late, Anon, but I hope you find and enjoy this, because I ✨LOVED 💖this request. I really hyperfixated on Optimus being appreciated for once (and being doted on, respectfully). Thank you for making it, you are so good and wonderful for this ask💕 (((I FORGOT TO HIT ANSWER WHEN I POSTED THIS EJWKWKKEKEME, OH MY LORD)))

As a PSA to all the readers, this got WAY out of hand and somehow ended up being monstrously long AGAIN, so-

⭕️ BEWARE THE READ MORE⭕️

(Go to my page and open it there so you aren’t stuck ruining your dashboard and can leave the fic easier)

Warnings in the tags💕

——————————————-

On a painfully uneventful evening such as this, stuck in a room with bots old and frail enough to evaporate into thin air from the weight of their air headed blather, Megatron was looking forward to doing some private reading later- someplace far away from this mockery of a court with all its prejudice.

This was how the Autobots did things? No wonder nothing ever got done- If Decepticons took this long talking in circles, talking at all, they would have been beaten back by their enemy faction by a sly, cunning leader, too, by now.

Megatron resisted sighing outwardly.

Reading would be such a sweet consolation for having to sit through these nearsighted windbags running their mouths all cycle. If only he could be certain he could survive this with half a processor in tact.

Besides Ultra Magnus’ obsession with flight tariffs in civil frame cities driving Megatron to a powerful processor ache, there was also the matter of this proud, little idiot stood here before him- so enveloped in his own heedless jargon it was threatening to dull Megatron’s logic center, if nobody put a stop to his rambling.

This one’s ego was much too big for him, continuously having to make himself known. He, Sentinel Prime, shouldn’t even be here.

And then the other mech so abysmally out of his depths here -Optimus Prime- was only here at all, because he’d been crowned a hero for having offered these council mechs Megatron’s head on a platter some months ago. Too bad he’d left it attached to the rest of him- Megatron would make sure the Prime would come to regret it by the end of these ‘negotiations’.

If he somehow hadn’t already, constantly being tortured by Megatron instigating his dear, precious Magnus from across the court.

Judging by the exasperated glare Prime sent Megatron’s way every few arguments, and Megatron purposely ignoring his very existence, it was only a matter of time before Optimus caved and would have to excuse himself to collect the necessary patience. And Megatron would watch him go with a smirk, thinking how it was all too bad the little firetruck couldn’t be helped to finally learn his place in this big mech world -far bigger than him- and spare himself this misery.

There was much to be ungrateful for during these sessions, and yet still, probably the most enraging offense on Megatron’s person of all -even keeping company like this, with council mechs considering his rights as casually as if they were discussing the weather- was that the very same bot who’d made a fool of him and delivered him in stasis cuffs to the Auotbot’s mercy kept injecting himself into matters too important for him… on Megatron’s behalf.

Defending a (capable) nefarious warlord in front of the masses like an absolute martyr.

At least so when something truly as appalling as treatment for ground sickness in civilian spaces was disregarded as a priority, and not considered a sanity-threatening emergency, was suggested. Proving that Optimus Prime might be the first Autobot to possess a modicum of honor.

Suggestions as flippant as that quickly became few and far between, as Optimus’ constant pestering was driving everyone up the wall- every Autobot quietly disgusted by the notion of rights for war mechs, anyway. Which appeared to be the entire panel in Megatron’s only slightly biased opinion, as he was sat here before them.

Optimus paid them no mind- had started out quiet and humble, so uncertain of his place here. Appropriately so, if you asked Megatron. But Primus had he found it when Sentinel had suggested ‘docked wings’ on Decepticons who broke the new laws…

“I wasn’t talking first time offenders!” The plow tried to correct, like that wouldn’t burn a hole through Optimus all the same from the sheer, righteous indignity of it.

Optimus, who was rarely ever sat with his aft properly in his podium seat and spent much of the deliberation bouncing around on his pedes, pointing fingers and making wild gestures the more his patience thinned, met his limit then.

“We will never modify their frames in any nonconsensual way, Sentinel! Primus, what is wrong with you!?”

Megatron could answer that question for the little firetruck. These out of touch bigots were terrified of him -despite their proud, ‘fearless Autobot’ front.

They were scared of Megatron and the other war machines, and they’d be wise to hold strong to those insecurities, lest they have anymore ideas of a faction wide extermination that would ascend into yet another eternal war.

It’d be the same subject matter, at least.

Sometimes, it became exhausting keeping up with of all the atrocities that’d transpired between them over the years, and he’d rather like to keep his thumb between the pages, holding his place for when this treaty inevitably fell through and he had to pick up right where he’d left off. Somewhere around escaping prison thanks to idiot, imposter Magnuses to come skewer the real one.

Even now that things had become slightly more progressive -given they Autobots had been forced to concede to him- there was still the odd daydream of his of striking Magnus from off of his throne. Most recently for making him sign documentation of all the war mech’s in his faction under an ominously familiar act to keep designations on close hand.

How…uncanny.

In fact, Megatron had signed it purely out of his own shock and amusement to see if Ultra Magnus would realize what it was he was resurrecting from the dark depths of their shared history by demanding such a thing.

‘To keep record of everyone entering into the new era of peace accounted for’.

Well, then. How convenient an excuse. Clearly, Megatron wasn’t the only one without a single hope for their unification.

In support of that depressing thought, Ultra Magnus had said little to protest or encourage what his council mechs were offering -pushing- other than when he was strictly needed to make great speeches to quiet Megatron’s kin of their outrage. Often just sat there staring listlessly out over the chaos of council members and Decepticon high command at Megatron’s back, ranting and raving over one another. Looking more and more forlorn, more and more distant.

He must have walked into this as sure as the Earth’s sun that this would be a lost cause. He’d only bothered placating any of this, because the other option was simply to concede and die…

Megatron, to be contrary -despite his own doubts in this movement- was becoming more irritated that Magnus expected him to be such a lost cause. These talks of merging their species a chore and an impossible one…

That Optimus was spurred on all the more by Ultra Magnus’ silence, trying to take the reigns in an effort to lead the others with his boundless, pitiful optimism towards the notion that there was any value to them fighting for this forsaken, ideological future was perhaps a tiny bit comforting. It was, after all, Megatron’s only real source of entertainment during these talks, as Strika had insisted on presenting herself seriously, unwilling to make small talk while Autobot bureaucrats were speaking.

Useless. This was all wasted time, Megatron was sure of it… As sure as Magnus…

Somehow still, he managed to weather an entire cycle more of this undignified dressing down of his rights and quickly stood, eager to push his way out of the chambers first before he could be tethered to another post council scourge where the Autobots fought amongst themselves to push their own opinions upon an absent Decepticon faction. Too self-indulged to realize the underhandedness of such a thing.

Perhaps he should reconsider killing them during another of Magnus’ speeches instead. For the sake of dramatics and some much needed entertainment.

