#exchange year au

[muffinlance]

Prompt: Azula joins Zuko on his Avatar hunt instead of Iroh. I don't know why, I don't know how, but I'm certain to be entertained by whatever follows.

Ozai and Ursa were already dead by the time Iroh arrived home. He stepped from his ship into the palanquin, and rode past the places of their execution, holding the urn of his son’s ashes. 

He had no time to entrust them to the Fire Sages before his father summoned him. He brought them along, because this was an easier thing than setting them down. And perhaps Lu Ten’s grandfather would like to see him once more, outside of the family shrine. Iroh would have given anything—

He placed the urn on the floor next to him. It did not kneel when he did. Fire Lord Azulon surveyed him from behind the flames.

“Rise, my son. It is good to have you home.”

They did not speak of Lu Ten. His father had always been a man to look to the flames of the future, rather than the ashes of the past.

* * *

They hanged Ursa, as befitted her attempted crime, and her past station.

They burned Ozai, as befitted his. A child of Agni should always return to the flames.

The children of the traitors had been stricken from the family line. Had been placed in the capital prison; bait for the trap. Azulon was keeping close eye on those who expressed concern for the offspring of regicides. Ozai had expected support for his position; it would be Iroh’s second task to sift through the court, and discard the chaff. 

His first task was a more practical resowing. Azulon had already selected a handful of candidates: women of suitable birth and known loyalties. The wedding date had been set, pending selection of the bride.

“Thank you, father,” Iroh said. 

Lu Ten held his silence.

* * * 

Azula had never liked the servants who’d fussed at her hair and clothes, who’d pulled and tugged until she was perfect, like perfect was a thing outside of her for others to bestow. She only had to look at Zuko to know how far tailored robes and well-oiled hair could take one.

She couldn’t see Zuzu from her cell. Her robes were too cold against the stone and every tug to wrap them tighter just made them worse, she could see it in the guards’ faces, the way they’d stared when she’d first arrived and looked a few days after and now they barely even saw. No one would talk to her, no matter her demands. They didn’t even stop their own conversations anymore; just slid in her food and kept walking and batted away her fires and it was cold here.

There were things crawling in her hair that her nails couldn’t dig out. Sometimes she thought she heard Zuzu yelling, but she couldn’t be sure. And it would have been undignified to yell back. She was a princess. She was fifth in line for the dragon throne. 

Fourth, now that Lu Ten was dead.

Third, because father was, too. 

He’d yelled and then he’d screamed and it hadn’t done anything but make the crowd jeer. Fire Lord Azulon had been silent. Poised. In control. She was his namesake and she would be too. 

She was nine.

* * *

Zuko yelled until his throat burned. The guards didn’t care, they didn’t listen to him, which was nothing new. He shouted and shouted and his own ears hurt. Maybe that’s why he never heard Azula calling back.

Grandfather had made them watch when he’d killed father and, and—

If grandfather had Azula killed, he would have made Zuko watch that, too. Azula was probably just better at being a prisoner than he was. Maybe the guards even talked to her.

He was eleven.

* * *

Iroh’s new wife was a third his age. A flower just coming to bloom. She looked like his first wife; Azulon knew his preferences. She was young enough to be Lu Ten’s sister. She smiled and laughed each day with the other court wives, and came to his room with lists of possible dissenters to discuss in their marital bed. It was not the pillow talk he was used to, but it was charming, in its way. She liked to lay on her stomach and kick her feet above her as they traced the web of treachery with his dead brother at its center. She was here to have his children—a task at which she worked with admirable diligence—and to be the acting Fire Lady. She had not had to struggle and flaunt herself for his affections; she had been picked from a line-up, her expectations realistic, her motives aligned with his. It was the least romantic relationship Iroh had ever been part of. It was… refreshing.

On the day the palace doctor confirmed their newly budded line of succession, the Fire Lord called them both in for congratulations. And for pruning.

* * *

Zuko had turned twelve, but had not realized it. Azula had turned ten. She’d counted the days.

Iroh had not been able to visit them in prison; only to inquire as to their treatment. Individual cells, regular meals of reasonable quality, no abuses. He’d moved his own people into position to ensure the last. 

Azulon had moved them back, after a delay for his soft-hearted son’s conscience. They could not waste loyal men on cuckoo-vipers. And Iroh could not waste his father’s good will. Not when it would be needed in the future, for the most important request.

* * * 

“And your wife agrees to this?” asked the Fire Lord, behind his flames. 

