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whatudottu · 9 months

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Concept: Ben 10 Alien Force AU where everything is the same except Kevin is just insanely passive-aggressive towards Ben for the entire duration of the series

“No worries Tennyson, I buried the hatchet ages ago! That bad blood between us? Water under the bridge! I mean, it’s not like you got me stranded in a prison dimension for five years and never bothered to try and rescue me or even check up on me or anything like that! Of course I’ll help you save your grandpa! After all, what kind of hero just leaves someone for dead in the hands of vicious aliens that proceed to inflict them with severe psychological damage that will take decades to fully heal?”

I feel as though that would be a whole lot more realistic of a thing to happen, especially as the Tennysons realistically react to Kevin's passive-aggression with their own Tennyson brand passive-aggressiveness, though it might not be the most enjoyable trio to watch, which would be basically the complete opposite of the previous trio of Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max-

Ben and Kevin would have more personal beef (something about stealing a way too high security unreleased but already boxed game vs making two trains crash into each other for free money), but Gwen never particularly liked Kevin in the first place way back when, so even if Ben and Kevin settle their differences with admitting what they had actually done wrong (probably fighting over the more petty shit or arguing about the worse shit they did), Gwen doesn't have much basis to forgive Kevin because ultimately she did not get involved. Which I mean I don't think would be that great to watch nor that great to create a team around, especially in the earlier more mystery focused side of AF-

And this is the obligatory mention of @kariachi for introducing the idea of the Ben, Gwen, and Argit trio- you can have passive-aggressive Kevin (and the Tennyson's appropriate responses to him) all you like if Kevin takes Argit's role and Argit fills in that missing main trio slot in his stead. Depending on where and how he's introduced you could totally have a fake-out trio of the Tennysons and Magister Labrid, you know, with the assumption that someone's filling out Max's 'experienced plumber' slot. Not sure how convincing that might be but oops, I did a little ramble lmao-

#ask #anonymous #kevin levin #ben tennyson #gwen tennyson #ben 10 #don't mind me just thinking about argit- not a whole lot but it's something #i do realise that i kinda maybe vaguely forget to think about any form of team ben lmao #since a lot of my first thoughts about ben 10 are either my petrosapien ocs (they grow in number)#or the andromeda 5 of whom i like to pair with xenobiology and other worldbuilding #so i guess i'm sorry for going off topic but lmao if you've sent in an ask to ME i bet you already know that i ramble #gwen's stubborn and would probably either never come around to kevin on her team or take too much time to do so #and ben might be ultimately more forgiving as a teen than as a 10y/o but kevin's kevin #there might be a little sympathy there for the general 'sorry you got amalgamed that one time'#but like kevin dragged his 'not actually known' name through the dirt when it was just 1 to 1 transformations #let alone actually working with/for vilgax that one time #not that kevin doesn't have his own beefs of course- the null void is a horrible place to send folks as punishment #especially a distressed 11y/o who's not very human at the moment if he ever was (depends what floats your boat)#ultimately... though realistic- probably not the best working environment for a highbreed investigation

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greatandquestionablecontent · 8 months

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4 -- in which Delta's body remembers Jade