On this particular exhausting cycle, though, Optimus Prime -absolutely fuming- seemed to have the same idea as him about being the first one out of the Council’s logic leeching vacuum. That he was the main cause of said scourging amongst his leaders and peers -and Sentinel, the instigator- allowed Megatron a moment of calm to slow his steps some ways behind him and enjoy the sight of one puffed up Prime getting exactly what he deserved for bringing Megatron onto this cursed planet with a functioning sparkbeat.

He looked ready to kick Sentinel’s podium on the way out, if he were the type of mech to lose his temper Lin such a way.

Megatron remembered the trip back to Cybertron being not at all how he’d imagined it. Beaten, torn to pieces, and struggling to vent, Megatron had seen a fair glimpse of the kind of mech Optimus Prime really was when battle and desperation weren’t marring his processor.

He couldn’t say he was impressed with a bot with such… he was just so… Optimus was so…

The only way Megatron could describe the humiliating -though enlightening- encounter without sacrificing his ego was to simply say that he hadn’t the opportunity to meet an Autobot Elite as unexpectedly humble and sincere as Optimus Prime before.

How embarrassing to have been beaten by such a bleeding spark…

The little mech cared about… everything. And he cared too much.

Unfortunately, the effort he put into it was quite misplaced. If he could only have the foresight to see who his genuine nature was being expended upon, who was taking advantage of it, he’d have turned to the Decepticon’s for guidance and a purpose.

Not that Megatron wanted him there.

Megatron gave a huff and removed himself from those thoughts, lest he provoke the unfortunate memories that’d came with them -stuck at the mercy of what he’d just discovered at the time to be a Primus forsaken maintenance bot, serving him back his own aft like he’d been doing it for centuries prior.

The discovery had been too humiliating too bare…

His little consolation for everything the Prime had put him through on Earth was that he was still a nobody here. He was spoken over, talked down to by Ultra Magnus on occasion, and largely ignored. Which is what Megatron intended to do himself for the rest of this pretend peace he was forced to serve under.

Pretend Optimus Prime was a bot without an ounce of worth behind his false title, something to be forgotten in the history of Megatron’s millions of years of fortitude and success.

And as he looked down at his retreating figure, hustling towards the doors to rid himself the indignity of todays events, Megatron knew in his spark that this would be the most he’d ever spare in acknowledging the Prime- only enough to delight in his suffering.

He could survive these sessions with that in mind, if it could only have stayed true.

“They don’t seem to know what’s good for them.” The Decepticon, a jet, said blithely. He was standing guard by the entrance on the Decepticon’s floor. That Optimus didn’t bother with his faction’s floor in a means to get out of there sooner was another odd consolation for Megatron against the withering glares from the council mech’s at the tiny fool’s backstrut.

Optimus didn’t seem to pay this mech any mind either.

“No, they don’t.” He snapped back at him, without a single glance at the jet. And yet, there was something there in his tone Megatron couldn’t quite place when he heard it -nor cared to- as he lazily followed behind him.

In the split second the jet had to respond before Optimus was good and gone, stomping and storming off as fearsomely as any ‘Con about triple his size, the guard tilted his helm his way to try and extend the last few moments they had.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Prime.”

To Megatron’s confusion, Optimus stopped. His shoulders losing some of their tension as his helm fell back on a sigh.

“Sorry… I’ll try... And Thanks.”

The jet smiled at him, and from this angle, Megatron could just make out the corner of Optimus’ lip plates tilting upward, returning it.

‘Familiarity’… That’s what it was.

———————————————-

Boredom was about Megatron’s only motivator to look into the odd spectacle he’d witnessed. Waiting for the council room to fill and the doors to close, preparing for another arduous cycle of negotiations, Megatron leant back in his chair, hardly built for his massive size as it was, and hissed nasally into Strika’s audial.

“Who is that?” He cut his optics over at the chipper looking jet.

How dare he not be sharing in Megatron’s crushing despair for having to be here.

“Jou know who jour mechs are.” Strika answered back.

Megatron considered the mech a moment. He was silver and rather tall for a jet. A sleek frame with black indentations up the underside of each wings- one of his more noticeable features. One a Decepticon might think attractive with its cutting edges and sharp angles.

Megatron certainly did know him, granted he’d gone through several reformations since joining the cause.

He tried to remember why.

This jet proved significantly more capable of handling injuries than most other winged mechs of his slender, shorter stature. He’d seen some extensive upgrades, and if Megatron was correct, had managed to deserve each and every one of them under his field commander’s favor.

Oh, right- and Starscream hated him. Pretty to look at, easy to grab, obedient and a good listener, as well as a good fighter. Of course Megatron would have agreed to special treatment like reformations for a mech like that, so long as he was sure Starscream would wind up jealous and bitter about it.

Considering his near civil mech size, this one was a powerhouse -and a good choice for their chamber room guard post then. Not that Megatron could believe a room full of even the most capable Autobot warriors could subdue him without the jet‘s aid.

But that image conjured up another one- the memory of this jet streaking across a scarlet sky with Energon dripping from his wingtips. A splash of it falling down and momentarily blinding Megatron’s opponent before he’d decapitated them.

Saberswipe, Megatron finally recalled. A winged mech who dissected enemies using a unique blend of speed and force. How fitting then.

Megatron didn’t like him…

“He vants to frag Prime.” Said Strika, then. Unnecessarily.

Megatron cuts his optics at her next.

“Maybe he wouldn’t be such an unbearable pain then.” He said rather stuffily.

“Optimus Prime has too much time on his servos to be as meddlesome as he is. He needs a hobby.”

“Like fragging a flighty, pint sized jet?”

“Like fragging himself, more like.” Megatron scoffed, then surveyed the platforms opposite him, looking for said nuisance to come and claim his seat soon, and the pestering to begin.

“Vatch your mouth.” Strika snarled into his audial, immediately drawing Megatron’s attention back.

He looked at her, slack jawed and optic ridge pinched. Completely offended by her outburst. She didn’t look the least bit repentant.

In fact, as war frames often did with one another, she stared him right back in the optics, challenging him. Her permanent frown somehow impressively deepening.

Megatron’s processor slowed to a tick.

“What was that, General?” He ground out, finally grasping that one of his subordinates had just had the gall to openly disrespect him in such a way.

The tank leaned into him, drawing a curious glance from the old and foolish Trion who frequently attempted to keep tabs on the Decepticon board from across the way. Looking terribly unsubtle about it, too.

“Vatch what jou say about Prime.” Strika rumbled.“He does not deserve jour ridicule, too.”

Nearly lost for words in one debilitating moment of insanity, Megatron needed time for his processor to climb back up to a functional rhythm.

Strika’s gaze did not waver, shockingly. Staring him down with all the confidence and reassertion she only ever expended defending the honor of her delusional mate, Lugnut.

Which this was….. odd…

“He deserves every ounce of it.” Megatron said slowly, gobsmacked. Because had Strika forgotten how they’d gotten themselves here?

Had she forgotten how her suddenly precious little Prime had gotten him here?

“He is the reason we are being forced to kneel to the Autobot’s.”