Iroh’s wife had not been directly addressed, and so did not reply. She sat in polite and perfect seiza, her head raised, as befitted the woman currently running her half of the court. Azulon had never seen fit to replace his own wife, after all.

“She does,” Iroh spoke for her. “We have spoken on the issue at length, and believe it best. Our family is small, and cannot afford to be smaller. The children are young; too young to have been in their parents’ confidences. With proper guidance—”

“And how would they place in the line of succession?” Azulon asked. “How would they chafe, how would they plot, with a decade’s experience over your eldest?”

Lu Ten’s own connections at court had been built while his cousins were still in diapers. But he was no longer Iroh’s eldest.

“We believe—”

“No,” his father interrupted again. “I will not allow their adoption. Not by you, where they could smother your own babe in the cradle, and certainly not by someone I trust less.”

Which was everyone, since the night his daughter-in-law had served him tea sent by his son.

“Father,” Iroh began, and his wife shifted her elbow just so, the only indication that she wished to dig it into his ribcage. “They are young, and innocent. They are my beloved nephew and niece. Your grandchildren. We cannot in good conscience—”

‘Good conscience’ had never factored into his father’s policies. Iroh had… begun to realize that, of late. His wife let out a small sigh, deliberately audible only to the man next to her. She had cautioned very strongly against a—how had she put it?—a feelings-based approach to this situation. Feelings rarely factored into her own decisions. She had been hand-selected by his father, after all. 

His wife went into a half-bow, her head lowered. “May I speak, my lord?” 

The flames crackled. The shadow of his father inclined its head, just slightly. 

“To kill the children is wise, and I admit, would set my mind at ease for my own child’s sake. But my husband feels strongly on this matter, and so I support him, for his happiness is my own. May I suggest a compromise? To place them outside the court, where they cannot build influence, nor harm your son’s heirs. A position from which you can judge their characters and value to the nation as they grow.”

“You suggest banishment,” the Fire Lord said.

“Not unstructured, of course. To leave them roaming freely would invite those that would take them in. Perhaps a military commission? As they are commoners, they should begin from a rank befitting their station, of course. Let them prove their worth on their own merit.”

Iroh could not see through the flames, but he knew his wife’s small smile was reflected on his father’s face. 

“A naval position,” the Fire Lord said. “On a ship that does not frequently make port. The frontlines would be the best place for them to prove themselves, wouldn’t you agree?”

Iroh closed his eyes.

“Father,” he said. “Please,” and he could feel his wife willing him to stop talking. The Fire Lord had already agreed to spare their lives. A banishment could be undone, so long as he and the children both outlived the man before them. “I… thank you for your wisdom in this ruling. But perhaps, if they complete some feat worthy of our line, they could be allowed to return?”

The flames were hot against his face. His new wife was still and silent against his side. His father… his father laughed, a low exhalation, the wheeze of a humorless old man.

“Let them bring me the Avatar,” Fire Lord Azulon said, “and I will welcome them home with honor.”

* * *

Zuko didn’t know why they’d pulled him from his cell or scrubbed him down or taken his old clothes. They’d been dirty but they could have been cleaned. His new clothes were scratchy, and too big, and they looked like a common soldier’s, and… and—

And they’d shaved his hair. 

* * * 

It had gotten rid of the bugs, Azula admitted, in the privacy of her own mind. Still. She memorized the faces of the woman who’d held her down and the man who’d shorn her. For future reference.

They hadn’t bothered sizing her new outfit for a child. Azula noted the quartermaster’s face, as well.

* * *

They were put on a ship. It was the first time they’d seen each other in nearly a year.

Zuzu looked at her head, and wisely said nothing.

She raised an eyebrow at his, and graciously granted him the same.

It was hard to tell them apart. They had their mother’s face. And their father’s.

* * *

Their captain’s name was Zhao. He invited them to dinner in his private quarters, once the Fire Nation was behind them. Zuko fidgeted. Azula didn’t.

The captain spoke on how much potential he saw in them, under a commander who saw their true value. 

Together, they could go far. Very far, indeed.

Azula smiled and said all the things she thought father would have said. Zuko scowled. 

Zhao brushed over their arms with his own while reaching for things. He served them more when they said they were already full. He squeezed their shoulders when he brought them back to their rooms, which were next to his, even though the rest of the lower crewmen slept together in the same big cabin. Zuko scowled harder. 