In the Mirror I Saw Who You Could Have Been

previous masterpost/summary brief magic torture, mostly the torture of an awkward conversation where you don't know what to say. also that feeling when you discover you have a girlfriend you don't remember at all.

~~~~

Draining the second prisoner was even easier than the first. It came as naturally as drinking, taking cautious sips at first, and then gulps, and then chugging and chugging and ignoring the gasps and screams.

And like downing a jug of water without pause, Delta found they’d forgotten to breathe, and they panted through a freshly healed throat. A laugh bubbled out, without their meaning it to. They felt more alive than ever, envigorated, thrilled.

It was short work directing all that new energy towards healing the last of their wounds, and then they were up to examine the tent, adjust their uniform, and step out into the bleak foggy daylight.

About a half dozen other red, round yurts formed a semicircle around a lone hand-draw well. A bit farther off, as if added as an afterthought, were a few more in varying shapes and sizes, down to what probably served only to house a vault toilet. Up the muddy hill, Delta could see a sea of other, more modest colors – the rest of the camp.

A pair of dressed-down youths passing between tents caught sight of Delta, exchanged a couple of words, and hastily altered their course, shifting to a clipped march. Delta simply watched as they stepped onto the wooden pallet that served as a doorstep, most likely announcing Delta’s less-than-miraculous return to life. Off they went back to their own large tent – barracks, perhaps?

And out came Archel Constance.

Some part of Delta remembered her. It only made sense, but each time they saw her, it came to mind again. They found themself erecting mental walls they didn’t yet fully understand, drawing their magic in tight, checking their expression gave away nothing.

“You took your time,” she remarked dryly as she approached.

“My meridians got damaged, ma’am,” they replied, since that had been her suggested explanation and it sounded as good as any. They tried to make their tone the right mix of apologetic but self assured.

And then they thought, perhaps that was erring too much on the side of formality. Were they the same rank as Constance? They decided to drop the ma’am, but then every sentence after that, wondered if that was the right choice. She certainly acted like she was in charge.

Out of that crimson battle coat, she now wore all black, a leather jacket almost armor-like in its style, tall boots bizarrely mud-free, her hair neatly and perfectly rebraided. This, Delta felt, was how she ought to look. Though she was a good bit shorter than them, their extra height abruptly seemed like a vulnerability rather than an asset; an animal on its hind legs, belly exposed to something more dangerous. They took a step back, then caught themself, wondering if that was too obvious a sign of weakness.

The rest of the conversation was similarly mentally taxing, between analyzing every twitch of their own body language, reciting lies and fabricating new ones on the spot, and trying to read this woman. She spoke the way you might imagine a hardened military leader would – clipped, to the point, nearly toneless, almost a parody in perfection. Though she was surely magically capable of smoothing away the age lines by her mouth, they suited her, a physical medallion that she had never once smiled in however many years she’d worn this face.

She demanded again where they’d been for so long, and Delta knew she must be aware of the changes.

“I got lost in the mountains, and without anyone to feed on, I couldn’t heal myself when I got injured.”

“In what way were you injured? Did you not have a compass on you?”

As Delta carefully re-told the story Andromeda had crafted for them, Constance’s eyes narrowed, but she showed no other signs of belief or disbelief. She asked altogether too many questions, and all Delta could think was that any moment now, they would fail her test and this all would have been for naught.

“Trinity and Constance are the ones you need to be most careful of,” Andromeda had warned them, more than once. “And Constance trained your previous self, so she’ll notice any discrepancies.”

That much was obvious. What discrepancies they were, and what Constance thought of them, Delta hadn’t the faintest clue.

“From what I know, it’s a severe breach of N’Vitri etiquette for her to read your mind or attempt to interfere with your magic in any way, so she shouldn’t be able to know exactly what happened from the surface … You understand how essential it is you don’t allow her to go poking around inside your brain. As you’re no longer her apprentice, you should be entitled to a certain amount of your own privacy. Remember that, and don’t be afraid to use silence.”

The previous Delta had, apparently, been “quiet.”

“Why did you vanish from Trinity’s detection?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