“He is za reason we may all have a chance at peace, finally. He is za reason zese negotiations have gone on for as long as zhey have vithout falling through.”

“Because he won’t stop inserting himself-“

“Which is the reason we’ve had a voice for ourselves on that half of the chamber.”

Megatron felt a very childish rebuttal coming up any second now.

“We are strong enough to be our own voices!”

They’d had to be for lifetimes now.

Where had it gotten them, though?

“They von’t listen to us.” Strika said simply. Obviously.

They both already knew, despite how much it pained Megatron to think he was worth so little respect from even Ultra Magnus these days as to be heard, when he had gone and conquered worlds. Had posed as the single most monstrous threat to Autobot society for generations.

“Prime is making zem listen.” Strika reinforced, a tad more gentler. Which was worse than her disrespect.

Megatron felt the tension in his shoulder joints loosen, defeated yet again by Strika’s superior logic unit. One reason she made such a brilliant general, and did just a good enough job to help him remember his own place in things.

Help him remember his undoubtable greatness and value as a warrior and intelligent mind still weren’t enough to sway the narrow minds and bigoted forces of the Autobot Commonwealth. She was just objective enough to understand her loyalty for her master wouldn’t translate for some- for many. And she was right -had probably saved these negotiations countless times without him even knowing- to help him see that for himself.

He’d be feeding her her spike for it later.

“It shouldn’t be that way…” He huffed, all but pouting like the 14 million year old warlord he was for anyone tracking the conversation in the room to see.

“I agree- and he doesn’t zink so, either.“ Strika said, turning back to face the finally full room with her optics settling over the little Prime, entranced in his own tireless note taking.

“How fortunate are we, zhen to have a such a find listener? Zhat isn’t a question, by ze way. Now shut up and vatch.”

The session began as it always did- with the little red Bumblebee lookalike announcing the designations of all parties present and then the article of debate. In today’s case, it was about the mythical Decepticon housing distribution problem.

Optimus’ finials pricked up in interest, readying himself to take a stand.

Megatron turned away.

“You hate peace, Strika.” He said mournfully. His servos crossed over his chest, as he stared over at Saberswipe diligently standing guard. His optics also settled heavily over the brightly colored Prime. But he was only safe place in the room at the moment for Megatron to rest his optics.

Megatron was always happiest with his processor busy plotting, and he had much to think about when he set his optics on the tall, agile jet.

—————————

Despite feeling like a part time prisoner still, which was somewhat true, Megatron was glad to spend a cycle outside of that court of self-aggrandizing windbags, and in the beautiful plated streets of the lovely Iacon City for a change. Standing in the place he’d once stood millennia ago, screaming at the top of his voice box until his synthesizer was stripped raw for the helm of the mech who’d signed the miner outpost off and left him and his kin an empty future.

He remembered his fellow war mech’s at his back, looking to him -the bravest of the lot- to get them answers. To take it from the first senator to get down off his high podium and face them all. Having finally reached a point in his life where he was willing to throw his life away, if that was what it would take to be heard.

Civil frames avoided him, splitting perfectly down the middle as they went, trying to avoid him. Dodging eye contact, apologizing for having to pass by him at all- those who didn’t cross the street entirely.

One such mech was not so cowed by his domineering, gravely presence on their clean, shiny streets.

“Hiya, Megatron. You’re needed in the chambers today.”

Megatron looked the large, green swat van over. Twice. Wondering when and where he had gotten the audacity.

“Are you an errand boy, now?” He jabbed, looking for a weak spot in Optimus’ most even tempered, well adjusted ex-crew mate.

“Nope. Just doin’ Prime a favor. He, uh, wanted to discuss the housing issue some more the other day, but Ultra Magnus said it’d need to be done in an official setting. You’re the other faction leader, sooo… y’know.”

So one of Optimus’ post meeting scourges had pushed enough frayed nerves to get itself a platform.

Megatron was not about to subject himself to Optimus -an Autobot- openly condemning Megatron’s -an actual Decepticon- insistence that Decepticons did not need the ‘frivolities’ that civil types did in their hypothetical habsuites, and that he was ‘thinking like a pampered little civil frame’ when he had insisted each Decepticon be given a balcony and sky view for easy take off.

Optimus did not know what Decepticons needed, Megatron -a Decepticon- obviously did. Why hadn’t he left it alone? Why did he always have to go behind his backstrut?

Because he knew having one less oppressive opinion of Optimus’ place there in the room would be enough to force himself to be heard?

And if he was as great as Strika (confusingly, peculiarly, horrifically) had said, then he would know they ‘needed’ an open, more communal space for their habitats. Once, when he’d cared to hear it, Megatron had recalled somebot saying that seekers didn’t do so well when separated, and seekers made up a large part of his flyers.

Which speaking of-

“That is why Starscream exists.” Megatron glowered at Bulkhead.

Yes, Starscream was here as his no good, useless second in command. It’d been torture having to reinstate that rank at the start of this jumbled negotiation mess.

Bulkhead only shrugged.

“She didn’t show up.”

Megatron sighed, palm coming up to cover his forehelm.

He did love his cycles away from the council room, as their newest instrument of torture -them opening their mouths- too much for his poor, weathered spark.

But today was not his day to indulge.

He turned away and left Bulkhead standing there, shrugging off the taller mech’s awful attitude -used to Prowl’s and Bumblebee’s- and marched himself away from the council chambers. He took flight in the middle of a crowded city of startled grounders and off towards the Nemesis’ docking bay, stationed in the vacant hollow of the once prosperous Kaon, where it was sat idly. His poor ship.

On a day like this, where Starscream had been summoned to preform and had unsurprisingly failed again to do so, the useless seeker would no doubt be hiding away in the command quarters, rather than out enjoying the city skylights from the shuttle ports. Lazing about precarious platforms and swinging a pede over an edge into the open air, enjoying herself.

She’d be smart enough to know with that alarming sixth sense of her that Megatron would be out looking for her today. Looking to tear off some wingstruts.

Decepticons cleared the way as their thunderous leader landed and stomped his way up the deck, much like the civil frames had in the Iacon Plaza.

Megatron was marginally saddened to find Starscream hadn’t taken the opportunity of his absence to claim ownership of his throne and do all her sulking there, as he always felt it was a bit instigative of him to shred the seeker to pieces when she hadn’t gone and stupidly earned it.

When he finally found her huddled in on herself in a bulkhead, he had to forced his claws to retract.

She stood there, facing away from the quiet commotion of the bridge with her servos crossed, staring at the floor with a scowl. Processor deep in conniving thought.

Some threatening on Megatron’s part was still in order, at least.

“Get… your scrap metal wings… your lazy skidplate… down to the council chambers!” Megatron roared, startling the seeker out of her trance, as she spun around to access the danger she was in.

Megatron stood before her, towering and menacing, impossible to make out the expression of in the lightless war ship. Though she did catch the distinct glint of fanged denta baring themselves from the glow of monitor stations.