Azula was invited back. Zuko wasn’t.

* * *

Zhao was… Zhao wasn’t a good person.

“I know that, dum-dum. But do you want to stay banished forever?” 

“Uncle said—”

“Uncle’s going to change his mind, when he has his own heir and a spare. We’re threats, Zuzu. And Zhao knows father’s old friends. He’s one of the smart ones.”

The dumb ones had already been executed. 

“I… I think he wants to—to tie himself to the royal line.”

“Eww,” she said. “I’m ten. If he wants to get engaged, I’ll just break it when we’ve got the throne. It will be too late for him to retract his support, then.”

They’d barely left port before Zhao had made his first move. He didn’t seem like a man who waited. 

Azula was ten, but Zuko was twelve. Being twelve was almost thirteen, which was almost a teenager, which was almost an adult, and adults understood things that ten year olds didn’t.

They had to get off this ship. They had to go home.

Zuko had to find the Avatar.

* * *

(This ficlet is now posted on AO3.)

#are you not entertained? #eventually this one will be a Fire Lord Iroh AU #better hope he gets that throne quick <3 #Happy Ending: and then they joined the southern raiders just as Hakoda was setting sail #and Hakoda was unprepared for these feral fuzzy-headed children suddenly on his ship #Bad Ending: and then they joined the southern raiders when Zuko was sixteen and Azula was fourteen #after four years with Zhao #Zuko: *shakes Aang until he glows then yeets him at Zhao like a grenade* #Azula: that's a good first step to being my favorite brother #but I still don't have a crown in my hair Zuzu #Avatar The Last Airbender #atla #Zuko #Azula #Iroh #I actually really like Iroh's new wife? #RIP one-off OC I'll probably never use again #you are the politically climbing aro-ace rep we deserve #New Wife: sure I'll exchange my firstborn for ultimate power in my nation #wait I can keep the kid too? #sweet deal #ficlet #Cuckoo-Vipers

[boarwinds]

Pre-professor au

Pre-professor au

I’m too lazy to type out the au so here’s the edited version from my rambling to a friend

#art #snowbaird #idk to go the friendly route or tension-filled acquaintances route #bc in this au lg is a district exchange student living with clemensia #Clemensia is supposed to be cs’s grade but was held back a year bc of medical leave aka Gaul #she’s bitter bc she was on par w cs academically n feels he was partially at fault for what Gaul did #she’s still friendly w him but bitter n petty #so she tries to tell lg he’s a little shit but lg is all heart eyes lawl #clemmie is basically a reluctant Cupid #cs is a senior n lg is a junior #cs is a professor right out of hs bc of his relationship w Gaul

[dread-red-queen]

My Gift to @danyaselmar for the @cp77nyexchange CYBERPUNK NYEx Exchange

I hope you like it, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year :)

#goro takemura #cyberpunk2077 #digital art #digital drawing #art #goro #takemura #artist #fanart #commisions open #cp77nyex #New years exchange #gift #cyberpunk 2077 v #v #goro and v #Goro Takemura And V #Fantasy AU #Knight in shining armour #exchange #art exchange #new years art exchange #art gift

[crayonmatsuri]

For @v4guelyv4mpiric  ★ So sorry for posting these late! >_<

A huge THANKS to @siodymph for hosting the event! 

#RotBTD #rotbtd gift exchange 2022 #Hijack #How to Train Your Dragon #Rise of the Guardians #Tangled #Brave #Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons #Toy Story AU #Frostcup #RotBTD Gift Exchange #MY ART ★ #Oh god it's been years since I drew again like this #How to draw?!?!?!

[moe-broey]

AU I made when I was REALLY fixated on Pokemon Violet where I just put everyone in the fucking academy as transfer or exchange students. Originally it was just the SuMo squad and I had some comics (unfinished) about it, interactions between everyone, ect! Then I got distracted and months later I pick up White 2 and well. Back on my bullshit LMFAOOO 🫡

Unfortunately Lillie and Gladion look much better in person, did not show up on camera well 🥲

All of this is just proof of concept anyway!! Espppp trying to get a feel for color palettes and having fun pushing the uniform rules to their limits LMFAO, and also wanting to show how a character wears a uniform can also be a reflection of themselves!