It was almost a relief when two more women arrived to interrupt the impromptu interrogation. One was tall, dark, and muscular, with long black hair in a thick braid, wearing a simple white shirt, sturdy pants, and boots much like Constance’s. The other was short, pale, freckled, with short, tousled copper hair, dressed in a lacy layered skirt and a floral sleeveless top quite incongruous with the military camp, even for plainclothes attire.

The short one ran, canvas shoes slapping in the mud, and the tall one kept up with her in easy long strides.

“Would you look at that,” the tall woman drawled.

The short one stopped abruptly in front of Delta, like a horse whose reins had been yanked.

“You’re back,” she said, her voice small but ringing with barely contained emotion. Across the space between them, Delta could easily pick up her energy churning inside her body.

Delta nodded, and then, when that seemed insufficient, they offered, “I’ve been healing for a couple of days.”

“Which brings up more questions,” Constance added. “Which meridians were damaged?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t conscious.”

The red-haired woman just stared, her eyes burning holes in Delta.

Her presence made them uncomfortable; every time their eyes met hers, they got a little jolt of adrenaline, and the longer she stared, the more Delta felt like she might set them on fire, slowly adding heat to their skin.

Every slight movement she made snapped their attention back to her, and she was constantly moving, fidgeting with the lace at the edge of her skirt, shifting from foot to foot, examining the mud on her canvas shoes, brushing a lock of hair from her face, itching at the ill-fitting red Archel jacket she wore over her flowery civilian clothes. Every hair on her pale legs stood at end in the biting cold, and her cheeks were flushed pink. She didn’t look like she belonged here, or in that jacket, but Delta found themself almost as afraid of her as they were of Constance.

Perhaps more?

She couldn’t be a N’Vitri, it made no sense, it didn’t feel correct, but the Archel jacket suggested she might be some other kind of mage, unless she was for some reason wearing part of someone else’s uniform. She had to have some kind of psychic power, Delta was sure of it, though she was hardly visually imposing. Everything about her energy felt different than any of the other mortals they’d met so far.

Constance noticed their distraction, of course. “You’re welcome,” she said pointedly.

For what? “Right, uh, thanks,” they said.

She scowled and scoffed, the most emotion she’d shown the entire conversation, and with that, turned sharply and set off at a brisk pace back to her own tent. The tall woman followed her immediately, falling into step at her heels like a well-trained dog, giving Delta only a backward glance.

Leaving Delta with just the red-haired girl. For a moment they almost wished Constance would stay. They’d at least been starting to get the hang of how to converse with her, at least, they thought they’d been doing alright, though they were running out of answers.

The girl bolted at them. Delta’s instinct kicked in, they tensed and took a step back, but stopped themself in time from shoving her away as she slammed her body against theirs. Her arms locked tight around them and she squeezed, hard, pressing her face into their chest, which surely smelt of blood and guts.

“You’re back. I was starting to think –-- fuck!”

She stretched up and pressed her lips to theirs, gripping their long-sleeved undershirt for leverage. Delta grappled with the instinct to shove this stranger away, but her mouth on theirs, her body against theirs, her breath warm on their face… Their entire body was alert to her. They were desperate to kiss her back, to tear at her clothes and pull her closer. Almost as much as they’d hungered to kill those men, they hungered for her, her specifically, the explosion of colors inside her and her soft freckled flesh and…

The result of this turmoil was mainly that they did nothing. They let her kiss them, they caught themself and remembered to act, and halfheartedly tried to kiss back, but it was too late. She dropped back to her heels, relinquishing her grip on their shirt, but still close enough they could smell her and feel the warmth radiating from her… if that was even a real sensation.

“I actually really worried, you were gone for so fucking long. Are you okay? I mean, I know you’re obviously not dying at the moment but –- we should get back to our tent, so we can talk in private, huh? Delta?”

So, not a succubus or hostile mage. The idea of a lover was frankly more alarming and confusing by far. They hadn’t prepared for this possibility at all. It would make keeping their act up all the more difficult, beyond simply playing the part of a N’Vitri in battle and a withdrawn loner in conversations with Constance.

She barely gave them a moment to process her presence, let alone give some kind of response. She grabbed them by the hand, faltered, and dropped their hand, hesitating and taking another step back, looking at them with the exact expression of someone who knows when something isn’t right.