“Now.” Megatron rasped, pointing for target enhanced optics to see at the vague location of the Autobot Council Chambers. Miles and miles away.

After a moment looking him over, frown stuck to her faceplates, Starscream immediately assumed her usual dramatics, ‘scrap metal wings’ challenging Megatron in a high arch.

“Never,” She hissed back, baring her own sharp denta. Already protesting against his authority and he’d only just gotten there.

Megatron, finally having been able to get some fresh air in his vents away from the horrid hell hole Prime was trying to shove him back into, was able to find the strength to summon his ire over his exhaustion.

His optics glowed dangerously as his plating ruffled. Making his already impressive frame seem somehow bigger.

“Starscream. Go. At. Once.”

Starscream still was not cowed. Curiously. Worryingly.

She brought her claws out to her sides, extending them, readying for the first strike.

“No…”

Megatron was only slightly surprised to see how affected his selfish, self-absorbed seeker was by attending the lengthy meetings of Autobot jargon that did little, if anything, to center themselves around her haughty presence there. Because of course she wouldn’t want to whittle her time away there, it was never about her.

It was always about Megatron and his great presence and incredible intellect. His ability to have every last one of the sniveling Autobots wiped clean as a species, should they cross him. Starscream could never stand being overshadowed by his-

“I’m not going back there!” She screeched at him.

Megatron reached for a sheathed sword he wore in purposeful protest of Magnus’ law forbidding war frame’s of dawning weapons in the presence of civil mechs, as it hadn’t yet been set into motion.

But then her words suddenly clicked.

“What do you mean, ‘go back there’? You’ve been excluded from sessions while in my company… Because I barred you.”

Lord, had he.

“I barred myself, when you wouldn’t stop gloating about ridiculous, ancient, irrelevant history!” Starscream countered, giving Megatron a sudden and strange feeling that reason was a fallacy.

“Nobody cares how you handled the pre-faction Destrons- or how ‘great you are’ at leading a washed out, embarrassment of an ex-faction! It doesn’t make you a good leader, it doesn’t mean you deserve anyone’s respect! Especially not mine!”

Megatron’s optic twitched.

AllSpark, give him strength.

“Your presence has not been requested or necessary for a decacycle, Starscream. I’ve been handling everything- this was my one cycle away from their pointless rambling-“

“That’s what you think!” Starscream said snidel. Igniting equal parts worry and confusion in Megatron’s fuel tank.

Because she had better not been stepping a single heeled thruster into that fucking joke of a council of theirs, or else he’d-

“You don’t care about the needs of streamlined frames, you know! I have to be there!”

Megatron blinked his confusion, but he made sense of things rather quickly.

“You mean you and your clones?”

“Yes!” Starscream instantly recognized which insufferable tone Megatron was using on her.

“Obviously, you old fool!”

“Starscream-!”

“I have a skeletal scaffold to pick with them, too, you know!” Starscream flittered her wings in agitation, ignoring whatever danger she was in and rambling over him.

“You may not have the spacial awareness to see it for yourself, but I’m in there plenty! You never think to address the feuling crisis for streamlined frames! The clone seekers have varying needs, we aren’t genetically identical, or have you somehow overlooked Skywarp’s built in warpdrive?! What about Thundercracker’s sonic boom?!”

Thundercracker’s what…?

Oh, Primus.

“They are seekers of my own making,” Starscream screeched so loud, the nearest star outside the viewport flickered, hearing her call.

“They’re not… not thoughtfulness productions and weapons!”

Megatron’s lip curled.

“Your missing spark is an enigma. Who would bother learning every special delicate need your radiated, mutated miscreants require in order to find their shoddy, miserable existence in this world like the rest of us?”

“Optimus Prime would.” Starscream muttered more to herself, rolling her optics.

Megatron’s look of disgust was quickly wiped from his faceplate. Confusion and -oddly- betrayal took its place, as he searched Starscream’s frowning face for answers he dared not ask for.

Starscream looked conflicted as well- beneath the prevalent, thick layer of spite, anyway- and conceded to an explanation.

“He’s working to reduce the classification the clone seekers are subjected to- the Auotbots think they function like workerbots…” Starscream’s derma twisted up at the thought of those nameless mechs, existing without identities, being compared to her wild, wayward clone brothers.

Megatron very consciously chose not to feel anything when he noticed those bots slinking around, doing typical maintenance work and looking unnervingly devoid of a processor.

“That little Earth Prime,” Starscream’s wing flicked.

“He’s taking note of my seekers, what they each need to survive here, how much they need. He isn’t just throwing them together and hoping the new laws and resources sort them all out- that’d be like throwing me and Bonecrusher into a blind conjunxing so you could be done with me.” She shivered violently at the thought.

“He knows the clones aren’t inherently compatible with one another… we’re… that we’re… different people. You know?”

Starscream pulled a face.

“Maybe you don’t know... It’s all a wasted effort anyway. Like you, no one seems to care long enough to learn even the most basic needs of our individual maintenance.”

Starscream shuttered her optics and balled her servos up.

“No one cares to know. Starscream will slip her way out of any mess, but what happens when the mess is about to become your only option to a better future? It’s this or live with nothing in a stockade underground somewhere…”

Starscream was sounding eerily alike she was trying to stave off a watery edge to her vocalizer. Looking away to hide her despair.

Megatron would admit he hadn’t been aware of the existence of this issue -stood there dumbstruck into silence- but it made some molecule of sense to him.

Shockwave had said something about environments and Energon sources as being large factors in issues with accurate cloning. The crazed and unethical servos of their scientist inventors didn’t help with that either, Megatron imagined.

….As they had seen all of such with Toxitron and Nemesis.

Despite Optimus’ stilted, but eventually genuine welcome of the two newest Decepticons into his existentially horrified life, they were both problems for another day. And thankfully, too, ones Optimus was willing to tackle. Seemingly feeling responsible for their creation in some nonsensical way.

Which was also good for him, as Megatron did not want to have to deal with another argument about his inexcusable, abhorrent lack of ethics from Ultra Magnus after what he himself had approved to have happen to the young, susceptible jet twins.

But for now, he was far too tired to deal with anymore insufferable self-doubt, and waved a single servo towards the exit while his other clutched at his aching helm.

“Just go, Starscream. You are needed- do your one and only job.”

“Didn’t you hear me?” She shrieked, energy boundless.

“I’m not going back!”

Megatron tried to ignore the terrified mechs typing away at their monitor stations, fields all buzzing with nerves at their two temperamental commanders’ increasingly passionate spat.

Then the sharp edge of Starscream’s wings spreading out wide at her back brought his attention to the suddenly conflicted looking faceplate of his dear SIC once more.

“They want to silence him!” She continued, failing suddenly to mask the indifference in her voice.

“That idiot with the hammer told him to stop pressing the matter!”

Starscream’s attempt at dressing down the Magnus was a frail one. Desperation was muddling her clever tongue and making her optics blur (to Megatron’s mounting horror).

“Then that, that… useless garbage plow told him it ‘didn’t matter’! He said it wasn’t important! Can you- you believe that?!”