#pokemon #ALSO MADE THIS AU BEFORE I KNEW ABOUT THE DLC AND HOW WE'RE GONNA BE EXCHANGE STUDENTS (EXCITING) #video games appeal to sick male fantasy such as. *squints at notes* having friends and a good time in school #i need ALLL OF THEM to be friends SO FUCKING BAAAD #like beyond the obvious arven/lillie/gladion friendship/solidarity/processing trauma ect (which i do have concepts for btw) #i NEED arven and hau to be best friends actually. like fucking yesterday. #AND nemona/gladion and now hugh as endless pursuit of strength buddies. nemona is SO EXCITED ABOUT IT #nemona is ALSO VERY enthusiastic about helping lillie gain confidence as a trainer as well!!! much like how she was w protag #also gladion/penny wolf t-shirt kid solidarity. walked the mile. are you listening to me. #and obviously for years now i've been wanting a hugh/gladion friendship like come on!!!!!!! #roz/rosa can fit in anywhere tbh i just want them here. also moon is canon in the au but idk what they're up to. somewhere abroad. #rival hugh #trainer rosa #pokemon lillie #gladion #hau #arven #nemona #trainer penny #my art

[r2y9s]

[ the great ace attorney ]

Pretend: An AU Of Sorts

#the great ace attorney #baroasoryuu #baroryuu #asoryuu #baroaso #tumblr gets the whole thing at once #if things look different after the 3rd or 4th page #it's bc october happened and i took a month break from this comic to do october stuff #this is an au i have in my head where ryu is a foreign exchange law student come to england #and zieks has been assigned to teach him #zieks has an apprentice/assistant with no memory of before he woke up on the docks of england 4 years ago #and is mute #ryuu and asougi have never met before in this au #soggy never quite regains any of his memories in this au #it's all very self indulgent lmao #also early 20th century starbucks lol #i know take out coffee wasn't a thing at this time but i have a permit

[ectopuppy]

Happy Valentines day! As is tradition have some girls!! 💖

[Megan belongs to @ghostfiish]

#few days early but i finished it and its gettin posted #not gf au this year lol heres some dead gay toddlers #they are in love but they are also babies so instead of girlfriends they get to be the bestestest friends in the whole afterlife #and in exchange for not getting to grow up they get to be together for all eternity #arting #oc #ella #other peoples ocs #ghostfiish

[ponthion]

"Your road goes ever on, as does your story."

#final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #ff14 #ffxiv fanfest #WoL #Au Ra #I've been into ffxiv for 4 years now so I finally made charms and stickers of my WoL #Ryoma Akiyama #the sticker exchange at the fanfest London was just so good..

[keira63fic]

a hell of her own making (1/1)

History will say that Alina Starkova was entirely responsible for her own ruination. History is wrong.

Thanks to @darklinaxchange for organising.

Please mind the tags!

#aleksander morozova #the darkling #alina starkov #darklina #darkling x alina #shadow and bone #the grisha trilogy #grisha trilogy fanfic #my fic #historical au #Darklina New Year Exchange

[apparitionism]

Confection

For the holiday this year I offer you a culinary AU I’ve been thinking about for basically forever but only now started to write down. It’ll be in parts, as I chip away in the spare minutes, with littler bits of story at a time, as when I first ventured contributions to this surpassingly wonderful fandom, years ago. I miss those long-gone Bering-and-Wells days: the speed, the inventiveness that so many brought to bear... anyway, however many parts this ends up being, it’s all just for fun. (And maybe a little ontological inquiry. Also just for fun.)

In any case, on this random Sunday, I wish everyone their preferred form(s) of activity and/or rest, as appropriate. Good feelings. Whatever it is we’re here for.

Confection

“Cutthroat.”

So says the talking head on screen in response to the offscreen question, “Describe your style in the kitchen in one word, Chef Helena Wells.”

****

“Chef Myka Bering, describe your style in the kitchen in one word.”

“One word? That’s a challenge. Diligent? I’m really diligent. Or, no: focused. I definitely think ‘focused’ is more descriptive.”

Senior Producer Claudia Donovan, upon viewing this footage, had said to the editor sitting next to her, “Can you cut that to ‘focused’ and make it sound decisive?” But then she let herself have a second thought. “You know what? Leave it all in. Compare and contrast.”

Cutthroat Wells first, indecisively diligent and/or focused Bering second... the third competitor’s response had been, in retrospect, hilarious. Claudia did appreciate how radically his pronouncement had failed to match his performance: “Awesome,” Walter Sykes had described himself, with no sense of irony whatsoever. He’d been cast as a sacrificial lamb in the first place, but Claudia still snorted at the completely useless dudebro swagger.