“Yeah, let’s go to the tent,” they agreed. “Sorry, I’m a bit out of it. My meridians…”

Her expression melted to one of sympathy and pity, and she looped her arm in theirs and led them back to “their” tent, next door to Constance’s, and indistinguishable on the outside from any of the other red yurts.

Their tent had two beds, but one was large, made up with layers of messy blankets, obviously slept in and then leapt out of. The smaller cot had no sheets or blankets and was piled with the contents of a couple bags, more clothes in varying combinations of floral and lace and pastels, and a few spare weapons and camping supplies.

“I’ve been sleeping on the floor by Denna’s cot half the time,” the girl admitted. “In case anything happens. Constance has been – well, it’s been miserable, and she’s infuriating, but she’s been… I can’t say nice, but she really takes it seriously, the whole protecting me and not infringing on your property idea. I think she’s pissed you didn’t thank her properly for that.”

When they didn’t respond in the split second she gave them, she continued, “Maren hasn’t given me any trouble, actually I was hanging out with her and Ashrie for a bit, but we can talk about that later – but some of the soldiers have been creeps, and I think they don’t think you’re coming back – not that I’m scared to sleep alone, I just got lonely, and bored. This place sucks when you’re not around.”

“I bet it does,” they agreed, following her cue and taking their boots off at the door, taking their time unlacing the muddy strings and pretending to be focused on that task. “I’m sorry,” they added.

“It’s okay,” she said, with just enough hesitation that Delta knew it wasn’t okay at all. She sat crosslegged on the shared bed, rubbing at her goosebumped bare legs, scratching off some caked mud flecks.

“Why were you gone so long?” She asked. “What’d you tell Constance, and what’s the real reason?”

“I told her the truth.” And they repeated the story again for her, this time including all the details Constance had pressed for, about the compass and how they fractured their skull and which leg got broken and the made-up cabin in the hills where they’d finally found people to feed from again.

She was an active listener, emoting at every detail, finding even more questions to ask. When their story ended and they faded into silence, they were distinctly aware she was unsatisfied with that silence. They washed up in the basin on the table to avoid having to sit next to her on the bed, or admit they didn’t know if this place had bath tubs. The water quickly turned brown from all the grime and crusted blood.

“I bet it was a drag coming back and having to go straight to a battle,” she tried.

They gave her a little laugh. “It was.”

“And… you took longer than usual,” she prompted. “To heal.”

“Does everyone know that?”

“Yeah, probably. I’ve been waiting, of course, and they wouldn’t let me in to see you. Denna told me you got back, though, and who knows who she and Larsen will tell, but I bet a few soldiers will gossip too, and Constance’s gonna tell Trinity everything, so… yeah everybody. What happened?”

“My meridians got damaged.”

“Ahuh… and?”

They shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly what happened. I went down so fast.”

“Are you still recovering? Do you need… anything?”

“I’m fine. Just…” Another shrug. “Getting back on my feet. I’m sorry, I’m sure I’ll be back to normal soon.”

“That’s okay,” she said, clearly relieved.

Brief silence. They hoped that her chattiness might turn out in their favor, allowing them to mostly listen, and hopefully pick up more useful information.

They did as much as they could with just the basin, before accepting that anything more would just be putting the dirty water back on their skin. As they toweled dry and turned to face her, the girl crossed the tent, slowing as she closed the gap between them, as if to give them a chance to move away. When they didn't, she slung her arms around their waist. This time they kissed her first, a choice which was rewarded with a little dip in her energy, like she was finally satisfied and some of her anxiety put at ease.

They couldn’t remember kissing before, but it came easily enough. Her lips were cold but her tongue warm, and they followed her lead from gentle and cautious to deep and passionate. She sucked their tongue into her mouth and let out a quiet little moan, and despite all their hesitations and doubts, their arousal sparked.

“I love you,” she mumbled against their lips.

“Love you too,” they mumbled back, because that was how the dialogue ought to go.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “About… Before.”

“It’s fine,” they told her. “Let’s forget all about it.”

#in the mirror i saw who you could have been #jade #delta #constance #andromeda #(mentioned)#they still dont even know her name #no beta we die like n'vitri

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