Megatron stood in frozen terror as her vocalizer caught. Watching helplessly as she waved about, fighting back a very real danger to cry.

Blitzwing, formerly a seeker, appeared to be the only bot left in the room not glued faceplate first into his monitor. Wings pricking in interest.

He seemed oddly invested in the whole thing, in Megatron’s opinion. Megatron, who tried not to believe in such things as dwelling on one’s former self. He’d thought Blitzwing wouldn’t worry about something like that either, but… maybe there was something more there he wasn’t seeing.

“And that stupid, little fool…” Starscream hadn’t enough sheer willpower to keep her opinions to herself and avoid the threat of finally crying her optics out in the most un-Decepticon like fashion, in front of a room full of them…

“He told Prime to ‘be quiet’.”

Like Optimus asking for these powerful mechs to hear the voices of others was some ‘annoying inconvenience’.

Or more like Optimus was some annoying inconvenience to them.

They’d certainly done nothing to welcome him there since these negotiations had began, trying to talk over him. Trying to silence him. Trying to bully him.

He’d done more than any of them had in reuniting their peoples with next to nothing to do it with.

And that may only be because he was the only one who wanted to so badly…

The coolant evaporated from the corners of Starscream’s optics in an instant -a god delivered blessing. Instead, it was outrage taking it’s hold and possessing her.

Megatron’s self-perseveration protocols surged to life.

“I’m going to gut them for talking like that,” Megatron’s sparkbeat began to pulse rapidly, knowing that look in her optic then.

“I’m going to pull out his glossa and feed it to Skullcruncher- I’m going to do it right now, in fact! I’m going to the council-“

It was that fearless look where vengeance blinded her and became more important to Starscream than basic logic- of shabby promises of truces.

And Megatron of all mechs was about to be the one to save a board full of outdated models from the wrath of the pit itself, despite knowing they deserved it.

He reached out and caught her by her sensitive wings, unnerved by the way she didn’t so much as flinch in pain from it. This was that mad- mad, that ‘you’ve disrespected a self-appointed Decepticon Prince’ mad.

“No, Starscream. That will undo everything we’ve accomplished-“

“What have we accomplished?!”

“It will undo everything I’ve had to waste my time sitting through, then. Starscream- Starscream-!”

The seeker twisted out of his grasp and, before she could attempt to take flight and race over to the senate to claim herself a pretty, new neck piece, Megatron caught her about the waist and struggled against her sheer force of selfish will to keep her thrusters grounded. Possibly the first time the foolish creature had ever posed such a real and bothersome threat to him.

She attempted lift off again anyway, squashing Megatron’s face into her cockpit as she scratched and clawed and fought for freedom. Mechs typing away at their terminals, desperately trying to ignore the chaos behind them, were inches away from breaking their far less bendable struts than the average civil mech’s by crouching so far down into their stations, some of the mechs with kibble were scraping against raw protoform.

Hiding from emotional conflict like true Decepticons.

Megatron hadn’t been met with this level of danger from the seeker in years. He was afraid he was about to meet his match when, finally, another pair of servos circled her about the waist from the other side, and she was brought back down between Megatron and her other captor.

She didn’t struggle, preserving some ounce of dignity after that extremely unbecoming display.

But the mournful look in her optic was back, and the hitch in her vocalizer was fresh, as she hiccuped an aborted sniff. Muted only by the grind of her denta in a valiant effort to compose herself.

“He was jus- t… trying to help me… No one’s…” She steadied herself.

“No one’s ever done that before…”

Megatron stared, unable to think of a single thing to say to break the uncomfortable spell cast over them, as he looked at his normally carefully distant Second. So careful not to be vulnerable- and never in front of Megatron, for Primus’ sake.

What had these negotiations done to them?

His fearless warriors…

Perhaps he could say to her that Optimus Prime was just one mech, and a young, inexperienced one. No more a crucial factor in her getting the representation Megatron was hard pressed to say her obedient clones didn’t actually deserve, even if she herself did not. But then, Optimus was apparently also the only one pushing this issue that Megatron hadn’t even been made aware of- because the admittedly accurate assumption of Starscream’s was that he hadn’t cared to be.

What he was mortifyingly close to understanding now, though, was that Optimus Prime was important to Starscream’s cause, and far from worthy of the routine mistreatment he received from of his own people.

Unless, of course, Megatron thought that his people secretly deserved such mistreatment themselves- the kind Optimus was tirelessly fighting against, though somehow failing to establish for himself. Like, if Megatron didn’t explicitly know better, Optimus was attempting to put the needs of a few Decepticons, the deserving ones, before his own… Like their proper treatment was at least worth fighting for…

He could say instead that Starscream was letting her behavior consume her and was looking a pitiful mess for it, and as vain as she was, that’d be devastating enough to hear that she might drop the issue. She had only recently established a change in the designation of her pronouns without receiving a reformation with it, garnering plenty of odd looks and outright rejection from the sleek and well-defined frames of civil types and those identifying similarly. The way they’d rejected Strika and Blackarachnia for not fitting certain standards.

It’d left Starscream feeling more fragile about her appearance and reputation lately, and such a thing would be shattering to have to acknowledge when her anger finally subsided and the weight of it all settled upon her.

But goading Starscream for something Megatron himself was constantly struggling against felt undeservedly hateful- the fight to be accepted and respected as well, as a Cybertronian with rights.

Though he couldn’t believe that Starscream didn’t seem deserving of a perfectly effective punishment he could inflict upon her.

“Thundercracker helps jou all ze time.” Said Blitziwng then, finally breaking the overwhelming tension of the moment. His grip still carefully settling her in her place.

Megatron blinked himself out of his stupor, out of his embarrassing lull of feeling guilt and concern for the seeker, and loosened his grip on her then.

Starscream took the opportunity to push both their arms from off her frame and sulk away with her wings indeed held pitifully low. They watched her go, and cords unwinding and struts re-straightening could be heard across the bridge in unison.

“Seekers are moody.” Blitzwing suggested, after a look over his unusually beaten master.

As evidenced by said former seeker’s split personalities, Megatron would agree with that assessment, and spun around in a hasty retreat from anymore emotional confrontations.

————————————

He didn’t allow himself to miss any deliberations after that, lest Starscream subject him to anymore of that guilt still weighing heavy in his spark with another pent up tirade about discrimination in her own faction some ways down the line.

This, watching Motormaster -a recent addition to high command and a poor one- barter for ‘derby rights’, however, wasn’t much better…

“Street racing is illegal.” Optimus said simply- something he’d picked up from Fanzone that had interestingly never been applicable to a race of sentiment, self-driving vehicles before.

Motormaster and his Stunticons were a… different breed, however. One which demanded a new definition for what qualified as ‘safe and legal driving’.

“You mean it’s illegal for war types ta’do it.” Motormaster growled back at him.

Plenty of other Decepticons here today would agree with that false assumption, simply for the sake of being contradictory. Flight frames included.