The fourth chef, Artie Nielsen, had been brusque rather than bro, but with no less swagger. “Classic,” he’d said, like the idea of anybody even asking the question was a “don’t you know who I am” insult. The editor angled a glance at Claudia and said, “You were real with him about what show he was on, right?”

“The old-school thing sets up the B plot,” Claudia told her. “He’s known all three judges for decades.”

“Don’t you think the A’s a lot more fun?” the editor said. She clicked quick on the Wells “cutthroat” clip—and Claudia had never in her life heard such an all-facts no-swagger saying of a word—followed by a bit of the Bering: “I definitely think,” Chef Myka said, as if in answer to the editor’s question.

“I definitely think,” Claudia echoed decisively.

****

“The name of our show,” Steve Jinks explains, as he does every week at the start of the program proper, after the contestants have described their styles, “is ‘This Without That.’ What this means, contestants, is that in each of three rounds, you will be asked to prepare a classic dish... but without its defining ingredient.”

****

“You gotta do it,” Pete Lattimer had said. “Because it’d be so cool. Gottagottagotta.”

Myka was leaning against the at-last-closed-for-the-night door of the restaurant where they both worked—Myka as sous chef, Pete grilling and frying—and she wanted to ignore him, for her fatigue weighted her such that she could barely convince her spine to support her head. Forcing that head to lift, accompanied by actually working her jaw, felt well beyond possible.

And she would have ignored him, but she was the idiot who’d made the mistake of telling him about “it”: a producer from “This Without That,” the wildly popular cooking competition show, had called to express interest in having her compete next month (next month being August) for their Christmas championship, to air in December.

Having been that idiot, she couldn’t ignore him, but she was regretting the telling, so now she said, “No I don’t. I don’t ‘gotta’ do anything.”

“But you wanna.”

“I don’t ‘wanna’ do anything either. And as for this, I don’t want to do it.”

First, television. Second, a competition. Third, a Christmas competition. In August. She didn’t want to. In fact she’d rather have gnawed off her knife hand than do it. But then Pete moved from “gotta” and “wanna” (Myka hated those pseudo-word elisions) to “hafta,” adding “for the restaurant”—the one they planned to partner to open someday, when they had saved enough money and/or could talk investors into believing in them—and Myka gave in. “I’ll try,” she told him, and she meant she’d try not to tank her upcoming interview with the producer, Claudia Donovan. She told him that too... but for integrity’s sake, she added, “I hate the whole idea of that show. ‘This Without That.’ It seems so dumb.”

He waved a hand at her, but slowly, showing that he was tired too. “Little piece of non-tanking advice: don’t say that to this producer. Besides, a hugeity-huge-huge audience loves it, which means it’s smart. Say that instead.”

That, she did ignore. “Smart? It’s insipid.” Mimicking Steve Jinks, the show’s host, she quoted his dismissal of each round’s losing contestant: “Unfortunately, this competition will continue without you.”

“I knew you watched it,” Pete crowed.

Ugh. “Once.” She didn’t tell him why. “But it bothered me.”

“Bothered you because you knew you could do better at making a thing without its major thing, right? Say that’s why.” He added, “And by the way, I know you could too. So you should say it twice.”

His faith was sweet, but she told him the truth: “No. It bothered me ontologically.” She didn’t expect him to understand, but she tried to explain anyway. “Beef Wellington without the beef, for example, like they did in the one I saw. That’s just... Something Else Wellington. And then at the end, the judges pick whose Something Else Wellington they like best. The beef part—the constitutive element!—falls by the wayside. The thing itself doesn’t even matter anymore.”

Pete shook his head. “It’s like you don’t understand games. Something Else Wellington is the whole idea. If it isn’t Something Else Wellington, then it isn’t Beef Wellington without the beef. You’re just ticked that the judges don’t spend all their tasting time splitting ontological hairs about how close to beef that Something Else really is. Or isn’t. Whichever way makes you happier, but it doesn’t matter, because that isn’t what they’re there to do.”

Myka hadn’t known he would—could—come up with “splitting ontological hairs.” That was another point in favor of her trying not to tank.