These talks hadn’t really done a thing to change the relationships between their peoples. They were all still viewing one another as an enemy threat, which, while true, would do nothing to help their goal of changing that viewpoint later on for their futures together.

Megatron wasn’t sure he wanted that to happen, though.

“Why in spark is this bolt head here?” Sentinel said loudly then, turning to Optimus. The only other mech there brave enough to speak over the terrifying Stunticon leader.

Interestingly enough, Sentimel Prime wasn’t particularly frightened to speak his mind at the insubordinate bastard either.

Megatron made a note of it for future blackmailings. He couldn’t send someone the airheaded Prime wasn’t afraid of to do his manipulating.

“Motormaster is Polyhex's defence garrison.” Optimus sighed, having a rare moment of sharing in Sentinel’s distress during one of these meetings.

“Uh-huh. Which you should be the one voicing all the complaints of.” Sentinel said, pointing at the Polyhexian governor, Straxus. Who Megatron had been embarrassingly forced to welcome into the senate, as his mostly made up position also came with lots of mostly made up authorities and responsibilities.

Then Starxus had the audacity -in front of Megatron- to speak.

“Well, yes… I suppose so. Would you… like me, too?”

Strika whipped her helm back to send Megatron a withering look of disgust- which he could share the sentiment of.

Straxus, never soft spoken and never one to acknowledge when he was speaking out of turn and not worth the hot air he was blowing out of his pincered mouth, had been using that tone in regards to Sentinel every time he spoke to the other mech for several weeks now.

Alpha Trion had, again, not so subtlety raised curious optics towards the display. Making his own list of alarming mental notes that Megatron would rather him not be keeping on even his most useless of subordinates.

“Our needs are individual.” Straxus said simply to the court at large.

“Burning excess energy is not a staple of my function, as it is a Stunticons. I’m a big mech. I need to conserve Energon, you know. Might I say, a very big mech…”

Straxus finished by staring pointedly at Sentinel again. Optimus watched from the corner of his optic, extremely invested in his colleague’s reaction- which was only to shuffle his datapads in front of his obnoxious face to hide it, like his notes were more important than addressing the issue he himself had caused by challenging the High Governor himself.

It was a rare moment the plow had been effectively silence.

“Alright then…” Optimus began slowly, clearly disappointed there wasn’t anything more to that interaction.

“Motormaster, war frames are obviously built with fewer limitations than civil frames. Releasing all your frustrations out on the public will result in injuries… To say the least.”

“So we’re just s’posed to fly over to Polyhex anytime we want to spin our wheels!? Get our exercise in?! It’s our right, y’know!”

“No, there are city destinations specifically designed for war frame inhabitants.” Optimus countered, much too calm in Megatron’s foul-tempered opinion. He’d like to see Motormaster verbally whipped to pieces in one of Optimus’ scathing sass-attacks from having lost his patience.

“Where are they?” Motormaster asked smugly, knowing the little Prime had just set himself up for another bout of endless bickering over the inadequacies of care the prejudiced Autobots were bleeding them of.

Which, true, but-

“They haven’t been built yet,” Shockwave -the biggest slight on the company of the proceeding council of any Decepticon mech here- answered on Optimus’ behalf. Though his presence had been won through the stipulation of Megatron agreeing to sign Magnus’ Decepticon Registration Act Part ll, he regretted nothing for the sake of the joy his place on the council had brought him.

“They are scheduled to be completed in less than another decacycle.” Shockwave leant over to stare at Motormaster.

“You can wait a little longer to run your tires to bare threads, can’t you?”

There was an air of irritation about the secular mech. Megatron eyed him several seat podiums down. Sitting as far away from the Magnus as Shockwave could be put.

Shockwave didn’t wait for the other mech’s answer, of course.

“Optimus Prime has personally seen to the construction and collection of the resources needed to make it so. He’s single-handedly enlisted the help of the specialists needed to build these destinations, no less. Much of whom, surprisingly, are volunteers.”

Megatron tried…… VERY HARD…… not to think about the lowly Prime’s status as a former maintenance bot at that.

And yet, the searing reminder kept persisting -as it always did- because Megatron could only imagine with a reputation of such casual dislike amongst a good many of his peers these negotiations had garnered Optimus, there were only so many ‘specialist builders’ he could think of who were going to volunteer the first hand construction of Decepticon resources. And one of them had been severely -possibly permanently- hospitalized because of him in the heat of their final Earth battle before his capture…

“Optimus Prime this, Optimus Prime that.” Said Hook suddenly from a seat behind Megatron.

Hook, the studious, current chief Decepticon medic -after Scalpel had proved both morally unstable (Megatron’s favorite thing about him) and unwilling to subject himself to negotiating with Autobots. He was happy preforming horrible medical services inside his medbay in or out of an everlasting war either way, so it was up to the newly integrated member of Scrapper and Mixmaster’s gestalt to appear before them all today.

Megatron turned his helm to see the insufferable mech speaking his mind -also out of turn, as was his mech’s habit- and caught a worrying glimpse of Strika at his side, looking murderous and ready to stand and punch a new hole in the Constructicon’s head.

Thankfully, it didn’t come to that.

“When exactly is Optimus Prime going to get a seat in the center of the court, so he can delegate all these matters for you?” Hook said, speaking as a whole to the Autobot chairmen across the room. Likely just upset still that he’d been denied special medical privileges to Autobot hospitals.

Probably for questionable access to the resources and records.

But the offhanded comment struck a devastating chord with the audience it’d been addressed to. Megatron watched curiously as facial plates twisted in disbelief and some in outrage.

“Preferably where jou are sitting, Magnus.” Said Strika then, and hardly in jest. Significantly adding to the problem.

Megatron’s field flared beside her in quiet despair for her to silence her vocalizer. His processor spinning with the implications that he had just become the sole protector of the Autobot High Command by trying to keep his mechs civil long enough to give this peace an honest try.

Optimus, constantly challenging the council mechs himself, certainly wasn’t there to do it.

What were these negotiations doing to them?

“I second that.” Said a voice from out of the blue.

It drifted in over the polished floor from afar. Indeed, far, far beneath the deliberators’ notice.

All the way to where Saberswipe was stood guarding his respective door at full attention.

He was relatively young for a war machine and stupidly charismatic, thinking both were enough to buy him some leeway in to injecting his opinion on matters 30 sectors above his ranking. Megatron bit back an almighty need to show him which level he was on with his fusion canon then.

“You are not to speak!” Said Sentinel Prime, having recovered from Straxus’ unwavering optic-ogling assault across the way.

“Agreed,” said Alpha Trion. Not one to allow nonsense of even this caliber. Though Megatron suspected he enjoyed a lower form of it in these drawn out meetings when the mood allowed for it.

“Leave at once, guardsmen. There is no a place for you here.”

“I’ll see him out!” Said Optimus suddenly. Standing and, without anyone’s permission, making his way down the platforms and over the length of the cavernous room to greet a happily surprised looking Saberswipe.

Megatron watched with furrowed optical ridge as the taller jet’s charming smile convinced a timid smile out of the shorter mech, before they awkwardly shuffled towards the door.

“This conference will proceed without you, Optimus Prime.” Came Ultra Magnus’ first articulate sentence of the exhausting cycle, as he watched the little truck with tired optics.

“Are you sure you wish to conclude for the remainder of it?”

Optimus had stopped walking with a far too close Saberswipe at his side to address his leader then.

“I’m causing you all too much trouble.” He said as way of shoddy explanation, barely suppressing an amused smile at the Decepticon portion of the room.

“Pheh. That’s everyday.” Senator Botanica seemed to say rather warmly as the little firetruck went on his way. She was possibly one of the few who were steadily becoming too fond of the brash little mech to think badly of his efforts.

Megatron sat, watchful optics taking it all in as the two retreating mechs came even closer together as they exited the door to the chambers, centimeters apart. And feeling somewhat… disappointed all at once.

While this wasn’t an issue Optimus needed to be present for or press anymore, as hopefully the council wouldn’t deign to change subjects of debate and infringe on anybot’s rights while he wasn’t around, his presence was still…. Necessary.

To Megatron’s gargantuan surprise, Optimus Prime, creating a steady pace of good deeds and commendable civil works for even some of Megatron’s more undeserving of mechs, was, in fact, necessary.

Of all the things Megatron expected to hear during the proceeding conversation in Optimus’ absence, Shockwave leaning forward to jab a talon at Motormaster and hissing, “You just ran him off! The only sensible Autobot here!” Was not one of them.

A Decepticon as unfeeling as a slab of dead durasteel tissue, and thinking favorably about a nobody little Autobot?

Not at all…

Apparently that irritation he was sensing off Shockwave from earlier was on behalf of the little Prime’s shockingly genuine efforts for the Decepticon Cause, and not because Prime kept inserting himself into issues.

It was worrying to think the ‘Decepticon Cause’, though, had somehow shifted to a cause centered on finding themselves a place on this planet. A semi-peaceful one. One that didn’t speak of domination and death.

But even that was not more worrying than thinking his arguably lost monstrously devoid mechs would be so supportive of one little Autobot’s attempts to make that so.

————————————

It was only a matter of time until someone was going to snap. Tensions between their two peoples were too high, and Prime just had to keeping shoving his olfactory into places it didn’t belong.

Megatron was contacted almost immediately after a team of medics were by a suspiciously blocked frequency. Meaning whoever they were, they may have been involved- which didn’t narrow down who that could possibly be with so many bots on both sides making questionable choices all throughout this merging.

What he was certain of, was that Rippersnapper had seemed to have wandered too far from the other Terrorcons and was doing his damnedest to make a mess for everyone.

Which meant Megatron was now looking for a mecha sized shark-former with a thousand tonnes too many to be laying his hands on a little, overly assertive Prime- most likely having been there ordering him to leave the civilian gallery for his foul, reckless behavior. Stepping on the crystalline garden dividers and biting at the air below where terrified civilians scurried out of range to keep their helms in tact.

Megatron was beyond furious to be reduced to playing dog catcher, but with peace as precarious as it was, this was too severe an offense to go beneath him. Being their faction wide leader, Megatron was already out of his berth from a restless recharge and bounding out the docking bay to put a stop to it.

Knowing his Terrorcons (about to be the newly dubbed ‘Torn-to-pieces-Cons’ once he got ahold of him) Rippersnapper would have steadily become more and more deranged in the time Megatron had taken to fly there. Which would have been sooner, if he’d just agreed to temporary housing in the city limit already.

And Prime for his part would have surely been an overwhelming nuisance who’d deserved what Rippersnapper had served to him, no doubt. Standing up to an entire war machine and telling him that he should literally watch his mouth and learn to act like a decent mech- even if he wouldn’t have been in the wrong for it…

Megatron’s men knew what was expected of them now- what was expected of them even more so at the moment, while they hoped to outlast the final phase of these negotiations until citizenships were finally trusted to be granted to them.

And while he couldn’t fault any of them for feeling disrespected and belittled by a mech from a faction that’d had them all disgraced from their own home planet in the first place, Megatron had had to do the unthinkable to make this union work and set aside all personal grudges for the sake of his people. He’d had to let go.

At least, he had to look like he had, and so they did, too.

And now he was going to be forced to make an example out of one of them… just to prove how seriously he was going to take his massive warriors acting out in public. Just to assure the Civilian Council that he could be trusted to conduct himself professionally enough for them to take a gamble on attempting a trial of peace with him.

Beyond the fury he felt at realizing now how desperate he actually was to see this union succeed, Megatron was carefully calculating all the ways to tortuously take out his frustrations on the Terrorcon for having forced him essentially to defend the Prime who he hated most in the infinite universe.

Megatron reached the city limit and prepared to land soon.

He was going to grab Rippersnapper by the sensitive dorsal fin and pull his mechanical gills out- make him choke around Megatron’s strangling servo stuffing itself down his intake. Help him to understand, and any present to witness it, that this was intolerable, and that their master would be eating the sparks of any wretch foolish enough to do such a thing in the future.

Jeopardizing all the humiliating work Megatron had put into sitting through those brain numbing Council calls at heinous hours of the cycle in an increasingly more unordered fashion (which was somewhat bound to be the case, since they had Decepticons keeping chairs in the chambers)….

And he was in danger of losing l all of that, because one shark shifter had the split second insanity to put their hands on one of Primus’ precious chosen ones. Even a disgraced nobody Prime who was only important in title.

When Megatron arrived at the open gallery with the anonymous coordinates he’d been sent, he soon realized that none of his fantasies about brutalizing Rippersnapper would even be necessary.

To his amazement, the commended portion of Optimus Prime’s reputation as a burgeoning enthusiast for cross-faction equality had reached far and wide in the Decepticon’s ranks, and while Megatron wasn’t sure what he’d done to elicit the favor of the brilliant Combaticon leader, Onslaught, Megatron now suddenly found himself rather desperate to know.

Just how far out of the loop was he? How lost had he been to all the mountainous changes in his mechs while he was allowing his mind to focus on Magnus and the stale moving parts of the senate that’s he’d missed this?

The wondrous world he was only catching the tail-end glimpses of that Optimus Prime was hand building?

At this point, Megatron had to wonder if in the event this all did fall through, if whether it would even be a real loss, now that they had such a widely liked, capable mech like Optimus Prime so openly advocating for them.

What it would matter, though, purely beyond sentiment, amounted to very little, and their people were not attached to ideas such as that.

Megatron blinked himself back to the present so that he could assess the damage, as crowds of traumatized civil bots, watching with their backs flat to the surrounding buildings as Brawl beat a hole into the opposite side of Rippersnapper’s sternum. Missing his spark by an inch, blessedly preferring his victims to live long enough to remember the lessons he enforced. Megatron would rather not have his mechs be publicly broadcasting an infighting casualty.

Vortex was cheering Brawl on from over his shoulder, hovering too close again, about to receive another accidental, friendly-fire medbay visit.