Also (and she’d been thinking about this since the call from Claudia Donovan): her parents. They were reasons that were maybe (okay, probably) on par with “for the restaurant,” because if she could she impress them by being on television... she really did hate the clichéd nature both of their objections to her career—their dismay that she wasn’t “using that brain”—and of her response, a heels-dug-in “I’ll show you.” These several years on, they hadn’t yet acknowledged being shown. Maybe television would be the charm. Maybe if they could switch a channel and discover Myka there, doing what she did... maybe that would finally do that work of showing.

Pete said, “They judge based on creativity, too—how out-there a Something Else idea you come up with. Imagination what? Plus you gotta do it fast. Thinking on your feet, right? Don’t you love all that?”

As adept as Pete could be at saying the wrong thing, he was also, sometimes, exceptional at saying the right thing. “Using my brain?” she queried, just to make sure.

He nodded, and Myka was pretty sure it was because he knew the history: the family, the pain points. She’d inflicted versions of it on him so many times. “Think it’s a smart idea now?” he asked, at his most canny.

Show them not only by being on television, doing what she did, but also by “using that brain” on television. To do what she did. To do it better than other people. To at last, in the end, show them. “Maybe,” she hedged, but her overriding thought was Yes, yes, at long last yes.

Not for one instant did it occur to her that she might not win.

****

Claudia had started on TWT in the casting department, over two years ago. Even though evaluating potential talent wasn’t technically her job anymore, she did like to tinker. Particularly if she sensed a good story brewing.

When Myka Bering walked in—no, she loped in, her legs looking about as long as Claudia was tall—Claudia really hoped the good-story pings she’d been sensing were real radar.

There was truly no time like the right-now to see what was what, so Claudia said, first thing after introductions: “Just FYI, Helena Wells is already locked as a cheftestant on this one. I hear you know each other.”

Myka, who’d been settling into the chair across from Claudia’s desk, froze.

So far so good, Claudia thought. But then she thought again, as she observed Myka’s dart of eyes, followed by a small-but-visible twist of neck, both signaling obvious discomfort: No... so far so spectacular.

TBC

#bering and wells #Warehouse 13 #fanfic #Confection #AU week #holiday (but not yet Gift Exchange) #I find it unbelievable that 2022 is coming to a close #also unbelievable is how long so many people have maintained themselves on high alert #I among them #so maybe a silly AU #featuring some silly people #will help close this year and begin the next one #in a relaxing and/or mind-numbing way #also I've been writing Christmas stories for this fandom since 2014 #and I see no point in stopping now #regardless of who cares at this point #FYI this will bonk around among the cooking show as it unfolds on TV #and what happened before filming #and what happened during #and then after #so I hope they can make those jumps and distinctions make sense #anyway it's all about the reveals #which in this case probably won't be overly revelatory #PS you get a point if you know how H's opening line is related to Goncharov

[meganechan05]

If the KingOhgers were in a high school AU, I can 100% see Racles and Rita (Student Council President and Vice President) constantly running from hoards of girls on Valentines Day. Just parkour all over campus trying to escape 😂

Racles escapes only when Suzume sees him and she scoops him up for herself (much to his and Kagu's dismay). Suzume tends to be scary once other girls try to get close to her bf so they back off.

Rita escapes by hiding in their class's supply locker. The boys are usually there before them so they open up a window and help open and close the locker for them to say "you just missed them" to the hoard while pointing to the window.

#they end up having their giant piles of chocolate split between the seven of them and the retainers #Gira gets his from elementary students or upperclassmen who find him adorable (which annoys Racles) #Yanma gets a loot from a group of girls who like his yankii style #Kaguragi and Jeramie get choco from different classes. their loots is about the same size if not bigger than Yanma's depending on the year #Himeno makes chocolate but prefers to have her family's professional chef do it for her #Rita would also give choco but only to the friend group and is usually pastries or store-bought #but they also give stuff out on White Day to return the favor (usually marshmallows) #Rita and Morf exchange sweets on both days 😂 #kingoh thoughts #kingoh au #kingohger #king ohger

[anelimjolie]

Holidate 1/2 - Feximas Gift Exchange

for @sunshinebunnie 🤍

“Well, if you ever need a holidate, just let me know.” He blows out the smoke in small billows, far away from Lexi but close enough to cover his beaming face for a second.

She coughs, not sure if it’s because of the smoke that barely reaches her or because of the words that hit her like a shovel on the head. “A holidate?” 

“Yeah, you know,” he shrugs, his pink lips pursed. “Someone who pretends to be your date for the holidays, so the family shuts up.” 

Oh, a holidate. Of course. “Well, that sounds exactly like something I need.”