Megatron was starting to see the necessity in Sentinel pushing for divided recreational sects in the cities, despite Optimus’ best intentions to see everyone coexist and treat one another with the proper respect.

The average civil mech didn’t possess a quarter of the foul tempered, carnal aggression a Decepticon gestalt did. Feeding off one another and causing a ruckus, encouraged further by the other supportive members of the group, aiding in some way to the destruction.

Megatron debated which position to take then.

Whether to do damage control and hoist the heavy mechs up and away from the near lifeless body, Energon puddling up beneath its cold frame, or to focus on calling for someone of Autobot authority to come separate and treat the horrified civilians present for the mental strain of what they’d just witnessed. Were still witnessing.

He’d finally had the processor to deduce that the mechs on the scene at the time that somebot had called for the ‘authorities’ must have been of Decepticon descent themselves- and they had naturally missed the point of calling for authorities entirely by calling upon a mech they assumed would allow them to finish the job first. And while he was certain now whoever they were they’d had some kind of part in all this, Megatron would admit that their assessment that he would rejoice in his warrior’s hardy bloodbath first would have been an accurate assumption in any other setting. In one where he was not currently issuing for the position of a willing protector of Cybertron.

As the Decepticon medics that’d been alerted were being painfully slow to respond to the anonymous caller -and would not have had the understanding to do so themselves- someone was going to have to tell Ultra Magnus about this…

Out of time since one breem ago, however; Megatron would have to deal with this before anyone actually useful to Prime could arrive.

His optics tracked back over to the incredibly damning sight he’d been subconsciously avoiding since he’d glanced optics over it.

Optimus was there being cradled like a broken doll against Onslaughts’ massive chestplate. Being held higher than any horrified Autobot’s brave enough to collect their mess of a Prime could reach.

There were evidently no takers around at the moment, though, which caused something odd to shift in Megatron’s core beliefs, as he considered for himself the notion that acts of blind bravery would predominantly be their jobs soon- war machines. As it had been once before the divide of their peoples.

It was the only exchange he could offer the Auotbots for the new age of peace- to protect. To fulfill once more their shackling roles as the guardians of weak, ungrateful, prejudiced little civil mechs, and face the atrocities lurking in the cosmos in lieu of the pampered, privileged, sheltered little things doing it themselves.

Oh, how these things had a way of repeating themselves. It’d left a bitter taste in his mouth… at first.

But now… seeing how easily Onslaught had resumed control of the situation so abysmally out of the little ones’ depths, undoubtedly the one to thank for saving the Prime’s life as he had…

Civilians weren’t entirely useless to their species by any means, but a Decepticon easily outweighing them in strength size and ferocity were only the start of their problems in a galaxy much, much bigger than them.

As bad as it was, this could have been far worse.

Megatron looked twice and noticed that Swindle had materialized out of thin air at some point, possibly having been there the whole time, expertly sneaking about his brother with his shorter stature. Busy trying to talk Onslaught into purchasing a cushion to elevate Prime’s dripping helm, as Onslaught wasn’t capable of much in the way of a delicate touch.

Pink dribbled down the Combaticon’s torso as he shifted the body in his servos.

Megatron did a quick sweep next to locate the only brother missing, Blast Off, and decided whatever his involvement, it was not detrimental to him securing the crisis finally.

Megatron chose action over dissertation, leaving the innocent bystanders to console themselves -thankfully a rather hardier lot than Megatron had come to realize he’d given them credit for. Some of them shaking themselves from their stupor at the sight of him and doing what the others present had neglected in their shock by calling the Autobot forces.

There, now Magnus knew…

With that decided, Megatron marched over to the supervising Combaticon leader to work towards fixing the most pressing problem at the moment.

Fixing Prime.

Onslaught’s visor dipped in his direction, as Swindle used the magic of monkey business to all but disappear again.

“Let me have this.” Megatron said as he took the Prime away.

There was no quarrel as he was unceremoniously dumped into Megatron’s single servo, as Onslaught watched their leader whisk him away to someplace unknown.

Despite having had his servos around Prime’s waist once before, hefting him up as weightlessly as a cube of Energon, he felt even lighter now.

Worried he’d lost his grip on him, Megatron stole a look down at a peek of white denta behind full lips. The badly bruised Prime slack jawed and unmoving, beyond his helm as it was lifted and supported by Megatron’s servo.

He thankfully didn’t get very far toting a battered Prime off before a pair of civilian medics arrived well ahead of his disgracefully arrogant ones.

Protocols hadn’t been set in the event of something like this. And he was considering forgiving everyone who’d done well enough to become involved for treating the situation as casually and non-life threateningly as it actually was. Few would have the foresight and understanding that walking away from a mauling like this wasn’t nearly as common a shift-end activity as it was for Decepticons.

He could have Shockwave conduct a thorough lecture on the matter later and instill in them the severity of situations like this.

He allowed the civilian medics to carry the unconscious trucker away, decidedly too awake now to attempt sleep again.

He wandered a bit, deep in thought about the behavior he’d witnessed from the fearsome, calculative, rather far removed from even the appeal to sentiment itself, Onslaught. Holding the husk of a Prime, shielding him carefully from any potential threats- essentially anybot that wasn’t himself or a mech of higher rank than him.

And he considered how easily Onslaught could protect him- any civilian. How easily they could protect these hapless, idiot things that went well out of their jurisdiction as maintenance bots to tip the world upon its head and demand it show them respect.

How fitting their new role on Cybertron felt all at once.

How wasteful it felt to think that their natural abilities would have easily been provided and cherished and appreciated by all if they had had a mech like Optimus around to fight ruthlessly for their chance to be. They’d been missing respect and loyalty, not a proper calling.

That thought struck him to the core, and he quickly dismissed it. The Cause he’d given the Decepticons was founded in spark-deep, honest conviction. They had thrived and conquered for millennia, even from the shadows, by standing proudly in their beliefs that they had been onlined with the natural born rights to.

He couldn’t… let himself… forget that. Be manipulated so carelessly astray.

Megatron noticed yet another Decepticon gestalt in the form of the ever expanding, newly banded Constructicons, moseying their way down the street to go put Rippersnapper back together again.

At their heights, it was easy for them to spot one another and salute him. And then he noticed some of their optics catching on his chest plates.

Once they had moved on to finally fulfill their roles here -leaving Megatron to wonder when Constructicons had been given the title of ‘acting medics’, beyond the carefully appointed Hook- he looked down to where they’d been staring at the single, Energon soaked palm print one little Autobot had left there.

———————-

END PART ONE, YOU’RE SAFE NOW. I split this thing up cuz HOO damn, I am just unstable when I made this. Even now there’s like two other parts, I can’t stop talking about thiiiis

For all of you that read this far, you deserved a better proofread then what you got. I know there are lots of mistakes, but if I had proofread this even twice after indulging myself as deeply as I had with all this fluff, I would have died.

Appreciation AU will be the connecting tag I use to the other parts

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