// a fake dating au – loosely based on the romcom “Holidate” (no previous knowledge needed)

#fexi fics #feximas gift exchange #fexi <3 #fexi thoughts #fexi hive #fexi fic recs #fez and lexi #fexi au #fake dating #fexi christmas #fexi new year’s

[wayhavenots]

.

#ok. rook lives au. book 1. #avery has been an actual agency scientist for 2 years she knows all about the supernatural #and she's exchanged many many emails and video calls with nate about agency science (and tech support lol) #so now imagine a version of the patrol scene where nate is about to cut himself with his belt buckle in a panic #but avery is like 'just look at me.' tries to like. look seductive which isn't her forte...but lucky nate's already very attracted to her #(idk if this makes any sense just scribbled out in tags like this but i just wanted to share my vision) #eta instead of spam reblogging this au lol: #ofc nate has spent the last two years asking questions that he doesn't strictly need the answers for just so he can talk to avery #this would definitely be the moment that nate is like #'surely you know that i never needed to know the intricacies of supernatural vs human blood as much as i needed to hear your voice'

[journey-to-the-attic]

designed yaksha ik! she’s just hanging out with some geo crystalflies (and best friend) ✨

#each time i design a new au ik she gets a little further away from what she looks like originally #yaksha ik #art #drew this partially to design her and also partially so that i can look at it while writing the next chapter #because oh boy it's Heavy #obey me belphegor #obey me #genshin impact #i was going to do a yokai costume but then i figured that kitsune ik's design would work on its own #or even just this one probably #and i've been meaning to draw zhao for a while anyway so i'll probably be giving him a yokai costume instead #plus a mini one for baby ik #what i like about this au is that it's the only one still grounded in the whole exchange year story that doesn't have belphie attack ik #apart from ddvd and i guess symbiote host??

[vvelegrin]

doesn't really read AUs. dies anyway.

#you see the joke is that the structure dictates that the second line be 'writes AU anyway' #but in reality i would actually like someone to come into my home and kill me with a hammer #that's the joke #do you get it #working on my new year exchange entry in between my job and asdklfjasl;dkfjas;df #prattling about the self #it's really not that bad i'm just a baby and life is pain

[faebriel]

what's niki and wilbur's first meeting without having to worry about someone from the capitol overhearing like?

not to be evil but i genuinely don't think they would have a free conversation until after niki wins the games. or at least, not a conversation that feels free. before the games niki is under almost constant surveillance - if she isn't directly on TV then she's being shuffled between stylists, training, speaking with potential sponsors, etc. they want to be in each other's space when they can (which is already a rarity, it's not like wilbur can control his schedule - and niki would probably try her best, put her hand up for more stupid dinners he might happen to be serving at) but even then, there is always some listening capitol ear.

it's not until after niki wins the games and starts negotiating wilbur's purchase out of the capitol that they can actually meet without feeling. well. they still feel watched. but when desperation finally outweighs safety. niki requests that wilbur be placed on her victory tour while she pays off the first few years of her capitol salary for him. schlatt allows it because she's played her hand so openly that he almost feels bad for her (and because it stings so much sharper to rip away something someone thought they already had).

the first day of the victory tour is a busy one - filming niki's departure from the capitol with jack and hbomb and eret, then recording a few more fluff pieces to fill capitol airtime as they readjust to living on the rail line. wilbur is always present, of course, shuffled into some manservant-esque role to keep him around, but the cameras are always running. it's not until the evening, when everyone is settling in to sleep, that the two of them can find a moment in niki's quarters to just. hug, basically. wilbur can't use his words anymore and niki doesn't know sign language or the subtle language of avoxes yet, so all they can do is just hold each other and bawl through seven years of loneliness and torture and the games.

#i think the first actual words exchanged between them would be wilbur asking how much he cost and niki just does not tell him #but yeah. they're not the same people they were as kids and they're not the same people they were like three weeks ago before the games. #but they have each other now #busted up and burnt down as they may be #i think both of them have this thing where they want to know everything that's happened to the other over the last ten years but that takes #time. and in wilbur's case that's wading through a lot of trauma. i think niki tells him what's been going on with twelve and how their old #friends are even the ones she doesn't speak to anymore. it's a small enough district for her to know anyway #usually after she's had nightmares (and she Does have nightmares). he stays up with her and she rambles about 12 and he teaches her sign #hunger games au #asks #thank you for the ask nonnie!! <3 #aunonnies